Of Parrots and Problems

[nabi]

Ilal was pacing back and forth in the Temple Arboretum, muttering to himself. He was tense. There was no way to get around it. And he would stay that way until he could discern the new Grandmaster's ideas for the new command, and figure out how he was going to deal with it.

Ilal had been with the Jedi Order only a relatively short time...and in the council for less than a decade. He had never seen the leadership change from an insider's viewpoint. He had little idea what to expect from this new GrandMaster. Would the pet projects he had been allowed to explore under Qaim be encouraged, tolerated, or terminated? Would his position in the Council be maintained, or removed? What if...what if...

Ilal stopped himself. It was pointless to worry about the what ifs at this stage. He had no information to analyze. And without that, what could he do but accelerate his pulse?

He muttered to himself, and walked to his office, which was right next to the Arboretum, and over to Frank, his blue Bothan parrot, which was gripping it's perch very tightly, as if to compensate for it's slightly bobbing and swimming head.

It must be those pills working their way through his system

Ilal sighed, and was surprised to notice a small presence...young, regular circulation...touch out of breath...about five meters to the rear, just by the bothaiyro trees which were suffering from a photosynthis problem due to faulty sugar conversion...and started fingering his faux paws, absentmindedly

[Kayura]

((OOC: Pay no attention to the custom title of the pics! This is an NPC'd character until we get more Jedi.))

The youngling, not more than five or six was staring at them with a head slightly tilted. "Master Ilal, what are those from?" The child seemed mystified by them and by the strangely-behaving creature towards the center of the room. This wasn't the forst time a youngling had strayed from the training group to see the many curiosites, and it wasn't too likely to be the last either.

The youngling merely stood, not sure what to do. Those large, young and huamn eyes took in the room and all those curiosities. There was a second question first forming in the eyes and then finally falling out of the child's mouth. "Master Ilal, do you have your own petting zoo?"

Considering the child's age, it wasn't as absurd as it might have sounded.

[nabi]

Ilal smiled a little to himself. He loved younglings...he always had. They often had a great deal more enthusiasm than adults when it came to figuring out the world...and since so few had helped him in that pursuit of understanding as a child, he enjoyed flipping the coin and providing to others what he had wanted so much.

"Well, youngling" Ilal said, smiling "these little friends come from all across the galaxy. The people they belong to bring them in because they're sick. I try and help them get better."

Which was basically true. All the non-sentients that had graced his doorstep had been sick at one time or another, either with a disease common in sentients (and thus relatively free for a Healer such as himself to try to cure) or merely because they had an interesting disease. The animals were usually returned if they were cured, but every now and then those who owned the animals decided to leave them in Ilal's care for "long-term evaluation."

[Kayura]

Inquisitive as ever, the lad slowly walked up to the parrot and watched. Though the child's reaction was to reach out to the creature, something in the way it was swaying on its perch seemed to tell the tike it was a bad idea. "Master Ilal, what's wrong with the bird?"

[Sidro Haanc]

Sidro walked into the Arboretum and looked around, it was what he was expecting, except for the two people. He had thought there would only be one at the time. Sidros cloak did not seem to move while he walk, and he made, no noise, but he was certain that the person he came to see, knew he was there. He watched the youngling with the parrot, and it amused Sidro, he loved children, and thats one of the reasons he left the sith order, they wanted him to kill a large ammount of children, men, women, all at once. Those memories flooded him for a second, but then were gone once again and the smile was back.

"I am sorry to interrupt." Sidro said calmly. "I just came to meet some of the people at the temple." Which was true, but he came here to meet Master Ilal in particular.

[nabi]

"Not at all, Grandmaster" Ilal responded. He turned away from the youngling, with a smile, whispering.

"Don't worry, it's nothing serious, I'll tell you that story another time." and then walked over to the GrandMaster.

Ilal was frankly a little happy for the interruption...the story of the bird was a bit....involved for him to explain.

What happened was that the parrot had been brought to a meeting of the Jedi Council. Ilal had just been inducted into the council, and had been asked to provide medical advice on a Falleen politician suffering from a certain neurological disease. Since the bird at that point had been showing symptoms similar to that of the politician, Ilal had brought the non-sentient along so he would have something to point to.

The only problem was that Ilal was a little nervous, this being his first meeting as a council member, and as a result wasn't keeping a close eye on the bird, instead using his abilities to gauge how his presentation was going over. So it wasn't unusual that when a Mr. Duruz, an employee of the Order who had also researched the politician, took out a small box with small brown pills resembling birdseed, Ilal didn't notice.

