#Knol Ven'nari

[fairycatfawn]

[roosjem]

New chapter up! ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

[blackkatmagic]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Nico Diath/Jaster Mereel, Nico Diath/Dooku | Darth Tyranus, Dooku | Darth Tyranus/Grievous | Qymaen jai Sheelal Characters: Nico Diath, Knol Ven'nari, Jon Antilles, Jaster Mereel Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Humor, Friendship, Divorce, Salty Academics Series: Part 27 of hawks 'verse Summary:

“Dooku is dating who?” Nico demands, and if his voice cracks—

Well. After thirty years he thinks he has the right to be a little emotional, hearing that.

[kbirbpods]

Original Work: rise up and head on home by blackkat [ @blackkatmagic ]

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Relationship: Jon Antilles & Knol Ven'nari

Tags: Pre-Canon, First Meeting, Past Child Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship

Audio Length: 10 minutes and 17 seconds

Summary: “Too slow, kid,” a voice calls, half a second before a pebble bounces off the top of Jon's head.

Recorded by: @kbirbpods & @flowerparrish

[flowerparrish]

Rated: General Audiences

Relationship: Jon Antilles & Knol Ven’nari

Length: 198 words

Summary:

Jon’s only known Knol for a little over a year, and he’s already seen her do much more impressive things.

Fluff February Day 5 - Amber

[kanansdume]

Because some bitches apparently don't know how to have fun, let's look at some more Jedi-centric things they COULD have done on Tales of the JEDI instead of stories about characters who leave and/or betray the Jedi because while Star Wars is absolutely a story with a political message, it's also quite literally a franchise made for 12 years olds as per Lucas himself, so fuck you it can be fluffy and fun, too.

Show me Luminara with her own Master, I want to know so much more about this lineage!

Better Yaddle stuff than the bullshit anti-Jedi shitstain we got.

Ahsoka's Gathering where she gets her kyber crystal.

Depa choosing Kanan to be her Padawan.

Quinlan and Obi-Wan shenanigans (and make it gay while we're at it).

Siri Tachi and Adi Gallia during Siri's Padawan years or something.

Qui-Gon and Feemor perhaps, to get a look at Qui-Gon with a different Padawan maybe post Feemor's Knighting.

Re-canonize Ferus Olin and Bant Eerin.

A'Sharad Hett teaching Tusken culture to the Jedi and learning how to incorporate Tusken culture with Jedi culture.

Shaak Ti earning her headdress on Shili.

Throw in some nomad Jedi like Fay or Jon Antilles or Nico Diath or Knol Ven'nari.

This would be an EXCELLENT place to do a Tarre Viszla run, actually, showcase how he USED Jedi values to bring peace to Mandalore and confirm once and for all that the Jedi inherited Tarre's lightsaber when he died and then it was stolen from them by the Viszlas against Tarre's own wishes.

A baby Reva episode!

Throw in some Fallen Order stuff with Padawan Trilla and Cere, or baby Cal.

So that was fun, now I want stories about actual Jedi instead of characters who leave and/or betray the Jedi.

Give me Kit Fisto during Nahdar Vebb's Padawan years.

Agen Kolar and Eeth Koth go on an adventure together.

Shaak Ti connecting with the clones on Kamino.

Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee.

Yoda as a youngling.

Plo Koon as a Padawan.

Quinlan Vos getting into shenanigans at literally any point in his life.

Depa Billaba and Mace Windu.

Stass Allie learning Force healing so we can get a firmer worldbuilding answer on what that even is.

Really dip into the deep deep well that is the Jedi and explore characters that could use some actual exploring and show us everyday Jedi life for once.

[duron1ar]

fasten their shadows to my neck

“Be careful,” Jon says, though Nico likely doesn’t need the reminder. “If the Sith Lord notices—”

“Then he’d best not,” Nico says, and vanishes with a ripple of light. A moment later, the door opens, then shuts again, and Knol snorts.

“Fancy tricks, all of you,” she says, amused, and takes the hand Jon offers her.

“Says the woman who eats fire,” Jon says. “With the Force.”

[generallynerdy]

One life, I thought—a thousand deaths (Jon Antilles & Fay)

Summary: On Queyta, Obi-Wan Kenobi is not the only one to escape Durge and Ventress. One of the four legendary Masters, Jon Antilles, emerges from a lava stream despite knowing he’s going to die. He’s so sure of it that he crawls his way to Fay’s side, wanting to spend his last moments with the woman who he considers his Master. But she has other plans. Plans to make certain that Jon Antilles lives past today.

Warnings: Angst, Character Death, On-Screen Character Death, Implied/Referenced Character Death, there’s both sorry, Self-Sacrifice, The Curse of Immortality, holy shit i made myself sad dude Word Count: 2,191

Prompt: Angstpril Day 2 - Sole Survivor

Author’s Note: listen I know nobody knows about these characters that are in literally one comic but I have FEELINGS about them okay?? Jon is meant to be a badass mysterious enigma but he screams sad boi and Fay is like...the greatest cryptid Jedi ever, I love her. So, of course, I decided to make them and Knol and Nico suffer. (Also I know Obi-Wan survived the mission but the Sole Survivor still applies because Jon is the sole survivor of the four legendary Masters, just in case that wasn’t clear.) I just finished this today, so the editing is minimal.

Read on AO3

*

Using the Force as a shield is, in theory, one of the easier skills a Jedi utilizes. That is assuming, of course, that the Jedi in question is in good health, a decent mental state, and isn’t under a severe amount of stress. If said Jedi is, say, three feet into a pool of lava, already bearing grievous injuries and the weight of the deaths of two close companions, and feeling the fading life of another, the simple task, understandably, becomes something of a problem.

Jon has finally managed to pull the Force around him like a blanket. It protects him from the bubbling lake around him now, but the first few seconds he couldn’t pull it off were torture.

As it turns out, lava burns. It burns like shame, like failure, like the nightmares Jon used to have about his Master abandoning him on a planet in Hutt space for getting just a little too mouthy. And it hurts nearly as much.

“Fuck,” he hisses. He makes a rule of not cursing, but right now feels like an appropriate time to break it. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

He claws at the charred remains of his robes. Contrary to popular belief, lava doesn’t melt initially, as Jon now knows. Instead of melting, he burst into flames for the few seconds it took to pull himself together, though they felt like an eternity. Red, throbbing burns litter his entire body, his hair singed but miraculously intact thanks to his hood, which is entirely ashes now. The pain consumes his thoughts, making his shielding start to flicker in and out.

