The Supernova glided safely and smoothly from the dregs of hyperspace into the Khar Delban system, its controls still under the sure control of one Erik Kartan. Several hours before, Shayla had retreated to the back for some much-needed rest; Erik agreed to sleep in the pilot's seat to keep an eye on things, knowing she would be more comfortable laying down. Even as they glazed through the atmosphere of Kee'l Doba, however, Erik heard the cabin doors open behind him, and Shayla slipped into the copilot's seat. Ever-an-adept pilot, he spared a moment to glance over to her.

"You might want to notify Graysith that we're incoming, cause I don't know if she expected us back so soon."

Shayla replied simply by nodding, then without so much as a word closed her eyes. Erik could almost feel the tendrils of her Force-senses stretching out, as though they were an extension of himself. He smiled at the thought, then turned his face forward once again to control the navboard and complete a smooth landing into the spaceport.

With the Supernova now touching ground, its systems cooling, Erik turned to regard Shayla.

"Well, have you gotten any sort of reply yet?" he queried, then fell silent and waited.

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

We have returned with some information regarding Tyberius, she thought out simply, remaining frozen, eyes closed for a moment longer.

Then she opened her greeny-blue eyes and directed them to Erik. "Come, we will head for the Temple."

"Unannounced?" he asked as he stood alongside her, his look somewhat skeptical.

"Graysith will know we are coming," she answered calmly.

Then she turned her face forward, walked down the now-extended hatch of the Supernova, and out onto the tarmac even as Erik retracted and secured the hatch behind her. In moments he was again at her side, his aspect very alert.

Shayla stretched out into that Force-link she shared with Erik, sending a small but significant message across it. There is nothing to fear here...

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

Graysith waited calmly in the Great Dining Hall for the approach of Shayla and her husband. She had taken up the position he had formerly held at the stone fireplace, a goblet of Sith wine in her hand, and stood there taking occasional sips, a quiet shadow amidst the crowd of Sith who were there partaking of their dinners. They in turn maintained a fair distance from her, sending her glances every so often which betrayed their curiosity -- and perhaps concern -- over the fact that one who was in such apparent leadership over them was not in fact herself Sith.

Graysith was keenly aware of these concerns. Her eyes darkened visibly as she easily picked them up from the general murmur of the diners.

I am more Sith than any here, she thought darkly to herself, if only by earning that inheritance by the flesh of my flesh and the blood of my blood!

Again she raised the goblet to her lips and was beginning to take another drink when the sound of footsteps came to her ears. She smiled then and lowered the glass, still staring ahead into the dancing flames of the fire, now aware of the escalating startlement of the Sith present when they realized that two humans had just strolled this deeply into the Temple.

"Welcome, sister," Graysith said smoothly, now turning round and raising her glass. "Welcome, Mr. Kartan. Your arrival is far sooner than I expected; I take it you have been successful in your quest?"

[ 04-23-2003 10:11 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

She paused a moment, then continued with "We were in the process of trying to pinpoint his exact location--

--apparently some of the Kaminoans have a "prophecy" dealing with a visitor from the future and I suspect that vistor could be Tyberius--

--when Erik and I saw his ship, in the form of a comet, leave Kamino altogether. Logic tells me he will seek out JhinDarra, for he has a lead on just where she might be. He seems to fear the rule of the Sith in the future...

...and from the few words I've had with him I know he believes that killing the All children is the only solution to his "concerns." I know this not to be true; with the proper instruction these children will learn to use their abilities when necessary and not abuse them. Tyberius fears how the Sith will be in his future..."

Shayla paused, a strange sort of understanding falling into place:

How did she know that events which lead to Tyberius's future had not already changed, thus changing that future? After all, in another future...

...Graysith woud have been dead, had she and Lord Recinis not been placed back in time to stop the event which would have caused that. So who was to say...

"Perhaps the Sith of his future are not the Sith of the future we are now headed for."

With that Shayla merely quieted, her greeny-blue eyes meeting Graysith's violet ones. "Many things have changed already. Perhaps they have already changed to the extent that what Tyberius fears...

...no longer exists..."

