Private Test Tubes and Pedigrees

[Corazona von Ascania]

Ukatis had been…yeah.

Nearly all Alliance personnel that had been present, herself included, had been caught off guard by Cora's sudden engagement to Prince Horace. Accordingly, chaos ensued. The Padawan hadn't seen her father for a week following the party, given how entrenched he'd been in heated political talks.

And so, Cora returned to Coruscant as if nothing had happened.

But things had happened, and there was little that someone of her particular station could do to smooth over a chandelier crash or a malfunctioning droid. What she could do, was check in on a friend who'd been more disturbed than most at her upcoming nuptials.

This was how Cora found herself in the temple's hangar, standing in front of the light freighter that served as Jasper's home. A canister of tea—a blend she'd concocted from herbs and plants found on her homeworld—was clutched snugly in both hands.

Shifting the gift to the crook of her arm, the Padawan curled her free hand into a fist and rapped her knuckles against the ship's door.

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: Corazona von Ascania

​

"Oh," Jasper frowned as he opened the door of his freighter. "Hey..."

The knight knew what was going on here. She was checking on him, the selfless and caring individual that she was. That should've been his job, but here they were.

"I... know why you're here," he sighed. "I appreciate the sentiment, but... I'm not worth that. Not after what happened."

Jasper technically hadn't done anything wrong. As far as anyone was concerned, he showed up upset, got himself fried by a "malfunctioning" droid, and left without saying a word. It was more complicated than that, unfortunately. Twice that night had be ben incapable of providing the people he cared about with real support, and now one of them was coming to check on him. It was embarrassing.

"I'm not telling you to leave," the knight quickly added. "Sorry if that seemed like blowing you off... Actually, why don't you come with me. There's something I'd like to show you."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"If you weren't worth it, I wouldn't be here."

Cora gave Jasper a weary smile. It was difficult to know how to approach situations like this correctly. She wasn't sure if Jasper didn't want to see her and was simply being kind.

Either way, he seemed deflated.

"I made this for you. It's a blend of herbs and tea leaves that grow on Uka…my homeworld. Good for relaxation.”

Saying Ukatis out loud felt strange, but it shouldn't have. Cora decided to ignore that and held out the canister with both hands.

"I should've checked to see if you like tea or not, but perhaps it will make a nice decoration?"

The container was pretty, an ornate piece hand-painted with native flowers. She was insistent that he accept the gift.

Cora smiled again, polite and awkward. A lot was being left unsaid between them, but Jasper had her attention when he'd ask her to join him.

"Oh? Where are we going?" Perhaps she was a little too eager, accepting his request before even figuring out their destination.

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: Corazona von Ascania

​

"If you weren't worth it, I wouldn't be here."

"...Thank you," he responded, managing a smile, "But that was more of a me thing. My relationship with myself is... complicated."

A frown came to his face when Cora struggled to say the name of her own home. It shouldn't have been that way, but she very much seemed to want to forget about what had happened.

She could only forget for so long.

The knight accepted the gift, placing it on a nearby workbench.

"I don't drink much tea..." Jasper remarked, "I'll give it a try though."

"Oh? Where are we going?"

"It's just here on my ship," he explained. "In the lower cargo bay. I can't really tell you in a way that's better than showing."

It was a journey that took no more than a minute. Across his makeshift living room, down the ladder into the hallway between the lower gun and the cargo bay, straight to the bay's blast door. With a press of a button, the door opened, revealing a pod within that was not too dissimilar from a bakta tank, though it was noticeably smaller. No fluid was stored within, and cables and tubes of all sorts lay unconnected around it.

"Well, this is it," the knight stated. "I... don't really have a better way of explaining it..."

The young man sighed deeply as he looked at the machine. It's discovery was not something that brought him many good memories.

"I guess you could consider this my 'mother.'"

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Jasper accepted the tea, and Cora was pleased.

Normally, someone offering to show what resided in the bowels of their ship—without describing what it was—would raise alarm bells.

But this was Jasper, and Cora trusted him. The Padawan followed in step behind him, her gaze lingering around the living area they passed through, before descending a ladder and heading into the cargo bay.

