To Walk the Stars

[Kyyrk]

Voph watched Seaja put his training saber away, and deep down he felt that same twinge again. He hated when people did simple things like that for him. But maybe that was his time as a servant in the Empire speaking. "Your love of learning is apparent enough. Your actions speak louder than your words ever could." He turned back to Seaja to see her shuffling near the door. Asking him if she might rest? Hmph. She'd have to be broken of that habit too. He stepped towards the door, patting Seaja on the shoulder as he walked past. "Welcome to the free world, little one. You are in control of your own destiny now." As Voph stepped down the hallway, he paused near a door, and turned to look back at her. "If you need anything, do not hesitate to summon me. You cannot wake that which does not sleep."

And with that, he opened the door to his room, and stepped inside. He wasn't sure what to think of Seaja. She was certainly more adept than the others that had sought his teachings. But he figured it was only a matter of time before she moved on. That wasn't his concern for now. As he sat down at his own desk, he pulled out a datapad, and began drawing a preliminary sketch. The girl needed something better than those rags she was wearing. In time, Voph would be able to offer her a masterwork, but for the time being, this robe would do. Until she learned what function she would require of her clothing. It was a wide new galaxy for the girl. And Voph did not envy her the oppressing question that haunted him as little as two years prior: What now?

Voph, of course, was finding his purpose. But his dreams, what few he had, were haunted. Something was out there, waiting for him to find it. He could feel it in his gut, even during his waking moments now. But worse still was the knowledge that someone out there was looking for him. Though he was more prepared with each passing day, he knew he could not run forever. But, that was a worry for another day. For now, he concerned himself with the robes he was working on. The rest would come later.

[member="Seaja Linata"]

 

[Seaja Linata]

Seaja stood in the doorway to the training room for a long time after Voph had left, still and silent, contemplating his words. They held more meaning for her than he could possibly know. Her brain was spinning, trying to deal with the implications of what was just now striking her - Freedom. What does that word even mean? She certainly didn't know. Even the more subtle aspects of what Voph had said scared her. Destiny. Seaja had never considered herself as having a destiny. Especially one outside of the higher powers which she served. And Seaja knew nothing else but serving higher powers. She had never lived for herself, never seen her own being as the end to her existence, and not just simply a means to somebody else's.

Suddenly feeling very nauseated, Seaja allowed her weary legs some rest, and sank to the ground, leaning backwards against the doorframe. She felt frozen, almost petrified, unable to move back to her room. Her mind was still racing, whirling with thoughts of the past and the future, a million questions, and much more.

Eventually, her head began to bob, and her eyelids became heavier and heavier. Her muscles relaxed, and slowly, she sank into a deep sleep. Curled up right there, in the entrance to the training room, arms holding her knees to her chest and back against the cold metal wall. It was unintentional, but Seaja was unconsciously scared of returning to her room and sleeping in that big, fancy bed. She was unsure why, but it terrified her. Maybe it was that returning fear of unworthiness - she didn't feel good enough to deserve such luxury after a life of extreme poverty. Maybe it was something else.

Whatever the case, Seaja never made it to her room. As she slept, she occasionally shuddered, her mouth moving and barely-whispered words slipping forth. No doubt, her young mind was rehearsing the horrors of her past, over and over, her subconscious was obsessed with them - fixated on them.

[member="Voph"]

 

[Kyyrk]

Voph still had some materials left over from crafting his own robes, plus he always kept a store on the ship when he could. And so he spent the night working at crafting Seaja a new set of robes. Simple. Functional. Yet a higher quality than perhaps anything Seaja had worn before. Voph, of course, was never one for doing anything half way. Voph's hands danced expertly across the fabric, pulling the robes together in a matter of hours. There were still final details that would need to be seen to, but he could deal with those later. For now, however, the simple tunic and leggings would protect her modesty, if nothing else.

