Piece by Peace

[Raph]

Now approaching Dantooine
Kairos opened his eyes, coming out of his meditation at the ship’s announcement. The Nebula Lance, his newest ship, wasn’t the most amazing or high tech ship, given it was a free market one, but it was perfect for travel. Apparently it was based off of the Aurek starfighter designs and he could see it, very angular and compact. A good design for ships, if a bit…out of date. He’d still keep the Nebula Freedom as a combat class and make a new Warden, this time as a Mule, perhaps…

He sat in the pilot’s seat and slowly guided the ship to land at a nearby starport and looked ahead. He knew the location of the jedi enclave here from Sentinel. She’d given it to him before returning, just in case he needed or wanted to visit. He’d never thought he’d be visiting the Enclave as an exile, but the Force was really funny that way. So many things could happen that one might never think about.

He approached slowly and unarmed, save for a walking stick and gave a light bow of his head to the guards. The two bowed their heads back, however seemed to take up more defensive positions.

“This is the Jedi Enclave of Dantooine. State your business, please.”

“My name is Kairos Ward, former corpsman of the Viscaran Order, now exiled. I was hoping that I could speak to Master Vandar Tokare.” The guards seemed to bristle. “I come in peace and bear no weapons with me.” He could still sense a bit of confusion from the guards, just the slightest, as they regained their composure.

“What is your business Master Tokare, Mister Ward?” The guards stood by, sabers at their sides, though hands flexing, as if about to grab them.

“Calm gentlemen, please. I simply wish to speak with Master Tokare. Tell him that its Kairos Ward and I’m sure that he’ll remember me.” There was a moment’s hesitation from the two and they glanced at each other.

“Wait out here a moment, please.” The guard vanished through the door and Kairos took a few steps back and sat down, placing the stick over his legs and waited. The sky was a nice blue and the sun shone lightly on the planet, now and then a cloud would pass in front of the star.

The sound of the door opening and the patter of small feet caused him to smile a bit. The man spoke before he could. “Ah, Kairos Ward…” He looked up to see the diminutive Jedi Master standing in front of him. “I was told that you wanted to see me?” Kairos bowed his head in respect.

“Yes, Master Tokare. I did, actually. I came all this way to speak with you about…well, really catch up with you.” For a moment, he was concerned that Master Tokare was going to be angry, but he relaxed quite a bit when the aged master smiled.

“I was certain that you would. It has been a while since we were able to speak. I am aware that you were exiled due to attachments.” Kairos nodded, smile disappearing. “Fret not. That is the difficult aspect of the training of a jedi.”

“I don’t think that–” Master Tokari raised a finger, cutting him off.

“Even if it you no longer walk the path, that is not a decision to make in haste, young one. You’ve much of your life left to live and such a decision is not meant for one that has just experienced the upheavael of exile. I’m sure you’ve seen how it can affect the mind.” Kairos nodded. “However, attachment was not the problem. Self-discipline. Control. Approval and validation. These are your weaknesses, and there is no greater teacher than failure.” Once more the young man gave a small nod in acknowledgement and then Vandar gestured to the door. “Would you like to walk the gardens with me? Exile, you may be, but I am the grandmaster of this enclave. I do not think any will mind.”

Kairos rose slowly, grabbing his walking stick and followed Vandar inside for a nice chat and some reminiscing.

[Raph]

The song of birds lilted through the Grounds of the Jedi Temple, and the flowers grew calmly in the soft soil. The trees of the Orchard on the Temple grounds sent shadows cascading with the light. As it was with all things, the Grounds of the Jedi Temple were calm and serene. The newest grouping of padawans had been chosen, and Kairos could not have been happier. Now, if only Ash could become one. That would truly be an auspicious day!

He still hadn’t gotten used to these sleeves, though. There was a reason that he’d chosen the Temple as his first meditation spot. Similar to how it had been for Doma, Kairos felt like he had something of an attachment to the Temple. To proceed, Kairos knew that he would first have to release himself of the Temple, make it so that he wouldn’t feel a need to constantly return. Make true peace with the fact that he was no longer part of the Order and that, while welcomed, it wasn’t something that he was entitled to.

