My apologies for the delay

My apologies for the delay. Stuff happens.

The shock hit first. Then the recognition. Master! Lien cried out through the Force. Master, no! She stood frozen for a moment. She attached her lightsaber to her belt and leapt out of the haven. She determined her position with respect to where she last felt her Master and ran off, allowing the Force to fill her and fuel her speed. The tall grass lashed at her athletic legs as a harsh wind picked up. The young Sith felt her energy start to drain, but pushed herself on.

Finally, she reached the top of the cliff face. Where? Where is he? She walked to the edge and stared down. There she saw the halves of her Master's body, his features locked in an expression of hatred.

"Master?" With an agile forward flip, Lien dropped to the ground below. She knelt beside her Master's body. Her Master…the only one who ever seemed to care…Now she really was a lone, as she'd always felt she was. She'd lost the only one she would work for. She really felt nothing emotionally, but regretted the turn of events.

"How did this happen Master?" The slightest glimmer of reflected light in the setting sun caught her eye. Several feet away rested a silvery cylinder. A lightsaber? Not Master's…then she saw from beneath a pile of boulders, a human hand. Part of it was still enveloped in a brown robe. Jedi! Her anger flared as she realized what must have happened. The Jedi murdered her Master, who must have avenged himself with his dying breath. But there could be more…

The realization sobered her, and she limited her presence in the Force to avoid detection. She removed her Master's robe to wrap his remains in and prepared to bring them back to the haven.

* * *

Jirin rode through the increasing darkness on a small speeder bike when a wave of anger hit him like a wall. He fell backwards, landing hard, his right shoulder hitting a large rock. Pain shot down his arm as he watched the speeder slam into a large tree and explode. He had just enough concentration to use the Force to suppress the fire. What was that? One of the people on that other ship? But how could their anger be so powerful? He forced himself up and walked on, favoring his shoulder.

Reaching the cliff, he eased himself down to the pile of boulders. He lifted them with the Force, and almost dropped them again. His Master was sprawled across the ground, crushed almost beyond recognition. He could think of nothing to say. He could only see his Master's broken, bleeding body and could only feel the pull of the Dark Side.

* * *

On her way to the haven, Lien thought she heard a small, distant explosion. Another Jedi? A slight feeling of another's presence in the Force confirmed her anxiety. Looking for the other, I guess. She felt the need for vengeance, but was wary of leaving her Master's body. She lodged him up in a tree, along with the lightsabers. She had plenty of ways to kill someone. Set in her determination, she turned and began the trek back.

Upon her arrival, she saw the Jedi finish digging a makeshift grave. He was using his lightsaber to cleanly cut through the dirt, while using the Force to lift it. His robe concealed his features, but he turned suddenly in her direction, his hood flying off. She saw the face of a young man, probably her own age, and she was shocked to realize that she thought he was rather attractive.

Jirin was finishing his Master's grave when he thought he felt another presence close by. He spun around, allowing his hood to fall and bringing his lightsaber to bear…

…And stopped dead, coming face to face with an extremely attractive girl. Noting that she just stood looking at him, he quickly started searching for something to say.

"Uh…hi, I guess."

"Hello," returned her suprisingly pretty, soothing voice.

"My name's Jirin Renaw. I guess you can tell I'm a Jedi."

"Yes," she said in a tone he couldn't quite decipher. "I'm…Lien Korbix. I'm pretty much stranded here. Why would a Jedi be digging in the middle of the night?" She could see his discomfort.

"My, uh…my Master died. He was crushed by the boulders over there."

"Horrible. Accident?"

"I don't think so. He seemed to think there was something going on on this planet. Maybe he found something. Either way, he'd never be caught off guard by something like that. He was murdered." Why am I telling her this?

"Really." She felt a slight burst of anger, and fear.

"Well I'm not totally sure, but I have a strong feeling. We were drawn here by a message pod from a ship that was destroyed while surveying the area or something."

"Interesting," I should have thought of that possibility, she criticized herself, time to improvise. "So I guess our message got through. After the attack, myself and one other were the only survivors. He disappeared, though."

"And I can't operate the ship without my Master," Jirin noted, "So I guess we're stranded here."

Lien appeared to grow depressed. "That cliff looks so big. I doubt a normal human could survive the fall. I wonder…"

"Please don't think that way," Jirin's words came in a concerned rush. "I know it might seem weird coming from a total stranger, but please don't go jumping off any cliffs."

She looked at him curiously. He really seemed to genuinely care. But how can that be? The Jedi are brutal killers. They mercilessly subdue anything that doesn't conform to their "Light". "Okay," she said finally. Her confusion of this Jedi breaking the stereotype was compounded by an odd emotion she'd never felt springing up every time she looked at him. He was visibly not entirely comfortable, either, which eased her a bit.

"As long as we're stranded here," he suggested, "We might as well stick together…if that's okay with you…"

"Yes, fine," she said, her thoughts of killing him pushed away. She looked at his eyes for a split second. There was that feeling again…