Sera Na

[Froggy]

Name: Sera Na
Race: Kaminoan
Age: Sera is twelve (comparable to twenty four) years old
Height: 7'2"
Weight: 208 lbs.
Appearance: In image, Sera stands as a symbol of the work invested in reaching the current day. While not scarred or deformed, the tall Kaminoan holds a figure slightly thinner in contrast to that of what is expected of ordinary Kaminoans, primarily along the waist, neck, fingers and arms. For that, the only intimidating qualities come in both the vertical superiority granted to her by birth, the rather unusual posture she adopts depending on her choice of attire at the time and the soft green gaze granted from her occasionally narrowed eyes.

Her posture and motions are often in a continued display of change between the times she is seen. The most common of such being the very calm if not downright stoic image provided as an outward display to those she associates with. To such, she stands tall, presenting herself in the uniform fashion expected only of those within a military structure. It is the only time that her manner of moving around is fluid enough to be deemed Kaminoan. The less common is often when unseen, where her eyes are either narrowed in a constant search for hidden truths, as her posture draws further towards being coiled forward ever so slightly, always best for times where she needs to be seen either maintaining no eye-contact, or when she needs to show that she does indeed stand over others in every literal sense. Finally, while seen only against her wishes, Sera can occasionally be seen limping in a dedicated effort to avoid putting undue stress on her weaker left leg.

For Sera, attire is defined not by personal desire when waking for the day, but instead the necessity of it based on how the day would sooner progress. To such, she maintains a collection of very precise outfits, though not an entire wardrobe. It either fits an occasion or never existed within her possession to begin with, making Sera an outwardly predictable person when it comes to what she wears and when.

During the time spent away from affairs in the galaxy, the most common choice of clothing consists of nothing more unsurprising than the mix of a dull black enclosed cloth robe extending to cover the length of her arms down to her hands and the entirety of her body down to no more than half an inch from the floor, held snugly in place by tightly wrapped bands of dark crimson cloth around her waist and neck. Depending on her mood, the bands can also be seen upon her elbows, to lessen the flow of the robes, usually for times where she is often tasked with sparring or training. Finally, a black leather belt fashioned to hold a variety of pockets and anything else capable of clipping on, rides just below the waist at all times except when she is sleeping.

Working in the field often asks for a more detailed outfit, catered to the more ritualistic task of infiltrating the most distant perches and observing from a distance, if not from within the meld of various species dressed in the variety seen within most of the galactic social hubs. For Sera, this means blending in yet betraying not a single detail to those she wishes to watch. The task often requires the use of a full body veil, which in image appears as nothing more than a smooth flowing black blanket tossed over her head, with the needed length to conceal even her feet from sight. The tinted circular goggles worn provide a suggestion as to where she might be looking, but from any perspective the enigmatic outfit appears as nothing more than a slender, tall ghost of the darker design.

What surfaces when confronted is a rather unusual blend of personal surprises and strange motion, as in observing, Sera is rarely prepared to commit fully to a fight. The robe is in fact made up of two separate pieces, one used to veil the upper torso, while the other remains supported to cover the legs. The break in the middle allows Sera's arms to slip from concealment, in times where she must physically interact with her surroundings and occasionally other people. This makes presenting a lightsaber just easy as the task of concealing it...should combat arise without any option to withdraw immediately. During such occasions Sera's posture changes dramatically to take on a more defensive pose, with her right hand to bear the blade of her choosing, while her left foot remains at a constant position just behind her right. This never changes even in crucial moments where opportunistic strikes could deal the finishing blow, Sera instead holds back to keep her right hand in the fray when the attacks come, but never, ever steps forward with her left leg.

The time for observation often comes at an end and Sera's position at a distance becomes unneeded. For those that she seeks, their life is often subject to early conclusion in the name of Sith interests, and for that, Sera has always been well-prepared. A robed Kaminoan is an unseen figure during these times. The shy nature, the avoidance of confrontation, the very disposition of peace and knowledge fades away to reveal a darker and far more blood-thirsty foe driven to end the assigned task of the day. What is seen at the time, is the eventual arrival of a Kaminoan clad in smooth black armor, fashioned out of lightweight composites to grant her the grace she needs in combat. Unlike her previous choices of attire, the sturdy structure of the armor keeps her leg well protected and even supported. The robes are considerably lesser, drawn back to rest only behind her shoulders so that the dulled reflection of her more visible figure can be seen.

The approach shares almost no similarity to her previous practices. Instead Sera allows her face to be seen, opting to wear only a hood at most and a decorative set of beads at the least. Her posture makes no sacrifices either, bringing swift movement in the direction of her foe by stepping forward with both legs rather than with just one. This change in attitude certainly adds more speed to any combat she may face, even if it's assuredly her last.


Personality: By the design of history, Sera is almost monotone, uninteresting and without an applicable sense of emotional expression towards her surroundings. Years of training, surprises that burned the truth of reality into her very bones, has stripped away the pursuit for joy, the acceptance of peace and in their stead, placed the newer appreciation for fear and pain. The lengths of these lessons have not only driven her to the very edges of insanity, but they have also left her wary of any future associations...be it that they consist of people, or circumstances.

That is not to say that Sera is entirely withdrawn from her environment, or those that she communicates with. If anything, Sera's emotional reactions have always been a burden to her very precise routines and the subroutines that lie underneath to assure smooth and precise action. It holds true like an infection that she can never really purge....always making itself known at times where cold, ruthless killers would have ordinarily not suffered at all...

...yet for Sera, she cannot help but find the edge of her lips curled to a smile when she sees something amusing, or the quickly narrowed stare simultaneous to her disapproval. While very very faint, a set of trained eyes, or even those most practiced socially, can see that Sera is not entirely the emotionless assassin that she was raised to be.

For those that can't see it, Sera has been known to appear as nothing more than almost painfully meticulous and bound to routine, wake early in the morning, dress appropriately to the events around her, leave her quarters and search for inconsistencies in the environment while convincing others that she is simply cleaning, dedicate some time to the gardens at noon, pursue research time if available in the evening and eventually pursue rest after at least three hours of meditation. To deviate from that routine on a normal day can often help anyone understand just. how. painful....it is for Sera to lose track of the events in her life, and how ridiculously paranoid she can truly be. Without the consistency, Sera's mind becomes ridden with the silent whispers of her conscious fears. Who's watching? What happened when she wasn't where she needed to be and were there any new faces added to the crowd?

If it doesn't find resolution, Sera gradually begins to break down. Resolution can often be critical and is one of the first goals Sera aims to achieve. For that, she maintains routines that only have an impact if her original routines are not maintained...and then one may find more routines under those.

This plays well in her favor when she is not having such an ordinary day. Whether her unusual days consist of exploring the surrounding grounds or the thorough pursuit of a particular subject, Sera is almost always prepared to handle the situation. Hours of planning and even more time spent preparing physically allow her to attack her objectives with an untold precision regardless of the changing circumstances, though her precision is not always enough.

Socially, Sera is flexible in an unseen manner. She tries to maintain a neutral presence regardless of the situation. For those she does or does not know personally, she remains respectful and speculative. Her dialogue can occasionally be brutally truthful if in mention to herself, or vocalized curiosity to those in her presence. Above all else though, she's deliberately respectful. It could not be mentioned with any small measure, that Sera takes a small sense of pride in knowing that she can at least be better than her opposition and similarly respected by her peers...so long as she remains professional in the presence of either party. To break this image, would require either that she be entirely backed into a corner, or her daily routine at home be interrupted mercilessly.

To summarize, Sera enjoys studying Botany, likes the color blue and often indulges in sharing secrets with her pet Kraht, Fluffles.

Birth place: Kamino - Sahkai City within the northern oceans.

Faction: Sith Empire (Associating Aristocracy)
Rank: Security representative of the Idcirco family line

Previous Faction: Dark Jedi
Previous Rank: Dark Jedi Apprentice

Lightsaber: Constructed by Wai to fit Sera's needs, the Lightsaber is manufactured to be curved at the hilt. It uses standard materials for construction barring three decorative blue gems, manufactured to embody Wai's philosophical views of Sera's capacities as a force-user. Unfortunately, as Sera did not construct it herself, the blade is consequently not balanced well for her.

Her second lightsaber is the one handed to her for training. Due to the restrictive design for the purpose of protecting the operator, the straight-hilt lightsaber cannot cut or stab as any traditional blade. Sera occasionally keeps it in her possession to practice, or to intimidate...though her use of either lightsabers is exceptionally rare.

Color: The standard coloration of both of Sera's lightsabers are red.

Practiced Lightsaber forms:

- Shii-Cho - 2
- Makashi Modified* - 2
* Despite the best efforts being made to teach Sera the precision needed for Makashi, the obstacles provided by her unusual form served as an almost permanent obstacle. Her height, while barely offset by the length of her arms, left the painfully great risk of harmful exposure to her own blade. Worse, her form remains heavily hindered by the weakness in her left leg. As a result, Sera has had to adjust her form by sacrificing faster offensive motions ordinarily expected in Makashi. Her defensive posture leaves little of her weakness directly exposed...making most combat a considerably longer experience than ordinary.
- Soresu - 1

Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices: Sera's practices with the force are unusual...as she specializes in very little, yet unknowingly excels regardless. Due to her lack of training in almost every ability, her drive to know....has brought her to an instinctual capacity for sensing those around her. Her awareness varies depending on her situation. Casual times within the comfort of familiar grounds often warrant her ability to sense as no greater than any other being she may associate with...though in the field and operating amidst dangerous elements often draw her to remain aware. During such times, someone is almost always watching, and Sera most certainly wants to know who.

An unfortunate drawback manifests in two aspects. The first is her inability to actually see the individuals. Sera can often sense direction and hostility, though she cannot apply it to any one individual without making eye-contact with them. Worse, Sera is just as naturally detected as others are to her. For those less sensitive, a bad feeling often crosses them. For those capable in sensing others, the very taste of fear flows with an almost unforgettable and unparalleled taste.

Telekinetic: 4
Telepathic: 5
Body: 1
Sense: 7
Protection: 1
Healing: 2
Destruction: 1

Specialized Skills: Despite her socially awkward nature and her rather weak physical condition, Sera is often adept in most of the skills necessary for infiltration and subterfuge. She is capable in setting up small hastily-managed traps, navigating acceptable terrain and observing others.

Attributes: Physically, Sera is a traditional Kaminoan with a few flaws that leave her a less formidable force when confronted. As with most species of a greater stature, her lifting capacity is scaled to meet the needs of simple and sometimes advanced locomotion. Beyond that, her speed and flexibility remain hindered by an improperly settled bone fracture in her lower left leg. Without a brace, Sera's posture often takes on a visible degradation in stability as well as performance.

Mentally, Sera is as competent as most amidst her species. She learns quickly.

Without any training at all in the use of blasters and her own hands, Sera can be considered almost laughable when operating such equipment. Pistols can be fired, though her accuracy suffers exceptionally at longer ranges. Provided her vulnerable leg, hand-to-hand combat is also exceptionally poor to become involved in.

Physical Strength: 4
Intelligence: 7
Speed: 3
Leadership: 3

Unarmed: 1

Melee Weapons: 2
Ranged Weapons: 1

Bio: Growing up in Sahkai city was not necessarily a gift, though provided the unusual ways of Kaminoan society, it was certainly an opportunity for any born within the walls of the large facility. Bestowed upon it was difference, a uniqueness forged in a market that not many other cities often pursued; the production of carefully grown and 'treated' plants, modified to meet the needs of any worlds willing to make a purchase from the Kaminoans. It was in that, Meya found her own place. To the Kaminoans, it was by design. To Meya, it was by luck. Her position amidst the administrative affairs of the Sahkai city hydroponics gardens was a gift only through the grey coloration of her eyes, and no more.

That was acceptable.

Within the first decade of her life, Meya had inherited by genetics alone the very authority over shipping and sales of the northern hydroponics stations of Sahkai city. The methods of marketing were beyond her level of authority, though when anything was to be ordered from the northern Hydroponics stations, Meya was the authority that potential buyers would speak with. Negotiations from there would only consist of what variety of crops would be needed, where they would be going and what purpose they would fulfill. From there, all Meya needed was time...time to provide precisely what was requested of her portion of the Hydroponics gardens in Sahkai city.

What she received in turn was far more than the simple experience of an administrative position. Her exposure to new species and cultures introduced a strong sense of flexibility and went a great distance in opening her mind to how things were elsewhere. It was a very minor change though, one that Meya was not entirely prepared to acknowledge.

Two years of fulfilling the requested functions of her position, had been enough to change Meya's perspective entirely. Her work had escalated from the simple management of shipments, to maintaining ongoing social relations with those who consistently requested the provisions that only the Sahkai hydroponics gardens could supply. It progressed beyond the analysis of numbers, and quickly to the analysis of the people asking for supply. By the end of Meya's third year, she had not only established a stable flow of supply to several worlds, she had also become associated with opportunists interested in investing beyond her own field.

Provided the time, Meya could have likely progressed further, gained a higher status, progressed to other cities with the Kaminoan equivalent of an undeniable resume, fulfilled the requirements of any position to better advance the name of her species. None of it would have mattered...

...not nearly as much, as the first sight of her younger sister, Sera.

When Sera was born, Meya had been hopeful that such a child included into her life, would mean the improvement of her slowly diminishing view towards her own species...a view that had changed as rapidly as her awareness of the galaxy around her. It would have assured her patience and driven her to fulfill the ambitions of any other Kaminoan applied to her field of administration.

What Meya was given instead, was the opposite. Even with her protests, Sera's direction in life was decided by eye-color alone. Her future was forfeit, and her life measured not in years, but days. It-...was wrong. Meya had been given the chance to live in comfort, to meet a galaxy that had gone beyond her expectations and to learn. Sera would have none of that, not even the first notion of thought. If there had ever been a time for Meya to truly evaluate the impact of her actions, it was now. Her sibling was soon to be taken away, so that Meya could resume the convenient resupply of various worlds. Her input on the matter wouldn't have mattered and the entire world would have moved on regardless. It was...a chance...

...and so business resumed as usual. Meya accepted the offered suggestion that she simply dismiss the matter, and move on. There were shipments to be scheduled, plants to be delivered and more to manage in the future, all for the benefit of a species that hardly pressed any weight on just what Meya truly wanted. Meya returned to her duties and began scheduling those very shipments. Great effort and precise timing was required on her part, though in the eventual arrival of the evening, Meya proceeded to the medical facilities within Sahkai city, to visit her younger sister a final time. This was considerably more understandable and the medical staff certainly did not express much in disagreement, so long as the child was still assured the path that had been promised from birth.

Meya's greatest objection was noted when she claimed her sister from the facility. For any Kaminoan that wanted to maintain a strong reputation amidst their peers, that may have been impossible. For Meya, it meant simply picking up the child and running. Few of the Kaminoans nearby attempted to stop her and the eventual arrival of a force that could stop Meya, was too late in timing. Their pursuit was managed by a handful of appropriately equipped security droids accompanied by Meya's supervisors and the expectation was simple enough: Meya could go anywhere she pleased, though the only place she would be safe, would be offworld. That alone narrowed down the search to the space-port, a destination that the security team reached quickly enough. Unfortunately, their expectations of an easily reported and land-locked shuttle was quickly brought to a stop through the use of a force far greater than any shield or blaster; they were stopped by bureaucracy.

Instead of one shuttle, the spaceport was filled with twenty. Worse, each had been scheduled to leave the spacedock with exceptionally sensitive cargo all at exactly the same time. Pairing such circumstances with the uniformed crews, sensitive crops onboard and the established expectations of each of the buyers receiving the shipments, stopping all of the shuttles to find two Kaminoans seemed far less likely of a solution. To have called it a solution then would have been the opposite of the situation they faced...the consequences of destroying their export over an element they wanted gone anyway, certainly didn't seem justifiable.

The shuttles were allowed to depart with a brief warning of Meya's potential presence onboard, though as a consequence of Meya's actions, her status was quickly revoked and her finances were stripped away with it. She would have the one-way trip with her sister as the only reward. Kamino would never be their home again.

