Embers in Our Bloodlines

[Tydeus of Tion]

The spaceport of Adascapolis was built to keep out the cold. Ryan Korr could hardly tell. Even bundled up beneath thick, coarse tan and brown robes the cold still bit deep. He shuffled past the pedestrians to reach Roschoe's cantina, which at least had some semblance of warmth inside. Arkanians, faces as pale as their planet's surface, turned to glance at the Outworlder before returning to their conversations. One gave him a dark look, up and down. Ryan remained expressionless. The reputation of the Jedi had been sullied too much for him to expect otherwise.

Korr clenched and unclenched his fingers, struggling to put some feeling back into them. He found a seat in a booth near the back and nodded to the approaching waiter.

"Hello, I am Tor and I will be your host today."

"I'll have a glass of Whyren's and a BLT."

"I'm sorry, we don't carry bantha here. We only have synthmeat," said Tor, with a seedy-looking half-apologetic, half-judgemental smile.

Ryan winced. "Sure, that'll do. Thanks."

"Can I interest you in any appetizers?"

"No. That will be all. Though I am expecting a second."

Tor nodded, snatched the menu, and left.

The Jedi Master stroked his chin and stared toward the entrance expectantly. It had been some time since he had last seen [member="Avalore Eden"]. And now she worked for the Galactic Alliance, as did most of the rest of his friends. The Republic was dwindling and the Jedi Order, always threatened by extinction, seemed to be shambling forward on the last gasps of tradition and heritage. Even more reason for this somewhat covert meeting to happen. The Galactic Alliance the Order needed to be on the same page. If that meant back channeling matters via surreptitious cantina meetings, then so be it.

Besides, it would do him well to see a friendly face.

 

[Avalore Eden]

Exiting a taxi speeder outside, a flurry of blue robes in the frigid winds heralded the arrival of the New Jedi Order's Master Healer, Avalore Eden. She wrestled with the sleeves of her outter robe, heavier than she was accustomed to wearing given her penchant for not frequenting frozen planets, and leaned to pay the driver whilst simultaneously concluding a comm-call with [member="The Revenant"] back on their ship.

"I'm here now. Just now. What do you mean? I just left the taxi. No it's not far, he dropped me right in front of the diner. ... Gabe it's fine ... I just have to walk three to five steps and I'm there. I swear it's fine. Yes I trust him, he served the Republic's Order. I've known him for years, well ... I mean, I don't know him-know him. We met for lunch once when I ..."

Brown eyes narrowed, Avalore gave a heavy sigh and looked around. Feth it was cold. Her hands fumbled with credits before she finally gave up and pushed a bundle at the cabi and turned to make her way in.

"Listen, I'm going in now. Do you want me to bring you something or not? I'll get you a sandwich... I don't know what they have Gabe, I've never been to Arkania. It's a diner. I'm sure they have sandwiches. ... ... you'll eat whatever I bring you and you'll like it."

"..."

Oh that sassy man.

"Okay, going in now, have fun with the twins, bye!"

Her greatest lament was the advance of technology past the principal design of foldable comm-links. She couldn't disconnect the call with enough fervor. Scientific progress goes boop.

Feathers ruffled, cheeks red and wind-burned, the Healer stepped inside the locale and spend a moment straightening herself out once she was finally out of the wind. Avalore did not notice the strange looks from people, the same sorts of looks she'd become completely immune to during her tenure at the Jedi Order's temples while holding her own orbit as a swollen-bellied twenty-something what seemed forever ago. Bidding the message that she was set to meet someone, the Hostess pointed her down the aisle to a red-haired gentleman sitting by himself staring intensely straight at her.

The look was admittedly disarming and Avalore blinked away the slight sting of his stony expression. It reminded her of Hal.

Breathless still, she strode over past the booths of Arkanians and attempted to greet the man who had once been a weathered Jedi Knight the last she saw him with an amiable smile, "Ryan," more blinking. Ava wasn't sure what to say, how to begin. Her normal greetings generally included a hug to those she considered friend, sometimes even a kiss on the cheek, but it'd been so long that she'd found herself at an impasse with what she remembered and the cold-cucumber Guardian sitting there.

"Hi."

No need to panic, Jedi Master got everything under control.

