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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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...

"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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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."

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.

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...

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...

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...

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.

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?"

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?"

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?"

"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."

"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.

...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."

How do I feel about what?

Then, as the little thing made an attempt at communicating with them, or rather with her, something became rather clear.

Where had this little one come from? Surely he had a home...a family to whom he belonged...

Shayla’s mind shifted to a feeling that she would have rather liked to deny existed. Feelings of a little girl, taken from her home, away from her parents and away from her security without her even being asked. Taken away so that they could train her and hone her Force skills. But they had asked her not what she wanted, but had only considered what they wanted for her.

In yet the same way, this little one had been brought here now.

Somewhere in the course of her thoughts, Shayla had sat down on the floor with the Ewok and cradled it in her arms, trying to give it comfort in the midst of what surely must be a very frightening experience, falling asleep in its bed only to wake up in a world that wasn’t its own.

“I am angry!” Shayla spat, fury evident on her face. “What right do we have bringing this little one here? Why should we snatch it from the only home that it has ever known, from parents that surely must be missing their child?“

Shayla tried to read Graysith’s reaction but she remained remarkably unreadable, so Shayla continued. “Please,” she said, her eyes becoming cloudy with tears, “send him back home...please...”

With those words Shayla quieted, only crying with the little being and rocking it gently, unaware of the woman who was in the room with her, judging her every move and her every thought.

Shayla didn’t know the object of this lesson. At the moment, she frankly didn’t care. All she could focus on was the anger boiling within...not so much for the poor helpless Ewok who had been so uncaringly withdrawn from its home, but for a little girl from long ago. Shayla remembered how she felt when she was stripped of home and safety and thrust into a world of tutors and teachers who cared only about what they wanted her to learn and not what she desired for herself.

The feeling boiling within her was dark and black, and it ate into the very core of her being. Shayla felt like a little child, having a temper tantrum because she wasn’t getting what she wanted. She felt like the little girl who saw no out for the anger she felt and no way of stopping what the universe around her had determined suitable for a child with her Force gift.

No longer was she seeing the room around her or the woman measuring her as she reacted to the situation. Shayla Stargazer was seeing, in her mind’s eye, a little blonde girl with her brother at her side, pulling her along. She was seeing parents who were far away, waving as though to wish them well on their journey.

But the journey they had sent the pair on was a journey of their own choosing. Little did they understand that the road a person travels in time is determined not by what mankind may desire but by what the Force itself would have.

They had tried to determine her Destiny, and they had come close to doing exactly that. But Shayla Petrolu was made of stronger stuff. She would not allow anyone else to determine her Destiny, not even herself.

The Force alone would guide...

Shayla sat in the middle of the circular candle-lit room, her eyes closed and arms wrapped tightly around a confused little Ewok baby...crying and rocking...crying and rocking...

In Shayla's arms, the little Ewok let out another soft "qweep!" and reached out a stubby-fingered little hand to play with the little bit of Shayla's hair it could reach.

Suddenly Graysith moved, gracefully passing unscathed through the lit candles as she entered the circle and came to a pause beside her adept. A slow hand reached out to rest lightly upon Shayla's trembling head.

"I care."

The whispered thought, lustrous in itself, arrowed through the pain and aching loneliness she so clearly sensed in the soul of the young woman, worming its way through the increasing volume of darkness growing insidiously within. In the depths of Shayla's very essence, there shone one small and defiant beacon; smiling a bit to herself, Graysith allowed that elegantly simple thought to directly bull's-eye on the luminous target it presented.

"I care...."

Then she straightened, backing carefully out of Shayla's soul and mind so not to disturb the roiling emotions struggling to coalesce within. That much therein was struggling to meld, to discover, to make itself known, and to be relieved, was clearly evident... as were so clearly evident the travails needed to be undertaken without any meddling on her part.

Lead her I can, show her I will... she thought to herself as her smoky essence finally departed Shayla altogether. Force her I must not, nor will I. Aye, this one does have the potential... but does she have the strength to face it?

Great pain I see within her... and greater pains she must yet take unto herself. Can she do this?

Now she straightened her stance, her hand still softly resting atop Shayla's head, silently enjoining her adept to calm herself. Long moments passed before Shayla seemed to quiet, taking a shuddering breath and finally unhunching herself from her protective position over the infant she held. Graysith smiled, then removed the hand from Shayla's head and lowered it into the face of the little infant. The little one peered at it curiously, reached out, and grasped a finger between its wee chubby ones. It stuck Graysith's finger in its mouth, drooling.

The smile on Graysith's countenance broadened, softened. She peered down at the little Ewok in a manner which was almost maternal. Never taking her eyes from it, she whispered in a voice just loud enough for her Adept to hear,

"I sense your anger, and your pain. It fills your very soul like a seeping spring, perhaps unstoppable, perhaps not. What you determine to do with it is your own choice, Shayla, as how I took you was mine."

Reaching down suddenly, she plucked the little Ewok from Shayla's arms, and cradled it carefully in her own. The little one just gurgled in delight, and grabbed a tendril of her hair. Still drooling and bubbling, it stuck the hair in its mouth, its dark little eyes blinking with the very basic elements of contentment.

"What pain is it that you see here, my adept?" Graysith asked softly. "Is it the pain of this one being torn from its home, as you suggest? Does this one appear frightened or in any manner under threat of its life?"

She bestowed the little one with another soft smile. Then in an action which took Shayla completely off-guard, she merely released her grasp upon the infant and let it drop.

The little being disappeared before it ever hit the cold stones of the floor.

Graysith turned an intent gaze into the yet tear-filled eyes of her adept. "There is a time to take that which is, merely for what it is. As well as a time to follow the distraction of that which it merely appears to be. What else it can be.

"I feel the time will come where you will clearly see the difference, my adept. But we shall continue our investigations at a later time.

"Now, follow me."

With a sudden wave of her arm the candles extinguished themselves, their soft glow replaced by a deeply reddened light that seemed to emanate from the very air. Graysith gave her hair a toss, then turned and glided out of the training room, Nikk and M'wonBo'o immediately taking up flanking positions as she entered into the corridor without.

She did not even wait, nor indicate any expectance thereof, to see if Shayla was following.

The words rang in Shayla's head as she struggled to calm herself, to make sense of the things that were.

I care...

Was there a time that this woman was not the only one?

I care about you, Shayla, a familiar voice said. I love you...

No...she wasn't the only one...

"I sense your anger, and your pain. It fills your very soul like a seeping spring, perhaps unstoppable, perhaps not. What you determine to do with it is your own choice, Shayla, as how I took you was mine," Graysith said quietly.

Wait a minute...had not Graysith snatched her from the Praxeum in the same manner that her parents had left her there years before? Had she not decided a portion of Shayla's fate when Shayla had chosen for herself a completely different one?

Graysith took the infant from Shayla's arms and cradled it in her own as Shayla watched, feeling a bit numb and still overtaken by a flood of emotion. She asked Shayla if the infant seemed in distress or if it seemed worried about it's life being threatened.

Well...no, it didn't.

Then, as quickly as she had taken the little one from Shayla's grasp she released it and let it start falling to the floor. Shayla winced slightly, but managed to stop the action when the Ewok disappeared.

The Ewok was the object of a lesson, and nothing more. But still...what right...???

Shayla paused-midthought, as realization sprung into being.

So...a person's destiny is shaped by the Force. The Force may either guide by leading the person in the correct path, or by simply PLACING them in it, whatever the situation requires.

Had the Force placed Shayla at the Praxeum through the medium of her parents so long ago? And had she been snatched from the Praxeum to be with Graysith because that was the will of the Force?

In essence then, one cannot always control the situations they are placed in, but rather how they choose to REACT to those situations. Shayla as a little girl was frightened of being without her parents, and this feeling had been multiplied when she realized that she had lost them forever and hadn't been with them during their last moments.

Her hurt and growing anger at being seperated from her parents had driven her to believe she was incapable of ever doing everything she needed to become a Jedi because she knew could not control the will of the Force. She chose to stop relying on the Force and to not trust it. The Force had, after all, taken her parents from her.

Therefore, when it became apparent to Shayla that she couldn't become a Jedi without allowing the Force to guide as well as controlling it herself, she'd thrown in the towel and left.

But she had been WRONG. She did have the potential to use the Force more than adequately. Therefore, when the timing was right, she had been led to return to the Praxeum. But...training wasn't what she needed. Shayla Petrolu had all the lessons down cold, knew how to fight with a lightsaber and knew how use telekensis. Shayla knew how to calm herself with the Force. These things she did not need to learn once again.

Thus, the Force willed for her to be removed from the Praxeum to a place where she could, at last, acheive her true potential. Shayla needed not to learn the technical skills of being a Jedi. She needed to learn of HERSELF.

Shayla finally broke from her thoughts and wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. She had heard the words of her Teacher...and she had taken them to heart.

"There is a time to take that which is, merely for what it is. As well as a time to follow the distraction of that which it merely appears to be. What else it can be."

Shayla rose from the floor of the training room and followed Graysith as she requested that she do so. As she walked, Shayla pondered even still.

What else, in fact, could SHE be?

Graysith stopped in her tracks. Behind her, Nikk came to statue-still immobility; M'wonBo'o likewise pausing, with a little whine, in place. Two or three more pats of soft footsteps revealed the fact that Shayla alone kept moving, her thoughts turned too deeply inward at the moment to notice the others had come to a halt in front of her. She only stopped herself when she literally ran into the hind end of the massive tuk'ata. Only his great loyalty to the Chosen Daughter prevented him from whirling and shredding her on the spot.

Graysith only smiled, sensing this small melodrama unfolding behind her. Then she quietly turned, her violet eyes quietly assessing her adept who in turn was now struggling to keep her emotions from marring her facial expression. She did not quite succeed.... and her wide eyes widened further as Graysith now approached her, reaching out one slim hand to place it lightly on her cheek.

"Indeed, what can you be, my Adept?" the words came as soft as the caress of some vernal zephyr. "This I have told you, and will tell you again.

"You can be WHOLE."

At that, the Chosen Daughter turned lightly about and continued her progress down the corridor. For some length of time they moved within the hidden bowels of the Great Sith Temple, up and down myriad stone stairways, passing one converging corridor after another, now turning left and then right, and upon one occasion passing a small, barred, and somehow hideous wooden door. Graysith continued moving in this manner, one hand reaching out to brush lightly against that door in passing... then at length, after traversing yet more passageways they finally came upon a final flight of stairs leading upwards. At the top of these stairs Shayla's eyes blinked in recognition. In the distance directly ahead of them was the set of double wooden doors leading into the Great Hall.

They continued toward the doors when Graysith suddenly halted, a slight frown beginning to crease her face. Holding out one restraining hand, she reached its counterpart to lightly stroke the mosses to her right. An opening immediately revealed itself, one leading into the massive room which held the banquet table they had feasted on the night before, and from which Shayla had been taken by Nikk to partake from earlier this day. The room which also held Darth Wicked's hidden control room, and his powerful and somewhat temperamental computer, Jinn.

It was directly towards that oddly shaped back wall that Graysith now hastened. Touching it as she came, it opened so quickly that she did not even have to lessen her stride. Soon she was standing before the monitor screen of the computer, gazing steadily into the ruby red of the primary data input lens affixed there.

"Well, it's ABOUT TIME!" the computer complained in a somewhat aggrieved tone of voice. "Here you waltz in and just yank me off my primary duties to do merely your will, and when I FINALLY find something of interest you take your sweet time getting here! I've been bleeping for hours!" These final words hit the air in a sulky burst, all the more ridiculous for the depth of the silence which immediately followed them.

Graysith gritted her teeth to keep control of herself; crossing her arms and clenching the fabric of her sleeves. This infernal machine is DEFINITELY in need of reprogramming, she thought darkly. Indeed, perhaps at some later time....

With the greatest of effort, she removed her arms, striving to keep her voice and demeanor calm. "I was engrossed in the education of my adept, Jinn," she replied in a deceptively quiet voice. "But I do appreciate your efforts in attempting to contact me.

"What have your great efforts revealed?"

The computer chattered in self-importance. "WELL!" it began imperiously. "It wasn't easy; Sith knows but I've got probes all over the Galaxy, and keeping tabs on them all at the same time is enough to wipe out anyone's memory drivers..."

Graysith fought to keep her eyes from closing, and merely sighed as the computer babbled on about its woes and how selflessly it had risen above them all to accomplish the impossible. Practically the entirety of its self-centered babbling was totally ignored...until it came to the meat of its discovery.

"In the vicinity of the Yapphy Sector, there is an assemblage of ships. Nothing that a simple SSD couldn't zap into the Unknown with a shrug of its gravity well generators, but there they are. Of interest is that one ship, a small New Republican A-wing fighter, has departed from this group, and not far from it has departed into hyperspace.

"Probability plotting of its last known trajectory puts a 98% chance that its intended destination is the Khar Delban primary.

"Is this something that you wanted to know?" Finally winding to a halt, Jinn quieted, its red-lensed eye peering at Graysith in expectation.

Graysith didn't disappoint the computer. "Thank you, Jinn. Indeed this is of great interest to me. Your wonderful efforts may just have prevented great ill from befalling us, ill which quite possibly might lead to the ruin of this Temple, not to mention all that exists within it.

"I will now ponder the line of defense which would benefit us all. I thank you for your assistance, and bid thee pray continue your watch."

Jinn's sudden litany of the 3,875 Standard Defensive Procedures programmed into it by Darth Wicked fell on deaf ears as Graysith turned on her heel and departed the Command Center. Soon she was in the corridor once again, standing before her by now quieted adept.

She placed her hands on Shayla's shoulders, peering intently into her eyes.

"You have taken but one small step upon the path I am trying to reveal to you. Our upcoming sessions regarding the revelation of this avenue may be truncated shortly; at this time, my adept... my sister... I can only enjoin you to remember all that it seems you have already taken so deeply to heart."

With that she dropped her hands from Shayla and, turning once again, continued to lead the way through the double set of doors ahead. Traversing the Great Hall and the ominous foyer beyond, in this manner they quit the Temple entirely and soon disappeared into the cool green shadows of the jungle surrounding it.

Shayla let the words pierce her heart and mind as she pondered and analyzed them, all the while wandering behind her Teacher.

What, in fact, constitutes as a Whole? How could she be whole? When would she know that she was?

Shayla's thoughts spun along as Graysith lead her up the stairs and to...

To the Dining Hall from the evening before.

When in the Universe had they gone downstairs? Ah well, that didn't matter.

"You can be whole..."

But at the expense of what? Could she be whole, on her own, without anyone else? Had she mistakenly trusted others when she shouldn't have? Or was it her lack of trust in others that had lead her to feel incomplete?

Which was correct...to trust others and risk being disappointed, or to trust no one and risk being alone?

Shayla's mind wandered then to thoughts of Erik. He was the one person she trusted. He hadn't come for her, and truthfully, that hurt. Maybe that was her mistake for trusting him so...but...she NEEDED him.

She NEEDED him? Where had THAT admittance come from?

The fact settled into her heart slowly as she thought about the implications of it, all the while waiting for the heartache of that truth to set in.

But the hurt, surprisingly, never came.

She knew he was searching for her, and that he would stop at nothing to find her even though she had told him to let her go. Shayla wouldn't let him stand in the way of her continuing discovery of herself, but she didn't mind that he had not heeded her request for him to leave her alone. She knew he was upset and that he had shed many a tear since her disappearance.

And he could melt her sorrows with his tears...

Suddenly, the whirlwind of emotions within Shayla froze at a standstill. They were still there, but for the first time since she'd had her emotional core returned to her, Shayla could handle the emotion within. Shayla knew she must as well learn to determine the expression of each feeling and no longer shove them aside or pretend they did not exist at all.

And in time, as she learned of herself, she knew for the first time in her life that she could achieve this goal.

THEN she could be whole.

Slowly but surely, a smile graced the face of Shayla Petrolu.

She felt safe. She felt secure. She knew who she cared about and who cared about her. And she now had the willingness to learn who she truly COULD BE.

As all these thoughts surfaced, Graysith conversed with Jinn. Only when the irritable machine made mention of an A-Wing coming towards the Khar Delban primary...So THAT'S where they were...did Shayla return to the moment and take heed of what was being said.

"I will now ponder the line of defense which would benefit us all. I thank you for your assistance, and bid thee pray continue your watch," Graysith informed the computer.

Defense? From what? One small A-wing? Sithspit, what threat was there in that???

Then the reality became suddenly clear.

Logan. He was coming here to "save" her no doubt.

Very well then, but she did not need to be saved. Perhaps instead he needed to learn of himself as much as she did.

Logan had been a good friend to Shayla when she first came to the Praxeum, even if he initially irritated her. She wanted no harm to come to him, but Shayla did not desire to leave here either. Not until she decided she was ready.

Graysith then turned placed her hands on Shayla's shoulders, peering intently into her eyes.

"You have taken but one small step upon the path I am trying to reveal to you. Our upcoming sessions regarding the revelation of this avenue may be truncated shortly; at this time, my adept... my sister... I can only enjoin you to remember all that it seems you have already taken so deeply to heart."

Shayla nodded to show that she understood. Indeed she did need time to sort through the things that were being revealed to her within. She needed time, and she would not allow anyone to remove her from this place until she was truly Whole.

Shayla once again found herself following the footsteps of Graysith, this time out into the jungle surrounding the Temple.

Meanwhile the words reverberated in her brain even still.

You, Shayla Petrolu, can be WHOLE...

Except that the pilot was one very disillusioned Jedi apprentice, looking for his friend, following coordinates he'd gotten in a dream.

Yes, Logan Murroe was on his own again, nobody's student, nobody's son. Just himself, as it had been for most of his life until he arrived at the Praxeum. That too, had been in a stolen ship. Then as now, he had been cocky, full of bravura. Then as now, he knew what he wanted, or thought he wanted.

The parallels were almost frightening. Logan wondered what would really happen when he reached his destination. Unconsciously, he patted the stolen lightsaber hanging from his belt. Focus, he thought. You're coming to get Shayla and bring her back. You won't leave the planet until she's beside you in this cockpit.

Logan focused on the Force, stretched out as Jeroc and Cella had so often taught him to do. Shayla?, he called. This is Logan. Hang tight, I'm coming for you.

From Shayla, there was no immediate response that Logan could sense, just a flurry of conflicting emotions. Anger, abandonment, pain...undiscovered potential.

All the best ingredients for a fall to the dark side, if it hadn't already happened.

Shayla? This is Logan. Hang tight, I'm coming for you.

Shayla unconciously frowned, a flash of anger rising within.

Oh Sithspit! Had he even considered that maybe she didn't WANT to go back? And even if he managed to get here, to the surface of Khar Delba, he wasn't going to get into the Temple quite so easily, if at all. Besides, she wouldn't be forced to leave, whether he was her friend or not. He simply hadn't thought this one through at all, evidencing the impulsive youth that he was.

Maybe he needed to learn to think things through before he acted instead of pursuing larger feats, Shayla thought sarcastically.

Logan, she thought into the Force, Go back. Your impulsivity will lead you into certain trouble here. This ISN'T the Praxeum, and stealing students away here will not come so easily as it does there. Especially if the student does not wish to leave, as I do not, not yet.

Go back, before the water is over your head...

Her brilliant violet eyes flashed as, clearly reading her adept's transparent feelings she glided up to Shayla and placed one hand on her shoulder. Those brilliant eyes focused with laser's intensity upon the young woman.

"I am concerned that my friend is being impulsive and hasn't thought what he is planning to do through. He's not ready to face what might lie ahead if he comes here. But," Shayla continued, "I am also irritated because I feel no need to be saved, yet everyone else seems hellbent on doing so."

Shayla paused, trying to evaluate Graysith's reaction as she leaned back to observe Shayla better. As usual, the woman remained fairly unreadable, although Shayla thought she could see a bit of approval in the others eyes.

"If they wanted to save me so badly," Shayla added, "they should have done so long ago. But then they were caught up in their Jedi technicalities, and now..."

Shayla stopped mid-thought, as she searched for the right words.

"Now they are too late. The Force has lead me here, by your hand, to learn what I must to acheive my true potential. I'll not be removed from here, as I was at the Praxeum, so easily."

"You tell me what you think," she whispered, her breath warm and tickling Shayla's cheek. "What is it that you feel?"

The last time she'd done that, she'd lost it.

But she had also resolved herself to feel the emotion within, and to deal with how to express it better later in time.

No more shoving feelings aside.

"I feel..."

Shayla couldn't get the words out. She was angry, she knew it deep down. But something peculiar was going on within as well.

She felt angry, but unlike before, the anger didn't feel wrong...and she knew it.

"I'm angry!" she finally said. "I am angry, and..."

Shayla bit her lower lip again, this time a bit harder. "I'm angry, and the anger feels...justified...it doesn't feel...wrong..."

She frowned, worried about the truth of the matter. But she might as well be out with it.

"I feel angry. And the anger feels good...."

Once more she placed her hand against the smooth skin of Shayla's cheek, caressing it gently. She remained in that position for a moment literally frozen in Time, staring deeply into Shayla's being, letting the feeling cement itself into her adept's essence. Letting it imprint as well as into her own, along with the myriad emotions and questions which yet churned in Shayla's heart and mind and soul.

Then she let Time resume.

Fighting back the small but insistent wave of fatigue that one action created within her, instead nodding to herself to mask it, she turned and quietly continued through the deepening shadows of the Khar Delban jungle. The cool leaves of the understory reached forth first to embrace, then to eclipse them both as they glided silently along. At length they broke out into a small clearing, where the Chosen Daughter, fully recovered now, took up a central position. Ignoring the protesting whines and warning looks of her two bodyguards, she waved them on.

Nikk, M'wonBo'o, seek and protect, she thought softly into their minds.

Nikk closed his penetrating eyes in affirmation of the order and shot off into the surrounding shadows, his quickly uttered call to his fellows diminishing in his wake. The tuk'ata, however, was not prone to following such an order so easily.

Protect Mistress I am being, he scowled, his head held low in disapproval. This One She protect not being, if by Her side not being.

Graysith only turned her violet gaze to the small patch of stars revealed overhead. There are other ways you can best protect me, my dear companion, she thought back at length. You now have a duty which extends beyond the protection of merely my physical being. Go now, and assist Nikk in that which I have directed him to do. In that manner, you serve me best. She cocked her head, sending an inscrutable yet probing glance skyward.

We shall not be long parted, she finished.

It wasn't until the massive Korribanian beast had finally taken his grumbling leave that Graysith turned her gaze from the stars overhead. Smiling softly still, she approached Shayla, and draped an arm gracefully over her shoulders. The hand she had placed thus reached gently to Shayla's face, softly touching and tracing a feather-light pattern there. She then applied a bit more pressure, urging her adept to likewise cast her eyes toward the darkening sky above.

"Time grows short all too quickly, Shayla," she purred softly, still stroking Shayla's cheek. "I feel that which is within you, and that which is yet struggling to be released. Perhaps there is yet time for another lesson before...."

She cut that thought off in mid-sentence, letting her hand likewise cut off it's gentle contact with Shayla's skin. Removing her arm, she now pointed to the sky.

"Tell me, my Adept," she said evenly. "What is it that you see there?"

Logan slept, and thought, and slept some more. The hyperspace journey was long, and the A-wing was not designed to reach high faster-than-light speeds. The more he thought about what Shayla had said, the more he wanted to turn back, return to Jeroc and confess his wrong.

His immense pride, however, prevented him from doing that. And something about the feel of the Force did, too. For the first time in his life, Logan started to think like a true adult--like a Jedi, even.

It was the hardest, most frightening decision he'd had to make in his young life, and he knew Shayla probably wouldn't appreciate it one bit.

Something deep down inside of Shayla Petrolu wasn't liking what she was becoming one bit. Even so, the emotions that she had been holding back were being dealt with, and that was something Shayla felt was very important.

Feel now, deal with the ramifications later, a small voice seemed to whisper in her ear.

"I see...a clear sky, the sun setting in beautiful oranges and reds. I see the sky slowly darkening, and night on its way."

Shayla was starting to feel too fatigued with the onslaught of emotions thrumming inside her to even wonder what this path of teaching was to lead to...

For a long moment the Chosen Daughter remained absolutely silent, keenly aware of the emotions still roiling in her adept, aware too of the exhaustion which hovered just beyond that. She knew Shayla was somehow tottering on a razor's edge of understanding, and so by remaining quiet, letting the night bring its equally quiet solitude to them in increments, she waited for Shayla herself to quiet enough to listen once again.

Her adept did not disappoint her; it did not take long for the young woman to calm herself and perk her ears up in expectation.

"Yes," Graysith agreed, the sleeve of her smoky cloak lending her silhouette a graceful drape as she reached out as if to grasp the lessening light by what feeble photons it possessed. "Once again, the light of day gives way to the dark of Night. And soon will be revealed to us the brilliance of the stars within that wonderfully dark heaven overhead."

She paused for a moment, turning to direct a shrewd look toward Shayla. The young woman didn't seem to be paying attention, her eyes now also drawn to the pinpoints of light above as, one by one, the stars were revealed by the darkening atmosphere. Graysith knew better though, knew that every word she spoke was being avidly absorbed by the young woman. She continued on, more firmly now.

"Light gives way to dark, and mere hours hence that dark will in turn give way to light once again. Above us soon, the brilliant light of the stars, which would not be noticeable were it not for the dark of the void in which they dwell.

"Light and dark.

"Light and Dark...."

Pausing for a moment, she approached Shayla, came to a halt in front of her. Even in the faint light of the deepening twilight she could make out the question hovering in Shayla's eyes. She smiled a little, continuing.

"Shayla, I don't know if you are ready yet to understand what I am trying to show you. But I feel our time is shortening... soon others will be here who will severely impede the lessons I wish to teach you here. Indeed, it I was considering taking us away... Elsewhere... where we might avoid such silly distractions, and where I might continue with you.

"But, do not fear," she interrupted herself quickly, seeing something like fear rising in her adept's eyes. "I sense you are not ready yet for this. Here we will stay.

"And so, I must now try to press upon you with mere words what I wish for you to take to heart."

Very serious now, and holding out both arms, Graysith slowly turned a full circle. She came to a stop, her arms still outstretched and fully facing Shayla, whose eyes were now lit with curiosity and expectation.

"The Universe, my adept, is filled with polarities. In fact, it cannot exist without such. Dark and Light. Black and White. Up and Down. Each one a full measure of the other.

"In some instances, the joining together of these polarities nullifies them altogether. But this happens only on a microscopic scale. In reality, the polarities of the Universe cannot exist independently of each other. One needs the other simply to BE." Here she paused for breath, considering to herself, and trying to determine how to best present that which Aelvedaar had so eloquently taught her in his hidden temple on the other side of the Universe.

"Some would consider the Equation to read 1 + 1 = 0, when in reality that Reality actually reads 1/2 + 1/2 = 1. Together, both ends of the spectrum simply join, and even more simply, ARE."

Now Graysith came close to Shayla, placing her hands upon her shoulders and resting them lightly there. Even in the now nearly total darkness her adept could clearly make out her Teacher's face; while Graysith's demeanor and expression were a study in serenity, the Glyph on her forehead blazed forth with incandescent light. It bathed the two in an eerie ultraviolet glow.

"Shayla," Graysith pressed on, a bit of urgency now tingeing her voice. "These same polarities exist, in one manner or another, in everything you see. As well as in each and every living thing. When you find this in yourself, when you truly understand the Equation in relationship to who you are... then you will indeed become Whole. You WILL be whole."

Now the Chosen Daughter softened her voice, reaching up yet again to lay one cool hand alongside Shayla's face. "My Adept," she continued in a near-whisper. "I sense the concerns within you regarding but one polarity of All that is, and this one being what is called the Living Force. Probing more deeply, I have seen you struggling with the concepts of Light against Dark, of Good against Evil. Again, these polarities existing within you are truly just components of that greater All.

"And you must understand these for what they are, my young one. Difficult it may be to grasp, but you must begin to see them as halves of a lesser Whole. When you can clearly discriminate between them, and see them in this manner, this awareness will serve to lead you to the ability to control the Force."

She paused, reflecting upon the surprise lighting Shayla's eyes. "Ahh-- you think I do not sense this turmoil of yours? Shayla, you were angered because you thought you could not control the Force; this then led to an enlightenment of sorts where you realized you never would be able to, thinking it cannot be controlled. That instead it controls you.

"Poppycock! Understand this: pale jedi cannot control it, for how can they grasp the reins of something over which they have incomplete understanding? How can one recognize the Greater All, when his eyes are so narrowly focused upon but a small portion of it, whether that part is Light or Dark, Good or Evil. Or in any other manner in which they so quaintly divide it.

"You worry yet, deep within yourself, of such perceptions as these. Feelings and thoughts within you have throughout your life been tidily packaged into disparate little lumps, to be used or hidden deeply away. Hidden away out of FEAR. Shayla, this fear stems from ignorance. Confusion from out-of-hand rejection.

"When you cease your constant attempts to control, the ability to control will come to you. When you cease to reject, then you will be whole. And when you are whole, you will clearly see when you need to act in a manner perceived as 'good,' or when to act in a manner perceived as 'evil.'

"Two sides to every coin, Shayla. Each half unique, yet part of the whole."

Once again she paused for breath, peering deeply into her adept's eyes for the sparks of understanding she so badly wanted to see shining there. She thought she saw the faintest glimmering... and thus continued with, "Shayla, when you are whole, you will fully trust yourself. And with that trust so correctly placed, not in anyone else but yourself, you will discover that you are never alone. Will never be alone.

"You will not be alone because you will have yourself. Strength of the All lies in this awareness; and remember, always remember:

"Without true strength in self, all one may offer is mundane redundancy."

As though suddenly aware that true night had fallen, Graysith gave a little shiver, and pulled away from her adept. She cast her eyes about her, seeking yet more answers in the darkness just beyond her vision. As she had yet to formulate the questions, no answers presented themselves; with a wry little smile, she turned back to her adept and draped a graceful arm about her shoulders, hugging the young woman closely to her.

"Shall we return to the Temple, my adept?" she asked softly as, her footsteps whispering upon the grasses, she drew Shayla along with her, departing the clearing and entering once more into the utter blackness of the jungled night.

Something that seemed a whole lot like understanding.

Shayla had always been taught that Good and Evil could not coexist. But, upon introspection, something dawned on her. One can never exist without the other. The Jedi were always concerned with the fine lines of good and bad, trying to decide what they should and shouldn't do or feel. But the truth was...the two could never be truly separated. Not without the person who tries to separate it becoming so frustrated in determining what they should and shouldn't be feeling that their power to control anything becomes null.

Two sides to every coin, Shayla. Each half unique, yet part of the whole...

This realization burned within Shayla with warmth, as she suddenly understood. Why squelch the emotion within? What good does it do? In doing so, you are merely denying yourself a piece of yourself, and becoming something you are not.

Then Shayla began to feel something she hadn't for a long time. Balance. She wasn't turning to the Dark Side in agreeing that Light and Dark could not exist seperately. What she was doing, in fact, was becoming aware of the fact that the two sides of the Force just...were. Trying to pretend one could exist without the other just prevented one from fully understanding.

As they approached the Temple once again Shayla suddenly felt a burst of energy wash over her emotionally wearied mind. Here she had been thinking that allowing the emotion within to surface was making her tired, when in fact the tiredness was coming from her inwardly fighting the emotion that just was.

Suddenly realizing her true potential didn't seem like a statement in the void to Shayla anymore. Certainly Luke Skywalker had meant something totally different when he had said it those years before.

Shayla was sure the Jedi would come for her, and Erik as well. She was certain neither of them would fully understand what was going on within her, and she was equally as certain that the Jedi would believe she had turned to the Darkside.

But that wasn't it at all, for turning to the Darkside involved allowing only ones anger and hate to control. Turning to the Good Side, likewise, meant shunning all emotion and acting out of clear logic, or what one thought of as logic anyway. That didn't make sense to Shayla anymore either. And maybe that was why Erik had chosen never to become a Jedi himself...and why Shayla might never become a Jedi as well.

Light and Dark MUST coexist. One cannot nullify the other, because one cannot exist without the other. Without one, the other is dull and meaningless. The Light and the Dark...they are both within each living creature. Denying one or the other meant denying a part of oneself.

Only by acknowledging the Light and Dark within could Shayla become WHOLE...

Whole she could be, and whole she would be...and the Light of Shayla Petrolu's True Potential shone even more brightly within...

Did her own Teacher, her Sire and love Aelvedaar, feel thus when understanding had finally broken through into acceptance of her own?

She smiled, closing her eyes, feeling her way back to the Temple. Sent her thoughts outward, into the shadows, directing the Noghri and her tuk'ata to retain their watch over them. Came at last upon that brooding stone ediface, and reaching out a slim hand to touch the ornate entrance, likewise sent out that Dark which so joyously coexisted with the Light in her own soul, so as to be allowed entrance. For only in such a manner would any door of that great Sith Temple let anyone penetrate the secrets it held within.

The doors quietly oiled open, revealing the welcoming gloom inside. Graysith, however, paused at the threshold, turning to consider her adept one final time.

"There is one last thought I present for your study, my adept," she began sedately. "And that is this: Consider the jedi, and how they view the Force. Think of their self-restrictions in utilizing it for the benefit of the greater good, as they so naively divide the Universe.

"Consider further, if you will, this apparent dilemma: how can they truly determine that which is the 'greater good,' if they cannot perceive the entirety of the equation? They restrict themselves to but a portion; how can they see if their actions are indeed being directed as they so heartily avow them to be?"

She smiled softly, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Heed my words, Shayla. Know your Mind, and you know the Mind of the Creator. But know your Soul... and you know the Universe which exists within you."

With that, she smoothly turned and entered the Temple, her booted footsteps lightly ticking against the stone floor as she crossed the Great Foyer and headed toward the Great Hall and corridor beyond. As she moved, she continued to speak to Shayla, smiling to herself as she wondered how much that she was now saying was actually being digested by her at this point. That her adept was so full of awakening awareness and understanding to totally dismiss her more casual instruction would not have surprised her in the least bit.

"First, my dear, I feel food is in order. Then I believe I shall go attend to some Temple matters. We will soon have guests arriving here; I must ascertain that all is in... readiness... for their coming.

"In the meantime, I know you have been working on that lightsaber of yours. Soon, I hope, you will have no need for such a toy. In the interim though, as it means much to you, it therefore has meaning to me. Feel free to seek that which you need to complete it within the Temple and its grounds." Now her smile was touched with a hint of mischieviousness. "Consider it an exercise in ingenuity," she finished with a light laugh.

Shayla smiled at the words, feeling suddenly and blissfully certain that the potential within was screaming to be released. The only sadness was that it had taken so long for her to get to this point.

The Jedi would not understand. They could not unless they let go of that mindset in which they had been drilled and brainwashed in. And that would either take some time, or it would indeed never happen at all.

The mention of food brought Shayla back to reality. She was glad for nourishment, and gladder even still at the mention of her ongoing lightsaber project. Finish it she would, tonight. She might not need it, but Shayla knew that she could only approach the Jedi initially in a mode that they truly understood.

After dinner, Shayla returned to her room and cleaned up a bit. The weariness from earlier had completely drained from her, and now she felt full of life and energy.

The lightsaber was at the forefront of her mind. Shayla figured she could use the chrono on her wrist to produce the few wires she would need, and that meant she only needed to find a power source.

Maybe there were some old ships or speeders around here somewhere? Time to take a walk.

Shayla left her room once again, losing herself in the wonder and mystery of the Temple, awestrucken by the craftiness and uniqueness with which the place had been constructed. She really hadn't set out looking for clues. The Force was guiding her, as it had to the crystal aboard the Sith ship.

Before long Shayla had wandered downstairs to a rather dark and foreboding end of the temple, far away from the main part above. She entered a long musky corridor with little lighting, and was forced to use her senses to find her way in the darkness. Once she reached the end of the corridor, there seemed to be no door or entrance of any sort, but rather another moss-laden wall.

But things weren't always what they seemed. Shayla reached out to touch the moss, feeling the texture and the life within it. She had some trouble this time opening the door, the dawning pleasure of understanding in the way of those other dark feelings within. Shayla searched and found it...the anger within at the Jedi for not understanding what she was trying to accomplish, and anger at them for assuming so readily that she was somehow becoming dark and evil for admitting the feelings she had within.

At last, the wall shifted and slid open, revealing a darkened and unused hanger. The ships that sat within seemed somewhat outdated and certainly out of repair.

Darth Wicked's hangar? Shayla wondered, scanning the ships within. She settled upon an old tie-fighter, knowing that getting into the power cells of this fighter was a relatively simple task.

She triggered the hatch of the fighter open and slid inside, suddenly feeling at home amongst the controls of the ship. In less than thirty standard minutes she emerged, a bit dirtier than she had been when she entered the little fighter but with at least four possible power cells.

She returned quickly to her room, closed the door, and retreived the lightsaber hilt and gem from the pocket in her jumpsuit. Once again turning the lights to dim and sitting on the floor cross-legged, Shayla laid out the hilt, the gem, the power cell, and her chrono. She began to work, her hands moving at the command of the Force, her mind slowly becoming oblivious of time and movement.

Shayla was no longer in reality. She was in that mode of thought that brought forth a perfected lightsaber, its blade attuned to the user. Memories flooded her mind, and emotions flooded her soul.

Time was truly lost.

When Shayla finally became aware of herself and her surroundings again, she was still sitting on the floor cross-legged, but was holding before her a lightsaber complete and ready for use, its violet blade humming with life. She moved the weapon in an infinity loop, observing the smoothness with which she moved the weapon and the comfort and assuredity with which she held it.

Finally closing the blade down, Shayla placed the new lightsaber in her weapons belt beside the bed--one she had not been wearing for the past day because she didn't have any weapons to put on the belt to begin with. Although her chrono was in pieces, Shayla knew it was early morning and that she needed to get some rest. After peeling out of her jumpsuit and changing into a comfortable light yellow nightgown, Shayla unmade the bed and flung herself into the plush sheets, wrapping herself in them.

She closed her eyes and, feeling at peace, Shayla Petrolu slipped off to sleep...

Thus is the circle of the Force. To deny one part of the Force, be it Light or Dark is to try to break the circle.

But it would continue in the outside Universe nonetheless. The circle would only be broken within the person who only accepted one side of the Force, thus making them incomplete and unable to fully comprehend all that existed in the Universe around them. AND THAT WAS WHAT THE JEDI WERE MISSING.

Ah well, small minds think in small terms.

Shayla was still angry that the Jedi thought she was somehow turning to the Dark Side by accepting this truth. Even now, she was aware that Cella thought her newly budding beliefs were the result of accepting strange philosophies...

Strange philosophies??? Why was believing that one needed to accept their whole self and view all sides any stranger than only looking from the point of view of the Light and squelching one's emotions deep down within, pretending as though they weren't even there? How healthy was THAT?

Shayla knew that part of the reason Jedi philosophy had attracted her so much in the past was because it allowed her to hide emotions deep down within and lock them up. Heck, she'd left Stargazer Corporation to go to the Praxeum so that she could avoid admitting her love for Erik. She'd somehow believed that in becoming a Jedi she could become self-sufficient enough to NEVER have to admit it.

Shayla sat up slowly, pulled the lightsaber from her nightstand and thumbed it on, gazing at the violet blade intently.

The Jedi thought she had turned to the Dark Side. Would they even listen to what she had to tell them, what she had learned, or would they simply try to nullify all that she had accomplished, insisting that she was being deceived?

If they believed that they obviously didn't know her well enough. Shayla was not one to be shaken from beliefs she held so solidly easily. She had to truly see a reason to accept a new logic as truth. And the logic she had learned here and so carefully evaluated MADE SENSE if they'd listen...

Small minds...

Small terms...

Only in time would Shayla know if they indeed could even attempt to comprehend...

Now I smiled to see that the fruits of my efforts were sweet ones indeed. I watched, unbeknownst to my Chosen One, as she entered now into the quarters belonging to He who had fired her into Life. Watched as she quietly crossed the room, and placed her cloak of Sith-runed smoke within the great wardrobe, alongside the splendid garments of His which were yet hanging there. Continued my silent observation as she in turn continued readying herself for rest, removing the thrimm with that singular gem affixed to it....

