IV - Break the Curse

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

Smash the bones or you will forever be lost in her darkness.​

​

Those words sang in her mind now, in the quietness of its space. For the first time in all her short life, Katrine had never heard such silence, such clarity. Yet the voice of the woman who had called herself many times had stood out now. Her fingers moved against themselves, feeling the ashes of the bones belonging to the woman whose spirit had haunted her throughout her life. Avarisa had been a friend, a teacher but most importantly, she had been a villain in her life, someone intending to build her just so she could take over and finish her goals from thousands of years ago. The woman of many names had warned her years ago to smash the bones but Katrine had giggled, thinking her funny. She had even asked her if she was a Hawk because of the woman’s red hair reminding her of that of her Mother though her eyes were different, they had predominately yellow with red but when she looked close enough, she saw splotches of the same blue that were on her own eyes. The same blue Katrine inherited from her own Father.

Who are you?
Many names. They call me by many names.
Like what?
The Wicked Witch, the Evil Queen of Nothing, the Monster of her Kind, the Wolf Undeserving…

Many names and yet she had not given her the one name that would help Katrine better understand. There were clues, many of them but the girl was just a child then, she couldn’t imagine where she would end up, how she would be here now. She had smashed the bones and set herself free, freed herself from darkness, as the Wicked Witch had told her but she still didn’t fully understand what that meant. Not until today, not until she had been faced with a glimpse of that freedom. For a brief moment, she had believed herself already free, her mind clear and sharp, unhindered by Avarisa’s presence. But the Wicked Witch had laid another clue to help her understand, making her see what she had missed, Katrine realized the meaning clear as day. Trust in true love’s kiss. It will give you a clarity you gave never felt but it will only last a while. The darkness will still be waiting. It will always be waiting unless you smash the bones. Those words sounded so cryptic that day, so confusing. What is true love’s kiss? She could remember herself asking as she knelt before the altar of noting but dust now, her eyes roaming over the white dust, the remnant of the bones that once lay there, keeping Avarisa tied to this realm.

A true love’s kiss is a kiss of love; the Wicked Witch had whispered with a sad expression, it sobers the mind. For twenty years, Katrine had been controlled by her imaginary friend, temporary safe from her only when she drank her medication but then her mind felt so foggy and unclear but now, Katrine Van-Derveld knew exactly what the woman had meant. “Sober mind,” she repeated out loud, remembering the very first lesson she had receiving upon arriving to this planet.

Clear your mind, Avarisa had told her immediately upon stepping onto the planet without even giving her a chance to breathe. Lost and alone, Katrine had obeyed, feeling as though she had no one else but the figment of her imagination. Her mind blanked, which was hard for a girl with so many thoughts at once. When she had accomplished it, Avarisa knew without words. Focus on your legs, will the Force to give them power. So when you break into a run, they move quicker. Eyes closing, she began to concentrate. Katrine had always regarded the Force as her friend, much like Mommy. Sometimes it was unreliable but in truth, it would come to her aid when she needed her. Now, she obeyed command, giving her a rush, her legs itching to move. Expend your mind, feel your surroundings. Find your new home. The purple haired girl obeyed with ease once she had entered the mindset, reaching out with the Force, letting it be her senses throughout the vast lands. It spread slowly, giving her a feel for what was nearest until it spread a little further still, giving her idea of the forests that lay around her, a path becoming clear in her mind. Then at last, she caught a structure in her mind. Old but still standing, dead of all lifeforms, empty. “I see,” Katrine suddenly said as her eyes snapped open.

Before Avarisa said anything, the young Lupine broke into a run, the Force urging her forward to her destination. Knowing her destination, she jumped across the rocks ahead of her and ran through the path ahead of her, sliding across the ground as a large tree trunk met her path, getting herself onto her feet to continue running. Eventually, she forced herself in a halt, coming into a little too strong that she barely kept her balance. How graceful, Avarisa snapped at her, come. But the girl just stood there, her eyes growing wide as she took in the sight of the structure. It was made most of stone, oddly shaped in a sort of square looking building with little windows but it was beautiful none the less with the details coming out from the top, with vines growing for centuries with no inhabitants. Katrine! Avarisa appeared beside her, startling her. I said come; the woman reminded her and continued.

