Private The Wanting Comes In Waves

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani stood in the oasis, but didn’t feel like she was truly, fully there. She’d left some part of herself on Folende, it seemed—left it there until she returned to claim the agriworld in full with Arcturus.

In light of all that had happened there, it was strange to come back to the Academy. The other acolytes weren’t off conquering worlds, nor had any of the students of alchemy progressed enough to make their first Sithspawn yet. She felt like a stranger, wandering the halls, attending classes. No longer part of the herd.

The creation of the Necrobats had sapped her strength. A slight lingering weakness and a sense of euphoria were her only symptoms now, not enough to prevent her from resuming her usual duties. She didn’t intend to charge into battle any time soon, though she’d heard rumors of a conflict brewing. A civil war between Sith factions, from the sound of it…

She put all thoughts of it from her mind. Today Arc was supposed to finally teach her a little about botany.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Ishani had seemed somewhat distracted in the aftermath of Folende. ​

​

Evidently she was feeling the effects of all that had happened there far more than he. It had been a taxing endeavor to be sure, and one which he was not likely to forgot, yet he had bounced back from it. She... She had not. Not fully, not yet.​

​

All the same he had instructed her to join him in the Oasis, and when he arrived there he found her already waiting. Early. Barely there, though, out of focus. He stepped up behind her, and gently settled a hand upon her shoulder.​

​

"Are you well, Ish?" he inquired softly, "If you'd rather rest, we can hold off on this..."​

​

He didn't want to hold off on it, of course, he wanted to do as he had promised. To teach her once more, even if it was not something esoteric in nature. But she didn't seem herself, and that... That worried him.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Arc’s hand on her shoulder actually made Ishani jump a little. She wasn’t sure how it happened—she’d been aware of his presence long before he entered the room, and yet the physical contact had startled her. It wasn’t enough of a shock that she wasn’t able to laugh at herself afterwards, though.

The tone of his voice and the way he looked at her betrayed his concern. “I’m fine,” she replied, taking his hand in her own. “Just got a little lost in thought.”

She certainly had plenty to think about. As for her weakened state, she was doing much better.

To reassure him further, she gestured toward the plants. “Where do we start?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He didn't seem entirely convinced. His gaze lingered upon her for a few moments longer, before he let out a deflated sigh and nodded his head. They could speak on it more later, he decided, if she wanted to focus on the task at hand then so be it.​

​

Arcturus stepped toward the handful of plants he had acquired specifically for this. Ones which he already knew would assist Ishani in pursuing her perfumes. He listed off each of their names, gesturing to each of them in turn as he did so.​

​

"The first thing you're going to want to take note of is the type of plant they are. Will they bloom for you just once, before dying out - known as an annual, or a plant which needs to be replanted each year - or will they continue to grow back each year - known as a perennial. Personally I prefer the latter, it allows for a steady increase in the number of plants in one's collection without having to stress over starters every single year."​

​

Those which lay before them were actually all perennial, but he did not doubt that there'd be plenty she'd seek out which were not. Some annuals had the best scents, after all. Maybe that was all in his head, though. Maybe the work one put into them made the reward seem all that sweeter.​

​

"Next you'll want to note their hardiness. The ideal temperature and conditions they prefer to be grown at. How much humidity, the frequency in which they need to be watered... You can't just throw water at them every day and hope for the best, their roots will rot if you oversaturate the soil. Root rot is the death of a plant. Avoid it at all cost."​

​

He glanced back to her, trying to see if she was focusing. She had been faraway when he entered, after all... His concern grew with each passing second.​

​

"Frankly the best way to learn is by doing. Making mistakes and learning from them. Sure you can read up on a plant in a book, but that will only get you so far. It's largely an intuitive art, Apprentice," oh, yes, even outside of the Forge that word held power. Some of his worry was wicked away, and he smiled her way.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

She returned his lingering gaze with a goofy smile and a wink.

Soon enough, they were focused on the task at hand. For the most part she listened, examining the plants in the meantime. All of them were labeled as perennials, which meant they would grow and flower every year. Ishani didn’t expect she’d be able to extract much from these—the ratio of flowers to perfume was quite skewed, requiring many many flowers to be harvested and treated to make just a few milliliters of perfume—but she was in no hurry at the moment to turn it into a business enterprise. She was a beginner, merely dabbling with botany.

