How do I feel about what?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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All she could focus on was the anger boiling within...not so much for the poor helpless Ewok who had been so uncaringly withdrawn from its home, but for a little girl from long ago.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

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

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

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

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

The Force alone would guide...

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

And in the complete darkness of her mind, the true potential of Shayla Petrolu shone in the distance...

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

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

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

"I care."

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

"I care...."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Now, follow me."

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

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

[ 10-05-2001 02:34 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

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

I care...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well...no, it didn't.

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

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

Shayla paused-midthought, as realization sprung into being.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What else, in fact, could SHE be?

[ 10-05-2001 05:22 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

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

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

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

"You can be WHOLE."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What have your great efforts revealed?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ 10-05-2001 07:31 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

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

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

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

To the Dining Hall from the evening before.

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

"You can be whole..."

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

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

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

She NEEDED him? Where had THAT admittance come from?

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

But the hurt, surprisingly, never came.

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

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

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

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

THEN she could be whole.

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

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

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

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

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

Then the reality became suddenly clear.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile the words reverberated in her brain even still.

You, Shayla Petrolu, can be WHOLE...

[ 10-06-2001 02:32 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Logan wondered fleetingly if he wasn't feeling the same things, putting himself in the same danger. In the way of impulsive youth, he pushed the thought aside and settled down for the long hyperspace haul.

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

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

Shayla unconciously frowned, a flash of anger rising within.

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

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

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

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

[ 10-06-2001 11:30 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

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

"What is it that you are feeling, right at this moment, my young one?" she whispered silkily. The expectant silence following this question only seemed to deepen with the shadows around them, as the Khar Delban primary slowly moved toward the horizon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ 10-07-2001 12:11 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

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

She waited....

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

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

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

No more shoving feelings aside.

"I feel..."

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

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

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

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

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

"The anger feels good..."

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

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

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

Then she let Time resume.

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

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

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

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

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

We shall not be long parted, she finished.

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

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

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

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

[ 10-09-2001 10:52 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

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

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

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

He was going to continue on to...Khar Delba?..., and he was going to find Shayla there. Then he was going to stay with her. He wouldn't try to make her leave until she was ready. Maybe just the presence of another person from her former life would bring her back to sanity. Maybe Logan could learn something too...

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

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

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

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

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

[ 10-09-2001 10:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Light and dark.

"Light and Dark...."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ 10-10-2001 12:17 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Something that seemed a whole lot like understanding.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ 10-10-2001 11:32 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With that, they gained entry to the dining area, where another heavily-laden banquet table awaited them. Graysith now ceased speaking entirely, and went forward instead to strengthen the body of her adept as she had just finished strengthening that very essence of what and who that adept truly was.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time was truly lost.

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

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

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

[ 10-10-2001 03:08 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

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

Ah well, small minds think in small terms.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Small minds...

Small terms...

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

[ 10-12-2001 11:24 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Her lips were cool upon mine.

Herein once she had found Fire and Ice.

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

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

[ 10-13-2001 12:49 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

In time she supposed she would find out.

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

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

[ 10-15-2001 10:45 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

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

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

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

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

A dark wisp of presence blew by him, and Logan was sure that...She...had heard.

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

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

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

Leap I! Leap I!

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

Snarl I, snarl I.

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

Wait I... wait I.

[ 10-16-2001 05:28 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by M'wonBo'o ]

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

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

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

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

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

Logan.

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

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

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

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

This was going to get ugly.

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

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

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

They obviously didn't know her one Sithspawned bit.

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

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

This was going to be really ugly.

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

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

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

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

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

[ 10-16-2001 11:51 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ 10-17-2001 07:01 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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