[member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

Hmm.

A woman blew into the cantina, cheeks burning and somewhat frazzled. Older. They were all getting old, but she wore the years well. She didn't see him yet. It gave him a chance to reassume his composure at the sight of an old friend. What would she think of him, gone for so long? Had he abandoned his responsibilities? But how to tell her the truth of it, how he had felt the crushing weight of darkness seeping in and rather than being ground into nothing he had chosen to retreat. Even to him the excuse sounded hollow. It should be his cheeks that burned.

Ah, she saw him now. Nearly froze her in place. His gaze sometimes had that effect. I should be more mindful. Yet the rock does not change its expression, even when the sky itself cries.

How should I address her? Master Eden? Avalore? Is this nothing but a business meeting, or is it a reunion of friends?

"Ryan."

Well, that was that then. He stood, movements jerky.


"Avalore."

He searched those brown eyes for a moment before offering a stiff bow. The sabbatical had not rounded all his edges. Some were as dull and unrefined as ever. Korr seated himself once more, brushing back sanguine locks.

No sooner had they sat than Tor appeared out of nowhere with a menu.

"Something to drink madame, an appetizer perhaps?"

"They don't have any bantha flesh. Only synth meat." His lips curled slightly as he glanced at the menu. He looked back at her, one brow quirking. "What?"

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

A bow. A stiff bow at that. Avalore's face tightened as she watched the man, faint frown forming at the rigid formalities. Curtness. Impersonal and as cold as the wind outside. It reminded her of days spent on Ossus within the confines of the Jedi Order. It reminded her again--she swallowed hard--of Hal. Perhaps this was a bad ide-

No.

The Healer smiled, briefly, and offered a short bow of her head back before taking the seat across from him.

"Something to drink madame, an appetizer perhaps?"

"They don't have any bantha flesh. Only synth meat."

"Well then," a quick glance through the menu told her all she really needed to know. No matter where you went, the one constant in this galaxy was the variety of foods to be expected at a diner. Avalore propped her own brow after catching Ryan's glance and smirked in reply before looking up at Tor, "are they synth vegetables too?"

Tor did not find the humor in this question, "No, madame. Our vegetables are fresh."

Avalore had her doubts about his definition of fresh. "Then I'll do the garden salad with Amaretta Dressing, oh and a grilled Giant Briard Mushroom sandwich to go, pickles on the side, ...and hot tea for me, doesn't matter what kind," she snapped the menu shut and passed it to Tor before looking back to Ryan with a broad smile, "I left the father of my children back on the ship. Promised him food...hmm..." that smile grew wry as she sat waiting for the other Jedi to order.

[member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

Fresh indeed being the operative word. Tor felt rather slighted. Cheeky human, suggesting that the dishes served as Roschoe's were sub-par. Thousands of years of refining the genome itself. Pah! As if Arkanians could not grow their own foods, regardless of the climate. Preposterous.

Meanwhile, Ryan Korr was having trouble choking down Avalore's last words. "Er, I already ordered."

"Yes, of course, sir. Your food will be out momentarily."

Poof. Gone again.

Korr glared over Avalore's shoulder at what looked to be a shady geneticist staring too fixedly in their direction until the man broke eye contact. What an arrogant species. Ryan opened his mouth, closed it again. Two children? These days no one adhered to the old Code. No attachments indeed. Yet it gave him much to ponder. Were the children an anchor to the light, or a chink in her armor? Could the founders have been so wrong?

He smiled. "Oh? I had heard about you and... well he was padawan Stali when last we met. Twins then?"

For whatever reason, Ryan Korr had a terrible feeling that he was ranging too far out of his depth. He felt more at home on a battlefield than in simple sociable conversation. How blasted peculiar.

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

"He's nice."

There was a doleful, wry smile on the Healer's face as the waiter left, her hands folded on the table before her just peaking out of the sleeves of her robes. She gave his glare a questioning glance, not giving it too much thought as she noticed its sharp edge set just over her shoulder, thankfully, and sighed with the shift in conversation.

