Private Stone, Wind, and Memory

[Jairdain Ismet-Thio]

Oralis Prime had always been quiet. Not empty, not lifeless, but deliberately still, as though the world itself had agreed long ago that it would not speak unless spoken to first. The wind moved gently through the pale grasses and the strange stone‑rooted growths that dotted the landscape, carrying with it the faint scent of mineral‑rich soil and distant water. Above her, the sky stretched wide and impossibly clear, unmarred by traffic lanes or the constant shimmer of hyperspace wakes that marked more crowded systems.

Jairdain found herself appreciating that quiet today more than she usually did.

She stood near the edge of the small landing plateau, her posture straight without being rigid, her hands folded loosely in front of her. Her presence in the Force was calm, layered, and carefully contained, like deep water whose surface rarely betrayed the strength of the currents moving beneath. The clothing she wore was practical rather than ceremonial, soft traveling fabrics in muted blues and silvers, layered for warmth and movement. The cut was elegant without drawing attention, though it no longer concealed the subtle curve at her midsection. She had long since stopped pretending it was not there, even if she had not yet decided how she felt about its visibility.

She shifted her weight slightly and exhaled through her nose, a small release of breath that carried more meaning than sound.

Late. Of course he was.

Jairdain did not mind waiting. She had spent years cultivating patience, years learning to sit with silence and let time unfold without forcing it. But she disliked inefficiency, unpredictability, and the kind of unnecessary suspense that served no purpose other than to fray one's composure. And historically speaking, those traits tended to describe Marrok Vorr rather well.

Her head tilted a fraction as she felt an approaching presence in the Force, unmistakable in its shape and texture. Familiar. Sharper than most. Worn at the edges in a way that spoke of battles fought both outwardly and inwardly. Tempered by experience and by choices that had not always been gentle.

So he was coming after all. Good.

She resisted the urge to cross her arms, barely. Instead, she adjusted the fall of her sleeve with a small, deliberate motion and focused on her breathing, grounding herself in the present moment rather than in the quiet storm of thoughts and half‑remembered missions that had been stirring ever since she agreed to meet him here.

It had been years. Years of war and displacement, of shifting allegiances and rebuilding what had been broken. Years marked by loss and recovery, by learning and unlearning, by becoming different people than the ones they had once known.

She wondered, not for the first time, which version of Marrok would be walking toward her now.

The wind picked up slightly as a distant engine note cut through the stillness, threading its way across the plateau.

Jairdain straightened, lifting her chin just a touch, the movement subtle but unmistakably intentional.

When the familiar silhouette finally resolved against the horizon, she did not smile. Not yet. She simply waited, letting him close the distance at his own pace, letting the moment arrive on its own terms rather than forcing it into shape.

When he was near enough that she did not need to raise her voice, she spoke with even composure, her tone smooth and controlled, though a faint edge of dry irritation slipped beneath it like a thin blade.

"You are late," Jairdain said.

A brief pause followed, the kind that allowed truth to settle before anything else could be added.

Then, softer and no less direct, she allowed the smallest shift in her voice.

"It is good to see you again, Marrok."

Marrok Vorr

 

[Marrok Vorr]

Objective: A meeting with Jair
Location: Oralis Prime
Outfit: Gray Robes
Tags: Jairdain Ismet-Thio

As his ship landed, Marrok was more flustered than he could remember being in quite some time. A meeting was set up with what Marrok considered his Force Mother. It was probably a poor term, but he had trouble finding another one. Jairdain did not see him through the Jedi training that he undertook. Her "motherhood" when it pertained to Marrok was merely as the catalyst to him accepting that he was different. Even though her hands on nurturing of Marrok's development was negligible, if he had never met her Marrok would likely be a farmer who had never left Iridonia.

Through years of chaos and war Marrok found himself nearly returned to the beginning. While he staunchly believed in following the Light, he was becoming more and more perturbed with how the Jedi had chosen to serve. Marrok knew that defense of innocence and freedom were core tenants of the Living Force. He knew that wars would always be inevitable, or the Darkside would grow unchecked in the galaxy. Still, it seemed like the Jedi were continuously looking for battles to be waged rather than peace and freedom to secure. Marrok has come to the conclusion that Light needs Dark and the opposite.

