Spirit in the Sky

[Jairus Starvald]

E I R A P E C H A L​

​

[member="Kaya Neri"]​

It was almost time to leave Eira Pechal.

He knew this.

The Force said as much to him. It was tugging him away, back into the stars, and Sardun knew this was a good thing. The time on Eira Pechal had been strange on him. An ease sinking into his bones. There was a tranquility here. A certain sense of isolation. Away from the war, from the chaos and destruction. It would not last. Never. But it had been.... good? That feeling of satisfaction disturbed him.

This is why he had set out into the woods nearby.

Setting aside his armor at the edge of a clearing. Settling in the center of it, letting the light fall upon his head and skin. Embracing the Force and letting it flow through him. The ring circling his finger burned bright in return.

Magnifying his presence. Letting it stretch across the forest, deafening it with a hum of clarity. It was here that Sardun found the fire. The core of the Sun, where he wrapped himself in the purifying presence of the flames. This was what Harper Kade had felt on that first night. But then it had been focused intently. Like an eye staring her down with everything. Now it was spreading out.

Awakening the forest under a more gentle touch.

Gentler than that night anyway.

 

[Irajah Ven]

Kaya snooped.

If anyone were honest and put sentiment aside, that was about 70% of what made up Kaya. Snoopy. The rest was some combination of tinker, fascination, and hair, in varying percentages, depending on the day.

As far as the teen was concerned, she basically owned everything in the area. Oh she knew not literally. Just that from a practical standpoint it was essentially true. Just.... don't get caught. But it meant she felt protective in a way, and when things got weird was usually the first person on the scene, trying to sort out what was going on. It had been like that since she could remember (much to the chagrin of the adults).

If they noticed problems faster, she reasoned, she wouldn't have to.

"Whatcha doooooooin'?"

By the time she spoke up, she'd already decided whatever it was, the weirdness wasn't bad. If anything it was kinda nice. Mostly though, it wasn't dangerous and didn't warrant the attention of the village. They'd notice it when they noticed it.

She had gotten close via the trees. Climbing, clamoring. The foliage and vines here thick enough in the cool rainforest Spring Canyons that it made a highway all of its own for someone with the skill (or teenage invincibility) necessary to traverse it. When her voice rang out, she'd dropped down over the edge of a thick branch. Hanging upside down by her knees, she stared at the man sitting alone out here. Jedi? Oh yeah. Only they did this kind of weird chit.

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kaya Neri"]

Inner peace.

One connection spun into thousands upon thousands. One with the forest. There was a common wisdom: you could either read the waves or make them. When you were spinning this wide, this far, it was easy to lose sight of the smaller things... right in front of you. That connection of thousands suddenly whisked out of existence. From one moment to the next, it folded inwards and disappeared out of view. Blue eyes opened and watched her intently for a moment.

The forest was silent.

"I was meditating." Sardun finally said, bemused tone as he watched her dangle there. "What about you, besides dangling on branches and so forth?"

In truth he was happy she had interrupted him.

That moment of peace in his heart felt strange to him. Concerning. It whispered at him, telling him to stay put. To stay here. Where there was peace and happiness. But when he let go? The Force tugged at him, ushering him forward once more.

That is how he knew it wasn't for him.

 

[Irajah Ven]

"Snooping."

At least she was honest.

Except when she wasn't.

"Could feel you from the village. If you'd kept it up the elders probably would have sent someone in a little while. They wait though, see if a problem will go away on its own first. Sometimes they are right, but."

A shrug.

With a slight shift, Kaya starting swinging a bit. Dark hair hung down, halfway to the ground, brushing the tips of the leaves on a bush below. The whole Jedi thing, stuff with the Force... it was by and large just another part of life for Kaya and the people of Eira Pechal. The reasons she was interested in the Praxeum and what they were up to had less to do with the force related stuff and more to do with the stuff they brought with them. The tech, the gadgets. She'd come all this way, kinda half hoping to find something interesting like that.

Instead she got 'meditating.'

"Meditating about what?"

Curious, but also a little disappointed.

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kaya Neri"]

"This world is strong with the Force. Not the corruption of the Dark, the pacifism of the Jedi... something else. It attracts me."

Brows furrow deeper there.

It shouldn't be attracting him. A dangerous prospect, when the crusade had only just begun. Was Sardun already faltering? How weak could he be, that a crash against an army did nothing, but simple serenity of this world was drawing him in so easily? He slowly rose. It was there that his height solidified. Part of him, a quiet part, knew that the height was not... correct. Too tall, looming, like a mountain that was waiting to erupt. Before his mind could go there it already shuffled away.

