Bittersweet Symphony

[Ryssa Kilvaari]

If Jael wasn't listening in the background, Ryssa would've scoffed at the notion of coming back into the Jedi fold, though a brief breath escaped through her nose. Should she join this new Jedi Order or let herself fade away to history? Leave Ossus forever once she'd found what she was looking for, or stay and share the knowledge of thousands of years ago? Ryssa knew that, either way, she would struggle to make sense of the changes life had undertaken for a long time to come. Was it better to learn how to exist in this time with the company on an order she once belonged to? Being a Jedi was all she'd known... Could she be anything other than such? Could she really walk away from a life that she'd been a part of since birth? Could she heal by sharing her experiences with the other Jedi here? Could she really deny the New Order their right to know where their Order came from? Being the only one who knew the Order for what it was back then should that memory die with her without being said?

"I'll...think on this." Ryssa said to Kaie, another tear falling down her left cheek as she lowered her head. She could hear Jael in the back of her mind telling her to accept the offer and have a home again, yet Ryssa needed to know if this was truly her calling, to remember the Jedi as they once were, then share it with the New Order... Taking one last bite of her meal, Ryssa pushed the plate away and looked up. Wiping the tears that had formed, Ryssa stood up, forcing a small smile to pull on her face despite her eyes showing conflict within. "Well... if we're going to the Library, we best do so while there's still light left huh?"

Ryssa then held out a hand to Kaie. "I don't know what we'll find. Disappointment or revelation, it'll be one of the first bits of history I share." she said. "I only hope you're ready for its telling..."

[Kaie]

Smiling sympathetically to Ryssa, Kaie finished her own quick meal and nodded. Accepting the hand, she rose and moved toward the main entrance once more. "As I mentioned before," she began as they exited the main dining hall and into the central hallway, "I've experienced many things over the years. My mother kept my sisters and I grounded, regardless of the inhumane actions of those that we grew up around and healed. I think it's all in the things that you hold to, your principles and motivations. I love helping people," she grinned as they walked toward the main atrium. "My example in that's been my mother. She's amazingly compassionate and sees people for who they are, not what they've done. Sometimes that can get you into trouble too, but she told us never to be afraid to do what was right, regardless."

Opening the door, she let Ryssa lead back outside. "Death isn't the end of life, but a new beginning in the Force."

Veering right, she led the ancient Jedi toward a large stable knowing many of the local riding mounts were well cared for and could negotiate the rugged hills and mountains better than a speeder might.

[Ryssa Kilvaari]

Ryssa followed Kaie to the stables, taking a moment to admire the mounts the New Order had in offer. Ever since she was a girl, Ryssa loved animals. She'd always wanted a jax as a pet but Jael would have none of it. She used to ask her who would look after the creature if they went on missions or ended up in battle and never made it back. They were good points and points that she remembered after awakening. If she were to get a pet, it would have to be one that fights by her side, not cower when the heat is on. Taking one of the Tusk Cat's out of the stable, Ryssa spent a moment getting to know the cat, rubbing its cheek and looking into its eyes. This was the kind of pet the ancient Jedi would've had, if she were given the chance.

"Hey there Kitty." she said as she gently stroked its cheek, between the tusks. "Wanna help me find an old friend?" She watched as the Tusk Cat seemed to trust her, even present its back for her to put a saddle on. Once she secured the saddle and reins, Ryssa climbed onto its back. The cat adjusted its balance to accommodate her light frame and together, the pair took a few steps forward before waiting for Kaie to join them. For a moment, Ryssa stared out into the horizon, her dark brown eyes struggling to recognise the place that was once her home. She could see the ruins of the Great Jedi Library in the distance and felt the prangs of sorrow within as she began to accept that Ossus was not what it was. When Kaie joined her, Ryssa offered a small smile... and a memory. "Doesn't look as such now, but four millennia ago, this world was lush and rugged with two thirds of it covered in water. I often would walk to the cliff's edge and just sit in meditation, just over that ridge there." she pointed to the west to show Kaie the general area before looking back toward the Horizon. "It was also quite a place to watch everything going on, above and below."

While Ryssa did note that life was beginning to return to Ossus, it was more barren and desert now. She knew that this trip would be a hard one to make, having a clear memory of Ossus before and what was left now. She looked to Kaie and decided to allow the New Order Jedi to guide her, wondering what she thought and what questions she had.

[Kaie]

Getting help from one of the stablehands, she saddled one of the Tusk Cat's and soon climbed into the saddle, "Thanks," she bid to the Ysanna helper who grinned, nodding as she waved them off. Having not packed any food for the trip, she knew they weren't going to be gone long as the ancient archives wasn't but less than an hour away. Riding out into the daylight, she listened to Ryssa's reminiscing on the old days and tried to imagine what this world was like back then. Before the Sith invasion and aftermath of that battle. Having grown up on Hapes, it wasn't a stretch to imagine beautiful landscapes stretching for as far as the eye could see.

"This is what hate does," she agreed as they spurred their mounts on, the graceful, large cats bounded over rocks and across the river, before heading up through the rugged terrain toward the mountains. Trying to shift her mind back to what this world could be again, she glanced to the historian as they rode. "I can imagine what this world must've been like, but maybe one day could be again. Sometimes time itself heals most things. Life does find a way," she mused aloud.

