Seeking the Space Syrians (Thurion)

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

Feeling the hot water on her skin was like paradise to the Padawan. The dirt, aches and pains melted away under it, and she even forgot her grief for a while.
When she was finished and dressed in a spare robe and outfit, she heard her new Master call.
Heading to the crew area she found their ‘dinner’. Her stomach was clearly not amused.
“Oh my, Master, did you prepare it all yourself? It’s a wonder you are not a chef!” she said with a raised eyebrow and a smile.
She was too hungry to refuse though, and sat down to eat. Eating anything made her feel a bit better. Now the only ache in her body was spiritual.

“How long until we reach…wherever we’re going?” she asked, becoming more subdued again as she thought of her former Master. He had always indulged her humour, she hoped her new one would do the same.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Her comment made Thurion chuckle, almost leading to him choking on the cereals as a side-effect. "Well, I'm not a chef, so I guess everything's fine as is", he retorted while wiping some drops of blue milk running down his bearded chin. Another side-effect of him laughing earlier. "If you think you can do better, please - be my guest!" he continued. As the meal went on, the chewing of cereals was interrupted by his padawan asking him a question. Looking up from his almost empty bowl, he studied her somewhat troubled face before answering.

"Laekia is still many hours away, I'm afraid. More than enough time for you to get some shut-eye, should you wish it. The Levantine Sanctum lies at the edge of known space, by the Tingel Arm. Navigating there is not as easy as, say, Coruscant." He tilted his head to one side as he looked across the table at Valeria. "You miss him, don't you? There's no weakness in mourning the loss of a loved one. If you need time, it will be given. I'll be here for you should you need anything." He cemented his goodwill towards his padawan by touching her forearm for comfort.

[member="Valeria Aetani"]

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

“I do miss him, yes. He was my Master for almost two years, and I guess you don’t stay that close to someone for that long without getting a bit attached. Still, it could be worse,” she said, but did not explain.
Her first instinct was to shy away from his touch, but controlled the impulse and sat there.
“I would like some sleep, but I won’t take your bed from you. I’ll take the co-pilot’s chair and a blanket.” She held up a hand to still and protest. “Please…just let it be. I’ll probably not sleep that much tonight anyway. Thanks for the meal.”
She took a blanket from the stores and headed to the front of the ship, though despite her best efforts no sleep came, so she often just sat there, staring at the mesmerising blue of hyperspace….

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

As she left, Thurion offered her a nod of approval before finishing his meal. It must've sounded strange to hear him offer his bed to a young woman so readily, but his intentions were pure and genuine. Even so, he would respect her wishes and allow her to rest on the bridge. He'd told her this ship was hers as much as his now, and he meant what he said.

An hour went by, and without being able to catch some sleep he sauntered towards the bridge. Without his boots on his steps would've been muffled, and would therefore be able to sneak up on his padawan without her knowing. As he entered the bridge, he couldn't help but notice Valeria had yet to go to sleep, too. Thurion did not wish to interrupt the girl, and so remained stood in the doorway, leaning against the wall as he watched her watching the blue shine of hyperspace.

Thurion was a people-person; he enjoyed trying to discern others just by studying their facial features, how they moved and their shapes and forms. He fancied himself quite experienced at it by now, since most of the time he was proven correct in his assumptions. When looking at Valeria, he could sense her strength of character and dutiful mind, yet much now lay shattered with the death of her master. He knew the connection well; the kind which would bind an apprentice to her master in a way unique to such a pair. His indestructable bond to Asha was considered a blessing at the time, yet when she died he felt all the more betrayed and wronged because of it. The wounds had never truly healed since.

[member="Valeria Aetani"]

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]
Valeria had been staring out at hyperspace, and only slowly realised that her new Master was standing in the doorway. She turned and looked at him.
“Can’t sleep?” she asked. Her voice sounded hoarse, and she wiped her eyes and the tears which had welled there.

“Have you had other Padawans? Tell me about the Sanctum,” she said. She wasn’t getting any sleep anyway, and hearing him talk would give her something to concentrate on other than the scene in her mind of the ruins of Issus….

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

When she discovered his presence in the room, the bearded man stepped further into view and sunk down in the Captain's chair beside her. "No. Truth be told, I just wanted to keep you company." There was a palpable hint of genuine concern in his voice. Getting comfortable in his seat, he put up his feet against the main control panel and leaned back.

"When I was your age, I received my Knighthood and was given this very ship as a gift from my mentor-at-the-time. Jaxton was his name; a big, burly man with the pinkest skin and bluest hair you'll ever see. He was not my true master, though..." Thurion gave his beard a good scratching before continuing, sectretly reconsidering whether to actually go ahead and tell her. "Asha, her name was. She was... very special to me. She found and took me to the Jedi Order when I was a small boy, and I still consider her my mother and master both. She d... she died when I was 12 years old. I wasn't there to protect her."

He paused, looking out into the hyperspace surrounding them, mostly to conceal the tears welling in his eyes as he was forced to relive the events in his mind as he spoke of them. "After receiving my Knighthood, I left everone I knew and loved behind to explore and travel the galaxy. My pilgrimage took over 7 years to complete, during which I met with many colourful characters, many of which I still count among my friends and allies. Some I even taught a thing or two in the ways of the Force." By now his watering eyes had settled, and so he brought his gaze back to his padawan.

