Log:Jedi Order: Looking to the Horizon

Jedi Order: Looking to the Horizon

OOC Date: June 22, 2020
Location: Anchorhead, Tatooine
Participants: Rey, Ben Solo, Vhe Tenara, Elrych Cometburn, Liren Iskender, Finn, Aryn Cole

It's evening on this side of Tatooine, the twin suns of the binary star system are starting their downward arch toward the horizon in the west. The sky is clear, the temperature is... disturbingly hot. It's as 'perfect' of aan evening on Tatooine as one could ever find.

Rey had asked the others from the Jedi Order to come to this particular spot in the desert. The Millennium Falcon was parked near the homestead that rests just a handful of meters to the freighter's starboard side.

As others arrive, in whatever means they choose to, they'll find Rey - and a few volunteers - roaming around the farm's property, with a clear goal of clean up and restoration of the home, and its machinery. Rey is coming up a set of stairs that circle around the main pit of the homstead, carrying a silver metal toolcase from the Falcon in her left hand, with her hood up, it whips in the hot desert winds.

Rolling not far away from her is Artoo, who's controling a horde of small repair droids, commanding them like their General.

Vhe stands up from helping to move a few of the parts that will need to be replaced from the machinery. Her hands may be greasy but the last few pieces are given a glancea nd she lifts her hand. They start to flow towards a discard pile that is further out, meant to keep the work area clear. The wild hair is bound back in a thick braid and let to hang down her back. The heat sets a healthy sheen of sweat upon her skin as she finally releases them with a clatter. Her head turns as Rey rises up out of the small stairwell and she smiles, moving over to where the tall bottle of water waits for her.

She tugs at the collar of her sleevless robe to try to ease the sweat gathering along her collar. The water set to lips she drinks it down heavily. "Its as if it disappears even before I manage to swallow it." She caps the bottle to keep it from evaprating.

Hood pulled up protectively against the slanting rays of the binary suns, Liren stops on a crest overlooking the homestead pulling a sledge on suspensors behind her. She studies the homestead and the signs of abandonment around it, noting Rey with her hoard of droids. Tightening her hold on the handle of the sledge which bobbles lightly with its load, she heads down the slope, tacking left then right to compensate for the incline. On even ground again, she pulls it near the entrance.

"Tatooine Mail Service. Packages for everyone from the looks of it," she announces to Vhe and Rey and pushes back her hood with a smile.

The Mynock landed not far from the Falcon and the other ships when the designated time to meet had come. Elrych came with Vhe, naturally. He himself was working on digging some sand out of an area the had collected over the decades. He wasn't overly good with electronics like some of the others and his R2 unit Buckes was too busy chatting up an old Moisture Vaporator in Binary to help him translate.

He had his shades on now, if only to help stave off the light from the waining twin suns. As soon as Rey came out, he'd turn to look towards her and Vhe giving his own smile. One of those big goofy cocky Corellian smiles. His hair whiped around in the breeze, having grown out a bit, along with the robes he wore. "Yeah... it's supper dry out it. I like it." HE offers. He gives a surprised look towards Liren, "I have... mail?" THat was new.

On top of the Falcon, a man in black clothes crawls along, the white strips of leather tinted brown by the sand that has already found a way to work itself down into every seam in just the time since they've been here. Picking a relatively flat spot atop the hull to plop down for a moment, unfolding his long legs and leaning against his knees. His pale face is beaded with sweat, pinkening from the sun and exertion, black hair matted to his forehead. "I hate this place," he mutters to himself, wiping moisture off of his forehead with the back of his hand. "No wonder none of them wanted to come back here."

Hooking the toe of his boot through the carrying handle of a toolbag, he drags it up to himself and stands to move towards the middle of the central disk before Liren's arrival and announcement catches his attention, and instead he pauses there with the toolbag in hand, looking over there to see what it might be. "What is it? No one knows we're here." OR DO THEY.

