AN: Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers! I'm thankful for all of you! Your feedback and your enjoyment of this thing not only helps my writing, but keeps me doing it. You, my lovelies, are the greatest. Thank you.

Chapter 61: The First Loss

"You did what?!"

Dooku sat at his large desk, his elbows on the hard surface, his chin resting on his folded hands, and looking more morose than Obi-Wan had ever seen him. Kenobi had been leading a battle on Malastare when the Force screamed, the Dark Side as well as the light, and it had brought the Sith Lord to his knees in agony. For a moment, he had thought he had somehow been shot. Than he was shot, a plasma round tearing through his side and leaving him bleeding profusely in the dirt, the pain inflicted on his body and his mind wrecking his focus and forcing him to give into his rage. With the Dark Side fueling him, he cut a bloody trail through the army of Dug soldiers that opposed him, setting the three rancors upon them and commanding Cody to finish up. The Force was more than disturbed, it was...he didn't know what. The blood loss was making him hazy as well as powerful.

Kenobi had escaped to the Umbra, hand tightly gripping his bleeding wound as he punched coordinates into the navicomputer, leaning back in his seat as the ship flashed into hyperspace, and he reached into the Force. He tried to reach out for his Master, for Satine, but the waters were so stormy, so murky that even Kenobi could see very little. He'd be on Mandalore soon enough. All he needed to do was heal himself enough to keep himself alive until he got there, which was easy enough. Unconsciousness in the frantic, clawing arms of the Force made the trip go quickly, and when he came to, he frowned deeply when the planet in the viewport was lush, temperate Serenno, not Mandalore. He checked the coordinates he punched in earlier, only to find that he had unknowingly directed the ship toward Count Dooku's home, not Satine's. Groaning loudly, he put a bloody hand on the accelerator and headed toward the planet. The Force had clearly brought him here. It would be unwise not to heed it.

Which brought him to now, his hand upon the wound in his side and pacing back and forth before Dooku's desk. The wound had healed on the ship, but it had since reopened when a rush of power and tension gripped him. Blood was dripping freely on to Dooku's fine rugs and leaving a perfect red trail of the path that Kenobi was cutting back and forth before the large window. With a growl, Obi-Wan slammed his hands upon the desk, the noise making Dooku jump and blood from Kenobi's hand splattering across the Count's fine silk shirt.

"Tell me again, Dooku, because I must not have been listening."

"You were," the Count said, his usually grand, imperious voice a dull, flat monotone. "Asajj Ventress is dead."

"That isn't possible, she's too strong to just..." Kenobi's voice trailed off when Dooku looked at him with his dark brown eyes, and they were filled with...what? It wasn't regret, but the Count looked lost.

"As I said, our Master demanded it." He laughed, but it was hollow. "He believed I was training an apprentice to overthrow him. He said Ventress had become too powerful."

"And you just killed her?!"

"I pulled her support and ordered the dreadnaught she was on destroyed, yes. The droids confirmed that no life forms were detected after the explosion."

"Droids make mistakes!" Obi-Wan said quickly, a nervous, frantic laugh torn from his chest, and the jerking, random contractions of his stomach further tore the fragile new skin on his side, and blood dripped faster out of him. "She could have escaped, she could have left the area before-"

Dooku rolled his eyes in annoyance, and the other Sith ceased talking. "Come now, Lumis, the Force brought you to your knees over this, as is expected, given how close you two were. Now sit down before you bleed to death!"

Suddenly lightheaded, Obi-Wan did as he was told, slowly lowering himself into the chair opposite Dooku. Strangely, he wasn't angry with Dooku, didn't blame him for what he was ordered to do. Were their roles reversed, Obi-Wan was certain he would have done the same thing. This was why he had taken special care to make Satine important to Darth Sidious. "This can't be happening..." Kenobi muttered, swaying in the seat and his blood-slicked hand dropping from the bleeding injury. "Why would the Force care about Asajj Ventress, this doesn't make sense..."

"The Force cares because you care, Kenobi," Dooku said, his voice straining with effort as he rose from his seat and came around the desk. He grabbed Obi-Wan's arm and pulled the dazed man out of his seat and led him over to the couch, biting his lip as he looked upon it, than shook his head and brought the younger Sith to the long, elaborate dining table instead, using the Force to push the individually carved chairs to the side. "A Lord of the Sith brought to his knees because a nobody is dead. It's shameful. Take off your clothes, your injury needs to be treated."

