A Cut Or Two

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

The blade slid free, slick with red and falling to the ground with a loud clatter. A groan escaped his lips, muffled by the steel of his mask. His hands tightened, agony pulling through him as his palm covered the bloody wound upon his shoulder. He felt his muscles tense, his foot falling forward and coating with red as he stepped into the small puddle that had formed on the ground.

Around him lay corpses, four of them.

He had not expected them, at least not yet. He had known that eventually they would come, he had known that eventually they would send them, but he had never expected them this soon. It appears that news had traveled fast, faster than he had anticipated. The assassins had come at night, striking the inn he had been staying at and slaughtering all those within. Aellin had only awoken due to the screams of those below, the Assassins having slipped up when they slaughtered a mother but not her daughter.

The cries of that child had awoken him, and with that alert he had managed to wade his way through the carnage. The Assassins had struck hard, and Aellin was no Baelid. They had wounded him, struck across his abdomen and sliced deep into his flesh, the blade he had pulled free having struck home within the last seconds of the fight. He would have to find a way to heal it, bandage it, though as the moment passed he found all feeling in his arm was soon lost.

Grimacing, the acolyte shifted, barging through the front door of the Inn and moving into the streets.

He would have to find someone within the village who could heal him, someone who could be made to cooperate.

 

[Lief]

There was a slight skip to her step as Asha made her way through the streets of Triph. It was late, yet she felt as awake as a blossom with the urge to stretch her legs. Kessia lay to the South, and it was from that direction she had wandered; The Prophet was stationed there, but she hadn't felt like roaming a City. Especially not one with as dark a past as Thule's Capital. Asha appreciated all walks of life, but sometimes it was the humbler things she craved. Right now she could've been exploring the Valley of the Dark Lords alongside her Father, but she had seen Korriban before. She wanted something new.

And Thule had been just a short journey over.

The planet screamed danger, from its shady past involving the Sith Empire, and more recently the Primeval, to the frequent lightning storms which rained onto the savanna's. It was lucky that she hadn't been struck yet, having been out in the elements for at least an hour before reaching the village. But there was a slight rumble on the horizon, and the Lorrdian did not want to hedge her bets.

Her eyes fell upon an Inn. She doubted that anyone would be awake inside, but it was as good a shot as any for now. Besides, sometimes patrons would stay up late and drink their fill - and they had the best of stories to tell.

Re-shouldering her pack, Asha strode toward the building yet was struck by just how quiet it seemed to be. Maybe she was wrong, maybe everyone had gone to bed. That caused her to frown, and a sudden flash from the corner of her eye made her leap from her skin. She waited, listening for the sound of thunder which would inevitably join the storm. Just a few seconds passed, which made her nervous.

The storm was fast approaching, and for all she knew she would be caught out in it.

Why Thule, Ash...

Rushing toward the inn, Asha was far too focused on getting away from the elements to notice the black clad figure walking in the opposite direction, and in her haste - and likely in his own - she ran headlong into whoever it was, stopping herself at the last minute with a yelp of surprise. Her heart was in her throat.

"I'm sorry" she rushed, trying and failing to step out of his way, painting herself as quite the fool. Then she pointed back the way she'd come, shaking her head. Another flash of light illustrated her point better than any words could.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

A grumble escaped his throat as the girl came crashing into him, pain lancing through his shoulder and his hand slipping away from the wound as he pressed her back and away from him. Blood dripped from his palm, a speck of it flicking onto the girls clothes. His eyes cast forward and up, catching the stream of lightning that jumped down from the sky. A small curse escaped his lip, though too muffled by his mask to actually be heard clearly. He shifted his weight, trying to take a step back away from the youngling and stifle some of the pain that he felt from the cut in his abdomen.

He felt blood seep into his clothes.

Aillen observed the girl, bright yellow eyes setting on her as he tried to identify who...or rather what she was. He felt the force flow through her, strength that did not yet match his own. His eyes fell over her, another growl escaping his throat as the wound in his shoulder ached with pain. Blood began to drip from his clothes and onto the floor, collecting in a pool on the ground as nearly a stream of it began to fall. He was loosing blood rapidly, too rapidly.

"You." The word was a scratched rasp, erupting from his throat like a buzz of bees. "Get inside."

His good arm reached out and went to grasp the girl by the scruff of her neck, looking to seize her and drag her into the inn in one quick motion.

