Private Land of the Never-Dead

[Efret Farr]

Efret's X-wing touched down lightly onto the hangar bay's floor. As the canopy opened towards the ceiling on its hydraulic arms, Nirrah hopped from the dashboard and fluttered onto the fighter's long nose. "I know, me too," she commented to the convor. Space travel was taxing on Efret's body too. By the end of just about any hyperspace or real space or even atmosphere flight, she was ready for a good stretch. One of the only good lessons she remembered being taught by her first master and still abided by was that one should spend at minimum twice their travel time at a destination.

It was best for the body to give it ample time to recover from flying, especially if one chose to confine themselves to the cockpit of an X-wing.

Efret undid her seatbelts and pushed herself upwards, swinging her legs onto the hull and sliding off the starfighter's frame. She landed on the ground with bent legs, springing up easily, and turned to walk to the droid socket behind the canopy's hinge. Her astromech Tewy whirled his head around to look at her. Efret stood up on her tiptoes to press a button in the shape of an downturned isosceles triangle which lit up red. An internal elevator began to lower him to the ground. "Enjoy the new surroundings, but please stay in the Temple."

She turned to Nirrah. "Find Noah." Her request was more for Nirrah's good than it was for her own. After all, Nirrah needed more than a little hop and flutter to stretch properly. "You remember what he looks like, don't you?" An image of his face came to mind but not of her own volition. She smiled, her eyes squinting a bit. "That's right."

And with that, Nirrah took off to find Noah wherever he was in the hallways or open spaces of Vatsu Temple.

Noah Zratis​

 

[Noah Zratis]

Within a side room off the atrium of Vatsu Temple, Noah was occupied in the workshop, clinking and ratcheting away. The young Jedi Knight kneeled over his BD explorer droid, CD-129, replacing filters, lubricating the joints, and cleaning off the optical components of the various scanners and sensors. Even though exploration droids were designed to withstand the elements, this was the desert planet Ruusan, and like the harsh landscape of Tatooine, sand is rough and coarse and irritating and it gets everywhere, meaning every now and then a little droid maintenance is required.

Sensing a presence, Noah wiped sweat from his brow and turned his gaze. Nirrah had quietly swooped in and perched herself on the dusty, cobbled floor.

"Hey, Nirrah!" Noah said cheerfully. He sent her a little nudge in the Force like he had done previously, kind of like a scratch on the head, should she accept. The little convor didn't seem alarmed or anything, so Noah figured Efret must have sent Nirrah ahead just to find him.

"Alright, See-Dee. Looks like you're good to go," Noah said, standing up and lightly tapping the droid.

The droid beeped joyfully.

"Can you go double-check the room we prepared for Master Farr?"

Beep-boop.

"Fine, this would be triple-check, then."

Beep-boop.

"Okay... quadruple..."

Beep-boop.

Noah sighed, but his tone was light. "Can you just go check, please?" Noah wanted to make sure everything was perfect, no matter how many checks it took. "Also..." he leaned in, cupping his hand to block his mouth from Nirrah's view, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Make sure the little treats we ordered for Nirrah are there, too."

With that, CD-129 beep-booped and sped off.

"Alright, Nirrah. You just got here, yeah? Is Efret still in the hangar bay? Let's go, shall we?"

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

Nirrah squeaked, happy to receive more affection, and nuzzled into what was effectively Noah's temporary, invisible hand. She tilted her head inquisitively when he hid his lips to converse with CD-129, but then righted herself and ruffled her feathers when he announced it was time to go.

Efret had climbed back into her X-wing, something that she was so familiar with doing that she felt comfortable doing it without visual aid. As she waited, she paged through her leather-bound field journal, which she kept in one of the dashboard compartments. She read out of her peripheral eyesight, which were somewhat warped but not dark.

She flipped to a recent poem she had written.

She pressed her lips together and breathed air trying not to be annoyed through her nose.

Nazar would be disappointed with how she had handled herself when Elias had visited Nu.

What did that matter? She wasn't doing, or not doing, this for Nazar.

Her fingers drifted from the outer, upper corner to the inner, hovering above the page as not to give herself a papercut, but then her fingers clamped down and she began to tear—

Stop.

She smoothed her palm over the jagged edges she had just produced. Then she felt a gust of air as Nirrah swooped towards the dashboard. Hopefully, the convor had gotten here faster than the Ruusanian.

Noah Zratis​

 

[Noah Zratis]

Noah's dirt-stained boots clicked on the floor. Nirrah, wings flapping eagerly, was just ahead as they approached the hangar bay. The little thing swooped suddenly, no doubt excited to see Efret. Adjusting his hair and collar, Noah approached the X-wing. Efret seemed flooded with some kind of emotion while staring at a leather-bound journal. Her mouth wasn't moving, but she had a look of internal dialogue. Maybe she was going over a recent field study? Being an academic and a scientist meant work never really stopped. There were always things to analyze... and over-analyze.

Boosted by the comfort and confidence that comes with being at home, the Ruusanian clasped his hands behind his back and glanced up. "Everything alright, master?"

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

Efret glanced over the side of her fighter for Noah in time to lipread his question.

"It will be," she answered, opting habitually not to lie but also hoping that he wouldn't pursue the truth further. Whatever was in store for her regarding her romantic entanglement—well, it would either work out favorably for her or she'd learn to adjust to another outcome.

A sincere smile played on her lips as she prepared to change the subject. "It's good to see you again, my dear." After putting her journal under her arm, she pushed herself out of her seat and slid back down the hull to the floor. She walked around the X-wing's nose to meet Noah with Nirrah on her shoulder. "How are you?"

Noah Zratis​

 

[Noah Zratis]

"It will be."

Noah grinned, and shrugged. It was a good attitude to have. "Maybe that should be Ruusan's new slogan."