I know my eyes are hot with volcanic fires, as I see its ruby glint there. Not that she should be concerned with its powers; but a useful Tool it might be in the travails which are yet to come.

My Chosen One and love, now attired in a gown of flowing twilight, turns and approaches the great crystal. There she pauses, her face hidden by her flaming tresses as she casts her gaze into it's crystalline depths. Many a sentient being throughout time has scoffed at the magicks inherent to crystals; they do not realize the powerful harmonies of the resonating bonds such latticed structures hold within their hearts.

For a long while she stares into its iced-green depths. Although I do not see the particulars of what has captured her attention, I knew fully well what it is she is scrutinizing with such intensity. Indeed, travails are ahead of her... many a stone lies along the path she must tread. The first ones arising in the attempt to trip her are but a hair's-breadth from this place....

Now I feel it it Time to give her the support she so unknowingly seeks. With a motion clearly likened to a shrug, I quietly leave this place within the very interstices of spacetime, and step forth into the room.

I came up to her, and from behind slid my hands about her slender waist. She did not even start; she merely seemed to melt into my embrace, leaning her head back to rest against my chest. Softly, I reached down and placed a hot kiss upon the back of her neck, right at the point where it met her shoulder.

"You have done well, my love, and my One." I knew precisely the conflict within her; the fact that her heart first bonded to the Sith Lord, Darth Wicked, was of no great concern to me. That her affections now lay with a true Sith Lord was all that now mattered; my grasp about her tightened.

"I at first did not have the faith that you would succeed. You must forgive me."

Her startlingly light laugh was as refreshing as cooling waters upon my ear. She turned in my arms, looking me straight in the eye with her magnificent violet ones.

How becomingly those eyes match the Sigil I have marked upon her, taking her unto myself with that Glory!

"My love, there is nothing I need forgive. It is you who must forgive me, for I stepped fully out of my place in doing what I did with this young one."

The hot look I bestowed upon her bespoke of many unquenched hungers, but I restrained them. "And how exactly did you do this, stepping out of place?" I asked her quite mildly.

She laughed again. "I had the audacity to place myself along the pathway you trod, my Sire," she responded. "I could have... indeed, should have sent this one to you. Instead I took her upon myself, under my wing as it were."

As if to give further meaning to that statement, she snuggled more deeply into my caress. I tightened my hold, brushing my lips atop her head. "You did well, my love," I murmured. "In fact, I sense that when the time comes, this one might be useful in channelling the powers of the All, when they are finally used to bring my people back to glorious life."

Now concern crossed her features, and a slim hand came up to rest against the heated plane of my cheek. "My Lord, many of the Sith are dead," she said, a touch of mourning tingeing her voice. "I fear there will not be enough to properly--"

I cut her off, placing a finger upon her lips. "Stay your fears, my love," I whispered to her. "There will be enough. In one manner or another, there will be enough. The Sith Empire will be brought back into its former glory, and you will be the Empress pronouncing them to the Galaxy."

Now she kissed the finger I had upon her lips, her beautiful eyes closing as she allowed herself to melt fully into my embrace. Smiling, I gently lifted her in my arms, leaning my horned head down to place my own lips firmly against hers. In thus a manner, I carried my Chosen One toward the place where once slept many Lords of the Sith, and amidst the accoutrements thereof I was fully determined to oust the remnants of one in particular forever from her mind.

Her lips were cool upon mine.

Herein once she had found Fire and Ice.

Far hotter Fire and a more glacial form of Ice were yet to come together in this place... another polarity which, in its convergence this night, would more than merely join to become One. Would go beyond mere nullification as two opposing forces clashed head-on.

Would instead this night result in a Creation which was far, far greater than the mere sum of its parts....

Only then did Shayla feel the subtle Force-touch of a little girl, very much worried about her and very much hoping that she would reply. "Shayla, I love you, I'm coming to see you - don't hide from me please," the little one said.

Shayla smiled softly. Innocent minds were often underestimated when they should instead be paid more attention to. Thea didn't understand what was going on, but she, unlike the other Jedi, had grasped a truth that Shayla thought the others would have understood. Although Shayla may no longer agree with the Jedi philosophy and might feel angry that they seemed to be dragging their feet when she had once wanted them to come so badly, she was still open to them. Granted, she might not agree with them and might choose to use the Force differently than they did, but she didn't desire any harm to come to any of them.

That would only occur if they came blasting in never thinking twice about the ramifications of assuming before knowing the truth.

Shayla's smile twisted into a frown plus a glare, knowing that the former of the two was more likely.

The Jedi would be misled by the fact that she had accepted the Dark Side as part of her. They would assume that the Dark would swallow her whole.

Shayla wondered if they would even give her one standard second to explain herself.

In time she supposed she would find out.

But, for the moment, she felt the need to reassure the little girl. Thea was young, and she still cared about Shayla.

I will not hide from you, she whispered out to the little girl, when the time is right...

"Where is this Sith Temple, anyway?" he murmured to himself as the sublight engines brought him closer to Khar Delba itself. Reaching into the Force, a surprising flicker of presence made itself known to him, and he headed for the spot where he'd sensed it. The planet seemed all jungle, and he couldn't see structures of any kind...

But he guessed, and rightly, that that was because he wasn't being allowed to see.

Guided solely by his instincts, Logan landed in a fog-shrouded clearing. After making sure the atmosphere was breathable, he popped open the canopy of his fighter and climbed out. For a moment, only the pleasure of stretching his legs filled his mind. And then he remembered his purpose.

"Shayla?" he called uncertainly, reaching out for her at the same time. "Are you here? This is Logan."

No answer. Feeling utterly confused, he addressed a different person this time. "Whoever or whatever it is that brought Shayla here, I want to talk to you, at least find out whatever it is you're teaching her. I too am a seeker of knowledge. And I wish to learn alongside my friend." Ha!, he thought to himself. The only thing I'm interested in learning is how in crimson skies you got Shayla thinking like she's thinking.

Now, all fang and claw go I, in cool of dark am leaping being. Now in lead being, now partner-not I to some... thing... being, one of pale and watered blood being.

Silent, silent, go we. Snarl we... follow we strange-scent, by Her sent being... from shadows our eyes gleaming being, our senses being... in clearing ONE is being... in mind-thought HER is being.

Leap I! Leap I!

Like youngling THAT PALE ONE weak cries being; soft is being, struggle-faint; partner-not now long-claw being, swiping being... strange silver claw from ...THAT PALE ONE being, now not-not. Partner now, he strange claw being, holding being, beast-cry being. Others now round I and THAT ONE being.

Snarl I, snarl I.

Tendrils seek and clinging being; breath hot and spirit fierce am being; pin down I THAT PALE ONE and, heart loud as rage being...

Wait I... wait I.

But she was rested, so it didn't matter.

The jungle of Khar Delba seemed peaceful in the dawning of the new day, and Shayla soaked in the thrill of the night changing into the morning...

Suddenly, in that blissful moment, something very foreign yet very familiar disrupted the calm breeze...

An engine thrum...dying...then cutting off...

But more than an engine...it was the person manuevering the engine that caught Shayla's attention.

Logan.

"Shayla?" he called through the Force, "Are you here? This is Logan."

Ugh. Shayla grimaced, all the while deciding that maybe if she shut him off he'd go away.

But when she didn't respond, he continued with "Whoever or whatever it is that brought Shayla here, I want to talk to you, at least find out whatever it is you're teaching her. I too am a seeker of knowledge. And I wish to learn alongside my friend."

Shayla felt her stomach turn into knots and heard her heart pounding in her ears.

This was going to get ugly.

Shayla listened quietly and thoughtfully, both in reality and through the Force. That's when she heard Logan mentally add, Ha! The only thing I'm interested in learning is how in crimson skies you got Shayla thinking like she's thinking.

That statement grabbed Shayla's attention, infuriating her. Who the kriffing Hell did he think he was???!!!

Just like everyone else, he'd assumed that she was off her ever-loving rocker, some insane nerfherder who had been brainwashed by some sadistic Sith.

They obviously didn't know her one Sithspawned bit.

Shayla knew he might as well have painted a big red bullseye on his forehead and cried, Here! Here am I! I have landed on Khar Delba, come get me!"

Shayla rolled her eyes, fully aware that Leev had moved from trailing her to following the scent of Logan Murroe. She also sensed M'wonBo'o prowling and Nikk hot on the trail.

This was going to be really ugly.

In only a minute or so, Shayla knew without a doubt that Logan had been captured and was currently being held while his pursuers awaited their orders. Suddenly feeling a bit curious, Shayla hesitantly followed her Force sense to a clearing...

And there M'wonBo'o sat, pinning a fairly petrified Logan. Shayla stayed in the shadows, not wanting to be seen yet and also feeling the need to wait for her Teacher.

Logan was, after all, once a friend. He'd been under the guidance of those who did not understand her, so although Shayla was angry with him, she did not believe he was completely to blame for his misunderstanding her. She didn't know what Graysith would choose to do about this, and Logan's flippancy was not a wise move on his part. Not only had it angered Shayla, it had probably angered Graysith as well.

But then again, Shayla had warned him this was not a game, and he hadn't listened.

Now Logan faced a game on a playing field that he had yet to have trod...

The Chosen Daughter wasted no time with foolish questions. She fully knew the arrival of the young jedi was caused directly by her taking Shayla from the Praxeum on that day so long ago. Had events proceeded as she had formerly envisioned, she would not have had the slightest hesitation in directing M'wonBo'o to rip the young man's life from him. However, the destiny she had been following had been altered with the unexpected arrival of Actar. Like a flykkant queen quietly beating its wings in one end of the Galaxy, ripples had unfolded which, in another portion, had resulted in events far removed from her former designs.

Now she had an adept to consider... one who, although having made the initial, glorious breakthrough in understanding that she had, had still a long way to travel before she could be said to be safely ensconced within the heady and powerful caress of true Unification. She couldn't risk Shayla's turning away from her now... not to mention that the thought of having to then kill her young adept was something she was quite unwilling to consider.

She sighed, beginning to pace, ending up in front of the great crystal. Casting her eyes therein, she clearly saw the frightened Logan beneath M'wonBo'o's somewhat commanding attentions; watched as Leev and the other two Noghri formed a back-up ring around them, their spears pointed threateningly at the young man's bared throat; sensed about until she came upon Nikk who, light-saber in claw, was hurrying towards the Temple to deliver it to her. Sensed as well the hidden presence of her adept, whom she was quite certain was fully aware of what had just occurred and was no doubt waiting to see what she planned upon doing. Which road she planned to now turn upon.

Closing her eyes, Graysith concentrated, envisioning now the many roads before her, following each one to it's unique destination, then turning back to quest along another, and yet another. In the distance her Final Destiny lay like a great and shining jewel, waiting for her to come and pluck it for her own; again she considered the pathways, trying to determine the one which led to that jewel in the shortest and most direct line.

At length she sighed. Settling back a bit, she reached out her talents and smoothly entered into the mind of her tuk'ata and into those of the Noghri. Bring the jedi to me, she commanded them. Opening her eyes now, she looked again into the crystal, watching as her command was instantly obeyed. His mouth opening in an unheard snarl, M'wonBo'o backed off of the young man, granting him the room to stand. This invitation was enforced by the Noghri who leaned in, their eyes wild, their intentions dark as, poking and piercing, they prodded Logan to his feet at spearpoint and directed the way he should travel. Even a full Jedi Master would hesitate before three armed Noghri and a full-grown tuk'ata, especially if finding himself in a clearing of a jungle full of ysalamiri. Logan had no choice but to gain his feet, and go off in the direction they demanded of him.

Graysith watched the group as they departed the clearing, then sent a smooth comment off into the mind of her adept. Come with them to the Temple, my Adept, that they might enter therein.

Then she turned back to Aelvedaar with a little sigh. Moving to where he lay upon the bed like some lithe and muscled predator, she leaned down and placed her forehead against his, her eyes peering deeply into his fiery ones. "In one manner or another, my Sire?" she whispered softly.

He smiled in turn. "Only if worthy," the reply came, the tone of voice in which it was delivered deceptively soft in comparison to the full import those three words carried. He then reached up a commanding hand of his own, placing it behind Graysith's head and pulled her lips fiercely to his. He then drew back, his next whispered words equally as fierce.

"I am confident you will be able to discern the difference... and the consequences which will result in either case."

He was trying to act tough, really he was. Even now Shayla sensed defiance within him; the same defiance that she herself had once held when faced with being snatched from the Praxeum and taken to Graysith's ship.

That was, however, very long ago.

As the group began to advance out of the clearing, Shayla heard Graysith's request of her clearly.

Come with them to the Temple, my Adept, that they might enter therein.

She nodded and withdrew from the place where she had been lurking until she was in front of and facing the group. A somewhat startled Logan shot her a pleading look, but Shayla merely turned and walked onward, all the while aware that the others were following her.

They passed through the jungle quietly with only an occasional snarl from M'wonBo'o or a grunt from either the Noghri or Logan. Finally they reached the clearing in which the Sith Temple sat, and Shayla didn't even turn around to regard the awe-struck look that was probably on Logan's face. Instead, she proceeded onward, floating up to the large wooden double doors, pausing there, and reaching a hand up to touch the door and gain admittance.

Only then did she at last turn back, her greeny-blue eyes meeting the dark orbs of Logan Murroe. he returned a questioning gaze at her, as if to ask what had become of her. Shayla chose to ignore this unasked query.

In time, one way or another, he would understand.

Suddenly feeling the need to offer at least a word of moral support and perhaps even a bit of warning, Shayla said, "Be mindful, Logan, for your thoughtlessness has already put you at risk."

Offering no other words than that, she turned back and touched the door. At the slightest brush of her hand, the door slid open and the four of them, Shayla in the lead, entered.

Behind them, the door silently swung shut...

Or perhaps the fact that he was surrounded on all sides by vicious beasts ready to lay into him at the slightest provocation gave him more than enough impetus to keep his thoughts and feelings completely under wraps.

Whatever the reason, the padawan merely moved obediently ahead, trailed by a snarling M'wonBo'o, ringed by threatening Noghri... and led by one who had in a seemingly distant and earlier life been not just a friend but a fellow student as well. Graysith merely smiled, sensing the deeply conflicting concern and...something else now flaring into his heart.

Something else springing forth from its parental wellspring of... jealousy?

The Chosen Daughter didn't so much as blink as that possibility came to her. She merely continued to wait in silence as she felt the group coming closer and closer to her.

At length the doors to the Great Hall oiled open, and they approached her. The Noghri seemed to straighten a bit in the presence of the Throne, coming to an even more alert attention as they brought their captive forward. M'wonBo'o was not held to any such restrictions; with a loud and self-satisfied snarl he leapt ahead, coming up to Graysith and butting his head against her leg in greeting. Then, circling the throne once, he came to a halt at her left side and crouched into a prepatory ball, ready and willing to leap at her slightest thought.

Shayla came to a halt before Graysith, and tilted her head in recognition. "I have done as you have asked me," she said softly. Then, extending an arm out to the side and turning slightly in place, she indicated Logan with a graceful wave of her hand. He trembled slightly, shooting her a look that spoke volumes, then firmed and stood in silence of his own. Graysith nodded to herself in approval to see the manner in which he strove to keep his eyes riveted into her own pair. Then, rising in unconscious imitation of Darth Wicked, who had greeted her in so similar a manner seeming lifetimes ago, she brought her hands together in front of her and descended from the throne. Shayla moved a bit to the side as the Chosen Daughter came to a halt mere feet in front of Logan.

For a moment suspended in time, she continued to stare at the padawan, as though trying to see right through him. In many ways she succeeded in doing just that... and more. Then, without moving so much as a muscle, she somehow backed off, and let her gaze soften in diametric opposition with the Glyph. That enigma was blazing forth with greater and greater intensity, soon escalating beyond the visible wavelengths and approaching those blasted forth from the nuclear fires of stars.

Furthering her unconscious mimickry of Wicked, Graysith tilted her head to one side. "So you would learn here, my young friend," she purred silkenly. "Many pledge themselves to others in one manner or another. Oftentimes, however, their vows prove in the long run to be pointless. So let us not waste your time... nor mine."

She paused for a moment and reached one slim hand out to him. In his first struggle with M'wonBo'o, a ten-inch claw had slashed the garment he wore and had ripped into the flesh of his chest. Although it had probably greatly slowed from its initial flow, his blood still continued to well up and pool upon his clothing. Graysith stretched forth one finger, reached through a tear in his clothing and dipped it into that blood. Rolling it in Logan's very life's essence, she then traced a thin red trail upon his chest before finally removing its touch from him. Quietly, regarding the finger with shining and blackening eyes, she slowly raised it to her face. Now tilting her head as though completely entranced by the ruby droplets clinging there, she brought the finger closer yet, seeking to scrutinize further...

...and in a languid and almost sensual motion placed it directly before her lips and licked it clean.

Her violet eyes deepened further as they shot into Logan's dark pair.

"I now ask you, and caution you to think with care before you respond. What is it exactly that you wish to learn within these walls? And why do you think I should grant your request?"

She fell into a depthless silence with those words, waiting. The Noghri seemed to tighten their formation along with their muscles as they prepared to do whatever would soon be required of them. Off to the side, Shayla merely closed her eyes, and from the rear the mournful yowl of the great tuk'ata echoed from the stones of the Great Hall. It reverberated about them like the herald of approaching Death, gradually dwindling and finally disappearing altogether into the silence Graysith extended... a silence which grew louder and louder with every waiting moment.

"I wish to learn why you snatched Shayla from a place where she was among friends and brought her here. I wish to learn what you want to accomplish by teaching her your...ways. Do you mean to destroy me and my friends?" The strange beast guarding him growled menacingly, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

Also aware that he was mentally calling out to her through the Force, Shayla chose to remain silent to his plea, not wishing to tip the scales in any way. As she suspected, Logan interpreted this silence as coldness, seeming to believe that her decision not to act hastily was an indication of her turning on him and all the others. This didn't surprise her, for Shayla had noted the same look of betrayal in his eyes when she brought him before Graysith.

Only seeing one half of the whole picture, just as a Jedi would, Shayla thought bitterly. You have performed well so far here, in the scope of the Jedi way. Is it even possible for you to expand your boundaries any further than that of end of your own nose?

"I wish to learn why you snatched Shayla from a place where she was among friends and brought her here," Logan began in response to Graysith's question. "I wish to learn what you want to accomplish by teaching her your...ways. Do you mean to destroy me and my friends?"

Shayla's bitterness shifted to a mingling of concern for both Logan, the other Jedi, and Graysith.

Logan had been truthful in his answer to Graysith. At least, mostly. But he had also issued a challenge in his reply, and Shayla wondered precisely how Graysith would react to that.

Shayla was also somewhat amused by his question of whether or not Graysith intended to destroy the Jedi. After all, aside from snatching Shayla from the Praxeum, which with Actar and the other there was probably meant as a diversion, Graysith had done absolutely nothing to the Jedi. Instead the Jedi were the ones seeking her out, certain that she had somehow brainwashed a potential Praxeum student.

Small minds think in small terms, Shayla reminded herself. If the Master cannot see past the end of his own nose, how can he teach his Padawan to do so?

While Shayla was in mid-thought, Logan added, "And I wish to learn something of what you are teaching Shayla. I don't promise to accept it, but I'm willing to listen."

Now that's interesting, Shayla mused, hearing the words. First you parade on planet, blowing horns and whistles to let everyone on this side of the Universe know that you are here even after I've warned you of the danger. To add to that, when I don't reply to your Force-call in hopes of saving you from yourself, you very flippantly address my Teacher and falsely claim that you have some sort of an interest in what she has taught me, while truthfully you believe that I have somehow been succumbed to believing this 'stuff' that you inaccurately assume as being all evil. Little do you know that I very slowly accepted any of this, and that I rejected the teaching until I came to a point where I analyzed the reasoning behind it and came to terms with it.

And now you dare issue a CHALLENGE, and then claim to have an interest in that which I have been taught even still?

Shayla unconsciously frowned and crossed her arms once again. Her warnings had yet again gone unheeded, and that frankly ticked her off. Certainly this was related to the fact that everyone, Logan included, believed she had somehow turned all evil and Dark and assumed that because of this her previous friendship with them meant nothing now.

How very little you know me. Very little indeed. For had you known me well and trusted me for who I was and still AM, you would have known two things. First, I am loyal to my friends even after the point when they are no longer loyal to me so long as another friend is not threatened in my respect of you.

But secondly...

When I believe something very solidly and firmly...I will defend that belief...at almost any cost...

Slowly she leaned toward him, raising her newly cleansed finger in his face. "Why have I... snatched Shayla from a place where she was among friends, and brought her here?" she repeated his question, pinning her eyes to his. "Why, because it was my desire to do so.

"And as for what I wish to accomplish by teaching her my ways, as you oh-so-quaintly put it; ahh, my young friend. That is business of my own... but I suspect it is similar to the reasons that your own Jedi Masters have taught you. Have they the monopoly on education in this Universe?"

She paused for a moment, nothing but sweetness and light in her features and entire demeanor. Reaching out, she touched him lightly on his cheek with the same finger that had so recently been covered with his blood. "And do I intend to destroy you and your friends? Oh, my young and naive friend... only if the situation should warrant it."

She drew back with a laugh that was actually merry, and glided back to the great throne. Mounting the dias upon which it glowered, she then whirled about, her shadow-gray cloak swirling like smoke about her, the flowing movement mimicked by her long flaming hair which likewise flung about her face. Giving her head a toss to remove those tresses from before her eyes, she sat down upon the throne and leaned upon one giant arm of it, cupping her chin thoughtfully in one hand as she rested that elbow there.

M'wonBo'o gave a fretting little whine at the length of the silence which followed. The Noghri, although not budging one millimeter, somehow seemed to hover closer to Logan, their nasty little minds full of equally nasty little thoughts of how they would like to utilize their spears at his expense. Their eyes riveted on the figure in the impressive seat of power, waiting for the slightest indication from her to proceed.

Graysith merely smiled and leaned forward, then continued speaking as though she had never ceased. "And now you stand before me, stating your desire to learn that which my Adept is so clearly taking to heart..." She interrupted herself momentarily to give the term emphasis, then continued on. "How magnanimous of you to offer to listen to the words I have to speak, to consider them and thus decide if they are worthy enough to guide you throughout your no doubtedly unique little life. And if you decide they are not... then, why, I suppose you shall go blithely along your way, completely and utterly ignoring and discarding, nay-! May I be so bold as to suggest utterly forgetting that which I would thus have revealed to you: a life of such Balance and Power your naive little mind has not the ability yet to comprehend it at this moment?"

In a movement which was as swift as it was graceful, Graysith was on her feet. She flung her cloak open with a move of one slender hand, revealing the thrimm upon which lay the Claw of S'slan... as well as showing the sanguine glory of the Nar Kelba. M'wonBo'o likewise flashed to all fours, his massive muscles rippling as he crouched there, pupilless eyes fixed on the young padawan, ready to leap again and finish the task every instinct within his quasi-sentient body urged that he complete. His head hung low to the ground, he growled, his face-tendrils writhing.

Graysith laid a steadying hand atop his head, and drew in a deep breath. Her features utterly composed now, the Glyph on her forehead blazing with a brilliant ultraviolet light, she regained her seat on the throne and once again propped her head in her cupped hand. Her eyes bored into Logan's, seeking to drill into his very soul as she finished with the softly spoken enjoinder:

"You have quite nicely expressed what it is you wish to learn, padawan. But you have not answered both my questions to you. I ask again: why do you think I must grant your request?"

Her eyes cut briefly to Shayla, noting with pride how her Adept's face remained as impassive as stone. Then she pinned them back upon Logan's dark pair, and waited for his answer.

For the first time, he saw his life as it truly was in the Force...a single star in a boundless universe. Infinitesimally tiny, yet undeniably adding its light to that universe. If a single star were to be snuffed out, the glow of the universe would only be slightly diminished, yet a chain reaction might happen that would end in death for all.

Caught up in this epiphany, he realized that this analogy applied to Shayla. He had a duty to her as a fellow being, as a friend. He wasn't afraid of dying to recover Shayla's self, only of wasting his life.

Logan spoke boldly, buyoed up by the Force. "Madam, you're the one in total control here. Just a word from you, and your pet and these Noghri would tear me limb from limb. I suspect the reason you haven't already done so is that you find me interesting for some reason, or that you gain some amusement from mocking my intellect."

The Sith Lady glared at him with poison in her eyes, and something like fascination. The alien glyph on her forehead fluoresced with purple light.

"Why should you grant my request? Because I couldn't possibly harm you and I might benefit you. Not a powerful reason, but if I posed anything like a threat to you, I'd be dead already."

Logan spread his hands wide, reckless and dangerous talk still coming from his mouth. "If Shayla's committed to what she's chosen, nothing I can say or do would sway her. If she's not, wouldn't it profit you to find that out before the true Jedi come barging into your home?" He glanced briefly at Shayla, but she didn't acknowledge him.

"So, let me remain, as an object of curiosity and amusement if nothing else. I have placed my very life in your hands." Logan bowed ever-so-slightly and waited calmly for the Sith Lady to give the order, for spears and claws to begin tearing his flesh...

"Oh, how simply delightful!"

The words rushed forth from Graysith's lips in a merry laugh, pressing the shadows back, finally overpowering them completely as with one three-fourths staccato beat after another, the Chosen Daughter rose to her feet, bringing her hands together over and over as she applauded the brash young Jedi's attempt to persuade her. She moved forward, still applauding, and descending from the dias moved over to where Shayla stood in utter silence. Her adept's growing annoyance with Logan was clearly evident from the look in her eyes; Graysith let out another musical laugh and placed her arm about Shayla's shoulders and gave her a squeeze.

"Indeed, isn't this one most entertaining, my young friend!" she continued, completely ignoring Logan as though he were merely a bug creeping along the cold stones of the floor. "Such amusement he offers us in his self-estimations; how wonderfully big he seems to be in his own eyes!

"Yet how unfortunate that he cannot seem to expand his vision, to step out and see himself from an angle which truly reveals him as what he really is...."

In one smooth motion, one that was incredibly terrifying for the almost instantaneous alacrity in which her entire demeanor changed from apparent lightness to pure and unhesitating dark, Graysith whirled. With feline grace she left Shayla's side and came to a halt directly in front of Logan.

"How entirely mistaken you are, my foolish one," she hissed with all the subtlety of a striking serpent. "You claim that your presence here might prove beneficial to me... to us, yet in the same breath you state how harmless you would be should I teach you as I taught Shayla." For a minute she poured her gaze into his own, then continued, "My young one, if indeed you actually would somehow prove to be of value to us, by that use alone you would thus be an equal threat. Though pilfered lightsaber you hold."

She paused a moment to let that last statement sink fully beyond Logan's conscious thought and into his heart and soul. Then her entire aspect seemed to darken even more as she leaned slightly forward, speaking now in a hissing whisper.

"You remain alive at this moment for two reasons, and two reasons only: there is no manner in which you could ever be of any conceivable value to me, and because at some depth within the essence of my adept, you have a glimmering of meaning to her. You remain alive at her unspoken behest, not mine.

"Understand this!"

With these words she drew back from Logan, the Glyph beginning to raven upon her forehead as, behind him, the Noghri shifted slightly, as though in disappointment. Silence once more oiled out from their midst; there was no sound other than a slightly noisome drip-drip, drip-drip coming from somewhere in the shadows. Even M'wonBo'o held his tongue, his pupilless eyes fixed on Logan's defiant form, his great claws digging into the stone of the dias as he tensed to spring if necessary.

Graysith's hand shot out to the side, palm outward as she sensed her tuk'ata's readiness. He whined in frustration, but held his ground next to the throne. At length he quieted completely; Graysith broke the silence as, her eyes never leaving Logan, she spoke to Shayla.

"My Adept," she began in a silky voice. "Even amidst the amusing chatter spouting from this one's lips, I find a kernel of truth. And thus I say to you: trust in what it is thy Teacher now shall do."

Logan seemed to shudder upon hearing that, as though his active intellect was taking that veiled threat and running utterly amok with it. Graysith didn't give him too great a time to imagine further. Her hand shot out in a blur, placing itself on the planes of Logan's face, fingers spread about his temple and forehead and above and behind his ear, thumb digging into the soft underside of his jaw. The last image he saw before blackness overwhelmed him was the fire in Graysith's violet eyes, the nearly invisible radiance emanating from the Glyph; his last conscious thought was an almost primal gasp of instinctive fear and pain; the last thing he heard was the Chosen Daughter's whispered words that impacted his brain and his very being:

"Indeed shall this one prove the loyalty of the Adept to her teacher!"

Then blackness erupted in an omnipotent flood in Logan, spreading from the point deep inside his brain where there dwelt his recent short-term memories... memories toward which an electric black tendril burrowed and bored like a blarnworm into the flesh of a rotting t'plikk fruit, at last reaching and touching and entwining and ripping out completely....

Logan's body went limp at the outrage as his specific memories of Khar Delba, of how he got there, of what he had seen, indeed, of why he had even gone there to begin with were ripped from his brain with all the subtlety and care of a rampaging rancor. This simple feat was accomplished before his falling body even struck the floor. Even as it impacted the hard stone, Graysith lifted a graceful arm and made grasping motion with her hand.

And from that hidden spot in the jungle where it silently awaited it's pilot, a stolen A-wing fighter simply ceased to be.

Smiling as she felt the eradication of the little fighter, Graysith contemplated the unconscious padawan at her feet. Her violet eyes cut to Shayla; her adept remained impassive, in remarkable control despite her sudden increase in respiration and heartbeat.

Graysith smiled more gently, sending out another tendril of affection into Shayla's being. "For thy sake, my sister," she whispered as, reaching out now with both hands, she turned again to Logan's silent form. Her eyes closed as she concentrated, her hands closed as they seemed to grasp the very particles from which the fabric of the spacetime continuum is fashioned, and with adroit and rapid movements created a new design of her own.

A writhing black elseness coiled out of everywhere, and encompassed Logan until he appeared to be merely a blackened lump. This lump gradually flattened, spreading as it became smaller and smaller, finally seeming to sink into the stones of the floor and the atmosphere from which it had sprung as it warped and distorted the young padawan's unconscious form, plucking it from the Great Temple of the Sith, carrying it through the very interstices of space and time...

...and gently deposited it directly outside the entrance of the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4.

In the middle of the hall, a blackened lump began to well up from the stones. Bit by bit it grew in size and depth, gradually taking on a form that was more and more humanoid. At length the strange blackness ceased growing altogether, seemed to ripple for a moment, and finally melted away, seemingly into the very molecular bonds by which the atoms of the Temple's atmosphere were joined.

Curled into a fetal position upon the cold stone floor was a very much conscious Logan. He shivered as he sat up and looked about himself in bewilderment. "Wha-?" he began, a touch of nervousness tingeing his voice, but immediately froze in place at Graysith's hissed command.

"Silence!"

Now she brought both cupped hands afront herself, peering into their depths as if finding the answers to all the questions humankind has entertained about the Universe throughout its myriad histories. Her violet eyes now cut directly into Logan's dark ones as, stepping forward with an almost studied grace, the Chosen Daughter reached out her cupped hands and spread them before Logan's face. They affixed themselves to either side of his head, fingers seeking mental and emotional pressure points as, flinging her head back, her hair whirling about in a flaming cloud, she gently replaced the memories she had taken. They took root and finally solidified next to the new short-term ones in Logan's brain, those which were screaming at him that mere moments ago he was outside the Praxeum on Yavin 4. Now their combined strengths were informing him exactly what had happened to him in a mere flash of time.

He shuddered, drawing himself into a little ball, and peered up into the glowing eyes of the Chosen Daughter of the Sith.

Graysith merely studied him for a short moment longer until certain that all memories were properly emplaced. Then she turned to her adept, waving toward Logan in an off-handed manner.

"This one is of no concern to me, nor of any use," she purred silkily. "However, as I sense the meaning he has yet to you, I now leave him to your devices...

"My Adept," she finished, placing special emphasis on the last uttered word.

Then, trailed by her loyal--albeit snarling--tuk'ata, and flanked by Nikk, she departed the Great Hall for her quarters, there to rest from the strain she had undergone. Behind her, Leev scowled at Logan, barked an order to his fellows, and turned to Shayla. There he awaited her order as to how he should direct the Noghri.

Shayla supressed the shudder trying to emerge. Trust your teacher... As Shayla reached out with the Force to see what had become of Logan she knew that he was still in tact...just...elsewhere. Very well then, he had not been invited, he had been beyond flippant upon his arrival, and he had underestimated the things he faced and overestimated himself. Graysith had shown him grace by simply removing him.

After a few moments passed in which Graysith seemed to collect herself, she then reached out into some invisible bottle and pulled out from it the very essence of Logan Murroe, and slowly but surely he returned to the floor of the Temple, lying in a fetal position. He sat up slightly, clearly confused. He opened his mouth to speak, but Graysith silenced him immediately. She placed her hands at the sides of his head, as though replacing something. Finally, she backed away, and slowly he seemed to come back to himself, pulling his knees up to his chest and shuddering.

Only observing Logan through her fiery violet eyes for a moment, Graysith turned to Shayla, waving a hand back at him and saying, "This one is of no concern to me, nor of any use. However, as I sense the meaning he has yet to you, I now leave him to your devices...my Adept."

With that she turned and left, taking Nikk and M'WonBo'o with her. Leev remained, faithful to his mistress and awaiting her command.

Her command? Suddenly the very power behind that concept sunk into the brain of Shayla Petrolu. For a moment she was unaware of Logan, still on the floor and gaping up at her. She had yet to move an inch since she had entered the room with him other than to cross her arms occasionally.

Finally, Shayla snapped from her thoughts and became aware she was still standing at the side of the throne. Sighing, she looked down at Logan, tossing dark blonde hair that now reached almost past her shoulders. Then, folding her arms at her chest, she gracefully floated down the stairs, keenly aware that his dark eyes were on her every step of the way.

Shayla stopped very close to Logan, and glanced down at him, frowning and raising both eyebrows in irritation. "You just had to push to see how far you could get, didn't you?" she reprimanded, not making the least attempt to hide the edge of annoyance. "You judge that which you do not understand," she added, finally squatting down to be on eye level with him. He seemed to shudder a bit at her sudden movement, but managed to supress the urge to crawl away, or even run away.

Not that you could do either with the Noghri around.

For a moment Shayla thought of saying just that, but instead she reached a hand out to brush the now scabbing wound on his chest. He made no attempt to cover his flinch, suddenly becoming aware that just a mere few minutes ago Graysith had made a somewhat similiar move, finishing it off with licking his fresh blood clean from her soiled finger. He appeared surprised to see her merely brush the cut, and say, "We should get that cleaned up...."

He opened his mouth to say something, but she put a finger to her lips, signaling him to remain quiet.

"...but first, I want to know exactly why it is that you came here. And spare me the chivalry bit," she warned, frowning and furrowing her brow. "I gave you specific indications that I wanted to be left alone, and that you could get into real trouble. Yet you still came. Why is it...that you Jedi can't get it straight? I wanted you to come before...and everyone was galavanting around the Universe uselessly. Now, all I want is peace and to learn to acheive my full potential, and you come waltzing in here now?"

Anger suddenly starting to blossom within her, Shayla stood again, pacing, her arms again at her chest. "Maybe you all are just afraid that I might actually do this thing I am capable of," she growled.

Then, a thought occuring, she stopped pacing and jerked back around to face him. "Oh, that's right...there is no emotion, only peace," she said, rolling her eyes at the words. "You just bury those feelings deep down, like I did...and wait for them to explode and drive you to insanity."

With that, Shayla softened a bit, finally letting her arms go limp at her sides, then waving them in the air for emphasis. "I know, you don't understand," Shayla said, sighing. "Don't try then to pretend that you do," she added, once again squatting to the floor to look him in the eyes.

"The question remains, Logan," Shayla reminded him, trying to return to the original line of thought, "What the kriffing Hell are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What am I doing here?" He wanted to scream at her, to slap her and tell her she wasn't thinking straight. But the scary thing was, she was thinking more lucidly than she probably ever had before. So instead of philosophizing and posing, he had to answer truthfully.

"I don't kriffing know."

Shayla raised an eyebrow at him, an obvious signal to continue.

"I wanted," he continued, choosing his phrasing carefully (she's so edgy!), "This is what I wanted to do ever since you were taken. Yeah, I see you believe me about as far as you can throw me, but coming for you was the only thing I could think about. And I swear to you, I did it as soon as I possibly could. I hurt people who trusted in me so I could do this for you."

"But now I see you're not the Shayla I met at the Praxeum. You're a lot more powerful...but you don't give a vrelt's ass about what happens to me, your former friend, now. That's not you," he challenged.

Might as well be hung for the nerf as for the calf, thought Logan, pressing on in this possibly suicidal line of thought. "Look, you haven't even given Jeroc and Cella a chance to understand whatever it is you've learned here. You think so little of them after what they tried to do for you at the Praxeum? They're not to blame for what happened to you. And it's not emotion they're opposed to, I can tell you that right now. It's acting out of anger that they despise."

Like you're about to do now. Come on, Shayla, rip out my throat. Make at least a martyr of me so I don't have to run away like a nek with its tail between its legs. Save me the sithspawning shame.

After a minute or two of dead silence Shayla finally picked her head up from her hands, again using them to emphasize the words she spoke. "How can you honestly think I don't care one whit about you? If I didn't care, I would have just let you come charging in here with no warning. If I didn't care, what could have happened to you would have been far worse than what did happen. And if I didn't care," she added, looking over briefly at Leev, "I don't believe you'd be sitting here free to talk to me and listen as you are."

He arched an eyebrow at her but mantained the betrayed look.

She continued on. "As for your coming to try and save me only to find that I'm not the same, understand this. I've changed, yes. But my loyalty to my friends remains even if I'm annoyed with them. Do you honestly think that when you were zapped from here moments ago that I didn't have the slightest concern about what had happened to you?" she questioned.

"What you don't know is that I spent days, maybe weeks...I don't even know...in that blackness of time between here and there. I faced my true self there, and I was petrified. And no one was there for me to reach through the Force...there was just nothing but me and my jaded little past," she explained bitterly, pausing.

"I came out of that only because Graysith pulled me from there. She did not place me there...some other Sith did. Logan, she was the first person in a long while who did anything for me, and she was the same person who I had resisted before, and who time after time even after being saved resisted still."

Standing, Shayla crossed her arms, a posture that she'd taken up much since this day had begun. "As for my acting out of anger, you only see one side of the picture. Not once have I truly acted out of anger in any way since you have been here," she pointed out, stepping down to the floor again.

"And Logan, it's not all about the anger. It's about Balance, it's about being conscious that both exist in every person. To deny that both exist and to use only one creates imbalance and incompleteness."

Walking slowly towards him and halting in front of him once again, she leaned forward til her eyes met his. "Jeroc and Cella will have their chance to listen to me. What they choose to do with me and the information I impart to them will determine what ultimately happens to them. Just as Graysith does not mean to destroy them unless necessary, neither do I. I haven't forgotten that they accepted me as a student even if I no longer agree with them.

"What I am aware of, now, is that there was a time I desperately wanted them to come for me, and I waited and waited only to be taken away. Now I have a new Teacher...one who snatched me from the Praxeum, yes, but cares about me and whom I care about as well...someone that accepted me for all that I am and can be. She's done a lot for me, and although it might seem to you she's all evil, you only see her through a very small observation window."

With that, Shayla squatted once more and looked at Logan curiously, wondering just how he was taking all this. "So long as you remain mindful, and so long as you listen to what I tell you and don't threaten my Teacher, you will make it from here safely," she promised. "And if it means anything, I do still care about you and am still your friend...even if you choose to no longer be mine," she said frowning. "For now, let's get you cleaned up and find you somewhere to stay. Maybe even find a bit to eat..."

