Faction From Here To Eternity | The Je'daii Enclave | Open To All Je'daii

[Lief]

As she stood within the great gardens of Tribunal Station, Asha Vynea-Hex could not help but feel some small measure of apprehension building deep within. The verdant landscape had been lightly adorned with lanterns which hung from the limbs of trees and stronger plants which could bear such strain, while others floated effortlessly upon the twin pools which acted as some grand walkway toward the rest of the station proper.​

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There were various seats afforded to those who had gathered with her in space that day, arranged in a way that all could have full sight of a singular spot betwixt the aforementioned pools. It was there that she herself stood, gazing over the faces of those who were present. The likes of her Master Sargon Vynea and her student Kal among a great many other Je'daii who had come to call this place home. A few were less known, or strangers entirely, those who had brought themselves forth from beyond the stars to join them that day.​

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For so small an enclave it was a rather impressive turnout to be sure. All were clad in robes, even if they were not often want to wear such, and despite her own apprehension the room was abuzz with quiet jubilation.​

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But any who glanced between them would notice one person in particular missing from the throng. Namely one Cotan Sar'andor which was strange given that this was in fact his station, and the garden he'd built. She inhaled slowly, breathing in the Force which was so readily available to them in this place, and turned her sights back toward the doorway she had previously stood with her back to.​

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He would be here soon, she knew. She'd asked him to come, and if past experience had taught her anything it was that he was one of the few individuals in this Galaxy who would do precisely that without knowing the reason why...​

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Others likely present:​

Chaaj Priest Raarpaa Zerlac Rhia Kesyk Varloc Vian Sarad Isla Ashen Jake Daniels Takui | literally any Je'daii​

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Individuals invited should they wish to attend:​

Ryv Jend-Ro Quill (understand if there's too many people, old man) Lucien Dooku Auteme ​

 

[Varloc]

The gardens were quiet, except for the occasional sound of fabric on fabric caused by someone moving slightly. Varloc sat as far back as he possibly could in the group of seats around him, he wore a much heavier amount of robes than normal covering his armor. His dark appearance made him stand out slightly, for many wore lighter colored cloaks. The closest Je'daii to him, a complete stranger from the outer rim, kept a eye on Varloc, like he expected him to jump out and attack at any moment. To be truthful at another time he would've with little thought.

Varloc looked foward through his visor and under his hood at what lay before him, a couple seats beyond him, Asha standing looking over them, and the crystal clear pools that could've been from Naboo. He knew this was a above average gathering of Je'daii, and many great people were before him. He didn't know what this was about, he doubted anyone invited knew. Varloc had ideas of what it could be, as his ever going mind was looking at every piece of information he took in.

All Varloc knew was that something interesting was going to happen, and it would be worth his time. He glared through his visor at his neighbor who was doing a horrible job at hiding himself looking at Varloc. Varloc then looked foward with interest.

Lief | Je'daii​

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Quill wouldn't miss this for the world, and didn't want to resort to pharmaceuticals. Therefore he wore one large ysalamir nutrient frame backpack. His Odion Syndrome was silent - no pressure barrage of others' Force presence. The ysalamir was his best friend today.

 

[Raarpaa Zerlac]

Raarpaa stood nearby Jend-Ro Quill and observed the ysalamir that he wore. She had heard of Odion Syndrome, and wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason he wore it. The Ewok radiated calm, and she didn't mind being in the bubble that cut her off from the Force, even if it did make her feel crippled. If she needed to, she would step out of the bubble while still remaining near the old man.

 

[Tom Kovack]

Earlier that day, Tom had spoken with Starlin Rand, telling him about his intentions to visit Tribunal Station and learn more about the Je'daii. After attempting to explain to his friend what the Je'daii were and what they stood for (or at least, what Tom thought they stood for), the Jedi Padawan was left unimpressed.

"They can't use Force Light? Cleanse? Healing?"

