Chapter Two - Slices of Life
The next day Louise lay in her bed with a bag of ice held to her cheek while her friend Siesta was redressing the wound on her left shoulder. The water mage in the infirmary managed to repair most of the damage so it wouldn't require stitching but it was still bleeding out slightly. Siesta medicated some fresh bandages and applied them to the wound to prevent infections.
"Louise, I hope you learned a valuable lesson from all this," the maid said with a stern tone.
"Yes, I should have poked Guiche's eye out with my wand."
Siesta frowned and gave Louise a smack on the top of her head.
"Ow! What was that for? I'm in enough pain!"
"That was for being a dope! You could have died Louise! Why won't you stop trying to kill yourself?!" The maid yelled at her friend with tears forming in her eyes. When she couldn't hold them back anymore she put her head on Louise's chest and started to weep. "Damn it Louise. Tell me why! Tell me what I have to do!"
Louise closed her eyes as hard as she could, the sight of her friend's angst was too much to bear. But the sound of her crying still flooded her ears. All she could do was put a hand on Siesta's head and stroke her hair reassuringly. "Siesta. I wasn't trying to kill myself. I was just trying to protect you. I didn't think things would escalate like they did."
Siesta wasn't having it. She balled a fist and hit Louise in the stomach, not hard enough to actually hurt her, but enough to make her uncomfortable.
"Ow! Cut it out!"
"Shut up Louise! That's exactly the problem! You didn't think! You're not someone who fights! You're someone who thinks, you're someone who studies, who stays up late reading trashy novels! You didn't think about what could happen, what he might do, and you certainly didn't think of me!"
Louise picked up her head and looked down at Siesta, "You're all I was thinking about! I couldn't let him treat you like that! What kind of a friend would sit back and watch her best friend get harassed like that?! It's one thing when they do it to me, but I won't stand for them doing it to you!"
Siesta picked up her head and glared daggers into Louise's eyes causing her to flinch, "So you won't stand up for yourself but you'll stand up for me? When they pick on you your solution is to jump out a window, when they pick on me your solution is to duel to the death?!"
Louise cringed at Siesta's words. "You're right. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"
Siesta got up and climbed into bed to cuddle her friend. "I'll only forgive you if you promise never to do anything like that again," she answered sternly.
"I promise," said Louise with a resolved tone.
Siesta then pulled Louise into a tender snuggle her way of letting Louise know all was forgiven.
"What am I going to do with Calista?" asked a thoughtful Louise.
The maid shifted a little as she tried to figure out what Louise was really asking but eventually gave up, "What do you mean?"
Louise sighed and explained, "You saw what she did to Guiche. It was so one sided. Anyone but her, it would have been an even fight. But Calista's weapon, and her skill with it, not to mention her magic, it was just so disproportional. Then there's also what she told me, about how where she comes from, she's considered one of the weaker ones among her people, at the bottom of the food chain she put it. And when I summoned her, she said she was in combat. Imagine what it must be like when such beings go to war?"
Siesta cringed at the idea, "I don't want to imagine it. But I promise you this, whatever happens, we'll get through it, together."
Louise smiled at her friend as she took her hand in her own.
"Forever and always," they said in unison.
Montmorency, the young girl with long blonde hair styled in unique tubes walked into the infirmary with a solemn look on her face. The day before, she'd wished many terrible things upon Guiche de Gramont but nothing could have prepared her for the sight of her wish having been granted.
Her now ex-boyfriend was covered in bandages, all blood and puss soaked. His skin was charred, in some places even the muscles and bones were exposed. Despite the efforts of the best water mages at the academy, his wounds were severe, by all reckoning, he should be dead.
There was a bib around his neck capturing all the drool falling out of his mouth, his facial muscles were all paralyzed. His eyes locked onto her, panic was evident in them. She felt she understood why and without any further hesitation pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed, she picked up a cloth from the side table and used it to wipe his face with a gentle smile on her lips.
"Don't worry Guiche. I'm training to be a healer, don't feel bad because I'm seeing you like this."
Tears started streaming from his eyes and she used the cloth to dry them.
"Shhhh, please relax. You're badly hurt, this isn't the time to think about your pride. Or about whatever happened between us. Honestly, we're good. It'll take some time, but we're good. When you get better, we can try starting over again. I promise."
Montmorency heard noises from his throat, he was desperately trying to communicate. She leaned over bringing her ear closer to try and discern what he was so desperate to say.
"ellll eeee"
She squinted her eyes and struggled to comprehend.
"eeeease illll eeee"
She shook her head, still not understanding. The nurse came up beside them and looked down at the blonde girl, she looked up at the nurse who had a sad look on her face. "He's been saying it to everyone who tries to listen. I've heard it enough to figure it out."
Montmorency widened her eyes at the nurse, "Well? What's he trying to say? Anything he needs, I'll get for him," she said desperately.
