After the meal, each crew member was free to explore before heading to their assigned sleeping quarters.
Bastila had been absolutely fascinated studying the architecture, taking note of the statues based on animals. They were masterpieces. Ink paintings that had to be at least a century old hung on walls, protected by force fields that kept air out.
The wood the floor was made out of was so polished she could see her reflection perfectly out of it. Her stomach was rumbling in satisfaction because that was the first decent meal she had had in four years. Malnourishment obviously had done wonders for her taste in food.
The Revan in her was beside herself, scanning every inch of the place, not wanting to miss a single detail, one because this was the first time she had ever been in an area heavily populated by her own people and also because it was so beautiful.
Bastila came across a small room that had a museum type set up to it. She immediately went in and was stunned to find a set of armor that matched the design of Darth Revan's, standing upright inside a glass case.. The color scheme and patterns were completely different, though. It was dark blue and had rose patterns etched into the left side of the mask. Pictures of cherry blossoms were weaved into the cape and a larger variant of the Scythe-saber Shishida liked to carry was lain next to it reverently.
Bastila then took note of the imperfection. A small hole near the top of the mask. A puncture.
"Shishido Baiken's armor," rasped a familiar voice.
Bastila spun around and saw Valia standing in the doorway, wearing her typical grumpy look.
"Shishido?"
"Shishida's father," Valia explained. "You should head to your room."
"Valia, can I say something?"
Valia rolled her eye. "You have a mouth, don't you? Use it."
"I wanted to tell you how...how sorry I am. For Ukatis. For Noran..."
Valia stared daggers at her. Bastila gulped slightly. Thanks to Kashtu, Valia had developed quite a reputation even before Malachor. Bastila hadn't slept right for two weeks after the Ukatis Incident, worried Valia would try to murder her in retaliation.
"I'm sorry too," she replied coldly. "But it has been many years. Why bother trying to apologize now?"
"I'm being sincere."
"So am I."
"Valia, I know you and Noran were close but-,"
"Shan, I didn't lose just Noran because of your stupidity. I lost the baby I was carrying also," Valia snapped angrily.
Bastila went wide-eyed.
"You were pregnant?" she asked in almost a whisper, horrified.
"Yes. I've had a long time to mourn both. To bury both. Do me a favor and not dig them up. I don't need it. Just do as you're told and you and I will have as little problems as possible, and we can go our separate ways afterward. Don't shame you or me any further," Valia snapped. "Get out of my sight."
Bastila wisely chose to egress from the room, feeling sick. Valia paid her no heed as she left.
Valia closed off the rage building in her and explored the room. Her eye fell upon a particularly ancient lightsaber, with the Baiken Rose emblem etched into it.
"Hey there, Valia," Shishida said, walking in. "Didn't expect to find you here. I thought you'd be inspecting the armory."
"I like old things," Valia replied. She focused her gaze back to the armor.
"I'm surprised your grandfather didn't repair the mask," Valia remarked.
"It would have taken away the character of the thing. The story," Shishida said, touching the glass case.
"How old was I? Five? Six?" she asked.
"Five and a half," Valia answered. "They ever find the guy who did it?"
"Grandpa eventually tracked him down. Turns out the guy was dying of thoracic cancer. Grandpa didn't see the point. Karma had been meted out in full, it seems. Five years old, though, and Dad just had to get himself killed in a sword duel. What a waste of a good man."
"Indeed."
"It didn't help with Mother dying of grief not a month later leaving Grandpa raising yet another child."
"At least you didn't end up getting raised by the man who served as my father."
"You know, Valia, I never understood why you didn't just stay with us after Tython fell. Grandpa would have raised you as his own."
"Too much hate. Too much evil in me to make me safe for him to raise. And given the fact that Nosferans had just ravaged my world, I was...not in the mood, you know what I mean?"
"You could have worked past it."
"I needed to find myself. I needed to wander."
"Did you ever find yourself?"
"Only once. I lost it when I lost-never mind. It doesn't matter anymore," Valia said, shaking her head.
"No, tell me! It matters to me," Shishida said, putting a hand on Valia's shoulder.
Valia stepped away. "You don't need my baggage. Good night." With that, Valia left the room, leaving Shishida with all that remained of her father.
