Outlying Lands (General Ossus Thread)

[Patrick Starkiller]

The area outside of the Jedi Temple Grounds is a beautiful place filled with wildlife and expansive terrain. Mountains, canyons and bodies of water fill the world creating an atmosphere suited to the New Jedi Order's belief in preserving life.

Ossus now serves as the home, as it has done many times before, of the Jedi Order. The Jedi have a treaty with the Ysanna. The Ysanna guard and protect the Jedi in exchange for the Jedi to teach the Ysanna more about the Force. As they are some what cousins the Jedi and Ysanna get along without any hardships.

Ossus is protected by two shield generators, three heavy Turbolaser and heavy Ion Cannon emplacements. Also a number of laser cannon emplacements lay throughout Ossus in case of starship attack. The shield generators, turbolasers, ion cannons, and laser cannons are protected by small shield generators and are hidden throughout Ossus. Guards roam the areas to keep these things safe.

[Teagan Skywalker]

Miles away from the temple there lay a mountainous cliff, in the form of a crescent moon, complete with a perilously tall waterfall cascading down into a large lake below. The cliff allowed an incredible view of the Jedi Temple and it was this view that Teagan Skywalker was staring at intensely.

The young Jedi Knight sat atop the cliff, the raging waters falling off to his right. His knees were drawn up and his forearms lay atop them as he gazed out at the scenery that lay before him. Uncharacteristically Teagan was dressed in a loose fitting shirt, pants and boots, rather than his green Jedi robes. He had even elected to leave behind his belt, which included his commlink and lightsaber.

The breeze ruffled Teagan's shirt along with his unkempt hair and the mist from the waterfall cooled his skin while the suns simultaneously warmed it. It was for this very reason that he had left the temple. Ever since showing Daphne his feelings he had felt alone and confined by the all the walls. Not even the Room of a Thousand Fountains relieved the pressure so he had left on a trek out into the wild. At least out here, in the wild, the loneliness felt natural. Everything was so alive but so distant. That fact comforted Teagan more than most people could right now.

After letting his gaze leave the arc of refracted light that lay in front of the waterfall, Teagan focused his attention on the temple. One side of his mouth quirked up as he imagined his eyes could be falling on Daphne at that very moment. It was foolish to think such a thing, he knew but the thought entertained him. His expression was short lived as his head drooped, his thoughts taking a turn towards the more depressing outcomes he was imagining for the upcoming talk with Daphne.

Teagan attempted to clear his mind and would have been successful if it wasn't for thoughts of Daphne weaseling their way out of his mental grasp. She's always had a way with getting into places she shouldn't be, he thought to himself, a broad smile covering his face.

Shaking his head at his own ridiculousness, Teagan stood up and peered over the edge of the cliff. He took a deep breath and leapt out past the waterfall, his arms and legs out to his sides. The wind whipped his clothing and hair ferociously as the lake below came rushing up at him from half a mile below.

Putting his hands together in front of him the Jedi Knight sent a small TK blast into the water ahead of himself before he struck, diving deeply into murky water of the lake. He surfaced after a few moments and pushed the hair out his face before swimming leisurely over the beach and wading out of the water. "Blast," he said as he examined his soaking clothes. "Should have thought of that before jumping." Wringing his shirt out as best he could, Teagan headed in the direction of the temple.

[Mez-Jid Fie'r]

Mez-Jid found the guard outpost soon enough. It wasn't as though it was hard to find. And she smiled at the guards, then at their squad leader, and offered to work.

"But you are a Jedi."
"What a terribly sad indictment of the current state of the Order and its ideas that statement is. A little hard work never did a Jedi any harm. I understand you want to learn more about the Force. I'll teach you myself - I'll teach you all here, and any who'll learn from me. Never had a Padawan before, officially. But I'll not accept my teachings as all I'll do. I want to learn from you, from all of you."
"You smell of death, Jedi."
"I visited the Council chambers, it's their collective death wish clinging to me."
The squad leader barked a short laugh, and let the Jedi stay.

[Jace]

He often wondered what it had been like during the wars. Had Padawans been able to leave the Temple so easily? Would they have to have a Masters permission? Now it was as simple as signing your name and a reason, the guards hardly seemed to care what reason you gave so long as it wasn’t ‘to become a Sith’. His excuse had actually been the truth this time and he’d been awarded with that by a grunt and a point in the direction of the nearest town.

It wasn’t that hard to find her, or at least the general area she was in. His mystery Jedi stuck out like a sore thumb in the Force and all he’d had to do after getting off the transport ship was go towards the pull he felt in the Force. Now the hard part began. First of all he found himself at a guard station that obviously wasn’t going to let him just wonder around it. Secondly while it had been easy to get this far following her Force presence that would no longer help him, he wasn’t skilled enough to hone in on her actual position just the general vicinity.

Jace approached the Twi’lek who was manning entry point and decided if honesty had served him once it might serve him again. “I’m looking for a Jedi.” The Twi’lek didn’t even bother to look up from his datapad when he spoke. “Why would she want to see you? Assuming there’s a Jedi here at all.” The young man mulled that question over for a second before responding, “Because I’m her Padawan.” Honesty would only ever get you so far.

