Lost in a Sea of Storms, and Living Lightning.

[Asher Sonata]

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When the Jedi came, they were thunder and storm. casting aside the blasts of the Crymorah with a skillful ease that made such swiftful grace look effortless. Their own blaster bolts deflected back into themselves sealing their own fates with an irony that wouldn't be lost on those who observed. Asher lay wounded, chest bound hearing the cries of the men who had enchained him, bound him, whipped and put blasters to the heads of his friends for four long years. Yet he felt compelled to stand, the mental weight of his friends in danger at the end of the whip pushed him to his feet, grabbing the vibro-chakram at the foot of his bed and hauling himself to the door, stitches bursting and blood leaking through the bandages. But as he did, tears would well up in his eyes as the world outside went silent, knowing long before the Jedi opened the door what had happened. Flowing freely, he would fall to his knees, united with his friends wherever they were in the compound. When the doors flew open, and the silhouette of a Jedi stood there, blade beaming like living lightning. He began to cry unrestrained. It was over...​

It had been a long day, Jedi group trainings with the younglings helped to reinforce the standard lessons he had been taught in the short time he had been here, but they were draining. Dealing with that many energetic young Jedi with lessons on the force was difficult even for Asher. It wasn't their energy that was the problem, if anything it was the only reason he found his way through the lessons themselves, living vicariously through their childlike energy. It was their laughter, their drive, their attitude. Each small reminder of his family took him back to Caladin to face his parents, that was a struggle. Thankfully one of the Jedi knights in the order had been placed to supervise his lessons and, only on the occasional slip did the knight ever actually have to step in. The knight that would watch over him would change from day to day, each face welcome and inviting before the younglings, some of them were the same for him, but Asher couldn't help but feel like he was a burden on them, a punishment for a wayward knight who had disobeyed their master and needed to be taught something. Be it humility, their roots, or something more substantial. Asher didn't like feeling like a lesson to be taught, but he understood that a lot of that was likely in his own head. Truth was a fickle thing. ​

Between his lessons he had been in and out of a psychologists office, to the hospital that had treated him for his myriad injuries both internal and external. Although both had confirmed a number of weeks ago that there was nothing wrong with him, they were the only source of familiar faces he knew, they gave him some sense of belonging as a patient when feeling like a Jedi Padawan seemed all too alien to him at the moment. People had asked to see his light-saber, and he had shown off the disc like implement at his hip to shock, awe and wonder. But when they had asked him whether or not he would show it off in a little more detail. He couldn't bring himself to do it... A Jedi doesn't flourish his weapon... its not a toy... its a bit too dangerous... every excuse he could muster short of that he was getting the kyber crystal cleaned. ​

However about an hour out of the place there were a number of old buildings, monuments even tot he battle of Kashyyyk, Jedi who had died there, Wookies who had given their lives to protect them as they had attempted to fight off the ultimate evil in the galaxy. Once again now Wookies and Jedi stood together side by side with their old friends, as yet another impending disaster loomed of the galaxy. The Bryn... then there was the Sith, who they would be working against, likely even against other Jedi in the near future if the galaxy continued on this path. It was all too much, Asher needed space, time to think and to deliberate. Was it time to leave here with the friends he had made? To set out into the galaxy and perhaps find a cave to hide away in until all of this blows over? It was the smart idea, maybe not the bravest one. But he was still just a child, and he had fought enough wars to last a lifetime already. ​

There he would sit amongst the monuments of long fallen Jedi and their wookie Comrades, sitting on the shoulder of the great Tarfful, the statue set in bronzium would glitter like the sun if it were ever to be hit by its radiant light, but deep under the forests of Kashyyyk, it seldom got a glimmer save for when it sat directly above it like it did now. The speckled light deflecting off the polished surface and cascading its golden light into the surrounds around them. This place bought some peace to Asher, not many people came here, it was somewhat overgrown but he found like he had found this place.

