Liberation from Seclusion

[Viabuck]

Location: Dxun
Time: Dusk

---

Things were quiet.. Only the sound of the waterfall echoing throughout the cavern could be heard which of course, had proven in the past to not always be a good thing. On the moon known as Dxun, silence had proven to be the last thing that many had heard prior to an ambush from any of the countless predators which inhabited it's jungles. This was a fact which one Rattataki had learned in a deeply personal way only days prior to the present.

For days both he and his grandfather had been eluding a pack of Maalraas which had been pursuing the pair relentlessly, seeking refugee wherever it could be found. Given his age, the elder of the two had begun to succumb to the nature, a combination of biological limitation and a lack of access to medical service, this of course proving to make it all the harder for him to perserve through the rigors which the world presented to all of it's inhabitants, eventually to the point that upon being ambushed one night, he, unlike his grandson would prove incapable of surviving the packs most recent onslaught.

While his grandfather had been lost to him, Zravi Vecca, the former Sith Acolyte turn defector lived on, albeit covered in numerous deep cuts where the claws of the Maalraas had found their marks upon his flesh. His robes in tatters, his right pants leg missing from the knee down and the left having large slices torn in it beneath which more wounds could be viewed, the force sensitive had managed to provide himself only the most basic of treatments, wrapping the more severe injuries in rags beneath which a number of herbal remedies had been applied while the less threatening of injuries were simply covered over in mud.

Sleep deprived and looking as if he had only just survived a horrific battle of sorts, Zravi had taken refugee in a cave where he currently sat, his stomach rumbling, the lack of sustenance and sleep deprivation slowly beginning to get the better of him. Every muscle ached, his wounds seemed to keep him in a constant state of agony, infection slowly beginning to take hold and leaving him in a feverish state. Part of the nineteen year old actually wished he would succumb to his own injuries, simply to escape from his torments and what was seemingly a hopeless situation... And yet all of that was overwhelmed by the promise that he had made to his grandfather when he had first been rescued from the Sith.

He would live on and he would bring honor to his namesake. He wouldn't lose his identity to the Sith, becoming a nameless soldier for a corrupt order. He would not succumb to the wounds inflicted upon him by beasts. He would survive and make his escape from the damnable moon one way or another. He would become the warrior that he had always been meant to be. Somehow he knew that his destiny was not to die alone in a cave, having failed to protect the one person who cared for him in the world..

 

[Mistress]

It is not always an easy task to follow the Force. It can tug one in a million different directions, and when a single step is taken towards answering one proposed, a whole new set of options open up to the faithful follower. This particular series of events did not lead the Zephira to rest securely in safety in the least bit. The Inner Rim beckoned the Crew. Why? The Force only knows. It was not Larik, who had recently been captured, managed to reach out to her. Then who could it be? Had they met before? Whatever the reason behind whoever it is reaching out, the intuition is clear; go she must.

The Medical Frigate pushed past interstellar boundaries and was hunted along the way. Having dropped the ship's Jedi Master upon the moon of Dxun, the Zephira made a light jump a distance away in order to divert attention away from the Onderon System.



It is the second day that the Jedi Master camped out on the moon. Mayhem surrounded her. 'How could anyone manage a ripple through the Force while upon such a place as this?' Lutomi thought to herself. The Force is ever quite cryptic to safeguard its secrets, even though sentient life is so erroneously convinced that it knows much about everything. As she walked through the jungle she Cloaked her presence to avoid the many dangerous predatory animals on to her scent.

She came upon two shallow graves dug side by side, originally covered by stones, now dug up and fought over by the wild creatures. Lutomi immediately fought her natural response to gag at the level of disturbance of the corpses. She raised the Force and corrected the scene to honor the dead. "Now where to, Mama?" she asked aloud to the Force, within which the spirits seek refuge. Lutomi gazed overhead as she heard the smaller birds take flight from the treetops not far from where she stands, as larger fowl gathered in flight forming a death circle. Closing her eyes, she reached farther out in the Force, until she found her objective.

Lutomi gathered leaves and roots from the local plant life as she closed in on the mouth of the cave which she felt compelled to approach. She ground them in her palm, as she dropped her Stealth while standing just outside the opening of the cave. She looked at the young Rattataki sitting inside. "Life is about beginnings and endings," she said. "The first thing we will end is your infection." A snarling beast lunged towards her from her side, and she shot a Force Push directly into its heart. It fell upon the ground with a thud at her feet. "Then we will begin our dinner," she announced, approaching the young man, extending her palm filled with herbal medicines. Knowing what he survived alone, she highly doubted he would fear her presence as much as he feared the predatory animals of the moon.

