Terri shivered as her boots crunched against the dead leaves on the forest floor, night had fallen on Yavin IV but they were pressing on wary of pursuers on their tail. They'd had to ditch the speeders when the jungle to too dense for safe travel and as a result had resorted to walking. Her feet ached so bad it felt like they'd been walking for hours but they had to get to this lake thing soon they were almost done.
From her right she heard the calm voice of Lusari "that was close huh" Terri turned to look at her, she was smiling at her seemingly catching on to her discomfort
Terri played with her hair, embarrassed she'd been found out "yeah it was kinda scary" she muttered avoiding eye contact, she hadn't been able to shake the fight with the togruta from her mind. She had no idea if her words had been lies or truth, it seemed like they told the truth but the story seemed so farfetched. She didn't know what to believe but she at least knew she could trust Lusi.
Lusari chuckled looking away for a second "yeah you don't know the half of it, that commander may have killed me today if The Lady didn't protect me" Terri gasped, the idea of Lusari nearly dying was not one she wanted to think about and the Lady truly was powerful if she could stop the alliance commander in her tracks. Lusari frowned for a second "that does bring up a point though" she paused looking to her bag "the commander had some very harsh words for the Lady it seems like they had a pretty intense rivalry. Apparently she was the one who trapped the lady away in something called a mind prison" Terri was left slack jawed for a few seconds before she composed herself
"no wonder she's been following us were they arch enemies" Terri had wondered why she was so persistent this made a lot more sense if they'd been rivals
Before they could discuss it any more they heard her echoed voice from Lusari's bag "I'm afraid so Kyradia and I have had a rather complicated history and not all of it paints me in the most positive light" as the Lady spoke the holocron rose out of the bag surrounded by a humming red energy and began floating at eye level
Lusari's lips tightened as she spoke "you referred to her as apprentice?" Terri stepped back, now she understood Lusari's tone they were basically like temporary apprentices right but the Lady couldn't do something like that to them right?
An echoed sigh came from the holocron "yes but our falling out wasn't my fault trust me" that was reassuring at least a little "it was the classic apprentice decides she's had enough of being an apprentice so tries to take down the master" Terri's body relaxed as she heard that, she had no intention of betrayal she would just be content with repaying the favour.
Lusari didn't look so convinced "so you were trapped in a mind prison? just for that" she put her hands on her hips and stopping the consistent pace they'd been making towards the temple
Another exasperated sigh echoed around them "trust me the details are very complicated but she did far worse than me" Lusi's frown softened a little "do you know how she got the togruta on her side" Terri broke out of her shock suddenly The Lady did had a good point
Terri put her hand on Lusi's shoulder "I do actually she totally manipulated the togruta forcing her to join the commander she told me herself."
The Lady let out a laugh "that's the same as the account I have" with that Lusari's expression dropped and she let out a long sigh
She looked up to The Lady slumping her shoulders "I'm sorry my Lady I was just worried something was up" she paused lowering her head "I'm sorry for accusing you that was wrong of me" Terri thought Lusi was probably right to check though she shouldn't feel so bad.
The holocron lowered a bit to meet Lusari's eyes 'it's ok Lusari from the outside it does sound bad but I assure you I have no intention of repeating past mistakes and don't worry I wouldn't let any harm come to either of you" Lusari let out a half smile and stood back up
"thanks my Lady, we shouldn't wait around any longer they are probably still after us" Lusari's confident tone returned as she strode forward as Terri stumbled to keep up
The voice echoed as the holocron hovered next to them "I think I'll stay out of that dingy bag from now on, this new found power is more than enough to suffice" Lusari and Terri nodded as they continued on towards the temple, Terri's feet still hurt
A few hours later and they could see breaks starting to form in the trees where moonlight shined in and with that both Lusari and Terri began to rush a little faster aware of how long they'd been walking. Soon the towering trees turned into small foliage as they burst out the forest and were met with a beautiful sight. In front of them they saw shining black temple towering into the sky until it just touched the bottom of the clouds, in the middle of it's four peaks was a huge statue seemingly of Exar kun. Beneath the temple lay an island of some form of black sooty structure maybe basalt. Surrounding the island was a shimmering lake with what seemed like little stepping stones dotted throughout the water.
