Talau Firians

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Talau Firians Full Name • Talau Firians True Name: Elennar Nickname • Tal Race • Rilan ((Link)) Birthplace • Cerea Age • 33 Gender • Female Sexuality • hetero (very occasionally bi...) Faction • Republic/Jedi/Rilan (Feanturi) Concept • General (Feanturi) -- The civil war her people's home world has been embroiled in has drawn her in. The Rilan equivalent of Jedi (the Feanturi) have adopted her (after seven, going on eight, years) as one of several generals fighting to regain control of their planet Languages • Huttese (minimal) - Rilan (fluent) - Bocce (below average) - Mando’a (minimal) - Shistavanen (very minimal, mostly comprehension) - Twi’leki (very minimal) - Cerean (average) Assets • utility belt containing: rebreather, medpac, encrypted comlink, rations, grappling spike launcher, slicer's data card (for getting into those pesky locked doors), small pouch of credit chits and an emergency thermal blanket. vibro knife eight small throwing daggers light courier ship (older, Corellian make) Necklace (x2): 1: a long silver chain with a shield shaped pendant/badge that holds the official symbol of the Jedi Order emblazoned upon it and her identification information should she ever need proof of her standing in the jedi order 2: a black cord necklace that she never removes. It fits close to her neck, the smooth and rounded crystal pendant resting against the hollow of her neck, inside it (and laser etched) rest a glittering crest…something she received from her mother before she sent Talau away to the jedi temple…a symbol of her heritage. Lightsaber: “Talon” – single phase ((see hilt in Reference image of Talau for style)) Color: purple Description: Simple, yet elegant, and very effective single blade. The handle is simple and black, understated and unobtrusive...one would barely notice it was there. The only thing that makes Talon stand out is it's name embedded into the handle in silver writing on one side, and three decorative "slash marks"(also silver) on the other representing the marks that a dragon's talons would make. Lightsaber: “Helluin” – single phase Reference link Color: dark blue exterior and silver core color Description: Talau's second saber, and rarely used. It was constructed over a long period of time using a Rilan technique of hollowing out one crystal, and inserting another into it, making a duel color blade. It was a project she started two years before her knighting and was intended to be completed by the time she was knighted; however, the technique took her longer to complete than she anticipated and so it was only completed this past year (nine years back, now). The blade itself is a deep blue color on the outside, but its core is a bright silver color. The hilt is silver colored metal with a partial leather grip, the name of the blade etched into the metal in the Rilan writing style and delicate engravings. ((Very few would be able to read it as there aren’t many who know of the language, never mind read it, outside of the planet. It took her several years of tutelage under Jedi Seriaphi –who had lived on the planet previously-- to learn the basics of the language and the technique to bind the two crystals and focus them.) Face Claim • Priyanka Chopra Height & Weight • 5'8" 153lbs Overall Looks • Eye color: Reference Link ((standard eye color.)) Like all Rilan, the color shifts with her mood, however, they’re unlike the typical color shifts most Rilan eyes have. Red and Black are still the typical meaning…extremes of anger, you NEVER want to see Talau’s eyes turn black. That is where the similarities in color change end. Yellow for her is also anger and jealousy, though to a lesser degree than red or black. Orange signifies fear. Blue happiness and love. Green tends to mean playfulness with her. Purple (often mixed with gold and silver) denotes courage, loyalty, bravery and compassion. Grey showing her sadness. General Appearance: Reference Link Talau has a kind face, clever eyes, and a medium length mane of dark brown hair decorated with small sets of beads and many, many, feathers of all lengths and color combinations (ranging from as long as your thumb in white and grey to as long as her forearm for the longest one in blue, gold, and black with bright green flecks) tied into it. Her form is lithe and athletic, well toned from years of strict saber and fighting practice with her Guardian master. Her typical clothing choice is ‘civilian’ style leather armor and gloves that, if she must wear it, fit easily with her standard jedi robe. She keeps her belt and boots jedi standard, finding they have the best suitability for her particular needs. In this way she can either ‘blend in’ with civilian life, or ‘blend in’ with jedi temple life…the perfect fit for a Jedi Shadow. Of course, a few modifications have had to be made over her years on Rilia. The robe is more of a faded and greyish-green and light brown, suitable for blending into tall grasses, deserts and rocky forests and some of her leathers have had to be changed out from simple wear and tear, though (aside from slight coloration difference) those have remained more or less the same style. Personality Profile Talau is an ever changing mixture of personality. At her core the woman is fun loving, happy, loyal and a deeply caring individual, but over the years she has learned that she has more riding on her shoulders than she had originally thought, even as a jedi. This has taken its toll on her. Bit by bit she has compartmentalized her emotions, locking them away for safe keeping and to help her through many of the difficult and painful situations she has gone through. Her time in captivity under the watchful eye of a dark jedi didn't help any...instead making her painfully aware of the depths her anger and fear could go. Her time with the Rilan has helped to ease some of her hesitation on emotions once more, teaching her and allowing her to feel them and use them with less trepidation, but at a cost. Constant guerrilla warfare with the war lords of her planet has made her both a bit jaded and a bit cynical, not to mention exhausted her. Stern and stoic, the previously vibrant beauty still has moments where her true colors shine through the more rough 'exterior'....but deep down Talau continues to hold a deep and undying love for those around her and hope that things will turn around for the better. She will always strive for that end, no matter where she is, and after seven years on Rilia she's more determined than ever to be a force for change. Background Father • Ronan Firians, deceased Mother • Jorlia Firians, deceased Siblings • Latus Itani (Firians), unknown, jedi/grey jedi Other Important Connections • Locke Nemsee, Jedi Master, friend Vance Asano, former student, friend? Jazen Solari, helped mentor him, friend? Remiel Archibald, feanturi, friend Ryn Sundar, grey jedi (jedi?), friend Arzaheim "The Wizard", inventor and lead of Project Familiar, acquaintance? Overall History • The Beginning Talau Firians, and her twin brother Latus, started the journey of her life on the beautiful and untouched world of Cerea. Her parents, Jorlia and Ronan Firians, were refugees from their home planet of Rilia, a world that had been hidden from the galaxy for generations to the best of the Jedi Order’s abilities. Refugees from this world were not entirely unheard of, but these two, and the priestess that traveled with them, were special. It wasn’t so much because of their race (though that was uncommon enough), but rather their last name. Jorlia was the last of a long line of Firians who had somehow managed to survive the civil war that tore their home world apart centuries ago and still raged to this day. The name was one to be proud of, signifying a noble birth right that was handed down through the women of the family, but it was also a heavy burden. One day the Morequai…the War Lords of their planet…would come searching for them, to hunt them down and kill them. It had happened before, and it would happen again. Luckily for the budding family of force users and their companion, they had always had the fall