Chapter 1 Awakening

Iwelith crouched behind a rock overlooking a sand flat. Below was the open maw of a sarlacc, row upon row of jagged sharp teeth waiting for its next meal. Two men fought in the hot desert sand dangerously close to the creature. The outcome was always the same. Both men injured, near death, neither able to gain an advantage. They remained locked in mortal combat even as they tumbled into the gaping mass of teeth, lost forever to the sand and heat.

Iwelith awoke from the dream covered in sweat, all attempts to sit up failed, she was encouraged to find that pain from her wounds had lessened considerably this morning. Her thoughts were less clouded, for that she was also thankful.

She lay on a cushioned mat on the floor, the surroundings were humble, certainly not what she expected. There was a young humanoid child attending her, the girl smiled briefly at Iwelith as she went about tending the bandages on Iwelith's shoulder and stomach.

Iwelith resisted the temptation to try to sit up again; instead she remained lying down and reached for the force. She took a deep breath, slowly in then out, in and out.

"There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force."

During all her years as a padawan and then as an apprentice, the Jedi code had comforted her, eased her pain. What it failed to do, today, was reestablish her connection to the force.

Jedi apprentice Iwelith'Sharat had been on her way to take the final trials that would complete her passage from apprentice to full Jedi. The ship she was on had been travelling in neutral space when it was intercepted and boarded by Imperial forces. The last thing she remembered was putting herself between a republic officer and a Sith warrior.

"I prefer the original, I know you Jedi like Odan Urr's version but I find it lacking."

Iwelith turned her head to see a black robed man sitting on an ornate pillowed chair. A first glance, he was a human in his mid-thirties, his face, while not unpleasant, was empty, cold; it made the skin on the back of her neck tingle. Her captor glanced at the child changing Iwelith's bandages and said something in a language Iwelith could not place. The girl smiled at him and darted out of the room.

The man sitting before her was not the Sith who attacked her. While he appeared fit, his build was slighter than that of her attacker. He had black hair pulled back and bound behind his head. His clothing was similar in fashion, and he had the same look in his eyes. Iwelith decided that it was best to treat him as Sith until proven otherwise.

"I am gratified to see that you are finally awake. We have much to do you and I." He smiled. Iwelith did not react; she reset her breathing and pushed fear to the background. Without the force to aid her, the task was difficult to say the least. It should not have been, during her training there were many times she needed to settle her fear without access to the force, no this was something else.

The man chuckled as if sensing her struggle.

"I am your prisoner, why?" Iwelith asked flatly. Her fingers tugging gently at the slave collar around her neck. She was also wondering why she was being healed? Iwelith had been told that Sith preferred injured prey, injury breeds vulnerability.

In one fluid motion he came out of the chair, moved across the room and dropped into a lotus position next to her on the floor.

"First, we discuss the rules. I will answer your questions, you will answer mine. Both of us will speak truth. Where we cannot or will not answer we will do our best to provide understanding as to why, Yes?" His head tilted slightly to one side, his eyes searching her face. Iwelith noticed his slight accent, an odd structure to his speech, she could not place it

"In this way we have peace, knowledge and harmony. This meets with your high minded Jedi approval?" his words were warm, and soothing. She had expected something different something sharper. She did not trust him; Iwelith knew that for Sith, conversation was just another form of combat. One that the Sith enjoyed as much as any other.

"I agree." Again she replied with an even tone, maintaining her breathing. If she could draw out the questioning, keep it going, there was hope that she could use the time to touch the force, to speed her healing. Jedi were taught to commune with their bodies, with or without the force. It was as much an aid to healing as it was a meditative exercise.

"Good, I am pleased you can be reasonable." He bowed his head ever so slightly, and stood in one motion. He walked to the rooms' only doorway, motioned to someone in the adjacent room with one hand, then turned back to Iwelith.

"Very well I will go first, a gesture of good will." He chuckled. The girl darted back into the room accompanied by a woman. They were carrying trays with what Iwelith hoped were food and water.

