Wanderers

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"]

Chloe’s eyes would sparkle with mischief, and she gave a satisfied waggle of her brows. “Better.” her nose crinkled in humor and she would pass him the bottle for him to enjoy as a reward.

Already her cheeks were flushed pink, but there was a rather infectious glow about the woman. It was in her whimsical smile, her knowing gaze that told of untold tales and secret mysteries that lay therein. Of what she’d experienced. Lived. By all accounts she was an old soul; a wandering spirit that drifted across the lanes. Just out of reach and just as tempting to hold.

“Mmm… oh!” a sudden thought of alarm came to her then. As if she recalled a purpose just then. “Wait a second! DOn’t move!” as if the man could when lounging around drinking fine Corellian Whiskey straight.

A rush of legs and blonde hair would dart off the bed, the padding of her bare feet thumping across the floor. “I’ll be right back!” came her call over her shoulder, hurrying over towards the secondary cargo hold that had been specially made to hold Chloe’s knickknacks and treasures.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

[member="Chloe Blake"]

He wasn't soused, no, but his liver had been long-since cleansed of the effects of his heavy drinking in the days prior to being picked up by the Jedi, many years prior. His contact with alcohol had been infrequent, if not rare in the intervening years, so the buzz was coming on faster than he could recall. Under the influence of what was quite possibly the best liquor in the galaxy, by consensus of both his selves, his eyes didn't seem to have anywhere else to go.

Hers was a smile that made up the brightest points of his days, infectious, undeniably so, but how much of that was the whiskey's influence? When she scuttled off the bed, he watched her go, the bottle held in his lap by his hands, raising it to take a draw as she disappeared from the room. What she was up to, he couldn't be certain, but she had never ceased to amaze him since the day she had taken him in without suspicion, without question.

His mind had been dancing around that as of late. How long could he go on, saying nothing? There was a guilt that had made a slow creep into his mind that he had remained here with her for so long, without letting on, but it was subdued by the liquor in his system; it was a dull itch at the back of his mind, his attentions drawn by other things, like the curiosity over what Chloe had disappeared for that kept his eyes trained on the doorway as he took another small sip from the bottle.

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"]

The pitter patter of feet wasn't too far off. There was the slight thump, a giggle and then the shuffling of a small case. With her prize in hand, the bundle of energy that was Chloe Blake came flouncing back with her blonde hair trailing after her.

Her eyes were a vibrant blue, reminiscent of a summer sky. Cheeks were flushed, tinted pink from drink and her giddiness.

"Got 'em!" she flashed a wink over at Jan, rushing up to bounce onto his bed again. The small bunk rocked a bit under her weight, sending Jan into a slight rush to make sure he didn't spill the bottle.

Laughter ensued, and without further ado, Chloe would slide the ornate resin inlayed, carved wooden box over to the man.

"Go ahead! Open it." she said breathlessly, anxious and giddy like a youngling awaiting lifeday.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

[member="Chloe Blake"]

The sounds he heard, presumably made by Miss Blake, made his eyebrows creep towards his hairline and his mouth curved just to the positive side of flat. When she came bounding back in, his smile cracked wide open; when she nearly dove onto his bed, his eyes went wide and his brows shot the remainder of the way upward, and he swerved to keep the jostling of the bottle to a minimum and the spilling of the precious liquid a non-existent occurrence.

All of this made him sit up straighter, laughter in place of the words that would have once admonished another blonde in a jocular way. When the not-so-plain wooden box was slid over to him, he handed the bottle off to Chloe, and took the box into his two hands, giving it closer scrutiny before she urged him to open it. He flicked a glance of some surprise at her, as if to say, 'but I didn't get you anything...'

"Alright, lass."

Setting the box down in his lap, he opened it with a careful touch, setting the lid back to reveal two items, neither of which brought immediate recognition as to what what they were, specifically, but upon touching each with the Force - probing yet deft touches, they had a resonance to them that told him more than he could discern with his eyes. Those eyes rose up and searched the Warden's face, that visage of exuberance and joy, and asked but one thing:

"Why?"

