Evelyn stood at the edge of the woods as her green eyes glanced back down to her wrist comm to ensure she was going at the right direction. Her head slightly turned to watch the sun starting to peek over the horizon.
While she hated the climate on Selen, it had it’s own beauty and in a way, she missed it.
She scoffed under her breath and started to trek into the forest. Selen had brought back memories she doesn’t want. Though, there was a few good that came out of it, especially when she was captain of the Siren Squad and Diy was one of her squad mates.
A few hours later, she heard the sounds of the chopping wood escaping between the trees. The humid wind that shook the leaves could not hide that sound.
Evelyn followed it and came to an opening and saw the abnormally tall Zabrak. Before she said anything, she did a quick scan of the surroundings to map everything in her head.
The hybrid approach to make herself seen, “Mr. Val'teo?”
She suddenly was able to sense the Magik emitting from the gem as her eyes darted down to the bracer before back up to meeting Karran’s.
“Just Karran will do.”
The Sith looked up from his work. He raised the axe in his right hand and lodged the head in the stump by his side.
“My eye is up here.”
He pointed at the single golden brown eye and smiled slightly. The other was sightless and clouded white. His face and chest were more scars and tattoos than unmarked skin. He stepped over to a barrel of fresh water and splashed some over his face to rinse away the sweat before grabbing a loose robe to pull on.
“Come. Join me for tea. Then we may talk.”
Despite the stoic expression, Evelyn felt her cheeks darkened.
Just seeing his scars reminded her of the ones she used to have. Just because it was no longer physically shown, it did not mean she had forgotten what was done to her.
It was rather curious to why he kept his.
“Very well, Mr. Val-,” she stopped herself.
“Mr. Karran,” Evelyn removed her backpack she had brought with her and held it by the strap and ready to follow the giant Zabrak.
He walked slowly but with long strides, as if to savor the walk through the garden. A bouquet of floral scents were carried on a gentle breeze.
“Just Karran. You are friends with Diy, someone whose judgement I trust above almost all others. And I am not your master nor your superior. You owe me no honorifics.”
Evelyn’s jaw tightened. The rage in her was already building.
‘The disrespect-
This wasn’t her past. How was she going to let go of her past if she held tight to the training? She tried to relax but the tension of her body would give it away.
“I will try. Diy was one of the among few I finally got comfortable enough to call her by her first name.”
Karran stiffened. He felt her emotions roll off in waves. He turned over his left shoulder, showing only his blind eye.
“I meant no offense, Lady Anderson. I only meant that you do not owe me any special treatment.”
His right palm rested on the worn, smooth bone that made up the pommel of the lightsaber that rested snugly in its holster at his thigh. He did not think the woman would jump to violence, but he had been wrong before.
Evelyn took in a slow inhale.
“I-” Evelyn stopped herself. She glanced away for a moment before back over to him.
“I apologize, Karran. It is complicated, a piece of my past I am trying to break. If we are to do no honorifics here, then Evelyn is fine.” Her body weight shifted as she was prepared in case he attacked her.
She had been trained by a Sith and it was because of that, her trust in them was low.
“About that tea?” she inquired.
“Very well… Evelyn. I also apologize if I caused any offense.”
Karran continued forward, boots crunching on the gravel path until finally the path widened into a circle with a low table at the center. There was seating for two, although the table could easily seat more. Plush cushions sat on either side of the table while an ornate metal teapot was suspended over a flame in the center.
“Please, take a seat.”
He crossed his legs as he took his own and lifted the teapot from its hook to pour the drinks.
“I assure you, you did not. Different upbringing had me forget that others are not raised as I was.” There was a slight bitter tone towards the end of her sentence.
Evelyn set her bag down by her seat as she knelt down onto the plush. What an odd custom. She can only hope that her kneeling wouldn’t be a problem considering she wasn’t comfortable to cross her legs in a stranger’s presence.
She had to remind herself he was a friend of her friend. While he was pouring the tea, her eyes went back to his bracer.
“It is an anchor, is it not?”
Karran inhaled slowly through his nose before releasing the breath past tensed lips. The gem on the bracer briefly glowed before fading.
