Training at Dawn

[Riyan Vrei]

The Jedi Temple on Ifrane stood as a testament to what the order meant. A monument set within a vast plain that stretched on for as far as the eye could see. It did not act as a means of dominating nature and all the land around it. But it was instead established in harmony with the land surrounding it, and in turn drew its connections as all did within the Force. In the early morning hours the light of Lewe was just stretching out over that vast plain. It's warmth came on the wind and cast the scenery in a brilliant hue.

In those early hours the young Echani padawan found himself outside in the plains to greet the dawn. The familiar tan robes and over tunic of most Jedi had been set aside, as was the curved hilt lightsaber he carried. This left Riyan only in his silver sleeveless under tunic and the loose fitting trousers for freedom of movement. The padawan's silver hair and alabaster skin almost seemed to hold a gentle sheen in the early morning light. Turning to face the rising sun Riyan let those silver hued eyes close, as his chest rose up with a deep breath. Centering himself the Echani youth's mind began to quell the idle thoughts that occupied him. Then opening his mouth he would release the held breath, and with it his body moved into the opening stance of the Echani Art. Another breath in and out passed as Riyan began to tap into the force that filled this planet so completely. In another breath the padawan began to move, his body falling into the rhythm that he had practiced all his life. These core motions making the foundation of the Echani martial art, and with each step, each movement Riyan would extend his senses beyond himself. In looking upon him it seemed almost a slow martial dance. The practiced steps, the steady breaths, carried Riyan's body in the early morning light. All the while his mind flowed through the force, touching on the connection of all within his radius. He could feel the wind sweep through the grasses towards him and adjusted his footing. The Echani moving to deliver and unhurried strike in the direction of the wind, and with it the force flowed from him in the opposite direction. Blades of grass rippling toward the gentle breeze, and in meeting the opposite push stilled.

"There is no emotion, there is peace" Riyan breathed out as he finished the gentle force push.

 

[Racaiya Wylddun]

Ifrane was one of the most beautiful planets that Racaiya has ever stepped foot on, even though she has only been to four other planets. She wandered through a mountainside forest, observing the nature around her as she strolled. The force was strong on this planet, she was certain that a temple was nearby. Racaiya reached a cliffside, giving her a pleasant view of the landscape. It was from this cliffside that Racaiya saw the temple, and it seemed, or felt, populated as well. Looking towards the vast, grassy plain near the temple, a figure was seen doing some weird movements. Feeling curious, Racaiya descended down the cliff, using the force to slow her descents.

As she arrived at the grass plains, Racaiya began observing the boy. She has never seen a Jedi or any force user of that matter, perform such movements; It seemed as if the boy was doing a traditional dance. Racaiya sat down about twenty-five feet behind the boy, he did not seem to notice her and she did not want to disturb him until he finished. She felt intrigued once the boy finished, it was like she was watching a performance. However, she also wondered why the boy produced a weak force push: "He had a vast amount of force energy flowing through and around him, maybe he did it on purpose?" she thought to herself. Racaiya stood up from the grass, wiping off any loose blades that stuck to the back of her thigh, and then she began to clap. "I'm unsure what you were doing, but it seemed well done." She said in a soothing tone.

 

[Riyan Vrei]

Riyan's eyes never once opened as he continued the martial display. Each step, each strike, the way he flowed from one stance to another, all of it was practiced thousands of times over. For the Echani their martial art was a cultural way of life, it was expression that reached the soul of a person. For Riyan, these practiced steps conveyed a serenity and patience as each strike he would come to preform was unhurried. Yet more than that, for Racaiya to come upon him in this moment was to feel the Echani padawan give his movements over to the Force. What could potentially be said to be comparable to other Jedi giving themselves over to meditation, Riyan did with motion.

