Remnant of the Aether

[Lord_S_Gray]

Remnant Part 3 — Conversation

Hoth.
Kaan.
Chillum.
Bane.
Macais
Farfalla.

Names of Jedi and Sith who had fought in the last battle of the so called ‘New Sith Wars’.

Men born three hundred years after they had been placed in cryo freeze.

Men who had died four hundred years before they were awakened.

The Sith warlords of the deep core rated barely a footnote in the histories from this ‘Republic’ they had found in the libraries of the nobles of Byss…nothing was written on the Technocracy.

In this they were pleased. 

If the Technocracy remained unknown even in the deep core it could be because after whatever crisis had occurred, they had survived and hidden deeper from the Sith and since then.

The Technocracy was nothing if not resilient, Fifth was twice living proof of that.

He closed the musty tome and stood, again the furniture was not suited to his superhuman proportions.

The owner of this library lay with his Abyssian slaves dead on the floor.  After destroying the Barons Byss had erupted into internecine conflict and confusion, wild rumours about ‘Star Vampires’ abounding as the Technocracy soldiers sought information and resources using the planet scale confusion as cover.

They unfortunately did not possess the resources to completely purge this world…

Yet.

Fifth rose from had sitting cross legged on the floor, no chairs could suit his super human form even without armour…and still he towered over the table.

<I have what we need, at least as much as will be found on this backwater hovel.>

His sentence was unusually long peppered with a personal reflection, Ninth would forgive such as a stress relief measure.

<Star ship secured> Sixth replied from the Industrial zone where he Fourth and Seventh had been dispatched.

<Granary and food storage warehouse secured> the taciturn Third added.

Fifth felt the trickle of the post operation briefing directly into his mind – both assaults had been over quickly, in the first case the Byssians simply fled, in the second their guards were hopeless droids dispatched with aetheric lightning used in precision arcs within seconds.

<Load the food then extract Fifth, I will not be long> Ninth ordered as he sensed she was nearing the beginning of her own mission.

<When I return we depart for Prakith.>

<<<<>>>>

“Here, here!” the filthy one eyed creature squeaked as if she could not already see it.

Set in the rain soaked jungles was a cavern leading to a heavy cortosis door etched with old Sith Glyphs warning trespassers of curses upon any who disrupted the slumber of the Sith Lord of Byss Gnar.

While the Sith were gone her mental anthropological and societal progression model had predicted with a 86 per cent likelihood that cults worshipping the former Lords persisted, a 78 per cent probability such cults would be populated by those who inhabited the lower tiers of the current social hierarchy who sought spiritual escape from physical pains and class discrimination.

Both predications were accurate.

Among the Abyssian slaves there was a large sect of worshippers of the Old Lords who erroneously believed they could summon them back from the dead to lead them to glory.

Their view of the Sith was distorted by their hopes of freedom, the Sith would’ve doubled the burden upon these slaves and chained the Byssians beside them.

Nonetheless it served Her purpose. 

Ninth found no difficulty in finding Abyssian cultists to serve her – her squad had slaughtered the Barons to a man, they regarded her as the Harbinger of the coming of the Old Lords that had been foretold. 

They licked her Aegis boots and fell to their faces before her in their hovel of a shrine, remnants of the old Sith kept in display cases, others took knives out cutting off their slave brands before her.

None of it mattered, she played along with their delusions long enough for them to turn over the location of the ‘Resting Places of the Old Lords’ where they ‘slumbered beneath awaiting the coming of the Shadow Harbinger’

“Here here!” it said again excitedly, its body displaying all the signs of emotional arousal

“the day has come the DAY has COME!”

Its glee was misplaced.

With a brief thought she hurled the creature into the rock face smashing its wiry body to a gluggy sack of skin holding breached organs and cracked bones.

She paid no heed to the warning on the door way, brushed aside the fetishes the cultist had left and stepped on the offering plates squelching rotted food and porcelain under her Aegis boot.

The entry was well sealed, it had been intended to close – never to open.

With an aether charged fist she punched a dent into it.
Then another
Then another.
Finally the lines became apparent and she drew her Blackstone Shatter sword.

Forged specifically for their enhanced height and strength its aetheric infusement channelled aetheric energy into existing shatter point lines, broadening them and expanding them further making the blade capable of delivering shattering blows to armour, flesh, and just as importantly, mind. 

It was as she was – a weapon to decimate every opponent possible in every way possible for the glory of the Technocracy and the furtherance of Aethan Supremacy.

Cold Black stone met humidity slick kortosis with a shrieking cry as the seal shattered along its invisible break lines into rubble.

Rank dead air hissed from the breach as she brushed the ruined seal aside to enter, bowing her head given the clearance was only 2.5 metres.

The ancient tomb descended via a steep stair case, spear pit traps were visibly decayed and triggered with creaking slowness that proved only their impotence.

Past the first seeming dead end she entered the main chamber. 

Along the sides were the coffins of Gnar’s Sword Brethren, sworn to protect him in life and death.  Around these were the bodies of their slaves, concubines and catamites – rotten with frayed leather straps around their wrists and ankles, long dried cords about their necks.

These too she ignored heading straight for the ornately carved Kortosis sarcophagus.  She paused before it assessing the traps…they were few and worn down by time.

Ninth glanced around the area…quickly realising the truth of the layout.  She walked behind the sarcophagus to the pile of rusted riches behind.  With a flick of her hand she blasted them off to reveal the heavy stone floor beneath, then with a stomp of her boot put in a dent to serve as a handle.

Gnars body was of course not in the sarcophagus, but hidden beneath the floor under the trinkets.

Musty acrid dust spewed out as she wrenched the top off to reveal the desiccated corpse below tattered embalming wrappings and tarnished golds about the withered frame.

“Who…who…dares disturb me…”  the ghostly voice came from behind her.

“An enemy, for what else have the Sith?”

The…enhancement Ninth had undergone had been more than just making her taller, stronger, faster…it had made her smarter, discerning enough to know when to kill, and when to, temporarily, parlay.

“Only enemies and slaves…” The Ghost of Gnar agreed

“A slave is but an enemy waiting for their chance,” Ninth added turning to see the red glowing form, not so different from the corpse itself, distinguished perhaps only by the faint red glow.

“True…why then do you wrench me from your slumber?”

“To the point, what happened to the Sith Lords,”

“I am dead centuries how would I know…” it obfuscated

“I know you watch ghost, waiting for any chance to claw out of your cursed state,” she kept her tone calm, gentle even…though it made her sick to do so.

“And why then would I tell you anything…you are my enemy,”

The empty sockets scanned her

“…too powerful to control, to intelligent to manipulate…”

“You will answer because you have had no better chance to do anything for centuries and likely will not for centuries more,” she said firmly.

“You died naturally, your demesne intact enough for you to be buried according to your wishes…that is unusual, only a wise and restrained Sith Lord can achieve such,” she noted approvingly

“And my fool son ruined it all…Gnar the second…” the ghost hissed blazing orange with anger

“All I achieved lost…all I built for him…only enemies and slaves…enemies and slaves,”

“Such is the way of the Sith,” she noted

And the way of the Technocracy…though perhaps test subject or labour unit is more accurate than slave she reflected

“Such is the way…such was the error…we thought the darkness the path to power…to glory…immortality…but if this is immortality…I would rather have died…” Gnar complained.

Ninth had no time for his regrets

“The Lords, did they ever unite, fight a common enemy…”

Something of recognition ticked in the ghost as his vacant gaze looked about, pits of darkness deep as a black hole took her in.  For a normal human, or even Aethan the gaze would be disconcerting, horrifying…Ninth had been rebuilt beyond such sensations, they were of no use to serving the Technocracy, 

“Ah…now I see what you are…the Shadows, the Vampires, the Stalkers on the edge of our so called empires…you’re saboteurs and thieves caused me much annoyance…I thought it a sign of your strength not weakness…”

A pang of insult swept through her, briefly but sharply

“Yes they came for you after I was gone…Lord Yn, Lord Htassh…others…few survived…you creatures…you are few but deadly, like Ryx Hounds in the high mountains…the Lords that survived were few, their fleets depleted…they fought for the spoils, paltry as they were…but they could never hold their power as they once did…by the time the Jedi came they were weak and wretched…”

All this confirmed what Fifth had found.

“There were none of my kind seen after that,”

Gnar shrugged
“I know the great motions not the small ones…you’re kind were never as great as they once were…”

Ninth nodded, there was nothing more to be learnt.

“What now creature?” Gnar asked “Will you leave me to rot, or finish me for once and all…ah why do I ask…”

“Why indeed…One thought to send you on your way,” Ninth offered even as aetheric flame ready to incinerate the husk of the body Gnar had left leapt up her arm

“The Sith way, that all others are enemies held true for my kind as well, but that was the difference…”

Gnar crooked his weary wrinkled head

“My Kind stand as one…you stand alone…that is why you will always fail, why what the Sith build will never last…”

Gnar’s hideous lipless teeth grinned with understanding and relief as Ninth destroyed him in totality.

<<<<>>>>

[Lord_S_Gray]

Chapter 13 — The Black Obelisk — Part 3

Shadows of the Seior

She clutched at her breast. 

It was as though she were torn in two.

Something she had never known was so close to her heart was pulling away, for the first time she felt true pain – not the red haze of awareness of damage but something visceral.

“This must be what it feels like for Outsiders”  she said to the churning images about her

Ahead of her was the most common of her nightmares, the Oblivion Army, over a dozen strong, many she knew, many she did not…Yet

At their head with two blinding purple blades was a woman Milaea both knew yet had never met.

On his knees before them an outsider, a strange moustache and top knot, hands bloody as he looked upon a dying twi’leki woman

“So we are come to this great stage of fools,”

The voice had solidity the rest of the dreaming vision lacked, it came from a tall firm man, handsome angular face and wavy brown hair – a warrior and statesman in his prime – He will need to be just to survive she thought for reasons she could not articulate.

“Who are they?” she asked the solid man “And who are you?”

“I could ask you the same things, but would you answer?”

“No,” she replied honestly, her mind realising the possibility this being may be real and they might be sharing less a dream than an unconscious glimpse of a future that involved them both.

They watched with growing dread as legions of lightsabre armed warrior broke into blood and flesh against the Oblivion blades…some, titanic warriors in armour managed to break through, to crack the seemingly impenetrable abyss and slice heavy cuts into superhuman flesh.

That seemed to impress the other observer, but it was a short lived victory.

Something deathly…silver? crashed like a wave upon them sweeping the dream vision away.

Far away.
On a world that danced the knife edge of civil war, Anson D’Aklay slipped from his meditations somewhat clumsily, the memory of the red haired…girl?...no woman despite her unnatural youth…slid from his mind like mercury despite his efforts to grasp it.

Stepping from the mediation vestibule he felt a renewed vindication he was following the right path of preventing the oblivion that loomed at the door of the Vhal’Dan Order.

<<<<>>>>

Activation

The bulk was almost overwhelming just being beside them – two fully programmed Blackstone Obelisks finally ready for installation and activation.

These two had been hidden by the Technocracy beneath Mount Alixaea only partially completed. 

With one Obelisk they had found Jenaea, Xanaea and Taryn in mere months – a startling success by any measure…yet they were painfully aware there might well be other signals the limited array had missed.

And so in between those rescues they had spent countless hours preparing the two additional Obelisks and mining the remaining six. 

