Just Keep Swimming...

[James Prent]

Life was funny, sometimes.

James Prent hiked up her holdall strap on her shoulder, and disembarked the transport that had brought her to Ossus. She was anxious, and excited, but mostly anxious, as she found her way across the landing pad through the other people who'd traveled with her from Dac. Mostly Alliance support personnel, switching out with others who were due leave, or just simply being reassigned. The Alliance presence on Ossus was growing lighter, but they still maintained a garrison, and would, James understood, as long as the Cizerack Pride did the same.

She looked around, trying to get her bearings. She didn't have a name for a contact to get in touch with, but the Jedi were supposedly expecting her today and she figured someone would either show up to collect her, or she could start off down the road toward Sanctuary proper on her own.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

She'd been told to expect a potential arriving from Dac named James Prent. As far as details went, they were fairly on the skimpy side. Just a name, really. Draiya stood at the periphery of the landing pad, watching passengers file out of the transport via the narrow gangplank from the passenger compartment. Dozens of faces, and several races to choose from. And one of them was named James.

Okay, so a human name. Let's start with the humans.

The Syragori padawan pushed a rebellious strand of black hair out of her face that had come out of her rough ponytail. Shifting her weight on her feet, she glanced from person to person, looking for a sign of someone that wasn't immediately setting out for somewhere to be. A blonde-haired man with a beard? Nope, he picked up a case and headed for a waiting transit repulsor. Swarthy guy with a shaved head? Draiya stepped up and nearly called out the name, but he shook hands with a waiting Alliance officer, and they moved on.

There was a way to sort this all out, but Draiya wasn't about to go noodling into peoples heads when a little patience should win the day.

[James Prent]

There was a young woman a few feet away, staring into the crowd as if she was looking for someone. James recognized the Jedi aesthetic to the girl's clothes, and after a few minutes of being ignored, she hesitantly walked over to her. "Um, sorry, are you here to meet me?" The Jedi looked at her with a bit of confusion, and the Nar Shaddaa native stuck her hand out. "James Prent."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya's brown eyes widened a bit at the woman's name. Well that was unexpected.

"Oh, you'rre James."

Well to be fair, it was a boy's name! Suddenly sheepish, Draiya took the Nar Shaddaan's hand in a shake.

"Sorrry, they just gave me yourr name. I was..."

She cut off that sentence immediately to avoid looking even more of a fool.

"Sorrry. I'm Draiya Naaiyaneya. Welcome to Ossus."

[James Prent]

She couldn't help but grin at the girl's confusion. "Thanks. Don't worry, I get that a lot. So, this is Sanctuary?"

James looked around a bit. "I actually expected ...less? It's pretty busy around here."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

That observation was somewhat relative. Draiya glanced back towards town taking in the limited vista offered by the landing pad. Through the modest sprawl of modular structures and slapdash, she could still make out the thinning hulk of the Whaladon in the distance.

"It used to be prretty small. I arrrived not long afterr the official planetfall. It's come a long way in a shorrt amount of time."

A quarter turn to her left, and Draiya found herself staring at another looming structure. This time toward the immense ruin of the Great Library.

"Of courrse, we arre still within the shadow of the Jedi who came beforre. This planet's historry is ancient."

She again looked to James. The accent was tough to place, but she didn't exactly seem bowled over by the sights. World-weary sort? Draiya raised an eyebrow.

"Wherre arre you frrom?"

[James Prent]

"Nar Shaddaa, originally," James said absently, following Draiya's gaze toward the ruins that were just visible in the distance. A good way away from the town, and yet somehow still imposing. "We don't have anythin' like this there, though. Y'know?" She shook her head. "It's all buildings an' shit. Stuff," she said quickly, slightly embarrassed to have cursed right in front of a Jedi.

"Anyway, I think I'm s'posed t' talk to the Council, t' see about bein' accepted for trainin'. Do ya know anythin' about that?" James looked back toward the transport, where they were unloading the luggage. "Prob'ly need t' get my bags, too."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

From one fellow slum rat to another. Draiya knew of the vertical city from her traveling days when her family managed to work on a star caravan. Though she'd never been to the smuggler's moon, Draiya had heard that it was by far a rougher hood than her own childhood tenements. The worst that Syragor threw at you was worrying where you'd get enough money to feed yourself, and how to keep people from stealing it out from under you. Nar Shadaa had plenty of that, but also a side chance of getting murdered. Say what you will about Syragori slums, but at least the Pride could dissuade someone from sticking a knife in your stomach, even if they didn't care about much else.

Anyways, James cut right to the heart of the matter, probably antsy to get right to the main event. Draiya couldn't blame her. Everyone's first day on Ossus as a candidate always had a bit of a float-on-a-feather sort of whimsy to it. To a lot of people in the galaxy, what the Jedi did was magical. Finding your lot being drawn to possibly learn the trade was intimidating to put it mildly.

