V
The sun had set and left the world coated in a mist of darkness. The black sky was littered with thousands of shimmering stars; everything was peaceful, quiet, the only sound was the ocean waves crashing its edge on the coastline. Darth Maul stood by the window of his given room, looking out into the night. Through the window he could smell the cool, salty air. It was calming enough. Night was what came after the sunset, and as he viewed it signified the end of the life in so many ways, only those strong enough to go on would see the next day to come.
Sick of being cooped up in the small space, he donned his tunic and casually retreated from the room, down the hall, and into the unlit kitchen. The yeknom creature was curled up on a chair in the small sitting area adjacent to the kitchen. Maul paid it no attention as it raised its head to watch him exit the house.
The Sith stepped out onto the cold bricks of a small terrace that faced the ever-lasting sea. He walked further out, his feet sinking into the coarse, pallid sand. Stopping only a few yards from where the water soaked the land, Maul held one hand with the other in front him, his arms hanging, relaxed. The cool breeze danced passed his face and blew the open tunic as it moved on, some of it catching the tear in the sleeve, brushing the exposed skin under it. He had removed the bandages, only a little blood seeping over the wound and trickling down his waist to be caught by the material of his pants.
The scenery was different, but the feeling was all the same compared to standing on the balcony of the place he resided when living on Coruscant. Unknown to his master, he enjoyed moments like this; it gave him a chance to think, to be alone, to realize his destiny as a great Lord of the Sith. During such a moment, he could feel the living dark side of the Force sweeping over him, keeping in touch with the hear-and-now.
And…the eyes that watched him from behind.
He made no move to glance over his shoulder as the girl watched him from the terrace some several meters behind. He was tired of her intruding on him, yet her presence was different than some others'. There was something about her intellect that caught him; she had a way of figuring things out with very little information, which surprised Maul since most people either were completely in touch with such knowledge, (like the Force), or they were too stupid to ever make sense of things.
Maul turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder when he felt her body closing in on the distance between them. She was trying to be quiet and go unnoticed, but she failed long before she knew it. She was only a few feet from him when he turned his head more so she knew he was aware of her presence. She looked down, speechless, almost helpless.
"Have you nothing else to do but follow me?" Maul asked with a calm voice.
Naturri looked at him, and then boldly moved forward to stand next to him, but luckily she kept her distance so they weren't too close. "I saw you come out here."
"And that gave you the incentive to follow me?" he asked with a toss of annoyance. "I prefer to be alone."
"I just…" she paused and shrugged her shoulders. "I just wanted to make sure you're ok. You're not wearing any bandages." She talked like she threw that last part in after taking notice that he indeed abandoned the medical supplement.
"Its no care of yours," he told her. "Do not fawn over me like I'm a helpless creature."
Naturri bit her lip then looked at his face. "I'm not. I don't know, I guess I was just worried about you. I feel bad about what happened to you."
Maul shot her a disgusted look, his upper lip quivering slightly. "I need no sympathy from the likes of you," he snapped, but keeping his voice low. "You're nothing to me—you're lucky you're still alive."
"You wouldn't have killed me," she said defiantly, although her body became tense from his almost-glowing eyes.
Maul lunged his arm out, not hitting her, but using the Force to throw her down and into the sand. "You underestimate me," he said turning to her completely. "I have no devotion to anything except my master and the dark side. Keep your distance, girl."
Naturri got up and brushed the sand off of her tight shirt and long, silky skirt. "First of all, buster, I'm a woman not a little girl. Second, you're damn lucky to be alive compared to the condition I found you in! Just be happy I decided to take a walk that day and knew how to take care of someone who was filled with poison!"
Maul snarled and clenched his fists. "Do not use that tone with me," he said, his voice rising steadily.
"Or what? You'll kill me? You think I'm afraid to die?"
"You should be," he hissed.
"Well I have a news flash for you, Sith, I'm not."
Maul's arm reached out and the back of his hand swiped over the side of her face. She backed up and put her fingers over it in shock, eyes wide and staring at him. "You ungrateful fool," she muttered and started walking away.
He didn't care what she thought of him. She thought she was so smart the way she presented herself to him, wearing skimpy clothes that hugged her body, the words she chose, the way she tried to stand up to him. "Pathetic bitch," he said to himself and then turned back to the sea.