Being overcome with weariness himself, Voph eventually put the robes down, folding them neatly, and delivering them to the lounge. So preoccupied with his own thoughts was he that he hardly noticed the girl slumped against the doorway. He paused, his brow furrowing. The lights had dimmed on the ship, but that did not matter to a being like him. He saw her perfectly, huddled in the doorway, twitching every so often with maker only knew what horrors plagued her mind. "Well?" Voph's lip curled as the voice invaded his head again.

"Maker damn you..." He muttered to himself, trailing off. What...HAD her name been? Voph's brow furrowed further as he realized he couldn't quite remember. He could picture her perfectly. The armor..the shield...but he couldn't remember her name. Voph stepped forward, boots hardly making a sound against the metal floor plates. He knelt beside the girl, and picked her up, carefully so as not to wake her. As he stepped into her room, he waved a finger to pull the blanket back. He placed her on the bed, and pulled the blanket back over her. He disappeared from the room long enough to retrieve the tunic and leggings, and returned to place them on the chair sitting by her desk.

Voph turned to return to his own room. Voph sighed quietly, pulling his robes off in favor of simple pants and a loose fitting tunic. He reached back and undid the clasp in his hair, letting it fall about his shoulders. Voph's room did not have a bed, but rather a simple cushion that he knelt on, his head bowing as he focused. Hours turned to minutes. Minutes turned to seconds. Voph meditated quietly, using the Force to continue knitting together the two gaping wounds in his stomach. They were getting better by the day, but they would scar. Ah well. Scars were a part of his profession. This much he had already come to accept.

When morning dawned, the ship was on the final leg of their journey back to the CIS. What little crew the Scion had were milling about on the crew deck, eating breakfast, and ensuring that the ship was still running smoothly. Voph himself was in the small kitchen off the lounge. Still clad in pants and tunic, he hummed quietly to himself as he prepared something to eat. Nothing fancy, but...he used to cook it all the time. He was already preparing extra, as he expected Seaja would be hungry when she woke...

[member="Seaja Linata"]

 

[Seaja Linata]

Lost in the darker layers of her consciousness, Seaja found herself in the world of dreams... She walked through an ancient city, marked by the unforgiving passage of time. It was dusk, and shadows consumed all the corners and alleys. As she walked, the ground began to tremble, dust rising in thick clouds as a deep murmur rose up from the depths below the city. Slowly, the rumbling rose into a cry, and this cry turned into a slow, thick voice, one that surrounded the girl on all sides and from all angles.

At the gates and by the fireside I have seen you fools prostrate yourselves and worship your own demise...
Even as the slaves humble themselves before the tyrant and praise his might as he slays them...

Lying now in the bed, Seaja tossed and turned, burying her face into the softness of the pillow, her small hand gripping the sheets tightly. She grit her teeth as if in pain, and her whole body seemed to be shaking, resonating with the power of the Force as the dream continued...

Now she found herself entering an immense, dark temple. The cathedral like building was vaguely pyramid-like in shape, though much more complex, with layer upon layer of architectural designs making it fold in on itself like some kind of nearly 4-dimensional construction.

Ay, in the grove of the temple and the shadow of the citadel I have seen the greatest among you wear your greatness as a yoke and a handcuff...

Seaja felt a deep stirring within her, emotions stirred by the words of this disembodied voice. She could tell it was ancient, immensely powerful and knowledgeable. It seemed to be leading her, guiding her, up into the temple, down its halls. She heard a loud ringing in her ears, almost unbearable, as she stepped onto the first stones of the temple grounds. She peered into the dark building, and saw that it reached much further than seemed possible, stretching out in a dark expanse that looked to be nearly infinite.

As she dreamed, all of the objects in the room where she lay began to shake, and slowly, they all began to rise, shakily, from their spots. This continued as Seaja stood at the entrance to the temple, looking in. She considered stepping inside, but for some reason, she was afraid. Finally, swallowing her fear, she lifted her foot, and slowly, deliberately stepped into the temple. As she did, her entire vision went red, screams ringing out deep within her head... Familiar screams... Screams she had tried to forget... Now louder than ever, the voice boomed within her head.