 

[Viabuck]

Exhausted and in a considerable amount of pain at that moment, all the teen could muster was to grip the hilt of his double bladed lightsaber, shooting the approaching figure a stern glare. While this was little more than a bluff at this juncture, he felt compelled to try something, anything to try and preserve his life.. Right up until he heard something that struck the pale skinned humanoid with surprise.

"... Infection..?" he repeated, sounding somewhat confused right up until this new arrival seemingly struck a creature dead. Instantly confusion became apprehension, the idea of someone with such a power instantly leading him to believe that the Sith had tracked him down. Had he really come this far and trained so hard just to die?... And yet that didn't make sense either.. If she had wanted him dead, why hadn't she done to him what she had to the beast?

"Dinner?.." he would recite, his confusion returning. What was happening? What had she come here for? How had she known to come to where he was? This was almost too much to take in and make sense of and yet what little he could figure out, he didn't feel any kind of real fear.. She didn't seem like she wished to do him harm and if what she was saying was to be believed she intended to provide him aid.. But -why-.

"I... don't understand. -Why- are you here?... -How- did you find me?.. -Who- are you?" he asked, his voice sounding just as weak as he physically felt in that moment. Noticing her extending her hand toward him containing the crushed herbs, he made no effort to move toward her or to recoil, simply opting to remain still. He didn't want to reach out and take anything, at least not until he sorted out exactly what was happening.

In spite of his questions and desire to have the answers fed to him, he had begun his own analysis of the woman, taking notes of her demeanor and appearance, attempting to gather what information there was to be gained. She didn't appear to be any kind of Sith, at least not any that he had encountered before and she wasn't displaying any kind of hostile body language, at least not toward him.

 

[Mistress]

Lutomi watched the young man try to fight his destiny. It's not a genuine reaction, but in fact one that is expected moreso than finding one unquestionably agreeable. She completely ignored that he brandished his weapon, for the moment, at least now as it is not necessary to address him on the matter unless and until he might decide to use it against her. Seeing that the boy refused medical aid, she rested her herbs upon a slate rock and with a snap of her fingers set them aflame upon the cave floor. The smoke quickly filled the confined space. There are always alternatives to their ingestion.

She sat down a few feet away from him and answered his few questions. "I'm here, because it is you who are searching for me. I found you by the very same means as that which you employed to call me here." She looked at him for a moment before elaborating, before he could ask, "By way of the Force. My name is Lutomi Renelo. I am here to lead you away from this hostile environment." She hopes he might decide to advance a step in her direction. "Unless...you're current state...this hopeless situation, with no means of escaping this...vacation planet, is your idea of successfully following your path in life?" She smiled over at him.

The beasts outside the cave caused a ruckus, as they began to fight over her fresh kill. The Jedi Master waved one hand towards the cave opening casting an Illusion to hide the mouth of the cave along with her kill. Looking at the young man, she waved a hand in his direction to generate her Persuasion over him. "Relax and have no fear. I am not your enemy, nor your greatest concern at the moment. I promise you, I will protect you." At that, Lutomi reached into a pouch tied to her sash and withdrew a medicinal vial. "This will provide you the energy you require to heal. Come now, don't be stubborn, give me your hand."

 

[Viabuck]

Needless to say, the woman carried with her a rather strong argument that Zravi was utterly unable to dispute. It ultimately didn't matter who she was or what her actual intentions were, she was presently his only means of escaping the fate which had befallen him. With the creatures being held at bay by means that he had yet to understand, he would drop his apprehension, his lightsaber being lowered back to his side as he exhaled a deep breath, his ordinarily willful and strong mind proving far more capable to suggestion than what it might have been under normal circumstances.

His body relaxing slightly, he would extend his hand as instructed, reaching out to take the vial if offered and consuming the contents without so much as a second thought. Based upon his rather strong desire to survive and the force playing upon his mind, the entire process went far more smoothly than it might have under other circumstances.

"... I'm.. not sure how I might have called you here though.." he would eventually admit after a moment, breaking the silence on his side of things. Reaching up and tracing a hand over the surface his bald head, he slowly shook his head. "I'm not even sure that I can believe that this is happening.. I've been alone out here for days... Just trying to survive and now all of the sudden here you are.." he went on, his eyes falling to the cave floor for a moment as he continued to process what was unfolding.

".. Thank you.."

