[Part One: Catalyst]
[True Blood]
“A warrior must only take care that his spirit is not broken”
Kirin Amnell wasn't born.
Kirin Amnell was made.
The Aphithiri are not nearly as renowned as the Arkanians in the field of science and bio engineering, but that doesn't mean that they were any less adept at the art. They had been creating the pristine warriors for three hundred years prior to Kirin's birth, each of them were beasts of men with the hot headed temperament of the gargantuan waste dragons of their homeworld. These men and women were called “True born”, since that method of birthing was considered to be the truest and most pure form of birth. People born via normal means were called “Free birth”, as they were the result of free and unbridled lust and scum. The pristine “true-born” warriors were not born through normal means; not even artificial insemination was pure enough for their glory. Each one was created with the joining of a free born woman warrior's egg and a male free born warrior's sperm cell. A select few were cloned from their parent, but these instances were few and far between, seeing as the Aphithiri would rather have the greatness of two people in one body rather than the glory of one within their child.
Kirin was conceived using that very method, but it was unusual, as none of the usual modifications were made to her genetic code. She was not made taller, she was not made stronger, nor was she made to be more aggressive. The latter would prove to be a headache towards her “trainers” not long after her birth, as she was easily one of the most unaggressive children on her homeworld.
During the procedure to remove one of her two ovaries well before Kirin was born, her mother demanded one single being be made. One whose genes where not tampered with in any way, shape, or form. While this was a very unusual request (Aphithiri considered their warrior's size and girth to be "superior" to that of their non-modified cousins) it was obviously heeded. The product? A beautiful baby girl... with green eyes. Green eyes. Aphithiri rarely had green eyes, as it was a physical manifestation of the Force's power within their body.
If she were born under any other circumstances her parents would have rejoiced at the wonderful omen, as it surely meant that her life would be one of importance. The scientists who presided over her birthing within the great tube, however, were concerned at this troubling revelation. It only meant that she would bring Jedi to their little war torn corner of the universe, as the past three children to be born with green eyes were taken by the Jedi... one of which happened to be her "mother." Which was another extremely odd thing about her 'birth,' as force sensitivity rarely passed from parent to child in their species.
Needless to say... that's why the scientists were concerned.
Fortunately, the child caused them no trouble... not right away, anyways. She spent the first four years of her life outside of the birthing tube in a nursery of sorts. Kirin played with the other children, despite the fact that each and every one of the considerably larger and stronger than her. Not that it mattered at her age, as most of the children were barely old enough to crawl around and play with their various toys. She was a child with a rare pacifistic nature, and one that would often bow to the wishes of anyone so long as it didn't cause conflict. This resulted in many lost lunches, and her to be 'forced' into giving up the toy that she was playing with. Kirin didn't really mind much about her own happiness... so long as the other children were happy, so was she.
As with all Aphithiri true born, she was ushered off into the state's boot camp style system at the meager age of four. This spartan like training would forge her into the perfect warrior, never knowing fear or pain, and it would dispel any weakness from her. This was the case with all normal true born warriors, not Kirin. The end result for her was quite the opposite. They viewed her good and sweetheart nature as a weakness, one that needed to be replaced by a cold heart and an aggressive mind.
Unbeknownst to her, Kirin's mother had been accused of high treason and fratricide. The Aphithiri military, while strict and harsh, was not one that relied on unnecessary disciplinary measures. Kirin's mother had thrown a warrior into the wall repeated times for simply walking past her as she was heading towards her room, leaving what remained of his gray matter on the wall for all to see. The higher ups, her Kahn in particular, were less than ecstatic to hear that she'd killed one of her own simply because she had a bad day. Soon enough, they determined that she was more trouble than she was worth... and did away with her.
So, she was banished to the wastelands of the planet for a single day. As were every last one of the beings that were of her blood. It was a life sentence. Save one Kirin Amnell. That was simply because of a logistical problem that caused the transport she was being driven in to go to the wrong military installation. While her brethren were being marched into the nuclear wasteland she was being screamed at by the gigantic drill instructors that planned to forge her into a weapon stronger than Aphisteel, and with the fiery temperament of the fire-colored serpents of the world.
It may have been better for the sweet hearted toddler to have been banished along with the rest of her brothers and sisters. For the hell that she was forced through was worse than death: it was pain in some form or another from waking moment to sleep's embrace. Despite her young age, they worked her like they would a recruit in any other military force. They ran her hard, as far as those little legs could take her.
This, of course, wasn't very far. A trueborn child would have been able to adjust to the workload, and become stronger because of it. But not the sweet tempered little girl that had been playing blocks with the other children but a few months prior. Her comparatively tiny frame simply couldn't handle the stress that her instructors inflicted upon it.
For a real life comparison, they were trying to train her like they would a pit bull. While training one of the said dogs, one must use harsh discipline in order to get the point across. Generally hitting the dog hard can do that, as words (both loud and soft) fall upon deaf ears. That is exactly the mindset they had while "training" the pretty little girl. Every time she did something wrong, she was hit. Every time she was out of step, she was hit. Every time she lagged behind (which was more often than not), she was hit. Sometimes she was hit for no reason at all. But her instructors were not free born Aphithiri, her instructors were mighty true born... and they did not hold back.
