Flying Blind [Yolie]

[Zen Auryn]

"Look, I told you, I was sent here!"

Yes, he'd found the Wheel. How? Well, when you and your Master were both trained Wardens of the Sky, these things tended to happen. However, there was just one slight problem - they'd put him in a detention cell with a guard until the questioning could be sorted out and his clearance checked out. They weren't going to let him on until they knew what was going on.

And, of course, Zen didn't know what the hell was going on around him. A blind man, trained as a Jedi-- specifically a Warden of the Sky, leather coat, sunglasses and jeans on-- sent by his now-gone Master to find the Rebels and the Jedi to go and help them in their fight against... whatever it is they were fighting for. Zen hadn't much asked about that bit. Orders were orders and if he didn't listen to Master Blake then he was a bit of a tool.

Unfortunately, there he was, tied with plasteel cuffs to a fold-up chair in a dark room. That bit didn't bug him considering he wasn't using the Force to see, as per usual. And whoever was questioning him? Well, they'd just left the room. Zen was guessing to go get someone else to question him. And let's not forget the various injustices: His ship had been impounded and they were already searching it. His lightsaber? Taken. He was just... there. He could've used the Force to get out, sure, but they'd probably shoot him.

Sigh. Friggin'...

Frustrated Zen was frustrated, but what else could he do?

[Yolie Devix]

Cards fluttered in her fingers as she walked down the hallway of the Challenger. This time, however, she had permission to be away from the Whaladon as her lessons for the day were done, and she had no sessions with any of the other Knights until tomorrow.

Yolie almost had a spring in her step, except that in stiletto heeled boots, it was more of a saunter. She wasn't precisely dressed as she should be, and though Inyos was incredibly tolerant, he'd likely not entirely approve of her tight fabric and leather outfit (http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=48969772). it was, however, perfectly appropriate for her pazaak dealer persona, and the mechanics and engineers she'd be spending the next several hours with would certainly appreciate it.

Crimson locks gleamed in the light as she tucked one side behind her ear, before her fingers resumed shuffling the cards in her hands. Well, shuffling was a relative term when there was telekinesis involved and the cards flew between her hands in graceful arcs. She grinned and nodded as she passed a group of soldiers, one of whom she recognized.

"Hey Reg...comin' to the table tonight? I'm dealing..." she said, waving the cards in her hand as she came to a stop.

"Nah...wish I could, Red...but we've got a new guest who claims he's a Jedi. We're trying to get hold of someone to come see him as we speak." the burly Sixer replied with a shake of his head.

"Really?" Yolie blinked in surprise, almost dropping the cards in her fingers. "Can I see him? I could at least tell you if he's a Jedi or not while you wait."

Reg arched a brow and shrugged. "I suppose there's no harm in letting you see him. But only for a couple of minutes, alright? I don't need your Master or your Council coming down on my head for letting a Padawan into the room."

He led her down a side hallway and stopped just outside a doorway with a small window set into it. Yolie peeked in and frowned to find it dark. "Really, Reg? A dark room?" she snorted indelicately, before closing her eyes. Tentatively, she reached with the Force as she'd been taught, eyes flying wide open after brushing up against the edge of Zen's aura.

"Is he?"

"Oh hell yes. You're going to want to tell whoever you're sending to the Whaladon to mention that." Yolie said quietly, waiting until Reg had walked off down the hall, his comm in hand, to discreetly slip into the room with the ID she'd...borrowed from him.

Once inside, she flipped the lights on to a low setting, before sauntering over to seat herself in the chair in front of the Wheel's newest resident. "I see you've been treated to the our finest accommodations..."

[Zen Auryn]

The murmurings of voices outside his direct hearing rang,e through a sealed door. The hiss of hydraulics as that door slipped open, the tweaking of a light panel and the sweet melodies of a female voice. Probably human, by all reckoning. Could've been a Twi'lek, maybe, or one of the Near-human races, but to Zen, appearances were-- initially-- nothing. He tended to shy away from using the Force to see directly until absolutely necessary.

And, of course, who didn't know the feel of the Force? She was one of them. Had they finally sent a Jedi to-

I see you've been treated to the our finest accommodations...

Zen just shook his head, a mild grin forming on his lips. "I've seen worse, believe me. Better than being trapped in an Imperial prison cell - or worse, on a chain gang. Inconvenient as this may be, I can deal... for now."

He did not see her, merely hear her. Yolie would probably notice he seemed to look maybe an inch or two to her right. She'd see his eyes at least - well, what little of the long scar running across the top of his nose and to the edges of his eyes. She wouldn't see that they were completely white, with no trace of a retina or iris considering the fact they had not healed properly. Probably for the best, considering he didn't like putting people off. Scaring them off, more like, which was why he wore the sunglasses in the first place.