"Or Waves of Darkness, Corruption, and Wound, for that matter," Tom had replied. "As far as I can tell, their teachings are all about neutrality and moderation. They avoid the two extremes of the Force in hopes of maintaining balance. It's very old school, traditional, supposedly based on the ancient original teachings of the Je'daii from Tython."

Starlin had made a face. "I couldn't be one of them. Force Light is my whole schtick. And I mean, come on..."

"'Come on', what?" Tom prompted in the silence that followed.

Starlin looked uneasy, rolling the hilt of his lightsaber between his palms. "... It sounds a little bit iffy. Maybe even a little bit... wrong."

A smirk curled the corners of Tom's mouth. "Isn't the whole appeal of the Force that nobody is wrong in their interpretation of it?"

"Yeah... sure. But I mean..." Starlin sighed. "It's hard to explain. In my gut, I get this feeling, like... I don't know. It doesn't feel right. Why do they refuse to call themselves Jedi?"

Tom could think of a variety of reasons, among them recent events involving the Silver Jedi and New Jedi Order, but he nodded in understanding instead. He did understand - there was nothing wrong with calling yourself a Jedi, reputation or no. Starlin had learned not to care what people thought of him. In that, Tom envied him. "Well, look at it this way. You remember when your master freaked out while you were learning Juyo, because you were in a Dark Side nexus and it made you go a little bit dark?"

"Yeah."

"You also remember how you thought it sounded stupid and arbitrary that a lightsaber form used in a certain location could cause a person to turn evil, so you consulted another Jedi Master about it, and he said the same thing?"

"Yeah... so?"

"The Je'daii probably wouldn't panic over something like that. Or at least, a Je'daii master would teach you some techniques of moderation so you didn't have to worry about falling to the darkness just because you were practicing an edgy form of combat in the wrong neighborhood." Tom suspected Starlin's momentary flirtation with the Dark had more to do with his extreme alignment with the Light, but he was no expert and didn't want to scare his friend. He also sensed that Starlin's "bad feeling" about the Je'daii may have had a lot more to do with his having lost a hand to Cotan Sar'andor than Starlin cared to admit, but he didn't want to reopen old wounds.

"I mean, I still think nexuses are sort of dumb, but that's the universe's fault for being dumb. I'm not going to deny reality just because I think it's stupid." Starlin shrugged. "The Je'daii, though - do they not want to use certain powers, or do they believe you can do anything you want with the Force, so long as you do it in moderation? It sounds like going on a diet."

"No, no," Tom said, laughing. "I'm pretty sure they restrict certain powers. You can't go around choking people with the Force--"

"See? It's a diet!"

In the present, Tom sat on a bench in the gardens of Tribunal Station, a silent observer smiling to himself at the memory. Dressed similarly to the Je'daii, he blended in with the others. It would be easy to overlook him, which was just the way he liked it. Well, he wasn't quite invisible - Varloc glared in his direction before pointedly turning away. So much for being a wallflower in this garden.

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Hey, Kiss, you made sure to tell Coren and Romi I couldn't make the weekly holocall, yeah? No, no, I know it's important to keep coordinating things between the enclaves and all, but we can just as easily do that with messages, we don't have to have a conference call every week. Besides, you know Asha said she'd need me in the garden for something."

K1-S5 appeared thoroughly unimpressed with the explanation for why Cotan was skipping out on the call. Sounded like it, too.

"Oh, don't give me that. You know how she is—hell, you've helped her sometimes. How many times now have you helped her maintain the whole 'enigmatic mystic' aspect when she's sending me messages? At least they're always important in some way." Now, for once, it was the droid's turn to be, perhaps, bashfully subdued. But, just as stubborn as his master, Kiss couldn't resist firing back with one final protestation. Cotan sighed, burying his face in one hand.

"Just tap into the station's relays and you can holo-project them into it, I guess. We can have the talk after whatever this is is done with. It's bad enough that I can feel like she's gotten a ton of people to all come along, so what's two more to add to the guest list, even if they're remote?"

