Private New Beginnings

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedi Temple, Naboo
Equipment: Jedi Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Marriage Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Meri Vale

Though Jax missed the Jedi Temple back at Coruscant, the one in Naboo didn't seem too shabby. It was too pristine for Jax's taste to the point of sterile, but it was located in a safe environment. It'll be hard for troops to approach the Temple due to it being located in the mountains and anti-air turrets will make landing ships a nightmare. Also, Kyber Crystals were located inside of the Mountain. An easy trek to grab some crystals and mediate whereas before Jax had to travel to Illum to have access to the Lightsaber Crystals. The Jedi Master took in the sights. The Temple was bathed in the Force with life being more vibrant. The Force lived on even after the Jedi fell in Coruscant there is no death after all only the Force.

And it was something Jax constantly had to remind himself of. Even when things were at their bleakest, the Force will always remain a constant. It'll never stop existing for it was life and as long as Jax was in tune with the Force, he will always have hope. "Hope," Jax said approaching the entrance. "Jedi talk about the cycle of life but the only way that we can preserve is through hope."

 

[Meri Vale]

The mountain air felt thinner this high up, cooler, carrying the faint mineral scent of stone and distant water.

Meri stood several paces from the entrance, not close enough to intrude on the Jedi Master's reflection, but not so far that she appeared lost. She had paused midway up the path when she noticed him there, silhouetted against the archway, speaking the word hope as though testing its weight.

She did not interrupt.

Instead, she studied the Temple.

Her attention first moved over the lines of it. The outer terraces followed the natural slope instead of fighting it. The anchoring pylons had been set into existing rock seams rather than drilled straight through them. The structure did not dominate the mountain. It cooperated with it.

That mattered.

She shifted her satchel slightly higher on her shoulder and stepped closer to the carved stone threshold, running her gaze along the edges where tool marks had been softened but not erased. It was new construction compared to Coruscant's Temple, but it did not feel temporary.

It felt adaptive.

When she finally spoke, it was not directly to him, but not entirely to herself either.

"It is positioned well," she said quietly. "Elevation. Natural defenses. Redundant access routes carved into the interior rock." Her eyes traced upward toward the anti-air turrets embedded discreetly into the outer ridges. "It is difficult to approach without being seen."

Only then did she glance briefly in his direction, not with familiarity, but simple acknowledgment of shared space. "The Temple on Coruscant was monumental," she added thoughtfully. "This one is practical."

She stepped across the threshold after a moment, her focus already shifting inward to load distribution, to interior ventilation, to how the corridors might be mapped.

Hope was abstract. Stone was measurable. And measurable things could endure.

Jax Thio

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedi Temple, Naboo
Equipment: Jedi Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Marriage Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Meri Vale

Jax sensed a presence coming before him, he turned around and saw a young girl around his daughter: Jayna Ismet-Thio age. The Force was strong in the girl but it looked like she hasn’t found out about her innate ability yet.

“It was,” Jax replied. “The Jedi Temple had stood for thousands of years despite it all. It was a monument of Jedi perseverance.”

And now it was under the hands of the Sith Covenant. Jax can’t imagine what they were doing to the temple. No doubt the Galactic Empire had plundered the temple and used it as a monument of their triumph. The Sith would further pervert for their own uses. “But this Temple is wonderful in its own right.” Jax said. “Already you can feel the Force thrumming around the temple. It’s brimming with life.”

He looked down at the girl. “What are you doing in a place like this?” He asked. “Are you trying to unlock your hidden potential?”

 

[Meri Vale]

Meri shifted slightly when he spoke to her, not retreating the way she might have once, but still carrying that quiet hesitation in the way she held herself.

His words about the Force didn't seem to fully land. Not ignored, just…not what her mind chose to focus on.

Her attention had already drifted back to the structure behind him.

At his question, she blinked once, then glanced down at the satchel hanging at her side. There was a brief pause, as if she were deciding whether to share, before she carefully pulled out a datapad.

She stepped a little closer, holding it out toward him.

"I was drawing," she said softly.

