DISCLAIMER: I lay no claim to anything that you've seen or read (of)
before.
Chapter 5 - Exchange and a Discovery
The next day - that is, when everyone awoke - they were all surprised to open their eyes at more-or-less the same time. Glow torches flared to life and garments were sluggishly pulled on in the withdrawing chill.
The girls giggled at each other as they dressed; while their counterparts almost bashfully donned their clothing as fast as they dared, occasionally flicking sly glances across at the other's half- nude female. After a quick breakfast the shelters were packed, and the trek through the dank, winding tunnels of the underground continued.
During that day they climbed into another hole in the rocky ground at the end of a dead-ending passage. The opening looked natural, as if water had flown through it some time ago. Taren estimated that it probably still did, in spring when the snow melted. They walked on deeper underground, and decided to spend the night in a stalactite and stalagmite-sown cavern.
There was a shallow pool in the one corner, which the Sith carefully inspected and declared safe. The last part of the inscription on the wall was still fresh in their minds. The water in the small lake was clear; and nothing lurked anywhere in it.
While the two Sith crouched near each other sipping buir tea, Kairal called Koja over. "Look what I found in my pack the yesterday,'' She smiled, holding something out in her palm.
Koja took the vial and pulled out the stopper. The liquid inside - she could not tell its color - was strongly flower-scented. It had an oleaginous consistency.
"I think it's skin oil - Have you also got some?"
Koja moved over to her pack, the one Sitah had given her, and opened it. She knew it contained a few changes of underwear, one small towel and even a few of the contraceptive pills.
"My oils were in that small pocket over there." Kairal said helpfully.
Koja undid the catch and pulled out the three tiny bottles. "Wow," she said, "Sitah really remembered everything."
Kairal looked down at Koja, a glint igniting in her eyes. "Let's bathe." She gestured to the water. "I'm sure it's not /that/ cold. And the men probably won't mind."
The Jedi student grinned back. During the past few days she'd only rubbed a handful of snow into her face every morning - and a bath would be nice.
The girl from Hapes carefully wrapped her oil in the towel and picked up the glow lamp. Koja gathered her meager supply of toiletries and followed the girl to the edge of the dark pool.
~
"So . . . Is yours good in bed?" Jalekk asked, leaning back against his bag.
"She satisfies me," Taren neutrally replied before taking a sip of his tea. "Yours doesn't seem to be that bad either. You two woke us up last night."
The other Sith gave a smile. "So we did. I remember thinking that the echoes suddenly didn't match us anymore."
Taren gave a laugh and slapped Jalekk on the shoulder. "That's a good one!"
Still smiling, the blond Sith leaned backward a bit more to look around a stalagmite to where the girls were. "Will you look at that,"
"What?" Taren followed the other's gaze over to what the other lamp was illuminating. "Oh."
The two slaves had stripped completely and were now wading into the water-filled depression in the cave floor.
Staring at Kairal's naked form, Jalekk murmured, "That has to be mighty cold . . ."
"Hmmm. Probably."
Jalekk had shifted his gaze. "Yours is a bit skinny," He observed of Koja, almost wincing as she submerged her whole body under water. "But she carries the fat of a gerr."
Taren ignored the comment, watching as the other's slave splashed herself all over. "She's not entirely human . . . Part of her comes from a cold watery moon."
"Interesting." Jalekk took a sip of warm tea as the girl stepped from the water, squeezing her darkened hair out. Kairal quickly joined her and they disappeared from his view again as they went to dry themselves 'behind' the view-obscuring stalagmite.
"Koja is also a Jedi," Taren said, allowing a hint of smugness to glide into his voice.
"Really? I always wondered what that thing around her neck was for." There had never been Jedi slaves in the academy as far as he could remember. Intrigued, Jalekk leaned forward, features turning serious. "Could I have your Koja for just one night?"
Taren looked taken aback, but quickly laid an impassive mask over his features. "I don't know . . ." But yes . . . he wanted to experience something different, something new. Indeed, he wanted to find out how women differed in bed - probably just as Jalekk did, too. He was sure Koja wouldn't mind; after all, she was his slave; and even if she did - she had no right to refuse. "All right. But if you hurt her . . . " he let the words hang between them as an unspoken threat.
Jalekk gave a demonic smile. "Don't worry. Thank you, my friend." He got up and started unpacking the shelters to set up camp.
~
Koja had also found a small comb-like instrument at the bottom of her pack. It seemed to be made out of some synthetic material and was basically a thin rectangular sliver with triangles cut out to make about five teeth. Brushing Kairal's long wavy locks proved difficult and painful to the owner, so they soon gave up and Kairal just ran her fingers through her mane.
The long rusty mass that was Koja's hair accepted the makeshift comb, and Kairal laughed as she worked and explained that her older sister had had long, straight hair just like Koja's - only dark blond - and that she'd always brushed it out for her twice a day.
"I used to envy Mirina for that hair . . . It is hard to work with hair like mine. You cannot do anything with it, except maybe tie it up . . . but that is all."