The considerations for Meya's destination were thorough, though minimal. Having elected a fragile cargo with a very small measure of acceptable shipping time served to accommodate the difficulty of finding food for a child that she needed to keep concealed for the entirety of the trip. The convenience of it all was almost perfect, down to only one of a few details that she'd overlooked...details that made themselves known well before the shuttle she'd elected even entered orbit over the planet Naboo. The first was the minor realization of immunization provisions. Each Kaminoan crew member was provided only one so that they could adapt to the environment of the world they were delivering to...which didn't account for the one passenger that didn't belong on the ship anyway.

Meya resolved it quickly by sparing herself the treatment, and applied it instead to Sera while awaiting their eventual arrival to the world. Getting her off of the ship was not much more difficult, as the opportunity presented itself only once the crew began to disembark, and one forgetful Kaminoan of a Meya-like was allowed the chance to return to the interior of the ship to retrieve her misplaced equipment. She did so quickly, and smuggled Sera from the vessel using whatever she could scavenge from within the ship.

The transition to living on Naboo was not necessarily the fastest. Meya's lifestyle had taken a dramatic change now that she'd abandoned her only assured form of employment and surrendered herself to the perils of a planet that remained almost entirely unfamiliar with her species. Referencing herself to anybody she'd known before was more than likely to connect with her established background as an exile, and worse, she didn't have a home. She had nothing at all...with a child that was alive, though only so long as Meya could find employment. Finding that much first, was not easiest in the slightest.

Despite Meya's experience with unmentioned origins, few people were really interested in the services Meya originally filled. She was a visitor without any background, offering to fill positions that couldn't depend upon her vague and shady positions of employment that she didn't want to mention. Lying about it was out of the question as well.

...so Meya dropped her expectations. Finding a job within her third day of living on Naboo required a slightly more truthful explanation to her situation. At the mention of her work around crops, as well as her possession of a young child, she was soon provided a place of work in the nearby fields that had been expected to become the home of a collection of very sensitive crops. It required experience, though the employer wasn't looking to pay a fortune for it...and Meya qualified well enough for cheap and affordable labor to employ in maintaining the crops until harvest.

The advance payment came just as quickly, to resolve Meya of her homelessness in exchange for no additional pay later on. For Meya, that was more than enough. It was the first step in creating a stable way of life for herself and more critically, for Sera. What remained from the rental of their small apartment within the city of Parrlay and the food they would undoubtedly need, quickly went to hiring a caretaker for the times that Meya could not be home.

Against Meya's expectations, raising a Kaminoan child had quickly proven to be easier than she'd anticipated. She'd been relieved when she earned her job but in comparison, that was little. By the first year, Sera was not only talking, but she was quickly capable of navigating the apartment on her own. A month more and Sera's studied began, studies that she took on rather quickly. By the age of two, she'd matured enough to walk beside Meya during her outings.

It was then, that Sera began learning as well. Despite the giving nature of the community they'd settled in, Sera and her sister never truly fit in. They were different, slightly distanced by their alien nature. Despite being mature enough, Sera's desire for enrollment into a public school, was instead replaced with carefully organized teachings at home. Meya provided lessons based on what she'd learned when she was young, though the circumstances were very different now than they were when she'd been taking the classes herself. There were no holograms, no datapads or even any classmates, there was only paper, graphite bricks and books. Many, many books.

It all translated well to Sera, from the basics of mathematics to the depths of literature that Meya collected from the libraries of Parrlay...though for Sera, it was never enough. She assessed and learned the material far faster than Meya could collect it.

School was not the only issue either. With Sera's age, she soon needed to remain entertained as any other. Finding friends seemed like a logical pursuit, though that didn't happen so easily when those potential 'friends' discovered just how Alien Sera truly was. She was taller than all of them and smarter too. The differences separated her exceptionally from the kids that couldn't say the same for either field. Those firneds she did make, were distanced too by the time Sera turned three. Unlike the humans and various aliens that had joined the community beside them, Sera matured faster...and within that year alone, she certainly didn't fit in.

She was different, to everyone but one person...Meya.

When her friends left her, when her schooling just couldn't keep up, Sera always had Meya. They'd share the time away from work, whenever it was available, to explore the surrounding forests and fields. Their journeys went further each time, with the challenge of fidning their way back. That was assuming they even needed to return in the first place. For those nights where the next day didn't need to be considered, both Sera and Meya found their moments of peace looking to the stars from the fields distant from the city, to observe the sight above and see how beautiful the galaxy could really be.

Somewhere, there was a planet out there where they were normal. While Sera hadn't seen it, she secretly planned to visit it one day, to know just where she'd come from and what purpose she would serve. For now though, her home was Naboo, and her family was enough to keep her happy. Sera was but a child, and Meya was her caretaker.

Winter was always the most difficult time for Sera to adapt. Meya was still required to work in the field, though Sera couldn't leave the apartment to pursue her own interests...affording the graphite bricks and books for her schooling, the food that she and her sister needed as well as their apartment, left a noticeable gap in the finances needed to buy proper attire for the cold. Meya had managed to borrow something herself, though for Sera...the blankets from her bed were enough. So long as she remained home, she would be safe.

That was, easy to say at first. By Sera's fourth birthday, Meya seemed less lively than ever. Work hadn't changed, but Meya certainly started to convey a convincing image that it had. Mornings came with later awakenings, evenings were ended with an even later arrival than usual. Sera was more than willing to accept that she'd been overworked, and voluntarily pursued her studies whenever Meya was too tired to help. Eventually, Sera was soon preparing breakfast on her own, for both herself and Meya...awakening her older sister and guiding her to her food, before watching Meya depart for another day of work in the fields.

...until one day, Meya simply didn't come back.

It was easy to explain at first. Sera understood that there was indeed a shelter near the fields for workers to rest in. Meya had probably remained there for the night, understanding that Sera could see to herself for that time. Even during the following day, Sera knew that Meya had work to complete, and that she would return soon enough. There were lessons to be taught, there was food to eat and there were stars to look at. There were stars to look at.

That pleasure didn't come. For three days more, Sera waited, taking the food from the apartment in carefully measured rations. By the fourth day, what little food they owned was gone, and Sera had started to progressively worsen in spirit. It was unusual, Meya should have returned...where could she have gone?

Sera dismissed her sister's warnings out of a newfound concern for her older sister. Taking the little comfort that her blanket could afford, she left her apartment and ventured into the city...hoping to find her sister. The difficulty was found not in the dangers of the city, but in Sera's own lack of information. She didn't even know where to start looking, and she had never fully explored the city itself. The fields that Meya had taken her to before didn't seem to be where she worked, there weren't any crops there, anyway..

...within the hour, Sera was soon desparate. She'd been searching for any clues, even asking...though her only reward for the latter was the concerned response of any citizen, wondering just why a child was navigating the streets. Had she not been quick to depart from each conversation, she would have likely been returned home. That wasn't acceptable though, that wasn't finding her sister...wherever it was that she'd gone.

The search had revealed nothing at all. Not in the first day alone, but the following two days after as well. Sera departed into the city again and again, until her third day, hunger was starting to claim half of her attention. The other half, was soon drawn to a feeling she'd never known before, a feeling that seemed to echo with her fear, the fear of being alone. It felt different though, as more of an alarming burden, rather than the hollow sensation of abandonment. The more time Sera spent in the city, the more the feeling began to build...until the fourth day she ventured out. There in the streets outside of her home, the feeling intensified, bringing her spine to shiver. Quickly she dismissed it as nothing more than the cold, and ventured to the outskirts of the city.

While her search drew her further out, she never lost the feeling. She didn't know what it meant or why it was lingering, but it didn't reassure her at all. It burdened her enough that her missing sister became a reoccurring realization rather than a constant fact and it was strong even after she found herself along the less populated outskirts of the city itself. Once there, the feeling took form with the setting sun...and the calm movement of shadows along one of the furthest walls. It was then, that Sera understood just what was wrong. Someone was following her.

It didn't matter who it was or why they were following her, she didn't want to know. She wanted to head back home and try again tomorrow. The direction of 'back' wasn't an option though, so she forged a new route forward. It allowed some distance, and a few seconds of momentary comfort...though in a single wrong step Sera slipped along the snow below her feet, and landed upon her back with enough force to fill her world with darkness. It filled with stars for a moment, though that too soon faded to the muffling comfort of unconsciousness.

When she woke, she was still wrapped snugly in her blankets, though her surroundings seemed somewhat different. The street was the same, the snow was still below her...but the sky was considerably darker, and a middle-aged man with a weary image stood above her, peering down with an expression of curiosity. his attire seemed befitting of a man with wealth, but the tied-back length of his hair didn't match nor did the scruffy trim of his eyebrows and goatee. Beside him stood two younger boys nearing their teenage years, who fulfilled the image far better.
The man was the first to inquire to Sera's situation, and Sera was hardly willing at first to share. Only in discovering the night sky...did she realize just how long she had been unconscious...just how long she'd been lying in the cold, and how cold it truly had become.

...so, she attempted to explain, without offering any details that were unreasonable. She wasn't about to share that her sister was missing, as she could always go looking again the next day, but getting home, that was something she wasn't so sure of. So, Sera revealed the small lie of her unannounced exploration through the city. Her 'mother' was likely at home worried, and she really needed to get home to relieve her parents of any grief that her absence may have caused. The man accepted the mention with a candid smile, and then offered to help Sera return to her home.

The trip required more time than Sera originally remembered. Getting to the outskirts certainly seemed to be a straightforward trip, but returning was a painstakingly long experience that Sera numbed through conversation...conversation that had been started by the two boys rather than the man who'd found her. The discussion was surprisingly informative to only one side of the discussion, and that side was certainly not Sera. Instead, it seemed to be only questions about who she was, where she'd come from and, uncomfortably enough, why she didn't have any friends. How they'd cared to find out that she didn't have any friends, she herself wanted to know. She didn't get the chance though, not with the constant inquiries until they arrived at her home. By then, they knew almost every truth and lie that Sera could fathom, besides anything that was obviously wrong to answer...but it didn't end there, not in the slightest. Sera's return to her home came with inquiry when the man realized that nobody seemed to be home. Sera was prepared to provide another excuse, but she silenced herself of such desires when the man audibly decided that his curiosity was best fulfilled by asking a neighbor of Sera's situation. That didn't happen, not before Sera explained truthfully, that her sister had not returned home for some time.

The three in Sera's company appeared shocked. The notion of such a child being abandoned, it was almost equally surprising to Sera that she had any worth to be shocked over in the first place. More precisely, why did the finely dressed people care anyway? The night ended in surprise as the three remained in Sera's company throughout the night. Despite her desire that they leave and resume their own rich-people business, they instead assured that adult supervision was needed while they awaited the return of Sera's older sister. The promise of headway in finding Meya was the real reward, though it did little to wash away that lingering feeling that had plagued her since the morning. Something was out of place, and it remained that way even when Sera slept.

The following days were troubling. In the morning she'd been left alone, though the apartment had been supplied with food. A new datapad had beenleft in the kitchen, detailing lessons that continued where her old books left off...the old books that seemed to no longer exist. Barring those two details, the apartment remain unchanged, lacking both in the strangers and the company of Meya. She was alone, again, with only a sliver of time-consuming work to keep her mind away form the distraction of her strange feeling and the absence of her older sister. Fortunately the datapad was more than enough to fulfill such...containing more than her simple books could have.

She was occasionally visited as well...not by the man but by one of the boys, Jaye as he'd called himself, a student to the man known as Wai. Jaye and his brother Kal had since been studying under the careful teachings of Wai, though Jaye never revealed much more than that. Nothing about what they were learning or why, just that they were studying hard to become great people. Sera would have been lying if she'd decided that Wai's lessons didn't sound ominous at all, but she didn't want to get rid of the one person who seemed interested in being her friend.

Sera accepted Jaye's company, regardless of how rare it was. Usually he only arrived to provide food once Sera ran out, along with brief conversation...but within the week, they were soon close friends. That friendship was more than dear, when Wai himself eventually returned.

Meya was, by Wai's word, not coming back. Her body had been found some time ago and stored away at the nearest morgue. Nobody had known if she had any relations, so Sera had never been notified. Still, Wai intended to make right of a situation that had left Sera entirely torn apart. Her sister was...gone...but at the least, he could help Sera understand precisely where she had gone. Within the day, funeral arrangements were managed, the costs were paid in full by Wai alone, and Sera was provided an opportunity to see her sister a final time.

Wai didn't know the first of Kaminoan traditions when it came to disposing of the body, but he certainly didn't think that it involved anything ceremonial. Whether the curiosity that was Sera knew anything more than he, was beyond him...but he recognized her ability to feel, which was enough for him to work with. When the day came, Wai allowed Sera to witness the burial of her sister. It required the entire evening, and Wai was certain to include the company of both Jaye and Kal. Kal was certain to maintain his distance, though Jaye had instead remained near Sera the entire time, attempting to offer his best in consolation. Words were all he could really offer, though he knew well enough what Sera really wanted.

It was time, the time she'd spent doing anything but remaining with her sister...the time she'd spent when calming after any argument, the time spent sleeping, or even just looking away. The time where she genuinely could be with her sister, to feel the embrace of a hug, to simply hear her voice.

...now, all she could hold on to, were memories granted a clarity that taunted her. The faint smells and the soft sound of Meya's voice whispered only as a distant thought...and nothing more.

Even after the body had been buried, Sera stood above the freshly settled ground, staring through the visually impenetrable ground. She watched it, hoping quietly that it would be wrong, a lie, a promise kept as Meya appeared from somewhere, to laugh away the misery of it all. Instead she received a reaffirming palm against her shoulder as Wai and Jaye took their positions at either side of her, to mourn for a person only she knew. The time spent there lengthened from minutes, to an entire hour...before Sera eventually felt herself pull away in acceptance.

Wai promised then, a change to her life...a turn in events that would help her live on even without her sister. He offered to teach Sera just as he did Jaye and Kal, to give her a new home and to help her grow up...to become someone who could prevent such events as these, a person who could make a difference.

That was acceptable.

The next day, Sera collected what little she owned, with the inclusion of her sister's own belongings, before following Wai's lead to the spaceport. Naboo had taken on the taint that had plagued her since a morning not so long ago, and now...now she wanted to leave. She wanted to be anywhere but where she was, and Wai certainly aimed to deliver just that.

Initially, Sera didn't care too much about the destination Wai had in mind. They were going somewhere else, to a 'different life', one where Sera could 'fit in better'. The phrases didn't hold much weight then and remained as weightless throughout the duration of their trip from Naboo, but the closer they came, the more Sera began to find her curiosity growing. Something was at the other side...but she didn't precisely have the fullest motivation to ask. Wai didn't seem entirely inclined to share either, though his reasoning probably sat more on his need to surprise her. As the shuttle had moved into the very orbit of a world that Sera could see only through the glow of the urban structures below, Wai prompted her to follow him and his two apprentices to the loading ramp, a location that Sera didn't anticipate visiting before they'd landed. Of course, she felt that his intentions were probably just as much for her benefit as their relocation. He was providing Sera a needed change of environment...though he clearly wanted to give her more.

Once the few gathered at the loading ramp, they awaited the eventual clearance from the staff nearby. With Wai's indication that it was time, the loading ramp was lowered, allowing the light of the environment outside to pour in.

The city of Kalai on Corellia was certainly more impressive while they were in the air and the view from the ramp was not only surprisingly beautiful, but exceptionally frightening once Sera assessed that they were still flying. Each of the various structures moved around them as the shuttle drifted in between them effortlessly, until finally the landing pad of a rather tall building came into view - the home of the Xelphas Aristocracy, and soon to become Sera's home as well.

Sera's integration certainly didn't have the immediate hospitality that Wai had so eagerly promised. Entering the facility and passing several security checks came easily for only Kal and Jaye, though Sera and Wai were pressed to identify themselves and sit through various security scans. Jaye offered his own protests, but Sera accepted the wait, as it was something she'd grown used to while at home waiting for-....her. Meya hadn't become a vague thought in just the span of a couple days, but Sera didn't exactly want to endure the pain that came with even fathoming her name. She needed to distance herself, to know that Meya was gone...and keeping even her name away, helped.

Once the security checks were complete, Sera received only more scrutiny from the family that awaited their return. She was an unexpected inclusion that Wai had not cared to mention, and despite Wai's own authority on having Sera included, those amidst the Xelphas family still examined her with both curiosity and suspicion. She was just as different there, as she was back on Naboo, only these people were armed with both financial power and social status. Unlike the people back on Naboo, Sera couldn't just ignore them. Her presence was received poorest by the one atop it all, Fras Xelphas, the lead of the aristocratic family and more critically, the father of both Jaye and Kal. His sons had been put into the care of Wai for the purpose of learning...and now Wai had brought back...a thing...

