Chapter 11

Weeks bled into months that would have been repetitive and monotonous had they not been punctured by the occasional death. A student succumbing to dehydration here. A lung or heart being pierced by a broken rib there. A fist or boot striking the trachea there. And so on, until even the sight of a dead student had started to become commonplace. The only excitement these deaths brought for Rathe was the possibility of Uthyn remaining off-world just long enough for a change to be made to Rathe's daily routine. Every single time, his hopes were dashed, and the Sith boy found himself yet again taking a beating at the hands of Kasal.

Rathe scowled in irritation, using his thumb to push the sweat-soaked hair out of his eyes. After spending approximately two months at the facility, the deaths made it easier to keep track of time; the Sith boy had become used to the feeling of sweat running into his eyes. Recently, however, he had begun to have his hair fall into his eyes. What had once been neatly cropped black hair had turned into shaggy, matted hair that was just long enough to fall into amber eyes but not long enough to be pushed back behind his ears. Initially, when he had arrived, Rathe had found it strange that all the older students had been sporting longish hair, but now he was curious as to how they could have had long hair minus the mats everyone was currently wearing. He was pulled from his thoughts as the same strands of hair he'd just moved, fell back into his eyes, this time entering one of Rathe's eyes, causing an immediate stinging pain that brought tears to both amber-yellow eyes.

"Flacking hell." He hissed, screwing his smarting eye shut.

Immediately, he became aware of snickering coming from his left. Rathe whipped his head to the side, glaring irritably at the source. The effect was lost due to one eye being tightly closed and the other watery with unshed tears.

Seki, who because of her Rattataki heritage was the only student who lacked hair, merely smiled back, mirth clear on her face. "Having difficulties?"

Rathe's only reply was to blow his hair out of his face.

As the physical exercise was called to an end and the students lined up, Rathe found himself, yet again, brushing his hair out of his eyes. Letting out a sigh of exasperation, the Sith Pureblood took a moment to enough the slight breeze as he tried to push the annoyance from his mind.

Wait, breeze?

Eyes that had unconsciously closed in pleasure snapped open in shock. Since the day he had arrived, the air on Dromund Fels had been incredibly still. Making the high temperature near unbearable as there was nothing to alleviate the heat. Having become used to things working a certain way, Rathe was cautiously optimistic that the breeze was a fortuitous event. By the time the last student had received their glass of water, the breeze was stiff enough to ruffle the Instructor's shirts. Though not yet strong enough to move the student's sweat-drenched clothing.

During the sparring matches, Rathe found himself distracted by trying to figure out what the older students were doing. The moment they had entered the building, all the older students, had begun pulling tearing off the lower portion of their shirts turning them into makeshift bandanas that covered their noses and mouths. The ones who had shirts too ratty or ragged to form a decent bandana chose instead to roll their shirts up onto their shoulders, creating a thick scarf like object that covered the lower half of their faces. Kasal happened to be among the former group, tearing almost a quarter of his shirt off, revealing the lower half of his abdomen. Two minutes later, Rathe's knuckles barely grazed the dark skin now bared for all to see, although he had brushed his fingers against Kasal's clothing in previous fights, being able to feel his fingers graze the other boy's skin was ten times as satisfying. In response, Rathe had his face slammed into the hard stone floor, causing his teeth to go crashing into his tongue and his nose smashed against his face. Questions about the odd behavior of the older students faded into the background of Rathe's mind as his broken nose, and other injuries took priority. Not that he needed to worry about figuring it out for himself. By now, Rathe had figured out the reason for any 'odd' behavior would be revealed shortly after the behavior started. The Sith boy's wait for an explanation came to an end after the final fight.

As Instructor Trevin began leading the group of losers, out of the arena, the thin man was prevented from leaving the building. At first, Rathe was unsure about what was going on, being too distracted by attempting to set his own nose, until he ran into the Zabrak girl in front of him.

