An Uncertain Future (open)

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[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

High Councilor Teer Ka walked through the corridors of the Jedi Temple in her usual brisk cadence, the heels of her boots making a precise click click click that was almost military. Similarly, her bearing was taken straight from the parade-ground, and the Togruta woman could easily have been a senior officer in the Republic military, if not for the humble brown robes she wore that revealed her true affiliation.

These were the same simple robes she'd worn every day as a Jedi Master, and now they were merely reserved as training robes; the garments she wore when instructing in the use of a lightsaber, or when exercising in various ways. And, of course, for travel.

Today she'd been instructing a group of young Knights in the ways of Ataru, and her brow was somewhat damp from the workout she'd put herself through. Luckily, the Jedi Temple had a full range of athletic facilities, including a pool and steam room, which she planned to avail herself of after gathering a change of clothes in her own austere quarters.

Frankly, she was hoping not to be waylaid in the corridor by some eager young Jedi. Though she would give her time, Teer would vastly prefer a simple nod and a quick word to anything in depth.

Nothing was ever quite so easy, as the Force decided to intervene and drop Ziandra Chatell directly in front of her.

Five years ago ago the young Zeltron had been involved in an unbecoming incident of wild partying, which Master Ka looked on most severely once she knew all the details. They were an order of warrior monks, not a college sorority for poorly behaved girls. And once someone had sunk in Teer's estimation, it was very hard to recover.

"Padawan Chatell," Teer said flatly as she stopped next to the woman who lay directly in her path. She offered a slight not of recognition and awaited some return gesture.

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[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

The Togruta woman placed her red fingertips together in a slight steeple, and looked rather doubtful that this was, indeed, a fine day. Certainly by Teer Ka's own standards it was not, as there was no bright sun in the Temple, no cool grass to walk on, and no warm red dirt between her toes. Without all those things, she found the day rather less than fine, and hovering somewhere between tolerable and adequate.

With a steam, it would get better.

"No," The stern master said as she scrutinized the Zeltron. "I have no duties or commands for you. I was merely on my way to my quarters, where I planned on changing before heading out again. I doubt the trivial details of my schedule are much interest to someone so young and..."

The Togruta woman paused before delivering her line with a certain dry wit that was impossible to imitate.

"Lively."

Teer's dark eyes took in the young woman's look very careful, searching her for any reaction. No matter how small, it wouldn't slip by the watchful Togruta. Like a hawk, she observed every detail with a keen eye.

And in a way, Ziandra was something of a small prey animal being surveyed.

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[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Councilor Ka kept her expression carefully neutral, though her dark eyes held a hint of warning at the Zeltron's use of 'come on,' which implied exasperation over the slight and oblique reference to her past indiscretion. That exasperation implied a lack of healing, and Teer planned on sounding her out on that.

If the Padawan did not feel capable of controlling herself, then she likely needed special attentions, which Teer could provide herself. After all, she knew a great deal about maintaining emotional control in the face of adversity.

Still, the second question merited at least a brief answer.

"I plan on changing my clothing and heading to a steam room to relax after a long morning of saber instruction. After that I will probably find a meal and meditate. However, my new concern is more pressing."

The Togruta woman maintained a withering eye contact with her pitch black eyes, her gaze penetrating deeply to see everything, and her finally tuned senses reaching out to the woman.

"You do not seem fully recovered from your past indiscretions, and you are about to immerse yourself into a place filled with such temptations. Is your reluctance to deal with your actions merely embarrassment, guilt, or fear that it will recur?"

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[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

If Teer had been born with eyebrows, she surely would have raised at least one of them in response to being called 'friend' by a Padawan forty years younger and several ranks lower than her. Her response, lacking eyebrows, was narrowing one eye and giving a rather cold expression.

It only grew colder when the child threw out a rather rude accusation.

"I am no telepath, Padawan. Your lack of confidence is plastered across your face and readily apparent in your voice. I do not need to use the Force to see it. You would do well to mind that before you accuse a Jedi Master of violating protocol."

The Togruta woman's richly accented voice might as well have been ice water, as she was extremely cold. Her very breath was frost enough to kill crops and send everyone inside for the winter.