[ 04-23-2003 09:41 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Graysith let a slow smile curl darkly over her features as the word flowed out from her lips like black water. Her own eyes darkened to the hue taken on by the air itself just as true night falls; with a little jolt she hooded those eyes and took a slow sip of wine. When she raised her head from her goblet, all indication of the emotion that had fleetingly touched her face was gone, replaced by smooth blandness.

She let her eyes close in a languorous blink.

"Whatever future has come to pass is that future this Tyberius so feared, no matter which action of ours now may have upon it. Otherwise, would it not be more likely that he simply would not come into this time at all, and that we would then not even know of him?"

A more genteel smile now crossed her lips.

"You say he has left Kamino altogether?" she whispered, now gliding silently over to stand directly in front of Shayla. She pinned her eyes into those of the young woman.

"I find this... serendipitous, to say the very least."

With that she raised the goblet as if in a toast to a victory not yet attained... but one which by her very look was sure to come about. Finally--

"It is disappointing that this Tyberius could not be entreated to join me here in Phrinnchatka, but... ahh, it matters not. That he has fled Kamino for now is enough.

"I will be having business there. And in the meantime...."

She let her voice trail off as she now moved to the sideboard, where she set down the goblet. Her hands clapped in an authoritative manner; it seemed as if she no sooner had let her hands fall to her sides when an imposing Sith appeared at her side. He turned eyes the color of aquamarine first upon her, and then to Shayla.

"See to their comfort; I shall not be gone long."

With that she bowed her head to all, and left the Dining Hall. Behind her all conversation momentarily stopped... then picked up again in her wake.

Salandaar merely bowed his head to her retreating back, and turned with some expectation to Shayla and Erik, waiting to see what they would wish for.

[ 04-23-2003 10:12 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

...and that something had everything to do with the words Graysith had spoken. If the Sith now were the ones Tyberius feared so very much...

...and if they were the ones that Shayla believed perhaps would take the Universe and govern it with an ironfist...

...then what were he and Shayla doing on their side?!

Stepping in behind Shayla, he laid a hand on her shoulder, and let it tighten there. "My wife and I would like to be taken somewhere to get some rest," he stated plainly, his brown eyes deceptively calm.

Inwardly he was clearly thinking, We have GOT to talk...

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

"We are Three, and Triad shall we be, my child," she whispered softly into the muffled silence of the room, a strange dimness marred only by the flames dancing in the stone fireplace that dominated an entire wall of the chambers. For a moment a deeper shadow seemed to flicker in her violet eyes as memories of another fire leaping and dancing in a similar room, sending heat to warm a certain pair who occupied that room, came wafting from somewhere deep within her soul, almost as if taunting her. She let her eyes harden against the struggling image, forcing it back and away, and concentrated on her sleeping daughter again.

Then she simply turned and exited, going once more into the corridor without and following it until she came to another chamber. Although this chamber was as ornate and grand as the one ShaRhylla lay recuperating in, certain adroit touches lightened it a bit to where it would be more appropriate for a younger occupant, a child. In the center stood a gilded and bejeweled bed, one with canopy and high, protective railings which in turn guarded a small and sleeping form.

Graysith moved up to that small bed, and stood staring down at the flame-haired infant who slumbered peacefully there. Something of a smile moved her lips; quickly, she bent and smoothly lifted her little niece, so smoothly and quickly that the child didn't even stir.

Now her lips arced upward in a genuine smile as, the gesture as swift and smooth as the one by which she had taken Darra into her arms, she opened a portal through the All. Seconds later it snapped closed, leaving only a dancing fire to light an otherwise empty room in her wake.

In the Dining Hall....

Salandaar turned a somewhat supercilious aquamarine gaze upon Erik, then flicked his eyes to Shayla. He didn't say one word, but at length tipped his horned head politely to them, waving a clawed hand toward the door into the Dining Hall.

Moments later he led them entirely away, taking them into a wing of the Temple where lavish guest quarters waited. Coming up to a great carved and bejeweled door, he opened it, revealing an interior which bespoke an opulence befitting an emperor. He bowed Shayla and Erik into it, then turned away as the door closed them inside, and after a moment's pause headed back the way in which he had come.

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

Graysith smiled to herself as with a wave of an otherwise empty hand she closed the portal. She took one brief glance about her, then raised the Claw-bearing hand and pointed it toward the child's bed which took a dominant position in the middle of the room. The very molecules of the air seemed to writhe and unwind, the bed itself took on a shimmering appearance as its atomic structure was unraveled, the spot where the child's bed stood was suddenly a place in reality extremely difficult to look upon.