Marrok his journey away from the strict adherence of shining a light at every Darkside shadow had been going on for some years. Every rumor of a spiritual Force order that did not press war and combat, was investigated. But peace and truth of purpose continued to elude Marrok. It was a chance reunion on his homeplanet that had given him the most hope he'd had in many years. Coming in contact again with his "Force Mother" had sparked a rebirth of curiosity. Now he was set to meet Jairdain on Oralis Prime.

It was a planet that Marrok had trouble finding any records of. But it was promised to be a place strong in the Force, but shielded from the conflict of the galaxy. I place of refuge and learning. A place that sounded like just what Marrok needed. And this time his rebirth might have a bit more guidance from his Force Mother.

Exiting his ship, Marrok was in a rush. In his youth time was measured by the need of battle not a chrono. As a warrior he needed to be fluid, change direction at a moment's notice. In the years of self-recognition, he had become more in tune with manners and sticking to appointments. When he found himself late to meet with Jairdain, he rushed to make up that time.

It was not long however that the planet itself seemed to slow Marrok's strides. His mind seemed to trend towards a peacefulness. As he approached the meeting spot he could sense Jair's presence. He could sense her duality of feelings. For the most part she echoed the planet, but then there was that little bit of edge that vibrated out of place.

"I am sorry Jairdain. There is no acceptable excuse for my tardiness," Marrok responded in a timid tone of a child who had been caught red-handed. It was an odd sound even for Marrok to hear. He had been so confident for so long. "It is good to see you as well. Thank you for guiding me here. This seems like quite the place to study the Unifying Force." he continued the conversation as he got close enough to notice Jair's baby bump. "A new life…congratulations Jairdain," he said with controlled excitement.

 

[Jairdain Ismet-Thio]

Oralis Prime had a way of making even urgency feel improper.

The air did not simply move here. It settled. It drifted with intention through the trees and along the stone, as if the planet itself were patient enough to wait for every heartbeat to catch up with the rest of the body. The light, too, carried a kind of hush. It did not glare or insist. It filtered through the canopy in soft layers, warming moss and old roots and the smooth faces of half-buried ruins that had long ago stopped pretending they belonged to anyone.

Jairdain stood at the edge of a low rise where the ground fell away into a shallow basin of ferns and wild flowering vines, her hands loosely clasped in front of her, her posture composed in the way it always was when she knew she would be seen, even if she could not return the look. Her blindness did not make the world absent. It made it intimate. The planet spoke to her through texture and temperature, through distance measured by sound, through the subtle way the Force pressed against her skin like weather.

And it spoke loudly today.

It was not that she was unhappy. Not exactly. But pregnancy had shifted her internal weather into something less predictable. Some days she felt like herself, only heavier, only slower. Some days she felt as though she were carrying not only a child but a second heartbeat, tugging at her emotions like tidewater, pulling hidden things to the surface and leaving them exposed before she could decide what to do with them. Oralis Prime did not blunt that. If anything, it amplified it gently, like a sympathetic hand on her back that did not mean to push, but still did.

She had come here early on purpose.

Part of her had told herself it was practical, that she did not like waiting at the last minute, that she preferred to orient herself to a space before someone arrived and filled it with their presence. Another part of her, quieter and more honest, had admitted that she needed the extra time to steady herself before she saw Marrok again, because there were certain people who could walk into her life after years and make her feel, very abruptly, as though the years had not been so neatly contained after all.

She had sensed his approach long before she heard his boots. Not by sound first, but by the shape of him in the Force, familiar in a way that did not belong to blood, but to impact. She felt his urgency like heat, the forward momentum of someone trying to arrive in time, not to be late but to be worthy. She felt the slight stutter in him as the planet caught his stride and began to slow it, persuading him without argument that he could not carry war speed through a place like this without paying for it.

