Chapter 14 — Ari’s Quest — Homecoming — Part 2
Aresaea
Galtea was beautiful, she had been amazed when Kazic had brought her there…the buildings, lights, mountains…her face glued to the view port as they flew in.
With Saani and Kazic she had family there, but the aether of Galtea was comparatively cool and distant.
As soon as the ship breached Aethas the atmosphere a honey warm flow surrounded her with a familiarity and comfort she had all but forgotten now soaked through her.
The Hangar was beneath a natural lip of rock on the side of one of the peaks that lined their Valley, but on the side that used to face the ‘Dead Lands’.
Formerly blasted ash wasted they were now covered in fields of nitrogen fixing yellow grasses, fungi, even some Yuuzhan Vong hybrid flora – the first step in a staged process of eco-system rehabilitation, first mining machines had churned and purified the solid, removing contaminates, now the flora and microorganisms would filtrate the remainder and enrich it in preparation for future plantings.
All knowledge of the terraforming and eco system restoration flowed around the ship in free exchange of thoughts and feelings that was almost overwhelming in its volume after so long away from an Aethan group mind.
The Hangar was clean, bright white lights cool grey and blue columns typical of the Chiss design and materials they had adopted.
“Wow its big…” there was another Destroyer docked, the walls lined with equipment and fighters.
“And new…”
Kiraea nodded beside her, “We only finished building it a few years ago…254 hours ahead of schedule.” As the
Aephrodaea descended Ari glanced at the ships 360 degree visual scan to see a small group of people assembling in ‘real’ clothes Gormin leather and wool outfits with their family ribbons.
“You should get changed…you can borrow one of my outfits!” Kiraea said excitedly.
It was comfortable, familiar and gentle Gormin wool underclothes, insulating layers of the breathable belly leather, and hard leather sections on the outer and boots.
She stepped out as the ramp hissed open, steam pouring off as the gas exchange started, small bulbous droids flitting past to perform post flight checks and re-fill consumables of Plutonium, Helium 3 and the like with Chiss precision and efficiency.
Awaiting her was a cluster of people, faces she knew, some she didn’t…Kiraea held her hand as she felt herself tear up to see so many People.
She didn’t know what to do, who to greet first…she needn’t decide Lyaea suddenly rushed up to embrace her.
Unwilling to let her go they kept their hands on her back as she greeted Selaena and Kassyndra with hugs and kisses, with them was the far younger Xanaea who was full to bursting with questions for her that Selaena gently insisted there would be time for later once Ari had rested.
Old Melron whom Ari recalled fondly, the wandering Guardian had visited her village as a child and always told great stories looked much younger than she remembered and stood beside a jaded looking man with a number of cuts and bruises on his face,
“Taryn, we recently found him as well…” Melron explained
Taryn offered a low bow, blood still dripping from his nose, he looked as if he had just climbed the mountain to get here.
“Bloody well did,” he said in response to her thought,
“all the while the old man shot arrows at me got some good hits too,”
“Are you in training,” Ari asked inquisitively not sure what to make of his…
rebellious presence in the aether
“Yeah, getting my Guardian on and all that jazz before heading off to the Chiss Academy,”
Ari had heard they had completed a course as part of their alliance
Taryn thumbed toward a man over his shoulder
“Going with the nerf herder there, if you’re quick you might get to join us,”
“Don’t mind Taryn,” Melron noted “He was, for a long time a pirate out of Socorro…we forgive his rough manners, come on son still much to do”
The ‘nerf herder’, Lydan, approached Adaea draped around, Ari smiled at their obvious love and at the Shepherd staff he carried with such pride as he offered her a small leather purse he had made.
Farmer Maeson greeted her with Kyala fruits in a basket woven by Jenaea who had also only been recently rescued and was still recovering from her ordeal, Ari appreciated taking the time to greet her.
Finally she turned to the two people she didn’t instantly recognise.
Both as tall as her, one had Golden Red hair and intense green eyes, the other night black hair and sky blue eyes…black hair wasn’t common amongst People, even Jarys who had the darkest hair was more deep brown than black.
Kiraea led her up to them,
“This is Sofa,” she gestured to the dark haired one who looked
“as I said she used to be a Jedi but she’s better now,”
“And that’s Kiraea, she used to be an annoying bitch, she’s Supreme Bitch now” Sofa replied
“I’ll get you for that!” Kiraea smiled
“You better – welcome home Aresaea…” the tension proving to be some kind of running joke Ari willingly hugged her,
“And this is Milaea…Jarys and Cilina’s daughter,” Kiraea guided her to the Red haired woman.
She was both older and younger than Aresaea…younger in years but older in experience…her development accelerated by the aether beyond ordinary People somehow.
They sized each other up for a brief moment, a sense of understanding flowed between them….
“Welcome home Areasa,” Milaea leaned in
“Call me Ari…” she noted sniffing her neck to learn her scent.
