Private A Walk through the Woods

[Kyra Perl]

It wasn't like Kyra to want to get away from people. But then again, it also wasn't like Kyra to not talk about her feelings. Or to have blood on her hands. Still. Here she was. Away. Quiet. And definitely a murderer. So.

There was that.

You would think she would be all torn up about ending a few lives. But she wasn't. They were slavers and they killed wookies and took children. They deserved what they got. It was the oncoming war that was getting to her. You know time and time again she told her peers to just shuddup. There wasn't gonna be a war-- there wasn't even gonna be anymore more encounters. Those were all flukes. Flukes.

But now when they chattered about it in their gossiping tones... Kyra just walked away. They were right. And she didn't want to hear it.

The forest was a good place to go to. JJ had shown her all sorts of places off campus during their lessons, but the forest that edged along the shadow land was by far her favorite spot. The absence of minds left her own senses strangely clear, a sensation she wasn't sure she like or disliked. It simply was. Not to mention she could talk to the trees or better yet-- search for another crystal under boulders and in caves.

So far, no luck. Guess they really were rare after all.

Wouldn't stop her from trying.

Kyra hummed a nonsensical melody to herself, her voice high and light as she kicked at rocks and hit at branches with a wooden training sword from the academies center. She was unassuming in both size and shape. A padawan braid melded into the soft curls that pulled over her shoulder.

With a sudden gust of energy, and a rather large battle cry, Kyra pounced forward and slashed at a branch. Her left hand went out, a gust of the force willing a small sappling to snap in half.

It merely bent, then snapped back up, it's limbs shaking in protest as it dropped a layer of snow back to the ground. Kyra yelped as one branch twacked her in the head. "Sonofa!"

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

There was always something about the forests of Kashyyyk that had always drawn Asaraa in, from her first days at the temple when she'd been...well different. Orange skin and an allergy to the very concept of shoes had been her life back then. Well, that and days spent in the treetops, hunting for her food and communing with the living force. At least that's what she told herself.

The truth was that she enjoyed the solitude, she always had. It was easier to breathe, to gather your thoughts and figure out the problems that you found yourself wrestling with. And there was always something, the galaxy had this way of slamming you again and again. It could never seem to give you a break, a chance to catch your breath and just enjoy the ride. it never had.

This last mission though, it hadn't been hard, there hadn't been any situation that she couldn't handle or that their team couldn't manage. That was perhaps the problem, the issue that had brought her back to the forest, treading those familiar paths, paths she could walk without thinking as she sank into her thoughts. It had been too easy, too easy to fight, too easy to cut down the slavers and then shrug them off as slavers, of no consequence. Only, that wasn't true, they were someone's family, someone's friend. A Jedi was supposed to protect and revere life but...taking it was easy and it had felt right, that it was the right thing to do.

The pink-haired Jedi knew what the Master's at the temple would say that this was the path to the dark side and she agreed with them, to a point., But at what point did playing it safe become bad, if she had her friends and allies around her, then if she gave less than her all wasn't that a betrayal of them?

That was the question she couldn't quite seem to answer, the one that had her seeking out the solitude of the forest to consider it, though it seemed she wasn't the only one.

"You know, the little ones are bendy and sneaky like that. gotta be careful of them or they'll get you."

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra startled and turned towards the voice, a nice welt forming over her forehead that no amount of rubbing could solve. She looked over Asaraa with wide eyes, a spark of panic shining over the blue hues. Kyra tactlessly studied the woman's presence with the force, hedging for intentions and coming up clean.

Whew. Not another sith. ...Which was never a thought she thought'd she'd have here on Silver Rest, but after lately...

She gave Asaraa a tight smile, an abashed heat growing across her cheeks. "Please don't tell anyone about that, I'll never live it down." She gave the tree a good whack of punishment with her stick before embedding it to stand on its own in the snow. A few quick brushes dusted the fallen snow off her shoulders and head, the padawan covered in a dusting of it.

"You seem bothered," she chirped, calling out Asaraa bluntly. "But it's comforting to be out here, isn't it?" She grinned, the little empath caring little cumbersome things like 'personal boundaries'

"I'm Kyra." She held out her hand, and slowly a sense of... ease would fill the air. Pheromones too.

What were manners?

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

"It does have a way of making all your problems seem small and insignificant doesn't it?"

