Private The Pillars Of Wisdom

[Jamie Pyne]

"No." She said again, her tone direct and to the point. "If you want me to teach you, you need to follow my instruction. And--" She gestured to Juniper's father, "You are still your father's daughter, and that means you will listen to him as well."

The blonde turned and made way for the front door, spinning on her heel to once again look towards Juniper, her hand resting against the doorknob.

"Where will I find Talv?"

One way or another Jamie would resolve this. If that meant through the local law, she was more than happy to assist. If that meant finding some other way, well, she'd cross that bridge if she needed to. For now, all she needed was to know how to get his attention, and to do that, she needed an address.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

This time it was her father that spoke up, a hand resting on Juniper's shoulder to keep her with him. The girl's indignation was nothing if not overstated, her lips blubbering open and closed with no delivery of sound. She had put all her cards on the table and Jamie and scoped them up, making them her own.

That was cheating.

Not far!

"The warehouse behind the pub," came his gruff reply, answering what Juniper would not. It was so close by. Streets over, really. No wonder why Juniper had been able to snoop on them so easily.

The girl's gaze followed the woman to the door, desperation burning on the body that coiled for release. Let me help you! Her posture screamed. "But I told you-- I did it-- You need me on this!" Came the broken record. Her father's hands tightened on her shoulder, an unspoken gesture to his determination to see Jamie's words through. He would be keeping Juniper here.

He gave gave the woman a solemn nod, her risk at their behalf earning a wash of respect over his eyes.

This is what good people looked like. This was what his daughter could be.

"Be safe."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Several hours later...

By the time Jamie had returned the Sun was setting beyond the horizon. It had been a day. Talv was taken care of, as was the cartel he ran. Juniper's family wouldn't be the target of any further harassment, or worse. The blonde sat for a moment in the speeder, thinking over how angry Juniper was for being left behind, wondering how her mother was faring after storming out of the home earlier that morning, and her father, caught in between both wife and daughter's ire.

Her hands rubbed against her face and weary eyes before slowly climbing out of the vehicle, making her way to the front door of the home and gently knocking before entering. Outside of a rather prominent bruise just beneath her left eye it would appear Jamie was no worse for wear after the day's encounter.

"Hello." She called out, stepping into the livingroom.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Scrambling erupted from the room, Juniper's frame nearly smashing into Jamie's and she ran to great her. "You're back!" Of course she was. She was a jedi, Juniper had had complete faith. She tackled the woman in an impromptu hug, damp from extended nerves and family tensions. She pulled away just as fast, questions to be asked.

"Did you get him? Is he gone? What happened to your eye? Does this mean I can leave with you now?"

Of course to Juniper the extensive risk she had put on her family boiled down to nothing more than an extended inconvenience for her departure with Jamie. The hours had done nothing to bring a sense of levity to the girl. Her parents however, stood from the couch, looking at her with varying levels of relief and concerned.

"You're hurt," came the gruff words of her father. Her mother at once turned for the kitchen, less hostility to her steps.

"Are they gone then? Tell me what haaaappened!" Juniper cut in, looking wildly about for answers.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The sudden collision of small hands and body was a surprise. Jamie put one arm around Juniper and lightly patted her back. "I'm back, yes." The remainder of her questions went unanswered for the moment, instead shifting to the girl's parents, though her mother seemed inclined to leave the room to the three instead.

"I'm okay. Caught a forehead while one was being taken escorted out." She rubbed the injury lightly, "Going away present I suppose."

Jamie looked down at Juniper again and nodded. "Yes, they're gone." The woman approached Juniper's father and from her vest retrieved a small pouch, placing it on the table in front of him. "I recovered the last payment you made, the credits are all there. The record books Talv kept in his office matched your last shake-down."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper's eyes widened, following the money pouch. It was like a nugget of gold to her family, the difference between her frayed handme downs and boots that fit.

Her father just made a humbling noise, shock catching on his lips as he slowly accepting. "I ... don't know what to say-"

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" came Juniper's mother's voice, the woman ushering back in with a towel of ice. Her eyes softened as they came upon the bruised face of the jedi, her hands reaching out as if to ice Jamie's face herself... before remember manners and simply holding it out in a silent offer.

"She meaaaans she dealt with them," she told her mother, as if she hadn't already been updated and informed of what she missed. "Which means we're safe! You DON'T have to go to the work came, dad."

Her father's eyes reached Jamie's bubbling over with trepidation. What a fragile dream that was. "Are you sure?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The woman whisked her hand through the air as if to dismiss her father's lack of words. "Say nothing." She smiled, closing his hands on the credits. "It belongs to your family."

