Shadows of Bankor

It was surprising, to her, that she hadn't considered the possibility before she mentioned this place to Poule. What it might be able to become, what it might mean, but there was someone else she needed to share this story with. Having traveled here again the two of them walked up the dirt path, Jenna with a backpack full of things she felt she might need for what she was planning and some basic essentials like food and water.

"So, this was their home," she said to Xanna as they approached, taking in the sight of the land after the sun had begun to drop.

There is a bag with Jenna's clothes neatly folded and even cleaned.

"And now they are gone." She noted the bag of clothes and listened for the sounds of life. It all seemed quiet.

"But they simply abandoned this place? Moved on with their lives?" It seemed nice. Homely. Quaint even.

The countryside was picturesque. It reminded her of Oraka's old farmstead, before they had been forced to torch the place.

"Wouldn't you?" she said, walking up to the bag with her clothes. Putting a hand on top of it she thought, and smiled with a hint of blush to her cheeks, and then continued on, "Their husband, father.. even if they knew he died he was gone and this place, could you imagine living in a place like this? This.. quiet, if one of the people you built a life with, shared a life with, if they were just suddenly gone? I'm.." she glanced up, looked around, hefting the backpack next to her bundled clothes.

"I'm not sure that I could handle the quiet out here if something like that happened to Petrus. I'm not sure I would be able to stand the quiet, be left alone with my grief day in and out."

"No. I... That would probably be impossibly sad." She looked out across the fields. "If it happened suddenly like that. Perhaps if one had lived a life already, and planned to finish it here." That would not be so sad.

She thought about saying there was no death, only the force. But it was not what Jenna needed to hear.

"So. Are you going to tell me this story?" She gestured to the bag of clothes.

Jenna had looked up to Xanna, looked slightly downward somberly, but then turned her attention to the clothes on the bed and, with the lightest hint of a blush, "I.. I really have no idea where to start with that and I've explained it to two people already," she chuckled awkwardly.

"Guessing you want to hear it all the same though?" she looked back, a small smile. "I'm not sure if you'll think I'm crazy or not, I'm still not totally sure about it myself if I'm to be honest."

"Your friend the soup girl became a Jedi Knight today. I am thinking this is not going to be the craziest story of the day Jenna."

With a smile she took a seat at the humble farmhouse table and gestured for her to spill the beans.

"I.." she almost forgot about that, that not only Petrus but she too likely underwent that trial. Finding herself a seat, she started in slow, "It's not going to be," she said, rubbing the back of her neck, "but first.. congratulations, I.. I told Petrus much of the same, but as far as I was concerned you were both already Jedi for a long time before you took those trials. Silly rules, trials, be damned, but still.. I know it meant something to you so.. congratulations."

"As far as the other thing," she continued, "suppose it's good to start by mentioning that I tried breaking into an imperial base today? Well, I did, in the Imperial sector, in Rygor. Bit of a long story, maybe, but.. well, I can tell you the important part," she glanced at the clothes.

"Thank you Jenna. It was the culmination of so much of what we have trained for all this time." Of what we have become. "But of course, it was also another beginning."

Her eyes moved to the bag of clothes and then back to her friend. "You...broke into an Imperial base? You are always full of surprises. Come along then, tell me why your clothes are in a bag here and there is colour rising to your cheeks." She raised an eyebrow.

"I.." she stammered, the red turned to a deeper color from the embarrassment of it, she shook her head and focused, "it was going poorly, here and there, but I'd managed myself into a uniform and up into an elevator. Was about to take it up to some of the administrative levels, see what I could learn. This afternoon.. they had something going on, some kind of deployment, the seemed distracted so I took my chance."

"However," she cleared her throat, "Commander Poule was there, I've run into him.. a few times now, and it never went well for him. First, the Aznuri, then later.. a job, for Vandil, that I had to do. Face to face, in that elevator, he recalled as much.. my disguise didn't hold up against someone whose life I've only made more and more difficult. Things.. escalated, after that, he tried to grab me," and she held up a finger at Xanna there, given the circumstance, silencing the thought, "but I managed free and that's when he grabbed his blaster. Had it trained on me, someone he had no reason to trust let alone.. someone he would have been totally justified in hating, but he gave me a chance to explain myself and he listened. Walked me right out of that base, sent me on my way, I dropped the mission and we agreed to forget it happened. I've.. I've not been able to get my head totally on straight since then.." she confessed.

Xanna followed along, nodding at the key parts. There had been several engagements today, she had heard the Brute of Rygor was dead.

"Commander Poule? It sounds as though you have been having quite the impact on this person." She thought for a few moments before continuing. "Not everyone on the other side of this conflict is an evil person. The Empire is vast and its propaganda is effective. Many fight because they think it is the correct thing to do. That a rebellion against the Empire puts lives in danger for the wrong reasons. There are always shades. Perhaps your Poule is a good man in a difficult situation?"