back of the jedi order to seek help from should they need it. The council, supposedly, knew of their plight and had, generations earlier, promised to help them should they need it. Also luckily, the family had managed to find this out of the way planet and gain the rights to live outside of the Outsider Citadels that most were relegated to. They preferred to live with nature anyway, so it suited their tastes perfectly. On the day of the twin’s birth, the priestess was prepared to play the part of midwife, she had been trained in it after all, and to perform the ceremonies that would follow. The birth of children was never easy for any woman even with medication, and with only a midwife it was twice as difficult. However, the women of the Firians family were made of tougher stuff than most would assume with their fair features and slender bodies. That evening the cries of two newborns were heard from the small house at the end of the dusty street of the small town they belonged to, and two healthy babies were handed to their exhausted mother, a beaming father rushing in to see the little miracles that had come into his life. The naming ceremony that followed was traditional for a Rilan, the priestess meditating on each child, bringing her mind into Silmorne to seek the true name of each child so they might be protected against its abuse. It never was meant to be a long ceremony, true names tended to be easy to find for a priestess as old as the one that traveled with them, and she did indeed find the names easily…or so she thought at first. An oddity occurred, however, as more names appeared. Surprised, she informed the parents of the occurrence and turned to the Force (“The Winds” in Rilan culture) to see what the correct choice might be. Twisted and shrouded paths she saw for the children, woven with many possibilities and many outcomes…this was the reason for the multitude of names she decided and returned once more to Silmorne with the knowledge she had gathered. There, before the great tree that stood as a beacon of life, knowledge, and hope to her people, she searched once more for the names of the children…first Latus, who she found the name for easily this time…then Talau. For some reason the little girl was much more difficult to name, even with the knowledge she had gleaned through the Winds. The priestess searched the tree, meditated beside it, for what felt like hours in the timeless place, until finally, a single flower fell from the tree coming to rest lightly in her lap. Taking the silvery flower in her weathered hand, she gazed at it intently. The flowers that grew on the tree were commonly called Star’s Fire because of their silvery petals that glistened like stars in the moonlight…and so she knew the name of the girl: Elennar. With both children now having their true names, the family settled in for their first night together. Broken Family A routine settled into the household once more after the birth of the twins, Ronan worked in the fields during the day while Jorlia and the priestess watched the babies, and in the evening when he would return he would watch the children while Jorlia would cook, and by that time it was dark enough to sleep. This routine lasted for nearly a year with only minor deviations, and the two children were more than happy. It was already obvious that the two had inherited force abilities from their parents and would need training when they were older, which they would receive from their parents and the priestess…this, however, was never to be. Several days after their first birthday, the crawling and precocious twins were playing in their room together. Jorlia was cooking, and Ronan was fixing a broken plow behind the house as the priestess kept an eye on the room with the twins. It happened swiftly, and even for the force using family there was no time to prepare. Ronan was the first to feel the attack coming…hurrying inside he informed the others. The priestess, old as she was, knew she wouldn’t be of much help and so she told Jorlia and Ronan to go to the capital city of Tecave not far away and to seek the help of the jedi if they could. Taking the babies, Jorlia and Ronan split up and ran for their lives as their home burned an angry orange behind them. They knew they stood a better chance apart, the assassin couldn’t chase both of them at once after all, and so Ronan took Latus and Jorlia took Talau with the agreement that they would meet up at the Council of Elders in the Capital. Running through the inky night, Ronan called on the force to give him speed and reached the city by noon the next day. Arriving on the outskirts of the city, the assassin was not far behind him. It was here that he met several ‘outsiders’ who had just come from the city, requesting permission to stay on the planet. The couple was his only hope at the moment and so he begged them to take his son. He couldn’t be caught with the boy. Stunned and uncertain, the couple agreed…it was obvious the man was desperate. Without a clue as to what to do next, the humans went on their way unknowing that only minutes later, the boy’s father was murdered. Jorlia had arrived at the Council of Elders building as Ronan reached the edge of the city, the run having taxed the woman mentally and physically, the drain on her body weakening her. As she ran up the steps, she handed Talau to a baffled Cerean man as she begged him to make sure that her daughter reached the Jedi Order. At first the man protested, he wanted nothing to do with the outside worlds or the Jedi, but seeing the terrified woman and her persistent pleading, he finally agreed. As he trudged back into the Council building, he turned his head as he heard the strangled cry of the woman he’d just spoken to and watched her fall to the steps below the shadowy figure standing over her before it blurred and was gone once more, like a phantom from a nightmare. Path of a Youngling It didn’t take much to convince the Council of Elders to send the child away to Coruscant as her mother had wished…after all, the child was a danger if her mother had been hunted down and killed on their very steps, so why should she be kept on the planet? It also didn’t take much time to get the child to the planet. A skilled pilot had been hired from one of the Outsider Citadels to take the baby there and so she had arrived on the planet, and later on the jedi temple, without much incident. The council at the time wasn’t entirely unknowledgeable about the race, and the information that had been passed along with the child…from mother, to Cerean, to pilot, and then to the Council…was enough for some of the more learned members to guess what had happened. It was also more than obvious that the child had force abilities seeing as she constantly projected her confusion and images of her family and was responsive to the images that various council members projected to her in return. It was something Talau was familiar with from her parents and so she readily participated in the ‘game’ they played with her. Taking the child under their collective wing, Talau was sent to live with the caretakers of the jedi order. It was here that the youngest of the younglings lived and were cared for until they were old enough to start youngling training. The toddler flourished in this environment, swiftly and easily making friends, one of the first being a boy her own age by the name of Ryndark…Ryn Sundar. The girl often searched out Ryn as a play mate and was often found broadcasting her thoughts to the boy in the forms of pictures and emotions as opposed to speaking. By the age of four, the little girl was attempting to mimic the older children as they, in turn, attempted to mimic the younglings. At age five, she was finally allowed to begin her training as a youngling. Assigned to the Wolf Clan, Talau found herself separated from many of her former friends. The change was saddening to the little girl, but she managed. The strange newness of the lessons she was being taught kept her mind occupied during much of the day, and though she was often seen as shy and withdrawn, she often answered questions the instructor asked