Shadows of Bankor

Verse loved spending time at the temple; it wasn't quite the same as the one back on Coruscant, but it was the second best thing. Coming here was a bit like coming home in that regard. At first, the meditating had almost been just an excuse to keep experiencing that homecoming over and over; but as the days passed into weeks, she found those moments of contemplation a lure all their own. And through those sessions, tittle by little, her connection to the Force was deepening again after so many years of neglect.

Today the Jedi would gather together; and Verse wanted to get in some more meditation before that moment came. So she'd found one of the empty chambers suited for such purposes, and allowed the Force to flow all around and through her.

Discipline + Force, Hard, to meditate.: 2eP+1eA+2eF+3eD 1 success, 3 Light Side

She finds peace and tranquility. It's a good place to meditate.

Not far away down the hall from where Verse was meditating Rannek sat on a bench and flipped over the empty lightsaber hilt that he had constructed. The temple was a spot of respite... but also one that was slightly discomforting at times. He stretched out his neck as he sat down and tried to relax a bit before the meeting in the afternoon.

Eventually, Verse had done all the peace and tranquility she could give for the day; after which she did some stretches to make sure she hadn't allowed her muscles to atrophy from the hour of silent contemplation. With that done, she thought she might as well try and get some practice in; so she headed out into the hallway and passed Rannek.

Wait, a new person? Or had she seen him these past few weeks here? Well, yes, she probably had, but there hadn't been much conversation; given how busy she'd been with... well with not doing anything; which is technically what all that meditating and stuff was.

"Hey," she said, standing near him and rousing him from whatever relaxation he'd managed to find for himself.

"Did you know you're green?"

He looked over and chuckled, "I am pretty new here, yes."

He tilted his head diagonally and looked up with a face that said 'Get it' to show he was telling a joke.

"You're pretty green too. I think I remember a little green girl about a year younger than me back on Coruscant all those years ago. One without tattoos on her face. I went by a different name then... Juba. Does she remember me?"

"Hmmm," she considered the question for a few moments, "Maaaybe? Were you the one who got that private lecture from Master Kenobi about not using your temple allowance to buy superhero holos?"

Actually, she was pretty certain that had been herself; but you never knew if other younglings had gotten into trouble for the same thing.

"Oh wait, were you Master Unduli's apprentice? I mean, I know there was all this talk about green people sticking with other green people which was never really my thing so... no wait, her padawan was another her. Can't have been you."

She thought a bit more, then smiled.

"Well, great you made it anyway! Can you believe this place? And so many of us too. I mean, relatively speaking."

He chuckled, "I think the holo thing was you actually. I got called in for jumping from balcony to balcony on a dare."

He then added, "Nah, Master Unduli was my aunt. Her apprentice was a bit older. I'm the guy whose mom threw a big fit about not having a Mirialan master and demanded I leave the Order and come home."

He then nodded, "More than I thought would be on a planet like this... I guess that's why so many of you all were hiding out here."

"Huh, nobody ever threw a fit about me having a human Master. Guess not being part of the culture helps." It just a casual thing she threw out there. Like everything else she tended to say. "As for us hiding out here, some longer than others. I just got here... well, a month and a half ago or something?"

There was a brief pause.

"I swear I did not start the resistance and all that stuff. But I also kind of did."

"Cool." He replied simply. "Hope that works out for you. Resistance and all that."

"Isn't that part of why you're here?" She seemed confused. "Be part of the resistance? Be a Jedi again like the old days? Fighting for what's right?"

He tilted his head, "Maybe... If they show up here and start something... then yeah. I'd throw down with you all. Right now I'm just trying to get my shit together more than anything. It's been a tough few years... this is the best I've felt in a while. And wanna keep doin' the things that bring a bit of good into the world."

He shrugged, "I'm not too convinced it's through fighting and starting shit with a group of people who have some serious anger problems. There're plenty of ways to fight that don't include tons of collateral damage. Master Oraka teaches people. Xanna feeds people... or used to. I'm probably more concerned with little bloodless victories than big carnage filled ones."

"Yeah but..." she started to say something, then shook her head.

"...but," she started to say another thing, and shook her head again.

"...but," she finally stuck with a train of thought, "I don't think we can avoid fighting. Master Hin and Xanna have both fought when needed. That is what our lightsabers are for," she nodded toward the lightsaber hilt he held, "so we can fight to protect peace and justice, when other ways to do so are no longer sufficient."

He nodded, “I’m no pacifist... at least haven’t been. If the fight comes to you, sometimes you gotta defend yourself. But can’t go into it lightly... lots of people depend on folks like us. We have the power to motivate people... so gotta be sure we’re motivatin’ them to something better than a bunch of death .”

"Well yeah but... the resistance folk didn't need us to motivate them, they got motivated all on their own. And they're willing to die if it means setting things right. Of course, it'd be nice if they didn't have to. Die, I mean. But I feel like if they're willing to go that far, then it's not really up to us to say they're doing it wrong. Besides, the empire has to go, if things are going to change for the better again."

“It has to go... but it’ll go when the Force wills it. In the winter it’s cold... we’d all like it to be spring and warm. But some of these things take time... somethings you have to endure rather than conquer. There are lessons in both.” He replied.

“If you feel now is your moment then great. Seize it without fear. I’m just not there yet... but maybe I will be tomorrow.”

"Everyone moves by their own pace," she said, "master Yoda hit me with his stick a few times for going too fast. And then he hit me some more for going too slow."

There was a brief pause. "Did they end up making you leave the Order back then? Your family, I mean."

“They requested it. But Council decided the choice was given to me. I chose what I thought to be best at the time...” He replied.

“I thought I could be a force for good on Mirial. Help keep the Republic from fracturing in my small way. But then the Empire happened... changed things up a bit.”

"I've never been," she said simply, "And yeah, the Empire sure changed a lot of things for all of us. I'm guessing they went after those who had left the order too, huh? Hope that... that wasn't too hard on you."

He shrugged, “They killed my parents. My old master saved me... but eventually they got him too. They blew up the entire surface of Caamas... no one really knows about it... but I was there.”

He paused, “But we’ve all been through hell. I’m sure you have your own stories as well.”

"Oh," she was clearly not expecting that kind of an answer, "that's... I'm sorry. That's terrible. It was bad for me, but not nearly as bad as that. I'm glad you're here though. Going through something like that, I'd have understood if you'd want to turn away from the Light. But here you are."

“I’m not the type to turn to the dark or anything like that. Turning into some complete a-hole just isn’t me... but turning myself off to myself... Running away constantly? Yeah I been doin’ that a while. But... I don’t wanna anymore. So yeah... I’m here.”

"Well, that's good. We all feel that way, I think. That's how I fell in with the resistance. And bumped into Qareme. And then the others. Funny how everything's so connected. Two months ago if you'd told me I'd be doing things like living in an underwater resistance base, breaking people out of prison, fighting multiple inquisitors, and got to have jedi meetings in an ancient Jedi Temple hidden inside a barren moon, I'd have called you crazy. All it took was to just stop running."

“It’s hard to grasp the Will of the Force as one tiny speck in it.” He nodded.

“I just turned down one offer to join a Resistance group led by a Jedi... and wound up here.” He chuckled.

"Wait, there's other resistance groups with other Jedi?" She seemed confused, and excited, by the prospect.

"Yeah, met this guy out on Belassa. But don't know if he's still around... Valus back when he was an inquisitor told me they had found and killed that cell." He shrugged.

"But trusting Valus' word when he was busy torturing and killing a lady in front of me isn't probably the best thing to go off of."