Before - Legends You Can Run But You Can't Hide (New little postie 01/07/05)

You Can Run But You Can't Hide
A story of friendship, healing, and Corellian fast food

Foreword:
There's always room for improvement, and there were parts of this already-posted story that I felt needed some attention. Some of the characterisation was off. It didn't always feel very consistant in flavour, and nor did it always feel very in keeping with the whole atmosphere of the Old Republic Jedi Order. There were some details that needed adjusting to stay in canon with canon characters (not that it isn't slightly AU, but at least it's not now blatently AU). Finally, some parts just plain weren't good enough!

The story does brush upon the world of the Jemmiah Chronicals, a growing collection of interlinked stories and background created by several authors on the boards here, but started by Jemmiah herself. Some of the colour of this story stemmed from that background, and some of the original characters were not of my own creation but were used with permission. Evla, Jemmiah, Sal-Fina, Ambianca and Junine belong to Jemmiah. An-Paj belongs to Jane Jinn. Mother Yyr belongs to Kithera Rinani (Kit'). If there's one I've missed, please accept my apologies!

Thus, without further ado, here it is: YCRBYCH, The Repost, part 1!

******

Chapter One

In the Coruscant summertime, the gardens of the Jedi Temple verged upon the spectacular. They did not have the ostentatious splendour of the Republic Foundation gardens, of course. Display purely for the sake of inspiring awe and demonstrating wealth was not the Jedi way. The Temple gardens, instead, had the lush enthusiasm of a well-tended sanctuary of interplanetary botanical harmony. It had neat, symmetrical walkways of shady trees, and elegant sweeps of brick pathways bordered by fragrant foliage and elegant, subdued flowers. It was provided with running streams and tiny, chuckling waterfalls that clattered over cobblestone beds beside delicate ferns bedewed by spray. It broke away from order into close-cropped greensward, dotted with naturalistic clusters of bowed trees, billowing shrubs, and rustling grasses with fronds that towered over the tallest of Knights.

Sal-Fina Falmar was an exotic blossom among the restrained beauty of the gardens. The shapely female Jedi Knight walked between the fragrant mair-nam bushes at a leisurely pace. She paused and leaned down to savour the scents more closely, taking care to remain in sight of the two male knights who had been admiring her from afar for the last ten minutes. The Order discouraged its members from forming attachments that could lead to distraction and emotional decisions, but that did not mean the Jedi were without fundamental biological impulses. Sal-Fina glanced at the men from beneath her long lashes as she straightened, and smiled to herself. She had not lost her touch. If their tongues hung out any further they would need to be scraped off the ground.

She was debating her next move when something struck her on the top of her head. Her ladylike gasp was from surprise rather than pain. Her hands shot up to the point of impact, and encountered a wet, sticky, squishy mess. She exclaimed again as she dragged her fingers through the sticky mess of her formerly pristine golden-blond locks. "My HAIR!" Her hands came down again bearing two long, soft, rubbery items that she normally associated with certain bedroom activities.

As Sal-Fina looked wildly about for the source of this outrage, she saw a small dark cloud. A small, flying dark cloud that swayed and split as it swerved between the bushes towards her. A cloud that buzzed eagerly as it closed on the enticingly sweet odour around the Jedi Knight's head. Sal-Fina's scream for assistance was less than ladylike this time as the swarm poured towards her, abruptly cut off as she realised the wisdom of closing her mouth. Her manicured hands clutched at her ruined hair as she sprinted out of the garden away from the swarm of pursuing flies, without sparing a moment to feel thankful that she had paid attention to her training

 

Hurray, you posted it here. I love the dynamics of the two. You can see from the first moments how much they will affect the other - balance in all things.

Great job.

 

I like reading this again!

 

LMAO! Oh, this is good. One of my first steps into the great big Jemmiah Chronicles Ocean. I like the knight.

edit: And that knight would be Barin. I was totally blanking on his name.

Of course, I wasn't blanking on what he looks like. Spike!

 

Wheee heee! I love this. I love the Knight too, Jade. You'll absolutely adore him.

Yea!!!!!

KD

 

Yay! You've started the repost. A great chance to see how it all began for Barin and Thom, one of the most entertaining and dynamic padawan/master combinations in fanfic! Thank you for giving us the oportunity to see T&B again!

 

I'm a newbie, so all of this stuff is brand new to me! Looks great so far. I hope you will update soon.

 

She's back!!! And I too love this one.

