Rebuilding an Ancient Order ( Tef, Open )

[Ben Watts]

Alderaan

How long had it been? A few days? Maybe a month? Ben had lost count of his stay on Alderaan but he had not lost sight of his goal. The Jedi Order, at least what was left of it, was in shambles. In the wake of the virus that had plagued the galaxy for so long the Jedi Order lost sight of its goals. It was small at first, but eventually, it was nothing but a shell of its former self. Ben had become a Jedi when he was a child, it was all he knew. But he was around right at the end of the Jedi. He reached the rank of Knight, but once there, there was little he could do to fix things.

His promotion to Master was nothing more than the Jedi reaching for help that they did not have. While Ben was a tried and true Jedi who adheared to the code to the best of his abilities, he felt like his promotion to master had been a bit hasty. But he had not faultered in his duties and he took the title with pride and he wore it much like a badge. Now he felt like it was his duty to help reconstruct the Jedi from the ground up. He knew there were others out there whom he could reach out to, but his quest started with one person, Teferi Efreet. He was a Jedi Master, much like Ben, but he brought to the table something Ben could not: experience. His wisdom would go far in Ben's initiative.

But he was proving rather hard to track down. Ben spent every day, from dawn until dusk, searching for him. Looking for any sliver of a sign, asking anyone who knew anything, and following any trails he could get his hands on. For the most part, it had been an empty journey, but Ben was resiliant. He was not going back to Coruscant without Teferi. Today, though, felt different than any other day. At the end of his search from the previous evening he caught a glimmer of hope. For a brief moment he felt the presence of the other Jedi and Ben felt like he had pinpointed his location.

The walk had been a long one, through the mountains, and to a cave where he thought he would find him. Ben was not sure why he was hiding, or if he was even hiding, maybe he was not even on the planet. But he would not abandon his search until he was one hundred percent sure he was not on the planet. He tried not to let those thoughts flow through his head, doubt was not an emotion he wanted to experience because it lead to darker thoughts. Sure, he could handle it, but he preferred to keep his thoughts positive and on his goal.

The cave appeared within his line of sight and he stopped just outside of the entrance. He closed his eyes and he searched, with the force, the entrance of the cave. He tried to find something, anything, that would let him know that he was in there. Then, he felt something, and the hope welled inside of him. He opened his eyes and he walked to the entrance of the cave. "Master Efreet?" Ben shouted into the cave.

 

[Tefka]

Born at the beginning of the Four Hundred Year Darkness, Teferi Efreet was something of an enigma, much like many Jedi. In this particular cave, however, this wonderous enigma happened to be gnawing on a spine of glitter root, one of the vibrant lavender variety. Chomp chomp, juice churned from his teeth, spittle dripping from his lips as the smaller Jedi began hobbling to the next glitter root. "Wonderful", the little green monk uttered. "Wonderful it is, yes." Purple berries made their way into the mix with the Jedi's dinner, glowing as large as Alderaan's suns in the beady eyes of Teferi Efreet, herbalist extreme.
Suddenly, during dinner, his head perked up, Teferi turning his head to view the edge of the cave's falls, the end of the underground river before the waterline plummeted several hundred feet below into the next chasm. "Feel a presence, I do..."
The child-like monk gripped the next whetstone with his three-fingered wrinkled hand and began pulling himself up onto the sliperry slope of the rocks, edging towards the light of the cave's opening past the falls. Wary, he was, for he was unsure what he felt at this particular moment in time. One thing the Jedi did know, however, was that the pitter patter of raindrops upon his forehead felt refreshing, and was a nice reprieve but for the growling in his stomach. A Jedi should always finish his dinner, but the matter of this unknown presence had to be resolved.

"Master Efreet?"

"...and felt this presence in a long time, I have not. Master Watts, it is, hm?"

Pulling his tan hood down from his robes, Teferi stepped forward from the cave after having climbed from the underground waterfall and approached Ben.

"Possible, how is this?"

