Following the Tusked mandalorian into the encampment, the presence of more and more concealed warriors was noted, as they left the thick brush of the jungle to join the returning party.
The small tents and buildings surrounded a great bonfire, which warmed the entire camp. All around, small tables offered different foods and drinks.
Kye followed tusks through the camp, before entering what was clearly the lead building.
"Sit."
Kye sat at the low seat, whilst the tusked mandalorian sat across from him.
He reached up and removed the tusked helmet, revealing his face.
He had cropped grey hair, which continued down to a beard. Scars were evident, with a particularly notable one being across his cheek.
"How did you know Kellian?" He asked. His voice a lot softer without the helmet.
"He was my master, had trained me for years within the temple." Kye replied, looking at the open crate before him.
"Kellian was my son." The elder revealed, to Kye's shock. "When I discovered his abilities, I knew what I had to do. I made a deal with Master Yoda, so I could still teach him mandalorian ways."
Kye nodded. "He taught them to me too."
The elder nodded, silence reigning for a moment before he stood. "Come, let us celebrate his life then."
The pair exited the tent to the bustle of feasting and traditional mandalorian games. Kye felt out of place in his robes, silently wishing he had beskar of his own.
"Jedi!" A group of younger mandalorians, about his age waved him over.
Ahsoka was, tense.
But who could blame her? She had watched Kye get fired upon from about five different directions, before he was suddenly accosted by who could only be their leader, and welcomed in after revealing the contents of the crate.
After another minute from the group disappearing from sight, she left the ship, hopping into the tall trees.
She moved silently through the canopy as she approached the encampment. The noise of bustling activity and music echoed throughout the jungle.
She jumped onto another branch, peering down into the lively camp. All around, people of all ages celebrated, it was an atmosphere she wasn't used to having grown up inside the temple.
She panicked as she heard a voice yell "Jedi!" But quickly controlled her heart rate as she realised they were talking to Kye.
She watched as he walked over, greeting each of them, before taking one of the offered poles.
The branch she was on sagged as someone landed behind her, the sound of a blaster priming followed. "Hands up, interloper."
Kye took the offered pole, and then walked over to his starting position in the impromptu arena.
As he fight was about to begin, something caught his eye. Being hauled into the camp's entrance was Ahsoka.
"Ahsoka?" He questioned in surprise.
"Erm, Hi?" She replied awkwardly, embarrassed.
"She with you Jetii?" The mandalorian escorting her asked.
"Yes." He replied, giving her a look.
She was promptly released from her bindings ands not so lightly shoved over to Kye, who caught her in his arms, holding her close to whisper to her.
"Following me? Really?" He whispered.
"I was curious!" She defended herself. "And besides, you didn't sense me once, so I knew something was up."
Kye went to retort, but held it. It was true, he hadn't even sensed her once during the entire trip.
"Just- Okay fine. Don't do anything rash, jetii aren't too liked around here." He whispered back, a faint accent slipping into his voice.
She opened her mouth to speak but the two were interrupted.
"You still up Jedi?" One of other teens said.
Kye turned around, grinning. He left Ahsoka to accept the offered durasteel rod, taking up his position at one side of the ring.
The two fighters tapped their sticks against eachother in respect, before the impromptu referee dropped his arm, signalling the start of the spar.
Immediately, the clan ordo mandalorian rushed forwards, swinging at Kye.
Kye batted his attacker's weapon away, and attempted to make a tad more space by backing away, but his opponent gave him no opportunity and pressed the attack.
Being careful as to stay in the boundaries of the ring, Kye quickly sidestepped another attack, allowing his opponent to continue their wild attack.
After a few more deflections from Kye's part, he could sense the irritation in his opponent. The irate mandalorian stepped forward and once again, had his staff parried.
In response, he swung a fist, which collided with Kye's gut.
He should've expected the move, it was a near textbook mandalorian close quarters fighting tactic, but time at the Jedi temple had numbed his mandalorian fighting instincts.
As he took the hit, the surrounding spectators burst into cheers. Kye stepped back to compose himself, analysing his opponent.
His opponent gave no quarter, and quickly began his attack again.
Kye parried away the staff once more, and swung to the side as the fist was thrown towards him, he snapped out a classic Teras-Kasi kick, which caught his opponent dead in the waist.
Impacted at a natural fold point, his opponent briefly leant forward, before righting himself.
Seizing the opportunity, Kye now went on the offensive, jabbing forward with his staff as he rushed.
To his opponents credit, he was quickly able to reject Kye's attack, stamping the tip of the staff into the ground.
Kye responded accordingly, and followed with a drop kick to the chest, completely flattening his opponent, which was when the game was called, to Kye's win.
The defeated mandalorian was bitter, but accepted Kye's hand up never the less. The pair were met by cheers and applause from the spectators, and even a slow clap from the elder.
