Nikk stood smiling before her, his spear held loosely between his hands. "Much to learn have you, Lady," he grinned mischievously as he gave the weapon a twirl, then brought it to battle-readiness in front of him once more.

Graysith merely shook her head, then raised herself upright. A responding smile crossed her features as she tossed the wet locks of hair from her face. "It is beyond me why I must learn to wend this hideous and primitive sword," she replied, indicating the blade with an extended hand. "I have the use of the All at my disposal. That is ever so much more elegant... and not to mention, overpowering."

The Noghri only grinned in return. "Not your own choosing this lesson is," he reminded her. "The Dark Lord this has decreed, his Lady a Warrior bride to be."

Graysith sighed. "Yes Nikk, I know that," she finally agreed. She grew momentarily mute as she quickly ran over the events which had led her to this one particular moment in spacetime. That portion of her which she now accepted as being "Graysith" found nothing particularly untoward in those unreeling memories; it was Jharmeen who yet remained a touch over-awed by it all.
But who also remained accepting of it....

The Sith. That ancient and once all-powerful civilization, reduced from their towering heights to a level which bordered the primitive, sent crashing there from generations of squabbling and mistrust. The Sith, progenitors of a rare few who could discern the dead end they were travelling upon, who knew what their future entailed, who knew the Dark Jedi would over-run and destroy them... and who in the final moments had discovered the beauty of the All but not with time enough to set its powers in motion for them. The Sith, who with her assistance as Chosen Daughter, would be brought forth once more in all their glory, and who would then turn to Roan and Aelvedaar for leadership, to learn of the All and how to use it...

...the Sith, who would be instructed to turn to her, Graysith, and from her learn once more how to trust.

Graysith was prodded rather abruptly from her musings as Nikk's spearpoint flashed to her throat and tickled her there. "Memories serve not the dead," he warned her succinctly with a meaningful arch of his brows.

The Chosen Daughter smiled a touch ruefully, then retrieved the gleaming Rora'Kessh from the stone floor. Crouching into ready position, her left hand outstretched, the sword-bearing right upraised over her head with blade parallel to the floor, she waited for Nikk's next assault.

Giving herself a little mental shake she managed to pull back from that hypnotic stare, and in doing so her thoughts flashed back to another day when he had stood before her thus, lightsaber flashing down upon her as he came to her in attack. Thoughts of how that lesson had progressed only provoked a little smile in her; bowing to Roan, she straightened nearly upright, Rora'Kessh held in a loose but ready grip.

He COULD just leave here. No one was paying him any mind. And why would they? They'd offed Shayla. Why would they care about him?

But then, if they'd felt the need to get rid of Shayla, why would he still be free?

Though the logical portion of his mind was slowly beginning to point out that he might not have all the facts to reach a conclusion, he wasn't ready to deal with other possibilities. All he knew was that Shayla was gone, and her last few moments that he'd sensed were those of fear.

The uncertainty was driving him crazy. He was angry, and he wanted to know the truth. But he couldn't get into that Temple again, not without her.

Or could he?

Leaving the Relentless where it stood for the moment, he headed back to the Temple seeking the truth...

They granted him no admittance.

Angrily, he slammed a fist against the door, not caring that the motion in turn drew blood. Grasping on to a clump of the moss that had grown about the door, Erik let his anger run rampant in his psyche.

This was not the Jedi way. He shouldn't be letting his pervade his thoughts so.

But dear gods, he'd searched the Universe to find this woman that he loved when everyone else sat on their collective rears. He'd stayed with her even though she hadn't yet truly professed her love for him, even when he was uncertain of her new beliefs. Of her new way of life.

The sorrow was too great to bear. He just had to know the truth. He HAD to avenge her death, if that was in fact what had happened.

This was not the way of a Jedi...

...but then he wasn't a Jedi, was he? In fact this sort of thing was the reason he had never completed training. His love was dead for all he knew, and he was supposed to sit back with total calm and just take it?

Yeah right.

Gripping the moss in his hand even more tightly, he stood at the door and lost track of time, the saddeness overwhelming him so much that he was no longer seeing the doors in front of him, but the face of his love.

The woman he wished to spend the rest of his life with. But she was gone...