"But no; I was not a member of the Jedi at the time, so technically I have never mentored a padawan. After only a few years spent studying at the Jedi Temples of Tython and Coruscant, my master and a handful of other Jedi chose to abandon the Order in favour of following their own way of protecting the galaxy. I followed her to the planet Teth, where we helped establish the Silent Conclave; a secretive organisation looking to committ to the vows which the Jedi Order at the time had seemed to forgotten. At least, that's why everyone else chose to be there. I was there because I only wished to remain with Asha, no matter what. Many years later, upon returning to my friends in the Silent Conclave, I discovered they'd been busy in my absence; they were now the Levantine Sanctum, relocated from Teth and instead based in a small corner of the known galaxy. That is where we're going."

Part of him thought that maybe he'd been a tad bit too informative, as her questions for him could've easily been summarized in "no", "not really", and "you'll see".

[member="Valeria Aetani"]

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

Valeria seemed surprised, even puzzled by the level of disclosure. She took it as a good sign though because it meant that her Master didn’t seem to be the sort who would keep secrets.
She laid a hand on his arm, looked into his eyes. “I’m sorry you lost your Master as well. I guess we’re more alike in that way than I thought. How did you come to terms with it? How did you move on?”

The histories didn’t really interest her as much, but the basic details she needed were there. “I’ve heard of Jaxton. A Zeltron I’ve heard. Thank you for telling me all this.”

She felt like she should share something, but her story seemed less impressive. “I’m from Pylos originally. My family were exiled shortly after the Republic took over by the planet’s leader. We ended up on Tython where I was found to have Force sensitivity. I’ve been training and preparing ever since.”

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

"Please, no need to apologise", he said while raising a hand. "None of what happened to me so many years ago is your fault." When she touched his arm, he smiled in return, but it didn't last for long. "I didn't. Still haven't. That's my secret; I mourn her with my every single breath, and I try to honour her in every action I take. She is what drives me to do good things, to be a good person." He paused, eyes darting to the floor between them. "But it is a difficult thing to do; to be filled with such grief constantly and not allow it to show infront of anyone else. It takes its toll on you..."

Aching to change the subject, he was relieved to hear her share her past as well. Looking into her eyes, he wrinkled his nose somewhat at what she said. It was one thing he did not appreciate in the Jedi Order. "They shouldn't have taken you away from your parents just to teach you about the Force. It's proposterous to think one cannot keep her family in order to become a Jedi. It should at least have been your choice whether to accept or not." Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. "Forgive my outburst, Padawan."

[member="Valeria Aetani"]

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]
Valeria was surprised on two fronts. Not only was his grief and loss still readily apparent after all these years, his words about the Jedi Order were also surprising.
She wasn’t quite sure what to make of them.

“I do miss my family, it’s true,” Valeria said softly. “Miss them dearly. Hopefully when I become a Jedi Knight I can go and see them again. We are going to be a long way from Tython after all.”

She left it at that. That was how the Jedi, the ‘regular’ Jedi anyway, did things. She couldn’t really comment on what the Levantine did yet anyway.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

The mentor tilted his head to one side as he looked at his student. "No doubt you have many questions still lurking about your mind. I would be happy to see them all answered to the best of my abilities." He then shifted his attention to her injured leg. "How's your leg doing, Valeria? I could take another look at it if you need me to; what hasty repairs I managed on the field earlier today was far from a complete restoration." Before she could really protest or say otherwise, Thurion shuffled closer to let the palm of his hand hover just above the wounded area.

"Tell me about your family", he asked of her in a soft tone; the prospect of growing up in an ordinary household of two parents was something he was not familiar with, after all.

[member="Valeria Aetani"]

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]
At first Valeria shied away from his hand, but then relaxed, looking awkward. “It’s fine, Master, I’ve put some bacta patches on it and bandaged it. Master Cyrus taught me the basics of healing, so I’ve been doing a bit of that as well.”

He asked about her family, and she shrugged. “My parents were…are…nobles from Pylos as I said. They had a feud with the Saelari family, led by Aurelia…she was the first Chancellor of the Republic. She pretty much forced them to leave home with me. My father’s now working as an engineer, my mother as a secretary. It’s a bit of a change from how I grew up. My sisters and brothers don’t have the Force, but they’re still in school.”
She seemed to brood over her family’s dislocation for a moment, then sighed. “I guess Aurelia got what was coming to her, even though I hear she’s back in the Republic government with that Hutt. I bet they get on well,” she said nastily.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Thurion sat back up in his chair, crossing his legs in a neat manner. "You would rather have stayed on Pylos, I take it?" The thought of a home slithered its way to his mind, and he couldn't help but wonder where his home was. He'd grown up on Pelagon, but he hardly remembered any of it nowadays. Then there was the Jedi Temple on Tython, then Coruscant. Teth. He now owned an apartment on Laekia and had lived there for some time now, him and Nina. Still, he'd yet to consider it 'home'. The truest incarnation of home had been this ship ever since he embarked on his pilgrimage several years ago.

"I grew up on a world called Pelagon. I can't remember anything of my parents, but I was taken cared of by my older brother. He looked after me when the going got tough. The going always got tough..." he sighed, looking out into the void.

[member="Valeria Aetani"]