Faction Dear Father

[Thal Mantis]

Silver Rest, Kashyyk
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They were right.

He had gotten what he wanted.
​

What he thought he wanted.

Violence, unending, brought him no solace.
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His descent into darkness had dragged down others.

The good that he did did not outweigh his guilt.
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He was sinking, drowning-

Like his father.

When his father came to Silver Rest, he sought perspective. Thal turned the pictures of Silver Rest that his father took with the camera, that he had developed after his father's passing. He never met his father, but the more he learned of him, the more Thal Mantis learned that he was much more like his father than he wanted to be. And the sins of the father- the fall of the son. He turned the pictures in his hands a few times, before looking at Silver Rest.

He was standing on the same overlook that his father did- tracing his footsteps. While his father came here seeking enlightenment and perspective, Thal came for redemption and forgiveness. Thal had done the thing that his father never could- let go of his hate, his anger towards those that wronged him. They were gone, and what was done was done. His father carried that burden with him until he died, letting it consume him, driving him to kill himself out of anguish.

He was angry at his father- but the more he learned, and the more he saw and did himself, he understood why. His father was not a bad man. He was simply bereaved, done in by the actions of himself and those around him. His half-sister was out there somewhere, along with all of his father's friends. But the holotape and recordings that Vilaz Munin gave to him gave him an understanding that he did not have before:

Preliat was more like Thal, and Thal was more like Preliat than either of them probably wanted to be.

But Preliat would not want a life of war, misery, and bloodlust for his son. In the end, Preliat wanted harmony, peace between his people. But his own actions, and those of his daughter- secured a desolate future for the Mandalorians. For his son, it secured only anger to focus on these memories. Anger and regret, hate and vitriol unmatched by anyone he ever met- ultimately lead his father to plunge himself off a cliff rather than continue to face his demons day in and day out. Thal understood why-

And he also understood why he had to be better.

So with that, he descended down the same path his father made, walked in the same steps, avoided the same rocks, scaled the same cliffs. But with a different purpose. With more focus. With more than sorrow in his body. For the first time, Thal Mantis, the son of the Wolf-

Had hope for the future.

But first, he had to seek forgiveness, redemption. It was perhaps destiny, fate, that he ended up in the Shadowlands. But after hearing of Nida Perl and Kyra Perl 's excursion into Sith space- and the chance meeting of the latter, he knew he had to come home. There was little to gain by waging a continual one-man war in exile, if anything at all. Only lives lost, and the same path his father walked with no avail.

So there he stood, in his spacer garb- looking up at the mighty, beautiful structure of Silver Rest. But for some reason, Thal could not bring himself to immediately step foot inside. Guilt, shame, and sorrow prevented him from taking the steps to wander into the halls of his former home. Thal's eyes welled up- realizing the weight of the guilt he was carrying. He could only stare for the moment. The impressive sight of it all felt more like a disappointed parent staring down at him.

So there he stood, just outside the temple-

But not quite ready to walk inside.