There are multiple updates today, so don't forget to check the chapter numbers :)

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Chapter Seven: The Sildar

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"…And yes, I know I was being ridiculous, but when I saw her there with Zekk I just wanted to rip her pretty head off. Because I knew she wanted him, and if you could have seen her—Perdita's like a model! And Onyx had a whole harem of women to cater to his every whim, and…so, you know…" Jaina trailed off and looked at Sanar with a mix of embarrassment, anger and a plea for understanding.

"Wow, so you're human, Solo," Sanar dryly retorted. It was the day after Jaina's date with Zekk, and Sanar had asked Kyp and Zekk to come over to talk about something. Until the men arrived, however, the women were chatting about the "Perdita problem".

"What did you expect?" Sanar continued. "That pretty girls would throw themselves at Zekk, but you would never care because you're so secure about everything, even when you're just twenty-four? Your teen years weren't that long ago."

"But it's annoying!" Jaina pouted. "I don't like being jealous. And I hate being irrationally jealous."

Sanar decided to take pity on the younger woman. "Look, you're human. You're going to get jealous, just like Zekk will when he sees you with other guys. Get used to it, because… I mean, come on. You and Zekk are heroes; your kind doesn't do happily-ever-after-until-the-ugly-break-up. So you'll be married for a long, long time, and have an unbearable amount of kids and grandkids that I'll get sucked into baby-sitting. And you'll have more oh-remember-when stories than you know what to do with."

"I know. I'm being…stupid." Jaina laughed wryly. "I know. But I still don't like Perdita."

"Jaina. Zekk loves you as much as you do him. And shouldn't it tell you something that even Onyx was obsessed with you? You don't have anything to worry about, no matter how human it is to get jealous."

The Jedi took a deep breath, releasing it shakily. "Thanks. It's probably just worrying about his sentencing…I mean, how long can it take for the jury to decide? It's so…frustrating."

"Yeah, yeah," Sanar muttered, her monthly amount of sympathy officially out now that Jaina's insecurity complex had been dealt with. "Look, it'll be over, it'll be done with, and then you'll just live with it. That's how life works, Solo."

"Oh, from the sage mind of my collected, mature and settled elder," Jaina mocked. "Your wisdom inspires epiphanies."

"Well, duh." Sanar looked mildly insulted. "What did you expect? Muddled thought patterns because of a nightmare adolescence, and no coping aids from a shrink? You know me better than that, Solo."

"Of course she does," Zekk said, causing the women to jump.

"Lafit, Zekk," Sanar snapped. "Where'd you come from?"

"Ennth," Zekk retorted easily. "Hey, Jay."

Jaina beamed and accepted his kiss even as he ventured further into Sanar's room.

Off Sanar's scowl, Zekk said, "The door was unlocked, and since I'm expected, I wandered in when no one answered my knock."

"How much did you hear?" Sanar asked, glaring pointedly at Jaina, whose eyes immediately widened in understanding.

"Just the last part," Zekk answered obliviously, with a shrug. "Hey, I was there when Jaina went through the Sanar stuff. It wasn't just girl talk anymore."

"You still could have knocked," Sanar told him loftily. "It's my room."

Jaina refrained from snarking something about Sanar's very brief infatuation (obsession) with Onyx.

"Is Durron with you?" Sanar grumbled as she stood.

Taking her hint, Zekk exited Sanar's bedchamber. Jaina and Sanar followed him. "We didn't come together, but he probably… Yep, there he is."

"Great," Sanar said flatly, eyeing Kyp with disdain. "You're late."

"Just by a minute," the Jedi Master pointed out, not taking offence. "Hey, Jaina. You okay?"

Sanar looked back, frowning when she realized that Jaina had frozen in the hallway, and was staring at Kyp. "What the hell is that?" the Solo daughter rasped, face pale.

"What's what?"

Jaina took a stumbling step backwards. "That—that—can't you feel it? It's…crawling up my skin…" She shivered, tucking into herself and against the wall.