For the next year she was abused in this fashion, as that was what it was... abuse. They didn't view it as such, however, they simply believed that they were breaking the girl of her undesirable personality quirks. Even the greatest blades were beaten thousands of times with the hammer during their forging, after all. Oddly enough, it was during this time that she sung her first song.
The song itself, beautiful, was enough to melt even the coldest heart with the sadness that lie just beyond every passing note. It was sung by her well after the dark of night, one that generally refused to take her in due to the overall soreness of her muscles and her bruises. She thought deeply and dug deep within her little heart to find the answers to all of the questions that it held within it. Unfortunately, her young and still innocent mind could find no such thing locked away. Instead, she found her emotions in their pure form... a thing that few races could translate into anything at all.
The notes that her still developing vocal chords churned out may have been somewhat of a cacophony to the ear, the skill or prowess of an Aphithiri is not what one listens to in the song. Its the emotion. And even the night guard held a tear in his eye as he rushed over to stop the girl from continuing the then promiscuous act. As singing in any form of public was considered to be worse than prostitution. That man did not beat her then, nor ever again... instead he explained to her why what she did was wrong. It was right then that the man realized what the caliber of girl he was dealing with... and he regretted what he did to her in the past.
It was the small beginning in the healing process, even before the final scar was applied.
[Dark Savior]
“The darkest hour has only 60 minutes.”
~ Morris Mandel
Not a few weeks after the little girl let her first song drift from her lips something... peculiar... happened. Jedi. While she didn't know the term, her Aphithiri
tormentors instructors knew them all too well. They seemed to swoop in just as the green eyed child was nearing or at the age of six and whisk them away for training.
They didn't let Kirin go so easily as the others. If she were of the simple commoner class they would have had no fuss, but Kirin wasn't of the commoner class. She was to be a warrior, as deadly as she was graceful. The pair of black-leather-clad knights were drawn to her location like the brilliant beacon from a lighthouse in the dark of night on the ocean. As few Aphithiri were anything more than dull to the Force.
When they reached her the warriors barred them from speaking to her unless they agreed to fight one on one with a warrior without the use of the Force. Normally the Jedi Knights would have respected the wishes of her guardians, but they could sense two things deep within the little girl: Power and pain.
They gladly accepted.
The fight was long, harrowing, and what was worse... they forced Kirin to watch. According to the law, they had to keep her within sight of both fighting parties to ensure that the neither side attempted any treachery. This was the final scar that they applied to Kirin, forcing her to watch a fight between one of these short men and her tormentor. But this in and of itself was not the scar... it was the fact that he lost.
She was smart enough to know that the "Jedi" was trying to help her... to save her... and the sight of her would be saviors guts spilling out on the floor was simply too much. Kirin simply began to cry, not because she would not be taken away... but at the man's pain. Something deep within her told her that it wasn't right.
Instead of simply giving up, the second Jedi stepped up to duel the Aphithiri warrior. The nearly nine foot tall man grinned down, happily accepting the woman's challenge. Aphithiri warriors had a special hatred for Jedi, not because of their fighting skill... but because they believed contrary to their own dogmatic religious mindset. The Force was no deity, it was a means for a few select Aphithiri to commune with the nine divines... and a manifestation of their favor in that being. Nothing more.
This fight was not nearly as long. The woman, being considerably more lithe and quick, simply contorted her body around the swings of that massive greatsword. Her only attack was a counterattack, and it was the very one to end the duel. Just as the warrior's blade met the ground from an overhead swing, she simply flicked her wrist upwards and activated the dual phase capability of her lightsaber simultaneously. Everything starting from the center of his chest up to the crest of his skull was seared in two, and he crumpled to the ground less than a few heartbeats later.
The very same "instructors" that were tormenting her a few days prior were now putting heavy hands on her shoulder, giving her suggestions and pointers on how to go about life and deal with aliens. These quotes, suggestions, and pointers, stayed in her mind for all of five seconds. After reflecting on that day some years later, she realized that they actually believed that they were helping her... they viewed her as something of a daughter. That was the only logical explanation for those same abusive men suddenly acting like father figures when they realized it would be the final time they saw her.
She was off the planet with Kirin the next day, much to the little girl's delight.
[Out of the frying pan...]
“There is no success without hardship.”
~ Sophocles
Kirin was barely out of the atmosphere of Aphithir when her "savior" revealed herself to be little more than an apostate... a Dark Jedi. One that masqueraded as a Jedi to win a child from parents and then trained them in the dark arts. Not that it meant anything to Kirin... as her knowledge of basic was rudimentary at best. Though she quickly discovered that this woman was quite the opposite of what she'd seen while on Aphithir.
On her homeworld she'd seen and felt nothing but warmth, comfort, and safety radiating out from the "Dark Jedi" in waves. Like someone had dropped a single pebble in a perfectly still pond... or a boulder in a rarely peaceful ocean. But as those bright green eyes gazed back at the brilliant eyes of the same hue and intensity, she could feel nothing more than cold. It was almost as if the air around the woman's frigid heart had sucked away the very breath from her little five year old lungs.
