Private The Journey: Odessen

[Kael Varr Bastiel Skirata]

Tags: Taiia Locke
Ship: The Cabur Rekr (The Guardian Wolf)
Armor: Dauntless-type Beskar'gam
Blade: Tal'Alor Beskad
Primary Weapon: Plasma Bow
Secondary Weapon: Paired Beskar Tonfa

Kael slowly meditated as he moved through the katta within the cargo area of the Cabur Rekur. He had been travelling for a week now, meditating on where he should be seeking the skills he would need to protect those close to him and to preserve the skills that the Sith and Jedi had cast aside. He paused briefly as the hailing alarm flashed at the front console. From his position on the ship, he used the force to activate the shipwide coms. "Starship Cabur Rekr, this is Odessen. What is your destination and purpose?" What was his purpose? Using the force, he activated his mic, "Odessen, this is Vode Kael Varr Bastiel Skirata, and as for my destination, whatever starport is friendly to members of the Mandalorian Empire."

Once he was given clearance and had landed, he rented a speeder and made his way to where the force was directing him.

 

[Taiia Locke]

//: Kael Varr Bastiel Skirata //:​

The Force had a habit of leading people to strange places. Sometimes it led them across the galaxy. Sometimes it led them directly back to where they started. For Kael, it eventually led him to the river.

The waters of Odessen moved steadily through the valley, fed by distant mountains and countless smaller streams. The sound was peaceful, broken only occasionally by birdsong or the distant laughter of students somewhere beyond the treeline. Not far from the riverbank, a woman sat beneath a broad tree whose branches stretched out over the water. At first glance there was nothing remarkable about her no grand display of power, no ceremonial robes, no audience. Long crimson hair stirred gently in the breeze as she sat cross-legged in the shade with a datapad resting forgotten beside her, whatever she had been reading no longer holding her attention.

Green eyes lifted from the river and settled on the newcomer. For a moment she simply watched him observing, the same way one might observe a traveler arriving after a long journey. A faint smile touched her lips. "Most people who come this far are usually looking for something." Her gaze drifted briefly toward the speeder before returning to him. "Though in my experience, very few of them know exactly what it is." There was warmth in her voice rather than challenge, an invitation rather than a test.

"Welcome to Odessen." Only then did she offer her name. "I am Taiia Mataan." Her head tilted slightly. "And who might you be?"

​

 

[Kael Varr Bastiel Skirata]

Tags: Taiia Locke
Ship: The Cabur Rekr (The Guardian Wolf)
Armor: Dauntless-type Beskar'gam
Blade: Tal'Alor Beskad
Primary Weapon: Plasma Bow
Secondary Weapon: Paired Beskar Tonfa

Kael stopped a moment, slowly removing his mask-like buy'ce and setting it on the speeder. He approached the rather beautiful woman sitting by the river. Standing near her, he quietly said, "I am Kael Varr Bastiel, of clan Skirata. You look very much like your daughter, Madam Mataan." He slowly worked to sit down near her without spoiling the beauty of the scene. He was comfortable out in nature, but add a female in the mix, and he was a blushing schoolboy, awkward and shy. He worked to school his face to the impassive mask that he used when working with his mother. "The Force does work in weird ways. The very event that set me on this path sends me to the mother of one of the Vode I went through the Verd'gotten with."

 

[Taiia Locke]

//: Kael Varr Bastiel Skirata //:​

Taiia's smile warmed at the mention of Seris, though there was the faintest hint of amusement as she watched Kael carefully compose himself. She had met enough young men over the years to recognize the look. The attempt to appear perfectly collected was often the clearest sign that someone was anything but.

"I'll take that as a compliment," she replied with a quiet laugh. "Though if you ask Seris, she'll insist she inherited all of my better qualities and none of my stubbornness. Quite untrue, I assure you," she said with a smile. So, you survived the Verd'goten with my daughter. I've heard enough about it to know that it is not an experience one forgets easily."

Her green eyes settled on him again, studying him with the same calm attentiveness as before. He carried himself like someone accustomed to responsibility, but there was something else beneath it. Not uncertainty exactly. More the quiet weight of someone still deciding which direction their life ought to take. When he mentioned that the very event which had set him upon this path had ultimately led him here, Taiia's expression grew thoughtful.

"The Force has a peculiar sense of timing." Her gaze drifted briefly toward the river before returning to him. "I've learned not to argue with it when it nudges someone across half the galaxy." A faint smile returned.

