Broken Pieces

[Jairus Starvald]

Eira Pechal​

[member="Verana"]​

​

It was cold here.

Always had been and always would be.

Just the way of things.

But Alden liked it -- strangely enough -- it kept him focused, kept his attention away from the things bugging him because there were more important things to do. Alden only realized that Verana had joined the Praxeum about a week after they had rescued [member="Harper Kade"]. Always at her side for that week, trying to do his best to sink in as much healing as possible to save her arm and make sure she didn't have to go through prosthetics or cloned limbs.

Something had told him that Harp would have hated either option.

Eventually Harp had stabilized. Eventually she just needed rest and that included rest from him.

So what was someone to do in a situation like that? Alden got to work elsewhere. While she was healing, he helped with setting up more houses and huts- for Horizon, the project they both had picked as theirs - it felt good to a degree. Getting his hands moving and his mind away.

That is where Verana would find him.

Alone, cutting up a felled tree into neat parts to turn into planks later. Utterly concentrated.

 

[Verana]

[member="Alden Belmont"]

The cold never bothered her anyway. It was a way of life, and more than anything for four months each year it had been her way of life. Hunting was scarce, any sort of food was scarce, but the rewards immeasurable and the grounds on Eira Pechal was no different. Everyone worked to keep it up to speed, and a big part of that was food. While Harper and Alden would without a doubt be strong enough to build housing, Vera wasn’t really built like that just yet. Malnourishment left its traces and she was still on the catch-up that made up for her undeveloped muscles. While it was a hindrance, a healthy know-how of how to survive in the wilderness offered her other ways to help.

Not many amongst the Jedi seemed to be as capable when it came to hunting as she was. The skill she showed with a rifle, which was along the lines of your average journeyman, had helped bring in food for them. As much as importing and accepting donation was good and all, if they had the option to get food and at the same time get a few thoughts and pointers by someone who had grown up with hunters…

Well, really, why the hell wouldn’t they use that knowledge to learn and spread amongst themselves?

With her rifle slung over her shoulder she approached Alden as he carved trees into what she could only assume would eventually become planks.

“You shouldn’t push so hard against the handle. It wears the blade out quicker.” She said in place of a proper greeting. “My father and one of our neighbors used to show me how to do that. Just trust the teeth of the saw and the saw will thank you in the long-run.”

“Hello, Alden.” She gave the man a warm smile and bow. “It’s good to see you out and about again, I was getting worried.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Verana"]

He glanced over his shoulder, eyes going up and down, before nodding a thanks.

"I will keep that in mind." But for now Al put the saw away and turned around. His weight half on the table behind him, the other half on his heels. "Hello yourself, Verana. Heard you joined us." Oh, Alden remembered her just fine. It had been a nightmare; their mission. One that he wouldn't have been able to complete half as successfully if it hadn't been for her. There was something about having to keep another person in mind (especially one new and still inexperienced) to keep yourself on the straight and narrows.

When you had to worry if you were setting a good example?

You set that good example as best as you could.

The silence dragged on for a little while, maybe even making it seem as if Alden wasn't all that happy about her having joined up. Then-

"You are a better fit here than with the Silvers, welcome." A nod followed shortly after that. "You weren't the only one. Harp needed as much help as I could give." It wasn't enough as far as Alden was concerned. He should have been able to do more.

Should have made sure that it hadn't happened in the first place.

"How are you liking the Praxeum?"

 

[Verana]

[member="Alden Belmont"]

It wasn’t as much of an obvious of a choice to Vera at first, but the people she had met at the Praxeum had welcomed her upon arrival no less. To come to an organization through terror was often a bad move, but this was a different kind of it. Perhaps a sort of bond she felt to someone in the Praxeum? She didn’t quite know what it was, but if they had Alden who she felt connected to through their shared experience there was bound to be more people like him there, and she had been right in that assumption.

As far as the Silver Jedi went she had people there she would call her friends, of course, but that didn’t mean she had any strong connection to them. Save for Irma perhaps who she had known since they were both children on Kiara. But that was a bond that would always remain there for them. It was a bond to Kiara, not the Silver Jedi after all. And in that sense she ran deeper than most, almost like blood.

“I have been getting that a lot.” Vera said and chuckled at the remark. “I spoke to Harper before, she is a very strong woman. I can see why you look up to her.”

“And I am liking the Praxeum. It reminds me of the cold seasons back home, but in a good way. Fresh air, good game when the time allows it, and a dozen good souls working together for a common goal.” She said and took a seat by Alden. “I would say that’s plenty good.”

“I wish they would let me stay around a bit more, but it seems the galaxy has a greater need for us and our kind than ever before these days.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Verana"]

A nod.

"She is that, aye." Except something had broken in her because of the Sith. No? Alden didn't judge it, but it hurt to acknowledge. She had always been one of the strongest people he had known. The fact that the Sith could break even someone like her? Disturbing and his heart went out for her. "I am glad you are making connections here, Verana. It is important. Finding something worth all this struggle, strife, all the darkness we need to face for a better tomorrow."

Would Alden have been able to go on after Dellalt, if Harper had been killed?

He wasn't sure.

Not sure at all.