"So let me guess - you're the Jedi they're sending in to interrogate me? Make sure I'm who I say I am?" he asked, a little playfully. He had to make this fun somehow.

[Yolie Devix]

"Clearly," Yolie began, her wry smile evident in her voice, "you've never lived on the lowest levels of Coruscant."

Her cards lay in her lap, while a hand lifted to brush stray crimson strands from her cheek. She took the time to study him as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, though she kept her senses to herself.

She'd felt...enough. For now. And she was still reeling from just that single brush.

Dark eyes took in the sight of him - the sunglasses, the leather coat that stretched across broad shoulders, and the dark-wash jeans. He was tall, and would no doubt tower over her when standing, but it was the hint of a scar across the bridge of his nose that drew her gaze. Mostly hidden beneath the sunglasses he wore, she wondered if perhaps the shades weren't simply an affectation.

Yolie coughed delicately as she tried to hold back a laugh and failed. Her voice warmed as she answered his playful tone with one of her own, and completely unapologetic. "Umm...no. Not exactly. They're sending for a Knight or a Master to come check you out. I'm just a Padawan who nicked the ID badge from one of the SpecForce guys outside. My curiosity got the better of me."

[Zen Auryn]

"Can't say I have, no," Zen had to shoot back. "By the sounds of it I don't really want to."

Her voice was... pleasant. Lovely to listen to, at least. The best thing about being blind (and adjusted to it) was the fact that he could honestly say he wasn't a shallow asshole like most guys: he listened to the sound of the voice, not the way one looked. For all he knew she had five ears and a bunch of tentacles sticking out of her face. But hey. What he knew so far was still good. If he had've known she was totally hot? Bonus points.

It did alert him to the fact she was enjoying herself. She was trying to hide a laugh and the tone of her voice, plus the feel of the Force rolling off her, indicated to Zen that she was at the very least amused. Which meant that his job was done. He was a joker at heart, a free spirited rogue. So hey. Why not make a game of it?

"At least you're honest. To be fair, I'm sitting here with no karking idea what's going on. For all I know you're a Jedi Master trying to test me with a very lovely voice. Anyway, I'm Zen. What's your name?"

[Yolie Devix]

As she sat there staring, her fingers reflexively went to the slightly worn cards resting in her lap. She shuffled them absently, feathering the edges together and bridging them with a whisper of paper on paper. Even though so many things were now flimsiplast or some other paper-substitute, Yolie still thought that paper-based cards were best. And entirely worth the price she'd had to pay.

Dark eyes were wide and thoughtful as they coursed over him, finally noting the cant of his head. Were his eyes not shrouded by sunglasses, she mused, they'd be looking just a tiny bit to the right. Yolie wondered how he'd come by the scar that she presumed had taken his sight. Maybe she'd ask...but perhaps she'd do so when he wasn't handcuffed to a chair.

Although, he did present a most fascinating visual. She grinned and gently shook her head, casting her gaze briefly down to the cards flying between her fingers.

"Ha! Definitely not a Master. Hell, I can barely grasp the Force long enough to get through my lessons. But that's a lovely compliment, so thank you." Yolie smiled, pausing before she continued, words flavored with a hint of her peculiar Coruscanti accent. "My name's Yolie. So tell me, Zen..."

"...where do you hail from? And how did you come by your training?"

[Zen Auryn]

Was that... the shuffling of a pazaak deck? Of, of course it was. He knew that wound all too well. He hadn't played pazaak in many, many years but even his acute hearing didn't need to come into play to know that sound. And not just any pazaak deck, a real one. One that was made of real material. Not the crap they used in casinos. Zen had to smile at that - this little encounter was getting kind of fun!

Slowly he adjusted himself in the flimsy little chair, lifting it up slightly to adjust the way he sat on it, setting it back down with the clatter of metal on metal. Being in one place too long was not Zen's forte. Except, you know, when he had access to his weapons and he got to do something with them, but still. This was kind of... not his ideal place to be sitting. Maybe if there was something he could do other than speak!

Well, there came the obvious question.

"Me? I'm from a planet called Telerath. Tourists and money and islands. And swords. Combine the four and you have my lovely home planet. As for my training, I got picked up by a Warden of the Sky. Ever heard of them? Usually just a spacer's tale, but I can tell you they exist. My master, Chloe, trained me for a couple of years."

