The Remembrance

[Rhianna]

As attuned to nature as the non-sentient creatures of the planet they shared, the nomadic Tincéir wandered their world from here to there, following favorable seasons, and the cycle of life. Although they crossed the same paths from year to year, they never dwelt in one place for very long. Just as the clann had no permanent residence in life, in death their remains were not interred in some hallowed place, as was the custom with some other races in the galaxy. Rather, the people of the Dhomanda A'lainn crafted funerary biers of whatever wood they found at their disposal, honoring their departed with some of their most important belongings from this life, that they may have use of in the next. Bows and quivers of arrows, staves, drinking horns, and simple tools that had belonged to the fallen were laid out with them. For a night and day, they stayed as they lay. It was called Cuimhne na Mairbh, The Remembrance. The close kinsmen, and in the case of a chieftain, often the whole clann would gather to celebrate. It was a time of loss, but also a time of remembering, of honoring. At the sunset of the following day, the nearest living kin would be the first to touch flaming torch to prepared kindling. The rest would follow, and within minutes the bier would be engulfed in flame, sending the soul and possessions of the deceased spiraling in smoky ascension straight to the Abhairt Saoil.

It was sunset of the second day of her elder brother's Remembrance.

Rhianna had lovingly laid out each of his treasured belongings alongside him the day before, keeping only one small token for herself, a dagger. She did not think he would mind. She could almost see him shaking his head at her in chagrin for defying tradition in favor of sentimentality. Their time together had been cut short by the tightening fist of the Empire. She had found him, only to lose him again. In the skirmish to release the enslaved Tincéir, many had been wounded, and a few had lost their lives. She should see it as an honor for him, to have died in defense of his people, but she could only feel that once again the Empire had taken something from her. Something irreplaceable.

The sun faded away behind the line of the mountain range, aptly named the Broken Knee. She lowered her torch, a single tear ran down her pale cheek. It was all she allowed herself. She was the daughter of one former chieftain, and the sister of another. She would not cheapen their remembered strength with a show of weakness. She stepped away to let the others of her family and clann speed her brother on his way.

That night she fell into an exhausted sleep. Her dreams were violent. Too much death. Too much sadness. Her unconscious mind tried to sort out the depth of such pain and put it to rights, but there was really only one way that she could ever make things right, and in the end she knew what she had to do. She awoke and found her clann already packing to move on. They had no reason to stay here now. Rhianna had only three things to claim as her own, save for the clothes on her back. Her beautifully carved wooden staff, the dagger, and one smaller object. She took the commlink that had been left with her by Serena and worried it between her fingers, not yet activating it. The Banfáith of the Tincéir, Serena Laran of the Jedi had known, even when Rhianna herself had not, that she would have need of it. She could no longer stay here. Everything that tied her here was now gone. She could best serve her people by completing her training and becoming the Jedi that Serena believed she could be. She said her farewells to her people, watching as they moved in their rolling homes deeper into the woods until they were out of sight. Only then did she activate the commlink, calling out to her teacher, her master..

"Sámh..? It's Rhianna.."

[Serena Laran]

Serena carefully folded her robes and put them away in her cabin on board the Gaoth. She had said her good-byes to the Whaladon and separated from the other ship an hour ago. The Wheel was due for another jump to another space between stars. She didn't know where. She wouldn't know where until she needed to rejoin the fleet.

And to be honest, she wasn't sure when that was going to be. Serena realized she was standing in front of her mirror, and slowly focused on her reflection. Her face was slightly paler than normal, and there were circles under her eyes. She touched her face hesitantly, fingers exploring the thin skin and smoothing out the light wrinkles at the corners of her mouth and eyes. The bloom of youth no longer shone from her cheeks, and where once everything had been strong and firm there were now signs of age.

No one lives forever.

Serena shuddered at the unbidden thought, her eyes suddenly awash with unshed tears. She blinked, dabbing her eyes with the edge of her sleeve, and walked through her freighter toward the cockpit. Sitting there, all alone once more, she watched the Wheel's components jump to lightspeed one by one. After a few minutes her ship was the only one left. Time to go. The navicomputer had already calculated the jumps needed to get to Generis. She reached for the controls...

The sound of an incoming transmission beeping through the comm system startled her. Serena stared at the console for a moment, and then thumbed the button to accept the call.

"Sámh..? It's Rhianna.."

She opened her mouth and then closed it again. "Rhianna? It is good to hear your voice. Tá sé ró-fhada."