"He, he is.. his father, his father is back in the core and has a condition that means a steady source of medical attention is important to make sure he stays healthy and alive. Stephe's service supports that, supports the care and attention his father receives. Everything that I know, everything I could instinctively feel when I was there with him.. I know, I know he's just a man, a soldier, who wants to protect people. His people, the people who rely on him, most of all," she paused, thought, "and.. and it's not just my head wrapped up in this mess," she said, adamantly, but it was to her own internal thought, trying to convince herself for certain, to see if Xanna felt she still seemed sane enough perhaps, "it can't be, because if he wasn't that kind of man.. why would he have ever let me go?"

She listened attentively, noting the use of the man's first name, the feelings coming through in Jenna's commentary. She nodded and gave a sad smile.

"Unfortunately he is working for the military of an empire that wishes me, and your brother, and many if not all of our friends enslaved or dead. Or worse. That does not mean that everyone working within the structures of the Empire is evil, but it is important context for tomorrow's action."

She looked out of the window at the farmlands. "Do you think he would set down his weapons for the chance at a new start? I suspect that would be challenging for a military man with soldiers under his command. Perhaps diplomacy would work with someone like you have described. It is difficult to know until the situation arises. In any case, I hope that whatever happens tomorrow, your Stephe Poule can be kept out of the fighting."

For a bit, Jenna just sat there and thought. Rising from her seat she went to her bag and started unpacking what she had inside, basic essentials, but ultimately it appeared a bag for someone who intended to stay, at least for a night.

"You know," she started, "this farm... Reminds me of a dream I had, a dream from before when my only enemy I had to run from was the Empire. Coming to take my brother away from me," she said, looking around the room and getting an idea of how she might start.

"Lost that dream," she said, putting her hands on her hips as she really took in the surrounding room, "when Vandil picked up the call instead of Tididol. When I thought my life was over, that she was going to take everything I have and discard me. Then I remembered, eventually, to find some hope," she finally stopped examining the area and began cleaning up the big ticket items, the ones most noticeable.

"Then, Stephe," she said, "found him on the other side and I should have hated him from the start, shouldn't have pushed, shouldn't have pried but now.. now I care and people keep trying to remind me that he's an Imperial, that there just might not be anything to do, that a good man is just.. lost, maybe. I wish I could just stop caring, sometimes."

"Now.. now I'm here," she moved back to her bag, pulling the blaster from it and hiding it somewhere safe in the room, a drawer. "With the Empire, Vandil, and even the resistance threatening to kill someone I've come to care about."

"I just," she choked up on the thought, turned away.

"I just don't know what to do."

"If I may Jenna?" She rose from the table and offered her friend a hug. It seemed the right thing to do.

"You are in a unique position. You will know when and where the Resistance action is taking place. All you require is knowledge of where Stephe Poule is supposed to be at that time." She looked carefully at Jenna as she spoke. "You could attempt to access that information. Maybe with a good enough slicer you could change his duty schedule. Have him assigned far from the action. Give him the day off?"

She squeezed Jenna's shoulders gently. "You are resourceful. All is not lost. There is still room for hope."

It'd taken her a moment, to turn to Xanna, to bite back the tears but she did it. Turning to her as she finally approached, it was easy, good, to have a friend this close. Someone she could feel, that cared, that knew.

"You're.. you're right," she said, "I am.. I can figure out something. I'm not sure what yet, I've... I've already mentioned this to Jurdak, I.. asked him to try and talk Stephe down if he saw him. That's.. a start, but you're right I can do more I just need.."

Jenna quickly looked around the room, "I need to clean," she paused, looked at Xanna, "I mean think but.." she waved it off, "thank you," her voice was low but sincere as she took Xanna into another hug, tight as she could.

The hug was reciprocated after a moment of surprise. "I believe in you Jenna. Do you remember that first day we met, when you turned up at the soup kitchen? I was right about you then. I am right about you now."

She pulled back and looked Jenna in the eyes. "Now go and clean up. You can plan out your strategy in the shower. I will clean this place up a little." She looked over at the sink. "I mean, it is not like you can ask your brother to help with that..."

"Yea," she said with a smile, "remember walking in through that door and just kinda pausing there. You didn't ask then, but you know why now," she shrugged in the hug, "needed to be able to see some good come from what I was doing back then. Felt guilty, I s'pose," she released from the hug with Xanna.

"Thanks," she paused for Xanna to say her piece, "Yea, doubtful," she glanced around, smiling at the tease to Petrus, "its a nice place. Would be nice to get to come back here after everything," she doubted it, but she hoped, "I'll go find that shower."