The Dread of Something After Death...

[Yasha Cadera]

The urge to rise was overcome by the swelling of pain in Yasha’s lower body. Slippery wood met Yasha’s hands and beskar’gam as she tumbled back down. [member="Kaden Mantis"]’s boots thunk, thunk, thunked on the deck. Yasha was snatched into his arms, and hissed in an ache she didn’t want him to see. Had this been why Mama got so quiet most days?

“Beat it... every one you saw was made by someone who tried to beat it. You can’t win. We’re in the Netherworld, there are very few battles we can win.” Yasha coughed, crouching down on her knees and elbows. She pulled her helmet off and spat bloody sputum over the side into the water. Her coughs were ragged and every part of her shook. “All we can do is wait in Sanctuary until the herd moves on... unless...”

Every speck of blood, every cauterize lump [member="Shia Kryze"] caused with the darksaber began to wriggle and crawl, metamorphosing into another beast of equal size. Many a warrior attempted to fight the creature for an eternity. Many probably still were, elsewhere through the expanse.

Vision blurring, Yasha collapsed into Kaden’s side. She gripped her stomach with both hands, panting in an attempt to set herself right. To get up and walk. Shia came rocketing in, the valkyrie from the heavens. Shia looked so cool.

Yasha wished she could look that cool. Instead, all the girl could do was slide against the wall and push up with her feet, until she rested half on Kaden, half on the wall.

“Shia... the water. We can kill them in the water... just don’t fall in… it’s not actually water… bh— but they won’t come to Sanctuary… we can rest up, plan our angles of-ang.. we can…” Yasha gulped and staggered back to the side of the dock, and was sick over the side. Holding onto the dock’s railing with slipping fingers, by the time Yasha was finished, she could neither face the pair of friends who joined her, nor could she stand straight and tall.

She’d failed them by panicking in the Rue. She’d failed them by letting her legs buckle on the road. She’d failed them by running to hide in safety, like a child. Where was her courage? Where was her deathglare and where was Yasha’s indomitable will?

Her legs burned. Her body shook. Her eyes stared at the wooden planks by the door. “… we can plan our attack. There’s food, water, place to sleep inside. It’s as close to safety as we’re going to get… we can make a plan. I’ll map out what I know of the road and…”

Her voice threaded weaker and weaker, it wasn’t brave to need a place to hide. It wasn’t power to duck one’s head… Yasha felt neither brave nor powerful. The girl could not admit that she wanted to curl up and hide, like Mama. Yasha couldn’t admit her body had already reached its’ limit.

She refused to look either of them in their faces. “… last time my Rue was losing Mama… just kep-kept tugging the blanket. She kept dying and... Didn’t get visions of… it wasn’t… the Rue isn’t real.”

Yet her legs trembled. Her beskar’gam was stained with her own blood. “Regroup then… then we’ll slaughter them over the water.”

Hand on the door, she pushed it open and went inside to a homely, but stark place, with a kitchen stocked with food, water, a table and chairs to sit at, and two bedrooms off to the side.

 

[Kaden Farr]

Yasha was unsure of herself. Perhaps no one else would have noticed, but not Kaden... not Yasha's Kaden. They still did not know what that promise meant. They did not know how connected this experience was going to make them, or how much it already had. Kaden couldn't get the images out of his mind. If he were honest he didn't regret using that grenade. All he could think about was what he had seen. What Yasha had to do to...

Kaden wrapped another layer of beskar around his heart. He did not want to become the unfeeling man that Preliat was, but they had to survive. They had to get past this Netherworld. Yasha tried to tell him, tried to warn him that it could not be beaten, the this beast they faced now could not be beaten, but Kaden ignored it. As long as Yasha was there, as long as Shia was with them, they would be fine. Didn't Yasha know this time would be different than last time. She had her Kaden.

"Where is Sanctuary Yasha... we need to get there."

Kaden agreed with her.

They were not in the mindset to fight and win. Perhaps [member="Shia Kryze"] was, but Kaden and Yasha were not. The scars which had manifested on their bodies might have faded, but the torture was still playing over and over again in their minds. Kaden couldn't stare down a beast when his only concern was Yasha. He didn't ever want her out of his sight every again. He failed. He didn't get to her in time. Even when he had... he couldn't...

