She merely fought back the disclosure by which her eyes betrayed her, closing her eyes now to hide it as she bowed her head to the arrival of Aelvedaar. Then, leaning back a bit more into Roan's embrace, she slowly opened those eyes, opening her mouth as well to greet his arrival...

...and stopped.

Her head tilted. Her mouth soundlessly closed. Slowly, her eyes began to slit, and the Glyph burst out in ravening hunger on her forehead.

Though she turned to her Lord, she was clearly speaking to both of the Sith there.

"He is failing... and she loves him yet," she hissed in a low voice. For a moment she stood silent, her eyes focusing inward to "see" the drama being enacted in her old quarters. Then she brought herself back to the two Dark Lords.

"I will yet have this Adept, and fully, my Lords," she finally whispered. "For with her also by my side do I find yet another form of...balance."

She quieted, directing her gaze now from one to the other. Somewhere in the darkness beyond the Command Center, a worried M'wonBo'o lifted his face to the heavens and yowled.

[ 11-29-2001 07:42 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

The Jedi, it had to have been them. He had believed in her in her darkest hour, when hate welled up within her more than anything else in the Universe. They must have convinced him while he had traveled with them that she was all evil, that she could never love him and be full of the anger that she was.

[i]But...when she looked at him...

Erik jolted upright, looking at her uncertainly.

Suddenly, she didn’t know what to say to him. He had journeyed a great distance, he had loved her...

...maybe he loved her no longer? Maybe he could no longer be at her side, with her believing in the Darkness within herself as much as the Light...?

But then...

He too was a non-Jedi, trained til he was a young teenager; trained until he turned away from his trials, believing them to be more than what was considerable

So then why was he...?

Reaching out into his mind’s eye, through a link she and him had since she had realized how very deeply she loved him, Shayla examined the recent memories within the mind of the man.

"She believes she has tapped into that DARK side of her being, but this is not so. This she must do, if that which she now seeks OF HER OWN VOLITION is to come about within her.

"You cannot know of what I speak, but I say this unto you: complete balance of one's self is the goal. There is a great and quite enduring love within her, which must be equally balanced or that which she seeks will forever elude her.

"The result of THAT, of course, can be nothing other than her death. It is an all or nothing lesson, my young friend."

Then, memories of anguish, of horror, of unrequited love washing through his mind, his heart, his soul, breaking his very will...

[i]Her life hangs by the thread of her belief in your dismissal of her. How convincing can you be, Erik Kartan?"
Quite suddenly, and with penetrating blackness anger flashed within Shayla Petrolu, hot and furious.

SHE HAD DONE THIS! THE VERY ONE THAT WHOM SHE HAD TRUSTED! TURNING HER OWN LOVE AGAINST HER!

Granted, Shayla understood that Graysith most certainly did not want her death, just as she would not want for Erik, but with sudden reality and clarity Shayla realized...

...she couldn’t and wouldn’t let him go.

Suddenly aware that if anything at all was to be done that now was the time, Shayla took his hand and without any explanation lead him along at a quickening pace through the doorway of her quarters and through the hallways of the Temple, stopping only momentarily to pull a startled Cella Poliani from her quarters. Shayla lead the trio to a hidden door down below, picking the largest one of the ships there that she could find.

Placing a still dumfounded Erik at the controls with her at the copilot’s station and Cella Poliani strapped in behind, the bunch blasted out of the Temple, into Khar Delban atmosphere, and then into Khar Delban space.

If anyone had tried to stop them, they hadn’t moved fast enough to do so. Shayla suspected that the move had taken everyone by surprise.

And her Teacher...

Her heart throbbed with pain. Her sister...who had tried to turn her love from her...

...but her sister even still...was no doubt furious. Shayla sent out a tendril of apology, uncertain if Graysith had heard her, or if she even wanted to hear her anymore.

The little ship now in the confines of hyperspace, Shayla assessed the horrific reality of what she had just done.

She would die for this. If not, she would be hunted for the rest of her life. But to be forced to deny the love she had for the one person in the Universe who had accepted her...?