It would still take years for the others to be ready, but with two more…

Milaea watched intently as Lydan, Valens, Jarys and Sofa carefully lowered the first new obelisk into place, Adaea and Lyaea ready to connect it to the Observatory - the backwash from her dream the night before still troubling her.

She had spoken to her Grandmother about it, it had been the first vision that had come to her naturally for quite a while.  Milaea and Kassyndra had been reading over and practicing more of the Aethan Volva’s arts to avoid or limit just such events…

“But…in the end what needs to be seen will be seen,” her grandmother had concluded.

The second Obelisk clicked in to the locks and the women began as the men set to work moving the third into place, Selaena with Xanaea explaining the process to her on the edge of the room, the young girls eyes as wide as her mind as information poured in instinctually.

It had taken two weeks to get the obelisks inside the array as they had to teleport the 60 metre monoliths with the aether – it had taken all of them to muster the power to do so with a week’s break in between.

Why the technocracy had designed the facility with only access ways two people wide was a mystery but they suspected it was to choke off the hordes the ancient Sith had used against them.

Another booming click and the third was in place.

Milaea’s hand idly stroked one of the recording orbs, its coldness hummed with background signals that jittered without meaning.

The Array room seemed ever tinier with three of nine in place, she stared into the depths of the middle obelisk – the first one currently shut down as the others were brought online.

The light eating emptiness seemed to twist before her eyes into a visage that was familiar and unknown at the same time.

“Ready?”

Adaea’s sweet high voice broke the introspection…more time had passed than Milaea thought.

“Yes of course,” <Selaena you better head off> Milaea replied

In the Array room Selaena guided a still pointing and chattering Xanaea out, the powers unleashed on activation were potentially dangerous to the girl’s young untrained mind.  Despite her disappointment Xani was perfectly compliant trusting Selaena completely when she said it might be dangerous.

Milaea could only smile at the trust the young girl showed despite experiences that left here with every reason to distrust the galaxy.  It proved Milaea’s hopes there were other People who were not completely poisoned against Outsiders…

Though by her own admission the term Outsiders itself retained an in and out group distinction that was troubling.

Xanaea safely behind the hull of the Aertemisaea in orbit, practised fingers activated the systems one by one, the system redesigned to cope with multiple obelisk antenna’s compared to the prior makeshift system used to get the first online.

Raw aetheric energies, blue and red mingling to purples spun in helixes between the vast blackstone pillar as the last of the People sealed the room behind them for now.

Energy crackled and spat at the tri-bond transparisteel to the control room, partially melting it where it hit, for a moment Adaea worried it would not hold. 

The sudden and deafening silence that followed allayed her concerns.

Milaea’s hand returned to the recording orb…even milliseconds after all three were now on line the details coming through were sharper by four times sharper.

“Hmmm…the banks are getting full up faster than I anticipated…” Adaea noted her finger weaving between eldritch orbs and glowing buttons

<Jarys put the back up’s on to take the extra data…we’ll have to increase the capacity sooner than anticipated.>

As Adaea busied herself Milaea focused on the streams coming in, a thread sharp and yearning…barely a sound at all…

[…….]

She drew in closer
[…here…]

“Focus on this signal,”

Milaea was acting purely on instinct overriding Adaea’s commands, the shorter woman instantly obeying hearing and feeling Milaea’s earnestness.

They pressed, filtered and tweaked the array to align all three Obelisks to focus on the signal…

[….am here….of the….]

Totally focused they upped the power to the array to its limits, it was still not quite enough….

“Men…” she commanded with the instinctive voice of a matriarch in the making
“Pour all your energy into the backup aetheric sinks, now.”

They obeyed immediately running down three levels to the battery and capacitor system, jostling to be the first to pour their power in.

“Sofa, Grandmother focus the greysleet filters, Lyaea, Jenaea, get to the observatory, cross reference it to the map as it comes in.

The aetheric group mind joined them all into a seamless single will as they worked to magnify and track the signal.

[….By the Three Godessess…]

“We’re getting close!” Lyaea called

“To frelling collapsing…” Taryn complained as he began to reach his limits, Lydan not far behind, the adults Valens, Melron and Jarys now carrying the bulk of the work.

[….here! Aresea of the People! PLEASE!]

“We have it!”

<<<<>>>>

A find so soon after the new obelisks was active initially made them fear it was a remnant signal, possibly weeks if not years old…

It was in fact almost live – that was no less troubling – there were no coincidences in the aether – for Kiraea it was a sign of the Goddesses approval and guidance, for Milaea, reflecting on her vision the night before, something less benevolent was bringing them together.

The triangulation of the signal to ‘real’ space seemed to confirm the latter.

In the warm room of the Aephordaea they had assembled after half a day of analysis and research there was only one logical location it could’ve emanated from.

“Galtea…” Valens at the head of the table spoke it like a curse.

“Home of the Vhal’Dan gray Jedi…they number in the thousands, even Kimar never dared antagonize them directly…if Aresaea is held there against her will…”

“A stealth approach is the only way…” Kiraea surmised they had all quickly taken in the full details the Jedi had on the Vhal’Dan, it was however three years old now.

“Even that may be difficult…” Valens went on

“Their Arbiter, Anson D’Aklay, and Kage Arkady Cyne have well earned reputations as strategists and warriors,”

“Soryu served with them years ago, they are certainly more…pragmatic than the Temple Jedi or Mak’tor even…” Sofa added
“…they seem to have retained the militancy the Jedi had in the New Sith Wars to a far greater degree than any other sect.”

A silence fell, there was no question they had to go, to find Aresaea, yet the risks could not be underestimated.

“We go in silent, fast and heavily armed…” Valens concluded. “Not too many of us either, two ships, Kiraea, Jarys and myself on planet, Adaea you and Lydan on the ships,”

“…with contingencies,” Kiraea grinned excited to play with the Chiss Thermo-nuclear bombs they had recently been gifted after the Ebruchii Campaign.

“Those Grey Frellicks better have treated her well…”

<<<<>>>>

Schisms

For the next Part of the Story please see Schisms The Vhal’Dan Civil War by theDutchman.

http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=38018.45

For Areasea’s full background read from the start to chapter 11,
For the most immediate continuation of RotA read Chapters 8 through 11.

[TheDutchman]

I have to admit that these two chapters were a real treat 

Well, our numbered-named Remnant friends from the Technocracy have learned a universal maxim: nothing remains static.  But armed with the knowledge of the Technocracy's fall, they still have their mission (not to mention genetic imperative)...and I don't think that it'll align with our current Aethan Guardians... I think that Prakith is in for one RUDE awakening...

I LOVE seeing the "other side" of Ari's call here!  I'm really looking forward to reading/seeing more of the Aethan's POV from "Schisms."  Speaking of which...

I want to give LSG a very special "Thank you" and for many reasons: his inclusion of my own story within his while being so generous in allowing me to weave his characters/culture within my own.  I can say without hesitation that LSG's CONSIDERABLE contributions to "Schisms" improved the original story that I'd storyboarded, producing a superior work 

I've said it before: the collaborations between myself and my fellow authors are phenomenal, creating a synergy that becomes more than the sum of its parts 

RotA is one of my favorite stories especially as a result of the incredible characterization    I canNOT wait to see more, LSG!

[Karmack]

I think I am finally caught up.   :-)

I love the connection here, the peg into Schisms.  It really ties the timelines together and helps locate everything in time, as it were.   And as Dutchman said, seeing the other side of the contact is interesting. 

Loving it!

[Lord_S_Gray]

Chapter 14 — Ari’s Quest — Homecoming — Part 1

Aresaea

This story takes place immediately after Schisms the Vhal’Dan Civil War chapter 11
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=38018.msg633433#msg633433
My appreciation to Dutchman for making Aresaea the character she is and can be!

<<<<>>>>

“…I ….cahhhnnn…”

“Oh Sorry!”

The vice like grip of Adaea released from around her causing Ari to drop to the floor less than elegantly, propped up by Kiraea behind her.

Having failed in her attempt to hug her to death Adaea contented herself with crushing her hand as she sniffed her.

“You need to put on…”

“…at least 15 kilo’s!” Kiraea finished “Get some real food into you…”

Even after the sadness of the events that caused her to leave Galtea and her adoptive parents behind, it was hard not be caught up in the other women’s enthusiasm for the reunion.

After leaving Saani they had rapidly docked in a Gray-blue bay containing three other dagger like ‘Karintha Class’ Assault Transports and ten ‘Vorynx’ Class fighters, all inside the ‘Aertemisaea Class’ Destroyer Aephrodaea.

“How haven’t the Vhal’Dan detected a Destroyer over Galtea!” Ari had wondered, she well knew Anson was sparing no expenses on security.

“You’ll have to ask the Vhal’Dan that,” Kiraea obfuscated.

The question was partially answered as she was lead to the bridge – the ship was not the size of a typical destroyer, more cruiser sized, engineered to be operated by only one Person if necessary. 

A second solution was shown when she had arrived to find Adaea adjusting a strange glass like circuit board with curved blue translucent lines –Ari had only seen one example in a book that referred to it as ‘Chiss’ – even Kazic knew virtually nothing about the Chiss apart from the stereotypes of their isolationist tendencies, military efficiency and advanced technology…Of course Adaea had dropped it as soon as Ari entered the sleek room to all but squeeze the life out her.

Ari pulled back from Adaea a little realising she was getting caught up too much in the older woman’s infectious excitement…her adoptive uncle Tsarvung, and siblings Arnis and Synera  her family had died just days before…

Ari breathed in despite not requiring oxygen for another hour, adopting a calming technique Saani had taught her to regain equilibrium.

“It’s alright…” Kiraea wrapped her arm around Ari’s neck
“You can still have fun now…you don’t have to grieve to a schedule my love…”

Ari nodded understanding and feeling the warmth of their welcome fill her up, refocusing on a less emotionally loaded topic while the feelings settled.

“So is that Chiss technology…”
“Hmmm our version of it…” Adaea replied “We made it better…they have too many sharp corners no appreciation for a woman’s curves….”

The sentence sounded bizarre…she had to open her mind more to understand the train of thought Adaea was on…it reminded Ari just how much she had adopted Saani and Kazic’s more linear way of thinking.

“I can show you how it works!” Adaea beamed excited to spend time with her.

“…After she’s eaten…” Kiraea insisted.

<<<>>>>

Sweetness exploded in her mouth, the trickle of juices down her throat more filling than anything she’d eaten in years…the flesh of Kyala fruit would make her feel full in a moment.

“Maeson’s got the orchard back up,” Kiraea explained “Melron has a few fields planted…and Lydan looks after the flourishing Gormin herds, not enough for meat for a few more years…but…”

Kiraea summoned over a bottle

“Enough to milk…”

Ari’s eyes lit up as the bottles cap flew off from her desire the scent of rich thick milk within filling her nose…

She didn’t even finish chewing before filling her mouth with milk too.  Ari had come to enjoy the food on Galtea…and Kazic certainly made sure she got more than enough to eat…but now with ‘real’ food she was reminded just how paltry it was…

As drops of juice and milk mingled on the table from her ravenous consumption she paused…paltry it was so easy to think of everything on Galtea as…lesser…even after a few hours alone with her People….

There was a pernicious and dismissive attitude that pervaded their thoughts regarding Outsiders…fear and spite…clearly they had not had the positive experiences Ari had.

