Private Lifestyles of the Rich and Alchemical

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Oh. Oh."

A long pause as she tried not to say that she was no longer envious of his parenting. She'd failed and continued to fail as a mother, but she'd never brought Ibaris or Quinn or Noelle to the Netherworld.

"He's...ah...how old?"

 

[Dissero]

"He's nine," Di nodded, the notion of bringing a nine-year-old to Netherworld with him slowly settling in, "annnd now that I say that aloud - that's a terrible idea."

"Dad?" right on cue. Gabey always had impeccable timing.

Dissero looked around in his chair, brows raised, "Hey Bud, how's that homework coming?"

"Almost done."

"Great, what's up?"

"I'm hungry."

"Ah, right. Dinner," he shifted, rising from his seat and looked back to Ashin, "stay put," he pointed a finger at her, "...please. I'll be right back. I need to change out of these clothes and get some dinner going. You'll stay and eat, right? We're going to figure this out."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

She almost volunteered Spencer to babysit. And she gave Dissero an absent nod and a mumbled thank-you as she sat with that. The obsolete habits really were the worst part of loss.

While Dissero did what needed doing, Ashin moved from the tall, nearly backless kitchen chair to a more comfortable one near a window. Nursing her mug, she looked out over the Lake Country and half-remembered normal life. She caught herself on the verge of a promise to stay at home, give Spencer and the girls all her time, take no risks. That was just the bargaining stage of grief, and impossible to boot. Even if this plan worked, she knew herself. She knew she'd break that promise.

 

[Dissero]

One hour, a mug refill or two, and a hot steaming pot of stew later Dissero placed the last plate setting on the table and called his son and his guest over to eat. Gabe came charging in to the kitchen with a remote-controlled model ship leading the way and narrowly missed crashing it into the water pitcher on the table.

"Hey, what are the rules?" Dissero's Dad-tone surfaced finally.
"No toys or droids or tech at the table," Gabe rolled his eyes, huffing.
"Correcto-Bucko. Park it and have a seat."
"What is she still doing here?" the boy blabbed loudly as he climbed into his chair, eyeing Ashin with a play of childish suspicion.
"That is not how we treat our guests, Gabriel. Apologize to Miss Varanin, she's eating dinner with us."
"Sorry," blurted abruptly, Gabe's broad blue eyes shifted to his dad with a wince, "Miss Var-nanin."
"Varanin."
"Var-nin."
"...close enough, and?"
"Thank you for joining us for dinner."
"Good."

An apologetic look from the senior Shamalain shifted her way as he set a bread basket on the table and took his seat. Three bowls sat filled with steaming stew. Di thought perhaps some home-style comfort food might help with Ashin's mood. Or at the very least fill her belly. Let no guest leave his home with an empty stomach.

"Who are you?" the boy just couldn't hold it in. He stared.
"Ashin is a good friend of mine, I've known her a very long time. I trained with her when I was younger, and she's still teaching me now," Dissero smiled.
"You're a Force Master?!" Gabe's eyes bugged, "Cool!"

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Dissero

The stew was, to Ashin's complete lack of surprise, delicious. The meat tasted like meat, which you couldn't always say. It reminded her of a happy impromptu barbecue, chewing on chunks of extemporaneously roasted Lotek'k at the Spires of Hell.

Good times.

She warmed to the question, mostly because it was about her favorite topic. "Yes I am," she said. "But what I do is mostly different from what your father does. Every really good Force-user finds their own set of things they like and are good at. I assume you've been learning the force? What do you like doing the most?"

 

[Dissero]

The boy's expression fell somewhat, "Kinda. Not like Saelia, she's only 5 and she can do all kinds of things. She threw her doll at me last week without even touching it."

"You're little sister is gifted, that's true. But so are you, tell Miss Varanin what sort of things you like."

"I like building model ships," Gabe said, "and fixing things."

"You're very good at it too," Dissero nodded, "you fixed your mother's music box without any help at all."

"What kind of things can you do?" Gabe looked at Ashin expectantly.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Building and fixing things are important," she said, slipping into a talking-with-children mode more readily than she'd expected. "I've known people who could use the Force to build and fix everything you could imagine - ships, swords, animals, art. I've done a bit of that myself. What I'm really good at, though, is keeping myself safe."