"Talv's dead." She said flatly, accepting the offered ice to press against her face with a smile and nod in gratitude, though Jamie immediately made the point to indicate she hadn't been the one to do the deed. "Not by my hand, one of the law men put a blaster bolt to him. The others were subdued and arrested. They're being sent off-world to a prison world in due time." Jamie wasn't the type to kill, even the prior night's threats towards Talv's men were merely words to induce fear enough to surrender.

"His operation is no more. All of his files, contacts, and illicit gains were confiscated. Everyone at his compound were taken into custody, the rest will be placed on a watch-list and apprehended as they make their appearances, if they make their appearances now that everything has been shut down."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Jamie was greeted by a set of eyes and stunned silence.

"You... took the whole ring down," uttered her mother, her words chosen carefully. "In one night."

A massive grin broke out across Juniper's features, the wall lamps vibrating as she gave nothing short of a victorious jump. "I told you!" What exactly she had told was unstated, but it earned a tired look from her mother as she reached out and tried to pull her daughter's small frame back into hers.

"Yes, well. It's very impressive. I'm sure the town will be very grateful." she told Jamie, her words tight and formal as she uttered her semblance of appreciation for the woman that had single handedly saved her family. "I suppose you're hungry then for dinner."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Well, not only me. There were about a dozen lawmen as well. Everyone helped in a way, though I'd have personally preferred Talv be taken alive, but there's little to do about that now."

She shrugged, no sense lingering in the past over something she hadn't the ability to control in the first place. It wasn't a secret that many folks wanted that man dead, and it just so happened one of those folks were in that room with the opportunity.

Though the necessary actions were taken and Juniper's family safe, Jamie still felt the rather tense air between herself and the other woman.

"Thank you for the kind offer and your hospitality last night, but," She looked to Juniper and smiled, "I should be going, I have a place to stay and you all deserve some time alone with one another."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

It was so cool. So, so so cool! All Juniper could think about was the holoflicks. This was so the build up to the big adventure launch moments. With the cut scenes and the flying and the green grass zooming by. For the first time in her short life she felt empowered, because standing before her was her destiny.

Her validated destiny.

She was gonna make the best jed-

"I should be going, I have a place to stay and you all deserve some time alone with one another."

Juniper's eyes flash in panic, the girl jolting out of her mother's arms.

"Wait, no. Like for good? But I wanna- with you- Please take me. " the desperate rabbled flowed from her, Juniper's jumping headlong into her assumptions, as per usual. Genuine distress melded into her tone, that pretty feature balancing at a knife's tip.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie knelt down, putting her hand on Juniper's shoulder and spoke softly to the girl.

"You still have the holocron, right? Keep it safe until tomorrow for me, okay? Spend some time with your family and I'll come back to pick it up in the morning."

She wasn't quite sure as to how the conversation had gone with her mother, or what had transpired in her absence, and Jamie wasn't about to press the subject as a guest in their home. The awkward atmosphere surrounding her presence hardly helped the situation any. It was simply wiser to leave the family be and see what would come of the next day.

The woman stood back up and made her way towards the door once more. "Thank you both again. I'm pleased to see you safe."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

A noise of pain caught in Juniper's throat, the answer so vague, she felt her life come crashing down all over it. "But!"

If Jamie was expecting a larger scene, she got none. There was something so sobering about the perceived loss of a dream, not even her anger could reach her as she watched Jamie walk away.

It was only the father that spoke, standing from the table as his wife stared almost mutely at the ground. "Thank you, Jedi. Travel safe."

The pained scene was the last glance Jamie would have before stepping out into the cool night, leaving Juniper to her fate.


And then the screaming started.

Teenagers, amirite.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie grimaced as she heard the shouting erupt the moment she closed the door behind her. She didn't stop though, didn't turn back or reconsider returning. This was a problem for the family to resolve on their own. Jamie had given her input, that was all she could do. The rest was in their hands. The blonde climbed over and into her speeder, firing the engines just as the sound of something expensive broke on the floor.

Juniper sure was a little firecracker.

The woman pulled back on the controls and headed off towards her apartment where she would spend one more night before returning to Juniper to collect the holocron, find out what the family decision was, and either be off on her own once more, or for the first time ever, take on a student of her own. One that was, by all accounts, her mirror image as a teenager.

Was she really that whiny? She shook the thought away and sped off.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

The house was calm, eerily so, the next morning.

If there was energy, it was slow moving. The family had stayed up late into the night. It would be Juniper's mother that opened the door, the bags under her eyes speaking volumes. "G'morning," she murmured, the bite of yesterday bled from her tone. Her body rang of tired defeat, her feet dragging in slippers as she stepped back and opened the door.

