"... And then lady Kreia told me Revan led troops! Won the war for the Republic and all!" Ruby Rose dearly embellished the tales that Kreia had told her. It was a rather endearing explanation to listen to, even as she sat there at the table, eating with the girls of team RWBY. Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company(As per some records she found) seemed surprised to even hear such a thing, looking over to Kreia for confirmation, which she got with a nod.
Yang Xiao-Long, Ruby's half-sister, grinned and leaned forward, stating, "This Revan fella sounds like one hell of a guy," which got a snort out of Kreia. They looked over to the woman, who waved it off as she took a spoonful of rice. Local Remnant food was rather endearing and tasty. Though the names were odd. 'Beef', 'rice', 'corn'... She couldn't make heads or tails of the food, though from what she'd seen in her research yesterday evening, the names fit eerily well.
She sighed and watched the last and most mysterious of team RWBY, Blake Belladonna, look over the edge of her book and smile at Ruby's antics as the girl got into describing other things, like The Force. Kreia had butted in a couple of times to clarify some things, before Weiss looked to the woman and asked her, "Would you mind giving us a demonstration, Lady Kreia?"
"Not at all," The woman replied, her hand shifting from her spoon to beneath her robe. She pulled out the hilt of her lightsaber, which Ruby looked at with a hint of giddy excitement, before all four girls blanked as they watched the weapon gently lift itself off of Kreia's open palm. It began to spin as the former Jedi historian continued eating with her left hand, though less quickly.
"Woah!" Yang gasped, then asked, "Wait, that's normal for you!?"
"Indeed... I have no Aura active, if you wish to check," Kreia offered, before letting the hilt drop back into her hand and sliding it back under her robes. She hummed and looked to the stunned Weiss and said, "I could do more, but I'm afraid I wield more than a few dangerous Force powers... Sans Force Heal and Speed, of course..." and she smirked as she saw the confused Schnee's eyes widen.
"Wait, Speed?" Yang started, "Like... Going faster?"
"Technically, yes. Practically, time slows down for the Jedi who utilizes the weapon and their reflexes are actively enhanced. The Force reinforces everything to allow them to proceed with utilizing the 'speed boost' without breaking anything," Kreia replied to the blonde, who let out several sounds of awe. The old Jedi, however, quipped, "Of course, if we slam into a wall, that is on us..."
Ruby giggled at that joke, while the blonde and the others simply smiled. Kreia chose not to butt into further conversations for now. She'd provide a demonstration for team RWBY later down the line, when she had the time. Some of their friends were, however, missing from the area. Specifically, team JNPR did not seem to show up for lunch as far as Ruby told her. Something about a cold.
She twitched, a shiver running up her spine as she felt the touch of another Force-sensitive creature. After a moment of drawing blanks in regards to where she had even felt such a power, the woman blanked again, but this time she managed to smile widely. She hummed, picked up her rice dish and started eating, before murmuring, "We may have a guest soon, ladies..."
The four looked to her, confused, as she sipped green tea. The door to the mess hall opened and the entire place's attention somehow diverted toward it as the weight of the new arrival seemed to make itself felt. Kreia hummed, setting her cup aside, then looked over to see the figure marching in. The armor they wore was tattered, marked by the scars of warfare and the cloth of the robes beneath was in just as bad a shape, the black robe fluttering in the wind.
Arms crossed to their chest, the caped figure approached, their mask bearing its own marks. The slit visor shone scarlet for a moment and the two hilts on the being's hips told the girls she was yet another like Kreia. But when they approached to speak, their voice came out distorted. "Master Kae. It has been a while, hasn't it?" They said, looking to Kreia. Yet, even with the vocoder breaking, Kreia could feel joy instead of fear or anger at her.
She smiled as she turned to look to the figure, who lowered their arms by their sides, before the figure remarked, "You look younger, but I've yet to feel another echo in the Force such as your own in my travels, old friend. What happened, did the Kath Hound get your tongue?" which Kreia replied to by pulling her hood back and showing her eyes. She gave a calm nod, searching for the right words, before chuckling.
"I'm sorry, my old friend. I hadn't expected you of all people to come by here. How went the mission in the Unknown Regions?" She then inquired as she stood up from the table. The other Jedi rubbed the back of her neck and shrugged, but Kreia sensed the hesitation. Ah, wonderous, it meant her friend had, in fact, gone up against the Emperor. She could sense the slight anxiety.
"Y'know... Okay...?" They replied, awkward, then noticed the children staring at them.
Kreia hummed, then sighed and said, "Of course. Where are my manners...? Revan. This is team RWBY. The four who brought me to this learning institution." before immediately seeing all four girls suddenly lean forward. With a chuckle and already expecting the storm of questions yet to come for her comrade, Lady Kreia motioned to the girls and said, "Team RWBY, this is-"
"REVAN!?" The four balked. Ruby seemed incredibly happy, Weiss, stunned, Blake , jovial and Yang... Well, Yang.