And then, through the debilitating agony, a touch of something familiar.

Jon’s eyes fly open. “Fay,” he whispers.

Her light is dimmer than it should be, not flickering in and out mischievously like it usually does. But still, she makes an effort to reach out, to check on him. It sends a sob up his throat.

“Hold on, Fay, hold on.”

Clenching his fists, he opens himself up to the Force. His actions are ones of faith, not of desperation, and he lets it flow through him as he takes a deep breath. The idea of using one of his Master’s abilities would normally make him nauseous, but the disgust doesn’t even cross his mind this time as he prepares to teleport. He thinks of that open, flat space of rock that Obi-Wan and Fay ran to, their enemies close behind. Focusing fiercely on that distant image, he pulls on the Force and folds the two points—

Jon collapses on solid ground with a heaving gasp.

Every inch of his body protests the change, especially his knees, which burn when they make contact with the ground, but somehow he manages to ignore his own complaints.

Fay isn’t far, or she shouldn’t be, at least. The distance between them seems gaping when he tries to move.

Still, her light is fading fast. And he wants to be by her side.

So, Jon Antilles crawls on hands and knees, dragging his body across sharp stones and past bubbling streams of lava. He aches with each movement and cries out when it becomes too much, but he persists regardless. Something in him knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Finally, he sees her.

She’s sprawled out, her chest hardly moving as her breathing becomes shallow. Her near-golden hair is filthy with ash and her eyes are dim. She’s hardly herself, Jon thinks, and feels his stomach sink.

Hundreds of years the great Master Fay has lived and breathed. Hundreds of years and he’s going to watch her die today.

“Jon,” she calls out weakly.

He pulls himself to her side, grabbing her hand with his own shaky ones. “I’m here, Master.”

They only met when he was a teenager, but he feels as if he’s known her all his life. They’ve travelled the Outer Rim together, following the Force, for decades now and he’s never regretted a second of it. In all but title, Fay is his Master. She was always better than Dark Woman, even when the bar was six feet under. The only record with both their names will be at the Temple, where the dead are listed, a handful of mission reports with other Jedi, and the stories the younglings share of the 4 legendary, nomadic Masters.

“Knol and Nico,” Fay breathes out, “they’re one with the Force.”

Jon grimaces. “Yes. And the Force is with us.”

She laughs, breathy and half-choked. It’s an old lesson, familiar and grounding. “And so too are they,” she adds.

“Where’s Obi-Wan?”

“Gone, with the cure.” She smiles just a little. “The Republic fights another day.”

Suddenly grim, he squeezes her hand. “But not us.”

A pause.

“But not us.”

The silence overwhelms them. The wind whistles in the distance, carrying with it nothing but smoke and ashes. Queyta isn’t the best place to die, Jon thinks absently. He would rather it have been someplace with flowers.

“I wish it could’ve been Jedha.”

He almost jumps at her voice, but her words jarr a surprised laugh from his sore lungs. “Jedha? I thought you hated cold planets.”

“Oh, yes, but not that one. Force, I should have taken you. The Force there is so...so strong, so pure, you can feel the kyber from the surface,” she explains, staring straight up at him. If anyone else were to gaze so intensely at his scars, he’d be uncomfortable, but she’s safe. She’s family. “And the Guardians of the Whills are so kind. I met a young one of theirs some decades ago. You two would’ve gotten along.”

Jon laughs a little. “You’re always looking to find me friends, Fay.”

Her smile turns sad and she lifts a hand to his face, letting it rest on his cheek. “You’re so young,” she whispers. “Too young to be so lonely, Jon.”

He shuts his eyes, lets himself be comforted by her touch. When he opens them again, she still has that gut-wrenching look on her face. He places his hand on top of hers, unsurprised at how cold they are despite the blistering heat.

“I’m not lonely,” he promises.

Jon doesn’t say that it’s because of her, Knol, and Nico, but Fay picks up the thought anyway. Her eyes fill with tears.

“I have watched so many I love die.” Fay’s voice wavers as she says it. He realises that it’s the first time he’s ever heard it do that. To be honest, he’d thought it was impossible. “Taken by age, by Darkness, by foolishness. Never have I met a soul as good as yours, Jon. And never a Jedi so worthy of love.”

“Fay…”

She shakes her head. “Your Master did not deserve you. The galaxy did not deserve you.”

Pulling her hand away from him, Jon squeezes it. “You did,” he says firmly, though his voice cracks.

“I hope so,” she admits with a rueful laugh. “I hope so.”

He smiles weakly. “I wish you’d found me first. But I thin-I think the Force knew when I needed you to save me. Because you did save me, Master. I could never thank you enough.”

She takes his word silently, holding his hand even tighter. “You never needed to.”

“Thank you,” he says now, even though it’s useless.

Fay’s grey eyes meet his pale ones and suddenly, she’s distressed. “You’re so young,” she repeats.

But Jon can see that she means something else this time.

“Not too young to do my duty.”

“Too young to die doing it.”

Jon thinks of Tan Yuster, one of four Padawans to die on Geonosis. The Jedi have experienced great loss these past months since the beginning of the war and so many so much younger than Jon have died in battle, the clones included. Of course, to Fay, they all may as well be children.

“I will go proudly into the Force,” he promises her. At your side.

Fay’s expression twists. “No.”

He scoffs. “I don’t think we have a say in it.”

“The Force let me live this long,” she says suddenly, as if it’s a realisation, “longer than I should have. Obi-Wan is gone, I’ve done what good I can, except...you’re here. Why are we here?”

“To say goodbye,” Jon offers.

She shakes her head, then tries to sit up, struggling until her would-be Padawan helps pull her up. “I’m done with goodbyes.”

“What are you—?”

He doesn’t get the chance to finish his question. Fay presses their foreheads together and grabs his hands with a newfound energy that terrifies him. Chills go up his spine when her presence in the Force covers him like a blanket. Warmth climbs up his hands, then his arms, and with a glance down he finds that his skin is healing.

“Fay, no!” he cries, trying to shove her away.

She only tightens her grip. “Stay still, Jon.”

She sounds more like herself, certain and unwavering. Jon would be happy-crying if he weren’t horrified. He tries to drag himself out of her grip, but she’s impossibly strong. Her healing creeps up his entire body, soothing his burns, though scars remain behind.

“No, no, no—FAY! Fay, stop it!” His screams turn to sobs. “You’ll die, stop—!”

“I already am,” she says, just as certain in her abilities as her fate. “But you don’t have to.”

