Private Royal Pain

[Arlo Renard]

Jedi Temple, Coruscant

Kai was troubled. This was nothing new for him, given the tumultuous course of his life since infancy. He seemed to always be dealing with some new issue that had sprung up overnight, a conundrum or dilemma with no easy answers.

He had come to the Temple to blow off some steam, maybe do some thinking. In the training rooms he sparred with a droid, the movements practiced and predictable.

There must be another way. Something else I can do. A swap, maybe?...

His mind wandered as he fought the automaton, not really paying his surroundings much attention.

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio had been coming to the Jedi Temple more and more in recent days.

His apartment was too small for him to practice saber combat, and accidentally breaking or burning things in his Senate Office was a no-go. Ergo, the quiet, secluded training areas of the newly-rebuilt Jedi Temple were the perfect place for him to go practice his drills in peace.

Stepping into his usual practice room without much thought, Alicio was surprised to see a Jedi padawan beating up on a practice droid. He thought about spinning on his heel and finding another room, but the ease that the Jedi seemed to toy with his sparring partner gave him pause.

And his face looked familiar, for some odd reason. Was he at the gala, too?

Once either he was done with the bout, or spied the young Count in the corner, Alicio would wave amiably. "Hello. I don't mean to intrude, but... would you like a training partner?"

"I could use some pointers on my form."

- Arlo Renard -

 

[Arlo Renard]

Completing the programmed training exercise, Kai thumbed off his lightsaber… and heard a voice speak up behind him.

He turned around, his gaze landing on a man whom he had seen at the gala. Part of the reason why he remembered him was because of the look on Alicio’s face when Kai had run over, scooped up Amani, and taken off running toward the bar. The memory made Kai smile faintly, snorting air through his nose.

Raising his hands, he signed, [Sure, but I can’t talk.]

He was used to people not understanding Galactic Sign Language, forcing him to resort to telepathy, only for them to get angry and order him to stay out of their head. When it came to communication, it seemed like he just couldn’t win anymore. But who knows, maybe this guy would surprise him. If not, well, he’d be receiving a visit from the Telepathy Fairy very soon.

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio mouth twitched up as Kai finished his set, and turned around to regard the senator. He couldn't decide where he'd seen the boy's face before. Was it on the Holonet? Why did that face remind him of Amani?

The padawan signed something at Alicio, and the Count flashed a few practiced hand symbols. [Sorry, I don't understand,] he returned, smiling apologetically. He'd have to learn how to interpret sign language. His sisters were language prodigies, but Alicio hadn't inherited that trait. Maybe that would be his next personal project.

But that was for the future. For now... this would be tricky.

- Arlo Renard -

 

[Arlo Renard]

It looked like the dude knew just enough sign language to say that he didn’t know sign language. Kai exhaled sharply, but shed his disappointment quickly.

<How about now?>

Kai’s telepathy tended to freak people out, which was why he avoided opening with it. Part of it was because it was seen as a violation of privacy, yes, but there was something weird about his telepathic “voice”. Though he looked human on the outside, his mind was thoroughly alien, and that strangeness came through with a knockout pungency.

<Sure, you can train with me. I’m not deaf, I just don’t like speaking out loud. You can do all the talking you want, though.>

He gestured toward the weapons rack, which held various training lightsabers. His own weapon was set to low intensity.

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

<How about now?>

Alicio canted his head to the side at the sudden sensation of Kai's thoughts in his head. Telepathy wasn't new to him, Tia Rianna and Iris had both connected to his mind before, but something about Kai's taste in the Force was different than any he'd experienced. Strange, acrid, and... otherworldly.

The Count withstood the discomfort, and nodded. "That works," he said, producing his own lightsaber hilt, and beginning to fumble with the power variability dial on the side. "I'm relatively inexperienced, so don't expect anything crazy, but I'd be happy to join you."

"My name's Alicio. What's yours?" Maybe a name would trigger his memory?