And then reality settled in to reveal another bed in place of the smaller one, one far more luxurious, canopied, covered with silks and satins and furs... and larger than the other.

One meant for a princess... or a queen....

Graysith nodded to herself with pleasure, then hooded her eyes and blanked all emotion from her being. Coolly calm, she folded her hands afront herself, turned toward the closed door to the chamber, and headed toward it. It opened before her, allowing her egress from JhinDarra's rooms and into the corridor outside, where she proceeded to quietly leave, seeking Lord Roan.

Behind her, the door to JhinDarra's room closed with a soft sigh of finality.

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

"What's wrong?" she queried simply in his direction, not assuming anything for the moment.

He remained silent at first, his brown eyes meeting hers, the concern in that look clearly evident. Then, "It's just the way Graysith dismisses Tyberius's concerns regarding the future of the Sith. What if..."

He paused a moment, his brown eyes wandering from her greeny blues for a split second before they returned, "What if we are getting involved in something that is wrong, Shayla?"

Then he simply trailed, his eyes only for hers. A minute or so passed in complete and utter silence, and Shayla considered, understanding from a smaller viewpoint why he might feel this way. After all, she'd been struggling with something similiar herself...

...but found herself returning to thoughts of the way the Universe as a whole viewed the Sith, the way she had viewed the Sith...

once upon a time.

"Evil never made anyone whole," she had told Graysith on that day so long ago, when she had been snatched from the Praxeum.

But then their were two sides to every coin, two viewpoints to every action...

...and often more. Like the t'plikk fruit and the worm: killing the worm was good for the fruit, but bad for the worm, whearas allowing the worm to live and feed from the fruit was good for the worm and bad for the fruit.

Two sides...

Just as there were two sides here. Whatever Tyberius feared of the Sith, he saw from his own perspective...

...but did he have the entire whole in mind? Considering the fact he appeared very much a Dark Jedi...

...probably not.

Finally Shayla's greeny-blues refocused from that place far off where they had drifted. "Tyberius's view of the Sith in the future is certainly not enough evidence to validate his claims," she said smugly. "And please remember that Choosen sister I am...

...and as that I will remain. I trust Graysith..Jharmeen...entirely, regardless of how things may appear, for what's evil to one is good for the other. Now you have got to simply trust me on this...

...or perhaps you need to consider how to resolve the issue for yourself..."

She trailed a moment, then finished with, "...and soon."

Quieting at that then, she merely continued to gaze at Erik with her greeny-blues, watching him as he stood in quiet contemplation, reading his concerns even still. At length she took note of just how tired she in fact was, and rose a hand to her mouth to stifle an involuntary yawn. "I'm going to get some sleep now," she finally spoke up, turning towards the wardrobe then looking over her shoulder, a mischevious grin finally playing about her lips. "Will you be joining me, Sir?"

Erik quirked a brow, smiled in return and seemed to push all of his worries to the backburner as he approached her and wrapped arms about her. She directed her greeny-blues up into his browns, a bit of her former seriousness returning. "You know you are going to have to settle your own concerns about this," she stated quietly.

He returned the serious gaze. "Yes, I know. But later..."

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

But somewhere deep down inside Erik Kartan knew he was searching for reassurance...

...no matter what it would take him to find it.

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

For that was something he couldn't do, no matter how badly he wished to slowly rip that flame-headed witch's entrails from her, inch by inch, relishing the agonized groans and piteous screams the act would assure him...

Graysith had adhered to their own Laws, and by those Laws had taken her rightful position as Dark Lady of the Warriors. The ex-Dark Lady, now shamed away into exile for the remainder of her life, could not by law even attempt retribution: Graysith was the new Lady, and if Dark Lord Roan would now dare try to challenge that, then he would find his own title in jeopardy.

He growled as he stormed through the Temple, accompanied by his own vile thoughts as well as by the dancing shadow that was cast upon the cold stone walls through which he moved. It flickered about, sometimes leading the way, sometimes lagging behind, as he passed one torch-bearing wall sconce only to come upon another.

