Seeds of the Future

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

Bright blue eyes watched out the viewport as the small public transport landed. A traveller's back pack over one shoulder he scratched his bearded cheek idly as he considered just what to say to the woman he was sent to meet. His simple black jacket and pants were much like his master had worn but the old boots were his own.

The ship settled down and he waited calmly as passengers disembarked. How would this work? Did the woman even expect this? He didn't know. Warm air from the ship's exhaust struck his face like a wave before the cool evening air reminded him of the seriousness of his intentions.

Lights danced like flames in his eyes as he walked toward the gardens of the Jedi master and he hoped the guards as he was sure there would be some could get him to the woman before long. He had other things to see and people to...meet.

 

[Avalore Eden]

There were no guards at the Katarn Homestead - only the home dwellers and the occasional guests. On Sulon things were simpler, quainter, a touch quieter too. A protocol droid of the 3PO variety baring scorched, pockmarked, missing, and mismatched plating answered the entrance door when the man came knocking.

The droid looked at him in silence for a moment, twitching as it bent to take the man in from head to toe.

"No more beggars," it said before closing the door.

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

For a moment he stood there in shocked silence as the sound of the closed door echoed in his mind. Myriad questions rattled about in his head as he stared with mouth half opened at the door. Could it be his appearance? Did he look too scruffy? Perhaps it was passed time for a shave but did he really look like he needed a hand out? Apparently so.

He lifted his hand to knock and let it fall to his side before finally ringing the bell. He wouldn't wait this time. No, he'd announce himself through the door. That would be best...wouldn't it?

"Hello, my name is Seamus Valik." he said loudly with as humble a tone as he could muster at that volume, "Talon Vosra sent me to speak with Avalore Eden."

With luck he wouldn't have to leave the package on the stoop but since luck wasn't his strong suit he was ready for anything.

 

[Avalore Eden]

The door opened again, slowly.

"Oh," replied the droid, "Jedi business is it then?"

Was that a hint of Sneer Tone 2.4 in his mechanical voice?

Clank clank, the droid stepped back and flagged the man in, "Right this way, Master Eden is in the kitchen preparing tonight's meal."

Clank clank, it lead [member="Seamus Valik"] through the entry room and down the hall towards the kitchen. It stopped short of sandstone tile flooring, "Unfortunately I am not allowed to walk on the tile, you'll have to introduce yourself."

"Dick?" came a woman's voice from inside the kitchen, "Is that you? Was someone at the door?"

"Just a beggar, Master Eden," replied the droid as it disappeared down the hall.

"A what?" Avalore blinked. She was holding a meat cleaver in her hand when Seamus entered the kitchen.

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

The fact that the droid had held on to the idea of him being a beggar screamed memory wipe time or maybe he had a long way to go before he stopped taking offense over small things. In any case as the droid moved away down the hall Seamus paused in the door way to the kitchen.

"He said just a beggar." Seamus answered as he held his backpack over one shoulder, "Master Avalore Eden, I presume?"

He didn't step in, he hadn't really intended to take long, in fact had he not promised he would not have come at all, but he was, he had and he did. His bright blue eyes met the lady's face dutifully but he would not pretend he hadn't glanced elsewhere as he entered. He gave a smile that squinted his eyes a little and gestured toward the knife briefly.

"Is it safe to come in?" he tried to joke, "I just need a moment."

 

[Avalore Eden]

"Oh," she blinked, not having noticed the man's wandering gaze for the distraction of preparing dinner for the evening. Gabriel was around somewhere and she was sure she'd seen someone else wandering about the homestead with him earlier. After the man had recovered from his injuries at Taloraan Ava had opted to give him more privacy, so she hadn't pried. Her time spent as his Healer was often intrusive and overbearing - even good friends needed to take breaks from one another, made all the more difficult when living together. She'd hollered at them earlier in the afternoon that she'd be making dinner, and so here she was carving down fresh ribeye while the twins napped.

Brown eyes glanced to the blade in her hand as she placed it down flat on the cutting board, "Yes and...yes," she smiled faintly, "I'm just fixing dinner. Come in, stay a few moments if you like."

The Healer popped a piece of sliced carrot in her mouth and munched, "What can I do for you?"

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

He gave a thin lipped smile from behind his beard and sat on a stool nearby. His pack was placed gently on the floor beside him as he avoided anymore wandering glances.

"I just have to deliver something." he said as he pulled the pack up into his lap and fumbled briefly with the zipper before opening it.

He produced from the depths of the bag, a sealed bag of chips, two datacards labeled holonet RP, and a water bottle before finally taking out a fist sized oblong object. He placed it on the counter and stuffed his junk back in the bag for the trip back. He pointed at the seed and then at Avalore as he sipped some water before stuffing it away.