Zekk crossed the room carefully, as if he thought he and his oh-so-horrible inner demons were the cause of Jaina's terror. When she made no move to shriek and scuttle further from him, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Jay? What's wrong?"

Jaina gulped, her eyes still fixed on Kyp. "You don't feel it?" she asked almost meekly.

"C'mon, Solo, what's with the spaz?" Sanar demanded, hiding her own portions of concern and confusion. "Are you trying to escape the horrible trials of being young and pretty by being sent to the psycho ward? Because you'll still have to pay your share of the rent."

"It's the Sildar," Kyp stated, his green eyes scrutinizing Jaina carefully. "She can feel the death on it."

"And hellfire," Jaina gasped, finally finding a mild description, "and vengeance, and judgement, and…" She shuddered visibly, but suddenly straightened, and threw Kyp a stunned look. "Did you say the Sildar?"

Zekk pulled Jaina back into the living room. She refused to go beyond the couch, though, as it kept three feet between her and Kyp. "What'd I miss?" the younger man asked. "Should 'the Sildar' mean anything to me? Because I'm drawing a blank."

Kyp stepped back a few paces, giving Jaina the room to collapse onto the couch. "I didn't think it would affect—" he began to apologize.

Jaina shook her head, beginning to regain her composure. "No…no, you couldn't know. I—I'll be fine…I think…just have to get used to it." She smiled weakly.

"Why does it—whatever it is—affect you, Jaina, and no one else?" Zekk demanded, becoming increasingly frustrated as the others ignored his questions.

"Because she died," Sanar answered, the duh left unspoken but still heard. "Obviously, she's more sensitive to it. Durron, you idiot."

"Sanar, it's fine," Jaina insisted kindly. "Don't take it out on Kyp—the two of you have enough issues without adding me to the mix."

"But, Solo," Sanar whined. "He's the Kavishka. He should know this!"

"Kyp is the Kavishka?" Jaina's eyes widened before she giggled. "Talk about irony."

"Hey," Kyp said, taking offence. "I'll have you know I—"

"Oh, come on, Kyp," Jaina said around a snort. "Sanar's been in love with the Kavishka for years—even I got a bit of that, it was so ingrained in her. And then it turns out that you are the Kavishka? It's like, the biggest universal joke ever."

"Guys," Zekk started, only to be interrupted.

"Don't rub it in, Solo," Sanar groused. "And I wasn't in love with the Kavishka! It was just…infantile hero worship. If I had known who this so-called 'hero' was…"

"Guys, shut up!" Zekk demanded, surprising the others into silence. "Just…stop. Obviously, I've been left out on a major explanation, so the three of you can just cut out the arguments and inside jokes until I am on semi-equal ground. Got it?"

Sanar, Jaina and Kyp stared at him almost as if had grown another head.

"Alright," Zekk continued in a more subdued voice, and flushing a little. "First of all, what is a silger, and why does it affect Jaina?"

"The Sildar," Kyp corrected pointedly, "is a…magical sword, you could say."

"It can only be used by one person," Jaina added.

"The Kavishka," Sanar inserted.

"Right. Everyone else who even touches it…" Jaina stopped and eyed Kyp warily. "Well, it isn't pretty. A death blow is bad; the blade is malevolent, living vengeance. You can feel it burn your soul away—or so the story goes. But if you get cut by it, the wound festers and grows until you're stark raving mad, covered in boils, and then dead.

"Maybe it's worse, though, if you try to wield the Sildar." Jaina paused, worrying her lip. "I don't—I don't know exactly what happens…but, it isn't…pretty. At all."

"No," Kyp agreed, "it isn't."

"Alright," Zekk said with a firm nod. "No handling of Kyp's sword. Got it."

"That could be taken so wrong," Sanar mused out loud, just to scandalize the others.

Jaina clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. "Sanar!"

"What? Like you weren't thinking it, too."

"If I was, it was all you," Jaina retorted primly.

"You just keep telling yourself that," Sanar said, the devil's knowing in her eyes.

"Guys, focus," Zekk interrupted impatiently. "Save the…mockery stuff until later."

Jaina made a face at him. "But it's so much fun." When he rolled his eyes, she stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, fine."

