Last time: Cien's new robes made Sasha uneasy... or was it the presence/

Now: Sasha is having a tough time.

Chapter 20- Sasha's Outburst

Sasha entered the kitchen around lunch time to find Lana sitting in her high chair, covered in food, and slamming her hands down onto the food remains on her little high chair table, splashing it everywhere. Across the room, at the sink, stood RV with his back to the whole scene.

"RV, why is Lana wearing her food instead of eating it?" Sasha asked as she came over to her daughter, who immediately stopped as she approached.

"Mama!" Lana greeted happily as she waved at her with a messy hand.

RV turned to look at Sasha. "Oh, Mrs. Sasha. I wish I knew. One moment she was enjoying her food without any misbehaving and the next, well, she decided it would be funny to pelt me with it." He gestured to the food splotches on his chest plate that he was trying to wipe off with a rag.

"Did you tell her to stop?" Sasha asked as she started clearing off the dishware from the little table.

"Multiple times," RV said. "But she would not listen to me. And I am not programmed to deal out punishment. However, I am programmed to put little ones in timeout if the parents request it." He almost sounded like he was suggesting it.

Sasha shook her head. "That won't be necessary." She then looked to Lana. "Because we are never doing that again, right?" She asked her in a stern tone.

Lana curled in on herself and started to pout.

"No, Lana. Don't give me that look," Sasha said, keeping her gaze unwavering under the pressure of the adorable pout. "Do we throw food?"

"No," Lana said after a moment.

"Then why did you throw your food at RV?" Sasha asked.

"Dunno," Lana admitted, innocently.

"Will you do it again?"

Lana shook her head vigorously.

Sasha smirked. "Alright, then let's go give you a bath," she said as she started to get Lana out of her high chair. As soon as Lana was in her arms, Sasha turned to face the droid. "Can you handle clean up in here while I go clean her? It shouldn't take too long and I can come help you when I'm done."

"Of course I can handle it," RV said as he finished wiping off the rest of the food. "Trust me, I have dealt with worse from Master Ke'vaan and Master Oppie when they were her age. Even the same could be said about Miss Anna too."

Sasha smiled at that. "Glad to see it runs in the family."

"Yes, which means the twins should also be this way too," RV said as he walked over to the cabinet that had cleaning supplies in it. "I am so looking forward to it."

"I couldn't tell, was that sarcasm?" Sasha asked, jokingly.

"Partially," The droid answered.

Sasha chuckled. "Okay, thanks for doing this RV. Maybe when her bath is done, I could take you to the hangar and give you an oil bath if you'd like," she offered kindly.

"That is a very kind gesture, Mrs. Sasha," RV said looking at her. "But I did promise Mrs. Cien that I would help her with her speech for the conference."

"Her speech?" Sasha asked, quizzically. "I thought she was just invited to go and say maybe a few words at most."

"I believe she is preparing this in case she has to say more than a few words," RV commented simply.

"Ah, I guess it never hurts to be prepared," Sasha nodded. "But why is she asking you for help and not me or Kyr or anyone else?"

"It sounded like she wanted to practice on a… expressionless audience," RV replied.

"Got it," Sasha said understanding. "She's probably never had to talk in front of a crowd like this before. So it might be a little nerve wracking." She paused thinking about it for a moment as if she were in Cien's shoes and realized she too might be a little nervous to speak publicly. "Alright, that's a fair point. Well tell her good luck." She said as she started for the exit.

"I will," RV said as he started cleaning. "I admit it does sound rather exciting that Mrs. Cien is getting an opportunity such as this," he added, which caused Sasha to slow her stride. "To talk in front of a crowd about her life as a Sith."

"Is that what she is planning to talk about in her speech?" Sasha asked, with a bit of curiosity.

"According to her vague description to me yesterday, yes," RV said. "Her entire life as a Sith until she joined the family."

Sasha looked away at that. "I see." She said, subdued as she tried to shake the presence away.

"Pardon me noticing, but you do not seem excited for Mrs. Cien," RV observed,

Sasha shot the droid a hard look. "I am excited for her. Why would you say such a thing?" She snapped.

"I was just making an observation," RV said.

"Well I am happy for her. Thrilled in fact," Sasha said rather defensively. "I'm not upset by it, only excited. For this and everything she is getting to do."

"I never said you were upset," RV pointed out.

Sasha groaned. "Never mind. Just clean up the mess." She then stormed out of the kitchen with Lana to go give her a bath.

RV gave the equivalent of a shrug before continuing to clean.

After a few minutes, Viran entered the kitchen from the hangar where had been cleaning the X-Wings. They didn't really need a wash, but he wanted to get them ready for their upcoming paint test in a couple days. He looked at RV and the mess in confusion as he walked over to the fridge to grab some water.

"Hey RV, what happened here?" Viran asked.

"Miss Lana decided to throw her food around," RV explained. "But Mrs. Sasha just came and grabbed her to give her a bath. You just missed her storming out the door."