Trembling, his attempts are weaker now but still there. “Please, please,” he begs. “Not without you!”

Tears stream down her cheeks. She allows herself a moment of weakness; she opens her eyes and meets his tearful gaze, remembering the teenager she first met. He was so scared and so brave. And for a moment, she’d thought he must be a ghost. But no, he was just a boy. For the first time in a long time, she had let herself build a bridge between them, like Knol and Nico before him, even knowing she would have to watch him die one day.

Now, she thinks with fierce stubbornness, she won’t have to.

It feels like her life is leaving her for him, though she knows it’s just fading into the Force. It’s to it that she speaks, the cosmic energy she’s dedicated her long, long life to.

“If anyone is deserving of the time you’ve given me,” she gasps out, “it is Jon Antilles.”

She doesn’t see the horror in Jon’s face, but she can feel it in his quiet Force-presence, so subdued. He hides himself on purpose and it truly breaks her heart. His light is so strong. The galaxy is all the better for his existence.

“I don’t want this! Fay, I don’t—let me die, please—”

Fay only lifts her head and kisses his forehead, the sort of gentle gesture a mother might give her son. “One day,” she promises. It rings with truth, with the strength of the Force behind it. “But not today.”

Jon cries out and tries to rip himself away, but freezes when pure light washes over him. The warmth he’s always associated with Fay soaks into him, healing all his wounds in an instant and rejuvenating his fading energy. Stars burst before his eyes, like he’s seeing into the very universe beyond Queyta, beyond what he’s meant to see with his petty Human eyes. In another instant, it’s gone and Fay is slumping over.

She falls to the ground with a thump, a noise that jolts Jon back into focus.

“Master!” he sobs.

He pulls her up from the ground with the sickening realisation that she’s a complete deadweight. She’s limp in his arms, already paling. Desperate, Jon pushes her hair out of her face and finds...nothing. Her eyes are dull. With his fingers on her wrist, he can’t feel a pulse.

“Fay?”

The steady beat of her Force-presence is gone, a gaping hole in his universe. Their bond, one strong enough to resemble a training bond, is shattered, a physical pain that throbs in his skull.

Jon begins to hyperventilate, his sudden gasps for breath burning his now-perfect lungs.

“Come back,” he begs Fay’s corpse. “Fuck, please. Please, come back.”

He pulls her into his lap, clutching her robes like a child being left behind for the first time. It doesn’t hurt to move anymore and, thank the Force for it because his entire body shakes with the force of his cries.

Overwhelmed with grief he’s never experienced, Jon wails into Fay’s shoulder, rocking back and forth. The agonizing sound rings across the valley, a noise like torture.

It’s only now that he feels the frayed edges of his bonds with Knol and Nico.

He screams again, his vocal cords protesting it sharply.

The last time Jon was this alone, he was a child. And now, he’s right back where he was before he met his three closest companions. Except now, now, he knows what it means to love and to lose. It aches. It aches like nothing he’s ever felt.

“Please,” he whispers hoarsely. “I can’t—I need you. What do I do? What am I supposed to do?”

He never gets an answer.

*

River’s Tags: @hahaboop & @mystoragehatesme

Masterlist

[oceankat8]

Hey guys! I found that last page we were looking for. looks like they forgot it on the official release? wild.

[chiafett-moved]

Gracious - Febuwhump 2021

To say that Knol’s not thrilled to meet Fay’s new pet project would be an understatement. He’s one of An’ya’s and Fay’s already warned her to be ‘gentle, Knol, he’s only a child.’ 

Yeah, he probably is only a child. A child with a deadly skill set and a hell of a lot of issues. Knol really doesn’t want to deal with teen angst on today’s mission. 

“You know, you were a teenager only a few years ago,” Fay chides, cresting the hill and approaching Knol. 

Knol very nearly startles. Fay has a tendency to continue conversations that never began, something which has never ceased to unsettle Knol. On this fine morning, she’s got company. Fay is being trailed by a tall, thin shadow in a dark robe that borders on ridiculous in its size. She can’t see the kid’s face but this must be-

“Knight Jon Antilles,” Fay introduces, stepping aside and ushering the kid towards Knol. He’s not having it, and Fay sets a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Jon, take that hood off, will you? You look like a wraith.” 

Jon hesitates, but reaches up to pull his hood back. He is young, perhaps eighteen or nineteen, but his face is cut through with several old scars. His dark hair is tied up in a sloppy knot at the base of his skull and he regards Knol like one might regard a particularly large bomb. “Hello,” he murmurs. 

“Hey, there,” she says, overly bright. He takes a half-step back, glancing quickly to Fay before aiming that stare back at her. Knol rolls her eyes. “I’m Knol. Why is your name Jon Antilles?”

Jon’s eyes widen and he looks to Fay again, clearly unsure of how to respond. Knol snickers. Fay doesn’t find her antics so amusing, though, and shoots her a warning look. 

“Alright,” Fay says. “Now that we’re all introduced, let’s talk strategy. We need to get into that warehouse and out again with the codes without being noticed.”

They’re noticed. They’re so noticed it’s not even funny. Knol deflects a shot back at the bounty hunter who fired it and grabs Jon by the arms, dragging him out the doors. Of course, the kid chooses now to start fighting her, thrashing and kicking and biting. 

“Kid, let’s go, we’ve got to get out of here,” she growls, yanking him out of the warehouse and dumping him on the ground just outside. He slumps into the grass and she kneels next to him, grabbing his chin and tipping his face up to look in his eyes. 

He jerks as soon as she touches him, trying to back up and panicking when he hits the side of the building. “Let go,” he snarls, trying to kick her again.

“Jon. Jon. Kid, it’s still me. Let me get a look at you.” She takes a foot to the knee and yelps. “Jon! Kid, you’ve got to calm down.” 

Finally, he relaxes enough for her to push his hair back and look in his eyes. They’re cloudy and unfocused, pupils huge and nearly swallowing the hazel irises. His nose is bleeding and he’s startlingly hot to the touch. Fuck. Myrilian bounty hunters don’t kriff around with fast-acting poison. 

“Fay,” she calls back into the warehouse. “We need to go now!” 

“A little busy, darling,” comes the reply, accompanied by a crash and a wave of Force that goes over her and leaves her fur standing on end. A bounty hunter screams. 

“Alright, Antilles, it’s just you and me,” she mutters, getting her hands under the kid’s arms. He’s barely aware right now; there’s no way he’s walking out under his own power. 