"I had read about a couple masters at that time being more animal-like. One even became a very old tree," she grinned, unsure if maybe the master had also been that form from the beginning. "Master Ood Bnar?" She thought that's what his name was.

[Ryssa Kilvaari]

Ryssa looked toward Kaie and shook her head as the Jedi stated that the destruction of Ossus was due to hate. "Not entirely true..." she responded before remembering the last few days before the fall. "We Jedi were just as responsible for this as the Sith." As the two rode along, Ryssa shared a piece of advice that Jael once said to her back in her early days as a Padawan. "Strive for balance to open one's eyes, for straying one side or the other can render you blind to its consequences." Ryssa looked down slightly as she elaborated on that by lifting up her wrist and showing the bracelet once more as she looked toward it. "Light and Darkness cannot exist without each other. No matter how hard you try to erase one, the other will always find a way to restore the balance. Just as a spark of light in the vast darkness can illuminate, it can also blind you much like the darkness can."

She looked toward Kaie and spoke more about what she believed ultimately brought Ossus to its knees. "You know yourself that hate isn't the only thing that destroys. Temptation. Failing to understand the dangers by ignoring it. Overconfidence. Arrogance. Fear. Apathy. Vengeance. They all play their roles in Ossus' destruction."

When Kaie spoke of a Jedi Master named Ood Bnar, Ryssa's eyes suddenly went wide with surprise and looked at her in disbelief. There was no way he could still be alive after all this time. "Master Bnar?! That's im..! I remember him. He...does he still live?" her voice stammered somewhat before she took a breath to calm herself. "His people were called 'Neti' and were a species of sentient plants, a race that, even in my time, were exceedingly rare. They left their homeworld of Myrkr for reasons we didn't know, even then. Master Bnar was already a thousand years old when I first met him here on Ossus. He was the understudy to Head Librarian Odan-Urr. Master Bnar took over his job when..."

Ryssa then posed a question to Kaie. As the ancient Jedi was still unfamiliar with this time, she wanted to know what this Jedi had been taught about their past. "What do you know of a fallen Jedi Knight named Exar Kun?"

[Kaie]

Kaie listened to the views on the dark side and how both needed to coexist for the universe to be in a balance, but the white witch wasn't totally sold on that idea right away. She did agree that it took more than just hate to destroy, but the healer's views on human nature were simpler and knew that in the end the Sith wanted nothing more than to just wipe out the Jedi that lived here. Erase all that they stood for and find their own version of balance. Palpatine felt the same way, apparently as the Jedi purge had been meant for that end.

"I've never met the master, but it's quite possible. I only read about past stories about him," she informed and now was eager to find out herself, whether or not this ancient master still remained on the planet, even after all that it had seen. "Be amazing that he would survive after all this."

Green eyes turned to the exotic looking Jedi as they continued to ride up the rugged terrain toward the archive's main entrance. "I read that he had joined with the Sith people and traveled to Yavin Four and built most, if not all of the temples there. Delved into Sith Alchemy and created some nasty, dark side worms. If I'm not mistaken, his body was interred in one of those temples there. Why do you ask?"

[Ryssa Kilvaari]

Ryssa looked down slightly, smiling as she remembered some of the Neti Master's teachings before looking upward toward the moon of Nerit that orbited around Ossus. "There used to be a Neti clan that lived on that moon." she said as she pointed it out to Kaie. "I do not know if that's the case now, as the colony at the time was quite small. Perhaps I will get a chance to visit."

She then listened intently as Kaie spoke about what she knew about Exar Kun. Her lips pursed slightly, a moment of fleeting sadness passing her eyes. "He was part of the Sith that caused all of this..." she responded when Kaie wondered why she had asked. "I met him a few times prior to the destruction of Ossus. Confident in his abilities to the point of arrogance, quick to anger. He was training in the art of combat when I was a little girl. When I first met him, I was standing beside the Grand Master in the Dojo. Must have been about six or seven years old then. I remember him constantly pushing himself during his training under Master Vodo-Siosk Baas, determined to be 'the Greatest Jedi in all the galaxy.... yet even at such a young age, I sensed something terrible in him. I believe my description to the Grand Master was that he 'had a monster growing inside him. Watching...waiting to be unleashed.' Guess I was right after all..."

Ryssa's keen senses then spotted someone nearby wearing something that stopped her in her tracks, eyes wide with concern and surprise. "Are these the Ysanna you spoke of?" Ryssa asked Kaie, "His Mask... I recall similar masks were in the Great Jedi Library when the Cataclysm began. Its design is inspired by Elite Sith combat specialists....similar to what your recent holocrons call 'Dread Masters'."

The girl then swallowed as a thought came to her. A thought that had been nagging since Kaie had spoken of the Ysanna. In Ryssa's time, the Ysanna did not exist and four thousand years was barely any time for a new humanoid species to appear. It was, however plenty of time for existing species to change, evolve and adapt. Could it be that these Ysanna were descended from the younglings and other Jedi that survived the Cataclysm...the children she helped save?