"Not bad Jedi. I was wondering if you had forgotten how to be mandalorian." The referee came over.
"I don't think I will ever be able to." Kye replied, which got a good natured laugh in response.
"Well then. Why don't you show us how Jedi fight." A clan elder lorded, stepping up and nodding towards where Ahsoka stood.
Kye looked towards her, eyebrow cocked in a way that she knew he would be challenging her. She returned with a smirk of her own, knowing how their last duel hadn't been decided.
Dialling down their sabres, the two soon began to circle eachother.
Ahsoka's eyes glowed with the predatory instincts of a togruta, as she analysed his form. Kye held his sabre tightly, clenching the hilt in anticipation.
The white blade baked his face in a clear light, betraying the focus held in his eyes as the two padawans circled eachother.
Within the high tower of the Jedi temple, the council sat, the high windows showed off the midnight traffic of the upper levels of coruscant.
The last to arrive, Obi-Wan stepped into the room, apologising for his lateness. The debrief from Muunilist had been extensive.
"Thank you all for coming." Master Windu began. Normally, the assignment of a padawan wouldn't warrant a meeting of the high council, however I think we can all agree that Kye Kast is no normal padawan."
The room silently agreed with the statement.
"Are we able to speak with padawan Kast?" Ki-Adi Mundi asked.
"Within the temple, he is not." Yoda interjected, brow furrowed deep in thought. "To Dxun, the home of his master, he has traveled."
"I was not aware he had the authorisation to do so." Windu intoned.
"He does not. Important however, it is to maintain our relationship with what mandalorians we can, returning his master's armour, he is." Yoda responded, still looking through the force.
"Why bother breaking such codes of the order to give back?" Shaak-Ti asked, via hologram from Kamino.
"Mandalorian armour is much more than just protection, it speaks to the family lineage of the person." Obi-wan spoke. "Think of it similar to how we have the bodies of Jedi returned to us."
A mumble of assent travelled through the gathered council members.
"Another Jedi, there is, with him." Yoda again spoke.
"Another?" Plo Koon asked.
"Summon Skywalker." Was the grandmasters order.
A handful of minutes later, Anakin Skywalker stepped in, bowing. "You wished to see me masters?"
"Your Padawan, know where she is, do you?"
"I can comm her if it's urgent, I told her to spend the next day relaxing, given what's happened." Skywalker replied.
The grandmaster huffed with laughter. "On the planet, she is not."
Anakin's face flashed with worry and confusion, but Master Yoda held his hand up.
"With Padawan Kast, on Dxun, she is."
"How do you know?" Skywalker asked.
"Shine brightly within the force, your padawan does. Brighter so when in the company of Kast." Yoda orated.
"Master?"
"We were discussing the future of Padawan Kast." Windu informed him.
Anakin nodded, stepping back to observe the discussions.
"Do you believe it would be beneficial to keep both Kast and Tano together?" Plo asked.
"Such a thing carries danger. We all know what the code speaks to regarding attachments." Mundi pointed out.
"Tightly woven, their futures will be. Worth keeping them together, it is." Yoda affirmed.
"I don't know if I have capacity for two padawans, Masters." Anakin spoke.
Yoda let out one of his small giggles. "Struggle sometimes do you, Skywalker with Ahsoka?"
Anakin stumbled for an answer before Windu spoke. "I believe Master Yoda was more referring to Master Kenobi."
The latter named Jedi stroked his beard in consideration.
"The idea is not without merit, Master Kenobi did spend great time on Mandalore and is somewhat familiar with their traditions." Master Billaba spoke.
"I'll speak with him when he returns to the temple." Kenobi affirmed.
The legendary kyber blades of the Jedi sparked as they clashed.
Their duel was intense, and the cheers and hoots of the mandalorians only encouraged the two fighters to up the tempo.
Ahsoka was certainly talented, and enjoyed the dynamic of defending against Kye's mandalorian blade forms, in addition, his flat blade brought a new dynamic into their heated battle.
As Ahsoka decided to flip the duel, going on the attack, the two met in an intense blade-lock, their eye contact hardening, before Ahsoka attempted to kick his knee out.
Sensing it coming, Kye broke the lock and allowed her to kick the air, setting her off balance for his attack.
She managed to recover, rolling under him, but was unable to prevent his lunge as she righted herself, earning a small burn to her shoulder.
The crowd roared in approval as the first strike was landed, and the large bonfire seemed to grow to meet the crowd intensity. Even his late master's father was giving a slow clap.
Not one to be outdone, Ahsoka flew back at him, forcing Kye to use the flat side of his blade to deflect her attacks.
Feinting him before sweeping out his legs, Ahsoka slashed downwards towards Kye, who used his vambrace as a support to his blade against her barrage of attacks.