 

[Lief]

She felt herself pushed back from the man after the two collided, and reached out to steady herself before she landed in the dirt. Another crash of lightning, swiftly accompanied by the growl of thunder. Oh, she really had to get inside.

Asha was about to sidestep the man when his eyes fell upon her. The colour was like nothing she'd seen before, and Asha had met a great many people. Sure, there were some species with naturally yellow eyes, but they were often muted, none so bright as these. For a second she stood transfixed.

And then she realised that the man was injured. She could smell the blood, and she didn't even have to read his body language to tell that he was in pain. Taking a step forward, she winced as her boot squelched in a worryingly thick puddle of blood that had seeped from the man's wounds.

Before she could say a word about it her attempts were drowned out by raspy growls of the man. It seemed he had noticed the storm too, and she was all too happy to oblige.

When he manhandled her into the inn, however, Asha couldn't help but naturally try to resist. "Hey, get off" she said, though honestly she was grateful to be out of the elements, "I was already headed this way."

Now, in the light of the inn, Asha could make out his features. She couldn't help but feel a little on edge, heck scared even; he wore a mask, which likely accounted for some of the more muffled exclamations, yet it was his eyes and not the facial adornment that had her heart stop for a moment.

There was something beneath the surface, yet Asha couldn't place her finger on it. Either way it caused her skin to prickle. Why had she expected any sort of positive experience on a world renown for its corruption?

Swallowing back her fear, Asha did her best to shake off his grip. "You're injured" she said, to try and draw attention away from herself, "badly, from the looks of it."

Somehow she managed to keep the tremor from her voice, though she trembled a little.

"I can help you but--"

Oh my kriff! What in the world had she just stepped into? All the colour drained from her face as Asha beheld the scene before her. Bodies lay about the floor, more blood than she had ever seen had seeped into the floorboards and the furniture. Her natural instinct was to gag, and she felt her head spin.

What had she gotten herself into?

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

He noticed the girls reaction, it was difficult not to. She began to gag and slightly dry heave, her whole body shaking as she noticed the corpses that lay about the room.

Aelin hardly seemed to take notice, far more focused upon the wound within his shoulder.

The assassins had done a number on the place. There had been three of them, each well trained in their art. They had slaughtered their way through the common room of the inn, killing four people and then moving on to the innkeeper and his family. Of course that had been their mistake, not silencing the child in time for Aellin to awake. The child was dead now too of course, though her body lay hidden within the kitchens of the inn, something that he suspected was rather advantageous for him in the moment, he doubted that this girl would have enjoyed seeing that particular sight.

"Quiet!" He barked at the girl, his agony making him rather testy.

A palm reached up, grasping the cloth around the wound and tearing away the now blood soaked fabric. He tossed the rags to the floor, half revealing his chest. The hole within his shoulder showed clearly now, a stab wound that reached directly into the muscle and pierced nearly to the bone. Blood still slowly dripped from it, flowing like a river. His finger began to slowly probe the wound, pressing around the side of it to test the extent of the injury. The afflicted arm was completely immobile.

"You." That same rumble erupted. "Help me."

His voice broke slightly as a wave of pain erupted over him, his fingers digging into his skin as he tried to stall the flow of blood.

 

[Lief]

Her eyes took it all in, men - mostly men, though she could discern at least one woman - lay face down in the blood, and from the lack of any real death scent it was recent. Too recent. "What did you do?" Her face was aghast, disgust lacing her tone. "Oh my Force, what did you do?" She could feel the onset of sheer panic coursing through her veins, her breath caught in her throat. Asha had never experienced a panic attack before, or was this shock?

Suddenly the man balked at her, and the already jumpy girl flinched and turned back toward him. She was way in over her head, barely even able to comprehend what she was witnessing. And what was worse the time between the lightning and thunder had become so minuscule, and the noises themselves so loud, that they had to be overhead. There was no way out lest she wanted to be struck by the storm. She looked about ready to cry, but she steeled herself all the same.

Breathe... She had to breathe.

Unless she wanted to end up like the rest of them she had to keep herself useful. He was bleeding, and tearing away at the bloody garments to reveal the gaping wound. The muscle had been pierced, the wound itself looked messy and was definitely not from a delicate weapon, like a lightsaber. Of course it wasn't a lightsaber, or there'd be no blood.

Asha blinked. Well, she didn't exactly carry a med-pack on her person, though after this horrific experience perhaps she ought to do just that, and she most definitely did not want to go wading through the blood to find something useful. The would-be medic in her scolded her for the idea which came to mind, because honestly it wasn't a great option. But it would seal the wound up until he could get himself to an actual doctor.

