A Prospective Padawan

A Prospective Padawan
Date of Scene:	02 December 2023
Location:	Living Quarters - Jedi Temple - Coruscant
Synopsis:	Seraphina meets a potential padawan.
Cast of Characters:	Cayde Alexis, 213

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Cayde Alexis has posed:
    As the Council is aware that Seraphina has been searching for a padawan learner, on this particular day she will receive a knock on the door of her quarters.

    She'll immediately be able to discern the presence of Master Karina, a Twi'lek woman and Councilmember she knows well...and another presence, whom she does not know well...

Seraphina (213) has posed:
Seraphina Seraphina has spent most of the morning in meditation, something that is not unusual for her since her most recent return to the Jedi Temple. She is known to spend hours each day meditating on the nature of the force, in between a number of other activities that take up her time at the temple. Given her regular schedule, it would not have been dofficult for Master Karina to know where to find her. It's only a few seconds after the knock at the door that it will slide open, revealing the slender, somewhat tall figure of Seraphina Voss. Dressed as usual in her brown jedi robe, worn over a simple white tunic and a pair of wide legged pants, she glances from Master Karina to her young companion, and then offers a slight bow from the waist to her superior. "Master Karina. It's a pleasure," she greets in smooth, velvet tones, her voice and manner seeming to display neither surprise or curiosity at their arrival. "Please, won't you come in?" she offers, stepping aside from the door and inviting the pair inside.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    "Seraphina," Master Karina greets, and bows slightly in return."I trust your journey home went well." She smiles politely and enters once invited, ushering the young Jedi in with her.

    "This is Padawan Cayde Alexis," she begins motioning toward him. "His previous master has been...missing in the Unknown Regions for some time now. But he is eager to continue his training, and we thought you might be the one willing to assist him in that."

    Cayde bows politely toward her as well, and she can immediately sense that he is indeed eager to continue his training, and pleased to meet her. There is an awkward moment of silence though, and Master Karina glances at him expectantly before he finally signs to her. [Glad to meet you]

Seraphina (213) has posed:
Seraphina's quarters are about as spartan as one might expect. There are a few personal possessions here and there - a small jewellry box and a few personal keepsakes, as well as a neatly tended Alderaanian flame-lily in a small ceramic pot. All in all, it's no more than she could easily pack and take with her on short notice, if the situation demands. The furniture is simple, and provided by the order. In this case a bed, a low table and a couple of seats cater to her modest needs.

Following Karina and Cayde into the room once they enter, Seraphina listens quietly as Karina explains Cayde's situation. When the prospect of her taking him on as her padawan s raised, Seraphina's brows lift ever so slightly, and she turns her attention to the young man the master has brought to meet her. She studies him for a moment, and the beginnings of a smile begin to form, though it falters a little when Cayde begins to sign.

Seraphina is quiet for a moment, though she watches Cayde's hands closely, and then glances up to him, taking care to make eye contact before she speaks, explaining, "I'm afraid I do not know how to sign," she confesses, her expression almost rueful. "Can you hear, Cayde?" she asks gently then, speaking slowly and clearly in the hopes that if he can't, he can possibly read her lips.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    As soon as her smile begins to falter, and her expression even becomes somewhat rueful, Seraphina will immediately feel Cayde trying to reach into her mind and raise her spirits. He doesn't want her to feel bad. One could always learn, and he's sure she would learn quickly. And he can hear her just fine, too! He nods eagerly anyway, when she asks verbally.

    Master Karina smiles at them, nodding. "I have no doubt that you will learn quickly, Seraphina. You have always been a good student." She turns to leave. "I will leave you to acquaint yourselves with each other, then."

Seraphina (213) has posed:
Seraphina's smile reassets himself quickly when Cayde nods that he can hear and seems so eager about it. "Excellent," she responds, nodding at Cayde in confirmation, before turning to Master Karina as she turns to leave. "Thank you, Master Karina," she bids the other master farewell, offering another slight bow from the waist and then watching as the Twi'lek makes her way to the door and then exits.