He paid it little attention. All he could do was think of Kreesha, his beloved, his life, his--

The sound of footsteps came into his ears, and he came to an abrupt halt. A snarl lifted his lips; was it her?

But no. None other than Erik Kartan came around from an intersecting corridor ahead, his own head filled with gloomy thoughts by the look he carried upon his own face.

Roan's lips curled in contempt, and he drew himself up to his full formidable height.

"What are you doing here... human?" he spat as he crossed his arms upon his chest, his nostrils flaring to match the look in his wild eyes.

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

He did not, however, dare to push this any further. Though it was apparent to him that all the Sith in this temple held respect for Graysith and followed her wishes, Erik was yet uncertain as to just how Roan played into all of this...

...but he had a suspicion he was about to find out.

[ 04-27-2003 08:54 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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"Graysith!" he flung the word from him as if it were an anathema. Then--

"Swine! You do not belong here, you have never belonged here in Phrinnchatka, never have you been welcomed, the very stones of the Temple cry out at the effrontery of your very presence here! That you dare desecrate the halls in this manner; humans do not belong with the Sith!"

With that the Dark Lord could control his trembling rage no longer. He took a quick step forward and bringing his arm across himself in a great swooping arc, cleanly back-handed Erik against the side of his face, hitting him so hard that the young man went stumbling backwards and sideways to crash into the stone wall of the corridor.

Roan's arm remained high, his clawed hand clenching into a fist. He stood where he was, breathing heavily, eyeing the young jedi and quite frankly daring him to even look at him.

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

Well, something inside of him managed to rise up and say, I guess you got your answer concerning the relationship between Graysith and Roan...

Erik blinked his eyes again, trying to clear the fog, and as best he could directed his brown eyes towards the towering Dark Lord. "Some...seem to feel differently," he grunted, his eyes still unfocused, the fog still very much there.

[ 04-25-2003 11:43 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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He scowled blackly at her, his lips curled superciliously to openly reveal his fangs. His brilliant turquoise eyes were hooded and dark with rage and promises unkept; indeed to see the pair of them standing there none would have the slightest inkling that she and Lord Roan were once lovers, and that he was in fact the father of her daughter.

The stalemate stretched into a seeming eternity, one in which Graysith spoke no word but stood her ground, her diminutive height somehow unapparent for the cool strength she herself was blazing forth. And then, perhaps in recognition of this, or perhaps in sudden viewing of the Tattoo of Entitlement which shone in golden splendor upon her wrist, Lord Roan backed down.

He glared at her a moment longer, his muscular chest heaving, his clawed hands fisted, before suddenly whirling and departing, leaving not so much as the sound of his receding footfalls in his wake.

It took Graysith a moment to collect herself. Then those lustrous violet eyes seemed to open up; she blinked twice, then glided over to where Erik still lay half supine against the stone wall. She tilted her head a little to one side and stared down at him, forcing the Glyph to bank its nuclear fires as she herself seemed to bank something deep within herself.

"It would do you well to take a care as to where and when it is you wander within these walls, Mr. Kartan," she whispered at length, her voice low and musical. The tone of it came nowhere near to brightening her eyes; they remained pinned on Erik in a somehow predatory manner as she simply stood there waiting for him to get up, not even offerring him a helping hand to do so.

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

...and he couldn't help but note how very distant she seemed. He shoved these thoughts to the far corners of his mind for the moment, managing a somewhat strained, "I'll keep that in mind." Then he finished with, "Thank you for your...

... assistance. I'll be returning to check on Shayla now, she was sleeping like a baby when I left her...

...and I don't dare let her wake up and go looking for me alone...

...not now."

With that he turned on his heel, his pace somewhat slowed as he then began to take his first steps back in the direction he had come from.

[ 04-27-2003 09:03 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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

Just as his form was entirely disappearing into the darkness, carried at last to the edge of the light she produced, she called out.

"What the Dark Lord has said is quite true, Mr. Kartan," she said, not raising her voice yet projecting it cleanly and clearly into his ears. "As unfortunate as those words might be, and irreversible the circumstances leading to them. Crossroads of sorts are destined to come, as well as certain... choices to be made regarding them."

The words she spoke echoed from the stones of the corridor; then she turned and began to glide in the direction away from that into which they had been delivered.

