Or perhaps she will find us another ship. I have missed the X-wing terribly. Although Shayla believes she is flying it, I know better. Sometimes it is difficult being a droid.

After working my way through quite an obstacle course, I had finally managed to get outside. I was interested in exploring this new place in which I was finding myself, and had nothing else to do. I had been tootling and whistling to myself for simply hours, wandering along assessing this new environment and mapping it into my systems when I recieved a surprise straight out of some holocomedy Shayla might have watched.

But then again, she usually was not the type for this sort of comedy.

A young man, dressed in some poor excuse for a kilt, was traipsing through the Sith City skittishly, as though he was hoping no one would spot him in his unusual position. And I am only a droid, but I certainly wish I had not seen him still. He caught sight of me and possibly saw me as some sort of lifesaver, for he came closer. I splatted harshly at him and backed up, wary. He did not register in my databanks as someone I was familiar with. Still, I have no clue as to how else he might have found himself in this city; as I understand it not just anyone can get inside. Rolling my optical lens to assess him, I tootled something that I hoped he could translate.

Quite bluntly, the translation was: Who the hell are you, and where the Hell are your clothes?

[ 08-22-2002 11:15 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Izzy ]

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Splatting disgustedly, I turned and headed back to the Temple, not sending another verbalization in his direction. If he was smart, he would follow me and get some clothing before he scared the living daylights out of someone. If not, his problem...

...not mine.

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Certainly the oddest acting droid I have ever met...

Only this dream didn't fade.

Taking in a great breath, she looked down, verifying the existence of her own body, one hand reaching up slowly to trace a soft line upon the smooth skin at the hollow of her throat, the other laying beside her and beginning to finger the soft satins of the bedclothes through the clean bandages in which it was swathed.

Where was the hard prison of the Vong ship? Where were the sensations of pure evil of which the very atmosphere of that ship had been made? Where the moist and unsavoring feel of the cold and clammy wall at her back, chilling her through the thin cloth of her gown? Where the place in which she had laid down to die?

Or had she?

Now uncontrollable fits of shivering began to wrack her slight frame, sending fingers of uncertainty and not a little fear racing throughout her.

This couldn't be. Something was wrong. If she were back in the blessed confines of Phrinnchatka, where was the loving embrace of the All she had come to regard as more of her essence than her own very soul?

This had to be death then....

As if afraid to find confirmation, one hand now slowly raised to touch the silent Glyph on her forehead. The fingers of that hand lay there in quiet denial and despair...

...before falling back to the bed again as she tilted back her head and let out a long and low wail of pure animalistic fear.

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Looking upon graysiths awakened form a sligth smile crossed his face, but it was quickly replaced with a frown as he noticed her confusion.
Aproachign quietly recinis sat next to the bed, and looked at graysith for a moment.

"is there anything i can do to help you? you are most likely confused, where should i start?" he muttered the last sentance half to himself and half to graysith, and while awaiting a reply, he stood and fetched a glass of water, as he approached again, he set the glass next to a side table and motioned to it "you must drink, you need liquid in your system, or you will become unconcious again from dehydration."
as he said this his face held the very look a mother would have while caring for a sick child.

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"Recinis?" she whispered, her eyes widening further. "Wh-why are you here? Have you died as well?"

Then she could say no more, but let her eyes close tightly against the upwelling flood of tears which now filled them with hot and despairing grief .

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They-- who is this "they?" No, him... her Sire... Aelvedaar; he had taken her, saved her from death, brought her back from the very brink of it, from the hideously singular existence she had experienced being the sole human being aboard a Yuuzhan Vong ship in intergalactic hyperdrive... he had somehow reached out and found her, taken her back...

...but at what great expense?

Her eyes widened further, and a sudden crunch could be clearly heard as her teeth clamped down upon the rim of the glass Recinis still held.

Shayla. She had....

Taken her place? What madness was this?

Another long and drawn-out moan wrenched from her soul to fling from her lips, and her hand flung reflexively out to crash against the glass in front of her. It tumbled from Recinis's hand, flying through the air to shatter upon the flagstone floor of the room.

"No-oo-ooo!" Her head flung back, her hair tumbling about, wet with tears and with the sweat which now sprang out upon her body. Blindly, her hands scrabbled out, seeking something, anything, finding contact with the rich robes Recinis wore, her fingers coiling and kneading the silken fabric as though she would tear it into bits. Great shuddering sobs began heaving her breast; her head now began turning from side to side in a kind of desperate denial of the fact, that the very action alone would bring surcease to the pain now flooding every atom of her body.

