Lady Beneath the Lake

[Athena Heron]

[member="Darth Osano"]

A familiar voice beckoned her from the sulfuric lake of anger she currently resided in. Crimson orbs began to fade to hues of orange and flecks of yellow with the natural charcoal just beneath. Slick wings stretched behind her, feathered ends nearly touching each far wall of the clinic before folding back in tightly behind her. The broken wing was still tender, nearly healed but not quite.

Internal injuries were gone and most bruises gone from her blue skin.

"It would seem so," throaty voice escaped a pair of pink lips. "I require a towel and new clothes." Her old ones should be burned by now. There was no salvaging some things.

"And food."

Her anger still smoldered in the air. She offered no apology for the destruction. Fatigue still wracked her body. It's a good thing Mal used droids, otherwise his people would've been dead. Bare feet stepped carefully down from the remains of the bacta tank, picking their way through the glass and slick floor. There was a slight wobble to her step.

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Athena Heron"]

Maleagant watched her wings in silent amazement. He wondered if they ever felt cumbersome, especially since she had gone without them for so long. Strange that they had burst from her back so suddenly after their encounter on Kruskan. Even after diving into his studies like he did, Maleagant was still unsure what exactly that happened... Perhaps he should take credit anyway. Well, maybe later. When everyone was dressed and fed. And they weren't standing in a puddle of bacta and glass.

"Get her a towel, and clean up this mess," he said, ordering the droids without looking away from Athena. He probably couldn't. "What is it you want to eat?"

The clothing would have to be improvised, probably from his own closet. It wasn't as if he had an abundance of women's clothes laying around on his personal ship. Not since that job on Bonadan, back in the day. The food wouldn't be anything special either. Clearly he felt the need to ask anyway, since there was an unstated dislike of bacta tanks, Maleagant would like to avoid any further telekinetic outbursts. The ship could only handle so much, likewise with the droids. You could only excuse so much after a certain point...

Noting the wobble, Maleagant cleared away some of the broken glass with his foot and stepped forward to help her. "Here."

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Darth Osano"]

One wobbly step and then another until she got to his side. Arm wrapped around his and she found her weight leaning far more into his frame than she'd anticipated. Being in a prison camp for a couple weeks was a real...

"Nerf. Or any other meat." She needed protein. Bare, wet feet left little puddles in their wake as she continued out of that wretched medical bay. His clothes would become damp with bacta wherever they brushed against her form. She didn't care.

The yellow and reds in her eyes began to fade to the void of nearly black once again as her anger began to subside. Interesting that he kept so many droids instead of servants. For their sake from her earlier display, it was a good thing. Form shivered against him as that artificial ship air met wet skin.

She needed a towel. Or a few. Still, there was one thing on her mind as he lead them to his quarters. "How did you find me?"

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Athena Heron"]

Such refined tastes, he thought. And what better way to celebrate the timely rescue of a friend than with a steak dinner? Maleagant was only ashamed he hadn't thought of it himself. Resources were still limited, but his servant droids were programmed for versatility. They could cook up something nice... Presumably. Either that or they would have to wait until they arrived on Dubrillion. Maleagant was in no rush anyway, even if Athena was still cold, damp, and sticky from the bacta wash.

On cue, a droid met them halfway through the hallway with the requested towel. Maleagant took it himself and kindly draped it over the bird woman's shoulders, then returned to guiding her to the yacht's guess suite. There, now this was much more comfortable. She asked how he found her and the Shi'ido did not immediately respond. Was there a polite way to inform someone they had been under casual remote surveillance for several months? If there was, Maleagant couldn't think of it. "I came to Rhen Var to commune with the spirits that still linger," he explained, "Their counsel revealed your presence to me."

A pause.

"And your peril."

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Darth Osano"]

Once they got to the suite, she relinquished her hold on the darth's arm and adjusted the towel so it wrapped around her torso. Blue fingertips ran through damp strands of midnight hair, slicking that sticky liquid out. "Is that so?" Feathered lashes fluttered in mild amusement.

Strolling across the room, she perched on the edge of the bed. The suite had clean lines and seemed adequate enough. Nothing quite as lavish as Caid's quarters, though he had a flair for the dramatic. This was just....different. Fingers continued to run through hair. Long, slender legs crossed, foot tapping the air.