Wai's defense wasn't received nearly as well as Jaye's own intervention. Had Jaye not stood up, Sera's presence would certainly have been rejected...though Jaye instead offered his own word that Sera was an invaluable presence, one that would likely change the Xelphas family and their overall status, a presence that probably bested even his own. While it was certainly inspiring, Fras didn't believe it. Instead he accepted that Sera was an unwelcome inclusion, though an inclusion nonetheless. If one of his own sons wanted such a 'friend' to live amidst them, then he could at the least accommodate her appropriately. Sera was given from that point a home, as well as anything else that she needed, a point which Fras placed heavy emphasis on. Her education and her life would resume, but she would never be known as one of the Xelphas family, or even a slight rumor amidst their aristocratic ties.

It was something, at least.

Sera was indeed given her own quarters, though they were nothing extraordinary...separated from the Xelphas tower and consequently Jaye, Kal and Wai. Meeting them meant passing through an hour-long security check each time, and their meetings were ordinarily very brief, as Sera did have an actual school to attend. Unfortunately even that was hardly worth celebrating, as the courses were certainly up to her standards but lacking in various other points. Where Sera certainly had the chance to turn away any book that pressed into her personal time, the lessons provided by an academy were far more strict and concluded only when the instructor elected to do so. Scheduled sessions meant waking up early and returning home late to study more. Sera enjoyed the challenge at first, though time was enough to wear away even that. The worst portion, was her discovery that each class she attended to was catered to her in design...a design that was meant for her and her alone. No classmates, no conversation, only the dull glow of a datapad and the poor humor expected from an educational droid.

The only times worth looking forward to were either the days that she visited Jaye, or the days that Jaye visited her. The former of the two was certainly a painful process with only a slight reward, but whenever Jaye visited, it often meant an extra hour or two of fun that would have ordinarily been lost to security checks. Jaye often spoke of his own lessons and the events of his day, while Sera reponded in kind with the repeated inquiry to just what Wai was teaching to Jaye and his brother. She never managed to get an ounce of the truth from him...only attempts at sarcastic evasion or humorous glares.

Sera's educational courses ended at the age of seven, but her curiosity never ceased to draw her towards Jaye and his own lessons. Once her schooling was out of the way, she had many more opportunities to visit and press upon her few friends for the satisfaction of her curiosity. Almost every time she seemed to arrive too early or too late to see just what they were studying. for the times that she was too early, Jaye and Kal were usually preparing their recreational space within the Xelphas tower to prepare for Wai's arrival, though they didn't have any equipment to show for it. No datapads, no books...nothing at all. For the times that she arrived too late, she found them all either cleaning up and visibly stressed, or resting in what she could only assume to be meditation. One thing remained consistent no matter the circumstances though - Sera never felt entirely comfortable. Something seemed amiss, and the three alone had become associated to an often ignored patch of discomfort along the back of her neck. They were her friends, and she wasn't about to give that much up because of one bad feeling.

With the regular visits, Sera's personally managed investigation became more accurate every day. She processed schedules and referenced them with Jaye's visits every now and then, to better identify which days they were studying and which days they weren't. She even attempted to conclude it all by offering to help Jaye study, though his response was often targeted towards her own 'knack for learning quickly'. As he'd often put it, "If you can learn it fast, I'd rather be teaching you."

...she needed to find out though, and with a small change in her personal routine, she eventually did.

Sera's visits stopped entirely, She didn't notify Jaye as to why and never explained it when he visited. Instead she stated that she'd taken on the study of plants as a hobby that required her attention every now and then...and her visits were not entirely possible to time. Jaye didn't see too much of an issue, though that was only because he was still able to visit her every now and then. So, no further inquiry went into the matter, giving Sera the space she needed to set her own little plan into motion. After a week of no visitations at all, she stopped by at an entirely different time. More precisely, early in the morning just prior to the shift change for the security staff at the Xelphas Tower's lobby. There she checked in, allowed herself to be processed by security, and progressed to speak with Fras.

He was not enthusiastic about the meeting, but his schedule was hardly clogged for the day. Meet a few people in the evening for the purpose of important sales, obtain dinner and eventually rest. That was it, with the newly added exception of 'meet the freaky Kamino friend of Jaye's.' The meeting proceeded and Fras was delightfully surprised to find that while Sera was certainly strange, she was quite the intelligent partner for casual debate. At an age that was now almost the same as his Son, he'd been expecting just that much too...an Alien that didn't understand the half of his visions much less in possession of valid counter-points that lingered in the healthy domain between 'offensive' and 'pointless'.

...though she was still an alien, and that was enough for him to keep to his schedule. Within an hour of dropping from hateful to somewhat repsectful dialogue, Fras ended his discussions with Sera on the grounds that he did still have people to meet and business to be concluded. That was entirely ideal. Sera's visit to Fras had been carried out well enough and it was probably expected that she would be departing after. There was a risk that they'd understood her plan or simply intended not to train as long as she was in the building...but the feeling in her gut seemed to draw her to another conclusion. Without a word to anyone, she diverted her course halfway back to the lobby and instead moved for the recreational room.

She found within a group of familiar individuals that were neither preparing nor cleaning up, but instead in the midst of a lesson she'd never expected before. Jaye sat visibly to the side of the room with a strange cylindrical object clenched in his hands, while Kal and Wai stood amidst the middle of the room fighting. More critically, they were fighting with glowing red blades...of energy...and with each clash of the two weapons sparks were cast.

It didn't take more than a second for the occupants within the room to realize that there was an additional spectator. Jaye reacted with surprise, Kal didn't seem too pleased and Wai had instead been expecting it. Where the two brothers immediately began questioning how Sera had managed the feat of discovering them in their training, Wai simply brushed it aside as an expectation he'd held for almost an entire year. Sera was smart, and while not admittedly clever...she was bound to find out eventually. If it hadn't been by her own actions, he would have told her anyway. While he'd never mentioned it to the other two, he'd intended to take on Sera as an additional apprentice, to learn of the force.

It was a little overwhelming at first. Sera's studies never included much on 'the force' and she'd never had many friends to hear the reference. Wai was more than willing to help enlighten her though. Not just through words, but through demonstration as well. The first and most immediately available was the tool he'd been using...a lightsaber. The weapon was surprisingly unusual, and while Sera certainly wanted to examine and understand it, Wai expressed a reluctance in teaching her of that so soon. Instead, he wanted to attack the philosophies first...

The following months were spent learning beside Jaye and Kal. What Wai had already helped them learn, they covered again with Sera...from the social impacts that force users often held, to the actual physical impact that it could deliver to anyone. It was a power to be used, to make the galaxy as they saw fit. It not only allowed them to see what others couldn't, it allowed them to do what few could. Sera's skepticism remained until she witnessed it, the motion of a single item being lifted from nearby, handled by nothing but the distanced gestures of Wai himself.

...learning to do anything like that didn't come so easily, as Wai's intentions for Sera didn't involve moving things. Instead he delved in what Sera knew so far. He'd seen it only back on Naboo after such a similar manner of detection...Sera's ability to feel. She'd known someone was there before they even made their presence obvious and he didn't doubt that she was still basing some of her decisions off of the same feelings that guided her then. So he started with that - he investigated Sera's feelings and explained how they connected to the real world. From there, he began his struggles to teach her just how sharp that sense could become.

Jaye and Kal resumed their own training, though unlike Sera, they seemed to focus more on the use of a lightsaber. Each day they were brought in to study the use of the blade, to learn newer techniques...and every day they steadily became better at sneaking a strike or two past Wai's own practiced maneuvers.

It was an interesting turn of events for Sera. Progressing from her time at the academy, to passing the time with a fake hobby and back to learning after...only now the lessons surrounded an energy Sera was only beginning to understand, and the visual study of two fighting with weapons that seemed entirely too dangerous for use at all. Lightsabers...they seemed dangerous enough even in the hands of a capable operator, which was enough to drive Sera's personal doubt to higher levels once she was asked to take part in such training herself. It came only after a week of watching, watching! Weapons that could theoretically cut through some of the most durable substances known in the galaxy, and they were moving them at speeds where Sera could easily imagine a limb accidentally navigating into the path of destruction.

Her doubts were only partially resolved once it was revealed that the true destruction could be adjusted through the use of the controls on the Lightsaber itself, but that trouble was more than offset by her size. When she was younger, she certainly didn't compete with any human in height, but now she was considerably taller. Not just taller in contrast to who she was before, no...that would have been simple enough. Sera had managed to outgrow not only her friend Jaye, she was slightly taller than Wai himself. It was the first sign of a few difficulties Sera would have while learning from Wai. Wai's confidence was never skewed by this though. Instead he reassured Sera that despite the inconveniences of her height, her capacity to learn quickly would more than help in balancing out her capabilities as a learning force-user.

After just a week, those words echoed through Sera's mind not as a hopeful whisper of confidence but instead a prolonged groan of confusion and disagreement. Wai's attempts at training Sera were remarkably unforgiving, offering little mercy in exchange for a thorough demonstration of brutality. Each session started with a recovering Kaminoan matching Wai in his paces, but often ended instead with Sera collecting herself and her training lightsaber from the ground. It was a repetitive adventure that Sera was asked to carry herself through on a daily basis, and her only methods of learning were her own self-provided analysis of Wai's motions. Swing from the center and outward towards the right. If countered, a second slash maneuvered around Sera's blade and towards either her kneck or the torso was key-...those were the notes she'd depended upon and every time she felt she was learning to best Wai, he always changed one step and all that followed after.

Jaye and Kal experienced different results. Their mastery of the lightsaber was almost flawless, and while a display that Sera could only witness while tending to her own injuries, it was still a visual spectacle she could appreciate.

Wai's lessons eventually expanded from the swipe of a blade to actual verbal instruction, though by then Sera had already gained a basic grasp of lightsaber combat. She was able to defeat the first few strikes that Wai could deliver, though a few more with a consistent change away from any sense of familiarity, and Sera was struck down within the minute. Fatal blows were easily aimed towards her neck more specifically, and Wai didn't like just how easy it was to maneuver a blade beyond the clumsy attempts she made at defense...so he spoke up. His instructions surprised Sera considerably, as Wai informed Sera that one hand had to go. Her dependency on guiding a lightsaber with both palms just wasn't working. Change was needed, change that Wai intended to help her with.

The instructions were simple at first, as Wai ordered that Sera remove a hand from the blade so that she could extend it further from herself. It was separate, and if Sera didn't respect that she could no longer maneuver it with both of her hands, Wai would have had to simply improvise by "cutting off the hand and being done with it." There were no objections, and Sera's lessons soon resumed. To Sera's surprise, it worked. Within the week, Wai's instructions on how to handle the blade with only one hand, enabled Sera to better extend the blade and maneuver it in ways that she never could. Strikes were easier to block, and her other hand remained free to-...to....

...Wai never explained that part. He'd expressed the importance of Sera keeping her other hand available, but he never informed her as to why she needed to do just that. No training on the use of a Blaster, no training grenades or rocks, nothing at all. He simply resumed teaching her to use the blade with her right hand, and did so for another week before he returned to his usual act of striking Sera down without any additional word or Mercy. Everything from that point on was either learned from Sera's own sense of comfort, or through helpful advice provided by Jaye whenever he visited after their training sessions.

Sera's inclusion gradually became greater every day. Where she started as nothing more than an unexpected guest, she was not a month later receiving helpful tips from Jaye while practicing with the lightsaber. Even when it came time to demonstrate what she'd learned to Wai himself, Jaye was certain never to be so far that his voice couldn't be heard between the violent demonstration of their lessons. Where Wai didn't entirely appreciate the intervention that Jaye had been causing with each lesson...Sera couldn't help but find herself almost dependent upon it. It was more than just a sound, it was the voice of familiarity that allowed her to concentrate a little more. That very concentration went far in helping Sera as she improved upon her experience, until the day finally came when Wai himself was bested.

It wasn't Sera that had the chance to land the demoralizing blow. Instead it was Jaye. Niehter Kal or Sera believed the sight as the two fought. They'd reached a point where their experience seemed to parallel with one-another, until Jaye managed to guide a single burning tap to Wai's shoulder. It'd moved beyond his defensive strikes rather effortlessly, as though Wai had simply forgotten than it was a nearing threat entirely. Once the strike had been dealt, Wai withdrew from the engagement with a look of surprise. Sera was entirely uncertain to just what sort of a reaction would be drawn from it, as she doubted that Jaye was intended to surpass Wai this quickly. That thought vanished though once she considered that Kal and Jaye had been training under Wai's instruction far longer than she had...which was probably why she wasn't learning the same lessons as they were.

Wai was not disappointed though, nor was he angered. Instead he was very much pleased with the sign provided to him. One of the three had progressed beyond his own level of mastery with the lightsaber, sort of...there was no better a time than then to find better grounds for teaching them all, grounds that were not so burdened by the distractions of modernized society. For that, he knew just where to go. It required that he be truthful to Sera while they gathered the necessary personal belongings for the trip. Meeting the young Kaminoan on Naboo was certainly a surprise, but their business there was not purely to find her...not that Sera had that impression in the first place. Wai had instead been searching for grounds that were ideal for expanding his teachings, a place that didn't involve being tied to electronic devices and a secure lifestyle. They needed to learn in an environment where learning meant survival, and Naboo did hold a few unique qualities for just that.

With some discussion with Fras, Wai was lended a vessel needed to depart on his own with the company of his three students. It came with a pretty hefty price weighed further by the already strained trust between the two, but Fras was eventually convinced that Wai's teachings would end prematurely, if he didn't have the resources that he needed. So Fras was certain to make sure that the cards were laid out before their departure from the Xelphas landing pad. The children were to be protected by Wai while they were in his care, specifically from a particularly mysterious Jedi-like figure that had been making the business of having Fras' two sons trained, his own. While it was foolish to think that the Jedi would so readily investigate his choice of schooling for his children, he didn't want to become an example of picking the wrong side in the nearing conflict.

The politics drew an interest from Sera that she didn't anticipate. While she'd been asked to board quickly, she was acceptably slow enough to hear what little Fras had to warn Wai of. None of it sounded good, not the mention of future conflict, or of the entity that Fras referred to as the 'Jedi'. Her teachings never included anything like that...all she'd heard until now were rumors, rumors that didn't sound so appealing. The notion of ignorant city-dwellers with their powers held to 'balance' whatever didn't meet their self-designed ideals, sat as well with Sera as the idea of going back to Naboo. She had a darker tie there that she didn't want to remember, even if it was just an aching whisper by now.

The time required to get to Naboo took a little longer than it did coming from. Flying in a corporate shuttle rather than a commercial transport had a way of leaving the passengers tied up in pointless bureaucracy as they were provided clear instructions designed to be replaced at a moment's notice. Flight paths didn't usually include private vessels, as they weren't the norm...so finding slots for them right then bought Sera some more valuable training time. Her first struggle - learning to repeat the motion that Jaye had performed back in the recreational room. He'd done it so casually that she was able to watch and memorize it, though repeating it with a single hand rather than two came with the grace of a falling brick. A counter-parry would slide from underneath and Wai would have her blade cleared enough to supposedly decapitate her...had the blades not been fashioned for training anyway.

The answer never really came. Wai exploited Sera's weaknesses repeteadly and she came close only a couple of times, though Wai's defense seemed almost perfect. He maneuvered his lightsaber efficiently, keeping it close enough to his body to deflect attacks and often diverting the momentum of defensive impacts so that they simply curved right back into another position for defense. It was almost perfect. It was that alone which started to slowly infuriate Sera...it was like....he cheated? If Jaye had done it so easily, then why couldn't she do it just the same? She was certainly a fast learner, but this just seemed a little beyond her. By the time they'd reached the orbit of Naboo, Sera had earned a newer collection of burn marks and a more pessimistic outlook on her training. Wai had tought Jaye that move, or something...but it didn't come as a stroke of luck for either of them. Whatever it was, she didn't like the feeling of it.

