...although most of her attention was admittedly given to the latter.

I...I do not know where you are, only that you were hurt and taken away for care by K'khil to a place Phalomir claims[/b he does not know...are youi well? I was with him when I was taken by...

Shayla trailed mentally.

By a Dark Phalomir who is connected with the Realms. We are in hyperspace, but I do not know where. All I want is to return and learn from your teaching once more...

[b](((OCC: Cross-posted in Sweet Dreams are Made of This in the Jedi Praxeum and Sith Temple forums.)))[/b[

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

Phalomir let Panthar speak but focused inwardly upon the voice entering his mind from across the dimensions. It filled his heart with joy to hear this voice, so familiar and close.
My love, you were injured on Endor. Our powers were blocked somehow, but K’khil managed to find us – I sent you with him to find a medical facility. Bespin was the nearest -- that should be where you are. I hope you are safe. Shayla may be in peril – Shayla, can you hear me? Are we linked through Jharmeen?

[ 07-20-2010 11:11 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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

In a protective move, Shayla unconciously pulled back from the connection with Jharmeen upon hearing Phalomir's voice within and Dark Phalomir's voice without...

...and for much the same reason on both counts. An image, one of Phalomir's hands raised to the sky, royal robes flowing from him and arrogance plastered on his face as Jharmeen, child in her arms, fell back.

She knew not if Jharmeen saw what she was seeing via their link or not, but she did her best to block the thoughts from both Phalomirs, trusting neither.

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

"Wait!!"

The cry transcended space and time in reflexive response to Shayla's attempt to cut out all thoughts of Phalomir--

Or indeed, both of them.

The Chosen Daughter reached out along the link to her, feeling her distrust mingled not without some fear, feeling the strength and love pouring out to her at the same time from Lord Phalomir... and both sensations overlain with the tiniest, slyest hint of...

Somehow muffled indiscretion.

She paused, cutting off her own cry to Shayla, knowing that both were linked to her, and through her, to each other. A great upwelling rush of sorrow filled her heart to feel the young Adept's mistrust of Phalomir; she yearned to reply, to assuage her fears. But there was that strange, softly insistent niggle of something not right yet, that hung over Shayla like a shroud.

And tickling behind it was the briefest flash of something, an image; she hadn't quite been able to make it out clearly, but somehow felt she was in it, and consumed with sorrow.

So she paused further, chewing upon her lip.

"Shayla," she began at last. "According to what my Lord Phalomir is saying, I am in one of the cloud cities on Bespin. I am not certain where you are yourself; Phalomir appears to be... Elsewhere.

"K'kihl is here somewhere; I must somehow ascertain his whereabouts, for if I should just depart from this place he would be worried, and might find trouble. Once I have made contact with him, I will send him--"

She cut herself abruptly off, wondering just where exactly she should send him.

"--to K'eel Doba," she finally decided before continuing.

"Take a care, my sister; I feel there is more afoot than the Dark Phalomir who plagues you. I trust you have the ability to fend him off; and be not afraid of my love."

She paused a momemt, still caught in the toss-up of whom to go to.

"When I have found K'kihl and have sent him on his way, I shall go to Phalomir. If he is truly Elsewhere, he will need my assistance."

Another pause: how in S'slan's Creation did he find himself in the Elseness? A shrug, a push of that query to the back of her mind, and she continued once more.

"Do not worry; we shall be together soon enough. But my dear, find out what you can of this Dark One. And-- watch yourself."

With that she silenced, quieting the connection until it was nothing but an electric hum betwixt the three of them. With no further ado, she left her posh surroundings, and went out on the hunt for K'kihl.

[ 07-27-2010 11:01 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

Then she stretched back along the link she shared with Jharmeen. I went to hyperspace within the Elseness. The Dark Phalomir. He wants an heir...

She trailed a moment. ...fromm me.