- Arlo Renard -

 

[Arlo Renard]

Upon hearing Alicio describe himself as “relatively inexperienced”, Kai couldn’t help the little grin that split his face.

<Kai,> he answered, activating his lightsaber. The blade glowed crystal blue. <Are you a new Padawan? Is Amani your master?> Alicio was pretty old to be a Padawan, but then so was Kara Jade .

As soon as they were in position, Kai aimed a tentative jab toward Alicio’s left shoulder. His blows were more probing than intending to cause harm, gauging his opponent’s defenses.

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Kai... Oh! Kai.

“A couple of the padawans got into a fight, like an actual fight, during the get-together. Kai and Corin. They’re both good kids, just… got some stuff they need to work through.” She found a way to laugh a little, “Kai in particular seems to have a habit for stressing me out, but… I wouldn’t call him trouble. Troubled, maybe.”

The debate. The assassination.

Recognition flashed along Alicio face, which he didn't bother hiding. Instead he nodded, activating his own lightsaber. The blade growled to life, the dark blue and black colors humming dangerously, whispering notions of the future to it's wielder.

"No, I'm not a Jedi. I'm a senator." Alicio found an easy, simple pose, blade hanging loosely at his side. "Amani and I are dating."

Alicio twisted his body to the side as Kai offered a probing stab, Introspect coming up defensively to guide it away from him. He offered one in return, same style, same target, on Kai's shoulder. A bit cheeky, perhaps, but Alicio was a bit of a cheeky fighter.

"I recognized you from the Holonet. The chancellery debate..." He left it there, letting Kai elaborate if he wished, focusing on the duel instead.

- Arlo Renard -

 

[Arlo Renard]

Not a Jedi. A senator? <Like the new Chancellor?> Kai asked. He didn’t bother to disguise his… distaste for Chancellor Auteme.

"Amani and I are dating."

Kai blinked. <Okay good, okay fine.>

He parried the returning jab from Alicio’s lightsaber, then slashed down toward the neck. The boy's technique was simple, primitive even, but so heavily stylized after years of practicing nothing but Form One that it could hardly be called basic anymore.

At the mention of the chancellery debate, Kai’s eyebrows lifted. <Yeah. I was one of the orphans Fal Gore brought onstage. Although I don’t think I really count as an orphan, since I never had any parents to begin with.> A slightly more ruthless chain of attacks aiming to lacerate Alicio’s torso from various angles followed. <I saw him get shot. And then explode. He even went nuclear.>

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio stepped into his opponent's downward slash, cutting Kai's leverage in half as their blades met. He recognized the basic movements of Form I, and met them with his own Makashi style. But even utilizing a form reactionarily developed to counter Shii-cho, he had difficulty keeping up already.

The Jedi's experience was certainly showing.

"I saw the reports after..." the senator managed, having to perform a Soresu flourish to ward off multiple angled attacks at his chest, gaining some distance to finish his thought. "Senator Gore was a bomb. It makes one wonder whether the assassin struck a blow against the Alliance, or saved it."

A few quick steps pivoted Alicio around Kai, as he attempted to enact small cuts at the edges of the padawan's guard. "Do you... Do you not like the Chancellor?"

- Arlo Renard -

 

[Arlo Renard]

Alicio may not have been experienced, but he was slippery. Kai found himself relying more on speed to keep the advantage, as the senator kept changing styles and tactics.

Kai was at least somewhat amused by Gore turning out to be an actual bomb, and it showed on his face. <Final flourish of the jester candidate. The whole thing felt like a setup, you know, right down to the “assassination” broadcast live for everyone to see.> The faint smile he had faded. <But I’m sure whoever planned it was just some nutcase hoping to cause chaos, not make a political statement.>

As Alicio moved around, Kai turned with him, batting away the cuts. A thin smirk curled his lips as the senator asked about Auteme.

