Chaos and Order

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Clack clack clack clack.

The rhythmic beat of claws on concrete punctured the otherwise still night air. It was a deserted street; something rare on Cloud City, but deserted it was. Save for the beast that now jogged its' way easily along. Muscles propelled it forward at an almost lazy pace - a strange thing as only two hours earlier it'd been scrambling furiously to escape the clutches of those that would keep it caged.

But now, safe within the knowledge that none had followed, the great white vornskr made her way through the sleeping city. None had bothered her in her travels, which left her to her own thoughts. How was she to get off this floating city? Her 'home', the Cat, had been abandoned on Hoth when she'd been taken by the bounty hunter, and retrieving the craft was forefront on her mind. Without it she'd be stranded. She had no way of contacting Sanis Prent, and that thought pulled horribly at her. Her daughter had been left with the smuggler, and it was all the beast could to to keep herself in check. Such anguished thoughts - of never seeing Tak once more never strayed from her.

She had to find passage to... somewhere. Preferably Hoth, but there was really no telling what the Lupine would be able to do. Her options were rather limited at this point.

And so she kept on, her gait easy and her single yellow orb taking her surroundings in.

[Arya Ravenwing]

The trip had been one huge, colossal frelling mess from beginning to end. From the preacher she'd taken on as a fare on Dantooine, to her stowaway in the form of the menacing Whitey, Arya Ravenwing had had just about enough.

Rev. Solomon was wanting additional passage with her, and she'd agreed, though why she still wasn't sure. He'd caused her Change, of that she was almost certain. Though he didn't seem to want to ever do it again, which was wise. Again, the why of him wanting to chance her ripping his throat out escaped her.

But... money was money. Arya tipped her glass up and saluted the ceiling, finishing off the last of her dark ale. They'd been at Cloud City for a few days, and Whitey had disappeared again. She knew he was an Imperial agent of some kind - keeping tabs on her and her mission. Solomon was understandably confused as to where the strange man had come from and why Arya put up with his rudeness (well, she didn't, not really, but she hadn't stuffed him in the airlock either, which had been her first inclination), and seemed to have latched onto her as though she needed saving.

As if.

And then it happened. The holoscreens switched to an All Points Bulletin, proclaiming that a dangerous fugitive had escaped custody and was loose in the City. Loklorien s'Ilancy, they said. Arya choked on her ale and nearly dropped the glass on the bartop, nose and throat burning as the report droned on.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Still trotting along, the Lupine didn't deviate on her path. Where she was going was anyone's guess, least of all hers. For now she would stalk the streets and get as much of a feel for the city as she could. It wouldn't be much, as she would have to find shelter and a place to hide during the day, but until morning the vornskr would roam Cloud City unchecked.

It was as she was passing by one of the local pubs that the animal paused; her eye had caught something in through the glass. It was a holoscreen with her face on it - well, her human face at the very least. Stopping, s'Il watched with mild curiosity. She sat down, staring in through the windows at the builliten as it played out,

Such an unflattering photo, she grumped to herself.

But there was something else in the air, and the Lupine lifted her nose to the sky, sniffing at the unseen. It was something new; wholly different from anything she'd ever smelled.

It passed, and the vornskr went back to watching through the window.

[Arya Ravenwing]

"This fugitive is considered armed and extremely dangerous. Do not approach or attempt to aprehend under any circumstances. Contact City Security if you see..."

Arya wiped hurriedly at her nose and mouth, attempting to clean up the mess she'd made with her ale. Loklorien s'Ilancy was here?! And Whitey was here too... somewhere. Probably staring at her through the windows of the pub. She swiveled around, a prickly feeling on the back of her neck, but saw nothing.

The smuggler slapped a credit chit on the counter and abruptly left the bar, pausing a moment in the cool recycled air. What should she do? Arya checked the railgun at her hip automatically, and then realized what she was doing. Who was she planning on shooting?

Mind racing, she took a few deep breaths, leaning against a bubbled window that looked out on the encroaching darkness of Bespin's night. Something didn't smell right. Suddenly alert, she looked to the right and nearly shot herself in the foot at the sight of a big white canine staring at her.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

That smell; it was back. And much stronger than before. It'd come with the woman who'd left the pub. No longer concerned with the holovid, s'Il turned her attentions to the raven-haired woman. Still sitting, the Lupine studied this newcomer.

Such a scent! It was familiar and foreign all at the same time. For the briefest of moments there was a giddiness in the pit of her stomach. She'd never felt anything like it in all of her years. Her mind reeled with the paperthin possibility of... NO. It wasn't possible. There were no more Loveloxx. Not a one. And yet, the fluttering in her chest continued.

Canting her head to the side, the animal regarded the woman with a critical eye as her whiplike tail wrapped around her front paws in a deliberate motion.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya stared at the beast, mouth hanging open, hand wrapped around the butt of her railgun. Very slowly she forced herself to let go of the weapon, leaving it still holstered at her hip.

This was too weird. The animal looked like it was studying her. Probably wanted a steak, if Arya was any judge.

"Frelling mutt..." Then she caught sight of the creature's unique tail, and hesitated. A vornskr? Not only was it highly unlikely, it was impossible for one of the creatures to be in Cloud City. That left only one startling option, and one that explained the strange odor she'd been smelling.

Arya yawned, reaching over to scratch at her side under her jacket... and to reach for her blaster in its shoulder holster at the same time.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Still unsure, s'Il blinked slowly. There was simply no way for this woman to be a Lupine; let alone a Loveloxx. But still, that did not explain the smell.

She yawned in mimicry, exposing a toothy maw while scratching at her side with a hind leg. The barb-tipped tail whipped around behind her to settle along the other side of her body.

[Arya Ravenwing]

s'Ilancy seemed secure in her shapeshifted form, yawning nonchalantly and scratching while Arya reached for her blaster. If it was Loklorien, the famed Last Lupine and Arya's ticket out of Imperial hell.

Frell it, even if this wasn't her, it was worth the try. Hand on the grip of her blaster, looking like she was rummaging in the inside pocket of her jacket, Arya let the Change begin but stopped it before it changed anything other than the color of her eyes. They gleamed yellow as she pulled the blaster out and pointed it at the beast in one smooth motion.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The eyes. She'd seen it. That telltale yellowing that preceded a Changed...

And the the blaster. Well.

Her options limited, s'Il continued to stare at the woman. If she used the Force, the possibility of driving the Loveloxx into a rage was significantly high. That would have to be used as a last resort, and s'Il wasn't ready to deal with a mindless beast. It was too tiring. Compounded with the fact that she was in fact looking upon a Loveloxx Lupine, she wanted to savor the moment.

Quick as lightning, s'Il surged forward, her haunches propelling her at the other woman. With surprising grace, the vornskr reared up only slightly, and closing her jaws around the blaster, bit down while in the same motion turning her neck away in order to pull the weapon from the woman's hand. She felt the metal give way beneath her teeth, though the tangy taste was something rather unpleasent to her tongue.