So, they walked and Avarisa talked. She had showed her the old dusty room, told her of the great family that once lived here, of their plans to conquer the galaxy, much like other Empire had later done. The rule had been brief because by the time they were ready, the ship with Avarisa and her daughter had crashed. A “great” Empire had fallen, Katrine thought as Avarisa continued talking though a tiny pause in her talking told the girl she had picked up on that.

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

They arrived to a large pile of rocks in the large hallway. Make your way through, Avarisa ordered and vanished from her line of sight, leaving her to her own devices. Katrine moved to the rocks, pulling on it. “Nope, too heavy,” she quickly decided and moved away, looking at them. There were several large boulders. Avarisa hadn’t told her how; just that she would have to make her way across. Slowly, the teenager grinned and took a few steps back, clearing her mind again. “Allya, ascoltami. Proteggermi da quello che viene a modo mio!” Using words Nona had taught her many years ago, Katrine invoked the Shield Spell, and her eyes closing as she focused on her protection shield. It surged outward, spreading around her. She could fell it all around even as she opened her eye, seeing shivers of air in front of her. It was subtle but Kat knew what she was looking for, making it easier for her to see.

Katrine knew her concentration was divided and it would train her but by her calculation, she only needed to get rid of one to pass for now, which made this easy. I am waiting, Avarisa’s voice reached her mind, distracting her. She pushed her aside in her mind though, focusing her blue gaze on the boulder, reaching out to it. The Shield began to shimmer a little more intently as she sought out the large rock, finding its core. She could do this, Kat told herself, having using the power in the past, though for fun more than anything else. Once she had felt the boulder completely, she shoved the remainder of her focus onto it, building the Force from within when it could take no more, it combusted from inside, with so many pieces shattering all across the hallway. Pieces crashed into her Shield, weakening it. As the shield fell, her energy drained, a few pieces smashed into her skin before the girl collapsed. Still so weak, Avarisa’s voice came distorted in her mind just before she passed out.

“The curse is broken,” Katrine said to the empty room as she stood, moving towards the stone filled with the bone rubble. For two years, she had been under Avarisa’s sway like she had never been. Poisoned and corrupted, she had failed to see the spirit’s ultimate goal. She would have missed it completely if Avarisa herself had not believed to be fully in control of her that she mentioned it, revealing a weakness she had believed her strength. In the end, it had been the spirit who had given her all the clues to what she had wanted and how to destroy her but until that moment of clarity; Katrine had not been able to put it together. She had become mindless and empty, broken and alone. She had become almost everything Avarisa wanted her to become just so she could be a shell ready for the taking. But like for so many years, her progenitor had failed to understand one important thing – nothing came between her and her family.

Hold to the love, the Wicked Witch had suddenly said before she had left, she cannot take that from you. Again, Katrine had failed to understand then what the much older woman had meant. She knew she loved her family but she didn’t how just how much it would give her power or why it would give her power or when she would need it. Now, she knew. It was this very day, today. She had needed it and it had saved her. “Bones are smashed,” Katrine kept talking to herself as she ran her palms across the stone, pushing the rubble and dust off it. “I am free,” she kept reminding herself. “Mother Nature, all that is good, share with me your breath and bring forth the gentle breeze,” she chanted in Basic, concentrated on the area around her. It took just seconds before she felt of wave of magic wash over her, her hair moving lightly as the breeze began to flow over her and across the space in front of her, pushing away the dust and rumble as being swept with a broom. “Free.”

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

Sometime later, the young Lupine was seated on a rock outside, tears streaming down her face. She didn’t cry for Avarisa, she strangely didn’t miss her one bit even though her disappearance had left a large gap in her mind. No, Katrine cried for what Avarisa had made her do. She had been aware of her actions and a part of her had wanted to stop but her will had been greatly diminished in the time and to if she was being completely honest with herself, a part of her enjoyed killing all those animals in her lupine form. She enjoyed every second of it despite her guilt.

