Shadows of Bankor

Verse arrived at the enclave, this time entering through more legitimate means rather than climbing into someone's garden. She was here to see sister Viati, after Sister Hulia had suggested it the other day, and started politely asking around. Having been warned that she was skeptical of outsiders, Verse made sure to be on her best behavior, not wanting to offend the Aznuri.

Hopefully things would go smoothly.

They direct her to a building where many folks are cooking and among them is Viati who paused and said, "Welcome laowai."

She moved to dry her hands and said, "You had questions for me?"

"Greetings," she said, "I thank you for your welcome. I actually spoke with Sister Hulia the day before, she suggested I might speak with you after she read my fortune in her cards. I hope that wouldn't be an imposition."

"I offer wisdom to all who ask, even those who are not of the tribes," she said honestly.

"She said you have the Gift? She thought you would have more insight on the things we spoke about. I'm... well, I'm not sure how much she told you about who or what I am. But I believe we share a common past, a common enemy, and could help each other out a great deal."

As if to answer her own question, Verse opened herself up to the Force, sensing it all around her, and perhaps even around the Sister.

Sense (to sense the Force maybe?): 1eF 2 Light Side

She glimmered in the Force as she replied, "You are Jedi, yes I am aware."

But there was something else a growing shadow behind her getting closer... or it seemed to.

She took note of the growing shadow, thinking back to the words of Sister Hulia.

"Did she also tell you that we are being hunted? I think it is coming not just for me, but you as well. The Sith are here, and none that touch the Force are safe from their evil."

"They will come for me, just as they will come for you," she said honestly. "I do not fear these hunters."

"Good. Fear is a path to the Dark Side," she replied. "But even so, I'm not certain that simply not fearing them will be enough to stand against them. The inquisitor who's on Bankor now... I don't know him, but I know the inquisitors are very powerful, and they command powerful forces. I would have us stand together, if you are willing?"

She watched the woman closely, to see what she thought of the suggestion.

"The Jedi were friends of the Aznuri, once, it can be so again," she said.

She smiled, relieved to see that the rumors of her distrust of outsiders was apparently much exagerated.

"That's good to hear. Very good to hear. Sister Hulia, she said the cards revealed the inquisitor was of two halves. It was after that, that she suggested I talk to you. How much do you know about the Light and the Dark Side of the Force? I think it might mean he could be redeemed."

"I have studied the old ways, they are not Jedi ways but we know," she said proudly.

"Of course, I would welcome any knowledge you might have to share on this or any other matter, as I would be willing to share what I know with you. We must be as one in these matters."

Verse Aura wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:54 pm

"Of course, I would welcome any knowledge you might have to share on this or any other matter, as I would be willing to share what I know with you. We must be as one in these matters."

"Perhaps share what you know and I will do what I can to add to it," she responded.

"Well, that's a lot of stuff about a whole lot of things I suppose. Where to even begin? About the Inquisitor himself, I don't really know anything. Other than they must be Sith. The Empire is controlled by the Sith, who betrayed us and almost destroyed the Jedi in the process. The Sith are of the Dark Side, but the cards said that he was not always evil and that he's of two halves. I don't know what that means. There are many Jedi in history that fell to the dark side and became Sith, but there are also Sith that were redeemed and turned to the light."

She was rambling a bit, trying to get the words without stumbling over them.

"If he could be redeemed, I think that would make all of this much easier. But without knowing more about him, about his life before being an inquisitor, about the other half of him that Sister Hulia talked about... I don't know what could be done to draw him toward the Light."

Verse had had no commlink to call, and so their arrival was less than coordinated. Vaya asked other locals for directions to sister Viati, and tried to strike a balance between holding politely back and eavesdropping. She caught the gist of a few exchanges, and then stepped forward, nodding at Verse and offering a longer nod, sort of a bow-from-the-neck, and waiting to be acknowledged or recognized, but happy to listen.

"So you must learn more of your enemy, that is knowledge I do not have," she said honestly.

She nodded toward the other arrival, but focused her attention back on the Sister.

"Well, it was an idle hope I suppose. But it need not be knowledge of the inquisitor themselves that could aid. I was told a little of your past, and that of the Jedi who were a part of it. There was cleansing of dark places, yes? Maybe that could be a path to redeeming these Sith as well?"

"If I may," said Vaya, stepping forward. "When we were talking to Sister Huali yesterday... there may be something you do know -- something about the Jedi, if not their enemies. Something they left behind. Not in the Calm," she added hastily. "But I was doing some digging. Something about an old temple, on one of the moons?"

"You are either very smart laowai or very nosy," she said.

"Yes we know of it."

She was a little worried this new talk might cause offsense, but then there was mention of a temple on one of the moons?

"A Jedi temple?"

Dapper Dog wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 28, 2020 3:57 am

"You are either very smart laowai or very nosy," she said.

"I get that a lot," said Vaya, shrugging uncomfortably. Competing urges -- curiosity, wanting to treat this woman with respect, a knee-jerk reaction to being brusque-and-cryptic'd at -- she hid from her face, although her antennapalps waved agitatedly. "Listen, sister, I came here because Hulia said it was all right. If I'm not welcome, I won't stay. But I'm asking these questions because..." she hesitated, the expression on her face perhaps familiar to Verse from yesterday. "Because the Force is important to all of us." She blinked, as if surprised by the grace of the statement, and then stumbled onwards. "To me, I mean, also, but maybe, uh, the galaxy. Maybe now more than ever." She gestured to the sky, a sweep of her arm taking in the sorry state of a galaxy under banners with the Imperial cog. "And they're already looking for that kind of thing, hard, and you won't like what they do when they find it." I could tell you first hand. "I don't know how to show you you can trust me -- Hulia just seemed to, uh, know. Or guess." She shrugged, temporarily out of steam.

Viati frowned and narrowed her eyes at Vaya and then said, “Aznuri have good reasons to not trust every smiling face claiming to want the best for us. Jedi Temple is not ours though, we know of it, it is on big moon, stories say under the earth… never been so who can say. Old, very old.”

“Maps exist, old but they are with the people of the tribes.”

"She is certainly curious," she said, "But I do not believe she means harm at least. In any case, that temple does sounds like something worth exploring. How did you learn of it? I don't know that there's something there that could help us, but we should at least take a look before the Empire hears of it. Assuming we could find ourselves a ship to take us there of course... and assuming we could maybe look at those maps?"

Vaya gave a smile to Verse, hoping the vote of confidence was the result of insights from the Force, and not the sort of naivete that meant she trusted every random stranger she came across. Vaya wanted to be able to trust her, not just to mean well, but to not get them both in a lot of trouble.

Vaya got sudden vertigo from the feeling that she might be over a decade older than the Mirialan, and gave her atennapalps a little shake to refocus.

"On Orlandis, underground. Is there anything else you know? That you're willing to tell us? Like which tribes in which part of the forest might know more, or whether they'll talk to us?" She hoped the repeated use of us put her in the same category as the implicitly trustworthy Jedi.