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

A sense of great, impending danger washed across every cell in her being. Instinctively she reached out to reply, to warn Shayla... when she stopped. Clenching her fists at her sides, oblivious to the other hotel passers-by who in their passing were murmuring to themselves and giving each other odd looks, she simply shut her eyes, striving to find...

The Big Picture. There was always a Big Picture....

A little flash of another picture her young Adept hadn't quite successfully prevented from revealing now came to her: flashes of a darkly triumphant Phalomir, and of herself, a look of despairing sadness on her face, holding in her arms a tiny babe...

But that meant something else, something other, according to what Phalomir had revealed. It was his own battle with his own inner demons, a battle he had won.

Or so she thought. Then another thought struck her.

This Dark Phalomir Shayla now found herself with... how did she know that he was such? By what evidence could she base such an acceptance? True, the Dark Ones were cunning in the extreme; she knew how they could creep within one, offering this and that in the attempt to sway their victim into believing them...

But how could she be certain it really wasn't her beloved? Did he truly eradicate all the demons he carried within? Or did that attempt merely wash him clean enough to attract the One or Ones who ruled in Hell...

She actually swayed with indecision. Every iota of her being yearned to fly to Shayla, to assist her against the one who, in either manner, was indeed their foe.

But then-- was he?

Her own teachings flew back at her, yet the relief of a Big Picture concerning this remained maddeningly elusive.

She was on her own.

Her eyes flew open, the Glyph on her forehead flashing into protest, sending radiance splashing against the walls of the hall she was in, yanking them from there mundanity even as the few other patrons hanging about shrank back from her in fear and wonder. She smiled hesitantly, fought to control the strength within, which insisted more and more strongly that she go to Shayla.

But... what if that was what the Darkness, be it either Dark or merely corrupted Phalomir, wanted.

She clenched her fists harder, her nails sinking into her palms. The pain from that was welcome respite from uncertainty; it brought her back to reality, giving her the strength she needed to reach out, to try and sense anything else she could in the vicinity of her sister. But all she could pick up was a general miasma of dark; no word or intention could be gleaned other than what Shayla would actively send back to her.

"I-- I cannot come," she thought back, instantly amending the reply: "... yet. Hold fast, my sister; discern what it is this one wants from you. Why does he need an heir?"

((OOC: The reply to Shayla cross-posts to Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

[ 08-04-2010 11:52 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

A memory was niggling of something she had been told once pulled at the corners of Shayla's mind. Seeking to bring clarity to that memory, she reached back out to Jharmeen.

He says the heir he seeks is a small child that has been placed within the Elseness that he wants me to retrieve from there...

[ 08-04-2010 08:25 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

What was going on inside her, however, was anything but.

"No!" She could not keep the alarm from her "voice" as the single word arrowed back via the Link. "That child... it was mine, mine by Recinis, destined to become Dark Lord of the Warriors. But during my stay on Dagobah my body could not properly nourish it; I-- I lost it, and placed it within a coccoon of my love for my husband into the Elseness that it would not die."

She couldn't help frowning at herself, for a shadowy sense of guilt was beginning to rise. Who was she, to use her powers for her own sake in thus a manner? Was she a Goddess, that she would prevent the natural death which would have been the destiny of her child? Had placing the too-young bit of life into such a state been the result of nothing more than her own vanity?

Had she taken into acount The Bigger Picture, that which she had touted again and again to Shayla? Apparently not, for now the quasi-life of that youngling seemed to be at risk.

"You must not do this, sister. You must not let this Phalomir retrieve my child. For if this were to happen, surely it would die."

((OOC: Reply goes back to Shayla in Sweet Dreams Are Made of This in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

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

Meanwhile she reached back along the link she shared with Graysith.

I understand, my dear sister, she then thought to her, emotions of shared loss and understanding also flowing along the Link. Still, I am here for a reason...

...and I think I need to follow this through. Please, trust me.

[ 08-06-2010 03:18 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Nothing can bring harm to my youngling; NOTHING!

