Author's Notes: This chapter was one of those rare moments in writing where the words just flowed naturally and easily onto the page. I very much loved writing the character who is the curator of the sanctuary, and everything about him came across so naturally, that he was a real pleasure to bring to life.
Thank you to everyone who has been reading and those who have stumbled across this little tale in their curiosity.
Chapter 11 – The Sanctuary of Inspired Hope
Sanctuary of Inspired Hope
Planet Tiandul
After a nearly hour-long ride, Kaelyn stepped out of the rented hovercar, and the middle-aged human male gave her a friendly wave, letting her know that her fare had already been paid by her handsome companion, and if she required the services of the company he worked for to just use her comlink, and they would be grateful to offer her the ride. She nervously smiled her thanks at the driver's flattering solicitation, as it was something she was not accustomed to hearing, and watched the hovercar disappear under the glowlamps on the street.
Moving towards the building that seemed fitting for a place called the "Sanctuary of Inspired Hope," Kaelyn saw a very plain structure. It was a simple rectangular design with a low roof that was arched, rather than triangular. However, the building had another story upon it towards the back, and she saw a couple of lights on in the windows. She assumed that it must be the residences for the holy people who cared for the sanctuary.
There was no particular affiliation to any religion or creed on the outside of the building, and the plasteel circular windows were clear with wooden beams to give them stability. The sanctuary seemed strangely contradictory to the splendor of the nobility she was within just over an hour ago, as an empty field buffered the structure on the left side, followed by a mass of woods that spread out into the blackness of night. On the right side, was a small house connected to the main sanctuary, that matched the houses on the rest of the street, the entire block seeming to have been a small community built many decades, or even a couple centuries, ago.
Kaelyn was not able to discern many more details in the darkness of night and wondered how Gavan had known that such a place existed. Even though it wasn't very late in the evening, there was no one around who she could ask such historical questions, and she suddenly felt entirely out place, realizing that she was an overly-dressed young woman in a neighborhood that was small, old, and plain.
Stepping lightly onto the three stairs to the main entrance, Kaelyn pushed the heavy, wooden door open, and her curiosity gnawed at her as to why this building did not have a modern hydraulic sliding door. Once inside, she discovered that the low ceiling was littered with metal chandeliers that were fitted with a series of glowlamps that emitted a pale blue radiance. There were wooden seats varnished in a natural color that were cut into various sizes and shapes to accommodate different types of beings. Towards the far end of the large room and past the seats was a stand with about ten candles encased in different colored, transparent cylinders, but none of the candles were lit at this time. In the absence of anyone immediately appearing, Kaelyn presumed that the candles were only lit during the daytime when there was a care-taker to keep watch on the flames so that they would not cause an accidental fire.
Hearing her boots click softly on the wooden floor, Kaelyn's steps echoed throughout the empty sanctuary, and it sounded hollow in a strange way. Still, she kept moving forward, going towards the center of the aisle, looking around the seats in the building for anyone who might be nearby to guide her to whoever this Mar'taan was.
"Can I help you?" asked a voice that came from around a violet-colored velvet curtain on one of the walls to her right side.
Kaelyn sucked in a breath to compose herself after being startled, and took a confused step backward when a tall, blue-skinned alien came from behind the curtain. His body was similar in nature to that of a human's, but his large head was without hair and his eyes resembled large, red bulbs. He was dressed simply in a short-sleeved white tunic with a set of dark blue pants. Instead of boots, though, his feet were covered in a pair of low-cut and soft tan slippers.
Kaelyn realized that coming face-to-face with another species she never had the opportunity to know was difficult enough when she had to force her eyes not to stare. However, this alien took her curiosity in an entirely other way, as her eyes were drawn to the stump that signified where his left hand was supposed to be. While she was staring at the missing hand, she didn't notice that those large, red eyes of his were looking at her, blinking once in a sign of patience.
Understanding the reason for this young woman's immediate silence, the alien allowed a tiny smile. He had grown accustomed to the staring, and he never minded it, as he understood that human curiosity was its own living thing. He raised the arm with the missing hand purposefully, drawing this overly-dressed young woman's attention to it.