As one can imagine, any amount of time under the tutelage of a Dark Jedi would be filled with horrors and terrors that not even the Aphithiri would dare inflict on their recruits. A failure did not bring physical pain, but mental pain instead. On one occasion the woman even caused a terrible nightmare to play out in little Kirin's mind... but did not allow her fearful heart to wake her up. These six short months were, by far, the most terrible in her life.
Until the Jedi finally caught up with the dark woman, she had been using her powers to commit high level felonies from Coruscant to Muunilist. Generally robbing banks, kidnappings, assassinations, she did it all. In all honesty, the true reason why the Dark Jedi took Kirin as "an apprentice" was because she made for an excellent hostage should the time come. Or an excellent ally. And she admitted this fact to the little girl more times than either cared to count.
Little did the cold hearted woman know, the time would come sooner than she could have ever expected. It was barely six months after her "rescuing" from Aphithir that a trio of guardians caught up with the Dark Jedi just as she was about to commit another robbery, and after a rather long battle that left a pair of guardians slain, she was finally skewered.
But the guardian that plunged his blade into the Dark Jedi felt a tug at his heart, and it told him to enter her ship. It was not unreasonable, as it was very likely that the woman had a horde of stolen items collected within the vessel. What he found, however, was worth far more than any amount of credits: he found Kirin.
At first the ginger girl was timid, and she would scurry away like a bug in the light as he neared her. She could sense his warmth, his comfort, and the safety that radiated out from his body like heat would from a fire. It was the same feeling that she'd felt from the woman that saved her from one hell only to put her in another... and she wanted no part of any more hells. But he was different: he was a togorian. While he was massive, intimidating, he also had a certain fuzziness to him that all little girls loved. It took him nearly ten minutes to cajole the little Force Sensitive girl into his grasp, and when he finally managed to she found comfort in his big, furry arms.
[Warriors of Peace]
“The physical stuff heals. The emotional stuff lasts forever, ... That's the problem. We were waiting for the physical contact, which was unfortunately too late.”
~ Mark Levy
The sojourn from the outer rim world of Tatooine to the world of Dantooine was a long one, and the sole guardian took the opportunity to ease the girl's fear. Fear lead to anger... anger lead to hate... and hate, hate lead to suffering. Fortunately she was still at the age were her fear could be put to rest with time, or at the very least that coupled with a reassuring hand on her shoulder along the way.
This man's name? Ingemar Odin. He sat her down at a table that passed for a dining table before speaking to her simply about, well, herself. While it did take him some time to break through her timid shell, she quickly revealed herself to be an intelligent little thing. Her inquisitive nature seemed to know no bounds as well, as she often asked questions about seemingly simple objects... and what those little dots out of the view port were.
Ingemar was almost to the point of enjoying the little girl's company when he finally arrived at the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. At first the man was worried about the inner tinge of fear within the girl, which was understandable considering her past with her Dark Jedi captor. Fortunately, however, the little girl's fear melted away almost the very instant that she stepped within the Enclave's council chambers. It was hard for the little girl not to soak in all of that warmth, comfort, and benevolence that radiated from each of the people within the room.
She was put into youngling training the very next day.
It was traumatic. Ingemar was nowhere to be found, she was being taught by a wierd lady with tails growing from her head, and she didn't know anyone else in the class!
During these few years the girl could best be described using one word: recluse. She certainly wasn't timid, as fear meant little to the little girl. Granted, she had a small amount of fear left in the deep recesses of her soul, but other than that she felt no real need to speak or socialize with the other children any more than was requested of her. It wasn't pertainant to her training, therefore it wasn't required. To be completely honest... the little girl's outlook on life was years ahead of where it should have been. That was no doubt due to her experiences as a child in the aphithiri training corps and under the 'tutelage' of the Dark Jedi.
While fear as a whole meant little to the girl, she did fear one thing: Failure. Fortunately, fear was an exceptional motivator for her... and rarely did her instructors ever have to tell her to do something more than once. If she did happen to fail she bit back the tears, walked up to the instructor, and patiently waited to be struck. It was almost heartbreaking to both the youngling minder and those who observed... and all knew that it'd be a difficult thing to break her of.
Obviously the minder of the youngling clan didn't strike her in any way, and wouldn't even think of doing the deed, so this little action caused for no small amount of surprise in the older woman. After she asked what the tall girl was doing simply looking up at the minder with a blank look about her face, the girl simply replied, "I did bad," in an accented tone. The minder, still confused, continued asking questions... and was horrified when the little girl finally answered with, "I did bad, so you hit."
What was even more disturbing to the youngling minder was that she couldn't sense a single bit of fear within the little blond. It seemed that her aphithiri tormentors had indeed done their job. All that it would prove to take was for her new instructor to undo the damage done. Her actions were born of what had been coined as “normal” within the little girl's mind, however, as it seemed that all attempts to learn why she thought this way failed. Not because she refused to tell, but because she simply couldn't remember. Her consciousness had been flashburned.
[Training]
“The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running. Where it is lacking there are no real students, but only poor caricatures of apprentices who, at the end of their apprenticeship, will not even have a trade.”