"Oh, well yes. Twin boys," she dropped a hand to fish through her robes for a comm. Engaging the screen the Healer presented her friend with an image of Gabriel holding the twin babies: Destin and Armaud - both no older than six months, the former of green Mirialan complexion and the latter a fair-skinned thing. Neither one of them had a tail or any telltale signs of being the least bit Felacatian, but Avalore persisted with a warm smile. It was one of the very few pictures she had of any of them. Avalore didn't like pictures but Stali had taken that one with her comm when she wasn't looking. She couldn't bring herself to erasing it.

"Funny, you don't really see it until you get a picture. They really do look a lot like him. Even Stali thinks so - he's a Knight now, by the by, and last I heard there were whispers of putting him up for Master. Exciting times," her smile broadened, "how have you been? It's been ... years since I've seen you."

[member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

A melancholic smile twitched at Korr's lips as he stared at the faces of the children. They were gifts, truly. Their cherubic features brought up a name he hadn't thought about in ages, and the child they'd almost- Oh, Eri. Why? She had always been there for him, from their first lesson as padawans until that day on Ossus when he'd held her limp body curled tight to his chest in the rain. He remembered the way the warmth left her skin. They had been so young. The only one with whom he'd ever...

Broken vows and battered dreams.

Ryan blinked away the fog in his eyes, a soft, short laugh emanating from somewhere deep in his chest. "They're beautiful."

He didn't look at the man in the image, not at first, but as he moved to hand back the comm he glanced at the face of the father. Korr's hand froze.

No.

"That's-"

The doors of the cantina burst open and a squad of soldiers filed inside, rifles at the low-ready. They wore the armor of the Republic. No one else in the establishment seemed surprised by their entrance. On the contrary, they looked relieved, happy even.

"Where are they?" asked the lead trooper in a gravelly tone nearly devoid of emotion.

The shady geneticist seated at the bar pointed directly at Ryan and Avalore. Six blasters swung in the direction of the Jedi.

Korr's hand moved to his lightsaber. "Spaarti," he hissed.

"You, Jedi, hands over your head. You are under arrest by the authority of the Prime Minister of the Grand Republic. Comply or you will be shot."

Ryan gave [member="Avalore Eden"] a look. If they started a fight, innocents could die, but if they went with them Avalore would likely be labeled a spy and Korr charged with treason. No winning options here.

"Sithspit."

 

[Avalore Eden]

Motherly pride threatened to bloom on her expression but Avalore did her best to keep it in check. She beamed yet, cheeks warm, smile quaint, as she reached to take back the comm.

And that's when it all went to shit.

The Healer visibly jumped at the sound of the entry door clattering open, though her back was turned to it she did manage a quick glance to see just what all the racket was about. Brown eyes froze as they landed on troopers. Her immediate curiosity was soon overwhelmed by concern at the barked orders and the raising of the guns.

Avalore Eden did not like conflict. She was afraid of lightsabers and felt no better about guns or blasters. Healers didn't use those things, they fixed all the wounds that were created by them, and when you see and treat as many hellish injuries as Avalore and knew exactly what sort of damage they could inflict ... you had every right to be worried when one was pointed your way.

Spaarti hissed Ryan.

"What?" Avalore hissed back, quickly looking back at him, eyes big, "Ryan what's going on? Spaarti? Here?" It made little sense to her, but she was far out of the loop of Republic affairs. She knew of Spaarti and the latest fiasco but this was simply off her radar. Being a Jedi from outside of the Republic's Order only muddled things more.

What do we do? she mouthed at him, reflexively lifting her hands as commanded. She couldn't risk get shot, she had her boys to take care of.

[member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

In a not-too distant future Ryan could see the path he wanted to take. He would activate his blade and set upon them. The roiling storms within his chest would be loosed upon them and he would take them apart one by one. Each savage stroke crystallized in his mind's eye. The mere thought of it set his heart racing with excitement. It would be so easy. All he had to do was ignite the blade.

Muscles writhed, snakelike in Korr's jaw as he ground his teeth, but his face might have been made of hewn stone. Storm-dark eyes swept the room, alighted upon an Arkanian at the bar, and relented. He could feel the man's fear. In that future, he could also see his death. Slumped over the counter, white eyes staring sightlessly, blood pooling around his head. Killed by an errant blaster bolt.

No. He'd seen enough innocent death for a lifetime. If it was a choice between giving himself up and watching another being cut down in foolish conflict, then it wasn't much of a choice at all.