Kiraea easily sensed her thoughts

“You were blessed to find Outsiders as caring as Saani and Kazic…but we can discuss that later…”

She slid closer along the floor toward her – the ‘lounge’ room of sorts of the ship was much like a long houses central room, a hearth with fitting statues of the Goddesses, shelves of clothes and books around the edge and the floor covered in Gormin wool rugs and cushions, though there was what looked like a Hapan style lounge in one section near the hearth with a small ornate table beside it.

“Oh…that’s Sofa’s…she doesn’t like sitting on the floor…still has sex on it though…” Kiraea explained

Ari suddenly wondered about some of the worn patches on the rugs….People were not quite as….modest….about their sex lives as people on Galtea.

“Who’s Sofa?”

“Oh that’s Valens wife, you’ll meet her when we get home…she used to be a Jedi but she’s better now…well not a better Jedi, she was a terrible Jedi it seems…it’s a long story but Milaea healed her and made her ‘half’ People, then she made her full People…”

“Who’s Milaea?” Ari perked up at the strange names, though Milaea was at least familiar…’aea’ was a common suffix and Mil sounded like a name from the mountain village.

“Jarys and Cilina’s daughter…”

“Oh Cilina is alive too!” Ari said excitedly, while she was much younger Ari had looked up to the twins Shilea and Cilina from the Mountain village.

“No love…I’m afraid not…Jarys will tell you that story as is fitting…”

Ari nodded sadly, as her widower Cilina’s story was Jarys to carry…but wait Shilea was Valens wife so…if he remarried…

“Oh…not her too…”

“There is much sorrow to be shared my love…and you have your own to reflect on…for now rest and eat up.”

<<<<>>>>

The story Kiraea and Jarys had to tell was a tragic one…Lost and broken after the Devastation…Valens did what he could to rebuild, using the slaver Lyr as a patsy, allying with the Chiss in exchange for eliminating aether warriors for them while also working as an assassin and enforcer for the Jedi Grand Master.

Of course Ari had heard of the fall of Kimar and the Night of Madness from Saani, her mother kept no secrets, even those from the Vhal’Dan Congress from her….but to now hear it was Kiraea and the others who enacted it to ‘rescue’ Milaea…

It was hard for Ari to comprehend they would do such things…but if she had learned one thing from Saani and Kazic it was to know there was much she did not know and not presume to judge after the fact from a different point of view. 

Still she hoped to ask Milaea her side of the story when they met.

Yet all was eclipsed by the terror of the Sith Lord Xithar and his abominable abduction and mutilation of their clone babies, how Yoda the Jedi Grand Master had turned on them despite their help in destroying the Mad would be Goddess Lucovis and how Milaea had found a solution to prevent having to destroy the Sith and Jedi leadership completely.

Had Saani, Kazic, Arkady and the Vhal’Dan not been so preoccupied with Anson’s politics the Vhal’Dan would’ve been a valuable ally against Lucovis and her twisted hordes, possibly even been able to mediate between the People and the Jedi and Mak’tor…

But the march of history was not so forgiving…it was far more likely given how he reacted to her just for living on Galtea peacefully with Saani that Anson would’ve agreed with Yoda’s assessment that the People were simply too dangerous to be allowed to live.

There were some bright moments…Ari was eager to meet the Extolled Yuuzhan Vong from outside the galaxy, the Sons of Kessel had been good friends but sadly were largely in hiding, and Jedi Master Soryu was a great friend of the People…but more than anyone Ari was keen to meet Milaea.

Considering the situations she had faced Ari considered Milaea had made genuine efforts to do what she could to avoid more destruction under exceptionally difficult circumstances.

And they had done well materially…the very ship she sat in evidence of that.  Her room was well furnished, with a large mirror plenty of handmade blankets and rugs…a perfect synthesis of technology and tradition. 

Still as Ari looked at herself in said mirror…she could see how changed she had been…how they all had been…

She glanced back to the small selection of Instructional Orbs Adaea had given her…devices that recorded thoughts and knowledge on how the ship worked…she sat for a brief few minutes as the main points flowed into her mind directly…even compared to the Vhal’Dan fleet these Aertemisaea Class vessels were potent - not invincible - but the Vhal’Dan would struggle to detect them before they unleashed horrific damage….and built using funds from bankers Valens mind controlled and designs Kiraea tore from the top Mon-Cala, Kuati and Corellian engineers while they holidayed on Spira….

“What would you make of it Saani?” she wondered out loud.

Her People were according to Saani’s cultural definitions thieves and murderers…armed with abilities and technology superior to even all she had seen among the Vhal’Dan, their one weakness was small numbers, they could be overwhelmed easily.

This was not the People she had been taken from as a child.

Lying back on her bed she fingered the necklace Saani had long ago given her, it was an ancient symbol a Taijitu, black and white melding in a whorl representing the duality of Saanis chosen spirituality.

It was encased in a sinuous rainbow line representing the innumerable cultures of the Galtean Union, their disparate beliefs regarding the aether, life, death…untied in a colourful richness that enhanced them all by contrast, not conflict, with the other, and made new colours as the pigments osmotically bled together as ideas and perspectives mingled.

She was not the same Ari that had been taken…

The Devastation had changed everything, brought the People into conflict and collaboration with other cultures, changing each side in ways even they could never fully predict.

She held the pendant tightly seeking a calm and clear perspective amidst the changes even as she spoke the truth of the situation and the universal nature of change itself.

On a small table beside the bed, in almost deliberate opposition sat her link orb, a colourless, indeed near lightless void, no balance of light and dark, not blending of varied colours, just a harsh singularity like the People themselves.

“Nothing can ever be the same…”

<<<<>>>>

The trip back took nearly a week, they stopped briefly at Fresia where Lyr’Ca’Njo was establishing a new ‘Headquarters’ for their growing business interests.

Ari found Lyr a strange fellow, slimy and manipulative, twisted to Valens will and visibly recoiling any time Kiraea was near.

But it was when his wife Churi and Daughter Nxi had come it that Ari realised the strangeness was not to do with Lyr but how the People used him…he was somewhere between a slave, pet and valued friend.

Considering what he had done as a slaver, an instigator of the Devastation it was fitting he now worked to help for those he had hurt…yet under mental compulsion …he could justifiably be executed, but was given a family and wealth…..

Kazic would no doubt enjoy teasing out such a moral conundrum….

The hyperspace route to their home world was being made deliberately harder – the Extolled using gravity twisting creatures called ‘dovin basals’ to shift a few stars by a few hundred metres over the years- seemingly nothing in cosmological terms, but the highly reactive nature of the Deep Core meant it would leave most hyperspace routes fatally dangerous with radioactive clouds and nova pulses - only the People and Chiss would soon know how to reach it safely. 

By the time they exited at the edge of the system Ari had a solid grasp on the technology behind the Destroyer the Aephrodaea and by extension their smaller vessels.

“If you can think of any way to improve the next generation of ships let me know!” Adaea said excited to get a new perspective…Ari did have a few but was somewhat worried they were already planning a new generation.

“We must constantly improve…always be better to survive” Kiraea explained.

“And that’s why we have to take other people’s thoughts and memories…” the older woman slid close behind Ari….not quite intimidating but certainly making a firm point to allay Ari’s doubts

“We need insight and innovation from other species and companies to supplement our own and ensure we are always a few steps ahead…and we are very generous with our offers….”

“But you still take what you want in the end…” Ari finished…or thought she finished

“We take what we Need as everyone does”

That still left Ari somewhat unconvinced as the ship slipped out into real space. 

Almost instantly she felt the warmth of the aether flood over her…a welcome…a homecoming that made her forget her doubts in the familiar comfort of the Peoples bond. 

As they approached further she could see dozens of supply stations and Chiss ships going about their business…but also a large number of automated vessels with a three pointed Star symbol – the ‘secular’ symbol of the people compared to the sacred Triquetra.

“Our own ships…we can’t rely on the Chiss forever…”

As they approached one of the outer most planets Aeda she felt something buried under the planet’s surface…she could feel the vast Blackstone structure nearby small prefab work stations.

“What…it’s huge!”

“It’s an Aetheric communications device…our Blackstone Obelisk Array” Kiraea explained as Valens and Jarys guided the Persephaea along sending the authentication codes to the Chiss patrols.

“It’s how we heard you on Galtea…its tuned to pick up aetheric telepathic signals with certain key words, ideas, emotions and rhythms…the ancient Technocracy built it for spying on the Sith, but we repurposed it to look for others.”

Like the communications orbs…there is so much to learn… Ari thought

“And improve upon further….the device is good, but not perfect…there is so much interference, only strong focused signals can get through…but it’s a start…maybe you can see if you can improve it.”

“I barely know how it works…”

“You’ll learn quickly my love….”

What else will I learn though… she wondered.

Saani had taught her how learning a new language or technology could change the way one thought about the galaxy especially if one became very immersed in it…how would learning all these new technologies and re-immersing herself in the Peoples new culture change her?

<<<<>>>>

[Lord_S_Gray]

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.

<<<<>>>>

[TheDutchman]

I have an admission to make: without LSG's input, Aresaea would NOT have become one of my favorite characters!  Again: our collaborations are such a pleasure and a privilege to take part in 

This is especially rewarding as now we get to see Ari's journey after leaving Galtea, full of hope, wonder, some trepidation which is overshadowed by the heady experiences amongst her People.  Interesting how one can find love & succor from the most incredible of places.

Unfortunately, we know that Valens', Jarys', and Kiraea's probability extrapolations were spot-on: civil war was not just likely but--given those responsible--rather inevitable.  But what we don't learn from "Schisms" is how this affects Ari, only the after-effects; THIS is what I'm SO looking forward to reading here.  Already we see that Ari notices a notable difference between what was and what is.  With so much lost, one wonders what she'll do as a result and how she'll react.

As for Ari's Guardian training, I know that she'll be busy at work with that; I wonder how she'll take to the other Aethan Rights as well...

Thanks so much for this, LSG^^

[TheDutchman]

Special note: it was LSG that established Ari's celebrity analogue; in this case, Summer Glau.  As soon as he'd done that, I felt that I knew Ari MUCH better as a character  

Bah, I thought I'd hit "Modify" and not "Reply."  Sorry for the double post 

[Lord_S_Gray]

Chapter 15 — Ari’s Quest — Unlearn what you have learned — Part 1

The Arts

“Blood is key to life in People, it hold power, potency even outside the body, it’s flow and richness makes it they key to spells,” Kiraea explained as drops from her pricked thumb hit the whistescar tablet, beaming luminous white of the ultradense mineral at odds with the otherwise blood red cavern making the droplets even more stark.

They sat naked across from each other in the sacred cavern as was fitting, purple lit as blue aetheric flames melded with the light reflection off the bloodstone walls.

Without gesture or word the blood rose up and twisted into a flower like shape, blooming into and out of itself in a cycle.

“It holds your aetheric essence, continues to channel your power, acts as a catalyst,”

A bolt of energy blue and bright sparked through it.

This was the sixth day of her lessons. 

The teaching of the Rites was, in its full cycle, 27 days long, three by three by three.

The first nine days dedicated to Rites under the purview of Aephordaea, relating to fertility and healing, controlling her pheromones and hormones to better ‘control her mate’, as well as very extensive exercises in ensuring she knew exactly how to make the most…enjoyable use of her reproductive system.

This flowed now into what might be termed ‘Blood magick’.

“But it is still your power to begin with, there is always a price to using it…so…use someone else’s blood or life force instead if you can,”

Ari’s brow showed concern

“Like a life or energy drain attack?”