A clinging Force defense fuzzed the air around her body for a moment. She poked hard at her own palm with her spoon felt nothing, and let him see how the spoon refused to cross the last half inch to touch her skin.

"I like to go for long walks." She leaned across the table conspiratorially. "In volcanoes."

 

[Dissero]

"Woah." Gabe blinked, looking back and forth between the woman and the spoon, "Volcanoes?!"
"Oh boy..." Dissero leaned into a large spoonful of stew.
"Can you teach ME how to walk in volcanoes?!"
"Eat," Dissero pointed at him with his spoon.
"Can YOU walk through volcanoes DAD."
"I wouldn't know, I've never tried. But I do have to protect myself from the heat of the forge, which is almost like a volcano. Now eat, and you have dish duty when we're done."
"Noooooh!" and like a limp noodle, Gabe slid down into his chair until he disappeared beneath the rim of the table, "I hate dish duty."
"It's good for you. Puts hair on your chest."
"Gross."
"Eat up, Buck."

Dissero looked aside at his guest, a half smirk evident under his beard, "I am grateful you didn't have to dine with all four of them. This is tame compared to our usual dinners."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"I've shared a table with Spencer and three teenagers," Ashin said in a voice as dry as Tatooine. "I empathize with your suffering."

She dug into the stew in earnest now. "It's remarkable how few alchemists translate that skillset into learning to cook. You'd think it's a natural progression. I'm impressed as ever. You know, Gabe...washing dishes was one of the ways I learned what I just showed you. It took a lot of practice, but I can wash dishes without feeling the hot water or getting my hands wet. Washing dishes is how I learned to walk in volcanoes," she concluded with the utmost seriousness. Partially, but not wholly, a lie.

 

[Dissero]

The man chuckled, dipped bread into his stew and took a bite.

Gabe peeked out from beneath the table, looking all the world like a turtle peering from its shell between table side and chairback, "Really?"

"But it takes lots of soap and heavy scrubbing to learn it fast," his father chimed in.
"This sounds like a trick..." the boy was skeptical, but crawled back up into the seat.
"Guess you'll never know until you finish your dinner."

He'd never seen the boy eat real food quite as fast as he ate junk food.

When all bowls were empty and bellies filled, Dissero helped set up his son for dish duty then lead Ashin to a far end of the house. They stepped into a large, open, circular room openly adjoined to a gym studio.

"A compass," he began as he stepped around and picked up stray meditation pillows ... and toys. The girls liked to play in here while Verie attempted meditation. He was never certain if she was successful at that. "One that points to Spencer, I assume."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Once the picking up was done, Ashin put her back against the wall and sat on a pillow.

"That's the hope. Is it possible? I've brought some of her personals, and a lock of hair - I have no idea if any of it'll help. I'm far out of my depth." A faint, joyless smile. "I can make a good sword, but a good sword won't guide me into the deepest and least charted part of the Netherworld. Assuming that's where she is. Truth be told...I've tried half a dozen methods of summoning and communication already. No luck except the sense that she's out there."

 

[Dissero]

"It's very possible," Dissero replied, "what you need is a Talisman of Finding, like the one worn by Mother Talzin of the Dathomirian Witches. What I need to make one is a sample of Spencer's blood. Without it, it can still be done, but it makes things much more complicated."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

She grimaced. "We used to keep blood stocks on ice for transfusions and such, but that was years ago. I don't suppose blood from a clone would work." There'd been a few cloning incidents over the decades.

Actually...

"At least one cloning facility had blood samples, way in the Unknown Regions. I can't even remember the name. Twisted place. Cannibal regime, mutually reluctant Fringe allies, heavy gravity I think. Who knows if the First Order or the Ssi-Ruuk left the planet alone or razed it to bedrock. Ah..." She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms and slouched farther down against the wall. "All that to say, I can plausibly find a bit of her blood somewhere. Without it...how much more complicated are we talking?"

 

[Dissero]

That seemed like an awful lot to go through for blood. Much as the sample would speed up the process of making the needed tool, he had to wonder if it would be faster to work with what he had.

"I'm sure you're up to the task ... but there might be better options. Your bond with her is a Force Bond, yes? And have you performed a mutual bloodtrail?"

