Private Truth.

[Nouqai Veil]

There were some lightsworn Nouqai preferred to be supervised under. Kyric was one of those. Maybe it was because they were of similar age that made it easier or because there was more freedom, the allowance of time down on land and even on small missions. It helped her rehabilitation but she was still a sithspawn, that call of darkness was always in her, if not for the amulet around her neck.

The captive was not allowed to go near weapons or bodies of water after her small escapade the last time, but Kyric did not seem to mind them training. Today they were down on Atrisia, by the rocky shore of the large river, the sounds of the waves and waterfalls at a distance were serene. It was a level of trust she appreciated. Although her skills acquired from her apprenticeships under Malum and the wookie knight gave her an advantage. Although she would hold back.

Balancing on the surface of the rocks they sparred, it had been a long time since she had a lightsaber in hand. It was not the first time they had duelled, with that short incident on Coruscant where she'd slipped from his grasp after a long chase. Nouqai blocked one of his strikes, her saber groaning as she took a step forward, pushing him back. "So how did you lose your eye?" She asked as she readied for the next strike.

Raphael Gallustrade

 

[Kyric]

Kyric withdrew his blade following the brief clash. He retreated a few steps and leaped backward, landing atop a tall stone with little effort. From his perch, the kiffar allowed himself a moment to study his 'foe.' While he knew little of the Sithspawn, he knew much in the way of battle. Trading blows with a sword in hand is something Kyric spent the better part of his life doing. Between his various mentors and masters, there wasn't a style or philosophy of the Jedi Order not hammered into the boy's head. And that knowledge went a long way to prepare him for the styles unfamiliar to him.

The lack of an eye, as so astutely pointed out by Falentra, proved to be less of an obstacle to Kyric, and more of a puzzle. The Force promised abilities beyond mortal scope. Tales of blind and limbless Jedi have proven again and again that a driven student could overcome even permanent maiming, and the kiffar strove with every fiber of his being to surpass the swordsman he was before.

A growing sense of curiosity wafted off the Sithspawn for a few short seconds, then she spoke the question he expected from the moment he collected her from confinement.

"So, how did you lose your eye?"

Kyric's hands tightened around the hilt of Resolute. "I crossed blades with a fallen Jedi on Coruscant. Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared for the type of folks Darth Solipsis keeps on hand."

Creuat flicked across Kyric's mind. Again, the Jedi's scarred fingers flexed in anticipation for a fight. But his focus drifted from Falentra to that of the Dark Jedi Master. The nautolan's malign smile a cruel juxtaposition to the promises of torment he swore upon the Jedi Knight.

The kiffar took a deep breath and lifted his sword. He held it aloft, parallel to the ground, and pointed out to his side. His eye closed in preparation.

"Whatcha wanna work on today?" Kyric asked in his strange stance.

Nouqai Veil | Raphael Gallustrade ​

 

[Nouqai Veil]

Nouqai remembered him with two eyes back when she first met him on coruscant. She was quite blunt in questioning about a possibly traumatic incident but he did not seem to mind answering. A fallen Jedi had done this. Although in less severity, she had also hurt a friend on Jedha, thankfully, he had dragged her back to the NJO. She would not be here on Atrisia under going what she believed was rehabilitation without that.

"You look just as good without it. Better than that grumpy old Bernard at least." She casually remarked, readying her saber. Bernard was one of the few lightsworn she did not like to be around. He was only pursuing to gain more intel on the Sith and never ceasing to remind her how lucky she was to be given the freedom she had instead of being confined to a cell.

While she stood in the opening stance of the Lightsaber form shein, the hilt held above her head in a two handed girp, she recognised the meditative and incredibly defensive stance she'd seen a lot during her time as padawan. "Hm, how is your blade wielding with your non-dominant hand?" She asked, now without vision on one side, it may help his mobility training on the other side. Falentra was already proficiently ambidextrous, although that did not apply to the eight extra limbs extending from her head.

One of those tentacles wrapped around the hilt of her saber from her hands, now wielding the weapon. Her hands now place behind her back. This was what she wanted to work on. She began with small swings, testing the waters. "Were you with the NJO before - Where did you train?" She did not know if Kyric had read her case report and how much he knew about her off the bat, how much of her details were shared amongst the lightsworn, but she did want to get to know him a little more.

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael's hands tightened around the controls, for a moment, as he hurtled through hyperspace at the guidance of the Force. He didn't know how he was going to feel. There were so many feelings and thoughts roiling within him that sorting them out was hard. He decided to take the remaining minutes of the next hour that he was going to be hurtling through the sub-dimension to recall things. It might help him to reclaim some focus as he approached his destination...

