Private Sanctuary Unfinished

[Kael Varnok (MIA)]

Kael's world narrowed to motion, instinct, and the roaring pulse of the Force threading through his veins. Each breath burned in his chest, his muscles alive with pain and purpose. He could feel her — the rhythm of her stance, the small shifts of balance before every strike. The fight wasn't chaos anymore; it was a conversation. Every blow she threw spoke to him, every deflection a word he could almost understand.


When her heel cracked against the side of his knee, his leg buckled — but not broken. The shock ran up through his body like lightning. Pain sharpened him instead of slowing him down. He pivoted on his back foot, using the momentum she'd given him, spinning with it rather than against it.


"You feel that? She thinks she's teaching you control. Show her how wrong she is."
"No… she's testing you. She's measuring what you are — not what you destroy."


The voices bled together, one furious, one calm — twin storms colliding in his skull. Kael gritted his teeth, the faint taste of blood spreading across his tongue as his lip split from the strain.


He pushed forward, his body twisting low, leading with his shoulder before his right fist snapped upward in a brutal hook — fast, close, a strike meant to test her reflexes rather than break through her guard. Even before the swing had reached full arc, he was already moving again, rotating through the motion to bring his leg around in a sweeping roundhouse, heel cutting through the air toward where her jaw might be — if she didn't move in time.


The air whistled with the force of it, the controlled precision of a fighter walking the line between mastery and madness. His momentum carried him forward, dust scattering at his boots as he grounded himself, one hand sliding instinctively into a defensive guard again. His eyes flickered — one heartbeat raw and feral, the next calm and focused, the storm slowly folding in on itself.


Whether the strikes landed or not didn't matter. What mattered was that, for a moment, Kael was both halves at once — the fury and the restraint, the chaos and the order — meeting in the same breath, perfectly balanced on the edge of control.

Lily Decoria

[OOC note: slanted if not specified verbal means mental]

 

[Lily Decoria]

Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Arwr Da, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Kael Varnok (MIA)

Lily was learning more and more from every movement of Kael's body and reading the ways in which he moved and contorted himself to fight her. When Lily was fighting others, it was for her, similar to read a novel. Learning the thought process of the person, how they planned out attacks, how they moved their body in accordance and the favoured ways they attacked. Everyone had a preferred style of fighting, certain moves that they used more than other styles of attack. Many assumed falsely that Lily would favour kicking and fighting with her legs, since they were powerful strikes that she did often. But the Echani did such tactics to get false assumptions since she had learned over the years how to hide some truths to ensure her skills in combat were not publicly known so anyone could learn how to beat her.

Seeing the hook that was shifting diagonally towards her as it moved upwards, Lily was preparing the defence for the blow but saw Kael adjust to switch into a stronger roundhouse kick. It was strange seeing the feint being used for a very clear second strike but Lily knew what to do and how to trust her body with the flow of combat. Dropping her stance into a squat, Lily was able to bob under Kael's leg and slide herself underneath him to move behind him. This was only possible because of the fact his leg had to reach high up since it seemed that he was aiming for her face.

It was a bold move but one that Lily was going to be taking advantage of. Using her left arm, she sent a short but firm strike to the lower back of Kael. Aiming for around the kidney area. A hard strike to attempt to destabilize his stance and this gave Lily the chance she wanted to launch her only flurry of blows. Moving fast with a strike to his torso with fast body blows. None of them significantly powerful on their own but Lily was aiming more for a combination that could overwhelm and damage Kael enough into surrendering. Less focused on having a single strike that would do that.

This was also Lily demonstrating that she wasn't just very powerful naturally, but she had built her body to be very fast as well.

 

[Kael Varnok (MIA)]

Lily's fist was already cutting through the air toward his lower back when Kael twisted—just enough. Not a full slip, not a clean escape, but a feral, instinctive shift of weight that carried him half a step off her intended line. Her knuckles grazed the fabric of his tunic instead of driving into the kidney as she'd planned.

