"Yes," she said as she moved about, tidying here, seeking there.

"But only to an extent."

Stopping then, she turned and pinned Shayla's gaze with her own. For a long moment she merely remained quiet, contemplating the young Adept, speculating upon how she would put across what she wanted to say in a manner the Adept would not merely understand, but feel down to every last cell in her body.

"What one terms as a dictator assumes power within a system," she stated abruptly.

"Do you consider this a good thing, or an evil thing? Does the power he holds spring from the deep love you mentioned, or it's opposite. And--"

She cocked her head, gave Shayla and even more piercing look.

"What is the true opposite of deep love, my Adept?"

After pinning Shayla with a lingering gaze, she then turned away, giving the young woman the figurative room in which to formulate an answer as she continued to clean up the little hut, lending a portion of her mind to the rising issue of supper.

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

Shayla now paused, her eyes growing vague, her mind deep in thought.

Where indeed...?

She refocused her gaze on Jharmeen. The words that were to come from her lips would have made many cringe, had they been present to hear them. "Most dictators strive to come to power out of their great Hatred of something although they may, or may not, seek to come to power to protect that which they love from that which they greatly Hate. Anakin Skywalker, for example, strove to gain power to stop the threat of the Jedi he came to hate, hoping in that move to save the one that he Loved. But the Emperor, whose leadership was notorious for its iron grip on the Empire and whose Hatred of the Jedi and anyone who would stop him was a palpable thing..."

She trailed, biting her lip. "Master of the Dark Side that he was, he had little love of anything. And when Darth Vader's own wife stood in his way..."

Shayla's look then blackened slightly, her thoughts straying, but only slightly. "You know, if the Jedi were truly honest with themselves, they need the hatred of something in order to defeat great darkness as well. They think in such truly small terms..."

Frowning darkly at that, Shayla fell silent for a moment. "They are fools to have such a narrow-minded view."

[ 06-28-2006 02:20 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

"Do not dismiss the Jedi so lightly, my dear young Adept," she admonished gently.

"For while it is true that they touch but a mere morsel of the Greater Whole into which we delve, their abilities come to them in more... natural a manner.

"We on the other hand must constantly and consistently maintain our understanding, so as to truly plumb the mysterious and beautiful depths of the All."

Now she paused in her tidying to settle down upon the carpet of thorny-pips. Patting a spot next to her, she indicated that Shayla take a seat as well. The young adept followed suit, staring into Graysith's violet eyes with her own greeny-blue ones.

"I posit to you, my dear Sister,that the true opposite of Love is not Hatred, as so many suspect... but the true lust for Power. One can, as you so eloquently put it, hate out of love, or for it's sake; they are not opposite, but elemental parts of a whole."

She paused there, staring deeply into Shayla's eyes, reading her every nuance of body language, eyespeak, striving to emplace within her very brain that which she herself knew so very well to be True.

"So many do not understand this relationship, my adept. The two are paired, hand in hand; the true opposition to them is what is actually at the very heart of many belief systems:

"Apathy."

She turned away then, blinking into the cold stones of the hardened mud fireplace she had built. Remnants of logs not quite completely charred lay within, covered with riotous growth; with a silent apology, she jerked her head fractionally, setting a happy little fire to blazing in the hearth.

She turned back to Shayla.

"And from apathy there in turn springs the greatest Beast of all... Power. And the lust for it."

Another quiet pause ensued, one filled only by the snappy crackle of the dancing fire. It sent warmth into the little hut, gradually lessening the humidity within until at length the air was more bearable, easier to breath.

She smiled, but this time with a touch of darkness flickering about her features.

"Apathy-- so terrible a thing. To actually care not for anything... or anyone..."

Her eyes, having found root in the flames before her, cut sideways to Shayla, slyly, like a predator sizing up an opponent.

"Only by understanding this can one truly devote oneself to the acquisition of power, my dear Sister.

"And only with power can one fill the Void left in the absence of love."

Her eyes closed briefly as upon her lids there now came the image of the gnarl-tree grove: all who had professed to love her, all who had betrayed her. Yet another smile flickered softly about her hardening features as she once again observed the images of Erik and Terrin;

How had they betrayed Shayla? Indeed they must have, in one manner or another, for otherwise their images would not have been present in that place of revelation...

She smiled again and opened her eyes, staring once again into the mysterious depths of the fire.

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

The words rang out in Shayla's mental eardrum, trying to grab her attention, to scream for attention, to wave red flags desperately. But another line of logic was growing within her psyche to counter that desperation.