"Yes, you are my captive. I purchased your freedom from the Sith warrior that boarded your ship." He placed his hands on his hips, he watched as the woman helped Iwelith sit up. The child filled a cup with liquid from the jug she had brought. Once it was full she offered it to Iwelith.

"As to why, I am going to complete your training; you are to be my apprentice. Now eat, and drink. When you are fully healed we will talk about your dream."

The days passed slowly, six now by Iwelith's count. As soon as Iwelith had been able to stand she set about surveying her prison. With the exception of the explosive slave collar and a lamp, the simple room had no visible technical devices. The window was barred and sturdy. From the sights and sounds beyond the window she knew that the house was part of a primitive village surrounded by dense jungle.

The door to her prison was as sturdy as the window, having the appearance of being recently installed. Cursory examination suggested the walls and doorway were reinforced. Escape from such a primitive prison would have been an easy matter if she could connect with the force. As she was now, there was little hope of escape and there was the matter of the slave collar.

Early in her captivity she had heard a ship overhead. Looking out the window she was disappointed to see a large imperial vessel, given its size it was probably a Harrower battle cruiser, but she was not certain. With the treaty of Coruscant in place, both sides, imperial and republic were bound to keep their ships in their own or neutral territory. The presence of an imperial starship meant she was behind enemy lines, or if she was lucky, on some unaligned world. Iwelith was not feeling lucky.

Each day her strength increased. Jitta and Edza were her constant companions. She had made attempts to communicate with them but the study of languages had not been one of her strong suits

They had established a rudimentary understanding. Jitta and Edza were mother and daughter, slaves of the Sith. They seemed happy, she was not sure if it was an act or some form of conditioning. As a Twi'lek she was all too familiar with slavery.

Within many places in the Empire, and the Republic, to own a Twi'lek brought status. Some enterprising slavers would suggest that to move in certain circles it was an obligation to own one.

As a red skinned or Lethan Twi'lek, Iwelith was a rarity and in high demand. When Iwelith was eight years old, her clan matriarch made arrangements for her to be sold, in order to secure much needed funds.

Slave trade in the empire was as regimented and organized as it was old. As a new slave, Iwelith had been transported to training facilities, prepared and then sent out to a world where she would bring the highest price. She was spared only because the republic paid well for force sensitives and the slavers did not care to whom they sold. Business was business after all. The Jedi purchased her through a neutral third party, and arranged for her travel to the Jedi academy. She had been lucky, her gift with the force was sufficient for the Jedi to put aside her late start.

Iwelith did not need access to the force to know that Jitta and Edza were genuinely happy. It was, she reasoned, a trick or at the very least, a thread in the web of lies that Sith were famous for.

She had tried to talk to Jitta about the Sith but the woman would scowl at her when Iwelith tried. Edza seemed to enjoy their conversations. They were, at best, a game of pointing and acting out questions. Edza would giggle almost constantly as Iwelith tried to motion her way through questions. Jedi are capable students and Iwelith did manage to pick up a number of words, but without Jitta's participation, Iwelith was unable to grasp syntax and proper grammatical structure.

Edza had come to her after a particularly lengthy session. The little girl wrapped her small hands around Iwelith's neck she was careful not to bump Iwelith's Lekku. Quietly she mimicked the Siths annoying chuckle.

"Casarius" she whispered. Iwelith pointed towards the other room while looking deeply into Edza's face. She copied Edza's version of that annoying chuckle, "Casarius?" Iwelith said quietly, Edza smiled nodding in agreement.

'So I know your name' Iwelith thought. It was not much, but it was the beginning, and it would have to do for now.

Day nine Casarius threw open the door to her room but did not enter. Jitta scurried past him and placed a bundle on the mat, she smiled at Iwelith then turned and left the room.

Casarius pointed to the items on the mat.

