for light & life !

EVAN RACHEL WOOD // have you met AVAR KRISS yet? SHE/THEY is a 30 year old DEMIWOMAN HUMAN. they’re originally from CORUSCANT and now show loyalty to THE JEDI ORDER. they are best known for being a JEDI MASTER, and i hear they’re pretty COMPASSIONATE yet also IMPETUOUS at times; i hope they survive the galactic civil war.

           while in recent years obi-wan’s visits to the jedi archives had become due to the need of information rather than enjoying going through the information being kept there, as a padawan there was no other place where someone would find obi-wan, sure mostly because qui-gon was always looking for something, but obi-wan had always enjoyed getting lost in the jedi texts. it had been during one of those research assignments that obi-wan had come across the history of what had happened on hetzal prime. what the jedi had accomplished there, obi-wan could hardly stop talking about it, qui-gon of course with his never ending patience answered as many of obi-wan’s questions as he could. so when obi-wan learned that legendary jedi master avar kriss had come through the rift, he could not wait to meet her.

           ❝master kriss❞ obi-wan greeted the woman with a curt nod, ❝my name is obi-wan kenobi, i wanted to welcome you to the temple. we were slowly rebuilding until well, i am sure you’ve heard of the threat we are facing…❞ obi-wan was trying to stop himself from straight out asking her about her ability, in this moment that could very well be the only thing that could connect every jedi scattered across the galaxy.

she smiles at the introduction , recognizing both the name and spirit within the man. obi-wan kenobi , member of the council , as jocasta had told her. but more than that , there was something immediately that felt familiar in the force , as if they’d known each other once. perhaps he was just that exemplary of a jedi - he must be , if he was on the council - that his force presence had that effect. emerick caphtor’s had - maybe they shared the same gift. but that was a discussion for another time and with a fresher mind than the one they currently possessed , exhaustion seeping into her bones but sleep difficult nonetheless.

“ master kenobi. ” a faint smile crosses her face , and they incline their head slightly in greeting. “ what you’ve done with the order is impressive , regrowing not only the members but public opinion. ” it had been heartbreaking - and genuinely shocking - to learn of the fate the jedi had faced just a handful of generations after her time ; they still could barely believe what had become of the order. 

so much death , not just of the order - it made sense , the change , this galaxy - just one hundred and fifty years after avar remembered it - had suffered & seen so much.

avar hadn't meant to cut herself off from it , merely shield her mind from the dark that threatened the borders , first before starlight & refusing to leave now , growing ever persistent as the song grew ghostlier. but , she had - and thus the change in melody takes her longer to notice than most , a tune bent out of rhythm & rhyme.

but she had noticed , once the comms had burst to life - or , the local ones , still full of static , notifying the news and asking the jedi for assistance ; communications galaxy - wide had been overtaken & grids were collapsing , panic reigning.

avar kriss had not wanted to sing the song again so soon , but it lured her close , crooning in low tones for her help , a humming she could not beeswax - block from their ears.

so , the hero of hetzal did what she did best - sung the song & began to spin the web , connecting as many force - sensitives as they could. or , she would - all efforts must start with a single string.

“ this is jedi master avar kriss. we need help - where are you , jedi ? "

   Jocasta smiled at the compliment, before lightly waving her hand. “I am of no higher station than anyone else. It was after all my fellow Jedi who put me into this role, something for which I will always be thankful. Serving the Order, there is no higher honor or privilege.” Even if right now serving meant she had to help lead the Order it what was seemingly going to be another war, with a rather dangerous alien species no one seemingly knew anything about. 

“I imagine the time you find yourself in now is quite different from the High Republic, if there is anything I can do to help illuminate what has happened, please let me know. I simply wish to help make your adjustment easier. I know I only missed about 27 years, and I feel so lost at times, you’ve missed several hundred years of time.”

kind , practiced  smile  creeps  onto  avar’s  lips  ,  one  of  diplomacy  more  than  community ,  nothing  but  name  &  order  tying  the  two  together -  and  a  familiar  gleam  in  jocasta’s  eyes  that  sent  pangs  through  their  heart  -  unwelcome  ones ,  now  ,  reminding  her  far  too  much  of  the  precocious  reath  silas  in  the  recordkeeper  here , over  a  hundred  years  after.  she  would  make  it  a  point  to  ask  what  history  had  done  to  her  companions ;  but  would  not  do  so  here , so  telling  of  attachment  and  a  long - gone  history  surely  few  remembered. well  ,  few  beyond  this  master  ,  who  seemed  to  know  something   of   avar ,  at  least. 

