VI
Darth Maul had not gone to sleep that night. He spent the night sitting and thinking about everything—his loyalty his master, his devotion to the dark side, how he was nothing until he found the power of the Sith; then his mind trailed to the point of true failure. Once again he found the hatred of the Jedi only building up more deep inside him. He wanted revenge so much it hurt. He wanted to see that filthy piece of scum suffer to the point he would be begging for mercy.
Then he thought of her. She had shown pity to a certain point, but also a sort of fondness for him. He didn't quite understand it; he had done nothing but shown her cruelty and she pulled him back into forgiveness. There was something wrong with her, that much he knew, but what, he wasn't sure.
Sometime during the early hours of the morning before the sun rose, Maul had ventured back out into the small sitting area next to the kitchen. The human's animal was nowhere to be found, which suited him just fine. He sat himself down in the center of the open room and forced his legs to bend and cross. The muscles around the thigh wound pulled and ached, but he ignored it. Sitting up straight, knowing the reason why his whole torso hurt was because of broken ribs, he stretched his arms out and rested them on his bent knees. He had cleared his mind completely, his thoughts gone, his energy focused on his surroundings.
Before he knew it there was a scurrying of feet and a scratching of nails on the floor in the kitchenette. His eyes opened slowly after he sensed the animal running around the room—probably running away after seeing he was there. The sun had come up and a gentle breeze flew through the slightly open windows. He heard the weird guttural sound from the yeknom somewhere in the distance, and then Naturri entered the room, the creature clinging to her shoulders.
Maul stayed still, his leg numb from the position, but his eyes followed her movements. At first she said nothing to him even after making brief eye contact. Then she pulled out two pitchers from the cooling compartment. "Thirsty?" she asked and set them on the table.
Waiting a few moments before unlocking his legs from their position, Maul stood up and made his way to the table. He limped lightly from the release of tension in his thigh. He noticed that one of the pitchers was filled with the pink drink he had been given since he arrived—kier libsa she had called it the night before. The other was the same green concoction she had drunk during her meal last night. It had a watery consistency and smelt something like mint leaves, but he didn't know what it was. He took it upon himself to take one of the glasses she had put out and pour himself his own drink. He remembered what she had said about drinking before it started thawing, so he rested it back on the table.
Naturri took out a container from an overhead cabinet and poured its crispy contents into a large bowl then proceeded to put it on a burner to heat it up. She turned and looked him over slowly, no apparent expression noticeable on her face. "It should be okay to drink now," she said. "It only takes a minute or two to get the icy edge off."
Maul looked down at the glass then picked it up and poured some of it down his throat. "What is in it this makes me feel so relaxed?"
Naturri stirred whatever it was that she was cooking. "It has some herbs native to this planet, particularly this specific area. My mother taught me how to make it; it does exactly what you said it does. She used to give it to me when I was little; I would fall down, get hurt, but one glass of that and I felt better in a few hours. I guess you could call it instant medication."
Her answer was more than Maul wanted, even needed to hear, but he let it go. He moved to the other side of the room, taking another sip of the kier libsa. He watched her cook, for once took a moment to take in her features. Her curly brown hair was down but loosely pulled back with a tie, including the strands full of the gold beads. Her face looked smooth to the touch and clear of any blemishes; at the moment her body was hidden by a baggy silky purple robe, but both her bare feet sported a beaded bracelet around the ankles.
"I want you to take me to my ship," he told her, pushing her appearance out of his thoughts for the time being.
Naturri took the large bowl off the burner and started scooping its odd mushy contents onto two plates. She brought the plates to the table and put them down across from the other. "We can go right after breakfast," she said. "I have to be at my job by noon. You will be able to handle yourself while I'm gone?" She gave him a sarcastic smirk.
Maul eyed her warningly, his upper lip rising in disgust at her insult. She merely continued with a haughty expression, eating the brown mush she called breakfast. As he ate the meal, finding this to be a little less tasty compared to what he had been given before, he wondered what type of work someone like her did—something simple he thought.
"You're ship is a few miles up the coast," she said not looking up at him. "It'll take only a few minutes to get there."
"What type of work?" He asked suddenly having not paid attention to what she said; he wasn't quite sure why he let his thoughts turn into open words that flew from his mouth. He cursed himself for acting interested.
"Excuse me?" she asked looking up this time.
Maul gave her an annoyed look; he hated to repeat himself. "I asked you what you did for work."
Naturri gave a small smile and then took another bite before answering. "I'm a dancer."
That wasn't an answer he had expected, but once he knew he thought it suited her; the way she looked, dressed, even walked could've been signs that she used her body for money. "So you serve yourself to hungry men," he stated spooning more of the mush into his now-dry mouth. He fixed that with another swig of kier libsa.
He smiled when he glanced up to see that this time she was the one to be insulted. "I do not go around and sleep with men if that's what you're saying," she snapped. "I do dance in a club, but I don't offer further services to every guy that lines up at my door."
Maul was enjoying this; he clearly had gotten under her skin—finally he had found her weak point. "I find it hard to believe you've kept yourself away from every man that's shown interest in you."
"That's none of your business," she said.
"Then it is true," he countered with a smirk.
Naturri suddenly got up and brought her plate to the small compactor and emptied what she hadn't eaten into it. Maul had the urge to tell her, "You might as well get rid of my portion too before I gag on it any further," but he held his tongue. After all, he wanted her to take him to his ship—upsetting her too much before then would be stupid. Naturally he could've forced her to do what he wanted, but after what she had done for him it would be unethical.
"Not every man," she said out of nowhere. Maul had thought she dropped the subject in her anger for him. "Only a few…a couple I dated and…one that I've been forced to keep happy every now and then."
