He studied the confusion on Shayla’s face.

“The master knows you. The master says we can trust you…”

He raised an eyebrow.

“We can trust you, can we not?”

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

“Well, dung soup!” Panthar exclaimed. “What in the name of the constipated sisterhood do I do now?”

He stood and brushed the dust from his clothes. He stopped as a thought hit him.

“Erik! Oh, lord of lint! He needs to know.”

Panthar turned towards the opening and quickly moved towards the daylight. The tuk’ata remained still, a knowing look dancing in its eyes.

Panthar reached the opening and waved at the ship, then ran down the steps.

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

At that she fell silent, her thoughts now spreading to Thoran's other words.

We want the same thing...

...the master knows you...

Something deep within cried out in warning.

Just who was this master? And how did he know her?

Shayla firmed. "I don't know what you want, and I certainly don't know this master of yours. How can I know what he wants if I don't even know who he is...?"

At that she folded her arms, her greeny-blue eyes pinned to Thoran as she waited in obstinate silence.

[ 10-29-2003 10:54 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Beneath that cool touch she could feel his heart beating, strong and steady.

"No, it is not that," she began, floundering for words. A sudden flush forced her eyes away from his, and she found study in the intricate designs woven into his robes. As her eyes fell, she could not help but cut them to the hand which lay upon him, and take in the wrist.

The Tattoo of Entitlement yet lay there, a promise in gleaming gold. Yet the one who had laid it there, who had promised never to leave her... had done just that. Twice.

Her Sire had shown his true colors, had abandoned her once he had used her to his designs.

What assurance had she of Phalomir's words? None, really... other than, perhaps, the fact that the All, in now being beyond her reach, was likewise unavailable to be used through her. And then again, perhaps merely the warmth he had laid within her, which yet screamed out of his integrity in the matter. That was something she felt inside, no matter how she might try to ignore it.

Trembling again, she slowly raised her eyes to his, and let them seek a haven in verdant green, silently crying out without really knowing it of her deep-rooted need for....

Permanence.

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

...particularly not since something had begun to feel entirely wrong...

...and perhaps empty. He remained at his post however, fighting with his baser instincts until at length he could stand it no longer. He reached for the controls, planning to start the landing procedure...

...when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the Sithly Panthar coming out of the Temple and waving an arm towards the ship. Something about this made Erik feel even more strongly that something was amiss...

...so he hurriedly put the ship down in front of the temple, reaching for the controls to extend the hatch only a second after he had touched the ground. And at that he was on his feet, nearly running for towards the open hatch.

Panthar was just boarding as he exited the cabin. Erik wasted no time getting directly to his concerns. "Is everything allright?" he queried, worry clearly crossing his face. "Where is Phalomir? And where is my wife...?"

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

“Nothing is ever done by accident,’ he said flatly. “And if I were attacking you, you would be dead. No, dear child, I was attacking the beasts that threatened you. And save you, I did. I would have saved you from the other one, but you sang me to sleep and the master fled before that murdering Sith you call Phalomir could reach us.”

Thoran shuddered.

“But reach us he did… and it was only through our cunning that we escaped. But, oh, the Dark Lady was not so fortunate. He has her in his clutches now, and she knows not what she does! Save her we must!”

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

“I…” he started. “The… I…” He finally shook his head and let his eyes grow wide.

“My life is yours, my lady,” he said slowly. “You are my destiny, and all I am bound to. Together, ruling, until the end of days…”

He closed his eyes.

“Jharmeen…”

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

She paused then, unable to totally escape the concern trying give itself voice deep within her. "Just what has Phalomir done to the Dark Lady...

...and just how can I not believe that you are trying to manipulate me with every word that you speak?

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

“Believe me or not, the facts remain. If you will not come to the aid of the Dark Lady then I shall do it alone.”

He relaxed.

“No, you are correct. How can you trust me?” He sighed.

“I will tell you everything. But you will find it difficult to believe. I am Thoran, of the ancients, serving my master the Dark Lord Trelanicus. We have been hunting the criminal Phalomir for what seems like eons, for his past and future treachery against the Sith. He has plotted in the past with the race of warriors, who came to be known to your people as Dark Jedi. And he shall plot in the future with another race too terrible to speak of. This will cause harm to much more than the Sith.”

He shifted.

“You were visited once before, do you not recall?”

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

She jerked reflexively at that, and let a slight gasp escape her lips.

"I-- we must go from this place, and warn the warriors..."

Of what?

Confusion flooded into her then, and she paused in that reflexive withdrawal. Her eyes widening, she turned her face back and up to Phalomir's, seeking advice from another for the first time in so long a period of time she really couldn't determine it.

