First Reply Trading in Danger

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

Rising up with the slicewire was not entirely an unimpressive feat... She lifted the pair of them up as the base was collapsing and areas of the snow went away with the mountain. She stayed there on the flat area seeing what they would be able to do and in case they had to move again. Nightfall above as snow came down and Yondir seemed elated as he held her and she looked up. "We did." She said it and offered a smile she wrapped her arms around him. "You know that spirit might have been something good for you... suddenly you are all handsy and emoting more... It is a good look on you." She said it with a wink and looked around at the falling snow while she breathed in. "Fresh air though is a nice thing to have finally and now we just have to find a place to shelter likely for the ngiht... never entirely a good idea to walk around at night."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC

For a moment, Yondir wanted nothing more or less than to just sit there on that mountain.
Even if the Force forbade that moment, denied him that simple desire, he would not listen.
Higher, above his head, the moonlight is hazy amid the snowfall, as he remembers a lake.
So far away…aren't you…my lady? There's no answer from her. My moon. Amid silent gaze.

A quiet on that ledge, surrounded by mountainous chorus, roar of wind, tumble of snow.
Smash of avalanche, rumble of rock, as ruins crumble, and a well breaks, bereft of stone.
He could sense it—somehow, someway. That witch, that woman, banished. Now broken.
Whether she had caused that crash, or Force Light had, her fortress was silent. Unspoken.

Soundless, so little in the middle of a mountain around it. Like two people nestled on it.
His cloak under his armor and garments, his sword at his hip, that Stranger just listened.
The wind lashes at his skin, biting and violent, yet the man had already been breathless.
Who am I..? He beckons of sky and moonlight. If not a Ranger? A Knight? Is he honest?

He feels limbs wrap around him in that instant, hears words, like a whisper in the wind.
They were hers. The woman beside him. Never forgotten. She mentions him. And spirit.
The Jedi Knight sighed. Is Ikki right? Good could come from bad. He had since learned it.
Yet Yondir was so very uncertain. Suddenly about, well, everything. Emotions and wisdom.

“Well, we will be safe in a cave.” There was bound to be one somewhere upon this mountain.
He looked about them, but it was too dark to see, too misty, blurry, snowy, and all in between.
“Those ruins…with the witch…” Yondir mentioned, absentmindedly leaning his head atop Ikki’s.
“They may be lost and gone as we speak, but evidently they are a part of a greater foundation.”

All around, the pair of Jedi are likely unaware even of an entire city that may once have existed.
That meant the other adventurers they were searching for could stumble on other sections of it.
It also of course meant they could step off precipice, out of the elements, and into warmer ruins.
“If we don’t find a natural cave…we can spend the night in a handmade place.” Eyes on her face.

On her lips. He had tasted them only moments ago. He wanted to again. In the moment.
So Yondir Fenn planted a finger under Ikki Ike’s chin, and lifted her face, and they kissed.
He had earlier offered her his half-grin, and maybe out of a hint of madness. Who knew?
Whatever was true or false, this was the real moment for him. So he kissed, as wind blew.

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

"We could." She said it with a nod and making a shelter in the snow was possible... not difficult even but that didn't mean you wanted it to be the first choice as the time it took to make the shelter could be the most dangerous. Exposure for the time would go only so far and the risks were always going to be there as she nodded her head. Looking around in the mountains and sensing with the force... allowing it to wash over herself and guide her. SHe was moving and for her small size the snow came up to her waist as she trudged through it.... Still Yondir could block her from the wind with his size so it was a trade off when she continued to walk up and over a ridge...

The look of shadows in the moonlight and snow reflecting on the mountains show a large open area of mountains with paths carved in the rocks themselves. Her hand going up as she pointed and was guiding them towards. He was with her so she wasn't worried about dangers... two jedi were always better then one as her breath came out with her feet kicking some snow into the pathway in front of herself that looked down into channels for water that was frozen over. She was tracing it in her mind and where it would go over into the mountain... while they could follow it towards the path downwards. She was leading it and using the area around them.

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

The Force. It had taught Yondir so many lessons, easy or hard, after so many others discovered.
In his time on Rhunor, on that forested, mountainous moon amid lakes, he was taught of blade.
No lightsaber, not on those days and nights, when the Knight was a Ranger, guarding the earth.
Protecting nature and its inhabitants, from creatures and others cruel, like the Sith in some way.