Her voice trailed as she realized how shallow the words might be sounding to him. Shayla stood, extending her right hand out to him. "Come on, let's go...."

The fool didn't even realize the boon that had been granted him this day. His vision was so narrow, so tunneled... so shallow that all he could understand was the instinctive power of the terror which rose up within him. I snorted again, crossing my arms now with interest.

Although my love could not use the crystal fully enough to hear what the subject within was speaking, I had sufficient powers at my beck and call to do so. Her young Adept was now hinting quietly to the still discomfited padawan of the existence of a far greater Mystery than he could ever imagine.

Careful, my impulsive one, I think to myself. Careful....

Now I straighten up, and watch her lead the shaking young man out of the Great Hall, no doubt to show him her own brand of grace. I nod once to myself, slowly.

"I'm sorry for what you went through, and I wanted nothing more than to spare you from that. I know I did a pretty half-assed thing, charging in here, but I didn't do it for my own glory. And I promise not to try anything stupid to you, or to your...Teacher. I'll stay with you, hear you out, and try to understand things from your point of view. I may not accept what you believe, but I'll try to respect it. Padawan's honor."

Isn't this just a tad too easy? she wanted to say, but she resisted the urge. For now, she'd go with the flow and see what he did. Hopefully the cooperation would continue and things would run smoothly from then on.

"Now, shall we, ah, get that snack you mentioned?" he asked. "I've still got an adolescent's appetite."

"Yeah, umm...sure," Shayla replied, snapping back into reality. "But first things first," she reminded him, glancing at his less-than-emaculate jumpsuit.

"Leev," Shayla called. The Noghri approached them at once, and Logan all but jumped with the short muscular creature's arrival at Shayla's side. Shayla managed to supress her amusement as she asked, "Is there a med facility around here?"

The Noghri nodded, and began leading the way out of the Great Hall. Shayla followed, keeping Logan in hand like he was some sort of child. She wondered if he noticed this, or if he was rather enjoying it. Then again, maybe the day had been a bit rough on him, even though the Force knew he'd come out far better than he would ever realize.

Careful, my impulsive one, careful, a strange yet somewhat familiar voice warned. Shayla was immediately aware that it was Him, but oddly enough she wasn't frightened of him anymore. Instead she somehow knew that he deserved her respect.

As you wish it, she answered mentally.

I shall be watching, he seemed to reply.

Unconsciously Shayla nodded in understanding, and Logan turned minimally to arch an eyebrow at her.

"Honestly, Logan, I can't tell you all of what I've learned. I'm still a student and still learning myself. I'd be a fool to try to take the place of my Teacher. I hope you understand that. And as for what I've been through, I've faced a past that I hadn't come to terms with until now, and although I was scared when I couldn't reach anyone, facing that past and myself was the best thing that ever happened to me," she explained as Leev came to a halt at a set of double doors to their right.

Letting go of Logan's hand, Shayla touched the moss of the door, stretched out with what was in her, and...

...nothing.

Shayla frowned, irritated. Too many darned warm fuzzies, she told herself. Then she reminded herself that Logan was only the first, and that Jeroc and Cella would soon follow. And you know they won't be as willing to cooperate as Logan, even if he is baiting you.

With that, the door in front of her opened noiselessly. She turned back to Logan who was staring curiously and reached out a hand to lead him inside. Cautiously he took it, and they proceeded into the med facilities. Quickly Shayla doctored Logan with some bacta patches and synthflesh while he sat on a med table patiently.

At last she gave him a look over. "Good as new.

He hopped off the med table, and again she lead him, this time to a suite next to her own quarters. Leev remained behind them, keeping close tabs on his mistress and her charge.

Again Shayla reached for the moss on the door, only this time she prepared herself enough for the task of opening it that she had no problems. One of the set of double doors creaked open revealing a room adorned in black and blue, both on the walls and the satin sheets of the bed.

Shayla motioned Logan inside and he wandered in, leaving her standing just outside the door.

"Get cleaned up and find a change of clothes," she told him. "I'll be back in fifteen standard minutes. And," she added, pointing her right index finger for emphasis, "Be on your best behavior. Padawan's honor?"

He nodded in the affirmative.

"Good."

Closing the door behind her as she turned and headed to the doors of her own room, Shayla suddenly thought of something and turned to her ever-faithful bodyguard.

"Leev, make sure he stays..." she paused for a moment, seeking the right words that would encompass everything. "...make sure he stays out of trouble."

Then opening the door of her own room, which had been senisitized to her touch, Shayla walked to the 'fresher and luxriated in a nice warm shower. In only a few minutes she emerged in the same soft bathrobe from the evening before and once again wandered to her wardrobe.

What should I wear now? she wondered.

Oddly enough, she was once again feeling a bit formal.

Maybe it's the fact you have company, Shayla told herself. Then again, that hadn't been her motive the night before. Or maybe it's just the very grace and gradeur of the Temple.

At last pulling a deep red floor length dress with short sleeves and a scooped neck, Shayla changed, slipping on the soft black shoes she had worn before and glanced briefly in the mirror. Red usually wasn't her favorite color, but Erik liked it on her...

Erik...

Shoving the thought aside for further analysis at some other time, Shayla wandered into the 'fresher again.

One quick brush through her hair...maybe pull it up a little...

And off she and Logan would go to eat. What would happen from there, Shayla hadn't a clue...

"No trouble?" she asked the Noghri.

He shook his head, and she nodded to herself. "Good."

Knocking lightly on the door three or four times, Shayla stood back and waited. In just a few moments, Logan opened the door dressed in a clean grayish colored jumpsuit.

"Time to eat," she told him, motioning him to come out and follow her. Grinning at the mention of food, he entered the hallway and walked next to Shayla with Leev trailing closely behind the two of them.

They proceeded up the stairway into the Dining Hall where, as Shayla suspected, a spread large enough to feed two squads of stormtroopers awaited them.

She turned back to glance at Logan, whose jaw was nearly touching the floor. For a moment he appeared to not believe his eyes, but quickly snapped out of it, peering at Shayla as if to ask if they should sit and dig in.

Her smile broadened. "Help yourself," she instructed, taking her own seat. In less than a nanosecond, Logan followed and without any further hesitation began piling things on the plate that sat in front of him. Shayla did the same, but took quite a bit less and took far more time picking what she chose to eat.

Logan rather looked like he believed if he didn't scoop it all up at once and eat that all the food would disappear.

"So," Shayla said after taking a bite of fruit, "how's the life of a Padawan these days?" She hadn't meant it to come out sounding sarcastic, but even so, the question sounded as such.

"And Thea? How is she? Is she with the Jedi?"

Depersonalize them, Shayla, just like they did when they forgot about you, the little devil on her left shoulder piped up.

As if that wasn't enough, since Logan was still contentedly stuffing his face, only pausing briefly at the mention of the "Jedi," she continued on. "I hope they bring Izzy with them, I miss her a lot."

That's it Shayla, sound like some sort of mindless idiot who only cares about her astromech droid, the shoulder-devil persisted.

Mentally, Shayla thumped the kriffing little annoyance from her shoulder. Droid or not, that little tin can had been one of the most loyal things to her in the Universe.

"I'll bet she gave Erik a hard time when..." Shayla paused mid-thought, another question boiling within her, screaming to untangle itself from the mass of thoughts pinging around inside her brain and to step forward into the limelight. Deciding to succumb to the desire of this little question, Shayla let it escape her lips.

"Is..." she started, knowing the answer before she asked but wanting to hear the words just the same, "...is Erik with them?"

Leaning forward in anticipation, Shayla awaited Logan's response...

Pretty good, thought Logan, except I'm more of a rogue padawan now... Before he had a chance to answer, Shayla asked, "And Thea? How is she? Is she with the Jedi?"

Logan wanted nothing more than to slap her at that moment. Don't you know what she's been going through since you left? he wanted to scream. No, I guess you can't. I guess you can't imagine the fear and pain of a child who's lost someone dear to a nameless terror. I can. And what do you think it's gonna do to her when you tell her you don't want to come back to the Praxeum?

But Logan remained stonily silent, deliberately spooning food into his mouth. It wouldn't do a whit of good to go off on Shayla, just when he was starting to gain back her trust. She asked after Izzy, too, and then...

"Is Erik with them?"

Logan swallowed, a satisfied grin spreading across his face. "Yes, in fact, he is. He joined us at Ambria, right before we...lost...you. Erik's been a big help. In fact," Logan blushed despite himself, "I stole that A-wing from his flagship."

Shayla was obviously in a state of emotional turmoil. To someone as sensitive to emotions as Logan, she was sparking like an electrical storm. Logan was careful not to violate her boundaries, but he did sense that she cared deeply for Erik, maybe even...loved him. He went on mercilessly.

"Right before I left, Erik was with Jeroc and Cella, and they had some kind of plans, I forget exactly what. Something about getting coordinates from some Terrin Danner guy. It didn't sound like they were going to make it here soon...but that might have changed."

You mean, MY flagship, Shayla wanted to correct. She had pretty much figured out Erik was with the Jedi, so that came as no big shock to her.

"Right before I left," Logan continued, "Erik was with Jeroc and Cella, and they had some kind of plans, I forget exactly what. Something about getting coordinates from some Terrin Danner guy. It didn't sound like they were going to make it here soon...but that might have changed."

Jeroc and Cella are still dawdling I see, Shayla mused darkly. This does not come as a surprise either, although I would have thought that Erik would be more proactive.

Maybe he trusts me after all.

But just one thing bothered her. Why in the Universe was Erik getting coordinates from Terrin Danner? What did HE have to do with all this? And coordinates to WHERE???

Shayla was about to ask just that when she sensed Graysith and the Other headed in their direction. Logan's fork had frozen in midair, and he looked as though he would like nothing more than to crawl under the table at that moment and hide from these two evil beings.

Shayla frowned to herself, turning inward. But they weren't evil, not always. There you go again, Logan, assuming the worst and seeing a small portion of the whole.

Perhaps some time in the presence of those whose opinions greatly differ from yours will indeed serve you well...

"Skies! I hope they're not after me!"

She paused, her violet eyes calmly assessing the situation. Shayla looked slightly discomfited by something; out of respect for her adept Graysith stayed removed from her essence, giving the young woman a chance to come to her at her own choosing should her assistance be required. Instead she focused intently on Logan, who was frozen in his chair, fork held in mid-air, his eyes nearly black as his pupils dilated.

A small smile now indeed made its presence known on the pale features of the Chosen Daughter as she mentally followed the direction in which Logan's gaze travelled. It was obviously adhered to the Sith Sorcerer who stood like a grim and silent menace at her side. In comparison to the calm expression displayed by Shayla, he looked ready to leap to his feet, whether to fight or run having yet to be determined. In fact, Graysith was a bit surprised that Shayla wasn't showing any distress at seeing Aelvedaar once again. Although at the time of her first encounter with him she had been stripped of the emotional core of her being, the logical portion of her consciousness had been in full operation. She should still have recognized the Old One as the one who had condemned her to the frightening void of the Elseness. A flash of warmth shot through Graysith at her recognition of that fact.

She does have the intelligence, Graysith thought to herself, carefully masking the words from the minds of all the Force-users present. How I hope she has the strength!

Her thoughts were brought abruptly back to the padawan, whose fork suddenly gave a little tremble. Still continuing to smile sweetly, Graysith moved forward into the dining hall, accompanied by Aelvedaar who yet remained unspeaking. As silent as smoke, she glided up behind Logan and placed her hands on his slightly trembling shoulders. He seemed to jump a bit at her touch, then firmed with a deep inhalation. She leaned forward and brought her lips to his ear, her warm breath tickling there.

"Not yet, my young friend. Not yet."

No sooner had she straightened and moved off than Logan's freed shoulder was suddenly encompassed once again. Like the descent of Death, Aelvedaar's hot and clawed hand fell there, laid there in an almost possessive manner for an interminable second... and slowly withdrew. The Sith Sorcerer then turned his hot eyes on Shayla, tilting his horned head in greeting before joining Graysith at her place and graciously assisting her to her seat. With a casual wave of his hand foodstuffs magickally appeared before them, and intricately wrought chalices of rich and foaming wine materialized in their hands. He spoke not one word, but attended to his dinner in a silence that somehow spoke volumes.

Graysith put forward no such pretense. Instead, she seemed to ignore the bounty before them, and leaned across the magnificent expanse of darkly polished table which separated her from Logan. Although her voice remained mild its timbre was belied by the suddenly ravening Glyph and deepening intensity of her gaze. The wine chalice in her hand was lifted as though in a toast.

"Tell me, young padawan," she began benignly. "Were I to release you at this time to your... jedi companions...." She paused, making an epithet out of the word before finishing.

"What then would you do??"

He might have been somewhat successful had he not left his fork quivering in midair. Shayla managed to stifle the smile that was threatening to emerge at amusement over Logan's apparent shock.

Finally she turned marginally in the seat herself, acknowledging the presence of the two newcomers in the room. She was surprised to find that, at the sight of the Sith who had once sent her off into oblivion, she wasn't the least bit frightened.

Maybe in realizing that the place he sent me to taught me so much, I've managed to replace any possible negative feelings toward him with some sort of appreciation?

Strange how the mere interpretation of an event can so quickly and solidly change it from something bad into something good.

Graysith wandered smoothly behind Logan, placing a hand on each shoulder and whispering something softly in his ear. Shayla couldn't imagine what she had said to the Padawan, but his muscles seemed to tense further at the words. Graysith moved away, then the Other, who had not yet uttered one word, laid a clawed hand on Logan's shoulder. Logan meanwhile was making the best attempt he could to cover the rising terror within. But Shayla was very aware of its presence and again was reminded of how foolishly the Jedi tried to conceal all that was within them.

Slowly but deftly, the Other removed his hand from Logan's shoulder and turned towards Shayla, still not speaking a word but somehow tilting his head in greeting to her. Shayla gave a graceful nod, and he and Graysith went to the other side of the table where they began to dine. He made food appear before the eyes of all of them, clearly for the enjoyment of Graysith, and quite possibly to strike fear in the heart of the Padawan sitting across from him.

Logan hadn't much touched his food since the arrival of the other two, but Shayla had to give him credit that he'd finally managed to lower his fork.

At last, wine glass in hand, Graysith asked him, "Were I to release you at this time to your...jedi companions...."

Graysith's voice trailed momentarily as if to place special emphasis on the word Jedi.

"...what then would you do??"

Shayla wondered what in fact the answer Graysith was hoping for might be. This wasn't small talk...Graysith didn't make any small talk.

Maybe she was wondering just what Logan would reveal to the Jedi now if he were released. But then, what could he reveal? He didn't understand, thought everything was Dark and Evil...a totally one-sided view of the WHOLE truth.

And even if he WERE to gain some understanding, the Jedi would not come to terms with what he might tell them. They'd think that he, just like Shayla, had become Evil. Shows what THEY really knew.

In the midst of her thoughts, Shayla was keenly aware of what was going on around her as the room stilled while Logan decided on his response. Leaning a bit forward once again and keeping her demeanor completely impassive, Shayla watched with interest, curious as to where this conversation would thus proceed...

He also sensed that Shayla did not see the Sith as evil and actually thought of them as her benefactors, much to his shock. After what they did to you? After all the pain they caused you? Fine, if that's what you really think, I'm not going to question it. He tried to cloak his thoughts from her as best he could; he didn't really need her commentary on how much she despised him and his "closed-mindedness."

He was surprised that Shayla now had nothing but disdain for the way he was trying to live his life and his adherence to Jeroc's teachings. Knowing more about the way the Force works doesn't necessarily make one right, Shayla. Logan suddenly realized that his fork was in midair and lowered it, knowing how foolish he must've looked. Well, this Jedi thing is still new to me.

The Sith Lady raised her wineglass, looked pointedly into Logan's eyes with her own purple orbs and asked a blunt question. "Were I to release you at this time to your...jedi companions....what then would you do?"

Logan felt everyone's intense interest as he readied his answer. He didn't have to think long--there was really only one answer that he could give.

"I will simply return to my Masters and tell them as best I can of what I have observed here. I will tell them," he nodded at Shayla, "that Shayla wishes to remain here instead of returning to the Praxeum, and try to explain they way she feels. What Jeroc and Cella do with the information I give them is totally up to them. Will that suffice, madam?"

Certainly, she didn't agree with the Jedi, and she wished for once that at least one of them would listen to what she was now learning. Shayla had hoped Logan, in being her friend, might be one of the ones to actually hear her out.

But maybe she was wrong.

"I will simply return to my Masters and tell them as best I can of what I have observed here. I will tell them that Shayla wishes to remain here instead of returning to the Praxeum, and try to explain the way she feels. What Jeroc and Cella do with the information I give them is totally up to them. Will that suffice, madam?"

As the dead silence returned, Shayla let the words sink into her mind, the hurt from before seeming to shift to...something else...

How is it, Logan, that you can explain how I feel to the Jedi? she wondered. You do not understand yourself; you do not see. You haven't even truly ASKED ME how it is I feel. Granted, I've given you a good piece of my mind, but there's alot more than what I have so far disclosed to you.

I thought that you were my friend, and that you wanted to at least give me a chance.

...abandoned as a child, and now abandoned as an adult...

I wanted you to stay away from here and remain safe. When you arrived, I tried to warn you away yet again. When my Teacher finally requested that I bring you to her, I complied. When she left you to me, I took care of you, dressed your wounds, provided clean clothes, a place to stay and food to eat.

You remain here because I care about you and for that reason alone...

...yet you care not in return. Instead you wish to waltz off planet and give your little commentary on how Shayla has now "turned to the Darkside" to the Masters, then walk away and forget I ever existed...

Breaking away from her thoughts Shayla blinked, suddenly realizing how uneven and raging her emotions were even still. This emotional turmoil was certainly throwing Logan off, but again, he hadn't asked her about it. He'd only been with her less than the span of a day, and Shayla had only begun discovering this part of herself that had been buried so deep within for a very short while.

Firming, Shayla wondered if anyone else at the table was aware of the struggle ongoing within her.

To hell with it, I don't care if they know or not.

After all, the emotions within were the very essence of who she was, and if they could not accept that...

...then they could not TRULY accept her...

At least that is how I am now certain this foolish young jedi perceives me.

"ENOUGH!"

The roar from my mouth is like that of a Beast; I am not disappointed to find all falling into obedient and immediate silence before its onslaught.

"Enough."

Now I lower my tone, and take the time to slowly look everyone straight in the eye. Then I quickly push back the ornate chair in which I am seated, and in but a few swift steps have rounded the table. Before the small jedi is scarcely aware of what I am doing, I am beside him, lowering my face down directly into his, one clawed hand planted firmly upon the table directly in front of him. With the other I reach out and grasp him by his chin; with ridiculous ease I jerk his face to meet mine. For a moment I simply bask in the waves of pure terror which roll off of him... rolling like great ocean swells which carry along their crests the flotsam of yet another dark feeling.

I lower my head closer, smiling as I recognize this, smiling more broadly as he winces when the side of my closest horn brushes harshly against him.

For all his high and mighty spouting, he wishes to learn. He wishes to join what he thinks we are. He wishes to be dark....

"How very little you truly understand, young one," I whisper quietly. "How easily I rape your very thoughts, and how utterly inconsequential I find them to be. Indeed, in first reaching out to this time, I now see I was wise to avoid the pitfalls of your pitifully half-formed kind. I see no strength here, nor any glimmerings of its potential."

I release him now as one would hastily release one's hold on something loathsome, and stalk a few paces away from him. There I whirl about, the glory of my robes of scarlet and teal, silver and amethyst, one overlaid with the deepest of ebony, floating about me like a cloud. I pin his gaze with mine once again, as one clawed finger shoots out to point at him accusingly.

"There is more at stake here than the simple wants and desires of a human female, be she padawan or adept!" Now I let out the full-throated roar of the Sith warrior that I am. From the corner of my eye I see the woman called Shayla tense and grow pale; in studied counterpoint a somewhat amused look passes over the face of my Chosen Daughter. Gracefully, she subdues the expression and remains silent.

I shall deal with her later.

Before me the padawan has clenched every muscle he possesses into rock-hard immobility, so greatly does he struggle with his inner fears and phantoms. I choke down the rising disgust that is flaring within me, and force myself into calmness.

"So you would tell these jedi of what this small one seeks, and wishes, and is coming to believe; you would thus wash your hands of the affair and let them deal with it? In this statement do you send a veiled threat to us here, that they might deal with us in a manner more... successfully than have you?"

I pause for a long inhalation of breath. Then the words explode from me in a heated whisper.

"Do you not see how perilously entwined, how damnably close to the so-called 'Dark Jedi' your predictable clan is? And how both are as incorporeal to us as the fluttering wings of the gleeberfly?

"Apparently not." I answer my own question as this little one scarcely has the wit about him to make civil reply. I continue on at a more measured pace now.

"Go now to them, young one. Tell them all you know. Let us see how they respond; let us watch as they struggle to determine where defense becomes offense, if indeed they decide there is anything here at all to defend. Perhaps, if you return to this place, they would deign you to release your hold on their robes, and allow you to take a look about yourself with your own eyes."

Before anyone at the table can so much as draw a breath, I make a simple gesture with one hand. A wonderfully thick and coiling rope of Elseness forms from the very molecules of the air about us. It senses like a hunting beast, discovers the still-shaking Logan's foot, and in a movement both graceful and swift twines about his body and pulls him from this place. I close my eyes and watch him being gently deposited, breathless and white-faced, in the distant starship which bear the others of his kind.

Then I open them and descend upon this One who my Chosen Daughter has in turn desired.

"The path you are walking is razor-thin," I whisper, my eyes burning into her own. "You have yet to learn to step beyond yourself. It is only because you are yet a child that I pause to explain here, and do not send you off to contemplate your error.

"It is not of concern one way or another whether my love and I accept you. Rather, you should be concentrating on your acceptance of us, if what my Chosen Daughter seeks to teach you has any true meaning to you at all. You persist in this struggle with your innermost self, with that core my love once took from you and, with reluctance for your own sake, gave back unto you again. Of this you must beware.

"It is only in acceptance that you will find balance. The battle that rages within you will not lead you to us. It will only lead you to what that pitiful padawan thinks you already are."

I pause even longer as I watch my words taking effect. Then I straighten, and draw regally into myself. My arm snaps out to the side, palm up in invitation.

"My love, attend me." The tone of the words I send into her mind softens the command. My eyes darkening with unvoiced thoughts and desires, I watch as she silently rises to her feet, and glides to my side as graceful as a wisp of gray fog. She places her arm upon mine and, nodding her head meaningfully toward her adept, says no word but at my side departs the Dining Hall for our quarters.

Behind us, her adept finds herself quite suddenly alone with the shadows and her thoughts.

So be it.

In the meantime as the other two departed, Shayla paused to collect her thoughts. At first she felt somewhat dejected; one often does when corrected so sternly.

But...

The message of acceptance had been one Shayla had heard not only from this One but from Graysith.

It ISN'T about the battle of the emotions within you, Shayla, she told herself. For if those emotions are continually battling each other nothing will ever be accomplished. Likewise, if the lighter emotions are allowed to triumph over the Dark, a piece of the Self is missing. In turn, if only the Dark prevails, then one becomes thus as well.

Shayla nodded to herself thoughtfully.

The path she had been taking WAS razor-thin indeed. With Logan's arrival she had become more interested in whether he and the others were accepting of her or not, when in fact she ultimately could not control their responses to her in the least and had been foolish to believe otherwise.

The only thing she, Shayla Petrolu, could do was choose whether or not she accepted those surrounding her.

There was still much Shayla needed to learn. She now had the awareness of both sides of herself, and slowly she was beginning to learn to balance those sides out so that the scales weighed equally. What things could be accomplished once the balance was perfected Shayla could only guess, but truly she desired to KNOW.

Finally standing from her chair at the table, she turned and made way back to her suite, a picture of complete and utter calm.

Not the calm of the Jedi...for their calm was false, derived from subduing the Darker emotion within. Not the calm of the Dark Jedi either; for they lived sumbmersed in their own hate and dispair, completely unaware of the Lighter emotions buried within themselves.

This was a calm of knowing the Universe within oneself, a calm of Balance, of Acceptance...

Perhaps yet there was a strength within Shayla that she was only now becoming aware she possessed...

Now I pull back a bit, placing one arm about Graysith's shoulders and with the other one indicate the viewing crystal once again. Within it's depths there suddenly forms the tiny view of Pride of Yavin, still en route to us here.

"They are indeed weak, my love. Truly the actions I see unfolding before us now fully justify your destiny."

I turn my body, grasping both her shoulders now, and bore my volcanic eyes into the icy violet of hers. "Indeed it is the Dark Jedi of this time, those who laughably refer to themselves as Sith, who you must discover and unite. Only they have the strength necessary to channel all the 'Force' which you and I know exists. And thus bring Us forth into glorious life once more."

She bows her head before me, fully aware that the path she must tread is a difficult and stony one. With another little sigh, she turns from me and glides over to the great bed. There she gracefully seats herself amidst the rich satins and furs which bedeck it's form.

"This is a long road indeed, my love. But one from which I shall never stray. I trust you trust in that."

In three great strides I am before her, leaning over her seated form, my hands planted on the bedding on either side of her as I bring my face down to hers. She remains silent, but that cryptic little grin slowly steals out along her face once more. I make mention of it, my lips set in a stern line but my eyes erupting in laughter.

Enough of this nonsense, Shayla Petrolu! she scolded herself.

To everything there is a season...

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together...

Shayla's season of exploring those Dark feelings within her was far from over. Again she would most certainly return to them, for they were a part of her she now knew she could not reject were she to become truly whole.

But the season to submerge herself in the Darkness alone...that had passed. Now the matter at hand would be to truly learn Balance, to become aware of the Light and the Dark within. And that would only begin when she, Shayla Petrolu, accepted herself for all that she was, all that she could be, including trusting herself to know whom to believe and trust.

With this understanding firmly in place, the Truth became crystal clear.

No longer was it of importance to her whether the Jedi accepted her for what she had now become and for what she now believed. She could only show them and allow their perceptions of her newfound beliefs be what they were, for certainly they would remain as such no matter how she tried to change them.

Force them to understand she could not, and that had been her mistake with Logan. He saw only what he perceived in the only way that he knew to observe.

Perception and reality are often different when one views the Universe from only one angle. Refusing the Dark or the Light within oneself stigmitized one to only seeing from that angle, and only when they accepted both parts of themselves could they truly see at all.

Shayla sat on the bed as one of her signature looks of determination crossed her features.

She would succeed, she COULD do this with the Guidance of her Teachers...

Whether or not the Jedi ever saw what she was becoming in the light of the Truth, or whether they ever understood at all...

...really didn't matter...

"How is it that you became so wise, my love?" she whispered into the twilight about them.

Smiling, she remembered the dream--a dream she had shared with him somehow. But dreams were just that: mere perceptions of what reality could be and not necessarily reality as it would be.

Time to face your reality for the day, Shayla Petrolu. "Gazing at the stars" is fine for the night, but for the day you have yourself and that's plenty enough.

Getting to her feet, Shayla picked a simple black jumpsuit from her wardrobe and changed into it, slipping on her usual black boots. After washing her face and pulling her hair back partially, Shayla donned her weapons belt and removed the lightsaber in one of its holsters. She activated the violet blade, gazing at it intently as she had done several times since the weapon had been completed.

Odd, she thought, that people so concerned about striving for peacefulness and control of emotion would also carry a weapon as such. Seems rather hypocritical to spout words of peace and calmness and at the same time wield a weapon to fight and kill another being for what one thinks is right.

Especially when that one has thought about and determined what is right from only ONE angle.

Closing down the blade of the lightsaber, Shayla replaced it on her hip and pulled from the wardrobe the violet cloak that she had been wearing the day before. Wrapping it around herself, she left her room and headed for the Dining Hall.

First food for the body. Later, food for the mind and soul...

Indeed, something was definitely and most assuredly amiss....

Like a gray ghost she slid out from the great bed, and had padded to the viewing crystal before she fully realized what had awakened her.

Aelvedaar was gone.

She inhaled deeply with this realization. He must have departed for Korriban, to continue his magicks there.

As if to verify that very thought, she moved to the viewing crystal with which Darth Wicked, and other Sith Lords, had looked out upon the Galaxy, unseen and unnoticed. She gave it a cursory glance... and then shook her head, blinking. Looked again, harder. Began to actually strain.

The crystal remained stubbornly dark. What mischief was afoot to cause this strange and unlikely occurrence?

Feeling uneasy, she moved back to the bed, and lay down against the pillows there. For a long moment she remained absolutely motionless, her eyes wide, the Glyph blazing as she stared into the darkness around her....

Shayla had to admit, something didn't seem quite right. She couldn't put her finger on it, didn't have a clue as to what it might be, but something was going on, somewhere...

Frowning, Shayla utilized that link between Adept and Teacher.

What is this disturbance which I sense incoming?

Silent and keenly aware of everything around her, Shayla awaited a response...

A figure, shuffled along the floor in front of Graysith, covered in the navy blue cloak flowing down the figure. Stopping afront the bed, a shadow covered face turned to Graysith, then looked away and continued walking... into the wall, and dissappearing.

A cloaked figure sat on a large boulder on Tyrene, in the Shykar system. The dark hue of blue flowing like a near black river down his body. His chin resting on clasped hands afront his chest. The hood coating his face in the comforting shadows. His eyes closed, concentrating on the magic arts of the Krath. A brown bag hung diagonally acrossed his chest. "The sacred stone is sought, one after another to claim the power. A pawn in the game, stuck in the middle. Shadows laying claim to the new toy, with the rays of light clutching to reclaim old ground."

Pushing off the rock, the dark figure slowly walked across the barren land. Covered in rocks and debris, with some moss. A supposed ancient burial ground for Dark Jedi. The Krath Prophet kept walking into the distance, a small tornado of dirt and sand kicking up behind him, covering his body... and then he was gone.

Throwing the covers aside, she fairly leapt from the bed and descended upon the viewing crystal.

Surprisingly, a landscape hovered within its eerie depths. One of sand and stone and dust and dreary atmosphere. One in which a shadow, and essence of... something ...seemed to hover like the threatening wings of a Bespin velker. She strained, seeking to discern where this was, and who or what was at the foundation of it and of her growing disquiet...

...only to have the scene fade ominously into blackness. Before it flickered into shadows, there was a singular flash of ruby. Then all was dark in the crystal.

She drew back, frowning. What was meant by this new enigma? Who was that shadowy figure... and how and why did he come to her rooms in this Temple? Was he a mere vision... or reality?

There was but one way she knew of to determine the answer to at least some of her questions. Hastily attiring herself in her black one-piece covering and thrimm, she hastened from her rooms and headed to the Dining Hall on the level of her old, and currently Shayla's, quarters. As she approached, the sense of questioning unease and curiosity that she felt from her adept became stronger and stronger.

At length she found herself before the mossy doorway, two stalwart Noghri at firm attention on either side. She nodded to them, reached out, opened the door and entered the room.

Shayla stood before the dining table, her greeny-blue eyes wide with consternation, a fruit held in her frozen hand. Graysith spoke no word in greeting, but merely gave her a nod in passing. But--Patience, my young one, came the reassuring touch in Shayla's mind. I am investigating the discrepency. In but a few short strides she was at the back wall, which slid obediently open at her touch. Within the tight confines of the alcove hidden there, Jinn was lit up like Tatooine on Boonta Eve.

"WELL! It's about time!" the computer cried out in an aggrieved tone of voice. "I've been trying to get your attention for hours! What is it with you; you give me a job to do, which I do most admirably, thank you, and then you never-"

Graysith bit off the computer's diatribe with a wave of her hand and a stern command. "Silence, Jinn." The hot-tempered machine obeyed, but couldn't refrain from a few last grumbling flashes of blinking light, which Graysith ignored. She took a deep breath, then addressed the computer.

"Tell me what you have discovered, please."

The computer seemed taken aback by the polite overtones of that command. It warbled to itself for a moment, then proceeded to spit out information of which the Chosen Daughter was already aware: the approaching ships, the recovering padawan. After listening to perhaps four minutes of such, she broke into Jinn's announcements.

"Jinn," she said in an equally quiet tone. "Access your external monitoring devices in Darth Wicked's private quarters. Specify data received from crystalline device in those quarters, and cross reference. Query: who is this figure, and where is it from which he watches this Temple?"

She waited in silence while the computer burbled to itself. Then came the response:

"Who this is, I really cannot tell you. I believe from his attire that he is a Krath Magician; from his behavior I believe him to be of the more specifically elite ilk known as the Prophets. But as to his actual identity, I cannot say.

"There is a 99.8912% probability that the place he inhabits is the Death Desert region of the planet Tyrene, in the Shykar system, coordinates 1072318W210304N. This is a little known system in the Dark Arm of the galaxy; I really have little data about it, sorry.

"The brief red flash is indicative of a mass focal to his visit. Exactly what this mass is, and why he visited you, I cannot say. I only know prophets reveal the future, and this one was damnably vague about his revelation to you."

Jinn fell into silence with that, waiting. Graysith placed a graceful hand upon its primary moniter, patting gently. "Thank you, Jinn," she murmured, her thoughts lightyears away. "You have not disappointed me."

With that she turned and left the alcove, closing the wall as she left. Before her stood Shayla, her eyes still wide. The fruit in her hand however, had disappeared as quickly as the apparent discomfort of the Chosen Daughter.

Apparent.

She drew in a deep breath, and placed her arm comfortingly about Shayla's shoulders.

"My young friend, I fear I have an enigma to face," she said in a soft voice. The Glyph on her forehead revealed her true emotional state, however: it was spewing forth radiation like a tiny sun embedded there.

Graysith merely kept her composure, and moved to the table. There she picked up a choice haunch of meat, and began to delicately nibble upon it. Chewing thoughtfully, she finally swallowed and spoke up once more.

"Shayla, I need discourse with my Sire," she said at length. "However, I fear that events may take me from the Temple in the very near future. In my stead, I shall place you in charge with Leev as your guard.

"Do you feel worthy of this honor?"

She fell silent, her mind partially full of the myriad questions roiling there concerning her mysterious visitor, and partly filled with flashbacks of what had occurred on the heels of when she had so long ago been placed in the same position as she was placing her Adept. She didn't let a speck of this show on her face or travel through the Link with Shayla, but merely waited to hear her reply.

But it was more than the meaning behind the request, much more than that. Rather it was the trust that had to back the request itself.

Coming back to reality and knowing full well the weight of such responsibility, Shayla nodded.

No one would dare get into this Temple without Shayla's own request; lightsiders and non-Force users would only be able to gawk and stare and wonder how the Sithspit they could get in.

Without the direct command of someone who COULD get in would any of them ever enter.

She could do this.

"I can do this," Shayla said aloud, her greenish-blue eyes meeting the violet ones of her teacher, and her friend. "The temple will be protected should you have to leave."

With that Shayla quieted and waited for further reply from Graysith...

"If I did not have faith in you, Shayla, I would not have requested this of you. I do know you will not let me down...

...in anything that you might have to do."

With that she tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and concentrated. There was much she had been meaning to further teach her adept, so as to give her a stronger foundation with which to withstand the events soon to transpire in this great Temple of Sith Learning and Knowledge and Succor.

Time seems to have precluded this, she thought to herself as, placing a slim hand upon Shayla's temple, she smoothly entered into the mind of her adept stark imagery which clearly portrayed horrific events occurring on another world, and at another time:

Her big brown eyes glued themselves to the pupilless ones of the tuk'ata, judging his attack. It came, with Star Destroyer force. Then, at just the impossibly right moment, she sprang toward him, leaping into the air and then rolling into a little ball as her body struck the ground. She tumbled directly beneath the leaping beast, and kept rollling....

A gigantic claw... a bestial stench... the horizon tilting at an impossible angle... a slim and cloaked figure standing in quiet shock... a sweep of a passing paw... a gout of blood and a figure hunched... pale hands clenching a midsection from which something moist and hideous trailed... the beast somersaulting... pupilless eyes filled with fury... the figure crumpling as the beast leaps yet again....

With a little shudder, Graysith slid smoothly from the mind of her adept, opened her eyes, and watched as Shayla seemed to shudder in turn. Then the greeny-blue eyes before her opened as well, and stared straight into her own.

Volumes were spoken in the unvoiced moment which passed between them.

Graysith nodded, whether to herself or to Shayla was left somewhat vague. Then she turned in a solitude of her own design, and quietly left the Dining Hall for her quarters.

She had lost a child...HER child...at the whim of either a horrible accident or a cruelly planned incident...

Shuddering, Shayla opened her eyes and peered directly into the violet ones of Graysith, sensing the other's heartache even though she remained fairly impassive.

At that moment Shayla felt much more than just an Adept to this woman.

She felt a kinship and a strong empathy for what surely must have been an awful occurrence that forever affected the life of her Teacher, her friend.

At last Graysith nodded, seeming to understand the meaning of the thoughts Shayla harbored within. Shayla knew she need not utter a word; Graysith was well aware of her loyalty.

In the quiet stillness of the moment, Graysith turned and left the Dining Hall to another part of the Temple. Heading out of the Hall herself, Shayla padded down the hallway into the corridor towards the doors of the Temple.

She needed to take a walk and sort some things out...

Revealed in its depths were images of magickal devices and machines. An intimidatingly horned and volcanically imposing figure moved amongst them. The moment the violet eyes of the Chosen Daughter were laid on his form, he stopped his motions, and briefly quested in turn. Then his fiery eyes locked across the unthinkable spacetime which separated them, and he spoke into her mind.

"This is a surprising visit, my lovely..." he began, then cut himself off. A frown slowly began to materialize upon his grim and handsome features. For a moment their eyes remained glued to each other's; then--

"Strange that this one has found you so easily, my dear." The tone in which those words were delivered entirely belied their inherent import.

Graysith merely frowned in turn. "This one must be extremely powerful, my Sire," she responded smoothly. "And thus I find this visit of enough potential threat to warrant further investigation than I can accomplish from here."

Aelvedaar scowled as he considered her words. "Do you wish my company on this investigation?" he queried at length.

Graysith merely shook her head in reply. "Those who are approaching this Temple are of far greater importance to the All than my physical well being," she at last replied, albeit with much reluctance. "Though Chosen Daughter I may be, the Child would also have the ability to hold that which you have implanted into me. Perhaps more so. Nothing must happen to this unborn one; yet this enigma needs immediate attention."

The Sith Sorcerer reached out a clawed hand as though to touch Graysith's face. "I would have no harm come to you, my love," he murmured quietly. "Yet I too am aware of the disconcerting dichotomy of the situation. I shall return to the Temple, and shall..."

Graysith cut him off with a little smile. "...and there shall you watch from the shadows, as you are so wonderfully qualified to do, to see that my Adept handles events correctly, and to lend assistance should she need it?" she finished for him sweetly.

Aelvedaar's frown deepened. Then he let a quirky grin creep across his saturnine features. "As you wish, my dear," he acquiesced. Then with a wave of his hand his form disappeared as the crystal blackened once again.

Graysith drew in a great breath and got back to her feet. Now she reached out into the mind of her great tuk'ata.

M'wonBo'o, attend my Adept, and guard her and the Temple with your life. I must attend to certain matters; they must be of your first priority in my absence.

Cutting the great beast's protests off with a mental jerk, she sent one final link outward.

Nikk, attend me. Meet me at "Chosen One."

Then, satisfied that all was in order and all who resided within the stony halls of the Temple knew exactly what responsibilities lay before them, she quickly strode to the wardrobe. Reaching into its depths, she withdrew the tiny yet powerful form of the Nar Khelba, which she affixed to the base of her Claw of S'slan. Donning her signature cloak, she took one last look about her quarters; then with firm determination she departed. Mere moments passed before she had likewise parted from the Temple itself and had gained the hidden hangar, where she was awaited by an attentive Nikk. She gave him a nodded greeting; then, indicating her greeny-golden little Sith ship with but one smooth motion of her hand, she tilted her head and bade him enter. She followed directly behind him, the hatch closing behind her with a smooth and oily finality of its own.