"Hey!" Rathe exclaimed at the same time the girl whirled around and snarled. "Watch it!"

The two children glared at one another for a moment, before turning to look at the front of the line. There, at the head of the line stood Instructor Trevin, shoulder pressed against the door as he attempted to push it open. After a momentary struggle, the slim man stepped away from the door that refused to open, gesturing for the children right behind him to move out of his way. The man moved his right foot back, bending both knees slightly and drawing his hands to his abdomen as he did. Like he had while witnessing the clash between the Twi'lek woman and slim human, Rathe felt a faint pull coming from Instructor Trevin. The Pureblood boy watched with bated breath, excited to see the use of the force up close and personal, as the man brought his hands forward.

At first, nothing immediately happened, much to Rathe's disappointment, but then he heard a loud groaning noise and saw the doors were slowly moving. He wondered why the man did not just blast the doors open, but then sand began blowing through the small opening in the door. Sand coming into the arena was not an unusual occurrence, after all, the children tracked a decent amount in daily. What was unusual, however, was how much was coming through the crack, and the force behind it. As the door opened further, the amount of sand and wind coming in increasing volume and speed until Rathe was forced to hold a hand up to keep sand from his eyes. All around him, the Pureblood boy could hear students crying out or cursing as they moved too slowly to shield their eyes and the sand found its targets. Amidst the yells and cries of pain Rathe, could hear some students shouting for the door to be closed. If he thought the action worth the effort, Rathe might have joined in, but he knew the Instructors would only ignore them.

Glancing at Saril and Seki, Rathe nodded towards the fighting area, and all three stepped out of line and moved towards the center area. The red-skinned boy copied the older students he had observed earlier and tore off the lower portion of his shirt to tie it around his head as he walked.

"The wind from earlier?" He asked, voice slightly muffled by the fabric covering it.

"Turned into a sandstorm while we were in here," Saril confirmed with a nod as he fastened his makeshift bandana.

Looking around, Rathe could see that he was not the only one to have the idea of moving away from the door. Most of the older students appeared to have already moved away while his fellow first years were slowly coming to the same realization. Instructor Trevin remained in front of the door, steadily pushing it open. Instructor Akiva had moved to stand by him moments ago, and they appeared to be speaking in low tones. Uthyn, Rathe noted with a disgusted wrinkling of his nose, was all the way at the back of the building, seemingly content to do nothing.

"How can he stand it?" Seki asked, voice also muffled by the fabric covering her mouth, drawing Rathe's attention back to the front of the building. "Getting hit with all that sand?"

"It's because he is not," the Pureblood boy replied, earning raised eyebrows from both of his allies. "The sand. It is not hitting him."

"I didn't see him activate his shield," The Rattataki girl said, brows furrowing in confusion.

"He is not using a shield," the Sith boy argued with a shake of his head. "Instructor Akiva's keeping him from getting hit."

Rathe received two blank looks of confusion, or, at least, he thought Saril was looking at him in confusion. With his mouth covered up, the Chiss boy was even harder to read than usual, and Rathe quickly found himself becoming unnerved by the solid red eyes upon him.

"Do not tell me you cannot feel it." He continued, feeling just as confused as the looks he was receiving. "The barrier around them."

The moment she had stepped up beside her instructor, Rathe could feel something like a faint tickle on the edge of his awareness. As the opening had grown wider, letting more wind and sand into the building, the feeling had risen until he could feel a more solid, but still faint, sensation. The Pureblood boy equated it to hearing a conversation two rooms away, he could hear enough going on to know there was a conversation going on but he did not know what was being said. Nor did he know exactly what she was doing, but the sensation seemed to be emanating from the area surrounding both instructors, not just Instructor Akiva.

"She placed it around them the moment she stepped up beside him." Rathe felt an overwhelming urge to start babbling to explain himself.

"The sand is going around them," Saril said suddenly.

