Malleable

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The moors of Terephon were unchanged from the last time Lilaena De’Ville had visited. These were much different circumstances, however.

The large house rose out of the mists as her speeder approached. Rather than driving
to the front doors, she stopped and dismounted at the edge of the property.

He was home. That, at least, she knew.

She wore a simple black and red jumpsuit with her Mandalorian armor strapped on. Not a full Acolyte suit, and she was not wearing a helmet, but it had become so much a part of her identity that it felt strange to wear none at all.

The mist swirled around her boots, and she waited.

[Darth Callidus]

It was not long before a long figure approached from the Villa Solis. There was no cloak billowing at his feet as there had been on the black cliffs above Ta'a Chume'dan. Instead, Callidus wore something more functional: dark blue and cut in the style of the Hapan military. His lightsaber hung at his hip and his face was concealed beneath a mask that Lilaena De'Ville knew all too well.

“Malleus. Have you come to try and finish what you started on Hapes?”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She had spent a lot of time considering what might happen if and when she met Callidus again. Would there be a battle? Would he expect her to be submissive, or beg for him to take her back? What did she expect out of any such confrontation? And so, when he asked his question, she had an answer ready.

"I was not myself on Hapes. I do remember what happened, though I was not in control, and I neither expect you to believe me, nor to offer any shades of forgiveness."

Lilaena took a few steps to the left, making sure that the speeder was not between them as they faced each other. Her lightsaber jutted out from a custom built compartment on the side of her leg, but she made no move toward it.

"I thought, at first, you might have believed I had died on Hapes, but obviously there was no body to be found," she gestured at herself. "It would not have been difficult for a man with your connections to determine where I was, where I have been for these past months."

For all his masks, posturing, and power, Salem Ave was just a man. Wasn't he? Lilaena had once thought that she could see through his layers of disguise and deceit to what he was at his core, but perhaps it had been just another smokescreen.

Maybe he did not pursue her because he'd always known that she would come to him. An irresistible impulse to stick her hand in the fire.

She asked anyway.

"Why have you not sought revenge for my actions?"

[Darth Callidus]

“Revenge? What revenge could I take that would hurt you more than the suffering you’ve brought on yourself?”

Mirroring Lilaena by making no motion to draw his lightsaber, Callidus continued to walk with slow steps towards her.

”I helped you to rid yourself of our master, of her madness, and you… you took her back into you. Allowed her to commit acts of reckless self-sabotage in your name.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena narrowed her eyes, a spark of anger glowing beside the tinderbox of hatred that she still held for their former master. He walked closer and she held her ground, her body as taut as a violin string despite her relaxed posture.

"An old narrative - that a weakness on my part might cause me to return to her, to draw her back out. The truth, on the other hand, reveals your shortcomings, Callidus. You thought you had purged her, but you failed.

"She bested us both. Yet, I was able to destroy her after my fall from the cliff."

Lilaena hesitated. This was the difficult part. He had no reason to believe that she was telling the truth. Perhaps he thought that she was A'na, even now, and that was why he had kept his distance.

"I burned her away, her and all her lies. I will not bow to another and admit weakness where there is none."

[Darth Callidus]

“You destroyed her, but not before you tried to kill me.”

Another step forward and his mask rippled away, vanishing like smoke, to reveal the face beneath. His brows were furrowed in something almost like confusion, perhaps even disappointment.

“I've told you before: I am not your enemy, and yet… you continue to fight me.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena took a deep breath as he showed his true face, closing her eyes for a moment as she collected herself. When she opened them the spark of anger had subsided.

"I did not -" her voice cracked, betraying her, and she swallowed hard. "I did not come here to fight. I did not come to grovel, either. I want to know... where we stand."

They were no longer master and apprentice, but surely he could still feel the connection between them.

[Salem Ave]

When Salem stretched his awareness into the Force, what he felt confirmed his suspicions about Lilaena’s intentions: she was sincere. More than that, he could feel nothing of the maelstrom that had surrounded her during A’na’s possession of her mind.

“What do you want me to say?”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

“It has been over a year,” she replied. “Why have you not tried to have me killed, to finish what was started on Hapes?”