And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.

With that, Seaja awoke, her eyes shooting open. All of the objects in the room, from furniture to her shoes nearby, dropped to the floor with a collective thunk. Seaja sat in bed for a long time, still gripping the sheets, thinking over the dream. Eventually, she lifted her hand, and called out with the Force, drawing the lightsaber blade from off of the desk where she had left it, into her hands. She sat there, unmoving, staring down at the blade, for a long time.

When Seaja exited her room, she was wearing the robes Voph had made for her, nervously tugging at her sleeves. She had clipped the lightsaber onto her waist, and let it dangle there as she moved slowly through the ship, until she entered the room Voph was in, standing by the doorway for a moment before announcing her presence in a soft voice.

"Good morning, Voph. Thank you for the robes - they're very comfortable, and they fit wonderfully." Her words clearly expressed her deep gratitude. "And, um, I'm sorry I fell asleep in the hallway last night... I didn't mean to." Now she sounded embarrassed, and slightly ashamed.

[member="Voph"]

 

[Kyyrk]

Voph didn't look up from the food he was preparing. He'd seen the girl coming, of course, but he didn't respond immediately. Instead he continued working, face set in his usual emotionless state. Finally, he leaned forward and braced himself against the counter top. He sighed quietly. "I fell asleep on a balcony once. Back...well...back on a planet I used to live on." Voph turned to look at Seaja over his shoulder. "Rained constantly. You can imagine how that ended." Voph turned back to the meal he was prepping. "Took me a damn week to get my leg working right again."

He gestured to the table behind him in a wordless invitation to sit down. "I would ask how you slept, but I think we both know the answer to that." He turned around, and set a plate in front of Seaja's seat. Looked to be sausage and eggs of some kind. At this point, it was anyone's guess what animal they'd come from. Voph turned back to fix a plate of his own, then stepped aside to sit across from Seaja. "Not a pleasant memory you were reliving, from your reaction." He smirked. "But...not as bad as others I've dealt with. Of course...I typically don't sleep much these days myself. Even if I have trained myself enough to not lash out." Voph watched the girl for a moment, then tucked in to his food. He wasn't going to pry. Everyone had their demons. If she wanted help fighting hers, she was welcome to ask.

[member="Seaja Linata"]

 

[Seaja Linata]

Seaja remained in the doorway as she listened to his story. It seemed strange to her, imagining things that had happened to this man thousands of years ago. Almost unreal.

She had gone to take a seat at the table, but when he mentioned sleep, she paused, looking up at him with something close to panic in her eyes. She had thought that the small commotion she'd made in her sleep had gone unnoticed, but apparently not. "Thank you." She said quietly, as he placed the food in front of her. It looked delicious, and she sat down, eating it with conviction. As Voph continued speaking she looked up from her food. "It... wasn't a memory..." She said hesitantly, after he had finished speaking. Her eyes were downcast, trained on the green skin of her hand. "At least, not mostly." She looked up at him now. "I don't really know what it was. It was disturbing. I, I was walking alone, in this ancient city, and going through it, and this voice was talking to me, telling me things. He's disappointed in somebody, but I don't know who. Force users, maybe... Someone with power, or the potential for power. But they aren't using it. But... Then I came on this temple, at the center of the city. An ancient citadel, filled with dark secrets and power. And when I tried to step inside, it felt like my heart and mind were exploding, and," She faltered, remembering the distinctive screams. She swallowed, averting her eyes. She didn't know if she wanted to tell Voph about that, but she was also scared he would somehow find out on his own. Averting her gaze for a moment, she continued on with the abbreviatde story. "and, um, I woke up." Chewing her lip, she refocused on the food in front of her.

