Last time: Cien showed Viran what Dracul is really like in the mindspace.

Now: Sasha checks on Cien.

Chapter 16- You Are My Friend

Cien breathed deep the smell of the dried blood in the room. Her eyes were closed, she was sitting cross legged on the floor, and she was surrounded by horrid looking torture implements under the lone, harsh light that shone down. The manacles that hung from the wall behind her matched everything else in the space, dirty, apparently used often, and reeking of the feeling of pain and death. It was just like home. She thought with no small amount of amusement.

She had secreted herself into the room after they had taken off. A small, innocuous cubby in Kyr's ship that he had pointedly ignored when he had given her a quick tour. Sensing his mixed emotions as they went past the room she had pressed him to tell her what it was, and he simply stated it was his interrogation room, and sheepishly clarified that everything in it was a fake, filled with collectables meant to scare people into giving him information on his more interesting jobs. He had asked her not to go in, and she had pointedly ignored the request a few moments later, feeling an odd comfort in this room of darkness after being surrounded by the oppressive light for what felt like ages. Even if it was fake. One or two of the implements had real blood, and the impressions of real pain, but not recent, Kyr probably did not even know they had actually seen use, or simply didn't care. Cien was not sure which it might be.

A light knock, as if to not alert the others, came from the door.

Cien's eyes flashed open with a sigh. She could sense Sasha on the other side of the door. There were no door controls on her side, so she used the Force to open the door from the control panel on the other side of the closed threshold. "Yes?" She asked.

Sasha stood there, shy for some reason. "Hey, sorry to disturb you. I know you wanted to be alone. I just thought you deserved to know we will be there in the next hour." Sasha said as she rubbed at her right hand absentmindedly.

Cien hesitated for a moment, as if trying to figure out how she should respond. "Thank you." She finally said.

Sasha nodded. "Of course." There was then a silence before Sasha added on. "And if you need anything, just let me know," she said, there was a hint of awkwardness in her tone. Her left hand was still rubbing at the right. She then shifted her gaze from Cien to the room. She made a disturbed face.

"I will." Cien stated, "Thank you." She added after a second's thought, watching Sasha rubbing the hand she had scarred with the broken glass. She debated as to if she should tell the Jedi that the entire room was fake, noting her discomfort.

"You know, I always wondered why Kyr kept this room locked up," Sasha mused out loud. "Now I know why. Not exactly the most welcoming room, is it?"

Cien regarded her, and couldn't help the malicious smile. "I suppose that is a matter of perspective, isn't it. It's quite welcoming to a Sith, even though all of it's fake." She cast her glance to the wall, "Except for that hooked knife, and that corkscrew object." Her glance swept back to Sasha, still standing in the doorway.

"Well he's got to be convincing when interrogating his bounty or others, doesn't he?" Sasha said, with a bit of joking tone. Her lips then formed a thin line as she was obviously thinking about what may have gone on in this room. "But he is also a Mandalorian so… I guess some of it has to be real." She finally took a small step forward into the room to look over some of the fake tools on the wall.

"Yes," Cien said, rising to stand. "Though he has not left a strong impression on this room so I suspect it is rarely used. A room like this would hold many echoes of the former occupants." She said, speaking from her knowledge of other such rooms and places.

"That makes sense," Sasha said as she continued to look at the tools. "Then I guess he only uses it when he has to." She then reached for one of the fake knives on the wall and held it in her hand. "Not really intimidating when you hold them," she said with a small chuckle before putting it back.

"No, these are just things, tools used by others. They have no will of their own." She said, walking up to the wall to stand next to Sasha, and reaching out to pluck a knife off the display. The hooked one, that in another life under a different owner had seen actual use. "For good or bad, another matter of perspective." She added, as she ran her finger along the blade. "I grew up in places like this, but real ones." She said, softly. "This is what home feels like to me." She said, looking around the chamber made to incite terror and bring to mind images of pain. She glanced over at Sasha. "An odd perspective for a Jedi, I suppose."

Sasha met her gaze with a frown. "Yeah… it is." She then went silent for a second. "What about Haven? I mean it's not your home or anything, but I'm guessing that you have really never experienced something like that. I mean I know I'm used to it, but I have been on the run for sixteen years. So the inside of the Forerunner and the little apartments we lived in were home to us. But so was the Jedi Temple for a while too. Honestly, wherever Oppie and Viran are, it is home to me."

Cien appeared to consider for a second as she absently played with the blade in her hands. "I have experienced places like that, just under different circumstances." She said, remembering missions from her past. "Home has been where I returned to at the end of the day, nothing more."

Sasha watched her as she did that as she seemed to think about what Cien said. She found herself yet again rubbing at her hand absentmindedly. She went silent as she stared back at the wall of tools.

Cien swallowed, her fingernail catching the tip of the knife as she absently plucked at it. "That is the difference between you and I." She said quietly. "I was raised at my own temple, like you, but it was a place that taught us harsh lessons to be self sufficient, to find strength in ourselves rather than rely on others. It was not someplace that prepared us to have allies, people we could trust. Rather the opposite." She continued carefully, running her fingers along the handle of the knife. "For me, there was never any strength to be found in others, only weaknesses to be exploited by both sides. It was recently suggested to me that this is not true for everyone." She said, the shadows of a smirk forming on her face.

