Which now lay clearly before him. Bowing his head respectfully, one face-tendril sneaking out to twine affectionately about her ankle, the great tuk'ata rose to his feet, and moved aside. His pupilless eyes watched coldly as, a smile playing about her face, Graysith composed herself to enter the room. She made a small movement with her hand; the door obligingly slid open, bidding her welcome.

Directly in her line of vision, Shayla lay on her bunk, apparently unconscious. That she both was not, and no fool as well, was evidenced by the speed with which she sat up, turning to directly face Graysith. If she was frightened to the core of her being, or angered beyond tolerance, was hidden from the look she directed to Graysith. To all outward appearances, she remained calm and unmoved.

Graysith came to a stop before her, her own demeanor likewise masking her true feelings. For a moment frozen in Time, the two merely regarded each other. Seconds tottered upon a razor-thin edge of...

...Something....

With a sudden inhalation, The Chosen Daughter reached out a slim hand, and with the back of it stroked the cheek of her own chosen adept. The gaze she directed upon her was a steady one.

"Perhaps I have indeed misjudged you, my sister," the soft purr came into Shayla's somewhat startled ears. "I have acted in an unthinking manner, and in direct response to the ineffectiveness of mere words.

"I give thee apology for my action, and vow to hold back judgement in this manner. You shall be given opportunity to show what it is you desire, as well as a similar opportunity to act in the achievement of that desire."

She paused, her hand cupping Shayla's face, her eyes deeply penetrating into Shayla's wide ones. Fully capable of reaching into the young woman's very soul and reading a true answer there, she yet refrained. Waited until she knew that Shayla was fully aware of this small act of kindness on her part.

"Shayla, it is my deepest desire that you become One with me, that you see me in the Light of the All, that you realize how it exists within every being, youself included, and that you find that which shall truly fill your own soul. I believe that goal is not what you believe it to be at this time.

"You once asked me where we were going, and I slashed back hatefully. Now I tell thee: we go to a place of learning, where I may properly teach you of these things.

"We go to the Great Sith Temple at Khar Delba; a place few not of the Sith have laid eyes upon and lived to tell the tale."

Pausing in her somewhat dramatic soliloquy, she cocked her head a bit to the side, and waited to hear what Shayla had to say.

[ 09-22-2001 07:13 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

The Light...

Those words rang within Shayla, as a very unexpected apology and explanation was delivered to her.

Perhaps her vision of the future was not indeed the reality of what it could be or would be.

Suddenly, she had the desire to find out, at least if only to know, what that reality could be.

And she had no fear of being misplaced from those she had left anymore. The only one who truly remained within her even still, crying out that she turn from what had been placed before her, was Erik.

I will return to you, my love, but I shall never be the same, she thought into the distance. He seemed to moan in agony at these words, fearing what she would become.

Trust me, she told him. I must understand my true potential. At whatever cost it requires.

Finally, she shut his thoughts away from hers, and focused on the eyes of the one before her. "I am ready," Shayla said firmly. "To be taught, and to be tested..."

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

It was brief. But it was there.

She then sobered quickly, closing her eyes briefly as she nodded once in affirmation.

"This is pleasing to me, Shayla." She spoke at last. Her voice was as soft as the lacy tendrils of a Yavin feather fern. "Even though I sense that it is for reasons of your own, and not of my choosing, that you say the words that you do. I hope the time will come where that foundation will be altered. A weak and shaky foundation it is; I will help you build a new one."

Nodding to herself, she turned away from Shayla, still speaking as she glided about the young woman's quarters. At length she came to a halt before a storage closet; there she turned about quickly to face Shayla once again.

"I will go to my quarters to meditate and prepare for your enlightenment, my young Adept," she continued. "It will be some time before we reach Khar Delba. During that time you have free rein of the ship. You may come and go as you desire; M'wonBo'o!"

The last was announced in an imperious tone, clearly meant to command. From without Shayla's quarters came a rumbling yowl. It was accompanied by the clatter of claws against durasteel, as the tuk'ata forced his massive body into the quarters, taking up a goodly portion of them, and came to an obedient halt before his Mistress. His pupilless eyes never left Shayla, however; with a low growl of disapproval, he hunkered to a crouch.

"You will give this one freedom, my pet," Graysith commanded, her tone lightening as she reached out to tweak a face tendril writhing upon the great Beast's muzzle. "She may come and go as she pleases. You are only to stand watch for... sincere threats against us. Is this understood?"

M'wonBo'o lowered his head, casting his eerie eyes up sideways and taking in Shayla's form in one swift glance. At length he turned and butted his head against Graysith.

"Command of yours, this is being," he purred into her mind. "Shadow not I being, yet protect not being I. On own is this One being; owe I Vision to other threat being," he finally acquiesced.

Graysith smiled lightly once again. "Very well, my pet," she at last spoke, her voice still soft. "This is the least I can expect of one so loyal to me. And pleasing it is as well."

Abruptly, she turned back to the closet, and with a wave of her hand, triggered its door. It slid to an obedient opening before her, revealing the various flight suits hanging within its depths. Reaching out one slim hand, she fingered one, the material a strange combination of rough suppleness against her flesh.

Letting it go, she spoke. She had no need to look at her chosen Adept to see the shock which registered upon her face at what she said.

"Now, in this interim, perhaps you wish to devise the lightsaber you are thinking of. I am pleased you found the crystal."

Now her eyes closed, and the Glyph flared into ultraviolet radiance. It bathed the interior of the closet with an unhealthy glow.

"Although, in the end, you will have no need of such toys," she finished at last.

Then turning and flashing another smile at Shayla, she glided forth and departed the quarters, leaving Shayla to her thoughts and to M'wonBo'o, who lingered there still.

[ 09-23-2001 03:30 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

But strangely, all Shayla felt was calm. After her fit of anger...

Anger? Is that what it had been? It felt so horrible...and yet so good at the same time, to at least FEEL it.

She knew this thought should have disturbed her further, but even so, it didn't. Instead, Shayla wondered whatever had become of Terrin and...the other. She reached out, but felt them no where around. Either they had been blasted into oblivion, or they had been released, or they had escaped.

Shayla highly doubted the first or last scenarios. If they had all died, she would have certainly felt it. And she didn't see their escape as being possible, even though she knew this was but a little ship.

Even so, it was an unusual ship. One that Shayla had to admit she was very curious about. Certainly, she'd seen the rest of the shuttle, but she had yet to get a good view of the bridge, and she at least wondered if they were in hyperspace or still floating in realspace where they had confronted Terrin and his fleet.

Suddenly full of wonder, Shayla arose from her bed, walked out into the hallway of the shuttle and to the command bridge.

Her piloting senses began to take over as she recognized the distinct feel of being in hyperspace, but still something about this shuttle's hyperdrive felt oddly different. Suddenly burning with curiosity, Shayla found herself near the navboard, gazing at the very odd and alien markings and controls.

It was unlike anything she had ever seen, but still she could guess that it was some sort of Ancient Sith Writing.

Before she even realized it, she'd taken a seat at the command chair, biting her lower lip as she took in all the controls and their strange markings.

This was her element, the one thing she KNEW she was good at, the one thing she knew she could achieve her full potential doing...

Her full potential?

She looked up momentarily, frowning at the thought. Where in the universe did THAT come from?

More than anything, she wanted to be back in her element. She wanted to fly shuttles, to negotiate with people, to acquire knowledge...

It was the business of her life...

Snapping back into reality, Shayla realized where she was and quickly stood up and withdrew from the navboard, as though suddenly becoming aware that she had corrupted a sacred sanctuary.

As she stepped away, Shayla nearly stepped on something, but sensed it underfoot before she brought her heel down. Wanting to know what it was, she picked up the small item and brought it to eye level.

It looked to have once been part of the flooring of the shuttle, part that had come lose under the wear and tear of passing feet and had been shuffled away from its original location by something or other.

Shayla arched an eyebrow. If she cut a small portion off the bottom of the two-demensional plastisynth, and pulled the edges of the bigger piece so that it formed an open cylinder, she could attach the other piece on the bottom of the cylinder and design a casing to house the gem and power supply for her lightsaber.

Satisfied with this find, Shayla slipped the piece of flooring into one pocket of her jumpsuit, then turned and headed back towards her room.

