Indeed, there was much to think about.

Why did the Revealer show her the line of Q'utaro BEFORE the Sith were returned... and now showed no trace of that lineage? Was it as simple a thing as a mere paradox? Or was the Revealer able to be tampered with? She thought it showed only the truth....

She paused in mid-step.

Truth as stored in the Library banks themselves, as gathered through the magicks of the Sith and placed there.....

A long moment passed in which she remained still as stone.

The magicks of the Sith... Jharu's sword, so heavily endowed in that manner for the son of a warrior.... someone able to manipulate because of magick....

Phalomir. Was he not the son of a Sorcerer? Is that not what he had told her? And yet-- what other Sorcerers did she know of?

Aelvedaar... whom Roan had once told her was in league with Recinis.

She shook her head, and moved on.

That would make no sense... or would it? Ahh, but how she wished she had someone to turn to, to discuss this with. There was a time she could turn to her Sire, one other to a hand-picked sister, another time, to her husband and Lord.

And Lord....

She sighed again, and continued walking, not watching where she was going, simply letting her feet wend their way amidst the pillars as she tried to find answers to far too many questions.

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

The answer the Revealer gave again haunted Phalomir’s memory: unity. The Sith had never been united under a single Dark Lord, as far as Phalomir could remember. That would be folly. There must be checks, balance… such as what he felt the Eye represented, but to what? The all force? What WAS that?

And what of the Dark Lady? What could she be planning? Why did she leave so quickly? From what was he to protect her--

Protect? Did he swear it? He had assumed so, but—

A sudden need filled him. A need to find her, to protect her… but… wait, what were the words he had heard? in time she will understand her legacy, protect her, my son

He had assumed… but perhaps…

He glanced slowly to the woman, Shayla, and let his thoughts drift…

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

--at least, these particular Sith--

--had little interest in humans as a whole, and especially not in what humans believed wrongly of them...

...and suddenly she felt robbed of the only possible purpose she'd be able to find in the past few days. She'd gone back to the Jedi Praxeum what seemed like ages ago...

...and she had been taken from there by someone she couldn't even remember...

...but then what? She knew she'd married Erik and that she had a son...

...somewhere...

...and she knew she had at least once felt there was a purpose in her life. But now...

Now what, Shayla Stargazer Petrolu-Kartan? Shall you live your life in the past which you can't even remember, or shall you do something to press onward to whatever may lay ahead, taking a step at a time...?

For a moment, Shayla didn't even so much as blink as all these thoughts rolled through her mind. But then suddenly she firmed, her eyes hardened slightly with a line of determination...

...and she waited in thoughtful but alert silence for whatever was yet to come her way.

[ 07-07-2003 08:54 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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The stone was... stone. It cared not. It merely held up, supported, remained through eons....

Sudden resolve came to her, strengthening her. A slow smile crossed her face, her eyes darkened a bit to the hue of the sky just before sunset.

It mattered not. The intrigues leading to her current place, the mysteries of who was Dark Lord and who was not, mattered not.

What mattered was that she bore the Tattoo of Entitlement upon her own wrist, her daughter holding inheritance to that title. That was what mattered. That, and nothing else.

Now was not the time to weaken before the softer emotions. Now was the time to be...

To be Sith.

Her chin pushed her face up and led the way back to the Receiving Hall. Her unwanted guests yet remained. She glided past them, a worried Salandaar coming up from somewhere behind to trail her, up to the dias and to its apex, there to turn and seat herself upon the intricately carved seat atop it.

She laid her hands upon the wood of the arms, and looked down upon them. At length she spoke.

"What is happening here in Phrinnchatka is of concern to the Sith, for it is of the Sith, and Sith only. Thus it is not necessary that you remain here further, especially since new evidence indicates your innocence, Shayla Stargazer Petrolu-Kartan."

She paused, turning her gaze briefly into Phalomir's.

"Remember that I spared you; there were two arcs of red lancing out...." she thought into his mind, before backing out and directing her attention to the others once again.

"Leave Phrinnchatka. Now."