[Rhianna]

Sinking onto one of the logs the had previously been used as a bench, Rhianna exhaled a sigh of relief. "Yes..", she agreed, closing her sky-blue eyes a moment. "..too long."

Holding the small device in her hands atop her lap, Rhianna spoke to Serena but seemingly spoke to the woods at large. "I found Rhiandar, but I was too late." There was regret in her voice now, but more, there was also a deeper sense of maturity. This time on Dhomanda A'lainn had forced her to shed the last of her youth quickly.

"There is nothing more I can do here.", she admitted in her heavily accented Basic. "I believe the best thing I can do is to return to my training, if you will still have me?"

[Serena Laran]

Her eyes tracked over to the navicomp and the waiting jump coordinates, but she said, "Of course, Rhianna. Of course I will still have you." Serena paused, contemplating the sound of her padawan's voice. "I am sorry to hear about your brother."

However good it was to hear from Rhianna after so long, it was worrying, too. Those who abandoned their training to take care of family or friends put everything they had been working toward in danger. It was part of the reason the Order had begun taking candidates for the Jedi as toddlers. The familial connection was broken early, and absolutely.

It does not stop us from making new bonds. Friendships.

There was no way to know if Rhianna's sabbatical on Dhomanda A'lainn had left her with the taint of the Dark side. At least, there was only one way to find out. And as Serena's padawan, it was her responsibility.

"I was just about to start a journey," she said, after a moment of silent empathy between the two women. "I will come and pick you up as soon as I can compute the jump." Her fingers were already moving, discarding the saved coordinates and setting the navicomp computing a new course.

[Rhianna]

Rhianna nodded, bouncing her fiery curls about. "Thank you..", she breathed another sigh of relief. "Thank you so much, Sámh. I will be waiting. Go dté tú slán."

Setting the communication device down on the log beside her, Rhianna pulled her legs up and crossed them, resting her hands loosely on her lap. She closed her eyes again, but this time she left them that way. She listened to the sounds of the woods around her. The sound of the wind through familiar trees, and the call of birds she had heard since childhood. She let it all surround her, imprinting on her heart. After today she did not no when, if ever, she would experience them again. The sounds blended with her own breath and soon she was in a light meditation, reflecting on all she had experienced since first meeting Serena, while she waited for her master to arrive.

[Serena Laran]

The trip didn't take long from the Wheel's last location deep within the Outer Rim. Serena spent the time figuring out how to get past the Imperial ship she knew would still be in orbit. The Force would have to be on her side ...or perhaps Sol's higher Power. Serena's gut twisted painfully at the thought of Sol, so recently returned to her and so suddenly taken away.

She placed her hand over a locking compartment built into the console, and the tension in her body began to ebb, even though she dared not put into thought what caused her to relax. The reversion to realspace was in a few minutes and she needed to be ready in case things did not go according to plan.

Gaoth agus Domhain slipped out of hyperspace, and Serena craned her neck, looking out the viewport toward the ringed planet. Gealaí, the larger moon, was in front of her, and it's brother, Gealach, was occupying a space several thousand klicks to port. She did not see an ISD in orbit, as there had been last time, when she had visited with Morgan and...

She swallowed and piloted the freighter forward on sublights, keeping in the shadow of Gealaí while the sensors mapped the position of the planet beneath her. The Imperial installation was on the other side of the rotation, no doubt the support ship was in synchronous orbit with it. Serena set her ship on course for the planet, maneuvering past the ring, and accelerated for a few minutes before cutting all power.

The ship fell into a rapidly decaying orbit, and she waited until Gaoth was skimming the atmosphere before kicking the sublights back on and controlling her descent. Rather than entering like a burning meteor, the freighter slid through the sky, heading toward where she knew Rhianna would be.

[Rhianna]

She lost time that day, recalling events not only of the last year but of everything that she had seen and done since first leaving Dhomanda A'lainn. She thought long about everything that she had learned from Serena about the Force, what her Grandmother had once described as the Abhairt Saoil, the Life Giver. To her people, it was a divine being who watched over nature and kept all things in balance. Those touched by it became healers and prophets. To the rest of the galaxy they were called Jedi, but the principles were all the same.

She thought about every person she had met and how they had impacted her life. Most of them had accepted her readily, had taken care of her in sickness and been very near to family. She had realized some time ago that she missed them all, and wished to return to them, to her training, but was that not abandoning one family for the other? Why would the Abhairt Saoil want to test her with such a painful choice?