Both Rathe and Seki turned to look at the two instructors. Even from this distance, the red-skinned boy could see a ring of empty space surrounding the two instructors, even as the area around the two quickly filled up with sand. For the first time since he had started speaking, Rathe felt like he was not speaking a foreign language. He could point to physical proof of what he had been talking about.

All conversation was cut off when the door hinges let out another particularly loud groan of protest, and suddenly, the room was filled with sand and wind, obscuring Rathe's vision. Thankfully he had already pulled the makeshift bandana over his nose and mouth, so sand did not enter either. Not so, fortunately, Rathe did not have anything to protect his eyes from the tiny grains of sand now flying through the air. Placing his hand in front of his face, provided a partial solution, though the sand was quickly able to go around and through his fingers. Even turning his back to the door proved to be a futile attempt as the wind seemed to bounce off the back wall and come back at him. As the sand and wind buffeted him, Rathe could not help but wonder; why? Why, if the storm was so powerful, had Instructor Trevin worked so hard to get them out of the building? Couldn't they have just stayed in the arena building?

"The storm will be over soon." Instructor Akiva called as if answering Rathe's questions. He wondered how her voice could be heard plainly over the howling of the wind and curses from the students. Probably with the force somehow. "Head to your rooms now."

Knowing there was no way of arguing with the Twi'lek instructor, Rathe began moving towards the front of the building. Though it was difficult to see more than a foot in front of him, the Pureblood boy could still feel the sensation from earlier and began moving towards it. Suddenly remembering he was not alone, and that it would be bad form to leave his allies behind, Rathe reached out grabbing onto Saril and Seki. Saril he held onto particularly hard, as Rathe suspected the sand hurt the Chiss boy's eyes twice as much as it hurt his own.

The three children did not speak as they moved, they merely moved forward as one, with the other two trusting Rathe knew where he was going. Occasionally, they would bump into someone who would immediately latch onto whoever they had bumped into and follow them. More than once Rathe thought about attempting to create a shield like the one Akiva had made but immediately dismissed the idea. He still needed to be stationary when concentrating on healing himself, so he probably needed to be stationary when creating a shield as well. Plus, he did not know how to manifest the force as a physical object, even for something as small as a shield covering his eyes.

After minutes of following the sensation in his head, one which Rathe privately worried was an illusion; the Pureblood boy suddenly found himself freed from the sand. Blinking in shock, and because there was still a fair amount of sand in his eyes, Rathe found himself meeting the gazes of Instructors Trevin and Akiva. Not only had he succeeded in leading his group, which now consisted of six children, to the door but he had guided them into the barrier the Twi'lek woman had created. Though his vision was still slightly obscured, the Pureblood boy thought both looked amused, and a little bit impressed.

"Get out."

The two words were all the warning the purple-skinned woman gave as suddenly Rathe, and the five children with him were surrounded by sand once more. Through the sand, Rathe could see the instructors were still sand free through the area around them that was also free of sand was now much smaller. Not even waiting to hear either adult say anything, Rathe grabbed onto Saril and Seki, trusting the other three would grab on as well, and moved around the two instructors.

Rathe faltered once he reached the doorway. Getting to the doors had been one thing, but getting to the dorms was an entirely different thing altogether. No longer could he use the feeling drawing him towards the instructors as an anchor, not only would that keep them where they stood, but could easily lead him astray if Instructors Akiva and Trevin went anywhere within the compound.

As if sensing Rathe's doubt, Saril leaned in and whispered to him. "You know the compound better than anyone."

His eyes widened in shock as he turned to stare at the larger boy. This was the first time either Saril or Seki had acknowledged they knew he snuck out at night. Rathe suspected that nearly everyone knew he stole rations at this point, but he had not wanted to admit it to himself. A part of him felt that if it went unacknowledged, then he would not have to face the idea of the instructors, especially Uthyn, knowing he got his rations through other means than the fights. As of yet, the storage bins had not been moved but Rathe knew it was only a matter of time before he got caught in the act or they were moved.

