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    Complete Out of the Shadows - 8.326

    She had been staring at the ceiling for most of the night, trying to sleep. There was too much going on in her head for that, however, and Lilaena just lay there, her eyes open, searching out the shadows on the ceiling for familiar shapes.

    After one in the corner of the room furthest from her had moved several times, a faint outline as though of a being wearing a hooded cloak, she decided she'd had enough. Lilaena sat up slowly, her side bound and restricting her movement, swinging her legs off the side of the bed and finding a pair of pants where she'd left them on the floor.

    Tying the drawstring tight just above her hips, De'Ville pulled a tank top on gingerly, finding it difficult to get her right arm through the hole without hissing in pain. Finally clothed, she left the gloomy room, padding barefoot down the rugs in the hallway in search of something to eat.

    Downstairs in Salem Ave's Terephon manor she felt like a thief in the night, stealing quietly from room to room, exploring with her senses on alert. In what appeared to be the main dining room - long table set for one, candles present but not lit - she caught sight of something moving in the corner of her eye.

    ...you disappoint me Lilaena...

    De'Ville whirled toward the disturbance, but there was nothing except a lamp. Glaring about her, the Dark Jedi finally found the servants' passage that led to the kitchens, her footsteps silent on the hardwoods.
    Last edited by Lilaena De'Ville; Jun 13th, 2012 at 04:04:21 PM.



    oh what a tangled web I weave


  2. #2
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    Salem stood beside the window of his bedchamber, looking out at the bleak, featureless moors of Terephon. Yet... his eyes did not focus on the heather as it stirred in the nights breeze or on the moon as it loomed like a ghostly galleon behind the clouds. His thoughts were elsewhere, willing the Dark Side to draw back the veil that hid the future from him. Everything was progressing as it should be yet he could not escape the feeling that there was some detail that had eluded him, some anomaly that was liable to throw the proverbial hydrospanner in the works and soon.

    There was a ripple at the edge of his awareness. Salem turned his head ever so slightly, as if uncertain whether he had heard something. He blinked and looked towards the bedroom door. Yes, there it was again. Movement, downstairs. He paced out onto the landing and made his way down the staircase, the old floorboards creaking and betraying him at every step.

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    There were modern refrigeration and heating appliances installed in the kitchens, despite the archaic design of the mansion, and she peeked inside the cooler, finding bottled water and juices and an assortment of condiments. Lilaena extracted a bottle of water and let the door close on its own, the light it cast shrinking to a sliver and then disappearing as it sealed.

    Closing her eyes momentarily, she sought out the controls for the lights with her mind. Switching one on with the Force she found it did nothing, but the next one she tried turned a light on over the range. The small amount of illumination it offered was enough for her to find the pantry.

    Lilaena pulled open the door, letting her eyes adjust to the dimness for a moment before walking in further, taking cans down from the shelves and reading the contents. She wasn't in the mood for soup, but didn't want to actually make anything else. There was a wooden bowl with some hardy apples in it on a middle shelf, and she helped herself to two of them, turning to leave the pantry, but hesitating when she heard movement in the kitchen beyond.

    There are no such thing as ghosts, she told herself, pushing the door open wider and walking out of the pantry.

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    Although the hours of true darkness that the Hapes Cluster experienced were relatively few and far between, when they came they were almost absolute. As it was so far removed from the urbanised areas of Terephon, the house Salem had chosen as his retreat was presently illuminated by nothing more than starlight. It reminded him of Arkania - his home - where there was no moon and the sun was so distant that it's warmth was never felt. The totality of the darkness made the light coming from the kitchen almost obnoxiously bright. Salem held up his hand to shield his eyes, needing a moment to adjust to the glare. A silhouette moved into view.

    “...You should be resting.”

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    Her grip tightened on the apples, and Lilaena turned slowly toward Salem's voice. She felt a little like a guilty child caught out by a parent, after the adrenaline of surprise faded.

    "I could not sleep," she said quietly, then took a bite out of one of the crisp fruits. She chewed carefully, closing the pantry door behind her and walking toward her master. That he had startled her so completely was unsettling. She was losing her mind.

    "I apologize if I woke you."

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    Salem's focus drifted behind Lilaena for a moment, to the window above the kitchen sink. The low hills outside were indistinguishable from those he could see from his bedchamber. It was like being lost at sea: confronted on every side by the same sight.

    “Is something troubling you?”

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    He cannot see me, A'na whispered from the shadows behind Salem, moving just enough to catch Lilaena's eye and cause the small hairs on the back of her neck to prick up.

    "Nothing," she said stubbornly, taking another huge bite of apple and chewing it noisily. "Just hungry."

    Lilaena rested her hip against the counter, and took a deep breath. "I have a lot on my mind." She lifted her eyes to his, a strange tingle in her stomach at the memory of him tracing his finger along her scars. She looked down, feeling confused, and took another bite of the fruit in her hand.

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    Salem paced to the sink and turned on the faucet to pour himself a glass of cold water. His broken arm was still held in a sling but it didn't appear to bother him. He took a long drink and contemplated offering Lilaena a lesson in how to lie convincingly but thought better of it. Her current mental state was a poor reflection of her true skill where the art of deception was concerned.

    “If there's something you'd like to discuss....” He let the words hang in the air. With no one and nothing else to be found for parsecs around them, the situation presented a rare opportunity for master and apprentice to speak at greater length and about matters that couldn't be discussed by long-range transmission.