Slowly, Ryan peeled his fingers from the hilt of his lightsaber and raised both hands in the air. White knuckles started to fade to normalcy.

The Spaarti squad leader gestured. "Take them."

Two of the clones lowered their rifles and took out stun cuffs. The other six soldiers continued to train weapons on them as the other pair stepped forward and secured the prisoners. The cuffs clicked shut around his wrists with an air of finality he didn't care for. They hoisted the two Jedi to their feet and prodded them forward toward the exit.

The scar-kissed Jedi Master looked at [member="Avalore Eden"] and grimaced. "Sorry. I'll-"

A sharp blow caught Korr in the small of the back and sharp pain flared along his spine, followed by a startled grunt. "Shut up. Don't try your mind games on us, Jedi."

"Stay silent. If you do not comply we are authorized to use any means necessary," said the squad leader flatly.

Ryan took that as, "Be quiet or we'll shoot you."

He was sure he could feel a bruise forming on his back. The waiter Tor sneered openly at them as they were hauled bodily out of the cantina and into the open streets of Adascopolis. Korr stared at the back of Avalore's head. Now what? He might be able to get away if it had been just him, but he wasn't willing to risk Ava getting hurt.

The squad came to a sudden stop as two land speeders approached. The window of the foremost speeder rolled down and the squad leader approached. Closing his eyes, Ryan tuned out the biting cold numbing his face, the pain in his back, and the sound of Adascopolis' street life. He focused in on the monotone of the squad leader and the figure inside the speeder.

"They're secured, sir."

"Did you deprive them of their lightsabers?" the voice was high and had a certain sneering tonality to it that Korr recognized as distinctly Arkanian.

"No, sir."

"Do so before you put them in the speeder, then meet us at the complex. You remember the location?"

"Five klicks north east of Adascopolis. Middle of nowhere."

"That's right, Sergeant. See to it."

The window rolled up and the speeder whipped off in a cloud of snow, ending the short exchange.

Korr kept his eyes closed and reached out to Avalore in the Force and touched her mind. Telepathic communication conveyed more images than words, but most experienced Jedi could communicate effectively, even under severe duress. "Did you catch that?"

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore had enough wits about her to secure her comm within a hidden pocket of her robe sleeve before the stun-cuffs were applied. Heart sinking along with her expression, the Healer remained silent as they hoisted her unnecessarily to her feet. She tried not to think of the last time she'd been in handcuffs, as a prisoner, but images of Coruscant were fast to fill her present conscious.

Calm. Stay calm.

A muffled squeak sounded somewhere in her throat as she watched one of the troopers strike at Ryan. Avalore instinctively attempted to move towards him but was roughly yanked back into place before being shoved down the length of the diner and out the doors into the cold bluster. Such a biting cold - the winds tore at her blue robes and flattened her hair against her face. The only relief to come to her was knowing her children were safe back on the ship with Gabe. Force, she'd almost brought them with her, having been so excited to introduce them to Ryan.

They were stopping. Why were they stopping?

Two speeders approached and Avalore felt the color drain from her face, her mouth go dry. She couldn't hear their words over the rumble of the engines, didn't have the finesse of the Force to attune her senses like Korr, but the word lightsaber distinctly stuck out and Avalore suddenly felt hands on her.

"Stop!" the shriek burst out of her lips, cracking in the cold air, "I don't have one!"

"What kind of Jedi doesn't carry a Lightsaber?"

The hands persisted but would find no weapon of any kind. She didn't even have any of her Healer supplies on her today. Blanch-faced, wide-eyed, Avalore grimaced, "I'm a Healer, I don't use weapons." As if it weren't possible for her eyes to get any wider, they suddenly did as the man patted down her arms and found the bulk of the comm in her sleeve.

"No..." the Healer whimpered as he ripped her sleeve to get to it.

"Got a comm."

Her eyes watched it as though the man had taken her own children right from her arms, desperate for one more look at the picture on its screen.

Did you catch that?

And then Avalore Eden fainted.

