Closing the Portal behind the departing Aelomir, I heave another sigh. Then, my thoughts heavy, I step through the Portal I have created, pausing for a second to drink in the odd sensation of having two feet firmly on two different worlds.

Coming out fully into the Great Dining Hall of the Temple of the Warriors on K'eel Doba, I pause and wait the few seconds it takes Lord Phalomir to follow suite.

Closing the Portal then, I turn to him, my hands concealed within the voluminous sleeves of my robes.

"What plans have you from here, Lord Phalomir?" I ask him, simply and succinctly.

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

“Many times I have been in this hall,” he said. “Each time it seems with a different emotion. Elation, fear, trepidation, determination, love, despair. This time I come with none, save what little hope I still harbor. We must find her, Lord Aelvedaar, and hold council as the Clans. Formally. Division has brought this about, we must now stand as a race. We must know now if she will stand for her house with us or if her intent lies elsewhere.”

Phalomir caught the eye of a serving girl, her head immediately lowering. He raised his hand to her, beckoning.

“And, my Lord, I must know. I must see it with my own eyes and feel it with my own heart before I can accept it.”

The girl came quickly to the two Dark Lords and bowed deeply.

“We have come for an audience with the Dark Lady Graysith,” he said gently. “Fetch us properly to the throne room.”

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

"Umm-- my Lord--" she began but faltered to a stop beneath the piercing gaze Phalomir gave her. Motioning for the two Lords to follow her, she led them quickly to the Receiving Room, bowed again, and quickly made herself scarce.

It wasn't long before another Sith entered the room, his own nervousness shown by the unsteadiness of his tread. He came up before Phalomir and Aelvedaar, took one look at the tattooes the pair bore, and immediately dropped to one knee.

"My Lords," he began, the tone of his voice breathless with awe.

"I regret to inform you that the Dark Lady has left K'eel Doba; she stated she has information regarding her missing daughter and has gone with her new Second to fetch the lady back home.

“Yes,” he finally said. “We shall require chambers for Lord Aelvedaar. Is my suite still in order?”

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"Y-your... suite, m'Lord?" he ventured at length, obviously at a loss as to what Phalomir was speaking of. Then he gathered his wits about himself:

If the Dark Lady trusted him enough to place him in charge during her absence, then he would do all in his power to justify that trust.

"Ah-yes, my Lord; all is as you previously left it. Do you need escort to them? I will be sending for one for the Lord of Sorcerers; I can send for an escort for you as well."

“I need no escort,” he said at length. “But fetch one for Lord Aelvedaar, and I shall accompany him also so we may discuss matters. We are both to be notified immediately of her arrival, or that of her second. Also, tell me of the warrior Salandar, and how he fares.”

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

"Oh dear," he began, quite frankly wondering just how to answer the Dark Lord. For all he knew of what had happened to Salandaar was via the grapevine of the Temple; ought he inform the Lords of what he had heard in this manner, or feign innocence in the matter?

He blinked, fidgeting. And fidgeting wasn't a mannerism often seen in a warrior of the Sith.

"He was sliced up by a creature from hell, sent by S'slan no doubt to remind him to alter his wicked ways; of those acts which would warrant such retribution I know nothing, unfortunately. But I do know his injuries were horrendous, although he has managed to come back to us from the brink of death."

Hoping he had covered all the bases, the Sith quickly rang for yet another servant, who appeared seemingly from thin air before them. He too took one look at the pair of Lords before falling to the stone floor, groveling.

"Show these Lords to the High Chambers," the other Sith stated haughtily, before reducing his own demeanor by tens of degrees until he appeared nearly as slavering as the servant yet mewling at the Lords' feet.

"He will show you the way, m'Lords."

