Private Musings of Master and Shadow

[Aelina Corsanis]

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Coruscant Temple
Room of a Thousand Fountains

Shani allowed her breaths to slow and her heart rate to steady as she began to say her prayers to Ashla. As she always did, she used this part of her meditation routine - thanking Ashla for the life and redemption she's been given and asking for further guidance - to clear her mind, let all the troubles and fears and anxieties and all the other negative emotions to flush out of her mind and into Ashla's care. Laying her staff and swords in front of her, she knelt down, closing her eyes and emptying all of her thoughts. After making sure that everything was in its normal place, and that she was truly prepared for her almost ritualistic routine, the Togruta unclipped her Shinobue from her belt, placing the flute to her lips to play a tune, the calming aura falling over her like a warm breeze.

Allowing herself to fall into a trance-like meditative state as she played, Shani plunged herself deeper into Ashla - feeling the flowing life-force from all the living things in the Temple Gardens, the ebbs and flows of the light side flowing through all of the Jedi in the gardens and through the temple - and allowed herself to be immersed in it, delving into the mystical secrets the force held, learning whatever Ashla found fit to reveal to her, and opening her mind to new possibilities, new ways of thinking about things. Throughout this all, she kept playing, her her sweet but somber tune filling the lonely grotto she'd decided to meditate in - perhaps reaching and enticing an interested onlooker to join her meditation.

Kahlil Noble

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[Kahlil Noble]

The Jedi Master wandered through the halls, a calm expression as always on his face. There was nothing like being back at the temple now that Exegol was finished. Nothing like feeling peace, for the first time in a long time. He paused, though, as he heard something different fill his ears. Music. That was a rarity these days. At least from a flute. To his knowledge, it was all usually more electronic music. Or maybe that was just because Micah tol Powl was one of the loudest players of such.

Regardless, it drew him in. And he sat down in the clearing close to the Torgruta just to listen.

This was nice.

Aelina Corsanis

 

[Aelina Corsanis]

​

Coruscant Temple
Room of a Thousand Fountains

The Togruta finished her song to its final conclusion, at which point she started to fall out of her trance. Still allowing any worries or concerns to just slake off of her, she slowly placed her shinobue back in its pouch and began to open her eyes - at first still being totally oblivious to the guest who'd joined her in the little grotto. Finally withdrawing her presence back into its normal bounds, she looked forward to notice the master there, being started for just a split second before greeting the master with a respectful bow of the head.

"Oh - Oh! Master Noble, I hadn't noticed you. May I help you?"
Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Hello."

He chuckled, dipped his head in a simple greeting in turn before turning his gaze around to the garden around them. The Thousand Fountains. An interesting name, given it was a garden of a thousand worlds. Not so much their fountains. Were there rooms of just fountains? He'd have to explore, some other time.

"No, I was just listening to the music. You play well. It's soothing, in the Force even. It's quite interesting. Is that an ability you've learned, or just something you happen to be able to do?"

Aelina Corsanis

 

[Aelina Corsanis]

Coruscant Temple
Room of a Thousand Fountains

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Shani looked down for a moment - she still wasn't used to being paid complements or being treated like a family, no matter how much the Blades and Jedi had both tried to be a home for her she still struggled to forgive herself - before looking back towards the master, her thoughts hiding behind her eyes. "Tha- Thank you, Master. The flute is something I picked up in the archives of my old order - I've always found my strongest moments to be in meditation - even in the middle of battle." She allowed herself to fall into a slightly more comfortable sitting position and glanced at her weapons, arrayed before her. "My swords and staff are good companions but they, like I, are merely conduits for Ashla's will. Meditation and prayer help me to be that conduit."
Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Kahlil is fine, I assure you." Master Noble was more Valery Noble anyway. He chuckled at the thought, already aware she, likely, was just as aware the thought crossed his mind. "That does sound certainly handy, though. Playing in a battle, it'd inspire more than just what you play through Ashla. .. You're from the Crusade, aren't you? Have I met you prior? I'm afraid my memories of those times fighting alongside the Crusade and the Eternals are.. Vague, at best."

Aelina Corsanis

 

[Aelina Corsanis]

Coruscant Temple
Room of a Thousand Fountains

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Shani wasn't quite used to this sort of casual attitude - Of course the Blades weren't totally a formal business group, but she had always referred to her superiors by their rank as a sign of Respect - if nothing else for the tribulations and trials they'd braved to get there. "Oh - Ok." She'd only used her Shinobue in battle a couple of times - If her opponent was actively on a physical attack then it was much more difficult to actually use the meditative state - but it'd proven to be useful.

As far as having met the Master before, she was sure they'd probably seen each other in some command center or briefing before a major battle, but he seemed to be more of a fighter attuned to the front lines of battle, Shani had been trained as a Shadow - hunting down and neutralizing the influence of Bogan. Their paths may have neared but they hadn't crossed. "Yes, Mas- Khalil. I was a member of the Sacred Blades. I don't believe we've met each other properly, unfortunately. I was trained as a shadow - so we most likely tread far different paths in those conflicts."
Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"A shadow? I.. Admit I didn't expect to know the Ashlan's employed such tactics." It made sense, given how the Sith were. But it still felt.. Different. Death was finale. And the Light usually was about redemption. Usually.

"Is that why you're here? With the Jedi? To be a Shadow among the New Jedi?"

Aelina Corsanis

 

[Aelina Corsanis]

Coruscant Temple
Room of a Thousand Fountains

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It was true that Shadows were exceedingly rare among the Ashlans - even among the more militaristic and combat-focused Blades. In truth it was an absolute necessity when dealing with the artifacts and spirits that haunted several planets within the Crusade's former territory - Korriban being first among them. Even the Blades' headquarters had been established on Nathema, where millennia of death and destruction had scarred the planet's very soul.

"We were definitely rather rare - used primarily to hunt down sith relics or as a last resort when the Bogan's head reared within the Crusade's territory. I have to say the general attitude was quite different from the Shadows I've met here and in some of the other orders in the galaxy - the same paranoia but they're much more cutthroat and ruthless about dealing with living beings falling victim to Bogan."
Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Some, perhaps. It's very.. Topical, I suppose. Though you didn't really answer. Are you here to join the Jedi Shadows, with the fall of the Crusade? Or just here to help? Force knows we could use it. Even with the Maw gone, there will always be someone who needs help."

Kahlil chuckled a little, shook his head. It was the sad reality of being a Jedi. There was never going to be a day they could stop. But that's what it meant to keep people free. To be that buffer between the common people and those who would take advantage of them all.

Aelina Corsanis

 

[Aelina Corsanis]

Coruscant Temple
Room of a Thousand Fountains

​

Honestly she hadn't fully put into words what she was coming here for - other than to try and help the Galaxy. Now she was being challenged to do exactly that - guide

"I'm here to serve the light, however I am best used. If that means to serve the NJO as a Shadow, then I am willing to do that, if that means to focus on the spiritual side of things, then I am willing to do that too. Personally, I think I could best serve by synthesizing those two."
Kahlil Noble