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

Come on, you've made one of these before, she told herself. Of course, she'd been about ten years younger, and guided by her teachers at the Praxeum.

The Praxeum. The word echoed dead in Shayla's ears, as though it was now something completely foreign.

But back to the weapon. Glancing at the plastisynth, she realized she was going to need heat...from something...to make the material shapeable.

But heat from what? she wondered, frowning in concentration and scanning through the possibilities. Before long, a viable idea presented itself.

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

Putting the gem back away in its hiding place, Shayla walked calmly yet with certainty to the kitchenette where she had eaten. Placing the piece of material in a bowl from the storage unit above the counter, she opened the microcooker and placed it inside. After a few minutes, she'd heated the piece of flooring up enough so that it was bendable and would adhere to itself if the ends were touched together.

Mission accomplished.

This time taking the bowl with the now semi-melted plastisynth with her, Shayla returned to her room, closing the door and turning down the lights to dim.

She had no idea what made her decide to do this.

Shayla placed the bowl on the floor, then sat down next to it, crossing her legs. Shaping this hilt, she thought, wouldn't take too long. And she could design a "top" of sorts so she could open the hilt later and insert the gem and power supply.

But these things took longer than Shayla recalled. Something odd happened when a Force-user designed his or her own weapon. Time seemed to still, and the only things in the universe were the designer and the material.

Minutes might have passed. Maybe even hours, Shayla didn't know. But at last, she came out with a product that she was pleased with.

She lifted up the hilt with her right hand until it was level with her eyes, and examined it, proud of the work she had done, and glad that the weapon seemed to fit so well in her grip. She'd even taken care to design "finger grooves" in the hilt so the weapon matched her hand, and her hand only.

Suddenly, a wave of complete exhaustion swept over Shayla, and she knew she desperately needed to lay down and close her eyes, if only for a moment. Placing the bowl upon her nightstand and putting the lightsaber hilt with the gem that it would soon contain, Shayla retreated to the bed, laying on her stomach.

In minutes...she was fast asleep...

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

Graysith guided her little Sith ship through a sparse asteroid field which existed in a tight ring about the star she had just passed. Ahead of her lay the crater-pocked desolation of K'eel Doba, and just beyond it, her destination. Looking for all the world like a great white eye with a green-slitted pupil, Khar Delba was not a world conducive to much traffic. Because its axis was tilted approximately 75% toward its orbital plane,and because it orbited some distance from the sun, it possessed an extreme seasonality; the majority of its surface was covered beneath a permanent ice field. Only a five-degree wide band of green centered on its equator gave any indication at all that life could exist on its otherwise harsh surface.

The little Sith ship didn't care about seasons or orientations of a planetary body. It cared only about one particular structure hidden upon its surface, a structure built almost 4,000 years ago and kept in relative secrecy from the rest of the Galaxy throughout the years. Following an inboard homing signal, the ship arrowed toward Khar Delba with the assurety of Death, aiming directly for the magnificent and ancient temple.

Soon it entered the atmosphere, its greeny-golden body igniting in fiery splendor as friction took hold of it and tried its utmost to fry it to a cinder. Sith technology merely laughed in the face of physics; at a breath-taking velocity, Chosen One continued its plunge through the thickening blanket of air, aiming straight and true toward a coordinate implanted into its cybernetic brain. It passed layer after layer of multi-hued clouds, then finally broke free and swooped above a rich and verdant jungle. Impossibly, it came to an immediate halt, laughing once more at physics and the laws it had just broken, and seemed to nose about like a questing Nek. Then it shot forward for a bit, and came at last to a gentle planetfall within a small and tree-ringed clearing.

Its hatch hissed open as the little ship began out-venting its excess energy, cooling, moisture beading its surface as the hot gases it spilled condensed upon it. A cloud gradually formed about the little ship, and from this cloud at length there stepped a slim and cloaked figure.

Graysith halted at the bottom of the departure ramp, peering through the thickening fog that hovered like some dank white ghost around Chosen One. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and stepped forth upon the surface of Khar Delba.

Khar Delba. How long it had been since she had last trod upon its soil. So long ago....

Graysith shook off the coldness that threatened to grip her, and took another step forward. At her side came M'wonBo'o, his face-tendrils coiling and questing as he searched the air for any clues of impending danger. Suddenly his pupilless eyes darkened, and he lowered his head, growling.

Mistress, someThing this way is being...he warned with another low growl.

Graysith nodded, and placed a steadying hand upon his head. She too sensed the imminent arrival of something... something, or rather, someone who seemed very alien yet disconcertingly familiar all at the same time....

Utilizing another tactic taught to her so long ago, she remained motionless, letting the unknown come to her. Behind her came the sound of a quiet footstep as Shayla exited the ship and joined her.

Graysith remained silent, her free hand now indicating Shayla follow her lead. All remained frozen in this tableau until, uttering a bass growl, the tuk'ata finally broke the spell and crouched as if to spring. From the surrounding forest, the silence thickened; its shadows seemed to darken perceptibly with unseen movement. Finally a group of three lean figures, led by one leaner still, broke from hiding and boldly stalked up to the Chosen Daughter.

Graysith kept her eyes glued on the lead Noghri, recognizing him the moment he had come out of hiding. Leaner, more muscular, and far tougher-looking than she remembered him, his physical state gave mute witness to the hardship he and his three companions had endured since the final departure of Lord Wicked from this place. He stalked up to her, his hand-made spear held loosely in his grip, yet so obviously ready to be put to use, and with a speed Graysith knew was both powerful and overwhelming. Confident in his own abilities, the Noghri came to a halt directly in front of the Chosen Daughter, cocked his head, and drew in a deep inhalation as he scented her. Then he stood mute, as did his companions, and all regarded each other in a rapidly spreading silence.

Graysith at last broke that silence. Quietly reaching out one slim hand, she placed it on the head of the lead Noghri. At her side, M'wonBo'o growled his disapproval of her apparent rashness, but she ignored him utterly. She focused her gaze intently upon the hawk's-eyes in front of her, searching....

"Nikk," she finally breathed. "Dear Nikk, it has been a long time. It is indeed good to see you."

[ 09-27-2001 05:36 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Her dreams had been strange and troubled, of a future she had never fathomed for herself and wasn't quite adjusted to.

Was this really, really, what she wanted?

Then, a little voice inside her told her she'd already made her choice, and that she'd done what she had to do...no one else cared...no one else had come to her rescue. Instead they were all off playing mindless Jedi games, pretending to be on a path to save her but knowing in their hearts that they only intended make themselves look good and occupy their rather wasted time.

Of course, then there was Erik.

Shayla trusted him still, although she questioned his trust in her. She knew he was worried...beyond worried...about her. Given time, she felt he'd learn that letting her go, for now, was the best thing to do.

And someday she promised herself that in return for his letting her go, she'd let him return.

That promise would be her weakness, regardless of what happened in the universe around her.

Shayla felt the shuttle begin to descend, so she quickly got up and ran a brush through her short dark blonde hair. Taking a look at her somewhat wrinkled jumpsuit, she made a quick switch to the light blue jumpsuit in her wardrobe and slipped some black ankle-boots on.

Making sure to hide her saber hilt and the violet gem in one of the jumpsuit pockets, Shayla walked to her bedroom door, opened it, and wandered out.

They were on the ground now, and the hatch was standing open. Graysith stood at the bottom of the ramp, so Shayla wondered down near her. Graysith motioned her to follow , so Shayla complied, curiously taking in the new world before her.

The telepathic creature...Shayla was certain it had to be a telepath...stalked near Graysith in a state of high alert. Shayla sensed suddenly that it was tense. Something was coming...

From out of the darkness, three short and lean figures emerged, and Shayla knew before she was even told the creatures were Noghri.

Graysith took the arrival of the trio in stride, and as Shayla watched the exchange, she surmised that the other woman knew at least one member of the trio from some previous encounter.

As the situation seemed to return to calm, Shayla's mind wondered just a bit.

What would she find here, at Khar Delba? Would she find peace? Would she learn something of herself she never knew was there?

Or would she meet a side of herself she was still, at this point, horrified to admit even existed? What of all those emotions she had to this point kept so carefully hidden? What of those issues that she refused to deal with?