Thinking about it now though made her kick against the stone, angry at herself for being so weak, angry at the gone spirit for turning her into the monster… she was just angry but she was also so sad. It wasn’t who she was supposed to be, it wasn’t why she was here. Three years ago she had made her way into the past to find Chloe, her big sister. For an entire year she had been distracted but at the same time, she was doing it. She was looking, trying but then Mother disappeared and suddenly Katrine felt more alone than she had ever been. Rather than to try to find Father, she trusted the voice of the one person she believed would never leave her, whom she believed actually cared for her. It was a lie though, Avarisa was incapable of loving. She had said itself. By ending his life, you overcome such pesky childish things. Such was my rite of passage, as will yours be, Avarisa had told her as the ysalamars deprived her of the Force, and yet the woman remained at her side, like a leach at her mind.

Love had to be destroyed, hate had to reign. That had been the sum of Avarisa’s many lessons. “My love can’t be destroyed,” Katrine told the empty air around her, wiping away the tears that kept falling. She didn’t understand that and that was her undoing in the end. It didn’t make Kat feel any better though, not after everything she had been through. Thinking about it though, she got a little angrier, her hate for the dead progenitor raising. “Rain, rain, come this way. Goddess, hear my cry. Goddess, take my tears, soak the land,” she chanted instead in her anger, wanting to drive away her pain, concentrating. It began to rain around her. Her tears didn’t dry out but the rest of her became soaked as her cheeks. The rain resulted by the spell didn’t cover everything, just a small portion around her. Such was magical rain, still limited but powerful than your simple drizzle.

She had however failed that with the rain, the purple had slowly began to wash away, just a small tones of it, purple drops falling over her and the rock beneath her. Instead, she thought about the first time she had been taught on this planet, of a power she disliked very much. Yet, Avarisa had called it important. Katrine hadn’t understood why anyone could think of it as important then.

She had wandered far from building. It had been weeks now since they had arrived to the planet. She had learned some things from Avarisa but she still felt like she missed her parents and siblings, it almost suffocated her at times. So she ran into the woods alone, disappearing for hours. She had even changed to her Lupine form and ran free for a while before coming back to where she had left her clothes and dressed herself. Just as she was sitting on the grass and putting back her boots, her scent lit up at a presence. She froze and waited soon enough spotting fur ahead of her. It took a few more moments before it finally appeared. It was something similar to a wolf though she couldn’t recognize what it was. It was definitely not a Lupine, that much she was sure, from the scent alone. Whatever it was, it had clear felt something about her because as it approached, it displayed animal curiosity rather than hostility.

Katrine extended her hand, palm down and waited for it to approach. It came, ever so slowly and sniffed her fingers, digging its snout into her skin. Whatever scent Katrine gave out, the animal did not complain to it, looking at her wide eyed and curious but still not hostile. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you,” the girl promised with a soft tone. It came closer even, sniffing her out still before hitting the top of its hand into her palm, inviting her to pet him. Before Katrine knew, she was cuddling the animal and laughing just as she did as a girl. “You knew I was feeling down, didn’t you?” She wondered out loud before the animal cuddled its head into her neck, making her laugh again. “Thank you,” she whispered before kissing the top of its head and snuggling it some more.

So lost in the moment of affection, she failed to notice Avarisa had appeared not too far from them, studying them intently. When she did finally notice, her sapphire gaze focused on her, her hand petting against the back of the animal. The animal is strong within you, is it not, the spirit wondered. Katrine nodded. “I am a Lupine. That can never change,” she told her calmly and kissed the top of the animal’s head. “I shall call you Fang,” she told the animal, reminded of the old Fanged god Nona talked about when she was little. It seemed oddly fitting.

You shall not; Avarisa interrupted her thoughts, because it is time for another lesson. Those words startled her, her head abruptly turning to look back at Avarisa. Fang took notice in her changed behavior and looked up at her, licking her chin. Katrine remained unaffected by it, curious to find out what else Avarisa had chosen to teach her. She was wanted to know but sometimes, it was tiring. Right now though, Fang had given her just enough energy to make think less negatively about it and more curious to learn as she had always been. Sometimes one needs energy they do not possess. Like you, how weak you were using so much power at once on the first day. I shall teach you how to take energy when you need it, Avarisa informed her and she stayed quiet, still not understanding what it meant. The spirit approached her, crouching beside her and the animal. Her hand reached towards Fang who growled at what was for it essentially thin air.

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

It had startled her then, not understanding how Fang had known to growl or even why it had growled. Thinking back on it now, she understood that the animal had been more sentient than she had originally assumed and somehow it had felt the dark presence within her. Not even Katrine had been aware of it, completely corrupted by her imaginary friend.

