Pebble in Hand...

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

It was to the sands of Ryloth that she had been summoned, far beyond the city limits. Her speeder stayed dormant behind her as she approached the area where she could vividly now recall the first time she had laid her eyes on the Grimore. It was an important event in the girl's eyes, the summoning of spirits stronger than anything she had ever felt. The moment her first contact had driven her into the spirit realm, it had been nothing like she had expected. Avarisa had never actually told her about them in the time she had haunted her though her lessons were often vague and manipulative, she was aware of that.

Tonight though, she had felt another call, a whisper from the spirit realm. It was different than how it had usually felt and yet, Katrine Van-Derveld could never resist the spirits. Usually what got her in trouble but the Lupine liked trouble. It was always fun. That part was always true though this was more than that. Ever since she had awoken with the markings after Rodia, she had began to feel different. Not everything was just about fun anymore, her movements seemed more focused and driven; more than they had ever been. Katrine welcomed it, after what her first spirit had put her through.

Air of Ryloth was not yet too cold though it was slightly chill. She'd packed a blanket, taking it with her now as she put it over the sand, sitting on it as she wrapped the jacket around her a little bit tighter. Come, child, a familiar spirit reached out to her, a voice she recognized now. Come to us, the other spoke up next. She only smiled as she closed her eyes, seated, concentrating on the spirits she knew all too well. Come and see, the third one had came in as a quiet roar, demanding now. Doashim was a monster but one that didn't scare her. Katrine liked monsters, she always had.

It wasn't long before they had pulled her in towards them but instead of feeling their presence, she felt alone in the darkness.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Shery deWinter]

It was in that darkness that the form of the ancient Dark Lady of the Sith began to assemble itself. While there was never any need for showing off, it had been all too long since she'd last let herself enjoy what strength and powers she had honed over centuries had given her. Countless of years, even beyond her own tracking, had led to this. But what was this? One of many points. The galaxy was still too small to contain her, and she still weaved her webs through it, affecting all that was and would be until she tired of it. Then, perhaps, a truer challenge would surface.

But for now, she was content. The Gulag was long over with, her own interest with what 'verse that came to be after it satisfied long ago. While there was nothing to keep her here, there was plenty to give her pause, and make sure that those who descended from her resumed the cycle that had begun long before even she had come to be.

Her eyes were the first to fully materialize, strong and green, brightening the darkness with the eerie light that shone mercilessly. She gazed at the child before her as the rest of her body came into view, tall, strong, and proud, wielding a gown made of the darkness around them, absorbing none of the eyes' light.

"I do hope you do not take as long with every task you are handed, child," her voice came, booming around the area, sipping in and out of the very ground. There was no gentleness to it, but a deep richness that made it known that the amount of care it had to those who did not serve it properly, were all too easy to get rid of, "time is valuable, even when you have a near infinite amount of it."

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

In the darkness, something had caught her attention. Her own sapphire glaze shifting, looking, spotting two glows in it. Green, was it? No, it was a special kind of green, that was for sure. "Pretty," Katrine couldn't resist her comment. The way her voice projected out, she knew without a doubt where she was but after the single word, she had fallen quiet, watching the rest of the figure form. A woman, in black it seemed though the shade of it made it seem as though it was blending to its surrounding somehow.

The woman commented how long it had taken her. Katrine continued to watch, listening as the voice continued. Time was valuable even if she had infinite amount. "Life is short, afterlife has infinite time," Katrine retorted almost immediately after. "I do have responsibilities among the living. Why have you used the spirits to call for me?"

If this woman had come face to face in the real world, living and breathing, there would have been other questions she'd wanted to ask. About her eyes, about her dress, about her age. The woman like eternal though she wasn't sure if it was just the spirit world projecting. She was, after all, born and raised among Dathomirians, she understood that there were those who outlived and remained young and beautiful but when it came to spirits, she had been burned for far too long. She knew better than to let her guard down completely. So rather than asking, she waited to hear the answer.

[member="Shery deWinter"]

 

[Shery deWinter]

"I am not of the afterlife, daughter of Wolf and Hawk," the woman replied calmly, "and shame upon your instructors who taught you such ignorance and called it education. In my days, we killed our masters for such silly mistakes."