"That's for you." he said after he swallowed his water, "Master Vosra wanted me to bring it to you if anything happened to him, and so here I am."

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore wandered over as the man began producing items from his bag. Chips. Datachips ... did those say holonet RP? Her mind wandered back to [member="Kira Talith"] momentarily with a small smirk. The tiny Jedi Master was notorious for her RP addiction. Avalore thought she remembered overhearing a conversation about Kira writing over 160 different characters.

Who could possibly have that many voices in their head and still have time for being a Jedi? Incredible.

"That's for you."

She blinked, brown eyes turning to the thing in question with growing curiosity.

"Master Vosra? I haven't seen him in ...well, since I closed up House Dionea," the Healer moved forward, ignorant to Vosra's fate far away in the stars, "something happened...?" A frown now. Was she really so far out of the loop from the Academy now that she hadn't heard of one of their own getting taken down? Avalore reached out to gently scoop up the object, turning it this way and that within her scar-riddled hands.

"What...is it exactly?"

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

He watched her as she moved toward him, her brown eyes like drops of caff in pools of cream fixed on the object produced. His own azure eyes reflected his true feelings and betrayed the forced calm of his bearded face. He opened his mouth to speak and closed it immediately before clearing his throat. Jedi were to have no attachments but most who had met Talon were hard pressed to not be fond of the man.

"Master Vosra is gone Master Eden." he said with forced calm in his voice, "I'm not sure what happened but his body is on kashyyyk."

He took out his water and sipped it again to keep his quickly drying throat wet and looked at the seed.

"That is a seed. Talon was a zelosian and that is his offspring. I found it in his things with a note to bring it to House Dionea but I was redirected here. It's dormant I don't know where the mother is but it needs incubation and water. That's all I know."

He looked at the dinner in progress and felt the need to do something with himself for sanity's sake.

"Can I make myself useful?" he asked pointing at the food, "If I don't do something with my hands I may lose what calm I've mustered."

 

[Avalore Eden]

The complacent expression of calm curiosity slowly melted from the Healer's face at the news. She said nothing but her face said everything. Avalore was not a Jedi born and raised. She'd lived a relatively normal life up until the age of 20 before joining the Corellian Jedi Order. Despite their relative differences from the main Jedi of the galaxy that she later joined, the Corellian's had never placed so much emphasis on a lack of attachments.

In fact, they welcomed them. Encouraged them even. Jedi with families to protect and loved ones to return home to often fought harder and stronger for their Order and their beliefs. True theirs had been an Order chastised for a lack of selflessness, but Avalore had yet to see a completely selfless Jedi fight with the same fire in their hearts. Most of all, the completely selfless Jedi often struck her as completely lost.

You had to have something to fight for. Something to believe in.

She hadn't known Vosra well, but knew him as a gentle and kind soul. His loss struck a stray chord within her and resonated in a peculiar way, bringing up guilt where her own self-imposed isolation was concerned. Her want to find that selfless, unattached existence was an utter failure and one she would not regret. Avalore cared too much to not care at all.

She held the seed up, examining it in the light. Vosra's offspring? How curious that so many of the next generation were to be raised by her. Avalore knew just where to plant it. "That is most unfortunate..." soft words left her lips as she pulled the seed to her chest and held it there, warm against her neck and skin. Crestfallen and weary, she turned to the cupboards and began rummaging for a large pot. "M'ti must have told him about my gardens and the bafforr trees."

"Can I make myself useful?" he asked pointing at the food, "If I don't do something with my hands I may lose what calm I've mustered."

"Yes," the Healer replied as she pulled a pot out and filled it with water, "you can peel the potatoes for dinner. Thank you for bringing this all the way here. Sulon is a long ways away from Cato Neimoidia, I can't imagine how long that must have taken."

She could, actually, as she had already made the trip, but her own had been a one-way deal. She'd not left her old home at the Sanctuary with any plans to return. Perhaps now she would need to. Couldn't have Vosra's seed growing up alone in the gardens...

"What did you say your name was?"

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

He watched her again, his eyes washing over her scar riddled hands as she pressed the seed to her slender neck. Compassion was a lovely thing to behold. He sat his water down on the counter and picked up a pairing knife and got a full blast of memories of kitchen work. Hours spent with knife in hand this woman had cooked for others tirelessly.

"Uh, Seamus." he said calmly as he could.

He sat the knife down and pretened it hadn't happened as he took out some investigators gloves and donned them. The native kiffar was far from controlling his racial skill with psychometry, as he often found out.

