Isolated, frozen and crumbling

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus was pleased with Shaasa’s progress but one thing still worried her. And she thought she had some sort of a solution. One that had served her well herself. Her Padawan was known to have anger issues and with her Sith upbringing many Jedi failed to see what Corvus could see - the great potential she had.

So she’d invited her Padawan on a short trip to Rhen Var. And she waited in the hangar for her Padawan to arrive.

[member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"] | [member="Sochi Ru"]​

 

[Tia'Ilandra Shaasa]

Shaasa half jogged her way to the hangar to meet with Corvus.

She had wanted to come across cool and collected when she arrived at the ship, to that end she had spent the past few days learning what she could about Rhen Var, meditating and practising the new techniques she had been taught.

Despite all of her preparation and effort the sheer excitement of getting to travel with Corvus played havoc with the veneer of calm she wished to portray. She hurried on, noting the thumping of her heart in her chest, the cool chill that tingled her spine and the surplus excited energy in her every action.

She paused briefly before the hangar, trying one final time to settle her nerves before continuing in to meet with Raaf - adopting what she hoped was a pleased yet restrained smile.

"Master" she bowed her head to Corvus, noting not for the first time the echoing acoustics of the hangar space.

[member="Corvus Raaf"] [member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus smiled as Tia'Ilandra arrived. Her infectious enthusiasm was a wonderful tonic for days of non-stop tuition.

She bowed to her Padawan. "Our mission is entirely personal. No Jedi Order business. Rather I have a few free days and thought it a good idea to discuss the Code whilst at the same time obtain something that will help you become the best Jedi you can be."

"But first, please head to the cockpit and prep us for take-off. Once there, consider this conundrum. As a Jedi, should you be devoid of emotion or have emotions but not act upon them?"

[member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"] | [member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Tia'Ilandra Shaasa]

Tia'Ilandra listened intently as her master explained the reason for their trip. Externally she tried to remain professional about all this but when Corvus explained this trip was simply for her benefit she grinned excitedly.

"Thank you master! I am honoured."

"But first, please head to the cockpit and prep us for take-off. Once there, consider this conundrum. As a Jedi, should you be devoid of emotion or have emotions but not act upon them?"

She paused after half moving to follow Raaf's request, realising that perhaps she would not as prepared as she had thought. Her master was more confidence than she was that Tia'Ilandra would be able to prep the ship. She wavered as she considered her options, before deciding to do what she could without guidance.

"Yes master,"

With that she practically ran up the ramp, grinning widely just as she almost left Corvus' line of sight.

As a Jedi, should you be devoid of emotion or have emotions but not act upon them?

She thought over Raaf's question as she began to prepare the ship, she thought she knew what the answer should be but the problem deserved more in depth consideration.

Perhaps I shall meditate on this..

She was sure that she was supposed to purge herself of hate, of fear, of anger and jealousy. Equally certain to her was that she should care, she should understand emotions and that if she never felt emotions how could she be trusted to recognise them in others and act accordingly.

She continued the preparations, still less than confident that she had hoped to be about the technical aspects of this trip. Idly she considered if she use the force to guide her actions preparing the ship.

Does the force know how a ship is meant to function?... does it even need to know?

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus followed along and finished off the pre-flight checks - making sure she showed Shaasa what she was doing. "Despite the size of each ship, the majority of the controls are the same."

They left Ossus and before long were in hyperspace. "Now, the Code. I rarely ask right or wrong questions - it is always about interpretation with the Force - but there are usually answers that are considered standard."

"With regards emotions - too many Jedi believe the Code says we should not have them. That would be foolhardy in the extreme. The Code says we should plan for success first and plan for failure second. Emotions are like that. Plan to keep them under control but also plan for when you can't."

"Ideally you will have emotions but not react to them. But we all, from time to time, fail. Our trip to Rhen Var is to collect something that will help you during those times. But I suspect you also have you own views that I'd like to hear."

