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In the hut of the healer 4/4/21
Walking in to the small grass and wooden hut was nothing new for Durro. Nor were the hints of connections between the Baklid people and those of Lanus. It was a connection that Durro had seen confirmed over his time here on Baklid. Still it was refreshing to find some links that help ease his comfort with the familiar. The aroma in the hut washed over his senses like a welcomed wave.
The elderly healer slowly rose from a small stone cooking station at the far end of the small hut. She turned and started to speak. There was only a moment delay before the translator spoke her words in basic. “I was preparing your sister’s meal,” he translated for Durro. It was a interesting thing about their culture. For these simple people, they spoke in very direct terms. Durro’s young translator spoke true and with devotion to ensuring his words matched both tone and content as those he translated for. It was a refreshing thing that Durro could enjoy seeing how he didn’t need a translator at all. Though it spoke volumes to the honesty of these simple people.
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
(OK, what Durro is about to do is not rash; it is actually something I thought of when speaking one-on-one with the Chief but I forgot about it before I could do anything.)
Durro smiles at the pair and says;
"Thank you. She's recovering well."
After that sentence is translated he says;
"You've shown us much kindness, and I feel I must be honest with you."
Again, he waits for it to be translated before he continues in their own tongue;
"I do actually understand your language. I've done my best to learn it and learn to speak it since I first came to Baklid. I've seen how The Republic and other off-worlders talk about your people, how they see themselves as above you and I want you to know I'm not like them. I spent 19 years in a village just like this one; I feel more at home here than I've felt anywhere else. I do not consider myself above you, and I want my speech to reflect that."
He waits for the old woman to respond.
(@TheTraveler)
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
She moves slightly to stand up while holding the hot pot, "the young often believe they are so clever," she spoke with a hint of laughter in her voice.
The poor translator wasn't sure what to do or say as he stood there with his mouth hung open as if his muscles failed to respond.
"You can leave us," she added and waved off the translator. She held up a spoon, "tell me Jedi," she said offering him the spoon. "More salt," her voice questioned.
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
Durro tastes it, and offers his opinion.
(I do not know OOC how it tastes. lol)
"I came to speak to you about The Spirits, and what they have said about the condemned prisoner, and others like him."
(@TheTraveler)
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
She smiles and nods, "I will have the meal sent to your sister."
She turned and walked over to the door. "Please take this to the jedi girl," she asked a passing villager.
"Yes, speaker," the man said with deep respect. He took the pot and changed his path.
She then turned to face Durro, "I suspect our conversation will take some time." She motioned to a set of woven pads, "where shall we begin."
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
Durro has a seat and makes himself comfortable. He takes a deep breath and begins.
"The prisoner is condemned to death for a murder he has not not yet commited, but The Spirits say that he will. My instincts and my beliefs tell me it is wrong to judge and especially execute someone for a crime they have not yet committed, and I was taught that 'The future is always in motion', that it is our choices and our actions that determine the future."
He pauses for a moment before continuing.
"As if that's not enough, I've been told that this man is a literal monster, that he lacks that special something that makes someone a 'person.' I was told that such beings have been to the village before and caused great suffering. I wish to know about them; what makes them monstrous, less than human? What makes them deserving of such inhumane treatment?"
(@TheTraveler)
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
@Durro Thel-Tanis
She listened thoughtful as Durro. Her only motion was to get a medium sized clay pitcher and fill it with water. She then put the pitcher in to the fire at the cooking station.
"You walk the world of the living, and you are correct to a point. Tomorrow has many possibilities that most cannot see."
She moved back to her seat, "I walk the world of the spirit. As those who have come before me back to the Angel herself."
"Ours is to guild the world of the living by speaking for the spirits and working on behalf of the world of the living."
She softly stoked the fire, "the being in question is not of the world of the living. He is a man of many faces, of a world bent on fear and hatred. He and those like him bring only death and destruction."
"The spirits of the jungle and rivers came to me and warned me of this man and those like him. They reminded me of the last time he visited our village and the death that came with him."
"I spoke to the elders of the warning the Spirits had given me. Warriors from a number of villages were dispatched to stop them."
"They said, there were three men with matching faces. Two had died, one near death. The choice was to ignore the warnings and bring him here."
"Under our ways, he was healed and a trial was held. I was asked to speak to the spirits in hopes of spearing his life. The warnings only grew stronger from the spirits. So the leaders of the Riverfolk Clans all agreed that the monster would be offered to the river spirit."
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
"From beyond the world of the living? A man of many faces? I'm afraid I don't understand."
Durro looks confused.
"Are you saying this man is a clone?"
Anticipating confusion, he adds.
"You said three men, with matching faces? They all looked the same, like the same man?"
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
@Durro Thel-Tanis
She frowned, "this word you speak, we don't have a word in our language."