News of his growing fears and doubts would no doubt have been picked up on by his minders, reported back to the Jedi masters with no short amount of caution. They all knew that signing the quartet found in the shadowlands on would be no easy undertaking, although it had been reasonably easy up until now. But here came the first in no doubt a series of waves involving Asher, as he would seek to navigate the sea he found himself lost in. ​

But who would be his compass?​

Lepri

 

[Lepri]

Location: Monument clearing near Silver Rest, Kashyyyk​

Equipment: Two lightsabers, comlink, covert Jedi robes in dark but pleasant colors​

Tag: Asher Sonata ​

The clearing was a secluded place and one that the female Cathar had visited many times. It was a place where she could feel closer to her own Master and one of her closest friends. Stalwart and steady as a rock, the Wookiee Kabraka had lifted her up during her seemingly darkest hour, after losing not one, but three different homes. He had taken her in as a padawan in the aftermath of the loss of the Dawning Hope. He'd come when the wounds left behind had been nothing compared to the worries on her mind and heart, mixed with the indignant anger. And the helplessness and the anger that went with that too.

He'd eased her fears, and from that moment, became a great teacher. Training with him was incredibly challenging, even compared to what she'd been through before, alongside her friend and partner-in-crime Jery. The Wookiee pushed her limits in ways she'd never imagined, helped her learn control. And widened her skills. But more than that, he was family. As much as she was family to him. In her mind, he was one of the few reasons she was even able to continue after what ... what Jeryndi did. And, as much as she would like to think it was all her, without his guidance, patience, and care, she would have become nothing but a raging beast fueled by the Dark Side.

Time gave her distance. But here was a place she could reflect. With Cathar, until recently, in the grip of the Sith, she couldn't even go home. But the Shadowlands were close enough. She'd been the one to stumble on the poachers. In theory, she had all the skill needed to handle the entire group on her own. But it was better to grab a team, just to be sure. And as she'd observed, there were innocents involved. So it was she'd lead the strike team to end their activity. She'd kept tabs on the quartet after being taken to the Rest.

Asher had caught her attention, much like his captors, because of his force sensitivity and skills. But she recognized some signs in the information she could get her paws on. So she'd kept an eye on him, learning his movements without intruding. But today, she was in the clearing as he was, though high up on a relatively low branch. Low... probably thirty meters off the forest floor. Seeing movement below her sharp eyes picked out Asher's form, and her ears perked up just a little. Reaching out with her senses, she chewed the inside of her lower lip lightly. It wasn't hard to feel a mixture of turmoil and stress rolling off the teenager.

For a little while, five to ten minutes Lepri just let him sit and collect himself. Once he'd calmed some, she stood... and simply stepped off the tree. Thirty meters was no easy fall, even for a felinoid species like her. But as she fell she cushioned herself with the Force so that at the tail-end she simply landed lightly with a spring to her step. Expecting an instinctive reflexive attack, she raised both hands. A thin Barrier snapped into place, visible as a slight distortion in the air. Her hands were up, palms out, a gesture meant to indicate seeking peace, not war or threat.

"It's a good spot," she said quietly, gesturing with her chin toward the monument. She was dressed in a Jedi uniform, with black boots that came to her calves, charcoal-colored pants, and a matching outer robe top with a sandy layer beneath. Over that lay a soft purple tabard and a charcoal and purple obi belt. A dark cloak lay over the whole outfit. At her throat glittered an amethyst crystal on a natural fiber chord. From her belt hung a pair of lightsabers. Her voice was warm and had an undertone of a purr. As her hands dropped, so too did the barrier.

 

[Asher Sonata]

The ambient stillness of the peaceful glade was exactly what the enigmatic boy needed, introspection, time away from people and the sweet sense of melancholy could mend all wounds, it was now just a matter of ensuring that for the remainder of the day, nothing would trigger the memories again. Taking a deep breath he would move from meditation to simple lounging, enjoying the soft breeze and the sound of rustling leaves all around him created a revealingly surreal space for him to inhabit. There was something about a large tree waving in a light wind that seemed to slow down time itself, to distort its values and spiral outwards as the world would seem to move at a glacial pace while in fact it was powering by. However, duty lay at the heart of disappointment, eventually Asher knew he would have to move, return to the order, take up his chores and continue on like nothing has happened.​