<Why should I trust a former Jedi who left the Order to claw her way up to the highest political office in the land?> he replied. <Some people would point to her having been Fossk’s protégé, or the fact that she’s been in bed with an Imperial for years as signs that she isn’t the bastion of liberalism and democracy she claims to be. But I just see her as stuck-up and full of herself. Thinks she’s the Force’s gift to the Alliance, the only one pure of heart enough to rule wisely and justly and oh-so-self-righteously.>

He made a face, sticking out his tongue as if he were gagging, then flourished his blade, telegraphing a blow to the head. It turned out to be a feint, disguising a slash aimed across Alicio’s middle.

<No, I don’t like the Chancellor. But what I think doesn’t matter.> He surged forward with a stab that would impale Alicio through the heart if it wasn’t blocked. <And neither does who I vote for. The Maw are coming for my homeworld, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.>

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

<But I’m sure whoever planned it was just some nutcase hoping to cause chaos, not make a political statement.>

"The worst threats are the ones we underestimate..." he responded, with a contemplative frown. He didn't like how Kai ever-so-carelessly wrote off the death of an Alliance Senator, but, frankly, he didn't like Senator Gore more. "But who can say?"

The battle was quickly ramping up, to the extent of the Count's ability's. It had become difficult for him to both keep his mind on the duel, and on their conversation, especially as it shifted to a topic as nuanced as Chancellor Denko-Durren. He was about to open his mouth to respond, but the aria of the future sang in his ears, alerting him to coming strikes.

It would be an odd thing to see, as Kai feinted a strike towards his head, he didn't seem to respond at all, but the moment before he transitioned to his waist, his blade was ready to deflect the padawan's massive lightsaber up and away.

Made more impressive by a deliberate, spinning pirouette around his stab, as Alicio seemed to glide away from danger. Slippery indeed.

"I think Chancellor Denko-Durren truly believes in her platform," Alicio offered, gaining some ground once more to talk. "She seems genuine... enough." He cut off his sentence. She wasn't entirely genuine in their meeting though, was she? She'd been after his vote, had socially engineered their encounter from the beginning. But he continued, nonetheless. "I don't think leaving the Order to become a senator is a strike against her. I'm not a Jedi, because I believe I can do more good out in the Assembly Hall than in here."

Alicio darted in once more, showing a bit more aggression than he had previously. He tried to use Kai's long, unwieldy blade against him, attempting to duck under the padawan's guard and aim a few well-tempo-ed, if slow, slashes at his extremities. Forearm, wrist, lower thigh.

"Your home?," he managed to breathe out.

- Arlo Renard -

 

[Arlo Renard]

That wasn’t quite what Kai had gotten out of the whole debate experience. <I’m sorta convinced that he choreographed his own assassination. The dude probably isn’t even dead—they could’ve killed a cyborg decoy.>

Kai frowned, wondering why Alicio hadn’t even reacted to the misdirection. <How could you tell that wasn’t a real strike?> he asked.

For a while, though, he couldn’t get a word in, too busy blocking the senator’s strikes. Talking about the Chancellor took away much of the light-heartedness of the spar, as any political discussion tends to suck the amiability out of otherwise friendly conversation.

<I never said she wasn’t sincere or that she doesn’t want to help. She thinks she’s the only person who can save the Alliance, and only by being more powerful than anyone else. That’s the problem. It’s a bad mentality to have.>

Kai saw Alicio slipping under his guard, and sullenly let it happen. He earned a few welts delivered by Introspect’s blade for his trouble, but he was winding the senator in, drawing him closer for a reason.

<Chaldea,> he answered. <It’s this planet on the border. When the Maw get there, my whole species stands to be erased from existence before any more of us even get to be born. We can’t come into being unless the conditions are just right, and the right conditions are only found in one particular area of Chaldea. Nowhere else in the galaxy… and the Maw have a history of experimenting on or destroying things they don’t understand and can’t use for their war machine. So…>

After one final parry, he sprung his trap, bringing the pommel of his hilt down on Alicio’s head. Not too hard—he didn’t want to knock the man out—but with enough force to potentially leave a mark.