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A short while later—and certainly a bit later from when things were ostensibly supposed to start than he liked—Cotan and his droid were at the entrance to the garden, about to step in. "Alright, Kiss, how do I look?" he asked the droid, turning from one of the well-polished durasteel walls back to his astromech. Only to frown down at the droid. "Same as ever? I made sure to trim, I'm wearing nice clothes, what do you mean same as ever? It's not like she told me I had to wear robes or anything, and face it, you'd hate seeing that as much as everybody else would."

If droids could roll their eyes, K1-S5 would have done so. Cotan turned back to the door, waving a hand to open it before the astromech could say anything sarcastic in response. "Just go and get Coren and Romi projected in here, if it'll make you happ—"

Needless to say, he hadn't been expecting the scene that awaited him. The garden set to its night cycle, with all the lanterns strewn about, that was nice. Had it just been him and Asha alone, one could even say romantic. Along with them, though, seemed to be the entirety of the people Asha had managed to gather together to study the Je'daii way, as well as a few others who'd come to befriend either himself or her, if not the both of them. Master Quill's presence was especially noticeable, especially with the ysalamir-containing backpack he wore. "Well, that's a novel solution."

It certainly wasn't romantic, though, not with so many people. Nor relaxing, at least for him—maybe if he'd known what was going on and could prepare for it, that would have been different, but in this case it all carried with it the somewhat uncomfortable sense of ceremony and grand importance. Perhaps even doom, in the older, more fatalistic sense of the word, not in a more galactically-modern sense of damnation and destruction. Somehow, through it all, he got the odd feeling that he should at least wait for Asha to summon him forward rather than just brazenly striding to the front of the group.

K1-S5, meanwhile, went over to the hidden computer port by Quill to tap into the station's holonet system, sending out a quick call to Coren Starchaser and Romi Jade so that the two of them could at least witness whatever it was keeping Cotan from making their weekly meeting.

Lief Sargon Vynea Kal Raarpaa Zerlac Chaaj Priest Varloc Isla Ashen Takui Vian Sarad Jake Daniels Rhia Kesyk Ryv Jend-Ro Quill Auteme Lucien Dooku Tom Kovack​

 

[Auteme]

Lucien Dooku Lief Cotan Sar'andor Jend-Ro Quill Varloc Raarpaa Zerlac Tom Kovack ​

"-he's actually really chill. I know, I mean- the whole, 'I fought Carnifex and lived' club seems to be getting bigger, but Cotan's cool. Huge nerd, but much more secretive about it. I think he hides it with his beard," she said. Oddly enough, when she turned to look at Lucien, she found herself trying to see him with a beard of his own. As much time as they'd spent together over the past week, she couldn't remember seeing him shave. Even after that time in the shower-

"So just, be respectful, and all, and hopefully we'll get to talk to him after." She cleared her throat. "Anyways. Let's head over."

They continued down the path through the gardens. Until now she hadn't realized the beauty Tribunal Station had. The meeting room from her last visit had been nice enough, but they hadn't stayed long. It was easy to see the hodge-podge nature of much of the station and ignore everything else. Yet these gardens were as beautiful as those on the Prosperity, Coruscant, or Bastion; an excellent place for Asha to gather the Je'daii and other observers for the ceremony to follow. "Can we stay here a bit? After it's over."

They eventually came up to the seats surrounding the two central pools. Most of the seats closer to the center were filled by the robed Je'daii, so she went with Lucien to sit closer to the back. Her eyes wandered in search of familiar faces. To her surprise she saw Jend-Ro across the way -- so many people would normally have been enough to ward him, but she instantly recognized the yellow-scaled lizard fastened to the nutrient pack on his back. Ever clever, Master Quill. Obviously he'd taken her advice on solutions.

She wanted to talk to him. She'd started to rise from her seat, but the worries pushed her back down. What if they just started arguing again? Would he know Lucien? She sat. No, she'd wait for this to be over first. She didn't want to disturb the meeting.

As it happened, Cotan wandered about nearby. Auteme nudged Lucien, then put on her best Outer Rim accent. "Marshal," she greeted, dipping her head in that most savvy of ways.