"Yes . . . " Long hair made her think of her friend Zenra, whose hair length was about triple hers . . . She wanted to go back to Retsama, back to the academy. Koja felt the other girl's fingers running through her hair, deftly pulling and twisting, and went into a sort of trance.
After a while, Kairal moved to face her and smiled, obviously pleased with her handiwork. "This is a sort of style many women wear on my home world . . . It also doesn't require any pins or ties, which is good," she added.
Koja thought it a pity that she wasn't able to see her reflection in the inky waters of the pool, but carefully ran her fingers over her hair. She found that Kairal had made two small braids running around head, one on each side, and meeting low at the back of her head. There the two braids crossed and then somehow encased the rest of her hair, gathering it in a ponytail. She wondered how Kairal had managed to fasten it all together that it didn't fall open. The Jedi smiled and nodded to the girl. ''Thank you very much, Kairal.'' She rose from her seated position on a rocky hump extruding from the cave floor. "Come, let's see if there's something to eat."
The meal had consisted of boiled meat and the usual tea. The two males, however, had been giving each other meaningful glances throughout the meal and the girls had noticed it.
After the last piece of cutlery had been stowed away, Koja moved to their bed and started arranging the blankets.
Taren came over and took her by the arm. "Koja - you are staying with Jalekk tonight,"
"Jalekk?" she asked. She felt a sense of betrayal and fear. She had thought Taren really liked her, but then vaguely recalled that he was a Sith - her master -, and that she was a captive - his slave - and that a relationship of this nature very rarely exceeded a physical one.
His voice was soft, and maybe even understanding. "Yes. Go on . . . forget about me for tonight."
Struggling to keep emotion from her features, she stepped past Kairal and knelt at the blond Sith's sleeping place. He watched her as all four of them followed the customary ritual - they stripped off enough garments to theoretically be comfortable in sleep, although they could have just taken off everything at once anyway.
Jalekk slipped under his covers, and waited for Koja to join him. Then he switched off their glow torch.
Taren followed his lead and soon the cave was swallowed up in total darkness.
Even though this was not the first time she'd experienced it, Koja still found this absolute impregnable blackness disconcerting. As was her habit, she laid her head on the Sith's chest and listened to his heartbeat, taking in the familiar warmth and sound along with his unfamiliar scent.
Jalekk didn't say anything, but gently stroked her cheek. After a while he seemed to get restless and eased her up by the elbows, sitting up himself. She looked in his direction, but could not see a thing. She almost started when his hand unexpectedly found the back of her head, and he pulled her to him for a kiss. Her heart sank when his quick fingers pulled her hair loose, destroying Kairal's hard work. His hands found the hem of her shirt and traveled up on her skin, finding her chest. Koja was slowly running out of breath - his kiss was long and demanding. Finally he broke away from her and pulled her back into the warmth of the blankets.
She felt him remove his hand from under her shirt, and then cold air rushing in as the blankets slipped down while the shirt slipped over her head. Jalekk crouched over her, kneeling with both his knees next to her pelvis, as she could guess. His warm hands grasped both sides of her ribcage, and his thumbs brushed her breasts as he caressed her chest with his mouth. The scented oils seemed to have taken their . . . undesired effect.
Suddenly, he stopped titillating her skin, and he froze. Through the haze, Koja realized that he must have made the same discovery Taren had made quite some time ago.
His forehead rested on hers, and she could feel the uncomfortable sensation as he brushed her scales in the opposite direction to which they grew. She felt his breath on her lips and she knew he was staring into her eyes. "So this is your alien side . . ."
Koja slid her hands under his shirt, running her hands over his taut back. "Non-human . . ." She gasped as his hardness pressed against her waist.
He slid his hands to her back, clasping her shoulders from behind. His lips went to her throat, and he kissed her just beneath the neckpiece. "And this is your other 'non-human' side."
She stiffened in anger, suddenly envying Kairal - for not being Jedi and for being with Taren right now. Jalekk's hands abruptly released her shoulders and came around to her neck, fingering the ysalamiri crystal.
"I want to know what you're thinking, Jedi,'' he suddenly growled, and his full weight bore down on her. "How does it feel?"
She fought for breath. "Please don't." Koja breathed, and despite herself memories of Suul's abuse came flooding back.
She knew what it was like to be connected to a Dark Side-sensitive individual. She had felt the greed, hate, and hunger for power - the /malice/ - that Sith felt; and at such intimate quarters . . . Jalekk's fingers were still working to release the collar. "Stop - Your Masters . . ."
"Quiet.'' he panted, and she could almost feel his lust rising within him as he rhythmically pushed against her. His considerable weight, though almost none of it fat, was too much for her delicate frame to bear. Koja pressed her hands up to his chest. She was really getting out of breath now, but the Sith ignored her, intent on tearing the ysalamiri crystal off her neck. Gasping for air, she said, ''No!'' as loudly as her tortured lungs would let her.
"Shut up, /Jedi!/" Jalekk growled louder than he intended, and pressed a kiss onto her lips.