“ i  would  be  quite  thankful  for  access  to  your  records , ” the  jedi  requests , confidence  sliding  into  her  tone  despite  the  turmoil  that  brewed  beneath  her  skin ,  tugging  at  her  tongue  to  speak  words  that  were  far  more  true. “ although  from  what  i’ve  heard  of  the  jedi . . . how  many  remain ? ” 

"that's not quite how it works." the jedi responds, an edge of irritation in her tone. "i thought you'd know that." avar was a recent addition to this new order, but a welcome one, said to be gifted with a power akin to bastila's own battle meditation. she'd hoped the two could discover why she'd been so struggling with connecting to it lately, but instead . . . this. unfortunate, really, but bastila should have expected it. avar was a jedi, and had stayed with them longer than bastila had; she could see the reflection of her own self in the other woman, another path walked. she'd probably be like this, too, if time had carried on without revan or the rift's interference.

the population had not done much to provide answers, much to avar’s un-jedi-like irritation. her people lay beyond the system, she was told. they spoke nothing of the accelerated rebirth the planet seemed to have experienced, nor of the tragedy that must have been sweeping the holonet ( starlight had been a pinnacle of the republic, and its fall still filled her with sorrow & memories of death, but above all fear - she could not sense elzar or stellan in the force, and she refused to consider what that meant ). what was perhaps the most odd of all was the lack of recognition in their faces, the dull in their eyes where there should have been a spark. she’d been on this world, knew these people. but there was no recognition in her face or in theirs. it was as if the planet had been replaced in an instant; but that wasn’t possible. it shouldn’t have been. it wasn’t.

the one thing that remained clear was this: answers lay off world. so there she would seek them. if only a transport off the agricultural moon could be found. 

so when a ship finally arrives ( days of waiting feeling months within her mind, accompanied by the anxiety & fear of unknowing ), avar is determined to claim a spot aboard it ( choosing to objectively ignore the fact that it did not appear to be a civilian transport - in fact, she didn’t recognize the model at all ).  

“excuse me.” she begins, approaching the dark-worn figure disembarking, raising a friendly hand in common greeting. “are you,” a glance behind the figure at the ship resting in the small docking bay, “offering passage off world?” and an explanation, force willing. 

The  Force  has  been  his  guide  for  as  long  as  he  could  remember.  His  only  confidant  when  he  was  just  a  child,  too  focused  on  proving  his  worthiness  to  make  more  than  one  friend.  Now  however,  even  The  Force  has  betrayed  him.  The  Count  Dooku  these  people  knew  was  a  slave  to  The  Dark  Side.  In  his  own  time  it  had  been  just  in  nightmares.  He  had  no  intention  of  staying  in  the  Jedi  Order  before,  with  his  former  padawan  murdered  and  the  Jedi  Council  so  focused  on  the  politics  that  they  didn’t  see  the  true  danger  that  laid  ahead.  That  did  not  mean  that  he  was  destined  for  The  Dark  Side.  Now  he  would  not  even be  welcome  in  his  home  from  childhood.  Of  that,  he  was  sure.  Musings  could  only  last  so  long  though,  and  he  looked  up,  sensing  something  in  The  Force  almost  immediately.  Friend  or  foe?  Since  returning,  the  latter  was  much  more  common.  As  he  ignites  his  lightsaber,  the  blue  is  visible  while  little  else  is  in  the  deserted  alley  way.  “  I  am  not  looking  for  trouble.  “  

the sight & song of his saber is an immediate comfort, hum of bright blue illuminating & filling the space between them. no well-practiced hands of her own move to grasp her own saber despite the familiar hum of her green crystal calling in response to his own; although pale eyes watch him with an edge of caution. 

“neither am i.”

her words are soft, kind & light. no edge of menace nor threat of violence hangs over her, cast in his direction. she’d never had reason to distrust a jedi, and his melody in the force gave her no reason to begin now.