The Sight will return

[Aston Jacobs]

Sullust
Docking Bay

The familiar beeping from his astro droid brought Aston out of his slight daze he was in for a moment. Aston nodded and smirked towards the droid signifying that they were fixing to drop out of hyperspace outside Sullust. The Jedi Padawan had received the coordinate to the temple from a friendly with the Galactic Alliance.

While Aston's own mind and the like had drawn him away from the world and feeling that he loved. It was just that which had drawn him back into the fray. The only way to accomplish his goals was to finish what he originally set out to do, and with that he needed some help. Aston would in turn return and help the Galactic Alliance and eventually rise up in the ranks and prepare for his future.

The X-Wing sped in through the clouds until there was a break in the sky and sun was shining brightly and that was the first time Aston saw the Jedi Temple that was constructed here on Sullust.

"Wow..." Aston muttered under his breath as he was speechless for a second and thus a small chuckle left him. "That's pretty amazing."



Aston tapped a few buttons on the navicomputer just as ground control spoke of his line. "This is ground control, state your business here and cargo?"

"I'm simply returning to the Galactic Alliance. My name is Aston Jacobs; I'm a Jedi Padawan. As far as cargo, myself, a droid and few medical and food supplies in the compartment of this x-wing." Aston said smoothly as he awaited a response and he looked over to his astro droid and smirked among the series of beeps and hums coming from it.

"Docking bay 4 is clear, an inspection of you and your x-wing will be conducted upon your arrival."

"Understood." Aston responded swiftly as he directed his wing towards the dock and landed easily enough as he powered down the x-wing and the hatch slid up and he then hopped out. The Jedi Padawan was then greeted by two soldiers and their superior it seemed. Aston wasn't too bothered with this, he hadn't been here in some time and well they were being cautious.

"Have at it!" Aston said with a small smirk as he took a seat on the cargo crate that was off to the side as he waited for them to get done.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Aston Jacobs]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

Lilin was waiting in the docking bay for a certain Padawan -- one that wore the name Aston Jacobs. Or so she had been told. She was not a real good Master, she had found out, because she couldn't keep up teaching the same Padawan for a long time due to different reasons. This time, however, she was a little bit more optimistic.

One new thing about this one was that the student was, at least as she had been told, older than Lilin. Huh, didn't really sound like a fun thing to the girl. Not because she wouldn't have liked the person, because maybe he was a really fun Padawan. But more because of the discomfort both of them could have started facing. It was usually the other way around; old Masters passed their knowledge on to young Padawans.

She took a look at an information screen as she waited for the man to arrive. There was really not a lot more new stuff she could read from the boards, she had just been to that bay so many times that she had nearly memorised most of the information there was.

And she hadn't been to the plant that many times. Sullust was not her home, that's why. While most others were in the Temples really often, Lilin was nothing like that. She couldn't spend her whole days there; she preferred working on the battlefield. So she had decided to fill her life with different missions, adventures and such, meaning she wouldn't have to live in the Temples.

But that would change for a while now, because she felt like she couldn't just leave her Padawan on the planet and then just fly around the galaxy, minding her own thing. She wanted to be there for him so that she could teach him, go on adventures or just be a giant ear listening to the problems he could have.

[ [member="Aston Jacobs"] ]

 

[Aston Jacobs]

The inspection seemed to last a little longer than Aston might have liked as he sat on the cargo crate with his arms crossed and he happened to doze off for several minutes his droid giving a tune of beeps trying to shake him from his small slumber. Aston leaned forward a moment and that was when he woke up with a start, he rubbed his eyes a bit as he looked from his droid and the tech that were going through his ship as it seemed like they were about done.

"Sorry about that my friend. But, we have a job to do, and a planet to protect."

Aston nodded his head slowly as he hopped off the crate and stretched his arms out towards the sky. "It's not a problem. I fully understand. The galaxy isn't as safe as it used to be."

The lead man chuckled lightly as he was the last one there. "Was it ever." He gave a friendly nod towards him and left his company.

Aston smirked and rubbed his chin lightly. "I'm afraid not." The Jedi let out a small sigh as he slung his bag over his shoulders and moved down the ramp and into his future endeavors. Aston then soon came into contact with someone that at the time he didn't know would become a big part of his life.

"Everything alright?" Aston said in a soft voice, she seemed to be a Jedi, and he wasn't expecting anyone to be waiting for him.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

One day Lilin would stop getting startled by every single person who starts talking to her. But it wasn't that day. As soon as the man started talking, she jumped and her heart skipped a beat.

"Uh, I'm alright," she said, "everything's fine." She took a look at the man, nodded a little bit and then smiled. "Just waiting for a Padawan to arrive, nothing else."