"Yasha... I'm sorry... I failed... I..."

He broke. Suddenly quiet the only thing to tell Yasha something was wrong were the tears which began to stain his cheeks.

[member="Yasha Mantis"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“This is it, Kaden.” Yasha let one hand continue to hold her stomach as she walked into the simple wooden house. “This is the safest place in the Netherworld. Sanctuary… closest we’ll get…”

Her voice died in her throat. Once inside, Yasha unsealed her armour’s maglock and the plates of beskar clanked to the wooden floor. The sound of waves lapped against old wood, entreating the trio to find some form of security inside. The entire world was grey, aged and homely. Outside, the roiling horde of demonic fire creatures continued to shriek and bark and roar. The waves lapping on the building, the boat click-clacking against the dock began to slowly, ever slowly predominate.

Against all, but a thin childish voice. ​

​

“Mooooommy.”​

​

“Moooooooooommmyyyyyy.”​

​

“Mooommyy Eli need Mommy… Moooooooommy.” ​

Red stained Yasha’s armourweave. She pulled it off her body and hucked it into the bathroom, standing in the small house in her tank and long thermal trouser underlay. There were rips in the tank at her stomach. A thin line of pink scars.

It both happened and did not happen. I was and was not real.

“Just a nightmare, baby… Mama just had a nightmare.” Aditya’s voice again, silking into Yasha’s memory with the way her back would curl into herself, how tightly Aditya would hold her daughter to her chest.

Stepping out of her boots, Yasha hit the maglock on Kaden’s armour and watched it fall. “Just a nightmare, c’yare… it was just a nightmare.”

Pulling Kaden down onto the couch, Yasha wrapped her arms around his neck and held so tight not even a nightmare of the Netherworld could pull them apart.

“Mooooooommy” The child beyond the horde. Yasha winced with a whimper.

“It was a dream, c’yare… it was a dream… it…” Yasha's voice dimmed. Her eyes focussed on the air around them, as the tiny voice continued to call.

 

[Shia Kryze]

Shia looked at Kaden and Yasha, then without more than a nod quietly went to 'check inventory' - or as we like to call it, resting her head quietly against a wall until the shakes went away. No room for combat drugs or detox here, just the old fashioned practice of breathing until the body would calm.

She could hear the voice, she had a damn good idea what that voice was, but it wasn't here for her and... she had to be strong, they might have grown up quickly. But it took life experience to cope with things like hell. And for all that Yasha had that life experience, she was afraid.

Which made the startled scream coming from the side room all the more shocking to her and to Kaden and Yasha, as Shia backed out into the main room, then lowered her blaster from where it was aimed at a far window.

"Do... creepy robed ladies normally peer in through the... forget I asked." She swallowed, when in doubt, act. Any action beats inaction. "Okay vod, emotion time is over for five minutes. Weapons and ammo check please. Kaden, can you inventory what supplies we have. Yasha. Yasha! I need you to explain precisely why we're here this time, and what your plan is - other than following a creepy old dar'manda... or maybe Mando'ade with a serious case of the freaky powers."

Keep them talking, because people can't focus on two things at once, sitting here in silence while ghostly children who died in the damn womb wail at the door won't help anyone. Strangely, this was like a very extreme version of survival training.

Very. Very extreme. Shia could feel her nerves fraying. Worse, she could see the concerned face of the pale woman staring at her from that little skiff in the water. Nope, sanity was not an outcome from this. Survival was. But then again, wasn't that the Mandalorian creed? Survive, whatever the odds?

[member="Yasha Mantis"] [member="Kaden Mantis"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

“GO AWAY PHYLLIS! Nobody wants you here!! ... Yeah, yeah and your Mum!” An abrasive voice shouted to the woman on the skiff, as the sound of shoes pounded on the dock. The door of Sanctuary swung open.

“Good sweet bippy, you shriek for a Mando.”

The pale faced woman appeared at the door of Sanctuary, and folded her arms across her chest. “Dear lawrds in Coruscant’s seedy underbelly, you were way too easy to see comin’ Yasha Ghada Nussyn Fitz-Kierke Mantis! Git off that damn boy’s lap and stand up! Shoulders back, chin up! Posture!”