~ Simon Weil
Healing the girl's psyche would have to take time, however, as the girl needed to learn the ways and arts of the Force. Restoration was a priority, yes, but it was not her sole reason for being at the enclave. Though the persistence of another initiate, Daren Llvaarsha, gave the little fiery haired girl something to call a friend in the alien, but welcoming place. His efforts to befriend the shy little girl was, perhaps, the most predominant reason why healing took place at all.
As said above, the girl rarely failed at what was asked of her. This was not due to some special ingrained prowess within her, but rather an intense desire to NOT be beaten and bruised. Despite the fact that her minders always emphasized that failing the first time was alright, and she wouldn't be harmed in any way if she couldn't lift a pencil the first time. Or even the second. When she was asked to move a pencil with nothing but her mind, for instance, she refused to quit until she actually moved said thing with her mind. Even if it took her an hour. Not that it did, of course, she had a talent for telekinesis. Regardless of what they'd said but a few seconds prior.
The urge to not be hit was strong with that one.
Disregarding the fact that she never allowed herself to fail, the girl seemed to have a special kind of prowess in augmenting her own bodily functions. Her innate talent for the school of "body" was almost the same for that of telekinesis, though she found that augmenting one's bodily functions was considerably more useful than moving things with one's mind. Though it was also ingrained in her mind to believe in strength of arms, and not of mind.
She had more trouble with telepathy, almost as if some unseen force (no pun intended) was barring her from doing anything more than defending herself from other telepaths and subtly shifting other beings' attention from her presence. Every single inch of prowess that the girl achieved in this area was a harrowing fight, so she tended to focus more on her strengths and only saw to this area when she needed to round her skills out. Though later in life she found that she would need to work on this skill far more, as shifting weak willed people's attention was an invaluable skill as a Jedi Shadow.
Lightsaber combat. It was the girl's niche. The training saber was like an extension of her own body as she mirrored the stances and movements of the minder as perfectly as her little uncoordinated body would allow. Which was surprisingly well. When the time came for her to spar against the other children she generally defeated them rather soundly, remembering and mimicing the movements of the form as the situation deigned necessary.
During these short years, the minder of her youngling clan gave the little darling girl special attention. Not necessarily in the form of favorable treatment, but simply to break the little girl out of her shell. All it took was constant, but gentle, urgings to socialize, to play, to just be a little girl and eventually overcome her anti-social tendencies. Eventually she did work herself out of that withdrawn state of mind, but it wouldn't have happened if that youngling minder hadn't worked so hard. They're still friends to this day. For some odd reason, though, she still rarely allowed herself to fail... despite her previous mode of thought on the subject was long forgotten. Perhaps its some final vestage of fear left within her heart, or just a stubbornness that knows no bounds. Its the former and not the latter, not that the woman would ever admit it.
What little free time she had was spent with the only kid that she could call a friend, which was more relieving than she could have believed. They often played little games to keep their powers honed. They'd go from playing “I spy” with their mental eye to hide-and-go-seek within a few moments. An environment that allowed her mind to get past its fear of failure and focus on the skill, and fun, proved to be invaluable in her skills with telepathy. The little girl found that she made great strides in the skill, though still lacked somewhat when compared to others of her age.
It wasn't terribly long after her eleventh birthday that Ingemar ventured back into the Dantooine Enclave. To be completely honest, the big cat felt a certain kind of kinship with the little girl, and was pleased to see that she was taken care of during her training. He was also surprised that he was the first thing that the little girl remembered, not quite realizing that her mind had subconsciously flashburned itself to forget the traumatic events a few years before. She didn't tell him that she considered him to be something of a surrogate father, as that would have meant that she wouldn't have been allowed his tutelage. The following years were perhaps the happiest of her life.
[Part Two: Daughter of Odin]
[Apprenticeship]
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master”
~ Ernest Hemmingway
At first the large Togorian was simply a reassuring hand on Kirin's shoulder, gently guiding her through her training. After a few years however, he soon became somewhat harsh towards her in the form of his training regimen. Certainly not with the intent to harm her, but rather to hone her body so that it could handle anything that the Force threw at her. Non-force assisted physical training sessions were fairly common, as were morning jogs through the Khoonda plains.
Much to Odin's surprise, and delight, he found that the lithe fourteen year old girl was incredibly fast for her age. Almost as fast as the giant feline himself when he was that young, but her body just couldn't support such speed and agility. Because of this, he tended to focus more on running endurance than speed as she obviously had more than enough naturally. Ingemar also began to teach the girl in the ways of Niman, as it was the most balanced of all the forms. It would serve her well, and leave her without a weakness... though it would also leave her without a tactical strength.
Not only did he begin teaching her Niman, but the earliest lessons of Jar'kai as well. She excelled at the beginning stages of Jar'kai, which strove to make the user ambidextrous. Kirin had a considerable amount of natural dexterity and speed to begin with, so the process of learning how to turn each hand into a strong one was quick.
During what little down time the girl had, she generally sparred with Daren, meditated beside him, or simply chatted with the only real person that she considered a true friend. Though he wanted to become a sentinel while she was following the path of the guardian, they both had much in common. She was intrigued at the notion of having a master that relied more on her wit than martial strength, and generally played twenty questions with the boy whenever that subject arose. It didn't often, and Daren was sure to keep it that way.
