The hover train's seat was squished. Arbinger squirmed a bit in his seat to find a more comfortable position, but it was to no avail. His head tilted to the window, he shifted his left shoulder before feeling the lack of it. He opened his eyes wearily and looked down. Deltina was curled up in a little ball, snuggled warmly in his side. Her breathing was of slow and calm sleep, but her eyes weren't rapidly moving beneath her closed lids. She wasn't asleep, only resting. Arbinger's face of tired stone and cracked into a small grin as he again moved his shoulder, this time awarded with grunt from his partner and her shifting into a new, comfortable position. Arbinger chuckled as he moved his hand to tickle her exposed side. She twitched at his unexpected touch and hit him none too lightly in the ribs. He merely looked down on her head, barely flinching. A new feeling was arising in his heart. Hesitantly, he bent his head down and stopped, his nose lightly touching her hair. He let her scent overwhelm his nostrils, and he sighed lightly into her head, resignation beginning to overcome him. But maybe, just maybe… He pursed his lips and began to press them softly into her hair…
He lifted his head slowly with a moan. That had been a few years ago, when they had just recently met. If only things had been different, if he hadn't been this abomination… He opened his eyes to the darkness. He was beginning to grow weary. His body sagged from the mistreatment of the Sith lord. His mind was growing ragged. He knew they were flip-flopping the time of day. With an irregular eating and sleeping schedule, he could only take stabs in the dark to guess even the century he was in. And Malic's own visits did him no good. He never used Forbidden since that first, but Arbinger might have welcomed that compared to the hours of torture he had to endure. Lightning streaming from hand, the other holding him in a chocking grip.
"Can you not feel it, Kowachi?" Malic always insisted on using his Sith name. "Pain, hurt, suffering? Fear? Anger?" His voice was low, as if trying to entice him into something. "I can take it all away." It was a confession he wanted. "Tell me you killed him, and your pain can end." Their meetings always went like this, but the torture process grew longer and more intense each time. And the result was always the same, Arbinger kept his stolid silence and stone countenance.
"Admit it, Kowachi. Admit, and it is done." Malic's laughter echoed in his head and seemed to reverberate in the cavern. The echoes never stopped. Sooner or later, his resolves or his body would give in, and then it truly would be done.
But there was one thing that refused to let his body and spirit break. That bundle of emotions still sat at the back of his head. He had no idea how or why it was there, but he thanked the gods everyday for it. Deltina's constant love and worry were the only things he relied on anymore. In the spans between meals, he concentrated as hard as he could on that bundle, trying to open some line of communication, some way of returning the same emotions in that bundle. And after each of his sessions with Malic, tears slowly welled up in his eyes as he let her never-ending love wash over his wounds. The tears came not of relief, but of regret and fear. Regret he had never told her; fear he would never get the chance.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but he felt the feelings grow stronger day by day. It wasn't a decrease in the distance between, nor did the feelings ever wane. They just grew more intense. He hoped that it was because he was succeeding at returning them, and feared he was losing sanity. But they were getting stronger. There was no other way to describe it. And so, he soaked in every last bit he could, and returned them the best he could.
Footsteps interrupted his reverie. He started and the chains rattled as he tried to stand his tallest. A silent shadow slipped through the thin opening. Arbinger raised an eyebrow. If anything, he expected another meal from one of the soldiers. Malic never ran two sessions in a row, but he feared the possibility was becoming greater with each passing day. The figure stepped slowly towards Arbinger, its cloak seeming to absorb the darkness and make the shadows shine brighter. Male or female, even height, was impossible to tell in those shadows.
"Good evening, Kowachi," said the figure. It had a low feminine voice, so Arbinger took that lead.
"Evening, is it? I wouldn't be able to tell you. And my name is Arbinger, not Kowachi."
"Only in your mind. Your birth name, Kowachi, belongs to the Sith. You were the apprentice of Darth Sojun, whom you betrayed and abandoned in the swamps of Yavin. A few days later, you felt the burn of the Dragon on your side, and a week later you found the reason behind that. One Deltina and her newly deceased master." Arbinger's eyes widened as the figure progressed past what Malic knew, and a new fear held him still at the end of her recital.
"Who are you?" he asked after the silence had stretched for a minute or so.
"That would depend on who you are, Kowachi. While you insist you are Arbinger, in your heart you are but a disgrace to the name and character. I know your struggle, and I know your desire. It is you who decides my identity, as well as her fate. It is you who must wage the war and end the struggle. I shall return when that has been decided." The shadows suddenly evened out into the dull darkness it always was. The figure had vanished into thin air.
"I must decide…" Arbinger muttered, his voice trailing off into thought. She can't be one of Malic's agents, or he would know what she knew. How does she know so much? Deltina's the only other person who knows my past. And what does she mean I'm a disgrace to the name Arbinger? Who was she? The last thought left in silent reverie.
Hours drifted by before footsteps were again heard. The dinner plate wasn't coming.
Deltina reached up and rubbed her temple with her fingers. Just a second before, her step had faltered slightly at an acute pain in her head. She took a few more steps before the pain increased to a degree that made her stop walking, and then sit down. The pains had been pretty recent, occurring at irregular intervals since the night she had met Jeona. She would've thrown it all up to freak coincidence, except there was one thing more. Along with the head pains, a new entity had taken up residence in the back of her mind. But entity wasn't really the word to describe it. It was more like a shadow that… pulsed. When the migraines hit, it seemed to writhe with the same pain she felt. Almost like it was the one in pain, not her. And after the headaches, a sense of urgency came from the shadow. Urgency and, strangely enough, relief. How the opposites existed, she did not know. Of course, what this shadow was also escaped her mind. But she took comfort in its presence, and that was all that mattered to her. And besides, she had more pressing business to attend to.
