Slow fading scars

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Alright, assassins, not where you want to be going right now." The way she had said 'I know' made his spirit break just a little bit. He thought back to how he had perceived her when they had first met. Jacen had never expected to feel such pain on her behalf after hearing two simple words from her.

"I don't think there's much to find on Dagobah where they said Master Yoda passed away. There are supposed to be some undiscovered ruins on Kro Va." Jacen paused for a second.

"You know I first met you and thought you were pretty on the aloof side. On that ship I felt almost relieved to know that under all that you struggled too." Jacen looked down at his feet, guilty at the admission. "I wish you were a bit more invincible like I used to think right now."

This couldn't possibly be helping. Why did he have to make things worse? The words of the alternate version of himself came crashing home again.

"That was a selfish thought. We'll get you back on your feet. Got equipment for an expedition?" He asked.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

She gave a small smile. "I'm human after all."

Something of the sort anyway. There was a sort of desperate sadness in her tone there, as if she had admitted a truth she herself hadn't realized.

It wasn't the easiest thing in the world, suddenly having the image you've held of yourself shattered. Aela knew that was most of the trouble she now carried, the fact of what she had done back in those caves. She frowned for a moment, casting a glance at her feet. She supposed there was nothing to do about it now, looking back only hurt her more. Eventually the Jedi Master took in a deep breath, frowning when Jacen asked his next question.

She gave him an off-glance, then looked at the house. "In the garage probably."

Aela frowned.

"I won't carry a weapon." Not now. Not yet.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

He could see her turning her thoughts inwards, processing what had happened and trying to reach some final answer. Jacen saw some of himself there, the last place he would expect to find it. There was no final answer. Just partial ones and questions that became less pressing, less debilitating over time.

He was glad she said that about weapons. It meant that he didn't have to say it himself.

"Good. Let's worry about where to go later. Now I'm sorry to be a little rude, but I'm on a different time and I skipped breakfast. I don't suppose I could get something to eat?"

Mundane problems were almost a relief under the weight of those without such simple solutions.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

"We'll check the library." Aela said calmly, a small smile touching her face. Her father had more volumes of books than the Jedi Archives. There had been a time when he'd...well it wasn't time to get into that now.

The point was she'd at least get to occupy herself with something besides sitting around. She wouldn't have to burden her parents with her own problems. That idea cheered her up a little bit, though in the back of her head she knew that she should have just told them. They would be concerned, yes, but not angry. Her father and Mother weren't the type to get upset with a problem like that, but for Aela it wasn't really about that.

She didn't want to take away attention from her brothers recovery.

Aela could manage this on her own, or rather she could manage it with help from Jacen. So she hoped anyway.

"Hm?" She hadn't really thought about food in quite some time. Her appetite had been next to nothing. She frowned, looking at Jacen and then taking on a somewhat embarrassed expression. She'd never been the best hostess, that was her mother. "Sure. Let's go inside."

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

She had a library. A library and a family island. It wasn't as if she wasn't a spoiled brat who hadn't worked hard to get where she was. Perhaps it had an influence on how much this event had knocked her off-kilter. Had her parents placed great expectations upon her or had she just formed her own lofty standards?

"It's fine," he chuckled at her expression. "My stomach is just on a different timezone."

He pushed himself up to his feet and fell into step beside her. Hopefully a member of her family hadn't been at the windows wondering why they had turned away from the door the first time.

Jacen made a mental note to only make token enquiries about Micah unless it was brought up. Knowing the ins and outs of the injury he had suffered wouldn't help the young man. Aela probably needed to know that he was here to help her whilst everyone would be focussed on Micah.

"So how big is the library and have you read it all already?" He asked, almost keeping his tone entirely deadpan.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

They stepped inside to the smell of baked goods.

Her mother had been making cookies and cakes almost since MIcah's injuries. It was something that kept her mind off of everything, and even though her brother was now well on his way to recovery Aela knew that Kira was still rather frazzled about everything. She couldn't blame her mother for that of course, everyone still was. She frowned for a moment as she lead Jacen towards the Kitchen. She heard no voices, indicating that everyone was either out or somewhere away from the house.

"It takes up a room." She said cryptically. "And no I haven't."

Not for the lack of trying. "My father's collection of books is expansive, and several hundred of the tomes and novels aren't in a language that I can understand."

She frowned at that statement, as if it was something that had bothered her for quite some time. Soliael had once claimed to be the 'god of knowledge' of an entire people. During that time he'd collected more books than one might have thought possible. Her father had kept only a portion of those, but that was still enough.

"I'm sure we can find something in it though, maybe if we ask my dad." Aela said as they finally reached the kitchen, a tray of freshly baked cookies neatly arranged within the center of the island.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Jacen eyed the cookies but kept his hands to himself until invited. It amused him that there were times that had clearly defeated Aela in this noble pursuit. If several hundred was the fraction that she had not read, then how large was the room to contain those that she had.

"Much was lost in the wars," he sighed. "They take one of our temples and destroy the knowledge inside. We take one of theirs and do likewise. I suppose we have gathered what we can and at least we keep the holocrons a little more securely than they used to." The republic had been notorious for losing holocrons at their height.