But these were her days no longer. She had vanquished her will to be part of the tangible present, but that meant little to nothing in the long run. Her power surged ever so slightly, causing the area around her form and the Witch's to beat gently in a stead rhythm. Forcing her focus back to the child in front of her, the Sith Mistress paused ever so briefly.

"I have a task for you," she said, "and I expect you to perform better with it than you have thus."

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

Oh, she wasn't? Katrine's head tilted as she watched the other woman, a tiny little reaction in her eyes when she was called the daughter of Wolf and Hawk. It wasn't far from the truth but Katrine was not that. She was descendant of the Ceta, by all accounts. Their blood flew through her much like the blood of Dathomirian Witches and Mandragora flew through her and yet, she was a Lupine by all accounts. Though a second child of Ket and Curupira, she was their firstborn born of two Lupines. Chloe was still a Lupine but it was her and Seren who were born after Mother had been cloned to become what they were and thus, she was, as Katrine liked to entrain herself, the secondborn first born Van-Derveld and the first such of her generation as far as she knew since the majority of her paternal family was all but lost to them.

The blond still found herself waiting for the woman, who was apparently not of the afterlife, to finish talking, calling shame on her instructors who taught her such ignorance, apparently. Katrine smirked when the woman suggested they killed their masters for such mistakes in your time. "I have never had a Master in the way Sith or Jedi have. My instructors were either witches who didn't dwell on the dead other than to respect our own or were, in fact, from the said afterlife. So I'm curious then, what are you when you thread in the space of my spirits?" Her sapphire gaze focused intently on the woman. She wanted to know. Taking possession of Doashim, Lylek and Jart was something she had never done before and yet, all three had now left their marks on her bodies and the choice of words felt right.

A task? For her? That sparked her interest now more so than the conversation itself. "What task?"

[member="Shery deWinter"]

 

[Shery deWinter]

It was simply delicious. The child wanted to know, demanded information, while she herself had given nothing yet in return. The Sith Mistress could easily read her eyes, knew perfectly well that thoughts were running, correcting things, sticking to the tiny details that mattered to none save a little child who cared for her ego. But it did not take centuries to figure out, nor did it take too great of an insight. After all, most of the Force Using children were just like that. She herself, had been far worse at a much younger age.

Patterns. The great web, for all its knots and flows, for all its tingles and changes, sill showed mostly patterns. Not all were easy to distinguish from one another, but they were all quite there.

"Ponder this," she ordered as she took a step forward. For all the power she wielded, it was currently in check. There was no reason to lash out at the child, no matter how brazen she was. Her hand came up, delicately, and within her palm she revealed it - a little pebble, smooth all around, perfect for water tossing, "this pebble ties past, present, and future. And it is sleeping. You must find her and wake her up, and after that you must train her to master the Force. I will accept no failure, Katrine Van-Derveld."

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

Answers did not come. Not really, Katrine realized as she continued to watch the beautiful green-eyed woman, still waiting. There was a slight bounce in her feet as the answers didn't come even after a while, a palm expending outward. The blond watched intently, her own hand at the ready to rise if necessary to defend though even despite the woman's words she seemed somewhat neutral in her entire behavior.

Cold and yet neutral. Somehow reminded her of Avarisa still because of it. They were nothing alike physically and the bones had been smashed but still, it was a slightly eerie similarity, once figured out.

Instead of any unforeseeable trouble, an object appeared in the woman's hand. A pebble, the woman had called it, offering a first true explanation though of a pebble. It tied the past, present, and future; Katrine had heard her say before her head turned just slightly hearing her say it was sleeping. Her mouth parted as she considered speaking but the woman continued to speak.

She was to find the sleeping pebble, wake her up and train her to master the Force. Her eyes switched to look at the woman again when she was demanded success, her feet suddenly leading her up to the woman without hesitation, her hand extending. In the hands of the woman, it was nothing but a pebble to her. Was it more though? Did it indeed slumber? She couldn't tell like this.

"Give it to me," she requested simply, waiting. Though the spirit world was not physical at all and her body was seated upon the sands of Ryloth, it still provided a lot more than most assumed. Just as the spirits could mark her from within the spirit realm, objects within could still be palpable, she was sure.

[member="Shery deWinter"]

 

[Shery deWinter]

Give it to me.