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    She pushed herself up onto the counter with a little effort, sliding to sit comfortably on the no doubt expensive granite. "When I was in the custody of the Inquisitorate almost a year ago..." Lilaena's eyes narrowed. Had she told him about it before? Perhaps he did not even know the Empire had captured her, though she had told him of the destruction of the secret lab she and Grime had tracked down. Hadn't she?

    Too many secrets.

    Lilaena shook her head lightly, clearing the cobwebs of sleep deprivation from her mind. "I was injected with a heavy narcotic that suppressed my ability to touch the Force, and also induced hallucinations." She forced herself to keep her eyes on his face. Salem's face, not Callidus' terrible mask.

    "I have residual effects from the drug. I see... things."

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    More than a year had passed and she still felt the effects of the hallucinogen? Salem's jaw flexed with tension, a barely visible tick. He had spent years with students whose every move was under his surveillance, their duties and desires never carrying them beyond the walls of Iziz, but Lilaena had always been different. Taking her as his student had been an exercise in self-discipline as much as anything else, in teaching himself to accept that he could not control everything.

    “What do you see?” His head tilted a fraction to one side. “Something.. here?”

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    "Yes." She steadfastly did not look at her, keeping her green eyes on his white. A'na prowled out of the shadows, reddened eyes staring at Salem with raw lust, whether for his body or his power Lilaena did not know.

    Her breath caught in her throat, and she set the apple on the counter, no longer hungry. "It is A'na. She comes to me like a ghost. Taunting me." Surely he would believe her to be insane. She believed she was going insane.

    Lilaena quirked an eyebrow up, a half smile curving her lips. "Sorry you asked?"

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    “Not quite.”

    Salem took a step away from the sink and began to turn in a slow circle. His eyes wandered to the upper corners of the ceiling yet there was nothing but cobwebs and shadows there. The notion of a Force ghost was not unfamiliar to Salem but he had never witnessed one first hand. He stretched his senses outwards, his brow furrowing into a frown as he tried to feel for anything that might have indicated some spiritual presence. All he felt in the Force was Lilaena herself, watching – no, staring at him intently. He turned back to face her.

    “She is here with us, now? What does she say?”

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    Lilaena closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and exhaling it slowly. "What does it matter? It is just a figment of my obviously deranged mind." She tried to make her words lighthearted, but failed.

    Tell him I want him.

    She opened her eyes and found her dead master standing in front of Salem, hands reaching for his face but passing harmlessly through him. The spectre cackled in a way she'd never heard A'na laugh. Lilaena bit her lip. "She says she wants you."

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    He smiled without any hint of good humour. In life, A'na Eldhil had not chosen Salem as her padawan; she had been given him. It was a match that had not pleased either of them but which they had begrudgingly come to accept. Although he was not sure that what Lilaena was experiencing with a true vision of their dead master, curiousity prompted him to indulge her further.

    “Why? What does she intend to do with me?”

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    She looked down then, blushing, and hating herself for doing it. She had used her body to seduce others, knew how to deceive and how to tease. She knew how to hide her feelings. She could not, however, even to save her life, mount any sort of mental defense against the smallest incursion on this night.

    "She..." Lilaena's voice faltered, and she closed her eyes against whatever might be happening in the kitchen in front of her. "I think she wants," she tried again, more faintly, "to do... you."

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    Salem nodded, allowing himself a knowing little smile as he glanced upwards. “Such spirits are sustained by their passions. The echo of their emotions is the only thing tethering them to this world. Without them, they cease to exist.”

    That A'na desired him was only mildly surprising. Power was alluring and Salem's understanding of the Force had vastly surpassed his masters teachings. More likely than not, however, what motivated her was envy, a covetous need to possess in death what she could not command in life.

    “Strange.. that she should choose to reveal this particular desire to you, rather than me.”

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    Lilaena opened her eyes, and they were alone in the semi-dark kitchen again. She took a deep breath. "It isn't real," she said slowly. "I am just remembering a ... bad trip, as they say."

    She canted her head to the side, looking at him. "Unless... you think she is really here?" Lilaena licked suddenly dry lips, a surge of terror - the fears of a child - in her gut. She had rationalized away her visions of A'na Eldhil as residual effects of the hallucinogen the Empire had forced on her.

    But if the visions were real...

    You begin to understand, A'na said, her body hidden in the darkness. Too late, as usual. He was always smarter than you.

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    Was it possible, he wondered, that she was creating the illusion of their dead master? Could her fluctuating emotions, her volatile mental state, have manifested in the shape of the tormentor from her childhood? A manifestation so convincing that even she was fooled by it... Salem considered his student in a new light, his eyes narrowing faintly as he took a step towards her.

    “Do you feel her, or do you merely see her?”

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    "I only see her," she said. "Not all the time of course."

    Lilaena shifted on the counter top. "I am not crazy."

    Yes you are. Stark raving mad. A hooded shape drifted out from beside the refrigerator. A'na matched Salem step for step, both of them drawing closer to her.

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    “No,” he agreed. Not yet, at least. “Nevertheless, it's clear she holds some sway over you.”

    What was causing Lilaena's visions was ultimately less important than what she might do as a consequence of them.

    “I could reach into your mind...” Salem began, as if he were merely thinking aloud. The sentence went unfinished as, another step closer, he studied her with a look that verged on predatory.

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