He should inquire about his Mistress first and foremost. Graysith had instructed him to stick with Shayla, and unless he was ordered otherwise, he would hold fast to that instruction.

As if somehow hearing Leev's unvoiced thoughts, the purple and silver R2 Unit who was strapped in behind him suddenly warbled a question.

Leev turned to regaurd the loyal little droid, who had cranked an extension out to hook herself to the navboard computer.

"Yeeees," he replied after reading the translation of the droid's bleeps on the monitor. "We will find out about Miiistress. But firsssssst report back to my supeeeeeeerior I must."

The droid responded with something that Leev chose to ignore.

The droid would remain loyal to Shayla til its electronic components were destroyed. And even then, droids could be repaired.

After each system of the small ship had been shut down, Leev stood, unstrapping the R2 unit. He then headed for the hatch, extending the ramp and heading to the Temple where he would seek his superior. He didn't even turn around to see if the droid was following; he didn't have to.

In minutes the Noghri found himself in front of his superior Nikk. "Miiission failed. Cut short by unknnnnnnnown rrrreasons and due to rrrrrrisk," he explained, his beady eyes evidencing as much concern as those of a Noghri ever would. "Lost Miiistresss, I have. Her whereabouts...unknnnnnnnnown."

The only difference was that when she had left, there had been two others with her....

She whirled about, her signature cloak flying with the locks of her hair as she sent a swift and penetrating glance into all corners of the Dining Hall. Other than herself, it was empty.

She sighed a bit, her shoulders slumping as she approached the table. There she reached out for a piece of fruit; her mind still lightyears away she began to nibble upon it, unheeding of the juices running freely down her chin.

--------------------

Any other day this accomplishment might have brought a smile to the lips of the young woman, but the emotions that she felt upon her arrival were enough to squelch any joy.

Despair? Depression?

Something was horribly wrong.

Her greeny-blue eyes resting with concern on the form of her sister, whose back was for the moment turned to her, Shayla simply waited, knowing that her presence would be felt and that all would be made clear soon...

[ 04-22-2002 06:35 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

--------------------

And yet, there was a surprisingly familiar niggle....

Even as she turned her eyes were widening. The vow she had just taken unto herself at the Krath Prophet's remembered words fled in the wind as joy flowed up in a great and unstoppable rush. Completely inescapable, it at least for the moment elbowed aside the despair and uncertainty that had filled her only seconds before. Her features smoothed and the Glyph flared into wonderful welcome as she recognized the source of that oh so familiar niggle.

There before her stood her own Chosen One, her sister and friend... and indeed perhaps the only one in the Universe she could trust.

For a moment she paused, frozen in near disbelief; then the true meaning Shayla's form presented to her overpowered even her great joy at seeing her.

Indeed her sister, in taking this one great and beginning step, was now truly sister to her... in the All.

Tears standing in her eyes, she glided swiftly forward to embrace Shayla and welcome her to the true world of the Sith... even while knowing she could no longer entirely disguise her feelings from her, at least not to the extent she had always been able to do. And as she reached out to hug her, behind her slim form she could see yet two more trustworthy figures entering the Dining Hall:

Nikk and Leev.

[ 04-23-2002 12:26 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

--------------------

Few would ever understand the true nature of the Old Sith. Few had the eyes to see that what they did was for nothing more than the Greater Good.

A Greater Good which Shayla knew with every fiber of her being was threatened.

What had happened to the child?

Shayla looked into the violet eyes of Graysith, reading the despair lurking in their depths.

Where was her Dark Heart?

Unable to disguise the frown now forming on her face, Shayla let it remain there momentarily, then turned concerned eyes to her Sister as her silent observations slowly became more and more disturbing.

To say she had a bad feeling about what might soon be revealed was a hideous understatement.

At length, Shayla at last broke the silence. "My sister, what has transpired to cause you this grief?"

Then, her eyes not leaving the violet pair of Graysith's she simply waited.

[ 04-22-2002 08:34 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

--------------------

"The Child..." she began, faltering. "My little child... is gone at the hand of Maladius. And my Dark--" Again she faltered, but this time it was not due to grief alone. A tinge of anger began to play across her face; with great effort she managed to squelch it and continue on. Her voice didn't betray so much as a hint of the emotion ravening within her; it didn't need to. How well she knew Shayla was reading her now, how truly bonded she now felt with her young Adept.

"Lord Roan has likewise taken his leave of us," she finished quietly but with great effort. "He has not revealed his plans to us, has not let us know what our part is in what he might have in mind... if indeed we are part of his designs any longer. It is difficult to discern, for he has not been in contact with me or Lord Aelvedaar since he departed.

"I-- I do not think he will ever be back. I fear for my child, for I cannot quite sense where she has been taken, nor do I know the purpose behind her abduction. All I know is that she--"

She. Dear gods, a little girl. They-- SHE had had a little girl... A slim hand slipped down to lay across her taut abdomen, fingers clenching into a fist.

"--had been taken from my body unbeknownst to me, and implanted in that of my blood-sister, Galen Jhin'Dar. At her birth the demon took her into his hands, and has hidden her from me for purposes unknown."

Now she drew in a great shuddery breath, closing her eyes as she continued on. Though striving to remain calm and collected, she couldn't help the slight tremor that started to catch in her throat.

"Aelvedaar... my Sire appears to know where she has been taken, my little ShaRhylla. Fears arise within me for he does not disclose this information to me.