Avarisa retracted her hand and glared at the animal before looking at Katrine. Focus on Fang, she ordered her, feel his energy. Despite her concern at what it had meant, Kat obeyed and focused on the animal, reaching out with the Force toward it. She soon felt the animal within, felt its energy. Soon, she could feel the entirety with it. The animal was kind and gentle despite its core being feral. It could feel animals similar to it, just as it had felt Katrine’s Lupine nature. Knowing all that made her snuggle Fang again though she hadn’t known it would be the last time she would feel its warmth beside her, feel its affection towards her because in the next moment, Avarisa told her: Take that energy. Fuel yourself with it. Katrine blinked almost immediately. “What? No!” She understood exactly what she was being told and she refused. Do it, Avarisa ordered. “Avarisa, no, he’s my friend,” the teenager protested again.

The spirit however did not care. She stared her down. Do it, now, Katrine, she ordered her once again, her voice going completely flat and cold. It frightened the girl in that exact moment that she refocused on Fang, feeling the guilt build in for the force time. It had been the first time Katrine had been forced to do something and submitted, losing focus on the fact that she did indeed have power over herself. She was the one living and not the spirit and yet, she hadn’t understood it then. Reaching out with the Force towards Fang, she focused on its essence and energy, reaching out towards him. She felt herself grabbed hold of it and pulled, taking it in. Her head lowered, her chin coming over his head as it began to protest, clawing against thin air, fighting it even though it could not. She pulled and pulled, taking what was his, until it became hers, until she had drained a lot of its energy. Though it did not die. Katrine wasn’t strong enough in the Force to kill it. Instead, she had to listen to it whimper in pain, unaware what had happened to it, suffering to find its strength.

Energy surged through her as it had never done, forcing Katrine to inhale a long breath as it hit her. It hurt her knowing she had taken it from something so precious and yet she had done it still, both curious and fearful from the spirit that guided her. It made her cry almost immediately, consoling Fang in her arms, kissing it. “I’m sorry,” she kept repeating over and over, as if it would make a different. All the while, Avarisa had kept kneeling beside her, a confident smirk on her face as she firmly believed she had control over the girl.

Thinking about it now, she kept crying her heart out for that animal, knowing she had caused it pain, knowing she had almost caused its death. It had been so close to dying in that point though she hadn’t been able to kill it. She had wished she had simply drained him completely. Then Fang wouldn’t have felt as he did, whimpering and crying out in pain. He could never understand what Katrine had done to him but it had broken her head knowing what she had done.

The sight of him had completely broken her head. The surge of energy had given her such a rush she couldn’t completely enjoy, her heart breaking at the sight of him. She could feel his pain through the Force; she could see his pain clearly through her own eyes. He was suffering, drained from his energy and not understanding what had happened. In the end she had no choice, tears streaming down her face as she kissed it’s head again and held on to him, arms wrapped around him. Katrine inhaled the deepest breath she could, the energy giving her the strength she needed to do what she knew had to be done at this point.

She snapped his neck in the end, her quiet tears turning into sobbing as she held tightly to the dead animal, hating every part of herself for what she had done.

And she kept crying as the rain kept falling over her. Katrine hated her still for her first kill on this planet. It hadn’t been the first animal she had killed, or the first life she had taken in any shape or form. She had killed before. First time she had taken a life, she had been a child. She had found some explosives on Father’s ship and set them to go off attached to her bunny. Bun-Bun had gone boom, causing a rain of blood and feathers. Katrine had laughed and danced in the spectacle, enjoying every second of it. She didn’t understand death then; she cared more for her entertainment. She was a child. After that, she had been good for the most part. Once, she had bitten another animal while in her Lupine form but Nona hadn’t been far and she had stopped her from inflicting damage. She’d been good since, really. Killing had been far from her mind. In fact, the only killing Katrine had hopped for was the clandestine mass murder set to begin her romance of a lifetime, just as it had begun the love story of her parents. It hadn’t happened though and here, where it was just her and Avarisa, it seemed impossible.


In the end, her love had been simple, it had been strong because of who she was and how she loved but it hadn’t been that grand beginning she had been expecting. Still, it didn’t make it an easier to think about that poor animal.