There was the rustling sound of blankets being thrown back, a short shuffle in the dark, and then Jalekk was suddenly heaved off her.
"/What/ are you doing to her?!" a familiar voice growled in the dark. Koja heard a clatter as Taren chucked the other Sith in the direction of a glow lamp, which he failed to see in the dark.
"I wasn't hurting her; I just wanted to feel what a Jedi thinks like!" Jalekk bit out as he was probably getting up.
The lengthy Sith expletive increased in volume as Taren bent down near Koja. His groping hands found her arms. "Jalekk, take your common whore back and never attempt to take this Jedi from me again!'' As he said this, he slid his arms in under Koja and lifted her to his chest. The reply from the other youth was a short noun and Kairal gave a choked- off exclamation as he seemingly yanked her up.
With three swift strides they had moved over to Taren's side, and he gently set her down on the covers. He helped her under the warm blankets and slid in next to her.
After Koja had settled down he whispered, "I'm sorry I gave you to him." He gently stroked her tousled hair. "He'll leave you alone from now on. I hope you can forgive me."
Taren didn't get an answer, but that was not the sole reason for his uneasy rest that night. He had broken the fragile peace and trust he'd won from the other Sith, and vice-versa. Before Jalekk came to his senses he might not pass up a chance to kill him . . .
* * *
When Taren awoke a few hours later, he wanted to inflict an injury on himself for falling asleep in the first place. However, it was apparent when Jalekk awoke that a good night's sleep and his slave's doings had alleviated any murderous feelings.
The atmosphere at the camp was tense though, and no one spoke. The girls eyed each other timorously and the Sith gave each other sneers but ignored one another for the most part. The morning meal was taken and while the girls completed their toilet at the pool the males dismantled and packed up the camp.
"I'm sorry for what Jalekk did to you." Kairal murmured as she attempted to untangle her hair with her fingers.
"It's not your fault,'' Koja replied. "And I'm not sure he knew what he was doing, either.'' She splashed the icy water into her face.
"What /did/ Jalekk do, Koja?" the Hapan girl asked.
The Jedi gave an amused chuckle. "He wanted to hear all my thoughts and emotions and tried to pull off this thing" - she fingered the crystal- bearing necklace - "and nearly crushed me in the process."
"I'm so sorry."
"Sith can get very emotional at times." Koja understated, shrugging. She dried her face and rubbed a few drops of oil into her cheeks and forehead.
"Let me help you with your hair." This time, Kairal merely twisted it into a long plait and secured the ends with a piece of string salvaged from her bag.
"Well . . ." the Jedi muttered. "Taren wasn't perfectly civil, either. I'm sure I could've handled it if he hadn't interrupted." She wasn't exactly certain of the last part of her statement, but was merely glad that things had turned out the way they had.
As the packed their toiletries and moved back to the Sith, Kairal remarked, "It's all right. I have become . . . /used/ to Jalekk anyway - if you know what I mean."
Koja nodded. "I know what you mean." They lapsed into silence as they reached the two brooding initiates.
They were just folding the last canvas covers into their cases, and the girls looked on while the youths secured the last clasps. Without his usual irritable words of urging, Jalekk led the way down the left passage leading from the cavern.
The tunnel was rounded and smooth, not unlike many they had traveled for the past few days. Koja had lost track of how long they'd been underground and did not care to count. The two harsh bright lights from the flare torches merged and became one. The light bobbed along, illuminating the long way before them. The Jedi wondered how many days would pass until they got back out into the open air; and, after that, how long until they reached the Sith academy again. She could not wait for proper food, a bed and a hot shower again - even if it meant sharing it all with a Sith.
Almost unconsciously her eyes moved up and sideways to Taren's pensive features. He was a nice Sith. At any rate, kinder than any of the others she'd met. Even though he had mercilessly slaughtered an animal - showing great reflexive skill and a certain cold-bloodedness - and, after he had discovered . . . intercourse . . . had enjoyed her almost every night since, Taren had still somehow maintained an air of almost childish innocence. Maybe that was why she liked him. All the other men she had ever known were by no means naïve, and usually had something to hide . . .
In the right tunnel wall a jagged crack appeared, and instead of ignoring it and leading them on, Jalekk eased into the narrow gap sideways. Taren sighed, gesturing for Koja to go before him after Kairal.
The crack seemed much higher than the tunnel before it - the light did not reach its roof. Moving through the crack was arduous and slow since one had to shuffle sideways to get through. This required holding the packs to the side with one arm and carefully lifting it along, and pulling the thick packs loose from in between the walls if they got stuck. The journey through the thin crevice was made even more bothersome by the uneven, shifting slivers of stone littering the floor.
Naturally Taren started needling Jalekk, asking him if this was truly the right way. Jalekk returned that it indeed was, adding that there was a small cave with one tunnel-exit on the other side. Koja desperately hoped that they wouldn't have to spend the night in here.
