...WalknFall, Corellian Ale, Whyrene's Reserve...

...and last but not least, Sith brandy.

Now what made you think of Sith brandy? asked a little demon in his dreams. Might have something to do with that Sith you saw before Stargazer knocked you out...

At this thought, Jasyn frowned...

...and the side of his face touched something cold and hard.

That was enough to wake him up, and put him on the defensive. After all, desert sand was neither cold nor hard.

"What the...???!!!" he blurted, sitting straight up, the world spinning in his line of sight in response. "Oh,kriffing hell..." he started to groan...

...and then he froze, images finally registering in his brain. Images of two Sith, and not one. And images of...

... her...

He became alert enough to realize Stargazer was at the controls, so he shook his head as though he was trying to clear the fuzz.

It didn't work, and there were still two sith and one Graysith in the images he was now seeing.

"What the kriffing hell is going on?!" he queried, his voice still raspy from lack of fluid intake. Then, "And where can a guy get a drink around here...?"

[ 09-30-2004 03:55 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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

"I... I'm.... Dash..." I tried to say more, but my throat was too dry.

Soon, my vision was back to normal and I noticed the sword to my throat.
hmm. Same as always. I thought.

"Do...You... Have.......Water?" I finally managed to get out. I thought about getting up, but with the sword to my throat i decided to wait to see if this guy was going to help me or not.

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

He picked the blue man up and held him before him. "That depends. Is there anyone else on this planet with you?"

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

"I...Don't....know...I...was...off...by ...Sith..."

I hoped the guy beleived me. I was telling the truth and I need the water fast or i was going to pass out again.

[ 10-01-2004 02:15 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Dash Kelderon ]

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

"Drink."

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

"Thanks." I said as I gave him back the glass.

"Now, who are you?" I asked him.

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

"If you remember, you're the hostage now, so we'll be the ones asking questions, not you. But to be polite, were assassins, and that's all you'll need to know besides the fact that we will finish our job at almost any cost," Sa'kal said as he threw up and caught the stun prod he brought with him, "so the real question is: who are you? And if you don't feel like answering our questions, I'm sure I can change your mind." Sa'kal smirked as the stun prod sparked to life.

Thus while he didn't actually know of the particulars, he was quite aware of the fact that the Chosen Daughter and her companion had probably come under the attack of the assassin he had come to warn her about. He leapt to his feet, chewing upon the inside of his cheek a bit nervously, as he wondered what exactly he should do to try to assist them. While he himself was the adopted son and thus Chosen Heir of Lord Aelvedaar, he was still young, and hadn't the extent of knowledge that his father -- and probably the Chosen Daughter herself -- had of the All, although he did have more than an adept's capability when it came to the manipulation of Sith magick.

So he debated with himself for agonizing moments, while hints of what was happening on the other side of the chasm slammed into him like a wave upon the shore.

Suddenly, everything simply disappeared. He frowned then, stretching out now with his own growing abilities as the whisper of Sith magick grew silent, and the caress of the All lessened...

...and thus it was that he happened to be in this receptive stance when Phalomir's message slipped along the essence of space and time and into his brain.

He jerked, and nearly fell from the rock upon which he had been standing.

"I am here," he replied instinctively, then slid from the boulder to stand beside it for a little bit before slipping into a shadow between it and another one. Hidden within this sanctuary, he then lifted his face to the sky, not quite knowing how he knew to do so, and waited.

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

Now why in Hell's Seven Circles would I think of it in that light? Oh yes, let me recall: roiling masses of demons and hidden labs of torture and the presence of the most hideous being ever to walk the face of the universe and assassins and dust and heat and rock and not a blasted drop to drink.

Oh yeah...!

--I had been hesitating between the innate need to keep myself plastered against the Big Red Dude's hide, for I knew that Terrin was somehow, inexplicably but oh Khaandon thank you! so blessedly inside...

...and the awareness that in order for the aforementioned Big Red Dude to have the space he needed to do whatever it was he did to keep us safe from the aforementioned planet and escape therefrom, I needed to keep myself away so he could keep a clear mind.

The inner battle that juxtaposition created in me was enough to send a rancor packing; it was thus something of a relief to find myself able to turn away from the Big Boys and Girls and do something rather small and innocuous to help another one of our party.