Their arrival destination was of a surprising design. There was no spaceport, no city or even the casual flow of people outside the loading ramp. What they found instead was a very abandoned settlement, almost mercilessly claimed by the surrounding forest. The buildings around them were old, clearly derelict remains of a settler's community that had long left. What remained in the place of what they once caller their homes, were nothing more than abandoned shacks, most of which were either collapsed or claimed by the various weeds and brush that had started growing inward once the inhabitants had stopped fending them off. That wasn't a good sign either, it was a sign of impending work.

...and work it was. Wai's instructions seemed almost sarcastically cruel as he calmlmy instructed all three of his students to clean away the weeds and plants, so that they could fill the homes that the previous inhabitants felt the need to leave behind. Once they were certain that each home was comfortable enough, they could settle in and call it their own for the remainder of their training. For now, their only mentioned reward was a 'surprise' once they completed their work in cleaning the settlement. Wai on the other hand, needed to prepare elsewhere. The settlement wasn't their only intended grounds for training, though Wai never expressed specifically just where he was going or when his students would be joining him there. He simply left the three to work amidst themselves, while he departed with an armful of supplies.

The evening eventually drew and the progress had been painfully slow. Training lightsabers weren't very good at cutting branches and foliage when they were intended to not cut at all in the first place. Without that as an inclusion to their arsenal against the intruding plants, they improved. Sera did anyway, while the other two eventually caught on to her use of various sharp rocks for cutting and sticks with a certain strength to fend off whatever it was that she couldn't cut away. It was the feat after, of repairing the various shelters around them, that required a little more. Sera's improvisation succeeded again as she simply referred to their ship, claiming a small portion of the supplies ordinarily used for repairing the vessel itself. By the time wai returned from his work, Sera, Kal and Jaye had selected their choice of shelter, and settled for the relief of conversation.

That evening became the best Sera could remember. They'd worked hard, accomplished their work and earned from it both a home, and hopefully more of an appreciative outlook towards her position amidst the three. She was still pretty different, even if Jaye disagreed. Showing that she could help out, was probably the greatest step, in eventually becoming a close association with the family overall.

The training that followed in the weeks didn't go so well as it had before. Jaye and Kal were entirely immersed in what philosophical teachings that Wai had to share, but Sera received noticeably less than that. She had instead been given a book with not one, but two languages in it. Wai's instructions didn't go far past that book, instead he simply provided her with a rock and informed her politely to 'make it move without touching it.' A demonstration was obviously needed, but Sera received no more instruction to how to make it move. Instead her inquiries were ignored as Wai returned to his business in teaching Kal and Jaye. It wasn't just a one-time experience either, nor was it the worst. While Kal and Jaye received thorough education on the proper techniques of handling a lightsaber, lessons provided from morning to evening on a daily basis...Sera was lucky if she learned anything at all. Jaye attempted to convey his teachings to Sera, but she didn't really take it in. Wai's lessons involved lightsaber mastery of the two-handed nature, and Sera depended upon only one. She already knew well enough how well Jaye's teachings translated over to her own practices, so she instead followed the very sparse teachings that Wai had provided.

By the second month, Wai had stopped his teaching, so that he could establish further grounds for their expansion. They needed to learn to go further from the settlement to take in the world around them, to understand it and to adapt to it. More critically, Wai needed to also draw the line that they would soon need to cross, if they intended to be the finest of force-users. Once his students were gathered at the middle of the settlement, Wai offered them each a challenge - to defeat him in armed combat. If any succeeded, their training would be complete and they would be recognized as capable warriors, sent home to pursue whatever course in life they desired. He never mentioned what would happen if they failed, though Sera could only guess that it was simply a repeat of the training courses he'd provided so far.

So they resumed, and Sera's time was dedicated to trying to follow through with Wai's assigned work. Move a rock, and feel her surroundings. The rock wasn't too easy to move even after a month's worth of trying to push it...but she was getting better at making a fool of herself in that regard. Feeling however, came as naturally as breathing. She followed that strange, gut sensation that had troubled her before and to her surprise it still troubled her, though something else existed there now. It was the sensation of comfort, not so much further away than her friend Jaye. That was usually only when she reached out though in mind, though work was needed to prolong the sensational experience of feeling.

After the third month, Kal eventually approached Wai and challenged him. He'd been thoroughly convinced that he'd learned all he could from Wai, and that he was entirely prepared to be finished. Wai appealed to Kal's judgement, and accepted the chellenge, allowing them to meet in the center of the settlement so that they could prepare themselves and conclude his training. Once they were ready, armed and under the observation of both Sera and Jaye, the fight began.

Kal had initially managed a rather fortunate dodge to the left as Wai's blade navigated quickly from a defensive posture, to one that was purely offensive. Several swings narowly missed Kal by no more than inches, giving him just enough time to lash out with his own training saber. The blade didn't even manage a single point of contact against Wai, as he simply stepped back to avoid the reach of the training blade, before sweeping under it to cut Kal's leg off entirely.

The only silence that existed remained held by Jaye and Sera as they realized just what had happened. Several motions in and Kal's leg had been cut off. The tugging sensation that Sera had felt before came more naturally as she suddenly understood just what it meant. The bad feeling she'd felt even in Naboo, the painful sense of dread that had followed her to this day, it was Wai. As Sera made her observations, Jaye attempted to try and break through the shock that had befallen him. He stepped forward to try and conclude the lesson...but Wai was faster in simply decapitating Kal while he was down. He then brought his weapon to bear on the nearing brother...to warn him away from the body. Jaye still had a chance to prove that he was better, as did Sera. If either of them wanted their revenge, they would have their opportunity to get it, though they needed to be entirely prepared, otherwise they would simply be victims just as Kal was now.

The following evening was spent preparing Kal's body for the return home. Jaye separated himself from the group while Sera worked to piece together what was left of her fallen friend, so that it could be wrapped up and preserved. Wai provided his own assistance in carrying Kal's remains back to the ship, though once they settled the body in the cargo bay, Wai was quick to warn Sera herself. She was no exception from this fate if she didn't prepare, and should the consideration even cross her mind, the ship was not an alternative. Only Wai knew how to access the computers, so Sera's time was best spent learning. Sera had admittedly been considering it, but she didn't make that much known to Wai. He'd become something else, though certainly not a simple instructor. Instructors didn't kill the people they were trying to teach. The only fortune was that Jaye understood the same, so he knew well enough that any restraint was out of the question.

Jaye did his best to resume learning under Wai, as Sera exploited Wai's lack of attention in her direction. She didn't care what Wai had expressed, only that they had a potential method of getting away. The first step to using that asset, was to determine how. Sera patiently observed Wai as he went about his business, hoping that she would at some point see just what it was that Wai did to operate the ship. That much became rather fruitless however once a newer realization dawned on her - Wai wouldn't be using the interfaces onboard until they needed to leave. A wasteful determination that came only after a week of waiting, a week that she'd never spent practicing unless that strange Wai-feeling in 'the force' had drawn near. If there'd been anything useful that Sera had learned from Wai, it was that particular ability, though with it came headaches and a stress upon her body that intensified as she used it more and more. It was like fatigue, accumulated whenever she concentrated on following Wai during her work.

So, Sera resumed trying tom make the rock move, while occasionally taking breaks to supervise Jaye. His loss was something she could relate to. An uncomfortable relation, though one Sera used to try and help Jaye get through each day. She didn't need him doing anything foolish...instead she needed him to keep learning, so that he could exploit Wai's weaknesses as he had before. There was something there that she'd seen, and while she couldn't do it herself, Jaye could. So she helped him however she could, sparring, reasoning and even comforting him whenever he needed time to mourn his loss.

Then the day came. Sera didn't know if it was because he was no longer willing to take any more, or if he was truly prepared to fight Wai to claim the revenge that he deserved. Whatever it was, Jaye challenged Wai to meet him in the center of the settlement, where he demanded that he be appropriately armed to meet Wai's own capability. Wai opted to listen, and procured a spare lightsaber from his own shelter. Handing it to Jaye stood out as not so much a regretful change in circumstance for Wai, as it was an expected change. He was arming Jaye to kill him, yet Wai didn't seem bothered at all by the gesture. Sera wanted to explain it, but nothing about it seemed good at all. Just as before, the fight began only when both parties were prepared and Sera was positioned to observe. Just as before, Wai took on an offensive posture and performed a dramatic lunge for Jaye's center-mass. Jaye had avoided it narrowly and knocked away another attack, though his defense seemed clearly inadequate for the seasoend warrior. By the third strike, Wai's offense was almost clear, until Jaye diverted a defensive blow towards Wai's shoulder.

Sera had seen it before, the very swing that tapped Wai's shoulder before, was to be Jaye's saving motion. Instead, Wai's blade came to meet it, stopping it just short of making contact before a quick spin of Wai's lightsaber brought the reddish blur to slice Jaye's hands off entirely. The panicked boy stumbled back as he struggled to realize what had happened, though in the few seconds that he had remaining, he couldn't even fathom to look to the one person who could have told him the answer. Wai brought the blade down in another swing and dragged the tip of the blade across Jaye's chest, killing him.



Wai had intended to display weakness, and his display had worked. He'd killed with it as casually as a man would enjoy breakfast. There came no help at all this time though, as Sera was left alone in the center of the settlement to cradle her fallen friend, her only friend. The feeling of regret, the feeling of fear began to grow...and with it Sera couldn't help but feel Wai nearby, to know that he was the reason why she was once again alone. Provided enough time, he would also be the element to assist her to her grave as well. Moving Jaye's body to the ship without Wai's help had a noticeable difference to it. She needed to take regular breaks along the way. It wasn't the fatigue of following Wai's feeling, that seemed to have faded long ago. It was the weight of Jaye's body. He was noticeably heavier than she thought and the effect of carrying a fallen friend certainly didn't help her mentally or physically. Part of her wanted to gag, or to-...to feel as she had when Meya was gone. To accept that she was alone again. Another part of her wanted to just get Jaye to the ship, so that she could at the very least know he was resting somewhat comfortably.

Once he'd been settled, Sera returned to her shelter to rest for the evening. Wai's visitation never came, neither did Jaye's or Kal's. They were all gone from her life for now, though one would probably return soon in the morning to come.

Training alone didn't do anything to free up Wai's schedule. Instead, he seemed even more dedicated to neglecting Sera while she trained with her special rock that she'd now named Fluffles. Whether it was for the purpose of assigning value to the inanimate object, or a sign of her degrading mental stability, she found a little bit of comfort in making the rock move a couple of feet. The book had gone unread, given the cryptic dialect written within. There was no point in trying to read it, as there was no guarantee that Sera would live long enough to appreciate it. Instead she occasionally included it in her lifting and moving routine, to keep that little bit of her unremarkable force-using ability properly exerted. Behind it though sat the realization that she was probably going to die soon. The fear brought by a cold-blooded murderer walking the camp didn't help Sera rest easy, nor did it knowing where he was. It made each approach nothing short of an impending heart attack. Was he planning on killing her too?...when would he do it? Was there anything that she could do?

...there was...

There was something she could do. At first it'd never made itself apparent, though Sera knew well enough that her chances of succeeding against Wai were minimal. It was a learning opportunity with one of the most interesting examples of opportunity. If she followed him and studied him, rather than what he had to teach, then there was a chance that she'd find some sort of weakness she could play off of. It was far betterof a choice to wait until Wai was prepared to kill her himself. Sera's time from there was quickly dedicated to following Wai as carefully as she could, making her business known as nothing more than maintenance of the settlement whenever he became suspicious, and at a distance whenever she didn't want Wai discovering her unusual plot. He'd probably seen right through Jaye, so caution and wit were the most powerful tools she could afford.

Within the month, Sera's studies had concluded with a single, reasonable answer. She simply couldn't win on his terms. He'd elected a location to meet, decided what weapons to use and even accommodated his victims so that they would fight in a particular fashion through which he could easily claim victory. So, Sera challenged him with a particular set of circumstances planned. As the sun began to settle behind the horizon that evening, Sera expressed her desire to challenge Wai the next day. Wai was entirely surprised that she wanted to face him, given the unusual events that had led up to this. The Kaminoan certainly didn't seem to be the brave type, and she was certainly no master when it came to combat with a lightsaber. Perhaps...she simply wanted to be done? Whatever her choice, Wai accepted the offer and returned to his shelter to rest for the night. Once he awakened the next day, he immediately moved to the center of the settlement to find Sera.

Instead he found nothing. The Kaminoan was not there...she was elsewhere, quite far away if his senses were any good at following her. The pursuit took him from the comfort of the settlement and into the forests, along a route that no path led to. It required a bit of work to muscle through the brush, though once Wai drew closer, he eventually began to understand just why Sera had gone so far out. The brush cleared enough to reveal an opening ahead...leading to an impressive display.

The area was something he'd not scouted out before. He'd found the river first and followed it until it stopped just at a water-fall, one that poured directly into a lake below. The water no doubt came from the moutains, but Wai couldn't exactly understand just why Sera had stopped here. Only when turning away from the display did he know. Sera stood further away from the cliff, her positioning forced Wai's back to the cliff, providing what seemed like a petty advantage in lightsaber combat. Any quick side-steps would have defeated and possibly even turned something like that against the Kaminoan...

...until she changed the rules a little more. Sera spoke up before Wai did, and asked that he relieve himself of his lightsaber. To simply drop it onto the ground beside him. It was a surprising turn of events, though Wai acknowledged the request and set his lightsaber down. Sera's following gesture of bringing her hand to point at the settled weapon, became familiar a little too late. Wai only watched as Sera pushed the lightsaber hilt along the ground and over the cliff...to the lake that remained below. Her training with the rock certainly hadn't gone wasted. That didn't put her at any more of an advantage though and Wai was very certain to remind her that he could still kill her easily with his hands. To that, Sera nodded, accepted that statement, and then drew from behind her a survival blaster.

The weapon she'd confiscated from the ship, was not entirely useful. Within a second Wai had stapped into an offensive advance, and Sera was certainly not slow to do the same. She moved to close the gap and in doing so, managed to fire only a couple of times before they collided. With Sera's size, she was able to life Wai from the ground temporarily enough to carry him towards the cliff. Wai's solution was simple, he didn't attempt to go for her neck or her legs. Instead he embraced her torso with his arms to bring her with him over the edge of the cliff. The two drifted apart once he released her in free-fall, until they landed in separate portions of the lake below.

Wai touched down in a deeper portion where the work of the water-fall had deepened the lake. Sera however didn't. Her forward momentum was lesser and her greater size allowed her to reach the bottom of the more shallow region much faster. There the force broke her left leg just below the knee, making the return swim to the shoreline of the lake nothing short of torturous. She arrived late, wet, unarmed and regrettably, at the mercy of the exhausted Wai....though exhaustion was easily a problem he bypassed through the use of one of the several rocks along the shoreline.

The one-sided fight ended once Sera didn't ask, but begged to be spared. Her plan had failed, she was defeated, and she wasn't willing to die. Wai paused and looked to the Kaminoan with the same expression he'd offered her when he first met her. It was a look of intrigue and slight joy, though the latter was probably far more sadistic now than it was then. He dropped his cleverly weaponized rock, and accepted the surrender, before placing his foot upon Sera's broken leg and applying the needed force to assure that it was indeed broken. Once that certainty was gained, he promised that she didn't need to die by his blade. Instead he would simply leave her out in the wilderness to die of starvation. This time though, Sera's pleas went unheard, and Wai did precisely as he promised.

Slowly, the midday mark was announced as the sun took to the middle of the sky and for once, Sera was starting to come to terms with her situation. She couldn't go anywhere, she didn't have any food and even if she somehow managed to get back to the settlement, there wasn't any guarantee Wai would still be there. Perhaps...it was time for her to simply lie down and accept the events...perhaps-...

When Sera awoke, much of the day had passed her by. The bright ball of fire that illuminated the world she inhabited, was nothing more than a vague source of the soft orange glow that had cast loosely over the tops of the trees and against only one side of the lake. Not far away, the night sky was no doubt preparing to make itself seen. It was that, the loss of the sun's warmth and the eventual invasion of the cold winds that brought Sera back to being awake. She realized then that if she really was going to die, it was probably going to be to illness rather than hunger. Whatever it was, she wasn't prepared to face it. Just as she had before, Sera began to formulate a plan that stood out as more foolish than feasible. She'd become stranded on a shoreline with a broken leg, no food, no warmth and clothes left drenched by the lake's waters. That was reason enough to pursue just what she needed.