Passers-by shrank back from her at this, uttering frightened mumbles as ultraviolet radiance cascaded all about them. With some effort Jharmeen brought her instinctively reactonary anger back under control, lowering her face in the struggle so as to further mask the glowing light in the shadow of her disarrayed locks. At length the Glyph relented, and she felt a semblance of calm begin to descend upon her. It brought logic tagging along in its wake.

Even so, she wanted nothing more than to fly to Shayla's side, the Verpine be damned. She was certain; no, simply positive her young Adept was in mortal danger, a danger that perhaps she couldn't sense as easily as her Teacher did, and that coming along a shared Link from an extraneous source. She bit her teeth, struggling against the threat of her Glyph again flaring up, struggling against rising anger and fear...

But stopped, and forced herself to listen to the quiet little voice now whispering in her soul.

How well she remembered her own little altercations with her own Teacher and loved one, the great Dark Lord of the Sorcerers Lord Aelvedaar. How well she could see in her mind's eye the pattern she had presented to him as over and over she strove to prove to him that she was ready, that she had the ability, that he had taught her well enough that he should let her go...

A little smile came over her features at this. Indeed, the time did finally come when he did let her go, and that was when M'wonBo'o had come to her.

Another thought struck her, dragging her off trajectory. Shayla's tuk'ata; that time on Korriban she had indeed gone off against Jharmeen's advice, and indeed had returned astride the beautiful felinoid. But a slight difference tingled in the aura the quasi-sentient creature emanated; at the time Jharmeen had wondered if the pair would remain together as true soul-mates, as true Blood Hunt Companions. Or had the animal, being young, simply given in to her strong-willed Adept, and had not really bonded with her in a kill, in the blood-sharing, as with what tradition dictated should happen between Sith and tuk'ata through the millennia?

Was this another similar case? Was Shayla being strong-willed, as certain in her own ability to see this thing through as Graysith herself had sworn she had been, years ago when Lord Aelvedaar had indeed let her loose on The Hunt? Was there factual evidence to truly substantiate that will? Or was this simply a repetition of what had happened to Shayla in the Canyon of the Dark Lords on Korriban?

Only this time, instead of risking coming back empty-handed, she was instead playing sabaac with her very life?

So she struggled with herself, wondering if Shayla truly was ready, truly had enough of her Teachings not only under her belt but assimilated into her soul to see her through whatever the Darkness was planning upon throwing at her.

She waffled...

And sighed.

Lord Aelvedaar had let her go, and she had performed. She had never let Shayla go, but instead the young woman had taken flight on her own. Never with her blessing; perhaps that was all that was finally needed in the long run.

Raising her head, she sent a final thought back to her sister.

"I trust in you, Shayla. But in whatever you do, remember there is always two sides to every coin, and that there is always the Bigger Picture to consider. Sometimes the right thing to aim for means doing the wrong thing, or following the path we do not wish to travel upon.

"Keep me appraised; I will join you when I have safely delivered K'kihl to K'eel Doba.

"Good luck, my sister. I love you."

With that she let the Link settle back into a quietly thrumming communications connection, and finally managed to bind up her hair. Her Glyph now faded to a shadow upon her forehead, she hastened down the corridor, down several flights of stairs, and then out onto the sidewalk beyond as she exited The Blue Asteroid altogether. Hesitating a moment to consider, she finally set out for the most logical place she could think of where she might find the Verpine:

The public landing bays of this particular cloud city, where she hoped to find him wandering about the earth-bound ships. If he happened to be inside theirs, whichever one that might be, well...

She'd just have to start asking questions. There couldn't be that many Verpines on Bespin, after all.

((OOC: The reply goes out to Shayla in Sweet Dreams Are Made of This in the "Sith/Jedi" forums, thank you.))

[ 08-08-2010 04:03 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

And I love you as well, came Shayla's immediate response to Graysith.

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

...she likewise knew that Shayla needed this time on her own, to stretch her own wings. To fly.

Be it one way or another.

So firming her jawline she hastened out into the streets of the floating city, pausing thereout to take a look about herself, knowing instinctively the best place to find a Verpine, but not knowing how to find such.

