Sticks and Stones

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

"Ah, but fortunately..." Mara raised a finger just like Master Beorht at the Yavin Academy used to do. "Fortunately, the ancient masters have left us the answer. We turn to the legendary Jedi precepts, flip past the Book of Hypocritical Prudery and the Book of Prudish Hypocrisy, leaf through the Chronicles of the Incomparably Enlightened, and there we find these glowing words: action through inaction. Or, as my dad would say: sit by the river and wait for your enemies' bodies to float past. I'll tell you exactly what I'm going to do: I'm going to sit here on Kilia Four, keep coordinating the Coruscant rebuilding contracts, get my head on straight, and make things."

She huffed through her nose, a 'well-then-let's-get-on-with-serious-things' sort of noise, and turned back to the workbench. "Darron Wraith and I used some things like these to cleanse the Force nexus on Coruscant. And with some of the things I saw down in the undercity, we might need more of them. See, there's a Force nexus underneath where the Jedi Temple used to be, where the One Sith built their Valley of Dark Lords, but there are two possibilities. Number one is that there's a big pure nexus under there, down deep, and that's what I was trying to cleanse. Trying to awaken its nature, you could say. Everything I did was based on that assumption. But number two is that the Jedi built their temple on very, very old Sith ruins, and I think that's the actual truth, though I doubt the One Sith knew about it. So these crystal machines may be a lot more necessary than I'd thought, and for longer, if we and the Sith have broken through and tapped into a well of the Dark Side."

 

[Kaili Talith]

Kaili was almost ashamed to admit her time at the Yavin templed was limited at best. She had been there, her mother taught there, but in the end most of the learning had taken place at home with her father and what few tools they had around the home. A signature move of a master she had no idea who it was passed her by, and so did Mara’s theories or facts about the way Coruscant was built. It wasn’t the kind of construct that Kaili associated herself with, unless her Silkworm was concerned. In that case, she was very much willing to associate herself with it. Architecture and electronics were two very different worlds apart.

“Wait, wait. So, you are meaning to tell me that there is a nexus, on top of a nexus, on top of a nexus?” Kaili perked her brow. One minute emotions, the other it was business. Some things just never changed between them. She smiled. It was a good thing. Unless…

The smile faded. “Is that why you were on Ilum? To find these crystals?”

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

"A nexus on top of a nexus on top of a nexus...I hadn't thought of it like that, but there might be. Far as I can tell, it's all one nexus, it's just the why of it, the essential nature of it, that's up for debate. That's one reason I'm building more of these crystal armatures, to try and keep the nexus pure now that it's been uncapped and cleansed. 'Cause depending on its nature, it might be cleansed permanently, or it might revert. No way to know for sure at this point. Basically it would just be nice to rebuild the Jedi Temple without doing it on Dark Side-contaminated ground.

"And yeah, that's why I was on Ilum, experimenting with pontite. The Mandos took all the crystals and tools I'd brought along, so that set back my research quite a bit, but I've replaced most of my materials just off the HoloNet." She'd refrained from re-purchasing some of the pricier stones, due to her Coruscant priorities. Leave out a handful of the rarer gemstones, and the total replacement cost sank from ten million credits to five.

"So I'm back on track. Got that part of my life under control, at least, and it's a heck of a distraction. What about you? How's droid works?"

 

[Kaili Talith]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

“They still took your ship though.” Kaili frowned. “Droid work is going good since people apparently noticed the abilities of a Borleian technomancer and her efforts to rebuild their homes. Something in the way of gratitude and lowered prices which allowed me to purchase a second droid foundry on one of the lower levels. It’s not the safest of places, but it works. Got some mercs watching it for me. I will branch out more once that’s been settled.”

“Andromeda Electronics are really taking off around the core it seems.”

“I’m even looking to find myself somewhere else to live on Borleias.” Kaili looked around her. “Maybe nothing as fancy as a castle, but I wouldn’t say no to a level or two in a high-rise overlooking the ocean.” Not that there was much else that a high-rise could ‘overlook’ on Borleias. “Saw one not too long ago, but the cost was… Out of my range.”

So far, at least. Kaili would lie if she said she hadn’t noticed her spending going up. Even if her company hadn’t grown too much she still noticed that every now and then she took the more expensive luxuries for granted. Things like a bigger, fully stocked refrigerator and someone who cooked said meals for her. Other than that Kaili held back the admission on what she had felt since the encounter with Rave. There had been confusion at first, guilt and regret later, curiosity third as Kaili eventually began to poke around at the gift that she had been provided by Mara’s aunt. There was no need for Mara to know that, she probably already knew anyway.

And these days Kaili was leading a careful expedition, to say the least. Her father had told her that knowledge was never wrong to possess, it was how you used it, and she was not one to argue that.

“Been reading up on some loose details about technobeasts.” Kaili perked her brows. “Fascinating things, yet terrifying.”

“What about here? How have the people around here been treating you?”