with a raised hand and a broadcast thought. Grasping concepts and putting them to practice often came easy to the little girl, and though she was often silent in classes, making other younglings wonder (both aloud and silently) if she could speak at all, Talau didn’t seem to care much. Only her eyes betrayed the sadness when, after classes, she would be made fun of for her silence, turning an unhappy grey. It was after classes that the youngling did much of her learning, often spending time in the library reading or in various places in the Temple meditating just so she could “get a feel” for that part of the building. A year into her youngling training, she ran across an old friend. Ryn had joined the Soaring Hawkbats clan it seemed and so now, finally, she knew where to find him. From that point, the little girl appeared much happier in and out of classes. She was still just as quiet as ever, but there was something decidedly more outgoing about her. Talau often questioned Ryn about what they were learning in his Clan to see how it might compare to what she was learning. Often times they would have decent conversations about the lessons, both gaining insights from the other teacher that they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. When it came to sense, however, it seemed that while Talau excelled, Ryn had a bit more difficulty. Wanting her friend to succeed as well, she would prod the shy boy into ‘games’ where they would go walking down the halls, one of them with their eyes closed and the other’s open. This would make the one with their eyes closed have to feel the force to keep from running into anyone or anything. Of course, the fail safe was the person with their eyes open, just to keep their partner out of trouble. Needless to say, they found trouble anyway, more often than not accidentally running into someone or other as they moved along. Another ‘game’ she tried to convince Ryn into playing was hide and seek. One or the other of them would hide and the other would have to find them using the force to lead them. This was considerably more safe, and by far more fun. Whether it helped Ryn or not Talau couldn’t say, but it certainly helped her. She’d always been more adept at sense and telepathy, but these ‘games’ helped hone her skills far faster than the meditating their teacher required. This didn’t mean that she neglected her meditations, far from it seeing as she meditated for an hour or more each night (much to the amusement of the others in her clan), but meditating was only interesting to a certain point. While away from her friend Ryn, she often spoke to one of the boys in her clan, Latus…a boy she felt an odd connection with. The two seemed to have much in common, from their changing eye color, to their earlier memories…it never connected for the little girl, however, that he might, in fact, be her brother. When the others in her clan started making fun of her changing eye color because of its strangeness, Latus was there to back her up. His eyes changed also, so why should they not have each other’s backs? During training, if she needed a sparring partner, it would be him. This routine of classes, training, and friends kept the little girl bright and happy. The happier she was, the more outgoing she was and the more she wanted to help others around her. Her ability to sense the connections of others and their emotions and troubles had her spending more and more time trying to help those she could. One day, not long before her eighth birthday, Talau came across a Shistavanen knight in the gardens. Shoal Torin had been recently injured on a mission, and so he was staying here in the temple while he recovered. His people healed swiftly on their own, but the injury still pained him, and this was what drew Talau to him as he meditated quietly. Clever honey eyes searched the wolf-like jedi for where he might be hurt, unknowing that the jedi she was studying was studying her in return. She could almost see the injury burning an angry red through the deep green aura that coated his side and back as he sat there, grimacing slightly at a new wave of pain. Cautiously approaching the knight, she would pause every few steps, uncertain about the dangerous looking knight, but Shoal was calm and patient, allowing the girl to take her time. Finally, once she gathered the courage to come up beside him, she knelt down beside him where his injury was and gazed at the area intently. Though she couldn’t physically see the injury, or even the bandages that covered it, she could feel it through the force, and she could feel the pain it caused him. Talau wanted nothing more than to ease the pain he was feeling and make the troubling injury go away…in this desire, she almost subconsciously reached out toward the wound, willing it to go away. She knew how skin was supposed to look, she didn’t know how deep the injury went, but she could at least try to make the skin return to normal. After several moments of pondering the problem of how to make what she wanted to happen actually happen, she focused on the force that resided in and around the skin and attempting to ‘convince it’ to make the skin return to normal. It wasn’t entirely successful...it wasn't even that good...but the skin did, in fact, manage to mend a bit under her will. Surprised at the amount of success the youngling had, and pleased by the courage and spirit that she showed in approaching him despite her fear and uncertainty because of his appearance, Shoal finally opened his eyes and gave her a closed mouthed smile and radiated his gratitude toward the girl. Path of the Padawan Over the next two weeks, Shoal and Talau spoke more and more often. They were seen often eating in each other’s company during meal times and after her classes as he continued to ‘heal’. Talau attached herself easily to the knight, finding his calm, even, presence comforting even if she’d had a difficult day in her lessons. Finding him one day in the saber training rooms, she watched as she saw a new side of the Shistav knight…his acrobatic movements and the swift series of parries and thrusts showing a new, and more deadly, side of the knight to the wide eyed youngling. His green aura flared brilliantly as the fiery spirit within him came to the surface as he fought off his invisible enemies. The other younglings that had been in the room and all stopped their training to watch, backing against the walls or getting closer to each other in their nervousness and uncertainty (some even fearful). He never drew even remotely close to them, but for some reason they acted as if he were going to attack them at any moment. Even as he finished his acrobatic routine and stood panting, gazing at the frightened children, Talau could feel the sadness from him. It was their fear of him, his wild form, that made him sad…and so, even as his golden saber flickered out, she approached him, still a little cautious, but not fearful. He was a good person no matter what he looked like, and he was sad that others were afraid of him because of how he looked…she had to show him that she wasn’t afraid of him. Besides, everyone needed SOMEONE to believe in them, right? The other younglings in the room held their collective breath as she neared the wolfish jedi. Pointed ears folded back as she came closer, and as she rested her hand on his arm his eyes closed and he smiled slightly as he thanked her. The next day he told that he was going to be leaving the temple once more to continue the duties of a jedi. This saddened the eight year old, but she accepted this information as best as she could. Secretly she’d been hoping that Shoal would see her fit enough to take as a padawan, but that obviously wasn’t what the force had in store for her, and so she tried to let go of her hopes. When he asked what was wrong, she didn’t lie, telling him of her hope and he smiled broadly. He had indeed planned on taking her as his padawan. That day she was taken by him to the council chambers and with the acceptance of the council, she became his padawan. The years following this event were full, and passed swiftly for the girl as she assisted