She thought for a moment, "Tika, the spirit of the rain is often seen as many faces during monson. But he is just a single spirit of great power."
She motioned to waters, "your monster is like this. Many faces of the same, but one powerful monster."
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
Durro mutters, more to himself
"Sounds like a clone... curious."
To the woman he adds
"Can you feel it; feel that he is beyond the world of the living? Can you show me?"
(@TheTraveler)
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
She blinked at the statement, "we don't have a word for this thing."
She nodded to his question, "I can feel them through the spirits. They share with me what they see and feel."
Shaking her head, "I can't show you that which the Spirits don't want you to see."
"Can you tell me this word, clone," she asked softly.
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
Durro thinks for a long moment, trying to find a way to bridge the knowledge and experience gap. Finally, he speaks.
"A... clone is a copy. A copy of a living being. Some off-worlders can take one person, the 'donor,' and make countless copies of them. Like the drops of rain in a rainstorm; billions of drops of water, all exactly like one another, yet individual in their own way. When I was young, I fought a war alongside an army of clone soldiers. They all looked identical, but The Spirits could tell them apart. The Jedi... I, could see their similarities as well as their differences. They are not natural, and so The Spirits react oddly to them. But they are still alive; thinking feeling beings that deserve to live the life they have been given. At least, that is what the clones I knew were like."
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
She frowned, "we have been warned time and time again that we cannot take from the veil that which doesn't belong here."
"I have seen his face before, yet he does not remember me," she said with a slight laugh. As her voice filled with humor, "though I have seen more seasons than I can remember."
"I was but a girl then. He and his brothers came to our village to kill the woman we were protecting," she explained.
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
Durro's face changes, like he recognizes the tale.
"Your people refused; refused or did not understand. He ordered your village burned to the ground, didn't he?"
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
She nodded, "I see the spirits were speaking to you as well."
Any hint of pleasure faded as she spoke, "after our warriors were slain, they came in searching for her. The spirits had spoken to the former Speaker, they warned of what was to come. But they urged that we had to protect the woman. Many suffered, many died, our village was put to flames."
She motioned to beyond the hut, "What they don't know is that the Speaker gave me an important mission. I was to take her to the river. There I was told to speak to the river and beg the river to take her far from our village. She was like you, confused and worried for us."
She blinked her eyes as she wondered out loud, "I found it so strange that someone who sees through the eyes of the spirits wouldn't understand how to trust them."
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
"We think we know better..."
Durro muses, mostly to himself.
"...we hear The Spirits, but our reason tells us to take another path."
Now he addresses the woman as well.
"We follow our heads, rather than our hearts. Even though we only see a thread or two in the tapestry, and The Spirits are the tapestry."
Durro smiles broadly and looks into his cup.
"Of course, that is easy to say. It doesn't make it any easier to let go. To let go of the illusion of control."
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
She nods softly, "as you saw with your own sister. " She smiled, "the Spirits don't command us, they guide our hearts to do good."
She used her stick to pull the water from the fire and set it aside. "The Spirits know our hearts. They know what we will do before we know what has to be done." She started to make two hot cups of their version of tea. "The Spirits want us to be kind to each other. But they don't demand it of us."
She offered Durro a cup, "Like with your sister, you were not punished for failing to heed their warnings. The Spirits don't punish us. We have to live with the choices of our actions."
She held up the cup, "this is where your words of tomorrow are true. We cannot see tomorrow. But if we trust the Spirits, then we will see their light."
She motioned towards the river, "the last time he came here, the Spirits told us that he would murder the Speaker, that they could kill so many of us. And knowing what it would cost us, the spirits spoke to our Speaker and asked us to go and save the woman and protect her."
"When I fled the village with the woman," she said with sadness. "I knew that I would be the only survivor that day. But our Speaker survived. As did those who were not in the village that fateful day."
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
Durro takes the cup and sips from it while the old woman speaks. He waits a moment after she finishes.
"Who was the woman, and who were you protecting her from?"
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
The elder woman frowned deeply, "I don't know. She couldn't speak to us and we couldn't understand her. All I was told was that she would carry Thanh Giong. This is why the Spirits asked us to protect her. As for who was coming to kill her,"
Her tone grew dark and cold, "evil" she said then paused for moment before adding. "The same evil that has infected this world today."
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
"Yami." Durro says, simply. Then, after a moment,
"What, or who, is Thanh Giong?"
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 04/04/2021
She smiled, "he is a legendary hero of old. From time to time, he crosses the Veil to drag evil back to the other side."
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/04/2021
Durro gives her a cocky grin
"A Hero Without Fear, I'm sure. The Jedi I trained with had similar stories."
Durro goes quiet and sips his tea.
"I fought alongside him once. The Battle of Ringo Vinda. I fought alongside The Chosen One and his Legion of Clones, and on that day one of his men slew my master. It was a precursor, a glimpse of the slaughter to come."
