Private Riding the Dunes | Aeris

[Auteme]

Aeris Lashiec ​

"We'll stop there for the night?" Her indecisiveness prevented her from not making it a question, but she assumed Aeris would agree. They'd been walking along the Pilgrim's Road (Road was generous; it was a happabore trail that was only slightly easier to walk on than the rest of the Goazon Badlands) all day. If they'd been carrying the packs they would've normally needed to cross Jakku's desert they wouldn't have made it nearly as far in a single day. Thanks to her Farseer Traveling Bag, all they wore were long cloaks to protect them from the sun.

Though Auteme was fine with the heat -- being able to control her body temperature through Tapas came in handy -- her legs were getting a little tired, and in the distance the sun met the horizon, casting the sky aglow in red and pink. The desert sands darkened. She stopped for a moment, staring into the distance. The stars must be brilliant here, she thought. Coruscant's lights were so often blinding. When was the last time she'd been able to pause?

They approached the large tent that she'd pointed out. The weathered flaps seemed sturdy enough; this was known as the only pit-stop along the road, and one didn't survive on Jakku by being fragile or fancy. Auteme pulled down her hood and pushed aside the cloth that hung over the entrance, poking her head inside.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Auteme

Sweat glistened across her forehead with a sheen that made it difficult to discern if the gentle sheen she put off was from her now damp skin or just her skin in and of itself. As she pulled the hood off to wipe at it with the top of her wrist she found her golden locks smudged back and forth to form a mop-like layer of hair that seemingly promised to drown her in an ocean that was entirely of her own making. It was uncomfortable, it was even frustrating, but it was also something Aeris had been fully prepared for when she was sent on this mission.

“This was the place.” She confirmed with her traveling partner. They stepped inside and were met by another form of heat. It was stale, yet just the slightest bit more tolerable. The heat didn’t so much waft off of them in here as much as it simply existed. A pressure — no, expectation — for the wind to strike them made it all the more warmer.

“Tam pueanka?” The all too throaty voice of an Ithorian bellowed from aross a small counter before them. A look of surprise lingered in their eyes as they looked at the two hooded figures that had just entered their establishment. “Haku cheesba halanh uba du?”

“Yes, first time here.” Aeris said and stepped forward to greet the one receiving them. “We’re interested in finding a place to sleep.”

The Ithorian hummed with a slow nod as they began to look out across the room, his three-digit hand pointed at one of the nearby goons who quickly rose up in a hurry to come over. After a brief exchange between the manager and his hireling a key was deposited into Aeris’ hand who in turn handed the owner a small sum of money for the service. The key fell from her hand and into Auteme’s as she slowly nodded at the owner.

“Door three. Understood.” She said and turned around to face her fellow knight, her head gently inclined to urge the shorter one to get moving again. They would walk until they found another flap with the number three ever so crudely painted onto it, and as they stepped inside they would find it was just one tent attached to another. But even so Aeris had slept in worse places.

A deep breath caused her chest to rise before she eased it down again with a slow, held back exhale not too unlike a Jedi finding her center again. People were always an interesting experience. At the very least, unlike last time, she was sharing a room with someone she knew this time around.

“I know I said it on the trip here,” Aeris said as her eyes closed to let in another deep breath. “But I am still glad we get the chance to actually get to know each other.”

She exhaled what little remained of her breath. Emptied her lung before she inhaled again to let the pressure build against the tension in her chest and let go again. Eyes opened and she gave off a weak smile.

“You’d think with all the talk of your show I’d know everything about you already.” Aeris shrugged. “Not that I’ve seen it, of course.”

 

[Auteme]

Aeris Lashiec
​

"The show-" She paused, collecting her words as if looking to say something that contained the most truth. "I don't make the show. And that Auteme is like, a psycho. And the show's super bad. And really inconsistent. And it made fun of me all the time. Which is fine, and all, but that's not me, so..."

She pulled a bedroll from her bag and handed it to Aeris, eyes distant for a moment. Then she smiled. "But yes. I'm glad to have some company."