The light of the Jedi offered Yondir a power beyond his eyes…but tonight the light is all but gone.
In the aftermath of the avalanche, in the demise of the wicked witch, a heavy blizzard fell down.
The Knight walked, fought through the snow, one hand in Ikki Ike’s, helping her push and plow.
He would glance in her eyes, to look away, feeling so powerless. Without her, he might be lost.

A shadow… A cloak around his shoulders, a hood over his head, tall and grey in a white night.
A broken mirror… He could only wonder. As his own light felt distant, he relied on Master Ike’s.
He would not tell her this, Yondir was not even certain of it, but something had happened to him.
She led, he followed, though they walked side by side, hand in hand sometimes. In the darkness.

Toward valleys distant, and mountain passes like bridges, forward and downward to those rivers.
Frozen over, like a cold hell, but Yondir sensed no witch, felt no spell, to blight his mind this time.
“These currents, or channels, were likely relied on in ancient days.” They navigate, led by the light.
He still had his backpack and a flashlight. “They probably feed into the inhabited sectors in turn.”

It was all just a theory in the end, though it would make sense if this was once a city inhabited.
A settlement networked with fortress and residence; a secret slumbering within the mountains.
“I sense no danger.” Though Yondir wavered whether to tell her if it was because he…couldn’t..?
Quiet, Knight. “Do you sense anything, Ikki?” Dark side or other beasts. Yet hopefully she didn’t.

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

"I do not." She said it when she waas looking over some of it and crouched with her eyes flicking around. SHe was reaching out with the force to find anything that might be there... her navigation senses leading the way until she came to a smaller area she could slide down. She was standing near the water but she wasn't going into it. Following it as it went downstream. She came out at a cliff area and it went itno a pool lower down. The first signs of something in the dark as she could see light in the distance. Not torches but lumens that made the area look like a white blanket was around the village that could be seen. She was moving quickly down the side of the mountain with a look up at him. "Best place to try for now at least. The lightning could be automated or there could be a bunch of people there for us to meet.."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Ikki had left her trailmarkers, as wise as ever, but unfortunately the majority were useless in the ruins.
As they traveled onward, even the map that Yondir had brought with him had little and less function.
Where they went, this section in the mountains was uncharted. By Ikki’s senses, they were guided.
Yondir reached out as well, strained, struggled, winced on occasion. Didn’t show the lady by him.

As the Jedi negotiated their way through the inhospitable terrain of night, they had another guide.
It wasn’t the Force but the environment itself. Following the flow of water, frozen or not, was wise.
Ikki led, Yondir followed, offering her his protection, as much as an excuse to find his own senses.
I am the sword in the darkness. Yondir reminded himself. The watcher. As he witnessed the lumens.

A residence, he had theorized as to this tract of mountains being like a connection of other sections.
Of a fortress and, it seemed, village. More or less, those buildings were definitely lined as residences.
That thus meant they’re built to defend against the elements for whoever were once their inhabitants.
“Agreed,” Yondir expressed beside Ikki. As she pointed out, those buildings might not yet be so empty.

The Jedi would sense some semblance of a presence at best. Yet Yondir would leave that much to her.
He sensed nothing, nobody, for better or worse. If anyone was present, they would be those explorers.
“Village hall,” he gestured as they moved forward in a street between rows of buildings. “And a tavern.”
On either side, the settlement was generic. “Smith. Hospice. Market.” He sighed amid light that burned.

“The hall is probably the warmest.” It was more illuminated.
Yondir began to move toward it, or follow another suggestion.
He trusted Ikki’s judgment. That tavern was maybe just as good.
Whatever location, once inside, the Ranger would lower his hood.