“It is. It keeps me…balanced… most of the time.”
He finished filling the first teacup and gently slid it across the table before pouring his own.
“I will answer every question I can. But first, I need to know who you are. Share your story.”
It keeps him balanced? She had questions but sometimes, being quiet or just waiting, was the best choice.
She gently took the teacup and placed it in front of her, trying to determine which tea it was by color, scent, and temperature.
There was a very long silence. Evelyn found herself facing an inner conflict that she didn’t think she would have to face when meeting one of her few friends, friend. Evelyn hated talking about herself. Even when she was in the Siren Squad, she kept things private. Sometimes it was best to leave things at home and leave things at work.
Her story.
Her story was sordid and long. She scoffed under her breath and glanced around to observe more of their surroundings before glancing back to him.
“My stories are chapters that are meant to stay closed. I am not sure exactly what you are asking of me. Perhaps a more precise question, I may be able to.”
The Zabrak finished pouring his cup and set the pot aside. He lifted the cup to his nose and inhaled the curling steam. He exhaled slowly, as if in relief.
“I have been looking forward to this tea all day.”
He smiled.
“You know, sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life’s true delights.”
He took a long, slow sip of the tea.
“You clearly have an interest in the Nightsisters. You do not appear be be a refugee of the Separatist Purge of Dathomir, nor descended from one. But I could be wrong. I can tell for certain you are not a Nightbrother. So… what is your interest in their practices and culture.”
Evelyn glanced back to the tea as she picked it up and took a sip.
Then she felt the effects.
For a moment, she paused. Sedation? No. there was no chemical aftertaste. She’s aware of teas that have relaxing affects such as lavender. It had a floral taste to it but she didn’t detect the lavender. Must be some spices he may had gotten not from Selen. Her knowledge of flora in any other planets besides Selen and Kasiya was non-existence.
She set the cup down and her shoulders had relaxed some. His explanation made sense.
“That is a rather complicated story. When I was young, my parents had promised power, credits, and prestige to a Sith so he trained me. During that training, I was also introduced to a Nightsister of a different coven. She was an Echani and Zabrak hybrid. She was making her own coven. I started to learn the rituals and the Magik. Even better than the Force.”
She sighed as she took another sip.
“Turns out she was just using me, same as my Sith teacher. My Sith teacher found out and killed her. He was not going to lose his benefits in training me. Since then, the memories were locked away by him.”
Evelyn set the teacup back down, “now I have regained the memories, I had been alone in trying to find information. I tried to remember who my Nightsister teacher was. I went back to the planet and was unable to find the coven or any existence of it.”
She then opened her palm as she conjured a small green flame with light blue tint.
“I still am able to use Magik much easier than the Force even the connection are the same but different.”
Karran listened to every word with absolute attention. His one good gold-brown eye never left the woman’s face. He studied her as she spoke. The small creases at the corners of her lips. the way her eyes wrinkled slightly as she spoke about events that must have been truly painful.
He detected no sense of deception in her words. He empathized with her.
“You must understand why I must be…decisive about who I share these journals with. They hold knowledge and wisdom that are very dangerous in the wrong hands. The woman who originally wrote them was…very dangerous in her own right. A good friend, but dangerous.”
He stretched out his right leg and pulled up the loose-fitting pants to show his lower thigh to reveal an old, faded circular scar. He smiled grimly.
“She stabbed me in the leg on Malachor. Left me there while she made off with the artifact we were fighting over.”
He shrugged.
“She sent word that I needed help once she was clear of the system.”
Karran chuckled as he resumed his cross-legged position.
“So I need to know what you plan to do with this knowledge.”
Evelyn’s eyes glanced towards the scar. The woman he mentioned almost sounded like her. For a split moment, she was wondering if she had somehow found into the enemy’s trap. She too, had injured a Sith when they were fighting over an artifact.
But it wasn’t on Malachor.
She hoped that ichor sword hurt when she pierced him with it. Even though he had tried to stop her from using the relic when it affected her. In the end, the hate they had for each other, she was certain next time they meet, one of them would ended up dead.
