Private Wayseekers

[Zark San Tekka]

CORUSCANT
Romi Jade

Master San Tekka was meditating in the high council chamber when he felt her presence. Vibrant tumultuous life surged back into his senses as soon as the Jedi opened his eyes. Zark pondered the meaning of this confluence before he departed temple grounds. War plans and padawan lessons threatened to cloud his mind but the Force guided him through Galactic City's byzantine public transit.

Ignoring the looks his crossguard lightsaber was beginning to draw, Zark reached out and knew she was close.

Coruscant's bustling skyline zoomed by. Pollution from the Alliance capital's many industrial sectors was a distant problem here in this residential subdistrict. A simple white cloak clashed with vibrant core world fashion, yet the anonymous Jedi presented cause for little more than minor curiosity. Perhaps if any caught a good glimpse under San Tekka's hood they might recognize him from propaganda holoreels or public ceremony.

A busy market sold starflowers from Alderaan which gained his eye. He traded some bacta from his belt with an irritable toydarian before moving on.

Zark raised his metal hand to the Jade family estate's threshold and knocked.

"Hello there."

 

[Romi Jade]

INKARI-JADE ESTATE
Zark San Tekka
​

Her form melded into the skyline's reflection in the glass, somehow she'd gotten lost in the cityscape.

Off, just behind her, Cortana had found herself immersed in her own curiosities. Children make little effort to suppress their natural enthusiasm. If left to their own devices with crayons, paint, a toy...wonderful things often blossom. She found herself enamored with this doll that suddenly began to defy gravity, she couldn't discern whether her excitement was for the floating toy itself or rather that she was making it float.

A smudge of an object floating just in the corner of her eye caught Jade's full attention -- "Cortana!" The girl was startled at the sudden eruption, and the doll collided with the vanity's ceramic surface. Jade, now hovering over her daughter, scooped the doll in her hand and transferred it into Cortana's -- a subliminal signal that this was the proper way to play.

"Lady Jade, excuse me--there's a visitor."

"Oh-erm, let them in. I'll take them in the Veranda. Could you see her to the reading room, she should be studying more Hapan."

----

Occupying the furnished veranda, she stood just opposite the bubbling fountain awaiting her guest, the room was illuminated by disk-shaped lamps, though most of the lighting here was natural; the sun hit all of the necessary places. The ceiling and walls were of a ribbed design, arching over the rooms to allow natural light to flow in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and expansive skylights. Even the edges found some occupation, several handing orbs and vases dotted the darkest corners of the room. This had become a common decor theme for them.

By this point she'd felt a more than familiar presence, and had been cycling through her mind what such an impromptu meeting could possibly be about.

It'd been maybe 5 years since she'd seen or spoken to "Zark," she voiced, noting his presence filling the room as he and his guide approached. "Erm-Master San Tekka."

 

[Zark San Tekka]

INKARI-JADE ESTATE
Romi Jade

"Please," the visitor raised a hand, "There's no need for ceremony."

At last, Zark pulled back his hood to reveal a greying shoulder length mane. Lines on the Jedi Master's face were beginning to betray clear signs of age. There was still a glimmer of vitality in those eyes, but the last five years had clearly not been kind. When he smiled at her it made him look a little younger.

"It is good to see you, Romi."

He could sense she had questions. A member of the Jedi Council was standing on her veranda after all. Master San Tekka offered his thanks to the servant who guided the way thus far. Warm light from the system's main sequence star bathed everything in an almost ethereal glow. Zark held out the bouquet of starflowers.

"Today I sensed a presence I had not felt in some time. Council matters ever cloud my thoughts. Are we not still friends?"

 

[Romi Jade]

INKARI-JADE ESTATE
Zark San Tekka
​

She nodded, surrendering both hands openly -- she conceded; no ceremony it was.

Though respectful, their relationship had always been, she and Zark had always carried a laid back and friendly tone. They were friends.

