Residential Level: Jade's Quarters

"A nervous padawan who was running late for lightsaber drills caught up with me in the entrance corridor long enough to almost through the box at me and disappear," she reminisced, "but I know it is from Serrin. Eirene is too clean to have passed through other hands."

Jade cut power to the blade with a flick of her thumb and silence filled the room as she set the lightsaber back in its box next to its companion shoto. In the process of doing so, she spied the piece of paper upon which Serrin had written a note.



She'd turned so that Z'har could read over her shoulder, but by the time she reached the end of the short missive an emerald fire had flashed into her eyes and her hand curled into a fist, angrily crumpling the note. She was so furious she couldn't even speak at first, and when she finally managed to get the words out, she sounded half-strangled.

"How dare she send a message like this?! After so many months with no word, when she knew, she knew we were looking. She abandoned her padawan, her academy---"

Ael didn't even notice that Z'har had spoken for a solid three minutes. The sadness and grief she had felt over Serrin's fate for the past months had turned into a seething anger that was even more potent because she really did not get that passionately involved with people anymore. There were some exceptions, but Serrin had been her family when she had none, her friend when she was alone, and she had convinced Jade to join the Corellian Academy as a favor to her. Then, when Jade had arrived, she'd gone missing within days. So, the High Councilor was something that Jedi had never seen her as: seething with fury. It wasn't until she clenched her fists and the windows of her room shattered outwards into the night that she realized just how angry and betrayed she was feeling. The crashing noise brought her back into herself and when she held up her hands, looking at them in something of surprise she was shaking. Her eyes were lit with a fire from within, a look that had terrified many in former decades.

"---what?" she finally asked in some bewilderment.

"I see," was the semi-distracted response he got as she unfolded her hands and looked at the palms, both of which had four nicely spaced marks from the edges of her nails. When she took a breath and swallowed it felt like one of her internal organs was trying to climb out her esphagus. Most unpleasant.

"Yes, yes I suppose I have to..." she barely noticed that he'd moved closer until strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her tightly against his chest. Instinctively she resisted, but soon she relaxed against him, feeling tired and sad as the wave of adrenalin died and left her feeling weak in the aftermath of the emotional intensity of the situation just moments earlier.

"What will I do when I find her? And what about Terra? When Serrin left, it devastated her---we were finally adjusting to life without Serrin Roma. I can't give her false hope." This was going to be even more complicated than she'd thought. Terra had a checkered past from what Jade had been able to make out during her Trials. What if Serrin's desertion of the Jedi was enough to turn her erstwhile padawan? Her lips compressed together in a thin line. She would tell Terra what was happening, yes, but she'd delay for just a bit. She'd tell her when they were en route. With any luck she would find Serrin first and get to the truth of what had really happened. There had to be a chance she'd come back. Right? What if she had to tell Terra---that Serrin was no longer alive?

Jade shook her head, "If she and Nik are following their original agenda, they should be somewhere in the vicinity of Bakura now. I'll tell her what's going on as soon as we've established enough of a lead that we'll arrive first," she sighed, and twisted in his arms to face him. "Are you sure you want to come with me?" she asked gently, knowing that he'd not been off Mondder in ages until she'd invited him to Corellia. Truth be told, she hadn't expected him to actually accept her offer, though she'd been pleasantly surprised in this case.

Jade resisted the sudden urge to point out just how often his adventures with her could not be classified as 'proper,' and headed over to the small chest of drawers. She pulled open a couple and began choosing what to take with her. It took all of five minutes as she traveled lightly.

"Do you think we should leave now, or wait for dawn?" she asked. She was tired, true, and the resultant hormone crash after the conflicting emotions caused due to finding out that Serrin was in fact alive would probably leave her feeling vulnerable. However, the Zabrak was probably more than up to the challenge of piloting them for the first few hours.

"I don't suppose waiting a few hours will make that much of a difference overall," she mused, surveying her spartan quarters.

"Of course we have one, but it's down near the classrooms." She scooped up the box and lightsabers, moving them off her bed. "Would you---" she hesitated, this wasn't anything she was used to asking, "---stay till I fall asleep?" She was tired enough it wouldn't take long, and besides, she wanted him to hold her. There are times when it's good to know that someone strong is around to take care of you if need be, though normally she was independent with an intensity that might approach 'fierce.'

The slim woman kicked off her boots, pants, tabards, and outer tunic before curling up to sleep with a crumpled note in one hand and Eirene, the lightsaber hilt carved in a similitude of flowing water, in the other.

Jade woke up shortly before Z'har returned, and when he entered the room he'd see her over near the window, twisting her long dark hair up and pinning it in place with the matching jet and gold hairsticks he'd given her back on Mondder. She turned and smiled, though in a serious fashion. Her uniform was meticulously precise, and a small bag was all her luggage.

"Ready?" she asked, holding out a hand for Eirene. The shoto she left in the box. "Judging from your return and the fact that I know you, I assume you've figured out where Serrin might have sent this from."

She pulled on her outer robe, ran her hands over the small medikit, utility pouch, and other accoutrements clipped to her belt, which at the moment held three lightsabers: her own, the burned hilt belonging to a former friend before they had joined the Sith, and finally, Eirene, Serrin's lightsaber. If she had anything to say about it, it would not be a permanent acquisition.

She didn't know as yet that he'd actually bought a ship, instead thinking they'd just take one of the Academy's ships. However, this did make matters more simple.

"Let's go," green eyes looked up at him, "no sense in waiting around when the answers are elsewhere."

"Bimmisaari," Jade echoed thoughtfully. What could have taken Serrin to that planet? she wondered. Doubtless they would find out. She felt old. The idea of Serrin willingly leaving the Jedi Order? In fact, she felt betrayed. And that made her angry in turn. One way or another, she would get answers. And if they weren't ones she liked, well, she'd simply toss the dice again.

The two of them headed out towards the hangar.

C3-P9, raising an arm to approximate a humanoid wave when Ael emerges from her quarters, calls out to her in its usual prissy, refined tone that is, in light of all that Ael has been through, less relentlessly and overbearingly cheerful than it might otherwise be, Master Jade! It is always such a distinct pleasure to see you. Can I be of any assista . . . trailing off as the sound of a familiar young laugh comes from a nearby hallway shortly after the sound of something splashing, Pee says, It sounds as though Miss Zaryna is . . . whatever Pee was about to say is interrupted by the chaotic sounds of murmured surprised, frightened, or perhaps mildly annoyed shouts, the pattering of feet, a feline growl, and a peal of young laughter.

Pivoting its torso to look towards a nearby stairwell, where several Jedi initiates and Padawans are running after, or perhaps away, from Zaryna, Pee opines, Perhaps we ought to investigate, and intercede if warranted? The repair and cleanup of the southern hallway is, after all, not yet complete. Nor, the silver plated protocol droid continues as it begins walking towards the stairwell in its stiff-legged gait, is the cafeteria's storeroom quite recovered, or the lovely little garden on the eastern grounds . . .