Private The Story of Shadows (On the Rocks)

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Valery Noble

Club Retro had become a regular place for Jonyna to take Val when she wanted a private conversation. The music was loud enough to drown out anyone trying to snoop, the bouncers were top tier, and the booze was too. Sitting down in her regular booth, Jonyna wasn't dressed anything too fancy today, mostly because she didn't intend to hit the dance floor like normal. Not tonight.

Tonight she had a few pertinent questions for the Grandmaster.

The fallout of Woostri had been one of revelations. That the Alliance's military was not as invincible as Jonyna had attempted to build it up as. That the jedi were lacking in ways that Jonyna had failed to realize.

But the biggest one, was that of the Shadows, or their lack of them.

So, Jonyna, having Val in a quiet spot, asked a question she probably should've long ago.

"Who is Allyson Locke?"

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Wedding Ring

Valery had been enjoying herself.

Really, truly enjoying herself — which was a rare enough occurrence that she’d even let her hair down a bit, both figuratively and literally. She sat across from Jonyna in their usual booth, sleeves rolled up, a comfortably casual outfit on for once, and a drink in hand that she actually intended to finish instead of leaving forgotten mid-conversation.

She smiled as she swirled the contents of her glass and leaned forward, elbow resting on the table.

“So,” she started, eyes twinkling with amusement, “If this is another one of your attempts to convince me to take the dance floor again, I’m still sore from the last tim-"

Jonyna’s question cut clean through the rest of her thought.

"Who is Allyson Locke?"

Valery blinked. Then immediately choked on her drink.

She coughed into her arm, setting the glass down with a clink and lifting a hand in a silent give me a second gesture as her brain tried to reboot. When she finally managed to swallow and inhale a steady breath, her eyes were very wide.

“…I’m sorry,” she said, a little hoarse. “Why are you asking?"

Jonyna Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Valery Noble

Jonyna had to hold back a slightly laugh at Val nearly choked on her drink. Jonyna had always been very direct, but tonight was one of those nights she didn't feel like beating around the bush.

Still, the sight of the grandmaster being so caught off guard was funny.

"Sorry, just...I was looking through the debrief files about Woostri. There's a bunch of mentions of her, but a lot of it is..." Jonyna made a hand gesture, as if to signal Val that she shouldn't be talking about it here. "I met her the one time, she chewed me out for being a 'poorly trained shadow'. All I could gather was that she was a Shadow, and that you fought her. So...answer the question. Who is she?"

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Wedding Ring

Valery leaned back slowly in the booth, one hand still curled loosely around her drink while the other came up to rake through her loose hair. Jonyna's casual bluntness wasn't exactly new, but this particular question still felt like it had dug up a memory she hadn't expected to unearth tonight — not here, not now. She took a breath, glanced sideways at the pulsing lights of Club Retro's ceiling, then looked back at her fellow Jedi with a resigned sort of smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

So Jonyna didn't know everything. That was good. A relief, even. The things she did know? Manageable.

Valery shrugged a shoulder, casual but not dismissive. "Allyson was once the Master Shadow," she said, voice calm but laced with memory. "Back before the Second Great Hyperspace War fractured everything — before most people were even paying attention to what the Shadows did. When I started walking that path, she was the one I worked with the most."

She paused, sipping again from her drink — slower this time — before continuing.

"We worked together. A lot. She was… smart. Resourceful. Ten steps ahead of anyone in the room, even when she acted like she wasn't paying attention." Her smile twitched faintly, wistful for a brief moment. "But the Council we served under… wasn't the best. And things got complicated."

Valery leaned forward again, forearms resting on the table, her amber eyes meeting Jonyna's steadily.

"She left. I stayed. And everything changed from there."

She didn't elaborate yet. Not about what came after. Not unless Jonyna pushed.

Jonyna Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Valery Noble

Jonyna let Val talk, idly sipping her own drink. There was more to this, but Jonyna wasn't gonna make her friend too uncomfortable.

Still...