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Eventually Asher would stir, sitting up and slipping down the bronzium statue of Tarfful down his back landing heavily on the ground before rolling up with the momentum and stepping out into a stride. It was then that a figure would leap down from the foliage above, striking a stance before him as Asher would whirl his coat back with a single arm revealing his saber, his fingers on muscle memory alone rushing to grip it as a flash of a blood-soaked hand holding a spinning glaive would rush past his minds eye causing him to flinch, hesitate and avoid touching the weapon at his side. Pushing him to better analyze the threat that stood before him, a familiar feline figure fur flickering in the low light. The barrier that spread out between her fingers would drop no sooner than Asher would put a hand to his head to stave off the wave of headache that was sure to be coming next.​

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"What? Yeah, i come here when i need to decompress sometimes..." Asher would begin, trying hard not to let it be known that he was attempting to figure out who the woman was, her golden brown fur reminded Asher of a leonid. He hadn't heard of the Cathar race as a whole, but the universe was a big place, he had seen enough to not allow something as trivial as this to take him by surprise. But then the memory clicked, he was in a bit of a haze, but he did remember a Furr covered Jedi the day he was picked up from the hunting camp in the shadowlands!​

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"Wait, Oh! I know you, right? You were there at the Crymorah camp! Haha, sorry I didn't recognize you at first, life's been moving pretty fast, from being rescued, to the hospital, therapy, rehab and now the whole Jedi thing. Its been a bit of a Pod Racing track. I had been meaning to come find you in order to thank you at some point. " But now Asher was even more nervous, he hoped she didn't read too much into that hesitation from before, his mind would race at light-speed in order to devise a way out should be be questioned, deciding to fall on some of his usual excuses should it be brought up.​

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"So, what brings you out this way Master? Is there anything I can help you with?" Asher would say, giving a light bow in the mean time, hoping that she wasn't just another minder who had been sent out to babysit him. Another punished Jedi knight that had to learn patience or humility by taking care of one of the unfortunates. Frustration would well a little within Asher, smothering hope as occams razor cut him back down to earth yet again preventing him from being able to soar openly. But, he would eagerly await an answer from the Cathar. Feelings of Fear, Anger, Anxiety and hesitation openly available to any empathic potency she may possess.​

Tag: Lepri
Equipment: Light Chakram
Outfit: CAF Fatigues.

 

[Lepri]

Location: Monument, Silver Rest, Kashyyyk​

Equipment: Two lightsabers, comlink, covert Jedi robes in dark but pleasant colors ​

Tag: Asher Sonata ​

Lepri was rather still as she watched Asher fidget and move about. The boy was still 'loud' though it had nothing to do with his physicality. It wasn't hard to sense his emotional state through the Force, much less smell the anxiety and anger coming from him. Her ears drooped a little, but she let him talk. HE very much reminded the Cathar of her when she had been a padawan. The reasons for their states were different, of course. But the anger, fear, anxiety, the uncertainty of it all, she understood all too well.

"Well, I like to come out this way too," she said quietly. "My master was a Wookiee and a hero in his own right. I suppose he would be a legend in these days, were not so much lost to the Gulag plague." She shook her head, frowning. She would keep his memory alive. It was a silent oath she'd sworn when she found out what the state of the galaxy was these days, if only to herself and the Force. And perhaps him, if his Spirit were still around. "This place reminds me of him. It's a way to be closer to someone I left behind and who mattered greatly to all of us." That last word had so much weight, so many shades and layers of meaning. Potentially even the entire galaxy. For the Order past and present too.

"I was pleasantly surprised to see you though," she purred quietly. "I've been following your story a bit since the operation. I wanted to check on you myself. Though I hope my presence and the associations with it are at least tolerable now. I would have liked to help sooner, but some of the Circle of Healers thought it might be premature." She shrugged one shoulder. "But scratch that. I see the Force has provided the means and timing, and in that I trust." She hadn't come seeking Asher out. But here he was. There was no better time, and no better place really.

"I know things are terribly troubling, especially with all you've already been through. And I understand that need to have some control over your environment," she said gesturing to the clearing. But then toward the spaceport attached to the Rest. What it was like to want to run. If anyone did, she would. There was no pity in her voice, but compassion and a gentleness that would have surprised most people. Cathar wasn't exactly known for being gentle people, but more than that, she'd had a reputation among some circles of being a murderous tart. Except she'd never raised a claw to anyone who didn't attack her first. Never harmed anyone that hadn't done her direct harm. She just didn't like The Mechanic - Sadhric T'lin. Nor could she forgive him for his sins against the galaxy. And what he'd done to Jeryndi. Even if he thought it was in her partner's best interests.

