I Miss Your Face

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori was missing her twin brother [member="Caedyn Arenais"] far more than she thought she was. Even though she was distracted at times with her training with [member="Jaster of Clan Awaud"] , most nights she thought of Cae and what he could be doing. Was he alright? Through their twin connection, she knew that he was okay and was still alive. Yet there was something off about him.

After the party on Antar IV, he seemed, well more angry. And there was a simple cure for that. LORI PRANKS!! If there was anything that could make him feel better, it was that! At least they made her feel better, anyways.

So on the first break that she had (when she was supposed to be reading about the great leaders of Mandalore), Lori took out her datapad and quickly typed up a message:

~Hey Snotface!

Whatcha doing? Need my help? I've got something totally awesome to show you! Your jaw would just DROP! So where are you? What system? I don't want to show Mom cause she might freak out.

Hit me back!

The Manda'Lori'an.~

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Tython​

Stav Kesh​

[member="Loreena Arenais"]​

​

​

Everybody who was anybody to the Force knew about the world of Tython, or at the very least could find the massive amount of documentation through the nearest Archive access to locate it's place just south of Coruscant in the heart of the Galaxy, the Core Worlds, west of Commenor. It was here that Caedyn lay upon his bed in the student dorms of Stav Kesh still adjusting to the light of the new day. Morning had come and it was exceptionally early for a day where he had been given to rest and relax after a difficult week of training.

[member="Loreena Arenais"] wasn't the only one suffering due to their distance from one another. Caedyn had been doing his best to make friends yet there seemed to be a good lack of students that were the same age as he was within the Je'daii, let alone visiting the same temples and locations he was at the same times. [member="Asha Hex"] had proven to be a most wonderful Master and yes, too a friend. She had welcomed Caedyn in and those he had met thus far were all very accommodating, yet for a boy his age, he just wanted someone to relate to.

Life was changing, Caedyn was growing up and already he had gotten a little taller since his sister had last seen him; so too had his attitude on life since discovering through gossip of others, the sins of their Father. He hadn't spoken of them to anyone, let alone his Sister whom he knew would be distraught by the news. She was his favorite after all, Veiere's princess. Caedyn felt protective of her for that, the love that she had for their father and the relationship that he had come to realize was as strong as it was...

To his side however his datapad blipped in alert, a notification lighting up the screen to which displayed his Twin Sisters message and caused Caedyn to smile a little, reaching for it before laying back down against his back and holding the device above him to read her message. She wanted to visit and that sounded really good, he couldn't ignore how much he had missed his sisters company, even when she could be so cheeky sometimes, they always gave as much as they got with one another mind you.

Hey Lori !​

​

I'm on Tython at the moment, there's a big temple on top of the Ice Ranges, ​

some really crazy mountain area kinda like back home...​

You should totally come visit, I'll send you the coordinates...​

​

Don't crash!​

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori just grinned when she read the words 'crazy mountains'. Oh that was PERFECT!! Especially for what she had planned. She nearly dropped her datapad over the excitement, but quickly caught it before typing and sending her reply:

~Don't crash? Ha! We both know that I am a better pilot. Be there in a jiffy!~

She was already dressed and ready to go in her light armour, having always been an early riser, eager to get the day started. Such a thing always allowed her to prank [member="Caedyn Arenais"] . It made her wonder if he was ever cautious about waking up for he knew that she could strike at any time. Her pranks were always at random, which was practice for real life. In some ways she was training her older brother and she took pride in that.

A few hours later, Lori piloted the Grey Sparrow to Tython, breaking into the atmpsphere after clearance was granted. She followed the co-ordinates that Cae had given her, however instead of landing straight away, she buzzed the Temple a couple of times, flying low over the top of it, enough to get noticed real quick. Behind the controls, Lori just grinned, pleased with what her little fighter could do. Of course Cae hadn't seen anything yet! She landed the Grey Sparrow on the designated landing pad and then powered her down, causing the whine of the engines to dissipate. Lori retracted the roof, unbuckled herself and then climbed out, dropping to the ground with a thud.