"I can get yourr bags," Draiya offered, immediately making herself useful as she pushed toward the baggage claim area. "The Council sent me to fetch you, actually. We'll go therre as soon as we get you to yourr quarrterrs."

[James Prent]

"Sounds good," said James, "And, oh, I just have one case, I don't really need..." Draiya was already shouldering up to find it, so James lamely pointed it out to her. It was Alliance standard issue, brown and beige, and the only thing that made it stand out from the others was that James had tied a bright blue ribbon on one of the handles.

One suitcase, and a holdall. She'd left an extra pair of boots back in the apartment on Dac, but she didn't really own much. It felt like she was leaving, really leaving Byl, but she'd hugged and kissed him and assured him she would call. "Probably be sent packin' as soon as I get there," she'd said. He was heading out on a mission as well, and wouldn't be in comms reach for a few weeks.

It had felt strangely final.

Draiya snagged the case, and James forced a smile. "Do I have a roommate?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"You'rre looking at herr." Draiya shrugged her shoulders as she jerked a thumb to her chest.

"Well, one of them." She grinned. "Therre's Brryna. She's olderr, but not as old as you. And Narrsha Taab. She's a Theelin. Everr met a Theelin beforre?"

Draiya's upbeat smile faded a bit as she glanced back at the faraway expression on James' face. Something was troubling the woman, but she couldn't bring herself to pry about it.

[James Prent]

Three roommates? James was careful to smile cheerfully at the news. "Yeah, I've met a few, actually. Nar Shaddaa is the moon to Nal Hutta, an' they're kinda... popular there." As slave dancers. Awkward.

How old was Draiya? Sixteen? Maybe? Hopefully she and this Theelin girl wouldn't be gossiping and giggling like school girls at all hours. Or maybe they were all books and studying and no fun at all. Bryna was considered 'older' but there were a lot of unknowns here.

She felt a lot like she was starting at a new university. "Sounds cozy."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"Yeah I guess."

In typical teenage downplaying, Draiya was ever-careful to curb her enthusiasm.

"I don't spend a lot of time inside. They'rre alrright though."

A figure caught her attention at the far end of the landing pad.

"Hi Knight Hicchorru."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Shirtless and well-tanned, the hermit Knight carried a basket of fruit at his hip with one hand.

"Hello Draiya."

Anbira then turned his attention to Draiya's guest, raising an eyebrow as he pushed a strand of hair over his ear that had fallen from the makeshift bun atop his head. He hadn't seen the woman before, and judging by where they were, it narrowed down the possibilities.

"Welcome to Ossus."

Anbira pulled a ripe kopokek from his basket, and offered it to James.

[Ndonsa]

Ndonsa leapt nearly silently onto a pile of shipping crates, balanced on the balls of her footpaws, and saw her prey walking in front of her. She reached out with the Force before her master knew she was there, and pulled a fruit from his basket. Training in stealth came naturally to her, and the Force made her even quieter and quicker than she was naturally.

[James Prent]

"Oh, uh, thanks," said James, trying not to look and also to not turn red as the half naked man offered her a lumpy...thing. Food, maybe? Her eye caught movement, and a fruit levitated out of the basket under his arm, zipping quickly away behind him to her amazement.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira turned with a small amount of surprise on his face to Ndonsa. The moment she'd acted upon the fruit she had given herself away to him. His sense was not as attuned as some Jedi, certainly not as sharp as Padawan Naaianeya, but there existed a special bond between Master and Padawan, so that he already knew who had pulled off the caper even as he was turning.

"Very good, Ndonsa!" He smiled, not at all put off by her pilfering. His Padawan was exploring her natural talents in concert with her own training and teachings. She'd achieved control without sacrificing stealth, which was no small feat.

Returning his attention to James, Anbira's smile didn't waver.

"I'm Anbira Hicchoru, Knight of the Order. My sneaky friend over there is Ndonsa, my student. What's your name?"

[James Prent]

"James Prent," she said, politely. "I'm... an initiate, I guess. Draiya is taking me to the Council." James hesitated. "Are you on the council?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Still smiling genially, Anbira addressed the initiate's question.

"Me? Oh, no. I'm mainly focused on guided meditation training."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya added on with more information than was really called for.

"He's also a farrmerr."

Okay, so that had nothing to do with anything, and Draiya was now aware of it. She dug in deeper.

"And he sleeps in a trree."

[James Prent]

James' smile became a little forced as she looked from her guide to the shirtless Jedi. "Uh, okay." What in the worlds was going on on Ossus? She'd expected... well she wasn't sure what she'd expected but a little more structure and clothing was part of it.