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"]

"Go on!" she told him, encouraging him to pick up the Je'daai Codex and the subsequent holocron that lay there. "You mentioned some time back about history...." something in passing, likely picked up as a passing comment, but for Jannik, more due to his unique connection to the past. Or that is, the one within.

"Might be something you're interestin' in lookin' at such." She came a little bit closer, enough to scoot herself right beside him. Shoulders brushed, blonde hair close enough to tickle Morlandt's nose. The scent of whiskey, juniper berries, and all that was Chloe.

"This is the Arca Jeth Holocron," she told him, plucking the delicate crystal lattice cube. It held a faint viridian glow to it, all the more apparent when so delicately held within the palms of the Warden's hands.

A soft smile rose over pink lips, and Chloe swung her sky blue gaze to meet Jannik's own.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

[member="Chloe Blake"]

Her proximity, the closest she'd gotten to him so far in this evening, was seized his attention in the most pleasant of ways and jarred his focus. The point of contact felt warmer than it probably was. He nodded along with her explanation, eyes fixed on the holocron...

"I did say something like that," he said with mild humour, "didn't I?"

...until it was plucked out of place. His eyes followed the object, up to where it became near to her face, casting that faint viridian glow against the skin of her cheek where it managed to escape between her fingers. His eyes tracked over to her face, as his mind chewed on the name of the object. Arca Jeth? He could swear he heard that name before... but that line of thought derailed when her eyes met his.

"Yes," he said, gazing back into her eyes, gingerly laying one hand of his own over the holocron, "beautiful. Very."

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"]

"Good." Chloe would shine down at him. She enjoyed Jan's company. He was a good man. One of the very reasons why she was showing him the holocron and the codex. There was more to it than met the eye.

"You ever seen or learned from any other holocrons, Jan?" Chloe would ask him, leaning over to take the bottle in hand, a whimsical smile on her face. Here she was, going on storyteller mode. Her back went sinking against the durasteel bulkhead, and she took another swig at the whiskey.

"Or any other artifacts?" she would ask, brushing the spray drops of distilled gold from her lips with a wayward grin. "You've this aura about you, y'know... my granddaddy says its like the eyes of an old soul." a flick of sky blue would drift over to the Jedi Master with the mop of dark hair.

"You've eyes that say you've learned and seen a lot of things."

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

[member="Chloe Blake"]

He too settled back, the holocron now nestled in his own, larger hands. He turned it over a few times, inspecting its surface through sight and touch before leaving it to sit in-between his palms. The glow leaked out through his fingers, out the top where his hands didn't cover; his eyes had since moved on to watching her drink, watching and listening to her talk with a voice that carried just the right amount of sweet, and watched when she wiped those drops of amber from those lips.

"Aye, in truth and in ways" he said, looking at her eyes again with then now-sombre glean in his own, "and more than you know, Chloe, more than you know."

A faint smile lent the narrowest grade of a curve to his lips, and he attended to placing the holocron back in the case. He hadn't much availed himself of the breadth and depth of knowledge bonded to his mind, after being exposed to a swath of memory before he managed to gain control. He was wary of what he might find, that it could be worse, and that it could change him in ways that he couldn't accept in the here and now.

"Chloe..."

He clasped the box shut and set it aside, looking to her again; a hand was held out, palm upwards, seeking a hand of her own.

"...you have taken me in, done so much for me without expecting anything in return. I take pleasure in your company, and I've learned so much of you, and... I think it's time I told you of me."

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"]

There was a bit of confusion in Chloe’s eyes, and she sobered for a moment while his hand took her own. There was something there in Jannik’s eyes. There reflected a deep ache as well as a semblance of burden. She knew that the visions often would wreck him; wretch him in body, mind, and soul.

Feeling a measure of empathic concern, the blonde would set the bottle by her thigh and set her other hand over Jannik’s own.