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

She could feel it and feel the area around them... allowing the force to guide her footsteps in the snow as the different buildings radiated warmth and a sense of community... but here in the dark it was calm and quiet... No one was in the tavern... likely it was closed up for the weather and to make sure. SHe was looking at more of it as she went and breathed in a sense of it all. Allowing the force to turn her around just for a moment when going for the largest building they might be able to find someone there. It allowed the jedi master to go in and remained there as she looked at Yondir. "Now... lets just hope they are alright with strangers popping up in the middle of the night." She said it and exhaled for a moment as she pushed the doors opened and there was a few people in there that turned to look at her. She bowed and spoke. "Sorry, we were out in the snow and the weather turned yours was the only shelter we could see." THere seemed to be some looks and Ikki moved forward.. the people not making a sound as they looked odd in some ways but she wouldn't judge. Going by as the scent of rotten fish was there.

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC

What was that, splitting at the side of his lips? Cracking at the Jedi’s visage at the words of a Jedi Master?
“That rhymes.” Yondir blinked as he and Ikki moved toward a building. “Alright... Night...” He wondered.
Was it just his imagination? His kind were attuned to meditation even without the Force, but no matter.
The present was ever different for Yondir, his senses challenged at best, after his experience down under.

What was more or less expected was there to be inhabitants within this village as those Jedi had proven.
They stood before the doors of the village hall, entered it, and discovered more than one person within.
They were not specters like from those ruins, but looked like they had selected this building for shelter.
With their outfits, they did not look ancient, as if they’re descendants from the village’s predecessors.

Ikki spoke as Yondir and the others listened. The Jedi Knight shined his flashlight across their faces.
Not to blind them, passing by them, scanning, to ascertain whether friend or foe, without the Force.
Yondir sensed no danger, detected no threat in their presence, especially with the child in their midst.
Some small boy, gazing up at these two strangers at the hall’s doors as if they had fresh food in cases.

“We are explorers,” spoke an older man, his head of graying hair, if a middle-aged Human.
“We got lost and came here for our own shelter.” Yondir looked deep into his countenance.
The Jedi saw no lies in his eyes. “Mind getting that light outta my face?” Yondir apologized.
“You're responsible for turning on this settlement’s lights?” Question, not accusation. “Aye.”

“I knew the blizzard was coming, oh I did!” The boy spoke, as a younger man held him.
“Brandon’s always been a bit gifted,” the man smiled. “Unfortunately the fish is rotten.”
A woman curled her fingers through the boy’s hair. “These mountains are treacherous.”
Everyone agreed. Indeed. “Tell me…” Yondir began. “Were you here looking for treasure?”

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

THe inside was warm and she could feel it finding a place as Yondir spoke with the boy. She smiled as there was food around them. Rotten fish was dangerous but they had other things which could be eaten. She smelled broth boiling under it... the scent of bread. There wasn't much if anything it looked like they were just as snowed in which wasn't great. "We won't be long." Then the mention of treasure came up and she looked at the woman. "No, we have no need of it. We were looking for people who got lost in the mountains for the other village while traveling for my task." She bowed her head when one of the men brought a pair of bowls for the two of them.

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

With food being scant, it appeared that this pack of adventurers were going through their last rations.
Pot of broth, a crackling fire, but it looked like these people had not managed to turn all the lights on.
The hall was otherwise dark, the street lumens likely relying on an emergency source of some sort.
Yondir had asked these adventurers if they were after treasure in these mountains. They answered.

Ikki, in turn, mentioned that the pair of them also had no need of it; they were looking for others.
She was right, of course. The Jedi Master searched for prospects while the Jedi Knight for explorers.
These were the very people he had been searching for as one of them brought him a bowl of hot broth.
“Please,” the grey-haired man spoke. “Take a seat by the fire.” Gestured to both, whether Yondir sat alone.

“Thank you,” he offered in response, scooped his spoon into liquid and sipped, gazing into flame.
The same man looked between both visitors. “We are not after treasure as in riches but artifacts.”
That did peak Yondir’s interest. “And this village proves there are more than ruins. That is a fact.”
“What kind of artifacts?” Yondir asked. The older man waved a hand. “You first. A ‘task’, you say?”

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

She listened to them and moved with some of the food near the fire. "I was sent to find potential force users on the world and bring them back to the jedi shoudl they wish to come." She said it and looked at them while eating and moved a hand to her belt as she pulled out some of the rations and placed them in a bowl adding water and expanding the food. A smaller feast appearing as she could add more and it was designed to feed an entire squad for a handful of months with pieces. "We have some to add to it thank you." The brother helped make the food full and she could add more for all of them as from another compartment in her belt she pulled the sleek can with some bacon in it. Sliced meats that could be added and give them everythign to fill their bellies.

