Pad-a-wans. Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a- what?

[Avalore Eden]

"It wasn't exactly on my bucket list..." Avalore intoned, brows aloft as she let her gaze absently meander across the scene of the temple set against blue skies and green forest.

Was she prepared to own and run a Jedi Temple? Feth no. Did she have the knowledge and skills of how to do it? Of course not. Was she probably the worse person for the job? Very likely. Avalore wouldn't be swallowing any delusions of grandeur about herself. She'd never been destined for greatness, at least that was how she felt, but she would do well to remember that Diana had entrusted these things to her.

Avalore supposed that had to mean something.

Feeling the squeeze on her hand, she glanced back up at him, lips drawing down into a faint frown, "You already are helping, Stali."

[member="Meeristali Peradun"]

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

"Becoming a Jedi wasn't on mine," he admitted, after the mention of her own 'bucket', "sometimes the best laid plans..."

He trailed off, giving her a glance and a smile, before looking again to the temple, too. What laid in his future? What would change next? These were questions whose answers were only found by living, day-in and day-out. Everyone doing better, their best, what was right, and sometimes what felt right.

It was good to hear assurance to his wish to be of assistance. It put a warmer, fonder smile on his face, and he pulled her hand up to press lips against knuckles.

"I'll take your word for it."

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore smiled finally, perhaps a bit sadly. Jedi hadn't been on her list either, yet here she was. It made her wonder if it had all been planned by someone else. Were they amused and entertained? She certainly hoped so. The Healer then stopped short as she felt her hand leave his lips and gently tugged the felacat towards her for one more kiss, just to reinforce her previous words. They might know next to nothing about one another, aside from a few spare details here and there, but this hardly concerned her. In fact, she rather liked it that way. The comforts were coming out of honest want, or so she believed, and not out of pity.

She hated being pittied.