Atton had been dozing fitfully when a splash of cold water jolted him awake from the sleeping mat.
"Up!" Valia commanded, standing over him with another pail.
"What's going on?!" he exclaimed.
"Up!" Valia doused him again.
Atton scrambled up, groggy, soaking wet, and very upset. Visas had been doused with water also. She retained her reserve and thus managed to preserve some of her dignity. The Rookie was still shivering from the water and Bao-Dur was actively trying to drink what little of it he could in his hands. Mical also had a pail and proceeded to douse Kreia with especially ice cold water. The old woman jolted awake, upset and trying to figure out what was going on and why she was soaked. Bastila got a nasty surprise of cold water to and was also trying to keep from shivering.
"That took forever!" Valia barked. "Rookie, describe to me what just happened!"
"We were surprised," The Rookie said, finally suppressing the shiver.
"LOUDER, ROOKIE!" Valia shouted.
"WE WERE SURPRISED!" the Rookie shouted back.
"Damn right you were surprised! If I had been a Sith, you'd all be dead by now! That surprise is exactly what can happen on the battlefield! Your plans can go straight to hell in an instant! You must be nimble! You must adapt! Or you will die! AM I CLEAR!?"
"YES!" Shouted the crew, save for Kreia. Even Bao-Dur seemed to know now was not a time for fooling around.
"Move out! Follow Mical! Do not question him! NOW!" Valia barked.
The crew followed Mical immediately out of their quarters. Kreia started to follow but Valia stopped her.
"Not you, Kreia. I'm going to need you for an advisor."
"Then would you please explain to me why you had the Tiny Jedi douse me with water?" Kreia demanded to know.
"Everyone has to participate. And because it amused me," Valia replied casually. "I'm going to run them into the ground today. You and I are going to brief them on tactics against enemy Force powers. As a matter of fact, I'm going to need you for something like that..."
They started with a ten kilometer run.
That in of itself would not have been difficult-except for the fact that Valia had Mical and Shishida strap ten pound rocks to their arms, legs, and back. Valia then proceeded to have them run through the forest behind the mansion, which turned out to be filled with rocks, bramble, and poisonous plants and insects. The whole time, Valia barked at them to go on, sparing not a kind word for any of them. Of the five, only Atton and the Rookie seemed to adapt with any sort of success. Visas had nearly passed out during the run and Bao-Dur had sprained his ankle. (He commented on this as "Failing an endurance check") Visas Atton and the Rookie had then been forced by Valia to carry the heavy Zabrak to the end of their run, with Bastila barely keeping up.
To make matters worse, the whole time, it felt as though there was a something slowing them down, making them sluggish. Atton had felt sick. Visas had thrown up twice during the run. The Rookie had noted a mild dizziness. Bastila was able to counteract most of the symptoms by using the Force to heal herself.
That had been Kreia's work. Valia had told her to use the Force to afflict their bodies, poison their systems to test their endurance.
"Well, well, you actually completed it. I'm impressed. Two hundred and fifty pushups, all of you," Valia had then ordered once they had arrived back at the mansion.
Only the Rookie had managed to complete it without blacking out at all. Then, after Valia and Mical had used the Force to restore at least some of their energy, she had them practice hand to hand combat on her, lecturing them even as she knocked them to the ground, or knocked one of them out. They all had done poorly. Especially Bastila, who Valia had singled out to take some of the hardest knocks. There was absolutely no mistaking the hostility in the blows Valia gave her.
It was night time when Valia called it quits.
"That's enough for today," Valia said. "You all need to do better. Tomorrow will be worse."
With that, the Nosferan servants had passed out their sleeping bags. They were to sleep outside, when it was especially cold. The bags were thin, not enough to keep them warm. "Good night," Valia had said curtly before heading back to the mansion with Mical and Kreia.
When they were away from earshot of the trainees, Valia was the first to begin the assessment. "So, how did they do?" she asked.
"I'm slightly concerned about Bao-Dur. I didn't see the sprained ankle coming," Mical replied. "The Echani did much better than I thought she would. And Atton seemed like he'd been through this sort of thing before. Is he ex-military?"