Then, some menacing voice pointed out that he didn't have a clue what he was doing, and questioned just what he did intend on doing should he find out she was dead. These were the Sith after all, and they were even more powerful than the ones history had given.

But he would do whatever it took, even if it meant giving his life. At least then he could be with her again.

He'd fought too long and too hard for her to let her go like that.

"I don't understand," she whispered simply. Then she fell silent, waiting for an explanation.

I reach out to her gently, and take up her slim hands in my clawed ones. My volcanic eyes take in the small defiance her rounded yet still lithe form is presenting to the Universe; I squeeze her hands once and then begin.

"You know I have chosen you as the One to initiate the Resurrection of the Sith," I begin. I pause to let her nod in agreement, then bear onward. "While you first believed you were to unite the Sith Lords to use the power of the All in this achievement, you now know that instead your destiny was to unite with a Dark Lord of the Sith, to bear his child. The unity of Light and Dark created in that childling would result in the strength necessary to operate certain... magickal devices. The strength of the All would then be funneled, and the Sith civilization would -- will -- be brought forth again to obtain its former glory."

I pause again, searching deeply into her violet eyes. There I see momentary clouds; one slim hand goes instinctively to the roundness of her belly as though seeking assurance of what is there. She nods again, albeit a touch slowly. I clench my jaws, seeking the right words to speak.

"You must understand from the viewpoint of the Sith," I went on after a bit of thought. "They were in decadence, depravity. Though they did not deserve the horrendous death the Dark Jedi dealt unto them, they were still far from the glory and morality my brother and I try to uphold. This was recognized over four thousand years ago... and to that end there were three who were themselves chosen, preordained to hold them in their hands, to teach them and lead them in strength through the All into their new beginning.

"These three were brothers, Dark Lords all, the heads of their respective clans, who were to be sent forth through the All to the Time of the Chosen One. I--"

Here I pause and bow my head in deference to her, as well as to the sudden realizations I see flooding into her eyes. "I, Aelvedaar, am the Dark Lord of the Sorcerer clan, unfortunately prevented from coming forward when I should have, but luckily brought here by the very One I had chosen. My brother, Roan, sent here not only to fulfill his destiny in meeting you, is also the Dark Lord of the Warrior clan.

"And our brother, Rean, is-- was, the Dark Lord of the Weaponry clan. Yet somehow he who has developed the only means by which the All may be used to strike with lethality against another-- is himself struck down."

Once more I pause; I see fire now leaping into her eyes and she straightens, glancing to her sword which lays gleaming on the stone. I chuckle.

"No, my sweet," I chuckle softly. "Clan leaders must be of Sith blood. And to this end, in the event some dire and unforeseen disaster would befall us, we have assured that absolutely nothing...nothing! of any harm would befall the only other one with Sith blood in her veins."

Now I stop, and place my clawed hands on her shoulders. My eyes penetrate hers with almost raping force. They widen in front of me, and both hands now grasp her belly.

I nod at her sudden understanding and then withdraw the fierce intensity I had flooded her with. Leaning back again, softening my demeanor, my arm now going about her shoulders in support, I hold her tightly to me, for the first time in my life feeling helpless to the whims of the All. Together we do the only thing we can do....

Something had the strength to kill a Sith Lord.

Her love and Lord was a Sith Lord, and had disappeared in a cloud of rage, no doubt seeking vengeance against the terrible action perpetrated against his brother.

That something had the potential to kill him as well.

She shivered, huddling into an even smaller ball, and tried to blink away the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. She tossed her head angrily, angry that Fate had decided to hand them this hand to play, angry at her own apparent weakness in response to it. The slavering Beast snickered in her inner ear, reminding her over and over and over that no matter what she now did, she would never come close to helping her love in any conceivable manner.

She was human, after all.

"No," she whispered to herself, then in a louder voice. "NO!"

The Sorcerer Lord pulled back in startlement as she suddenly leaped out of his arms. "I am the mother of that which shall bring forth your entire civilization!" she raged, going so far as to stamp her foot in effrontery. "You have taught me of the All, and how to use it! I am of more use to you than being merely breeding stock; I can assist you, as can the adept I have begun to teach!"

She paused now, reaching down for her sword, and held it before her as though taking an oath.

