Crimes of the Young - 10.246

[Zem Vymes]

Master Zem Vymes sat in the council chambers as he waited for his colleagues to join him. He'd had a good two days to pore over Master Laran's report and to go over eyewitness accounts of the events that had transpired in the sparring grounds. Ugly business. The weighty implications of the sparring session between Abarai Loki and the student Draiya Naaianeya cast their heaviness on the elder Jedi's eyes. He continued to look through a summarized datapad of the events in question. Halajiin Rabeak and the padawan Ndonsa had helped to paint a more complete picture of what should have been an orderly training spar, but had devolved into something far more serious. At stake were the careers of two Jedi. One, a rising star among the padawan class. The other, a serious taskmaster and prodigy in whom the Council had previously placed unchallenged trust in.

The Jedi Order of Ossus was young, barely finding it's feet on solid ground. The growing pains were already starting to become deep and poignant. If the Jedi were to endure as their predecessors had done, what they did here this day would have to be done with the full application of wisdom and justice that the council could muster.

[Serena Laran]

Serena Laran entered the room briskly, her long skirts swishing behind her. As the master of one of the two young people appearing before the council that day, she was determined to be as impartial as possible. She nodded to Zem, and took her seat in the center chair, folding her hands in her lap.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon joined them from the doors on the far side of the chambers with a traditional robe over his clerical tunic and no hat in his hand. He took his seat to Serena's right with only a glance to Zem and a brief smile of encouragement to Serena. There were no pleasantries to be exchanged today. They all knew their business and were eager to get it over with.

On a pedestal before each of them was a small datascreen on which they could review the assembled evidence. An austere protocol droid sat in attendance next to Kestra Martell at the stenographer's desk, both to record the proceedings and to answer queries into relevant case law from what they possessed of the Jedi archives. But it was difficult to know how to apply judicial precedent from an era when the Jedi numbered in the thousands to their present circumstances.

Solomon tapped his datascreen out of standby and turned to his fellow councilors. "No need in delaying any further. We hereby call this session of the Jedi Council of Ossus into order. Padawan Martell, please bring Knight Abarai and Padawan Naaianeya into the Council Chambers."

Kestra rose solemnly and padded out the front double doors into the antechamber where Abarai Loki and Draiya Naaianeya would be waiting.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya's bandages had been removed and she was allowed to face the council with a modicum of dignity. Though her left arm lay in a cast supported by a sling and her face was a roadmap of swollen-yet-yealing lacerations and bruises, Draiya knelt in front of the doorway, awaiting her fate in meditative repose. Her hair cascaded down each shoulder in a center part, and the Syragori girl wore the traditional tunic of a padawan learner.

Perhaps for the last time. The thought passed through her mind with a disturbance to the serenity on her otherwise calm face. To her left, she could feel the radiant warmth of Abarai Loki's life force. He'd always loomed so large in her mind, undiminished and undaunted against any trouble. Now he faced the same inquiry as she did, and the potential for peril to his name was a tragedy that weighed painfully on Draiya's mind. Her dark-haired head bowed lower, and she drew a deep breath. Beyond sealed doors, she could feel the situation change.

They were ready.

Unable to bring herself to look at Abarai Loki, Draiya Naaianeya prepared to face her destiny.

[Abarai Loki]

In the two days since the incident, Loki had spent most of his time in his quarters aboard the Whaladon; sometimes he got out, and, when he did, he ran a familiar route around its numerous decks; other times, he lingered in the observation lounge, and he spent an inordinate amount of time in the refresher, cleaning, cleaning, and preening. The only time he'd left the Whaladon at all was to steal away with a tray of food from the mess hall. Until now.

For Draiya, the two days of rest appeared to have been kind. Loki was pleased: she was a fast healer. That she hadn't greeted him or so much as dared to look at him upon entering the building was a cause for concern. If she resented him for his actions - if she thought him cruel - then it had all been for naught. What the others thought of him was of little consequence, save for the Jedi Council, of course. Those who had granted him a position of responsibility were today forced to weigh the cost of their decision. And, for all of his unwavering conviction, even he, Abarai Loki, could not deny the faint flutter of anxiety in his stomach as the doors opened.

Padawan Martell led the way into the chamber. Silence hung over the room like a death shroud. When he was brought before the Council, Loki bowed, as was proper.

[Zem Vymes]

The peel of the opening doors bade Zem to raise his eyes to the entryway. Padawan Martell escorted Padawan Naaianeya and Knight Loki toward the center of the room. Once they found their place, she moved back the way she came, sealing fast the doors, and again took her place to record the meeting into the annals of the Order.

Zem's eyes moved from each of them. Learner and Teacher. Each with their unique histories and talents. Each facing reckoning with their own stoic manner. There was a similarity in each that seemed more than coincidence. They did not shrink from the judgment that would be levied today.