"Left seems like a pretty broad oversimplification, Val, no offense. The report I read said you fought her on Woostri. What drives a jedi to go to the sith, especially when they spent most of their life infiltrating them?"

Really, Jonyna's biggest question was one of history. If Allyson was close to Val, why abandon her? Why leave the order? Jonyna paused, motioning to Val for a second to let her continue, before taking a sip of her drink again.

"Val, what happened to the Shadows? I don't exactly see us using them much anymore."

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Wedding Ring

Valery let out a long, quiet breath — not quite a sigh, but close. Her fingers tapped idly against the side of her glass, and her eyes dropped briefly to the table between them before lifting again to meet Jonyna's gaze.

"You're right. 'Left' is oversimplifying it," she admitted. "She did leave because of the Council — that's still true. They mishandled a lot, buried too much, and they weren't there to address what was actually happening." Valery had noticed that, too. When she joined, it didn't take long before most Jedi turned to her for leadership, rather than the Council Members who had already been there for years.

"She tried to come back a few times you know. After the war, after everything burned down. But things weren't the same. The Order had changed, the Alliance had changed, and… she couldn't find her place anymore." Valery shook her head slightly, the corners of her mouth twitching in a faint, bittersweet smile. "What drove her into the hands of the Sith? That part, I don't know. I wish I did. She kept her walls up, even with me. Maybe especially with me."

She fell quiet for a beat, then leaned back and finally chuckled — dry, but not cold — at the final question.

"As for the Shadows?" Her smile turned wry. "You're not supposed to see them much. That's kind of the point." She tilted her head thoughtfully, gaze drifting for a second before returning. "There are still some out there. Good ones. Quiet ones. They report directly to me now — not to a council of people who don't understand what the job takes."

A pause.

"We don't have a dedicated Master Shadow anymore. Not since I took over from her. But… maybe one day." Her amber eyes glittered slightly in the club lights. "If the right person comes along."

Jonyna Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Valery Noble

The songs of the past were always full of sorrow. It wasn't hard to pick that up if you spent enough time at this place, but Jonyna tried her best to find the love trapped inside as well. The stories of beauty in an uncaring galaxy.

"Do you think we could ever convince her to come back?" It was a question that weighed a lot on Jonyna's mind these days. Not just for Allyson, but for a lot of folks. Her own culture believed that once an animal became overwhelmed with bloodlust, became nothing more than a killing machine, it was best to put it down, for the safety of others.

But redemption was a concept that Jonyna always struggled with. The concept of forgiving past evils, as if they were only mistakes. To her, it was always so simple. Good. Evil.

The grey always kinda split down the middle, very rarely keeping so blurry in her mind.

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Wedding Ring

Valery's eyes lingered on the swirl of light caught in the bottom of her glass, her expression unreadable for a moment as the music thumped low and steady through the walls of Club Retro. The question Jonyna asked was a simple one — but the answer never had been.

Do you think we could ever convince her to come back?

She didn't answer right away. Instead, she leaned back into the booth a little more, letting the thought settle into her chest like something heavy and warm at the same time. "…I hope so," she said softly. Not quiet — not shy. Just honest. "I want to believe we could."

Her gaze shifted, amber eyes flicking toward the club lights overhead. They cast subtle reflections in the glass, in her eyes — a flicker of red, of gold, like embers that refused to go out. "I've seen people come back from worse," she continued after a beat, voice thoughtful. "People who were consumed by the Dark Side for years — decades. People who did things they can never fully undo. And still… something brought them back."

She didn't have to name names. Jonyna would know enough — Jedi history, even recent, was filled with broken paths stitched back together.

"But with Allyson…" Valery exhaled slowly, rubbing her thumb along the rim of the glass. "She doesn't let people in easily. Never really has. And I think whatever happened — whatever broke inside her — it made that wall even harder to reach." A faint smile, tired but real, curled at the edge of her mouth.

