Private Here, Light Still Shines

[Efret Farr]

It was odd.

Efret could admit as much.

The strength of the connection she and Corazona von Ascania had formed and the time they had known each other was inversely related, at least at present and from her perspective, but that itself wasn’t what was strange. Strong bonds could grow between any two beings, forged by time and often also tribulation; sometimes, though, their rise avoided explanation. There was a quality, or maybe a few, to Cora that had drawn Efret in closely, quickly, like a planet capturing a rogue object hurdling lost through space. They had been through quite a bit together too, from their visit to Efret's former enclave on Taris early on in their friendship to their exploration of Deep Well to their cooperative work as Jedi councilwomen.

What Efret wouldn’t admit, at least not as readily, was that she considered Cora like a mother to her.

That a Jedi would relate to another her junior in both years and expertise so deeply was the almost-inexplicable part.

After all, masters were supposed to become like parents to knights, padawans, and younglings. Efret had probably filled those shoes for many on Coruscant and beyond, but she found those same shoes empty for herself.

She had a birth mother, of course; Ierran Nalle-Farr, a woman whom the Force told Efret was alive and well in Province Bepru on Lorrd. Even in the ever-shifting tides of galactic conquest, the Farrs’ homeworld seemed destined to be caught between Darksider territories. Thus, it hadn’t ever felt safe enough to visit her family, and that was not the sort of thing it seemed to her like a Jedi should chance.

And though Efret hadn’t seen Ierran for more than two decades, a certain familiarity hung about Cora. It eluded full explanation. Maybe part of it was longing for a surrogate for that specific kind of connection that she had been forced to leave behind.

Yes, that was it. That was what had brought her to the Jedi enclave on Ukatis. She hadn’t arranged her visit, but she hoped that she’d be welcomed here nonetheless. As she walked through the overgrown campus towards the main building, nerves and wonder mingled, fluttering, in her chest.

The fire that the Galactic Alliance had carried might have been snuffed out, but embers from it still smoldered throughout the High Republic and beyond. Efret knew one such hearth to be Shiraya's Sanctuary on Naboo. Though she had only been there once half a year ago, she was able to feel its heartbeat from where she had retired in Lake Country. It was strong and steady, the makings of another great foothold of hope in the galaxy.

Here, too, the Light still shone.

She only dared to hope for herself that the Jedi here—and least of all Cora—didn't consider the former Chief Curator to be an apostate for resigning before the Fall, or worse, a traitor with foresight she hadn't shared.

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora felt Efret's approach before she'd even crossed the foggy boundary that encircled the temple grounds.

It wasn't an immediate thing, but a faint, familiar brush against her consciousness. Something she couldn't quite parse out at first, but trusted all the same.

She stood in what amounted to the temple’s garden, tending to the wild roses when Lucy began to squirm. At three months, the babe had spent more time in a sling, resting against her mother's chest, than she did in her pram or crib.

"We trim the roses to help them grow," she explained. "If you cut away the dead ends," her shears clipped at withered, woody stalks, "it helps to keep them healthy. When they're too crowded, they compete for nutrients."

Bundled in warm fabric, Lucy let out a soft grunt at the explanation of today's lesson. Cora could feel the wriggling of her little limbs, and with her free hand, gave the bundle a soothing pat.

"Shall we go and see who's come to visit us?"

Lucy gurgled her approval.

Cora gathered her gardening tools, and the pair began weaving through the wild hedges of greenery. The cold winter clouds above them and started to break up, throwing dappled sunlight over them as they moved towards the overgrown courtyard.

Towards something familiar in its warmth.

Efret Farr

 

[Efret Farr]

“Ensil.”

A human padawan had stopped sparring his animated dummy made of tightly wrapped vines. When he lowered his training saber to his side, the mannequin likewise stood down. “Who's that?” he whispered.

His Duros friend glanced first to him, then followed his gaze.

Past the limits of the training alcove, a woman with dark hair cascading down her back had entered the main courtyard, her back to the padawans. She wore black, and a saree no less, an attire at odds with the brown and tan tunics she had once worn regularly, but Ensil recognized her anyway. The convor on her shoulder made both of their identities unmistakable.

His red eyes seemed to sparkle in the shy light. “No way…”

His friend stepped closer to his side. “What?”

“That's Master Farr,” answered Ensil.

“The former Chief Curator?”

“Yeah.”

Ensil almost felt his friend's scowl. “She left the NJO before it collapsed, didn't she?”

The question hadn't seemed intended as an actual question but an accusation, which wouldn't do. Ensil felt moved to stand up for the former councilwoman, so he did. He looked away from Efret at his friend and said, “Coruscant would have still fallen even if she hadn't.”

“Why would you say something like that?” a feminine voice injected into the conversation. Another padawan, a Falleen named Shermi, had paused her own martial practice sometime and approached the boys. “Because she's Deaf and Blind?”

Shermi hadn't shared with many at this enclave that she had a pheromone dysfunction, but what was well known was her admiration of Efret Farr. She had done a research project relatively recently on her and her contributions for Modern Jedi History class.