Aditya Mantis strode into the room and grabbed Yasha by her ear, pulling her up and setting her daughter to rights. “Who the feth are you two, anyhow? Part of the ‘blow shebs up’ brigade!? Sweet pea, I’ve been trackin’ you since the Rue, and it ain’t gon’ be long before there’s a legion of crawlin’ death mouths makin’ in on the fire demons. One of ya screams louder than a banshee walkin’ on a spider in her slipper. Gawds above, below and between…”

[member="Preliat Mantis"]’ wife rolled her eyes and shrugged at [member="Shia Kryze"]. “And you! Ammo check, in the Netherworld! You’re an eager one… why the frick are you here?” She stared at her gobsmacked daughter’s frozen face and slapped it. “Yasha!”

Slap. “Why!”

Slap. “Are!”

Slap. Grab of Yasha’s chin, forcing the girl to look her mother in the eye. “You! HERE!? Stand up straight! GAWD is that armour!? Who the kark gave you armour, young lady?! You’re supposed to be dancing in the ballet on Atrisia, not romping around with visions of Zambranos in your head! Zambranos! Honest to Luke, Leia, Han and the other ones.”

Whirling around on [member="Kaden Mantis"], Aditya stuck her finger in his face. “And you!! Git your grubby Mando hands off my daughter! Grenade… a grenade! Well, it was inventive, I will give you that. Glory be…. oh come on stop blubbering you sissy! Are those tears? Are you crying, Yasha? Oh for the… will wonders never cease. Atrisia to Yasha Mantis! Blubberin’ ain’t gettin’ you a dang thing, young lady! Gawds, what a weak little crybaby. Is that blood on … on armourweave!? Aw if that don’t beat all. Go clean yourself up. Standin' there blubberin' an' embarassing y'self in front of a couple honest t'goodness Mandalorians. Weak-sauce, Yash! Weak. Sauce! Run along!”

 

[Kaden Farr]

The shack was Sanctuary... great.

There was no time to voice his opinion. Yasha lost her armor, rid Kaden of his, and had them both in there armorweave. Kaden suddenly felt conscious about it. He had never been that bare with Yasha before, and after what he had just witnessed... Kaden gulped as they found themselves on the couch, but being with Yasha was the only thing about the place that felt right. Kaden continued to line his heart with beskar plating. It was the only way he could survive this place. He knew it, so despite whatever it would cost him later, Kaden did it.

Someone busted through the door. Kaden looked up, and was getting yelled at right away. It was... It was... it couldn't be...

Kaden stood up and dropped Yasha right onto her butt. The scene was like any film where two teenagers got caught in a compromised position by their parents. The only difference... it had just happened.

Aditya was scary. He wanted to run away, but he also wanted to attack her for slapping Yasha.

He had to say something... He had to stand up to her. It was a dumb thought, and it was even dumber to say what he was thinking.

"Your daughter... my Yasha... I've saved her more times than I care to count because I have to. I made a promise because Preliat is stimmed out of shebs the entire time.... didn't even take her home after she got hurt... I had to... I had to..."

Kaden immediately regretted his tone, and moved behind [member="Shia Kryze"].

"No disrespect and all... but... Yasha doesn't go anywhere with out me... I made a promise..."

[member="Yasha Mantis"] [member="Aditya Mantis"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

Why were they in the Netherworld? Yasha stared at the floor and let her hands go limp on her shivering knees. “Ra Vizsla was dead, Shia… He came back from the dead and I needed to know how he did it… if it had been the Manda like he claimed. This burden is mine, y-you should…”

The door swung open, and [member="Aditya Mantis"] descended like a hurricane on the soggy land of a bog-town. Yasha yelped at [member="Kaden Mantis"] dropping her. She staggered up only as Aditya grabbed her by the ear.

Yasha shrieked and shut her mouth, righting herself and standing with the perfect posture of the ballerina, fingertips touching. Posed like a dancer in stillness, Yasha took each of the slaps with the stature of a marble sculpture.

“Mama…” Yasha tried to intersect, but one glare from Aditya and Yasha sucked in a breath and held it.

“But Mama…” Another glare. More silence coating Yasha’s response. Yasha sniffled and fought with red brimmed eyes. She longed to throw her arms onto her mother, to bury her head in Aditya’s chest and never let go.