"If she ever does come back… it won't be because we convinced her. It'll be because she chooses to. Because she wants to." She paused again, then looked at Jonyna more directly, something quietly resolute behind her expression.

"And if she ever does… I'll be there."

Jonyna Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Valery Noble

Jonyna swirled her drink, downing the rest. "I'm not so forgiving. Good people, innocent people, get hurt when you let animals run free. It's a lot harder to be compassionate when your people have been slaughtered before. I see people like Carnifex, and I don't see a person, I see...a monster. A monster that needs to be slain, for the betterment of the galaxy."

She shook her head, knowing what she was saying, by a jedi standard, was 'wrong'.

"I call myself a hero, try to be one, but more often than not, that job isn't about saving people, not about putting yourself in the line of fire, about fixing the broken cities...It's about putting the monster down. Being, what my people call, Cathpa. The Hunter."

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Wedding Ring

Valery listened in silence. Not judging. Not correcting. Just listening. She let the weight of Jonyna's words hang in the air — about monsters, about what being a hero really meant. It wasn't new. Valery had felt that weight too, time and time again, in the hushed silence after battle, in the eyes of those who looked to her for justice, for vengeance, for something that felt like peace.

Her fingers traced the rim of her glass once, then she glanced back up, amber eyes catching the dim light.

"You're not wrong," she said, and there was no hesitation in her voice. "There are monsters out there. People like Carnifex… they don't want redemption. They don't seek forgiveness. They revel in what they've done. And when someone like that steps into the galaxy again?" Her jaw tightened slightly. "You stop them. However you must. I won't ever tell you otherwise."

But then… her tone shifted.

"But it's important to know the difference." She turned her body more fully toward Jonyna now, her voice steady but low — the kind of voice forged in fire and tempered by loss.

"It's easy to think it's always obvious. That a monster will look like one. That we can spot them by their scars, their crimes, their red blades. But not all of them wear it on their sleeves." Her eyes lowered briefly to the table before returning to Jonyna's.

"My husband is Carnifex's son." She let that sit there, quiet and undeniable. There was no shame in it. No regret. Just truth.

"He was raised in that world. In that darkness. Trained and indoctrinated to be a weapon. But he broke free. He chose the Light. And every day since, he's fought to stay in it. Fights to protect others from becoming what he could've been." A pause. Then, gentler now: "Was he not worth saving because of what he had done?" She let out a slow breath, then leaned forward, elbows resting on the table, her expression thoughtful but firm.

"Allyson hasn't become what Carnifex is. Not even close. She still doubts. Still struggles. That means something. That's the part that tells me she hasn't fallen — not all the way. Maybe she's lost. Maybe she's angry. But there's still a person in there worth believing in." Her lips twitched into the faintest smile, tired but warm.

"And if we can't tell the difference between someone like Allyson… and someone like Carnifex? Then we'll stop being Jedi. We'll start becoming what they say we are — just another blade looking for a throat."

She leaned back slowly, her tone quiet now. Reflective.

"You want to be a hero? You have to be very good at distinguishing between Monsters and people, or you might as well be a monster yourself."

Jonyna Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Valery Noble

"...I know, but..." Jonyna let out a sigh. It was something she thought about a lot. "There are days I struggle to understand. When I came out of the ice, I had only been told stories of the sith. Whispers of Vader and Sidious. I had only ever faced Inquisitors, not the real thing. Now that I know them...I can't imagine what would drive someone to join them. Kahlil is one thing, he was born into them. He didn't have a choice, and when he finally was given one, he rightfully chose the alternative."

Jonyna looked to Val with a concerned look. "Allyson chose to join a group of monsters willingly. Do you think we could trust her if she ever came back?"

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Wedding Ring

Valery's gaze lingered on the rim of her glass for a moment, her fingers stilling as she let Jonyna's words settle between them. She didn't interrupt — didn't rush to fill the silence. This was a heavy truth, and it deserved a measured answer. Finally, her eyes lifted again, warm but solemn.

