One night stands and out-stretched hands

[Sanis Prent]

(The light of dawn hit my face like a concrete boxing glove to a glass jaw, waves of nausea from a night I couldn't remember adding insult to injury. Bloodshot eyes struggled to squeeze away the light from the window while I winced in the world around me. The sheets were soft. That was a change from the usual. The soft smell of jasmine insence almost disguised the hard smell of whiskey still on my breath. I took a breath in, and moaned it out as the murderous crash of a morning hangover's headache rattled in my skull like a million ricocheting bullets. Time slowed, and I could hear the agonizing pulse of blood rushing in my temples, scolding me of the sins I'd treated myself to the night before. At least they had some idea of it. I was without a thought in my head. Maybe it was the feeling of stiletto heels dancing the tango on the top of my brain, but I could barely focuse on where I was. Everything hurt...the room's pastel colors mingling with the pink and yellow sunrise...flash-searing my eyeballs into submission.

I gulped down a hard swallow of thick spittle from the night before, still tasting of the liquid sin I'd immersed myself in. Bourbon, the bitch. She and I had a history...and it was as sordid, sultry, and dirty as I wanted it to be.

I yawned, running a hand through a head of unkept hair. The sun through the window had lost its blinding glare...its warmth tingling on my exposed skin. I lay still for a moment, waiting for the nausea to fade...wanting nothing better than to hang my head underneath a faucet full of second-rate lukewarm tapwater.

Movement to the side caught my attention. I wasn't sleeping alone. A smirk crossed my face. Apparently my reputation preceeded me, and I did not disappoint. Although it had taken time for me to get over having my heart ripped out of my chest with a rusty spoon and torn to pieces, I couldn't sign myself over to be in mourning forever. Maybe I was just a complicated man, seemed nobody understood me like the touch of a woman did.

The thought of that stared me in the face like a grizzled riverboat poker hustler, and I blinked first. I loved Daleethria more than I loved myself. That wasn't saying much, considering I had probably drank enough to drop a bantha the night before. I'd been living a life of romantisized self-destruction since dad was murdered....and she'd been the only thing beautiful enough in my life to be put on a pedestal.

And she was taken as quickly as she was found. The bitter realization of loss was slow to set in, but quick when I didn't want it. So I was back...to the same existence that had suited me just fine for 25 years. Another drink, another toke, another faceless dame on a night that I wouldn't remember. There was no cherry on my sundae...there was no silver lining on my cloud. All dogs didn't go to heaven, some just slept around where the other dogs lay. A dog-eat-dog world, and I'd been here more times than I could remember.

Here's to the life.

The sound of shifting sheets greeted my ears like a drumroll, a crescendo of drama leading up to the total recall of my last debaucherous evening. An arm draped across my chest, fingers playing with the hair. The skin was cocoa tan, and soft as silk. The nails were sharp, I could feel the pinpricks of pressure as they touched my chest. A sigh next to me, and more shifting. Platinum-colored hair spilled like glitterdust over a pillow. The signs were all favorable, but I was reading the wrong horoscope.

Her head turned, and the sudden gut-rendering effect of total disclosure ran ice-cold spikes of shock down my veins.

I'd done the dirty with the Devil herself.

Somewhere, on some damnforsaken planet, I could hear Murphy laughing in his grave. All that can go wrong had screwed me with all the force of a superlaser.

A death-knell of a sigh escaped my lips. Had I sat down to think about this...I should've known that it would've happened eventually. There were only so many pretty faces in the galaxy. As luck would have it, most of em had black hearts to boot.

She shifted back into her sheets, unconcious motion settling to a standstill. I pondered making an escape under such impossible odds. I had less of a chance than a quadruple-amputee Gungan with parkinsons disease winning the pole at the Malastare pod race...and that was optimism speaking for me.

Peeling the sheets away from me with painstaking caution, I tried it anyway. What was she gonna do if she caught me, have her way with me again?

Not really a loss so much as a pyrrhic victory. I'd live with that.)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri drifted out of a dream and into a better one. Under her hands was the ultimate trophy, Sanis Prent, and he was in her bed. And naked. Hungover too, most likely. She purred slightly, and shifted against him. Her pillow began moving away from her. Ahhh, awake, jI see...

Sass pushed herself up on an elbow and pulled him back in closer. He smelled terrible. "Good morrrnjing, Sanjis." She reached under the covers to say hello. "How do you ljike yourrr eggs?"

His eyes were bloodshot, and he seemed to be having trouble focusing on her face. Sasseeri purred and snuggled in next to him again, her face nestled against his neck. "I trrrust you slept well?"

[Sanis Prent]

(Her body pressed against mine, supple skin radiating heat to the touch. My headache worsened, taunting me, over and over, rubbing my nose in the poodoo I'd gotten myself into the prior evening. I had nothing in my defense. The evidence was damnifying and incontravertible. The evidence was also handling the suspect at the moment. I was torn between being pissed off and being turned on. She'd gotten me in a pretty noose, all shiny silver and studded with diamonds.

