Going Home

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She'd added a new ritual to her daily activities; well, every other day activities.

Teagan s'Ilancy always visited her brother, spending lunch time with him even if he didn't know it yet. It was one of those things that she didn't let fall by the wayside. She talked to him, and even if he was asleep she kept on. He was an ear whether he realized it or not. She spoke of her classes, her time spent studying, her thoughts on the other padawans, her unwitting Cizerack friend Untaurra, and of course of Zem. She told Markos about her decision, which only led into a long, one-sided discussion about her misgivings on such heavy decisions being placed upon such young shoulders.

This she did every day now without fail.

She'd made sure to go to her classes, and for the first time since arriving on Ossus, actually apply herself.

It was a strange turn-around. Which was not to say that she'd not found other things to mire herself into, but on the whole, the young Lupine seemed a slight bit... healthier... than she had since coming here to live with the Jedi.

She still missed her mother, but that was to be expected.



Now though, found her pushing her way into Master Zem Vymes' tent. A small flimsi clutched in one hand, she cast her eyes around the tent's main living area with a bit of curiosity. And skidding to a halt, she suddenly she wondered if she'd misread the time.

Where was he?!

[Zem Vymes]

"You're early."

Rounding the bend that led him back to his tent, Zem could see a familiar tow-headed youngster that was his daily afternoon appointment. The Jedi Master eased down a cooler and a fishing pole adjacent to the tent.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She snapped her head around at the sound of his voice.

"I'm- "

Her mouth clamped shut, short of finishing with 'not early, you're late' as she instantly thought the better of her retort. Good-natured though it might've been delivered, Teagan decided it better to simply give a nod and a shrug. Her scuffed boots shifted as she turned to face him more fully, and she reached up to scratch at an itch on her shoulder. Not exactly the picture of a padawan, she cut a strange figure; dusty grey trousers, and an old Cloud City Outfitters shirt. The only article of clothing that might've given any indication that she was a padawan was the tan tunic that'd been draped over her shoulders, unwrapped and hanging loose. At least she'd pulled her hair back, securing it loosely with an elastic band.

"I guess I am," came the eventual answer as she watched him set the pole and the cooler aside.

"I brought this week's marks."

[Zem Vymes]

Zem nodded at her offering, gesturing with a hand as he took the flimsi containing her scholastic transcript. He buried himself in his examination, leaving Teagan to dangle on the proverbial hook a moment as he did.

"Hmm."

The Jedi Master thumped at the flimsi slightly with his off hand. He had to pick at something.

"You could do better at maths."

He glanced over the transcript to see if she agreed.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She had a suspicion that he'd zero in on that one. And he'd not disappointed. Or he had; however one decided to look at the situation.

"Yeah well," her eyes cast downward.

"I'm not good with numbers."

Which was the truth. Even basic number lessons seemed to stump her. She just couldn't wrap her mind around any of it. She'd never really complained, just took the brunt of her less than stellar mathematical abilities and bulled onward in the hopes that something would finally click. So far, nothing had.

"None of it ever makes any sense."

[Zem Vymes]

"It doesn't make much more sense, than math, young lady."

Zem cracked a skeptical look at the youngster. He knew exactly what she could do if she put her mind to something. Just had to find the precise angle of butt kicking to propel her into it.

"This isn't conjecture or a certain point of view. One plus one always equals two."

Still, she wasn't failing, so he wasn't about to have that sort of talk. And he wasn't here to damn over nitpicks. A somewhat satisfied expression on his face, he returned the flimsi to the young lupine.

"Other than that, good job, miss. Especially history."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Accepting it back, Teagan couldn't help the frown that turned down the corners of her lips.

"History's easy."

If one thing could be said for her mother's obsessive behaviors over committing to memory so many names and stuff that'd happened aaaages ago on Schwartzweld, it made learning things that'd happened in the rest of the galaxy rather easy.

She looked back to the readout while ducking through the tent's flaps, following him inside.

"But I mean, it's not like I had much choice. 'Which House is this, Tak'. 'When did the Great Migration happen, and which planets did each House go to, Tak'. 'How many died in the Battle of Jaska'har Point, Tak'. 'Why did the Houses leave Schwartzweld, Tak'."

She could've gone on, but chose to end there. The flimsi was tossed impatiently on the table that stood more or less in the center of the main living area. It landed atop a smattering of datapads and other printed out reports.

"It never stopped."

[Zem Vymes]

She had a point there. He'd been dragged through Loklorien's epic bookworming benders before on many occasions.

"Right, namanas not falling far from the bush, got it."

This moody awkward thing that used to be a smiling, bubbly little girl. Zem shook his head, heading towards the chiller unit at the side of the tent's common area. He procured a carton of reconstituted blue milk, pouring two glasses up. Sitting on his desk, he passed the other to his adopted daughter.

"Alright. You hate math, you're annoyed by history. How about something you like, now?"

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

That one stumped her for a moment, and taking the glass of milk, she gave it a sniff. It smelled strange; not exactly fresh, but not bad either. Course, there was a lot of stuff like that here on Ossus. Unless the daily meal was being made with the fresh ingredients from the gardens, the food always tasted just a slight bit off. Not quite sure she wanted to brave the milk, Teagan slowly set her glass on the desk.