When he finally spoke, apologizing with a timidness that did not suit the man he had become, Jairdain did not move immediately.

She let the words exist for a moment in the quiet, not as a judgment, but as a truth offered.

Then she turned her head slightly toward him, not looking in the human way, but aligning her attention with his presence as precisely as a blade settling into a sheath. Her expression was composed, but her mouth was set in that faint line that usually meant she was fighting the urge to say something sharp simply because her nerves were trying to pick a fight with the air.

"Marrok," she said, and her voice held warmth first, even if it came wrapped in the steadiness of someone who had trained herself never to spill emotion carelessly. "If you keep apologizing like that, you will make me feel as though I should be angry. I am not. I am… aware."

The last word came out with the faintest edge, as if she had not meant for it to, and she exhaled immediately after, slow and measured, smoothing herself back into control.

She shifted her weight slightly. The movement was small, but it was not effortless. Her hand rose briefly to the curve of her stomach, not to present it, not to emphasize it, but to anchor herself, the way she sometimes did without thinking, fingers resting for a moment as if to remind her body that it was allowed to take up space.

"You are late," she continued, not cruelly, but plainly, "but you arrived. And you arrived with your mind still on the person you came to meet. That matters more than a few minutes on a chrono."

A pause followed, long enough for the quiet between them to become comfortable instead of tense. She could feel him there now, fully, close enough that the details of his presence sharpened. He carried conflict under his calm. He carried questions that had been gnawing at him for years. He carried the weary frustration of someone who had spent too long trying to find a place that did not ask him to become smaller in order to belong.

And beneath it all, she felt that old imprint of the boy he had been when they met, the one who had looked at the world and realized he was different, and for the first time had not been punished for it.

When he spoke of the Unifying Force, she did not smile immediately, but something softened in her posture anyway. Not because the phrase pleased her, but because he sounded like someone who was still searching for language that could hold his experience without breaking it into "light" and "dark" as if those were the only shapes possible.

"This place will not teach you the Unifying Force," Jairdain said, careful and honest. "Not as a doctrine. Not as an answer."

She took one slow step toward him, guided by his presence and the ground beneath her feet, the Force mapping the distance with quiet certainty. "But it will teach you what it feels like when the Force is not being shouted over by fear. Or ambition. Or war."

Her tone tightened slightly on the last word, not because she blamed him for it, but because she could feel how much of his life had been spent inside it.

"And that," she added, "is usually where people begin to hear themselves again."

When she came close enough, she did not reach for his face or his shoulders in some sentimental gesture. That was not who she was. Instead, she extended her hand, fingers relaxed, offering contact as she always did: simple, direct, permission-based. If he took it, it was because he chose to. If he did not, she would not think less of him.

"You do not owe me an apology," she said quietly. "You owe yourself honesty. And you do not need to perform humility to earn a place here."

Only then did her expression shift, just slightly, as his eyes dropped to her stomach and he offered congratulations with a controlled excitement that sounded as if he were trying not to intrude on something sacred.

Jairdain's lips parted as if she had intended to respond lightly, some small, polite thank you. Instead, what came first was a breath that caught in her throat, making her pause as the truth of it hit her unexpectedly hard.

A new life.

It was strange how those words could still land like a blow even when the child was already real in the steady weight of her body, already present in the way her balance had changed, already known in the way her Force sense kept brushing against a presence that was not hers but was undeniably close.

Her hand pressed a fraction more firmly to her stomach, and then she made herself loosen it again, because she refused to let her emotions become a spectacle even here.

"Thank you," she said, and her voice softened, the warmth finally unguarded enough to be unmistakable. "I am… still adjusting to the fact that I am doing this again."

Another pause, and then, because she could not help it, because the planet made truth easier to speak, she added, "Some days I feel very wise about it. Other days I feel as though I have been outmaneuvered by my own body."

A small flicker of dry humor moved through her tone, but it was threaded with something else, too, something that stayed close to the surface and made her more blunt than she might have been otherwise.

"You can congratulate me," she continued, "but do not romanticize it. It is wonderful. It is also uncomfortable. It is also terrifying in ways I did not expect to revisit."