Kenobi's shaking hands struggled to undo the clasp on his belt, which Dooku silently helped with when he saw the younger Sith was completely incapable. Obi-Wan managed to shrug his robes off his shoulders and pull his tunic over his head after that, and waved the Count off when he tried to help him up on to the table, gritting his teeth as he hoisted himself up on the smoothly polished wood and laid back and closed his eyes, weariness overcoming him. He was immediately jolted out of his restful state, golden eyes flying open when Dooku roughly jabbed the exposed muscle of the jagged, bleeding injury, his teeth clenched and hissing as he made to sit up in protest, but the Count's firm hand held him down.

"Don't sleep," Dooku calmly commanded. "I don't know if you'd wake up again."

"Sounds ideal for you." Dooku scoffed, looking away from Kenobi to watch a medical droid walk stiffly toward the table. "Why do you even care?"

"I don't," the Count said, his voice cold, but distant, as if he was thinking of something else. "But our Master wants you alive. And who am I to defy him..." For the briefest of moments, Dooku felt a terrible wrath within Obi-Wan, saw the rage and fury of the deepest reaches of the Dark Side brought on by pain and grief. Dooku had his own personal conflicts with young Kenobi, but he also recognized that he was powerful, and that power was growing greater with each passing day. He was an asset, even if he was a dangerous, unpredictable one to him, but to his friends...

Just before Dooku could give voice to his thoughts, Kenobi softly whispered, "You're upset too. About Ventress, it's not just me..."

"She was important to me," Dooku said slowly, watching the droid begin to work on the bleeding wound instead of looking at the other Sith's expressive golden eyes.

"As a tool," Kenobi sneered, and the Count shook his head.

"As an apprentice." Obi-Wan was silent for a long while, and Dooku held his breath as he watched the young Sith as he winced under the treatment he was receiving. The medical droid reached out toward Kenobi's neck with a needle, but the Count quickly caught it and shook his head. "Do not dull his senses," he growled in warning, and the droid's fixed face stared back at him.

"Sir, the pain will be extraordinary."

"That's what we want." Dooku paid the droid no further attention and ignored its worried mumbling, instead looking at Kenobi, pale and shaking, as the faintest smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Thank you..." he whispered, closing his eyes and breathing deep as the droid thrust a long, thick needle into the open wound, pain searing through him with such intensity that it brought the Dark Side to him in a sudden blaze of hatred and rage, and the stormy, unclear haze of the Force lifted, driven into focus when the Sith seized his loathing and held it close. A sudden rush of air filled his lungs, and Kenobi laughed as his senses sharpened, bringing him to full alertness. "Why," he began through clenched teeth, "would you tell me that Ventress was an apprentice. Are you trying to make me angry? Are you trying to make Sidious kill you as well?"

"Because I told you that I was responsible for Asajj Ventress' death, and I'm still alive," the Count said firmly.

"Our Master wants you alive. He was...very adamant about that the last time we met."

"Three months ago, you wouldn't have hesitated to kill me if I told you such, and Lord Sidious' wishes wouldn't have been able to save me. You would have endured whatever consequence he rained upon you with great satisfaction if it meant the death of the one who murdered your friend." Dooku looked at the Sith pointedly, a knowing smirk on his patrician features. "Something has changed in you."

"...maybe so." Kenobi frowned. "You and I both knew Asajj wasn't cut out for the life of a Sith Lord! Why would you train her like that!"

"How else was I supposed to kill Darth Sidious?" Those golden eyes flashed in anger, and Dooku gave a long suffering sigh. "Oh, stop it, Lumis, you have just made an empire out of a collection of pacifists. You cannot tell me that killing our Master hasn't crossed your mind, or you are no Sith at all."

With a pained hiss, Obi-Wan sat up, much to the droid's protests. "It has..." he said slowly, measuring Dooku, but the Count was keeping his emotions tightly guarded. "But we have come to an arrangement. Our Master will protect my Empire in exchange for my first child."

"And you have agreed to this?" Dooku asked loudly, surprise on his face when the other Sith simply shrugged.

"It's a fair trade." The Count looked Kenobi over very carefully, feeling him through the Force, once so clouded and disturbed, but now sharp and clear with focus and rage. His friend Ventress was dead. A true Sith would not simply accept this. A true Sith wouldn't have accepted this deal, and a true Sith wouldn't have turned to his Master for protection, nor would a Master have offered it. Obi-Wan was lying.