"How do we rule together, Phalomir?" she finally whispered as, thrilling to another cascading sheet of tremors she raised the tattoo-bearing wrist up between them.

"Where do we go from here?"

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

“Warn the warriors?” he asked. “Of what? That the Dark Lady does not wield the All? No, my lady, that is not a requirement of leadership. It rests within you, and will once again come to you.”

He brushed a long red hair to the side as it fell in front of her eyes.

“I am the bearer of all three clans, and – if reality serves me – the now rightful Dark Lord of the Armorers. The warriors are without a Lord… the clans can be joined between us, with a link to the Sorcerers living within the two of us.”

He saw the doubt in her eyes.

“Know this, my lady, that between us everything is possible. We have been brought together from across time, through epic struggles, and are now together. We are meant for greater things still, together.”

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

...to when she found the Unity statue, buried amidst the old furnishings in a hidden storage room of the Great Temple. And how her first instinct had been to bury it deeper.

...to the vision in the gnarltrees. The ultra-reality of that vision, the solid assurety it had presented her with, not so much in words but in feeling, in how she reacted on a gut level to the words Aelvedaar and Roan had bandied about.

Unity.

And She would die.

She thought somehow it would be Shayla's life that would be forfeit, that the link with the mad Thoran had been what would lead to this terrible event if any footsteps continued to follow along the pathway leading to the uniting of the Sith. Even now, even after just living through the betrayal of Aelvedaar, of knowing the devious nature of Roan, she still believed that what had been presented to her in that shadowy little grove had been true.

Unity.

And at what price?

A thought struck her then, and a certain hardness came into her eyes. It gave her the strength to lift her chin, to set her jaw.

Unity. If this were so, why would Phalomir need her? He did, after all, bear the marks of all clans, and she did not, at least for the moment, have use of the All for him to unite with. If he joined to rule with her, would that negate the unity as they would be presenting a dual front to the Sith?

She shook her head, and took a step back. The Beast uttered a soft whining moan at her conflict, and eyed the mote inside her warily.

She was suddenly too aware of how badly she needed to curl up somewhere and rest, to inspect herself, to find reason for the madness her life had become over the last three years, and give careful attention to that first action she had taken upon that roller coaster ride... even though she desperately wished to shy away from that particular memory forever.

"No," she whispered, and challenged him, painfully, with her eyes.

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

He bowed his head, then raised it slowly to her.

"Then rule me," he said.

"My promises to you come before any of my own wishes..."

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

It suddenly struck her strange how this one, who had appeared so suddenly, and in so strange a manner, had managed to so swiftly take on the tattoos of all three clans.

He was the one who killed Lord Roan, an insidious little voice crept up to whisper in her inner ear.

She shook her head again, shook away that thought. Pinned her eyes on Phalomir.

"Perhaps," she said vaguely, then with some effort rose to her feet. She couldn't help the hand which rose to touch her forehead; with more effort, she lowered it and clasped the two in front of her.

"It is time to return to my people... to our people," she amended abruptly.

Then, even as abruptly, she turned and began walking back the way she had come. She didn't even notice that the body of Panthar had disappeared from the writhing mosses, so intent on her own thoughts had she become....

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

That Sith, beckoning to her...

...what was it that happened that day?

Shayla furrowed her brow, puzzlement clouding her eyes now as she struggled to remember.

In that moment Shayla saw herself, a very young girl, her greeny-blue eyes full of wonder and curiosity. She cocked her head and got to her feet from her resting position on the apex of the mountain she had climbed, slowly coming to the apparition of the Sith which she saw. The closer she came, the greater the need to understand swept over her...

...and she suddenly found herself reaching out a hand. The Sith apparition took it in his own, seemingly preparing to lead her somewhere as his mouth moved in muted words.

But where?

Shayla's eyes grew impossibly more vague as a snippet of the apparition's words slipped into her mind.

"You still do not yet know your true potential, and shall not for quite some time to come..."

That sequed into yet another memory, one of the apparition of Master Skywalker trying to convince her from leaving the Praxeum as a young adult. He had eventually conceded to her...force was not his method of teaching.

Sometimes it takes leaving here to discover your true potential...

At this thought, something deeply rooted in Shayla simply ached. For she had believed she had found her true potential once upon a time, and it was only when she was assisting the Sith...

...and only when she had been working side by side Graysith as a sister.

I can show you your true potential, came Graysith's words echoing in her mind. With effort, Shayla shook herself from her thoughts, unable to fully believe her vision of the Sith apparition against memories which she was certain were real.