A truly powerful leader makes decisions based on his or her own convictions regarding what is best. Caring about what others think of him or her can mar the process...

Turning then to Jharmeen, Shayla stated as much. Pausing then, her greeny-blue eyes grew distant, and she added a final addendum. "One must draw faith from within, and from no one else, in order to truly be strong..."

[ 06-28-2006 05:09 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

"Yes-ss-sss..." she whispered at length, her voice low and musical and filled with terrible meaning. Once again she cut her eyes to Shayla, who stood there filled, undoubtedly, with the kind of security one gets when one is quite certain one has obtained the Final Answer.

Graysith merely smiled, well recalling how she had once stood thus before a particular turquoise-eyed Darth.

Such a long ways since then, so great a distance...

"But, knowing in one's mind is a far different thing than understanding with one's gut, or one's heart."

She paused a moment to let that sink in.

"I once asked this of you, Shayla. You failed.

"If asked again, should the situation arise, what would it be you would do, I wonder..."

With that she rose gracefully to her feet, nodding to Shayla as she then headed for the door.

"I grow hungry; it is time to hunt."

Without saying another word, she quit the little mud hut for the wilds of the Dagoban swamps.

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

...for perhaps she had at that, Shayla followed after Graysith, noting her hunger as well. But first she spoke the conclusion to her thoughts to her Sister in two short, damning statements. "Indeed I failed you. They know far, far too much."

Her eyes then growing dark as the sky before a storm, Shayla Stargazer smoothly walked out into the swamps of Degobah, her senses stretching out and sensing the ongoing Life and Death therein.

On the hunt without so much as a weapon...

...but then, who needed such toys?

Stretching out even more with the Force then, Shayla tapped in to the small life-signatures nearby, sensing their proximity by the strength of their life force within her senses...

...and she knew she would be able to find that which she sought quite soon.

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

She so easily made connection, before my people returned--

A mental pause, eyes wide with a surprise that quickly segued into contentment.

Yes. My people; I am of them now, more surely than the blood which connects me with humanity, she thought, momentarily side-tracked. Then, a quick shake of her head, and she continued her former line of thought, moving quickly yet gracefully through the swamp.

She so easily made the initial connection... but she has so far to go before ability may grow.

I remember it myself, all too clearly--

Another sidetrack: her time with Wicked, then on her own for his sake. Her perceived strength, her ferocity, the tunnel vision by which she was almost completely derailed...

Thank Khaandon I found the balance. I do hope she will do so as well.

A small rustle ahead of her brought her to a halt, one hand out to stop Shayla. The young woman came up beside her, stared curiously ahead toward the single white spider which was sitting beneath a gnarl tree all by itself.

"Watch, my Adept," Graysith almost crooned, her eyes bright and blazing as she pinned them on the tiny creature. It seemed to pay them no mind whatsoever, but remained in the place it was. Every so often it turned in place, as if rotating about an invisible axis, its long legs reaching out to scrabble against the undergrowth as if searching for something.

At length it stopped, apparently satisfied. Now it hunkered down a bit, its legs poised as it crouched, then with eye-blinking suddenness it leapt straight up into the air. All eight legs drew themselves together as it rose upward, tightening one against the other until the tiny creature appeared to be a round white ball on a sharply pointed stick. In this strange fashion it rose directly upward...

...and then fell to the soil, the legs tightening together yet further as if preparing for impact. That impact did come, the legs burying full-length into the soil, the body of the spider coming to a rest on top. It wiggled once, twice...

...then ceased to move altogether. No trick of the shadows in the swamp, its color deepened, turning grayish green. A tiny tendril poked upward from the body of the spider, which now looked about as much like a spider as did a mushroom, and waved about. Sensing an area of lesser foliage, it writhed upward toward it, seeking the sun.

Graysith smiled.

"It takes life to beget life, and in the begetting, dies," she announced, nodding toward the little thing. She cut a look to Shayla, peered at her intently.

"This is one importance that you already know, my Adept, which is good."

Not saying anything further, she continued moving through the swamp, gathering up mushrooms and other edible fungi, pausing at the water's edge to handily scoop up tiny wriggling things, continuing to glean from the great field of Life which indeed was nothing more the the very embodiment of the planet itself.

[ 07-03-2006 07:15 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

This, along with Graysith's final statment, swirled in the depths of Shayla's mind, offering itself up as food for thought.

