Bankor

“Nepotism is a funny thing. I was never officially part of anything. But my dad was in charge of security for one of the nobles there and so he let me come and trained me at the same time as the other recruits.”

Well, that's... a little less troubling, at least. "Your childhood was more cloistered than mine, then, in a way," she says with a reflective air. "People think the Jedi lock children in our temples and make them meditate for hours on end, and there is a little truth to it, but... not everyone starts that young. Nor do we ask children to do the same work as adults."

"Yeah? Maybe. Bunch of people thought my dad was a traitor and would have preferred him dead... So we kinda stayed out of the way most the time." She replied.

"What do kids do in the Jedi temple then?"

"Meditate." The corner of Tethys's mouth quirks up for a moment--was that a joke?

"And all sorts of other things. Playing, physical conditioning--with the younger ones there is not much difference between the two. General education, with a particular emphasis on history." She casts her eyes up toward the dripping leaves that block the sky above, remembering. "We'd go on trips sometimes. I joined the Order around the same age you were learning from soldiers. Before that I had lived in a small settlement most of my life. There were as many other children in the temple as in my whole primary school, and I had never seen a place like Coruscant. It was... a lot. But the opposite of isolating, in spite of what some people think of us."

She nodded, "I guess you're right. Hard to be isolated when you live on the like... most populous planet in the galaxy."

"I've visited more remote Jedi temples since then." Tethys holds her hand out to catch a few raindrops in her palm. "But understanding the Force is about understanding life. Sentient life not least of all."

"Yeah?" Delmi asked, apparently at a loss of words as a result of a topic emerging that she knew little of.

Tethys nods. "Meaning, you don't have to sit on a silent mountaintop to do it. Or isolate yourself in the middle of a jungle." A quirk of her eyebrow indicates the forest scene around them, and by extension the monks who make it their home. "A city, or a city planet, holds many lessons too."

"Ahh, I see." She said with a nod.

"You should come out to Nar Shaddaa sometime... Betcha you'd learn different things than on Coruscant."

"I have no doubt you're right. Perhaps I will visit, one of these days. I generally go whereever there's trouble." Tethys turns her head to look more directly at Delmi, quirking an eyebrow. "Not quite the same kind of trouble as you follow, I imagine."

"Don't know if I'd say I 'follow' trouble. Just trying to make a livin'. I'd prefer no trouble to be honest... but you gotta lean into what you're good at." She replied as her lips pressed together in a sign of resignation.

"There are plenty of Outer Rim worlds with room for hardworking colonists, regardless of skill," Tethys says mildly, noting Delmi's less-than-enthusiastic response. "War can break out anywhere, as Kryze proved here, but the chance of trouble would be a good deal less than on Nar Shadaa."

“I need to be around people who know stuff. I’m looking for someone. Get stuck out in the Outer Rim with no way to find them... and I’d be an unhappy camper.”

"I see," she says, giving Delmi a quizzical glance. "What sort of stuff would someone need to know to find this person?"

“What imperial spies were posted on Anaxes 20 years ago... and where they went.”

"That's quite specific." Tethys arches a brow. "It sounds to me like you need a friend in SIS."

"Maybe... or the type of person who lives on Nar Shaddaa and deals with information like that..." She replied.

"So you see why I'm there rather than out in the Outer Rim."

"That is another option, yes," she nods. "I wish I could say I had some suggestion for you, but Imperial intelligence is very far from any of my areas of knowledge."

She nodded, “Yup, not an easy trail to follow. And not one everyone is interested in spending time in.”

"I take it this is a personal matter, not professional," Tethys says, tucking her hands back into the pockets of her robe and leaning back against the nearest crate.

"Yup. Mom was a spy. Framed my dad. Got him disgraced and then probably killed... I'd like to repay the favor if possible one day." She said with a nod.

"You are quite matter-of-fact about that," the Jedi observes, raising an eyebrow.

"It happened a long time ago... and tears or emotion I'd feel about it has been spent long long ago. It's just something that happened now. I'm about as attached to my mother as I am that rock over there. I may even be more attached to that rock."

"So you are not attached to your mother. But you are attached to finding her, perhaps killing her. Those can't both be true."

“Attached to the memory of my dad.” She replied.