Tesh Zazre

> "*I was born a slave. It was a constant struggle to survive. I needed to adapt so I could do that. One day, something inside me just snapped... and I broke free.*"
> ― Tesh, then known as Canea
>
>

Tesh Zazre, formerly known as Canea, is a human female from the Lower Levels of Coruscant. After finally making her way to the surface levels, she joined with the New Jedi Order as a Padawan.

## Biography

### Early Life

Canea was born to a couple of impoverished scavengers in the Lower Levels of Coruscant. They traded to survive, and anything was a potential score. Canea's mother and father decided on having a child for the sole purpose of raising her up and then selling her off for credits. That is precisely what they did when the girl was old enough to walk.

Nosto the Hutt owned Canea, and several other child slaves. He saw them as trophies, and a sign of his wealth. He made the children act as hosts for his guests, bringing them food and wine at their behest. The older children were forced to dance with the other slaves of Nosto. The Hutt controlled a small portion of the Lower Levels, which made him the kingpin of his own little sector.

Canea was under Nosto's ownership until she was eight years old. She grew up never knowing her parents, but was reminded daily that she had been given up like a box of scrap for credits. Over the years, she grew more and more hateful for the Hutt and his guards. This powerful anger bubbling inside the mind of a young girl until one night it erupted from her. She managed to steal the key to the cells from a guard, using a power she would come to learn as the Force to levitate the chance at their freedom to her. Canea lead an escape with the other children through Nosto's compound, and eventually into the streets of Lower Coruscant itself. The Hutt would not let them go easily, and guards were sent to bring Nosto's property back. That would be the first time Canea would claim the life of another, bringing a shipping container off of a parked speeder barge down onto the pursuing goons, and crushing them underneath.

### Discovering the Force

Canea and her fellow miscreants survived on their own for a year, fighting against the harsh poverty that claimed most of the Lower Levels. To survive, they resorted to petty theft and crime- stealing what they needed to keep themselves fed. Their home was a small alleyway a few blocks off of the markets.

It was one particular day that Canea's life would once more change forever. A small heist was planned, and Canea, as always, would do what she could using the telekinetic gifts she had. This time their eyes were not set on food, but rather a merchant's lockbox, filled with enough credits to get themselves a proper home. The other children distracted the merchant, and the young force sensitive attempted to will the lockbox to open. It would not. She was not strong enough.

Then, whilst the merchant began to return, an odd green mist surrounded the lockbox door. It snapped off easily, as if it were made to fall apart. Canea had no time to question the event, and took the credits inside before she made her escape. The others greeted Canea as a hero once again. What little they had was turned into a feast. Food stolen all day long in preparation for this celebration. Yet the young one felt something off, something tugging at the back of her mind. She left her home without a goodbye, following that thread of a feeling until she came to a different alleyway.

Canea was greeted by a woman, tall, pale, and beautiful, dressed in black and red robes that did not match the disparity of Coruscant. The woman greeted herself as Anzai Zazre, and as the one who had opened the safe. Canea could feel a connection to the woman, and her theory was proven true as Anzai pulled an apple from a pouch on her belt without ever even lifting a hand. This woman was like her. Anzai offered to teach Canea the ways of these abilities, to help her hone her skills, and further. Canea accepted, and she never saw her childhood friends again.

Anzai gave the former slave a new name, fully adopting her, Tesh Zazre. She cared for Tesh as if the human was her own child. They had a home where Anzai taught Tesh of her people: the Nightsisters. For the first time, Tesh was able to forget her past, forget Nosto, forget the scars that littered her body from the time under the abusive Hutt's rule. Years passed as she learned of the Nightsister's magicks, of their culture, language, and of their tragedy. Anzai, despite the harshness of Dathomir, was gentle and kind. Tesh learned that Anzai's people had been purged decades ago, during the Clone Wars when Anzai herself was only a young girl. Tesh made her mother a promise when she heard that story, a promise that Anzai would not be the last of the Nightsisters.

### The Surface of Coruscant

Anzai and Tesh slowly migrated their way up to the surface of the City World. Tesh was now eighteen years old, following under Anzai for nine entire years. She had been taught how to fight, how to wield the force, and most importantly, how to seek knowledge. It was a new start for mother and daughter. Their goal was to leave Coruscant, travel the Galaxy and to complete Tesh's training. That was the plan, at least.

Much like when Tesh met Anzai, she felt a sudden and powerful pull. She was more attuned to the Force now, she knew what it was. The hands of Fate guiding her. She followed the beckoning call of the Force, one footfall after the other until she came face to face with something new. The New Jedi Order. Tesh could feel the presence of the Jedi, as she felt her mother's. Without even seeing their abilities, she knew they were Force Users. She listened to their words, to their speeches. "Protect the Galaxy, defend the weak." For the first time in years, Tesh's mind wandered back to her nights spent in a cage, the sting of the whip against her body and the feeling of burns across her skin from the cigarra's of Nosto's guests. Tesh stepped forward, her body and mouth acting on their own, and she declared she would join them.