"I'll be right back with some water for you, Jasyn," I said, turning from him then and heading toward the hatch which separated the bridge of this ship from the corridor beyond.

Where I thought I would actually find something for him to drink was another matter. But I just couldn't stand around feeling useless while every atom in my being wanted nothing more than to punch out the Big Red guy's lights so Terrin could take over again.

I shot Jasyn an apologetic kind of a smile, and headed out to see what I could find aboardship.

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

"If you travel the corridor to the first intersection, and then follow the right one, you will come to an innership transport. It will take you to the galley; strike the sigil which glows in blue and gold -- it is the only one of this color combination -- and you will be taken there. There you will find water and containers to carry it in.

"Or, something with a bit more... body, if you would rather."

A twinkle came into her eye at the look both Galen and Jasyn shot her; then she sobered and called out to Shayla.

"I would love nothing more than hastening back to K'eel Doba," she said, nodding in approval for the young woman having had the insight to slip them into the protective arms of hyperspace.

"But I agree with Lord Phalomir: if Aeylmaar is indeed yet on Korriban, he deserves our approaching him. We were to meet with him, after all; he would without doubt worry if we did not show.

"There is also the slight chance that whoever was upon our trail might be upon his as well, and he would then need our assistance.

"Assuming, of course, that the entire plan of meeting here was not a ruse to lead us into an ambush."

She quieted again for a bit, swallowing with difficulty for her mouth and throat had suddenly become very dry.

"Phalomir, have you discerned anything yet?" she asked, then leaned back against the seat to rest some more.

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

“Wait up,” he called to Galen. “I’ll go with you if you don’t mind.”

Galen had already turned the corner of the first intersection when Panthar caught up with her.

“Thanks for waiting,” he smirked.

Once inside the transport, he waited until the door closed and looked sheepishly to Galen.

“Hey, um, if you don’t mind me asking, when did you and Phal start a thing going? I mean, I thought he was devoted to Gray? That’s why he’s nearly gotten himself killed so many times, right? At least I thought, anyway. So what’s up?”

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

It is good to hear you. We have encountered the assassins but made our escape from the planet. Where are you, do you need our assistance?

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

"I am well, and on the northeast rim of the Valley of the Dark Lords," he sent back, a soft whicker that travelled at the speed of thought itself.

"I am aware that you suffered some type of altercation; I believe this to be at the hands of a Cult Assassin who was sent by Lord Aelvedaar to murder the Chosen Daughter as well as yourself. Please take care; this assassin does not have the All at his disposal, but he is skilled and cunning in the ways of Sith magicks.

"As for me, at this moment I am whole and hale with a fighter at my disposal; I have not seen the one sent to kill you, but only felt the disturbance his attack sent out via the magicks at his command. Whether or not he will turn his ire at missing his mark against me is yet to be discerned, but I do not fear him.

"I am, after all, Lord Aelvedaar's son, am I not?"

He fell silent with that, his smile fading from his features as he hunkered back more tightly against the rock walls of his hiding place.

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

Finally stopped in place and turned to him.

"I- I'm not quite sure what's going on, exactly," I began heavily, biting my lip.

"All I know is that Terrin -- that's my husband, you know -- was ki-"

I paused and had to swallow a moment before I could continue.

"He was killed by a wild tuk'ata on Koris'ian," I said as I lifted my head in defiance against the pure viciousness Fate could disperse so willy-nilly and without so much as a by your leave.

"But somehow... somehow... he seems to have wound up inside your Sith buddy there.

"I'm not asking any questions about it; I'm just happy to have at least this much of him alive-- er, sorta-- to be with again...

"Well, kinda."

I paused, blinking back tears and sudden confusion as the implications of Terrin's position -- not to mention my own -- began to finally sink into me.

I sighed a bit more heavily then, and turning from Panthar continued on down the corridor. I heard his bootsteps hastening behind me, but didn't have the heart to yell him off... nor that enough to invite him to walk at my side as the friend he seemed to be trying to be. So we just continued along in this manner, coming to where another, larger, intersection crossed the one we travelled down.

I turned right and kept on going, until at length I came to a weird oval of a doorway. It appeared open, revealing three rows of two seats smashed into its quite tiny interior. On the bulkhead next to the closest seat was some kind of panel in which myriad buttons and sigils glowed and glimmered and winked.