"And more than that." Her eyes flew open, moist and vivid. "My heart trembles at the mere thought of the reasons behind one little word I cannot help but ask, over and over again:

"Why?"

Now at last she fell silent, and merely stood before Shayla, swaying slightly, as she waited to hear what her Adept would have to say. She was scarcely aware of the approach of Nikk, who came up beside her and , slowly, bit by bit, at length seemed to gain enough courage to reach out and touch her lightly on her arm. His small and sharply clawed hand took a firm grip upon her, as though by that one small motion he could send her all the strength his Noghri heart possessed.

The motion was all it took. Graysith dropped her head, her flaming locks tumbling down to hide her face, and silently, finally, gave in to the despair rushing in to fill her every cell, despair she had managed to hold at bay ever since Aelvedaar had brought the unimaginable news to her.

For a moment in which time seemed to come to a standstill, she was again merely a human woman by the name of Jharmeen Jhin'Dar, and she lost herself in weeping for the sake of her daughter, her lost love, and the bleak and truncated destiny which seemed to slowly and mockingly wither away before her very eyes.

--------------------

Perhaps Lord Aelvedaar had a plan. Shayla did not think that he would turn his back on his Chosen One in her time of trouble.

Even so, she understood Graysith's distrust in the Sith Sorceror, and in Lord Roan. How very odd that Roan should disappear right at the time when the child was born and stolen.

And she never liked that little imp of his.

But there was something that seemed far more evil and unknown about all this. Something...just didn't fit.

Did Lord Aelvedaar have the answers? When would they be informed? Why was he waiting?

If anyone deserved to know exactly what was going on, it was Graysith.

And yet questions remained unanswered.

Then again, perhaps Aelvedaar was giving Graysith some space to mourn the loss before going to the task at hand.

Sometimes the best succor to the broken heart, however, is a large slice of vengeance.

They needed to find this child, and they needed to do it together. If someone...or something...had been strong enough to snatch a child even with a Sith Sorceror watching over her, there was much trouble ahead.

Icy determinatio filled Shayla's being. Again, the Sith civilization was threatened, this time by the evildoings of one demonic imp.

He could not be allowed to maintain his victory. They MUST get the child back.

If not for WHO she was, then for WHOSE she was.

At last speaking in a soft and low voice full of determination, Shayla simply said, "I will do whatever it takes to help you find your child."

--------------------

...a small matter which, disconcertingly enough, I never had the chance to do.

We stepped forth together, this young Erik and I, stepping out into my hidden chambers buried deep beneath the bowels of this likewise hidden planet. Ahead of me stood the device and the precious cargo it nourished; I didn't have to turn to the young man to see his look of astonishment. It radiated off of him like the heat of a star. I gestured toward it with one clawed hand, my head cocked politely to one side as I indicated his freedom to investigate as he wished...

...when it hit with the force of that which created All Which Is.

I staggered, one hand flailing briefly before I found my balance. I knew my eyes were fairly glowing as, Erik and the babe put momentarily to one side, I turned abruptly from them and headed off to the Great Crystal Polyhedron. I pursed my lips, for a brief moment actually unwilling to look into its cool green depths, almost afraid to see what I knew I would see therein.

Devastation. Destruction. I watched as the brilliant jewel that was Coruscant darkened; observed the embodiment of pure evil and darkness as it overran the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin IV; gazed, unflinching at last, as planet after planet fell beneath the blasted hordes who had appeared from nowhere. Who flashed into existence from the seeming air, to deal Death on a grand scale... but death so far confined within the parameters of the New Republic.

How long that would last, I couldn't be certain. But I couldn't allow our designs to be threatened by this new menace. Even though we had the All at our disposal, without the Claw it could not be utilized to deal death in turn. And they were many, and we few.

Before Erik scarcely had the chance to take a step, I closed my eyes and concentrated with every bit of power in my possession. Great mysteries seemed to swirl and revolve about us as I focused my formidable strengths upon the task at hand. Ever since I had discovered the potential of the All four thousand years ago, I had stood its willing servant. Now I reached out and grasped complete command of it.

The chambers about us darkened and seemed to somehow...melt. Erik's head jerked up, surprise written across his features as, with no further ado, I simply snatched him up along with the Polyhedron and the Incubator and carried them along with me as though they were made of gossamer. In a flash we were back in the Temple. Before me stood my Chosen One-- my heart clenched with sudden emotion to see her standing there with her Adept, her heart raging in her face. For a moment the pair looked so vulnerable, so precious; I shook my horned head, beating down those feelings, feelings that had no right to be surfacing now when every instinct I possessed was telling me time was of the essence. Two pairs of shining eyes, one greeny-blue, the other violet, had scarcely acknowledged my presence when I reached out through the All and snatched them up as well. Questing tendrils reached out, nosing like Noghri on the hunt, seeking, sensing, and finally finding all others devoted to the Sith and the Resurrection. All were literally snatched from their feet, down to the last beast and Noghri and even an indignantly whuffling Jinn and even more indignantly warbling R-2 unit....

In parting I laid down a chronotic shield about the planet, that none would disturb our Temple in our absence. Any energies impacting it would be spread forward and backward along the existing timeline. Any matter would be converted into it's energy-equivalency, and likewise dispersed. The Temple would be safe from all until our return...

...whenever we would return from wherever it was I was taking us....

--------------------

--------------------