You did give your life for her, and for some great and unknown reason in the grandness of the Game, you were spared...

Shayla blinked at this realization, offering up thanks to whatever beings were there to hear it. Then, joining Graysith in collecting mushrooms and other small creatures for food, she spoke once again.

"I love you as the Sister I never had," Shayla said, feeling the words were somehow necessary. "I would give my life for you time and time again."

Glancing down at what was in her hands, Shayla then made a single query. "How shall we now make food of this?"

Falling silent at that, Shayla waited a quiet moment, knowing that what was given in the most simple of ways was what should be taken. The use of abilities without true reason was foolish, after all...

...so she began to get up to find some wood for a fire....

...and then froze.

Dinner. As that bastard child had once proposed to dine with Graysith...

Shayla blinked, her look darkening and justified suspicion creeping into her features. She then spoke, her words seemingly random.

In relation to the thoughts in her mind, they were anything but. "My Sister...

...something has just returned to my recollection," she stated. "The boy, the one who was deceived by Lord Roan, the one who stole the Finger..."

She paused, her look growing even more dark. "He was with your daughter on K'eel Doba; I saw him there with her shortly before you...

...were killed. Your daughter seemed to imply she had taken him as consort, and she acted as though she knew me not...."

Trailing, Shayla's eyes defocused, and a sudden thought crossed her mind. "Would Dark Lord Roan dare try to rule the Sith from the dead through the two of them?"

She paused then, her greeny-blues snapping alert, her look fierce and determined. "The boy...

...he is not strong enough, and not worthy to be a ruler of the Sith. He is merely a pawn..."

[ 07-11-2006 11:02 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Unseen by the greeny-blue pair behind her, her own violet eyes now narrowed, darkening to umber, filling with a fiery red that in turn cindered down to a deep and rich mahogany. The Glyph on her forehead strained to burst forth in splendor equally fiery; drawing in a deep breath at last, she held its fury back, forcing it inward that it might amplify her own.

"None have the ability to rule the Sith, none save Lord Roan!" she finally hissed, the words spoken in a whisper soft as down, fierce as a rancor's wrath. Whirling, she took a step toward Shayla, ignoring how the young woman took a reflexive step back, and paced away from the water's edge. Out into the swamplands she went, following no trail but one seen only by her own eyes, the foodstuffs trailing from her hands as she moved. At length she stopped, and turned back to Shayla.

Suddenly, in complete odds with her former behavior, she sighed. The Glyph ravened down the electromagnetic scale until once again it was a soft and gently glowing blue.

"Lord Roan had the strength not only to unite the Sith but to lead them as well. This was something of which we would speak, back before the Sith had returned, back when we-- when he and I--"

She trailed to a halt. Her face was totally expressionless. The Glyph ravened.

"But he lied to me as well. He did not tell me of-- of Kreesha."

Her voice now took on a hint of sneer, a bit of snarl, like a tigress just before it pounces. She straightened, drew in another breath.

"I defeated her in Challenge to Entitlement; from that day forth Lord Roan would have nothing more to do with me. Lord Recinis had already left, I already had seen the true wisdom in the abandonment of this insipid thing called love..."

Another brief pause. Swallow.

"But even with the strange relationship we then had, I knew this was what the Sith truly needed. Strong leadership, under one ruler. One Dark Lord, one Dark Lady.

"But he was killed..."

A shudder in earnest rippled through her body as the memory of that day rushed with white-hot vividness through her mind. Gathering her composure, she continued on, her voice now taking on the tone a teacher takes when patiently explaining something to someone. Whether that tone was for Shayla's benefit or her own, she really couldn't say.

"The Warriors have already pulled away from the Triumvirate. The Dark Lord of the Armorers is too new to the title, has yet to prove himself--"

If he ever shall, she amended silently to herself.

"The Warriors are ready to be As One, and would fight in civil war if such were needed. Only now Lord Roan is dead."

Again she turned away from Shayla, contemplating the swampland stretching out before her. It gurgled and whispered wet things into the humid air, sending out secrets of its own to those canny enough to pause and listen.

Graysith did not. She continued on.

"I believe what you say is correct, as do I agree that he is trying from the Realms of Death to yet hold the reins over the Sith. But he had no one else with whom to discuss such strategy; taking the boy unto his own House is a serious error indeed.

"And if he is aligned with my daughter, nothing good for the Sith can come from it. I know this lad; traitorous blood runs through his veins. For is he not descended from the Sith Assassins? Those who would be used betwixt one Sith and his brother?"