There was always the Force to fall back on, but Asha had never experimented on anyone other than herself where healing was concerned. Pain though, she could lessen that. Gulping down her worries Asha reached out and nudged his hand away from the wound, tentative and fearful of his reaction. Prodding and poking at it would not do him any good, especially if he had someone else's blood on his hands. Infection was the last thing he wanted.

"I... I can help" she said, "I will help." This was spoken with a little more confidence.

She glanced around, her lightsaber was back on her ship due to lack of training. Damnit. "Do you have a lightsaber?" She wanted to say 'trust me', but she wasn't even sure it was the best of ideas herself. While waiting for his response, she settled a hand just over the wound - not touching it, Force knew she did not want to touch it - and focused. Slowly the pain would begin to ease from the area, a numbing sensation replacing it. This was basic, lightsabers to cauterize wounds was basic... ish, though not ideal.

But the thing she had to attempt before she did that was most definitely not basic. Asha wasn't even so sure she could do it, but she had to try. She could seal up the wound all she wanted, provided there was a saber to hand, but if he'd been infected at all then she'd be wasting her time.

"Sit down" she said, she couldn't focus with him looming over her like that. "Please" she added, he didn't half give her the heebie jeebies.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

The Sith Acolyte pondered for a moment, his eyes settling down on the girl as he thought of his options. He needed the wound sealed at the very least, the hole digging all the way to his bone. He could likely stand for another few hours at least, perhaps even fight in pressed, but he knew that eventually he would begin to slow due to the loss of blood that he was experiencing. Already his vision was beginning to blur slightly, the pressure of having lost so much of his blood pushing his body and forcing it to change resources to different aspects of his body, like keeping him standing.

He frowned, the turned away from the girl.

Aellin moved to the side of the common room, wandering away from the pile of corpses that had gathered near the stairs and exit of the Inn and instead moving to a place near the hearth. Outside the lightning storm began to rage, strikes of pure energy lashing out and rushing towards the ground in quick, successive strikes.

He had no idea how long the storm would last, nor did he know exactly where it would stop. Aellin had never been to this world before, in fact the only reason he was here in the first place was because he had been supposed to meet an old friend of the family here. The man had always been unreliable at best though, somewhat of a fool and even an idiot at times. Aellin had briefly wondered if the man had betrayed him, but he soon realized that he was too much of a coward to ever turn against him.

Before he sat down the Acolyte retrieved one of the sabers from the small of his back, his fingers latching around it as he sat down.

Eyes settled on the girl, waiting for her to move towards him and apply her healing, or at least take the next step.

 

[Lief]

The thought of going anywhere near the corpses made her stomach do another backflip. For a moment she legitimately feared that she might throw up; instead she gulped down a breath of air and followed him through to the common room. Thankfully the way was mostly corpse free, and the area around the hearth completely devoid of all signs of what had happened. Minus the bloody treads of both of their boots. Best she not linger on that thought.

Asha was naturally gifted at reading the body language of others; while she was not born of Lorrd like her Father, she had grown up in his company - and only really his company - and as a result it had rubbed off on her. He was not doing well, and she knew that if he lost too much more blood he could reach a more critical state. She had not received enough training for this, she did not know how to cope with so much pressure. But she was a Hex, and like it or not that meant she couldn't simply give up when she set her mind to something.

She had to at least try.

Her eyes drifted to the lightsaber as he produced it from his back, grateful when he finally settled himself down. Now that she wasn't stood in his shadow, she felt a little weight lift from her shoulder. He was just like any other patient. The only problem was, outside of basic triage Asha had never tended to a patient before.

She took a heavy breath, began to count back from five in her mind, and then exhaled.

Then she stepped forward. She ignored the lightsaber for now, instead her hand hovered back over the wound and her eyes closed. Knowing the theory and concept behind something was obviously not enough to use it in practice but if she used it alongside the practical work she had done - curato salva - she stood at least a moderate chance of making some sort of difference. And it wasn't as if she was trying to knit the skin back together and repair the torn muscle tissue.

It was his blood that she was focusing on, that which he had already lost so much of. "Did you touch any of the corpses before you started prodding around in the wound?" she asked, cursing herself for breaking her own concentration. "Was there anyone's blood on your hands except your own?"

