Why Must We Fight?

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie could only assume she meant that there was a severe lack of nature on Bastion. Everywhere she turned it was nothing but towering skyscrapers, magnificent feats of architecture, and a looming presence that made a person feel incredibly small in the grand picture, as if their existence made little difference to the way of the world, that no matter what you were simply a tiny cog in the clockwork that made the planet spin, one that could be lost and forgotten. Given where she was born Jamie could understand Aela's lack of enthusiasm for the planet, though Jamie herself had never been to a world quite like this, so while she certainly felt out of place, she appreciated the difference in scenery, even if she missed the lush forests and marshes, simplistic yet elegant architecture, and open breathing one felt when even in the busiest of cities.

"I suppose." She said with a shrug. "It's different." Her eyes shifted from the outside to Aela.

"Strange. But every place is different. I don't think I could live in a place like this. It's too crowded for me. But I guess there's a certain draw to it."

She laughed before saying what she was thinking.

"Or maybe people here just decided they were born here so why leave?"

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I think they were probably born into it." That made sense in a way really. People from Coruscant probably didn't really consider Coruscant to be all that strange. When you didn't experience anything for your entire life things were just...normal. Her travels around the galaxy with her father had been eye opening, but they had never gone to a place like Bastion, mostly because it had been owned by The Primeval at the time and her father wasn't mad enough to venture to more dangerous places.

She considered for a moment.

"Where were you born?" Aela realized she hadn't asked before. "What world I mean."

She was of the same mind as Jamie really, Borleias had been an entirely open world. A tourist trap by some accounts, but her part of the planet had always been intensely quiet. The Archipelago that she had grown up in had no one but her family living in it. The largest town had been several dozen miles away, easy enough to visit by boat if you had an entire day or a speeder, but other then that they had been very isolated. She'd always enjoyed that, the quiet of the ocean.

Aela shifted slightly. "I was born on Borleias, in The Republic...well at the time."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Oh. That's in the Colonies region, right?"

She hoped her schooling paid off there. She wasn't the best with planetary locations but she knew where most of the core worlds lay in relation to one another. Even if she knew very little about the majority of the worlds in the galaxy, she could mostly point out where they were on a map. Mostly. She was no astronavigator or anything, but it wasn't like she couldn't find Coruscant on the map. At an early age she was taught to find Coruscant, and then all of the other stars would fan out from there, making it easier to locate each one if starting from a central point.

"My family are from Naboo." She nodded. "Like most of the folks here it seems, they never immigrated to another planet. As far back as records show my family have always been from there."

It seemed so strange to her that even after so many generations, people never ventured past their own world. Jamie was enjoying seeing the galaxy, even if it weren't all fun and games. She could imagine living elsewhere, though she did have that special place in her heart for home. She could never truly leave either, but she also didn't feel bound by anything to raise a family there if there were opportunities elsewhere.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She smiled, Aela had good memories on Naboo. "It is. Borleias is not really significant in any way, its why my father picked it."

Anonimity.

Ironic really, given that a few short years later Soliael would become Senator of the planet and represent thr world within the Galactic Republic. Now of course The Republic had collapsed under its own weight and Borleias was an independant world, something that pleased her father beyone words.

"I have fond memories of Naboo." She told Jamie. "When I was sixteen I took a trip there to tame a Titavian."

The trip had been a fun one, and succesfull.

She still remembered soaring over the crystal blue oceans on the back of one of the magnificent creatures. It had taken her weeks to do, but it had been more than worth it in the end.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"You...Tamed one?"

Jamie's face fell blank, astonished. She had only ever seen a few of them in her life, and never got much closer than about 20 meters to one. To not only stand face to face with one, but also tame and ride one? That was simply unheard of. She knew of no others to have ever done such a thing.

Amazing!

"I've seen only a handful of them in my life. One flew over my house as a kid, dang near blocked out the light of day with its' massive size. I remember sitting outside in the flower gardens when all of a sudden it got notably dark where I was. I looked up to see the enormous wingspan and body of that Goffbird."

That was actually a bit frightening for a kid her age. She honestly thought it was going to try and eat her.

