Dantooine's Open Terrain

The man knew his name... but how? And why was he so angry? Jair could sense the anger rolling off of the man in waves, through the Force. The Force was strong with him. There was no doubt about that. Jair opened the canopy of his A-wing and exited his ship, cautiously, though he made sure to bring his lightsabers with him as a precaution. Though that nagging sense of familiarity made him really not want to fight, even more so than usual. He really did not want to fight this man, but he didn't know why. As he got out, he kept his arms raised in a show of peace, although his lightsaber hilts were visibly on his robe belt.

"Yes sir... that is my name... I come in peace..." Jair called out in response, without any hint of aggression in his voice whatsoever. Though a sense of curiosity could be picked up on, for sure.

The man's piercing gaze met Jair's. The anger was palpable in the mans eyes, but there was yet again such a familiarity about him. Jair could have sworn he had seen those eyes somewhere before. The man's signature in the Force was muddled... perhaps somewhat gray, but hard to read. Yet his signature in the Force was so familiar. Jair kept his hands up, and out, for now, but if he needed to he could easily call one of his sabers to him.

"I do not know how you know my name, but I do not wish to fight you, sir... I have no qualms with you," the Jedi reiterated as he kept the mans intense gaze quizzically. If the man was focused enough, he would notice a sense of sadness wash over Jair's eyes, for Jair began to realize who this man reminded him of.

"You remind me of someone I knew... an old student of mine. He died nearly ten years ago... during the Chaos Wars." The reason for his sadness was now laid bare. For whatever reason, this man recalled Jair's old student, Dalo, to mind. Dalo went missing after several attacks on the old Jedi Base on Felucia during the Chaos Wars and no search party was ever able to recover the Padawan. Now, the Jedi was convinced that the Force had brought him here for a reason, to help this man. He continued to meet the mans gaze with the same sad look mingled with a hopeful determination.

"Sir, please... let me help you. The Force did not lead me here by accident. Please..." Though the sadness and determination could be felt radiating from Jair now, through the Force, there was also an odd sense of calm that came with it, almost beckoning the man to partake of it if he merely chose to, completely open to invitation. Why this man reminded him of his old deceased Padawan was a mystery of the Force, but it only drove Jair to want to help this man more.

Jair did not have time to respond to, nor fully process, the words the man just spoke to him. He was also more prepared than the man might have originally perceived, despite how it had looked to him before. As soon he saw the man activate his blue lightsaber, Jair had subtly called his lightsaber hilt into his right hand, though his countenance had not changed. When the man charged at him he activated his bright neon orange blade and immediately diverted his eyes to the direction of his opponents blade as it approached him. He reached out with his left hand to hold his own lightsaber with a two handed grip to parry the strike as it came towards him. After the loud sound of clashing lightsabers ceased to ring into the distance, Jair saw the man pivoting back around to look at him. There would be no counter-attack, only Jair standing there, backing up a few paces with his lightsaber ignited in a purely defensive stance. Jair was meeting the man's gaze once again as now, the words that he said before began to slowly sink in. His eyes were wide portraying a combination of disbelief, relief, confusion, wonder, and hope, all of which were now radiating from his signature.

"... what...?" Jair replied, almost in a whisper, his eyes welling up ever so slightly. "By Ashla... you... you're alive?" Now a new emotion began to radiate from the Jedi's aura; joy. It would be a complete contradiction to the emotions emanating from the man standing before him in a twist of irony. But Jair's reaction was as genuine as could be, and the man would be able to easily sense this, as Jair was not holding back or barring his thoughts from him at all. Especially now, he felt no reason to.

"Dalo... is it really you?" He asked, with a genuine smile now curving upward on his features.

As Dalo continued to press a flurry of attacks, Jair was ready, but all he did was defend. It was all he was willing to do. Spending as little energy as possible to just gracefully block each strike as they came was the ultimate goal, although as the strikes did come in stronger, Jair did need to use a bit more strength to block them, but matching the increasing strength of the strikes seemed to come naturally to Jair. As they finally locked blades, Jair just kept enough pressure to keep their blades in place. No more, no less.

"Why did you abandon me?!" A flicker of sadness flashed across his eyes, and he took several quick steps back, allowing their lightsabers to disengage from their lock. The sooner he could get Dalo to disengage his blade completely, the better. He did not want to fight him, at all. "Dalo... the Council decided that you needed someone who wasn't as involved in the war to train you. That's why Master Aalin Hope took over your training. It wasn't my decision, but I gave her and the council my blessing, because I was very involved in the war."