 

[Mistress]

Lutomi pressed the injection vile against the young man's arm and it painlessly disbursed the necessary components, before she slipped it back into her pouch. She withdrew a green leaf, and squeezed its liquid out. "For your cuts," she directed, reaching towards him again with the salve so that he would take it.

He thanked her, to which she replied, "It's no trouble. I go where the Force leads me." His harboring a duel bladed Lightsaber, and his initial demeanor caused her to wonder about his Force alignment. The kid didn't feel like a Sith to her, but how he felt reminded her of how she once was herself.

"Can you tell me anything about who is buried out there? What happened to them?" She knew the corpses were older individuals, but that's all she knew of them. She wondered about his likely connection to the two, wether they had been friend or foe to him.

She started a fire among the coals at the mouth of the cave, her Illusion still holding strong to deter the animal life from taking notice of them. She drew her lightsaber and stripped the stricken down creature of some of its lean meat before casting the rest of the carcass out of the mouth of the cave. The nearby preditors just outside the cave, quickly settled their violent disagreement over which would covet the remaining meal.

As the meat cooked, she conversed with him. She wondered about him. "Might I know your name? How did you manage to find yourself deposited upon this place?" Clearly he couldn't have been here with intentions of remaining long, seeing how terrible the native life had treated him.

 

[Viabuck]

Zravi quietly took the salve, quietly applying it to the cuts which he had previously stopped the bleeding with using mud and other less conventional methods which he had to admit, were far inferior to his current option. Sitting quietly and applying the salve, it wouldn't be until the topic of the graves came up that he bothered to speak again. He wasn't attached to anyone whom she may have found but at the same time, there should have been a third, if only he had had time to recover the body. Frowning momentarily due to the thoughts which crossed through his mind, he exhaled a deep breath deciding to give a concise summary of his story.

"They belong to a teacher and a classmate that I had at the Sith Academy.. I killed my classmate, my grandfather dealt with my teacher.." he explained, inhaling the scent of the meat as the woman prepared it, watching the excess being thrown from their current hiding location. Clearly this woman was strong in the force, what with her ability to so easily strike down the creature and then cast out it's remains... And to find him. That was actually the more impressive feat when he gave it a lot of thought.

"My father and mother forced me into the Sith Order.. My Grandfather didn't approve.. When I received word we would be coming here for a training exercise, I sent word to my grandfather.. We planned to kill them and escape the planet but my grandfathers ship was damaged and we were unable to leave afterward.. We had been stuck here for months and he was trying to train me as best he could... But he was an old man. Eventually we were attacked in the night... I survived. He unfortunately did not." he explained, in one rather long statement, a hint of depression heavy in his voice.

"He was a skilled Bounty Hunter and a great man.." he added, making certain that he at least briefly honored his fallen family member.

 

[Mistress]

The boy's story said a lot, which also lead to a lot of speculation on Lutomi's part. The Grandfather having been a Bounty Hunter, spoke volumes as to why he might have objected to his grandson having an allegiance to the Sith Imperium. Only those finding themselves on the opposite spectrum of the vast power of the Imperium, could clearly realize the terrible reality of their crimes against humanity. "Are your parents living, and if they are, is either of them Force Sensitive?" She was quite curious to learn wether or not she would find them hunting for their son any time soon. The sooner she would get them off this planet, the better. If he truly had been here for months, it wouldn't be unlikely that someone might be discovered looking for the missing team.

"Is it the wisdom of our elders that truly matter most? Or, is it not about what others want for you, but what you desire for yourself out of life?" She looked at him intently. "Do you seek to break away from the Imperium? If so, where is it you wish to go; why is it you wish to go there?" She was most curious to learn what he felt about the Galaxy. She knew nobody could make the decision for him. He would have to debate the choice to leave on his own. If she finds that he is still undecided, she would see if she could not help direct him. The Force however, already knows.

As she passed to him his portion of the meat. A large creature, which she felt absolutely horrific in appearance, seemingly all teeth to be specific, momentarily stuck its face into the mouth of the cave. It sniffed at the air, but all it saw is the Illusion Lutomi had projected. The Jedi Master waved a hand towards the mouth of the cave once again, and at that the creature decided to pull out and move on.

She realized the young man hadn't yet informed her everything she had asked him prior. "I still would like to know your name."

 

[Viabuck]

"Not that I'm aware of.. My father was a failure as a Hunter and my mother was nothing exceptional to speak of.." he answered plainly as he sat listening to the words that his apparent savior spoke. Pausing and thinking over what she had said while taking a large bite from the first meal that he had had in some time. Chewing for a few moments, his pale eyes would go wide for a moment before rather savagely tearing into it. He was starved and now that the opportunity had arrived he would continue to devour it, struggling to pause even for a moment to answer the rest of the questions.