She had other stronger threats to worry about.
Evelyn found it slightly amusing that she had many scars but they were all removed. So no stories for her to tell.
She took in a slow and deep inhale. Her parents really did succeed what they wanted with her, even though she never wanted it.
She didn’t come here to
There was a moment if she wonder if she should lie to him.
There would be no benefit to doing so. The sheer thought of it had made her suddenly vulnerable. There was a long comfortable silence as Evelyn was just listening to the surroundings and staring into her teacup.
“My family is in danger. The process Anders and I went through to unlock the memories was painful and even now, I am struggling to grasp it all. I am,” she paused.
“I am hoping to find answers and guidance.”
“These are good answers. Protecting your family. Answers and guidance. I am willing to share my resources with you. Provided you will indulge me one small luxury.”
Karran finished his tea.
“Can you fight? I assume the answer is yes. You were educated by both a Sith and a Nightsister. I suppose the real question is, do you enjoy it?”
An expression had finally broke through her stoic appearance as she winced for a moment before going back to her neutral face.
“That is where I question myself. I can fight yes, but as for enjoying it? As of late, I have not. I do wonder of my upbringing of being my parents weapon had some influence on the mentality when I enjoyed it in the past. That feeling has slowly gone away.”
He nodded.
“That is good. Taking joy in conflict is…not an admirable trait. I enjoy it. I do not want others to be like me. I try to use this flaw for the betterment of all. Force-willing I will be the last monster in the galaxy and some hero will come and finally get rid of the final boogeyman.”
He breathed a deep sigh.
“I suppose my true meaning today is to ask if you enjoy a friendly contest of arms. Crossing blades with a friend or acquaintance to gain a better understanding of them?”
Evelyn became quiet as silence fell around them again.
Monsters. The amount of times she had been called that for being cold. Making difficult decisions.
She knew she was difficult to love, her late wife had made that known. Even her current marriage was by a drunken accident and they had decided to see if it worked out.
All because she didn’t want to be alone.
She always wondered if he regretted that decision.
“Very well.”
Karran’s eye focused on the woman. He was not keen at reading people’s emotions and rarely followed their hidden meanings. But he knew body language. Years of training and studying combat had given him that social skill at least.
She was tense, uneasy, and quiet. Like someone stuck in their own mind about whether or not to fight or fly.
“You are troubled.”
Not a question. A statement. A declaration of known fact.
“Why?”
Evelyn’s eye contact hardened when he asked her.
“Perhaps you will find out. Where shall we do this?” She asked as she assumed he didn’t want it to be done here, where he had his table and teacups set up.
The Sith stared at her for a time. He sighed and produced a datapad.
“I will not spar with you if you will not enjoy it.”
He set the datapad on the table and slid it toward her, but did not remove his hand.
“This is a copy of the original. Alaisy wrote it in ancient Sith, as a precaution. I do have a handwritten translation somewhere around here. But this meets the requirements for what you came for. It details everything she knew about the Nightsisters, Dathomir, their magik, the ichor, and the rituals. Including the one I went through.”
He shifted from sitting cross-legged to a more formal position on his knees, his hands palm-down on his thighs.
There was a tint of annoyance.
“I said very well. I expect a spar from you. I am aware that sparring is necessary. It keeps my skills sharp and it will help me take care of the threats that is after my family.”
Evelyn stood up and drew her sword from her sheath. Her Ichor sword. A small amount of green vines covered the blade.
In a fast non-threatening movement, she placed the tip of the blade underneath his chin, realizing his size would be a challenge for her.
Good.
“Shall we dance?”
The Sith smiled and leaned forward, pressing his throat to the blade as he rose to his feet.
“Follow me, please.”
He led the woman from the garden toward the courtyard near the house where a simple ring of smooth, black, polished stones circled a ring of dirt, packed hard by years of footsteps.
“One or two?”
Evelyn made a small movement to be sure her blade didn’t spill any blood even when he pressed his skin against it.
She loosen her gripped on the hilt but kept it firm while following him. She glanced at the polished stones and noticed the ring of the dirt.