"You are Tyrian clan, yes?" He did not wait for a response. "Yes Tyrian." He nodded his head agreeing with himself.

"The clothes are modest but will still let you move, uh dance, yes, if you choose." He smiled; Iwelith had no intention of wearing clothes given to her by this Sith.

"Be mindful of the collar. I am sorry that it has to be so." Iwelith felt her face flush. An apology from a Sith, an apology that felt real. She brushed it off; it was more threads in the web he was laying down.

"There is also a book, a Jedi book. I would ask you to read it but be mindful." His voice lowered to a whisper. Iwelith rummaged through the items and pulled out the book. It was beautiful, its cover a crimson red leather. It was adorned with metallic symbols, everything about it suggested it was hundreds of years old. Its condition spoke to the love and attention of its previous owner. 'Sith probably killed the last owner, they are all savages.' She thought.

"Read each page as if it is a trap my apprentice; be sure that you have found any untruth, any deviation that you must believe is hidden in it. After all, anything a Sith gives you must be evil, yes?" He chuckled, bowed his head and turned as if to leave.

"Wait!" Iwelith caught herself; the words had come out sharp with emotion. "Please, I would like to talk." Casarius turned back into the room. His body stiff, his gaze looking directly into her.

"You want to know, where you are and why you cannot feel the force." It was not a question just a statement of fact. His expression did not change. Iwelith calmed herself, even without the force she should be able to maintain control, but it was so hard. It had occurred to her that the food was tainted with some toxin that was making her more sensitive. Sith alchemy was renowned and feared throughout the known worlds, and with good cause.

"Yes, please." Being polite is not a sign of surrender, Iwelith knew that, but any form of cooperation felt wrong. Iwelith was still fighting to maintain control of her fear but one thing she knew in her heart. 'I will not turn to the dark side. I will die first.'

"You are Tyrian clan and that means singing, dancing, and poetry" Casarius said with a smile. Iwelith pushed down the growing concern in her stomach 'You are mad if you think I am going to dance for you!" she thought. She paused a moment, and to her satisfaction, the fear subsided and peace returned.

"Apprentice, don't worry so, I want you to sing for me, not dance" Casarius said with a smile. "You will do this for me?" again his face was filled with genuine excitement as he waited for her reply. Iwelith was beginning to wonder if this man was Sith at all. 'If Casarius is a puppet then my true captor is unknown to me, or worse, he is Sith and I have severely underestimated his cunning.' Both thoughts were equally disturbing. 'Maintain the façade of civility for now' she thought.

"Singing is not against the Jedi way, it is not often done though, but I can sing. I doubt there is any great harm in it." In truth she had missed the singing and dancing. Iwelith recalled some of the festive events from her childhood. Memories of her childhood flickered into her mind, faces and sounds, warmth and family. It was an effort to bring her feelings under control.

"Good, good! It is settled then. So now I will tell you what I can, and then you will sing." Casarius stepped forward, dropped down next to her mat, placing his hands one over the other in his lap.

He motioned to the walls. "We are on Drommund Kaas in a small village in the jungle some five hundred kilometers south west of Kaas city." He paused for a moment then barked something that brought Edza and her mother running. They both smiled at him, took some instruction, and ran out of the room. Edza was clearly giggling.

Iwelith let that sink in, if it were true that she was indeed on Drommund Kaas, the seat of imperial power in the region, her hopes of a rescue were extinguished. She was on her own, fear settled in. She knew this fear, it was the same fear she felt when the village matriarch sold her to slavers. The same fear she had the first day she stepped out on the slave market. 'Why can't I touch the force, please great mother help me' she thought.