A swift cock of her head allowed her to gaze at Shayla from the corner of one eye.

"The Sith need unity, they need leadership. They are accustomed to the Triumvirate; they shall have Three... but not of Three Houses.

"Three Ladies, with the power of the All; this is who and what shall finally bring peace to them, Shayla.

"And nothing and no one is going to stand in my way... in our way.

"No one."

[ 07-12-2006 12:14 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

Her decisions.

Considering this thought, Shayla cocked her head, her own mind wandering to those whom she had allowed to play part in weighing the worth of her actions in the past.

Terrin...he had never trusted her, never opened up to her..

...and eventually turned against her.

Shawn...he was busy with his Jedi learning and teaching, too busy to be concerned with the fate of his sister.

And Erik...

...now where was he? And when had he ever been strong enough to stand in the gap and fight for her on his own? She had always been the one, in the end, to be strong. Not him; he lacked conviction...

Shayla's greeny-blues snapped alert once more, and she came to Graysith, her greeny-blues locking on her violet pair, the look in her eyes once more determined. "I will help you in whatever way I can so that the three can rule. Your daughter, she is in place as a leader on K'eel Doba already. But JhinDarra..."

Shayla trailed, her greeny-blue eyes deepening. "She remains on Tatooine, where I left..."

She paused once more, her greeny-blues darkening to the depths of a sea sky before a storm, Where I left all of them..."

[ 07-12-2006 12:03 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Graysith let the word slide out of her mouth as a swamp-slug slides from its putrid hole, letting the fires within her Glyph and her heart bank somewhat. Her eyes glittering in the dim light, she turned back to Shayla.

"A strange place for all to be; tell me who was of the party you abandoned, and why was it that they were there?"

Indeed it would have been a simple matter for the Chosen Daughter to reach out as she had done in the past, to link her mind to that of her Adept's in order to gain this information.

But that was not the path she chose to travel upon at the moment...

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

...and Erik and my brother there," she said the latter two with disgust in her voice, noting that yet once again they had not made any noticeable attempt to come after her, at least not immediately.

These actions proved quite alot.

"The Dark Lord was going to Degobah to try to get your body so that Thoran could transport your soul back inside."

[ 07-12-2006 01:49 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

"It would seem the task was accomplished without his assistance," she quipped lightly before falling into another silence. All about them the life of Dagobah chirruped and gurgled and mewled, so far removed along the spectrum of Life from the heat-stricken ball of rock which was Tatooine.

"Tatooine," she then repeated, reaching a fingertip upward to lightly play at her lips.

"Why would Lord Aelvedaar have taken you there? Why not just lead all here to where my body was so very well protected? It makes no sense; perhaps there was something on Tatooine he wished for you to discover?

"Were you left in Mos Eisley, a place where all could easily be gathered into one group yet lost amidst the crowd?"

[ 07-12-2006 01:50 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

...but then it disaopated just as quickly. "We were left in what appeared to be the dune sea with no shelter or food whatsoever. I don't now where we were in relation to Mos Eisley or any other civilization on the planet, but wherever we were there was no signs of sentient life anywhere close by. Why he did not take us to Degobah with him...

...I do not know. How very strange that he would leave us all there totally defenseless, considering I habored your spirit within my body..."

The thundercloud resurfaced at that final statement...

...only this time, it did not recede back into the stormy depths of Shayla's eyes, instead remaining there.

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

It is good. She harbors this, and finally, at long last, she does not run from it...

"The Dark Lord does nothing without a purpose, this I have come to know from my history with him. Perhaps he wished to be certain my spirit was safe from prying eyes, for who would think to hunt for it in the wastes of Tatooine. Or--"

She paused briefly.

"Perhaps he too has something to hide. As do so many..."

Once more she let her words dwindle into the background, her brows knitting as she thought. Then--

"All will be revealed in its time, my dear; come, let us sup and then return to my rightful place in K'eel Doba. And as for the others, why... in time they will more than likely seek us there, don't you think?"

She smiled sweetly, but that smile came nowhere to touching the darkness dancing in her eyes.

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

She paused, her greeny-blue eyes growing deep and dark. "Let them make the first move, for they will not find exactly what they seek."

Quieting a moment at that, a flash of something bolted in that thundercloud found deep in her eyes...