It had taken the shock of seeing her brother in death to understand. If she did not complete her training, she would continue to suffer loss. Only through total negation of conflict, total acceptance of peace, only through letting go.. could she progress. She still had much to learn, and she felt ready now, as she had not felt in ages.

She looked up at the fading light, and knew that soon Serena would be with her. No ship could land in the thick of these woods, but not far was a clearing that would suit that purpose. Rhianna collected her staff and her brother's dagger, tucked the commlink away in a pouch hung from her belt, and began walking without looking back. At the very edge of the wood, she stopped just within the treeline and smiled to no one in particular.

"Goodbye...", she whispered. All that was left to do now was await her master.

[Serena Laran]

Once the ship was solidly on the ground, Serena secured the systems, while leaving the repulsors and sublights on standby. These were the coordinates Morgan had given her of the tincéir clan's location, the carbhán having moved on. She walked down the ramp, and smiled at the sight of her flame haired padawan emerging from the tree line.

"Rhianna!" Serena held her arms out and the two women met in a hug.

[Rhianna]

At the sight of her mentor, Rhianna heart blossomed with the forgotten feeling of hope. She closed the distance between them and eagerly embraced her teacher, truly happy to see her again. With her staff clutched in her left hand, she caught Serena about the neck with her right arm, smiling. "It has been too long, Sámh."

Rhianna did not wear the soft material of a girlish dress any longer. In her time spent among her people she had earned her place as one of the tribe's protectors. As such, she had adopted the outfitting of one, tanned leather armor that covered her chest, leaving her midriff bared, and a skirt consisting of several strips of the same leather. Her hair was shorter than before and strung with several beads and feathers. She wore strong sturdy boots on her legs, and most notably, now stood with the posture of one willing to fight for their beliefs.

Backing up a step, she gave her master the honor and respect that was her due, bending at the waist into a bow. When she straightened again, she seemed eager for knowledge. "Tell me everything I've missed...", she asked. Her recent concern had been for her own people, but the rest of the galaxy and all of the people in it should also be her concern as a Jedi. It was time to prioritize.

[Serena Laran]

Serena smiled, a bit sadly. "Much has happened in your absence. You know the Jedi were forced from Cloud City." Rhianna nodded. That was when she had left also, Morgan bringing her back here.

"I was captured by the Empire before I could leave. It was... not a nice experience. And, unfortunately, it is the reason for the increased Imperial presence here." She sighed. "The other Jedi and Morgan put together a rescue mission. They plucked me from the very heart of Coruscant, the capital of the Empire."

[Rhianna]

She could feel the process begin, realization giving way to awareness. Awareness turning into growing horror of the situation, but it was this very emotional response that Rhianna had to learn to control. Inhaling deeply, she pushed back, asserting her will over the response. Choosing to act rather than react, though she didn't quite keep the sadness from reaching her eyes. Instinctively she reached a hand up to Serena's face to brush a strand of hair back behind her ear, as would a sister. "Are you alright..?"

[Serena Laran]

"Yes, yes, I am fine now." Mostly. Serena looked up at the sky, and gestured toward the freighter. "We should get going, however. We can catch up on the way."

She ushered Rhianna, so confident and changed from what she remembered, on board the ship. "Morgan helped me buy a new ship - I had to get rid of my old one." Serena looked back over her shoulder as she walked to the cockpit. "He has been made a Jedi Knight, as well. Just yesterday, in fact."

[Rhianna]

A slow, knowing smile spread across Rhianna's features. Morgan was the kind of person you could depend on, a truly good man. A hero. He deserved recognition for that. "That is as it should be then."

It was not so long ago that space travel had scared goosebumps out of Rhianna's skin, but now she marched up onto the ship like a veteran. She carefully stowed her staff where it wouldn't come loose and roll around, and took a minute to look around the interior of the ship, familiarizing herself.

[Serena Laran]

Serena settled herself in the pilot's seat, running her hands over the console and preparing the ship for takeoff. Since she had left everything hot, there was no pre-flight check to do, and she toggled the intercomm to talk to Rhianna. "You can join me in the cockpit, we're going to be leaving as soon as possible."

She double checked her own restraints, making sure the crash webbing was secure but not chafing. The navicomp was chewing through the data to generate the coordinates for a jump to Generis. Soon. Soon...

It was too soon, and not soon enough.

[Rhianna]

"Coming..", Rhianna called over her shoulder. She unstrapped the pouch from around her waist, not having any need of it's contents while on board a ship. A few memento's of her world for a few people, things that had made her think of them while they had been parted. When the time was right, she would present them.

