Garden Retreat

[Pash Tafo]

It was clear by the smile, offered for him but without joy behind it. He heard it in the sigh and ragged breath, Epistor was unsettled. Pash's gaze lowered, seeking something to focus on, unwilling to embarrass his companion further. He considered that maybe, as a new acquaintance, he had not earned the right to offer such intimate compliments, that he had crossed a boundary that left Epsitor uncomfortable. Pash had spoken from his heart, and meant what he had said. But the turn of conversation to her departure from home had already grazed close to recent pains, and Pash realized too late the vulnerable state it had rendered.

Pash fell quiet, pondering the fragile moment. His voice was gentle when he began. "I... we are friends." The Matukai stated, his tone confirming it was not mere courtesy when they agreed to such. "A friend has ears to hear what you cannot tell others, a shoulder that denies no shed tear. When you need such, It would be my honor to lend you either." Pash's gaze lifted again, a small half smile flashing for a moment. "I just want you to know that."

-[member="Epistor"]

 

[Epistor of Phasekion]

A short laugh burst from Epistor as she wiped under an eye with the back of her hand to keep the tears from spilling over the waterline. For a moment, she realized her former action's implication, and hoped that Pash did not think her dismissive of the heart he wore upon his sleeve. Still, she said, "Oh, if you knew you would not offer: I can cry another Kyllypser Sea myself." It was more than a little unbecoming, she knew well--the self-deprecating, gallows humor.

But then she gave a series of small but meaningful nods. "I thank you, Pash, truly," she added, as if trying to forget her earlier comment. She wiped at her other eye's invisible tears as another precaution. "I think I just need to do something..." She looked around, then set her gaze on the food. "Are you finished? I mean to rush you, for you can stay as long as you wish." As she spoke, she stood, careful not to disturb their picnic. "I just--I need to step away, and I try not to feed wildlife." It made her a little sad, that reality, that feeding wild animals made them less fit for the wild. Rarely did a good deed go unpunished; the myth of Saytros and Iatrokles showed every Sargus Novian that.

She honestly did not wish to be alone, though she would accept that fate if he excused himself, but she did know that she needed to get her blood pumping again. Often, when she had been upset at the farm, Opision offered (or more like, forced) a race. At the beginning, her anger or sadness or embarrassment would surge at having to catch up, as no emotion could hold her competitive nature back. This her brother knew, but also that soon she would be laughing and feeling light one again as euphoria and fresh adrenaline coursed her veins.

Admittedly, her trouble would never been forgotten for long, but it would be made more palatable by the distraction.

~ [member="Pash Tafo"] ~

 

[Pash Tafo]

There was some relief at Epistor's short laugh, the small joke she made at her own account assuring Pash no offense had been taken. He understood loneliness, though not to the scale the Sargus Novian woman must have known it. It was clear a distraction was needed, that the conversation should no longer dwell on that which left Epistor's feelings vulnerable, and Pash was more than willing to comply, not wishing to see his new friend saddened further.

The Matukai smiled briefly at Epistor's expression of gratitude, but said nothing as the woman stood, eager to put behind her the emotions the Lothalian had stirred. Instead, Pash put the cover on the bowl, wrapped the linen loosely around the savory pastries and set them back in the basket, to address her concern with wildlife. He thought to leave, that perhaps Epistor would prefer to be alone. Though, in his bouts of sorrow, he had longed for company, if only to have the presence of another soul nearby.

Pash stood then as well, pondering a distraction that would relieve Epsistor of her melancholy. Physical activity was, of course, his remedy for everything. He imagined the athletic Epistor may have felt the same. "Maybe something to get the blood pumping after a delicious meal is in order, hmm?" Pash offered, his tone attempting lighten.

-[member="Epistor"]-

 

[Epistor of Phasekion]

Another nod. "It is," she agreed, her voice almost back to her normal tone. She took a moment to muse to herself, and then asked, "I have shown you my sport; would you show me your practice?"

With that, she began to wander towards the trees and brushed surrounding the clearing. "I do not doubt I can find an appropriate stick somewhere." When she reached them, her search for a fallen branch began. However, she continued with a slightly raised voice to compensate for her turned-away face,"I am up to the challenge. ...And I fully expect I will hit myself in the face at least once."