...no way.

Why she’d taken Poliani along, Shayla wasn’t sure. She suspected Cella didn’t know either; the woman hadn’t uttered a word, and Shayla was truthfully still furious with her for harming Leev.

...Leev...

Sighing, she stood, pacing the floor, suddenly petrified with the possibilities of what could happen to her for this which she had done.

Erik, who had placed the ship in autopilot, came to her and took her in his arms, where she practically melted, all the former bravado from before leaving her.

“I shouldn’t be here...I’ll be killed...she’ll kill me,” Shayla moaned. Then she turned, gazing into his eyes. “Erik...I....I...”

He quieted her, placing a finger to her lips. “I know,” he said, holding her close. The hurt, the anguish...the soul-encompassing anger at the deception within her was hard to mistake. Even so, he held her, waiting for her to calm, somehow knowing that she wouldn’t for quite some time...

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

One moment, in which a silent if somewhat mocking challenge had been passed from her violet gaze to into the turquoise and saffron ones before her.

One moment, in which eternity and destiny danced a lithe and beckoning duet before her....

One moment... which changed in but a nanosecond to encompass a lifetime.

"BETRAYED!!!"

Graysith gasped, whirling from the grasp Roan had upon her, the Glyph flaring to match the fire in her eyes. She took an instinctive step forward, another... and yet another, her hands raising as if to reach out and grasp a fleeing desire, the hot admixture of fury and deepest and most absolute sorrow flooding her in a rushing wave. She was scarcely aware of the hands which in turn grasped her shoulders, holding her back, talons digging in whether for support or focusing pain she really didn't know....

Nor did she care.

"No-o..." Now a choking sob rose up within her; in a rush, all bravado, all fury, all sinking and giving way before a denial she refused to see beyond.

She stood, shaking in rage, trembling in pain, wanting to shrug off the hands upon her, wanting to run into His enveloping arms, wanting her Sire to teach her what to do....

Daddy, help me...!

Her head jerked up, a new darkness clouding her eyes as the wisp of a suggestion rose up within her, now vying with a simultaneous rush of confusion and something akin to despair. For another moment, raw emotion roiled within her breast...

...and the Glyph stuttered and darkened to ashes upon her brow...

...for a moment.

She finally stood quiet, her head hung down, her hair tumbling about her face, hiding her face, hiding the struggles of the Glyph as it sought radiant life within her again. Deep within, far down inside in a part she didn't even know existed, a dim little voice murmured one tiny question:

"What are you doing here, Jharmeen?"

Then, from shadows even deeper still, a low growl rose into a roaring crescendo as the Beast awakened, clawing, scrabbling with flat pewter eyes and glacial heart as it reared up and slammed that particular door closed with a finality to end all finalities. Turned round within her, slavering to rend and tear and devour.

Her head flung back with the simultaneous ignition of the Glyph. Her eyes darkened to the deepest garnet, and the voice she spoke up in was colder than the grave.

"This one has indeed a grave error made, my Lords," she whispered, avoiding both sets of eyes by staring stonily off into a destiny only she could see. "Almost as grave as the one I did.

"My Sire." Here she turned to face a rather concerned-looking Aelvedaar. She cast one pleading look into his eyes, then fell to one knee before him, her head bowed.

"I beg forgiveness, my Sire," she murmured. "I had the effrontery to do that which I myself stated my Ad-- that is, the...Padawan should not do. I took it upon myself to teach, when instead I myself am still but a learner. I turn myself over to thee for whatever discipline thou sees fit to deliver... but of thee I ask the boon that thou stayest thy hand from thy Chosen One for just a short period of time."

Now she raised her eyes to look directly into those of Aelvedaar. He remained silent, stern... but deep within his volcanic eyes there flickered a slight flame of assention.

Now she turned from him, one hand reaching out to stroke Lord Roan's cheek as she cast her eyes deeply into his wonderful turquoise ones.