[ 07-13-2003 03:16 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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...don't expect them to understand you, especially not with how I know they think you are. But if you have no interest in changing those beliefs, or at least not through me...

...then so be it."

And with nothing more that that, Shayla Stargazer Petrolu-Kartan turned, a group of Sith warriors gathering about she and Erik to no doubt escort them back to the Supernova where they would leave Prinnchatka and K'eel Doba...

...perhaps never to see the grand city and its planet ever again.

[ 07-08-2003 06:32 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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And in the midst of all, he now was forced to live with new realities: the death of a Dark Lord at his hands, willing or no; his secrets revealed to a Dark Lady he was not yet sure he could trust; an oath to protect the Dark Lady, but a level of doubt raised as to validity as to whether it was indeed the Dark Lady he was sworn to; and finally, he had to face the possibility of spending the rest of his life in the body of another. He felt like a pawn in a game of unknown masters, with no vision of the larger goal.

Unless the Eye would speak to him. He had not considered this before, but had only recently found the Eye sentient, and even then more urgent matters seemed to press. He reached inward with his thoughts, seeking the power he felt pulsing within him.

You have found me, my son

“I have questions,” thought Phalomir. “You will provide the answers. Why did you kill the Dark Lord?”

Unity

“Unity for what?”

All

More riddles. Phalomir sighed. “Why? Why do you seek this? How will it be accomplished?”

One Eye to embrace the magick, One Eye with the key to all, One Spirit to feed them, One son to rule

Again, Phalomir did not comprehend. “Who am I to protect? Who will understand her legacy?”

The Graysith

Phalomir searched his memory for this name and found nothing. Again, more riddles. Enough of this, these were not answers, only more questions. Finally, he settled on the question which burned deeper than all others.

“Must I and Thoran remain trapped? How may we return to our bodies?”

You must be Sith to return. Thoran’s madness rends his will, his salvation lies within the Stargazer

Phalomir raised his head and truly comprehended the scene before him for the first time.

“Wait,” he said. “Do not depart.”

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

She leaned forward then, the Glyph screaming, and lifted a corner of her lip in a sneer.

"You speak words with little meaning, Ms. Kartan," she said in a low and dangerous voice. "For how is it that the Universe would need any assistance from anyone in how they interpret us? We have only just come back to it, have we not? If they live by erroneous, preconceived notions, those notions shall be easily eradicated when...interaction, as you state, begins. No matter what...they expect, the rest of this galaxy shall find a noble people when they finally realize we are indeed here."

She paused a moment, her anger darkening her eyes further at the self-centered comment put before her. Then she dismissed it altogether, turning to Phalomir, newly refreshed outrage now in her eyes.

"You dare belay my command," she seethed, her eyes flashing directly into Phalomir's. "What further madness has come into your brain, ghost carrier?"

Hovering between settling back to listen and leaping up to lash out, she remained frozen in that strange attitude, gripping the arms of the seat she was partially raised off of, ignoring all others as she glared at Phalomir and with that glare demanded he respond.

[ 07-08-2003 01:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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[ 07-08-2003 12:54 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by patternghost ]

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Slowly, she sat back upon the chair, leaned back into it, drew in a great breath and exhaled, letting the Glyph reduce its fires to a more easily beheld fury. The fingers of her right hand tapped a staccato beat upon the arm of her seat, the Claw ringing in sharp counterpoint to the duller thuds of her human nails.

She cocked her head a bit to one side, and smiled sweetly.

"Why, Mr. Dantares," she purred, like a sandcat about to devour a womprat it has been toying with for hours. "You do not need my permission to speak to this woman."

An offhanded wave of the Claw-bearing hand indicated the fuming Shayla. She replaced that hand on the arm of the chair, then moved it up to toy with the throat of her doba.

"You only need my permission to remain here, on K'eel Doba."

Another pause, another sweet, sweet smile as thoughts of promised discussions with the one he held within crossed her mind... and was promptly dismissed as...

Dangerous.

"Speak to her of whatever you wish, wherever you wish," she continued then.

"...as long as it is not upon this world."

