Private The Great Unknown (Kyra Perl)

[Caedyn Arenais]

Caedyn couldn't help but laugh softly in response, studying Kyra Perl as he did so; "How easily you put a negative twist upon things" He said with a fond look for her despite how difficult she could often be. Kyra had a talent for arguing with everything that might come her way, the things that she couldn't directly control or manage of her own accord, otherwise something to complain about. "Your progress in training has still come from all your hard work, all your sweat and tears, don't worry..." he reassured her.

A blood test. Caedyn mused over the idea silently within, turning his gaze back out toward the stars in contemplation of what all this meant for his Padawan. "Regardless of who he is, I'm glad you've met him. Everyone deserves to know their parents, and many often don't get the chance..." he added after a moment. Having lost his own father, Caedyn understood the importance of making the most of their time with family.

"Your Mother has confirmed it, I imagine?" He asked out of curiosity. "I wonder how Master Starchaser would react to me asking for a blood sample..." Caedyn laughed softly. How rude it would seem were he forced to do so.

"As for how you found your way to me, well done" Caedyn grinned. He had to admit, it was rather impressive how she had managed.

 

[Kyra Perl]

"No. I'm not talking to her," she grumbled, no space left for compromise. If Caedyn wouldn't ask for the test, then she would! Without shame, too. A part of her didn't want him to be her dad. She wanted a shitter dad. One that she could hate without confusion. This really all was a bundle of confusion-- and no fair for her either! She didn't ask to be born.

Why should she feel conflicted about holding him to that?

Beyond the confusion and the pain was a sense of excitement she hadn't acknowledged yet. Neither of the pair was one to assume a relation without sufficient cause. Kyra wouldn't have said anything to Caedyn at all, but there was a sense of truth in her gut. An unshakable, exciting truth. She bit this back, looking up at her master with a small edge of vulnerability to her gaze as he praised her.

"You can have him if you want. You know. To replace your own. I don't mind."

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Caedyn's jaw tightened as she remarked all too loosely on the replacing of his Father. "Careful, Padawan" he cautioned her, "You're at risk of saying something you'll regret" he added in clear warning. By this point Kyra Perl would know how sensitive a subject Caedyn's father was, he had spoken to her of Veiere a number of times now, including the nature of his murder at the hands of the Sith.

"Tell me something...-Putting aside the fact that I know who he is and what he's done, how did you feel spending time with the man. What was it like meeting him?" Caedyn asked, wanting to better understand where this need to fight her new found circumstance was coming from; It seemed much smarter to keep the focus on her and engage with her on the subject before she could make the mistake of targeting his personal life and running the risk of insulting him.

 

[Kyra Perl]

-- again. Insulted him again. Kyra was notorious for nudging weak spots when she was feeling vulnerable. Easier to focus on someone else than herself. Kyra winced as he called her out on the unconscious behavior. If they were anywhere else than out in the open, she probably would have ducked behind an object at his tone.

She closed up a little, a pout pulling at her lips as she looked at the ground with equal parts indignation and shame. She didn't mean it like that.... Course she never did...

She toed the ground at his question, answering with an unwilling drawl. "He's okay. I mean. I liked him before. ... Taught me how to fly." Massive overstatement. She had set his ship into hyper drive-- a lesson on trusting her instincts. Caedyn would be more than familiar with her inability to fly inside her piloting classes. Something something doesn't pay attention.

She gave a heavy sigh, her arms dropping from around her as tears hit her waterline. "He was ok. I guess." But she was torn up by the whys.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

"I've spent a fair bit of time with you now, and while I'm clearly not a mind reader, I like to think I've learned a few more things about you compared to how we first started things off" Caedyn replied with a faint, gentle smile as he studied his Padawan; "I know you don't like the thought of pressure or expectation being put on you..." He gave the assumption a voice in that it could be her fearing his reputation more than himself, although Caedyn also considered the obvious absence in her life, one that he himself understood and had experienced with his Master.

"If getting to know him better is something you decide you want to do, I'd suggest trying to ignore all the excuses your brain tries to tell you" He said, a soft chuckle escaping him; "I can have you both tested if you really don't trust him, but I guess this is an opportunity you haven't really had before, isn't it?" he asked Kyra Perl , assuming that this was the first time she'd spent any real time with the man.

Caedyn felt the urge to explain his own troubles in resenting his father following the man's fall to the dark side and what it had done to his family, for years long after Veiere's return to the Jedi Order (thanks to Coren Starchaser ), Caedyn had still held a deep distrust and resentment towards Veiere. Right up until his death where he had lost the opportunity to come to terms with the man. At one stage, he had spoken to the gatekeeper of his father's Holocron, though it wasn't the same as talking to the real thing.

Of course, Kyra didn't need to be educated or hear some form of lecture right now. Instead he left it at trying to be her friend and mentor in the moment.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra squirmed. How easily he had seen through her and called her out on her tendencies. She wasn't sure she liked it.

She gave a half-hearted shrug at his question, even though both of them knew it was indeed her first opportunity of this nature. The whole point of this trip was for Kyra to reach out and reconnect with her family. Her distance with Yula Perl had been just as much her lack of reaching out as it was how far away her sister now lived. Giving Kyra the confidence to speak to her family again, to trust in the connection with them, was meant to strengthen her.

And it did.

Just no one expected a father to join the mix. No one had signed her up for that.

She had regained faith in leaning on Yula. All it took was a bit a show of love and all those youthful insecurities that time had dredged up had dissipated into the wind. Coren Starchaser though? Her ...father...

Caedyn asked for her to give him a chance, to silence her mind, but frankly she didn't know how. Yula she had known beforehand. The distance was minor, and even self inflected. Coren?

She let out a shaky breath, one fear finding its way into words. "Whatif....hedoesn't...likewhathesees."

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

"I seem to recall there being a time you weren't so certain about my either" Caedyn smiled, knowing well that when they had first met she had wanted nothing to do with him as well. At least with Coren she would have the opportunity to learn more about her Father, someone who Caedyn figured would have some form of paternal obligation to her in the sense of feeling a form of instinctive care for the girl. A different sort of relationship than what he and Kyra Perl held as Master and Padawan, as much as he cared over her.

"If he's as intelligent and perceptive as my Father believed, he'll see reason to be proud of his Daughter already" Caedyn encouraged her. The truth was that most Jedi students didn't get the chance to know their family while also growing up within the Order. Many of them left their families at a young age and were discouraged from those homely attachments. Kyra's father being a Jedi Master was a blessing in a sense.

"No one's going to force you to get to know him, Kyra" he wanted to reassure her, "It's your decision and if it's something you wish to do, then you can do so as slowly or otherwise as you feel comfortable to do. Maybe you should talk with your Mom about having met him. Ask her what he was like and what she thinks of him. You might be surprised with what you find".

 

[Kyra Perl]

"No," Kyra replied, her tone steely and sharp. She pulled her hand off a locket at her neck, her fists balling in frustrating.

"I will not. And don't you go to her either-- You're my master, not my keeper!" Wasn't that the same thing? "Anyway it hardly matters. I'm busy training and he's off busy... moving stuff. I doubt I'll see him again so can we just drop it. I've been gone for a while. It's time we train again."

Hoy boy you'd know Kyra didn't want to talk about something when she offered up a training session instead. Her face was a fiery red as she turned from him, clearly at her max as she stormed down the steps to walk away.

Teenagers.