"With the All, there is the brightest of Light... and the deepest of shadowy Dark. For thee, I hold the light of love, and always will. It brightens as I touch thy face; it lightens further as I think of our future together.

"But now it needs it's own balance... and balance it I will. My lord, grave injury has been done to thy soulmate; revenge is mine, and sweet it shall be. I plead that in my...absence, you bring me the sister of mine who by blood is called that still, for yet will the Child be delivered unto us.

"If that...accursed Jedi will no longer my sister be, nor willing adept of the beauties of the All; she shall NOT go forth to spread our knowledge and threaten our goal.

"I shall set straight the error of my ways. And then shall I return to thee."

Reaching up to cup his face with both hands, she kissed him long and firmly on the mouth. Then, snapping her fingers, she whirled and strode unimpeded from the Command Center, leaving her love with her Sire, taking her tuk'ata and Noghri Commander, snapping up along the way the malodorous Maladius. Her steps determined and steady now, the Glyph lighting her way, she led her strange entourage to where she had hangered her little Sith ship.

In but moments she was aboard, firing up the systems, checking her Claw and lightsaber, wherein there still lurked the Nar Khelba. She held out the lightsaber and considered it as one would a particularly noisome bug. Then, her lips curled in a grimace, she wrenched the crystal from it's interior and affixed it safely and securely on her Claw of S'slan once again.

With a final grimace she waved her hand... and the lightsaber crumpled like the skin of a windsail.

Making a final adjustment on her navigation board, she smoothly blasted forth from Khar Delba, reaching out with her talents, using the All to follow the trail the departing group left in the fabric of space and time, a trail brightly lit, and in that brightness one in complete opposition to the fate she planned for them all.

Every one.

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

"Shayla?" he asked, feeling totally helpless.

"Erik...I...I..."

She was damned. And if she didn't do something to get off this ship, every one of them would be.

And there was that little tendril of herself that ached for her furious Teacher, who no doubt felt betrayed...

BETRAYED! SHE BETRAYED YOU...

But...she didn't want you, Shayla Petrolu, dead...she didn't want you to go...

SHE WANTED YOU BY HER SIDE, AND SHE WANTED HIM TO LET YOU GO SO YOU COULD BE THERE!

Suddenly, Shayla took the seat at the pilot's station, Erik watching numbly.

"Strap in," she told him, her calm returning to her, the confusion from before vanishing as she pointed to a chair. "We're going back."

"SHAYLA!" he yelled. The ship tumbled out of hyperspace as he fought with her for the controls. She pushed him back, and readjusted. Hyperspace returned, this time heading right back to their original starting point.

Whatever Erik had hit on the floor of the little ship had knocked him out cold, and Poliani was at his side.

Shayla turned to glare at them both.

She'd made a critical error. She'd lost the faith in the one who was teaching her, yet again, and she might be killed even though she was now returning...

...but she would return to her Teacher, her SISTER, and this time, she would not fail...

[ 11-29-2001 11:54 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Then...

Something snapped, he could see it in her eyes and feel it in that link between the two of them. Suddenly all that anger that he felt somehow...shifted...from the Sith woman to...to...

...him?!

He read Shayla's thoughts: He had been asked to let her go, to allow her to learn that which she wanted to learn, and he had failed. Suddenly Shayla took over the controls, and as the startled Jedi looked on, he struggled with her to regain control of their stolen ship.

Shayla would not yield. Instead she shoved him back with a power he did not know she possessed, and he hit the deck of the ship, something knocking him hard enough that the world began to grow dim.

She was taking them back to that Temple, to that Teacher of hers. And Heavens help them all, she was intent to succeed in that which she had begun...

[ 11-30-2001 12:04 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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

Graysith remained at her command chair, silent and still as a rock, her eyes affixed to the horrendous whiteness which gibbered outside the forward viewport. Under normal circumstances she would have found the sight a comforting one; now she saw upon that pristine canvas the scrolling of events which sprang forth from her mind.