He stood and removed his coat not wasting time on other things and grabbed the bag of brown potatoes. He looked at her again briefly and realized it had been a very long while since he had talked to anyone other than Talon before today. Then with a deft hand he returned to the knife an began carefully removing the "eyes" of the potato before peeling them one by one.

"I will be leaving once you're done to finish my investigation of what happened." he said deliberately not looking at anything but the potato in hand, "I should report to the Jedi soon, I'm sure."

 

[Avalore Eden]

With the sun going down, dinner to prepare and several mouths to feed Avalore conceded to the fact that today was not the right day for planting the seed. Perhaps not tomorrow either. If the seed was dormant and supposedly had been for some time already, a few more days would not hurt. She'd need time to research the Zelosians and the proper procedures of care - likely she'd need time to prepare the garden outside as well.

Avalore set the pot on the stove and turned its burner on before moving to pull a breadbasket recently woven by [member="The Revenant"] while bedridden and recovering from Taloraan. She soaked a few towels with warm water, lightly rang them out and twisted them around the seed before placing it in the basket. Like most seeds, gradual introduction of water was best after a dryspell. Too much, too soon, and you compromise the integrity of the shell.

The Healer returned to cutting the meat, giving Seamus a glance, "I understand due diligence, but I would gently insist you stay for dinner and a rest. We've plenty of rooms and comfortable beds for guests. If you like, we also have a communications lab that you can report in from."

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Avalore Eden"]


He sat looking at his potatos, wheels turning behind his bright blue eyes. Whitish juices dried quickly on his white powder free latex gloves. He fought the urge to scratch his cheek, the beard did itch so at times but it covered what the Yuuzhan vong acid had done to his face and so the little itch would have to be tolerated.

"Well I suppose I'll have to gently," he paused and looked up at the woman's gentle features and sharp eyes before turning back to his work, "acquiesce to your insistence."

He calmly sliced the skin of the next potato and began a circular line around the tuber before letting a long strip fall to the counter on top of others of similar form. It was quiet work, tedious, repetitive but blissfully quiet and simple. He dropped the skinned potato into the pot and continued his work until they were all done, or so he assumed.

"I think I may resign from the Republic." he said without preamble as he stood to carry the pot to an open burner, "Not that they'd notice. " He mumbled almost to himself before he turned and held out his hands.

"My hands are once again idle, and at your command." he said in forced good cheer. For his faults his good humor was much like his dead Master's. At least he learned something.

 

[Avalore Eden]

A wane glance given his way, Avalore's brow knit together with internalized concern.

"That's the trouble with large groups. They rarely notice the loss of a few. The Republic never noticed my leave, either."

Never noticed the death of Diana Moridena or Lira Dajenn, or the disappearance of Hal Terrano. The Jedi had become disposable to the system of the Republic despite the fact that they were often the only ones on the front lines. It was a strange case of could not see the trees for the forest. Now, perhaps, that great swathes of that forest had been taken or burnt at the hands of the One Sith they might start realizing every tree was essential.

Brown eyes momentarily looked off to Vosra's seed before she turned to set [member="Seamus Valik"] preparing a salad. Every vegetable grown at the homestead, he would have to rip the lettuce and cut tomatoes and peel carrots. His hands would be busy for a short while now.

"Where will you go?" the Healer asked once the man was set to work. She did notice the gloves finally and thought that a peculiar thing but thin lips held back the comment - prioritizing the man's answer over the trivial things.

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

He set to work. He would start with lettuce to set the base of the salad. Everything needs to begin with a good foundation, or so he was told by his mum. He thought about going home or back to sports as he pulled leaves from the lettuce head, tore them into reasonable sizes and dropped them in the bowl.

"I'm not sure." he said honestly, "I wasn't raised a Jedi. I've only been doing this for a few years. I suppose I could just go back, but there's not really a going back after war is there?"

He finished a few leaves and looked at the woman wondering what her story was. He was sure it was quite a tale since she had chosen this quiet life on a homestead. It wasn't his business however, so he went back to his more gainful employment, the lettuce.

"I may go on walkabout." he said as much to himself as to her as if saying it aloud would help him decide, "maybe try and learn more about what I want from this life."

 

[Avalore Eden]

"Hm," there was a weary smile on her face that seemed to indicate she understood completely. Avalore prepared a baking pan for the ribeye and began dressing the steak with seasoning and salts.

"No, I don't suppose there is. Not after war. You can't go back to where you came from, you can only go forward," or downward, as the case had been with many of her friends. Lost to the darkness in one way or another, several had found their way six feet under. Her brow knitted slightly as she tried not to think of it.

