Digging Up The Past

[Aela Talith]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

"One last time."

That was what he father had said to himself when they walked off the ship, what he had murmured when he thought she couldn't hear. It had made her frown, though she had not asked her what she meant. Aela knew better than that, knew that her father simply did not like talking about Grandpa Saul.

There was a reason for that of course, a reason that Aela already knew about.

He had not been a good man, not by any stretch. Mother and Father had both been honest about that, though neither of them had said what exactly he had done. It had made her face scrunch at the time, when they had explained her gift to her, explained why she could move so fast with so little effort. Apparently her grandfather had had that talent, though father did not know much about it, and neither did mother.

That was why they had come here, to this odd little world. It was a planet not unlike Borleias, her home. it was pleasant and warm, and the win tussled her hair. She smiled slightly, looking after her father who was some ways ahead of her. She skipped after him, catching up quickly. "Father, who are we here to see?"

"Spencer Jacobs."

He answered in that deep tone of his.

"She was Grandpas apprentice, one of them."

Aela smiled slightly, then nodded her head. It was a good enough explanation for her, and the two of them quickly wandered towards the clearing.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Standing in the clearing she waited. It was an odd call from a Talith. The last time she had run into one was for only a brief moment even then she couldn’t remember the meeting. Biting on the tip of her thumb Spencer continued to try and pry through her memories on the last name, for some reason Moridin continued to come up - but she never remembered the man using the last name. It was in that instant that she made connections. The man’s son had met her and everything fell into place.

Remembering this bit of detail made her defenses go instantly up. Moridin was a man that was a terror in her life, but he did teach her one of her more valuable techniques. Still, why would she be summoned by the man’s son and remark saying that she had to meet someone. Using the Force, she sensed the area and felt two presences drawing closer to her. There was no threat, so she relaxed a bit and continued to wait. The two figures emerged into the clearing and Spencer smiled.

“You two are earlier than I expected you.” The woman met them in the center and remained smiling. Holding out her hand, she motioned towards the girl’s father. “Nice to meet you after some time now.” Looking down towards the small girl she offered her hand after the father made pleasantries. “Its nice to meet you as well, I’m Spencer Jacobs and you are?”


[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Aela watched the woman carefully.

There was a look of weariness in her eyes, a hint of something that told of distrust, but not for any particular reason. She reached out with her tiny hand and grasped Spencer's, shaking it with a surprising amount of force before carefully withdrawing against her fathers left.

“Aela.” She said quietly. “Aela Talith.”

Of course there was a host of other names attached to her, but the little girl knew well enough what to introduce herself as. Of course that name itself came with its own stigma. Tales of Moridin were still strong in the galaxy, though this far out in wild space such a thing was hardly a concern. The Old Sith Empire had never reached its claws this far, Aela's grandfather was only a vague memory to these people.

Though there were some exceptions.

The woman standing in front of them was one. She knew Moridin better than a lot of people, though that wasn't saying much.

 

[Allyson Locke]

The child was interesting, she had a seriousness about her that most adults could never achieve. She was powerful as well, Spencer sense it through the Force - it briefly reminded her of another. Still, the woman smiled as she finished shaking the child’s hand and looked towards her Father. She had a small note as to why they had requested her presence and despite the rivalry Ashin and Moridin had, the man had taught her several things that had kept her alive. Inhaling softly, she returned her attention towards the girl.

“I heard you were curious about your grandfather. Why is that?”

Spencer knew Moridin for the most part, he had a hand in her development as a force user and helped root her dislike for the Sith. The man devoured souls for the most part, locking them within himself. Spencer remembered when she had first met the man face to face, well the second time she had met him. She was there when Ashin and Moridin fought during the coup. The way the man moved within in the force was incredible and Spencer knew no matter how much she trained, she could never achieve that.

Though the girl in front of her possessed that potential. She didn’t sense the same darkness within her like Moridin had within in him, which eased her concern greatly. “What has you so curious about the man? Anything in particular?” [member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Spencer Varanin"]

Aela looked sheepish for a moment.

Her grandfather had always been somewhat of a mystery for her. Soliael had never much spoken about him, her mother had been quiet as a mouse on the subject, her Oma had simply smiled and told her to ask her father. All of the adults in her life had always avoided speaking about Moridin, their weary gazes following some far off distant figure. She had never truly understood it, though as she had recently learned there was good reason for the way she acted. To say that Moridin was a Black Sheep in the families history was putting it lightly, though perhaps it was more accurate to say that they were all the black sheep and he the whire.

She frowned for a moment, then regarded Spencer.

"What was he like?" Her voice was tiny, almost without sound. "As a person I mean."

Aela looked down at the floor, unsure of what she should say. When her father had opened up about her Grandfather it had always been stories of what he had been in the past, what he had achieved and what he had done to further or take the galaxy back. The Emperor of the Sith, the first of this age. That was the title that Aela knew him by, the thing that everyone had always called him. Ye the had been a person once, hadn't he? "No one ever talks about that."

Her feet shuffled.

 

[Allyson Locke]

A person.

Moridin was more than just a person. The man was capable of having his own chapter in the story of the galaxy. He had done so much in his lifetime and even gave birth to the linage that stood before him. The girl, she was curious and the way her eyes peered at her made Spencer aware of this. Her curiosity felt as if it was the same curiosity she felt when she had first met Moridin.

Spencer assumed the girl had heard the stories, even as exaggerated as they had become. No, she wasn’t going to tell all the stories, she wasn’t going to continue to beat around the bush about who Moridin was. For the most part, Spencer despised the man. He had hunted down Ashin to the ends of the galaxy, but she felt his desire for the hunt was what drove him, not so much the fact that it was the great Ashin Varanin.

Nope, to Moridin, from Spencer’s understanding was that he felt Ashin was fun.

“Who he was as a person seems to get lost in all the stories that I’m sure you’ve heard from your father and others who knew your grandfather.” Settling in, Spencer searched her mind for the right words. “Moridin, your grandfather was interesting and eccentric. He seemed to always want to know what made things tick and work.”

Spencer felt as if she was telling what was desired to tell the girl, but that wasn’t the whole truth. “ Your grandfather, the time that met him...he was a great man who walked on the darker side of the Force. He in his own way cared and was curious about how the galaxy functioned. He is the reason I am who I am today. Despite everything that your grandfather had done, as a person - he was a student of the Force and in the end above else - he was a decent man.”

Pausing, Spencer rubbed the back of her neck. “Though, he did have a creepy air about him...especially when he was finding something comical.” [member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Spencer Varanin"]

Her grandfather was still a mystery to her. What Spencer said humanized him, but did that matter? Aela knew what Moridin had done in his time, knew what he had ordered. The questioned was answered, but for some reason it all felt...hollow.

Her Oma was a Sith, or at least in a way. Her uncle was a Sith, half of her family was Sith. Aela knew and acknowledged that, yet there was still a certain pain to the very idea of it. Sith were by all accounts evil, there was no question about it, no qualm. A frown settled on her lips, tiny hands wringing the hem of her shirt for a few moments as she simply thought about what she had heard. The little girl shifted slightly.

”I see.” She said finally.

It was clear that the little girl was a bit more than she appeared to me, not in substance, but at least maturity. She knew what they were talking about, understood it. Her father looked down at her for a moment, then over towards Spencer.

”I don’t know.” Aela admitted quietly. ”How can you settle that with everything else he did?”

The question wasn’t really meant for Spencer to answer, wasn’t meant for anyone to answer really, just the idle musings of a little girl who had probably already learned far too much about a galaxy that wasn’t always a kind place.