Fifteen minutes - it seemed like hours - later they reached the open space of a cave, just as the blond Sith had said. He urged that they move on, since it was only late morning. After a rest and small meal, the four headed off down a passage again, leaving the cave behind.
This passage was winding and strange openings riddled in the floor and walls. These circular holes dotted this passage at irregular intervals, and Jalekk wondered if they served as burrows to some subterranean animal. He and Taren examined the holes and found them to be of indiscernible depth. However, no strange creatures sprang from them as the Sith poked in the cavities with their lightsaber-grips.
Shrugging, the two initiates and their slaves moved further down the passage; and the straight, unchanging monotony of the pockmarked brown- gray walls lulled them into a sort of unfocused trance. Each was lost in their own thoughts when Jalekk, who was in the lead, suddenly slowed down. ''There's something in the passage up ahead,'' he announced, voice echoing slightly.
Taren moved past the girls to see what it was. Kairal and Koja peered between the Sith, trying to see.
There was /something/ there, but it was hard to see from the distance.
Jalekk started walking again at a faster pace. "Let's see what it is."
"Well . . ." Taren said, staring down at that what had been lying in their path.
The other initiate grimly stared down at their find, frowning slightly.
Kairal's face showed a look of repulsion, and she had blanched.
"It looks rather old," Koja offered, looking down at the almost intact human skeleton. Unrecognizable tatters of clothing clung to its limbs. "I think it takes quite a while for a body to decompose like this."
"'Specially in these conditions," Taren intoned.
"I wonder what happened to his slave . . ." Kairal said shakily.
Jalekk shifted onto his other foot. "Or to her master."
There was silence for a few moments as everyone studied the remains. As a quick examination showed, the person hadn't died because something had attacked him - the bones showed no fracturing - but the person had pulled his legs up to his chest and the hands where near his chest. The yellow jaw hung slightly open.
"Are you positive we're going the right way?" Taren asked for the hundredth time since they'd entered the caverns.
"Yes." Jalekk replied.
Taren suppressed a sigh. "All right. Then if this person did not die of hunger . . ."
Everyone remembered the words on the wall. /May the spirits of these caverns be kind to you./
"Well. We'll just have to be on our guard then.'' Jalekk touched the silver handle of his weapon and turned his back on the long-dead victim.
Slowly, the rest of the party followed his lead and left their grisly find behind.
* * *
Evening had fallen, according to Jalekk's wrist chronometer. They had turned down a left path as the skeleton's passage had suddenly divided into two. After that, the quartet had been traveling down a curving passage for the past three hours. They had not reached another cavern; and Jalekk gloomily informed them according to his mental map, it was still quite a distance until they would reach the next one.
"Well, we'll have to stay here for tonight." Taren murmured as he looked up and down the tunnel they'd been in for most of the day.
"Hmm." Jalekk agreed gloomily. At least there were none of those holes here. The glow torches were placed a distance from each other and the bedding arranged between them.
As the familiar aroma of boiling meat and vegetable concentrate filled the air, everyone seemed to relax.
The atmosphere had been tense - even more strained than when the two initiates had been wrathful toward each other just that morning - but the caves had retained their sepulchral, echoing silence.
While they consumed the meal, the two Darksider initiates worked out a watch system. Every three hours they would switch and the moment anything suspicious was heard or seen everyone was to be woken up. The Sith to stand first watch was selected through a chance game of who pulled the shortest hair from Koja's closed hands; and to his great dismay, Taren selected the shortest red strand.
Koja tossed under her covers. She couldn't sleep as images of the skeleton they had discovered kept floating up in front of her eyes. She sat up, shivering against the cold air. In the dim glow of the lamps, she saw Taren's silhouette framed black against the light. He was seated further up the tunnel beyond the second glow torch, beyond Jalekk and Kairal's sleeping place. It had been decided he stand watch there because they had come from the other direction and that they would already have confronted any threat from that way.
Wrapping her crimson cloak around her like a blanket, Koja stepped past the others' bedding area and crouched down next to Taren. She leaned against his shoulder and stared off into the gloom ahead.
"Can't sleep?" he asked softly.
"No." Koja replied. She left 'I'm scared' out.
The Sith, even with the ysalamiri crystal blocking out any emotions from her mind, knew how she felt.
"Don't worry." he murmured, "We're going to be out of here soon." He smiled encouragingly. "Besides, have you seen anything a lightsaber can't beat yet?"
"Can it defeat spirits, ghosts?"
Taren looked at her gravely. "No. But the word used in the inscription was xikorrze, and is a very loose term, difficult to explain in Basic. It is very possible that the creatures meant are, oh, maybe a huge transparent animal, or even underground whirlwinds . . ."
"But the person we saw back there didn't die from any of those."
"I know. But maybe he did indeed starve to death, or maybe a Sith even killed his slave, it is hard to say."
"A Sith would kill his slave on Initiation?"
Taren's face suddenly became hard. "Koja - I /don't know./ I don't know how that person died - or why - and I hope not to find out. We will leave these caves soon, so don't worry."
Koja nodded resolutely and moved back to the makeshift bed, hoping to catch some sleep.