[ 07-08-2003 02:07 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Phalomir… this is Panthar… got some advice for ya, buddy… back off and let it go…

Yes, let it go. But how he so badly wanted to explode, turn her sweet smile into a frown, make her understand the turmoil he was experiencing, tell her of his sudden overpowering need to… protect? Serve? No, what was he feeling for her…? Rage tried to surface once again. He pushed all emotions down into the pit, allowing reason to return and overpower them.

“Yes, my lady. I understand, I will communicate with Lady Stargazer at another time. With your permission, there are matters I wish to attend to here on K’eel Doba for a very short time. If you allow that, I promise you will soon be rid of this human as well, and perhaps find yourself enriched.”

His eyes widened slightly, softening.

"Please..."

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

Again, one had the fortitude to do so.

Her lip could not help but crook, even as her eyes deepened. She gripped the arms of the chair more tightly.

"Very well," she said abruptly, knowing that the Revealer was fully out of commission, believing there was no other way Phalomir could obtain the information she felt he was seeking.

Let them tread upon our soil a final time, she mused to herself. Let this be the first act of leniency that they carry with them back into the galaxy, as Ms. Kartan so greatly fears will be so impossible a task.

"You have until the sun sets this day. But as it sets upon Phrinnchatka, our twilight will be lit by the fires of the ship which has carried you here.

"I trust the consequences of a... delayed departure are likewise understood?"

She waggled the Claw the merest bit... then rose, descended the dias, and continued on out of the Grand Receiving Hall. A mental thought... and the clatter of great claws echoed through the stone corridors of the temple, as three tuk'ata bounded in to position themselves at her side and back, protecting her as no foresworn man, be he human or Sith, really ever could.

[ 07-08-2003 02:04 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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With a nod, Phalomir stood quickly, pushed his chair back with his foot, and proceeded to the door. Most of the Sith guards shifted their gazes to him, many weapons perceptively moving in his direction. The emotional ball he had felt just moments before had returned, this time carrying with it fierce, familiar fire. A large guard at the door made a move to stop Phalomir. Phalomir shot a hot glare at the guard, the fire inside directing itself through Phalomir’s eyes. The guard stopped abruptly and backed away, and Phalomir continued through the door as it opened for him. His footfalls sounded, but were soon muffled by the closing of the door.

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

...not just because of Panthar's persistance, or because she was yet still here, but because of Lady Jharmeen's misunderstanding of her intentions...

Why was that the Sith, who had been away from the rest of the Universe for so long, still had such apparent distrust for humankind? What happened to them so long ago that they withdrew from the rest of the Universe, and how was it that there had come to be such a misconception concerning the true nature of the Sith?

Shayla frowned unconsciously, her thoughts turning yet another corner:

And just why had the Sith, who had totally withdrawn from the rest of the known Universe, returned now...?

"Shayla?" a familiar voice queried, breaking the silence.

Shayla jerked to alertness, her eyes snapping to meet the brown ones of her husband. "Just thinking..."

She trailed a moment, then motioned the way which Panthar had departed. "Let's stay behind him. Cause as soon as he finds whatever it is he's looking for...

...I don't want to waste a moment getting off this planet."

[ 07-09-2003 08:11 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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He traced his steps back to the main hallway, and waited.

“3…2…1…”

Shayla and Erik rounded the corner and into the hallway where Phalomir waited, statues hovering behind him. He looked directly into Erik’s eyes.

“These must be loaded onto your ship immediately. Go there now, they shall follow. You will not be challenged. Prepare the ship for departure and return here, we shall rendezvous in the dining hall before sunset.”

He turned to Shayla.

“I have a dear friend who needs your assistance. I know not how, but it is vital you assist me in this endeavor. Somewhere in the courtyard at the entrance to this temple shall be two stone cylinders, approximately this size,” he said, indicating with his hands a two-foot span. “Look for them in a place of shame, degradation, humiliation. I have no time to explain, but all shall be clear in time. Take them to the ship and then join your husband here.”

Both Erik and Shayla offered dubious, if not defiant, looks.

“Please, do this. Time is short. I have no wish to force this upon you, but if I must then I will. There is much to be rectified on K’eel Doba, but the journey begins elsewhere. I will meet with you in the dining hall before sunset, after I meet with a certain Lady.”