He shakes off the memories.
"The dead exist in the past. I must attend to the future."
He sips his tea and asks;
"Do you believe he was born? Thanh Giong? Could he be walking around right now, poised to end these destructive conflicts and bring balance to the Force? I mean, peace to The Spirits?"
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 04/05/2021
@Durro Thel-Tanis
She nodded, "the Spirits said he will be born from that woman and so it has passed."
She frowned slightly, "the return of Thanh Giong is not the sign of peace. It is the sign of the coming conflicts."
She motioned to the sky, "think of the darkening skies that signal the coming storm. The jungle needs the waters that are coming. The rivers wash over their banks and take away dead trees and cleanse the land."
She smiled, "at the end of the storm, we know there will be light. But we must first survive the storm."
"Thanh Giong is the storm that is coming," she said taking in a short breath. "He will bring death and destruction. But after he takes evil back across the veil, there will be light."
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/06/2021
Durro nods
"Of course, Evil doesn't go down without a fight. Where I came from, the storm was The Clone Wars. Who you call 'Thanh Giong', the Jedi called 'The Chosen One'; said to destroy the followers of darkness and bring balance to the Force. However, war broke out while the young hero was still an apprentice; the most brutal and destructive war in over a thousand years."
Durro looks down, as if the following memories pain him
"It goes back to what I say; prophesies are not always true. The Chosen one was to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force, but he failed. He was killed at the end of the Clone Wars, along with all the other Jedi. The Sith, the followers of darkness, they hunted down and destroyed the Jedi Knights. The Republic became the Galactic Empire, and when I left, darkness ruled the galaxy. Prophesies can be wrong."
After a moment of silence, Durro shakes his head and looks at the old woman.
"I know Thanh Giong's birth is a sign of conflict, but like you said there is light in the aftermath of the storm. Thanh Giong's existence here is a good sign in the long run, even if the near future is uncertain. Do you know how I might find him?"
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 04/06/2021
She smiles as Durro speaks and takes her time to sip her tea. She knew that his statement would end in a question she cannot answer. Still she listened to him speak about the things and places she knew nothing of. Then again, he knew so little of the realm of the spirits and how they moved through their world.
And his question only proved that. "You mistake prophesies with the wisdom of the Spirits. They are not the same. When the spirits speaks to us, we can choose to listen or not. Prophesies are things that people create when they cannot fully understand the spirits."
She blinked at him, "why do you wish to find Thanh Giong?"
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/06/2021
"Curious. I'd not thought of it that way before. Admittedly, I don't understand the difference fully. The Jedi do not teach about the Spirits the same way your people do. My apprentice is from the village I lived in; in fact I lived there to begin her training. I'm afraid I focused on teaching her the Jedi ways, I did not try to learn about The Spirits. Perhaps I should..."
Durro sips his tea before answering her last question. Another gulp or two, and it will be gone.
"If Thanh Giong is the same as The Chosen One, he'll be instrumental in our fight against the darkness. Even if he is not the same, based only on what you said about him, it is his destiny, his duty, to drag the Evil back to Chaos, back to beyond the Veil."
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 04/06/2021
She motioned beyond the walls of the hut, "do you think he is here to fight for or against the Republic. Or even for us?"
"Think of this, the fire is unleashed. It burns the jungle and kills all those who live there," she explained.
"When the rains fall, do you think the spirits of the clouds or those of the rain care of the trees or the lives lost."
"Thanh Giong is not here to fight your war or win your battles. He is not here to defeat your Sith."
She laughs slightly, "no, he has come to do what he has done all the time. Nothing more, no matter how much we beg him. And no less."
@Durro Thel-Tanis
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/06/2021
Durro snorts, as if stiffing a laugh
"I don't suppose anything. My enemies are not the Sith, the Republic, the Queen's Forces, or anyone else on Baklid. My enemy is the darkness, the evil I have felt from the moment I arrived here. That is why I wanted to find Thanh Giong; his enemy is my enemy. I don't expect him to do anything for me, but perhaps we can work together, pool our resources. Or maybe I'm being foolish; maybe, maybe this isn't my fight. Maybe I should just focus on training my apprentice and let Thanh Giong fulfill destiny and his duty."
With a gulp, he finishes his tea and hands his cup back to the woman.
"Thank you for your time; you've given me a lot to think about. Now I have to decide what to do about this condemned prisoner."
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 04/06/2021
The elderly woman opened her mouth to speak but soon closed it. For her, it was clear that the moment had passed.
"Be mindful of the spirits, young Jedi," she said softly.
As Durro walked out of the hut, she closed her eyes and lowered her head. She allowed the voices of the Spirits to whisper to her.
"More death is coming to our world," she said softly.
Durro Thel-Tanis — 04/06/2021
(I feel like that is the end of this scene. ? )
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