"Special Forces," Kreia corrected. "But it is not my place to find out such things it seems."
"I don't need your complaints, I need your opinion. I can only focus on one of them at a time."
"And with that, you give away your true intent, Exile," Kreia almost sneered as they reached their sleeping quarters. "You are not concerned really about the others. The Echani is who interests you."
"So what if she does? I've taken her under my wing, but the last time I trained someone solo, I messed it up. I do not intend another failure."
"Your Echani has potential if you absolutely MUST know," Kreia answered. "I poisoned their bodies as much as I dared with the Force and yet it barely slowed her down. Her endurance is particularly high for a novice."
"I too noticed she seem barely fazed after the run. Given that she's Arren's daughter, she may be using the Force unconsciously to give her body a boost," Mical added as he removed his shoes and crawled into his cot.
"I agree. And the Miralukan?" Valia asked.
"She is simply unused to that kind of strain. I would not be too concerned. She will adapt," Kreia said dismissively, getting into a meditation position. "Bastila will remember her training and also adapt soon enough, with time."
"Time is a precious resource," Valia reminded. "It is something we do not have much of." She looked at Mical, who was already dozing off and saw that continuing conversation would be pointless. She left the pair in their unfurnished quarters and decided to walk her energy off.
"Hey guys, wanna here a joke?" Bao-Dur asked.
"We're trying to sleep Iridonian," the Rookie said tersely, rolling around in her sleeping bag.
"Okay, so one time, a Sith walks into a bar and tells a rival Jedi that he is so powerful with the Dark Side that he knows what the Jedi got for his birth day and the Jedi asks how he knows. The Sith replies that he felt the Jedi's presents."
"Shut up," Atton said. "I'm trying to sleep!"
"Maybe you are sleeping, and you are only dreaming that I'm annoying you. You ever think of that, Mister Smarty-Pilot?" Bao-Dur asked contentiously.
"I think I know when I'm awake. I also know I want you to shut up."
"And I know I want a piece of candy and hot chocolate. But neither of us is getting what we want, huh?"
Atton immediately rose up out of the sleeping bag, gruffly stuffed it under his arm, and headed closer to the forest line.
"Where are you going?" the Rookie asked.
"Somewhere I don't have to listen to that nutcase. If Valia don't like it she can go frak herself," Atton replied.
"It's only a temporary solution, I assure you. I'll see you tomorrow! We'll go dancing! I'm pretty good at your average jig!"
Atton did not reply as he walked out of sight.
"Note to self: Inject him with unknown substance later. Preferably something you yourself are unfamiliar with and don't even know the name of," Bao-Dur said to himself.
"Valia would not like that," the Rookie tried to remind him.
"Valia could write a volume on stuff she doesn't like. And while reading that volume would be entertaining and good for my personal social and spiritual growth, I have enough sense to know that it would not be enough to stop me. Good night. By the way, would you like me to draw anything on your face while you are sleeping? I draw good gizkas and my happy faces are getting quite respectable,"
"Uh...no?"
"Hmm. Just making the offer. Sleep tight! I'm off to snore in an exaggerated fashion until I actually fall asleep and you can't tell whether I'm awake or not but it is always safe to assume I'm actually awake when I'm snoring because I never actually sleep." Bao-Dur then closed his eyes and began loud, obviously fake snoring.
The Rookie, still trying to process the conversation she had just had with Bao-Dur, was left wondering whether or not she should follow Atton's lead and sleep away from the Zabrak.
The Rookie then realized that she would not be able to sleep at all. She was suspicious about some of the people she was now working with, like Bastila. She wasn't sure, but there was something...off about the woman. Visas was Sith, and probably going to turn on them at some point. The man at the Grip may have been an exception. But everybody knew that all an exception does is proving the rule.
And yet...the Rookie was very disturbed about the fact that Atris had been so terribly mistaken about Valia. She had heard Atris talk of her much, saying how she was corrupt and evil. Maybe Valia was corrupt perhaps, but evil? The Rookie was at odds with that claim.