Kiraea sneered
“Such outsider terminology, nature is full of life for us to use as we please…here…”

She summoned over a large amphorae, Ari could already smell it was full of a rich blood

“Gormin blood, from old Nomo who passed, a bull in the herd…the power of the Gormin still lingers there for you to drawn on…like so,”

Kiraea dipped her hand wetting it brown and red then used the latent aetheric power to within to create a simple growing orb of energy.

Ari swallowed, had Saani or Kazic seen this they would consider it…troubling at best…out right Dark side or necromancy at worst.

“You need to leave the outsider labels behind Ari,” Kiraea soothed,

“They have their ways, we have ours, and I doubt Saani would wish you to refrain from learning your culture,”

“True…I want to learn it’s just….taking another’s life force for our own purpose…or in this case from the dead…”

“Consider it this way Ari” Kiraea said supportively “Nomo was a good gormin, he lived to a full age because the People, apart from the intermission of the Devastation, kept him safe and cared for, then when his time came we use all of his body as is fitting, not wasting any of it, all the Gormin understand this is part of our symbiosis,”

“I understand that…” Ari said “Where it’s given willingly just seems different to the next logical step…taking from your enemies to power yourself…Kazic was always wary of such things, not only because he was an Anzat, but that you could draw in a ‘taint’ from another’s blood or life force into yourself.”

“A reasonable concern,” Kiraea conceded, then a wiry smile crossed her face
“For those without knowledge…”

She dipped her hand into the amphorae, blood spiralled out in helix patterns into the air each a different shade, the division based on the consentient components of the blood.

“The aether is many layered, even in blood, I will teach you to extract the most pure strains, life that is just life, not cluttered by emotion or cognitive baggage….”

The technique was tricky, but soon Ari learned, even finding in her experiences with Kazic a slight advantage. 

As an Anzat Kazic had a tendency, however subconsciously to probe slightly deeper in instinctual search of the ‘soup’ that Anzat craved, Ari found she could add this discernment to Kiraea’s methods to refine the separation of aetheric strands. 

The lessons flowed seamlessly into each other - ultimately there were no strict distinctions the Goddesses were a united force, the universe one, division was not in the ultimate nature of things 

She learned how to heal at a deeper level than before, how to adjust Aethan genetics and homoeostatic systems, powerful healing spells and incantations that fused shatter-point healing the Vhal’dan occasionally practiced with Blood Magic they would never dream of.

This flowed into the next sequence of Rites more closely associated with Aertemisaea…using those same skills in a more aggressive way to hunt by tracking animals…or sentients…blood, disrupting their bodies with what the Vhal’dan would term Malacia attacks but to the People were ‘curses’…some very potent one.

“This one…” Kiraea began
“I’ve brought a practice dummy for…”

She presented a spooky looking faceless sack cloth doll smeared in dried blood.

Ari sniffed at it…having been on Galtea she had learned the scent of many species, and at times competed with Kazic in an olfactory guessing game to predict who was visiting them, giggling at Saani’s eye rolls.

This blood belonged to a Rodian.

“Who’s is that?”

“Oh that’s not important…now I want you to very carefully follow what I will teach you…”

This teaching, like most, was directly into her mind through the aether and Aethenaea cortex…it used the fact a beings force presence among living cells – no matter how far apart – was still connected – this was how you tracked animals with blood, hair or skin…but the lesson Kiraea imparted now was how to not just trace the location of the owner but transmit something through that aetheric connection to the ‘main’ body…

In this case transmitting something very nasty…a boiling fever inducing malacia attack that would most likely kill the Rodian wherever they were. 

Ari hesitated to harm someone she did not know at all…Kiraea sensed it.

“Don’t worry this is a nasty person…in fact…lets skip a lesson…I want you to delve into this beings aetheric aura not just where they are…but who they are, what they have done…”

Ari nodded and focused, melding in her minds the different techniques she needed to combine, drawing into the thread of the presence and seeking it back in terms of physical and mental space...it required three levels of consciousness to keep and caused her to start to sweat with exertion almost straight away.

The Rodian was…far away…somewhere ‘Down’ to the ‘South East’ of where she was if such a description was apt…roughly Hutt space…she felt a sensation of self assured confidence and indifference…

<Careful not to pull into the mind too much…as Kazic warned you can get a ‘taint’ in yourself…but also a strong mind or aether user might sense you and attack back> Kiraea telepathically cautioned along another stream of consciousness

<A metaphysical battle across a galaxy?>

<Correct, Sofa and Valens fought Xithar once this way…another way to connect without a physical sample is a variation on what is called by the outsiders Qâzoi Kyantuska…>

<Saani told me of that once…it is very difficult>

<For her it would be, you can trace a being by their thoughts alone, but it requires much more power and much more mental capacity than most Twi’leki possess to sustain>

There was no insult implied to Saani, merely fact that an Aethan mind possessed raw processing power a twi’leki did not.

<But it is dangerous, in time Jarys will teach you how, but you must avoid such until you are more experienced>

<I understand.> Ari returned her full focus to the Rodian…who felt a self-satisfaction at his wealth and power, but something was sickening to Ari’s stomachs about it…as if it were all due to…

<Slaves…he’s a slaver…>

<The Sons of Kessel are struggling…they send us on occasion these samples…it’s too dangerous for us to assassinate targets directly in case the Jedi catch our scent…so we help them by cursing targets for them…>

Ari felt more and more of this slavers mind, his history…what he had done as a ‘business’ and personally, the humiliation, suffering, beating, rapes he had inflicted stoked her rage

<Good, use your anger to strengthen your curse…but don’t let it cause you to be hasty… good curses must be carefully wrought…>

Ari did as Kiraea said using her budding rage to craft a twisted pattern in the aether that travelled along the connection to his blood on the doll.  It was a frothing and vomit inducing purge of digestive organs wrapped in a shell of mild tingling and shortness of breath….

<His lungs dry…his pores close…the heat in his body well…then no relief find as acid of his stomach all over his skin expel…> she chanted in the metaphysical plane

The Rodian clutched his chest as his breathing became ragged

<Good now let go…>

Despite a vicious desire to see him suffer she returned fully to her sweaty exhausted body feeling a sudden sense of dread at what she was now capable of.

Kiraea handed across a large ceramic cup of water fresh from the springs,

“It’s alright Ari, consider this…if Saani met such a slaver in the midst of his crimes what would she do?”

Ari did not hesitate as Saani would not have
“She’d…maybe try and take him alive for interrogation…”

“But most likely…”

“Kill him outright…”

“A wise woman,” Kiraea’s vicious smile lit the cavern.

Malacia and tracking methods moved to the next logical area of concealment – no matter how well you could track prey it mattered little if they saw you coming.

There were similarities to the Buried Presence methods Saani had taught, but there was a more forceful ‘depth’ to it, perhaps not better, but different a greater willingness to release ones presence into the aether as well as supressing it to a microscopic point –the two methods would be mutually exclusive for beings with only one levels of consciousness, it required four of her six to achieve a blend.

Kiraea demonstrated the Stealth Method, the Veil of Mist - sitting right in front of her Ari was astounded at how she seemed to vanish before her very eyes, the disassociation was perplexing, her mind knew she was there, but her senses could not confirm it, a dissonance that almost served as evidence.

“Is that perhaps a weakness…” Ari asked
“That the absence is almost too conspicuous,”

“hmmmm…perhaps…” Kiraea thought on it “That may be something for us to research in more detail, another time,”


Flowing into lessons on enhancing speed and strength of body was natural to help hunt, Force Speed as Kazic termed it, on top of Aethan’s existing heightened reflexes was something Aresaea easily affirmed her mastery in, shielding aura’s and strengthening spells Saani had already taught her and needed only minor tweaking to make more ‘perfect’ use of unique Aethan biology.

This smoothly moved into mental enhancement and the Rites of Aethenaea.  The Goddess of Wisdom focused on sharpening the mind, spells and incantations of clarity and vision, seior abilities practiced in more depth by Volva’s were touched upon, again many things Ari already had experience with, then moving further into enchantments and infusion of the aether into objects.

This she had more awareness than active experience in,

“This seems…deeper than how Vhal’Dan tune their lightsabre crystals…” she said as she worked the small totem with a simple sleep enchantment

“The substrates difference is only part of the reason I think…”

“It is the lack of a living link,” Kiraea explained
“The Vhal’Dan are foreign to their world and Lus’Phor…they occupy the planet but are not a part of it as we are ours…they can’t connect with the stone, the woods, the fauna as we do…by the same measure though we cannot effectively bind and enhance material from other star systems, only our own….”

The limitation was intriguing as Ari considered the example of Naga Sadow, so often when bored on Yavin she had peeked through time to watch the blazing red energy of the Sith Master at work millennia before.

She had been drawn to his presence as a child because his ‘colour’ in the aether was familiar, but soon learned he was very different.  He had, she knew, noticed her, and in his later years found something comical about it, making off hand comments to his, by then mentally degraded Massassi slaves to look for the ‘little woolmander over my shoulder’; sending them on fruitless efforts to find her thousands of years away.

Kiraea raised an eyebrow at the memories shared freely across the aether

“Interesting, I thought Sadow was more focused and imperious from the official histories Valens made me memorise…”

“He was…” Ari explained “at first…but I saw him at different times through his life…when he was older he was more…calm…focused but not aggressive, I think it was how he coped with his exile after so many years…even as he worked to preserve himself indefinitely…That was what I was thinking of, over time he got better at working the material the Massassi mined, I thought it just experience but perhaps he became more attuned to the Jungle moon itself?”

“Very possible, over enough years as cellular proteins are replaced by those from eating food grown on the planet it may occur…”

“…but not fully…one must be…conceived on a world to be truly part of it...” Ari surmised, the Keening of Aethenaea technique still in effect sharpening her deductive capabilities.

“…or actively accepted by it and its Gods…I doubt Yavin ever could accept Sadow, his monuments are scars the Green God of the planet tries to pry apart with vines and monsoons…and Galtea…the Gods there seem silent, hidden beneath the technology of Vhal’Udhav…” Ari deduced

She did not mean to sound so disparaging about her adopted parents world, yet her razor sharp tuned logic found technology could only enhance the separation,

“Well thought out…” Kiraea agreed “…and well fashioned” she noted the completed sleep totem.

There was no trial or test of abilities after learning the Rites, merely a simple ceremony.

Fingers dipped in a mix of ochre and blood Kiraea drew three lines across Ari’s face, one down the bridge of her nose the other over her eyes, then looked up to the carved statue behind her.

“Aephordaea, Aethanaea and Aertemisaea witness Aresaea has learned from me your Rites and secrets, and in doing so is now a Woman of the People, guide and bless her all the days of her life till she returns to join you….”

Kiraea looked down to Ari, her gaze solemn.

“And you Aresaea shall recall your lessons, and practice the Rites as is fitting, and when the time comes teach any girl who is of age and seeks to out the Rites as they have been taught to you, and as you have learned them in the years to come,”

“I will,” Ari nodded

Kiraea stepped forward and drew her in a tight embrace, the formal words spoken levity returning to her voice after weeks of uncharacteristic Priestess like solemnity, a side of Kiraea rarely seen.

“I know you will, there now you’re fully my younger sister!”

<<<<>>>>

[Lord_S_Gray]

Chapter 15 — Ari’s Quest — Unlearn what you have learned — Part 2

Aresaea

Her mouth was dry, hair a mess having slipped from its tight bun, skin more purple than white with bruises.