"Another time I was simply exploring the bluffs by the sea, managed to climb my way towards the top, only to see this thing resting, its' body scrunched up with its' wings covering its' head. I sat there for a while watching it, but it never moved. If it wasn't for the rise and fall of its' body I'd have thought it was dead."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

”Maybe tamed is the wrong word.” Aela said with a smile. The creature had been difficult to approach, even more difficult to fly, but eventually she had managed it. Finding them had been hard enough though. It had taken her a week to locate a nest, a week more to get up to it, and a few days to approach the birds within.

”I didn’t domesticate it or anything.” She cleared up. ”Just flew over the ocean for a bit and then circled back.”

It had been an adventure, a dangerous one that her mother had mostly disapproved of, but she had the time of her life. Half of her still wanted to go back and do it again, or venture to other worlds and do the same. Maleah did that, traveled around the galaxy and moved from place to place just doing as she pleased.

It was an interesting life to say the least.

”My sister could probably tame it completely, she’s much better at it than I am.” Aela had a somewhat natural talent when it came to taming beasts, but Maleah far outmatched her in that regard.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"That's still pretty incredible. I'd like to be able to do that for sure!" For a moment she envisioned herself soaring over Theed on the back of such a majestic creature, in control of its' flight and sharing a sort of connection with the animal. Domesticating such a beast would be a feat of its' own worthy of recognition. Jamie even imagined riding one into a battle. That thought made her smirk ever so slightly. The fear it would induce on the ground would be quite dominating.

"I want to learn how to do that." She said finally. "That sort of thing really intrigues me." Giving Aela a nod she peered out the window once more, staring out at the soaring skyscrapers of Bastion. "Bonding with creatures through the Force. It's magnificent."

Jamie had started to do something closely resembling that back on Spira with Kurt and the Manka Cat, though her inexperience and lack of control created some very serious consequences on that trip. If she could master that perhaps next time they wouldn't be in so much trouble.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

”Oh!” That was something she could latch onto. At first she hadn’t been entirely sure what Jamie had wanted to learn from the force. The padawan had given her the indication of control, controlling herself and the powers that she could manifest, but this? This was something entirely different.

Something that she could help with.

”I can teach you.” It was an ability that ran through her family after all. She may not have been as naturally gifted in the talent as Maleah, but she could still do it better than half a dozen other Jedi she knew. More importantly she knew exactly how to teach it, mostly because she had taught it to herself...with a little help from her grandmother. ”Not here obviously”

She gestured to Bastion. ”After this mission, when we get back from Bastion we’ll report to Sullust and then head off to Dxun.

That was where she had learned.

The planet was very harsh, it’s creatures not very friendly, but...well it was the best place to learn and she could bring along Malfegor. Her pet Drexl was likely eager to return to his homeworld for a little while, and at least with him along they would be somewhat more safe than just on their own.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Really!?" She exclaimed, nearly bouncing in her seat. Her voice pitched up with the excitement, enough so that the driver would look in the mirror behind him at the two, before shaking his head and returning to the road ahead of him. Jamie folded her lips inwards, realizing she'd been a bit loud just then. Though still quite enthusiastic she managed to control her volume. "That would be great!"

Dxun...

Thinking for a minute or two about where that was she realized it was technically a moon. One located around the orbit of Onderon. She knew very little else of the planet, save for that it was full of wild jungles and predatory animals. "Why Dxun?" She'd ask curiously. Perhaps there was something special about the creatures there, or maybe Aela had some kind of connection there that would help her learn.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

”My grandmother lives on Onderon.” Aela explained simply, shrugging her shoulders. They likely wouldn’t visit her grandmother, if only because Quietus was known for being busy and there was no need to disturb her. Aela could teach Jamie well enough on her own and with the Dxun the way it was things would be rather exciting enough without involving her Oma. ”Dxun is where I learned, and it’s also where I got Malfegor, my Drexl.”

She nodded her head. ”We’ll bring him along, things will be less likely to see us as prey if they notice we have him along.”

It was really the best way.

”Dxun is also incredibly diverse.” Aela sounded almost nostalgic as she spoke, as if she longed to return to the wilds there. ”There are thousands upon thousands of creatures. Snakes, reptiles, mammals, things in between. It’s the best place to learn, plus, there aren’t any distractions.”

The moon had no towns, cities, or settlements. They would be within the wilds, what better place to learn?

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Oh! I see!" She said with a smile. Family ties. Made sense she figured.