When the blast door hissed open, Cora found herself face to face with a pod. Was it an on-board bacta tank? She tilted her head to the side in observation. No, that wasn't quite it. She'd spent a night in a bacta tank upon her return from Exegol, suspended in transparent blue fluid. This vessel was empty, and didn't look large enough to contain Jasper, or even herself.

"I guess you could consider this my 'mother.'"

Both of Cora's eyebrows raised as she looked between the tank and Jasper, focus finally resting on the blonde Knight. He seemed wistful.

"…Um, what?"

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: Corazona von Ascania

​

"I guess that was just as confusing then," Jasper chuckled ever so slightly. "I wasn't born, Cora. Not like most people are, anyways. Have you ever noticed how similar Jalen and I look, even for being siblings? It's cause we share the exact same genetic code."

The knight frowned, crossing his arms as he kept his gaze fixed on the cloning vat. It was the beginning of so many problems for him, yet it ultimately was the very thing that allowed him to stand here right now. For that reason alone, Jasper couldn't find it in him to leave it behind after discovering it.

"So I'm a clone," he shrugged. "Grown right there in that tube. I don't usually share that with many people, usually cause I don't care enough to anymore, but... I felt like it was only fair after seeing where you come from that you should know where I come from."

His feelings aside, Jasper still managed to let a grin spread across his face.

"Hope you weren't expecting me to be part of some ancient Jedi bloodline," he joked.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Dumbstruck, Cora simply blinked at the Knight when he explained to her that both himself and his brother, Jalen, were actually cloned from the exact same DNA template.

She nodded along when he explained what the receptacle was for, and she supposed that it made sense that he kept it. It was apart of who Jasper was.

"I've never met a clone before." The Padawan admitted with a small, careful smile. "At least, I don't think that I have. I've always imagined that clones would be very similar to their original reference, but you and Jalen are quite different."

Her assessment was spoken with a measure of fondness, not judgement.

For a moment, her smile dipped into a more thoughtful expression. Though her face was firm, Cora's tone was gentle.

"Jasper…I believe that poor first impressions were made on Ukatis. Some of our traditions are outdated by galactic standards, I admit—but there is so much more to my home world than what the Alliance saw during the party. Someday, I'd like to show you and the Jedi what that's like."

When he made the quip about being apart of an ancient Jedi bloodline, the younger blonde couldn't help but giggle softly.

"That would certainly be something, wouldn't it. Does…that mean that you know who you came from?"

Her words were careful, cautious not to prod Jasper for information that might be more sensitive.

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: Corazona von Ascania

​

"Jasper…I believe that poor first impressions were made on Ukatis. Some of our traditions are outdated by galactic standards, I admit—but there is so much more to my home world than what the Alliance saw during the party. Someday, I'd like to show you and the Jedi what that's like."

"Don't worry," the knight sighed. "I'm not that quick to make judgements about an entire planet. And... uh, not to be rude or anything, but I feel that assuming that the customs of the top percent are universal takes a lot of nuance out of the overall cultural picture of any given people... but I'd be lying if I said I didn't like the feel of that royal court of yours..."

The frown returned to his face. Cora wasn't going to get the chance to show anyone the good side of her home world, not after all of this went through. He had seen enough to know what was going to happen.

"I'm not going to urge you to not go through with it," Jasper stated. "You've clearly set out to protect someone else... You said you have siblings, right? I... saw the way that fiancé of yours got in your face. I have a feeling that he isn't going to be very charitable when he decides what bridges he's going to burn. As much as I'd like to see the more positive sides of Ukatis, I'm beginning to have doubts that you'd be allowed to see any Jedi ever again. Especially after that party went to hell."

A sigh escaped from his chest. This was everything he hated all wrapped up in one package. He hated admitting defeat and he hated leaving people behind, and now he was forced to do both. What was he worth if he couldn't save a single person from a cruel fate? The only thing strong enough to defeat such a binding arrangement was death, a punishment that Jasper wasn't able to give due to both his own morals and the Jedi Code.

Their friendship was on a doomsday clock.

"That would certainly be something, wouldn't it. Does…that mean that you know who you came from?"

"I do," he nodded. "An old fool of a Jedi who wanted to make a Sith killer. It doesn't really matter who he is anymore. Old bird sat himself down on Dantooine and waited to die. Needless to say he got his wish."