He blasted her upwards with the force, and jumped to his feet as she flew upwards.
Mid flight, she righted herself and held her lightsaber out before her, falling like a missile towards him.
Switching positions right before she made contact, she kicked his hands holding his blade away, before scoring a good burn across his collarbone.
Again the crowd roared with approval at the fight, with shouts of Jedi Jedi now being heard.
Kye stood again, and the two tapped the ends of their sabres in respect before going for the final round.
Deciding to switch his style, he held his blade with both hands, and readied for her attack.
He fought passively, rarely attacking, and when did, it was without vigor.
Growing annoyed, Ahsoka lunged, slashing at him wildly. Kye stepped back in the face of the attack, before suddenly reversing his grip on his blade and attacking her.
Now it was the other padawans turn to back track, meeting him blow for blow as he advanced towards her.
Nearing the edge of the ring, she knew she had to do something drastic. Launching herself into a slide, she went right between his legs, whilst sweeping them out.
The speed at which she moved caught Kye by surprise, and as he fell, Ahsoka brought her lightsaber up to the hilt of his, ejecting it from his hands.
Landing hard on his back, Ahsoka was quick to land on him and hold both of her sabers to his neck, smirking in victory.
Tapping out of the fight, he sagged back down in exhaustion. "Not too tough now are you?" The togrutan taunted, leaning forward to be better heard.
Kye only raised a brow at the compromising position of her, straddling him and leaning forward over him. It was a situation quite amusing to the other mandalorians too, if their wolf whistling and hooting was anything to by.
Montrals flushing in embarrassment, she quickly hopped up and extended a hand to Kye, who took her offered hand and was pulled to his feet, bumping her shoulder playfully.
The two turned to see a long feasting table had been set out; with trays of prepared food being brought out for the gathering.
Leading the way, Kye began walking over, taking the offered seat beside his master's father. Ahsoka sat on the other side of Kye, where another mandalorian warrior sat beside her, depositing his helmet on the table besides his plate.
Whilst Ahsoka watched for a moment as her comrade and the clan elder conversed in mando'a, she used the force to levitate some food onto her plate, before tucking in.
"So, Jedi." The mandalorian beside her began, whilst chewing. "What's the deal with the whole attachment thing."
She gave him a side eye, he couldn't be more than a couple years her senior, and he was clearly focused on her, a bit too intensely.
It appeared that Kye also noticed, having spent a fair few hours in a ship with just him, she was very in tune with his signature, and it was easy to pick up the bubbling displeasure from him.
She saw him wave his hand, and watched the warrior's drink fall from his hand and over his food. The warrior swore at what he perceived as his own clumsiness, leaving Ahsoka to join Kye's conversation.
For her benefit they switched to basic, and began talking armour. Ahsoka listened intently the story of the tusks, among a few others about the battle damage.
Before long, the trio had finished up, and the elder gave the pair a nod, signaling them to follow him.
They departed the table and headed over to the forge, if the large chimney want anything. Inside, the crate of armour that Kye had brought awaited them.
"Son." The elder began. "You've done this clan a great service by returning this armour to us. But I can't help notice that you do not have any of your own."
Kye nodded in affirmation. "I only have these vambraces which were given to me by my master."
"Yes, they were his when he was your age." The elder informed him, his old eyes lost in a memory.
Kye looked up surprised.
"Son, it's my opinion that no mandalorian should be without armour, so I formally bequeath this set to you. You can have the forge for as long as you need to remodel it to fit you." The elder informed him.
Kye hid his surprise, and gave his thanks. The elder soon ducked out, leaving the two padawans.
Ahsoka made to leave too, but was called back by Kye. She sat in a chair as she watched him began melting the Beskar down.
As she slowly dozed off, Kye continued through the night forging the Beskar into his set of armour.
"Wake up."
She felt a nudge as she tried to sleep.
"Oh well." A sharp slap sounded as she snapped awake, a stinging sensation on her cheek.
"What was that for?" She demanded.
"Don't blame me, you wouldn't wake up." Kye defended.
Grumbling, Ahsoka went to punch him in the chest, only to for solid Beskar to meet her knuckles. She wrung her hand out in pain, silently cursing.
"Come on, we should get going." Kye said, walking off.
Standing and stretching, she looked at Kye as he left. If she didn't know what the back of his head looked like, she would've mistaken him for any number of the of the mandalorian warriors within the camp, other than the apparent lack of green point on his armour, leaving it a stark reflective silver, including the helmet slung under his arm.
The sun was low as the two returned to Kye's ship, and it wasn't long before the pair returned to Kye's Kom'rk fighter, and lifted off returning to Coruscant. The two used to catch up on actual sleep, rather than the stiff chairs of the forge.