Where's the Silver Lining Now? [Memorial for Diana Moridena | Pubs | All Jedi & Friends]

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

The memorial of Master Moridena being on Kiffu held it’s complexities for the blonde. She figured that in the end, it would be better for her to be on the planet she was heir to as her Jedi alias. She had served on the council with Diana when Master Halcyon was Grandmaster, and now these two fateful paths had unfolded. It was revolting to think of death (one to the darkside) plaguing two of The Order's strongest duelests— although the way Diana had died had gone largely unknown. Nobody would have anticipated suicide — or, maybe they would in knowing her unorthodox attachment to ex-Jedi Apparine. Unlikely.

Kiskla hadn’t actually been to that many funerals; but on Kiffu she knew the traditions. They would burn the Jedi, and the smoke would spiral into the stormy atmosphere. The soft chanting confirmed the parade, and the spectacle of mourning was over --- the spectacle was not the act, however. There was an eerie silence over the crowd, the kind that plagued people when they didn't know what to say nor when they had the will to speak. Which was fine, from Kiskla's brief interactions with the other Kiffar, she had never been much of a talker.

 

[Syn]

Syn hadn't expected to see of all people here Selena and he remained off to the side. Diana was an allie a friend and a fellow jedi but he didn't know her. He hadn't talked with her aside from passing words and nods. They were comrades in arms fighting an evil in the galaxy and united in a purpose. So many others had disappeared or fallen that he actually stood amazed more that he had managed to ride out the turbulence to be... He didn't know. Being a jedi was easy, after what he had went through on that world and on Korriban, after being swallowed by a great beast. Which he had wondered if a sithspawn eats another sithspawn is it considered cannibalism? Bah it was no matter and he waited his turn. Approaching and kneeling while the he set under the pyre the black gold saber. With everything that had happened recently from the council he was just glad to be hidden away. By his own choice teaching those who wanted to come and learn instead of making waves that sent headache inducing ripples.

 

[Amarant]

(OOC: not looking to start a fight, honest)

If there was one person in the galaxy no one would expect to be here, it would be a droid lawyer for the Black Suns. The witness to the massacre of Nar Shaddaa. A sad, old, droid, tired of his enemies attacking him at every turn. So why here. Why come here, knowing that most of the people in his room would think him the king of evil?

Simply put, he didn't care what others thought of him. He came here to pay respect to someone. Someone, who in most of the Black Sun's minds, was probably not worth respecting. However, he knew the score. He'd seen this story play itself out, years ago with a crime war on the nearest slave hub to Gamorr. Moridena was a patsy to Apparine's psychotic urges. Daella had played them all for chumps, and the Sun's capital world was just one more pile of bodies to the Sith. Still, none of that was his concern. His concern was what happened here. For the first time in decades, Ash was taking the moral high ground.

He looked at the memorial and those gathered, nodding quietly. Of course, Halcyon was here--and of course, she would likely object to his presence. it wasn't like he was invited. But, he was unarmed. Save for his embedded blades, he had left every weapon at his ship. The only reason he had even heard about this was from a leak regarding the shipping of a body into republic space--that particular infochant was getting a big bonus for handing the news to him. Still, if permitted, he would pay his respects. Still he knew that no one wanted to make the first move at a funeral, so he figured he'd be safe, as long as he didn't do anything stupid.

 

[Avalore Eden]

As the procession slowly snaked through the gathered people, Avalore watched with growing anxiety, her right hand fishing in the pocket of her green Healer robes for something. With deep breaths, she considered this next step forward in the grieving process: a speech, or rather, a letter to Diana written in private to be read aloud. Avalore wasn't good at speeches and like most people she fretted about public speaking, but this was something from the heart. This was something that had to be done and it had to be done before the fire was set.

Brown eyes traced the movement of the Moridena family as they settled into place at either side of the memorial. It was now or never for her, and with the sound of the funeral pyre bed being set upon the raised dais before the altar, she slowly moved from her spot. Every step was difficult, from the act of wading through this sea of unknowns to the prospect of speaking before them, she shuddered with fear, she cringed with nausea. Brushing past the left side of [member="Ashin Varanin"], and then along the right of a man she'd once known as Sopher but now called himself [member="Sciath"], the Healer carefully, slowly wend her way forward. Her fingers tugged at the paper note inside her pocket and by the time she reached the front she was fumbling to hold it with all ten of them.

