A Walk Through History

[Ral]

Jedi Temple Courtyard
Tython
Deep Core
0730 Hours Local Time
​

The boot falls of Cassus Lammerai echoed down the stone corridors of the Jedi temple on Tython. It felt good to be back after having been out on missions for the past few weeks almost constantly. Today, the weather was nice and warm, the cerulean blue sky was dotted with sparse cirrus clouds high up in the sky like feathers painted on a blue canvas. The sun was barely over the horizon making its ascent into the early morning sky. Assuming the weather did not change suddenly, always a possibility on Tython, than it would be a perfect day for the Jedi Knight to meed with his oldest friend and fellow Knight Amaarla Ky. It had been too long since he had seen her last, well, too long for his preference anyways, though in truth it hadn't been that long.

Walking out into the open courtyard, Cassus looked around, running a hand through his almost curly ruddy brown hair. He was a little early, but he knew his friend would be there soon. His missions had left him little time to train his Padawan, something he regretted, especially after how they met and how he brought her into the Order. It was why he had asked his good friend, Amaarla, to help Fen out, and now, they would have a nice little talk while taking a stroll through the ruins of monasteries and ancient temples that dotted Tython. He was excited for it, Cassus didn't get a chance to talk to many people who he was close to, partially because he wasn't close to a lot of people, but today he would.

Sitting down on a stone bench, Cassus closed his eyes and meditated, a finger on each hand touching the lightsaber on either side of his hip. Stretching out with the Force, the Knight felt the life and energy of all those around him while he waited. "Alright Amaarla, don't keep me waiting for too long now."

@CJ Solo

 

[CJ Solo]

Amaarla woke early as she always did to begin her morning routine. Though, today was going to be a little different as there were plans to meet with Cassus. Since they had both been knighted, their paths often seperated from each other and it could be for weeks or months at a time. It was when the weeks stretched into months that she found herself most anxious to see him again. Their last contact had been a few weeks ago when he had asked her to help Fen along for him. The togruta Jedi felt excitement for the day.

Soft foot falls approach Cassus from across the courtyard; ivory striped purple feet making little sound as she moved through the grassy area. Amaarla did like the feel of the natural earth beneath her feet. A smile touched her lips seeing him sitting there; it always did. She could not imagine what her life would have been like if she had never met the man so long ago. "Cassus. I was wondering when you'd show up." Again she smiled as she spoke up to get his attention as she closed the distance between them.

 

[Ral]

Turning around as his old friend spoke, Cassus smiled at the Togruta, standing and closing the distance to wrap the woman in a warm, friendly hug. "Amaarla, it's good to see you!" He exclaimed, holding onto her for a few seconds before slowly releasing, grinning as he stared into her green eyes. His heart was pounding slightly faster than normal as he felt excitement fill him at seeing his oldest friend. "How have you been? Any interesting missions or stories to tell?"

With a chuckle, he took a step back, looking at his friend, scanning her deep purple skin to see how she was looking since they had last seen her. Motioning for her to lead, the curly-haired man would step in with his tall Togruta friend. A smile still on his face as he glanced at her and spoke, "So, did you have some sort of adventure planned for us today? Something about visiting the old ruins on the planet, yes?"

 

[CJ Solo]

Amaarla smiled warmly and her hands moved out away from her sides a little in anticipation of the Embrace. Her own arms wrapped around Cassus in an embrace. She spoke as they pulled away from each other, her gaze meeting his. "I'm glad to see you as well, Cassus." The Togruta's arms dropped away from the embrace only to catch his hands in hers long enough to give them a gentle squeeze.

Since their Knighting ceremony, they never seemed to see each other frequently enough and when they did the time seemed far too short. Amaarla was always more than pleased to see him, to be near him. "I'm doing quite finely now, Cassus." The Togruta Jedi smiled once more. "But yes, I've been well. What of yourself?"

"I may have a story or two to tell." Amaarla chuckled softly. "Such things will be good for the road." Her green eyes glanced over at him as the pair began to walk away from their meeting spot. "I hope you have a few to share in exchange, especially now that you have another apprentice." Where she had only began to touch upon the training of apprentices here and there when circumstance and opprotunity arose, her oldest and dearest friend seemed to attract apprentices like some sort of magnet. The Togruta gave a slight nod. "Yes, it was something I always wanted to do; even when we were still apprentices. The opprotunity and time was just never there." She walked along casually as she spoke with him at her side. "The trip can take a few days. There's some areas that are too rough for speeders and heavy walking should be done. I'd very much like for you to come with me, if you have the time."