[Yolie Devix]

The fluttering cards ceased as her brow creased. She watched as he shifted uncomfortably, lifting both himself and the chair alike in his effort to find a bit of comfort. Rising, her fingers set the cards down on her seat before she approached him, heels clicking as she closed the distance.

"Well, I'm already going to be in trouble for being in here. The least I can do is get you out of those cuffs..." Yolie said brightly. Her petite frame crouched down on his right side first, examining the cuff with a deft touch. Simple plasteel with a very uncomplicated lock.

Shaking her head, she muttered mostly under her breath as she gingerly picked the lock with a hairpin. Yolie was soon rewarded with a tiny click as the latch opened and the plasteel loop loosened enough for him to pull his hand out. A few shuffling steps and she soon had the second cuff doing her bidding as well.

"There. Much better. So..." she began, sauntering back to her seat and her pazaak cards. "...Warden of the Sky? That's not something I've heard of before. I'm not surprised though, I've not been with my Master for very long."

[Zen Auryn]

And then... wow. Wow. He didn't expect that to be happening any time soon, but damn it was a pleasant surprise. In fact, Zen was dealing with something of a rogue-like. Much like... himself, actually. His smile widened. This was a kindred spirit. Yeah, he could've gotten out, but this was just nice. In fact, nice wasn't the word. Hilariously awesome was more like it. Zen pulled his hands out of the cuffs, then dropped them into his lap, rubbing his wrists gingerly. Damn they'd put those on tight. It was so liberating to finally be free of the cuffs.

But hey, she hadn't heard of the Wardens. Which, admittedly, was fair enough. Most people hadn't even heard of the Jedi, either. "The Wardens of the Sky... we're more like wanderers. We patrol space lanes, check out cantinas, that kind of thing. Make sure that space is free for people to use. And we don't like Sith."

Zen kicked back. "Kind of nomadic, though. Like, most Wardens barely even know each other. You get trained then you go your own way. We learn history verbally... what little of it there is. And whatever you get taught, you get taught. I'm just lucky my Master was thorough and taught me a lot of different things. But what about you? You're new, then?"

[Yolie Devix]

Dark eyes watched him intently as he rubbed at his wrists, frowning slightly at just how tight the cuffs had been. She couldn't truly fault them for the procedure though...after what had happened, they'd put a whole new series of security measures in place. Hell, the Whaladon had even docked within one of the bays of the Challenger specifically for its safety.

Still. He 'felt' light and clear to her fledgling senses, with an aura bright enough to send her senses haywire. Someone, she mused, might argue that she could have been deceived, but Yolie had learned long ago to trust her instincts.

She nodded absently as he spoke, realizing only belatedly that he wouldn't have seen the slight gesture unless he was using the Force to see...and wondered if it would create a ripple enough for her to feel.

Perhaps she'd ask about it at some point.

"Me?" Yolie said quietly, staring down at the cards in her fingers as her smile slowly found its place once more. Fingers moved as she arced the cards between them, using the barest thread of the Force. "Yeah, the newest Padawan at least. I'm from Coruscant, one of the...not nice ground-level districts. Worked in a little casino as a pazaak dealer, and sometimes sabacc too. Hence the cards. Had a recurring dream for about a year where a strange man kept telling me he was waiting for me, so I finally took off a few months ago to find him. Turns out it was the Force guiding me to my Master."

[Zen Auryn]

As the force danced around, moving those pazaak cards along with her fingers, Zen stopped and listened. Not seeing was... well, he was used to it by now, but every now and then he realised that hearing every sound was a pain. The thrum of the ship's engines, for example, could be felt under his feet as faint vibrations. And now it was just getting plain distracting. He wanted to focus on Yolie. The fact that she'd done some interesting things, like being a casino dealer, was better than him. He was a sellsword. Still kind of was, sometimes.

"The Force is funny like that," he admitted. "I mean, it brought my Master to me after my accident." Yeah. Dance around it, Zen. Good job. "Not only that, but it helped me find you guys. Fancy that, huh? It's probably better for finding things than anything else, provided you have the patience of an Ithorian growing an orchard."

Zen leaned back slightly. At this point he felt a lot more relaxed. So much so that he was joking and having fun with this conversation, and it showed in every aspect of his body language. The way he lounged back was more of a flowing motion that the stuff, difficult ones he had while the cuffs were on - and not just because he was bound, either. He felt like this was just a better deal of the cards.

"So, hey. Tell me about what you guys do here. I see that it's more of a convoy... and were those Alliance war vessels out there? A Venator-class?"

[Yolie Devix]

“And I most certainly do not have the patience of an Ithorian. My Master would probably laugh himself to tears if anyone suggested such a thing.” Yolie replied with a light grin, the expression audible in her warm tone.