Her hands shook, her eyes flickered nervously from one face to the next.

Don't focus on them. Pretend they aren't even there. Just breath. Don't say anything stupid.

"Hi," she began meekly, her throat still tight. Avalore coughed, "hello. Sorry. I don't speak in public often. At all. Ever. It's really alot easier to run onto a battlefield to pick up an injured woman and bring her to safety. That's-" she looked up, eyes trailing to the face of [member="Marakai Al'Orren"] at the back, "that's how I met Diana. On Ossus, she'd fallen during battle and I," a hard swallow, Avalore pushed her hair from her face, "I was the only one dumb enough to retrieve her. I was six months pregnant and I ran out to find her, and I picked her up - I don't even know how - and I brought her back to safety. But I'm not here to talk about my accomplishments, or even hers. Most of you are here because you probably already know about them. I'm just here," the young woman closed her eyes, attempting to fight the grimace that pulled at her face, "to say goodbye."

She fumbled with the letter, quaking hands working hard to unfold it without dropping it. When it was open, she turned the page one way and then the other until it was right.

Avalore took a breath and when she began to speak her voice was strained, "I know our relationship has been anything but the normal way of Master and Learner, but I've never been much good at doing things the normal way and I don't think you have either. I'm not quite sure what made me decide to do what I did on Ossus, but my gut tells me it's how things were supposed to be. I lost my Master months ago and in the Order I was an outcast but you didn't care. The only thing you cared about was that I was dumb enough to do what I did in the way that I was. You could have left me on Cato, knowing I was only going to be more trouble than I was worth, but something between us must have clicked. Maybe you recognized my need for approval and acceptance, or maybe it was the other way around. You weren't exactly the traditional Jedi and I wasn't exactly the ideal Padawan, but at least we made things interesting."

On the pyre bed Diana Moridena's armor glistened in the lights set around the memorial and the pale glow of the rising moon. Tears pooled in Avalore's eyes, she bit back sob.

"Looking back, I don't know that I really learned anything I should have with you. I haven't a clue what it means to be a Jedi, and I'd be a liar if I said I could recite the code. You couldn't train me to use a lightsaber because I was too afraid and I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be - also, sorry for dropping it on your foot, I still have nightmares sometimes about cutting your toes off even though I didn't. I spent all 9 months of pregnancy attending Youngling classes on being a Jedi and the meaning of the Force, and in the afternoons I spent my time in the Medical wing learning how to become a Healer. You never discouraged me from anything and you helped me cheat on my diet more times than I can count."

"I don't say these things to make you feel as though you failed, because when I think about it I know that I learned more with you in our short time together than I have through everything else. You showed me what it meant not to be a Jedi, but to be a good person. You taught me not to follow a code, but to follow my heart. I'm still learning, Di, and it's really hard sometimes. I don't know if I'm truly doing what I feel is best, or if I'm just living up to the expectations of others. You were so good at knowing the difference and I..." pale glimmers streaked the sides of her face as she looked around at the crowd, "I am still just ...guessing."

Avalore shut her eyes tightly, pushing large, fat tears from them, and raised a hand to her mouth to cover up a sob. She cringed and bit her lip, internally wrestling to control herself. She only had a few more lines to read.

With the sleeve of her robes she wiped at her eyes and returned them to her letter.

"Your kindness and generosity to others knew no limits, and I can't understand why others couldn't see it. You were my greatest friend, you were like a sister, and now I've lost you, too. I'm so scared for what comes next Di, but I'll try to find you in everything I do. I'll do my best to emulate what you stood for, even if it means going against the grain. If there's good in it, well,"

"there's the silver lining."

Diana's mother approached her now and whispered something in her ear, something about fire. Sobbing, Avalore nodded, folded her letter, and carefully tucked it in with Diana's armor. She turned then and made a hasty retreat from the memorial, tears streaming down her face as she heard the hiss of fire ignite behind her.

Diana Moridena's armor glowed in the heat of the flames, her history of deeds and choices rising into the Kiffu night sky as smoke in the wind.