"Over-exposure is the quickest way to look past something," he told her as he made a show of moving his arm around. "And, I suspect you've seen very little."
"Oh no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…" Kaelyn dropped her useless words and then forced her eyes to the floor before her. She was mortified that she had been caught staring, and she was equally embarrassed for herself and the alien who stood before her.
The alien man took another step forward with a knowing smile and brought both his hands behind his back. He had cleared the distraction and knew she was both humbled and ready to explain her presence. "You're a little over-dressed for a confession."
Kaelyn lifted her eyes from the floor, grateful now that his hands were out of her immediate sight. She truly didn't mean to be so curious, but she had never seen anyone missing a limb before, and while she had so many questions, she also knew it was none of her business.
Stumbling a little on her words and forcing them back to what Gavan had told her, Kaelyn explained, "I…I was told that I would find safety here."
"I see," he said bringing his right arm – the one with the hand attached – to his chin and rubbing it thoughtfully as he looked over this young human woman. His large, red eyes took her in, studying her. "From who do you wish to hide?"
"I…" Kaelyn paused and then told him what she had been instructed. "I was told to find Mar'taan. Gavan Duvellin said I would be safe if I came here."
A huge smile broke onto the alien that turned into a laugh. "Well, it's about time that boy found his way back here. Now, let's get you situated."
"Do you know where Mar'taan is?" she asked now.
"Absolutely!" the alien said with that smile again. "Tell me, do you like tea, Miss…"
"Kaelyn," she supplied. She wasn't certain if she should be concerned that he hadn't told her where Mar'taan was yet, but he offered nothing in his actions to be threatening. Something about him felt calming, despite his strange mannerisms.
"Well, Miss Kaelyn, how about you and I enjoy a cup of tea."
"But, sir," she breathed, wondering how rude of her it would be to push and decided that she needed answers before she went anywhere. "I don't know who you are, and I was told to find Mar'taan."
"Ah, Miss Kaelyn, you just answered your own question," he chuckled. "I am Mar'taan, and I am the curator of this sanctuary. I can see that you have questions for me just brewing beneath your eyes. Believe me, I have plenty of my own questions for you, as well. Standing here is not my ideal way to hold a conversation. Come with me and be civil as we talk over some tea and a light snack."
Kaelyn followed the alien behind the violet-colored curtain, where he led her to a small wooden table with four chairs and a kitchenette that offered a sink, a heating unit, and a few cabinets. On the far wall was a door, but to where it led, she could not discern. Mar'taan had explained that this little alcove was his meeting room, where he would bring guests so that they would feel welcome. He walked her through the process of being a proper host as he moved about the kitchenette preparing a kettle of hot water on an old-fashioned heating unit.
Kaelyn found it odd that the kitchenette had not been upgraded, and all the equipment was far from the modernized appliances that heated with vibrations or other means. The sanctuary still used a flame beneath the kettle for heat, and Mar'taan used a diffuser ball that he had packed with various leaves and sweetened pits for the water he was boiling.
On the table, he set out a small plate with an assortment of flavored crackers and sweetened biscuits. And, Kaelyn was fascinated at how smoothly he moved with only the one hand. His arm with the stump acted like a second hand to him, maneuvering around the preparations. The only thing he could not do with the stump was fine motor tasks.
Then, there was that soft laugh from Mar'taan again before he spoke, and it cut into the silence of his movements, as he was aware of how the young woman watched his every motion, studying his abilities. "So many questions and so much curiosity in your little blue eyes, yes, Miss Kaelyn?"
"I'm so sorry," she mumbled and looked away again.
"It is in your nature as a human to want answers," Mar'taan told her as he poured the hot tea into both her cup and his. He smiled again as Kaelyn brought her eyes up to him while he spoke. "You want to know about my missing hand. You want to know how I know Gavan. You don't understand the lack of modern appliances and housing at this sanctuary."
"Do you read minds?" she asked, placing one of the sweetened cubes into her cup, and stirring it with one of the utensils he had laid out.