Sera braved the waters again and attempted several times to search through the lake for the one tool that would increase her chances of survival. It took well over an hour, though with the best pace she could afford while enduring a broken leg, she eventually recovered Wai's lightsaber from the depths of the lake itself before returning to the shore.

Having such a tool changed Sera's odds for the better. Unlike any ordinary knife or even her training lightsaber, Wai's weapon allowed her to cut through almost anything quickly and efficiently. Collecting brush and various branches from the nearby pine trees as easy as simply propping herself up on her good leg. Her other however, remained as a glorious reminder to why the activities required hours rather than minutes. The part of greatest difficulty though was actually igniting it all once she'd collected what she needed. The lightsaber was good for cutting, but it never managed well in simply burning. Leaves charred and melted away, but they never ignited. Branches did something similar, but nothing in actual fire was obtained...so Sera again improvised. She'd found the use of a rock ideal, by simply stabbing the end of the lightsaber slowly into one of the surfaces. The resulting slag was enough to light the gathered brush and sticks ablaze.

Once nightfall hit, the full force of the cold surrounded the small campfire that Sera had made...though she took comfort in knowing that she was briefly safe from it. It was the most she could have done, short of crawling through the night to eventually die from hypothermia, or worse. The worse was what brought the most fear though...knowing that there were other dangers she didn't quite understand fully. There was one that she did understand fully as well, and while she wanted to believe that he had been truthful about his departure, she couldn't help but feel his presence at a distance. He'd not left entirely...he'd gone far, to such lengths that his very aura was nothing more than a whisper lost in the winds, but she didn't want to let that go. She wanted to be sure, that he would be the last source of danger she needed to face.

The night passed by slowly and Sera hardly slept at all. Her brief patches of sleep were interrupted often by the faint stirs in the forest and the ever-lurking sensations of difference. She'd recognized Wai within a heartbeat, but there was something else out there in far greater numbers than he, and the feeling that they held was similar, though the taste was different. Had their touch not been rare, Sera may never have slept at all...though she soon found the morning sun climbing over her poorly constructed encampment, marking the time she needed to depart.

Sera's return trip to the settlement wasn't easy. Much of it consisted of crawling and anything that didn't was usually far more painful than if she had been. For not one, but two days...Sera practiced a very careful routine of navigating through the forest to follow not a set of landmarks, but instead the general direction she'd known the settlement to be in. The only reference she had to depend on was the waterfall, and that didn't exactly follow her. Whenever the day neared an end, she constructed another fire as she had before and prepared for the night. Each morning, she awoke with less energy than the day prior...until she finally reached the settlement itself. It started with a few familiar landmarks, the ones that she'd recognized from her lessons before. Once she saw the settlement itself, she found a vigor that almost brought her crawl to a more remarkable hobble. What stopped her though was the lack of energy and treatment.

She couldn't go on, not for now and probably not for a few days more. Her leg had only worsened with the terrain she'd brought it through and a lack of food and water had only impacted her health negatively. It was nothing in sensation compared to the hollow feeling of defeat that dawned on her once she reached the center of the settlement though. At the center, there existed an empty space where supplies had been, where an entire ship had been...and it was gone. It wasn't there, it was somewhere else, anywhere else but where it was most useful, and-...it was reason enough for Sera to simply crawl to her shelter, climb to the rough blankets on her bed and wrap herself in it just as she had with the hopes of a painless death. There was a desire to perish that paralleled her instinct to survive. It balanced out before, but now she really couldn't see any means to fulfill her hopes. There would be another day to think of it, but for now, rest was enough.

The disturbing sensation of her mentor had appeared only hours after she'd fallen asleep. It was the violent tug in her stomach that wrestled her from her sleep, bringing her eyes to open and see that she was no longer alone. Wai had made himself present again to oversee the treatment of Sera's injuries, injuries that were no longer a painful burden and dressed as carefully as they probably would have been within the care of a hospital. Various supply crates had become scattered throughout her shelter, though more critically, Was was back. He'd taken a position at Sera's side, and discovered her consciousness quickly. Without much in delay, he sought to answer Sera's questions before she even asked them.

It was his opportunity to have an apprentice, one that fulfilled his personal beliefs towards manipulating the force. He'd never anticipating seeing Sera, or discovering her sensitivity, but when he did, he knew exactly what he intended to do with her. Jaye and Kal? They were expendable examples...fools prepared to fight and die for a cause that was in no short supply of manpower. No..no...what Wai wanted, was someone who didn't intend to die, someone who intended to adapt and live on, to accomplish their goals through methods that didn't require a martyr or a corpse. While Sera had eventually challenged Wai, he noted that she did so only when she was certain that she had arranged the elements to be in her favor...and for that, she had passed his first trial.

There were more to come, though Wai didn't explain what they entitled. Instead he offered a final parting warning to her no different from when he had killed Kal. If she attempted to escape her fate, then she would only find misery. The key to her salvation was instead, to be found some distance up the nearest mountainside. That was it. Wai didn't provide her any enlightening wisdom or instructions...he simply brought himself to stand and leave.

His business on Naboo was temporarily concluded. Once Sera was unconscious, Wai returned to his ship again to assure that everything was in place.

Peace didn't come immediately after for Sera. The following morning, she felt the presence of Wai loinger not far away, and for several days more she continued about living within the confines of her shelter, burdened with the simple knowledge that he was out there, waiting for something that she didn't understand. He'd had many opportunities before to kill her and had come very close to doing so. Yet, his intentions were never to kill her...Sera didn't want it to make sense. She didn't want to be a part of some crazy game that the old man had fathomed, though now, she didn't have a choice anymore. For all the times that she had before, her regret amplified in knowing that she'd missed every chance for the pursuit of adventure.

Eventually it happened. A morning came and Sera found herself relieved of Wai's presence. He was simply gone. What lingered in his absence however was worse. It was the sensation of more than Wai, either in number or size, but something remained nearby to watch Sera while he'd gone, and she didn't like it any more than she did Wai. There was no determining whether or not it was him, or more of his strange spa-cemagic, but she knew that it was there, watching. It didn't remain at a distance for the etnire time either. With the eventual arrival of night, the presence drew closer, until Sera could almost see it just along the edges of the settlement...moving quickly, always at the edges of the darkness and stirring a flow of fear in the shadows beyond.

That was not entirely the worst she faced, either. Once Sera was well enough to venture from her shelter, she attempted to break the surrounding fear with investigation as she had before, though with the coming of each night, she was met with the shuffling of tree branches as whatever it was, withdrew to a safer distance.

The exchange took on a greater level of complexity every day. At first, they were nothing more than lurking entities that simply watched from a distance. That distance was at first, no further than the trees just beyond the settlement itself, though it soon grew further away as Sera attempted to investigate time and time again. She first attempted to simply dissuade whatever it was the lingered beyond by just ignoring it, though the more she remained detached from it, the more it stirred. The numbers would grow and their presence would eventually surround...but it would never actually enter the settlement. When Sera opted to try again at pursuing any one of what she had carelessly deemed 'shadows', they fled into the distance until she could no longer follow them as she had followed Wai before. Had their return not become an expected encounter time and time again, on a daily basis with no breaks for the weekend or the night, Sera would have allowed it to go on.

...and then things began to change. First it was nothing more than the environment. Small details left out of place. Sera would return to her shelter to find her book wrestled from the storage crates and left atop her bed, as though someone had placed it there. Returning it didn't do much good, as whenever she left to attend any business beyond her shelter, it simply managed back atop her bed with slightly more mention to just how much work went into making it available. As Sera attempted to make a living in what was becoming a gradually more confusing sense of hellish imprisonment, the shadows continued to fool with her lifestyle in more obvious ways. Food rations began to disappear, clothing left in the streets and anything non-essential to her survival missing outright. To each event Sera felt only the slight sensation of the shadows, as they watched and manipulated her routine for months.

Defeating that much of an inconvenience required more than just patience. It required an attention to detail that Sera hadn't shared with any activity beyond her studies when she had been within the academy. Everything went observed and a very precise agenda was formed; the maintenance and observation to better prepare a reaction. She needed to be in certain places that allowed her to better respond to the intrusions...wherever they came from...and she needed to be able to predict where they would be approaching from. She needed to reach further. Doing just that didn't seem feasible though. No, no..Sera didn't even really understand just how she was sensing the others in the first place. Wai had certainly helped her understand just what the meaning to the strange sensations had been, though she'd never been provided much more than that. So, she needed alternatives as well.

The practice of a very precise routine was the first step. Whatever it was that had been watching, reacted to what she did and where she went. Establishing a comfort zone for the shadows to move where they felt safe, meant understanding how they moved and who they were. Concentrating on subtle details and even establishing her own, meant Sera could have additional clues to an identity beyond the title she'd applied to whatever it was the lurked beyond. All she required after, was time and consistency. Every morning she awoke around noon to tend to the gardens, after which she checked the growth of the plants around the settlement, took stock of the remaining supplies, examined the lightsaber Wai left prior to his departure, meditation, studied the book she had been provided and concluded the day with additional meditation prior to sleeping. Day after day, each event happened as closely to the same minute as it did the day before, though the key to success was found in not openly acknowledging those that lingered outside.

What turned up after was surprising. She'd felt the movement of the shadows through the settlement as she awoke, but it never came so close as her shelter. When she exited to tend to the gardens, the shadows shifted with each step...always remaining with several buildings between Sera and themselves. The only inconsistency was when she moved to trim the surrounding plants from the borders of the settlement that the group not only gained a lack of pattern similar to her own, but gained division as well. One very faint tug upon the back of her mind suggested that one was out in the trees still...while the others scoured the settlement with no routine at all...suggested by the very unnatural blur of sensation that came from their direction. They were doing something, and it happened only when Sera was near the border, out of sight.

The diminished supplies started to take on a pattern as well. Protein supplements, vitamins and water filters remained...though any small treats including a few gathered from the gardens, suggested that someone was taking only what they wanted rather than what they needed. Finally, the book had started to accumulate a variety of additions to the book in the form of basic words, though they were never attached to any within the pages itself...and only one page held two notes that were dedicated to it specifically. The shadows could have been literal magic and they still wouldn't have been nearly as enigmatic as the contents of the book Wai had asked Sera to study.

What eventually came of it was Sera's own plan, one that answered the carefully laid strategy of those left to watch her while Wai was gone. Her routine carried itself as it had for the weeks before, though once Sera began moving for the border of the settlement, she didn't actually reach it. Instead she turned around once she had placed a measure of cover between herself and the one that existed alone within the forest. A building was good enough for that, though it bought her nothing more than seconds, measly seconds to take advantage of surprise several weeks in the making. Once she'd broken from her pattern, she diverted to a course that would take her straight back to her shelter. She'd intended to take the shortest route available between herself and her shelter, though any reduction in distance was painfully counter-balanced by the weakness in her leg. Without any medical facilities, Sera had never known if her leg was truly better, leaving her to realize just how much of a mistake it was to field-test such injuries during a moment as crucial as this.

By the time Sera managed to regain a view of her shelter, she potted only a very brief glimpse of the shadows, though it consisted of nothing more than a very faint blurr already shielded almost entirely by the corner of a building further ahead. What she did see didn't reflect light, nor did it seem bright. It was dark, bulky and quick to pull out of view. The others that had been alongside it were too far for her to find quickly enough and the one she had seen was similarly moving away at a speed she knew she couldn't keep up with. They were leaving as they had before, only now they were wiser. The tradeoff was one that Sera accepted though. In the struggle to identify just who it was that lurked outside, she'd gained a level of wisdom needed to define her company just a little more. The moved like them, reacted like them and often interfered with her life in ways associable only to them. They were people.

For Fras, the reception of bad news was an expectation. His lifestyle as a soldier served as the foundation for not only his stern demeanor, but the very industry he stood atop now. He had the finances, the authority and the knowledge to make the best of most situations but now, he expected the news to be only so bad as it had been before. Guards lost to the torrent of fire while in the line of service, supplies stolen by lesser-minded fools...he'd seen a great deal more than that even. It had in turn prepared him for the day that his allies would bring their findings after not days, but months of waiting to hear where Wai had left off. Precisely there, his friends amidst the Idcirco family began paying their visits to the Xelphas tower, revealing that they had heard whispers amidst the halls of the Republic society. Someone had discovered what Fras intended, and now he was being punished.

What brought the confirmation though, was not in rumor or relay. Instead it came in the form of Wai himself. The ship Fras had loaned the dark Jedi, drifted into orbit far later than scheduled. Fras personally made his schedule clear to meet the man he'd entrusted his sons to and ventured to the landing pads atop the tower. What landed before him then struck through him the fear that no bullet could possess - a vessel burdened by weakened landing gear and decorated with holes in the armor scarred black and nearly the size of speeders. Someone had been firing on the ship with weaponry dedicated to destroying buildings and had they been lucky enough, Wai may never have made it back.

...it was the poor man, Wai, that stumbled from the craft, just as weary himself as the vehicle that had transported him. his face had been bloodied and his hands were scorched. What mattered most though, was the absence of three others that were in his company before he'd left. His two sons and the thing that had gone with them, none of them materialized form the loading ramp of the ship and search teams sent within turned up nothing more than scraps of personal belongings that had been destroyed. Immediately Fras began questioning the weakened figure that had been the suprvisor of his children, his sons, far more dear than the wife he'd lost years ago. Wai was however, unable to produce even a whisper in answer. His eyes were instead held by a fear that Fras couldn't understand. Was it a fear of the beings who had done this to him, or a fear of what Fras would do to him, if he provided only the news that he didn't appreciate. With the proper force though, Wai soon whispered the name of his attackers...

...the Republic...

The Idcirco representatives that Fras had heard the negative whispers from, provided their own words of knowledge then. They expressed their understandings of the situation and the promise that they would handle the matter immediately. It was best that way, as Fras' personal investigations were likely to stir more attention from the Republic, something Fras didn't need. His resources were best employed for protexting himself from any inquiries that would soon be following. The Idcirco corporation with their various vessels and mercenaries, were entirely free to go searching for Fras' children, to see if they were still alive or not and to see just who it was that truly performed such an attack. Whatever they discovered, they would share with Fras immediately.

Their word had been trusted for years, but Fras didn't want the opinion of friends. He didn't want the opinion of a wounded man either...he wanted a perspective that understood his stance on the whole affair. Once the Idcirco representatives had departed, Fras immediately ordered Wai to be detained. He then extended but a small fraction of his financial power towards one that he'd never known until now.

The intrusions into Sera's life had grown rather steadily, though that much was becoming an intentional inconvenience. The idcirco mercenaries that Wai had left behind before returning to Fras, had made it their single most critical goal, to harass the Kaminoan at every opportunity. Her pursuit in turn rewarded them with a continuously growing measure of invaluable data detailing her abilities as a force-user. It also gave them something more: a measure to just how far she could follow each of them. That was the most important key, the necessary key to stretching her limitations through stressful conditioning. Every time the Kaminoan searched, they would withdraw. Every time she spotted one of them in the distance, through their camouflage and their training...they would allow her a day of peace. Whenever she ignored them, they would simply shoot her.

Non-lethal shots from a distance were becoming an increasingly effective means to make Sera see them at greater distances. She knew who they were partially, so there wasn't really a need to hide it anymore, but that didn't mean they weren't about to keep playing with her mind just to help her progress with her abilities. Just as Wai had when he was around, they too intended to burn the necessary experience into her...

What they hadn't accounted for was the speed in which Sera was beginning to learn. Every attack on her territory provided the necessary drive to tighten her patterns. Soon, those patterns became intentionally practiced enough that she looked to have no more than a ritualistic schedule timed to get her through the day safely. In reality, the routine kept her clear of areas she'd trapped or observed, leaving nobody dead, but plenty of Idcirco mercenaries to be dragged away by their comrades once they'd found themselves stepping upon hollow ground. Sometimes they left something behind in the panic, sometimes they left nothing at all. For Sera however, it was a precise victory over the minions that refused to leave her be.

It wasn't the only thing she'd been planning to do, either. Wai's words prior to his departure, had become a center for Sera's attention every day, more specifically during meditation. He'd mentioned the nearest mountain being her salvation, which was strangely beginning to make more sense each day. The people who had surrounded her, were around her only because she refused to wander away from what little she had in familiar terrain. By staying though, she was exposing herself to the threat with no visible expiration date besides her own.