Turning to Arcturus shortly after he mentioned root rot, she saw that he was looking at her again. She didn’t cheese him this time, recognizing at last that whatever was going on in his head was more serious than she thought. He seemed worried, or like he wanted to say something but was reluctant to bring it up. Rubbing a waxy leaf between two fingers, she wondered what might be bothering him. He’d always given her free rein to speak her mind. Why couldn’t he?

“I always thought gardening was a lot of waiting around and keeping schedules,” she said. “Remember to water this plant on this day at this time… can the Force be used to make plants grow faster?” She figured the answer was almost assuredly yes, but it might not be good for the plant. Oh, she almost forgot: “Master?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

She was right, of course. It would take a lot of each flower to produce the necessary amount of essence required to form a perfume base. But what use was it to have a hundred different of the same plants before them if she knew not how to care for even one of them? No... Learn first, branch out from there.​

​

Of course he couldn't read her mind, so he didn't know to voice as much.​

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"I mean, it can be precisely that. Some gardeners certainly live by a set rhythm. And there's nothing wrong with keeping tabs on it, keeping a schedule. Knowing when to water, or fertilize, or prune, it's an important aspect, and one you'll grow to understand for yourself. Each plant has vastly differing needs, how many you wish to focus upon will be largely up to you."​

​

Arcturus... didn't keep a schedule. He acted on instinct alone where this oasis was concerned. A schedule would have made the whole thing far more stressful, he couldn't always dedicate the time necessary to upholding one. But the plants he'd brought here were hardy buggers, they were used to a little neglect. Thrived on it, even.​

​

Some plants were weird like that.​

​

Her question into Force-altering plants made him smile; moreso when she tacked on their not so legitimate title. "There are ways, yes, and surprisingly such abilities do not harm the plants, though I've been remiss to make use of such with these. This courtyard has been a labour of love, intended to last as long as was necessary. But my purpose is not your purpose. If you'd like, we can research Plant Surge and see if it isn't something you can learn. That way... Well, that way you can have more of them to play with, more flowers to extract. Not a bad idea, Apprentice."​

​

Now he was just teasing her back. There was no real reason to keep calling her that, and yet he'd dare anyone to try and stop him regardless.​

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Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Oh, is this a Plant Surge class now, Master?” She leaned back against the wall, surrounded by plants and greenery. “Will there also be a pop quiz?”

As she looked at him, she wondered if he felt any different. Did he feel out of place here too? He didn’t seem all that affected by Folende.

Well, feth it. Just ask him, woman.

“Are you happy, Arc?” Oh, he wouldn’t understand what she meant. Context please, Ish. “About Folende, I mean. Did you get what you wanted?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Do you want it to be a Plant Surge class, Apprentice?" he inquired, raising one brow. "Would such be better suited to what you'd make use of the plants for?"​

​

The way in which she looked at him after that made him privy to the fact she had something to get off her chest. Before he could press her about it though she seemed to respond of her own volition. Good... No more having to coax things out of one another, it would seem.​

​

"I'm happy with you," he stated, but obviously that wasn't what she'd been asking. A frown fell over his expression then, and surprisingly he turned away from her. "Folende... Frankly, creating the bats was the only part of that I enjoyed. It's a hollow victory. I don't... I don't actually want the world, Ish. I saw an opportunity to help my Master, to advance his cause, I never expected it would fall on my shoulders."​

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He swallowed back his doubt, and stepped toward the wall of trailing flowers. "I wish we could undo it."​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Sure! I love the Force. And yeah, it would certainly help.”

Her foot crunched something hard and decidedly not plantlike. She glanced down to see it was one of her sample vials—presumably the vial of Echo she had dropped many a night ago. Eyes widening, she quickly kicked it under a table covered in overgrown vines, where it would be out of sight, out of mind.

As he spoke, her expression fell. Oh. He… he didn’t want Folende? A hollow victory, he called it.

“I thought you wanted it. All that talk about becoming Lord of Folende, and the meeting with Maliphant…”

She remembered the night after, how she had suggested they drink to their victory. Had there been something in the way he tipped back the glass, a sign of doubt or regret? She couldn’t remember. Couldn’t remember much of that night at all, in fact.