For the Echani, he was not unaware of the new presence as she approached him on the plain. That sense of his mind reaching through the Force was likely easily noticeable by her, simply because he wasn't trying to hide what he was doing. Instead he continued for a time, sensing the wind's motion on the plain, and when it reached a certain point guiding a gentle push of the force in its direction along the grass. The focus required to simply counter the wind and not over power it was slowly taking its toll on the Padawan though. A light sheen of sweat glistening in the light of the early morning's sun as finally the movements came to an end. Riyan's form returning to a neutral stance, his head bowed as he let out a final breath to the sound of applause? It was then that his silver eyes opened once more and the Echani youth turned to his fellow Padawan.

"Oh, thank you." He replied dutifully, "I was going about my morning meditations, and practicing the Echani Art." Riyan continued, his own tone more reserved as he really looked upon Racaiya. Those piercing silver hued eyes seemed almost to study her, as if he was not sure what to make of her presence. "Ah, umm...forgive me, I am Padawan Riyan Vrei. I don't believe we've met."

 

[Racaiya Wylddun]

"Meditations? Echani Art?" These were the questions Racaiya asked in her head. She knew beforehand that the Echani had a unique culture, but she was unaware of anything the boy had done earlier. Her thoughts were cut short once the boy introduced himself, and Racaiya would do the same: "Padawan Racaiya Wylddun, and of course we haven't met." The boy seemed to be around the same age as herself; she wondered if he had been living on Ifrane his whole life. The boy didn't seem to have a saber or Jedi robes on him as well, it was possible that there were more Jedi on the planet.

Racaiya turned and faced the Jedi temple, pointing at it. "I came to this planet after learning about the possibility of there being a temple, are there more Jedi on this planet?" Racaiya has only met a few Jedi in her time, and she was still learning more about the order itself. Her goal was to enter the temple and study whatever could be taught whether from the temple itself or if there were people within the temple.

(Sorry for the short and late post been busy ;p)

 

[Riyan Vrei]

(No worries, life happens)

A little smile curled along the edge of his lips as the other padawan introduced herself. With another quick dip of his head in acknowledgement Riyan turned his silver gaze from the other woman. His focus, the bundle of his robes and his lightsaber resting on top of them. "Ah, of course." He started as his serene tone lingered on the wind. "I apologize, I'm not exactly good with faces." He continued as he brought his hand up and reached out with the force. Moments later the curved hilt of his lightsaber would launch itself up and into his waiting hand. The young Echani, seemingly done with his meditations, didn't feel quite right being unarmed. Taking a moment to set the hilt in the clip on his belt the pale youth continued, "On Eshan everyone looked alike, but in my few years in the greater galaxy there are so many different faces. I don't know how everyone keeps track of them all." Riyan mused to his new found compatriot. It was certainly an interesting thought though, for the Echani who all looked nearly identical, to see so many different people must have been a culture shock.

With the lightsaber finally settled Riyan's attention turned back to Racaiya. The other padawan taking the cue and pointing to the temple itself. "Yes, actually there are a few that reside here. I was only recently transferred a few months ago myself. Personally I like it here, Ifrane has had an interesting history in the past centuries. But I like to think that in its recovery it teaches us the resiliency of the Force. That nothing is beyond redemption. At least that is what I believe."

 

[Racaiya Wylddun]

Racaiya took notice of the curved hilt, she had not seen such a saber before. She assumed it required a fair amount of skill to use, but her thoughts went on to more important matters. Racaiya didn't care for Riyan's short exposition of Eshan; it felt bothersome to keep track of other's personal details unless needed. She continued to look towards the temple, as Riyan informed her of it. However, something had bothered Racaiya in Riyan's sentence. Racaiya turned back around to face him "What do you mean by recovery?"

Racaiya had felt quite worried about the details of Ifrane, more so the temple. She had hoped that the planet was recovering from a situation other than a Sith attack. For if the Sith had once attacked the temple, all that was sacred would most likely have been lost or changed. In the worst-case scenario, Riyan himself or the other residents were remnants of Sith invaders.

(You're probably going to see a lot of changes in my writing format, just trying to change things up and see what I like. I apologize if it bothers you.)