It wasn't luck. It was the split will inside him—one half seeing the strike coming, the other half reacting with the unpredictable sharpness of a wounded predator.

Using the momentum of her committed strike, Kael rolled his shoulder forward, letting her own extension become leverage. His arm snapped up, elbow bent, driving backward toward her jaw in a tight, vicious arc—not guaranteed to land, but close enough that Lily would feel the rush of displaced air brush her cheek. He wasn't aiming to break bone… but the warlord within him certainly was.

Before she could fully readjust her footing, Kael added a second threat. His leg swept out, heel cutting low toward the side of her supporting knee. It wasn't a clumsy kick; it was precise, timed to hit the exact moment her weight was shifting forward from her flurry.

Two attacks—one high, one low.
Both avoidable.
Both demanding split-second instinct.

Lily would have to choose which danger mattered more… or find a way to evade them both in a single unified movement.

Kael's breath came rough, controlled yet edged by something untamed. One eye burned with that feral slit, the other steady and focused. Both locked onto her as if daring her to keep up.


Your move.

Lily Decoria

 

[Lily Decoria]

Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Arwr Da, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Kael Varnok (MIA)

Watching the man contort his body in order to face her with the speed he would need to ensure that Lily could not begin her hammering attacks was impressive. However, it opened up too many weaknesses, he had no time to gather himself. To ground his stances firmly enough to ensure that Lily would be set back by the two attacks that were flung her way. Desperate attacks to prevent Lily from continuing to rain down her punches. It demonstrated only one thing to her. That he could not handle to idea of her having the momentum to launch attacks. He was not going to have the defences to survive her aggressive moves.

Otherwise he would have focused more on protecting himself that throwing out attacks that were not concerning to Lily. She grabbed the elbow and threw it back. Aiming to create space between them so that the kick sliced harmlessly through the air. Lily looked unfazed by the attacks, they were predictable, rushed and gave Lily the mindset to focus on attacking.

It was her time to show what an unrelenting force looked like.

Pushing forward, Lily moved into the offensive position just as Kael would have the chance to land his foot after kicking. Thrusting a fast reverse punch straight to the core, a blow hard enough to knock the wind out of him. A fast jab was throw towards his nose as her reverse was pulled back and then punched upwards in a strong uppercut to the chin. Lily was taking a hard boxing stance. Launching punches fast, hard and towards the body and face. Her mind was focused on attack, relentless and pushing forward. It was a demonstration of how she planned to handle threats like the Sith, like the Imperials.

She would be a flurry of blows that pushed them back. That made them regret attempting to manoeuvre out in the galaxy.

 

[Kael Varnok (MIA)]

Lily's strikes landed cleanly.

Her reverse punch drove the air from Kael's lungs, and her sharp jab caught him across the nose, forcing his head back with a brief flash of red at his nostril. The uppercut came immediately after—fast, disciplined, and carrying the weight of her momentum.
But just before it connected—
Kael caught it.

His hand closed firmly around her wrist, steady despite the impact she'd already dealt him. Lily felt the strain in his muscles, the two sides of him—controlled and instinct-driven—both present in the way he held her. His eyes reflected that battle clearly: one sharpened with intense focus, the other carrying that flicker of raw instinct.

He drew a breath through his nose, stabilizing himself, posture tightening rather than wavering.

"Good," he said, voice low but steady.
A mix of challenge and acknowledgement.
"Show me your full strength."

No taunting.
No malice.
Just a fighter pushing another to rise higher.

Then he moved.
His grip on her wrist shifted—not to trap her completely, but to redirect her momentum. His core tightened, and he drove his knee upward in a swift, powerful strike aimed at her midsection. The angle was sharp, the timing precise enough to threaten her balance if it landed—

—but not inevitable.
Kael's footing wasn't perfect from catching her punch mid-motion; his stance carried just enough imbalance that Lily still had room to slip free, twist, or turn his attack against him if she reacted quickly.

