Phantom Pains
Scene II
Rebuild What Was Lost
Cale considered the question for what felt like a long time. There was a lot in the question to answer, in spite of it being such a simple one. Being here left him with a feeling that felt something like melancholy, but he could not say for certain. Part of him felt something akin to peace, the other, dread. He felt both at home and extremely out of place, the boy who'd grown up here still inside him, but the man he'd become didn't seem to belong.
"It hurts, like I'm not supposed to be here, like I wasn't supposed to come back." He answered Aleksandr Stirsea with a shrug as he motioned for the boy to help him with erecting the wall of what he imagined would be some kind of community center. It was a massive thing made of heavy materials, and perhaps they could've managed it on their own, but he saw no reason to not draw in others. "I don't think this is home any more kid, hasn't been for some time."
He looked for other Jedi amongst those milling about the slowly forming settlement, still thinking on what to say, what to tell him, what to use this moment to teach. But Cale had nothing, just stories of a time long gone, with people long dead. What was there to teach from the laughter of ghosts? Maybe nothing, maybe it didn't have to teach anything.
"We used to play in the woods when we were younglings. Supervised and all, but after hours and hours of lessons and meditation, they still found some time to let us be kids. Funny stuff." Cale mused, igniting a stimstick and pressing it between his lips, taking a long drag of the smoke before his gaze finally settled on Rhys Halcyon. The kid was younger than Aleks, but not horribly so, but most importantly he didn't seem busy, and that was what mattered at that moment.
"Hey, you!" He called out to the padawan across the crowd. "Get over here and help us with this wall!"