Perhaps one of the quieter members of the Order, Aryn has taken to studying the land around the homestead. Perhaps to some it is just sand, and it gets everywhere, but there's a story beyond the sand and rock. In a desert, the sounds that are present are often dwarfed by the oppressive silence that can sweep through like a violent gust of hot air. Tall cyclones of sand move with the wind, stirring up small clouds of dust in the distance while looming sand mountains and jutting brown rocks spike to the sky, as if reaching out expecting something to take hold and lift them off this world.

Aryn speaks into her recording device quietly, sharing her thoughts as she turns from the view and the wind kicks up her cape behind her. Her blonde hair goes wild, and freckles often hidden by makeup have been accentuated by the suns here, giving her a slightly more sun-tanned look. She finds the others while tucking her device away.

Finn strides up out of the main pit himself, wearing a black shirt with the sleeves cut off and a pair of spacer trousers tucked into leather boots. He's holding a box filled with new parts for one of the moisture vaporators and as he passes by Vhe he shows her a big smile. "The water's not disappearing, you're wearing it." He chides her in good nature. "Or would be if those blasted suns didn't dry it up almost instantly." He winces at the setting heat sources and walks over toward some of the cargo crates where the droids are to set the box he's holding down.

Rey moves up beside Finn, and reaches out to grab her cloth travel bag. She reaches inside of it and starts to root around within it, though she does spare a glance toward Elrych and Liren as they arrive. "Welcome to the world that makes you loose fifty pounds in about an hour or less." She adds in to the teasing about the heat.

A moment later and she pulls a leather clad book out of her bag, then closes it and steps around the crates. She shows a smirk toward Ben. "It's cooler inside. You're torturing yourself in those black clothes, you know." She strides past him then and turns to face everyone, putting the suns to her back now.

"I think everyone who's going to make it in time is here now, so--" Rey motions to them all. "Come come, stand over here, with me." She encourages them to come toward her. "I wanted to talk to you about this." She pats the book in her hand. "It's Luke's journal."

"That is the problem," Vhe retorts to Finn, shaking the nearly empy bottle as she turns her head at the mention of mail. She strides closer coming to stop near Ben. "I agree. this place is not ideal. What original person saw this expanse and said 'yes this is the ideal place for anything'?" She has to drink more of the bottled water as she rolls her shoulders back and moves closer to where Rey calls them. A curious arch of her brow follows as she slides in closer to Elrych and Liren, trying to get a look.

When its revealed she hesitates, having learned well in advance who Luke Skywalker was. "Well thats going to be interesting." The bottle of water is opened again, sipped from as she looks up at Rey. "Have you read it?"

Face upturned to get the last drops from the water bottle she pulled from the holder at her hip, Liren shakes the bottle out and puts it on the sledge before joining the others. Before moving closer to Rey, she says in a quiet aside to Elrych, "No, no mail, just supplies. No one knows we are here," she says, more loudly.

Elrych gives a faux face of offense, "I'm the kind of person who would like this place. Actually, I was thinking of getting a place here to store some stuff... you know... because I have stuff." He was a Jedi, he didn't have much stuff. He didn't have his thicker cloak on, jus the lighers robes and pilot breeches with the second class blood stripes. THe robe rested off somewhere near the ship where it could be picked up later once it got cooler out.

He turns towards Rey as she asks for their attention, stepping forwards and looking at the others as they step forwards as well. Even with the shades on, thick rims and dark lenses, he had to use his hand to visor the suns hat silluete Rey. "Master Skywalker's Journal you say. Very ineresting." He for once, wasn't being sarcastic.

He leans towards Liren as she whispers the sad news towards him, "See... noone mails me anything." His hopes and dreams shattered.

"Oh, great." Ben's reaction to the announcement is flat at best, and the slumping of his shoulders from atop the Falcon shows in the silhouette he cuts against the sun. He strips off the jacket and tosses it down on top of the ship before dropping the toolbag atop it to keep the thing from being blown off. His shirt stays on, DEAL WITH IT. Then he hops off the edge of the Falcon and wanders over to join the others, a bit reluctantly stepping into their circle.

