It was comforting to know that it WAS a vision and not just a night terror, though it didn't help calm the gnawing sense of dread that clawed at her, nor did it have any effect on removing the image of those ghastly red lights (landing gear? Sniper guidance lasers? She wasn't even sure what they were...eyes? No, they couldn't be eyes…) boring into her from within the depths of the glaciers. It took them next to no time at all to pack up everything and contact Voldon and Kira, Aria had hoped they would be able to slip out unnoticed and leave Yerbol's parents a note of some kind but of course they would be awake. Exchanging a glance with Yerbol, she understood what he meant. Fumbled for something that they could say that would explain their sudden departure. Thankfully Yerbol was quick enough to come up with an idea that she could go along with. Smiling faintly, she nodded and returned both their embraces. She wondered if Tabitha could tell they were lying.
“Thank you. I will.” she promised, stepping back. “We'll be back to visit again soon.” And hoped they could keep that promise.
___________
Chwuq and Taral were restless on the shuttle, constantly chuffing and grunting “Danger! Unsafe! Yark! Yark!” it was making the other passengers restless, afraid that the Tuk'ata may lash out at them at any moment. Aria had to get a little rough with them in order to get them to quiet down; thankfully they had little interest in continuing to make noise after being kicked in the nose a few times and urged that their fretting was NOT helping.
They had apologised profusely for disturbing the Naylons so early in the morning, but it didn't seem to improve Voldon's mood much. They recounted the vision they had shared, the duo as gravel grave-faced as the Battlemaster as he considered the implications of the vision.
Kira had been more supportive of them pursuing the instructions than Voldon was, but in any case a trip out to Zinuthra wouldn't be a bad start.
_________
After her success on Coruscant, Ailel had withdrawn to join Matthew and Cheriss back in Wild Space, the little contingent of Masters more than happy to see the duo again. They had taken a few hours after arriving to rest up (it was still a long flight, even though they made use of the Ice Box’s slipspace generators), and another hour or so to quickly catch up on the work they had done, Janika quite eager to give them the guided tour of the brand new training complex Bex was helping them to set up. After bidding the youngster farewell, they had returned to the old military complex where they had once sheltered a few months prior to join the Council of Elders and begin their discussion.
Before they were allowed to discuss the vision, Cheriss had insisted that they discuss the “plans” Voldon had alluded to before they had left.
“But Cheriss this is impor-”
“It will only take a few minutes, Aria. I'm sure you can spare that long.” Ailel chuckled, imploring the duo to listen to the announcement.
“Naturally, if we're going to be training youngsters we need to be putting some kind of ranking system in place.” the Dathomirian explained, “Now we know you're going to protest, because rankings will lead to squabbling and etcetera, but we need SOMETHING to distinguish the newcomers from the learners and those from the rest of us who have been here for a while.”
A chuckle had passed through the room, Ailel and Matthew picking up where Cheriss left off, to explain the titles they had designated to each rank. Neophyte for the newest youngsters that came into the facility, Disciple for those who had learnt a lot but had yet to pass their final trials, Apprentices (the title which Vano, Janika and Manso could now all proudly bear) would be the equivalent of Knights or full-fledged Sith as they had been in the former Orders and could help the Masters on the Council to instruct the Neophytes and Disciples.
Aria had frowned during the pause and exchanged a glance with Yerbol. No mention had been made yet of a rank they would be assigned to.
“So...so where does that leave us?”
“We thought we could add another rank, between Apprentice and Master.” Matthew put in, hands folded neatly in his lap, “‘Champion’ seems an appropriate title to give you, after everything you contributed to our efforts during the conflict with Bracknell.”
“You aren't old enough yet to be fully fledged Masters.” Ailel continued, “But we felt this would be the next best thing we could offer you, until you ARE old enough. You should be recognised for all your hard work and dedication, and that's why we've decided you two should be the first to receive this title. Perhaps, in time, others can join you but we wanted to leave that decision up to you.”
Aria was stunned into silence, glancing sideways at Yerbol as she felt her jaw slacken slightly. “W-Well, we'd be….honoured, thank you.”
“Don't think it gives you an excuse to push us around though!” Cheriss scolded them, though there was a glimmer of amusement in the Dathomirian’s eyes. With that concluded, they could return to the matter at hand:
“Now….this vision you both saw…”
The duo once again recounted what they had seen and were once again met with skepticism about the vision’s origins.
