Private Queensnake

[Kaila Irons]

"Our youngest Darth". She mused over the pseudonym which Empress Talon had given her upon Echnos. Darth Anathemous was another, a name beginning to creep up from the lips of Imperials in varied circles. To the average citizen, she was some sort of military governor who'd been installed upon Echnos after the siege some months ago. To imperial soldiers fighting on the frontlines, she was the one keeping vital logistics flowing amply from that lifeless rock, and to the Dark Council, well, she was a bloody wildcard with history such that not even the Tsis'kar could tell you just who this "Kaila Irons" truly was.

Until a few days ago.

Kaila was the closest she had ever been to understanding who she was before the hospital. And she didn't like what she saw. Eira Dyn was right.

It had taken all this time and so much effort to see but the little vixen was right. Kaila was not suffering from amnesia nor injury, her memories were stolen from her. But now she had proof. So did the assassin who found it for her, and by extension, the bloody Tsis'kar. Their loyalties couldn't be bought, but neither could they be counted on, and so her secret was good as out there on the street. Would they use it to blackmail her, knowing she feared what Carnifex might do if he knew that she was aware? Would they instead see her as a potential ally against the Kainate? No matter what hypothetical future she imagined, they were all riddled with bloodshed and intrigue.

She would need allies and assets alike, and she didn't know who to trust anymore. It was something to consider carefully and choose wisely while she still had the chance, but that window was already closing fast.

That is why she had come to Jutrand Academy, to see the one who'd started this line of questioning in the first place.

Could Eira Dyn be trusted?

No.

Could she be useful? that is what Anathemous planned to find out.

The Acolyte was annoyingly ambitious, but also demonstrably clever. She would rise in time, the sorceress had no doubt about it. But if she were to get in her good graces now, perhaps even steer the young woman's course a little, perhaps a future rival could instead become a future ally. It was a dangerous game, a bold move, but Anathemous had few pieces to play and her turn could end at any moment.

And so she sat in the library where they had first met, perched lazily atop one of the taller bookshelves in a quiet corner, nose stuffed in an alchemical book while she waited for the day's class to end.

And when it finally ended, she reached out to Eira through the force, her circlet allowing a feint telepathic connection.

<<Come to the library>> she whispered softly across the psychic thread.

<<South east corner... by the window>>

She hated inserting herself into another's mind, but they needed to maintain a certain degree of secrecy. If they were seen meeting again, it needed to look like a random encounter between the reading darth and a student who just happened to be looking in that section at the time.

Hopefully Eira would understand in due time.




Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Outfit: Casual
Tag: Kaila Irons

Eira had been starting at her corrupted Jedi crystal that she had taken from a Lightsaber of a defeated opponent. Her mind was picturing how she wanted the Lightsaber to be designed, what was practical for her, what would give her advantaged when fighting and what would help with overcoming the Jedi Masters out there with years of combat experience. She needed to be trickier than the Sith warriors out there who had brute strength or cybernetic advantages that Eira refused to adopt.

She had read a Lightsaber design that intrigued her in how unorthodox it was. Hiding a shoto Lightsaber as part of the hilt of a main blade. Deceptive and allowed her to adjust to multiple opponents when she needed to.

It was a issue of being able to gather supplies and organise her materials to construct a Lightsaber that would work in all conditions, she refused to have a weapon that would fail her in the way that others were affected. As Eira was reading on the differing designs that one could implement into a Lightsaber, she felt a presence enter her mind. Immediately her mental defences were established and she refused to surrender her thoughts or ideas to anyone else. Then she heard a whisper, a voice that sounded familiar but Eira could not place where she heard it before.

The acolyte had met plenty of people she considered one note or insignificant to her path to greatness that she had forgotten names and even faces. This voice though was calling her to a meeting. Something secretive and out of the sight of others. It was intriguing and Eira was tempted to comply since she wanted to see what she would learn from this meeting.