Her roaming hand went south of the border, and made acquaintances. She was hungry for something hot for breakfast, and I had that nagging feeling that asking about how I wanted my eggs was a rhetorical question. I needed a shower. I needed a drink. I needed a distraction before history repeated itself. The nagging dry feeling in my mouth got worse...guilt and a four-alarm hangover giving me cottonmouth. My tongue struggled to form words...sandpaper against the roof of my mouth.)

I...need a shower.

(I took care to un-acquaint Sasseeri from myself, keeping claws away from places I'd rather them not be. She relented enough for me to get breathing room, and I slowly clambored out of bed, scratching my bare chest in the morning sun, wondering where the frell the refresher was in this joint.)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

He lurched out of bed after disentangling himself from her hands, and Sasseeri pouted a little before following him out. Sanis stood there in the middle of the room, stark naked and scratching his chest. Sasseeri slid in under his arm, causing him to start, and purred softly. "The rrrefrrresherrr jis thrrrough that doorrrway."

She pointed a delicately clawed finger at the archway between bathroom and bedroom. The sonic shower had been replaced by a water system, complete with fluffy white robes and a bath mat. Sanis stared a little bleary eyed at the completely see through glass doors of the shower. He stank like old beer. Sasseeri gave his enticing bottom a pinch, and then patted it, sending him towards the refresher. He went.

She sprawled on the bed and watched him walk. Perrrhaps we wjill have an encorrre of last njight. Wjith less whjiskey. Sasseeri watched him turn on the water and climb into the shower. He was so... perrrfect. There was no other word to describe him. Her breath came deeper, and then she couldn't bear it any longer.

Sasseeri sauntered over to the shower.

[Sanis Prent]

(I felt like Lady Macbeth, scrubbing and scrubbing...an invisible stain that wouldn't go away. Out, damn spot, out. I felt dirty, and it was the kind of dirty that I couldn't scrub off with hotel soap.

The cold water helped the rest, though. Chill to the touch, it cut through the bleary haze like a hailstorm...leaving nerve endings seared raw. I had no liquid alibi anymore. I was standing on my own two feet, if not hobbling and stumbling around. The headache was slipping away, but Jimmity Cricket was coming back from his vacation to Margaritaville, and the little bastard wasn't wearing a smile.

Hindsight being 20/20, I wanted my hangover back. I wished I never turned over. Ignorance is bliss. Instead...I had to come to grips with the fact that I'd lost yet another battle in the war. Brushing back strands of hair in my face, the revelation struck me like a church bell...low and weeping. I didn't like to lose...but somewhere over the course of the last evening, she'd seen to it. It wasn't the first time my libido had gotten me in trouble...but it was the most expensive. I'd pay for this every day, with every toss back of her hair, every sly "come hither" stare, and all that other sneaky witchcraft that only a dame like her could cook up.

As the water and soap coursed over my body, I began thinking about the future. She'd won the battle...but she didn't have what it took to bag up the war. She'd have me for maybe another day, then it was back to the Arkanis sector...and far away from Coruscant. I couldn't risk her feeling clingy...feelin the urge to spend a few extra days at the city planet just because her little romp didn't leave her fulfilled. Now that she'd gotten a taste...she'd be wanting more. I had a day at best to make her reconsider.

Aside from my bad case of tainted love, I was clean as a whistle, the cold water spilling down my chest and back as a finale. I turned, peering out of the perfectly transparent shower door. The saucy little tramp, she was loving it. I was her own private canary in a gilded cage, strutting and prancing to her own stacatto purring. I turned fully to face her, watching a sly, hedonistic grin appear on her face. I had to admit...she seemed more approachable when she was naked as a jaybird.

But then again...thats probably what I told myself last night.)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

You arrre jin my pocket, sweetljing, and jin my bed. Well, he had been in her bed. The fact that their relationship had yet to be consumated mattered little to Sasseeri. Sanis didn't know that nothing besides drunken groping had happened. And a smart business woman played the cards in her hand.

Sanis himself happened to be in the sabacc pot. He was such a beautiful prize. Sasseeri handed him a towel through the door. He seemed shy about coming out, although there wasn't much to hide behind. She winked at him, and firmly pulled him out by the arm. "Don't be shy, Sanjis. Afterrrall, you werrren't last njight." She pulled his head down for a quick kiss, holding him firmly so he couldn't get away.

He broke free, his face a little red from the heat of the shower. Sasseeri remained pressed against him, her hands running down his shoulders. "You said something about breakfast?"

"jIndeed jI djid." She pulled away, turning and slipping into a robe. "jIt should be herrre shorrrtly. Rrroom serrrvjice jis so convenjient." She smiled, licking her lips.

[Sanis Prent]

(I took the robe she had so conveniently placed beside the shower. Toweling the residual water off my body, the robe took care of the rest, as I made myself presentable. The moment I slid the robe on, her blue eyes were already tearing my garments off again. I humored her, and did the same.

Room service arriving with clockwork precision...once again it pointed to the fact that this was not a chance meeting. She knew exactly what she was doing. C'est la vie was no longer an acceptable answer from her. She wasn't one to leave loose ends.