On the screen was a detailed sketch of the temple entrance. Not just the surface appearance, but layered over with structural lines, annotations, and small corrections where she had adjusted angles or weight distribution. Some sections were clean and precise. Others had been redrawn multiple times, different colors marking different attempts.

She lifted her hand and pointed past him toward the building itself.

"The supports," she added quietly. "They are…different from other places I have seen."

Her fingers hovered slightly in the air, as if tracing the invisible lines of the structure.

"It feels like it was designed to carry more than just its own weight."

Only then did she glance back up at him, a little unsure if that made sense to anyone else.

"I wanted to understand how it stays standing."

Jax Thio

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedi Temple, Naboo
Equipment: Jedi Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Marriage Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Meri Vale

Smiling, Jax took the datapad his eyes gazing upon Meri's drawing. It wasn't the typical artwork that Jayna Ismet-Thio would do for school or on her free time but more of an analytical drawing akin to something an architect would create. Notes scribbled on the corners, precise measurements. How old was this kid? This was very detailed. "You're a good drawer," Jax said. "And have an inquisitive that goes far beyond a typical teenager."

He looked down at the supports and smiled. "They're using anti grav technology," Jax responded. "It's used in freighters but recently companies have been producing the tech for more uses such as supports for buildings. Thanks to the anti grav is why we can build stable structures above the mountains."

He took a deep breath. "But they're very expensive though." Jax continue. "Like the price of five Star Destroyers expensive."

 

[Meri Vale]

Meri hesitated as he spoke, finding herself watching the subtle shifts in his reaction more than the literal meaning of his words at first. When he offered his compliment, she didn't brighten with the practiced modesty most would; instead, her brow knit together just a fraction as she processed the underlying implication.

"You mean I'm weird for a typical teenager," she said softly, her tone lacking any hint of defensiveness and sounding instead like a simple, quiet correction of his terminology.

Her hands settled loosely in front of her, her fingers fidgeting briefly with one another in a restless rhythm before finally going still as he continued his explanation. The mention of anti-gravity technology immediately caught her attention, serving as a mental anchor that pulled her focus away from her own social discomfort and back toward the building's structural puzzle. Her eyes moved rapidly between the towering structure and the datapad still held in his hands, her mind already re-evaluating her previous assumptions.

"Anti-gravity wouldn't just reduce the vertical load," she said slowly, thinking the physics through even as the words left her lips. "It would fundamentally change how the weight is distributed across the entire frame."

She stepped a little closer, not with the intent to take the datapad back yet, but simply to look more closely at her own scribbled notes in the context of this new information.

"That explains why the supports don't match any standard stress patterns I've studied..."

Her gaze lifted once more to the architecture itself, her eyes narrowing slightly as she recalculated the vectors and forces in her head. "They aren't actually holding the structure up. They're acting as counter-weights; they're stabilizing it."

Only then did his final comment about the staggering cost of the project truly catch up with her. She blinked in genuine surprise, her focus shifting back to him as she tried to wrap her mind around the sheer scale of the waste.

"…why would anyone ever feel the need to spend that much on a single building?"

There was no judgment in her voice, only the profound and genuine confusion of someone who valued the logic of a thing far more than the prestige of its price tag.

Jax Thio

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedi Temple, Naboo
Equipment: Jedi Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Marriage Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Meri Vale

"No, you're a cut above the typical teenager," Jax smiled leaning against the stone railing and taking in the cool air. "There's something inside of you that's just waiting to come out."

Meri didn't know it but there was great potential within her. She just needed somebody to nurture. "She needs to be aware of it first." Jax thought.

"Look around you," Jax said. "The Jedi Temple wanted to be away from the politics and comings and goings of the Republic," Jax explained. "We wanted to be our own independent organization working with the High Republic but not intertwining with them. To be this high up though..... also means we can be in harmony with the Force."

He looked down at Meri. "Which by the way...... you have." Jax smiled.

 

[Meri Vale]

Meri shifted her weight slightly as he spoke, her gaze drifting away from the steady safety of the railing and out toward the vast, open space that stretched beyond the temple's edge. She was listening intently, yet it wasn't the same focused way she listened to the logic of structures or the math of patterns; this was something far more visceral, more uncertain, and it left her feeling uncharacteristically adrift.