The nurse shook her head and replied with a serious and solemn tone "He's saying 'kill me'."
Montmorency looked down at Guiche and tears started flowing from her eyes. "Is he, in pain?"
The Nurse looked away. "I couldn't even imagine how much. I don't even know how he's still alive. No matter how much we try to heal his wounds. Honestly, I've been trying to figure out how to write a letter to his family to ask… I mean… we've been considering…"
Montmorency snapped her head at the nurse and glared at her intensely, "If you finish that sentence I will destroy you!"
The nurse sighed, "What do you suggest we do then?"
Montmorency turned back to Guiche and now she could see the pain in his eyes and mentally slapped herself for misreading it so badly. "Guiche, I promise you, I'll find a way to save you."
She'd made her promise, now she had to figure out how to go about fulfilling it.
She started in her room with her potions, Montmorency was the school's premier elixir master, she went through her texts looking for her most powerful healing potions, but most of the ingredients were simply far beyond her means. She'd have to start her search somewhere else, and it dawned on her. If that person's power could cause this much damage, maybe she could reverse it?
Her own water magic could be used to harm as well as to heal, though she focused on the latter, the former wasn't beyond her capability, maybe it was the same with her? It was worth a try.
Now she only had to find her.
She had a fairly good idea of where to start if the rumors around campus were to be trusted.
When she found her, Calista was standing with her saber staff in the middle of a clearing in the forest outside the walls of the academy.
X2-C3 was rolling around her and doing its best to shoot her down with a blaster mounted on top of its head.
Calista had decided it was time to experiment with the strange power flowing from the runes on her hand, she was using the Third Form, Soresu to deflect all the blaster bolts coming at her without any difficulty at all.
Montmorency approached the scene timidly, she had no idea what to make of it at all. Calista sensed the girl's approach and her trepidation and gave her droid the signal to stop.
"You may approach us if you wish. It's safe now," she called out.
Montmorency audibly gulped and steeled herself for the encounter, while her only direct encounter with the woman was at breakfast the day before, it was nonetheless a potent encounter that left her to nervous to be near the Sith.
But she had a goal in mind, and wouldn't let anything stop her. She made her approach, Calista disengaged her Lightsaber and clipped it to her belt, she opened her eyes and tucked her hands into her sleeves sagely, holding them under her modest bosoms.
"I want to ask you about Guiche." As much as she tried to hide it, the apprehension was evident in her voice.
Calista said nothing but nodded for her to continue.
"He's in a lot of pain. Nothing our healers can do is working for him. I want to ask if your power can heal his wounds."
Calista said nothing, she sat down upon her knees and then she patted the ground to invite the blonde girl to sit with her, which she did, but not beside her. She sat down a comfortable (safe) distance in front of her.
"Correct me if I am wrong. But, every time I have seen you with the young man in question he has caused you, frustration, embarrassment, and grief. Yet now you come before me to ask if I can heal the wounds which I myself inflicted upon him in retribution for his attempt on the life of the girl who summoned me to this world. Have I missed anything?"
Montmorency shook her head and looked down at the ground, "No, that about covers it. He's always being a flamboyant windbag, he loves the sound of his own voice, he's arrogant, obnoxious, petty, elitist, persistent, vindictive… and no matter how hard I try to make him settle down and be the man I know he really is, he shrugs me off. Then I caught him cheating on me, and I dumped him. But, for reasons I don't fully understand, I still love him. Seeing him in the state he's in now, it's heartbreaking. I want to help him, but I don't know how. I'll do whatever it takes, if you can help him, please, I'll do anything!"
Calista considered her words carefully and thought about it when her mind raced back to a time she would rather forget, but there was an important life lesson to be imparted to this oddly kindred spirit, lest she endure the same pain. "Be very careful when you say such things. You never know when the price might be too high."
Montmorency blinked at Calista in confusion, "What do you mean?"
Calista sighed and closed her eyes, "Let me tell you a story..." X2 rolled up beside them to listen as Calista began to speak...
Korriban, Sith Academy
Six years ago
Calista was sitting outside the Academy with X2, a data pad in her hand detailing the history of various Sith Lords and their accomplishments.
"Calista = Should study before test day," the droid chirped.
"Yes I should. But the Overseers just kept piling duties on me and I just didn't have time," she said while a young boy approached her with a bottle in his hand.
"M, my.. my Lord," he stammered.
Calista looked up at the boy, he was her age, if not slightly older, dressed in rags and had a shock collar around his neck, one of the slaves of the Academy.
"What is it slave? I'm busy here! Why must you always annoy me!"
X2 regarded the slave boy and extended its blaster from the top of its head. "X2 = Blast worthless organic?"
Calista shook her head at the Droid. "No Extwo, if you do that I'll end up having to pay to replace him. I'm already short on credits as it is from buying the new text books."
The slave boy nervously offered Calista the bottle. "I, I uh, I brought you some water, It's very hot out here and I thought you might like some."