Kyp picked up the explanation again, starting with Zekk's earlier question. "Like I said earlier, Jaina is affected by the Sildar because she knows death intimately, and so she is far more sensitive to what the Sildar stands for." He took another apologetic step away from Jaina.

"Alright. And…the Kavishka?"

Both Jaina and Kyp looked to Sanar for this explanation; she knew the story better than anyone. "Devnos…" Her voice broke. "It was a story my brother wrote, when we were younger. M—Much younger. I was…seven? Maybe eight. Or maybe younger. I can't really remember not knowing about him. But the point is, Devnos was always making up—I thought—these stories, for me and Clayra. For me, especially." Her eyes shuttered to the others (except for Jaina, who would always know), but then she refocused.

"Sorry." She sniffled a little, then forced herself to sound businesslike, and brushed off Jaina's move to comfort her. "I always thought they were just stories. I mean, I loved them, and I loved Devnos even more, but…I had always been the family seer, so I didn't even… Just before Dev—he—died…" Sanar cleared her throat. "He told me that they were real. Prophecies."

Jaina and Zekk shared a look; they had stumbled upon the beginning of their own prophecy in a collection of Devnos' stories.

"I don't even know if I believed him, then." She snorted. "But Devnos said…that the Kavishka story—my favourite one—was going to come true. And that…I…had a part in it."

"Which part?" Jaina couldn't help but ask, her eagerness easily visible to all.

"Larifx if I know," Sanar said impatiently. "Maybe being around to help bring Durron back?"

Jaina's forehead crinkled in thought, but she didn't speak further on the matter. "Okay, go on. What then? I'm guessing I missed something big when we did the Kip-Kyp switch."

"It was after," Sanar explained. "You left to get him a drink of water or something, remember? I stayed behind, because Devnos said that…that I had to do what you asked—be there when you brought Durron back. Plus, I figured I might get a chance to beat him up before you got back…"

Zekk laughed; after a moment, his grin became wry as he recalled what had actually happened.

"Obviously, you didn't," Jaina prompted, causing Kyp to look away uncomfortably.

"No. Things got a little too…strange before I could," Sanar replied, rolling her eyes. "See, Durron started flopping around like a fish on land—nearly knocked over the lamp—so I went to find out what was going on. Except he—he…he kissed me!" Sanar's face was the portrait of righteous indignation.

Jaina's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "He…what?" she asked weakly, trying to find one emotion to settle on.

"He opened his eyes, stopped flopping for a second, then practically mauled my mouth!"

The younger woman stared at Sanar for a moment, managed to gape at Kyp for another, then burst out into gales of laughter. Despite Sanar's unappreciative glare, Jaina's attack of giggles caused her to fall right off the couch in helpless spasms.

"It isn't funny!" Sanar snapped. "I'm still traumatized! Do you know what it's like, having to wash Durron germs off my mouth?"

Apparently, Jaina didn't sympathize. Her laughter only became more desperate, until she was shaking almost too hard to make any sound.

"Jay, you're turning blue," Zekk offered, looking rather amused himself. When he knew that she had found a way to re-accommodate breathing, he turned to the others with a smirk. "This might take a bit."

"Lafit, this isn't funny," Sanar seethed. "It was… Ugh! Why the hell did you do it, anyway?" she demanded Durron. "Did you think I needed to remember that kind of thing?"

Kyp wasn't quite able to hide his flinch. "I'm sorry," he muttered, still not looking at her.

Finally, Jaina seemed to come down from her giggles, though her face looked as if it would be red for some time. "Oh, be nice, Sanar." Her expression was wiped blank for a moment. "He didn't mean to," she added, more subdued. Again, with her pensive face.

"Whatever. He kissed me. And now that I've said it, I'll go back to repressing, thank you very much."

Slowly, Jaina picked herself up from the floor. She studied Sanar briefly, then grinned slyly. "You do that." Casting a knowing glance at Kyp, she finished, "But we were explaining the Kavishka to Zekk."