 

Wheeee

*Kitara does happy dance*

 

Here we are again! Thanks for reading, everyone.
While I remember, Master Quillan (mentioned in the last post) belongs to Calamity_Jinn (I think), and Brinkley Hamin, in this post, belongs to Mouse2. The advantage of reposting, even with rewriting, is that it's rather faster than writing from scratch. Hopefully I'll be posting nice and regularly.

******

Master Fel regarded Thom with resigned irritation. "Thom Capella. Again."

"I do not know why it should be that so many of those with a high midichlorian count should also be inveterate practical jokers," commented the knight.

"Everyone else is getting very fed up with the whole thing," said Fel, heavily "So what punishment is it this time?" he asked Thom, although the initiate didn't think the Initiate Master actually wanted an answer. "What will stop you trying something else?"

"One would think that a young man of such ingenuity could find something more constructive to do with his time," remarked the knight, dryly.

"I was being constructive!" Thom protested.

Fel frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but the knight was quicker. "How so?"

"I was giving people practice in being alert. C'mon, any Jedi Master worth the title oughtn't to be caught out by a stupid trick like that."

Fel drew himself up sternly. "The gardens are a place of peace and meditation, and are not to be disturbed with childish pranks." Thom accepted the admonishment with a contrite expression and inner glee. He had spotted the knight trying to hide a grin.

Thom's pleasure at his success faded as the knight caught his eye and the man's expression grew chilly once more. "May I leave this matter with you now, Master Fel?" the knight asked, formally.

"Oh yes," Fel replied, and Thom's near-perpetual cheerfulness wavered a little when he saw the Master's grim disapproval. Thom knew he would be cleaning floors for a week. Again.

The knight strode away quickly, without further remark or backwards glance, almost as if he were fleeing the kabbas flies after all. Thom's sharp ears overheard his departing comment. It must have been a trick of the acoustics, for certainly that guarded young knight would never have meant the words to be overheard.

?Oh damn... Just the sort of thought I can do without... The Council would never allow it... Besides, he would say no...?

As he awaited the pronouncement of his punishment, Thom couldn't help wondering, with the oddest whisper of hope, just what that young knight was thinking.

******

"Master Fel?" Thom asked, leaning on his mop.

"Clean the floor, Thom," responded Fel, already heading back towards the dormitories.

"Master Fel?" asked Thom again, this time mopping industriously at the Initiates' Common-room floor.

"Keep your mind on what you're doing," warned the Master. "I want the floor finished by the time I get back."

"But Master Fel!" The Master ignored him. Thom sighed through his teeth and gave the floor an extra hard rub of frustration as the Master walked out of the room. He'd only wanted to ask the name of the Jedi who had caught him throwing syrup-bombs. Now he'd have to think of some other way to find it out.

******

"Take your places and log on to your terminals," instructed Nebbia-Sao, the computer-studies teacher. "And Thom- I'm watching you. No pulling out the power lead on anyone's terminal this time."

Thom sniggered and slid into his seat. It had taken Ambianca a good ten minutes to discover why her computer wouldn't work during the last lesson. She'd deserved it though, he'd thought, for picking on the smaller kids just because she'd had to stay in a class with the Initiates. Thom might have felt sorry for her, as she was the only padawan and obviously felt out of place, but Ambianca had turned up her nose when he'd tried to be friendly. She'd even refused one of his glow-in-the-dark jelly worms. There was just no helping some people.

"We will be looking at basic databases this week," said Sao. ?Select 'Elementary Databases Lesson One' from the options o

 

This is wonderful! Can't wait for more!

 

?Oh damn... Just the sort of thought I can do without... The Council would never allow it... Besides, he would say no...?

Poor Thom, always getting busted. Reminds me of me.

 

I'm so glad you're posting this again HaiGan. It's always been one of my favourite stories and it's even better than before with your re-write (lovely touches and phrases inserted).

More please!

 

An extra-long one, because I couldn't find a convenient break point. Quirida-Xac Montal belongs to Jemmiah, I think.

******

"What's up, Thom?" Chersh looped his arm through that of his friend, and hauled Dan-Lo along on his other side. "You've been kind of quiet."

"It's the floor mopping," said Dan-Lo. "It's dissolved his brains."

Thom ignored the remark. "Is there a Temple database?" he asked.

"You what? Thom, don't go all studious on us, please," begged Dan-Lo.

"Hey, don't put him off too much," protested Chersh, "He's still gotta write my Applied Philosophy essay for me!"

"Good point," conceded Dan-Lo. "He was going to help me with my algebra, too." Both of them looked at Thom, who would usually have come back with a smart retort. Thom said nothing. He was staring thoughtfully down the corridor.