Must she now learn to admit her fears, face her past, and more than anything...feel the emotion that had been damned so deep within herself she'd never truly understood it was even there?

Here, on Khar Delba, would she realize her true potential...or experience her worst nightmare?

Only time would tell...

[ 09-27-2001 10:42 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

"Once perfection... Now end of glory find here!" came his sibilant hiss. Then he stepped forward, waving his group onward as he went.

Obviously it was an invitation. Graysith didn't even hesitate long enough to cast a backward glance at her Adept, but with a stride both swift and sure followed Nikk and his party. Non-speaking, the silence broken only by the slight swish of feet moving through grass, they crossed the little field and entered into the lush shadows of the surrounding forest. For a length of time they moved through the understory, gliding like wraiths amidst the giant trunks and foliage which stood like strange and silent sentinals ever guarding the place to which they were heading.

To which they now came, breaking out into the open and pausing in silent consensus.

It hunkered there like some hideous, bloated Hutt, its stone walls presiding over the atmosphere of gloom which accompanied it. Ancient beyond imagining, criss-crossed with vines and mosses, its great ornate wooden doors black with the weight of the age they carried, the Temple rose up from its hidden little spot some 300 meters into the sky. That an object so huge managed yet to remain hidden from all views, both visual and virtual, bore witness to the magicks of the Ancient Sith who constructed it more than 4,000 years ago.

Graysith could not help her little gasp of indrawn breath when she broke out of the jungle and viewed that forbidding shape.

It was not the sight of stone or moss which filled her vision... it was a vision of a day long passed, when she had first come to this place. How reckless she had been, striding forth in her certainty that the Dark Lord who occupied this impressive citadel would heed her word, would bow before the Power she wielded, would adhere to her side....

She closed her eyes. How utterly wrong she had been!

Taking another breath now, the Chosen Daughter stepped forward once more, unconsciously mimicking that day long ago. Her stride steady, she walked up to the great wooden double door, placed a hand upon it. Nikk and his companions stood to one side, silently watching her every move, while M'wonBo'o continued to fret, unnoticed, beside her.

Gently, she pushed. The door oiled silently open, as easily as it had done so the very first time she had entered. Her breath stopped in her throat, Graysith pushed a little harder, then entered the Temple. She did not hesitate once she gained entry, but continued forward, allowing her little party room enough to follow.

Behind her now, the doors closed in silence, the Temple seeming to gather the group together as though preparing to make sacrifice to some dark and hideous god. Graysith shivered a bit, sensing her exit being cut off behind her, but did not hesitate. She continued on through the grandiose foyer...

To all the pale Jedi, I lift my face and cry, "Beware! For the Universe is in blackness, and I have touched the Night...!"

...approaching now, reaching out to touch, whisper-soft, and then open yet another set of ornate wooden doors. They yielded beneath that touch, opening wide to reveal before her the Great Hall of the Temple at Khar Delba.

Now she shivered more noticeably, her eyes snapping shut as memories flooded into her.

He stood there, dressed in robes and ornamentation of crimson and gold and the most royal of blues, amulets bedecking his wrists, his lethal lightsaber affixed to his back, his long black hair flowing around him like a mane as he scrutinized her with his intensely turquoise gaze. She shivered before the Look he bestowed upon her, but revealed nothing of this to Him. Rather, she strode boldly up to him, announcing herself, offering herself to Him...

...to her dearest dark Heart. He who she had first bonded to, with all of her heart, and soul, and very being. How well she remembered him standing there, darkly handsome and frighteningly powerful, waiting for what she would say... his knowing before she even uttered the words what in fact she WOULD say, did say; knowing how their lives would entwine together until reaching its ill-fated destiny aboard "Mantis..."

...feeling again the touch of His hands upon her as he approached, cupping her face, taking back her hair, his breath hot within her ear as he whispered to her, " I on the other hand..... I can make your wildest dreams come true...."

Shuddering a bit, Graysith opened her eyes. Before her, Darth Wicked's Lower Throne loomed. Beyond that, yet another set of doors beckoned.

Firming, she cast one quick look back at Shayla. Then she continued forward, bypassing the massive and ornate seat of Power, and headed straight toward the set of doors in the shadows.

[ 09-27-2001 11:09 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

At last, after walking through what seemed to be a jungle, a clearing emerged, and in that clearing...

Shayla took in the massive structure before her, estimating that, from the type of materials it was constructed of, the building must be very old, perhaps even ancient. The doors were huge and made of heavy wood of some origin Shayla didn't recognize and sealed off the building as though daring anyone to step forward and try to disturb the gloomy silence within.

Graysith stepped forward once more, going up to the large doors and slowly but surely pushing one open. In she went, and in Shayla followed, suddenly feeling very out of place.

As they walked through what appeared to be the foyer of this dark place, Shayla's mind shifted to a memory somewhat similiar to the one she was making now, yet even so very different.

She could remember it like it was yesterday, although it had been over a decade ago. She and Shawn...Goodness, how long had it been since she even THOUGHT of Shawn?...two orphaned children who had no bearing in life, reaching the surface of Yavin IV. Shawn wandered out of the transport shuttle rather gleefully...he was ready to explore, to take on the new world before them. Shayla, on the other hand, had stayed back a bit, gauging not the surroundings, but the people in those surroundings. Would they accept her? Could she really be a Jedi?

Anxious, Shawn grabbed his sister's hand and pulled her along, leaving their caretakers far behind them, not caring about their warnings to wait or slow down. As they hurried along in the warm sunlight, they at last were met by a large building in their path.

Shayla froze, finally convincing Shawn to stop. He turned and looked at her curiously.

"Come on!" he said, urging her to move forward, "Master Skywalker will be waiting!"

Shayla shook her head at her twin, suddenly unwilling to proceed.

Shawn frowned, and decided he'd pull her along anyway, whether she wanted to come or not.

"Shawn!" she screamed, angry at being shoved into a situation she was uncertain of. But he continued to lead her along, assuring her it would be fine. Seeing no alternative, Shayla finally gave in and let Shawn lead on, always making sure he was a step in front of her.

At last, they reached the doors of the Jedi Temple, and Shawn looked up at the door handle, probably pondering if he was big enough to push the heavy door open.

Shayla shook her head emphatically. "Let's wait for them to come to us," she said.

"Awww, you don't have to be afraid," Shawn had reassured her.

And he had been right. Master Skywalker, after they had entered, met them just inside the foyer of the grand Jedi Temple, happy to met them and very kind to them. The temple had been bustling with life...Praxeum students wandering back and forth from this class to that, seemingly excited about the things they were learning.

And that was the difference between now and then.

The Jedi Temple had been a place of life. This place...Shayla couldn't put her finger on it...seemed to squeeze the life right out of her. Still there was a power within the walls, and as she followed Graysith on into the next chamber Shayla felt it even more.

Before them, in the next room, was a sight unlike anything Shayla had ever laid eyes upon before, and she shivered as a block of ice began to freeze in her stomach in response to the evil pervading the air.

But there was something else here.

Graysith had stopped dead in her tracks once again, staring at...or somehow even through...the massive throne before them.

Shayla stretched out with her senses, hoping to understand the significance of the place in which they stood. She was met with a barage of emotions. Anger...Hate...Arrogance...Passion...

Love?

Shayla's mind paused midthought, as a realization slammed into her. There was something significant here allright. Something on a level that she couldn't fully comprehend without more facts, but something that she certainly understood at least on a basic level.

After all, she'd felt the same herself before. She knew it the moment she first laid eyes on Erik, even though she hadn't admitted it and didn't want to face the emotions welling within her even now at the thought of his name...

As Shayla's memories of that little piece of her history spun to the forefront of her mind, Graysith finally moved foreward, somehow not going too close to the throne as if fearing corruption of a sacred sanctuary.

Onward they proceeded to another set of doors Shayla couldn't even see.

Doors made not of heavy wood, but of mental stopgaps locking up memories etched in emotion never felt...

[ 09-28-2001 11:19 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

The Chosen Daughter did not hesitate but continued through the doors and into the noisome corridor, her adept, Nikk, and the tuk'ata following closely on her heels. No sooner had they entered than the wooden doors closed them in. On the other side, Nikk's three companions set up a stationary guard, there to wait for the return of the foursome.