[member="Tracyn Ordo"]
[member="Saki"]
[member="Sam"] Johvna
[member="Ryan Korr"]
[member="HK-36"]
[member="Ket Vistas"]
[member="Ayden Cater"]
[member="Sarge Potteiger"]
[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
[member="Lyna Moridena"]
[member="Vulpesen"]
[member="Selena Halcyon"]
[member="Daella Apparine"]
[member="Kiskla Grayson"]
[member="Syn"]
[member="Mr. Ash"]

 

[Cedric Dorn]

Lyna watched her sisters apprentice in silence. She made no move, said nothing, simply listened. By the end she felt tears glistening in her own eyes, felt the need to weep about what had been said, but she held it back. Tears would help no one here. It wouldn't bring back her sister, it wouldn't comfort her mother. They would do nothing. So Lyna clamped her eyes shut tight, holding back tears and wailing cries of despair.

There was no need for them.

Clamping her eyes shut Lyna took a deep breath. The scent of fire rushed into her lungs. It soothed her slightly, the smell of the smoke tumbling around them all. She heard cries and sobs, some from her mother, some from the gathered Jedi and other mourners. She frowned, waiting for the roaring fire to die down slightly.

Then she opened her eyes. Gray scanned across the crowd, searching for the woman who had given such a beautiful speech. With slow determined steps Lyna made her way towards [member="Avalore Eden"].

“Avalore?” Lyna said as she finally managed to squeeze her way past the crowd.

This would be hard.

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore had built up speed by now and when she turned to glance back at the sound of her name she narrowly escaped a full-blown face plant.

"Lyna?" the sobbing was pretty strong now and hard to form words around. It was even hard to see, but she did recognize the voice enough to put a name to it. With a longing glance towards the quiet and safety of the Moridena home not far off, she looked back towards Lyna, grateful that the flames were quite tall enough to be seen over the crowd of people standing around the memorial.

Avalore wiped at her eyes with her sleeve again, "sorry," she sniffed, "it was an awful send-off, I know. I don't know how to do these things."

[member="Lyna Moridena"]

 

[Amarant]

The soulless droid stepped forward softly as the pyre continue to burn. He whispered, in a low voice, one barely audible to anyone. "I forgive you...be at peace, warrior." It was an odd prayer, and a strange sentiment from a man known to be pure evil. Then again, there was no pure evil in the universe, and it's not like that wasn't just another lie--just like his supposedly being a human cyborg instead of a droid with organic grafts.
He nodded, bowed and steep back amidst the crowd of mourners. No tears, no sadness in voice or inhuman face. Just, simple acknowledgement. She had been innocent in all this. Her and Selena were just tools of a more sinister conspiracy. It was saddening, that Nar Shaddaa had to burn, and that these two had to be part of that bait and switch.

Still he had said his peace. Made his apology to the woman he had thought guilty of all these heinous sins. The truth was sadder--she was a good person with a good cause put to waste by bad leaders. Ah, well. He had tried. He nodded to the crying woman--[member="Avalore Eden"]. "It was honest," he said calmly. "Diana would prefer some honest and simple, like what you did. Never struck me as much for fancy words."

If anyone who knew him were here, they'd have just spit out their drink. Mr. Ash, the breaker of the Black Suns, the master of torture, slayer of hutts and Jedi alike, comforting a grieving stranger at a funeral.

 

[Cedric Dorn]

Lyna looked at the strange man for a moment, then shook her head.

“Thank you for your kind words.” She bit off the sentence before turning to Avalore, and slipping an arm around her shoulder. She turned the girl...well Avalore was the same age as her but still, she turned the girl away from the creepy gentlemen and walked her away from the crowd. What she was going to say wasn't for them to here, not even her parents.

She led Avalore a good bit away, and then slung her backpack in front of her. From it she pulled out Diana's original lightsabers. Two beautifully white lightsaber hilts, each fashioned out of an Energy Spiders carapace. Small spikes ran along one side of the curved hilts, both ending in a large almost blade like appendages.

“She wanted you to have these.” Lyna said solemnly, then tried to crack a joke. “Along with everything else I suppose.”

She smiled at Avalore, then continued. “She cared about you, a lot. Maybe even loved you. Its difficult to tell with you Jedi. But I know...”

Lyna broke off, tears welling in her eyes. She quickly looked away, unable to continue.