[member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

Gray eyes flared open. He stepped forward, trying to catch her before she fell to the frost coated soil. A rifle butt slammed into his back again, dropping him to his knees. One of the Spaarti reached out a hand and stopped Avalore before she could topple over. Both Jedi Masters were shunted forward, pushed into the back of the remaining speeder

Korr and Eden were pushed together in the middle seat, while the Spaarti sat to either side of them and behind them, pistols trained. The squad leader took up the co-pilot's spot. Ryan grimaced. The stun cuffs bit into his wrists. The Jedi felt cramped inside the speeder, but at least Arkania's chill climes no longer clawed at exposed skin.

The speeder lurched into motion, gliding across the glistening ice like a bird, claws nearly touching the earth. The sickening feeling in Ryan's guts continued to worsen as they sped past the city limits of Adascopolis, leaving the civilization behind. Before them stretched a wasteland of tundra. Best guess was that somewhere out there lay a secret facility developed for Lasedri's clone army. Korr grit his teeth.

A lack of anti-Force measures showed a certain level of arrogance with these Spaarti, but their professionalism made up for their failings. With guns trained on the two of them from every angle, there seemed to be little chance of escape. That likelihood would no doubt continue to diminish should they reach their destination. Korr's mind filled with images of dark rooms, ixetal cilona dispensers, and hidden ysalamiri.

Only a few minutes had passed since their capture and Avalore seemed to be coming around. Korr glanced at her, shoulders rubbing as she stirred awake. Eyes the pallor of cloudy skies offered no warmth, only the stolid assurance of a sword's iron, or a castle's bland stone walls. Security. Protection. And a hard edge.

If they were to survive this ordeal without being pinned to the wall and dissected like butterflies by Lasedri's henchmen, they had to act now. Korr's gaze swept the speeder's interior, alighting at last on the pilot's steering sticks.

"Hold on."

He reached out in the Force and jerked sharply on the sticks, wrenching them from the pilot's control and sending the speeder careening into a wild spin. The world turned violently around. The Spaarti leader yelled commands. Useless. Too late. A grim smile settled on Korr's features until the speeder slammed into the icy tundra, flipping over and over again. Something smacked Korr in the face. A deafening crash. The world screeched to a halt. Pain everywhere. Then it all turned white.

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore came to with her head back against the seat, lolling slowly one side to the other in tandem with the movement of the speeder. The Healer winced, feeling as though someone had smacked her in the face with a solid chunk of ice. The cold she felt was not necessarily related to the present weather outside of the shuttle, but a chill of telepathic touch on her mind.

She'd been too careless lately. Not been practicing her meditations for mental barrier. A life now spent in the warmth of her new family had made her vulnerable in ways she'd not been aware of and this was a frightening reminder. Several blinks to lift the sting of her shortcomings away accompanied by a rasp breath, Avalore got her wits about her just in time to catch that glance of cold steely blue.

Reassurance wasn't a word she'd use to describe what she felt at that particular moment. More along the lines of ...oh Force, what are you going to do-

She had just enough time to pip out a shriek before the speeder went spiraling through the air. An attempt at Force Barrier was made during the chaos, enough to spare herself and Ryan too much jostling and tossing about before the vehicle came to a snowy stop, upsidedown. Avalore slumped down against the roof, one of her booted feet pressed firmly into the shoulder of a trooper to keep him from sliding down on top of her. She grunted in effort, teeth biting down on a mouthful of her own hair. A dastardly cold wind blew in through a shattered window, throwing fat snowflakes to melt against her face.

"Ryam? Pfft-" sputtering, spitting the hair from her mouth, a quick glance around, "the window...can you get to the window?"

Grumbling and movement from the front seat. The same from the man pinned back by her foot.

Avalore looked down at the rousing trooper with wide eyes, "He's waking up...he's waking up."

[member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

Dazed, vision hazy, Korr blinked. A grunt met Avalore's words. A stream of something warm sticky trickled down his forehead. Drums pounded in his head and in his heart. The acrid tang of burning circuits drew him out of the stupor. Electrical fire. They needed to move. The Jedi wriggled, hissing as shards of shattered glass cut into his back.

Ryan's eyes snapped to the window. He brought up his hands, vaguely aware that the stun cuffs still binding them had cut shallow gashes into his wrists. A gesture sent the clone Avalore held at bay flying. The man slammed into the door and the tortured metal snapped, sending both door and soldier out into the snow.