 

[Riyan Vrei]

The curved design of Riyan's saber was at the expense of some degree of skill. The aligning of the crystals was particularly tricky when he made his saber. But the trade off gave him a greater degree of control over the blade, more precision in his lunges and power in his strikes, and the slight shift in angle could be disconcerting to someone not used to the style of weapon. Those advantages especially favored the style of Lightsaber combat Riyan was most proficient in, Makashi.

As ti the other padawan's disinterest, well the young Echani didn't seem to pick up on it. Or if he had he didn't seem to take offense. Either way he would head over to the small bundle of clothes to don more appropriate attire. Namely the light tan sleeveless over tunic, and his brown robes. Looking more like a proper Jedi than in just the silver under tunic and tan trousers he had been training in. It was during this process though that his initial remark was given, and her own worried reply followed. Although for the Echani youth he didn't seem to pick up on that sense of worry. While she seemed perturbed the reasoning behind it was far beyond his scope to understand. "Oh, Ifrane was a world occupied by Sith forces for a few centuries as most of the galaxy was. Although, I suppose more specifically it was the Zygerrian Empire that laid claim on the planet. Still, in that period of occupation much of the planet's resources were plundered. Yet in the more recent years the Alliance has reclaimed it, and with it the planet is slowly healing from those wounds." Riyan paused here as his own silver gaze turned not to the temple, but to the vast plain that stretched out to the horizon. The sea of grass that swayed with the playful wind's infrequent passage was quite the sight.

"It will be some time before Ifrane returns to it's former glory. But that is part of the work of the order here."

(It's no worries on my end. One of the best ways to find your rhythm is through experimentation. I certainly have no qualms about it.)

 

[Ke Pasa]

It's been few days since Ke Pasa arrived at the planet with contingency of Galactic Alliance soldiers. Ifrane has been under Alliance protection for a comfortable amount of time so their presence there was just part of a routine patrol through the sector. Few standard day cycles aboard their transports, one on the planet's surface to resupply and exchange reports. Much like the two Padawans, Ke Pasa has spent his free time on the planet enjoying the wilderness, unlike them however, he mostly did so by consuming various wildlife.

He was just climbing over some stone walls, his elongated, slender limbs pulling him along the steep surface in fluid, graceful movements, when he spotted the two of them. Riyan was currently turned to the direction of the grass sea, so he may not have noticed the chitinous thin alien skittering over the wall of a nearby Jedi Temple and pulling himself up on one of the ledges facing the two padawans to take a seat and perch upon it. Ke Pasa was clad in his usual tattered, old robes, wrappings, and a leather vest bracing his frail torso lightly to keep the materials somewhat pinned against his body to not bother him as he moved through the wilderness. The once bright-crimson material was now a mismatch of faded and darkened spots from years of negligence and exposure to various elements. He missed his wife so much.

His long, thin legs, adored with powerful looking claws on his feet, dangled lazily over the ledge's edge as he watched the duo curiously. His old rifle was gone from his back, replaced with his slender vibrosword, covered in a protective sheath and strapped tightly to his tall body, as to not fall out or shift too much as he climbed. On his belt there was a secured, closed satchel, along with a sheathed hunting vibroknife and his prized Westar-1 pistol. In his maw there was still a limply hanging body of a lizard-like creature native to the planet he caught not too long ago, his about-to-be-consumed lunch. He did not attempted to be especially stealthy or secretive, so the due of padawans may have noticed him sooner or later, especially if Racaiya kept her eyes on the temple she would have noticed his approach to the ledge. For now, however, he simply stayed silent, watching them from this ledge, just observing.

The flaps of his beak-like mouth begun to raise and lower, in an alternating motion, as his maw begun to chew, saw, and cut the body of his pray without the use of his hands. Emerald blood mixed with digestive juices dribbled down lightly his snout, his long, skeletal hands remained on either side, propping him up on the ledge idly.

 

[Racaiya Wylddun]

.

