Pale white hair spilled across the white pillow, almost blending in. Dim blue eyes stared at the ceiling blankly. She was still fresh from her exile. She wasn't sure how long it had been, but it had felt like forever since the day she had been cast out of the order she had been raised in.
The council's words still stung her like they had been said to her yesterday. Zez, Vash, Kavar…their words hurt the most of all. The people she had trusted, cared about, loved, they had all turned their backs on her. Even Vrook ad Atris' words had cut her deeper than normal.
The exile roughly shook her head and sat up on the bed. She couldn't just sit around and mope. She had to get up and do something. She had been lying under the radar lately and she was tired of it. She was the type of person to act, not do nothing.
She got out of the bed and quickly slipped her armored outfit on. It looked like nothing but a short white dress with intricate gold designs, but the armor underneath it gave her all the protection she needed. Her matching bracers and boots guarded her exposed limbs well. Her customized vibroswords easily rested on her hips. She quickly threw her hair into a loose ponytail and frowned when her shorter bangs fell in front f her face. Well, at least she looked good like that.
Shrugging softly, she left the dirty motel room. She never stayed in one place for long now. She was about to leave when someone called her name.
"Kiana Shale! Wait please!" a young voice called out to her. It took a moment for her to react to the name, but she turned around before the young woman could call her again. Kiana Shale. It was a name that had nothing to do with her and sounded nothing like her in the least. It was the name of the new identity that was to replace Tyla Moore.
"Yes, what do you need?" Kiana asked smoothly, her voice airy and cold, almost frigid. She had been taught a hard lesson by those on the council and by those she once called friend.
Trust no one, and never allow anybody close to you. All it ever did was get you hurt. So what if it made her a jaded individual even though she was barely 21 years old? She had figured out that it was better to be jaded, cold, and alone than broken and betrayed.
"Umm, I'm sorry to disturb you. But someone tried to contact you while you were out. It was a message from the Republic Embassy." The young woman stuttered. An inner part of Kiana was upset that she made the young girl so nervous, but another part of her didn't give a damn. It was the second voice she decided to listen to.
"Well then I suggest you speak quickly before I loose my already waning patience with you." She snapped, her voice sharp enough to impale. The woman winced away, but did as she was commanded.
"A man named Jadowyn wanted to speak to you about a potential job at the Republic Embassy. He said that you should meet him whenever you get the chance." She relayed the message quickly before scurrying off back to her desk.
Jadowyn…why was that name so familiar? She briefly thought that she might remember someone of that name, but she had been trying to block out for her past for awhile now. But how would he know to contact her?
Kiana shook her head, the thoughts sliding out of her head as she did. Whoever this person was, they were offering her a job. She needed that right now more than anything. She had run out of her credits buying her armor and weapons.
Brushing the bangs out of her eyes only to have them fall back in front of her face, Kiana left the small building. Coruscant was not a small place so she was lucky that she was so close to the Embassy. She wasn't sure if she could even afford a taxi at the moment. Kiana began her short walk across the cool, forever-night, planet. Despite the fact this place was so populated with people, Kiana did love the planet. It was an easy place to lose yourself in the crowd and never have to worry about being seen as anything more than another person on the street. Nobody here would recognize her for what she was.
"Help! Somebody help me!" somebody shouted from within the shadows of the streets. Everybody on the street glanced in the general direction of the plea for help, but they ignored it and kept walking. Kiana's interest perked but she almost instantly shook her head. That wasn't her job anymore. Why she should help people when all they were going to do was turn on you after you had served your purpose?
Against her better judgment, Kiana turned to look where the cry came from. A young teenage girl was using her own body as a shield to protect a little boy behind, possibly her little brother. A small group of muggers was slowly backing them into a corner and Kiana saw small tears slid down the girl's face. Cursing her own good nature, Kiana speed down the street and slipped into the dark alleyway.
"Normally, I would be spouting off an amusing pun right now, but I just don't have the patience." Kiana sighed, catching the thug's attention. Everyone turned to look at her with surprise. The thugs smirked in the darkness, seeing nothing more than a small woman trying to be a hero. They didn't recognize her for what she once was.
"You better back away and go back to something you can handle." The seeming thug leader growled at Kiana. In turn, she rolled her eyes and drew her weapons, spinning them around her in a flashy manner. The blades whipped around her, cutting through the air with a promise of doing the same to the thugs.
"I think you're just a bit out of your league here. So I suggest you take you and your pathetic little gang and get the hell out of here. I don't want to deal with the likes of you right now." Kiana spit. All she wanted to do was get away from this place. The thug seemed to think for a moment before he sealed his fate and charged at her.