One of them was bright blue and gold, reminding me of a double star system I had once traveled through.

I ignored Big Red then, and sat down. Then I punched that blue and gold thingy, and was rewarded by the utter disappearance of the opening in the bulkhead. That was replaced by a completely smooth and colorless surface, which somehow seemed to convey the notion that we were traveling at a very high rate of speed. My brain had no sooner assimilated that little fact when another opening appeared like magick beside me.

I cast a look at Panthar, who had crammed into the pair of seats behind me.

"This must be it," I said as I extricated myself from the transport. As he unravelled his imposing bulk from his seat, I took it upon myself to explore what had to be the ship's galley, all gleaming greeny-gold and echoey silence.

"Do you think we can find something for Jasyn in here, like maybe some Sith brandy?" I asked as I came to a halt, for sure as Khaandon made little green worrts, I hadn't a clue as to where to find anything in the unfamiliarity of our surroundings.

[ 10-12-2004 05:38 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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

...something with some...body did sound really good about now...

...but he had to figure this all out.

"Ahhh...'scuse me," he interjected into the current conversation. "But I seem to have...

...missed out...

...on some things."

He paused there, clearing his throat, trying his damnedest to swallow. "I mean...

...assassins? And Aeylmaar???"

He trailed again, frowning. "Isn't he supposed to be a bad guy? And who's Phalomir?"

Jasyn furrowed his eyebrows a bit at this, as if trying to recall by the sheer movement. "And while we're at it..."

He paused one final time, looking then to Graysith, "When did you get here...

...and why did you leave us before?"

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

“I’m guessing maybe this one,” he said, walking to the wall.

He touched the small dot on the cabinet and the door slid open silently. Inside was a pair of large bottles. Panthar took the bottles in his hands, turned and flashed a smile at Galen, raising his eyebrows several times.

“Well, my dear,” he grinned. “It appears we shall be able to appease your friend, toast to your rediscovered love, and get generally poo-doo faced for the sake of it all.”

He pointed with his horns towards a sliding door built in to a counter.

“Oh, it says there are glasses and water bottles under that.”

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

The fact that he did not spoke far more than words alone ever could about his knowledge of events concerning the recent past, perhaps knowledge that could in some way assist her in regaining her own faulty memories.

Now, however, was neither the time or place to deal with this; tucking that thought away for further and future pursuit, she came over to him and laid a slender hand on his shoulder. Again, it was much to the man's credit that he did not shrink from her touch, but merely flinched.

His eyes darkened however, twin doors slamming shut in his face.

She smiled, albeit in a somewhat puzzled manner, chewing on her lip as she briefly wondered what she could do to open those doors. Then--

"It would appear that the Heir Apparent has been trying to assist us of late," she replied, deciding that adhering to Jasyn's direct questions would be the best approach.

"We- I may have misjudged him; there is a small, very well hidden cult of Sith who called themselves Cult Assassins; it would seem that this group has survived along with the general Sith populace in their return to that of the galaxy's, and would seem further--"

She paused a moment, letting a shiver race briefly through her as memory fought with the ever more persuasive and logic-based information the others had been providing her with.

"It would seem that Lord Aelvedaar has sent a Cult Assassin to murder Lord Phalomir and myself."

She waved a hand in Phalomir's direction, as if happy to place the burden of that statement upon his broad shoulders and far away from her own.

"He is a Lord of the Sith, a Dark Lord, I believe, and thus of some political power. I am told that I am the Dark Lady of the Warrior clan, although I cannot quite remember--"

Another pause as a pair of brilliant green eyes came floating up to stare accusingly at her. Deep within, the Beast rose to its feet with a hesitant growl.

She gave her head a miniscule shake and continued, tucking that odd moment away with the one concerning Jasyn, to be perused when she could afford the time to do so.

Puzzlement darkened her eyes, shading violet to rose-tinted ebony.

"As for why I left you... I-- I--"

The slender hand removed itself from Jasyn's shoulder to light upon her brow. She frowned.

It seemed so right, so correct, and now so strangely blurred, like remnants of a dream long past....

