Jedi Master Yonlach waited for her to arrive. He sensed her approach, watched her in his dreams. The darkness of her coming had sometimes proved overwhelming, leaving him to cry out against the promise of peril she represented. And now he sighed deeply, gazing upon her and marshaling his own peace and calm to meet her.
His once-padawan was bold, forthright as he stepped between them both, "Master Yonlach, the Sith you've been tracking is upon us. Retreat to safety. I will take the intruder on." Ah, Yu-li. Yonlach thought how terrible it would be, for such boldness to become lost and broken. He waved his hand, guiding Yu-li back.
"No, Yu-li. Control your feelings. Stand at my side. I will face this trespasser," Yonlach replied, his tone slow and even in cadence. The younger Knight subsided, standing next to Yonlach even as he retained his weapon in a strong fighting stance.
The Sith canted her head she watched them, patiently regarding them and silent. Yonlach frowned, suddenly uncertain. His experience did not appreciate any Sith so calm, focused and centered in her own self. They tended towards darker emotions, ones that ceded power and strength in their sheer brilliance – anger, hate and fear paramount. They lost sight of the power gained from control over one self, through readied preparedness and patience. This Sith defied those conventions.
She was striking, her skin pale, her eyes darkest brown shining big in her face, and her black hair thick, gathered together at the back of her head. Her presence in the force was impressive – ardent and powerful – a consuming strength that compelled, like a swell at the seaside that could simply overtake the unprepared. He felt her like she was a surge set to overtake him, knew that she could easily consume Jaesa, overwhelm and destroy her entirely. He mourned, only briefly.
He himself didn't imagine emerging from this confrontation wholly. At the least he would be forced to destroy this Sith. Or he would be destroyed by her. Either course would be painful for Jaesa. "I know why you've come, Sith. Master Nomen Karr's apprentice threatens you somehow. You hope to flush her into the open and silence her." Yonlach confronted the Sith.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." The Sith shook her head at him. Behind her, her companion shifted, and Yonlach glanced briefly at the man. He sensed no Force abilities in him, although his devotion to the Sith was strong. No, the true threat remained the Sith herself.
"Don't insult me, child. You are an open book to me. You're here for her, I know it."
"Bah, I'm not insulting you, Jedi. How petty you are, supposing at my intentions with such simplistic rationales. I mean your little padawan no harm, though."
Behind him, Yu-li scoffed loudly. But Yonlach only shook his head tiredly, patient in the face of her intransience. "Do not think to manipulate me so easily, Sith. I am no student to the trickery of your kind. The harm you would visit on her is real enough, even if you called it something else. What you would do to her would ruin her utterly." Yonlach sighed, "Besides, it is too late. She and I are linked, bonded through the force, after her journey here for guidance. I have already warned her of your manipulations."
"I only seek to talk to her. Is her direction so fragile, then? What is it you fear she may gain from simply hearing what it is I have to say?" The Sith retorted.
"I have already said I will not be fooled," Yonlach shrugged. "The disparity in our abilities is equal to the disparity in our ages. You can not win. Turn away now."
"Oh, I fear no one," the Sith asserted, crossing her arms over her chest in blatant defiance. Yonlach ached for her, this youngster of a woman taught only to battle through fear and intimidation.
"I only speak truth, fact - not threats. I am a full Jedi Master. And Yu-li has greater command of lightsaber technique than any Jedi Knight I've trained," Yonlach waved one of his hands through the air, trying to impress her. Her dark eyes narrowed dangerously at him, but she remained centered even then. Yonlach sighed, "Please, girl. You can not win."
"My lord," the Sith's companion stepped forward, leaning his head down in a respectful motion towards the Sith. He spoke so quietly, murmuring low enough Yonlach could not discern what he said. But the confidence his mere presence provided the Sith was manifest in the turn of her form to meet his approach, the way she leaned into him as he spoke. The pair shared affection, care and support of each other. It was obvious.
She smiled at him, tilted her chin upwards in determined disagreement with whatever he told her. The Sith shook her head, "They already underestimate us both, Quinn." Then she turned burning eyes towards Yonlach. "But especially me."
Yonlach reacted boldly. He gestured, pushing the Force against the Sith's man in a single, harsh blow. The strike staggered the man's mind, left him gasping in pain and shock just before he stumbled. His hands reached towards his blaster, his blue eyes flying to the Sith in startled dismay as if his every thought, every blazing focus was only to protect her and never mind how much pain rippled through his entire form right then, how much it ravaged his mind and body. Then he collapsed onto the floor of the small house, groaning in agony, his legs bent sideways as he finally fell unconscious.
And Yonlach felt it, then. Felt the power of the Sith's rage, the thrilling strength of her anger lighting the entire space as she lowered her head to glare hard at him. She growled like one of the Dragons out in the Dune Sea, sweared at him, "You hurt him. How dare you … Hurt. Him." Yonlach sensed her cry through the Force itself, the power of it moving like a compelling wave that swept over them all. He almost stumbled back from the strength of her feelings, glanced down at the unconscious figure with new awareness.
A brief glimpse broke through Yonlach's awareness, a vision swept him.
A girl - powerful, beautiful, wielding crimson-red dual lightsabers in a glorious display of synchronized motions. He watched her dance through a song of power and strength, thrilling to the Force that moved within her. Her eyes gazed back at him and they were blue, blue eyes, the man's eyes, set in a feminine face so much like her mother's. She stopped, looked at him in so brief a moment, and she whispered to him, "You don't belong here, old man."
Yonlach sighed, aware once more of the Sith, watching as she pulled her lightsaber free and faced him squarely. Yu-li was shrieking a wild battle cry and leaping forward, and the Sith yelled back at him, her legs braced to meet his rushing attack. Yonlach saw the red flare of her blade, heard it singing loudly.
He didn't look away, not from the future which would not be stolen from this Sith today. He only stepped forward, into his death.
Quinn opened his eyes to blinding light, felt like a hammer had taken up some kind of permanent residence in his head. He groaned, reached up to rub his forehead and touched Lusiel's hand, there. She had pushed the hair at his temple back and was running her finger along his upper brow in slow cadenced motions, murmuring indistinctly.
He looked, saw the dead body of the Jedi Master, the Knight next to him unconscious. Quinn groaned again, "I failed you."
"I succeeded. And we're both well. There wasn't any failure," Lusiel shrugged. She was the superior, the more powerful of them both. She was the one who shielded him, who kept anyone from hurting him. That he endured any pain even in the moment was offensive to her, and she glared one more time towards the Jedi Master's broken body.
Quinn still hurt, his head throbbed sullenly with pain. He carefully prepared a medical treatment, his fingers only slightly trembling. "At least my assistance proved unnecessary. I would not have forgiven myself otherwise. Are we done here, then?" Quinn ran his eyes along Lusiel's frame, examining her for any small sign of injury. Even before doctoring his own distress, preparing an antidote for the pain settled in the center of his forehead.
Lusiel shrugged, "I know the padawan's name now. Hopefully Darth Baras is satisfied and we can get off this damn rock."