That was all she needed at that point. The Sith Mistress' hand floated above the Witch's, not quite touching, but not too far away either. The beating of the area became stronger, and the very ground they stood on seemed to pulse with life, the air warming up. It may have lasted an eternity and it may have lasted a mere few seconds, but just as the room reached its creshendo of pulses and beats, the Sith Mistress vanished back to the darkness, her hand along with it. The pebble dropped from thin air into Katrine's hands, where it remained warm to the touch even as the area cooled again. If the Witch would check carefully, she would be able to note that the pebble still pulsed with life as well - young, and fresh.

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

Shery out of thread.

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

The woman's hand had moved, drawing nearer to her extended one. The closer it had come, the beating beneath became louder. It was intense, waiting. Seemed so long even though she was well aware of the time. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as it did, the pebble touching her skin just as the image vanished. Katrine almost didn't notice that she had vanished, the pulsing in her palm still strong.

Sapphire gaze focused on the pebble itself, watching it, feeling it in her palm. It felt alive, she realized after a moment as she drew it close to her, examining it. Smooth and small, precious almost. Her other hand rose, her index finger gently touching it. The texture was soft and felt as though it was somehow alive. Her eyes widened slightly as she had felt it, her entire palm of the other hand coming over it upon instinct. Sentire, a familiar voice suddenly whispered in her ears. It wasn't Avarisa whose voice guided her now. Katrine hadn't lied when she had said she had never had a Master in the traditional sense. Though Nona and Mother had taught her, Avarisa had molded her and Salem had taught her a thing or though but it was the voice now along with the three spirits who were guiding her through her path.

And as she had been told, Katrine closed her eyes and concentrated, her palms holding to the pebble firmly, focusing on it and nothing else around her. It first, nothing had happened but Katrine refused to give up, continuing to concentrate on the single object. When she did, in fact, establish contact with it, she felt not a pulse but a heartbeat. It was strong and young. "Oh wow," the Lupine breathed out she felt it. And before she knew it, Katrine had smiled, realizing just how precious a single pebble in her hand had been.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

(Doing this in two posts, just letting you know there's a post )

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

First, it had been the heartbeat. Then it had been the sweetest giggle in the distance, like a beacon from the furthest skies but before she could try again, her eyes fluttered open, and she was back sitting on her blanket. Her palms were pressed together in front of her and she could just swear the pebble was still in her hand and yet when her right rose above her left, it was empty.

Yet Katrine couldn't shake the thoughts of the heartbeat, the sound and rhythm of it still in her mind. And it is sleeping, she thought back on what the mysterious woman had said. Katrine could almost agree with that assessment with the way the pebble's heartbeat was stable and soft, peaceful almost. You must find her and wake her, the mysterious woman had instructed her. Katrine didn't much favor being told to do by mysterious creatures from within the spirit world and yet, the pebble had sparked an interest in her. ...and after that, you must train her to master the Force. I will accept no failure, Katrine Van-Derveld. While a little irky to be told what to do, Kat had been unable to resist to the temptation of figuring out the mystery.

"Pebble, pebble," she began to mutter as she concentrated. "find you I will. Release you, I will. Wait for me." Not quite a spell but a message she releases into the either. If the sleeping pebble was indeed in slumber and living, as a pebble, then the message was solely for her.

Yet, it wasn't what would help her find her mysterious pebble, Katrine knew as she continued to concentrate, focusing solely on the heartbeat and the giggle she had heard with the energy she had felt. Her Sense reached out far around her, spreading wide as she searched on this planet. Ryloth was big but if the pebble was sleeping here, she could find it. The problem would be if the mysterious woman had somehow neglected to mention that the pebble was off the planet. However, her Sense would tell her there was no cause for that when she began to feel an echo in the distance. It was far but there was a trace of a presence.

Once she had found that hint, Katrine waited no time jumping to her feet, picking up her blanket and running to her speeder, firing up it up to make her way in the direction of the echo. Twice more, she had had to concentrate again to pick up on where she was going.