"If what you say is true," she said then softly, her greeny-blue eyes locking on Thoran, "Then why me of all people? I am not a Sith, and am merely a Force user. And furthermore..."

She paused in momentary hesitation, then continued, "How can I yet believe a word that you say? It is evident from how you have deceived Phalomir that you are able to toy with a person's very thoughts; how am I to know that is not what you are doing at this very moment? If I am to believe what you tell me about Phalomir causing harm to the Dark Lady...

...I must see it with my own eyes."

[ 11-01-2003 09:56 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

he sat pondering for sometime, his mind blanked. The empire was quickly becoming a great annoyance to the universe. he had had little contact with them, but they had been there in every small manor to get in the way of the things he had to do...

then on a random thought he quested outwards
"lord aelvedaar, I require passage to K'eel doba... At one time i'd thought nothing in this universe escaped your hearing and sight, if this is so, i ask for your help...

He then calmed his mind, not sure if this road would lead anywhere, and began searching for more solutions.

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

Continuing on with the works in activation of the boost, the engines hummed with sounds of the Urika jungle. Pushing forward, Za'in swirved the ship from side to side before attaining balance over the trees and other obstacles that could cause ship injuries.

Finally making it to the peak of the mountain, he looked over, wondering exactly what would be ahead.

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

“My lady,” he called out. “There is no ‘perhaps’. If ever my ambitions come before you, then those ambitions end now. There is a price I am unwilling to pay.”

He paused once again, words forming on his tongue but hesitant to come out. Finally, he let his inhibitions down. “My lady… I love you.”

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

“Believe me or not. I do not intend to waste my energies convincing you of things you already know in your heart. The master told you on that day that you would be called upon, that destiny would find you.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

“First, he will approach the Dark Lady in friendship, then suddenly beguile her with talk of prophecies and fulfilling a strange calling he has felt since meeting her. He will most likely speak of memories of things which have not yet happened, or even of memories hidden from him. This is a ruse. Once he has gained her trust, he will profess love or some such nonsense, then when she is under his spell he will spring his trap. He intends to rule the Sith at all cost. Think upon what you know of him, and you will see this to be true.”

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

"Impossible!" the whispered word burst explosively from her lips.

"How could this be so? You have but only recently come here to K'eel Doba, you have but met me yesterday, you don't know me! How could--"

She interrupted herself at that when the trajectory those words had been taking picked yet another lock in her memories. A little door opened, revealing a turquoise-eyed human. Tall, his face darkened by years of exposure to the stars and framed by his long ashen-black hair, his strong hands clasped in front of the glory of his robes of scarlet and gold, turquoise and black, Darth Wicked seemed to cock his head in amusement at the irony she was now spouting forth. He even went so far as to smile.

Behind him, a shadowy green-eyed figure could be seen. Red-skinned it was and horned; clearly it was Sith. This image smiled not, but instead bore an expression of deep sadness upon his attractive features.

Graysith jerked back, drawing away from yet another inner perusal to focus upon Phalomir. The look on the Sith's face was so similar to the one she had just seen in her mind that she blinked in surprise. The warmth within her seemed to flare up then as from nowhere there came the icy descent of bitter cold. It flowed down within her, slowly yet inexorably, like the toe of a glacier making sudden conquest of surrounding territory.

She blinked again and shivered, not willing to see that battle within. The Beast let out a soft and ladylike whimper, but did nothing other than watch the conflict.

Not knowing how else to continue, she put forth a foot to leave then... but stopped. Calming defense against that strange inner conflict materialized in the form of a dodging thought; she turned swiftly back to the waiting Sith.

"Whether or not you love me has no bearing on the issue, Phalomir," she finally said, finding the strength within to strengthen her voice. It bore up her head until she seemed to be somehow looking down her nose at him, even though he was much taller than she.

"You seek to rule the Sith. In this you are a danger, both to them and to me, for the Sith need the stability to which they have been accustomed if they are to find a proper place in this time into which they have been brought.

"Lord Roan was in error in separating the warriors from the others. This error must be rectified.

"There will be three Dark Lords to rule, Phalomir. Only the future will determine who those Dark Lords will be. Know this: I will fight against this Unity with my last bit of strength and resolve, even if it leads to my death; the Lordship shall be taken according to Sith Law and by their constraints; this--

She held up her right hand, displaying the Tattoo of the Warriors, fighting all the while to ignore the flaring warmth of the one emblazoned on her other wrist.

"--assures that at least the warrior clan has traditional leadership... though I am not Sith by blood."