The pink-haired Jedi let her fingers close around Kyra's, a small smile curling up the corner of her lips as she nodded at the Padawan, her free hand gesturing up at the treetops.

"You've got to wonder don't you, how many generations have stood right here, under the branches and leaves and stared up at the trees and had this very discussion. How many confessions and tears these trees have seen."

For a moment she felt an overwhelming urge to reach out, to press her hand against the side of the tree and close her eyes as she reached out with the force. The trees were silent guardians, watching without judging, without ever speaking of what they saw. At least not normally, but that didn't mean they couldn't speak if you knew how to listen. The force could pull out those memories, let you live them and scroll through them like the pages of a book. For a heartbeat, for two the urge to reach out and claim that knowledge, to seize it and use it was overwhelming, and then like a breath it flowed away as the Jedi shook her head.

It was wrong, to just take that memory, to spy on peoples conversations and break their privacy like that was just plain wrong. Her hand clenched at her side as she looked away, sucking in a deep breath and letting it go.

"Asaraa, I'm Asaraa. It's nice to meet you Kyra."

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra crinkled her nose at Asaara's musings. Definitely a jedi then! Aw, well. She gave the woman an enthusiastic shake, her fingertips cold from the winter chill.

"But trees don't have eyes. Nor do they have ears," came the self-assured response. She had the attitude of a know it all with the presence of confidant. The later often curbed the briskness of the former. She tugged at the tops of her fingerless gloves, pulling a flap of material back over the tips of her fingers and buttoning it back in place.

"I've never seen you in the halls before. You must be a visitor. Do you have hot coco?" She asked in rapid succession. She was braced for the obvious 'no', but nevertheless gave the woman a hopeful glance as she peered over what she had on her. It was never not worth it to ask for hot coco. She rubbed warmth back into her hands.

Asaraa Vaashe

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

"Umm..no I have a fire but if you want Coco I think we might have to go steal it from the kitchens. There's this window in on the larders that comes loose if you hit it just so and lets you sneak in. You have to be a little careful, but I bet we could...liberate some of the cocoa in there. After all, it all deserve to be free right? It's the Jedi thing to do."

Asaraa flashed a grin at Kyra for a moment before padding closer to one of the trees, a pale hand coming up to press against the rough surface of the bark. If she closed her eyes she could sense it, the pulse of life running through the ancient wood of the tree, the way it shone in the force, the way the whole forest did. It was like being surrounded by water, the warmest most comforting water out there. This wasn't a bad place or a good place. The forest was the embodiment of the living force in it's purest form, nature untamed and untrammelled.

"The trees may not by able to see or hear anything, but it's not the tree that speaks to us. The masters have probably told you that the force exists in all living things right? Something they may not have told you is that every action leaves an echo in the force, like ripples in a pool. Just by being here, by doing something you change the flow of the force in the area. Leave an echo of yourself."

Blue eyes flicked open to glance over at the younger Jedi, a wry smile touching her lips.

"I sound just like those stuffy masters in their classrooms don't I? Try it, come here and see if you can sense the force flowing through the tree."

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

The woman was a well of knowledge. The fun kind, if you asked Kyra.

She stared up at her in open awe, the girl's emotions always playing across her face like a book. "Nope. Not stuffy at all. So you went here?" Asaraa would quickly come to realize that half of what came out of Kyra's mouth was rhetorical. Her thoughts slid into the air as easily as water dribbled from a hole. Kyra's attention shifted from the question as soon as it was asked, the girl eagerly stepping up to press her hand against the tree as instructed.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to concentrate her thoughts towards the rough bark under her hands.

Concentration was not her strong suit.

Her eyes snapped back open almost as quickly as they were closed, the girl furrowing her brow up at the woman.

"You really wouldn't want to do this to my mom's bedroom," came a sudden, solemn statement.

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

The statement was so out of the blue, so unexpected that Asaraa couldn't help but laugh at the sudden solemnity that had descended on her companion, shaking her head as she let a genuine bright smile curl up the corner of her lips.

"You know, I don't think any kid would wanna do this in their parent's bedroom...or their parents don't wanna do it..."

Crystal blue eyes flicked uncertainly in the direction of the temple worriedly as the blood drained from her face for a moment. She'd never thought about this before but...oh boy she might just be in trouble now. Oh god.

"Remind me to change the codes to my door when we get back to the temple."