Another intake of breath, and Asha could sense the blood coursing through his veins; her mind raced with amazement and wonder, though she had no real clue what she was looking for. Some sort of imperfection maybe?

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

Aellin looked up at the girl, his gaze falling flat. Onto her features. "No."

He had no idea what medical expertise, if any, she actually had. Nor did he particularly care. Aellin needed this wound looked at, he needed it sealed and he needed to get away from here. In order to do that he would enlist this girls services, utilize her and then toss her away without a second thought. That was the way of him, the way of his parents. He had learned from the best, and he would utilize those teachings the only way he knew how.

Her question was a good sign however, showing some knowledge at the very least.

The men and women within the Inn had not died by his hand, rather, the bloodied ones had not. The assassins had done most of the slaughtering in the Inn, utilizing Sith Tremor swords in order to shatter bone and slice flesh. He himself had used lightsabers, burning and scorching. The three assassins bore the evidence of that, their bodies bisected and cut into pieces, each one neatly cauterize and burned to a crisp, one of them having been outright decapitated.

After the fight he had not seen the need to check any of the corpses. He was neither a grave robber, nor was he a doctor, the deceased did not matter to him and their lives were less than worthless to him. Even if there had been survivors he would not have cared to save them, though the idea of that was laughable. The assassins had done their job well, and no doubt they had ensured quick deaths for all those present.

Aellin winced slightly as he felt a well of pain within his shoulder, his fingers flexing around the lightsaber hilt.

"Fix me." He growled. "Now."

 

[Lief]

No. None that he knew of at least. What of the blade?

Ash, just fix him and then you can go... He doesn't have to know if you cleansed his blood or not.

He probably didn't even think she could do that. Then again, Asha didn't either. She breathed in slowly, noting the returning pain and his frustrations. More so than that she saw his hand clench around the lightsaber, and her desire to survive overruled her internal would-be-medic. She had seen just fifteen years, she wanted to see many more.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry" said, removing her hand from over the wound and turning her gaze down to the lightsaber in his hand. Tentatively she reached down to take it from him, her fingers trembling as they closed around the hilt. It would take just a second for her demise should he decide to simply activate it there and then, a fact she felt all too aware of in that moment.

Biting back tears, severely overwhelmed, Asha pried the weapon from his grasp and peered down at it. Her own saber was merely for training, Jericho had capped the intensity long ago. But Asha knew a trick or two to make it more potent. In this case, however, Asha wanted to do the opposite. The last thing she needed was for the man to lose an arm.

She hastily fidgeted with the dials, messing with the intensity while praying she could return it back to the way it was before he severed her head from her neck. "This will hurt" she said, seeing no sense in lying to the man. With a snap hiss the lightsaber ignited, away from them both. Asha took a step back, though honestly she'd have rather been close to him in order to properly monitor the situation. Instead she had to rely upon the Force, no stranger to extending her senses through its currents.

With almost exaggerated focus, and a slightly scrunched up face, Asha brought the tip of the beam toward the wound as the scent of burning flesh rose into the room, adding to the already deathly stench polluting her senses. Her free hand had reached out by this point, securing itself about his good shoulder to keep him steady and in place. Moving could literally cost him an arm.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

His eyes popped open, his jaw tensed, every muscle in his body flexed. Pain lanced through his shoulder from the wound upon it. The lightsaber dug into his flesh, melting it and slowly combining it into a congealed burned mass. He felt arteries close, blood vessels seal, and muscles scorch as the tip of his lightsaber slowly began to burn away everything that the blade had caused. His teeth pressed together, grinding with such intensity that one might have thought they would shatter.

The pain reminded him of the brand.

The hurt.

The agony.

It was nearly identical. For a moment, for just the briefest moment Aellin felt himself achieve a perfect balance. The brand burned on his right shoulder, stinging and biting into him, the lightsaber burned within his left shoulder, eating away at his skin. A part of him wanted to scream in delight, wanted to laugh and roar with a perverse sort of pleasure. He was a man experiencing equality, experiencing a balance fall upon him. Within that moment he felt power, true power and strength float through him.

Aellin achieved a piece within himself, a steady calm that he had not felt since witnessing the flames upon his homeworld. There was a beauty in the agony, a feeling of serenity that he could not have explained with all the words in the galaxy.

Then suddenly, as soon as it had come, it went.

The lightsaber was pulled from his skin, the blade retracting and bright burning plasma suddenly hissing out of life. His eyes rolled back from their place within his head, setting forward once more and closing for half a second as a throbbing, dull ache erupted from both his brand and the new scorch mark upon his shoulders.