It was, she mused, sadly true. For as far as she’d come with her lessons under Inyos’ careful tutelage, she was still professionally impatient. She just couldn’t help herself sometimes.

At least she’d managed to behave herself for Knight Laran’s session on Jedi healing – that had been quite the coup for the young woman. Sitting still and delving into the Force with a rather deft touch, if she did say so herself.

Yolie freed a hand from her cards for a moment, smoothing back her crimson locks and tucking them behind her ear. She gazed down at the cards as her fingertips absently traced the intricate pattern inked onto their backs. Something Zen said was niggling at the back of her mind, lingering just out of reach until she took a deep breath and made the effort to relax.

Then it occurred to her, and raised her hackles slightly. Dark eyes narrowed as she tilted her head and peered at Zen with a bit more intensity.

“It is a convoy. The Alliance helps us, we help them. But tell me…how did you ‘see’ the convoy? Master Nytherciria is a Miraluka, and I’ve not heard of her being able to do something on that kind of scale.” She said softly, a touch of concern in her voice.

[Zen Auryn]

Snerk noise. I don't know how to write it right now. "If I had the patience of an Ithorian I'd be growing trees, getting old and not flying ships around the Galaxy where I can get into trouble. No thanks."

Carefully, he studied her. Not with his eyes, but with the Force - reached out to her aura as she had done for him. Gently enough that, while she'd know she wa sbeing probed, it was just a general 'hi, how're you, what's in here' kind of thing as opposed to 'GIVE ME YOUR SECRETS!' that many people seemed to like to do with the Force. Jedi. That was all she needed. And... while not exactly calm and serene... definitely with the heart in the right place. Just like him.

And then her question made him chuckle a little. Understandable question. It was something most people would ask, really. "Well, it's a combination of a couple things. Y'know how some people have specialties in the Force? Mine happens to be ship-based abilities. Force Immersion. Instinctive Astrogation. That kind of thing, all coupled, lets me find a lot of things... provided I'm on my ship and I'm looking for other ships. Kinda a skill I have. I can more or less tap into my ship's sensors and astrogation systems, for instance."

[Yolie Devix]

"Trouble is more fun anyhow." Yolie smiled, dipping her head and trying to contain her soft laugh. She failed, and instead, concentrated on straightening the cards in her hands, allowing the now-neat deck to rest in her lap, hands folded together-

The young Padawan blinked, her head darting up to stare at Zen as she 'felt' him reach out and brush against her aura as she had done to him not long ago. She blushed as he 'introduced' himself and gently nudged around the edge of her mind, trying to gather her peculiar scattered thoughts as best she could. There was no need for him to know most of those.

Once composed, she realized he'd fallen silent and sorted through what he'd said as she found her voice again. "I've never heard of that before...but it sounds pretty cool. But yes, we're a convoy. Only a couple of ships though. Easier to move on a moment's notice. There's been some recent...issues. I'm sure the Council will explain when they brief you."

[Zen Auryn]

Oh that he had to grin at. "That it is."

When he was done feeling around her aura, Zen left well enough alone. He didn't need to keep probing and find out her deepest, darkest secrets-- not like he could anyway, truth told-- and then just... smiled. He had to admit he knew it was probably a little weird for her to be seeing some blind dude not quite looking at her and smiling about what he was seeing of her, but even so. Zen got it. He knew he was hard to put up with some times.

And then the conversation, after its silence, picked up again. "Understandable, I s'pose," he admitted. "Secrecy is a pretty big thing, or so Master Blake told me. Gotta keep the location of the Jedi a secret from the Empire and whatever before they jump a SSD on us and crash the party permanently."

One hand came to his chin, cupping it between thumb and index finger, rubbing at his beard. "What d'you expect 'em to tell me, anyway? I'm not even sure if they'll welcome me with open arms any more."

[Yolie Devix]

"Of course they'll welcome you. Why wouldn't they? There are so few of us..."

Yolie sighed softly, a tiny, thoughtful smile playing about her lips as her voice trailed off. She stared down at her folded hands, the pile of cards beneath them, before lifting her dark gaze back to Zen.

Tilting her head, she found herself staring at his face, and tracing the strong lines of his features. She paused at his eyes, still covered by sunglasses, and barely resisted the urge to tug his glasses off with a tendril of the Force. That would have been profoundly rude, however, so she simply asked instead.

Her voice emerged a bit more softly, but burnished with the honest truth. "I hope you don't think me rude...but would you tell me what happened to your eyes? I...I'm only barely resisting the urge to tug your glasses off."