"It's really good to see you too, Zark. Please." She motioned with her hand, a signal for him to welcome himself, fully, into the room, "You look well, they haven't been stressing you out too much have they?" She joked. "You'll have to forgive me, I would've had something much more prepared for our encounter if I knew it had been you coming. I apologize. Could I offer you something to drink or-"

It did linger along the surface of her thoughts, was this just a friendly visit, or was this telling of something more? Of course should any of her friends wish to visit they could, but the circumstances just brought about her own curiosity.

Well, for 5 years she'd been on hiatus...and out of the galactic scene really.

"Are those for me?" She broke into a staccato of a giggle, "Thank you, let me throw them in a vase." She sauntered away, a few feet, not far. While packing the flowers, she mused over his comment, "A presence?".

Pouring water, "Yes-well I consider us friends...do you feel differently?" She guided the vase into spot suitable for proper sunlight.

She whipped around, "Is everything alright?"

 

[Zark San Tekka]

INKARI-JADE ESTATE
Romi Jade

"I feared you might blame me for not keeping in contact," Zark confessed, "Master Quill was wise to warn me my obsession with the Sith crusades blinded me to other dangers. Now you have a family I hardly know."

Doing his best to hide a troubled look in his eyes, Master San Tekka admired the vase. Bathed in sunlight from Coruscant's main sequence star each brilliant azure flower strained forward. He could sense them as dim candles for the Jedi had never mastered a connection with nature.

"It was your presence I sensed, Romi. As if you were standing here. That's why you received no warning. At first, I thought you called me. I'm beginning to suspect it was the Force's will."

Zark gazed up at the heavens. Somewhere above the floating temple ship Prosperity drifted in orbit like a beacon. It was so easy to feel safe here. Protected.

"Everything is not alright. Victory's cost...too many masters have fallen. I know you don't agree with everything the Order's done, but we need Jedi who can teach a better way."

 

[Romi Jade]

INKARI-JADE ESTATE
Zark San Tekka
​

"No-" She retorted. "There's no blame, if anything it all falls on me." Her shoulders fell in a sense of vulnerability. "I've been able to handle any obstacle that's come my way Zark; my entire life has been just that...overcoming circumstances. But, family has always been one of those things I've failed to master. This journey over the last five years has been the scariest path I've ever been on. I've isolated myself, my family, I gave up everything I knew...I've refused my daughter thus far the interest of the Jedi path...my path -- all out of fear." Though, she realized.

"I see now it was the wrong descison, I apologize for that. I'd guess that was really why I wanted to relocate here...to be close to what was familiar."

She glanced over, mystified, when he mentioned it was her presence, that he actually felt. "Well, you and I both know there aren't many coincidences, if any at all." It all made sense, and was even greater proof of the ways in which the Force worked -- it had eluded them both, and brought them together.

Certainly now, she really valued that Zark was here. If there was any answers she was seeking then this would be the sign.

She took a moment to linger on his words, it triggered in her a series of flashbacks from over the years: The Jakku Enclave, Coruscant, Quill...war. People, places, things, causes that were so engulfing at the time when she experienced them. Comparing them to now...

"You believe I can help?" She kept her head low. "Actually believe..."

 

[Zark San Tekka]

INKARI-JADE ESTATE
Romi Jade

Master Zark reached out to gently tilt the Jedi's chin up.

"I have always believed in you, Romi Jade."

His eyes brimmed with restrained emotion. Zark could feel her doubt and realized the Force must have brought him here for more than one reason. Like Romi, he was not a man who believed in serendipity.

"You were right to warn our Order against going too far. In breaking the Sith Empire, we unleashed a terrible new darkness upon the Unknown Regions," the Jedi Master raised a metal hand, "But let us speak no more of blame."

San Tekka closed his eyes and smiled.

"She is strong in the Force, like her mother. It is no crime to fear for your child yet in time she will grow and make her own choices. Do not deny her the chance to make this galaxy a better place...as I know you have."