Jogging a short distance into the street, the animal stopped and turned to look at the other Lupine. And sitting down once more, she dropped the useless blaster to the ground.

[Arya Ravenwing]

"Frelling dren!" Arya yanked her hand back, but not fast enough as the beast removed the blaster from her hand before she could get a stun blast off.

The area outside the pub was deserted, though inside business was still going smoothly. No one had noticed the creature outside, or the woman confronting it. Just as well. The Imperials hadn't notified anyone that Loklorien was a shapeshifter, at least not in the part of the APB that Arya had heard, so it was unlikely that anyone would be calling Security down on her ears.

Although...

"I know who you are," she fumed, eyes still golden. "And that was frelling expensive." She couldn't risk drawing her railgun - one shot from that and they'd be picking pieces of s'Ilancy's brain from the opposite wall for weeks. Not exactly the results the Empire wanted.

"Why aren't you running?" Arya made a 'gun' out of her fingers and 'shot' the vornskr. "Pretty dangerous place down here."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The beast only hurffed, letting out a snort from her nose. A casual glance behind the woman at those still inside showed that none were paying attention to the goings on outside; no, their drinks and conversation were too engaging. Just as well.

The reversion was swift, smooth and flawless. It was bourne from years of repetition and a deep familiarity of her own body.

In the place of the white vornskr now crouched a very naked Loklorien, her single eye staring at the other woman. Rising to stand, she finally spoke.

"As dangerous to you as it is to me," she answered evenly.

[Arya Ravenwing]

She watched, wide-eyed, as the vornskr changed into a woman. Her mouth was probably hanging open again. Arya snapped it shut abruptly, and snapped, "What the frell are you thinking, doing that... here." Her eyes were blue again, and her voice was shaking.

With excitement or fear, she didn't know. "I need to talk to you. But... not here. I have a ship." She ran her hand through her hair, tugging at the ends of her straight black locks. "And no, its not quite as dangerous for me. There are probably ten people just inside that bar who'd either report you or rape you in less than a minute."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

With a tilted head, s'Il took in the black-haired woman. She watched her lips move as she spoke, the movements of her hands, her posture, everything.

Lofting a brow, she turned to look left, casting a rather lazy stare at the deserted street before sending her gaze down to the ruined blaster. She looked up at the other woman over the top of her blue eye then.

"Talk? Lupine, you were ready to shoot me."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Her face squinched a little. "Yeaaah... I guess that looks pretty bad, huh." Arya licked her lips nervously, casting a glance back at the interior of the bar. s'Ilancy was out of sight, beyond the windows, but Arya was still standing in front of the pub. "Does it make a difference that my expensive blaster was set on stun?"

She shifted her feet, feeling a bit at a loss now that this was a war of words. The alchohol she'd consumed wasn't enough to inebriate her, but there was a tinge of fuzziness around the edges of her brain. Enough to make her a tad slower than normal when it came to a snappy comeback. "I can't explain anything here, and I couldn't take the chance that you'd leave."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Crossing her arms over her chest, s'Il gave a look to the Lupine. It bordered the line of being unimpressed, and the look on her features showed as much. To trust a Loveloxx was to invite treachery; she knew that from her father.As such, she maintained her distance. Still curious, but cautious none-the-less.

Clicking her tongue, she answered. "No difference to me. I've had my fill of being stunned, and do not need any more. Perhaps in the beginning if you'd talked with your mouth instead of your weapon things would be different. Of course, action before thought is the way of your Line, and I cannot expect any less. No matter that you are the first Loveloxx I have ever seen, I am not about to abandon my caution."

A flicker of her eye, and s'Il stepped backwards to disappear into the black pools of a shadowed awning as a rather drunken pair stepped out the door of the pub, hanging off one another and badly singing whatever tavern ballad they'd no doubt learned long ago.

[Arya Ravenwing]

"What?" Arya ducked out of the way of the drunken fools who were trying to run her over, and lost Loklorien in the shadows. "Wait!"

Almost frantic, she shoved past the two men, and followed the strangely familiar smell to where the other Lupine was standing. "What the hell are you talking about? I'm not a Love-whatever."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

In closer proximity, the scent was far stronger. Both stood in the dark, staring at one another easily within the blackness. s'Il could make out the woman's face as easily as the other could make out hers.

Voice low, she spoke. "Loveloxx.

"And yes, you are one. Tell me; what would happen if I used the force right now."

[Arya Ravenwing]

"Uh..." Arya took an uncertain step backwards. "I - I'm not sure." Mind reeling, the smuggler put her hand on her railgun unconsciously. Esalis had said that the other Lupine was a Jedi, but it hadn't made any sense. If what they said was true and Force use drove her mad, then how could Loklorien wield it?

"Just don't do it." A bluff. That was all. This wench was trying to rattle her cage, and Arya was letting her.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A snort. "Of course I won't do it. I know better. You would go mad, and I don't feel like reigning in a mindless Lupine."

With the woman's step back, s'Il took a step forward to keep their distance constant.

"A Loveloxx can't handle it; you of all people should know that. Your blood may have been the first to be created, but it's the Losstarot that hold perfection."

She let a silence hang in the air then, studying the other's eyes. It troubled her to see the confusion, and her ears minutely ticked back.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you," she hissed.

[Arya Ravenwing]

If she'd been in Changed form, her hackles would have risen at the tone the other woman was taking. As it was her stance changed subtly to one a bit more... hostile. She almost felt cornered, though there was no wall at her back.

"I know I don't like being called mindless." Arya's eyes narrowed in the darkness. "Its not my fault you're talking nonsense. Like my mother." Just like her, actually. But Lysa Ravenwing had made even less sense than this haughty specimen in front of her. The words lovelocks and losty-rot or whatever it was seemed vaguely familiar.

She'd tried so hard not to think about her mother for a very long time.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Oh?"

s'Il ticked an eyebrow upwards. "And what is it that your mother used to say? Did she tell you stories that seemed grand and far away, lessons that had nothing to do with anything but memories and remembering dead people?

"Or perhaps she went mad like most of us did in our last days, spouting nonsense and age-old verses?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Her eyes went flat and her expression smoothed to marble. If she could get the drop on her, a well placed punch to her temple or jaw would knock the other into unconsciousness. Anything to get her to shut the frell up.

Arya wondered if she could leave and pretend she'd never seen the other Lupine. What a piece of work. Somehow, she thought, Whitey would know. "You talk as though you imagine you know me, but you do not know me."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Perhaps you're right."

s'Il softened her gaze, taking a step back and finally giving the other Lupine some personal space. She brushed an errant lock of blonde hair from her eyes, and sniffed at the slight breeze that'd just picked up.

"I certainly don't know you, but I do know what you are. And that is enough. If you have no idea about your own people, than that isn't my problem. It is a shame yes, but that is the way of things I suppose."

