Post by Muffinzky on Feb 9, 2019 5:29:59 GMT -5
Weeks passed after the Republic gala. And an excruciating year had dragged itself by after the passing of Ishtar. But it still felt like it happened yesterday. That Rahebi’s Master walked down the hallway and disappeared to never be seen again with the spark of life in her eye. Not a day passed where the Padawan didn’t long for her calming smile or her words of knowledge, when she didn’t know what to do. When the pain was deepest, she would hide away from everything to find peace. But nothing seemed to be able to calm the searing pain in her chest and the hollow feeling in her mind.
The wind rattled through the branches of magnolia flowers above her head and caressed the long orange curls of hair on her shoulder. Pink petals were moving around in the air in an elegant dance before they fell to the ground, and she opened the emerald green eyes after the meditation. A cloud crept in front of the sun and minimized the illumination of her freckled face. It was getting late. She should head back to the Archives, as she still hadn’t finished sorting the assigned data.
She brushed the mistreated Jedi tunic with the cut sleeves carefully to remove any remaining debris after her contact with the ground and supported herself up with an arm.
As Rahebi walked, she couldn’t help but to feel that the road through the bushes were longer than usual. It was as if the familiar surroundings stretched, and she didn’t get anywhere no matter how far she moved.
That was when she heard it. She stopped in her steps. An echoing and strange voice she hadn’t heard before. What it tried to say was unclear to her, so she turned around on her heels to get closer to the source, and in the process, she started to stray away from the clear road ahead. The grass tickled her bare feet. Getting around in the Temple Gardens had never been hard for her. She felt most at home there. And the plants bended to her will, as using Consitor Sato came as naturally to her, as it did for her to breathe.
Like a conductor would create and shape his music, Rahebi touched the bushes lovingly and stepped through them instead of around them, as they moved to the side slowly. The echoing voice still resonated. It was dark and masculine, yet still unclear. But this time closer. And that made her run faster and pressure more to get through the plants in her way.
They scratched against her soft shoulders, leaving green marks of fluid on the otherwise untouched skin, and she held a hand in front of her face to catch any branches that would get too close. With a struggle she pushed herself through the bushes. Only to find herself in a place where never had been before.
It was dark. Fireflies flashed through the environment as far as she could see. This part of the garden was unkept. It looked like there hadn’t been anyone there for a while to take care of it. Several years, if you were to ask her. It was wild. It almost looked like…
The young woman glanced up on some old, dark trees. They didn’t have any leaves. They almost seemed dead, but all over them crept thick liana and twisted towards the top. They were thriving, closing all light out of the area and stealing the little nourishment the trees otherwise would get.
It looked like…
A jungle? I didn’t know that the Jedi Order had imported that kind of flora here. How… peculiar?
The young Zelosian woman took another step and winced. Her foot sunk slightly into the mushy earth. And when she removed it with disgust, her footprint filled with water.
“YUCK! Since when has there been a whole swamp on the temple grounds?! That’s it. This is creepy as heck. I am not going anywhere. It’s dark. And disgusting. And cold and-”
-“Terai?”
The voice echoed again. This time it was clear enough for her to confirm the feeling. Between the murmuring it was calling her name.
Her eyes went wide, and goosebumps chilled down her spine.
“W-who’s there?! Show yourself”.
“Terai… Terai”.
In a fast movement Rahebi used the Force to pick up a thick bough from the ground.
“I have a stick! And I’m not afraid to use it”.
A lightsaber would definitely have been a better choice… But Rahebi didn’t wear her lightsaber on the temple grounds unless she had to train her fencing abilities. It had never been necessary before.
The voice came from the darkness somewhere. And for some strange, unexplainable reason…
She found it pleasant. Calming. Welcoming… Enticing. Suiting even. It resonated into her chest and numbed the sadness that filled her. Replacing the feeling.
All instincts in her body screamed to move away from the darkness. There was only a certain area where the light was reaching in. Everything else laid back in shadow. Only with the sight of the Force, she could see through it. As a Zelosian, Rahebi hated darkness… Not for any certain reason. She just didn’t feel safe. But the voice gave her second thoughts. She was curious. And the suiting feeling managed to drive her legs forward. It felt as if she was starving, and only that sensation would fill that need.
The Padawan dropped the stick, closed her eyes and chanted a mantra. She focused on happy times in her life while manifesting the Force in her hands, and a shy spark of very bright light appeared in them. Rahebi had never learned to control Force Light fully, but it was enough to make her feel safer when she travelled deeper into the swamp. She found herself surrounded by even more wilderness. A crow cawed somewhere. Everywhere in front of her was dark, murky water.
The voice still called to her. And Rahebi proceeded through the slimy liquid. Her lips were shivering. After some minutes, the water reached above her hips. It made her feel anxious. It looked like the swamp lasted forever. With each step, it got harder to move. And the source of the voice was still nowhere to be found. Yet she could hear it. Loud and clear. The fear that crept into her also weakened the already subtle light of the Force. She breathed faster.
“Who are you? Where are you?!”
One. Wrong. Step.
The Zelosian slipped into deeper water. Rahebi was a natural swimmer, but the water acted alive with its thick substance and prevented much movement. Panic hit through every cell in her body, and the bubbling water covered her chest, threatening to devour her. Only her shoulders were free. The murmuring voice echoed again.
“Please! Say something! Where are you? Help me”. Rahebi felt herself sliding further into the cold swamp.
“Somebody. Anybody!”
Though devoured in darkness, the Zelosian could see vines above her head through the Force. She reached out to them and tried to shape them towards her. But surprisingly they didn’t bend to her well. Instead they twisted and turned like snakes. All on their own, resisting her touch.