She brought a couple of daggers with her since Eira never trusted meeting someone, especially a Sith, alone. The academy dissuaded students from killing one another but Eira knew that a Sith with ambition would always kill or permanently neutralise a threat if they could. She refused to be foolish enough to be taken down unaware of this danger.

Sauntering into the library, her red eyes gazed around and the confidence Eira exuded was one that currently did not match where she was in the pecking order of the Sith. As she entered the corner that had been set as the meeting point, Eira decided to be a bit teasing and eye catching, stretching her body as she reached up on a shelf for something to pass the time till whoever had contacted her would meet up. Displaying the full curves of her figure in a way to distract and control the focus of the person she was meeting.

 

[Kaila Irons]

The presence which touched Eira had changed since last they spoke. She had learned to control her spectral passenger since those early days, even brought upon her a second wraith to feed her powers. To feel the touch of Anathemous was as if looking at one's own hand whilst concussed, holing up a finger and seeing three.

Yet, as Eira entered the library and began to sit idle, it became apparent that the acolyte's senses were not so refined as to detect the sith lord roosting above.

Her gaze would drift from the pages and down upon the acolyte, noting the casual clothes and the way she stretched with a raised brow. They were fit and slender in an agile sort of way. Not the body of a marauding warrior, but a future sorceress or assassin she suspected. More like herself, perhaps.

Her strong legs swung over the ledge as she prepared to drop down behind the acolyte, slick bodyglove catching the light.

<<Look...up>>

When Anathemous dropped, she did so with unnervingly little sound, glove-like footwear and the force softening the impact as she landed, silken cloak slowly drifting down behind her, knees quickly straightening so that she stood at her full height as she approached with small but confident steps.

"Hello Eira."

Her voice was stronger now, calm and clear without the strain of telepathy.

She'd cleaned up since the last time, her silken hair well kept, her young face unblemished by cut nor scrape and her clothes free of dirt. The traveling ronin would always be there somewhere underneath of course, her ornate shell belying the strong and agile body of a roaming swordswoman, but it had been carefully altered to blend in with the high society of sith lords and imperial bureaucrats.

The kind of people this acolyte wished to become.

And, ruse or not, one of them had come to speak with the acolyte. Act as Eira may, the gap in station was wide, and though Anathemous did not typically act on such things, she would be sure to balance the scales of power in her favor while it lasted.

"I would have figured your senses enough to find me" she teased, the faintest of smiles creeping up the corner of her soft lips.

"Been honing other skills, then?"



Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Outfit: Casual
Tag: Kaila Irons

"Hello Kaila... Or I suppose you wish to be addressed as Darth Anathemous? I heard about your promotion in rank as well as the opportunity granted to you to rule Echnos." Eira stated in a stoic tone, neither impressed nor did she express an jealousy in the power that the former apprentice had been gifted.

Her eyes barely watched as the Sith Knight descended from the rafters, not that impressed with the silence of the movements. She had been training with the Tsis Kaar, most of whom all moved with impressive levels of silence. An ability she was attempting to hone for herself, since she figured becoming an assassin. Someone capable of killing without being seen, that would be ideal for her path as well as deepening her skills in the Force. Eira smirked as the Sith Knight attempted to control the narrative and place herself above Eira.

It was cute in Eira's eyes.

"You assume I did not sense you because I did not make obvious, open indications of seeing you. Perhaps your senses are duller than you believe them to be." Eira challenged, "I assumed you were wishing for discretion and subtlety when you telepathically messaged me, leaving no trace of interacting. We are also Sith, so I made sure not to reveal my understanding of your whereabouts so blatantly in case you decided to attempt to attack me. Giving me the advantage to surprise you with a planned counter attack."

Whether or not Eira had actually sensed Kaila and was telling the truth was impossible to know, her mind and beliefs were convicted on this being truth now. Any objections to it would fall on deaf ears. "Shall we continue forward to what you seek from me or do you wish to continue exchanging words?" Eira's red eyes glint with a dark desire to win a battle of words but also framing this as Kaila needing her and not the acolyte needing the Knight.