[member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"] | [member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Tia'Ilandra Shaasa]

The intimate nature of the almost empty starship played on Tia'Ilandras thoughts as they entered hyperspace. Right there are then they were alone, master and pupil, hurtling through the vast vacuum of space at well beyond light speed. The thrum of the engines wasn't even particularly loud now that they had made the jump, in fact it seemed quite serene space in this moment.

Eventually Corvus spoke at length on the emotions and Tia listened carefully to what the more experienced Jedi had to say; She knew well enough by now that there were often no right and wrong answers when it came to the code of the Jedi order, and that the nature and correctness of the code had been endlessly debated by others in the order for generations before her time.

Tia was reassured that much of what she had considered had been close to what Corvus now explained.

Plan to keep them under control but also plan for when you can't.

That would be a mantra, a lesson each of her masters had worked to instil in her, from as early as she could remember.

Discard anger, anger will be a weakness. Learn how to contain your anger when you cannot escape it.

"I wondered master, if one denied all emotion, how one could judge the emotional states of others, or ever hope to understand those who still hold their emotions, This brought me to believe that emotion was necessary to understanding the world, and the force."

"I need to meditate often to maintain control my anger, I still wake up from sleep as I did years ago, how do I control my emotions as my mind is at rest?"

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus nodded. This was a good conversation to have. Her Padawan wasn't just accepting of teaching but nor was she overly challenging. Her question was valid.

"I have a natural affinity to Empathy. Until recently the gift was a burden. I was overburdened by every emotion from every person and creature that was in my proximity. So I had learned to shut them all down. And that went two ways. Now I have learned to control the flow - perhaps as an average person would perceive and transmit emotions. I agree it is more practical when assessing circumstances and would never suggest a Jedi ought to have no emotions - just learn to avoid acting on them without some sort of control."

"We should discuss your emotions later but for now, please tell me what you know about Rhen Var."

By now they had exited hyperspace and were approaching the planet.

[member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"]

 

[Tia'Ilandra Shaasa]

As Corvus spoke of her affinity Tia listened with something akin to empathy, her own gifts had occasionally been a burden also, and ultimately had led to harm others around her from time to time. Much as Raaf was telling her now Tia too had come to control her natural tendencies, and for a while had taken to ignoring them all together.

Then Corvus moved on to the subject of Rhen Var and Tia was thankful for the brief study she had undertaken before they had left.

"Rhen Var is situated in the Outer Rim, near the Tion Cluster. It is a low temperature world, almost completely covered in ice. It has been the site of several great battles throughout recorded history. There is evidence of a prior civilisation on Rhen Var when the planet was more inhabitable, and artifacts of the Jedi order have been recovered occasionally."

She paused to think over her answer.

"I regret that this is all I could uncover from archives master."

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus laughed. "There's not a lot more to say to be honest. Cold, snow and ice. That's about it. There are a lot of old ruins but every other Jedi and Sith wannabe has been over them so many times there's nothing to see."

"So you're probably wondering why we're going. I did a lot of research a while back and the Grandmaster accompanied me and some other Padawans to get our own saber crystals? But why Rhen Var? It's one of only two places where you can find Solari crystals. Are you familiar with them?"

[member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"]

 

[Tia'Ilandra Shaasa]

Tia nodded as Corvus correctly predicted her Padawan's confusion, if the place is was as inhospitable and unprofitable as she had suggested. She listened eagerly as Raaf explained what they might find on Rhen Var.

"No master, I regret I have not uncovered any information on Solari crystals during my study."

Even as she answered she was imagining the journey into frozen caves, thinking about how it would feel to be there and what the crystals might look like. She imagined that Solari meant something red, yellow or orange like most of the suns. Would she really be constructing her first saber so soon?

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus smiled. Should she share the information now or wait until later, to heighten the excitement. But Corvus couldn't keep secrets - even good ones.

"The purest of Solari crystals have two unique properties. One is to make the blade slightly wider - excellent for blocking blasters - but that is not so important."