Once they're alone, Seraphina turns her attention back to Cayde, taking a step back from the rather tall youth to get a good look at him. "Tall for your age..." she remarks with a warm smile, indicating the rather small hright difference between the pair. Giving a nod of satisfaction after a moment, she gestures towards the seats arranged around a low table off to one side of the room. "Why don't you sit?" she suggests, before moving to do so herself.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Cayde also bows politely toward Master Karina when she leaves. When Seraphina invites him to sit, he nods and moves over toward the table, sitting down once she has taken a seat herself. His gaze goes over to one of the few personal effects she keeps, namely, the flame lily.

    <Alderaan?>

    Ah--telepathic projection--she may or may not have experienced this type of communication before, but certainly has encountered it in her studies of the Force--particularly those concerning the Powers of the Mind.

Seraphina (213) has posed:
The seats are as low as the table, and arrange around it in a circular fashion so that a small-ish group could sit and talk relatively comfortable, though given the rather modest size of Seraphina's room, any more than three or four would be a serious squeeze. Folding her legs beneath her, she adopts an upright, straight backed posture and waits quietly for Cayde to make himself comfortable.

The telepathic projection is a little unexpected, but doesn't produce anything more than a flicker of reaction on Seraphina's face when the question comes through loud and clear. She glances over to the plant, which is green and thriving, and then back to the young padawan, offering a very slight dip of her chin in affirmation. "It is," she agrees. "An Alderaan Flame Lily. I enjoy growing plants, when I have the chance. And when I have to leave well, they make great gifts," she explains. Her tone of voice is warm, gentle and encouraging and her entire demfeanour as she rests on the seat across from Cayde is serene, easily detected in the telepathic feedback the young padawan will no doubt get from her.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    <It's pretty.> Cayde nods and looks back to her, and she may be able to sense that he's wondering if maybe she's from Alderaan or has been there before. He himself hasn't been many other places besides Coruscant ever since coming here when he was very small. Naturally, he's curious.

Seraphina (213) has posed:
"It is," she agrees, glancing back to the plant once more and then back to Cayde, observing him with quiet interest. Her intuition picks up upon the unasked questions, and she gives a slight shake of her head. "I've only been to Alderaan once - and briefly at that - but I fell in love with them while I was there," she explains, her hands folded in her lap as she speaks. As she does, she still remains careful to look directly at Cayde and speak slowly and clearly as she feels things out around the communication issue.

"I spent much of my time as a padawan away from Coruscant, in the Outer Rim with my master," she explains, before lifting a hand and gesturing towards him. "Tell me something about you, Cayde," she asks then, with a very slight, curious tip of her head to the left as she does. "How far have you progressed with your training so far?" she asks.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    When she mentions that she has been to Alderaan before, as well as the Outer Rim, his eyes light up with interest. <What is it like?> he asks.

    He pauses when she asks about him, unsure of what to tell her, exactly. <I have been here...Ilum...> True, he has been to Ilum for the kyber crystal ritual--but that's about it. That is, ever since arriving at the Temple. But at the same time, she'll sense he's wondering if there's anything specific she'd like to know.

Seraphina (213) has posed:
Seraphina laughs quietly when Cayde seems so curious to hear about her travels. "My master travelled heavily in the outer rim while he was training me, and I accompanied him. The outer rime is..." she pauses thoughtfully, before settling upon "...strange," as a descriptor. "Very unlike Corsucant, or Alderaan, or even Chandrila, where I was born," she explains. She doesn;t lingero n the point though, and falls quiet once more, listening to the boy as he recounts a little of his own history. "I see," she nods her head understandingly. "Yet, clearly you are interested to see more of the galaxy, it seems," she remarks in reference to his obvious enthusiasm. She pauses then, watching Cayde for a second, before asking "Tell me then, if I was able to speak to your former master, what would he tell me about you?"

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Cayde nods, listening to her story with interest, although when she keeps things mostly vague, she can tell he's still itching for more details. Yet he is willing to wait, if need be.