Not that savvy. But she was trying. She gave a little grin.

 

[Takui]

He'd lingered nearby after the last meeting, intent on staying for any lessons that might come up. Cotan had expressed that Taku could stay on the Station or come and go as he liked, so he'd resolved to utilize it as a base of operations of sorts while he conducted himself in exclusion from the Jedi Order as a whole. Unfortunately, when he felt the presence of Auteme , he panicked. Takui had taken a Barash Vow, which meant he was supposed to remain isolated from other members of the Jedi Order, so as to allow himself separation to refocus his thoughts and seek direction from the Force alone.

But, Taku did not want to miss out on this meeting. Je'daii approached the Force from a different perspective than the Jedi and the Sith, away from both Darkness and from Light. After the events of Ziost, and after he'd gone to Kashyyyk, he needed a fresh point of view. Everything had started so suddenly, and changed so drastically in a short time that his basis for everything was a series of unfortunate events. Even he newfound power he had now, born in the Light as a Jedi and saturated in evil by a Sith artifact, was not something he'd learned for himself.

He even felt guilty when he reached out with it, now. He refrained from showing people the power he'd gained because he felt like it stained him. He felt like he'd been given something terrible, and that he could not choose to give it back.

When he entered the Garden, he did so at a distance from the others. He needed to keep himself from interacting with any Jedi while simultaneously learning all that he could and remembering any questions he had to ask Cotan or Asha at a later time. Takui hid himself carefully behind a fountain and some shrubbery that formed a rather lousy place- truth be told- but as efficient as could be managed on short notice.

And he waited.

Lucien Dooku | Lief | Cotan Sar'andor | Jend-Ro Quill | Varloc | Raarpaa Zerlac | Tom Kovack​

 

[Lief]

His arrival seemed to bring with it a breathless silence among the already quiet patronage. That was until Auteme greeted him, and pulled from Asha's lips a great smile. Already facing him, it was simple enough to gesture him forward toward the center of the pools, so that he might stand at her side; as she waited for him to do so she turned once more and faced those who were gathered.​

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He was confused, of this she was most certain. She could feel his curiosity, apprehension, the anxiety of being the one person in the room with no idea what was going on, and all eyes upon him, as viscerally as if she'd felt them herself. The crystal around her neck practically hummed with such, growing warmer where it lay. It was not the first time she'd experienced the oddities it called forth, one of these days she'd have to talk with Cotan about it, but not now.​

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She waited until Cotan was at her side before speaking. Provided he didn't say anything first, she'd address the crowd to begin with.​

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"I wish to thank you all for joining me here today," she said, her voice as calm and quiet as ever yet it drifted through to all who were gathered despite such a soft tone, "I know that we all lead such busy lives, it can be difficult to converge together." She inclined her head toward the crowd, and as she lifted it back up her attention shifted to the man at her side.​

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"We all know Cotan Sar'andor by a vast multitude of terms... Grand Marshal of the Judges to some, Jedi Master to others," the latter had her smile turn into a brief grin, for she knew how much he loved that one... "And yet here within our Enclave he still walks the path of Ranger."​

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If he hadn't understood where this was going before, she felt certain the cat was out of the bag now. Still she let that hang in the air for a moment. Just a moment.​

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"No longer. With no true Council to speak of at present, the honor of making such a decision then falls to me."​

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Once more she turned to those who were assembled, and nodded her head just once. Though she had spoken about the ceremony in brief to some among them, she knew that parts of it would be unknown to most. So then she spoke to them each.​

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"I would ask that those among us who have brought such rise and ignite their lightsabers, please." In truth all could rise, but in the moment she overlooked saying as much. Hopefully they'd understand that all could participate, sabers or no... This was the first time she'd conducted such, there was a lot to remember, a lot to do...​

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Takui Jend-Ro Quill Lucien Dooku Tom Kovack Raarpaa Zerlac Varloc Sargon Vynea Chaaj Priest Ryv Isla Ashen Vian Sarad Jake Daniels Coren Starchaser Romi Jade ​

 

[Raarpaa Zerlac]

Raarpaa brought out her lightsaber, igniting the blue blade and stepping forward, leaving the ysalamir bubble around Jend-Ro Quill so she could feel her fellow Je'daii as they did the same. She closed her eyes as a whisper from the past found its way to her: the Je'daii Code.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
The voice that spoke in her mind was not her own. It was her Master, Donaa Si, who had been a Temple Master some time ago, but was now long dead.
No one is ever truly gone, my Padawan. No one.