Her own attempt at controlling the situation.

 

[Kaila Irons]

"...riiight" Kaila crossed her arms at the explanation, pretty sure it was all farce. Though it would have been an admittedly solid reasoning if true.

"Shall we continue forward to what you seek from me or do you wish to continue exchanging words?"

"Ah yes, that."

She leaned her back against a bookshelf beside the Acolyte, eyes flicked towards the ceiling as she processed a series of complex emotions into words.

"Loathe as I am to say it... You were right, Eira."

She glanced at her, letting the word hang a moment so the acolyte could savor it, get it out of her system so they could move on.

Then her voice dropped into a conspiratorial whisper.

"About my memories... someone snagged a file before the Saaraishash could erase it. Someone showed me, I saw footage... damning footage that I was never meant to see. Proof that the story i'd been given all those years ago was a lie. Someone must have tampered with my memory, alchemy or a- a surgery or something"

Her gaze returned to the ceiling, her lip curling bitterly as the events were still quite fresh on her mind.

"...just thought you'd want to know"



Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Outfit: Casual
Tag: Kaila Irons

Eira shrugged, she did not care whether Kaila believed her or not, she now saw it as truth and that was all she cared about.

When Kaila paused before stating the purpose of the meeting, Eira looked over to the Sith Knight. Eventually it came out, that Eira had been correct on their previous discussion. It caused her lips to smirk and she couldn't stop the joys of this victory wash over her. "Well, of course I am. I am just surprised you didn't even think it a possibility. Especially since you are a Sith Knight."

Throwing perhaps a little shade towards Kaila.

The whisper of everything showed that Kaila was afraid of others finding out about this and Eira nodded her head, she knew when best to keep her lips sealed. Not for Kaila's safety but for her own. However, there was something she did not believe from Kaila. The idea that this was all she wanted to speak to Eira about. That she was merely here to discuss the fact that Eira had been correct on something.

No, that seemed too easy. "I don't believe you wished to see me, merely to share that fact. You could have informed me of this with telepathy or something else." Eira took a step closer. She was a couple inches shorter than Kaila but she acted the opposite was true. Placing her hand against the wall by Kaila's head, Eira moved in very close, intimately close.

"I think you wanted to see me again. I think you find me attractive, that you want to admire me." Eira whispered in a dark tease, "which I think is cute."

 

[Kaila Irons]

"I don't believe you wished to see me, merely to share that fact. You could have informed me of this with telepathy or something else."

Kaila rolled eyes initially. Eira was right of course, she had ulterior motives, but by the fanged god was she smug for an acolyte. She supposed that was the difference between Kainites and... whatever the hell these mainland sith were, they didn't have humility beaten into them as she had. Then again, looking at that scar, maybe she already had, and there was just no curing Eira.

But then things took an unexpected turn.

Eira neared dangerously close, locking Kaila to the wall such that she'd have to physically move the young woman she wished to leave. Her fingers wrapped tightly around her lightsaber on instinct, never quite sure which movements to meet with violence and which to meet with curiosity when it came to sith these days. She'd already suffered one assassination attempt, after all.

"I think you wanted to see me again. I think you find me attractive, that you want to admire me." Eira whispered in a dark tease, "which I think is cute."

Her eyes narrowed, thumb still tracing the lock on her saber's sheath as she looked Eira in the eye. Funny, she'd never realized just how vibrantly red they were.

"Are you... mad?" Never mind that, This was Eira she was talking about.

"I am a Dark Lord of the Eleventh Sith Empire."

She needed to stay focused.

"A governor, a Kainite governor"

Never mind the fact that she begrudgingly respected her cleverness.

"Do you know what they'd say if I were to gallivant around with a student?"

Even if she hated that smug attitude.



Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Outfit: Casual
Tag: Kaila Irons

She cocked an eyebrow when Kaila asked if she was mad. Insanity was kind of a given amongst the Sith but there was a few things that were stated. All factual but Eira continued to smirk as she leaned in and whispered into the ear of the Sith Knight.

"True. But you never denied my claim to find me attractive." Eira chuckled teasingly as she shifted a little back to look Kaila in the eye.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I might be a student. But I was the only one to suggest to you that your lack of memories were due to being wiped away. No other Knight or Master suggested that idea to you before me." Eira pointed out, "so you can try pulling rank all you want but I gave you something no one you know could."

Eira smirked again, she was proud of this being a moment of her being in charge and she was not letting Kaila think she could try and take it away with meaningless ranks. "Perhaps you assumed that there was other things I could do that others could not, would not." She gave a seductive wink with her smirk before pulling back.

"Choice is yours."

 

[Kaila Irons]

Her heart skipped a beat as Eira leaned in to whisper, the acolyte's breath warm against her ear. She was right again, of course, Kaila had not in fact denied the claim. While she hadn't thought much of it in the past, it was difficult to ignore now the more she thought about it, and it was far too late to argue.

So she didn't.

She sat there in utter bloody silence as Eira pulled back just enough to make eye contact, still lingering much too close.

"I might be a student. But I was the only one to suggest to you that your lack of memories were due to being wiped away. No other Knight or Master suggested that idea to you before me." Eira pointed out, "so you can try pulling rank all you want but I gave you something no one you know could."

"I-" She exhaled sharply, nearly growling in frustration despite releasing the grip on her lightsaber.

"I didn't mean it like that, I just... I've a reputation to uphold, Eira. I don't think my master would appreciate any of this"


When Eira pulled away it was as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her chest, like she could finally breath again. The little fiend had quickly turned this whole plan on it's head, everything had fallen apart in moments. The young darth was a mess, running gloved fingers over her scalp and through her golden hair, everything having happened so fast that there was no time to even think about where it had all gone wrong.

But worst of all? Loathe as she was to admit it, the sudden rush was... exciting, in a way.

"Perhaps you assumed that there was other things I could do that others could not, would not." She gave a seductive wink with her smirk before pulling back.

"Choice is yours."

"And... and what choice is that, exactly?"

What the hell was she up to now? In what way did Eira plan to use her own plan against her now?

"What is that you want from me? Obviously you plan to get something out of this"



Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Outfit: Casual
Tag: Kaila Irons

The silence spoke sentences to Eira, she knew she was tapping all the right areas. Ensuring she was maintaining the direction and flow of conversation. The young sorcerer tapped her fingers against the wall as a coy smile played on her full lips.

"I thought you hated your master? Wanted to defy him?" That had been a major take away that Eira had from their previous conversation. "An affair with could be thrilling in that regard." She giggled.

Watching Kaila deal with herself being flustered was exciting to see. It demonstrated that Eira still held her allure, the ability to incite desire and passion into others.

"You know the choices, whether we take this further or we don't." Eira seemed a little disappointed she had to explain that part.

When confronted about getting something out of this, the truth was not the first thought that came to her mind. Instead, it was the natural lie that wasn't too blatant but offered enough to be convincing. "I want you. I want to feel able to release some tension from all this training. I want to reach pleasures instead of disappointment all of the males have provided me so far."

 

[Kaila Irons]

Her lips pursed but she could not make a sound. Despite Kaila's better judgement, Eira was hitting the correct buttons to sway the young darth, and even though she knew on some level that there were surely other motives at play, a part of her agreed with and wanted this.

"I can't help thinking there's more to it then that, but... I suppose neither of us have had much luck with men, have we?" she chuckled shyly.

Admittedly there was Saryn, but they often took a more feminine approach to life when it suited them, which was most days anyway. Then again, with how many secrets she was forced to keep from them, she could never quite shake the feeling that their relationship was not so healthy. It was like being two people; Darth Anathemous, the dutiful wife and loyal Kainite, and Kaila Solus, the scheming traitor working herself to the bone to remain hidden. To remain... free.

