Frost Impressions

It was difficult to say if her true figure was more shrouded than usual, considering her typical attire consisted of enveloping folds of an elaborately woven robe. Thus the parka also concealed Charity within its furry bulk, along with the skirt. However, the mottled gray-brown leggings were visible below, granting a rare glimpse at the form of her long legs until they disappeared into her rugged boots. Her face was mostly hidden as she tread the frigid land with her Jedi compatriot, the fuzzy hood of her parka dissuading most of the filtered light that could betray her pale skin and blue eyes. Only a pair of purple, braided pigtails trailed out from underneath.

The trek from transport to cavern was peaceful if strenuous, the seemingly eternal blizzard blasting even under the protection of Charity's overcoat and across her brow as they hiked through the snow. It was wondrous in a way. But the chill and threat of freezing was not to be lost, even upon the most courageous of Jedi. The Knight kept in constant contact with her younger associate in care should either of them stumble or stray. But thankfully, the slow march was rather uneventful.

With a grace of finality, Knight Luckless released her grip upon Kaiza's shoulder and removed her hood upon stepping mere meters within the entrance to this icy lair, cheeks bleached lighter than even her normal complexion until they shifted to a reddish hue. She brushed the frost off the twirls of her hair and looked to her partner. So this was one of the legendary caves from which hundreds of generations of Jedi had extracted their prized crystals. She had never been here either. But hopefully this would not be the last time a pair of Jedi traversed Ilum's frozen globe.

"We should consider a way to celebrate, dear Kaiza," the tall woman whispered, adjusting her eyes to the darkness. "I believe we may be the first Jedi to set foot here in decades."

Charity smiled warmly, perhaps more warmly than she was known for in a subconscious effort to dispel the chill that lingered upon her skin. "Thank you," she replied, accepting the canteen with gratitude but no trace of eagerness. To say she was insensitive was folly, for she experienced the majority of emotions around her as if within her--even those emotions of other species that she could not comprehend. Thus it had become necessity for her to steal away internally and adopt a more stoic demeanor in physicality.

Taking a sip, the tall woman returned the canteen to its owner, hands folding around her Padawan's in a gesture of appreciation. There was not much to say; not much that she could think to say, anyway. But a spark of joy shone through her crystalline eyes in a rare glimpse of bare emotion from the Knight. Tepidly, she lowered her hands to her belt and retrieved the lantern that dangled from the hip opposite to her lightsaber hilt. Raising it to her eye level, she adjusted the dial until a cool, bluish-white glow effervesced from its inner cylinder and excited the crystalline walls of the small opening chamber to the frozen caverns below.

"Are we ready, Padawan?" Her face turned towards the dark recess that funneled into the narrower corridor, hopefully descending into the wonders they anticipated. "Patience is indeed a virtue, but no one ever arrived without first embarking on the journey."

Charity filed in just behind her Padawan, the confines of the frigid pathways too narrow for her to tread parallel to her pupil. In fact, the ceiling was often too low for her to proceed at her full stature, and she spent the majority of the descent with her shoulders hunched, braided tails swaying before her breast with each unsteady clop into the icy floor to apply as much friction as possible. Glittery sprites flitted about them as reflected from the soft light of her lantern, held near eye level in her right hand whilst her left braced her weight along the arches of solid water.

She had never before witnessed such terrifying beauty as when the Jedi pair emerged from the fantastical hallways and into the expansive chamber that she had previously considered only possible within the realms of her dreams and fairytales of old. Halting in her place, the tall woman finally extended back to her full height, chilled bones relieved to return to proper posture. Her eyes stared into the depths of the faintly lit cavern, her arm reaching a near vertical angle to spread her light as far as possible.

There was a long moment in which the Knight neither moved nor replied to her partner, lips barely trembling as she whispered a stanza from a poem she had memorized as a child, recalling kingdoms and worlds of wonder. The swirls and gradients to the ice surrounding them reminded her of an ocean frozen in time. In fact, that was not entirely inaccurate a description, as the extremely rare solar flare could radiate the water to melt and refreeze in a violent but fantastic manner.

"I do not know, dear Kaiza," Charity finally whispered, as if speaking any louder might shatter the glossy prisms and bring the liquid cave down on their fragile bodies. She cast a brief glance down at her saber's hilt as if expecting it might impart some advice. "My master was never able to bring me here..."

There was something off about the occurrence. Kaiza's head felt cold--like the serene but chilling winds that circulated the cavern. It was not real. Charity knew it was not real, and yet her senses did not believe. The scene was unnerving in the least; frightening if it sank in. The Jedi Knight struggled to maintain composure and maintain her faith in the reality of it. This was all an illusion. Yet her eyes saw what they saw. Her ears heard what they heard. And in that moment as the crimson blade descended upon her, Charity fell back to dodge just as the apparition dissipated into the shadows.