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

"I've never made a pinky promise before. I'm glad it's with you."
For the the symbol of our family, the predator.
"I've always wondered what happened to someone if they were thrown out of a ship…”
“My dear, we both know why.”
"So, what brings you to this fair, Kat? "
"I'm a Hawk! Mommy's a Hawk!"
"Well, I'm a Jedi because I choose to be. And besides; I'm not your average Jedi anyway."
[SIZE=10.5pt]”They will come...they too will have felt it…”[/SIZE]
"She's screwing up the future, Ket. That's what she's been saying a lot lately."
"They dance their own dance,"
"Who are you?"
"Seventeen? And he's still your daddy?"
"I don't act like I do out of pretentiousness"
"But you can't tell anyone. Unless you accidentally run into someone called Chloe Van-Derveld.”
”To appreciate that which is Van Derveld and Hawk.”


Voices clouded her mind so loudly that Katrine covered her ears. “Stop!” The words rolled off her tongue even though she knew they were just in her head. It suddenly became so loud, recalling all everyone she had met since her arrival. None of them had been the one she had come to find, to return back to their each time but each of them had been, in their own way, an invaluable lesson. She remembered vividly now the way the man had kissed her in the middle of the crowded club or the way Omega had spoken to her, wondering how old she had been or how Jacob had been so open to her ideas despite being a Jedi. She remembered her Mother’s voice, the way she had spoken to her time and time again, voice exactly as she remembered from the future though she knew it wasn’t the same person. Her Mother was the clone of the Mother she had met here, clone of the woman who had disappeared without ship or communicator yet to Katrine, they were both her Mother just as any Father was her Father.

“You still trusted Avarisa,” she reminded herself, as if scolding herself for trusting her imaginary friend when Mother herself, her true Mother, had made her swear she would always take her medication. Katrine had broken that promise, which had led her to this planet, to this moment. None of which would be possible if she had not remembered the words of wisdom of an old woman. Katrine knew he was an old woman even then, even when she saw the Wicked Witch with her red hair and confusing eyes. She reminded her of Hawks and perhaps there in lied the warning of the warning. The sapphire blue within the eyes filled with darkness should have been the second clue.

She trusted her; she still followed where Avarisa had led. She was but a child, Katrine reminded herself then. Whereas now she had grown so much, in a single day when she could not in two years. “Everything seems so much in color,” Katrine spoke to herself, raising her hands to look at them. She was free; the notion seemed so foreign to her now. Yesterday, she hadn’t cared. Yesterday, she had been so lost; her control was all but lost. Today, Avarisa had made a crucial mistake of thinking she had all but conquered Katrine Van-Derveld Hawk and wished to seal the deal by forcing her to murder someone she loved. She had been wrong. In the end, Katrine couldn’t be won open, couldn’t be conquered.

“I choose!” Katrine declared to no one but herself and the Force she felt herself open to. “I choose everything and nothing. I choose to be neither light nor dark!” The girl kept talking. “I claim both light and dark,” she declared, serious face expression, completely serious. This was the choice she was making, the decision she had settled on. She would not be dark as Avarisa wanted to be nor would she be lightsided as the Singing Mountain Clan expected her to be. Katrine chose neither and both.

The thought made smile. She hadn’t even noticed when her spell had worn out and the sun began to shine again, her soul at peace as she understood exactly what she wanted to be. She didn’t want to be Sith or Jedi, she wasn’t a Witch or a Dark Jedi. She was everything in between but always both a Lupine and Dathomiri, no matter what she chose. This was what Katrine was and wanted. Avarisa wanted to be just one thing but she could never just be one thing, when she was so many things.

"The most unique Hawk,"
"We can choose. What's wrong with choosing?"
"I am not here to tell you what to do or how to live your lives. "
"Who knew one answer could get me in so much trouble."
"Oh, my little pup, there are such sights you've yet to see….”
"What will Mommy put me in to keep warm when I'm little?"
"I’m not your average person, Katrine."
"Who are you?"
"I've never made a pinky promise before. I'm glad it's with you."
"Wanna see just how not average I am?"
"Come, my little one. Take form that I might see the woman you've grown into."