...and at last the darkeness sequed into something softer as she turned her eyes to Graysith. "Indeed, let us eat and then return, for the time draweth nigh all that has been wrong to be made right."

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

Ahh, my dear Adept, she mused to herself as she made her way, trudging along mud encrusted paths left by one Dagoban lifeform or another, slogging through the occasional bog.

How eager she is, how she yearns to let loose the darkness which resides within her, which has lurked there for far longer than she realizes.

But I know. I can sense it.

A branch hung before her, wet and dripping with moisture and sap. She merely moved a finger and it rose briefly upward, as if ferried there upon the wings of an unfelt wind.

This she must control, she mused further, and now let another smile whisper along her lips. For well indeed did she recall her earlier days, fresh from her receipt of the Glyph, the awesome powers of the All yet a promise. How fierce she had been, confronting Darth Wicked, slashing unthinking at those she perceived to be opposed to him, ever seeking to please him.

Indeed, I was lucky to have grasped the All, acting thus. Lord Aelvedaar was a good Teacher; I pray I can be as well to Shayla.

The image of her little home rose from the dim shadows; still remaining silent she entered and went directly to the mud and clay hearth she had fashioned. Sinking to her knees, she peered inside the pot she had made so long ago. A scent of decay wafted to her nostrils.

Wincing, she removed the pot and held it out to Shayla.

"Please, my dear. We shall need water both for cleaning and for cooking. Would you take this out and remove the stench, that I might make us a stew for supper?"

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

The Master stepped through the portal, followed quickly by Panthar. He stopped and looked about, ready to slam shut the doorway back to the Temple of the Sorcerers at the first sign of aggression from the white spiders. Panthar stood motionless behind him, sensing the apprehension.

But life carried on in the grove, and the spiders busied about their work as if nothing else in the universe mattered. After a moment, the Master turned his head and whispered to Panthar.

“It’s close,” he sighed. “It looks a lot like the spot where we left her body, but it’s not the same. I mean, there is a grove of those weird trees like I remember, and those little white bugs, but out there in that clearing, there should be a mound or something where Gray was placed. This looks smooth, like nothing ever happened here.”

Panthar looked more, studying the trees and the moist ground. He moved, much to the dismay of the Master, closer to the clearing. The spiders continued to ignore them. Panthar stumbled on a root that had grown from the ground.

“What’s this?” he said, bending down to pick up a small piece of cloth entangled in the root. “This is the same color as the Aelvedaar’s robes.”

Panthar’s eyes widened and he turned to face the clearing once again. Not one sign remained of the grave. He stood motionless for a moment then turned back to the Master.

“Something has really cleaned this place up,” he said. “I got a really bad feeling about this!”

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

So much for patience.

Erik moved towards the portal, nearly knocking over the Master as he did so...

...then standing frozen as Panthar made a few observations, ending with the damning fact that the area was clear, including the disappearance of Jharmeen's body.

Erik eyed the Master and Panthar, his thoughts spinning again. "None of this information helps us find my wife," he observed, his brown eyes growing distant. "The spiders were to protect Jharmeen's body, this Shayla was certain of. Lord Aelvedaar apparently was attacked by the spiders...

...so perhaps they saw him as some sort of threat."

He paused, shaking his head, his eyes still distant. "Something moved Jharmeen's body from here, and her spirit was in Shayla's head. So the question still remains...

...where are Shayla and the Dark Lady?"

[ 07-24-2006 05:13 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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

Once she felt the pot was sufficiently clean, Shayla then filled it full of water, standing once more. She began heading back for Graysith's mud hut, but found herself pausing momentarily at the entrance to the cave where she had seen Erik, Terrin Danner, and the strange not-quite-figure only a little while before. Shayla cocked her head slightly, considering, wondering just what, if anything, prompted her to stop now. A new vision then flashed before her eyes, one not a product of the the cave directly, but very real in her mind's eye nonetheless:

An image of Erik and Shawn, each holding a lightsaber, each unmoving, their eyes unreadable.

Oh, now really? Shayla thought darkly to herself. Very well, then.

Clearing her mind of these thoughts, Shayla looked towards the cave a moment longer, pursing her lips...

...and then began heading back towards the nearby mud hut where Jharmeen was waiting.

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

Without a word, Shawn stepped through the portal directly behind the Master, Panthar, and Erik, where they all stood looking at the spot where Jharmeen's body should have been.

