When she arrived at the Command Center she quickly imputed her father's radio frequency and sent him a brief message, "Daddy it's me, I'm on Hoth - the Sith attacked one of the older students and stole her, now they have stolen me they are trying to hurt the Jedi - come get me so they can deal with the Sith. I'll be in the Mess Hall." After leaving her message she left to find some food and to set up little bed for herself in a corner of the mess hall.

[ 01-08-2002 03:05 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Padme of Hidden Lake ]

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Excellent, little one, she thought to herself with an approving nod. In this tale being read by so very few in this blind Galaxy, another page is eagerly turned.

Excellent....

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Following the pathway lit so brilliantly by that shining beacon, her thoughts darted out, and arrowed smoothly into the mind of her dark lord. "My Love," an almost insouciant whisper threaded between the ribbons of Darkness and Light she sensed within the depths of his mind. "I am once again whole, and worthy of your attentions."

That last was meant to be a dig, and she smiled at the responding chuckle now echoing so richly in her own essence. Forcing her smile aside, she continued.

"I sense we shall soon be departing this world, following the next and final step along the path that will assure not only the fruition of my destiny, but that of yours and mine together. In this, my love, I have one boon I seek of thee.

"You know that which-- rather, who it is I seek, and why. I would have her, my love, in your grip or in that of your minion. Even as I look forward with such eagerness to the touch of your hand upon my being, I would have your touch in the extreme and exact opposition upon hers."

She paused for a moment, powering down the Glyph momentarily as an MD-07 came in to check her vital signs. Satisfied that all was well, it nodded to her. Then it chattered out of the room, leaving her alone once again to finish her thought.

Literally.

Her eyes slit, and she smiled into the face of certainty. "I beg thee grant this one small boon I request of thee, my Dark Heart. For the Child must be ours; you know I cannot bear another. Or...."

Now her inner thoughts trailed off as another idea came to the forefront of her mind. Slowly, an evil smile began to spread across her pale features; the ensuing energetic blast from the Glyph would have fried the circuits of the MD-07 had it chosen that particular moment to return to check upon her once again.

"If that Child cannot be ours, then it must at least be replaced. Only in this regard do I thus beg you to stay your just hand from the frame of she who was my sister, who's young is yet fouled by the taint of purely human blood.

"Otherwise--" She shrugged, as though Lord Roan's turquoise eyes could actually see the small motion. Perhaps indeed they could. "Otherwise," she continued.

"You may kill her at your discretion, my love."

With that final request firmly sent to her Lord and her love, the Chosen Daughter of the Sith closed her eyes, the Glyph on her forehead dimming back into simply another splendid jewel amidst the others gracing her head. Leaning back against the guerney, she folded her hands upon her stomach, and quietly and patiently waited for the MD-07 to come to her, bringing her release from the facility.

[ 01-06-2002 01:02 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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There she found her Adept and Erik hunkered closely together, talking in low voices. She noted the tired look in her adept's eyes, as well as the fact that Erik's jacket was draped about her shoulders. For a short moment she stood quietly observing the pair from the doorway into the waiting room, herself unobserved so wrapped up in each other the two seemed to be. Then Shayla's eyes caught hers, and the young woman rose to her feet. Erik tagging along in her wake, she came up to Graysith, and grasped her repaired hand between both of hers, exclaiming happily over the realism of that repair.

Graysith smiled, letting her comment, taking this time to bask in the waves of warmth for her which were radiating from her Adept like heat from a sun. Then she gently pulled her hand from Shayla's grasp, and raised it.

"I thank you, my sister, for bringing me here that this might be accomplished. You have done well."

Placing that hand companionably about Shayla's shoulders, she now turned the young woman round and headed out of the medical facility. Erik followed along behind them, feeling somewhat like a fifth wheel, his thoughts lost to what would happen next. He was so distracted by them that he didn't notice that the two had come to a halt on the walkway outside; with an embarrassed "oof," he found himself running smack-dab into Graysith's back. He jerked back as Shayla rounded on him with a frown, opening her mouth to berate him.