And her last trick had just failed.

She had started using the methods Saani did against a larger, stronger opponent – speed and dexterity to get behind or limit their motion and attack at range.  So many times she’d watched Saani beat Kazic sparring by doing such.

Ari’s opponent had dexterity arguably greater than own – Ari had become “accustomed to the limited range of outsider humanoid movement”.

She changed tactics, when she had trained against tediowans and koawans she’d found her greater weight gave her an advantage in addition to her elasticity, they would underestimate her bodies greater density. 

Using her weight to anchor her against attacks and power her blows was a silly move when her opponent was heavier still.

She tried stealth, the buried presence Saani had taught her tweaked with the Rites of Aertemisaea of the Hunt…but her opponent a master himself and married to the most expert stealth practitioner among the People.

She tried mental thorns and tentative metaphysical attacks, the suddenness of such had once floored Kazic…her opponent was in what she could only describe as a trance like state where there was almost no ‘conscious’ to manipulate.

Illusions, Malacia, energy, heat and gravity techniques all proved equally ineffective.

Now she was alone barely clothed on the harsh windswept steppe as a titan in polished shell armour charged toward her at over a hundred kilometres an hour.

She remained calm, and focused, neither frustration nor seeming hopelessness would shake her composure.

Rocks hurled telekinetically shattered against the hissing serpent he wielded, its bladed body more than a match for her now shattered training sword of mere dura-steel.

She raised the very soil itself to block his path but he crashed through, electrified the air with lightening that simply curled round the shell

She couldn’t target the Yuuzhan Vong shell armour properly it was…hazy…to her senses…apparently it was exceptional she could even feel that…and seemed to ignore the aether and insulate the warrior beneath it.

Less than two metres away, about to ram her down.  She was on her knees tensed to pounce in another futile attack…there was only once option left so recently learned.

With a quick flick of her nails she cut her palms open as he reached her, fierce spikes on his shoulders and gauntlets ready to bleed her even more.

She sprang on her knees up and over the dreadnought of a man her own blood spraying out…

Tiny droplets wound into the gills of the armour that breathed and fed and lived.

Connected to her own aetheric presence still she heated them to a boiling temperature causing the voduun armour to screech in gleeful pain…through the aether sent invisible trains of lighting to her erstwhile cells.

All across the vast spiked warrior tendrils of energy linked the drops of boiling blood to chain him in a lighting cage as she landed just behind him, turning quickly to pour more energy into the lock to drive him down.

For a brief second he seemed to falter.

Then deciding he’d had enough her lighting was sucked in and hurled back at her in a wave of energy that send her cartwheeling in half controlled tumbles over sharp newly shattered rocks.

She landed with her face in the dirt and felt the heavy squelching boots beside her head.

A powerful hand lifted her up.

“Solid baseline…”Jarys congratulated despite her defeat

“Well done Aresaea,”

<<<<>>>>

“Saani has trained you well,” Jarys noted as they sat upon dusty rocks that littered the steppe, harsh grasses, that even at full health were patch, slowly reclaiming the thin soils.

“Very well…apart from myself, Milaea, Kiraea, Melron and Valens I don’t think you would have much trouble winning a match,” he explained as they both recovered.

Ari felt a sense of pride, not in herself but her parents, the others - Lyaea, Selaena, Maeson and Adaea were far more experienced, their aetheric and physical strength hardened by fighting Jedi, pirates and Sithspawn, it was testament to Saani and Kazics efforts teaching her if she was so well placed.

“Without the Voduun crab armour’s immunity to the aether your aetheric attacks would’ve worn me down significantly…not enough…but far more than you did…”

He leaned back contemplating her range of abilities

“There are few things left to teach you technique wise…a few refinements on what you know certainly, increase your aetheric efficiency, using your range of motion better and your thoughts are loud…but overall…you are more than competent to be affirmed a Guardian,”

Ari perked up at that till she sensed the a hint of ‘but’ in Jarys aura

“Your training will focus more on weapons, metaphysical and mental fortitude, mine will focus on discerning the weakness the Vhal’Dan might find in our existing suite of abilities and preferred tactics.”

Guardian training had a strong mutual component to it, analogous less to an apprentice and master relationship than mutual apprenticeship that occasionally occurred among the Vhal'Dan.

“Let us begin on that point then, why did you never join the Vhal’dan order?” he asked bluntly

“I…” she was taken a bit aback her usual calm demeanor cracked by an unexpected question with an answer seemingly so obvious that he needn’t ask…she was People not Vhal’dan…and yet…

“Yet you lived among them for years, adopted two senior members as your parents, did they not encourage you to join, they certainly trained you as well as any Teidowan would’ve been,”

Ari realised that what he must’ve meant by loud thoughts as he spoke the very ones she was having as she had them. 

It didn’t matter among People, they shared everything telepathically and learnt by delving each other constantly, something she had to suppress with the Vhal’dan given their very different notions of ‘privacy’.

“It can also be an opening for others to probe your intentions, Jedi, Sith…but we will work on that later – what is your answer?”

“I suppose I never felt the need or desire… Saani never pressured me to, it never seemed to worry her,”

“Would it not have made her proud if you had? Surely you would’ve passed with ease” his tone slightly combative – this was part of her training as much as any sparring. 

She kept her tone even and controlled

“True but…it would’ve drawn attention, they didn’t want people to know what I was capable of in case it spread fear especially after the details of the Night of Madness reached Galtea…”

“They feared for you or themselves?”

“Both perhaps, mainly me, Anson was becoming paranoid…even if I had joined he would never have believed it I think…”

“You’re diverting from the point, Anson’s reaction wouldn’t be a large factor in a decision to join or not given that was years after you arrived on Galtea - why didn’t you join?”

She frowned brow furrowed

“I suppose I never…couldn’t ever really understand or agree to it…the oaths needed to dedicate oneself to them…I’m People, not Vhal’Dan – it was hard enough to understand they were an elective people of all kinds of species, their other rules and things.  And I never saw the conflict, they are a multicultural society, I can live among them, love them, befriend them and stay true to my People and Goddesses, why should I have to join them?”

Jarys raised an eyebrow, a gesture that in People could only be deliberate at her defensiveness

Ari realised how worked up she’d gotten as if…as if it were Anson demanding she explain herself to him.

Quickly she checked herself for any kind of interference, whether Jarys was playing some kind of trick on her, using the aether to open up memories of Anson’s trying to arrest her….

But there was nothing.  It was all her own anxieties.

Jarys simply nodded, noting he had finally hit on a sore point in her otherwise tranquil demeanor – one he would fully exploit.

“Anson tried to take you…that in itself is cause for anger an punishment…Goddesses know were we not so few and the Vhal’dan so many…”

He left the sentence hanging...

“And he did cause you grief and loss, your adoptive uncle and cousins lost their lives, you were parted from Saani and Kazic with no time to take comfort with…you’ve been left with unresolved tensions and anger because of that, and before that other fears from when you were abducted in the Devastation, the crash, the loss of your uncle, isolation on Yavin…”

He noted very carefully her thoughts, emotions and expressions – or lack thereof as he listed her grievances, there was a trained calm regarding more than he expected.  She would require a very different approach than any of the others.

“I can feel Saani helped you with some of this, for that the People will always hold her as a Friend…but still…”

He stood and reached out his hand.

“…You will need to learn how to use them to enhance your strength when needed,”

She took his hand…
…and in less than a second she was spun round and thrown bodily toward a crag, the shock on her face fleeting - her poise in recovering exceptional for her age.

Aresaea was a special case indeed Jarys grinned behind his expressionless mask of adamantium.

<<<<>>>>

See Schisms the Vhal’Dan Civil War - Interlude-A Day In A Life IV for interim event.
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=38018.msg646582#msg646582

[Lord_S_Gray]

 

Chapter 15 — Ari’s Quest — Unlearn what you have learned — Part 3

Jarys

Exceptional was the only word that did her justice.

Even for an Aethan, Ari learned quickly - all the basics, and most of the advanced techniques she had already learned from her adoptive parents and wide variety of friends and acquaintances on Galtea, to say nothing of her innate abilities.

As he’d deduced from the start her thoughts were ‘loud’ intentions easily read, dexterity not at its peak as Saani could only teach with reference to her bodies more limited range of motions - context was critical – it was only against other People this was noticeable, and within an aethan week – nine days of 43 standard hours - she had the skills she needed to improve on her own over time.

She took quickly to working with the Extolled, no doubt her experience working with so many other species on Galtea helping.  Yhum had certainly found her breadth of different styles learned from so many cultures on Galtea exhilarating to behold.

A mere two Aethan months after they had begun she was nearing the end, in the sweltering summer he had her row to the jungle isles where she was to face a final battle of sorts before her trial.

In a glade a few kilometres from the Extolled damuteks and ghorsal spires that appeared as sea shells jutting amidst the thick vegetation, Aresea stalked around the training circle eyeing off her opponent, half the Extolled watched on always entranced to see their Avatars in combat.

Taryn, with a now solid muscular frame after months of training and recovery with Melron, walked casually with a smirk on his face as if baiting Ari with his indifference.

“Alright then green-speck,” his voice was leering as he limbered up, each was clad only lightly in the heat, Taryn simple shorts, Aresaea a simple cross wrap top and tight trousers.

Taryn spat on the ground as they continued to circle, the disrespect planned before hand - Melron had found practical applications for Taryn’s bawdy rejoinders and taunting in a modified form of Dun Moch that sought to boisterously undermine an opponent’s confidence rather than the more traditional subtlety.

It was so brash and obvious Taryn’s opponent would think it easy to ignore, ironically exposing themselves further.

Taryn leaned forward

“Come on bushy tail, scared huh?”

‘green speck’ no doubt referred to Ari’s Aqua eyes, ‘Bushy Tail’ her pony-tail as she let her hair grow over the last few weeks, its length enhanced by proper Aethan food.

Ari was, as always composed, the calm and poise of her mother a little too much for Jarys liking.  It was difficult to get her emotionally aggressive, a barrier when Aephrodaea’s Grace and many of the most power hormonal states required such. 

He hoped Taryn find some cracks Jarys could exploit.

“All right then,” Taryn sniffed  “If you’re not gonna start,”

He leapt at Ari with speed and strength, she dodged expertly his first three blows before he finally locked her into a tussle.

Melron beside Jarys was just as keen to see the progress of his ward after several months of intensive training.

The competition was fierce, Taryn used his height and reach well, his attacks still bearing a street fighters flair and unpredictability that Melron had encouraged, often forcing Ari to readjust her strategy as her precognition turned out to be of little use, Taryn effectively blocking glimpses into the future.

Aresaea used dexterity and variety of honed techniques with more control and precision, where she struck she did so hard and repeatedly, Taryn pretended to be unphased as she drove three hits to the same pectoral, by elbow, knee then palm between his jabs and weaving.

“Ah come on, you hit like Spice addled Twi’leki tralk,” he hissed out even as he tried to gain distance to reassess his approach.

“All that blue bimbo could teach you huh,”

Ari’s only ‘reaction’ to the insult was a serene low charge with sweeping kicks turning into acrobatic flips peppering Taryn form all sides,

“More flexible than a Nagai Schutta I’ll give you that,” he huffed forearms sore from blocking as he chanced a spray or hooks and twisted into a grab catching Ari’s wrist and with a quick twist using all his weight to drive into the loamy soil which took the brunt of the impact before she could break and roll away.

