Private Survival Is Not Glory

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Thrantin - Sith Academy

Equipment:
Acolyte Attire | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Thrantin did not look like a world built to kill. Stone spires rose through dense greenery, waterfalls carving white lines down sheer cliff faces. Mist hung in the air, sunlight catching on wet rock and thick foliage. It almost resembled sanctuary. It wasn't. Every ridge was a trial. Every ravine a test. Acolytes were sent into the wild sectors and expected to return stronger, or not at all.

Ace stood on a carved training platform overlooking one of the lower basins, where broken droids lay half swallowed by creeping vegetation. The roar of distant water filled the silence between gusts of humid wind.

He remembered the first time he'd come here. When he brutally sparred with Lysander von Ascania - revealing more to each other than any amount of words ever could.

Coruscant still lingered in his mind. Quinn Varanin 's Force storm raging above. His scrap with Arris Windrun . Then... the exchange that followed, he had pressed her about the Covenant and she had given him something else entirely.

"Kirie Corsell. You're going to find her and teach her how to use that."

He could still see her metal finger pointing at his lightsaber. Still hear the bite in her voice. And then the shift, her hesitation, her correction. She didn't want him to show her how to fight. But how to survive.

As an Apprentice to one of the Triumvir, his standing within the Covenant had changed. Authority carried differently now and he had used it here, sending her a simple transmission.

Meet me on Thrantin. At the training range.

He still didn't know who Kirie Corsell was. Only that Arris had almost revealed something she hadn't meant to. Only that the word survive had landed heavier than the rest.

If Kirie needed to learn survival, Thrantin would strip the pretense from it quickly enough. Ace shifted his weight slightly, boots grinding against damp stone. His lightsaber rested silent at his hip. The Force coiled low around him, restrained, watchful.

If he could understand Kirie... what she lacked, what she feared, why Arris's control had slipped at her name, then he would understand something about Arris as well.

And Arris Windrun had become a question he intended to answer. Or destroy.

So he waited. On Thrantin, survival was earned.

Kirie​

 

[Kirie]

Location: Lost on Thrantin
Tag: Acier Moonbound

Kirie was having a good day. For once, she had woken up feeling positive. Nobody had burst into her room to order her to run laps, or go do some chores, or go on some death-defying mission. She had found a rare sunny spot on a bench in the Federal District where the light broke through the skyscrapers. She had downloaded a really great-looking book, and was just getting into it when an alert chimed on her datapad.

Meet me on Thrantin. At the training range.

Ah. Chit.

---

Kirie was having a terrible day. She hated Thrantin. The place they'd landed was humid, and hot, and choked with vegetation outside of the narrow grassy clearing where the shuttle dropped her, before lifting off and leaving her standing alone in the jungle.

Well, almost alone. Acier Moonbound was standing at the edge of the trees, waiting for her. Kirie regarded him with suspicion, not moving at first, just observing. She didn't know much about Acier, but she'd heard enough to make her nervous. He was one of the strongest Acolytes, well on the road to his Knighthood, and regularly chosen for the Covenant's more dangerous assignments. Worst of all, he had chosen Thrantin, the planet which in the short time since they had acquired the Tapani Sector had garnered a reputation for leaving its Acolytes dessicated, decapitated, or completely destroyed.

All of these things made her worried, save for a single other fact that provoked some curiosity: Acier was Arris Windrun ’s apprentice.

That was enough to make her wonder what this was really about. She cast her mind back to the conversations she'd had with the Triumvir, on Coruscant, on Nar Shaddaa, on Desevro. Never had she mentioned this boy before. Why? Either, Kirie figured, because Arris had been protecting her, or she had been protecting Acier from her.

So could he be trusted? Kirie was struck by the insane urge to call Arris and ask, but she ignored it, remembering what the woman had said about seeking help from other Lords. She was a hypocrite, sure, but Kirie sensed she wouldn't take kindly to her being so bold.

Her attention resharpened as she realised she had been standing still and silent for some time. She raised her hands and her miniature protocol droid floated up behind her ready to interpret.

'Acier.' signed Kirie. 'What is this?'

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Thrantin - Sith Academy

Equipment:
Acolyte Attire | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Kirie stood in the clearing a moment too long after the shuttle lifted away, framed by humidity and hanging mist. She was small, still, and watching. Assessing. He did not move to close the distance. He let the silence stretch and studied her the way he would a new opponent.

He let his senses extend, just a quiet reach, brushing against her presence in the Force. She didn't blaze, not like most Acolytes. Her Thread felt muted, as though she had learned to pull it inward, to dim herself against louder currents. There was a softness to it at first touch: reserved, restrained. But beneath that was something tightly wound. Compressed. A presence accustomed to occupying as little space as possible while enduring everything around it. Deliberate smallness.

He withdrew without pressing further. Why would someone like Windrun take an interest in someone who survived by fading? Kirie finally moved, closing the distance at a measured pace. She stopped several paces from him and lifted her hands.

Ace's eyes dropped automatically to her fingers as they moved. He watched the shapes form before the small protocol droid behind her floated higher, its voice filling the humid air.

"Acier. What is this?"

He shifted his gaze back to her face, noting the lack of sound before the translation. So, she was mute. That explained the droid.

He folded his arms across his chest, posture firm but not aggressive.

"Windrun wants you to know how to use a lightsaber." His tone was even and direct. "Why she wants me to do it? I don't know."

The jungle hummed behind them. Water roared somewhere beyond the tree line. He stepped forward once, not enough to crowd her, just enough to test her composure. His eyes tracked her reaction without expression.

"How much do you know?" He asked coolly. "Do you even have a lightsaber?"

He watched her closely, not for fear... but for resolve. Somewhere in her presence, beneath the restraint, he searched for whatever it was that had made Arris hesitate.

Kirie​