If the Verpine was indeed alive.

With a small frown she thrust that possibility away from herself, and set out to find anything approaching either a small shipyard or at least a Municipal Docking Port. If ever there would be a place to find K'kihl, she knew that would be it.

So she spent a few hours wandering, reaching quietly out into this mind and that, trying to find such a place. But she was having difficulties; most of the Bespin people she came upon along the way had thoughts of nothing much other than personal trivialities, shopping dilemmas, and anticipation of a hot tub and drink at the end of their long work day. With something of a start she realized it was now indeed that time of day when people were hastening to their homes, ready to eat, to play, to relax, leaving the mundanity of their work behind them for another day.

With a little sigh she wished those were the only worries she herself had to entertain.

It was at this direct moment that from afar, through the Link she had with Shayla, somethng of the young woman's selfness came filtering through to her. There was a strength of determination, an even stronger belief in herself, not a little curiosity... but twining insidiously in and through and around these emotions was something else.

Something... else.

It carried upon its back the taint of fear, of death, of blood and wanton destruction and reverence for non-life. She frowned now, seeking gently back herself, probing, trying not to alert Shayla to her presence within her mind but needing in turn to know what was happening to her. What she was going through, what she was experiencing...

What she was feeling.

Her eyes widened and her Glyph burst forth in protest when she realized the depth of the strange touch she was sensing. It seemed more, was perhaps more than a guard being set up against which the Darkness, unknowing, might slither.

And unless Shayla was more adept than she realized, that sensation could only mean one thing...

She gasped, staggered sideways a bit, and laid a steadying hand against a nearby wall. Then, unable to do anything else, she simply bowed her head, ane wept.

[ 11-14-2010 12:10 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

Outwardly, Shayla's aura was as cool as ice. Inwardly, a jolt of fear shot through her very being, one so significant that she knew it could be felt through the bond she shared with Jharmeen. For the briefest of moments Shayla clung to that link like it was a lifeline...

...for perhaps it was at that...

...and let a wisp of a memory pass between she and Jharmeen, of a time before the return of the Sith when she first truly believed she was the Chosen Sister Jharmeen called her. On that day, Jharmeen had sent her away to save her from Roan's anger, and in doing so had perhaps risked her own self.

Now, this, for you, Shayla thought.

And in that moment, she pulled away from that cherished connection, placing a protective block about it before returning her attentions fully to the glowing Dark One.

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

There was simply no turning back now, and Shayla knew that deep within her heart. So she stretched out one final but potentially critical moment and reached out to her link with Graysith.

She was impacted with pain and anguish so deep it made her physically shiver despite herself.

When the time comes, I trust you will do what you must. For now, perhaps I can in this act save you, my Chosen sister.

Shayla's thoughts paused momentarily.

Not that we once were Sisters, but that we are.

Letting this thought travel through that cherished link, Shayla savored the connection for a moment...

...then turned from it entirely.

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

Each passing second nailed her heart to her spine, causing it to pound in return. Each minute emotion she felt streaming to her across the Link she maintained with Shayla stabbed that nail more deeply into her psyche, for with it she could clearly sense the cloying tendril of non-life which coiled along with it.

No. Not non-life; a rock would be considered non-life. This was an anathema to life itself, anti-life if you will; it crept insidiously along the Link, reaching from the Darkness outward into the Light, searching for bits of itself that were firmly embedded in the thing living entities call the Universe, seeking to entwine itself into her own being...

She shuddered against the ice, raised her head in defense of it even though fear and pain for Shayla's sake fought strongly to welcome it. She had just managed to battle it down, in fact, when Shayla's last horrible words came whispering to her:

"Now this, for you..." followed fairly shortly by, "When the time comes, I trust you will do what you must. For now, perhaps I can in this act save you, my Chosen Sister..."

Here eyes shot wide open, brilliant violet against the encroaching Night.

"But-- my dear Sister, I do not need saving! I am in no peril!"

