Gaining Ground

[Ordo]

He rubbed his grey-green eyes as he walked into his kitchen. The bare soles of his feet slapped the cold stone floor as he walked to the cafmaker and started the fresh pot of liquid sunshine. The scent of wood smoke from the kitchen fire from the day before still clung to the air as he dug through the cupbords for a mug. This was how his days started, simple, quiet, and altogether different from the image others seemed to have of the aging man.

The small light on the caf maker turned green and he walked back with a mug in hand. His thick trousers and long sleeve shirt well suited to the cool morning air inside the Yaim. The pot lifted in his thick fingered hand and he watched the deep brown caf spill into the plain white mug. A yawn broke his silence as he carried his cup to his door and placed it on a shelf as he began putting on socks and boots. His thick fingers ran through his short brown hair as steam quietly rose from the cup and he began to put on his armor.

He didn't wear it all around the farm, just his grieves and chest plate more often than not, but that was his way. He took up the mug again and sipped the dark liquid loudly before opening the door and stepping out into the cold morning air. Just another day, he'd check pens first, then feed the animals, then probably haul the plow to the back forty and get ready for sowing. What an exciting guy.

[member="Lynn Caromed"]

 

[Lynn Caromed]

There was a wonderful thing about the outdoors that Lynn hadn't ever been able to convince the women in her life the worth of - the smell of fresh soil, the sun on her neck, the singular peace of man and nature in harmony. What wasn't to love?

Certainly, the eldest child of Clan Caromed did not look the part of an outdoorsman. A woman posessed of confidence and exuding professionalism, to be sure, but her tasteful choice in tight, stylish trousers, sensibly low heels, and meticulously fashioned hair gave one the impression that the dark skinned woman walking up Ordo's path was accustomed to a life behind a desk or something of the sort. This couldn't be further from the truth, but one didn't simply meet a man as important as Ordo be Ar'Kim without ensuring that she looked like the sort of person worth his time. Even if her estimation of what kind of man he was had been off by an embarrassing degree. It wasn't so bad. Lynn preferred the farmer patriarch to the naval patriarch.

Blaster holstered on her hip - a weapon far more worn than such a professional woman had any business carrying - and her beloved beskad resting in the small of her back for easy, Lynn strode smoothly up the steps of Ordo's farmhouse and knocked thrice on the door.

[member="Ordo"]

 

[Ordo]

[member="Lynn Caromed"]

The pens checked out as usual but the roba pen did need minor repairs. He walked back to a large veshok wood stump he used for cutting fire wood and picked up his mug of now cool caf. He rubbed his head, the brown hair now showing flecks of grey, and went back into the yaim for a fresh cup and his tool kit.

He kicked off his boots as he entered the large round house and started toward the kitchen. Something caught his attention as he stepped into the hallway that led between the kitchen and the sitting room. Someone was coming, someone whose presence he didn't recognize. He turned out of the sitting room and took up his CM- Fragstorm scatter gun and headed toward the front entrance. His mind running through possibilities and the various emergency routes he had planned in the event the Sith had come back for him. He checked a monitor near the door and saw the young woman. Her outfit and kit said she was able to fight but the set of her shoulders and the absence of back up said she wasn't looking for trouble.

He set the weapon down and unbolted the door calmly and slowly opened the large hatch to look at the young lady. His eyes flicked passed her more to let her know he was aware she was alone than to double check and then met her brown eyes.

"Can I help you miss?" came his deep gruff voice, "Speeder break down nearby?"

 

[Lynn Caromed]

What an irritating thing to ask. Reasonable, sure, but Lynn found herself vaguely annoyed by the question. It wasn't her place to be annoyed, however. She was here on business, and It balked at the idea of chastising a former Mandalore in any way. A proper Mandalorian respected her elders and betters, provided they had proven worthy of rank and the luxury of old age. [member="Ordo"] had.

"Not as such." Lynn promised in a businesslike fashion, adopting a respectful pose not unlike a soldier standing at-ease. "I am Lynn Caromed, eldest and current leader of my clan." She explained succinctly. "Mine is a small, but aged name, and loyally we have served the cause of Mando'ade."

"Your personal work has always been a standard I have endeavored to equal in my own life, if I may be honest." Lynn explained. "That is why I am here today - it was my hope that your wisdom might set me upon better guiding my family and my Clan into the unknown future." Lynn spread her arms slightly, her professional veneer showing just a touch of exasperation under the surface. "My brother contests my leadership, my wife has become a different person than the one I married, and her daughter merely dabbles her toes in the water when I hope nothing more than to being her to the endless depths of faith." Lynn explained.