Darth Maul raised a hairless eyebrow and glanced at her. "Forced to keep him happy? What do you mean?"
He suddenly realized she had tears in her eyes. Leave it to a weak woman to start crying to get herself out of things, he thought to himself. If she thought he'd go over and comfort her she was gladly mistaken.
"Look, I've been threatened by this one man that he'd hunt me down and kill me if I didn't do what he wanted; he almost carried out that promise the first time I refused, so I've decided its better to suffer every now and then rather than to live in fear."
Maul scoffed and stood up. "You're weak if you allow others to control you from your fear," he said simply. "It allows people like you to be taken advantaged of by people like me at a mere calling. I have no sympathy if you allow yourself to suffer without a fight."
Naturri was silent and still. He said nothing as he walked outside and stood on the terrace to look out at the sea. The sky was almost covered in clouds, gray and white alike, but the air was still warm. There was a steady wind and he looked to the east to see if a storm was brewing, but there was no sign of anything that would indicate such.
For a few moments he stood alone, but then he felt Naturri's presence behind him. "I'll take you to your ship now," she said and then walked away. He smiled; he had control over her now. His words must have sunk into her thick head.
He returned to his room and fully dressed himself. Bending over on the cushioned chair to put his boots on was a little difficult with the strain of his stomach, but he suffered through until they were comfortably on his feet. While putting the black leather gloves over his hands he reminded himself that he would have to get the spare clothes he kept in the storage unit of his ship; what he was wearing now was much too tattered and bloodstained for his liking.
Darth Maul found himself back in the kitchen waiting for Naturri. He was growing impatient; he wanted to leave now, not wait for her to ready herself for a short trip down the coast. Unless she was getting ready for this job of hers, that of which he was partly interested to see what garb she was wearing.
He was mildly disappointed to see her come into the room wearing another one of her long, silky blue skirts and a matching halter top. He ignored his thoughts and followed her silently out of the place she called home and to the front where a dull red speeder sat waiting.
Maul climbed into the passenger seat and looked away, paying her no attention while she started the engine. She was being quiet. He sensed tension in her, but not so much anger like before; he figured embarrassment. He was still trying to figure out why she was so brave around him instead of giving up and doing what he wanted. She was stubborn, that was for sure, and he hadn't seen many women who gave him that side. He almost allowed himself to admit openly to his mind that she impressed him.
He jerked back slightly when the speeder took off, dust flying past them as they drove down the beach. She handled it nicely, but he hated being the passenger in any transport. He liked having control of things, no matter what it was.
His eyes chanced a glance at her; she was still with her driving, her eyes focused on where they were going. He looked forward as well and saw his ship already in sight. It was shoved up against a sandy bank, nose first, and he wondered if that was his barely-conscious self's way of landing or the ships way of crashing with no pilot. Either way, as they closed in on it he knew it would need some work so he could get off the planet.
Naturri stopped the speeder next to the ship and did nothing as Maul jumped out and started towards it. He looked around it, seeing many scraps and a good deal of rips in the metal of the front end. He moved around it, his yellow eyes taking in every aspect of noticeable damage. To his surprise it looked more like body damage than anything else.
He went to the open entrance ramp and silently cursed the girl for leaving it open; someone could've easily gone in and stolen it—foolish girl. He walked over to the control panels, sensing Naturri was starting to follow. He flipped on the starting switches and waited. The engines cranked, squealed, and gave a low hum; they were on, but not at full power. He frowned and boosted the power, but nothing happened.
"Doesn't sound good," the human said from behind. Maul turned his head and gave her a foreboding look that made her turn away.
The Sith checked the hyper-drive, which seemed to be in acceptable working order, along with the most of the other necessities that would make the ship useful. But the engine thrusters were damaged. Without them there would be no power to get the ship off the ground. He hated broken machinery.
"Is there some place where I can get parts?" He asked her turning around quickly to face her.
Naturri looked up from her wondering around and nodded. "Downtown there are a couple of shops."
"Good," he said. "You will take me there."
The girl's mouth opened slightly in awe. "Not today," she said.
"And why not?" Maul asked unamused. He took a few steps towards her to close the distance between them. His hands were kept at his sides, but he looked at her with irritation.
"I don't have the time to be taking you to shops," she said in defiance, standing up straight to try to get her point across.
Maul snickered bitterly. "I don't need you to hold my hand," he snorted. "You will just take me there."
"I don't advise today," she said. "Not just because of me—today's the biggest selling day of the week. You'll end up paying more."
"You lie," he said.
"Try me," she countered.
He knew she was serious. He sneered and turned away to get what he wanted from the ship. She stood silently watching him, which made him feel a bit uncomfortable. "Have you nothing better to do?" He barked lightly as he opened one of the compartments.
"I just…I'm just waiting for you," she said gathering her courage.
Maul ignored her comment as he pulled out neatly folded black clothes, duplicates of what he was already wearing, minus the tears and stains. Also in the bundle was a new cloak, since his other one was probably still sitting somewhere in the Theed Palace since he had removed it seconds before starting his brawl with the Jedi.
Leaving the door to that compartment open, he moved to the next one and opened it; inside was a simple, single-bladed lightsaber compared to the doubled one he had carried before, but it was his only back up. He had constructed the other one himself, but with only one lightsaber, making another was impossible. Instead, he hooked the deactivated weapon to his belt and turned to leave the ship.
Naturri followed after him and put herself back into the driver's seat of the speeder. Maul was already settled in his spot and waited for her to return to the house. He said nothing to her for the five minutes it took to get back. Once there, though, he glared at her when she made no movements to follow.
"I told you I have to work," she said as if knowing what he was thinking.
"So be it," he said and went inside. He figured she'd go in as well, but she sped away without glancing back.