Still gripping the Finger of R'lous, ShaRhylla took a few steps forward, following the apparently psychotic youth.

Indeed, she thought to herself as, for once, surely a rare moments of her life, she strove to battle against her rising anger and really tried to understand Rykounagin.

He must be troubled at best, psychotic at the least; no living soul acts in such a bizarre manner as does he.

This realization brought her to a scowling halt, but one which did not last long. Pursing her lips, she moved quickly forward, passing by Rykounagin and coming to the doorway before he did. She flung open the ornate doors, stepped out into the corridor, took a look both right and left.

As far as she could see there stood her warriors, one every meter per her command, all at rigid attention, all with weapons at the ready.

All unmoving and unharmed.

She whirled back to the lad, her scowl growing even blacker.

"I do not know what it is you wish of me, why you persist in returning when I sent you from this city, why you act in one manner one second, yet in the next deny that very action you have just taken.

"And then--"

She drew in a shaking breath, now fighting anger, but managed to remain surprisingly calm.

"And then you accuse me of paranoia!"

Something of her struggling emotions made themselves known to M'wonBo'o, who was hovering nearby, ever ready to defend her. He uttered a low growl, whereupon she made a slight gesture with her free hand. A brief and questioning whine was his only response before he padded out from the shadows to lap up the spot of blood Rykounagin had spat at her. His face tendrils whipping about his face, as though to clear out a nasty taste from his mouth, he then hunkered in a crouch, ready to leap out and cover the few tens of meters which separated him from the youth as easily as a bird takes to wing.

ShaRhylla cast him an approving glance, then let her eyes meet those of Rykounagin.

"You returned to this room for a reason, human, do not attempt to mislead me any further with your senseless words. This I knew of the moment you turned back; of curiosity I ordered the guards to give you freeway here. You claim to have proven an unknown point, you hurl this meager weapon of yours against your erstwhile master, then claim I am paranoid to believe you intended him or me harm.

"And now--"

Try as she might, she now couldn't help but relish the searing heat of rage now flooding her veins. For daughter of Lord Roan she was, always had been, and would be until the day she died.

"And now you have the effrontery to claim you have wasted too much of your time with me!"

Although she didn't move, it was as if she had somehow moved closer to Rykounagin, becoming somehow larger, more threatening, more deadly. There was not so much as a flicker of motion about her being, yet it seemed that a great wind had come up, to blow her hair about her head like a flaming hurricane.

Clearly the young man did not understand the danger of the path he was now treading upon....

"If I am such a waste of your time, then why in all the Darker Realms did you return here to my Temple!?"

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

The sound began to carry around, and he only magnified his volume, incapable of stopping as he did, Rykounagin seemed to look up to the heavens as his arms opened up, and he let out his stream of mirth. He shook with the laughter for a time, then finally, it seemed to fade as soon as it had come, and he looked back down towards her.

"Because you amuse me, and you are too foolish not to realize the lesson I've given you. I mean no affrontery, but you are the most arrogant and self absorbed being, yet alone halfling I have ever met. I know this must sound quite mad too you, but if you cannot see my point in doing this, then it is you who is quite foolish."

He chuckled again, then looked at her. "I can only tell you that you are a child playing in a game you cannot immagine." He looked at her calmly and plainly, ignoring the growls from the Tuk'ata that seemed to pierce towards him. "I'll ask you now to stand aside, I have no intention of staying in this place of dark memories."

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

"Yet again you answer my questions with riddles, though I give you every opportunity to explain yourself in a calm and civil manner. Although--"

Now she stepped toward the sneering youth, walked about him, scrutinizing him as if he were a bug beneath a magnifying glass.

"Although, to be truthful, I do not believe you to be capable of such."

Now she stepped back, one hand darting out to the side to alert the threatening tuk'ata, who inched a bit closer, his pupilless eyes fixed on his prey. Only the fact that he had yet to receive the command to attack stayed his leap, so he remained crouched in place, whining with anticipation.

ShaRhylla cocked her head to one side before, in an action meant to mock one Rykounagin had so recently performed, she spat at his feet.