“Salandaar’s ways are far from wicked,” he said with authority. “And he was no more punished for his ways than you were ever rewarded for yours. He gave himself in the duty of his Dark Lady, and fought beside me with a bravery and honor unmatched by any in the ranks of Warriors. I wish to visit him within the hour, and I expect to find him under the greatest of care and in a state of maximum recuperation. Anything less than the highest attention to his health is not only an insult to the greatest of the Royal Guards, but to the Dark Lady herself. I am certain you shall see to finding him, and informing me when this is done.”

He turned then to the other servant.

“You may escort us both to Lord Aelvedaar’s chambers, and call for me within mine when Salandaar is located.”

[ 11-28-2006 11:56 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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The automatic responses came in total synchrony as with a bow the two Sith replied each to his own task. While the summoned servant turned a bit to one side, indicating the direction in which the two Dark Lords should go, the other waited, horns scraping the stone floor, until they had departed to the High Chambers. Only then daring to rise, he heaved a breath, calmed himself and hastened off to the Royal Healing Chamber, the penultimate of the myriad such chambers which dotted the labyrinthine temple

Coming inside was like stepping into another universe. All was dim, silent; the very shadows seemed to whisper quiet promises to those who lay within while Healers moved like gray wraiths from one bedside to another.

The Second Pro Temp stood a moment at the door before his searching gaze settled on a familiar figure: Salandaar, sitting upright, joking quietly with an apprentice nurse as he pretended that he was going to leave his sickbed. The young female Sith gave him a mock horrified smile, batted her eyes prettily and laid a gentle hand against his chest, bidding him to remain still.

The Second Pro Temp only thinned his lips to see this, then scurried to Salandaar's side. A pair of aquamarine eyes pinned him to the spot scarcely had he come to a halt.

"What is it you wish?" Salandaar said in a steady tone, all the while brushing aside the abortive attempts by his nursemaid to keep him quiet. The other Sith merely bowed his head, and quickly outlined all that had occurred.

This of course prompted Salandaar to rise from the bed in earnest, so earnestly in fact as to move in a manner not conducive to keeping his wounds annealed. He winced, feeling the warmth of fresh blood welling from his side as one of the magick patches placed there loosened; grunting, he sank back against the pillows and allowed the nursemaid to attend to him before she ran off to fetch back a Healer once again.

Salandaar turned a humorous, if weak, smile upon the other Sith.

"It seems I will not be able to receive the Lords in a manner more fitting to their station," he announced with a rueful little laugh.

"While I would prefer to speak with them on my own two feet, from the sound of it matters cannot wait that long.

"Please, hasten back to the Dark Lords, and inform them that Salandaar is ever their lowly and obedient servant."

The Second Pro Tamp nodded, turned, and fled the sickroom, giving Salandaar the moment of privacy he needed so badly, a moment allowing him to hiss out a breath of pained air as he gingerly settled himself into the cushions. Then, smiling up at the nursemaid once more, he went back to his little routine of insisting he be let go.

He wasn't anywhere near convincing.

I turn to my companion, ready to make some comment or another when there comes along the Link I have with my Son a sudden call:

((OOC: Comes from Silence of the Lambs in the "Jedi/Sith forums, thank you)):

"Father, those on Dagobah have apparently fallen into some sort of distress. While I do not know of the particulars, it was requested that I contact you and pass this message along..."

This is so surprising and sudden that I come to a halt where I stand. But I have not achieved the title that I have by being the owner of a flighty nature; scarce moments have passed before I turn to Phalomir, utterly composed, and via a secret magick that any big ears about us might not hear I pass along what I have just been made privy to.

[ 12-12-2006 06:17 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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"Indeed, that is the best course to follow, since magick generally cures far more ills than does the waving about of a weapon."

I smile a little at Lord Phalomir, keeping to myself the thought that, even though the odds were with me, whatever it is which ails our little group did indeed have a chance of being something best left for a warrior or armorer to handle.

But Phalomir has spoken; drawing in a deep breath then, I reach out with my talents, seeking back to my home planet where a Portal I had opened yet remains so, and follow it to another planet impossible light-years distant...