In the meantime...I was hungry. Booze ate away at you from the inside, and by the time you recovered, you were a hollow man. I wasn't one to lay down in my reverie. I was man enough to admit my screwups, and still be able to sit down and tie on the feed bag. Clear concience? Never. Forgetful concience...you bet. Amazing how scrambled eggs in the morning could make you forget your shortcomings for ten minutes.)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She was ravenous, and sat down before her plates, already lifting food to her mouth as she settled in her seat. Sanis was enjoying his eggs, although she could hardly bear to see him eat so sparsely. It seemed unhealthy.

Sasseeri watched him as she chewed a mouthful of bacon, wiping the grease from her chin with the back of a hand. She trembled with hunger...for him, not for food. His gaze reached hers as a piece of bacon went flying by him, and she winked again. She'd ordered a side of bacon (a whole side), a huge ham and cheese omelete, a grilled whole fish, complete with eyes, a plate of sausages, and a carafe of water. For her, that is. The fish she picked up with both hands, tearing the flesh from the slender bones with her teeth. She would have preferred a slightly different menu, but the kitchen only served breakfast foods at this hour. And a plate of crawling myroshi worms might be good for breakfast on Ryloth, but certainly not to someone of Sasseeri's delicate appetites.

She reached across the table for a stray piece of sausage, and plucked the fork out of Sanis' hand. "Eat ljike a man, Sanjis." Sass smiled, indicating her own hands. "They arrre useful tools, arrre they not?" She treated him to another saucy wink before delving back into her meal.

[Sanis Prent]

(I stared down at a fish, and it stared back at me, moments before she snapped it up with gusto. As usual...she was eating for four, with table manners that would make Jabba the Hutt shudder. I tried to play it oblivious, but she wouldn't have any part of that. She snatched my fork away, wanting me to play along.

What the hell...why not.

Halfway into the culinary experiment, I realized that forks were used to eat eggs for a reason. The yellow fluff fell apart at the touch, and what I could manage to pick up was so hot that it made me think twice about it. It was the slowest plate of eggs I'd ever eaten....and quite a bit were spread across the table, and on my arms, face, and robe.

I looked up at Sasseeri, the offal of an eviscerated sausage splattering on my nose. She was as happy as a pig in a slop bucket, and about as spotless. Her side of the table was littered with grease spots and random shreds of uneaten scrap.

Despite the whole nauseating scene, it was almost refreshing. Made me think about how many dames I'd taken out to fancy restaurants, who only ordered a salad and water.

But Sasseeri wasn't just another dame...and she had more than one ravenous appetite.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri was pleased...very pleased with herself. And with Sanis. He was simply covered with eggs and crumbs, but gamely still making a go at eating with his hands. Damn, but he was sexy. She licked her fingers, one by one, all the while staring at him and his messy meal.

While he searched for a napkin, Sass left her seat and sidled over to him, holding a purr deep in her throat. Having him here, in her room, and willingly on top of that... Oh, we'll have a grrreat tjime, my pet. She seated herself in his lap, and took his hand in hers, flicking her tufted ears back and forth and wrapping her tail around his hips.

"Eatjing jis so jinjigorrratjing, jisn't jit?" She brought his hand to her mouth and sucked the eggs off his fingers.

[Sanis Prent]

(The jig was up, and halftime was over. Sasseeri was ready for dessert, and she'd found her heapin' helpin'. A part of me tried to comprehend how I had gotten to this predicament, and if I could get out of it anymore. It was a waste of thought. I was already so far past the point of no return I couldn't even remember what it looked like when I passed it.

I was no saint, by my own admission. I'd had a few culinary items sucked off my fingers before. However, scrambled eggs would go down in the book as the most avant-garde foreplay finger food I'd ever had the chance to experience. She licked at my fingers slow, and then faster, wrapping her lips around them and sucking them clean, with a nymphotic glaze to her eyes. Half of me was turned on. Half of me wanted to count my fingers when she was done, so I could be sure on the number ten.

Her tail wrapped tight around my waist, as she drew herself close to me. Her rhythmic purr sent a shiver down my spine as she played her games. She didn't know it, but I was about to force a turnover. I let her get comfortable. Like the death star...she'd never see the proton torpedo till it already hit her.

I lifted up the thick white fabric of her robe from the back, catching a handful of her well-tanned backside in a tight squeeze. At the same time, I caught the nape of her neck with my lower lip, gently pressing and caressing with a roaming kiss. From there, the tip of my tongue traced a path from her jawline, to the base of one of her sensitive ears, which I kissed and nibbled slowly, testing the water. I hit all the right spots, and used every dirty trick I'd spent years playing on the various other ladies. I doubt she'd feel that I was being insincere. Sincerity didn't matter to her. She wanted only the results, and I was bringing the whole show.)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri purred as Sanis kissed her neck, and could barely believe her good fortune. Her little deception had paid off, and he was much more pliable when he thought they had already ...how was it that humans put it? ..done it. She grabbed a handful of the hair on the back of his head, and kissed him ravenously.