~ [member="Pash Tafo"] ~

 

[Pash Tafo]

Both the Jedi and Matukai shed the emotional moment, intent on continuing the afternoon in the company of one another. When Pash suggested some energetic activity to remedy the solemnity, he had not considered martial training, but some athletic contest to which Epistor would be more accustomed. He glanced sidelong at the woman as she wandered off, indicating her desire to attempt something more along his lines of practice.

Pash's gaze lingered on Epistor as she sought a suitable practice weapon. He had no idea of her training in the martial arts or weapons. He had seen her carry the light saber with the archaic hilt, and assumed a padawan underwent learning how to wield such a thing. But then again, his wan shen was not only employed as a weapon, but as a tool to tone his body, his mind and his connection with the Force.

The Matukai laughed at Epistor's comment, hoping it was not self-prophesy. As she sought her piece for the exercise, Pash slipped free the head of the wan-shen, the long haft of the weapon springing to full length, the single-edged head glinting in the sun. Pash set the butt against the outside of his right boot, grasping it lightly, as his gaze remained fixed on the athlete. "Just as long as you don't show me up, I have a fragile ego." He called after her with a mirthful tone.

-[member="Epistor"]

 

[Epistor of Phasekion]

"And you think I am an exception?" she quipped back, still scanning the underbrush. "You have naught to fear. I can barely wield a dagger, and my lightsaber?" She waved her hand behind her as if to dismiss the notion. "Without a crystal. I carry it about in attempt to acclimate to it. There was a reason my family rarely used the sword to which the hilt belonged: it was quite heavy. Almost made it beyond use."

Finally, the woman stooped; when she resurfaced, she had in her grip a branch. It was about a dozen centimeters wide and was a little shorter than her height. "Ah, here we are." As she began back towards her friend, she broke off and tossed away its tributary twigs. Some of them were a bit wide but that caused her little issue.

Epistor looked up at Pash, a smile pulling at her lips. "I imagine they are wielded in slightly different ways," she began, referring to her saber and his wan-shen, "but, it might be helpful to try my hand at one before learning the other. Plus, I would rather hit myself with a stick than a lightsaber blade."

~ [member="Pash Tafo"] ~

 

[Pash Tafo]

Hearing that Epsitor's ornate light saber hilt lacked a crystal was not surprising to Pash. He had learned that Jedi learners constructed their own lightsabers, much as he crafted his wan-shen when he completed his own apprentice training. It was a common conversation among padawans and apprentices, the pending search for the coveted kyber crystal needed to complete their weapons. He had even accompanied a few on an expedition into the Kashyyyk forests to obtain Dantari crystals, which could be substituted in the saber's build.

His companion had found herself a fitting branch, stripping it and making it fit to stand in for a weapn. The Matukai listened to Epistor's claim of minimal aptitude in melee combat, but would not underestimate the fit and agile athlete. Pash nodded at the padawan's sensible comment regarding training, sporting a smile that matched hers.

"Training is training. You never know what you may come up against, or find in your hands. And..." his smile took a wry cant, "I also would prefer not to be hit by a lightsaber."

Taking two steps back, Pash whirled the pole arm in three lazy circles before him, then widened his stance, one foot slightly ahead of the other, knees bent, the wan-shen held in two hands, at an angle, the head on the right side of his own.

"Shall we, friend?" He inquired, inviting Epistor to assume a fighting stance as well.

-[member="Epistor"]-

 

[Epistor of Phasekion]

Nodding, Epistor replied, "We shall." She took a few steps backwards herself, and did her best to copy Pash's stance. She found it somewhat awkward, much like he had initially found her throwing technique to be. The stick felt too fragile in her hands, and, on top of that, she had a horrible feeling that the blunt end furthest from her grip did not fall under her control.

Still, she trusted the adept to be...well, to be adept. And, it obviously was a sound art, if Pash's showmanship from before was any indication. However, for as quick of a learner as she was, she did not expect to reach anywhere near his level of skill today. Still, she was eager to try something new, be it a success or a failure.

