Quest For Life

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Bandomeer


It was safe for Lori to be in Mandalorian space. As far as she knew anyways. She had the backing of [member="Kaine Australis"] and her links to her adopted cousin [member="Yasha Mantis"] to ensure that she could travel through with ease. Besides, she lived and travelled eith her Mandalorian guardians for a time and trained under them.

And given what had happened on Commenor by the Sith Empire, well there was no safer place to be tight now.

Munto City on Commenor was glassed, the entire area looking like nothing more than a huge mirrored crater. Nothing would grow there, she was told. And such a concept on such a planet that was so full of life didn't really seem possible to her. So after doing some research, Lori decided to head to the Enrichment Zone on Bandomeer. The soil there had been dead once, due to the effects of heavy mining. But the Jedi of the past somehow brought life to it, and she wanted to learn how.

Lori steered her little borrowed fighter to the planet, and after getting clearance, she made her way down to the nearest port to the Enrichment Zone. She never gave out her full name, instead using an alias. She knew that she was close to Sith Empire space and that the Mandalorians were on friendly terms with them. There wasn't a price on her head yet, but after nearly being caught on Commenor, she knew that she was a high value target.

But hopefully the people out here didn't know that.

[member="Thesh"]

 

[Lief]

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Bandomeer, The Outer Rim Territories // The Enrichment Zone​

Ionite Extraction // With [member="Loreena Arenais"]​

♫ // The More The Dark Consumes Me​

I Pretend I'm Burning...​

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Thesh let out one long sigh as he reached the rise of a hill.

Behind him stretched the tail end of a desert which had trailed into savanna-like plains that crept upward from the lowlands, a winding river separating it from the foot of the hill he had taken the time to scale. All around him the world seemed to breathe life in the purest form, a far cry from the world he had come to call home. While [member="Darth Maliphant"] had chosen an estate that was far from the bustling capital, the collective corruption of so many high ranking officials had left the air murky whenever he ventured too close to its heart, which led him to visit the city less and less.

By comparison, though, Bandomeer was almost a utopia.

The boy had been given far more freedoms as of late, as he grew into his position as an Apprentice, and broke free from the chains of his past. His confidence was blossoming, his connection with the Force strenghtening, and as such he had been given a much looser leash. His journey to this world had not been made in order to assist one of his peers or superiors, in fact it was the very first instance of Thesh traveling somewhere of his own volition.

A momentous occasion to say the least.

He breathed it all in, the crisp fresh air that held much more moisture than the arid desert he'd spent most of his day bypassing, the freedom he'd finally come to know, and then exhaled slowly.

Before him he could see the Enrichment Zone stretched out like a patchwork blanket, the land in various stages of renourishment, and dipping down from the sky he could make out the faint shape of a ship coming in to land. Which was strange, he hadn't seen anything mar the sky during his time there, not this far from Bandor at least.

Curious he pressed on, yet his attention remained focused on the task he'd given himself. Rumours of an ionite deposit had driven the boy to this spot, and he'd be insufferably frustrated if someone depleted it before he got so much as a look at the resources it held.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori brought her fighter in near perfectly. She was still getting used to the thing. It flew a bit differently than her training fighter which was stuck on Commenor at the moment which was undergoing an occupation. Her touchdown was a little rough as the controls were a bit sensitive, but she still got the job done. Just so long as she doesn't scratch it up much, she should be fine.

She opened the canopy and started her climb out, going backwards so that she could grab her satchel on her way out. Lori then jumped down the rest of the way. But she didn't touch the ground when she was expected to, her body and muscle memory too used to her old fighter. This one was taller, so that when she landed, her left ankle slightly rolled, giving her a sharp pain going up her leg. "Ow!!! Stupid thing!!" Lori rubbed her leg after adjusting her satchel, glaring at the fighter as though it was some bully. She then huffed and limped away ftom it, planning on walking off her slight injury.

Lori took a look around, the valley in various stages of being fixed up again. There wasn't a lot of movement except for a figure in the distance. Lori waved with both arms to [member="Thesh"] and then cupped her hands around her mouth as she yelled to him, "HEY!! ARE YOU A JEDI?!!
CAN I ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS?!!"