Corvus them unclipped her own saber and opened it to show two violet cystals. "Both were orange when I made my saber but turned this colour during construction. I still haven't found out why. But more importantly, the Solari crystal only works for those who are truly Light-sided. Should your anger overcome you, or should you drift towards the Dark-side, the saber will cease to operate. At the very least it might save you from a fall to the Sith. At best, it will serve as a warning that you need to keep your anger in check. Plan to succeed, plan to fail - member?"

"But for now I'll land us and we can head for the caves I found last time I was here."

Corvus managed to set the ship down about half a mile from where she knew the caves to be - as the terrain was rocky and uneven closer to where they were heading. Breaking out the snow gear, Corvus indicated they should get going.

"We would be able to get there and back before nightfall. Not a great place to be in the dark - there are quite a few nasty animals around."

She then pointed out the route they would be taking. "Please lead the way and as we get closer, use the Force to see if you can find the cave entrance. There are a lot of crystals and their Force presence is strong."

[member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"] | [member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

Rhen Var was one if the first stops Sochi made since she plunged herself into exile to study the Force at a more personal level. One of her former students experienced an incident here, that left him psychologically scarred for years to come. After researching the planet further she had gained the knowledge of the location of Jedi Ruins located there. Perhaps there was a nexus there? She could use that opportunity to meditate in a place that increased her connection significantly.

So she took voyage, and the frigid land was different from the jungle life of Felucia, and the scrublands of Shili. However there was a lose connection about the world, it was scared, possibly due to the destruction it faced years ago, forcing it to become such an cold world. The echoes were what drew her, leading her to her destination however.

The rough, and rigid terrain was what made the quest the most tiring. Yet however she would find her way. She wasn't extremely old just yet, and she had some fighting left in her. There were monuments scattered all over, and with that she reached out her hand and placed it against the cool surface of the stone. She closed her eyes and began to utilize her abilities to gain vague visions of the past...there was still so much she had yet to know...and yet there was the possibility that today, would have more significance than she assumed.

She turned, covered her hand back up, ad the cool winds blew across her face. She looked on into the distance, and continued her journey up the rough, and rigid hill.

[member="Corvus Raaf"] | [member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"]

 

[Tia'Ilandra Shaasa]

The Padawan watched her master open her lightsaber with great interest, she had seen other sabers of course but usually the well used training blades of the temples. Tia let her gaze linger on the twin violet crystals and considered how they would have looked when her master first found them.

As Corvus explained the second unique property of the pure Solari crystal Tia's concentration faltered.

The lightsaber stops working if I were to fall to the Dark side? Does she believe I'll need that?

She tried to keep a positive face on it for the moment but the perceived slight still festered for a moment too long. Tia found her thoughts dwelling on this as Corvus brought the ship to land, still concerned but as of yet not willing to give it voice. As she must plan for success and plan for failure this crystal's unique properties appeared to increase the chance that such a failure would result in her death. Was it better to be dead than travel the Dark path? Despite her training to this point and her treatment at the hands of the Sith Tia still found herself unable, or perhaps unwilling to give a definitive answer to that question.

As they landed Tia had forced herself to focus on the task at hand; The moral questions would be closed away for now. She would ask her master once they returned to the temple, no sense in dwelling on it now.

Once geared for the cold and thoroughly excited to be out in the wilds she headed down the ramp and onto the planets surface.

The snow was crisp and deep here, the crunch she felt underfoot with each step was a surprisingly pleasing sensation. The biting cold had hit her as soon as Tia'Ilandra had set foot off the boarding ramp, despite the cold weather clothes and cowled robes of the order she wore. The worst of the sensation subsided quickly although she still felt the bite of the cold air in each breath.

Tia'Ilandra turned to watch her master descend from the ship, noting with interest the condensing steam of icy air around the ships thrusters. Her attention was momentarily drawn to markings in the snow near by, animal tracks she surmised by regularity of the pattern.

"We would be able to get there and back before nightfall. Not a great place to be in the dark - there are quite a few nasty animals around."

She had recognised a sensation already, the old sensation she used to feel as a child on Shili when the large predators where close to her home. It actually brought a smile to her face and she nodded to her master.

"Yes master, I think we will make good time."