“Maybe we could…” She shrugged, then stepped away from the wall and crossed over to him, rubbing his shoulders. “Unless it will make things difficult for you. Surely you could hand it over to somebody else?” Whether he knew someone worthy enough to entrust an entire planet to, she didn’t know. “And if you can’t, well… I’m still your Lady.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"I don't know" he said, with something of a deflated sigh, "I didn't want to let Maliphant down, or to have him think I wasn't ready, or that I was unworthy, and I guess I got wrapped up in the idea of all the things we could do to make the world better than it was. To see it thrive again. And I do... I want to see all of that. I want the agri-equipment back up and running, and the exports to be made, I want them to thrive... But I'd rather coordinate it than lead it. Does that make sense?"​

​

Leadership seemed so big, so formal, so... Sith. As though they were dominating a world, even though they'd had the blessing of its people to see it done. Maybe it just felt weird in the aftermath because there was so much still to be done. Maybe it felt weird because he was back at the Academy and not securing a foothold there. But he was a student still.​

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What else was he supposed to do?​

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Forsake all of his progress and move there, continue his studies... how? When?​

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It was so much bigger than he was. It was all so much bigger than he was.​

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In the end he simply shook his head. "Either way it's done, and I'll find a way to balance everything. For now though, let's think on it no more. Okay? Why don't you find one of the new plants, one you like the look of, and we'll get started?"​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Does that make sense?"

"Yes." She kissed his cheek. "The once and future king thought like you do. I think you'll do fine, and I'll help you any way I can."

He didn't want to talk about it, and there were other things to be done. Gazing over the plants, Ishani gravitated toward a tiny sapling. She checked the label. "Zenobia... yup. These smell heavenly." She cradled it in her arms. "Show me what to do, babe."

Ishani Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

The Once and Future King..?​

​

That reference went right over his head. But her offer of assistance was not unwanted. He kissed her forehead, then they got back to work. Over to the various plants she wandered, and she proved pretty quick in picking one from the bunch she preferred. A sapling, no less, not a seedling.​

​

He walked over to where she stood. "The Zenobia tree of Lao-mon. Do not overwater it. It can actually thrive in sandy soil, so it should adapt to Korriban. Especially if we boost its growth with Surge and allow it to establish good and deep roots into the earth. Full sun, or partial shade..."​

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Arcturus pondered that for a moment, then glanced over at her.​

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"Where do you want to see it planted, Ishani? Unlike a seedling, this is going to grow tall, and with wide stretching roots. It will not be suitable to be planted right here, it could disrupt an already fragile portion of the Academy."​

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He gestured for her to pick it up, then took up a smaller pot of his own, this one a flowering vine, and then waited for her to make up her mind. There were plenty of places nearby which could work... But it would mean leaving their Oasis behind.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Right in the middle of the teacher’s lounge, of course.” She snickered. “Uh, I dunno. Somewhere outside?” No duh. “Maybe by a cave or… a tomb? Lots of those around here.”

She felt a little bit bad about having chosen something that couldn’t grow in the Oasis. Ever since that night when she’d bawled her eyes out in there, she’d been wanting to do something that would make up for it. She knew this place was special to him, and wanted to… well, make better memories of it for him. But she hadn’t figured out how yet, and she didn’t think it was as simple as making love to him under the stars or something. She didn’t think her back could take that anyway…

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

She was right, there were plenty of tombs nearby though they could sometimes attract a lot of attention particularly from Acolytes looking to prove themselves. Was it a smart idea then to leave it so close to where some rage-addled child might see fit to tear it down for the fun of it?​

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"A cave," he nodded, "Probably safer by a cave than a tomb. Come on."​

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He didn't bother to go back through the Academy itself, instead he led the way through the lofty ruins the courtyard was in, weaving this way and that, until they came out into the valley beside the structure itself. Maybe they should have fetched water, or something similar, but he wasn't exactly thinking ahead of the present, he was wrapped up in the task at hand.​

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So he didn't. He just carried on walking a little while longer, until they were out of sight of the Academy. There he stopped, and knelt down. A rockface lay to one side, but otherwise there was space to spare. Enough sunlight to benefit the tree.​

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"We can set up something of a small, uh... aqueduct? system..." Aqueduct wasn't the word for it, but he couldn't much think what the correct one was. A system to ensure that a slow trickle of water was permitted into the sand around the tree, once it was rooted. Korriban wasn't known for its rain, after all, though thankfully the tree did not need too much of it either.​

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"Alright, let's sit..."​

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He sat.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Being largely unfamiliar with the landscape of Korriban outside the academy, Ishani followed Arc’s lead. The Sith homeworld was a desert planet, but it was a cold desert, which meant the acolytes could traipse around in all black without dying of the heat. All the sand could get annoying, however, especially when a strong wind kicked up the grains.