“Alright.” really, all she could do was just support him. He seemed to bear a heavy burden upon his chest, and if there was anything the Warden had learned throughout her travels, is that sometimes folk just need an ear to hear.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

[member="Chloe Blake"]

He smiled wanely, closing his eyes, and breathing out a deep, shuddering breath. All that he was going to and could impart, would it change the way things were? The divulgence of truth always carried the risk of loss, but this was a thing that needed doing. He couldn't accept that she would never ask, and he would rather it be on his own terms, than to be put on the spot and unprepared. His eyes opened to her face, the uncertainty a frisson, a streak across his eyes.

"This body was not born free," he began, looking away to the far bulkhead that enclosed the foot-end of the bunk, "this mind is hardly my own. Before I was even a babe, the purpose of my life was decided. That I have my own psyche, separate from that purpose, was a matter of chance."

His fingers curled around the hand he held, an anchor if anything.

"For all I knew, growing up amongst the durasteel that makes up Coruscant, I was an orphan, with the vaguest memories of my mother, and a love for music thanks to the lullaby that mother possibly sung to me," the ghost of a fond smile apparated on his lips at the memory, in brief, "but as the visions that plagued me became worse and I could no longer hide, the Jedi came for me. The training I received as a padawan became part of my fondest memories, but as I was guided to open up my mind, the war came, and so did the first thing that told me that nothing was as it seemed."

He glanced at Chloe, then went on.

"The signs were there, early on, but I couldn't have seen them, couldn't have known. How many times did my master ask me if I was certain that I had never been trained before? How little I realized that she was on the mark. My first connection with the Eye of the Dark Lord shouldn't have been possible, by all that we know on the matter of how visions work, but there I was within the temple on Ossus, seeing through her eyes as she tempted my own brothers and sisters and drove one to near-darkness at the revelation and images of my missing master, who had been cut up, beaten, tortured at the hands of Sith."

He took a deep breath in through his nose, and out again.

"It wasn't until Isolda got her hands on me at the failed capture of Empress Teta - by my own surrender, no less - that everything I believed to be true about my life crumbled to dust."

It was then that he paused, asking for the bottle of whiskey with his free hand.

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"]


The bottle was given to the Jedi Master, quiet contemplation respectfully maintained from the Warden. Chloe may have been imbibing in the whiskey, but that wouldn’t hinder her ability to simply listen.

Pain etched Jan’s face, as did struggle. There was a heavy weight there, and the more and more he wove his tale, the more a clearer picture would take shape. A puzzle piece carefully snapping into place, one section at a time. The Corellian knew the Jedi was frequently plagued with nightmares and visions; her granddaddy would have said he was blessed as a prophet. For her, her faith was a way of life. Simple.

Things weren’t so simple for Jan.

Her hand went reaching out, clasping his free hand, tightening her grip. It was how she would show support, not matter how wild of a story he wove. After all, she knew very well that all stories were based on a measure of truth.

This was Jannik’s.

And it was saturated by the Eye of the Dark Lord.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

[member="Chloe Blake"]

He took the bottle into his hands, releasing hers, and whispered his thanks. The lid was removed, and the bottle tipped to his mouth within seconds, one generous gulp drawn from the vessel before it was recapped and set against the leg closest to Chloe - only with one hand, for the blonde-maned woman against the side wall of his bunk had wasted no time in re-establishing the physical connection. The one reminder as he went sifting through memories both false and true that reality was present; she was the tether.

"I had done it on purpose with every intention of confronting her; any other decision would have meant the death of not only myself, but those with me. A padawan, speaking for others, knights, some of which didn't want to admit that there was no other recourse. I was fully aware of the the fact that I was subjecting others to something that would change their lives in likely the worst of ways, and had the potential to cause irreparable damage. I took their lives into my own hands, people I barely knew."

Reliving the sight of what they'd done to Kira was never easy, even if she had come through it and prospered, found happiness. The remembrance of this decision's outcomes carried with it some regret, for what had become of Turin, but it had been necessary. He would never know if the man cared at all to forgive him.

"Isolda kept me for some time, and by all reasoning, I should have been turned. I saw many terrible, terrible things in her company, and learned even more. This was when I learned that she is my sister, my twin," he glanced sidelong at Chloe, with that admission, "and that all of this had been done before, more than once, with me as an active participant. The seal had begun to crack, and over the many years since that day I would come to know how I came to be, why I had not simply been at her side, and of all the things I, or rather the one for whom this body was intended and with whom I now share a bound psyche, had done."