Calista narrowed her eyes at the slave and regarded him with suspicion before accepting the water. "Why would you share water with me," she asked while holding the bottle out to her droid.
The droid scanned it for her, "Toxin scan = negative / / Contents = Safe for consumption"
The slave boy scratched his head, "Umm... well... because... I... well…"
Calista was getting irritated with the boy, "Just spit it out!"
"Because I like you!"
Calista widened her eyes at the dirty slave boy and in turn he seemed mesmerized by her white Echani irises.
"You like me? What do I care if you like or dislike me? You're a slave. You're absolutely nothing! Get out of my sight!" she yelled at him impetuously.
The boy turned around and ran away as fast as his little legs could carry him while Calista went back to her studies.
Over the next few days, the little boy was persistent, growing bolder in his attempts to make conversation with the Sith Acolyte. Calista meanwhile grew increasingly impatient with him and chased him off more forcefully each time. One day, Calista failed to pass a written exam on Imperial Military Doctrine and was barred from eating again. Because of her growing hunger her training began to slip and she was being constantly beaten by the Overseers, and her fellow Acolytes.
By the next week, her hunger was driving her to madness but she had to suck it up. The Overseer had given her a task, she was to go into a tomb to retrieve equipment lost by a survey team. Normally the task would be no problem for Calista, but she was weak from hunger. X2 was her only ace in the hole, she would have to depend on the droid to protect her from any creatures lurking in the tomb in addition to having to depend on its sensors to guide them to their objective.
Fortunately, they encountered nothing along the way there, and once they had arrived, they found the slave boy picking through the fallen survey team's belongings.
"What are you doing in here?!"
The boy turned around and looked at her and the droid in horror. "My Lord! I... I…"
Calista's patience was razor thin from hunger, "You, you, you what? Out with it!"
The slave boy picked up a box and slowly walked over to Calista, X2 had its blaster trained on the boy, ready to shoot him if he tried anything foolish.
"I heard a rumor that these soldiers came into the tomb and died. I came to get their ration packs for you..." he said shyly and offered out the box.
Calista saw the markings on the box and knew what they were, she leapt at it like a rabid Nexu. The boy swore he could hear a feline roar emanate from her as she pounced on the box.
Calista ripped open the box and tore the wrappings away from the first item of food she could get and started to devour it.
X2 put himself into sentry mode and kept watch around Calista for any danger while she ate.
The slave boy meanwhile picked out a few more ration packs from the dead soldiers and brought them to Calista.
"Here my Lord. In case they don't let you eat later, you should keep these with you. I'm sorry I can't find more, this is all they have."
Calista looked at the slave boy with crumbs all around her mouth and smiled at him. The boy was stunned, she was smiling at him! A genuine smile for him! He felt so light that he had to put his hands on the floor to make sure he wasn't floating away.
"Why would you risk your life to come into this dangerous tomb just to find ration packs for me?"
The slave boy scratched his head as he struggled to find words. "Well, err, I saw how hungry you were getting, I mean, they didn't let you eat all week. You were getting hurt a lot, and your wounds aren't healing because of how hungry you are, you've lost a lot of weight, I… I couldn't stand it! I was looking around, everywhere, trying to find any scraps of food I could muster up for you. At one point I'd managed to get a plate of leftovers together but one of the Overseers took it away from me and fed it to his pet Tuk'ata, so I had to start over again. That's when I heard about these soldiers and I knew it was a good opportunity."
Calista stuffed her mouth with more food, after she swallowed she asked again, "But why would you risk your life for this? What's in it for you? All I've ever done is be mean to you! Why would you want to help me when there's nothing I could offer you in return?!"
The boy took two fist fulls of his pants as he gathered his nerve, he couldn't meet her gaze so he kept his head bowed low as he spoke, "Because I love you. My Lord. I've been in love with you from the moment I saw you. I know there's no way you'd ever return my feelings. You're a Sith, I'm a slave. So all I could do was try to help you anyway I could. If I could do just one thing to make sure you could live another day in this place that's constantly trying to kill you. I'd give my life for it!"
Calista wiped her mouth with her hands in a hurry before she leaped up and glomped the boy in front of her, the two fell to the ground and she pressed her lips to his as hard as she could. It was probably the sloppiest first kiss in the history of first kisses, but it was what it was.
She eventually had to break the kiss so they could breath, when she did she found herself straddling the slave and pulled him into a tight hug.
"Thank you. Thank you so much. I promise you, whatever it takes, someday, I'll repay you for your kindness. I'll buy you away from the Academy and we can travel the galaxy together, just me, you, and Extwo of course!"
"My Lord I…"
Calista put a finger on his lips to silence him, "You can call me Calista when we're alone like this."
The boy nodded to her and she removed her finger.
"Alright. Calista," he said as he threw his arms around her waist and hugged her.