And the mountain simply was again.

Sardun was about to respond, when he caught the hum in the Force. It was disappointment flowing away from her.

Now that amused Sardun. "Were you expecting more? Grand displays of power? Artifacts of renown?" He slowly approached her. Every step solid, firm and articulated. This man was entirely present in the now. No part of him was elsewhere, mind flying about.

His eyes closed and he knelt on one knee some paces away.

Something moved through him. A gesture of his hand against the grass, pressing against the soil. It was weird. His ring burned, blue light slowly radiating out. And then the grass shifted, growing taller and flowers began to sprout towards her. Eyes opened and they were green. Just for a flash. Then a blink and blue seeped right back in again. "Is that less disappointing to you, miss....?"

 

[Irajah Ven]

Again, a shrug.

"It's okay I guess."

For Kaya, Eira Pechal just was. It was normal, everything that she could take for granted in having been born and raised her. She'd never been anywhere else (though she wanted, more than anything, to change that).

As he stood up, she craned her neck, following the motion.

"Damn mister you're tall."

She wasn't supposed to curse. But there wasn't anyone here who would normally scold her, and no one to tattle on her. Well, he might, but that seemed unlikely.

"I ate my vegetables."

"Well yeah who doesn't?"

Genuinely baffled. In a place like Eira Pechal you ate what got put in front of you or you went hungry. The concept that in some, richer areas of the galaxy it might be different didn't even occur to her.

She didn't move as he came closer, not away anyway. For the moment at least she just kept hanging where she was. There wasn't a trace of fear in the girl. Why would there be? There were plenty of things to be afraid of, sure. But this wasn't one of them.

"I mean, maybe not EXPECTING but-"

Kinda hoping died stillborn in the air. Watching for a moment, upside down and mouth open a little, after a moment she hurriedly reached up and grabbed hold of the branch, flipping and landing on her feet only to come closer and inspect.

"Yer eyes turned green. Is that supposed to happen?"

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kaya Neri"]

"Foolish people, I reckon."

Idle conversation.

This, too, felt odd to him. Somewhere a part of him was pushing against this. They had better things to do than waste their time on this child. She was nothing. No one. Nobody. All that Sardun had to do was raise his hand and then- He blinked and shook his head gently. "Green? Hmm, I don't think so. Perhaps it was a reflection of the grass growing?" Genuinely confused there. His eyes were blue. Always blue. There had been one person that was green emeralds burning bright.

But she was gone now and so was his heart.

"What is your name?" Something told him that referring to her as little girl the entire time would be a frustrating endeavor.

As she explored the grass and the flowers he had made Sardun looked on. This was odd as well. Plant Surge had never been one of his powers. Hers, yes. And she had tried to teach him. But his hands had never been made for creation.

Neither his mind- too rigid, too set in her ways... then how?

"How do you feel, living here?" The question suddenly settled on his tongue. Befuddled confusion there. Why that question? Why did that matter?

 

[Irajah Ven]

She had crouched down, eyes almost level with the smallest flowers. Brilliant blue with tiny red centers, they only (normally) bloomed for about three weeks..... on the opposite end of the year. She wouldn't have been as impressed if it had just been normal growth- there were elders who could do that here, even if they were very judicious in its use. But the sight of mori-mori flowers in the wrong season was kind of a big deal, even if it would seem minor to someone not from Eira Pechal.

"Yup, def green," she said absently, leaning over far enough that it might look like she would topple over. "Kaya, what's yours?"

But she didn't, and a moment later, rocked back on her heels. Staying there, her wrists resting on her knees, heels up and absently bouncing with an unthinking sort of energy, she craned her neck to look up at him.

"I mean, like I said. You know." The biggest shrug of them all. "It's okay I guess."

This was why adults were annoying. They didn't really listen.

"Eira Pechal is.... it's good, you know? But." Another shrug, not really having the words to explain just what she felt about it. "It's good but it's just.... itself. There's.... more out there. A LOT more. You know?"

It was a restlessness that came with growing up. Of outgrowing. Some people never did, and some people never stopped. A middle ground forged was a good, solid, healthy path. Too far in one direction or the other led to useless places. To stagnation or to aimlessness. But Kaya didn't have the words or experience to explain the emotion that fed into that. Not yet. Those words usually only came after the fact, allowing one to settle them onto shoulders in hindsight.

