You're a stranger so
Why do I care?
You vanished today
Not the first time I hear...
'The Stranger' - A Perfect Circle
He practiced with wooden swords, meant to spare the training dummy from being neatly sliced in half by a proper lightsaber. Forms taught to him by a number of Jedi Masters, from Master Yalaan to Master Al'dien, and a few Lord Crux managed to teach him. After convincing the youth that it wasn't cheating or taking advantage of an opponent to strike them from behind.
One move melded into another, a flurry of blows striking the dummy with precision. He focused his sight on only the room, blocking out the activity going on elsewhere in the ship. In his mind, he imagined a dozen different scenarios and worked through them all.
He stopped only when a bead of sweat on his brow distracted him for a moment and he realized he was not alone. Two figures stood in the doorway, the bulky form of Lord Crux and a smaller, more slender man in a synthleather jacket and dusty pants. An old, well used blaster hung from a holster on his hip.
"Jedi," Lord Crux began, sounding more irritated than usual, "This individual insists on seeing you."
It was not like the Sith to let anyone in to see Ehlial like this. The padawan reached up to pull his hood back, setting the practice swords on the ground. "It isn't often I get guests. Can I help you, sir?"
The stranger, he realized, was much older than he first though. Wrinkles around the corners of his mask, his hair thinning around the temples. When he spoke, his voice was low and gravely. "Guess it'd be too much for you to recognize your old man when you never met him in the first place, huh?"
Crux sighed in exasperation, leaving Ehlial to wonder what their conversation had been before coming here. "He insists that he's your father, Jedi. I can throw him off the ship if you like."
"No," Ehlial said, just a little too swiftly. He thought back to his childhood, to Alpheridies. His mother's wan smile as she watched him in the fields. He asked her why she seemed so sad.
You look a little too much like your father, she replied.
He held a hand out to the stranger, who seemed delighted to shake his. "I don't even know your name."
"Jaaroh Sahnin, kiddo," the spacer replied with a grin, "And damn if you just had blonde hair you'd be my spittin' image."
Lord Crux rolled his eyes and pushed away from the door frame. "I'll be somewhere else."