Waving one hand ever so slightly, nothing more than the twitch of a wrist, she washed those painful memories away. It was over. Done. Gone. And she would never have to deal with those matters again.

"If you wish, I'd like to help you navigate through the storm you're in. Find whatever way you can to get back to some real semblance of being okay. Getting a handle on things," she said. "I was in a similar boat when my Master found me. And I've helped others recover, special cases. If you would be interested. You don't have to say yes, or feel obligated to answer right now. And if you want, I'm more than happy to just hang out and share some of what I know. No strings." It wasn't just a Master making an offer to a Padawan, but one survivor to another, and hopefully friend to friend or eventually friend-to-friend. That was more her style anyway. Even if getting close to any but a select few again was, in some ways, a terrifying proposition.

 

[Asher Sonata]

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And there it was, compassion, care, the sheer likability of the Jedi had gotten old quickly for Asher as his features almost sunk a little, his shoulders dropping a fraction of an inch, the look in his eyes and the perk of a side of his lip in a knowing kind of smirk which had all the spellings of an amount of disappointment as she stood there and reminded him of everything he had been through on Kashyyyk rather than simply allowing him to be happy with the fact he had basically only just gotten over making himself feel ok. He would take in a deep breath, building up the emotional walls he had constructed while adding a couple of feet in their height for good measure. The healers were good people, but to think that they had been holding back this encounter almost made Asher angry, it's not up to them who he could and could not see.​

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"I'm fine," Asher would proclaim, almost abruptly, in a way that seemed to indicate moving on from the subject of his myriad illnesses would be a good idea on the mean time. However, there was something different in the way that this person seemed to act, it was like there was a reflection there. Asher could almost see the scars across her, he dared to think that Lepri was different, but, had no idea to go about it. So, part in anger, part in desperation he would attempt what most people do when they're feeling something like this. He would try to push, give her a taste of what he has going on and see if it scared her away, resist to see just how stalwart her convictions were in wanting to help. ​

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"The healers are good people, though I think its pretty druk that they've been keeping people from me... I don't need that kind of karking supervision." He would begin, anger welling up just a little more in him, but he allowed it to. If she wanted to help, she was going to need to see the mess she was getting herself into. Not that Asher didn't want it, but it was far more painful to have someone invested in you leave, than it was to chase them away at the beginning. "But you have no idea what I've been through. I had my WORLD destroyed, so, unless there's been another death star roaming about, or unless there's a drekking force power that can rebuild planets and restore the lives of billions, I think I'm a bit more of a special case." Asher would fume, he could feel the adrenaline pump through his veins while his right hand began to tremor, he was fighting back a relapse as the vision hit, slamming his body like a volt of electricity moving from his head to his hand. A ten foot tall monster holding the entire upper body of a Zeison Sha aloft... and noise.​

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The Image knocked the strength out of Asher as he staggered, even while standing still, it was like being winded, worse maybe. Trying to stop the trembling Asher would pick up a rock, mark a pathway for it and hurl it at the statues of the heroes. The rock would riccoshet between two figures, slamming into precise angles one after another as it pinballed between them before falling, picking up speed and bonking the statue of Yoda on the head on the way down at just the right angle that the pebble would bounce back into Asher's waiting hand. "So... i don't know if recovery is really in the cards, I can't even hold the lightsaber I made..." He gave a somewhat sad admission, one he perhaps hadn't meant to give, but it was there now. The breadth and the width of the trauma that compounded within Asher Sonata, leaving the Ball in Lepri's court. ​

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Asher had performed this act, though, not in exactly the same manner to a couple of Jedi knights who had expressed desires to help, but in a far more aggressive tone with them. It was enough to see the inexperience warp their emotions as they fell to pity, surrendering there and then as Asher had carved the space for himself, but this was his second contact with a master of the Jedi order. She seemed a lot more deeply caring than the other he had met, his tone a little less harsh and combative, than he had taken with them. It wasn't telling her to back of, it was a warning... abandon hope all ye who enter here... for here be dragons.​

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Tag: Lepri ​

Equipment: Light Chakram​

Outfit: CAF Fatigues.​

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