Shoal on his missions. Her learning never ceased, and she absorbed all she could, much like a sponge. At first the missions were easy, diplomatic assignments to various planets, settling rivalries among different factions and peoples. However, Shoal was a guardian and so, as her skills increased, so did the difficulty of the missions, sending them to the outer rim territories where the Sith Empire held the most ground, or searching out grey jedi to retrieve their sabers. Fighting the darkness had always been Shoal’s drive, and so (obviously), his missions inevitably leaned toward the danger filled. The few times they returned to the temple, Talau was certain to search out her friends Ryn and Latus, often sparring with them, or simply exchange stories. Talau was easily mastering Shii-Cho, the movements becoming second nature as she molded them into her use of her sense to outwit what few enemies they might come across. Seeing that his padawan had a good grip on the first form, he began imparting his knowledge of Ataru on his pupil. She seemed well suited to this form, her slender body making it easier for her to perform the acrobatic movements required. Despite her ability to use the force to enhance her movements, Shoal was adamant that she practice the basic movements without use of the force, driving his student to limber up her body and build the muscles needed. This way, he told her, she would better know her limits and the limits of her opponents with and without the force…it would give her extra strength and agility when combined with the force, and she would be able to rely more on her speed to enhance her movements rather than to rely heavily on the more cumbersome jump ability. If Talau considered Shoal anything other than a master and friend by this point, it would be a drill sergeant. With this knowledge and the drive to excel so she could keep up with Shoal on their missions, Talau could often be seen in the temple saber training rooms practicing on the mats without her saber lit. She would utilize every space she came across, be it floor or wall, to practice her movements. Her blurred form would often flip, roll, and dart about the mats or up a wall to twist away from a striking enemy. If she wasn’t practicing her movements here with Ryn, Latus, or Shoal, she might be running the Art of Movement course with one of them, or another padawan she’d met named Remiel (who seemed to love the course) as she strove to outdo unseen opponents. Seeing that his padawan strove to avoid confrontation, and thus injury, of her opponents, Shoal also began to teach her Broken Gate martial arts. With this she learned to disarm and subdue her opponent with at little damage done to him as possible…but he wouldn’t neglect her saber training. Talau was getting to the age where the council was going to start sending them out after dark jedi, and she would need to be prepared to combat another saber wielder. This was where Shoal’s knowledge of Makashi came into play. The elegant and precise form of Makashi was built for saber to saber combat, he had informed her, and few practiced it these days due to the proliferation of blasters and long range weapons. It also guarded against the largest goal of Shii-Cho…disarming an opponent. By now, he informed her, she had a good handle on the extreme movements of Ataru and so she knew how to watch body language that was broadcast loudly, she was making leaps and bounds in disarming and subduing an opponent as large as himself which was no simple task, and she already had honed her sense and telepathy well past others her age because of her natural strength in them…however, she had little defense when it came to the smaller, more subtle movements, that an adversary might make. She had stamina, he said, but she would tire eventually against an opponent who knew Makashi. Disbelieving, Talau had brushed his words aside as he challenged her to a duel. Keeping with the now comfortable Ataru form, she attempted to batter away at Shoal’s Makashi defenses. Fluid movements and minimal effort from the Shistavanen found the teen tiring sooner rather than later. Frustrated, she tried every trick she could think of to distract or confuse her master and make an opening for herself. At every turn she was thwarted by his swift and flowing motions. Finally admitting defeat, the rilan girl panted and shook as she took her master’s words to heart. It was true…she was easily battered away by the easily defensible motions of Makashi which were difficult to read due to their small motions. With his student now willing to accept what he had said, it was time to start her training in the form. The first thing he had her do? Meditate. When she asked why, he told her that, unlike the other forms, Makashi required intense focus. One had to anticipate attacks, keep the proper distance from their opponent, and still be able to manipulate the world around them to better their chances in the fight. She needed more focus and so she needed to practice her meditation. With this in mind, the teen had gone about her task. When possible, she meditated in the loudest places she could find. The great entrance hall, the dining hall, while they were on missions, every chance she got she meditated…but still he wouldn’t teach her more. Confused as to why, she moved past her focus on meditation. She started to apply her focus on everything she did. During her visits to the practiced healers in the medical ward at the temple, she worked single mindedly, focusing intently on everything they had to share with her. During her form practice with Shoal or sparring matches with her friends, she focused on their movements until she could almost read their movements just by sight and without using the force…though she never neglected its warnings. While practicing her telekinetics, she focused twice as hard. She’d never been as good at those particular abilities as she was at healing, and certainly not telepathic or sensory. Seeing the change in his padawan’s thinking, Shoal finally began to teach Talau the Makashi form. The Guardian and the Sentinel As the years drew on, Shoal’s focus on her fighting abilities molded Talau into the beginnings of a strong and able Guardian for the jedi order, however, the Shistav male knew that this kind of life was not what his student was meant for. She had abilities in the force settled in areas that he was not strong in. Approaching one of the masters about the situation, he was given the suggestion that he have her seek out other knights or masters that could tutor her in her strengths while they were at the temple between missions. Wishing for Talau to excel, he spoke at length to several of his friends. Talau’s sense skills were already well honed, better than some of the knights he knew, and since he had taken her as his padawan nearly 8 years ago (the young woman was 16 now, after all) he had been adamant that she visit the medical wing and the healers every chance she got while they were at the temple…so her healing abilities were in good hands…but she showed great promise in her telepathic abilities. Yes, he had taught her what he could; yes, she sought to learn more and practice more on her own, but she needed a better teacher. With this in mind, he instructed his padawan to remain at the temple for the duration of one mission and learn what she could from his old master, a human named Gregory Toth. Baffled and more than a bit hurt that Shoal would not allow her to accompany him on his mission, Talau was left at the temple with specific instructions: Practice forms, meditate daily, continue her assistance of the temple healers, and follow Master Toth’s instructions. To say the padawan was not happy would have been an understatement, but she bowed to her master’s wishes. Unfortunately, Shoal didn’t tell her HOW or WHERE to find Master Toth. That first day, the Rilan padawan found herself feeling alone and bereft…not to mention a tad bit irritated. She set about starting a daily routine that she would keep well into her knighthood. Deciding she needed to exorcise the unpleasant emotions, Talau had headed for the training rooms. It