"Not minds," he told her, setting himself into his chair and adding a pair of sweetened cubes to his cup, likewise stirring with his own utensil. "I observe your eyes and see where they wander. Your eyes take in the world around you and then they process what they have seen into questions for which you want more information."
Bringing the cup to her lips, Kaelyn inhaled the flowery and sweetened aroma before taking a sip. She felt her tensions ease in Mar'taan's presence, as he wasn't judging her, just enjoying her company. There was an ambiance about him that gave Kaelyn a comfort she hadn't truly felt before, but she couldn't quite place either, despite its familiarity.
"Thank you for this tonight," she told him, setting the cup down and taking one of the sweetened biscuits. "We didn't have a chance to eat before leaving."
"Where is Gavan?" Mar'taan now asked.
"I'm not really sure," she admitted around a bite of the biscuit, as she allowed one of the small cho'lat chunks to melt on her tongue. Thinking about the soft-spoken man who had been her companion for a number of weeks, she looked to the light-colored tea. "We were at an Imperial party when he sent me here and then he only told me that he had something he had to do. He said if he wasn't here by morning, you would help me find a safe place to go."
"I see," Mar'taan nodded, as he took another sip of his tea, aware of how Kaelyn guarded her words, and he needed to gauge just how much she really knew. He decided to try something, and as he set the cup down, he explained, "I was bitten by a very dangerous insect as a youngling. Before the venom could be stopped, it had already begun destroying the muscle in my hand. To save my life, my hand was removed at the wrist. Being the stubborn boy that I was, I chose to learn to use it without alterations and decided against a prosthetic. Gavan was a student of mine for many years, and he is always welcome here. Lastly, I like the simplicity of these old-fashioned appliances. They match the décor of the sanctuary, and they are much easier to fix when they break down."
Kaelyn smiled, not really with joy or humor, but with a humbleness, as she appreciated the way he opened himself to her for all her unspoken questions, and she no longer felt the need to hide who she was from Mar'taan, especially if he would need to find someplace safe for her.
Tracing the rim of her cup, she quietly sighed. "I stowed away on Gavan's cargo to get away from home because I am the daughter of Imperial nobles, and I didn't want to be suffocated any longer in my life there. My family had chosen my future for me by arranging my marriage, and Gavan had promised me a safe port, but he said that with the Empire gaining ground again, it was becoming tricky to find a neutral place. I've been traveling with him for a few weeks now."
Smiling in his gentle way, Mar'taan was glad to see his little tricks still worked. Now he knew the challenge that Kaelyn would be to find safety, if Gavan would not return before dawn…or at all. Still, he would need whatever information he could retrieve from her in order to work through his networks to give her the aid she needs.
Pouring another cup of tea for himself, and silently offering Kaelyn another to which she declined, Mar'taan asked, "You still have much confusion. Was attending the party your choice?"
"I reluctantly agreed to help Gavan after he asked me if I would help him enter a life celebration party for an Imperial, but we weren't there long when he said I needed to come here. He told me he would find the information he needed at the party, and I thought it had to do with a group of refugees that were taken from Quam's moon. But while we were there, I do not believe that he ever spoke to anyone, so now I really don't know why he wanted to go to the party or for what reason we were there."
"Well, you look absolutely beautiful, Miss Kaelyn," Mar'taan told her with a smile that brought her eyes up to him, using his compliment to shift the subject away from her questions about her attendance at an Imperial celebration with Gavan. "And, I am very delighted to have you in my company this evening."
Feeling a warmth of embarrassment, Kaelyn could only imagine how red her cheeks must look in the cool, blue light of the kitchenette. She smiled, not quite sure what to say in reply, but then her smile faded quickly. "Do you think he – Gavan – will be okay? He told me he was trying to make the galaxy safer for me, but I didn't know what he meant by that."
Mar'taan leaned back and blinked – something that he did not do very often, but in this case he needed the extra moment to choose his words carefully. He had come to the conclusion that Gavan had revealed nothing of what he was to her, and he would need to continue safeguarding such secrets.