Her hands forced the speeder to a halt when her eyes spotted the massive rocks in the air, stopping abruptly. She hadn't expected the sight ahead of her. Katrine had never ventured to this part of the planet and Mother had never told her of anything like this, making the Lupine believe not even Mother had known about a place where rocks floated mid-air, giving such a pretty sight. She'd jumped off her speeder, heading forward. An alien suddenly jumped up in front her, muttering about credits, making her look at him intently before her hand rose, concentrating on his own mind. "You don't need any credits," Katrine told him. "I don't need any credits," the alien repeated. "You will let me pass," she said again, her fingers waving in the air. "I will let you pass."

With his mind dominated, it acknowledges her requests and walked away, a fragment of confusion on his mind before he vanished. Katrine moved forward, shifting back her focus on the pebble, diverting her attention it once again. The heartbeat was here, she was sure, her feet moving forward in search of it.

Giggle, giggle reached her ears suddenly to her left, her movements halting when she smirked. "Oh, I hear you!" Katrine suddenly spoke up and read in the direction of it, running between the sharp rocks and beneath the floating ones, searching. Giggle, giggle, the sound came from a different direction and immediately, Katrine changed direction, running to the source, beginning to giggle herself.

Several more times, she had heard the giggles coming from different directions. Katrine would each time come to a halt and start running again and again, laughing all the while as she did. "Whereeeee are you?" She called out after a while, still chasing giggles. It was good fun, in reality, when she hadn't had good fun in a while and for a while, Katrine actually did enjoy it. However, after some time, she paused and realized she'd been under this very rock before. And under the one to its side. Was she going in circles?

Letting out a sigh, she concentrated again. Pebble, pebble, where are you? She reached out again, inhaling a deep breath before she began to walk in the direction of her speeder. Giggle repeated to her left again and she paused, looking towards it but then continued on towards her speeder anyway. Peddle, peddle, come to me, she continued calling it to her, rather than chasing to it.

Her gaze lifted at the very edge of the Gardens, spotting a single smooth pebble amongst a few of them that she hadn't seen before but now, she recognized immediately. Her step hurried slightly towards it, skipping for a bit before she slowed down just before she was beneath it. She could feel its heartbeat now even though she couldn't hear it. "Don't be afraid, little pebble, she softly spoke up towards it, her palm raising. "I'm here to protect you," Katrine promised as she summoned it to her hand with telekinesis, drawing it towards her palm gently.

"Time to wake, little one," she told the pebble. The mysterious woman had said the pebble was sleeping. It tied the past, present, and future which she still wondered about. It was Katrine who had to wake her up and teach her. Perhaps someone else wouldn't believe a pebble could be sleeping or could be woken up but Katrine was a Lupine who conversed with spirits, used magic and held markings upon her flesh given to her in the spirit realm. There was much she believed and accepted. "Awaken, she whispered again, concentrating on the pebble this time, listening to the heartbeat through the Force.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

It was always sunny on Endelaan. She didn't remember much of it, did not know that it was the name of the planet she'd been born on. But she remembered the sun, always shining into every room she was placed in, her chubby baby body only inches away at most from that of her twin brother's. She knew who her parents were; by the colors of their eyes and the smell of their bodies, she had known them, and being near them had always washed a sense of calm over her. There were also other people. So many other people. She didn't like all of the, though she lacked the ability to say who and what and why and when; only her screams and tears made such things known to others, but her parents usual kept her and her brother close enough so that it never lasted too long. Sometimes, there was no warm sunshine. She never understood why, and her baby mind could not logic it out.


And then there was darkness. She couldn't see anything. The green that had always been around her since she day she first opened her eyes had vanished. The smell and comfort of her parents' bodies was gone as well. But she was calm, since she could feel her brother by her. Nothing too wrong could ever happen as long as they remained together.


But then Brayden vanished. She could not sense him. She cold not feel him. She could not feel her arms and legs moving about as she searched for him in the darkness. And then her mind stilled as well.

If she'd had the vocabulary, she would have thought she was dead. But that wasn't it. In this time where existence felt non existing, she suddenly opened her eyes. A woman was there, a woman with eyes like her parents' green, but there was none of the touch of silver to make it sufficiently familiar. Instantly, she knew the woman was kin. But who, and how far, and why? There were no answers provided, only a hand that touched her forehead, and an information stream that threatened to take her mind over.

Scherezade screamed.