She let the words sit, then drew in a slow breath and steadied herself again, because she had not brought him here to talk about her pregnancy, even if it was impossible to pretend it was not part of her presence now.

"You said you were looking for peace and truth of purpose," Jairdain said, returning them to the reason he had come without dismissing the emotion that had surfaced. "Tell me what that means for you. Not what it means in philosophy. Not what it should mean according to any Order. What does it mean in your bones?"

Her head tilted slightly, attentive, open. "What are you running from, Marrok?"

A beat, and then, softer, she corrected herself, because she did not want him to hear accusation where she meant care.

"Not running," she amended, her voice gentler. "What are you trying to stop carrying alone?"

She released a slow breath, letting the planet's quiet settle around them again, and she kept her hand extended, not demanding, not pleading, simply present.

"I brought you here because Oralis Prime is not interested in your titles," Jairdain said. "It will not reward you for being a warrior. It will not punish you for being tired. It will simply show you what you bring into the silence."

Her expression sharpened slightly, that familiar calm intensity returning. "And because you deserve the chance to ask your questions without someone trying to recruit your answers."

She angled her chin toward him, as if to say she was listening fully now, and added with understated firmness, "So speak plainly. I can handle it."

Then, after a heartbeat, with just the faintest hint of grumpy honesty that betrayed how raw her nerves were beneath her control, she added, "And if you apologize again, I will make you walk the long way back to your ship. This planet has excellent trails for reflection."

The warmth returned immediately after, a quiet reassurance tucked into the edge of her tone.

"It is good to see you, Marrok," she said, simply, as if that were the only truth that mattered. "Now. Tell me where you are."

Marrok Vorr

 

[Marrok Vorr]

Objective: A meeting with Jair
Location: Oralis Prime
Outfit: Gray Robes
Tags: Jairdain Ismet-Thio

Jair's presence was not as calm as Marrok remembered. He wasn't about to question it. She was someone that he had put a lot of unrealistic worship upon. The fact that he remembered her as calm and wise didn't mean that was who she always was. Marrok had not kept contact with Jairdain. Whatever the case was it was not Marrok's place to question whether Jair was "herself".

As she spoke his name that familiar kindness came through to Marrok. That was what he expected. That was what he wanted. He was not distracted by getting what he wanted enough to miss the contradiction hiding in the background however. She excused his tardiness and made it clear he should not push for anything further. That was actually a relief for Marrok as he didn't enjoy having something to apologize for. When Jairdain moved Marrok had to resist the urge to lunge forward and steady her as he sensed the effort that moving took. He was not going to disrespect her by assuming her some damsel that he needed to save from hardship. He knew she was strong and he would be able to move quick enough if she was to encounter extreme hardship.

"I came here to meet with you. I was not aware just how full of the Force this planet was, but it would be quite wrong for me to allow it to distract me from the company that I was meant to keep on this visit," Marrok said a bit too scholarly and forced for his taste. He was a natural hunter and warrior. His more thoughtful self still didn't sound quite right.

For some time after leaving Iridonia as a child Marrok wondered what it would have been like if Jairdain had been his teacher in the Force. Finding her again at the same place they had met brought a lot of those feelings back. He allowed her to feel him through the Force. He was confident in what he portrayed to the universe. There was no certainty, but he was not hiding this from anyone. Marrok had been looking for answers for years. Lying to himself or others was pointless.

Jairdain informed Marrok that he would not learn the doctrine of the Unifying Force here on this planet. Marrok was not sure that was going to be possible from one single source. The Living Force having a hard fast Light to contradict the Dark and vice versa was complex enough. A philosophic school of thought that incorporated both as a whole, not separate halves, was even more complicated. At least that was Marrok's expectation.

What the planet did have to offer was intriguing. Marrok had spent his life in conflict after conflict, looking for anything resembling a lasting peace. That it seemed, was something that could be had here. The thought of hearing the Force above the conflict of the Jedi and the Sith was a welcome one. Though Marrok was not sure he could handle it alone. There was stress on the word war. Marrok felt a degree of shame. He had spent too much time pressing the concept of war against the Dark. It had become a heavy weight on him. One he needed to discard if he was truly going to find peace.