[Salem Ave]

“I knew you had survived the fall. I could have killed you myself, there and then, if that was what I'd wanted. I…”

His mouth pressed into a hard line. There had been moments on Hapes when he had been furious with her, so much so that his anger had become a hard, cold and unfeeling thing. How had he allowed her to become so… unhinged? So needlessly destructive. Every tentative step they had taken to repair the broken trust between them, and it had been shattered in a single, explosive encounter.

Salem’s chest rose and fell with a deep breath.

”I’ve never wanted you dead, Lilaena.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She didn’t smile, or relax, or take a deep breath. Lilaena merely nodded, slightly. Almost imperceptibly.

“I did not want to attack you that day. It was always A’na’s way to pit us against each other. And she... she blamed me for her death. She wanted to punish me by destroying ...the connections I had made. To gloat over me before taking over my body for her own.”

Lilaena shook her head as words continued to spill out of her. “When I was too injured to go on A’na tried to reach for you, but I stopped her.”

She shook out her hair, raising her chin that had fallen as she spoke. “I was weak. I am not anymore.”

[Salem Ave]

There was no denying that A’na had been a vicious woman. Deceitful, manipulative, callous. In life and in death, her methods had left an indelible mark on her former apprentices, shaping them into harsh echoes of herself. Yet, looking at Lilaena now, Salem saw something almost like pride in the lift of her chin and squaring of her shoulders. She had overcome whatever part of A’na still clung to her.

Salem held her gaze. “There’s more I could teach you. We could accomplish so much more together than we ever will apart.”

A step closer. “Come back to me.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

He was so much closer now, just out of arms reach. Part of her wanted to agree, to say yes and all that that meant...

Lilaena took a step back, a shiver of fear crawling up her spine at how much she had wanted him to ask her to return. How close she was to agreeing with him.

”We would tear the galaxy apart, if we wanted to.” Her mouth was dry.

“I cannot bow to you, Salem. That I am even considering it is a sign that I need more time alone.”

[Salem Ave]

Salem could almost feel the conflict bubbling beneath the surface of her. He didn’t blink or look away, his white eyes fixed to hers.

A faint shake of his head. “Too much time has been wasted already.”

He reached out with one hand, palm upturned, an invitation. “Search your feelings. You know this is where you belong.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

It felt true. She lifted a hand before she could stop herself, and caught sight of the Mandalorian gauntlet that enclosed her forearm.

Lilaena lowered her arm.

“I swore I would not again be put under the heel of another. I am not a stepping stone to be used to reach greater heights.”

[Salem Ave]

“You needn’t bow to me to learn from me! I’m offering you the chance to become something greater. To be uplifted, not stood upon!”

Rather than lowering his hand, Salem thrust it further forward.

“Give me your loyalty and I will give you the Galaxy."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Even without using the Force Lilaena could read frustration on his face, and her ability confirmed it. She couldn’t remember a time when Salem had allowed his feelings to exhibit like this - certainly never in her presence.

Perhaps he did, in front of others. With her.

“Give me your loyalty,” she whispered, slowly extending her hand toward his.

[Salem Ave]

He could feel it, Lilaena’s fear and doubts warring with something almost like… hope. Though she was afraid, she wanted to trust him, to believe that he was sincere, that he would not abuse her trust and abandon her as he had done before. Salem made no move, instead waiting for her to come to him.

“You have it.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Oh how she wanted it to be true!

Lilaena could not sense any deception in him, but then he was usually difficult to read. Yet, as she took a moment to extend her senses with the Force... this was different. He was not inscrutable, but open.

She stepped toward him, green eyes locked onto white, and her hand slipped into his.

[Salem Ave]

As her fingers touched his claws, Salem squeezed Lilaena’s hand tightly and pulled her towards him. “You’ve made the right decision.”

It was possible that panic had exploded inside her at that moment, at the potential of the uncaring death's-head mask swimming back into place as Callidus stepped into her arms and buried a blade between the plates of her armor. Instead of an ambush, however, Salem threw an arm around her shoulders and drew Lilaena into an embrace.

“I’m proud of you.”