"Record." Riani Starchylde says to a specially made Holocron. " I have been searching my soul in reflection of who I am lately. Having found out I am with child is more than likely then reason for it. I have always reflected on my nature periodically as every Jedi should, but now more than ever it has become important to me. My child deserves to know who I am in totality if I should perish before he or she is old enough to understand." she pauses biting her lower lip as she always does when she is deep in thought.
" I was born on Dantooine to LaNak and KoTar of the Mokk tribe of the native Dantari people. More specifically to the Askani clan. Though I wonder why I do not resemble either of my 'True' parents as the Dantari are a primal race in stature and culture. They have not progressed past simple tools and weapons made of natural materials. Physically imposing but intellectually stunted by the standards of the rest of the Galaxy."
" My birth father was the Shaman of my clan; leading me to believe that my own affinity to use The Force is partly my legacy from him." She pauses again letting out a heavy sigh as she shakes her head. " My father despised me as I was, by Dantari standards, a sickly child. My people are a brawny muscular race; both sexes equal in stature. The only differences are those that determine gender. Later after much deliberation it was found that I was to be the first of many. The next step in the Dantari evolutionary cycle. Like I stated previously my peoples mentality was primitive."
Riani's facial expression turns grim. " My mother paid the ultimate price for loving me despite the clans prejudice." Riani eyes narrow in a seldom displayed mix of resentment and anger." My father led some men in chasing my mother away from where the clan had set up camp. She defied my fathers command to cast me into a pit to die at a place called the Fallen Mountain. Eventually they caught up to my mother and began to beat her." the tears begin to form in her blue eyes as her facial expression turns mournful as she continues to speak. " My mother curled over me endure a savage beating with rocks, clubs, and spears to protect me. The only thing that saved me that day was the accidental arrival of Halcyon Starchylde. Seeing the brutality of the Mob he fired several volleys of blaster fire from his blaster rifle. The mob having witnessed the devastation of blaster fire many years earlier during the occupation of Dantooine by the Empire fled."
Riani faces away from the Holocron wiping the tears from her eyes. " Four years later Hal told me my mothers final words were. 'Protect Riani for she is a treasure from the stars.' He had memorized what she said and later translated it." She walks out to the terrace and looks up to the sky. " My birth mother embodied one of the oldest JedI saying that day in her own way. ' A mothers life is sacrifice.' For that I honor her and will try to live up to her example."
She sighs heavily as she faces the Holocron again." My Foster parents raised me with love, as if I was their own. Both of them were highly intelligent and caring. I was blessed by the Will of the Force to have them. Through them I learned more in four and a half years then most other children throughout the galaxy learn in ten years."
" My Foster mother, Marissa, was a Republic backed Archeologist. She had come to Dantooine with her husband, Halcyon, who was a master linguist and sociologist to study the Jedi temple. Hal had hear rumors about the Dantari and decided to looks for them so he could study their culture. It is from his journal that I know so much about my heritage." Riani says with a small smile.
Brushing her blonde hair out of her face as she looks up at the ceiling; she sighs heavily. " As I look back my early life was full of loss. Having lost my birth mother before I was three months old then losing the Starchylde's at five years old." She looks down and shakes her head trying hard not to cry again." There was this group of mercenaries called the Sons of Malak; who thought they were decended from the personal guard of the ancient Sith Lord. They had come erroneously thinking that My parents had some rare Jedi artifacts. They had planned to take them to finance their next big plan to overthrow some systems government."
"Hal put up a good fight but he was outclassed by the military training of the mercenaries. My last memory of Hal was seeing him stabbed through his stomach with a vibroblade as Marissa ran towards the house carrying me as we were chased by two mercs." Try as she might Raini's blue eyes stream with tears.
Trying to gather herself she breathes deeply. " I can vaguely remember shouting and the activation of lightsabers as Marissa fought in vain against the two mercs trying to get in the barricaded door. I watched in a mixed stae of awe and fear as they smashed through and Marissa armed only with a frying pan fought to two mercenaries." She pauses as she wipes away tears from her eyes in vain. " Marissa went down fighting having suffered a number of fatal wounds, but not before she knocked one of the mercs out cold. The remaining mercenaries shot her with his blaster through the heart."