“Your Yasha!? Aw my lawrd, lady and aunt bippy, you ain’t havin’ no intimate feelings towards a gall darned trigger-boy are you!?” Aditya rounded on Yasha and the girl gasped, shaking her head.

“No! No Ma’am! No! Yes, but… he’s my best friend, Mama! Uncle [member="Silas Mantis"] a-ah… took him in and… pardon me, Mama.” Yasha stared at Shia, blank-faced and terrified. She fled from the room, into the bathroom and took her armourweave with her. Once in the bathroom, she leaned against the door, splashed some water on her face and bit her lip until she tasted copper.

The mirror was duty, a film of aged lack of use dimming the portrait of a girl with pouting, red lips and dried blood crackling upon her skin and clothing.

Yasha scrubbed her skin and clothing clean until it made the beds of her nails bleed. Her skin… why wasn’t her skin clean? Why did it feel like ants ate at her pores every second? Mama found them, she’d tracked them since the Gate…

… since the Gate.

Kaden defended her, if he was lucky by the time she got out of the bathroom, Kaden wouldn’t be dead. Slipping back into her under layer and armourweave, trembling hands braided her hair back up atop her head. Yasha came back out to present herself in perfect posture to her mother.

“Gosh darn, Yash. What a mess! Looks like your hair was done by a bantha with the shakes. Turn around… and if you don’t start tellin’ these people why you pitched them into their inevitable deaths in five seconds or less, I will personally feed you to the grimace vines!”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Yasha turned, another move of a dancer, and stood with her hands positioned for ballet. Aditya raked her hands through Yasha’s hair, and began to braid it.

“Mand’alor the Undying came back to life and nobody knows how. He didn't even know… but I could tell he’d been here, so on my Verd’goten, I picked Dathomir… so we could challenge the Gate. I met [member="Darth Carnifex"] above Ithor and he was dangerously pleasant, and he felt like we do, Mama… he felt like he’d been here… just like Ra, so I thought maybe the answer was here. Daddy tries to be here for me, but… Mama, Daddy’s broken and I'm Ra’s Ward and I’ve been learning… so if anyone was going to go into the Netherworld to find out what happened, it had to be me… and Kaden was telling the truth, Mama… we don’t go anywhere without each other… and Shia… Shia taught me how to ride a bes’uliik! Shia’s the best warrior on Mandalore! She knows the most about the Mando’ade, too… so Baiko had me learning from her… that’s it, Ma’am… I’m here to find out what happened to Ra, and [member="Ember Rekali"] came out of the Gate, but before he told me what happened, he disappeared and I know he’s in here, so I have to find him. I have to… Mandalore needs us to.”

 

[Shia Kryze]

"Yeah, because you didn't scream and suffer when you first got here. Yasha's told me all about it, so lay off, lady."

Shia barks back automatically, matching tone for tone without a single bit of rancor, and walking up to none too gently poke the ghost, hard.

"Huh. If you are a vision you're collective. Feth it, you pass. Turn out to be some creepy vision of Yasha's buir and there will be words. Turn out to be some Sith - or Ember Rekali - masquerading as her, and I swear I will hunt you to the ends of this universe and the next and exact a legendary level of vengance, clear? Good."

A voice of stability is a voice of stability, and with some degree of positional dominance established, things can settle a little. Shia turns away. Mandalorians deal pretty well with random people acting parental towards them, so Shia defaults to the mode she knows best - older sister. She's pretty damn good at it. Remember, Aunt Vivi had countless grand children. Shia has a lot people in her family younger than her.

"Everything Yasha just said, except she's karking stupid and leapt in here without telling anyone why, and..." Shia glances back and her tone softens. "She's my vode, and I promised I'd follow her here if we had to - which was a stupid thing to say to a thirteen year old, I know. But that's me, Shia Kryze, last of the Protectors, noble before sensible. Ask either of them."

[member="Yasha Mantis"] [member="Kaden Mantis"] [member="Aditya Mantis"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

“Oh I fully admit I was a lunatic screaming at the weather when I got here. That’s beside the point. You’ve got a herd of fire demons on one side and gaping maws on the other honey, excuse you!” Aditya swatted [member="Shia Kryze"]’s hand away, staring the lady down with black and red eyes.