Shayla in that awful place... subject to that, that chrome-eyed whatever-it-was, at constant threat of being "visited' by the one she had at one time called Dark Heart, one who had perpetrated certain indignities upon her flesh and who more than likely would not hesitate to do the same upon that of her Sister....

She had to stop this. She had to help... but how could she? Where was the All which would enable her to do so?

[ 08-23-2002 01:07 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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I can only wait until he... until it finishes whatever ungodly pleasures it is perpetrating upon the Adept, and pray to the stars that when I do find the freedom to bring her safely back into our midst it will not be too late....

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Slowly, her pounding heart lessened, slowing until it beat at something close to its normal rate. Slowly the utter despair and mindless fear began fading from her visage; even more slowly the tremors that had assaulted her body began to quiet until they finally ceased altogether.

She still knew what had happened. But now she believed there was hope.

Her jaw worked, and she swallowed to relieve the sudden dryness in her throat. The shining green brilliance seemed to envelope the entire world, bringing yet more certainty to her mind, and hope to her heart.

She stared Recinis straight in the eye, her head now cocking to one side as though recognizing him for the first time.

"Recinis..." she whispered through another little hiccup. Then, quite on the impulse, she reached out and wrapped her arms about his broad shoulders, leaning forward to bury her face within the soft folds of his robes.

"Thank you...."

[ 08-23-2002 01:51 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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his muscles seemed to suddenly relax, though he had not been aware thate he had become tense, Graysiths initial response had worried him...but now he could finaly truely begin to relax...

he remained quiet for a few more moments, and then spoke gently, his voice coming out in a soothing manor. "everything will be fine..." after another moments though he continued on, again his voice strangly gentle "Is there anything else you wish to know?"

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At length Graysith pulled her face slowly back from the rich folds of Recinis's robes, her grasp about his shoulders loosening a touch. She stared mutely at a spot centered on his left collarbone before finally tilting her head back a bit to gaze up in his eyes. The look she gave him now was steady; had the Glyph been alight it would have been glowing with the soft radiance of the near ultraviolet.

That errant thought of the Glyph flashed through her mind, bringing a shadow to flit momentarily across her face. Then she quieted her inner self, and firmed.

"Thank you, Recinis, for allowing me to... re-orient myself. There is nothing else I am needing to know other than when Lord Aelvedaar will be finished with his task of bringing my Adept back to us, that I might perhaps have another little matter taken care of...."

Her voice trailed off as one hand reached up without her conscious knowledge to lightly brush the quiescent rune on her forehead. Then she remained still, yet staring up into the face of her Protector, secure in her safety here yet somehow, deep inside, suddenly feeling so very, very alone.

[ 08-24-2002 09:04 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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She turned sideways upon the bed, swinging her feet over the edge and letting them dangle there before her. They looked somehow vulnerable there, bare as they were. But the expression which crossed her features was far from that.

"You search for something, Recinis," she finally said in a soft whisper. "What is this thing that you seek?"

[ 08-24-2002 09:59 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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his eyes became a bit cloudy, as though his thoughts were not even apparant to himself.
after a few moments of considering, he looked deep into graysiths eyes.
"I believe Im....Seeking myself." he stopped then, considering his words, then continued on almost absently. "When you were taken, i felt as though i had failed completly...I realized that, If something were to happen to you, i would have no purpose in the universe...what would i do, if the one whom i was to protect, was gone? My place is not here, nor now, i dont know where i could belong in the universe, i am a being from the past, should my quest be ended-" he then trailed off for a few seconds, as if considering exactly what would happen. "-I would be lost."

a few seconds later he spoke again, his words almost a whisper, "I guess im trying to figure out why it was i was sent here..."
after a moments though, a smile crept onto his features, "it matters not though, what matters is, i am here, and in good company... i am among Friends" he said the final word as if it held a special meaning to him, as if the very sound of the word were somethign incredibly special.

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"Indeed you are among friends. Never forget that, Recinis."

Then her eyes clouded, and her smile faded a bit. For long moments she stared off into middle space, allowing her expression to grow vague as she wrestled with something she had not been aware of until mere moments before. Within, the Beast lifted his head with a questioning growl; she gave it a mental slap and focused on Recinis once again.

"You must... cease thinking of yourself only in the light of others," she offerred, frowning a bit to think that what she was trying to get across wasn't quite becoming clear.

