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Tython Space/ Tython - Jedi Temple

After Ronyo had made his way back to Tython he had moved straight to one of the meditation chambers that had recently been finished. Much of Tython still looked like nature had a hold over it more than the Jedi but in truth the Jedi, manly under Ronyo's orders, had tried to keep it that way to some extent. The buildings had been cleaned up and fixed up well enough but the plants growing around them had been left untouched and allowed to grow. It was not un heard of for groups of animals to walk by the central building without a second thought.

As Ronyo came closer to the meditation chamber he was greeted by his old friend, Omega. The Force Wolf was sitting in front of the door with a look that seemed to say, 'your late.'

"Sorry the hyperspace charts are still a bit on the touchy side. With them having to be kept hidden it makes them even harder to plot correctly."

Ronyo made his way into the room with the canine companion following along. Ronyo sat down with his legs crossed and Omega sat behind him almost back-to-back. They had done this a few times but Omegas natural force abilities often helped Ronyo keep himself centered, and worked as a emergency wakeup call should he need it. This time Ronyo needed to think as well as keep the tabs he had set up long ago. Soon he would need to begin choosing people to be more active in the information gathering field but luckily that time was not at hand...yet.

Images of people talking about Jedi and the Republic attacking people hit Ronyo first. It seemed a lot had happened while he had been away and cogs had begun to move slightly ahead of his predicted time table. It was not something he worried about because he knew in all matters of strategy flexibility was the most important. Ronyo tried to search for traces of movement or talk about the Sith but most lead Ronyo to blocking points, likely being places the Sith had protected against prying force users. He saw a Echani with orange eyes, a blonde hair blue eyed woman, a Twi'lek, a Gurlanin, a Doneer, and then a woman using the force with brown hair and green eyes. It was not that woman that intrigued him but the one he could slightly see sitting across from her...that hair...the images did not hold long enough to identify but every scrap was useful.

His mind raced about appearances of dark energy swirling around the Republic and other worlds. He could feel fear and doubt creeping back into the galaxy which always seemed to herald the return of the Sith in some kind of force. With a quick motion Ronyo opened his eyes and gave a heavy sigh. Omega echoed his tone with a low audible whine and the Jedi brought his hand to his chin with his index finger rubbing his bottom lip. Ronyo knew the information he needed and the only one who might possibly be able to tell him was the one currently locked away. Which meant it was time to see if his research would produce the results he hoped for. With that Ronyo stood up and made his way to the library section to check a few matters, and then to his quarters where he would need to get a few things.

Sam felt slightly aware somewhere that she was being helped, coddled, but the lure of the memories was too strong. Not that she was in the sea, the current was pulling her deeper and deeper and her salvation would be at the end of the whirlpool, not on the edge, or the outside, but right down the center. All at once any resistance she was still reserving was gone, opening up to Isani completely and letting her in deeper with a rush. She wanted this woman inside of her now, even with the warning instincts of danger and caution - especially because of these things.

It made no sense, but none of it did. The memories, sharing minds with this stranger - for that could be the only way she had of describing this moment - the presence she felt outside of them, within them, all around and traveling through them. While Isani's expert hands sifted metaphysically and expertly through visions and images and memories, Sam was aware of the force that connected them.

"Darth Isani, Sith Master..." She said, again with her memory's self. She was at the brink now and she knew that it wasn't a matter of asking or demanding for more - more would come, was coming even as she grew aware of it, and there was no stopping it. Force willing that Isani was strong enough for the both of them to guide them through the storm.

NABOO

She's momentarily aware that she's biting her lip and she stops, knowing that she'll bite clean through it if continues. Instead she forces her attention away from the pin and searches through her memories again, for the next moment.

"What are you going to do with me?" she asks, feeling more unsure than she's ever felt before, but Isani will not be cowed and meets Sam's gaze. (but it's not the utters sense of loss that isani wants to share, because that's hers so she draws it back a little and keeps it for herself)

"Your powers appear intact, I can sense that much by standing next to you Isani, so it appears you have two choices. You can remain here, a guest, and discover how much of your power remains or you can return to the Sith on a quest to re-discover yourself."

A choice. Isani is more grateful than perhaps she's ever been before (which is truer than she knows). "I would like to say," she tells Sam.

"Welcome to the Jedi Academy Isani. You can call me Sam," Sam says though Isani knows she's so much more than Just Sam.