Graysith smiled and spoke up first. "Never mind, sister and friend," she commented lightly. "I sense the fatigue in him, as well as in you. While common sense commands we return to Relentless and continue on our path, I would first remain a short while and relax while we are here. Besides...."

Now she turned to face them. There are wonders on this world, and I would share them with my love if only through my mind.

"...I have never been to this place, and would see a little of it before we depart."

She waved her hand, indicating the city around them. The calming park-like beauty of Coronet spread out around them, beckoning them as jeweled islands of old once beckoned to travel-weary sailors. She cocked her head to one side, thinking. Then spoke up.

"I give you two time alone here with each other. Use it wisely, and fear not for my sake. I travel unmolested as a Hapes Lady of Means; I shall come afront no trouble in my solitude.

"I shall meet you back aboard in one cycle."

With that, she graced the pair with a small and partial bow. Then, her silken and falsely royal gown swishing about her, she turned and abruptly departed, leaving them standing a bit bewildered behind her.

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She was drawn here like a salmon to its birthing grounds, like a negative electric spark to a positive pole, like the questing mind of a dedicated scientist to the Truth being constantly and consistently sought. Not knowing why, knowing there would be time later to scrutinize this apparent anomaly, she simply responded to the inner urging and followed it's call.

It led her unerringly to this place.

The Coast. For all she knew it was the Gold Beaches for which Corellia was famed. What she did sense, what she felt deep within her, was the inexplicable knowledge that somehow she knew this place, had been here before, and that it was important to her. Knew as well that there was a reason other than vague familiarity which had lured her to the wild beauty here: the bleakly golden beaches stretching in two directions for kilometers, the lapping of the Great Sea's constant energy against the sands. Odd creatures whose home this place was flew about the sky, crying in strange squawks and discordant harmonies to the setting sun of Corellia. Somewhere out beyond the surf, a great geyser of water suddenly blossomed, as some unknown leviathan created a disturbance there in a manner equally alien to her.

For a long moment she stood upon the shoreline, letting the ebbing tide lap gently at her feet, wetting the robes of House Noble which surrounded her lithe form like the seafoam upon billowing waves. Now staring directly into the sun, which was reddening as it sunk beneath an absolutely flat horizon, she remained stock-still, her hands folded, the quickening land-breeze lifting her hair in its soft caress.

In this manner she stood in silence, and waited.

[ 01-06-2002 11:26 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Reaching out through the all he searched until he found an all too familiar mind. The swirling mist of the all began to seperate showing him the one he had been searching for. "My Brother," he said through his sithly smile, "it is time: The time has come for us all to take our places as unknowing as it may be for some." He watched a smile cross the face of Aelvedaar his Sith Brother.

"Do you have what I requested finished to my specifications, my Brother?" He saw Aelvedaar's clawed hand present the Dark Lord's treasure. "Excellent, you have done very well; now it is my turn to turn Fate's wheels." He reached out throught the all to gently take the prize into his own clawed hand. How brilliant it was, his dark heart would be pleased. His head bowed momentarily acknowledging Aelvedaar's hard work and mastery of the ancient Sith crafts.

He opened his eyes ending his spiritual link to his brother, bringing him back to Graysith. He stood mere feet from where she watched the waters lapping at the beach. it took only moments for his long lengthy strides to bridge the gap. She had disguised herself as a noble woman but never could her presence be masked from her true Lord.

His arms encompassed her causeing her to meld into his muscular form. His heart beat strong and fast as her head leaned back in acknowledgment. He could smell her, feel her softness and he knew he could wait no longer. The Dark Lord brushed a kiss in her hair before releasing his grip to turn her to him. He gazed only momentarily into her violet eyes before he began to speak.

"My Dark Heart, the time has come for our love to be complete." He went to bended knee taking her soft hand into his own, never taking his eyes from hers. His horned head was uncovered and even the sith that continuously swirled around him seemed reverent. "My Dark Heart, will you join with me?" He presented the ring with a sparkling stone that seemed strikingly familiar. "Join with me, my love, and complete our Destiny."

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A Nar Kelba.