He might not be in such a bad way if he’d chilled the fuck out after he’d been poisoned, like Fay and Knol told him to, but he hadn’t. He’d spent the last twenty minutes doing his damndest to be everywhere at once, hopping from place to place with that weird-ass teleporting thing and taking down bounty hunters and droids left and right. He’d be spent even if he hadn’t been poisoned. 

Well, there’s nothing to be done about it now, Knol reflects, pulling the kid to his feet and dodging a clumsy punch. “Come on, Antilles, Fay’s about to blow the place and I don’t want to go down with it.” 

“Le’go,” Jon slurs, tumbling forward as soon as he’s on his feet. “Don’ touch me…” 

“We’re past that,” she says, scooping him up into a bridal carry. “Fay, any day now!” 

Right on cue, Fay comes sprinting out of the warehouse, blonde hair streaming behind her. “I’m here,” she says, not even out of breath. Show off. 

“Good,” Knol says, and starts running. 

They make it a hundred yards before Fay turns and raises her open hands to the warehouse, closing them to fists and bringing the whole thing down on itself. Knol barely notices, preoccupied with the way Jon has started seizing in her arms, labored breaths giving way to desperate, choking gasps. 

Fay steps to her, all business. “Set him down,” she commands. 

Knol does as she’s told, laying Jon down on the grass. Fay drops to her knees next to him, placing her hands on his head as he twitches and writhes and grinds his teeth. The poor kid’s pale as death and Knol balls her hands into fists as Fay pulls his head and shoulders into her lap. 

She closes her eyes and bends over Jon, dropping into a Healing Trance. Almost immediately, the convulsions stop, but so does Jon’s breathing. Knol bites her tongue as Fay sinks deeper, flattening her hands against his temples. “Come on, Jon,” she coaxes. “Come back to me.” Jon jolts and takes a deep, spasming breath. “There you go. Come on back.” 

Knol kneels next to them as Fay works, eyes closed and expression serene. She goes quickly, and Knol can feel the care with which she stitches Jon back together, expelling the poison and healing the worst of the injuries he’d collected. 

At last, after a few tense, silent minutes, Jon’s eyes slide open. He blinks up at Fay, disoriented. “Mm?” 

“There you are,” she says, smiling. She smoothes back a few loose pieces of his hair and takes his hand in hers. “I believe you scared Knol,” she laughs. 

“Ha, funny,” Knol scoffs, rising to her feet. 

To Fay’s dismay, Jon tries to follow her. When Fay protests, he gets an elbow underneath himself and croaks, “‘M fine, we should get moving.”

“Uh-uh,” Knol says, leaning back down and putting a hand on his shoulder. He starts, but she stays steady, pushing him back down into Fay’s lap. It doesn’t take much effort. “Stay down, kid. You’re exhausted.” And still warm to the touch. Even with Fay’s work, he’ll need some time to recover. 

Jon goes down, but the look on his face could kindly be described as panic mixed with confusion. He looks from Fay to Knol and back again and Fay sighs, setting her hands on his shoulders. 

“Rest, Jon,” she says. “Force knows you need it.” Then, to Knol, “Come here.” 

Knol obeys, stepping to Fay, and is rewarded with a hand on her hip and a rush of warmth that sets her broken finger and mends the bruises and cuts she’d accumulated during the fight. Knol nods in thanks, then turns her gaze to the smoldering remains of the warehouse. 

“I’ll go and get the equipment,” she offers. “We can set up camp here, stay the night, leave in the morning?” 

Fay nods, thanks visible in her eyes and tangible in the Force. Jon relaxes a bit. Knol still makes him nervous. 

She makes for the hills.

By the time she returns, backpack on and duffle bag in her hand, the sun is dipping below the mountains. Fay is sitting exactly where she was when Knol left, legs crossed, meditating. Jon is out cold with his head in her lap and his stupid cloak covering him like a blanket. Knol sets her things down a few meters away and begins assembling the tent. It should be big enough for the three of them, and she’s got rations and some firebricks as well. 

It’s quick, easy work, and by the time darkness falls, they’ve got a tent and a fire. Knol sits next to Fay, leaving some space in case the kid wakes up and decides it’s freak-out time again. He seems pretty dead to the world, though, so she hazards an attempt at conversation. 

“Where did you find him?” she asks Fay.

Fay hums, idly twisting a strand of Jon’s hair around her finger. “Lost,” is all she says. “He was lost and alone and hurting, and he agreed to come with me.” 

“Of course.” Why does she even bother asking direct questions?

Fay chuckles, turning to face her. Her hair looks unreal in the firelight, flickering and changing quicker than the flames. “What do you think of him?”

“He’s a good kid,” Knol admits. “Got a hell of a right hook on him.” 

Fay laughs again, clear and bright and short. “That he does. That he does.” She turns back to the fire, smiling softly. 

“Seriously, though. Who the fuck named him ‘Jon Antilles?’”

[cryptidling]

inspired partially by this ask, but mostly by all the other asks that showered down after it on @blackkatmagic​‘s blog, both the ask and her replies were just *chef’s kiss*

i was just hey! i just gonna draw all the nomadic jedi as dragons real quick, but then i didint orz so well here is the first one, knol, the fire eater!

i wanted to preserve her fluffiness plus she still being the smallest of the group, so now you have this chunky as hell dragon! also i imagine when she transform, she totally levels up and is now able to breath lava, tho it can turn quite messy as you can see it dripping down on her

[oh-no-eu-didnt]

Knol Ven’nari was a Bothan Jedi Master who lived during the Clone Wars. A headstrong loner, Ven’nari never took a padawan and spent much of her time wandering the galaxy, following the path the Force took her. She became a legend in the order, known by the nickname Flame Eater for her unique ability to control fire with the Force. She wielded a green lightsaber.

Source: Republic 53 - Blast Radius (2003)

[blackkatmagic]

For mermay, how about Knol saving guppy Jon from an underwater volcanic eruption where dark woman left him for training purposes?

Bless you, I am always down for Knol and Jon.

hear the wind blow free

[legomocfodder]

A bit of a throwback set of minifigs today.

Knol Ven'nari, Nico Diath, Obi-Wan, Fay, and Jon Antilles.

These Jedi appeared in one issue of the 2002 Clone Wars comic, and sadly Obi-Wan was the only one to survive that mission

NSFW blogs do not reblog!

