Private Heavy Lifting

[Jane]

Outfit: Jedi Robes and Armor
Inventory: Jedi Training Modified Lightsaber, pouches with seeds, standard Jedi equipment.
Tag: Aiden Porte

Location: Space Port Near Eshan

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Work did not stop. The moment one mission was completed, another one began. Even if there wasn't a mission, there was a lesson. And, as the Snowpeak Sanctuary's overseer's Padawan, Jane felt extra pressure to dutifully keep working. Nonetheless, she didn't mind. There were refugees to rescue, Jedi to save, and Imperials to beat. And hopefully some battledroids to destroy on the way.

And so, the short purple girl had just returned from a mission, arriving at a space port near the planet of the Snowpeak Sanctuary, which she called home. It was a more standard mission, a smuggle run to gain more medical equipment. She'd been gone for about five moon cycles, and everything went well. For a moment, it seemed that they were about to be captured by pirates before they even had the load, but they managed to outrun them before they could hook onto them. After that, the journey to the meeting point and back to the space station were both smooth.

Still. After a few months, Jane just couldn't adjust to being shuttles for a long period of time. Or, for that matter, on a space port. They were all unnatural things.

Regardless, almost all of the mission's crew had already walked away, each carrying a few crates. Jane was left behind with a large crate full of bacta and gauzes, which she fearlessly claimed she could carry to the cargo ship heading to the sanctuary. It was resting directly in front of the shuttle's ramp, visible to anyone passing by. Oh well, she vowed she'd never lie and didn't feel any emotions that would cause her to be cautious or reconsider her actions, or ask for help. Do it, or don't do it. No inbetweens. So, without a care, Jane approached the crate half her size.

Jane bent her knees, squeezed her small hands around the sides of the crates, and grunted as she began to drag it across the metallic floor, making spine-chilling scratching noises as metal dragged against metal.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Aiden had been moving at a measured pace through the port, cloak brushing the deck as he guided a pair of supply clerks toward the ship's cargo bay. His mind was already running ahead, allocating the crates in the med-bay, shuffling rations for the new refugees, planning out the endless sequence of lessons and reports that awaited him back on his vessel.

The noise stopped him mid-stride.

It was the unmistakable shriek of metal dragged raw against metal, a sound that set teeth on edge. He turned, eyes narrowing slightly, and there she was: Jane Her short frame squared stubbornly against a crate nearly twice her mass, purple hair sticking out from the exertion, expression set into that familiar mask of 'do it or die trying.'

For a heartbeat, Aiden said nothing. He knew that look. The same one he himself had worn when he was her age, carrying burdens because someone had to, because admitting the weight was too much felt like weakness. He stepped toward her, his presence calm, the Force flowing like cool air in a stifling room.

"Hi there." he said, voice steady but not sharp. "That crate is not the lesson."

His boots clicked against the plating as he drew closer, extending one hand. With the smallest focus of will, the box lifted, smooth and silent, into the air, breaking free from her strained grip and hovering at waist height between them. The awful scraping ceased. He studied her for a moment, his tone carrying neither rebuke nor indulgence, only quiet understanding. "The lesson," he continued, "is knowing when the burden is greater than your arms, and trusting that you are not alone in carrying it."

The crate drifted forward under his guidance toward the waiting freighter. Aiden finally glanced back at Jane, one corner of his mouth curving in something close to a smile.


"You've already proven your strength. Don't mistake stubbornness for it." Aiden held his hand out towards her, showing a fuller smile now. "My name is Aiden Porte, Jedi Knight. It's a pleasure to meet you, young one."

 

[Jane]

Tag: Aiden Porte

---

Despite being usually keenly aware of her senses via the Force to compensate for her lackluster cybernetic pieces, Jane was so focused on dragging the crate to the next cargo ship that she missed the Jedi Knight approaching her. It wasn't until his calm and steady voice reached her ears that she came to a stop.

Before Jane could let go and get a better look at the source of the voice, the Force swirled through the air, carrying a melody she'd never heard before. Strong and firm, unmoving and a bit eager but never too harsh. It was unlike any other presence she had ever come across, with Kahlil's song perhaps coming closest. Nonetheless, that melody, his Force, had reached for the crate she was holding, grasping it and lifting it out of her hands.

Jane's hands dropped limply to her sides, while the strain from the dragging had caused her chest to rise and fall heavily. Her pitch black cybernetic eyes rose up towards the man, carrying an empty look as she studied him.

Hearing his words, the half-Sephi tilted her head to the right, as if considering them. He was older than her, and by the looks of it much wiser and stronger. Given the warmth in his song and his ability to use the Force, and the fact he immediately offered advice, he was undoubtedly a Jedi.

However, it was not until he introduced himself that the girl started to open up. She'd always been careful around strangers, but now that she knew his name, he was no longer one. So she approached him, placing her purple scarred hand in his before gently shaking it. "Hello. I'm Jane, a Jedi Padawan. It is nice to meet you." The girl's voice was flat and monotone, and her doll-like metallic face remained blank in contrast to the man's full smile.

"I understand what you mean. I think I messed up." Jane paused, her gaze drawn to the crate as it floated towards the cargo ship waiting for it, so it could leave. Once it had drifted up the ramp and disappeared out of sight, her focus snapped back towards Aiden. "Everyone else was already busy, so I said I could do it. And a promise is a promise. You can not break a promise." She'd shove that crate up a mountain if she had to, just to keep her word.