It had to be quick and it had to be quiet. Sera needed to leave at a time when they weren't ready, which meant leaving during her patrol around the borders of the settlement. Depending on any functional paths leading up the mountain itself, Sera had a good chance to put the opposition behind her. It had the chance to put more behind her than that too...she knew that she would be leaving the safety of the settlement behind as well in favor of venturing into an unknown that existed as nothing more than a suggestion from the man who'd tried to kill her before. That was the motivating difference. Wai had attempted to kill her and failed, she was still alive and stronger because of it. Now these people were trying to manage the same and she had an opportunity to survive their work as she had when Wai was present.

The plan required more than a single day to put into motion. Fragments of Sera's preparation needed to happen at times where her routine allowed it to seem like anything except suspicious, which meant she couldn't include anything that seemed obviously necessary for the venture. Her book began to accompany her during her trips to the edges of the settlement so that she could study it while she managed her patrol. Her consumption of food rations was quickly doubled as well, so that she could convince the shadows that she was quickly eating prior to her meditation when in reality...she was simply stashing the food away for collection later on. Finally, Wai's lightsaber needed to be made available with a few other tools she would need to navigate the surrounding hazards. Once it had all been organized, she opted for a final stretch of diligent, repetitive routine for the entirety of the following week.

The Idcirco mercenaries were ordinarily prepared to respond to Sera's motions. The careful positioning of a sniper allowed them to observe where she went, so that the rest of the infiltration teams could maneuver around her. If she attempted anything, anyone at risk or able to intervene would be given the chance to respond. For Sera, he was nothing more than a distant sensation that occasionally fired dangerously close blaster rounds whenever she strayed too close to the surrounding forest. It didn't take long for her to identify just what purpose he served, but discovering methods to skew the information he made available to the other shadows was the difficult part. She wasn't close enough to incapacitate him and he had the ability to relocate anywhere he wanted, assuming he didn't choose to simply shoot Sera instead. Getting past him didn't require that she fool him, or even attack him. It meant going through with her routine as she had every day before, so that she would be predictable enough not to be noteworthy. Once she had collected what little of the supplies she'd left out beforehand up until her very walk along the border...she acted. Despite her poor condition, Sera's change in diet accommodated her intentions better than either party had anticipated. Her leg had recovered enough to maintain a slight jogging pace, even with a limp and her presence near the border made breaking visual contact with the sniper, an act that required only seconds of personal drive.

Within those seconds, Sera had managed to break from the sight of not the sniper, but instead the man who had killed him.

The plan had been coming together flawlessly until now. The team tasked with monitoring Sera, allowed an opening for her to withdraw from the scene that they were staging. Additional men had arrived to search that very same 'scene' for the Jedi who had supposedly killed the two Xelphas sons, but another lurked in their company with different intentions. Omah had followed the instructions of his employer to the letter and made his presence unknown even to the Idcirco mercenaries, though that was a convenience that the bounty hunter established a time-limit for. One of the Idcirco mercenaries had been observing the Jedi for some time, watching from a distance through the protective shield of distance...and that was a tip that the rest of his comrades didn't need. So once the chance to draw near became available, Omah neared and snapped the man's neck.

His bounty was fleeing the settlement and soon enough a small group of Idcirco mercenaries would begin their own pursuit once they discovered the condition of their comrade. Omah's task would be to get through them first and then collect his bounty...the Jedi responsible for killing the Xelphas sons, assuming that she was in fact responsible to begin with. There was no discounting that the soldiers were inept in their research, but their pursuit certainly served to suggest that they had indeed found what they were looking for. whichever the truth, Omah had a chance to cash in on the collection of another Jedi. If anything would get him above the rest, it was probably going to be this.

Establishing the head start was an expected success, though Sera found the real challenge to be the maintenance of that advantage. Every step too rough or graceless turn put a painful stress on her weak leg. It was uncomfortable knowing that she couldn't go too fast for fear of undoing what little recovery she'd managed, yet she couldn't go too slow or her pursuers would close the distance and conclude her journey in a variety of ways that were best left to her imagination. To combat both risks, Sera forcibly shifted from the occasional jog to short durations of limping. The rest allowed the brief bursts of speed to be considerably longer when she felt the others nearing and it allowedher to remain physically prepared for their eventual confrontation.

That was assuming that they intended to confront her in the first place. Their actual pursuit didn't come at first...something Sera determined through the very sense she'd used to discover their presence in the first place. Instead something else followed, something that held a noticeably different sensation to it. Unlike the others, where their presence seemed like nothing more than the soft grace of a passing stranger, this one connected with Sera much more forcefully. The presence stuck to her skin and slowly began to take on a discomforting chewing sensation. Unlike the others, he didn't stop either.

For every break that Sera took, the other drew nearer without any sacrifice of time. Sera in turn, pushed herself to reach the edges of the mountain itself, before seeking out any path that would lead her away.

The progression of the two didn't go unnoticed. Within the hour, the deceased sniper was loated and reported. Search teams previously dedicated to finding the fictional figure of the Jedi-design, redirected their efforts further towards the mountain, while the task group assigned specifically to Sera's supervision immediately moved to the settlement. While they didn't have the dependable word of the man they'd tasked with watching her, they did have the necessary intelligence needed to search through the Kaminoan's home to determine just where she was going. At least, that was the plan. Within the first few minutes, the fifteen-man team was withered down to eight, the rest of which were either wounded or incapacitated by the same small, elaborate traps that Sera had set up. Several other explosive devices existed and worked in tandem, striking a moment of confusion to the Kaminoan's acquisition of such devices. She had managed to take some of their equipment that they'd left behind during the previous withdrawal of personnel wounded by her traps, but explosives weren't included in that. As far as their inventory review suggested, she had claimed nothing more than a few rations and basic electronic devices, nothing else.

...someone else was helping her, or worse, watching her as they'd been now. It explained how their primary means of observation had been ended, but that still left a good measure of questions to ask. Questions that they could only ask of one party that had gone to a great distance to make her location anywhere but where they were. Within the hour the team left behind a select few to treat their wounded within the settlement while the rest ventured to the forests to follow the Kaminoan. Their objective was simple - make sure she remained alive. Completing that much however, became a far less simple-set task. The Kaminoan was clever, she'd developed routines so that she could avoid her own traps in places where any casual-minded fool would step. Leaving them somewhere that she didn't plan to traverse again simply doubled the odds that they would come across more with measurably more disastrous consequences. The latter of the two was accurate, but the origin and the frequency was all wrong. Rather than being situated in the ground and out of sight, many of the traps were connected to trees with military-grade transparawire crossing through gaps to serve as the trigger.

Sera's progression was considerably faster. She didn't have any traps to manage through and by now, her pursuer was starting to take frequent pauses in order to either rest, or do something else. She couldn't tell precisely what it was, though she did know when time was available to slow her pace for rest. Such times were becoming more frequent on the mountain than they had been while moving through the forests itself...

The greatest relief was the discovery of a path, one that seemed almost entirely overtaken by the foliage of the mountainside. Whereit went, Sera was uncertain, but it gave her more than just direction. It also granted her terrain that was a little more even and ideal for foot travel, whereas the slopes and rocks beforehand were nothing more than a leg fracture waiting to happen. Sera continued along for the better half of three hours, before nightfall eventually came and the weather began to change with the greater elevation. The sky had gone from the calming grey overcast of the season, to the thicker dark smudge of charcoal lost in the slow fall of snow.

The process was one that would repeat itself for yet another day. Climb further along the path while matching her movement patterns with the pursuer, then rest once the night came. What made it all difficult, was the lack of sleep that accompanied Sera's stacking fears. She was being hunted by potentially two parties with intentions that she could only suspect, rather than know. What the fear didn't take away from her sleep and strength, the cold did...taxing her to the very end of her journey just along the end of the actual path itself. It required two hours into the next day and the strength ordinarily accompanied by the hollow ache of exhaustion, though once Sera neared the destination that the path had been intended for, she understood just a little better what comforts awaited her.

Nothing at all.

It had probably been a place of comfort for someone before, but those people were long gone. Whatever purpose they had for departing, it certainly didn't stand out so well as the decaying structures they had left in their place. Shacks, living structures, vehicles as broken and derelict as the settlement that Sera originated from, rested half-buried within the snow that she had traversed so slowly in order to reach it all. The situation of it all didn't relieve her either...as much of it existed on even terrain that had been visibly adjusted with machinery, leaving the furthest reach of the encampment to connect to empty caves and a cliff face that Sera didn't even think of climbing. All the other directions either met the same steep cliff face, the path she came from, or the quick drop-off of the mountainside. The sight had proven to be nothing more that a brief glimpse of hope, smashed by the reality of...everything?....

...justifying anything by this point had become an activity with a diminishing value to Sera. She'd been wronged not by any one individual alone, but by life in general. Every moment until now had been nothing more than the brutal demonstration of precisely how wrong a person could go, and she was in possession of nothing to show for it. Worse, she was now spiraling in the direction of more dangerous interactions with parties unknown, whom she knew only through their exchange of tactics and blaster fire. If they found her, it was likely they would kill her. If they didn't, then what was there to see as better? Each thought of her situation that stacked upon the last brought her to mentally curl and twist, until her mind simply stopped thinking entirely. Something else took ahold of her, and drove her to the path she'd followed. Frantically she searched for anything big that lingered on the cliffs running alongside the pathway, until she found a boulder just right in size. Once she'd located it, she pushed the entirety of her body against it, and pushed.

To an entire mountain, what amounted to nothing more than a pebble, shifted almost not at all. The tremors of a boulder were felt by those who existed further down the pathway, and moving clear of the boulder's journey wasn't hard...but it brought to both parties moving up, a newer perspective on their own position. Omah realized there, the dangers of using the main path to reach the Kaminoan and decided that his destination was best reached via another route. The Idcirco mercenaries continued on, though their motions slow drastically for the reward of awareness.

Of the two, the Idcirco mercenaries were the first to arrive.

While they knew of the facility and had even been informed of the value to it, they'd never suspected that the Kaminoan would find it. The precise mention of it was never handed from them, but they didn't account for any interference Wai may have managed. Things like that didn't make sense anyway...why ask a group of mercenaries to watch a Kaminoan, without telling any of them that she would be departing for a place like this? None of them cared to fathom precisely why she would come to such a position, and instead they chose to find her, so that they could conclude their work as quickly as possible. There wasn't really any point in keeping the Kaminoan around anymore...not with the investigations taking place. With those orders passed around, the team split into their assigned directions and began to search the mining camp.

Two had gone for the mess hall while a third moved to check the personnel shed. The rest searched through the snow-covered areas with the intention to try and locate the Kaminoan in a quick and precise sweep through the camp. The two locations of choice were elected only because they suspected that she would either need food or warmth, to which both offered the scraps needed for either. Their search didn't reveal even the slightest trace of itnrusion. Doors were still bolted shut, windows covered by mechanical shutters long since held in place by a growing rust issue...she hadn't been scavenging, which left a few alternative locations. The sweep had progressed halfway through the encampment when one of the mercenaries spotted movement. Staff Sergeant Griggs, the one placed in charge of the entirety of the team, detected the movement from the corner of his eye. Without much more than a brief mumble of declaration to his discovery, he followed it at a quickened pace, one he knew would allow him to catch up on the wounded Kaminoan. The chase brought both himself and Sera to a stop as they reached the edges of the encampment, stopped only by the dropoff.

Griggs' success wasn't necessarily so appreciated by Sera. She'd tried to slip through their sweep by awaiting the passing of one of them, and instead she'd been spotted and cornered. The moment she reached for the lightsaber at her hip, Griggs immediately brought his blaster to aim in her direction, with a verbal warning against the use of the device. Instead he simply instructed her to remove it with two fingers along and to toss it in his direction. With some reluctance, Sera complied and unclipped her training lightsaber, before tossing it to him. At first, the Staff Sergeant seemed entirely pleased with the provision, though he surprised Sera by quickly reaching out again, as if he were expecting her to hand over another weapon...perhaps....he'd recognized that it wasn't Wai's?.

Omah took advantage of the situation the moment it favored him most. His late arrival made moving behind the sweep advantageous and now he held more than just the element of surprise. With a single motion, he soon held yet another step towards his victory. Omah moved behind Griggs from his cover once the mercenary had occupied his hands with the Jedi's lightsaber. The current occupation of his hands meant that his defense was likely to be pathetic...the results of which became evident once Omah slipped his blade between the protective plates of the Staff Sergeant's armor. Immediately the man seized and stuggled, but with a little stirring, that was concluded quickly. The party of three was soon diminished to two, as the bounty-hunter allowed the wounded soldier to slip from his grasp. Because of sheer luck, his target was now unarmed and outside the protective presence of the Idcirco mercenaries. With his knife still in hand, Omah quietly approached the Kaminoan. He'd heard stories about what they could do, spoken with survivors and accomplished bounty-hunters...but now he was on the verge of having a story he could tell to others now. Even better, the bounty wasn't paying for someone alive, it was paying for an answer, whether that came in the form of documents, video recordings, or the head of the Jedi personally responsible. The rest of the body would leave Omah free to keep as a trophy.


As the bounty-hunter drew closer, Sera backed away until there simply was no ground behind her at all. Once he drew close enough, just enough for his blade to become a functional weapon, Sera didn't bother to speak. She couldn't. The sensation of his presence brought a chill to her spine that only intensified once she began to determine what his plans were. Instead she brought Wai's lightsaber to view, disengaged but still brandished in the hopes that the man would be aware of her status as an armed individual. What she received instead, was the very brief reminder that she had tossed her real lightsaber to the man he'd killed.

Sera's chances in combat with a seasoned bounty-hunter were acceptably small. Even with an active lightsaber, she knew that his combat experience combined with her very poor education in the use of a lightsaber, meant he had an advantage more than worth acknowledging. While he had not detected the Sergeant's own suspicions, that didn't mean he was defenseless against Sera. There was always room for error on her part. One wrong strike or too much pause, and she was more than-

The remaining Idcirco mercenaries arrived only after they had determined precisely where the Sergeant had gone. While he'd mentioned spotting the Kaminoan, he didn't provide a more accurate location, something that had provided an unecessary delay in actually reinforcing him. Once they arrived however, their itnerruption of the events came at a price. The first was the discovery of their fallen leadership-...Griggs had been stabbed, and while he wasn't dead, he certainly wasn't going to be dancing anytime soon. The bounty-hunter responsible, reacted quicjkly by pausing his advance in the direction of the Kaminoan, so that he could address their impatience with his own. He drew into view with his other hand, a bomb...one he intended to detonate if they interfered. 

The opportunity was limited, but Sera didn't precisely enjoy the odds of standing still. The ignition of the lightsaber was answered with doubt and sarcasm, but the actual use surfaced surprise. In the time that the Bounty hunter had to look back in her direction, she drove the tip of the blade into his chest. Once Sera withdrew the blade, he dropped both of his weapons as he realized his mistake, whispered a string of incoherant words and performed the duty of any mortally-wounded man. His demise wasn't followed by music after or congratulations, instead it was met with the very powerful silence that dawned on her and the few mercenaries in her company. It was an impact that Sera felt just as the others in her company had felt it before, and now she couldn't concentrate on anything else besides the corpse that had been left before her.

She had just killed someone.

Wai's teachings never included a seminar on how to cope with murder and the mercenaries didn't provide any comfort either. They drew their blasters on the Kaminoan and awaited her eventual surrender. Once that was achieved, they ushered her to the center of the encampment and awaited pickup. Once the shuttle arrived, they were loaded and transported away from Naboo.

For a solid week, Sera was held within a form of detention she didn't understand. No light, no conversation, no medical treatment and little food to survive off of. Occasionally the privacy of her cell was intruded upon by the guards so that they could establish and maintain a beating quota, though the purpose behind each one was never explained. Nothing was explained, at all. They didn't share with her their destination, their plans or even the time of day. They just assured that Sera was left bruised to the point where she could see only out of one eye. Use of the bunk was forbidden as well...and...the rules were starting to make the settlement she'd lived in before look like paradise. Day after day the beatings resumed and food was provided with a consistency that almost paralleled that of Sera's routines when she lived back on Naboo. If they hadn't made a schedule of it, then she wouldn't have had a means to assign her own perceived understanding of time. Her sanity would have instead been lost to the ongoing disorientation of being locked away. 