She did not honor him with blood, but with spit.

Then she lifted her head, and swept past him, speaking as she went but not bothering to look at him any longer.

"You grow wearisome... and by behaving in so boorish and erratic a manner, you have made in me and mine an enemy."

Stopping, she whirled to face him, letting her eyes pour forth all the wrath and contempt she now felt for him, and would forevermore.

"I must amend that; you do not even hold enough honor to become an enemy; one must at least act in a gentlemanly manner for that. This is what we Sith believe, and thus is my belief as well.

"You are, in fact, nothing to me. Go elsewhere, find something of a use for yourself, perhaps in blacking the boots of a warrior, for indeed that is all I believe you are worthy of accomplishing."

Before the youth could respond, her free hand darted out and opened a portal. This was not an inter-dimensional one, but rather one of a more simple design, one meant to provide transport between worlds, or between systems. For a moment her brow wrinkled in concentration; then she stared at the portal.

A dim yet somehow fiery light seemed to glow somewhere within its depths.

"Go off with the others who creep beneath the soil. You are not fit to walk upon the surface of any planet, let alone that of the Sith."

A wave of that hand compressed the air between herself and Rykounagin, forcing him backwards. He struggled, but was no match against the strength of the All. She merely deepened the density of the atmosphere in front of Rykounagin, shoving against it, and in this manner kept pushing him back and back until he teetered on the very threshold of the portal she had opened.

For a moment his eyes widened--

Ahh. He fears... something about these portals....

--and then were seen no more as one final push shoved him entirely into the portal, to land on the blisteringly hot and noxious surface of the planet Sullust.

ShaRhylla merely smiled as the portal closed, then turned to go stand before the Blade of Chaos which gleamed and shimmered in its place of honor above the fireplace.

"So much for your erstwhile companion," she murmured, then fell silent, lost in thoughts of what she planned for herself and Ragorian....

Rykounagin already forgotten.

((OOC: Rykounagin is transferred into Minds Like a Sieve in the "CSWU" forums, thank you.))

[ 02-10-2005 09:47 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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Kalvendar watched, completely stunned as the imputent man disappeared by a sheer measure of will that the great lady had pressed upon him. She is a true sith.

Kalvendar found himself bowing his head towards her, his spear held ceremonially in respect. "A true warrior she is, against a cowardly assassin. He is surely paying now for his dishonorable attack." He murmured.

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

Instead, he scrutinized the two of them, especially Rykounagin. The lad had changed, almost beyond all recognition. To Ragorian, his actions and words seemed barely recognizable from the boy he had come to know. What happened to him? Ragorian wondered to himself. What did that treacherous brother of his do?

His curiosity turned to astonishment when Rykounagin suddenly hurled his own blade at the mantle, where Ragorian's vessel sat. He was too shocked to reach out with his magicks in time, and it was only by a timely intervention by ShaRhylla that the blade was deflected.

Ragorian was struck speechless at this. Had Rykounagin tried to destroy him? Although he denied it, it certainly seemed that way. He truly believed Ragorian had betrayed him, then. Loosing a small sigh of regret in his mind, he watched the confrontation proceed until, at its climax, ShaRhylla opened a portal, not the the Elseness, but some other planet, and pushed the boy through it.

Ragorian noticed, with again a tinge of regret, that this turn of events actually relived him. He could not trust Rykounagin any more, it seemed. Now they would go their separate ways.

Now he turned his attention to his new weilder the person to whom his fate was now inexorably bound: ShaRhylla, who stood before the mantle where his blade now hung in a place of honor. Softly he reached out to her mind, spoke to her again.
"Indeed. So he is gone."

"I must thank you, milady, for deflecting that sudden attack he directed at me. I was certainly not expecting it. It seems I know owe my life to you in addition to having sworn it. I will not forget this."

"Now, what of your ambitions, my mistress? What are your plans for me? What are the first steps we take on our new path together?"

[ 02-11-2005 09:54 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Blade of Chaos ]

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So very long ago, it seemed.

