A single step

[Kava Koyote]

As Kava stepped off the star liner onto the Alderanian space port she was very nervous as the last two days replayed themselves in her mind.

Kava was called into the Jedi council chambers on Kashyyyk for what seemed like the hundredth time this month. She wiped her greasy paws on the inner hem of her robes then nervously fingered her necklace that took the place of her padawan braid. She stepped to the center of the room and bowed to the masters. “I-I was summoned masters?” She tensed for the reprimand she just knew she was going to get as one of the masters spoke, “Kava child, we have come to the conclusion that our order is not the proper place for you, however, rather than placing you into one of the corps we feel that there is one you can go to train under. You are not a jedi of the silver caliber that we expect here but there is good in your heart so we are sending you to Alderan. There is a master there who may be able to at least teach you how to vector your course to the betterment of the galaxy at large. You will leave tonight. Do not be sad, we are happy to have you visit in the future and some here on the council would enjoy to hear from you regularly. We know your life has been rough and therefore if you are ever in need, seek out one of our order and you will always be aided to the best of our ability.”

As Kava refocused she reached out with the force trying to feel her new master.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Kava Koyote"]


Alexandra rarely went into Alderaan's capital, generally preferring to be on the frontier of Republic space or to be out and in her forest, away from people and around her family and her tree. It was this that made her different, the longing for something more than a solitary life of a Jedi and she was ok with no longer associating with that group. What was interesting though was how the silvers still considered her a Jedi and Alexandra was always surprised when she had visitors or people looking for her, none having intended to be her students but looked for her they did all the same. She would give them a few words, help them reaffirm their trust in the code, and send them on their way, not wishing to preach her beliefs to them.

Alexandra yawned and rubbed her eyes as she looked over a storefront, wondering if there was something inside that would be of interest but soon her mind wandered and found something a bit more interesting. Her brow raised and looked over her shoulder, staring down the street and wondering who would be so quick as to reach out in the force without a clear target, or atleast a known one. It made Alexandra straighten up and look around, checking every inch of her vision before looking back down the street and starting to walk. She had an interesting feeling this one would be different, and she wanted to know more about this individual.

 

[Kava Koyote]

Kava searched the crowd, perhaps it was because of he longing to belong, or maybe it was out of some instinct that she searched through the force signatures trying to find the one the force was leading her to. Her instincts and her solarian senses picked up hostiles very easily so she could sort through the intents of those around. She found the market next to the spaceport to be brimming with new sights and smells that sent her senses into a whirl as she fought to stay focused. Pawing at her padawan necklace a bit she once again kept searching for a sting presence.

The masters had said the silver lady was a loner. Being of a race where being one out of many in a colony was essential, even though she was an orphan, made that consent a strange and at the same time alluring concept. She could finally work on her droids and ship in peace. She continued to look and search until she was caught unawares by a shiny R5 unit. It was new looking and it wheeled and whistles at her as if turned to speed off on its merry way. She liked droids, given enough time she thought droids could even come to be friends but everyone laughed at her when she talked about it. She even learned binary just so she could understand the droid chatter around her as she did her duities at the temple. As she stood there contemplating. A feeling finally touched her thoughts and she turned.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra had watched the little exchange with interest, watching [member="Kava Koyote"] lose focus and it made her bring some interest in the being. She didn't get to meet very many people who were from the Jedi and this one was certainly an odd one compared to the lot, but Alexandra liked odd. So she continued to watch the younger being stare at the droid and become lost in their own thoughts until Alex started walking again and purposely spiked her signature, doing so just out of eyesight and this time, to see how well Kava had been trained thus far.

Alderaan was no small place, and getting lost in a crowd was more than possible for even the most overtly present individuals in the force. Which is what made blending into a crowd so easy to do if you could do so on the surface level, as well as the spiritual level. But Alexandra kept her presence purposely strong for now, amplifying it a bit to lead Kava to her and once the being was on the trail she would slowly diminish her presence again and see just how long till Kava got lost and no longer could track her. It was a bit of a test on Alexandra's part, a simple one with no penalties or rewards.