It was obvious that Lilin - who didn't know what Aston was supposed to look like - had no idea who the man right next to her was. Yes, she felt the Force radiating from him, but judging by his age and appearance, Lilin thought he was a Knight at least. That could have been taken as a compliment. So she didn't really think that the man would be Aston the Padawan.

"Had a nice fly here? I hear the security's been getting stricter and stricter these recent times."

She only hoped the man wasn't in a hurry so that she could spend some of her waiting time. And she still didn't really understand who the man was. Nice first meeting indeed. Lilin just managed to ace talking to people nowadays. Read that in a sarcastic tone.

[ [member="Aston Jacobs"] ]

 

[Aston Jacobs]

Aston's eyes widened a bit as he shook his head. "Sorry about that, didn't mean to startle you." Aston cleared his throat and took a deep breath as she responded to him. "That's nice." Aston spoke with a small smile when she mentioned she was waiting for a padawan. Aston wondered if he was the one she was waiting on, but he didn't want to just throw that out there. "It was a pretty good trip, can't complain too much. Granted I got a good shakedown just a few moments ago. However I can't blame them though, the galaxy hasn't changed and all that stuff." Aston chuckled lightly as he took another glance around, still taking in the sights of what he could see so far.

"Who is it you are waiting for?" Aston asked curiously, if it was him then problem solved. And if not, there wasn't anything wrong with talking to another Jedi for a few moments longer before he hit the Jedi Temple. Aston usually enjoyed a good conversation or two. Given his travels over the last two years before his return he had made quite a few friends, and some enemies as well. That was the way of this galaxy though, keep pushing forward and don't look back. Or at least try not too anyway. Aston was always different than the average Jedi.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

"Yeah, agreed. The capital can't be left unprotected," Lilin replied to what the man said about the security check. It made her thought for a moment, though. Only years ago had this planet meant nothing to her -- it was a pointless place in the galaxy which the girl didn't even want to visit. Now it was the capital of the Galactic Alliance and Lilin was honoured enough to be a Jedi Master working there. The planet had changed for the girl forever.

She let out a sigh as she took a look down for a moment. At that moment, she was really starting to form an idea of who the man was. If he would have been a Knight or a Master, he would have not answered the girl's question like that. Besides, the girl really knew a lot of the higher-ranking Jedi in the New Jedi Order.

"I'm waiting for one named Padawan Jacobs at the moment. Aston Jacobs, I believe is his name."

Well, yeah, if he was the one, everything would be golden. If not, she wouldn't mind having to wait a short while more. But now she was certain he was the one. And even though the intro had been somewhat chaotic, she didn't really think about it at the moment. Surely the sudden realisation of how she had messed up would kick in later, but that moment wasn't going to happen now.

[ [member="Aston Jacobs"] ]

 

[Aston Jacobs]

"No it can't." Aston said with a small chuckle. When she spoke of leaving something unprotected Aston though back to all of his past battles that were fought. The Padawan had been through quite a bit. Not nearly as much as most seasoned Jedi Knights and Masters were, but it was enough to leave a scar on him. Nothing that bothered him at all or that caused any sort of indecisiveness or anything of that sort. But enough to make him know that his was something he would be doing for the rest of his life, however long that was. And as a small smile came across his face, he was very okay with that.

She mentioned who she was waiting for and that caused the Padawan to chuckle. "Ain't that something. Well, your looking at him." The Jedi Padawan said with a small smile and polite bow of his head. "Aston Jacobs, Jedi Padawan at your service." Aston held his hand out to her.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

"Huh, what a coincidence," Lilin said, chuckling lightly. She bowed to Aston as well, although her bow even less deep than the man's had been. It was more of a nod, really. Or a shiver of her head. Or whatever. She shook the man's hand and smiled at the same time. "Well, nice to meet you. Lilin Imperieuse, Jedi Master."

It was the third time she would start teaching a Padawan. People didn't really think of her as a failure for not having gotten any of her students to the rank of Knight. But now she felt like she could really be successful. That is, as long as the student was goal-driven, brave and wasn't scared of a little bit of adventuring. Because that's all the stuff a New Jedi Order Jedi had to be at such crazy times.

"I am going to assume we can go to the Temple now," she said. "You've been to Sullust before?"

The girl really didn't know how long the man had been a masterless Padawan, so she relied on her gut feeling. At the moment, it was telling her nothing useful.

She remembered her first months in the Alliance. The change of going from a little group of friends to a huge militaristic faction was huge and it definitely took her some time to get used to. While it was true that most of her friends had come over to the Alliance, she had still found it a little bit difficult to manage at first.