Only then did moisture form at the corners of his eyes. The cognizance of every atrocity, over time that seemed beyond measure, was a crushing burden, knowledge that caused pain merely from knowing.

"I am the intended vessel of an anachronism, dear Chloe," he croaked, turning his face to her, "one that treats with death itself, and has befriended it. One that has at times bent nearly the entire galaxy to his and her wills, his twin, his lover, his mate. He is Hákon, and he wants nothing more now in this life than vengeance upon his womb-mate, redemption of his soul that he doesn't believe he can have, and to have this ageless torture end. Permanently."

Eyelids squeezed shut, and he gasped when his head dropped back against the wall, gulping air and trying to calm himself, his face streaked with tears.

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"]

Silence would permeate between she and he, Jannik torn asunder by the confession of his past sins, of the turmoil that rent him in two.

In more ways than one and a few, a bit more literal than it could be expected.

It was such a tall tale to swallow. One couldn't be faulted for considering the entire thing no more than a spacer tale. However, Chloe Blake was a walking myth and legend herself, all Wardens were. The things she had seen during her travels in this 'Verse would make anyone believe she was only telling stories. Yet they were true. As wild and radical as anyone could ever believe.

Jannik shuddered under his burden, and Chloe bit her lower lip. Her own vision became blurry, and she felt such an empathic pull. There wasn't anything she could say, but at the very least she could offer him a measure of comfort.

The hand that had held is would start to pull, tugging him over to her. The bottle of whiskey dipped precariously, but found itself set against the wall and the bed, keeping it in place.

Were Jannik to allow it, Chloe would pull him into her embrace, letting him sink against the warmth of her chest and holding him close. Everyone, regardless who they were, craved that. Especially when feeling so vulnerable, bare.

Naked as one lay trembling coated with every mark and scar of one's mistakes and shame.

Chloe wouldn't turn away though. No, instead she pulled him to her, her blonde hair a veil to shield him, her arms a perch to rest upon.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

[member="Chloe Blake"]

He had told no-one the extent, how deep it all ran, before now; a bottomless chasm, so it seemed. Shame for all the things that this body had not done in truth, but that it was purposed to that end was enough to believe that he, separate of all else, had performed every act. Shame for the tears that burned his eyes and heated his face, a small mercy that shame was hidden against her breast, beneath the flaxen waterfall. A fist lodged between teeth to stifle the vocal excess of the pain. A pain that was too real, no matter how he had come by it.

It was the one thing that he could understand, the pain of loss. Even more so, now, with the griefs of Hákon.

His eyes were left to leak as he shuddered, shoulders quivering while working to settle and confine those parts of his psyche - taking out the jumble of memory to piece together a linear chain of events for the telling was an excruciating, exhausting endeavour of emotion, but a necessary one. She had a right to know just what she had been harbouring on her ship, all this time of years. He had little hope doing that would get easier, but he wasn't all he was for the ease of it.

"I-I..." his voice cracked out, after a time, the words buzzing against her chest, "...I'm sorry."

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"]

The gentle cafune of the dark forelocks over Jannik's brow would continue. Her response to his apology was merely tightening her embrace, her left hand sliding up to rub in an act of comfort over his upper arm. Chloe would nestle him closer, simply holding him.

"It's alright, Jannik." her soft voice would float over him, her chest rising as she took a deep breath. The low even thump of her heart would be right by his ear, and she encouraged him to stay there. Her shirt was spotted with the trace of tears, but she paid him no mind.

Instead, she would rest her cheek at the crown of his head, sliding it over to press a gentle kiss on his temple. Sometimes, all one needed was to feel that someone was there. To feel that comfort. Chloe was more than happy to provide that.

"It's alright."