There was no mistaking its ruby luster, its inherent power, now darkened and silent, merely waiting for that with which it was meant to unite, so that it could flare into brilliant and glorious life. Her touch light as a bird's upon the quiescent stone, she looked down into Lord Roan's turquoise eyes, allowing herself to begin drowning in their depths, and for one flashing moment was brought back to that sacred day on Khar Delba...

"You are the One to complete this Darkness before you."

...before the crash of the surf and the roar of her heart and the intensity of His eyes and the fire in His form before her brought her back to an even more precious Now. Still holding her trembling left hand out to him, she reached down with her right and cupped Roan's face with it. A fresh wave of trembling shot over her as that hand felt the heat of his desire; his eyes never leaving hers, he turned his head a bit to cool her palm with a kiss. She wetted her lips, and smiled down at him.

"I have joined with you long ago, my love," she whispered softly. "Yet how long I have waited to hear you say the words to me. In that, I know you have a need to hear them as well.

"Yes, my Lord. I live for you... and I'd die for you. I have loved you for so long, and will do so until the end of eternity."

For a brief moment a thrill seemed to rush through the Sith Lord's body, and he closed his eyes. Then they flashed open as, with a broadening smile, he slipped the ring onto the index finger of Graysith's left hand.

The quickening night flared red as contact with the Chosen Daughter's essence ignited the gem into furious life. Her eyes closed instinctively before that blinding flash, her own Glyph radiating its own brilliance to join with that shooting forth from the ring. The two hues flowed together, joining and twining as one, ruby and amethyst, coiling about the very atmosphere until they completely surrounded the two Sith within their dancing beams. The purity of their hues then began to meld together, to join and blend into a deeper and more heady wine, one in which two almost iridescent golden dots suddenly formed and began to swirl about. For a moment the upper limits of the deeply ruby curtain radiated auroral spikes, the molten orbs took on the ghostly aspect of a pair of eyes watching in approval, and a deep bass voice seemed to echo from the repeated crashes of the surf against the shore. Ephemeral words twined sinuously into Graysith's very being; her eyes flew open as those words flared into existence, their whispered revelation of her true destiny no less resplendant than the All and the gloriously dancing of the Sith which continued to hold and bind her together with her love:

She was not to unite the Sith Lords, to channel the All so as to bring forth the Sith civilization into the present. She was to unite with A Lord of the Sith, to bring into being the One strong enough to do so.

For one small moment she drew back, puzzled. She had once; how--?

Then she let all trepidation and questions escape her in one rush of exhaled breath. The miracle of her love before her, of the potential of their rapidly approaching union, was enough to remind her of who they were, enough to confirm within her the fact that other miracles could yet happen.

Would happen.

They were the Last and the First of the Sith. This would be so.

And now, feeling strong hands upon her body pressing with an insistence far outracing the unending demand of the sea upon the shore, she lent herself to the miracle of the moment. With the grace of some creature born of light and air, she let herself be drawn down to the unfelt harshness of the sands and the chill of the foaming waters, down into the arms of her love and into the promise of a Destiny soon to be fulfilled.

[ 01-09-2002 07:07 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Then, my smile upheld by the satisfaction of fulfilling my role in this rapidly unfolding destiny, I withdraw, leaving them alone to each other beside the roar of that moonlit sea.

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All this could wait a little longer he thought as he turned his attention back to the chosen daughter. The pleasures of their love were of far more importance.

[ 01-11-2002 12:28 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Dark Lord Roan ]

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For a brief moment she found herself, and pulled slightly away from her Lord...how truly now her Lord, she thought with a shiver...and gazed into the depthless wonders she saw in his turquoise eyes. That look held for a moment that was both the tiniest part of a second, and the greater percentage of eternity until she broke the timelessness of it and smoothly answered her Dark Heart.

"It is indeed necessary, my love," the words poured like liquid fire into his mind. "Show them our strength, for our destiny...OUR DESTINY ...must not be denied.

"And I would have her suffer travails beyond those of hell at your hand."

The smile on her face darkening with that, satisfied yowls from the Beast within ringing throughout her essence, she closed her eyes, tightened her grip, and once more lost herself to the indomitable presence of Dark Lord Roan.