Now she just needed to find Cae.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

[member="Loreena Arenais"] would no doubt just love him for neglecting to explain to her that despite the height of the mountains peak, star-fighters and other space faring vessels weren't able to dock nearby to the action temple itself due to the mountainous surroundings and the share wind factor, the risk of being swept against the structure itself or the very mountain; instead she would have been guided to land down at the base of the great rock and it would be there that Caedyn Arenais would be awaiting her, at the start of the great man made stair case that climbed the face of the rise all the way up so many hundreds of steps to reach the summit.

This was part of his training and though they were both young, Caedyn had already started to feel a slight ease to the daily climb for the way his body was growing used to so much physical exercise and conditioning. Even as the air grew thin the higher up he got, he was guided to keep up pace with his peers and to learn to discipline himself both in body and mind, to ignore the grueling pain and push himself beyond his limits. Today, he wondered just how well his Sister might do having to face such a climb without any prior experience of being there before.

Approaching the Grey Sparrow upon it's settling against the forward landing pad, Caedyn smiled to himself as his eyes looked the small but impressive fighter over. If this was Lori's, he had to give her some credit, it was both sleek and quick looking. Definitely a little bird that he could come to admire. He on the other hand didn't have a vessel of his own and instead preferred to travel with his Master aboard the 'Prophet'. [member="Asha Hex"] had given him his own private quarters aboard her own craft and it was something Caedyn had felt both humbled and proud of.

"Who'd you steal that from ??" Caedyn called out as Lori climbed down to be met by him walking up onto the slightly raised platform, a grin only growing across his face as he further approached and sought to wrap his arms around his Sister having missed her greatly.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori snickered as [member="Caedyn Arenais"] teased her about her ship. Typical Cae. It was one of the things that she had missed about him in these months and she was glad that he hadn't changed. Her arms wrapped tightly around him as soon as they met eachother. Lori held him for a moment, creating for herself a memory that she could recall when she needed to. There were certainly times when she was going to have to. Mandalorians had tough lives afterall.

"I got it as a gift. I call it the Grey Sparrow. See it has Commenori colours and everything! Jaster's been teaching me a lot of stuff, like flying, engineering, fighting and other Mando stuff. He says that I'm a good learner. And you know, Mandos' aren't tough all the time. I've seen a lot of them be very sad. At times I'm not quite sure how to react to it.."

She stepped back from him for a moment, looking at Cae up and down as she studied him. "You grew! You're even taller than me now! That's so not fair! Still.. you'll fit. Wanna come fly with me? We can zip through the mountain range before you take me to your home. I can show you some of the neat tricks I've learned. It'll be fun!" Lori just grinned at him, ever hopeful. There was something bothering him, but at the moment it hadn't surfaced just yet. One way or another, she'd find out what was wrong.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

"Grey Sparrow?"

Caedyn grinned to his Sister, the name seemingly amusing him; "Sounds like something Mom would call it" he added as if to explain his broad smile, looking the little bird over. "Dad has paid for someone to take us all over the Galaxy in The Repertoire, you know about that right ?" Caedyn did his best not to show his latest frustrations regarding their father, though he wasn't entirely certain Lori had much of an idea around the vessel that was available to them and forever on call should they need Adelle Ciryal's services.

"I haven't really learned anything about flying yet" He shrugged a little indifferently, not particularly phased by the fact; "Master [member="Asha Hex"] has a ship called 'The Prophet' which we spend a lot of time in jumping from place to place. The Je'daii have a lot of places like this..." He turned to point towards the peak for which the Temple of Stav Kesh could be just barely seen from their position far down below at the base of the great climb.

His Sister soon commented on his height to which Caedyn hadn't exactly noticed given they'd not been around each other in so long and everyone else here was so much older and bigger than he was, it was so hard to tell otherwise. While he didn't know how to pilot a ship himself however, her invitation to jump on into her own and go for a sprint with her sounded awesome!

"Heck yes, I'm keen !" He chuckled abruptly and began to move closer to the little bird alongside [member="Loreena Arenais"].

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori nodded a little, although when she was told earlier about Adelle, she wasn't really paying attention. "Yeah, I know that we have a ship to use. But how can I show you my little fighter without ACTUALLY showing you?

She looked up to where he had pointed, the temple disappearing in the sky it seemed. However long it took to make the big climb, she didn't know. And she certainly didn't plan for it. Maybe they had a lift somewhere?

