Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

Sometimes it was nescessary to step away from everything, and to just... be. Without thinking of the future, or the present. Or about the current crisises and all the things that she needed to think about how to approach.

As master Syo would say, take a step back, breathe, and look at it all in a new light when you're ready. Out here, in nature, it was as close as she could be for now to the serenity of the Jedi Temple, sitting on her outer brown robes as a makeshift blanket to keep her garb clean.

For Kat, that meant letting her hands work as she let her mind drift along with the stream of thoughts. Working with the tools borrowed from Tethys, she made the slightest adjustments to the design of her hilt, delicately changing its distribution of weight for it to move easier in her hand.

Taking a break, she let the weapon rest in her hands as she closed her eyes and continued to let her thoughts drift in a form of meditation.

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D2 LE Mechanics/Intellect. Modding Reflex Grip (Deflection +1). 1 advantage Jedi Multi-tool kit (borrowed from Tethys). -2 Difficulty own saber.: 1eP+3eA+1eD 1 success, 4 advantage

Omandri had already been out here once but if Alderaan had one thing worth missing it was the beautiful nature of the land. After his meeting with Gil he swooped back out to an old hiking trail he used to use as a teen.

He walked about in his own simple but sturdy brown and tan garb with his military pack on his back. As he moved through the trail he came to a spot and saw someone, their eyes closed he approached and the face looked familiar but she seemed asleep? "Uhm excuse me miss are you alright?" He called out while he was still a bit away.

She sensed the presence of a life form approaching, but sensed no ill intentions in the Force. But when she heard a voice, Kat opened her eyes, and dipped her head in a brief greeting. "My apologies, sir. I did not mean to alarm you."

Her lip quirked in a half-smile. "I was just... meditating. Feeling the flow of all the life around us."

Omandri smiled at the greeting "no apologies necessary, if anything I apologize for interrupting you. Just wanted to make sure you didn't need aid." He said happily.

"Feeling the flow of all the life around here huh? That seems like...a lot." He chuckled "I feel like I'd get overwhelmed doing that."

"Your concern is appriciated, sir. Thank you. I assure you I'm alright." She patted the grass lightly in an invitation for him to sit with her.

"It can feel overwhelming, yes. I remember when I was a young padawan, and was learning to be more in tune with the Force around me, feeling the connection all life share in the universe... it felt overwhelming to me too then. But that is why we train, much like training a muscle, or our memory." A pause, and then she nodded. "I'm Katarzyna Ulgo, Jedi Knight."

Drawing closer he saw the lightsaber and nodded to himself, meditating out in the wilderness made a lot more sense if a jedi was involved. He imagined they probably meditated in all kinds of weird places, rooftops and stuff probably.

He approached and sat near her listening he was never one to turn down meeting a new, interesting person. "Well I can scarcely even imagine what you're talking about. I've studied a lot of force using cultures and traditions but it always sounds so incredible to me." He remarked "Oh and Omandri Rist, travelling doctor if we are saying our professions after our names and such." He said with a grin.

"I've become accustomed to including it when I introduce myself, to be honest with who I am with those I meet. Not everyone immediately makes the connection with the saber and the clothes in the Outer Rim. And certainly not in the Core Worlds these days with people thinking its fashionable to wear brown robes." She laughed a bit at that current fashion trend.

"But a travelling doctor? You must have seen quite a lot then, as there is always a need for doctors in many places in the galaxy. My own skill is more like a field medic, so I have a great respect for anyone who have dedicated themselves to such a profession."

He laughed with her a bit "Yes I hadn't been in the core for some years I was surprised when my field outfit" He said motioning to his current clothing "was more in fashion now than when I left."

He nodded along to her words "I myself started as a field medic. After I graduated from medical school on courscant I joined the military and was a combat medic for a while. Did you study medicine at the Temple?"

"I can imagine quite the surprise when the folks of high society were wearing drab browns and beige, considering they were probably wearing Chandrillian peacock-feathers and shimmersilk when you left," she chuckled and shook her head over how silly fashion was sometimes.

"No, not at the temple, or at least nothing more than just beyond the basic first-aid most teenagers learn in school. Rather, I learned in the field. One of the first trips I took with my master as a young padawan, we visited Balmorra. Helped out the local forces there, and the day we arrived the group we met with had just survived an encounter with Imperial forces. Many wounded and dying. And not enough hands to help them all, but it was were I began to learn. Sometimes you can help a lot by simply supporting someone who knows just a little bit more than you. And then you learn as you go." Her eyes looked him over for a moment. "Something you can probably relate to, as a combat medic. Many soldiers learn it the same way, I've heard."

He nodded "many get basic lessons somewhere else and I recieved my doctorate before joining but practicing medicine under fire is much different than learning about it in school, or even working in a clinic. I learned a ton from the more experienced medics." He chuckles a little the sound a bit self conscious "I was certainly humbled more than once thinking I was hot poodoo with all my medical school knowledge. I'm lucky those long time medics taught me rather than just hazed me."

Kat chuckled along with him, relating much to how learning was different when targeted by blaster fire.