She was alone physically. Her Padawan had truly disappeared to her vision, and as she rose to stand, her lantern found no trace of her student, save a confused set of footprints--more than one pair. It was alarming, and yet the Knight calmed herself in concluding that there were no forces of weather to decay any marks set by beings who may have passed this way from tens to hundreds of years ago. There was nothing to fear. A Jedi does not fear.

But even though she presumed Kaiza safe, and knew herself to be alone physically, the wraith who had just visited her was evidence that she was not alone in every sense of the word. Something--perhaps even someone--was here with her. It was taunting her; testing her. Had she come here to train Kaiza, or had she been drawn here by fate to be humbled in her own right?

Was she being watched? Charity glanced once more at the extra set of tracks and shuddered, noting her heartbeat was racing even after her ghostly encounter. "Kaiza?" the tall woman called out, fiddling momentarily with her braids. There was no reply but the eternal yawn of the cavern's winds, and she knew there would be no other answer if she did not move forward.

Perhaps it was fear, but Charity justified it as caution as she took her lightsaber in hand while still clutching her lantern in the other. With careful strides, she ducked through the next passage, hunched forward and eyes wide to peer as far ahead into the shadows as she could.

Frequently she turned to look behind, wondering if she was being followed...

Glass-like shards crackled under the boots of the Jedi Knight the light emanating from her device waggled turbulently, the crescendo of her footfalls giving evidence to her increasing anxiety as insidious whispers prodded her onward. She was becoming more confident in her footing and unbound herself from caution for a moment in an attempt to escape the being that haunted her, accelerating to a running pace until she skidded across a section of black ice inelegantly. She tore into the frosty floor, carving a slippery trail behind her as her hip rammed the ground. Rising back to her feet, she brushed the sheared ice off her buttocks and resumed at once-again careful pace, though her heart and lungs pressed heavily against her chest as her wary eyes continued to watch for her belligerent demon.

...Black ice? Charity pondered. There was something about that that caused her worry. Things were already beginning to grow alarming about this mission.

As she strained for a view of something beyond these cramped walls, suddenly the beauty of this frozen, underground sanctum seemed to have faded away, and all that remained was the seeping darkness around her. It alarmed her in this moment that she knew not what she was doing--and even less so her missing student--about navigating these caverns and excavating the mythical crystals. "Kaiza!" Charity rasped into the depths. She avoided actual shouting, uneasy about causing too much a stir lest her voice awake an avalanche to trap them beneath the frozen oceans of Ilum forever.

Emerging from the tight serpentine tunnel into another vast chamber, the footprints she had been tracking suddenly faded away, and the tall Jedi brought herself to a halt in spite of her fear of the voice echoing behind her. Breathing in deeply, she attempted to calm herself and recalibrate her emotions as she felt panic creeping into her mind. Charity switched off her lantern and voluntarily plunged herself into infinite darkness, searching for any sign of light. A faint sparkle pierced the pitch black, and her hopes rose as she stepped boldly forward, forgetting all worries of the taunting voices. "Kaiza! What are--"

Down she fell, tumbling down the jagged edge of a shallow crevice and into a trickling fountain of running water. Within the chattering pool was the spark of a crystal, unleashed from its icy prison and loosed by the effects of one of nature's most powerful forces: water.

Water... She dared not reach for the glimmering stone, knowing if she pulled it out of the fountain that her hand would be frozen within seconds. And that was what bothered her. Water shouldn't be running down here. "Kaiza!" the Knight cried desperately, stumbling to her feet with her boots edging into the water as she made every effort to keep the rest of her body away from it. Charity coughed and felt her eyes steam and then dry up, turning back on her lantern to determine her futile situation. "Force have mercy on me!" she wept without tears. "I've lost her. I've lost us."

A distant rumble burrowed its way through the icy tunnels until it whispered into Charity's ears. The Jedi pursed her lips and nodded as if she knew the fate it condemned her to, her brain fizzling with panic but her soul seeking a serenity apart from her physical being. Despite this expression of self-control, She nearly wretched up her lungs with fear before she could attain a state of peace in her future with the Force. She had failed. She had failed her Padawan. It was a blight on her life and would mark her as she took in her final breaths, but her life would not be squelched from eternity. She had faith in a purpose beyond this fragile shell in this corrupted universe. Still weeping with grief, the young Jedi Knight stepped away from the waters so she could kneel in final meditation.

