Chapter Text
Kaiadri sat within the shuttle, arms crossed as she overlooked the peaceful forests of Tython. She looked to the shuttle's singular guard, asking, “So...you do this often?”
“It’s my job. So...yes.”
“Ah, right right. Say...how’s the weather down on Tython?”
“I’m never on planet long enough to tell. Hear it’s nice.”
“Wonderful.”
“How was working for SIS?”
Kaiadri paused in her response. “It was...it was...” She took a deep breath. “It was great.” It was home. She ran a hand through her orange hair, ruffling the pompadour slightly. “Working for SIS was great.”
She couldn’t see the guard’s expression due to his helmet, but she could tell he felt a little bad about bringing that up now. His shoulders raised like he was trying to take up less space. He stiffened too. She let out a sigh.
She had worked in the SIS since she was 18. Now she was 26 and going to become a Jedi Padawan. All because she was a late bloomer with the Force.
Her blue eyes lit up with frustration as she circled her sparring opponent. Theron Shan, the hotshot who destroyed the Imperial Sun Razor. The rumored son of Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan. The SIS Director’s golden boy.
“C’mon, Kai, some of us don’t have all day,” Shan taunted, following her as she circled him. She went to punch him. She finally landed a punch on him. That had been her goal ever since they started sparring together at the Director's insistence -- to land one punch on Theron Shan's being.
But she finally managed not because of any improvements in her skill. It had been because she had also lifted one of the sparring staves and smacked him in the back with it. With the Force. She hadn’t laid a single finger on the staves and couldn’t have, with him being between her and the staves.
She had finally landed a punch on him, thanks to the Force.
When the shuttle landed, she rose from her seat slowly. Kaiadri Sokol walked like she was being escorted into prison. But the long and elegant architecture of the Jedi Temple spoke otherwise. Being a Jedi...it was supposed to be great, right?
Then why did it feel like she was walking into a nightmare?
Kaiadri pulled from her path through the doors, going to look over the scenery of Tython. Two large statues of robed men holding lightsabers looked out over the area from a river, one seemingly staring into her eyes solemnly. The look was familiar.
“As it stands right now, Agent Sokol, you have two choices,” the Director stated. “You either go through Jedi training, or you go to the Jedi Service Corps.”
Kaiadri looked at him with wide eyes. “Sir, I-”
“If you turn out to not be strong enough to be a Jedi Knight, they’ll send you to the Service Corps anyway. To farm or to be a medical practitioner. Maybe teach or explore,” he continued. “But I cannot let you stay as part of the SIS while you are not trained. And even once you’re trained, there’s no guarantee the Jedi Council will let me take you back into the SIS. I’m...I’m sorry, Kaiadri.”
“...I’m s-sorry too.” She wiped tears from her eyes, taking a shaky inhale. Her eyeliner was running down her cheek. “I’m sorry too.”
“I know this is difficult for you, but...I know you’re strong enough to make this transition. You’ll make a great future, wherever you go.”
“...but I don’t want to g-go.”
Kaiadri took a deep breath, backing away from the sight. She turned from the solemn eyes, hands nervously twitching into the sleeves of her training robes. She knew she’d trip over the back of the coat -- she had never worn a coat so long, what if she had to backpedal or to roll away from something, what if-
“You’re supposed to go to the door over there,” the guard’s voice, the same guard from the shuttle, cut into her anxious thoughts. Kaiadri jumped when he first spoke, turning towards him and putting her hand to her hip, where her blaster pistol used to be. All her hand met was soft cloth.
“R-right, thank you, um...I never caught your name.”
“Call me Vinny. Stay safe, Age- ...Padawan.”
“...you too, Vinny.”
With that, she began to walk towards the door Vinny had pointed to. She walked through the door, seeing an older Jedi Master sitting at a desk with a computer at it. He looked over at her and began to rise from his seat.
“Ah, Padawan. I heard your shuttle arriving. I'm Master Syo Bakarn of the Jedi Council. Welcome to Tython. This is the ancestral home of our order, where Jedi first came to be. And where our most promising Padawans complete their training,” he stated as he moved around the desk he had been sitting at.
“Most promising...I...I’m not quite certain I fit that description, but I suppose I’ll do my best to step into it,” Kaiadri muttered before clearing her throat. She replied, “I'm surprised a member of the Jedi Council would come to meet me.”
