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For the first time in her life she had been rather late to the party, though in fairness it wasn't exactly her fault. After a few months out cruising the hyperlanes trying to even find the place, she at last had discovered D'qar out in the space boonies of the southern galactic outer rim. Part of her wondered what exactly would drive the Jedi to found a temple out here so far away from the rest of the galaxy, but that was in part what all the reading was for. Matarisvan took the route on autopilot as she browsed through thousands of years of history like any proper university major trying to cram for a test, and her answer was there soon enough. It was kind of hard to reconcile this information with what she had learned in Imperial Academy, as it felt a little odd to see the so-called defenders of justice for millenia suddenly rebel against the Republic. Yet the records for that time were a little sparse, and that man called a Knight told her as much before he had departed to recruit others to his cause. Regardless, she had arrived to begin this new path and see what potential they thought she had.

As it turned out, it led to a few months of studying, meditation and only a little bit of practical skills that she had to work a little harder on since the rest of the initiates had quite a bit more time to have practiced than she did. There was something called a pilgrimage or founding, or she honestly skimmed past the actual name but it sounded really important when it was being presented to her and the others by the masters of the order. Masters or Knights? She was a little unsure of the terminology on who she was working with, other than she had been paired up with someone who was most assuredly [i][b]not[/b][/i] a Republic Ranger and a rather stern but aloof green lady called Knight Reni. No, it was just Reni. Knight was apparently just a title which seemed required only sometimes, she wasn't really sure. All she knew is that Reni wasn't a fan of meat or rations, had a tendency to wander out into the jungles and forests, and was fairly serious about the Republic. Which honestly worked well enough for her, and she didn't mind the rest of that as it didn't hold any bearing to her duty as it was.

So she took the time to catch up best she could with the others as the days turned to weeks and that big journey was closer and closer at hand. At first the whole esoteric nature of the force was a little hard to deal with, considering she had always approached things with a more analytical and scientific approach. That had been how she took a basic aging interceptor and made it a nightmare for pirates, and how she had basically completely rebuilt it from twisted metal. The force though, it was that strange sensation that lingered in the back of her head, was after-images around people in at first vague colors but intensified as she concentrated. It seemed to ebb and flow as she tried to grasp it, responding to her emotions or lack thereof in ways she at first didn't understand. And then, quite suddenly she did. It was during one of Reni's talks of nature and the natural order that she had that epiphany of sorts, questioning if the force was just another natural energy like gravity and told that in a way, it was. The force was an energy that bound all living things, and as Nova thought on that it came to her that clearly that meant there were *rules* to what the force could and could not do, how it would respond to things and so on.

That little breakthrough was enough for her to turn her analytical mind towards understanding more about her own ability and trying to mimic that of others. Telekinesis came first to her finally after being with the Jedi for almost two months, and though shaky and tentative she knew the concept of it now. Sure it wasn't an exact science and there were still principles that she didn't fully understand, but now she knew a bit more of what to look for when she was feeling out her abilities. A bit of experimentation had her momentarily drifting during meditation, and requiring an impromptu trust fall into the waiting arms of Reni, but discovery did require experimentation afterall. And as she discovered more, she could feel the excitement of something new creeping up on her just as it was coming time to anoint her and the others as proper Jedi…
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[u][i][b]ILUM[/b][/i][/u]

The shuttle ride over had been a bit uneventful for a cross-galactic journey. A few long days of her fellow initiates getting to know each other, doing their own independent study or working with their master on various things. For Nova in particular she had spent much of the time practicing with her abilities on what was called a puzzle sphere apparently pulled from within various Jedi temple ruins over the years. It was strangely impervious to physical manipulation, the silver material almost translucent but opaque enough to prevent one from observing directly the ball within. All she needed to do was to guide it from one end to the other, pull the sphere apart with the force and to do it in reverse. To say it was more difficult than it sounded was a bit of an understatement, but she still stuck with it in the spirit of honing her abilities. And when she wasn't working on practical skills, there she was with a datapad and going over various principles she had downloaded from the archives. Something called "Tapas" had been brought up a few times, and she saw it involved some kind of temperature regulating ability through the force, but it felt a bit complicated to her.

Then there were of course some more combat-oriented applications, things such as taking the basic telekinetic abilities and using them offensively. Force push, force pull, telekinetic combat and more. She figured the first two were easy enough, just direct the force in a more intense effect outwards or in a particular direction. That last one though related to the entire reason why they were traveling as a group to a rather desolate and frozen ball out on the opposite edge of the galaxy. To forge a lightsaber, or assemble one, or something like that. There were some conflicting ideas on what it involved, with a few of the others already sporting working models and prototypes that seemed just to need that critical piece. It was a strange weapon, and she only realized where she had seen one before when she felt a familiar energy from one of her fellow initiates, a rather pale woman who didn't seem too keen on associating with the rest of them. The shadowman had one of these, which only made her more curious but that would be a discussion with Reni later she was sure.

For now as the shuttle was making planetfall she was going over some drafts in her design program, leaving just enough space both physically and mathematically for the crystal she was supposed to be gathering from a cave. That was another conversation entirely, but she figured Reni or one of the others might address it. She carefully considered the energy output of her materials, having been provided enough to construct at least one full size lightsaber, but she was entertaining some other ideas. A rather simple design for now, as all prototypes tended to be, she figured she could work a bit more of a focused intensity for a more refined and delicate blade than the normal one. Something called a lightfoil as she had discovered in her reading, apparently popular among the old order's duellists. It looked close enough to be suitable to the traditional arts of her home back on Alsakan, though that would come later. At the moment she felt a pairing weapon would be suitable though it would necessitate another crystal, something she was sure wouldn't be too much of an issue… Though if she needed to attune herself properly to get the approval of one rock, she wasn't quite sure how well it would go finding another.

But all of that would be for later, as she had a firm idea of what she wanted to do and the swirling white of snow and ice from the otherside of the windows let her and the others know they were coming to a landing and there was that reassuring shift of the shuttle's weight as it came to a rest. Now there was the problem most in need of addressing, and it was one she had prepared for well enough thanks to the store-rooms of the temple on D'qar. There had been at least one comment that maybe she was over-reacting, but she had lived her entire life on starships and in stations, coming from a place literally known for their eternal summers. Then again, maybe there was something to be said for this "Tapas" thing. So right behind Reni she padded out just the same, not even thinking about her boots and keeping her datapad in hand. Reni was doing it just fine and actually seemed to be enjoying the weather, barefoot and all. So really all she needed to do was focus on not being cold. Really simple. Just don't be cold. Don't be cold. Don't be cold.

[color=f49ac2][b][i]"I have been betrayed."[/i][/b][/color]

Almost immediately as soon as she stepped into the snow and ice there was a chill that ran up her spine and nearly lifted her from the ground. Without even a word in passing she turned abruptly and went back into the shuttle, throwing on layer after layer of cold-weather clothing and squeezing herself into two pairs of boots just for added protection. By the time she had finished she took those tentative steps again, heavily bundled up this time and moving with all the grace and alacrity of a disabled tauntaun. But now she felt warm, and with those violet eyes peeking out from beneath the eight rounds of a wool scarf, she trudged up behind the rest of the group.