It was a dangerous, decisive counter—
yet one that respected her skill enough to leave a path open.
The knee cut upward through the space between them, the fight sharpening once again into pure technique and will.

Lily Decoria

 

[Lily Decoria]

Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Arwr Da, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Kael Varnok (MIA)

As soon as Kael gripped her wrist to stop the uppercut, Lily snapped herself free from his grip. Her movements fluid, sharp and illusive. As the knee rose to connect with Lily's midsection, the Echani reacted instinctively and shoved Kael back. Aiming to force him to stumble back as his balance was off. It would also give some space between the two warriors in the moment as well. A moment to breathe and to assess things.

"I think we should stop there, before either of us get severely injured." Lily mentioned, the body was sore from the fighting and she knew that there was a risk of bone snapping or a dislocation if they pushed themselves any further. Something that would turn the duel from an interesting conversation and understanding into just brutality for brutality's sake.

Heading over to where her Lightsabers were, "there is an interesting duality to you, something that you need to balance more. I do not fight fellow Jedi to dominate, to overpower. I do so to connect, to learn with and from. Combat is a language, intricate and woven with the movements we make." Lily mentioned, sharing her views and the experiences she held in her life.

"I can see there is a brutal, war forged persona that you hold. Expressed in the brutal ways that you fight. It might be important to search for the beauty and serenity in language like this, and not the war made views that you currently hold and express." Lily suggested. It was never easy moving on from the past, nor was it going to fade away forever. However, it would be good to make the steps away necessary to turn away from the dark path.

 

[Kael Varnok (MIA)]

Kael did not advance.
The shove had done what it needed to, space, distance, a chance for the heat to bleed out of the moment. He straightened slowly, one hand resting briefly against his ribs as he drew in a controlled breath. When he lifted his head again, the tension in his posture had shifted. Not gone, but contained.

His eyes were normal now.
"Stopping is wise," he said quietly. There was no pride in it. No resentment. Only agreement. "Another exchange or two, and one of us would be learning anatomy instead of philosophy."

He watched Lily move toward her sabers, not as a predator tracking prey, but as a soldier acknowledging another who understood restraint. When she spoke, when she named the duality she saw in him, Kael did not interrupt. He listened all the way through, jaw set, expression unreadable.

When she finished, he exhaled.
"You're not wrong," he said at last. "But you are seeing the result, not the origin."
He turned slightly, angling away, not defensive, just thoughtful. As if the words he was choosing mattered more than the fight that had preceded them.

"I've been like this for as long as I can remember. Not two minds fighting for control… more like two instincts answering the same threat in different ways." His fingers curled once, then relaxed. "Where I come from, hesitation got people killed. Mercy was something you practiced after survival, not before."

His gaze returned to her, steady.
"The Jedi found me late. Too late to unlearn what war carved into me." A faint, humorless curve touched his mouth. "So I learned something else instead. Suppression. Containment. I lock that part of me away unless it's needed."


He paused, then added, more carefully, "And yes, sometimes I need it."
There was no boast in that admission. No hunger.


"I don't break the Code," Kael continued. "But I don't pretend it was written for clean wars or clean enemies either. I follow it the way a Sentinel does. by purpose, not ornament. I get sent where others hesitate. I end things that won't end themselves."

A beat.
"That side you call brutal?" His eyes flicked briefly to the stone wall scarred from earlier. "It doesn't want power. It wants certainty. Finality. I keep it on a leash because letting it roam would be easy… and easy is how you fall."


He inclined his head slightly, acknowledging her words, not surrendering to them.
"You look for beauty in combat," he said. "Connection. Language."
A faint softness entered his voice. "I respect that. Truly. But some of us were forged to be punctuation marks, not poetry."

Kael stepped back fully now, hands open, no threat in his stance.
"And that's why I stay Jedi," he finished. "Because the Order gives me structure strong enough to hold what I am, without letting it decide who I become."
He waited then, calm, composed. ready for whatever Lily chose to say next.