There's a little shifting of the memory for brevity, some cutting and pasting of the parts because stars it hurts and Isani draws back in a flash, twisting away from Sam physically and mentally. Standing abruptly, she steps away and brushes away the tears of pain before settling her expression into a cool mask --

-- and then her hand is on her saber, and her voice is strong again when she demands, "Show yourself." It is neither her five senses nor the Force that tells here there's a watcher, but instinct that sets the hairs on the back of her neck to rising; she perhaps shouldn't fear this watcher, but she knows whomever it is she does not necessarily want an encounter. Too slow - she should've started with the Delve.

Naboo


R9-D4, the assigned astromech to Kennero Aedos for nearly five consecutive years now, is nervous. As nervous as a droid with its programming can be. It's not an asinine or ludicrous assessment of his condition, for all droids are programmed with varying degrees of self-preservation programming - for how expensive would it be to be replacing brilliantly engineered droids such as himself because they'd fallen off a ledge and failed to catch themselves, or hadn't moved out of the way of landing vessels because of ignorance of their surroundings? Yes, R9 was very nervous indeed.

Avoiding port authorities on a registered allied planet was one thing, but he had been diligently monitoring the space traffic of the closest port - Theed - and he'd detected his master's light-cruiser's docking and identification codes. It could only mean that Armina Rahl was on planet, and if that was the case then his master's hopes for secrecy (whatever for, it was not his place to question) was compromised. Knight Aedos had never before (to R9's memory banks) hidden information from Knight Rahl, and if the droid knew anything about humanoid behavior it was that any action if not properly rehearsed or practiced by the less efficient beings was doomed to fail.

But he had been ordered to remain radio silence, no matter what transmissions he detected or received. R9 emitted a low, pitiful whistle at his dilemma. Like most R9 and R4 units, he had the capacity to act in his master's best interests in hopes of preserving his master's longevity, which in turn would serve self-preservation programming, but he also suspected that his Master would be less than rational should he disobey the order.

Knight Aedos acted as he did because he did not wish for the ship to be detected. Analyzing the situation thoroughly, R9 ejected himself from the ship's built in R9-port and stabilized his landing on the soft grass. Determining Knight Rahl's location with the ship's life-detection scanners he was able to plot a swift and efficient intercept course, calculating in the complications of the thick, tall grass that concealed his miniature dome-topped body. Stealth would be maintained.

With a whistle and a beep of a decidedly more optimistic nature to wish the ship's computer farewell, R9 set off in the long-grass determined. According to his calculations, he could be before Knight Rahl within minutes and deliver her the message that he considered the utmost importance to her, and to his master.

-----------------------

Sharper than a knife, Kennero should have expected Isani to perceive him despite his own efforts. She had been stronger than him, still was, but that was all the more reason to be cautious.

Still, he would not deny her demand. Dropping his cloak of Force and standing from his crouched position, he is now easily discerned against the backdrop of Nubian country-side. In his black bodyglove, his black hair, and his dark green skin (which is darker now than when he was her padawan, the only sign of his ageing in the past years.) He walks towards Isani, neither quickly nor slowly, and is well aware of the aggression she is prepared for.

When he is near enough, which takes only moments from his position, he can see the woman behind Isani. The teal hair and glimpse of her strong features tells Kennero enough of why Isani would be here, but not the entire story. He knows better than to expect the whole story from his former Master, but still he hopes for it.

"So, after all this time you really are still alive." There's no surprise in his voice, for if there was anyone in the Universe that would know when Isani died it would have been him. There were fewer bonds in the known worlds stronger than Master and Padawan. He says nothing of the years he's spent searching, hoping, and denying the facts that everyone around him had grown to accept. A flicker of hope that Alliandre is alive as well strikes him, for what it could mean for Mina, but he douses it just as quickly. Mina knew when Alliandre had died, and he suspects that Isani knew as well by the looks of her.

Physically, she appears unchanged before him. Just as he remembered her, even younger than himself, but still strong. He senses her strength comes from another place now, though, without Kigarin. Kennero struggles for a moment against a cloud of emotion that threatens his clarity at this meeting, but manages to reign it in. "You've been busy." He continues, not giving her time to respond to his first statement as he glances again, meaningfully, at Sam. The former Jedi is seemingly unresponsive, but aware, so his attention is fully for his Master.