"Mhm, I will be honest. I am concerned about our presence here." Alden spoke frank with her and was surprised by that. Was it a good idea? Maybe not, but he needed someone to confide in. Vera had been strong during those moments in the investigation (after the initial horror anyway). "Wherever the Jedi settle, the Sith will try to strike. We put them in danger simply by our presence here." Some would say that was the price of it all, that the denizens of the planet had known that when they accepted them.

But to Alden that was irresponsible.

"There were stories of old- where the Jedi used large Praxeum ships, exploring the Galaxy and assisting where they could. Would that not be more fair than this?"

 

[Verana]

[member="Alden Belmont"]

A curious glance fired off at Alden as he mentioned being concerned about their presence on Eira Pechal. She could sense his worry, but she made no efforts to poke at it. Sometimes people needed to talk, and sometimes people needed to act. It seemed Alden wasn’t quite sure which of them he wanted to do right now.

And as much as a ship probably had its benefits, the idea of living on a ship terrified Vera.

“Yes, of course.” She nodded and gave the man a glance to let him know she pondered what he was saying. “But survival is hardly about what is fair.”

“If the sith find us here we can scatter and regroup some distance away, but if we’re all in space we can get blown up by a single well-planned hit.” Vera took the rifle off of her shoulder and placed it across the saw station. “We are stronger as a nest than we are as a single pack.”

“If this nest is destroyed we’ll find another, and if that one is destroyed we will simply move on again. It’s the natural order of survival.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Verana"]

Not untrue.

But it did nothing to dispel his concern, in fact, it only enhanced it.

"We can, yes, but the people that lived here and accepted us. Should they scatter? Will they scatter? Or will they suffer because of us." That was the crux of his problem and it was the inherent difference between him and some other Jedi that came before. The latter believed that the success of their mission came before everything else. That their calling rose them up and allowed them liberties that others did not possess. Alden did not believe this and pushed aggressively against it.

"We have a responsibility to those we help, Vera. That doesn't just mean lifting them up with an offered hand. It also means ensuring they do not suffer for accepting the help we offer." It meant making sure they were a bulwark even against the dangers they created themselves.

"You are right though. The praxeum ships would potentially create a larger target on us. I just wonder if that isn't more fair? More just than putting all those around us in danger who didn't sign up for our fight and mission."

Because they hadn't.

Oh, the denizens of this world had accepted their presence, accepted some of their help. But they were guests here. Not rulers. As it should be.

 

[Verana]

[member="Alden Belmont"]

Well, that was the downside to having grown up on a planet where you often had little choice but to scatter. Vera had never had the misfortune of having to resettle due to wildlife or other reasons, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t heard of those who had. She had never actually experienced the presence of any organisation that made her a target, and perhaps that was her fault.

Her brows furrowed and she considered Alden’s words once more. The people of Eira Pechal was most likely not going to be able to scatter. Their nests would be set on fire, and their cubs murdered. That was what predators did to prey, and she knew that was exactly who those that would wish harm on the Praxeum would come knocking down their door as.

And it would be to ditch those that helped the Praxeum when they needed them the most. She hadn’t seen that at first, but once Alden said it…

“Oh.” She whispered in surprise at the revelation. “Yeah.”

Maybe that was the silver in her talking, or the part of her that focused on her family’s survival. It was a mindset that came natural to her in the end which probably should have worried her, but it didn’t.

“I… Don’t really know what to say.” Vera frowned. “I hadn’t considered that.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Verana"]

There was silence between the two of them there.

Each with their own thoughts, mulling, considering, before Alden eventually sighed. "Mhm, neither did we when we first settle here." It had seemed obvious to them. This place had a connection to the ancient Jedi, the people were hardy and strong, it had seemed like the natural place to be. Yet [member="Ember Farseer"], [member="Anais Auraeli"], [member="Harper Kade"] and him hadn't considered the dangers. Not to themselves, but the danger they were putting these innocent people in.

There would always be the Darkside nipping at the edges of the light.

Trying to corrupt, destroy, unravel.

"Ember and me will figure it out, I am sure." Harper... she had her own problems. Anais was distant ever since Coruscant. They had started with tragedy (Dellalt, Alderaan) and tragedy was slowly pulling them apart. In truth Alden didn't know what to do about it.

Heal, but how much could they take, until it was too much?

"How is your training progressing?" Trying to switch tacks from the chaos and back to something normal. Vera didn't need this. "Found a tutor yet?"

 

[Verana]

[member="Alden Belmont"]

The mood was turning towards the worse. Somewhere in his worry it seemed Alden had lost track of what mattered and focused on the negatives. Vera didn’t know how to tell him that, the words for it wouldn’t seem to want to take shape on her tongue and she’d lie if she said it didn’t get to her. The worry was right there in the force, plain as any other emotion that Vera could pick up, and while she wouldn’t know exactly what the man was thinking about she could very well figure what it was that caused the thoughts to pop into his head.

He changed the topic before she could ask for the obvious though.

“I haven’t, no.” She shrugged. “I’ve been going around with Ember and Anais, Romi, Felicity… There hasn’t been much time spent around the academy itself for a very long while. Not for as long as the requests for our help keep piling up.”

Vera turned around to make sure her rifle was still around. It was still there, right across the table.

“I try to get a few hunts in every now and then to help myself relax, but there hasn’t been much time for that either.”

“Have you ever tried hunting before, Alden?”