 

[Ral]

Cassus returned a grin to Amaarla when she said it was good to see him, which widened when she gave his hands a gentle squeeze, one which he promptly returned, squeezing the woman's purple hands deftly before releasing them. Despite her tall stature, Cassus managed to outgrow Amaarla after having to look up towards her for a good portion of his childhood and teenage years until he finally hit his growth spurt. Now, despite the tips of her montrals being almost as tall as he was, Cassus looked down into his friend's green eyes. Hearing her respond to his question about how well she was doing he smiled at her, giving her a slight wink in response to her own inquiry.

"I'm glad to hear that you're doing fine and well... I'm doing quite well myself. I in fact do have an interesting story or two to tell you as well, of course, I'm more interested to hear about how training with Fen went." Cassus snickered a little, interested to see how his latest apprentice faired with his friend while he was away. Taking a step with her, he watched has she nodded, telling him how she wanted to visit the ruins, but that it would take a few days. Frowning, Cassus tried to remember if he had anything pressing that was supposed to come up in the next few days. Besides training, which he could always just delay until they got back, nothing really crossed his mind. Giving Amaarla a grin and a wink, the Knight nodded, "Sure, I can join you. I wonder what will happen and what we'll see! But if we are going to do this now, let's get some gear or food or something, or at least let me tell someone where we're going so they won' come looking for us after a day!" Cassus snickered a little.

The younger Jedi motioned for his purple-skinned friend to follow him as he made his way into the temple where he might gather up some things and alert those who might miss the pair of knights for the few days they were away. Turning to his friend he smiled, "I'm glad you wanted me to join you with this, it'll be good. Like old times."

 

[CJ Solo]

It pleased Amaarla beyond words to see him so well, to see him grinning and smiling, and snickering in that way he always did. It was amazing how even a few weeks out of contact and all of those things could make it feel like it had been an eternity. She could not help but smile a little herself as she looked up at him, after having been taller than him for so many years. He had truely become a handsome man in her eyes. The togruta nodded, turning to walk with him. "I have a speeder packed up already. I idn't think you'd be able to resist a trip like old times, even a mundane one." She wished that they had had more such trips in their years as Knights.

"Fen?" She smiled at him again. "That just happens to be one of the things on my list." Her time so far with Fen had been brief, something she would not mind changing. "I also thought you might like to hear a little bit about cantina recruitment." Her gaze shifted in his direction for a moment as they walked to catch an indication to his reaction to that.

 

[Ral]

"Excellent," Cassus nodded back at her in response to her saying she had a speeder packed up and ready to go. "And you were right about that. Definitely don't think I would be able to resist saying yes to a trip like this. It will be good to get out into the field with you again, even if its just a mundane trip like this." He gave his friend a smile as he walked with her deeper into the temple complex so that Cassus could alert someone of his outing.

"Oh really? I hope you had a good training lesson with her. She tends to be a bit of a handful with me... I don't think she appreciates my caution and prudence when it comes to dealing with things like Sith and such. Hopefully, it's just her own teenage rebelliousness. She seems like a good kid, and she'll make a very thoughtful Jedi, I think she just needs some guidance. Of course, I can't really blame her for the attitude still, after all, our first meeting probably wasn't the best first impression..." Cassus shook his head as he looked back at his friend. "So, what's this about cantina recruitment?"

Cassus managed to find a Knight he knew to alert his students and anyone important who might look for him in the next week that he was taking a bit of a leave to meditate out in the wilderness with his friend Amaarla. Grabbing his things, the Knight followed Amaarla towards the speeder.

 

[CJ Solo]

"Would you tell me more about Fen? Where did you find her?" As they go about making the final preperations and ensuring that they could be contacted if needed, , Amaarla continued to speak with him. Her brow furrowed curiously as she considered his description so far of his experience with her. Rebellious was not a word that she would use to describe her experience with the girl. Her head tilted ever so slightly. "Have you taken her on mission already?" Amaarla was preferrable to taking training where ever they needed to be. If there was a mission the Jedi needed done, then training was all that more enriched with real world applications. However, such as in Fen's case, she might not be so inclined to do so without the student in question being able to use a lightsaber or at least be able to defend themselves.