was here that she found Ryn. Surprised, and more than a bit pleased, to see her old friend, she challenged him to a sparring match. Considering her training as a guardian thus far, Talau decently matched the taller padawan in their knowledge of Ataru…Talau, however, had begun extensive training in what was turning into her preferred form, Makashi. Reading the subtle nuances of others in battle fit excellently with her Sense and Telepathic abilities, thus giving her the upper hand in that particular form. As it was, however, Talau started the spar with her original Ataru form. When Ryn, who had continued training diligently in Ataru, began to outdo her, the teen changed tactics. He would easily wear her out if she continued in Ataru, but now that she was considerably stronger in Makashi than her foe, she hoped to turn the tide and wear him down. Ryn battered at her defenses for what seemed like an eternity, but Talau used her knowledge of the form he used as well as her strong sense abilities and keen eyes to read the other padawan’s intentions, effectively blocking him time and again, or evading his strikes all together. After nearly fifteen minutes of this cat and mouse game she had begun playing with Ryn, the two managed to get grips on each other’s lightsabers, pulling them from their opponent’s grip with the force. Momentarily baffled by the happenings, the two seemed to unanimously decide to forgo retrieving their respective weapons and collided in a blur of force speed. In hind sight, Talau realized that she likely shouldn’t have tried this kind of approach…especially considering her opponent was considerably larger, more muscular, and more well versed in Broken Gate than she was…however, the feisty young woman didn’t take this into consideration until it was too late. After several moments of battering away at each others defenses with hand to hand, Talau’s senses alerted her to the fact that Ryn was just getting her into a position more favorable to his strengths. It was too late. With a rush of air, the brunette lost sight of Ryn for a moment before her feet were swept out from under her and she was falling backward onto the mats, too stunned to react. In seconds she found herself pinned and entangled in more joint locks than she cared to admit. Of course, she struggled for a moment, attempting to get out from under her friend’s oppression and taunting him the entire time…but…after a little while Talau finally gave up and flopped back against the mat once again, panting and grinning. Only then did the two seem to realize just how tangled up they were in each other. The air was thick around them with previously unknown emotions that made Talau’s senses tingle and set her on edge. She could feel a new sort of heat rising in her cheeks as she looked up from out of swirling purple, blue and green eyes at her long time friend and before she knew what had happened, or how, their lips were pressed together. Uncertain of if she should have actually be enjoying the sensation of the kiss like she had, the 16 year old could only blink in confusion and surprise as Ryn swiftly disentangled himself from her and swept from the room, calling his saber to his hand as he did. All Talau could do was lay there, stunned once again, and try to sort out her thoughts and emotions. Over the next week she did, indeed, succeed in finding Gregory Toth, and settled into a routine of regular telepathic training with him as well as following Shoal’s instructions, however, she was feeling more and more demoralized. Already struggling with her confidence and self worth because of Shoal’s choice to leave her behind, but she also faced mounting frustration with the exorcizes Master Toth was appointing her. The last, but by far not the least, of her struggle was the hurt caused by Ryn’s avoidance of her. Latus, the one she tended to talk to most about her feelings (despite his regular teasing of her), was away with his own master, so not only was she feeling a growing stress, but also facing a type of almost stifling loneliness. As she continued to struggle to focus her attention on her daily training and the time she spent with Toth, Talau found herself turning more and more inward, withdrawing slowly into herself as she sought out answers to quell her inner turmoil. Having sensed her frustration and hurt, Ryn finally approached the teen and, after a long conversation in private, the two finally admitted to having feelings for each other. It’s amazing what one conversation, one revelation, can do for a person’s morale…how it can affect one person so profoundly. Talau was not above being in this category. She didn’t understand why it was that just knowing he cared for her as more than a friend or brother gave her such a boost of will power and happiness, but it did…and she didn’t fight it. Even Toth noticed the change in the young woman’s temperament, and when he asked, she told him simply that she felt less alone now that one of her closest friends was speaking to her again. It both was, and wasn’t, a lie…but either way, he didn’t question it. As time went on, and one week turned into two, and two weeks became a month, Talau not only began to excel in her telepathic abilities, but also found that she was beginning to pick up habits and traits from Master Toth. The Sentinel master was far different from the Guardian Shoal was. He would often say something that would sound simple, but had a far deeper meaning, when Shoal would have been blunt about his thoughts. Toth’s routine was constantly changing, a far cry from the structured regimen Shoal called daily life. When Toth presented Talau with a problem or situation, he encouraged her to thing abstractly…to find subtle ways around the problem…when Shoal did this, he took a ‘find the swiftest way in, even if that means cutting your way in’ view point. Upon realizing these differences, Talau found that she preferred Toth’s methods and abstract thinking to Shoal’s narrow and straight forward thought process, and she easily started to adapt to the new style. Talau was swiftly beginning to follow the path of the Sentinel. The Calm Before the Storm Shoal returned after nearly a month and a half away, and Talau found herself with mixed feelings about her returning to the strict lifestyle Shoal led. Latus had just returned, and Ryn had already left again…but she had grown accustomed to the ever changing life of a jedi. They weren’t exactly the ‘stay at home’ types, after all, and soon enough she and Shoal had a new mission to attend to. On their way once again, Talau found herself and her new way of thinking rubbing Shoal the wrong way and the two began to butt heads. Despite this, Tal was a dutiful padawan and bent to her master’s will. If he’d lived this long as a guardian, he had to be doing SOMETHING right after all…and she could stand to learn from it. The training in her forms continued as always on their way to Kashyyyk to see to the seemingly never ending slavers that attacked the wookiee natives, and she continued the practices in her telepathy alone whenever time permitted. When the two arrived on the jungle planet, Talau was almost immediately ill at ease. There was a sort of stifling ‘thickness’ to the force that warned her of danger, but Shoal assured her that the danger she felt was from the animals that inhabited the planet. This answer didn’t sit well with the padawan, but she didn’t press the issue further. The two traveled through the forest planet until they reached the wookiee city that was the center of the trouble. When they arrived, the two were confronted with a group that was not just slavers, but also madalorians…or at least the majority of them were. The ‘attempt’ at negotiations, if it could be called that, was short. Handled mainly by Shoal this wasn’t surprising, but it left a bitter taste in Talau’s mouth at how it was dealt with. In the fight that followed, Tal found that, while she was able to fend off the slavers in melee combat, the blasters they used against her posed a problem. She could only block some of them, but the majority slipped through her defenses stinging along her skin or barely