A few short moments passed yet again... and the little ship arced into the morning skies of Khar Delba. Soon it was lost amidst the splendor of the stars surrounding that planet and it's companions, then became utterly untraceable as it left that beauty for the ravenous wonders of hyperspace.

The protection of the Temple lay in her hands. She would not allow its halls to be corrupted by those who would not understand.

The Jedi were coming, on their way even now although the Universe knew their arrival was particularly useless given the circumstances. They would not enter into the Temple. If Shayla faced them at all, it would not be within the walls of that sanctuary.

But there was somehow something else aside from the arrival of the Jedi about to occur. Shayla didn't feel any threat to what might be incoming, but she knew something would happen, soon. She sensed that Graysith knew this as well and was counting on her, Shayla Petrolu, to act on her behalf.

Whatever it was, if it had anything to do with the incident Graysith had shared with her, Shayla was ready. She would do what needed to be done.

With her will and her determination strongly set, Shayla headed back to the Temple.

She would be ready if and when anyone dared disrupt the quiet Balance of the planet...

Leev?

He immediately heard her call, and Shayla bid him to come to her. He did as instructed and in only a few moments arrived at her side.

She felt a bit odd giving orders, although as the leader of Stargazer Corporation telling people what to do was part of the job description. She'd have to get used to doing it again.

"I want you to stay outside the walls of the Temple and watch for anything...or anyone suspicious. I feel that we soon will have uninvited visitors. If you detect and capture anyone, notify me," she said, putting enough firmness in her voice to sound like she was in charge but maintaining an open demeanor. Shayla knew she didn't have any need to demand anything from Leev; he was obedient and he wouldn't question.

But he might not like my being in the Temple alone. Better to protect the outside of the fortess rather than have us all inside while who knows who wanders about the planet.

Leev grunted and nodded in understanding. Shayla knew if she needed him, he would be at her beck and call. He turned back to the jungle as she entered the corridor of the Great Temple of Khar Delba. Padding through the hallway, something occurred to her that caused her to freeze in place as she thought it through.

If the Jedi sensed that Graysith had left, they might be more apt to just come charging in like the Peace Brigade trying to save her. No matter what they probably would come, but she didn't want them waltzing in like they owned the planet, believing they could just sweet-talk her into changing her mind.

Frowning at the thought, Shayla errected a mental barrier around herself and the Temple.

No one, unless Shayla herself imparted the knowledge to them, would ever know that she was here alone...

With the barest of thrumms, the Eagle slipped out of hyperspace approximately half a billion klicks from the Khar Delban primary. I let out a breath that I had been unconsciously holding; although my re-entry check had given the green light for all systems, one never could tell what Fate had planned for fools such as we who so casually defied the laws of physics in travelling like this. I had heard many horror stories about ships unable to leave hyperspace, destined to speed onward for all eternity (ok, it was thought, as obviously those hapless ships never came back to let the galaxy know what had happened to them) unless their trajectory took them through the heart of some massive star or into the gravity well of a gas giant. Worse were the tales I'd heard about ships who only made it halfway back into realspace....

I gave my head a little shake, and concentrated on the navigational board. It was lit up like Coruscant.

Yeah, yeah... I know, I thought as I reached out to adjust our course a touch. Primary dead ahead... which is exactly where I wanted it.

Creeping into a stellar's system from behind its sun was an old spacer's trick to avoid being detected until the last possible moment. Approach in this manner not only blinded us to visual early warning systems; riding in upon the solar wind, as it were, also pretty much masked us from any electronic methods designed to track incoming traffic as well.

Not that this would keep us secreted from a Sith. But any little crumb would help at this point.

Taking another deep breath, I skimmed us as close as I could to the dim little dwarf which tried to light the heavens, and immediately found myself with my hands full combating a string of closely orbiting asteroids.

Weird place for an asteroid belt, I thought as I deftly swerved between a gravitationally bound pair. Usually they're farther out at the LaGrange point....

Before I could ponder that cosmological descrepency any further we were out of the thick of it, and on a bee-line course for what looked to be a gigantic cat's eye floating in a cloud of black soup.

A dead cat's eye. I shivered as that analogy popped into my head at the sight of the white planet with its thin green equatorial belt. Then I firmed, gripping the controls of Eagle as I popped her off of autopilot for final entry maneuvers.

Steady girl, steady....

Mere moments passed before we quite suddenly entered the atmosphere of the severely tilted planet. A blazing streak of light was the only thing to herald our entrance as I took us speeding down, refusing to slow until the last possibly moment, seeking a landing as far away as I could plant us while still being within foot-distance from a particular set of coordinates indelibly etched in my brain.

If we were lucky, perhaps we would pass off as a meteorite, I thought as at the very last possibly moment I threw everything Eagle possessed into reverse and brought her to a safe, if rather abrupt (not to mention rough!) landing in the midst of a mass of thick-leaved greenery.

If we weren't lucky... we wouldn't have long to wait to find out. That, I knew, was a given.

Quickly I powered Eagle down and then sat back to the myriad soft hisses and clangs she muttered to herself as she vented the energy she had gained in the landing. Oddly enough, the more she lost in out-gassing, the more potential energy I seemed to gain in turn as I tensed, every muscle coiling tighter and tighter, every sense on high alert. My hand reached stiffly out to the intership comm unit.

"We're down," I uttered in a voice just as stiff. Then I got to my feet...

...and simply waited.

"If that Nar Khelba is going to be put into any lightsaber at all, it's gonna be in one that I've got control of. And it's gonna be put to good use, believe me."

Terrin smiled grimly to himself, the other two men in sitting across from him seeming lightyears away. Might have to wrestle one out of the hands of a Jedi to do it, sweetheart, but I have no doubt you'd do exactly that if that's what it took.

Jasyn, the more negative of Terrin's two picks for this mission, finally spoke his piece about the whole thing. "Well, this is going to be fun," he muttered darkly. "Some religioso Jedi, a love-struck information smuggler, and us are teaming up to save a would-be padawan who doesn't wanna leave the planet now and find a weapon that could kill them all. It'll be a wonder if our whole team doesn't kill each other before we ever meet the Sith."

Snapping from his thoughts, Terrin looked over at the man and frowned. "Very funny," he growled. "With your optimism we could kill ourselves before we ever reach the surface," he responded sarcastically.

"Hey you two, lighten up," Matt Stanza interjected. "We'll have enough to worry about once we get to the surface anyway. One thing at a time, please," the red-headed man said.

Terrin nodded, standing up. "As per usual, you're right. And speaking of the surface,” he added, feeling the ship shifting from autopilot and starting to descend, “I think we are about to be there. Shall we head to the cabin? "

"Yeah, probably should," Matt agreed. After the other two men got to their feet, the trio made their way into the cabin where Galen was standing. While the other two men gawked out the ship at the Khar Delban landscape, Terrin stopped in front of Galen, laying a hand on her shoulder and hoping that would somehow convey his support and reassure her that the last conversation they'd had in the aft of the ship hadn't freaked him out enough to change his mind about what they were getting ready to do.

Like that was an option anymore anyway, it was too late to turn back. So this whole trip might not be for Shayla anymore...

...somehow Terrin knew the trip wasn't all for Shayla for some time now.

He wasn't even aware that not a word had been uttered since he and the others entered the cabin; his mind was elsewhere, his thoughts focused on one thing....

Her.

Terrin was well aware that in only a short while many more things would be demanding his attention...

Something is here that does not belong, she realized.

The Jedi? she wondered, stretching out and sensing further. No, not the Jedi. Something else. Something unknown...yet familiar...

Frowning, Shayla swung her legs over the side of the bed and let them dangle.

Reaching out again, she searched and found the mind of her bodyguard. Leev, I sense intruders. Find them, and let me know when you do.

Not even waiting for the reply, Shayla arose from the bed and put on a clean black jumpsuit. Within moments she was scurrying down the hall of the Temple wrapped in her violet cloak, on her way to the Dining Hall and past it to the control room where Jinn waited, bleeping and blurping non-stop.

Sithspawn, why hadn't she paid more attention to that override code?

Well, at any rate, something or someone was out there. The computer was just too wound up for there not to be.

What the heck, might as well give it a shot.

"Jinn, query, what ships are near Khar Delba?"

The computer let out a clear string of raspberries. "Who the hell are you?" it then blatted.

Ok, that didn't work. Remembering the first time she and Izzy had interacted, Shayla decided she'd go with the flow and apply what she had learned from that situation.

When your droid or computer proves extremely independent and fiesty, pet his or her ego.

"Jinn, I am Shayla Petrolu, Graysith's Adept. Your help is most important to me. I know you keep precise tabs on all traffic in system, and I need to know what ships are in the area."

"Well! You will not get very far!" the computer growled, sniffing as if insulted. "I monitor all activity in all systems in this universe. I calculate all known ships trajectories, I analyze which ones might come in system and track them. And you think I just sit around and monitor the local traffic?!"

Shayla frowned. Izzy had never been quite this difficult. Time for a new tactic. "Well, when Graysith returns, she will be very upset if she finds you've let anyone come near Khar Delba without notifying me. I know you'd hate it if she reprogrammed you..."

"Fine!" Jinn spat. "In order of arrival time, one lambda-class ship approaching Khar Delban primary, lost in the solar wind. Probes sent out to seek and discover. One sizeable fleet, property of Eagle Enterprises has estimated trajectory near K'eel Doba, arrival time one standard hour. Another smaller fleet, property of Stargazer Corporation has the same trajectory as the Eagle Enterprises fleet with arrival time in five standard hours. All trajectory estimations are at 98 percent accuracy," the computer informed Shayla, its tone clearly indicating that it should be respected for the great effort required of it to tell Shayla these things.

"Thank you, Jinn," Shayla said. "Your efforts are most appreciated. Alert me when the lambda-class ship is found. This information is of the greatest importance to protecting the Temple," she added, flattering the computer as much as possible.

"Well, finally, someone appreciates the hard work that I do! I send out probes, track hundreds of..."

As the computer continued to blabber, Shayla simply turned and walked away, heading for the Dining Hall and sitting at the table, her thoughts spinning.

Eagle Enterprises' fleet was meeting Stargazer Corporation's fleet? This was odd.

And the lambda-class ship? The Eagle, Terrin's personal ship, was of that make. But why would he be coming here?

But the "whys" didn't really matter. And for all she knew, this wasn't Terrin Danner anyway.

All WOULD be revealed, in due time...

At that moment, Matt was checking to make sure everything was in place while Jasyn sat on the ground running inventory on the supplies he had brought for the trip. Terrin didn't know how the few things Jasyn had brought along worked, but he knew at least one of them was used to sense movement in the area while another was designed to detect oncoming air traffic and or land vehicles. He also knew that somehow the stuff was untraceable, and that was a bonus for them. Jasyn had even managed to find some comms with the "untraceable" feature; Terrin guessed they'd caused Eagle Enterprises a pretty credit.

Setting down a sleeping pack on the ground, Terrin plopped down on it and laid back, propping himself up with another sleeping pack so that he could keep an eye on the activity around him. Matt had finished whatever he was doing and sat as well, his head in his hands. He looked as though he was about to fall asleep right then and there. Jasyn still continued busily with his toys, probably making sure everything was working properly. Galen, who hadn't really said much since they had landed, was now sitting somewhere near Terrin; although he hadn't turned to check that out he knew that she was there just the same.

"So," Jasyn said, breaking the silence, "What do you say we rest up a little while we are waiting for Kartan to show? It's been a long day. I'll watch camp first, then Matt, then Terrin, then Galen. Hopefully by then Kartan will be here. If he isn't, I suggest we get on the move anyway. I'm not too thrilled with just sitting around waiting for someone or something to find me." He looked around at the others for confirmation of the plan. Matt nodded.

"Yeah," Terrin finally said, yawning, "sounds fine to me. But what's for dinner?"

Jasyn reached into a sack near him and tossed the other three a ration bar. Terrin frowned. "Ugh," he growled, unpeeling the wrapper of the bar and grimacing at it. "I'd forgotten how much I hate camping out..."

"Aw, c'mon, Terrin," I cajoled as I munched. "You don't really mean that now, do you? I mean, how can you not love all this?" I waved a hand expansively, taking in the shadowy jungle that chittered and moaned and cawed and growled all around us.

"Ahh, the wonders of nature," I continued, given Terrin a little wink. Then, popping the last bit of ration bar into my mouth, I got to my feet and wandered over to the edge of our campsite. From there I peered into the unseen but very much heard mysteries around us.

A sudden sensation of unease pierced me; I didn't know if it was due to Jasyn undoubtedly shooting a glare at me in response to my light-hearted remarks... or something else entirely. I put my arms around myself with a little shiver, and soon heard the light approach of footsteps. A pair of arms slipped around me to warm me a few degrees from the chill to which my body seemed to have plunged.

I leaned back against Terrin's strong frame. "I wonder what's out there, right now," I said in a low voice. "Or who."

Terrin didn't say anything, but I felt him rest the side of his face against the top of my head. I leaned farther back into the protection his stance was promising to me, but my hand strayed of its own accord to the blaster affixed to my hip. It fiddled with the stock, then gripped it firmly.

All right, sis; I know you know we're here, I thought into the night. Either leave us alone for just this one night... or bring it on. Either way, we're ready...

...at least I fervently hoped so.

One final shiver ran through me and I turned in Terrin's arms. "Let's go back to the campfire," I said in a quiet but firm voice. "Even 15 meters is too great a distance to be apart from each other."

With that I led the way back to the bag we had been perched upon, and regained my seat. I held out a silent hand to Jasyn, who rummaged in the pack for another ration bar for me. He gave it a toss in my direction as Terrin seated himself, then bestowed the others with a steady if somewhat grim look. Matt straightened his shoulders as though suddenly uncomfortable, but remained loose, ready to tackle anything. Jasyn just scowled. In one quick motion he tossed the remnants of his bar into the fire, then rose to his own feet, his blaster rifle at ease in his arms.

I just sat there and ripped thoughtfully into my second ration bar, while all around us the jungle continued to yawp and screech and yowl into the rapidly fading light...

Here goes nothing, he thought, mentally crossing his fingers. The calculations were good, that wasn't going to be the problem. Erik just hoped he didn't scare the Sithspit out of Terrin and his crew.

Ah well, they'll get over it.

"Hang tight, we are in for a couple of quick hyperspace jumps," he told Cella.

She merely looked in his direction and quirked an eyebrow at him, probably wondering why in the world they were going hyperspace for this little trip.

She'll figure it out soon enough.

Finally out of the path of the Pride, Erik punched a few switches on his navboard, and then pulled the hyperspace lever, causing the Lioness to gently float into hyperspace.

He'd have to remember to thank whomever had serviced his ship.

But there was no time to think of that now. His first hyperspace jump would end in a little over a minute, bringing him just past the Khar Delban primary. Just as the planet came into focus, the Lioness shifted back into hyperspace, a move that Erik had programmed into the nav computer before he'd left the hangar bay of the Stargazer.

All was quiet in the cabin of the Lioness. Cella was sitting watching the forward view calmly, seeming not to have a slight hesitation about events to come.

Suddenly, as the reversion clock started to tick, Erik was feeling a bit nervous. Raking a hand through his thick dark hair, he locked his deep brown eyes on the navboard.

Now was not the time to question, to worry. Now was the time to act.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Realspace emerged once again, this time the Lioness being shielded by the solar wind of the planet. Running a quick scan, Erik locked on to what he believed to be the Eagle, and he brought the ship down through atmosphere to the surface of Khar Delba. The ship floated down to the ground with the careful manuevering of his hand.

In just a minute or so, the YT-1300 was powered down and Erik was ready to go. The Lioness's sensors had not only detected Terrin's ship only a bit away from them, but had also registered what appeared to be a small campsite just a click or so away.

Or at least, Erik HOPED it was a campsite.

Standing up, Erik led Cella on to the hatchway of his frieghter and down the ramp that he had extended to the surface of this jungle-like land. As he closed the hatch of the Lioness, he realized he couldn't sense Shayla at all.

Frowning in the darkness of the night and beginning to head towards the location of the probable campsite, Erik knew without knowing for sure that Shayla was there.

He wondered if she in turn, was as well aware of his presence...

With that, the Chosen Daughter reached out yet again, and through the sudden shadowy appearance of a writhing coil of Elseness placed a Force-shield around the mind and soul of one Erik Kartan. No force user would find him, as would no one else.

Not until she chose to let his position be known.

With a little smile, she faded from the minds of her beasts, knowing that the location of this man would remain unknown even to her Adept....

"Wha--??" he blurted drowsily, shoving the hand off him.

"Terrin, it's me, Matt."

"Huh? Oh..." he muttered, sitting up on his elbows to scrutinize the other man. His movements had inadvertently awoken Galen, who was sleeping quite near to him.

Or at least, she was laying there. Perhaps she hadn't ever been sleeping at all.

Terrin frowned to himself, wondering where exactly that little thought had come from. Now she too sat up, cocking an eyebrow at Matt.

Jasyn, meanwhile, was dead to the Universe on a sleeping bag across from them.

"Terrin, that ship-detector what's it of Jasyn's is glowing red. Something is incoming."

Terrin tensed. Kartan wasn't supposed to be here for another several hours. He couldn't help but notice that Galen had tensed too. "Where's it coming from?"

Just as he asked that question, the whine of a well-tuned ship passed overhead.

"Damn," he growled, finally tossing the sleeping bag off him. "I think we could be in trouble."

With that, Terrin scrambled to his feet and rather ungracefully headed over to where Jasyn was still laying fast asleep. He called his name a few times, trying to wake him up, but the guy muttered a few non-repeatable words in his sleep and turned over. Irritated, Terrin reached out a hand and shook him.

In less than a nanosecond Jasyn sprung to life, sitting up and nearly slugging Terrin in the face. Instead, Terrin managed duck and miss the swing.

"Whattda you want?" Jasyn rasped hoarsely.

Terrin put a finger to his mouth. Jasyn got the hint.

"We might be having company," Terrin whispered to him. Jasyn nodded in understanding and unholstered his blaster. At the same time he unwrapped himself from his covers and got to his feet.

"Everyone lay low," he said softly. "And get a hold of something you can point and shoot," he added.

A few minutes passed in dead silence, each member of the group listening to the sounds of the surrounding jungle.

Nothing.

No, wait. A commotion. A struggle...

Something or someone was out there, and getting hurt...

There were no screams, no cries. But Terrin knew the sound. If every muscle in his body wasn't tense before, they were now.

Terrin remained in place, but Jasyn and Matt, squatting, crept a little closer to the noise as the struggle seemed to subside a bit. In a few more minutes the jungle was eeriely quiet again, and Terrin glanced over at Galen, noticing her eyes were wide.

But the silence continued.

Grabbing a comm, Terrin kept his eyes focused on the spot where his commrades had just disappeared. Then, standing, he motioned Galen to him, and together they wandered in the same direction as the two men before them had, Terrin's blaster still ready to shoot at anyone and anything in the area.

They'd only wandered fifty meters or so when they found Jasyn and Matt, the two of them squatting next to a...

human body?

Inhaling deeply, Terrin approached cautiously, squatting as well.

He glanced at the body. A human female, a bit cut and bloodied and unconcious from some sort of confrontation.

He had a very bad feeling about this.

"Let's get her back to the campsite," he told the others. In one quick motion Jasyn stood, picking up her lean form. In moments they were back to the campsite, and Jasyn laid her down on one of the sleeping packs. Matt hurried about and got some bacta patches and a wet cloth from the first aid kit. Administering the patches to her cuts and the cool cloth to her forehead, Matt seemed to look her over, eyeing her weapons belt. Quite suddenly, he gasped, causing Terrin to jump.

"Terrin!" he sputtered, "Look!" Carefully he removed something from her weapons belt and presented it to Terrin.

A lightsaber. His blood ran cold.

Glancing at Galen and Jasyn nervously, he dared not utter the words that were forming in his brain. If this is our Jedi, then...WHERE IS EVERYBODY ELSE?

But before he could say anything, the injured Jedi before him stirred, her eyelids fluttering.

As she floated back to consciousness, the crew waited around her in silence...

She just knew it. No one had to tell her, she just knew that he was.

He seemed determined, focused...

Quite suddenly, all that determination and focus shifted to something else.

Fear?

No, not exactly...

Adrenaline.

Yes, that was it.

Shayla's mind was so caught up in what he was doing that she hadn't even noticed the other with him.

Strangely and oddly, in a moment so quick that Shayla couldn't ever, ever determine what had happened...

He was just gone.

His mind, his spirit...

His Force sense...

gone...

Shayla frowned, recalling a time when everyone in the Universe had disappeared for her.

And now he was gone, yet again...

Standing up in her quarters, her hands balled into fists, Shayla did the one thing she could.

She let out a quite quickly developing string of sobs.

Where had he gone? Why had he been taken?

Was this...???

Finally gaining hold of reality again, she firmed, wiping away the tears.

There was a task at hand she, Shayla Petrolu, needed to accomplish. She knew she'd soon be dealing with many things on many different levels, and having Erik with her would be wonderful...

...but quite possibly, the timing was wrong.

Sure, she didn't like it, and she was positive the Creator of this anomaly was either Graysith or her Sire, but that didn't matter. Somehow, Shayla sensed that Graysith knew the meaning of Erik to her, and that she would see to it that he was taken care of until the time when he should be revealed to her.

Even now, though she could not feel him through the Force, she knew he was close....

Back to the old days when the link between the two of them extended beyond the Force, to something else...

How could she have been so blind as to not realize the love for him that was there before?

But trust her Teacher, she must. And trust she would.

First she would attend to the matter of Terrin Danner and the Jedi...

He wondered where Cella was, if she was alright. He stretched out to sense her, to find her...

...only to feel nothing in return.

This wasn't the sense of her not being there; rather nothing was there at all. Wherever he was, he'd been shielded from the Force somehow, via a Force cage or something else.

Dare I open my eyes now and assess my surroundings?

Truthfully, he hadn't even analyzed the sensation of cold upon his back, the throbbing of his head, the ache of a few spots on his body...

Time to face whatever it is that you are facing, he told himself.

Slowly, he cracked one eye open. He'd intended to open both, but in trying to do so he discovered that one eye was swollen shut, possibly the result of being hit in the face, or something to that affect, in the attack. Erik also found that the room was swimming out of focus, and that quite frankly made him feel a bit sick. Forcing himself to stay alert, he waited as the spinning slowed.

After a few minutes, his focus stilled considerably, and he dared to raise up on his elbows to look around. The room started spinning a little as he did so, but not so much he couldn't overcome it.

Let's see. A very small room. Four walls. No windows. No doors. And what the Sithspit is that mossy looking stuff?

Frowning, Erik laid back down on the hard floor, finally realizing that someone had at least tried to make him comfortable, throwing some sort of blanket over him and placing a pillow, although somewhat hard, behind his head.

Well, looks like someone wants you alive, anyway.

He breathed a few deep shuddery breaths as he closed his eyes once again, realizing that he felt pretty banged up.

Banged up, and without the Force to sense anyone else.

What had happened anyway?

He knew they'd been heading through the jungle to Terrin Danner's camp when some sort of creature had attacked them. Cella...she had been knocked away...almost discarded...and the thing had turned on him. He had gone for his lightsaber, even though Erik usually was one to go for the blaster.

Ah well, that little detail wasn't important.

Before he knew it something or someone had smashed him in the face with what appeared to be a spear, and before he could do anything, the Universe had gone black. Erik didn't know how he'd gotten here, but he suspected one way or another he had been carried to the place.

But...where was he anyway?

Erik recalled Logan's description of when he had come to Khar Delba, assessing the similarities so as to try to piece what had happened to him together.

And there was the link.

Logan had been taken to the Temple by a couple of Noghri and some sort of beast. Although Erik hadn't seen any Noghri, he knew that whatever had attacked he and Cella was most certainly a beast of some sort.

...and Logan had been carried to the Temple...

Erik couldn't stop his eyes from popping open to glance at his strange surroundings once again. He winced as his left eye refused to open. Fortunately, the spinning didn't start again.

Although Erik couldn't be sure, and he didn't have the Force with him to find out, he was almost certain he was a captive in the Temple. And if he was here, in the Temple, that meant someone wanted him alive. But it also meant that Shayla was most likely not all that far from him.

This HAD to be the Temple. After all, where else on this godforsaken planet could he be? It wasn't like the place was bustling with life.

Erik wished he could search further and understand more, but his head hurt and he was lacking the Force for guidance.

You really rely on it more than you think you do, a little voice in his head whispered. Mentally, he nodded in agreement with it. Then, some other small little thought surfaced as he allowed himself to begin floating back to sleep.

Oh Shayla...is this the feeling that you had when you seemed to be shielded from all of us? Did you feel this confused? This displaced?

Taking in another shuddery breath, Erik realized that Cella Poliani just might be out there in the jungle even still, or she might be a captive there as he was. Either way, there was nothing at this point he could do for her. If she was here, he might find that out soon. If not, hopefully Terrin Danner and his crew, who would be awaiting Erik's arrival without it ever occuring, would find her.

Erik hoped they found Cella, or else Terrin might think he'd backed out.

But again, that was something he no longer had control of.

Feeling drowsy, Erik then slipped off once again to sleep...

I heaved a sigh of mingled trepidation and uncertainty as Terrin glanced up at me, the lightsaber held loosely in his hands. On the ground before us lay... our savior? The almighty Jedi who was gonna come swooping in and help us save the day?

I sighed again, gripping myself more firmly, suddenly wishing the hands upon my person were Terrin's and not my own as my line of thought continued.

I didn't think so. I truly didn't think so. I've been here before. I know what Sister Dearest can do. What and who she has at her disposal. How strong she is... and how overwhelmingly wicked she has come to be.

Great Khaandon's Ghost, what ARE we gonna do?

But even as those gloomy words passed through my mind, they were slowly being shunted aside, buried beneath the glimmering hope of a new idea. My eyes affixed themselves upon the lightsaber in Terrin's hands.

"Ummm..." I tapped his shoulder lightly so as not to startle him too much. Khaandon, but he looked ready to jump out of his shoes! "Love, ahh, is that a... a lightsaber you are actually holding in your hands?"

I paused, giving him the time to fully realize that yes indeedy it was. And at our feet was a moaning jedi.

He looked at the lightsaber, then back at me. I just held out my hand.

"Am I gonna have to wrestle you for it?" I asked lightly, but my eyes belied the tone of my words. I was dead serious. I couldn't have been happier... but I was far from smiling.

Indeed does Khaandon work in mysterious ways. He might have somewhat dessicated our team by allowing injury to occur to this Jedi, but had in exchange delivered into our hands the very weapon we not too long ago were scouring our brains trying to figure out how we could appropriate.

I remained silent, my hand out in gentle demand. I wiggled my fingers for emphasis.

"C'mon love, before she wakes up."

Then I fell silent, devoting all my strength to fending off the sudden fear and worry I saw rising up in Terrin's wonderful blue eyes, willing him to hand the weapon over.

She would be in no shape to wield this weapon, and even if she was, this little Nar Khelba venture was his and Galen's and the others, NOT the Jedi's.

Terrin suspected she wouldn't get the subtlity behind this thought. Rather she'd probably be madder than Hell when she found out her lightsaber was missing. Especially if she figured out one of them had it.

Well, now, we'll just have to make sure she doesn't know THAT unless it's necessary.

Besides, he trusted Galen. If she said she could handle the weapon, he'd have to trust her on that too.

Finally, Terrin carefully placed the hilt of the Jedi weapon in the hands of his love, knowing full well in doing so he had made the choice to trust her over the Jedi.

And knowing full well that decision didn't bother him in the least.

After all, what good was a Jedi going to be to them if she was unwilling to act?

Jedi could be so damn super-religious, always thinking they somehow were better than everyone else and more knowledgable about things.

What the Hell did they know anyway? he thought darkly.

And here they had just saved one of these "greats" from what could have most certainly ended in death.

His eyes now on Galen rather than the Jedi, Terrin watched calmly as her deep brown eyes scanned the weapon now placed in her hands...

Misssss--tress invader-rrrrrs are camping near, he warned her.

Still laying in the bed, Shayla stretched out to assess the danger. Somewhere in the jungle, a patch of intelligent life presented itself to her, unknowing of her touch upon them. With Leev's eyes, she saw the group huddled together, although she could not make out every person. But she knew some of them even still.

Terrin and his crew, Shayla realized.

And...

Slowly Shayla "replayed" the pictures in her brain in slow motion, analyzing the contents within.

Yes! There she was!

...HER! She that caused her Teacher to lose the Child...

...and she who was now expecting herself...

Shayla paused, biting her lower lip as she considered what should be done.

They had come here of their own accord, Shayla thought. This meant that they had some purpose for being here, and considering the relationships between herself and other parties involved such as Cella Poliani...Shayla KNEW she had seen her in the image...only one or two conclusions could be reached.

Either they were here to "save" her, or they were here to exact more distress upon her Teacher. Perhaps both.

And both possibilities lead the party directly to the Temple.

Knowing they could only enter the Temple at her own whim or that of her Teacher and her Sire, Shayla made the decision to allow the bunch free reign.

But only for a time and with "eyes" behind them in their trail.

She had only to keep them from escaping.

Leev, she finally replied to her patiently-waiting bodyguard, Watch them carefully. Monitor their activities. Let me know if and when they come closer to the Temple. Await my instruction to move in unless they seem to be leaving. We shall have this party here for Graysith, but fool them into believing they have come here unnoticed. Soon, they will be detained.

Yes-sssssss my Miss-sssstress, the Noghri replied, understanding Shayla's intentions exactly. Not only did she not wish to corrupt the Sith Temple with Jedi presence, she also wanted to leave the capture of these in the hands of Graysith who, Shayla was certain, would soon be returning.

In her wake Shayla would make her welcome present of these...

She turned to him with a sigh. "I know this... displeases you, Nikk," she at last acquiesced to him. "But this Dark Lord is necessary--"

She got no further than that. With surprising effrontery, the Noghri turned on her.

"Oncesssss glory founnnnnd...." the words hissed sharply between his fangs. "Thennn glorrrrry lossssst.... Heed not the Hooded Shhhadowed One? Warrrrrnnnnning He gave to Misss-tresss!" Nikk's raptorially yellow eyes slitted with the import of the words he spoke. When the Chosen Daughter remained silent, he pressed on.

"HE would warrrrrninggg heeeed...!"

Graysith whirled on him, her hand flinging out to strike the Noghri alongside his face.

"He is dead! What I do, is mine to choose! For myself, and for the Sith! The future of the shadows is in my hands, or did you heed not that portion of the Prophet's words?"

For a long moment she remained frozen, her arm outstretched in the aftermath of the blow, her eyes glaring, her breast heaving with passion and anguish, her mouth slightly opened as though to continue. The interior of her ship seemed to dance in the shadows created by the radiance blazing forth from the Glyph on her forehead.

Closing her mouth with a sudden snap, she turned away from the Noghri and stared stonily out the forward viewport. Even that ravenous hyperdriven glory could not assuage the pain she so suddenly felt rising within. She squeezed her eyes shut against the sight, seeing only one other, all crimson and black and most brilliant of turquoise....

I stand on the brink of a wondrous destiny, she thought to herself with a suddenly lonely shudder. Already has one Dark Lord come; perhaps this Prophet has more to reveal of himself as well. Before my destiny is complete, others will come as well... and from all will be the One I shall take to my side.

My Dark Heart, it could have been you....

Slowly she opened her eyes, and stared out at the whiteness beyond the transparisteel. "It was unseemly of me to strike one so noble and loyal." She barely whispered the words. Then she fell silent, and remained thus until Chosen One finally let go a little shimmy and slipped back into realspace once again.

Directly ahead lay the Khar Delban primary, and beyond it, the planet itself. Graysith leaned forward to bring the ship in on a smooth and swift trajectory...

...and was promptly hit with a wave of unease and superawareness.

Things have transpired in my absence, she thought to herself as she slightly increased her impulse speed. The intruders have come, and.... She cocked her head to the side, her eyes darkening.

And others yet approach. How has my Adept managed affairs in my absence?

Her control firm and assured, she brought her Sith ship into a swooping approach, smiling to herself just a bit as she reveled in how Chosen One took up the concepts of momentum and inertia in its figurative hands, crumpled them into little balls, and handily discarded them altogether. In an utterly silent flash of greeny-goldness, the ship made planetfall; it had scarcely begun outgassing it's excess energies when the landing plank descended and a cloaked figure strode forth. Graysith didn't hesitate, but moved with almost grim purpose directly to the great Sith Temple, keenly aware of the proximity of strangers in their midst... as well as the hovering menace of visitors yet unseen. At her side, Nikk continued to grumble and growl, and didn't stop until they had entered the Temple itself and had proceeded right up to the Great Hall.

Before her there stood her Adept, a look of mingled happiness and trepidation on her face. Graysith spoke no word in greeting, but merely came to a halt before her. There she remained quiet, waiting to hear what her Adept had to say to her by way of greeting her return to Khar Delba.

...But he was here, she just knew it. Couldn't feel him one whit, but some things are seen with the heart and not with the eyes..

Finally reaching the Great Hall, Shayla stood silently for a few minutes, knowing with each passing moment that Graysith was nearer and nearer. Soon, she and Nikk entered the Temple and came to the Hall. There Graysith stopped in front of her Adept, waiting for Shayla's report on what had transpired in her absence no doubt.

Shayla pushed back the questions she had about Erik and his whereabouts for the moment. Something else seemed more pressing.

"She is here," Shayla said simply.

Graysith cocked her head a little signaling Shayla to continue.

"They are not far from the Temple: a group consisting of one Terrin Danner, an ex-interest of mine and one of the Jedi, no doubt planning to "save" me even still. They have along with them two others and...

"...her..."

Shayla let the word drop dead from her lips, the chill in her tone apparent. She needn't say more; Graysith understood.

"They are in the watch of Leev even now and most certainly the watch of M'wonBo'o as well. I wanted her capture, however, to be left in your hands, my friend."

I moved off a little from the group and, after a little initial hesitation, found the control that ignited the blade. The energetic thrumm which hummed out in synchronization with the beam of light was a source of honest delight to my ears.

Hey, I could get used to one of these babies! I thought to myself, giving it a practice swing about my head. Then, executing a graceful movement where I rapidly cut the air in a downward and sideward swing, I brought the hilt up before my eyes, and switched the weapon off.

I think I'm going to like acclimatizing myself with this, I thought with a smile as I headed off to my tent. But now that little shoulder devil began yammering that if I must keep pilfered toys, then I'd better hide them well.

In her mind's eye, she saw several men, one who seemed to be the leader of this party, and a woman. The woman looked so familiar somehow, but she couldn't place her. They talked of many things, their talk insignificant as the buzzing of flies in the soft place where Cella was.

Until one of the men unbuckled her lightsaber from her belt. Cella tried valiantly to bring the murky scene into focus. He gave it to his leader, who after some discussion, handed it to the woman. Sithspit! It had been stolen it from her once, and she wasn't going to let it happen again. Cella tried to gather her strength, felt the woman practicing with her lightsaber, then hiding it away. No!

With all the power in her, Cella willed the lightsaber into her palm. Nothing had ever felt so good as the touch of brushed metal in her hand. She sat up quickly and popped her eyes open, disregarding the supernovae exploding into her vision. She felt the man and woman near her, incredulous.

Painfully, feeling wounds crack open, she smiled slightly. "You know, if you needed it so bad, you always could've asked. Not real smart to take a Jedi's lightsaber and try to hide it from her."

Then Cella realized who the woman was. The lady who had come to the Praxeum, seeking help from Jeroc before this puzzling sequence of events. Tentatively, Cella called her name. "Galen?"

One minute the lightsaber was in my hand, a sleek and smooth promise of justice foresworn...

...and the next I was holding a fistful of Khar Delban air.

I whirled, heading back to where the jedi was now awakening enough to speak. Dammit anyway, I forgot they could do that! I growled blackly to myself. Well, if she thinks she's gonna get a lick of help from me finding that little item we're here to get, she's sorely mistaken!

The black scowl on my face led me back to where she was sitting up. She put a hand to her head... the one not grasping the lightsaber, I might add... and turned her solemn eyes in my direction.

To my surprise, they widened in surprise. "Galen?" I heard her call me by name.

I immediately stopped, tensing. Frowned and took a really good look at her.

Oh Great Khaandon's Ghost, it's her. That one. The one from the Praxeum... who wasn't doing much in the way of helping me during my brief tenure there.

My scowl blackened further, and I came to a defiant stance in front of her, my arms crossed. Off to the side, Terrin was looking at me as if he had never seen me before in his life.

Well, get used to it, love. This part of me doesn't come out much, but when it does....

I let the thought trail off and focussed all my attention on the jedi, who was getting to her feet now. It took every ounce of effort I possessed to plant the falsely sweet smile on my face that I managed to do.

"Yeah, I'm Galen," I oozed at her. "So, we meet again, fancy that."

I then shifted my body slightly sideways to her, shifting my weight to balance it almost evenly on both widespread feet, my arms loosely crossed in front of me as I waited to hear what other gems of wisdom she had to spout in my direction.

I hate that spooky Jedi crud, always have...

As Galen made her way to where the Jedi now stood trying to regain her balance, her lightsaber now in hand, Terrin couldn't miss the Jedi's recognition of Galen...or the fire in Galen's eyes...

Yeah, buddy, she's madder than Hell, that's for sure.

THIS certainly was a different picture of Galen than he'd seen before. Terrin glanced over at her, opened his mouth to say something, then just shut it.

Keep out of it buddy, there's a catfight in this one and goodness knows you don't want to get in the way.

"Yeah, I'm Galen," Galen replied in a sticky sweet voice, her eyes not masking the way she truly wished to respond. "So, we meet again, fancy that."

Crossing her arms and shifting her stance a bit, Galen waited for the Jedi to say something.

Terrin turned his gaze back to the Jedi a moment, noting that she seemed a bit surprised by Galen's reaction to her.

Well, he could see how the Jedi might be upset about her lightsaber; Terrin had guessed she might react that way. But SHEESH! If she--and Kartan maybe--were attacked by something or other, why the Hell was the weapon on her belt rather than put to use?

Terrin then looked back over at Galen, suddenly deciding to step a bit closer to her, but not too close, to show a bit of support. After all, he HAD been thrown himself by her reaction, and he imagined he looked it too.

But he understood. This whole Nar Khelba thing was personal to her; this mission represented something far more paramount than merely taking a lethal weapon from a bunch of Sith.

If only this Jedi could understand that. Heck, maybe she could.

Then again, maybe she'd keep her weapon and not do a damn thing with it when the time came.

Standing a bit behind Galen, Terrin suddenly realized that there were four people standing there staring her down, just waiting to see what she would say.

And possibly one waiting to deck her if she didn't elicit the correct response, he added mentally. Terrin couldn't help but give a quick lopsided-grin at the thought.

Yes indeedy the fur just might be about to fly.

And Terrin Danner knew full well who would most likely come out on top...

Ahh, but so blindly does the womprat enter into the maze! she thought to herself, darkly. A maze which shall close behind her with assured finality in her second... and last... visit to this hallowed place.

She nodded at Shayla, who seemed to be waiting a bit anxiously. "Thank you, Shayla," she said softly, placing an arm companionably about her Adept's shoulders and, turning her with gentle pressure, beginning to walk with her from the Great Hall. "I am pleased with your vigilance and information gathering skills. You were correct in leaving them for me... rather, for us to deal with together."

The darkness which came into her eyes at those words completely belied the soft tone in which they were uttered. Beneath her cloaked arm, she could feel a quick and shuddery trembling race through Shayla, but only once, before her Adept firmed again. Recognizing her rising discomfort, she squeezed Shayla's shoulders.

"All for the All, my Adept," she purred quietly. "There are times one must handle... affairs with the Lightness of a Jedi's touch. And at other times..."

Now she cut herself off in mid-sentence, and turned to face Shayla, her hands lightly grasping her shoulders. Her violet eyes bored into the greeny-blue pair before her in a manner which seemed to be somehow...searching.