As they moved towards the speeder, a small smile crept onto her features. "It was on Coruscant; a little information gathering mission. I stepped into this cantina to talk to a contact, do my business and all and all. During all this, I noticed that a great deal of people were staring at this Zabrak female at the bar. Finally, I had decided that investigating this might prove interesting; I wasn't disappointed. While speaking to her, initially, she recieved some harrassment from a fellow drunken patron." Arriving at the speeder, she double checked the supplies she packed and moved to get in as she continued to tell her story. "I noticed in her frustration over the situation, and her broken mug, she manifested use of the Force. Now, she was a bit on the intoxicated side herself. So I asked her if ever she thought to get her abilities trained, since it wasn't the first time. In the end, I gave her my name and where to find me. I told her I might have an offer for her that could help her, to get some sleep and if the next morning she was interested to come find me."

Settling into the speeder, Amaarla started the speeder's repulsor engines. "The next morning I'm about to leave and she finally shows up, all her gear in hand, including a pillow of all things. Poor thing looked exhausted as though she hadn't slept at all. She barely gave me a greeting before walking by me, boarding my ship and promptly passing out on one of the galley benches." The purple skinned Togruta chuckled a little. "I hadn't even gotten aroundto talking to her about the Force or the Jedi and she had decided already to travel with me."

 

[Ral]

"Fen? Well, I guess it's a bit of a story," Cassus let out a chortle, his mind wandering g back to their first encounter not so long ago. Without much of a pause, the Jedi Knight began divulging to his longtime friend the circumstances of how he met her, how in truth he had sort of abused her, assaulted her mentally as part of his cover. It wasn't something he felt particularly good about and no doubt his countenance and tone would convey that to Amaarla. "She's headstrong, independent, and doesn't like it when I try to give her advice, but that might just be me. Perhaps you have had better luck with the young girl, but in either case from what I can tell she has the potential to be a great Jedi, she's essentially just a baby, though. I've taken her on a mission... it was an interesting experience. She seemed overly confident in her ability to blend in, and effectively ignored all the advice I gave her, saying it wouldn't be necessary and that she could handle herself. Or something like that."

Clearing his throat, Cassus began to embark on the speeder they were to take, all the meanwhile listening to his friend and how she managed to convince some female Zabrak to join the Jedi, or at the least start the process. Or perhaps she was just at the right place at the right time. In either case it was perfectly evident that the will of the Force had brought her there and put her in the place of the Zabrak woman. When she finished Cassus smiled at his beautiful purple-skinned friend. "Well, that is certainly quite the story there, Amaarla. I would love to meet this Zabrak sometime, see what kind of person she is. In anycase, I guess I should say how good it feels go finally be out and about with you, especially after all this time!" The Jedi Knight looked at his friend and grinned happily. Turning, he looked out towards the remarkable view that was Tython. Cass wondered what would happen or what they would do. The mystery excited him, and he also wondered what he might learn or discover about the Jedi and the Force. "So, what are you looking forward to the most about our little camping trip?"

 

[CJ Solo]

Amaarla was quiet as she listened in regard to Fen as they made the final preperations with the speeder. The purple skinned Togruta embarked to the speeder. Her green eyes shifted to glance at him when he talked about his initial treatment of the girl. Cassus was more openly willing to do certain things than she was. In their training together it had been that fact that had kept her rooted in the reality that sometimes certain things were necessary, but this seemed a little far even for him. "In our time together, she did not strike me as being that way. In fact, I would almost say she is lacking in confidence. I did introduce her to fighting sticks instead of working with a lightsaber. And though she did seem to take our meeting as a chore, she seemed open to my suggestions" Amaarla smiled at Cassus. "Maybe it's just your charm."

"Clara, the Zabrak woman.. Perhaps you'll meet her one day. She isn't my student, however." In her time as a Knight, she has often aided in the training of padawans, but they were apprentices of other Jedi. She had yet to have an apprentice of her own. It was something that a small part of her envied Cassus for; her friend in is years as a Knight had had multiple apprentices. "I think her interest was more into one of the Generals." The Togruta gave a small shrug as though it did not bother her, which was not entirely true.