 

[Ben Watts]

Ben could not help but smile as the seemingly feeble old Jedi walked in his direction. It had been a very long time since he had set eyes on another Jedi, and Ben had to admit, he felt a bit relieved. For so long he had wandered the galaxy trying to do what he thought was best for an Order that was no longer around. Hopelessness, lonliness, and even anger seemed to plague his thoughts but being in the presense of another Jedi wiped away every bit of those emotions. Though he had great control over his emotions, even the best could not hold back some things, and it felt good to have the unfamiliar feeling of hope wash over him.

"It has been a long time indeed, old friend." Ben smiled and he did the same, pulling back his hood and revealing his face, the smile welling on his face.

He asked how it was possible and the smile faded a bit as he thought back to all of those he had once stood by his side but were now long gone. "They said I was a prodigy when it came to healing...... so I guess it paid off." He held back the sadness in his voice, so many had died right before his eyes, but those thoughts were negative and he pushed them out. "I wasn't always the only one. I had a small group, about five, who were with me. Sadly, though, they all fell one way or the other. In times of crisis the dark side is as strong as ever." Two men he had trusted betrayed him not long ago, and his hand instinctively went to his arm to feel the scar that would forever be on his bicep. He could heal it, sure, but it was a memento almost. A reminder of what could happen to him if he blindly trusted and believed in those who had fallen prey to the power of the dark side.

"There are others," He said quickly, trying to deter the conversation out of a negative light and to bring it back on a more positive note. "But they are spread far and wide throughout the galaxy. I came to you first because I need your help.... to get them all back together..... to rebuild the Jedi." He knew it sounded outrageous and far fetched, but if every man quit when something seemed impossible then the galaxy would have crumbled long ago.

 

[Tefka]

"Build the Jedi, shall we?"

There was a little more pip in the little monk's step, a shimmer of hope in his eye. But this hope soon faded to darkness, as Alderaan was literally getting dark. "Come with me to my house, you will. Eat, we shall!" Why the little green man had been out plundering in the caves of Alderaan for glitterstem and grub was beyond any right-sided brain, but the quirky duo began to head towards the hut. Teferi looked up at Ben as they began to head for shelter as night fell, hobbling along in a hurried fashion.

"Build Jedi, we cannot, hm. Connected, we are. Never gone, the Jedi were. Gone, am I? Gone, are you?"

Teferi slammed against the doorway of his hut in the wilderness, not far from the cave, with the butt of his now revealed walking stick. It had been submerged beneath his robes for the duration of their travel. The door creaked open slowly as a flutter of insects wove together into the night air past the two Jedi.

"Strong, the dark side is. Clouded are my visions...clouded are the other Jedi. Lost they are, but hope remains..."

He rapped the ankles of Old Ben, playfully, with his walking stick.

"...for found me, you did! Find the others you will, yes, but time it will take. Hurm hm!" He cried gleefully, smiling. "Eat! Eat! Yes, yes. Eat!" He began to serve a dish of delicious looking goolash, much unlike anything that had yet been seen here in the hut. It actually appeared....edible. Teferi dug into his own plate, rabidly sipping at the hot soup like he was a much larger man.

"A location in mind for building your Jedi, have you? An Academy you need, yes? Hrm?"

 

[Ben Watts]

Ben smirked as he ushered him out of the caves and to his house. He was interested to see how an old hermit Jedi lived, and if it was anything like what he thought it was going to be, he was pretty excited. He did bring up a good point that the Jedi were never gone, Ben noted that he needed to be a little bit more careful with how he worded things, not that it was a problem, but if he was going to be a diplomat he was going to have to be a great speaker. He had a fear of public speaking when he had been younger, but he also had a lot of other fears that he had to get over in order to become successful, namely blood. He shuddered at the thought of the first time he had to deal with a wounded person.

"You and I are not gone, no, but a place to teach.... to train..... other Jedi is gone. The academies that were spread out all over the place are all but ancient relics now. Tourists attractions, vandalism sites, nothing more than empty shells." The old Jedi poked at his ankles and Ben flinched forward, trying to avoid being hit. It was strange how he went from a desolute feeling to such optimism in such a short period of time.