Jastile had at least ben clear that he didn't expect forgiveness, but the least he could've done was stand trial with the Jedi Council. Hell, he could've taken time out of his miserable life to raise him and Jalen. Unfortunately, one couldn't re-write history. They could only make peace with it.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora fidgeted with her hands as the corners of her lips lifted into a melancholic smile.

"I have seven younger siblings, yes. They were back home at our family's estate during the engagement celebration, but they will be present for the wedding."

As much as she'd missed them, no small part of Cora was relieved that they had not been there to witness the mess of a party.

"Ukatis has officially joined the Galactic Alliance, so they won't be able to shut out the Jedi Order entirely. It is my hope that I can take on something of a liaison position once I am married."

A pause drifted between her thoughts.

"But yes, I will have to leave the Jedi Order in order to attend to my duties as a member of the royal family."

The Padawan knew Jasper hadn't meant that, but Cora had a way of tip-toeing around ugly truths that nobility often did.

She was going the life she'd started to build here. Giving up her connections and relative independence was going to be agony.

Even the little moments like this would be sorely missed.

"A Sith killer?"

Cora paced around the pod, observing it again as if something new would jump out. Her brow creased at the way that Jasper spoke of his template—it wasn't particularly affectionate.

"Have you met him before, or did he pass on before you were…made?"

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: Corazona von Ascania

​

Jasper sighed a little at her answer. He knew what it was. After all, she had answered a completely different question. It was deflection. He wasn't going to press, though. Cora clearly didn't want to linger on the thought. It wasn't his place to stress her with anxieties.

"Have you met him before, or did he pass on before you were…made?"

"I did, yeah," Jasper nodded, "Back when I was still a padawan. I... I've made peace with what I am, but I'd be lying if I said I still wasn't bitter about how that encounter went down. There was a clear opportunity for a connection to be made. Some kind of relationship to be salvaged out of something pretty messy... He decided it was simply best to pass on. I doubt I'll ever truly get that closure. Not really."

But that was done and gone now. He couldn't change that now. All he could do was look to the future.

"Family can be complicated business," he continued with a soft laugh. "You could be related to an actual saint or the worst person in the galaxy. It's sort of just the luck of the draw." Jasper's gaze shifted back to the pod. "Maybe it was for the best I never really knew mine. Well, the ones who came before me anyways."

He still had Jalen, of course.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

As Jasper spoke of his template, Cora watched him with a gently creased brow and a sympathetic tilt to her lips.

"Family is indeed complicated." She agreed with a knowing sigh. There were so many ways for those complexities to take shape, it seemed.

"I'm sorry that you never got to know him, Jasper."

Her eyes drifted from her friend to the pod, wondering if the man he'd been created from—something just felt off about the word "original"—went through life with any regrets.

"Who we are related to shouldn’t wholly define who we are, right?"

Cora looked back to Jasper with an almost tired, small smile. "Is Jalen the same as you then? Are there…more Jaspers and Jalens running around the galaxy?"

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: Corazona von Ascania

​

"Who we are related to shouldn’t wholly define who we are, right?"

"Of course," Jasper nodded. "I learned that the hard way unfortunately, but time has been kinder to me recently. I've had plenty of time to reach that conclusion, even if it seems like the obvious one. Sometimes it takes a while for people to get there. Some never do."

Jasper was pretty sure his creator didn't. So tied back to where he was from that he dedicated everything to creating someone capable of picking up his blade after death. Even love of the Jedi could become an obsession, one that could twist an individual should they be unable to control themselves.

Cora asked of Jalen next, then asked if there were others like them.

"Jalen's a little different," he explained. "He's stronger than me. In the force, I mean... but he isn't as stable as most others. I'm... sure you've seen this for yourself. My creator thought he would wind up crushing his own mind under the stress and ultimately chose to leave him in ice. Technically, he was made before me. Unfortunately, that's what wound up losing him his sight..."

The knight hung his head a little, tucking his organic hand into the pocket of his flight suit.

"He's had it rough," Jasper sighed. "A group of farmers wound up finding him and thawed him out. Took him in. They're gone now. Raiders burned their little settlement to the ground. I only got there in time to see the aftermath..." He paused for a moment before continuing. "But Jalen's state has at least become a good indicator of his strength. I doubt I would have picked up force sight as fast as him. He was seeing things around him that were a good ways away from him in just a week of being at the temple. I would've never been able to do that. I guess that alone is enough of a difference. As for if there are others... I don't think so. No other logs I've found confirm such a thing. And, well..."