[kbirbpods]

Original Work:  hope you're keeping warm by @flowerparrish on ao3

Rating: General Audiences

Relationship: Jon Antilles & Knol Ven'nari

Tags: Developing Friendships, Gift Giving, Jedi Culture & Tradition (Star Wars), An'ya Kuro's A+ Parenting, Jon Antilles Needs a Hug, Touch-Starved, Touch Aversion, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse

Audio Length: 4 minutes and 6 seconds

Summary:

“Got a present for you, Vagrant.” He sighs.

[roedusk]

Maalraas Pt 1 (Knol and Savage)

So... yeah, this isn’t near done yet, but here’s the first bit of my idea for Knol that turned out to fit Knol picking up Savage as a decent guardian.  Inspired by a comment by pretzel-log1c over on blackkatmagic’s tumblr.  All spelling and grammar errors are mine.

Edit: I realized I should probably put a warning here for the existence of the parasitic Orbalisks and my attempts at medical care, including blood. I didn't go far enough into either to freak myself out but they are involved.

- - - - - - - - - -

There’s a hostility in the air on Onderon that Knol hasn’t felt anywhere else.  A part of it is the people, already vicious in their city’s endless fight against encroaching nature, now faced with a droid army poised to wipe them out in turn.  Another source is the world itself, where all nature outside of Iziz’s carefully slashed borders is violent and full of predators that can take down men with modern weapons.  Not exactly an environment that breeds conservationists.  Even the separatist droids, capable of standing against Iziz’s militias, find themselves repeatedly overwhelmed by the planet’s native inhabitants.

And then there’s Dxun.

There have always been rumors about Onderon’s moon, locked into the history of the planet as it is and home to all of Onderon’s worst monsters.  The Temple archives have oblique references to it in the oldest files.  Mentions of an assault from Onderon's moon, and the many Jedi who died preventing it.  There’s more in the restricted archives.  Sith holocrons speak of it as a site of potent dark side energy, and breeding ground of monsters perfectly predisposed for use in sith alchemy.

Knol is here chasing rumors of an ancient Sith stronghold, long since fallen into ruin.  A tomb perhaps, or maybe a temple, but definitely an ancient stronghold of the Sith.  It’s the real reason for the Seperatist presence on Onderon, and they’ve been preparing all spring for an assault on the moon, just as soon as the two spheres shifted into alignment.

Threads discovered by Clan Nari spies have led her here, too late to stop the assault, but not late enough that she can’t infiltrate the fortress first and remove anything they might be after.  Thankfully the local wildlife and the droids have been taking each other out, leaving her to make her way towards the fortress more or less unimpeded.  Even more than Onderon this moon makes her fur itch, instincts constantly warning that the jungle is hiding millions of predators of all sizes, plant and animal alike, sizing up an easy bothan meal.  And while she’ll never be an easy meal she’s learned long ago not to dismiss her instincts.  Many Jedi might see fight-or-flight as a chemical bias factor but for her the force works though instinct the same as it does everything else.

Knol would have died long ago if she stopped heeding it.

There’s an itch at the base of her skull that follows her but for once leaning on the force doesn’t reveal her watchers, just a squadron of droids sweeping the jungle nearby.  They’re wielding blasters and flamethrowers, hardly a threat of the kind to make her hair stand on end, and not close enough to stumble on her by accident.

There’s a search pattern they’re following, however, and if she uses that she can guess where she needs to go.  

It's good enough for a start at least.  Only three quarters of the moon left to rule out.  The eyes on her back fade as she makes her way around the droids, eventually disappearing entirely.  One less predator after her on a moon where even the plants try to eat you.

- - - - - - - - - -

As she scales low-lying branches, making her way through the least hostile trees, Knol slowly learns the force presences of the predators around her.

Bloodsap she learns first, needing to make sure she doesn't lean too long on a plant whose leaves and bark will try to drain her through her skin.  The Sugarleaves are safer, their sweet-smelling leaves the true trap, leaving their stone-hardened bark a safe landing zone.  Among fauna are the herds of Cannoks, terrorizing anything they can overwhelm and dying to everything else.  She can easily outwit them with a force trick easily enough, the herd would rushing off together after prey only one of them even saw.  The oversized Boma aren't so easily distracted but far simpler to simply spot and avoid.  The airborne Skreev circle the upper branches, looking for clearings with Bomu or Cannoks where they can dive down and spear themselves a meal before fleeing.  Sticking to the treeline kept her out of their way, and the single Drexl that flew overhead was happy to snatch up the Skreev eyeing her rather than the significantly smaller bothan meal.

And yet, every now and then the fur at the base of her skull will stand up, though there's nothing she cand sense in the force.  Her silent watchers are wary, never venturing close or closing in for the kill, and they always remain behind when she moves on.  

There'd been rumors in the ancient archives of Force-hunters, beasts who cloaked themselves with the Force and used it to sense their prey.  Presumed to be a sith bioweapon gone native then extinct in the pressures of the Dxun environment.  Knol was beginning to suspect they weren't nearly as extinct as she'd like.

Still, cloaked watchers or not, she was getting closer.  While the droids scout every square inch of the jungle, fighting strangling vines and varyingly deep pools of water the whole way, Knol turns her steps towards the faint increase of darkness in the distance.

But she needed to hurry.  Even without any ability to sense the Force the battledroids will eventually find the temple themselves.  It just might take longer than they'd like to navigate the jungle on the way there.

A search unit is stalled at the edge of a mini-swamp when Knol lands in their midst.  Before the droids can react the bothan is spinning into battle. The two guard units with blasters going down first, taking just enough time for the rest of the droids to level their flamethrowers at her.  After that it's a simple matter of spinning the fire out of her way with one hand while using the other to strike down each droid in turn.

In the silence that follows the feeling of eyes intensifies.  The force swirls around her still, the last of the fire dissipating in her palm, but revealing nothing of her newest watcher.  And reaching out with a more direct pulse does nothing but make the feeling peak.  Knol eyes her surroundings for a moment longer, still seeing nothing out of place, before deciding an attack still isn't imminent and sheathing her lightsaber.  This time, however, the watcher follows her when she sets out.  Every now and then she thibjs she can hear a paw hitting water, or claws digging into bark for purchase, but the monster stalking her steps remaines otherwise undetectable.

The next group of droids she funds between her and the growing darkness falls like the first.  The third group is larger and more concentrated in flamethrower droids.  A few moments into the fight there's a low snarl and one of the blaster droids around the edge goes down before it can shoot her in the back.  There are massive teeth marks on the droid's head, and clawmarks where the invisible beast tore the chassis open to finally lay it low.