Her green eyes took in the view before them even as she reached to engage the speeder's engines. Amaarla considered her friend's question. "Just one?" She smiled a little as the speeder began to move and their adventure began. "I'm looking forward to us doing this together. We keep in contact, but it isn't quite the same as the missions we'd go on before. I miss those times."For a few moments, she fell quiet before speaking again. "This path, visiting these places, held enough meaning to the Jedi, at one point, that travelling to each of them was part of a Jedi's transition from Padawan to Knight. I want to feel what they felt, see what they saw. Is there something there, something in the Force, that the Jedi have since forgotten about?"

 

[Ral]

Cassus could only shrug back at Amaarla when she talked about Fen. "I think it has to do with the fact we were on a mission where we had to stay undercover and use diplomacy, something she's strong with. She did not believe she needed to worry about a Sith showing up," his voice trailed off after that listening a little more to Amaarla talk about Clara, the Zabrak. After a few moments he simply remarked, "You need to take your own apprentice, my dear. You've too much talent to waste and keep to yourself!" There was a rather humorous tune to his voice as he told his Togruta friend she should find an apprentice of her own to train and show how to be a Jedi. "I think you'd make some truly great Jedi."

Looking back at Amaarla as she began to tell him what she was looking forward to, he smiled as he stared into her green eyes. Reaching over he gently squeezed her shoulder, and winked, "I miss those times too, Amaarla. Maybe we should look into doing some more missions together? Just see what needs to be done and go do it together, don't wait for orders from the Generals or the Council, just do our own thing together... I'd like that anyways."

Nodding a little in agreement to what his purple-skinned Togruta friend was saying about making the journey the ancient Jedi did. Reaching down from her shoulder he gave her dark hand a squeeze. "I'm sure we will feel what they felt, sense something in the Force. Maybe even make discoveries about each other! And truth be told I'm sure there's something about the Force we might discover that our contemporaries have forgotten." With another small smile, Cassus gave one last squeeze of Amaarla's hand, thinking how good it felt to be there with one of his oldest and closest friends. Exhaling, the Jedi Knight knew that if Amaarla wanted she would be able to sense his excitement and happiness if having her present and going on this little adventure, he would not hide it. Now, he could only wait for the actual journey to begin.

 

[CJ Solo]

Amaarla tilted her head ever so slightly, though still careful to pay attention to where the speeder was taking them. She found his reaction within the shrug as she talked about his most recent apprentice curious. She wondered if he was really feeling that frustrated with the situation, or discouraged. That was not all, however, as she then voiced the question. "Are you finding yourself frustrated with training her?" Cassus had a certain way about him, a certain way he did things and certain expectations from the results of things he did. He had always been that way, where she had been more patient. In fact, in a lot of ways she and cassus were very different. But it was perhaps that degree of difference that had brought them so close together. He would push her into more aggressive action when it was needed and she hesitated, and she kkept him centered, reigned in from going too far.

A smile touched her lips at his words. Amaarla had envisioned herself, from time to time, training an apprentice of her own over the here and there bit of advice and training she gave to the apprentices of other Jedi. She had not really found one, though, that felt right. "I should. I really should, but who?" It was the Togruta's turn to shrug. "There are so many, yet so few who're able to go out on the types of missions we get sent on." She smiled at him softly.
"Thank you for your confidence, though, and the compliment."


When she felt his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it, the Togruta glanced over at him; her green eyes meeting his for the time it was there before she turned her attention back to where they were going. It would be unfortunate to end the trip early because they ran into a tree or something. "We should, Cassus, like we used to. I'd like that very much. Though... we should always be aware of the needs of the Generals and particularly the Council. There'll come a day when they'll need us, when we'll need to stand with them." Amaarla was certainly for travelling the galaxy helping and protecting people that needed it; the places over looked as not as important. She was for handling Sith threats where they came up, but she could not bring herself to choose to ignore the Jedi Order completely. It was, in her mind, equally a duty to defend and protect fellow Jedi, particularly those less experienced, as it was to do so for anyone else in the galaxy. "Though... what about your apprentice?"

As the distance between them and the Temple grew, the sounds of the place fading away, the wilderness and its sounds took over. "You know we're cheating by taking a speeder, right?" Amaarla gave him a quick glance and a smile. "When this was part of the trials, you had to walk."