[Kaie]

She listened with rapt attention as Ryssa recounted more of her past and that of Ossus, glancing up at the distant moon, barely visible in the haze of the atmosphere, and wondered now if the Neti had indeed survived the invasion so long ago. She assumed so, but it was worth investigating. Green eyes returned to the ancient Jedi as she then talked about Exar Kun and having known him. Something Kaie was having a hard time believing, though as the images flowed through her own mind as the brunette talked, she could see the honesty in the telling.

About to comment, she followed Ryssa's attention and nodded. "They're the ones that have helped us adapt to this world," Kaie informed. "They're the only indigenous population that I know of, so far." She had heard vague stories about the Dread Masters, but that study was another one that she would have to look in to.

[Ryssa Kilvaari]

Ryssa looked over at Kaie as she spoke about the Ysanna, biting her lip as she listened to the Master explain how they helped the Jedi adapt to Ossus. Looking back toward the Ysanna in the mask, Ryssa's mind went into overdrive. "Could it really be...?" the Ancient Padawan mused as she thought out loud. "Four thousand years... Its not enough time for life as complex as humanoids to evolve on the planet on their own...their ancestors must've come from elsewhere....but the Cataclysm.... it would've isolated the planet and rendered hyperspace travel near impossible for decades, maybe even centuries! The Jedi trapped on the planet... They would be the most logical seeds for which evolution could take place....so where could they have sheltered from the Cataclysm..?"

Ryssa's eyes scouted around at the surroundings in a slightly hurried manner, as if she were looking for something in the distance, smiling slightly as she spotted one of very few familiar landmarks in the mountains. "I know who they were..." she said as she looked back at Kaie. Feeling an explanation was needed, Ryssa took the moment to share more memories. "When I studied here before the Cataclysm, there were no indigenous people called Ysanna then. All that was here were Jedi and wildlife, no other indigenous people were here. You saw my memories, I didn't make it off world and neither did many of my compatriots. We were left to die here because the Cataclysm arrived faster than we could mobilise a total evacuation! We took shelter in the deepest places we could find in the hope that we would be able to survive and be rescued from our plights. It seems however, that rescue never came for us. While I was in stasis because they had no means to treat my injuries, I believe the others managed to survive and thrive in this new environment. They evolved into the people you call 'Ysanna' now."

Ryssa was then reminded of one of Jael's teachings that she mused out loud. "Even in the harshest of environments, life will always find a way to establish itself...It never gives up..."


[Sorry for the extraordinary late response. Life forever getting in the way. -_-]

[Kaie]

[ It's okay, totally understandable. /hugs]

Kaie nodded at the thought on life, she had seen that herself in many ways and on many worlds, over the years. "Caves dot these mountains and around the planet, from what I understand. Our survey for the temple centered around this area," she motioned to the nearing ancient archives whose large doorway yawned wide on the side of the nearby mountain range. "Understandably. We wanted some touch to the past when we chose this site, help preserve some part of the old Jedi." Green eyes rose to the weathered, stone frame to the door that had once been secured, it's metal face and embossed mosaic gleaming in the sun. "Haven't had much chance since then to explore the rest of the world, so who knows what secrets lay just beyond these mountains."

Nearing the entrance to the ancient archives, long since looted by Sith and other treasure seekers, she dismounted and let the large feline roam as she began the slow, low climb to the wide, ocher colored steps. Turning back toward the river valley below, her eyes followed the meandering, thin blue line from one end to the other. "Must've been something growing up here."

[Ryssa Kilvaari]

The approach to the old Jedi Library brought back a lot of memories to Ryssa. Of the times when she would sit at a desk, staring with wonder and amazement at the holocrons she'd been given to study. Oh the questions she once asked the people within! Before the fall, Ryssa had a fascination for history and learning the old techniques of the Jedi long passed. Standing in the ruins now however, the ancient padawan stood in silence, not responding to Kaie's observation. Her mind was in the throw of a powerful memory. Her final memory before it all came to a halt. A cold sweat came over her, her hands clammy and her eyes staring blankly to what seemed to be nowhere in particular. In her mind, however, she was watching the building crumble. She was listening to the younglings cry out in fear and she was fighting to get them all to safety...yet she was barely moving at all.

In the outside world, Ryssa's vacant eyes turned to an area where there was a deep hole covered by rubble, but in her memory, this was where she had taken the children that had once been a hidden wall that lead into old archives. As life returned to her eyes, Ryssa moved toward the rubble covered hole. The Force pulled her to it, calling to her like nothing in thousands of years had called before. This was where she had to go... yet one small problem remained... The many millennia of being frozen had taken away much of her strength, both physically and in the Force and she didn't want to admit to it, not to Kaie nor to herself.

As she reached out in the Force, a piece of rubble shook, but did not move away as she'd hoped and drained more of her than expected. Letting go of the rubble, Ryssa coughed a moment before taking several deep breaths of air to restore herself. She then looked to Kaie and sheepishly spoke, "It appears my time in stasis has weakened me more than I thought. Would you be able to help me move this rubble... Please?"