She was dying of thirst, and Sanis was the oasis in the desert. About frrrelljing tjime, too. She liked the feel of him. A lot. And, quite apparently, he was having the same thoughts.

Twisting around, Sasseeri straddled him in the chair, kissing him still, but tearing at his food spotted robe with her hands. There was no need for words, and at this point she was to excited to talk. She leaned into him as he pulled her robe off, exposing her silky tanned skin.

There was a lurch, and then they were on the table, food and dishes crashing to the floor. Sass had wanted the upper hand, but Sanis was nuzzling her neck again, lightly biting her, and she realized that whatever he wanted to do was just fine. She could have flipped him over and benchpressed him if she'd wanted, but that would hardly have served her purpose. His hands traced her form, and then she couldn't bear it any longer.

Sasseeri clutched at his shoulders, and they turned so that she was on top of him, but then the table gave way and they crashed to the ground. "Sanjis..." He shushed her with a kiss.
______

A maid came to the door, noticed the Do Not Disturb sign was up, and turned to leave. There was quite a commotion inside, either someone was fighting, or... She blushed, then smiled, and then covered her ears and ran for the next room to clean.

[Sanis Prent]

(Time slowed. Weeks seemed to pass, as Sasseeri and I became a tangle of roaming hands, twining tongues, and wrapping legs. Existance became a blur of motion, merged into a static pulse of sound...the mingling sighs, moans, and screams all melting into white noise in the back of my head. We explored each other fully, plying the seven seas, searching for our New World...our Undiscovered Country. I was sure that many others had wandered on the same path, but I hoisted my flag nonetheless...and claimed it as my own.

She didn't leave much to the imagination or desire...and she let loose on me, her aggression and her desire mingling into one undescribable gale-force motion that had no end in sight. I unfurled my sail, and took my three hour tour. The ride was anything but smooth, but the motion of the ocean was a rhythm I could fit into.

From the kitchen to the living room to the bedroom and back again...there was no beginning nor end. It was one endless cycle. I found myself kissing Deja Vu as many times as I kissed Sasseeri, and the strange feeling of being in a place many times before was washed away by another break in momentum. I was tossed around too often to think, and soon found it easier to release all conjecture on the matter...and ride it out.

Tired and exhausted...I saw the sun change hue to a deep orange, preparing to drop below the forest canopy in the bedroom window. A sheen of sweat covered my body, and I exhaled. Had I even taken a breath before?

Sasseeri lay asleep on her side, unconciously breathing in an exhausted half-pant. The sheets that did manage to touch her naked body half-clung to her from perspiration. I paused, unsure if the slightest movement would start it all over again.

A few moments, and I mustered the courage to stand up from the bed, stretching somewhat. I noticed my clothes, neat, clean, and folded on a chair nearby.

By the time Sasseeri would wake up, I would be long gone, and halfway back on my trip to Coruscant. I didn't feel the need to let her know. She knew exactly where to find me, if she so desired. We weren't Ozzie and Harriet. We weren't Leia and Han. There was nothing lovey dovey about the things we did. I was a rolling stone, and she was a user. Our business had no higher meaning, other than to pass the time.

A little pressing of the flesh, and my tango with her would be done.

At least...I could tell myself that, and it might make me sleep easier at night. I felt like a sellout, but without somebody to sell out. In this topsy-turvy galaxy...whether I had won or lost wasn't clear anymore.

I slipped on my ionian spacer's jacket...the last of my gear. Watching Miss Reeouurra snooze on the bed, I made my exit with as little noise as possible.)

[Navaria Tarkin]

It was another rainy night on this planet. Everyday this standard week seemed to be fulfilling its promise that this was indeed a jungle planet. The humidity was exceptionally thick this day. Even inside the bar, Navaria could feel her clothes clinging to her body and it was quite uncomfortable. Not too long after entering the Bar and Grill, Navaria removed her outer robe in favor of her breathable inner robes. Then the storm outside crescended into another violent musical as thunder and lightning led the symphony. Even in the cool room, the humidity crept inside and everyone could feel it at that point. Drinks were the common choice on the menu as throats became dry and movement was sluggish.

All Navaria wanted was some fresh air to breathe into her lungs. This heavy air filled with moisture was dulling.

How long had she been watching beings come and go was evident by her own mouth being parched. A funny taste started to form on her tongue that had to be extinguished quickly. She reached for her glass of namana juice and drank from it plentifully to remove the horrid taste and refresh her senses.

The sweat along her brow seemed to vanish along with her thirst and that's when she heard a voice.

"Namana Juice."

It was the shock of hearing her own voice that caused her to choke on what she was drinking. Navaria could feel the inquisitive stares in her direction but that wasn't her concern.

"Always a favorite."

She knew her mouth was hanging open as she wiped it off with her sleeve. There was someone sitting across from her that wasn't there before but it was the same eyes and face that stared back at her. The hair was different but it was the same color. Clothes that she would have worn if perhaps she weren’t a Jedi adorned the body of someone she hadn't seen since coming here ...

Navaria blinked wondering if the heat and weather was causing a hallucination but she was still there.