"Go," rasped Ryan, already looking about inside the speeder. Smoke now rose from the speeder's engine in thick, black clouds. He spotted the object of his search, clipped to the Spaarti leader's belt. The soldier was unconscious.

Just as well.

The Jedi Master summoned the hilt. The cold metal cylinder smacked into his waiting palm. He pushed off from the floor, sliding along the roof and out into the snow. Scrambling to his feet, snow crunching under heel, he backed away. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

The engine went up in sudden flames that spread like wildfire through the speeder. A consuming blaze, which soon engulfed the entirety of the vessel. Korr took an involuntary step backward as the screams began. The Spaarti, protected by their armor from the worst of the crash, but slower than the Jedi to recover from it, now found themselves trapped. Cooked alive in the barren tundra.

Ryan held up a forearm to ward away the heat. He stepped forward, but the fire was too high now. Nothing to do watch them burn.

One of them managed to scramble out, entire body alight with the flames. He rolled in the snow, training taking over. Ryan moved over, gesturing for [member="Avalore Eden"] to help him, but by the time he was kneeling at the man's side he could already feel the life leaving him. Korr tried to remove the helmet, but drew his hands back sharply. Hot to the touch. He glanced down. Exposed skin at the neck had melted to the body glove in a charred, black mess.

Bile rose in his throat.

"I'm sorry," he said looking to Avalore, then grit his teeth.

Snap-hiss

A flick of the now lit azure blade severed his manacles. He did the same for hers. Grimly, Korr eyed the desolate wasteland while the bodies of their captors smoldered to ash. "There might be more of them coming. And we can't survive out here in the open. Not when night falls."

Ryan wiped his forehead. His hand came away bloody.

"Those mountains over there. Thirty miles? We can make it."

 

[Avalore Eden]

To her credit Avalore did not cry but she most certainly looked and felt deeply disturbed at the scene that played out. Brown eyes strained with horror, jaw set to keep the accompanying sounds in, the Healer tore her gaze away and grimaced into the gale, hoping the wind in her ears would drown the sound out. Those very same sounds often haunted her nights, bringing restless sleep.

She knew that feeling of helplessness far too well. Clone or not, no one deserved to die that way.

A visible shudder wracked the woman's body, frightful wince contorting her face as Ryan's lightsaber blade sizzled through the air to cut her bindings and she eyed the blade with the same amount of leeriness she might use for a Sith. Rising to her feet, weight against the wind, Avalore tugged the hood of her robes further over her head, watching the last hope of any help be consumed by the flames. She'd never had a chance to retrieve her comm.

"Thirty miles?" eyes shifted to the indicated mountains. It was not the trek that worried her but the slim chance that they'd find any sort of cover there. Weren't there dragons that lived in the mountains? Isn't that what the stories that Gabe told the boys at night said? With the town completely out of sight and no other landmark to go by she nodded and began following Ryan.

"What was that all about? Ryan...what's going on in the Republic that they're arresting Jedi?"

[member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

"Lasedri," Korr said, voice as cold as the wind nipping at his face. He could already feel the blood cooling on his forehead and on gashes in his wrists. Chafing robes stuck to his back, where shards of glass had cut thin furrows in his back. Breath even, Ryan pushed out the pain. Physical suffering was both fleeting and eternal. Aches would always be there to complain about, even when the sharp pain of the wounds had gone. No amount of groaning would make it stop. If Marcello had taught him anything, he'd taught him how to endure.

He extinguished the saber and clipped it to his belt.

"The Prime Minister of the Republic believes the Jedi Order to be a nuisance in her path to total control. She's raised a private army of clones. A play ripped from the pages of history. We should have known." He shook his head bitterly.

The smell of charring flesh faded as they stomped through the snow, shin deep in places. The wind did not relent, seeming to strengthen with every hundred feet of progress, stinging Korr's face. Even the elements begrudged them their right to live.

"I didn't know things had grown this dire. I'm sorry," his voice rose in volume, fighting with the gale for dominance. "I put you in danger."

Ryan grimly imagined what would happen should they die out here. Two children without a mother. Gritting his teeth, Korr forged ahead, plowing a path through the snow so that she could follow in his wake. Fueled by an iron determination to see her get home to her children alive.

