Kavaraa sat in the cargo hold twiddling her thumbs, it was pretty clear she was nervous about going home she certainly wasn't trying to hide it she'd never been good at hiding things. This wasn't the first time she had returned to Alderaan though and this time things should be calmer right, Kavaraa just hoped they wouldn't have to visit house Thul again. She had to admit she was a little curious about why this secret order chose Alderaan, she had assumed the other three trials were located where they were because they were remote locations. But Alderaan certainly didn't scream remote pretty much every part of the land was controlled by the houses of Alderaan or a Killik hive. Even when she was on Alderaan she had honestly felt like a bit of an outsider, togrutas certainly weren't common on Alderaan, she'd been told there were a few but most colonies had since moved away. Still it didn't fill her with confidence to be going back to the planet, she knew she had to keep going though finding this 'archive' could be invaluable to the galaxy.
She got up making her way to the cockpit where Theron was beginning to land the ship, she plopped down next to him silently just watching him.
Theron turned to her holding the back of his head "hey uh I well I don't want to intrude but are you ok? you've been a little quiet lately and with the whole Alderaan of it all" Kavaraa couldn't help but smile he didn't need to be nearly this nervous
Kavaraa nodded "yeah I'm ok I'm just not so fond of this place" she paused looking at the swirling green planet "I wasn't exactly high class here" Theron nodded Kavaraa imagined he felt the same about Tython it couldn't have been a good experience either
Theron started messing with a datapad "right well I've been looking into the state of the houses currently just in case we run into them and as it sta-" Kavaraa put a finger to his lips giving him a peck on the cheek
she smiled shuffling over onto his chair "I don't need to know Theron, it's just a quick trip" Kavaraa couldn't help but chuckle trust Theron to systematically find all the data on Alderaan politics before they arrived
Theron stammered as Kavaraa sat in his way "uh Kavaraa I uh need to land I can't see with you uh there" Kavaraa smiled leaning in for a longer kiss before shuffling out of his way
Theron tried to refocus as he landed the ship, Kavaraa looked around "but I thought you were a master pilot" she paused as Theron frowned at her "um where's Kormel by the way?" Theron stood up
"he was messing with the star map thing hopefully it should tell us where to go" Theron took her hand and led Kavaraa out of the ship
within a few minutes Kormel came rushing out clutching his notebook and the map "ok ok looks like we got lucky on this one, it's actually not too far from here just a little ways down south somewhere close to that huge cliff" he pointed towards what was aptly described as a huge cliff, it rose out of the ground towering over the rest of the fairly flat landscape. Kavaraa frowned the area they were in seemed vaguely familiar but she couldn't really place where from, maybe this was near one of Thuls old temporary settlements.
Kavaraa had to admit it was nice to see the planet again, as they began to walk she could see Thrantas dotted throughout the sky, the landscape scaling up to snowy peaks and beautiful grasslands. But then she started to see the things she was less fond of spotting a far away large settlement no doubt belonging to one of the inevitably warring houses, she wondered what the war was over this time maybe one of the Organa's insulted the Thuls stupid hats or something equally petty. Kavaraa put the thoughts to the back of her mind she shouldn't be so grumpy about it there was nothing she could do about it, even if she had tried. She focussed back on the task at hand realising she had fallen behind Theron and Kormel scurrying back up next to them.