...where the Portal's twin yet glimmers. Now having a secure connection, I say nothing else but stretch out a clawed hand to rend yet another opening directly betwixt and between the fabric of all that is. The rent glistens black and green and ruby red, and from its depths there comes the vivid scent of living things.

"I should not be long," I state then as with no further ado I step forth into the rift I have created, and thus leave the Temple of the Warriors altogether.

((OOC: FOllow Lord Aelvedaar into Into the Undiscovered Deeps in the "CSWU" forums, thank you.))

[ 12-13-2006 12:43 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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“Go with the speed of the eagle, my friend,” he said.

Phalomir paused and looked around him, taking in the stone hallways. Memories came beating at the doorways of his mind, and he stepped backwards to lean against the wall. He recalled his first entrance into the Temple of Warriors, before he knew what he was. He was trapped inside the body of the human Panthar Dantares, just a spirit without form. A strange sensation indeed.

He found himself walking through the hallways, looking at the various carvings and symbols. Servants walked here and there, each bowing and making way for the Dark Lord, but his distant eyes barely seemed to notice. Not paying close attention to where he walked, he found that his feet had carried him to the hallway leading to the Dark Lady’s chambers. Here he stopped, staring at the floor.

He placed a great hand on the wall and slowly sank to his knees. His other hand touched the stone floor, his fingertips grazing it.

“It was here,” he said softly. “This is where I last saw her. The spot where my love fell, and where my heart tore itself to splinters.” He closed his eyes and drifted back to the night before that morning, when he and Jharmeen had spent the night on Dagobah, under a moon of…

A shuffle from behind brought Phalomir back. He turned his head and opened his eyes upon a nervous servant. Phalomir sighed and stood, towering over the young Sith.

“Have you brought me news of Salandaar?” he asked, his voice cracking only slightly.

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"Salandaar is awake, and bids me carry the message to you that he is ever your humble servant. He is this way, m'Lord."

“It is very good to hear that news,” he said. “Show me the way.”

With that, the servant turned and beckoned Phalomir to follow. Phalomir’s long strides kept a brisk pace and the servant struggled to stay ahead. Phalomir slowed a bit, and soon was led to the healing chamber.

Phalomir stood in the doorway, filling its frame. He did not need the servant to point out Salandaar, and a smile came to Phalomir’s face as he saw the warrior, a nurse standing next to his bed. He walked quickly to the bed and placed his hand on the ornate bedpost at Salandaar’s foot.

“I knew I need only look for the pretty nurses, and I would find Salandaar,” he said. The nurse smiled coyly and curtseyed, gave Salandaar a stern look that was betrayed by the sparkle in her eyes, and excused herself.

“How are you, my friend?” asked Phalomir.

[ 12-14-2006 01:04 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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"My Lord, it is good to see you," he said, managing to keep his voice from faltering although he could not help but grunt a little at the end. Quickly covering up an instinctive grimace with a smile, he looked up at Phalomir and tried to shift upon the bed again. The pretty nurse, who had been hovering nearby, let out a small gasp, and motioned to a Healer. That worthy came closer to investigate, shouldering up to Salandaar's side as if there wasn't a Dark Lord in his presence.

Salandaar shrugged in apology, the grin still plastered on his face, though by now beads of sweat were springing up on his brow.

"What brings you to Phrinnchatka, my friend?" he finished before submitting to the stern looks and mutters spewed forth from the Healer, and nestled back once more against his pillows.

“You would serve your station better to attend to your healing,” he said, “rather than appeal to the vanity of a Dark Lord. Stay down, listen to your healers, and recover as quickly as you possibly can.”

Phalomir looked to the healer and nodded.

“There are things of import that I must speak to you about,” he said. “If you recall the conversation we were having just before your – accident, I have more information. But for now, I shall be content to watch the skill of your healer, who I am certain shall have you on your feet in no time.”