Jamie nodded along as Aela explained the nature of Dxun and the reasoning behind training there. It sounded fine, right up to the point where the other girl mentioned thousands upon thousands of snakes. The blonde noticeably cringed at the thought of that many reptiles, though namely snakes. There was nothing worse than a snake. Nothing.

Snakes. Ick.

"As long as we avoid the slithering reptiles I think I'll be okay." Her nostrils flared in disgust. "Not my cup of tea."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela decided that it was best not to mention the fact that Dxun was home to one of the largest snakes in the galaxy, one that could paralyze its prey with a single bite. Instead she simply nodded her head in affirmation, smiling at her padawan and not giving anything away.

She was excited about this.

At first she had doubted her ability to teach Jamie. She had never had a dedicated Padawan before and things beyond the simple matters of meditation and insight were...difficult to convey, especially when one didn’t exactly know what the Padawan was well suited for. This however was a connection, something that they could build on. Influencing animals with thoughts, befriending them and taming them was only the beginning of something far larger.

The techniques required incredible patience, it also required quite a bit of control. Animals were incredibly perceptive and one had to control themselves as much as they could, after all you didn’t want to go raging around when you were standing in the face of a Drexl.

”Looks like we’re here.” Aela said with a smile, though the quirk of her lips quickly disappeared as she took on that stoic mask. ”We’ll talk more about Dxun tonight. For now, remember what we’re here for.”

Her voice was cold steel.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie gave a quick nod, and dropped their former conversation as quickly as Aela had, replacing her cheerful and bubbly demeanor with one of serious nobility, coupled with teenage brattyness. She waited for the soldier who had escorted them as their personal driver to exit the car and open the door for her, to which she only displayed her right hand, expecting the man to not only open the door for her, but to also help her exit the car. And boy did she take her time with that. Standing up her eyes peered all around, taking in the sights as she could, before glancing over to Aela.

"This is it?" She said with mild disappointment. "I do hope these venues procure better wares than the appearance they give off."

Jamie stepped forward and allowed the man to close the door behind her.

"Lets be on our way. I much rather not spend any more time than necessary out in this heat. My fair complexion simply cannot take the abuse of this merciless sun,"

She rolled her shoulders indignantly. "You know this sister."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Mm." Was the only answer that Jamie received.

She kept her face completely straight and without emotion, there was no use displaying any where. A fan made its way from her sleeve and quickly unfolded. She fluttered it in her face a few times as they slowly began to walk towards the shops. The walk wasn't a long one of course, neither of the two sisters could stand for walking, that would be too much.

"Just pick what you like." She said with a small wave to her sister. "Uncle will pay for it. Then we can get back home."

She ushered Jamie along.

"I know this place is dreadful, but really father insisted so there's nothing to do." She shrugged her shoulders.

Playing this role was strange to say the least, but she could be the bratty child when necessary. As they moved towards the shops her eyes began to slowly scan the crowd, searching for anyone that might be watching them. There was still an added bit of paranoia inside of her. She knew that they were following, but she wanted to know where, she wanted to know how, and she especially wanted to know who. Which of the families was most interested?

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The younger blonde rolled her eyes ever so slowly in frustration. "As you wish."

Jamie hadn't brought along a fan of her own, likely an honest mistake as it was actually rather warm out, though not really unbearable just yet. Instead she simply waived her hand rapidly in front of her face to keep cool and give off the appearance of discomfort. Their escorts walked cordially yet carefully behind each of the women, acting as body guards and servants while the girls meandered about aimlessly towards one of the shops that had a number of unique outfits on display just outside the front door to try and draw potential customers inside.

"This looks as good as any." She said, her tone full of boredom.

Jamie stopped in front of one of the mannequins, examining the soft, pillowy material of the bodice, before moving on to the other. Her hand fell gently over the clothing, before stepping inside, head peering about to get a feel for the atmosphere within, and also to gauge how many other patrons were inside. Lucky for her it was relatively empty, save for a much older woman who seemed to be helping her granddaughter into a dress that she was far too big for.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"You." She pointed to the other patrons.

It pained her to do this. It really did.

"Out." Her words were stern, simple. The old woman gave her a look of half horror, half indignation. She opened her mouth to say something, but one of the men stepped in front of her. Before the old Lady could open her mouth the soldier motioned to the tailor and brought him over. There was a quick, whispered discussion, and then before anyone knew what was happening the old Lady and her young companion where practically thrown from the shop. "Pick you dress, dearest Sister. We don't have all day."