She stepped further back further into the darkness, a single reflected orb visible. Her next words were neutral; there was no malice nor any hint of her stern tone from before; they simple were

"Unless you wish to stop living in ignorance... "

[Arya Ravenwing]

"Of course I don't want to live in ignorance. I wanted to talk to you because you prove that I am not a genetic abberation. Frell, I didn't even know you existed until a few months ago. And my life has been hell ever since!"

A group of people came by, and Arya lowered her voice. "My mother was Lysa Ravenwing. She was nuts. I was raised on Ryloth by her until she died. I want to know."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il said nothing, digesting this new information about the woman's mother.

"Ravenwing," she said finally after a few moments of thought, "A Lesser House."

She was quiet once more, meticulously thinking through her next actions. She would be teaching the enemy, in essence, about their shared history. There could be worse things, she surmised, but still the thought remained After a short while she blinked.

"How do I know you won't decide that the credits of a reward for my capture won't override any desire to know about our kind."

[Arya Ravenwing]

"I have no interest in the bounty on your head." True enough. All Arya wanted was for the Empire to leave her the frell alone, and they wouldn't do that until she delivered s'Ilancy to them. Or led them to her. There were no credits involved. "On that you have my word."

A lesser house? What did that mean? Arya's hand itched for the cool feel of the medallion around her neck, but of course it wasn't there. "My ship is on landing pad 42d. The Wing of the Raven."

The smuggler walked out of the shadows, bending down once to pick up her ruined blaster out of the road. She looked back once at the darkened place under the awning, and then turned and kept walking.

Her mind was racing. Loklorien was not a fool. She could keep on going and never look back. She was also stranded on this City without clothes and without credits or a ship. And she'd just found another of her own kind, or at least someone close to her own kind. Arya was a betting woman, and she bet that she was holding the winning hand.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She watched the Lupine walk away, choosing to stay a few more minutes in the dark. Was it chance? Or fate? s'Il frowned in thought.

Only a fool would trust a Loveloxx.

Klavius' voice was startling, and s'Il had almost forgotten of his existence. As it was, she merely gave a thin lipped grimace.

And what would you have me do?

Kill the thing. Take her ship.

One blue eye going up to look at the stars, she allowed a sigh to escape.

Than it is a good thing that our places are not reversed.

She would not be missed; she is but a Lesser House of a flawed Bloodline.

Even the Lesser Houses had their uses. I'll save my judgment for later. I need her, and she needs me.

You are a fool then, Apex.

The rest of his complaints went unheeded as s'Il stepped from the deep shadows...

... and soon enough the sleek body of the white vornskr was walking almost lazily at the raven-haired woman's side.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya's body was so tense that her neck was starting to ache, and when the white vornskr joined her it did little to ease the tension. She kept walking, heading for her ship, and avoided the military outpost on the same level.

Who knew what the Empire knew about Loklorien's altered form. They probably knew everything about it by now, if they'd had her in custody. Probably just waiting for Esalis to show up, got lazy, and the woman pulled some sort of Jedi trick and walked out from under their noses.

Her head started to ache. Waiting for Esalis to show up. The errant thought rang of truth, and Arya wondered if she really could betray the only other being of her own kind to that devil woman. When, not if, Esalis arrived, it would be best for Arya to be far away.

The smuggler's hand shook as she keyed in the access code to the landing pad she'd been assigned to. The doors slid open, revealing the Chevette77 freighter in all of its glory. Not much to look at on the outside, really.

Holding a hand up she stopped Lok from entering the pad area. "Security cams don't have sound. But..." Arya took out her vibroblade from her boot and chucked it at the holocam mounted just inside the security doors. The sonically sharp blade severed the camera's mount and the wires leading from it. "Ok, never mind."

She locked the doors behind them, and pulled out her commlink. "Hey Solomon, I'm coming in. Sorry if its a little early but something came up." Arya looked down at the vornskr at her side. "I have a ...fare. He's a preacher. Don't worry about him." She approached the ship, walking around to where the ramp was extending.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Following in Ravenwing's wake, s'Il slowed only slightly. That there was a fare aboard wasn't all too surprising; pilots often took passengers to pay the bills, and Sanis had done it plenty of times. She was accustomed to it.

And just as she had done before, s'Il let the reversion take hold. The transition was smooth, and once more she stood on two feet. Hair brushed back over her shoulders, s'Il stepped forward after the other woman and around to the boarding ramp, making sure to stand behind and to the side of the taller woman.

[Rev Solomon]

After ten years on the Dantooine frontier, even a modest hub like Cloud City was a load for the senses. Reverend Solomon tried not to rubberneck as he picked his way through crowds of more different species than he'd seen in decades. His nerfhide coat and wide-brimmed hat drew a number of multi-ocular stares, but there was enough authority in his long strides that no one gave him any grief.

He hadn't strayed far from the landing pad. While Arya hadn't forbidden him to leave the ship, she had hinted strongly that it wouldn't be a good idea to try to board while she wasn't home. So he'd been counting on spending a good six hours or so exploring, observing, re-acclimating himself to an unfamiliar galaxy.

Solomon bought a falafel from a cart vendor and started heading east again, back in the direction of the landing pad. City life was much as he remembered it - the breakneck pace, the isolation in the middle of a crowd, the concentration of every sentient virtue and vice. He used to live in such a city, even thrived there. Now he felt as out of place as a wampa on Tatooine.

He raised the falafel to his mouth and then saw a small figure huddled in an alleyway, a Twi'lek boy faded from hunger. Solomon stepped over, smiled lightly, and extended the steaming wrap to the child. He could afford to be hungry for a day. The boy snatched it and disappeared into the darkness of the alley.

Solomon straightened up and turned in time to see an urgent notice flashing on a vidscreen in a bar across the street. Idly curious, he crossed the flow of the bustling crowd for a closer look.

Dangerous fugitive named...

"No... It isn't possible."

The comlink in his pocket squelched, and he pulled it out in time to hear "coming in. Sorry if it's a little early but something came up."

First a darksider stowaway. And now this. Solomon wheeled around and struck out back down the road. Something in his gut told him he needed to get back to the Raven. And soon.

[Arya Ravenwing]

"First you need some clothes." Arya turned to look at the very nude female behind her, adding, "Unfortunately you're quite a bit shorter than me, but I think I have something that will work."

Loklorien said nothing to indicate whether clothes would be a good thing or a bad thing, but stood in the dim light of the passageway with her arms folded in front of her. The smuggler bit back what she really wanted to say to this ungrateful beast, and instead ducked into her cabin. When she emerged a few moments later, the other woman hadn't moved. Which was good.

Arya handed her a pair of pants and a t-shirt. "This'll have to do for now. Solomon's seen enough nakedness during this trip that I should double the price he's paying me." The ...Losstarot? raised an eyebrow, but pulled on the clothes quickly enough. Arya got a good look at a burnt emblem on her back - some sort of brand. It looked like a halfmoon and a star, and like it probably had hurt quite a bit. Loklorien knelt to roll up the pantlegs so she wouldn't trip on them, and then resumed her former position of crossed arms and an inscrutable expression.