~ [member="Pash Tafo"] ~

 

[Pash Tafo]

Smiling eyes watched as Epistor assumed her stance opposite Pash. She appeared to feel a bit awkward, but did not hesitate to mimic the Matukai's posture. Pash studied his 'foe', gauging the foundation of Epistor's footing and her center of gravity. His eyes lingered on the detailed tattoo encircling the padawan's thigh,noting to ask her about it later.

Gaze moving higher, Pash drew an imaginary line across her chest, from shoulder to shoulder. Then likewise, a perpendicular one that would follow her spine, creating a cross, the movement of which helped anticipate a foe's actions. Not that this was a fight or contest, it was just an intuitive practice the martial artist had ingrained into his psyche. Some disciplines taught to watch an opponent's eyes. But eyes could lie.

"Alright," Pash held out the wan shen a few centimeters, to draw his friend's attention to it, "...the way to think when using a long hafted weapon like this, is to see it as a lever." The Matukai rocked the pole arm slightly one way then the other, "usually moving around a point centered between your hands." He demonstrated with small, slow movements. Wherever the head moved one way, the butt moved in an opposite direction, the axis centered between his hands at the middle of the shaft.

He nodded to Epistor, "Give it a feel."

-[member="Epistor"]

 

[Epistor of Phasekion]

Epistor's brow furrowed. The explanation made sense. It eased her worry a bit as maybe her weapon was supposed to feel out of control towards the ends, and that was why one tried to keep it in motion. However, she did not understand Pash's demonstration.

How would one--? she thought, trying to mimic now his movements. First, Epistor tied to repeat the figure eight movement of her discus, but stopped and frowned halfway though. That was not it.

"Geometry makes all the difference," she muttered as she tried to twirl the stick in her hand. "I like circles much more than vectors."

~ [member="Pash Tafo"] ~

 

[Pash Tafo]

The Sargus Novian tested her branch, Pash watching as she tried to get a feel for the movement he described. The Matukai realized how difficult it could be to explain a movement that was like second nature to him. Perhaps it was challenging because it was so familiar. He remembered beginning Tara's training seeing he was actually going about showing Epistor the wrong way.

Epistor had tried to find her own means of getting the hang of the stick, which caused Pash to step back, unsure of what she planned to do with it. He nodded to himself, then smiled. "It might be easier this way." He ventured, moving to stand next to her, instead of facing her.

He resumed his stance, then looked over at his friend. "Try this." HIs gaze looked ahead to an unseen foe. The hand nearest the weapon's head shot out, the lower hand pulling back by his side. The tip of the wan-shen arched forward and down in a quick snap.

-[member="Epistor"]

 

[Epistor of Phasekion]

Drawing her lips into a taunt line as she focused, Epistor was a little more successful in copying this new motion. The stick's head caused a sharp swooshing sound as it fell through the air. Pleased with herself, a gleeful smile broke across the athlete's face. Perhaps her technique was not perfect, but she felt proud with her sudden progress nonetheless.

She glanced over at Pash inquisitively, seeking his feedback.

~ [member="Pash Tafo"] ~

 

[Pash Tafo]

Pash had held his posture at the end of the maneuver, his head turning to watch Epistor mimic the strike. Her motion was good, with firm intent in the movement, as if truly smiting an opponent. She turned to seek the critique of her friend, the glint of a smile proving the padawan felt it more successful.

The Matukai smiled, meeting Epistor's gaze, and nodded in return. "Yes, just like that." Turning his eyes forward again, he continued. "Now, a thrust." With that the head of the wan-shen lowered until the shaft was almost parallel to the ground. One foot shifted forward firmly as his body leaned slightly forward and his arms thrust out the weapon ahead of him, but not so far as to jeopardize his balance.

Looking over to the discus-thrower, Pash waited for Epistor to follow suite.

-[member="Epistor"]-

 

[Epistor of Phasekion]

He was not left waiting for long, for follow suit Epistor did. She mimicked her master in this exercise almost immediately after he finished his demonstration, perhaps emboldened by her preceding success. Her lead foot migrated forward some distance and she began to drive her stick, positioned in her hands parallel to the horizon, out, but she threw her weight a little too far off of her center.