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

The elder villager—village elder, in other words—was suddenly less concerned at Ikki’s answer.
Rather, he is more appreciative of her gesture to enhance what meager morsels were on offer.
Even Yondir just watched the Jedi Master, suddenly forgetting his own manners, his own pack.
He was simple enough to settle for little and less, yes, but beyond himself, others are at hand.

“Indeed,” Yondir followed after Ikki, introducing vegetable ingredients into the mix from a bag.
“Thank you,” the elder offered, his eyes as wide to the generosity as to their very own identity.
“Jedi.” He did not hide his curiosity. “Seeking apprentices.” Yondir looked away from the man.
The mother and father from earlier, the boy between them, suddenly holding him in between.

Protectively. It didn’t take a guardian like Yondir to notice but he did not want to pry further.
At the moment. These people have clearly been through enough trouble. Like Knight, Master.
“My mission is…different,” Yondir extended the conversation. “To begin with, I am a Jedi, too.”
“And what is your task, master Jedi?” Yondir swallowed soup. “I have come looking for…you.”

It was the truth. Yondir Fenn had set out in these mountains to find those after other dangers.
Treasure, as with the ruins that he and Ikki Ike had found within. What of these other explorers?
“Mom? Dad?” That smaller lad interjected, loud enough for the hall to hear in the quiet of firelight.
“Do you think they would train me to be a Jedi?” “Shhh!” Mother beckoned. “Now is not the time!”

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

Ikki ate but she was listening to them and she looked at the boy as he was speaking. The diminutive maid staying there while she watched. Offering the food and sharing it as she looked at the parents. "DOes he show signs of the force?" She said it and looking at them paid more attention to their reactions as they seemed to be thinking about it. NOt sure how to judge or answer it. Ikki motioning across from herself and smiled to the boy. "It is alright... some like and want to be jedi... and some are enjoying the allure of it... but anyone has a chance it is only a matter of finding out." She said it and was giving him some food... she might do a lot but she wasn't going to take the kid from his parents even if he did test well force sensitivity to the force. "Tell me, what do you think of when you hear about the jedi?"

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC

It was Yondir’s turn to listen yet again, content as he sat and sipped from his soup turned stew.
Between Ikki and him, there was a whole pot of meat and vegetables and broth for their group.
The Jedi Knight looked between the boy, his parents, and the Jedi Master, his eyes on her face.
Studying her calm expression, appreciating Ikki’s way when it came to patience over the blade.

She had proven to be skilled with lightwires too, but now Ikki Ike showed a different strength.
Even her voice is gentle as a moonlit sea… Yondir regained focus that moment, and he listened.
“I think,” The boy began, hesitant, as shy as excited. “Think of guardians. Those who can protect.”
It was a common answer, if not ignorant. “Jedi use their power to help others. They have…vision.”

And your answer does have wisdom, lad. Yondir kept silent all the while.
“Nathan knows his feelings more than his history, maybe,” mother said.
“He is our only child,” father spoke more defensively. “We do our best.”
“So do the Jedi!” Their son responded. “They seek peace.” He smiled.

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

She listened to him and nodded. "They do and they can be. Guardians of peace and justice but there is always more to it. Peace and justice are noble ideals but what is justice for one could be injustice to another. Wanting peace for some when many others wwon't get it. It is difficult for some to understand." She said it looking at him though and offered a smile. "BUt that is something for another time.. for now if you are able to. Show me." She looked up at the mother and spoke. "You know if you tell him no, he'll try and do it. You know if you ask me to ignore him he will try and prove it. Let his actions determine it and trust the force to guide him to the right decision."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

Had Yondir himself been under some spell, well, he would have been smitten with this alien wisdom.
Yet, the man, a Ranger, had long since learned of the notions of peace and justice before being Jedi.
That was yet what had beckoned him into the Jedi Order to begin with—where he is still a guardian.
While this was true, while Yondir had heard Ikki’s words before, he listened, at a distance, at her side.

