Thinking of the Past (open)

[Ebony]

Ebony who has been here, at the GJO for quite some time now, had been spending most of her time out and about, mostly away from ppl, especially the Jedi. She is still having a hard time giving up her misgivings about Jedi as she keeps thinking back to when she lost her parents, but that was in the past. Her daughter, the jewel of her heart, is dead because of her now. Her and the way she was before, but she will change, she will become a better person. She has to.

She had been up all last night, just sitting on the floor in her room, looking at a picture of two cat-like ppl. Herself and her daughter. She is still sitting there, not having moved a muscle except for the mandatory ones to live, all night she had just sat there looking at a picture. The door had been left open, and up until recently, the had been a flickering of a candle, casting shadows in her room and just outside.

[Liu Fong]

"Is...something amiss?"

Liu was about to shut the door, seeing how it was dark and seemingly empty, when he spotted Ebony sitting within the room.

[Ebony]

Ebony gets startled slightly when she hears somebody ask her if something is amiss. She slowly stands, her black fur shifting slightly from the movement of turning to face the person. At her side is a lightsaber.

"Just thinking of the past and the family I lost before coming to this...........place."

[Liu Fong]

"You have lost family as well? I am sorry to hear it. If you would like, I'll leave you alone...I didn't mean to intrude."

[Ebony]

"How can anybody intrude here when all are supposed to be like family? No, you don't have to leave. I wouldn't mind the company which you can offer."

Ebony turns an walks to one of the two chairs in her room and sits down, motioning for Liu to do the same.

"I always wonder why my daughter made me promise to come here if anything happened to her. She knows I hate this place with a passion. Only thing I hate more then this place are the Jedi which killed my parents when I was a kid.

Please tell me a bit about yourself before I decide to hate you."

[Liu Fong]

"Well...My name is Liu Fong."

He extends his one arm for her to shake.

"I lost my left arm fighting the thugs on ground level Coruscant. I came here to learn to use the Force to continue protecting the poor on ground level."

[Ebony]

Ebony is silent for a moment before she starts to speak.

"Protecting the poor is a noble cause for a Jedi I guess. What got you started in fighting the thugs?? To get you to start protecting the poor??"

[Liu Fong]

"I was born on ground level. My family and several others live in the slums at the base of the Senate building. I have defended my small 'village' since I was old enough to cause mischief."

[Ebony]

Ebony nods her head slightly. Then with a flick of her wrist, the picture that she was looking at earlier comes quickly to her hand which she then hands to Liu.

"One person in that picture is me. The other one, the one with grayish white fur is my daughter. Before I came here, she was killed. It's supposed to be her here right now, not me.

If you haven't learned already, the Universe is a harsh place to live. You are always alone, no matter where you are. You can have moments of happiness, but they are always taken from you, no matter how hard you try to hold onto them."

[Liu Fong]

"I see..."

Liu scrutinizes the photo before handing it back.

"She looks like she was a good person."

[Ebony]

Ebony nods in silent agreement and takes the picture back and sets it on the small table next to her.

"Her Father wondered where I went wrong in raising her. I wonder what I did that got her to be such a nice person, somebody who would have made the perfect Jedi. My Lover, her Father, accused me of being corrupt and to good for her. Those were the last words he ever spoke because I killed him because he tried to kill my Angel. Angel, how I miss her. She was the light in my dark life. I sheltered her as best I could from the things which I did. I taught her only what she wanted to learn and she did not want to learn to kill, something I had learned shortly after my parents were killed by Jedi.

From the day Angel was born, she was surronded by darkness, me, her Father, his and my Master. But yet, she had a strong spirit, one which she was determined not let get corrupted by the Darkside. How I miss her."

[Liu Fong]

"I feel for your loss. Despite my best efforts, many of my own family and friends have died and suffered. I'm not the first to lose a limb to the thugs that would see us dead...You say her father considered her corrupt for being a good person...may I ask what would cause him to say such a thing?"

[Ebony]

Ebony laughs slightly for a moment or so.

"You didn't know Angel's Father. He was in training to be a Sith Master. You don't know how disgusted he was the his daughter didn't want to follow in his footsteps. She had a heart of good.

You are lucky that you still have family and friends. I lost the last of my family when Angel was killed. I lost my friends when I came here. They turned into my enemies.

But Angel, she had almost convinced me to take her away from our home. It was getting more and more common for her to get injured because of the other kids her age were in training to be Sith or Dark Jedi. But not my Angel, she wanted to be a Jedi even though the only exposure she had was to the Darkside."

[Liu Fong]

"Her willpower must have been considerable. I admire that."

[Ebony]

Ebony nods her head in silent agreement.

"Angel did have a strong willpower. That is the only way to explain how she was able to withstand the temptation of the Darkside, even when I told her I would be more proud of her if she started her training on the Darkside. Her responce was that I would be proud of her no matter what. And she's right of course.

She had the makings of a good healer. Even without proper training, she was able to use her powers. Oh, how I miss my Angel. So sweet, kind, and caring. My Master had tried to teach her, but she just walked out on him, her head held high as if he was nothing. No amount of threats would stop her if there was something she wanted to do.

I just hope that now I can make her proud since I never did when she was still alive."

[Liu Fong]

"I believe..." Liu said slowly, carefully choosing how he was to say this, "...that she will be proud of you and will love you no matter what you do, just as you loved her and was proud of her despite her unwillingness to train as a darksider."