Graysith didn't even turn her head. Her focus lay afront of her. With growing purpose in her step, she continued down the corridor, candles affixed to the walls flaring into life as she passed, lighting the way behind her, revealing that which she had left, yet leaving the way ahead blanketed in mystery and gloom. She smiled a little, recognizing yet another artful Sith touch.

Too easy it is to break an enemy's physical essence; it is a far, far more useful tactic to break the mind instead....

Still smiling, she came to an abrupt halt in a spot a carefully-paced-out number of feet down the corridor. To her immediate left, heavy mosses and sickly vines clung to the damp stone. To the eye of the uninformed, this dank greenery seemed no different from that which clung to the walls the entire length of the corridor. Closer inspection, however, revealed a pattern, one which was vaguely rectangular. Graysith reached out her hand, and brushed it across the heavy mosses, sensing once again the room and its all too familiar contents which lay behind the hidden and handle-less door. She started moving her hand, stroking the moss...

...and stopped.

Moving her hand, she took a small step backward, turning to Shayla who stood with growing curiosity behind her. Fixing Shayla with her violet eyes, she made a gesture toward this one mossy, vine-bedecked spot amidst the rest of the mossy, vine-crossed areas.

"Open this door, my Adept," she purred. Then she moved aside, giving Shayla the opportunity to come stand where she had just stood. Standing quietly to the side, Nikk tensed, his spear sharp and ready.

[ 09-29-2001 01:33 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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She opened her mouth to inquire how she was to open a door with no handle, then closed it.

This is another test, something in her mind told her. Hard to pass a test you haven't studied for...

Or have you studied for it, and just don't yet realize it?

Suddenly feeling very curious, Shayla gazed at the handle-less door before her, observing the dead-looking moss covering it.

But on further observation...The moss wasn't dead. Not even close. It was, rather, teeming with life...There seemed to be a pattern...

Shayla's mind flashed back to her discussion with Graysith aboard the shuttle, about how everything has a purpose, whether understood or not by others. Nothing, absolutely nothing, should be taken for granted.

Maybe this is the point to this test?

At that moment, Shayla felt she was under high scrutiny, as Graysith's intent violet eyes seemed to be boring into her back, waiting for her to make the wrong move.

She shoved that little thought aside, and everything else in the area aside as well, excepting the door and the moss that covered it. Not realizing she had closed her eyes, Shayla reached out, Force touched the moss...the wood of the door...

Memories of a long forgotten past, of never-felt emotions...

She stretched out, and with her best effort, mind-touched the patterns in the moss and wood, and attempted to "will" the door open...

[ 09-29-2001 02:47 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

She watched as Shayla slowly reached out her hand, first only lightly touching, and then firming to press a bit harder upon the writhing mosses. For a moment she too stood in absolute silence, as though trying to focus something of herself in direction....

At her side, Nikk slitted his eyes in preparation, and slightly tensed. Graysith merely shot out a restraining hand in front of him; then she too froze once more, continuing to watch Shayla's efforts.

Let us now see indeed who you truly are, my young friend... she allowed herself the luxury of that one thought. Then, tilting her head a bit darkly, she continued to wait, and to watch.

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

Suddenly, her hands began to move at her command...yet also at the command of something else...

In her minds eye, the world went from light to darkness, from the blood red of life to the blackness of death...to the spectrum of a rainbow encomapssing all that life entailed...

And therein, emotion untouched lied...emotion untouched, watied to be felt, at her discretion...

No longer afraid to feel and even more unaware of what was happening around her, Shayla let the mental barriers within detriorate. Let the walls fall down in response to a flood of emotion so brimming with power that they could no longer be kept at bay...

And slowly, but surely, the door before Shayla...the one before her, as well as the one in her mind...smoothly opened without the least bit of sound.

In she stepped...

Into the room before her...and into the emotion raging within...

[ 09-29-2001 04:28 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Graysith merely moved her head slightly, flipping back her long flaming hair which had tumbled down in front of her face. Her features utterly composed, she smiled and glided forward through the door Shayla had opened.

"Thank you, my adept," her soft voice entered silkily into Shayla's ears as she passed her, leading the way now into a room whose features remained exactly as she remembered them.

A large ornately carved bed, covered with blankets and afghans of the sort. Colors ranging from a deep violet to a lighter shade of pale. Against the far wall, an immense opening led to an even more immense balcony, one which Nikk had so lightly leapt upon to enter this very room so long ago, this room which Darth Wicked had first given to her.

Quarters which she now chose to give to Shayla. With an almost languid movement, she waved her hand. "Here you will stay, my sister. All within this room is yours, as were your quarters upon Chosen One. Here I once stayed; it is my hope you will be as comfortable here as I was during my tenure in this place. As well as it is my hope you continue to find that which you seek within its walls."

She paused a moment, turning to Nikk. "Dear Nikk," she breathed lightly. "Go hence, and seek out Leev. My adept deserves one to guard her with his life, as you and my own dear M'wonBo'o likewise guard mine."

The Noghri tilted his lean head in affirmation, and shot from the room. From the corridor outside the room came the snarling growl of M'wonBo'o, as the great tuk'ata watched Nikk move with graceful speed, to return to the double set of doors at the head of the corridor. His pupilless eyes cut the darkness, watching distrustfully as, once there, Nikk reached out to rap in code upon those doors. No sooner had he finished, then they promptly flew open. A lean and grizzled Noghri entered the corridor from the Great Hall, and followed Nikk back to Shayla's new quarters. There they posted themselves on either side of her door, staring with dispassionate eyes at M'wonBo'o, who was almost beside himself with jealousy.

Graysith smiled at Shayla, who looked somewhat taken aback at the Chosen Daughter's silence regarding her feat. "I go now to seek... something," she spoke up at last. "I shall return within the hour, that we might find food and thus refresh ourselves.

"Then I will show you something of this great and glorious place."

She bowed her head briefly, turned, and glided to the door which yet gaped open. There she paused momentarily, remembering her own frustrations in accomplishing the selfsame task Shayla had just completed.

"You have done well, my adept." The words were spoken so softly that Shayla barely caught them. "Indeed are you coming into your own."

Tilting her head once more, she turned and departed the room. Nikk took up a flanking position as she exited; M'wonBo'o followed along behind. In thus a manner the trio continued down the hall, candles flickering to life alongside them as they moved, this time extinguishing themselves with their passing, leaving no indication that there was any movement at all within the bowels of the Great Temple.

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

At the time, Graysith had had a touch more difficulty utilizing that power. Though power she now held, the immense and almost unfathomable power of all "force" known in the universe and multiverses which coexisted with it, at the time she had been too busy struggling with the ignition of the "lighter" force of love to have been able to open the door as easily as Shayla had. "Love" which, incongruously enough, had sprung into being in response to the overwhelming presence of Darth Wicked, this love which Aelvedaar had known was within her capability to feel and offer to One truly Dark...

And in that offering, in that unimaginable joining of true Light with true Dark, had triggered in turn the latent forces the Ancient Sorcerer had reached out with across the abyss of time and had placed within her that day so long ago, upon a dustball of a planet which orbited about a distant and dim little star. Forces elicited, yet still somehow dormant, waiting to be joined in turn by that same Dark....

Light and Dark. Good and Evil. Two halves combining to make One Whole... as they finally succeeded in doing...

...Here.

She paused with the realization that her feet had carried her straight and true to the spot where she had truly come into her own. Coming out of her reverie, she slowly turned a full 380 degrees, her eyes now closing as she recalled with vivid intensity that day, that time, when she had in fact so deeply changed.

The Room had been darkened when she first had entered. Then, with breath-taking rapidity, a ring of candles had flared into life around her... around...

Him. He had stood there, his demeanor calm, his intense turquoise eyes pinning her gaze to his. "You have proved the Sith are no longer to be known as beings of impatience," he had intoned. Then, before she could respond, he had charged her, his deadly lightsaber hissing to life as he brought it swooping down upon her head with all the frightening grace and strength and speed in his possession..

She managed to stop it, to hold its ferocious electric glare at bay with something she hadn't even been aware that she possessed at the time. For a moment his eyes had likewise glared through her, into her soul; then he had remarked to her flippant, "How do I score on Test Two?" that she had wasted entirely too much energy in what should have been a mere artful dodge.