"At other times one must do whatever is necessary in the attainment of one's destiny."

Shayla's eyes blinked in question, as she tried to find meaning in Graysith's somewhat cryptic statement. Her Teacher only ignored her. Turning to stand beside her again, she started walking gracefully along once again.

"My friend, we shall deal with these intruders at our leisure," she spoke up lightly. "We are at no risk from them; indeed, they cannot gain entry into this Great Place of Knowledge. This you already know.

"Yet there is something else you must also know."

Now she paused, dropping her arm from Shayla as she kept moving steadily ahead, through the double door in the back of the Great Hall and entering the dimly lit corridor beyond. Shayla now found herself hurrying to keep pace with her; it was almost as if Graysith had forgotten she was there, almost as though her teacher was trying to convince herself of something.

"I sense the presence of others, my adept." The words were softer than a shadow in the Night. "We are soon to have a visitor, perhaps more as well. All for the All...."

Abruptly, she came to a standstill, turning and focusing intently upon her adept once again. The movement smooth and graceful, she reached out one finger to trace a light line down Shayla's cheek.

"I beseech thee in this time to remember all that I have taught you, my young friend," she said quietly. "As well as to remember who indeed it is who has taught you."

But Sithspawn! Something really hurt!

Glancing down at his chest and torso, Erik could see some pretty nasty looking rips in his flightsuit. Considering those and the throbbing that was definitely not coming from his head anymore, Erik suspected he had some equally nasty injuries.

Laying back again, he unsnapped the top of his flightsuit down to his navel and propped himself up on his elbow once again, surveying the damage.

Black, blue, and red, oh how nice, he thought, plopping down on the hard floor once again and wincing as his aching body protested the jolt. Snapping himself back up, Erik wondered if he should dare try to sit.

Scooting over to one the walls, he put both hands on the floor and, using the wall as leverage, shoved himself into a sitting position. He took in a quick gasping breath as the pain coursed through his body like lightning.

Bloody Hell! No WAY am I daring to stand yet...

This thought trailed as Erik noticed a tray with a ration bar and a bit of really murky looking water sitting on it.

Now...where did THAT come from?

As he searched the walls of his prison, he finally saw what he'd missed the night before: a door fairly covered in moss.

Not like it's going to be of any service to you though.

Wincing with every move, Erik shoved his body across the floor to the food, such as it was. The ration bar..stale. The water...tasted about as good as it looked.

But he needed his strength to face whatever was ahead, so occasionally gagging, Erik forced the stuff down. After managing that little feat, Erik couldn't deny that he already felt pretty worn out. His back now against the wall, Erik sat and stared until his eyes closed and he drifted again to sleep.

"At other times one must do whatever is necessary in the attainment of one's destiny."

But what was her destiny anyway? She'd come so far; learned so much of herself...but what of that which was to come? Where did Shayla Petrolu fit into the puzzle?

With her inner eye, she could see herself together with one person...

But doing what?

After all she had come to learn, there must be some greater purpose in the distance...

..her True Potential yet to be discovered...

Taking a deep breath, Shayla headed towards her quarters, deciding to let her curiosities about the future lay at rest. Soon enough, she would know. And if she didn't know, she would certainly find out in time.

This was but a road she had just begun to travel.

Meanwhile, Shayla wondered if perhaps she should have asked Graysith about Erik. Her gut told her not to push and to trust, but another possibility was also presenting itself.

Perhaps Graysith WANTED her to ask, to see if she had enough trust in her to query about him without shame.

Maybe the key rested in just how she did ask about Erik--in a manner of pure curiosity or in a manner of concern and distrust?

Certainly, the second option wasn't an option at all. And Shayla did truthfully believe that wherever Erik may be, he was being taken care of.

Give it a little more time, a voice in her head prompted. Graysith has only recently arrived and has much on her mind. Allow her the time to rest and decide what move she should make next first...

There were others there...

His serpentine eyes opened only momentarily as he continued. There she was finding nourishment. She had already landed and know she was awaiting. Was she awaiting his arival or..... anothers?

His eyes opened fixated on The Chosen One. "Soon...." he hissed across the distance that seperated them. His words sent another cold chill through the temple. The Sith forces within the temple began to rise up, their master was comming home. A darkly evil humm caught on the wind ridding directly to Graysith's beautiful ears.

Why did the Krath Prophet come to her, beckoning her to Tyrene as he did? Surely not merely to remind her to be cautious. To bring forth the past... which had actually occurred, which now was no longer a part of the past yet still intimately entwined in that of her own...?

The very thought of Aelvedaar's machinations made her head whirl. The dark allusions the Krath Prophet had slipped to her on Tyrene made those whirling thoughts darken further.

Was she doing the right thing in taking an Adept? She paused mentally, considering this from as many angles as she could. Was he correct? Did this action on her part set her feet down a road already travelled? A road which in the long run would branch away from the destiny laid before her on that day so long ago in the dimness of that little cave?

For a brief moment her gaze became crystal clear once more, focusing briefly yet with heated intensity on Shayla, who had finally wandered over to the table to help herself to some sustenance of her own. Then it shadowed once again, as she turned her thoughts to another puzzle.

This new Dark Lord. The One who with almost glacial aloofness allowed his features to be revealed to her... yet who withheld his identity as though she were undeserving of it. Who spoke to her in a manner both cryptic and direct. Who was undeniably filled with a Dark power and strength she had only felt before in One other...

How did he know of her? From whence had he come? How had he found her on that miserable little world in the backwoods of the unknown portion of the Galaxy? What was his connection to the Prophet... if indeed connection there was?

Was he what she truly sensed on a level so deep that she was scarcely aware that she sensed it at all... was he the epitome of the Sith in this time? Was he... and others like him... what her destiny involved? And in the unity of such Lords lay another simple yet profound question: what indeed was involved in achieving this "unity?"

She frowned a bit to herself, the Glyph glimmering into the shadows of the dimly lit dining hall, coming to a sudden realization that while "unity" was something Aelvedaar had spoken of to her often, he never quite delineated what it actually meant. Her first inclination was the assumption that this merely meant all Dark Lords working together to channel the Power held in abeyance within her... but she also was quite aware of the consequences of naive assumption. How were these disparate and powerful beings meant to unite? Through her? Through the All? Through something yet to be revealed to her?

Graysith let a little sigh escape her lips with the realization that she had no immediate answers. All she could do was continue along the road Aelvedaar had placed her upon so long ago, and trust that at its end would be the fulfillment of that destiny of which he was so wont to speak. Exactly how that would come about however...

He glided through the arches and halls as if he had always lived there. He was comming for her, after all this time she would know him again of that he was sure. He knew by her inner conflict that on at least one level she remembered.

He allowed his thoughts to dwell on the times not so long ago.....a child....a clone... He grimmised slightly his blacked heart knowing the mistake. Clones were so unstable... they could house the darkness but not harness the all.

The door that seperated them opened revealing the daughter to him and another. He stopped seeing only the chosen one. Her beauty had remained as it always had and the dark evil began to sing again in a deafening chant. He stood before her mere feet away, only they were there now as he reached up touching his hood. The sith swirled around him caressing him loving their lord.

Her answer was only a stony silence.

Cella sighed. "I'm Cella Poliani. I'm here with Erik Kartan, and if you are who I think you are, you were in communication with him?" She paused, and realized to her horror...

...that she could sense no trace of Erik anywhere about. Indeed, his Force sense was being deliberately masked from her. Why was the universe only trying to make this hard for her? She briefly pushed her worries for Erik aside and attended to the matter at hand.

Cella moved closer to Galen and looked her directly in the eye. "Look, I have to confess I'm not quite sure what I did that makes you so angry at me. Maybe it's even something you think I should have done and didn't do."

"But I'd like to get one thing straight with you. Being a Jedi doesn't make me a pushover, and it doesn't make me better or mightier than anyone else. I don't read minds, and I'm a little curious as to why my sudden arrival has you so ticked off. I believe we could help each other achieve our ends, but if you don't want me with you, I'm not going to stick around any longer than necessary." Especially seeing as how you tried to steal my lightsaber! she thought vehemently.

...but who, with the coming of this dark and powerful being, were literally singing in unholy joy.

A quick little shudder raced through her frame. Then she firmed, and slowly, as though afraid to draw Roan's attention to the movement, she put her arm out slightly to the side where Shayla was still hovering, wisely silent, eyes widened.

"Please, my friend," Graysith requested of her in a near whisper. "It would greatly please me if you parted from... us... at this time. I feel that if you remained much longer I could not long guarantee your.. safety."

With noticeable effort she tore her eyes away from the depthless pair before her, and affixed hers beseechingly on Shayla's. The young adept only widened her own eyes even further and opened her mouth as though to offer a suggestion, ask a question, or worse than that... protest in some manner. However, seeming to catch a glance of the grim and silent One before Graysith, she continued to hold her wise stance, and silently turned from the pair. She paused only briefly... then began heading for the doors which would lead her to the corridor without.

With Shayla's receding footsteps echoing hollowly in her ears, Graysith slowly turned back to the powerful form before her. If anything, the look in his eye became impossibly more inscrutable, more intense. He tilted his horned head a bit to the side, exposing black fangs in a slight grin as with those two small motions he seemed to be willing her to... remember.

Remember.

Remember what?

Inexplicably, a cold sweat broke out on Graysith's brow, and the accompanying chills coiled their way down her spine. She stiffened, her teeth clenching, the muscles in her jaw working as she held herself completely unresponsive to that unaccustomed coldness, waiting until she heard the slightest whispery thoomp of the doors closing behind her departed Adept.

For a brief moment she studied him intensely, a slight frown coming across her face. Then, more swiftly than a striking dianoga, her entire demeanor suddenly changed. With the lithe mobility of a sandcat, she straightened, tossing her head back, the almost illusory unease that had mere seconds before been filling her eyes instantanously replaced with hot daggers of hellfire. One slender hand strayed close to the Tooth of S'slan upon her thrimm, caressing its hilt; the other reached out to point at this being in an imperious manner.

Upon her brow the Glyph raged in unison with the slavering Beast within.

"What is this arrogance you bring with you to this place, NAMELESS ONE?" she taunted him, her eyes blazing, her entire body held in rigid restraint against the energies she so suddenly felt a need to send ravening forth.

"'Roan' you reveal to me as though this name has some meaning; there is only one meaning to me in this entire universe, and that is to no other end but that of the glory of the Sith Empire!

"I recall your form from no other place than a dreary little planet on the other side of the galaxy... I remember nothing but an accompanying void in association with that which you proclaim."

She paused a moment to draw in a deep breath. Then, her eyes slitted, she let that breath escape from her in a rush, the words it carried ringing harshly against the cold stone walls of the Great Dining Hall.

"Is it with such presumption that you think to reduce me to a quivering puddle at your feet? If this is your thought, then sorely mistaken you are indeed, and not Sith Lord meant to assist me in the destiny which I seek!

"Nikk! M'wonBo'o!"

Her call rang out sharply, to echo with the gibbering shadows around her.

"Attend me!"

With the suddenness of thought and a set of lethal growls, the tuk'ata and Noghri seemed to materialize like magic from the darkness about her. Stiff-legged, they both stalked over to her, and positioned themselves on either side of her. Spearpoint and pupilless eyes aimed at Roan with deadly accuracy, they tensed and waited for the slightest motion from her to strike.

Graysith held them back with an outstretched palm, one rock-steady and ready to flash into a cue for them to press their attack. Her fiery eyes and Glyph and every ounce of body language she possessed announcing her feelings at the moment, the Chosen Daughter of the Sith forced herself to wait and see if this new Dark Lord would continue to reveal himself to her...

...as well as in what manner that revelation would be.

...not to mention the unexpected disappointment I found hovering quietly in the fringes.

This inner relevation only caused me to grip my arms even tighter. I'm sure Terrin must have been thinking by that point that I was some kind of hellcat ready to explode.

Well, for some unfathomable reason, I was!

Vague feelings and unresolved reactions suddenly coalesced into crystal clarity. I went mentally flying back to my arrival at the Praxeum on Yavin 4, where I had sought sanctuary in the protective arms of the Jedi who both learned and taught there.

Sanctuary momentarily debated upon, apparently dismissed, the urgency of my warnings dismissed with apparently an equal shrug of collective shoulders. The two faces I associated with this sense of abandonment, of being made to feel like a schoolgirl: hers, and that of her imposing Master....

And now here she is, talking about the Nar Khelba, as if SHE is going to come close to laying her hands on it, as if there's a ghost's chance on Dagobah that I'm going to let ANYONE grab it but me....

No one needs it with the desperation that I do. NO ONE.

I jerked myself back from my momentary reverie, and only glared harder at this woman. She merely stood quietly before me, honest puzzlement in her eyes.

I struggled... Galen, this isn't LIKE you! What in Hell's Seven Circles has gotten into you? What is Terrin going to THINK of you?

I cut my eyes briefly to where he stood, his wonderful blue eyes darkened in what looked to be surprise, his jaw slightly dropped as though he had been about to say something but decided against it at the last moment.

A guilty start jolted me.

I'm acting like the very being I came here to destroy.

Slowly then, I let my stance relax the minutest fraction; I relieved the hardened glare in my eye with one a few degrees softer. Wouldn't go so far as to apologize or explain, however. But at least I acquiesced enough to toss this Jedi a crumb of association.

We'll see if I let myself soften enough to actually trust this woman, came a final fierce avowal to myself. Then I drew in a deep breath.

"I'm really not concerned one way or another about why you're here," I began with a quasi-lie. OK, so at first we both had the same goal in mind: the rescue of this padawan who my sister--ex-sister! I interrupted myself vehemently-- had kidnapped from the Praxeum....

How SWEET. EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHERS flying to the rescue of this padawan. But I get yanked off Yavin 4 by that guy in the trenchcoat; what was his name? Actar, yeah that's it. Admiral Actar-- the guy with the spooky eyes and power so incredible even I could sense it, power so easily held in check-- anyway, I get yanked from the Praxeum by that guy and does anyone come racing to rescue me?

NO.

I had, as usual, to go it alone. Get myself out of dire straights once again. Thank Khaandon the machinations to remove myself had led me straight into Terrin's arms, but...

I paused unbeknownst to myself, my eyes unfocused.

But I had to do it ALONE.

I let a little shiver race through me, then jerked myself back to the ginger-haired woman again, my anger with her renewed. Clearing my voice, I went on as though I had never stopped.

"...but the reason that I am here takes precedence over all others, as far as I'm concerned. There's more at stake here than just a jedi student, lady; and I refuse to let anyone other than myself handle what has to be done.

"I've been in enough battles in my life where I'm pretty confident in my own abilities; with the Nar Khelba I know I will achieve that which I am here to achieve.

"Me. Galen Jhin'Dar. NO ONE ELSE.

"So if you will accept my... apology for trying to take your weapon--" I stumbled a bit over the word, then continued, "...and will make me that lightsaber you're talking about, AS WELL AS VOW ON YOUR JEDI HONOR that I WILL BE THE ONLY ONE to use that particular weapon, then, well..."

I stopped, shooting a sidelong glance at Terrin. He gave me the barest of shrugs, and a quiet blink of his eyes. I pursed my lips in response, and turned back to the Jedi.

Her brain told her not to trust Galen, but her Force sense said otherwise. Galen might be angry with her, but Cella believed she wasn't the kind of person to use such a weapon lightly.

Besides, this might be the only way to achieve what she'd come here to do...

Cella gave Galen stare for stare, not taking her eyes from the other woman's. "Very well. I will craft this lightsaber for you and give it into your hands. I vow--upon my honor as a Jedi Knight--that you and you alone will wield it. But I ask a similar promise of you in return. I ask you to swear to me that you will not use this weapon against me or mine. Without such a promise, I cannot make this weapon."

"I trust that you are a woman of honor. Perhaps there may be little love lost between us, but I give you my trust...and ask for yours in return."

"...I ask you to swear to me that you will not use this weapon against me or mine. Without such a promise, I cannot make this weapon...."

Oh, Great Khaandon's Ghost, is that what she thought I was? I mean, I might have dispatched one or two deserving Impys in my day, and I might be here now ready to act in a manner which I believed expressed nothing other than a swift and terrible justice...

...but I was no murderer!

Something deep inside me let out a disbelieving little snort. I waved an irritable mental hand at that, trying to shoo it away as I turned my unblinking eyes to this Jedi. I swallowed.

"Well... ok, then."

Sheesh, Galen ol girl, now THAT was just a gem of inspiration now, wasn't it? that snorting portion of my inner being muttered sarcastically. I waved my mental hand harder and stood silent for a long moment, quite frankly wondering just where to go from this point.

The blatantly obvious hit me squarely between the eyes.

"Ummm..." I fidgeted, looking now from Cella to Terrin and back again. "Now that that's settled, I guess there's only the little matter of actually getting our hands on the Nar Khelba. We've been struggling with options, and so far the only one we've been able to come up with is using me as, ahh... live bait."

I couldn't help but grimace at the prospect. Then I swallowed my trepidation and attitude and actually lowered my tone of voice to a practically civil one. I shot the Jedi a hopeful look.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to brainstorm with us? There has to be a way to get this thing without anyone getting themselves killed in the process."

You hope.... that irritating little inner voice blatted forth, smugly getting in the final word.

"I trust that you are a woman of honor. Perhaps there may be little love lost between us, but I give you my trust...and ask for yours in return."

Frowning, he suddenly felt very irritated himself.

She must think we are kriffing pirates!

Besides, how can she first implicate that we use a weapon like the Nar Khelba against her and the Jedi, THEN say she will give us her trust?

Biting his lower lip to try to conceal the growing scowl, Terrin realized all he'd been doing was standing in the background like a pansy.

No more.

He wasn't so much angry that Cella had been upset about her lightsaber, he understood. Rather the anger stemmed from the sheer volume of assumptions this woman was making about a person she barely knew...about several people she barely knew.

This sort of thing was the very thing that had torn he and Shayla apart, if there ever was a chance of it working. Although she hadn't been a Jedi at the time of their relationship, she still had those very staunch beliefs; and really, that was perfectly fine. What had really turned him off, aside from his own stubborn macho pride, was her assuming things before she truly understood the reasons behind them.

Stepping behind Galen, and placing his hands on her shoulders--Sithspit, but she was tense!--Terrin listened as Galen tried to smooth things over with the Jedi.

As she finished, Terrin added "An extra brainstormer would be helpful. I know you must feel very shaken after being attacked, and losing your companions..." Companions? Terrin really didn't know, he was just GUESSING. "...but keep in mind that in contacting me, Erik Kartan already placed his trust in me and my team to work fairly and cooperatively with him. By the same token, I put my trust in him to help my team out."

Terrin paused, hesitating, but he couldn't help but add "You've made a lot of assumptions about my crew without all the data, and I'm not too fond of that. You've implied distrust by suggesting that we might use the Nar Khelba against you, while you've missed that only moments ago we could have left you for dead in the jungle, but we didn't. Cella, we aren't a bunch of pirates. I'm a businessman and I play fair..." Well, usually, that is. "...I'm sorry we've gotten off to such a bumpy start. Let's keep in mind that division in the team will only make it harder to accomplish what we've set out to do; be that saving a Jedi padawan or something else.

"That being said, your input on this live bait thing would be greatly appreciated." Oh hell, it most CERTAINLY would be! "And while we are at it, I'd like to find out what happened to Erik Kartan..."

The forces around him were alive and ready to be used. They only awaited his command but now was not the time; these were not the enemy.

Her words rang in his ears.... She wished to mock him, to rise his anger, to stir the evil begging to be released. He could feel her trembeling deep within as she once trembled in his arms. He could sense the war that ragged...she knew him but not in this form.

"Today is not your day loyal ones" he hissed through his blackened fangs. It was the first acknowledgment this Dark Lord of the Sith had made to anyone other then the chosen one. They, so it seemed, had been the only ones worthy of such breif attention before it swiftly returned to the reason for his return.

He opened his cloak now; revealing what seemed to be the normal robes for the Lords of the practicing Sith except for one thing. Graysith couldn't help but to be drawn to one item on his belt that made her blood run cold and boil all at the same time. The lightsaber that hung so easily at his side was not the standerd Sith lightsaber. It had been moderated by its master to serve a special purpose. She had only seen one other like it....only one other had been skillful enough to weld such a weapon.

He heard her gasp, saw her tremble, and as their eyes met once more he allowed the veil to be lifted from her eyes. The turquoise hue to his eyes were undeniable.

She trembled, and slowly lowered her arm to her side. Her eyes widened further, adhered to the pair before her, her vision filled with their turquoise glow, seeing not this darkened and retrograded form before her but suddenly only seeing one fresh and new:

Hair a black and flowing mane, skin firm and tanned from exposure to many a star's radiation, muscles rippling like those of a great predator, the planes of the face strong and smooth, robes of royal hue following his frame like flowing water, the eyes so damnably and quite uniquely turquoise....

The trembling grew within her at an exponential rate. Beside her, Nikk let forth a questioning growl, and M'wonBo'o an uneasy whine, both beasts slipping their penetrating gaze from the Lord before them to watch her as she took a step back.

Another. And yet another still. Without being aware of it, she began shaking her head from side to side, slowly at first, and then faster and faster as she continued to step away.

The Glyph on her brow ravened forth in joyous recognition....

"No...!"

She didn't know who that single syllable was directed toward: Roan, who merely stood smiling before her, or herself. She only knew that it encompassed more than mere denial; it embraced a wealth of converging questions, questions needing immediate resolution, questions which she knew could be answered in only one place within the Temple's walls.

NO!

Totally unheeding to her surroundings now, everything within her focused on the urgency of determining the answers to those questions, Graysith whirled and fled from the presence of Roan. The doors to the corridor opened obediently as she approached them; turning to her left, she proceeded down that dimly lit hallway, passing a somewhat startled Shayla who appeared to be in the process of entering her quarters. She paid her adept absolutely no heed whatsoever; indeed, was scarcely even aware of her standing there as she fled down the hall. Behind her, her two bestial bodyguards bestowed the Dark Lord with a final glower, turned, and hastened after her.

No... no... no! Imposter...! Pretender...! It cannot be....

IT CANNOT BE!

The words carried her unseeing onward, the Temple itself now seeming to stretch forth its dim little passageways and byways of its own accord, to allow her the most direct path to the special room she sought. The One Place.

The special place....

Before she was aware she had even arrived she came to a halt, her breast heaving, the Glyph blazing forth its radiance. It lit the darkened wall of slag before her with an eerie ultraviolet glow.

Graysith only closed her eyes, stretched forth her hand, and the All leapt out in gleeful obedience. Energies raged forth from her fingertips, reaching out, touching the slagheap and not so much melting through it as actually grasping the very molecules of which it was composed and tweaking them.

A darkly inviting opening yawned, beckoning her to enter. She did not hesitate but glided swiftly within, there to run headlong into the surprising presence of chaotically swirling memory and solidly crystalline fact.

She fled to the center of the room where the ring of candles yet stood. They somehow seemed to mock her, silently inquiring as to her absence,why she had turned away from the shadows and secrets they held within, secrets and events they had once presented to her with such rapture.

She fell to her knees amidst them, closing her eyes, her head flung back as with every atom of her being she bid those shadows to reveal themselves to her.

Once again she felt his hands upon her... sliding to her temples, taking back her hair, the essence of his very being not once, but twice allowed free rampage through her very soul... one time in the Great Hall when she had first arrived... the other that day... that day when the Light within her had fully faced the Darkness in Him, had met it head on and unafraid and with welcoming embrace had taken it unto herself in recognition of who He was, that this was a part of Him, and in taking it to herself saw it equally a part of her...

...and in this replay for the first time took notice of the subtle differences between the mental and emotional touches of the two times He had merged his living essence with that of her own.

CLONE!!!

Her eyes flew open. Around her, the room was dim, the secrets it held secret no longer.

Behind her she heard a low growl, and accompanying whine...

...and the sound of booted feet approaching.

Her back still to He who she fully knew was coming to a halt behind her, she quietly rose to her feet.

Filled with a different kind of trembling, she waited.

As she stood there next to Graysith trying to analyze this strange discrepancy, her Teacher requested her to depart. Suggested that there might be some threat to her safety if she didn't do so. Shayla cocked her head to the side and opened her mouth to say something, possibly a refusal to leave her Teacher with the likes of this guy.

But...

Some little shoulder devil perched on her shoulder hissed What could you do about it anyway?

Frowning, Shayla reluctantly left the Great Hall, closing the doors behind her but quite aware of the turmoil within. As she headed down the hallway to her suite, Shayla was keenly aware of Graysith's call to Nikk and M'wonBo'o to come to her. Not wishing to prod into something that she shouldn't, Shayla carefully backed away from all that might be traveling through this link of student and Teacher.

Arriving at her quarters, Shayla reached a hand out to open the door as the word No...!!! rang out through that link even though Shayla had tried to silence it and not intrude. The depth of feelings raging were becoming harder to ignore by the moment.

Still frozen at the door, Shayla reminded herself that Nikk and M'wonBo'o were with Graysith. Again reaching out for the door, Shayla couldn't miss seeing the fleeing Graysith out of the corner of her eye, the Noghri and the beast trailing quickly behind her. Moments after she hurried past, He followed, more calmly than she but still with great swiftness.

As he passed, Shayla's hand dropped to her side and she turned away from the door. She watched his retreating form, that something else pulsating from his being as well as from the link she maintained with her Teacher.

Stay out of it, a voice from nowhere warned.

For the third time, Shayla turned and went to push the door open. Only this time she felt something that made her breath catch in her throat. She didn't move a millimeter, thinking that maybe she had only imagined it.

Only a flicker it was, but these things only took a single nanosecond.

A veil momentarily opened...then closed as quickly as it had been drawn apart...

He was here, in these walls, somewhere deep within...

All she had to do was seek him out; though his presence was gone once more he was HERE.

Wait, that little voice suggested. You know not what might be at stake here; how dare you go trailing off after your own desires when they just might endanger the greater good?

He was here, and he was safe. Now was NOT the time.

Taking a deep breath and yet again reaching for her door, Shayla entered her suite and waited patiently, remaining keenly attuned to that link she shared with Her, knowing the greater good now depended on her calm and abiding loyalty to She who had instructed her...

...even at the expense of leaving something else behind, if only for a time...

"Uh...Terrin?" Matt asked, trying to get his attention.

Terrin turned to look at him, suddenly realizing that he'd not really paid much attention to what he and Jasyn had been doing during this little exchange between Galen and the Jedi.

"What is it, Matt?" Terrin asked, arching an eyebrow in question.

"Remember that funny-looking ship that we saw while we were on the Hornett?"

"Yeah?" Terrin turned a little more sideways, suddenly noticing Jasyn fiddling with one of his scanner-things as though trying to interpret the data it was registering.

Terrin didn't like where this was going.

"Uhhh..." Matt continued, looking nervous. Everyone had now turned in his direction, waiting for what he was going to say, "A ship like that just flew overhead."

Terrin frowned, shifting nervously.

The last time he'd encountered one of those ships it had been flown by a Sith...

His frown growing deeper, Terrin looked down at Galen, his now-darking blue eyes meeting her big brown ones.

Another Sith or not, there wouldn't be much they could do about this except be aware and be prepared.

Meanwhile a little voice in Terrin's mind noted annoyingly, Oh HELL, but this keeps getting worse and worse...

I couldn't help it. At the mere mention of another Sith ship flashing overhead, his name sprang into my mind. There were only three such ships ever having been seen in this day and age, one being recently commanded by my ex-sister and now lethal foe. The other two had been flown by me; and one of those had been flung into this very primary by that nasty Sith Lord my once sibling found herself so attached to. The other one...?

Left behind on Quee's ship, docked in Dalius City where I had fled from my past to seek out a new future. Only he and Sorben and K'kihl knew anything about it... and of those three, the Verpine stood as the most reasonable choice as one with the ability to fly the durned thing. Khaandon knows it took me long enough to get it figured out myself; and K'kihl never went far from Sorben's side if he could help it....

I instinctively backed into the protection of Terrin's arms, seeking his warm assurance and strength. I suddenly so very much did NOT want to come remotely close to being face to face with that bounty hunter....

Then logic took over. There would be no reason in the world that he would be coming here, I assured myself. And you know it took forever to learn how to fly that thing; he might have been good, but there's no way he could have all the subtleties figured out this soon. Even K'kihl relied heavily upon you the few times you handed control of Jester II to him; no way it's anyone from your past rising up to haunt you now.

Which brought forth an even more worrisome question... rather, not so much a question as a chilling suspicion.

It had to be another Sith. But who?

I shivered, pressing myself back even more strongly into Terrin's embrace. The jeopardy we faced had apparently just doubled... and knowing of the Sith as I did, the doubling was not merely arithematic.

Beyond geometry even... our risk factor was increasing logarithmically.

I shivered again, grabbing Terrins hands and physically moving them from my shoulders to encompass me fully. But even from the security of that position, I only had eyes for the lady Jedi. She continued to stand quietly before us, still pondering Terrin's little speech, her eyes darkening further at the disquieting words Matt had just bombshelled onto us.

I broke the stunned silence with a hissing whisper. "Well, Jedi, it looks like the ball is rolling into your left field now, doesn't it?" I questioned. "This is certainly getting to be more and more in your arena!"

Then I turned my face into Terrin's broad chest, and buried it there. Khaandon be damned, but I didn't care who was looking at that moment.

"My partner is currently in my ship, in orbit around Keel Doba. Being that we are Jedi," a slight smile curved her lips, "I could have him here in no time flat...if he's needed. But there are...others...to think about. A young girl and adolescent boy are in our care, and we must keep them safe."

"And," continued Cella, "in my opinion, there is merit in this 'live bait' plan. But..." Cella hesitated. "If anyone in our party is to be endangered, I'd rather it be me. However, I don't wish to interfere with your mission; like you, I haven't any better ideas at the moment." Cella sighed.

Galen wasn't the bait because she was Force sensitive like Cella or the others or because she was a Jedi. Galen was the bait because of the pregnancy and because one of the Sith was her sister...her sister who truly wanted her...for whatever vengeful purposes of her own.

Forcing himself to get back to the other matter at hand, Terrin reasoned through the possibilities of calling for "reinforcements", as Cella had put it.

Arrival of another ship could set off alarms. But after the attack on Cella and Erik (HAD to have been just him and her...) Terrin had a suspicion someone already knew that they were here.

Instinctively he pulled Galen in closer, as though trying somehow to shield her with himself.

Considering they were up against two Sith and a possible student, they could really use all the Jedi help they could get...

"Reinforcements might be helpful. As for the young girl and adolescent boy, if they are on a ship orbiting K'eel Doba they can either be placed in the care of my crew. All your Jedi friend needs to do is contact Aaron Barnes on my ship the Hornett and let him know the situation."

Terrin paused, chewing his lower lip as he thought of everything and nothing.

He wanted this to be over with, NOW. He wanted Galen to be safe and feel secure about where she was while she was carrying this baby. He wanted...

...he wanted to live out a long life with her.

Momentarily pushing his thoughts aside, he added aloud, "If your Jedi friend decides to come, use whatever method you've got to get him here as quickly as possible. I'm guessing Kartan used a hit and fade...that might work. Just...whatever you come up with..." he said, his words trailing, his thoughts turning inward again.

As Cella turned to make contact with her partner, that same annoying voice that always popped up at the wrong times added, Whatever you come up with, lady, make it fast...!

As she backed away only to run down the corridor the pain she felt washed over him. It was a necessary evil for now as time was running out. The must ban together as their "guest" would soon arive and he fully intended to great them with all the forces of the Sith at his command.

He followed swiftly behind with no question of were the end destination would be. He passed by her new adept sending her a mental warning and giving her a brief glance at the trivial matter that so consummed her. He allowed his minuon's to wisper a reminder of were her loyalties should be and how with a mere thought her "matter" could be delt with.

His attention once more focused on the Chosen Daughter. So much had been taken from her and yet so much would he give back to her again. Never would he leave her again this he vowed as if once again making a deal of his dark soul to the all. Our destiny will not be denied!

Now, at last, she understood why He had turned on her so unreasonably upon his return to Khar Delba... the time so long ago, when in his absence she strove with all her being to impress Him and fulfill his every wish... when she had managed to capture not only her sister, but the bounty hunter Sorben Tarnus who had eluded Him for so long... how long she had scoured her soul for the reasons he had not only dismissed her presentation of these two personages to Him, but had cast her off to Atma as a rancor discards carrion.

Now how well she understood His unseemly and seemingly incongruous descent into utter madness, madness which led to her into sending Him off to the Elseness, madness with which he had threatened not only herself, but the Huntress Gouyen Chee and Dark Lord Desolist as well.

Now, clearly presented to her, was the reason why with his first entry into her mind she could sense absolutely no Lightness within... Lightness which might have affected the attraction of that in her own soul, which in turn may have prevented the joining of her Light with his Dark in triggering the All which she now carried as part of her very being... Lightness which then materialized in THIS form some time later within this very room, surrounded by these very candles, that balance within him creating further balance in herself and allowing the All to blaze into joyous and radiant life.

Clones have not the inherent strength to deal with such profundities; they degrade over time when constantly impacted with events they cannot control, cannot incorporate within themselves. He who she had known during the majority of her stay here in this wondrous Temple was but a pale copy of the One who that one day had let his essence mingle as one with hers amidst the dimming of candles, who on that day gave her so much more than merely her heart and her soul.

Her slender hand slipped down to lay lightly upon the one of His resting on her belly. Her eyes closed tightly as a new pain coursed through her.

So the youngling had been His and not Aelvedaar's....

Fighting against the weak moisture which threatened to rise in her eyes, she spoke up in a low whisper.

"I cannot bear another."

Abruptly she whirled, her hands now laying lightly against the robes upon his chest, her violet eyes raised to gaze steadily into his, seeking his strength, that strength she had somehow continued to believe in all through what she believed to be his descent into insanity and death. Strength which so amazingly he was here to offer her again. For a long moment, she merely stood thus, her focus intent upon Him.

Then before her the vision of crimson and blue and black and gold, with flowing hair the color of night and physical features so merely human gradually segued into what he really was: the co-mingling of Dark and Light in the shadowy swirls of purple and black now incorporated into his skin, the ebon sheen of his teeth, the glint of the candles' light upon the sharpness of those teeth, and the very claws upon his hands.

For a long moment she looked upon Him, unafraid now, not drawing back, recognizing Him beneath the superficial facade he now wore. And realizing with a sudden electric jolt that she loved Him as much as she ever had.

Fighting the rising tide of emotions, she forced herself to remain absolutely silent, her eyes drowning within that aspect of him which yet remained the same. The almost palpable glow emanating from his turquoise eyes encompassed her, able at last to greet her fully, promising her revenge against the terrible deed which had been perpetrated against her, against them, against the Sith...

...against the All.

She stood quietly, trembling no longer, the fact that there were intruders in their midst, the fact that jedi contaminated the very soil of this planet, the fact that the one who had caused her to lose her child was just outside the Temple doors...

...all fading into pale insignificance before the wondrous and utterly joyous impossibility now before her.

Her Dark Heart had returned to Khar Delba... and to her.

Jeroc's reply was almost instantaneous. I'll be there as soon as I can get Thea and Logan into good hands. It would definitely be a good idea to keep in touch with Logan, since he knows the terrain somewhat. I plan to use the same tactic as Erik did to reach you and use the Pride's cloakers. Force be with you, Cella. The connection was broken.

Cella turned back to Terrin and Galen. "My partner will be here as soon as he can make arrangements for our Padawans." She smiled and bowed a little. "It was most gracious of you to offer your ship as sanctuary for them, and our hearts are a little eased knowing that they will be safe. The older boy may be of some help--he struck out on his own a while back. Thankfully, he came back to us, but not without gathering some information that might prove quite useful."

Cella thought a minute. "Come to think of it, it would be possible for my partner and I to create a distraction of sorts that would make it possible for the two of you to go in and get the Nar Khelba. We could try to split our Force presences to make us seem many...but I don't know if our tactics would work against this Sith. I hope that Logan will be able to shed some light on this."

Well, Terrin didn't really know much about this Force stuff. Heck, he didn't know hardly anything about it at all.

As Galen turned in his arms to regard the woman before them, Terrin merely shrugged.

Who was he to have the final say on these things? He was more information smuggler and salesman than he would EVER be a tactician.

But something was gnawing in the back of his head, some little shoulder-devil gone warning bell, waving its arms madly. Terrin decided it was time to listen to what this little thing chewing at his brain had to tell him.

Logic would dictate that using Galen as "live bait" would mean the moment they arrived on the surface of Khar Delba the game would begin. But if that were the case...

Why had they been on the surface this long seemingly undetected and certainly undisturbed?

...Well, there was Erik...

The warning bell got even louder as Terrin mulled. He ignored it until it was pratically blaring at him.

YOU ARE BEING WATCHED!!!

She knows you are here! Perhaps she knows that you are coming to the Temple regardless of what she does to hasten the process?

Terrin shuddered slightly, the logic of this line of thought hitting home. Galen glanced up at him, her big brown eyes in obvious question.

A chill in the air, he told her. He'd talk to her later about this, away from prying eyes. Suddenly, he felt very vunerable out in the open...

Just HOW MUCH were they being watched, if this wasn't just a touch of his wild imagination playing terrible tricks on him?

Terrin suddenly realized his worries needed to be paid attention to NOW, whether they were unfounded or not. If they were being watched at all, they certainly didn't need to be discussing tactics out in the open.

"Let's talk about this inside," he suddenly blurted, motioning to the larger of their two tents.

Galen turned and looked at him curiously but followed him anyway. Within a few moments he, Galen, and Cella had managed to squeeze into a tent. Matt and Jasyn remained outside, Jasyn still fiddling with that scanner of his. Terrin would fill them in later.

"Sorry," Terrin said, suddenly feeling silly at his sudden suspicion. "Just felt odd discussing strategies out in the open."

He let the explanation hang in the air a moment. Cella remained fairly unreadable, but Galen frowned and furrowed her brow a bit, possibly understanding what might be going through his head.

"Galen knows where the Temple is," Terrin continued. "Now about this distraction...I don't know anything about this Force stuff, so if it'll work at all, Cella, that'll have to be in yours and Galen's department..."

She was with Him, somehow Shayla just knew it.

But if She was with Him, then what of the Sith Sorceror? And what of this Darth Wicked that she had obviously loved very much?

Shayla knew she would understand this in time. Her mind floated to something else, something that had been chewing at her insides since this guy had arrived.

He had an obvious interest in Graysith, and Shayla didn't know all the reasons for that and had no reason to question it. She hadn't expected to be a big player in this yet either since she was not fully trained in the ways of the All.

But she wasn't a bug to be crunched either.

Upon introspection, Shayla realized that it was Him who had given her the image of Erik and allowed her to know where he was. Was he testing her loyalty to Graysith, or something else? After all, he didn't know her so he might question her loyalty where Graysith had already tested it.

Shayla decided not to worry about it for the moment. She might have her chance to prove her loyalties, if He remained. But worrying over what she couldn't prove at the moment wouldn't help at all. Besides, she trusted that if Graysith and He came to some sort of union...Union?...that she would tell him of the importance her Adept had to her.

The importance?

Shayla was keenly aware of the mind of a little girl reaching out to her, telling her just how important she was to she and the Jedi.

But if I'm so important, why don't they tell me that themselves? she responded mentally, grimacing.

With Graysith, Shayla was certain that she was of importance.

I care...

There was only one other person that Shayla believed she was of great importance to. In time, she hoped her analysis of him was as accurate as she believed.

Closing down the blade of the lightsaber and laying back on her bed, Shayla swam in her thoughts and her emotions, the Light and the Dark ones alike.

Emotions free-flowing, in unity with one another, creating something greater than the sum of their parts...

His features softened as they gazed upon each other and the all blazed forth causing the once flickering candels to ignite. An inferno now filled the room sending shock waves through the force that could not be denied both within the temple and without. The wave reached forth with a clawed hand racking across the souls of sith and jedi alike. The master had indeed returned and his chosen one, his love, was once again at his side.