He glances towards the pile of packages suspiciously, trying to get a feel for anything untoward in there, but there doesn't seem to be anything immediately dangerous about them. "If he wanted this place fixed up so badly, he had plenty of time to do it."

Aryn steps closer at the mention of Master Skywalker's journal. Perhaps the scholar and historian in Aryn's blood was fueled by this notion of learning, but she tried to keep her eager expression neutral as she guided her hair from her face and found a place to lean and listen attentively to Rey.

Idly, her gaze travels to the face of each Jedi companion, shifting timidly if their eyes met with hers.

Rey waits for them to gather closer, while the droids roam around the property continuing their work with General Artoo leading the charge with chirps and whistled orders.

To Vhe, Rey glances up from the journal after opening it and searching for a specific section. She shows her a grin. "About twenty times, I think." She adds before her eyes glance down again. Finn swaggers over and puts his hands on his belt around his wait. "I can attest to that, she's always got her nose in a book." He says, tagging those words with a sly grin to the others.

Rey has a smirk on her lips, but her eyes are down on the pages while her fingers shift pages to get precisely to where she wants to be. "Supplies are definitely needed around here." Finn tells Liren before glancing down at what she brought.

But, as Rey looks up, he glances back toward her. Rey's eyes go to Ben as he strides over and she smirks at him. "I think Master Luke had quite a bit on his mind. He spent the majority of his time as a Jedi looking for the relics of the past on his own, I think he felt it would be better for his Order to start with more answers readily available ... but, that's neither here nor there. A topic for another time." She shows a soft smile for a second before she points at the journal.

When Aryn joins them, Rey smiles to her and offers a single nod to her as well before her eyes sweep over the others. "So I wanted to make the journey here tonight because of this entry." She says, her index finger pointed at one of the pages in front of her. "Here in, Luke indicated his last night on Tatooine. He spoke of it because it was ... for lack of better words, burned in to his memory."

She turns half-way then and points to the small slope behind her. "Luke stood here, beside the entrance to the homstead, on this hillside." she looks back to them then, the suns behind her, leaving her face in shadow and the rest of them having to stare at her and the bright suns behind her.

"He said, and I quote here..." Rey looks down to the Journal to read the passage...

-

"I remember that night as clear as day. I'd never felt a desire to leave my home greater than in that moment, I knew that I couldn't stay there as long as my Uncle wanted me to. I had to find a way out. I had to go. I needed to see what the galaxy had to offer. I needed to make my own mark upon it. What I didn't know, is that my leaving that home, would not be a decision I would make. It would be a decision forced upon me, because the following day, the Empire made it's mark upon my home while I was away, searching for the droids." She pauses for a brief second to swipe her loose strands of hair from her face as she reads.

"That night was the last night of my childhood, because the following day my life forever changed into adulthood. I lost my Aunt, I lost my Uncle. But I gained something new, a purpose, and my greatest friend in Ben Kenobi."

Rey's eyes rise up to look on to them then. She takes another lingering second before she speaks in her own words now. "That was 36 years ago, to the day, that Luke stood just over there." Again she motions toward the hill, as a hot wind rolls across them all from that same direction.

To the day. The soft smile offered to Aryn before the reading of the passage is lost, a frown marking her face as she looks aside. Her gaze ticks down and then finally up out over the sands. The bottle pressed to her side is lifted for lack of something to do with it and drunk from. "And we are here to remember the start of something." FOr all of them. Her weight shifts from one foot to the next before she swallows. Her gaze slides towards towards the homestead and lingers there, held by the composite of half underground residence and build.

Liren is transfixed by Rey's reading, giving life to Luke's words and transforming the desolate homestead into a place where family shared the burden of eking out existence on the barren world. A dry gust of wind twists the hood she pushed back, blowing tendrils of dark hair that she wipes back impatiently. Once her eyes flicker over the others, resting on Ben longer than the others. Surely he had known Luke, how being another question.