And it was in this moment spent thinking back on it all that she realized just how bad it had gotten.

There was a look of melancholy about her as she looked up at Eira, gently tracing her thumb across the young woman's hand against the wall.

"I do find you attractive, but I'm tired of sharing chambers for but a night, only to leave by morning as if nothing happened. And yet, I could never ask anyone to risk living the life I do. Carnifex could just as easily demand your head as mine if I'm discovered."

"I'm tired of being alone, Eira" she averted her gaze

"But I am alone for a reason. Not even my fiancé knows the truth, I could never risk forcing him to choose between my master and I, it'd break his poor little heart... And you, you know far more, you'd be at risk of breaking far more than a heart"



Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Outfit: Casual
Tag: Kaila Irons

Eira smirked and shrugged her shoulders, she looked bemused with the conversation on the prowess of the male Sith. Apparently it was lacking for others and not just herself. Which tickled her but she cocked an eyebrow, "says the one marrying a man. Believe you are having better luck than you give credit for." Eira teased.

Watching the tortured look of Kaila as she struggled with her many thoughts that turned into a gentle caress of her hand with Kaila's thumb. Eira stepped closer once again, intimately close to make sure that the darth could not flee her.

Moving her hand from the wall, she moved and placed a finger on Kaila's lips, Eira's eyelids grew heavy. She made herself look more teasing, more seductive in the moment. "You think too much, Kaila." Eira whispered softly, "I do not think Carnifex would demand my head over a romance and risk causing offense to House Talon."

While Eira knew the protection she had under House Talon due to her mentor being Iuuna, there would be limitations and lines she could not cross. However, she doubted Carnifex would care that deeply about this.

She grinned and her hand shifted from the singular finger placed on Kaila's lips to sliding slowly around the darth's throat. "I am not a soft boy like your fiancèe," she did not say soft in a degrading way, from what Kaila had given information on this person, he sounded soft to her. "Perhaps you need me to reassure you that I can handle myself?"

Eira leans in and kissed Kaila's ear. Demonstrating how bold and daring she was willing to be.

 

[Kaila Irons]

"says the one marrying a man. Believe you are having better luck than you give credit for." Eira teased.

"It's a little more complicated then that. Saryn —Darth Xyrah, Is genderfluid. Neither man nor woman unless it suits their fancy at the time. Body swapping between the two, sometimes wife, others, husband. To us it's quite natural, I just don't speak of it much outside our home, some can be strangely ignorant about otherwise every day things. Like our culturally Epicanthix marriage, we're allowed to take additional lovers. People always seem shocked or reviled by the notion, it's a headache-" She shrugged.

But then Eira stepped closer, and her distant attention was thrust into the present, then gently pulled along as Kaila's eyes followed her finger until it reached her own delicately soft, full lips. Then her eyes flicked upward in surprise, realizing by the look in Eira's own that she looked as if she might lean in at any moment, even as she explained away Kaila's worries.

Perhaps the acolyte was right, she'd been overthinking this, as Xyrah had proven once before.

Her master inspired such a deep seeded fear, she was practically paranoid. Running on fumes trying to escape when she could be indulging herself in the comforts right in front of her. She needed this... And for all the danger she may or may not even represent, Eira was offering, no, pushing it right into her arms.

Eira dragged her finger downward, tugging at the soft underside of her lip before moving on, causing it to flick back in place before she would lift her chin, feeling soft but commanding fingers coil around her throat. She swallowed at their touch, knowing this was the closest she had ever let anyone come without maintaining complete control over the situation in her own favor. And now this acolyte, this mere student, had her by the throat and despite every primal instinct in her tired body screaming at her to fight it, to be wary of the sith's manipulation, to remember all the times her fellow apprentices had tried to use her or implant a false sense of security just as Eira was now, just as they had betrayed her or they themselves been betrayed at the end of her blade until only Kaila remained, she let her in despite it all. She surrendered to her touch.