"You cannot possibly mean to keep this from your Duchess," he tried carefully, and Kenobi shook his head and laughed.

"She knows all about it."

"And you mean to tell me that Satine is fine with giving up her child? I think you gravely underestimate her." Kenobi's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Dooku put his hands up, backing away from the topic. "I intended to use Ventress to help me kill Sidious. She was considerably powerful, and we could have done it, but you were always an obstacle." He frowned, observing Kenobi observing him, and found not rage, but interest. "Ventress would kill you. You wouldn't expect it from her, and without you, our Master could not stand against the two of us."

"And yet, you still killed her." It wasn't an accusation. Instead, Obi-Wan shifted uncomfortably, not just because of the droid tending his wound, but because of a sudden surging of the Force, one that Dooku felt, but could not interpret the way Obi-Wan could.

"I was not ready. She was not ready. I did not expect our Master to take notice of her so quickly. It was...unfortunate, but I had no choice. My loyalty was tested, and it was a test I could not fail."

Slowly, Obi-Wan nodded. "My plan isn't so well thought out as yours." When Dooku didn't say anything, Obi-Wan took a deep breath, pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts. "I was just going to kill him. You never figured into the picture, and you and I are his most dangerous allies. I'm certain I could kill you, if necessary, but I never saw the need. I'm not stronger than him yet, but I will be, and it needs to happen soon, because there is no way that he will have my child while I still draw breath."

"Is Satine-" Kenobi quickly waved off the question.

"Not yet, but I suspect she will be very soon. Sidious has taken a personal interest in her conceiving."

"That can't be good."

"I couldn't agree more."

Dooku looked the younger man over, watched the golden eyes occasionally dart swiftly away, his attention snapping elsewhere toward something that only he could see. "I know we do not often see eye to eye," the Count began slowly. "And we have detested each other since the day we met, but I believe a great deal of that is born from our Master. If we unite, we have a chance to end the cycle and destroy him. We can rule the galaxy together."

"No, I'm going to rule the galaxy with Satine." Kenobi leaned back and slowly stretched out his side, the droid stepping away as it finished its work. He'd need to rest for a few days, and there was a vicious scar upon his side, but it was no longer bleeding. "Besides, if we defeat him together, who would be the new Master? I certainly won't follow you, and you would never submit to me, and you know very well that I could kill you."

"Yes," Dooku mused. "But you won't."

"Oh, won't I."

Dooku shook his head. "What does it mean to be a Sith alone? With both me and Sidious dead, you would be the only one left."

"I can take an apprentice. This galaxy does not lack for those with dark ambitions."

"No, but this galaxy lacks for talent."

Kenobi growled. "Dooku, Sidious wants my child to train! I don't need to find an apprentice, I'll be producing my own."

"And you mean to rule a galaxy, raise a child, revive the Sith Empire, and take an apprentice when your progeny is old enough all alone?" Obi-Wan started to answer, than quickly bit his tongue and looked away. Dooku leaned against the table next to the man and crossed his arms across his chest. "You cannot do this alone. Even Sidious cannot do this alone. If he could, he wouldn't have you and me running about the galaxy for him."

"I...concede that you have a point. But the problem still stands. Which of us would be the Master?"

Dooku stroked his beard. "We could rule together. You are stronger than I am, but I have the political sway that you lack, and we will need both to be successful. Sidious has long discussed taking apart the Rule of Two. It worked while we were forced to live in the shadows, but as the lords of the galaxy, we will need a multitude to enforce our rule."

"Sidious and I discussed exactly that," Obi-Wan growled. "Why would I want to rule beside you when I could rule beside him?"

"I don't want to take your child from you."

"You have betrayed me before."

"And now," Dooku snarled, his dark brown eyes flashing yellow for the briefest of moments, "Master has commanded me to kill the apprentice that I worked so hard to train. He is responsible for what happened to Asajj, and don't think you are immune just because he has made a deal in your benefit. When your child is born, he will take it from you, and he will destroy everything you care about, because he will have what he wants, and when it suits him, he will kill you too."

Obi-Wan drummed his fingers on the table for a moment before he slid off to stand on his feet, wincing when his boots hit the hard floor. He breathed deeply, his side aching as his chest expanded, and he felt the Force, so turbulent, so disturbed, still screaming in its anguish. This was not because of the death of Asajj Ventress. This was something else, something far beyond a single person. It was possible that Sidious had accomplished something with her death, but he doubted it. Nothing had changed. The galaxy was still at war, and life still went on, even when millions of beings were dying each day. The Force didn't scream for Asajj Ventress. It screamed for something else. And still...