Elrych purces his lips a the mention of the tragidy that took place here. He turns his head towards Vhe, looking to her. A hand raises, placed on her shoulder with a soft squeeze. Taking a deep breath, the Corellian looks back towards Rey and gives a nod of approval before turning his head in the direction she points. Towards the Hill where Luke stood and mentioned in his journal.

Ben listens silently, though somewhere in the reading, his arms cross over his chest and his eyes meander towards the sandy ground, finding an interesting rock to examine while Rey explains why they're here. "...maybe we should take a cue and follow his example," he finally replies, shrugging and letting his hands fall back to his sides. "There's nothing here. Those people are dead, and we have the droids already. What's left of his life here? Nothing. Just a pile of rocks and some broken machinery." He nods towards the homestead, evidently abandoned all these years. "It's as much a tomb as a home."

Aryn grows reverent after offering a subtle grin to Vhe. Luke's words, conveyed by Rey, hold meaning to the sand and rock Aryn had been studying moments ago. A new weight of importance found the small dune which Luke once stood looking to the horizon.

This is broken when Ben speaks up. Aryn didn't speak out against his expression though. Some part of her wondered why they came to this abandoned place as well. If Luke wanted to leave, why had they come back to where it all began? She tucks her hair back again.

Rey's eyes sweep across all of their faces, but she affords Vhe a soft smile and a little single nod. "You're right." She says then. Rey closes Luke's journal and then lowers it down to her side as she steps over between Ben and Finn, to Ben she looks up at him and in answer to his question of 'what's left of his life here?' she just looks up at him. "You're here." She quietly says, letting the weight and meaning of that sink in on it's own.

Rey's eyes go over then to the others. "Aryn, Elrych." She says. "I've left two boxes over on the hill top." She tells them, indicating with her hand to two small silver metal containers laying on the rise. "Would you two be so kind as to go over, retrieve them. Inside you'll find two more journals. I'd very much appreciate it if you'd turn to the first page and read what's printed on them?"

Rey glances back to Finn on her left then, Finn looks to her and offers a nod of his own, but his eyes go back out to the suns that are casting the deep oranges and reds across the entire region of Tatooine.

The squeeze to her shoulder brings a faint smile to Vhe's lips but she tilts her head after Rey's request. She remains as she is, standing with the others as she squints to see the items left behind. A curious look crosses her expression as she gazes at Aryn and Elrych. A nod of her head given to each as she finishes off the water in her bottle. She will likely sweat it out of her in less than ten minutes.

Liren schools her face to solemn neutral while Ben speaks, dropping her eyes at the exchange between the two senior Jedi. They were certainly -here-. She shares a look with Vhe, gaze turning to Elrych and Aryn then back to Rey. Backing a step, she goes to the sledge that she had floated in and flips open a dust covered backpack and fishes out a bottle of water which she holds up in an offer to the others.

Elrych chances a glance towards Ben, giving him a shrug or sorts. It's sort of a Corellian-esq shrug. One he's probably used himself, one he likely inherited from his Father. One that said; yeah she's right sort of. Though as Rey motions and asks him and Aryn to move towards the hilltop and grab he boxes there is a moment of hesitation. Not because he was afraid, no... it was unexpected and an odd request. Reguardless, it's no long before he makes a languid trek up to the hilltop and grabs the journal that's inside. Once he's returned he holds it up, "You made copies?" THe meaning as to why it was just him and Aryn doing this escaped him, burning along with the confusion. Though, he had trust in Rey so he went with it anyways. There was likely a lesson in all this they all could learn from. Looking to Aryn for the cue to start, which might cause an awkward pause between the two, or a bit of laughing as they try to figure out who goes first. The Initiate then opens the book, blue eyes looking down to the words there. "Huh.." Is said first before he repeats the words on he page. " There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force." He had said that code either aloud or to himself probably at least a thousand times... or perhaps jus one part when some philisophical point reguarding it finally clicked or made sense. A single eye brow raises though as there is sill a question: Why here and now?