It hadn't been long after the battle of Coruscant, shortly after he'd recieved his new, robotic prosthetic, that he'd decided to go and visit Nouqai. He'd known what cell she was put in, he'd hoped that she'd been working on rehabilitation. That day, as he'd approached her cell, his mind had raced with what he'd say. Yet, when he'd gotten to her cell, where she was supposed to be... she was gone.

At first he'd been worried that she'd broken out and that no one had cared to look into it or report it. But, when he asked for clarification, he'd been told by staff that she'd not escaped but had been let out. No direct names were given. No clues. No leads.

His return to the Temple, that night, had not been restful; in fact the moment that he'd returned he'd began to look through messages at various points. Cybersec, in many areas, of the Jedi Order was a bit too lax. He made mental notes of places to fix as he started going through messages, trying to learn what had happened. There were very few things that set him off like something happening to friends. And here it was. He'd brought her here so that she could get better, so that she wouldn't fall down into the dark.

The only thing that he'd been able to find, however, in relation to her had been a name he'd only seen once on a more of a poster...or was a it a plaque? He couldn't remember where, but... the only word was "Lightsworn". Yet, cross-referencing for such names through the archives brought up basically nothing. No matter how much digging he did, technology gave him practically nothing.

Night had progressed to morning. The sun had been shining by the time he finally shut down everything and disconnected from all networks he'd been in. Finally, with a sigh, he'd pushed himself to his feet and ventured to a meditation room. He allowed himself, finally, a moment to do what he did so often, and let himself go. He dropped into the ocean of the Force, fell into the arms of the one thing that he knew was always with him, no matter what.

It was there. Lost within the depths of the truth, stripped bare of life, lies and emotion, there was only truth. It was there that he found her. Far out. He could feel it. She was alive. She was there... As he awoke from his trance, breaking the surface of the ocean, he'd calmly walked to the ship he was still borrowing and launched...

Slowly Raphael opened his eyes to the alarm blaring and he reached up, pulling the lever. There was a boom as his ship dropped out of hyperspace, leaving the sub-dimension behind him again, just like when he'd exited the Force. He concentrated again. Atrisia... He'd heard of the planet, but had never been here. Turning the ship, he steeled himself.

It broke the atmosphere, and he came down not too far away from near the water. They were here. The X-wing's cockpit opened and he climbed out, and glanced around. He'd come for answers. He'd come here to understand.

Nouqai Veil
Kyric

 

[Kyric]

"You think so?" Kyric asked with a chuckle. "Thanks, I guess? I'm still tryin' to get used to lookin' at it." He lifted his gloved hand from the hilt and ran a finger down the length of the scar. It passed through where his eye should have been. Sol Dara and the medical droid responsible for his recovery managed to save enough of the tissue to seal the eyelid, as opposed to sculpting the flesh over a ruined socket. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Kyric passed the blade between both hands at her question. "I'm gonna be honest with you, Nouqai. I'm like a livin' cheat code. Genius intellect, eidetic memory, and ambidextrous. Only thing holding me back," he tapped his temple with a finger, "Is a whole slew of broken parts up here."

Mist licked the edge of Kyric's blade as he began to lazily twirl it around himself.

"I was NJO-adjacent, I s'ppose. My dad founded the Order. And the people he brought together trained me, but uh... Our family hasn't been a part of them for awhile. Differin' opinions and the like." Kyric appeared ready to say more, but the starfighter's approach stole his attention.

The kiffar leaped from his stone perch to the riverbed and placed himself between the interloper and his charge. Kyric didn't take an aggressive stance by any means, but an unannounced arrival was far from ideal, and he did little to hide his feelings on the matter.

Nouqai Veil | Raphael Gallustrade ​

 

[Nouqai Veil]

Kyric was ambidextrous as well. A living cheat code, she could not help but envy. If there was anything eidetic about her memory it would be credited to CTOii in her head. While she had a lot of potential, she was unfortunately, not a natural genius. "I cheat, alright. Its tech up there for me." She admitted. It was ambition, the fear of failure and dissappointment that made her get it.

She could no hide her surprise, her eyebrows raising when he mentioned his parent had founded the NJO itself. It certainly spurred her interest. Until the whirling of engines above then diverted their attention. An X-wing lowered onto the hill nearby. "Are we expecting someone?" She enquired. By the looks of it, they weren't.