He couldn't shake the feeling that the two things were related, and deep within him, he didn't believe that Ventress was dead. If she was, he would have felt it, of this he was certain. No, the Force brought him here, to Serenno, to Dooku, despite their antagonistic relationship, despite their hatred for each other. If the Force did not want them united, than why.

"I don't want to fight our Master," Obi-Wan finally said. "You're right that we can take him together, but if he dies now, we jeopardize the Sith Imperative. Everything we have worked for, everything the Sith have been moving into place for a thousand years will be completely destroyed. We can't let ambition and revenge get in the way of the will of the Dark Side."

"I agree," the Count said slowly, watching as Kenobi picked up his discarded robes and frowned when he put his hand through the blood-soaked hole in the fine fabric. "But we are in agreement that our Master has outlived his usefulness when the Empire is born."

"Or very shortly thereafter, yes..." Kenobi said absently, tossing the robes to the side and sneering with disgust. "We can work out the details of it later. If we find that this new alliance of ours actually functions, well..." Obi-Wan shrugged, a small smile on his lips. "It's very possible that Sidious has kept us antagonistic toward each other just to keep such a union from happening."

"Ventress' death may be his final mistake."

"It may be. And while we're speaking truths, Dooku," Obi-Wan drawled, "there is something wrong in the Force. I don't know what it is, or why it has happened, but it lines up with Sidious commanding you to kill Asajj. That can't be coincidence."

Concern crossed Dooku's face as he listened, and he reached into the Force, deep within it, and felt...nothing. "I don't feel what you do, Kenobi."

"No, but our Master has always said my connection is uniquely deep. Trust me. I've no cause to deceive you, not now. Not when my future hinges on our ability to bring Darth Sidious down." Dooku stared at him for a long while, and Kenobi could feel him grasp at his mind to look for sincerity, and he recoiled quickly when he found it and nodded.

"I accept that what you say is the truth. But what is to be done about it?"

"I don't know. But we need to be cautious. Something...something's not right, and I'm willing to bet my clone army that Asajj Ventress isn't dead. I don't yet know what that means, but I really don't think it's going to be good for any of us."

Dooku scoffed. "We are both stronger than she ever was, or ever could be."

"Maybe so, but she's not the one that concerns me. It's the Nightsisters, it's Mother Talzin."

The Count laughed, cold and dismissive. "We have nothing to fear from Mother Talzin."

"I disagree. We don't understand her, we don't know her, but she knows us, and she has had personal dealings with all three Sith alive today. I think she's very dangerous, and we need to be cautious."

Dooku was silent for a moment as he thought, his swift mind running through everything that had happened, everything he knew about Obi-Wan, and his eyes narrowed as he came to a conclusion. "This is about your visions, isn't it? This is about Maul."

A shiver ran through the younger Sith Lord and his already pale skin whitened further, and Dooku knew he his the mark. "I-I don't know..." Obi-Wan whispered. "I think it might be, but I don't know..."

The Count's large hand came to rest on Kenobi's shoulder. "Rest tonight, Darth Lumis. We will have plenty of time to discuss this in the next few days."

Obi-Wan had long ago stopped brushing off his restless dreams as simply nightmares. The Jedi had often told him that dreams were often just dreams, and believing in them too much could lead him astray, and anyway, if Obi-Wan had been talented enough to sense the future, than the Masters would have felt that he had such a gift. The Jedi, as usual, knew nothing, and within the first month of his apprenticeship, Darth Sidious had pointed out how remarkable his gift was, how freely the Force flowed through him, how accurate his visions were, and they were visions, not the product of nightmares. So when he lay in the bed that had once been his in Dooku's palace, and dreams immediately swept him away, he paid rapt attention.

They flew by in a blur, so rapidly, so frantic that he woke in a cold sweat and was sent to vomiting out a window, and still the Force would not relent. It wasn't just disturbed, it was in a state of panic, and it seemed to feel the need to drag Obi-Wan through the turmoil with it, not showing him the cause, but bringing him visions of the result. With a growl of frustration, he threw himself back into bed, yelping in pain when his wrapped injury hit his fist, and the sudden jolt was enough to sharpen his focus long enough to see what the Force needed him to see.