[Mez-Jid Fie'r]

"Nice try, kid." The Twi'lek looked up from the datapad. "She's not got one."

"Leave him be, Naru. I'll have a word with you about giving away information like that later. What's your name, little lying Jedi?"

She was behind him, because sneaking up on people was still so easy, and she'd been watching him anyway. A Jedi venturing so far beyond Temple was still such a rarity, even now.

[Jace]

He didn't jump as he heard her speak but he cursed himself silently. He should have been able to feel her approach at that distance at least. It's not like she was hiding herself, in fact it was the opposite. It’s like she was shouting her presence over the holovid. He turned around to face her and gave her a quick once over. “Jace.” He wasn’t quite sure what to do at this point. Should he bow? Apologize? Bow AND apologize? He settled for rolling his head around his neck and listening to the pops. Now that he’d found her what did he do? “So are you really a Jedi? I mean you feel like a Jedi but you could just be really strong in the Force and not know it. You don’t look like a Jedi and you don’t have a lightsaber unless you’re hiding it like Tin Can.” Jace wasn’t carrying a lightsaber either but he at least wore the robes and the Padawan braid.

[Mez-Jid Fie'r]

"The Council did not send you to seek their wayward zombie then, young one?"

She considered him carefully. A child, certainly, of Padawan-age definitely. The Council would be unlikely to send one that age, although she'd never dream to harm one so young, so perhaps they might have sent one.

Ugh, how very circular.

"And bold as well as lying. Interesting choice of words, to say you're mine when it's clear you're not. As to your query, I follow the light path as closely as I can."

[Jace]

“Why would the Council send me? I’m just a Padawan.”

That was an interesting way of putting it, ‘ follow the light path as closely as I can’, it didn’t sound very Jedi like. Still, times had changed and more and more Jedi skirted the line between light and dark. But every Jedi he’d known who had dabbled were always the first to say they were Jedi through and through. He mulled it over for a bit then shrugged it off.

“Sometimes it’s better to lie to get the truth or a result sooner rather than later. I know as a Jedi you’re not supposed to lie but sometimes it’s the only thing you’ve got at your disposal.”

[Mez-Jid Fie'r]

"Oh, it's not the lying, little learner. It's the sheer... boldness. An outright lie is always easier to catch, you should have tried to be a little more subtle. You could have tried 'I heard she was looking for a padawan', that might have worked too."

She ran a hand through her hair, and relaxed minutely.

"And I'm not that strong in the Force any longer, Jace. My name, for all intents and purposes, is Mez-Jid. You have found the Jedi you were seeking. Would you care to tell me why I was sought?"

[Jace]

“Where’s the fun in that though? I thought about saying you were my mother but somehow I think my clothes would’ve given that away. Besides you don’t look old enough to be her.”

He scoffed at her notion of not being that strong when he could feel her present so prominent in the Force, obviously she was just being modest. And so the moment had come to finally answer that particular question. He thought about it for a moment but he’d known it from the moment he’d heard about her.

“I thought…I thought you could be my Master.”

The Jedi were few and those Knights and Masters who didn’t already have a Padawan were too busy with other duties. If a new Knight, or Master, had come back to the Temple perhaps he’d finally get real training. Maybe he’d finally get his own lightsaber and learn to hone his skills better. There’s only so much a holocron can teach before you grow bored.

[Mez-Jid Fie'r]

"I've never had a Padawan, Jace. You would choose to be mine? Freely? Knowing nothing of me? Clearly, you would not have been cut out for the sort of work I once did."

A frown passed over her face, and she considered one of his statements. "Come to consider, it, while I know perfectly well I've never had children, I would also suspect that considering the current date, your age would align with the possibility of my being your mother rather more accurately than you would think. You seem hungry, kid. Come in."

[Jace]

“It’s not like there are many Knights and Masters to choose from Master Mez-Jid. It’s you or nothing.”

The part about her being his mother confused him but he ignored it and went inside. He glanced up at his new Master, or he assumed she was, he still wasn’t entirely sure on that front.

“So what kind of work did you use to do? Besides you know the usual stuff like fighting Sith and Vong.”

[Mez-Jid Fie'r]

She flinched slightly when he used the honourific, but covered it with a shrug.

"Security. Intelligence. More often than I would care to recall, talking Amanda out of whichever of her latest mad schemes she wanted to use to attack Temple. Do not call me Master. You may call me Mez. I've never been called Master in my life and I've no intention of starting now."

[Jace]

The names meant nothing to him and intelligence didn’t sound like something they’d need a Jedi for. Isn’t that what the Galactic Alliance was supposed to do? He thought about the no Master thing then reached up and tugged on his braid. “If I can’t call you Master can I cut this off then?” Then he grinned up at her. “When do I get to build a lightsaber?”

[Mez-Jid Fie'r]

She watched his disbelief at the 'intelligence' and decided that he'd learn better, eventually. Though it was interesting he didn't comment on Amanda's name being used so casually. Perhaps she'd managed to change properly since, come back to the light for good?

A question for another day.

"You get to start building a lightsaber once I'm certain your aim with a blaster is accurate enough that you'll not hit me by accident. We'll see about the braid later."