The Work Begins (Sol's Epilogue)

[Solork Tan]

Solork would make his way back to the place underneath the fighting pits, looking for his teacher. The fight against the Inquisitor had shaken him, in a way he had no expected, and yet...there was something strange that had changed.

[Honor]

Sol would, that day, not find Cartess there. Had he the gumption, inside, he would find a note left for him.. or Leah, it didn't matter. All that was written on it were coordinates. Coordinates that would lead him to the abandoned CIS base in the middle of the Alask desert.

It would be some time.. but all he had to do was go there.

(Epilogues are great, cover such a vast distance and time in a single post!)

[Solork Tan]

"Huh, so she decided to finally leave"

It takes a while to find the base. "Cartess?"Solork calls out. "It's me, the idiot pupil"

[Honor]

There was no answer... but he felt a sense he should walk deeper in. Inside the base were a few branching pathways, Solork would be lead down one that had some troublesome rubble to clear or move around and a door that had been cut open with a lightsaber.

Deep inside the recesses he would have to squeeze through a small space before finally finding himself in the small space where, at it's center, a pile of bones lay. Cartess, carefully and respectfully, gathering them onto a sheet.

Cartess said nothing when he arrived.

[Solork Tan]

Sol watches her quietly for a little while, noting the reverence.

"Your master? I had heard what Leah had said before." He looks around. " I can appreciate needing time to get to a certain point."

[Cartess Kenotte]

"Time to get to a certain point?" she asked uncertain to his meaning as she rolled up the remains she had collected for travel. There was no other way. Still, she remained as respectful as possible in the process.

[Solork Tan]

"To realize that as much as you might want to do something, even if think it's the right thing, that the time is not right."

Solork tosses something on the ground, it skittering along the ground until it landed beside Cartess. Arwen's saber hilt glints in the dim light.

"I saw someone who had been betrayed. A man who had lost his kind. He hung onto that until it was a millstone around his neck. I can see how easily it could be me."

Sol holds up a red crystal, reeking of pain. Even he could feel something wrong with it. "And I see what effect it has."

[Cartess Kenotte]

"What have you learned from this?" she asked, glancing to the hilt of the lightsaber. Closing her eyes, attuning to the peace overbearing in this room. "Beyond that, further, what will you do?"

[Solork Tan]

"Well, I learned that I'm pretty sure that I can build one of these. They actually aren't that complicated once you sit down and take one apart. Kriff, I think I can make improvements. However..."

Sol settles into a similar sense of serenity as Cartess, perhaps something she can feel.

""How" is different question than "is this right?" Sol holds up the crystal. "I think I have to credit you for helping me refine that last part. Like I said, the one I took this from was so mired in his pain that I can feel it in this crystal. I can tell that I'd need it to make the saber work but using such a thing." The Gank looks down at the crystal. "I needed redeeming, and I have found my path. I want to see if I can save this as well."

[Cartess Kenotte]

"Path of redemption, it's a good one. One I find myself needing to face after so many years I've kept to solitude. You.." she looks to him, "yes, I believe if you follow that path. You will find what you seek. When that crystal shines again, when you no longer can find the darkness within it.. I do believe you will have achieved all you need," she said.

"I have not seen it done before, but I can point you on your way. What I know is that this is a great personal undertaking, you will be challenged by it. You will learn from it. By the end, I believe you and this crystal will be saved by it."

[Solork Tan]

Solork nods. "I feel that it is a noble goal. When I can manage that much, I think I would be ready to wield it in battle without losing myself."

He looks over Cartess' travel pack. "You're leaving?" There is no judgement in the words, simply an inquiry

[Cartess Kenotte]

"My time at the arena has been spent. While it served as a place to hide, I am afraid that the terms of my stay were as so long as I fought. Now that I no longer wish to fight it was best I excused myself with as little word as possible."

[Solork Tan]

"Alright then. So, where do we go next?"

Sol offers up his biological hand to cut off what he considers an inevitable pushback.

"I'm not from here. All that there is to tie me is the general obligation to help those downtrodden here. However..." Sol motions overhead. "With all that happening, Imperials coming here will be assured. There may come a time when I am needed, but it is not this moment. If it is alright, I wish to travel with you for a time"