========================================================================================​

The pebble lay in [member="Katrine Van-Derveld"] 's hands. The beating, faint at first, began to harden and fasten. If one would listen through the Force, the screams of the one within could easily be heard. Pain ripped through the pebble. Pain of loss, and blood, and life. Lightening appeared around the pebble, both bursting out of it and hitting it from the outside in. The screaming intensified now, not entirely through the Force, but easy to hear with mortal ears too.

Like an egg, the pebble cracked. A small touch at first, and then lines began to appear. It seemed like an eternity before the outer shell fell away, giving a good look at what lay beneath; a baby. But with the pebble's protection now gone, there was nothing left to keep it a baby. Gravity became its friend as the baby's body reached down and down until it lay on the ground. For a mere few seconds, it remained just that - a baby. There was no screaming, and no pain. No electricity either.

And the baby began to grow. Following all the phases of normal human growth, it took less than half a minute before it ceased, and in front of Katrine lay a teenager, seeping peacefully, her body wrapped in white cloth. Her skin was deadly pale, as though a ray of sun had never touched her, and her hair lay in messy clumps on the ground, framing the face that still had baby chub to it, giving a dark halo.

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

The heartbeats grew stronger and she heard the loud and clear, even though she knew she wasn't hearing than in the basic sense of the word. It wasn't all. The more Katrine continued to concentrate on the pebble, the louder the screaming had become. Then pain. Strong gut clenching pain. She shivered at it, remembering a similar feeling she had experienced when the spirits were suffering within the ichor yet the heartbeat was so strong and the screaming was so loud that Katrine was somehow sure that this wasn't a spirit.

Screaming became more real soon enough, reaching her ears as well. Katrine held on, suppressing the urge to cover them, her attention the pebble, knowing full well if she did, she would drop the precious rock and she refused to let herself do that. Lighting had been startling, her hand slightly trembling. Her other hand moved quickly, in order to prevent herself from dropping it.

Crack. Like a baby chicken preparing to come out, the pebble had broken slightly then spreading. Then the pebble was gone and something small began to take form, her hands pulling back for the first time as the shape began to lower. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the appearance of the form. A baby? Even with what the mysterious woman had told her, Katrine didn't expect a baby. On the ground, it lay after a few moments, quiet. Then Katrine instinctively took a step back as the baby began to grow rapidly. From baby to toddler, from toddler to small child, until she was looking at a teenager sound asleep.

The Witch's head titled as she watched her, lowering to look at her better. Paler than her own skin, though the hair was darker. She seemed peaceful as she slept. The mysterious woman had said she was sleeping and yet, she wasn't expecting a girl that seemed younger than she was but then, Katrine couldn't let herself judge. She looked far too young for her own age according to some and Witches aged far slower than most humanoids so she couldn't tell for sure, not yet. Obviously, little Pebble was important to the mysterious woman though from a first glance she couldn't tell just yet first. There were shadows of a trace reminding her of the woman and yet, was she imagining it?

Katrine dropped to her knees, her hands reaching towards the cloth to pull it a little higher. Now, back in the earlier days of her life, Katrine wouldn't have had this much patience. She would have been shaking Pebble awake almost immediately as she had seen her. She'd done it so many times to both of her siblings but right now, the girl seemed so peaceful, in the moment, following the screams the pebble had sounded off that Katrine chose to wait.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

This... This was different. It was still dark, but it wasn't the darkness. It was just... Dark. Like she remembered a part of the sunny day used to be. And she wasn't lost, she was.. Something was happening. What was that? In her darkness, even when Brayden was with her, she had never felt anything in quite such a tangible way. Now she could feel the fabric against her body, and the air against her skin. And she knew she was not awake. But... not exactly dreaming?

Open your eyes.

Where had that come from?! She wildly tried to move, or at least, she thought she was, but that had come from inside her head. Was that...

Me.

Self thought. Thoughts. She was thinking. Not just existing. It had been so long since her mind had formed them. How peculiar. Would her voice sound like that too? She didn't remember learning how to make words out. But now they were there, inside her head, ready for her to pick and choose and use. And not just that. She could feel something, something she didn't know which word to attach to, flow through her body. Not blood - blood was an easy word, bloo was what she had been covered in when she was born. But...

The Force.

