Private Lost and Found

[Cenric Marus]

For a few moment as they jumped to hyperspace Cenric didn't say anything. He was too consumed by his own thoughts, too bitten by whatever was running through his mind. Fingers tightened for a second and he let out a sigh as he moved opposite Kyra and sat himself down on a crate.

"Kashyyyk." Cenric prompted.

He had never been to the planet before save for one single mission. That adventure had taken him directly into the shadow lands, a place that most would avoid at all cost. Aside from that the Padawn knew next to nothing about the home world of the Wookiees, certainly nothing of the Jedi that might now be staying there.

"The Temple." The last true Jedi Temple he'd been to was Coruscant, a place now lost."What's it like?"

He asked.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra grinned at Cenric as he voiced his curiosity. Curiosity was always a good sign if you asked her. Meant she was about to get her way.

She tied off the braid and let it be, the girl closing her eyes as she let images of Silver Rest come to mind. "...I can show, if you want," she offered softly.

 

[Cenric Marus]

"No." Cenric shot that idea down immediately.

There was a discomfort with letting anyone even brush his mind. Telepathy and the like was not something he had ever taken to, even during his training. It caused him an odd amount of pain, something that he'd first discovered under his training with Cedric.

Mentalism was not something that he'd ever done well with.

"Just tell me." Cenric continued. "Please."

There was no need to be rude about it all.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Her lips pursed, her eyes opening to study him.

Why was he such a sour puss? Seemed to her he was unwilling to let practically anyone in, a fact which was starting to drive her crazy. Still, she bit back the comments, the whys, and the how comes. Kyra was crass, but she wasn't tone deaf to people's emotions. Pushing would ruin what strides she had made with him, so she sat back and left it be.

"... they built it into the forest. On a hill, so we crest above the Shadow Lands. It's very pretty," she admitted softly, a fact which seemed to pain her slightly. "Shaped to blend into the mountains and hills and stuff. ... Has beautiful sunsets." He didn't want mind junk, but he couldn't stop her from sending out a soft wave of calm warmth into the air around her. And it wasn't even pheromones this time.

So there.

"Do you like sunsets?"

 

[Cenric Marus]

Cenric kept his expression even, lips thinning for a moment as he shook his head. "Not particularly."

He'd never been one for scenery in general. There was no drive in him for beauty, he was no artist, nor writer. Unlike many others he did not have much of a creative side. Most of his life had been spent in a single pursuit; Become a jedi.

Cenric had very nearly achieved that before it had all been torn away.

"The last Jedi Temple I visited was on Coruscant." He explained. "Back when the Alliance was still around."

That seemed like an age ago now.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Her brows furrowed, the girl struggling to connect why that name rung a bell.

"Coruscant... but wasn't that..."

 

[Cenric Marus]

He did not know how she would continue her sentence, it could have gone any number of ways really.

Cenric had been there when the Galactic Alliance had been in a slow decline, more focused on its own worlds rather than those being invaded and taken by the sith. It was why he had eventually joined with Cedric and the Rebel Alliance. He had wanted to fight, he had wanted to do good.

Now it all seemed like a naive dream. "It was what it was."

Cenric said with a shrug.

"It had its own charms, not much for sunrises." Coruscant was a city of lights, night time was as bright as day. At least it'd always seemed that way to him.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Gone was the word she was gonna go for. But she'd take that instead.

"Huh," was all she commented, straining to recall what news she had heard about that place during the time of the Allegiance. In truth, that wasn't much. She had lived a rather sheltered existence.

"I think I almost went there," she noted with a frown. ...Also probably for the best she didn't, she concluded, quickly connecting the dots. Other blanks were quickly filled in. Like what faction he must have trained under, and what had he must have witnessed then.

It did make a bit sense, when she considered him. But she didn't focus on that. Like I said, she wasn't gonna do the pushing. Yet.

"Did you like it? Training and stuff?"

 

[Cenric Marus]

"I did not train for long on Coruscant." He explained with a shrug. "It was where I first became a padawan, but before I could find a proper master I was scooped up by a group known as the Rebel Alliance."

He thought almost fondly of those days still. Things were simpler. "I became the student of the groups leader."

Cedric had been a good master. The man had a vision of how things should be, and he'd worked his hardest to make it happen. Cenric had never blamed him for what had eventually happened to him and the Alliance. There was no bitterness in him, only a distinct hatred for the idea that it would happen again.

Best to rely on himself.

"It was not...typical, training." Nor had he been a typical student. Cenric had no great potential with the force. He could do simple things, but the truth was he had always been better with a lightsaber than anything else.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra listened keenly, the girl a surprisingly good listening for how much she liked to rattled on about herself instead. She put her head in her hands and leaned forward, her gaze still not leaving him.

"Okay, but... did you like it," she asked bluntly, grinning a little as she did.

"You avoid using any emotion when talking about it. Don't think I'll let you get away with that forever."

 

[Cenric Marus]

"There is no emotion, there is peace." Cenric quoted back at her.

It was the first line of the Jedi Code, one that he had clung to in order to survive. Cenric knew the line to not be entirely literal. Being a Jedi was not about being a robot. You were not supposed to become inhuman. Compassion, kindness, joy, even hate were all still a part of you even as a Jedi. The code was about maintaining those emotions. Ensuring that none of them controlled your actions.

That was how he'd survived. How he'd kept himself together. Always he was calm.

"I enjoyed serving under Cedric." He answered finally. "He was a good man, and I learned many things."

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra snorted.

"I hate that line. I really hate that line." People used it on her all the time. Wonder why, right? Regardless, she huffed and let the line of questions go. Cenric had revealed more about himself in that moment than he had the whole time that she had known him. That would calm vibe he kept putting out was as much a self defense mechanism as she was impatient, but she wasn't gonna call him out on that. Next yet anyway.

