Moonwater Perfume/Written during Najahal's Last Phase

“Call me Josym.”

We had an interesting second meeting, to say the least. With the moon hiding herself until the next phase begins, things around the manor become rather peculiar. On other worlds, it works in the opposite fashion, with the full moon creating odd behaviors. But on Deiu, it is the absence of lunarlight which turns many of us around from our normal selves. Such is the way of things here.

I think the disappearance of Najahal must be the only explanation for why he wanted to speak with me in a closet. To be more accurate, it was a wardrobe room, used to store ceremonial robes. We spoke to each other in a storage space, with only a handheld lumi between us providing some small backdrop of light.

I couldn’t resist asking him if the rest of his father’s vintage wine happened to fuel this particular choice of venue to have our second talk. As I expected, he was merely influenced by a momentary whim.

“I wanted to speak with you again. And I didn’t want to schedule another meeting via my father’s secretary to the Cortigiamira,” was his response. And honestly, I’m glad for this. A second meeting between the courtesan and heir is often customary. But like the first one, or any subsequent encounters, it must be arranged through the proper channels. Which is fine for impersonal relations...but that isn’t the case with Josym and myself.

There. I was able to write his name. It seems like such a simple thing, to put a name to paper. But names carry meaning, and they bear weight in any society. And to not only know his name, but to have the ability to write it freely...and to speak it in his presence without fear of censure...is wonderful.

“Josym.” I said it out loud right after he told me it was all right to do it. “Is that an inherited name?” It’s customary for the heir to have the name of a male ancestor, which always comes from the father’s side, never the mother’s. I’ve been doing some research into the Di’sallach family line (my usual benefactor, Lord Reunahn, who happens to be the Prestat’s brother, has enlisted my help in compiling the official family chronicles). Yet the first name does not appear in the Prestat’s lineage. I’ve never checked his mother’s family records, so I was taking an educated guess that was where the name came from.

“Yes, though you won’t find it in the records. My mother’s brother held the name when he was alive.” Even in the dim light provided by the lumi, I noticed the frown that came to his face like an uninvited guest. And I knew then that he was gifted with that power which blessed, then ultimately cursed, his mother’s line.

Josym holds the Force within his blood.

His maternal uncle was erased from the records because he was a Jedi and was killed in the Purge. Soon after the formation of the Empire, the Prestat had deleted all mention of previous Jedi Knights and Masters from the first official chronicles of the House Di’sallach. There were very few from his direct line, but many generations have married to the bloodline, and have gifted many of the children born from those unions with Force sensitivity. During the course of helping Lord Reunahn in compiling notes for the second chronicles, I found several discs hidden in an unused closet in the library. I knew it would be unwise to show these to him, so I hid them in my pouch, then took them back to my chamber. I’ve only had a chance to peek at one of them. From what I’ve seen, these discs contain precious records. What the Prestat could delete from the official family history almost twenty years ago, he could not erase from the annals of galactic ages. These discs contain the names, images, and information about those Jedi ancestors. Josym needed to know about this.

So perhaps it wasn’t odd after all that we had our meeting in such a tucked-away location. It gave me the chance to present him with the discs. His past shouldn’t remain hidden. He has a right to know where he comes from, and where his potential might lead him.

I had the discs wrapped up in an indigo ribbon. Indigo, the color dearest to my heart. And in the dim light, his eyes were tinted indigo, dark and intense. So they change color according to his mood. How lovely.

When I handed over the special present, he seemed more curious than suspicious. “What is this?”

“We always have to know where we come from.”

“I don’t understand what that means.” He said this with a half smile, which I’m starting to notice is his unique way of showing confusion mixed with amusement. Under the circumstances, that’s a very healthy response.

“Read through them, and then you’ll begin to understand. But keep them secret. Tell no one about their existence or what is in them.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“Except for you, of course. At our next meeting.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Was he teasing me? This boy should know better than that...which of course he did. “Quite so. I’ll require a thirty-page report.”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“Thirty pages? How am I supposed to concentrate on that when I have more important matters to occupy my thoughts?”

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I didn’t need to ask what he meant. His initiation is set to take place during the time when Najahal is bright and full. Not long now...but in the meantime, there are still other chances for more meetings. Which I’m looking forward to...although not in the midst of hanging cloaks.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">Part VI