Private The Long and Winding Path

[Jannik Morlandt]

THE RECOVERING HERMIT
NEW JEDI ORDER
ROOM OF A THOUSAND FOUNTAINS - NEW JEDI TEMPLE - CORUSCANT
Tash Erenoss

It had been days, and being within the temple was still strange. Still made him itch, in a way. He'd been out in the black, hopping from port to port, hardly settling at all for far too long. As if he had been running from something, at least at first, then it simply became habitual. He didn't know if he was capable of staying in one place for very long. Maybe it was just in his blood - the Vahla had been wanderers for millennia.

But then, returning to Coruscant always brought up a litany of memories. Some good, some bad. He had trained here, seen the temple ruined, the city-planet transformed into a mecca of darkness at least once… in this life. He had been young then. Roughly the age of the padawan he had agreed to take on, in fact - the young man, he learned, had lost his master a year prior.

Jannik had some inkling of what that felt like, though through no small miracle she - his Master - had survived the harrowing experience of what was done to her, and flourished far beyond it.

So he sat in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, a place where Jedi would often come to meditate and seek guidance from the Force itself, and largely empty most of the time, as meditation could be a very private thing, for some. He’d been tuning his quetarra at first, then went on to pick through a soft, winding melody or two.

Just passing the time in this manner of meditation, awaiting the young man’s arrival, perhaps humming along, here and there. The only remaining aspect of the days of his youth, before circumstance had shoved him onto the Jedi path - an era that felt like more than one lifetime ago, as opposed to the mere decades it had been.

It seemed nearly as long since he had last taken on a student, but here he was.

 

[Tash Erenoss]

Readjusting to life back in the temple was an odd thing. Before, Tash was so used to month-long expeditions to try and help quell political strife in a far off system, or to protect people from assassins, or to fight off hordes of pirates harassing the outer rim. All noble goals, all led by his master, and with no chance for rest between it all. He played the part of the student to Master Penin, a veritable hero.

Without him, though, it was all in Tash's hands now. Sure, he could be given a new master to learn under but would it feel right? Would he ever truly be their student and not just be the student of Quin Penin? And yet, without a master, he was now forced to try and create work for himself, either following the orders of his superiors on what to do or to seek it out for himself. Until he could find answers, that was about all he could do, and so today he was entrusted to Master Morlandt for lessons.

As Tash approached the assigned room, he could hear a faint melody drifting through the walls. It felt almost melancholic to him, and whether it was from the sounds ringing through his ears or force emanating from the one plucking the strings, he did not know. It didn't find long to figure out the one it all emanated from, though, as once he stepped past the doorway he found only one man sitting in the room, his instrument sitting comfortably in his hands as he flooded the room with soft, practiced music.

Not wanting to interrupt the master, Tash would cross his arms behind his back, simply standing and contemplating the tunes that played out to him, wondering if this was it's own lesson of some fashion. Master Penin had definitely made him endure more bizarre things.

Tags: Jannik Morlandt

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

THE RECOVERING HERMIT
NEW JEDI ORDER
ROOM OF A THOUSAND FOUNTAINS - NEW JEDI TEMPLE - CORUSCANT
Tash Erenoss

He wound up the melody after a minute or two, the last handful of notes slowing to a natural stop, and breathed a calm sigh out of his nose. Jan’s chin lifted, his gaze tracking up from the strings, and hooking onto the young man, the faintest smile on his lips. A smile that was just barely not flat. Still half-mired in the grounding peace of this particular meditation.

Another moment, then a sharp in-breath while he shook his head a little, as if to shake his head free of it, smoothing a hand over his hair. A broader, more open smile and a single note of a vague laugh - at himself - ensued.

“You,” he looked at the padawan again, his expression vaguely sheepish, “must be the lad I’m waiting for.”

Oh, yes… he was here, wasn’t he?

“My apologies,” he continued, turning to set the quetarra aside, “an element of grounding in meditation - in this case, as the plucking of strings is for me - provides a stronger disconnect from,” his smile became a firm thing, “what ails. Takes a moment or two for the bustle of civilization to rush back in.”

He clasped his hands together in the space between his knees, elbows dropping onto his thighs.

“Jannik Morlandt,” he introduced, “Seer by calling, wayfarer these past… many years.” His brows lofted slightly. “How are you adjusting? To being here, I mean.”

 

[Tash Erenoss]

The playing of the quetarra continued for longer than Tash had expected, though he could have easily sat there for hours just letting the sound of the strings play out before him. With it done, though, Master Morlandt finally acknowledged his presence with a seeming nervousness that came at odds with his rank. He had even apologized and offered an explanation to his actions, something Tash's eyes would grow wide at. It was such an innocent thing, how Jannik meditated and prostrated verbally to the padawan and it felt...almost wrong to be on the receiving end of such.

To try and keep up with the tone the master has set, Tash would awkwardly lower himself to the ground and crossed his legs in his usual meditative posture. Resting his hands upon his knees and bowing his head to the master, he'd respond, "Greetings, Master Morlandt. I'm sure you've been told of me already, but my name's Tash Erenoss. There's no need to apologize to me for your meditating, and you needn't worry yourself over how I'm doing here at the temple. It's been quite the change from my previous life, but the order has been nothing but welcoming," he says with a slight quiver in his lips as his mind is drawn to Master Penin once again, though he settles it back into a kindly smile.

"So, may I ask for what purpose I've been brought here? I'd hope checking in on how I've been is not enough of a reason for me to interrupt what you've been doing today."

Tags: Jannik Morlandt

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

THE RECOVERING HERMIT
NEW JEDI ORDER
ROOM OF A THOUSAND FOUNTAINS - NEW JEDI TEMPLE - CORUSCANT
Tash Erenoss

The wide-eyed reaction to how Jannik presented himself was… well, he wasn’t certain how to take it. Did other Masters act differently, or was it simply that the boy’s experience was different? The seer was hardly familiar with the current crop of trainers. Except for Valery Noble - something about the woman nipped at his subconscious, and he couldn’t quite put a finger on what that something was - most of the Knights and Masters may very well have not been born, or were only padawans by the time he had begun to wander.

[ Much too long, ] he sighed, within.

He had been told of the young man before him, a brief chat with those responsible for assignments, and a missive by holomail told him, in brief, what he needed to know about the boy’s temperament and what they could give him on the boy’s late master. The slight quiver and its meaning weren’t lost on Jan, as his Lorrdian master had imparted everything she knew, but Tash seemed to be managing about as well as could be expected. Possibly better than Jannik himself.

He still wasn’t certain how he felt about being addressed as Tash had just addressed him, much like others had in the days since his return to Coruscant. It was proper, something he might as well reacclimatise to.

“I thought it best to start by discussing your current knowledge, Tash,” he replied, “assess where you’re at, get an idea of what direction to drive your training.”

He turned, dug into a satchel, and pulled out a durasteel sphere, a tool that had been used in the refinement of his own telekinetic skills to considerable precision. He turned back to Tash and held it forth, where it was smoothly levitated just above the older man’s palm after barely even half a moment, otherwise un-manipulated.

“Do you know what this is? How are you with telekinetics?”