The Force. She was supposed to know what that was. Everyone had it. No, not everyone. Everyone in her family. She had a family. She had Brayden, who was her twin. She had her parents. Each of her parents had siblings, and their own parents as well. And high up enough, the lines between siblings and cousins became slightly blurry, but it somehow all made sense and fit perfectly well together. And that was fine.

Open your eyes.

There it was, that thought again. Had she had to think of that when she was in that sunshine filled area? She couldn't remember. How long had she been here now? How long had she been in the darkness.

Slowly, very slowly, she began to move her eyelids. Her brain knew how to make it function, how to make everything in her boy work properly. But her thoughts made her slow, made things not be as instantaneous as her brain would've wanted. She could open her eyes with easy if she'd wanted to, but for now she merely reveled in the ability to move her lids, move her eyeballs beneath them, and only when she had played with it enough did she slowly allow her brain to open her eyes.

Green eyes opened for the first time. There was- that was the sky. And those were... floating? Floating islands? And stars. Far away stars, they were further away. Scheredaze gulped, realizing she had been holding her breath for too long, and yanked in a mouthful of air, which sent her into a violent cough. It took a few moments for her to regain control over her respiratory system, and once she had, she moved her eyes. Looking around.

There was ground beneath her, and above her, against her skin, there was... The color white. White fabric. Neither her parents had ever wore white, that she could remember. No, that was a color chosen by...

Grandmother.

And. Her brain screamed inside her head as she realized she was not alone. There was another person there. A person she did not recognize. Pale hair and skin, with blue eyes.

The first sound erupted from the girl's mouth now - a scream. Her hand closed around a pebble that had lain beneath it, and her body jerked outwards, keeping face to face with the other woman. Her movements were clumsy, her limbs moving by her demand for the first time in too damn long. She didn't know how she was doing it, but the important thing was that she was doing it at all. If she was physical now, that meant that the other woman was too, and that meant she could be in danger.

Scheredaze stopped screaming and raised the pebble she had in her hands, ready to throw it at the other woman if she dare as much as inch towards her.


[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

It took a while. Katrine could feel herself becoming a bit bored. It was never really good for Katrine to be bored because that was exactly how she always ended up in trouble but in this case, she kept mentally reminding herself to wait. And wait for a while longer she did, noticing eyelids beginning to open.

Her head titled a little more when she noticed the green. It was darker than that of the mysterious woman but now that she could see eyes with the rest of the face, Katrine came to believe it wasn't just a figment of her imagination that the girl and the woman could, in fact, be related.

Katrine waited, watching as the girl look up and around herself as if she was taking in the sights. Then their eyes had met but before Katrine managed to say anything, Pebble had screamed. "Oh hey. Enough with the screaming!" The blond quickly insisted as her hands rose upward slowly as if she was surrendering, watching Pebble holding something in her hand, recognizing the action.

"It's okay, Pebble. I won't hurt you. I swear." Was that going to be enough? Pebble seemed pretty afraid of her presence. "I'm Katrine," she told her, her right palm pressing against her chest as she identified herself. "Or Kat." It didn't really matter which would be used. Everything was fine as long as she wasn't called Katy since that belonged to Father. "A pretty lady you kinda remind me of told me to find you and wake you up. I think she's related to you. Black hair, greener eyes than yours, speaks weirdly." Her description seemed strangely vague even to her but as she spoke, she realized the woman knew her name but had never given her hers which now presented itself as a problem considering how scared the girl was. "I promise I won't hurt you," Katrine repeated, with more conviction as she watched the girl.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Pebble? Why had she called her Pebble? The girl blinked in confusion. She had a name. But of course this stranger would not know it! There was nothing about her to mark her as one of her family. She had an aunt with similar hair, but that wasn't enough. Hair was common.

Katrine. No, the name did not sound familiar. She kept holding her pebble, ready to throw it. A quick scan of what she knew of human physical weaknesses claimed that hitting her between the eyes was her best shot at putting her down and getting herself safe, so she started aiming for that. But then she started talking about a pretty lady who looked like her and had green eyes with dark hair. And there was a promise to not hurt her.

She blinked.

"Agh ghgo hberth fbae herrrr," her lips moved, and voice came out. But it was wrong. Her tongue was moving in weird ways. She took a deep breath and tried again, slower this time, "we all have green hair." No, that was still wrong. She shook her head, and corrected herself, "we all have green eyes."