Still, the creature has yet to make a move against her.  And it probably doesn't prefer droids for food over Bothan.  Knol stretches her senses again, considering every corner of the clearing.  But the monster remains hidden and all she gets for her troubles is a headache and a vague sense of motion that quickly slips away from her again.

There's something following her, she's certain of it now.  And yet, trying to lean into that primal part of the force, the one making the fur on the back of her neck stand up, proves fruitless.  

With a huff Knol turns to continue towards the growing shadow, when there's suddenly a low growl and a sizeable presense behind her.  She spins, lightsaber already activating, then looks up.  The creature is a third again her height and easily five times her length, but it's standing out of range of her blade, teeth bared as it rumbles, but making no other move to attack.

Cautiously she reaches out with the Force, and is startled when the monster pushes back.  A tug on her force presence, and she can see flickering images of a monsterois beast, covered in glittering armor and radiating pure dark.  One living in exactly the dirrection she was headed.

Knol blinks, reaching out to the beast before her again, studying it even as it prods her in return.  There's a force bond there, recently torn, and running mental fingers over it gives her flashes of fire, a cub's death scream and glittering black droids.  The droids, while not radiating the force, had the same disquieting feeling in the beast's imoressions as the glittering armor of the dark mountain she'd been heading for.  Prodding that thought with a question gets her a huff and a series of impressions of a parasitic beetle, to be killed as soon as they were discovered near the den lest they multiply and take over, devouring tree and animal alike.

Knol grimmaces at the dark side radiating from the insects in the monster's memories.  Reaching out to her surroundings she finds she can sense them now, slowly overwhelming the monster she had been heading towards.  A Zakkeg, from what she had researched, but one slowly being devoured from the outside in, and as such wearing an impenetrable hide not even lightsabers could cut through.  And she'd thought the records of Orbalisks were creepy before she bumped into them.  An Orbalisks encased Zakkeg, definitely something to avoid.

Warning successfully delivered, the monster cloaks again, but this time Knol finds she can sense just a sliver of its presence, make out just a hint of its outline.  Prodding at it with the force reveals nothing more, but it occasionally prods her back.  There's an echo in it's attention of a curious cub, always prodding it for answers, and Knol finds herself carefully separating the monster's desire to handle-the-threat, kill-droids from her own.

No longer tracing the Orbalisk's darkside presence, Knol finds she still has some idea of where to go.  There are two smaller darkside presences not much further on.  Ones she had previously dismissed due to the strength and proximity of the Obalisk infected Zakkeg.  Both are smoother, less piercing of a call,  and at the same time more disguised, distinct from the scattered Orbalisks she can sense now that she knows what to look for.

But to get to them she'll need to pass through a bog teeming with the parasitic beetles.  Knol frowns, studying the scattered pillbug shells arrayed before her, not wanting to risk the water, seeing them scuttle through it at concerning speed.  But the Bloodsaps ahead of her have hints of darkness sheltered in their withering leaves, Orbalisks happy to drain the plants trying to drain them in turn.

The Sweetsap beneath her feet is unaffected, though, dead beetles littering the ground below, clearly incompatible with its acidic sap.  And an impatient tug on her force presence means her stalker would much rather her take the long way around, sticking to safe trees, rather than contemplating racing with death.

Knol chuckles under her breath at the admonishment, surprisingly similar to the complaints of her fellow Jedi on the rare occasions she had to work together.

Following the Sweetsap around the clearing leads them through a lighter patch, trees swaying ahead of her as her stalker moves invisibly from tree to tree.  Then Knol turns away from the prescribed path, forcing her watcher to shift into following again, the waters below grew more and more deadly as dormant Orbalisks sense her force presence and beging waking in a sea of dark stars around her.  All very interested in sinking their teeth into that beconing life.  But the trail of Sweetsaps continue, happily devouring the insects that devour everything else, allowing so Knol and her stalker to make it to the far side of the bog without incident.

The trees are thinner here, interrupted by unforgiving rock and intense winds.  Ahead of them is both the towering Sith Mausoleum Knol has been searching for, and the Sith Apprentice that has been searching for it.

The Zabrak clearly senses her, head jerking towards her as he struggles against his own limbs.  On the com by his head Dooku follows the movement, eyes widening slightly as he spots her.  Then he tilts his head in greeting.

"Master Ven'nari. It would appear the rumors of your untimely death were greatly exaggerated."

"Not everyone loves the spotlight as much as you do, Count." Knol rolls her eyes, just to see the proper bastard's eyebrow twitch.  Her cover's truly blown now, might as well make the most of it.

Dooku scoffs at her grin, "I suppose some are happy to settle for obscurity."  Then he frowns.  "I suppose I must consider that the others on your mission might have survived as well."

Knol shrugs dismissively. "Wouldn't know, I wasn't there to make friends, Count.  Saw my chance to sneak away - while still buying those reckless bastards a little time to complete the mission - so I took it."

"And no doubt stripped whatever information you could find on the base's computers for your home planet's paltry spy network.  Perhaps the Separatist cause would be better served taking your people down before any more damage can come of it."

"Shouldn't you be more worried about your own people?" Knol asks, giving the Zabrak on the ground a pointed glance. "Sunshiny Stripes isn't looking so good there."

Dooku scoffs, "I have no intention to bargain for the life of a mere apprentice. Under normal circumstances were he unable to defeat you and return to me he would be unworthy of my continued tutelage.  However, he recently fell afoul of the native Orbalisks insects. Once attached any means of killing the insect in question releases a fatal dose of an incurable toxin into the host's bloodstream."  Dooku sighs, shaking his head at the broken insectoid remains laying beside the still struggling Zabrak. "He'll be dead within the hour.  A pity, I had great hopes he would prove more obedient than my previous padawan."

"Whoever let you be a teacher clearly never saw you with kids," Knol muses acidly.  "They always end up dying in some horrible way."

Dooku's eyes flash. "You would do well to watch your mouth, Jedi."

But Knol isn't paying attention to him anymore.  Instead entire attention is locked onto the rapidly approaching shadow of a Drexl.

"Know what? Call you back sometime," the bothan quips, using the Force to snap the holo-disk into the drexl's eyes and sending it careening into the trees at the clearing's edge, only a short ways beyond the Sith's ship.

Before she can finish snatching up her lightsaber there's a snarl and the stalker lunges past.  Still cloaked, she can only spot it as it smashes into the Draxl's side, knocking the oversized I sect back to the ground as it tries to stand.  