"Thom, buddy, speak to me?" said Chersh, waving a hand in front of Thom's face.

"Hey," said Thom suddenly, turning his attention onto his two somewhat concerned friends. "You don't know the name of that knight that caught us in the gardens, do you?"

Chersh and Dan-Lo looked at one another, then back at Thom.

"Thom, you can be really weird sometimes," said Chersh.

"I guess that's a no," said Thom. "So how about a database, then?"

"Dunno," said Chersh, with a shrug.

"If I tell you," Dan-Lo said slowly, "Can we have Thom back please? Only we haven't seen him for a couple of days and it's getting kind of lonely without him."

Thom blinked, almost as if he was waking from a doze. He gave a sheepish grin. "Can't think of any new ways of getting into trouble without me, huh?"

The other two initiates brightened.

"Sure we can," said Chersh, pretending to be offended.

"Only your ideas are the best fun," added Dan-Lo.

"Okay," said Thom, leaning towards his friends and lowering his voice. "I've got three padawans that need some really good jokes playing on them, and one of them thinks he's so big and needs squashing. But first- how'd you fancy hacking into that Temple database you were gonna tell me about?"

******

Thom propped his elbows on the edge of the holoterminal and rested his chin in his hands, staring fixedly at the screen as if an answer would magically spring into existence. Dan-Lo sprawled over his shoulder to watch. Chersh had given up on the pair, and was busy trying to find out if the electrical panel under the console could be unscrewed with the aid of his belt buckle.

"Funny sort of hacking," Dan-Lo muttered.

"Okay, so I lied," admitted Thom. "I just want a name." He grinned sideways at his friend. "Once I got that, we can try for hacking." Dan-Lo cheered up. Thom's brow creased a little. "Do you know how?"

"How what?" asked Dan-Lo.

"How to hack?"

"No. I thought you did!"

"Nope. I skipped most of the Computing classes right after I figured out how to upload games off ShadowNet. I only came back 'cos Sao told Master Fel."

"Oh great. So what's the point of sitting here staring at the terminal?"

"I've written a query that has called up all the records matching the parameters I set," Thom said, unconsciously slipping into the vocabulary he'd picked up from his database studies earlier, "but the public-access database doesn't list much personal data about individual Jedi. So even though I guessed roughly how old he is and when he passed the Trials..."

"Guess when who passed the trials?" asked Chersh suspiciously, from somewhere near the floor.

"Just someone," answered Thom, embarrassed.

"Who?" demanded Chersh.

"Someone who told me to find his name out," Thom said defensively.

"Since when did you do what anyone told you?" scoffed Chersh.

"Since now," answered Thom, quietly. "It's important."

"Important?" Chersh sat back on his heels. "C'mon, Thom!"

Dan-Lo looked between the two. "Leave it, Chersh. So Thom thinks it's important. He's done enough stuff for you before. Give him a break."

Chersh shrugged, and went back to dismantling the base of the console.

 

Ah, I remember this scene well. It was one of my favorites. Thom is such a great character and you've written him so vividly. I can just imagine the Masters are livid with him being so much of a clown in class.

Lovely.

Oh, how old is Thom in this story?

 

HAHA, I love how Thom grabs Ambianca's lightsaber. Classic. Bet she's not going to be happy when she finds out it's gone.

 

Your description of Thom's antics are always fun.

Are you going to drop in a link that that great "jedi Scary" artwork????

 

The entertainment ended abruptly as Master Fel's hand descended on the scruff of Thom's neck. "Capella. Again."

I could so picture that! I always loved that bit where Thom does the great lightsabre switch! He's such an individual in amongst a great Jedi sea: poor boy sticks out like a sore thumb! Still, it is one way to get attention - and you never know who is going to be nearby to notice you when you need it!

 

I love this story.

It's the best kind of distraction when I'm trying to procrastinate on an assignment

Kithera

 

Thom's very nearly fearless, isn't he?

 

I like everyone else love this story. I hadn't realized how much I had missed Thom's antics until now! Poor Barin. He had no idea what's in store for him.

 

Thank you!

Very nearly fearless, Lilith? Well... take his love of making people laugh and his bad habit of speaking/acting before thinking, and you probably get the same effect- by the time it occurs to him that he should feel nervous about what he's up to, it's too late to worry about it!

I might get around to posting pics at some point, PadawanKitara. Got to get round to posting first- there'll be a little delay while I get ready for the weekend and then disappear for the weekend, so maybe one post between now and monday, and another on monday.