What's Old Is New Again

[Sobaan Palle]

Above the planet Aurum the menacing dagger shaped form of The Lambent Shadow suddenly appeared. The warship, registered as the property of Ignus Industries was sure to draw it from some and strike fear in the hearts of others,though it's new owner had no desire for either result. This world was his newfound home and the people of it he cherished even more now than he did in the past. To him, the ship was his way of providing a new line of defense, as it was loaded with serious firepower capability. It was also a reminder to him not to be like his father was.

Sobaan departed the vessel with several items in his possession, flying by shuttle craft down to the place at, most specifically the Je'daii temple. This was his home regardless of what the people would think of him now. Undoubtedly most wouldn't recognize him, though he knew somewoukd because of his unnatural appearance, even though much had changed in the few weeks since he'd gone and disappeared in the early morning hours to fly away and meet his father. He was very different now, having aged nine years in that time away from his friends and those he cared most about.

He could have gone to her quarters to see if she was there, but he didn't particularly want to. He wasn't certain what he'd find if he did. Instead, he went to the gardens and climbed his favorite tree, settling with one leg propped on a branch and the other leg dangling down. It didn't quite look as cute as it did when he was younger, he was sure. It was still comfortable, however. He leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree and looked upward. The sky was a beautiful thing. It had been years since he'd been able to see it so he took a few moments to enjoy it.

When he was ready, he reached out to Jyn,seeking her through the Force. He wouldn't say any words, but he knew she knew his signature. He had no doubt that with him being gone for two weeks she would come and seek him out if only you scold him for leaving her again. He smiled at that. She might not be destined to be with him, but she did at least care about him. For that he was grateful. It was always nice to know that someone besides his mother was worried about his well-being.

With the call made, he settled back and just watched the lazy clouds. It was a good day for it.

[member="Jyn Lorr"]

 

[Lief]

So much had happened in the past few weeks.

Jyn and [member="Arekk"] had unearthed a whole civilization within their system, on a world known as Lithios, a planet filled with urban sprawl and commercialism enough to rival the likes of Nar Shaddaa. It was mindblowing, in truth, here they were believing that Aurum was the only world with life on it. Why they hadn't ventured out to properly check before now was unknown to her, a glaring oversight, but that didn't matter. Moving forward there was a lot of work to be done in order to bridge the gaps between their two societies.

Sat within the Silent Archive, Jyn pooled over the information they had gathered during their time away. The day Sobaan disappeared was also the day she and Ar'ekk had left early to answer the distress signal, and upon returning over a week later she had been horrified to find the boy gone. Imagine her surprise then when she felt the subtle indications of his presence back on the world. All attempts at communicating with him had ended in failure, so to sense him was such a relief.

Picking up her commlink she sent out a message to Akro, who had been looking into the boys disappearance alongside his team of Shades, asking him to call off the search.

"Come along, buba," she said, extending one hand out to Kipo who happily climbed up her arm and onto her shoulder. Together with the fat monkey she ventured out into the courtyard which lay between the Archive and the Je'daii Academy, eyes searching for the little one.

What she discovered in his place was a man.

But Jyn was no fool, she knew people by more than their physical appearance. It was [member="Sobaan Palle"] who sat there upon the tree...

"It is good to see that you are alive. I feared the worst."

It was somewhat obvious that she was surprised by the drastic change which had overcome him, yet she was not so impatient as to demand answers to whatever questions she might have had. Truthfully she really was glad he was okay.

 

[Sobaan Palle]

Her lack of verbal surprise did perplex him a bit, but he did recall that she seemed to be acting a lot differently from when he first met her. Less of the outward show of emotion and more of the robotic nature. He couldn't say he liked it, but there were far worse things that could have happened. At least she was still herself underneath of her exterior. He'd seen the results of someone hiding behind a facade first hand and it wasn't something he enjoyed. Honesty was a better policy, even if your honest expression wasn't pleasant.

"One of the reasons I've always liked you is that you care about me," he said, still looking up at the sky. "Before you I only had my mother who did that."

He finally looked down at her and smiled. The monkey on her shoulder was unexpected but at least he was somewhat cute. His first wonder was whether the monkey was more like Reet or just a companion cresture, but he figured he'd find out in time. For the moment he was more concerned with just dealing with Jyn. Undoubtedly she had questions, even if she wasn't asking them. He didn't imagine that anyone who knew him wouldn't have questions.

The issue was in how to tell it. Having been gone for nine years his time, seeing her was like a treat. At the same time it felt odd, because of how much older he now was. Back then he'd held an attraction to her akin to puppy love. Now he felt less if that and more of a concern about whether the man she was with was right for her. Oh, he'd gotten over his feelings for her in time. Sahna had been a great help in that department. Now he felt an odd sense of wanting to be protective, like they were siblings.

Though he supposed the way they'd been when they first met was probably akin to an older sister trying to control a younger brother anyway.

"I went and saw my father," he said, knowing full well that she knew who his father was since he was sure he'd told her before. "Things did not go the way I'd hoped they would."

[member="Jyn Lorr"]

 

[Lief]

Hearing him speak seemed to break the shell which she had temporarily constructed around herself.

It really was him. There was no doubting that now, and so she quickly stepped toward him and leaned up to give him a firm hug. Not quite so easy now that he was grown, she couldn't exactly pull him down from the tree as she used to, but she attempted it all the same.

Kipo used the moment as an excuse to explore the tree, and he began to scamper up it with a series of happy little 'oo's'.

"Are you okay, sweetheart? I was worried sick, I tried your comms but they wouldn't connect through. I even had Akro send some of his best men out, but they didn't find much either."

The mention of his Father had been surprising to say the least, leading to a thoughtful frown which played over her lips.