Marrok gave a nod to the possibility of hearing his own thoughts and desires and place in the Force. One that was not based on a constant struggle for "the right" or "balance" or whatever the new battle cry of the Jedi was. When Jair's hand extended there was no question in his mind that Marrok would take it. He did so gently and in a manner that said he would offer support if needed, but he was really still looking for guidance.

Marrok gave an unconscious chuckle at Jaridain's response to his congratulations. "The strangeness of living a long life I suspect. You have children my age? And Jayna is what in her teens?" Marrok couldn't be sure of Jayna's age given her DNA and having barely met her. "A new life so far from the first born would be unheard of in my kind. I can understand it being a bit of a change. I have heard that most expectant mothers deal with discomfort, as to terror, you certainly do not seem like you are dealing with such. I don't mean to be patronizing as I wouldn't know where to start but if I can alleviate either during our visit do not hesitate to ask."

Though he was willing to help, Marrok was also quite willing to allow the subject to be changed to something else that Jairdain preferred. "The Force is what makes up the universe. When you listen it should not be telling you to fight. To tear down what has been built."

The question about running had Marrok's face lighten in color. It was not something he thought was obvious. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe Jairdain was every bit the wise soul that he had envisioned her being. "We are ruining this galaxy in the name of the Force. I know most Sith consider it in their own name, but I think we can establish that seeking power and what is considered Dark is still following the whispers of the Force. There must be some way to do it without making lives a mess," Marrok answered unsure if that made complete sense, even to himself.

"Oralis Prime is a special place then. I come here with no titles. Though I have the instincts of my training, I am no longer a warrior. And I definitely am quite tired. That this place remains accessible to me. That is a wonder for sure," the wonder was something that Marrok didn't know he was prepared for or worthy of.

Marrok appreciated an open slate with neither judgement nor coddling. The Jedi had placed enough of the first that Marrok still judged the path he was trying to take as bad. The latter Marrok received in smaller doses. Knowledge of the Force spoon fed and with strict direction. The joke, maybe a joke, of making him turn around and walk back to his ship caused a grin to appear on Marrok's lips only to disappear a moment later turning first to a gentle smile of appreciation for the greeting to a solemn straight faced determination at her demand. "Physically I stand in a place of beauty with so much knowledge I wonder if any mortal being would ever be able to take it all in. Spiritually I am in a place of confusion. I yearn for peace and knowledge. For a way to serve the Force without tearing apart lives in the presence. And with the question of whether I am even worthy of this peace and knowledge of it is out there."

 

[Jairdain Ismet-Thio]

Jairdain did not withdraw her hand when Marrok took it. She felt the hesitation in him, the carefulness, the quiet offer of support that he did not presume to force upon her. That alone told her how much he had changed. Once, he had burned like a blade pulled too quickly from the forge. Now there was restraint in him, and something heavier beneath it.

She let the Force flow between them without shields, not probing, not pressing, simply allowing him to feel her as she felt him. He was not wrong. She was not as calm as he remembered. Pregnancy had stripped away the careful composure she once wore so effortlessly. Emotions moved closer to the surface these days, and the wariness she carried about the galaxy's endless conflict had only deepened since the fall of the Alliance.

"Nitya, my oldest daughter, is here," she said softly, adjusting her balance as they began to walk at an unhurried pace. "She is in her mid-thirties now. Jayna is thirteen. My youngest daughter."

The faintest curve of amusement touched her mouth. "And this one," she added, resting her free hand lightly against the swell of her abdomen, "is my son."

There was no mistaking the tenderness in her voice when she said it. Even through exhaustion and irritation and the quiet fear she would never admit aloud, there was love there. Fierce and unwavering.

"You are not patronizing," she continued gently when he offered assistance. "And I appreciate the offer more than you know. I have walked through wars without flinching, but carrying a child at this stage of life is… different. It is not terror." She considered the word carefully. "It is awareness. Of time. Of consequence. Of how fragile even the strongest lives can be."