Like always, there was the field of dead Jedi an the two standing among them, and he frowned deeply to see the Togruta still remained, despite Shaak Ti's capture and enslavement, both at his hands and at the hands of Cody, who had finally managed to break the Jedi to his advancements. She wasn't the one the Force had shown him. He'd have to keep looking. When it faded, it was replaced by another, one of a town burning to the ground as two Zabrak's with red lightsabers cut down the villagers. Quickly, the town became a city, than a planet, and as the planet was consumed in the inferno, the cruel, laughing face of Maul materialized out of smoke and flames.

It was new. New was good, but it was also unwelcome. New visions meant the course the Force flowed down had been altered, and Obi-Wan had liked the path it had cut, a path that ended in Sith galactic domination, with Satine at his side as Queen and mother to the Sith Lords of a mighty Empire. He saw none of that now, at least, not yet. He had pulled out of the vision when fury gripped him, the Dark Side raging against this change in direction, but also pulling at him in warning so insistent that Obi-Wan would have to be a fool to ignore it. This could yet be changed. All he needed to do was heed the Dark Side, be mindful of its warnings, and all would be well.

And yet, caution still pulled at him, the Force prodding him with an urgency he rarely felt, and Kenobi couldn't help but think of Ventress. Had she felt like this when she learned she was going to die? Did the Force reach out to save her, or had it left her just as Dooku had? Obi-Wan never felt fear in the flows of the Force, but poor Asajj must have. Everything she had ever known was gone in an instant, vanished into nothingness, and all because Darth Sidious had uttered two words: kill her. They had to be obeyed, there was no other choice, but Ventress would never understand that, just as Obi-Wan could never understand how his Jedi brothers had betrayed him so long ago.

He knew she was alive, now more than he did before, and the certainty of her survival left Obi-Wan more hollow than it would have if she had simply died. She had been betrayed by her family, by the Sith she served, and while betrayal was expected within the duplicitous embrace of the Dark Side, it did not make it any easier. Deep within him, he yearned to help her, to bring her back into the fold, to return her to her place in the Dark Side, but her path would be different now. No less dark, but now turned against the Sith that had betrayed her, a weapon of their own making turned against her creators. He couldn't help her. He was Sith, and there was only one thing to be done to enemies of the Order.

The tug of sympathy he felt for his lost friend quickly turned into trepidation, unclear and uncertain, but the pull in the Force was unmistakable in its alarming worry. Someone was here, or very, very close. Kenobi jumped out of bed once again and left the room, the skin of his bare chest prickling from the cold of the dark palace halls, and he instantly missed the warm embrace of volcanic Mustafar. He traveled silently, keeping to the shadows and reaching into the Force to feel for the disturbance he knew was there. His sharp ears picked up the whistling of the wind and the echo of the clanging footfalls of battle droids out in the courtyard and far below them in the palace dungeons, but the Force was still, save for the gentle rippling of tension upon its surface, but Obi-Wan could not yet see the cause.

Kenobi breathed deep and closed his eyes, sinking into the Force to recall the lessons that Shaak Ti revealed to him through the holocrons. He had been working diligently, and now, with clarity brought on by his heightened tension and the aching pain of his recovering wound, he grasped the lessons of concealment and gripped the Dark Side, wrapping himself within its dark comforts and, slowly, stepped back into the shadows, a breath of air and the muffled sounds of his own heart and the pulsing of the Force in his ears as he blended into the darkness. It wasn't a perfect concealment, but one day, he knew it would be. One day, Obi-Wan would walk the shadows, just as he was born to do, and not a single being would be able to distinguish him from the darkness that surrounded him.

A sharp tug in the Force drew his attention down the long hall, stark shadows cast by bright moonlight making the palace seem almost alive, and keeping to his concealment, Obi-Wan moved like a cast shadow on swift, silent feet toward Dooku's room. The closer he drew, the tighter the tension in the Force, and when he punched in the code to enter, the doors slid open to reveal the Count, staggering on his feet and clearly unwell, his lightsaber drawn and held out before him to ward off the three blue and green lightsabers that slowly drew closer to him. The hairs stood up on the back of Kenobi's neck, and he rubbed his eyes and looked again, squinting at the glowing blades. He knew someone had to be holding them, he felt the presence of the three intruders in the room, but both through his eyes and through the Force, they were nearly invisible, hazy and unclear and completely indistinguishable. He couldn't tell their height, their weight, their species, their gender, and the only thing he could see through the Force was their significant Force sensitivity and their hostility toward Dooku.