 

[Lief]

Asha could not express what it was she witnessed from the man during the few moments it took for his wound to be cauterized and the blade to be retracted and disignited. It was over in a second, but it felt like an eternity as Asha waited and waited for some sort of reprimand against the pain. But he didn't so much as scream, much less harm her. In fact, if she was reading him correctly - which there was little doubt she was - he almost seemed to derive euphoric pleasure from the ordeal.

That didn't sit right with her. Not at the level his whole body expressed. It was one thing to delight in pain, but she had already seen him practically squirm with the way it had been before, his displeasure had been so apparent that she had been too afraid to proceed the way she had first intended. No, there had to be something more to it. But there was no way that she would pry.

Instead she held his lightsaber in her hand and simply stared at him, dumbfounded, as he eased back into reality. Nervously the girl began to fidget with the intensity dials again, though she fumbled through it and wasn't even so sure it was how he had set it originally by the time she was done. She could only hope he wouldn't ignite the blade again until she was far, far from his reach.

Her eyes fell upon his shoulder; while it had been cauterized, there was still the gaping wound to contend with and little she could do to fix it. "It's going to scar" she said, her voice a little dull, having lost the shine she'd exhibited when first running into him. Asha felt as if she had aged severely since then, and she wasn't even sure half an hour had passed if that.

Making the mistake of turning around, in search of a clean cloth or... something, a medical kit if the Force was kind, she was once again met with the sight of the bodies. At this point she was too numb to even express distress, and instead she walked toward the bar and even past it toward the back room. There had to be a bandage somewhere.

She didn't realise until she started opening drawers and cupboards that the lightsaber remained in her hand.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

The girl wandered off, his eyes following her, no, following his lightsaber.

The blade wasn't anything special, at least as far as lightsabers went. It's assembly was naught more than the standard fare, the crystal within being a simple synthetic thing, it's housing being only a standard tube of metal wrapped in leather and it's lens being nothing to speak of. Yet the weapon was his, he had forged it along with it's twin, had created it while being watched and judged by his parents. They had commended Baelid when he had created his lightsaber, a work of art they had called it, they'd only scoffed when Aellin had created the twin fangs.

Too simplistic they had said.

He frowned slightly at the memory, white hot rage suddenly burning within his heart. Teeth crunched together once more, grinding slightly as anger tore through him. Power slipped within his grasp, the force coming to him in an instant as he watched the girl flaunt her possession of the blade, wandering towards the other side of the counter and searching through things as though it were nothing that she had taken his property. His eyes darkened, the bright yellow suddenly becoming more dull.

A sneer pulled at his lips.

His hand pulled up, the arm that had been numbed by a blade driven into action by sheer rage.

The force would suddenly whip around the girl, tendrils grasping and whipping at her flesh. She would feel a sudden sharp strike across her back, a lash hitting and curling about her, tearing her from her feet and pulling her over the counter towards Aellin.

 

[Lief]

Her mistake had been entirely innocent. In fact, the second she saw the hilt there in her grasp and was reminded of where it had come from, Asha began to turn in the hopes of returning it to its rightful owner. She was no thief, and she didn't want someone else's lightsaber. They were sacred constructs, even the most simplest of them had a bit of the creator inside. She longed for the day she was ready to create her own, but knew better than to rush it.

Before she could act upon this realisation, however, before she could begin to turn, the air seemed to turn heavy and oppressive. In that same instance something struck her in the back, sending her sprawling across the floor where she narrowly missed whacking her head on the edge of a cupboard by sheer luck alone.

There was no doubt in her mind that she would've had quite the nasty cut on her temple, if not for the fact that whatever had caused the seering pain across her back proceeded to drag her in almost the same action, away from the cupboards and back toward the hearth. Cups clattered and smashed as she was pulled over the counter, glass digging into her clothes and biting at her flesh. As if the laceration on her back wasn't enough to contend with.

Asha tried to reach out for something, anything, to hold onto, but when her hands fell upon the slick and slightly warm limbs of the deceased a genuine scream left her lips. That would have been the perfect time to stop struggling. Instead Asha flailed in the air as she was lifted up off her feet and catapulted back toward the man.