Things changed though, just as Sera's measurement of seven days via food provisions and wordless interrogations neared a week. On the seventh day, nobody entered, nobody provided food at all...nothing happened for the first half of the 'day'. The latter half was when her cell door had been opened and she was dragged out into the main cargo hold of the shuttle itself. Straight into the presence of a man dressed in uniform, his hair white as snow and his face covered in a warm smile that taunted Sera. She wanted that smile...but life wasn't giving her any reason to have one.

Palid Idcirco, the owner of the Idcirco arms manufacturer and private contracting services, stood before her with a business-like grin and a glass of water in hand. The guards at either side of him moved when he didn't and forced Sera from the floor and to her knees...where Palid carefully began to explain Sera's situation to her. She was trapped in the attention of not one, but soon to be two powerful aristocratic powers with a chance to say whatever she pleased. Whatever would be said, she needed to know that there were precisely two phrases that would either save her, or damn her and possibly thousands of others to a painful end. Whichever she elected, he didn't care...but she was now a crucial part in events that she would only understand if she chose to speak carefully. Without any more words, the two Idcirco guards then dragged Sera to the loading ramp, where they waited until it lowered enough to reveal their destination ahead.

Their arrival at the Xelphas building came as a surprise. It was essentially the very last place that Sera wanted to be. The edge of the cliff with the bounty-hunter, the settlement, even her cell looked better than the Xelphas building. It was the domain of a man who'd never respected her from the beginning, a man who had lost two sons under the same training that Sera attended and now-...now she didn't even know. Her lack of sleep kept her from struggling against the decision though. No...no...this was to be the end for Sera, an end that Palid Idcirco stood ahead of as he led his few mercenaries into the building and through security. There were no security checks, there was no delay, they were all allowed straight to the meeting room where Fras Xelphas himself waited.

His expression changed from one of expectation to one of shock once he spotted the Kaminoan, though rather immediately, Palid spoke up to mention that they had found the murderer of Fras' two sons. Palid extended a hand outward, bringing it to Sera...and then to stop in indication of another body that they had been dragging in behind the Kaminoan. It was a human dressed in brown robes, his hair carefully cut and his chest adorned by a rather large burn. It looked almost...as though he had been stabbed in the chest. Sera wanted to question it, but Fras managed the question first.

Who did it?

Quite clearly, Palid pointed to the supposed Jedi again, before stating that the corpse in their possession was indeed, that of a Jedi. He had pursued Wai's ship when they departed for Naboo, using a republic vessel that had been ordered to report itself as under attack before. With the ship and the personnel onboard, they were able to land on Naboo to attack Wai and his apprentices. A couple of issues surfaced though. Sera had been found alive by the Idcirco search teams, starved and beaten, though only because of her ongoing efforts to survive the JEdi's searches for her. He was absolutely determined to assure that there would be no risk of a returning power...one that both Palid and Fras knew of well enough. 

Fras wanted to question the matter and even approached Sera to see just what sort of condition she was in. To his surprise, she seemed more than just wounded. The moment he took her chin into his grasp to force her face up...he found his eyes met with a stare that didn't quite meet the standards of a killer. There was no pause in the Kaminoan's examination of his face....there wasn't any direct attention to his eyes and the dilation was too slow. Killers looked into the eyes...vicmtims...didn't.

Sight wasn't enough though. He held the power now and he wanted the truth from the failure that lie before him. To communicate this he only needed to tighten his grip, to bring pain to Sera's injuries while he forced her to look into his eyes. There he asked if the explanation provided were true. He asked again and after a long enough pause, he elevated the volume of his voice to ask again. Sera simply watched, before she felt her minimal understanding of the situation demand that she answer the only way she could. One story could reveal the traitorous acts of Wai...though that probably meant precisely what Palid had mentioned earlier. The suffering of thousands. Lying meant going along with the plans, but that probably meant the end of her as well.

Had the circumstances been different, Sera would have simply answered with no. She would have thrown Wai to the wolves the moment she had a chance for revenge...but instead she whispered, 'yes.'

Fras released the Kaminoan and turned to Palid for more insight to the matter. The disinterest was enough to warrant that she be taken out of the sight of both parties, leaving the guards to the simple task of dragging her out of the room just as they had dragged her in.

When Sera awoke, she didn't recognize anything at all. The environment had changed and her condition seemed...improved. She wasn't within the confines of a cell any longer, but instead burdened only by the hoses of a few medical devices and a set of heavy blankets atop a comfortable bed. The quarters she occupied didn't look anything appropriate for military personnel. Instead it looked more suited to someone of wealth. The furniture within was well-crafted and had the door leading in not been opened, she would have never known she was onboard a ship. The entry of Palid Idcirco however gave sera a very brief glimpse of militaristic walls and flooring outside. That paired with the soft hum of distant engines, was enough to help her realize that she was being transported with an unknown amount of additional crew.

Palid's entry was soon followed by the expressions of joy towards her survival. The mere notion that she wasn't dead, was enough reason for him to celebrate...though he understood immediately that the Kaminoan did have questions to ask. More critically, why she was there in the first place. For that, Palid had a very precise explanation. It was to gain power, to get somewhere that he wanted to go while having the right friends with power that could soon be his...and poor Sera had managed a more than perfect part in it all. The plan?...well, it wasn't a plan if it didn't solve a problem...

Palid Idcirco had long been deciding a means to join the Sith Empire, an entity that was understandably beyond Sera's understanding. He'd learned through his various contacts found in his buyers and investors, that the Sith Empire was willing to take any help that it could muster. Aristocrats with plenty of resources at their disposal were valued commodities to the Empire...and they certainly seemed to be fighting for the right reasons. There was a hitch though, one that Palid hadn't seen - he'd wanted his closest ally and friend, Fras Xelphas to join with him. It not only meant having a trusted ally at his side, it also meant that the Empire would see him to be twice the value as any other applicant. Charismatic leadership figures were all the rage anyway, right?

Fras was precisely what went wrong with the plan though. He didn't like it. He didn't think it was safe. He didn't think that the Republic- bah! To hell with what the Republic wanted. It was an opportunity of a lifetime, but Fras wasn't seeing it that way. Instead he sat within the confines of his own paranioa in search for answers that wouldn't make themselves available soon enough. So, Palid needed a solution. That solution came in the form of Wai, a traveling man of the force-sensitive nature who'd liberated himself from the bonds of Republic standards just as Palid had intended to. More critically, Wai was looking for fast cash and a job to make it worth it. Palid seized the opportunity and hired Wai to convince Fras that his two sons were force-sensitive and consequently, powerful assets to him.

What followed after was presumably what he'd expected of Wai. Parlor tricks and small demonstrations that soon convinced Fras of precisely what was being proposed. Convincing someone of magic was as easy as seeing it yet never telling...not that he could have told it anyway, but the result was good enough for Palid to accept. By the end of the week, Fras was convinced enough to allow Wai's teachings, all the while Palid resumed his efforts in trying to convince Fras to join the Sith Empire. It wasn't hard to take Palid's advice at face value, he was a close friend to Fras, was there when he lost his wife and when they both faced hard times. Still, Fras wasn't ready to throw his chips into the game yet. He didn't even seem interested in war profiteering.

Palid gave Fras years to consider his stance, entire years as a threshold for decision. He wanted to be the friend who actually was, the buddy, the 'Pal' that he'd been nicknamed as since their first meeting. What he received instead was rejection after rejection...until finally he decided that it would happen no more. Once his patience had run out, Palid informed Wai discreetly that it was time to kill the boys. Wai complied and began his search for suitable grounds, a place that was local enough to be justifiable, yet not so populated enough that they would end up drawing attention from local authorities while carrying out their training. It was there, that Wai found Sera.

What a delightful treat it was, and while Palid had seen it as nothing more than an unnecessary liability. Wai struck back with the promise that Sera was worth it. She was actual material to mold into something great. Determined not to let Wai slip through his grasp, Palid accepted Wai's logic and quietly began to oversee future damage control. The following years, Wai not only managed to accomplish a clever means of infiltrating the Xelphas family, but he'd also given an additional element in Palid's equation for his plan. Sera didn't fit in precisely as a victim, but she did fit in as a witness. All that elft was obtaining the other elements while Wai prepared Sera and his two 'apprentices' for their final lesson.

It required timing. A small Republic ship needed to disappear quickly, and then turn up somewhere it didn't belong. Making the Jedi wasn't hard, as Wai's expertise in manufacturing lightsabers and his thorough knowledge on Jedi practices, made the recreation of a believable scene entirely possible. That paired with Palid's financial and military strength, they were able to kill the two sons. Once that had been done, weapons from the stolen Republic ship were used to damage the shuttle Wai had obtained from Fras, so that he could return with the convincing authenticity of combat damage. The lightsaber wounds he'd acquired were also self-manufactured using one of his few weapons of choice.

Wai's departure came with a price though, a price that Palid was willing to pay. He wanted a small group of Idcirco mercenaries to remain behind and stress Sera's abilities. Using information and instructions created by Wai personally, they could harass her into becoming more powerful, though they were above all else, expected to keep her alive. So,Wai went on his way, communicated to Fras that his sons had been killed and accepted detainment while Palid's men quickly arrived to the scene to find the ship, personnel and Jedi that they had put there.

Then came the bounty hunter. Ah, the bounty hunters and their flexibility. Nobody had expected Fras to hire one and his interference had almost cost them the entirety of their operation. Had he killed enough of Palid's men or taken Sera's head back to Fras claiming it to be that of the Jedi, then Wai would have faced execution, Palid would have been realized for his part in trying to hide it all and he'd have barely even half of his power to bring to the Sith Empire. What a mess that would have been. Sera came out on top though, and despite all of the punishment, she provided the convincing that Fras needed. By the end of the whole adventure, Fras soon accepted that the best route for revenge, was by joining the Empire alongside Palid. Even better, once Fras passed on, his assets would be moved to the control of Palid, as the Xelphas line would end...something they had arranged in their regretful moments of accepting the 'truth' surrounding the loss of Fras' sons.

...all a plan that while exceptionally burdened with unecessary complexity, struck Palid as entirely clever. Though that was just background noise to the situation at hand now. Now, Sera had a chance to live again, to be someone important. Wai's emphasis on Sera's capacity as a force-user inspired Palid once he had removed her from the Xelphas building. She had the chance to be strong, to see things that he couldn't...and people like that were valuable. Having someone like that in his security staff, meant he was less likely to have to deal with that silly backstabbery that seemed to complement the personalities of most imperial staff, and it didn't hurt his chances to be able to brag of his possessing a genuine Sith Warrior.

So he proposed that Sera simply dress for the occasion, keep him informed of what she could detect and keep his family safe. In exchange, she would receive the many perks granted to only the closest of Palid's family. Comfortable living quarters, a more than acceptable income, armor, authority and even recognition. All she needed to do was tell him if that space-magic was picking up any bad vibes in the room...and stuff.

Sera's silence was expected and welcomed as an answer.

The following years were in turn dedicated to fulfilling that lifestyle. Once Sera was healthy enough to perform the duties asked of her, Wai resumed their training with the intention to make her more aware of just what she was feeling. Her lightsaber skills were concentrated upon after...though not much was truly easy to cram into the limited time frame that Palid provided. He wanted his security to be up to par the moment that he brought Fras and himself into the fold of the Sith Empire. By then, Sera was not necessarily the most admirable with a lightsaber, though her defense was certainly...a thing...

It didn't stop there though. As Palid had promised, Sera was included in every facet of their life with the importance of close family. She was brought to every dinner, invited to every party, allowed to any event of her choosing, provided armor, clothes, food and even proper living quarters second only to Palid's. The only additional request she rested upon in it all, was that she be provided with sedatives. The nights where she'd tried sleeping without them before, ended without a single wink of sleep. Not one second was given to rest. The events in her life denied her that privilege, so medication became an eventual requirement to assure that she reported to her duties in proper condition.

While Sera's life did pick up in activity, her association with Wai never really ended right away, nor did her way of life become any calmer. Wai's training persisted even for the first year of her career amidst Palid's staff. Time not spent following Palid was instead spent in either meditation, or concentration. Wai wanted Sera to understand precisely what it was that she was feeling, and while Sera could never fully gain a grasp on just how to associate the feelings precisely to tangible qualities, Wai did bring her to understand what it likely meant emotionally. Certain ambitions, certain tastes and sensations were those that others felt. The encompassing burning sensation along the sides of her head often meant anger, whereas the soft chill of cold and a withdrawn presence suggested that her target was fearful. It required more than just words and time for Sera to learn, so Wai eventually invited various members of Palid's staff to serve as examples to what Sera felt, something that provided a variety of sensations. Through that an understanding was better established and Wai found his lessons far easier to convey to the Kaminoan. This came at the cost of time never spent educating Sera in anything else. Wai never brought mention of Sera's ability to move objects with the force, or to see, heal, destroy...she was not going to be a weapon for anyone so much as she would be a means to empower the weapons used around her. What Wai did not teach her in the ways of the force, he did teach her in surviving throughout the basics of lightsaber and general combat.

The sessions were never kind. Wai never held back a strike and always exploited the greatest of Sera's weaknesses - her leg. If she ever so much as advanced one inch forward with her left leg, Wai always found a way to near enough for a quick and decisive kick, one that left Sera understanding the mistake of her poor posture far more than Palid ever could. For her it was time to rest, for Palid, it was time that he needed to depend upon tightened security standards to make up for what Sera was not providing. Months of Sera's second year working under the Imperial banner, were lost more to recovery time than they were to anything else.

The lessons helped slightly once Sera's career progressed into her third year. With time, Sera's friends settled at an even number, but her enemies constantly grew. She was an unusual asset that allowed unfavorable outcomes during times where either Palid or any of his surrounding associates were targeted, occasions that Sera carefully discovered through her unusual ties to the force, her watchful eye and her vertical superiority over most others in the room. During several occasions she even faced attempts on her own life. Of the three times in which 'precautionary operations' were carried out to conclude her own function within Palid's security, two nearly ended her life. The first occasion had been the easiest given the environment. Hiding in the expanse to one of the many empty halls of the Idcirco Manor, made identifying a potential assassin as quick as the moment he attempted to draw closer to the Kaminoan. His choice of a dagger rather than a blaster, caught Sera off guard considerably and became the very event that would promote her use of armor from then on. The second occasion was less successful. A Republic sympathizer had been in the process of situating a bomb, when Sera detected his fear. In attempting to stop him, the bomb was detonated, killing the assassin, several other security staff members and critically wounding dozens, Sera included.

With each awakening in the hospital, Sera felt that she had in turn, died a little more within. She had certainly survived the attempts, though what sort of a victory was that? By this day, death would have been a merciful release compared to the fearful lifestyle she led now. There was not a day that she didn't repeat the routines that she did within the settlement on Naboo. There was not an hour that did not go by without her looking over her shoulder at least once. Every day Sera awoke to the morning, realizing just how little she really had, holding on to only the hope that one day, she would eventually find a normal life elsewhere. Palid couldn't deliver it, neither could Wai. It was something she needed to find on her own once she was able to remain away from both of them.

The following three years consisted of repetition. Training sessions changed a little, though the transition went from understanding, to expansion. Sera's needs in understanding were okay, though she needed to go further, literally. As a final motion, Wai intended to stretch Sera's boundaries again with methods similar to what the mercenaries practiced prior...though there was the clear need to discontinue shooting at her. For Sera's needs, that meant watching for Wai as he tested his bounaries, and attempting to follow him once he ever traversed beyond. The same went for anyone else, whether Sera was training, or not.

Sera's current position and training routine has since remained. Despite being a figure of authority within the Idcirco arms manufacturing industry for two more years, she has never truly held any influence within the Empire. Instead she has served as a protective demonstration of power for Palid Idcirco, a demonstration of power that has only recently been offered to the Sith Order for adoption. Palid had never initially spoken of such offers, understanding that Sera may never really understand precisely what it meant for her. As far as he cared, it meant that she would move on to something else, and Palid would receive further recognition for forming another connection to the Sith Order that his peers had only recently started associating with. For Sera, it meant moving on, having a new chance at life, even if it meant risking it to yet another militarized aristocratic lifestyle no different from what Palid offered. It was no different a chance as when she chose to face Wai at the waterfall, or when she chose to climb the mountain, or to even accept Wai's offer for friendship at all.

It was an acceptable risk.