She smiled again clearly feeling - perhaps naively - 'in her element', turned and took what in her experience seemed like the most likely path for solid progress toward the direction Corvus had indicated. As she moved she allowed herself to feel the aura of the place, feeling far more comfortable in this environment than she ever had during her time on Ossus. She felt like the bleak frozen world was singing to her as she walked, a quiet frozen lament.

"When was this place last inhabited master?" she asked in a hushed tone as if trying not to disturb the natural whispering sounds of the crunching, shifting snows.

[member="Corvus Raaf"] | [member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus was preoccupied and the warning bells she heard were ignored. Her thoughts turned to the last time she was here she was tricked into putting on the Sith ring that came so close to turning her to the Dark-side. Which in turn made her thoughts turn to Elara - the Padawan that was taken by the Sith Lord Balaya. Her hand went involuntarily to the shoto attached to her belt. It was Elara's shoto.

This is what she foolishly put the Force's warning to her down to. It may prove to be her last ever mistake.

"I doubt this place has known inhabitants in thousands of years. It's been an ice planet for as long as records show I understand. Plenty of history that I researched when I tracked down the crystals. The most interesting fact is..."

One second Corvus was talking across the ice, the next she was falling down a narrow ravine that had been covered by the frozen snow. She had enough about her to form a Force Bubble around herself as she fell. The next things she knew she had hit the bottom of the gap. Perhaps fifty feet below where she started. On the plus side she had no broken bones. On the debit side, the Bubble was all that was preventing a lot of snow and rocks from crushing her - as they'd fallen down along with her.

Pulling the Force close to her, she searched for emotion. She found a combination of fear and panic and followed it. As she expected, it led to Tia. As gently as she could she connected with her Padawan's mind. 'I am OK...for now. I am unhurt, which is good and I am surrounded by a Force Bubble, which is also good. But above it is enough snow, ice and rock to bury me alive. I cannot hold the Bubble indefinitely. I need you to find help. If the Force is willing, you will find someone. I trust you. Now I need you to trust yourself and trust in the Force. Now go - time is of the essence.'

[member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"] | [member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

She ascended what was left of the staircase that led into part of the Ancient Ruins. She reached the entrance, and stood for a moment looking around. Her breath appeared; she was breathing heavily from subtle exhaustion from traveling. She stepped in, then there was nothing. The silence of the place was loud in itself, and was far superior to any noise she could make. She persisted with her steps, slow in movement as she observed the area around here.

The Force still clung to this place...Though highly unnoticed; faintly pulsating.

There was no way for her to continue into the complex the entrances that seemingly led to other regions of the temple were no longer there. Snow, and rubble had taken over, and this was their domain now. However, the chamber she found herself in would do better than nothing. She centered herself, looked around once more and then descended to the floor beneath her. She sat with her knees beneath her, and her arms resting on her quads.

It would take long for the Master to ascend into a meditative state. What she was truly occupying her time doing was reaching out, farseeing. Usually she could see into one of many variations of the future, and maybe then she would find where she was supposed to go, where she was needed, where the Force was leading her. Though, perhaps she would see other things...it all remained unknown for the moment.

Her Force signature would radiate from her area, and then thats when she saw. Her eyes closed tighter, and the muscles in her face twitched. She felt fear...confusion...and then vague visions of ones foot falling down into a ravine. It would seem the Force had other plans for her this day. She could yet wrap her mind around it, as she was not the subject of the vision. Hmm


[member="Corvus Raaf"] | [member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"]

 

[Tia'Ilandra Shaasa]

The feeling of her masters surprise overwhelmed Tia'Ilandra for a moment and she was aware of the sound of a single sickening crack. Her head flicked back to where her master should have stood, seeing only a newly formed crevice in the frozen path which was now rapidly filling with ice and snow, the debris spilling inward to seal the wound.

She blinked for a moment and swallowed, looking left and right hoping desperately that Corvus had left to safety, that she would emerge unharmed. Panic took her then, she was frozen. She wanted to go to the edge of the hole and try to dig her master out but even in this state she realised that she risked breaking the surface further, perhaps burying them both.