“No, that's not—” Ensil began defensively, then stopped himself. Jedi didn't whine, he reminded himself; they simply corrected. “She's an Archeologist.”

His friend offered his own correction. “Was.”

“A Jedi is always a Jedi, short of a fall," Ensil stated, almost surely repeating something he had heard from a master. That didn't mean that he didn't believe it though. "And if she's here in peace, she hasn't fallen and,” he jabbed a finger into his friend's shoulder, “you should show some respect.”

“That and,” Shermi added, “I heard that she held out against a Darkside Elite twice.” Both boys gave her looks—Ensil confused and the other annoyed. “What? I read Grandmaster Noble’s after action reports.” She hadn't compiled them for fun. “That's impressive, Dion, admit it!”

“Not as impressive as what all Knight von Ascania has been through,” Dion argued, crossing his arms. “And she stayed to the end. She was in the Grand Temple when the Empire took Coruscant.”

The Force rippled like a brewing sea between the trio.

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora lingered at the periphery of the hedges. Was it eavesdropping? Probably, but she remained fascinated by the way the Padawans spoke.

Efret! It was Efret. They hadn't seen one another in years, and though Cora had been disappointed by her absence, as a person more than a Jedi, she understood that Efret's reasons were her own.

Still, let herself feel the particular way that her heart fluttered with the good news. Efret was here, and by no mistake had chosen this particular enclave for a reason. Then, the rest filtered in, and Cora saw it fit to sweep out from behind the cover of greenery.

"It does not serve us well to compare our achievements - or our failures."

The situation called for a more admonishing tone, but with a baby strapped to her chest and a long lost friend nearby, Cora couldn't help the way amusement wavered the line of her lips.

"Have any of you thought to ask Master Farr what lead to her departure? Or are we better served by arguing?"

Efret Farr

 

[Efret Farr]

A chorus of dejected nos was the response to her question.

Nirrah's head turned at the commotion, swiveling 180 degrees on her small body and ruffling feathers in its wake.

By now, Efret had climbed a stone staircase to the main temple's approach and was steadily nearing the grand doors. But when Nirrah averted her gaze, Efret too saw the courtyard behind them.

Cora.

The older Jedi turned and retraced her steps. At the landing of the stairs, she took up a section of her saree draped over her legs to descend back to the plush grass below.

She approached the group of Jedi that she hadn't noticed before. "Hello, padawans," she greeted with a slight bow of her head.

"Hello, Master Farr," Shermi and Ensil returned only slightly out of sync. Dion's greeting was mumbled a few seconds later.

Efret didn't seem to notice. Instead of watching them, Nirrah's eyes caught movement in the sling across Cora's chest. Efret stepped closer, almost entranced as she watched a little hand clamping into a fist then opening rise up into the open air, but kept a respectful distance.

"Oh my!" As always, the tinny, feminine voice of her vocabulator was unmodulated, but Efret's facial expressions more than made up for the lack of verbal tone. Now, they were exceedingly soft. "Who's this? May I look closer?"

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora decided to eschew the lecture lingering on her tongue. She certainly wouldn't curtail the student's discussion, but had sought to guide it into something a little more productive.

That thought evaporated when Efret, her attention caught by the commotion, appeared with Nirrah as her herald.

Cora's expression brightened, and she didn't hesitate to step forward and into the aura of a friend. Because that was what Efret remained to her, despite the time and distance.

The Force around her swelled with a joyful sort of pride, as if the esoteric power itself were holding its breath. Cora turned so that Efret and Nirrah could see the tiny face peeking out from the sling.

"This," Cora softened her voice in affectionate introduction, "is Luciana. Already three months old."

For her part, the babe stared up at Efret with the sort of silent, unabashed curiosity that only a child could. Wide blue eyes blinked as her mother brushed the strands of a dark, wispy curl from her forehead.

"Would you like to say hello to Master Farr?"

Efret Farr

 

[Efret Farr]

Efret reached to the highest of her stacked necklaces to turn down the volume of her interpretation unit. Her intention was not to limit Cora's understanding of her fussing over Lucy, but to ensure the baby girl's comfort. Sometimes, the robotic voice caused distress. Even it it wouldn't cause any bother in and of itself, unfamiliar voicing and signing could be overwhelming.

Efret would much rather her facial expressions, which she could control, made an initial impression on Lucy.

When her voice came again, it was much quieter, though Cora would be able to hear it if she focused.

"Hello, Luciana," greeted the master. "Almost three months with Cora as a mother and Makko as a father..." She glanced back into the clearing behind them, then back at Lucy. The happiness that her smile held was a bankfull river, brimming and ready to flood, but without any of the usual threat. "...and this place as a home. You're a very lucky girl."

She straightened up and looked to Cora. "Are you hungry?" she asked, though it wasn't a question for long. "Let me cook for you. A portion for now and then some you can put away."

