Private The Pillars Of Wisdom

[Jamie Pyne]

"Your father is speaking to your mother. You still need her okay before I can do anything."

And boy was she not pleased.

"If she gives her blessing, then I will teach you. You will become a Jedi."

That still left the whole issue of what to do about the cartel. It wasn't as if Jamie could simply ask them to forget what happened. Asking the family to uproot itself and move off world was also an unlikely sell, and Jamie couldn't just cut down every thug in town. That left everything in a rather precarious position. There were only a few options to settle this matter, and none of them were exactly great plans.

"Tell me about why you wanted to sell the artifact before. What were you talking about last night regarding payments, and your father at a work camp?"

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

She jittered and buzzed, the answer not a no, but not a yes either. She knew better than push her mother with her energy before a decision was already made, not unless she wanted to sway her mum into a no.

So she sat there in a tortured heap, so close to her dreams she could almost taste them... yet painfully aware all it would take was one word to yank it all away. She tightened her arms around herself, not looking up at Jamie as these worries tormented her.

"Huh? Oh..." came the distracted answer. "They owe Talv a debt. But every time they go to pay him back, he adds more interest to the total. He musta paid three time the amount by now, but Talv doesn't care... the only way to wipe it clean is to go work at his mines. But thats the thing... they're death traps. People go in and never come out... And he's old..." Pain squeaked into her voice, the girl chewing on her lip.

"I don't suppose you'll still let me sell it..."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie looked at the girl, wide-eyed glaring as if she couldn't possibly have just suggested to sell the very thing that had just been asked of her to keep safe as her very first assignment. For several long, painful moments the look lingered as she stared at Juniper, unblinking. It was as if she could think of no other possible way to settle such a debt than to sell the one thing she had. Besides, where was she going to sell it? The only people who might have interest in the artifact were the people at that meeting. People that knew what it was, and people knew it was now stolen. Most wouldn't be willing to purchase goods stolen second hand from the cartel.

"Juniper."

She would need to speak with the girl's family once more to gain an understanding of the debt so that she could formulate some kind of plan to permanently get these guys off the family's back. Of course, recent events taken into consideration, whatever debt that was likely just increased for all the trouble Juniper caused.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Dammit.

She was learning.

Juniper flailed under the single-word admonishment, a bit of indignant heat filling her cheeks. "Or we don't! It was just a question!" She protested, shoving Jamie's response off as if she was the unreasonable one.

"I just thought, you know. Jedi~ Preservation of life~" she reasoned, trying to appeal to the woman. "I mean what's an old text book compared to the life of my dad, I was jus-"

A sharp voice cut from down below, inaudible but ripe with pain and contention. Juniper stalled, her features paling.

"...What if she says no..." She lamented, distracted once again from the prevalent threat of those thugs.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Someday you'll be able to answer that question yourself. But suffice to say life is filled with difficult choices that sometimes offer no positive outcome from what you must do, rather than what you wish you could do."

The anger from the room below coming from Juniper's mother was loud and unabated. Jamie empathized with her, to be asked to give up her daughter to a life she didn't understand, to be taken far away and potentially never see again. That was a tough pill to swallow. To hear her husband argue for the cause while Juniper pushed for it, and Jamie, the very idolization of what Juniper would become in her home? All at once? It was a lot to take in.

Jamie didn't need to answer the question of what if she says no. She had already told Juniper that she would only go if her parents agreed.

"Later this evening I'll need you to tell me where to find the men your father owes this debt to. And this time--" She held up her finger towards Juniper,

"You will stay put."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper deflated, her feet kicking little signs of protest in the air off the bed. She didn't say she wouldn't stay in place. But she didn't say she would either.

As the noises of confrontation grew downstairs, Juniper's shoulders grew tighter. She stood up and briskly closed her bedroom door, muffling out the worst of it as she approached the stranger again. "Can you at least show me something while you are here? Like-- how did you throw all those men? And where do jedi go to train?"