Ingemar and Kirin went on few missions outside of Dantooine, as it seemed that the locals needed just as much help with the hardships of bandits and rabid kath hounds as the galaxy did. Despite this, her prowess in Shii-cho, Jar'kai, and Niman grew exponentially... though she was truly only close to mastering Shii-cho towards the end of her padawanship. One of the missions that the council of reconciliation gave to the pair was to deal with a rather large and nasty band of brigands. They had been plaguing a faraway farming estate for some time, and the owners simply could not defend their crop. Or their workers. Little did the teen know, she'd discover that the Force decided to give her a rare power. It would prove invaluable in her coming career as a shadow. She was also taught Force Concealment, furthering her prowess as a Jedi Shadow.
They had infiltrated the bandit base easy enough, "lax" would have been an underwhelming term to describe the bandit guards. All it took was a small hint of stealth and guile, a rather large feline fist to the temple, and the guards were thrown into an unconscious heap. Once inside, however, Kirin found that she wasn't entirely mindful of her surroundings and the Force. A mistake that she'd never make again.
A rather large trandoshan bandit happened to round the corner just as she did. What followed was the smaller red head crashing into the large, scaly, and armored chest of the Trando. Kirin, of course, let a snarky little comment fly before a reptilian hand shot to her throat. Before she knew it, the girl was hanging in the air by her neck... not exactly a position one wanted to be in. Fortunately, the Trando decided that he had the little human beat and threw her into the wall. Only, instead of crashing into the duracrete slab and sliding down like a greasy piece of bacon, she flew straight through the wall like it was air. Nothing was damaged in anyway, shape, or form and there were no obvious signs of her being there at all.
To say that this surprised the red headed girl would be a massive understatement. Florescent green eyes blinked in utter confusion at the solid duracrete wall that she simply, well, glided through. After a few moments, Kirin managed to collect herself and shoot up to her feet... testing the wall for possible hatches or hidden doors. There were none. It was completely solid. If Odin's gleaming yellow blade didn't sear through the wall right next to her temple the girl would have likely stood there until the end of eternity, blinking in confusion. As the situation played out, however, her master's lightsaber skewering the Trando and the wall managed to throw her back into a relatively normal state of mind. After the "wtfbbq random" moment passed, of course.
The rest of the mission passed without incident, save a considerable amount of dead bodies and one dead bandit leader. Once it was complete, the girl asked her Master what caused her to fly through the wall in such a manner... and after some research, they both discovered that she had the rare power of "phase." It allowed her to go through solid walls, doors, and things of that nature. It did not, however, allow her to go through anything that is not in the first state of matter (solid) or floors and ceilings. Her training to master the power within her started almost as fast as her feet could carry her to the training room.
Which was awful fast.
[Trials]
“May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human enough hope to make you happy.”
Just under two years after the mission where Kirin discovered her inner power, she and her master were sent out to the desert world of Tatooine. Their objective was to discover and eliminate a ring of smugglers that ran drugs throughout the republic. Going on such a mission so soon after her last surprised the girl to no end, but then she didn't realize that the council willed to put her through her trials.
It took a great deal of time for the pair of Jedi to actually track the smuggling ring down. Finally, after weeks of dead ends, they happened across a lead. An informant from within the ring was willing to talk... after a no small amount of coin was given to him, of course. The co-ordinates given to them lead to a secluded location far out in the wastes of the dune sea. The area that the pair were sent to just so happened to be the hunting grounds of one of the fouler creatures that called Tatooine home, not that the Jedi knew, of course.
They reached the false co-ordinates and, to their surprise, there was nothing but the wastes and a heard of bantha to greet them. And, of course, a gigantic white greater krayt dragon bursting out of the sand to devour banthas. It didn't take particularly long for the creature to take notice of the two... and charge them. Generally, one doesn't pick a fight with a creature that is easily one hundred times your size, but then... one generally doesn't have psionic powers at their disposal, or energy swords.
It quickly became apparent to the eighteen year old Aphithiri girl that this outing would likely constitute one or more of her trials. A small shudder of excitement and a quick pang of fear caused the girl's heart to skip a few beats as she jinked the great white krayt using nothing more than her natural speed and a hint of the Force. Her master was not quite so lucky however, as it quickly became apparent that his older body, even when powered by the Force, couldn't quite move as fast as it once could. Fortuitously enough, the charging creature's massive leg only knocked the giant jedi cat into subconsciousness, and rolling about in the sand a fair distance away.
A quick roil of anger and sadness coursed through the girl's chest as she watched her master and surrogate father flop against the sand like a limp french fry. Green eyes danced between the furry and face down form of her master and the humongous creature hovering over him, no doubt savoring the snack to come. In a flash of brash idiocy and pseudo protection, the girl leaped towards the massive creature with both of her furious green lightsabers ignited and ready to save help save their wielder's master. Kirin made no attempt to latch onto the krayt's back outright, as she simply allowed her body and the searing blades to crash into its form, then drop... making two vertical slashes down the center of the dragon's torso.