Phalomir winked and then looked directly at the healer.

“Correct?”

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"I can only do so much, m'Lord," he was now saying as with deft hands he outlined a magickal sigil above Salandaar's torso, nodding as after glowing an eerie sea-green it deepened to ultramarine and glued itself to the spot. There it flared, provoking another groan into squirting out from Salandaar's pinched lips, before finally disappearing from sight altogether.

The Healer then waited a moment longer, ascertaining that the patch was going to hold before giving his patient a final stern look. Salandaar merely rolled his eyes once more, and waved at him in as nonchalant a manner that he could manage, considering his circumstance.

"I will heal, these are mere flesh wounds. I am more concerned of what unknown straits we might be sailing into; Dark Lords do not usually take themselves into Healing Chambers unless they have a very strong reason to do so."

Pausing a moment, he looked at Phalomir boldly.

"How might I serve you, m'Lord?" he finished with, grunting then and sinking back upon his bed with a little sigh.

“Just before your attack,” he began, “we had a strange situation on our hands. The Dark Lady was found dead, but it was proven to be a hoax perpetuated by her daughter, ShaRhylla. Much has happened since then, but remember as we delve that there is still a shapeshifter in the employ of ShaRhylla, possibly still within the temple.”

Phalomir lowered his head.

“Jharmeen rescued me from the Darker Realms, a creature known as the Master had taken me. It used to be my father before it was consumed by the darkness of that realm. On our return here, for no apparent reason, she--”

Phalomir paused, then looked Salandaar in he eyes, trying to remain steady.

“She died, for real. But not for real, because her spirit had been assassinated by an agent of the Master. That agent, a Sith known as Thoran, broke free from his servitude and aided us in rescuing her spirit. It is a long story, but in the end the darkness that inhabited my father was cast out and her spirit was rescued. But I fear the same darkness has become part of Jharmeen now, and perhaps even her Adept Shayla. They have vanished, gone in search of ShaRhylla.”

Phalomir exhaled a long breath.

“There is much more than this, but to reach the point you need to know I shall be brief. I await for the Dark Lady and Shayla to return here. I am with Lord Aelvedaar, and we must meet her. On a personal level, I must know if she has become what has been described to me. Regardless of what I discover, Aelvedaar and I shall request a meeting of the Triad, to address matters of state. I wish to unify the Sith once more, my friend, under the old ways, to face great dangers to us all. I know your unquestioning loyalty to the Dark Lady, and I only wish to be aware of her recent trials.”

He placed a gentle hand on Salandaar, trying to find a spot that was not injured.

“And I want you to know of my undying love for her,” he said. “I would never do anything to harm her, but I have been selfishly wrapped in my feelings and must now take my place as statesman. I hold you in the highest respect of anyone, and will not fault you for following orders from her that may place me in danger. I just do not know what to expect from her, I sincerely hope Aelvedaar is wrong.”

He moved his hand from Salandaar to wipe it down his own face. Resuming his composure, he faced the warrior once more.

“But above all, the survival of the Sith must be my priority. And we must find this shapeshifter.”

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

"This is... disturbing," he began carefully. "Although I had some idea as to the machinations of the young Heiress Apparent, I had no idea she would stoop to such degradations as she apparently had. And while I had a run-in with a demon from Hell, I was not aware that we had a shapeshifter in our midst."

He paused again, pondering; then after a moment he lifted his head and went on.

"I shall inform the guards to be alert to this danger, and shall have each Sith within these walls, both myself and yourself included m'Lord, scanned by Sorcerer's magicks to make certain that we are all who we seem to be. And as for the Dark Lady..."

Again he paused. Again his eyes grew cloudy, but this time it was heartfelt pain that filled them. He grimaced, whether from the agony of the terrible wounds he had received from the demonic imp or that of this unexpected disclosure Phalomir could only guess.

The issue was settled by the next words to come forth from Salandaar's lips.