Kiana brought her weapons in front of her, effectively blocking his clumsy attack. With lightning fast reflexes she caught his hand with one blade and ran him through with the other. He fell to the ground in a bloody mess. It's a shame my weapons don't instantly cauterize. I don't like blood. The though barely flew through her head before the entire gang was upon her. She couldn't just lose herself in the battle anymore; she had to stay focused.
Kiana blocked a stun baton that came her way, catching the weapon and throwing it to side. She rolled backwards, just barely avoiding two men that came at from behind. A blaster bolt came her direction and she cursed as it grazed her shoulder. Whoever had the blaster was going to be a pain in the backside if she didn't take care of him soon.
Knocking a few thugs down without killing them, she quickly saw her target. She was standing back in a small shadowed corner, the large blaster shaking in her hands. Unfortunately, it wasn't from fear or regret at what she was doing. The thing was just so big that she was having a hard time holding it. The exile cursed when she started to go after her and was stopped by a big man. He tackled her from behind and pinned her to the ground easily.
She couldn't reach for her weapons after they had fallen out of her hands when she hit the ground. Struggling would be pointless. The man outweighed her by at least 100 pounds. But strength wasn't always everything…
Kiana went totally limp to make it seem like she had given up. The man started to get up triumphantly and the exile used that small window of time to slid out from under him and grab her twin blades. This time she was ready for him. She rolled out of his way and spun around, slicing open his back with one, clean strike. He fell to the ground, bleeding. Feeling smug, Kiana turned around to threaten anyone who remained but all she saw was their tails between their legs as they ran off. She shrugged but sheathed her blades and walked over to the terrified girl.
"It's okay now. You're safe little one." She soothed gently, holding her hand out to the young child. She looked up at the exile, admiration in her big brown eyes. She stood up and helped her brother up as well.
"Thank you so much! I don't know who you are but I can never thank you enough. You saved our lives." She sputtered, her gracious praise making Kiana want to look away. She didn't though and looked back at the girl. She could be no older than 15 and it was easy to tell that she gave whatever she had to her little brother. The poor kid…
"Here," Kiana started, digging through one of her pouches. She only had a few credits on her anymore, but she didn't need them near as much as the girl did. "Take these. Put them to good use." the exile said as she put the small handful of credits in the girl's palm. Unable to believe her luck, the young girl thanked Kiana and ran out of the dark place.
"Impressive, impressive. I've never seen somebody fight like that before. You have some serious skill." A voice that was slightly familiar in a strange way called out to her. Confused and instantly alert, Kiana turned around quickly and was greeted by the sight of a tall man with dark hair. He was built like a rock.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Kiana hissed, her blades instantly in her hands. The mysterious man put up his hands and stepped out into the light, his hands up in a sign of surrender. He wore expensive clothes that bared the symbol of the Republic over his heart. Curious, but not yet passive, Kiana kept her weapons up. There was something familiar about this guy, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.
"I'm hurt Kiana, I really am. You don't remember your good friend Jadowyn from all those years back?" he asked, and Kiana instantly remembered. What felt like a lifetime ago, she and Revan had gone to a bar because they thought there was a slave trafficking ring there. They didn't have a ride to get there, and Jadowyn had brought them over after flirting some with Kiana. Then when she had been working undercover as a dancer she had gotten stuck dancing with a creep. Jadowyn had rescued her, and then…then after the bar room brawl had broken out he had come looking for. He had been so worried, and then someone had revealed to him that she was a Padawan. She hadn't seen him since then.
Kiana sheathed the weapons quickly and stepped forward to the man in front of her. Jadowyn had never been a small guy, but now he was massive! "I can't believe it's really you! I haven't seen you in forever." Kiana exclaimed brightly. Jadowyn reached out to pull her into a tight hug but the exile instantly pulled away from him. The concern on his face was touching and worrying. He hadn't seen her in years? Why was he so upset about how she felt?
"Sorry, but a lot has happened since you last saw me. A lot of it you wouldn't believe." Kiana explained. She wasn't exactly smiling, but there was a faint air of happiness around her that hadn't been there since the war. Jadowyn just shrugged at her, a mischievous look in his eyes.
"That may be true, but we have a lot of time. And since you were coming to meet me, we'll have even more time." He answered. Kiana stopped to stare at him. Okay, so maybe a lot had happened to him. She doubted it could beat her, but still.
"You're the guy from the Republic Embassy that wanted to offer me a job?" Kiana questioned.