Kavaraa caught her breath "uh how close are we? I got a little distracted" Kormel nodded fumbling with the map
Kormel pointed "so we're here and the beacon is over there by the ridge but it may also be inside it I'm unclear yet" Kavaraa wouldn't be surprised if it was in the cliff at least based on the evidence of the other three temples
Theron was peering at the cliff through macrobinoculars "so right by that settlement then?" Kavaraa frowned she hadn't noticed a settlement
Theron passed over the macrobinoculars to Kavaraa "wait what a settlement?" Kavaraa looked through the macrobinoculars to see a small seemingly abandoned ranch, complete with a barn, farmhouse and plenty of grazing space. "it's a Thantra ranch" she passed the macrobinoculars back over
Theron frowned "how did you get that it just looks like three buildings" Kavaraa chuckled Alderaan architecture probably did look a bit weird to an outsider
Theron continued to peer through the macrobinoculars as Kavaraa explained "it's not so hard and I'm from the area I know the building designs" Kormel began messing with a datapad
Theron put the macrobinoculars down "I thought you were a servant who didn't leave the palace often though" Kavaraa frowned that was actually a good point how did she know? she hadn't exactly been privy to the sights when moving locations.
Kavaraa narrowed her eyes "I dunno I guess I just know" Theron shrugged maybe that was something she'd learnt and just forgotten.
Kormel spoke up "well regardless Theron's right it looks like it's just outside the beacons range so lets stop discussing how we know things ok" Kavaraa was surprised Kormel wasn't usually that forward maybe their talk had done some real good.
They quickly made their way over to the ranch arriving at the broken gate entrance and stepped over the fence, Kavaraa was really hoping it was abandoned otherwise they were in big trouble. A little bit down the path Kavaraa spotted a sign seemingly knocked down onto the ground, she turned it over to read what it said. 'Bysh Ranch' Kavaraa's eyes widened like Avulo Bysh? the guy from holocrons? she gasped that actually made sense, he had said that he lived in a place with Thantras after all and it looked a bit like Alderann during the last vision.
Kavaraa guessed she'd found out why the temple was here "look look look guys this says Bysh Ranch" Kormel gasped clearly putting the same thing together
Kormel pointed at it excitedly "that's the guy from the holocrons, is this his ranch?" Kavaraa shrugged it could be but she wasn't gonna put stock in it yet
Kavaraa turned to Theron "Theron you did a background check on Avulo right?" Theron narrowed his eyes before nodding, Kavaraa smirked it was a fair judge.
he sighed "yeah almost immediately I couldn't help myself" Kavaraa couldn't help but laugh of course he did
Kavaraa smiled "it's ok Theron don't worry, what did you find" Theron grinned Kavaraa had learned that if they met anyone slightly suspicious Theron probably already had a file on them.
Theron shrugged "honestly not a whole lot after he left the jedi order" he paused looking around "certainly nothing on a ranch on Alderann, I think he was telling the whole truth" damn Kavaraa sulked she guessed the theory was still valid but a secret ranch was certainly a bit odd
Kavaraa sighed "I guess we should have a look around, Kormel you try and find out where the beacon is me and Theron will search the house" Kormel nodding heading towards the cliff
Kavaraa and Theron made their way into the farmhouse, it was dark and much of the walls had large cracks through them if this place was inhabited it hadn't been for at least a decade.
Kavaraa whispered to Theron "I'll take the upstairs you take the downstairs ok" Theron nodded going invisible, Kavaraa scoffed what a show off
Kavaraa made her way upstairs and was met with two rooms one to the left and one right, she chose the right first and was met with a mostly empty bedroom still including basic furniture but seemingly nothing too valuable. Kavaraa imagined looters got to this place a long time ago, she began checking drawers for any sign of Avulo or any other 'Bysh'. After checking a few drawers she noticed the bottom draw was shorter than the rest, she began prying at the end soon managing to pry off a fake board. She fumbled behind it grabbing hold of something metal, taking it out she saw it was a form of headdress it was seemingly made out of brass or copper so not the highest quality. This wasn't so surprising though headdresses were quite common for Togrutas, Kavaraa herself had one when she was young but she had kinda grown out of it. If it did one thing it made it more likely it was actually Avulo who lived here, although then again she had never seen Avulo wearing a headdress in the visions.