The probing question was slipped in, her backup plan already starting to come into play. She did not know how predictable she was, her sneaky attempts to feel out a place to run poorly concealed.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I've been showing you patience throughout the time we've spent together thus far." Juniper would likely take that as a slight, or dismissal. "It's a very important skill to learn as a Jedi. One you will have to be mindful of." Her hand raised from her lap, allowing the Force to grip the holocron in Juniper's hands and lightly tug it free, allowing it to float effortlessly in the air. "As for how I threw all of them though? It's a very similar technique to floating this little artifact here, just applied differently, and with more concentrated effort behind it. Teaching you that will take time, and, well, more space than this bedroom."

She smiled, "As for where Jedi train? Many places. There are Jedi temples, ruins, and libraries scattered all throughout the galaxy. Traditionally Jedi would be brought to one of these places as children, learn Jedi philosophy, the code, be assigned a master, undergo trials and then, after many years, become a full Jedi Knight." Jamie set the holocron back into Juniper's lap. "But that's not exactly what we'll be doing. I was not trained this way, neither will you, if you come with me."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper's eyes lit up, her stress over the events downstairs melting off her features as the holocron tugged out of her fingers and floated away. She reached out in a playful gesture to grab it back, a grin on her face as Jamie spoke of the differences between what she had done now and before. "Well I can already do that!" She chirped, sitting besides her on the bed.

Of course Jamie had seen her float the holocron before, though now the girl was given the idea to try and amplify it further. The thought slipped from her as Jamie continued to expand, the image she painted of the jedi life rolling past Juniper's eyes like a movie reel. That could be her. That was about to be her.

"But that's not exactly what we'll be doing. I was not trained this way, neither will you, if you come with me."

Her expression crumbled, fingers encircling the holocron she was given back. Her holocron. She had found it, and now it was entrusted in her hands. "What will we be doing then?" She asked, a wary edge to her tone.

No temples? No adventure?

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Patience." She reiterated.

"None of these things will come overnight. Nor will they be easy. It's one thing to make a holocron float across the room, and while it's in the same family of skills, it's much more complex to do what you saw last night. I will teach you, but you need to exert patience."

Jamie was certain that the biggest obstacle for Juniper was in fact, Juniper. Without a doubt in her mind Jamie was sure that the girl would be the type to rush into things unprepared and become discouraged when it didn't work out in her favor. This was something she herself had struggled with for a long time, and it had cost her.

"As far as what we'll be doing, don't worry. You'll still see the temples. We just wont be calling them home. You will be taught as we travel."

Assuming Juniper's mother didn't chew off her father's head before nightfall...

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

If she was a cat her ears would have flicked back, the reminder for patience like a splash of cold water against her face in the midst of summer fun. Now was not the time to slooooow! They had just gotten started, now was the time to goooooooo!

Her discouraged reaction flipped on a dime, Jamie's words of travel earning her a set of eyes as wide as saucers.

"You mean- you and I-- we will get to-- and other planets-- and travel?" She jabbered, her excitement transcending beyond coherent sentences. She shoved the holocron to the side, jumping up and turning back to her clothes. "How will I know what to wear!" She exclaimed, her wardrobe suddenly feeling far too 2d for such a grand adventure.

"Will it be snowy? Cause I don't have boots. Or desserts? I don't have a hat. My mother has a hat. ... I bet she'll let me use it. Are we going to big cities?" Compared to her small homey town, everything was big. She hurriedly tried to sort through her meager wardrobe, everything feeling vital in the face of the unknown.

Down below, the sound of fighting had stopped. A sense of unease peace echoed up to the jedi above, the only sign that the conversation had concluded.

Juniper held up the dull red cotton of her best dress. "What'd you think. Too much?" It would even work for a formal dinner in the core. She grinned eagerly, gaze peeling between the fabric and the woman and she preened for approval.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie lowered her face into her right hand, shaking it slowly as Juniper scurried around frantically picking out just about every piece of clothing to her name. The blonde lifted her head and watched, listening to the girl speak faster than her tongue could move.