((Sorry for the short post. Coffee break is over now!))

 

[Lief]

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Bandomeer, The Outer Rim Territories // The Enrichment Zone​

Ionite Extraction // With [member="Loreena Arenais"]​

♫ // The More The Dark Consumes Me​

I Pretend I'm Burning...​

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It did not take the boy particularly long to encroach upon that most quiet of spaces.

The Enrichment Zone seemed particularly empty that day; whether that was common or not the boy could not say for sure, it wasn't as though he'd been to this world before, and the only information he'd received about it was relating to the ionite deposits and not the workforce which may or may not have been milling about the place.

Truth be told, he hadn't even considered what he'd do if he was cornered by someone. Maybe feign ignorance? He still had that childish baby face, after all... Either way he looked to be in the clear. Glancing down at the datapad which had the information he required, the boy frowned and then surveyed the area again, before removing a small device from his pocket which could detect electromagnetic interference.

As he made his way toward the coordinates, he occasionally glanced down to check the readings and soon enough - much to his surprise, after all the information could have been wrong - detected a strange amount of interference. Ionite, he'd heard, didn't hold a proper positive or negative charge, which led him to believe that he was getting close.

When a voice screamed over the empty field, though, his attention was broken. He glanced to his right, and saw a girl who appeared to be potentially of an age with him waving in his direction. And screaming something about... Jedi?

Now that was hilarious.

Still, it didn't help to simply press on and ignore her because no doubt she'd follow, and maybe scream some more. That would attract unwanted attention. So instead he turned and headed her way, watching in dismay as the device in his hands began to level out.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, when he was close enough to converse with her without having to necessarily raise his voice, though he kept his distance all the same. After all, he didn't know who she was or why she was there.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori felt relieved that [member="Thesh"] didn't just draw a blaster and take aim at her. He just carried a datapad in his hand. Which must mean that he was working on the Enrichment process! Perfect!!

She noted that he kept his distance a bit. Maybe she was intimidating to him? He was probably the closest to her age that she had met since...well, her brother and that backstabber Sebastian.

Lori didn't touch on her injury. Instead she just kept to the most important topic. "Well yeah. Sorta. I know a place where bad things happened and things won't grow there anymore. There's a Dark Nexus there now. I was wondering if you could enlighten me on the enrichment process? When it's safe for me to go back, I'll have to help to make it better."

 

[Lief]

"You're injured," Thesh stated, after the girl was done with her question and the rambling which accompanied it, in an attempt at drawing the attention away from her present quest and instead to something a little more manageable for his part. After all, he needed to figure out some sort of appropriate response which would not tip her off to the fact that he shouldn't really be there. That he had no part in this... enrichment process.

He had seen the girl limping toward him before he paused, and now he turned his attention down to the weaker ankle with a soft frown and a very gentle tut. "Now, how did you manage that?"

His voice was surprisingly light, with a pleasant lilt and an accent that couldn't quite be pinpointed. It seemed rather learned, noble almost though there was a somewhat muddier undertone which betrayed that fact if one knew how to listen for it. Still, the tone was well practiced. Mostly in an attempt at stamping out any reminder of the past he'd clawed his way out of.

[member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori blinked in surprise as [member="Thesh"] honed in on her ankle first. Maybe he was a healer too! A healer of the land as well as of others. That'd be pretty cool! As well as a lucky find for her!

When he gave her a tut and a frown in regards to her ankle, she suddenly felt embarrassed. Her cheeks reddened slightly and she began to fidget with the strap of her satchel. "Oh, it's not much, really. I'll just walk it off. I only rolled it a bit when I climbed out of my fighter. Well, it's not really MY fighter. I just borrowed it. My own fighter is...currently unavailable."

Yeah, that was a good enough answer! It revealed some, but not too much that could get her in trouble. She had to be careful and not as trusting as before. But she was protected in Mando space. Or at least she should be.