"At this point even the tiniest sliver of hope is all I need." He sat down at the table that was much to small for him in an awkward position. He tried to sit in the chair, but he felt the weight of the chair crumbling under him. To spare himself the shame of falling and breaking a chair not five minutes after walking in the door he chose to sit cross legged instead. When the food was brought out, Ben dug in, he had been unaware of his hunger until just that moment. He had been ignoring it and feeding himself nothing but scraps so that he wasted no times in his search.

"Well, most of the old temples are useless now. Obviously we tried to preserve as many of the relics and archives from the past that we could, but as we grew smaller in number, so did everything we had collected. Most everything we once had has been scavenged by vandals or dark side users for their own personal gain. As for a location, I began a little bit of renovation on Coruscant. The few things I did collect are located there and it is the most neutral of sites I have found thus far. Plus, after the plague, lots of people took to Coruscant for refuge. Now the planet is filled with species from all over and is in the most dire need of help, which makes it the perfect location for us to start. It is filled with young people who are embedded with the force and I feel like we could get a lot of support from the local government. Plus an effort to enact a new Galactic Alliance has been in the talks for awhile now, so who knows, maybe we could help out there?"

 

[Tefka]

"In the Force you must look for your hope, yes." The green monk poured them both a cup of tea from a steaming black kettle as he shuffled around the cross-legged seated Jedi. "Though a shell the Jedi of old might be, the Force still is, and will be." A deep statement from a very philosophical tiny creature, Teferi pitter-patted around Ben to sit on the other side of the table, his tiny digits reaching to pull a chair out from underneath the table and finally sitting down to eat his goolash.

"Overrun, we are, by the Dark Side. Seen the temples on Coruscant, I have." Centuries of running away came rushing back to the old Master all at once, but a simple wave of the Force calmed his nerve as it seemed to blanket his eternal spirit. "But traveled for years, I have not. This refuge...this place on Cosucant...these people I am unfamiliar with, yes." He took a deep breath and let the moment sink in, the vibrant aura of the Force engulf his body for a second, and dissipate. "Clouded is the future. Know what awaits your journey, I do not, Master Watts." He took a sip of his tea. "Uncertain is everything."

"Agree with you and your cause I do, old friend. Travel with you to Coruscant I will."

He stood up, rising to his full height, only a foot taller than his seated height.

"You have my walking stick."

He ceremoniously placed it upon the table before Old Ben, as if referencing some other event that happened a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

 

[Michelle]

N/A

 

[Ben Watts]

Having the old Jedi Master was just the first step in getting the Jedi back to prominence again. Ben could only do so much and having the wisdom of someone much wiser than himself meant more than he probably knew. Tef raised up and put the cane on the table and Ben only smiled, not sure what he meant by it, but he knew that it must have some significance. He grabbed the cane and he stood up, examining it, before handing it back to Tef. "A little too short for me." Ben said with a smile, meaning it as a joke, but hoping he knew it meant something for Ben.

A grumble came from outside and Ben reframed from bolting his head in the direction the noise came from. He had been being followed by a girl, no older than twelve, since he had been in the city. He had written her off as just being curious but he had been certain he had shook her once he had entered the forests. He was not sure of her motive, or if she even had one, but Ben had not confronted her because she seemed nothing more than a curious child. Of course, these days, children could be just as dangerous as adults. Often times they would be decoys for a larger ambush of thieves. Ben had encountered a group when he first came to Alderaan and he had to deter them with simple mind tricks.

"You can come out of hiding." Ben said without turning, but raising his voice enough to show her that he was speaking to her. He turned around and faced the window that she was at, almost bumping his head against the low ceiling. "Why have you been following me?" He said to her gently, trying to create an aura of comfort about the room so that she would feel a little bit more comfortable. He was sure she was not used to being caught so he hoped she would not bolt the moment she realized she had been found out.

 

[Tefka]

Hobbling down from his chair, the green monk slid his half-dead leg over to the other side of the table, grunting all the way as only the top of his head would be visible to any looking above the table.

"Mine! It wasn't a present."

Wrapping Ben's ankles with his walking stick, Teferi hobbled back over to the other side of the table and stood silent when they heard something outside the hut.

"Hm?"