"I and my adept can assist my Lord and love; he must not face this unknown evil alone!" Her breast heaving, she stood before Aelvedaar panting, completely oblivious to the fact that mere moments before she had been huddling with both hands grasping her belly in a protective manner. Oblivious to the fact that All user though she may be, she was indeed still human... and thus hadn't anywhere near the inherent strength of a Sith. She stood there before him daring him to stop her.

He didn't need to, for she stopped herself with the realization that she hadn't a clue as to where her love had gone.

Slowly her hand dropped as this thought sunk into her soul like some black and heinous stone. She stood there fighting a fresh onrush of grief and fear, swaying a bit before slowly crumpling to her knees on the cold stones of the floor.

Once more Rora'Kessh fell from her nerveless fingers, to lay at her side, mocking her silently at the ease with which it had escaped her grasp. She paid it no heed, but turned her thoughts to the only other soul in the Universe she knew would stand with her no matter what the odds.

Shayla....

He couldn't for the life of him figure out how he had opened the first.

Hoping to get a lock on where anyone was, Erik enhanced his hearing with the Force. After a bit of gauging and some hunting and pecking, he was able to find the door which would lead to the voices his amplified hearing picked up.

He reached for the door. Still no admittance. Then suddenly becoming curious, he continued his eavesdropping. Little did Erik know what he would hear would not only melt his fears, but reveal far more than even Shayla probably knew of future events.

"You must understand from the viewpoint of the Sith. They were in decadence, depravity. Though they did not deserve the horrendous death the Dark Jedi dealt unto them, they were still far from the glory and morality my brother and I try to uphold. This was recognized over four thousand years ago... and to that end there were three who were themselves chosen, preordained to hold them in their hands, to teach them and lead them in strength through the All into their new beginning.

These three were brothers, Dark Lords all, the heads of their respective clans, who were to be sent forth through the All to the Time of the Chosen One. I--," here the voice paused momentarily, "I, Aelvedaar, am the Dark Lord of the Sorcerer clan, unfortunately prevented from coming forward when I should have, but luckily brought here by the very One I had chosen. My brother, Roan, sent here not only to fulfill his destiny in meeting you, is also the Dark Lord of the Warrior clan.

And our brother, Rean, is-- was, the Dark Lord of the Weaponry clan. Yet somehow he who has developed the only means by which the All may be used to strike with lethality against another-- is himself struck down."

Clan leaders must be of Sith blood. And to this end, in the event some dire and unforeseen disaster would befall us, we have assured that absolutely nothing...nothing! of any harm would befall the only other one with Sith blood in her veins."

Erik stood at the door stunned, listening like some awe-strucken school boy. The child, the baby..is the Other...

After some silence, Erik could hear Graysith fairly scream, "NO! I am the mother of that which shall bring forth your entire civilization!" she raged, going so far as to stamp her foot in effrontery. "You have taught me of the All, and how to use it! I am of more use to you than being merely breeding stock; I can assist you, as can the adept I have begun to teach!"

Her Adept?! Could it be...

"I and my adept can assist my Lord and love; he must not face this unknown evil alone!"

Oh yes, yes it was true! She was NOT dead, oh thank the gods! Why had he ever doubted?

Then, as this bout of relief flooded Erik, he suddenly realized the possible danger he was now in himself. Backing down his hearing, he began to back into the wall, expecting to be lashed out upon for his stealthy effrontery.

He'd heard far more than he ever should have...

Like black ink pooling from even blacker shadows, the Noghri stepped smoothly into view, his spear flashing to Erik's throat and rather efficiently pinning him against the stones of the corridor wall. Nikk immediately pressed it into the flesh there, scant millimeters from the jugular vein, and held it steady as a rock.

He wouldn't budge as long as the eavesdropper remained still... and as long as he remained still, he would remain alive.

Standing in this impasse, he barked a curt order into yet more shadows down the hall. From their depths there now padded the great form of M'wonBo'o, who came up to Erik and glared him balefully straight in the eye. He hunkered there, letting his great mass add yet more effect to the physical threat offered by Nikk.

...yet, she conceded to herself, that wasn't the entire reason for her suddenly blossoming rage.

Trembling with the effort to maintain a modicum of calm, she nevertheless found her fingers clutching Aelvedaar's muscular arm with every bit of strength she possessed. He didn't even blink, or try to speak, clearly giving her the opportunity to explain her audacity.