The smuggler mimicked her pose. "Why the attitude?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She blinked. Everything on this ship smelled like Ravenwing - a Loveloxx. It was such a new smell that s'Il relegated herself to silence as she allowed her nose to pick apart the scents swirling around her. In some ways it was fascinating, and not unlike the first time she'd smelled the spicy exotic air of Cathar. She had become so used to smelling the aromas that had been at the citadel and with her own possessions that while the familiarity of the Lovelexx scent was tangible, it was also wholly different.

Of course, Klavius' verbal tirades were hard enough to ignore in such an environment.

She blinked again.

"I've not seen nor smelled a Loveloxx before."

Unabashedly s'Il reached out, a hand going to Ravenwing's shoulder in an attempt to turn her around. It was a gentle, but firm motion.

"Your House Brand - where is it."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon keyed in the access code to the landing pad - Arya hadn't made a special effort to hide it. As he stepped through the security gate, he took note of the decapitated security camera sparking quietly on the duracrete.

He stopped a respectful distance away from the Raven. Arya had obviously been spooked enough to ward off prying eyes, and he wasn't sure whether she'd also keyed up the automated defenses. He reached for his commlink.

"Arya. It's Solomon. Mind opening the back door?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya knocked the s'Ilancy's hand away from her shoulder. "Lesser house or not, you're not going to order me around on my own ship." She had no idea what she was talking about, but hoped it sounded good. "And, I'm not ...branded. Was nearly by a group of slavers, but that ended badly. For the slavers."

"Arya. It's Solomon. Mind opening the back door?"

The Reverend's voice broke the sudden stalemate between the two Lupines, and Arya fished out her commlink. "Just a second."

She kept a wary eye on her visitor as she backed towards the ramp controls, activating the mechanism to open it.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

There you see??!

s'Il ignored the voice still. Instead she grit her teeth. She was an Apex! That this ship belonged to... Arya, as the voice on the commlink had called her - was no excuse for such behavior, and the feeling shown in her eye.

If she could have, she would've slapped the Loveloxx with a merciless backhand. As it was, s'Il simply stood fuming. Again she reminded herself that she needed the other Lupine.

[Rev Solomon]

The aft hatch hissed open, and Solomon came up the ramp with a slow, steady gait. He stepped into the main compartment and removed his hat.

"Excuse me. Didn't know you had company."

He stared at Lok, stared longer than he knew he should've, his memories and his rational mind battling to make sense of what he was seeing.

[Arya Ravenwing]

"Yeah. Company." Arya keyed the hatch closed again, then turned and walked into the living area. "Be careful, I think she bites."

She dug into the fridge, pulling a ready-to-heat dinner out of the freezer. After a moment's hesitation she pulled out a second, then popped them both into the microwave.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Not allowing herself to be drawn into any sort of juvenile squabbling, s'Il gave a singular hmph before turning her eye to the newcomer.

His staring was certainly something to give her pause, and she let her thoughts stray from Arya. He smelled of wandering; of dirt and leather and knowledge. She could even smell his sweat. It was enough to give her pause, and she ticked an eyebrow upwards. There was something vaguely familiar about that scent, but she couldn't place it.

He said his name had been, what; Solomon?

Even that was familiar, but not enough. She stuffed her hands into the pockets of the trousers that'd been provided, then turned to follow after Arya. Eyes narrowed in thought, she cast a glance over her shoulder at him before stepping into the living area.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon turned toward his cabin and shrugged off his calf-length coat, but he paused in the doorway. Part of him wanted to play the ignorant bystander - let them hash out their business, whatever it was, so he and Arya could be on their way. He'd never intended to go back to his old way of life. He was finished with it.

But this was too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. Too much to be believed, even for a man of faith. His faith wasn't big enough for this. He had to be sure.

"Excuse me, Miss..." He looked over his shoulder and caught her glancing back at him. "There are some people in this galaxy for whom the word 'remnant' carries a special meaning."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Balancing the two ready-to-heats and a tumbler of whiskey, Arya plunked herself down at the booth, sliding the second heated meal across the laminated tabletop to the other side. Wielding a plastic fork with deadly efficiency, she attacked her portion of "Salisbury Nerf Steak" and washed down the first few bites with the whiskey.

Solomon was talking to Loklorien just outside of the living space, probably trying to determine if her eternal soul needed saving. If Arya was any judge, it certainly was in dire need of a little compassion. Not that a lesser house needed compassion from this.... whatever she was.

Frell, she didn't even know what the other woman was talking about and she was already riled up about it. Arya tipped back the tumbler and stabbed her fork into the meat in front of her.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Turning to face him as he spoke, s'Il pulled one hand from her pocket to rest it against a bulkhead. She could smell food from where Arya had gone, but something had suddenly taken her attention. A word.

Remnant...

The confusion was slowly giving way now to a slow realization, and she studied his face in more detail. He'd called himself Solomon.

Solomon... Sol omon... Sol Umon... Sol U'Man...

Her neck craned forward just a little, head canting to the side. He was certainly older, yet unlike Zem, the years had not been unkind to him.

"Sol.. ?" she breathed.

[Rev Solomon]

It was her. Somehow. She'd had two eyes when he'd seen her last on the Temple grounds. She'd also been a year older than he was then.

"Loklorien. God's name..."

He smiled, slightly, but his mind was racing. A lot could happen in twenty-odd years. She might not be the same person he'd sparred with under Master Saban and Master Windu. God knew he wasn't the same person anymore.

But stumbling over a big part of his old life after years of running from it - that was a miracle too big to ignore.

"I knew there were some of us left," he whispered. "But when I heard about the Temple I thought -"

He cut himself off and glanced toward the living area. He didn't want to talk openly, even in a whisper, with Arya around. Anyone who consorted with a Darksider, willingly or not, was a risk in his sight. He met Lok's eye again with a clipped nod that said later.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Heavy footsteps rang through the halls of The Wing of the Raven, as someone approached the communal area in which Solomon and s'Ilancy were talking...

[Arya Ravenwing]

She heard the footsteps, smelled Whitey suddenly, and yelled as loud as she could. "FRELLING WHAT IS IT NOW!?" Arya slammed her hands down on the table, slid out from the booth and pulled her railgun from its holster. Not now. Not frelling now!

Shoving past Loklorien and Solomon, Arya greeted the pale one with her finger on the trigger. s'Ilancy was just out of sight in the living area, but not for long. "Get the frell off my frelling ship! Frak! You're not invited, not wanted, and not going to be alive for long."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Unflinching, Vega looked over the barrel of the gun into the enraged eyes of its owner. The representative of the Imperial Executor, Van-Derveld was under the guardianship of the Galactic Empire. As he was acting on the wishes of the Empire's leaders, it was an unequivocal fact that any action made against him in hostility would be considered an attack against the Empire itself. It was not, therefore, in the best interests of the smuggler to bring any harm to 'Whitey' – this much, she already knew.