With the newly-established enclave on Jakku in close contact with the New Jedi Order, a number of Jedi had arrived recently. Auteme had decided to spend the first few days of the trip headed to the Sacred Villages at the end of the Pilgrim's Road. Most others had decided learning from Romi Jade herself was more exciting; she couldn't blame them, but it was nice to get out a bit, especially with how cramped the enclave was with the New Jedi there as well.

She started to put out her own sleeping bag on the woven mat that rested on the floor. "Still, I... can't imagine I'm actually that interesting," she said. "You do want to see the villages, right? Or something else? Jakku is more interesting than people give it credit for."

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Auteme

“I figured you didn’t.” Aeris reassured her traveling companion with an amused grin and raised hand. “Didn’t strike me as something you would do.”

There was slight lift in her shoulders as Aeris reached out to grab the bedroll that she was handed. The slight pause in Auteme’s hadn’t gone unnoticed and perhaps Aeris could emphasize over the problem of being put in a role against your will. Not that she ever had, but she could certainly imagine it.

The roll in her hand unwrapped against the floor. The tip of her boot poked at the thing to examine how difficult sleep would be tonight.

“Of course I want to see the villages.” Aeris nodded. “There was this Sephi lady I met a few months back. Went on and on about the importance of culture. Reminded me a bit of Master Truden’s rants.”

“Although,” Aeris laughed with fondness between her breaths at the memory. “At least I could understand Master Truden without having to do a double take.”

 

[Auteme]

Aeris Lashiec
​

She laughed. "There's this, ah, Sephi Jedi Master I met -- she's a Silver -- who talks only by telepathy. Completely, just, no accent. I was trying to figure out if you can, like, change your voice in your head to sound different, or if she just learned Basic really early and doesn't have an accent at all."

With her sleeping bag set up, she sat down on the floor and laid out her bag beside her. A little rummaging around and she produced dinner; fruits and veggies in abundance along with some noodles and curry. All warm. All fresh. All on nice little platters. She handed one to Aeris.

"But yeah, I'm excited to see the villages too. When people think about Jakku, it's all- 'oo, empty dustbowl', and everything, but there's incredible things across the galaxy. The people of desert planets tend to be resilient and enduring, so I'm curious to see what they actually consider sacred." She started to eat from her own plate.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Auteme

Aeris froze for a moment at the mention of the Silver Jedi. Not out of spite or anything of the like. She was not the one who felt wronged by them, but many of the Jedi she had grown up with most certainly had. It was a sore subject and one that Aeris had grown up to know better than to question lest she wanted to hear yet another rant about schisms and pointed fingers.

“That’s amazing.” Aeris marveled at the idea of using only telepathy to communicate. “Maybe she was onto something there.”

A noodle bowl was handed over and Aeris gladly accepted that as well. Her eyes wandered around the somewhat cramped tent before she decided to dig into the food provided. She shoveled a small red fruit in between her teeth and happily crunched down on it with a small hum.

“I think that’s part of the issue with the Orders some days.” Aeris began to mumble as if she was expecting to be chastised. “Too focused on what we see, not on what we actually are.”

“One of the first things I was taught was to not trust my eyes. If all people can see when they see this place is a dustbowl, then are they blind or are they foolish?” Aeris asked with renewed courage as she glanced over at Auteme. “Only a fool would risk blinding themselves to unseen truths before them. Good or bad. Jakku has a rich history buried beneath its sands, it is just a matter of finding the string that leads you to the rest.”

 

[Auteme]

Aeris Lashiec
​

"I can see why you were knighted," she said. While Auteme didn't entirely agree, Aeris did have a good point. There was a wisdom there, a search for something beyond that Auteme could identify with. She just smiled to the other Jedi. Nervousness was a bad color; here with just the two of them, they were equals. Friends. There was no need.