She was able to let out some sort of unattractive noise in surprise and some fear as she began to lose her balance. But, to compensate before she lost it all, she freed one hand from her instrument, pressed it to the ground, and pushed off with her following foot. The result was a one-handed cartwheel.

It delivered her a few yards away, facing the same way that she had been. She fell back into the martial stance and tried the trust again. This time, her motion was not too large, but forceful enough to knock prone the unsuspecting foe.

Epistor held this particular stance for a long moment, accumulating to it--particularly, the distance between the legs. When she was finished, she stepped back together, turned, and returned to Pash with a sheepish expression. "I meant not to do that." Her lips drew together as she thought about what she meant and what she had just said. "The first try."

~ [member="Pash Tafo"] ~

 

[Pash Tafo]

Epistor's commitment to the next maneuver was impressive, but it was the recovery from her over reach that truly impressed the Matukai. Without wasting a breath, the Sargus Novian recovered from her acrobatic transistion and repeated the move with better measure, and with better results.

Upon her return, Pash rested the pole arm in the crook of his arm long enough to offer a few claps of his hand to Epistor. She confessed to the accidental nature of her feat, but Pash found it an admirable display of control. "You should not have confessed, it was quite a show of presence of mind and body. Your athleticism has not ceased to amaze, Miss Epistor." He complimented with a broad grin.

"You are very familiar with your body, I can see it in how easily you move, how you engage in movement. Its not only strength and agility, is a comfort with your physical being. There is so much you could learn and master, Epistor." Her athletic training served her well, and would help make her a great Jedi.

"By the way..." he remembered his question, taking the wan shen and gently tapping the butt of it against her thigh, indicating the tattoo. "That is beautiful, tell me about it."

-[member="Epistor"]

 

[Epistor of Phasekion]

Epistor shook her head, laughing. "In that case, I was showing off, doing exactly what you asked me not to," she teased. Once she was again across from Pash, she stopped, and leaned on her own makeshift polearm, sensing a break period was upon them. She smiled at his kind words, first sweetly and then shyly as he continued. She glanced down at her feet in an attempt to hide the pale crimson that had crept onto her cheeks. "Flatterer,"" she accused jokingly once he was finished, looking up and darting out her tongue.

The athlete's attention was drawn down yet again as the wan-shen tapped against her thigh, after which her hazel eyes resurfaced. "Only if I can hear about yours after," she answered, tracing her pointer finger from her temple down her cheek and under her eye.

"It's a copy of a fresco painting," she explained as she stooped to hike up her skirt the slightest bit. The tattoo was a few centimeters thick, and wrapped around the front of her thigh. "The original is in the Observatory at Thyreid, our capital. That is Astyoche,"--Epistor paused her speech in favor of pointing at the female figure lounging on the floor, draped in a yellow chiton--"and that is a young Aenuleth,"--and she did so again, that time at the little boy sitting on a chair, in an outfit matching his mother's.

"The Star priest gave it to me," she continued. "It was my induction into Aenuleth's cultus. My commitment to him started with a simple love of the night sky. In our mythology, he is the master of the Star-Seas, the darkness between the stars and the planets." She took a breath and smiled. "Space is the Basic word. But now, I suppose he is my patron god, for I have traveled off of Sargus Novis as he did long ago."

~ [member="Pash Tafo"] ~

 

[Pash Tafo]

Pash may have blushed a bit as well when called a flatterer, but his bronze skin hid it well. Maybe he was flattering his companion. He like her company very much.

Though the names that spilled from Epistor's tongue so easily were foreign to him, Pash found the tale behind her thigh tattoo fascinating. Perhaps it was because the Matukai warrior did not know what it was like to know a deep and rich culture like that of the isolated Sargus Novis. All he knew was the way of Matukai. It was an honorable path to follow, with its own thin thread of history and ritual. But it was not as multi-faceted as Epistor's, which appeared to Pash as an elaborate tapestry like the images depicted on her skin. He had no mythology from which to draw inspiration, no gods to follow. Only the Force.