Even as she stood there battling the growing sense of disgust with herself, he had suddenly reached out, grasped her face in his two hands, and sent his own Dark Essence rampaging through her mind, seeking....

Seeking what? At the time she hadn't the slightest idea of what he had been searching for with almost vicious passion, and thus had done the only thing she could have done. She had opened her mind up willingly to his wanton scrutiny, letting him find that which deep down she had known all along he needed, although he would never openly admit it to her, or to himself in fact.

Slowly, Graysith opened her eyes, a hint of tears brimming in them as she looked inward and once again felt his strong arms around her, felt his lips against her own, heard him declare just the one time, "You are the One to complete this darkness...." Events followed with the darkening of the candles, as even now the surroundings seemed to darken before her eyes.

One slim hand went to her belly as she remembered. Then it dropped to her side as with every ounce of her being she strove to forget.

Clenching her teeth, she abruptly turned on her heel and in utter silence, utter control once more, she left this room filled with memories too painful to bear. Nikk shadowed her in equal silence, and even M'wonBo'o refrained from yowling his disapproval at one thing or another. The two bestial bodyguards remained at a respectful distance from Graysith as, once leaving that dark little niche in the Temple's bowels, she stopped dead in her tracks.

Volcanic fire heated her breast as she whirled, her breath increasing now in leaps and bounds. Her eyes fairly glowed in synchronization with the flaring Glyph on her forehead as, unthinking, uncaring, she shot a hand out toward the door, index and little fingers extended like horns, the remainder loosely curled beneath the palm. Incandescent violet energies raged forth, striking the door...

... and sealing it shut for the remainder of eternity.

Taking a deep and calming breath, the Chosen Daughter leveled a dead gaze at the singed and blackened slag in front of her. Then she turned, and continued on her way, M'wonBo'o and Nikk adhering to her like shadows in the mist.

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

The feelings were strange, as they were--feelings never felt, never desired, never wanted.

One of them in particular caught Shayla's interest as she self-evaluated. Memories of parents she barely knew...of being yanked away from them to go to the Praxeum. She could even still remember her Father telling her that she had a gift, and that it was important that she and her twin learn to use it properly, or else it could be misused.

Misused? What right did HE have to determine how her Powers could be properly used?

She had been torn from them...she didn't want to go. She felt comfortable with them...loved and accepted. Finally, she agreed that going was for the best, mostly because that's what she knew they wanted her to do. But she never really wanted to go. She had been angry with them. She'd pushed the anger back--Shayla doubted she'd ever even told anyone about it, not even Shawn. He, after all, had always been adventurous...he wanted to go off to the Praxeum and become a Jedi.

Hadn't anybody ever asked her what SHE wanted?

The anger was boiling within her. It was like black oil...slowly seeping over every part of her mind.

And what had happened when she came to the Praxeum of her own, later when she was ready to do so? They'd lost her...they'd let someone snatch her away. And they'd waited too long...

Far too long for her to ever be able to trust them again.

Sighing, Shayla looked about her ornate quarters, the large wooden bed, deep violet covers...

Here, she had been thought of, provided for, taught.

Shayla had lost her Father the year she left for the Praxeum, in an attack the Empire had placed upon her home world. Her mother had been killed then as well.

Truth be told, she was still angry at them for leaving her permanantly in such a way, although that was far beyond her control.

But the feelings now were that of a very little girl...

A little girl who had been abandoned once again...only this time had the strength within herself to strike back...

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

Feeling a bit dirty after wandering through the jungle to get to the temple, Shayla decided she'd take a shower and change. She found the water running over her body soothing, and the soap, when it lathered against her skin, rather envigorating. By the time she emerged from the shower and donned the pale violet robe provided for her, she felt more awake and refreshed than she had since...Well since she'd been with Graysith.

Suddenly feeling curious, she left the shower and wandered into the sleeping quarters, approaching a heavy set of wooden double doors that had to be the closet. Without hesitation, Shayla pulled the door open, thankful that this door, unlike the one which opened the bedroom, did not require her to self-inspect.

Once opening the closet doors, Shayla was thrown by the number of items that had been provided for her. Robes, dresses, gowns, flightsuits, jumpsuits...the possibilities were endless.

As she thumbed through her options, Shayla marvelled at the luxury that had been afforded her since she had been with Graysith. Quarters aboard the shuttle, quarters here in the Temple, free reign of both areas...

Free reign...

Finally deciding to be a little impractical for the night (Shayla usually stuck to the basics when it came to attire...comfort, not frills), she picked out a simple light-blue A-line dress with no sleeves and a scooped neck. The dress flowed down to her ankles and was made of a silk material, possibly of Alderaanian descent. She let her hair dry and brushed it smooth, letting her straight dark blonde tresses fall to the edge of her face. Finally, she picked a pair of soft black shoes to wear, and colored her cheeks and lips just a tad.

She gazed at herself in the mirror, wondering why in the Universe she felt the sudden need to dress so formally.

Blue...what was so familiar about this blue?

Suddenly in her mind's eye, she could recall some other time, on some other place. A ship perhaps?

A pair of blue eyes...a cold look...betraying the emptiness lying therein...

He'd shoved her away...she'd shoved him away...

And even though she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he really loved her, wasn't she doing the same to Erik even now...?

Frowning deeply, Shayla shook herself from this mental introspection.

She didn't need anyone; she could take care of herself. To Hell with all the rest of them.

Shayla took one last look in the mirror then turned and went to the door, noticing that the inside, like the outside, had no latch. Arching an eyebrow, she reached a hand out to touch it, wondering what would happen. Surprisingly, the door, upon the slightest brush of her hand, opened. Out she wandered into the hall, only to be seen by her newly-acquired bodyguard.

Shayla turned to face the creature. Noghri were short, muscular beings known for their loyalties to the Republic and for their astute ability to kill. That in mind, Shayla shuddered momentarily.

I doubt these Noghri are Republic-loyal.

Shayla opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, realizing she couldn't quite form the question that was starting to rise from within her. How is it that Noghri came here to this place?

The Noghri was probably getting irritated at her staring. She didn't mean to stare...it was just...

something...

Finally deciding it best to keep her mouth shut for now til she knew what it was that she wanted to ask, Shayla instead turned back to her room, pausing momentarily as she stepped closer to the Noghri bodygaurd. "Leev," she said, softly. "Thank you...for your protection," she told him. He looked at her sideways, seemingly curious of why she'd felt the need to thank him.

As she reentered her room, she wasn't sure herself.

Or was she?

At the Praxeum, she had been snatched...she had not been saved...

Here, she was protected...and she was, strangely enough, beginning to feel extremely...safe...

[ 10-01-2001 09:32 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

What was that?

Seeking to understand, Shayla reached out with the Force, and strangely enough, she didn't have to go very far to find out exactly what it was she was feeling. Or rather, who...

The Force-touch of Thea wasn't hard for Shayla to recognize. Shayla wondered how long Thea had been trying to contact her this way, if at all. The little girl at least seemed worried, concerned about Shayla's well-being.

But she wanted to know where Shayla was too.

Shayla hesitated, deciding she needed to send something out to this little one, some sort of comfort. After all, she had attempted to show concern for Shayla. You would be one of the few, Shayla thought mostly to herself.

But she couldn't know where she was, not yet, not til Shayla decided for herself what she wanted. What if she didn't WANT to be found?

Instead, Shayla sent another message out to Thea.

I'm allright, she told the little girl. I'm safe here. In time I may let you know where here is, but not now. For now, you all need to trust me...but I'm fine...

[ 10-01-2001 04:37 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

At last, after traversing a tiny and deeply hidden stone stairway, passing through a dank and noisome foyer and climbing a final set of stairs, she reached her goal. She came to an abrupt halt before the great and ornate door which loomed deep within the bowels of this place like some hideous queen flkkant deep within its colony, carefully guarding its secrets....

For a moment she stood before the door, reading the stories its carvings revealed to her. Stories of the great victories each of the mighty Dark Lords of the Sith had won during their stays in this Temple, each one deeply etched into the darkly glowing wood of the doors, and adorned with jewels and precious metals. Each and every one of them pretentious and self-promoting and haughtily aloof...