They walked beneath the canopy of Oralis Prime, the air rich with the quiet hum of life untouched by galactic ambition. The planet did not argue. It did not demand. It simply existed. She let that silence settle between them before speaking again.

"You are not wrong about the galaxy tearing itself apart in the name of the Force," she said at last. "Both Sith and Jedi have claimed righteousness while leaving ruin in their wake. But the Force does not whisper conquest. It does not demand dominion. Those desires come from beings, not from the current itself."

Her expression softened, though her unseeing eyes remained angled slightly toward him, guided not by sight but by the shape of his presence in the Force. She did not need vision to understand him. His unrest pulsed clearly enough.

"You are not running because you are weak," she told him quietly. "You are running because you are tired of blood being the answer to every question. There is no shame in that, Marrok. The shame would be in pretending you are not exhausted."

She stopped then, turning fully toward him. The planet's current wrapped around them like a held breath.

"Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the refusal to let conflict define you. If you are worthy of anything, you are worthy of learning who you are without a battlefield beneath your feet."

Her hand tightened slightly around his, not restraining him, but grounding him.

"Oralis does not demand titles. It does not measure your worth by how many enemies you have defeated. If you feel welcome here, it is because some part of you still seeks harmony instead of domination. That is not a weakness. That is a strength you have not yet learned to trust."

A small, tired smile touched her lips.

"You do not need to be certain of your path tonight. You only need to be honest about what you no longer wish to carry."

And for once, she allowed the silence that followed to be gentle rather than heavy.

Marrok Vorr

 

[Marrok Vorr]

Objective: A meeting with Jair
Location: Oralis Prime
Outfit: Gray Robes
Tags: Jairdain Ismet-Thio

Jairdain's ability to maintain a steady balance with the strong nature of Oralis Prime and the increased emotions caused by pregnancy was something that Marrok envied. Sure he could feel her the turmoil that was within his "Force Mother", but she managed it well and even set forth to teach him as she did. Marrok thought that he had become good at managing ebs and flows of the Force, but here on this planet his own emotions were not acquiescing to his wishes. Her hand was a good help to keep him grounded, but his thoughts could not stay in the present. They kept drifting and Marrok wasn't even sure why.

He could feel Jairdian's constant presence, feel her support and their bond, if only a temporary one. Marrok was surprised that they could be so open to each other after so long apart and but a short time in his life together. The Force was a powerful thing, however, that much Marrok did not question. He may be conflicted between how he was taught to answer the Force's call and his desire to find a way that was more in the spirit of the Force, but he never doubted that the Force was a strong and it always found a way through any boundaries.

Words brought Marrok out of the Force and his own feelings into the present. Marrok knew about Jair's son, he had met him, and just recently had met Jayna the youngest for the time being. News of another daughter, older, drew Marrok's attention slightly. The fact that she was here on Oralis Prime even more so. There was something in him that thought Jairdain's daughter would make a good Jedi. And though the Force was plentiful here on Oralis Prime Marrok did not sense a large population. Marrok wondered what this Nitya might be. "Your daughter is here? If there is time I would very much like to meet her…If that would be alright with you."

The new life was a son. That was not something that Marrok was talented enough to tell. Of course, he would wager that it would require a strong bond with the fetus in order to sense something like that. Marrok supposed that son or daughter didn't really matter much to most parents. Some fathers might enjoy the thought of their family name continuing through a son, but growing up as a Jedi such things didn't make a lot of sense to Marrok. If he were ever to father a child he would merely want them to be healthy and happy.

Marrok smiled when Jairdain did not turn down the offer of aid, though there was no need for it at the moment it seemed. "Carrying a child is something I will never experience, but it seems like quite a bit of hardship in the short term. The offer stands should you need to lean on me. And if you find me hovering or I press too hard do not fear to slap me on the wrist. I have been told I have a tendency to be overbearing at times."