Chapter 5 - Exchange and a Discovery
The next day - that is, when everyone awoke - they were all surprised to open their eyes at more-or-less the same time. Glow torches flared to life and garments were sluggishly pulled on in the withdrawing chill.
The girls giggled at each other as they dressed; while their counterparts almost bashfully donned their clothing as fast as they dared, occasionally flicking sly glances across at the other's half- nude female. After a quick breakfast the shelters were packed, and the trek through the dank, winding tunnels of the underground continued.
During that day they climbed into another hole in the rocky ground at the end of a dead-ending passage. The opening looked natural, as if water had flown through it some time ago. Taren estimated that it probably still did, in spring when the snow melted. They walked on deeper underground, and decided to spend the night in a stalactite and stalagmite-sown cavern.
There was a shallow pool in the one corner, which the Sith carefully inspected and declared safe. The last part of the inscription on the wall was still fresh in their minds. The water in the small lake was clear; and nothing lurked anywhere in it.
While the two Sith crouched near each other sipping buir tea, Kairal called Koja over. "Look what I found in my pack the yesterday,'' She smiled, holding something out in her palm.
Koja took the vial and pulled out the stopper. The liquid inside - she could not tell its color - was strongly flower-scented. It had an oleaginous consistency.
"I think it's skin oil - Have you also got some?"
Koja moved over to her pack, the one Sitah had given her, and opened it. She knew it contained a few changes of underwear, one small towel and even a few of the contraceptive pills.
"My oils were in that small pocket over there." Kairal said helpfully.
Koja undid the catch and pulled out the three tiny bottles. "Wow," she said, "Sitah really remembered everything."
Kairal looked down at Koja, a glint igniting in her eyes. "Let's bathe." She gestured to the water. "I'm sure it's not /that/ cold. And the men probably won't mind."
The Jedi student grinned back. During the past few days she'd only rubbed a handful of snow into her face every morning - and a bath would be nice.
The girl from Hapes carefully wrapped her oil in the towel and picked up the glow lamp. Koja gathered her meager supply of toiletries and followed the girl to the edge of the dark pool.
~
"So . . . Is yours good in bed?" Jalekk asked, leaning back against his bag.
"She satisfies me," Taren neutrally replied before taking a sip of his tea. "Yours doesn't seem to be that bad either. You two woke us up last night."
The other Sith gave a smile. "So we did. I remember thinking that the echoes suddenly didn't match us anymore."
Taren gave a laugh and slapped Jalekk on the shoulder. "That's a good one!"
Still smiling, the blond Sith leaned backward a bit more to look around a stalagmite to where the girls were. "Will you look at that,"
"What?" Taren followed the other's gaze over to what the other lamp was illuminating. "Oh."
The two slaves had stripped completely and were now wading into the water-filled depression in the cave floor.
Staring at Kairal's naked form, Jalekk murmured, "That has to be mighty cold . . ."
"Hmmm. Probably."
Jalekk had shifted his gaze. "Yours is a bit skinny," He observed of Koja, almost wincing as she submerged her whole body under water. "But she carries the fat of a gerr."
Taren ignored the comment, watching as the other's slave splashed herself all over. "She's not entirely human . . . Part of her comes from a cold watery moon."
"Interesting." Jalekk took a sip of warm tea as the girl stepped from the water, squeezing her darkened hair out. Kairal quickly joined her and they disappeared from his view again as they went to dry themselves 'behind' the view-obscuring stalagmite.
"Koja is also a Jedi," Taren said, allowing a hint of smugness to glide into his voice.
"Really? I always wondered what that thing around her neck was for." There had never been Jedi slaves in the academy as far as he could remember. Intrigued, Jalekk leaned forward, features turning serious. "Could I have your Koja for just one night?"
Taren looked taken aback, but quickly laid an impassive mask over his features. "I don't know . . ." But yes . . . he wanted to experience something different, something new. Indeed, he wanted to find out how women differed in bed - probably just as Jalekk did, too. He was sure Koja wouldn't mind; after all, she was his slave; and even if she did - she had no right to refuse. "All right. But if you hurt her . . . " he let the words hang between them as an unspoken threat.
Jalekk gave a demonic smile. "Don't worry. Thank you, my friend." He got up and started unpacking the shelters to set up camp.
~
Koja had also found a small comb-like instrument at the bottom of her pack. It seemed to be made out of some synthetic material and was basically a thin rectangular sliver with triangles cut out to make about five teeth. Brushing Kairal's long wavy locks proved difficult and painful to the owner, so they soon gave up and Kairal just ran her fingers through her mane.
The long rusty mass that was Koja's hair accepted the makeshift comb, and Kairal laughed as she worked and explained that her older sister had had long, straight hair just like Koja's - only dark blond - and that she'd always brushed it out for her twice a day.
"I used to envy Mirina for that hair . . . It is hard to work with hair like mine. You cannot do anything with it, except maybe tie it up . . . but that is all."