...save for the one lone Sigil etched quietly into a corner of the door. His Mark it was; no need for grandiose gestures such as loud tales of glory. Just His presence alone, by being what it was, was glorification enough. It hovered there, written in ancient Sith, simply carved with but a single glowing violet stone to bedeck it:

Darth Wicked.

Surpressing the memories which quite suddenly welled up inside her, Graysith took a fortifying breath and reached out one slim hand. For a moment she merely rested it lightly upon the polished wood of the door...

No mere plaything of thine will I be....

...then with a quickly applied pressure, she pushed upon it.

It opened smoothly and silently beneath her touch, and she slowly glided within. Behind her, Nikk and M'wonBo'o took flanking positions on either side of the door, guarding this hidden room and its contents in unspoken agreement with each other.

Graysith took a slow look about the room, now letting memories flood her as her eyes became accustomed to the even deeper gloom within. Before her was an efficiently adorned room, one befitting a warrior. Art from all around the Galaxy adorned its walls; lush hangings and weaponry of every kind bedecked its walls. Off to one side stood an ornate bed, covered with satins and furs in hues of black and gold, scarlet and turquoise. Across from this was a great crystal, darkened now, yet somehow... waiting...

The Chosen Daughter blinked back the memories which once again threatened to overwhelm her, stiffening as her eyes darkened. Then her lips pursed, she walked into the room, and headed directly toward a large set of double doors sitting in quiet luxury off in one corner of her Dark Heart's private rooms... approached them, placed one pale hand upon them, then the other, and with a sudden gesture flung them open as though afraid to see what she would find within....

There they were, just as she somehow knew they would be. The robes of Darth Wicked, those luxuriant silks which yet seemed to glow of their own accord from the darkness within, accompanied by the amulets HE was wont to wear...

...and Something Else....

Her hand shook just a bit as she reached within the wardrobe, her fingers searching lightly within the folds, seeking, somehow seeing... and, with a small but victorious closure of slender fingers, finding.

It was as she remembered it. Small, ruby red, inconspicuous in its simplicity, yet more powerful than all the weaponry hanging upon the walls of this room. The Nar Khelba.

Smiling to herself, she held it in the palm of her hand. Then, the gesture sure and quick, she affixed it to her own thrimm, turned about, and began to leave the room.

As she passed by the great crystal, it suddenly leapt into life, stopping her in her tracks. She cast her violet eyes into its depths, curious.

There they were, hunkering about a small moon: Jedi, a child. Some place Other, a lone ship hurried off, following a course straight and true toward...

She straightened suddenly, her eyes darkening. We shall see what lies at the end of your trail, jedi! she spat into the void.

She then turned her attentions back to the group of ships which hovered about the moon, now peering more deeply into the crystal, seeking to overhear the conversations within. Only silence. She straightened, beginning to go, when something niggled. Somewhere, a lance of mentality was leaping out, connecting, one filled with concern and love and fear, one she found so familiar... it brought her focus back to the ships in which the Jedi hunkered, into the mind of a little girl, who again was linking out...

...into the mind of her Adept.

Graysith's eyes slitted. Then, her footsteps sure, the Glyph on her forehead flaring, she departed the old rooms of Lord Wicked, and hastened back to where she had left Shayla.

[ 10-02-2001 10:33 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

Suddenly Shayla felt drawn to assess what it was the other Jedi were doing. Certainly she couldn't make out specifics because they were so far away, but intentions could be read clearly across the space of the Force.

Cella was worried about Shayla, and was suddenly very dedicated to finding her. Jeroc, he felt somewhat defeated by allowing Shayla to be snatched from his Praxeum, and was somewhat clueless as to how to help her. Even so, he seemed determined that they would find a way.

A pity that they hadn't been that concerned before, Shayla thought.

Logan...why, he apparently had his mind set on storming off on his own to find Shayla. She wasn't sure how she knew this, but she could sense him out there, on his own, positive that no one else would do anything that could possibly help.

In that, you just might be right, Logan my friend.

Then there was something else...Erik...and someone...a bargain...a truce? Erik and...

And...

Terrin Danner?

WHAT THE SITHSPIT WAS TERRIN DANNER DOING TALKING TO ERIK?

The universe HAS gone mad!!!

Well, Shayla thought out to all those small lights in the Force--all those who were now somehow driven to find her, regardless of the cost, Where were you all before, when I needed you? Why didn't you come THEN?

Momentarily, Shayla's mind shifted. Erik, I do love you. But you don't trust me. Love without trust is void. I don't know what you are doing making deals with someone like Terrin Danner...

But I guess it really doesn't matter what you do anymore, does it? Because, if and when we meet again, I will be the one making the call, not you.

You must trust me.

But in the meantime, JEDI, Shayla thought angrily, sending her question out through the Force for anyone to hear, Whatever makes you think that I need to-- or even WANT TO for that matter--be saved?"

[ 10-02-2001 11:09 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

A Child whom she had returned. My adept... yet you trust me not....

No sooner had this thought crossed her mind when a great blast of Force impacted her. It was strong enough to stop her in her tracks, making M'wonBo'o bump into her, whining. Strong enough that in instinctive response she instantly set up her own defensive shields, that the great blow would not coil back into its Originator, taking something of herself with it as she knew was entirely quite possible. Protected in thus a manner, she now focused her concentration on that blow, following it out...

Surprisingly, it led directly to Shayla.

Graysith's lips parted in a little smile as she felt the complete and utter darkness emanating along the psychic wavelengths of that Force-blow. The smile grew broader still when she "heard" the whispered words it carried. Felt as though the emotions were rising in her own breast the anger and aching emptiness which, flaring in sudden and heated splendor, came to so wondrous a life in her Adept.

Whatever makes you think that I need to-- or even WANT TO for that matter--be saved?

She closed her eyes. This is indeed pleasing, she thought to herself. Her potential grows stronger with each passing second. The more she finds this "dark" within her... the easier becomes her journey along the path to her true fulfillment.

Nodding to herself, she continued on and soon came to the quarters where she had spent some of the happiest moments in her remembered life. For a brief moment she paused, her hand upraised. Then she let it lightly rest upon the mosses which painted the wall outside those quarters.

The opening revealed itself, and she glided into the room. Within stood Shayla, a deep look of anger blackening her face. Taken a bit aback at the sudden arrival of her mentor, she quickly strove for a look of bland calm... which she came nowhere near achieving. Graysith merely smiled at the confusion so clearly evident on the face of her adept, and raising a hand, moved gracefully over to her.

"You are reaching, my adept," she said, somewhat cryptically. "And growing within that reach.

"Come, my young friend," she suddenly switched the subject. "You must be hungry. Let us go from here, and refresh ourselves. I would also like to partake of a meal; it has been quite some time since I have eaten myself. One must feed the body to keep the mind in control of it."

Still smiling, she turned and led Shayla out into the corridor. There they turned toward the doors leading into the Great Hall, and had walked about half the distance there when Graysith came to a halt. Once again placing her hand against the mosses and vines which writhed upon the cold stone, she created yet another opening, one which revealed a large room surrounding a heavily laden banquet table. Unhesitatingly, she headed straight toward its bounty, towing a curious Shayla in her wake.

Graysith led her adept to the table, and indicated she should help herself of the delicacies upon it. Then, taking up a t'plikk fruit in one slender hand, she continued on to the wall in the rear of the spacious room. It seemed to slant in a strange geometric manner which had nothing to do with the overall shape of the Dining Hall itself. One last time Graysith laid her slim hands against the wall; this time no mere opening revealed itself. Instead, the entire wall slid into a hidden recess, revealing the clicking and blinking and warbling monitors and control padds of Darth Wicked's highly sophisticated computer.

For an instant the electronic gurblings stopped. Then, seeming from thin air:

'YOU again! I thought I had rid myself of you back when-"

"Jinn, Command override Alpha, Beta, Sith..." Graysith began with a soft sigh, but the self-centered computer beat her to the punch. "You don't have to go through all the motions again," it growled sulkily. "I still remember you have the command."

Now it was its turn to sigh. "What in the name of Palpatine's bloody bones do you want from me now?" it demanded, although in a touch more respectful tone of voice.

