Private Day In The Plains, Night In The Moonlight

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC

There was a breeze on her skin. In only moments, however, it might pick up, become a stronger wind, turn into a gust, transform into a thunderstorm. This planet was known for them. At the moment, though, there was no rain on her face. On her countenance, there was painted only the image of peace, plain as the plains whose tan grass served as her seat.

Dressed in thin leather garments, blue as midnight, she was comfortable in her outfit as much as in her position. She wasn’t hot. She wasn’t cold. Her body temperature was as content as the weather, at least for the moment, however the moment was all that mattered to her.

Above her head, whose windswept hair danced at the strand to the tickling breeze, a starlit sky guided the way of the traveler with its moonlight gaze. Her eyes were closed, however, so she could not glimpse this luminous essence, but she could sense it within her skin, behind her eyes, feel it with her third eye peeled.

It was a quiet night. A call of a creature in the distance that sounded like a laugh; a giggle that may be mistaken for a warning. That was over there. Over here was a hoot, low but audible, perhaps from a bird perched in a tree. Landborne or airborne, while she had earlier observed a wark, she witnessed nothing at the moment with her naked vision, but sensed her surroundings without needing to blink.

She hadn’t been asleep. Neither had she woken up only minutes ago. Rather, Vayla Mirana, the Jedi Knight, knew of the city-trees on either side of her, but had decided to take some moments of respite in her adventure. That’s where this grass came in at her back as she sat. That’s when the breeze came in as it escaped her breath. That’s why the moonlight was behind her, illuminating her jubilant state, though no stranger would ever see it on her face; only the expression of someone who was asleep.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Vayla Mirana

Pushing through savannah was a past time of any Cathar. For Jonyna, it was instinct.

The night was filled with sound. The snore of a Wark, the call of a Je'ki. Nights on Cathar were always quiet when the weather wasn't acting up. Jonyna wanted to get away from Coruscant for a bit, put her head back on straight. Returning to the homeworld, away from the city tree, away from everything, she figured it was best.

The Cathar followed no particular path. She knew the way back, and she knew how to find her way forward. All that mattered was instinct.

That was, until she ran into a feeling within the Force. A fellow jedi. She was finding those around a lot recently.

Sitting quiet, Jonyna watched the woman in front of her.

"...um....hello?"

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Sitting was one thing. Sleeping? Another thing entirely. Meditating was something in between, in a manner of speaking. Vayla was doing nothing to hide her signature within the Force. Despite the grass around her making it difficult to be seen within the night, her outfit also didn’t camouflage her in this tan environment. Regardless, all it would take was for another Force-user to sense her presence, as they did each other's.

‘Hello’, the other beckoned. It was a harmless and basic enough greeting, yet Vayla never opened her eyes even after she sensed who and what was coming. Taking a moment to finish her contemplation, regardless of interruption, finally she opened her eyes a moment later.

“Hi,” the Pantoran said simply to the Cathar.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Vayla Mirana

"Not often you meet another jedi out in these parts." She said, having met 3 other jedi around these parts very recently. She wanted Cathar to become a hub for Jedi, but she never thought it actually would. The temple on the mountain was only half finished, and yet this had been the third jedi this week she'd met here. Four if you counted the kid. Still, the one in front of her seemed to be enjoying the quiet night.

Jonyna joined her, sitting in silence. Meditation was one of those aspects of being a jedi that Jonyna always struggled with, mostly because she was so...active. Lively. Sitting still, it always felt wrong.

After a few minutes, she couldn't help it.

"I'm Jonyna, by the way. New council member."

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Perhaps she wasn’t wrong, this Cathar who joined this Pantoran in some moments of meditation. The latter did not need to come with silence necessarily. The former did not need to bring useless conversation and she didn’t. The Cathar spoke simply and the Pantoran could appreciate the sentiment.

The Pantoran wasn’t defensive. She had given no invitation for none was needed to begin with. She permitted this other Force-sensitive into her presence. It was just another choice as they both enjoyed their environment beneath the moonlight and within the wind.

That was the essence of quiet and stillness, at least in one woman’s opinion. After all, one could not expect total silence in a land like this and, even when it came to conversation, her own instructor had long since offered dialogue in between moments of quiet bliss.

“Vayla Mirana,” she responded, offering first name and surname, if only out of her culture. “Not a council member, however, but a Jedi Knight.” She naturally neglected to mention her being a Jedi Shadow given the secrecy in that department.

“You are Cathar.” Vayla’s eyes were closed the entire time she spoke. “This savannah is beautiful. I hope to take the land in full including its city-trees when the time is right for me.” She breathed in, breathed out. “Perhaps you can guide me.”

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Vayla Mirana

"I could." Jonyna smiled, eyes still closed. "You visited the new temple yet? Up on the mountain to the south, through the jungle. I've been trying to make it something worth while, but it's still in the works."

 

[Vayla Mirana]

“Not yet,” Vayla answered. “But I’m willing to be your guest.”