Her companions, while not actually seeing any images, seemed to sense them as well. Nikk came up to her without a sound, voicelessly taking a position next to her, his simple spear ready to slice whatever adversary they might soon come up against. M'wonBo'o hunkered off to one side, trying to keep his thirteen-foot frame out of the way of his Mistress... as well as of that of the dark and sinister Maladius, who merely sat off to one side by himself, gleefully biting his own lips and licking the blood from them with his whip-like tongue.

Graysith cut her eyes to him briefly, shuddering. Dark though she might have within herself, even she found his presence... disturbing, and for a moment she silently chastised herself for bringing him along with her. Then she squared her shoulders, and was literally in the process of returning her dark gaze to the viewport when a digital readout began scrolling mysterious runes on a proximity screen.

Ahh... there they were... and, strangely enough, the signal seemed to be accelerating in a ratio which out-stripped their current velocity. Which could only mean one thing.

The stolen ship was coming directly at them, and according to the trajectory "Chosen One" had been following, in complete indication that it was actually retracing it's own trail.

Graysith frowned, immediately on guard. Why in the name of the All would the ship be coming back? Perhaps the Padawan had seen the error of her ways, or realized the futility of eluding her and so was coming to beg mercy. Other reasons popped into her head as well; she could quite easily have reached out with her talents and determined this by use of the All, but in her present state of mind the last thing she wanted to do was...taint her essence by mentally mingling it with Shayla's.

Then I shall determine the cause by more traditional methods, she thought darkly as, playing the navigational board with swift and graceful fingers she brought Chosen One out of hyperdrive... and with the extension of a retaining field grabbed hold of the pilfered ship and yanked it out with her.

Turning to Nikk, she commanded, "Stay here and monitor the situation. Should something happen, return to my Dark Heart, and bring out the wrath of the Sith.

"You!" Now she pointed an imperious finger at the gibbering Maladius. "You shall attend me!"

The dark being spoke no word, but eyed her with his bloody gaze. His dark head dipped in affirmation; his long and pointed tail lashed about as though in preparation for the havoc he so clearly wished to wreak.

Graysith merely ignored him. Reaching down to her thrimm, she removed the Claw of S'slan and placed it on her finger. An ultraviolet bolt of the All shot out, wrapping itself around the finger and highlighting the Claw in it's St. Elmo's fire as in that electric dance macabre it physically adhered the Claw to Graysith's flesh. Nothing short of death... or her own desire... would remove it.

Her eyes darkening with purpose, she waved a graceful hand to open the pathway...

...and calmly stepped forward into the returning ship, there to stop short in front of a fearful and agitated Shayla. Off to the side, a startled Cella Poliani looked up from where she was ministering to Erik, who lay quiet on the ship's deck. A wealth of emotions flew across the features of the jedi, and in one fluid and graceful movement she rose to her feet, her body tensed, her fisted hands raised to prepare what small defense she could against the Chosen Daughter and the Dark One who accompanied her.

Graysith gave her a stony glare. "I tire of you, Jedi," she said calmly. Then--

"Be thou still."

A small wave of her hand, and something reached out from somewhere with the care and strength of a hungry opee. A second later, and Cella had joined Erik on the deck of the ship.

Graysith then turned her gaze on Shayla. To give the woman credit, she stood her ground, although it was clear she was terrified. Muscles clenched in Graysith's jaws as she slowly raised her hand, her finger pointing at her once-adept in an accusing manner, the Claw seeming to smile with the power which would soon be unleashed upon her...

Then she stopped, the arm outstretched. The clenched muscles gave way to a brief bout of lip chewing of her own. Her eyes darkened into abyssal pools as she pinned Shayla with an unrelenting gaze.

"Why?"

Then, for obscure reasons even she did not understand, she held back the blow... and gave the Padawan one final chance to explain herself.

[ 11-30-2001 01:11 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

Strangely enough, it never came.

That Graysith was furious could not be denied; her eyes betrayed any attempt to conceal that though she was certainly making no attempt to do so at all.