[member="Voph"]

 

[Kyyrk]

Voph didn't pause in the midst of Seaja explaining this, instead digging in to his own food. "As visions go, it's not the worst." Voph chewed his food thoughtfully for a moment. He shrugged as he swallowed it, commenting, "At least, I would assume it's a vision. If not a memory." Voph took another bite, lapsing into silence. He was taking the news oddly well. Almost as if such things were common place. Of course, to Voph, they very much were. Voph sighed quietly, and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. "Based on your description, I would imagine this...place you describe to be...Something Sith in origin. Most placed immersed in the Dark Side of the force would...confer such feelings as you describe."

Voph mused for a moment, before standing and picking up his plate. "Almost sounds like...well... THE Citadel." Voph placed his plate in the sink and turned around to lean against the counter, arms folding over his chest again. "This planet I mentioned. It was home to a City that...by now would indeed be ancient. At the center stood a tower, the Imperial Citadel. Save for the Emperor, all those in the business of overseeing the ancient Sith Empire were there. But I would not expect it to be standing still. It has, after all, been several thousand years."

Voph turned to look at Seaja. "Nothing happens without reason. Perhaps the Force is trying to tell you something. Prepare you for something." Voph's brow furrowed for a moment. "Did anything feel...familiar to you?"

[member="Seaja Linata"]

 

[Seaja Linata]

Seaja had eaten surprisingly fast - she was used to having to do so, and now it was just second nature. So now she sat, fidgeting with the utensils as she looked up at Voph, listening as he responded. She was surprised by how casual he was being about all of this, but she was grateful for it, his relaxed presentation was dissipating some of her stress around this, making it easier to think it over reasonably. "Sith...?" She repeatedly quietly, almost to herself, with a tinge of fear in her voice.

She listened to the rest of what he said, absentmindedly playing with the silverware as she did. She held the knife in one hand, gently pressing her fingers or the palm of the other hand into the edge of the blade, just enough to feel a tinge of pain, for her skin cells to register the threatening sharpness they were faced with, and then relented, doing this over and over.

"Familiar..." She said, as if considering. "Yes," She managed to say, despite her nervousness. "Two things. Um, firstly, the voice was familiar. I recognize him from multiple moments. It was the same voice, the same disembodied but conscious power that drew to the Holocron. It made me feel the same way. A great, dark, power. It's like..." Her hands shook a little bit as she spoke her next words, her eyes lost in the distance. "It's like we are lambs in a field, distracting ourselves with so much useless but entertaining garbage, and this power, this voice, is always present, with its eye turned on us like a butcher, who chooses first one of us and then another and the another for his prey, one by one going through and claiming us all. It feels so Evil. And it keeps calling to me, I keep hearing it and being drawn to it, like it wants me and I need it." She paused, looking across at her hand. She was surprised and embarrassed to see that while she had spoken she had lost focus, and pressed her hand too harshly into the knife, cutting herself across the palm. Setting the knife aside, she quickly grabbed a napkin and pressed it to the shallow cut, hiding her hands under the table and hoping that Voph either hadn't noticed or wouldn't think anything of it.

"There was... One other thing..." She felt apprehension rising, she didn't want to have to tell Voph this. "I heard screams as I entered the temple, right as I woke up. Loud, horrible screams, someone crying right before they died. Those were a memory - screams of people I was with when they died." She didn't say the rest. People I killed. Friends.

[member="Voph"]

 

[Kyyrk]

Voph arched a brow as Seaja hid her hand under the table. The hint of a smile crossed his face. "You know I can see that, yes? I may not have eyes, and yet I can see more than you could imagine." Voph stepped over to the medkit hanging on the wall, and pulled out a bacta infused bandage, tossing it to Seaja. "Perhaps I'd best take that lightsaber back if you find yourself unable to handle a butter knife." He was joking, of course. "On a more serious note...I know of what you speak, I think."

Voph resumed his post against the counter. "It has many names. My people called it Bogan. A great force of evil. Always calling us to it. Corrupting the strong and destroying the weak. Though I've not heard of it having a voice. The Dark Side is quite nebulous, often taking from your experiences, if any. It's...not unheard of for powerful practitioners to invade the minds of others." Voph's brow knit together as his mind turned to the screams. THAT he was all too familiar with.