    At the mention of his former master, the boy's spirits sink a bit...he does miss Master Rykard, and wonders what may have become of him. He desperately hopes the old master is still alive, at least. He sighs. <He would say, difficult to understand>

Seraphina (213) has posed:
Seraphina listens quietly as she waits for the answer to her question, brown eyes remainingly calmly fixed upon Cayde as she seems to take note of every detail regarding this prospective apprentice. Her own expression becomes a little more seber when the topic turns to the latey disappearared MAster Rykard, and she offers a sympathetic nod of her head. "It's alright to feel a little sad about it," she offers reassuringly. Seraphina is no slouch herself when it comes to telepathy, but teenage boys can often be surprisingly easy to read even without it. When the answer does eventually come, it produces a slight laugh from Seraphina, who lifts a hand to cover her mouth as she does. "I've yet to meet a sentient that was not infinitely complex, in its own way," she remarks.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Cayde nods again, but then sighs. That was true, everyone was complicated in some way. But many, especially those who weren't well-attuned to the Force of the mind, had difficulty understanding him. However, he doesn't seem to know how to express that concept to her in words. She'd bear witness then to a series of memories involving his former master, an elderly Ikkrukki man, telling him that Force telepathy shouldn't be used on absolutely everyone; therefore, he needed to learn how to express himself with words.

    <...what about you?> he asks, wondering what her former master would have said about her.

Seraphina (213) has posed:
Seraphina watches Cayde with serene patience as the flood of images is revealed, only for her to break into a silvery, musical sort of laugh when the question is turned back aornf on her. "Well..." she muses, pursing her lips thoughtfully and glancing off in the direction of the Flame Lily, before answering "Right now, Master Zal'Korath would probably tell me that I need to have spent too long here in the temple, and that I need to get out in the galaxy again, which is part of the reason I had been considering taking a padawan." Seraphina explains. "He's a fine master, and a mentor to me still, in many ways. The Zabrak have a reputation for being aggressive, but from spending so many years with him, I think it is more that they are natural activists. He would have been like a caged beast, spending so long in one place," she admits.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Ah, her master had been a Zabrak...yes, they were a very resilient species.

    But now he is wondering if she would agree with that assessment. <Have you?> he asks. Does she want to go back out there? Or is she content to stay here for a while? Or...perhaps it's somewhere in the middle.

Seraphina (213) has posed:
Seraphina lifts a hand then, wobbling it from side to side. "I am learning as I get older..." she begins, possibly sounding a little strange given she can hardly be past her mid-twenties "...that we seem to go through stages. A year ago, I needed to put down my lightsaber and meditate on the nature of the force. Now, I suspect the time is coming to turn the page once again," she explains. "I feel I am at a crossroads in many ways, but more and more, the force has guided me towards becoming a teacher," she gestures toward Cayde. "Which is why I made the council aware I was interested in taking a padawan. So, much of my next chapter will be dictated by that,"

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    <Oh...did something happen?> Cayde asks, and she will sense him wondering if there was a story of some kind there.

    <Is there something else you want to ask?> She will be able to discern that he's beginning to feel a bit self-conscious, because he's been asking her all these questions about herself but hasn't really told her much about himself. That part had always been a bit of struggle for him. But he is very much hoping that he's had a good enough impression on her, and might even be searching her mind for her opinions about him already...

Seraphina (213) has posed:
"Not particuarly, no" Seraphina responds to his question, giving a slight shake of her head as she does. "But, I feel as though I am drawn towards different aspects of my studies as time goes on. I became known as a skilled lightsabre duellist at a young age, but as time went on, I realised I wanted to branch out more, and expand my knowledge of the force, which is what I have spent the last year or so doing here at the temple, studying and meditating," she explains. There is a flicker of a smile when Cayde eventually asks if she wants to know more about him. "A good deal," she admits before adding "...though, it seemed wise to let you sate your curiosity a little first," with a knowing smile to the boy. "So, further to my last answer - tell me, what areas of study have you spent the most time with, and where do you need to develop more?" she asks with a curious tilt of her head.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Cayde nods, listening to her intently. When she asks about him, she will receive a string of notions, impressions, and memories through the Force, although some of it is a bit jumbled and possibly difficult to comprehend...

    The Order had rescued him off of a slave ship in the Outer Rim when he was but 3 years old. It was presumed his parents had abandoned him, and he was brought here, to the Temple on Coruscant. He'd always been gifted in Force telepathy, but struggled with controlling it. And as she'd seen earlier in the memories with his previous master, expressing himself with words had also been a point of difficulty. Still, as she herself has already witnessed today, he'd made progress, over the past few years.