Passersby paused in their scurry, turning now to gaze awkwardly at the crazy lady standing against the wall, one hand reaching out as if to grasp something unobtainable, her unsettling, soul-piercing words ringing in the air. Jharmeen blinked, working her mouth a little as the realization struck her that not only had she spoken her last cry to Shayla aloud, but the Link along which those words were intended to travel had simply shut down.

She had no means to connect to Shayla. The connection was just...

Gone.

Her clasped hands raised to her lips, her unseeing eyes dismissing those about her who in turn were struggling mightily to dismiss her, as she put forth every effort to re-establish that precious Link. To no avail; it was almost as if Something had reached in with a serendipitously well-timed helping hand, and wrenched away its very existence.

It was not merely blocked. It was GONE.

A ripple of fear and anguish shuddered through her lithe frame as another realization struck her: she knew Shayla was in the Darker Realms, just knew it. But something there was apparently able to break into her use of the All and take away the Link she had created and maintained. For while she knew Shayla had been learning of the All, she was no fool. No mere student could have rocketed to this level in so short a period of time; even she herself, the Dark lady, could not interfere in any aspect of that wondrous power her own Teacher, the Dark Lord Aelvedaar, would have emplaced.

At least not without outside assistance.

And now she had no guide to follow, by which to go to Shayla and assist her.

For a moment she teetered on a razor's edge of continued fear and sorrow, coming a hair's-breadth from caving, from letting the Dark win over in this little scenario, giving up on Shayla altogether. Then she firmed.

"No," she whispered softly. Those few citizens of the floating city jumped collectively at this; then perhaps sensing a change in the strange woman's aspect they nodded nervously and fled. A little smile crooked Jharmeen's lips, and she drew in a fortifying breath.

"I do not know what you are up to, my dear Sister, but I trust that you can keep yourself from ill until I can gain those who could come with me, to find you and return you to the Realm of the Living.

"For this I cannot do alone."

This final realization was perhaps the most startling of all: it wasn't often that a God was stared directly in the face only to find that s/he has come up wanting.

"I will find my dear love, Lord Phalomir, and my Teacher, the Dark Lord Aelvedaar. Then we shall breech the blackness to find you."

With that she yanked herself from the wall, suddenly filled with the strength of determination, and began moving quickly down the corridor she had been traveling. Somewhere in the surreality of a city floating among the clouds was a Verpine of her acquaintance, and she meant to find him before fleeing altogether to seek those she loved with all her heart.

For surely their great combined Love would prevail against the Night...

[ 12-17-2010 11:33 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

The sentients whom she had managed to stop in passing only replied to her seemingly odd inquiry with polite mumblings, then hurried away as fast as they could from someone they in turn deemed to be a bit more than strange. Some even paused in their restrained flight to cast a glance of trepidation over their shoulders.

Jharmeen never saw this; her eyes grew as dark as her heart, which was becoming heavier by the moment. It seemed that perhaps the best thing would be to just up and leave the city, to find her dear love and her esteemed Father, to then go on the trail of her even dearer Sister, to bring her back from the very abyss of Death...

...when she happened upon a little establishment tucked away in a tiny nook off of a side corridor of the main one she had been following.

The Blue Asteroid.

Quaint.

A small flicker of something akin to a smile momentarily graced her features as she stood at the doorway, peering though a window clouded with years of smeary fingers and death-stick smoke. Certainly this was not the kind of place that she would normally frequent, but perhaps someone within might know a bit more than the general passersby who for the most part had simply kept on passing her by.

She drew in a breath and tossed her head, that her locks would tumble down over her forehead and hide the Glyph that was lightly slumbering there. Then she entered, only to pause just inside the doorway to take a look about herself.

Dark it was, the gloomy kind of dark where the underlings of every city like to go to hide. Not to say that all therein were of the criminal variety, no; perhaps it was more reasonable to suggest that, as a whole, one could term the customers as being merely of a somewhat shady bent. But dollars to dingos it stood to reason that the majority weren't the ones who loved quite how the city was being run, or who was running it, or where it was running to.