She landed at his feet, the air knocked from her lungs, the lightsaber hilt somewhere on the floor amidst all the chaos. As for the girl, she whimpered and daren't move. Her back was in agony, shards of glass remained stuck in her hands and chest, yet she was more fearful for what was to come. Truth be told, Asha didn't even understand what she had done so wrong save try to help him out.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

For a moment, Aellin did nothing. Instead he lingered above the whimpering girl, his eyes set hard upon her. His gaze drilled into her back, his lips still turned into a scowl. Slowly his eyes folded away from her, seeking the small metallic cylinder that he knew would be found somewhere within the common area. He searched the room, his eyes darting from corpse to corpse, table to table, until eventually he found the lightsaber gingerly rolling across the wooden floors. Aellin watched it for a moment, simply observing as it came to a slow halt against the body of one of the assassins. His sneer slowly disappeared, his good hand raising as the force once again flowed through him.

The cylinder seemed to spring from the floor, jumping and floating into his palm with but a small smack.

The blade suddenly erupted, a snap and a hiss summoning the glowing red. There was an instant shift, the thrumming growing louder as Aellin turned the dials of the saber back to full strength. The blade glowed brighter, searing red within the inn's common room. A strike of lightning reached the ground outside, thunder booming outside. The Sith Acolyte shifted slightly, taking a step away from the girl and moving towards one of the tables. A single swipe of the blade saw wood crumple and burn, the plasma slicing through the table with ease.

Satisfied, the Sith extinguished the blade.

For a moment Aellin then lingered, his gaze falling on the windows.

There was no safety to be found out there, at least not yet. He was sure that the assassins would soon receive reinforcements, that they would come for him again, but he also knew that braving the storms of Thule was a foolish thing to do at best. His gaze slowly fell onto the girl, his eyes simmering with a special kind of hatred as he heard her whimper and cry. Aellin rolled his right shoulder, shifting it slightly as he took two steps towards her and then simply crouched beside her.

His free hand would come forward, lacing through her hair and grabbing onto soft locks. With a wrench of his arm he would pull her face off the ground and lift her into the air, pulling her to eye level with his crouch.

 

[Lief]

Though she whimpered and cowered the girl did little else. At any moment, she thought, she would tumble into the Force as her life was claimed. The seething of the Sith hung heavy in the air, the child could feel the darkside wrap around the room. Not long now, and it would all be over.

But Asha did not want it to end.

She felt a tremor through the Force, and then the snap hiss which resounded overhead. Holding her breath, the child waited, fully aware that any wrong move would be her undoing.

Instead of falling upon her, the blade's target turned out to be something far less animate. She heard the stomp of his boots as he stepped over her, smell the charred wood as the table was sliced in two.

The blade did not remain lit for long, in fact Asha barely had the time to gather her thoughts before it disignited. She could feel her heartbeat in her neck, a slight buzz in her ears.

And then it hit her.

She had taken a possession of his, however unintentionally, a possession that was dear to any Force User whether they cared to admit it or not. Asha opened her mouth to correct the misunderstanding, but her throat was dry with fear and little more than a faint rasp escaped her.

It was hopeless. She whimpered again, this time attempting to move. Though the action was fruitless. More ominous footsteps and he was there in front of her, crouched down. All at once he reached for her, and she felt a pain travel down her body as he hauled her up by her hair so that they were eye level. Once again her back felt alight, goading a small cry of anguish from the child.

"I... I was trying to help" she whimpered, voice breaking, "I didn't mean to take it."

Had she been able to, Asha would've shied back, cowered even, but she was locked in place. Her body ached, but not quite so much as her mind which tumbled over the turmoils she was facing and fought to stave off the lure of the darkside. It was ever tempting to the child of Balance, moreso now that it hung so thick in the air like a smog.

"Please. I'm sorry."

Asha braced herself for whatever would come. She was no fighter, not yet, and she wasn't exactly a coward; she had been exploring the Galaxy mostly alone for as long as she could remember, she had experienced more than most did in their entire life, but the man before her, holding her in place, terrified her. She had no realistic way out of the situation, and she knew it. So there was little more she could do except make peace with herself and the Force.

And so she forgave him his misdeeds; she knew all too well the power and allure of the Darkside.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

Aellin looked a the girl, his eyes boring through her skull. He had a decision to make, one that should have been easy. His lips thinned, power coursing through him. The brand upon his shoulder burned once again, his arm twitching slightly as he held the girl up in the air. There was fear within her eyes, fear within her entire body. It carried through her, burned like a blazing sun all around her. He could smell it on her, the desire to run, to close her eyes and forget about the world.