He did not mask the love in his turquise eyes nor did he deny her his strength. Never again would he deny her he vowed both silently and verbally as there souls kissed.
The all danced around them singing once more in a loud cressendo.

He caressed her cheek with a clawed hand so very gently as if she might break into a million pieces. "I would move all the moons of Keldor to stay like this for eternity my love" he wispered through his ebony lips, "but there is much to prepare for 'our guests'." He said the last with such a devilish snarl that it sent chills down Graysith's spine. The injustice done to them would not go unpunished. The lose to the great Lord and Lady was to tremendous.

Her, in his arms. Cella Poliani, clearly making plans with them. A sudden motion by him, a move into a tent...

Shayla grinned devilishly at this, amused. You can run, but you can't hide. I know of the plans you make and that you will soon be here.

Shayla's mind shifted back to one image in particular.

She was in his arms? Had Terrin Danner found yet another that he could con then leave?

Shayla pursed her lips, assessing this unusual image a bit further. Analyzing it within and without, she reached one conclusion, albeit a surprising one.

My, my, Terrin, but you do know how to love!

Shayla wondered if Terrin was truly aware of how high the stakes were; of what this woman he so obviously loved had done. Likewise she wondered if he knew of her pregnancy and the power of the child within her.

That child did not belong in the hands of those who would not hone his powers. Shayla could sense the power of the Child within her even now, although she wasn't very far along. If the Child was this powerful now...how powerful would he be later?

Indeed, he belonged here, where his powers would be truly appreciated and where he would learn of himself, rather than with the Jedi where he would learn only of rules and procedures.

Leaving her thoughts of the other two behind, Shayla's mind shifted to Cella Poliani. She admired her persistance, really. But it was too little, too late. Cella would not see and could not see what Shayla had discovered here from the narrow angle that she viewed reality. Granted, she would most likely have the chance to see. But Jedi, when faced with anything Dark, generally tended to assume the worst. They never seemed to realize that they had their own brand of hate; enough hate that they would blindly kill anything and everything Sith before realizing that what they knew as Sith was something completely different than what it truly was meant to be.

Tomorrow. Today would set their feet upon the path leading to its fruition.

Graysith gripped Roan for that moment as though she would never let him go from her again. Then uttering a little sigh, she forced herself to take a step back from him, loosening his returning grasp upon her with that movement. Her eyes glowed with not only the reflection of the candles blazing about them but with something else as well....

A slim hand reached up to move a strand of hair that had fallen into her face. "Yes, my love," she said, her voice a low caress. "Soon there will be all the time we need for a proper reunion between us. But now I acquiesce to your wisdom. Indeed there are invaders at our very Gates; I am not concerned so much with any mere physical threat they might offer so much as I am concerned with them merely discovering us here. My destiny must not be revealed in any manner before that day comes when I implement its final procedures."

She paused, the Glyph now glowing softly, highlighting Roan's eyes with a gentle violet sheen. He merely smiled, slightly exposing his black fangs to her, and continued to hold her by her shoulders.

She smiled in return, turning her head to the side to plant a light kiss on one clawed fingertip. Eyes closed, she remained suddenly motionless, paused in this attitude as though that very act of endearment was somehow allowing her talents free rein to seek outward, to sense, to feel....

Suddenly sobering, she opened her eyes, and raised them to meet his turquoise ones again.

"There is much afoot, my Dark Heart," she began, relishing the thought of being able to state that term of affection once more. "Those who would threaten our destiny... those who would rip my Adept from me, albeit I hope not at her desire--"

She paused as Roan suddenly quirked an eyebrow at her as if to inquire what in the name of all the Sith she needed with an Adept, of all things. Pursing her lips, she sidetracked.

"This is One I have taken unto myself to...to..." she paused, reaching outward and inward, trying to grasp what it was which had prompted her to release Shayla from the Elseness into which Aelvedaar had cast her, what need she had been filling in taking her and teaching her of their ways and the ways of the All. For a moment she frowned, chewing on her lip.

"I had a sister once," she continued in apparent non sequiteur. "This One it pleases me to have as sister yet again."

She gazed steadily into Roan's eyes, seeking his approval in this regard. Not that she would change her mind if he frowned upon it, though. Dark Heart of hers he might be, "returned from the dead" in so sudden a manner; she was still the Chosen Daughter of the Sith....

Roan spoke no words but raised on of her hands to his own lips. Holding it gently, he kissed the fingers, his eyes still boring into her over their tips.

Graysith fought against the smile which now rose within her, and continued. The very words brought an accompanying sobriety with them; although she was fully aware that He knew of which she was about to speak, just the mere utterance of those words acted as a cement to further bond her to Him, and He to her.

"She who I would have Shayla replace... She who brought about the death of the Child...

"She is without as I even speak these words. My Adept watches her and her pale companions; my love, I would have her Child as my own...

"...and her very soul given unto me as dowry for my acceptance of it."

She fell into silence, part of her aware of the intruders' ridiculous attempts to hide within their camp, partly aware of Leev's lurking reconnoissance...

...but primarily focused upon her Lord, waiting to hear his response.

It was time to leave this place, and go forth together....

I frowned at myself, fidgeting.. and that's when it hit. It wasn't like any hunch or mere feeling I had ever felt before; this, rather, was a completely overwhelming blast of power and strength which could not be overlooked or denied. It struck me physically, making me gasp, and sending me reeling against Terrin. I practically fell into his lap. Like the powerful surface shock wave of an earthquake, it rolled over us, rumbling and shaking in an eerie silence.

Then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

I shivered a little reflexively in its wake, staring wide-eyed up at Terrin. Then I scrambled semi-upright.

"E-excuse me," I stammered as I let the words propel me out of the tent. I barrelled past a surprised Matt and a grumbling Jasyn, and headed off a few meters to get myself under control once again. I shivered again, not understanding why the jedi had not reacted at all to that psychic impact.

It was HER, my dear sister, I just knew it. And another, the sense of this other very familiar, but for some inexplicable reason now joining with her as it had not done before. The pair of them now presenting a unified front to all around them.

Including us.

Was this Wicked? Had the two of them developed some new Sith power which they were planning to use against us? For I couldn't shake the assurety that they knew we were here, that they were merely biding their time watching our feeble movements and sensing our plotting against them. Why we hadn't been reduced to bantha fodder by now escaped me completely.

Then I got a grip on myself, and drew in a deep breath. Maybe they were just following the simple strategy which wily generals use: let the enemy come to you.

Well... ok then. I'll come to you, sister dearest! I finished with cold vehemence. I'm going to trust in that what I carry is something you are just dying to get your claws on, and that as long as I carry it you don't dare harm me.

That gives me plenty of time to figure out a way to bring you down.

And I hope as sure as there's Treasure on Roon that you're listening to me now!

With that I let my hand slip down to remove my blaster from its holster against my hip.

No time like the present, I vowed silently as, making my mind go completely blank to lessen any attention I might bring against myself, I quietly and without any preamble simply left the camp and headed off into the Khar Delban jungle.

As he blasted past Jasyn and Matt, who by now were standing there with blank looks on their faces too, he yelled at them. Practically growled at them. "MOVE! NOW!!!"

No questions were asked. These guys were loyal and Terrin knew it only took a word to get them to respond. Not minding them anymore than he had the Jedi who was now hurrying behind him, he continued to scurry along. How in the Universe he knew Galen was heading for the Temple he didn't know. He just knew.

It must have been an odd site; Terrin running in the direction he was fairly certain that she went, his entourage hurrying behind. But his move had been a good one, he could see her now just ahead, blaster firmly in hand.

He got just close enough and took her hand, causing her to spin around. He was probably lucky she didn't shoot him then and there with the quickness and suddenness of his touch upon her hand, but Terrin knew that she knew he would be right behind her.

He shot her a quizzical look, not sure what the Hell to say. Or do. But somehow he knew the marching orders would be that they should head to the Temple, now.

No more waiting.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I raged, tears rising up in my eyes as I somehow sensed Terrin putting himself in the gravest of danger at this very moment, following me as he was. I fought against the tears, trying to keep my vision clear and my eyes everywhere at once.

The chronometer was ticking steadily away, and time was running out, I just knew it....

I sniffed and took a deep breath, trying for a calmness which was receding farther and farther into the distance from me. For a moment I just stood there, staring into his eyes, practically willing that he understand why I was racing off into the jungle alone, where I was going, why I had to leave him behind.

Not only for his safety, as transitory as that might end up being... but for my own. I needed him separate from me if the plan I was forming on the fly had any hope of seeing fruition.

He merely gazed back at me with those wonderful blue eyes of his, a terrible combination of silent inquiry and something akin to betrayal rising up in them. I opened my mouth to try to explain, shut it again.

I couldn't. There was no time. I don't know how I knew it, I just did. But there was no time for words now, only action.

Now I let the tears rise up fully in my eyes. "I love you, Terrin," I said softly; then, rather more cryptically, "Don't let me down."

Before he could so much as begin to form a question, I made a slight adjustment to the blaster I yet held in my hand, raised it, and shot him in the chest.

Through watery eyes I watched him drop to the jungle floor, stunned. Then I whirled and nailed Matt and Jasyn as well.

I allowed myself a second to quickly kneel beside all three men, checking their vital signs. Good, they'll come to in a matter of minutes.

But time for me to go....

Re-adjusting my blaster to "kill," I turned and melted into the understory, slipping through the vegetation like a wraith. Then the thought of what I had just done, that awful action that I felt had to perpetrated against my love and his friends, was gradually replaced by that which I had yet to do.

I had been here before. I knew what I was getting into. "C'mon... C'MON!!!" I whispered with increasing urgency into the darkness around me. "I know you're there...."

My expectations were not let down in the slightest. One moment I was alone in the velvety night; the next I was surrounded by three of those nasty little imps She kept as bodyguards or pets. They materialized out of the darkness like magic, forming an equilateral triangle about me, their spears pointed at me as intently as the daggers which fairly flew from their eyes. In a lightning movement one darted forward to disarm me.

This time, however, I was ready.

I dropped, rolled, and fired all at the same time. Continuing my roll, I scrambled to my feet, turning about as I rose up, looking to see what havoc I had wrought.

Good. Two of the little devils were down. And while the one was moving about feebly as though trying to get its wits about itself again, the other one didn't look as though it was going to be moving again anytime too soon... if ever.

I glared at the third Noghri, who was looking at me with a mixture of surprise and wariness and almost admiration in his predatory eyes. He immediately loosened his stance, his spear held with deceptive ease. I tensed, thinking I might just have a chance of polishing him off as well...

...and was thoroughly jolted from my concentration as the sound of an all-too familiar growl came wafting to me from somewhere in the shadows. It only took that one moment of distraction... an evil little grin began to spread along the face of the remaining Nogri as he casually dangled the blaster he had just appropriated from me in front of my eyes.

I gulped, taking a step backwards...

...and came to an abrupt halt against a cold and rough-barked tree.

Well, at least I got farther this time... was all I could think before the Noghri and the butt of my own blaster descended on me....

This Force blast, tainted though it was, had carried with it a faint essence of...sisterhood. The presence of the Sith, and a trace of a soul that had once been like Galen's.

Her Sister? It all began to come together for Cella as she dashed out of the tent, hot on Terrin's heels. No wonder this 'live bait' plan had come up...the Sith Lady wanted Galen's child.

Well, She wouldn't get it if Cella had anything to do with it. Cella followed Terrin...And watched in shock as Galen stunned him, Matt, and Jasyn, tears filling her lovely eyes.

Cella ducked behind a tree, her quick reflexes serving her well. Perhaps Galen wished to strike out on her own, but Cella couldn't risk harm coming to that so-important child. Keeping just two steps back, Cella watched Galen in a lightning-fast duel with a gang of Noghri. Galen'd almost won when one of the nasty little creatures grabbed her blaster and knocked her out with it.

Show time. Cella crept stealthily into the clearing and drew her lightsaber. The Noghri's simple staves were hardly a match for the Jedi weapon. Still, the little devils were swift, and she barely managed to wound them. Finally, one lay unconscious on the ground, and the other melted into the night, doubtless going to carry a message to her mistress. Perhaps Cella had been a bit hasty, but when it came to her allies, she never held back.

She turned her attentions to the unconscious Galen. Laying a cool hand on her forehead, she called her name, willed her into consciousness and tried to heal her bruises. "Galen? Galen?" The woman stirred slightly, but there was no other response. Ever so gently, Cella lifted Galen with the Force into a nearby low-limbed tree, hoping to protect her from the night predators which no doubt roamed this alien jungle.

Then Cella realized what she'd done. In her impulse to help, she'd more than likely ruined any plan Galen had to lure her sister here. Oh no... Cella gritted her teeth and drew a Force veil around herself, concealing her presence. She didn't look forward to the moment when Galen would wake up and realize that Cella had blown her cover...

He sat up on his elbows, listening.

Yet another struggle.

He frowned deeply. What was she doing? Why had she taken off on her own like that, away from the group, with no warning?

Something closely akin to anger rose up in him. Anger and a realization of what was probably happening as he laid on the ground like a helpless idiot.

In the meantime, Jasyn and Matt had come around as well, and Jasyn had crawled his way over and carefully placed his hand on Terrin's arm without him noticing. Terrin grabbed his blaster out of the holster before he realized who it was.

He shot his friend a look of apology, and Jasyn motioned in the direction of where the commotion was slowly beginning to subside. Terrin wasn't sure how the three of them crawled close enough to see what was happening, but they managed.

The Jedi, now leaning over Galen's motionless form.

Motionless form?

He could have died right then and there, but understanding was beginning to slowly form. Suddenly he noticed the lightsaber in the Jedi's hand.

Cella had gone after her.

Somehow Terrin knew Galen would be furious. The bit of anger from before was threatening to resurface, but he just couldn't as he sat there looking at her and the Jedi.

Don't let me down, she had said.

What was THAT about?

Again, understanding struck.

Live bait. This was her way. And by following her, you ruined the plan. YOU.

Damn it all, if he had only KNOWN that's what she was going to do...

Now, they'd simply have to try again. But he didn't know if he could face her yet, not after he'd so wrecklessly messed everything up. Still, she was at least injured, and he couldn't stay away either.

Hesitantly, he got to his feet somewhat shakily, and started towards them, Matt and Jasyn behind him.

But then he froze. Should he keep playing along with Galen's obvious plan? After all, there could be something else out there.

But that left Cella Poliani at risk. Of course, she was a Jedi, and should be able to take care of herself.

He turned, and Jasyn arched an eyebrow at him. Sighing silently, he signaled them to wait. He couldn't stop the Jedi from what she was doing, but he could certainly control what he and his men were doing.

And hope to goodness that if she was taken into the Temple he could get her back out...

The Noghri....LEEV!!

Her eyes blackened to charnelhouse pits. Her hair flamed out in a cloud as she tossed her head back, her hands clenched into trembling fists at her sides. So intent was she upon the disgrace which had just occurred without the Temple's walls that she didn't even feel the light touch as Lord Roan place his clawed hands upon her shoulders, silently offering her his support and his strength.

His support may have been acknowledged on a subconscious level; his strength she didn't need. The ring of candles dimmed their light as her full-throated cry rang out against the stone walls of the secret room.

"M'WONBO'O!"

Then she lowered her head, her eyes blazing, the Glyph snarling out a directive which flared beyond the physical and into the realms of the psychic, carrying an order into the mind of her Blood-Hunt companion who so silently waited...

...and who so joyously accepted that order, and with grim and lethal determination proceeded to act upon it.

LEEV!!!

He was down...injured. Shayla hoped to goodness he wasn't dead.

If he was, someone was going to pay.

But somehow Shayla knew that he was only injured. If he were dead, the jolt in the Force...the All...would have been far more painful. Curious, Shayla began to piece together what had happened via her mental link with him.

He'd moved in on their prey, who was nearing very close to the Temple. He'd captured her; she was in his grasp.

Then what? Shayla furrowed her brow, searching, seeking. Then along came Cella Poliani, lightsaber blazing.

Shayla stood up and wrapped the violet cloak around herself, pacing the room.

Graysith had sent M'wonBo'o to do some..."follow-up."

Very well then, she would wait.

But her loyal bodyguard would be avenged, even if he WAS still alive...

He jerked around and squatted, Matt and Jasyn behind him. Jasyn was inching forward a bit, blaster rifle in hand. Terrin pushed a hand in front of his moving form, shoving him backwards. Fortunately, Jasyn managed not to swear too loudly as he went down.

Surprisingly enough, the thing--whatever the hell it was--went straight for Cella. Took that blessed lightsaber out of her grasp and crunched it between what looked like about 6-inch fangs.

Well, I guess there will be no more argument over THAT.

Wincing with every move the thing made with those hideous fangs and at least 10-inch claws, Terrin felt like the helpless viewer of a horror flick.

He couldn't go out there. That thing might be one of hers, out to get Galen after a little 'snack' on the Jedi.

Snack? Terrin's stomach lurched. So much for thinking the Jedi could take care of herself.

As the commotion subsided for yet the third time since they had arrived on this hellhole of a planet, the beast went off with...

...Not Galen, but Cella Poliani.

Terrin ruffled his hair nervously, gazing up into the tree where Cella had perched his love.

Now what the hell was he supposed to do? Leave her there unconscious and wait for something or other to grab her too?

If they were using her as live bait, the plan didn't appear to be working too well.

"Terrin, we're two down now. I told you we didn't need no stinkin' Jedi," Jasyn muttered under his breath.

Terrin merely glared at him.

Matt whispered in the aftermath of that statement. "Galen?"

Terrin shook his head, his mind spinning, his heart aching. "Live bait," he mumbled. "Let's wait for her to come to.

"This is her game. Let's let her make the next call..."

And another rather tasteless ration bar for a meal.

Erik woke up in the same spot he'd fallen asleep, with his back against the wall. He found that he felt as though his muscles had frozen in place, and as he dared to stretch them, the searing pain that resulted confirmed that original feeling.

Had he been here hours? Days? Weeks?

Time was beginning to swim out of focus. Angrily, Erik slammed a hand on the hard floor, and winced at the new surge of pain it produced.

Okay, you have me here, trapped and Force-less, and you are going to just LEAVE ME TO GO INSANE AND ROT?!

Here he'd wanted to find Shayla and tell her that he loved her and wanted to spend his life with her, and now he couldn't even send the least little tendril of a thought to her.

Nor could she to him either. Probably didn't even know he was here...

Erik sighed, longing to be with her even more as the moments passed.

He shot her a knowing look; she merely smiled in return.

This was Hers to decide; he was giving her his recognition of her strength by the fact that he remained a mere observer, by the very look as well which he bestowed upon her.

Graysith smiled to herself, then let her eyes fall closed. Reaching out with her talents, she clearly saw M'wonBo'o's unexpected attack on the twosome who lurked in the tree like a pair of frightened Ewoks. Saw him completely overleap the supine and unconscious Galen; watched as he snatched the lightsaber from the jedi and crunched it cleanly between his frightening jaws. Observed his every move, every nuance displayed in his body language as he turned to the jedi and leapt upon her, sinking his horrific teeth into her shoulder before leaping lightly to the ground and bearing her off into the shadowed jungle night.

Her smile broadened. After a long and quiet moment, she turned to Nikk.

"Go and open the Temple to my companion, dear Nikk," she said softly. She turned back to Roan upon issuing that request, now quirking a brow at him in inquiry of something unvoiced.

He merely smiled and dipped his horned head to her. Briefly acknowledging that acceptance, she called out as Nikk was just exiting through the looming double doors.

"Bring Shayla here at my request when you have finished. She may find what is yet to occur to be of interest."

Then she simply waited.

Soon the darkened shadows echoed with the clattering noise of great claws scraping against stone, accompanied by the softer sussuration of something being dragged across its cold surface. The double doors flew open at a single motion of her finger; his lean head lifted high so as to move more easily with his prey, M'wonBo'o entered the Great Hall with a quiet Cella Poliani clutched in his jaws. He glided up to her and gently lowered his prize to the stones at the foot of the dias. Then he directed his eerie pupilless eyes into hers, his face-tendrils writhing.

Brought you this She, have I, he purred ecstatically, gladdened to be of physical assistance to his Blood-Hunt Companion yet again. Hunt-hunt-seek, again are we with this one being? He crouched at her feet, his hulking form fairly trembling with anticipation, his tongue snaking out to lick his lips.

Graysith cast a smiling glance toward Roan, then stepped forward to the eager tuk'ata. A slender hand reached out to caress his lean and betendriled head.

"No, my friend," she whispered. "This one is not destined as that...

"...at least not yet."

Her attention was suddenly drawn from her Beast to the quiet form of the jedi who lay bleeding on the stone in front of her. A soft shuffling noise came into her ears as Cella began moving about, clearly approaching consciousness.

The quiet noises her movements produced were enhanced by a smooth and almost inaudible swoosh as the doors opened yet again, this time to reveal her Adept and Noghri bodyguard silhouetted in its frame. The hesitated but a moment, then quietly came into the Great Hall.

Graysith cocked her head to one side, keeping her focus intently upon the awakening jedi, watching as she began moving more and more actively upon the floor, her instinctive attempts to regain her footing along with her clarity now sparked with occasional groans as the injuries inflicted upon her person were beginning to announce their presence to her. A dark look came into the eye of the Chosen Daughter as she thought of those injuries, watching as the blood oozing from them began coagulating upon the floor and the clothing of this yet-prone woman...

...who finally let out a deep and soulful sigh, quieted as though gathering something to herself, raised a shaky head to direct a pair of blinking eyes into the violet ones of the Chosen Daughter...

...and slowly forced herself to her feet.

Nikk growled his fierce disapproval and readiness to finish what the tuk'ata had only begun. M'wonBo'o merely stalked up to his Mistress and crouched in his customary place beside her. Atop the throne Lord Roan merely moved slightly, as though to make himself more comfortable, and even in the position more of a darkling threat...

...and the Chosen Daughter merely waited to hear what this jedi would say, or see what she would try to do.

Around this hellish scene, the shadows of the Sith gibbered and cavorted, capering in anxious glee as they sensed....

What???

Cella was clearly going to be given a chance to explain herself, to possibly even save herself. Everything depended upon what she said. Shayla also was aware that the woman was wounded; certainly more than Logan had been in a situation similiar to this, but not beyond hope of recovery either.

Too bad she wasn't sure she could think the same of Leev. Thinking of him, Shayla was almost inclined to reach out to Nikk and inquire what he knew of the situation, but something held her back. As they entered the Great Hall at last, Shayla quite calmly took in her new surroundings.

He was still here, and somehow Shayla wasn't surprised. Graysith was close at his side, coolly regarding the Jedi who was even now struggling to her feet, seemingly unaware of Shayla's presence.

But something else was coursing through her veins, something dark, hot, and tempting. Yes, Cella was furious. How many people would have to be injured before this Lady Sith would be satiated? Power crackled in her fingertips. Although the fanged beast had destroyed her precious lightsaber, she had other weapons at her disposal...

No, Cella! This is what they want. They want you to give in to fear and lash out like a wounded animal. Don't do it.

Slowly, slowly, she gathered her composure. Then she caught sight of the shadowy figure standing next to the Lady Sith.

No. It cannot be. But it was. Tall, turquoise-eyed, the figure of a thousand nightmares...and frighteningly enough, a few visions of ultimate power. Cella wondered if he would recognize her, bloodied and worn as she was. But other things were pressing now...

Shayla! Her cry to the woman was met with stony silence. Apparently she was going to recieve the same reception as Logan had. She steeled herself and looked into the violet eyes of the Lady Sith.

"So, finally, we meet. Doubtless you already know all about me, but Logan Murroe has told me of you, so I figure that makes us about even. You know why I'm here. I have come in search of Shayla Petrolu, a Jedi candidate whom you took from the Praxeum. Logan has told me that she remains here of her own free will, and I would ask her myself if this is true."

"Also, I arrived on this planet in the company of one Erik Kartan, a friend and former associate of Shayla's. I was rendered unconscious by your...pet's...first attack on me, and I haven't seen him since. Nor have I been able to sense him through the Force." She hesitated. "I'd appreciate your assurance that he's safe." Or there's going to be some serious hell to pay...

Oh, how amusing! she thought to both her Dark Lord and her Adept, easily blocking the words from the mind of the jedi. How very little this one truly knows of us! With what unwavering faith she adheres to her incomplete beliefs; indeed I would find it sad if it were not so truly laughable.

Then her eyes narrowed, catching the flash of recognition in Cella's own as the woman took in the fearsome countenance of the rock-silent Lord Roan. Graysith cocked her head a bit, her gaze boring into the very essence of Cella Poliani, at last finding and reading the images stored in the woman's memory which His presence had sparked to the forefront of her brain. Then her eyes slid to those of Lord Roan, who appeared to be stifling a smile as he watched the potential drama being acted out in front of him. A genuine smile was brought to that stark and harshly handsome face as with one of her own she reached out a pale hand to rest it lightly atop his clawed one.

Your clone had been such a busy little monkey-lizard, my Dark Heart....

Abruptly, she cut her eyes back to Cella.

"You must forgive the actions of my... pet," she said smoothly. "There are times he shows a tendency toward ...an enthusiasm beyond the necessity of the moment."

Turning again and flashing him another brilliant smile, Graysith gave Dark Lord Roan's hand a gentle squeeze. Then she removed her hand from his altogether and turned back to Cella once more, the smile suddenly nothing more than a memory.

"You desire to speak with my Adept, Shayla Petrolu," she said succinctly. "I find this pleasing to hear, for indeed I believe she has been wishing to speak with you." With those words she waved her hand toward the back of the Great Hall, where Shayla stood waiting next to a grumbling Nikk.

"Ask your questions, Jedi."

Graysith stepped smoothly back until she was once more beside the Great Throne and standing next to her Lord and Dark Heart. He in turn continued to remain silent, only reaching out once to place a hand possessively upon her hip. Her eyes never leaving Cella's, she shot one brief statement into the mind of her Adept and Chosen Sister.

My Dark Heart is most interested in hearing what you have to say.

On the opposite side of the Chosen Daughter, M'wonBo'o tensed, his tail lashing as he licked his lips again. Having now tasted of the Jedi's blood, it was all the great Beast could do to keep from springing upon her right then and there. A small and somehow hungry whine escaped him, and he cast his eerie eyes anxiously upon his Mistress.

She smiled sweetly, sensing his eagerness.

Patience, my friend.

Patience....

Her Dark Heart? The only other male Shayla would have suspected to hold such a title was...

Dead?

But back to the matters now at hand. Crossing her arms, Shayla offered no words, only a facial expression denoting interest rather than the anger or coldness that Cella most certainly expected from her.

Arching her eyebrows, her blue-green eyes fairly radiating with curiousity, Shayla awaited the Jedi's inquires...

"Shayla, it has been a long time. Too long. Jeroc and I, it seems, have failed you, but believe me, we came as soon as we could. You were hidden from us by her you call Teacher...and we Jedi are by no means omnipotent. Until I die, I will always feel the guilt of this."

Shayla cocked her head to the side, pondering the words, half-hearing the rest of what Cella Poliani was saying even though she was keenly aware of every word.

By her you call Teacher...

How easily Cella had assumed that Graysith had done that, when in fact, He had.

Perhaps she would get back to this little point later, perhaps not. Other things needed to be addressed first. Shayla knew Cella Poliani was sincere in what she was saying. But she didn't understand; she couldn't see.

"I am well aware that I was hidden from you," Shayla began simply. "But what you do not see, aside from the fact that I've learned of my Darker emotions, is that I've learned of myself. I know of my Fear, my Anger, my Loyalty..." Shayla hesitated a moment, smiling a bit to herself, "...and my Love. I cannot return to the pale life of a Jedi, where feeling emotion and acting in accordance with it is wrong. To do so would be to neglect everything I've learned here: of the little girl who lost her parents to a cruel Empire and responded by burying her anger and hurt, of a child who learned drill after drill and Jedi technique after Jedi technique while never being able to believe in herself, of the adolescent who ran from the Praxeum in fear of what she might become if she failed...

...Of the young woman who returned there to escape facing her True Love..."

Shayla paused, regarding Cella thoughtfully. "I might have had the beginnings of becoming a great Jedi, but I have the potential to become something even more than that.

"But I must ask...if Logan returned to you and told you that I wished to remain here," Shayla added, truly curious, "What made you decide that there was hope of me returning even still, enough for you to come here on your own?"

Fully aware that all eyes and ears were on her, Shayla stopped with that, uncrossing her arms and folding them at the small of her back. She cocked her head to the side once more, calmly awaiting Cella's reply...

At length she turned and bent down to whisper in her Dark Heart's ear. He seemed to smile, taking his hand from her hip to grasp her own and raise it to his lips. Then he settled back amidst the embrace of the immense throne upon which he sat, and watched as Graysith smoothly stepped down from the dias. Her movements like that of flowing water, she spoke no word but continued ahead, pausing only momentarily to cast a final look in Shayla's direction before she turned to the Jedi.

Before either woman could actually grasp what she was doing, she reached out a slim hand and placed it on Cella's shoulder. She smiled a bit to herself as she felt the shudder which racked the woman's frame at that touch; it broadened a bit when Cella's utter astonishment at suddenly being totally healed directly hit her. Graysith did not offer explanation of any kind, nor indicate what her plans might be. She merely shot a penetrating gaze into Shayla's somewhat startled eyes, ignoring Cella once again. Then, reaching out a commanding arm, she quietly demanded the attendance of Nikk. M'wonBo'o whined fretfully as he watched the pair depart the Great Hall altogether, leaving him in her eerily silent wake to guard Lord Roan.

Easily maintaining a mental shield to block her thoughts from all force-users present, the Chosen Daughter hurried through the dimly lit corridors of the Temple, the one command she had shot into the mind of the Noghri directing him as to where he was to direct her in turn. Sith shadows whispered dark caresses all about them as they moved along, clearly pleased with the return of the Dark One, eagerly awaiting their final awakening with the keenest anticipation. They seemed to reach their incorporeal arms in an attempt to stroke Graysith as she moved along; she merely smiled, sensing their trembling joy with a dark elation of her own.

At last she came to a halt before a singularly noisome spot on the stone wall, buried deep within the bowels of the Temple. Her eyes cut to Nikk in silent command; then, reaching a slender hand she touched the writhing mosses on that wall and opened up a gaping and dark entrance. She didn't hesitate, but stepped into the hidden little room, stepping through the Force Shield she had placed there long before, augmenting it with another bolstering influx of the All which glared forth from the Glyph on her forehead. It's ravening ultraviolet radiance shot into the little cell, lighting it with the fiery blast of a young and impatiently hot star, clearly revealing the dark and despairing form huddling against the back wall.

A form whose head now jerked up, who moved stiffly in a shuddery attempt to gain his feet before her. Whether that movement sprang from fear or defiance, Graysith didn't care. She merely pinned him with her violet gaze.

"You are Erik," she quite calmly said at last.

The young man didn't answer, but myriad questions haunted his eyes. Uppermost in them was the clear worry and love he felt for Shayla. Graysith didn't keep him waiting for answers long.

"You have captured her heart as well," she said softly. Then--

"Fear not!"

With those words she reached out a slender hand to Erik, her pale fingers wide-spread to encompass the mental and emotional pressure points on his face. With the softest of touches she laid her hand against his countenance; then flinging back her head she let every image, every interaction with, every feeling of and coming from her Adept flow with the firm and unstoppable current of a great river directly into his very mind and heart and soul. En route she clearly felt the instinctive mental barriers he so quickly had raised in protection, and she smiled. Not so much because of the ease with which she almost casually demolished those barriers, but because of the mere fact that he had the ability to raise them at all.

At last the flood of sensations reduced to a trickle, then stopped altogether as she departed from his being. She stood for a long moment, merely watching as the young man's injured body was racked with the emotional impacts those images had revealed to him. Then she quietly spoke up to him.

"I have revealed this to you so that you know them to be true," she whispered. "As well as can find truth in the words which I now will speak to you.

"She wishes to learn... and to teach you as well. There may be promise in this--"

Now her eyes darkened as she tilted her head to one side, considering him further, the intensity of that one Look practically wringing his inner being out in a puddle on the cold stone floor.

"--but she is not a Master yet."

Graysith paused now, beginning to glide about the tiny perimeter of the stone cell this young man had been hidden away in. One hand gracefully slid along the coldness of the rock as she moved about, circling the room, finally forcing Erik to move into its middle as she came upon him still hunkered against the wall at the back. She grinned to herself, sensing the admixture of fear and wariness and disgust and worry and anger flooding from him... dark and raging emotions quite suddenly, and entirely unbeknownst to him, being infiltrated with an insidious tendril of belief.

The movement graceful and quick, she whirled to face him.

"She believes she has tapped into that dark side of her being, but this is not so. This she must do, if that which she now seeks of her own volition is to come about within her.

"You cannot know of what I speak, but I say this unto you: complete balance of one's self is the goal. There is a great and quite enduring love within her, which must be equally balanced or that which she seeks will forever elude her.

"The result of that, of course, can be nothing other than her death. It is an all or nothing lesson, my young friend."

She quieted now, watching awareness and a kind of horror replace the earlier emotions that had raged in Erik's eyes. Yet still there floated a wisp of a question; that this would be entirely eliminated, she leaned in closer to him and whispered into his ear.

"Her life hangs by the thread of her belief in your dismissal of her. How convincing can you be, Erik Kartan?"

Before he could gather his wits enough to answer, she whirled to leave. In parting, a graceful wave of one hand left a more palatable and appetizing platter of sustenance lying on the floor at his feet. Another wave brought the beginnings of the healing process to him, speeding up that which had already begun.

She paused one last time at the doorway, beyond which Erik could clearly see the hovering presence of the Noghri Commander.

"You will be sent for."

Then she stepped out into the corridor and was gone, the opening slamming back into its original slime-covered rock and wood, imprisoning Erik with his thoughts and convictions and his love...

...and the heavy burden of that which he knew he had to do.

She turned her attention back to Shayla. "Perhaps you are right and there is much I don't see. I am glad that you have learned of yourself--but you didn't have to come here to do that. If there are things I don't understand, though, there are also things I don't understand. You call the ways of the Jedi 'pale' and void of emotion...but that isn't so. I wonder who it was that drummed the notion that Jedi could feel nothing into your head."

"I know nothing about what you've learned here. I do know, however, that in the ways of the Jedi I have become a whole person...and yes, I have found love." A smile crossed her face at the thought of Jeroc. "But obviously, that hasn't been true for you."

"As to why I came here after what Logan had told me...I did believe there was hope. I knew you were a good person, and I wasn't going to just give up on you, after chasing you halfway across the galaxy. Even when Jeroc and I had nearly given in to despair, Erik wouldn't just let you go. He had--and still has--a great deal of faith in you. He loves you, of that I am certain."

Rustles? Now, what was wrong with this picture...?

Taking a deep breath I peeked an eye open. Directly in front of me hung what appeared to be a leathery-leafed branch, backlit by a brilliant moon that was trying to capture my attention through the other surrounding leaves and branches.

Leaves and branches?!

I jerked myself upright...

...and almost fell headlong from my perch. My hands leapt out of their own accord and grabbed hold of the rough bark on which I was now laying half-supine, my eyes glancing quickly about to determine just where in Hell's Seven Circles I was. That I was definitely not in that horrid Sith Temple was a given; but where and how--? I gathered my wits and my gumption and took stock of the situation.

A tree. I was in a tree, of all the peculiar and ridiculous places....

Now that I knew where I was, I began trying to figure out how I had gotten there. That the darling little hellions my sweet ex-sibling commanded were not exactly prone toward gently depositing their prey in such an arboreal haven was another given, and I certainly did not remember climbing up to escape them. The last thing I remembered was nailing at least one of the little imps, and possibly another before my own blaster came sailing down in my face.

I grimaced as that thought brought forth a fresh wave of pain. Sheesh, that little creep hit me hard enough, I thought to myself as I lifted one hand from its grasp on the tree limb to gingerly explore my face. All the pieces seemed to be pretty much as I last remembered them, but extending down from my forehead, across the bridge of my nose, and ending near my jawline was a crusty swath of something still slightly sticky.

I winced. Well... it could have been far worse....

Now I devoted myself to taking a better look around. I seemed to be about thirty feet up, approximately a third of the way to the canopy that arched like a dark blanket over my head. As I peered downward trying to decide if I could get back down on my own, my attention was drawn to a glint of something that shimmered a faint silver in the dappled moonlight.

A lightsaber. And upon closer scrutiny, Cella's lightsaber. And it definitely looked... crunched.

I shivered with the sudden realization of what must have happened. Cella must have followed me, tried to save me from the Noghri's attack. That she had actually managed to succeed in this said a lot for her fighting abilities. But that she was not here, and that her munched-over laser-sword was told the rest of the story.

That Beast from Hell that she travelled with... the one I tricked. It must have taken the jedi.

Which meant that the plan I had been formulating now wasn't worth a pile of bantha poo-doo. Having a jedi lurking about in the shadows of the jungle, possibly able to infiltrate the Temple, was a major constituent of the plan. But now that Cella was undoubtedly already inside and quite obviously not of her own volition....

I sighed. So much for that. Guess I'd better get down and back to Terrin, who probably was ready to tear my head off for what I had done. I looked down, seeking hand and footholds in the bark of the tree. Little by little I crept until at last I stood on the floor of the jungle.

Around me, mysterious shadows pressed, and the night was alive with sound.

Good! I thought as I bent forward to retrieve the mangled weapon of the jedi. That just lets me know that there's nothing predatory in the immediate vicinity. But just how long that state of affairs would remain static was the third given of the night.

Tucking the lightsaber into the waistband of my suit, I began heading back to camp.

He couldn't let this happen. He couldn't be the cause of her Death.

But how could he possibly have her believe that he had dismissed her? How could he ever convince her that he did not Love her?

She would know.

Or would she?

But how could he? After he had traveled this great distance and given so much? How could he just let her go? How could he be the cause of her pain?

FOR ALL THAT WAS LIVING AND IMMORTAL, WOULD THEY EVER be together?

How was he to know that if he did this that she would ever return to him? But if he couldn't convince her, she'd be killed...

He just couldn't live knowing that, whether she would ever return to him or not.

Sighing and trying to blink back the tears that were surfacing even still, Erik Kartan resigned himself to this terrible thing which he was about to do to his Love, the one reason he had done all this...

You WERE a good person...chasing you halfway around the galaxy...quest has been in vain...

"Well," she said darkly, stepping back from the other woman and folding her arms, "I'm sorry you've...wasted your precious time. You sound as though you rather expected me to run into your arms like a three-year old."

As Cella gazed at Shayla in shock, Shayla's right hand wandered down to the hilt of the lightsaber she had built.

No. Not worth it.

As Shayla stood regarding the other woman coldly, Graysith entered the Great Hall once again, and Shayla wondered what was going on. But she resigned herself to the situation at hand for the moment.

Turning to face Graysith, Shayla spoke. "I am...finished talking with her," she growled, motioning to Cella.

"Terrin, you really should eat something," Matt interjected.

He paused a moment, glancing down at the two of them. Then, wordlessly, he began pacing again.

Jasyn grinned devilishly. "We might have to stun him again to get him to calm down."

Terrin stopped cold, jerking around to give Jasyn a good glare.

"Sorry," the other man said, putting his hands up in surrender. "But you know she's right. If we're going to use her as live bait, we have to make her look as interesting, as available, and as much of a threat as possible."

"Yeah, well, then if that's so, why did Poliani get carried off while Galen is up in a tree?"

Jasyn shrugged. "Jedi must have been more of a threat, at that moment."

"Great," Terrin muttered, finally sitting down, "Just great. She still up in that tree?"

Jasyn took a pair of binoculars next to him and placed them over his eyes, surveying the area. He gazed through them a minute or so, then dropped them down to his side, frowning.

"What?" Terrin asked.

"She's gone," Jasyn answered simply.

Here we go again. He might understand the logic behind this, but that didn't mean he liked it anymore than before.