“How do we know it isn't a trap?” Ailel put forward, leaning closer to the duo.
“Ailel’s right, why would the visions stop after Bracknell's death only to suddenly start again now? Sounds like somebody might have been using his persona to lead you off track. They nearly did it before.” Matthew agreed, eyeing the duo skeptically. He suggested Soto, who had been stationed on Coruscant under Ailel’s care, finally unguarded again since Ailel had returned to Zinuthra about a week before.
“It WAS Renso.” Aria affirmed. “If it was Soto all along we would have recognised her presence the first time. Renso helped us to fight Bracknell and win, he probably stopped talking to us because he didn't think he'd need our help anymore with Bracknell gone. Now he does, and he's getting weaker.”
“If it IS Renso's ghost, it would be plausible that he would weaken over time.” Cheriss’ lips pursed together as she thought out loud. “Force ghosts often persist in our world if they have unfinished business among the living that they want to see through before becoming one with the Force. If we have managed to achieve this balancing act he had been striving for then there would be no other reason for him to remain an apparition.”
“Except for this new vision of his.” Ailel supplemented. “Hm...this is worrying.”
“We can't ignore it.” Cheriss asserted. “Last time we did both Orders’ home planets were destroyed and we nearly all died, we can't make that mistake again. Aria and Yerbol are more than capable of handling this.”
“Then where do they go, Hoth?” Matthew frowned. It was the only planet they knew of comprised entirely of ice.
“It wasn't Hoth.” Aria shook her head. “It was too...warm. It was very strange, there was heat, but ice at the same time.”
The Council had been even more perplexed by the further description of the landscape that Aria and Yerbol could provide. Without a clue where to begin searching, they couldn't act on Renso's summons until they knew where to go. Cheriss suggested that they visit Vano in the newly constructed library and see if the Mirialan could find anything within their recovered data archives that could help. It MUST be another place in Wild Space, after all.
______
“A specific mountain range somewhere in Quensu, perhaps?” Vano had suggested after each of them had received another hug and exchanged quick greetings. You said the ecosystems there conflicted quite drastically. There must be ice around there somewhere.”
Aria exchanged a wary glance with Yerbol. “Quensu’s too warm...even the colder parts around the temple didn't have snow. The...the temple guardian made the snow that appeared at the top.”
The Mirialan nodded slowly and turned to scan along the rows of holocrons on the shelf above her head.
“Could there not be more than one guardian?”
“It wasn't there the second time. It has to be somewhere different. Don't you have anything on any other places nearby to Quensu or even here?”
“Not much…” Vano admitted with another frown, plucking a holocron from the shelf and activating it. Out of the small cube projected another map, Zinuthra flashing up in place first, and a few days’ travel away appeared another sphere. Smaller, a moon of some kind.
“There IS this moon here, the one we nearly set up base on. We've had the co-ordinates for a while, but last time I took an expedition out there...well, we didn't get very far. Wanted to do a general ecosystem survey, just to record the biomes and native fauna for the archives, that sort of thing. Janika and I took some of the younglings and a couple seismologists (or something) to help record the data but as soon as we got close Janika and I felt something, in the Force.” an uncomfortable shudder passed through the Mirialan at the memory, Vano shaking her head again. “I don't know what it was, but that moon gave us the creeps. We got the hell out of there before we even landed. It doesn't inspire confidence if this guy wants you two to go out there…”
“Va, if it might have the answers we need, we have to go.” Aria sighed, glancing to Yerbol for confirmation.
“Grrrr.” Taral and Chwuq circled the projection of the moon, snuffling and lashing their tails.
“Strange. Not safe.”
“See? Even they can feel it! Give me more time.” Vano insisted. “Just let me dig up some more stuff about the moon before you go storming over there. Go to Quensu first and try to contact Renso there.”
“Moon-Force strange…. Not go there. Danger, danger.” Chwuq pleaded, headbutting her urgently in the ribs.
“Oof!” Aria grunted, staggered slightly by the force behind the nudge, looking towards Yerbol again. “What do you think? It wouldn't be the first time we hit the ground running doing something, but if the Force around that moon is that volatile that the dogs can sense it too just from looking at the map, it could be a good idea to go in with more information under our belts…”
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