Maul was highly annoyed. The heat of annoyance was running through his body, making the feeling of his stinging wounds disappear momentarily as he tilted his head downwards, but kept his gaze on the breathing water. The waves became higher to the point they could've gobbled a large building in one attack. It came down with thunderous force, washing over itself and threatening to engulf the entire beach. He stopped it just before it touched ground at his feet, spray moistening his face. Lifting his arms, he made the water pull back and hurl over itself in the opposite direction it was heading.
The water choked, the remnants of its own attack brushing further up the beach, washing over Maul's feet. He looked down at it, but then quickly turned his head to see Naturri going back inside and disappearing into the darkness of her home. He sensed her fear. He had scared her half to death; hopefully enough to keep her out of his way for a while.
Feeling a little better, he headed back towards her humble dwelling, although his side was scratching at him with pain. He snarled as he reached the terrace and opened the door that Naturri had so nicely closed on him. It slid to the side and he saw her sitting at the table, her hands hugging a mug of something hot to drink. He mentally closed the door behind him as he started forward, walking through the kitchen as if she wasn't there.
He was stopped by her voice before he took the first step into the hall to disappear from her sight. He cursed her quietly as she spoke; "Just who are you?"
Maul said nothing, but didn't move either. Her fear was still there, but it wasn't like it was when he slapped her a few minutes ago. He didn't understand her. It seemed she was angrier more than anything else, which surprised him.
"It doesn't matter," he said starting down the hall again. She was following him, her energy high as she stopped in the entryway to the room. He kept his back to her purposely as he moved around the corner of the bed; his hand waved through the air and the window furthest from him went up higher than it had been set at.
"You've been in my house for nearly about three weeks," she started. "I took care of you, fed you, bandaged you—which was not easy, mind you—and welcomed you here as you recover, but I still don't know where you came from, what you are, or even what your damn name is."
Maul waited a brief moment when she stopped talking. "Are you finished?" he asked dryly, his body only turning slightly so he could see her in the room.
"You jerk," she hissed and started forward. "You don't even realize you're bleeding again."
Maul held out his arm, hand open and fingers spread apart as far as they could go. She stopped in her tracks, being held back by an invisible barrier. "I just want to help you!"
"I don't want nor need it," he said and started pushing her back. "I will not play with you any longer—if you're not afraid to die then so be it."
"Fine," she scolded. "If you want to see how far you can get right now with that thing in your side, go ahead. You know damn well you're stuck here until that heals more."
Maul pushed her back until she was almost flat against the wall with nowhere else to go. If he kept pushing the wall would crack and fall on her or she'd die from the sheer force of what he was doing. Yet deep down he held back the pressure, knowing she was right. He figured she had a speeder somewhere around her property, but until he found his ship he wouldn't have the proper weaponry or the money to buy supplies.
The dark side kept telling him to just finish her off, but his realistic side kept him from going through with it. Finally he let her go; she slide down the wall a little, but didn't land in a heap on the floor like the last time he attacked her. She held her hands behind her back, trying to look helpless, but she stared at him hard. He said nothing as he pulled off his tunic and under shirting from his shoulders and tossed it to the chair.
"You should put something on that," her voice said softly, not even a quiver in her words.
Maul was shocked to hear that she was still bold enough to stand within a ten miles radius of him. Twice now he had threatened her, held her life with his own hand, but still she went uncaring for her own safety. If he were her against him he would've taken off long ago—with that stupid little yeknom. He hated that creature.
He was busy thinking to himself and lost track of what she was doing. She had entered the room, and although careful of how close she was to him, she picked up the roll of bandages on the counter. "Here," she said holding a piece of gauze with her other hand. "It really should be—"
"You don't learn, do you?" he asked, hostility easily sensed in his tone.
"Apparently neither do you," she said. "Hold these." She shoved the medical supplies in his hand and went for the bottle and small clothe that had yet to be touched by him. Opening the bottle, she poured its clear liquid contents onto the cloth and looked at him. "Hold your arm away," she ordered.
Maul wordlessly stepped back from her. He had no need of her help, nor did he want any of that stuff she held applied to him. He could smell its strong scent—it was an antiseptic and he knew what it would feel like when it touched his opened flesh. He was a fast healer…although…he knew that if it had been so long like she claimed he should be long healed. The poison from the dart must've slowed down his recuperation; which is also probably why the wound kept bleeding like it was.
"Stop being such a baby," she said. "You want to get out of here or not?"