"Form a line." He said, trying to hide his nerves behind a mask of confidence. "Hold on tightly to each other's hands." Rathe continued letting go of Saril's hand.

The Chiss boy and Seki immediately linked hands, arranging themselves so Seki was in between both boys. The three other students maneuvered themselves, so they were behind Saril. Hoping he was not making a colossal mistake, Rathe led them out of the building. If he had thought seeing was difficult inside the well-lit building, out in the dark of night, seeing was practically impossible. Reaching out with his free hand, Rathe groped blindly for a few seconds before his hand came into contact with the outside wall of the arena. Slowly he led them along, ignoring the stinging and itching sensation coming from every bit of skin that was exposed. Typically, it was a five-minute walk from the arena to the dorm, but it took three times as long for Rathe to reach the end of the wall.

"You at the end of the line!" He shouted, hoping his voice was heard over the sound of the wind. "Keep your hand on the wall to your left until I tell you to! Got it?"

"Got it!" Came the gruff reply.

Taking that to mean his order had been followed, Rathe moved away from the wall carefully searching for the building he knew to be only feet away. If he could find that building, Rathe knew all he would need to do would be to continue on a few more feet, turn to his right and the dorm would be right there.

"Do you even know where you're going?" A voice yelled from the back of the line after a few agonizing moments of Rathe blindly searching for the next building.

Thankfully the voice was not that of the person at the end of the line. Unfortunately, this new person spoke up once more when Rathe did not answer.

"You don't do you!? I'd be better off looking by myself!"

"Do not leave this line." Rathe snarled, whipping around to face the line. "The only way we can make sure all of us get back to the dorm and [b]not accidentally find ourselves leaving the compound is if we stick together."

The Pureblood's annoyance doubled as he realized he was acting more like a Jedi than a Sith, but at this moment, they needed to stick together if only so the six could make it out themselves. Turning back to the task at hand Rathe resumed his search. Finally, after feeling like he was flailing around, his hand smacked into the corner he had been looking for.

"Let go!" He called out behind him, keeping his hand firmly on the new wall.

Trusting the person at the end had heeded his call, Rathe continued, mentally keeping track of how far along he had gone. After he had walked about three feet, the Sith boy turned to his right and took two steps forward, promptly kicking a solid wall when he attempted a third. Stifling a cry of pain, Rathe guided the five students behind him along this wall, until his hand came into contact with a wooden object. He did not know why or how, but for some reason, the flimsy-looking wooden door at the entrance to their dormitory was withstanding the high winds and sand.

"Here!" He yelled out.

Immediately, Saril, Seki, and the three other students crowded around him as he pushed the door open and all six rushed into the crumbling building, closing the door behind them.

"Well, at least, there's less sand." One of the students aside from Saril or Seki called out from the pitch-black darkness of the hallway.

Usually, the cracks in the ceiling and walls provided sources of light the moon could shine through. Now, the same ones that provided light allowed sand to be blown into the dormitory. A sudden metallic hum and bright light appearing caused Rathe to flinch. Blinking the spots from his eyes, Rathe, once again, found himself staring at instructors Akiva and Trevin, both holding a lightsaber aloft.

"You took your time."

Unable to help himself, Rathe gaped in shock at the two adults. What were they doing here? More importantly, how had they gotten here ahead of his group? He knew it had taken them far longer to reach the dormitory than it usually would have, but it couldn't have taken them that long, could it?