"Hm. You just don't seem like the religious type to me." Dangerous gaze finally leveled back on her companion.

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Athena Heron"]

He watched Athena take a seat, head canting slightly to the side as she did so. He found he enjoyed watching her. Not in that broad sense undertaken by probe droids previously mentioned. Watching someone's shuttle drop in and out of hyperspace was hardly a titillating experience. It was the more subtle gestures, the way she pulled her hand through her hair... "I wasn't, last time we met."

Darth Osano's visit to the planet of Dathomir had prompted something of a spiritual awakening in him. Early on, the Force had been little more than a tool to him. Maleagant had understood, as with any novice, that the Force bound all things together. Knowing and understanding turned out to be two separate things. The Spiderclan had shown him this. And other things as well. Things that dwelt beyond this material plane; a powerful entity worthy of worship and exaltation. One that promised knowledge and power - far beyond the mundane manipulations of the Jedi or Sith - to its disciples. Maleagant was no zealot, but he might have been a cultist. This was less about belief in a higher cause and more of a business transaction.

But these things take too long to explain and use far too many words. It was never ideal to discuss religion or politics with people you intended to keep around, anyway.

"Don't worry, I won't try to convert you," Maleagant wryly added.

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Darth Osano"]

Tongue clucked against the roof of her mouth. "Such a shame." Pink lips puffed into a mock pout. "Your lying needs a bit of work though, dear." Pout turned into a dangerous smirk before smoothing out completely. Wings stretched slightly behind her, ruffling some of that lingering liquid out. Not on the bed of course. That would be barbaric.

Standing, long legs practically floated her over to the closet.

"Let's see what I have to work with." Hands picked through the sparse options. Black pants, grey pants, grey shirts, black shirts. "Has anyone ever told you, you need more color in your wardrobe? Especially for guests."

She smirked.

Torture and being half starved was one thing. This was the real tragedy.

"I will need to call my handmaidens." She needed to assure them their mistress was still alive. And she needed her ship. And most of all, she needed her wardrobe.

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Athena Heron"]

Osano snorted lightly. "Nothing gets past you." Except Jedi Shadows, clearly. But they had done a little more than pass her by, hadn't they?

He watched her move to the closet, then start rifling through the robes. He had one of the droids put them in her for that brief period she was in the tank. They were spares of his own, not actual guest clothes. They were practically unisex anyway, come to think of it. Osano was not terribly concerned with fashion statements. More time and effort went into finding a suitable helmet-mask than the right style of hooded black robes. It was all the same in the end. "My job doesn't leave room for color. There are expectations."

The High Inquisitor of the Eye could not be seen to wear neon pink robes. That was not good for... What was the technical term? Street cred. Yes.

Athena mentioned needing to call her handmaids. Of course. If Maleagant had been picked up by an interloper, he'd want to alert his subordinates to his location as well. But he was not one who liked to get picked up by interlopers. His subordinates traveled with him.

"I suppose you could use the transmitter in the cockpit," Osano said, carefully. "They were not with you on Rhen Var?"

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Darth Osano"]

"Sadly, no," she turned away from her host. Irritation and no small measure of anger smoldered beneath her dark orbs. Black pants and dark grey shirt. She plucked her findings from the closet and placed them on the bed as she walked back over to it.

"Two were with," voice trailed off as she let the towel drop to the ground at her feet.

"It doesn't matter now. The rest are flitting about the galaxy doing one thing or another for me." If Caid Centurion ever showed his face again, she'd have more than a few words to say to him. Though, a part of her worried. He wouldn't have just abandoned her. What if something happened to him?

Or what if he had just abandoned her?

She would naturally have to murder him.

Without any sense of propriety, she stripped off her top, quickly followed by her bottoms.

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Athena Heron"]

He could sense her annoyance. Someone must have been quite fond of their handmaidens. Osano regarded his subordinates a little more... Aloofly. He could not say with any certainty he would be moved by any of their deaths. Unless they were difficult to replace. Then he would probably just get annoyed. Maybe that was it. Handmaidens must not have grown on trees. Athena had never struck him as wealthy enough to be able to replace them so easily either.