Sasha looked at Cien. "Well whoever that was isn't wrong. My friends… My family makes me strong even when I am at my weakest. I look to them for inspiration and wisdom as well as love and laughs. They are there for me when I fall and I do the same for them." Sasha then looked down at her hands that were still holding each other. She was staring at her scarred right hand. "And you are not alone anymore. Whether or not you see us as allies."

Cien glanced up at the Jedi sharply, her brow furrowed, and then her gaze fell back down at the knife. "This knife," she said after a pause, "can you feel the echoes within it?" Cien asked the Jedi quietly.

Sasha looked at the knife. Slowly she reached out and touched the handle as Cien held it forward, gently. Closing her eyes, Sasha focused on the Force. After a moment, she reopened her eyes. "Yes, I hear them," she said with the slightest of nods. She then moved her hand away.

"This knife has done terrible things in the service of others." She said, running her fingers along the spine of the blade. She reverently put it back up where it had been displayed, returning it to its retirement. "Without thought for what it was doing to its victims. I wonder what they would think of it, sitting here sedately in this room." She looked over at the Jedi, and then away. "I admit, Sasha, I am not sorry for any of the things I have done in my life." She said quietly. "I did what I had to, for my order. For myself, so I could survive. If we had not met each other as we had, I would be enthralled to Dracul the same as Kopesh whether it had happened alongside him or years from now as he hunted us all down." She paused, "thank you for being the first person in my life to trust me," she paused again, "to help me." She said, looking the Jedi in the eyes, "despite everything I did."

A smile, very small and very gentle, appeared on Sasha's face. "Of course. I mean I know what you have done to me has scarred me," Sasha started. "But I have grown so much because of it. I have been able to work on my abilities and master them more than I ever could before. But…" She trailed off for a second as she gathered her thoughts. "You don't have to thank me. You deserve kindness and friendship. You deserve a second chance. And I wholeheartedly believe in those. And whether you consider me a friend or not, I've got your back in this. I trust you, because I know how terrifying Dracul is and what he has done or can do. And because we need to work together on this. But also because, I think you have the ability to be a good person. At least in your own way."

Cien looked at Sasha, frowning. She started to speak, and then seemed to think the better of what she was going to say. Then continued, "I guess that started when I helped you push Dracul back through that portal."

"Wait, what?" Sasha asked, surprised. "You helped us back then? I… I never knew." She looked around as she tried to remember what happened that day. "You actually did help us." She met Cien's gaze again. "Thank you."

The Sith looked at her, confusion evident on her face. "I thought you knew, I thought that was the main reason why you decided to trust me." She said.

"No, I never knew," Sasha admitted. "I was so focused on trying to keep the portal open for Oppie to escape and then trying to close it when Dracul was attempting to get out-"

"Yes, well done on clo-" Cien interrupted to say snarkily, and then stopped herself, with an annoyed look on her face like she had just shattered something precious and fragile. "I am sorry." She said quietly, "old habits die hard."

Sasha shook her head. "It's fine. Please don't apologize," she said with a smile. "I did what I could. No one expected him to escape. And now we have to stop him. Together." She then paused for a moment before adding on. "But I should have been more aware of what you did. So thank you, Cien."

"You're welcome." Cien said, frowning at the Jedi, "I have always kept those around me at arms length, never allowing them to get close." She said quietly. "You and your friends are different, though, from anyone I have encountered before. And it was suggested I should stop making barbs like that to keep everyone at a distance. I had never realized that was something I did." She looked away, at the weapons on the wall as if drawing strength from them. "I will say, in all of my three thousand and twenty eight years, you are the closest thing I've had to a friend." She said with a faint, cautious smile.

Sasha stared at her as she smiled and slowly began to nod. "Yeah, I consider you a friend too."

Cien's smile stayed faint as the caution faded away. "I wonder how many Sith and Jedi have ever expressed that sentiment." She mused.

"Probably not very many," Sasha guessed with a slight chuckle.

Tac came wheeling around the corner to the open door at that moment, whistling in low but insistent and impatient tones.

Cien looked to the Jedi with a confused look, "what did it say? I have never been good with astromechs and their dialect is different now."

"Uh, he just said Kyr is on his way," Sasha said looking at her with wide eyes. "We need to go. We are not supposed to be in here." Her voice gave off the tone that she was afraid of how Kyr might react, but also amused by the fact they were breaking the rules. "Come on, we should go before he gets here!"

"Oh, yes he admonished me the same," Cien said with a smirk. "We do not want to incur his wrath."

A grin spread across Sasha's face as she stifled a laugh. "Come on. Let's get out of here," she said as she started heading for the exit, her left hand extended out to Cien as a way of gesturing that they needed to go.

Cien looked at the Jedi's extended hand, a frown passed over her face for a split second. A simple gesture, but such a profound offering to her. A hand of friendship. A first for her, and she fought with a lifetime of caution and fear telling her not to accept, not to allow that weakness.

Her smirk returned as she reached out to the Jedi. Sasha beamed at her as she clasped her hand with a comforting squeeze before pulling Cien with her out of the room, the Jedi giggling the whole time. The Sith cast one last look back at the dark room before allowing the Jedi to pull her out into the lit corridor beyond, the hatchway sealing it off behind them.

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