“You have acquired another passenger,” he stated. “To what end? Your purpose is to find the fugitive, a task which you have already delayed long enough.”

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Returning Sol's nod with one of her own, s'Il allowed herself to be momentarily distracted by the sound of approaching footfalls.

Genuine surprise flitted across her features though, as Arya bulled her way through to confront this new unseen stranger. Opting to stay out of site for the time being, the Lupine stepped backwards and lowered her frame quietly into the booth.

Something was off in the air; it smelled... rancid? She blinked a few times, and turned her eye to Sol with a concerned, almost questioning look. The voice that reached her ears was grating, and just the sound of it made her grind her teeth. But it was the last words spoken that set off a storm in her single blue eye.

Arya had been sent to find her?! No wonder the reward for a capture meant nothing to her!

I told you I told you!! Perhaps the next time you'll listen to me!

One hand slamming down atop the table,, s'Il propelled herself upwards in rage as those telltale yellow tendrils began invading her eye...

[Rev Solomon]

It had taken only moments for a miracle of heaven to be tainted by a messenger from hell.

Arya had been sent. Didn't take a prophet to tell who she'd been sent to find. A former Jedi. A comrade and a friend. And Solomon was damned if he'd let them take her now that he'd found her.

Still hidden from the entryway, Solomon gave s'Il a cautionary glance and stepped out around Arya to draw Whitey's attention - for all the Darksider knew, the clatter of the table was him. "You again. I don't know what business you two have together, but I think it's clear you don't belong here. There's been nothin' but trouble since you showed up. Be gone. Trouble us no more."

[Arya Ravenwing]

There was a crash from the living area, and Solomon came out at her six. Arya drew a little strength from the Preacher backing her up.

Her hand shook a little as the railgun wavered. "If I killed you now, they wouldn't know for weeks. More than enough time for me to be lost forever, just like this... so-called Lupine you've forced me to look for, Van-Derveld."

If he found Loklorien here... now... they'd all be supremely screwed. Well, Loklorien would be, anyway. And Arya ... frell it she wasn't done finding out about herself yet!

[Vega Van-Derveld]

“Stay out of this, old man.”

Van-Dervelds lips twisted into a snarl as he looked from Arya to Solomon. The preacher hadn't the faintest idea what he'd gotten himself caught up in, and if he wasn't careful it would be the death of him. The pale figures eyes quickly flitted back to the woman with a gun trained on his head.

“You're a fool if you think you can escape, Ravenwing. Play your part now, find the Lupine in a timely fashion, and this will all be over – then you can go back to whatever meaningless excuse for a life you had before our paths crossed.”

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Sol's look was enough to stay her, and s'Il remained out of eyesight of the newcomer. Her eye was still a menacing yellow, and the muscles of her jaw clenched incessantly. Her whole body remained coiled like a spring, and she was ready to move on Arya at the slightest sign of full betrayal.

Was Klavius truly right?

[Arya Ravenwing]

The tip of the railgun twitched downwards, and Arya pulled the trigger. The projectile weapon spat a round into Whitey's shin, shattering bone and flesh and sending the creep abruptly to the ground. His lower leg was nearly completely severed, hanging onto the rest of his body by a few tenacious sections of muscle.

"Get off my ship!" Before anyone else could move, Arya stepped over and slapped the ramp controls, opening up the hatch.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon jolted at the unexpected report.

"For God's sake, woman, put that thing away!"

Darksider or not - he couldn't hold with that sort of violence without a real good reason. The preacher knelt next to the pale man to assess the damage and reached down to help him.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

His leg all but obliterated, Van-Derveld fell backwards and hit the deck with a thud. The open wound left by the rail-gun showed the already deteriorated muscle tissue beneath his skin, the flesh off-color. The pain was overwhelming, an exquisite agony. His eyes rolled as he struggled to maintain clarity, fighting back unconsciousness. Unable to contend with the feeling in any other way, Vega called on the Force to sustain him.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It wasn't exactly horror that she felt, but it was something very close to it. She knew that it wasn't Sol who'd used the Force; no. The ripple that she could feel washing over her was a malignant thing, dark and evil.

And yet it wasn't the nature of the user that made her flinch, it was the simple fact that the Force had been used.

Wasting no time, the Lupine scrambled to pull the shirt she wore off. There was no time for the pants however as she hunched forward. Her Change was bourne of desperation - Arya would Change, there was no way around that.

And with her Change would come a beast most terrible; bent on destruction and filled with madness. She would kill anyone around her.

s'Il's thoughts went to Sol as she felt her body transform, a sheen of white fur growing over her body like a wildfire. She'd never told him, and for him to find out like this...

... but she couldn't let Arya tear him to pieces, which left her only one other option.

For the first time in over a millenia, Losstarot would battle Loveloxx once again.

[Arya Ravenwing]

As Solomon crouched by Whitey, Arya holstered her railgun and reached down to grab her stalker's arm. "Out you... goooooohhnnn-!" Her hands clenched down on Vega's arm, fingers indenting the leather he was wearing. The Change was coming over her, fast and without warning.

She fought it, concentrating so hard she couldn't let go of Whitey's arm, her eyes yellowing and joints grinding painfully. Her teeth ground together, and a gutteral noise escaped - sounding like a mental patient receiving electroshock therapy. The smuggler stumbled to the side, her legs refusing to allow her to stand on just two feet, and she hit the bulkhead with her shoulder as her body began to bulge in unusual places.

Eyes wide and golden, Arya stared at the wall, and then reared her head back, slamming her forehead into the metal. Dazed, but not out of it, she managed to do it once more, cutting herself on an exposed bolt and knocking herself into unconsciousness before the Change took full hold.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon was frozen for a moment in horrified fascination - he'd encountered Arya once before in her changed state, but he hadn't seen what came in-between. He was bracing for another hellish battle, trying to decide how he'd defend the pale man and Loklorien at the same time, when Arya put herself out violently. The smuggler slumped to the floor, caught for a moment in a half-human, half-beast parody before shifting back again.

But then - the unthinkable - there were bestial sounds emanating from the living room as well. There wasn't time for questions like who and how. Solomon let his instincts do the talking. He threw out a hand toward his quarters, and the flap of his bag fell open as a slim metal cylinder came hurtling into his palm. He thumbed the ignition switch and swung it toward the doorway.

The stunstick whined as the electrical charge built up to full potential.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

There was no point now in suppressing any use of the Force, but s'Il still held it in check, snarling as her body finished its' change. A sleek white pelt covered a powerful form, and she burst through the doorway of the living area.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Through the haze of pain, he could hear things. A snarling, wet thuds of flesh against metal and then something like an explosion – only more compact, contained to a small area. Without the support of the preacher, Vega's head fell backwards. As it hit the metal beneath it, the last dregs of consciousness were drained away from the pale man. His eyes rolled back into his head and his body became limp, semi-clotted blood slowly oozing from his stump...