"What is like where you're from?"

That seemed significantly more interesting to her than talking about the place they were currently standing in. Like, couldn't he just look around and see it for himself?

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kaya Neri"]

"Michael Sardun."

Once upon a time that name would have inspired awe.

This world did not know him, even at his... height, so to speak. That was still something confounding to him. It was humbling to know that the Galaxy was so large. So big. That even your largest deeds passed unnoticed if you went far enough. A blink. Except that his acts had been grand. It made total sense to expect them all to know of them, no? It was disappointing... either way. "The Galaxy is a large place, indeed." He murmured and glanced back to his suit of armor.

Why did he feel naked without it now?

Under the microscope of a mere child.

"Where I am from is war, chaos and conflict, Kaya. The Darkside threatens us all." Brows furrow, before looking back at her. "What would you do, if you had a chance to go out there? If you saw suffering at every corner and only a bare few willing to do something about it."

Eyes intent on her now.

The Light rising within as something pushed him forward. An aura of warmth spreading from him.

 

[Irajah Ven]

The utter lack of any reaction when he said his name told him that, here certainly, there wasn't any of the history that he might have found elsewhere in the galaxy.

By the time he started talking again, Kaya was already leaning over again. She'd picked up a stick and was tipping up the tops of the nodding flower heads, inspecting.

"You know these are just gonna die now right?"

She looked up at him. Didn't seem particularly fussed, wasn't upset by that. Just matter of fact.

"It's out of season," she explained. "The nights are too cold right now for them. Not by a lot, but just enough. And the blue bumbles that pollinate them aren't looking for 'em right now, so the frost will probably kill 'em off before they can make seeds."

She thumped down into a cross legged position. Twirling her finger in her hair, a few strands, she tugged sharply. Winced. Three hairs. As she spoke she started folding them over on themselves.

"Unless someone does something anyway."

Tongue sticking out from the corner of her mouth, she leaned over. Touching the tips of the tiny makeshift hair brush she'd made to the anthers of one flower and then dusting it on another. Repeating the process.

"So. That's easy. You do something." Still matter of fact. The surety of childhood, that when something went wrong it could be fixed, but having left behind the assumption that someone else would fix it.

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kaya Neri"]

He looked on as she did.

It seemed needless. Flowers would decay and die, but in their wake there would be a different kind of life. That was the cycle. Life and death. The Force tying it all together, like a hungry maw, constantly devouring and always pushing it forward. It was a realization that Sardun was slowly coming to. The reflection of light and dark. It was what made the Jedi weak. They thought that pacifism and peace could stem the tide against the passionate hatred of the Darkside. Sardun wondered if they realized that made them part of the problem.

Another part of him- a deeper one, pushed against the needlessness.

It counseled and suggested... that this Kaya had something. The will to act. The power to do so, if properly counseled. Was this why he had found himself here? At peace and meditating, just for her to come and find him here?

"Easy... yes, perhaps, but rare, Kaya." Sardun countered. "Few are willing to act, when it is necessary. They'd rather do nothing. Pass it along to someone else." Brows furrow there. "I could give you a chance to get out there in the Galaxy. I could train you in the Force," A gesture towards the flowers she had just saved. "-teach you how to save people, how to fight against the Darkside. This I could do." Something, even smaller than the other two, within him steadied him there.

It wondered if it was the right choice.

Kaya had peace here. Did Sardun truly have a right to take her from it? She did not know yet what she had.

He turned, striding over towards his armor, gleaming gold and his hand already reached out. The pieces pushing themselves up in the air and rotating into place for him.

 

[Irajah Ven]

If minds were books.

A point missed. That the flowers he had brought forth were unnatural. Out of their appropriate time and place. It was not a normal cycle, subject to the balance of life and death. It was artificial. Forced. And in that there was no capacity to simply allow it to take its course. When choices led directly to death rather than that balance, to turn a back was blindness.

At its most generous.

Looked at harder, by someone with the experience it could be cast in a far different light.

Kaya could not read minds. Nor did she have the experience to parse the falsehoods there as another voice might have.

Instead she stood up from her crouch, dropping the makeshift hair brush and wiping her hands absently on her pants.

"Uh."

She just stared at him for a moment.

"Are you for real mister?"