The stern look in her dark eyes didn't help.

"If you fail to see your own potential to fall, then you are already half-lost. Do you think you are above temptation Padawan? Perhaps you feel that you are immune to mistakes?"

Teer clasped her hands behind her back and kept her firm gaze. It wasn't accurate to say she was angry, but the red-skinned woman definitely felt a lesson of some kind was in order. The Padawan's attitude alone was an indicator of that. She seemed frivolous, and lackadaisical when it came to the sheer dangers a Jedi faced.

That was alarming given her track record, and the Togruta woman wasn't going to let it slide.

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[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Teer Ka was silent for a very long moment, with a pensive look present on her face that said little about her thoughts. The only visible message about them was that they were, in fact, present. Indeed, they occupied the center of her mind quite fully.

It was a balancing act for Teer to sit in judgment over this woman. Like a magistrate in a parole hearing, it was up to her to read the young woman and determine how much trust she could bestow, and whether or not to show lenience for her errors. In this case...

The Togruta woman couldn't sense any deception. It was readily apparent that Padawan Chatell was telling the truth as she saw it, and that she had confidence in her abilities. The question was whether or not the confidence was misplaced, as was often the way of the young, or whether it was tantamount to her own: the product of hard-fought experiences, measured out to the very letter.

It was that confidence that enabled Teer to press herself to the most extreme limits in combat, and was the reason that she'd always made it back from duels and battles, even if she wasn't entirely unscathed. The enormous scar on her face was proof she had learned the hard way.

Perhaps Ziandra had learned as well, and like Teer, the hard way.

Mistakes were understandable, and the young Zeltron did show remorse...

A mental switch had been pulled, and Master Ka nodded, the expression on her hard face softening a little. The most important change, however, was in her pitch black eyes. They relaxed visibly, and it was clear that the young woman had passed the testing period.

"Very well," Teer said. "I hope you will forgive my brusqueness Padawan. I am no diplomat. I am afraid I have been somewhat hardened from years of fighting."

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[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

If Teer had been born with eyebrows, she might have raised one. However, her own external sign of skepticism did come in the form of narrowing one eye and widening the other. And there was a reason for the expression.

Someone was offering to come to her quarters. The last time someone had come to her quarters, it had been almost a year ago. She'd been a regular Master, and an awkward Padawan had come to her for help hunting down the plethora of thimiars he'd set loose in his master's quarters. And before that, it had been about two years.

It was safe to say Teer Ka didn't entertain much, and that few people actually sought out her company. In a way she was a bit of an outsider, looking in. That was what she was used to. That was her comfort zone.

"Are you sure you want to accompany me?" The Jedi Councilor asked with one eye still narrowed. "My company isn't exactly something others desire."

Understatement of the year.

The Togruta woman glanced down the corridor that led to her quarters before looking back at the Zeltron.

What exactly did she hope to gain from this?

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[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

It was a good thing Teer's stance was so firm, otherwise she surely would have been blown away by the whirlwind of words that issued forth from the Zeltron's mouth. They flew out swiftly and in great volume, and the Togruta woman had little choice but to stand there with her usual slightly grim expression and wait for them to subside before she said or did anything.

The offer to follow her stayed on the table, which proved that Ziandra was most definitely the cheerful type who was determined to find the best in everything, and not to avoid what scuttlebutt suggested would be a difficulty.

Master Ka would do her best not to destroy the young woman's optimism, though she was still rather convinced her own company was disagreeable. Teer had transformed herself into the woman who worked constantly every day, the one who pushed herself. And because she did those things, she demanded them in others. Years of the best effort convinced her to have high standards, and that was what she sought to cultivate in others.

It just happened that before cultivation could take place, there were prerequisites. Everything had to be broken down before it could be grown, or before it could be rebuilt. The earth needed to be tilled before seeds could be planted.

The Togruta woman was about to nod and gesture for the Zeltron to follow when a human child darted up and clung to the red-skinned woman, afraid as could be. Ziandra consoled her and suggested it was racism, fear of aliens. Why exactly this didn't include Zeltrons, Teer wasn't sure. After all, Twi'leks were the poster children for non-humans. From attractive news reporters to soldiers in the Republic fleet, they were productive and mainstream members of society.