"Master!" she cried out standing where she was, shivering for the first time since setting out into the cold. "Master... " she repeated, more softly this time, begging for a reply. Tia felt alone. Her heart thumped behind her ribs but all through her body all she felt in that moment was the cold.

"Focus!" she chastised herself, forcing herself to stop shivering.

FOCUS

She fought back her fear, bit by bit and sought out her serene empty state. She could feel it there, just out on the edge of her thoughts, just beyond reach.

It took her a few breaths to calm herself enough to feel her masters thoughts, distant thoughts touching the edge of her consciousness.

'I am OK...for now. I am unhurt, which is good and I am surrounded by a Force Bubble, which is also good. But above it is enough snow, ice and rock to bury me alive. I cannot hold the Bubble indefinitely. I need you to find help. If the Force is willing, you will find someone. I trust you. Now I need you to trust yourself and trust in the Force. Now go - time is of the essence.'

The eerie calm of her masters precise words connected with Tia and she felt herself achieve her serene state for a moment, long enough to listen and digest her masters words.

"I Will find someone Master." She stated with absolute determination, looking at the spot she imagined her master to be in, totally unknowing as to whether her master could hear her reply.

She looked up and closed her eyes for a moment, breathing ever more slowly and deeply. Drawing back her hood she raised her right arm as if tracing an invisible horizon in front of her. In her minds eye her precise echolocation drew a picture of the frozen scene, and there on the very edge of her perception she felt it, like a washing current all around her body and everything around her. She relaxed into the moment and turned slowly, wrist pivoting gently as if testing the currents movements, feeling the force flow through her.

Trust in the Force, there is no try.

There, she felt it, the most slight change in her perception, like a pulse far from where she stood, just within earshot. Ordinarily she would have doubted herself, waited longer, made sure, but this was no ordinary time.

In her heart Tia'Ilandra had always known that she was meant to run free; A place like this, lost from civilisation, had called to her from her infancy. So she ran. Swift and sure she sprinted across the uneven terrain toward the direction she had felt the disturbances. She could do this, she was born for running, and the confidence in her own nature allowed her to flow across this landscape like a native. Her movements were fluid, working with the landscape to minimise her effort, she felt sure of each step with a certainty she could not quantify or explain.

After minutes of running through frozen wastes, rocks and scree she saw ahead rising hills in the snow, and amongst the mounds of snow, ice and debris there was architecture buried, ruins, all around. She slowed as the feelings of the current seemed to change subtly around her.

Here she felt the presence, somewhere, a mind focussed.

No time to be certain, no time to wait.

"HELLO!?" she called at top of her voice, straining to be heard, shocked to hear the desperation in her own tones. "I had to come to here!"

[member="Sochi Ru"] | [member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

Her senses were clouded, and her vision was going in and out. The confusion she felt would increase, and then there was this voice off inti the distance. In her meditation it came to her as an echo, but yet it didn't disperse. Then she finally opened her eyes when she found out the voice was truly real, and within her proximity. She looked up, and then moved swiftly to the entrance. She placed her hand against the edge of the entrance, and peered down.

Her eyes widened, and she started down the steps. A few at a time, and then she stopped. The screams of what would be another Togruta. One could hear the desperation in her voice, it coerced and coerced one into action.

She could sense the Force resonating from the girl, strong yet pulsing, and wavering under her stress. She spoke softly to herself, "So this is what the Force was trying to tell me. She must be connected in some way..."

"Are you...alright? What's wrong?" she said moving down the rest of the hill to meet her fellow. Above all she wanted more to put this young woman at ease.

"Tell me..."

[member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"] | [member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Tia'Ilandra Shaasa]

The place was silent, like a grave side, but their must be someone here; The force had taken her here, pulling her inevitably to this spot in this place.

She called out again, and again, turning in the spot as she looked around for something, anything that could have called her to this place for help. Her shouts had steadily changed in pitch and by now were becoming more akin to screams.