He stood there, until Ben started talking, his keen ears perking. Teferi felt a very familiar presence...one he had not felt in quite some time, again. This one felt a bit too familiar, however. Patiently, he stood still, awaiting the response to Ben's questions.

 

[Michelle]

N/A

 

[Ben Watts]

Ben was almost caught off guard when the old Jedi hit his ankles again. He flinched a bit and looked down, but quickly reverted his attention back to the girl outside the window. He had a feeling she was not going to be the most social of people and when she started to try and go away, Ben made his way over to the window and he looked outside to see her standing over a twig and trying not to be seen. The scene was humerous to him, but he did not want to laugh and make her feel worse than she already did, but he was also interested in finding out just what she had been doing following Ben.

"Have you ever seen a lightsaber?" His voice rang out through the quiet forest with the only thing he knew how to do, try and entice the younger girl with something that was almost mythical to those outside of the workings of the force. "They're pretty cool. I will show you one if you want." He felt like he was bribing the little girl into staying. He was not exactly sure why he wanted to gain her trust and have her stay, but something was telling him to, and if there was one thing he knew it was not to ignore feelings like that. Fate and coincidence were not to be trifled with, especially as a Jedi.

 

[Michelle]

N/A

 

[Tefka]

Teferi's eyes were open as wide as wide could be as the ground was torn asunder and the little girl - who had only briefly arrived - disappeared. She had barely even muttered a single sentence before disappearing after a shockingly frightful explosion of the soil. That was literally the strangest thing Teferi had ever witnessed.

There was a very long pause as the old monk just stood there, dumbfounded, wondering if they should contact the Alderaanian security forces.

He then blinked a couple of times and looked back up at Ben, choosing not to speak of the very, very strange encounter.

"Sooooo.....where were we? Off to regroup the Jedi, we are?"

 

[Ben Watts]

The girl ran away from the two of them and Ben made no motion to go after her. He had a bad feeling watching her run away, but he did not have time to chase down a girl and convince her to join the Jedi. Even if she was force sensitive taking on someone who had lived in a cities slums and seen some of the things she had likely seen, trying to adhere her to the dark side would be near impossible. Learning the ways of the Jedi took years and trying to completely change someones mind was never an easy task. It was why the Jedi started training so young, the way of the Jedi was no easy task, and if it was just thrust upon someone after they had already developed a mindset never turned out good.

"I sense a dark future for that young girl." Ben said with a rather remorseful voice. He hoped he was wrong, but he had a feeling he wasn't. "Yes, to Coruscant. We must begin rebuilding immediately. My ship is a good walk from here, and I suppose we wont be coming back anytime soon, so I guess you should gather what things you will be taking?"

 

[Tefka]

"With me, I have, everything I need." Teferi's pauses were sometimes annoying to sit through. "But I agree, I do, for that poor girl's future. Unstable, she seemed, but time is not our ally."

He turned towards the exit of the hut and began walking out.

"Leave we will, to Coruscant, we go!"

 

[Ben Watts]

The trip back to his shuttle did not take quite as long as Ben expected. When he was not roaming Alderaan on a blind quest for someone the trips seemed to be a bit shorter. His optimism for the Jedi had taken quite the turn and a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He no longer felt alone and he was taking the first steps to getting the Jedi reastablished. They still had a long way to go, but at least they were getting somewhere, and not running in circles.

"I have a few people who we can try and contact to join our cause. As I said before a new Republic is in the works on Coruscant and if we can get them on board with us then it can be of mutual benefit for both parties. I am sure we will have to sacrifice a bit of time to help them rebuild but, if things go well, we should be able to use their resources to jump start our cause. As for other Jedi... well I am sure they wont be too hard to find." The last sentence came out with a bit of false hope in it. The Jedi had disbanded for a reason and convincing someone to come back would not be easy. Plus he was not so sure how well they would adjust to coming back to such a strict order after being away from it for so long.

"Relations with the government on Coruscant are still doing well, at least from the little contact I have had with them. They seem to be on board, they just need to know that we are serious with our cause. Now that there are two Masters who are willing to take the lead I feel like they will be more likely to help us out. What do you think of it all?"