"My name is Zravi Veca and I want to fight for a cause that my Grandfather would have been proud of.. I have no desire to serve the Empire or the Sith... But I'm unsure of how to move in another direction as of yet.." he answered, immediately returning to his meal, taking a large bite from it, continuing to hungrily tear at the meat, devouring it without much pause.

"I don't know much else beyond fighting... It's what I feel I should be doing and looking at the galaxy, there's a great deal of opportunity for it. Especially considering that I've seen first hand what the Sith Empire stands for.. It needs to fall.." he added, finding his meal quickly depleting and deciding to pace himself a bit now that his initial hunger had been satisfied.

 

[Mistress]

"Nice to make your acquaintance, Zravi." Lutomi watched the famished boy attack his plate of meat. "Might I suggest you do slow down. You may regret your hastiness in time." A soft beeping sound emitted from her utility pouch. Lutomi reached in and drew a small canteen. "I'm sorry. Here." She passed the purified water to the boy. The nearest supply has been such a terribly polluted sludge, that she ruined two filter canisters to reach an acceptable drinking level. She had nearly forgotten the process was ongoing.

She sensed the truth in what he told her regarding his start in life, to his current standing as an AWOL Acolyte with alternative hopes other than living out his a life under the strict thumb of the Sith Imperium. It is good to learn that someone in his family whom he respected, also let it be known that he had the same vision for Zravi. "If your goal is to fight the Sith Imperium, there are plenty of life paths you may choose to succeed in life." No matter his personal reasons for not wishing to serve the Imperium, Lutomi didn't care to ask him what factors were behind his choice, for she knew countless reasons.

Knowing this information about him now, she recalled her ship to reclaim them, at the press of a button. She planned to escape Sith Space with the boy onboard the Zephira, and hope for the chance to observe how he operates through the Force, to determine wether or not she can even bring him to Lamaredd. Luckily the Frigate saw quite a bit of action during its arrival, and they are quite a distance from her home planet. She will have plenty of time for conversation, to try and instill the values of the Jedi Code within him.

She took a few strips off her flank of steak, then handed the remainder of her meal out to the young man. He needs it more than she does.



Within minutes her lapel homing beacon began to flash wildly. Her ship had returned and sent down a shuttle to meet them. Lutomi dropped her Illusion over the mouth of the cave and hurriedly reached for Zravi to aid him in the trek, supporting him under his shoulder wrapping his arm over her own and securing her grip around his waist. "Ready to chance a new life?" Not too far from their location, the shuttle touched down and extended its ramp. An armed team stepped out to secure their passage. Lutomi assisted Zravi as they headed out of the cave. Of course he's much taller than she; not many aren't at least a little taller than herself! He isn't difficult to assist, with one having the Force to back them!

Any terrifying creature which darted in their direction was met with a simple Force Push from her.

 

[Viabuck]

Taking the water as it was offered, Zravi gulped it down, the idea of clean drinking water seeming almost as good as the idea of food in that moment. This was a little slice of heaven in what had otherwise been something of an intolerable hell leading up to that moment. This Jedi was actually going out of her way to take care of him and even share her portion of her meal with him.. Which he readily accepted, devouring it even as he put forth SOME effort to control his rate of consumption..

"Sorry.. Yes. You're right.." he remarked, even though he continued taking rather large bites from his food, barely taking the time to chew. This was just too good to have a cooked meal right in front of him in what could be considered to be a mostly safe location. What more could he ask for in that moment?... Well apparently she was ready to take him away from the cave and off of that world, so that was an even better step in the right direction.

Taking her assistance when it was offered, Zravi would move along with her out of the cave, watching as several beasts were cast off, the force proving capable of overwhelming them and drive them back away from the duo. With the shuttle in sight, he momentarily mourned, his thoughts drifting to how he had truly wished in that moment that his grandfather would be exiting the world with them, rather than being drug off into the jungle.. Never having a chance to see what he would become in the end.. Never having even seen a body to mourn over..

Exhaling a deep sigh as she continued to assist him onward and to the shuttle, the Rattataki moved onward, boardin the shuttle, his tattered robes and his double bladed lightsaber which had been gifted to him by his elder being all that he took with him.. Well that and many sleepless nights. In the end, leaving Dxun would be a great relief.

"Even more ready than you know.." he replied solemnly.