"Da ... Daleethria?"

[Daleethria]

Daleethria knew her presence would be a shock to her maker as much as it was to Sanis. Poor Navaria didn't even realize she was talking to herself and no one but her could see the late Daleethria.

"Long time no see, Navaria. Considering things ... best to speak with me as I do you to avoid any more stares."

[Navaria Tarkin]

She tilted her head and stared at Daleethria, not sure what she meant. Navaria glanced from side to side and noticed that there were indeed various beings within ear shot that looked at her as if she was nuts.

Point well-taken.

There was much confusion in her voice, even as it was spoken through telepathy. She used the napkin that came with her drink and began to clean up the spill she created and looked back at her clone. It finally dawned on her that she wasn't looking at her but through her! Daleethria was outlined in a faint blue aura and in her studies she knew what this meant.

Daleethria had perished and was now one with the Force.

Navaria kept it under control and continued to wipe the table.

By the Force! What happened to you???

[Sanis Prent]

(Walking down the stairs, and back into the bar, I light a glitterstim cigarette...the acrid smoke lightly veiling my eyes from the surroundings for a moment. It was a consolation...the stim flowing into my veins and deadening the pain of a night full of bad decisions.

I stepped out into the rest of the dirty galaxy...with no past or future to weigh on my mind. I had things to do, but they were only winding and meandering steps down a road to a place I didn't know the name. Happily Ever After didn't enter into it. I was looking for the short-term...a wicked fix to deaden the pain.

My eyes connected to a pair of brown orbs that I could've sworn I'd had the pleasure with before. The face was hauntingly beautiful...and I seemed to hear whispers of her voice, my better half almost waking up to her nectarine scent. I felt a pang of longing, and was bludgeoned by a wave of shame. I'd asked myself many times what would happen if I couldn't keep mourning her forever. Would it make her cry if she knew I couldn't go on?

Suddenly I realized exactly who I had sold out. It was that sweet dream of Yesterday...riding away on a white horse over the horizon.

People change...but I felt just as lost and alone as I did before. Navaria Tarkin's visage could only keep me chained to my mistakes...and taunt me of everything I'd lost.

I couldn't bear looking at her anymore...

I stamped out the stim. I couldn't be anybody but myself, but maybe the next time I heard the name Daleethria in half-tones on the wind's echo...I'd remember everything she'd taught me.)

[Daleethria]

Navaria hadn't noticed him standing there, watching her with wishful hopes and dreams. Her maker was too awestruck in the realization that her clone protector had perished. Sanis was so deep within her soul that Daleethria knew of his escapades upstairs. She had to be honest with herself. It did hurt but how could she blame him? Daleethria fell in love with who Sanis was and what he taught her. To expect anything less then what he was doing to cope with her death would be against his nature.

"Your sister, Sorsha, was the one that killed me."

And Sanis didn't know that she was here ... now. It wasn't the right time and it was uncertain if Navaria would hear her out completely.

Now she waited for the expected response from Navaria but her maker had a vacant look as if Daleethria was thinking in Roonian.

Gently she probed Navaria's mind to find the cause of her confusion. Her eyes opened in amazement to what she found. Navaria's memories were very incomplete to the time after she was reborn in her new body.

"Perhaps I should take a few steps back, Navaria. After your "Death" at Sith Kat's magick, you were able to convince my sister Dalethrria to have your body. Then we came to the Order and I agreed with you to stay here to train as a Jedi while I left to observe what I could."

So far from the glimmer of understanding in those identical blue eyes, Navaria was keeping up with Daleethria.

"Your life has been sheltered, as I wished it to protect you, but you have been too sheltered. It seems that Leia has not told you everything ... maybe she was trying to protect you since we know how fragile your mind is."

Daleethria felt the pain in her heart for saying that as a matter of fact. She knew that statement stung but Navaria knew it to be true.

"Those are the facts as you know them. Ogre and Dalethria are married, and your sisters are Athena and Kat. Now ... what you don't know ..."

[Navaria Tarkin]

"... so, Kat and Grendel ended up going their separate ways."

So she's with a Nebari?

Her nose scrunched up in confusion and Navaria looked around the room as if looking for someone. Playing up that she was having a silent conversation with a spirit wasn't easy.

What's a Nebari?

Luckily, Daleethria was patient otherwise all these questions that Navaria was throwing at her, and there were a lot of them, would drive most people nuts. To simply answer her maker's question, she placed an image inside Navaria's mind of what Tirsa (http://darthogre.clanpages.com/sorsha/pics/tirsa/misc/033.jpg) looked like.

The memory of her capture flashed in her mind as she remembered seeing that woman on Meras (http://pub2.ezboard.com/fswvstitanicthejedicouncil.showMessage?topicID=237 4.topic).

"Not all are like her. They are a race of conformists and Tirsa was able to break free of their grasp. The Nebari are still looking for her though, that much I do know."

Before the conversation continued to get sidetracked, Daleethria quickly moved on.

"Months passed after your apparent death and eventually a battle between Kat and Anbira happened. From what I was able to gather, it was some sort of test.