Jitta and Edza returned with trays of food and drink. They put the trays down on the floor and much to Iwelith's surprise Casarius motioned them to sit. 'A Sith picnic' the sight of it made her want to laugh. Her fear, which a moment ago had threatened her, now retreated back into the small spaces in her mind. Thankful, she was about to smile at Casarius for the gesture but caught herself. 'He may not be Sith, but I am being manipulated and by an expert,' she thought. She had been a moment away from smiling at a Sith or at the very least a Sith puppet. She regained her composure. Iwelith paused a moment more, taking in the scene, watching Jitta, Edza and Casarius pick at the food on the tray and chatter with each other.

Casarius cleared his throat to get her attention. "I was saying, five hundred kilometers from Kaas city. Not so good for you, but that is life, yes?" He smiled at her again and took a bite of fruit.

"What about my connection to the force?" Iwelith made sure that she was in full control of her emotions before asking. She had no delusions about who had power here but she was going to do all she had been taught to do, to let him know her will was strong.

Casarius shifted a bit, he began pulling at his left ear. "Well that was most unfortunate. The nature of your injuries were not life threatening, but the drugs used were chosen before I fully understood your uh..." He paused clearly searching for the right words. "That is to say, before I realized you were still an apprentice." He did not emphasize the word 'still' or 'apprentice', yet both words still hit her, and ate at her resolve.

Casarius was searching her face, gauging her reaction to his statement before continuing. "This particular medication is designed to accelerate tissue regeneration but that was not my primary purpose in using it. The plant from which the drug is derived is most potent only after it has been, uh, processed." He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a small data pad. He ran his fingers over the data pad for a moment then pushed it into her hands. He motioned her to read, poking the pad with his index finger until she picked up the device.

Iwelith scanned the information. It was, for the most part, mundane. It spoke of a sloth like creature that ate a plant whose seeds were not digested by the animal. They were collected after they had passed through the animal. It was something in the creatures' digestive system that affected the seeds. In addition to their restorative properties, was the side effect of dampening a force user's ability to connect to the force. Casarius watched her face as she reviewed the information.

"Gaining access to the research facility was very difficult. Liberating a supply from the scientists even more so." He chuckled and Iwelith gritted her teeth.

"I must admit that I felt bad for the scientists, you see as it turns out Sith and Imperial intelligence received word of the scientist's findings from an anonymous source" He feigned surprise while chuckling quietly.

"They were most grateful, yes indeed. Not so good for the scientists though. You see their mission on that pretty blue planet did not include investigating plants or making drugs, rather to study crystal formations. When their deviation and unauthorized research was discovered, they were summarily executed, all data was destroyed, and the planet irradiated into a barren wasteland." Casarius chuckled to himself as he took the data pad back. 'Infuriating man' Iwelith thought.

"I should not laugh so, I imagine that my sense of humor must seem in bad taste to a Jedi, and besides, that planet was very pretty. I should have liked to have gone back at some point. Very sad, yes." He sat in silence for a moment, Iwelith took note of his body language and wondered if his remorse was in any way real. 'Not likely, Sith have no guilt they don't understand anything beyond deceit and hate' She thought to herself.

He patted her on the knee "The drugs should have run their course by now. In truth your connection to the force should return by morning." He said with a smile. "As an inquisitor I tend to over think things, and it seems I was overly zealous, had I known you were not a full Jedi I would have foregone the force dampening medication, and simply healed you myself. Now we must speak of what comes next. Yes, my apprentice." With a wave of his hand he set Jitta and Edza about cleaning up the trays and scurrying out of the room.

"When you regain your connection to the force we both know what you will do first, yes, yes indeed we do." He frowned and pointed to the slave collar around Iwelith's neck.

"You will try to remove that and I would not blame you. But you must know this, my apprentice. Removing that will cause nothing but pain, sorrow, and death. This, I promise you!" She could see clearly that there was concern on his face.

"I am not your apprentice." Her tone was even but there was an unexpected edge to it, even she heard it. 'There is no emotion, there is peace' she thought.

