Private Try And Try Again

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music IC

This certainly wasn’t the first time that Vayla had gone on an adventure and another adventure, one after the other. To be fair, she thoroughly enjoyed scaling mountains and navigating caves, spelunking and snorkeling, training with the blade in case she needs to swing it at obstacles in her way when exploring. Truly, searching ruins when not on a mission, especially for long lost artifacts even if they were only rumors, was more than a hobby. It was an escape.
Life as a Jedi Knight had plenty of adventure already. Living as a Jedi Shadow had plenty of mystery already. However, sometimes Vayla Mirana just liked to go at it alone, hands solo, without it being a mission. Today that wasn’t the case. Yet passion was as much her business as it was her pleasure. So that was her real escape.

While having not signed up to be his assigned master, she was assigned to be his tutor. He was a Corellian, aged sixteen, and a Jedi Padawan. Hopefully he would have as much fun on this hunt as he would learn. There would be much to discover within himself, more than treasure chests and stone tablets may tell.
Songs told stories as well. Typically in the remotest region, in Vayla’s experience, were the stories richest. The legends may be just as ridiculous in theory, but no less epic, especially when hearing them via live music.

The Mountain’s Haven Lodge was as cozy as one could expect in the wintry elements. It was a place to escape as much as prepare, with plenty of equipment from flashlights to climbing gear, and plenty of utilities and amenities like a hot shower and hot food. However, she had already showered earlier that morning. Still early, it was a cup of hot coffee she was enjoying.
And the singer, of course. A woman fiddled the strings of a lute before a roaring fire. One member of the audience, a Pantoran woman in appropriate garments of a teal coat and black pants, sat cross-legged on one end of a settee. She levitated a hand over the top of her piping hot cup, steam disappearing into her skin, and just listened with or without her companion.

Konrad Montrose

 

[Konrad Montrose]

At first glance, it would be difficult to discern that Konrad was a Jedi Padawan, given his appearance and demeanor, which more closely resembled that of a local street tough. Today, he found himself placed under the tutelage of a Jedi Knight whom he had yet to meet. It seemed that his usual mentors had grown weary and decided to pass him off to someone new.

Only partially attentive to the bustling activity around him, Konrad embarked on a cursory exploration of the lodge, curious about its contents. He harbored reservations about his newly assigned companion, having only recently been paired with them. Pausing to gaze out of one of the windows, Konrad's mind wandered to the impending adventure ahead, pondering the potential treasures awaiting discovery.

Vayla Mirana

 

[Vayla Mirana]

The song ended. It wasn’t so long. The audience clapped, the musician thanked, but she wasn’t someone that Vayla Mirana wanted an audience with despite her own clapping hands. It was a good song, with poetic lyrics fitting for a legend, a mystery, but it was time for the Jedi to get up and take in the rest of the establishment. She was, after all, here for business as much as pleasure.

Coffee unfinished, she carried it in her grip, pacing leisurely across the floor. Floors, doors, walls, ceilings—furniture and furnishing—these things were deliberately archaic in fashion. There was no dull metal or metallic undertones. There was the scent of fresh wood, not what burned from the great fireplace, but from the foundation of the very building.

A true lodge in the mountains. Rustic. Quaint. Cozy. Wonderful. Vayla wondered if her companion might agree. She found him staring, not at the setting, but at what was beyond the lodge.

“Coffee?” She didn’t mean hers of course despite her gesture. Whether the young man turned to her, she turned to gaze out the same window, and maybe he would recognize that distinct Pantoran accent, though Vayla had since eliminated its farmer’s elements. In public, that is.
“Tea? Always a good idea to get a warm beverage in your system before exploring mountains. Helps me climb in my experience, Jedi or otherwise.”

Konrad Montrose

 

[Konrad Montrose]

The sound of his companion's voice snapped him out of the daydream-like state in which he had found himself. Blinking a couple of times, he tried to process what she had said before finally coming back to his senses. "Oh, I'll grab a drink before we head out," he replied, his speech carrying a slight broken accent, as if he wasn't used to articulating the full meaning of a word and was more accustomed to slang.

"Done stuff like this before?" Konrad asked, shifting his attention from the window to focus on his companion. He noticed he was slightly shorter than her by an inch, though he gave himself a little pep talk, reminding himself that he was still growing.

Vayla Mirana

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Now there was a plan that the two Jedi were on the same page with already. She also had it in mind to take plenty of fluids with her for their adventure. Coffee in a cup in the early morning at this lodge; hot tea in a thermos for the voyage; water, water and water in her backpack.

“Oh, yes, most definitely.” She couldn’t help but grin at his question. If only he knew the extent of her enjoyment with exploring mountains and caves and other terrains in any element. Whether for personal pleasure or a mission like this. “It’s a passion. It’s a hobby. It’s…hmm…”

Vayla trailed off, sipped her coffee in thought, and returned Konrad’s gaze with her own as she too looked away from the window. “It’s what…keeps me going, you know? Alone, generally speaking, I can zone out. Escape from the machinations of a Jedi Knight. Or with company.” Though she would not admit to being a Jedi Shadow. That was a well-kept secret.

“You? What do you do?”

Konrad Montrose

 

[Konrad Montrose]

When it comes to preparation, the only items he ever brought on his little adventures were his blaster pistol and a change of clothes. But this time was different; this adventure, he was not alone.

"We all need a hobby to break up the day-to-day life," Konrad mused, before being slightly taken off guard by her question, which he attempted to dodge as best he could.

"Oh, you know, padawan stuff."

Vayla Mirana

 

[Vayla Mirana]

The dodge was not overlooked. Vayla wasn't one to press for unwarranted information, the kind that she didn't need for a mission that was, but she would prod unless he said stop. "Oh? How do you mean? What do Padawans get up to these days when Knights aren't looking?" Her smile was amicable, attempting to keep the conversation casual, but not everybody wanted to talk about their hobbies. They did break up the day as much as everyone had a role to play.

Konrad Montrose

 

[Konrad Montrose]

With a wry smile, Konrad replied, realizing his evasion hadn't gone unnoticed much to his attempt. "Oh, just the usual training routines and such," he said, chuckling softly.

He paused for a moment before continuing, "You know, Padawan duties and all. Honestly, I'm not much of a temple dweller myself. Anyway, what's the story behind these ruins?"

Vayla Mirana

 

[Vayla Mirana]

And there’s Vayla’s queue not to keep poking and prodding the topic as she moved along and thought nothing of it. She was, admittedly, suddenly remembering her own life as a Padawan. She wasn’t lost in thought or anything, but the mention of training routines and duties took her back a minute.

Or maybe it’s this scenery. This setting. This coffee. Pantora was no Orto Plutonia but she had more than one adventure from the moon to the planet as a child. Its mountains were as frozen over as these ones. But no less pretty.

“Can’t say I know much about them, Pad.” Maybe she was distracted given that slip. ‘Pad’ was just a nickname she applied to any Padawan in her presence but it was up to him to correct it if he wished. “That’s half the fun of it.” Her coffee was halfway empty, or half full, whatever sounded better.

“One legend permits that a pair of Jedi not so different from you and I ventured to these mountains a hundred or so years ago. Discovered the ruins, not of a Jedi temple, but of a lost civilization. Whether they unearthed artifacts imbued in the Force, or left them already in their possession is, well, as lost to time and truth as the legend itself.”

Konrad Montrose