Jasper was unusually somber. Maybe it was just the topic, or the time of day. He didn't usually like to be this down, but the event of late really had him feeling conflicted.

"The others I found were dead. They never developed past the initial cloning stages. I'd rather spare you the details."

They were frankly pretty grotesque. Malformed monstrosities that vaguely resembled humans, let alone children. Playing god always had it's side effects. Some things simply shouldn't be meddled with.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora nodded along to Jasper's explanation. She hadn't realized how little she'd known about Jalen, aside from the fact that the gentle healer was blind, skittish, and Jasper's younger brother.

She squinted in thought. They may have been created from the same template, but what did that make them biologically?

Her brow creased as Jasper ventured into some of the darker aspects of Jalen's upbringing. What mattered more than their shared DNA was their bond—they were brothers, simple as that. The notion tilted her pensive frown into something a little more like a tiny, appreciative smile.

"Jalen is very strong, you're right. I've seen it myself several times when he's used his abilities to save someone—once, even me. But he exhausts quickly."

A problem that she figured could be solved with time, practice, and a proper guiding hand.

The details trickled in—about Jalen’s life before the Jedi, about the failed clones who'd never been birthed. Cora came from a more traditional culture, so manipulating life in such a way was unsettling to hear.

"Goodness. I had no idea that Jalen had been through so much in such a short amount of time. I am glad that he has you, though. He really does seem to admire his older brother." Tilting her head upwards, she offered Jasper a careful smile. Sibling bonds were something that Cora understood in depth.

A moment of silence lapsed between them, fitting at the mention of the deceased, malformed clones. That was something that Cora understood far less.

"I guess…that confirms my suspicion that you don't need to be raised alongside someone to consider them family, then." She mused softly, which was perhaps a bit odd considering that Jasper and Jalen were very related on a biological level.

"The man you were cloned from, do you think that you're anything like him at all?" Cora studied Jasper's face, figuring that at least, he'd take after his template in physical characteristics.

A moment later she realized that may have been a poor question.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Please don't answer that if it makes you uncomfortable." Biting her lower lip, Cora apologized with no small about of bashfulness.

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Dawnbreaker | Shield Core​

Jasper grinned a little when she asked if he was anything like his template. It was funny that she brought that up. He had always wondered the same thing.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Please don't answer that if it makes you uncomfortable."

"It's fine," Jasper assured her. "Truth is, I don't really know. He was savvy and good with a blade, so maybe we have something in common... but as far as I'm aware our ideals don't really converge. All the man ever thought about was how he would fight the Sith. It was an obsession. Experience makes a person. Maybe if I grew up how he had, I might be in the same situation, but lightning doesn't strike the same place twice."

He sighed. It had taken him a while to come to terms with this, but he was comfortable with who he was now, and it sure as hell wasn't his template.

"I'm me, and he was him," he shrugged. "Ain't much more to it than that. Nothing good ever comes from letting the line become thin between yourself and who you come from. You just wind up losing yourself looking for someone else."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora watched Jasper as he spoke earnestly about the similarities and differences between himself and Jastile. This was something he'd thought about in depth before, that much she could tell—perhaps over a long period of self-discovery.

She nodded slowly.

"I've always wondered about how much of ourselves we can credit to our DNA, and what we can attribute to the environment we are raised in. The experiences we have, the people we meet...all of that."

The space between her brows crinkled in thought. Jasper was a friend, someone she looked up to like the older brother she'd never had. Lately, when she thought of her mother, she didn't picture the sickly visage of the woman she'd occasionally pass in the halls of the Ascania Estate. It was Valery Noble .

There were others, too—Kahlil, Vera, Desric, Sion, Cailen, even Jand.

And Makko.

Cora placed a hand against the sinking weight of her chest and took a moment to breathe. She still struggled with how terribly she'd hurt him.

They'd all helped to shape her in one way or another, and Cora still felt as if she were lost in a sea of duty, sacrifice, and identity.