They continued to walk along. Jairdain shared her concern over the state of the galaxy and how the Sith and Jedi wield their spirituality as means to influence the galaxy in one way or another. She reinforced however that because Jedi and Sith take the nudges of the Force in the direction they do, didn't mean that the Force itself had a desire to see these conflicts. Marrok nodded his understanding, he was not aware of the degree of degradation of Jaridain's eyesight. She could "see" through the Force, so it was hard to tell that a nod of the head might not have been easily read. When Marrok was young he knew that Jairdain could see, now he had just assumed nothing had changed.

"I would think that conflict and bloodshed would be something that all being, especially those of the Light, would grow tired of. That they would want to find another way to coexist with the Dark," Marrok opened up when it was theorized why he was "running" from the Jedi. "Conflict is indeed a product of life and freedom. The galaxy will never be one hive mind always thinking exactly alike. Even in peace there will be need of conflict this much is true. Conflict just never seems to end. It shifts here and there. The champions holding the flags for Light and Dark change, but the conflict never does. It is finding ground where the battlefield is not beneath my feet that has been a challenge. Hopefully, for a short time that will be here." He felt comfort from the squeeze that Jairdain offered, and he returned it as appreciation.

The way Jairdain described Oralis Prime was like a paradise to Marrok. If that was truly how this planet was Marrok hoped to find answers he'd search for. Meaning for the emotions he felt. "One's path changes direction often during a lifetime. I doubt that I will find a path that will never have me fight a battle again. Even in my short life. I listen to the Force as it flows peacefully in this place, but I know my path is not straight off to the horizon. I can't be afraid to change directions when needed. I will just need to remember to stay open."

 

[Jairdain Ismet-Thio]

Jairdain listened to him without interruption, her hand still resting lightly in his as they walked the narrow stone path that curved gently along the rise of Oralis Prime's landscape. The air carried the quiet hum of the planet's living presence, a steady undercurrent of growth and balance that moved through her like breath itself. It should have steadied her completely. It usually did.

But pregnancy altered more than the body.

The planet's currents felt stronger to her now, more intimate. Emotions did not pass cleanly through her as they once had. They lingered. They amplified. They brushed against places inside her that were softer than she was accustomed to allowing.

She managed it.

She always managed it.

Still, Marrok would feel the tremor beneath the calm if he paid close attention.

When he asked about Nitya, something in her expression softened in a way that had nothing to do with teaching or philosophy.

"Yes," she said gently. "She is here."

There was warmth in her voice that did not come from the planet. "Nitya has made a small life for herself at one of the monasteries to the north. It is not far. The walk is peaceful if one does not rush it." A faint smile touched her lips. "She prefers that."

She adjusted her grip on his hand, not because she needed the physical support in that moment, but because grounding contact helped her center the swell of emotion rising unexpectedly at the thought of her eldest daughter.

"She is in her mid-thirties now. Capable. Stubborn." The smile deepened just a fraction. "She has always walked her own interpretation of the Light. I have learned more from her than she would ever admit."

There was pride there, but also vulnerability.

"She would welcome you, I think. Nitya has always had a way of sensing when someone is searching rather than fleeing. You are not running, Marrok. You are trying to understand the ground beneath you."

Her voice remained kind, but there was a quiet fragility beneath it now, something she did not entirely shield from him.

"This place helps," she continued more softly. "But Oralis Prime does not erase conflict. It does not silence the parts of us that still carry war. It simply makes those parts harder to ignore."

She drew in a slow breath, steadying the subtle swell of emotion that pregnancy made more insistent. The child within her shifted faintly, a quiet reminder of new life even as they spoke of old battles.

"You are right," she said. "Conflict is part of life. It always has been. Even Light must push against something to grow. But there is a difference between necessary struggle and perpetual war. The Jedi and Sith have convinced themselves that they are the axis upon which balance turns."

Her tone was not bitter. Only tired.

"The Force is older than both. It does not require banners."

She paused, and this time the fragility showed more clearly. Not weakness. Not instability. Just… humanity.