"What would you have done?" Despite the fact that her tone and expression never changed, the small step she took closer to the man, combined with the slightest twitch in her metallic fluted ears, showed she was curious to learn more.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Aiden felt the weight of her words as surely as he had felt the crate. The cadence of her tone, that measured monotone, struck him less as coldness and more as discipline, rigid edges built to keep something vulnerable within. Her grip, though small, had carried the same: a strength that wanted to prove itself, to hold fast even when the task itself was folly. His smile softened, tempered with understanding, and he clasped her scarred hand briefly before letting her have her space again. The Force around her was raw and bright, pulled taut like a string, eager, determined, but edged with strain.

"I believe you," he said simply, answering the heart of her conviction before addressing the logic of it. "And I don't think you messed up. You carried the promise with all the strength you had. That counts for more than the crate itself."

He let his eyes follow the bacta shipment as it disappeared up the freighter's ramp, then returned his gaze to her dark lenses. The lack of expression didn't unsettle him; he knew better than to look only for the surface.


"What would I have done?" He drew in a quiet breath, the air in the hangar humming with starship engines and lingering ion trails. "I would have kept the promise too. But not by carrying it alone. I would have asked—" his brow lifted slightly, "....or allowed my comrades to help me fulfill it."

Aiden's hands folded calmly behind his back, his voice steady and warm. "Strength isn't measured by how much you drag on your own. It's measured by how well you keep walking forward together. The galaxy will test that lesson again and again."

He tilted his head, meeting her curiosity with his own. "Tell me, Jane. When you picture keeping your word… do you see yourself walking alone? Or do you imagine others beside you, walking the same road?"

Jane

 

[Jane]

Tag: Aiden Porte

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It took a second after the handshake ended and hands were dropped for Jane to realize she was still too far inside his bubble and take a step back. She herself didn't care much about personal space, but she'd been taught that others did, so she tried to remember that. Although in reality, as she listened closely to him and leaned a bit forwards, personal space was still somewhat hard to find.

Aiden's words brought a nuance she hadn't considered. Jane had not broken her promise by the end of the day because the crate had made it to the cargo freighter. And above all, she had given it her all, using whatever strength she could muster, which was worth something. Yet it still didn't feel right.

The Jedi Knight then answered her question, causing her to lean even further forward as she paid closer attention. "Oh. Ask for help." The girl repeated, her black spheres remaining steady on his blues. Before she could say much else, Aiden continued, his words loaded with wisdom.

Next came his question with a curiosity that met her own. For the first time since they met, Jane's expression changed. Her brows, painted on finely with the thinnest paintbrush, lowered enough for the old, outdated mechanics behind to whizz for a moment.

Jane had always worked alone, as far back as she could remember. When she asked for help, it was because she didn't know something, not because she needed physical help. Even during missions, she was willing to fight every single battledroid there was on her own, leading to Acier to step in and offer his help.

It wasn't even because Jane wanted to be alone; she had planned a potluck, attended Hidden Path's celebration, and organized a group of misfits for a smuggle run. But, in the end, she'd lift the impossible crate by herself. She hosted the potluck on her own. She went to the celebration on her own. She had been following the Force alone since the day she fled the old man's workshop, and her path had never changed.

There was one exception, though. One soul, who she could see walk alongside her.

"I have always seen my road as alone. Other people their paths can be next to mine, but not on mine. Even when I'm trying to keep my word." Jane reached up and ran a finger idly over her Padawan braid. "Only my Master, Everest Vale , walks down the same road as me. I see her next to me."

Then she tilted her head to the right, not expecting such a heavy subject so soon after a mission, but welcoming it nonetheless. "Do you see people walking with you? You mentioned that strength is how well you walk forward together. You look very strong." Even now, her painfully logical and black-and-white perspective snapped back into the foreground.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Aiden watched her closely as she leaned in, her presence narrowing like a blade searching for the seam in armor. Her honesty landed with the weight of stone. She had charted her life's journey as a solitary path, even when the laughter of celebrations and the warmth of shared meals surrounded her. She named her Master as the only one permitted to step truly alongside her. That admission struck Aiden, not for its bleakness, but for the quiet devotion it carried.

He inclined his head slightly, considering, then answered with the same calm tone he had offered since the start.

"Yes. I see people walking with me. More than I once believed possible." His gaze drifted toward the bay where the bacta had disappeared, as if looking beyond it. "Some have only walked a short way before parting. Some I still see at my side, even if distance keeps us apart. My father. My Master. And… my friends. Those I've chosen to trust."

His voice grew softer, but not less firm. "The path of a Jedi asks much of us, Jane. There will be stretches that feel utterly lonely. But if we are willing to look, we will find footprints beside our own. Strength comes not only from keeping your promises, but from letting others keep theirs to you."

Aiden let that hang a moment, then met her steady gaze with his own. "You are not less for needing others. You are more."

The faintest smile tugged at his lips again, though it was tempered by the weight of the truth. "As for me looking strong… strength is often just the will to admit when I feel weak, and still keep walking. I don't think I've ever done that alone."

Jane