The hybrid kept her stoic expression as she made eye contact with Karran.
“I will need you to elaborate to what is behind your question before I answer.”
Karrans right right hand moved slowly to the holster at his thigh and smoothly removed the single-bladed lightsaber. He held it atop his flattened palm.
His eye never broke contact with hers.
“One?”
His left hand reached behind his back, moving with the same focused smoothness. He disengaged an unseen clip and produced a dual-bladed saber.
“Or two?”
The two weapons were clearly made to be twins of each other. Both carved of identically colored and textured bone. The hilts were covered in intricate carvings, Sith runes, Zabraki tribal markings. The bones had natural swells that formed ideal grips. Smooth, patinaed, reptilian leather wrapped those natural grip points.
The moment his hand started to reach to reveal the first blade, her left hand started to relax at her side. Her right held onto the Ichor Sword. The metal in it had a faint green sheen to the blade.
Her bright emerald eyes maintained it’s contact with Karran’s single brown and milky white. It was obvious when he showed her his lightsaber and saying one. There was another. She can appreciate that. She could hear faint Thyrsian whispers dancing in the breeze against the thick sticky air. Evelyn despited humdity. When she moved to Selen due to her late wife, she had never gotten used to the climate.
His second one was revealed. By the time he got to his second one, a green wisp appeared at her left hand and a basic silver sword covered in Sith Alchemy. A gift from a Sith to make sure she can handle her own against a lightsaber.
“Two.”
The smile on thr Sith’s face widened.
“As you wish.”
He returned the single bladed hilt to its holster. He shrugged off the loose robe and tossed it aside, leaving him in his loose, flowing pants and well-worn but meticulously maintained boots.
He inhaled deeply through his nose and held it as the familiar flame in his chest flared and warmth flowed through his limbs. His left foot slid back in the sand as his right knee bent slightly and he leaned forward over it. He extended his right arm out, holding the weapon’s hilt, unignited, parallel to the ground. His stance was clearly prepared to be aggressive, but restrained. He nodded his head in deference.
“Ladies first.”
“Very well.”
Evelyn was used to fighting from the shadows or defensive, so this was already at a disadvantage with the location and him wanting her to strike first. Meanwhile, her heart rapidly pounded in her chest from the excitement but her expression gave nothing away.
Perhaps a glint in her eyes.
She needed to keep herself in check.
She felt the flow of Magick as she loosen her grip in her sword and sent out a green ichor blast, aimed right for him. She intended for him to either duck or try to deflect.
She then, vanished from sight. Evelyn was careful with her footsteps pressed against the sand, making sure she was silent in her movements.
All her years of being a dancer, she had always fought with fluidity and grace.
Karran stepped forward with his left foot while bringing thr corresponding arm up. His hand clenched into a fist, pointed to the sky, bent at the elbow.
The faint distortion of a field of Force energy manifested between himself and the incoming bolt of ichor. The energy collided with the near-invisible shield, dissipating into tendrils of green smoke, shattering his own defense with it. The scattering of ichor obscured his vision only momentarily, but when it cleared, his opponent had vanished from sight.
He sniffed, scanning the sand for signs of movement, fresh footprints, but saw none.
“You are very good at that. I have to admit, I am less prepared to combat Nightsister Magik than I thought.”
His saberstaff roared to life behind him, echoing the bestial bellowing of the Krayt Dragon whose pearl powered the weapon. With a flourish he spun the blade about himself, letting just the tips of the plasma blade to catch the sand.
The sudden flash heating of the soil turned the sand to glass, while the momentum of the blade shattered it and scattered the small shards. Not nearly enough to cause harm, but hopefully enough to reveal a cloaked target. Unfortunately, this was also fruitless.
Evelyn heard the roar of his saber coming to life and had to swiftly slid back, leaving slick streaks of her footsteps in the sand behind her. She exhaled slowly as she kept herself low but now at a distance.
That saberstaff was going to be a problem. She remained still, unmoving. Her bright emerald eyes started to slightly glow. She took a step forward and the glass cracked under her weight. She decloaked herself, knowing he would’ve heard her as she went to slash at his shoulder.