"You have ever been a role model to me, sir, but 'tis not your duty to shoulder my burdens as though we were blood." Lynn promised. "I demand nothing of you, and feel free to dismiss me at your leisure - I come to you as a mere supplicant, hoping to partake of your wisdom and guidance."

Horribly histrionic, stiff and professional - these described Lynn Caromed to a 'T'.

 

[Ordo]

[member="Lynn Caromed"]

"A simple "Can we talk?" Would'a worked Ner Vod." He said opening the door further and motiining into the yaim, "Come on in ya may as well get some food and drink in ya while we talk. Maybe I have something rolling around my head that you can use."

He would wait for her to enter and start into the sitting room before turning to the woman.

"Kick off your boots ad'ika. I just cleaned." He would say before walking in to the sitting room and flopping into a heavy wood framed chair. "Let's start again since I'm thick. Tell me about the young'un first. What does she do?"

He pulled at his ear for a moment to relieve an itch, then folded his hands over his abdomen and crossed his ankles to wait for her to sit and talk.

 

[Lynn Caromed]

Lynn stepped in behind and respectfully stepped out of her shoes, following the lead of her host. When he sat, she sat soon after."My father, in my youth, claimed that I'd been born with a gilded tongue, but lacked patience to keep it to myself." Lynn shared, offering the tiniest of smiles. "I do not talk often, but find it hard to stop once I begin. I apologize."

"On the subject of my daughter - she simply does not do much." Lynn explained, folding her hands on her lap. "She trains with her mother, who shares a similar temperament and skillset, but in the fashion of some hybrid of Witch and Jedi. She shows little interest in proper weaponry, eschews armor, and lacks proper faith. I have involved myself in her training, of course, and pass along what I can, but she remains content to live as my wife's shadow; demurring from any suggestions to sharpen her skills as a Mandalorian in the field." Lynn sat back slightly and took a breath. "Am I being too pushy? The flower that blooms naturally is the most lovely of all, but she is a woman grown - I worry that she is too timid to bloom at all, or is simply content to live under the wing of ner'riduur for the rest of her life."

 

[Ordo]

[member="Lynn Caromed"]

"Mishuk gotal'u misuroke, pako kyore." He began, "pressure makes gems, ease makes decay."

He looked up at the ceiling for a long moment obviously thinking about more than just kids gping their own way.

"You know, I know this may not work but have you been to Myrkr?" He asked his eyes narrowing as if trying to see something far away. "Most times people stick to what works. Mando'ade don't have a ton of saber jockeys, and our religion means different things to different people. If you make them see the value of our way chances are they'll be more likely to trust it and make it their own. The resol'nare isn't a rigid set of laws. It's a set of principles that people follow in different ways." He pushed out of his seat and crossed the floor to a pitcher of iced behot tea and poured a glass.

"Tea?" He asked before continuing his little speech, "I think they may need a trip to Myrkr and i may have some armor they won't say no too. What do you think, vok'ika?"

 

[Lynn Caromed]

[member="Ordo"]

Lynn nodded politely, acknowledging the offer for tea. "I would love some, thank you." She replied politely.

"I have not taken them to Myrkr." She admitted, gripping the cup as her elder filled it with delicious. "But the idea has merit, that much even I can see." Lynn sat back slightly and furrowed her brow, glancing down at the table. "I cannot say if they will take readily to armor - especially my wife, who has something of a notoriously vivacious figure - but they should do so with grace if I insist upon it." Folding one leg over the other, Lynn brought the tea to her lips and closed her eyes in quiet relief. It'd been so long since she'd spoken with someone who didn't know her personal issues and didn't have an agenda, so this was nice.


When most of your life was deciding life and death for criminals and running a household, it was honestly a delight to pass the reigns of control over to somebody with the wisdom to hold them.

 

[Ordo]

[member="Lynn Caromed"]

"Vivacious? Maybe you could highlight the back support of Beskar'gam." Ordo said over the edge of his cup and took a sip to hide his smile, "but when it comes down to it they will try because you're all a family and that's what counts."

He wiped his face with a big hand and blinked away tiredness. Getting older was not his favorite. He set down his drink and leaned back a bit further. His grey-green eyes narrowed and he raised his chin to scratch the five o'clock shadow forming on his neck.

"Now how about that brother? Tell me about him, maybe I can help that too."