avoided as they whizzed by her. The realization came swiftly and so she changed tactics, reaching deeper into the force with her senses and searching out the weaker minds of the slaver group. With the combination, she found it far easier to avoid their blaster shots and speed in to disarm and disable them. After a fight that felt as if it lasted for hours, the two jedi managed to subdue or send the members of the slaver group fleeing for their lives. Freeing the captive wookiees, master and padawan were on their way back to the temple once more. Approaching Shoal about her concern with the blasters, he agreed to begin teaching her Shien. While he was well versed in both Shien and Djem So, Shoal instructed the girl that Djem So required far more strength and brute force than she had, Shien was her best bet. The 16 year old was hard pressed, by now, to keep up with her master’s grueling saber training as well as her own practices in telepathy, but she refused to give up. On her 18th birthday, however, Talau discovered something…odd. It hadn’t been unlike any other day in the temple, to be honest. Shoal and herself were between missions and she had “decided” (translate as: Shoal had ordered her) to spend her time in the training rooms. She was SICK of training rooms, Shoal had her in them almost constantly when they were at the temple, and if she wasn’t there, she was with Master Toth working on her Telepathy, and if she wasn’t THERE, she was in the library trying desperately to learn something, anything, about just WHAT she was. It was obvious to her, by now, that she WASN’T human…but no one could really tell her just what she WAS either. After Shoal’s typical growling at her in Shistavanen during saber training, and Toth’s mental battering, the young woman gave up on the library idea and headed to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. What her battered mind and body…and soul…needed right now was some relaxation. After all, constantly feeling like one is cramming for an exam burns a person out fast, and in the life of a jedi…that was the last thing she could afford to do. As she had entered the garden, the force called to her oddly. There was something, someone, important to her in the large space. Multi-colored eyes scanned the room as she reached out with her senses to see if she could discern just which person here (of the few there were) was the one she needed to speak to. Compelled to move in the direction of a shaded figure under a large tree, the young woman approached the figure much as she had approached Shoal before she became his apprentice: with a mixture of wary curiosity and anticipation. She settled herself down silently beside the hooded and cloaked figure, first eyeing the multi-colored aura, then, after a little while, closing her eyes and probing the person through the force. After what felt like hours, and the (surprisingly patient) padawan was finally beginning to grow tired of waiting, the woman spoke. During the conversation, and much to Talau’s surprise, the jedi master (Seriaphi Llvaarsshah) immediately pinpointed the one thing she’d been searching for for years…her race. Now, finally, the young woman was able to call herself Rilan…and what was more, it seemed the woman knew about her family…her heritage. From that point, Seriaphi (Seri) agreed to teach Talau all she could about the Rilan. Ryn, as always, was supportive of her decision…but he was concerned about the heavy workload his love was put through. With this in mind, he offered to help her study when ever he could, especially about the Rilan. Talau assured him, however, that she could handle the stress of the constant studying and practicing Shoal, Toth, and Seri put her through. Shoal and Toth were not ignorant to Talau and Ryn’s affection for each other, and so they had purposefully placed the heavy load on the girl to not only strengthen and teach her, but to allow her less time with Ryn should she become too attached. They didn’t, however, plan on them using the studying and practicing as time to be together…and so, even with the constant training and missions, the young relationship grew. At 19 the two agreed that they would leave the Jedi Order to be together as soon as they became knights. Death and Life Not long after they made this pact Shoal and Talau were sent on yet another mission…this time to Carida. There was word of possible dark jedi on the planet and so it was their job to sort out the matter. As usual, the two headed to the planet and poked around. As time went on, Talau became more and more uncomfortable with the situation until, finally, they found the one clue they’d been looking for. Stopping Shoal she warned him that the two dark jedi had become far more powerful than they had been before, that the two were expecting them…prepared for them…and that she felt something very wrong was about to happen if they proceeded now. Shoal wasn’t willing to wait. Upon entering, the two found former comrades…Aeron and Lopa, Ryn’s former friend and his twi’lek master. It didn’t take long for them to goad Shoal into a fight and though he was large and skilled, and Talau was clever and swift, the two (Aeron and Lopa) were a wily team. With the strength of their emotions and their general disregard for the lives of the two jedi fighting them, Lopa wore Shoal down enough for Aeron to turn from his fight with Talau and stab the knight through the back before he could sense the strike coming. Shoal, now fatally injured, could only blink in horror several times as he realized his padawan had been right, and now she would be alone at the mercy of these two dark jedi. Even as the Shistavanen fell, Lopa and Aeron turned on Talau…if the master was dead, the padawan would soon follow. At least, that was their thinking…the rilan woman, however, had other ideas. Between the grief and her anger at the situation, the young woman saw only a haze of red as her former jedi colleagues attacked with a battering of lightsabers and force powers, putting the padawan on the defensive and attempt to avoid or block anything they threw at her. Aeron she managed to fend off and remove from the battle; the last thing he saw, as she broke his mental barriers and forced him into unconsciousness, being the shade of her skin slowly turning to gold as the back of her tunic bulged oddly. Lopa, on the other hand, was able to injure Talau easily once the twi’lek got over the shock of seeing the beginnings of the painful Rilan transformation process. Already in pain, and knowing she was in danger, the padawan had been surprised by a vast amount of internal pain. Her bones felt as if they were on fire as their density began to shift to form the bones of wings that began to protrude from her back. Her skin tingled and stung as the pigment shifted to a lustrous golden hue. She could feel her hair changing, forming and stiffening into a lion-like mane that hung over her shoulders and down her back gracefully. The structure of her face shifted uncomfortably, and then she felt a new rush of energy coursing through her…she could feel the force flowing more easily through her body as a radiant glow surrounded her body, swirling with purple, green and silver over a field of blue. It had taken only the span of 30 seconds. Angled eyes narrowed dangerously at the twi’lek woman who had so recently injured her (again), barely missing it having been a fatal blow as Talau sidestepped and brought her saber up enough to deflect most of the damage. From there Talau remembered very little…flashes of red, anger, sorrow, she knew she was doing things…horrible things…anything to stay alive at this point…but that was about all she could possibly remember afterward. She wouldn't remember breaking Lopa's mental barriers, she wouldn't remember using the twi'lek's deepest fears against her, she wouldn't remember the horror Lopa felt just before the dark jedi grabbed her padawan and left. When she finally came back to herself Lopa and Aeron were gone, she was injured…saber wounds along her sides, arms, legs…feathers had been pulled from her wings making them burn and itch and bleed…numerous cuts, scratches