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Dissero

"Yes and yes, ever since the Sith Empire days and across various bodies. They've taken me as far as I can manage - even while stepping briefly into the Netherworld." A lopsided smile. "Like I said, I've tried a few angles. Is there a way to piggyback on them, amplify them...?"

 

[Dissero]

That was good news. He rubbed at his beard in thought, brow furrowing, "In theory, yes. Do you still maintain her mark or did it fade when she passed? There is some belief that once one participant of a bloodtrail passes, the mark fades and the link dies. I've seen this with other people, the Witches in particular. For them it is spiritual - so it would make sense that if the marked enters the same realm as that of the passed, the link should rekindle. A Force Bond could ultimately be used to amplify, as you say. Force Bonds are interesting on their own."

He moved with purpose to a control panel on a side wall, dimmed the lights, and activated the meditation shutters to enclose the room as a full circle. Panels shifted from either side of the open walls that lead to the studio while around the perimeter twelve stone plinths ascended from floor, each holding a uniquely carved stone.

"In my research and crafting I've come across some curiosities of Oneness and The Whole. A mixture of the true sciences of life with a bit of Celestial Gestalt. What would you say makes a Force Bond? What is the impetus that creates it between two beings?"

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"The mark led me to the place where she died. It...most of it washed off in the shower. Blood again instead of a stain."

She got up and paced around the room, burning off sudden agitation. The stones took plenty of attention.

"I followed about half of that, I'm sorry. As for the core question...I don't know why bonds form. I've suspected on occasion that Spencer and I each contain a portion of the energies of some being who passed into the Cosmic Force. That's pure guesswork."

 

[Dissero]

"That's an interesting theory," he nodded, lifting a hand to indicate the padded dais at the center of the room, "if you would."

"My theory on Force Bonds is a little more practical. It is my belief that any time an interaction occurs between two Force Sensitive beings, sentient or not, a Force Bond is created. Tiny, easily broken, and liable to fade after a distance or duration of non-interaction. This relies on the idea that the Force is constant and moving through all things at all times. When a connection is struck, it creates a new pathway for the Force to flow and thus; a bond. Those that remain close, and interact often, naturally form a stronger and stronger bond over time."

"This is not to devalue what you have with Spencer, and if Cosmic Force has anything to do with it perhaps it has amplified that Bond. Like things want to belong together, to become Whole. You are familiar with my Auracle Stones used within my shops for communication? Each of those orbs was taken and carved from a singular Aur crystal. They are inherently connected to one another by means of Oneness, which allows their link to maintain naturally. I cannot introduce a new orb into their link because it wasn't part of The Whole manifested during their creation. Following?"

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

The dais looked meant for sitting, and therefore she sat.

"I'm with you so far. Sensible theory. A good bit more generalizable than my flights of fancy. It would go a long way toward explaining how, in a galaxy of trillions, the same people keep encountering each other over and over, apparently by chance. Are you saying that Spencer and I are partially one, and that I could increase that overlap the same way I could try for oneness with the Force?"

 

[Dissero]

A nod, another thoughtful look. He hadn't considered the idea of this theory to include those that seemed fated, or destined, to continue meeting one another.

"I don't know much of anything about Cosmic Force but all I'm saying is that it's possible. The theory has been put into practice unknowingly by Sionoma. He created a compass a few years ago that can help the user find things, places, people - but only those that they are familiar with. Only those they have bonded with - if my theory serves itself correctly. The stronger the bond or familiarity, the more acute its power. I would call on him to borrow it, but Sionoma has a bad habit of making everything out of Ankarres - I don't think the compass would like you. I know it doesn't like me."

"We've seen similar usage with Rave's Korriban Compasses and the Jal Shey Compasses created by Avic Qel-Droma to seek out darkside-oriented objects, places, and beings. Admittedly the latter shouldn't work - my experience with Jal Shey has shown me it doesn't and shouldn't favor Darkside energies, but I've never gotten my hands on one to really find out how it ticks."

"The Compass of Yearning makes more sense because it contained a spirit of Jal Shey practice, but we don't have -" he snapped his fingers, "say, did Spencer ever make a Holocron of her own knowledge and experiences?"