What was the point?

He was coming with and that made her happy enough for the time being.

She hummed to herself, sitting back. "...You know when we get there we're gonna needa land in the woods. At least until I can get my Master to you. He'll sort this out. Get you what you need and stuff." She reassured. Master Yuroic wasn't her master, but he certainly was a master. And as one of her most stead fast mentors, she took to calling him one too. Something something respect, something.

She gave Cenric a tense, sideways glance. "...Canyounottellhimwhathappened?"

 

[Cenric Marus]

The idea of lying to a Jedi would have made him balk at one time. The mere suggestion in fact would have been scandalous. Now?

Now it seemed paltry.

Most Jedi Master's hadn't seen half of what he had. A little lie like that seemed like absolutely no problem. It was a mark of how much he had changed over the last few years. Cenric was no longer the boy eaer to run up against the Sith and prove himself. He was a man. A padawan still, not no longer a child eagerly looking to be the best Jedi that could possibly be. He was his own thing. His shoulders rolled in a shrug. "Sure"

Cenric told her calmly.

"Though you probably should." Eventually anyway. "The Hutt won't be too pleased with you either."

Cenric would most definitely be the focus, but no hutt took humiliation easily.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra's expression pinched, concern embedding in her expression.

"...Maybe," she allotted, letting out a heavy breath. "....Truthfully I think they might just be too mad I left in the first place to even ask." Wishful thinking. But the more she thought about her return, the more the reality of what she was returning to dawned on her. She groaned and sunk deeper into her seat.

"I hope they didn't call my mom." She licked at her thumb and rubbed pointlessly at the many scuffs on her body.

"Then the Hutt will be the last of my concern." Understatement of the century. Joza had remarkably relaxed parenting style. Until her little girl was put in harms way. Kyra had never actually seen her mother react to her getting into things amongst the jedi. Granted. This was a first. Apprehension left her squirming.

"You know, on second thought, we can go somewhere else..."

 

[Cenric Marus]

He considered her for a brief moment, not really sure what to say.

Cenric hadn't exactly thought about his parents in...well, quite a bit longer than he would have liked to say. He knew that they were doing well enough. Things back home had been surprisingly calm since the fall of the Alliance. No one bothered them, and that was enough reason not to return back home.

He didn't want to draw any attention.

For Kyra it seemed to not be the same story at all. "Whose your mom?"

He asked with a slight frown. It seemed that she was even more worried about her mother than the Jedi Masters. That fact alone seemed rather odd to him, given the fact that most Padawans did not know their parents. Her mother must have been an important figure.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra's expression pinched further, as if somehow being faced with saying her mother's name made the threat of facing her all that much more real.

"Joza Perl?" She offered up, unsure if Cenric would know of her. She figured it unlikely. Not unless he knew of Zeltros, and even then-- the world was big. What was one rich tycoon against the universe. Still, her mother's name was well known enough amongst their inner circles. Kyra was quite proud to announce that her mother was a Master jedi to boot.

Well, once upon a time.

 

[Cenric Marus]

A shrug rolled over his shoulders. "Never heard of her."

He had never quite managed to memorize a full list of Jedi in his head. A part of him was uncertain if that was a good or bad thing, but his time among the Jedi had been spent learning more...pressing matters. What the hell did a list of Jedi matter when a Sith was swinging a lightsaber directly at your throat?

Better to be prepared than knowledgeable.

"I'm sure it will be fine." Cenric offered. "At the end of the day most parents just want to make sure that you're alright."

That was his own experience with his parents at least. They'd always been angry when he did something stupid, but at the end of the day they had always been glad to see him be okay. One didn't grow without making mistakes, and now was the best time to make them.

 

[Kyra Perl]

As much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew he was right.

It didn't stop the dread. Or the fear. Kyra slowly seemed to grow more and more uncomfortable as she swallowed the reality of what she had done, and what that would mean coming back. She gingerly pulled her fried training saber out of her pantline, inspecting the damage to the device.

She caught it with the force as closed her eyes trying to separate it's parts and get to the core. It groaned and croaked, causing her to stop the task before it snapped into two pieces. "....toast," she concluded, crinkling her nose at the burnt smell.

"All that work to go get it and..." she gave a heavy, disheartened sigh, her mistakes coming back to weigh on her.

"I'm sorry about that..."

 

[Cenric Marus]

Cenric shrugged. "The will of the force."

The words were somewhat dismissive, but the padawan knew that if he dwelled on things for too long it would not be good. The Jedi way was to let things go, not to hold anger in your heart. Being mad at her now was pointless. Things had gone the way they had gone, all he could do was accept it and move on.

"Keep the pieces." He told her. "You'll be able to use a few."

The Crystal at least.

Cenric had never lost his lightsaber, oddly enough. The weapon had made it through a dozen battles and twice as many fights. More than a few Sith had tried to take it from him, but always it ended up back with him. He could understand the sentimental value. "Perhaps it'll be time for a real one."

He offered.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra clutched the device to her chest, her lips pressing together to stop the wobble that formed in them. "Maybe," she allowed, her voice tight.

She had found a crystal before. But it was by chance and better suited towards other uses. All of Kyra's classmates had real sabers of their own, earned and found on a group hunt she had not been apart of. She understood why now-- she had not been ready. Still, accepting this fact was hard even today. If she wasn't ready then, when made her ready now?

She fried the damn thing. Got caught. Needed rescuing. How much had truly changed from when she joined until now?

The weight of her thoughts seemed to bore down on her then. Or maybe it was a lack of sleep and the fact she was beaten black and blue. She sank down into her seat, feeling heavier.

"...Thanks... for helping me..."