Kat was killed in that fight, Navaria."

The Jedi's head snapped back to look at Daleethria with wide eyes.

"What?! What do you mean she died?!"

Daleethria held out a hand to try and calm Navaria.

"As with your death, your sister's was not the final death. She was reborn inside a clone body and took the name of Sorsha Kasajian."

Navaria tried to file through her thoughts on the matter. It was as if her kinship with her estranged sister was heightened for their death's caused their rebirth in the same manner. The part of Dalethria that wanted a family was the same part of Navaria that wished it too. Those feelings were so entrenched in Navaria's psyche that she saw Sorsha as a sister as well ...

"And she was the one that killed you?"

Daleethria nodded.

"But why you? I'm the one she hates because I was the danger of her loosing Dalethria."

"Sanis."

She blinked.

"Sanis?"

[Sanis Prent]

(I turned to the sound of my name being called from Navaria's lips. The voice was unfamiliar, but I'd heard it in every dream I'd ever had. Her soothing timbre seemed less spoken than created by my lonely heart. For the slightest of seconds, the light cast through the window struck her sienna eyes...throwing glittering diamonds in my direction. I was seeing double, but seeing it all at once. The hazy fog of confusion stopped me cold in my tracks. Navaria and I had met...but the circumstances weren't the best, to put it lightly.

It was something I said.

Always something I said, it seemed.

I felt a red flush creeping on my face, as it seemed that everybody in the bar had vanished except for her and I. With a wave of realization, the other bargoers rushed back into perception with a crescendoing bustle. I was staring.

I never stared.

I blinked away in frustration over a million different faults, real or not. Donning a plastic smile, I shrugged off the funny feeling deep in my gut, and turned toward the bar...intent on buying whatever liquor would burn the worst going down. That didn't stop me from casting another glance back at her.

She was Navaria. Just had to make sure. Yeah...)

[Navaria Tarkin]

"Sanis crossed Sorsha's path and it was her revenge to kill me in order to make him suffer. Sanis and I were lovers."

Daleethria's presence sure set the tone for the rest of this evening. Everything was a complete and utter shock to her but then as the information began to dissolve in her brain, Navaria could see how all the pieces began to fit. There was a hidden reason why Sanis came to see her that day in the bar. He knew not only of Dalethria but also of Daleethria.

"And stop talking out loud. You are doing it again."

Navaria blushed feeling rather stupid for doing that again. Learning that Kat died and had lived broke her concentration to speak through the Force.

She could feel the hairs begin to stand on the back of her neck. Someone was watching her and watching her very intently. There was no danger but Navaria wanted to know why someone was taking such an interest towards her. Probing with her mind, she followed that intense feeling and it led her to lock to a familiar pair of eyes.

Sanis!

The Jedi could see her clone counterpart looking confused.

He's in the bar ... watching me. He must have heard me talking to myself.

She frowned at herself but couldn't help but wonder ... was it mere coincidence that Sanis happened to be here.

[Daleethria]

Daleethria snapped her head around and it was true, there he was.

Damn, she thought to herself. Sanis was supposed to have left.

She turned around as if this didn't bother her but then narrowed her eyes at her maker.

"Stop staring at him. He will think it an invitation to come over."

Navaria's neck muscles tightened in embarrassment and averted her eyes away from the smuggler's.

[Sanis Prent]

(I'd ask myself a thousand times as I walked to the table...why was I doing it?

A thousand times back, I'd tell myself I didn't know. I was a skipping record, sitting on the turntable with nobody to put me back on the straight and narrow.

I always had her voice in my head...it had become such a part of me, I hardly noticed. Maybe what I needed was just a face to put the words to. Just an idea of where I'd left off, so I could close my eyes, and get right back on over again.

My legs froze halfway to her table, locked in a glacier of doubt and self-rejection. I didn't sugar-coat my home-cooked blues. I wasn't smiling and wringing my hands in denial, for myself or for Daleethria. She'd always said she loved who I was...but that was somebody I just couldn't get along with these days. I looked at the man in the mirror every morning, and we usually left arguing with each other.

Navaria and Daleethria only shared a face in common. I'd have to explain that to myself, even if it killed me. I kept going, shaking concrete blocks off my feet, and telling me that in some ego/id complex kind of way...that I needed this.

Like I needed a shot of whiskey, or a good kick in the teeth.

I was playing Corellian roulette...and I heard a blaster shot with every footstep I made. Sighing a mixture of victory and resignation, I stood by her table.)

C-....(ahem), sorry. Can I sit down?

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

With a start, Sasseeri sat up, her hair falling in her eyes. She had been having a dream, and that woman had stolen Sanis away from her. Wajit, that...Dalee jis dead. jIt was only a drrream. She turned to her right, and saw the empty space where Prent had been.

Sass shivered with delight, and reached up to the edge of the bed and pulled herself up off the floor. Her tail wrapped itself around her arm as she stood on the carpet. She walked over to the full length mirror in the refresher, and studied her reflection.