<I'll be the last of my kind. The last Bamarri. And I can't do anything about it. Neither can Chancellor Auteme, apparently.>

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

<I’m sorta convinced that he choreographed his own assassination. The dude probably isn’t even dead—they could’ve killed a cyborg decoy.>

Alicio wasn't the kind to fall into conspiracy theories. The sheer effort of it all was mind-boggling. But he could concede that if one wanted to take out a room of senators, a hidden dirty bomb in another senator was a good way to do it.

Kai's bewilderment at the Count's unflinching defense earned him a slightly smug grin. "I saw," he said simply, even as he struggled to keep up his defense. Couldn't all Force-users see the future like that?

The subject of Auteme coaxed more curiosity from the Count. He didn't know the Chancellor well enough to comment on her nature. So he didn't, instead closing the distance between himself and the padawan.

The Count was in his element, so close to his opponent. His maneuverable blade hit it's intended targets, while managing to ward off the larger weapon. It hadn't even crossed the senator's mind that he'd been lured in, just happy to be doing well, for a change.

So when his head got a solid bonk, the Count grunted in pain, staggering back and holding the top of his head. "Ouch," he said dumbly, lowering his lightsaber. The respite let him deeply consider Kai's thoughts on his home. On the danger posed to it.

"I'm... sorry, for the danger your home is in." Alicio's mouth twisted into a frown, as he gingerly pressed against his head. What else could he say? Nothing of any substance. "But if the Brotherhood of the Maw invades Chaldea, the Alliance will rush to defend it. And that's the most that anyone can do. Try to help."

- Arlo Renard -

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai gave Alicio a confused look. <You saw what? Me tricking you? How?>

Oh, duh. He must’ve peered into the future using the Force. That was a thing that you could do, he knew, though Kai himself had never really bothered to try beyond basic danger sense.

At least his pommel strike had landed. Kai’s smug smirk mirrored the expression Alicio had sported after foreseeing the feint. <You didn’t see that one coming, did ya?>

As the senator continued to clutch his head, some of the boy’s satisfaction evaporated. <You should probably put some ice on that after we’re done.>

"I'm... sorry, for the danger your home is in. But if the Brotherhood of the Maw invades Chaldea, the Alliance will rush to defend it. And that's the most that anyone can do. Try to help."

<Well, thanks. That means a lot, considering I just hit you in the head with a chunk of solid metal.> His brows rose, then furrowed. <I just don’t like people who make promises they can’t really keep. The Chancellor… She said she’d win the war. That’s a promise of action. But she plans on just leaving it up to the generals, like they’ve been doing.>

He wasn’t quite sure what he’d wanted from Auteme when he visited her office. The revelation that she had some secret weapon or grand plan, maybe. She seemed to have everything else neatly plotted, from her rise to power to her daily schedule.

<How far into the future can you see?> he asked Alicio, his eyes bright with curiosity… and hope. <Can you see big events before they happen? Have you ever tried to see those?>

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

<You didn’t see that one coming, did ya?>

Alicio managed an amused grimace, and a pained chuckle, holding the crown of his head with a palm. "No. No I did not."

The senator waved off Kai's growing concern, instead using a bit of healing to dull the pain, the taste of salt water washing away most of the sting of the wound. "The platform of 'defeating the Maw' is probably the most popular one in the Alliance right now. Of course she used it. Everyone was. If she didn't, she would have already been behind her competitors, even if none of them can really do it themselves, you know?"

Alicio found a slightly bitter smile. "There's a game in the senate. The longer I'm there, the more I get that. I ha-... highly dislike it." Even if everyone around him were spinning their webs and accruing influence, he vowed to be honest.

He owed it to the people he represented.

Alicio bit his lip in thought at Kai's question about the future. "I'm... not entirely sure. The double sight, in combat, it came naturally to me. And I have looked farther, accidentally, but it was confusing, and hasn't come true yet. It might not ever..." At least, that was the hope. "I think that's how the future works. The further I peek, the less defined it is. The more likely it is to change."

"But I've never intentionally spied into the distance before. Why... do you ask?" Alicio had an idea, but he didn't want to assume.