She hated doing that.

Her parents had always taught her about respect. Though her father had told her stories of just how powerful their family was he had always emphasized that power didn't make her better. Everyone and everything was to be treated with respect and care, this...this was the direct opposite of that. Yet today she was not Aela Talith. She was someone else, someone who had never learned to respect the common people, someone who only cared for themselves.

"You." She pointed to the tailor. "Get me...get me something slim. Black, and make sure no one else has touched it."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Yes, yes, of course not. I'm well aware that you've scheduled my day for me already, sister. But if I'm to look my best, then I must find the right dress." She teased her hair as she slipped away from the rack she was sorting through to another, a bit more vibrant hues in red and blue. The man looked at Aela, then to Jamie, and then back again to Aela. He blinked, shook his head as if to say you're all the same, before turning his back to the sisters and wandering towards the back room of the shop, a large 'Employees Only' sign hanging above the archway as he disappeared into the depths beyond.

"Red or blue?" She asked, holding up the two dresses for Aela to examine. "The red is more sultry, but the blue is more eye catching I think."

Just then she realized that Aela had requested a black dress, and her head cocked slightly to the side.

"Did you ask for a black dress? This isn't a funeral you know. My stars, you are so fashionably deaf sometimes I swear."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Might as well be a funeral." She said plainly. "This world is dreadful."

Her voice was plain, harsh, and the way that the tailor looked at her it was clear that at the very least he believed the act. That was good, though it wasn't exactly the most important thing. The man was an innocent, and she had no doubt that he would be later questioned by any spies following them, but they would need more than just the reports of a tailor to actually substantiate anything. Slowly Aela wandered towards the window, motioning for the Tailor to hurry up with what she had asked for. "Go with the red."

She said simply.

"Perhaps it will catch someones eye and we can go home with a suitor for you." It was a taunt, the slight change of tone admitted that much. She looked out the broad window of the shop, watching the crowd for a moment more until she finally spotted what she had been looking for. A man stood on the opposite end of the street. He tried to look nonchalant but his eyes flicked up one too many times for him not to be watching the store.

Aela look at him through the reflection of a nearby shop window, then turned away to find the tailor holding a dress up for her. It was slim, as she had asked, and a dark shade of black that would blend perfectly with the night. "It will do."

She said with distaste.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The younger girl snickered in a condescending manner. "Dreadful? Commener was dreadful. This place is miserable." She rolled her eyes, "Is that why you're opting for the black? To blend in with the others while I am stuck standing out? Forced into mind numbing boring conversation with one of these dregs which leads to a marriage out of convenience to please father's interests rather than my own while you get off free as rain?" Jamie's eyes narrowed towards Aela in feigned displeasure. "Selfish poltroon."

For a moment the blonde shifted her eye to see that the other girl was paying some bit of attention to another set of eyes outside and across the street from the shop. She was sure that man was of little consequence for the time being, and instead returned to her dress making decision. In truth Jamie actually quite liked the two dresses she was looking at, they were rather pretty.

"I want to try this on." She said, looking at the man. He gave a small, mildly agitated nod before pointing her towards a fitting room. "I best not look fat. I'm far too breathtaking to be seen in something that obscures my figure." It would only take her a minute or two to change, before returning to present herself to Aela for review.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She watched out the window for a moment more, eyes slowly following until Jamie finally made her return. The dress was nice truth be told, nicer than anything Aela herself actually owned back home. She had never really bothered with fancy clothes, not until her Aunt or Mother insisted upon it anyway. Of course she could still appreciate a fine dress when she saw it, she wasn’t blind after all.

”Eh.” Aela said with a rather undignified shrug.

”Maybe something more revealing.” That would come as a surprise, though her following words made things clear. ”You don’t have much of a personality, sister, and you need something to keep boys attentions.”

Her voice was so flat it was hard not to laugh.

Sisterly barbs were normal, even in her own household they tended to fight. Their jabs at one another didn’t tend to be that mean or cruel, but they were playing a very specific role here, and that role was...well Schutta. Neither of them were supposed to be very nice, and Aela intended to take that to heart.

Especially since this Tailor wasn’t one of their agents.