"He jis yourrrs, Sasseerrrrji." She licked her lips, Sanis' taste still there on her tongue. Their lovemaking had been rough and frenzied, as evident by the slight bruises on her body. Of course, falling to the floor from a table would do that to you. She checked under her nails, seeing some dried blood on her claws. Sanis would remember this for a long time.

Sass knew she was an exceptional lover, and she knew that he would be back. Not here, not today... But he was the only thing she wanted. And she wanted him fully. Soon he would want her as well.

The feline female threw on some clothes and headed downstairs for lunch.

[Navaria Tarkin]

"Tell him no."

It was more of a command coming from Daleethria then advice on how to handle this. Sanis was have relieved that he was standing there at Navaria's table and the other part of him was scared. They were so powerful and so strong that it was bleeding off of him, causing the Jedi to wince slightly at the dull headache that appeared. He was so lost and alone but had convinced himself otherwise.

I can't. That would be cruel.

The headache became more prominent as it began to throb at a continued pace.

"Please."

You said you were lovers. If you loved him, you wouldn't ask me to turn him away.

Navaria removed her brown robe that was placed across the empty chair to her left. As she turned to drape it across her own, she noticed that Daleethria was staring intently at Sanis. It was strange seeing her clone express an emotion like confusion and uncertainty. Daleethria was always sure of herself but now that wasn't the case. To break that stoic face, Sanis must have touched her deeply. It never crossed Navaria's mind that anyone would ever break the quiet and distant demeanor of Daleethria.

She rested a hand upon the table and motioned to the now vacant seat.

"Did you want anything to drink? The weather today is rather brutal."

[Daleethria]

Eyes that wanted to shed tears that could not exist. Navaria's words hit dead center inside her cold heart. They stung just as strongly as the words Daleethria had spoken not too long ago of Navaria's frail psyche. If she were still alive, never would she have even considered turning Sanis away. Hell, if she were still alive they would be on the Layla trying to figure out how to back stab Sasseeri and come out ahead. Now those lonely nights that were felt with compassion and fire were found in that feline's bed.

Death didn't cause Daleethria to loose her feelings. Being immersed in the Force heightened her perceptions of what occurred around her. Feelings, thoughts, motives ... all were clear and easily accessible. To have such insight when she was alive ...

She didn't realize she was reaching out for Sanis. Fingers that glowed softly from the blue light that surrounded them passed through his arm as effortlessly as it was to even attempt such an act.

How Daleethria missed the texture and coolness of his skin. To be held or even gently brushing up against Sanis by accident or design ... it always formed a place in her mind where she was safe. There were no voices but his alone ... no information overloading her senses.

It was just them ...

[Sanis Prent]

(Glancing past Navaria, I gazed through a window as the sky split open, spewing sheet after sheet of soaking rain torrents, amidst angry and foreboding lightning strikes. The staccato drumroll of thunderclaps seemed to set the tone, drenching us in cliche' melodrama as the rain drenched everything else outside. The flash of a distant lightning bolt caught Navaria's face in an eerily beautiful light. There was no longer any option to write this meeting off as chance.

I didn't believe in fate until I'd met her. Maybe it was just selective memory. I didn't like having my hands tied by that abstract concept...but if it meant that she was in charge, maybe I could ante up for an exception.

The hairs on my right arm stood up, embracing a touch that I could've sworn I'd felt before. Nothing but a cool breeze...but maybe I was looking for what the wind was carrying with it. I smiled...her scent was in the air. I wasn't a soothsayer, I wasn't a Jedi...I didn't subscribe to their voodoo crap. But nobody suspended my believe like Daleethria. Her voice was with me, even after her death. If I didn't know any better...I thought I could feel her touch.

Or maybe I just needed a drink. I was as high strung as a steel-cable guitar, and I'd bust a seam if I wasn't careful.

Sitting down slowly, I jumped out of my train of thought, to the sound of Navaria's voice. Probably a good thing. I was running on a high of self-conjecture and innuendo, spinning out of control faster than a one-winged TIE fighter.)

Yeah, I'll take a whi--

(I cut myself short. That amber hussy in a bottle was exactly how I'd gotten in trouble the last time. I needed to relax, but I needed to stay sharp. There was a fine line to teeter on.)

...eh, maybe just a Coruscant Iced Tea.

(My eyes closed momentarily. Was she here? I could almost feel the warmth of her skin. In the back of my mind, a singular thought.

--I still love you.)

[Navaria Tarkin]

One of the droids that commonly worked the bar rolled by and Navaria waved a hand to gain its attention. It swiveled its dome head around and twittered a response before spinning around and making its way to her table.

"Another Namana Juice and a Coruscant Iced Tea, please."

It whistled an affirmative and rolled to the bar to place the order.

Navaria returned her attention to Daleethria and Sanis. She was still lost in some place in her mind ... her eyes staring longingly at Sanis. She missed some sort of exchange that happened between them ... but it wasn't anything said in words. Maybe in thoughts ... nothing she could decipher. Sanis was far-gone from the intense look that he was given her previously. His eyes were studying her as if trying to make out what Navaria was about. It was then that the droid came and the Jedi was thankful she could pull herself away from his form.

