Gerwald Lechner
And in that, the colorful Lovalla Jedi Knight listened.
But not just with her ears, but with that strange, quiet way the Lovalla had come to listen to the galaxy not just through emotions as an empath, but through the intent and the spaces in between those words.
There was no denying that there was truth there -- and while it may not be necessarily the whole truth, or the only truth, but truth nonetheless.
Over the years, Zaiya had learned that truth was rarely as simple as people wanted it to be. It was more like a gemstone held beneath sunlight. Turn it one way and one facet reflected something real. Turn it another and a different facet reflected something equally real. Sometimes those reflections contradicted one another entirely, and yet neither was false.
The Force had taught her that much, and had there been more time, had the cries of worry and urgency not continued to brush against the edge of her awareness, perhaps she would have stayed to ask more clarifying questions and try to understand the context of the tale. And this was because, despite everything, she had always been the sort of person who wanted to do that with anyone.
Yet it was the warmth she felt through Master Noble's presence that drew him into her thoughts, reminding her that, regardless, lives mattered before stone, before buildings, and that the key element was to protect those you can -- and those young Padawans at the edge of her senses needed her.
So her next steps were simple, the colorful Lovalla shimmering with a brightening bioluminescence that rippled over the exposed rosy-golden skin of her face and arms, as she gave an empathetic incline of her colorful head, the strands of magenta, cobalt blue and teal tickling the mottled spots of her cheeks as she responded softly:
"I hope that perhaps another time, you will be able to tell me more of your story." And she meant it, even as the seeds clicked gently between her fingers before she withdrew her hand from her pocket.
"Because I think there are still pieces I don't understand," she added. A faint pulse of bronze moved through her glow in compassion and understanding, edged just slightly in silvery hues, perhaps a little sadness.
"However..." she continued, her fingers curling back to let the seeds scatter across the jungle floor one by one, each one like tiny stars falling into moss and soil.
Zaiya reached through the Force, not with violence, but with invitation, asking them to grow in a gentle, patient command. And they answered, life answering life with no aggressive intent at all radiating from the Jedi or the planets she had learned to coax with the force by Knight von Ascania.
"I believe every person carries a story," she continued quietly as the first shoots began to emerge from the earth. "
And every story deserves to be heard."
Those vines began to push upward even as the roots burrowed deeper, leaves unfurling.
"But right now..." The Lovalla Jedi Knight stepped backward.
"...there are younglings and Padawans who need protecting."
The growth accelerated, the thick vines twisting together to weave into a living barrier growing between them -- it likely wouldn't hold back the Sith Lord for long, but it gave those needing to escape and her some time. Much needed time. Branches intertwined and the thick vines continued to grow into a wall not meant to harm but to delay and protect as it rose.
"I ask for your understanding," she said sincerely.
"My intention isn't to attack you."
The hedge thickened and widened, creating precious seconds.
"Only to protect others."
Those irricecent opal-blue eyes met his one final time through the growing curtain of green.
"Life is precious," she said softly.
"And the Force asks us to preserve it whenever we can -- even if it means continuously reaching out a hand to try again. I do not know your full story... but I hope to learn the whole of it one day.....There is a light in you, Wolf... and I choose to hope in that."
That he had not attacked her automatically or in anger was evidence of that. And in that light, that tiny little olive branch, is what Zaiya chose to consider.
The vines surged higher, and then with one last step backward, the young Lovalla Knight turned to follow the pull of worried Padawans through the Force, trusting the living wall to buy her the time she needed.
Sometimes that was all a Jedi could do. They didn't need to win or even convince, but simply protect those entrusted to their care and hope there would be another day for understanding.
Darth Strosius
's neck, one at his leg, slice at his arms with one saber each.
