The Show Goes On

[Jamie Pyne]

Twenty three was incredibly few. Wroosti was a remote planet in the grand scheme of relevant worlds in the galactic game, but with so few numbers, if the Sith or First Order learned of such a place, Jamie imagined it wouldn't put up much of a fight when push came to shove. She doubted that the temple, or the planet had vast resources to pour into defenses of so few younglings and Jedi alike. The temple itself was modest in size. For their sake she hoped it remained a well kept secret.

"I see."

It was quite likely then that a number of the students were more capable than even she, having only begun refining her abilities over the last few years.

Children learned at a much faster pace, she supposed that carried over equally with the Force and ones control over it.

"Are these children taught outside of the New Jedi Order?" Given Aela's departure, Jamie wasn't sure whether this particular temple was in any way affiliated with the Alliance.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

”Not quite.” Aela said as they began to head down the ramp and towards the temple.

As soon as they stepped onto the stone path Jamie would be able to notice the almost supreme quiet that hung around the Temple. There were no sounds save for the slight chirping of birds. The Temple was completely isolated, not hidden, but placed away from almost anything that could disturb it. This had been done on purpose of course, and was one of the reasons that Aela liked it so much. Here one didn't hear the sound of repulsor lifts or the thrum of engines.

It was perfect, serene.

”The Order built the Temple, and even helps supply it at times.” It was a kindness. ”But none of the younglings will be obligated to Join the Order when they turn of age.”

Which for some of them was different that others, certain species simply matured faster or slower.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"What will become of them?" She asked as the two walked. "Will they leave and do as they will? Will they stay and teach future generations of Jedi?"

It was an odd thing growing up in a temple, away from ones biological family and home. Jamie wasn't sure she would have been comfortable with that. Her family was more important to her than being a Jedi. Leaving them was a terribly difficult decision, even if she knew it was the right one to make. Losing out on all the years she had on Naboo though felt almost a betrayal. She knew if that had been the case she likely would have been a very different person by nineteen, than she was now.

It was a strange thing to think about.

"Are any of that age already?"

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela shrugged. "That's up to them."

It had been a big point of argument for her that the younglings be able to choose their own path. Long ago the Jedi Order took children from their family, trained them, and then inducted them into the order. She felt that was a mistake, that it made Jedi too far gone from the rest of society. People didn't become people through training in a monastatic order, they became people by experiencing life. Even she herself was trained by her family, not the Jedi Order themselves.

"I imagine some will want to stay, others..." She shook her head. "Others are a bit more independent."

There were a select few who already wanted to leave, but doing so was dangerous before they were fully trained. These boys and girls were powerful in the force, and if one fell into the hands of the Disciple of Ren or even Sith it wouldn't turn out well for anyone.

"The oldest one is fourteen, though she's surprisingly astute for her age." Sivil was her name, she carried a particular interest in botany of all things.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I see." A fourteen year old astute Jedi... Jamie wondered just how much more experienced she was than someone arguably still a child, but had been training for a very likely longer period of time than she. It was a mixture of feelings, both impressed and embarrassed. Jamie had been gifted with the Force all her life, but she had never know about it, nor had she applied that ability knowingly, to refine it in any way until Aela had stepped in and assisted her for as long as she had.

While she was confident and hopeful that she was more skilled than this younger girl, she couldn't help but understand that she could hardly ever hope to rival Jedi like Aela, ones who had been aware of and training their gifts since childhood. To only ever know a sense that one had, instead of training ones self to use a sense they never had. It was an innate advantage.

"So what do you do around here then, when you're not teaching?"

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela broke into a sunbeam of a smile as Jamie asked her the latter question.

"I live my life." She said with an almost chirpy voice. "I have an apartment, I go grocery shopping, I cook, I clean!"

The young woman sounded far too excited about the latter idea, though there was a good reason for it. Much of her life had been spent as a Jedi, a full Jedi fighting a war against Sith. She'd never had time for an ordinary life and most of her time was spent coordinating offensives or living on one starship or another.

Not anymore though. "Come on. My apartment is in the city."

It was a short walk, ten or fifteen minutes from the Temple through the large Garden. She motioned for her padawan to follow along and quickly headed off away from the Temple. They could have introductions at a later point, mostly because she was far more eager for Jamie to see her living space.

"I had to borrow some money from my parents." She explained. "But the place is nice."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Broke Princess Talith?" She smirked. "Have you learned to cook properly? Or are you living off of those reheated package meals?"

Her nose scrunched repulsively. "But how do you like living a normal life?"

