Corellia's Open Terrain

Jade arched her eyebrows at him and took a breath in relief. And felt misunderstood. However, maybe it was better this way.

"That, wasn't precisely what I was getting at." She brushed her hair back from her face and propped her chin on her knee. "But I see what you mean." Maybe she'd misunderstood in thinking that he had no direct genetic descendants. Anyway, it looked like that was a different discussion for a different time.

Jade grinned in a fashion that might have politely been called maniacal. "Well, you seem to do alright in terms of," she hesitated briefly, "basic mechanics," she finished with a half-stifled laugh. "Anyway, I was thinking out loud I suppose, since I really don't know what you want." She couldn't literally read his mind anymore. His latest upgrade had canceled out the one notable advantage she'd held over him.

"Your reaction time is down," she remarked. Normally he had lightning fast responses, but if this was simply due to herself, then she was amused and gratified to know that she could catch him off balance. Since she couldn't read his mind anymore due to his latest upgrade, she'd lost the one notable advantage she'd had over him.

Her eyes widened in surprise and a bit of alarm, "A brace of them, like multiple offspring?" she replied faintly. Even one would be tricky, but if it was what he wanted...

She liked it when he laughed. Particularly around her when they were alone. He sounded happy and relatively at ease. "Akh, well, is that what you want? That could cause complications and confusion. How would your other children feel about it?" she inquired evasively. "Besides, I didn't think you believed in accidents."

A startled squawk shrieked in the woods before suddenly being silenced. Moments later Selaya padded out onto the rock that Z'har and Jade were sitting on. The vornskr licked her lips toothily, displaying vicious fangs. A few tell-tale feathers stuck to her muzzle.

"Mmm quite," she shifted a bit closer to him and leaned her head against his shoulder. "It would probably mean seeing more of each other in the future, at least on a semi-regular basis, unless one of us wanted to be nearly a stranger to the offspring," she mused quietly. She didn't know if she'd be a good candidate as parent. Part of her wanted a child, now that she thought about it, someone to share her heritage with. The other part of her was uneasy.

"Speaking of family," she continued as it seemed to be a time for conversation, "Terra knows what to do in the event of my demise. Have you met her yet?"

Since discovering Z'har at the other end of a large bounty for herself, the diminutive Jedi Master had had to reevaluate several things in her life. She was still trying to reconcile being a Jedi Master with being a woman, and on top of that, being a High Councilor who happened to love a Mando'ad warlord. She didn't allow it to become a conflict of interest, but so far she hadn't been put in a position where that had been at stake. Even if it was, long practice had made her an expert at dancing on the edge of a hidden knife. She had not thought to see him again. And now that she knew he still felt the same way towards her that he had on Galantos, she was not about to lose him again, not without a giant effort to negotiate the various obstacles in their way.

She reached over to where Selaya was contentedly laying near them and stroked the large feline's pointy ears with her fingertips before settling closer into her companion's embrace. She smiled softly, "I will eventually be old, if I live that long, even for one of my race. One day I will be one with the Force, not even your love can change that, shade of my heart," she whispered fondly, green sparks glinting in the depths of her eyes in response to his tone.

Jade shrugged before leaning into his embrace. Her hand was resting on his upper arm lightly. A slight frown creased her brow as she thought about that. She herself was convinced that in her case death would be permanent, and in spite of the love she'd discovered for Z'har, she wasn't sure she would want to live longer than her span of years. No one could really say what becoming one with the Force was like, but she would not find out for some time yet, unless something bad happened. Such things were always possible in a universe like this.

"I---" vagueness flickered through her eyes as she tried to remember. Momentary panic welled up inside as she realized she was struggling to remember something that she should have known instinctively. "No, not immediately. There were cousins of course, and much later there was a sister," she hesitated for a second, "but she was so much younger than I that I never really knew her." She almost regretted that, but didn't let herself go too far down that road.

"Not particularly. You see, while the concept of family was important, in reality, I did not have the time since I was away at the Academy and then out on active duty. Later, it was simply too dangerous." She answered honestly, though she didn't define the danger or the fact that she had been concerned for their safety, as knowing her could have been prejudicial to their welfare.

The vornskr rumbled a low purr as Z'har brushed her ears. She dimly remembered him as a ghost-like presence in the back of her mind. She hadn't seen much of him really, and even less after he'd given her to Jade.

"Stop trying to confuse me," she laughingly replied, slithering about till she lay comfortably within the reach of his arms with the vornskr on the other side of her. The stars were twinkling through the overhanging tree branches above them. "Family is important, but I couldn't do the normal things after a time. I didn't want to split the house in half, neither did I wish to place others in danger." She grimaced wryly, "though, the other half of my family was in large part responsible for a measure of the chaos that surrounded my... eventual departure." It had been a long day, and for once, she was able to simply enjoy being with the man she'd grown to care about. Naturally though, she was tired, and it wouldn't be too hard for her to fall asleep soon.