The air whistled as the keen edge cut effortlessly through it; ShaRhylla's smile broadened, and she stopped what she was doing to hold the blade up in front of her face. Her ususual bi-colored eyes glinted eerily in the flawless metal of the blade.

"I really do like this weapon you have chosen to occupy, Ragorian," she said, reaching out with her other hand to run a thumb along the blade's edge. It sliced through her flesh like a hot knife through butter; her smile grew somewhat crooked as she then lifted her thumb to study the upwelling ruby drops of her own blood for a moment.

Then she licked her thumb clean, and turned back to Ragorian.

"I would like this to be my personal blade, if you would be so willing as to agree with me, my consort," she offered up with a lazy smile.

"And to that end, it seems that our first approach is to find a body worthy of you. Do you have anything -- or anyone in particular in mind?"

[ 02-16-2005 02:11 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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A soft sound, almost a purr, followed the bold statement.

“Prepare yourself, dear lady, and ask your servant to take you to see your father, the Dark Lord.”

"You, warrior!" she called out boldly, capturing his attention at once.

"Fetch my father, the Dark Lord Roan, hither at once. For I have not had the pleasure of his company for many days, and it would please me to partake of it now."

[ 02-16-2005 10:09 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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"My lady...." Kalvendar looked up slowly, his face concerned. "Your father has been passed for some time, were you not aware?"

How is it she could not know of her own father's fate? What troubles would keep such things from her?

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

Utterly enraged.

Father....

She exploded; with the quick grace of a feral creature she was before the apologetic warrior, her eyes projecting the only warmth in her otherwise glacial demeanor. They blazed with the very fires of hell; drawing back the hand holding the Blade she let it fly with all her not inconsiderable strength, striking Kelvendar across the face with the flat of it.

"I shall rend your sorry tongue from your deceitful mouth, and feed it to the tuk'ata!" she seethed as she trembled before him, her voice dangerously low.

"But before I do, I shall be merciful and allow you one chance to redeem yourself; tell me:

"Why do you speak such lies to me?"

But even as that command left her lips she found herself beginning to wage a silent war within, unable to totally rid herself of the rising suspicion that the warrior had spoken the truth.

[ 02-17-2005 01:35 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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"Milady, ask any of your servants here, and they would tell you the same truth as I have told you."

Kalvendar backed away slowly, uncertain if her fury would grow further to be projected upon himself again.

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

But he also was thankful the warrior was brave enough to tell her, for it was much better to have this wrath directed at someone other than himself. And now that her anger was wavering into doubt, it was time to act.

“Dear lady,” he whispered into her mind. “I know it is a difficult thing to face, but your loyal warrior speaks the truth. Your father, the great and powerful Roan, was laid to rest without your knowledge. Do not blame your servants, dear lady, they did not know of this negligence. Take a moment to gather yourself, for the decisions you are about to make shall define your character and set you upon the path to your own vengeance and glory. It is why I sought you out, dear lady, to right a senseless wrong, and bring about a much needed change.”

Father. How can I follow in your steps? You had only begun to teach me; I cannot learn that which you started from Mother.

I do not wish to learn from Mother....

Her eyes flew open then with the realization that the grief she was feeling was really born of selfishness, rooted in the fact that now she had no mentor, no one to teach her the ways of strength and dominance. A wayward synapse flashed a quick memory of the docile Recinis and her mother the day they had tried to speak with her in the then-silent Phrinnchatka; she grimaced, feeling a dirty taste in her mouth.

Even though she focused her fiery gaze upon Kelvendar, the words she then spoke could have been meant for any of those present in the Dining Hall, anyone with the knowledge to reply.

"How did he die?" she whispered, clenching the Blade with a trembling hand, feeling as if she was standing on the teetering brink of a dark and unfathomable abyss.

"And why did no one tell me of this?"

[ 02-17-2005 09:51 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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Kalvendar stepped back slightly, bowing again. "As for hiding the knowledge from you, I did not know. I fear we were all under the impression you had known all along!"