"Right," Sanar agreed with a sigh. "Well, after I pushed Durron off, the boys apparently got testosterone poisoning, because they started chasing each other around."

"He tried to kill me," Zekk said plaintively.

"He just came back from the dead," Jaina returned wryly. "Ooh, what a threat to your physical well-being."

"Durron is the Kavishka," Sanar spoke, sounding as if she could barely believe she was saying this. "Death is a much easier friend to such a person."

"Because he has to deal with the Sildar," Zekk finished, beginning to catch on.

"Right. There's some kind of…criteria, for being the Kavishka. Only one person—at a time—fits it perfectly, so only one person can wield the Sildar. I don't know—"

"Death on three counts," Kyp interrupted flatly. "Knowing that you have been the cause of much death…to understand, and be able to handle, the Sildar. Power. A personal stake in the fight… There are others, but those are the only ones I know, really."

"'A personal stake in the fight'?" Sanar repeated, more curious than disdainful, for once. "You don't have a personal reason for this. Other than the fact that I'll kill you if you could help my planet, but didn't."

"Maybe that's it, then," Kyp replied carefully.

To save her friend from some uncomfortable questions, Jaina hurried the conversation along. "What happened after Kyp chased Zekk out of the room? Or…what happened when you figured out Kyp was the Kavishka?"

"It was then," Sanar confirmed, looking more uncertain and sounding a little strangled. "On—on the bed…right by where Durron had been lying… It was the Sildar." She shrugged helplessly, her eyes connecting with Jaina's.

"Hellfire," Jaina breathed, leaning against the couch for support. "So Kyp—Kyp—is in a kid's book, a book written by Devnos…and Kyp kissed Sanar. Think I got everything." She smiled gleefully, but then her expression dimmed. "Where is it, Kyp?"

He looked at her briefly, as if gauging her preparation, before nodding. Slowly, he unpinned one shoulder of his cloak, then reached behind him to spring a leather-encased sword, which had rested against his back. It was as safe from others' touch as possible. Jaina stiffened and half-rose, but Kyp ignored her, setting the Sildar on the low caf-table just a foot away from her.

The Sildar's blade was wrapped in thick leather several times; only the hilt was visible, but even that looked deadly. At the crown, the steel flared a little in an engraving of a dragon-like beast's face, with blood red rubies for eyes. Underneath the gleaming steel, the table looked every bit as dull and lifeless as it was.

Slowly, Kyp removed the leather swaddling, revealing a long, thick steel blade. Faintly encrusted, but bold as if it the words were painted in red, was the word "JUSTICE".

The other side, Jaina mind-whispered to Zekk, says "VENGEANCE". Naturally. She then fully rose to her feet, and moved back onto the couch, torn between burrowing into the cushions, and hovering over the vengeance-creation in awe.

Sanar moved close, muttering, "I still can hardly believe I'm seeing this."

Being the most detached, Zekk was the first to recover. Although his eyes never strayed from the Sildar, he quietly asked, "Why did you wait so long to tell us? And why tell us now?"

"Because," Kyp replied, "it was never time."

"And now it is?" Jaina asked throatily, face carefully impassive.

"Yes." Kyp's expression was hard. "It's time."

"To do…?" Zekk was the only one who didn't know.

"To take back Na'Lein'yhpaon from Pucijir's Order," Sanar answered flatly. "Seven hundred seventy-six years is a long enough reign, don't you think?"

"Seven-seven-six," Jaina mused, drawing a sharp look from Sanar. "Funny. Isn't seven supposed to be a holy number or something for them?"

"It is," Sanar spat. Her eyes were almost black, although her anger was not with her sister.

Jaina rubbed her temples, trying to make sense of an idea that couldn't get through the Sildar's interference. "Seven hundred seventy-six," she muttered wearily, leaning back into the couch.

"Nichyn being sent here…my nightmares… Everything says it's time to go," Sanar stated grimly, having dismissed Jaina's confusion. "We're leaving within two weeks."

"Great," Zekk said, taking in the fervour within Kyp and Sanar's eyes. "But, just to be practical… What about your nephew?"

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Please R&R!

.Tjz