"It's not always that simple, Jonyna," she said quietly. "Choice isn't as black and white as we sometimes want it to be. Not when it comes to the Dark Side." She leaned forward slightly, her voice low but steady — like someone speaking from memory, not theory.

"The Dark doesn't always pull people in with cruelty. It doesn't start with hate or murder. It starts with the things that feel good. Righteous. Necessary. It seemingly offers certainty when everything else is chaos. Power when you feel powerless. Control when you're lost. It feels like salvation… until it isn't."

Valery's lips pressed into a thin line before she continued.

"By the time you realize how far you've gone, it's already taken root. Most don't wake up one day as a Sith. You slide into it, inch by inch, until one day there's blood on your hands and you can't remember when you stopped fighting it." She tilted her head slightly, meeting Jonyna's gaze with quiet certainty.

"That's why we don't judge in broad strokes. That's why we don't throw away anyone who stumbles."

A long breath escaped her lips as she straightened again.

"When someone falls, we have to ask why. Was it anger? Was it fear? Was it desperation, or loneliness, or pain that no one helped them through? And once we know why, then we can decide if there's a way back. Not every person can be saved. But if we don't try… we stop being what the Jedi are meant to be."

She gave a faint, tired smile. Not from doubt, but from carrying this truth for so long.

"That complexity — being able to live in it, sit in it, and still do what's right — that's the duty. That's what makes us Jedi. Not just swinging sabers at darkness, but understanding how people fall. And doing what we can to help them rise again."

Valery's voice softened, but her gaze remained firm.

"So no. I don't know if we could trust Allyson if she came back. Not right away. But I do know that if we close the door completely… then she won't come back at all."

Jonyna Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Valery Noble

Jonyna sat and listened. It was all she could do. The pull of the dark, it was something almost completely alien to her. Even in her own darkest moments, she just...

Never felt it. Never felt the urge. Pain, misery, her hardwired reaction had always been to struggle against it and find the hopeful way. That wasn't always the easy way, nor was it always the prettiest way, but she always fought through grim and grit to find it.

"...that's fair, I guess."

Those were the words that finally came out. They were uncertain, weak.

"...I want to believe, I really do, but I've just seen so much. This isn't like what I was used to. With Imperials, Mandalorians, it wasn't about Light or Dark. It was about Good and Evil. Power, Glory, Control. Those were the things the enemies I grew up fighting cared about. Stormtroopers never much cared about philosophy, only killing. I never felt bad slicing one in half, given they were trying to kill me, or my friends, or the people behind us. I never felt pity for the moff I impaled when he threatened to turn the guns of his Star Destroyer on my home-tree. Everything is so much more...complicated now."

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Wedding Ring

Valery nodded slowly, her expression softening even further as Jonyna's words settled in. The honesty, the weariness behind them — it wasn't just something Valery understood. It was something she'd lived. "I know," she said gently, her voice like water smoothing over stone. "It is more complicated now. The lines blur more than they used to. And sometimes I wish it wasn't that way either."

She leaned back in her seat a little, letting the silence breathe before continuing. There was no judgment in her tone, only understanding — the kind forged in fire and long nights of wondering the same things.

"When you're in the middle of a war, when people are shooting at you, threatening your home, your family — it's not about philosophy. It's survival. And you're right not to feel guilty for doing what you had to do." Her gaze lifted to Jonyna's, steady and warm. "But even then, the part of you that thinks about it? That still wants to believe? That's what matters."

She took a sip of her drink, then exhaled through her nose, eyes drifting to the edge of the table.

"The galaxy's changed. And so have we. Jedi can't afford to see the world in absolutes — not if we want to actually help people. Not if we want to understand what they're going through before they become someone we have to stop."

Her voice dropped a little, quieter now.

"You're still finding your place in all of this. And that's okay. You don't have to have all the answers right away. None of us do." She smiled, soft and real. "But you're asking the right questions. You're not running from the hard parts. That's what being a Jedi really is."