There's a split second where Knol's only impulse is to run, just leave the Sith to die and the monsters to fight it out.  She's dismissing it before it even finishes forming, however.  Not like she'd be a very good Jedi if she couldn't be a better person than Dooku.

Her lightsaber's heavy in her hand, but the stalker is winning without her hekp, and beside her the Zabrak is still struggling to rise in spite of Dooku's words to the contrary, the force singing his frustration and pain.  Fear too, but buried by something like resignation even as he keeps fighting for breath.

Knol pulls him off the ground, with the help of a force pull, and all but throws the taller sentient over her shoulders to keep him upright.  The pain radiating off him intensifies, but there's a surge of startled gratitude as well, so she figures it's fine.

"Come on, big guy, let's get you somewhere a little safer."

Which, really, can only mean the ship.  She'll have to put searching the temple on hold for now.  But seeing as she's leaving with a Sith in custody Knol's pretty sure she has time for a detour.

The Drexl is wailing now, bleeding from several gouges and only able to track the smaller monster when it lands a blow.  A part of Knol's still tempted to step in, help the monster that's been following her this whole time.  But she knows this is the only chance she'll have to get the Sith to safety, and that makes sealing the loading ramp shut easier..

It's clearly one of Dooku's personal crafts, with real wood paneling and fancy upholstery on the pilot seat.  Knol tosses the injured apprentice onto the fancy bed and doesn't regret the bloodstains for a moment.

"Stay calm and stay put," she orders when he seems ready to start struggling again. "Try to keep the poison from spreading any faster while I get us out of here."

Then she activates the anti-turbulence field on the bed and sprints over to the ship controls.  Only, there's no armaments she can find, only a handful of micro tractor/repulsor beam generators along the nosecone.  An unarmed ship? For a mission to Dxun? Really?

At least the tractor beam generators meant the nosecones were reinforced.  Firing up the engine Knol takes a moment to reach out into the Force where her stalker should be and project her intent.  Then she lifts off just far enough to spin the ship and ram the Drexl in the side.  

Fed up with this assault the airborne predator turns and throws itself airborne, limping away and skyward as it retreats into the sunset.  There's a rush of satisfaction from below, at overcoming the predator and protecting the cubs.  And for a moment Knol can almost place the stalker's outline through the viewport.

Then the trees sway and it's gone.

Probably off to hunt some Cannoks in the post-battle high, she figures.  She wishes her monster quick success, turns the ship skyward, and lifts off.

Once safely out of the shared Onderon/Dxun atmosphere Knol weighs her options.  There's no telling how much of the ship is bugged, or even how Dooku is tracking it.  Any hyperspace coordinates she types in might well have an armada waiting for them when they arrive, but it can't be helped.  Not like she can trade favors for a half-priced cabin on a spacer's ship with a near-dead Zabrak slung over her shoulder.

Medical attention has to come first, though.  So she leaves the ship orbiting Dxun and wanders back into the cabin.  The Zabrak isn't responding anymore, his force presence staying pained and unconscious when she tries poking at his mind to make sure.

There's some just-as-likely-to-kill-you-as-help antitoxin in the fold-out medical suite.  And one of those expensive nutrition replacers for rich folks who don't want to worry about what they're eating.  Knol reads the instructions on the side, then shrugs and gives him the maximum 2 doses.  If he's lucky the degradable nanites will rewrite some of the toxin into nutrients before dissipating, and if not they'll at least clean up some of the cell-damage byproducts.  By the time she needs to worry about if the nanites are really biodegradable he should either be dead or recovering.

Beyond that she needs to find the injury and see if there's anything left she can drain before it gets into the bloodstream.  Easier than she expected to find, too, from the spreading black spot on the duvet below Sunshine's shoulder.  Rolling him onto his side for a better look she finds torn armor and flesh, including a bite wound and a separate injection wound wound.  Fortunately neither the mandibles nor the stinger were left in the injuries, so hopefully the poison sack was removed when the beetle was ripped out.  Plus she doesn't have to dig them out with her bootknife, win-win.

But other than that it looks like there isn't much left for her to do.  The bite has stopped bleeding, being mostly torn flesh, and the stinger wound has shifted from black ichor to red blood.  Knol doesn't actually know if black striped Zabrak bleed some other color but red is standard for Zabrak that she's aware of.

There's a blood bag in the medical cabinet, but it's labeled human male, and Knol doesn't know enough to feel like risking it yet.  Still, the bleeding could kill her guest even if the poison doesn't.   So she wipes down the shoulder as best she can then pads it with bacta and gause before securing the arm to the Sith's chest and immobilizeing the shoulder.

As an afterthought she shifts the Sith up off the soiled duvet, stripping it off the bed before arranging him more comfortably on the sheets below.  Next she decides to strip the armor, piling it in a corner of the droid recharging station along with anything else in the cabin she wanted out of the Sith's reach.

He doesn't appear to have a lightsaber, or any weapon at all really.  Knol wonders idly if she left it behind in Dxun or if he'd lost it somewhere before she arrived.  Not like she was going to go looking for it either way, as long as it's not in some secret compartment on the ship where he can grab it and try a sneak attack.

Right after he wakes up from being near-fatally poisoned feeling like he likes his odds.

Knol finishes up by tossing the spare duvet in the closet over her guest, then heads back towards the cockpit. Sitting back in the padded pilot's chair Knol revisits the question of where to go.  The ship is almost certainly traceable, a locator beacon at minimum.  As Sith Dooku likely trusts his apprentice about as far he can throw him, and then only because using the force proves he can still overcome the younger man.

So she can't risk taking the ship to any op-fronts, not to mention the complications the Sith himself brings up.  Sunshine needs medical attention, the sooner the better.  But there's a chance he might also kill everyone involved in helping him when he wakes up, if Dooku doesn't show up to massacre them first.

Knol wants him to live in spite of Dooku's predictions.  Wants to snatch him out from under the former Jedi's nose and rub it in that he survived after Dooku decided to abandon him.  But she wasn't willing to risk a hundred lives or more to saving a single enemy.

So, no op-fronts.  Or any of the safehouses.  And no medical stations or facilities in major cities.

With a sigh she selects Manaan, hoping one of the floating spaceports will have an offworlder medical facility.  Then if the Sith tries anything he can just drown.

The glow of the universe streaming by mocks her.  It will be hours before they arrive. The Zabrak might well be dead before they even land.  And if Dooku follows them to Manaan she'll be putting the entire planet at risk just by being there.