Whether Aston was having such struggles or not, she would make everything as easy as possible for him so that he could get right into action.

[ [member="Aston Jacobs"] ]

 

[Aston Jacobs]

"Lilin, a pleasure." Aston said with a small smile.

"You are quite correct." Aston said with the mention of heading towards the temple, glancing back to his astro droid that was following behind a bit. Aston smirked for a second or two as he glanced back forward and looked over towards Lilin. "Once, a while back. Things were just getting settled in here. It's quite amazing to see what can all be accomplished by the Jedi and their allies." Aston took a deep breath as he looked at what was ahead, not physically in a sense.

"What all can I expect, Master? What has changed?" Aston asked curiously, more so than anything. Aston's faith not just in the force, but in people as well.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

"Well, I don't know much about the Temple, actually. I nearly never find myself in the building," Lilin had to admit. What a bad Master she already was. She would change that, though, and try to stay in the Temple where she was actually supposed to be. Just the fact that she would have to drop so many missions was a little bit heartbreaking. She was new to being a Master to somebody and that meant it was difficult to change her day plans so that she could teach her Padawan.

The short time she worked in the Temple as a librarian and as an assistant to Master Voidstalker was not enough to make the girl know a lot about the Temple. She still had to use maps from time to time to understand where she was headed.

"I guess it will be an adventure for both of us," she laughed, although her laugh lacked the usual joyful tone.

She had made it sure the man and she herself would get rooms in the grounds of the New Jedi Order, but she clearly didn't know where they were. Could have been in or near the same corridors she lived in when she worked in the Temple, but they may just as well have been in a completely different section of the building.

Oh well, that was going to be fun.

[ [member="Aston Jacobs"] ]

 

[Aston Jacobs]

Aston nodded his head a bit as he looked at her then forward again. She liked being out and about, that was something that he gathered from just those short moments. Once upon a time, years ago when he was just a kid he spent much of his time indoors. Spending countless hours among the Jedi Library, reading and gaining whatever knowledge that he could, he was quite the bookworm when he was a kid. Aston chuckled mentally as he thought more about it, which he was sure that was the reason why he traveled so much of the galaxy over the last 10 years. Spend that time inside, he was making up for it now.

"We won't be spending too much time inside will we?" Aston inquired lightly, in the end he was going to do what his Master instructed, however he wasn't knew to this dance. He would be progressing along rather quickly, he felt in his own mind. "I'm actually gonna miss all the travelling I was doing. It...became a part of me, ya know." Aston said with a small smile.

"What about you?"

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

"You know what I think. I want you to have the same kind of Padawanhood as I myself did," Lilin ignored the last question the man had asked, mostly because she was going to answer it later on indirectly. "I didn't have a Master, so I learned on my own and from other Padawans, as well as some random Masters and Knights."

She tried to find the right words to portray how good her life as a Padawan really was. Although she had to note, that was a long time ago. But her memories of that time were clear and amazing.

"I think people learn the most when they're put into the situations where they have to get new experiences, use the knowledge they have learned, put their skills into work. That's what I did. And if you're not against it, I would like you to do the same. We could go on missions and adventures so that you could truly learn."

A part of her told the man would like to be outside and adventure around a little bit.

"You don't have to have this traditional training process where you stay inside the Jedi Temple for the most of your life," she commented.

[ [member="Aston Jacobs"] ]

 

[Aston Jacobs]

Aston listened to what she said, and in truth...it was exactly something he was looking for. He had been in and out of the Jedi life for several years, going off world and doing his own thing, while the Jedi call still beckoned to him. It would feel the same as before except he would have someone there at his side, helping him, a friend. And with the galaxy the way it was today, that was something greatly needed. Skills were usually put to the test and were demanded at a greater level when faced with adversity, Aston knew this above all else.

"I would gladly do that, I wouldn't have anything against that at all." Aston glanced at her for a moment before looking forward again, he couldn't help but smile a bit. "Traditional seems to have flown out the window for me." Aston said with a small smirk. Apart from the smiling and what not, Aston was indeed ready for this challenge. He wasn't going to shy away from it.

"May I ask you a personal question, Master?" Aston asked curiously, one thing that he was unsure about.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

"Well, of course you can," Lilin replied. She didn't really have a lot to hide, so she was fairly certain she could tell the man truth about whatever he was going to ask. It had already been a good thing that Aston was perfectly fine with having a more adventurous learning technique. And for the first time, Lilin could utilize the way she herself had studied the Force on a student of her own. Everybody before the young Padawan had leaned more towards the traditional way of studying.

The walk towards the Temple was not too long, so Lilin didn't bother to get a speeder or anything. They would manage walking such a small distance, especially since they were Jedi and had to be used to that.