He wonders briefly how she should react if he told her, or if she senses it without being told, of what it means to him that she is still alive, what it means to him that he has found her, and how damn raw he feels to be standing in her sight again. Just as if he wasn't a Jedi Knight, but just some foolish, emotional rebel Prince again. He wonders if she knows she has that effect on him, or if the cold he sees in her eyes and in her heart now restrict her from caring.

[ NABOO ]

She was not tired; Mina refused to accept that she was just a little bit tired and kept on walking, having graciously declined the offer to use a speeder. Kennero was walking, by how slow he was moving, and she was going to walk too. And maybe train a bit more back on Coruscant -- having been a diplomat these past five years, she'd essentially been a desk knight. No more --

-- Kennero's signature flared, and Mina suddenly realized he'd been masking it, though she'd still sensed it (some connections just cannot be hidden). And it's then that Mina feels a third signature flare into life, near the dark signature she'd felt earlier and Kennero's unmasked one. Worried, the knight broke into a run.

And ran into something. Cursing under her breath and rubbing her shins, Mina got to her feet and set upright the R9 she'd run into. It was Kennero's.

"R9?" she asked simply, waiting for a message.

Ithor - Tafanda Bay

She couldn't help but grin as she heard his voice. With her one hand placed at her hip, she turned to his direction to see him coming towards her.

"And so you have." She remarked, cheerfully as she walked up to him. "It's great to see you."

Motioning for him to follow her with a nod of her head, she turned around to head someplace they could sit down.

"So, what brings you to these parts, Kal?" She asked him. "You don't usually come by all of a sudden like this. Had you been a day later I wouldn't even have been here anymore." Daesha stated, just slightly hinting she found his behavior to be somewhat strange by manner of speech. "You should've send me a message. Do you need help with some important job, or something?"

Before Kal was even given the chance to reply, the Twi'lek motioned for him to sit down at one of the tables outside. She seemed to study his face for a moment, before turning away to point at the entrance of the diner next.

"Wait here." She told him. "I'll get us some caf... you look like you could use some."

Naboo


R9 twitters a sweet, trill of a greeting to Mina as he truly is pleased to see her. He has learned to associate her presence with a pleasant mood in his Master, which promised an even higher percentage of successful self-preservation than normal. Immediately he projects a holographic recording of his master, Kennero, with little prompting. He knows that he is very efficient for a droid.

Kennero's image flickers for a moment before solidifying.
"Mina-Armina," He says, using a very old pet name for her. "If you're getting this message, then you must have come to Naboo to find me. I will admit that I prepared for the worst, but I did not hope for it.
As you know, I could never share with you the sense of finality and closure that you had felt when our Masters, Isani and Kigarin, were said to have died in the Brood Conflict. I've kept it to myself all this time because other than a feeling, there was nothing I could find to support this suspicion of mine.
Until yesterday, when I felt her again. She's here, on Naboo, but she's changed. I need to find her, I need to see her again, and I know that you will understand. Just as you have missed Master Kigarin all this time, I have missed Isani.. but I may have the chance to see her again.. maybe I'm hoping too much, but perhaps even bring her home. "
Kennero hesitates, lowering his head, and he closes his eyes. When he raises his head again his hand is over his heart.
"You know that I love you."

Then the image is gone, and R9 whirs with intent. He knows he must return to the ship, to prepare for his master.

----------------

"No." Is the simple answer, and though his voice threatens to break at the lashes her cold voice leaves against him it does not. He breathes, as he was taught to, and reigns it in for later.

"I won't excuse you." He continues, black eyes hard though his tone is soft. His mind is a battleground before this woman, unsure of her intentions and her actions, but he will not relent. She is his Master, and he won't turn away from her. "After all this time you appear out of nowhere, and you ask me to excuse you.. you expect me to be on my way?"

He doesn't care if he sounds the way he feels - a teenage rebel Prince - he just doesn't care. "You underestimate how much you meant to me, Master." His hand twitches, not for his saber but from an involuntary emotional outlet.

[ NABOO ]

Mina smiled fondly at R9's whistles and trills, though the smile left her face quick as anything when R9 projected Kennero's message for her. She's absolutely furious in her worry by the end of it, and she scarcely waits for the image to fade before she takes off at a run once more, ignoring R9's little whirs and turn-abouts towards her and back towards where Kennero's ship must be.

"Kennero you fool," she mutters under her breath. "If you get your stupid self killed and leave me alone I swear I will never forgive you."