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

[member="Chloe Blake"]

He didn't move, didn't speak again as many more minutes ticked past, allowing himself to close his eyes and just be. The soothe of her words had almost no effect - none of it was alright, yet it was his lot and accepting it as but one facet of himself was the hardest part of the whole ordeal - but the rhythm of her breathing, heartbeat, and rubbing of his arm, the small peck at his temple, her cheek against his crown... just being held as he hadn't been in longer than he could rightly put a finger on was what he needed more than he knew., and he shuddered one last time as his shakenness began to abate.

It would get better with time - that was the belief with most traumas - and he had to believe in that, "I think," and if he left his words at that, it would make for a woefully grand understatement, "giving this your birthday its due is of the most importance, now." His eyes creaked open as he continued to push past the hard admittance, "because it's your birthday, and..." a long, thick pause, before mumbling even more against her chest, "...because it's your birthday."

Well, it made sense to him. Surely that much whisky hadn't been consumed already! Where did that bottle get to, anyway?

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"]

Chloe gave a small laugh, her chest shaking as she did so. A small cafune of Jannik's hair came next, the slender fingers of the Warden lightly running through it.

"Shhh.Sel ne chalreno chircaye li" «Don't worry about it» she murmured against his temple. Her hand went slipping down and came to rest on his shoulder. With mild amusement, Chloe gave it a small rub and a pat.

"It's fine. Reckon just relaxin' a bit and passin' the time is good 'nuff for me." she admitted, expelling a sigh as the tension eased from her body a bit more. Settling against the bulkhead, she rested her head upon it. A small closing of her lids and she let her fingers thrum against the bottle of whiskey.

"Hmm.. been wonderin' where we'd chart off to next." there were many options, some still undiscovered. Might be nice to look over the Kathol sector again. Only thing is that it took time.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

[member="Chloe Blake"]

He sighed against her, the first words out of her mouth after his proclamation being lost on him as to precisely what they were, but he gathered what she meant by them, well enough; her fingers in his hair, on his arm, a rub, a pat conveying the message. She was doing everything to soothe him, set him at ease, and she did just that.

"Good 'nuff," he half-mouthed, "is good 'nuff," and he lifted his head when she relaxed, shifting to look on the sense of peace in her visage, thankful for this woman who passed no judgement o'er the things he could not help, nor the things o'er which he had no control; he settled back to where he'd been a moment prior, having no reason to change a thing. She spoke again, of where they might go next. It was often a mystery, but that lack of stringent itinerary was the way of things and he was long accustomed to it, by now.

"We can stick around, see what we can stick our noses into for the Alliance, get our feet dirty at Kathol," he hummed, "or... there's a bit of knowledge I've been meaning to track down for far too long - since my days as a padawan, to be honest." He shrugged about as much as he could shrug, with the position he was in. Speaking of padawans... "Cho seems to have found her niche with the squadron; the frequency of her training is already changing to accommodate it. So, I wonder if we'll have another passenger, or if it'll just be us for a while."

As it had been in the beginning.

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"]

“Another passenger?” Chloe began, mulling about it. It was odd. Not that she didn’t mind having folk over in the Aurora, just that for the longest, she’d been alone and traveled alone. The life of a Warden generally was left in solitude patrolling the lanes. Having others here was strange, but nice.

It first started with Jorus. Then Mara when she’d been born. Ran the length of her first year of life before she told Jorus she was leaving. At the time, she’d been struggling with her feelings for the pilot. Only until it was two late did it finally sink in that if she wanted someone, she should have let them know.

“You thinkin’ of getting another apprentice or somethin?” she would as, gently tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her right ear. It was nice, simply sitting and chatting. She did this with her granddaddy back on Corellia.

Feth, did she ever miss those days.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

Was he? He blinked slowly, a light hum rising in his throat as he mulled that one over. It was an idle curiosity, wondering if, rather than any declaration of intent... but he couldn't quite say no with any confidence in the answer.

"Could be, could not," and that was the truth, "I never went looking for a padawan on purpose, but Choli came into my life, nonetheless. I'll know to take another if the time should come."

His hand went to the one she had at his shoulder, giving it a soft pat.

"If the Force wills it, if the student meshes well." He mused some more. "Would you take a student?"