Lori grinned as [member="Caedyn Arenais"] agreed to hop into the Grey Sparrow. "Great! You'll love it! At least I do." She walked briskly to her little fighter and climbed in, leaving Caedyn to sit in the seat behind her. He had controls just as she did. All that it took was the hit of a switch to activate it. "Make sure to buckle in. Won't want to lose ya!" As soon as Cae was inside, she closed the hatch and locked it. Then she turned on the ignition and the Sparrow came to life, it's engines purring as the ship was still warmed up from her arrival. Within moments she piloted the fighter off the landing pad and into the mountain range.

[video]https://youtu.be/7pSKo2N8WGY[/video]​

Of course Lori was giving Cae the easy ride for a start. She didn't want him to pass out just yet.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

The flight they shared together was admittedly a really nice change of pace once he found his way into the co-pilots (rear) seat and strapping himself in. With the canopy closing over them it wouldn't be long before his Sister, [member="Loreena Arenais"] would jettison them off and soaring into the sky, Caedyn was left looking down to his right over the temple of Stav Kesh that they'd soon pass, then to follow along the mountain trail of snow capped peaks and open blue skies ahead.

"I bet Brad would love to give you a race, Lori..." Caedyn mused openly, thinking about their Step-Brother, [member="Bradshaw Ku"] of whom they'd not seen in quite some time now. It was different being so far away from their family and the people of Commenor. Caedyn had never enjoyed school and friends had been hard to come by that weren't solely interested in the fame of being the son of a King and Queen to millions. Nowadays that had perhaps turned into infamy in which case he supposed it was a good thing they had gotten away, but still it was hard not to miss their home.

"Have you heard much from Mom?" He asked somewhat out of the blue, though his gaze was off across the horizon of Tython, he couldn't help but broach the subject, thinking of the recent news surrounding their father. Lori clearly hadn't yet seen the media article surrounding their Dad's recent arrest but the rumor's had reached him before that had gone live. By now however, the guy that was looking after Lori had probably found out. Most adults tended not to be so stupid and being a big strong Mandalorian, Caedyn imagined that her new friend was probably going to blow the story wide open sooner or later.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori grinned. Of cpurse she'd love to take on [member="Bradshaw Ku"] in a race. It'd be totally awesome to kick is butt, let him eat her dust and then gloat about it afterwards. Most kids would do the same as her when beating an older sibling. Lori was the youngest, so she had a lot to make up for.

"Heard from Mom? Not since Antar. Why?...Jaster said that part of my training is limiting my contact. I'm lucky that he lets me visit you."" There was something in her voice that was sure to let [member="Caedyn Arenais"] know that she knew more than she was letting on. Lori had heard the rumours of their Father, but as far as she knew, they were just made up. Grown ups liked to make up stories. And she had yet gathered the courage to ask [member="Jaster of Clan Awaud"] about it.

Lori waited for Cae's answer, turning the nose of her little fighter skyward so that they were in a steep climb. She didn't push the throttle though. She eased them up into a higher altitude to ready them for her next trick. This gave them time for Cae to answer her question.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

"No reason...-Just wondering" Caedyn responded a little too quickly, though quietly relieved. For the most part it sounded as though his Sister hadn't yet heard the news, though he also knew that [member="Loreena Arenais"] wasn't silly and that it'd catch up with her sooner or later, he simply didn't want to be the one to break it to her.

Turning to glance back out through the Canopy, he wondered what would have happened if they were still stuck back on Commenor together at home with their Parents. Would their Father have gone and done the things the news was saying about him? With them both there in the house on the hills, could they have somehow kept him from turning evil...-It brought a frown to his expression, now somewhat thankful that he too was seated behind his Sister in the Co-Pilot's chair.

"What's that Jaster guy like anyway?" He asked, both wanting to change the conversation away from their family but now too curious about the guy that was supposedly looking after his Sister. Naturally he hadn't had much of a say given that he'd been forced to leave home before her but now that they'd been briefly introduced and this was the first chance to talk with Lori in private since, he wondered and felt almost protectively for her.

"He's nice to you and stuff, right?".

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori furrowed her brows. [member="Caedyn Arenais"] was a little too quick to answer her question. Something was bothering him and more than likely it had to do with the rumours surrounding their Dad. He must've heard them too. Maybe he even believed them. But she couldn't. Their Dad was the best ever! He protected them and their people, as well as others. There was no way that he would slaughter people. Their dad was a hero, not a villain.