Curiosity was something she always had and curiosity in Kava was in abundance as she glanced behind her and waved her hand. A small, white furred creature darted from her and moved along the side of the road, jumping up and watching from above. Daeda, as he had been named, was an Ashlan wolf that Alexandra was the companion of, the two trading thoughts, sensory information, and words through a simple connection of the minds. It was some process she didn't understand, and one that existed even where the force did not, but it was useful and Alexandra would keep an eye on Kava's progress through Daeda.

 

[Kava Koyote]

Kava immediately perked up, her Selonian instincts kicking in as she started to track the signature. Since she had just been thinking of chittering to the droid in binary, she continued to do so letting out some clicks and whistles under her breath. Feeling eyes on her she dropped to all fours using the crowd as cover and following the dwindling force signature to edge her way into the shadows and through some crates to hide from the prying eyes. As she panted there under a small stack of crates and scaffolding she searched again with a bit of panic in her feelings. She pulls out a few bits of metal and started trying to improvise a small weapon to keep her safe. As soon as she calms down enough to focus she traces a path in her mind to the last location she felt the strong force signature. With a burst of youthful speed, she scrambles around the bustle of the crowd until she saw the wolf high above her and staring into his eyes, she froze, pinned there by the predator.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Kava Koyote"]

Daeda, the small ashlan wolf, seemed to raise a brow as Kava looked up at him. The wolf was amused and laid its head over the edge to look at her with blue eyes embedded in that white fur. The wolf informed Alexandra about what was happening through their mental link and gave her sight through one of its eyes as it blinked and something dulled in its left eye. The two stared, each through one eye at Kava before Daeda began to stand on all fours once more, its height no more than a foot at most but it quickly jumped to the ground, taking it ledge by ledge until its feet stirred the dirt there. It was from there the creature would start moving towards Kava, who may move or continue to remain frozen, either way though the small wolf would come up to her before sitting and its white fur slightly glowing each time a shadow moved over it and obstructed the light.

Alexandra herself sat on the stairs of a building, watching through Daeda what this being would do and curious to see how things further went but Alexandra also was uncertain of the girl. It was why Daeda was the one approaching first and it was why Alexandra tapped her leg right now. She didn't feel threat coming from Kava, no she felt the opposite and it caused her to turn her head in the direction of where the woman would be. It wasn't far, but she would be unable to see what was happening if not for daeda.

"Its been a while..." She muttered to herself, thinking on the matter.

 

[yancep96]

Kava laid low seeing the small wolf as she inches closer “nice beasty I mean you no harm....” she slowly sat up and looked around. “Where is your partner little beasty? Can you take me to her?” Kava could feel the presence of the silver lady and seeing as the wolf was the only other being paying her any mind.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Kava Koyote"] would be greeted with a almost grin like expression from the wolf. It would show a bit of its teach and nod before starting off down the street. The Wolf was rather interested in the woman just like its companion, judging the other being as it walked and curious as to why Kava was looking for Alexandra. It knew that Alexandra could protect herself, knew that the being didn't seem to be a danger in the first place so the wolf assumed it was someone looking for Alexandra to get answers. What answers though? Was it one of those looking for her to learn about the past, or simply to understand the force a little bit better?

It would lead Kava to Alexandra, who at this point was pulling a flask out of her jacket and taking a drink. The woman looked at Kava as she sat on the steps before leaning forward, speaking softly.

"So, You are looking for me I assume? I would be interested to know before we talk more on the subject." Alexandra laid her hands in her lap and waited to hear the woman's response, daeda coming up and sitting next to Alexandra.

 

[Kava Koyote]

Kava would look the lady over before bowing her head and keeping her eyes on the ground. “I am padawan Kava Koyote. I was released from the order on grounds that I was an ill fit. I was directed to you that what small talent I have with the force might not go to waste.” Kava felt her voice start to break at the last and she chided herself in binary slipping into the droid speak just as easily as one would curse a monkey lizard. She stood there waiting for Alexandra to answer though her hopes were not high.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Kava Koyote"]

Kava's formality made Alexandra smile softly and almost without missing a beat she moved the side and provided plenty of room for the younger one to sit down before patting on the space to her right, a stone siding for the set of stairs that Daeda would quickly hop up onto beside Alexandra. The little wolf would settle in and close its eyes, resting while Alexandra refocused on Kava and thought on the matter. The girl had been sent to her, thinking that Alexandra could be a better fit for the young one than the order. Alexandra was a bit humored at the thought, leaning forward and tilting her head quickly, inviting Kava to sit down before reaching into her clothing and pulling out a different bottle. This one only had just water in it.