And they were all here grumbling into their various beverages, spices, and other implements of questionable source.

Jharmeen, the Chosen Daughter of the Sith, the Dark Lady of the Warrior Clan of the Sith, the Bearer and Holder of the All, the most powerful force yet discovered in the entire known universe, suddenly found herself at a loss. A blow struck her then, one not tangible but seemingly so; a memory coming from the very mists of time, of her sister.

Oh how she wished her sister Galen was here. She would most certainly know what do do, how to act, what words to say...

A snort of her own making brought her reeling senses back to the reality that she indeed was the Chosen Daughter and Dark Lady of the Warriors of the Sith. Holding her head high, she strode into the smoky darkness, and approached the bar.

"Wha' can I pour for yas?" asked the hulking thing behind the counter, who came up, bar rag in hand, to take money and order from her.

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

The Master awoke, his head swimming and his body screaming in protest. He opened his eyes as best he could, but the light was too bright to see anything but streaks and smears. A low hum rang through his ears, and he heard the familiar blips and chitters that indicated he was a aboard a ship of some kind.

“’Ey, Bunkie, he’s waking up!” came a gruff voice.

He remembered going through the portal from the Elseness, crawling through. But there was something odd, something strange about the other side. His powers had vanished, completely disappeared when he passed through. Even now he could not call forth any of his connection to the All, nor even with his Sith magick.

“Mister,” came another voice. “Hey, you, whatever you are. You awake there?”

The Master groaned again. His head continued to swim.

“Master,” he said weakly.

“What was that?” said the first voice. “You say something, mister?”

“Not ‘mister’,” he whispered. “Master…”

He fell back into the dark oblivion. Some time later, he stirred again.

“Bunkie!” came the now familiar voice of… someone. “He’s movin’ again!”

The sound of footsteps clinking against a metal floor came from a distance, then they entered the immediate vicinity. The Master felt the presence of another person. His eyes fluttered open once more, blinking against the light. He felt slightly stronger, though not much, and his body still lay broken and useless. But why was his magick gone?

“Mister,” said a voice, “I’m not one to tossing people out of an airlock for stowing away on my ship, but I also ain’t one to believe in people just appearing from out of nowhere. Now I’ll cut to the chase, you either tell me how you got on board and what it is you’re doing here, or I’ll be dropping you off at the nearest Empire ship.”

The Master thought. He had stumbled from the Elseness and onto a ship, apparently mid-flight. That was an incredible thing and he smiled a little at that. But something had robbed him of his powers, and that was not something to smile at.

“I was teleported,” he managed, not knowing if he would be believed nor in a position to care. “I need a hospital, on the Sith worlds. I can pay.”

There was a long silence.

“You’ve been out for a couple of days,” said the voice. “I’m Truck, Bunkers Truck, you’re aboard my freighter, the Vestal Vermin. Look, um, we didn’t think you were gonna make it there, so we hooked you up to the sickbay bed. It’s been trying to fix you up but it doesn’t know what the heck you are. So, afraid that you ain’t much better then when you landed here. I don’t want trouble, but I am interested in two things: getting you off my ship and hearing more about you being able to pay.”

The Master tried to smile again.

“I have great wealth, take me to K’eel Doba and you shall be rewarded.”

Again, silence, for several moments.

“You, uh, mentioned a lot of things when you was out,” said Truck. “Places I never heard of, names of folks. I tried plugging some of those names into the nav computer and it just laughed. But that’s why I believe you, mister. Nobody’s gonna lie when they’re thrashing on their death bed like that. But I don’t want no trouble, like I said. One of those names you threw out, it hit me, it sounded familiar. So I’m gonna take you to hospital, but it’s on the planet that I’m dropping off my cargo. So you pay me with that gem around your neck and we’ll call it even, right?”

“Just follow me, then, sir,” he said. “To sector 3.”

