Hoth: Blood and Ice

The Cantina was a thrumming hive of life at this time of the evening. Even with everything they had been through the residents of Echo Base found a way to live. Several people were crowded around sn old arcade game smashhing the buttons. It seemed a fitting place for a friendly chat.

Given who he was it didn't take too much looming to get the best booth in the house. It was private enough that no-one could listen in, not that they'd dare. So he pulled up a chair, ordered a drink, and hoped his guest would arrive.

Strangely he felt nervous that she wouldn't. It wasn't a sensation he was used to.

Thy arrived, she was apprehensive about the meeting, but she could only put it off for so long and something felt different about the morrow. Now was the time, or it was as good aa time as any and she trusted in the Force. So, she arrived and said, “Hey.”

Simple short, not too formal.

The Colossal form rose, was he even bigger than she remembered, and he gestured to a comfy seat in the booth. For a change he had dispensed with the armour, not that it made him any less obvious.

"Hey Thy. Thanks for coming. I wasn't...doesn't matter. Drink?"

“Tea would be fine,” she said calmly.

“You look well, not sure we would have done well against Vaylin without you… well all of you, I just sort of was there. But, I am glad we came through just fine.”

Well, he wasn't expecting her to be down for bloodwine. "Tea it is." There was a brief pause as Joren ordered a pot of Echo base's best tea and a big glass of its only beer.

"Thanks. You're looking great too." He shrugged at the compliment. "It was a hell of a fight, but we had a good team, and I needed to be there. Someone, well, the force guided me I guess."

"Think the Force has guided all of us here, even Darth Baras, for some purpose. No offense, the man is formidable and rightly feared but he seems menacing even at the best of times."

She sighed and said, "I know you were at the Temple when it fell, I am not sure how many you... how many friends I lost, but I felt them."

She might as well address the wookiee in the room.

Yeah. That.

"I know. Probably quite a few." He sighed a little and lowered his voice. "Yeah. I helped to kill the Emperor. I helped to destroy the Jedi Temple." Their drinks arrived allowing a few moments of silence.

"I'd been dreaming about leading that attack since I was a kid. The actual attack, not the idea of it. That's not an excuse, and I'm not apologising. Just. It happened, the way I dreamed it would." He lifted his beer and took a sip.

"Will of the Force? I don't know Thy, but it's done. History."

"I'm glad it is easy to put behind you," she said more forcefully than she expected.

"No you aren't Thy. You're angry, but Jedi aren't supposed to be. I get it." He raised his hands.

"I am angry, Jedi get angry all the time," she admitted. "I simply channel it constructively, usually."

"Fair, and we're probably going to need that. It's been too quiet. Something's coming." He paused again to sip his beer.

"So you can tell what you really feel, or you can hold on to it and use it constructively when you need to. I'm not judging." Force knew he didn't get to do that, not with all the choices he'd made.

"I am mostly angry at you, at the moment," she admitted. "But I also know that they are not dead and simply one with the force, but it still hurts."

He nodded and then spoke softly. "You're right Thy. Some of them in ways I did not expect. That's how I knew I would be needed here."

It was weird, but he didn't feel uncomfortable about being 'haunted' any more. The beer was cold, and she hadn't thrown scolding hot tea in his face...yet.

"Explain," she said as she sipped her tea and gathered her thoughts.

"I've been seeing things. Hmm, that's not quite right." He sipped his brew. "I've been visited by a presence I guess."

Oh boy, here we go.

"Resmi Thun. She's been talking to me. Ever since I decided to join the mission to Hoth."

"I am not surprised," she said while sipping her tea. "She would be hard pressed not to be somewhere she felt she could not do some good."

He spent a time thinking about that. The sounds of the Cantina created a sort of white noise, a buzz of life and excitement. Something released a little.

"Yeah. Well she got me thinking about...a lot of things. Do you think the cycle can be broken Thy?"

"Maybe?" she said.

"I am not sure, history seems to say no, we repeat the same mistakes, but that seems pessimistic."

Another sip of beer. He pushed it around in his mouth for a moment.

"Maybe when all of this is over..." A vague gesture seemed to encompass the base and the Zakuul Empire as an inconvenience. "...we give it a go?"

"Is that what passes for romance in the Sith Empire? It's been a long time, I am not.. you think it can be just that easy?" she asked.

"I just, I am not going to the Sith, you're not going to the Jedi. That seems to leave little options."

He smiled at her response, holding in a laugh but snorting a little. "Thy, I talk about breaking the cycle and you go straight there. Who are you trying to convince?"

A hand was raised to deflect any protest. "If we keep thinking in terms of Jedi and Sith, joining and leaving, then you're right. I'm pessimistic. So all I'm saying is, let's keep talking. Thinking. See what we come up with." He shrugged. "Maybe our kids will figure it out one day."

"Kids?" she said shaking your head.

"I am still mad at you." She frowned and then sighed and said, "I feel like being happy betrays those that have been lost."

"Yeah. I've got two girls now Thy. I hope one day they can meet their brother." He noted her change in demeanor and nodded in understanding.

"I hear you." Was the force ghost watching? Maybe. "Still. Have you ever wondered if those we've lost would prefer for us to be happy? I don't know the answer, but being haunted sure makes me think about stuff like that."

"I know the Grand Master made hard choices but she wanted us to be happy, to know peace," she admitted. "Look, maybe... we can find some peace after all this fighting."

Life sure was complicated. Jo'ren nodded. "If we get through everything that's to come, well, let's see if peace really is a lie." A little grin followed.

"There are places I still want to see. Adventures to be had. Think about it anyway."