She coughed and splutttered on the cold air, her throat feeling ragged now. "Anyone.." Tia'Ilandra mumbled softly.


Movement


In her heightened state she heard something move behind her, somewhere up the steps at the temple entrance, the light crunch of footfalls on a thin layer of newly formed snow.

The approach had been unexpected, and Tia felt a shiver on her spine as if she was being watched. She turned, extremely slowly in case her haste might scare off whatever phantasm had arisen from this dead world to address her.

Mother?...

The thought disappeared almost as quickly as it came to her, the other Togruta though similar was not how she remembered her mother to be. She half suspected for a moment that some magic was making her see what she wanted in the new arrival.

They stood their looking at each other for what felt like and age to Tia; Her cold, wet with tears yet unwilling to give up, standing at the foot of the stairs; The other Togruta tall and seemingly composed, standing pristine at the top of the stairs. In that long moment she felt the Force pulsing between them, it felt ragged emanating from herself but seemed to be imbued with far more precision when the energy seemed to return from the newcomer.

Tia couldn't speak first, she stood frozen and dumb, as the warm skinned kinswoman descended the stairs with a look of care and concern.

"Are you...alright? What's wrong?" she said moving down the rest of the hill to meet Tia. "Tell me..."

Tia, for her part, felt a flood of warmth flow through her on hearing the newcomer speak, sure in that moment that she wasn't just some imagined saviour. She was immeadiately animated. Pointing the way she had come and speaking altogether too fast. "My Master, its my Master, She's trapped. Please! I need help, we need help!" she gulped in another lungful of biting cold. "She fell, the ice it broke and she fell!" she breathed again prepared to babel a little more.

[member="Sochi Ru"] | [member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Mother Askani]

Sochi squinted her eyes, surely everything that had transpired already was connected in some way, it was just a matter of her connecting the dots. She looked upon the young woman, and placed her hand softly on her shoulder.

"Alright, try to calm down. If were going to help her we have to focus. Now, take me to her. In these conditions we would need to hurry." she said calmly, she nodded at her, and with that she intended to follow the Togruta to the scene.

Though, as much as it was in the back of her head, she had only met two other Force sensitive Togruta during her tenure as a Jedi. Seemingly odd in a way, but it was a confusing thing hiw the Force picked its vessels. It was within their favor that the weather had ceased with the strong winds. Travel would be much quicker at this point, but still Ru hadn't an idea of where this place was.

They must've been from the original Jedi Order, as she hadn't seen them amongst the Silver, or the Ession Reformation. It goes to show that with the massive split that some Jedi were able to still co-exist and work with one another. There was no way Ru would have denied them help because of what Government, or group they belong to. She thought of them as family; they were her brothers and sisters in the Force.

Perhaps this would mark another great deed amongst many more that have went unnoticed, this was a symbol of hope that things...would return back to normal again, and the Jedi would reform as a new order. However she could go on and on dreaming about such, there were greater matters at hand.

[member="Corvus Raaf"] | [member="Tia'Ilandra Shaasa"]

 

[Tia'Ilandra Shaasa]

The newcomer's hand upon her shoulder was more of a reassurance than Tia had expected it to be, the physical connection seemed to prove beyond her doubts that this was indeed a real other person on the otherwise abandoned world. Unconsciously her own other hand rose to rest upon the Woman's, holding it there gently.

The unknown woman spoke to her with measured concern, the calm response to Tia's babel seemed to soothe a little of the Padawans barely checked nerves. She had to focus up quickly if they wanted to save Raaf.

"Yes!" she replied a little more forcefully than she had hoped, turning on the spot again to face her own tracks in the snow. "Its this way. We need to move quickly, I should be able to trace my own tracks for the most part."

She was confident in her tracking abilities at the best of times and believed that following her own tracks would likely be quite simple. Assuming they hadn't been completely covered over with snow.

Tia set off at a jog, looking back to see if the other woman would follow.

Another Togruta, perhaps even another Jedi, the Force certainly enjoyed coincidence.

[member="Sochi Ru"] [member="Corvus Raaf"]