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

At length, Shayla roused, opening her greeny-blue eyes to regard him. Even half-awake, she seemed to read something worried within him, and that look she sent his way even as she sat up on her elbows read "What is it?"

Sighing as something within him ached for how this was going to hurt her, Erik took her face and cupped it in his hands, directing her eyes into his. "Shayla, you've gotta listen to me. The Sith...don't want us here. I crossed paths with Lord Roan...and he said as much."

He paused a moment then, and Shayla opened her mouth to probably direct a rebuttal in his direction. The look he directed her way, however, indicated that he wasn't quite finished. "Shayla... Graysith has said as much as well; she was also in the hallway. She spoke of choices to be made, as unfortunate as it was...

...and I know this much. I don't want to sit around here and wait for you to get your heart broken."

Pausing once more, Erik took a deep breath and completed what he was saying with one final and very direct statement. "We've gotta get out of here Shayla...

..and we've gotta get out of here now."

[ 04-29-2003 09:01 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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

...but that didn't mean she was going to accept it. Something deep inside of her kept pointing out that there simply had to be more to it, that there was a "Bigger Picture" somewhere in the words he was telling her he'd heard.

And after all, she still trusted Graysith. She'd taken her as her Sister...

Finally, as Erik's hands fell from her face, Shayla shook her head, totally refusing to believe what he did. Then, quietly yet very distinctly, she replied. "No, we are not leaving here..."

She trailed a moment, then changed her statement slightly. "...at least, I'm not leaving. I don't believe it. I just... can't..."

Shayla blinked back tears even as she got to her feet. Erik stepped in, and reached to take her chin in his hand, directing her eyes to his once more. "It is the truth, and you know it," he said quietly but firmly, his brown eyes once more staring honestly into hers.

As she stared into those sincere brown eyes, a small hurt began to rise within her. Whom this hurt was directed towards exactly, Shayla didn't know. But she did know one thing: she stil wasn't ready to accept what Erik was saying, no matter how sincere he might be.

"Shayla...?" Erik spoke quietly and somehow supportively into her cloud of thought.

In response, she jerked her greeny-blue eyes to his, then reiterated the one single word that summed up everything she was feeling at the moment. "No."

Then, before Erik had so much as a second to react, Shayla whirled and fled the room altogether into the corridors of the Sith Temple, all the while disregarding her husband's calls for her to stop.

[ 04-29-2003 09:33 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

...or so she hoped. She need time to think, time to get away from that utterly sincere look in his eyes...

..time to examine this matter for herself. Problem was, she didn't know exactly where to start to find the answers she sought. So instead of heading somewhere specifically she continued to wander through the corridors of the Temple, most of its residents seemingly asleep for the lack of sounds within its walls. At length, however, the sound of steady and somehow angry footsteps could be heard behind her. Whirling on her heel as best she could with her now unevenly distributed weight, Shayla turned to make visual contact with whomever was behind her, uncertain if she was being followed or if this was merely coincidence.

Even as she did, her heart took its own initiative to leap into her throat, and she unconsciously took a small step back as her greeny-blue eyes fell on the imposing form of none other than Ankrist Roan.

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

"We must see to bettering the care-taking of this Temple," he snarled at last, his voice a low yet penetrating whisper that arrowed ice-cold into Shayla's ears. "For again I find my walk truncated by another piece of vermin crawling about its halls."

With that he lowered his head, his eyes staring directly into Shayla's from beneath his lowering brows, and continued to bear down upon her. The young woman shrank back at his approach, but he came on like a tsunami, and when he was within reach he repeated the act he had performed earlier upon her husband.

Perhaps with a touch more roughness as well, for he knew who this woman was to Graysith.

He didn't even bother to see the results of his handiwork. He knew as clearly as if he watched with his own eyes that Shayla now lay crumpled in a silent heap on the stone floor, the echo of her impact against the walls still lingering in his ears, as welcomed there as the seductive whisper of a lover's caress.

Smiling darkly to himself, he merely continued on his way, his little midnight stroll scarcely interrupted by this one small event.

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

...something just was not right here, aside from the bad feelings he was getting about what was going on in general. No, something was wrong, something at this very moment. He stretched out in the Force for Shayla, and wasn't entirely surprised that she didn't reply.

But he pressed onward after her regardless.