The result was a blue squawking bird flying from wall to wall, as fast as it could away from a 90 pound aged human, who proved surprisingly fast on his feet, and unusually accurate when it came to throwing a cane around the room.

After the bird was recovered, and Mr. Duruz sedated, the Council forbade Ilal from ever bringing any animals out of the Arboretum, unless they were completely under his control. He was also forced to medicate and treat Mr. Duruz personally, and spend the next six months monitoring his progress to ensure his physical and emotional well-being. Given Mr. Duruz's repeated comments on nailing the bird to his perch, Ilal spent most of the remaining time doing research in the Arboretum, making sure the gentleman's emotions did not surpass his judgment.

But that wasn't the end of it. The room's holocam recorder had been left running the whole time, and the resultant vid started to surface covertly as a kind of Temple legend, passed from person to person like a piece of contraband.

Mr. Duruz, sad to say, only found out about this unusual chain of events after seeing the montage playing on the computer screen of a Temple Knight, who had been using the clip as a screen saver.

At this point, Mr. Duruz had begun a rather long-winded and winding lecture about Ilal, the Jedi, and Force Users in particular, utilizing a variety of words that would not at all look good in print, and which many nearby Younglings had to be warned very sternly against repeating in public.

After that, Ilal had been assigned to Hoth for the next two months, researching the survivability of various viruses in the extreme cold.

Shivering a little at the memory, Ilal walked over to the Jedi and bowed his head low in a gesture of deference. "GrandMaster, it is good to see you. We are honored by your presence."

[Sidro Haanc]

Sidro smiled and nodded to the Master. "There is no need for formalities. You will soon learn Master Ilal I am not fond of to many formalities, I like feeling relaxed when I can." He looked at the bird, and felt a twinge of sympathy for the master, he had a chance to see the holocams recording before meeting the Master. "I came to meet you in particular if you havent already guessed. I hear you are a brilliant master of medical force use, and also" He said with a generous smile. "You are currently on the council which means you are an important person to me. One who will help me defeat the Sith and their Dark Lady." This is what he came for. To see how the Master would respond when he told him what he knew of the Sith. Also to talk to him about steping up as a higher voice on the council. He had heard that this master was a tad unconventional in his ways, and Sidro was the master of unconventional.

[nabi]

Ilal smiled, with perhaps a touch more warmth than he would have liked, trying to use the Force to mask his hesitance. "You honor me, Master Haanac", Ilal said, a touch less formal than before. "I am flattered that you think so highly of my abilities. And I will certainly do all I can to assist you in this endeavor" Ilal told him.

Caution now, don't seem too keen Ilal thought. This may be a ruse, it may only be flattery to reign you in. But he was curious. The old Grandmaster had listened to him, had respected him as a friend and colleague. Maybe....maybe things were changing a little.

Caution and interest fought. Interest tipped the scale.

"How can I help you in this worthy objective?" Ilal intoned, working hard to keep his voice free of sarcasm. He was still slightly suspicious that this was something false, but wiped that from his thoughts and speech. He wanted to hear what the Jedi had to say.

[Sidro Haanc]

Sidro felt the unease of the man and touched his shoulder lightly. "I am going to be doing some things the council doesnt like. The first is going to be to form fighting squads." He paused a moment, deciding how much to let him know. "Our opponent is unconventional and we must be as much so. Theis squads will be our special forces, if you will, and one of the things its going to require is your specialty. I am making this team as efficient as possible. One master, one knight, one counciler, and one medical force user. Your going to be leading the training of the Medical force users."

Then Sidro looked around a little bit. "If you agree to do this, then I will do whatever I can to help you with your research here. Also either way" he looked at the master "I will not stop or hinder your research here. On this you have my word."

[nabi]

Ilal was touched. This new GrandMaster was saying all the right things. And more importantly, he seemed to mean them. Ilal was not getting anything to indicate condescension in either voice or gesture. He seemed to have genuine empathy and care in his voice. As such, and as his superior, he certainly merited Ilal's support.

The heavy set Master was also a little intrigued. Healers were usually considered the lower level members of the Order. Instead of being integral parts of the team, such individuals were usually used as organizational filler, or as makeshift medics on large combat expeditions. To have a medical force user, in a small special forces group...would be a big change. Grand designs started to bud in Ilal's mind. New skills, new specialties, deserved esteem in the ranks of the Order...

He stopped himself. Greed for glory was not an attractive trait...and the Jedi rebuked himself for following that line of thought.

Pushing these thoughts aside, he bowed before Sidro, and said:

"I would be honored to act in this capacity, Master, and will do my best to help you in this design."

And..with a touch of enthusiasm, added...

"When do we begin?"