Malleable

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She followed him to the house, no hesitation as she walked through the doors behind him. The wall A’na had defaced was in pristine condition. Lilaena could still see the jagged letters in her mind that she had carved into the wood.

This wasn’t going to be the same as before. She wasn’t going to blindly follow him, only to be disappointed by his indifference. Salem was always outwardly cool and calculating, and his almost clinical response to her kiss was completely in character, even if she had wished it could be different.

Lilaena followed him into his study, stopping just inside the doorway.

No, she had felt something from him, in that brief moment before he had regained his composure. Perhaps it was just a reflection of the bond they shared as survivors of the Purge and an insane Jedi master. Whatever it was, he had said he couldn’t give her what she wanted, not that he didn’t want to, which was a very fine distinction that she was not going to dwell on.

[Salem Ave]

The low glow of lamps illuminated the study. Salem moved through the dim light to one of the shelves and traced a claw over the spines of the volumes there, as he scanned each of their titles.

“Are you waiting for me to command you to come in?” he asked, his back to her.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She snorted quietly, and took one big step further into the room. “I didn’t think that shouldering you aside to paw at your shelves would have been a good look.”

Lilaena watched him look over his books, still hesitating to join him at the bookcases. The memory of him tossing her into them... the pair of them tearing this office asunder... Whoever had repaired the damage had done a good job.

Their relationship could not be master and apprentice any more than it could be mere childhood acquaintances.

Their bond was malleable. When tested it had not shattered, but bent. Where this new direction would take them... only the Force knew.