"It doesn't seem as if this planet has been touched at all, I can not even begin to imagine how it would appear once restored completely." The planet was unnaturally natural, maybe Riyan was describing the beautiful scenery as the consequence of the Sith taking over. "Would be one hell of a twist." Racaiya thought to herself. There was no sign of any destruction or damage to the environment, so Racaiya concluded that Riyan had to be referring to the temple. However, she continued to maintain her suspicions about Riyan, and maybe the planet itself. Everything in the area seemed too perfect for her, and it was only within human nature to find a flaw.

By this point, Racaiya was ready to walk to the temple ahead, when she noticed a strange figure climbing a wall. She squinted to see better, it appeared to be some sort of creature. While pointing to the figure on the wall and turning her head towards Riyan, Racaiya asked "Do you usually have monsters climbing your temple?". Before she received an answer, Racaiya had already begun walking toward the temple ready to fight. As she got closer to the temple, she got a better look at the creature; it was certainly something she had never encountered.

 

[Riyan Vrei]

The young padawan was not actively feeling out with the force, and yes his back was very much turned on Ke. As such he was very much unaware of the chitinous being climbing up the wall surrounding the Jedi Temple. Instead his mind was on Racaiya's words and the thoughts they called forth was certainly a comfort to the Echani. "Indeed. I imagine it will be a thing of beauty. It's why I feel our presence here is important. The Jedi's residence here can hopefully be a means of assisting in the recovery, and protecting it from getting ravaged again." Riyan smiled at the thought, the return to balance and healing from all that darkness was a noble endeavor in his mind.

When he finished he turned back to Racaiya, and set those silver eyes upon her once more. What he observed though confused him. The youth didn't expect to see the level of tension she was experiencing in her stance. The body language read on guard to the padawan, and yet by all accounts he didn't think he had done anything untoward. It puzzled the youth, though doubt crept in that perhaps he was reading the situation wrong. Either way he wouldn't have much time to comment as something seemed to catch her attention back towards the temple. The immediate thought was that maybe another of their order was making their way out. But just like the flowing wind, so to did that thought pass him by as Racaiya speak. It was an interesting choice of words for sure, and even his confusion became obvious as he looked back to the wall. This time, he caught sight of what she was looking at; and while strange it seemed a jump to describe the being as a monster. It certainly wasn't like the Nexu, which had been introduced to the planet's ecosystem at some point in Ifrane's past.

Racaiya didn't seem so inclined as to wait for a reply though, and sure enough she began to move to the temple. Already Riyan could see that she was going there expecting a fight. She carried her intention in her movement quite plainly to the Echani. Yet from that distance even Riyan could tell whatever it was perched up on the wall, it was indeed stationary. Had it been a monster, or something with ill intent then just sitting there would defeat it's purpose. "She isn't seeing the bigger picture." Riyan noted to himself as he began to move as well. While his gait was partially hurried it was clear he wasn't going expecting trouble. If anything Riyan seemed intent on making sure no trouble occurred if he could manage it.

 

[Ke Pasa]

Ke Pasa pulled himself back on the ledge, the cool cover of shade from the stone around him slipped over his form. His pale blue eyes still shined faintly, softly reflecting daylight as they were trained upon the two padawans that begun to walk in his direction. The half-chewed lizard creature turned in his maw under the manipulations of his sawing and tearing mouth clamps, but still he made no move to greet the two padawans in their approach towards him. Ke Pasa's silence would not break easily, unless he was to be addressed first, but as the two padawans drew closer to him still, the insectoid brought his hand up to his maw, gripping onto the lizard body protruding from under his beak-like snout with limp strands of torn flesh. With a smooth swing of his elongated arm the stripped skeletal remains of his lunch were pulled from his maw and catapulted away from the temple wall. With a meek splatter of what gore remained on the chewed diminutive carcass, the remains disappeared in a brush of brambles and bushes between the Temple entrance and the grass plains stretching out before it, away from the beaten path leading to the closest doorway of the structure, but perhaps still close enough for those with sensitive noses to pick up on the scent of exposed flesh and entrails mixed with xenos digestive fluids.