Graysith clenched her teeth, striving to fight down her anger at Jinn's impertinence. If we are going to stay here for any length of time, I really MUST reconfigure this dratted thing! she thought to herself. Then aloud: "Jinn, there is some activity heading our way. I would have you monitor it, and keep me apprised of the situation."

The computer only snorted. "You come waltzing in here, and expect me to stop all this important work HE has me doing to chase after a few ships?" it complained. "HE isn't going--"

Graysith cut the complaint off in mid-speech, hearing at the same time the soft approach of quiet feet as Shayla came to join her in Wicked's Command Room. "Jinn, Darth Wicked is dead," she said softly.

No, no...! How can I bear that? HOW can I even SAY the words?

She bore on. "Jinn, search out and find. Monitor, copy and save. Do you understand the instruction?"

The recalcitrant computer muttered darkly under its cybernetic breath for a moment, then gave the electronic approximation of a sigh. "I know HE is no more," it finally admitted. "I shall do as you ask of me."

"Good." Graysith closed the conversation with finality, turning on her heel and, placing her arm about her adept led her smoothly back into the outer room.

"So, my friend," she began. "Have you refreshed yourself? Or do I still have time to join you?

"And tell me, Shayla, for there must be much on your mind at this point. Have you any questions or concerns about your forthcoming stay here?"

[ 11-06-2001 09:18 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

She knows, Shayla, a little voice in the back of her head spoke quietly. She knows, but do you?

As Shayla allowed Graysith to lead her down the hallways, she also tried to stifle that little nagging voice within. Yet it remained even still.

Shayla was about to give into this little voice, to listen to its pleas, when they entered the Dining Hall, and the bounty within floored Shayla so much that she hadn't the time to evaluate that confounded little voice any longer.

Wow! Shayla thought, reaching for a rather scrumptious looking fruit sitting in one of the bowls, I haven't seen such food as this since...since...

Shayla's mind floated to another time, another place....

She and Erik, dancing at the party held by one of their most important clients. She was wearing a soft-yellow dress that sat off her shoulders, fitted close to her upper body then flowed out from her waist. He wore...what was it...ah yes, that deep green uniform of his, his dark hair waving away from his face as he'd taken care to look as presentable as possible for the occasion. She could recall his soft embrace...his arm around her waist, the protection she felt within his strength... his dark eyes locking with hers...

That was one of the first times she was positive he loved her...and she was positive she felt the same of him...Oh, how she missed him...

Not realizing she had drifted, Shayla's mind snapped back to reality as she heard the words, "YOU again?!"

Curious, Shayla wandered away from the table to where her Mentor stood in front of a now warbling and bleeping computer...Jinn, she called it. She tried to stifle the smile of amusement as the computer expressed it's displeasure at being disturbed, especially by Graysith. Shayla wondered what exactly caused the two of them to so evidently dislike each other.

The smile pulling at Shayla's lips was surfacing even still. You and Izzy should NEVER meet, she mused. She remembered when she had gotten the little R2 unit--she'd picked the droid specifically for its personality. There had been many a crew member who had insisted a memory wipe was in order, but Shayla would have none of that. Izzy's character was what made her effective when Shayla needed her to dig up dirt or to help her fly her X-wing...heck, she missed the little trash compactor!

Shayla was jolted from her musings when she heard the words "Darth Wicked is dead."

Hmmm.

It wasn't the words themselves...it was the emotion evidenced within them. Had Graysith...and Darth Wicked...???

Now was not the time to ask, Shayla decided. Instead, as Graysitih clearly asked the computer to monitor for approaching shuttles, Shayla had to wonder...

What approaching shuttles? I didn't give anyone my location...

Understanding struck. Logan! What was he thinking?! Shayla hadn't told them where she was, at least partially, for this very reason: she didn't want them to come try to save her, but she didn't want them hurt either, regardless of how angry she was at them. And she and Logan had been friends...they had talked, they had bonded...

Now he was headed right into trouble. And there wasn't a thing she could do to help him...not at the moment.

Shayla once again shoved these thoughts back into the recesses of her mind. She'd think on this later, when she had more time to evaluate. Now, as she and Graysith returned to the outer room, she would dine.

Shayla nodded an affirmative as her Mentor asked if there was yet time for her to join her in dining. As they sat down at the table, Graysith asked, "And tell me, Shayla, for there must be much on your mind at this point. Have you any questions or concerns about your forthcoming stay here?"

What are we going to be doing? How long will we be here? Are there others? were among the many questions bubbling within. Shayla settled on asking just one of them.

"I was wondering," she started, hesitating momentarily as she searched for the proper wording, "What is it, my friend, that I will be learning here, within these walls?"

[ 10-03-2001 11:16 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

"Why," she answered in a deceptively soft tone of voice. "You will be learning of yourself. Of all who come to this place, those who finally leave... who are allowed to leave ...know exactly who and what they are. It is the reason that this Temple exists."

Though Graysith continued looking, apparently quite deeply, into the curious eyes of her adept, it was not the young woman's face she was seeing. Her own eyes began clouding with the insidious rise of yet more memories; in one fluid motion she was suddenly on her feet and moving. Still seeing only images planted upon her inner vision, she glided over to the nearest wall and, reaching out one pale hand, rested it lightly there as if seeking some kind of support from the impervious stone.

Here I have found myself....

Utterly disregarding the woman who remained frozen at the table, somewhat startled, Graysith closed her eyes and let the memories within boil to the surface of her conscious thought.

Again came the picture of her marching into this Place, so full of herself, so cocky and arrogant, verbally accosting that Dark Lord as though he were a mere Moff of some backwater world. An unconscious grin twitched at the corners of her mouth in wry amusement; she had been lucky the powerful Sith Lord hadn't blasted her immediately into oblivion for her impertinence. He could easily have accomplished that with but one minor thought; instead, as though sensing something within her, and utterly unbeknownst to her at the time, he had deigned instead to let her live. Had listened patiently to her somewhat vainglorious words. Had skillfully hidden whatever amusement or disgust he might have felt at the moment...

...had instead immediately reached for the first time into her Essence, and in a manner quite similar to how she herself was now sensing Shayla, had found deeply lurking within her being her own true Potential to become...

To become who she was, and had been, and evermore would be. Graysith. His Iron Hand.

Yet, somehow, more....

Another vision rose up, smoothly supplanting the memory of her Dark Heart with one all horns and charnel-house blood and volcanic heat. Aelvedaar. Her sire? Her mentor? Her love?

He who found her, who indeed chose her, who plucked her from-- from what?

Graysith squinched her eyes closed more tightly, beads of sweat springing lightly upon her forehead as she strove to remember. She reached deep within her psyche, finding that spot within which displayed her arrival at this Temple, turned on her heel within her memories and traveled the reverse pathway. Suddenly she was surrounded by the starstreaks of hyperspace as she ravened through it, no real conscious thought in her brain but a burning signal flaring so strongly within her breast that she could not miss it as it beckoned her on, a fiery and all-encompassing homing device carrying her forth to her Destiny...

Now she was on a dusty planet, scores of lightyears from the nearest outpost, lost in the very tip of a forgotten arm of the Galaxy. Its heavens were dim from the meager light it's tiny sun feebly supplied; its surface covered with rock and dust and a sense of great age that managed somehow to utterly transcend Time.

Someone before her, a man... a threat to her... INTOLERABLE. Her eyes sweeping her surroundings, seeing not stone and dust but destiny and power and promise if she perform one small task which would lead to her freedom... her hand gripping a rock with sudden strength and determination....

Another, watching, horror clearly evident. HER. Time, indeed beyond linear thinking to those who know of its secrets, blended the visions of then and now.... The infernal woman; SHE who dared to take her young from her, flaunting her own yet-to-be-birthed child in her face, daring to reveal the power this youngling would possess as somehow the two of them were chaotically and eternally entwined...

A rage beyond comprehension filled her now. Thrusting the image of that woman aside, she peered further back, further, seeking... following....

A cave. She was in a cave. She had gone into the cave... she... she....

The abrupt crack of a deeply buried inner door slamming shut jerked her back to her senses. For a moment she blinked, refocusing her thoughts, tearing them back from the mists that had overcome her, back to the reality of the stone wall of a dining hall in a Sith Temple on yet another hidden world. Back to her future, to her reality of who indeed she was, who she would always be, and who from the beginning of her own little slice of Time had been predestined ALWAYS to be.

