Dev The Story of the Trees

[Jonyna Si]

​

It wasn't often that Si Tech's Cathar office got business inquiries. The spring rains had filled the air of Ran Dom Kuun with the sound of buffeting drops that never seemed to end, and yet, the sound of a comm ringing cut through it all. A one Chi Chuchi had called to set up an appointment. Normally, appointments would be held in Si Tech's Coruscant office, but the woman had specifically asked for the Cathar office.

And so, much to her own chagrin, Jonyna sat waiting in the rain for her newest arrival at the space port, only saved by the myriad of branches above her that slowed the drizzle.

 

[Chi Chuchi]

The sleek corvette that Chi called home cleared through system security and glided into system as the Pantoran woman watched from her comfortable control chair. Not that she did much controlling, preferring to let her AI assistant handle most aspects of the ship. "Scans indicate light rain over Ran Dom Kuun." The smooth tones of Ji-Ji inflexed and Chi thought back to the last time she'd gone to a business meeting and it'd been raining. Tycho had made the trip fun despite the rain and they'd come away good friends. Stretching as she stood up to go change, she wondered what the Cathar would be like. She'd met a few, but never set foot in their home and was sure that holos wouldn't do it justice.

As the ship circled the magnificent tree to come in for its landing at the designated pad, Chi finished tucking a simple gray shirt into the high-waisted black trousers she'd worn. Mindful of the likely terrain in a tree and the rain, she'd chosen to be practical rather than formal. Heeled riding boots and a white waterproof cape with gold fringe and trim that complimented the rest of her outfit and usual jewelry made her fashionable again. She'd just finished settling the draped cape around her shoulders in the entryway when the ship touched down. "We've landed Chi. Scopes show one person awaiting you. Public and private records show her as Jonyna Si, Jedi and founder of Si Tech. You've left the boss herself standing in the rain." Humor injected into his tone for the last part as he teased her before dropping the ramp.

Leaving her sheltering hood down her back, Chi approached the Cathar woman with a smile on her face. "Jonyna, it was so nice of you to come greet me in person!" She reached her hands out in greeting as she looked up to the other woman. Jonyna had the better part of a foot on her and it showed even with the short heels of Chi's boots.
Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

As the woman stepped off the ship, she found Jonyna in her own Formal Wear, looking down on the smaller woman. "I'm a woman of my word. You wanted to meet me, I said I would." The cathar said it so matter a-factly, and yet, she wondered what the smaller woman had expected. Business acumen was never Jonyna's style, and she was never one to delegate. "How's you at climbing?"

It was an odd question, but Jonyna spoke it with such casualness, as if it was something she asked everyone.

Tag: Chi Chuchi

 

[Chi Chuchi]

"Well a representative of your company, yes." She agreed thankful that she'd worn the simpler garments she had so as to not appear to be trying to show her host up. Though the Cathar woman's adornments were quite a bit more intricate than first appearances would suggest. "But I'm glad all the same." Then her question took Chi by surprise. She had been expecting stairs at the worst. "I could put on some climbing gear, but I'd think I'm rather out of practice." When was the last time she'd climbed a tree? Forever ago. At least before she'd left for the Senate as a young girl.
Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna raised an eyebrow. Climbing Gear?

"...you don't get out much, do you?"

Tag: Chi Chuchi

 

[Chi Chuchi]

She frowned at that before quickly recovering. Jonyna was certainly curt. "Might be why I'm not enjoying the rain." She rejoined lightly with a smile as it continued to come down around them. Chi then pulled up her hood to protect her hair from getting any more soaked since they were just standing here. "Do you have officers or would you prefer to talk aboard the Boutique, I have an excellent Chai."
Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"I do, yes." Jonyna chuckled. "Sorry, just...they're a couple branches down, and while we do have a set of ladders down, I normally just tree-surf down. We can talk in your ship if you really want to."

Tag: Chi Chuchi

 

[Chi Chuchi]

Now that sounded interesting. "No no I'll climb. I came to experience Cathar after all!" Her smile had become genuine. "I had just expected more of an internal structure is all. And while I'd love to see tree-surfing, I think I'll take the ladder." Chi was under no delusion about her limits, and 'down' sounded like a direction she wanted to go in as controlled a manner as possible. "Just lead on."
Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"Alright then, follow me." Jonyna led them deeper into the canopy, past other people within the starport. Some were weary travelers, just looking for a pit stop, others were locals, simply going to work, while others were tourists, looking at the wonders of nature. Jonyna didn't seem to pay any mind to the people visiting, but somehow she knew the name of every local they passed by.

They soon found a set of ladders, Jonyna opting to completely ignore then in favor of jumping onto a nearby branch and seeming to skate down it like a surfboard on water. She flipped halfway through, leaping to an entirely different branch, then sliding down to a lower branch, which the ladder seemed to connect to.

"You coming?!" She called from below.

Tag: Chi Chuchi

 

[Chi Chuchi]

Jonyna saying a word or two to everyone they came across didn't bother Chi one bit. She'd once talked to people the same, now she was glad to take the opportunity to wonder at their surroundings. It was rare for her to see a tree this large, and for so many people to be living in it. The galaxy truly had its marvels along with its horrors if one would seek them out.

The acrobatics of her guide left her gawping and she quickly waved before making her way down the ladder to join her. Her own descent was nothing fancy if as hurried as she was willing to go on the wet wood. "You have a fascinating home Jonyna," She said on rejoining the Cathar woman. Looking out over the spread branches at the scenery was beautiful and she couldn't wait to see the myriad of lights that would show all around once night settled in.
Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"Thanks. Wish more people see it, but..." She paused, looking to the savannah off in the distance. "I'm just worried that if people do, they'll wanna ruin it. The Empire has already been through and wrecked shop once before. My tribe has been asking me to protect them the next time they come, and I'm not sure how."