"Yes, most people forget to look deeper -- but if you start looking for deeper meaning in everything, overthink it all -- you forget the wisdom your eyes give you. There's a reason we have them." She poked around her bowl with her chopsticks, swirling around her noodles. "Even with the Force, I mean- it could be the answer to everything. The missing piece to physics, biology, philosophy. It's just fine to try to look into that. But it's also just a thing, a Force that flows through all things. And to me that's enough."

She gave an encouraging smile. "You can look for the unseen -- just don't forget to look first."

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Auteme

“That’s very kind of you to say.” Aeris spoke, her cheeks flush with red. A lazy hand scratched at the back of her neck before she continued to eat. “And I mean, yes, naturally. It’s more of a saying that Master Raaf liked to share with one of my masters when I was growing up. I believe she claimed it was Kenobi who was the biggest proponent of the stance.”

Naturally Auteme had a good point as well. If the force was present in all that surrounded them, then it was also fair to assume that the eyes in themselves were able to perceive what otherwise could have been lost on them. These were the discussions that Aeris enjoyed, the ones that got her going. It had reached such a point that even the other librarians and archivists had pointed it out to her.

A bit of a talker, despite the place she seemed to work in.

“I can see why they knighted you too.” Aeris offered back with a warm smile. “If these are the kinds of talks you enjoy having it’s almost a tragedy that we haven’t met like this before.”

“Were you always with the Jedi, or did you join as an adult?” Aeris gave a gentle shrug. “I was born into it... Sort of. So, I don’t like to assume that others are as well.”

 

[Auteme]

Aeris Lashiec
​

She'd guessed as much -- Taeli Raaf hadn't been a Jedi for many years (at least, she assumed that was the Master Raaf Aeris was talking about).

"I, ah, joined when I was sixteen. My mentor -- I was separated from my parents, when I was a kid, and ended up with this old monk -- he told me he had to leave. Happened to be at the Silver Rest, then and I ended up just... becoming a Jedi. I mean, I figure that the entrance standards have decreased significantly for the Jedi," she said, laughing.

"Things came pretty quickly. The Jedi mindset- I'm kind of left wondering if my mentor knew that I'd join up; you know, compassion, focus, self-control. Had all that. And I didn't learn anything about saber work, so I had time to just... learn and study the Force, meditate, other studies." She slurped up some noodles.

"And you? Were your parents Jedi, or was it..." She left the question open, not wanting to imply anything in particular.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Auteme

“I was born around the time of the Akala Crisis, the Great disappearance.” Aeris slowly nodded. “Don’t know much about them, a Jedi who was helping others find lost people stumbled upon me and took me in. My family never came back, and so I was raised by the Jedi in the Republic.”

It got a shrug out of the blonde. She had already spent her younger years throwing a fuss about it. The abandonment had settled down by now, replaced by a cold acceptance that she had been the only one in her small family to have drawn the winning ticket.

“I had a few masters around, but never any real master of my own. Corvus Raaf, Kana Truden, Kian Karr… I got a lot of good advice, but I was just a child and didn’t really listen. With time there were books, and since I had no master at the time I naturally began to read a lot.”

“... Suppose that’s why I became an Archivist in the end, huh?”

 

[Auteme]

Aeris Lashiec ​

"Well, I have to assume you enjoy reading," she said with a smile. "Trying to get into why you like certain things is... well, you know, a lot of work. Psychology is cool and all but it doesn't explain everything. The galaxy is a complicated place. You can just be an archivist."

Part of her felt like she was trying to sound wise. She didn't know if it was working.

"It's weird, I mean- if you don't know your parents at an early age, you stop depending on them, right? But I actually- like, I found my parents, only a few years ago, but I still barely know them. They aren't really a part of my life, save for the letters I send them sometimes. They're Jedi but not... really. Not quite. And I kind of wonder how my life would've been if we hadn't been separated."

She looked at the ground, pondering for a little while before looking back at Aeris. "Ah, that's- a little heavy. Okay, archivist, what cool stuff are we going to see at the Sacred Villages tomorrow?"