Tesh Zazre could not bring herself to say goodbye to her mother. She knew that if she did, she would never leave her. She wouldn't follow this pull of the Force. How can you leave the one person that ever cared for you?

### Act I

Tesh Zazre found herself alone once more, among strangers she had never met. A handful of new Padawans to the New Jedi Order that all held their own stories and paths before them. In her gut, she immediately held the regret for leaving Anzai, for not even telling her own mother where she was going. Tesh was ashamed of herself. Though that wasn't new, was it? She had left her first family behind, her fellow former slaves. Now, she had left Anzai behind.

They had traveled to a world known as Odessen, boarding the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy. It was strong in the Force, both the Light and the Dark. Tesh slowly found friends, though the young woman was slow to leave her shell. Her confidence had been dashed as she stepped onto a new planet for the first time. She was caught up in the talks of visions and of calls to others by different entities that called the Praxeum home.

Tesh would find herself in the plot of one Spirit, one that called the Force Crystal Caves home. Out of an entire group of Padawans, the Spirit pointed to her when she reached out, and gave her a single word filled with sorrow and pain. Exile. The Padawan would find herself following the path of this Exile through later ventures across Odessen.

Just as Tesh was coming from her shell, finding her friends, and learning to hone her confidence once again, terror struck the Galaxy. An attack was launched across the Galaxy against the Jedi. Praxeum's across the Galaxy were snuffed out. An intelligence officer of The New Republic saved Tesh and her close friend Akrissa, bringing them into a secret tunnel inside the temple walls. She told them both to remember one thing: "The First Order." Soon, Akrissa and Tesh were joined by their fellow Padawans. What felt like hours passed, various members of the group beginning to panic. Then, as quickly as it started, it was over. The Padawans were escorted off world and reunited with their Masters. Odessen's Praxeum was sweeped for threats.

Tesh found herself suddenly in a Galaxy that required her to rise up beyond the Padawan she was. She was always the one to step to the front lines when it was needed, one of the first to act. She buried her fears, buried her shames, and she held her head up high to face whatever threats lay ahead.

### Act II

Three weeks had passed since the Padawans had been to Odessen. Now, the time came for them to return. It started with a single mission, a ruse to investigate a non-existent signal. In fact, this mission was somewhat of a test. The Padawans were called off one-by-one from their groups, by the Spirits of Odessen. When it came to Tesh's turn, she was pulled off to meet a bird, which addressed her firstly as 'Sister'. Through her conversation with the Spirit, Tesh's confidence was ignited into a bonfire. She had a new path before her, one that was different that her other Padawans'. She was to be something new and different. A Nightsister and a Jedi. Tesh Zazre was granted her lightsaber crystal that day, a brilliant purple gem.

One night, Tesh accompanied Akrissa in meditating before a stone slab in the underbelly of the Odessen Praxeum. Tesh focused on the Spirits that inhabited Odessen, and attempted to reach out to them. The young woman made contact with one such spirit, though it was not what she hoped for. The Padawan was met with a young boy, with short blonde hair. He identified himself as Sors, and was no more than eight years old. Tesh came to learn that Sors was part of the Coruscanti temple, a youngling during the infamous Clone Wars. Sors spoke of Master Yoda, and of a Master Skywalker, and the grim reality of Sors's death became known to Tesh. She learned he was a youngling killed during the Purge of the Jedi. Tesh, overcome with emotions horror and sorrow, fell apart into sobs. Sors asked her one question, "Are things better now?" Tesh could only respond that she would make things better, for him. The youngling smiled to her, resting a hand on her cheek, and told, "I believe you," before fading away into the Force once more.

Later, Tesh was drawn into the meditation chamber by a pull in the Force. There, she met her fellow Padawan, Sera. Sera told her that she had been hearing Tesh's name whispered through the Force. The two elected to meditate on this, and in doing so were drawn into an odd mindscape. Tesh heard her name being called, only for all the words to stop and be replaced by a single name. "Canea." Sera pressed Tesh on her past, having learned that Canea was the Padawan's birth name. Tesh revealed she harbored dark feelings towards her past life, primarily towards the Hutt that had caused them. A shade appeared next to Tesh, that of Canea, shrouded in a deep red mist. Through a series of discussions between both Tesh and Sera, and other spirits from both of the Padawans' pasts, Tesh was taught to embrace her past and move forward to change her future- as it was all she could do. The shade of Canea changed shape to resemble Tesh as she was then, no longer red, but a bright white. Tesh received her second lightsaber crystal after coming from that meditation, an exact twin to her first.

The day came that Tesh was finally called to craft her lightsaber. She felt herself slipping from her own body, and let herself fall into a deep meditation. When she came to, she was in a black void with Sera and Aurin Ysat. The three Padawans crafted their sabers alongside each other, unfinished hilts waiting for them on a lit table. All three made a vow to the Force and the Spirits of the Jedi that taught them, each being guided by their own connection to the Force. Tesh crafted her curved twin hilts, guided by the Force and those that came before her. When she awoke once more, Tesh Zazre held her twin sabers in her hands, as if they were always there, as if they were always *meant* to be there.