Choosing to remain neutral, he told her, "Gavan is not like other people, but he is smart and very resourceful. I would imagine him to walk in here at some point and raid this little pantry, asking why I never stock it more than I do." Pushing his chair back in preparation of standing, Mar'taan changed topics, "Now, I think I should probably get you something less formal to wear and find you a place to hang your lovely gown."
Kaelyn drank the last mouthful of her tea, not even realizing that she had been sipping at it during the conversation she shared with Mar'taan. He had an air about him that just put her at such ease, she didn't even realize how much time had passed while in their conversation.
Suddenly, a crash came from the room beyond the curtain, and without any hesitation, the alien finished standing – only quicker than his initial intention. Kaelyn set her cup down and looked to Mar'taan, watching him stiffen. He appeared aware of something and seemed to know exactly what to expect beyond the kitchenette.
"Stay here," he warned, as his good hand slipped into the pocket on his pants and reappeared just as quickly. "If it's that troublemaker again, I'd rather he didn't discover you."
She thought it curious that Mar'taan had nothing in his hand after watching him reach into a pocket, and she wondered briefly if his movement was a nervous habit. However, the way Mar'taan told her to not follow made Kaelyn think that the intruder was more than just a simple troublemaker, and she silently agreed with him to stay where she was. She had hoped that he might have been wrong about someone invading the sanctuary, and she found herself wishing that the noise was nothing more than an item falling after not being placed properly. However, once she heard the voices, there was no denying that something hostile was taking place.
Mar'taan walked calmly into the open area of the sanctuary, his eyes catching sight of one of the chairs that had been smashed by the large pike the Zabrak was carrying.
"Did you send all your protectors away, Cripple?" the intruder asked. "Last time one of them got here before I could do any real damage. But, see, I got smart this time and brought my own protection, just in case."
Filing into the sanctuary now were five more people of varying races. One was a scarred Twi'lek, with an eye patch where one eye was supposed to have been and only half a lekku on the side opposite his missing eye. Two of the group were Weequays who had seen better days, as their grizzled faces were more gnarled than normal. Of the two humans that entered, one was a man who had his hair burned off and gave the impression that he had seen the dangerous end of a blaster that had gone awry. The other human was a woman who had short, blonde hair that was wild with green dye along the tips. She stood close enough to the Twi'lek to suggest that they were associates, if not something more. They were all dressed in clothing that spoke of tavern fights and a rough life, as the materials were in a number of combinations of having been burned, blood-stained, or ground with dirt and soot.
"You tell your crime boss that I will not give up these lands," Mar'taan said without wavering. "He can go elsewhere to expand his corrupt empire."
"Zendor doesn't like being told no, especially when he had made a more-than-generous offer."
Mar'taan shook his head. "What he offered wouldn't even feed the younglings for a week…"
"They're not my problem, but Zendor would be happy to take them off your hands…well, hand…and collect whatever they are worth in his next auction," the Zabrak interrupted, laughing at his own joke. "In the meantime, we're here to take whatever and whoever we can until you finally tell Zendor that you'll leave this place."
With that, the group behind the Zabrak began moving towards Mar'taan, but the sanctuary guardian had already set himself firmly in front of the curtain. "You would be wise to leave before my distress call is answered."
The woman with the green-tipped hair laughed. "Maybe if they come in to find your battered body, they'll see some sense in leaving these lands for Zendor."
Mar'taan considered his options and knew he had to do whatever he could to delay their damage. His comlink had sent out the distress call before he even left the kitchenette, but he knew that anyone who could defend the sanctuary had been pulled away on missions in the last couple weeks. However, Zendor's thugs didn't know that. He hoped that he could bluff his way through this attack long enough for whoever was in the local vicinity to come to his aid.
The Weequay on his left suddenly brought a fist towards Mar'taan that he defended with his forearm on his side with the missing hand. Unfortunately, that was just a distraction as the other Weequay landed a boot into Mar'taan's stomach. He coughed and sputtered, and it was enough to take him off-balance that the Zabrak pulled him away from the curtain and swept the pike against his head.
Before Kaelyn knew what to even do, she found herself looking up at a bald man with skin burned along his head. His black vest looked almost too snug on his body, and the rest of his dark outfit did not reassure her that he was making a charitable visit.