"And I know of the memories you speak. All who live through times of strife will come to know that horror, in one way or another." Voph's head bowed as he looked at the floor. A pained look washed over him as he recounted the tale. "There was a moon. Back in the old days. We were sent to invade. Our target was a council of lords that had turned rogue." Voph sighed quietly, shaking his head. He may as well have been a million miles away. "I still cannot say which was worse. The screams of the tortured as their minds were twisted and destroyed by raw....feral horror, or...the smell. The sulfur mixing with the decay of death. And the despair..." Voph trailed off for a moment, then looked up at Seaja. "It became known as the Dread War. And it was a war everyone would much rather forget. Some things are going to haunt you for the rest of your life, Seaja. The sooner you come to terms with it, the better."

[member="Seaja Linata"]

 

[Seaja Linata]

Seaja realized the humor of trying to hide something from a blind man, and caught the bacta package, pressing it against her hand and setting the knife on the table. She found his joking amusing, and appreciated the lightheartedness, but was unable to bring herself to smile. Despite her carefully maintained polite, respectful, and completely unaggressive demeanor, she had yet to display the slightest hints of joy or happiness.

Seaja's eyes flicked around the room as she thought over his words, her mind racing in multiple directions at once. On the one hand, she wanted to learn more about Voph, inquire into his past and the lessons he had learned from it - she had a feeling that was a deep, dark well, and wanted to begin to look into it. But she could not focus for this for long, as he mind was distracted by the last comment he made.

"You're saying I have to just... surrender to it?" She tested the words out, working over the idea in her head. Surrender. Surrender. The word shook throughout her head like the pounding of a stampede. "There's so much to surrender to." She folded her hands on top of the table, glaring intensely down at them. "This is confusing - you want me to seek nothing but strength, but surrender to things I can't overpower. You want me to seek power and control by relinquishing power and control over things I cannot manage or destroy." Seaja felt as if she was talking in circles, and became frustrated with herself. This is why she should not stretch herself, becoming arrogant and speaking - it was her place to simply listen and absorb, learning from those above her. This way of thinking had been so forcefully implanted in Seaja's mind that it was her default mindset at this point, and it was painful and difficult for her to challenge it.

Instead of continuing with the discussion, possibly arguing or pressing more, she simply nodded her head politely. "Okay, thank you. I understand." She didn't fully, but she figured she would autopilot when it came to this issue for now until she had time later to fully work over this lesson.

[member="Voph"]

 

[Kyyrk]

Voph shook his head. "No, not necessarily. I never said you had to surrender to it. Just come to terms with it. I feel that you are no stranger to the idea of life giving you impossible choices. Strength will only get you so far. And even the strongest will face decisions that will haunt them forever. This is perhaps the hardest lesson you will ever learn: knowing what you have the ability to change, and knowing what is beyond your control. And learning how to live with whatever may come."

Voph pushed himself off the counter and turned to begin washing the plate he'd eaten from. "You've much to learn, little one. And much to unlearn, I would wager. Things will begin to make sense. In time." Voph fell silent for a moment. "Different times make for different people. Words cannot convey how much better the galaxy has become in my absence. War changes people. And when it's inescapable...It changes everyone. Perhaps the way I think of things is broken. But so be it. I have taken the path I have taken." Voph turned to look at Seaja. "That is why the Holocron did not permit you entry. You do not have your own path. You have not yet discovered the person you were meant to be."

[member="Seaja Linata"]

 

[Seaja Linata]

Seaja wondered over his words, reflecting deeply on the nature of life and how the future is made. "Actually, I'm not used to impossible choices. I'm used to not having a choice." There was a slight hint of bitterness in her voice, her words spoken with a tinge of venom. "I lived a life of duty, servitude, obedience. There was nothing at all that I could control." As she sat, reflecting on his message in its totality, she began to consider what strength itself even was. Very quickly, she had an idea. "Strength, in my life, did not mean mastery, the ability to command and hold sway over things. It was not dominance. Strength was endurance. It was tolerance. It was resignation and acceptance of suffering."