X2-C3 decided he should interrupt the tender moment between the two young teenagers and chirped. "X2 = Happy for you both / / X2 = Recommends Calista + Slave pack equipment + relocate to safety"
Calista looked at the droid and nodded.
"What's it saying?" asked the slave boy.
Calista looked to the boy and explained, "Extwo says we should pack up the equipment and get out of here before whatever killed these people comes back."
As they started gathering the survey equipment the slave boy noted that one of the fallen was a Sith, not an Acolyte, but a full Sith. "Calista, something's not right here. These people weren't killed by an animal."
Calista looked up from what she was doing to regard the bodies.
"Very perceptive, slave," came a voice from the darkness.
When he stepped out of the shadows she recognized him as one of the older Acolytes. Calista remembered him from the mess hall, always talking about the lewd things he wanted to do to her. Was he here to finally attempt to follow up with action?
"You killed them?" asked Calista with surprised curiosity.
"He had a bit of help," came another voice.
"We knew they'd send you on this pointless task. So we waited here for you," added a third.
The three older Acolytes now had them surrounded.
"Extwo, how did you not detect them?" asked Calista calmly.
X2 beeped in confusion.
One of the Acolytes then gestured to his belt, "We managed to secure some stealth generators, we knew you'd be overconfident with your little droid. You think you're so much better than everyone else because of it. Now you see how weak you truly are!"
Calista drew her practice sword, the three Acolytes in turn drew their own.
"Smash the droid first, then we can make her watch as we slowly kill her boyfriend before we have our way with her!"
Calista mustered her hatred as she charged the leader of the pack and opened up on him with a ferocious attack sequence putting him firmly on the defensive.
"Extwo! Blast these worthless organics!" ordered Calista.
The Droid picked a target and opened fire forcing the Acolyte to focus on deflecting its shots while the third decided to aid his leader with Calista.
Now the girl had to fight one while defending against the other, this was simply beyond the scope of her training. Though she held out for the first few blows, she was quickly overpowered and disarmed, Calista tried to dive after her weapon to recover it but it was pulled away from her by the leader who now stood before her with two swords, and by his stance, he knew how to wield them together.
The slave boy was helpless in this situation, but refused to be useless. He searched around for any means of lending assistance, he picked up a blaster from one of the soldiers and looted a lightsaber staff from the dead Sith.
"Calista! Catch!" yelled the slave boy as he threw the weapon at her.
She held out her hand and used the Force to pull it into her grip while rolling backwards to regain her offensive posture, she assumed her ready stance and ignited the saber staff.
The two Acolytes before her were stunned. Those dual red blades and menacing hum. This wasn't going the way they had anticipated.
She charged them and began to savagely exchange blows with the two boys. After a very short exchange, she knocked both of the older boy's swords out of her way before decapitating him with the reverse side of her staff in one clean flourish before finishing off the second in the same way. Neither of the boys were ready for this type of combat, and it showed.
Meanwhile, the slave boy opened up on the final Acolyte with his blaster, but the third boy was well trained in blaster deflection. Deflecting from two shooters was no problem for him at all.
He approached the slave who backed away until he was against a wall where he was quickly disarmed with a Force pull to his blaster and then struck down with two strikes of the Acolyte's sword.
Calista was furious, she drew upon the Force to increase her speed, she leaped at the third acolyte and ended up meeting his blade.
Calista lead him away from the fallen slave and kept him engaged while X2 tried to blast him from behind, but this boy's form was more than a match for the two.
He used the Force to push Calista away, slamming her into the back wall. The lightsaber staff fell out of her hand and disengaged itself once her grip was released.
Meanwhile the male Acolyte focused on his blaster deflection, redirecting the shots back at the droid, forcing it to stop shooting and put power to its shield, when it resumed firing, the Acolyte managed to close the distance and smashed its blaster with his sword before Force pushing it away.
The Acolyte slowly walked towards Calista with his sword at the ready, "The Fifth Form of Lightsaber combat, I'm almost a master of both variants, and I'm going to be the apprentice of a Dark Council member. You never stood a chance you little Echani schutta."
Calista pushed herself up, she picked up the lightsaber hilt, but before she could reignite the blades it was kicked out of her hand. The much larger boy then punched her in the face hard enough to send her back down to the ground.
"Don't bother getting up, I like you just where you are," he said with anger as he bent down over her and grabbed a fist full of her snowy hair and proceeded to slam her face into the floor repeatedly until she could barely remain conscious.
The older boy then turned her around and slammed her into the ground once again for good measure before he started ripping off her top and roughly fondled her assets. He started talking to her about all the lewd things he wanted to do to her and how he would slowly murder her while doing them with a sadistic tone.
That was, until he was interrupted by a blaster bolt to the side of his head.
He fell off her to the side lifelessly.
Calista looked up and saw the slave boy holding the smoking blaster, he then fell over, unable to stand due to his wounds.