    If she looks further in, she might find a hidden, yet deep-seated fear of losing control and inflicting permanent damage on others.

Seraphina (213) has posed:
Seraphina listens carefully, not that she needs to listen, since Cayde doesn't say anything, but she does open herself up to the jumbled string of impressions and thoughts that come to her from the young man sat opposite. It's a lot to take in, and even when the stream of consciousness from the other comes to a halt, she seems to take several seconds to work through and process it all. "I understand," she nods, pausing briefly once more, before asking "...was Master Rykard skilled in telepathy? I am afraid I did not know him well," she confesses. It's a skill Seraphina is more than passingly familiar with, though she has so far given Cayde no real indication of it, apart from perhaps being surprisingly open to his method of communication.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    <Yes> Cayde replies, nodding. Although the thought of his old master brings up that melancholy air again, a wistfulness...wondering where the old Ikkrukki is and if he's still alive. The Unknown Regions were dangerous, to say the least. Even for the most skilled of Masters.

Seraphina (213) has posed:
"I have some skill with it too," explains Seraphina. "Its likely part of the reason Master KArina thought we might be a good fit," she explains. She notes the slight change in Cayde's demeanour as the talk turns back to the matter of his former master, and she uses this opportunity to demonstrate her own proficiency with the skill. She doesn;t project a thought or memory so much as a feeling of gentle reassurance that wraps itself around the young padawan like a warm blanket. It's done near effortlessly, andshe barely even breaks her train of thought to do it. "We can work on your communication, though. You are clearly skilled with telepathy, but a jedi must be able to communicate with all beings," Seraphina explains gently. She pauses a moment then, before broachong the subject of "Cayde, why is it that you don't speak?" with a slight drawing together of her brows as she does.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Seraphina's efforts prove quite fruitful, and Cayde smiles slightly, feeling a bit better about it. Master Rykard was probably just out there, doing the Order's work in places far from the Core Worlds. It was good, though...to expand the Order's influence into the darkest places in the galaxy. <Thank you>

    When she asks the question he knew was likely coming at some point, Cayde sighs a little, although he doesn't seem to be too discouraged by it. <I can't...I was born this way> he shrugs, as that is the extent of what he knows.

Seraphina (213) has posed:
"Sometimes we underestimate the remoteness of the unkown regions, because - for example - Ilum is in the unkown regions, and every padwan has been there at least once," Seraphina points out. "But, they are largely still extremely isolated and unexplored. Unless we hear of anything else, I have confidence in Master Rykard's abilities," Seraphina nods. As to thr matter of Cayde's voice, she listens, and then simply nods. "We are created in infinite variety, and all of them are beautoful, in their way," she states simply. "The force has not given you a voice, but it has given you other talents, and though you are conscious abut your communication, it is something we can work on," she states confidently. "This has been a good meeting, I am glad to have met you," Seraphina smiles. "I would like to see you with a practice saber though, before I make any final decision. How have your studies in that area progressed?" she asks, the matter clearly of partciular interest to her.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    It was true...the Force had a way of creating great diversity in the galaxy. And it was a good thing.

    Cayde nods when she asks about his saber training. <Good> he tells her. Certainly, he wasn't as gifted as some where with the weapon, but he'd performed reasonably well. He gets up, and she can tell he's eager to show her.

Seraphina (213) has posed:
"Excellent," Seraphina smiles, seeming pleased when Cayde hops to his feet and looks so eager to demonstrate his skills. "I'm afraid I will not have time for it today, as I have some other dutues to attend to. So, I recommend you put in some practice and make sure your skills are sharp. We shall meet up in the next day or two, and you can give me a demonstration," she suggests.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Cayde seems a bit disappointed when she mentions she doesn't have time today. But he nods anyway. He can...be patient. <Yes Master> Yes, already...although she'll be able to tell he's feeling a bit nervous. What if he isn't good enough?

Seraphina (213) has posed:
"Just think of it as time to practice and show me your skills at their very best," Seraphina suggests encouragingly, sensing the padawan's disappointment. "Enjoy the rest of your day, and I will contact you regarding our next meeting," she smiles, rising to her own feet then to show Cayde towards the door.