Lily Decoria

 

[Lily Decoria]

Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Arwr Da, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Kael Varnok (MIA)

"It is always interesting when Jedi mention that fighting is about survival," her fingers caressed the hilt of her Lightsaber. Lily looked back over to the other Jedi, "however, learning to fight in such ways is such individualistic, close minded way to combat. If we are Jedi and we are seeking peace, should we not attempt more understanding ways to combat? View it not as survival but as a way to understand the position, the stance of the opponent?" Even the Sith were a people that could be understood, common ground could be founded upon but it was also the best way to defeat an enemy.

There was a slow sigh from Lily, "people are all too often willing to be the morally grey. To push the boundaries of the Code but claim not to break them. To throw themselves into the darkness and claim not to be tainted by it, or to overcome it without having crossed a line. But that isn't the case. We are not immune to temptation and we can all fall prey to the darkness that is not only out there in the galaxy but within ourselves as well." Lily stated, knowing all too well that she had felt the darkness once growing inside herself not too long ago but worked on that to move forward.

"To be a beacon of light when surrounded by shadows... You must be more than just good intentions. There has to be a level of purity that no one can reach alone." Lily stated clipping her Lightsabers in place. "The Dark Side is not solely about wanting power, there are many paths to it and they are all equally as dangerous." She claimed it was brutal and dangerous not because the fight left her bruised and sore, but because of the change she saw in Kael. It was all too easy to dismiss it but Lily could not simply sit back when seeing darkness like that.

Shaking her head, "being forged in that manner does not mean you must be that way. You are allowed to change who you are, how you see things. Nothing about a person is ever set in stone."

 

[Kael Varnok (MIA)]

Kael did not answer her immediately.


For a long moment, he simply stood there, chest rising and falling as the last echoes of adrenaline bled away. The courtyard felt larger now, quieter. The split inside him had receded. not gone, never gone but no longer clawing at the surface. His eyes had returned to their natural color, though the tension behind them lingered like a storm that had chosen not to break.

When he finally spoke, his voice was lower. Not sharp. Not defensive. Honest.
"You talk about understanding as if it's always gentle," he said, turning slightly so he wasn't looming, but not retreating either. "As if it always comes from stillness."

His fingers flexed once at his side, a habit he never quite broke.
"I learned understanding with blood on my hands before I learned it with words."
He exhaled through his nose, gaze drifting somewhere past her, past the courtyard, past the walls.

"Drosk-7," he said quietly. "Outer system. No Republic presence. No Jedi. Just clans and ash and wars that never ended because no one remembered how they started."
His jaw tightened.
"I was thirteen when they started calling me a warlord. Not because I wanted power.... but because I survived longer than the others. Because I learned faster. Because I could make the choice others hesitated to make."

Kael looked back at her then.
"The split you sensed? It didn't come from philosophy. It came from necessity. One part of me learned mercy. The other learned how to make sure mercy didn't get me killed."
There was no pride in his words. No shame either.

"When the Order found me, I was already too old. Already shaped. They taught me the Code, and I follow it. I don't break it." A pause. "But I don't pretend it fits me perfectly either."
He let out a quiet, humorless breath.

"The Sentinels don't trust me. The Consulars never did. Even the Guardians watch me like I'm a blade left too close to the edge of a table." His shoulders lifted faintly, then fell. "I was exiled once. Not officially. Just… sent away. Missions no one else wanted. Places where survival wasn't a metaphor."
His eyes hardened, not with anger, but resolve.

"I don't let go of the split because it has saved lives. Mine. Others'. I don't worship it. I don't unleash it without reason." His gaze met hers steadily. "But I will not cut away a part of myself that exists to ensure I come back from the dark places the Order sends me."
Kael straightened slightly, not challenging, standing in his truth.
"You believe purity is required to be a light," he said. "I believe endurance is. I believe choosing to return matters more than never having strayed close."

A beat.
"Maybe that makes me grey," he admitted. "Or an outcast. Or a necessary compromise."
Then, more quietly:


"But I am still Jedi. And when the darkness comes, not as temptation, but as war, I will be there. Whole. Not pretending I am something gentler than the galaxy allows."