Ben swallows, either because his mouth is dry or because something hit home. But he doesn't drop his eyes. "I could be other places. It's who I'm here with that matters." Somebody's trying to read ancient wisdom, though, so he shuts up for now, though the ancient wisdom being read has his arms crossing over his chest again, his gaze focusing on a point in the distance again.

Aryn yields to the larger Corellian, and follows, her cape swaying with the steps. Upon inspection, the young blonde reveals an identical copy of what Elrych is holding, and she pauses a moment to wipe its surface of dust and debris.

A cursory look to Elrych is shared, taking his 'huh' as a cue, before she began to read the manuscript in an elegantly accented voice, as if she's rehearsed how to read a text aloud and emphasize the syntax and appropriate pauses.

"There is no emotion, there is peace." Looking up from the text, she glances between the others and recites the rest from memory.

"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge." A tilt of her head. "There is no passion, there is serenity." A look past the group as the wind blows, kicking up more dust spawning a small cyclone of dust. "There is no chaos, there is harmony." The cyclone dies to the next gust of wind, and the dust carries onward upon the current. "There is no death, there is the Force."

Aryn glances to Elrych, nodding before looking ahead to Rey and the others.

Rey watches the both of them, Aryn and Elrych, step to the hillside to gather up the containers with the journals resting inside of them. She smiles as they try to read the Jedi Code in unison, and at their reactions in-general to all of this. She glances again toward Ben, and his little reply to her earns a soft grin but she leaves it at that.

Her stare goes back, then, to Aryn and Elrych as she steps forward once more to her original place. With them just ahead of her on the hillside, to her left, and the rest on her right, Rey speaks to the group as a whole again - but her eyes are on the two with the journals.

"Luke left this place in an unexpected fashion on the following day, after watching these suns set one last time. He met Ben Kenobi, who told him of the Jedi. Who told him of his legacy. A story that his Uncle was apparently too afraid to tell him... with arguably good reason." Rey glances back then toward Ben for a moment, before once more looking ahead again. "Luke left this place in hopes of learning the ways of the Force and becoming a Jedi Knight, like his father."

"Elrych. Aryn. You've likely read those lines many times." She grins lightly again. "Hopefully at least once a day, if you've been following my instructions." She raises her right hand then to pull her loose hair off of her forehead again. "But this is the first time that the two of you have read those lines as you are now."

Rey's right hand goes down to her hip, she detaches her lightsaber from her belt and raises her arm up and out to her side. Rey's lightsaber ignites with a golden blade piercing the hot Tatooine air.

"I grant to you both, the title of Jedi Knight. You've shown me nothing but Hope for the future. Hope for what Luke's new 'purpose' was to be. You are a representation of the life that he set out to live, and you're the future of the Jedi Order hence forth."

The rest of the journals are blank, ready to be written in.

As they speak the lines that Vhe herself has come to know by heart, the Ysanna tilts her head, curiously glancing between them. Though it is when Rei steps up that her weight shifts again and she watches the three of them. A faint smile tugs at her lips as she watches Elrych and then Aryn so that when Rey speaks as she does and as the lightsaber is lifted and ignited her breath is held. The annoiting of them both is something that drives away the damage done here and the lingering loss. Her smile grows a little more, the corner of her mouth ticking up slowly as she nods her head in appreciation for is given in the dusty sands.

WIthout even thinking she lifts her hands and claps, a cheer lifting from her that is less ordered than an exultation.

Mouthing the words that she reads every day to herself, Liren watches Elrych and Aryn as they each read in turn. Rey unsheathing her lightsaber merits an inquisitive look, the answer given not a moment later. Her eyes lift to circle the dust blown homestead thinking it fit that two more knights would be made here. Smiling widely, she joins Vhe clapping. Solemn or not, it is a happy and rare thing to witness.