She wasn't sure if he was teasing her or not. Grown ups were like that. She hated it. Sure she knew they meant well but they were constantly teasing about stuff that they thought was silly, if it was important to kids. There was a wariness in her voice that reflected that expectation. That he'd laugh and go 'of course I am, you're too young.' And then she'd feel like an idiot.

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

As the armor pieces settled themselves against him Sardun looked back at [member="Kaya Neri"].

She'd get the feeling he was measuring her.

Weighing.

The weight of his gaze pressing against her shoulders. Then his face disappeared behind the golden helmet. The openings dark, shadowed and the man was gone. In his place was something else. Perhaps a symbol or a presence in the Force.

"I do not joke about these things, Kaya. The Light is dying, I will take those willing and I will train them to protect and guard against the Dark." He approached her once more. Careful measure, careful stride. His steps were louder now. The armor heavy. "I will need your oath. An oath of fealty and loyalty. This I need." A nod, before he stood before her. "I do not expect you to answer right now. But I leave tomorrow, you have until then to make a decision."

This was not something to take lightly.

It was a life of service and duty.

Sardun would not take her away from her peace without allowing her to consider.

 

[Irajah Ven]

Kaya fidgeted under that gaze.

He was looking at her like they did when they'd caught her doing something she wasn't supposed to. But, she hadn't. Done anything wrong. Kaya wasn't the most introspective individual out there. So the combination of 'feel like I messed up' plus 'didn't actually mess up' was particularly uncomfortable.

Inwardly, she could recognize there was something impressive about this moment. About the words, the figure. That this could be, if she wanted it, a turning point. That there was something heavy and REAL happening here. A moment of true gravity.

Which mean of course she had to pretend she wasn't impressed in the least.

Crossing her arms over her chest, first one way, then realizing it felt weird, switching them. Glancing around the clearing.

"Well."

A cough. Shuffle.

"Well. Okay. That's. That's good. I mean, to know, you know." Oh that was nice, good job. "I'll. Um. Yeah I'll think about it."

A pause, and then, some of the forced 'cool' losing its hold.

"What.... kind of oath? I mean like, fealty and loyalty to what? And, uh. I'm not like. An adult. Yet. I mean. Couple of years. I dunno if I can even DO that."

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kaya Neri"]

"You are old enough to recognize the need to act and to do it when the time comes."

His voice sounded more distant now. Colder and authoritative. If Sardun was bothered by her way, he did not comment on it. Part of him, a far part, murmured to him and explained it. The awkwardness, the fidgeting, she was nervous and he wasn't putting her at ease. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe, if she said no, then she would be better off. Did this child really deserve being put out there? To be trained in the ways of war? To kill and lose all her innocence in the progress?

Sardun did not know.

Or rather, he knew that it had nothing to do with what they deserved.

"To me." He answered next. "To my order. To the Light." A beat, then something escaped him. "This is not a path taken lightly. It will be difficult, you will be put through extreme things and I will not go easy on you. In the end though, you will have the ability to stand against the Darkside. The Sith. The vile and the dangerous. You will be a Guardian, a warrior. This I can make of you."

"You know where my camp is. If I do not see you tomorrow, I will know your answer."

 

[Irajah Ven]

Kaya wasn't used to being treated like....

Well like not a kid.

SHE knew she wasn't. And sure the younger kids thought she was pretty cool. But the grown ups in the community all treated her like she was just... just....

A child.

He.... wasn't doing that.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she nodded. She had thought that when the time came, and someone treated her like this? Like someone with a real SAY? That it would be great. That it would be easy. This wasn't easy at all though, was it? No, that wasn't true.

She wanted to. More than anything she wanted to. If he had been dismissive, or asked what her parents would think, she would have told him to buzz off and she could make her own decisions and OF COURSE she would go. So why did him treating her like she thought she should be treated making her hesitate?

Maybe that was part of the growing up, she frowned. That when given that chance, you weren't sure anymore. That maybe you had to think.

If minds were books....

She would have known that what he was offering and what he was intending were not the same thing. It was all well and good to tell a teenager that you would make them a hero. That you should show them how to help people. To save lives. But he left out the parts where he would turn her into a killer. For the good of his crusade, he would teach her how to slaughter those who stood against the light. If he had said that outright here, she would have balked. That was not what Kaya Neri thought of when she looked into her own nebulous future. But instead he only shone light on the parts that gleamed. Careful not to illuminate the darker corners.

"Wait."

She called out, just as he had turned away. Something he had said was bothering her.

"What if..... I don't want you to make me something? What if. What if I want to make myself something?"