 

[Lief]

Thesh turned his head at the mention of a fighter, and sure enough in the not-too-far-distance he spotted the ship she spoke of. A little thing that was made up mostly of just a cockpit with engines, nothing particularly special yet he didn't doubt that it had some hefty acceleration. Most starfighters did, after all.

"I'm sorry to hear you've been separated from your own ship," he informed the girl, glancing back at her and levelly meeting her gaze, "I cannot imagine what it must be like; I hear most have quite the connection with their vessels. You're not having a good time of it lately, are you? A nexus in some place you clearly care about, your home perhaps? And nexus' don't just crop up... So it's war, then? Disconnected from your ship, messing up your ankle..."

He shook his head, feigning sympathy - though admittedly, the boy was not so cruel as to be lacking such, and so partly it was genuine - and took a slow step toward her.

"I must admit, before you get your hopes set too high, that I know little of the Enrichment process. Your ankle, however? That I may be able to help you with."

After all the suffering he'd endured before coming to [member="Darth Maliphant"] the boy knew a thing or two about treating injury, at least on the smaller scale such as this; and he wasn't a monster, nor did he wish to set alarm bells ringing within the girl's mind. After all, he'd yet to reach the ionite, much less dig it up, and he'd be loathed to have to leave it behind because some girl got in the way of his plans.

"Sit yourself down, now, pushing yourself too heavily will only do it more damage."

[member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori tried to brush off the loss of her ship as though it was nothing. "I'll get it back.
Some day. I've just gotten so used to how it moves and everything that it's like a second skin. But I'll get it back...I'll get it back."

She met [member="Thesh"] 's gaze as he looked at her, raising a brow as he seemed to be fishing for info with his guessing. Did she already reveal too much? She wasn't sure. All that she responded with was "Something like that..."

Lori blinked as he said that he knew little of the process that drew her here to begin with. "If you know so little, what are you doing here then? Can't be because of my ankle." She stared at him for a moment as he told her to sit down before finally complying, lifting her foot off the ground before settling it gently on it's heel once her bottom was planted on the ground. "I thought that it was to hurt if it was to heal. And that keeping it moving helps? But if you're a healer, then I suppose you'd know better." Maybe he was a healer-in-training. He seemed to know some of what he was talking about.

 

[Lief]

"Visiting, same as you," was his response, observing as the girl sat herself down on the ground and lifted her leg to the height of her heel, which truthfully was not very high at all. He leaned down, scooching a rock over to where she was and gently setting it under in order to provide some elevation. An important part in the healing process, or so he'd read. He was, of course, no medic, he was not trained in medicine or first aid, but the books that [member="Darth Maliphant"] had provided him with gave him some insight at the very least.

"Moving it can help, but keeping pressure on it? No. Pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong, and we should be listening to our bodies. Most of the time they know what's up. You likely just sprained your ankle, so there's nothing that can really be done to help it other than not overworking it. It'll pass."

He glanced back over the area they were within, noticing the distinct lack of workers in the vicinity, and frowned slightly.

"You know, I'm not sure you're going to find what you're looking for. Not unless the workers here are invisible." What a curious notion that was. He squinted his eyes, as though looking for some sort of shimmer against the landscape which might hint at such, before shaking his head with a soft and unoffending chuckle. "Is there somewhere else they might be?"

Thesh was mostly interested in not running into them, he longed to bring out the electromagnetic sensor again, to walk toward the source until the device malfunctioned enough that it shut down... Then he'd know he was practically on top of it. For now, though, the girl was providing quite the bothersome distraction from that task.

[member="Loreena Arenais"]

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

"Sprained?! Oh no..." Lori huffed as she really wasn't happy with that. She even folded her arms across her chest in defiance of the diagnosis that [member="Thesh"] had given. How was she going to get around if she couldn't put pressure on it? It wasn't as though there were any big sticks in the area that she could use as a crutch.

Her train of thought shifted as Thesh pointed out the lack of people in the area, most importantly the Jedi that were to be the ones helping out the land. "I don't know where they are. I just got here.
Maybe they are on a meal break? Or something? I dunno..." It wasn't as though she could do much about it right now, anyways.

She could sense his aggitation. "So you're visiting too?
What for?"