After what was one of their shortest visits ever, both Trychon and Raezyr had gathered everything they were going to take with them, and were loaded up and ready to go aboard the Jet Razor. Trychon had stopped by to give Dianna a bottle of their newly acquired brandy and to wish her a quick healing trance, and sensing his mood she thanked him with a hug.
After thanking Delki for the quick check through, and with a very brief sendoff from most of the healthy crew of the Lair, they settled into the cockpit and headed out of orbit of Hoth. Watching it disappear into their rear sensors, they said goodbye to their 'almost' home. As Raezyr pulled back on the appropriate lever, it was gone.
The first day of their trip was rather quiet. Trychon was keeping to himself by and large, either in the common area reading his tome from THX 1138 or in his berth, still reading. Becoming more than a little irritated with his brother, Raezyr insisted that they needed to spend some time together with the Holocron, as it would perhaps be able to give them some input on what was a puzzling mission.
Trychon retrieved the Holocron, and after summoning Daxon Var, they took turns explaining the very little they knew about the mission that their master Eiron had given them. Trychon started off by explaining how they were supposed to go to Altax 3, a small moon with a high orbit above the gas giant Bermatrix. They needed to find the monastary of the secretive Taxl monks, and turn them from their ways of peace, and allow them to destroy themselves. Raezyr went on to explain their further instructions and the recent unhappiness from Darth Vikon, explaining that he was the reason they'd inquired about long distance force communications a while back.
The conversation was rather short lived, as Daxon Var laughed at them and told them not to trust a Lord of the Sith, either their master or any other. The apparition then retreated back into the crystal on the floor, although Trychon was sure he heard something mumbled about a 'real master' right after Var was gone.
After Trychon put the occasionally quixotic jewel back in it's hiding place, they met back up for a brief sparring session. They hadn't practiced in several days, but if anything their skills were sharper than before, having been honed by the tests of real battle. Even though they'd spent more time on Gentes blocking blaster shots than anything else, they felt quicker in general. Nothing else had changed though, and Raezyr managed to end several of Trychon's attacks by disarming him or halting him with a thrumming blade dangerously close to the neck.
Wiping the sweat from their brows and arms, they sat down and broke out another bottle of ale, pouring it into separate containers to drink. They sit in silence for several minutes and Raezyr watched Trychon stare into his glass. He had a smile on his face that matched his normal one, but Raezyr could feel through the force that his brother was troubled. He was about to ask how things went with Kord's friends when Trychon looked up.
"You know, I was friends with a man who became a monk... do you mind if I reminisce?" Trychon asked. Raezyr shrugged and took a drink.
Trychon continued smiling and continued. "Ok, my friend is driving down the road and broke down near a monastery. He went to the monastery, knocked on the door, and asked, "My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?"
The monks graciously accepted him, fed him dinner, and even fixed his speeder. As my friend tried to fall asleep, he heard a strange sound. The next morning, he asked the monks what the sound was but they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."
My friend is disappointed but thanked them anyway and went about his merry way.
Some years later my friend broke down in front of the same monastery. The monks again accepted him, fed him, and even fixed his speeder. That night, he heard the same strange noise that he had heard years earlier.
The next morning he asked what it was but the monks replied, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."
My friend said, "All right, all right. I'm dying to know. If the only way I can find out what that sound was is to become a monk, then how do I become a monk?"
The monks replied, "You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will become a monk."
My friend set about his task. Some forty-five years later, he returned and knocked on the door of the monastery. He said, "I have traveled the earth and have found what you have asked for. There are 256,897,103,145,236,284,232 blades of grass and 231,281,219,999,129,382,756,124,512,999 sand pebbles on the earth."
The monks replied, "Congratulations. You are now a monk. We shall now show you the way to the sound."
The monks lead my friend to a wooden door, where the head monk told him, "The sound is right behind that door."
My friend turned the knob, and behind that door he is amazed to find the source of that strange sound."
Trychon took a sip of his ale. After it was obvious that Trychon was done, Raezyr put down his glass and asked him "So what was it?" Trychon looked at him and took a long draw of his drink.
"I can't tell you that, Raez... you're not a monk." Trychon said as he started to laugh. He still managed to catch the empty bottle that was soaring towards his head though. He set it down and continued to laugh. Raezyr chuckled and then asked what he wanted to ask originally.
"How did it go with Kord's friends? You never mentioned it." He could feel Trychon's mood lighten a bit as his smile settled back to normal.
"It went really well, Raez. They weren't mad at all, although they were upset of course. Rather than discuss what happened on Gentes though, they insisted on telling me stories about him. Said that it would have made him happy. Not that it matters of course... but it was still enjoyable. Good to know a little bit more about the kid. I never even learned his last name was Scarlett before he died. I guess it's never too late for some things."
"You're right. Just glad you cheered up about the whole thing." Raezyr commented.
"Well you know, in a short time, Kord was the first person to really look up to me. He was really nice to me."
Raezyr grinned. "Anya was pretty nice to you too, if memory serves."
Trychon laughed as he got up and grabbed two more drinks. "Well, I can't dwell on it forever, obviously. We were there to help, and that's more than the galaxy can really ask of us anyway. I tried to save him. If I'd done something different, maybe it would have turned out better. Maybe worse. It doesn't matter now."
Raezyr nodded. "Exactly."
Trychon looked off into the distance for a moment before continuing. "You know, all the talk about reminiscing about my monk friend... then Kord... and how it's never too late for some things? I'm starting to wonder about our past. I'd gotten used to not knowing how I came to be where I was... an orphan child in a village. We know now that there has to be more to it though. I wish we knew what happened. I was thinking that at the very least, we could ask Vikon. He clearly knows something."
Raezyr looked into his glass. "Well, I didn't randomly show up somewhere with no memory and no past... but clearly things were kept from me as well. Maybe Vikon could tell us something. Daxon Var warned us not to trust him though."
"Yeah... he'd love for us to believe his word is the final authority on everything... and we should trust him somehow too. He isn't wrong though. We need to watch our backs even when we're dealing with Sith. Common goals hasn't always bred loyalty among us." Trychon stood up and stretched, clearly ready for another night of real rest.
Raezyr finished his drink and stood up as well. "It may mean being nicer than I was hoping to 'Darth' Vikon as well. He better not expect to get either of our gems back... they've proven too powerful to part with."
Trychon yawned. "Agreed. We'll keep our eyes on Vikon, but he's useful to us for the moment. To our mission and maybe to our past... we'll even play the nice apprentices until we're done with him. That said... I'm ready for bed. Don't stay up too late writing Dianna..."
"Shut up Trych..." Raezyr said as he followed his brother back to their rooms.
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Within minutes of falling asleep, Trychon began having the same dream as the night prior. Over and over again, Kord's lifeless eyes seemed to plead with him to save him the next time... as his body fell repeatedly to the ground. His expression pleaded for an ending to the eternal suffering of having the guard accidentally shoot through his skull... an accident for the guard, perhaps. Kord's pained face said what he knew though... it was because of Trychon.
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