"I love him," Shayla started, looking the woman straight in the face. "I believed that you manipulated him into telling me he did not love me so as to turn me from him. So, I left. Why I took the Jedi with me, I am unsure. For a while I was certain I was doing the right thing, then I realized you desired his dismissal of me to test the strength of my loyalty with you..."

Dropping to her knees, Graysith still remaining damnably frozen in space, Shayla dropped her face to the cold deck of the ship, afraid to look upon the other's countenance any longer. "I have failed you," she moaned. "What can I do to repay you the debt I have so blindly accumulated?"

Quieting herself, suddenly shocked to find a few tears of her own pooling on the decking of the ship as the reality of the pain she had caused her Sister became horribly apparent, Shayla waited...

[ 11-30-2001 01:08 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

...and yet, the image of the young woman wavered through the sudden tears which came into her eyes.

Giving her head a little toss, angry with herself for her own weakness, her long and flaming hair clouding about her, the Chosen Daughter slowly lowered her arm a centimeter or two...

...until the lethally sharp tip of the Claw was pointing directly at the nape of Shayla's neck.

She stood there in rock-solid silence, unwavering, blinking to remove the damning tears from her eyes, keenly aware of the gibbering Maladius who had slithered over to see if the yet-unconscious Erik was bleeding anywhere. A brief shudder coursed through her; with some effort, she redirected her focus back toward Shayla once again.

At length she spoke. Her voice was scarcely above a whisper, yet penetrated deeply into Shayla's very soul.

"How can I ever trust you again?"

She spoke no more, but simply waited, the Claw never moving from its intended target.

Somewhere from the vicinity of the jedi and the young man, there came the sounds of misanthropic...slurpings....

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

How can I ever trust you again?

Some little voice within her mind whispered cruelly, THIS is what you have done. She has been betrayed by her blood sister, as YOU have now betrayed her as well. You deserve to die for this...

Shaking with sobs, Shayla wasn’t sure if she could muster the strength to reply, the weight of what she had done in her state of temporary insanity pressing even harder upon her.

Then she firmed, still shaken, still on the floor but slowly looking up, her watery blue-green eyes cutting up to her Teacher, whose arm was frozen still to deliver the blow Shayla had expected, whose eyes were as watery as her own.

She grasped for the only thing she could think of to say in reply to the question. “Search my feelings; know my sorrow at the despair I have unheedingly caused you. Though rekindling the trust between us may yet take some time, my...temporary insanity has shown me how I yet need instruction and guidance. And I desire to know, to understand, not for the knowledge only, but to aid you, to right the wrong...

"...to help you acquire the Child you have been so wrongfully denied. Leev yet awaits the word to move in, to capture the one who carries the Child and those who might protect her. I ask of you...

"...I beg of you...

"...the chance to return to the Temple and to your side.”

[ 11-30-2001 10:31 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Shayla and the Sith were talking, the Sith seeming intent upon taking Shayla down, yet remaining somehow...frozen...as Shayla begged for forgiveness.

BEGGED FOR FORGIVENESS?!

Suddenly infuriated with this woman who had taken hold of his Love, who had comandeered her mind into believing somehow that Shayla owed her something, Erik drew his blaster, and pointed it dead at the Sith.

This was about to end, right here and now.

What he hadn't calculated upon, as the Sith woman turned to glare at him, raising her arm to yet fire that weapon of hers upon him again, was Shayla's reaction to the thing which he was about to do.

As she raised her head, speaking to the woman, she had spotted the motions he made, and her look of sadness, tears still free-flowing, hardened into a glare directed at him.

No!!! she seemed to yell silently.

Then, before he could squeeze the trigger, before the Sith could strike him unconscious, a Force-blow so completely powerful that the Universe in front of him exploded into rays of every color in the spectrum slammed into him . The blaster was yanked from his hand, by whom he didn't know, and yet another blow from somewhere rocked into him.

This time as he passed into unconsciousness, his mistake had become clear.