This time when the voices came, Katrine welcomed them as old friends, reminding her of the people she had me throughout the travels. Mother, Father, Ashton, Thurion, Omega, Jared… in their own way, each of them had guided her into this moment when she would realize the truth about herself. Two years ago, Katrine already knew how she wanted to fall in love but she didn’t know how she wanted to live her life, not until this moment. “Is this the real reason why I went through the black hole?” She wondered immediately after that thought slipped into her mind. I could not choose, my path was chosen for me, the Wicked Witch had told her that day. Katrine had thought it horrible, not being able to choose your own path but she did not think of the possibility of herself not being able to choose her own path. It seemed so impossible back then. You can choose, little Lupine, but only if you smash the bones. It all sounded so cryptic and yet now it all made perfect sense, everything the older woman had told her.

Choose or die. This is no life for a wolf. The words had chilled her to the bones, trying to piece it all together right in front of the woman with the red hair. The Wicked Witch spoke in riddles but somehow, it all came together, each and everything she had said. None of it was spoken in vain. It all made perfect sense, if only she could have understood then but then maybe, this had been her path, to smash the bones and be free, after the man lessons Avarisa had laid before her.

"Well hello there, my purple haired little one! "
"See, Daddy knows everything,"
"I'm sure we will each find the love we are looking for someday."
"Like really. Sooo many rules. So silly."
"We are going to have some kind of fun on these voyages. "
"You are gifted in the Force, are you not?"
"A pretty little thing like you should have no trouble finding a willing captain."
"Daddy kills people to make Mommy happy. That's fun."


She would never lead a boring life, Katrine deducted from the many voices than ran through her mind. The girl already knew this, she didn’t need them telling her that and yet, it was nice of them to tell her. Her life would not be boring, her life would not be confined by rules; she would live it the way she chose to. This was the promise the little Lupine gave herself.

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

Sitting there all by herself as the rain stopped, Katrine thought of many things. She thought of Dathomir and her parents, she thought of Figaro Favoura VII and her siblings. She missed all of them. She missed the bright lights of Coruscant, she missed Gnarls, she missed Nona… Kat just everything which had hit her rather hard considering she’d been so lost this entire time, she felt like she had lost the ability to miss. She didn’t however, the purple haired girl realized as she smiled just a little bit. All Avarisa had tried to do have worked to a degree but never completely which was, in the end, her secret weapon against her captor. Like her Mother, she would never be a Sith but like her Father, she couldn’t be a lightsided. She was somewhere in between like both of them, in truth. Not enough light or dark inside her to make her belong to any side.

Katrine Van-Derveld Hawk belonged to herself.

The realization had brought her a peace of mind especially when Avarisa had tried so hard to make her believed she belonged to her, since the day she had arrived into this world. Was she not purple haired like her? Was she not the first Hawk in centuries like that? Her hands rose, rising the ends of her wet hair, looking at it. Her fingers immediately felt like something had come over and she realized there were purple drops on her fingers. “What?” Katrine wondered out loud, rising her locks to eye level. Was she not purple haired? Hadn’t it not been the first thing Avarisa always used to remind her?

You are not like them, you are like me, she could still hear the woman’s voice in her head now, recalling the many times the spirit had drawn on the same color of their hairs to remind her she belonged to her and no one else. Just look at your hair, my child. Is it not same as mine? Avarisa had said, her hand going through her purple locks as she attempted to touch them. Curupira has red hair, Chloe and Seren had brown hair, Satara has black hair… you are nothing lie them. It actually frightened her sometimes because young Kat wanted nothing more but to look like her parents. “I have Daddy’s eyes,” she would remind Avarisa then, trying to retain a piece of her true heritage. Avarisa would laugh then before looking at her intently with her own purple eyes. You belong to me, children, you always have; she told her as if Katrine had said nothing of value.

“I belong to myself,” Katrine reminded herself now, pushing those thoughts away, still studying her hair and her fingers. Her hair was wet and still appearing as dark as she had always but the purple drops on her fingers were unmistakable, as if she had dye on her locks that was coming off in the rain. Instead, her mind was invaded by another memory, her eyes closing immediately on recollection.

