Fractures

[Aela Talith]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

Aela ran.

She didn't run away from anything of course, she didn't need to. Rather, she ran towards something. That something being a pack of wild beasts native to Voss.

The creatures ran amok on the massive plains of the planet, eating wild growth and bounding about in happy ignorance. Fifteen year old Aela couldn't help but want to play with them. She chased after the creatures, smiling and grinning as they fled from her, one or two strays bounding off from the pack and suddenly stopping as she grazed their minds with the force.

The odd little creature stopped, and suddenly flopped onto hits back.

Aela giggled with delight, stopping herself and jumping onto the cat-like creatures stomach, rubbing it and beginning to talk nonsense to the creature as a wealth of friendliness poured from her through the force. The odd beast began to pant, waggling its legs as it enjoyed its belly rub.

“Uuuh...what are you doing?”

A voice startled her, causing Aela to cease her scratching and her head to swivel and turn.

She smiled weakly as she noticed a pack of Padawans and younglings behind her. They were mostly her age, though a few were younger. Bright Orange eyes scanned over them, trying to discern who they were. It only took half a second to discern where they came from, though the answer should have been obvious from first glance.

Silver Jedi.

“Training.” Aela said as though it were obvious.

“Oh. Are you part of the Order?”

For a moment Aela thought about what she should answer. Father had taken her with to Voss on an odd trip, though she had no idea why he had wanted to come here, he had told her that she was free to explore as long as she didn't venture into the badlands. Did that include the Silver Jedi Temple?

She decided it did. “Yes.”

It was a lie, but it was one that was geared towards learning, and it was one that the padawans accepted. In no time at all Aela had been absorbed into the odd little group, putting on a false smile and being dragged to the Silver Jedi Temple here on Voss.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

An elderly man stood patiently waiting atop the entrance stairs, dressed in traditional Jedi robes. He was a veteran of the Jedi Order, having served the Republic for many decades. Now Voss was his home, the Silvers his family.

"Master Vhaan," Thurion joined him atop the stairs overlooking the training grounds. "Have your younglings abandoned your lessons so soon?" The old man chuckled.

"Not at all, Grandmaster. I sent them out on a brief exploratory mission to fetch me a specific type of leaves found in the wilderness." He leaned closer. "I told them they're for potions that will aid their training, when actually they just make for a great tea." Now it was his turn to laugh.

"You are terrible, Quintus!" The elder shrugged, smiling. "What? They wanted out of the classroom. I merely offered them something to do while outdoors."

"Well, it looks like your class has either accomplished their mission or given up on it," Thurion said while pointing to the edge of the forest just as the group of younglings appeared. Quintus Vhaan merely nodded and ran his hand through his white beard.

[member="Aela Talith"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

Aela walked with the other padawans for some time.

There was an urge to ask them exactly where they were going, but as soon as she thought of the question she realized why that would have been foolish. Such a question would immediately have shown that she was indeed not part of the Order.

Things only got worse when they approached the Temple and the children began to whisper and buzz.

“That's the Grandmaster.”

One of the children whispered into Aelas ear and her heart skipped a beat.

She knew next to nothing about the Silver Jedi Order. Unlike the other Jedi Order which her Mother was a part of and whose Grandmaster she had met at a very young age, the Silver Jedi Order was a completely different sub-sect. They split off from the Jedi before she was born, though why, she had absolutely no idea.

So when it came to their Grandmaster, Aela knew that he was either highly opinionated, or very good at keeping the peace with other factions.

Slowly the group of younglings moved closer, surrounding the Grandmaster and Master Vhaan, looking up at the both of them with big wondering eyes, only Aela looking elsewhere.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

As the group of younglings drew closer up the stairs, they were greeted by a smiling Grandmaster and the crossed arms of their mentor. "Good to see you weren't eaten by wild beasts," Master Vhaan spoke first with a smirk on his face. The oldest youngling stepped forward to present him with the leaves, prompting Thurion to disguise his snicker as a cough.

"Now, then - may I introduce you kiddos to the Grandmaster of the Order, Master Thurion Heavenshield." With Vhaan stepping aside to take bow alongside the younglings, Thurion was suddenly given the floor. "Hello there, young Jedi! It is an honour to meet you all. Master Vhaan has spoken highly of you." Regarding them all with a smile, his eyes soon fixed upon the girl at the back. Her blend of strawberry-blonde hair and bright-orange eyes was reason enough to notice her in a crowd.

"Master Vhaan," he turned to Quintus. "Please go ahead and resume your lessons. Such young minds are eager to learn, I'm sure." The Jedi Master nodded gracefully and gestured for his students to follow, some of them groaning lightly as they did. "Not you, my dear," he stopped [member="Aela Talith"] with a hand settled softly upon her shoulder.

"Impersonating a Jedi youngling could be seen as a grievous offense, you know. Security and all." He smirked. "But I don't think you're here to cause trouble, am I correct, Miss...?"

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

She blanched.

How had he known? Aela had given no visible sign of being an outsider. She wore robes, her hair was tied neatly back, she had her lightsaber. Everything about her screamed Jedi youngling. Her face took on a look of the perplexed, her eyes shifting towards the group of younglings that waddled off. For a brief moment she ignored the Grandmaster completely and wondered what she had done wrong.

With a huff, she looked up at the Jedi Master.

“Talith.” Bright orange eyes gazed up at Thurion. It was a dangerous name to just throw around, at least to people who knew their galactic history. Yet Aela knew that more lying would likely be useless, it was better to tell the man the truth.