“Call me Mili,” she replied with a laugh, her embrace lingering a little longer than normal, not that Ari minded…being near her made Ari feel very…warm…
She could feel a unique commonality with Milaea the others, excepting perhaps Sofa but for different reasons…didn’t share…they didn’t have an underlying utter contempt for Outsiders.
“Leave,” Kiraea called out to the males who swiftly departed, there were issues to discuss they were not permitted to hear.
“You’re overdue to learn the Rites…” Kiraea held her shoulders,
“…but without your mother, aunt or direct older sister…you’ll have to choose someone to teach you,”
“Can I learn too?” Xanaea asked excitedly deeply inquisitive about the uncharacteristically solemn tone Kiraea had just shown,
“When you’re a bit older my love,” Kiraea smiled patting the girls ever longer hair.
Ari looked around…she didn’t know any of them all that well…it was difficult and they could feel it…
She glanced about and had to bite back her lip not to say Milaea…instead she went with the safe option…
“Kiraea if you would…”
“Of course love,” she beamed pulling her close
“There’s much for us both to learn,”
<<<<>>>>
Sofa
“So….”
“So what?” he replied idly stroking her side…
“You haven’t talked about what happened on Galtea…but I can feel its bothering you…” Sofa pressed
“It’s not important…” Valens dismissed determined to spend this time with his wife and not his thoughts.
“If it’s bothering you it is important…if you get anxious I get anxious…” she scooted back toward him,
“The situation there was…complex…Aresaea considers Saani and Kazic family…and yet their Arbiter Anson…nearly forced our hand…”
“hmmm…” Sofa, like Milaea was not supportive of their more extreme ‘contingency’ measures of planting nuclear weapons but ultimately they were outvoted.
“And what do you think of Saani and Kazic?” that seemed more to the point of his disquiet
“Saani…she is a good mother to Aresaea, Kazic is a decent father, he reminds me of Soryu in some ways…”
“That’s good…”
“Only in some ways…his charity and compassion…but Kazic is more…pragmatic…though he holds to many of the same ideals, he is willing to use force to secure them…the situation growing there…I foresaw more than a little ruination…this Anson seems to be actively peering into the same future and making it self-fulfilling by doing so…”
“Third level cognition limitations…” she sighed
“Second in some cases…Anson seems wilfully ignorant to the extent to which by looking into the future he is changing it….I worry what that might do to Aresaea…and what a man like Kazic might ask of her…”
Sofa sat up loose long black hair wafting over her ivory skin.
“Ask what of her?”
“Help…support…soldiers…” Valens leaned forward to place his head on her thighs, staring up at her face from below
“Like a civil war?”
“Kiraea estimates 84.2% likelihood…Jarys and I put it around 76%...but it’s preconditioned on another instigating event…given the tinder box we left behind…”
“And Ari would want to go back to help Saani…and we would have to go with her to protect her…but in the end…” Sofa sighed out stoking his hair as he held her other hand
“…it will be Ari who loses the most…she’ll see a different side to both Kazic, Saani and
Us that she won’t like…”
<<<<>>>>
Aresaea
She had six levels of conscious thought.
Five were occupied by memory orbs, each taken from Engineering experts, Chiss, Mon Calamari, Kuati, Corellian and Mandalorian…and Verpine, Sullustan would have to wait, her sixth integrated it all, finding connections, differences, synergies - how Mandalorian capacitors improve Chiss battery yields via modifying Corellian voltage control…thoughts bubbled into a memory orb for later review
Ari was only disappointed she had
only six levels of thought to work with…though further genetic enhancement utilising what they learned from the Extolled especially…one day she was confident that would be increased
What technological and aetheric wonders they could create if they could integrate dozens of other cultures knowledge at once!
“Impressive isn’t it.”
Ari nearly jumped out of her seat in surprise.
“Sorry!” Milaea smoothly apologised
“No its fine…but yes it is that is…impressive that is…” she couldn’t quite get why she was fumbling her sentences, there was something intrinsically intimidating about Milaea…not threatening…and yet….
With a red leather coat over black shirt and trousers, Milaea’s wardrobe suited her very well, she wore loose necklaces, one a wooden Jedi symbol, another a traditional Bloodstone Triquetra.
Milaea too noted how the simple dark singlet and leather trousers Ari, her voluminous red brown hair and aqua more rounded eyes added colour to the alabaster skin, she glanced at Ari’s Taijitu and rainbow necklace, it was not enchanted as her own, but there was still meaning ad fond memories embedded there she would ask about when she knew her better.
Physically the two women were both of the same height and build to most observers, but People could tell the slight differences - Ari was a little shorter with wider hips and thicker legs from her time on Yavin running over uneven ground – Milaea had a larger bust and more muscular arms from more years of lightsabre training.