Realistically, the Ruusanian was curious. It was in his nature and what made him good at his job. Thus far, him and Master Farr had a strictly professional relationship, so he wouldn't pry. But everyone wants to be friends with, or at the very least respected by, their role model. Regardless of the topic, though, he was looking forward to chatting with her throughout her stay.

"It's good to see you again, my dear... How are you?"

Noah replied after she walked around the spacecraft. "It's good to see you, too, Master. I'm well. Was just finishing up some maintenance when Nirrah found me," he said, wiping sweat from his brow. "How are you? How were your travels?"

"Oh, I almost forgot..." he smiled sheepishly, lost in his own excitement. Noah made a few unpolished gestures with his hands. The maladroit movements were clearly sloppy, evidence of hours spent self-teaching in front of a reflective holoscreen. It was a work in progress, as all things are.

<Greetings, master. Welcome to my home, #Ruusan.>

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

"So am I, now that I'm here. I had an escort from the Terrijo system. There was concern about Neo-Crusader scouting parties in the space from there to here." If she wasn't a councilmember, chances are she would have been allowed to make the hyperspace jump and planetary approach alone, but she was and would have to submit to special security from time to time. She couldn't help but wonder if it was an extra consideration for her given her Deafblindness.

It probably wasn't. She could dogfight just as well as the average Jedi, but that was because she was a consular and combat wasn't her specialty, neither in the air nor or the ground.

When he began to sign, Efret beamed. The clumsiness of his gestures was the furthest thing from her mind as she watched, touched by his thoughtfulness and effort. When he had finished, she commented with the biggest smile, "That's very good, Noah." The voice that came from her interpretation unit was more or less even-toned, but her facial expressions would communicate her enthusiasm. "It's beautiful from the air. I can't wait to explore the surface. What will we do first?"

Noah Zratis​

 

[Noah Zratis]

"So am I, now that I'm here. I had an escort from the Terrijo system. There was concern about Neo-Crusader scouting parties in the space from there to here."

"Yes, an unfortunately necessary precaution out here. The Neo-Crusaders have been uncharacteristically quiet lately, but the escort is still standard procedure as far as I'm aware. We've also seen pirates from time-to-time, mostly concentrated south-southwest of us, but they've been known to travel north when they think they've smelled blood. I think they would rather potentially deal with the Alliance than the Neo-Crusaders or the Lost Empire. Can't say I blame them."

"That's very good, Noah." The voice that came from her interpretation unit was more or less even-toned, but her facial expressions would communicate her enthusiasm.

Noah grinned, flashing polished teeth. Her's was the sort of reaction he had waited to receive for some twenty-odd years from his parents... and he was still waiting. <Thank you.> But that pretty much covered everything he'd learned so far, hopefully Efret was impressed enough.

"It's beautiful from the air. I can't wait to explore the surface. What will we do first?"

"Isn't it? I knew you'd love it. First, do you require some rest after your travels? I have a room prepared for you. Otherwise, I can show you around the Temple before we venture to the surface."

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

South-southwest? From Sev Tok? Wasn't there a hypergate down that way?

That was as much thought as she gave the astrography. The conversation moved on and so did she.

"No," she replied, denying the offer to rest, smiling when she realized that perhaps she had answered too quickly. "Thank you. There are too many emotions on my heart. I know they'll come to me when I try to sleep. I'm not ready to meet them yet."

Noah Zratis​

 

[Noah Zratis]

Efret's reply was quick and her smile was only half convincing. Noah frowned, unsure of what to say. Crossing professional boundaries was not something he did frequently, if ever. "I'm sorry," he replied, which seemed like a good start. Then genuine concern—and curiosity, admittedly—won out. "What's troubling you?" It was a direct question, which left him feeling uneasy as soon as it escaped his lips.

As the pair exited the hangar bay, they spilled out into the atrium. The beige colored walls that enclosed the space were a unique compound of local limestone and duracrete. The cleaning droid had yet to come by, so the normally polished floors were caked with dirt and sand—this was a daily occurrence, but Noah chided himself for not making sure the floors had been cleared prior to Efret's arrival. Littered throughout the area were various imported fauna—mostly from Kashyyyk—which came curtesy of the Silver Jedi who kickstarted Ruusan's restoration efforts and built Vatsu. To Noah the space was simple, yet tastefully connected to its own history.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

Efret tried to remain an open book, not because she didn't value privacy but because she recognized that unnecessary secrecy harmed all involved with it. In this case here and now, not answering Noah's question honestly would stoke feelings of shame in Efret while denying him a potential learning opportunity.

A lose-lose.

"I'm...struggling with attachment," she admitted. She looked beyond him as she signed, wondering briefly if there were any petroglyphs on the temple's natural building blocks before bringing her focus back to him. "I didn't imagine myself still learning this lesson as a master." She offered him another smile, warmer than the last with the truth of her signs. Though she had a handful of casual romantic attachments as a younger woman, she thought she had gotten to a place of wanting to and feeling satisfied with substituting her relationship with the Force for romance.

To realize now that she hadn't in either case was deeply troubling. It upended her understanding of self—or she felt it did—like pulling at the cloth underneath a table's intricate dining setting. The porcelain plate and crystal water glass lay in shattered pieces on the floor. How did one even start putting either back together? Were you better off just sweeping the shards away and starting anew?

"And have doubts about..." Her gaze flicked away from him to watch more than where she was going—to make sure they had privacy. When she saw no one else in earshot, she looked back to him and hesitated to continue. Another moment of pause elapsed, during which she felt his sincere concern radiating through the Force. Trusting her sense, she finished her thought: "...the Order's policy on artifact recovery in the Outer Rim."

So her guilt was twofold.

Noah Zratis​