"I am not a soft boy like your fiancèe," she did not say soft in a degrading way, from what Kaila had given information on this person, he sounded soft to her. "Perhaps you need me to reassure you that I can handle myself?"

She inhaled shakily, lip quivering with each stutter as she felt Eria's soft lips against her ear. Her hand instinctively found the woman's waist and she shut her eyes, realizing that it was already over, that Eira had already won.

She... was hers.



Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Outfit: Casual
Tag: Kaila Irons

"Well, I am polygamous so I was never seeking something exclusive." Eira admitted, revealing a little on her interests and desires in this intimate moment. If only to sate the nerves of Kaila and reassure the darth that Eira was wanting to steal her away.

All she might do is nudge herself a higher priority in the list of partners. But that was something she was willing to slowly work on and keep a secret.

"Though I will say, the naughty ideas of causing you to have an affair have been severely diminished." Eira teased with a soft giggle, hinting at deeper ideas but not sharing what they were. Not yet.

With her fingers wrapped around her throat, Eira could feel the racing heartbeat of desire in Kaila. It convinced her that this was definitely going to go as far as she wanted to it to. Even though Kaila was older, more experienced in life and was definitely stronger in all aspects, Eira was in control and she squeezed her hand around the throat a little, just to enjoy that control.

Her lips trailed the sculptured jawline until Eira allowed her plump, full lips crush against Kaila's. Her other hand placed on Kaila's full thigh and lifting the other woman's leg up.

 

[Kaila Irons]

"Though I will say, the naughty ideas of causing you to have an affair have been severely diminished."

"Hm, how trustworthy-"

Her retort was silenced by a subtle increase of pressure around her soft throat, not enough to harm, but enough to send a message about who was in control for the moment. But Eira would find no argument as she leaned back against the wall, lips pursed and eagerly awaiting as the acolyte's own gently traced up her sharp jawline before greedily seizing her soft, full lips. She participated eagerly as they met, both hands rising to caress Eira's cheeks in silent permission, no, invitation, to continue with no more words needed.

Then her leg was lifted by her strong but plush thigh despite the unnatural weight given by her metallic bones, and Kaila realized just how far her newfound companion was willing to go if left unchecked.

"...ei-ra"

Her breath hitched as she pulled back, and she grabbed the corner of a nearby shelf for support as her body was lifted slightly.

"Eira, somebody could see us."

In truth she did not wish to stop her, merely redirect the young woman to another room, or perhaps simply confirm Eira's intentions, honestly she wasn't entirely sure anymore, entirely lost in the moment. She hadn't even let go of her yet.



Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Outfit: Casual
Tag: Kaila Irons

Eira ensured that the kiss she gave Kaila was intense, passionate and teasing in nature. Demonstrating the skills her tongue held and what abilities it had, an introduction to what could be explored between them at a later date.

Feeling the unnatural weight of the thigh, it gave an indication that Kaila had enhancements that she was not currently aware of. Which made Eira curious to learn more of her new partner. It would be intriguing to see how many secrets and truths that Eira could pull out of her mind, but she would let those thoughts fade to resurface at a later point. A time where they would be more useful to her. Right now, in this moment, Eira focused on their shared desires and hungers.

The hitched breath and whispered cautious as Eira focused on kissing and nipping teasing at the neck of the other Sith, Eira allowed herself to giggle once again. "Hmmm... overly cautious, aren't you. Spontaneous fun is exciting, adds to the thrill. But if you aren't ready to get that dangerous, we can vacate to somewhere more private." Eira whispered deliciously into Kaila's ear, her accent deepening into sultry tones.

Her hand allowed Kaila's leg to slowly drop down, giving Kaila a nip on her earlobe teasingly before taking a step back and letting the Sith Knight to guide her towards a new location for them to enjoy each other's company fully.