He knew she was right; it would help the healing a little. He pulled his arm away so she had a clear view of the once-again bleeding slash that trailed across his left side and halfway over his stomach. Her hand was steady as she moved closer; she dabbed the corner of the cut and he hissed loudly. She didn't say anything as she continued, Maul biting his tongue at the intense stinging. He made himself focus on the pain and turn it into anger that would give him more power and strength in the dark side, just as his master had taught him to do.
"You're lucky you got away or the lightsaber stopped," Naturri said. "Any longer and you would've been cut in half." She moved to the center of the wound, which happened to be the most tender. Maul's hand tightened harshly around the roll of bandage.
"Here, give me the gauze," she said while putting the bottle and cloth down. She took the gauze from him and gently held it over the cut, her fingers spread wide so most of it would stay down. She took the bandage and began to wrap it around his middle, pulling it tight so it would stay on and apply pressure to the bleeding spots. Maul looked away when her arms practically hugged around him; she held her head away as much as she could when she reached behind him so her face wouldn't brush against his skin.
"This is actually a hell of a lot easier than it was when I first brought you here," she told him as she finished up. "Trying to get this around you when you were dead to the world and weighed a ton was the biggest challenge I've ever had."
Maul almost smirked at the image in his head from her words. But he was more concerned with just what he was like when he was discovered. "I've been here for nearly three weeks?"
"Yeah," Naturri thought as she tied the end off, "You were really bad; completely passed out when I found your ship. I had to break the cockpit window to get to you since there was no way of opening the hatch from outside without a droid. I managed to pull you down the ramp and get you into my speeder, how I'm not sure, but I got you back here and Ezdum helped me carry you to the bed. She tried lifting you up for me, but you were too heavy for her alone."
Maul couldn't believe that skinny little creature she named was strong enough to do anything except throw things, but he supposed there was hidden strength in everything—including this girl…woman.
He sat down on the bed as she cleaned up the materials and straightened some other things in the room he had moved during his meditation earlier in the afternoon. "You had such a terrible fever I thought you were going to die," she admitted. "You would kind of wake up and moan out something like 'master' and 'I failed you' but I'm not totally sure on that part. I'm guessing it was the poison talking, but you had such a high dosage of it I'm surprised you had the strength to say anything.
I did try to feed you some stuff but you weren't taking it very well, so I stuck with lifting your head up enough to drink things—mainly the kier libsa, which you seem to like."
Maul listened to her, but his eyes were focused on the floor where it met the wall next to the counter. He felt like a total fool for being so weak in the arms of a mere human; him, a Lord of the Sith, lying helplessly in a bed with no memory of anything between getting on the ship and waking up almost three weeks later. He still had a hard time believing it had been that long.
"You okay?" she asked kindly sitting down next to him, but still being smart enough to keep a suitable distance.
"What was the extent of my injuries?" he asked, still looking at the same spot on the floor.
It was a second before Naturri answered; "Well, the obvious ones in your side, thigh and arm; then you had a couple of broken ribs, a sprained ankle and knee, a few scratches and a handful of bruises. And then, of course, the poison—and the only way I discovered you had been exposed to it were the three little holes in your neck that oozed a greenish-colored liquid. The cut on your head seems to have pretty much disappeared. "
Maul had forgotten about the one on his head; he started to remember the impact he felt when he hit the floor of the storage room after falling down the shaft in the Theed Palace. The broken bones and sprained ankle and knee must have come from the same landing; the bruises could've been from the many kicks he received from both Jedi in the fight. Now that he thought about it all, he should be grateful that he has a chance to seek revenge on the younger Jedi; without this girl, he probably would've bled to death if the poison hadn't taken over first.
"I guess I should thank you," he said softly, his eyes shifting up to look out at the window and the two moons hanging over the horizon, "for what you did."
He could see her smile from the side of his vision, but he made no further comment on it. It was hard enough to say that to her—she better not expect anything more. She nodded her head, but didn't seem to want to leave just yet. He wanted her to go away, but he said nothing to persuade her to move out.
"Will you tell me your name?" she asked softly, almost afraid that he'd lash out at her once again like he had with every other question she asked.
Maul felt that he owed her at least that much; he wouldn't refuse his name to her any longer. "Darth Maul," he responded, his eyes looking to their corners and waiting for any response that surely would come.
"You are a Sith then." She spoke no further as she stood up and went to the door. But then she turned to him, stared for a moment and left the room.
Maul didn't move for quite some time. She hadn't truly believed he was a Sith until he told her his name; unless it was more the fact that she didn't want to believe it. Somehow she knew about the qualities of the Force and those who used it. He would have to find out how she knew; but that would be left until the next day.