She had just met this girl, and she was waxing philosophical to her already. Darn it Jonyna, get your head on straight. "Sorry, just...been weighing on me. Out of curiosity, what does bring you to Cathar?"

Tag: Chi Chuchi

 

[Chi Chuchi]

"Curiosity," Chi replied watching a young man slide down a sloping branch. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she eyed the strange tattoos circling his thighs. "I like to tinker and invent, sometimes I can find an elegance of a sort in it." Her weight shifted as she thought of a way to describe herself without sounding pretentious "Really I was hoping to find something uniquely Cathar, be it a style, art, philosophy, or exotic material. Maybe I should just say inspiration." She didn't know what to say about the Empire, she avoided them and the sith when possible. A planet didn't have that luxury, at least the Mandalorians weren't bombing them.
Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"There's plenty to find here." Jonyna offered with a soft smile. "Our culture has plenty to share, but...it depends on what you want out of it. I mean..." She paused, looking down on the branch below them, taking a moment to sit down and just brush it. "The wood here, for example. We Denik see it as not just our home, but our lifeblood. The word Home-tree. It doesn't really translate to Basic, not really. It means like...your childhood neighborhood. The place you grew up, the place you can always call home. Not just the house, but the family, the friends you made, the school you went to. To Cathar, those are all the same place. The Home-tree. The wood of this tree...it's seen generations pass through it's branches. Not just of Denik, but of Cathar, of wookie, of human and plenty others. To us...this tree is just as much part of the family as your mother or father would be. Nothing is stopping folks from stripping parts of it, but...it'd be like someone ripping out walls of your house. Ya know?"

Tag: Chi Chuchi

 

[Chi Chuchi]

Chi looked down at the wide branch they were standing on as she listened to Jonyna. It wasn't just a walkway but a living part of the tree. Her boot slid across the wet and worn surface as she crouched down to touch it. Her fingernails dug into the soft surface layer of the wood as she felt the tree rather than just look at it. "Its the longing familiarity. The comfort of knowing it and being known. Belonging." Her own thoughts went back to her family's estate and the last time the family had gathered in numbers. The smell, the joy of seeing everyone again and catching up, the food that no place else in the galaxy could get quite right.
Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna nodded slowly in agreement.

"The wood of this tree is considered special to us. You could make something out of it, but..." She frowned. "Be careful with that. To disrespect the tree is an attack on our family."

Tag: Chi Chuchi

 

[Chi Chuchi]

She found herself looking up at Jonyna again from her low squat. "I'm not sure how one would disrespect this tree through crafting." Maybe by using it frivolously as wall paneling? She ran the fingers of her extended hand over the cool dampness of the wood again to feel the dis-formity of it.
Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"Back in my day, the Empire wanted to us the wood for armor for their forest troopers. Tore out whole trees several miles north of us, in the great valley. Harvested them like they were just metal to rip out of the ground. We lost several historical murals that way." Jonyna mused, looking down on the branch. "We use these trees to mark our history. The murals are like the tattoos we mark our bodies with. A mark of who we are. What we belong to. And no matter what, that we're expected to look after each other no matter who we choose to be. Rebel, Sith, Jedi, Boy, Girl, Street Hacker, Bounty Hunter, Business Type, Criminal, it doesn't matter. You're still Cathar, and we'll always welcome you home to the tree with open arms and a fresh pot of stew. To take the trees like that and just...process them, that's taking our family and slaughtering them in front of our eyes."

Tag: Chi Chuchi

 

[Chi Chuchi]

Wooden armor sounded difficult and problematic to Chi. But then Empires often went to extremes in the search for any tiny advantage. "Your people have a great sense of community Jonyna, and have faced many terrible trials. I'm sure the galaxy would be a much better place if more peoples felt the same as yours do. Were I to make something of this, I think it would be so one could defend themselves and their loved ones from the vicissitudes of fate that mean them harm." In truth she hardly needed much of the wood. Even a singular good piece would allow her to encode it into the Boutique's matter library for the fabricator to reconstruct from base elements in whatever form desired. She would even introduce common variances in uniformity and grain so it would appear naturally grown. This though she kept to herself, unsure of how the Cathar would react to such a reproduction of something she cared so much for. Chi also felt that it may be oversharing a tad if she did.
Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna didn't like calling herself an arms dealer. It carried a lot of dirty connotations that she didn't like associating with. She wasn't in it for the money. Cathar tribes didn't really have credits, at least internally. If you needed something, you asked your neighbor nicely, or did it yourself. The only things that were purchased came from outside of the tribe.

But she knew the value in having the right weapons. Arming yourself with the right tools. She'd spent years fighting the Empire with whatever she could scrounge or steal.

"...I could appreciate something like that. I'm a big proponent of self defense. One suggestion though. If you're gonna be taking wood, I'd suggest you learn the language."

Tag: Chi Chuchi

 

[Chi Chuchi]

Standing again, Chi held out her manicured hand to jonyna. "I can't promise to become fluent, but I would like to stay awhile anyways. I wasn't only interested in what materials could be gleamed here mind." Still, she was glad to have an accord with the local leader even if they'd stopped in the rain instead of making it to her offices. She could observe the tribe's artisans later once there was no more business to attend.
Jonyna Si