That was likely something new to Aela, unlike Jamie who had been just the opposite. Most of her life had been what Aela was living now, the regular stuff. Studies, cleaning, learning, cooking. It was all pretty basic for most of the galaxy, but for people like Aela, the Force, lightsabers, fighting and war were the common activities. In the grand scheme of things it was a strange life for her to live. Gardening, shopping, relaxing, things that were taken for granted back on Naboo, those were things her friend wanted more than anything now.

A simple life.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

As they wandered Aela smiled slightly despite the jab Jamie threw at her. "I have learned to cook."

Actually her mother had taught her a few dishes a long time ago, and beyond that it was actually pretty easy just to look up things on the holo-net and then go from there. She had been surprised at first, but she'd always been pretty good at following directions. It suited her, and Jedi training.

"I like it." The Jedi Master said with a broad smile. "It's...different."

She'd never known true normalcy, not even with her family. "In a weird way, it feels more..."

Aela trailed off, not sure how to explain herself.

"It feels more like I'm making my own decision." She was no longer driven by duty, but rather her own wants.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Next step is finding yourself a cute boy to latch onto."

A devious smirk crept across her face as she leaned in closer, her voice just a shade above a whisper now. "Then you can put away that smut you read."

Jamie waited for the blush to color the other woman's cheeks eagerly. She knew well how much Aela avoided the subject altogether, which was precisely why she would bring it up when the moment was right. Besides, if Aela wanted to lead a truly full and new life, what better way than to find herself a boyfriend to occupy the rest of her free time?

"I'm sure I can find you a suitable man back home, if you're interested."

She poked Aela gently with her elbow, "Then we can go on double dates! Wouldn't that be fun!?"

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela made a face.

"You want me to pair up with some Nabooan blue boy?" She let out a scoff. "No thanks."

Though Jamie was right in the fact that she was inexperienced in that world and her only real knowledge of those things came from the novels she read, Aela already knew what she wanted in her partner. It was one of the reason she'd had so little success with any of it, she had high standards and it was more than evident. On the other hand however she was in absolutely no rush to get a boyfriend or anything of the sort. She was young and would live for centuries.

There was no rush. "Half of them probably still cling to their mothers."

Naboo royals, any royals in fact were nothing but pampered little boys. Aela didn't want that.

"The other half think they're all that." She glanced at Jamie. "Do you really think I could stand them for more than a breath?'

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie scoffed right back. "We're not that bad, you know." Her eyes rolled. "You've got to learn to give people a chance."

The city began to retreat before them as they walked, more foliage and colors springing up around duracrete walls and the blue of the sky opening on the horizon.

"I have friends back on Naboo that are like me. And you put up with me just fine."

Her standards were a bit too high, so high in fact Jamie didn't quite understand what exactly they even were. She imagined some fairy tale perfection of a man depicted in the novels that simply did not exist in the galaxy, big as it were. There was no perfect man. Perfection was built, not found. Jamie learned that lesson several times over now in various situations. It wasn't about finding that perfect crystal, but making it perfect for you.

"Sometimes the best things aren't so terribly difficult to find if one just looked beneath their nose."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I don't have to date you." Aela said, then smiled a little. "Just put up with you."

The small smile fluttered on her face for just a few moments, but what Jamie said struck her for a moment.

The truth was that Aela had been thinking about these sorts of things as of late. Her life here on Wroosti was supposed to be an attempt at being normal, it was supposed to be her way of settling into place and actually living. Part of that was dating, at least in her mind, yet she either didn't have the courage or the inclination to go out and actually look. It was an odd sort of thing, one that Aela had been pondering for quite a while.

"The truth is, I'm going to live a long time Jamie." A very long time.

"I'm not in any rush." She shrugged. "My father was two hundred years old before he met my mother."

Though her mother was only a few years older than she now was.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

That made her eye twitch. The whole age thing wasn't something new. Jamie had known of it before, but it just made things incredibly awkward for her every time it was raised. Her life was comparatively short when considering the vast majority of those in the galaxy. Jamie was genetically an average human. Her planet and people bore no everlasting life or longevity. She expected a life of around eighty standard years, maybe a little more if she were fortunate. A child by some species standards.

"It's the same thing in a lot of ways if you think about it. What's the difference? We aren't sexually intimate." She shrugged. "I still tell you everything, still see you and talk to you regularly. We're still close, like family." She lifted her wrist and gave the bracelet a small shake. "We even wear these things on our arms that tell us how the other person is feeling. That's closer than most anything else could be." Her hand fell back to her side as she continued walking.

"So in a lot of ways it's really the same. You put up with me because you like putting up with me, and because you care. So I know you have a heart behind those stone eyes."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She gave Jamie another small smile. "True."

Aela couldn't argue with her padawans logic, especially behind the bracelets. The two of them were closer than most, and the artifacts they wore ensured that even more. For a brief few seconds she remembered the...awkward effects of the bracelet that they had once encountered, an immediate redness forming on her cheeks as she squashed the thought in an instant.