She could only feel joy at that moment. Having made her way out of depression, every good emotion was now kind of amplified, mainly because she loved feeling such emotions. They made her feel warm inside, provided her with the wish to live to the fullest. Because wasn't that what life was all about?

She was a Jedi, but she loved being that, even more than she had loved it as a teenager. Times had changed and she had come to the understanding that she was living the life that she wanted to live. And she hoped she could infect Aston with love for being a Jedi as well.

[ [member="Aston Jacobs"] ]

 

[Aston Jacobs]

In truth, Aston quite enjoyed the walk. Physical activity was really nothing new the Jedi Padawan. During his time on Dathomir he recalled hours on end where he would sneak off into the forest off from the Singing Mountain Clan and he would just run. He wasn't sure why, but it was something he enjoyed doing. The biggest time was during the storms on planet, rain,thunder,lightning all the mixed with the feel of his feet pounding through the forest soil. His heart beating at a great pace, it was rather nice. Aston smirked as he glance down for a moment remembering those times, and since then it was something that he kept up with. Now granted there wasn't a forest nearby here, but just running in general. And it wasn't until later that he realized it was to let off some steam, so that he wasn't so stressed out.

And it worked rather well.

Aston cleared his throat as she said that he could ask her, what he had inquired about just a few moments ago. He wasn't sure what brought this upon, he figured it was the talk of adventure and journeys. And even in so on his own treks across the galaxy. The more he thought about it, just himself he didn't know what that was. Aston Jacobs didn't know if that was a good thing, or if it was bad.

"What are you afraid of?"

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

What was Lilin afraid of?

"Right now?" she asked a clarifying question. She didn't really know if the man had sensed her fear of failing as a Jedi Master or not. But such a question was shocking. Not because it was uncomfortable - which it certainly was - or because it would have been too personal, but more because she couldn't tell if she was easy to see through or not. And if even a Jedi Padawan could see through her, what could Sith Lords do when they faced her? They could probably manipulate with her.

But she didn't know yet. She didn't know if the man had asked it out of curiosity or because he had understood something.

"Or in general?" she added to her question. In her mind, she was preparing for the worst, trying to come up with what to say. She couldn't reveal all of her secrets just yet -- yes, she wouldn't lie to her Padawan or keep any secrets from him, but some information just had to be hidden until the right moment. And some of her secrets really were like that.

[ [member="Aston Jacobs"] ]

 

[Aston Jacobs]

"Well..." Aston started to say but then caught himself as he thought for a moment, at the present time then felt it was better if he didn't say anything at all. The Jedi had already began to speak though, but he wished now that he hadn't have brought it up. Simply because the more he said it in his mind, the more it sounded completely idiotic.

For a great many reasons.

"Well, just like in general I suppose." Aston started again, looking over to Lilin. Truth was, Aston wasn't too sure what he was afraid off. And during his times travelling he had often wondered if that was a good thing, or if that was a bad thing.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

"I am afraid of the dark, just like I assume most Jedi are," Lilin said. "I fear that one day, I will stand no chance against the compelling power of passion and the temptation of the dark side. I fear that the corruption inside me will empower my willpower."

She didn't really know if she should let the man know everything about her so soon. But she guessed there was also no use of hiding such information. She was naturally leaning towards the Dark Side and it was not a fact that she was supposed to hide. She'd admitted it to herself, so now was the time to let everybody else know of her problems.

Maybe they could save her if she ever started to fall.

"I'm afraid of the darkness my mother planted in me."

That was a lie. She hated the darkness her mother had provided her with. She hated her mother, she hated her bloodline. All the darkness inside her blood could ruin her life any moment. And if that wasn't anything to be afraid of, she didn't know what else one would fear.

"And I'm afraid of failure."

[ [member="Aston Jacobs"] ]

 

[Aston Jacobs]

"I think you will be fine, if I may say so." Aston said with a soft expression on his face."Well, I mean as long as you...well believe in yourself and like....have the support of your friends and what family you have. I think that could be enough to trump any sort of darkness that could come after you, right?" Aston said as he was seemingly stumbling through his words.

Or whatever darkness was within you...

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to seem like I'm lecturing you..." Aston said with a soft chuckle, he cleared his throat and looked ahead. He realized perhaps he may have stepped out of line a bit, last thing he needed to do was be giving advice to a Jedi Master. "Just a nudge from a new friend I suppose." Aston looked up to the sky as he placed his hands behind his back a bit as he might have made things a bit awkward, or at least he hoped he didn't.

"I'm not sure what I'm afraid of, I don't know if that's a good thing or bad. Maybe I'm afraid of finding out what that is..."

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]