Interlude: Trapping the Fire

[Ria Misrani]

Overuse of the force, dipping into more energy than one actually possesses or wills. At the Battle of Castameer, Charlyra had yet to feel this, even though at Ruusan she did so straight away. Bringing down a walker as she had done so during Castameer cost Charlyra more than she had realized at that time. As her body recovers from its physical injuries her force aura also recovered, but it was doing so at a considerably slower rate.

Sleeping the days aways under the watchful eye of nurses and doctors, the Acolyte's eyes darted beneath her eyelids. In her dream state, she found herself in a desert - Tatooine? Perhaps. It was possible her subconcious state had placed her here for it was where she had placed herself when she had gone into self-imposed exile. Looking down her hands shook, and she could not feel the force.

Charlyra felt vulnerable and alone. She called for her masters but none were there, those sensitive to the force around her could feel the acolytes aura was faint. As if she was once again a young initiate, and as she walked the desert. She called again, "Master Tempest!"

Nothing.

Billowing clouds of sand swept past her and she moved to cover her face, but it mattered not. The sand simply went through her, and was gone as soon as she turned to follow. Charlyra looked down to find that she was not dressed in her Firemane robes, but rather in robes that were both Jedi and Firemane.

"Hello?" She questioned wondering if there was someone else here with her, but there was not, not now anyway. Moving her feet across the sand, she could feel its heat. She could feel the coarse grains as they pushed against her body, trudging through it she looked around to see if there was anything beyond the horizon.

Nothing.

Her hands to her side, she found a single lightsaber hanging off of her belt. Charlyra drew her attention to the lightsaber and as she looked up she found that she no longer saw the deserts of Tatooine. If it had been Tatooine anyway, that she was not sure of. She found herself on Coruscant prior to the One Sith's take over of the planet. The halls were hollow and it felt odd to be here again, "hello?" She called out again and looked around, "Master Siobhan?"

Nothing.

As she walked, she still felt the sands of Tatooine and looked to find that it was still here. Even though the halls of Coruscant were here, and looking up she saw Tygara's skyline inverted. Shaking her head she kept her focus on the singular hallway. There as she looked down, she spotted a single figure. "Hello!"

"Anyo," the figure greeted but it did not move, instead Charlyra forced herself, willed her dream state body to move. "You are Charlyra, yes?"

"I am!" She shouts back, eager to get some answers, "I- I don't know what's happening, where am I?"

The figure did not move, and it did not speak. The Acolyte tried to focus her view but as she did so the figure disappeared. "The feth..." her voice trailed off as she pulled one foot from the sand and planted it in front of the other and did this repeatedly until she had a rhythm going. The more she moved the more it felt as if that hallway was getting further away.

"You do not recognize your old Academy?" The figure asked and Charlyra turned as she heard the voice coming from behind her, but there was nothing there. When she turned to look forward again, the figure - a woman was in front of her. "Do you not recognize the burning sands of your exile beneath your feet?"

Charlyra looked quizzically, "I- I don't understand."

"I am Yuna, and you are in-between," she explains, and Charlyra looks at her for a moment and thinks. She thinks again, and again, looking at this woman, the name is familiar but the woman speaks again. "I am Yuna."

"Yes, yes you said that but that's, that's you-" the brunette wags a finger. "That doesn't help me understand anything... " she pauses, "Yunalora? You're my sister?"

The woman looks at her and only answers plainly, "if you wish to consider me so, then I am." She extends the hand, "come with me."

"Okay, wait - what is the in-between?"

"You are in-between life and death."

 

[Ria Misrani]

Charlyra followed Yuna into a place she knew, a place she wished she had never become acquainted with. Taris, or at least in orbit of it on the same vessel that put her on her current path. "You say I am in-between life and death?" She asked following after her 'sister' she tugs at the robes around her body, "how can this be?"

"Every creature, every life and every death is tied to the force," Yuna explains, "we each draw from it, and draw into it, much like you draw and pour into the water." She says leading Charlyra into a darkened chamber, "everything you do becomes part of the force and becomes part of you, the force echoes of your past - and of your present."

They approached a river, and the other woman kneeled at its banks, "come and I will show you, your actions."

Walking toward the river, Charlyra took a knee and watched as Yuna showed her the battle at Castameer and her dance with the Walker. "You see here, this drew into you more power than which your body could withstand." She explains to the younger Araano, "and so, when you slayed Tabium your body became exhausted and overcome with the force."

"And so I am here, as a consquence of this action."

"Yes," Yuna remarks, "but there is yet hope for you Charlyra."

"Okay..."

Yuna shows Charlyra a path along the river, "follow the path and you will understand what must happen before you can wake from this in-between."

"Where am I?" She adds, "physically, I mean."

"Tygara, you are home - and your family awaits you, go now Charlyra. I will meet you at your paths end."

And then Yuna faded.

Charlyra was left along the river banks of ... somewhere, what planet or what plane she was on, she could not say. She looked down to her hands and felt more vulnerable than before. This journey along the path would have to be done without her force powers. She would have to rely on herself, on her instincts and training. Looking behind her she could see the past, she could see Castameer, Ruusan, Tatooine and the battles before and ahead, she saw nothing - it was abstract. Tucking her arms under one another across her chest the Acolyte decided to press onward.