She had been running free again, this time because Avarisa had commanded her. Her mind had been blank and devoid of memories, her heart unable to capture the emotions she usually had. There was no sadness, no pain, just an open mind and a hunger for hunt. She had killed already today and feasted on the raw flesh of her victim. Dry blood still lay at the edge of her mouth as she kept running free, letting that freedom wash through her mind. Change, Avarisa’s voice suddenly came sharp in her mind and the Lupine stopped running, growling into thin air. Change, beast, Avarisa commanded again like a stern Master to its pet. Katrine whimpered and sat down obediently, beginning her transformation into her human form. Minutes later a naked Katrine was crouching on the ground, her first firm against the grass.

Good, Avarisa had told her then. I trust your hunt was enjoyable? The ghost wondered then, the girl’s eyes finding hers as she nodded. Her human form exhibited an unwillingness to speak humanoid tongue in that moment, feeling the drop of dry blood at the corner of her lips. Her tongue reached out and licked it, her tongue retracting in her mouth as the dry blood passed at her taste blood within. It felt empowering to be able to be so free, to hunt, to kill, to consume uninhibited. She had spent a life as human but in the end, that was not what she was at all. Come, child, time for another lesson, Avarisa informed her and turned, walking away from her.

Quietly, the girl stood, unaffected by the lack of clothes on her body as she followed after her Master. Find yourself a pray. Today, you shall learn another method of overpowering, Avarisa informed her. Katrine therefore moved forward herself slowly, sapphire blue eyes studying her surroundings as she allowed her Sense to spread out and seek out a victim. There was no hesitation or remorse in her actions, knowing whatever animal she found would meet its demise. These were the lessons Avarisa gave her day in and out. Sometime, it was to repeat her lessons, sometimes it was to teach her new things. She soon felt an animal in the shadows, seeing its eyes behind the trees. Katrine approached it and knelt down, offering her its hand as she concentrated again gently, reaching out to the animal through Animal Friendship, and soothing her fear as she did. Slowly, the large cat approached her, sniffing her hand, attempting a growl before Katrine reached to its mind again, settling her fear. The animal slowly approached and sniffed again, this time showing no hostility.

Good, now reach out with the Force around her neck and choke the life out of her, Avarisa ordered again, this time not letting her too much time to bond. Katrine didn’t question or fight, she reached out to the animal again with the Force, imaging her own hand wrapping around her neck. It game gentle at first, as though she was petting the animal but as she tightened the invisible grip, the animal whimpered in pain. The girl pressed even tighter now, choking further. The animal fought as she pulled her hand away, fighting what her invisible attacker and she choked a little further before her own strength left her, the animal whimpering in pain on the ground as she tried to catch air. Kill it, Avarisa whisper at her with a malice that made the girl draw nearer to the animal and grab hold of large feline, no remorse as she snapped her neck. And she felt nothing at all in that moment.

She shuddered thinking about it now, knowing she had taken the poor things life, knowing she had caused it harms. Katrine wasn’t against killing but she had been raised to respect animals. She was an animal in her own right and this was another living being that had caused her no harm. Her Clan respected life of animals around her, none more than rancor’s. Though the feline was nothing close to her, it was still a living being.