"Is he the one who did this to you? You were a child just a couple of weeks ago, Sobaan... What happened?"

[member="Sobaan Palle"]

 

[Sobaan Palle]

Eventually her demeanor changed and she approached him for a hug. He leaned down to return it, but instead of just doing that he picked her up and set her in the tree with him. Why? Well, he didn't really want to get down, and to be honest it would be rather awkward talking to her while she was down below him. He also didn't want her to think he viewed himself as being above her since he wasn't going to get down out of the tree. Her sitting in the tree was more like their past.

"I'm sorry I worried you. My father came to me in my dream and told me to come see him," hes aid, resting his hands in his lap. "I made the decision to go without telling anyone where I was going. Though he also told me not tell and I was twelve, so."

Sobaan shrugged. Had he been told the same as an adult he wouldn't have obeyed so readily, so partly the blame would be placed on his father,and partly on his own age at the time. Not that either actually made anything better. He still had left and he'd left her behind with no knowledge of where he'd gone to this time. And after he'd told her he wasn't going to go anywhere too. Well, clearly he wasn't as good at keeping his word as he wished that he was. That would have to change.

He leaned his head back against the tree and looked up at the sky again. It did have a calming affect on him.

"My father knows how to manipulate time within an illusion. He locked me in a room and hid the door from me while aging me for nine days. Nine days for you, nine years for me. I got stronger and smarter as I got older and I eventually broke out or I'd probably be older than this. I have no way of knowing how old he wanted me to be. Being this old after nine years locked in a room hurts me as it is.

"To make matters worse, I figured out that he was a mass murderer and planned to kick me out of my body so he could use it to further his goals of conquering the galaxy. Then he'd find you and the others and kill you so you couldn't expose him. Then he'd progress his goals of presenting himself as a galactic savior to bind world's together before producing offspring and then inhabiting them. He'd do that again and again forever if he could. I couldn't let him do that so I killed him and shoved his spirit into his holocron."

A finger pointed up to the sky above them.

"I hid it on my ship up there. I don't intend to let it ever get found, but I can't destroy it or he will get out."

Orange eyes looked back down to her where she sat near him. While it might seem like none of this really affected him,as he wasn't crying or expressing any real emotion,that was mostly because he'd gotten his emotions out right after it happened and on the flight back to Aurum. He didn't want to focus on those emotions. All he wanted at the moment was to spend time with Jyn; his teacher and friend that he cared very much about.

"I guess I don't really know what to do now. Though I do need to speak with your cousin Kyra at some point. I need to apologize for what he did to her."

[member="Jyn Lorr"]

 

[Lief]

Hefted into the tree, she sat beside him and listened without intrusion or judgement as he told the story of the years he had endured the past week or so.

Quite the ordeal. The poor boy had discovered what most never had to, that his Father was fallible. No, worse than that. Immoral. To discover that you had been tricked by the one who was supposed to look after you, to have your back, was a harrowing experience, something she'd had the displeasure of going through also, and she wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy.

One arm wrapped around his shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze of support.

"I am so sorry that you had to endure this, Sobaan, and alone too... It doesn't bear thinking about. Taking a life is never easy, not even when it is out of necessity. I remember vividly having to do so myself to escape captivity, and I know how it eats away at you. If you ever need to talk, no matter the time of day, you can find me. Okay?"

As for the holocron, she had a few ideas but she wasn't sure if he'd like them.

"We have so many holocrons locked away within our restricted section, ones deemed unsuitable for public consumption. If you would like I can add it to our most restricted area, a place where nobody is permitted to go without the highest clearance. It will be guarded around the clock, kept in a bubble to ensure it can't corrupt or influence its surroundings. That or it could simply be buried away somewhere nobody would find it, like deep within a dune sea."

Down beneath shifting sands, lost like so many civilizations...

"As for Kyra, last I heard she was getting ready to head out to Tem to meet with Ignis and Master Emberfall." Jyn did not know what wrongdoing he spoke of, but it wasn't her place to pry in her sister's business.

[member="Sobaan Palle"]

 

[Sobaan Palle]

Killing wasn't an easy thing even when it came to hunting for food. The life taken was to be respected lest you become one of those people who hunts purely for the sport and let's the meat go to waste. Slightly different from killing your own father but the principle was the same. He'd hated doing it, and it still haunted h, but he knew it was necessary because his father was not an agent of balance but a Force against it. Had he done nothing the galaxy would have been worse, and his own peril would have pailed in comparison.

When she put her arm around his shoulder he leaned against her, though not enough to knock her down. Jyn had always looked out for him over the years they had known each other and he did feel comfortable in her presence. Annoyance, too, but that was pushed to the side. Her significant other wasn't there for him to be wary of and he didn't feel like trying to explain to Jun that he saw things in Ar'ekk that he was worried about.

"Even in the desert things can be found," he said, shaking his head. "The call of Bogan is a powerful thing and he would use it to lure someone into finding him somehow. That's a great risk."

One that couldn't afford to be taken. And while he didn't feel like going to get the holocron from off the ship, he knew it would be far safer locked in the Orders storage facilities than it would be on his ship.

"I will bring it down when I go back to the ship. It's safe for the moment. As for Kyra I will try to catch her before she departs or wait until she returns."

Either would work fine. As long as he had the chance to run into her he would be happy. He had something he needed to give her. Jyn didn't probably know the details of that situation unless Kyra had told her and he figured she might not want him blabbing to everyone that it was his father who had mailed her way back when. That wasn't something that everyone and their brother needed to know. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of flimsi which he offered to her. When she unfurled it she'd find a portrait he had painted of her.

"I made this when he had me locked away. I want you to have it."

[member="Jyn Lorr"]