"There are days," she admitted quietly, "when I am so tired of watching young men and women offer their lives to arguments that began before they were born. I carry this child, and I wonder what kind of galaxy he will inherit. I want him to know the Force as something that nourishes, not something that demands."

Her fingers tightened faintly around Marrok's hand before easing again.

"But I cannot promise you a path without battle," she said. "None of us can. What I can offer you is space. Time. And the reminder that you are allowed to change direction without shame."

The breeze shifted through the trees, carrying the distant sound of monastery bells — faint, steady, almost like a heartbeat woven into the planet itself.

"If you wish to meet Nitya, we can go tomorrow," she added, her tone gentler now. "She tends the gardens at first light and spends her afternoons in study. You would find her there."

A slight, self-aware smile touched her mouth.

"And if she decides you require instruction, she will not hesitate to tell you so."

She exhaled slowly, letting the planet's steady rhythm settle through her again.

"You do not need to have your entire path mapped before you take the next step," she finished. "Staying open, as you say, is not weakness. It is trust. The Force moves. So must we."

Marrok Vorr

 

[Marrok Vorr]

Objective: A meeting with Jair
Location: Oralis Prime
Outfit: Gray Robes
Tags: Jairdain Ismet-Thio

Marrok had faced down artillery fire without flinching. He had walked into negotiations where every word was a blade wrapped in silk. Yet as Jairdain described her daughter—calmly, plainly, without embellishment—he felt something distinctly unfamiliar tighten in his chest.

It was subtle. A stilling of breath. A sudden awareness of how he was standing, of the set of his shoulders, of whether the dust of travel still clung too visibly to his robes. He did not enjoy how quickly his mind tried to assemble an image from fragments. Steadiness. Intelligence. A life shaped more by reflection than reaction.

Appealing.

The word surfaced before he could dismiss it. He cleared his throat softly, folding his hands behind his back in a posture that felt far too formal for a woodland path. "She sounds…" He paused, selecting a safer word. "…intriguing." The delivery was even. Thoughtful. Almost academic. He hoped it sounded that way.

"I don't often meet people who've grown up outside the rhythm of deployments and crises," he added, tone measured. "Someone shaped by a different current of the Force is worth knowing."

That was true. It was simply not the entire truth. He adjusted his stride slightly, grounding himself before his thoughts wandered further down a path he was not prepared to walk. His focus shifted—intentionally—back to safer territory.

"The galaxy still leans toward conflict," he said, voice settling into something steadier. "Empires fracture. Alliances strain. People reach for power faster than they reach for understanding."

That had been the world that made him. "And I've been very good at meeting that reality head-on." He did not frame it as pride. It was simply fact. "For most of my life, conflict gave me clarity. It defined the lines. If something threatened stability, I moved to counter it. If someone raised a weapon, I answered in kind."

His gaze drifted briefly to the horizon. "It's efficient. But efficiency isn't the same as wisdom." He exhaled slowly. "I don't want my first instinct to always be opposition. I don't want to default to seeing every tension as a precursor to battle." That habit had carved deep grooves in him. Letting go of it would not be simple.

"Battle is part of life," he acknowledged quietly. "It always will be. The Force itself contains friction. Growth rarely happens without resistance." He glanced toward Jairdain, expression thoughtful. "But battle should serve something larger. Protection. Preservation. Understanding. If it becomes the purpose instead of the tool… then we've already lost more than we realize." That was the shift he was trying to make—not toward passivity, but toward intention.

Oralis Prime felt different beneath his boots. The air carried no urgency. The Force here did not press or surge; it breathed. "I'm hoping," he admitted after a moment, "that this place might help recalibrate me." His voice was quieter now, more candid. "That Oralis Prime… and your perspective… might offer guidance."

A faint hesitation followed. "And perhaps your daughter's, if she's willing." There was that flicker again—nervousness restrained behind composure. "I don't expect answers handed to me," he added. "But I would value learning how to stand in the Force without bracing for impact."

For the first time in a long while, he was not seeking an enemy to define his direction. He was seeking teachers. And maybe—Something steadier to stand beside.