“Is she for real? Did she... are you for real? Oh Yash, I am sooooo sorry... your Daddy left you with aaaawwesome people... listen toots. You can protect Yasha all you like. Just not from me. I’m her gall derned mother. And I am SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU for coming back here, young lady! Knuckle push ups! 300! Now!!” Aditya clapped her hands and Yasha dropped to the floor, armour and all, and somehow began to drive herself to do her mother’s bidding.

“Well! You can beside yourself to an early grave, child! Git that look off your dang face.” Aditya huffed and sat on the table, her mind reeling. This, now this was hell. Her daughter being here was hell.

“Who the logs, match and tinder pile is Ra Vizsla? Mand’alor the what? The undying?! Hah! Death is inevitable, little ones. You think it ain’t you got lots comin’. Well that’s fine. Great! My daughter, my only living child, stomps on the gift of life her mother gave her and wham! Bam! Back into the Netherworld! And what for? Some stuffy old dog’s death and resurrection.” Aditya flopped her arms back against her thighs and tsked. “Why were you still on Mandalore? I gave Baiko strict instructions to kidnap you off that planet if she had to. You were never supposed to see Mandalore again. Where was she in this whole mess? Sipping tea and sulking? Doing a fan dance? Go home, Yasha. And don’t you DARE get so sloppy, lookit those shaking legs! Technique! You’re right Shia. Yasha is karking stupid. You’re good to be here I just wish you weren’t. So Rekali, huh? You don’t go light Yash. He’s serious business here. Kind of man who takes what he wants and does nothing outside his own sense of plan... if you whimper one more time Yash I will throw you outside.”

 

[Shia Kryze]

"Wow. You are a collossal terror to your daughter, no wonder she's grown up the way she has. Manda, with you for a mother, that wreck for a father and Ra the karking Undying for surrogate father, it's a wonder she's not turned out more screwed up."

Shia turns and walks away to the window.

"And what Baiko is doing is the best she can in circumstances that drive her nearly insane, so don't snap at her too while she's not here to defend herself - thank non-existent gods - but your daughter is Mandalorian now, not some half-Epicanthix Atrisian knock off and that means some damn adjustment. Now I'm really karking sorry that your dead - I'm even more sorry that your daughter is back here because of the Old Witch. But would you for one moment stop karking swearing and making your daughter do pressups just because your pissed off at the world for dealing you a cruddy sabbac hand? Because I assure you it's dealt her a worse one..." Shia stabs a finger at Yasha. "... they all expect her to be Mand'alor. She's practically Cuir Rekr - are you Cuir Rekr? It doesn't matter, anyway. They're putting the weight of the Mandalorians on her already, when a bunch of idiots with less braincells than a Rancor went and wrecked half my - our - culture."

 

[Kaden Farr]

”Shia, that’s enough,” Kaden said as she kept tearing in to [member="Aditya Mantis"]. ”Look around, we are in hell. I just had to watch... I had to...” his eyes went to Yasha and he closed his mouth. No, she couldn’t know he’d seen it all. That would be too much for her.

Kaden walked over to Aditya. He didn’t know why, but he tried to put his arms around her. Her voice, it was the same one that had spoken to him when he had to help save Yasha. She had told Kaden what he needed to do to keep his Yasha alive. Aditya has saved Si’buir.

”You helped me save her... you helped us save Si’buir. Don’t do this now, not now please. Be mean later. Right now Yasha needs you. Go talk to her in private. Things happened in the Rue... awful things. She needs her mother, not a task master.”

Kaden kept his tone soft. He walked over to [member="Yasha Mantis"] and picked her up. 300 knuckle push ups were too many not now.

*“Tuu komae... mus muv... rosar...” Kaden said to Yasha in broken Epicant. [member="Baiko no Kaho"] had been teaching Kaden Yasha’s language, at least making him learn it. She didn’t speak it, he thought. Aditya would, but Kaden didn’t care. This was about keeping Yasha safe, getting her mind off the bloody knuckles. He didn’t understand why Aditya was doing this. One day he would, but not today.

Kaden took Yasha to the couch.

”We need to get be answers Yasha, then we need to leave. I promised Silas we would be back, and I intend on keeping it.”

[member="Shia Kryze"]


*”Too many... not now... later...”

