#( characters — shaa le'raya )

[shadowsofdread]

none of this is set in stone & more just ideas i'm rotating around (inspired by a post & some replies from @pyr0clast) for a side character that's pretty hugely relevant to hyroh's padawan training & also hyroh's master, le'raya

re: light as a corrupting or purging force, specifically tied to the memories or a person's self (see: ngani zho from the lost suns, the disney canon stuff about purifying "bled" [red] kyber crystals)

in tsahet's original iteration, he had killed his (manipulative and abusive) master and - through events left vague because i never exactly got around to it - the council essentially had him institutionalized for a time to reform his fall to the dark side, and le'raya had stood by their decision to do so, betraying her first friend in the order. after he was released, tsahet went into a sort of voluntary exile, where he was still technically a jedi, but lived apart from the order and by and large was not given any missions or responsibilities.

what was a bit of a plot-hole in this though was why le'raya would later choose to trust tsahet to temporarily train her padawan, hyroh, who himself was seen as something of a "flight risk" by the council.

so now that i'm returning to tsahet with these new ideas, i'm chewing on the idea of things having gone down a bit differently. le'raya had been the first one to find out that tsahet had killed his master / he had gone to her for help to cover it up, fearing that if the council knew he'd not only killed his own master, but didn't regret it, there may be severe consequences for him (there is, after all, a highly complex prison from TCW designed specifically for "rogue jedi" - in a post-revan era, i wouldn't be surprised if there was something similar back then as well).

le'raya insists that she has to tell the council, but tells tsahet to act remorseful - that the council will help him, if he shows them that he is open to it. tsahet is doubtful, but agrees. le'raya, after all, is the only person that he has a positive relationship with.

the two go to the council and give a not-entirely-truthful but not completely dishonest version of events. tsahet's master is not alive to defend themself, and i'll be gracious to the council and say a few caught red flags from them before this, so it's not entirely unbelievable that psychological stress could've pushed tsahet to do what he did. still, potentially justified or not, he has touched the dark side. the only course of action is to purge, to cure the corruption.

le'raya doesn't see tsahet for an indeterminate amount of time. it is during that time that tsahet undergoes rigorous therapy ('therapy' here used in its broadest meaning: treatment) - hours of meditation with the purpose of realigning himself to the light. that though his master was wrong, there obviously could never be any excuse or reason for tsahet to draw his blade on them out of anger or revenge. a jedi acts from a place of peace and serenity. feel the anger, the rage, and the hurt, and then purge them.

the meditation has side effects. tsahet comes out of it finding that memories that were once painfully crystal-clear are disorganized and disorienting. there are gaps, even, during his time in therapy. he's - confused. he's confused, and though he has meditated, and meditated, and meditated, something within him still burns and aches. but - he shouldn't have done it. he shouldn't have killed his master. shouldn't have even entertained the thought of hurting them. they were harsh, but wasn't it all done in the efforts of making him an exceptional jedi? he just - didn't understand, at the time. after all, if it really was justified, he'd remember it all, wouldn't he? it would make sense.

when le'raya sees tsahet next, he is the same - and he isn't. he's still gruff and abrasive and distant. but the deeper, shielded parts that he once showed her - his frustratingly well-earned arrogance, his sharp wit, the dry sarcasm and the few half-smiles reserved solely for her - seem to have vanished. but he seems better. he should be better (?). he is utterly serene in the force. the surface of an undisturbed pond, with not even a rock or pebble held in the hand waiting to be thrown. she thinks maybe those parts she loved most will come back, with time.

they don't see each other much after that.

tsahet is assigned a new master, and completes his training. he is lauded as one of the best aspiring duelists of their generation, specializing in jar'kai. young padawans marvel at his superior skill and his absolute serenity, even in the throes of the most nail-biting sparring matches.

later, le'raya - who has heard but not seen the rumors for herself - decides to reach out to tsahet, who has been offering his services to the taris reconstruction. her padawan, hyroh kaah, has recently expressed an interest in jar'kai, and it is not an art form she feels confident enough to teach him. the secondary concern, however, is the jedi council's increasing scrutiny of her padawan. particularly, that he may be too attached to her, too emotionally volatile, his understanding of the jedi code and philosophy too elementary, and le'raya's methods too unconventional - all making him a poor fit for the responsibilities of a jedi and a risk if he continues on this path.

(le'raya wonders, still, if there was more to what tsahet experienced during his treatment, but she trusts - she hopes - that he is still the man she remembers him to be)

(he isn't.)

[shadowsofdread]

oh yeah, it's all coming together. because prior to all of this & when i had a much shakier grasp on the timeline, le'raya's sort of "fall from grace" in the eyes of the jedi council - where she went from a highly respected jedi master to someone largely viewed with skepticism and thinly-veiled disappointment - was when she was assigned to protect the panteer family after gaul panteer declared alderaan's independence, and, well, failed in her mission.

now i can actually bring that idea back; le'raya was already moving towards being a bit less popular with the council for having largely withdrawn from the war effort and directing her efforts to helping those impacted by it (i.e., her coming to ord mantell and eventually meeting hyroh and his family).

i think it also does something very interesting for le'raya and izvoye's relationship - the kind of personal guilt le'raya surely feels for what may not really have been much of her own fault, though she'll still feel that it was. i'm kind of losing the plot but like .... this is an interesting lore change. i like it a lot, brent -

so, turns out naboo wasn't even colonized until sometime in 3900 BBY so oopsie-daisy that's thrown a slight wrench into izvoye's backstory, and i could just rewrite naboo's lore, but, honestly, might even be easier & more relevant to make her alderaanian. which of course begs the question of which house. and frankly, i'm leaning towards house panteer.

wookieepedia is inconsistent on when silara panteer (the then-queen of alderaan) and her son, the crown prince, died - one entry says it was a couple years after the treaty of coruscant, but multiple others say it happened they were assassinated only days after. the latter makes more sense, since the assassination of the queen and her heir is the whole reason the alderaan civil war even starts. so regardless of what is truly canon, i may go with that.

it lines up already pretty well with what was already in izvoye's lore; a parent of high political standing is assassinated [for political reasons], leaving her orphaned. add a little Political Intrigue and Tragedy to all because, if i make her a daughter of silara, she would've been next in line after gaul panteer - but she's also only nine. having her anywhere on-planet would've been an enormous risk, and so it would've made sense for le'raya to take her off planet -- even without any personal relationship to silara, which i assume she would have one since it's ... never been set in stone, exactly, but i kind of always headcanoned that le'raya was involved with alderaan in the past.

and even if izvoye isn't directly a child of silara's, but still a panteer, the whole family was forced into hiding by house ulgo.

so ... yeah, maybe this all worked out, actually.