A Year Later

"My dear sweet beautiful girl, I have devised a test for you. Too see if you are ready to become a real Sith." Darth Trilliniouse spoke slowly as if he thought Randon to be slow. Quite the contrary, Randon understood all too well. A test…she anticipated it with worried pleasure. Her only draw back was she was with child, again.

"It will begin tomorrow." Randon kept her gaze to the ground. "Yes master." "As a treat, my dear sweet beautiful girl, I will allow you to see Jullian for an hour today. I'm feeling generous." Randon didn't verbally question his strange act of kindness, though inside were a whirl of questions. She was just glad she was going to see Jullian. He was almost a year, and she hadn't seen him since a couple weeks after he was born.

Darth Trilliniouse dismissed her and a servant escorted her to the servants quarters, warily keeping distance between her and Randon. When they got to the room and went inside Randon stopped short. A little boy with small dark curls was toddling around, holding on to the edge of things to walk. A young servant girl was walking beside him. When she saw Randon she knelt beside the boy. "Jullian, lookie, mommy."

Randon frowned, mommy. She wanted to slap the girl. Jullian looked up at her and said in his little voice. "Mamamama." Randons frown disappeared. "Leave." She commanded both servant girls. They obeyed willingly. When they left Randon went to her knees. Jullian waddled over on chubby little legs. He fell forward in her lap. Randon lifted him up to her and kissed his forehead. He patted her shoulder. "Mamamamama." Randon gave a small smile, though she assumed he called every girl that. "Hey Jules." He beamed at her and played with her hair. She let him, and just sat there.

As she played with her son her mind wandered. For some reason, she thought of Kure, the boy she had met five years ago. She lifted her hand to her right ear and touched her earlobe. She couldn't hear out of her right ear, and it was because of that day so long ago yet so close it seemed like yesterday. Randon didn't blame Kure….she blamed his sister Valeena. When he thought about him her heart flew, and her cheeks burned. As she looked down at Jullian now she surprised herself by thinking something strange. She wished Kure was the father.

"Why?" She asked herself bringing Jullian to her face and looked into his big brown eyes. "You know nothing about him.Jullian shook his head. "No, no, no." Randon smiled a small smile and ran her fingers through his dark curls. Then she frowned and sighed. "Forget about him." She tried, but in truth she didn't want to. Thinking of the boy she knew for maybe three hours helped her through some days. She would dream about him sometimes as well. Her mind did'nt know why, but something else did, she just did'nt know what. She blinked and pushed every thing out of her mind, and concentrated on Jullian.

Randon deactivated her lightsaber though she kept it in her hand, and dropped to the ground. She stood slowly and cautiously and pushed her hair from her eyes. Her test was almost over, Darth Trilliniouse had said. It had gone on for three days and Randon couldn't wait for it to be over.

Suddenly she felt cold hands on her neck. Randon didn't move until Darth Trilliniouse stood in front of her. Then she dropped her head. He lifted her chin with his pointer finger. She looked up into his eyes. "That was done well, my dear sweet beautiful girl." She hated the name, almost more than Darth Trilliniouse himself.

"The next test is easy." He leered. She blinked; his definition of easy was not like a normal humanoids or anything really. He took her arm and led her outside to an area behind the complex. What awaited her made her stop in her tracks. A large pond. Water. She wanted to turn and run, but her feet were frozen to the ground. Her legs felt like rubber and she felt as if she might faint.

A memory flooded into her mind of when she was younger. A time when Darth Trilliniouse had been especially angered with her. He had dragged her by the hair to a near by indoor fountain. He had shoved her head under the water and didn't let her up for a whole minute. Randon had almost drowned that day, and many days after that as well. Randon only had two fears, and now they were once again reunited. Darth Trilliniouse and water.

"Now," Darth Trilliniouse was speaking, "here is what you are to do. This pond is full of sharash, poisonous sharash. You will start art one end and swim to the other. Your only weapons, your wits and physical strength. If you defeat the water, you will become Darth Randon. If you fail, well you if you fail, you will be dead." Randon just stood there frozen with fear. Darth Trilliniouse came up behind her and took her cloak, only then did her feet rise from there seeming death.

She moved quickly to the edge of the pond. She was already becoming dizzy, as if she couldn't breathe. She had to hold onto something, anything. She took a step back and bumped into Darth Trilliniouse. Almost without thinking she turned and clung to his robe and buried her face in his chest. She realized what she had done when he pushed her away slightly and lifted her face to his. She made it impenetrable, no emotion would dare break through. Her eyes stared steadily into his. His voice was heavily sweet and made Randon cringe inside. "My dear sweet beautiful girl is scared of the water still I see. How unfortunate."

She cast her eyes down. Darth Trilliniouse kissed her forcefully on the mouth. "Just in case you don't make it. Now go, before I loose my patience." Randon ran out of his grasp and to the edge of the pond. "You can do it. You will do it." She whispered to herself.

Though her heart was racing, her mind was fuzzy, her eye site blurred, and her body trembling, she slid into the pond. At once she began to sink. The water closed in around her, a black blank wall was forming in her mind. She began thrashing and kicking. Suddenly she surfaced and gasped for air. When her mind was clear ever so slightly she began kicking her legs and moving her arms as she had seen others do.

She was halfway across when the sharash decided to show themselves. Randon recalled sharash to be small creatures with huge fins on either side of it. They also had large fangs that shot out its poison when it bit you. A swarm of sharash moved toward her legs. She kicked them away as hard as she could. They moved away, and came right back. Randon tried harder to move faster. The sharash moved up her body. Randon twisted in the water and gritted her teeth. They crowded around her arms. Randon could tell the shore was close and she focused on it.

She pushed the sharash away and as she did so, her head fell into the water. Panicky she waved her arms around wildly till her face was again in the air. The sharash gave a horrendous piercing squeal. Randon grimaced and keeping her head up swiped her hand. Suddenly a searing pain shot through her arm. She wanted to scream, instead she pushed herself one last time and she was at the shore.

With one hand she pulled herself up the bank. She looked at her arm and inspected it. She found the source of her pain on her wrist. Three deep gashes were in it. Teeth marks. Clutching her wrist Randon stood. Darth Trilliniouse was at her side in seconds.

"You amaze me my dear sweat beautiful girl. Medic over her now!" He called. Randon was fading away; she could barely hear Darth Trilliniouse as he spoke to the medic droid and guided her to the complex. Soon, everything was dark, and her world was enveloped in silence.