Jonyna Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Valery Noble

"It's been two years. Figured I would've found my place by now." Jonyna grumbled at the thought. "...One day, when you decide to step down, my dream is still to become Grandmaster one day. Moments like this make me feel like I'm not worthy of that honor."

It was a pipedream, but then again, it always had been. That big dreamer, she'd gotten older. Wiser. But that came with the baggage of seeing the reality of your dreams. Seeing the obstacles that were so far in the distance as a hotshot kid who just wanted to take down the Empire, now up close and much more daunting.

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Wedding Ring

Valery chuckled, the sound soft but warm as it filled the quiet space between them, "Jonyna," she said, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips, "You say that like you haven't already climbed half the mountain." She leaned forward a bit, resting her arms casually against the table, her gaze never leaving the younger Master's.

"You went from rebel, to Jedi Knight, to Jedi Master. That's already a journey most people wouldn't believe if we told them. And you did it while holding onto your fire, your heart, and that big dreamer spirit that got you into this fight to begin with." There was admiration in her tone — but also quiet truth.

"Jedi don't stop growing just because we reach a certain rank. We don't wake up one day and magically feel ready. We keep questioning. We keep adjusting. We fall sometimes, and then we get back up stronger than before." She shrugged gently, smile still lingering. "The galaxy changes. So do we."

Valery tilted her head slightly, her voice lowering just enough to become more personal, more sincere.

"So no — moments like this don't make you unworthy. They make you real. And I'd trust a real Jedi over a perfect one any day." She paused, letting the thought settle before adding with a playful smirk, "Besides, if you ever do want to take my job someday… I'll warn you now — it comes with a lot of meetings and very little sleep."

A wink followed. But behind it, the truth remained: she believed in her. And she always would.

Jonyna Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Valery Noble

Jonyna got a snort out of that last bit. "Oh Sweet Sylvar, don't remind me. I try not to think about the meetings and paperwork it'll come with. Thanks though. I just...It'll never not be humbling to go from learning about you in a holocron, to meeting you in person, to fighting alongside you. One day, I'd like to do so proper. We've never had the chance to team up, ya know?"

Jonyna looked down at her drink. The Cathar pouted slightly, before waving to the bartender to come over and fill her up again.

"So...if Allyson does come back, you think she'd like me? Like I said, my only interaction with her was her telling me I was bad at my job."

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Wedding Ring

Valery blinked, her brows lifting ever so slightly as the first part of Jonyna's words settled in. "You're right," she said with a small smile. "We haven't." A pause. "Well then, that clearly needs to change." She leaned back in her chair with a casual ease, her fingers tapping once against the edge of her glass.

"I think I'd like that. It's about time we fought side by side for something other than a Council vote or a tense debriefing." The corner of her mouth tugged upward, her eyes gleaming. "And if you ever want to drag me into some crazy mission, you know where to find me."

When Jonyna asked about Allyson, Valery snorted quietly — not unkindly, just with the kind of fond exasperation that came from knowing someone far too well for far too long.

"Allyson?" she echoed, her lips pulling into a wry smile. "She has never really felt the type to hate or dislike someone passionately. But she is brutally honest — and sometimes clumsy." A quiet chuckle followed, warm and lighthearted.

"She's made some spectacular mistakes, trust me. She just hides it behind that whole 'cool Corellian spy' act. But deep down?" Valery smirked, more softly this time. "She can be quite silly." She raised her glass in a half-toast, amber eyes locking with Jonyna's.

"So yeah. I think she could like you. Might sass you into the ground first, but… yeah."

Jonyna Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Valery Noble

"I can handle a bit of sass. Just a matter of if she can handle it back." Jonyna smirked. The idea of fighting alongside Val was...thrilling, but it was also one that came with a lot of weight.

"Next time we fight the sith, I wanna be there alongside you. I still need to pay Darth Prazutis back for what happened on Zeffo, after all. For now though..." Jonyna smirked, standing up and offering Val a hand. "How 'bout we focus on tonight. Up for a dance, Grandmaster?"