He was about to voice that opinion when a rhythmic crackle-snap pattern surfaced in the forefront of his auditory attention. Matt, who had already noticed the sound, had retrieved his blaster, which was strange considering he was usually an easy-going sort of fellow.

Must be pretty unnerved by all of this.

Slowly, Jasyn began to notice it too, and his hand brushed the blaster on his lap. Terrin stood again, his own hand straying to the weapon on his belt.

Then, in the clearing...

Terrin blinked in surprise as Galen returned to camp. Dropping his right hand back down into his pocket, he stood there wordlessly, not sure what to say or do after the events that had so recently taken place.

She stopped in front of him and looked up at him, those big brown eyes of hers seeking understanding and possibly something else...

He reached out a hand and took her chin in it, surveying the line of dried blood across her face. "Let's get that cleaned up," he finally managed.

Boy, THAT sounded really brillant, his little shoulder devil blathered. Terrin tried his best to ignore it.

Releasing her chin and draping an arm around her shoulders, he lead her back into camp.

"I still contend that the reason this bait thing isn't working is because we aren't presenting enough of a threat," Jasyn said.

Terrin nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, makes sense. Taking out some of her Noghri pals might have been enough, but Poliani stepped in. She meant well, but," Terrin said, pausing as he glanced over at Galen, "Like me she probably didn't realize what you were trying to do til after the fact."

"And I think we can agree that since we are so obviously heading right to the Temple that this Sith might not see any reason to capture," Matt added.

"Which is why we need to pose more of a threat," Jasyn insisted.

"So we wait for more Noghri to take out?" Terrin quizzed, furrowing his brow in thought, "How many of those has she got? And how many times can we count on being able to take any of them down?"

Jasyn shook his head. "First of all, there's no "we" to the actual attack part. Galen attacks, we lurk behind and use the distraction to get into the Temple, waiting to go back and get her after we've hopefully found the Nar Khelba. Galen doesn't have to attack successfully, we are relying on the fact that she is of enough interest to this Sith that the mere fact she attacks at all would be enough to get her captured."

Terrin frowned. He really didn't like this. And he hated it when Jasyn was right. Although he had figured all this out for himself just a little while before, hearing it from someone else made it just that much more reasonable regardless of whether he liked it or not. "Allright, that makes sense. But how are we going to get into the Temple with no Jedi now?"

"We don't..." Jasyn started. Terrin cut him off with a good glare.

"Poliani's partner," Matt said simply.

That's right! He'd forgotten about that!

But where was he then?

Terrin's stomach was starting to hurt. He wasn't sure if it was the bad food, or something else.

"So we are stuck here waiting, again?" Terrin moaned, running a hand through his hair. "We've gotta move with or without the other Jedi, at least enough to get Galen into the Temple. Unless there is something else I'm not thinking of that we can do, this has to be the best possibility of us succeeding in finding the Nar Khelba at all."

Quieting as Jasyn headed to check readings on his "toys" and Matt wandered off to his tent, Terrin shifted so that he could be a bit closer to Galen. They hadn't talked really since she'd returned, and he hoped she didn't think he was mad at her. He was truthfully a bit upset that she'd moved before he knew what was happening, but he was more upset with himself for not thinking the whole thing through before he went running after her.

Maybe if he hadn't, her plan would have worked and Poliani would still be here.

And they'd be closer to getting the Hell off this miserable rock.

Trying to turn the negative self-talk in his head off, Terrin turned his blue eyes to meet her big brown ones.

If only a moment could last forever...

Suddenly he wished that she would say something, anything.

"I'm sorry...that I messed your plan up," he finally told her. "I didn't know...My heart was guiding...my head...was elsewhere..."

Smiling a wan little smile, he gazed into her eyes, searching, waiting...

His hand brushed the lightsaber at his belt. He'd told Logan to keep Cella's old saber with him. "Consider it a gift," he'd said a little dryly, "until the day you truly prove yourself worthy of it." Now, he sensed Cella was in some distress...and her lightsaber had been destroyed. Jeroc slapped his forehead. He should have made the boy give her back the old one.

However, it probably would have met the same fate as the other.

Jeroc continued to maintain contact with Cella, not a deep communication, but he could sense most of her immediate thoughts and feelings. She had been given the opportunity to talk to Shayla, but to no avail. The young woman was still as distant and unreceptive as she had been with Logan.

Cella had talked to the Sith Lady, who had left the Great Hall for parts unknown...and had healed Cella of the wounds she had received at the hands of the Lady's Beast. Jeroc shook his head. Perhaps a ruse or ploy, but a good turn nonetheless.

Suddenly, Jeroc felt Cella's mental voice turn immediate and urgent. Do not fear for me, beloved. I do not think they will harm me...and I believe I will be allowed to leave the Temple in peace. There are others more in need of your aid than I. A promise made that I, because of my foolishness, was unable to keep. He could almost hear her sigh faintly.

Terrin Danner and his crew...and Galen. I promised them my aid in obtaining the Nar Khelba, and to craft them a lightsaber containing it. Go now and keep my promise for me. Cella sounded positive. I will join you shortly.

Cella gazed at Shayla, who refused to meet her eyes. "But I'm not quite finished with you yet, Shayla. While I didn't expect an Imperial welcome, I wasn't prepared for this level of contempt. However, the past cannot be recaptured. I see now that you are not the Shayla Petrolu that once was. But I ask you, in the name of any ghost of respect that you might still have for me, to speak with Erik. At least give him to understand what you have given me. He loves you, I know that much."

"Contempt? Contempt?!" She was screaming now. And she didn't care. "And you believe that you do not have contempt for the things that I have learned here as well? You may walk away from me now, but you will never walk away from what you have decided of me in your mind. You've not truly heard me since you've arrived here; at least Logan was capable of that.

"The person here who holds the contempt, I would venture to guess, is you, Cella Poliani. You never knew me. Don't pretend now that you ever did."

She felt an odd sense of peace and calm despite Shayla's rage. "And neither have you heard a single word I have tried to say to you. I have acknowledged my ignorance of what you have learned here; you ignored that. I have tried to explain to you that there is more to the Jedi way than suppressed emotion; you ignored that also. In all ways have I tried to meet you halfway, as best I knew how."

"And you are right. I will never walk away. I will never go a day without thinking of what I have done with my weakness and fear. Of the fact that I ought to have come for you long ago."

Indeed but these pale jedi have such narrow vision! she mused to herself. How very little this one truly sees, and how quick to jump to conclusions she is because of it! Indeed, my destiny shall be fulfilled with ease if she is representative of her ilk; I sense no barrier here that could even begin to threaten my achieving that glorious goal!

And my Adept... ahhh. The waters deepen about her; yet still she remains afloat.

Not one lick of her introspection was allowed to escape her, however; even the Glyph on her forehead remained relatively passive, and in that deceptive meekness became once again a strangely animate enigma somehow extremely difficult to look upon.

Suddenly Graysith smiled, and turned slightly sideways. One hand swept gracefully toward the throne, upon which there yet brooded a darkly magnetic figure. The voice in which she spoke was soft, yet penetrating.

"There is One other here whose thoughts have not yet been considered," she murmured sweetly. "Whether you two make your peace or not, or whether you, Jedi, leave this place in such a...charmingly peaceful manner as you state is of no concern one way or the other to me.

"I shall let my Dark Heart tip the scales with his desires."

Both women turned to her with a little start of surprise at that. Graysith only tilted her head in a mocking dismissal of Cella, turned on her heel and smoothly glided up the dias to stand before Lord Roan. There she leaned forward briefly, kissing him full on the mouth, drawing back slowly with her eyes now boring into his. The smile quickly returned as, after bowing briefly before him as well, she suddenly straightened and made a motion with her hand.

Great Khaandon's Ghost, but I must look a fright, even after Terrin's loving ministrations! I thought to myself. Then I shrugged it off, and hunkered closer to him. For a moment I felt as though every muscle I owned was clenched in a suddenly awkward anticipation... then practically fell into a puddle of relief in his lap as his arm went about my shoulders and tightened me to him.

I closed my eyes, wondering how in Hell's Seven Circles I ought to begin. I didn't know whether he was going to forgive me or not; granted, the cleaning of the face, and sitting by my side, and now arm about me all gave good indication that all would be hunky dory soon. I took another deep breath and let it escape me in a whoosh as I cast my eyes down to my feet. All my bravado left me in that release of air.

"I- I'm sorry if I worried you, love," I began haltingly. "It's just that I-"

I what? I expected that I ought to have been captured by now, and in some crazy way was the last thing but pleased that I hadn't been? I was chomping at the bit for the fact that here we had been dithering around this stupid excuse of a world for nearly a full cycle, and we were still free as the proverbial bird? The last time I had been here I had barely gotten forty meters from my landing coordinates when I had been smoothly and with an abundance of efficiency captured by those hideous Noghri and "escorted" into the temple.

WHY WERE WE BEING LEFT ALONE, AND WHY DID THAT AWFUL CREATURE TAKE THE JEDI AND NOT ME?

I couldn't form the words to begin trying to explain what I was feeling. All I could do was sigh again and snuggle into the protective warmth of Terrin's arms.

"I just thought that if I went out alone maybe She wouldn't focus on you, and when I was taken you and the lasersword-swinger would be free to come in... ok, somehow come in and rescue me. If I was alone, I might have a better chance at getting the Nar Khelba.

"Oh, Khaandon, I don't know. I was taking it on the fly; I didn't even have a real plan, just some strange gut feelings that I had to act. And now that lady Jedi is a prisoner instead of me..."

Oh no. No you don't, Galen ol girl. You will NOT let your throat constrict like that; you will NOT let your vision get all blurry and watery; you most definitely will NOT let that upwelling heat and bout of trembling send you into a stupid crying jag now, no you won't....

I sniffled, and buried my face against Terrin's chest.

I should have been captured, me. NOT the Jedi, who was really here to try to help. ME.

But I wasn't. I was left behind like yesterday's baked goods, and in my stead another was undoubtedly languishing in a cell similar to the one I had been in, probably ripped and torn and broken as I had been, with no real hope of seeing the light of day ever again as I truly thought I would not.

For several moments they sat in pure silence, and she turned her face up to him, her eyes slightly damp.

Sithspit, Terrin, buddy, what have you gotten yourself into? Terrin's little shoulder devil said snidely.

When am I ever going to get rid of you?! Terrin thought back at the little nuisance. The thing folded it's arms, pratically stuck its tongue out at him in his mind's eye, and poof! it was gone.

"We'll think of something," he muttered again, gazing into the depths of her eyes, hoping to goodness that something brillant would just suddenly pop up in his brain.

Well, you have good enough inspiration, anyway, a little voice mummered within him.

But what WERE they going to do? Poliani was out, and so was Kartan. The two of them were in that Temple, and Terrin couldn't leave them there knowing that they just might not waltz out with Shayla as they expected. And Jasyn DID have a point; they WEREN'T presenting much of a threat out there in the jungle of Khar Delba, while all the Sith were hunkered in their blessed Temple just waiting for the arrival of unwanted guests. And somehow he knew that's precisely what they were doing.

The original theory had been that Galen, being pregnant with the strong child that she was, would be of enough interest that the Sith would snag her almost immediately. In the diversion, the group would go for the Nar Khelba and recover Galen.

THAT clearly hadn't worked, so Galen went off on her own, thinking that her being alone would make her a more available capture while leaving behind the rest of the group to move in.

That didn't work either. So, what was left?

Terrin frowned thoughtfully, hoping for something, anything to produce a flicker of a plausible plan.

Perhaps the Jedi were a threat because they too had an interest in Galen's child? Or was it simply that Cella Poliani had taken out a Noghri or two?

Or...

Some little spark of a realization was beginning to form...

Erik Kartan had been snagged. Shayla's friend, possibly more than that. Then...Cella Poliani...a Jedi whose main interest in being on Khar Delba was the "rescue" of Shayla Petrolu...

The connection was there, but how could they use it?

The lightbulb began to flicker over Terrin's head as something began to click. Before he thought of what he was saying, he blurted, "We have to somehow pose a threat to Shayla."

Galen arched an eyebrow at him.

Sithspit, Terrin, you need to clarify that one just a bit.

"It'll get us into the Temple, I'm almost positive. See if you can follow me on this, or if I'm losing my mind. Shayla is being taught by this Sith, we know that much. But she was first a Jedi padawan, and the main goal of most of the people here except for our team is to get to Shayla. First, Erik Kartan was taken, mere minutes after he landed here. He's a significant other to Shayla and also has Jedi background. Cella Poliani was taken next; while she attacked the Noghri, she also posed a threat to Shayla's learning here because she too could convince Shayla out of whatever she is doing here."

Terrin paused, wondering if he was making a lick of sense or if he'd simply not had enough sleep.

This could work. He knew it.

"I don't know how we could use this...You have an idea of how to use this, don't you pal?...but considering that Shayla probably doesn't like me much and that I was at some point trying to capture her for a Moff..."

His mind was spinning faster than he could say it all, and he wasn't even sure of what exactly he was thinking just yet anyway.

"Am I making any sense?"

His serpentine eyes closed only brefly as he as he allowed the all to encompass him. The black markings on his darkly purple face seemed to ebb and flow like a Garthac hurican. The room pounded with his heart beat as the powers he commanded filled the room. He once again opened his tuquise eyes casting a gaze upon Shayla.

"You have made your wishes known no further explenation of your actions are needed," he said smoothly.

He turned his gaze upon Cella "I am however interested jedi in your 'other weapons' you might have at your disposal" he hissed cocking his eyebrow with a distinct look of amusement on his face. "Do you think that there is anything that you may have that I am not aware?" He said the last statement with a devilish sneer; the shadows around her seemed to rise up, mocking her.

He sat up in the throne, both clawed hands lightly laying on the arms. "As far as your request to leave...." he said softly letting the words hang in the air momentarily "it is denyed." He turned his gaze once more to the adept. "Show her to a room." A broad smile graced his face showing those powerful black fangs.

"Yeah-" I finally said with some hesitation. "What you're saying might very well be true. I mean, it is kinda odd that she's picked off the two people in this Galaxy who seem to have the strongest connection to Shayla at the moment, granted...." I trailed off, now taking a couple steps forward to peer off into the dark mystery of the surrounding jungle.

"But-!" Now I turned abruptly back to Terrin. "There is also the consideration that my sister dearest is being a busy little rancor picking off those who simply might pose the biggest impediment to whatever little plans she has fermenting in that evil brain of hers. Nothing like dividing the enemy to conquer... and nothing like taking out the armament before you end up storming the fort."

Now I stopped, my eyes widening as I let my thoughts continue in the direction my words had been taking them.

"If this is the case, then she just might be bit by bit taking anyone who she feels might be able to mount any kind of a retaliatory blow in my defense. Which means...."

I hugged myself, unable to say the words aloud. I knew Terrin was fully aware of their horrific endpoint.

This was why I left Sorben, so as not to place him in any danger. And now here I quite possibly was doing it again. Just by their association with me, just by their being physically present on this horrid planet at the same time I was, was indeed everyone in our party under grave threat of imminent capture... or worse... destined to be picked off one-by-one like womprats on Tattooine?

I shuddered, and fell silent.

Was the Nar Khelba worth the potential deaths of everyone united here? Should we just say, "hang it all," get back aboard the Eagle, and take off for the farthest place in the galaxy away from here?

NO. I answered my own waffling thought, determination rising up hotly to squelch every last bit of it. The line is drawn HERE. I would not go the rest of my life fearing for my own, or that of my child, or that of Terrin or anyone else who might cross my path.

Soon, she promised them with a final soft stroke. Soon....

At length she came to the door leading into the Dining Hall; with but one almost offhanded movement it opened before her, allowing her to enter therein. She glided in silence up to the banquet table, even now loaded with bounty, and paused there as a small movement caught her quick eye.

There, poking amidst the plentiful foodstuffs, one of the small marsupials indigenous to Khar Delba was partaking of it's own tiny meal....

Her thoughts flashed instantly to that day, so long ago, when she stood in this room before he who she had taken to be her Dark Heart, bidding him teach her. Then as now, one of the little marsupials had been nibbling on the table; how well she remembered picking up the tiny form and cuddling it to her cheek, trying to still the wild beating of its heart as it quaked, not understanding why it had been taken from its breakfast.

How well she remembered her next sudden movement when, on the heels of calming the small being she quite abruptly and with utter savagery had ripped its small life from it along with its head, devouring it before the stony gaze of Wicked, seeking his satisfaction and approval in that action...

...and gaining neither.

Her smile broadened as before moving away from the table she reached out a slender finger to quietly stroke the head of the little animal. Even that morning she had faced His clone. How well she recalled her anger and self-disgust; how clearly she now viewed what had happened during her early days here. All she had taken upon herself to impress Him, all she struggled with on her own, all for nothing regarding Him as his clone had no reason to deal with her in but any other manner than he would any "normal" dark visitor. But it was not for naught; all she had learned alone, battled with, sought out on her own; all had bit by bit strengthened and balanced her inner self, all in preparation for, unbeknownst to her, the time of His return.

And that was all that really mattered in her first visit to this Temple: that final wondrous day, when He himself had finally returned to it, fully aware of her presence, supplanting the clone to join with her in triggering the All into vibrant life.

Still smiling with the glow these musings filled her with, she approached the back wall and once again reached out a hand. It slid open to reveal a chattering and wurfling and bleeping Jinn.

The computer didn't even give her time to speak. "You told me He was dead!" it fairly shouted the moment the Chosen Daughter stepped one foot into the hidden command center.

Graysith refused to let the computer's impertinence leach her good mood from her. She merely smiled. "And you said you were always aware of everything that's going on in the Galaxy," she returned smoothly, fighting to keep her laughter from erupting into the words.

Jinn fumed, caught in its own web. For a moment it muttered darkly to itself; then, its voice a bit more respectful, it spoke up again. "Is He coming to visit me again?" it asked, its manner for all the world like that of a young child eagerly seeking the approval of its teacher for a lesson finally learned. "I've missed him so much..." Its cybernetic voice trailed off, suddenly embarrassed.

Graysith let her smile soften as she laid a pale hand quietly against Jinn's primary monitor. "Not as much as have I," she whispered. Then she firmed, dropping her hand to her side as she straightened.

"Jinn," she requested, command clearly evident in her voice. "Reach and seek all activity in a 20-kilometer radius of this Temple. We have had visitors; I feel that even now we need to... set a few extra plates at the table."

The saucy computer burbled to itself, seeming to recognize that one emotion it had in common with the Chosen Daughter, for when it finally spoke again its tone bespoke a 180-degree turnaround from its former insolence.

"There is a camp about two klicks from the northern entrance, coordinates being..." A string of numerals followed, which the Chosen Daughter ignored. Jinn didn't seem to notice; it just continued divulging all its exterior sensor droids had discovered. "There is a party of three human males and one human female within this camp; there is a 98.99875% probability that the female is...

"...your SISTER?!" It paused, its electronic ears clearly perked in insatiable curiosity. Graysith ignored the unvoiced question and merely crossed her arms.

Jinn sighed. "And there's another human male sneaking about the understory another klick or so NNW of the camp's location," it finished sulkily, somewhat cross that the Chosen Daughter wouldn't share information with it yet oddly hesitant to risk angering her now that He had returned to the Temple. "Again, from what the my droids can sense, there is a 91.7564% probability that this one is some sort of Force user, and a slightly smaller probability that it's another Jedi."

The smile never wavered from Graysith's face, but it now was somehow much, much darker. She tilted her head toward the now anxiously quiet Jinn. "Thank you, Jinn," she said in parting. "You have proven more than useful yet again. I shall be certain to inform Him of your loyalty and unerring capabilities. You can be certain that He will be well... pleased."

Without saying another word, she whirled gracefully and left the command center. The wall whooshed to an oily close behind her as she quietly left the Dining Hall and returned to the Great Hall, planning to inform her Dark Heart of what she had just learned.

Yet another Jedi....

"Do you think that there is anything that you may have that I am not aware?" sneered the Dark Lord.

Still, her face remained as serene as a carven mask. Jeroc must surely be seeing a little through her eyes, this one who seemed to be Wicked...but somehow was not. A clone perhaps? Who could say? As powerful as you seem to think you are...the Force is still more so.

He continued on. "As far as your request to leave...it is denyed."

NO! Cella wanted to cry out, but did not. Still, she felt no urgent sense of danger to her person. She got the impression that this pair of Sith found her too weak to pose a threat. Her pride fought momentarily with the relief sprung from her primal urge to stay alive.

A familiar image of a Sith Lord sprang to the forefront of his consciousness. Wicked? No, not him, for while he had courted Cella hard, this one gave her barely any regard at all, aside from forbidding her to leave the Temple.

NO! The cry was Jeroc's as well as Cella's, but he listened carefully to what his friend and companion had to say to him. . So I have to stay a little longer. What is it? You can find me when you come with Galen and Terrin to retrieve the Nar Khelba. I know you're afraid for me, but now is not the time to come charging in after me... He wished he could be as flippant about it as she seemed to be.

Jeroc knew that he was coming up on Danner's camp, and hoped they didn't assume he was some predator charging up out of the underbrush. As he approached the clearing, he sensed the rich Force presences of three men...

And one woman, carrying a very special child.

Carefully, he stepped out into the tent-filled clearing, hands at shoulder level, clearly exposing the lightsaber at his belt. "Peace," he said, his voice rusty from disuse. "I'm a friend. Cella sent me here?"

But that was where he was counting on the old Terrin Danner to come through. Granted, old Terrin hadn't been too nice of a fellow; frequently, he was nothing more than a jerk. But old Terrin never gave in and did whatever it took to take care of himself.

This time, that meant taking care of his whole group. And that's precisely what he'd try his damnedest to do.

The only difference was that this time he was willing to sacrifice himself if necessary.

This determination firmly implanted in his mind and in his heart, Terrin walked over to Galen and slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her close.

"She no doubt wishes to spoil any confidence we have in what we are doing," he said softly. "By taking the one person who might reach Shayla the most, and by taking the Jedi as well...they were significant components to our plan.

"But--" he continued, turning her to face him, "If we allow her to take our self-confidence before we ever reach the Temple, she wins before the game ever starts. Granted, my men and I don't have Force powers and don't have experience dealing with Sith, but I know them, and I know me. We won't give up so easily."

Before he could say anything else or she could reply, Matt came scurrying up to Terrin, looking a bit panicked.

"What is it?" Terrin asked, turning to face his assistant.

"I think Cella Poliani's partner just arrived," he said.

Terrin grinned. "And you left him with Jasyn?"

Matt grinned back.

"I'll be right there."

With that, Matt was off, and Terrin looked back at Galen a moment, suddenly feeling the need to tell her something to assure her that he was in this for the long haul, that he wouldn't back out, wouldn't give up...

...and that she shouldn't either.

"Don't worry about me," he told her. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to stay alive and get out of this on top, and I want you to do the same. I'm hoping," he continued on, pausing only a moment to try to figure out how to say what was pinging around in his brain, "that I'll get the chance to spend the rest of my life with you."

Gazing into her eyes, forgetting about the guys, the Jedi, and everything else around in this horrible excuse for a planet, he waited...

Why was Cella Poliani, who was certainly a prisoner, allowed to stay in the comforts of her own suite while Erik was held Sith knows where? Shayla didn’t understand this strange peculiarity, and she quite frankly didn’t like it either.

Surely Graysith knew the importance of him to her, so why the secrecy, the deception?

The answer to this question came simply. You are still not fully trusted. While you took care of the Temple in her absence and kept watch over those lurking without the Temple walls, Erik is a different matter. You love him, therefore you must prove you have Balance of the All before you are allowed to stray back to your lighter emotions.

But she had dealt with her Darker emotions, she knew them, could feel them...

But…while she knew of the Darker emotions within her from her past, what of those in her present? What, in fact, did she truly hate?

Shayla frowned as the reality of her dilemma hit home.

While you have come in contact with that which you Love, you have yet to discover, or rather admit, that which you hate. Granted, you dislike the Jedi and their ways, but truly you have no HATE for them.

So what was it that she, Shayla Petrolu, hated?

Frowning at the reality of her musings, Shayla turned and stared into a full-length mirror at herself. And the truth of the matter became obvious.

She didn’t know what she hated.

Wandering to her bed and sitting upon it, Shayla sat for quite a long time, pondering this question, seeking the answer. Then, quite suddenly and quite naturally, it came to her.

Assumptions. After all, the reason Shayla had been so angered with Cella Poliani was because she had assumed so much of Shayla and her Teacher. While Cella felt that Shayla had also assumed much of her, she neglected to realize that Shayla had been on both sides of the fence.

But was hatred of assumption enough? Or must the hatred extend further than even that?

As Shayla turned this question over in her mind, something Dark and Black began spinning within her inner eye.

You know what it is that you hate, Shayla Petrolu. You’ve hated it always, and you have yet to truly admit it even still.

But it’s there, and you are on the verge of truly understanding, truly reaching out and grasping the Power within the Hatred that you, even with your True Love, hold.

Her mind intent on her goal, her focus only on that little tendril of understanding that was breaking forth and beginning to spread, Shayla Petrolu reached out with a Hand Unseen and grasped the Darkness swirling within...

Then her frown deepened, as for the second time since the young woman's arrival in the Temple she sensed her sending a tendril of her being out into the mind of the young and innocent girl, with whom she too persisted in maintaining a link of her own. The fact that mental barriers were raised in protection of this link brought a spark of anger to her violet eyes. Spurred by this distraction, she hurried onward, the Glyph on her forehead lighting her way, M'wonBo'o whining his unease behind her and Nikk grumbling his disapproval in a deep and growly voice.

This time the Chosen Daughter did not let her anger subside. It buoyed her up, propelling her rapidly through the Dining Hall and into the darkened corridor beyond where she immediately headed toward the opulent room she had bestowed upon her adept-cum-sister. In but a mere few steps she was without the door, her hand raised to stroke the mosses growing there.

For a single moment she hesitated... then her pale hand continued the stroke and the door opened before her. There upon the very bed she herself had occupied so long ago sat her adept, a black scowl upon her face. Graysith fought down the instinctive urge to go forth and place a comforting arm about her young adept, fully aware of the difficulties at times presented in the task of truly facing one's inner self. She merely stood in the doorway, flanked by her two beastial guards, her jaw working and the Glyph slowly rising in intensity.

At length she spoke. Her voice was soft, but as penetrating as a vibroblade cutting through flesh.

"Adept!"

Shayla jerked her head up to face her Teacher, her eyes wide. She hesitated, seeming to seek what words she could say, trying to voice the questions Graysith clearly saw swimming in her greeny-blue eyes. The Chosen Daughter clenched her teeth in response; then, raising an arm she pointed imperiously toward the young woman.

"YOU WILL RISE IN MY PRESENCE."

Shayla gulped, looking at her Teacher as though she had never seen her before. But she obediently got to her feet and stood, albeit a bit uncertainly.

Graysith stared at Shayla, her face an unmoving mask, not one wisp of her own thoughts or feelings being given leeway to so much as peep their presence to her adept. She merely let her eyes bore into Shayla's for a bit, then spoke up. Her voice was as cold as it was stern.

"Apparently you forget the words my Sire has spoken to you. Words for the wise, which I thought you had taken to heart. Perhaps your memory needs a bit of...reawakening."

With that, she reached forth one hand, seeming to encompass Shayla's face from where she stood a good ten meters away. Shayla gulped again, and seemed to sway...

...then she jerked violently as images of another day, not too long ago, swept inescapably into her mind.

The dining hall, Graysith sitting in silence, Logan hunkering there, fork raised and a-quiver, that volcanic and fearsomely horned Sith Sorceror suddenly leaping up, taking Logan, sending him away, bringing him back...

...now bringing his darkly enigmatic visage to bear directly on Shayla, his essence easily ripping into her, sensing her dismay with how Logan might be perceiving her, what the jedi might be thinking, how he and the Chosen Daughter might be viewing her...

"It is not of concern one way or another whether my love and I accept you. Rather, you should be concentrating on your acceptance of us, if what my Chosen Daughter seeks to teach you has any true meaning to you at all. You persist in this struggle with your innermost self, with that core my love once took from you and, with reluctance for your own sake, gave back unto you again. Of this you must beware.

"It is only in acceptance that you will find balance. The battle that rages within you will not lead you to us. It will only lead you to what that pitiful padawan thinks you already are...."

"THIS WILL CEASE NOW."

The words segued into those uttered by Aelvedaar, melding so smoothly that at first Shayla wasn't quite certain if they were triggered from that day not too long ago, or had been spoken directly to her now. She blinked, remaining still, as though to see if Graysith had anything else to say to her in clarification.

Graysith merely lowered her hand to her side, her chest heaving as she let out a breath which carried upon it a snippet of a sensation that somehow bespoke of great... disappointment. She merely stood quietly then, her eyes still pinning Shayla's, offering to her adept one opportunity to explain herself.

Shayla tried to figure out a way to explain why she had done that which she had.

Granted, it might seem as though I am seeking the acceptance of the others. But if I were truly seeking that, I would have already been disheartened by the words and actions of Cella Poliani.

Calmy looking into the firey eyes of the other woman, well aware that Graysith could "hear" every inner thought, Shayla regarded her Teacher without fear.

"She is young," Shayla explained. "And she has potential. I make use of the link not to acquire her acceptance, but to peek the curiousity of a young mind still seeking to find a path."

Quietly, Shayla awaited Graysith's response. Expected her to lash out, to make it clear she had overstepped the boundaries...

For an endless moment Graysith merely looked at Shayla, recognizing the surprise rising up within her adept for the fact that the words she had just spoken were done so in the softest of whispers. She spoke no further, but cast another look upon her that was almost an entreaty of sorts...

...and then, the earlier anger and disappointment either cleverly masked or eliminated entirely, quietly turned to leave.

"You will be sent for."

These words came into Shayla's ears like the wafting of a gentle breeze. Then Graysith was gone, taking her tuk'ata and Noghri with her, taking as well the doorway as she left to go back to her Lord and Dark Heart. Behind her was nothing more than a moss-covered wall, a wall hiding her undoubtedly startled adept behind it, and one which only two souls in the Temple could ever return to it's former state.

Jeroc was still very much an enigma to her. Possessed of an almost eerie calm, he was hard to read at times...yet Cella didn't doubt the depth of his feelings for her. The times of quiet on the Pride of Yavin, when they'd held each other like drowning people clinging to life...how could she doubt him after that?

Although she was completely alone in the room, Cella blushed to her hairline. This was no time to be having such thoughts, she chided herself, but she couldn't help it. Perhaps in being Jedi, she had ignored her humanity too long. The idea that she was a woman with needs and wants had been long suppressed in her, buried under the strict code of the Jedi which dictated selflessness and sacrifice. Many were the demands placed on her by the Jedi Way...but she could no more abandon it than she could drain the blood from her own veins. There was simply no question about it.

You never knew me, Cella Poliani. Don't try to pretend that you did. Knifelike words flung at her from the fierce young woman who was her whole reason for being here. Cella admitted to herself that she had no true understanding of what had taken place within Shayla. But if it was anything like what Saden had tried to persuade her of...she had some idea.

Cella had been made an offer, and had freely chosen to go back to the Praxeum. Had Shayla been made such an offer? Or had she given in because it was the only way? Shayla insisted that this was indeed her choice, and Cella believed her, could even perhaps understand the lure Shayla had felt. I thought bringing Jeroc here would alienate Shayla. Looks like I did a better job of that than he ever would have done.

And this mysterious Dark Lord? She'd thought he must certainly be the one who'd kidnapped her, Timber Saden. But it wasn't him. This Dark Lord had no more concern for her than for an insect on the Temple wall. Saden, on the other hand, had believed in her potential, had held out a tempting vision of power...

And she sometimes saw herself, when she foolishly chose to run down the path of possibility, wielding the light and the darkness at His side...

Cella turned away her brooding thoughts and plunged headlong into the river of the Force, washing away doubts and fears, and replenishing herself for the task to come.

WHY???!!! an angry voice within her yelled. Every time I gain trust I lose it yet again!? What is this?

Shayla sought to trust the woman whom she called Teacher, but this move was strange and seemed rather cruel and uncalled for.

Still...

Maybe there was a reason for it, a lesson. But how many more times would she be trapped, in a world where no one exists or in the world as it was now?

Perhaps she wasn't really trapped even now...

Feeling the anger inside of her ebb and flow and letting it be just as it was, Shayla reached out a hand to touch the moss, suspecting to find herself a prisoner once again, hoping to goodness that she was not...

Her suspicions however, were confirmed. The wall granted her no admittance.

Just as I thought, her inward voice said. But...why?

Then, as the anger subsided within her, logical Shayla Petrolu emerged once again.

Slowly unclenching fists she hadn't realized she'd balled up, Shayla stepped back and regarded the wall before her, her error becoming apparent.

You dared to take the step of a Teacher in calling out to Thea even if your intentions had been good. You are trapped here now because there are others...

...particularly, ONE other...

you might dare to do the same with.

Mentally chastising herself, Shayla understood her mistake completely. Into the link she maintained even still with her Teacher, Shayla whispered humbly, "I understand. My action was taken in arrogance. I wish to teach, to show, those who might yet have a chance to see...

But I will await the completion of my training and self-discovery to do so before I dare to be so bold again, my Teacher...

...my Sister...

Graysith, however, clung to her first impressions of Shayla, content to see that they were not the stuff of dreams or wishful thinking. If nothing else occurred within the walls of this Temple, she would make certain that Shayla continued her course, remained true upon the road Graysith had placed her upon when she had first removed her from the Elseness that Aelvedaar had cast her into.

This one shall indeed be sister to me, she mused as she paused before the double door leading into the Great Hall. Indeed, I cannot think of any time hence without her as part of the new life which is to come....

Her spirits uplifted by these thoughts, all her former anger and disappointment completely eradicated, she flung a succinct message back into Shayla's mind.

Do not forget, my Adept. There is far, far more at stake than individual wants or desires; take a care you threaten this not by your unheeding actions.

Giving one graceful hand a casual wave, Graysith replaced the doorway to Shayla's room. Then, nodding quietly to herself in satisfaction, she entered the Great Hall, and glided up to take her place beside Lord Roan.

"My Lord," she began with a small bow of respect. "There is a child...."

She then proceeded to tell her Dark Heart about the young Thea, whom her Adept seemed to have such an interest in, and whom she also knew they could appropriate with the ease that she had sent the young child into her unnatural sleep.

"And--" she paused momentarily, then moved on smoothly. "There is a little matter of my Adept.

"What say you, my Dark One?" she finally ended as, quirking a brow to match the smile hovering about her lips, she waited to hear his response.

Sheesh, spit it out, buddy.

He smiled at her, deciding to run with it. "Something to keep in mind if things start to become too much to bear, cause I'd really like to make my commitment to you...permananent...SPIT IT OUT!...I'd like to marry you if...when we get through this."

She seemed to think it over, struggling with thoughts a bit, no doubt troubled more by what might happen in the near future over what they both hoped for in the long run.

He put a finger to her lips. "You don't have to answer me now," he said. "Take the time you need. There's alot on your plate and alot to worry about.

"But, beat the odds, if for nothing but what you have to look forward to."

Planting a small kiss on her forehead, he took her hand and nodded his head in the direction of where everyone else was probably gathered, a little further within the camp. "Now shall we go meet our Jedi friend, before Jasyn shoots the poor guy down?"

Giving no words of comfort, no reply; in fact, nothing at all, Shayla silenced the link with Thea. Shayla knew that her message to Thea had been foolish; something that satisfied a desire of her, Shayla Petrolu, and not something that was at that moment for the greater good.

But such things might change, in time.

The link, even though temporarily silenced, would remain. Shayla didn't quite know what maintained this link, but some things were just as they were, and should remain thus.

Knowing she might be sent for soon, feeling calm and quite in control, Shayla decided, gazing in her mirror once again, that she should do a little cleaning up and change out of the black jumpsuit she had taken so much to wearing.

Pulling a silver-colored jumpsuit out of the closet and matching it with her violet cloak, Shayla laid the clothing out on the bed and headed for the 'fresher.

Something was going to happen soon, she just knew it. And she would be ready...

...Physically, and mentally...

...for whatever lay ahead...

The man slitted his eyes at Jeroc. Jeroc took another deep breath.

"It concerns the Nar Khelba, and the lightsaber Cella promised to build."

And the Sith Lady, speaking with the one she called her "Dark Heart", the one whose true identity Cella still could not fathom. She sensed that Thea, because of her link with Shayla, might now be in some peril, though it was unclear to see. Cella was alarmed that the little girl was even an issue. If anyone should take the blame for the Jedi intrusion into the system, it should be Jeroc or Cella. Thea was so innocent, so young...

"Ah, Terrin Danner, I presume?" the man asked.

"Guilty as charged," Terrin replied. "Sorry if we are a little...ah...jumpy..." he added, eyeing Jasyn, who still looked like he'd rather not get to comfortable with this guy.

Well, buddy, the way our luck is running with our Jedi associates, maybe that's not such a bad idea. Let's just hope we can keep a hold of this one more than a standard hour.

"Alot has happened, even in the short timespan we've been here," he continued. "I think we should head for the Temple soon to up the stakes a bit and encourage the Sith to move in. We need to find Kartan and Jedi Poliani, and get the Nar Khelba.

"Now...there's the matter of the lightsaber for the Nar Khelba. Jedi Poliani was going to construct one for us, so I'm assuming that you will build one for us in her absence. I've had enough of this waiting around for something to happen," Terrin said, glancing over at Galen a moment then turning his attention back to the Jedi, "And I think my group will agree with me on that. My suggestion is to rest a while, construct the lightsaber, and then move in. "

...or are we going to have to try and steal yours too...? Terrin's shoulder devil growled. Once again, he tried his best to ignore it.

"I want my guys," he added, looking over now at Matt and Jasyn, "to get stuff ready for a bit of hiking." Then, giving each member of the group a glance, "After that, I seriously want everyone to try to get some rest. I don't know when we'll have the chance to do so again..."

I chewed on my lip a bit, considering. OK, ol girl; you don't need to worry about placing his life in danger by his being with you. He's clearly stated that he's standing with you in that regard, no matter what might come down the spacelanes. Scratch Objection Number One.

To go on, think about where you are going when all this is said and done. What kind of life lies ahead of you? Do you have a home to go back to? No. Any family to think about--?

My hand slid quietly to my stomach as those words crossed my mind. At first shying away from them like a nervous ikopi, I then firmed to face them head-on.

No family other than the one you are bringing into this world. No one really to return to and remain with, for whatever reason. So scratch Objection Number Two.

I couldn't help the little sigh which escaped me; with a somewhat guilty start, I looked quickly up at Terrin. Good, he didn't hear that. I thought. Then I turned away from him once again to think some more.

Ok, no family, no real plans, no worries about him, he's a strong and resourceful kind of guy, and good looking, too....

Now I cast a little look of another sort up at him. He continued moving toward the other side of camp, where I could see Jasyn confronting another man. I couldn't quite make out who it was; oh well, I'd find out soon enough. Back to the consideration....

Hmmm. Face it, the only time you've been anywhere near being happy in this past horrible year--before you met Terrin, that is-- was when you were free and on your own in "Jester," hunting for Jharmeen. But that heady sense of freedom could just have been a result of the purpose you were filled with.

Now, here you are. Soon to face her. One of you is gonna be walking away from all this... and Galen, if it's you, what are you gonna do then?

I almost stopped in my tracks at that, filled with a rush of something I could only describe as anticipated... loneliness. Somehow, I managed to keep my forward momentum going; I didn't want anything to grab Terrin's attention.

Gotta come to this decision on my own, and if he directs those damned blue eyes at me now it's definitely gonna skew the results, I thought, getting back into a steady pacing rhythm beside his long stride.

Alone. Face it; there you'd be again, all alone in the Galaxy... and it's a mighty big one, isn't it? You could go back to the Bounty Hunter's Guild world and join them; after all, Quee had made it more than clear that you would make a good hunter.

But then, you'd run the risk of facing Sorben again; besides that, is the life of a bounty hunter really the one for you?