Slowly, she began to lower the pebble in her hands. Katrine said she had to wake her up. Wake her up from what? Had she been sleeping? She couldn't remember sleeping in the blackness. Who was the mysterious woman she'd spoken of? Her mother? Her grandmother? One of her great and above grandmothers? There were too many such women in her family for her to be sure, and she did not want to give away information that could be used against her. Where were these women from who she had decended?

She looked around them again. Sky and floating rocks. This was not Endelaan. Where were they? Why were they here? Surely her mother or grandmother or anyone else from the family would've ensured that if she indeed had been asleep, she would wake up on Endelaan? Endelaan was home. This... This was not.

And then there was the most important question of all. If she had been found, and so-called was awakened, then "where is Brayden?!" she demanded, her voice full of anger and demand, the pebble rising again, ready to hit in case the answer was not pleasing.

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

The first words that came out of Pebble's mouth made no sense, Katrine's eyes narrowing as she tried to comprehend. It didn't sound like any of the languages she knew. Next time she had spoken, Pebble had said they all had green hair but that didn't make much sense either. Then finally, in the third go, she'd said they all had green eyes. Oh, so it was sorta like golden eyes since Nono Madoc then. They weren't the same though.

"Not the same though, lighter, stronger," Katrine quickly pointed out as she tried to figure out a way to explain it to Pebble. She could only think of one way, her eyes closing for a moment, thinking about the mysterious woman before she sent the thought of her to Pebble's mind. "Her," Katrine said as her eyes opened, watching Pebble again. "Who is she?" She asked after a moment, still curious.

Where is Brayden? It had come as a demand, the girl's hand rising again to throw the pebble again. "Wow, wow. Who's Brayden? She didn't mention Brayden. She only talked about you, Pebble!" There was no mention of no Brayden. Katrine didn't really know who or what Brayden was, the name had at no point been mentioned so she didn't have the slightest idea who it was supposed to be or why Pebble was being so worked up about it.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"Stop calling me that!" the girl screamed. Her name was not Pebble. She had a name that her parents had given her, that had been written down on Endelaan and in the memories of those ho were related. Pebble wasn't that name. That name was...

She tried to focus. An image had flared in her mind, an image of her grandmother, casing her to stagger back a few steps. This person was in league with her grandmother. But just because her grandmother was hers, didn't mean her grandmother was a nice person. Family didn't mean safety. She wasn't sure why it was the first thought that jumped to her mind when she was shown the image of Shery deWinter, but she clung to that as she would cling to water in order to remain hydrated.

No, whatever this Kat wanted, she wasn't going to get answers fro her. Not about her grandmother. But there was no danger in revealing who Brayden was. "My brother," she said with an exhale, almost ready to cry, "where is my brother? I don't care what she mentioned or didn't mention. Where is he?!"

[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

A frown passed over her expression as Pebble shouted at her to stop calling her that. "Stop screaming," she muttered low, a tiny growl accompanying her words unintentionally. Katrine wasn't accustomed to being yelled at, not even her own adults yelled at her. It awoke a trace of the Lupine in her and her hand itched for a moment to do to the girl what Mother did to her when she was having one of her episodes but Katrine loathed being suspended in the air that she'd swore to herself she would never do that to another. And she didn't, dismissing the thought quickly. "What is your name then? You were a pebble."

Given no name yet, Katrine continued to think of the girl as Pebble even if she didn't like it. Sounded better than girl to her since she didn't know how old she actually was.

Her question about the mysterious woman remained with a blank answer in her mind as Pebble skipped right over it and told her Brayden was her brother. She wanted to know where he was even if she hadn't mentioned. Where was he? "I. Don't. Know." Katrine insisted, stressing each word, the growl appearing again. "Look. All I know is that the lady invaded my spirit world, was quite rude and asked me to find you, a pebble. To wake you and train you. She was gone right after. I wouldn't care much but I got curious. The heartbeat and energy the pebble gave was pretty extraordinary that I couldn't help myself." She continued without letting herself be stopped.

