Chapter I
"Daddy?" a little red haired girl called and extended her arms upwards.
A tall man with a petit goatee and grizzled medium hair, that was covering his right eye, smiled warmly and picked her up.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Can we try again?" she said quietly.
"Go get your brother and sister. We can try again." he placed her on the floor again and ruffled her hair before she ran out of the room, throught the coridors and into the courtyard.
"Dorleac! Sama!" she shouted "Dad said we-"
She ran into someone and bounced back, falling to the floor, and whoever it was the same happened to them.
"Ouch..." a boy murmured as he stood up. He was taller and a few years older than her.
"I'm sorry, Davrik..." the girl rubbed her head and sniffled.
"It's okay, Tsu... I mean, my Lady. Be careful, we don't want you to get hurt, do we?" he said and helped her up.
"Yeah... I have to go, Davrik, see you later!" she smiled and rubbed her head where she hit it.
"See you." Davrik said and watched her run off.
The girl ran to a small pond, where another older boy was sitting near the water with his arms extended forward. The water in the pond was moving up and down in one spot as the boy was slowly clenching his fists.
"Why was that screaming, Tsuna?" he asked.
"Dad said we can practise to pick up things with the Force!" she said, her voice full of excitement.
The boy just shrugged, smiling.
"I already can."
Tsuna frowned as watched the water rise and fall down.
"You can do everything..."
Dorleac stood up and patted her head.
"No, but you will learn as well. And I can do something else too, I will show you later." he said.
"Okay." Tsuna replied and grabbed his hand. "Let's find Sama!"
With that she pulled him along and ran through the courtyard.
"Sama!" she called a few times.
The girl was nowhere to be seen though. Dorleac and Tsuna continued calling her name, hoping to find her.
Sama quietly passed by the guards and ran outside of the fortress into the wilds of Korriban. She went too far into the sands and looked around.
"So beautiful..." she said as she looked at the Sith Academy in the distance and the statues that were towering over the path that led to it.
"You have gone too far out, my Lady."
She quickly turned to see Davrik.
"I've not, I just wanted to see the Academy." Sama replied.
"It's dangerous to be out here alone though. You cannot defend yourself just yet." he insisted "Your Lord Father will not be happy."
"He never is."
Some low growling interrupted them as a wild Tuk'ata hound approached them. Saliva was dripping from between its fangs as it snarled and another one joined it from behind the dune nearby. The two children stepped closer to each other as more Tuk'atas came and surrounded them. Sama swallowed loudly as the beasts came closer and Davrik whispered:
"Don't move..."
One of the hounds crouched, ready to attack, when a lightsaber flew past the two children and pierced the animal, sending it dead on the sand. The glowing red lightsaber returned to its owner, who jumped over Davrik and Sama and casted a Force wave forward as he landed between them and the Tuk'atas, sending the beasts back while electrocuting them mid-air. Blaster fire took down some of the remaining animals while the Sith slew the last one in half.
"Well done, Commander. Go back to the fortress." Sama heard her father's voice and cringed.
"As you wish, my Lord." the armored man saluted and turned on his heel, heading towards the fortress.
The Sith turned his lightsabers off and clasped them to his belt, turning the face the children with a stern look on his face.
"What were you thinking?" he asked in a deep and serious voice.
"We just..." Davrik started.
"Silence! It was a rhetorical question!"
Sama stepped back and behind Davrik.
"Why did you go out without any guards and even worse - without my permission?" the man said loudly.
"F-forgive me, my Lord..." the boy lowered his head "I just wanted to go out and your daughter's curiosity might have made her follow..."
The man's gaze fell on the girl.
"And you? You decided it was wiser to go after him instead of coming to me and telling me he had gone out, when you both clearly know I forbid it?"
"No, daddy, I just..." Sama's eyes went watery as she stuttered.
"Enough." the Sith said and went past them "We are going back."
The children silently followed him, listening to the clanking of his armor as he walked, his cape brushing the tracks off. As they finally reached the fortress, Tsuna and Dorleac met them inside. The two girls hugged each other and stood next to Dorleac as their father looked over them. He glanced at Davrik.
"Go. I will deal with you later."
Davrik stepped back and ran towards his room.
Tsuna, Dorleac and Sama stood in a line while the large figure of their father was pacing in front of them. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"How many times do I have to repeat this?" the disappointment was present in his voice "If I weren't there, who was going to aid you?" he looked at Sama and frowned "If you think I will not expect a lot from you just because you are at the age of four, you are terribly mistaken." he continued staring at Sama "What you did was stupid and disappointing."
The girl's eyes teared up as she sniffled and looked to the ground.
"Don't cry!" the man ordered "Tell your siblings why they will accompany you through your punishment."
Sama whimpered and wiped her tears with her small hand.
"Davrik went out without permission and I followed him.." she said.
The man nodded once.
"Yes, that is what he said and he will face consequences too for lying. Tell the truth, now."
Sama broke down in tears.
"I.. I went out... and Davrik told me to stop, but I didn't..." she sniffled and looked up to her father, who simply motioned for her to continue and folded his arms in front of her chest "And a pack of Tuk'atas attacked us..." she finished and fiddle with her hands as the tears were rolling down her cheeks.
Dorleac shook his head.
"That is foolish, sister, you know you..."
"You have more guilt than her." his father interrupted "I told you to watch over your sisters."
"I was practising!" the boy said, rising his voice a little.
"Do not talk back to me." he grabbed Dorleac by the collar and picked him off the ground.
"How can I protect them if I am not strong?" Dorleac continued as the Sith brought him closer to his face, watching him closely with his dark orange eyes.
"You are not strong enough to keep an eye on two four-year-olds, is that what you are telling me, boy?" the man said, his deep voice making it sound like a threat.
Dorleac had no answer to that. His father dropped him on the ground and clasped his hands behind his back.
"We will train soon. I will see just how efficient your 'practice' has been."
Davrik was curled up in the corner of his small room, expecting his punishment. There was a knock on the door, which then slid open. The boy tensed, thinking he'd see the two guards that would drag him out and beat him. Instead he saw a beautiful woman stnding in the doorway. His master's wife. She was wearing a tight black dress, that was lining her perfect figure in contrast with her pale skin, her dark red hair fallen on the sides of her thin face was bringing out the color in her lips and golden eyes.
"May I?" she asked softly.
Davrik lowered his head.
"You don't need to ask, my Lady, this is your home..."
"And yours too." she smiled slightly and sat close to him on his bed. "We accepted you here."
The boy remained quiet and hugged his knees in the corner.
"You are afraid, aren't you?" she said, receiving a nod from him, but no look. "Good. Use it, it will make you strong."
"I am no Sith, how can it make me strong?" he asked.
"Sith, Jedi, it does not matter. Even if you are not sensitive to the Force, the only time when you can be brave is when you are scared."
What she spoke was truth, but it was hard for a eight-year-old to understand it.
"It was wrong to lie though. It was brave of you to say it was your fault, but each will face consequences for themselves." she continued.
"I just didn't want something bad to happen to Sama..." Davrik said quietly.
The woman nodded once and gently ran her fingers through his hair.
"Vowlet will do no harm to her. He will just put her through a harsher training."
"But she is only four!" Davrik protested, unable to believe Sama's father would allow her to be beaten up during training.
"And she needs to get stronger. So does Tsuna. Dorleac as well."
Davrik couldn't argue, so he just looked down again.
"And you too" she ruffled his hair gently and stood up, walking up to the door "Prepare for it. As you know, he does not like being disappointed."
"Thank you, my Lady."
The woman smiled faintly and left the room.