She didn't let him wait long.

"Is this the manner in which you profess to lead your kind into their great and glorious future?" she seethed quietly. "Is this how the might of the All manifests itself through you and your brothers?"

She paused for a moment, staring him straight in his volcanic eyes which were growing hotter and hotter by the moment. Refusing to back down, she only gripped his arm even tighter, so tightly that she broke a nail in the contracted muscle of his forearm.

He stood mutely before her; emboldened by his silence, she continued on, now softening a bit.

"My Sire," she proceeded, still pinning him with a penetrating gaze. "Have you learned nothing from that which I endured in my recent discovery of myself? Have you not learned that which my Lord has done? He himself came to you in that regard; how am I to complete the destiny spoken of earlier, that of teaching your race to trust again, if you cannot find this in yourself and show as an example?

"Have you not yet learned to trust?" Now she pointed her free hand toward the stunned young man. "That one is the love of my Adept, and I would not see him come to harm without reason. Can you not find the trust necessary to discern the reason why he was overhearing our conversation, instead of leaping to the assumption that it was for a reason that would prove dangerous to us? Do you not wonder how it is he is here? Can you not trust enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, and the space of time to inquire this of him?

"Have you truly chosen me for more reasons than you orginally stated... only to then disregard them in part? Can you not find this trust within yourself, trust I have tried to show you by giving you mine, not for his sake or mine, but for your own?"

Now clenching her free hand with a conscious effort to keep her anger under grips, the Chosen Daughter fell silent, and waited.

Now my eyes open, and I direct them toward the young man. I slowly lower my arm, and tuck my hands into the sleeves of my robes. I direct my molten gaze directly into his unblinking eyes, and pin him with but one short utterance.

"I lost Shayla's signature through the Force. I thought she was dead, and the last images I got from her were of you, Graysith," here he looked to the violet-eyed woman with apology in his eyes, "And I thought you'd killed her.

I wanted to know the full story, so I headed for the Temple...I'm really oblivious as to how I got in, the doors have never opened for me before. I heightened my hearing to find you. When I did, and I couldn't get in, I continued listening."

Erik paused a moment, somehow managing to meet the molten gaze of the Sith Sorceror. "My eavesdropping was never intended to find out your secrets for anyone; I merely wanted to know what has happened to Shayla. I know now that she lives...

...but my methods of finding out were wrong. I was wrong. I guess I need to learn to trust as well."

With that Erik quieted, and waited for the Sith to reply.

Standing upright, my clenched hands still hidden in my sleeves, I deign this one with a brief bow of my head. "It is for her sake that you may remain here with us; it is for the sake of my people that I no longer do so."
Now turning to my Chosen One, I reach out one finger and, leaning forward toward her, lightly trace her cheek with it.

"Perhaps the time may come when you can teach me more of this thing called 'trust,'" I murmur softly into her ear.

Your preconceived notions will always be your downfall if you continue to believe them, some little voice persisted.

On the heels of that, he couldn't help but wonder, So where IS Shayla? And what happened that she is no longer here? When will she return?

Suddenly Erik wanted more than anything to hold her in his arms and let her know how he felt about her. But then again, that's the sort of thing a person does after they find out their lost love is not dead.

She wasn't dead. She was safe.

Returning his gaze to the violet-eyed woman, Graysith, Erik bowed his head a bit. "My apologizes for my...assumptions of you. I see that I have much to learn."

My Brother was brought to the edge of unseeing rage and heartbreak more blind at the news of the death of Rean. How would he react when this was revealed to him? Indeed, how would she react as well?

My claws sank into the flesh of my palms at the thought; this must be revealed, and at once. Strategies must be laid, and plans devised and set into motion. The Child must be brought safely back to Khar Delba...

...but oh, such a risk that entails.

Random though her movements might appear, the thoughts accompanying them were all but that. Uppermost in her mind was overwhelming concern for her Dark Heart: where had he gone? The fact that he had not reached out through the All to contact her only heightened her fears, as did the fact that try as she might he continued to remain totally elusive to her abilities. At this point she could only act in the manner she had not long ago challenged the Sith Sorcerer to act, and that was to simply trust in the abilities she knew Lord Roan had within him. Still, it was a difficult thing to achieve, so great was her love for him.