Graysith. His Iron Hand. All else mattered not.

Slowly she turned around, and leveled a steady look at Shayla. Unconsciously mimicking her last thought, she repeated, "You will learn of yourself, and herein, will indeed become that which you are destined to be.

"All else matters not, and will fly into oblivion before the face of your discovered reality. And in that discovery, you will likewise be shown that reality is simply NOT what you now think it to be.

"We'll begin tomorrow."

[ 10-03-2001 01:54 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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"All else matters not, and will fly into oblivion before the face of your discovered reality. And in that discovery, you will likewise be shown that reality is simply NOT what you now think it to be. We start tomorrow," Graysith said, finally turning back to face Shayla.

The conflicting emotion now slammed within Shayla, threatening to drive her completely insane. On the one hand, she was angry with the Jedi. She had chosen to come to them, and had chosen being trained at the Praxeum as her reality.

But...in choosing this reality, had she completely avoided her destiny--her true potential--only to face it regardless of what reality she thought, in her own small mind, she had choosen?

On the other hand, she was most certainly and completely in love with Erik. Shayla knew that in choosing to come to the Praxeum she had avoided the reality of her feelings for him, and had used the Praxeum as a means of escape for those mounting passions.

Maybe if she'd told him how she felt before this would have never happened? She would have never returned to the Praxeum, and she would be with him, in his arms...safe and protected...

How was it, Shayla wondered, that the Jedi, who strove to maintain outer calm, thought they could do so by squelching the emotion buried deep within? What good could come of smothering the realities of how one felt?

Erik, Shayla was certain, felt every emotion, in great detail--just as she knew he felt every milligram of her pain even now. He was no Jedi--and thank the Maker, he never would be. Shayla knew, with great certainty, that someday she would return to him, and she would let him know precisely how she felt.

No more running from how you truly feel, she told herself. No more shoving the feelings aside and smothering them from your outward countence. The Maker gave you emotions with purpose--feel them, damnit!

All the same, the conflicting emotions she felt continued to rage as though at war. Shayla resigned herself to letting the inward battle of emotion wage within. Only in feeling this inward struggle could she learn to control emotions she had once desired to hide.

Suddenly feeling extremely tired, Shayla looked to her Teacher, who seemed to be evaluating her every unspoken thought through her eyes. "Yes, tomorrow," she said softly, emotion flooding every fiber of her now weary being. "I fear I am feeling incredibly tired. I would like to request that I be allowed to retire for now, my friend."

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...a room she had chosen now to take unto herself as her own.

For a moment longer she merely sat there, letting her feet dangle off the side of the great bed, her hand idly stroking the soft material of the covers there, her mind empty of all conscious thought as she took the opportunity to simply feel once again. Fortified then by the cherished strength which flooded into her, she channeled a bit of it outward, a black tendril of her being sliding easily along it, arrowing into the mind of the Noghri who yet stood guard on the other side of the door to this room.

Nikk, she thought to him. Go and awaken my Adept, and bring her to refreshment. Then bring her to me; you will know where that is.

Nodding to herself as she felt the Noghri's instantaneous obedience, she then turned that tendril in another direction. It was not long before it crashed into the conflicted mind of her tuk'ata.

Mistress! the strangely joyful, yet hauntingly jealous word came flinging into her thoughts. Awaiting your command I am being, lonely being; have you this One forgotten being?

Graysith smiled as she sensed the coalescence of jealous anger into pure anxiety. Of course not, my dear M'wonBo'o, she thought back smoothly. You know you are my only faithful bodyguard and trusted blood-hunt companion. I could never leave you, my dear one.

With that, she arose from the bed and, approaching the ornate wardrobe in the corner, reached within. She quickly dressed herself in a long and flowing one-piece garment she had taken from its depths: black as the Void, it bore ankle-length split skirting and sleeves which came off of the form-fitting torso, themselves flowing loosely to just below the elbow. There they snugged tightly to each arm, allowing little for an enemy to grasp, yet allowing both freedom of movement as well as the placement of amulets about the wrists. She smiled a little, knowing she had no need for any amulets; instead, she reached out to a nearby stand and from it took her only other article of clothing: her thrimm. Contrasting starkly from the ebony field against which it was laid, it was of the most brilliant scarlet, with Sith runes embroidered upon it in almost incandescent violet. Hanging upon it was her Claw of S'slan, accompanied now with the deeper ruby glint of the Nar Khelba. Soft form-fitting and highly flexible black boots completed the ensemble.

Feeling no need to inspect herself, she departed the room, exiting into the little corridor beyond which was completely taken up by the massive form of M'wonBo'o. He immediately butted his head against her, a face tendril slithering out to twine lovingly around her hip. Her smile broadened, and she reached down to scratch his ears.

Let us go, my dear One, she thought into his quasi-sentient brain. There is much I need accomplish this day; your presence will give me added strength to attain my purpose.

Then, lifting a pale hand to hide the smile which now threatened to burst upon her features, she let the flood of pride and self-importance emanating from the tuk'ata lead the way. He asked no question, but unerringly led her to her destination, having seen it clearly implanted in his brain.

Soon the pair stood within yet another great training room hidden deeply within the bowels of the Temple. Although its perimeter was hidden in shadows, the sense of its circular shape was clearly evident by the ring of candles which, unlit, marked out a space perhaps 75 feet in diameter. Graysith did not enter into this ring, but merely stood quietly looking at it as she waited for the approach of her adept. She did not have to wait long.

There came the sudden sound of soft footfalls as, led by Nikk, Shayla entered into the room. She paused just within the door as Nikk continued on to hide himself in the surrounding gloom, and looked around with growing curiosity.

The Chosen Daughter tilted her head a bit in greeting, her long flaming hair tumbling about her shoulders. "Good morning, Shayla," she said softly. "I trust you have broken your fast, and are now ready to begin?"

Shayla opened her mouth to reply, but Graysith didn't give her the opportunity. Instead she moved a bit to one side, M'wonBo'o adhering to her like permaglue, and with a languid wave of one hand indicated the ring of candles.

"Please," she said in a soft voice, the tilt of her head clearly punctuating that small word. Shayla bit off whatever words she had been about to speak as, closing her mouth, she obediently stepped forward into the circle. The moment she did, the candles flared into glowing life around her. She whirled about at the suddenness of this unexpected act, pinning Graysith with a look that was filled with not a small bit of trepidation.

Graysith only smiled, nodding. Then, closing her eyes, she again reniged on that vow she had earlier given to the Sith Sorcerer... reached out across the fabric of Space and Time... clearly felt within her mental fingertips the very molecules of which that spacetime and everything within it was composed... twisted her hand as though by that very gesture she suddenly was able to mold those very molecules...

...and, thus reaching, seeking, finding, grasping... she came to a distant world. There, hidden deeply within the leafy boughs of an arborean village, she found a primitively carved wooden cradle. Sleeping innocently within it was a young Ewok, scarcely a month old. From the very atmosphere about the Ewok came an insidious black tendril, which coiled and writhed about it with all the smooth assurance of an adder, touching and gradually entwining itself until the body of the young being was completely covered in black otherness. Whatever small cry it might have given was nipped off abruptly when, as suddenly as it had encrouched upon the child, the tendril departed, taking its treasure with it.

Which it deposited gently within the confines of the candlelit circle, directly before the stunned Shayla.

The little Ewok blinked its moist brown eyes, peering about itself with the blank look only the very young possess. It's earlier frightened cry changed quickly to a curious gurgle as it peered about itself, it's little arms waving, feeling only the warmth of the candles about it, the equal warmth of the comforting blankets Graysith had placed beneath it, and the sense that there were other, bigger comforts in the immediate vicinity.

It waved it's little arms again. "Bloor," it gargled, a bit of spit standing moistly upon it's bottom lip. "Greeble-mahhh???"

As silent as smoke, Graysith approached the circle, bearing down quietly upon her adept. Even in the dimness of the room she could see Shayla's eyes; they were huge dark holes in her face.

"My Adept," she purred silkenly into her ears. "Tell me what it is you are feeling. Search yourself, and tell me what you find."

She quieted then as Shayla turned back to the young Ewok. The only sound to mar the absolute quiet was the continued gurgles of the little infant.

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