The jungle was simple compared to this, at least there the worst that could happen was an agonizing death.  Not the destruction of millions by a petty warlord seeking retribution on a single Jedi.  She faked her death for a reason, and now that anonymity was all down the drain.

Reaching out she gingerly tapped the ball of agony that was Sunshine's force presence.  Still unconscious but he was alive, and still breathing.  A faded impression of a stalker cub, screaming in pain as it dies to flamethrower droids, refuses to leave her mind.

Knol sighes and moves to the loading chamber to work through some katas.  She needs to get her thoughts back under control before the Sith wakes up.

- - - - - - - - - -

They're a little over halfway to Manaan when a flash of terror stabs through the ship.  Anger follows it, bordering on fury, and a bitter sense of confusion.

Rolling her eyes the Bothan lowers her saber and heads for the cabin, wanting to cut that train of thought off before any revenge plots can get off the ground.  But when she steps inside the anger fades slightly, Sunshine blinking up at her as though he expected someone else.

Probably Dooku, actually, what with this being his ship and all.

Knol stalks up beside the bed with a teeth-baring stage smile.  "Nope, no self importance Counts here.  You remember who I am, Sunshine?"

The Zabrak's brow wrinkles as he squints at her.  Then he manages a jerky nod.

"You're the Jedi," He decides.  "The one on Dxun.  Where…?"

"On the way to Manaan to find you a medical facility.  You remember getting poisoned?"

A grunt, then the Sith nods again.  "Yes.  The Orbalisks.  The temple was empty and overrun.  I managed to avoid all but one, yet that was enough." He meets her gaze steadily. "You should have left me to die."

"What?" Knol demands, fur ruffling at the thought. "Because you would have, or something?" There's no self-recrimination in the injured Sith, no hatred that would mean he would rather have died than be rescued by her, just a smooth sort of certainty.

"I am your enemy," he replies. "I killed Jedi on Devaron on Dooku's orders.  Preserving an enemy life will only cause more death."

"And you're a good apprentice who always follows orders," Knol rolls her eyes at the thought.

"Yes," the Sith agrees, the honesty in the force starting her.  "The Nightsisters did not wish for me to question once they empowered me."

Knol's eyes narrow in the silence that follows, not liking the implications.  The Sith seems to sense her discomfort, regarding her unblinkingly through glowing yellow eyes.

"And if the Nightsisters ordered you to betray Dooku?" Knol asks, her ears curling back.

"I would obey," the Sith replies.  A hesitation, then he continues, "When she ordered me to kill my little brother I obeyed."

Well, shit.

There's a hollow in the force at that admittance.  And echo where there should be an emotion but nothing comes of it.  It's terrifying, unnatural, and Knol would bet that Sunshine knows it as well.

She reaches towards him on impulse, hesitates, then rests a hand on his uninjured shoulder.

"I know some people who might be able to help with that." She tells him firmly.  "Let's get you to Manaan, then I'll see what I can do to track them down."

There's gratitude at that, and a faint, fragile hope.  But the Sith still meets her eyes squarely.

"Should Dooku wish to take me back I will go with him."

And, scrap.  That means there's something bigger going on, some plan of the Nightsisters' involving a pawn bound to Dooku's service.  Knol is suddenly grateful the Zabrak's communicator never made it off Dxun.  As it is she's going to have to deconstruct the holotable in the lounge in case, no point making the Count's job any easier.

But she gives the kid her most unbothered stage-smile and a pat on the shoulder.  "We'll be on our way before he can catch up to us, no worries.  I'll handle the details, so you just focus on staying alive until we get to Manaan.  Maybe get some rest."

A nod, then Sunshine's eyes slide shut as he passes out.  Knol can already tell the stubbornness on this one is going to be intense.

She leaves him to his beauty sleep and wanders back to the loading bay.  There she sinks to her knees, gingerly rubbing her temples as she carefully raises her shields again.  Keeping herself wide open for so long was giving her a headache, but she needed to know what the force was sensing from him.  And she'd gotten everything she could have wished for and more.

What a mess.

Knol shifts back to lean against the bulkhead, closing her eyes and relaxing into the Force.

She'd need to reach out to the others for help.  Not that they'd kept in touch since Queyta.  She'd only even heard of Fay or Antilles before the mission, and only worked with Diath once.

Or, well, twice if that surprise cantina brawl counted, though it had been his attempted infiltration gone wrong and she'd only been there for a drink.

They'd talked when they met up, though.  Had to convince the cryptids to wait long enough for the temple brat the Council decided to send when Diath put in the mission request.

But they'd realized, after they finally had the mission details out of the way, that they agreed on the fundamentals.  On things the Temple seemed to have forgotten, or simply started taking for granted.  And that this mission might give them a chance to slip the noose that the Senate was slowly closing around their necks.

She hadn't lied when she told Dooku she didn't know if the others had survived.  There'd been a plan, Diath helped her death scene along, then left her there to do his part.  Knol had been the first, and when she woke up she set out to sink the fortress and make her escape.  She didn't look for the others and they didn't look for her.  For all she knows they died when the factory went down, but somehow she doubts it.

And now Knol hopes she's right because Sunshine could really use their help.

Nightsister magic, from a force cult on Dathomir she'd only read vage rumors about in the same restricted records that described Dxun.  Something that could warp and control the mind and will to such an extent…  

Master Diath might have read more of the relevant passages, obscure archives research being a hobby of his.  And he may be able to tease apart the mind altering aspects even if he hasn't studied anything like it before.  Little Tae would know where he was, if she's willing to risk the telepath around Sunshine's broken mind.  In the best case scenario he might even be able to help with the Zabrak's recovery somehow.

Fay would be better, but on a level where Knol isn't even entirely certain what she would do.  The ancient Jedi could reach in and rearrange the Zabrak's mind with no trouble at all, but what she would leave behind when she was done...?

And Knol hasn't the slightest clue where she'd even find the older Jedi, constantly wandering the furthest eddies of the Force in a way the Bothan's not sure anyone else will ever really understand.

So… leaving elder cryptid as an emergency backup plan, that makes finding Diath plan A.  And who knows, if they really need her she's sure Fay will just show up.

So, Manaan, ditch the ship, find another ride, then go grab Tae.  Kid knew enough to back out of the way during the barfight, then offered to hold her drink, even with Nico presumed dead he's probably doing alright.  He didn't even drink it, just gave it back once they were done.  No matter how bad Sunshine seems to her Tae'll probably be able to handle it.  And if he can't they'll just leave.

Course decided, Knol let herself slip fully into meditation, slowly bleeding her headache away as the stars race by.