"Please, come in." Her voice remained quiet, as if she was intentionally not trying to attention from up above.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

It was surprising that of the four, Juniper's mother would be the one to greet her at the door. Nonetheless Jamie nodded graciously, "Good morning." She answered the woman in kind, stepping inside the home for possibly the final time. She noted the tired, disheveled appearance likely due to the bout that Jamie had walked out on, imagining it had proceeded well into the late hours of the evening.

She made no remark however, and instead took a seat as offered to her.

"No doubt yesterday was immeasurably difficult for you all. That being said, I feel obligated to tell you that Juniper is gifted. She is as stubborn as a mynock, and quick to temper, but when I look at her I see so much of myself in her that it is as if I were looking at my younger self. She's reckless, mouthy, and opinionated, but she has her intentions well placed, and I do truly believe that given the chance she could break these habits and become something truly great. But--" She offered an understanding, sympathetic smile. "I can't decide for you what is right for your daughter."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Mia gave Jamie a wry glance, closing the door and coming over to sit down. She listened quietly, that reserved expression caring forward, betraying nothing. A single heavy sigh fell from her lips. She reached forward, picking back up a cold cup of stale coffee and murmuring into it, "Well at least you suffer no disillusions." She took a long sip, staying blankly at the space between them before placing her cup down and speaking again.

"And here I was going to warn you off. She's trouble. Always has been. Doesn't listen. Picks fights. Using this gift of hers to get her way-- where ever possible." She leaned forward, a testing edge to her next words. "Do you know what you're getting into, taking on a child like that?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie leaned slightly closer to the woman opposite her. She smiled warmly, nodded and then proceeded to speak ever so quietly, her voice just above that of a whisper. "Your daughter is every bit the child I was when I left home on my journey to be what you see before you today." The Jedi sat more upright, hands placed on her knee as it crossed her leg.

"Naboo is my home. A planet in the mid rim. Has been the home of my family for centuries. I was a daughter to a noble family, heir to my father's estate. My mother wanted nothing more than for me to take to my studies, learn the ways of the courts, and to marry a nobleman and carry on tradition. In fact, I frequently skipped my classes, ran about where I didn't belong, caused all sorts of trouble, found myself in dangerous situations, and was naturally gifted in my own ways."

She paused for a moment, considering how to condense the tale and make her point.

"My gift was discovered in a similar manner to Juniper's. It was a public display, I hurt someone by mistake, and though a Jedi took notice, my family refused, so I ran away. My habits were difficult to break, as will be hers. But becoming a Jedi itself is no simple task. She will learn this, if she comes with me. But I can promise you, she will turn out well. I'll share this secret with you..."

The blonde leaned ever so close, "I returned home, to Naboo, and for four years I was their elected Queen. I have no doubt in Juniper's potential to be something great."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Mia's eyes bulged, her lips parting in an open display of shock that Juniper would no doubt really want a picture of. "Your majesty," she uttered, less of a reverence and more out of utter shock. The reveal brought many things to light-- like her open mistrust, her fuzzy slippers ... Jamie's intimate knowledge of her family's debt.

All of it was utterly embarrassing for the middle age woman sipping on day old coffee, but as any mother would, her thoughts went to her daughter ... And all the promising things the former queen had said about her.

Her back straightened, her hand preening through her fly always. "I see. I had no idea." Of course not. Jamie's reveal was as much a defense of her character as it was a reassurance, but it did leave the woman a little more reserved. ... Respectful, was the term. She gave Jamie a long hard look, considering her and her words in this new light.

"...And you'll be the one? To instruct her?" While it was unsaid, it was clear this was a pressing concern.

She didn't trust just anyone with her only daughter.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie held up a hand to dismiss the sudden shift in, well, every aspect of Mia's newfound attitude towards her. "No need for that." She said, sitting back more comfortably now that it was out there. She'd only told the woman as a comparison to what Juniper could find in herself, just as Jamie had grown from that very same child.

"I'm no longer the holder of that title, nor do I wish to be thought of as such. It was a position of honor to serve my people, and now that job belongs to another. I would ask that you keep this between us though. Juniper will discover the truth someday, but that does not need to be today."

Nevertheless Jamie nodded in response to the woman's question. "Yes. She will go where I go, the same as I followed my teacher."

A reassuring hand rested on Mia's knee. "I would treat her as my own. For that you have my word."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Mia took a deep breath in, a quiver to the motion as she looked down at the hand.

"...Fine," she finally uttered, her pain still creeping in and out of her exhales.

"Juniper can go with you on the condition that we still hear from her. Calls. Visits. You're not to take her into some cult and never let us speak to her again." Of course nothing Jamie had done had made it appear like that was the kind of 'order' she was, but folk lore was folk lore and it was impossible for a mother to not fear them.

"And if it doesn't work out, you bring her right on back," she uttered quickly, that fear in her tone. "I'm entrusting you with my daughter's welfare. No one else. Swear it."