As Riyan and Racaiya drew closer still to the temple wall, Ke brought the edge of his robes up, wiping the tattooed sides of his beak to clean them from any left over splatter of emerald blood and spittle. With his face now being somewhat decently clean, at least by his standards, he leaned in slightly, peering over above the ledge at the two young Force users, his iridescent, golden carapace shimmering slightly in the day light like sands of dune planets. He brought his right hand up, three fingers as long as a human man's hand and adorned with thin black claws, extended straight up to the skies in a soft, casual salute to greet them.

While such lack of discipline and regard for one's post, especially considering that some might see any Jedi, even the padawans, as a rebel trooper's commanding officers, might have been unheard of in the proper Republic military, it probably wasn't an uncommon sight among Rebel militias that recently joined the Galactic Alliance's ranks. In particular among those that had little contact with structured military service or galactic society as a whole before their enlistment, such as Ke Pasa.

 

[Racaiya Wylddun]

.

Racaiya continued toward the wall, still prepared for a fight. She knew that the most dangerous creatures in the world were ones that studied and stalked their prey, and in Racaiya's eyes it appeared as if the strange figure was doing so. As she walked, Racaiya could sense a slight disturbance within Riyan, a feeling similar to distrust or skepticism. She assumed that Riyan merely didn't believe in what she saw, but he seemed to be interested in what was at the wall.

Getting closer to the wall, Racaiya caught a whiff of a somewhat foul smell. It reminded her of old meat but it wasn't as pungent; "Blood" she muttered. Something died in the nearby vicinity, or at least it's leftovers were brought into the vicinity. Racaiya continued to feel more and more cautious, as she approached the wall. She stopped about 15 feet away, waiting to see what the creature's next move would be. However, Racaiya was rather confused and surprised when the creature showed itself: "It's....... saluting?" she thought to herself. Racaiya had a puzzled look on her face for a moment, and after observing the creature's wonky proportions she couldn't help but laugh hysterically.

Racaiya would fall to her knees and continue to laugh, her stomach feeling small, sharp pains as she went on. Eventually, she was able to get back up to her feet and she caught her breath. Racaiya turned to look at Riyan "Is this a friend of yours?" she asked.

 

[Riyan Vrei]

Riyan in kind moved towards the wall, but his goal was to prevent the potential outbreak of violence. While drawing near he could agree the appearance of the being was odd to him. It simply didn't track that the being was hostile to the Echani. After all if it were, why would it just be sitting there on the wall? Especially with the various Jedi currently in the temple, exposing one's self like that would have been suicide. Furthermore, the being didn't seem to have any threatening posture in how it was seated. Riyan might not have been the best at reading emotions, but all Echani were skilled at interpreting body language, and in this case Ke simply didn't show signs of hostility. This fact was driven further home by the fact that as they drew closer it became clear that the being appeared to be eating something.

It was roughly to this point that Racaiya came to the stop and noted the scent of blood on the air. Riyan for his part watched the being dab at its beak with its robe and put two and two together. Clearly this thing was carnivorous at the very least, but that didn't mean it posed to them a threat. In fact it seemed to give a mock salute to the two padawans, a sight that by all appearances was hilarious to Racaiya. Her explosive laughter would leave her falling to her knees as the unbridled laughter filled the air about them. The Echani looked to down to his compatriot in this state and then cast those silver hued eyes up to the being on the wall. "My apologies." He stated a little dryly as his head bowed in reciprocation to the casual salute. Reaching out through the Force as he raised his head, Riyan could feel this being had a strong connection to the Force. "Curious" He thought to himself as Racaiya seemed to slowly be calming down.

"I hope this isn't rude..." Riyan began speaking to Ke once more as Racaiya asked him her question, "but I've yet to see you at the temple. Are you perhaps here to study?" The Echani figuring it was simply more efficient to not only answer her question with his own. But also not come off as rude by talking about this person without addressing them directly.