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon didn't hesitate At the first sight of flashing fangs and yellow eyes, he thumbed the trigger and planted the beast with a stun blast. She jolted as if she'd hit a brick wall and tumbled in a heap to the deck plates.

He took quick stock of the situation - Arya was human and unconscious, the pale man was unconscious and bleeding, and the white beast was... stunned, but not out. He had to move fast.

Solomon went with his loyalties. He swung Arya up into his arms and deposited her on his bunk in his quarters and closed the hatch. Then he rushed out, grabbed Vega, and rolled him unceremoniously down the exit ramp. He flipped the lever with the Force on his way back up. Now he was sealed in the Raven with the white-furred beast.

He turned the stunstick in his hand so the other end faced her, and his thumb hovered over another switch. But he hesitated - hoping... praying.

"Lok... Lok, are you in there?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

On unstable legs, the white beast rose to her feet while shaking the cobwebs of the stun from her mind. Her snout felt raw, and tingled as she sat on her haunches. A single tawny eye was sent up to look at Sol, then to the area around him. Arya was not in sight, and neither was the stranger who's voice she'd heard.

Ears swiveling forward, the Lupine sat up just a little straighter. She'd expected a stark, raving mad beast to greet her; not Sol. Confused, she looked up at him again before letting out a sneeze.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon stood motionless as the beast found its feet. But the look on its face wasn't a maddened animal ready to kill. If anything, it looked like a dog waiting for its master to make a move. He wished he could reach out with the Force, touch its mind, see what was going on inside. But going by Arya's example, that seemed like a very bad idea.

Slowly, he drew back the weapon in his hand and went down on one knee so he was on eye-level with the vornskr. "What are you?" he whispered.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"What are you?"

The Lupine seemed to consider this, her head canting to the side as she regarded him with her eye.

It seemed as though since leaving Cathar; since leaving her self-imposed exile of safety and anonymity, the secrets that she once kept were being bared for all to see - that for those that now knew, the fairy tales they'd been told as children were coming to life.

Her head bowed then, and the muscles of her shoulders bunched up as she allowed herself to revert.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon hopped back as the beast began shifting - body frame shrank, fur merged into pink flesh, muscles and bones rippled underneath the skin as if it were a blanket over a writhing mass of serpents -

And then Loklorien s'Ilancy crouched there on the deck, her face obscured by her hair, until she looked up to reveal a puckering welt over her eye from the stun blast.

The preacher stared in wonder. And then, eminently conscious that he was staring at a naked woman, he straightened up and turned his eyes away.

"You seem to be yourself again," he observed.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Lofting her brow, s'Il rose to her feet in silence. She could think of no immediate answer to him, and so left his words to hang in the air.

Klavius remained curiously silent; a blessing that she welcomed gladly.

Reaching a hand up to feel the tender flesh around her eye, the Lupine grimaced. "Your reflexes haven't dulled with age, I see."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon smiled sheepishly. "Shooting kath hounds on the frontier circuit is good for the trigger finger. Hope you don't take it personal. Arya knows the same trick, only she isn't so civilized."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il made a face, her jaw set as she looked behind her.

"I wouldn't expect her to be."

Arya was nowhere in sight; what'd happened to the other Lupine? She'd not gotten a good look at anything before Sol's stun blast had rained down on her, and after that it'd been a dazed few minutes.

"Where is she... "

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon turned and tugged the hatch open to his cabin. Arya was still piled on his bunk, her clothes in disarray from the partial change.

"I think this is the part where she sleeps it off and wakes up with a headache. But I'm new at this shapeshifting business. The pale man is outside, and I don't think he'll be giving us any trouble for the present."

He regarded her frankly, urgently. "He was working for someone, Lok. I don't know who. Arya never filled me in on the details. But it smells Imperial to me. If he knows where we are, chances are they do, too. I think we need to leave. Whether that means abandoning ship or..." he hesitated. "Taking her with us."

[Arya Ravenwing]

"And Melkhiah fought with Townsend, tore at him as though he could rend the chaos from his own heart." Lysa paused in her knitting to wink at Arya. "But the order Losstarot sought to impose on his wild cousin was not to be. For Loveloxx live with passion, not logic, though we do not lack it when needed."

She tossed her head back and laughed, a beautiful sound that Arya loved to hear. Her mother's long black curls bounced as she swept Arya into her arms, dancing a silly little dance. "We make our own rules, we do. Never let anyone tell you what to do, my sweet. You are a Ravenwing, and we fly free."

Coughing, Arya tumbled out of the bunk and to the floor. Her head was pounding like she had a hangover from a week of binge drinking, and she took a moment on the cool deck plating to try to stop the room from spinning.

Where am I? Not her bunk, but it was familiar. Solomon. She was in the cabin she had let the reverend stay in.

The smuggler struggled to her feet, leaning against the wall and moving along it until she found the door. Locked? Arya made a fist and slammed it into the metal. "Hey," she croaked, then cleared her throat and tried again. "Krasst! Let me out!"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"We can't leave her."

The words had come quickly, and said without thought.

Apex you are mad!!

Klavius' silence in her mind came to an abrupt end with her statement, but any retort she had was interrupted by Arya's banging and the muffled curses from the other side of the door.

With little ceremony, s'Il reached out, unlocked the latch, and pulled the door open a crack.

[Rev Solomon]

In the excitement, Solomon had forgotten how Arya had dispatched herself - they needed to act quickly. She might still be bleeding, might have a concussion, or worse...

He was casting about for a medkit when the hatch came open and Arya stood there looking, at most, very miffed.

"You've got a harder head than I gave you credit for."

[Arya Ravenwing]

"You have no idea." Arya rubbed at the spot where she'd cut herself, a pink scar skin and dried blood the only trace, favoring Loklorien with a careful look. "You're naked again. Do you need attention that badly?"

Brushing past the two in the hall, the smuggler scented the air. "Good, you got rid of him. We don't have much time."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Hands balling into fists, s'Il had to keep herself from retaliating. Instead, she settled for curling her lips back and sending a near-hateful glare at Arya's back.

"Ungrateful Loveloxx," she growled under her breath before turning on her heel and heading for the living area in order to collect the clothes Arya had previously given her.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon still had more questions than were comfortable buzzing around his head, but he could wait until they were safely away from Bespin to ask them. Running into Loklorien again couldn't just be a coincidence. It was a sign from God that he was in the right place at the right time, and that was enough to cover over a galaxy of doubt.

For now, at least.

He followed Arya toward the cockpit. "Should be secure for lift-off back here, as soon as we get clearance. We got a destination yet?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

"Uh..." Arya plunked into the pilot's seat and started scanning through destinations on the navicomp. "Ryloth is nice this time of year."