RP Sample: The room had been almost entirely silent for the night. The occasional passing of a guard outside the door brought the soft thuds of reassuring protection against the carpet outside and a brief break in the light that slipped underneath the doors themselves, but beyond that...all Sera had to embrace was the passive flow of air through the vents and the sight of the ceiling above. The fine decorations befitted to most certainly would have appealed to less traumatized of audiences, though for Sera, it was entirely unseen. The only appreciative return came with the grace of cool air against her face, while the rest of her remained left tucked under the blankets to the bed she'd been trying to sleep in.

Her body hadn't proven restless, her mind had not been wandering...no, if anything it had been perfectly in place and quiet, as her eyes remained wide open in a very quiet investigation of her surroundings, occasionally looking to the sides to see the assorted pieces of furniture and small personal items she'd obtained during her time working. To one side, formal clothes mixed with robes appropriately fashioned to the role she was filling, remained neatly folded atop a dresser, awaiting her hand in putting them where they needed to be. A task rearranged for the morning only because she had neglected to do beforehand. To the other side, nothing more than a desk with a few photoprojectors, displaying images of the family she'd been integrated into.

It was in that direction that she spotted precisely what she was looking for, precisely what she had rejected in the hopes that her sleep, would for once, come a little more naturally just this once - a bottle of pills left atop the table beside her bed.

She'd been lying to herself for that, The promises she made, the notion that she could get over the difficulties that she faced, never came true. Instead it was the same process every night. Climb into bed, lie evenly and at the center, try to sleep...fail...then resort to medication. The finest example of a check-list for personal failure.

The motion that followed mark Sera's silent acknowledgement of her failure for the evening. She grabbed the small bottle of pills and opened it, disgusting herself a little more as she discovered that only two of the thirty pills remained. Hours had passed before and she found that she could not even close her eyes. While the condition was only two-weeks temporary, until she simply fell into a coma...she couldn't bypass Palid's desire for her to be fully aware of her surroundings every day. It was either sleep, or find a newer occupation that didn't involve being happy. So, she swallowed one and returned the bottle to the table beside her bed.

The sensation of exhaustion took some time, though Sera did eventually find that her eyes were more than willing to close, even in the dark. With it, the fear that left her watching gradually changed from easily defined words that brought a sudden surge of adrenaline during each analysis, to nothing more than intangible mumbles as her brain simply decided to shut down. Within the next few minutes, Sera pulled the blankets to cover her neck, closed her eyes, and eventually fell fast asleep.

[Squee]

Hey, there, Froggy. Squee here, looking over you character.

To summarize, Sera enjoys studying Botany, likes the color blue and often indulges in sharing secrets with her pet Kraht, Fluffles.

What's a... Kraht? Is that the picture there? I tried looking it up, both around SWU in case it was custom and the wookiee, since that's my internet source, and I couldn't find it. Little distressed, here, Frogz. Is it in the SW animal guide? I know that exists and unfortunately, I don't have that one...

Specialized Skills: Despite her socially awkward nature and her rather weak physical condition, Sera is often adept in most of the skills necessary for infiltration and subterfuge. She is capable in setting up small hastily-managed traps, navigating acceptable terrain and observing others.

Normally, specialized skills is meant for Force abilities, such as Force Valor, Force Blinding, et cetera. I just wanted to let you know for future purposes. I do enjoy the information you have provided, however.


To zeh bio...

Okay, so, I love Meya stealing away her baby sister, I really do. I don't mind that bureaucracy got involved and were willing to let them go. My biggest thing with the section is... how in the world did the shuttle crew members not recognize Meya was out of place? Wouldn't the shuttle be informed that they had a stowaway by authorities? Or to even look out? I even got the impression that law enforcement made it there before Meya did.

The city of Kalai was certainly more impressive while they were in the air and the view from the ramp was not only surprisingly beautiful, but exceptionally frightening once Sera assessed that they were still flying.

I quote this section just so you know where I'm at. Where exactly are they? Like... what planet? I would appreciate it if the planet is mentioned somewhere here, even if you mention it later.

It wasn't Sera that had the chance to land the demoralizing blow. Instead it was Jaye. Niehter Kal or Sera believed the sight as the two fought. They'd reached a point where their experience seemed to parallel with one-another, until Alex managed to guide a single burning tap to Wai's shoulder.

... Ya mean Jaye? I hope it's Jaye. I like Jaye.

The children were to be protected, specifically from a particularly mysterious wanderer that had been making the business of having Fras' two sons trained, his own.

I don't know if it was the wording or the sentence structure, but the sentence was odd and I went "whut?". I didn't understand what was happening here and I feel its important.

The blade didn't even manage a single point of contact against Wai, as he simply stepped back to avoid the reach of the training blade, before sweeping under it to cut Kal's leg off entirely.

Holy frack. Ooooooooooooooh my God. -flailing motion-

Whatever it was, Jason challenged Wai to meet him in the center of the settlement, where he demanded that he be appropriately armed to meet Wai's own capability.

Jaye? You mean Jaye? Also... NONONONONONO! Omg, no. Please don't do this to me. How did you make me feel for characters in A BIO? OMG.

Wai brought the blade down in another swing and dragged the tip of the blade across Jaye's chest, killing him.

AAAAAAAAAAAH. No! -sob-

...a vessel burdened by weakened landing gear and decorated with holes in the armor black person than speeders.

The bolded part... What? xD It made me giggle. I just want to know what you were trying to say. Hahahaha. It was such a break in stride.


Pheeeeeeeeeeeeew. That's some good writing. But, now I have some need for clarification:

- How old is she when Wai leaves and the tricksy mercenaries swarm around her day and night? How much time passes in this? Knowing her age allows me to ask just how much more or less I may need to ask of you in the end to justify a bit more of her training.

- Where does Wai go by the end? Is he still training her up until she's recruited for the Sith Order?


This is a wonderfully clever, fresh plotted, crafty story that I have enjoyed. You've done an amazing job and there's not much wrong with what you have. However, as I mentioned with my first point, depending on when this happened for Sera and over what amount of time will determine exactly what I need to ask from you. Once I know that, I can do a follow-up post of what might be needed to get Sera accepted.

Very excited to see that happen, by the way.

~ Squee

[Froggy]

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

Hey, there, Froggy. Squee here, looking over you character.

To summarize, Sera enjoys studying Botany, likes the color blue and often indulges in sharing secrets with her pet Kraht, Fluffles.

What's a... Kraht? Is that the picture there? I tried looking it up, both around SWU in case it was custom and the wookiee, since that's my internet source, and I couldn't find it. Little distressed, here, Frogz. Is it in the SW animal guide? I know that exists and unfortunately, I don't have that one...

It is a fictional creature I fathomed in merely a few seconds. It was primarily for the purpose of humor, though if it requires additional application, I can see to such. It is what the picture shows...a small, spike-covered creature that lives much like a turtle. It was voted the 'Most useless pet of the Galaxy' three times in a row, due to the creature's inability to learn any tricks beyond 'eat' and 'stop'.

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

Specialized Skills: Despite her socially awkward nature and her rather weak physical condition, Sera is often adept in most of the skills necessary for infiltration and subterfuge. She is capable in setting up small hastily-managed traps, navigating acceptable terrain and observing others.

Normally, specialized skills is meant for Force abilities, such as Force Valor, Force Blinding, et cetera. I just wanted to let you know for future purposes. I do enjoy the information you have provided, however.

Many apologies for this inconvenience. I shall be certain to read the profile sheet information more thoroughly in the future.

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

To zeh bio...

Okay, so, I love Meya stealing away her baby sister, I really do. I don't mind that bureaucracy got involved and were willing to let them go. My biggest thing with the section is... how in the world did the shuttle crew members not recognize Meya was out of place? Wouldn't the shuttle be informed that they had a stowaway by authorities? Or to even look out? I even got the impression that law enforcement made it there before Meya did.

I was not entirely certain to how to resolve this. Barring sheer luck, you are correct. I suspect it is possible that Sera may have obtained a uniform and scheduled a crew adjustment/shuffle for each vessel the day prior? Such complications would not only put the crews in a state of uncertainty, it would make identification of Meya difficult to assure the accuracy of, as none of the crews would bear 'friendly faces'.

I should likely detail in the biography any additional planning that may have taken place.

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

The city of Kalai on Corellia was certainly more impressive while they were in the air and the view from the ramp was not only surprisingly beautiful, but exceptionally frightening once Sera assessed that they were still flying.

I quote this section just so you know where I'm at. Where exactly are they? Like... what planet? I would appreciate it if the planet is mentioned somewhere here, even if you mention it later.

I did not anticipate Sera to know the location, so I made use of that lack of knowledge to avoid determining an exact planet. Many apologies for such. Corellia has been elected.

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

It wasn't Sera that had the chance to land the demoralizing blow. Instead it was Jaye. Niehter Kal or Sera believed the sight as the two fought. They'd reached a point where their experience seemed to parallel with one-another, until Alex managed to guide a single burning tap to Wai's shoulder.

... Ya mean Jaye? I hope it's Jaye. I like Jaye.

During my brainstorming, Jaye was originally named Alex. Kal was also never intended and Meya was expected to go to Garos IV, rather than die.

So much has changed...

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

The children were to be protected by Wai while they were in his care, specifically from a particularly mysterious Jedi-like figure that had been making the business of having Fras' two sons trained, his own. While it was foolish to think that the Jedi would so readily investigate his choice of schooling for his children, he didn't want to become an example of picking the wrong side in the nearing conflict.

I don't know if it was the wording or the sentence structure, but the sentence was odd and I went "whut?". I didn't understand what was happening here and I feel its important.

I have corrected this...though my poor understanding of english may create difficulties yet. Fras was speaking of what he suspected to be a Jedi investigating their operations...as he feared that the Jedi's discovery of his sons training to become force-users, would put both their lives and his entire way of life at risk.

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

The blade didn't even manage a single point of contact against Wai, as he simply stepped back to avoid the reach of the training blade, before sweeping under it to cut Kal's leg off entirely.

Holy frack. Ooooooooooooooh my God. -flailing motion-

Whatever it was, Jason challenged Wai to meet him in the center of the settlement, where he demanded that he be appropriately armed to meet Wai's own capability.

Jaye? You mean Jaye? Also... NONONONONONO! Omg, no. Please don't do this to me. How did you make me feel for characters in A BIO? OMG.

Wai brought the blade down in another swing and dragged the tip of the blade across Jaye's chest, killing him.

AAAAAAAAAAAH. No! -sob-

Edits have been posted in bold.

Squee said:

source="/post/134560/thread" timestamp="1371284751"

...a vessel burdened by weakened landing gear and decorated with holes in the armor scarred black and nearly the size of speeders.

The bolded part... What? xD It made me giggle. I just want to know what you were trying to say. Hahahaha. It was such a break in stride.

Many apologies, my brain went retarded at that time due to exhaustion. :c

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

Pheeeeeeeeeeeeew. That's some good writing. But, now I have some need for clarification:

Alright.

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

- How old is she when Wai leaves and the tricksy mercenaries swarm around her day and night? How much time passes in this? Knowing her age allows me to ask just how much more or less I may need to ask of you in the end to justify a bit more of her training.

Seven years old. I have yet to determine it accurately, though seven seems an ideal age for such a time.

As for the time, I would suspect that Sera was harassed by the mercenaries for one to two months. It could not be too long, as the travel time between worlds is not too great...though if it remains too short, then the Mercenaries would not have the necessary time to strengthen Sera's abilities through stressful conditioning.

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

- Where does Wai go by the end? Is he still training her up until she's recruited for the Sith Order?

While Wai may wish to move on to retirement, yes, he shall remain to train Sera during any time that the two have available. Should Sera be accepted into the Sith Order, then Wai will vanish off to Risa (wrong universe, NOOOOOO-) to retire off of the wealth obtained from both families.

Jun 15, 2013 3:25:51 GMT -5 Squee said:

This is a wonderfully clever, fresh plotted, crafty story that I have enjoyed. You've done an amazing job and there's not much wrong with what you have. However, as I mentioned with my first point, depending on when this happened for Sera and over what amount of time will determine exactly what I need to ask from you. Once I know that, I can do a follow-up post of what might be needed to get Sera accepted.

Very excited to see that happen, by the way.

~ Squee

Many thanks. I hope to provide appropriate corrections so that the story and the character can be appreciable now and in the future.

[Squee]

All right then, dear.

As I said, this is a beautifully crafted story that, as I was reading it, I couldn't help but think "WHY COULDN'T I THINK OF SOMETHING JUST AS COOL?"

However, the bulk of your story ends when she's 7, you say. That leaves... 8 years. I hate to ask you to elaborate more, since you've written so much as it is, but I need a little more from you. In order to support her stats, especially a 7 in sense, I need a little more back bone. A little more of her training. A little more of what she has done from the time she was 7 to the present.

This does not need to be a full story, like you already have, but some paragraphs. How her interaction with Wai changed, what he focused on during her training, maybe how they might have heard about the Sith Order by the end of the story. How has she expanded upon her ability to sense, maybe a short thing detailing how she used her sense to point someone out to Pal, or some personal struggles through this new regiment. These are suggestions and hopefully provide an idea of what I'm looking for.

Like I said, not a full story, but some straight forward paragraphs to explain her conduct for the following 8 years of her life. If you would like to talk to me about it, my PMs are always open to you.

~ Squee

[Froggy]

Several paragraphs have been added, though I feel they may be insufficient. If you wish for me to add more, please do tell me.

[Squee]

May I ask you to just unbold the parts you bolded? It was very helpful for allowing me to find your edits. Thank you. <3

And guess what?

Are ya ready for this?

Approved!

Practiced Lightsaber forms:

- Shii-Cho - 2
- Makashi Modified* - 2
* Despite the best efforts being made to teach Sera the precision needed for Makashi, the obstacles provided by her unusual form served as an almost permanent obstacle. Her height, while barely offset by the length of her arms, left the painfully great risk of harmful exposure to her own blade. Worse, her form remains heavily hindered by the weakness in her left leg. As a result, Sera has had to adjust her form by sacrificing faster offensive motions ordinarily expected in Makashi. Her defensive posture leaves little of her weakness directly exposed...making most combat a considerably longer experience than ordinary.
- Soresu - 1

Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices: Sera's practices with the force are unusual...as she specializes in very little, yet unknowingly excels regardless. Due to her lack of training in almost every ability, her drive to know....has brought her to an instinctual capacity for sensing those around her. Her awareness varies depending on her situation. Casual times within the comfort of familiar grounds often warrant her ability to sense as no greater than any other being she may associate with...though in the field and operating amidst dangerous elements often draw her to remain aware. During such times, someone is almost always watching, and Sera most certainly wants to know who.

An unfortunate drawback manifests in two aspects. The first is her inability to actually see the individuals. Sera can often sense direction and hostility, though she cannot apply it to any one individual without making eye-contact with them. Worse, Sera is just as naturally detected as others are to her. For those less sensitive, a bad feeling often crosses them. For those capable in sensing others, the very taste of fear flows with an almost unforgettable and unparalleled taste.

Telekinetic: 4
Telepathic: 5
Body: 1
Sense: 7
Protection: 1
Healing: 2
Destruction: 1

Specialized Skills: Despite her socially awkward nature and her rather weak physical condition, Sera is often adept in most of the skills necessary for infiltration and subterfuge. She is capable in setting up small hastily-managed traps, navigating acceptable terrain and observing others.

Attributes: Physically, Sera is a traditional Kaminoan with a few flaws that leave her a less formidable force when confronted. As with most species of a greater stature, her lifting capacity is scaled to meet the needs of simple and sometimes advanced locomotion. Beyond that, her speed and flexibility remain hindered by an improperly settled bone fracture in her lower left leg. Without a brace, Sera's posture often takes on a visible degradation in stability as well as performance.

Mentally, Sera is as competent as most amidst her species. She learns quickly.

Without any training at all in the use of blasters and her own hands, Sera can be considered almost laughable when operating such equipment. Pistols can be fired, though her accuracy suffers exceptionally at longer ranges. Provided her vulnerable leg, hand-to-hand combat is also exceptionally poor to become involved in.

Physical Strength: 4
Intelligence: 7
Speed: 3
Leadership: 3

Unarmed: 1

Melee Weapons: 2
Ranged Weapons: 1

[Squee]

Edit approved - 6/17. Stats modified.

[Neology]

Moved to inactive.