“We never needed things like his before…” Ari went on fingering one of the orbs, “Everyone could learn everything they needed to know just by…being with each other…”
“A lot was lost after the Collapse…” Milaea added, “..even more after the Devastation…”
Milaea’s hair tended to red-gold while Ari’s tended to red-brown, said golden locks swept with an energy seemingly of their own as she wandered round the desk to sit just beside her.
“Didn’t even know what the Technocracy was…it was all forgotten…” Ari agreed
“hmm…Ada says you’re looking into the Obelisk operations,”
“Its…difficult…but important, I have a few ideas from what I learned on Yavin and Galtea of how to refine the filtering system….the current ones you made are good…it’s just” she looked down recalling her experience, hammering out a message and getting no response for hours…the pain and disappointment…Saani at least had been there to comfort her – others would likely be less fortunate.
“It would be horrible…sending a signal and no one hearing it…”
Milaea reach out a hand to take hers in a supportive gesture, it was warm, strong yet soft.
“…anything to prevent that is welcome,” Mili smiled…then her face turned serious
“You seem to be keeping yourself very busy before heading off to train…” Milaea noted
Ari shifted uncomfortably
“There is much to learn,”
“So you’ve said, but I think you’re filling your mind with that to avoid thinking about something else…” her words were cutting but the delivery was gentle
“I know what happened just before you left…Anson trying to take you, the accident with Tsarvung and his children, were family to you as well as Saani and Kazic, their loss must be hard,”
Ari bit her lower lip… she had thrown off the Sentinel with the thermal detonator into Tsarvung’s apartment to protect herself - everyone told her it was not her fault…but she couldn’t help thinking if she’d joined the Vhal’Dan Anson would never have been so paranoid about her – though in all honesty she knew no matter what oaths she swore she would’ve been seen as a spy.
Milaea could feel the pool of grief lurking under Ari’s thoughts, and her own instinctual need to try and relieve her of the pain.
“A long time ago…in events if not years…I was in a similar place, I hurt a lot of people I valued, considered friends…Mak’Tor who I believed…falsely…were dangerous,”
Ari looked into her seeing sadness in Milaea’s eyes…but no guilt as Ari felt.
“What I did was based on deliberately false information others gave me, placing me as a pawn. The guilt and shame not mine but those who had misinformed and pressured me to the point I didn’t know what was true or right.”
Tendrils of memory flow freely in the aether, an impossible situation with impossible demands, a girl too young forced to make adult choices…the chaos of self…and finally resolution - understanding that she could only control herself, and pledge to avoid such a situation ever again.
The situations were different but parallels enough for the analogy to hold.
“I wanted to stay on Galtea and help most of all…” Ari finally said after a long pause drawing in a calming breath
“But I understand that would’ve made things worse,”
“Sometimes the best…and hardest…thing to do is walk away,” Milaea agreed,
A slight pause and Milaea changed to a more upbeat tone
“So you’re off to the caverns with Kiraea then training with Jarys…” Milaea noted, still holding her hand
Ari nodded quite liking the feel of Milaea’s hand lingering with hers.
“It will be different…I learnt a lot from Saani…hopefully I’ll do well…so you were trained by the Jedi?”
Milaea nodded
“Yes by my father Soryu mostly, Sofa as well, but she is more like an older sister…I imagine it was more like what you learned with the Vhal’Dan than the Guardian training,”
“It will be interesting to see how it’s different how to integrate all that knowledge to make something even better…” suddenly the use of the word father clicked for her
“Soryu…yes father once told me about him when he told the tale of Bpfaashi uprisings, Kazic only met him briefly, he said he’d never met a human - in whom the Force flowed so brightly, nor one who seemed more at peace with his own beliefs…”
Milaea smiled at the memory
“It’s true, Soryu is kind, fun, generous, and always did what was right,”
“I’d like to have met him,”
At this Milaea looked slightly saddened
“Yes…perhaps one day…but…not now…” Milaea stood parting their hands
“You’d better rest while you can, Kiraea and Jarys are good teachers…but Guardian training doesn’t make any time for rest…”
Ari nodded, Saani’s training had been difficult for certain at times, but was always manageable as her mother underestimated Aethan endurance.
Guardians would not make any underestimation.
As Milaea stepped to the door Ari called after her
“Milaea, more one question,”
Milaea paused curious
“On Ord Mirit…you spared the Jedi leaders…you could’ve wiped them all out, or stood back and let Valens and the others destroy them…why did you save them?”
Milaea quickly sensed Ari was in a sense testing just how different from the others she was in her view on Outsiders, the other woman’s thoughts unusually loud.
“It was the right thing to do,” Milaea said simply
Ari made no obvious response for a moment, Milaea for a brief second wondering if she would disagree.
Ari smiled
“I think so too…I look forward to talking again when my training is finished...”
“Me too,” Milaea finished with an equally warm smile.
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