"Now. Let's try this again," her voice lowered a little more but the growl was gone from it. "My name is Katrine Van-Derveld. I am a Witch born on Dathomir, of the Singing Mountain Hawks. This is the planet Ryloth and year is somewhere in the 850s, early years," Katrine delivered information first though she wasn't super sure about the exact year. She knew she'd arrived sometime in the late 840s, after the events Mother called Netherworld and the Omega War though Katrine had a vague knowledge of those events. "No, try to focus. What do I call you and why did the lady make you into a pebble? Guess at least."

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

She was screaming? The girl held her breath again. This whole new body was a strange thing. It acted weird, like it knew what it wanted to do but also didn't know what it was doing at the same time. But okay. Screaming. Screaming had to stop. There would be no ilk from her mother's breast or her father's bottles, there would be no one to move her from the harshest rays of the sun when they shone into her room. Se didn't have a room at all. She had nothing but the clothes she wore.

A name. She needed a name. She had a name. She'd never said her name out loud though. Her parents had, all the time. And she'd thought o f it on occasion, not quite comprehending why someone as small as her needed such a long name, but somehow it felt just right. That was her name.

Squinting her eyes, she listened as Katrine detailed what had happened with her grandmother. None of it made sense. She was a baby and then there was darkness and now she was here. She didn't remember being a... A pebble?! What sick mid would have come up with that and thought it was a good plan? Why had it happened? How long?! Why were there things coming out of...

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. And listened as Katrine gave additional information. Witches of Dathomir. She knew something about that. Her mother had visited them often. They had family there? Yes, that was it. And they were considered friends of her family, or at least the closest thing one could be to a friend when dealing with Sithness. Sith. Another word. Her parents were that, as was most of her family tree. Was she? She was't sure what it entailed. But she needed more labels to make comprehension easier at this point.

Year. Somewhere around 850. No, that didn't ring a bell. She scanned and searched but there was 0 information about years inside her brain.

"My name..." she half whispered before realizing she needed to add a little bit of volume to it, "my name is Scherezade deWinter of Endelaan. And I don't know what my grandmother would want with me. That was my grandmother, that woman. And I don't remember being a... Being a pebble."

She chewed on her lower lip, trying to think. Ryloth. That was where they were. She couldn't place it in her mind. But she couldn't place Endelaan either.

"Why are these rocks floating?" she asked before the thought popped into her mind, "they shouldn't really be floating like that, it sort of breaks a few cardinal rules of physics." Why did she know that?!


[member="Katrine Van-Derveld"]

 

[Katrine Van-Derveld]

Her name was Scherezade deWinter of Endelaan. Katrine blinked suddenly. Not because of Endelaan. She'd never heard of that place but the name deWinter caused a tiny flash of recognition in a story Mother told her a long time ago though it certainly wasn't Scherezade in the story, that much she was sure even though the name escaped her. Not perhaps Katrine but Mother instead because the blond stored details different than Mother did, who didn't always care about such things.

And Scherezade didn't know what her grandmother wanted with her, clarifying soon after that it was who the woman was. Not to mention that Pebble didn't remember being a pebble. "Your name is complicated. You sure you don't like being called Pebble? It's pretty. She tried, this time asking politely. She could understand choosing how you were called. Katrine liked being called Kat just like she liked when Karna called her Gummie Bear but she was very much against anyone other than Father calling her Katy since that was his nickname for her alone so she asked to be sure.

"Never heard of Endelaan," she admitted, feeling a little bad that she couldn't help there. She understood missing one's home. She had two planets to call home and she could reach both of them if she so chose but Ryloth was where she was needed now so it was where she stayed unless the Confederacy was on the move. "Sorry." A quiet apology escaped her lips following her comment.

Next thing Scherezade brought up were the rocks above them, making Katrine look up herself. Her head lowered back down and eyes rested on the girls when the girl said they shouldn't have been floating because it broke a few cardinal rules of physics? "Do they?" She asked curiously. Witches didn't exactly teach their offspring about the cardinal rules of physics. They taught physics, that much was sure but more in a practical sense than something she could recite down the line like she knew outsiders did, from books. "I've never been here so I don't know. It's some kind of phenomena, that's for sure. There's a person somewhere who wanted me to pay an entrance fee. We could ask him about them?" Katrine hadn't even known this place existed. Something about the place was certainly unique though she hadn't been thinking much about them, her main focus on finding Pebble... Scherezade...

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]