"Though I've also learned that it rarely gives us the whole answer at once." She rested her forearms loosely against her knees, entirely at ease. "So tell me, Kael." There was no pressure in the question, only a quiet invitation. "What happened that convinced you to listen when it called?"

​

 

[Kael Varr Bastiel Skirata]

Tags: Taiia Locke
Ship: The Cabur Rekr (The Guardian Wolf)
Armor: Dauntless-type Beskar'gam
Blade: Tal'Alor Beskad
Primary Weapon: Plasma Bow
Secondary Weapon: Paired Beskar Tonfa

Kael sat straight, hands on his knees. He thought a moment before speaking, trying to put into practice the lessons he had had with his mother, Adelle. "I was cast aside by my first founder. That led to me learning how to hunt, how to survive until Adelle Bastiel found me on the plains of Concordia. I was then awkward and shy. I still am. However, that led Adelle to teach me some about diplomacy and speaking to others, relying on others without making yourself weak in the process. Then there was the Verd'gotten, and I came upon two entities that my knowledge alone could not surmount. Two former Mand'alor, Mia Monroe and Isley Verd, both strong in their own sides of the Force, tested us foundlings. I found myself faced primarily with Isley and his dark-side powers. I acted on instinct and not training. And it was then I decided I didn't want to leave my life to reactions and instincts alone anymore. However, I have seen and learned from Adelle, a former Jedi, and I have researched their order; what I found was a starting point, but not a path I wished to walk. I also have been touched by Isley's power and felt the darkness within that path. So I seek my own path, with doctrines that both light and dark, Jetii and Darjetii, have cast aside. So when the force pushed me here, here is where I went. I want to stop reacting to the Galaxy, I want to start anticipating what I am to do, and to me, listening to the Force, the Manda, is the first step."

 

[Taiia Locke]

//: Kael Varr Bastiel Skirata //:
​

Taiia listened quietly while Kael spoke, allowing him to work through the answer without interruption. There were places where his thoughts wandered and others where old experiences clearly carried more weight than the words themselves, but she did not attempt to hurry him through either. By the time he finished, her attention had settled comfortably upon him. For a moment she said nothing. Then a faint smile touched her lips.

"I think you already know why you're here." There was no grand revelation in the words, merely an acknowledgement of what he had just told her. "You learned very early how to survive what was placed in front of you. Someone abandoned you, so you learned to hunt. Adelle found you, and you learned there were things you did not have to do alone. Then you met something you weren't prepared for, and instinct carried you through it." Taiia's gaze drifted briefly toward the river beside them, watching the current move around a cluster of stones before continuing on its way. "None of those instincts failed you, Kael." Her eyes returned to him. "They kept you alive." She let that settle for a moment before continuing. "But I understand why you don't want them making every decision for you."

There was the distinction, not instinct as something to be conquered, not some flaw he needed to train out of himself, simply a tool that had been forced to bear far more of his life than it should have. "The first thing I would teach you is not how to predict what comes next." Her expression softened slightly. "It is how to give yourself enough room to choose when it arrives."

Taiia shifted beneath the tree, drawing one leg beneath herself as she regarded him. "You spoke of listening to the Force. To the Manda." She didn't correct the comparison or attempt to define either for him. "What does that feel like to you?" The question was simple, not what the Jedi taught, not what Adelle believed, not what he had read in an archive or experienced through Isley Verd. Him. "When you say the Force pushed you here, what happened?" A slight tilt of her head followed. "Was it a thought? A feeling? Something you saw?" Her smile returned, faint but encouraging. "Start there." She gestured lightly toward the river running beside them. "We can worry about Jedi doctrine, Sith teachings, and everything they decided was worth forgetting later." Her eyes settled on him again. "For now, I want to know how you hear it."

​

 

[Kael Varr Bastiel Skirata]

Tags: Taiia Locke
Ship: The Cabur Rekr (The Guardian Wolf)
Armor: Dauntless-type Beskar'gam
Blade: Tal'Alor Beskad
Primary Weapon: Plasma Bow
Secondary Weapon: Paired Beskar Tonfa

Kael sat thinking of her question and the preceding observations. He looked to the river. "Have you ever stared into a fire, or a candle in the dark? When you focus on the flame, the rest of the darkness fades to a void. This, for me, is what I see when I focus on the Force, or the Manda. A flame in the void. Thoughts, emotions, and life feed the flame and make it grow. Sometimes I see things in the flame; sometimes the sparks show me things, or the flame leans in a direction, and that's where I feel I should go." Kael thought he should say more, but the quiet reigned in this area, and speaking more than necessary seemed a waste.