"Yes . . . " Long hair made her think of her friend Zenra, whose hair length was about triple hers . . . She wanted to go back to Retsama, back to the academy. Koja felt the other girl's fingers running through her hair, deftly pulling and twisting, and went into a sort of trance.
After a while, Kairal moved to face her and smiled, obviously pleased with her handiwork. "This is a sort of style many women wear on my home world . . . It also doesn't require any pins or ties, which is good," she added.
Koja thought it a pity that she wasn't able to see her reflection in the inky waters of the pool, but carefully ran her fingers over her hair. She found that Kairal had made two small braids running around head, one on each side, and meeting low at the back of her head. There the two braids crossed and then somehow encased the rest of her hair, gathering it in a ponytail. She wondered how Kairal had managed to fasten it all together that it didn't fall open. The Jedi smiled and nodded to the girl. ''Thank you very much, Kairal.'' She rose from her seated position on a rocky hump extruding from the cave floor. "Come, let's see if there's something to eat."
The meal had consisted of boiled meat and the usual tea. The two males, however, had been giving each other meaningful glances throughout the meal and the girls had noticed it.
After the last piece of cutlery had been stowed away, Koja moved to their bed and started arranging the blankets.
Taren came over and took her by the arm. "Koja - you are staying with Jalekk tonight,"
"Jalekk?" she asked. She felt a sense of betrayal and fear. She had thought Taren really liked her, but then vaguely recalled that he was a Sith - her master -, and that she was a captive - his slave - and that a relationship of this nature very rarely exceeded a physical one.
His voice was soft, and maybe even understanding. "Yes. Go on . . . forget about me for tonight."
Struggling to keep emotion from her features, she stepped past Kairal and knelt at the blond Sith's sleeping place. He watched her as all four of them followed the customary ritual - they stripped off enough garments to theoretically be comfortable in sleep, although they could have just taken off everything at once anyway.
Jalekk slipped under his covers, and waited for Koja to join him. Then he switched off their glow torch.
Taren followed his lead and soon the cave was swallowed up in total darkness.
Even though this was not the first time she'd experienced it, Koja still found this absolute impregnable blackness disconcerting. As was her habit, she laid her head on the Sith's chest and listened to his heartbeat, taking in the familiar warmth and sound along with his unfamiliar scent.
Jalekk didn't say anything, but gently stroked her cheek. After a while he seemed to get restless and eased her up by the elbows, sitting up himself. She looked in his direction, but could not see a thing. She almost started when his hand unexpectedly found the back of her head, and he pulled her to him for a kiss. Her heart sank when his quick fingers pulled her hair loose, destroying Kairal's hard work. His hands found the hem of her shirt and traveled up on her skin, finding her chest. Koja was slowly running out of breath - his kiss was long and demanding. Finally he broke away from her and pulled her back into the warmth of the blankets.
She felt him remove his hand from under her shirt, and then cold air rushing in as the blankets slipped down while the shirt slipped over her head. Jalekk crouched over her, kneeling with both his knees next to her pelvis, as she could guess. His warm hands grasped both sides of her ribcage, and his thumbs brushed her breasts as he caressed her chest with his mouth. The scented oils seemed to have taken their . . . undesired effect.
Suddenly, he stopped titillating her skin, and he froze. Through the haze, Koja realized that he must have made the same discovery Taren had made quite some time ago.
His forehead rested on hers, and she could feel the uncomfortable sensation as he brushed her scales in the opposite direction to which they grew. She felt his breath on her lips and she knew he was staring into her eyes. "So this is your alien side . . ."
Koja slid her hands under his shirt, running her hands over his taut back. "Non-human . . ." She gasped as his hardness pressed against her waist.
He slid his hands to her back, clasping her shoulders from behind. His lips went to her throat, and he kissed her just beneath the neckpiece. "And this is your other 'non-human' side."
She stiffened in anger, suddenly envying Kairal - for not being Jedi and for being with Taren right now. Jalekk's hands abruptly released her shoulders and came around to her neck, fingering the ysalamiri crystal.
"I want to know what you're thinking, Jedi,'' he suddenly growled, and his full weight bore down on her. "How does it feel?"
She fought for breath. "Please don't." Koja breathed, and despite herself memories of Suul's abuse came flooding back.
She knew what it was like to be connected to a Dark Side-sensitive individual. She had felt the greed, hate, and hunger for power - the /malice/ - that Sith felt; and at such intimate quarters . . . Jalekk's fingers were still working to release the collar. "Stop - Your Masters . . ."
"Quiet.'' he panted, and she could almost feel his lust rising within him as he rhythmically pushed against her. His considerable weight, though almost none of it fat, was too much for her delicate frame to bear. Koja pressed her hands up to his chest. She was really getting out of breath now, but the Sith ignored her, intent on tearing the ysalamiri crystal off her neck. Gasping for air, she said, ''No!'' as loudly as her tortured lungs would let her.
"Shut up, /Jedi!/" Jalekk growled louder than he intended, and pressed a kiss onto her lips.