His hand flew to his belt to draw his own lightsaber, only to find that he had neglected to put his belt back on after Dooku's droid had treated him. He stood in the room, looking at the hazy, nearly invisible creatures, and he drew close, satisfaction racing through him when he saw that they couldn't see him at all in the dark. With a vicious snarl, Kenobi reached deep within the Force, drawing upon all the anger and rage and pain within him, and threw lightning through his extended hand at the intruders. One had sensed the violent change in the Force and had jumped gracefully away, and another managed to dive out of the onslaught just in time, but the third was not so lucky, caught in a barrage of the blue electricity so powerful that the illusion faded, revealing a woman dressed in red cloth armor, screaming as her nerves were set ablaze. With a wave of his hand, Obi-Wan threw the woman up toward the high ceiling, the body striking the hard, unyielding stone with a sickening thud, and Obi-Wan released his grip, catching her falling lightsaber as he dashed underneath to stand at Dooku's side.

The woman fell from the vaulted ceiling and was caught by the Force, one of her comrades reaching out and pulling the charred, smoking body toward the two survivors, an outraged scream echoing through the room upon discovering the woman was dead. Obi-Wan's golden eyes glowed in the low lighting as he cautiously observed the hazy, concealed figures of the other two Force sensitives, and he drew closer to Dooku, his hand resting on the other man's arm. "Are you alright?"

The Count shook his head. "They injected me with something, it has dulled my connection to the Force."

"How! How could they get so close!"

Dooku frowned. "The dart was self-propelling. And can even you sense them?"

"...not well."

The Count growled, gripping his lightsaber tighter, but keeping in a defensive posture and blinking his hazy eyes. "The Jedi have finally sent assassins."

"You believe they are Jedi?"

"I do."

Frowning, Kenobi looked over the weapon in his hand, gripped it tightly, flicked it on and the long, blue blade extending and casting a faint glow around them. "This weapon is of Jedi make, but a Jedi lightsaber can be held in anyone's hands. They don't feel like Jedi to me, Dooku, they don't even feel like a natural part of the Force. They're using the Dark Side, but it's...not like us."

"We can debate this after they are dead," Dooku growled, his red blade twisting in his hand as he slowly advanced with Kenobi at his side. The cloaked assailants launched themselves at the Sith Lords with a renewed vengeance, screeching their fury, and Obi-Wan could feel the Dark Side pulling and raging around them. They were fast, exceptionally agile and frightfully strong in the Force, augmenting their natural athleticism to make them move almost supernaturally, and they quickly targeted Dooku, a focused effort to attack the Count when he had been weakened. Whoever they were, they did all they could to put distance between themselves and Kenobi, as he was a more unpredictable, unknown element, and with swift flips and quick feints and dodges, they managed to keep Dooku between the themselves and the furious Obi-Wan.

He was becoming frustrated, and not being able to see these attackers was making fighting them exceptionally difficult, the mist that surrounded them concealing not just their movements, but their missteps and mistakes as well. Grabbing hold of the Force, Obi-Wan placed himself into its guiding hands and closed his eyes. His vision was misleading him, but the Force had never led him astray, and it was true now as well. With his vision no longer impeding his judgement, he relied on his senses to detect the assailants, and just as ever, the Force had not failed them. Through the dark, rippling waters, he could see their glowing green outline, sense the darkness they commanded, so unlike the darkness that rested within himself, and he opened himself to the Dark Side and became one with it.

Their speed no longer mattered. Obi-Wan could feel what they were going to do before they did it, and he moved to defend Dooku against the vicious assault, and despite his impediment, the Count was holding his own. Kenobi crouched down and used the Force to augment him as he jumped high over the other Sith, lashing out with his blade as he twisted in the air over the two lithe combatants, and landed behind them. He immediately drove himself between the two, narrowly side stepping as a green blade came sweeping down at him, so close he could feel the heat radiating off the plasma blade, and he spun, the sharp turn and the quick lashing out of his own blue blade cutting so dangerously close to the woman that she had to swiftly retreat to avoid it. It was enough, and Kenobi didn't waste a second to push his offense, the Jedi weapon in wicked hands cutting a fierce blue trail through the air as he forced the concealed creature back. Even diminished, Dooku could handle a single opponent. Leaving him was fine.