She came to a pause at the wall leading to Jinn's hidden chamber in the back of the room, debating whether or not she should utilize the computer's uncanny knack for discovery. Though the machine did not have use of the All as did she and Aelvedaar, and as she hoped her Adept now did to some extent, it still somehow managed to keep tabs on every event of importance in progress throughout the Galaxy. Her lips quirked in a slight smile at the thought; clone though he may have been, Darth Wicked had indeed proven his skill in designing this computer and its probes. She knew she could now trust the formerly recalcitrant cyber-being to perform as faithfully for her as it had for Wicked, and was just debating to herself the wisdom of revealing this preternatural machine to the inquisitive eyes of the young jedi behind her when there came a momentary ripple in the All.

She whirled in place, her hand still out-reached to trigger the wall into disclosing Jinn, her eyes wide and the color just preceding nightfall. The Glyph on her forehead ravened into life as Aelvedaar quietly stepped into the room and she saw the look on his face. For a strange reason she could not yet begin to fathom, one slim hand dropped to her rounded belly; whether that movement was meant as a protective measure or one of denial she herself didn't even know.

Frozen where she stood, her veins inexplicably icing, she remained silent, hoping against hope that her Sire was not bringing her the news she hated to hear yet somehow sensed was forthcoming. Erik remained equally frozen beside the table, his gaze leaping back and forth between the flame-haired woman and the equally flame-skinned Sith Lord.

Where was Shayla? What had happened to the other Sith that had her teacher so on edge? What where they all standing around waiting for?

As the questions continued to waffle through Erik's brain, the Sith sorceror suddenly appeared, his gaze so full of concerns that Erik's own thoughts halted suddenly at the acknowledgement of that look. He shifted his gaze back to Graysith, whose own look darkened as her hand inexplicably slid to her stomach.

Something was amiss.

But what?

Continuing to look from the woman to the Sith sorceror for a few more moments, Erik's eyes at last rested on the red-skinned humanoid.

As I stepped forth into the room, two sets of eyes affixed themselves to my person: one set wide with curiosity and a modicum of rising concern, the other flashing into darkness as their owner read what she did in my face. I pursed my lips and continued toward my Chosen One in one fluid motion; this unpleasant revelation would be best presented in as swift and objective a manner as possible. Any other means would only be cruel; how I wished it was left to my vanished Brother to carry this news to his love, but he remained as elusive to me as I knew he did to Graysith.

Without hesitation, I moved to my Daughter, reaching out to gently remove her one hand from her stomach and cup it in my clawed one. The other hand reached out in turn, seeking her face and there to trace a pattern of sorrow upon her cheek. I stared her directly in the eye, unflinching; then spoke up in a quiet voice.

"My Chosen One... the Child is gone."

Although I had clearly seen the shadows of an almost preternatural foreknowledge filling her features even as I first stepped into view, she still staggered back a small step. One slim hand struggled to remove itself from my grasp; I only tightened my grip upon it.

"No, my sweet," I whispered softly. "You do not bear your daughter within you. With too many eyes and ears casting themselves in our direction, she had to be hidden in an even more protected place than the confines of your body. Your pregnancy has been a false one, and for some time."

Now I allowed her questing hand to drop to the bulge of her abdomen, where I covered it with my own. I closed my eyes briefly, and the swelling dissipated beneath our touch. In moments she was lithe and lean again, all indication that she had borne another being within her completely eradicated from her slender frame.

I felt her one hand ice in mine, felt the waves of tremors beginning to race through her. Her mouth opened; now my clawed hand pressed lightly against her cold lips to stop the words before they even begin to fall. Well did I know what she was about to say.

"Your Child had been placed in the body of your sister; many there were to protect her for the sake of who they thought was her own youngling. And a simple task it would have been for us to take her back once she had been safely brought into the world."

"But the All--" she broke into my explanation in a wavering whisper. I shushed her again, bidding her quiet.

"Too dangerous to have both you and the Babe together, my one." The reply was utterly simplistic in its logic. "We thought this way..."

Now it was my turn to break off beneath an onrush of heated guilt, guilt I immediately put to rest albeit with the greatest of efforts. I struggled with this for the barest of moments, then continued.

