First Reply The Lady's Command || HR and Jedi Welcome!

[Roberd Courbis]

Thyferra Burns.

The Lady of House Von Ascania went boldly into the fray, perhaps the bravest warrior Ukatis had to offer.

Yet Roberd was not at her side.
​

He had protested, of course, her decision to keep him away from the fighting on Thyferra. Yet he swore his oath to serve her, and her command was to remain on Ukatis, to watch over a world still healing from the scars of the previous Sith to ravage its surface. Roberd had not heard from Corazona since she departed to confront the Sith, but he held to the belief that she had escaped the bloodshed unharmed. King Fabian had been one of the few members of the nobility to allow Roberd to serve the realm, despite his apparent treason during the previous rebellion, but that did not mean he was particularly welcome in the halls of the mighty. Instead, Roberd had chosen to serve the people of Ukatis in the way of the old Knights that often filled the tales of young children, those who bore no gilded armor but instead took to the road and slept under the open sky while striving to protect the weak and innocent.

This service was in dire need in these dark days, as thousands of refugees fled the Sith advance and sought refuge on Ukatis.

Naturally, the King sought to help as many as he could. His heart was good and his words earnest.

But his nobles were not so eager to obey. ​

Their estates and villas were naturally free from the stink of the common folk, and they weren't about to allow hundreds of weak, starving people into their homes because of a war they had no interest in fighting. Instead, makeshift camps began to pop up amongst the fields and villages, refugees uniting into small communities for protection and to pool their resources- what few they had that was. The local peasantry were kind folk; they did what they could to help those less fortunate than themselves, but there was only so much that they could do when faced with so much suffering, not to mention the threat from that most common and terrible of wartime diseases.

Banditry. ​

While the Royal Army kept order and peace, they could not be everywhere at once. The bandits had become adept at targeting the most isolated of villages and refugee communities, taking their "taxes" and sinking back into the woods and foothills to revel in their ill-gotten loot. They would take whatever they wished and feared no repercussions, for who would stand up for those who had nothing?

A Knight. Old as he was, Roberd held to his oath. ​

Wearing little more than a traveling cloak over a dark blue tunic and trousers, Roberd traveled from town to town, with little more than a Ukatin warblade and a temperamental steed to his name. He knew the countryside better than any man alive; he knew full well that bandits got sloppy after facing so little resistance. The particular group he had been tracking had grown in size, perhaps two dozen men who had taken up arms and begun to threaten several refugee communities. The Knight of House Von Ascania had been on their trail for a week, and it was only after a hard day of travel that he arrived at their latest target, a fortified settlement with hastily built wooden walls and sentries posted at the gate.

These bandits thought themselves petty lords. ​

Overlooking their fief from a hilltop, Roberd gently brushed his fingers through his mount's mane to calm it after its long day of travel. He had many ideas on how he was to tackle this newest threat, outnumbered as he was, but he knew he needed to cut the head from the snake if he wanted to make sure these bandits did not return.

He was just about to dismount when he suddenly felt a pair of eyes on him, his hand moving to rest on the hilt of his sword, prepared to draw it at a moment's notice.

"If you have come to kill me, I suggest you reconsider."

TAGS: OPEN
REFERENCED: Corazona von Ascania ​

 

[Loomi]

Ukatis
Tags: Roberd Courbis

Epo-1, Lushi​

"If you have come to kill me, I suggest you reconsider."

"I can insist that I'm very much not here to do that, sir!"

Loomi stepped forward to make herself apparent, emerging from her cover behind the foliage of the hilltop. Her hands were raised to show that she was not yet armed, and she wore an apologetic smile.

"Apologies," the Godoan continued. "I was only drawn in by the feeling of anticipation in the air. I followed those feelings here. I'm a friend, I can assure. Loomi Reyallus Atelle, Jedi Knight."

She didn't approach yet, not wanting to do so unless the man allowed her to do so. After all, she had no context to what was going on here. Loomi was still on her pilgrimage, traveling from place to place to deepen her understanding of the Force. She remembered that dark nexus that Corazona von Ascania had brought the New Jedi Order to purify. Truthfully she had come looking for memories, something in the Force that would teach her more about that day. If the Knight could know what caused those dark nexuses, maybe she could prevent them.

Now, though, it seemed she had stumbled into something else.

"That anticipation, it is your emotion, right?" the young Jedi asked, not offering any clarification on her nature as an empath. She forgot it was a strange trait of hers sometimes. "You're intending to do something here?"

A brief pause, and then...

"Can I help?"