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Auteme

“Well, yes,” Aeris smiled back. “But at a young age I was asked a question that stuck with me: ‘Who are you who do not know your own history?’”

And who was trying to sound wise now? Aeris listened to Auteme explain her background and who her parents were with a lingering smile. While in reality this was part of why Aeris worried about those brought in at a later stage in their life, she also had come to find that it was part of their strength. It was a double-edged sword that was as likely to stab an enemy as it was likely to stab the wielder.

Double-bladed swords were notorious like that.

“That doubt and desire for the past is the one that I sometimes fear the most in, errrr,” Aeris cleared her throat to find the right word. “Late arrivals.”

“Not that it’s your fault by any stretch. The stresses of being who and what we are makes these thing quite natural. It’s dwelling on them that is the dangerous part. Not accepting where we are.”

“Regardless,” Aeris looked away for a moment to try and evade the hole she had dug. “The villages are a centre of divergent faiths. I tried reading about them, but for an Order who prides ourselves with having one of the biggest Jedi archives around, we do lack certain pieces in our collection. I’m mostly curious if we will find maybe Hutt worship, or people who shun the usage of technology.”

“Now this I can admit, I would not be able to live with either lifestyles.”

 

[Auteme]

Aeris Lashiec
​

She ate the last of her noodles as she listened. Part of her wanted to ask for a second run at all of that, but her mouth was full so Aeris was able to go on uninterrupted. Nerd stuff was much easier to talk about. She wondered if she'd read more books in the Archives than the other Knight had -- a curious bit of competitive spirit crept into Auteme.

"Well, I think you could," she said, smirking a bit as she put away her bowl. She reached for Aeris's. "I like reading and writing on paper, anyways, even though it's old, and everything. I could get by. Though, that's assuming they only shun electronic technology. Shunning all technology is the fastest route to being an animal."

That was optimistic, of course. "Worshipping a Hutt, though? I feel like that'd be pretty not-fun. Though, maybe it's a cool Hutt, like back when they were warrior-crusaders, and wore huge suits of armor that made them unstoppable."

She laughed. It was amusing to think now, but twenty-thousand years ago, Hutt warriors were no joking matter.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Auteme

For a split second, Aeris swore she could see something behind Auteme’s eyes. A small spark of something that quickly faded away as quickly as it had appeared. Aeris parted with her bowl and brushed her free hand against the edge of her seat. Pen and paper were valid venues of storing information, it was more a matter of how fragile such pieces of information were as the ages passed. Metal had a tendency to last longer than paper.

“Hutt worship is still a thing, depending on how you look at it.” Aeris shrugged and carefully looked around. Her mind reached out to probe for eavesdroppers. Once the coast was clear she leaned in with a whisper. “We just stopped calling them cults and started calling them cartels instead.”

“I feel like it’s a story of the one bad apple and the bunch. But then, their history is mired in crime and other heinous acts.” Aeris shook her head in disapproval. “I have heard of Hutt Jedi, same as Hutt Sith. It was a while ago by now. I’m talking when I was a child, and the Order I followed still carried a Republican banner.”

“Almost makes you wonder. Were they the exception to the rule, or signs that things could be changing?”

 

[Auteme]

Aeris Lashiec
​

"Well, instability in the galaxy hardly helps the, ah, crime rates," she said. "But it's my belief that cultural intermingling, the galactic community, all that -- it's helping reform the worst aspects of some cultures. I'm hardly up to date on the underworld's news, but you rarely hear about Hutts these days."

She shrugged, taking Aeris's cutlery and platter to put them away in her bag.

"And, you know, generally -- I think people want to do good things, and be good. Most of the time. The New Jedi Order and the Alliance have made a ton of progress in much of the galaxy, so why not rub off our cultural influence, too? More democracy, more peace, more communication. Less crime, less stigma around the 'nefarious' races."

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

“I agree with that. We generally want to do good, but the problem then is perspective. We say we do good, but good according to who? Our own beliefs or those we think that we are helping?” Aeris gave Auteme a moment to ponder that one. “Good for you might not be good for me. Good for one group could be very bad for another, and so on.”