The greater dragon almost instantly threw up its head and cried out in an enraged agony before turning angry blue eyes towards the little wench that caused its pain. Her form was a blurr as it swept in and out of the creature's legs, hacking and slashing with two furiously bright stars. Unfortunately, her slashing did little more than enrage the already angry monster of a krayt dragon. After narrowly dodging a belly crush (seeing as she was under it), the girl was nearly slapped by its massive tail... throwing her off balance for an attempted biting.
The battle dragged on for what seemed like hours before, finally, she managed to barely dodge a lunge-bite from the creature and hurl a green lightsaber into its eye. Scar, the name that she gave for the now cycloptic krayt dragon, recoiled backwards in pain at the blinding wound, and hastily decided that the little snack was far more trouble than she was worth. Without a moments hesitation, the creature dove into the sand and slithered away under its tan surface like some kind of eel.
After allowing her master time to recover, the girl completed the mission with the massive cat and returned to Dantooine, her trials of courage and skill completed. Kirin's second trial took place but a few months later on the planet of Ambria, within the Force nexus there.
Ambria was home to the legendary force nexus within the meditative canyon within the Tiernvael mountains, which were located just above the planet's equator. Seeing as the massive canyon was a force nexus, it was one of the few places in the galaxy that allowed Jedi to commune with the Force relatively easily, and as a result it allowed them to receive visions of the future, the past, and the present. Fortunately, unfortunately, Kirin received all three in her vision inside of one of the myriads of caves. It was a little known fact that few Jedi enjoyed what they saw when their gaze turned inward, and it was soon made apparent that Kirin would certainly not relish her inner workings, or the blood that coursed through her veins.
Alone. Kirin was to venture down into the depths of the meditative canyon by herself, without the aid or supervision of her feline master. Any presence other than her own would tamper far too much with her experience, and run the chance of her receiving no vision at all. So, with a brave heart, the girl walked down into the deep abyss, and ventured through the cave network whose entrances were strewn about the four faces of the canyon. Hours later, after deep meditation, the Force finally deigned it necessary to grant her a vision.
[/i][/ul]
Fear. That was the first thing that the girl felt after the Force finally released her from its grip. Seconds, minutes, hours passed by before the girl had regained her mind, and narrowed the vision down to two possibilities: her fall, or her death. Neither of which happened to be particularly appealing. The climb back up to Master Odin was particularly tiresome, as it seemed that the images of her vision had been seared into her very soul. Years would pass before the girl would go more than a few days without revisiting some aspect of it. After little debate, her master and the council had determined that the vision she bore witness to served as her trial of spirit, and she had but one more trial left to overcome: Flesh.
Two years later, on the eve of her twenty second birthday, Kirin and her master were sent out to the slums of Coruscant in search of a ring of dealers that peddled narcotics to the locals. Normally a group such as this would barely be a blip on the Jedi's proverbial radar, but it seemed that the dealers had elected to begin taking the junkies who couldn't pay as slaves. That was unacceptable.
The criminal ring was easy to track, perhaps a little too easy, as it seemed that someone had laid out an obvious trail and path for the pair to follow. It wasn't terribly long until Kirin and her master found an old and deserted building that the slave and drug dealing ring had set up their residence. After a short amount of planning, it was decided that the massive Togorian would walk through the front door while his padawan used “Phase” (the power that she'd been working on) to slip in through a wall on the opposite side. She was nearly a knight at this point, and Master Odin had been slowly but surely giving her more alone time during missions... so she was more than used to the prospect of being separated from her master.
Just as she was about to enter in through the back wall, a wrinkled old hand slipped around her shoulder and spun her backwards. Before the girl even realized what was going on, that same hand was laced her throat and her back was slammed against the wall. Her eyes shifted down to the woman's face, not recognizing one of the faces of her past. The part of her mind that could recognize the woman was wiped long ago, and her blood likely would have gone cold if it hadn't been. The same woman that took her under her “tutelage” during Kirin's youth stood there, holding her up well off of her feet. After a brief exchange of words, the woman discovered that her apprentice, she still considered Kirin as such, had no recollection of her. She quickly rectified that problem.
Using her considerable skill in telepathy, the elderly woman reversed the effects of the flashburn in the young woman's mind. The pain was indescribable. Prior to that moment she hadn't been able to recall anything before her sixth birthday, it almost felt like an empty void, but after that moment... all of her erased memories flowed back into her mind. All of the pain that she'd forgotten. Everything. The old woman released “her apprentice” from her grasp, and allowed the young woman to simply squirm and writhe on the ground as her memories came flooding back. Her “tutelage” under the dark jedi woman that now stood over her, the duel between the two Dark Jedi and the Aphithiri warrior, the beatings that the big men used to give her, and every moment up until her “birth” out of the tube. She then realized that, not only was the old woman her tormentor, but also her mother.
That was her trial of flesh. To not only endure the realization that her own 'mother' was her tormentor, but also the memories and pain of her youth. After the pain subsided, all that the young woman had to do was survive the sure-to-come onslaught of her mother's attack... but it did not come. For some unknown (to Kirin) reason the elderly woman was gone by the time that the green eyed red head had recovered from that searing pain within her skull. Warily, the girl continued on with the task that Ingemar asked her to accomplish, and walked through the wall in an attempt to help her master, thinking that he was in need of it. He wasn't, of course, but weapon masters rarely needed help when it came to a fight based on martial prowess.