Solomon opened his mouth, and looked like he was trying to think of something positive to say. She chuckled, "Just a joke, Reverend. Wherever is the closest, and then we can move on from there. Whit- er, Van-Derveld is going to be chasing me and I don't want to travel in a straight line."

The navicomp clicked through several possible choices while Arya got clearance for take-off and warmed up the engines. "Ah, Sump (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sump). No one will look there." A devilish gleam in her eyes, Arya plugged in the coordinates and set the navicomp to computing the hyperjump.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It'd been an easy task to pull on the discarded pants, and s'Il was in the process of pulling on the shirt as she stepped into the pilothouse. She'd missed the reference to the stranger's name, but managed to hear the name of the planet that Arya had decided upon. She frowned.

"No; we have to go to Hoth."

[Rev Solomon]

"Hoth? What's on Hoth?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya frowned, turning to face Loklorien. "If its that important, then I'm sure you won't mind leading whoever follows us from Bespin straight there. No, we go to Sump first, then we can talk about Hoth."

The navicomp beeped, and she smiled. "Might want to strap in, we're lifting off."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"My shuttle," the Lupine answered Sol; she decided against mentioning the Citadel just yet.

Lowering into the copilot's chair, s'Il held off fastening the crashstraps for the moment.

"As long as we don't stay on... Sump."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon didn't bother entering the travel conversation; until he'd found out more from Loklorien, he had little reason to go anywhere in particular. As the engine whine filled the cockpit, he eased himself into the third bucket seat and reached for the safety straps. It took him a few tries to realize the catch on the buckle was missing.

Wing of the Raven bobbed upward from her landing skids, causing Solomon to lose his balance. He had finally decided to just tie a knot across his waist when the whole deck jolted.

"What in the - Is someone shooting at us?"

The comm. system squawked loudly overhead. "Cloud City Control to Wing of the Raven, you are NOT cleared for take-off. Disengage your engines and stand down immediately."

[Arya Ravenwing]

"Krasst... No frelling way!" Arya swore over the sound of the comm. She pulled up on the steering yoke and the Raven lurched upwards off of the landing pad as the hull took more blaster fire from outside. "We've got company!" That was much faster than she'd anticipated. Could Vega have...?

Cloud Cars appeared on her sensors, swooping in from the west to cut off the departure vector she'd been given by Control. Not so fast. Arya worked the Raven into a rough climb to port, repulsors complaining loudly as her aft section took another hit. Who was out there?! Krasst!

"Frell this dren." Arya switched to sublights as the freighter rose between two glistening spires, and the Raven shuddered heavily before jumping forward with a burst of speed that almost sent it through a window or two. Wrangling the controls Arya spiraled up and to the south, the Cloud Cars hurrying to catch up.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Staying silent, s'Il felt it best to let Arya pilot her ship without any distractions. She stared forward, taking in the blur of buildings as they swerved between structures; for a few moments she thought she'd be sick even. The other Lupine sent them higher into the atmosphere then, Cloud Cars still trailing close behind.

Her eye traveled over the console then, trying to decipher its' layout with little success. Frustrated with herself, the Lupine bit her lower lip, fingers gripping the armrests of her seat just a little tighter.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon was in a similar state - all he could do was concentrate on keeping his seat despite a faulty harness. The clouds of Bespin streaked and twisted crazily in the viewports.

The Chevette freighter jolted again, and Solomon was fairly certain he'd heard something break off and tumble down the side of the fuselage.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Under normal circumstances she might have traded a few shots with the Cloud Cars, using the aft gun. Except that she no longer had an aft gun - whoever had been shooting at her from the landing pad had destroyed the gun placement. It fell off mid-flight to her chagrin, but then she hoped that it landed on the Imperial garrison commander's head.

A maniacal grin pasted onto her face as she concentrated on her flying, Arya whipped the complaining freighter around Cumulus, the huge topside casino. Proximity alarms started going off as she skimmed along the side of the structure, hoping to scare her pursuers into breaking off.

To her relief the Cloud Cars were forced to back off, and they stopped firing at her too, for fear of hitting the many tourists and paying customers that were walking the promenade of the upscale casino despite the late hour. The same tourists screamed and ducked to the ground as Wing of the Raven clipped a meters tall comm. antennae, sending it crashing to the ground. "Whoops," Arya muttered, pulling up and away from the City, hoping to make the break for upper atmosphere, space, and their jump point.

Celebrated too soon. More Cloud Cars were approaching from the opposite side of the City, the dual pod-shaped ships spreading out as though they were going to catch her. Yeah, right. Arya could only imagine what Whitey was going to do to her if he caught up with her. Or what Executor Sevon would do. Or what Ms. Esalis would allow that awful Colonel to do to her.

She was carrying the object of their obsession, and seemingly keeping it from them. Arya was at least twice dead should she be aprehended, at least, and the thought of that caused her to send Raven screeching up through the clouds. The smuggler piled on the accelleration while keeping their ascent as close to vertical as she dared.

They left clouds and Cloud Cars behind, G-forces pulling on their bodies as the inertial dampners struggled to compensate for her actions. Popping out into vaccum, finally, Arya didn't let up the speed, but the strain on their bodies was significantly less as the dampners stabilized. "Next stop, Sump," she ground out through gritted teeth.

"And no, we're not staying. Just stopping by to fuel up and turn around."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It took her a few more moments to mentally compose herself; she wasn't used to such flying, and if Sanis flew like this, he'd done it when she wasn't aboard Layla. Her thoughts went to her daughter, and s'Il stoically stared ahead as the dampeners worked to relieve the stress upon their bodies.

She nodded at Arya's words, not quite sure if it was safe to move about. Sending a questioning look back at Sol, the Lupine turned to Arya. "How long will it take to get there?"

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon winced and untied the rough knot he'd made of his safety harness, but, seeing Arya reach for the hyperdrive throttle, he stayed in his seat. Wing of the Raven gave one last shuddering protest as the stars ahead streaked with a hint of blue shift and melted into the brilliant fog of a hyperspace corridor.

"Long enough, I hope, for the three of us to have some words together." What had started out as an uncertain journey had just taken a sharp left toward insanity.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya didn't relax until the starlines swirled into the multicolored mush of hyperspace, and even then her shoulders remained hunched forward. The human equivalant of hackles raised. "Shouldn't be longer than a half hour. It isn't far."

With effort she sat up straight, and turned to look at her two passengers. "Yes, lets talk. But in the other room." The smuggler got stiffly to her feet, and stalked to the living area where she dug out the bottle of whiskey.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her movements matched Arya's almost to a T - a stiff rise to her feet, hunched shoulders, a tense expression on her face - but as soon as her eye passed over Sol she paused. It was time he knew about her; and Arya for that matter, and at the least he deserved a dignified attitude from her. It was true, this sudden realization that there was a Loveloxx Lupine about had startled her to the point of acting short and almost angrily even, but the time for shock was long past.

Straightening up, the Lupine squared her shoulders and gave him a reassuring smile. She bowed her head, gesturing to the door with a widespread arm to indicate that he go first.