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Luciana’s attention flicked back and forth from Efret’s smiling face to her vocabulator. She’d never encountered a person whose voice had come from their neck before!

The woman’s bright expression had the desired effect: Lucy cooed, lifting both of her arms with a gurgle before letting them drop.

“Makko and I are the lucky ones,” Cora insisted. Chuckling softly, she ran the back of her thumb over Luciana’s cheek. The babe tilted her neck back - wobbly on developing muscles - to glance up at her mother.

An infant’s attention was a fickle thing, and soon, her eyes were on Nirrah. A happy squeal emanated from the sling as little legs kicked in excitement.

“A meal would be lovely. I bet you’ve picked up quite a few recipes during your research?”

Cora motioned for Efret to follow her up the temple steps and past the great doors. The small enclave had made its home in an abandoned family manor; it was all ancient stonework and wild vegetation. Though portions of the structure had to be cleaned and reinforced for safety, much of the classic Ukatian architecture remained untouched.

“The kitchen is just down here,” Cora gestured as she lead Efret and Nirrah down another narrow staircase. The space that they entered was made of thick stone, outfitted with a few modern appliances to help keep food fresh.

“We grow much of what we eat here on the grounds. What we don’t have, we trade for with the local villages.”

Efret Farr

 

[Efret Farr]

As both of their attention was focused on Luciana—Efret and Nirrah's—Cora would likely notice the flecks of deep purple floating in the convor's big, yellow-green eyes.

The particular shade was prevalent in the Netherworld. When Elias had gotten trapped there, Nirrah had been stuck with him. Efret had told Valery shortly after it happened, back when they all sat on the NJO Council, so it was also likely that Cora had heard then. What she hadn't know was that the time they had been in realm had physically stained their eyes.

"Too many to remember, in fact," the master confirmed with a smile. As she followed Cora's lead, the padawans behind them awkwardly returned to martial training.

Once in the kitchen, and having heard that the enclave grew much of its own food, Efret began to acquaint herself with the space. She started by opening cabinets high and low to look through the cabinets. Shutting a door, she looked to Cora and added to her comment out in the courtyard, "I also know many traditional Lorrdian recipes. I was around ten when I was brought to Coruscant, so some I remember helping my mother cook. Others I've discovered in research. Lorrd always seems too close to Sith-controlled space to visit, both for my family's safety and my own." Efret had been an archeologist and an anthropologist, and in such had never been one for combat. The skirmishes that she had taken part in during the now-defunct GA's most recent wars hadn't changed that. She had stumbled through them and was honestly surprised that she had survived. She could breathe much easier now, of at least part of her could, because that fighting was over.

The demure sadness that had come over Efret since coming inside was reminiscent of a blooming flower moved out of the sun.

"You're not just lucky to have this one," she said, indicating towards Lucy in her sling. "You're lucky to have your homeworld."

Lorrd wasn't physically gone, of course; it still occupied the same orbit abound the Lorrdian sun in the Kanz sector that it had since its formation. Much the same human culture inhabited it as did in the beginning, changed only relatively somewhat by the march of time and the influence of new ideas. Even still, it was effectively lost to Efret. She couldn't risk going back, not since she became a Jedi and not for the foreseeable future.

Maybe not ever.

Efret smiled despite herself. "I'll make you a dahl. It's traditional to use lentils but any kind of beans or peas will work. I enjoy food but I'm not a purist." She drummed the fingers of one hand against the air, considering her word choice. "The overall impression of a recipe is much more important than any of the ingredients."

Preparing a dish with all of its proper ingredients was often the most delicious way to enjoy it, but not always the best. It was always practical to use what was available from world to world, but just because they were on Ukatis didn't mean that they couldn't eat Lorrdian food. It was also always a beautiful thing to inject creativity into tradition.

"What do you think I should use?"

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

The gentleness didn’t fall from Cora’s expression, but something in it sobered with understanding. Ukatis had been through two extra-planetary wars in the past few years, and freedom had been both hard-fought and hard-won.

But, it was still freedom.

Cora would always maintain a measure of guilt for her part in those wars, but she believed she’d done one thing right in seeking membership with the Republic when the Alliance had been poised to fall.

Right by Ukatis, not by the Alliance. Still, here they were.

“You’re right; I am lucky for those things...” Cora took a step towards Efret to place a hand on her shoulder. “The galaxy is changing, and I do hope that the pendulum will see it fit swing in our direction again.” She tried for a smile, small and quiet. “I hope that Lorrd will be safe enough to visit, soon.”

Cora’s hand fell away from Efret, her attention sweeping the lower rung of cabinets.

“We have…” Cora bent to open one of the doors, revealing a small burlap bag. She unwound the drawstring, opening the sack to reveal a host of dried beans.

“Polta beans,” she announced. “We don’t grow them here at the temple, but we trade for them with the southern provinces.”

Before Cora could lift the bag toward Efret, a tiny, uncoordinated hand dug into the bounty of beans. Lucy flailed with a happy squeal, then laughed as she sent little tan beans scattering across the floor.

Efret Farr