There was the rustling sound of blankets being thrown back, a short shuffle in the dark, and then Jalekk was suddenly heaved off her.
"/What/ are you doing to her?!" a familiar voice growled in the dark. Koja heard a clatter as Taren chucked the other Sith in the direction of a glow lamp, which he failed to see in the dark.
"I wasn't hurting her; I just wanted to feel what a Jedi thinks like!" Jalekk bit out as he was probably getting up.
The lengthy Sith expletive increased in volume as Taren bent down near Koja. His groping hands found her arms. "Jalekk, take your common whore back and never attempt to take this Jedi from me again!'' As he said this, he slid his arms in under Koja and lifted her to his chest. The reply from the other youth was a short noun and Kairal gave a choked- off exclamation as he seemingly yanked her up.
With three swift strides they had moved over to Taren's side, and he gently set her down on the covers. He helped her under the warm blankets and slid in next to her.
After Koja had settled down he whispered, "I'm sorry I gave you to him." He gently stroked her tousled hair. "He'll leave you alone from now on. I hope you can forgive me."
Taren didn't get an answer, but that was not the sole reason for his uneasy rest that night. He had broken the fragile peace and trust he'd won from the other Sith, and vice-versa. Before Jalekk came to his senses he might not pass up a chance to kill him . . .
* * *
When Taren awoke a few hours later, he wanted to inflict an injury on himself for falling asleep in the first place. However, it was apparent when Jalekk awoke that a good night's sleep and his slave's doings had alleviated any murderous feelings.
The atmosphere at the camp was tense though, and no one spoke. The girls eyed each other timorously and the Sith gave each other sneers but ignored one another for the most part. The morning meal was taken and while the girls completed their toilet at the pool the males dismantled and packed up the camp.
"I'm sorry for what Jalekk did to you." Kairal murmured as she attempted to untangle her hair with her fingers.
"It's not your fault,'' Koja replied. "And I'm not sure he knew what he was doing, either.'' She splashed the icy water into her face.
"What /did/ Jalekk do, Koja?" the Hapan girl asked.
The Jedi gave an amused chuckle. "He wanted to hear all my thoughts and emotions and tried to pull off this thing" - she fingered the crystal- bearing necklace - "and nearly crushed me in the process."
"I'm so sorry."
"Sith can get very emotional at times." Koja understated, shrugging. She dried her face and rubbed a few drops of oil into her cheeks and forehead.
"Let me help you with your hair." This time, Kairal merely twisted it into a long plait and secured the ends with a piece of string salvaged from her bag.
"Well . . ." the Jedi muttered. "Taren wasn't perfectly civil, either. I'm sure I could've handled it if he hadn't interrupted." She wasn't exactly certain of the last part of her statement, but was merely glad that things had turned out the way they had.
As the packed their toiletries and moved back to the Sith, Kairal remarked, "It's all right. I have become . . . /used/ to Jalekk anyway - if you know what I mean."
Koja nodded. "I know what you mean." They lapsed into silence as they reached the two brooding initiates.
They were just folding the last canvas covers into their cases, and the girls looked on while the youths secured the last clasps. Without his usual irritable words of urging, Jalekk led the way down the left passage leading from the cavern.
The tunnel was rounded and smooth, not unlike many they had traveled for the past few days. Koja had lost track of how long they'd been underground and did not care to count. The two harsh bright lights from the flare torches merged and became one. The light bobbed along, illuminating the long way before them. The Jedi wondered how many days would pass until they got back out into the open air; and, after that, how long until they reached the Sith academy again. She could not wait for proper food, a bed and a hot shower again - even if it meant sharing it all with a Sith.
Almost unconsciously her eyes moved up and sideways to Taren's pensive features. He was a nice Sith. At any rate, kinder than any of the others she'd met. Even though he had mercilessly slaughtered an animal - showing great reflexive skill and a certain cold-bloodedness - and, after he had discovered . . . intercourse . . . had enjoyed her almost every night since, Taren had still somehow maintained an air of almost childish innocence. Maybe that was why she liked him. All the other men she had ever known were by no means naïve, and usually had something to hide . . .
In the right tunnel wall a jagged crack appeared, and instead of ignoring it and leading them on, Jalekk eased into the narrow gap sideways. Taren sighed, gesturing for Koja to go before him after Kairal.
The crack seemed much higher than the tunnel before it - the light did not reach its roof. Moving through the crack was arduous and slow since one had to shuffle sideways to get through. This required holding the packs to the side with one arm and carefully lifting it along, and pulling the thick packs loose from in between the walls if they got stuck. The journey through the thin crevice was made even more bothersome by the uneven, shifting slivers of stone littering the floor.
Naturally Taren started needling Jalekk, asking him if this was truly the right way. Jalekk returned that it indeed was, adding that there was a small cave with one tunnel-exit on the other side. Koja desperately hoped that they wouldn't have to spend the night in here.
Fifteen minutes - it seemed like hours - later they reached the open space of a cave, just as the blond Sith had said. He urged that they move on, since it was only late morning. After a rest and small meal, the four headed off down a passage again, leaving the cave behind.