When he finally mentioned the Force, she didn't offer a look of surprise or wonder; instead, a faint shadow of exhaustion crossed her features, as if she were simply tired of hearing a word that people used to explain away things they didn't understand. Her eyes dropped to the weathered stone beneath her feet for a long moment, tracing the seams in the masonry before she finally found her voice.

"You're not the first person to tell me about the Force…"

She glanced back up at him then, studying the lines of his expression with a clinical closeness that was more intense than her previous shyness.

"You're also not very good at lying," she added, though the remark carried no edge of sharpness or accusation—it was merely a quiet, detached observation of a fact she had cataloged.

Her gaze shifted away again almost immediately, her shoulders pulling inward as she retreated into herself, though she didn't move to leave the space they shared.

"I know I'm weird for a teenager, whether I'm a 'step above' or not," she murmured, her fingers drifting down to lightly brush against the hem of her sleeve in a restless, repetitive motion.

There was a heavy pause between them as she looked out at the horizon, her voice softening until it was barely audible over the ambient sounds of the temple.

"What kind of girl likes to do the things I do?"

She didn't wait for him to offer a platitude or an answer; she simply shook her head slightly, her tone tinged with a quiet, isolated sort of sadness.

"I haven't met one yet."

Jax Thio

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedi Temple, Naboo
Equipment: Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Second Lightsaber, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Meri Vale


“Dunno what benefit I’ll gain from lying,” Jax shrugged. “You’re lighting up like a Lifeday Tree.”

Meri displayed a skeptical mind which was natural. What Jax needed was to convince to believe in the abilities that she possessed. There was also a sense of insecurity to her as she compared herself to a “typical” girl.

“Comparing yourself to others is a fools folly,” Jax said. “You should focus on yourself and your desires. It creates unrealistic expectations on yourself and increases anxiety.”

He was thankful that Jayna Ismet-Thio stayed true to herself and didn’t care what others thought of her. Too many people Meris age were caught up on social media and the Holomovies which shaped their views on the Galaxy. Never mind the fact that many of these companies were made to push a narrative.

“You’re unique not weird,” Jax said. “You posses an authenticity that cannot be replicated if people can’t see that, then that’s their problem.”

The Jedi Master smiled. “Now then…..” he said placing his hands behind his back. “Let’s talk about your Force abilities.”

 

[Meri Vale]

Meri didn't respond right away.

She stood there for a moment, absorbing his words the same way she approached everything else, not rejecting them, but not accepting them without examination either. Her fingers shifted slightly against the edge of her datapad, a quiet, grounding habit as she worked through the feeling behind his words.

Lighting up like a Lifeday Tree.

Her brow furrowed faintly at that, uncertain whether it was meant to be reassuring or simply descriptive. She could not see it herself, which made it difficult to trust.

"If it's not visible to me…" she began quietly, her voice thoughtful rather than argumentative, "…then it's difficult to measure."

Her gaze drifted briefly to the side, out over the distant architecture, before returning to him. The idea of not comparing herself to others lingered longer than the rest. It sounded simple when said aloud. It was rarely in practice.

"Comparison isn't always about expectation," she continued, more carefully now. "Sometimes it's just…data. A reference point. If I don't know what is typical, I don't know what I am deviating from."

She hesitated, then added, a little quieter "…but I understand what you mean."

Unique, not weird.

That one she didn't answer directly.

Her grip on the datapad adjusted slightly instead, as if she wasn't quite ready to decide whether she believed that yet.

When he shifted the conversation, though, something in her posture changed. Not fear, exactly, but a tightening of focus. This was the part she didn't have a framework for. No equations. No structure she could map cleanly.

"You're not the first person to tell me I have…something," she said, her voice quieter again, more cautious now. "But no one has explained it in a way that makes sense."

Her eyes lifted to meet his more directly, searching, but still guarded.

"If it's real…then it should follow some kind of rule."

A small pause.

"What does it actually do?"

Jax Thio