The girl turned and left when prompted and walked off with the man.

"Fearful. Cowering like a thimiar plucked from its burrow," Teer said with a shake of her head. "I find it hard to believe that the cause was racism. Surely we must train our Younglings better than that. As it is, she shouldn't run away in fright like that."

I never would as a Youngling.

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[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

"How interesting," Teer mused with a long glance at the woman, "That she found herself affected by Nautolan pheromones and not Zeltron ones."

For some reason, the excuse of pheromones didn't sit well with the Togruta woman. She felt it was rather... Odd. If she was so susceptible, then surely more powerful ones would have affected her in other noticeable ways. There was always some deeper level of motivation to search for.

As paranoid as it sounded, examining the angles of attack revealed insightful information that was never known from only a cursory examination or taking someone solely at their word. However, there was a time for delving deep, and a time for moving on. And this time, moving on was in the stars.

"You may accompany me if you wish, Padawan."

With that brief note, Master Ka turned and walked down the corridor to her quarters, the steady falls of her feet on the hard floor a military cadence that never faltered or wavered for an instant.

Though she had been offered more pleasant accommodations upon her promotion, the new Councilor had chosen to retain her old quarters of the past years instead. It was one part humility and one part nostalgia, and she wasn't about to make a 'big deal' out of either.

This was simply the way she was, and perhaps a minute later when Teer stood at the door of her quarters, the Togruta woman opened the door to reveal an extremely spartan interior. The walls were bare, and the only furnishings were a chair and desk, a bed, and a nightstand, all in the absolute standard issue of the Temple.

"You may enter if you wish," Master Ka said. "If not, then May the Force be with you."

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[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Teer could feel the Zeltron follow her into her room, and suddenly she felt she was being carefully observed. Of course it was positive, as the young woman expressed her admiration for the decor. There was precious little of that. A functional bow and quiver on the wall, a wood carved frame around a picture of her deceased master, and bracelet of akul-teeth resting on the nightstand.

With deft hands, the Togruta woman reached under her third headtail and unfastened the headdress she wore. She pulled it from her head and set it neatly on the desk before turning to the closet.

She had several robes, but she also possessed 'Shili clothes' she wore on her home planet, and a rather plain tan bathrobe that she reached for. It went over her arm, and was joined by a towel. All the essentials for a steam.

There was something purifying about a steamroom. It was as if all the stresses faded away and were replaced by calm resolve. It was a special kind of tranquility that she placed a premium on.

Why more Jedi didn't do it, she did not know.

Still, there was a discussion to be had here, and Teer was too disciplined to let her mind stray far.

"I don't believe in excess or lavish things. I live a simple life Padawan."

The Togruta Jedi opened the curtains that covered the window, and sure enough, there was Ashla, right where she had been left. The black and white striped Corellian Banshee Bird let out a soft warble as Teer stroked her feathers lovingly.

"We'll fly soon. Now rest," Master Ka said soothingly in Togruti. Ashla, for her part, looked back out the window and relaxed again. Somehow the view prevented her from becoming claustrophobic.

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[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

"Ashla may be my dearest friend," Teer said. It was a rather morbid truth. She'd never made many friends in the Order. Her existence was surprisingly solitary given her species' social tendencies.

Perhaps she'd never met any kindred souls. The bird, however, accepted her as she was, and showed commendable loyalty. Moreover, watching her fly free was... Soothing. liberating. It made Master Ka feel as if she herself were soaring carefree.

Still, those thoughts could always be called on. There was a question to answer.

"I was resting on Corellia in the mountains," The red-skinned woman said in her customary gruff voice, "Feeling rather ambivalent about my Padawan's impending Knighthood. I visited an aviary looking for relaxation, and I saw her there preening in an enormous room. Majestic, and alone. They told me she was for sale, likely to be exhibited in some rich Corellian's private menagerie."

Naturally she couldn't have let that happen.

"I used every credit I had to purchase her. Then I bonded with her. I poured my consciousness into her, and hers into mine. We understand one another like no one else. I can take her anywhere now."