Kaili Talith
Forgotten, not gone.
Blonde overgrown bangs brushed and tickled against her nose and cheek with the winds that seeped into her cave and carried them back and forth with a cold breeze. Bumps formed against the skin of her bare arms before they disappeared in a shudder. It had been five months now since Kaili seemingly disappeared from the face of the galaxy and as things were looking in this very moment that wasn’t looking to change. At first she had disappeared to become someone else, but not too long after that she disappeared even as that person. The contact she held with the people of her life had all been severed except for a few. Allyson was happy wherever she was, or so she had heard. She wasn’t keeping too close track of that anymore. Her brother had awoken from his coma and was in the hands of their parents, there really was no safer existence than that. And as for Runi, well, Amea was still around for contact to some degree but the reason for her existence was no longer the same as it was when Kaili had first started out, at least not entirely. Regardless, Runi had the means of contacting Amea if the time to roll out ever came around again.
But it had been a long time now since anyone had tried to contact her. The channels to reach her had always been open but nobody had really hailed her on it other than her mother who wished to see that her daughter was still alive, secluded in the mountains as she were. Yet Kaili wasn’t lonely. The benefit of Mechu Deru was the ability to create a lifeform of your own after all. Kaili had finally worked up the courage to dig into the lessons implanted upon her mind by Rave Merrill herself and begun to experiment with the act of binding her own will to otherwise inanimate objects and bestow upon mechanisms of stone and scrap a life of its own. It lacked the intelligence of Henry her pet droid but what it didn’t lack was the skill or impact of a bipedal creature of similar height to her own. It made for an excellent sparring partner and in truth, when mixed with the talks she had with Henry, she already felt far more fulfilled than she had been in a very long time. If this was what it meant to no longer run away from her troubles then perhaps she should have gotten to it far sooner than she did.
Yet despite her overall rugged appearance it was fair to say that the times had been kind to her. Kaili glowed with a rejuvenated purpose and strength that was visible both from the inside and outside. The calm that radiated off of her was hard to miss since where there once had been a torrential whirlwind of confusion and frustration there was now little more than a puddle of regrets that she hadn’t quite worked her way through yet. Beyond that the well-toned muscles that now clung to her bones as well as the bruises pasted on-top of them was a clear indicator that she had taken to regular exercise and practice, and she almost felt as good as she looked.
With a staff in hand she glanced around the room that had now grown to be like a second home to her. It was one of many second homes at this point yet her favorite by far. While it wasn’t the palace she had once had on Kiara it was still something that she could find pride and comfort in. She had made this with her own two hands and it still held together. Perhaps the spring in the wall that was her door drew in a bit too much cold on some days, but that was beyond her. A bigger hole as a door wouldn’t fix an already structurally unsound idea after all. Unhooking her lightsaber she gave the now-worn hilt a second glance before she placed it on a nearby table pieced together from different branches and twigs as she made her way towards the door.
With one foot through the crack she twisted her body to fit through the crack that was her door before she was outside again. One deep breath filled her lungs with a crisp sense of peace that was hard to achieve anywhere else. Eyes closed to the sun as a hand reached out to block out the rays that had blurred her vision. As they slowly opened again she was faced with the view that to this day still took her breath away and made ‘Mount Talith’ seem like nothing at all, as if there was nothing to this world other than herself and the tranquility that she had found. A second breath was all she needed, and a third, and a fourth. The condensation that parted from her mouth was carried off the mountain with another gentle breeze and her eyes settled on the lake at the base of her mountain where almost teal waters blended into the green of the grass that skirted along its edges.
With one foot before the other she stepped down along the mountainside while using her staff to check for loose rocks and pebbles as she went. It was a practiced but careful descent and one that slowly changed the temperatures from a slight cold to a something just barely warmer. It had been a long time now since Kaili had left her little cave, but the time had come to continue her trek into the world she had found. At least for now. Until she felt that the time was right to go back home again.
But it had been a long time now since anyone had tried to contact her. The channels to reach her had always been open but nobody had really hailed her on it other than her mother who wished to see that her daughter was still alive, secluded in the mountains as she were. Yet Kaili wasn’t lonely. The benefit of Mechu Deru was the ability to create a lifeform of your own after all. Kaili had finally worked up the courage to dig into the lessons implanted upon her mind by Rave Merrill herself and begun to experiment with the act of binding her own will to otherwise inanimate objects and bestow upon mechanisms of stone and scrap a life of its own. It lacked the intelligence of Henry her pet droid but what it didn’t lack was the skill or impact of a bipedal creature of similar height to her own. It made for an excellent sparring partner and in truth, when mixed with the talks she had with Henry, she already felt far more fulfilled than she had been in a very long time. If this was what it meant to no longer run away from her troubles then perhaps she should have gotten to it far sooner than she did.
Yet despite her overall rugged appearance it was fair to say that the times had been kind to her. Kaili glowed with a rejuvenated purpose and strength that was visible both from the inside and outside. The calm that radiated off of her was hard to miss since where there once had been a torrential whirlwind of confusion and frustration there was now little more than a puddle of regrets that she hadn’t quite worked her way through yet. Beyond that the well-toned muscles that now clung to her bones as well as the bruises pasted on-top of them was a clear indicator that she had taken to regular exercise and practice, and she almost felt as good as she looked.
With a staff in hand she glanced around the room that had now grown to be like a second home to her. It was one of many second homes at this point yet her favorite by far. While it wasn’t the palace she had once had on Kiara it was still something that she could find pride and comfort in. She had made this with her own two hands and it still held together. Perhaps the spring in the wall that was her door drew in a bit too much cold on some days, but that was beyond her. A bigger hole as a door wouldn’t fix an already structurally unsound idea after all. Unhooking her lightsaber she gave the now-worn hilt a second glance before she placed it on a nearby table pieced together from different branches and twigs as she made her way towards the door.
With one foot through the crack she twisted her body to fit through the crack that was her door before she was outside again. One deep breath filled her lungs with a crisp sense of peace that was hard to achieve anywhere else. Eyes closed to the sun as a hand reached out to block out the rays that had blurred her vision. As they slowly opened again she was faced with the view that to this day still took her breath away and made ‘Mount Talith’ seem like nothing at all, as if there was nothing to this world other than herself and the tranquility that she had found. A second breath was all she needed, and a third, and a fourth. The condensation that parted from her mouth was carried off the mountain with another gentle breeze and her eyes settled on the lake at the base of her mountain where almost teal waters blended into the green of the grass that skirted along its edges.
With one foot before the other she stepped down along the mountainside while using her staff to check for loose rocks and pebbles as she went. It was a practiced but careful descent and one that slowly changed the temperatures from a slight cold to a something just barely warmer. It had been a long time now since Kaili had left her little cave, but the time had come to continue her trek into the world she had found. At least for now. Until she felt that the time was right to go back home again.