Narrowing her eyes in thought, she leaned forward on the table, resting her chin on her hand. "But maybe this mindset is what causes me to be lacking. I do not think of myself as having a path to walk. I only see strength as needing to survive, to endure, to not be overcome and subjugated." She looked up again, for she had been lost in thought, her eyes looking far into the distance. Now she refocused, looking over at Voph. "I wish to walk the path of the Force. One that is not defined, not marked out, not clear, but remains eternal and indestructible." Then, repeating herself and reaffirming what she believed, she said, "I wish to discover the Force, to delve into its mysteries and see what lies there. That's the person I want to be, I think."

[member="Voph"]

 

[Kyyrk]

Voph turned, arching a brow as the girl spoke of strength as endurance. A knowing look. In just a simple gesture, Voph conveyed that he understood what the girl spoke of better than she realized. In fact, it is likely that this meaning was what he had in mind when he had first told her to seek strength. "The person you want to be, yes. But the question remains: Who ARE you?" Voph took the girl's plate from the table and began to wash it as well. "Some people go their whole lives never knowing the answer to that question."

He sighed quietly. "And so often we delude ourselves to thinking that we know who we are. What we are. The answer might surprise you." Voph lapsed into silence for a long while before saying, "I am little more than a Warrior. Sent to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. Destined to forge a better tomorrow that I'd never live to see. Or so I thought. Before I woke up. Found out several thousand years had passed..."

[member="Seaja Linata"]

 

[Seaja Linata]

Seaja stared off into the distance, drumming her fingers rhythmically over the tabletop as she stewed on his words. She was jarred out her thoughts as he came over and took her plate up. She reacted quickly, standing from her chair and instinctively reaching to take it from him before she stopped herself. Managing to control her gut reaction, she instead just stood there looking slightly bewildered and frightened and quite uncomfortable. Seaja had never in her life had someone clean something for her, especially not someone who was something of an authority figure.

Fidgeting nervously while he cleaned, she interjected. "Um, it's okay Voph, I can get that, I was just about to." She had been trying to mimic his stoic mannerisms throughout their interactions, and was struggling now to keep her emotions in check, not wanting to look foolish in front of him. Still, it bothered her greatly to see him washing her dish. It just didn't feel right. She wanted more than anything to snatch it back from him.

Trying to put it out of her mind, she took a moment to refocus on his lesson. "Do you, do you know who you are now, now that you've woken up? Still a warrior?" She sounded slightly distracted, but she was making an effort to get over the incident with her plate. "I don't want to be any of the things I've been in my life." She paused, running through words that could have described her "place" in life in her head. Property. Prisoner. Slave. Servant. Object. Murderer. Killer. Fugitive. Escapee. Runaway. Migrant. Lost. Then, coming back to reality, she continued. "None of them were good, and now I wish to be something else. But how do I find out who I am? How do I make or discover myself?" Though she was asking, she did not expect Voph to have an answer. She did not truly think that answers were out there.

[member="Voph"]

 

[Kyyrk]

Voph set the plate aside to dry, and turned back to Seaja, wiping his hands with a rag. "Not the slightest idea. The man that died all those years ago died a Sith, answering only to the Emperor himself, having risen from enslavement and poverty amidst...considerable xenophobia to become a hardened killer, a distinguished admiral, and the most feared man in the Sith Empire." Voph watched Seaja fidgeting for a moment, his brow furrowing. "I still...very much am that person. But...I do not know that I wish to be."

"I, however, cannot say what you will become. Nor can I tell you how to discover this. That, always, is something one must discover on their own. Though there's one thing I did learn during the war. People have a way of dressing things up. Pretending one thing, while denying another. But when someone has been stripped of everything... Cornered.... bleeding and dying... Then you learn who they truly are. When one does not have the strength to maintain the facade."