"I really do not know," she whispered, letting her hand drop as her vision left Jasyn to focus on a middle space existing lightyears between them.

[ 10-17-2004 07:05 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

I shot the Big Guy a dagger-edged look, not quite certain if he was being facetious with me or not. He merely raised his brows, the horns above them twitching and raising as he responded with what I'm sure he thought was a most naive and innocent expression.

I cocked my head a little, remembering back to his quiet little attempts to get close, wondering now in hindsight if I had been perhaps over-reacting to him or not.

He gazed at me like a proverbial lamb. I decided I hadn't been over-reacting one iota.

"Just keep Terrin out of this, all right?" I growled as I shouldered past him and stomped over to the cupboard he was indicating.

"You wouldn't know--"

Snipping off anything further I might say before it started another war between us, I ignored him then and opened the cupboard to reveal rows of exotically formed glassware and bottles. The bottles seemed to be sealed, most of them filled with a liquid that was as clear as glass, but a few others glowing with varying colors and depths of hue, some red, some golden-amber, some clear and distinctively purple...

And others the most brilliantly enticing emerald green I had ever seen.

I instinctively reached for the latter, then grabbed three of the clear which joined the pair of green ones I had snatched. Rising somewhat shakily to my feet, my arms full of Sith refreshment, I turned and headed for the door. The bottles were rather large; I could scarcely see over their tops.

"I think this should do it," I said over my shoulder as I maneuvered in what I hoped was the general direction of the door.

"Why don't you grab some glasses. I'll wait for you back at the transport."

[ 10-17-2004 07:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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

“Here,” he said. “Let me take some of that.”

He placed the bottle on the tray and reached his hand out to offer to take another.

“And I’m sorry. I thought you were happy about Terrin. But yeah, it must be hard, having him here but not really, with his spirit stuck away in someone else’s body. But that part I do know a little about, being in that situation myself.”

He took another bottle and placed in on the tray.

“In fact, Phal and I were somehow both sharing the same body at one point – mine, actually. But then we went through some kind of strange magick or something and he got put back in his body, but I sort of got put into this one while another bad guy, Thoran, took off with mine. OK, that all sounds bizarre when I say it out loud, but the point I’m trying to make is that I know what it is like. Say, I wonder if that same magick would work on Terrin? Well, um, I guess he would need something physical to be put into. Sorry.”

[ 10-17-2004 08:34 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Panthar Dantares ]

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

I didn't know if my outburst was a simple reaction to his complete oversight of the obvious, or because it was only through his kindness in relieving me of some of the burden I was carrying that I kept from making an ass of myself right in front of him.

I glared at him some more... and then let my expression soften a touch.

"Sorry," I mumbled, staring down at the remaining bottles I held. The green stuff just had to be Sith brandy; I remember the time Terrin and I had some of the stuff, back on K'eel Doba when we had appropriated that Sith dwelling....

Where's the horns, fly-boy?

My lip trembled, and with some effort I managed to hang onto the bottles with one arm while the other freed itself to rub quickly over my eyes. After a bit of this I had regained enough of my composure to face Big Red again.

"I wish we could put him back in his body -- I don't think he enjoys being in someone else's, I know I wouldn't -- but that bod- he's been interred, I guess, back on Koris'ian.

"I'm afraid there wouldn't be anything to put him back into. So I guess I'd better be happy with what I've got."

I smiled, but it was only a facade plastered across my face. Sighing, I turned away again.

"Thanks for coming to help me. Now, let's get back and help Jasyn. I think he's going to be needing this when he comes to enough to realize just what is going on around him."

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

...just...

...swell."

Even as he spoke, Jasyn scowled, his look clearly troubled with the news. Beside him Matt began to stir. "And why is it...

...you don't remember you're Dark Lady?"

He paused at this, frowning and licking his dry lips. "This sort of thing has happened before...

...but you're the last I'd expect to be dealing with missing memories."

He trailed then, closing his eyes and trying once more to swallow. "I really need a drink," he then muttered. "I don't know what is going on here...

...but I sure hope it doesn't get any more confusing."

Even as he finished this statement Panthar and Galen re-entered from the galley, the latter carrying a very familiar and beloved bottle of something enticingly green.

Jasyn unconciously licked his lips. "S'at Sith brandy?"