It was her manner, her composure, her patience that he was so taken to, and Yondir wasn’t alone in it.
Ikki had bidden the child’s parents to listen, reasoning with them if prompting them into their decision.
She spoke directly to the mother. “I just…” She began in answer, cradling her son’s head. “Don’t know.”
Yondir sensed her hesitation. Uncertainty. We agree. Jedi were used to these feelings in their approach.

“I admit…” It was the father who spoke. “Better Jedi visitors than Sith. And you have even yet fed us.”
He rested a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Show them what you can do.” He bid his flesh and blood.
“Do what you feel is right,” mother beckoned, a hand on her son’s chest. “We will let you decide.”
The boy looked left, looked right, held out his hand. Concentrated. Fingers flexed. Closed eyes.

Just then, Yondir Fenn’s bowl of stew began to shift in his grip.
He raised a brow, watching as his dinner became dancing liquid.
“Impressive,” the Jedi Knight extended. This child is clearly gifted.
“Master Ike?” Yondir beckoned. He left judgment to his companion.

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

She nodded when the boy was being encouraged... looking at Yondir as he seemed interested just as much. A small smirk appearing on her face when the boy was messing with his food and not hers. 'Winning' she thought it in a way that wasn't mean more internal joke that he might not be able to get. "Impressive." She motioned for him to come back and join her while having some food. "And you can do that all of the time?" She said it to gauge his abilities and check... consistency was important after all and if you could just do it once to impress it wasn't always indicitive. She spared a look for Yondir and patted him on the back. "Everyone messes with you first your head and now your food."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

The boy shrugged in response to Master Ike’s question. “I wish. Not all of the time. I get distracted.”
Yondir listened to him just as much, rotating his bowl of soup as if absentmindedly even afterward.
Distractions. Oh, those were lessons of which he was all too familiar with. Especially after that witch.
“It takes discipline,” Yondir responded, emotionless, if not as a disciplinarian. “In time, you can learn.”

Ikki arrived by his side, patted him on the back, attention on his soup while Yondir attends to it too.
“I guess they do,” he mused. “He could have chosen anyone’s soup.” He chose mine. Chose a Jedi’s.
There was a lesson in that too. “Then again…” He trailed off, lost in thought. “I think he chose right.”
He looked at Ikki, lips rigid, but a grin in his eye. “He wanted to impress me, I think, more than you.”

His best attempt at a jest, granted, given jocularity wasn’t really his ability.
“Not impress,” the boy beckoned, as if agitated. No. Seeking understanding.
“A demonstration, not of what I can do, but what I might do if…you’ll let me.”
So the question comes... The fateful decision. Yondir once more looked to Ikki.

Ikki Ike

 

[Ikki Ike]

Yondir Fenn

SHe offered him a smile and was looking at the kid as she spoke walking over to him. "It is good and with the jedi you could learn a lot but it is a difficult life, harder more for some. It is rare you will return here, rarer that you will see your family." SHe didn't speak from experience, most in her family were jedi for a long time. Many of them becoming masters and usually one was in each temple instead of all collected within one. "I leave the choice to you cause it can be more difficult and most have no where to go back to. It is one of the reasons why they are brought in as children to be raised by the temple. The older the child the more likely they will get homesick and want to return."

 

[Yondir Fenn]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

​

Yondir considered whether to offer any input besides the wisdom and simplicity of Ikki’s speech.
However, he kept quiet, listening, observing the boy’s every reaction who listened just as intently.
Difficult life. She was right. Return. Family. Yondir hadn’t seen his own since he had left his world.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t. The moon of Rhunor was open to him if closed, like a shell with a pearl.

He was the only Sephi of his breed who had taken the journey to become a Jedi. It weighed heavy.
No more than this young man’s. The boy looked up at Ikki, then between both Jedi, trying to decide.
“I…” He began, biting his lip. Finally, Yondir shifted, giving his full attention. “It is okay. Do not worry.”
Admittedly, the man was not a child when he began this life, but he could sense, could sympathize.

“This is your decision, as Master Ike has stated, yet you need not make it alone.” Not a contradiction.
Yondir looked between the child’s mother and father. “Are you two prepared for your son’s decision?”
They looked at one another. “We’ve always known he was gifted,” his mother said with a weak smile.
“Just as cherished,” father rested a hand on his son’s shoulder. Yondir waited patiently all the while.

Ikki Ike