"I didn't think I would ever see you again after that one time. You were almost impossible to find. I couldn't find anybody by the name of Kiana anywhere." Jadowyn started explaining and Kiana winced lightly on the inside. She hated lying to him like this. He deserved to know who she really was, especially since he had gone through so much trouble to find her, but she wasn't ready for that yet. Since she was still trying to bury Tyla, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to reveal that was who she really was. "But one day you just randomly appeared on the radar. I found it hard to believe it was actually you. You were always moving, never in the same place for more than a week at most. You were on places like Tatooine, Mannan, Nar Shaddaa, Tashari…and by the time we had tracked you down to one of those places you were already long gone." Well, that made her feel a little better. Even though they had been able to find out where she had been, they could never find out exactly where she was.
"Sounds to me that I need to cover my tracks better." Kiana stated dryly. Jadowyn chuckled as the exile turned to leave the alley. He reached out to put an arm around her, and then remembered what she had said early and pulled away. The fact that he actually remembered almost made Kiana smile at him.
"Trust me, for a person of my standing in the Republic, that was insanely impressive. I can hardly believe that you managed to stay under the radar for so long. But that's enough about me. What have you been up to? Or down to, given how it has been so hard to find you." Jadowyn joked as he turned out into the street. Kiana sighed, trying to think what she could tell him. He would never believe her if she told him the truth, and she herself wasn't ready to tell him the truth.
Luckily, a few seconds later, Jadowyn started to talk again. "So what was that guy talking about that night when he called you 'Padawan'?" he asked curiously. Kiana mentally cursed. That wasn't exactly a subject change she could appreciate.
"It was nothing. We were just joking around. Trust me, the Jedi Order and I do not get along." At least not anymore. Kiana tried to sound dismissive about it, but she could hear how fast she responded and the slight raise in her voice when she said 'Jedi Order.' Jadowyn noticed too. She could tell by the sideways glance he cast her direction, but he was intelligent enough to not say anything about it.
"Alright then. Whatever you say Kiana. I was just worried about you. The Jedi are bad news." Jadowyn snorted and Kiana rolled her eyes. You have no idea, buddy.
"Trust me, I know that. I never want to see another Jedi for as long as I live." Kiana snorted, turning a corner. She wasn't sure were Jadowyn was going, but she didn't mind following him. She was probably about to take off soon anyway and…go somewhere. Anywhere that wasn't around here.
"Yeah, well you'll probably be better off for it. Anyway, talking about the Jedi is aggravating me. I suppose you want to know why it looked like I was basically stalking you." He laughed and Kiana raised an elegant eyebrow at him.
"Well, I hadn't really thought of it that way, but yeah. That would be kind of nice to know." She replied, shrugging lightly. Jadowyn stopped outside of a large building that was full of life. Constant traffic was in and out and it was decorated brightly with the Republic colors. Well, it was nice to know that they knew the meaning of subtlety.
Jadowyn stopped outside the gate and glanced at the guard who instantly saluted him. Kiana looked at the large man curiously, but he shook his head. He led the small woman through the office and she did her best to ignore the stares she was receiving. She usually got stares so she was fairly used to them, but these people openly gawked at her. What did she look like to these people? Geez, had they never seen a bounty hunter before?
Jadowyn approached a young woman wearing a very nice suit sitting at a large desk. Her dark blue and black hair glimmered in the light as she glanced up at the approaching pair. "Skylar, this is Kiana." Jadowyn introduced her and Skylar bowed her head slightly at her.
"Welcome to the Republic Embassy. I'm Skylar Shii and I'll be the one handling your jobs. It's a pleasure to meet you." She spoke quietly, standing up and walking in front of the exile. She made no motion towards her besides meeting her eye-to-eye. An awkward silence hung in the air for a few moments before Jadowyn motioned at Skylar. She scurried back to the desk with undeniable grace and pressed a button on the desk. The door to a lift slid open and Jadowyn motioned Kiana inside.
Kiana trailed behind Jadowyn into the lift and cast a look back at the receptionist. She was back at her desk and made no movement even though the exile had a distinct feeling that Skylar knew she was looking. The lift closed and jerked up and there was yet another awkward silence between the two.
Finally the door opened into a magnificent office overlooking the night lights of Coruscant. Jadowyn stepped out first and took a seat in a large chair behind a massive desk. Cautiously, Kiana followed in sat in the chair across from him. Jadowyn peered at her for a few seconds before speaking again.
"You ready to work for the Republic Kiana?" He asked and Kiana nodded. There was nothing else she could do now. She had no more purpose. So why not at least do something helpful with her time? It would be better than sitting around letting herself rot to death in some dank apartment.
"Of course. Welcome Kiana Shale, Republic bounty hunter."
Anything familiar belongs to LucasArts/Bioware/Obsidian. Tyla Moore/Kiana Shale belong to Shadows of the Storm. Aurali Adrics/Leila Cross belongs to Aurali Adrics.
Start of an Exile © Shadows in the Storm