"It certainly is another life completely, out in the war zone. What's amazing I think is how people come together in these places, in times of crisis. Alderaan stands united against invaders, but now we're already at eachothers' throats."

Omandri nodded "Yes well crisis brings people together. Gives them a common enemy or goal to defeat for the sake of self preservation. Once the external enemy I'd dealt with we return to our groups and fight internally as well. People never stop being Greedy, or power hungry they just put their ambitions to the side for the moment. At least in places like Alderaan."

"I just find it such a shame... that we need a crisis or invasion or disaster to finally put our differences aside and work together." She shook her head with dismay and looked at the beautiful surroundings around them.

"Alderaan has so long been the beacon of hope and goodness in the Republic. Dependable, charitable, honorable... now it all hangs in the balance. And I'm not absolving my own House in this precarious position, nor claiming we are the only ones responsible. It's a mess and many had a hand in causing it."

Omandri nodded but with less dismay and more solemn acceptance "yes well, it's a story as old as time. Groups break down by conflict. Peace is rarely lasting, at least in the research I've done. Someone or some group alway crops up and causes some kind of chaos." He pulled out a canteen and took a sip of the water "doesn't mean peace isn't worth pursuing or fighting for but, it's a constant struggle." He said and offered the canteen to the jedi.

"Sadly, yes. Doesn't mean one can't wish for it to be better. But, I'm glad to see that many in our generation who have seen war since our earliest years all wish for peace. I certainly would rather return to my travels in the Outer Rim to help people, than to return to the warzones. Not that I don't help people by fighting, I know that, but... it's different. I'm guessing you feel similarly?"

She accepted the offered canteen with a soft "thank you", and took a light sip of its contents.

Cool water greeted her as she sipped "You jedi sure are trusting folks." Omandri said with a chuckle "not so many from Alderaan would accept a mysterious drink from a Rist." He smiled as he took it back.

A small sigh escaped his lips "I've seen enough of war. Enough of killing. I vowed after I left the military to never take another life again unless there was literally no other choice." He looks up at the night sky "despite my name I abhor taking life. I'm probably the only pacifist Rist you'll meet."

"I cannot expect trust without giving trust freely first. Or so my master has told me." There was a fondness in her voice as she mentioned her master.

"A name doesn't define who you are, Omandri Rist. I'm familiar with the reputation of your family, but that doesn't mean you're someone I should be worried will try to poison me, just because of a name. Besides, are not Ulgo and Rist allies?" Kat chuckled a little bit at that. What did alliances really mean anyway in politics. "Or are things looking different these days on the side of House Rist? Your duchess did declare a feud on a Jedi Knight yesterday after all."

Omandri kept a carefully neutral face "Yes but that has little to do with political alliegences. She is quite certain the this Layne is responsible for the death of our younger sister." The neutrality shifted to a bit of a frown "I cannot deny if it true a small part of me would not mind the woman being brought to justice."

"It is just a shame that she decided to announce it by breaking an unrelated padawan's arm though," she shook her head with dismay. "Forgive me, I didn't know you were the duchess' sister, and that you too had suffered a loss. My condolances."

Kat gave it a few moments before speaking again. "A Jedi by the name of Zayne Rist is assisting in getting to the bottom of what has happened. Layne Hoshin has admitted to the death of Galen Rist, whom she accuses of having been an Imperial spy, but remains adamant she had nothing to do with the death of your sister. I... believe her. She is many things, but a liar is not one. From what I learned earlier today, the duchess was given the information that Layne was responsible for this death by Baroness Bilyana Ulgo, one of Duke Bouris' top intelligence coordinators."

"I have a bad feeling about these things... I don't want to think Ulgo is knowingly giving Rist false information. But I don't rule out the possibility."

Katarzyna Ulgo wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 21, 2021 12:53 pm

"It is just a shame that she decided to announce it by breaking an unrelated padawan's arm though," she shook her head with dismay. "Forgive me, I didn't know you were the duchess' sister, and that you too had suffered a loss. My condolances."

Kat gave it a few moments before speaking again. "A Jedi by the name of Zayne Rist is assisting in getting to the bottom of what has happened. Layne Hoshin has admitted to the death of Galen Rist, whom she accuses of having been an Imperial spy, but remains adamant she had nothing to do with the death of your sister. I... believe her. She is many things, but a liar is not one. From what I learned earlier today, the duchess was given the information that Layne was responsible for this death by Baroness Bilyana Ulgo, one of Duke Bouris' top intelligence coordinators."

"I have a bad feeling about these things... I don't want to think Ulgo is knowingly giving Rist false information. But I don't rule out the possibility."

Omandri nodded at her condolences "It is not uncommon to harm or kill allies of an intended target but to do so with a child was unnecessary Giandra, or Duchess Rist, is angry. She isn't thinking clearly which is....very unlike her."

He took a sip of the canteen and looked out to the wilderness and back to Kat "yes I am looking into the matter a bit myself. Well more than one thing but that's how family business goes." He gave her a questioning look "what reason would House Ulgo have for pitting us against the jedi?"