[Ebony]

"I'm sure that your right about that. Though I know that while she was still alive, I disappointed her alot. She kept asking me why I couldn't have been a Jedi instead and I always told her that if I had have been a Jedi, she never would have been born."

Ebony picks up the picture of her and her daughter and looks at it in silence.

"I never realised that it is so hard to lose somebody who means everything to you. Not even her Father ment as much to me as she did."

[Liu Fong]

To this Liu has no answer. He's lost plenty of family and friends, and even he has yet to truly get over the loss of them all.

"All I can advise you to do is this: Rather than focus on the negative sorrow that comes from her death, focus on the postive memory she has left for you. Loved ones don't want loved ones to suffer or grieve, nor will they allow it."

[Ebony]

Ebony shakes her head slightly.

"It was a plain and simple killing which happened. Actually, it wasn't even a plain and simple killing. It was a long and complicated killing.

I don't think she ever did one thing that got me mad at her. She was always willing to be helpful, she was what alot of ppl would term, a good kid."

[Liu Fong]

"I'm told that my little sister was alot like that. I never saw it until she was killed, she would always pester me about anything and everything..."

[Ebony]

Ebony puts the picture down again, wondering why she's opening herself up to this person, a person who doesn't know. A person who's here to become a Jedi. She's here to learn the ways of a Jedi because of a promise to her daughter Angel.

"There are lots of kids out there that are termed good kids. I never thought that one of mine would be termed that."

[Liu Fong]

"Not many deserve the title though. It sounds as if your daughter was the exception to the rule."

[Ebony]

Ebony smiles and nods her head.

"Yes, she was an exception. She did deserve to be termed a good kid. Though at the time, I wouldn't have termed her that because by definitions that I knew at the time, she was a rotten little brat, but I was always proud of her."

[Liu Fong]

"Parents seem to be that way...no matter what the children do, how they behave, their parents love them with all their hearts. I wonder why that is..."

[Ebony]

Ebony shakes her head.

"I beg to differ, Angel's Father didn't love her. Before I killed him, he kept on telling her how pathetic she was, how much she misbehaved. He didn't love her, not even the slightest. But that is the past, this is the present. I have to do my best and prove to myself that Jedi have more reasons other then for us to kill."

[Liu Fong]

"If I'm not mistaken, the Jedi code warns against the killing of others. I believe the purpose is that enemies have the potential to become allies, and that all people are inherently good, if one seeks hard enough to see. Like your daughter."

[Ebony]

"The Jedi Code does warn against killing others. But I was raised as a Darksider, taught that the only good Jedi is a dead Jedi. As for all ppl are inherently good, no, there are some that are truly evil. Angel's Father was one of those ones."

[Liu Fong]

"I suppose...but I don't have the experiences you have, so I guess I can't judge."

By now, Liu's out of good advice and comforting words, so he simply shrugs and smiles.

[Ebony]

"Experiece isn't everything Liu. Just becaue you don't have as much experience doesn't mean that you can't do things or figure things out. That is the only way to get experience."

[Liu Fong]

"Not that I don't have as much experience as you, I meant that we have not had the same experiences. I haven't been a darksider. So much of what you've said about being a darksider and living amongst them are things that I cannot fully understand. Just as you have not been a street dweller, much of my experience would be things you could not advise against."

[Ebony]

"True, we have not had similar experiences for the most part, but I have experiences that are like yours. Living amongst a Darksider as one of them can be a truly good experience for a person. But it is extremely deadly.

Now, I have a question for you Liu, do you know for sure that I have never been a street dweller? Remember, I have said that my parents were killed."

Ebony leans back in her chair as she watches Liu.

[Liu Fong]

"You have said nothing of living a life of poverty, so naturally I would think that you have not had such experiences. I find that few of the Jedi here come from the slums of Coruscant."

[Ebony]

"Just because a person does not say that they have lived in poverty does not mean that they haven't. One of the best ways to hurt somebody is to know what they hold precious and dear to them. As a Padawan to my former Master, he sent me out to live amongst the poor on the streets for awhile. He made sure that I had a well rounded education. I was just a kid and had only the very basics on Force training at the time so I was not able to use the Force to help protect myself. But that is of my past and holds no relevence on the here and now. Just like your past holds no relevence on the here and now because we are both here to learn new ways for things to be done."

[Liu Fong]

"Yes, very true."

He can find nothing else to say. He simply...agrees.

[Ebony]

"Tell me more about yourself Liu. You already know a fair amount about me."

[Liu Fong]

"Well...I come from a poor family from the slums at the base of the Senate building. I protected those people from the thugs and murderers and rapists and drug dealers that lurck on ground level Coruscant...until I lost my left arm driving a gang war away from my family. Now I've come here to learn a way around my handicap and continue to protect the slum residents."

[Ebony]

Ebony nods her head slightly.

"Sorry to hear about what happened to your arm. And it's only a handicap if you let it be one. Otherwise, it's only an obsticle."

[Liu Fong]

"Peh...either way it can be a hassle. I keep forgetting it's not there...that's the biggest problem with it so far."

[Ebony]

Ebony stands quite suddenly.

"Well, I have some things I need to do today so if you shall excuse me"

[Liu Fong]

Liu bows politely.

"I will see you later then."

He closes the door quietly, leaving her in the silence of her quarters.