She was weary of being caught in more lies.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

He smiled, then bowed as she gave her name. "Welcome, Miss Talith, to planet Voss and the Silver Temple," he said. "I pride myself in remembering the faces of all who come here to learn the ways of the Force. Yours was a face I had never seen before." He gestured for her to walk with him.

"So, Miss Talith... What brings you to our humble abode? Are you here alone?" His questions were of genuine curiosity rather than fishing for answers. This wasn't an interrogation by any means. "Forgive me for asking, but your name does carry some weight around certain parts of the galaxy. I've never had the pleasure of meeting your parents, but I have every respect for them and their family."

While awaiting her answer, a subtle gesture of his hand summoned an apple fresh off the branch of a nearby tree into his palm. "Care for one?"

[member="Aela Talith"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

Did her name carry weight?

She supposed that it did, though Father had always told her it was more fear than anything. Perhaps in the outer rim it was different. Had her grandfather been a good Emperor? He had been a Sith, but had he been good to his people?

Aela wondered for a moment, then looked up at the grandmaster. “My father is here on Voss. He's speaking with the mystics.”

Again the truth, she didn't care lie to this man. There was something odd about him that made her want to be honest. Perhaps it was his demeanor, or perhaps it was with the respect that he spoke to her with, even though she was but a little girl.

“I met your younglings in the wilds.” She went on. “I decided to tag along with them so I could see the temple.”

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Thurion offered a sagely nod. "Ah, I see. Many off-worlders come here to seek audience with the Mystics of Voss-Ka. I am surprised you did not decide to join him - the fortress is a magnificent sight to behold, although I have yet to meet with the Mystics themselves." When she didn't appear to accept his gift in the form of an apple, he shrugged and took a bite out of it himself.

They reached the training grounds where a multitude of padawans and knights alike partook in lightsaber duels, meditation circles, group lessons in telekinesis and much more. "Now then, what can I do for you, Miss Talith? Have you come here to learn or is this merely a friendly visit for curiosity's sake?" He stopped to study one of the padawans practising his swings against a training dummy.

"Shtaye, widen your stance! Won't take much to put you on your back standing like that." The padawan froze at the sudden use of his name, coming from the Grandmaster no less, prompting the dummy to swing back at him and thereby fulfilling Thurion's prophecy. "Look at that. Maybe I have a talent for telling the future, no?" He chuckled as they continued their walk.

[member="Aela Talith"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

Her face scrunched in consideration for a few moments.

“Curiosity I suppose.” Aela had never really thought about getting more teachers, it seemed unnecessary. She already learned from some of the greatest and most powerful people in the entire galaxy. Her Father, her mother, Auntie Amorella, Oma Quietus. All of them had taught her things, all of them had shown her how to use the force, a lightsaber.

It seemed completely strange to her to have anyone but family teach her. Briefly she gazed over towards the apprentice that Thurion regarded, smiling slightly as the boy moved in an odd fashion. She cocked her head to the side, then looked up at the Grandmaster.

“Do you teach often?” She knew that Corvus did, the other Jedi grandmaster.

She still didn't quite get that.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

"Fair enough," he said, hands clasped behind his back as they walked. "Curiosity is... well, a curious thing. It compels us to look for answers rather than wait for them to appear on their own. Some would say curiosity is the antithesis of patience, but they mistake curiosity for foolhardy deeds; curiosity, at its core, is our will to learn." He would let his words sink in before changing subjects.

"I must confess it has been a while since last I mentored someone. I've had plenty of padawans in my days as a Jedi Knight, but that was years ago. When you reach the rank of master more focus is often put on the wordly matters of the galaxy rather than concentrating it on a single thing or person, such as a padawan. When Grandmaster [member="Iella E'ron"] joined the Living Force some time ago, it was agreed that I take her place. Much of my time is now devoted to overseeing the training of all students, as well as the performance of their teachers, not unlike the headmaster of a school." He smiled.

"On top of that, I have a family to care for. I'm sure your father would agree that raising a family is no small matter."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

“I see.” Aela said understanding.

The man had just answered many questions that she would have eventually asked. She found that pleasant for some reason, much more pleasant than her conversation the previous week with the leader of the Republic. “Do you teach your children? Father teaches us, so does mother.”

She left out Oma Quietus, Uncle Cameron and Aunt Amorella, her other primary teachers. She felt that their lives were more private and didn't need mentioning, though there was a part of her that simply wanted to brag about how many great Masters of the force were there to teach her. Half of her had always assumed that such was always the case, though that illusion had been broken when she visited Ossus for the first time.

Not all were trained by their parents.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Her next question made him lower his head ever-so-slightly, as if ashamed. "No, I don't..." The prospect of having his children fight and die in a war inherited from millennia ago was harrowing, and even worse was knowing that with his son's training about to commence, Nina would most likely inquire as to why she's not begun her training yet. "Your children never age," he told her. "Ask your father or mother what they truly see when they look at you, for when I look at mine..." He paused, only to turn and smile at the girl.

"I see the tiny girl I rescued on Umbara, helpless and alone. I see the newborn babe I held in my arms on Midvinter, in the halls of my father and his father before him." His hand found her shoulder. "But you didn't come here to listen to me yapping on about myself, did you? Tell me, what is it that you really want? From me, from yourself, from life itself?" It was a big question to ask one so young, but she'd already proven her smarts.

[member="Aela Talith"]​