Kenobi didn't let up for a moment, the blue weapon slashing wide, vicious arcs through the air at such speeds that the light trail the weapon left in the air looked like ribbons, and it proved to be too much for the assailant as she was quickly overwhelmed. Upon feeling the intruder's grim resolve and acceptance that she was about to die, Kenobi smiled wickedly and reflexively opened his eyes for just a moment, and his senses were instantly scrambled, his eyes forcing him to look at the shimmering, vague mist where a person should have been, and the Force screaming against what was before him.

Quickly, he closed his eyes again, but a second was long enough for the woman to dart between his guard, the green blade angled at his chest, and he spun out of the way, his hand reaching out to swiftly grab the wrist that held the lightsaber. His rage fueled his strength, and the grip became crushing, the woman gasping in pain as Obi-Wan felt the fragile bones in her wrist shift and crack and fracture under the pressure of the Dark Side that strengthened the Sith. The lightsaber dropped uselessly to the ground as her wrist shattered, and Kenobi pulled her forward to send her sprawling to the ground, but a swift hand darted up to grab him behind the neck, the woman using him to catch herself. Before he could get his bearings, he was roughly jerked sideways, and his vision exploded in a flash of blinding light as pain tore through him when the woman's knee was brought with her full strength into the bandages on his side.

With intense pain came a fury so overwhelming, so pervasive, that a searing heat filled the Sith Lord, his golden eyes blazing as he dug his fingers into the woman's throat and pulled down so hard that Kenobi felt the wind pipe in her fragile neck snap. The woman jerked forward, her eyes widening as the Sith's blue lightsaber pierced right through her, and with a snarl of rage, Kenobi wrenched the weapon sideways, nearly bisecting the thin body, and with an upward strike, he severed the head from her pale gray shoulders. Obi-Wan looked over just in time to see Dooku upon his knees on the ground, his curved lightsaber hilt clear across the room, and his hands extended, holding the remaining intruder in the air as she was electrocuted. With a final surge of strength, he tore his hand through the air, sending the electrocuted woman crashing through the large window and falling down the cliffs below.

Obi-Wan ran to the window and threw it open, leaning out over the ledge and peering down into the darkness, reaching out with the Force to feel for the woman's presence, but he found none. Kenobi frowned. She could either be dead, or the vagueness given to her by her concealment could simply be preventing him from sensing her from a distance. Either way, she was gone. He stood up straight, eyes closed and breathing deeply, and he could feel thick, hot blood running in a steady stream down his leg. He laid a hand on his side, and felt the bandages to be completely saturated through. This day was shaping up to be one of his worst.

"Are you alright?" Kenobi asked, his voice a weak, thin shadow of his usual commanding presence, and he cleared his throat and swallowed hard. Dooku nodded, groaning as he rose to his feet, and he shuffled to the younger Sith, put a hand on his bare back, and led him to the bed. Kenobi sat upon it without complaint, and Dooku lowered himself next to him, taking the comlink from his belt and he lazily tapped a few buttons before tossing the thing to the side.

"I've called for the medical droid."

"I'm fine. It's just blood."

Dooku sighed. "For both of us."

"You're going to want to take a blood sample. We need to analyze whatever it is they used to poison you." Kenobi laughed harshly. "This is sort of pathetic, isn't it? We're the most powerful beings in the galaxy, and we're sitting on a bed waiting for medical attention. Sidious would never have accepted this."

"Even our Master was once an apprentice, Lumis. He faced setbacks worse than these, I'm sure."

Kenobi laughed, falling back onto the bed and grinning as Dooku cursed when he saw blood soaking into his fine threaded sheets. "What do you suppose they were?"

"We can check the bodies when we have been tended to, Kenobi."

"Humor me."

Without a beat, Dooku growled, "Jedi. Assassins, I don't know, but whoever they are, they are bold enough to attack me in my own home. I shall have to increase my security." He paused, waiting for Kenobi to answer, looking at him when he did not, and roughly shaking him when he found the bleeding man with his eyes closed. Kenobi didn't open his eyes, but he did hiss in pain and irritation, and Dooku breathed a sigh of relief. They had never liked each other, but after this, after they had fought together, not against one another, but as a team, Dooku could feel the dynamic between them shift. "And you, Kenobi?" he asked. "What do you believe they were."

Without thinking, without even considering any other options, Obi-Wan quietly hissed, "Nightsisters."