It had been a week since she had first been asked to find the Queen's man. The problem was that she hadn't been given much to work with. The only description she had was a male servant keeping a low profile. So she had been able to rule out half the servants being her man, that half being female. But she had pieced together some bits and scraps of information. An informant had to be in a position to receive information. So that meant that he was either in Kahama's personal entourage, or he was trusted enough to serve while the prince was entertaining guests of great importance. Or worked for one of the military's generals, but that was less likely. If he was in the military's service, than getting plans for the armor would have been a breeze. And because Kahama had been sneaking in ships behind the backs of his supporters, it was just as unlikely he only helped entertain. So now, Deltina was down to ten of Kahama's most trusted servants. And she then took her elimination even further, ruling out the three elderly men that Kahama kept around for some unknown reason and the two that were married. That only leaves five. This was where things really got interesting.
In order to first find any suspicious behavior in these five, she'd have to somehow track them. And because there was only one of her and five of them, she'd have to find agents of her own. Credits wasn't her biggest concern, but finding loyal subjects were. Palaces always had spies, and what was passing along the same information to two different people if you got paid twice as much? It was a difficult task to find spies for spies, but the palace tavern was one of her best places to find her people. A few drinks helped loosen tongues, and loose tongues let important things slip. By this point in time, Deltina had already recruited three spies and she was doing her own work. The prince still had an interest in her, yet she was much more careful than she had been previously. She would have left him if she could, but she had to track the servants. In fact, it was one of her rendezvous with the prince that gave her her best lead.
"Lovely day, isn't it?" the prince walking alongside her said, wearing a light yellow shirt and khaki pants. The two were walking in Kahama's private garden behind the spaceport. He was still sporting that oily smile and vulgar light in his eyes.
"Huh? Oh, yes! Yes, it certainly is," she responded. She was trying to pay equal attention to her surroundings as her companion, something she had never succeeded at as a Padawan. She was even worse at hiding the attempt, but the prince was about as bad as she was.
"Yes, it is. I'm glad you decided to come with me. There's nobody else I'd like to be with right now." He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away, giggling and running ahead a short bit.
"Tee hee! Oh, Kahama, you're such a flirt! But how about a lil' game? Hide 'n' Go Seek. Give me to the count of fifty." And she ran off into the bushes as he shut his eyes and started counting. She waited until he hit five before she doubled back and went the way they had come. She had a reason for playing this childish game. She saw one of Kahama's servants, one of her suspects, scurrying off into a small door behind some of the hedges. Crouching by the doors, she turned her head to look back at Kahama, her sharp ears hearing "…thirty-four…thirty-five…thirty-six…" She opened up the door and slipped through, shutting herself up in a dark alleyway. Her superior eyes quickly adjusted so she was able to follow the winding passage.
"This is getting more and more dangerous," a voice muttered up ahead. Deltina stopped suddenly at a turn and knelt down against the wall.
"Relax, will ya'. You'll be out of here soon enough. Jeona's got that Jedi running around trying to find you. Once that happens, just give her these new instructions, and you'll be out of here in no time!" Deltina's spirit instantly lifted. Now there was no need for her spies. She stood up and walked around the corner.
"Guess what, boys. That just happened." The two jumped and turned with fear in their eyes before relaxing.
"Yes. It would appear so," the elder of the two said. "So, in that case, I'll be leaving. Good-day, Jedi." He gave her a bow of deep respect before walking back the way Deltina had come. She turned from the retreating back of the servant to her objective.
"So. You're the guy I'm looking for."
"Yes," he replied. "I'm your man." Deltina looked him up and down. He stood about a head taller than she in the palace livery of white with red and purple stripes down the sleeves. He had short black hair that was trimmed neatly and a clean-shaven face. His teeth were a dazzling white, and he had bright blue eyes. He was lightly tanned, and his tight robes told of a well-built body underneath. She nodded approvingly.
"Jeona's got good taste." The servant's face flushed crimson red and he looked down at his feet.
"Why, uh, thank you, uh…yeah," he said, completely flustered and embarrassed. He cleared his throat a few times before continuing. "Well, yes, as I said, I'm your man. And these," he handed her a small sealed envelope, "are our new instructions. I haven't gotten a chance to look over them, so we're both in for a surprise." Deltina broke the seal and pulled out the letter.
Rumor is plans are open tomorrow night. Grab and go. Keep your head.
Deltina read the letter out loud before a confused look came to her eyes.
"Code," said the servant. "The armor plans are being copied and given out tomorrow to some of Kahama's supporters. We make an extra copy and run for cover. Security should be pretty heavy." He tapped his foot rapidly and stared off into a point in space, a finger making jagged motions in the air. Deltina remained silent for a few moments before deciding to interrupt.
"Uh, so, exactly what are we gonna do?" The servant snapped out of his trance and looked surprised to see someone there.
"What? Oh yeah! I'm formulating. I'll let ya' know in a sec'."
"Well, before you do that, can you at least tell me your name?" The servant again jumped and flushed slightly.
"Right! Sorry 'bout that. Name's Geoco. Pleasure to be working alongside a Jedi!" The two shook hands in new alliance.