Private Old Scars

[Jonyna Si]

​

The Protectors. That was a name that rung through the heads of many Cathar native to their home planet. A name that held a bit of hypocrisy within the language of the Cathar. No one was there to protect them when the Mandalorian Crusaders burned their home to the ground.

But that was centuries ago. A remnant of generational scars that only seemed to fade more and more. Still, they were visible. With every successive occupation of Cathar, the people grew weary. Who were the Protectors? What did they stand for?

They turned to one person to find out. The Sage. A woman, who by her own admission, didn't ask for the job. She was a jedi, and one who bore the responsibility of the sage. While she held no tribal rank, she did hold a cultural rank. Now she sat at the edge of a starport in the middle of the night, looking and watch the incoming ships. Mia Monroe had promised her a visit, and Jonyna had a plan.

 

[Mia Monroe]

Clouds whipped across the hull as she descended through Cathar's atmosphere, the small shuttle rattled slightly and she eased off the throttle, angling towards the starport beneath a black glittering sky. Cathar had fallen within their borders simply by chance, but she knew the history these people had, and if she could do anything to assure them they were not their predecessors then she would.

Even if it meant another meeting with a Jedi.

Still, Mia was a master at concealing the darkness within, stepping into it only when the need called for it, and if she slipped? Well she'd have to send Arla or Drego instead. Perhaps they would have a better shot.

Pistons hissed as the ship settled in the landing bay, flicking the controls and setting the shuttle into an idle state she collected her buy'ce clipping it to her belt as she descended the landing ramp to find and greet her host.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

The immediate response from most in the area was fear. The sight of a Mandalorian, even after generations, invoked the primal response built from generational trauma.

All except Jonyna. The woman stood firm, walking up to Mia Monroe and offering a handshake. "You must be Mia Monroe. Glad to finally meet you. Jonyna Si, Sage of the Denik."

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia took to offered hand and shook it with a tight smile, noting the tension and fear in the surrounding people. Mia couldn't blame them, their history with mandalorians was a bloody one.

"A pleasure Jonyna, thank you for your invitation. I'm hoping we can find a way to move forward from our past."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"That is the hope, yes." Jonyna said with a more neutral tone. She knew the people of this tree wouldn't be kind to Mia. Cathar had bounced between horrid empires in it's history. The Mandalorian Empire, the One Sith, the New Imperial Order. Now the Protectors laid claim to it, and the people of the planet, of Ran Dom Kuun, lay in wait to see what came next. Would they hide once more? Flee to the stars again?

Jonyna couldn't let that happen. She wouldn't. With the Dark Empire so close, she needed to secure a sign that the Protectors wouldn't simply use Cathar as a buffer state.

"Follow me." Jonyna offered. "There is a place I wish to confer, away from the prying eyes. I take it you brought a jetpack, or...are you a decent climber?"

Tag: Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia's eyebrow arched as she fell into step with the feline Jedi.

"I have a jet pack, but I can also climb. I take it we're going to the top?" she asked.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"Down, actually. There's a spot that means something to my people, and I hope will mean something to you." Jonyna said, looking to Mia with a small smirk. "Try and keep up."

And then, she leapt from the branch, idly jumping from branch to branch, occasionally surfing across the slick surfaces to keep up her momentum. She was a natural, in her home environment. Was this a test for the mandalorian? Absolutely. There was always going to be a testing nature to this encounter. Jonyna knew the Cathar people, despite timid demeanor, had a fire in them. She represented them now, and it was only fair she kept Mia, the representative of her people, on her toes.

Tag: Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia stopped to watch the cathar female move effortlessly down the branches and smiled. If Jonyna Si wanted to test Mia, then Mia was more than happy to oblige her. She jumped after her, relying on the force to steady her where Jonyna's natural form and familiarity would grant her more grip. Her pursuit was punctuated with the occasional burst from her jetpack when slick surfaces would have sent her careening over the edge and the occasional muttered swear word.

This would be a perfect training course for foundlings, but she put the thought aside, she needed the Cathar on their side first, and even then, she doubted they would be appreciative of headstrong young mandos using their home as a place to test their skill.

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

The trek down the tree was wild and free, Jonyna occasionally slipping to another path just for the sake of keeping Mia on her toes. Suddenly, they were on the ground, and Jonyna didn't miss a step as she broke out into a sprint, heading towards the savannah to their north. Clearly, she knew where she was going. It was odd, Cathar didn't seem to have roads, only well traveled paths that were marked only by the lack of vegetation as generations of footsteps had flattened them.

"Impressive." Jonyna remarked as she rushed forward into the tall grass.

She knew where they were headed.

The only place the Cathar would accept a buried hatchet.

Tag: Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mai smirked in response to Jonyna's compliment. "I've dealt with worse obstacles." she replied, though the cathar had already disappeared into the savannah grass at a sprint. A paranoid person might consider that she was being led into a trap, and Mia did consider it for a heartbeat before dismissing it and taking off after her.

There were two reasons that she could dismiss such paranoia, the first was that Jonyna was a Jedi. That didn't give her a free pass but its did make such a deception highly unlikely. The second, was that if it was a trap, the response to any mishaps that Mia fell into would be the very one the cathar people did not want. Wherever Jonyna was leading her, Mia had every reason to believe she was safe to follow.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

The next few hours of travel were...quiet. Jonyna would occasionally poke out of the tall grass to check that Mia Monroe was still behind her, but Jonyna wasn't giving anything away. Could they have just agreed to meet here? Sure. But Jonyna wanted to see how committed the Mandalorian was.