 

[Varloc]

Varloc stood, only pausing to choose which lightsaber to use. Varloc choose his standard purple one and ignited it, he let it rise in front of him. Varloc noticed the others doing the same.

Varloc had been to many ceremonies, some he liked better than others. The gardens were quiet except for the soft hum of dozens of lightsabers. For Varloc's time in the Je'daii enclave he had given his respect to multiple members of the order, Cotan was one of them.

 

[Sargon Vynea]

It occurred to him as Asha listed off a list of title one was still missing. A man who'd attended a proper dinner with Asha's father to be introduced formally as her boyfriend. Really more a failing of hers at this point in time then him. Sure they'd met and gone on missions together but he didn't really know the man and for some reason that bothered him.

This wasn't the time for that though, well except in the continual nagging way it kept coming up in the Iridonian's mind. Today was about Cotan, and a long overdue ceremony for a lifetime of training and dedication. The adventure was just starting for him, and Sargon couldn't be more happy to watch it all start anew.

 

[Chaaj Priest]

There would be a gathering of the Je'daii today in the Garden upon the station. Stating I was late was an understatement. However, it was for a good reason. I did not want to be underdressed for this. Considering I had been out for the past week attempting to learn more of just the force in general, coming back, I needed to shower, and take care of myself.

After doing so, I pulled my hair up in a tight pony-tail. Twisting it around into a bun that was customary of any man within my culture. Taking some hair pins, I threw them in. Making sure that the bun would stay still, I used just a little bit of hair gel to make sure that any fly-away's were brought down to my head and held in place. Using a comb to make the hair look more uniform as well. Dressing up nicely in a kimono with the top being a series of cloud formations that were a mix of blues and greys. Made of a very fine shell-spider Silk with the trousers out of Zeyd-cloth. A faint hexagonal shape made in the fibers. Making sure that the sash upon my waist would hold the force-imbued blade I have carried for some time now was secured.

There was no thought in my mind of using it, but unlike Jedi who wielded an easily carried saber, I had a sword of my people. Was only right to keep it by my side. Either way, I made some final adjustments before leaving my room. A wave of my hand sent it to be locked. Always paranoid of someone breaking into my room or my stuff, I left. Making my way through the halls with ease. Entering the Garden to find a number of people within. Many who were well known and renowned members of the Galactic Alliance, Jedi, and even Cotan who showed up. Looking a little dapper today though.

Silently nodding to the lovebirds as Asha then asked for all members to raise their sabers. Well, I guess I needed my blade after all. it was with a deft hand I reached down to my side, attempting to pull the blade without much sound. Holding it aloft, as others raised their own weapons and ignited them, I raised my own weapon high. Following suit.

Lief Cotan Sar'andor Sargon Vynea Varloc Raarpaa Zerlac Takui Jend-Ro Quill Auteme Tom Kovack

 

[Tom Kovack]

Auteme was also there, a familiar face to Tom. Sort of. Unfortunately, they hadn't properly met under pleasant circumstances.

Cotan Sar'andor was considered a Jedi Master? Probably a misnomer, then. Still, Lief didn't seem to view the term with any particular disdain. They didn't have a proper Council, either, but then most of the Jedi Enclaves these days lacked those. That made for two interesting items to tell Starlin about in the future.

Tom also stood up, though he hadn't brought a lightsaber or any weapons to raise. This was unexpected; he didn't realize he'd be arriving during a ceremony of this much importance. He felt a little intrusive now. Oh well.