The young woman shared a troubled smile with Kyra as she bit her lip, she didn't think Yuroic would do anything but if he did...well he already didn't like Caedyn, but she'd like the two of them to get along at some point. Just one unintentional moment and...well she'd have to look into escaping from space convents.

"Umm, yeah, I've lived here on and off for a few years now, Kashyyyk is as much home as anywhere else these days. That's how I figured out that if you can read the room, you can find the codes to the pantry, or spot the guard patrols. After all, we wouldn't want the council to catch us on the coco party, they might want to share our bounty and that means less for us."

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra chortled, a bit of delight found in Asaara's sudden horror.

The woman didn't have to say anything further. Kyra didn't need to be an empath to read the scene. She bounced up on her toes, dragging her fingers across her lips as if zipping them closed. She did a flourishing locking motion, then tossed said imaginary key away. Her eyes were alight with amusement, the girl rocking up in place as her energy escaped her in small bursts.

"The guards wouldn't stand a chance against two jedi," she declared. How old was the girl? 15? 17? Her youth blended into her features, but her tone betrayed the childlike delight she had yet to grow out of.

And why would she want to? The world was a better place when viewed through rose colored lenses. She would know.

"I like your hair! And your shoes. Is that your saber? What color is it? Is it real?" For a girl who had sought solitude just moments before, she had flipped towards enjoying company quite quickly.

Solitude wasn't getting her anywhere anyway.

"I'm Kyra!" She declared, confidently reaching a hand out for a shake.

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

A hand came up to brush through the bright pink hair, flicking it out as a bright grin lit up the young knight's face. That was the thing about this body, about her looks, it was hard to hide, to disguise the bright pink hair that adorned her body. It acted as a beacon on a battlefield, in the city shopping, wherever she went it drew the eye. She couldn't lie, she kinda liked it but there was always that insecurity that whispered in the back of her head. What if it was too much, what if it was too loud or too annoying.

It was weird, she'd just met the girl, she was practically a stranger but just to hear that from someone she'd just met sounded so nice, sounded so good. The smile on her face was entirely genuine now, not a trace of a mask, a question of her honesty. The girl was exactly who she seemed, she rarely ever dissembled or hid who she was, she never ever saw the point.

"I get the feeling the guards wouldn't stand a chance against you alone, let alone adding me to this mix, they'll be lucky not to lose the whole pantry to us if we want."

Not that that was her plan, but still it was a fun thought.

"Still, gotta do this properly, get in and out without anyone spotting us so..."

A gesture at the tree.

"Want to try again?"

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra grinned, beaming at Asaraa for a moment longer than necessary. Almost as if she had not heard her. She blinked, startling. "Oh! Right." She hesitated, finding the task distasteful. She hated trying to clear her mind, but she was equally unwilling to disappoint her new friend.

She squirmed her way to the tree, crinkling her nose as she places her hand back on.

It took a few deep breaths ... a few more squirms.... a peek through her lashes, but these woods were calm and still around her. Very little psychic energy flickered through the force to distract her, allow her busy mind to quiet just enough... to hear it.

Laughter.

"Watch this!"

A squeal.

Flickering colors hit the back of her eye lids-- padawan robes, a ball flying--

She gasped, yanking open her eyes. Asaraa hadn't even told her what to do, not truly, but the skill came to her with unreasonable ease. She didn't notice this, looking Asaara in shock.

"Everything does that?" She exclaimed.

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

The young knight settled herself on a gnarled tree root, the sole of one foot pressing down on the root as Asaraa wrapped her arms around her leg, resting her chin on her knee.

"Everything, everywhere you there is an echo of past events. The stronger the emotion the more powerful the imprint but it's there. When people say, 'if only these walls could talk' well they can."

Asaraa shrugged her shoulders, leaning back a little to enjoy the feeling of what sunlight did break through the leaves as it played across her skin. It was a useful skill to learn for any Jedi, especially one who might find themselves called on to aid in an investigation of any sort. It was only...

"It's not going to be as clear as a surveillance camera, at most it'll be snapshots of time, but it's enough to give you an idea of what happened, to see what might have been. It can be useful, but it's not something you want to rely too heavily on. But, when we're talking about a device that only does the same thing again and again...well then it becomes a lot easier."

The pink-haired Jedi looked up, amusement dancing in the backs of her eyes, as she let a bright grin tug at her lips.

"Like...for example, a keypad to a store or larder."

Kyra Perl