Terri felt unable to move as she took in the wonderful sight in front of her "wow" she paused "it's…" she couldn't think of a word to describe all of what she saw
"stunning" Lusari stood next to her seemingly in a similar state of awe. Terri felt Lusari's hand take her's as they stared at the sight in front of them, it was definitely unique maybe that's what Terri would miss about this experience the sense of adventure
They stood there for a few more seconds before they heard the Lady's voice from behind them "The Temple of Exar Kun, the fallen jedi who the Massassi viewed as their new god" she paused for a second "then suddenly the Massassi all died I think I can guess who's fault that was" Terri was broken out of her trance as she heard about the Massassi that was truly awful
"that's horrible" Terri exclaimed turning to the holocron
The holocron floated up to them "quite well unfortunately sith commonly will do anything to gain more power" she had a point there but there was always a line and this guy definitely crossed it "I'd watch out while in there and avoid the tomb in my experience tombs of sith lords usually house a spirit of some kind" Terri felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, after the encounter with the crazy togruta ghost she'd had enough of ghosts for a lifetime, the thought of facing another more powerful one was rather unsettling
"um are we g-gonna run into him" Terri was hoping to hide her fear but she clearly had failed
"as long as we don't disturb the actual tomb we should be fine, we're just here for the potent force energy" Terri nodded, she had theorised that's why they were here. "and before we forget Lusari could you set up the beacon for the escape shuttle" Lusari nodded getting out a contraption Terri didn't recognise, she knew they would make a quick escape but had never really got how. She supposed it was the quickest way available, she just hoped the mercenaries ships were well equipped to deal with force users.
Lusari finished unfolding the beacon and flipped a switch "there we go they should've received the ping and i can message them when we are ready to escape" Lusari walked back over to them with a smile
the Lady seemed to pause in thought for a moment before she spoke up "I would advise Terri handles that side of things you may be too busy with the ritual" Lusari nodded with looking very serious for a moment and passed the comm to Terri, that probably would be more efficient all Terri would be doing is lookout duty and maybe slowing down the commander. Terri wasn't sure if either duty was less busy but one was definitely more important to their plan. The Lady turned to look at the lake "I'm sure by now you've noticed the stepping stones" Terri had wondered about them, they looked a bit precarious she'd have to look down when crossing
Lusari tilted her head looking at the stones "I had wondered about that are you sure there's no other way to cross" Lusi could probably think up some clever scheme
The Lady continued "I doubt it I believe it was built like this very purposefully the water is almost definitely unsafe and it's extremely difficult to fly that close to the temple" Terri smiled to herself, the audacity of some sith to build such monuments how was it possible they were that far up their own butts, she let a small giggle by accident trying to hide it with her hand.
Lusari gave her a quick smirk before she started walkimg towards the first stone "well no time like the present" she bent her knees and jumped to the first stone. Looking back to them with her head held high "huh these things ain't that far apart actually" she gestured for them to come forward, The Lady slowly floated towards her but Terri looked at the floor for a second she'd never been that acrobatic and didn't want to embarrass herself. Come on you can do it she told herself, she summed up her courage, bent her knees and jumped to the stone next to Lusari's wobbling a bit but none the less finding her footing
"huh you're right easy" Terri said with a smile keeping her eyes firmly on the stones
"alright let's do this one at a time" Lusari steadied herself as Terri nodded back. Lusari went for another jump and crossed a few at once with impressive strides as she reached the last however she began to teeter on the edge looking like she was about to fall in. Terri put up her hand and reached out with the force pulling her back from falling, Lusari turned around and awkwardly mouthed the word "thanks" to her. They continued to jump from stone to stone and after about ten minutes were reaching the mid-way point at which point the stones began to open up with multiple routes
"hey look an easy bit" Terri chirped as Lusari jumped to the right stone. They could probably make some good time if she took the other route, she jumped to the left stone and tuned to see where the next one was. As she did she felt a shift beneath her feet and the stone began to sink, oh no it was sinking fast she had to jump somewhere quick hopefully Lusari had moved from the stone she was on. She jumped to the right stone but as she jumped saw Lusari was still there, oh no she was gonna knock her off as he feet landed on it however she felt herself caught by Lusari who instinctively grabbed her and after a small wobble they were both balanced on the stone.