[Rev Solomon]

It was maddening after so long in isolation - Solomon wanted to pepper Loklorien with questions, ask about the last twenty years, find out if she was still among the Faithful, and if she'd found any others. Even how the Civil War was going - news was so distorted by the time it got out to Dantooine that he could never be sure of what he'd heard. But as long as Arya was an unknown quotient, he would have to exercise his patience.

He tipped his head toward Lok and followed the smuggler into the living room. He waited until both ladies had taken their seats, and he found a natural fulcrum between them and sat down. Then, realizing he still had his stunstick in hand, he looped it into his belt so it dangled at his hip.

"At the risk of sounding out of touch, I believe I'm the only person in this room who hadn't heard the word 'Lupine' until ten minutes ago. Though I might be able to hazard a guess at what it means."

[Arya Ravenwing]

The tumbler she'd been using earlier had fallen off the table and rolled to the far corner of the room, lodged between a cabinet and the floor. Arya was squatting down and picking it up with a whiskey bottle tucked under her arm when the other two walked into the living area.

She straightened, keeping Loklorien in her sights and not turning her back to her. Unconsciously she found herself not able to meet the other woman's eyes. A direct stare was a challenge to the beast inside, and while Arya usually was all about challenges and direct stares, it felt wrong.

Arya suddenly realized that her body language was shifting to submissive. No eye contact, head to the side. Approaching obliquely from an angle. Earlier she'd been too worked up to listen to the signals that her vornskr nature was giving her, but the beast seemed afraid of Loklorien. Wanted to submit, because the beast knew that Loklorien was stronger.

The smuggler slowly poured herself a generous tumbler of whiskey, and then plopped into the booth, still holding the bottle. The other two joined her, and Solomon spoke first.

"At the risk of sounding out of touch, I believe I'm the only person in this room who hadn't heard the word 'Lupine' until ten minutes ago. Though I might be able to hazard a guess at what it means."

Arya tipped up her drink, betraying no change in expression at the strong flavor of the alchohol. "Hazard being the operative word there." At the looks the other two gave her, she put down her cup. "What! We're dammed shapeshifting people-eaters. No offense, but I really don't know all that much about Lupines either. My mother told me stories but... I thought they were just crazy-person stories. I don't really remember anything about them."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"We do not eat people," s'Il corrected firmly. She leaned back a small ways in the booth and rested her hands palm down on the table's surface. Her expression turned thoughtful as she let her memories take her back, remembered the lessons her own father would give to her about their people. That Arya's mother succumbed to insanity was not a surprise; it had become increasingly rare for Lupines to remain sane even in their middle years. That her father had was a pleasant thing in retrospect. Now, whether s'Il herself did... her contemplation hardened into a grimace at the thought of Klavius.

What are you doing. You are being too quiet.

I have no desire to talk with you, Apex. Leave me alone.

Leave him alone? Now that was an odd thought. Brushing all that to the wayside, s'Il cleared her throat and looked to Arya."Your mother was not an oddity; toward the last years of our time many of us went mad. It was unavoidable; with sterility came inbreeding, and with that came madness... "

The Lupine paused, and bit her lip. "But I am getting ahead of myself." Her hands moved and she loosely intertwined her fingers together. Her eye locked with Arya's.

"We were first made to 'bell the cat', as it were."

And on she went, telling of the beginning of it all; of Townsend Loveloxx and Melkhiah Losstarot and their feud that reached its' devastating hand across eons of future generations.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon listened carefully, interrupting only occasionally to ask for clarification. The story was extraordinary - not that he hadn't heard of entire races playing God with their genomes before, but never to this extent - and all for hatred of the Force.

So that explained why Arya changed so violently, and why Loklorien had been so docile. Solomon had plenty he still wanted to ask - where Lok had come from, how she ended up at the Jedi temple - but that would wait for later. Arya's questions were about her very nature. He would defer to them.

[Arya Ravenwing]

The whiskey was spreading its warmth through her body by the time Loklorien was done with her story. The smuggler offered the bottle to Solomon, but he declined.

"So. Genetic manipulations going back hundreds of years? And you're... we're the last two? And we can't reproduce."

Esalis wanted Loklorien. To make more, Arya imagined, or discover the secret behind the extraordinary genetic engineering. She frowned, "Do you know what happened to my family, then?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"I do not, but I know where to find the best records of what happened to your family."

Which was true; s'Il had never concerned herself with the details of Loveloxx history; she knew much, but the details of each Loveloxx House had never been something she felt to be delved into. Of course now it seemed things had changed drastically.

She hesitated a few moments, thinking on how best to approach Arya's previous question.

"The last two adult Lupines, yes," she answered finally - almost haltingly even. It was the first time that she showed any sort of outward uncertainty.

"I have a daughter."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon's eyes darted her way in surprise. If her species was enough to put her on the Empire's wanted list - and if it was even possible Arya had been hired to track her down because of it - why let a stranger so deeply into her confidence?

Of course, there were other questions that sprung to mind. Questions about the next generation of Force-adepts in a hostile galaxy.

"And you daughter, does she have your... abilities as well?" he asked cautiously, hoping Loklorien would apprehend both meanings.

[Arya Ravenwing]

A kid?!

Krasst.

"Thought you just got done telling me we are the last and we can't reproduce with non-Lupes." Her tone suggested that something must have been a lie. If not all of it.

The reversion warning beeped from the cockpit, and the smuggler pushed out of the booth and got to her feet. "Real space reversion in two minutes. Should be just another few for refueling and then we can be off again to wherever you wish." Arya walked up the passage to the cockpit to supervise the transition.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her tone of voice became short, and her gaze like blue steel.

"It was not something I had foreseen. I don't even know why myself."

s'Il's hands gripped themselves a bit tighter, to the point that the skin over her knuckles began to whiten. "Everything I have; all the records and notes and journals have not helped me. I've looked through them all, and can find nothing."

There is another avenue to search, but she wished to exhaust her other resources first.

Her hands relaxed as she addressed Sol.

"She is a Lupine yes, but she isn't Force sensitive." The odd relief in her eye as she said this was easily seen, but the meaning behind it she would have to explain to him in private.

[Rev Solomon]

With Arya's departure, the two Jedi were, at least temporarily, alone.

Solomon rose from his fixed seat and sat down at the table opposite Loklorien so they could speak more comfortably. "I've got so many questions I'm not quite sure where to begin."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya sat down abruptly in the cockpit, propping her feet up on the console as the countdown timer ticked down. A minute to go.

This was too much, really. All of this. She should just dump Loklorien on the surface of Sump, call Esalis or Sevon or whoever it was she was calling when she activated the device she'd been given.

All the things she should do ran through her head as Wing of the Raven reverted to real space smoothly. Above them floated the putrid planet that was Sump. Surrounded by orbital junk, Arya quickly switched to manual steering, and thumbed the intercomm system. "We're here."

[Con't here (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16376)]