and bruises along her skin and face…and her master, Shoal, dead. Her first priority was to contact the council…they needed to know what had happened. With this in mind, the injured (and ‘human’ once more) padawan limped her way back to where their ship had been. As the force seemed to be enjoying its torment of the distraught follower of its ways…their ship was gone, presumably taken by Lopa in her escape with Aeron. The only thing she could do was to find her own way back to the temple and tell the council that way. With the credits she had left, she arranged for Shoal’s body to be transported directly to the temple as she booked transport on a civilian line. After nearly a month on one transport or another, she finally found herself back at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. It was decided, then, that she would continue her tutelage under Master Toth. What the young woman didn’t know, was that the Council also recognized her passage of three of the four trials…only the Trial of Spirit remained. Trial of Spirit Toth…was an odd teacher compared to Shoal. Instead of her natural training regime of saber practice and telepathy practice, it was languages and studying about the Rilan and missions…mainly languages and missions. Creativity was in high demand while accompanying Toth. Most missions required them to blend in, or find creative solutions to problems, or seek out criminals who were more crafty than most. Every opportunity Toth got to take a mission, he took it. This was unfortunate for the young woman and her secret lover. Since Shoal’s body returned to the temple nearly a month before Talau herself did, Ryn found himself in denial of the situation. If Shoal had come back dead, it was fairly likely that his padawan was also deceased. As the weeks went on he had come to accept her death, but once she had returned…each parting became more and more difficult for the pair of them. As her 19th year turned into her 20th, and then 21st, Talau slowly began to accept the partings more and more easily. Ryn helped her study whenever they were both at the temple, making the new work load easier on her and allowing them to spend more time with each other as well as absorb the various languages Toth and Seri piled upon the Rilan woman. She slowly healed the emotional wounds from her master’s death, and she often meditated on what she had done during the fight against Aeron and Lopa…hoping to remember something, anything. During one of these meditations Talau had a disturbing premonition…she would fall to the dark side, or so it seemed. She was with a being she could only describe as a dark jedi and the two were encroaching upon a third figure with intent to kill. So disturbed was she at the vision that she immediately went to see Toth about it, and after he dismissed her, telling her it was a warning of what her future could hold if she allowed herself to become blinded by her emotions as she did when Shoal died, the young woman went to find Ryn. While she didn’t tell him the nature of the vision, she brought into question her own actions and the concern they caused her. Aside from just bad memories, she had brought back several of the feathers from her fight, she didn’t know why at the time, but she had felt the distinct urge to gather the primaries that had been forcibly removed from her wings and bring them back to the temple. In her 21st year, she finally decided. The first feather she gave to Seri, the one who had taught her most about her people, including the Rilan technique she was using to create her new lightsaber. The second, she asked Seri to manipulate with Art of the Small, making it more durable to daily wear and tear. This feather she had something special planned for. The other two she asked Seri to shrink in size, the 1 ¼ ft long feathers a bit unmanageable in their current length. Now, at about half their original size, one was given to Latus and the other to Remiel, both of whom were Rilan and close friends of hers. The decision was smiled upon by Seri as she explained giving a feather was shown as a form of deep attachment to another individual or gratitude. With this in mind, she set about creating something with the last feather. The materials for her project were easy enough to find, leather at long as the feather and wide enough to wrap around a belt strap, tools and thin gold color wire to attach the feather to the leather, and patience. The final product was an item that could be slipped onto a standard sized belt as decoration, her feather attached and with simplistic and understated stamping in the Rilan language “Love Is Eternal.” This last gift she gave to Ryn. It wasn’t long after this that the lightsaber she’d been working on for nearly two years was finally in the last stages of its creation. For nearly two full days the nearly 22 year old woman secluded herself in her room as she meditated over her the creation. Parts hovered around her endlessly as she settled the delicate pieces into their proper order, bound them together, powered them, attuned them to her signature, reinforced the binding of the twin crystals, making certain that they were fitted properly with each other, and aligning the lenses to focus the beam. At the end of her meditation Talau emerged tired, hungry, and thirsty, but the saber that she now had was so far her greatest accomplishment. She’d managed to make it through her personal trial, and Toth appeared only moment after she emerged to whisk her off to the Council Chambers. Baffled, she followed silently into the circular room. Her confusion mounted as they began naming off the trials and their fulfillments. The Trial of Skill had been fulfilled by her battle against Aeron and Lopa, her skill with both saber and force abilities having been enough to keep her alive even against two enemies. The Trial of the Flesh had been fulfilled by not only the physical pain she’d endured during the battle, but also the loss of her master, they felt she had dealt with her pain and sorrow well as she looked both inward and spoke to others about the hardship. The Trial of Courage had been passed with flying colors as she had faced down the killers of her master as well as a former friend. The Trial of Spirit had been passed shortly after her return to the temple as she had reflected upon the time of the battle she couldn’t remember…the warning the vision had given her had been taken to heart and they felt she had learned from it. The personal trial she had set herself in the making of her second saber only enhanced their belief that she was ready for knighthood. The next evening Talau was taken to the Hall of Knighthood and her padawan braid removed. Seri had also known about the knighting. Earlier that week she had requested the Council give the young knight the symbol of her people...the glass pendant she now wears. Seri 'forgot' to mention, however, just what that symbol meant. The council accepted the request...after all, the Togruta were allowed their head dresses as symbols of their people, why not one glass necklace? The knight wouldn't know it was her mother's so there was no harm in it. Seri, however, told Talau just what it meant, and whos it had been. The Shadow It was only a few months after her knighting that Talau turned 22, and with her 2nd saber had begun training in Jar-Kai. She knew Ryn was headed off to fight Aeron and Lopa with his own master, and she hoped he had better luck than she did (if a jedi could believe in luck anyway). Her first mission was fairly simple…at least in theory. The Council felt that she would do well as a Shadow, and so her job was to ferret out the source of a disturbance on Corulag, Ryn’s home world. Given free reign over the mission, Talau was, at first, a bit uncertain as to where exactly she should start looking…aside from the planet itself…that, of course, was a given. Once she arrived on Corulag, however, it wasn’t difficult for the young knight to pick up the trail of the disturbance. Under Toth, she had learned to hide her presence in the force, to dim it down until she appeared to be almost as force sensitive as a rock. Between this