"My condolenc...es..." Maleagant trailed off, obviously, when Athena decided to swap clothes then and there

What was with women and getting naked in front of him in the middle of a conversation? This had happened before during a meeting on Zeltros. He hadn't expected it then (though some people had told him he should have considering... Well, everything) and he hadn't expected it now. His immediate response to this development was a sharp and partially muted intake of breath. After a moment, Maleagant realized his eyes had widened considerably and blinked a few times to dispell it. "Are you usually this comfortable around people...?"

As often as this apparently happened to him, it was a shame he was no more used to it.

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Darth Osano"]

She dressed slowly. No, leisurely, tugging on his spares the best she could. The shirt was big around the collar, one side falling over the smooth, bare skin of one blue shoulder. The pants, she had to wear a belt. All of this was of course, natural. Though her form was tall, it was very slender. Luckily the collar of the shirt fell low enough in the back to accommodate her wings.

"Are you usually this uncomfortable?"

Pink lips curved into a quickly fading smirk. And it wasn't that her maidens were dead. They were just still with Caid Centurion. That scoundrel. But she had no desire to talk about Caid with Mal. It would likely cause her anger to boil over and see more unfortunate things happen to his...ship.

"Now, my dear. You were going to show me to the comms?" Flicking damp hair over her shoulder, she strode back around the bed toward him.

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Athena Heron"]

Maleagant didn't remember paying for a show, but he sure got one. Truly it was the best things in life that were free.

"No," he replied. Far from convincing. Maybe he should have asked the spirits what to say first.

Funnily enough, he was having trouble thinking of additional words to answer that question with. What could he do but stare? Maybe not stare, obviously, but that was a lot more difficult than it sounded. Once Athena was fully dressed, she asked about the comms. Comms? What comms? Maleagant cleared his throat, nearly forgetting that he offered. Bearings recollected, he gestured towards the exit. "Right this way."

He led her out, back to the main hallway that they had previously walked through.

"You should try hiring other mercenaries," he offered what little in the way of conversation he had. "Safer to travel."

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Darth Osano"]

"My handmaidens are just as brutal of any other mercenary. Probably more loyal, too." Hair was flipped impatiently over her shoulder. Anger simmered just beneath the surface. "They just weren't with me at the time."

Words were measured and slowly said.

"Had they been? Well. I doubt we would've re-met. Or perhaps you would've stumble on a cave of slaughtered Jedi."

And she wondered how close her loyal servants had been to finding her themselves. Probably close. She wouldn't be surprised if she and Mal had just missed them.

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Athena Heron"]

There it was again, that anger. Maleagant had suspected her handmaidens were quite loyal and sentimental to their master. What he hadn't suspected was that it went both ways. Or maybe it was a matter of pride. They were her personal disciples, after all. Quality over quantity and all that. She might have been right about the handmaidens saving her instead of him if they had only been present. Maleagant made a mental note to thank them for their negligence if he ever got the chance.

The doors to the cockpit slid open, revealing a large circular chamber. Two droids were seated at the controls, neither of which bothered to turn around at the entrance of the Sith pair. To their immediate right sat the communications array, a wall of switches, dials, and screens. Powerful stuff. Athena could send her SOS all the way to Dosuun if she wanted.

"You never did tell me what you were looking for on Rhen Var."

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Darth Osano"]

Sinking down into a chair, a long-arm reached out and began pulling up the appropriate comms channel. Message was quickly typed out. Dark orbs panned over to Mal, taking more note of the face he didn't have hidden beneath a mask.

"Have you heard of the Shark'ak Noor?"

Turning back to the screen, she sent the message. "And where are we headed to? So they'll know where to come fetch me. And did anyone tell you, Mal, you look good without the mask on? Not sure why you wear it so much."

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Athena Heron"]

"The terraforming device?" Maleagant had heard of such Gree relics. Heard of them, never seen. Not that he had any particular use for them. Very impressive that Athena had managed to track it down to Rhen Var... Unless those Jedi had already disposed of it, or otherwise laid a trap. "I thought it'd been destroyed."