Phalomir turned and headed down the hall, the statues moving to either side to allow him passage, then returning to hover directly in front of Erik, as if anticipating.

[ 07-08-2003 11:22 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by patternghost ]

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...what could it all mean?

Jerking herself to reality, Shayla turned and looked directly into Erik's stormy browns. She let her greeny-blue gaze fall directly into his and simply swim there for a moment.

"Just do it," she said simply. "Do it for me, please."

For a moment Erik stood unmoving, then with a sigh of resignation nodded but once. Shayla leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek. "Thank you. Now you go...

...and I'll be right behind you. That is, as soon as I've found what has been requested of me."

"Be careful," Erik warned, then, without so much as another word he turned and headed for the Supernova, the statues floating disconcertingly behind him. Seeing that this was done, Shayla then turned and headed for the courtyard of the Temple unscathed to search for the cylinders which Panthar had spoken of...

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

A single tuk'ata, large as the day, strolled around the corner. It turned its head to face Phalomir, growled deeply, and turned the corner completely to take a few steps toward Phalomir, stopping a few yards from him. The Dark Lady followed, taking a position at the large animal’s side, and was immediately followed by two more tuk'ata. Phalomir calmly gazed at the Dark Lady, taking in her entire form.

“My lady,” said Phalomir. “As you are Dark Lady of the Warrior Clan, I respect your authority in this city and on this world. I understand the trying times you have experienced so very recently. I understand the apprehension and fear you must indeed hold over me.

“Somewhere, I have lost 4500 years. I shall leave this planet and find my place in this new time. Please understand, my lady, there are forces at work greater than both you and I, and we are perhaps unwillingly caught in a web which has already been spun. The Eye of R’lous shall guide me, and I have no doubt it shall guide me back to you in short order. It has spoken a prophecy to me: One Eye to embrace the magick, One Eye with the key to all, One Spirit to feed them, One son to rule

“I believe you are intricate in this equation, for already two of the pieces are within me. That is, if I am to believe that indeed the Dark Lord’s spirit now restlessly stirs within me, as I in turn haunt Panthar. Stay well protected, and we shall meet again… and perhaps then we shall both present our true selves.”

Phalomir gave a quick nod and began to turn.

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

One son to rule.

M'wonBo'o's low and dangerous growl came unheeded to her ears. Her mind raced with the implications presented in that simple, if cryptic, prophecy.

Prophecy? Or threat....

A hand lifted unconsciously to her forehead as she considered those words, for the first time centering on exactly how it was the powers sent to her by Aelvedaar had actually come into her being. She remembered the cavern she had entered with her father, the dim little cave at the back; entering therein, there had been something, she had reached for it to show him, there was a bright flash of light....

And then she killed him.

She shuddered briefly as repressed memories surged to taunt her. Then the Beast within raised its head with a snarl, and flattened them again into suppression. Its flat pewter eyes filled her with gray, directing her now...

One Spirit to feed them....

This was a quandary, if indeed these words were more than so much fluff, created by a mind blasted with too many years of life, ending in a body not its own. For the fact that Mr. Dantares stood before her as he did, reacting in the manner as he had, proved those spirits were real and not a simply some strange personality disorder.

For personality disorders did not lash out with strange lances of red, to kill Dark Lords and momentarily shut down that which she thought was the most powerful force in the universe.

One spirit... whose? Trelanicus? Or had Dark Lord Roan come back somehow, irate in the hand Fate had dealt him. S'slan knows he had had an agenda of his own all along, as did Aelvedaar and Recinis as well; S'slan knows the Sith were a magickal race, able to make what in any other species would be a mundane intrigue turn into something of myth and legend....

She shook her head, her lips curving in a slight snarl in spite of herself. Another growl from her beast, whether that beast was the great tuk'ata at her side or the even greater Beast within, she did not know; another growl directed her thoughts to the remainder of the statement.

One Son to rule. One....

Son.

Her eyes darkened further, and she directed them arrow-swift into Panthar's hazel ones. But it was not Dantares to whom she communicated, not even bothering to speak aloud, just letting a tendril of her essence slide into his mind.