concealment and the fact that she had removed her jedi robes, donning civilian clothing instead, it wasn’t difficult for the young woman to immerse herself into the city life and find her way to the source of the problem. The dark jedi that had been slowly forming a coalition of other force sensitive criminals wasn’t difficult for her to find once she knew what was going on…nor was he difficult to take care of. His friends, however, caused a bit more of a problem. They weren’t trained in the force, most of them, but there were certainly more of them than there were of her. It wasn’t hard for her to incapacitate the majority of them, she’d been working on her Broken Gate again and it helped to put them down without injuring them too badly. Between this and the smoke grenade she had used, Talau escaped easily, calling the authorities to clean up the criminals she had left for them. She was anxious to get back to the temple, however, since while on Corulag she had felt something disturbing from him. Great amounts of pain had crept through the bond they shared and she didn’t know what was wrong. Upon returning, she found that Ryn’s master, Aeron, and Lopa were dead. Concerned, the woman tried to get Ryn to talk about what had happened, about what she had felt from him on Corulag, but he never said much on the topic and she had never been one to press people to talk about their pain. If and when they wanted to talk, they would, but that gnawing pain he carried around…it transferred easily to her and she felt anxious and ill at ease. Ryn was knighted soon after and so all they needed to do was find a time long enough for them to be together to actually talk about leaving the Order and begin to get a new life prepared. Many of her missions were this way…she would leave the temple, be gone for a month or two at a time, and return to Ryn. She still studied with Seri every chance she got, but there wasn’t much time now as she began preparing for a life outside of the Temple. It was more difficult than she imagined, though it was considerably easier for her than Ryn. She could hide her talent, often preferred to wear civilian clothing, her belt, boots, sabers (which were often hidden beneath a coat), and a shield pendant with the Order’s insignia emblazoned on it (which she kept tucked into her top) the only things that could give her away as a jedi. In this manner, while on missions, she would often take on the role of someone looking for a job as she searched for her quarries…as well as the added bonus of actually searching out potential jobs. Vanished This went on until she was nearly 24 years old when she was sent on a diplomatic mission to Haruun Kal. Tensions between the Korunnai and the Balawai were at an all time high ((rhyme not intentional)) and there had been talk that peace talks between the two were being manipulated. It was her job to see that they weren’t. This mission called for her to stick to her jedi robes, to make herself as visible as possible as a member of the jedi, though she felt it to be the wrong approach. Nevertheless, she had her mandates and so she followed them through. The ship the talks were to be held on was a neutral vessel from Corellia in orbit around the planet. Everything was to be as neutral as it could possibly get. Talau had a bad feeling about it. Even as she moved about the ship, checking the people as she passed by, uncomfortable with her visibility as a jedi. She didn’t let it get to her, however, as she kept a close eye on the diplomats. As tensions escalated between the two factions on the ship, she had her hands full keeping the diplomats calm and couldn’t sense the more immediate danger to the ship as a whole…not until it was too late. The ship had been rigged to self destruct by one of the “crew members” aboard. Talau “happened” upon the woman as the “crew member” headed to the escape pods and only then found out that the ship was rigged to explode. Thinking swiftly, the rilan knocked the offender out and called the security to evacuate the ship as swiftly as possible. The ambassadors all escaped on the two diplomatic shuttles, the crew on the escape pods, and though she had tried to save the ship as well, it wasn’t possible and Talau was forced to escape as well. The explosion of the ship damaged her pod due to the proximity it was when the explosion happened and she was sent careening toward the planet below. In the subsequent crash she found herself injured badly and unable to do much other than attempt to heal herself in the wilds. The Korunnai and Balawai both attempted to find the jedi ambassador, but no trace could be found after the ship’s explosion and so she was pronounced dead and the information sent to the Jedi Order as well as the situation that had caused it. Ryn was heartbroken…he was blinded and then left the Order never knowing that she was still alive. Almost six months later she was finally on her way back to the temple. The Years of Turmoil Life wasn't kind, even after her return to the temple...but then, life is rarely kind to a jedi, much less to a shadow. Ryn had left with no sign to where he had gone and it pained her, her brother was missing and it pained her, she'd had to leave her friend (the akk hound) behind and it pained her, her friend Remiel had also left the order and it pained her....all of these wounds to her emotions and spirit ached and bled. So much was the same, but so much had changed in such a short time...it left her feeling even more unbalanced than she already was upon her return. Still, Talau managed to center herself enough to find an eager padawan in Vance Asano. Despite being a young jedi, Talau took him under her wing even as her friendship with Locke Nemsee and his padawan Jazen Solaris grew. There were adventures to the local electronics shop, expeditions to space wizard territory, good missions, bad missions and freezing cold missions to make a lightsaber or two. There were sentient droids and sith, and one particular dark jedi who wanted her head with another dark jedi who actually caught her and (for a while) broke her. There was flirting, there was fun, there was even a little romance...but there was also heartache and pain and madness...and in the end a few things were lost along the way. Important things, and important people....events that she had little to no control over that ripped her away from the ones she cared about and taught her the depths to which she could sink. Worst of all, she had failed her padawan. Twice. But through all the years her path led her ever closer to Rilia, her home world, and the strife and turmoil there...It was a path she always knew she would walk, but never quite foresaw how she would get there, until one day her boots touched the baked earth of the desert and the force led her to the feanturi. Here the struggle continued for seven long years as she did her best to hide who and what she was, but in the end it simply wasn't possible. After all, on a world where telepathy is almost second nature...how long can even the most skilled hide truth from the oldest and wisest? As her friend Remiel had leaned long before her, the blind there often saw the most. Ground was always being gained and being lost in this generations-long game of cat and mouse, but the mouse was getting smarter, and now they had knowledge from an order they had long ago parted ways with as a renewed sense of hope filtered through the ranks of desperate feanturi, and from them it was slowly starting to spread to the people of Rilia in whispers. But Talau knew...Winds always changed, and they were changing outside of Rilia just as they were changing within her. She would have to leave again to see if she could find more help out there, but in order to get that help, no doubt she would have to return to the Order she had left so unexpectedly (and unwillingly) when Chronos had taken her. She would have to return to the Republic and the Jedi and help the balance stabilize if she could, in order to get the help her own people desperately needed. ....and so once again she returned... ---Link to Original---

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