"We were betrayed."

Ahhh... there. The spark, the flash of rising anger, fresh and stark. It was good to see it beginning to swell in her, good to feel the flesh of her face suddenly flooding with its heat. The Glyph and her eyes blazed in syncopation; at length I removed my hand from her mouth for I knew she needed to say the words as well as she needed a truthful answer to them.

"Who--?"

I pinned her eyes with mine. "Maladius."

The mere word was enough; it was like bile upon my tongue, harsh and biting. But if the name was distasteful to me to speak, it was nothing in comparison to that which it prompted in her. Her eyes blazed into me, filled with hurt and betrayal, rage and a deeply-seated need for revenge. Some of the hatred was directed at herself; opening my eyes I clearly watched her scroll back recent events to where her Dark Heart had handed the demon into her hands... and she had allowed him to live.

But-- that Look continued in death's whisper. He allowed him to live as well, even when he had failed in his task and had come limping back to us. He, in fact, had brought this demon into our presence to begin with....

Now I watched as her eyes widened further, clearly reading her wonder at just who and what this Maladius was, and what relationship he indeed truly had with her Lord...

...and what possible impact this event had on her feelings toward her Lord and love. Who so suddenly had just disappeared.

All in a flash greater than the explosive winds given off in star-birth. All with a rapidity to overtake the elusive green flash said to be seen on the horizon at sunset. All immediately masked beneath an iced demeanor of utter calm, utter determination, and I watched her features ripple as she made some sort of silent vow to herself.

I studied her carefully for a long moment, part of me finding the surprising ability to smile inwardly at her strength. How wrong I had been in thinking this would crush her; what little credit did I give to her, and to myself for that matter for choosing her as I did. Then I pushed that errant little thought aside and cocked my head thoughtfully. Although I had much more to say, I knew it was her turn to speak, and so still maintaining physical contact with her I waited.

It did not lay within her abilities.

Drawing in a deep and fortifying breath, her violet gaze now turned outward once again, taking in the quietly forboding form of Aelvedaar, who yet remained silent waiting for her to reply. She was not to oblige the Sith Sorcerer, however. Quite suddenly her eyes crystallized into amethyst, and she tossed her hair from her face. Nodding once to no one in particular, she suddenly reached out one slim hand and, opening a door in the All, stepped through it and disappeared from the startled view of Erik and Aelvedaar.

The problem was placed before her, but the answers were not to be found on Khar Delba....

I would not, could not, be the cause of that damnation. My eyes shot open now as, reaching out with the All I sought to discover where Graysith had disappeared. Young to its mysteries though she might be, she had developed enough finesse to hide her presence from me in this regard. I couldn't help the small nod of approval coming to me at this discovery; Very well then, Daughter, I thought to myself as I now moved to the back of the Great Dining Hall. There are other means of determining your actions.

One clawed hand reached out to grace the wall which obediently slid open to reveal the warbling Jinn. The computer pricked up its cybernetic ears at the prospect of being put to use once again; is that indeed not the basic wish all sentient beings carried? Keenly aware of the probing and intelligent pair of eyes which were following my movements, I gave the young jedi no heed but went to the primary data input lens and spoke a quiet command.

"Jinn, seek Graysith," I said simply. I then turned to the young man who remained hovering curiously close behind me.

"It is time I follow the wishes of my Chosen One," I said to him in a somber tone of voice. "I can think of no better way than by placing my trust voluntarily in you. Come. There is something you must see."

An unborn baby, placed inside the body of another?

An evil being who betrayed those who were, in many people's eyes, viewed as evil themselves?

Perhaps they were truly only evil to an extent. And truly, isn't that the very essence of life?

The sudden spark of understanding almost caused Erik to completely miss the Sorceror's request. But, intrigued by what the Sith might have to reveal to him, Erik managed to bring himself to awareness yet again and followed the other's lead...

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

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

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

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

The droid responded with something that Leev chose to ignore.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Despair? Depression?

Something was horribly wrong.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nikk and Leev.

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

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

What had happened to the child?

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

Where was her Dark Heart?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why?"

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

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

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

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

And she never liked that little imp of his.

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

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

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

And yet questions remained unanswered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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