Mourning by Fighting [open]

[Mara]

Xierra moved closer on the bench and put a hand on his arm. "That must have been awful. I don't know what I would have done or how I would have felt if it were me. To not know..." She couldn't continue, thinking about how lucky she was to be with her Master almost all her waking moments. "But," she looked into his eyes, "You and him were both doing your duties. You couldn't ask for anything more than that."

[Zarkan]

Aser felt the muscles in his left arm tense as xierra laid a hand on it. "Yeah, I guess your right still... He took a deep breath before looking away and continuing. "I feel like a failed him, that's why I swear I would stay there until the sith were defeted or I died, but I failed at that as well." Aser hefted his saber showing it to xierra. "This saber, it is a symbol of my commitment to the duty of protecting others, but also of my failure to do that." Aser looked away as he dropped his and and the saber in his lap before speaking in a plaintive tone. "I suppose that's why a wigged out one you, your probing brought all of that back out."

[Mara]

She moved her hand from his arm to hold her own saber hilt in both of her hands. One of her clawed fingers absentmindedly rubbed along the grip as he spoke. Xierra nodded and remained silent, not sure what to say, that anything she could say would make him feel better. She hoped that her mere presence in the Force would be calming. His speech about the symbol of the lightsaber suddenly brought something to her mind: where was her master's lightsaber? She had had it with her attached to her belt with her own hilt. It must have dropped away when she sliced off her belt. Xierra stood.

When he spoke of her mind probe from their spar, Xierra turned to look at him. "Again, I am very sorry I did that."

[Zarkan]

Aser looked at xierra as she stood up furrowing his brows. "I told you not to worry about that." before noticing she seemed to be frazzled by something. "What is the matter? he asked sliding his light saber through the loop on her belt and standing up himself.

[Mara]

"Still, it wasn't very sporting of me to do so," she added, continuing to look down at him. After he also stood, joining her, Xierra again absentmindedly fingered her hilt, wondering how much longer she wanted to be in this man's company, whether she should let him search or be on his way. As a Knight, he must be very busy, and she had already taken up so much of his time. After a time she answered, "My master's lightsaber. I must have lost it... during our spar."

[Cavalry King]

[Sorry for jumping in so late.]

Atu Soka walked down the Jedi temple hallways, intent on finding his new padawan. He had been given the task of finishing the training of this padawan whose master recently died. He was told he could find her in the temple courtyard and moved briskly through the halls to find her. He stopped as he saw her speaking with another jedi, then moved forward slowly. He stopped a few feet away from them and said, "I do apologize for interrupting, but would the young lady here be Xierra Salq?"

[Zarkan]

"Life is full of small un-sporting events Xierra, here let me help you look." He said turning to search for the saber around the practice ring he spotted what was left over her belt and started pulling it out of the sand when he felt a third jedi approached. He stood pulling the belt free of the sand and turned to the man now asking a question.

"That would depend, what is your business here knight?" Aser crossed his arm's over his chest gripping the lower arm guards on each of his fore arms. He realized Xierra probably wouldn't be too happy with him zipping in like that, but he didn't really care at the moment.

[Mara]

Xierra smiled at Aser warmly. "Thank you." She started forward heading to where she thought she had been at the time she cut her belt to release his grip on it. The hilt must have been lost somewhere around there. Possibly covered by the sandstorm he had brought up.

Coming up to where she saw Aser tugging on the broken belt, she also felt the tingling of another Jedi, a powerful one, approaching. Xierra turned with the man spoke. He was older, probably a Master of the Order, but she wasn't sure. She put out her left hand to stop Aser from doing anything further and nodded at the newcomer, taking a couple steps towards him. "I am."

[Val - Warning:Contains Sarcasm]

((Thought I'd just jump in. If you'd prefer it changing or removing just let me know))

A slow hiss continued to issue from the walls of the room. A pipe behind the thin boards which had been causing a noise for several minutes now. Val did not notice this, however, as she had been in a meditative state for hours. She was feeling good, having just been promoted to a Jedi Knight by the council, she could feel the force stronger, as though the raised status had given her a deeper sense of the force. It could, of course, just be the state of mind she was in, but she was too carefree at the moment.

The doors of her room opened with a clunk and a droid rolled itself into the room. She opened an eye as it stopped just behind her. It beeped and whirred in it's typical fashion.
"I'm to deliver it? Very well." she said, taking a small disk from the droid's socket. She pocketed it and slung a robe over her shoulders, making sure to cover her left arm completely and tying her hair back loosely. She left her room with the droid before they headed in separate directions. Further down the corridor she caught sight of a group of young jedi.
"Excuse me, padawans, but have you seen Master Soka?" she asked. The jedi stopped talking and looked at her.
"I believe he is in the courtyard. Or, that was the direction he was moving in." one of them answered. Val thanked them before proceeding towards the courtyard. A few moments later she arrived, finding the Master stood by two younger jedi. It seemed that he too had just arrived.

"Excuse me, Master Soka, but this data disk was sent to my room with instructions to pass it on to you." she said, placing the small disk into the older jedi's palm. Looking at the two other figures she saw a human who was looking particularly worse for wear and another jedi, a Falleen she believed, though she had never met one in person.
"I apoligise if I was interrupting something." Val added, giving a slight nod of the head.

[Mara]

(( C.K., I sent you a PM about this.... look to Jace for him to give you the actual mission. Xierra is moving on; maybe her and Atu can meet up later.))



Xierra couldn't help but smile as the young woman ran up with a message for the newcomer, introduced now as Soka. "No, of course not." The young Falleen nodded to her and turned back to Aser as Master Soka regarded his data disk, shrugging off his question of her. Whatever he needed of her would obviously take a backseat to this summons he had just received, so she turned her attention back to fighting the stray lightsaber.

She laid a hand on Aser's arm before kneeling on the ground to sift through the newly moved sand with her fingers, looking for the telltale engraved black hilt. It should be easy to spot among the light-colored particles of sand. Xierra's dark eyes lit up as she spotted it and pulled it out of the sand. Briefly, she rubbed off any bits of sand that got stuck in the intricately carved details of the hilt before standing up. She gestured to it with a small grin and looked across at Aser. "Thank you. Again, for helping me look. And for the spar and conversation. It means a lot."

About to ask for her belt back, though frayed a broken, she was startled out of her thoughts by a strange buzzing sound. It took Xierra a few moments to realize it was her commlink making the noise. She smiled at the young Knight once more. "I'm sorry... I should take this."

She walked off a few paces, cradling both her own saber and her master's in one hand as she listened into the commlink with the other. The Falleen had recognized the code; it was of another member of the mission she had just returned from. They had finished their report to the Council, but they wished to speak with Xierra immediately.

The blood rushed from her face as she ended the transmission. The Council wanted to speak to her? What forever for? The rest of the team should have told them all they needed to know. What had she done? Was it about... her master? Lots of thoughts ran through her mind, multiple reasons upon reasons. She tried to calm herself so that she could take her leave of Aser, but was also sorry to be leaving him so rushed, after their afternoon together.

So turned back to look at Aser. "I--I have to go. I'm sorry, again, for what I pulled during our spar. No hard feelings?" Xierra tried a small smile, all her energy focused on making her skin behave. She must not show her nervousness. "Maybe we will meet again. May the Force be with you!" She called over her shoulder as she jogged out of the gardens, out of the courtyard area.


[ ... to Council Chambers thread... ]