"They are both safe, here on this planet," he said softly and without preamble as the others turned to look at him. Erik's brown eyes widened, and he opened his mouth, starting to say something Shawn was certain he knew already. Shawn raised a hand at that, hoping the other would wait to hear him out...

...and would hear his logic as well. "Shayla blasted half of us, left Tatooine, and now she is here with Jharmeen...

...whose seems to be alive...

...alive...!

...and safe." He paused at this, eyeing Erik and leveling an eeriely calm greeny-blue gaze at him. "You know Shayla's independence, and you know her convictions. She's here for a reason, Erik, even if the reason is no more than one of her own. Recall her last actions, her words...

...and what you know deep in your head. She would not want you moving abruptly in upon her space, and the woman she loves as a Sister has somehow come back from the dead. Dare you move in suddenly on something that might be nothing more than a reunion, at the risk of causing her to distance from you?"

He then looked to the Master and Panthar. "Lord Aelvedaar is still weak, and could use your abilities, and perhaps mine as well. We need him to complete this puzzle, and should not rush into this."

He paused, his words still hushed, yet very urgent. "Come back with me. We can ascertain what is occurring safely via Aeylmaar's abilities. The time for a direct interaction with Jharmeen or Shayla should be spared for a time when we know exactly what has occurred here."

[ 07-24-2006 06:02 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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

...but then she swore she could hear something very distinct, very noticeable.

Voices, whispering. Familiar ones.

Pausing at that, Shayla's eyes darkened, and she balled a fist.

How dare they come here, after being told to leave her. And at that, how did they manage to find them here? All links had been severed...

Her eyes darkened further, and for a long moment, she stood unmoving. She was tempted to stretch out and ascertain just who was there...

...but she was certain of at least one of the party. Well, actaully, two. She knew her brother's voice quite well...

...and for a brief moment, she thought of lashing out immediately, angrily. How dare they come here!

But then, logic began worming into her thoughts. Who cared that they were here? What they were doing was of little concern, until what they were doing came into the path of what she and her dear Sister were planning. To rush into anything without proper guidance at this point would be foolish. So, taking a care not to seek out with the Force and touch any of the minds now lurking, Shayla began to move quietly and quickly once more, back towards the mud hut. As she did so, she was almost certain she heard a familiar voice begin to call her name in the distance, but she heeded it not. Instead, she entered the hut, coming to a halt in front of Graysith, who was busy tidying the place...

...and immediately told her of what she knew. "They are here," she growled. "Although I know not for certain who, for I did not risk compromising our position with my Force abilities, I know I heard Shawn's voice, and I believe Erik is here to..."

She trailed, her look darkening further, "...retrieve me as well," she said, her look smouldering. "What shall we do, my Sister?"

[ 07-24-2006 07:44 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

What had she been mulling over mere moments before, after all?

--she carefully laid down the Tooth of S'slan, which she had been using to prepare the foodstuffs they had gathered, although her hand still made contact with its curving, hand-fitting hilt.

"There are times when a good offense is a strategic defense, my dear," she said then, lifting up the blade and beginning to chop and skin once more. Laying it aside for a moment, she then reached with her bare hand and tore out the entrails of the animal she was in the process of gutting, letting the blood fly where it might.

"And the best defense is knowing what those who may oppose us might be up to."

Holding the blade to her mouth she licked the remnants of blood and gore from it, turning now to face Shayla openly.

"I think you should return to where they are and pay heed to what they say, taking a care not to be discovered. Of course, should they find you, it would be but a matter of a moment for me to retrieve you here...

"...although that is not something I wish to divulge to them. It is better that they are left with suspicions, if that is indeed all they carry with them; this is something you must determine, my dear.

"Also, should they find you, it would be good... practice for you, in how you handle the matter. But remember, I am with you always."

Smiling, she tapped the dripping blade against her forehead, giving Shayla a look of quiet assurance. Then she calmly turned back to her task, chopping and skinning, gutting and slicing, placing the foodstuffs into the water-filled pot her Adept and Sister had cleaned and brought back to her.

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

With nothing further than that, Shayla stepped back out of the hut, quietly, keeping herself disconnected from either of the two persons she believed might be present...

...and headed right back in the direction where she believed them to be, taking care to approach not from her original path through the gnarltrees, but instead through an altogether roundabout path where she circled the swamps before heading back towards the place where she knew they were, coming in from the opposite direction from where she had initially left them, deeply hoping that they would not suspect her return...

...and pondering that perhaps they had indeed already seen her once.

One time, and only one time, was all she hoped to allow them...

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