"Draiya Naaianeya. Abarai Loki. You are called before the Council of the Jedi Order to answer our inquiry into allegations of serious misconduct unbecoming a Jedi. On your oaths, the words you speak today shall be the truth."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Fixed by Master Vymes' attention and his demand for austerity before the Council, Draiya responded with a measured bow.

"I give my oath to speak trrue, Masterrs."

When she rose, Draiya's eyes moved to Serena. She would not shrink from her Master's disappointment. It was hers to endure.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon couldn't help but sense Draiya's spirit, which was like a quivering flame under the combined scrutiny of the council - shaken, but not quenched. He tried to read Loki as well, but the teenage Knight was much more guarded with his feelings. So guarded, in fact, the uncharitable might question whether they even existed.

It was probably well that Serena, and not he, had been the one Drax had summoned to the scene. He doubted his reaction would have been as finely measured.

"Let's start from the beginning," Solomon said. "Knight Abarai, please describe for us the circumstances of your encounter with Padawan Naaianeya two days ago."

[Abarai Loki]

Serious misconduct unbecoming a Jedi. The words, uttered by Master Vymes, hung before him in the air; his gaze hardened imperceptibly, as if he could cut them down with his very eyes. Where Draiya spoke, he held his tongue; Vymes's words had been neither request or demand, but a simple statement of fact. When he spoke, his words would be the truth, and he was given his first opportunity to demonstrate that by Master Solomon.

"Padawan Naaianeya was performing drills with remotes in the training grounds. I said that she was not challenging herself so I devised a challenge of my own: I took her lightsabers and told her she must take them back. That was when the fight began."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon nodded, and then turned to Draiya. "And how did you respond to Knight Abarai's challenge, Padawan?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya's attention fixed upon Master Solomon, but as she spoke, she could feel her eyes being pulled back to the direction of Serena as she gave her account.

"I took his challenge serriously, Masterr. Knight Abarrai was clearr in demonstrrating that my actions fell below the expectations placed upon me. He told me a Jedi cannot keep the name by holding theirr weapons and themselves with ill discipline. I immediately began to attempt to take back my weapons with forrce."

The Syragori paused, thoughtful in being compelled to explain herself through words.

"I trrusted my instincts on the matterr, which werre to settle the dispute with a full display of physical prrowess. Knight Abarrai teaches us to accorrd ourrselves serriously in battle. I believed this would settle the matterr."

[Serena Laran]

"Knight Abarai, what lesson were you intending to teach Draiya, with this exercise? Merely that she was not challenging herself enough?" Seren turned from her padawan to the young Knight.

[Abarai Loki]

The conviction with which Draiya regurgitated his teachings woke a quiet pride inside of him. There was concern also that, after all she had been through, she still considered their encounter to have been a mere test of strength and nothing more. If that were the case, he wondered if his next words would sound to her ears like wisdom, or betrayal. When she found him standing over her broken apprentice two days ago, Serena had asked him a similar question; his answer hadn’t changed.

“When the challenge was issued, I was under no illusion about the padawan’s chances. Failure was the point of the exercise. It was a lesson in humility.”

[Draiya Naaianeya]

It was what she'd come to know, now cast from Loki's own mouth. Only now did Draiya look to him, a dawning in her eyes that chipped at her stoicism. She'd played the duel over in her mind so many times. At first to find the weakness in Loki to exploit. In the end, the weakness was in herself.

"I didn't want to believe it. That therre was no way I could win."

Draiya's sepia eyes cast downward and away once more, her voice drawn across her words with careful introspection.

"I've had time to considerr the lesson I did not underrstand. It was a warrning."

[Rev Solomon]

"A warning against what, Padawan?" Solomon asked.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

It was written in Loki's actions. Repeated through her Master's words. She'd searched her feelings exhaustively and knew it to be the truth.

"Prride."

And the terrible place where it would take her if unchecked.

"And the Darrk Side."

[Serena Laran]

"You could think of no other way to teach humility than to break a padawan's arm, Knight Abarai?" Serena raised an eyebrow at him, her personal feelings on the subject carefully hidden.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya couldn't accept Loki having to shoulder the burden of that question, and she spoke her response before he could answer.

"Masterr, with all due rrespect if Knight Loki did not end the fight on those terrms I would have continued them on my own. Without surrrenderr, and heedless of cost."

[Zem Vymes]

It didn't take much inference from what Draiya had said to surmise exactly what cost she was hinting at. Zem knew first hand how destructive forces could corrupt the best of intentions. Still, it was not her question to answer. He rebuked her in stern approach.

"Padawan Naaianeya, the question is to Knight Loki and not to you."

[Serena Laran]

"A foolish statement besides, padawan," Serena replied. "There are many ways to end a fight that do not require the breaking of bones." She turned her attention to Abarai Loki, awaiting his answer.