"Is that anger and frustration I sense?" He feigned shock and surprise. "I thought Jedi were supposed to be above such things." He chuckled, Iwelith cringed. "What's in a word? If I called you Talneth you would not be offended, even though in my native tongue it also means apprentice." His face held a smile, but his words were softer, more fluid. 'He is baiting me, and doing a damn good job too.' She thought to herself. Was she really this weak? Over the last few days Iwelith had begun to doubt her worthiness as a Jedi. She wondered if she would have passed her final trials.

Master Benz had warned her of self-doubt, he had told her that the same doubt that was common to the initiate, often returned to the apprentice before taking up the trials.

'Wisdom is a journey not a destination. We may stumble or find ourselves unsure of the path. When this happens, you must trust in the force to guide you. We only fail if we let fear slow our journey.' Master Benz had said. 'I will not fail you master.' She found comfort in the memory.

Jitta and Edza returned followed by a small droid. Jitta was carrying a woven basket with candles in it. Edza had some papers. Casarius stepped out into the main room, pulled his chair forward so that it almost blocked the doorway to her room. 'No not my room my prison, must maintain focus, this is a prison' Iwelith centered herself. Jitta placed colorful candles around the room.

Edza gave Iwelith the papers, Iwelith took them from Edza with a smile. They were Twi'lek songs, most where festival songs, and one was used to sing children to sleep.

Iwelith reviewed the pages for a while then chose one. "I liked this one as a child; it's a festival song celebrating harvest." Iwelith said. The small droid let out a series of beeps and moved closer to Iwelith. Edza took the page and showed it to the droid. The little droid moved and chirped then came to a stop near the wall. A moment later gentle music flowed from the droid accompanied by lights shining on the walls and ceiling of the room.

Iwelith began to sing, Jitta clapped and Edza danced around the room. As the song came to a close Casarius was also clapping along to the beat. Casarius called Edza to bring the songs to him. Casarius sifted through the pages until he found one, he gave it to Edza and she took it to the droid. Once again music played.

Iwelith recognized this one as well, it was the nursery rhyme. Iwelith sang while Jitta and Edza danced. As Iwelith sang a warmth grew insider her, at first it was faint, it seemed to grow as the song progressed. By the time the song was done there was no doubt, the tingling sensation was unmistakable. The force, blessed connection to the universe had returned.

She steadied herself and looked carefully at Casarius, there were tears in his eyes, and he was clapping.

"Wonderful, truly wonderful. I have no voice for such arts, a sore point in my life I assure you." He stood and motioned Jitta and Edza out of the room, they quickly moved about the room cleaning up. The entertainment driod beeped and chirped as it followed Edza out of the room.

Iwelith pulled gently at the force careful not to draw attention, but enough to ensure that it would not leave her. She stood hands clasped across her chest. 'Would Sith cry false tears, even if it was part of some web of lies?' she wondered.

"Before I leave I should like to apologize once again for the collar." He tugged at one ear as he said it. There was also a look of annoyance on his face. Iwelith found it odd once again that he would apologize.

"As I mentioned before, I thought you were further along and that it..." He pointed to the collar. "...would be necessary, had things been different, bah!" He raised his hands and then slapped them against his sides.

"The cursed key is in my Masters home in Kaas City. I cannot leave you to get it, and cannot send for it either. So, as I have said, do not try to remove it. Yes?" He was searching her face, looking for some understanding, some sign of surrender. Yes, that was it; she could see the worry in his face.

"We travel to my Master's home in just a few days! You have shown restraint, you have not tried to escape nor have you tried to influence Jitta or Edza." He moved closer to her, his gaze intent on her face.

"For these reasons, I am giving great consideration to removing that, that thing." He wagged his finger at the collar as he spoke, "It was never a good idea in the first place."

"I trust you will be able to control yourself for two days yes?" He paused as a frown crossed his face. "Remember what I said, pain, sorrow, and death, you understand, yes? But life is about choice, and I leave this to you." He left the room shutting the door quietly behind himself. Iwelith waited to hear the lock set, but nothing happened. She was alone, no not alone, she had the force.