 

[Ginnie Dib]

Aditya’s face quivered as [member="Kaden Mantis"] swooped in to hug her. “Kid, I don’t even know y-you met my AI? What… what happened on Mandalore that was bad enough to trigger my AI!?” Shoved off the table by her own gumption, the ghost put her hands on both of Kaden’s shoulders and pushed. “Kid, what happened!? That AI wasn’t meant to trigger unless some real kark hit the fan.”

Scanning between Shia and Kaden, Aditya sat back down on the table and deflated. “I’m adopted into Atrisian society. Yasha’s full blood Panathan & Ordo Epicanthix. Baiko was meant to take her off Mandalore by any means necessary, and return her to my noble seat in Atrisia, or barring that, return to Panatha, where she’d be sworn into the service of Nussyn, my Patron Goddess… she was never meant to be Mand’alor, or a what? Cweer wreck? Sounds like a funky accident. My kid… they want my kid to be the one ruler of the Mandalorians? Gee, someone goofed… h-hey! I didn’t tell her to stop, boy!”

Aditya rocked back to her feet as Kaden dipped down and carried Yasha over to the couch. “You speak Epicant?”

Taken aback more by the sight of a teenaged boy carrying her daughter, Aditya eyed the boy with narrowed lids. Sniffing out of her nostrils, Aditya crouched beside the couch and pushed Kaden away from Yasha, taking her daughter’s chin in her hand. “Yay ka mad nomev. Pomev er ximiodu i'ay. Yay ka mad hlioq ayd. Flioqemb ayd er sav omk i'ay oli uebu. Yay ka mad vli'. Wodil er loli. Yay ka mad viin. Naeri er o Diodu Kmiss. Yay ka mad hebud. Yay ueki. Yay hemk i'ayl omrvilr. Yay siozi. Tuiri dva oli uili hal i'ay, omk eh i'ay ka mad qiin ed dabiduil, duii' vess kei uili, hal i'ay. Glav yn, Yoru. Na uallal i'ay uozi imkylik er valri duom voyremb rapiami isri’r nlizimdoxsi kiodu.”*

She let go of Yasha’s chin, and nodded to Shia, walking into one of the side areas. Aditya whispered, “My kid’s got that ‘shocked as hell’ look in her eyes, and if she sits with it without taking her mind off that pain, she is going to shatter like Preliat groping for another deathstick and bottle of wyrens reserve. You want to help Yasha through this? Keep. Her. Busy. Do not leave her alone with her thoughts. Got too much of her Daddy in her, she will break. I can get you to the Field of Blades, but it’s meaningless if Ember doesn’t want you there, and he is a fickle man. Might take longer than you’d like to break down his whimsy and get that open door. You prepared for that, Protector?”

*“You do not panic. Panic is beneath you. You do not freak out. Freaking out is low and you are high. You do not cry. Water is rare. You do not weep. Noise is a Death Knell. You do not fight. You hide. You find your answers. You leave. These two are here for you, and if you do not keep it together, they will die here, for you. Grow up, Yash. No horror you have endured is worse than causing someone else’s preventable death.”​

 

[Yasha Cadera]

Yasha’s knuckles stung and burned as she dropped to the floor and began to do her push ups. Her body shivered against her, turning traitor against the girl’s will to follow her mother’s orders. Knees crashed to the ground, elbows colliding with the wood floor. Flashes of the Rue shunted across Yasha’s consciousness, sending her mind back to the moments where he held her.

Yasha grit her teeth and grunted. She pushed at the ground to continue her push ups. To escape the threads threatening to lynch her proverbial neck.

“Kaden I can see it… when I stop I can see it… it’s still happening I can see it…” Yasha whimpered, at first trying to fight him off, to get back to her physical exertion. Her legs were jelly. Her knuckles bled and arms shook. Yasha gasped and whimpered again, head slinking against Kaden’s shoulder.

He was warm, his ability to carry her comforting. As Yasha shut her eyes, she reached out with a shaking hand, fingers too clumsy to hold on to his wrist. “Don’t… don’t go. Kade… I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed t’follow m-m-m-”

Aditya took her chin. Yasha hiccuped and her face screwed in a desperate attempt not to cry. She reached for her mother, arms colliding with Aditya’s. “Mama… Mama…”

Aditya spoke the mantras learned after years in the Netherworld. Yasha’s eyes glazed and she slumped down to cling to her knees. She reached for Kaden’s hand. If her Mama wasn’t going to give her what she craved, Yasha realized Kaden always would.