- Arlo Renard -

 

[Arlo Renard]

<Be glad I didn’t headbutt you. I headbutted two of the other guys in the Padawan Fight Clu—I mean, sparring sessions.> Kai smiled innocently, but went a little red in the face at his blunder.

Rule number one of fight club: Don’t talk about fight club.

<Politicians are all liars, huh? That’s your excuse?> Kai snorted. <Sounds like a pretty lame game.>

The boy had plenty of naïve and childish notions regarding politics and rulers, certainly. He was frustrated by what he perceived as inaction on the part of the Alliance government, while simultaneously being put off by the sheer magnitude of power and influence required to make a difference. It was all so complex and interconnected. If you changed one thing, you’d change a hundred more things in the process.

Alicio’s flub, obviously switching from hate to highly dislike, got him to crack a smile again.

<Because if you can see into the future, you would know when bad things are about to happen.> Kai spoke with a pure and childlike wonder, as if he were the first to discover such a technique. <You could warn people, save lives that would be lost otherwise. Even if they didn’t believe you, or your predictions wind up not coming true, they would at least have something to go off of. Just in case.>

Biting his lip, Kai tried to keep his enthusiasm in check—but it was almost impossible.

<Can you teach me how to do it?>

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio raised an eyebrow high at Padawan Fight Club. That's a weird name for sparring.

"It's not an excuse, just a reason." Alicio finally removed his hand from his head, deactivating his blade as he realized their bout had officially stalled. "And not technically a lie. I'm sure she'll do everything in her power to give the GA a fighting chance against the Maw. But no matter who was chancellor, as you said, admirals and generals stay the same. SIA will still gather intelligence. Jedi will still fight. It'll be everyone who decides the fate of this war, not just us politicians."

The Count became a senator to enact social change, not fight a war. But he wasn't so naïve to think his actions didn't affect the conflict.

Kai's interest in the future made Alicio feel... uneasy. Perhaps it was just his own discomfort with looking too far forward. "There's no knowing with the future. It's... cloudy, and twisted, and confusing. And... I've never had it taught to me before, so I don't know if I can explain it, but I can... try, if you want?"

The Jedi made a good point. Maybe Alicio should look into expanding his skillset. It might help with his senatorial duties. Scrying into the future could help him make the best possible decisions...

Or blind him to what else could be.

Alicio sat cross-legged on the ground, patting the ground next to him. "Alright. Sit down. What exactly are you trying to see?"

- Arlo Renard -

 

[Arlo Renard]

Blocked into a verbal corner by the superior statesman, Kai couldn’t really muster up much of a reply. <I still think something stinks about Auteme, whether she helps or not,> he said with a scowl.

His eyes widened. <You mean you just pulled the ability to see the future out of your butt one day?>

Then again, Kai had discovered his fair share of abilities and affinities outside of the classroom, so he supposed it wasn’t that strange.

He sat down on the floor at once, an eager student at the senator’s knee.

<Uh… should probably start with something simple, right?> He thought about it for a moment, then said, <I wanna see who’s coming into this training room after us.>

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

<You mean you just pulled the ability to see the future out of your butt one day?>

"I wouldn't put it that way, but in so many words... yes." Alicio couldn't keep the smile from his face.

Kai joined him on the floor, and made his challenge known. The Count cultivated a thoughtful look. It didn't seem difficult. They could probably do it.

"Alright. Simple enough. I think the best way to do this is if I... open my mind to you, so you can experience what I experience. Maybe then, you can replicate the feeling yourself." Alicio placed his lightsaber on the ground in front of him, and after a few moments of fiddling, was able to release his crystal from it's confines. He palmed it, focusing on the blue and black. The hope and fear inherent within.

"Um... As a bit of a warning... I sense the Force in two ways. One, is a pressure, across my body. It can get a little overwhelming, so I'm sorry if any of that translates to you. And two is taste. So... I don't know, just be prepared, I guess."

"Are you ready, Kai?"

- Arlo Renard -