This passage was winding and strange openings riddled in the floor and walls. These circular holes dotted this passage at irregular intervals, and Jalekk wondered if they served as burrows to some subterranean animal. He and Taren examined the holes and found them to be of indiscernible depth. However, no strange creatures sprang from them as the Sith poked in the cavities with their lightsaber-grips.
Shrugging, the two initiates and their slaves moved further down the passage; and the straight, unchanging monotony of the pockmarked brown- gray walls lulled them into a sort of unfocused trance. Each was lost in their own thoughts when Jalekk, who was in the lead, suddenly slowed down. ''There's something in the passage up ahead,'' he announced, voice echoing slightly.
Taren moved past the girls to see what it was. Kairal and Koja peered between the Sith, trying to see.
There was /something/ there, but it was hard to see from the distance.
Jalekk started walking again at a faster pace. "Let's see what it is."
"Well . . ." Taren said, staring down at that what had been lying in their path.
The other initiate grimly stared down at their find, frowning slightly.
Kairal's face showed a look of repulsion, and she had blanched.
"It looks rather old," Koja offered, looking down at the almost intact human skeleton. Unrecognizable tatters of clothing clung to its limbs. "I think it takes quite a while for a body to decompose like this."
"'Specially in these conditions," Taren intoned.
"I wonder what happened to his slave . . ." Kairal said shakily.
Jalekk shifted onto his other foot. "Or to her master."
There was silence for a few moments as everyone studied the remains. As a quick examination showed, the person hadn't died because something had attacked him - the bones showed no fracturing - but the person had pulled his legs up to his chest and the hands where near his chest. The yellow jaw hung slightly open.
"Are you positive we're going the right way?" Taren asked for the hundredth time since they'd entered the caverns.
"Yes." Jalekk replied.
Taren suppressed a sigh. "All right. Then if this person did not die of hunger . . ."
Everyone remembered the words on the wall. /May the spirits of these caverns be kind to you./
"Well. We'll just have to be on our guard then.'' Jalekk touched the silver handle of his weapon and turned his back on the long-dead victim.
Slowly, the rest of the party followed his lead and left their grisly find behind.
* * *
Evening had fallen, according to Jalekk's wrist chronometer. They had turned down a left path as the skeleton's passage had suddenly divided into two. After that, the quartet had been traveling down a curving passage for the past three hours. They had not reached another cavern; and Jalekk gloomily informed them according to his mental map, it was still quite a distance until they would reach the next one.
"Well, we'll have to stay here for tonight." Taren murmured as he looked up and down the tunnel they'd been in for most of the day.
"Hmm." Jalekk agreed gloomily. At least there were none of those holes here. The glow torches were placed a distance from each other and the bedding arranged between them.
As the familiar aroma of boiling meat and vegetable concentrate filled the air, everyone seemed to relax.
The atmosphere had been tense - even more strained than when the two initiates had been wrathful toward each other just that morning - but the caves had retained their sepulchral, echoing silence.
While they consumed the meal, the two Darksider initiates worked out a watch system. Every three hours they would switch and the moment anything suspicious was heard or seen everyone was to be woken up. The Sith to stand first watch was selected through a chance game of who pulled the shortest hair from Koja's closed hands; and to his great dismay, Taren selected the shortest red strand.
Koja tossed under her covers. She couldn't sleep as images of the skeleton they had discovered kept floating up in front of her eyes. She sat up, shivering against the cold air. In the dim glow of the lamps, she saw Taren's silhouette framed black against the light. He was seated further up the tunnel beyond the second glow torch, beyond Jalekk and Kairal's sleeping place. It had been decided he stand watch there because they had come from the other direction and that they would already have confronted any threat from that way.
Wrapping her crimson cloak around her like a blanket, Koja stepped past the others' bedding area and crouched down next to Taren. She leaned against his shoulder and stared off into the gloom ahead.
"Can't sleep?" he asked softly.
"No." Koja replied. She left 'I'm scared' out.
The Sith, even with the ysalamiri crystal blocking out any emotions from her mind, knew how she felt.
"Don't worry." he murmured, "We're going to be out of here soon." He smiled encouragingly. "Besides, have you seen anything a lightsaber can't beat yet?"
"Can it defeat spirits, ghosts?"
Taren looked at her gravely. "No. But the word used in the inscription was xikorrze, and is a very loose term, difficult to explain in Basic. It is very possible that the creatures meant are, oh, maybe a huge transparent animal, or even underground whirlwinds . . ."
"But the person we saw back there didn't die from any of those."
"I know. But maybe he did indeed starve to death, or maybe a Sith even killed his slave, it is hard to say."
"A Sith would kill his slave on Initiation?"
Taren's face suddenly became hard. "Koja - I /don't know./ I don't know how that person died - or why - and I hope not to find out. We will leave these caves soon, so don't worry."
Koja nodded resolutely and moved back to the makeshift bed, hoping to catch some sleep.