"How do you know?" Turning to Jasper, the question poured from her suddenly. "How do you know who yourself is, exactly?"

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: Corazona von Ascania

​

"How do you know who yourself is, exactly?"

"You don't," Jasper sighed, "Not truly. It can change in the moment, be twisted and warped by the words of people around you..."

Jasper had thought of himself in so many ways over his life. They all seemed so radically different from each other, it was hard to decide where one view ended and another began. Was he a Jedi? A copy? A screw-up?

A leader?

"What you hear is always complicated," he shrugged. "You can hear things that muddle up the picture, or bog down the details. We're all looking for people to validate who we are, or tell us who we aught to be. Maybe you think you're a certain way only because you were told so, or because you heard something that you want to emulate. There's a thousand different ways you could forge yourself... for better or for worse."

A soft smile spread across his face.

"That's my really complicated way of telling you that I'd rather not bog you down with what I think," the knight explained. "Knowing who you are is something that only you can conclude. It's better that you don't get hung up on how I would answer that question."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"Oh."

Cora's expression shifted from curiosity to a thoughtful frown. Perhaps she was expecting a simple, finite answer. As Jasper expanded on his explanation, the Padawan began to understand just how broad her question really had been.

"Hm."

Looking down, Cora observed her hands fiddling together, the abruptly stopped the gesture entirely. It was unbecoming of a Lady.

"The thing is, I was so sure of who I was up until now."

Her gaze moved to the empty pod before resting on the Knight again.

"I've known exactly who I am, and exactly what's been expected of me for most of my life."

A Lady of House Ascania, much like her parents and siblings, were there to serve the family's interests. A heavy, soundless sigh rolled through her body and heaved her shoulder.

"I've never once faltered from my duty before, but I've also never faced a task so…"

She chewed briefly at the inside of her cheek, searching for a fitting word.

"…ambitious."

That covered it appropriately without besmirching the arrangement entirely. Cora knew that Jasper didn't approve of the situation.

"I suppose I just don't…feel like myself, if that makes any sense."

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: Corazona von Ascania

​

"I've known exactly who I am, and exactly what's been expected of me for most of my life."

"I understand," Jasper nodded. "Not the duty and commitment part, I mean. I didn't have a family growing up... But, I had a similar experience when I was younger. I thought I knew exactly who I was... A complete failure, some nobody who got left on the doorstep of the Jedi temple that got taken in out of pity. I certainly didn't like it, but I lived up to who I thought I was with flying colors. I isolated myself, struggled with my connection to the force, and was constantly outshined by my peers without once faltering. Suddenly, I found that my entire worldview was flipped on it's head. I had a complicated origin that wasn't just abandonment, I had living family that looked up to me. People began to take me seriously, look to me for advice and strength, all while I was so sure that I was worth so little. I was torn between two worlds, and after years of figuring out which was true..."

A soft smile came to his face.

"I still have no idea what I really am."

Jasper stood for a moment, silently reflecting. He had come along way, and ultimately he had learned to accept this conflicting nature of his. He could never truly destroy his anxieties, nor could he block out the respect and responsibility he had gathered. He just had to coexist and not let himself be crushed by either.

"Ultimately, nobody can make the final decision for you," he concluded. "Not your family, not your friends, not me. You'll be pulled one way or the other, sure, but your say on who you are is what's worth the most... even when your confidence in who you are begins to waver."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Jedi always seemed so sure of themselves. Cora's view of the galaxy was gradually expanding, and now she was beginning to understand that even her superiors had their own internal struggles and doubts.

It was, she supposed, what made them all human. Er, humanoid. Humanesque?

It was as comfortable as it was alarming, but Jasper's integrity was deeply appreciated. The Knight never shied away from tough subjects, and had an open sort of honesty. Emotions were a tricky subject, but it felt a little easier for her to express her concerns around him, something that noble decorum didn’t always allow for.

"So it's not the sort of thing that you can always know for sure then, is it?"

Cora frowned, not particularly pleased by that thought. She supposed it was something she'd have to learn in her own time, then.

"If who you are changes in response to the things that happen to you, and things keep happening, then…"

Well, it was starting to make a little more sense.

"Jasper, you often say things that make me think." One corner of her mouth lifted into a wry sort of smile.

"I'm not yet sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Jasper Kai'el