* Shamed, and yet the Same *
The painful grasps from the Perfect Yuuzhan Vong's hands gripped mercilessly on Vergere's already bruised forearm. For weeks the shapers had been poking and prodding her for some sort of testing. For weeks after the testing sessions, she had been taken to the Embrace of Pain to be tortured. After she was thrown back into a secluded room of total dark silence.
Today though, the Perfect led her down a different corridor. Though she could not make the way out with her now ever foggy vision, she could feel the direction changing using the Force as her aid.
Her awkward body felt the hand that dragged her along harshly push her to the ground.
"You are a disgrace to the gods. I do not even know why the Warmaster keeps you alive. You're life is not worth keeping adamant." The Yuuzhan Vong's deep voice ridiculed. A sharp pain spiraled in her side, but Vergere let out no cries.
He snorted a curse then pivoted on his right heel and stalked out of the chamber.
Trying to lift herself up, Vergere finally cried out in pain. A distinctive abrupt agony shot up her arm. She knew it was now broken.
A kind hand fell on the small of her back. Startled by the touch, Vergere tried to jump up, only to cause herself more pain.
"Calm down. I will not hurt you," a soft voice comforted. "Let me help you to your back, that why I can take a look at that arm of yours."
Without resistance, she allowed the stranger to move her. Her eyes flew open to try to get a better look at the being, but the damage to her eyes were so great all she could see where faint blurry shadows. "My name is Vergere." She offered, hoping they would return the favor and tell her their name.
"CaRày." The female Yuuzhan Vong paused. "Much has been spread through the slaves and the Shamed about you," she said in a tone that made Vergere cringe.
"The Shamed look to me as I'm an enemy, do they not?"
"Some do."
"Do you?"
The question did not take CaRày off guard. "Hardly… all I know is that you hold a key of hope for us."
"How do you claim to know of such things? You are not a priestess of Yun- Yuuzhan."
"No, and I am glad I am not."
"Then how do you know?"
"My dreams tell me so."
Vergere blinked back in surprise. She had never heard of such a thing. The only dreams she had ever heard of that predicted the future, told of the past, or of what in the present; came from those attuned like her in the Force. Those who saw visions. Was it possible that a Yuuzhan Vong alien had found a way to connect and not realize what they were connecting too? She shook her head.
No, it was impossible. "You lie!"
"If I lie, then the Force does not flow through you." CaRày saw the shock in Vergere's face, but continued working on her arm. "There are many things you do not know, friend, about the Force. And many things the Shamed have kept secret amidst ourselves from the rest." Her heart sank. "But now we need help. Rumor has it, they have been using your cells to find what makes the Force flow through them. That connection has been found and as I speak, they work on a biological agent to deflect… or rather destroy the very element that keeps our bond to the Force as one."
"What?" The bird creature frowned in disbelief.
The painful grasps from the Perfect Yuuzhan Vong's hands gripped mercilessly on Vergere's already bruised forearm. For weeks the shapers had been poking and prodding her for some sort of testing. For weeks after the testing sessions, she had been taken to the Embrace of Pain to be tortured. After she was thrown back into a secluded room of total dark silence.
Today though, the Perfect led her down a different corridor. Though she could not make the way out with her now ever foggy vision, she could feel the direction changing using the Force as her aid.
Her awkward body felt the hand that dragged her along harshly push her to the ground.
"You are a disgrace to the gods. I do not even know why the Warmaster keeps you alive. You're life is not worth keeping adamant." The Yuuzhan Vong's deep voice ridiculed. A sharp pain spiraled in her side, but Vergere let out no cries.
He snorted a curse then pivoted on his right heel and stalked out of the chamber.
Trying to lift herself up, Vergere finally cried out in pain. A distinctive abrupt agony shot up her arm. She knew it was now broken.
A kind hand fell on the small of her back. Startled by the touch, Vergere tried to jump up, only to cause herself more pain.
"Calm down. I will not hurt you," a soft voice comforted. "Let me help you to your back, that why I can take a look at that arm of yours."
Without resistance, she allowed the stranger to move her. Her eyes flew open to try to get a better look at the being, but the damage to her eyes were so great all she could see where faint blurry shadows. "My name is Vergere." She offered, hoping they would return the favor and tell her their name.
"CaRày." The female Yuuzhan Vong paused. "Much has been spread through the slaves and the Shamed about you," she said in a tone that made Vergere cringe.
"The Shamed look to me as I'm an enemy, do they not?"
"Some do."
"Do you?"
The question did not take CaRày off guard. "Hardly… all I know is that you hold a key of hope for us."
"How do you claim to know of such things? You are not a priestess of Yun- Yuuzhan."
"No, and I am glad I am not."
"Then how do you know?"
"My dreams tell me so."
Vergere blinked back in surprise. She had never heard of such a thing. The only dreams she had ever heard of that predicted the future, told of the past, or of what in the present; came from those attuned like her in the Force. Those who saw visions. Was it possible that a Yuuzhan Vong alien had found a way to connect and not realize what they were connecting too? She shook her head.
No, it was impossible. "You lie!"
"If I lie, then the Force does not flow through you." CaRày saw the shock in Vergere's face, but continued working on her arm. "There are many things you do not know, friend, about the Force. And many things the Shamed have kept secret amidst ourselves from the rest." Her heart sank. "But now we need help. Rumor has it, they have been using your cells to find what makes the Force flow through them. That connection has been found and as I speak, they work on a biological agent to deflect… or rather destroy the very element that keeps our bond to the Force as one."
"What?" The bird creature frowned in disbelief.