Riani's brow furrows as she continues."He turned toward me with the blaster when I screamed. I remember feeling something flow through me as I threw my arms out forward to sheild myself from the sight of him firing at me. The merc flew back towards the doorway as if he was hit square in the chest by a maddened Kath hound. He stopped in the doorway as a green lightsaberblade appeared to sprout from his chest." Riani cradles herself in her arms with a small but forlorn smile. " That was how I first met Davva Vanstra, Jedi Master of the Jedi Order, who would take me away and show me a better life."
? She brushes her blonde hair away from her face and behind her left ear. A forlorn look appears her face. "Those were some rough times for me. For almost five years after that day I would wake up screaming from nightmares. Davva would always be there to hold me until I calmed down and fell back to sleep. I found out later it was unusual for Masters to take Padawans who were so young. Davva had requested to take me as his Padawan learner with some resistance from the High Council. To the point he even stepped down from the Council. I often asked why he did that and the only reply I ever got was the cryptic 'It was the Will of the Living Force.' She starts to absentmindedly pace the floor. "Even now I'm just starting to piece together the puzzle of his actions. He was forever being cryptic with his answers. It was his way to force me to look at everything more closely and come to my own understanding."
"Davva was an attentive Master, always finding a way to explain the Force to me. He often quoted other Master both past and present then asked me questions that eventually brought me to
a full understanding. He never shied away from holding anything back from me. Through his instruction I learned more about the ways of the Force and history of the Jed the most of the more experienced Knights at the time." She smirks as she sits on her small lounger." By the time I was twelve I had learned and master at least a dozen languages. Learned all of the required history of the Jedi, all of the core Force powers, a least half of the Knight level powers, and all but one of the lightsaber forms with a single lightsaber." Riani reaches out her hand and levitates her lightsabers to her hand from her workbench. She looks down at them with reverence.
"These are probably the single most thing that anyone who knows me will say that defines me. The lightsaber is the signature weapon of a Jedi. A elegant weapon demanding as much respect from the wielder as from one opponent. Davva taught me to be the best; teaching me everything I know about lightsabers. I am considered a Blade Mistress in the Jedi Order. I know every lightsaber form but one; Vapaad. I am one of very few masters of Jar'Kai, the lightsaber form allowing the user to use two lightsabers in combat. Traditionally the form requires one lightsaber to be shorter than the other but since I am naturally ambidexteritous I can use two lightsabers of equal length."
Riani stands up and activates both her lightsabers. The familiar snaphiss sound of her twin Viridian blades coming to life echos in harmony. She begins twirling her blades is a simple basic velocity, which is what a lightsaber form being practice is called, as she begins to speak again. " I was second only to Davva himself when I became a Jedi Knight after passing my trials. I am considered one of the best swordmen in the known galaxy. Though I do not think that is entirely true becuase thier are a few sentient beings I haven't tested my skills against. Of all the things Davva has taught me the lightsaber is what I consider a cherished legacy." Riani stops the velocity suddenly with both energy blades mere inches from her face before she shuts them down.
" Davva had trained me well. Some say too well. He took great pride in my studiousness. He also took pride that I overcame many of the challenges that were laid before me, both personal and those in missions we undertook, better than a lot of the older more experience Jedi Knights at the time. Dava constantly tested me on my views of the Force in such a way that I felt like his equal even when I clearly was not." Riani smirks at the irony. "I was the best in my age group of Padawans. I even surpassed quite a few Padawans who were three to four years older than I was. Davva, however, never let me take the Jedi Trails until I was eighteen even though I knew he thought I could have. Saying that the more time I had in the Temple to learn and grow would make me a better Jedi Knight. He of course was right." She rolls her blue eyes.
" At eighteen I undertook my Trials. I shocked the Judges when taking my Lightsaber skills trial.I dueled Master Quinlan Vos to a stalemate only becuase I forced him to use the rare Vapaad form to offset my skill as we were too evenly matched at the time. I was proud of myself; At eighteen years old I would be the youngest Jedi Knight of my of an elite few in the Jedi Orders history."