Calista then pushed herself up, did her best to cover up and ran to him. She knelt down next to the slave who was in great pain. The sword had struck him across the chest. The training swords were designed to simulate lightsabers in most respects, including their ability to burn, though it didn't cut clean through him, the blow had crushed his ribs making it hard for him to breath.
"I'm sorry Calista, I let you down," he said weakly.
"No you didn't! You were amazing! I'll be right back, don't move!"
She stood up and ran over to one of the soldiers, from his backpack she retrieved a first aid kit and went back to the boy. She injected him with painkillers and kolto, then applied bandages to his burns.
Once she made him comfortable Calista started using the Force to load the remaining supplies, and the heavily damaged Astromech onto an anti-gravity sled and then carefully levitated the unconscious slave boy so that he was resting on top of the pile to get them out of the tomb.
With one more pass around the area, she looted one of the stealth generators the boys used and destroyed the other two, along with anything else she could not use but would not want to ever have used against her. Having a stealth generator of her own would be a useful survival tool for her in this place.
That was the mistake the other Acolytes made in their ambush, one she took to heart. The ambush they pulled on her would have been successful had they been more competent.
When Calista returned to the Academy, she was greeted with contemptuous stares. Most of the students knew what was happening, the fact that she had returned with her task completed and that the three who set up the trap for her were not anywhere to be found, made it clear that she had somehow defeated them. The little girl who always made the cut by the skin of her teeth, seemed to always shine at her brightest when she was backed into a corner.
When she reached the apex of the Academy's steps, she was met by the Overseer responsible for her training, he glared down at her with a furious scowl. "You live."
"Yes, My Lord."
He crossed his arms before her, "I see the supplies, but I also see boxes of food rations, a Lightsaber Staff, and a Slave. Explain these oddities Acolyte."
Calista looked up at met his gaze, whatever fear she might have had for him before was gone, replaced with nothing but utter contempt. She knew he had to have been in on the ambush, even if she could never prove it. One simply didn't find stealth generators laying around the Academy.
"Spoils of battle My Lord. Mine by right of victory."
The Overseer's scowl turned into a small smirk, and then a genuine smile which confused the young Acolyte.
"I'm pleased with your mettle. But tell me, the slave belongs to the academy. What claim have you over him?"
Calista blinked, "I found him in the tomb, he assisted me in loading the supplies, but he was injured in the battle. I thought to return him and have his wounds treated as a reward. I make no claim over him."
The Overseer's smile widened, it was not pleasant.
Calista suddenly felt much smaller before the already much taller Sith.
The Overseer then pulled out a holo projector and showed a video of what transpired between her and the slave boy in the tomb for all to see, it drew laughter from everyone. Conveniently, it failed to show how they defeated the three other Acolytes but Calista could not speak up about that, all the fire in her blood seemed to be replaced by ice.
"Silence," yelled the Overseer with a booming voice. The crowd of students were suddenly very silent. "Acolyte. Do you wish to purchase this slave to warm your bed?"
Calista looked up at the Overseer with a glimmer of hope and spoke cautiously, "If I do?"
The Overseer laughed at her and was joined in chorus by the rest of the students, Calista had never before experienced such deep humiliation. What should have been her triumph was being reduced to a comedic spectacle for the entire academy.
"You have two choices Acolyte!" The Overseer picked up the slave boy and dropped his still unconscious body at Calista's feet. "You can either kill the slave. Or I will kill you both."
The laughter suddenly stopped, this matter had just turned much more serious. Calista's eyes widened in horror, was this a test of some sort? Was this Overseer just that much of a sadist? Would anyone higher ranked than him intervene? She looked around and noted that there were indeed various Sith Lords about scouting for potential apprentices, but none of them seemed to care about what was happening, she was on her own.
"But My Lord? Why?" she asked fearfully.
The Overseer scowled at her, "There is no why! I gave you a command! Kill the slave!"
Calista gripped her lightsaber tightly while she considered her options. She could challenge the Overseer. If she won, that might impress one of the Sith Lords enough to protect her.
But if she failed, they'd both die.
She looked around one more time while going over her options. The Sith Lords were walking away, totally disinterested.
Her fellow students wanted to see blood and it showed on their faces, they did not care whose it was.
The Overseer drew his lightsaber and ignited it.
Calista looked down at the boy with tears in her eyes, "Forgive me," she said to him as she ignited one end of her saber staff.
The young Echani girl let an ear shattering scream of anguish escape her throat as she raised her lightsaber, with tears flowing from her eyes like rivers she brought the blade down and beheaded the still unconscious boy.
She fell to her knees in sorrow and wept.
There was some laughter from many of the more heartless students while others had a taste of the grim reality of the Sith Academy and walked away solemnly.