"I hold my allegiance to the Dark Lady Jharmeen Q'utaro," he stated in the manner that a captured soldier states only his name and rank to the enemy. Drawing in a breath, he continued.

"But only to her. If there is some horrible Darkness now inhabiting her, some terrible evil to have taken possession of her, I want to state here and now that I owe no allegiance to it.

"I shall do all in my power to uphold the integrity, honor and safety of the Sith, and offer my right arm and life if need be to restore the Dark Lady of the Warriors back to herself once again.

"If this indeed is a possibility... and if indeed it is something that has in reality happened to her."

The remainder of their trip passed in a dark silence, one heavy with thoughts of retribution. Shayla was just in the process of replaying just what she would do to Rykounagin if given the opportunity, a darkeness budding within her that, for the first time, was truly real, when the proximity sigil of the Sith fighter grabbed her attention.

"At last, we are almost there,"Shayla said aloud, reaching for the reversion sigil as the countdown continued. When it timed out, she punched the sigil, and hyperdriven stars sequed into a planet, in closer proximity to the fighter than a normal ship would be able to withstand.

Shayla smiled a dark little smile, keenly aware of the large blockade behind them. "There are many things even Imperial technology cannot match," she scoffed, beginning the process of bringing the fighter into atmosphere. Even as she did so, the fighter locked on to a somehow "programmed" course in its navbrain, and began its decent to Char'lingua.

"I am most interested in what the Revealer will have to show us..."

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

Phalomir returned Salandaar’s stare, his eyes intense and damp.

“I look forward to serving with you, my friend,” he said earnestly. “Long live the Sith, and long live the Dark Lady. You rest and recover, my brother.”

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"I find it... unusual that you did not ask the Revealer for this information when you first had the opportunity," she sniffed down her nose, becoming more and more the haughty young Heiress Apparent now that they were back in K'eel Doban space. But after giving Shayla another considering look, and not so much seeing as sensing the newly sprouted seed of blackness growing unimpeded in the young woman's soul, she loosened up, allowing herself to soften a bit.

"But then, things are easily overlooked at times," she amended, her brow lowering as that casual comment brough forth another fresh wash of images from her memory: images of Entaris, and her Father, and now Rykounagin.

How easily the emotion of love let me overlook their true intentions! she scowled to herself, turning once more to Shayla.

"I wish to go straight there, the minute we land. I can get us a private transport; as the Dark La--"

She paused a fraction, her eyes growing dark. Then she gave herself over to a theatrical sigh.

"--ady's daughter, I do have some allowances that others do not."

[ 12-21-2006 08:26 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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Shayla smiled, once more marvelling at the little fighter's agility. Getting back to her feet then, she stretched slightly, turning to ShaRhylla who was standing as well. Shayla punched a final sigil on the fighter, whose engines were now cooling.

The hatch slid obligingly open. Looking towards ShaRhylla, Shayla extended a hand outward, palm up, indicating that the younger woman should lead the way to their discussed destination.

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She didn't bother stopping to see if Shayla was behind her or not, but kept going the moment her feet hit tarmac. Now nearly running, her light and expectant panting exposing pearly fangs, she soon covered the distance from their ship across the spaceport to where the public transport system lay. Ignoring that, she hurried into a particularly inset doorway, one richly adorned with mysterious glowing sigils.

Pausing only long enough to study them she let her fingers fly over the heiroglyphs, tapping out a code known only to those of royalty and ones they chose to make privy to this. The door slid open, revealing the interior of an elegantly appointed four person transport. Windows in its heavy steel frame allowed the rider views fore, aft, and to the sides; smiling, she hopped inside and plopped into a seat. There she turned, calling out impatiently.

"Come, come; the system is on hold until we leave. I don't care a whit if everyone has to wait hours to go to whatever dreary places they desire to, but I wish to get to the Great Library as fast as we can!"

[ 12-21-2006 09:16 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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