Lingering there before him, for however long the moment went, when they parted again she smiled, but this time not sadly.

~~~

After ascending the temple entrance steps, the Healer wasted no time in honoring her promise to help [member="Meeristali Peradun"]. After a few minutes of asking around, she was directed down the hall of training chambers to one where [member="Marcello Matteo"] was presently engaging a large group of younglings with the depths of his knowledge and skill.

Avalore entered the chamber, letting Stali to follow or to stay behind, and waiting for Matteo's gaze to meet her own, beckoning the man over with a wave of a hand. Not that she meant to beckon in any way belittling of his title, but their friendship was simply something much less rigid than typical Jedi doctrines.

"Hi," she said, glancing around at all the eyes now upon her, "sorry, I just need a few minutes of your time."

 

[Marcello Matteo]

Marcello's face was an impassive mask as he assisted the Youngling's in their techniques. For the most part, they were all...capable on varying levels. It was confidence that made the difference. "Alright. Everyone stop for a moment. You are all trying to hard. Manipulating a lightsaber should be as simple and effortless as writing your name. It is a part of you, an extension of your body. You need not force your arm to raise to rub your eyes in the morning. You simply have the thought and effortlessly allow it to happen."

The students resumed their practice just as [member="Avalore Eden"] entered. Glacier-blue eyes glanced up from the Youngling he was working directly with in time to catch Ava's eyes and her subtle beckoning for his presence. Allowing a thin smile to touch his lips, Marcello stepped away from the Youngling's and approached the woman. While he was aware that...they basically all stopped to watch them, Marcello didn't much care.

Perhaps once upon a time he would do something to start rumors and cause a scene. In fact it wasn't even that long ago. "Avalore, you look quite radiant. Being free from captivity agrees with you." The Jedi Master winked playfully at the smaller Jedi Knight. Marcello hadn't really the opportunity to speak with Avalore after her liberation from Coruscant. He'd departed silently and swiftly once she was returned to a Republic medical facility - off to fight injustice somewhere else.

[member="Meeristali Peradun"]

 

[Hal Terrano]

Just like that, Avalore Eden was gone, very effectively dodging the Grandmaster's personally intrusive question like some wily weasel woman. Don't blink, you might miss the incredible vanishing act. Perhaps if Hal was more in touch with his emotions then he might have understood the unwillingness to discuss the subject matter at hand, unfortunately he was not and was more likely to catch up with the Healer later and scold her from running from the question.

With Knight Eden gone, the conversational spotlight was to be centred upon him, not that he minded. Hal wasn't one to hide his feelings, repress, yes but when prompted there was nothing but blunt honesty.

“I am faring fine,” he responded in his standard stoic tones, arms folding across his chest in what was the standard Hal Terrano pose, if they made him into an action figure, this would be the mould cast. “It is simply a matter of getting back into the routine.”

Training. Study. Soon-to-be a Padawan. Routine was important. Routine meant discipline and above all, Jedi should be disciplined.

“I only ask if there is anything more that Avalore and myself can do to aid the Order, Grandmaster.”

[member="Kiskla Grayson"]

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

He hung back, waiting patiently, much of the warmed look and smile that had been on his face scrubbed back to something less telling, and watched, listened as [member="Avalore Eden"] spoke with [member="Marcello Matteo"] - a man he'd already been on-mission with, and held some respect for. It was becoming increasingly apparent that the healer had more connections amongst the Jedi than he knew, and this wasn't a bad thing at all. He'd already met and befriended a couple of them, and there was no doubt that he'd meet more.

Already, his interest and time spent with one (in his mind, amazing) woman had improved his own life, and indications were that the road of that connection went both ways. Life, for all that had happened, was still something good, and worth living.

 

[Avalore Eden]

There had been a frown plastered on Avalore's face, subtle at first but deepening at the Jedi Master's approach and words. She couldn't help it - too many feelings just suddenly came rushing up from out of nowhere. Looking at him brought back visions of the rescue along with every emotion experienced. In her defense, Eden didn't cry, but she did suddenly step forwards to wrap her arms around [member="Marcello Matteo"]'s middle in the tight hug she'd meant to give him but never had a chance to.

"Not too tight," her muffled words spoken with her face pressed against his chest, Marcello knew why. He'd seen her battered and bruised self just before leaving her to the care of doctors. She'd since refused the help of any Healers, insisting she needed to heal on her own. It was a therapeutic thing, she'd told them, and at only a little over a week later she wasn't nearly fully healed.

Avalore ignored the murmurs of the Padawans surrounding them.

Ok, a few tears - she quickly wiped them away. Sniff.

"I need ... I need to ask you a favor, Marcello," the Healer spoke low and pulled away slowly, brushing her hair from her face, "which is absurd on so many levels since you've already done so much for me. But, I made a promise to a friend and I intend to keep it." One way or another. If Marcello wouldn't or couldn't take on Stali, she'd find someone who could.

"He needs a new Master, someone who can finish his training to become a Guardian," brown eyes flickered to the younglings nearby and she felt a sting of guilt asking Marcello to take on an official Padawan-learner in front of all these other Masterless Padawans. She shook her head to clear the doubts, "he's nearly there. He can't stay back with the younglings or just take classes. He's been on his own for training for too long and hasn't had a steady Master. Can you help him?"

 

[Marcello Matteo]

Yep.