Viran blinked in bemused confusion. "Really? I'm guessing she was upset with Lana playing with her food instead of eating it?" He guessed as he grabbed a glass of water.

"Well she wasn't thrilled with it and did have a talk with Lana about it, but she was upset about Mrs. Cien's speech," RV stated.

"Wait, what?" Viran asked, confused. "What does that have to do with Lana?"

"Mrs. Sasha offered to give me an oil bath for cleaning up after Lana and I declined as I explained I was helping Mrs. Cien with her speech," RV told him. "She got rather defensive over how I observed her lack of excitement. She then went on about how she is excited for the speech and everything Mrs. Cien is getting to do. I admit it rather confused my circuits."

"Yeah, I bet," Viran said, distantly as he looked around confused. "You said she went to give Lana a bath?"

"Yes," RV replied.

Viran nodded. "Thanks RV." He said as he headed out the door, leaving his glass of water behind.

"You're welcome, but what did I do exactly?" the droid asked as Viran rushed off.

He got no response and again, shrugged, before returning to cleaning the mess.

Sasha sat on the stool beside the tub as she scrubbed Lana's brown hair with shampoo. The toddler was happily splashing and playing with her bath toys. Every little splash was getting Sasha wet, but she couldn't help but smile at her daughter having fun. But her mind was wandering back to her snapping at RV. She regretted using that tone with him, but she was actually excited for her sister and didn't like to be accused of otherwise. But she wished she knew why it seemed like almost every conversation she had either about and definitely with Cien was causing that presence to shroud Cien in a cloud of darkness. A cloud that she was sure that Cien didn't sense, otherwise she would have approached Sasha about it. To be fair, Sasha was having a difficult time approaching Cien about this presence as she felt uneasy every time she seemed to get closer. But Cien was her sister and nothing was going to stop her from being with her sister. She just wished she understood what was going on.

A moment later, a knock came from the bathroom door. Sasha could sense Viran on the other side.

"Enter," she called over her shoulder.

Viran came into the bathroom and immediately smiled at the display before him.

"How's it going? I heard Lana was trying a new style of clothing. Leftover pasta and beans?" Viran joked as he leaned against the counter top.

Sasha chuckled at that. "You heard correctly. I'm guessing you saw the mess and talked to RV?"

"Yeah, he told me about what happened," Viran said, his tone sounding more worried than happy like it was a second ago.

Sasha tried to hide a grimace as she continued to wash Lana's hair. "I see."

"Do you want to talk about Cien's speech thing?" Viran asked her.

"What is there to talk about? I am thrilled for her that she is getting this experience," Sasha said, keeping her gaze on Lana. That defensive tone was apparent.

"I heard, but are you sure there is nothing else you want to talk about?" He tried to prod her about it.

"No, not that I am aware of," Sasha said, dismissively.

Viran nodded, furrowing his brow. "Okay, well Kyr and I are washing the ships if you want to come help us," he offered, trying to change the subject.

"Thanks, but I was planning to organize the medical bay," Sasha said, glancing at him. "I realized the other day that there are things in the wrong spot and I want to get everything in order before the twins show up."

"We still have a few months until then. You've got time," he pointed out.

"I know, but I'd rather get it done now before I forget or before something else comes up," she said. She felt a weird pulse from the shadows' energy at that latter half of the statement.

"Okay, sounds good," Viran said, shrugging. "I guess I'll head back to the hangar. See you later?"

"Of course," she smiled at him.

Viran forced a smile as he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the lips. They held it for a second before he pulled away and tapped Lana's bubbly nose. He then headed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as he was gone, Sasha sighed and dropped her hands to her lap.

"What's wrong with me, Lana? Why is all this happening?" Sasha asked her daughter. "I should be happy for Cien and everything. But… I don't know. You're too young to understand anyway."

Lana just looked at her with her head cocked to the side as she chewed on a rubber bird toy. Sasha smiled sadly as she tapped her daughter's nose just like Viran did. But as she sat there, her smile faded thinking about what was actually wrong. Why she was feeling this presence. What this presence even was. Why it was making her feel this way towards Cien. Why Sasha's dreams were now being plagued by memories, traumatic or otherwise from before Cien joined the family, usually involving her. And why it felt so uncomfortable to try and bring this topic of conversation up with Cien. She knew that she could never tell Kyr that she was feeling uneasy towards his wife and they weren't going to see Oppie until Coruscant. A thought crossed her mind to call Op and discuss this all with him, but she didn't want to disrupt his mission. Viran was the only person she could talk to about this.

For now, Sasha wanted to see if she could figure out what the presence was that was spooking her on her own before she talked to Viran about it. The only thing she knew for sure was, unlike Lana and the twins, this one did not feel like another potential member of the Xiv clan. She had even taken a test to double check it and deleted it before anyone could see it. It had come up negative. This felt more unsettling and far more… dangerous.

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