“Shame, you look good on your back legs wide open, your bimbo teach you that too?”

Finally there was a twitch in Ari’s otherwise placid visage.

They all noticed it and the attacks from Taryn, verbal and physical intensified three fold, Taryn’s insults against Saani beginning at lurid and intensifying to outright abhorrent.

Ari knew the words were a weapon no different to Taryn’s fists and shins barraging against her, she knew it was a modified form of Dun Moch. 

But that was all at an intellectual level…she had never been subject to such before…emotionally it was all she could do to keep herself focused and calm.

The fight had been going for three minutes, the Vong barely able to see as they fought at full speed with four times human reflexes, the foliage around rustling with the shockwave of the blows when they landed, the ground churned up when they missed.

Taryns insults became increasingly vulgar, she should be able to ignore them, but the tone and freebooter swagger made them drip with gaudy realism in her mind.

“…guess blue bimbo couldn’t teach you how to use head tentacles to stroke a guy off eh, or is that why you’re growing your locks long?”
“…so one of the kids survived the blast, D’Arial…heh better luck next time,”
“…just where does an Anzat put those nose suckers when he’s getting off?”

Jarys knew Ari could do it, she had incredibly pinned Anson and his sentinels to the ground radiating purple aetheric energy ,clouds of energy building around her when Saani and Kazic were threatened, the issue was she needed to be able to enter such as state at will, reaction to a situation was not enough.

The tussle reached the next stage, without the aether their respective strengths and weaknesses resulted only in an ever shifting dynamic stalemate, Taryn was the first to draw on the aether, Ari soon followed enhancing her speed as he teleport shunted about her with each strike.

<Aresaea has the edge in an aetheric battle, won’t be long now…> Melron noted <and those words are bouncing off her>

<That is what I’m afraid of>

The speed intensified, to adamantium strikes were added their respective preference in aetheric shielding, Taryn covered by blue flame, Ari a purple tinged lighting

<Purple…> Melron’s surprise evident <that might be…> Jarys need not respond, they knew what it could mean – only one other Aethan had such colouring in their aura – Milaea – a signifier of a potential intensity of power far greater than either elder Guardian, Kiraea or even Valens could obtain – the union of the destructive blue of lighting with the life giving red of shatterpoint healing.

<Taryn go harder> Jarys ordered across a private telepathic channel.

Straining Taryn drew on his rage at losing twice to the brutish Feeorin Gyl, fists balling tightly, body filled with the aether from without and within as he tripled the intensity of his attacks, the very limit of what he could muster.

Fists, kinetite, Metaphysical thorns and tendrils of flame assailed her in a conflagration as intensive as it was instantaneous. 

Ari could not quite react in time, like broken mirror one level of consciousness was cracked, her lighting shield overcome and skin singed, her sweat laced clothes starting to burn away, already bruised limbs buckled under the endless cavalcade of blows.

“come on Green speck, what’s the matter, worried about how mummy is probably getting hard-frelled by a dozen sentinels as Anson bleeds her for information on where you are?”

The words finally bit. As her eyes narrowed and the aether pulsed in her body as if her cells would explode with it.

“Yeah what did you think would happen, you beat up his goons then ran off - left her behind, you think Anson gave up, he’ll be torturing that blue bimbo till the nerfs come home to find you!”

Taryn pushed an image across the aether of Anson, fingers like metal blades jamming them in Saani’s spine, electrifying every nerve with pain as he screamed demanding to know where the ‘spy’ Aresaea had gone.

That Taryn had not been there, that his rendering of Anson and Saani was based on second hand knowledge didn’t matter.  It could be possible, Anson could have gotten out of prison and at this very moment be tormenting her parents to continue his crusade against her.

Blinding protective rage exploded as pure energy light her body in an ethereal purple glow, eyes losing colour to beam like torches, energy flickering from every pore.

She barely noticed the transition had sent a wave that knocked the Extolled to the ground and flattened a number of trees, only Melron and Jarys still standing.  Her complete focus was on protecting her mother, rage was directed to Taryn who found himself sinking into the ground with telekinetic weight dragging him into the planets molten core.

To his credit, and Melron’s pride Taryn did not stop resisting even as the unstoppable force sought to crush him lifeless, he darted what mental thorns and even some illusions to try and break free, it did no good, but Melron knew he would’ve done little better.

The intensity of the grip was becoming serious, many Extolled were chanting, rubbing their faces in dirt and other various acts of devotion to Aresaea as she burned with intense aetheric energy, some shouted Yun-Lingi the name of their most Mysterious deity that was only uttered in the most hallowed of moments – the name of the Hidden One that Is Feared. 

Jarys did not fail to notice a dozen or so in the crowd who whilst overawed were not showing any signs of worship.

Aresaea felt the trembling tingle of the power wash over her, similar to how she had felt when Anson tried to arrest her…but different. 

The shock of the newness of the sensation was less, she felt more control stemming from her training in the Arts and Rites of Aephordaea and Jarys Aethan specific Guardian training.  Her mind was cool, calculating and aware that the target of her instinctual assault was not her true opponent.

For a brief moment Jarys gathered his strength to hurl Taryn to safety, Jarys strength in the aether – for now – enough to counter Aresaea’s, Melron likewise positioning to assist.

A calmness settled over Ari as she parsed through the situation in all its constituent parts as Saani had taught her to, frantic arcs became a steady glow, the rock crushing grip slid away from Taryn who gasped for breath.

She had a measure of control over this power that she had not had last time.  Intentionally diminishing it, her body returning to a more stable state as she used the hormonal controls Kiraea had taught her to rebalance the altered endocrine patterns quickly.

Jarys nodded approvingly.

<<<<>>>>

“…but what if it is true…if Anson is interrogating Saani to find me…” her voice was quiet and pleading.

Taryn’s Dun Moch had left a deeper impression than Jarys had anticipated.  Brash as it’s delivery Taryn had hit on an eminently possible scenario that struck Ari deeply. 

It was easy for Ari to check with the orb she had given Saani, Ari’s orb currently in Mount Aelia, but that would defeat the opportunity to teach Ari a greater lesson.

“And if it is true, then what?” he asked arms across his chest atop a log in the afternoon sun, the scent of the villip paddies nearby mingling with the blooms of orange Obiya flowers on the forest floor that slithered with Vostaff.

Ari sat on the ground her clothes little better than burnt shreds after the fight, she briefly closed her eyes and breathed in a technique he had seen her mother use often to calm her thoughts.

“Then…I should still be here, Saani wouldn’t want me returning to a dangerous situation…and even if I wanted to free her I need to finish my training first…I wouldn’t be able to defeat Anson or the numbers of Vhal’Dan he would have if he were holding her if it came to it...yet.”

Looking up from the ground she locked Jarys gaze, a firmness to her demeanour she had lacked before.

“I understand why you had to get Taryn to push me like that, if I’m to protect myself, and others better I have to master accessing that emotional and physiological state,”

Once more Jarys nodded in approval, her insight accurate once more.

“You’ve the Wisdom, Strength and Compassion of the Goddesses, Aresaea,” he refrained from using the Goddesses name as was fitting for a male

“Clarity of mind and purpose, you need only to harness your full potential better and then when fully grown…”

Ari was after all only in her late twenties in standard years, young adulthood in Aethan growth, although fertile from seventeen standard Aethans did not fully mature into final adulthood until thirty eight to forty with adequate nutrition that firmed and strengthened skin, bones and muscles by a solid margin.

He knelt to place a hand on her shoulder

“You will become far greater than I ever will,”

<<<<>>>>

[Lord_S_Gray]

Chapter 15 — Ari’s Quest — Unlearn what you have learned — Part 4

Aresaea

To her great relief, Saani was fine.  As a parting gift Jarys had Kiraea drop off the link orb before Ari left.

Anson was still being held in a Detention Cell, and although as they spoke briefly, the distance between Deep Core and the Marcol void a struggle even for the enchanted link-orbs to bridge, Ari noted growing worry in her mother about the situation among the Vhal’Dan so far its seemed things were improving with Kazic to be named Arbiter shortly.

The pressure and worry had in a way been good, for that she would thank Taryn next time she saw him.  The thought of her Mother in danger was a trigger to help her control Aephordaea’s Grace state, her technique still imperfect, but sufficient for Jarys to send her back to Mount Aelia – the long way.

For nearly two weeks she ran and walked without rest from the steppe where they had finished the training, a final test of endurance, and time to reflect alone on her lessons.

The Arts Kiraea had taught helped with enhanced speed and better metabolic control, Jarys methods of movement improved her muscular efficiency.

Her final task was to climb the outer face of Mount Aelia to the hangar where she was to receive her final trial to be set by one of the others as an independent test of her skills.

By the time she hauled herself over the lip into the main hangar overlooking the grassy plain she had so recently wandered through, having had to open the vast door telekinetically, more than a little worn and sweaty the Guardian to test her was waiting. 

Her brow furrowed momentarily to see Valens…she had hoped for Kiraea or Melron…possibly because she thought they would be easier…Valens she could never really read – but that was precisely why it had to be him.

“You’ve finished?” he asked quietly - despite the fact the hangars natural acoustics should’ve echoed his voice it remained dull and whisper like.

“We never really finish…” she replied calmly and clearly

He nodded, that answer seemed fitting.

“Well then tell me what you think would be a fitting trial and that shall be what I set.”

Brow creasing once more she wondered if this was the trial…a verbal game, trial of wisdom…no that seemed ill fitting…

Of course…what better way to test someone that make them create their own test…I have to show that I have insight into myself…too easy I appear lazy, too hard prideful or ignorant of my weaknessed…

Saani would no doubt have been very impressed with Valens means of trial…it truly forced you to face yourself…yet Ari needed something fitting for People, something that wouldn’t be…nice…yet would achieve something for everyone’s benefit…

Something…she hadn’t thought to do – after all she couldn’t till now…and something she ought to acknowledge more. 

Ari spent so much time reflecting on Saani and Kazic at times she neglected another’s memory just as important.

“I will…return to Yavin and repatriate my Uncles body home for proper burial…”

Valens needn’t long to parse through the layers of meaning and challenge attendant on returning to where she had been marooned and alone.

“So you have spoken so I enjoin upon you…I’ll go with you to oversee your trial, but you will need to ask someone else to come with us, it’s not safe for us to move in small numbers.”

Ari nodded – in this too there was a test…Kiraea or Jarys were obvious choices…too obvious…in fact everyone would readily agree except…there was only one Person she was uncertain of…

<<<<>>>>

“Increase the screening on amplitudes of 5000 Aeths or higher…it would be near impossible for someone to shout that loud…” Milaea instructed as she felt out the reception the obelisk getting from the Link Orbs they had placed on Csilla to serve as fixed testing signals to better perfect its ability to pick up useful signals amidst the endless twisting flows of the aether from across the galaxy.

“Alright….” Adaea twitched her fingers on the 3rd Buffering orb – one of nine that adjusted and sharpened signal…Ari’s experience of nearly not getting through had Milaea worried weaker signals were being lost.

The adjustment made the message came through slightly clearer ”Signal Test Orb Zero-Zero-Zero-Two Current White – Amplitude 4500 Aeths – Frequency 4 hertz – Limited Spectrum – Key Words – Three – Goddess – People – Of The – Aephrodaea – Aertemisaea – Aethanaea – Alixaea – Guardian – Signal Test”

The technocracy had at least left behind enough information to test the device and measure Aetheric signals using ‘Aeths’ units of the Aether or Force…a queerly scientific method for such a spiritual or primal thing.