"Sit down Kava, and please, stop with the bowing. You have no need to be so formal with me. If I wanted formality from my guests and those that seek me, I would be in the order." Alexandra smiled kindly and held the water out to Kava for now, enjoying as Kava muttered something in binary, knowing that if she brought up her own connection to droids it would just make Kava feel worse. So she played the fool for now, drinking from her own flask once Kava took the drink.

"So, You are a padawan? Did you join the Order as a young one, too young to remember your past?" She asked, interested in what the girl might say.

 

[Kava Koyote]

Kava would nod and sit next to the lady. She would nervously pull at the sleeves of her tunic as she collected her blurring thoughts. "I-I am a padawan yes, however, I was the sole survivor of my clan's destruction. I was rescued by a traveling Jedi, and she bore me to the temple on Kashyyyk. I grew up there scarcely seeing the outside world except to do chores. My offenses were more of my nack for tinkering. I would sneak into the hangars and try to steal pieces of scrap to build my friends and I got almost got the programs for an R2 unit to put in the droid I was trying to cobble together."

Kava tried to keep from sounding upset. She so wanted to please her masters, however, she didn't fit in with the order, she needed a family not that this master looked to have a family but at least it was one person there to make her feel welcome.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra listened to the girls story and watched her, looking for fidgeting hands or an uneven voice while she explained. Alexandra knew the feeling of being on your own and it wasn’t something she would wish on any child. She had been alone as a child and then taken under the wing of a cruel master, rather than a dismissive one, but in its own way that loneliness and disappointment seems worse. It made Alexandra carefully rest a hand on Kava’s shoulder, just smiling at her for a few seconds before speaking.

“I’m surprised, if I might be so honest. To hear that your ingenuity was what made you an ill fit is both understandable from their mindset, but still out of character… this is not the first time I have heard of otherwise questionable actions taken by the order though.” She paused, considering the situation and kept her hand on Kava’s shoulder. The young girl needed some kind of support but also to relax, so Alexandra picked a target she knew that the girl enjoyed.

“Tell me about your little friends, your creations.” She smiled, curious about the droids in earnest and wanting to hear about Kava’s creations.

 

[Kava Koyote]

Kava sighed, “I haven’t really created any yet. The karkin’ council wouldn’t let me buy the parts I wanted so I was just scavaging what I could from the trash. It made a bloody mess of things though. The closest I’ve gotten was getting a repulser working that was thrown away and the logic boards from a R2 unit that had a bad motivator.”

Kava was disheartened by the fact that although she wanted to build a family since she had none of her own, the council was always telling her she was wrong to be attached to such things and such notions.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Kava Koyote"]

"Well, that is a shame but there is always the future Kava. You are certain to find a place and time to make anything you can so much as imagine. That I am sure of..." She paused, thinking and leaning back a little as she looked at the sky, continuing to talk.

"Don't hold that grudge for too long, it is healthy to get those emotions aired our rather than letting them stew and worsen. I cant tell you how many times I screwed up that very idea. There has been many times when I forgot myself and acted with my emotions driving me, rather than being in control. But, that is not always bad, sometimes you need that drive from them, you just need to know when it is good or bad to follow them." Her eyes closed and she smiled, thinking back to the times when she did something out of sheer joy.

"Perhaps you can show my your skill with creation? I would love to see it." Her body did not move as she made the offer, letting Kava react to it.

 

[Kava Koyote]

Kava pondered the masters words. “It’s not that I’m mad, it’s that I feel repressed. As a rule my species, I have learned, is a very social one. I’m built to guard family and clan, seeing as how from what the medical droids have told me I’m infertile, I will never have pups. That is why I want to build me a family.”

Kava sat with her pack in her lap. She dug around and found some of her spare parts and circuits. As she checked around to make sure no one of hostile force intentions could be felt she used the force to start assembling what she had onto a small hover droid chassis no bigger than a softball.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra listened to the girl and well understood wanting a family. She would never understand the reality of infertility though, knowing only what it feels like to have ones family stripped away from you. Her hands worked to smooth out her clothing as she listened to Kava and she did not speak once during that. To listen meant to actually hear, not to think and respond, and Alexandra had all the time in the universe to do so.