"Well, well, it seems the Duros is upgrading his standards," he mocked, "You're the fanciest orphan I ever came across."
Kaelyn pushed herself from the table and started taking steps backward, but he was easily matching her movements until he backed her into the wall. She sucked in a breath as her shoulders landed hard against the unmovable surface behind her.
"What's the matter, sweetheart? Are you mute?" The bald man smiled and pushed an arm against the wall to her right, blocking her from sneaking around him. "It's not as fun when you can't scream, but I can live with that."
Kaelyn thought back to those self-defense classes in her early childhood, the ones she had been removed from before they allowed her to learn anything complicated. She hadn't been taught much, but she remembered the instructor telling the class that any part of her body could be used as a weapon. She knew she didn't have much strength, especially not while wrapped within layers of skirts, but it was better than nothing.
She took a shallow breath, watching this man's eyes mentally removing her dress while he lowered his cold and colorless irises to her collarbone and then to the curvature below that. Using all the strength she could muster, she brought her knee forward, only to find she missed her target. Instead of connecting to his groin, she jabbed her knee uselessly into his thick thigh. She turned away from his hand on the wall to run, but he had already caught her, his arms wrapping around her waist.
Laughing and pulling her with him as he dragged her out of the kitchenette, he told her, "Saw that one coming from a parsec away, darling."
Kaelyn kicked mostly at air, and punched uselessly against the man's arms. She knew her struggling was hopeless, but whatever plans they had for her, she would not make it easy. The man ignored her struggling, and Kaelyn felt her stomach plummet as she saw an unconscious Mar'taan sprawled in a sitting position against one of the seats.
"What did you find, Noey?" the Zabrak asked. He was clearly interested in Kaelyn, as he stepped closer and held her chin in his hand. His red eyes moved about her as though inspecting her for sale at the market.
Kaelyn struggled against the men that had her in their grasp, feeling the alien's rough hand squeezing her chin to hold her still. The human held her firmly, as though the two of them were familiar with handling people with such little regard.
"I want to have fun tonight, Hien," the bald man answered in reply. "I don't think Zendor would mind if I damaged this expensive prize a little before giving her to him."
"Let me finish my inspection, Noey," the Zabrak ordered, now bringing one of Kaelyn's hands before him. He kept her chin in one hand while inspecting her palm and fingers. "Almost mistook you for nobility, little girl, but your hands show signs of labor. You would have brought Zendor a much higher payload if you were less used."
The alien then traced his fingers over her neck and collarbone, his eyes taking in the expensive jewelry of her necklace. His red irises narrowed, and he grasped one of her hands again studying her fingers more closely. "You've got class for someone whose hands have recently seen work, and it doesn't add up. The rest of your skin is too smooth and missing signs of wear."
"Hein, make up your mind," the human growled.
"You can confess to me why you are such a contradiction," the Zabrak whispered, his words threatening. "And I might be able to spare you the wrath of whatever repentance Noey wants to give you. I'm certain that Zendor would prefer to have you less damaged, but if you have nothing to confess…"
"I'll be sure to enjoy myself," Noey interrupted.
With those words, Kaelyn felt as though she was going to be sick. Experiencing a hopelessness that she could not control, her eyes blurred over with tears. If she admitted her Imperial lineage, she feared they would return her to Blyne in the hopes of a reward. But, there was also the worry that if she told them of her nobility, they would do unimaginable things to her for whatever reasons they felt were justified. However, saying nothing had guaranteed her that they would do as they wanted, and the longer she held her silence, the more Noey continued to whisper in her ear the cruel and heartless things he wanted to do to her.
"Forget this," Noey grumbled, his patience lost as he took a handful of her hair and pulled her from the Zabrak, scattering her pin onto the floor and freeing the locks from the back of her head.
Kaelyn suddenly realized that these criminals would not honor whatever she told them, and as she felt the bald man strengthen his grasp around her, she finally screamed, hoping that maybe someone – anyone – within earshot would hear her and contact the authorities before these people did things she would never be able to forget.