"Like... War Hero Revan! The one you told me about?! The savior of the Outer Rim? The one who defeated the Mandalorians?!" Ruby seemed giddy, bouncing in her seat. Revan cast a glance toward her old comrade and teacher, who shrugged. Revan once more turned to Ruby then and nodded. The girl let out a scream filled with joy, then pounced on Revan with the speed of a bullet. A bit stunned by this, the seemingly mythical figure held their ground, still on their feet as Ruby hugged them at the waist.
They looked over to Kreia again and chuckled, then asked, "What have you been telling these poor children about me, Arren?"
"Only the truth," Kreia replied softly, before looking at the three other girls already furthering their own reactions. Yang was grinning, ear-to-ear, face a hint red, while Weiss simply seemed curt and respectful. Blake herself, though, she seemed to have finally put her strange book of smut down and was eyeing Revan up and down. She chuckled again, "Of course, miss Rose became my mouthpiece when it came to telling her friends about it, so she may have embellished some of the details."
"With you doing nothing to stop that from happening?" The Revanchist quipped. Kreia shrugged, to which the figure shook their head and said, "I swear to the Force, Master... Ugh, and my helmet's vocoder is still broken..." before she brought her hands up to her head. Pulling off her hood made the three other members of team RWBY, Ruby notwithstanding as she hugged Revan, lean forward, probably expecting some hot guy with scars beneath the mask.
What they didn't expect, however, was for long ginger hair to flow out from beneath the helmet, several braided short strands spread out across the flow and length. The wavy hair spread out and draped the woman's shoulders. Though tired and weary, bearing some scars from the war and slightly sunken eyes, the face of the woman behind the Revanchist's mask could only be described as pure beauty of the most perfect kind.
Kreia suddenly felt the room stop cold before all chatter ceased properly. Ruby still hanged onto Revan like there was no tomorrow, so the War Hero's dark-green eyes peered down at her with slight concern. Kreia, however, was free to notice all the stares. All three other members of team RWBY were blushing, with Weiss commenting, "She's a woman...?" with a whisper.
"Indeed? Is that a problem?" Kreia replied calmly. As she felt what the blushes were for, she could barely conceal her grin in time.
"N-No," Blake murmured, burying her face in her book again as her bow twitched. That was interesting, but Kreia had long figured Blake was a Faunus, one of the local animal people, so she found it more endearing than anything else. Then again, the sheer amount of eyes now on Revan was uh, concerning to say the least. She gazed around to see that the entire Mess Hall had, in fact, completely stopped.
"W-We just thought the way Ruby and Lady Kreia spoke of Revan, she'd be like... A guy..." Yang commented, which got a snort out of the ginger next to Kreia. Yang clarified, "N-Not that it's a bad thine yer a lady, miss Revan! It's just... God damn, we didn't expect ya to look like-" She felt an elbow hit her hips, then looked over to see Blake shaking her head, all while a confused Revan stared on. She stated, avoiding Revan's gaze with embarrassment, "I am probably going to shut up now, sorry."
"Huh... Riiiight..." Revan gave a drawn-out reply, then looked at Kreia, "May we catch up somewhere away from prying eyes? I can feel the entire room's staring at me for some reason..." to which the old Jedi Historian let out a short laugh. She nodded, patting the girl on the shoulder, then helped pry Ruby off of Revan. The two women departed the Hall, leaving team RWBY stumped... Save for Ruby.
"So cool!" Ruby giggled.
Yang, meanwhile, looked upon her comrades with the same look they were giving each-other and her. Pure and total embarrassment over the fact they nearly went nuts over a new girl. Ruby remained the same old precious ball of sunshine that didn't seem at all interested in dating. There were times where Yang even wondered if she liked anybody, but then again, best not to know lest she couldn't control her sisterly instinct of beating the crap out of that someone.
Weiss, meanwhile, shifted uneasily with her own thoughts imbalanced. Obviously, many of the people here would see Revan as a beautiful woman, but without the context of who she was, even the embellished variation given by Ruby, there must've been some questions as to why a woman in battered armor had decided to stroll in and talk to them and the lady that their team leader had managed to befriend on a whim.
... Revan and Kreia, meanwhile, chose to ignore that matter, strolling through Beacon's courtyard. Revan remarked, "It's good to see you like this. You certainly seem a tad different than when we last met, honestly. More... Lighthearted... Not like your usual, more tranquil and focused self..." as the two walked by a statue depicting the Hunters trained at Beacon fighting Grimm.
"Death has a tendency to put many things into perspective," Kreia replied calmly. The confusion and worry on Revan's face were both in clear view as the woman wrinkled her nose and furrowed her brows, but Kreia clarified, "It needn't worry you. I will explain all that needs to be explained when we're at home. I would very much rather nobody hear our private conversations."