Her eyes darkened at that as the designs she had momentarily put to one side returned to her with a vengeance. She smiled.

"I am, however, Sith by choice... both theirs, and now mine. I will fight you, Phalomir, and any other who believes he or she can take away their accustomed way of life.

"You may have taken use of the All from me, Phalomir, but you shall not take away my place among my people.

"You shall not have the Sith."

[ 10-31-2003 12:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

"Sir, the ship refuses to respond to our hails," he announced, falling silent himself at the sound of approaching footsteps. The noise of boots striking shining deck came to a halt directly behind him. He shivered and straightened into a ramrod, knowing without looking that it was the Captain himself who had approached him.

He was not mistaken.

"Oh really," he said dryly. Then--

"Keep sending, Ensign." The Captain's soft but rich voice issued the order almost as an afterthought.

"If this ship seeks to enter planetary atmosphere, it needs to reply to our hails. If no reply is forthcoming within the next fifteen standard minutes...."

A pause.

"Shoot a warning over her bow. And send this information to Lt. General Tarnus's ship."

"Aye, Sir!" the ensign replied, flipping the switch which would pause their signal for a short moment, then bring it back into life. As if that signal was a hand waving for attention across the near-vacuum which separated the fleet from that enigmatic little ship.

Then the ensign allowed himself to relax a fraction as the sound of retreating footfalls diminished in his ears.

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

"I request clearence to land upon this planet"

His words came out smoothly.
Perhaps i must do things there way....

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

...yet there did seem to be some truth to his words. For well did she remember Phalomir's "alliance" with the Empire, as did she remember some of his conversation with Tarnus. He'd made his feelings about a human leading the warrior clan clearly known, and he'd been blatantly clear that he was working for some sort of Unity of all the ruling Sith clans. And on top of all that, he'd left she and her husband and Panthar behind to rot once he thought he'd gotten what he was looking for on Korri'sian...

...so who was to say what his next intended move would be? Granted, he seemed to have changed his tune concerning Graysith after his last encounter with her...

...but was this perhaps something of convience, to meet an end of his own? Yet even in the face of all this, Shayla was still struggling to believe Thoran. And after all she had been through so recently with both Phalomir and Graysith, Shayla wasn't so certain she could believe anyone anymore.

"Very well," she then said, "I know that Phalomir intends to bring the Triad of the Sith into a Unity lead by himself, which would make Graysith an obstacle for him."

Shayla paused at this, her mind still whirling with that little niggle of something wrong. Still Shayla couldn't put her finger on it, however.

"Why did you not warn anyone of Phalomir's plot sooner?" she then asked suddenly, a spark of perhaps what was bothering her registering at last. "I'm certain you had opportunities even when both you and Phalomir inhabited Panthar's body, and you did not," she continued. "Instead you played the part of insanity; why the ruse? And just what is it you stand to gain if you should catch Phalomir...

...for most certainly you have ambitons of your own..."

[ 11-01-2003 11:32 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Thoran bowed his head slightly.

“And I must admit, the long wait in the crystal did take its toll upon my sanity. At first, it was a struggle, and not all of it was acting. But when the master regained his strength he was able to help me in that matter.”

He raised his head.

“I am truly sorry to have involved you in this. But when one rides the currents of time, there is a delicate balance between what one knows and what one can change. Paradox… We intend to change events from a past which is yet to come, and you have... or will… play a large role.”

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

“There is nothing to fight me for, my lady. The triad shall survive, I have no intention of eliminating that aspect of the Sith. However, there is a need for unity within the triad. You see it upon me, and even upon yourself. We join together the spirits of the clans, and add a new level to the triad. My lady, buried within me are memories – or visions, I am not sure – of what will be… what could be…”

He rubbed his forehead.

“I know what I feel for you, my lady. I have felt it for a time longer than you have known me, for I have known you longer than that. It is very hard to explain, and the visions swirling in my head are strands of time freely flying about, waiting for events to determine which strand lands in place.”

Phalomir felt the ball of madness within him tremble, and the cord which bound it stretch slightly. This was a feeling which did not go unnoticed by the Dark Lady.

“I did not take away your All knowingly, and I will focus my life on restoring it. The answers to much lie within me, buried. And within Thoran, and I intend to find those answers when he…”

Phalomir looked to his side and realized that Thoran was missing. He staggered backwards against the wall.

“He is gone.”

Phalomir closed his eyes. The cord unraveled a bit, the pressure building within him, and a slight moan escaped his lips.

"I should never have brought this upon you. Had I known, I-"

Phalomir winced and grabbed his head.

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