He should have expected the frown. Not because [member="Avalore Eden"] was a particularly sad or angry person, but she was certainly emotional. Emotional on a level that Marcello barely approached understanding in a lot of ways, and he could only imagine what she was...subjected to at the hands of the Sith. Rest assured, the Jedi Master presumed that the Sith had been very good caretakers, but he imagined that had its own mental trauma. The Naboo native likened it in his head to being routinely indoctrinated by an entity to beliefs that ran completely contrary to your own...but having that indoctrination presented in the air of familiarity, a perversion of intuitive sense.

It confused Marcello just to think about it. Fortunately, Avalore broke his train of thought as she immediately stepped in to seize his waist. Looking down at her with his arms raised awkwardly to the sides for a moment, Marcello was...stunned into paralysis. Recovering quick enough, he dropped his arms and grasped Avalore's firmly with his hands. After pulling her arms from around his waist, Marcello reached down and effortlessly pulled her body into the air such that their heads were a touch more...level.

While her feet hovered over the ground, Marcello gave Avalore a firm, affectionate hug. There weren't really any further comments from the Youngling's simply because there was nothing even remotely sensual about the embrace. It was simply a warm expression of friendship and pleasure that Avalore was, simply, alive.

After he'd lowered her back down to the ground, the Jedi Master allowed the woman to give air to her request. Without offering a response, Marcello's head turned as his glacier-blue gaze fell on the familiar form of [member="Meeristali Peradun"]. "Your friend, huh?" No judgment was passed, no inference made. Slowly, the corners of Marcello's lips curled upward into a subtle grin. "No promises, but I'll see what I can do."

In truth, Marcello judged the man to be quite capable, but he'd been tethered to enough apprentices lately to...you know...not get his hopes up. Shifting his gaze back to Avalore, Marcello maintained his smile. "For now, however, I do need to return to the Youngling's behind me." Back to Meeristali. "Come find me tomorrow, Meeristali." Marcello recalled the felacat's name from past interactions.

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

The only thing seeing the blonde, long-haired master give [member="Avalore Eden"] a hug did was... pull quite the smile on his face. No judgement, nothing. Just the simple fact that such expressions between people more often than not made him feel emotions squarely in the range of the positive, especially if the one he observed was one for which he cared by any degree, large or small. His tail wove calmly back and forth, the felacatian not so much staring during the embrace, but committing to memory the connection between two people he had managed to know to different lengths separately from one another before finding that Marcello, too, was connected to Avalore.

When [member="Marcello Matteo"] looked to him, he met those icy blues with his own, bright and fiery orange that they were, the 'no promises' being a familiar phrase, indicative of some need to prove, in most cases. That could be handled. After a few more words with the healer, the master looked back to him, giving an indication of a time, to which he simply gave a short nod of acknowledgement. Tomorrow, then.

 

[Avalore Eden]

"Thanks..." Avalore offered over a wince, her bruised sides and back smarting up a storm. She doubted that was the snuggest bear-hug the Master could have given, but it certainly was more than she'd been prepared for. The Healer rubbed gingerly at her upper arms, a meek smile on her face brimming with warmth for the man despite the soreness of her body.

She was deeply grateful that he was at least willing to entertain the notion of another Padawan, especially considering the idea of taking on even one was terribly daunting for her.

With a glance back to the younglings around them, the Healer offered her Guardian friend an appreciative nod before turning and making her way back over to Stali. A pointed sort of glance was given to him, as if to silently say I keep my promises, before she moved past him through the door and back out into the hallway.

[member="Meeristali Peradun"]

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

So she did, and that was more than could be said for most. After another moment or two, playing things over in his mind, he turned and followed, tailing her out the door and into the hallway. He stopped short of coming up behind her and wrapping arms around, instead leaving his hands at his sides.

"'No promises' is better than a promise not kept," it was his prior master to whom he was referring, as he slipped one hand onto a shoulder of hers, "and a kept promise is far rarer, and more valuable than any jewel."

He gave that shoulder the gentlest squeeze, and bent to press his lips to the top of her head, her hair.

"Thank you, Avalorrre."

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

Getting back into the routine.
That was an interesting admittance, considering the trails that had to be blazed from his perspective. Records showed he had been a Padawan when mysteriously disappearing, which meant he had achieved Knighthood among Sith ranks. His routine was likely a little different than other Jedi would have perceived. Or, perhaps not. Based on the oatmeal answers from the blond Jedi, Kiskla perceived that this would likely be more of an ‘actions speaks louder than words’ situation and she wouldn’t make any ultimatum decisions here. Instant reactions never resulted positively for any parties.

“Your taking on of students and introducing and nurturing them in the way of Ashla is all I can ask for at this point, Knight Terrano.” She delivered primly. “And reach out if it gets to be too much. Our numbers are growing, but we’re all supposed to be equal here.” In reality, she was worried about breaking points — those who had suffered at the hands of the Sith in prior persons hadn’t been so reliable.

She had a right to be wary.

“I appreciate your initiative, thank you.” Hands dropped to her thighs and she glanced in the direction [member="Johnny Diamonds"] had been. “Well, I shan’t detain you further from your Padawan selection process. The classes are ripe with eager students.

Thank you, and may the Force be with you.” Kiskla offered by means of exit and gratitude. Observation would be in order, as there was with everyone.
Those with a sithy past just demanded a little bit more eyeball attention than those who had proved infallible thus far. Or maybe not. The Force was as mysterious as those who utilized it.


[member="Hal Terrano"]