Finally, they came to...something, and Jonyna stopped.

In front of them a massive clearing, about the size of a small stadium, where grass had been stamped down, a ring of tall torches that reached high enough to where they could be seen long before the clearing itself was clear. The poles seemed to be marked with murals of cathar origins, and Catharian names scratched into the wood.

"There aren't a lot of things our cultures agree on." Jonyna stated as she stepped into the clearing, "But there is one. This grudge, this scar on our people that has haunted us for centuries, it can only end one way. In the field of honor."

She turned, facing Mia. "No weapons, no special gadgets, nothing to help. Just you versus me. The Cathar Versus the Mandalorian. You win, you dictate the terms of this little agreement. I win, we do. Simple as that."

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia came to rest on her haunches at the edge of the clearing. Had she known she was going to be in for suck a hike, she might have prepared differently. Something twinkled in her eyes at the cathars proposal and Mia couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. She pushed herself slowly to her feet.

"Very well, Jonyna Si , Sage of the Denik, I accept your challenge." She unhooled her helmet from her belt and set it on the floor before slowly unclippeing her armour. She was grateful she had come alone, to be so vulnerable would have caused uproar, but she would not fight this one with her armour. She at had the armour weave under suit underneath and she wasn't exactly helpless without it, should things go sideways.

She stepped forward into the centre of the grassy clearing.

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna too dropped her headdress, placing it lightly on the ground. It had been her father's, and his father's before her. But she was all that was left of her family, at least, in theory.

"Then let us begin."

Jonyna took a low stance, waiting for Mia to strike. She knew better than to attack first, too easily would it mean her downfall. This was a battle of pride of people's, more than anything. She couldn't be hasty in her movements...

The wind began to stir, and the sound of tribal drums filled the air. Mia could feel it in the Force. While not a nexus, the dueling ring they stood in was seeped in generations of tribal rites, of energy long passed. Thousands of battles such as theirs had gone by on this ground, and it flowed with the energy of Jonyna's ancestors. And they watched. Watched the pride of Cathar take on the leader of the people who once slaughtered them.

It came down to this.

Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

The drums were ghostly in nature, coming from everywhere and no where. Mia merely smiled at the noise, understanding the significance of where they stood and the connection this place had to the Cathar's ancestors. Mia herself had her own connection, to her ancestors, forged by her time in the netherworld and honed by her brother's training, Mia opened herself to the Manda, to the whispers of those who had come before her and beckoned them to bear witness to the fight.

A fight to heals scars they had scored across this people and their planet.

Mia set her feet into a fighting stance, circling her target, assessing the way Jonyna's movement before closing the gap with speed garnered through years of fighting and striking for the cathar's defences, testing them for openings.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

The moment Mia pushed forward, Jonyna spun around with a matching speed, going for a roundhouse to the mandalorian's face. In a way, it was a symbolic move. The mandalorian had removed the symbol of their people, their helm, and Jonyna was going to exploit that. Strike at the one place the Mandalorians hid the most. The practiced leg outstretched, and swung with force enough to knock a normal man our cold. She'd spent ten years doing so with stormtroopers and Imps, now she finally had the chance to do it to a Mandalorian.

Tag: Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia had already established Jonyna was fast on their race here, she expected her to display just as much speed in her movement in battle and was pleased to not be disappointed. She ducked beneath the roundhouse kick that would leave the cathar unbalanced, driving a two pronged strike in retaliation, her left first driving for the soft flesh of her thigh as it passed over her, the second for her stomach.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

As both strikes made purchase, Jonyna lost her balance and nearly fell over. She would've, had it not been for her opposable tail that caught her. The woman sprung off it, sending her back a few feet, out of reach.

Alright, that's how it was gonna be.

Jonyna smirked, rubbing her side where Mia had struck. The tribal drums filling the air intensified as Jonyna got back into position. She needed to find an opening. Jonyna was taller than the mando by a few intches, and she needed to use that. Going for a sweeping low kick, Jonyna tried to knock Mia off her feet. She needed to keep things on her terms, or else the Cathar would become slaves again. No. Never again.

Tag: Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia's mirrored the smirk on the cathar's face as she advanced again, the tribal drums rising the hairs on the back of her neck. They almost seemed angry to the former mand'alor, like the were encouraging Jonyna to win and willing her to lose. If truth be told, Mia did not care either way. For her this was about honouring the Cathar's wishes as a people. It wasn't about winning or losing, it wasn't about control, it was about cooperation.

Mia stepped her lead leg back as her sweeping kick came forward, passing in front of her by millimetres, shifting her weight onto her back back she retaliated with a solid kick aimed for the back of Jonyna's kicking leg. Hard enough to bruise but not enough to unbalance her. It was possible that Mia was toying with her. "Come, sage, surely you can do better than this?"

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Better?

Okay.

With a flash of flame, the back leg of the cathar flipped upward into a kick aimed right for Mia's head, a blur of motion as the leg swung around faster than the normal eye could see. It had been a long time since Jonyna had been forced into melee combat, but she wouldn't be called rusty. She could feel it, Mia's connection to the Force. Even if such a kick would knock a normal person's head off, she trusted Mia to be able to take such a hit. The rules had been simple. Anything you bring with your body.

That included the Force.

Tag: Mia Monroe

 

[Mia Monroe]

The kick was swift and powerful enough to get past her guard, connecting with enough force to rattle the former mand'alors skull, the flash of fire absorbed by quick tutaminis, her grin widening, Mia responded with a sweeping kick for the cathars weight bearing leg, intending to bring her to the ground.

Jonyna Si