POTE: Chronicles - I Want to See
She had been waiting for this moment. It had been the span of several weeks since this overpowering desire had taken hold of her, but before now she had not the chance to act upon it. There had been too many risks, too many dangers, and too many others that did not trust her who would stand in her way.
But now, they were asleep, and she could move about freely without their eyes falling upon her.
And Visas decided that she had waited long enough.
Rising from her bunk, the Miraluka quietly let her bare feet fall upon the ground. The cold metal floor sent a strong chill up the woman's legs, causing her to waver for a moment as she stood up. She had perhaps spent too much time meditating and resting these last few days, she realized. Then again, what else was there for her to do but rest and contemplate where she was and all that being here meant to her?
Despite the Exile… despite Kai having extended her an offer of kindness in allowing her to roam freely, the blind seer had yet to find the will, or perhaps the courage, to converse with his companions or even leave the confines of this room.
Turning about, the Miraluka let her gaze fall upon her bunkmates. To her left, the Iridonian was in a deep slumber, his remote and artificial arm lying on the ground at the foot of his bunk. There was something… similar between this one and the Exile. The sound of his voice… it echoed of great pain, of great sins and guilt, and the desire to find if only the tiniest shred of redemption. And weighed against that, an insatiable anger, and the fear that it will once again claim him, body and soul.
To Visas' right, the huntress lay unceremoniously scrawled upon the mattress, still fully dressed and fully armed with one boot still on the ground and her blanket twisted about her. It had taken her a long time to fall asleep, as she had tossed and turned in her attempt for about an hour. She did not like being on this ship and the unending hum of the engines accompanied by endless hours of silence. She did not like not knowing why she was here, or why she felt this is where she needed to be, or why she found faith in a man who only two months ago had been nothing more to her than another bounty.
Perhaps tonight the Miraluka would be able to find the answer to that question, for her and for herself.
Slowly, quietly, Visas left the dormitory behind her, traversing through the cold, metal walkway, past the loading ramp, past the garage, and quickly finding herself in the main hold. Within the room, she vaguely sensed the minuscule sparks of electrical energy: the presence of the droids. The round one remained floating in front of the console as always, currently in stasis with all exterior sensors on standby; the same being true for the small utility robot that was currently tucked away in the storage room, alongside the still non-functioning combat-droid at its side.
It was within these two particular droids that the blind seer sensed something… peculiar. It was not uncommon for machines to bare markings of their history; imprints within the Force, as it were, like the fingerprints of where they had been, what they had seen and done, and with whom. However, the memento which Visas sensed left upon the pair of droids was not so subtle a thing as a tell-tale clue left in the sand. No, this was far more apparent and far more implicating, like this distant crack of thunder telling of a massive storm approaching. For what she sensed upon the machines was a mark of power; the mark of a great and overwhelming power that the droids had once been in the presence of. Whoever or whatever was once the source of that power – the Miraluka could not but speculate. And yes, she did have her suspicions…
Despite this, or maybe because of it, the blind seer felt almost certain that this pair of machines had played a great role in the events that brought the galaxy to where it was now, and perhaps they had a role to play still, as perhaps she did.
The enigmatic woman then turned down the center pathway, only taking a few steps before she reached her destination: the medical bay. It was there that she knew to find him.
He laid on his back with his head turned away from her, his hair a bit of a mess as his ponytail had come undone while he slept. He seemed very peaceful as he slept, unburdened by the weight that rested on his shoulders. Perhaps that was why he slept for two to three hours at most.
That being, the Miraluka knew she did not have a lot of time.
For a brief moment, Visas simply looked upon him as she did everything else, revealing all that was about her in a bland mesh. It was the closest the blind seer could come to perceiving what he actually looked like. But such vague, superficial perception was not what she came here for. What she desired was far more invasive, and required her to look beyond the flesh.
The Miraluka's sight began to adjust at her will, focusing more deeply upon the Exile, stripping away the outer walls created by his body, heart, and mind, and delving into what was kept hidden beneath it all.
There it was: the wound in the Force. Like a piece of fabric that had been violently and brutally ripped from the tapestry. And it was from within this gaping maw that the blind seer felt it. The echo…
How quiet it had been when she first heard it - barely a whisper in the dark. Even now, as she stood before the source, gazing into to it with her bloodied sight, it remained such a subtle thing. Louder and clearer, yes, but still subtle.
In many ways, it reminded her of her lord: a presence reaching far and wide, touching upon every ounce of life within and beyond the galaxy. But the similarities ended there. Where the cry of her Master was nothing more than the empty scream of an insatiable hunger, this echo was much more by far.
Pain, suffering, death: yes, these were a part of the echo, and how much the Miraluka wished she could tear these things away from Kai, to take them upon herself so he would remain untainted by their power. Yet… against these forces, Visas knew she could not help him, anymore than she had been able to help herself, and how weak and helpless that made the blinded slave feel.
It was then that the Exile shifted in his sleep, turning his head about to face in the Miraluka's direction. Visas' heart nearly stopped then as she feared that perhaps he would awaken. Yet as the seconds passed and nothing happened, the blind woman regained her composure and drive.
She needed to act and quick. She could not afford to hesitate for a moment longer. With all the strength of her scarred sight, the seer once again stared into the void that was the wound in the Force. Her mind's sight delved deeply into the chasm, and immediately she found herself assaulted by all that laid within. Pain, endless screams, and the power of death: they enveloped her, coursed through her, and threatened to tear her very soul apart.
But she did not care. All she felt were mere tastes of the extent of Kai's suffering, and she would not be able to live with herself if she pulled back simply because of this. Her desire was far stronger. She needed to see.
Somewhere within that wound in the Force, through all that suffering, was the answer. The answer to how he had survived what no one else could. The answer to why he drew others to him… to why she was drawn to him. The answer to why his life was more important to her than all the lives in all the galaxy, and why she would die for him without regret or hesitation. She needed an answer. She needed to see!
All of a sudden, the Miraluka found herself under assault. As if a massive, overpowering hand had wrapped itself about her neck, Visas' sight was violently ripped away from the Exile. It did not end there, however. The presence continued to attack her, throwing a wave of unending agony into her mind that was so overwhelming that the blind seer lost all sense of where she was and what she had been attempting to do.
Rather abruptly, the presence chose to finally release her, and Visas found herself still standing above Kai's sleeping form, her heart feeling as though it was about to leap out of her chest.
And then… a foreign voice fell upon her mind.
"If you ever attempt this again, blinded slave, I shall make it that all the you see until the end of your days is the decimation of your race and loved ones, and you shall feel my punishment until you long to return to your Master… Now leave him…"
It was her…
The voice of the old woman, laced with the same venom that spewed from the mouth of her lord, except far more potent and cruel. She had been watching, waiting for the moment when the blinded seer would be at her most vulnerable, when she could cause her the greatest amount of pain. How strongly Visas desired to kill that one, to remove her presence from the galaxy and taste even the smallest inch of vengeance against those that made her what she is now. She would have savored every moment of it.
But… to bring harm to her was to bring harm to him… and Visas could not contemplate doing such a thing… She could not harm him…
Quietly, obediently, the Miraluka turned about and started back for the dormitory. She had not found her answers, and as long as that old woman was alive, she would not find them.
She would have to wait…