Without realizing it I shook my head, oblivious to the sideways glance Terrin shot at me. I just kept on, letting my thoughts carry me forward toward Jasyn and the mystery man.

No. That is not the life for you. That's not any kind of life in which to raise a child; kids need, well, more... stability than that.

Hmmm.... you could go back to the jedi and raise the kid there....

Now a frown was creasing my face, and a dim little part of me was aware that even though Terrin was beginning to concentrate on the potential problem of who Jasyn was talking to, a good portion of his attention was aimed at me.

Like he's waiting. Well... Hell's Bells, ol girl, he IS waiting!

OK, Jedi praxeum is out of the question, I continued abruptly. Fat lot of good they did for you last time you were there... even though you did end up meeting Terrin. But it was all too easy for you to be snagged right out from under their noses, scratch that.

OK then, guess you've considered yourself right into an answer.

The frown on my face turned to a smile as I realized that really, I had known all along what my answer would be. I opened my mouth to whisper a quick response...

...and closed it with a snap.

Speak of the devil, I thought to myself as we came up in front of Jasyn and Jeroc. It's that jedi from the Praxeum. Oh whippie, so THIS is who they send to help us?

This wonderful revelation completely pushed the nice little warm fuzzies I had been starting to develop completely out of my system. Coming to a stop with Terrin, I merely crossed my arms and waited in stony silence, glaring at the jedi and waiting to hear just how he thought he was going to be anything other than bait for us.

For about one-eighth of a second he felt a bit guilty about this, then like a vapor that little feeling vanished into thin air.

If someone didn't take charge and lay out expectations for this mission, they weren't ever going to get anywhere. And aside from this Jedi, who Terrin really didn't see as someone who would just take the reigns and take charge, he WAS pretty much everyone else's leader here, and he suspected that Galen was waiting for him to make some calls since these WERE his men.

OK, so much for worrying about taking too much control.

Now shaking himself from his thoughts, Terrin finally looked around to see how everyone else was reacting. There was Matt, just quietly waiting, clearly sticking it out to see what Terrin did, just as he usually would. Jasyn, on the other hand, seemed to be pondering whether he should keep his hand on his blaster or not; Terrin couldn't help but be a little amused at the man's suspiciousness.

Galen--well--You've somehow been aware of how she has been reacting this whole time, haven't you, buddy? She'd remained pretty quiet, ever since he'd "popped the question"...Why did he hate the way that little expression sounded at the moment?...but in truth, that's precisely what he had done. Asking her to marry him hadn't taken much consideration or forethought. Even so, Terrin knew it was precisely what he wanted. Some things just don't take a lot of thinking over; sometimes you just know when it's the right thing to do. After all, the idea of making it through this mission to return to his spare and lonely quarters on the Hornett without her knowing just how much he wanted her with him was about as appealing as living in a sensory deprivation tank.

Pretty much forcing himself to pay attention to what was going on at this point, Terrin realized that Galen had her arms crossed and was looking pretty disgusted with this new Jedi arrival.

Glaring blaster bolts through him, no less.

Casting her a sidelong glance then directing his attention back to the Jedi to see if he agreed that they should construct the lightsaber then get moving--like he was going to bargain if the Jedi DIDN'T agree--Terrin just waited...

He glanced over at Galen, unsure whether he should say anything to her. He was completely aware that she was furious with him for letting Actar carry her off, and she probably had a right to be. However, he was talking to Terrin now, and he didn't want unnecessary conflict with members of Terrin's party at the moment. Jeroc turned his attention back to Terrin.

"I want you to know that Cella trusted you, and I am ready to do the same, solely on the basis of her judgement...though I do sense your good will." Jeroc smiled faintly, then his expression turned serious once more.

"However, there is one small problem. I could gather the parts for the lightsaber together, but without the crystal, I couldn't do much in the way of assembly. Every lightsaber is different, unique. The crystal is the most vital part of the saber, and without it, I cannot see in my mind how the parts wil come together to make a whole. I do wish I knew the dimensions of this crystal. However, I will try as best I can to construct the outer shell and set up the wiring. And then, perhaps, we will head to the Temple?"

"Okay, make whatever of the lightsaber you can before we get moving, then we'll be off. Depending on what happens, we will need you to help us out with...recovery...of our team members, but let's play this one thing at a time. So, first the lightsaber, then getting into the Temple."

The Jedi seemed to nod in agreement, and Terrin shifted his gaze to the somewhat-calmer Jasyn. Matt all along had been running through supplies. "The hiking packs are ready, Terrin," Matt said.

"Okay. Then we are ALL going to get an hour or two of sleep at least. Then, as soon as Master Mahoy is ready, we're going."

The other two guys nodded, and Terrin realized he'd probably repeated himself three or four times within the past five minutes.

Sithspit, Terrin, you really have your mind elsewhere.

Pushing all that aside, he turned to Galen, who was now glaring at the Jedi's back as he turned to retrieve whatever he needed to make the weapon. He opened his mouth to say something about that, then shut it as his eyes locked with hers.

Somehow he knew he'd have an answer to both questions that were floating around in his mind; the one he'd voiced just a few minutes before, and the one that he'd yet to ask, about why Master Mahoy seemed to be such an irritation to her.

As the two of them headed for the sleeping packs, Terrin remained quiet, all the while hoping for an answer to at least one of those two questions...

He stood looking upon her with such delight the all encompassing them in its razor sharp embrace. He raised a black clawed finger to her lips running the tip jaggedly, slowly across her bottom lip. His anger rose slightly that these insignificant "jedi" were ruining his homecomming; indeed it had been to long. Soon he tempered the all, soon. The palm of his hand cupped her check and his turquise eyes pierced her own. "There is much afoot my dark one", he wispered, "it is time for the events to proceed."

He turned on his heels knowing that his dark heart would follow him just as the swirling sith he so easily commanded. He trusted her as he trusted no one else. There souls were one, married in the All for all eternity. A slight grimace and pain touched his evil heart as certain immages floated to the surface. Immages that would have to be questioned at a later time but immages that could never change his feelings.

He glanced momentarily at the adepts once again restored door as he softly hissed "We shall see young one." The shadows seemed to well up in a mocking tidal wave before crashing against her door. This quick action sent chills through Graysith. Would her adept truely be capable of passing her Dark Lords tests? She would have to....

The Dark Lord strode through the Dining Hall; it was difficult to tell it it was his cape billowing or the ever present sith. He reached the doorway for the command center were he could hear Jin's delight. He entered the doorway turning slightly before stopping to allow Graysith entry.

He glanced at Jin, "it is time Jin, 'my brother'has been away to long don't you think my love?" He said the last with a slight pain to his evil smile bestowed upon Graysith. He allowed it to broaden "there are matters to be attended to at a later time but for now my dark heart, we have much afoot." He allowed his words to carress her as he pulled her to him in a stronge embrace befor kissing her full on the lips.

The all rose up in a billowy black smoke around them as the door slid shut.

"Awaken" it demonically growled a tail wipping around to catch is leg bringing glee to its owner at the razor sharpness of its contact. Erik knew that whatever this 'thing' was that small blow had drawn blood.

"My Lord, where have you been?!" it bleebled happily, it's primary sensory lens blinking rapidly, data streams scrolling across its monitor for Roan's edification. "Indeed, it is so good that you have returned! I have gone simply out of my way to take care of the Chosen Daughter in your absence...."

It wound down to a halt with those words, the electronic bleeps and chortles somehow sounding a bit on the anxious side.

Graysith merely smiled further, and took one graceful step out of her Lord's arms and toward Jinn. "My Dark Heart knows of your loyalty and prowess, Jinn," she said softly, not a hint of her earlier altercations with the recalcitrant computer marring her words. "And now you may continue with your usefulness toward him.

"He wishes to contact his...brother; I am sure you are fully aware to who it is we refer. Please do so now, dear Jinn, that my Lord may speak with him."

She then fell silent, melting back into Roan's arms, and quietly waited while Jinn followed her command, and through it, that of Dark Lord Roan. For a moment all was silent save for the soft clicks and chatters as the computer sought to link with another light years distant. Then the connection was made.

Slowly, the screen stabilized from static to a dark and fearsome countenance. One all horns and volcanic eyes, whose skin was the color of blood and whose demeanor as a cry of despair. The imposing visage stared silently for a moment from the screen, steadily looking out at the image of Graysith in the arms of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Then those volatile eyes closed, the horned head bowed in brief acknowledgement.

Believing this was who the Sith had sent for him, Erik forced himself to stand, blood oozing freely from the open wounds on his leg. He gathered all of his strength and presence of mind and said simply, "I am ready."

Leev? she called softly.

The niggle responded and slowly grew into sentient speech. Missstresssss?

His response was weak, but it was there. Are you injured badly? she queried. Though she knew the injury had to be significant to keep the Noghri down this long, the questioning was more to strengthen the creature's return to consciousness. As well as questioning, Shayla sent a tendril of her strength out to her bodyguard, bringing upon faster healing.

Better am I, he replied.

As the link began grow stronger, Shayla tapped into Leev's visual memory so as to see what he had before he was taken down.

The woman...the pregnant one, in an altercation with the Noghri. What happened was a blur, but at some point the woman was knocked unconscious and suddenly a lightsaber blade flashed.

Leev was critically injured.

Anger boiled up in the pit of Shayla's gut as she watched the scene. Terrin Danner and his little friend will pay for this, as will Cella Poliani.

Leev must have sensed Shayla's unspoken thoughts. Retrrrrrrrrieve one of these, shall I?

Shayla shook her head, as though the Noghri could actually see her. Not yet. Keep watch. I will ask Graysith if we should move in. You take care.

Healing, I am, he assured her.

Good, she thought. Then to the Noghri, I or Graysith will let you know what to do shortly, she said, turning her thoughts elsewhere.

This could be the perfect opportunity to snag another of these uninvited guests, but Shayla wouldn't dare to do so without Graysith's consent. Besides, she was uncertain as to whether Graysith wanted just the woman, or her and the others that Terrin had brought along. Although she'd only stated that she wanted the pregnant woman, having Terrin out in the Khar Delban jungle while someone he loved...yes, LOVED...was trapped in the Temple might not be the best scenario. Terrin Danner didn't have a lick of Force-sense, but he could be damned persistent when he wanted to be. Shayla's thinking was that if they took Terrin first, he would both be out of their way and would also make the perfect bait to entice the woman along. Although they seemed to be heading in this direction, the whole thing was taking forever.

Still, this wasn't Shayla's call, and she knew it.

Sending these thoughts out to her Teacher and letting her know that Leev was well, Shayla waited for the other to reply. Graysith seemed preoccupied at that moment, and Shayla didn't want to intrude. In the meantime, she kept her senses open to the watchful eyes and ears of her Noghri bodygaurd, who was staying well away from the camp of the intruders, but still close enough to move in, if that's what he was called upon to do...

"It is good to see you again brother, it has been to long," he said through his blackened smile. "The time for your return has come there is much to do and the time of the Sith Trinity is at hand. The Chosen Daughter has learned much and I am greatful for your.....
care of her in my absence." He said the last phrase with a slight snear. He could feel a chill run through Graysith at the carefull wording her Lord used. Yes there was much to discuss about her care in his absence but that could wait for a face to face meeting.

Erik could hear his claws scrapping the floor as his warden seemed to almost trot down the hallway. The pain was intense as he could easily look down at the gapping wound left on his leg that left a trail of blood in the hall. The creature looked back almost in torment as he wished to abandon his mission for the morsel but did not dare to disappoint his masters. Erik had to hold back the shivers from the cold of the sith mixed with his own blood lose.

The creature led his ward to the doorway of the chosen daughters old room. He turned only his eyes visible from the unholy shadows of the dimly lit hall. "You know what must be done," he groweled excitedly from his crouched position. He bent quickly to devoure one last treat from the hallway floor before opening the door to a starteled Shayla.

A very familiar male figure, no less.

As he stepped into her room, a rather blank yet somehow pained expression on his face, Shayla stood there numbly, unsure of what to do. As she took every feature of him in, she noticed a pool of blood developing on the floor where he stood.

Yet another one I care about, injured, she thought angrily. Stooping to the floor, she touched the wound and he winced, but at her touch it disappeared and his flightsuit became unmarred. Standing again, she gazed up at him, her blue-green eyes searching the depths of his dark brown ones to find...

...nothing...??? What was this?!

Taking a few steps back from him and allowing the door to close behind them, Shayla assessed the feelings welling up within him. He loved her, that she knew and he couldn’t dare deny it. But, there was something else about this whole thing that seemed...OUT OF PLACE somehow...

Coming up to him yet again, she took his chin in her hand and pulled him to her, planting a long and full kiss upon his lips. He didn’t resist her, but...

Stepping back from him, she frowned and crossed her arms, arching an eyebrow.

Had he come all this way, only to turn HER away?

“Shayla...I...” he started, his voice sounding strained. Then he firmed. “I love you, but I can’t be with you, not now. I don’t understand what this is you are becoming. I’m truthfully afraid of the Evil and cruelty I’ve seen surrounding it. I know this is what you want, though, so...you’ve made your choice.” The last words seemed to have a hint of an edge to them, and Shayla was frankly shocked. “I dismiss you, Shayla Stargazer Petrolu, to do that which you desire.”

Her look suddenly turned dark, and a chill rose within the room that had not been there before. But just as soon as the anger swelled within her, Shayla’s face hardened, evidencing no signs of the pure anger she had shown only moments before.

We can be together, you and I Erik,” she said. “But first you must learn the ways of the All. You can learn, just as I am.”

"The All?" he questioned, realizing that this was somehow the reality of that hideous dream which replayed in his sleep over and over.

"Only in time, shall you understand," she answered cryptically.

“Please,” he replied, now pleading, “Let me leave this place.”

She cocked her head at him, focusing on the emotion within him once again. She dared not even try to explain the All to him; she knew that if she thought he was capable, and he survived through all this that she would be allowed to show him the way.

But not yet.

That he was truly frightened was a given. Erik had never seen Shayla so direct, so decisive, so emotional. He’d also been through quite an ordeal, and he had succeeded in finding her. Shayla knew he wanted to go, and she knew even more that he wanted her to come with him.

But she wished to remain here, so here she would stay.

Him...well...

“You cannot leave this place. You know too much,” she explained, now certain that at some point her experiences here had been placed within his own mind. “You will learn the ways of the All,” she continued, her throat catching as she realized what she was about to say and that it indeed was very true, “Or you will be destroyed.”

Erik backed into the door, and went to open it, no doubt to run, to get away. Things were moving too fast, and he wasn’t at all certain that he was succeeding in that one task he had been required to do...

He had tried his best, and in truth, he wasn’t certain at all if this was the Shayla Petrolu he had been in love with...

...His emotions were spinning too fast; too much data was presenting itself for him to come to a solution in the mental state that he now found himself...

With the wave of her hand, Shayla locked the door. Erik, who was emotionally overwrought at this point, sank to the floor, horror filling his contenance as she, the one he loved...Yes, LOVED!...came to him. Terror took hold, having free reign in his mind and his heart. In only a few brief moments, before she ever came close enough to touch him once again, the world went black.

Suddenly feeling the need to keep him with her, Shayla telekentically raised him onto her bed. There she sat next to him, stroking his dark tresses, pondering.

Yes...he WILL be a part of my All. He has the strength. Only in time...

Now I straighten, my volcanic eyes boring into the brilliant turquoise pair before me, the smile on my face deepening to read the markings of this One. The smoky and near-black purples of the swirls upon his face merging almost seamlessly with the ebony of his skin denotes him as being a Sith Lord of the Warrior caste, as my own red integuement marks me as one of the Caste of Sorcerers. I blink my fearsome eyes slowly, and once again tip my horns to him, not in deference to him but rather a simple acknowledgement and greeting.

"It is good to see you have survived, Brother," I commented to him, reading the amusement in his eyes. I also read a touch of almost... ravening curiosity. I know his interest is picqued as to how I arrived in this time and place as well. But such revelations are for times when we have less of import to deal with; now there are intruders once again at the Gates, seeking to harm the Chosen One. This I sense as clearly as I do her discomfort at my brother's face-to-face meeting with me here... such as it is. Nothing must happen to this One; she is all there is in whom the All has combined.

I let this thought enter into my Brother's mind as I continued speaking aloud with him. "I am aware of those who hover outside the Temple. Indeed, there are a few I have already toyed with; purely for idle entertainment, you understand."

Now my own fangs are exposed as I smile fully and with suddenly deadly intent.

"I have come to a near finish in my machinations in this hidden place," I said succinctly. "If my presence with the two of you is desired, if the Trinity is to form, then I--"

I reach out one clawed hand, grasping the molecules which make up the fabric of spacetime, and with one simple gesture weave them into a simple tunnel through which I step...

...into the Command Center of the superb Temple of the Sith. My smile now broad and genuine, I continue to reach out that same hand, grasping his forearm with it, swelling with satisfaction at the strength of his returning grip upon my own. His other hand slaps my shoulder; mine makes contact with his in turn.

"--I shall come, as indeed I have. And this time..."

I turn to Graysith, boring one final look into her magnificent violet eyes.

She merely fought back the disclosure by which her eyes betrayed her, closing her eyes now to hide it as she bowed her head to the arrival of Aelvedaar. Then, leaning back a bit more into Roan's embrace, she slowly opened those eyes, opening her mouth as well to greet his arrival...

...and stopped.

Her head tilted. Her mouth soundlessly closed. Slowly, her eyes began to slit, and the Glyph burst out in ravening hunger on her forehead.

Though she turned to her Lord, she was clearly speaking to both of the Sith there.

"He is failing... and she loves him yet," she hissed in a low voice. For a moment she stood silent, her eyes focusing inward to "see" the drama being enacted in her old quarters. Then she brought herself back to the two Dark Lords.

"I will yet have this Adept, and fully, my Lords," she finally whispered. "For with her also by my side do I find yet another form of...balance."

She quieted, directing her gaze now from one to the other. Somewhere in the darkness beyond the Command Center, a worried M'wonBo'o lifted his face to the heavens and yowled.

The Jedi, it had to have been them. He had believed in her in her darkest hour, when hate welled up within her more than anything else in the Universe. They must have convinced him while he had traveled with them that she was all evil, that she could never love him and be full of the anger that she was.

[i]But...when she looked at him...

Erik jolted upright, looking at her uncertainly.

Suddenly, she didn’t know what to say to him. He had journeyed a great distance, he had loved her...

...maybe he loved her no longer? Maybe he could no longer be at her side, with her believing in the Darkness within herself as much as the Light...?

But then...

He too was a non-Jedi, trained til he was a young teenager; trained until he turned away from his trials, believing them to be more than what was considerable

So then why was he...?

Reaching out into his mind’s eye, through a link she and him had since she had realized how very deeply she loved him, Shayla examined the recent memories within the mind of the man.

"She believes she has tapped into that DARK side of her being, but this is not so. This she must do, if that which she now seeks OF HER OWN VOLITION is to come about within her.

"You cannot know of what I speak, but I say this unto you: complete balance of one's self is the goal. There is a great and quite enduring love within her, which must be equally balanced or that which she seeks will forever elude her.

"The result of THAT, of course, can be nothing other than her death. It is an all or nothing lesson, my young friend."

Then, memories of anguish, of horror, of unrequited love washing through his mind, his heart, his soul, breaking his very will...

[i]Her life hangs by the thread of her belief in your dismissal of her. How convincing can you be, Erik Kartan?"
Quite suddenly, and with penetrating blackness anger flashed within Shayla Petrolu, hot and furious.

SHE HAD DONE THIS! THE VERY ONE THAT WHOM SHE HAD TRUSTED! TURNING HER OWN LOVE AGAINST HER!

Granted, Shayla understood that Graysith most certainly did not want her death, just as she would not want for Erik, but with sudden reality and clarity Shayla realized...

...she couldn’t and wouldn’t let him go.

Suddenly aware that if anything at all was to be done that now was the time, Shayla took his hand and without any explanation lead him along at a quickening pace through the doorway of her quarters and through the hallways of the Temple, stopping only momentarily to pull a startled Cella Poliani from her quarters. Shayla lead the trio to a hidden door down below, picking the largest one of the ships there that she could find.

Placing a still dumfounded Erik at the controls with her at the copilot’s station and Cella Poliani strapped in behind, the bunch blasted out of the Temple, into Khar Delban atmosphere, and then into Khar Delban space.

If anyone had tried to stop them, they hadn’t moved fast enough to do so. Shayla suspected that the move had taken everyone by surprise.

And her Teacher...

Her heart throbbed with pain. Her sister...who had tried to turn her love from her...

...but her sister even still...was no doubt furious. Shayla sent out a tendril of apology, uncertain if Graysith had heard her, or if she even wanted to hear her anymore.

The little ship now in the confines of hyperspace, Shayla assessed the horrific reality of what she had just done.

She would die for this. If not, she would be hunted for the rest of her life. But to be forced to deny the love she had for the one person in the Universe who had accepted her...?

...no way.

Why she’d taken Poliani along, Shayla wasn’t sure. She suspected Cella didn’t know either; the woman hadn’t uttered a word, and Shayla was truthfully still furious with her for harming Leev.

...Leev...

Sighing, she stood, pacing the floor, suddenly petrified with the possibilities of what could happen to her for this which she had done.

Erik, who had placed the ship in autopilot, came to her and took her in his arms, where she practically melted, all the former bravado from before leaving her.

“I shouldn’t be here...I’ll be killed...she’ll kill me,” Shayla moaned. Then she turned, gazing into his eyes. “Erik...I....I...”

One moment, in which a silent if somewhat mocking challenge had been passed from her violet gaze to into the turquoise and saffron ones before her.

One moment, in which eternity and destiny danced a lithe and beckoning duet before her....

One moment... which changed in but a nanosecond to encompass a lifetime.

"BETRAYED!!!"

Graysith gasped, whirling from the grasp Roan had upon her, the Glyph flaring to match the fire in her eyes. She took an instinctive step forward, another... and yet another, her hands raising as if to reach out and grasp a fleeing desire, the hot admixture of fury and deepest and most absolute sorrow flooding her in a rushing wave. She was scarcely aware of the hands which in turn grasped her shoulders, holding her back, talons digging in whether for support or focusing pain she really didn't know....

Nor did she care.

"No-o..." Now a choking sob rose up within her; in a rush, all bravado, all fury, all sinking and giving way before a denial she refused to see beyond.

She stood, shaking in rage, trembling in pain, wanting to shrug off the hands upon her, wanting to run into His enveloping arms, wanting her Sire to teach her what to do....

Daddy, help me...!

Her head jerked up, a new darkness clouding her eyes as the wisp of a suggestion rose up within her, now vying with a simultaneous rush of confusion and something akin to despair. For another moment, raw emotion roiled within her breast...

...and the Glyph stuttered and darkened to ashes upon her brow...

...for a moment.

She finally stood quiet, her head hung down, her hair tumbling about her face, hiding her face, hiding the struggles of the Glyph as it sought radiant life within her again. Deep within, far down inside in a part she didn't even know existed, a dim little voice murmured one tiny question:

"What are you doing here, Jharmeen?"

Then, from shadows even deeper still, a low growl rose into a roaring crescendo as the Beast awakened, clawing, scrabbling with flat pewter eyes and glacial heart as it reared up and slammed that particular door closed with a finality to end all finalities. Turned round within her, slavering to rend and tear and devour.

Her head flung back with the simultaneous ignition of the Glyph. Her eyes darkened to the deepest garnet, and the voice she spoke up in was colder than the grave.

"This one has indeed a grave error made, my Lords," she whispered, avoiding both sets of eyes by staring stonily off into a destiny only she could see. "Almost as grave as the one I did.

"My Sire." Here she turned to face a rather concerned-looking Aelvedaar. She cast one pleading look into his eyes, then fell to one knee before him, her head bowed.

"I beg forgiveness, my Sire," she murmured. "I had the effrontery to do that which I myself stated my Ad-- that is, the...Padawan should not do. I took it upon myself to teach, when instead I myself am still but a learner. I turn myself over to thee for whatever discipline thou sees fit to deliver... but of thee I ask the boon that thou stayest thy hand from thy Chosen One for just a short period of time."

Now she raised her eyes to look directly into those of Aelvedaar. He remained silent, stern... but deep within his volcanic eyes there flickered a slight flame of assention.

Now she turned from him, one hand reaching out to stroke Lord Roan's cheek as she cast her eyes deeply into his wonderful turquoise ones.

"With the All, there is the brightest of Light... and the deepest of shadowy Dark. For thee, I hold the light of love, and always will. It brightens as I touch thy face; it lightens further as I think of our future together.

"But now it needs it's own balance... and balance it I will. My lord, grave injury has been done to thy soulmate; revenge is mine, and sweet it shall be. I plead that in my...absence, you bring me the sister of mine who by blood is called that still, for yet will the Child be delivered unto us.

"If that...accursed Jedi will no longer my sister be, nor willing adept of the beauties of the All; she shall NOT go forth to spread our knowledge and threaten our goal.

"I shall set straight the error of my ways. And then shall I return to thee."

Reaching up to cup his face with both hands, she kissed him long and firmly on the mouth. Then, snapping her fingers, she whirled and strode unimpeded from the Command Center, leaving her love with her Sire, taking her tuk'ata and Noghri Commander, snapping up along the way the malodorous Maladius. Her steps determined and steady now, the Glyph lighting her way, she led her strange entourage to where she had hangered her little Sith ship.

In but moments she was aboard, firing up the systems, checking her Claw and lightsaber, wherein there still lurked the Nar Khelba. She held out the lightsaber and considered it as one would a particularly noisome bug. Then, her lips curled in a grimace, she wrenched the crystal from it's interior and affixed it safely and securely on her Claw of S'slan once again.

With a final grimace she waved her hand... and the lightsaber crumpled like the skin of a windsail.

Making a final adjustment on her navigation board, she smoothly blasted forth from Khar Delba, reaching out with her talents, using the All to follow the trail the departing group left in the fabric of space and time, a trail brightly lit, and in that brightness one in complete opposition to the fate she planned for them all.

"Shayla?" he asked, feeling totally helpless.

"Erik...I...I..."

She was damned. And if she didn't do something to get off this ship, every one of them would be.

And there was that little tendril of herself that ached for her furious Teacher, who no doubt felt betrayed...

BETRAYED! SHE BETRAYED YOU...

But...she didn't want you, Shayla Petrolu, dead...she didn't want you to go...

SHE WANTED YOU BY HER SIDE, AND SHE WANTED HIM TO LET YOU GO SO YOU COULD BE THERE!

Suddenly, Shayla took the seat at the pilot's station, Erik watching numbly.

"Strap in," she told him, her calm returning to her, the confusion from before vanishing as she pointed to a chair. "We're going back."

"SHAYLA!" he yelled. The ship tumbled out of hyperspace as he fought with her for the controls. She pushed him back, and readjusted. Hyperspace returned, this time heading right back to their original starting point.

Whatever Erik had hit on the floor of the little ship had knocked him out cold, and Poliani was at his side.

Shayla turned to glare at them both.

She'd made a critical error. She'd lost the faith in the one who was teaching her, yet again, and she might be killed even though she was now returning...

...but she would return to her Teacher, her SISTER, and this time, she would not fail...

Then...

Something snapped, he could see it in her eyes and feel it in that link between the two of them. Suddenly all that anger that he felt somehow...shifted...from the Sith woman to...to...

...him?!

He read Shayla's thoughts: He had been asked to let her go, to allow her to learn that which she wanted to learn, and he had failed. Suddenly Shayla took over the controls, and as the startled Jedi looked on, he struggled with her to regain control of their stolen ship.

Shayla would not yield. Instead she shoved him back with a power he did not know she possessed, and he hit the deck of the ship, something knocking him hard enough that the world began to grow dim.

She was taking them back to that Temple, to that Teacher of hers. And Heavens help them all, she was intent to succeed in that which she had begun...

Graysith remained at her command chair, silent and still as a rock, her eyes affixed to the horrendous whiteness which gibbered outside the forward viewport. Under normal circumstances she would have found the sight a comforting one; now she saw upon that pristine canvas the scrolling of events which sprang forth from her mind.

Her companions, while not actually seeing any images, seemed to sense them as well. Nikk came up to her without a sound, voicelessly taking a position next to her, his simple spear ready to slice whatever adversary they might soon come up against. M'wonBo'o hunkered off to one side, trying to keep his thirteen-foot frame out of the way of his Mistress... as well as of that of the dark and sinister Maladius, who merely sat off to one side by himself, gleefully biting his own lips and licking the blood from them with his whip-like tongue.

Graysith cut her eyes to him briefly, shuddering. Dark though she might have within herself, even she found his presence... disturbing, and for a moment she silently chastised herself for bringing him along with her. Then she squared her shoulders, and was literally in the process of returning her dark gaze to the viewport when a digital readout began scrolling mysterious runes on a proximity screen.

Ahh... there they were... and, strangely enough, the signal seemed to be accelerating in a ratio which out-stripped their current velocity. Which could only mean one thing.

The stolen ship was coming directly at them, and according to the trajectory "Chosen One" had been following, in complete indication that it was actually retracing it's own trail.

Graysith frowned, immediately on guard. Why in the name of the All would the ship be coming back? Perhaps the Padawan had seen the error of her ways, or realized the futility of eluding her and so was coming to beg mercy. Other reasons popped into her head as well; she could quite easily have reached out with her talents and determined this by use of the All, but in her present state of mind the last thing she wanted to do was...taint her essence by mentally mingling it with Shayla's.

Then I shall determine the cause by more traditional methods, she thought darkly as, playing the navigational board with swift and graceful fingers she brought Chosen One out of hyperdrive... and with the extension of a retaining field grabbed hold of the pilfered ship and yanked it out with her.

Turning to Nikk, she commanded, "Stay here and monitor the situation. Should something happen, return to my Dark Heart, and bring out the wrath of the Sith.

"You!" Now she pointed an imperious finger at the gibbering Maladius. "You shall attend me!"

The dark being spoke no word, but eyed her with his bloody gaze. His dark head dipped in affirmation; his long and pointed tail lashed about as though in preparation for the havoc he so clearly wished to wreak.

Graysith merely ignored him. Reaching down to her thrimm, she removed the Claw of S'slan and placed it on her finger. An ultraviolet bolt of the All shot out, wrapping itself around the finger and highlighting the Claw in it's St. Elmo's fire as in that electric dance macabre it physically adhered the Claw to Graysith's flesh. Nothing short of death... or her own desire... would remove it.

Her eyes darkening with purpose, she waved a graceful hand to open the pathway...

...and calmly stepped forward into the returning ship, there to stop short in front of a fearful and agitated Shayla. Off to the side, a startled Cella Poliani looked up from where she was ministering to Erik, who lay quiet on the ship's deck. A wealth of emotions flew across the features of the jedi, and in one fluid and graceful movement she rose to her feet, her body tensed, her fisted hands raised to prepare what small defense she could against the Chosen Daughter and the Dark One who accompanied her.

Graysith gave her a stony glare. "I tire of you, Jedi," she said calmly. Then--

"Be thou still."

A small wave of her hand, and something reached out from somewhere with the care and strength of a hungry opee. A second later, and Cella had joined Erik on the deck of the ship.

Graysith then turned her gaze on Shayla. To give the woman credit, she stood her ground, although it was clear she was terrified. Muscles clenched in Graysith's jaws as she slowly raised her hand, her finger pointing at her once-adept in an accusing manner, the Claw seeming to smile with the power which would soon be unleashed upon her...

Then she stopped, the arm outstretched. The clenched muscles gave way to a brief bout of lip chewing of her own. Her eyes darkened into abyssal pools as she pinned Shayla with an unrelenting gaze.

"Why?"

Then, for obscure reasons even she did not understand, she held back the blow... and gave the Padawan one final chance to explain herself.

Strangely enough, it never came.

That Graysith was furious could not be denied; her eyes betrayed any attempt to conceal that though she was certainly making no attempt to do so at all.

"I love him," Shayla started, looking the woman straight in the face. "I believed that you manipulated him into telling me he did not love me so as to turn me from him. So, I left. Why I took the Jedi with me, I am unsure. For a while I was certain I was doing the right thing, then I realized you desired his dismissal of me to test the strength of my loyalty with you..."

Dropping to her knees, Graysith still remaining damnably frozen in space, Shayla dropped her face to the cold deck of the ship, afraid to look upon the other's countenance any longer. "I have failed you," she moaned. "What can I do to repay you the debt I have so blindly accumulated?"

Quieting herself, suddenly shocked to find a few tears of her own pooling on the decking of the ship as the reality of the pain she had caused her Sister became horribly apparent, Shayla waited...

...and yet, the image of the young woman wavered through the sudden tears which came into her eyes.

Giving her head a little toss, angry with herself for her own weakness, her long and flaming hair clouding about her, the Chosen Daughter slowly lowered her arm a centimeter or two...

...until the lethally sharp tip of the Claw was pointing directly at the nape of Shayla's neck.

She stood there in rock-solid silence, unwavering, blinking to remove the damning tears from her eyes, keenly aware of the gibbering Maladius who had slithered over to see if the yet-unconscious Erik was bleeding anywhere. A brief shudder coursed through her; with some effort, she redirected her focus back toward Shayla once again.

At length she spoke. Her voice was scarcely above a whisper, yet penetrated deeply into Shayla's very soul.

"How can I ever trust you again?"

She spoke no more, but simply waited, the Claw never moving from its intended target.

How can I ever trust you again?

Some little voice within her mind whispered cruelly, THIS is what you have done. She has been betrayed by her blood sister, as YOU have now betrayed her as well. You deserve to die for this...

Shaking with sobs, Shayla wasn’t sure if she could muster the strength to reply, the weight of what she had done in her state of temporary insanity pressing even harder upon her.

Then she firmed, still shaken, still on the floor but slowly looking up, her watery blue-green eyes cutting up to her Teacher, whose arm was frozen still to deliver the blow Shayla had expected, whose eyes were as watery as her own.

She grasped for the only thing she could think of to say in reply to the question. “Search my feelings; know my sorrow at the despair I have unheedingly caused you. Though rekindling the trust between us may yet take some time, my...temporary insanity has shown me how I yet need instruction and guidance. And I desire to know, to understand, not for the knowledge only, but to aid you, to right the wrong...

"...to help you acquire the Child you have been so wrongfully denied. Leev yet awaits the word to move in, to capture the one who carries the Child and those who might protect her. I ask of you...

"...I beg of you...

"...the chance to return to the Temple and to your side.”

Shayla and the Sith were talking, the Sith seeming intent upon taking Shayla down, yet remaining somehow...frozen...as Shayla begged for forgiveness.

BEGGED FOR FORGIVENESS?!

Suddenly infuriated with this woman who had taken hold of his Love, who had comandeered her mind into believing somehow that Shayla owed her something, Erik drew his blaster, and pointed it dead at the Sith.

This was about to end, right here and now.

What he hadn't calculated upon, as the Sith woman turned to glare at him, raising her arm to yet fire that weapon of hers upon him again, was Shayla's reaction to the thing which he was about to do.

As she raised her head, speaking to the woman, she had spotted the motions he made, and her look of sadness, tears still free-flowing, hardened into a glare directed at him.

No!!! she seemed to yell silently.

Then, before he could squeeze the trigger, before the Sith could strike him unconscious, a Force-blow so completely powerful that the Universe in front of him exploded into rays of every color in the spectrum slammed into him . The blaster was yanked from his hand, by whom he didn't know, and yet another blow from somewhere rocked into him.

This time as he passed into unconsciousness, his mistake had become clear.

Shayla was not at all being comandeered by this woman. Though she might still love him, she had suddenly and quite certainly chosen to be a part of whatever bond she and this woman shared.

...Heavens help them all, indeed...

Still holding the Claw pointed toward the unconscious Erik, bypassing the likewise unconscious Cella and with another wave of her hand assuring herself that the jedi would remain in that state for at least another thirty minutes, she slowly turned her gaze upon the trembling Shayla.

A heartbeat passed between them.

Maladius drooled and chattered insane non-words, skittering this time to Erik and beginning to find a tasty little snack in the form of the young man's right wrist. Though appearing to totally ignore the dark entity altogether, Graysith in fact was keenly aware of every move he made, if by no other reason than the quick rush of pain which flew over the face of the Padawan before her.

She cocked her head, seeming to wait and see what Shayla would do. The young woman merely lay in silent entreaty before her, even though she was undoubtedly going through seven kinds of hell for her love.

The Chosen Daughter blinked again, scrutinizing Shayla's very soul with the intensity of the Look she pinned her with. Then slowly, achingly, she lowered the weapon which had up until this point remained completely focused on Erik's throat.

"By this one act you cheat death, padawan!" she hissed through her teeth. "It yet remains to be seen whether or not this is permanent, or merely a postponement."

Now she crossed her arms, her violet eyes slitting as she stared down at Shayla, the pain she had gone through still evident in her demeanor. "Indeed must you earn my trust in you, padawan, before you learn anything further from me, or from my own Sire or Lord.

"Think you this is some light game, that when you tire of it you may blithely run off with the knowledge bestowed upon you?"

Suddenly she kneeled down, one hand reaching out to lightly touch the top of her head.

"It is not that I do not trust you with this, Shayla. There are others in this Universe far, far stronger than you, even with the potential you show. We cannot dare run the risk that what we command be brought forth. It must remain in the sole command of the Sith, used by the Sith, and only for the Sith. For the good of them all."

Rising to her feet, she pointed with her free hand to the rock-still Erik.

"Can I trust you now to adhere to that All, for the good of the all? Can I trust that your affection for this one will never impede your path again?

"Can I trust that you have in you the ability to kill him if it becomes necessary that you do, or to stand quietly by while I carry out the task?"

She paused for a calming breath, slowly lowering her hand to her side. The ravening Glyph shadowed down upon her brow, throwing the ship's interior into a dimness in which the hideous slurping noises once more resumed.

"Tell me now, Shayla. Look up at me, into my eyes and through them into my soul. Give me an answer to this question:

"What shall we do with him now?"

He could not, he would not stand in the way of this thing she had now committed herself to, in the way of the link which she had with her Teacher, who needed her, and whom she needed as well.

"What shall we do with him now?" Graysith asked, her finger pointing accusingly at Erik's motionless figure.

Gazing at his face for a minute or two, Shayla calculated: this would be a difficult decision. Should they send him back to Stargazer Cooporation? No, he knew too much. Could they blank his mind then send him back? No, too many others there to trigger the memory and bring him right back, IF his love for her after what she had done was still in tact. Having him roaming around the galaxy, clued in even at the very smallest level of what she was learning, could be possibly disastrous...

What should they do with him? Shayla didn't know. The possibilities of what could happen if they simply let him go were fairly horrific, while the possibilities of keeping him within the Temple, although possibily just as disastrous, would at least protect him for a time and might possibly give him a chance to understand...

...for better, or for worse.

Shayla looked up into the eyes of the waiting Graysith, forcing herself to stand on yet-trembling legs that were stilled only by her determination to let the emotion guide her but not take control. "If we release him, he could yet be of harm to the cause we have to fight for even yet. His mind could be blanked, but there are numerous others who know what he should if this was done.

"Shall we then imprison him until I have redeemed myself, determine if indeed he is capable of what I believe he is, then decide his fate...

"...at whatever cost it may require...?"

Standing yet frozen, her face a mask of total calm while her eyes belied the true emotion she felt, Shayla waited as Graysith contemplated her words...

Graysith slitted her eyes as she slowly lifted her hand, the Claw pointing once again toward the unconscious young man. The crouching Maladius looked up with a start as he sensed impending doom which hovered about his head; with a little drooling giggle he slithered over to where the Jedi lay quiet on the deck and resumed his earlier nibblings upon her.

Graysith utterly ignored the dark entity. Her eyes were only for Shayla's; they pinned her greeny-blue ones with an intensity that could stop a supernova if she so desired.

Once more a heartbeat passed between them...

...and then a coiling tendril of Elseness writhed into being from the very molecules of spacetime, rapidly encompassing the young man in its blackness until he was scarcely visible. The blackened lump remained on the deck for a brief moment...

...and then slowly flattened and disappeared.