"Wherever we end up, I promise you'll have the necessities to travel there. You don't need to pack a dozen outfits for every possible landscape today."

The silence was a welcome change of pace, their own conversation had elevated to speak over the shouting match just beneath them. With things now quieted down, perhaps Juniper would soon have her answer.

"I should perhaps make my way downstairs and see what has transpired. Wait up here, please. And I do mean, here."

Another test of her ability to exert patience, one that Jamie was certain she would not abide. This was sure to be a slow curve. The woman stood and made her way to the door, turning her head back and gesturing with her index and middle finger between their eyes, wordlessly reminding Juniper that she could see her, even if she didn't think she saw her.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper froze, wide eyed as she realized the moment was now. She didn't know if she was to be scared or elated, but the deer in head lights look that followed Jamie out suggested a bit of both.

Stay here!

I mean it!

Ok but. Where was here anyway? Not in the kitchen? Not downstairs? Probably upstairs.

Junipers face peered out of her door, watching Jamie disappear down the stairs. It was only after the woman seemed well away that she darted into action, sliding for the bathroom that stood over the kitchen. She dropped to the floor and peeled up the vent.

"Did you speak with her?" Came the tired voice of her father.

He sat in the same spot, the lines in his face running deeper than they had before. HIs wife was no where to be seen, the back door hanging mildly ajar. The jedi, their savior, received an wary look. If she considered Juniper beyond her reach, well.. in a moment like this it was certainly a selfish hope that crept to mind.

He was prepared to sign away his little girl.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie nodded, eyes briefly investigating the open door. She sat down, the same place at the table she had earlier, across from Juniper's father. He seemed distraught, though expectantly so. Though the words hadn't carried upstairs, the volume had, the tone had. Jamie knew based on what she'd heard and seen that his conversation went as expected.

"I have, yes."

The woman let the words linger in the air a moment, considering how best to approach the rest of the conversation.

"I need to ask you a few questions, irrelevant to Juniper's training, be that particular subject a yes or no." This was probably going to get mildly uncomfortable, though it was incredibly important to sort this mess out now, before things grew worse. "The first is that your daughter mentioned the reason for stealing the holocron last night was her intent to sell it to repay a debt? If you could, please, tell me about this. It will help me find a solution to this fiasco."

The nature of the debt, how it came to be, and what has transpired since would help the Jedi understand their family situation. The last thing she wanted was to take Juniper away, only to have these men return and kill her family, which, at present, was the most likely scenario, not that she would tell that to Juniper, who seemed blissfully unaware of the complete ramifications of her and Jamie's actions last night.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

His expression tightened, embarrassment flooding forward. His was a soft man, both body and mind he was the silent nurturer of the family. But in the end he still viewed himself a man. The head-- the supplier. The caretaker. He was proud. And this was all his doing.

"Juniper's birth wasn't an easy one. Her mother labored for two days before Talv offered me the funds to transfer her and her mother to a city hospital. I was desperate. I accepted, I did not think the cost would be that severe." He took a deep breath in and out. "I should have had the bills sent in my name. I should have demanded the receipts-- taken out my own loan with someone else." But desperation does as desperate people do.

He said no more. He presumed he didn't need to fill in the blanks. A life debt for a life debt. There was no dirtier trick than waving the life of your newborn over a desperate father.

His shoulders rounded in, his gaze drifting to his plate.

"Every year we strive to pay it off, and every year he comes with a new balance, plus interest. It's impossible to break the cycle. ... That would be why she thought to steal. She's devilishly smart, but stupid. Where would she have sold it to. Who would give a child that kind of money?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie rapped her fingers against the tabletop, thinking as she listened to the man tell the story. This wasn't a debt, it was slavery without the chains. They could not repay that which had no end. This was just a game with no means to win, the odds impossibly stacked against him. Even if Juniper had taken the holocron, and somehow managed to find a buyer, whatever amount she earned and paid towards the debt would just start the game anew, with some new form of 'interest' materializing out of thin air.

