AND WHO ARE YOU? THE PROUD LORD SAID

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Dalla chapter to bring you the man behind the mayhem: Sanjay Rash, and his prisoner Kason Blackwell. - LS

...

According to the record he's kept on a piece of flimsi, Kason Blackwell has played sixty-three games of Dejarik with King Ramsis Dendup. For the first ten or so he was on his toes, watching the king's pieces like a Chirn watches its prey. But as time goes on, the games start to blend into one: they set up their pieces, the king plays a slow and patient game, Kason wiggles around the board like a fish chased by a Brylk, and the king trounces him every time.

The excitement of hanging out with the king is also pretty nonexistent. Kason's emotions since that general discovered he'd stowed away have run the gamut from fear, confusion, and rage. But it was interrupted by a few minutes of excitement as he, a little starstruck, realized he was talking to the king their family still proclaimed. After Rash threw him into the prison chambers fuming and red in the face from embarrassment, King Dendup cautiously approached him, offered him half a ration bar he'd been saving, and put an arm around Kason's shoulders to escort him in.

The king clears his throat, snapping Kason out of his reverie. "Your move, young man."

"Right," Kason goes back to his pieces and makes a quick move that'll hopefully delay his inevitable defeat.

Dendup stares at the board to deliberate. "Do you play dejarik often, Kason?"

Only here where there's nothing else to do. "We like other games better in the Hold."

"I suppose the young wouldn't play it as much," Dendup rests his finger over one of the buttons to move his pieces. "It's a timeless game, but it seems older people like it better."

Uncle Marlon and Kason's father play dejarik all the time, so he guesses it's true. It's not his favorite, but anything's better than just sitting here. Dendup makes his move and eliminates one of Kason's pieces.

"I'm going to lose," he grumbles under his breath.

Dendup shakes his head. "I see a few ways out of your situation."

Well Kason would sure like to know those, and a way out of this palace as well. The last time he was outside was when the droids, Sanjay Rash, and General Liarface escorted him into the palace. Rash was spewing what Kason now knows are lies: We'll discuss the match, you'll be my honored guest, I'll consider releasing your family from the arrangement.

They might not have been lies if Kason hadn't tackled Rash in front of the holotable and beaten him up, but he doesn't like to think that. He prefers to think about the look on Rash's face when Kason screamed "No way am I your stepson, not after what you did to my mom!" and descended on him in a flurry of fists.

Dendup notices. "Young man, you can't keep thinking about that over and over."

"I'm not." I'm just reliving the sweet shock on Rash's face. "Sorry. Is it my turn?"

"No," his opponent replies and goes back to the board. "I'm only concerned over the amount of time you spend in your head. It can't be healthy."

Depends on your idea of healthy. Kason thinks getting out of the palace would sure be healthy. Instead he goes back to the game and tries to focus on getting away from the king's pieces.

Dendup's about to beat him one more time when the door opens and Sanjay Rash enters, flanked by two MagnaGuards.

Dendup gets to his feet and puts himself between Rash and Kason, the game forgotten. "What now?"

Rash ignores his predecessor. "Kason Blackwell, come with us."

"No way!" Kason crosses his arms. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

"He's a boy!" Dendup protests. "The king of Onderon doesn't torture boys."

"The king can do as he likes," Rash raps out, and then his voice softens as he turns to Kason. "But that's not going to happen. We're going to walk and talk."

The MagnaGuards move to surround him and Kason shakily rises, not wanting to end up on the wrong end of their electric staffs.

Dendup glares at Rash while Kason shuffles over to him, guided by the staffs. "I never thought you would slither so low."

"I wouldn't," Rash agrees and leads the way out of the chamber with Kason at his side.

As soon as the door shuts Kason glares at Rash. "What do you want now? Adoption proceedings?"

Rash glares right back. "This is a civil conversation and I expect you respect it as such. We're here to discuss your role in my upcoming wedding."

"I'm not doing anything at your wedding," Kason spits. "It's not even a real wedding."

"It's a matter of politics. Once Lana and I are married -."

"You mean Dalla?" Kason jumps on the mistake. "You want to marry her and you don't even know her name?"

Sanjay grits his teeth. "Once Dalla and I are married, Onderon will stand united and can end the terrorist threat. There will be peace again while the Separatists help us to keep order. And I promise you your cousin will come around after she's been here a while. My own mother came from the north, and she was much happier here in Iziz. Dalla will be just fine here. She is to be my wife, and I'll treat her well."

"So you say. My mom says you hurt her when you were married," Kason argues.

Sanjay stops them short and tilts the boy's chin to force him to look into his eyes. "I never meant to hurt your mother. If she had done what was required of her, if she hadn't run away, there wouldn't have been an issue."

Kason pulls back. "She had to run away because you hurt her!"

"I wanted to give her all this," Sanjay gestures to the palace walls. "I wanted to make her a queen. And you -," he corrects himself, "my son would have had, will have all of this, a kingdom to rule after me."

Kason doesn't miss the misstep. "I like my dad's ships better, thanks."

"Your dad," Sanjay sneers. "What did your father ever give her?"

"Well me, for starters." He ticks the others off on his fingers. "And my brother, and my other brother, and my other brother, and my sister!"

Sanjay's face turns red as one of the banners he loves so well. "You would do well to remember that I am your king!"

"You sit upon a throne of lies."

"Young man, watch your mouth!"

"Or what?" Kason has to try not to puff up like a balloon for finally pulling one over on Rash. "I'm not scared. If you don't keep me around, Dalla's got a way out of the marriage."

There's harsh silence between the two of them until Sanjay speaks up: "I only need one family witness. I can always choose another. Your brothers, how old are they?"

Oh salt gods, what have I done?

Kason scrambles for a recovery. "If you think I'm going to be trouble at the wedding, they'd be worse."

Sanjay refuses to give that a response, which doesn't sit well with Kason. He searches the room for something, anything that could take Sanjay's mind off his siblings. Random gold thing, no. Painting of fruit, no. Bowl of fruit, heck - hey, what's that?

A black-and-white portrait of a beautiful young woman with wild curly hair hangs on the wall in a simple gilded frame. She gazes into the distance, looking stiff and a little sad too.

"Who's that?" he asks, a question more of curiosity than the coming verbal barb. "Someone else you couldn't get to stick around? Did she leave you just like my mom did?"

Sanjay follows Kason's point and his face darkens. Kason gets the feeling he's done his job too well.

"Uh, I'm sorry," he says but can't take his eyes off the woman's portrait. There's something about her that's magnetic, something that makes Kason want to know who she was and what she did with her life.

"She was a princess," Sanjay says after swallowing hard. "A princess none can hold a candle to if they had all the lights in the galaxy."

Was? Despite everything he's heard about curiosity killing the tooka, Kason can't help himself. "What happened to her?"

Sanjay's frown deepens and his eyes drop from the portrait and the subject all at once.

There's a long silence.

"The wedding will be held at the end of next week," he says through gritted teeth. "You will stand as a witness. You will say nothing. You will do nothing. You will simply be there in order to ensure the marriage's validity. Two battle droids will flank you at all times to ensure your security. Do you understand?"

Kason has no intention of taking this sitting down. If the MagnaGuards and the portrait princess' calming gaze weren't there he might have tried to tackle Sanjay a second time, but he holds back. "You're not getting your wedding."

Sanjay refuses to look at him again.

"Take him back to his prison," he orders the MagnaGuards, turning his gaze back up to the princess. "I have personal matters to attend to."

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