That sensation.

That fear.

He relished within it. There was a taste to it, a sweetness that he could not quite explain. He didn't understand it, he never before had felt anything like it. Oh he had experienced the fear of others before. When Baelid and he had journeyed to the towns people had often been afraid, terrified even, but never of him, never of Aellin. When he had ventured with his sister to far away worlds for her contests of beauty he had often seen the other contestants cower in fear at his sister, but never at him. Never had he been the object over so much terror.

Never before had he been the one to drive someones fear, horror, it was...it was an overwhelming sensation of power and control. His fingers tightened within her hair, his eyes narrowed slightly, his lips taking in a deep breath as though her terror could sustain him, as if he could consume and grow from it. The muscles in his arms flexed, the brand upon his shoulder burning less as he took in the fear that surrounded her. "You."

His word was a rumble, a thunderous roar cut to a whisper.

"You will live." Aellin twisted his hand, then suddenly threw her back and away from him. He tossed her onto the floor like a rag doll, as though she weighed nothing and meant even less. Slowly the Sith Acolyte stood, raising himself to his full height and wandering towards the assassins. From their pouches he pulled something, his hand wrapping around it before he returned to Asha. For a moment he lingered before her, then dropped what he had claimed from the corpses in front of her. The heavy clatter of metal could be heard. "Chain yourself."

The black chains that sat before her loomed slightly, his intentions still unclear.

 

[Lief]

He stared at her; her words had done little to sway him, at least not that she could tell, which left a vile taste in her mouth. If he would not listen to reason, if he could not be swayed, then there was little hope. It felt like he stared a hole into her soul, the moment lasting so long that it became uncomfortable in every sense. She was exhausted, afraid, yet surprisingly numb by this point. Terror was all that kept her going, and it was a horrible source of fuel.

Slowly though his demeanor changed, the wrath remained yet the same derisive pleasure he expressed earlier radiated from him as he relished in her anguish. He was enjoying this, the girl cowering before him. And while she still did not understand anything to do with the man, she was grateful for his strange ways all the same. Because it seemed to be the sole thing keeping her alive at present.

His grasp tightened, and she watched as his eyes narrowed. Apparently his decision had been made.

Words rasped from beneath the mask, a rumble which sent shivers down her spine.

She would live, but at what cost?

Asha did not have time to respond before she was flung from him to the ground. Her body impacted with the hardwood floor, knocking the air from her lungs and leaving her panting for breath. The ache which ran along her spine ignited, forcing her to clench her jaw as the muscles in her back jarred with discomfort. She lay there for a moment, sucking in air between her teeth and giving herself a moment of respite.

But such luxuries she could not afford.

He rose and walked away, and from her place on the ground she watched him. She knew that fate was not so kind as he stooped down to retrieve something unseen from a corpse and then turned to face her yet again. Asha was most definitely not in the clear yet. The Sith stood before her now, no words spoken as he stared her down. Finally, with a resounding clank, whatever he had been holding struck the ground beside her head, echoing loudly in the vaulted room.

She saw what it was, though she did not fully comprehend its meaning until next he spoke again. Aghast she sat upright and stared at him, indignant of his demand. Breathing in through her nose she stared back at the chains. He wanted her to shackle herself? Did he think she was crazy? Asha began to shake her head, but as her gaze returned to him she could tell he wasn't in the mood to be tested. How badly did she wish to survive? Was it worth losing her freedom over?

For all she knew, he just wanted a head start away from this place. But experience told her otherwise.

Jericho was going to be pissed.

Hanging her head in shame, Asha thought of her options. The storm still lingered overhead, she could not viably flee without becoming caught up in it. Besides, she doubted she would get very far with the Sith looming over her the way he was. She had seen already how he commanded the Force, she did not wish to see more. She had no weapons, no defense, and she didn't feel stable enough to call upon the Force for guidance or help. Comply or suffer. Comply or die.

Neither seemed like a great choice. But if she had any hopes of making it back to her Father, she had to remain in tact. So it was that she tentatively reached for the chains. They were heavier than they looked, or perhaps she was simply weak. For a second she weighed them up in her hands and her mind, staring at them as though they held all the answers of the universe.

And then she enclosed the first shackle about her wrist, sealing her own fate.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

Aellin watched her, carefully eyeing her as she closed the first shackle around her wrist and snapped it into place. That brought him no joy in it of itself, not really anyway. Chains were something that all Sith fought against, something that as a culture they strove to break away from. It was within their creed, their code. It was something that Aellin well understood, though his shackles had always been more metaphorical. The shackles of family, of duty, of honor, of being lesser. He had broken those bonds.