It was pretty cramped but they were both ok "woah hold your horses Terri I'm still here" she could feel Lusari's breath on her face as they held each other to avoid falling
Terri's face went a deep shade of dark green "sorry my stone kinda sunk" this was so awkward why couldn't she just have waited
Lusari smiled at her "oh ok that makes more sense, at least i caught you" Terri couldn't make eye contact she was so embarrassed. Lusari moved in and whispered "by the way I totally agree" Terri looked at her confused
"huh what do you mean" Terri wobbled back a bit but Lusari caught her back phew that was close, Terri held Lusari's shoulders trying to steady herself
Lusari grinned and whispered "these sith lords egos must weigh their heads down right"
Terri couldn't help but snort with laughter "Lusi stoop you're gonna make me fall in" Lusari smirked as she began shimmying around the stone
"well that's payback for nearly making me fall in Terr" Terri grinned that seemed fair, Lusari looked towards the next stone and steadied Terri
"Ok I'm gonna jump now make sure not to fall alright" Terri nodded tensing up ready to balance herself. Lusari jumped and Terri wobbled waving her arms before feeling a force pushing her back on to the stone
the holocron passed by as the Lady said "you're welcome, I couldn't bare to watch that any longer" Terri looked away embarrassed and played with her hair, she just wasn't very dexterous that's all. They continued to jump from stone to stone now wary that some would sink and eventually they made it to the island and the temple entrance
Lusari sat down as she stared at the temple "oh my god I can't even imagine doing that again" Terri definitely agreed sitting down next to her breathing heavily, talk about a workout
The Lady floated in front of them and spoke up "well hopefully once the ritual is complete you wont have to" what a relief that was stressful enough
Lusari lay on her back for a second "are you excited for it to be complete my Lady"
"oh yes my dear I cannot wait to feel a breeze on my face again It's been far too long" Terri knew it she had a hunch they were restoring her physical from but was never completely sure.
"well trust me you wouldn't enjoy how tired we are right now" Lusari had a point they'd been up for nearly a day there was defiantly upsides and downsides
"quite" The lady turned back to the temple "time is of the essence lets go" Lusari and Terri nodded and they headed towards the entrance
As they entered the temple Terri could see it was made out of a black shiny substance possibly obsidian or some form of darker marble, it seemed studded with a type of gem Terri wished she had her geology guide to identify them but whatever they were they seemed rare. The walls were etched with ancient sith language, she didn't know too much of it but the gist seemed to be protective rites on the temple. Terri was surprised however when they entered the main chamber and there were no side passages
She looked around the large circular chamber "is this it?" she had expected a maze of tunnels they'd have to trekk through
The Lady sighed as she said "for what we're doing here yes but if you want to get lost in the catacombs searching for Exar Kun be my guest" Terri pursed her lips, yeah that was fair she should've guessed
"do we perform the ritual here or somewhere else" Terri wanted to make sure to cover all bases she could
Lusari turned to Terri a calm look in her eyes "here should do" she paused looking away for a second "this ritual is gonna be quite different to the previous two" Terri tilted her head she guessed that made sense
"different how" Terri wasn't trying to pry she just wanted to be sure
Lusari looked away which seemed odd to Terri "well it's gonna be a lot longer and it's uh" she paused taking a deep breath
Terri held her hand "go ahead tell me I can take it" she wasn't sure about that but they'd come this far they had to try
"it's gonna hurt me" Terri gasped blinking in shock "The Lady says that this ritual is extremely powerful so some excess force energy will uh divert into me, it's gonna hurt a lot but it's necessary and I've made my peace with it" Terri looked at the floor for a second
"ok just uh promise you'll be ok" she tried to keep her cool, she knew this wasn't gonna be easy, but she just couldn't help worrying
Lusari held up her pinky finger with a smile "pinky promise" Terri took her pinky and pulled Lusari in for a hug holding her tightly
"I'm holding you to that" she said feeling a wetness around her eyes. They held each other in the hug for a few seconds before letting go, Terri wiped her eyes and composed herself "I'm uh gonna go check the perimeter you be careful" Terri turned to leave
Before she did she heard the Lady's voice call out "don't worry Terri I'll look after Lusari" that was at least reassuring…