Riani looks away from the holocron. Davva had left the Order before I completed my trials. The day I was knighted was a somber occasion. I had planned on giving him my padawan braid. If was a traditional way of thanking ones Master for their tutelage. I was surprised when I went to my room later that day to find a small box on my bed. He had left me a Holodisk with a message explaining the reason for his departure. He had felt that the Jedi Order had stagnated and was inundated with Jedi that had lost sight of the Will of the Living Force. He explained that he was going to search the Galaxy for a new direction in the Force." Riani sighs and looks mournfully down at the floor.
" I would have gone with him if had asked. He was my Master after all...." She pauses a moment. " ....Actually he was more than that to me. He was like my Father and my best friend. The only one I was completely comfortable with and the only one that I felt at the time truely understood me." She shakes her head as if to shake off some unseen torment. " He did however said he was proud of me and that I was the finest Apprentice he ever had the privilege to mentor. With the holodisk he left me two viridian sabercrystals of his own making; his parting gift to me. I would not see him again for three years."
Riani sits on the lounger again taking a deep cleansing breath before continuing. "After my knighting ceremony I threw myself into on mission after another. Trying to prove that the Jedi Order had not stagnated. I worked in numerous systems aided by my linguistic skills that had garnered my praise. Not that I sought praise, but none the less it furthered my ascension in the Jedi ranks." She runs both her hands though her long blonde hair. " I was doing all the right things. Being a positive role model to the younglings, A good mentor to other padawans waiting for Masters, I even trianed a padawan myself, and a peer to my fellow knights. Then I met Anakin."
" He was a tortured soul with a impish childlike smile that could melt your heart. We talked about the Force and shared our views. He was married to Padme'; so I kept my distance as much as I could. Not trying to cross any boundaries that would lead to a scandal for the sake of his marriage. He made it hard , however, by coming to me and baring his soul. Somehow I fell in love with him not meaning to but none the less he had captured my heart." She shakes her head. " I even confessed it to him to keep him from leaving the Jedi Temple when the Sith had a death warrant out for him during a particularly troubled time." she shakes her head again.
"You see Anakin had fallen to the Darkside of the Force only to return to the Light. The Sith had put a bounty on his head to capture him so the Sith could execute him for his betrayal. He had been trying to find some way to deal with them to save his fellow Jedi who were being attacked in a plan aimed to taunt him to facing them. I pleaded with him in the meditation gardens not to go. That we could find a way to overcome it. Without meaning to I blurted out that I loved him. It shook both of us. Evidently he had been harboring similar feelings for me as well." Riani sighs heavily as she massages her brow with her right hand.
" It definitely wasn't one of my proudest moments. It caused strife between him and his wife. It didn't actually help my goal of showing that the Jedi hadn't lost their direction. Padme' left him and a few weeks later divorced him. I tried not to be harsh with her; seeing as I started all the strife. She however kept showing up whenever Anakin and I were together." She smirks as she smacks her forehead." I should have known it wouldn't last. I was selfish to think otherwise. All Anakin and I shared were a few meaningful kisses and hopes that never came to fruition. I left on a short sabbatical on my homeworld after an argument about Padme'. I found out he went back to her and fell to the Darkside shortly after he did. I never found out anything more about him after I came back I threw myself into my duties."
A forelorn look falls upon Riani's face. " Shortly after I found out that Davva had disappeared. He had ceased all contact with the Jedi and me. I set about tracking him down; which led me to retrace his path after he left the Jedi. For months I would be shocked and amazed at were I found out where he had had crisscrossed the galaxy in search of obscure teachings of the Force. Shocking to me was a lot of the teachings were to be considered Darkside teachings. I initially feared he fell, but those fears were abated for a time when I found out he had spent a time with the Grey Jedi Order. " Riani laughs lightly. I even questioned the then Kage' Lilian Rand on some aspects of their ideology ; in hopes of figuring out Davva's motivations. For the next several months I would repeatedly go back the the Grey's temple only to find out that I just had missed him." She rakes her hand though her hair with a sigh. " The man was frustrating to say the least."