Joining Serena in the cockpit, Rhianna sat and strapped herself in to the seat opposite her master. "You said before you were to start a journey..?, she asked, getting comfortable.

[Serena Laran]

"Yes," she said simply. "I am traveling to Generis." The freighter rose smoothly into the air under her control as soon as Rhianna was seated.

"It is a long story," Serena started, accelerating as steeply as she dared for release from RX-271's atmosphere. Her padawan looked at her, Rhianna's expression indicating she wasn't planning on going anywhere. Serena smiled bittersweetly, remembering when she'd first awoken from her captivity to find herself on board the Challenger. "After I was rescued from the Empire, I woke to find that..."

She paused and cleared her throat, Gaoth agus Domhain reaching for vacuum and letting the planet drop beneath them like an emerald on black velvet. The rings loomed, and she altered course to skim across the surface of them, headed for deeper space. "An old friend had returned to me. His name was...is Sol. We had a few missions together during the Clone Wars, before the fall of the Jedi Order.

"I had thought he was dead. And suddenly there he was - older, of course, but still the same. Solid. Real." Her voice cracked a little, and she was grateful for the distraction as sensors pinged a contact headed toward them. Imperial ship. Serena upped acceleration to maximum sublight, and the navicomp spat out the needed coordinates for the first jump. She plugged them into the hyperdrive as the Imperial picket angled toward them on an intercept course, and then pulled down on the controls.

The freighter slipped the bonds of realspace and stretched into hyperspace. Serena sat back in her seat a little, her tension easing.

[Rhianna]

Hyperspace still made her stomach roll into her toes. That much at least remained the same, she thought. When they were safely away from the Imperial ship and the threat it presented, Rhianna finally responded to the conversation, though now a little breathless. "That is a good thing though, that you found someone from your past?"

She had thought she had picked up on a tendril of something before the hyperdrive kicked in, but she had attributed it to the presence of an Imperial ship heading toward them, but perhaps it was something more. "Is it not?"

[Serena Laran]

"It is good," she smiled, turning slightly to face Rhianna. "To find an old friend meant so much to me. It helped me with my healing, to have such a joyful reunion."

Serena took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. She was not as good at keeping her emotions in check as she had been last time Rhianna had spent time with her. Seeing Sol had changed so much for her - as had her time with the Empire. At her core she was still the same person, but... She closed her eyes and then opened them again. "Unfortunately we just received word that Sol has been killed."

She laughed softly, shaking her head. "I am sorry - there is so much going on. Good news, and bad, I feel that your head must be spinning." Serena tried to surreptitiously dab at her eyes, but her sharp-eyed padawan didn't miss a thing.

[Rhianna]

Rhianna understood, perhaps better than anyone else how this felt. She could not hold back the tremble of her own voice as she said so. "I know."

She knew the elation of finding her brother alive. Seeing hope that they would be reunited. For a while she had entertained thoughts of bringing him off world with her, he too could be touched by the Force. Perhaps Jedi training would be for him as well? The Force had decreed otherwise though. Freeing their clann had cost her brother his life. Their reunion had lasted only moments before he had died in her arms.

She knew the unfairness of such a loss. Grieving for the same person twice in one lifetime was too cruel, but it had given her insight into the way relationships had an effect on those chosen to serve the Force. Distractions. She finally understood what this meant to her training.

"Do not worry for me, Master. ", she smiled sadly and reached over to give Serena's arm a fond squeeze. "I'll find my balance. Tell me what I need to know."

[Serena Laran]

Serena smiled, feeling Rhianna's own loss through the Force. The story behind it she did not know yet, but she knew that the padawan understood. "He had gone out to the planet Generis to confront another Jedi. Loklorien s'Ilancy. He knew her too, from the Temple before the Purge, and I suppose... he had to know, first hand. Because Alliance Intelligence told us a week or so ago that one of their generals was a suspected Sith, and that he had another working with him.

"The general in question is the one Master s'Ilancy has been... married to." Serena frowned lightly, not exactly sure if they were married or not. No matter. "We all suspected she could be the other dark sider, but she has been so intricately involved with the Jedi since we have been brought together. I refused to believe it could be so.

"But," she said softly. "It is true. She fought him at their meeting and there was a triggered transmission from his ship to the Council. In it he said that she was a Sith and must have killed him." Serena sighed. Two friends lost in one little message.

"I am going to ascertain if this is true. And to collect his remains if it is." She squeezed Rhianna's hand. "I do not know what we will find on Generis. I wish I had another lightsaber for you, because this could be a trap set by the Sith."