“I wanted to meet the student who's caused such a stir. Your instructors tell me that you have a remarkable connection to the Force. You've quickly adapted to it, all within a few years. We haven't seen such power in decades,” Master Bakarn remarked. He shuffled his feet a little, looking past Kaiadri out the door. “I was...hoping your new Master would be here. Yuon left her dig site and is returning to Tython specifically to train you.”
“She left her dig site...just to train me?” Kaiadri asked, biting her lip.
“Yes, she did, but it seems she’s late. I suppose it gives me a moment to give you some words of wisdom.” Kaiadri had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Jedi speech -- always useful. The wise words of one rebel fighter on Balmorra, ones she had overheard muttered under their breath during her assignment there.
“As you become her Padawan, never forget your initial training, nor the Jedi Code,” Master Barkarn stated.
Kaiadri sat in the Jedi training barracks within a locked away part of Tython. Those that were Padawans without a master, proto-Padawans in a manner of speaking, shared large rooms. Bunk beds and cots assembled through the underground room, each carrying a sleeping person except for hers.
She had chosen an isolated cot in the corner of the room closest to the door. That would make it easier to escape if there was an emergency of some kind. And she could keep watch on some nights, the nights where she could not sleep.
Her SIS training of facial manipulation had come in handy. She almost cried when she was presented with Jedi robes. Easier for the Force, the Jedi Knight supervisor had said. The robes made it easier for the Force to move through you.
All Kaiadri felt moving through her was homesickness. She wanted to return to her apartment on Coruscant, send a coded letter to her friends -- she wanted her old life back. Even if she knew she couldn’t have it.
She had taken the robes with a serene look on her face.
“There is no emotion; there is peace.”
Cold indifference. The two words that fit the older Padawan, Jazlyn. A Miraluka in robes, thick with armor. White hair framing a pale face. Two metallic cards over the eye sockets, empty of emotion. “Go through the meditation again, Kaiadri.”
This wasn’t what the Jedi Code called for. There was emotion in trying to find peace. Hesitation, anxiety. “I...I don’t seem to be understanding the instructions, Jazlyn, I-”
“Go through it again, Kaiadri. You need to be able to grasp the Force should you want to be a Jedi Knight. You said you did, did you not? So attempt communing with the Force again.”
“There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.”
“I...I don’t understand the concept because of the way you’re framing the words, Master. Could you say it in another manner?”
“You have learned the concept I was trying to teach, Kaiadri. If you do not understand the words of someone, ask them again. You are allowed to, you know.”
Kaiadri felt closer to being able to smile sincerely than she had in months.
“There is no passion; there is serenity.”
“I ask you again, Kaiadri Sokol of the Nar Shaddaa streets -- do you still want to become a Jedi Knight?”
“I want to protect people still, even if I’m...even if I am Force-sensitive now.”
“You do not have to be a Knight to do so -- you could still help people in the manner that you seek within the Service Corps.”
“Master-”
“You can address me by my name, Kaiadri.”
“Britade, I feel that both training to be a Knight and to serve within the Service Corps are noble things to do. But I feel that I should at least try to be a Knight before packing up and going to the Service Corps.”
“I see. This is a decision driven by your own logic, not by passion, yes?”
“Well...it would be a lie to say it’s as simple as that. My passion, my dream of life, has been to help people. To help the people of the streets. To give someone else what was given to me.”
“It has been thus since you were 18?”
“Yes.”
“This passion has never overshadowed your logic, correct?”
“It’s fueled my logic but has never overridden my reasoning towards anything.”
“Then you have found serenity.”
“I...I guess?”
“There is no chaos; there is harmony. There is no death; there is the Force,” Master Bakarn finished.
Kaiadri stood as she had been since she entered the room, not moving or sitting down if he interpreted that as a sign of disrespect. The last thing she wanted was a miscommunication with a member of the Jedi Council.
Master Barkarn started his next sentence looking at her but ended it looking past her towards the door. “This is...Yuon. I was beginning to worry.”
A woman walked into the room, her hair up in a high ponytail and her age showing on her face. Kaiadri’s eyes were pulled to Master Yuon’s fingers -- tapping, a quick pattern, no rhythm. Just tapping at her thighs through her robes. She was worried, anxious. Kaiadri felt herself relax.
At least she wasn’t alone in that regard.
“So you've arrived safely, my Padawan. I'm sorry I can't greet you properly, but we already have a crisis on our hands,” Master Yuon stated.