They finished the mission with little incident, and within a week it was determined that Kirin had completed her trails, as her lightsabers were crafted earlier in her padawanship. She was knighted but a few days after her twenty second birthday.
[Shadow]
”Join us brothers and sisters.
Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant.
Join us as we carry the duty that can not be forsworn.
And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten.
And that one day we shall join you.”
~ Spoken before a Gray Wardens Joining
During the next two years, the woman would do little more than go on a few trivial “newly knighted-knight” missions, but she found that most of her time was spent working on her prowess in the Force and mastery of her powers. About a year after her knighting, the long haired red haired woman stumbled on an old volume in the Jedi Archives that covered a light side technique dubbed “Force Blinding.” She was intrigued. Force blinding allowed the telekinetic movement of light particles around at the Jedi's palm, therefore creating an intense burst of light that was intended to blind and incapacitate a target for a few precious seconds. It may not have been a considerable amount of time, but a few seconds could prove to be beyond invaluable in a fight, or it could easily be used as a less-than-lethal preemptive option that would stop a fight before it happened.
Her mind devoured the volume like a giant hunk of Corellian fudge. Needless to say, it didn't take a considerable amount of time for the young woman to master that art, and she continued to refine her prowess in “Force Concealment”, which allowed her to hide her presence in the Force. Phase gave her trouble, however. Despite her best attempts, she could not command her body to sink through the floor or jump through the ceiling (but it was fairly comical to watch her try), nor could she go through wall or door that wasn't in the first state of matter while using the power. It frustrated her to no end.
After her twenty fourth year, the woman's instincts called for her to take on a padawan. Unfortunately, her own need to answer the Call of Duty overwhelmed those instincts when the Council called upon her to take up a position in the Shadows of the Jedi Order. Being a devoted hunter of the Dark Side hardly thrilled the woman, as she'd had more than enough of that part of the Force during her earlier years of torture at the hands of her own genetic twin and mother. Yet, at the same time, the woman felt the distinct need to separate herself from the life of her “parent” by hunting the kinds of people that she was. With hope, Kirin reasoned, the woman may one day grow strong enough to defeat the thing that haunted her nightmares by fighting those that stalked about in the dark.
Amnell quickly found that her mindset was completely alien to her peers in the Jedi Shadows, as they tended to see the world through eyes that could only view the colors of white and black, while she saw the world as varying shades of gray. This often worked against her when it came to identifying enemies of the Jedi, though more often than not it allowed her definition of “enemy” to be in line with those of the Jedi Council, contrary to the situation that most of her comrades found themselves in. Her missions were many, and almost always ended in conflict in one form or another. Though, most of the time, she had to enter an organization under the guise that she was little more than an off the street gangster or bounty hunter. This lead her to focus a bit more on unarmed fighting, seeing as that form of combat allowed for better lightsaber combat skills. She had one mean kick.
Towards the end of those four years, Kirin was sent on a long term assignment, one that called for her to investigate (and possibly act on) the rumors of a Dark Jedi at the head of a major dealer of technology to the republic, Misrah Armories. Provided that the rumors were true, the head of that particular company being the very thing that the Republic has deemed its enemy was a serious breach in security, seeing as they were in the position that would allow them to sell schematics for weapons and a few vehicles that were given so that an effective weapon could be made and mounted on its chassis.
To assist her in ascertaining the truth of these rumors, the Jedi Council paired her up an old friend: Daren Llvaarsha. The tall man had been made a shadow a few years after she had been inducted into the darker branch of the Jedi. After almost a full year, the pair finally managed to infiltrate one of the company's upper level, and dealt with Kazdan on an almost daily basis. What they found was disturbing. Kazdan Misrah, CEO and founder of one of the most prestigious weapons manufacturer in the galaxy, was a Dark Jedi. Yet, another peculiar thing happened during that year: Kirin found herself thinking strange, almost alien thoughts about her old friend, laughing (even giggling) at his occasional idiotic joke, and even blushing on one occasion. It was odd, really, she hated being around him at times, seeing as her heart stirred in an odd fashion at his smile, but she simply couldn't stand
not being in his presence.
Towards the end of that year, Daren had stumbled upon her doing something rare: singing. There were few times that the girl actually displayed her amazing voice talent, and even fewer times did she give anyone but herself an audience. Ingemar was the only one, and that was simply because he had slunk in while her mind was delved deeply into one of its songs. The red haired woman's voice could have stirred a dead heart to feeling love, as it spoke of the growing emotion within her own heart. Not that she understood it... she rarely found herself singing a tongue that she
did understand. But, regardless, Daren happened across her as she sang happily to herself before bed... and made a passing comment when she finished before heading to bed.
She blushed.
She cried.
That voice of the now long dead aphithiri warrior sprang back in her mind, telling her that what she'd done was worse than having intimate relations with multiple partners. She hardly wanted to follow that culture, but the notion had been hard wired into her since that day. It was only after Daren sensed the turbulent emotions within her that he returned, and did his best to comfort his friend and college. She found his grasp welcoming, comforting, and safe... an idea that was completely alien to her. At first she rejected it, but it wasn't long before she simply "allowed" him to hold her in such a way.
