New beginnings

[Saric Noms]

A smuggling depot, Boordii

Saric stretched his stiffened limbs as he took in his surroundings. He had a lump in his throat. Was it regret? Fear? He was not used to the feeling of not being in control.

Then again, he had never acted this rashly before. Not in so many years. But this had required a once in a lifetime decision. And to stay would have been just as rash as to go.

Everything he had known was crashing around him and the world he knew was no more. He hadn't want to stick around to find out what would be left. Not with the hyenas gathering from the Old Empire.

Taking only his personal effects, he had stolen aboard the first ship out of the capital.

And so, here he was, on a strange planet he didn't recognise, with no friends and no plan. Not even a purpose.

With only his wits and the force, he slunk into a cantina, to sit, to observe and to consider.

@Aberforth

 

[Ellonn]

In almost four centuries, it was the first time Ellonn had left the familiar forests of Myrkr. It was a testament to how dire the situation really was. The natural order had been disturbed and all beings sensitive to the fragile balance that existed between the forces of light and the heralds of darkness could feel it. He would not let the galaxy end in fire, but he could not save the galaxy from itself alone.

To find like-minded individuals, Ellonn had travel to Boordii. He had had little to do to adapt to the temperate climate much like that of his homeworld. Taking in his new surroundings, the Neti could not help but remark that Boordii bore the unmistakable marks of imperial colonialism. The giant metallic structures in which humans generally established their dwellings shared a certain uniformity in style with other post-Andrastian constructions.

The undercity that surrounded the spaceport flickered between affluence and poverty. More than the visual input however, it was the aroma that overwhelmed Ellonn. The smells of the city were alien to him, and their chaotic fragrance set him on edge. He was used to the faint scent of damp earth intermingled with whiffs of pine and resins that clung to the air on his native homeworld. Here, there was no tinge of earthy loam to the air, no fragrance of spring growth or heady warning when rain was due. Instead, the fumes from belching vehicles underpinned everything.

When he could not take it anymore, Ellonn quickly filled into the nearest cantina. His entrance did not cause a commotion. His disguise was working: Ellonn had donned a more humanoid appearance to avoid attracting too much attention.

Hundreds of conversations told in loud voices competed with the jazz music that dominated the atmosphere. The crowd is diverse, off-worlders and smugglers for the most part. Ellonn winded his way through the warm bodies and closely arranged tables, until a strange brooding man isolated in a remote corner of the cantina caught his eye. Through the Force, the Neti tried examining it with the limits of his consciousness but retreated promptly when he felt some resistance.

How interesting... He thought hoping that his mental intrusion would go unnoticed. I guess we'll have to do this the old way. Closing the distance between them, he extended a hand in a friendly gesture. "Hello there! Would you mind if I joined you?"

@Ulysses – Sorry for the late reply!

 

[Saric Noms]

As the Neti probed gently, with all the force of growing roots, he would be met with an overwhelming darkness. The Sith - if he knew what one was - presented in the force as a deep red smog: the deep red smog of anger; anger that is self-justified, self-righteous and self-absorbed.

For Saric's fear had matured well and truly into anger. He was angry at the so-called "Old Empire" rebels who had ruined the strength of the Republic; angry at the Sith who had first appeased and then submitted to them; angry, most of all, at the universe and the Force for allowing barbarism and naked ambition to defeat truth and justice.

As the light tendrils of Ellon's understanding pushed at that smog, it would be scattered, offering no resistance. Rather, in his state of self pity, Saric would only notice his own mood inexplicably lighten, the cloud now gone.

He looked up at the new arrival, blissfully unaware that he was the source of his improved disposition, and smiled. He took the offered hand, politely standing.

"Of course, sit. My name's Saric, you?"