"I hope this doesn't seem rude, but I don't know much about your father at all. What's he like?" He asked. It intrigued him that the collection was his and not Kira's.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

"Some say." Soliael's voice boomed out into the room.

Just how the nearly six and a half foot tall man managed to sneak around was rather difficult to tell, but somehow he'd managed to move into the kitchen behind Jacen and Aela without making a single noise. He hadn't used the force, but rather it had probably been careful and practiced steps around the house to keep form making noise. Soliael often sneaked around the home in order to get himself food or do one thing or another without waking anyone.

Many fathers did. "He's the most handsome and powerful creature in the galaxy."

The former Senator flexed, glancing at his daughter and waggling his eyebrows for a moment.

Soliael of course had been just as effected as Kira at the injuries dealt to his son, but the difference was that he'd retained his facade of silliness. It was something that he'd clung to, as a way to protect both himself and his wife. He wanted, needed to feel confident. He wanted to be the good father, the good husband, and in order to do that Soliael had felt he needed to keep everyone moderately happy. The best way of going about that task was to be the one to carry the burden, to cheer them all up.

It was hard at time, but worth it when she saw Aela face flush, her eyes immediately glancing to her feet.

"I don't lay credence to such things though." Soliael said as he let his arm down and stepped up behind Jacen, clapping his hand on the mans shoulder. "Whose this, Aela? Have you finally brought home a man?"

His daughter turned a shade Jacen might have never expected she was possible of turning.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

At Sol's proclamation Jacen was already planning a retort about not swinging that way himself but that it was nice to know. Sol's following enquiry completely crushed that line if thinking, especially when he saw Aela intently studying the toes of shoes.

"I'm afraid the baby pictures are going to have to go back in the cupboard," Jacen apologised. Her father was a tall man, not every broad by he didn't look as if age had diminished him a great deal.

Jacen would have liked to engage in a bit of light-hearted psychological abuse of Trextan too. The problem was their relationship just wasn't in that kind of place yet. The young Jedi would suffer a conversation with him now and that was actually an improvement. He was particularly cagey when Jacen enquired about the pilot whose health he had a keen interest in. Apparently that wasn't his business. As for the joke he thought he must have looked a bit old to be with Aela, but he supposed the difference was less extreme than when she was a teenager and he was in his early thirties.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Jacen," he said. He wasn't sure what else there was to say. He wanted to avoid making this seen like an official visit for her sake and didn't want to start any dialogue with her parents on the matter of her wellbeing as if she was a child.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

"Sol." The elder man said with a slight smile, one hand coming up to scratch at his beard.

Giving his full name was always a catch twenty two. Sometimes people could pronounce it and other times it was like watching a fish try to breath air. Better to just give the short-hand and not deal with the lengthy attempts. He removed his hand from the Jedi's shoulder, taking a few steps over towards the center of the kitchen to observe Aela.

His daughter was shuffling her feet slightly, finally looking up and staring at him with expressionless anger.

"Jacen is here to ask for my assistance in finding some ruins, father."

Soliael perked an eyebrow, mostly because Aela rarely lied and when she did her parents were quite easily able to tell. She'd gotten better at it over the years of course, especially since her undercover work, but he could tell that what she said wasn't exactly the whole truth, that much was plain by the way her gaze flickered towards the Jedi and then down at the table. There was something she wasn't telling, but now wasn't the time to press for that, not directly.

Instead he shrugged. "Which ruins?"

Soliael asked as though he might already know.

"Which age?" He glanced at her. "Old Republic? Je'daii? Civil War?"

This was much better than just calling them out on the lie. He smiled and peered at both of them expectantly, clearly wanting them to give him an answer.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

"Pre-civil war," Jacen declared. Aela had stated that he was here for her help and not the other way around. He didn't know what kind of relationship Aela had with her family. It was likely better than what he had with his own son.

"I'd like to go off the beaten track, look for old sites that may have been mong abandoned. Better there than any of the places that have been ransacked over and over across the last millennium.

"Aela has always been a good study, but she says there is only a modest library here," Jacen replied. It probably wasn't the time to diverge from plain facts, but he couldn't help himself.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

"Comparatively I suppose." Soliael said as he scratched his chin, thinking for a moment.

The Jedi had many ruins, and Soliael knew of most of the famous ones. He'd never really cared for such things, running around ancient lost temples and ransacking it for all that it was worth. His father had often indulged in such practices, and so had most of his family in fact, but Soliael himself had always been more focused on the present. Moross had been an attempt at that, though of course it had ultimately failed. He frowned for a moment and then waved at the two.

"Come along." The elder Talith said, not knowing about Jacen's already aching stomach. "I suppose you'll not want Ruusan. The Valley there was all but ruined is my understanding."

Aela frowned for a moment, then motioned Jacen towards the cookies before quickly following along with her father.

"You Jedi have a habit of buildings things that eventually get ruined." A small smile ticked at his lips from that statement.

"Though I suppose that's the nature of the war." He shrugged as they turned a corner. "One side builds something, the other side comes along a little while later and pushes it over."

Soliael let out an amused chuckle and looked back at his daughter. "Not unlike what Micah used to do to your sand castles."