This girl would not break hers.

Not any time soon, anyway. These chains were special in a way, created by The Tribe to hold him and other force users, forged of an unknown metal covered in a material that blocked the use of the force, they would render the press and pull of power completely useless, making her unable to escape save for an outside interference. It was necessary. He could sense power within her, strength that nearly matched his own.

He could not have her running away.

Not now.

Aellin looked down at her as the second cuff was snapped into place, the heavy chain letting out a slight echo as the girl released a whimper from her lips. The Sith shifted slightly, moving his gaze away from her for half a second to observe the storm outside. No doubt that it would pass soon, perhaps within the hour, The clearing of the lightning was essential, he would need to leave before people returned to the streets, especially with the girl in tow.

"Faster." Aellin snapped, suddenly coming to a decision. They would leave before the storms end.

It would be dangerous, yes, but he couldn't have anyone else trying to stop him, and if they saw him drag away the girl in chains they very likely would. Yet she had proven herself useful, pliable, strong, and intelligent. She had the mind to heal him in a way that not even he had thought of, that meant she was valuable, and Aellin was always one to latch onto the valuable. It would take time to bend her correctly, to shape and shift her to serve him, but if there was one thing Aellin had, it was time.

 

[Lief]

Asha stared at that second shackle. The first step had been taken, but it wasn't over until she bound herself in chains before the man who willed it. She didn't look at him, she didn't acknowledge him, she would not give him that satisfaction. He already had too much power over her, he would not have any more. The girl was too accepting, that much was made obvious by this encounter; had she been an ordinary Force User, had she been raised within the Sanctum and taught to view the Sith in a different light she would never have allowed things to get so far. She would've found a way to end him, or to leave. But she wanted to understand what was happening. As much as she despised the scene around them.

But permitting the choices and actions of others, and happily living with them, was another matter all together. She allowed others their freedom of expression so as not to be a hypocrite when she expressed her own. She saw all sides of the Force and realised that they were of equal value, held in the same high esteem. She did not see light and dark, she did not see good and bad, she simply saw the Force in all its various colours, a rainbow if she were to put it as simply as the Monks she had once been fixated upon.

The child lowered her head, the gesture appeared to be submission and truly in the same instance she locked the second shackle down over her wrist and resigned herself to her fate. But there was more to the action than met the eye. For in that moment the child withdrew into the very depths of her mind, she freed it of all unnecessary weight the way she had been doing for as long as she could remember, before pressing further. From herself, to the Universe at large. To the Force which was infinitely greater than she.

It wasn't enough for her to touch upon it. Nor to simply immerse within it. No, the child broke into the very threads of Force, along a twisting path of finite threads that together worked their way along into the infinite. There were many futures, many variations of the past even depending on whose eyes it was seen through, and at present there were more forks in the road than Asha could ever comprehend. It was a very specific thread she sought, or more a specific point in the potential futures that would awaken from her choice here today.

Asha had dabbled, but she had never pressed quite so far as she was doing now. The past had been her experiments, but now it was the future she sought to impose herself upon - however shortlived her attempt might be. She worked her way forward, along tumultuous avenues of could-be's; she did not see the physical implications, she was not looking for actual events, but a specific point in time where a certain individual might be. There was no guarantee. There never was. Each step she took through the void of the Force became more precarious, she was toying with the hands of fate and at any moment they could smack her into oblivion, disconnecting her from her physical form.

But for once that did not daunt her. For once she pushed on past the nagging worries of her mind. She let it go, all of her material needs forgotten as she sought to exact her will over the very flow of time itself. Nothing large, nothing that would even be noticeable to the naked eye, just a slight tremor. A snag at the thread she was venturing upon. A whisper to echo through the Force. A mirage.

With a gasp Asha was pulled from the void; her heart was racing more than it ever had before and her head ached beyond compare. It felt as if an eternity had passed since she stepped among the Force, but in truth it had been mere seconds. She trembled, a thin line of sweat coating her brow, running down her back. Then she retched, her whole body shaking as she experienced both overheating and the sensation of being frozen. It was as if a fever had gripped her in a matter of seconds, so volatile that she curled up and for a moment very much thought she was about to die.

Soon she was simply quivering, the occasional twitch as she lay there before him; she was definitely not dead.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]