“N-no! This has never happened before, this can’t b-”
-Glurp-
The sour water covered her jaw, crossed her plump lips and prevented any speech to sound from her. She coughed desperately and reached harder for the vegetation above. But to no avail. It seemed that the more she kicked her legs, the faster she sunk towards the bottom. With a last breath she surrendered her body to the waters cold embrace and lost consciousness.
…
And she woke up, gasping and shaking. Only to find herself back in her quarters. It was still night, as the candlewick flowers were fully open in her window and shone their calming golden light around her quarters. While first relieved that the dream wasn’t real, her breath slowly became deeper and deeper until it culminated, and little pearls of water ran down her cheeks without sound. A feeling mixed between the terror and sadness from realizing that she again was alone hit her. The numbness was gone, and she laid there feeling forlorn and dejected.
“What… Am I doing with my life? For all this time, I haven’t developed anything. All that is happening is… That I’m stuck here. Day in day out. Doing the same things over and over with no point”.
The Zelosian sat up in bed, rubbing her hands against her forehead.
“The way they looked at me at the gala, as if I’m a freak… I don’t belong anywhere, do I? If this is a test, I don’t know what it's for”.
Sliding the oversized t-shirt from her slender figure, she rose up and quickly suited herself into a long blue dress in contrast with her hair. With swift little movements, she started to collect little items from around her room and stuff them into a bag. When she threw her lightsaber into the bag as a last thing, she gazed towards the bed.
”Don’t look at me like that. It’s not like they care if I am here or not anyway. They barely notice me anymore… except for when I do something that I am not supposed to”.
There was no one to answer and the room was quiet. Yet she looked at the worn sand filled doll as if it was alive. The head hung as if on a broken neck, and one of the button eyes dangled in a thread. With its twisted smile, it could almost be seen as laughing.
“No, Chobee. I am not leaving. I am just… going out. I need to breathe. I have to keep my head… above water. The air here is so dense, so I can’t possibly think. Take care of my quarters for me while I’m gone, will ya?”.
Then she sneaked out into the night.
A week later Rahebi was standing in the shuttleport of Prazhi and looking at the different arrivals and people walking by. As an empath, Rahebi felt the emotions of people passing her, as though they were her own and had a hard time turning it off. With so many people, that made the shuttleport feel immense and boundless. Yet… awe inspiring.
So many lives. So different from one another. So many possibilities. What now… Where do I go from here?
She was rather hungry, and the Credits she had were starting to run dry. The people floated together to one big mass of static noise that no end would take for her. They walked past her, all anonymous. Sometimes she would catch the glimpse of a thought not her own, and to gain stability, she would clench her bag harder between her arms.
Rahebi had been floating around aimlessly with no clear purpose in mind. Most of the way, she had been hitch-hiking anyone that would take her along… But there was this unexplainable feeling, like invisible strings pulling in her towards a certain direction. And that made her move around in the shuttleport like one big question mark.
”Departure of EvA-13 cancelled, due to technical problems” it suddenly sounded over the loudspeakers. A group of technicians ran back and forth, like it was a big issue and a very urgent matter in comparison to all the other departures.
“He’s not going to like this. We better hurry up” she heard one of the technicians whisper to the other.
“Yeah, he’s one creepy motherfucker. I don’t want to be caught temporising when he’s around!”
None of that made any sense to the young woman when she curiously looked after them, and she wrinkled her nose, so the septum wobbled back and forth.
That is not a very nice thing to say about anyone…
A police officer ripped her out of her thoughts, when he placed his hand on her shoulder.
“Excuse me miss, may I see your bag?” It wasn’t a question. It was an order. That much was clear to Rahebi. But it only made her grasp around the bag tighter. She wasn’t hiding anything. But the bag was the only thing she had that was a piece of “home” in this strange place. And. That made her defend it.
“N-no. It-it’s mine!” Rahebi whimpered and took a step back.
“Give me the bag, miss” His voice darkened. And he reached out and took hold of it.
That made the Padawan writhe and struggle, like a fish on land, pulling in the opposite direction.
“Let go! Dude, let go!”. He was strong and significantly bigger than her petite shape. It the matter of moments, the strap broke, Rahebi slipped, and her belongings fell to the ground as well where they spread. A dried lump of bread, Credit chips, makeup, a datapad amongst many things. But there rolled the hilt of her lightsaber. The officer took it up in his hand and turned it for inspection, looked down her blue dress and nodded to himself. He placed it in his pocket.
“Smuggled goods. I knew there was something off about you, girl. You are coming with me”.
He bended down and buried his fingers hard into her arm, worsening her already galloping heart.
“You are hurting me! Release me, I haven’t done anything! I am not a smuggler. These things are mine!”.
Rahebi’s breath was out of control. The officer didn’t let go, but took hold of her hair with the free hand and dragged her after him on the ground. The Zelosian was terrified from the pain and situation. When squirming didn’t help, it was the last drop that gave release to the tension she had felt for so long. She let go of control – of her emotions, of the Force and screamed. Four heavy transport containers tipped and blocked the way for the technicians, preventing them from repairing the shuttle. Far too heavy for civilians to lift without machines. She tried to hold into something with the Force, but as a result a suitcase came flying and collided with the head of the officer.
He fell unconscious to the ground, bleeding from his face. When Rahebi got up, she was crying heavily with regret painted in her eyes.
“NO. What did I do?!”
Hyperventilating and sobbing with her voice broken, she looked helplessly from the officer to the people that had stopped up to watch the scene. She picked her lightsaber up from his pocket, hurried to collect her belongings back into her bag and hugged it tightly as she started to step backwards.