After she was better, he returned to his room and they both fell to sleep, or at the very least tried. The next day they received their orders from the council.
They were simple: destroy or turn anything that called the Dark its friend, CEO of a major corporation or no. They planned the ambush and assassination for almost a week, and attempted to think of every possible situation (both good and bad). Both of them knew that no plan survived contact with the enemy, but it was foolhardy to rush into a situation without thinking of multiple ways out should the worst happen. Daren was to be the one that would wait for the Dark Jedi in his office, lightsaber ignited and in hand. Should he not see reason, Kirin would be there to simply walk through the wall and, hopefully, surprise the powerful Dark Jedi into a position of weakness so that he could be slain.
The fight was long and arduous. Misrah was a powerful Dark Jedi Master and the pair of Jedi Shadows were nearly slain on multiple occasions, and would have been if their companions weren't there to parry the would be final blow or distract him with an attempted back stab. That game of cat and mouse was played with near perfection from both parties, up until a single mistake caused it all to come crashing down. Daren hadn't been there to distract the man from making a killing blow, but Kirin was more than fast enough to turn a killing blow into a wounding one. After the blade was withdrawn her body involuntarily slumped to the ground, and hardly responded to her orders. Daren, thinking the woman he cared deeply for had died at the hands of his enemy, let out a howl of rage before collapsing to the ground himself. He was a Rilan. The man's bone structure shifted to something reminiscent of a bird of prey, his skin grew somewhat luminous, and a pair of wings sprouted from his back.
Neither of the two other beings expected that. At all.
Kazdan simply stood there in a state of shock at the events that unfolded within his office, and at the creature that looked like an angry angel. Fortunately it was surprised enough for Kirin to throw one of her sabers into his chest. She may have been a Jedi, but that didn't mean that she fought fair. Her would-be killer fell to the ground, dead as the black heart that had barely stopped beating within his white chest. Without hesitation, Daren rushed over to Kirin's side and began the healing her nasty wound with his power in healing, though it wasn't nearly powerful enough to completely mend the sucking gut wound. After plucking out a feather only to slip it into one of her pockets, he managed to fight through more than a few guards with his unconscious partner in tow and leave her at a medical clinic for healing.
[Reckoning]
“If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.”
~ Chinese Proverb
She spent a full day floating in the restorative liquid of the clinic's kolto tank, which healed the grievous wound in her belly. The woman awoke to the cacophony of a pair of lightsaber beams slamming into each other, and a pair of undefined shapes owning those blades locked in mortal combat. It didn't take long for the woman to simply travel through the solid glass (using phase) and see that it was, in fact, her “mother” fighting the friend that she'd grown to love. Without hesitation, the woman retrieved her lightsabers from a stack of her personal effects nearby and joined the fray.
Her mother, who revealed herself as Tael'n Archria-amnell, found the two on one battle nothing more than amusing, and proceeded to do nothing more than taunt the pair on their growing relationship and toy with them. At that point, it was blatantly obvious to the pair that they were outclassed... so they began to formulate plans of escape via telepathy while they barely managed to hold off the ancient Dark Jedi. They didn't have time to execute any plans that they may have agreed upon, because Tael'n whipped around in an almost inconceivably fast blur with her lightsaber in tow. Kirin's mind couldn't even tell what happened until Daren's head hit the ground with a sickening plop, followed shortly thereafter by the rest of his body.
To say that Kir flipped out would have been a massive understatement.
Both of her bright green iris' became clouded with a crimson veil of blood, and a feral snarl erupted from her mouth as she lunged at the woman who killed her treasured one. The otherwise sweet and good natured woman was gone, temporarily consumed by maddening pain and anger, and the new creature's goal was one thing: blood. It wanted nothing more than to see the blood sprout from every last pore of the object of its fury. Nothing could stop it, save the Tael'n's martial prowess.
Its actions terrified the young Shadow, who was relegated to beating against the glass walls of her mind as she watched her hands unleash hell on the elderly woman who, with a beaming smile, parried all of the angry swipes and jabs with ease. Little did the angry Jedi know, her temporary state of anger was Tael'n's purpose for doing what she did... as all of her meetings with her genetic twin had a purpose that was meant for bettering her power or persona. At least in her own mind, as Kirin would certainly disagree to the “bettering” part.
Eventually, Tael'n fell back and allowed Kir's rage to abate... which caused her to silently slip into unconsciousness. After she awoke and recovered, the Shadow realized that the events she'd gone through weren't a dream... and begrudgingly took the corpse of her only friend back to the Jedi. She only had two things to remember him by: his viridian lightsaber crystal, which she made a necklace of, and the feather that she found in her pocket. Both rarely leave her body, even to this day.
After countless expeditions to the archives about her people turned up nothing in relation to the state she was put into, Kirin turned in her lightsabers and left the Order. Though she made it clear that she had no intention of leaving permanently. Kirin had to find herself, and ensure that her anger never overwhelmed her again, or next time someone other than Tael'n could be in her crosshairs: an innocent. If she couldn't find a way to control it, then she would not come back.