Shayla was not at all being comandeered by this woman. Though she might still love him, she had suddenly and quite certainly chosen to be a part of whatever bond she and this woman shared.

...Heavens help them all, indeed...

[ 11-30-2001 10:54 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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

Still holding the Claw pointed toward the unconscious Erik, bypassing the likewise unconscious Cella and with another wave of her hand assuring herself that the jedi would remain in that state for at least another thirty minutes, she slowly turned her gaze upon the trembling Shayla.

A heartbeat passed between them.

Maladius drooled and chattered insane non-words, skittering this time to Erik and beginning to find a tasty little snack in the form of the young man's right wrist. Though appearing to totally ignore the dark entity altogether, Graysith in fact was keenly aware of every move he made, if by no other reason than the quick rush of pain which flew over the face of the Padawan before her.

She cocked her head, seeming to wait and see what Shayla would do. The young woman merely lay in silent entreaty before her, even though she was undoubtedly going through seven kinds of hell for her love.

The Chosen Daughter blinked again, scrutinizing Shayla's very soul with the intensity of the Look she pinned her with. Then slowly, achingly, she lowered the weapon which had up until this point remained completely focused on Erik's throat.

"By this one act you cheat death, padawan!" she hissed through her teeth. "It yet remains to be seen whether or not this is permanent, or merely a postponement."

Now she crossed her arms, her violet eyes slitting as she stared down at Shayla, the pain she had gone through still evident in her demeanor. "Indeed must you earn my trust in you, padawan, before you learn anything further from me, or from my own Sire or Lord.

"Think you this is some light game, that when you tire of it you may blithely run off with the knowledge bestowed upon you?"

Suddenly she kneeled down, one hand reaching out to lightly touch the top of her head.

"It is not that I do not trust you with this, Shayla. There are others in this Universe far, far stronger than you, even with the potential you show. We cannot dare run the risk that what we command be brought forth. It must remain in the sole command of the Sith, used by the Sith, and only for the Sith. For the good of them all."

Rising to her feet, she pointed with her free hand to the rock-still Erik.

"Can I trust you now to adhere to that All, for the good of the all? Can I trust that your affection for this one will never impede your path again?

"Can I trust that you have in you the ability to kill him if it becomes necessary that you do, or to stand quietly by while I carry out the task?"

She paused for a calming breath, slowly lowering her hand to her side. The ravening Glyph shadowed down upon her brow, throwing the ship's interior into a dimness in which the hideous slurping noises once more resumed.

"Tell me now, Shayla. Look up at me, into my eyes and through them into my soul. Give me an answer to this question:

"What shall we do with him now?"

[ 11-30-2001 12:44 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

He could not, he would not stand in the way of this thing she had now committed herself to, in the way of the link which she had with her Teacher, who needed her, and whom she needed as well.

"What shall we do with him now?" Graysith asked, her finger pointing accusingly at Erik's motionless figure.

Gazing at his face for a minute or two, Shayla calculated: this would be a difficult decision. Should they send him back to Stargazer Cooporation? No, he knew too much. Could they blank his mind then send him back? No, too many others there to trigger the memory and bring him right back, IF his love for her after what she had done was still in tact. Having him roaming around the galaxy, clued in even at the very smallest level of what she was learning, could be possibly disastrous...

What should they do with him? Shayla didn't know. The possibilities of what could happen if they simply let him go were fairly horrific, while the possibilities of keeping him within the Temple, although possibily just as disastrous, would at least protect him for a time and might possibly give him a chance to understand...

...for better, or for worse.

Shayla looked up into the eyes of the waiting Graysith, forcing herself to stand on yet-trembling legs that were stilled only by her determination to let the emotion guide her but not take control. "If we release him, he could yet be of harm to the cause we have to fight for even yet. His mind could be blanked, but there are numerous others who know what he should if this was done.

"Shall we then imprison him until I have redeemed myself, determine if indeed he is capable of what I believe he is, then decide his fate...

"...at whatever cost it may require...?"