They were near the arc of her climb by the time Cae inquired about Jaster. Lori grinned, both in anticipation and in being satisfied with her chosen guardian. "Jaster's cool. He doesn't get after me for my pranks, teaches me a lot about mechanics, hand-to-hand combat, Mandalorian culture.. and this!"

Lori reached up and yanked a lever. One would think that it'd open the canopy, but no. Instead the entire fighter seemed to power down, the engine turning off. At once the acceleration slowed down and the Grey Sparrow began to freefall. Lori held firmly to the controls, turning the ship around so that it's fall would become a nose dive. She didn't keep her eyes to the mountain range growing ever closer while they plummeted. Instead she watched the altimeter, counting down the seconds in her head and cross referencing the distance so that she could calculate her speed. Her mind worked quickly, but she relied on instinct as well. At the last possible moment she punched one of the buttons and pulled on the controls as hard as she could. "Come on, come on, come on!" Lori spoke those words almost like a mantra while the Grey Sparrow was finally pulled out of the dive and flew in between two mountains before leveling off. "Yes!!"

Once she gained a bit more altitude, she looked over her shoulder to her brother. "Wasn't that great!? Jaster says that I could use that trick to sneak into the atmosphere of a planet. With the engines off there's no heat signature, so it tricks the sensors looking out for ships. I turn them back on when we're out of the scanning area which is usually just under 1000 feet from the ground! Not everyone can pull that kind of stunt, but Jaster says that I'm a natural." She began to turn the fighter around. "Do you wanna try flying her for a bit?"

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

At the height of their ascension, the engines to the little bird suddenly whined down, Caedyn's eyes darting to the pilots seat ahead of him within the small cockpit as he quickly made sense of what his Twin-Sister was playing at; the weight of the craft began to pull them backwards and the momentum caused his stomach to flutter, as if feeling as though he had lost it somewhere within his chest.

"Grife, Lori !?" Caedyn exclaimed as his hands sought the nearest solid surface to steady himself and hold on to as the world passed them by over head, the vessel flipping back to plummet down head first into a nose dive. Admittedly, flying wasn't much for Caedyn, he preferred having his feet on solid ground given his general fear of heights. His Master often took care of the piloting and if not for [member="Asha Hex"], then it would be Adelle Ciryal whom their father had employed yet more or less worked part time these days given the children's great measure of independence.

"Please don't get us killed !..." he added most hastily. Life had been kind to him recently, despite the news of their father, the Je'daii had proven to be more than a mere group for which he belonged to, they had become a family that he could depend upon and look to for guidance and life long experience when he wished or needed it. Like [member="Loreena Arenais"], Caedyn was carving his own path within the galaxy, one of which he was quickly coming to excel within.

Most fortunately, the little bird seemed to level out with the swift passing company of two great mountain ranges racing on by, the wings of their little craft coming far too close to the rocky terrain for his comfort though his Sister seemed to cheer with great enthusiasm in her success. While his sense of astonishment, fear and alarm had been at an all time high, so too had his connection with his Sister through that of the Force. Her senses had grown sharp and she had forever kept her cool during the entire maneuver which Caedyn couldn't help but be impressed by, such was the reason why he couldn't be frustrated with her for having scared him so.

"Please don't do that again...." He muttered under his breath, trying to close his eyes in the hopes of slowing his heart rate.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Instead of outright glee, Lori sensed a much different emotion than she had expected. [member="Caedyn Arenais"] was scared. She turned herself back around and then started to bring the Grey Sparrow back to the bottom of that huge flight of stairs where she had first landed. "I'm sorry Cae. I thought you'd like it...I've had a lot of practice, honest." Maybe next time she'll show him her jet pack, once she was finished making it, that is.

It wasn't long before the Grey Sparrow touched down gently. Lori shut her down, flicking the switches and releasing the canopy before unbuckling herself. She took in a deep breath and as she let it out, she shoved her sad emotions aside and replaced them with happy ones. She was with her brother, afterall. And they had a lot of catching up to do.

"Come on. I want to see your room and the kind of neat stuff that you've been doing. I'll bet that you've got some great adventure stories! I want to hear all about it!" Her tummy grumbled loudly. "Maybe over lunch? I think I'm starving."