Realizing he was staring at them with his mouth wide open, Rathe closed his mouth with an audible click of teeth. Beyond the two instructors, who looked a bit too amused for Rathe's liking, the red-skinned boy could see a group of students. By his estimation, they only numbered a quarter of the total number of students. Most of whom were second years or older. In fact, the only first-year students were himself, Saril, Seki and... remembering the three were not alone, Rathe glanced to the side. Standing next to Seki were a yellow-skinned Zabrak and a tanned human female. Both he recognized as fellow first years, but he could not remember anything about them or the fights they had been in. The only things he knew were, they had survived this long, the Zabrak was slightly taller than Rathe, and the human was the same height. Amber-yellow eyes widened in shock as he turned towards Saril and realized the orange-skinned Pureblood standing behind him was Mathieu Chi'thiac. One of Kasal's allies. The other Pureblood seemed oblivious of Rathe staring at him, nonchalantly removing his temporary face mask.

"I'm almost impressed." Instructor Akiva's voice cut through the moment of silence. Bringing Rathe's attention back to the two people wielding lightsabers. "You five are the first, first years to arrive."

"And you did it in half the time it normally takes students the first time they're in a storm." Instructor Trevin added.

The missing piece of the mystery surrounding everything that had happened today fell into place. Storms like the one raging outside were not uncommon. This explained why the older students had begun preparing for the wind at the first signs. Rathe also suspected that the teachers used these storms to test the student's ability to adapt and self-sufficiency in the face of losing most of their senses. If true, it explained why the Instructors had forced the students out into the heart of the storm.

"Now, move on out of the way." Instructor Akiva said, directing them further down the hall with her chin.

Rathe moved to follow the instruction, only to freeze mid-step when a hand touched his shoulder. Turning, he found himself face to face with Mathieu as the other four moved passed them. Every muscle in his body tensed, expecting the worst from an ally of Kasal.

"Thanks."

Had he not already been frozen, Rathe would have come to a complete halt as he recognized Mathieu's voice as the same one as the boy at the end of the line. Instead, he merely stared at the orange-skinned boy as he passed by.

Shaking his head, Rathe pulled himself from his stupor and made his way to his room. Much like out in the hall, the cracked walls and ceiling of his room blocked most of the wind and sand. However, enough could get through that Rathe was forced to use both his flimsy mattress and ratty blanket to cover himself. Now, hidden beneath the small barrier and free from the continuous attack of sand, he was suddenly bombarded by a stinging sensation all over his body that felt like hundreds of bees stinging him. Fearing that someone might have done something to his bed, the red-skinned boy leaped up and dashed to the door. Frequently, the moonlight would have been bright enough for him to see inside his room. But with the storm raging outside, the only source of light he would have access to was from the instructor's lightsabers. Opening the door, Rathe emerged back into the hall, eyes darting from his hands to his bare torso looking for what might have been causing the stinging, burning, sensation. But he could not see anything except his own skin. Bringing his hands up to his face, he noticed his skin was redder than usual.

'Actually.'

Rathe blinked in surprise as he realized small droplets of blood welling up on the 'surface' of his skin. He had been so distracted by trying to get himself and the other four students back to the dormitory that Rathe had not noticed the sandstorm had removed his first and possibly second layer of skin. The stinging sensation he felt had not been beetles or any other bugs on his bed like Rathe had thought. But, instead was his mattress and blankets touching the tender skin. Retreating into his room, the Sith boy returned to his place amongst his discarded sheet and bed. Doing his best to block out the bits of sand that blew into his room, he closed his amber colored eyes and began healing his damaged skin. Strangely, he found the process a bit more difficult than when he treated the blisters on his hands and feet. His immediate attempt only resulted in a single oblong patch of skin on his arm being healed. It was only when he expanded his efforts to include his entire body that Rathe could recover more than just a small part of the skin. The energy required a great deal of concentration, but eventually, the stinging sensation disappeared. Running his fingers along his torso, arms, and face Rathe was relieved to find his fingers no longer touching and smearing blood along his body. He was not entirely sure if his back was fully healed, as he could not reach certain spots on it, but he was utterly exhausted from the mental exertion. Collapsing into bed Rathe only had enough time to think he felt no pain coming from his back before he slipped off into a dreamless sleep.