Standing yet frozen, her face a mask of total calm while her eyes belied the true emotion she felt, Shayla waited as Graysith contemplated her words...

[ 11-30-2001 01:53 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Graysith slitted her eyes as she slowly lifted her hand, the Claw pointing once again toward the unconscious young man. The crouching Maladius looked up with a start as he sensed impending doom which hovered about his head; with a little drooling giggle he slithered over to where the Jedi lay quiet on the deck and resumed his earlier nibblings upon her.

Graysith utterly ignored the dark entity. Her eyes were only for Shayla's; they pinned her greeny-blue ones with an intensity that could stop a supernova if she so desired.

Once more a heartbeat passed between them...

...and then a coiling tendril of Elseness writhed into being from the very molecules of spacetime, rapidly encompassing the young man in its blackness until he was scarcely visible. The blackened lump remained on the deck for a brief moment...

...and then slowly flattened and disappeared.

For a moment Graysith merely looked in Shayla's eyes, watching her reaction, searching for the slightest indication of betrayal.

She saw none.

In an abrupt motion, she whirled, the Clawed hand now darting out to send ravening energies out to completely melt the navigational and control panels of the ship. Then, her head held high, her eyes focused ahead, she stepped forward...

...back into her little ship. As though from a very great distance there came a disappointed grumble; then Maladius followed on her heels.

She waited....

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

If not, he WOULD be destroyed...by her own hand, if necessary.

Her heart still heavy, yet somehow certain that she had made the right decision, Shayla followed the impish creature who had been snacking on Erik's arm to stand silently by Graysith's side.

In her wake she left a yet-unconscious Cella Poliani in the confines of the ruined cabin...

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

The blazing energies surrounding Erik slammed him back to consciousness. For a moment he was seemingly nowhere, then...

Like the small cell he had found himself within seemingly eons ago, he found himself in the same such surroudings once again, the Force yet again inaccessible to him. He shuddered; Whether from the coldness of the little cell or from the pain throbbing from his head and his wrist, he didn't know.

Or perhaps it was from the absolute horror of what was taking place.

Moaning, his mind replayed that awful moment, where he had tried to release Shayla from what she suffered and she had in turn declared this was in fact what she wanted.

How could he ever trust her again, after all this?

How could he love her?

Too many questions and too much data were streaming through his mind for him to yet make that decision.

But this he knew: Shayla would remain loyal to this woman, and if he dared stand in the way, he would pay the consequences.

But he DID yet still love her! After all, she could have killed him in that moment, and she had not. Strange though the reality was, she had protected him even yet.

He would await his opportunity to understand, to know her again as well as he once had and yet even more. Either he would learn to love what she was becoming, or...

...he would die for all that he stood for...

[ 11-30-2001 04:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

From the moment Shayla had pulled her out of her quarters with such haste, Cella had had a growing feeling that something was going desperately wrong. She would have protested the breathless exit and the escape in the ship, had she not seen something in Shayla's eyes that inspired a kind of trust, a kind of willingness to help those in pain.

She felt the turmoil within both Shayla and Erik, the pain of Erik thinking that he had to give up the woman that he loved...the fury of Shayla, believing that her Teacher had betrayed her.

And then, that moment of supreme realization in which Shayla had turned the ship back to Khar Delba. Through it all, Cella had remained silent, observing and absorbing, aware that there was a great deal at stake here.

Jeroc, why can't you be with me? I need your help, your guide.

Cella's body twisted slightly in pain as she remembered finding Erik unconscious, trying to fight Graysith...and being knocked unconscious herself by the woman, with no more effort than Cella herself would have used to cause a leaf to flutter in the wind. She shuddered despite herself. So strong. What can I do? Tell me, Master Luke, tell me.

A voice rose to the top of her mind, from where she didn't know. No. You have the strength lying within you, even as you doubt yourself. No matter what is about to happen, you, Cella Poliani, can prevail.

Suddenly, she felt Erik being pulled away into that horrible nothingness into which Shayla had been drawn before. Cella moaned without even knowing she would done so.

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