[member="Seaja Linata"]

 

[Seaja Linata]

Seaja reacted sharply, as something he said stood out to her. "You were a slave?" She questioned, before she could stop herself. She had not expected that of Voph. For some reason she had imagined him as always being the noble, strong, powerful and authoritative figure she saw before her now. It genuinely shocked her to hear that revelation.

As the rest of Voph's words caught up to her, she frowned. "I've never had the chance to pretend or dress life up." She asserted, referring once again to the idea that her life had been out of her hands, that she had been denied the basic liberty to form her own destiny. "I lived every day as part of a long death. Every room was a prison, every street a dead end, every city a netherworld: I did not have my own eyes, I did not have my own voice; I was trapped in a web of fabricated reverence and fixed disciplinary frameworks; I survived with an sufferance brain, a computerized soul and anarchy ideals... How could this be all there is to life? I was torn from my crib as a baby and thrown into the realm of bleeding and dying. Is that who I am, then? This raw, painful, good-for-nothing strength to endure?"

[member="Voph"]

 

[Kyyrk]

Voph mused on Seaja's statement for a moment, then shrugged. "More or less. While I was an apprentice, it was understood that I was the least of his apprentices. More... there to assist the others, than to learn anything of my own. And yet I cannot help but laugh that they were among the first to fall during the Dread War."

Voph turned back to the counter and cleaned up what remained of his meal prep. "You would think. But even in the most dire of circumstances, people will twist their own image. Refrain from saying something that may prove hurtful, for instance. It is...a strange thing. I find that even after nearly nine decades of knowing exactly how people work as my primary function...There is still so much to learn."

When he had finished, he turned and gestured to the door, as he walked out back into the lounge. "But, we can speak of this further at a later time. We are being called away. Word reached me in the wee hours that there is some unrest among the people of Commenor. A rather...insignificant planet, save for a considerable investment I have placed within its shipyards. And speaking of, we had best make arrangements for you. Do you know how to fly a ship?"

[member="Seaja Linata"]

 

[Seaja Linata]

Seaja listened carefully. Nine decades sounded like an extremely long time to her. It sounded like an almost unimaginably lengthy period to just be alive for, let alone to spend all that time focusing on a single thing, like figuring out how sentient creatures worked. Seaja got the feeling that even if she could live for as long as Voph had, a mystery of that caliber would always remain beyond her.

She followed him out to the lounge, hands folded in front of her. She was surprised by the implications of his question - was she to get a ship? That notion seemed almost absurd to her, as someone who had never owned anything, not even the clothes on her back, up until a few months ago. Nevertheless, she answered his question. "Yes, s-" She nearly, out of instinct, referred to him as sir, but caught herself, remembering his instructions the first time they had met.

She did know how to pilot a ship, though. After slaughtering the crew of the pirate vessel she had been held on all of her life, she had had no choice but to singlehandedly fly it to safety, though she was forced to abandon it after she crash-landed on the nearest planet she could find. She hadn't been able to salvage much from it, having been pressed for time due to the other crews from the organization they pirates were a part of being on her tail.

[member="Voph"]

 

[Kyyrk]

Voph smirked to himself as Seaja caught herself calling him Sir. "Good. Then you have already surpassed me on at least one front." He smiled over his shoulder at the girl as he stepped over to one of the display cases, and opened it, withdrawing what appeared to be a thick leather gauntlet. "Of course, I cannot imagine the news that I am unable to fly would come as a surprise to you, given my physical condition." Voph began to pull the gauntlet on, adjusting straps and buckles to hold it in place.

"As my apprentice, you will operate with my authority in most of your dealings. As such, I reserve the right to send you away for any purposes I deem necessary. And, if you are to be traveling the galaxy at my command, if not your leisure, you'll need a ship." Voph turned to face the girl as he finished adjusting the gauntlet. "I have some ideas. A ship design that, until the Scion was finished, served as my rudimentary flagship until the Arbitration finished its repairs. It will take some time to finish up, but...all good things to those who wait."

[member="Seaja Linata"]