The Deep

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Tugoro Taidarious"]

Elara stood up, the padawans here in the courtyard were practicing their blade works and she was up. The jedi knight teaching her made a face but the twelve year old prepared herself, hands resting on the training sabers hilt while she moved taking a simple shii'cho stance before moving forward and showing nothing on her face. Inwardly she was chanting to bring energy and power to her body as her master had taught her. Releasing it with a small flush while she moved and ducked down.

His blade went over her head while she rolled in the air and activated the training saber with a snap hiss of pink light getting into a blade lock. His saber pushing down on hers before she deactivated the blade bringing her fist holding the hilt up to strike his nose. She was up in the air and came down driving a her elbow to make him fall face first. Elara landed on the ground and stood taking a jedi ready stance while she popped her neck with a loud cracking sound. The familiar bird screecing while it flew overhead.

On her ship Balaya was moving now, there were more padawans to see to and more work to be done for the siths war effort. Her hands were over the metal bands while she slowly shaped them and bled. Focusing on it for a blood trail and to enchant them, ensnarement spells were subtle things. SHe needed to be careful so it wasn't to powerful it would be obvious, it needed to be subtle and slowly push the darkness itno their hearts until they served the dark lord.

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

Tugoro had been present within the court yard, though he was not among the crowd. The young Padawan had positioned himself within one of the many trees that decorated the area, giving nature the respect it deserved. The shade casted by the full head of leaves above obscured his figure to most, though it did not hinder his sight at all. Silently, he would watch and inspect the sparring, his jaws dropping as he watched [member="Darth Praelior"]'s apprentice perform an impressive physical feat. Tugoro had never encountered a Padawan like Elara before, now that he thought about it he had never seen her either. Where had she come from? Even so, he would nod his head in approval, for he constantly sought out challenges for his own prowess. The Jedi was stronger than most Padawans, some even speculating that he was already at Knight level. This title would not be granted however, for he still had one trial left.

He appreciated her action oriented and strategic methods, for it was something that he himself probably would have done at some point in the future. His own fighting style was unorthodox, to say the least. Kicking his legs over the branches surface, Tugoro would begin to drop, landing swiftly upon the soft dirt. The youth would begin to walk forward, approaching the newcomer in a hopes to learn more about her. "You," he called at first, lifting a single arm to point in her direction. "Who are you?" It was not as if he were interrogating her due to suspicion, the boy's vocabulary was simply limited, and sometimes came off as blunt and/or bold. He was genuinely interested in knowing this person.

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Tugoro Taidarious"]

Elara stood there for a moment and searched for the origin of the words until she turned her head offering a smile. "I am Elara Blake, I was sent here by my master after Aldedaan." She didn't know who this one was but she knew her masters magics. A false lightside aura that made her seem pure, her limited ability to use the darkside helping sell the illusion as lightning at best looked like ionize to mess with droids and griping something they all could do. A hand went up to touch her head as she ran her hand over it. "Who are you?" She was interested in knowing and stood a little taller in her place letting the saber deactivate.

The screech of the familiar showed Balaya interest as the bird perched and watched, the sith master watching her apprentice tell the truth exactly. Every word of it true, after Sophia Walsh joined her on Alderaan. Elara was sent here so the newest sith master could be groomed properly to serve the Dark Lord. Her daughter Sophia secured by other operatives while she continued to work on the metal bands in the small basin. Silver caries waters being used to cool them as the symbol of the jedi order was engraved. Very very good apprentice, you are preforming better then I would have expected but then it is hard to lie about the truth.

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

No smile would be present upon the boy's face. His smooth skinned expression looked serious, and almost bland despite his sharp features. The young Padawan would eye his apparent fellow Jedi up and down, noting her young age. The youth's Jedi tunic would billow in the wind of the courtyard, as he turned slightly to look at the downed Knight. How strong was this girl? Even if she had managed to beat down some lowly rookie Knight, Tugoro was not intimidated, for he believed in and prided himself on his battle prowess. Watching her blade deactivate, the boy would speak up, after she finished responding herself.

"Padawan Taidarious," he would reply, giving no further explanation as to who he was. Reaching out with his mind, the brown haired lad would begin to access his sensing abilities, allowing his energy to sweep across the entire temple within minutes. He had been taught how to sense on an immense scale, and was still improving everyday. The focus of his mind would begin to narrow down however, concentrating solely on Elara. An aura of light side energy emanated around her, which was not surprising in the least. He did not find the fact that it was brighter than his own to strange either, for he had undergone many traumatizing experiences during the war. The battle hardened youth would continue to approach the female, stopping before looking down at her. "You were on Alderaan?" He questioned, a curious look upon his face.
[member="Darth Praelior"]

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Tugoro Taidarious"]

Elara nodded her head to that as she continued to look at him. "Yes both times, my master fought and I followed I was also at Empress Teta and Coruscant, battled on Korriban, Dac and Ossus under Selena's reign." Again more truth, she had served her master across all the major campaigns fighting for the Sith but the Republic had been in each. Her eyes looked up at him while she expanded her own senses outwards and held a hand up for the bird to come to her finger as it perched shaking its head. The small connection she had to the bird a welcome thing as it linked her master here to see. The smile remained on her face. "Did you fight as well?"