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kaya Neri"]

He glanced over his shoulder.

Expression impossible to read beneath that gilded mask.

"You already did make something of yourself, Kaya. A person who wishes to act." This wasn't him trying to stroke her ego or anything similar. Sardun was impressed by her attitude. It was something that few people possessed these days. The willingness to actually do something about the ills of the Galaxy. "But to become a guardian, a warrior, you will need training." A shrug followed soon after. "I will show you the path, but you will have to walk it. That is the part you will do."

Kaya's parents did not matter.

All that mattered was her will. Her desire. If she wanted this or not, because the Light needed champions. Heroes, perhaps. Those that knew they had to step up and act.

"I hope to see you tomorrow."

Then he turned again to leave the clearing.

 

[Irajah Ven]

The answer rooted her to the spot. There were a million things he could have said, but that one fed a tiny flame that was rarely stoked. The flame that wanted not only to be someone someday, but to already be seen as that person. Not just as the wild haired, scrawny teen that was good to the younger kids but made a lot of really questionable decisions. But the person she was growing into. The person she knew she could be.

It was like he saw through all of what everyone else only saw and to the core of her.

It felt that way. Which made it real enough.

She breathed in deeply, not realizing for a moment she'd been holding her breath. She promised herself that she'd think- really THINK- about her answer. Give it the night. There wasn't anyone she could talk to about it. Not anyone who would understand. She already knew that this Michael Sardun and his people were different from the Jedi at the Praxeum, and she didn't have any friends there anyway. Yes. She'd think about it.

But in truth her mind was already made up.

****

Normally, Kaya wasn't a dawn riser. In the Spring Canyons of Eira Pechal, the morning rose slow and grey, the sky brightening in the slice of open air above the canyon long before the sunlight itself could actually angle down. A long dawn and a long twilight. Today though, she was moving as soon as the darkness turned the first trace of dusky pearl.

She didn't have much. A rucksack thrown over her shoulder. She'd left a note. That seemed enough. She wasn't leaving forever. She'd come back. As much as she wanted to see other places, experience the galaxy, Eira Pechal was her home. She wasn't running away, she reasoned. She was just doing what she felt was following the path her parents would have been proud of.

Kaya paused on the approach at the sight of the two armed and armored sentries. Then squared her shoulders and marched right up.

"My name is Kaya Neri," she said. "And Mister Sardun is expecting me."

[member="Michael Sardun"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kaya Neri"]

She was immediately waved in.

Apparently they had been told that she might come.

The camp itself was busy. Men and women (some armored, some in worker fatigues) working in tandem. Breaking down the camp around them, shuttles flying in and out. Sardun hadn't been joking when he said that they were leaving the place. It was clear that there was order here. Everyone knew their function and they fulfilled it without hesitation. There was purpose here. More.... the light here felt stronger. It was like a microcosm of what she had felt back in the forest yesterday.

A buffeting feeling that raised spirits and hope.

In truth she did not need to ask for directions. Already Kaya was being pulled along, until her footsteps brought her to a particular portion of the camp. A bit off the side. Sardun was there, he was wearing regular clothes and not his armor here.

Rather than command people around, the large man was helping with breaking down the tents.

"I am glad you came, Kaya." He said over his shoulder without looking. Apparently he had felt her approach.

 

[Irajah Ven]

She looked all around as she moved through the camp. It was different from both Ishin's Hope and the Jedi Praxeum. A whole 'nother matter entirely. The other two were more relaxed. There was an air of calm. Here? Restrained energy. A ripple of a certain fire she couldn't put her finger on and didn't have a name for.

It bolstered and bouyed, feeding into itself, and into the excitement already in her.

Catching sight of Sardun, she made a beeline in his direction. Pausing a couple meters back, she watched for a minute.

"Oh. Well. You know."

She shifted her rucksack to the other shoulder.

"It kinda seemed like you guys could use my help."

It had sounded better in her head when she'd practiced it on the way here. With a cough, and a scuff of her feet, she put her things down out of the way. Without asking, she stepped up, and started unhooking the fabric on the other side from where he was.

"So we're leaving today? How soon?"

There was some small anxiety there. She could try to convince herself all she wanted that she was grown up enough to make this decision on her own. But realistically, she knew there was a not insignificant chance that if someone found her note sooner than she'd expected there might be some VERY grumpy elders heading in this direction to pull her back to the village by her ear.

[member="Michael Sardun"]