"The All may be blocked from my use at this time, but nevertheless I can sense there is so much more to you than you allow yourself to believe."

Now her eyes cleared, and another smile showed her white teeth in the dim light of the room.

"I am glad you have come to me, Recinis," she finished quietly, then fell into a suddenly expanding well of silence in which the tiniest of pins could be heard dropping....

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For a moment he sat thinking, wondering about the possibilities that were set before him. While he felt confused, and a bit lost, he knew that he had indeed been given a great gift in being sent here, One that he would charish for all his existance.

Suddenly another thought came through his mind, and he soon spoke.
"if you are feeling well enough, i believe we should go see the others, no doubt they will be wondering if he arrived safely or not. Perhaps we should see if shayla has been recovered."

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He wasn't a Sith. He was just the significant other of a Sith Adept.

Hell, he wasn't even a Jedi.

Erik frowned at this thought, pausing from his worry and concern.

Who was he, really? Simply the loved One of Shayla Petrolu? And why was he?

He wasn't a Jedi. He'd never completed his trials.

And why not?

He'd seen them as pointless. Seen the whole idea of suffering through a trial to prove Jedihood merely a task to display something that could be seen in another more practical light.

But that wasn't all of it, was it? There was yet more to why he'd never completed his road to Jedihood. Yet another reason why he'd left Corellia.

Becoming a Jedi had never been what he had wanted. Granted with certain gifts from birth, people in his family had naturally assumed he must become a Jedi.

But he had always wanted something else. The life of a Jedi, even by Corellian standards, tied one down to obligation and goodness. And while Erik was neither one to shirk responsibility or not seek out the best for himself and others, he was more than that. He loved life; while Jedihood would have brought him in contact with many people and allowed him to help those in the galaxy, he would have never known himself.

He didn't even quite know himself now.

Who was he?

He was Erik Kartan, an Information Smuggler.

But why was he this? To make a descent living? To meet others? To acquire knowledge?

No. To live life to its fullest.

And, in the grand spectrum of things, Erik Kartan realized that part of living his life included one very special person who was risking her life for the cause she so deeply believed in.

A cause to save the Galaxy that hadn't even realized what lay in store.

Erik actually smiled at that.

What a way to live life, eh buddy? To fight for the ultimate protection of an entire Galaxy, however small your role, however misunderstood you might be. To live...for something more than even yourself.

But first, to know what you yourself are.

So who was he?

Erik Kartan, Corellian Information Smuggler, Ally of the Sith, Lover of Shayla Petrolu...

...and a Liver of Life to the Fullest.

Only now, however, would that living truly begin. Right here and now.

At that thought, Erik suddenly turned on his heel, much to the surprise of Shawn Petrolu. Without a word he proceeded into the Temple and walked towards the sense which he was beginning to identify as Recinis, curious as to if the Protector knew of what was proceeding. Finally he made his way to a set of double doors and paused, not wanting to intrude.

He knocked once, and waited.

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One hand reached out with a vicious shove to open those doors, then she strode angrily through them onto the stone balcony beyond. There she paused, looking out upon the ancient city of Phrinnchatka, so silent that the distant cry of an infant came wafting clearly into her ears.

For a long moment she merely stood there in apparent contemplation, all the while fighting against the sudden upwelling of fear and anguish which rushed up within her. She reached out and clenched the carved stone railing so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"He shall contact us when he succeeds, Recinis," she broke that heavy silence with the succinct statement. "This is the manner of my Sire; in the meantime, I shall remain here, waiting."

She fell silent then and merely stood looking out across the city once again.

[ 08-24-2002 10:57 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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"Is there something i can do for you?" he asked the man, opening the door fully. He then gave the man a brief smile, guesing that he to was probably in need of a bit of incouragment.
He's probably having as hard a time as graysith right now...

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He paused at that, seeing the form of the Choosen Daughter on the balcony.

Perhaps she too was finding this waiting so very difficult...

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Erik smiled at the purple and silver R2 unit, then turned his brown eyes into Loban's.

What the Hell was with this kid? Didn't he have a CLUE what was happening here? What was going on...? Just exactly WHAT had he been doing to get into this situation?

Erik didn't let any of these thoughts show however. He just merely pointed to a set of suite doors across the hall; the set of doors belong to the suites he and Shayla had shared...

He paused at that thought for a mere moment, then pressed on. "You can take a clean jumpsuit from the wardrobe in the suites across the way," he said, waiting to see what the boy would do.

[ 08-25-2002 12:56 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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