Private Grip

[Ishida Ashina]

Jem Fossk 's mention of spice provoked a more horrified reaction than Huttaburger had.

"No!" Her protest was as swift as it was earnest.

"Master Sardun had cultivated an army — loyally bound to him, and now, to me. He left me his ring, small token to the eye, but it means everything. His entire legacy."

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem blinked at the ferocity of Ishida's response. Well that was reassuring. Her relief was curbed but the following confession. No where in a thousand years could she have predicted that confession. It took her another moment-- and an exhale as she rocked back into her seat-- for her to fully understand it.

"He gave you an army?" She echoed.

"Where the hell did he get one of those?" And even more concerning-- what would a jedi have planned to do with it? She leaned forward again, her attention locked with intensity on her friend. "Why?"

 

[Ishida Ashina]

Ishida was not a stranger to the Order's scrutiny of Sardun. Year after year of her Padawanship, she'd seen the way they'd reacted to his intensity. It was nigh outright ostracizing.

"Yes." She answered the first question simply. An army, a fleet, a legacy.

"It wasn't a matter of getting," Ishida corrected Jem Fossk 's interpretation, and took a calm sip of her tea. Mostly to keep herself grounded. She was used to having to be defensive about her master with Bernard's interrogations. And his latest condemnations were still stinging. They'd made a wound in their relationship that remained open and raw.

"More a matter of creating. Sardun's purpose has always been clear, and gave those who are dedicated to the light's triumph and perpetuation the means to see results."

She paused, trying to be thoughtful, and tilted her head to the side. "Or did you mean why did he leave them to me?"

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem snorted noncommittally. None of this sounded order certified. A year ago such prospects would have made her grin. Now she bared her teeth in discomfort.

"It would be simpler if you were just using spice."

She shoved a pastry wrapped thingy into her mouth and sighed around the crumbs. When did she get so stiff about order rules? No rules, she then realized. The path to the light.

Could't mess up if you stayed out of the gray. Wasn't Ishida's Master some scandalous recluse? Jem didn't take this moment to ask.

"Well then lets see it," Jem relented with a gesture. "This thing that makes you unshatterable-- does everyone in the army get it?"

 

[Ishida Ashina]

Ishida shrugged dismissively at Jem's conjecture. As Michael Sardun 's padawan, she was used to operating slightly outside The Order's sanctions. Their modus operandi was largely the same, just a bit more focused. Jem Fossk 's suggestion that an addition might have been easier was disappointing, but not entirely surprising.

"It's not here." She stiffened, and arched a brow skeptically at Jem. "I don't wear it all the time. It's...a lot." Her hands smoothed over the napkin on her lap and stayed folded here.

"I only wear it while training, or on the field. It's one of a kind. I think it was made custom for Master Sardun — it doesn't completely fit me, so I'm not even sure I'm getting all the benefits." Her mouth drew into a thin line. Perhaps not the benefits, but Bernard seemed happy to imply that she was getting the afflictions from it. Altering her behaviour to go back to the severity he'd tried to suggest was inappropriate for her.

Ishida liked her severity. She held it close to herself, like a treasure worth protecting. Her father had made her harsh, but she was keeping it until the day she used it against him.

"No, but they get the benefits. Like a battlemeld." She tilted her head and considered that explanation. It was the closest she could come to articulating the network effects.

"I plan on training with it a lot more before Exegol." Ishida lowered her voice, her tone conspiratorial. "Are you..ready for what that might mean for you?"

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem's loose tongue grew still, the implications of what Ishida had been confiding slowly reaching her. She hadn't been one to look too closely at the order's views of right and wrong. To do so would have held a mirror far too close to home. She didn't need that mirror now to see the tension in Ishida's shoulders, or the careful way she chose each and every word.

Jem didn't have to understand to sense the severity of Ishida had done-- was doing--or might do. She felt a small pang of longing for Denon, where problems really were as simple as a spice raid and a bit help.

"We can train together," she offered; and in it was the answer to the question she avoided. No, she wasn't ready for Exegol. She wasn't sure she'd ever be, but it was coming all the same. She took a grounding breath in and out, then offered a flickering smile of confidence.

"It's nothing we haven't handled before."