The Overseer disengaged his lightsaber and put it away. As he turned to leave he spoke to her one last time for the day; "Acolyte. If you are not willing to risk your life to protect the things you care about, do not allow yourself to care about them. Otherwise, everything you fight to gain, will be taken away from you like this. And never... ever... get caught lying to me again."
Montmorency wiped tears from her eyes, "That's the most awful thing I've ever heard in my life… Why did you tell me that story?"
"Because you said you would do anything to save that boy you care about. Does that include risking your life? Possibly giving up your life for his?"
The blond girl wiped more tears away and took a deep breath before responding, "Would it really come to that?" she asked.
Calista kept her eyes closed but still kept her head directed at her. "If it did? What would you do if you were in that girl's position?"
Montmorency flinched as she tried to imagine it, "I, I don't know. I can't even imagine what she must have felt in that moment."
Calista nodded to her, "Then let us examine your situation for a moment here, and you will start to see the parallels. You love this boy who does nothing but dismiss you when you try to help him. He disregards you when you try to do anything to make his life a little bit better. But you still love him. Am I right?"
Montmorency nodded, "I'm like the slave boy, aren't I?"
Calista nodded to her. "That boy, was constantly dismissed by the girl he loved, mocked by her, beaten by her, humiliated by her at every turn. Yet he endured hunger, thirst, pain, and risked death, just to scrounge up a meager meal for his beloved. Only to have the meal he suffered to prepare taken away and fed to an animal before he could bring it to her. Then, he risked his life to enter one of the most dangerous places on Korriban. A place where even I, with all my power, fear to tread. All in the slim hope of finding some meager meal for the girl he so unconditionally loved. What I am asking you my dear, is are you willing to endure even a fraction of that, for this boy you love?"
Montmorency gathered two fistfulls of her skirt as the feeling of helplessness washed over her, "I don't know! I don't even know if he can be healed," she said before she started sobbing uncontrollably.
Calista opened her eyes and looked at the weeping girl. "I feel your pain. I go over those events every damn day. I wonder if I had fought that Overseer, could I have won? What I regret most about that day is the fact that I did not even try. He risked his life for me, but when the moment came for me, I did not risk mine for his. If I could go back and do it again, I would have fought him, and anyone else who tried to challenge me. But I am not stupid, I know I would have died, if not by the Overseer, then by any number of the other more powerful Sith. In the end, I had to accept that I was powerless at that moment. I resolved to never be powerless again. You must hate me very much for putting you in this position right now."
Montmorency shook her head, "No, I don't hate you. I don't hold it against you. I know what he did, I know he asked for it. I actually blame myself for it, I should have stayed. If I was there, maybe I could have kept it from escalating."
Calista was impressed, she smiled at the girl, "That is a very mature point of view to have."
The blonde shrugged, "For all the good it does me. Just. Please. Tell me. Can you heal his wounds?"
Calista shook her head, "I am sorry. My healing powers are not up to this. Even if they were, I fear the price to be paid for using them would be too high for us both. I have some medicines in my fighter, but all of them combined would not lessen the pain he is in. Back home, we would dump him in a Kolto tank for a few days until he recovers, but, I do not have nearly enough Kolto to immerse his whole body in."
Montmorency considered the information she'd just received while drying her tears with her cloak. Anything to do with medicines, elixirs or chemistry could instantly brighten her mood. "Maybe if I could see some of this Kolto and study it, I could find a way to make more? I'm a bit of an expert in these sorts of things."
Calista regarded the girl before her and was stunned by the amount of confidence in her voice. If she could replicate Kolto, that would be truly impressive, but Calista didn't want her to have false hope. "I have to warn you my dear, while I appreciate and indeed admire your confidence. You should know that the resources of thousands of worlds, and the greatest minds of hundreds of generations, have failed to produce Kolto through artificial means. Nobody even knows how it is created in nature. And it only occurs on one planet in the known universe. I hope you can appreciate the scale of what I'm trying to get across to you here. You might want to prepare another option."
Montmorency nodded at Calista before standing up and dusting off her skirt. "Thank you for the story. And for your help," she said before turning to walk away.
"One more thing," said Calista. The blonde turned around and caught something coming towards her. "I did not get your name."
The blonde girl was suddenly appalled by her own lack of manners, "Oh, forgive me. I'm Montmorency Margarita la Fere de Montmorency."
Calista blinked, "That is quite a mouth full. Hmm, Montmorency is your first and last name?"
The blonde nodded.
"I will call you Monmon. If you do not mind. Has a cute ring to it. I am Lord Calista Zarkot," she said while inclining her head politely.
"May I call you 'Cali' then?"
Calista smiled, "You may indeed. What you have there in your hand is a small amount of Kolto used to treat battlefield injuries. See what you can do with it."
Calista stood up and walked over to the younger girl and instructed her in how to extract the Kolto from the auto injector without hurting herself before the two parted company. But before she'd leave, she had one more question to ask the Sith.
"Cali? What was the boy's name? You never mentioned it."