"but forward isn't such a bad way. It gets more difficult after war but..." brown eyes gave a brief glance around her home. Katarn Homestead. A place she never would have found with people she never would have met were it not for Meeristali, "there's good to look forward to, if you know how to find it. Even if you don't, there are people who will help you."

"I may go on a walkabout. Maybe try and learn more about what I want from this life."

"I would recommend a meditative walk. Very therapeutic. There's a lovely path that goes all through our gardens and around the homestead plot."

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

He tossed the torn leaves into the bowl and picked up the knife again before he took out a cutting board. He gently rinsed the tomatoes and set them to one side and began his work of cutting salad sized tomatoes.

She was right, he knew that, forward was the only way that had a hope and hope was what he had to hold on to.

"I'll give it a look after dinner." he said calmly as he did his best to keep his thoughts from straying to far towards the past. "If you don't mind me roaming about."

He finished one tomato and grabbed another. This salad would be delightful.

 

[Avalore Eden]

"I don't mind at all," she said warmly with a glance, "Jedi are welcome here no matter what flag they serve, even if their own."

Silence ensued for a short time as Avalore busied herself preparing the oven and lining the pan. Seamus was allowed time to his thoughts and salad making and before long there came the soft noises of a waking baby from a comm at the Healer's hip. She'd just managed to get the ribeye in the oven when those noises went dual.

"Oh naptime is definitely over...," she said as she shifted into mother-mode and began zipping about - strangely calm for how quickly she moved - and getting the evening meal portions ready, "I'll be right back."

When she returned she had the twins in her arms at either hip, one red-faced and the other Mirialan green, both crying.

"Yes," the Healer said in a loud, deep voice, "naptime is overrr. It's time to eat! What are we having tonight..." she set them into separate high chairs and locked the trays in place. The pale-skinned baby watched her, falling quiet with curiosity while his green brother's wails grew louder.

"I think some cold cooked baby carrots sounds good. Peas, lima beans..." she pulled a plastic container from the fridge and popped it open, throwing a grin at Seamus, "boys, boys, not so loud. Mr. Seamus is making our salad. We don't want to scare him away...can't have dinner without salad." Avalore bit one of the cooked carrots in half and gave one to Destin who immediately fell silent and began pawing the thing with his hands against the table of his highchair.

"They're both starting to teethe and neither one of them is happy...well, one less happy than usual," she smirked as she placed a handful of the cooked veggies on both their trays and watched them explore the food, "have to hand it to Mr. Jacen, he has some good ideas about food."

Solid foods, who'da thought. He'd recommended cold cooked carrots for them to gnaw on a few nights ago when Avalore had called his comm after two sleepless nights and no relief in sight from discontent twins.

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

He didn't take long to finish the tomatoes and in that moment he heard the sounds of a small child. He was glad that she had agreed to allow him to walk the property and gardens, but he would not want to disturb children by overstaying his welcome.

He watched calmly as the woman left. He checked his comlink for the time and then began his work of finishing the salad as the woman returned with a pair of infants. He stopped and watched with surprise as she sat them is seats and began putting out food for them.

He nearly asked if they were hers when he thought better of the question and decided that it made little difference. They were children, they were hungry, and someone was caring for them. That was what mattered most.

"I bet a nice gum massage would ease the soreness." he said as he busied himself with the remainder of the salad. "Mr. Jacen sounds like a good man. "

He smiled as he began tossing the salad gently with a fork and spoon.

"I hope I won't disturb your routine before I head out. I promise you'll hardly notice me, of that helps."

He really did need to finish his duties and report. His days as a Jedi needed to be meditated on. He wasn't sure it was what he should do anymore.

 

[Avalore Eden]

"Please," Avalore glanced at the man between catching stray food pieces off the edge of the highseat trays, "it would take a stampede of bantha to disturb the routine here. Our routine works around the needs of the house and the guests, of which we entertain several on a pretty regular basis."

If there was anything Avalore had learned about life, it was that, "Have to be adaptable, right McGruff?"

The Healer reached forward and wiped a bit of carrot mush from the green-skinned baby's face, her own eyes brightening at the show of a rare, happy smile from the boy. It was a charming smile, one she thought looked a bit like those infrequent expressions on [member="Chevu Visz"]'s face, she only hoped that Destin would grow to use them more often than she'd seen on the young Mirialan Jedi.

Armaud, she noted with a glance to the pink-faced twin, might have to teach him a thing or two about that when they got older. Always happy, that one.

"I think..." a stray thought, Avalore looked back to [member="Seamus Valik"], "tomorrow before you leave we can plant Master Vosra's seed. I would be grateful for your help. It would be a nice send-off."