Akrissa

> ***"How do you expect me to control the force, when I can't even control myself?"***
>
>

**Akrissa** is the daughter of unknown parents and a Jedi Padawan of the Odessen Praxeum. Abandoned as a child, Akrissa was adopted by the respected monk Kasi where she was raised as a member of their temple novitiate. Akrissa did not begin to show signs of force sensitivity until her late adolescence, where her wards realized they were ill-equipped to prepare her for this revelation nevertheless train her; Master Kasi had decided for her own good this connection to the force would go purposefully obfuscated until she was ready to walk her own path. It was not until her adulthood that the monks had decided she was ready to do just that and in a tempestuous series of discussions revealed her true nature. After much pondering it had been decided for her that she would undertake a pilgrimage to the Jedi, though her own ambition to become a padawan was nonexistent.

After eleven months of concentrated effort Akrissa was taken in by the New Jedi Order and became a padawan of their ranks as she had been instructed to do by old Master Kasi. She distanced herself greatly from her new comrades, always forcing herself into the role of the other. Unable to feel at ease among her fellow padawans and suffering greatly from both insecurity and anxiety, Akrissa withstood many setbacks in her initiation. Eventually the young woman resolved herself to abandon the Jedi and return home, to the Temple of Flowing Waters, it was then that she was offered the opportunity to join the expedition to Odessen and begrudgingly convinced herself to do so. Hoping to find on the new world a second chance, Akrissa once again sets out to make her adopted family proud, and become a Jedi Knight.

## Biography

### Early Life

Abandoned children have never been strangers to the Temple of Flowing waters. The monastic order acquired many of their novitiate as orphaned, abandoned, or otherwise unwanted children. It was always seen as an honor and divine duty to care for the most prolific facets of the living force, and so was done by the monks with gusto. Akrissa joined their ranks as one of these forgotten children, a babbling infant of no more than a few months old when she was left on the threshold of a travelling monks tent, wrapped in decorative blue and gold blanket. Like so many before, she joined their travels, and before long grew into a adolescence. The young woman was unaccustomed to a sedentary life,to say the least of it, what she had been denied in a normal life she made up for in experiences, having seen more worlds as a toddler than many do in a lifetime.

A troublesome child, Akrissa always managed to find herself in some form of mischief, a trait which won her many days of cleaning duty, and many more peeling vegetables. Replacing the morning tea with bath water - while undoubtedly a great prank - ended with a chiding by Master Kasi himself, which evolved to heated debate, which grew to friendship. So it repeated itself time and time again, with ever-evolving scope of philosophical discussion, and ever devolving scope of shenanigans. The years into teenage-hood continued and time marched on, by the end of it, the two of them were inseparable, the Master of the order, and their troublesome, and very spoiled shadow.

### The Force

While many may see the force as a gift, for the young Akrissa it was as much an opportunity as it was a burden, one which she still continues to struggle with. Meditation is a routine practice for one seeking spiritual enlightenment, and comes to a monk like breathing, it was then that Akrissa’s force sensitivity revealed itself. She would not notice. A quarterstaff laying beside the girl as she sat silent in focus found itself jostling, lightly tugged about as if caught by a small gust of wind. Her Master recognized it instantly. His pupil had a gift they could all only dream of, a potential to become the ideal their beliefs strive for, a gift they were entirely incapable of blossoming. It was that night among hushed tones and quiet stern discussion a decision was made, they would continue as normal, not revealing her nature to her until there were others who could better foster their pupil, others who respected the danger of the Force as they did.

The discovery about Akrissa weighed heavily on the minds of the elder monks, and soon, would work to sour their relationships. She found herself increasingly distanced from her peers, slowly outcast as various elders began to resent her nature. The once bratty child and now snarky adult worked simplemindedly on her studies in an attempt to make her peers proud, which only served to further distance herself. It was not long until She only found herself at ease alongside venerable Master Kasi, who had grown to fill the role her absent parents had left behind, ever proud of his little girl, ever encouraging her onward. She grew to know no other ambition than to make them proud. There was no other calling than to live up to what they asked her to be. She was to be a calm and collected instrument of the force, one who is as inseparable from the living force as from their breath, quick to forgive and slow to punish, of sound and controlled mind. She was not, and so very far from.

### Pilgrimage

The Temple of Flowing Waters is transient by nature, to understand the living force one must experience and study it, and this necessitates a nomadic lifestyle. Sometimes it was from one city to the next, yet others from world to world, nothing stayed the same for very long. Leaving the small barren world of Tatooine after nearly a year, the Temple found itself swept on the current - meaning taken by the cheapest possible fare - to the former imperial military bastion of Anaxes. It was here that life as Akrissa knew it would come to an end.

It wasn’t long before the Jedi Praxeum on Anaxes was discovered by the traveling monks, and then as if swept away by fate, within a week Kris had been told she would stay behind, and watch as her family vanished away back into the galaxy, perhaps to never be seen again. The change was unbearable at first, and immensely painful, she would undertake a great pilgrimage not of body, but mind. She had been left under the care of the New Jedi Order, after her force sensitivity had been explained it would not be long before she was to be made a Padawan, to join a new family of strange people and strange thoughts. Kris did not take well to the Jedi teachings, she spent her days isolating herself from others, her nights privately tucked away, crying in both shock and sorrow.. She had never wanted to be a Padawan, she still didn’t want to be a Jedi. She had only wanted to be a traveling doer of good deeds, only wanted to make everyone proud.

Now nineteen years old, and having been among the Jedi for almost a year Kris began to take to their teachings, though not to their ilk. She studied of course, and did as the others did, but more so out of boredom than anything else. She spoke not to her fellow Padawans, and did only the bare minimum her instructors demanded of her. The days blended together and many vanished between them, weeks turned to months, and still she made no progress, she was no closer to being a Jedi. Jedi were serene, ethereal, peerless, Kris cried herself to sleep, and resented those around her for their joy, her consciousness of this only served to be a tool she used to further scold herself, and sink into self-pity and depression. How could she be expected to control the force, if she couldn’t even control herself? How could she become a Jedi if she didn’t even know what she was now? How could she live up to what everyone expected her to be, when she didn’t even understand what that was? Master Kasi, the others, had been wrong, Akrissa was not a woman gifted with immense potential, she was a failure, a waste of a gift any of them could have been great with - beyond great with. So she convinced herself.

She could not be a Jedi, but perhaps she could still be a traveler, a wanderer, she would leave the Jedi, abandon the Praxeum and leave Anaxes, she would vanish, and nobody would notice. Someone did. A consular who had thus far been relatively uninvolved with Kris’ education noticed the change in behavior, and found the young woman as she prepared to depart. Kris expected to be scolded at best, taken hostage at worst, and braced herself accordingly, yet only she found comforting words, and reinforcement. Then, a chance to try again. Akrissa felt trapped here, suffocating in the claustrophobic temple, unable to leave, what if she could? All of the people here made her anxious, even if she tried again they would already know who she was, what if she met new ones? These instructors had failed her yes, but what if she could try again without them, try again closer to nature, closer to what felt like home?

So she would try again, if not for herself, for the first person who had shown her any true kindness since she was left with the Jedi. She may not be able to make Master Kasi proud, and she may never see them again, but perhaps she could make herself proud, perhaps she could live up to the expectations of this new Jedi? Maybe all she needed was a different kind of guidance. She took the opportunity, and was asked to board the shuttle for Odessen. She did.