We should have known.

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore heaved a deep breath, pausing as she attempted to absorb everything he'd said, disbelief and confusion mixing on her face, "Lasedri? But she touted cohesion with the Order as her position when running for office..." a sharp exhale of breath, Avalore shook her head and looked around as if the sense of this galaxy was lost somewhere in the mountains on the horizon, "...this is crazy..."

Then he apologized and she frowned. Deeply. Having fallen several paces behind him in her stupor she pushed to catch up, arms wrapped tightly at her middle.

"Don't apologize," she said after him, voice raising as the gale did as she winced into the flurry of ice and snow, "it's not your fault. You couldn't have known."

She was still alive because of him.

"We wouldn't even be here if I hadn't left the Order in the first place."

[member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

"What are you talking about?"

Dampness had already begun to seep into his clothes as the snow melted from his body heat. The wet material rubbed egregiously against his skin, just under the kneecaps where the pants were stuffed into the shin-length boots. Wading through the firn did not yet leave his thighs burning, or his nostrils raw with the cold, icy air, but he knew it would. Thirty miles by foot. Korr grit his teeth. Just a passing pain.

"You mean we wouldn't be having lunch on Arkania?" A tight-jawed smile cracked across stony features whipped red by the wind.

Ryan wiped a running, irritated nose with the back of his sleeve.

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

"What?" Avalore hollered back, incredulous and mildly taken-aback by the smile. It was literally the first full smile she'd ever seen on the man's face, she was pretty sure. Facts.

She smirked, "You mean you'd want to lunch here given a choice?" She wasn't much for snow or cold and, gorramn-it, this was really not her idea of a fantastic lunch date. "From the sounds of it we'd be having lunch in prison anyway."

Been there, done that. Terrible food, horrendous service, appalling entertainment.

"I'm picking the venue next time, Ryan Korr, and I can promise you there-oop!" the Healer tripped and tumbled into the knee-deep snow. A huff, she wiped damp and slowly freezing wool robe sleeves at her face, hands red and stinging, "ffff- won't be any snow. Not a single flake."

[member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Gabriel Sionoma]

"Yes. Yes, that's right."

He held the receiver to his ear, holding Destin in his left arm. Foot on the wooden rocker he had built himself, he nudged Armaud back and forth as he viewed imagery of the stars over the ceiling of the ship. Pressing the receiver between shoulder and ear, he pulled a tissue from the box and rubbed some boogies from the green child's nose. Unleashing a hellacious cry from a mouth that really shouldn't open that large, Gabe laughed and nudged his cheek.

"I know...you're such an unhappy baby right now! I know, I know..." He paused and took on a wide eyed look, speaking back into the receiver. "No, no you're not a baby. Sorry...what do you mean you're insulted?" He sighed. "I know, Arkanians don't like insults...no, i'm not offering you a gift for my crime." He let out a long sigh, rocking Destin as he scratched his forehead with the receiver.

"Excuse me?" Gabe rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm sorry that I call you a baby. Now, about the sandwich?" He waited, nodding his head. "Ingredients sound perfect. Twenty minutes? Great, see you then."

Hanging up the device, he lifted the green child who seemed distraught but not nearly as upset as moments ago. "Where is your mommy, buddy?"

[member="Avalore Eden"] | [member="Ryan Korr"]​

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

He doubted very much that the Spaarti would give them the courtesy of a lunch. Lasedri's creations seemed to care little for any rules outside those issued from her own hand. Feeding imprisoned Jedi seemed very low on her list of priorities.

A startled cry alerted Korr, who spun around, eyes hard and edged, like sharpened iron, expecting trouble. They softened when they saw Avalore, soaked in snow and shivering. The joke did not seem to register with the scar-kissed Jedi, who no longer smiled. Hypothermia could set in, or frostbite, if she did not know the proper techniques to keep her limbs warmed. Even then, one could only run on the Force for so long. Any number of ailments could lesson her odds of survival. Even though Jedi were capable of detoxifying poisons in their bloodstream, they were not immune from the common cold, or anything worse for that matter.

Leather boots crunched to a halt. Korr rested a hand on her arm, gaze serious.

"Do you need me to carry you?"

[member="Avalore Eden"] | [member="Avalore Eden"]