Calista turned around and gave the blonde a sad expression. "I never knew his name. I tried to find out, but there just was not any information on him. Nobody cares about slaves in the Empire beyond what they have to pay for them," she answered before closing her eyes and pulling up her hood, then she walked away with her droid following behind her.
"X2 = Confused / / Calista = Never helps weak organics" the droid observed.
Calista chuckled to herself before patting the droid on its head. "I know it's strange Extwo. But I couldn't help it. She reminded me so much of that boy that it just broke whatever was left of my black heart. Besides, I'm not exactly helping her, I'm helping her to help herself. And besides that, we both know she's going to fail. Even if I wish otherwise… Anyway, I'd like you to get back to work on the fighter. I'm going to go check in with Louise and see how she's doing."
When Calista entered their room she found that a second bed had been added, she also found Louise and Siesta laying on their bellies and reading a book together, she couldn't help but smile at the sight. Louise looked up and waved a Calista. "I was starting to think you'd run away or something."
Calista chuckled, "Even if I had, I have nowhere to go. Until my fighter is repaired, I am stuck on this planet. Even after I get it fixed, I have no idea where I am in relation to where I was, so that would make navigation a challenge. I think that tonight, if the sky is clear, I shall have Extwo do some stargazing to see if he can figure out where we are."
Siesta looked amazed, "I've never imagined that there were other worlds out there. Louise was telling me about what you told her, about how all of the stars have other worlds just like this one."
Calista chuckled at the childish wonder she was expressing, "Not all. But most of them," she corrected.
"I wonder why haven't we been visited by other people yet?" asked Siesta.
Calista smiled at her as she took a seat on the other bed and made herself comfortable. "You have been," she said while waving at her.
"Yes, well, but, why are you the first," she asked.
"I might not be. Who knows. The Galaxy is enormous. But, if neither the Empire, nor the Republic have come to this world and tried to integrate you into the Galactic community, we must be a long way from either of them. Who knows. I can speculate all day, but, when I figure out where we are, I can give you facts. So what are you two doing exactly?"
"Promise not to laugh?" asked Louise to which Calista nodded.
"We're reading a romance novel," said Louise with a hint of shame.
Calista smiled and huffed a small laugh.
"Hey! You promised!"
Calista shook her head and burst into a full laugh. "I appologize. I am not judging you or anything like that. I was your age not long ago. At the Sith Academy they we were disallowed to read such things. However, I was rather rebellious and I would always have Extwo get me books from the Holonet to read where nobody would find me."
Louise's curiosity piqued, "What's the Holonet?" she asked.
Calista pulled back her hood and straightened out her hair before laying back on the bed. "The Holonet is this thing which lets us transmit information across vast distances, it's also a repository for all that information which can be accessed by anyone from almost anywhere. It might be a little too much to get your heads around."
Louise was stunned, "That's some amazing magic!"
Calista chuckled, "It is not magic. It is simple technology. But, there is an old saying, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. So I suppose to your eyes, such things would be magic."
Louise nodded, the two of them closed their book and regarded Calista, they seemed to silently agree that she was much more interesting, but when she next spoke, they wished they hadn't.
"So Louise. Have you given any thought to your recent fight?"
"Honestly, I'm trying to not to," said a saddened Louise.
Siesta wrapped an arm around her shoulders to offer comfort. "I ask because I'm interested in one specific event. Do you remember how you threw him into the wall?"
Louise buried her face in the mattress and groaned, "Vaguely, it all happened so fast that it's all just a very surreal blur to me right now. Why do you ask?"
Calista sat up and positioned herself to where she could be face to face with Louise when she eventually picked her head up, she even opened her eyes for it. "Louise, I want you to look at me," she said sternly.
Louise timidly picked up her head, Siesta also gave the Sith her undivided attention. "When you pushed him into the wall, you didn't actually touch him. It was what we call a 'telekinetic attack' and it's an ability granted by the Force."
Louise looked at her skeptically, "Are you sure you're not just seeing what you want to see?"
Siesta blinked in confusion at the two.
"No. I've been doing a fair amount of thinking on the matter. It's not a coincidence that you're Force sensitive and you summoned me of all people. You see this thing on my hand," she said while gesturing to her runes.
"The familiar runes. What about them," asked Louise.
"Well, I've been investigating them. During my meditations, I discovered the power flowing into them. I could feel my connection to you, and could feel your connection to me. Also, when I picked up my Lightsaber during the fight, my entire style of combat changed. I was using martial arts that I'd never personally trained in, but now I've suddenly gained, and retained, all that knowledge, and it all came to me through these runes."
Louise's interest piqued to the fullest Calista had seen yet, she pushed herself up and sat herself on the edge of the mattress to listen carefully. "Go on."