The younger woman sighed, shoulders sagging as they walked, then replied, "Very well..." all while several other students stared at her. Yet more walking, this time in silence, had Revan pondering, clearly. Kreia could feel the tumult inside her being, as if she was wrestling herself, wresting to control her own baser instincts, her own thoughts. As if she was fighting to control the Revanchist, the leader who wielded the sword that first struck at the Mandalorians. Or, perhaps, she fought to control Darth Revan, the leader of the Sith Armada that swept the Republic.
Kreia, or Arren, however Revan chose to refer to her today, cared little. She hummed and said, "I can feel you are under duress, my pupil. What ails you?"
"Didn't you say you wanted to keep private conversations for when we're at home?" The Jedi girl inquired. The focused stare with which her former master pierced her defenses, however, whittled her down. She sighed deeply, then whispered, "It's been three hundred years... Yet everything I've done still weighs heavily on me. The Mandalorian Wars, leaving for the Unknown Regions..." as she looked upon Kreia, trembling, "And my fight with him..." a visible shiver running through her body.
"You found him, then," Kreia hummed, concerned enough, "Tenebrae."
"I have," Revan replied, staring at the floor, her previous joviality replaced by the seeming post-traumatic stress of the encounter. Kreia felt the change, the immediate shift to the fear and darkness that had plagued Revan's heart even then. Revan, to her credit, continued, "Twice, in fact... It was one of the reasons the Jedi Civil War began in the first place... His corruption was strong. It finally fully turned Alek... Then it made me into what I was during those times... And yet, I went after him again after the Civil War was done..."
"You had the courage to face the true master behind the Mandalorians' crusade," Kreia shot back, "Not once, but twice. More brave than most Jedi, as usual..." then hummed and inquired, "But what do you mean, three hundred years?"
... Revan sighed, rubbing her arm, "I was his prisoner. After one of our allies betrayed us and had slain Meetra..." And another emotion that Kreia had not felt from her pupil in a long time bubbled up to the surface. Anger. An anger which visibly stunned Kreia, it was so strong. To Revan's credit, the young warrior held it in place firmly, so no release of Force energy would threaten Beacon. She sighed deeply, "He needed me for something. Kept me alive via Sith Alchemy while I was held on Dromund Kaas."
"How you are still sane, my girl," Kreia replied, stunned, "I know not..."
Revan's face turned from one fraught with pain into a melancholic one, a soft smile and raised brows, as she spoke, "Meetra kept me company. Even as a Force Ghost, she ensured I remained sane enough not to become as I was during the Mandalorian Wars and early stages of the Civil War. So that I would not fall yet again to Tenebrae's whims..."
"Belli dura despicio..." Kreia replied in an eerily well-spoken phrase of High Galactic ancestry. Revan looked to her, confused for a moment, before Kreia clarified, "A High Galactic phrase. I despise the hardships of war. A way of saying that I am sorry this all still weighs so heavily upon you, my girl, though I am certain the Exile did it out of her own goodwill. The Wars fought across our Galaxy weigh most heavily on those like her, you or I..."
"Indeed," Revan shook her head... She hummed next, then said to her with a lower, more threatening, "Meetra also mentioned you. Traya?"
"... As the Force wills, there must always be a Betrayer. One that must be defeated so that the balance of the victorious may properly be restored," Kreia replied with a deep sigh, "I have fulfilled my role with the Exile as the one who struck at me. She did not kill me," and she then smiled at Revan, "She forgave me. One such as I, who has fallen so far from grace, only to be forgiven for her actions by that who she wronged, no less."
Revan smiled, "Sounds like Meetra, alright..."
"You said she was murdered by one of those who came to aid you in defeating Tenebrae?" The woman inquired. Revan gave an affirmative nod, before sighing and looking at the two lightsabers clipped to her belt. Kreia sighed deeply, before stating, "You need rest, Revan, not to ponder the situation you find yourself in. Follow me. We will talk to the Headmaster later today about any future role you and I may have here."
"... Okay...?" Revan took pause for a moment. She followed her master to their house and was a bit awed to see the kind of living conditions Kreia had settled into at this point. Honestly, Kreia had not been here for any longer than a few days at most, so it was only nominal that she'd get a place to stay. Revan, however, had been travelling, mostly. Gathering information. Kreia could feel it on her person:A few more kills to add to her count. Saddening, but...
Her old master motioned to the dorms and said, "You may pick one of the two top dorms if you wish. I already have my room. There is also a garden nearby, lush with life, should you wish to meditate away your worries for the evening. We have much work to do and I am certain the Headmaster will send for you the moment rumors start spreading among his closest staff."
"This Headmaster..." Revan inquired curiously, a bit wary, "Is he the leader of this Academy?"
"Yes... A strange man. I'm sure you will agree once you meet him," Kreia replied calmly, "For now, find your dorm rest. We'll talk more after." then she walked to her own room, opening the door and then closing it in order to prepare. Revan was left alone with her thoughts once more, pondering much, such as how she'd gotten here and what happened to many of her companions. And to Arren Kae, her master, the one who now went by Kreia.
Her master remained a mystery, still...