He inclined his head to her, respectful.
"You seek harmony. I seek balance that survives contact with reality."
And for the first time since the fight ended, there was no edge in his stance, only someone standing exactly as they were, and not asking forgiveness for it.

Lily Decoria

 

[Lily Decoria]

Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Arwr Da, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Kael Varnok (MIA)

Shaking her head, "the way we view things are a choice, made every day and while there is some framing from previous experiences and it is never easy to surrender learned behaviour. It does not mean we must feel trapped to behaving in such ways, that we must always see the galaxy the way we were raised to." Lily stated firmly, she did not believe that Kael had to be trapped by his past, that while yes he did those things to survive and saw them in a more positive light than Lily for that reason, it did not mean they were ways to act now that he was out of that situation and adapting to new ways was not ignoring the past.

It was moving forward with your life.

"I stated that one can never be pure enough. Endurance is a losing battle, one that will only harm you more and more. I once thought I could endure the suffering that I felt. It nearly broke me." Lily stated firmly, placing her hands behind her as she looked over to Kael, "this split might have saved you in the past. It might be a part of you that you believe is necessary. But bloodshed, cruelty, uncontrolled aggression... They are choices we make that don't only harm others, they harm ourselves. We lose a part of ourselves when we allow ourselves to lower the bar and act like the enemy does."

Shaking her head, "harmony is balance. What you seek is the approval to cross lines that should not be crossed. Necessary evils are never necessary, they are just done because people allow them to be performed." Lily took a few steps back, "perhaps that is how things are viewed now but I hope to demonstrate a different way. A better way, maybe that will be the light that will help you realise that you can leave the evils of your past behind." Lily held no judgement for he did in the past.

Redemption was given to all those who were willing to work on bettering themselves, however, they had to do the work and want to change.

 

[Kael Varnok (MIA)]

Kael did not answer her right away.
For a moment, he simply stood there, shoulders rising and falling as the last echoes of the sparring hall faded into the unfinished stone. The scent of dust and metal hung in the air, sharp and familiar. His jaw tightened, not in anger this time, but in something closer to restraint.

"You speak like someone who believes the past can be folded up neatly," he said at last, voice quieter than it had been at any point during the fight. Not mocking. Not dismissive. Just… tired. "Like it's a lesson you study, then put away when it stops being useful."

He glanced down at his hands, flexing his fingers once, as if checking they were still his. A humorless huff of breath escaped him.
"Drosk-Seven didn't give us that luxury."


His gaze lifted back to her, and for a heartbeat there was no edge to it, just honesty. "I was thirteen when they put a blade in my hands and told me if I didn't use it, my people would die. There wasn't light or dark. There wasn't philosophy. There was food, shelter… and survival."

Kael's hand drifted briefly toward his side, where Jedi tattoos layered over older, rougher markings. "Everything I am now grew out of that. The split you keep circling."
He inhaled slowly, deliberately, grounding himself. When he exhaled, his eyes flickered. not violently, not fully, but enough to show that tension lived there still. Not dominance. Not rage. Coexistence.

"I don't keep it because I admire it," he continued. "I keep it because it's all I have left of my world. Of the people who didn't survive long enough to be found by the Order."
His lips pulled into something that might have been a smile if it weren't so brittle. As he spoke, he yawned, an absent, unconscious thing, and for just a moment the split of his tongue was visible before he seemed to realize and closed his mouth again, clearing his throat.

"The Jedi taught me control," Kael said. "Structure. Purpose. How to point the blade instead of swinging it blindly. But they didn't erase what came before. They just asked me to bury it."
He looked at Lily then, really looked at her. Not as an opponent. Not even as a fellow Jedi. As a question.


"You ask me to let it go," he said softly. "But tell me..."
A pause. A breath.
"What do you actually know of me… beyond what you saw when fists were flying?"
The question lingered between them, unfinished stone and unfinished truths holding it in place.