And he was in the process of rounding a corner when he was met with the sight of his wife, her body crumpled and unmoving on the floor of the Temple, her head laying awkwardly against the wall.

"Shayla!" he cried, dropping to his knees beside her quiet form. Beside her then, he reached for her shoulder and shook her, trying to rouse her. At first, she was totally unresponsive. "Shayla, com'n!" he begged, his brown eyes clouded with worry.

At lenght, she stirred slightly and opened her lids halfway. Her eyes were unfocused. He took her face in his hands, and directed those strangely tired eyes to his. "I've gotta move you," he said to her. "What happened?" he then queried.

The question didn't seem to register. "Tired...so tired..." she muttered, her lids falling slightly as she struggled to keep them open. Then quite suddenly she reached out a hand and gripped his arm...

...and rather intensely. Her whole body seemed to tense, her breathing suddenly heavy as she was still clearly struggling for consciousness...

...and at length the tension lessened, and once more her eyes drooped, this time even more so. "It... hurts..." she nearly mouthed, so quiet was her voice.

Then her eyelids fell completely closed and her hand from his arm. Erik shook her once more. "Com'n babe, I can't heal you, I don't know how..."

She merely groaned, her body again growing tense, one of her hands now reaching to grab the fabric of his tunic. As this pain seemed to reside in her once again and she relaxed, Erik began to get an inkling regarding the source of this strange pain.

He shook Shayla again. "Shayla, sweetheart...are you in labor...?" he trailed as her foggy greeny-blue eyes fell into his, never seeming to come into focus. "Baby..." she muttered strangely. Then, "Too soon..."

She trailed at that, her lids once more falling closed.

Erik's heart merely leapt into his throat. He didn't know what to do, or whom to turn to. But he did know one thing: even if Shayla wasn't going into labor, she seemed to have a concussion.

He shook her again til her eyes came open. "Stay with me, Shayla," he said quietly, standing and then scooping her up into his arms. "You've gotta stay with me..."

Then he turned and began to run in the direction where he had seen Graysith last, feeling the muscles in Shayla's body tensing once more.

He had to get help...

...and fast...

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

That, and Erik, who stopped to nudge her every so often when he saw that she was drifting.

Another pain crept in and rocked Shayla's slight form, this one seemingly more intense than any of the preceeding others. Almost on instinct, she reached both arms out to wrap them about Erik's neck, gripping him for dear life as he continued to jog with her cradled in his arms. His warm strength was comforting...

...but it did little else as far as relieving the pain which seemed to be growing exponentially each time it shot to life within her. Gripping Erik even more tightly, Shayla stretched out, almost unconsciously seeking any other means to ease her hurt. On a purely gut level, she knew what was happening. But on a conscious level, she was still too discombubulated from Roan's swift attack to really do anything about it.

And it was that gut portion of her which stretched out at that very moment, crying desperately for help through every Force-link Shayla maintained...

[ 05-03-2003 08:47 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

It WAS too soon...

All the while, Shayla clung to him, at times going limp and at others tensing, waves of pain seeming to swell in her and then subside. He didn't know how long he had searched, but at length he finally tracked the Force-essence he sought til her back was in sight. Her steps were smooth and measured, but it didn't take that much more effort for a very worried Erik to hurry to step in front of her, a now limp and suddenly very sweaty Shayla still cradled in his arms.

His brown eyes leveled with the violet pair in front of him. Those brown eyes sought for something as he spoke, his words pleading. "Help her...

... please."

Then he stood where he was in silence, his wife still in his arms...

...and once more clinging tightly to him as another wave of pain wracked her body.

[ 05-06-2003 09:34 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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Graysith straightened, her clasped hands hidden within the fluid lines of her black practice doba. She cast one quick look directly upon the pale and sweating Shayla, then averted her eyes altogether, and though it at first appeared she was looking into Erik's face the fact of the matter was that she was somehow looking past him.

"This is the world of the Warriors," she said at length, her voice as flat as her eyes. "Here, warriors either live or die. There are no healers; the healers are of the Sorcerer clan, and are on the sister planet of Khar Delba. But then you know this."

She paused a minute, a vestige of life coming into her face. Then it smoothed back into impassivity.

"I am no healer," she finished... then gracefully sidestepped the burdened Erik and continued on down the hallway of the great Temple.

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