[ 01-11-2002 12:23 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Just before she pressed her lips to his, she whispered, “I love you too.”

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"My brother will be anxious to here of all the 'events' of the evening." He said with a smile as they boarded the sith ship that took them once more back home.

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"You are tense, my love," he murmured; then drawing back, he continued massaging, now moving both hands down her back along either side of her spine. She wriggled into that touch, letting her eyes close as a wonderful sensation of euphoria began to descend upon her. Once more the visions of what had occurred that night on Corellia passed through her mind, the powerful harshness of the act contrasting vividly with the muzzy cloud she was now wrapped within. She let out a little sigh, tilted her head to the side once again and let her violet eyes fall closed.

"Now perhaps they will truly realize what it is they are up against," she offered at length. "And until we are ready for their involvement will stay wisely away from us." Her smile took on a darker cast as one particular image seemed to linger longer than the others. Following it through the All, she insidiously slid a tentacle of her awareness across lightyears to creep into her ex-sister's very flesh, studying the trembling and exquisitely fragile state in which her Dark Heart had left it. Her smile broadened further. "She will be some time from herself, my love. Indeed this is pleasing... even though the manner of its accomplishment rather leaves something to be desired."

She turned quickly and shot a playful look straight into his eyes. For a moment he frowned sternly upon her; then he broke into rich laughter and cupped her face in his hands. She laughed at that, breaking away from him and rising now to her feet, letting the tendril of otherness return to her as she moved about the cabin of the little Sith ship. She stopped then before the forward viewport, and stared out at the milky whiteness of hyperspace that shuddered before her eyes, the thought of another sister now taking priority in her thoughts.

Now the tendril coiled and seemed to somehow gentle before leaping forth into yet another mind. My sister, forgive my Lord in his impestuosity. There were certain... duties necessary that he perform, and with their conclusion he has quite snatched up your Teacher to return home with her.

She let a modicum of playfulness tingle along that connecting Link, letting her Adept know that her apparent abandonment of her was not the idea of the Chosen Daughter of the Sith, also letting her know that she, Graysith, felt her to be completely trustworthy and able to determine her next move on her own. The tingling turned to a type entirely different as she amended the message with one final revelation:

You see, my dearest sister and Adept. I am truly his Lady now.

She shivered at the thought, still quite overwhelmed by the rapidity in which events had transpired in so tiny a period of time. But then, entire Universes have been known to be created in but a mere three seconds....

The sound of booted feet stepping up behind her gave her good reason to complete her communication with her adept. Sister, you have at your disposal "Relentless." Use her to either return home with us; there may or may not yet be some ceremony.

Or... do what you must to attend to what has only begun this night on Corellia. I leave Leev in your attendance.

With that, she strengthened the linking tendril until its snakelike coilings sensed and discovered the forms of her own personal bodyguards. The interior of the little Sith ship became even more pressed for space, as a somewhat startled Nikk and M'wonBo'o suddenly found themselves materialized within it. For a moment they stared at the Chosen Daughter, eyes and mouths wide with imminent queries.

These they wisely refrained from voicing, and managed to find other means of holding their attention, away from the Dark Lord who with a smile was once more descending upon his Lady.

Chosen One was indifferent to the occupants it carried. It howled through hyperspace, its destiny a living entity in its mind.

[ 01-14-2002 08:40 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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"You can be whole," a familiar voice reminded her.

Firming at that, Shayla shoved her previous thoughts entirely away from her, knowing unconsciously what she wanted to do well before she was aware of it.

She wanted to go back and finish her training. Only then would she be truly whole.

"So, where to, Chief?" Erik asked playfully.

"We're going back to Khar Delba," she said quite frankly, turning just fast enough to see his confused look.

She let her blue-green eyes search his brown ones, waiting for him to put all his questions aside before she answered anything.

At last, she was satisfied.

Suddenly filled with joy at the idea of completing the daunting task which she had begun what seemed like ages ago, she explained breathlessly and with certain finality, "I'm going to complete my training..."

[ 01-14-2002 08:10 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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