Her hands stopped when the younger woman withdrew parts and seemed hesitant before using the force to assemble a small little droid. It was rudimentary, something designed on the fly but a creation none the less. Alexandra looked at it and smiled as she began to speak, withdrawing a datapad and opening a picture of a young echani, one that looked almost identical to the woman Kava sat beside though there was a clear difference in height.

"This is a clone of mine, though, it does not retain a consciousness or truthfully a brain. Instead in much the same way as you it was my first attempt at the creation of life and a child... I've always been over zealous in my ideas and soon droids no longer filled the hole in my heart, especially with me reaching my later thirties at the time... I created a AI using my own brain as a model and later cloned myself to provide the AI with a living, breathing body... the reason I tell you all that is to let you know there are always options for a family, but do not become obsessed over the creation of one. Sometimes, it doesn't work out, and the times that it does are far and few between..."

Her head looked back at the droid and she genuinely smiled as she reached out and withdrew a small chip from a bag on her side, handing it to Kava.

"Use that, it's an old droid brain from a long past project of mine... the components you had should allow the droid brain some life once more."

 

[Kava Koyote]

Kava would levitate the component in and with a few more connections to the R2 logic board she would pull out her data pad and make the software adjustments and slowly the droid would start to go through some start up sequences and should start chirping and whirring in binary and Kava would respond in kind then would switch to basic as she introduced Alexandra. She would then hand over her data pad to the droid and instructed it to slice in and learn what it could from the holonet.

As kava thought on Alexandra’s words she looks to the lady, “Could you teach me your way in the force, or at least help guide me along my path? Also it seems I am in need of some defense lessons.”

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Kava Koyote"]

Alexandra looked at Kava as she added the components and started talking with the droid, smiling softly and leaning back so that she could relax while Kava continued with her actions. Only soon there would not be actions to think on but rather words, ones that made Alexandra actually stumble internally. The thought of having a student again shook Alexandra for a second and she stared at Kava, running through her mind and wondering how she should answer. The thoughts moved inside and she eventually reached down, taking out the flask she carried so often and drinking from it. Her hands closed around the bottle.

"You know, its been years since I last had a student, a proper one. I trained my daughter for a short time some time ago but that was different. The last time I had a proper student was before some very different changes in myself and my world...." She paused, leaning back with a genuinely happy look in her eyes as she thought back. "I dont see why I can't try again, and give another generation something to learn. I must warn you though, do not expect the teachings of a jedi, one born from practice in some temple. You will learn in the field, and will improve in more practical settings." She glanced at Kava now, waiting for the answer.

 

[Kava Koyote]

Kava looked down “it’s either you teach me or I go off to one of the serves corps. No other master wants a padawan that is always tinkering and can’t sit still for lessons. I haven’t even been able to build a lightsaber yet because they thought I wouldn’t be needing one and didn’t want to waste the materials.” Kava sighed softly and looked to her forepaws. She had even procured most of the components on her own but she had yet to go to Illum to seek her crystal. “If you would attempt the teaching I shall do my best to learn. K1 here should not be too much of a problem.”

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra smiled softly and placed a hand on Kava's shoulder, thinking and wondering.

"When I was your age, I was with the sith, and soon after had lef them through the help of a Jedi. But I had a fear for the Jedi and ran off to hide in the forests of Alderaan. It was... formative those years in that forest. But there is one thing I can promise you Kava, never look at something with such absolutes. You never only have two options, your options are only as concrete as you make them and its the inventiveness and creativity of thought that can help you most of all... Like with your little friend, its about letting your mind free to understand things that you wish to, even if you are a bit too quick of the mind and need to tinker from time to time." She smiled and looked down at the droid.

"With all that said, I would be happy to provide you the opportunity to learn. And You need not worry about going off to a service corp. Plus, if I am to be honest, I doubt they would want you washing dishes and what not, not unless they put you in a suit because of your fur." She had said the last bit, hoping the being would understand the joke it was meant to be and not wanting to be cruel in her words.