Valia did not strike her as particularly evil, just...burned out. Weary. Regret filled. And her mother had fought alongside her, had chosen to save her life even after Valia had confessed the truth. Arren Kae must have seen some merit, and the Rookie knew Valia had been telling the truth, not just because Valia did not seem the person to lie about that, but because, the Rookie had carefully observed Valia's body movements during the discussion. They had the mark of someone confessing something incredibly painful.
Her thoughts drifted however, back to her mother. Her father, Yusanis had told her many stories of Arren's greatness. And each time he had told them, the Rookie had felt that familiar tingling starting in her stomach and creeping into her spine.
Ambition.
She immediately tried to force it back down. Her sisters had taught her to fight as part of a group. There was no "I". There was no room for it.
And after her father had died, there had been no room for much of anything. His wife, mother of five of his kids, had been eager to rid herself of the illegitimate child, and had shipped her off at Atris' request. Atris and Yusanis' wife went back some years and Atris had a need for someone discreet, someone who could act as courier and messenger without drawing much attention. There was a certain kind of irony to this, as in sending the Rookie away she had been spared from Revan's invasion of the Echani homeworld and the violent Echani insurgency that had engulfed the planet. The Rookies remaining sisters had come to Atris as refugees, and it was only the Rookie's request that had made Atris take them in. The Rookie had always felt her half sisters had never appreciated this fact nor had they forgiven it, and so plied themselves as body-guards when Atris had found a need for such a thing later on, once more leaving her in the dust.
The Rookie suddenly realized she had never particularly liked that aspect of the relationship. It angered her. Maybe that was why she was the poorest combatant of them, not because she was bad or anything, but because she simply no longer respected her own kin enough to give them her best.
Maybe that was why she had run off with the Exile. To ward off the clinical depression.
The Rookie gazed at the stars, and found herself counting them. Yusanis told her that Arren had used to do this a great deal, and the Rookie could understand why. It was a great way to fall asleep, even with the cold, and the bugs nipping at her.
She heard the soft footsteps on the grass and instantly turned around, spotting Valia raising a wooden sword against her.
The Rookie scrambled up and got into a defensive position.
"Huh. Good. You were prepared. Easy now. No need to get all defensive," Valia assured.
The Rookie did not come out of her defensive stance.
At this Valia nodded approvingly. "Good. You're smart enough to not fall for that old trick. I'll try and attack you at random from now on, see how quickly you react. Being prepared to fight is not enough. You have to think and react under pressure as well."
"I understand, Mis-I mean, Valia," the Rookie answered, still not lowering her defense.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. I await training, as always," the Rookie, answered, noting how distressingly close she had come to calling Valia her mistress.
"You're always training, Rookie. There is no 'awaiting' anything."
The Rookie nodded. Valia nodded back and went back to the mansion.
The Rookie, now knowing she would never get any sleep tonight, decided to practice some more. She started with the simple moves Valia had told her to stick to and then began to move faster, careful to keep an eye on her surroundings, lest Valia try and surprise her again.
Atton felt something poke him.
"Wakey wakey, Mister Smarty-Pilot," Bao-Dur said, poking his forehead with a small branch he had found.
"Dammit, Zabrak, how did you find me?" Atton groaned, rubbing stiff muscle joints.
"I had a wonderful sleep also, Atton. Thanks for asking. First I counted little gizka hopping over a small fence like they were on stims and then I dreamt about long training sequences like the one we're about to go through. I mean, how interesting is that? Wild, huh?" he asked, poking him again with the branch, this time in his eye.
Atton angrily grabbed the branch from Bao-Dur and tossed it as far as he could.
"Aw that was my favorite branch! I had even given it a name. It was Ellzee. Good name. Anyhoo, Valia says she has something special in mind for us today."
"What?"
"A ten kilometer run, but a drill in breaching before that. I didn't get it though, because I wear breaches. Not all that comfortable. But they're fashionable, let me tell you..."
"Is she upset?"
"No, but it won't take much to get her to that state, trust me."
"Where is she?"
"In the city. Shishida set up a small house to practice. Come, we'll have an epic journey while we walk there if we're quick enough!"
Atton groaned. Breaching procedure. He hated those. But not as much as he hated getting chewed out by the one eyed ice queen.
Atton got up from the ground and dusted himself off. "Hurry up. I haven't got all day."