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

[SIZE=11pt]Moving her hands to her sides, Katrine pushed herself up before jumping off, landing onto the grass feet first and in a crouch before standing up. She was done with this planet, done with Avarisa, done with what she had become under her influence. She was nothing what the woman had wanted her to be, nothing like she had been the past couple of years. She was stronger than all of that. She was blood of Singing Mountain Witches, a scion of power; she was a Lupine, child of Ket Van-Derveld and Curupira Hawk. Within her, she had the genes passed down to her by Satara Hawk, genes she shared with Diego Van-Derveld. She was not just so weak girl incapable of having control over herself. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Then how had Avarisa been so strong to consume her? That question was always going to make her wonder. Why was she chosen? Why wasn’t Chloe? Why had Avarisa caught her at birth and not Seren or Mother? What was it within her that caught the dead woman’s attention? In truth, Katrine would never know. Avarisa claimed it was her hair that was proof but when her fingers move through her wet hair again, the purple drops remained on her fingertips. “This is not me, this is not my hair,” she mumbled to herself as she walked away. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Right now, she wanted nothing more than to leave this forsaken planet, to be done with this chapter in her life. Her walk was slow though, as she took in the sights of the old forest, her fingers passed over the bark of the trees, making her way to the house where she had slept for all those months behind her. She thought about a great many things, about how she got here, how she had gone through the black hole, how she had come with a goal, how she had met her parents decades before she was meant to, how she missed Seren’s smile or Chloe’s giggles. She missed everything about her brother and sister, missed Mother and Father, missed Dathomir and Nona. She missed everything about who she used to be, even the way other Witches looked at her when she still lived there. They never accepted her for how different she was, with her purple hair, beastly nature and her affection for explosions… but it didn’t matter to her anymore. Katrine had always regarded herself as the most unique Hawk, which was exactly what she had been her entire life, with her hair and eyes, being the first born spawn of her two Lupine parents. Chloe was her parents’ first born but Katrine was the first born of her Mother’s new Lupine body. In all those regards, she had truly been unique, both on Dathomir and in her family. And she had loved that even though she had sometimes wished she could have been more like those around her. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Now as she faced an uncertain future, haunted by the Wicked Witch of her possible future and the life she had meant to lead… or perhaps was never meant to, Katrine couldn’t help but wonder what her future truly was. Would she find Chloe? Would she go back into her own time? Would she ever see Seren or her parents of her own time? The Wicked Witch had presented one possible future, which had now clearly been broken, the moment she had set herself free but what did that mean for now? Could she find Chloe? Could she go back home? Katrine still wasn’t ready to give up on her big sister, she loved and missed her so much but then, she missed her family, her own time. Everything here was wrong. Like when she had spent time with Mother, Kat began to notice Mother had cast away her Sith loyalties far sooner than Katrine had heard or how her connection to the Force had faltered in a why she had never known. The Confederacy as well, it had dissolved much sooner than she had known… everything was wrong in this world, none of it made sense any more. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“Is it me?” [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]She wondered out loud as she made her way through the entrance again. “Did our arrival here and the small changes cause ripples through time?” She kept talking to herself, trying to piece it all together. Could she and Chloe have such an effect on time to be able to change it so much by their small actions and very presence? It seemed impossible but at the same time, Katrine couldn’t deny just how much was changing, too much, too fast. And now Mother had vanished, as everything before wasn’t enough. Father was the one to vanish, disappear for a time before returning, Mother would always tell her, yet, not once had Katrine heard of a time when Mother had vanished, leaving even her ships behind, as if she had disappeared without a single trait. “Mother, where are you?” [/SIZE]The girl wondered as she arrived to the chamber Avarisa had chosen for her. Katrine immediately moved towards her things, digging through her back for something buried deep within, something she had taken off so long ago.

[SIZE=11pt]Beneath all her clothes, Katrine dug out the single ring, black and white, with small white and gold pieces in the front and crystals within them, and a large red cross in the middle of it. “The Ring of Knighthood,” she said out, her mind working automation as she recalled exactly as Mother had described it the first time Katrine had found it. “I had been given this when I had joined the Templars of the Confederacy. The Templar Singlet Ring, the symbol of the order,” [/SIZE]she mimicked Mother’s words on the inside, hearing her soft cheerful voice inside her head. She could still remember herself, the way she had studied it intently.

[SIZE=11pt]“It’s so pretty, Mommy,”[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt] she told her, not taking her eyes off the ring. Mother laughed so softly and extended her palm. Immediately, young Kat had given it to her, only to find Mother was placing it on her little finger, though it was very loose. “Then it is yours. Always keep it with you, little one,” Mother had told. She had been so happy that day. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Back then though, Katrine didn’t know that the ring possessed a tracker which Curupira had chosen to given to Katrine because of its tracking capabilities. Mother had always believed Katrine needed extra protection, an extra eye, an extra tracker… most likely due to Avarisa, yet it should have been Chloe she should have worried about. That thought made her sad as she slipped the ring back on her finger and then zipped her back, picking up the long leather coat Father had given her from the bed. Despite her detachment from her parents, she had still snuggled up into it when she had slept, letting it take her into the dream world where she was a lot safer from her spirit. That had been Avarisa’s first mistake on this planet, Katrine decided. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]She put it over her shoulder and slipped in the fingers. It was still heavy on her and long but she had gotten much better at wearing it now, stronger than she had been when Father had first given it to her. [/SIZE]