Balaya slowly held up several rings in her hands as she was smiling. They had worked hard and now these rings were beautiful, they were focused and skilled. She had a great deal of work to do in the end while moving about and presenting one of the bronze rings to a blackblade scout. "Take this into the catacombs and hide it, I will tell Elara where to go." The scout nodded his head while she was moving towards a large throne to meditate. She had been working hard to make the subtle rings engraved and fashioned as jedi rings. A symbol of their order they had had eons ago. Now it would serve a proper purpose.... sowing the seeds to serve the dark lord.

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

The crowd that had gathered would begin to disperse, heading to their own secluded sections of the courtyard. Some even left, journeying back into the vast temple. Tugoro remainined however, and continued his conversation with [member="Darth Praelior"]'s apprentice, Elara. He found her choice of words strange, for he had no clue who Selena was, or why she reigned. Furrowing his brow slightly at this, the Jedi remained silent, watching as the strange bird appeared, descending on the duo, and landing on the girl's hand. He had never seen that type of bird before. Looking it over with a curious eye, the youth would reply to the female, not even looking at her.

"Yeah, I did," he would state, slowly craning his head to the side, looking back to the apparent padawan. "Who is your master?" He questioned, wondering what kind of teacher would condone such unorthodox, violent, and aggressive methods, against a fellow Jedi too.

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Tugoro Taidarious"]

Balaya looked her head up as she watched and spoke for Elara. "This one is curious, do not lie apprentice, tell him the truth. Your master is Master Clandestine of the jedi order, one of the youngest Jedi Knights." Balaya crossed her arms while she focused on the familiar to send the message and she was tracking the ring as the scout used one of the stealth ships to head down towards the river. Her little sisters had been sent to the jedi while she was kept home and raised a mandalorian. Serena and Bellalika were both appointed to jedi knights following their work against the Rexes, she had used Kaine's network to keep track of them.

"My master is Master Clandestine from Tython. One of the youngest appointed to jedi knight after her work against the Rexes on Cularin, Kashyyyk and Ruusan." Elara smiled at that and let the bird go to her shoulder while she felt the weight of the sabers in her hands. "I am sorry, but I was sent here with an important mission, I am supposed to try and find what happened to Daella and Sophia. Both visited the lower catacombs before they fell and my master is trying to figure out why." Elara didn't just leave but she let the urgency be in her voice, Balaya had been teaching her to read people and some.. well a few would be interested.

That was the hope here at least while she fiddled with her pockets to withdraw an old map showing the ruined temple from the war on Ossus with tunnels and rooms connecting to the lower levels of the temple here. She had was looking around the courtyard to find what she needed and had a small smile on her face while she chewed her lower lip. Feigning some fear and dread of going into tunnels alone, but she was a warrior. What most things would see is that she was a padawan who fought on the front lines instead of watched from the back it made her harder and she was used to dispatching quickly either to stun or injure enough the enemy.

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

Tugoro had never heard of Clandestine. He really didn't care, either. The boy would remain silent as the younger girl spoke, explaining her master's work and her own task at hand apparently. More names that were useless to his ears were mentioned, resulting in a brief shrug from the Padawan. He didn't know who Daella or Sophia were, but would still continue to listen to [member="Darth Praelior"]'s apparent predicament. He wondered why she would go to catacombs that were assumed to be affiliated with the dark side, along with the fact that her master had sent her Padawan to do the job. It didn't sound right. Then again, it could be a trial for the apprentice. Nodding his head in understanding, Tugoro simply ignored all of her symptoms of nervousness, before lifting a single arm.

Placing his palm enthusiastically on her shoulder, the youth would give her a brief smile, before lifting his other arm to flash her an encouraging thumbs up. Tugoro believed that it was best to believe in yourself, and even develop skills independently, for not everyone had a master. Including himself. "Good luck," he would speak, still thinking about her current situation. If she wanted him to tag along, she'd had to try harder than that.

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Tugoro Taidarious"]

Balaya looked at the boy and shrugged while she made sure the scout was on his way down to the planet. She was focused and ready to empower and focus on the ones that mattered. On the ones who were skilled and would prove useful to empowering herself and growing as sith apprentices able to bring the jedi's downfall on that planet. She spoke for Elara "Do not worry about him, head down and if he follows Elara so be it, there are other padawans there and there are several charms." She was watching all of it and looked towards the grating while she held the grin on her face.

Elara looked at the thumbs up and nodded her head as the words came from her master into her head. She looked off to the side towards the grating down below and started over to it. Stopping only to get two of the padawans who had been watching and explaining the situation to them. They looked willing to help her and started prying at the grate to get down into the lower levels of the temples and courtyard. Elara had a smirk on her face as the grating opened bringing her hand up for the bird. The other ones preparing to go down with her while they busted out glow rods and training sabers.