"Its beautiful. Sometime, maybe you could tell me the story of the boy and his mother." His smiling eyes lifted from the inked image to Epsitor's gaze. "Mine too was given to me upon an initiation. When one completes their apprenticeship in the discipline of Matukai, and becomes an adept, they receive a tattoo upon their face, as a visible sign of their devotion to the Way. " Pash's hand idly brushed the dark image, near the corner of his eye. "My father gave me this, it was the design that his father's father wore. He was a great warrior, and of greater compassion. My father said I reminded him of his grandfather."

-[member="Epistor"]-

 

[Epistor of Phasekion]

Epistor smiled at Pash's explanation of his tattoo. It was, in her mind as it was in his, based off the way he spoke of the specific design, a joy to carry a mark that one cared so deeply for. Such a view was relatively new to many Sargus Novians, but it was steadily gaining in popularity. In any case, though, it pleased Epistor to recognize that she had more and more in common with her friend than she had initially though that she had.

"I did not know either man," she began, nodding gently, "but I would be so bold as to agree with the judgement." Quietly, she hoped herself not too forward, assuming too much, as she had been when she had called Pash a good sir at the Rest's welcome gathering. She had felt something then, and she agreed with it all the more now--Pash seemed entirely too hard on himself.

She found her mind drifting off, thinking of what she could do to possibly help, but she quickly put a stop to her thought process. There would be time to think of that later, if she thought it pertinent, but right now it was important to be present company.

As she thought of something further to say, her eyes caught the sun's glint off a golden charm hanging about his neck on a length of leather. "Oh, by the Gods," she muttered, enthralled by the small sculpture's beauty. For some reason, she didn't expect a warrior to keep something so seemingly precious and fragile on their person--herself included--for fear or loosing or shattering it. Epistor's gilded gaze flicked back up to Pash's face, unwilling to appear rude.

~ [member="Pash Tafo"] ~

 

[Pash Tafo]

There was something almost cathartic about sharing with Epistor the meaning behind the symbol etched in his face. Pash found the woman easier to talk with than about anyone he had met. She didn't seem to have a judging bone in her body, either to condemn or to presume too quickly. Epistor's willingness to open up as well only made her more comfortable to accompany.

Though, her kind complement caught him off guard in turn, and his eyes averted for a moment, a boying grin dancing across his lips. Then his momentary shyness faded, and his azure gaze lifted again to meet the gold-flecked hazel of the Jedi, the smile growing. "Thank you, Epistor. That means a lot coming from you."

The Matukai did not miss the gaze that lingered on the charm dangling around his neck, nor the murmured exclamation. She did not need to ask anymore, Pash would answer the question for her.

His eye fell to the necklace. "It's a Krayt Dragon. It had belonged to a young woman, an apprentice, who I was training." The man's tone took a quieter, sober quality. He paused a moment, reaching to brush the charm with his thumb. "She was killed in the Omega Wars." He added, his voice strung with barely restrained emotion. The perceptive Sargus Novian surely would sense that there was more between the teacher and learner. Looking up again to his friend, He coughed a small humorless laugh. "Somehow it seems so long ago, and yet only yesterday."

As if startled by his own display, Pash cleared his throat and released the charm to dangle again around his neck. "New start." He said with a brighter tone, almost apologetically. "That is why I came to Silver Rest."

-[member="Epistor"]

 

[Epistor of Phasekion]

Yes, she did not need the Force to tell that there was very much more this woman meant to Pash, but the quiver in his voice rendered Epistor unwilling to ask. Instead, she replied, "A bittersweet memory. You wish to remember and forget at the same time. I know the feeling."

And then she moved on as quickly as Pash did. Lingering on the topic might not be a sound choice at present. "If that be the case, I sincerely hope that you find one worth living here," she said with a slightly worried smile. But, she found her tongue dry of words to continue with.

Finally, she swallowed the lump in her throat and offered, "If ever you need to talk, I rarely close my dormitory door when I am there. Otherwise, I have been told that I should pray I do not rebirth as a deer, for I am easy to track down. I feel as if we can talk about anything."

~ [member="Pash Tafo"] ~