Maleagant smiled weakly at her compliment. Telling a Shi'ido they looked nice wasn't an especially meaningful form of flattery, considering they could look like anything and anyone they pleased. It was far from the genetic lottery most species had to put up with. "Kind of you to say," he said, placing a hand on the head of the chair she was currently sitting in. Clearly he was just supporting himself while he stood. "The mask is for fighting in. Intimidating lower ranking Sith. Stuff like that. I don't bother with it when I'm around more important people."

Which was to say he was wearing it almost constantly.

"We're heading to Bastion. Empire territory. I wasn't sure when you'd wake up," he explained. "We could go elsewhere if you wish."

Spira, for instance - and he was almost tempted to suggest. But what reason could Maleagant possibly have to want to bring Athena to a luxury resort world? A mystery for the ages.

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Darth Osano"]

"Well," lips pursed. "It appears there's a good chance it wasn't destroyed. Imagine that." Index finger came up to her mouth, teeth finding the edge of that nail to nibble on. "They should be able to meet at Bastion."

Her handmaidens of course.

Head leaned back, dark-orbs traveling up and at an angle, catching the bottom of that red beard of his and the way it clung to his angular chin. Sitting down made her feel the weight of not sleeping the past few days - weeks even. And the torture her body was still recovering from. Hand lowered from her lips and rested on the chair's armrest. Long legs crossed, though her gaze never left Mal's.

"Now. I imagine you want something for coming to my aid. What's your price?"

Sith were not selfless creatures.

"And the mask part. Does it actually work as intimidation?" Pink lips smirked slightly.

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Athena Heron"]

Maleagant's expression soured slightly on her request to know a price, tsking slightly. "So cynical, Athena Heron. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Perhaps I just enjoy your company?"

His eyes were drawn away from the console to meet her gaze. Mesmerizing, to say the least. Wearing someone else's baggy clothing, hair still slick with bacta, having been beaten to a pulp no more than 12 hours ago and Athena still managed to find a way to occupy that chair like it was hers from the very beginning. This was the sort of thing Maleagant found endearing - in the right people - and so without much forethought he reached out, tucking a stray strand of hair back behind her ear.

Osano smirked wryly, considering her next question. "It gets the job done."

Had anyone run screaming into the night just at the sight of him? Probably not. But he could have made it happen if he wanted to. Athena would know better than most that the Force could be used to alter the perceptions and feelings of others. Unease amplified into terror, a dark hooded figure transformed into a screeching demon. The mask made it easier, but some things were easier without it.

 

[Athena Heron]

[member="Darth Osano"]

For that second, his fingertips wove through her moist hair, grazing across skin and feathers. And just as quickly that warmth was gone. If she felt any surprise by his sentiment, it was completely masked. The first time they met, he'd tried everything to ditch her. The second time was a very short outing at a ball where she seemed to remember him being embarrassed by her boldness in sithly ways out in the open. They'd fallen out of touch just as quickly as Caid Centurion stepped back into her life.

And just as quickly, Centurion Junior was gone. And here was Mal. Was he just being coy? Did he really want something else?

Perhaps he really did want the Shark'ak Noor.

Hmmm.

Index finger traced an invisible line along the armrest of her chair thoughtfully.

"Perhaps," dark-orbs with little flecks of amber remained locked on his. "Do you have an estate on Bastion?" The crazy bird lady scholar didn't know much about Mal and she wondered exactly how much he knew about her.

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Athena Heron"]

Athena remained implacable as ever, seeming to scarcely recognize his touch. Too contemplative. Osano searched the Force and still found nothing. He could not read her, which he might have found frustrating if it were anyone else - fascinating was the watchword for today. Maleagant supposed he would take what he could get: she had not seized his hand and broken his fingers in retaliation, after all. One little victory at a time, though he wasn't expecting her next question.

He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow, "I do, actually. It's outside of Sartinaynian."

It had been confiscated from a minor Sith Knight who had been conspiring with Mandalorians to bring down Bastion's defense grid. The Justiciars had stopped the conspiracy and destroyed the Knight. His belongings were originally going to be auctioned off, but Osano found that he quite liked his place of residence. So Darth Osano did what he always did when he saw something he wanted: took it. And no attention would be paid to those he had stolen from.

One might wonder if there were any currently transpiring parallels to that kind of behavior. "Why do you ask?"