Until she saw who it was approaching them. Her face paled seeing Raphael exit the hangar, "Oh, kark." She muttered. There was a conflict of feelings seeing her old friend - if she could even consider them friends after everything that happened. The last she seen him was at Jedha when she lost their fight, then only to be woken upon in the custody of NJO. Was he here for revenge after what she'd done to him?

Nouqai allowed the Lightsworn knight to act as the barrier. "Raph... look, I'm truly sorry for what happened on Jedha. But you really should not be here." There was a part of her that was afraid for him, he was in Lightsworn territory. However, now that she was nearer her eyes trailed down to his arm, metal and not one of skin. She shot him a look of concern.

Kyric Raphael Gallustrade

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

The bluff that he'd landed on was thankfully more stable than the hill leading down to the beach. He'd been investigating the incline leading down to where he'd been planning to look around, when he saw them. One was a young man, a kiffar, it seemed, which was fairly surprising, though it wasn't like it was unheard of. Then, staying behind him, was Nouqai. he wouldn't known the tentacle like hair anywhere. But... her words...

"You're sorry?" he asked, as he stopped and tilted his head. "Oh, for the..." his fleshy hand rose and covered his neck, for a moment, before he shook his head. "You're fine, Nouqai. I long since forgave you. I just... was worried, to be honest. I went to check on you, after the battle of Coruscant... but when I got to the asylum, you were gone. I'd been told that you'd been let out. I've..." He glanced at the young man, acting as her guard. "...I've been looking for you. I was worried."

He shouldn't be here...? It was a planet. Even if they were the Lightsworn, they didn't own the planet, he could've easily landed wherever. There was an odd feeling, to the way that she stood behind him, like she was scared of him... or perhaps for him? He didn't quite know, then he glanced at the kiffar man. His body language was hostile, albeit not aggressive. Raphael, himsef, was calm and didn't make any sudden moves. "I didn't mean any harm and wanted no trouble. I was just concerned for a friend and heard about something called "the Lightsworn". Curiosity, perhaps, so I hope that you can forgive my trespass."

Kyric Nouqai Veil

 

[Kyric]

Kyric looked between the two of them in silence. It was abundantly clear their history led Raphael to the heart of an extremist organization that has denounced the New Jedi Order as apostates. That same history gnawed at Nouqai enough for her to display concern for her former companion's well being.

When Raphael turned toward Kyric, the kiffar raised his hand to placate the man.

"No worries, man. I would just uh... be a little more careful before you jump the blaster and show up unannounced to planets you've never visited. There are a lot of dangerous worlds out there where a nice fella like you can end up in a lot of trouble over nothin' serious." Kyric kept an even tone as he spoke. He released his weapon's hilt and fell into a relaxed stance. "This land is technically under the control of Clan Ashina, and has been for many centuries. They are a local governing body who adhere to more ancient traditions." Kyric didn't expand further. He returned his attention back to Noquai and began to quietly parse through her emotions. Not surprised to discover her sense of shock at seeing her friend, the kiffar pushed past the broader feelings to the singular bead of light formed from her concern.

Kyric looked to Raphael and studied his cybernetic arm with keen interest. "Were you at Coruscant?"

Nouqai Veil | Raphael Gallustrade ​

 

[Nouqai Veil]

There was relief when Raphael clarified he had forgiven her. Even she was still angry with the sith that carved an emblem into her wrist although it had been years, alas the elf lady was not a friend, and Raphael was admirably more mature than her to hold such grudges. Nouqai could not imagine being hated by such a friend, but after she tried to force darkness upon him, she it was hard to believe that he truly did not.

"I've made it worse, hadn't I?" The runes she carved onto him to unleash those voices in his head must have made it so hard to attain some peace. Even after knowing he had worked so hard to get back to the light after what was done to him, she had tried to shove darkness down his throat. It was most selfish, wanting him to join her.

He had been looking for her - worried even? There was a slight flutter in her chest, an odd thing, she suspected was it the work of Truth hanging around her neck. "You need not be, I've been fine. The lightsworn have been helping me." Nouqai assured softly. Then Kyric would elaborate more on the place. It would have been far worse if Raphael was a darksider and descended onto the planet unannounced, she was more than fortunate that they'd decided to help her rather than execute.

Nouqai's gaze fell onto his metal arm... while she'd admit it looked good on him, it only increased her concern with how much pain he must have had endured. Of course, the war.

Raphael Gallustrade Kyric