“Excuse me,” A sweet and low voice called out amidst the whirr of generators and the aetheric crackle of the Obelisks.

“hmmm…just a moment…” a final tweak and Milaea was done.

“Oh Ari!” she turned surprised, she had been looking forward to seeing her again, but did not expect her so soon.

“Are you here to train?”

Ari shook her head as Adaea poked out from under a console equally perplexed

“No, I’ve finished the main training,”

“So soon?” Adaea looked surprised as Milaea gently felt out Ari’s aura.  Ari had already been strong in the aether, but following the months of training that was now greater, sharper and more refined

“You already knew much from your Parents on Galtea,” Milaea answered for her,

Ari nodded

“Yes, but it’s my Uncle I’ve come to ask about Tarasen…I wish to repatriate his body from Yavin, bring him to rest on Aethas, I need another to go with myself and Valens, Milaea I was wondering if you would join us, I mean help me?”

Again she found herself somewhat tongue tied around Milaea.

Milaea simply smiled, quickly deducing this must be her final trial.

“I’d be happy to return Tarasen home with you, and to see Yavin and the Massassi ruins there…but first…”

She grabbed a filtering orb from its ensconced hollow and tossed it to Ari who caught the 100 kilo razorball sized grey-sleet.

“…I’ll need your help to finish up with some testing and enhancements of the Obelisk Array,”

Ari turned the orb over in her hands, smile growing with the warmth in her breast to work closely with Milaea and help to ensure no other People found their message delayed as hers had so painfully been.

“Gladly!”

<<<<>>>>

[TheDutchman]

I love how this not only fills in the gaps with "Schisms" but also ties into (indeed, enhances!) the narrative.  We really get to see Ari come into her own here, growing as a result of her time with both of her extended families.  That's what makes Ari such a great character: she is a child of two worlds, belonging to both while still straddling their disparate cultures.  And--as we've seen--she is definitely a potent force, again made stronger by her feelings for ALL of her family. 

One of my favorite scenes has got to be her Guardian training with Taryn (supervised by Jarys).  Her serene nature learned by Saani is both a boon...and an obstacle.  Leave it to Taryn to help circumvent (OK...SMASH) her emotional barriers.  But this makes sense: the last time that Ari had exhibited such raw power was when she, Saani, and Kazic were threatened...

It's intriguing to see Ari's arc here and her immersion into Aethan society.  Although inclusive to a point, there's much that they nevertheless are determined to divest her of.  But couldn't much of the same be said of how humans raise their own children?  And here's the crux of one of the underlying points of Aethan culture woven throughout these stories: "morals" and "social mores" are a filter seen through the eyes of the beholder.  And just like the Force, there are black and white perspectives, gray and the entire spectrum of colors.

After reading this (and knowing what is on the horizon), seeing Ari here is that much more bittersweet...

Oh, and special thanks to LSG for adding SO much to Kazic's, Saani's, and Ari's narrative!  His INCREDIBLE storytelling is absolutely transportive, full of rich and engrossing details 

[Lord_S_Gray]

Chapter 16 — Ari’s Quest — Pilgrimage — Part 1

Aresaea

Rounded white architecture ingeniously diverted alpine breezes off the surrounding mountains away from the paths and promenades of the gleaming city of Aldera.

Set upon a lake it was the jewel within the jewel of one of the most beautiful worlds of the Republic.  The curves of the white architecture and green of the innumerable small gardens along paths to and from the space ports, universities, museums and hotels spoke of refinement, wealth and peace.

Ari strode along the edge of one of the large rounded walkways that looked out over the lake filled with small skiffs and sailing craft under a yellow sun.

The trip from the Deep Core had been relatively quick, a brief pause in the intensity if not frequency of Electromagnetic pulses of the Persephaea Nova enabling them to take a short cut to Fresia for Valens to check in with Lyr,

There Ari met Colm Maynard for the first time – a ship thief Kiraea as a teen had mind controlled and taken as a kind of mentor in learning how Outsider society works…and taught stealing as a way to earn credits for herself, Lyaea and Adaea. 

Once more Ari found the compulsion he was under disturbing, he had been given a good life, rejuvenated youth and a wife in Xandra who was expecting their first child, given Colm was over 70 now he owed such to the Aethans blessings…yet even so he was like a well-treated pet badged as a friend. 

It was a strange to consolation that Milaea felt the same discomfort at the compulsion the men were under.

It opened the door for them to speak in more depth as Ari piloted the Aertemisaea through the glowing blue of hyperspace.

Of course they spoke on many things, their favourite holo-vids, foods, Milaea showed her the tapestries she worked on, and together they worked more on calculations for the Obelisk array while the ship was on auto pilot during the longer jumps.

After one rest cycle on the Aertemisaea Milaea invited her to join her with waking exercises and showed her some karta’s Soryu had developed, Ari in turn showing her those she had learned from Saani.

“Very tranquil,” Milaea sad behind her, voice clear in the alpine air away from the hubbub of the shops.

Unhappy about her husband’s absence on Galtea, or rather the lack of gifts he brought back, as well as a desire to get some ‘civilization’ Sofa had joined them to stop over at Alderaan on the way out of the core.  Sofa was currently doing her best to swamp Valens in cellophanate-bags, Silk-board boxes and gold leaf pressed order receipts on her shopping spree, leaving the two younger women free to roam.

“Even more than Galtea…like it used to be when I first arrived, “Ari replied still looking on the icy blue waters, the sense of loss of that innocent and exciting time lingering.

“Come on,” Milaea broke in not wanting Ari to dwell too much “Let’s have a look around, Sofa is just getting warmed up,”

With a smile Ari joined her, welcoming a break after so many weeks of intensive training as well as the change of scene.

While Aldera had an excellent public transport system of small free grav skiffs parked in blue taped bays near major areas the Aethan women walked between most of the sites, jogging occasionally through larger thoroughfares where no one would notice their inhuman speed.

They began with a tour of the Royal Palace, located roughly in the centre of the city, the current monarchs absent at the time enabling them to tour more of the private quarters.

“Goddesses we can’t let Sofa in here…” Milaea teased as they wandered the tastefully restrained but still impeccably opulent furnishings, rich silvers and whites accented with blues and emerald greens.
“…she’ll make Valens bring the whole lot back with him, I’m certain she brought half the Hapan Palace from her honeymoon,”

“Where is she going to put it all?” Ari asked with a giggle
“Once everything is finished with the Obelisk array and the recovery…I suspect Valens will be very busy making her the most opulent palace Aethas has ever seen,”

The Museum of Modern Expression was next, the wide columned galleries quiet in the middle of the day, multi spectral glasses offered by service droids so all species to see the painting and works of art fashioned in static neutrino clouds or electromagnetic spectrums beyond most humanoids field of vision.

“Huh…look at this…” Ari said as they passed the reception.  Amidst the other notices and pamphlets was a small display for the Arts of Aephrodaea just as she had seen on Corellia,

“It’s still going,”

Milaea nodded “We’re cycling every system that will take it, Lyr manages it at the moment, I have to say I’m amazed it’s been as successful as it has in giving you and the others the confidence to reach out in the aether knowing someone is listening,”

Ari absently flicked through the pamphlet paused eyes narrowing on one example picture, she held it up to view it next to Milaea

“Did you pose for this one?”

With a flash of a smile Milaea snatched the pamphlet from her hand, turning her nose up to the side.

“I neither confirm nor deny those allegations!”

The University of Alderaan was nearby, white domed buildings set amidst lush green gardens, the students, mostly Alderaanian, but a significant number of other species, moving between classes that reminded Ari of Galtea’s multicultural make up, and Milaea of the Jedi Temple.  Both sort contrasts to the mono-cultural xenophobia of their People and their ‘pets’.

Lost among the throng of the other students they breezed through the various departments listening in here and there on lectures in the airy auditoriums, or poking in to view workshops, in one a relatively young blonde human woman guided students on the translation of Killik glyphs found on the petrified hives of the Castle lands in the Far northern steppes before their migration off world, the circumstances of which were still uncertain.

“I read something about a race called the Celestials moving the Killiks to use as workers in grand Galactic scale engineering…” Ari noted of her time at Vhal’Udav University.

“It was a dismissed theory, a myth to cover their leaving Alderaan after depleting natural resources as a migratory locust species…but I think there is enough evidence that the Celestials were real…”

There was an uplifting wonder in Ari’s voice Milaea had not heard before.

“I wish we had time to study more into it…investigate all the places across the galaxy and follow the path back…”

“You really enjoy the archaeology and history,”

“I do,” Ari beamed, “It was so interesting and challenging puzzling out translations and connecting different sources, geology, astropgraphy, genetic drift in population, etymology…”

“You did a lot of that at Vhal’Udhav?”

“Not in a formal role at first, Kazic arranged with the Research Department to give me accesses to artefacts from Yavin to help in translating, after that I moved onto other projects with Jorol and Tsarvung…”

“Perhaps one day you’ll get the chance to research it,” Milaea said with more hope than she had for some time, Ari seemed to bring that out in her.

Another half dozen stops and they were back near the spaceport, the sun beginning to set, hungry enough even for outsider food they stopped at a restaurant, one of a dozen surrounding a round courtyard that featured a large complex fountain in the centre of lush blue and violet flower beds.

It wasn’t till they sat and ordered, selecting from the additive options for non-humanoid species available to ensure their meals were, as much as possible, richer in the heavy metals and dense proteins they required.

It was then they began to notice the area must be something of a ‘couples’ zone.  A number of flower sellers, wandering well dressed musician’s, holotogrpahers and pop up jewellery stands appeared as the first sitting filled up with mainly human couples.

“Looks like date night central,” Milaea teased checking briefly on her link orb, Sofa noting they were still loading the last of her purchases onto the ship, Milaea wondered how many stores had been emptied.

Looking around at the canoodling couples Ari had to agree,

“Seems so…a beautiful spot for it with the fountain,” as the sun set delicate lights beamed to colour the curving arcs of water in rich patterns. Their alfresco table was quite close and no doubt the envy of a number of other couples who arrived after them.

Other couples Ari shook off the odd wording, they were not a couple just friends, recent ones at that.

“hmmm….so…was there…sorry it’s too personal…”Milaea backtracked despite Ari sensing a budding curiosity in her aura

“What? Nothing is too personal after everything Kiraea asked and showed me…”

“Ha, well there is that, I genuinely don’t think she understands what privacy is in an ‘outsider’ sense, but she means well,”

“So ask away,” Ari encouraged

“Was there anyone…special…were you, are, close with on Galtea?”

“Oh…” Ari was not quite expecting that despite everything in the environment around them making it an obvious question.

“ha…um…Kiraea asked me the same thing…” her reply was more nervous giggle than words

“No…not…I made lots of friends but…then I wasn’t allowed to be alone and there were the curfews and restrictions…and I suppose I just never really thought about even looking to be honest,”

A strange sense of relief tickled at Ari’s senses before Milaea clamped down on it as if embarrassed by the emotion.

Fortunately the waiter arrived with their meals to break the unusual tension and turned back to less serious topics.

A day of fun and a little frivolity, almost flirting an observer might think, came to an end as they walked back to the space port beneath the multi coloured promenade lights under the gentle caress of the evening winds off the lake and mountains far beyond.