"Strange this ability you have, Phalomir," she began in apparent non sequiteur. "This power of the Eye. How it comes and goes. How unfortunate for you that so much has come to your unwilling person, yet so much that you cannot control but must react as a sailing vessel reacts to the vagaries of the sea."

Now her hand lifted and she lightly tapped the Glyph with the Claw of S'slan.

"There shall be no Son to rule the Sith, Phalomir. At least not now. You state you are 4500 years out of time... and how very true this is.

"So are the words of which you speak."

She let a soft exhalation escape her, its quiet sussurration in direct contradiction to the fire now lighting in her eyes. A brief thought of ending this in the manner in which she knew she easily could...

...was dismissed. For that light had merely dropped her in her tracks, somehow disconnecting her briefly from the All while it had killed Roan. She knew she had come to assist Phalomir; knowing the Dark Lord as she had, she highly doubted his aspirations toward this newcomer had been quite as noble.

She sent a final message into Phalomir's essence.

"You think we shall meet again, Phalomir? As to that--"

She smiled a rancor's smile.

"We shall see."

[ 07-10-2003 10:53 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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“Think what you may, my lady, it is highly irrelevant. I believe we shall meet again, and quite soon. I hope that by then your wisdom has risen to meet your station.”

He turned again and slowly began walking down the hall, paying little interest to the growls of the beast… and of the tuk’ata.

"And the next time you have something worthwhile to say to me, please say it aloud. Unlike your beauty, secrets do not become you."

[ 07-10-2003 12:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by patternghost ]

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For a moment she remained silent, simply glowering at him. Then--

"How dare you!" she burst out with, fairly seething.

"Who are you to come here as you have, speaking riddles such as you do, and to say such words to me?"

[ 07-10-2003 01:27 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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“I dare because I must! ”, he hissed. “I am who I am! You ask that question of me, can you answer it for yourself? Why do you think you were called forth from beyond the ages? Why would a simple human be given the gifts you were? Think, woman! The Dark Lords made no choices but what they were bid. Your past has led you to this point, as my past has led me to this. The past is but a road to now, your secret plans are mere sidetracks. I am your future!”

Phalomir felt more words rising, but caught them. He felt he was spouting random thoughts, knowing only part of the meaning.

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

That hand clenched, so tightly the Claw imbedded in the palm of it, sending rivulets of her blood to drip down upon the cold stones.

"And what great assurance acts as foundation to those words?" she finally managed in a whisper so low it was scarcely audible.

But no less filled with outrage and anger and perhaps, something else....

[ 07-10-2003 01:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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“A true Sith would understand. If you would abandon your pretense and holy notions about your place in this race, and open your eyes, you would see it yourself. The bloodline of more than you know walks before you, my lady. Be true.”

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

Perhaps it was both.

The Tattoo of Entitlement gleamed a quiet gold upon her wrist, giving mute testimony that Jharmeen Jhin'Dar Q'utaro was indeed the Dark Lady of the Warriors.

"Here is my bloodline, Phalomir," she said, struggling to remove the ire from her tone, striving to gain control of herself once again.

"Here is that which bestows it upon me, that which links me to this race more surely than this sigil that has been placed upon my brow, or the power which has been endowed to me.

"This is what guides my hand... this is my truth."

She fell silent, her mouth working voicelessly, her eyes black and very much alive, but other than that her demeanor nothing but utter stone.

[ 07-10-2003 02:17 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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He turned again and began walking, not looking back.

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

That thought rushed abruptly through her mind, bearing with it the images of Aelvedaar, and Ayelmaar, and of her own daughter ShaRhylla.

Indeed... who is to say who is destined for what union, my dear Phalomir.

She said nothing, keeping that thought to herself, believing in the history taught to her of the Sith, the necessity of a Triad.

A Triad.

Her lips lifted in a slow smile as she watched Phalomir's retreating back. Then she simply turned on her heel and, calling to the still grumbling M'wonBo'o, continued on her journey through the stone corridors of the Great Temple of the Warriors of the Sith.

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