As of the moment, the winds were calm, and the journey to the cave was strangely quiet. Perhaps eerily so. But Ishani wasn’t one to look a gift bantha in the mouth.

“Irrigation system?” Ishani offered gently. Her mother had had such a system in her garden back home, carrying water through underground tubes and channels directly to the plants.

He sat down, and she gave him a funny look, though just like she had in the forge when he plopped down on the floor to draw the bevel lines on her sword, she sat down beside him almost immediately. “Are we going straight to, uh, surging? Or shouldn’t we plant it first?” Perhaps that was a silly question, given how unorthodox all this was. Why not shatter the pot with the sheer force of the growing roots? Wasn’t as if they needed it for other things.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Irrigation system" he agreed with a nod. That was the word... And it was that which he'd set about adding. At some point. Not right now, obviously.​

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She joined him in the sand though she looked as confused as ever by the fact that he chose to sit the way he did. There were no seats around though, were there? And it was nice to sit when you were going to focus on something.​

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Her question had him laugh a little.​

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"You can certainly plant it if you'd like. Why do you think I sat down, Ish? Not very easy to plant something while stood to your full height, is it?" The plant he had brought would not be placed directly where the tree would, he'd make sure it was closer to the rock wall in that it was a climber.​

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"Keep in mind, the roots are going to expand rapidly when we begin the process. I'd bury it a little deeper than you'd initially expect you'd need to, or else you may find the roots coming up to the surface."​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Pouting, Ishani looked between her laughing boyfriend and the ground. “I dunno if you’ve noticed, darkling—darling, but I’m not very far from the ground anyway.” Darkling? Quite the Freudian slip, that. “And I’m still thinking in terms of shovels, not the Force, I guess.”

The next several minutes were spent digging a hole deep enough for the roots, followed by Ishani wrestling the sapling into the hole, then covering it up with dirt.

“Okay,” she said, dusting herself off and plopping back down next to Arc. She sat with her feet on the ground and her knees bent, trying to keep the sand from coming into contact with her tights. “Surge time. C’mon, Master, show me what to do.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Well start thinking in terms of the Force," he quipped back with a chuckle, "You're a Sith, sweetheart, not a landscaper. Make use of the shortcuts it provides." Arcturus certainly did. Shortcuts were the best, especially when they were as good as if not better than the real deal. What wasn't to love?​

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While Ishani set about depotting and planting her tree, Arcturus rose up and moved away to be closer to the rockface before kneeling down and tending to his own plant. Still close enough that they could sit together when it came time to learn - oh, they'd both be figuring this one out together if that wasn't abundantly clear - but with enough space that each plant could thrive independently without blocking out the other.​

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He returned to her pretty soon after.​

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She was looking to him for direction. Arcturus gulped a little. Learning on the fly, teaching on the fly, this was so very new to him. Still he understood the basics of it, he'd just never... Done it? Yeah, sure.​

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"Don't laugh," he stated. Then paused. Then added. "Don't get angry."​

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Another gulp.​

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"I've never actually done this before... Wait, don't yell... I just... I understand the theory? That's good, right? We can figure it out from the theory, right?"​

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Right?​

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RIIIIGHT?​

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"Just... Don't stop calling me Master." He waggled his eyebrows, trying to ease away any tension.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Don't laugh."

She blinked.

"Don't get angry."

She squinted.

"I've never actually done this before... Wait, don't yell... I just... I understand the theory? That's good, right? We can figure it out from the theory, right?"

She stared.

"Just... Don't stop calling me Master."

"You dork." She shook her head, but she was smiling. "Okay, what's the theory, Master?"

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Cue a fairly in-depth explanation about plants, and the Living Force, and how to bolster one with the other in order to affect its rate of growth, and all things the Force is mystical and works in mysterious ways.

"So, you see," he said in conclusion, to a no doubt bored as hell Ishani, "It's the same as doing most anything with the Force, really. It comes down to will and intent. So uh... Yeah."

Will and intent?

Well that was the real crux of it all, was it not? You want to lift a rock? Make it so! Make someone do your bidding? Make it so! The Force was weird and it reacted to your whims with enough time and practice and desire to make it happen.

"Wanna give it a try?"

He wasn't expecting any miracles from either of them. Maybe a new leaf or something? Yeah, sure, that'd be progress.

Ishani Dinn​