[ 10-18-2004 03:07 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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

...and intently listening to the conversation which was playing out behind her. The final portion of Graysith's statements, as well as the garbled ones of Jasyn Lancaster, were enough to grab her total attention however; with one swift movement Shayla turned, a blaze of fire igniting in her eyes as a perceived injustice registered in her brain.

"He--Lord Aelvedaar--" she started, her greeny-blue eyes resting on Graysith, "Has he blocked your memories?!" she half-asked, half-growled, her look dark, her eyes like the sea during a storm. Somewhere in the back of her mind, images of Aelvedaar blocking her memories, restoring them, and blocking them more than once played as though these events had just happened the day before. "Fates know that he's done the same to others, and more than once."

Saying nothing more than that, Shayla then fell silent and waited then, the fire in her eyes cooling a few degrees...

...but remaining far from quenched.

[ 10-19-2004 02:24 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

The Beast lowered it's head, and growled at those queries.

"I-- I really don't know," she finally said, her voice a soft whisper.

"Truly, from my point of view, I am missing nothing. To my knowledge, my dear Sire is Lord Aelvedaar, through whose efforts I am who I am this day, the Chosen Daughter of the Sith. He has placed before me the destiny in which I am to resurrect his peoples from their untimely death; I was awakened to this in the temple occupied by my dearest Dark Heart, Darth Wicked.

"My Sire took me from him when I was betrayed..."

She paused a moment, her lip trembling fractionally. After a bit, she continued.

"I know nothing of memories of others being taken from them, and so cannot relate this to myself. Indeed, it is difficult when all I have to go by that memories of my own are indeed missing are your statements to that fact.

"It is my hope that the Library of the Sith will hold answers; in the meantime, Shayla:

"Did you not state there is another lifeform on Korriban? Is it possible that this lifeform could be one of an entity associated with those sent to destroy us?

"With this question raised then, who believes it worth the risk to investigate, when the Library will hold answers to all our questions... or so I have been told."

[ 10-20-2004 12:07 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

Lord Aelvedaar’s son? Although Phalomir knew this to be true, the weight of that idea had struck him until that very moment. The Eye had told Phalomir that his own father, the being who now referred to himself as The Master, was the son of Aeylmaar. The strangeness of time aside, this meant that somewhere deep inside of Phalomir dwelt the blood of the very man who was his biggest threat – the man he quite possibly would have to kill or die at the hands of.

But it did not feel right… Phalomir felt himself to be of a different mold, alien to the feelings that Aelvedaar gave him. It did not seem possible that he was related. Unless…

“I understand,” he replied.

“Perhaps we may yet meet, safe from the intrusions of such assassins. We seek answers to many questions, and wish to begin where the Dark Lady should be safest. Please, be our guest.”

“Of course, we shall be required to elude a certain blockade..”

Phalomir left the link open with that thought, waiting for a reply. He half-consciously spoke aloud to those in the room.

“Aeylmaar is near the valley,” he said. “He is safe for the moment, but has confirmed that the assassins were sent by Aelvedaar. It is as we speculated, they have control of Sith magick. Aeylmaar has a Sith fighter, and I have invited him to meet us in person. I await his reply.”

He paused, then added:

“Our scanners did not register him, so who was the other humanoid on the planet?”

[ 10-20-2004 12:23 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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

They would, however, be more than felt, of that he was certain.

"I thank you," he sent back, allowing a moment of silence to ensue. Then before the other could fill that silence, he went on.

"I shall meet you in the courtyard of the Temple of the Warriors, where we can speak further of these things.

"In the meantime, go with the gods, my friends."

With that he simply moved out of hiding, and headed to where his fighter awaited his return. Entering therein, he allowed his focus to turn to the minutia of plotting a correct departure vector as well as that of his destination.

The little ship made no discernable sound but rose into the dim light of the approaching dusk, nosed a moment as if seeking direction, and then flashed into nonexistence. Outside the Sith fighter, the darkening atmosphere shaded into the blackness of space, space in which myriad stars at first sparkled, and then shone quite steadily before smearing out into the lines of hyperdriven space.

Aeylmaar let out a small sigh and settled against his seat, wondering how far he would be able to continue in this manner before the Dark Lord of the Sorcerers would be on to him.

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