The green fellow turned and led the verpine out of the crowded restaurant. He paused at a lift and waited. When he saw K’kihl following, he pushed the button.

Within a few seconds the door opened and they both stepped inside.

“I am truly sorry to bother you,” he said. “It is indeed a most peculiar situation.”

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

“Well I’ll be!” Truck exclaimed. “That varmint is actually here? Then yes, place a call, it’s in his hands now. All six of ‘em.”

The Master faded back into his own mind, vivid dreams of delirium taking their stage. It was all his fault, he knew it, this destruction and chaos that would run rampant. The destruction of the Sith worlds, it would all happen again. He was a fool to think that he could stop it, to alter the course of time. His only hope was to find her, and convince her. He had to find the Dark Lady! It all rested upon her shoulders, the Dark Lady…

"A bother, this not is," he said politely, although to the soul of his very being he meant every word uttered in the phrase. Indeed, anything... anything, was better than being shackled to the hulking Besalisk Driffane, who had the most annoying table manners of any creature he had ever seen.

And he'd been around plenty in the galaxy, and had seen quite a lot.

But not, however, this. The green-skinned individual peaked his interest if only for the sheer unlikeliness that his appearance was happenstance. That there was something more in play, something hidden, he was quite certain. Being Verpine he was logical by nature; serendipidity just wasn't one of his major life-paradigms.

So the mystery messenger had an agenda. Whether or not he could make use of it, that was yet to be revealed.

"Of said peculiar situation, this one could be enlightened," he then stated, as with a quiet whoosh the closing doors enveloped the pair of them in secrecy.

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

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

And again the Verpine didn't believe one word of it.

"Dark Lady?" he retorted, clacking his mandibles to make the statement into a query. He regarded the being with shining, multi-faceted eyes, dithering to himself all the while behind them. At length he managed to contain the inherent honesty that rose up in protest, and continued.

"No, not of any knowledge have I. But with you yet, come I shall. Curious am I, as how to the ears of this injured one, has come my name."

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

The door of the lift slid open to a large sign designating Sector 3. The messenger stepped out and waited for K’kihl to follow. A few corridors later and the healing center was reached. Another few paces and the pair were standing before a door.

“I certainly hope you find your answers,” he said. “The doctor is Gentry, he will have questions for you.” The messenger then punched the lock on the door and it slid open.

Inside, lying on a bed, with tubes going into both arms and his mouth, lay a hulking Sith all too familiar to K’kihl. He bore a resemblance to the Dark Lord of the Armorers, but his facial features were off just enough to indicate that this was indeed not Phalomir.

But K’kihl had seen this face before. It belonged to the mysterious Sith who called himself “The Master”.

“Ah,” came a voice from across the room. “You must be K’kihl. Sign here, please.”

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

He would have blinked himself from his reverie if he could have. As it was, his mandibles clacked and clattered a bit nervously.

"This being, unknown to I is he," he managed at last as he took one small step away from the door and the pen-waving Gentry. "Another K'kihl, perhaps, is referred to; a mistake there has been made."

He took another step back, bumping accidentally into the green-skinned messenger who had brought him into this unexpected nightmare. A clawed appendage waved out in apology; although indeed his mind was awhirl with the possibility of information he might glean from the bed-ridden Master, it was also filled with the deeds he had managed to impart unto others in the past.

He had no need for him, and certainly did not wish to let him find the Dark Lady, whom he had sworn to protect.

"No," he repeated. "Sorry am I, assist you can I not."

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

“You,” he croaked. His voice was still weak but loud enough to be heard. “The Verpine. She is in danger – from Phalomir…”

He stopped, a clot of something stopped in his throat. He grimaced and fought it down, wishing his powers were still with him.

And then they were.

First, he could feel the Sith magick again connecting to his mind. He inhaled deeply, relishing in the old familiar feelings of strength returning to his body. It coursed through his veins now, bringing accelerated healing to the severely damaged bones and tissues of his mortal self. He relaxed now, still exhausted.