“It’s not our place or duty as Jedi to spread our ways through word, but through action. Everything that we do and everything that we say will be held against the biases and preconceptions — known or otherwise — that other people have. There is a difference between saying we should spread democracy and peace and actually doing it.”

“Are we an invading force? Does that mean we have the right idea simply because we force our banners on those who opposed us?” Aeris shook her head to answer her own questions. “No. We are the sum of our actions, and if we act with violence then we should expect violence in return.”

“I think we shouldn’t place too much emphasis on trying to convince others that we have the right idea, but rather to shine as a beacon so that others will want to follow by their own accord.”

The blonde-haired woman let out a sigh. “But, hey, that’s not what you said. I just wanted to tie in that tangent.”

 

[Auteme]

Aeris Lashiec
​

"No! No. Tangents are fine. They're great. I mean, lots of people- in my experience, I always feel awkward, or boring, because some people don't always like thinking about that kind of stuff. I mean, we're nerds. Context is important. Also, I think it's almost rare these days that people can unlink the ideas of action and violence." There were more ways to help than fighting the 'bad guys'.

Aeris's words -- not quite her actions -- were what made Auteme really warm up to her. The conscious take on morality, the clarity of philosophy, the recognition of violence as a cycle; she was convinced.

"Though, ah, personally -- I think words are just fine. The intangible can be just as inspiring. Or at least that's what I'd like to think," she said, laughing. "I hope my work as Representative has changed a few hearts and minds."

She wrung her hands. "Do you think the Alliance has done enough to- well, to be a beacon, as you said?"

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Auteme

Auteme spoke, and Aeris listened. She nodded and she agreed up until the point where that one question was asked that troubled Aeris as much as the masters who had taught her what it meant to be a Jedi growing up and what she had seen. A frown fell on her as she pondered how to respond.

“I think that ultimately,” Aeris let in a deep breath. “That does not matter.”

It might have been controversial, but she trusted Auteme well enough.

“The Alliance and their success is not parallel to ours as Jedi. Do I think that the Alliance is living up to be the shining beacon it very well could be and should be? That’s hard to tell. Do I think that there has been some questionable policies enacted? Definitely, but much like the force it’s never quite that simple.”

“The Imperial Order, for example.” Aeris began with a lingering calm. “I do not believe that the people of their nation are evil, but I doubt the purity of heart in those who try to steer the people whether they want to be steered or not.”

“The Silver Jedi are…” This one. This one did bring a frown to Aeris lips. “They are desperate and are acting accordingly. The Bryn’adul, the Sith, it’s not a choice as clear as I think some would like to make it, but one of them would have to be the lesser evil when said evil are willing to extend a hand and fight the other.” Deep breath. “That does not speak well of the tension it brought between the Silvers and the rest of the galaxy, however.”

“Then there is the Confederacy…” Aeris lowered her brows in contemplation for a moment. “And well, to be honest I can’t really recall when they last did anything meaningful beyond the boundary of their own borders, so I guess they’re just sort of as equally unthreatening as they are a liability.”

“In short, I suppose the Alliance could be doing better, but that doesn’t concern me as much as it might concern you, given your ties to their senate.”

“And for that fact alone,” Aeris’ lips split into a grin. “You do have my condolences.”

 

[Auteme]

Aeris Lashiec
​

Auteme laughed. "Yeah, it's- difficult," she said.

"Well... hmm. I think it's that the Alliance and the Jedi operate at different levels. The Jedi these days -- myths, legends, that kind of thing. It's never about their actual power or deeds. I mean, a lot of things the Jedi have done are good and inspiring, but there's always cracks. Even so, people for the most part see the Jedi as the 'good guys', and all our Masters with a kind of awe.

"But it's a good government that really helps people. Social programs, justice, diplomacy, peace -- beyond what you or I might do in some great display of Light or a battle against darkness. It's just different, I suppose, and I think both are important."