Only then did her studen't voice alight upon her ears, and for a moment she wondered if Kaiza had already passed and was calling from the dead to comfort her in her last hours. Then it called again, certainly louder and closer than before, and with the slightest hint of hope, the violet-haired woman glanced upwards to catch a shadow among the shadows above her. "Kaiza?" Her crystalline blue eyes lighted at the sound and her heart steadied its beat as it dawned on her that she was not actually meant to die here; she had not failed to the extent she believed; her Padawan was not dead. "Bless you, girl."

As she was caressed in the intangible clutches of the Force under Kaiza's gentle command, Charity looked back down upon the crystal in the water, temptation chattering vivaciously to her heart. Pick it up. Use the Force! This is what you came here for; what your master never was able to provide you! Slowly she extended her arm in the direction of the sparkling stone, wishing to pull it to herself though she knew the dangers of retrieving it. She so desperately wanted to claim it so she could return from her mission without empty hands. But it was pure greed, and she had stumbled enough today.

With saddened eyes, she resisted and left the crystal to remain in its icy bed at the bottom of a bubbling pool, the giggling water taunting her as she brought her arm back against her body. Her lightsaber still worked. Her master's crystal was perfectly good enough for her. If the Force willed, there would be another time. All that mattered now was their survival. Resignedly, Charity traced her index finger about the elegant etchings of her saber's hilt and closed her eyes as she was carried further upward.

A piece of Charity's heart sank as the crystal was swallowed within the dark, menacing surge of icy water just below her, knowing she truly had sealed her choice. There was no recovering the stone now. She was forced to accept it as lost forever, and that she still had much to learn and dispel of her personal materialism that begged to surface. It made her question her qualifications to guide the younger Kaiza if such temptations and conflict still welled within her spirit. Perhaps she should not have taken them here. Perhaps there was someone better to take the tender Mirialan as their responsibility.

Her boots crunched safely into the cold ground once more, and the Jedi Knight wasted no time in her movement. "Be careful. I am not sure it is safe to return the way we came. But we must try nonetheless." In truth, she was afraid to face the dark specter again, its voice still creeping into her thoughts even though she had not heard its demonic whispering since exiting the tunnel system. Unconvincingly, she turned to offer her Padawan a frosty smile through increasingly rigid, chapped lips. Onward

Unfortunately the journey back would not only be in anxious haste, but also uphill. Her boots clapped through a growing trickle of water as she swiftly led the way through the crystal alley, light swinging back and forth in a more turbulent fashion than even on her previous rush downwards, now aware of the meaning of the black ice she had slid across earlier. "Hurry, dear Kaiza," she implored. Every precious second could determine whether they would survive or be washed away to an icy grave, never to be uncovered until the end of time.

Her footsteps clapped and splashed water upon her calves, darkening portions of her gray leggings and transferring a more pronounced coldness to her legs. Her lungs--though quite big in proportion with her body--still heaved for air, assaulted by the moist chill and the pressure of the cavern air. Then she suddenly stopped in her tracks, bracing herself against both walls to keep from falling.

Before them lay the section of the trail that she had slipped upon. But now it was a steaming fissure; a bubbling spout of water propelled by superheated gases from unimaginable depths...

Charity's execution of the leap was a little more complex, her trajectory taking her towards one of the walls to amble along for a pair of steps before springing off and safely to the other side. The boiling heat escaping the opening vent was almost welcome. With her feet coming to rest alongside the Mirialan, the tall human paused only to throw her pigtails back behind her shoulders as they had become disarrayed in flight. As soon as that was remedied, they were off once more.

Fatigue began to take over within her body, breath labored and footfalls less frequent. But as far as she could sense, there was nothing to fear ahead of them provided they maintained a steady pace, though all traces of panic could--should--be released. Behind them rumbled the splitting of frozen earth; the crumbling of tunnel structure; the shattering of glasslike ice as it returned to a liquid state--but only to freeze into more wondrous shapes in a few hours. The important part was simply that they were no longer down there. They would survive another day, and her failure would be minuscule compared to the tragic possibilities she had presumed while shivering in the depths of the frozen gully.

Upon exiting the narrow artery and entering the familiar, dark chamber where she had been fooled by the dark spirit, Charity nervously held her lantern high and brought her other arm about the neck of her Padawan, grasping at her opposite shoulder and holding her close, literally to stay in touch with reality. She would not be conned again by whatever--or whoever--had tried to separate her from her faith and responsibility. It stirred several questions within her that she would need to ask her student on board the ship: Where had she gone, and what had she found?

"I'm proud of you, Kaiza," she breathed, hopefully giving her heart to move on and endure the final leg of their underground journey.