Finding Tsiana was always a fun job, Drox thought with slight sarcasm. What was harder then finding her was getting her to stay still long enough for him to talk to her. She had the habit of running of the moment she saw him. He had spent enough time with the cheetah to know that she did so because it was her way of bonding with him.
As a padawan he had been difficult. He hated being a padawan. When he joined the jedi he didn't understand why he could just quickly rise in ranks. Majanga had raised him in the sith way, but Majanga knew enough about the jedi that he had spent an equal amount of time teaching Drox about the Jedi. Because of his lessons with Majanga, he was able to quickly skip over some classes. However there were other lessons he had a hard time understanding.
As a sith he relied heavily on his emotions to give him strength. This was not the jedi way. Learning how to stop relying on his emotions was difficult for him. When he was paired with his jedi master, he was constantly failing in this sense. There was even a moment where he thought he was going to give up on being a jedi, that he was never meant for it.
He was always causing trouble for his master, whether it was from not listening, goofing off or getting into fights. Eventually he grew out of it and he had his master to thank for that.
Tsiana enjoyed playing and adventure. She didn't listen to him much and preferred to learn by failing. At time she was a handful. And yet, he never regretted her as his padawan, not even for a moment. “Tsiana!” He called out.
He could hear her giggle. “Tsiana, I need to talk to you. I have a favor to ask you.” Drox said, listening carefully for any movements.
“Master Drox, you need to learn determination! You can't just accept everyone to come to you when you need help. Sometimes you have to hunt them down and then convince them to help you.” She replied. He heard the branches above him rustle. Looking up he could see her on a think branch, walking it like a tightrope. “Good evening Master Drox.”
“Tsiana would you mind hopping down from there? I need to introduce you to someone.” Drox called up. He was thankful he didn't bring Dainot'an and Kalila with him to talk to Tsiana. This would have been a much more embarrassing situation.
She seemed to think about it. “Well, I'm actually quite fond of the view from up here. Why don't you come up here instead?” She said, staring down at him with her big yellow eyes.
“If I go up there, you will be responsible for getting me down or carrying me around once I end up falling and hurting my legs.” Drox said, as he made his way over to the tree, getting ready to climb up it.
“Master Drox, you are no fun.” She said to him. With complete grace she jumped down from branch to branch until she was able to hop to the ground. Unlike other jedi, Tsiana had her beads as earrings. The hair on her head was carefully weaved back, with leafs and feather braided in. “You are going to have to learn how to take care of your own problems soon Master Drox. I am not always going to be your padawan. Soon I will be going on my quest.”
“Tsiana, once you are a knight I can still ask for your help. In fact I expect I will ask for your help more. But for now, I just need your help on a small task. A leopardess by the name Kalila is seeking out her family. She has not seen them since she was a cub. I was wondering if you could try using your seer power to try and locate her family?” Drox said.
Tsiana frowned. When Drox asked for her help, she thought she would get to go on a fun adventure. She had recently developed her seer powers. It had been a surprise to her and her family. It even amused Drox some when she told him. “I better not Master Drox. After all, I might get deathly ill. You know how A'lan gets whenever he gets a vision.”
Drox gave his padawan a sigh. She was trying to use his best friend against him. Everyone knew that the two of them were very close. Drox felt like he needed to protect A'lan whenever he got sick. “You are not A'lan Tsiana. You have never been sick because of a seer vision.” He said. “I know you do not enjoy your visions, but it is a gift. This leopardess needs your help and it would be a shame if you didn't even try to help her.”
And he had a point. She wanted to become a strong warrior like her father and Drox. When she found out she was a seer she was worried that she would have to become a seer instead. She was told time and time again that she could still become a guardian even if she had seer powers. “Alright I will help.” She said. “But you owe me. You better take me on an awesome adventure.”
Drox had faith in his padawan. She might be hard to work with, but she was still good. “Of course. We will go on a special adventure, just you and me. Maybe we will go to the rogue lands.” Her eyes lite up. Tsiana was always excited to go to the rogue lands and see places she had never seen. “But first we need to do this task. Now, Kalila knows that you might not be able to see her family. I'm just not sure what else we can do to help her.”
Tsiana nodded. She would do her best. Sometimes she was able to focus long enough and see what she needed to see. Other times it was more random and ripped apart. “Well, lets go see her then.” Tsiana said.
“Thank you.” Drox said, heading back toward the temple. Tsiana did not follow him, but instead jumped up into the trees above. Drox grinned, knowing that the cheetah wanted to raise him back. She was giving him the advantage by giving him the low ground. He had no doubt that she would still win, but he wasn't about to make it easy on her. With all his energy, he bolted forward, running as fast as he could back to the temple.
WC: 1,117