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

“There is a Sith, a powerful giant who holds the title of Dark Lord of the Armorer clan. Though he asserts to hold no claim to the Warrior or Sorcerer clans, he has taken steps to obtain the Dark Lord title for both. He has exposed the treachery of Aelvedaar, and even now plots to remove him from power. He has removed both Lord Roan and Recinis, and has placed himself at the very side of your mother.

“For yes, dear lady, hard as it is to accept, your mother knew it was Phalomir who murdered your father. And she was thankful for it, enough to allow herself to love this Phalomir. While all of K’eel Doba mourned the loss of your father, your mother purposefully kept you unaware of his passing.

What he learned from the conversation both surprised and sorrowed him. ShaRhylla's father, the Dark Lord Roan, was dead, and she had not been told.

How could this have been overlooked? he wondered to himself bemusedly. Did the Sith simply forget to tell her? Or, perhaps, did they wish to keep the truth from her, for some reason or another?

Interesting. This will merit some investigation.

He then reached out to and spoke to ShaRhylla's mind.

"Milady, please allow me to extend my apologies as well. This must be painful for you. It is a terrible thing, to lose one's father.

For a brief moment something flashed in Ragorian's memory..a brief glimpse, barely noticable, of his former life. Of him...cradling a Sith body in his arms. And along with that glimpse came a short, incredible feeling of grief and pain, so much that he almost cried out for it.

Then it was gone, like a dust mote on the wind, leaving no trace that it had ever been.

What was that? his mind wondered, but could find no answer, and gave no sign that it would.

Shaking himself out of momentary reverie, he again ran over the conversation between the Sith, ShaRhylla, and the words the Axis had spoken to her mind. For a name had jumped out at him there.

Phalomir...

It took him a moment before he remembered where he had last heard that name, then it hit him. In the company of Lady Graysith herself, it had been. Though what about the exchange he remembered with the Lady didn't Curiously, he called out to both ShaRhylla and the Axis, letting his words be heard by both of them.

"Phalomir? My lady ShaRhylla, your mother once spoke to me of a Phalomir. It was some time ago, when I first came to this planet. But there is soemthing that confuses me.

When we spoke of this Phalomir, your mother made him out to be an enemy of hers. She said he possessed something that threatened her power. And, if I remember correctly, she asked me to kill this Phalomir, a task I did not get a chance to complete.

Is this Phalomir, Dark Lord of the Armorers and love of Graysith, truly the same Sith that Graysith requested me to kill? Are they truly allies, and lovers, now?"

[ 02-18-2005 10:32 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Blade of Chaos ]

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"What is of immediate concern is why Mother chose not to inform me of the death of my father!" she gritted between her teeth. A heavy twinge gripped her heart, filling her with raged-enwrapped mourning.

Father--

She clenched her hands tightly, stared off into middle space. Before her there rose the image of her mother, bending low over her bedside, a cool hand upon her brow, words soft and yet more cool whispering into her fevered brain. There they battled with yet another image, one shrouded and dark, one just beyond reach of recognition, whether that recognition be conscious or unconscious:

A haze filled somehow with fire and velvety blackness and something far, far worse than death.

Something seemed to reach out to her then, from those ebony shadows. Something that tickled a part of her she had no idea existed.

Something repressed through the skills of her Mother, something which managed to let out a tiny yet utterly lethal yowl, crying out for the right to exist.

She blinked, jerking her focus back to reality. Kelvendar bowed before her, the Blade was practically skewered into her grasp, words of all three entities with her tumbled about in her head.

"Whether Mother and this... this Phalomir--"

She spat in derision.

""--are lovers or enemies matters not. The simple fact is that they are now both enemies to me!

"And now I must decide exactly what I wish to do about it...."

She closed her eyes, striving to contact that strange little niggle she had brushed by within her very soul, now reaching out a tentative tendril of her All-talents.

Father? Is that you?

[ 02-24-2005 03:34 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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Kalvendar shifted slightly, uncomfortable. "I should say, betray you, for I have no wish too do so."