There is silence from Elrych for a long moment, the yellow glow from Rey's blade reflected in his shades. His free hand reaches up to remove them so the more somber and serious look in his blue eyes can be expressed clearly. Once the shades are away, he looks back to he journal, flipping through the blank pages quickly. "I ah..." He clears his throat, "I'm not sure what to say." A sharp inhale through his dried nose before he tilts his head up to look at Rey. "I'm no much of an eloquent writer, bu I'll do my best to fill it with what I learn. To grow the Order and gather the knowledge of the The Force." He places the journal inside the crease in his robes, "And to uphold the responsability of Knighthood."

There's a definite out-of-place sensation to observing this little ceremony, a pricking on the back of his neck, an itch in his palm. Ben's arms stay crossed over his chest while he watches the announcement and bestowal of... journals, an eye wandering towards the pile curiously, unable to resist the inkling that there might not be one for him.

He doesn't join the clapping. He doesn't make much of an expression at all, initially, but he does muster up a sort of wry, dubious grin eventually. "Perhaps your entries should include a daily copying of the code, as well. It would be a shame to forget about serenity."

The activation of Rey's golden hue lightsaber draws Aryn's blue eyes to the wavering glow a moment, receiving then, the weight of what had transpired. A knighthood. Two knighthoods. Surprised by this apportion of rank and responsibility, Aryn places a hand over her heart in a genuine reaction of surprise.

Composing herself, she promptly bows, then straightens. "My thanks, Rey. I'm at a loss for words." Aryn glances to the clapping pair, Liren and Vhe, then toward the more solemn Ben Solo. "Serenity is subjective. To an avian flying against the wind, it appears below to be serene as it hangs motionless upon the air. To it, the body churns, the wings burn, and it is held in place by an overwhelming force it can only sail upon. Perhaps my entries will consist of many interpretations of serenity." Aryn holds her own tone of humor, in the typical high educated fashion.

Aryn pulls her medical satchel from the confines beneath her cape, and places the journal safely within. "Thank you, again." Said to all this time. "Truly. I am humbled."

The binary stars continue their descent down toward the horizon with the primary star already dipping it's toes behind the scenery. Rey's eyes are upon Aryn and Elrych, her saber up and held out, the golden blade growling in a ghostly-voice of a way.

After both Elrych and Aryn speak, another saber beam ignites, a green one. This one held up by Finn, and he holds it up high and tall... straight up toward the darkening blue skies of Tatooine's blossoming nightfall.

He follows it up with a "Wooooo!" To emphasizes his positive emotions for the two of them. "Yeah, El! Yeah, Doc!" He shouts at them both before glancing over to Ben and nudging him with his other elbow, to try to get any kind of positive reaction out of the black clad Solo. Either way though, he looks back to them and keeps his newly crafted saber held high in the honor of the moment.

"You two have been through a lot in the two years that we have been doing this." Rey speaks then. "You've been there for me, for all of us. I've witnessed you both put your lives on the line multiple times, I've witnessed your bravery, your compassion, your sincere will to do what's best for peace and justice in the galaxy. This is why you are given the titles of Jedi Knight here, tonight, on this ground where the Jedi Order began it's reforging. Because I believe in you, both of you."

Rey's thumb sweeps over the ring of her saber's activator, causing the blade to squeal back into its hilt. She turns then, just as Finn deactivates his emerald blade. Rey looks to Vhe, to Liren, to Finn. "You three will get there too. I'm sure of it." She smiles to them then.

Rey clips her saber back to her belt. "Okay, that's all I have. I think there's dinner inside waiting for us. and don't worry, there's climate control." She has a big smile on her face then as she starts to walk back toward the main pit of the Homestead.

Finn, slaps his hands together one time, nice and loud. "Soup's on! You're all gonna love this!" He signals them all with a nod and a turn to walk with Rey, whispering something to her in a low voice.