Kavaraa scoured the room a bit more but nothing came up and she decided to move to the other room, the other room was smaller with a lot less furniture there was a smaller bed in the corner and what seemed like a mobile. She spun it lightly as she looked at it's composition closely she didn't recognise this system, it had one large planet in the middle with many moons circling it Kavaraa imagined it was a make believe interpretation. Kavaraa had clearly found a child's room she wondered if Avulo had abandoned this place when he did these holocron things, either way she had to ask him in the next holocron.
She decided there was nothing more to find in there and made her way back downstairs where Theron was waiting "find anything?" Kavaraa gestured to the headdress she was holding
"just this headdress to be honest, I think it's at least proof a togruta lived here" Theron nodded holding his forehead
he sighed "I wish my search had gone that well everything seems pretty normal in there" Kavaraa put her arm around his shoulder and gave him a squeeze
she smiled "it's fine you just being here is a big help" Theron smiled she leant in kissing him "alright lets see if Kormel knows where we need to go" Theron nodded following her out
When they found Kormel he was staring up at the cliff with macrobinoculars, Kavaraa spoke up "any ideas Kormel?" Kormel quickly jumped back in fright
he caught his breath "don't jump out at me like that" woops that wasn't her intention "any way I uh seem to have miscalculated a bit the temple is here but it's up there" Kavaraa squinted looking up at where he pointed "there's a weird outcropping of rocks that seem like they have been put in a cave entrance" Kavaraa smiled she could work with that
Kavaraa took a deep breath "leave that to me" she closed her eyes focussing on the rocks and their place in the cliff, sure enough they were loose each of them jutted in there manually. Slowly she began moving them out one by one making sure to not cause a rock slide, soon each of them lay on the ground next to her and she opened her eyes to see the cave embedded into the cliff.
Theron held his chin "ok now we just need a way up" Kavaraa smiled she was so useful today
Kavaraa began focussing on the ground beneath them "don't worry I'll handle that" she closed her eyes but them remembered "oh uh stand close together it's easier that way" they shuffled closer a little confused and Kavaraa began to lift a small patch of earth out of the ground. The ground slowly rose to the cave as she grinned at Theron and Kormel
Theron sulked "show off, I had a grappling hook you know" Kavaraa put her arm around him smiling
"but this is soooo much cooler isn't it" Theron sighed nodding Kavaraa gave him a quick peck on the cheek before refocusing lifting the earth up to the cave.
They stepped off the earth and into the cave entrance and Kavaraa slowly put the earth back where it was, hopefully she hadn't disrupted it too much. She turned to follow Theron and Kormel into the cave, the cave twisted and turned eventually coming to a large open chamber with a familiar looking door. But this time in front of the door was a large hologram emitter in the middle of the room, Kavaraa frowned she guessed someone left it here but none of the other temples had anything like this
Theron and Kormel seemed equally confused at it's placement "ok that's not like normal" Theron joked looking at the emitter already getting out a datapad. Kavaraa peered at the machine it seemed to have a little monitor on it maybe she should press it to turn it on or at least try to. Kavaraa looked at Theron for the ok who she could only assume was checking for traps, after a lot of tech stuff he nodded and Kavaraa put her finger on the monitor.
The holo sprung to life almost immediately text appearing on the monitor 'Kavaraa Bysh detected, playing recording' Kavaraa's eyes widened, this machine knew her? but how? wait Bysh?. The holo flickered on a tall portly Togruta form flashed onto the screen, he looked maybe 40-50 had a bit of a belly and was dressed in common clothes.
Kavaraa stood up and frowned this definitely wasn't Avulo but he clearly knew her, the man smiled at her "uh hey" he tapped the holo machine "uh is it on it looks on ok, I'm just gonna say it's on I can do it again if it ain't" he stood up straight looking towards Kavaraa "if this is activated it means you've found my secret temple Kavaraa" Kavaraa frowned how did he know her? "I'm sorry I never told ya but I wanted to leave this life behind and uh squirt if ya are hearin this message it's kinda unlikely your old dad is still around" Kavaraa sharply gasped was this her dad? was that her ranch? was that her life?…