Ask Shadows

[Maura Starwalk]

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Maura's freckled fist pounded thrice on the door to Councilor Albion's office, then fell slowly to her side. She had no idea if the woman was even present, but she was playing off chances. If she was, then it meant this was the right path to take. If she wasn't, then it clearly wasn't meant to be. Maura wasn't usually the sort to leave things up to chance. If she wanted something, then she pursued it without delay. But things had been different for her recently. There was a gloomy cloud around her that she just couldn't shake, no matter what, and it had stifled her motivation. Still, she was here. She was at least giving it a shot.

Knock. Knock.

'Maybe she's not here?' The knight had several questions, but if Hera wasn't around to answer them... maybe it wouldn't be so bad. She could always try and ask Alex, but she wanted Hera's advice. Hera's answers. She needed to speak to someone that she wasn't so close with, like Alex.

"Master Albion?" Maura called once toward the door, her ear twitching as she listened for any sound from within. "Are you in there?"

@BlackNoise

 

[Hera "The Joyful" Albion]

Hera Albion had not been in the best of places recently.

She still smiled, she still laughed, for what would the rest of the Order think if 'The Joyous' started, Force forbid, scowling and frowning! But inside, she no longer felt her joy. At first, it was a deep resonance of an eternal nothing, and Hera thought it would last for eternity as well. The nothing, she could work with the nothing. But that state did not last. It gave Hera hope that, perhaps, she'd be able to regain her true happiness as well as her emotional state changed.

But until that time, there was something else operating in place of the nothing, in place of the joy. Hera was filled with rage. It was one of the primary reasons she avoided other Jedi recently, why she didn't stay long at gatherings or parties where her presence would've been expected. It would not do to have others feel the intense, horrible emotions that churned and broiled inside Hera Albion.

So, when she was forced to come to the temples, Hera expelled her rage in the only way she knew how. Violence. For the past few hours, Hera had been fighting and beating on training droids with her bare hands. Once again, practicing the insights into Force Speed she gained from her family's holocron. After hours of training, the woman was covered in sweat beneath her armor, and her bare knuckles bled from hours of repeated punching of hard metal.

But today, the rage had not subsided. It was for this reason that Hera intended to go to her office, pack her things, and disappear for a little while again. But the whims of the Force seemed to have another goal in mind. Rounding a corner, she found herself face-to-face with Maura Starwalk. Hera was not much taller than Starwalk, only three inches, but Hera was bigger than the young woman. And it was with this big, intimidating frame that Hera flashed a look of sheer rage at the Knight.

It was only half a second, but Hera's emotions could always be read on her face like an open book. It was only half a second, but that scowl of anger was something so very, very few had ever seen on the councilor. It was only half a second, only half of a single second. But Hera feared the damage had been done. In the next half of that second, Hera's face twisted into a grin, the most genuine fake grin she could muster, and she spoke.

"Maura! I'm glad to see you! How may I serve?"

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura's sensitive hearing caught onto Hera's arrival before she even opened her mouth to speak. The woman had a very distinct way of walking, and even though her hearing wasn't on par with that of a Sephi's, she swore she could hear Hera approach from a mile away. Her steps weren't necessarily loud, just... distinct.

The newly-knighted padawan turned just as Hera rounded the corner, meeting Hera's light eyes with her own. They were so large, so black and colorless, that the councilor would surely see her own reflection in them. Anger, and the scowl that appeared like an apparition only to widen into a toothy, tight-lipped grin. Of course, Maura's reaction to seeing Hera's face twisted up in such anger was evident behind those eyes. Though, like Hera, it was only there for a moment. A brief flash of concern and a hint of hesitance, then a forced expression of her own underneath her tired, tired eyes.

"Hera! Hi. I uh, sorry to bother you, I just wanted to ask you about a few things?" The pada- knight stepped forward, then thought better about whatever she was wanting to do and decided to give Hera some space. Though she had certainly not grown any wiser or better with emotions since she'd last met the red-head, she wasn't exactly feeling ten out of ten. For some reason, she felt Hera was even a bit off as well.

"It's- well, Master Vanloa had talked to me about something. And since she's- well, dead, I wanted to ask you about them."

As to why she wasn't going to Alex about this? She wasn't entirely sure. Alex and Hera were two very different people, and she had a feeling that maybe Hera would be better suited to this.

@Black Noise

 

[Hera "The Joyful" Albion]

Hera listened quietly to Maura as the younger woman spoke, then gentle as a spring wind, she reached out and brushed Maura's hair. Her fingers, gloved, restrained, were not soft, but nevertheless, her touch was kindly and unabrasive. Her gaze softened as she thought of Kaisa, how they never went on that date the pair had planned so long ago. Ithor happened right after that meeting, that dreadful day.

"Yes, I know of Kaisa's plans and duties, some of them I have taken over. Come in, let's speak in my office."

Reaching for the door, Hera opened it with a gentle brush of her hand on the amalgam of metal and wood. As it slid out of the way, a messy, torn-apart 'office' could be seen inside. Droid parts were strewn everywhere, a small stack of paper had accumulated dust upon a little table, and the actual 'desk' had been overturned into a makeshift bed with a pile of blankets laid upon it. Hera walked inside and pulled over two cases of R5 units with force, utilizing them as chairs.

She clearly saw nothing wrong with the state of her office as she sat down, smiling, "There are a handful of things that need be done, but if you were speaking to councilor Vanloa, then I can only imagine what she planned for you." Truthfully, Hera didn't really see Maura as the 'type' of Jedi that Kaisa would use. But there was a reason that Hera stylized herself as the 'Justicar-councilor' and Kaisa had taken over another particular profession.

"What do you know of the Shadows, Knight Starwalk?"

@lizziie[/abox]