"I see." She said after a long silence. "Anyone she tried to fence that to here would know where it came from. And if, by some small chance she had found a buyer who didn't know what it was, they wouldn't pay much for something resembling little more than a trinket or decoration."

Resting her head in her hand she thought about her next move.

"I don't suppose you and your wife and son are keen on the idea of relocating off-world?"

A long shot, but by far the simplest method for Jamie to take care of this whole situation without further violence.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

"This is is our home," he said firmly, the pride transcending past rationality. He paused, then softened, adding with a gentler tone. "With what money? And to where? This is all we have. Juniper knows that. She is a foolish girl. She should not have tried to take our debt into her own hands. It is my responsibility. Mine. ....No. I will face Talv myself. I will deal with Juniper's consequences."

And Talv would bleed them dry.

"No!" Came Juniper's cry through the vents.

And sure enough, little footsteps came thundering down.

"Dad, no! You can't do that! Jamie," she whined. "Tell him you won't let him! We can fix this!"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

She sighed. For once in the past twenty-four hours Juniper was right. Jamie knew well what the likely outcome would be if he went and submitted to Talv's mercy on his own. It was clear to her that the idea of relocating was off the table, so that meant finding a way to avoid their whole family from suffering a rather unpleasant fate.

"You're right." She said softly, eyes following Juniper who, by some strange turn of events, somehow ended up once again downstairs when she had been asked not to. "She shouldn't have intervened. Intentions being what they were, this has gotten out of hand. But-" She looked back to the man, "You are no more equipped to handle these men than she."

The Jedi stood from the table.

"Tell me where to find Talv. I will see to this. Both of you need to stay put." Those last two words expressly directed at Juniper.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper's expression fell, her attempt at a we turning promptly to an I. "But you don't know what I know! I can help you!" Her protests were a slight whine, the tone doing her no justice when she sought to be taken seriously for just a moment.

But she did know something. Just like she knew about the auction, she had information that could help take Talv down.

"Juniper, please, let the jedi do her jo-"

"No. Don't Juniper me. I'm a jedi too! And she said it herself, it's too dangerous! If you die who's gonna teach me? Or whose gonna come protect us-- I don't have my own glowy stick yet. Don't you wanna know how to take em down?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Juniper was a handful, that was for sure. It was no wonder this whole Force business was such a to-do with her family. She was a fuse waiting to go off, and Jamie had given her the spark to ignite it. Trouble was, Juniper wasn't a Jedi. In that moment she was a child with dreams of grandeur and the chance of a lifetime. But that chance was easily cut short if she was killed before Jamie had the opportunity to see to her training.

"If you want to help, the best thing you can do is to tell me what it is you know."

She looked to the girl, knowing the protest to being left behind that would continue.

"I can't have you come with me. You need to stay here with your father, let me handle this please. Look after the holocron. I will be fine, I promise. What I need from you is to know where they are, and whatever else you might know."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper was getting no where.

No where!

After a trying day of vent crawling, gun shoot outs, and hostage siturations, she looked just about ready to cry. But she didn't. She stood before the two adults, flabbergasted and indignant. It all got her no where, her father looking at her with a rare bout of seriousness. "Juniper Tae. If you want me to trust you with this then you will prove that you are capable of listening to her. Right now."

Juniper's back went ridgid, her father's uncharacteristic tone and threat bringing forward a wash of heat to her eyes.

"...The police are launching an investigatiooooon..." she whined, noticeably more childlike in front of her family. "They just need proof of his bad stuff, so if you pretended to be a bad person...." Then Jamie has inadvertently served as an undercover agent for the sheriff. "I was gonna tell you once you were ready to take me. Please let me be there to bust him, I wanna see him cry!"