"I still don't have enough information to work with. I need to learn more about the powers your people use, but from what I've been able to surmise on my own these 'runes' grant me power that greatly increases my combat potential. I still need to experiment and do research, I know from experience that when something seems too good to be true, it always is. I need to know what the catch is."
Louise nodded and held her hands together to support her chin while she let the information soak in. "When a Familiar is summoned, it sometimes develops special abilities based on what kind of creature it is, and what kind of powers the mage has. Like for example, a summoned cat can learn to talk. But since there's never been a human summoned before, who knows what kind of powers your runes might grant you."
Calista nodded, "I see. There's also one other thing I noticed the first night we met," she started, and then suddenly slapped herself hard. Louise instantly felt the stinging pain.
"Ow! What was that?!"
"That's what we call a 'Force Bond' that sometimes develops between two people. It's exceedingly rare, but it happens. I'd wager that the power flowing between us through my runes is what established the bond between us through the Force in addition to the one by this magic of yours."
Louise rubbed her cheek. "Couldn't you have made a less painful demonstration?"
Calista shook her head, "No. Because I want you to fully comprehend the severity of our situation. I've been using my power to shield you from the effects. But that's all, just because you don't feel it, doesn't mean it isn't there. So if you had died in that fight, I would be dead too. That's why I saved you."
Louise sighed and felt crushed, "Well, there goes any illusions of you just being nice."
Calista chuckled softly, "I can be nice. It's just that it very seldom pays to be nice."
Louise took a breath and finally addressed the issue at hand, "All my life, I've been looked down on. All my life, I've had to hear about how I don't measure up to my mother's legacy, how I'm the only member of my family who can't use magic. I was a freak as a child and never understood why. I was clumsy, always breaking things and making problems for my mother. My father was always upset with me because of it all, and he and my mother would always argue about me. My eldest sister would always blame me for everything that ever went wrong in our house and beat me. My second sister was the one who'd always hold me and tell me everything would be alright. But I knew it wouldn't."
Siesta pulled Louise in a tight hug, her body had gone limp and her tone was stoic and resigned as she continued speaking. "Ever since I came to this school, every day I've had to be confronted by the fact that everyone else can do magic perfectly, but everything I do, literally, blows up in my face. So be it then, why should this be the exception? What happens now? Do you want to figure out how to break the contract and the bond? I don't know if it can be done, familiar contracts are meant to be absolute. But everything with you has been the exception to-"
Calista smiled and interrupted her, "No Louise. I want to train you."
Louise looked up at Calista and blinked. "You want to train me?"
Calista nodded.
"You mean, you want to make me, like you?"
Calista nodded again, "Yes Louise. With time, and training. You have the potential to become Sith."
Louise looked at Calista with tears in her eyes, "You don't want to abandon me?"
Calista smiled and shook her head, "No. I actually like the power these runes grant me. Just because I don't fully understand it yet, doesn't mean I'm not willing to embrace it."
Siesta eyed the Sith skeptically, "Why are you so willing to help Louise? What's in it for you?"
Calista smiled very sincerely at Siesta. "I can sense your feelings. You care about her very much."
Siesta kept her stern gaze.
Calista nodded at her, "Beyond simple self preservation. I believe it was my destiny to come here, to meet her, and to train her. In time Louise, you will start to see that there is no such thing as coincidence. Since I have come here, everything which has transpired, has happened for a reason. Everyone I have met, everything that has happened. Everything which has transpired has been by the will of the Force, literally everything has come together to shape this moment."
Siesta groaned softly, "I don't believe in destiny."
Calista chuckled, "My dear, just because you do not believe in something, does not mean it is not real. You cannot see the air you are breathing, but it is there, you can feel its effects, you constantly breath it in an out. The Force is much the same. It is real, it is alive, it expresses its will in the physical world. It is everywhere, and nowhere. It exists in the past, present, and in all the possible futures. Just because you're not sensitive to it like you are to the air you are breathing, does not mean it is not there."
Louise didn't need to consider it, this was what she'd been waiting her whole life for, in whatever form it came to her, she'd take it.
She wanted power.
Power to show up everyone who ever looked down on her.
Power to live up to her family legacy.
Power to surpass it even.
This was her chance, she wouldn't let it slip away.
"I want to do it! Train me Calista! Teach me everything you know!"
Calista smiled, "Good. Very good. I can feel your passion. Your craving for power. Hold onto to that feeling tightly and never let it go Louise. Because I will challenge you in ways you cannot even begin to imagine. But as long as you hold onto those desires, you will prevail, and you will become Sith."
Louise nodded, "So where do we start?"
Calista sighed, "For now. I am tired and I would like to rest. We shall start tomorrow."
Louise nodded. "Hmm, I wanted to go into town tomorrow to pick up some things."
Calista perked up at that, "Town? There is a town near here?"
Louise nodded at her, "About three hours by horseback. It's where all the students go on off days to shop and pick up supplies for their projects and what have you."
Calista nodded before laying back down, "That should be interesting."