 

[Ke Pasa]

"Ruuuude."
Was the first word they heard the alien say to them, seemingly a comment on Racaiya's behavior and an answer to Riyan's wondering whether the situation was considered rude by the alien. As they stepped closer to the wall, the creature leaned in, his bony hands resting on the edge of the ledge as he peered down on them. The beak like flaps of his face pulling in as Racaiya was wracked by a fit of laughter, making Ke's snout pull inward, face flatter now like a golden hard mask, the crease between two halves of his flaps barely visible.
"You shouldn't be so ruuude when from here you look like foood."
Ke continued on, croaking out the rhyming words in strange intonations of his alien vocals attempting to adjust to the human-favored Basic. His face twitched slightly with every vocalization, gently vibrating and barely shifting to make the croaking, groaning sounds. Although his words may have sounded somewhat threatening, the Jedi would not sense any malice, anger, or intent to attack within his mind, at least within his surface emotions.

The alien's long, thin arm reached over from above them, gliding along the wall until the thin fingers found a crevice in the sheer wall and dug in.
"Mouth waaters."
He groaned out from within his gullet with a tinge of peculiar humor,
"Hue-mon laugh at the alien enjo-ying his food in peace. Your kind rea-cts so pecu-liar to un-known."
The alien continued as suddenly he swung out from the ledge above, his body pressed up against the wall as he skittered over it, long limbs moving in quick, fluid movements to travel along the wall above them towards another ledge, this time much lower. The sequence was quick, thrice-jointed limbs bending and moving in what would have been bone-breaking configurations for a human. Before long, the alien was sitting on the ledge to their other side, long legs dangling down, looking down to them, his body more visible now due to smaller height difference. In fact he was low enough that should they come up, they wouldn't have much difficulty in grabbing onto his legs or lower torso.

In the time that the alien changed his position on the wall, the two Padawans would have been able to get a clear look at the vibrosword sheathed on his back, firmly attached with straps to his body. It was a long and slender weapon, like its wielder, about as long as one of his skinny, elongated legs, with a slight curve to its blade. The handle was wider than what would be considered a comfortable grip for a human, decorated with crimson wood and molded bone, and electrical components necessary for a vibrosword's function visible by the hexagonal guard. From the looks of the decorations on the guard, handle, and the sheath, it probably wasn't just a scavenged or bought blade that this creature or its kind decorated or customized. It was probably the most advanced piece of technology they were able to manufacture themselves.

"Not a stuu-dent."
The creature finally answered to Riyan, turning the golden-encrusted head to look the Echani in the eyes,
"I am Ke Pasa, scout and maarks-man of the Sand Devil Nebulae Oout-riders."
It was a minor and unimportant Rebel cell that saw little action before they joined the Galactic Alliance recently, but there was a chance that if Riyan or Racaiya spent much time around more military elements of the Galactic Alliance they could have heard of it.
"We laan-ded a staan-dard day cycle ago to resuu-ply and reest before paa-trol."
The alien informed them, the long, thin hand raising up to motion towards the section of grass plains that was hidden behind few hills, from what the two knew it was location of one of the closer Galactic Alliance landing zones in the area used as a small military outpost.

 

[Racaiya Wylddun]

.

Racaiya didn't give any mind to the person's comments, but she struggled to hold back her laughter when the structure of his face changed and he spoke in some sort of rhyme scheme. She was able to hold back her laugh, but she couldn't help but take interest in this bizarre character. She never learned about a species resembling anything like what was in front of her; "Goes to show how big the galaxy is..". Racaiya was also rather impressed with the person's vibrosword. She had read about vibroswords before but up close the design was imposing. The craftmanship in the blade could be seen, even to the untrained eye.

Racaiya could also sense the connection the being had with the force; it felt rather wild, like the appearance of the being itself. It was clear that he was not well trained in the use of the force as Racaiya or Riyan, and Racaiya was also curious to hear his response to Riyan's question. However, she felt rather disturbed by the term "we". "Does he mean more people of his species, or more people in his group? Why are they not here?" she thought to herself. The mystery behind Ke Pasa disturbed Racaiya, though she didn't sense any maliciousness from him.

After pondering in thought for a few seconds, she looked towards Ke Pasa and bowed her head slightly "Racaiya Wylddun, Jedi Padawan. What are you doing all the way out here? That is, away from your group."