Kaden meant his promise. He’d be her perpetual shadow, the warrior taking care of his huntress.

“Everything hurts.” Yasha whimpered, crying out a single sob she’d tried to hold back, hold in. She dipped her head and tried to shimmy as close to Kaden as she could, reaching for him.

If Mama wouldn’t hold her, Kaden would.

[member="Kaden Mantis"] [member="Shia Kryze"]

 

[Shia Kryze]

Shia tactfully and... actually mildly pointedly ignores Kadan and Yasha, here in the Netherworld there was just enough sting to make her remember all her failures and she did not need that right now, so she focused on the angry - well, no, the very forceful Atrisan woman. She was pretty sure this wasn't what Atrisans were like, or they'd have less problems with Mandalore. But there were some rivalries you just didn't give up and bow down to.

"You died in a nuclear cataclysm that destroyed the planet's biosphere almost beyond saving, brought on by some Mando'ade force users who went mad. After your death, a dead Mandalorian returned to life and instituted what has to be the most karked up example of a facist Mandalorian state, complete with complusory screening and 'curing' of force users. So yes, you might say it's been a bit of a poor year or two. We've gone all Neo-Crusader again, and it's wrecking Mando'ade society."

She lowers her voice and steps closer, glancing over at Yasha.
"As to your daughter, damn right someone goofed. And I suspect I know who's behind it all - as does she, and one day we're going to cast his immortal soul into the depths of the netherworld to show him just how unimmortal he is. But that's... a bit off. No, I'm not prepared, not at all. I wouldn't even go so far to say as I'm ready for any of this. But I was brought up not to expect that luxury, so here I am. I made a really stupid oath I didn't know the depth of - story of my life - and I'll uphold it, because that's what I do. Six simple rules, and family comes first."

She pauses, then backtracks.

"She's not going to Panatha - Kaine would eat her..." She flexes her gauntleted fingers. "... lets not go there. But you never know, maybe I can work with Baiko to forge some unity between Atrisia and Mandalore. It wouldn't be any harder than anything else of my lifelong to do list. She might... benefit from that, it'll take some of the anger out."

[member="Yasha Mantis"] [member="Aditya Mantis"] [member="Kaden Mantis"]

 

[Kaden Farr]

[member="Aditya Mantis"] looked genuinely shocked to learn the AI protocol had kicked in on Yasha’s goggles. It was there to keep her alive. What was Kaden supposed to say? Aditya would know she was taken into battle, she would know.

The truth. It was the only way.

Kaden gulped to generate the courage to tell her what happened. [member="Shia Kryze"] seemed to be ignoring him, his warning about her attitude. Aditya wasn’t going to just let Shia continue. He knew, but didn’t know, the woman. Yasha told so many stories, had shown her videos. Kaden knew she was a killer too.

”Yasha and Silas were fighting as part of Strider Garon’s tal’rekr. Mia Monroe was holding up in MandalMotors. Yasha wanted revenge, I wanted revenge. Silas had her, but the wardroid, the debris... Silas lost his arm and Yasha went falling. When I found her she was talking to the AI and we had to cauterize Si’buir’s arm. The AI helped make a new arm.”

“The final battle a sniper got Yasha. I heard you through the AI... told me how to help her until [member="Gray Raxis"] landed and she was saved by [member="Briika Tor-Munin"]. It was bad, but she lived.”

Aditya looked surprised that he spoke Epicant. He just nodded.

”[member="Baiko no Kaho"] taught me. She took us away to Atrisia just like you wanted, but Preliat became part of the cuir’rekr, he kept doing the stimms and deathsticks. Ra took Yasha in as his ward, and that’s how we wound up back on Mandalore. It’s the truth. Baiko was going to raise us on Atriia. She even tried getting rid of me, but I’m too stubborn. I’m not going to leave your Yasha, never, I promised.”

Kaden returned to Yasha and held her. Her head went to his shoulder and he just covered her ears.

”I know you see it... forget about him. There is only me. Do what Aditya says... stay busy. Heal up then stay busy.”

His eyes looked over to Aditya, then Shia.

”We need to let her sleep.”

[member="Yasha Mantis"]