For his new journey, here was the first test. He would have to give up the first real home he’d known, a place where he’d made many friends and had good times and bad. Where he’d watched several people nearly bleed to death. Where he’d healed his mother’s crystal.

Thoughts momentarily lingered. They could’ve at least let me take the kyber as it had been partially mom’s and partially mine. He shook himself free of such thoughts. It was the Council’s right to ask him hand his saber to them and, whil he’d not necessarily been the best student, he was determined to be better. He’d handed it over without protest, crystal and all. It was a sad thing to have happen, but it wasn’t the end of the world. A lightsaber was just that: a lightsaber. A good focus for the Force, but not the only one. His hand wandered over the training saberstaff, folded up in its holster and then over to the wooden staff lying against the tree. Both of these were, ironically, excellent conduits for his Force abilities. The staff even more so. He would need to ask where Ali had gotten the material.

He took in a deep breath and focused on the world around him, focused on the way that the wind blew through his hair, the way that the grass and flowers tickled at his pants lightly caressing them. Kairos reached down and gently stroked a flower, as it billowed in the wind. It was little by little that they slipped away, the attachments that he had to the Temple, to the grounds. Every breath, every exhale, was something once precious released from his mind. Like the wind, they vanished from him, the cares releasing for the jedi… The release of those worries.

[Raph]

It…had been a day. A HELL of a day. Or, perhaps, a day of hell. He hadn’t quite decided yet. He’d only recently begun to realize that he hadn’t been feeling much the last few times that he’d had to fight and kill sith. It used to bother him. It used to bother him a lot, but now it didn’t do anything to him. The words he’d overheard between Vosca and Thess that day had made him think. He wasn’t a murderer, or a killer or a soldier… but he was doing a lot of killing and soldiering.

As the ship hurtled through lightspeed, his thoughts turned to his father and how he’d been. The man that he’d remembered as broken, destroyed… lost. Well now he was back and better than he had ever been. Kairos had been surprised at the splendor and luxury that the man was living in. Even as chief engineer, he’d not been expecting the piano, the virtual fireplace or even the large dining room table. When he’d found out that Kairos had once been a jedi, though he’d been FURIOUS. Knicknacks and holo-books had gone flying EVERYwhere and Kairos had spent the better part of his visit talking with his father and helping him clean. The mood had brightened, somewhat, when Kairos had said that he’d been exiled, but not by all that much. Still the man had been happy to see him and they’d discussed everything that had happened in their lives since Kairos left. That had been the wakeup call. That’s what had caused his dad to finally snap out of his daydream of pain.

But when they’d spoken about Corellia, his father had gotten noticeably solemn, despite the knowledge that the Jedi and Republic had already begun a counteroffensive to reclaim the planet. His father remained incredibly solemn. Eventually Kairos dropped the subject.

In one of the siderooms on his travel ship, Kairos meditated. At first he’d thought about heading back to Viscara so that he could work on his engineering a bit more, start making some ships. That was when he felt it. Mid-meditation he heard the clarion call of the planet Sotheru. Getting to his feet, Kairos rushed to the cockpit. How? How was it calling to him all the way out here?!

Messages from Sienn, messages from Jerr… He ignored them as he launched the Nebula Lance into high gear, flying through past Tatooine and into the Unknown Regions. Once more he passed through a solar storm, his systems shutting off as he flew into the Sotheru system and headed for the planet of the same name. Even looking at it from space he could tell that something had changed, something drastic. Why was the planet calling him again? Why did things…

He was snapped from his reverie as warning sirens began blaring across the screen. He was dead in space for the next few minutes. The solar storm had knocked out his propulsion…and well everything but life support was currently down, so he’d have some time. He leaned back in his chair and sighed as he flipped a few switches, shutting off main systems, got out of the cockpit and went to his room and laid down. It would be a few hours, anyways. He could feel the Force’s pull, the call, almost like a horn. It was a bit annoying, but the pulse was almost like a lullaby. Slowly… Kairos began to fall asleep…