"But." She continued. "With a man it might be different."

She paused for a moment, trying to think. "I want someone who can keep up with me. Intellectually, physically...morally."

That last one might have been a bit of a stretch for anyone, but it was what Aela wanted.

"I know it's asking a bit much, but..." She shrugged, wasn't that her right? It wasn't like she ever complained about being alone or anything of the sort.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Maybe you need to look at it from a different angle then."

It wasn't about finding yourself in another person, after all. "Look at it as finding a balance to yourself. Someone may not be intellectually the same as you, but that doesn't necessarily make them less intelligent. Take me for example, if you would. You know much more of the Force, being a Jedi, and the galaxy as a whole." She wagged her nose as a sweet smell passed through the air, something delicious baking nearby most likely. For half a second she lost her train of thought. "But I grew up largely isolated from the galaxy, I know plenty of things, and by a measuring of different standards I would be hopeful in declaring myself intelligent, even if nothing more than in speaking and articulating." A finger stretched out, pushing aside a bit of hair that had fallen stray.

"Another person might not seem on your level, but if you gave them a chance, perhaps they might surprise you. The same goes for your other standards of physicality and morality."

Jamie folded her arms beneath one another as she walked, lifting her eyes up to the bright sky to simply enjoy the environment. "You should find what makes you happy, but don't dismiss things simply due to what you perceive on the surface, like nobility."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

It was something to think about. She would consider it at the very least.

Jamie was right about some things. Aela couldn't exactly demand perfection and what she wanted...might not actually be what she needed. That was a weird thing to think about really, but the idea settled in her mind for a moment as she considered what her padawan had said finally after a moment she shook her head.

”Ill think it over.” A small concession.

Aela was generally known as a rather stubborn person, getting her to do or admit anything sue didn't want was as tough as cracking open a Krayt Dragon perarl.

”Let's not make this about boys though.” Aela said with a smile. ”There's still a lot more of Wroosti to see.”

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Very well."

All that Jamie wanted was for Aela to approach the idea from a realistic way, rather than whatever kind of ideal fantasy was lingering in her mind. She wanted her to be happy and to find her happiness, but not to waste chances at it because of her predispositions. It seemed that if nothing else, her words had meant something, and that was better than nothing. Maybe she wouldn't take her advice, Jamie was certainly no better off several months ago, but she hoped that it helped in some way.

"I won't press you anymore on the subject. For now."

It was hard to promise at all. For now would have to do. "Lets see this shack you're living in on borrowed credits."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I will think about it." Aela said as she grabbed Jamie's hand for a brief moment, squeezing it. "I promise."

She didn't take advice from her closest friend lightly, and that was what Jamie had become. They started off as student and teacher, but since then they had only grown closer and closer. The two women trusted one another like sisters, and the bracelets that they wore on their wrists were more than proof of that.

"This way." She motioned towards a building on the edge of the city.

Aela had picked that building for a particular reason. It was located at the edge of the city itself and contained a view of the Temple grounds. The loft that she had purchased allowed for plenty of sunlight, and of course most importantly the building itself was very secure. The two girls walked inside as Aela flashed her keycard, the doors falling open to reveal a wide lobby with no one inside. The Jedi Master wandered forward first, heading towards the elevator.

"It might be a bit messy." She told Jamie. "I left in kind of a rush."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie laughed at the comment, vibrant azure eyes glancing about as they entered inside and into the elevator.

"Messy? You've seen my bedroom at my estate."

Hard to imagine, and if so, her mother would likely have an aneurysm at the sight. It was one of the things she had never grown out of since her childhood. Jamie could somehow keep an entire household clean and spotless, but her bedroom? It looked like several natural disasters had convened and hit all at once no matter how hard she tried to clean it under her mothers stern scolding.

"Is it worse than that?"

Curiosity took over, and the girl wondered if this was one of those places that had a fancy rooftop pool on it that the penthouse loft had access to. That would be pretty remarkable.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela shrugged quietly, stepping off the elevator with a small smile.

In truth, it felt really good to finally be getting home. She had been gone for so long that she had actually started to miss the apartment quite a bit. She loved her bed here, the atmosphere, everything about it. Slowly she motioned for Jamie to follow behind her, heading towards the end of the hallway. "Here."

The Jedi Master said as she fished out a set of keys.

"Just remember, don't judge me." She quickly unlocked the door and then gently pressed it open.

What was revealed behind it was, of course, the complete opposite of a mess. Every single surface was spotless, there was no dust, no clothing anywhere, and the only thing that seemed to be out of place was a pile of books by the sofa.