"I dunno. I like to go on runs."

Which, of course, meant something completely different than what most people would consider a run to be.

Though, admittedly she'd not gone out in a while. Her encounter with the Y'sanna had put her in bed for a good three days, and she'd skipped every single one of her classes as her body mended the injuries she'd taken. Just the memory of it made her look away in slight embarrassment. She'd gotten a stern enough talking-to about that one.

"I like going places, I guess."

This question of what she did like was proving more difficult that she'd expected.

[Zem Vymes]

"Alright..."

He was expecting something a little more scholarly-minded. Zem sipped at his blue milk as he studied her tortured grappling of the question.

"Young Lady, there's nothing wrong in seeing the galaxy. I've been a bit of everywhere and won't see half of it in a lifetime. But there's a saying. It's the journey and not the destination. You want to travel, but what do you want to do?"

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

At that, she gave a defeated sigh.

"I don't know."

Of course there was the obvious staring at her in the face, but she'd still shied away from opening up that subject yet again. It just didn't seem right; not at this point in time, at least. Though she was fast running out of stalling tactics. She'd have to start coming up with more before too long.

She gave him a strange look then, her voice taking on a tone of self-deprecation.

"I guess it'd be stupid to ask you what you wanted to do when you were my age."

[Zem Vymes]

"Well, you can ask."

He said with a deprecating smile. They knew his cloistered youth was fairly singularly vocational. Still, she wanted a bit more than the usual, and Zem obliged.

"I had a knack for flying. I guess if things were different I'd be about as happy as I could be racing on some course out there."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She considered this, then recalled a few of the stories her mother used to tell her.

"I remember my mom saying that."

A bit of a smirk as the mention of her mother only served to remind her of the small message datachip that she'd stuffed into her pocket. Teagan rose to her feet, one hand going to retrieve it. With a smile, she pulled the chip out, handing it to him as she finished her thought.

"She said that you were a 'reckless idiot' whenever you flew."

[Zem Vymes]

A flippant expression grew on his features, and Zem rolled his eyes.

"Your mother got space sick in shuttles."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Teagan had to agree with the look on his face, not to mention the words he spoke.

"She gets space sickness just thinking about space," came the correction (a bit of an exaggeration, but still), and the girl handed over the chip.

"Which is kinda dumb since that's where she works."

With a final gesture for him to play the message, she went on.

"She sent this in the last mail shipment."

All of it was the normal fare, except for one small, very important bit. It was that part that she wanted him to see.

[Zem Vymes]

"She's still damnably old-fashioned, I see."

No direct HoloNet. Loklorien always preferred the courier method when it suited her. Zem walked back to his desk, plugging the chip into the reader to await the message.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She watched as the message flared to life, the reader projecting a sudden flash of blue light that coalesced into the small, projected upper body of her mother. She'd already keyed the message to start at the point that'd gotten her attention and caused wheels to turn in her head.

"-not the best of situations, but that is how things go."

There was the slightest of pauses before her mother's face settled into a smile. "Please be sure to tell Master Vymes that I look forward to seeing him in two week's time."

Another moment longer, as the face of Loklorien s'Ilancy dipped, her eyes closing. She opened her mouth to speak once more, but Teagan reached over, across his desk to pause the message.

"Two weeks."

The excitement was plain to see.

"She's stopping by for a supply drop or whatever it is she called it." A lot of the 'official reasons' that her mother spoke of didn't really matter. What did matter though, was the fact that the elder Lupine was going to be visiting.

[Zem Vymes]

"That's great!"

Zem smiled freely, knowing that a chance to see Lok would do him as much good as it would Teagan.

"I'll make sure to clear as much training schedule as I can to make sure we can make the most of her time here."

He sensed there was more coming from the youngster, and he hung on for whatever she wanted to add.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

But, the expression that met his had quite unexpectedly melted into a look of intense scrutiny. Where there had once been excitement now only dwelled a studious... glare?

Her hands came together, still resting atop the surface of his desk. This news of her mother's visit had gotten her thinking, and while she knew that things around here never changed overnight, they were constantly working toward some sort of conclusion. And it was one of those said conclusions that had been one of the main reasons for her visit today. Lesson grades aside, to her, this matter was so much more important.

She pursed her lips.

"You should also probably- "

There was a sudden halt as she rethought the beginning of what she wanted to say. Her eyes grew earnest.

"... You have to- "

Still, it seemed so brutal and jarring of a thing to say. Finally, the young Lupine decided to go the questioning route.

"Are you gonna stay here forever? I mean, in this... this tent."

Cause no matter how you looked at it, a tent was a tent was a tent. Was a tent.

[Zem Vymes]

And here he was again, trying to parse the tortured language of teenagers. Zem sat back down.

"You don't like the tent."

He wasn't sure if it was a question or an observation. Curious for himself, he looked around. It looked rather homey to him. And looking back to Teagan, he saw she was serious.