And Jair was being completely truthful. He held nothing back from Dalo. His emotions, his thoughts, and his sincerity were all laid bare. Dalo could read his mind if he so chose. But another new layer of sadness would be noticed in Jair now, at the mention of Aalin Hope.

Jair remembered when Aalin Hope vanished. It was also not long after one of Ramius's many assaults on the Jedi Base that she had disappeared. All search parties that went out to find her also came back empty handed. But before Jair could respond, Dalo initiated another flurry of attacks, although they seemed less precise than before. Jair remained solely on the defensive, as he had done throughout the entirety of the conflict. When he stopped, and finally spoke again, Jair listened, and let him vent out all of his frustration and pain. That war was devastating, and Jair knew as much, quite personally. He would not diminish any toll it might have taken on Dalo. But again, before he could respond, Dalo pressed another attack, this time launching himself in the air above Jair. Jair twirled around and firmly met Dalo's lightsaber with his own, in a strong defensive maneuver, blocking it from hitting his waist. He held it there for now, but he locked eyes with Dalo. He wanted him to know he was understanding of his pain. That war was absolutely brutal.

"We looked for her after a major assault on the Jedi Base. None of our search parties could find her, Dalo." Jair once again took several steps back in hopes of disengaging their saber lock, before continuing to speak, but never wavering from his eye contact. "We also looked for you, after a similar attack. I searched for you, personally. But all any of us could find were Felucians twisted by that Force-forsaken Whill..." Jair looked at his old padawan with a solemn genuineness. "We thought you had died, Dalo. I... I... grieved your death..."

Jair could sense that Dalo was finally calming down from his signature in the Force, though he was not by any means probing his mind. Jair did not think any such thing would be necessary now. But when Dalo finally knelt down on the ground, and let his lightsaber fall, he sighed with relief, deactivated his own lightsaber, and stashed it back on his belt. When Dalo finally addressed him, he too decided to just sit down in the grass. Jair would appear very familiar to when Dalo last saw him. He hadn't visibly aged all that much, but his eyes held ten years more experience behind them than before.

"It is funny. I often think I've finally grown accustomed to how the Force speaks... but then something absolutely extraordinary will happen, without fail." Jair said with a genuine laugh, before his countenance turned serious once more, yet full of empathy.

"It's not your fault. I do not blame you, in the slightest, for trying to get out of there. That war was brutal. We all suffered." Jair's face brightened again. "I'm just so glad you're alive."

Jair harbored no grudge at all, as was evident from the tranquil aura that emanated from him. But part of why it was so easy for Jair to not take it personally at all, besides his natural drive to help even those immersed in the dark side to see the light, was that he knew that he himself was guilty of acting rashly in the past. So when Dalo apologized for his rash behavior, Jair just smiled. "You may not believe me, but... I myself did something very similar once. Thank Ashla I didn't get anyone killed. It was one of the most foolish things I've ever done." Jair couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle at the memory. Not that it was funny, by any means, but it was, very much, foolish. "We all make mistakes, I'm no exception."

Jair listened to his old Padawan talk about how he wished he could do more to protect others around him from the darkness that Ramius wrought on Felucia, but Jair shook his head. "Dalo... you were only ten years old." Jair thought back to the horror of the Chaos War. "I don't think I ever feared him, directly... but I probably should have, in hindsight. What I feared daily is who he would take away from us... either mentally, or physically." A sad far away look was in his eyes for a brief moment. "There were multiple times I almost succumbed to the darkness... out of hatred for that... being. I thank Ashla I overcame."

Jair's countenance lightened, however. "Thankfully, he is long gone. And Felucia has seen a period of peace for the past nine years."

Jair smiled and shook Dalos hand. He could sense that it seemed like a great burden had left his old padawan. Or at least, perhaps in part. Jair didn't press it, because he was not going to start probing his mind. There still was no need for that. There was wisdom in his old padawan's words. Clearly he and Master Aalin Hope did something right during their times training him, despite the circumstances, and how long ago it was.

"Well... I was en route to pick up some crystals. We got more training sabers at the Temple recently. I intended to take a covert route to the caves because the old Jedi Enclave is an Imperial outpost, and it needs to be avoided... albeit, I wasn't quite intending to take quite as covert a route as I ended up on." Jair added with a bit of a slight smirk.