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

"There is no betrayal other than the Dark Lord of the Warriors has been slain, and obviously the one he had taken to him as Dark Lady has her foul fingers somehow involved in the deed!"

She took three quick cat-steps, bearing down upon Kelvendar like a predator upon its prey, nevermind that she was speaking such of her own flesh and blood. Though diminutive in height, the aura bursting from her every pore made her seem amazonian in stature; she stood before the warrior, a hand raised in warning.

"Take a care who you betray, my friend," she hissed, her eyes flashing.

"For in a misguided attempt to save the Sith, you may find yourself hastening its very demise-- not to mention your own!"

She stood there breathing heavily, while a detached little portion of herself wondered just why it was she wasn't sending this warrior off to his Final Reward. Shaking her head at this, she then bent low and whispered to him.

"Recall if you will that the-- Dark Lady hasn't so much as a single drop of Sith blood in her veins...."

...and if I could, I'd rip that human taint from my very own.

[ 02-26-2005 02:35 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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"Of course my lady." He responded cautiously. "Perhaps it is that your mother holds no love for use and would wish to betray and destroy us for her own gain? You would seek to save us for our greater good then?"

Kalvendar responded carefully and slowly, as thought pondering his own words as he did so, for he knew in her volitile state, one could never be too careful.

[ 02-27-2005 11:08 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Kalvendar ]

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"Keep your ears and your eyes and your tongue closed to this, warrior!" she finally hissed, then turned away from him and moved over to the massive fireplace. There the dancing flames sent another kind of heat cascading over her.

She held the blade up to her face, cocked her head and reached out to Ragorian.

All the better for what I have promised to you, my dear Ragorian. The thought was like black silk rippling between them.

Then she reached out to T'elion as well, including him as recipient as well to her next query.

"Do the people know the name of the perpetrator?" she asked them both, expecting to receive an affirmative response. For indeed, why else would her mother have gone suddenly missing, if not to take haven away from Phrinnchatka with the murderer of her father?

She grimaced, feeling heat rise up to battle against the firelight, and waited to see who would reply to her first.

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

"But that is my assumption, thought it means little." He finished quietly, knowing his place in the company of those who were as gods to himself.

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

"She has many questions to answer, dear lady, as you yourself have much to consider. Yes, you are right in your anger. You are right in your feelings, for in any case you are betrayed. If the Dark Lady is indeed an enemy, hiding the truth from you for her own insidious purpose, she must be deposed. But even if her intentions were merely to keep you from the hurt of losing one so dear, then her trust in your ability is lacking, and the time has come to earn your place. But you must trust your feelings in this, dear lady, for no-one may choose your path for you."

Silence, the stage is set. It is quiet, the audience waits.... waits for the performance....

The drama begins, the first lines being spoken. Exit one of the main players on the stage.... he returns as the plot thickens, to battle and fight, to defeat those in his way, then he comes again to stand on the stage.

A bit of of stage magick, and he disappears, leaving only the origonal cast, a cast that so well fits into my adgenda. I step away from the small peephole that has given me this fantastic view, and ponder the recent events.

I know that my father has fallen, no doubt as this "rykounagin" who plays the part of an assassin has pushed him too his fate. This does require my presence, even I cannot hide forever.

I steal back to my chambers, far below the commonly walked places of the sith, where my father and I have made my home. It is strange now that without hesitation I will leave it, but I digress from the most important facts of this. I must dress for the occasion, for the meeting of a sith princess is no small thing.

I dress in my dark silks and black mask, taking my semi-human form, feeling my horns sprout, my hair grow to slick against my skull. I smile faintly as I pull the thin black leather gloves onto my hands, buckling the rapier to my side, smiling faintly as I see myself in the broken mirror, the hundreds of slivers reflecting the horror that I am.

"Let the masquerade begin." I whisper, stepping from the chamber to walk slowly up the passageway that will lead me back to the peephole and secret passage, just next to the mantle, where I would make my entrance upon this stage.

[ 03-16-2005 09:21 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Lord of the Masque ]

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