Lily Decoria

 

[Lily Decoria]

Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Arwr Da, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Kael Varnok (MIA)

Lily sighed, "you presume too much." Nothing was easy and it was not something that Lily assumed would happen in a day or that very moment. Everything in life was a challenge but one had to demonstrate effort and a desire to change for things to become different in life. "I do not think traumas of the past can be locked or folded away with ease. But it requires you having the desire and persistence to create change. If you don't then your life will be stagnant and you will continue to be locked in this cycle of violence."

"I was trained to fight as soon as I could stand on my feet on my own. I fought men twice my size, I fought warriors who spent years in war. Combat is seen by most of the galaxy as a necessary evil for survival." Lily was not attempting to dismiss Kael's experiences but highlighting that she was not someone who should be seen as spoiled or living a life of pure luxury. She was not some foreign royalty. She was a warrior through and through.

"Burying it is not what they would have wanted. Burying something is not healthy, but learning to let it go, learning to move forward and not let the past hold you back. That is what is needed from a Jedi." Lily stated, many assumed falsely that the Jedi aimed to suppress emotions or trauma. It was less about that and understanding how to move on from those feelings, how to allow things not to control your actions and cloud the judgements needed for a Jedi.

She looked over to him and shrugged, "for me, fighting where is communication at the most honest level happens. I learned more about you from the fight, than I have from this conversation." Lily was Echani and for her, the way a body spoke during a fight was far more honest, forthcoming and louder than hours long conversations. It was something straightforward and open. Words tended to hide meaning or subtext that only revealed themselves too late.

 

[Kael Varnok (MIA)]

Kael was quiet for a long moment.
Not the coiled, predatory stillness of combat, but something heavier, more distant. His gaze drifted past Lily and settled on the far wall, where a single object hung apart from everything else in the training hall.

The helmet.
It rested on a simple durasteel hook, unadorned, almost deliberately so, yet the helmet itself demanded attention. The skull mounted to its crown was unmistakable: elongated, ridged along the brow, the fanged jaw set in a permanent snarl. The bone had been cleaned, polished by time and ritual rather than care, its surface etched with shallow runes and old scoring marks where trophies or paint had once been applied. It was the skull of a Droskari apex predator, a creature that ruled its ecosystems through dominance alone.

Among his people, such a helm was not worn lightly.
It was a mark of command. Of survival. Of battles won at a cost no one celebrated.

"It's not that I think you're wrong," Kael said at last, his voice lower now, steadier. The sharp edge remained, but it no longer cut outward. "It's that I've heard versions of what you're saying before. Masters. Healers. Commanders." A short, breathless huff escaped him. "They always spoke as if letting go was something you chose once and were done with."

He flexed his hand slowly, as if testing whether it still belonged to him.
"I was thirteen when I was made to lead," he continued. "Not trained. Not guided. Made to." His eyes flicked back to Lily, not in challenge, but in acknowledgement. "That part of me you keep calling a choice? It's all that survived from that world. From my people. Everything else burned."

His gaze returned to the helmet.
"These," he added quietly, nodding to the tattoos hidden beneath his robes, older lines beneath newer Jedi markings, history layered rather than erased "and that… are what's left. I don't bury it. I don't pretend it isn't there." A pause. "I keep it leashed."

Then, almost to himself:
"Some beasts don't vanish when you stop feeding them. They wait."
Kael turned back to Lily fully now, studying her with a different weight in his eyes, not as an opponent, but as someone who had earned the right to see him unguarded.


"You're right about one thing," he said. "You learned more about me in the fight than in any council chamber." The corner of his mouth twitched, something not quite a smile. "And I misjudged you. For that… I apologize."
He exhaled, shoulders lowering as the last of the tension bled away.

"This enclave keeps tea," he added, gesturing toward an adjoining hall, tone dry but sincere. "Nothing ceremonial. Just something warm. Helps settle the mind after… honest conversations." A beat. "And honest fights."
A final pause.
"If you're willing."

Lily Decoria