<<<<>>>>

[Lord_S_Gray]

Chapter 16 — Ari’s Quest — Pilgrimage — Part 2

 

Aresaea

A mix of nectar, pollen and the pheromones, waste and blood of two dozen species filled her nose. 

With a rush the memory and understanding of it all came back to her – the Koyo’s were fruiting, the Stintaril rodents were plundering roosts of whisper birds to the point of near extinction – but in the constant cycle of Yavin 4’s ecology they fattened rodents, lazy after mating and feasting would soon end up prey for larger creatures, the survivors litters would go underground and the Whisper birds would return next season in force.

The jungle moon had been her home for many years, and it remembered her, the aether of the Green God offering a respectful welcome – while it knew she was not native it didn’t resent her presence like it did the Massassi and Sith ruins that it tried to demolish with vine and rain over the millennia.

She silently strode from the clearing they had landed in, Valens close behind to observe, the humid climate dramatically contrasting with the alpine Alderaan and Aethas took him a moment to adjust his thermoregulation under his full armour.  Knowing what to expect Ari had opted for more natural attire of traditional linens and Gormin leather that was also more customary for a Guardians trial.

“It’s still a fairly long walk from here,” she said clearly
“Perhaps half a day to the mesa,”

While they could’ve landed closer to do so would’ve crushed too much foliage for Ari’s liking, she didn’t wish to disturb the planet’s environment any more than necessary, a fact Valens respected, and in so doing puzzled Ari – he had a great reverence for the nature of this and other worlds as was fitting but on the other hand had no qualms about eliminating sentient outsiders by the score if it suited him.

Thinking through all she had learnt she could only surmise he, Kiraea and the others, considered Outsiders ‘godless’ when they were not on their home world and not deserving of respect, their cities built of unnatural metals and minerals blights whose destruction was of no consequence.

“Very well, return to me when you’ve completed your task fully,” his voice was solemn fitting the occasion of her trial, but there was an edge to it that suggested she needed to do more than just exhume, pack and carry the body back.

Ari needed to honour Tarasen, the whole of his legacy and reflect upon it, and the only way to do that was to share his story with others.

“You’re not… Sofa complained stepping out of the hatch behind Valens
“You are…” she sighed sweeping her long balk hair into a pony tail with a dingle deft motion that bound it with an Aephordaean diamond band.

Ari looked slightly puzzled till Sofa followed on with her complaint

“Do we really have to poke around thousand year old ruins full of stinking sith ghosts patrolled by the feral massassi who worship them,”

Valens didn’t reply, but Ari couldn’t hide her amusement at the pair, Valens had so diligently and uncomplainingly followed her about Alderaan, but in typical fashion for an Aethan woman she had no desire to reciprocate indulging his curiosity.

“Fine…” Sofa relented with faux exasperation, “But I’m not carrying those damn orbs,”

Valens had a secondary goal to place a number of Surveillance Orbs at key points among the ruins, the goal top detect and record any others who visited here in the future, a way of keeping tabs of other aether users investigating ancient and powerful sights. 

The first step in a program that would on day cover thousands of such ruins and wellsprings of the aether across the galaxy.

Gnurr and the Extolled were not far behind, the scouting party of Yuuzhan Vong eager to explore a new world, and perhaps test their mettle against the Massassi.

Given how the violent natives took to anyone approaching the deeper shrines and Valens laser focus to plant orbs as close as possible to them Ari was certain they could get their chance.

Of course, to Ari’s great pleasure, that left only one person to share Tarasens story with on the walk.

Stepping out behind them in relatively light clothing, light but tough red dyed leathers Milaea looked every inch the jungle explorer, her sabre at her side seeming to cling possessively to her hip as much as Ari’s drifting eyes.

Though they had spent a fun day together on Alderaan and were already fast friends, Ari couldn’t take for granted the other woman’s assent.

There was a slight look of discomfort on Milaea’s face as Ari approached her, waddling slightly due to the medi-vac pod on her back to carry her uncles body.

“What’s wrong?” Ari inquired

“The Aether here…it’s…”

“Oh…that,” Ari realized for someone trained mostly by the Temple Jedi Sith ruins could be discomforting.

“If you try and channel from here…” without even thinking she reached out to tweak the flow of the aether around Milaea more toward the ‘green’ flows of the jungle and plant life,

“Oh, sorry, I should’ve asked!” Ari quickly apologised for the intrusion

“It’s fine, thank you, such a mix of the Aether here…so much going on, are you heading off?”

“Yes, but, I was wondering if you would join me, not to help with my trial of course but to listen to hear Tarasens story told?”

“I’d be honoured, but….”

“But?” quick concern crossed Ari’s face

“But you have to promise you’ll show me some of those famous deep ravine waterfalls after wards,”

“Deal!”

<<<<>>>>

There was no real path, any tracks she had left previously long lost to the rapidly growing vegetation – but the very abundance of trees clinging to the ridge offered hand holds to make their way up toward the thin sliver of the mesa that sat above the jungles and green-yellow moulding massassi ruins.

They encountered little fauna as though even the animals respected this as a place of mourning.

“When they came to the village…it was scary…I didn’t understand what was happening…but I had my uncle so it was with me so it seemed everything would be all alright.”

Aresaea began as they clambered step by step along a narrow ridge overgrown with vines, her feet knowing the lay of the land so well.

Milaea made no immediate response, her role in this important task was to listen.

“I’d never seen a ship or so much metal in my life – suddenly we were surrounded by it, and goblins and trolls…with evil magic things on our necks that hurt us when we tried to take them off…gammoreans, gran…and shock collars…there was no aether we could feel away from home…just sadness…”

They leapt over a gap that had not been there when Ari left Yavin, Ari turning to catch Milaea – she did not need the assist but it was a chance to feel her warm skin.

“It’s hard to remember I was so young and I think...I know…I’ve blocked details out…”

Her brow creased trickling water from the humid air as she sized up how to climb the next section as a 258 kilo adult rather than a lithe pre-teen.

“I never made it to Nar Shadda…they – docked though I didn’t understand at the time and tried to sell me on route…my uncle wouldn’t let them take me away…he managed to get the collar off and push us into the other flying cart…there was a strange blue thing in it – an Umbaran I now know…he dominated its mind to get away I still remember what he said

“Make this cart go away from here!” he used all the strength in the aether he could to force him.”

Handhold by hand hold, keeping their bodies light by reducing gravity about them with the aether they ascended.

“We didn’t understand we were in space…couldn’t comprehend how far away from home we were.  Uncle demanded a map and got a navicomputer – he’d never seen a screen before it made no sense to him so he reached out to find the strongest aetheric presence he could – he thought…

He didn’t understand that we could be so far away after only a few days…he told the Umbaran to go to where he felt the strong presence…but when we got there…”

They were getting close now, the vegetation less dense, she recognised many of the hand holds.

“Something went wrong, I don’t remember what exactly…maybe he broke out of my uncles control…Tarasen wasn’t a guardian to sustain such dominance for so long...yes I think that is what it was…and we crashed – but the planet with the strong Aether presence wasn’t home…”

She glanced toward the towering vine covered ruins in the valley below that competed with the mountains for height.

“…It was here…the crash…I remember bits…it was so hot and scary, uncle covered me with his body…but he got hurt…a piece of metal deep in his back…too deep to take out on his own…he got me out and…looked after me, worked out what was ok to eat by watching the Woolamanders...we called them Blue Gomons then…he tried…tried to make it exciting like an adventure in a strange new land…but…”

She shook her head, he could never truly convince her even at that young age everything was alright…but she loved him for trying.

“He made a small hut, worked out what animals were good to eat and how to hunt them…taught me what I needed to survive…the metal lodged in him…we finally took it out but…the microorganisms and diseases here…we were often sick but he kept on…
We tried to talk to the Massassi once…but they…well they are barely sentient now…there was a quick fight, I was terrified, but Tarasen was able to kill their Brave who approached him, snapped his neck quickly, even sick as he was, his reflexes were still good enough to strike fast and hard…thank the Goddesses that scared the others away I don’t know how long he could’ve lasted…”

Another light jump over a gap in the rock and she sampled the air, first stirring son evening breezes from the South carrying rich scents of nectars to draw out nocturnal insects.

“After that he told me to stay away from the ruins, no so much because of the Massassi who stayed away from us, but because they had dark things in them…I didn’t always listen…”

An almost wistful smile as the trail became easier for a stretch at how Tarasen would remonstrate with her about wandering off, but then still inquire what she found, like her he could not keep his curiosity in check for long.

“One day he…got really sick and didn’t get better…I tried every type of leaf and nectar we’d found with healing properties but…I think that made him – if not happy then at least hopeful…that I knew what to look for meant I would be all right on my own.”

She paused after landing from swinging from a creaking vine – the gap she had used numerous times before to escape from semi sentient Critokian’s.

“Then I was alone, I don’t really know how long…each day was just…I was so busy gathering fruits and berries, hunting…when I had enough I’d look around the ruins and…listen to the whispers…it was the only other voice…but I remembered by Uncle telling me not to trust them…”

Against she looked to the Massassi temples, only their peaks visible behind the cliffs they had scaled over the last few hours as she told Tarasens and her own tale.

“I listened but I didn’t do what they said – not all of them were bad…Naga Sadow…noticed me…but he didn’t seem to mind, I think on reflection he found it funny all his buildings ended up abandoned except for me, he’d hint he’d seen me making me afraid so I’d hide again for a few days…but he said such interesting things…I’d always come back…

Sometimes I’d try and climb up the top of the pyramids hoping I could see Mount Alixaea, or Mount Aelia in the distance…that maybe we were home after all…despite the big red moon…then Kazic came…” 

By now the vast red orange glow of Yavin was fading as the moon rotated away from facing the gas giant and the dim stars shone through.

“I only really told Saani the full story before now….I should have told it more…Tarasen deserves to be remembered and it’s my role to do that.”

Milaea had watched Ari closely as she spoke, Ari’s eyes watering and voice breaking and gluggy with tears, if Ari’s role was to tell the tale then it was hers to listen, understand and reflect on it. 

As the night drew on the moisture in the air turned from cloying with heat to prickles of ice, Ari trembling slightly as they made the final ascent – unlikely due to the temperature the pent up release of so many griefs hidden behind a buoyant and bright personality

The brightest lights cast the darkest shadows… Milaea lifted an arm but held back uncertain if it would offend her to be touched…

It was worth the risk.

As soon as her hand reach Ari’s far should she leaned straight into her for a brief pause.

Ari swallowed back her tears for the moment as they topped the mesa.

She stood in shocked stillness.

Milaea thought it at first another grief reaction but the aether told of Ari’s greater shock.

The cairn she had left so long ago was now a scattering of rocks, the starlit vantage she had placed Tarasen defiled.

Slowly, calmly Ari strode over to the empty grave site.  The thin dirt churned, the goods all gone. 

She knew, she already knew.  But she didn’t want to believe it.

On her hands and knees in a frenetic flurry Ari tore at the ground with her fingers, nails filling with dirt, rocks buffeting her skin as the medi-vac pod never to be filled jiggled on her back.

“Ari…” Milaea said leaning beside her

“No he was…”

“Ari!” she grasped at her arms but she broke free to continue the futile digging, Ari needed to do Something!

She came upon a scrap of leather as Milaea finally grasped her from the front, pinning her arms to her sides in a hug.

“He’s gone Ari…he’s gone…”

<<<<>>>>