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Vayla Mirana

"I'll take you there tomorrow then." Jonyna smiled. "So, what's your story then? Haven't seen you around the temple."

 

[Vayla Mirana]

"Well, maybe not this temple, sure," she smiled. "But my story isn't much. Not at the moment. I just decided to go on...call it a field trip...a bit of exploring and here I am, on this planet. What's yours?"

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Vayla Mirana

"Oh, my story? Pssssh...that's a long one."

Jonyna's tail subtly flicked, as she started up. "900 years ago, there was a kitten who dreamed of being a jedi. When she finally was old enough to become one, the jedi ceased to exist, and the Empire rose. She spent a long time trying to become one in spite of it, but it wasn't until she made a very foolish mistake that she found herself in a place where she could finally be the hero she dreamed. Now, all she dreams of is living up to the legend her people built for her while she was away."

 

[Vayla Mirana]

A long story. Pfft. Can't be any longer or more boring than my own. Vayla thought as she watched her companion and listened to her. "I'd say nine hundred years is a long time in comparison this Jedi," she grinned. "Legends are just stories in the end, no matter their validity or history," she expressed with grace instead of vehemence. "Jedi are never infallible to mistakes, invincible to the errors that come our way, and all we can do is live up to the tenets that drive us and guide us," she shrugged. "It's what I strive to do, anyway, come whatever danger may."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Vayla Mirana

"That's not what I believe." Jonyna said simply. "I believe we should strive to be perfect, because that's what the galaxy believes us to be. Is it achievable? No. But...we should try anyways. I was told when I was just a kitten that the Jedi are..." She paused, frowning. "-were, heroes. Beings of legend. Great people of great character. I've tried all my life to become that, and now I am. A jedi should remember that. How the galaxy sees us. It's important to live up to that ideal."

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Vayla arched her brow. "The galaxy believes the Jedi are perfect, huh?" Perhaps she had missed a lesson or a tenet. From the old days of this republic or that one, all the way to today, the mistakes of the Jedi were open pages. Least of which was a Jedi falling to the dark side. That fact was as plain as the plains.

"A person can be great, can become a legend, can live as a hero, but no being is so perfect to never make mistakes. Rather, it is one's knowing they do and one's willingness to correct them, to try their best to not repeat certain errors, that makes them great, Jedi or otherwise. If the galaxy can't see that reality in us then it is their vision that is mistaken." Again, Vayla wasn't complaining or speaking angrily, with a simple smile on her face to measure the conversation.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Vayla Mirana

"The children do." Jonyna said simply. "I did, once upon a time. And if I've believed anything more than anything, it's that what children believe is what we as adults should live up to. To impress the younger version of ourselves. To make proud the self who believed they could be anything. As a kitten, I was told that the Knights of the Old Republic were perfect. Is it so much to ask that we be so?"

 

[Vayla Mirana]

"Children are the future, I've always believed. Among our own Jedi orders, while age is no requirement by any means, the Initiates and Padawans are future Knights and Masters. However, children are children; their dreams are exquisite but lack the wisdom of experience." She stared off into the distance. "Nobody is or was perfect, Knights of the Old Republic, new or little me sitting beside you. Ultimately, a Jedi doesn't strive to impress others, younger versions of ourselves or children or otherwise, or to be the best and become legends, but we strive to do the right thing." She shrugged. "That's what I believe."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Vayla Mirana

"We should strive to be our perfect self." Jonyna said with a hint of wisdom behind her words. "Does that mean we do not make mistakes? No. It means finding the version of yourself where you can make less mistakes. Where you can learn to find balance in the Force, and in your life. I'm still trying to find it myself, but..." She paused, letting out a chuckle. "There's nothing wrong with striving for the impossible. Nothing wrong with setting a goal you never intend to actually achieve. It's good to have dreams. To understand the world isn't perfect. But...you need to also believe it could be. To inspire not just others, but yourself. To fall to cynicism is to begin the path to the dark side, as my mother once told me. Apathy and Negativity cloud the mind."

 

[Vayla Mirana]

"There is a difference between cynicism and acceptance," Vayla replied, no hint of wisdom behind her words that wasn't determined to be genuine by the recipient first, but she wasn't trying to be wise. "In large part, we are saying the same thing: That we as Jedi or otherwise strive to be all we can be while realizing we are going to make mistakes along the way. That inherently separates us from perfection of which, in interpretation, suggests there are no mistakes to begin with."

Granted, semantics in the end, but it was just conversation. "On goals, though, I suppose that really is a matter of preference. Personally I don't set out for a goal I don't intend to achieve. If I have an objective in mind then I seek to meet it as best I can. We all want a galaxy at peace but the reality is we have lightsabers. Those are inherently weapons, by the way." Not that she needed the reminder.

"Either way, dreams can be the very thing that lead you to the dark side if you dwell on them. Inspiration comes from braving the challenges. To never admit to mistakes is arrogance. Apathy and negativity do indeed cloud the mind and, if one doesn't appreciate the serenity in realizing oneself isn't invincible or infallible to imperfections, there it is."

Jonyna Si