Now those haunted eyes were closed and she didn't want to disturb his musings.

[Daleethria]

Her lips parted as if wanting to respond verbally to what was said ...

--I still love you.

Daleethria wasn't capable of saying those words before her death. It was through her thoughts and actions that Sanis felt the love that the clone held for him. Her mind fought with her heart, forcing her thoughts to stop in response to his mental call.

Instead ... her barriers came down and every emotion that she felt for this scoundrel of a man, flooded Sanis' senses for a few seconds before Daleethria slammed the door shut.

She turned away from him and bit her lower lip. Her hands came to rest upon the table as she concentrated on the grooves of the surface. How they once felt underneath her fingertips. It was cool, probably damp from the moisture in the air as well as the condensation of her maker's glass. Smooth with minor imperfections in the metal ...

[Sanis Prent]

(It was the briefest and most profound feeling that I had ever felt...and for once every raincloud over my head seemed to pass. Worries about Sorsha, worries about Sasseeri, worries about my own shortcomings and my tank of luck that was running on empty...they parted long enough for me to see exactly what I had left. Long-distance runners called it their "second wind". For me, it was just a second chance. Daleethria was a bag of half-answers, wrapped up in an enigma and dipped into a riddle. She was the only woman I'd met that I couldn't figure out, or cared enough to try. The cool, comforting touch of her kiss was as light as the spirit that she had become. I was afraid to whisper her name, because I just might wake up and scare the dream away.

The fact of the matter is, that in this hard-luck galaxy, there are a lot of oysters and only a few pearls. You find one shining exception to the drab rule in your world....and it becomes your world.

I was a fool to think she was gone from my life. I blinked, and she opened the floodgate of true feelings into me, and showed me that sometimes you could open pearls, and find more pearls. The sudden epiphany that beauty never died, it never faded away. Daleethria was more beautiful today than she'd ever been.

Not suprisingly, that was a stout show to top. I had the feeling that somewhere, the sneaky girl was trying to make me beautiful, too.

Guilt by association never sounded so sweet.

A warm tear built up in my eye, saline distorting Navaria's face like the ripples on a pond.)

Dalee...I never knew....never knew like that.

(Blinking away slightly, I let just enough realization slip in to know where I was. I wiped away the salty tear, and smiled...momentarily turning my attention to the girl sitting across from me.)

Navaria...

(I placed a hand carefully on her hand...trying not to startle her.)

I want you to do something for me.

(I slowly reached into my jacket pocket...pulling out a pair of rose-tinted glasses that I hadn't worn in months. The frames showed their age, as they were slightly nicked in some spots. I'm not a sentimental guy...but everybody makes exceptions.

I unfolded the sides of the glasses, and ever-so-gently, slid them onto Navaria's face.

A little bit of nostalgia set the mood, and we were exactly where it all began.

I met Daleethria for the first time all over again.)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Walking down the stairs and through the doors to the Bar and Grill, Sasseeri ran a clawed hand through her blonde hair. As she entered the main room, she paused, looking for a likely table for lunch. Or dinner. She smiled, licking her lips. Maybe both.

And then she saw him, sitting with his back to her. Looks ljike desserrrt jis herrre as well. She was mildly surprised, since she expected Sanis to have left already. He was talking to a woman, and was very caught up in their conversation, or whatever it was they were doing. She peered at them from across the room as she ordered her seafood platter from the droid. Sass didn't mind that he was talking to another woman. He'd be back to her bed soon enough. Of that she was confident.

Except forrr the fact that... No! It couldn't be! She knew that face sitting across from Sanis. Sasseeri growled unconsciously, digging a sharp nail into the table top until a passing waitress cleared her throat and set a drink in front of her.

[Daleethria]

"The first time we met ..."

Daleethria could see the hidden question in Navaria's eyes when the Jedi looked to her.

"... it was after I left you to Leia Solo. I came to the bar to learn and then ... he came to my table."

That night flashed before her eyes. Sanis sat down and talked to her while she said nothing but listened. Daleethria took in his form, scent and voice ... studying him like he was a specimen full of wondrous details. Everything that he did was new to her and it was strange knowing what was good and bad about him.

She hated that he smoked. Daleethria grabbed the stim he lit up and crushed it while stealing his almost full pack of them in his jacket pocket. Those red glasses that Sanis wore, which now Navaria did, were a fascination. She wanted to know what made seeing the world in a tint of red would be something a human wanted to do. And then ...

Daleethria laughed. There was no sound but Navaria heard the genuine laugh in her mind. Now she understood why Sanis was doing this with Navaria.

"Fix his hair."

[Navaria Tarkin]

Are you out of your mind???

Navaria was already confused when Sanis put these strange glasses on her. Everything was coated in differet shades of reds and to some extent pink. It was definately a sensation that was hard getting used to. She was only doing this because Sanis was in mourning still and eventhough Daleethria didn't say it ... she wanted the Jedi to go through with this. Whatever reason was going through that empirical mind of her clone's, there was a reason behind this.

"Just do it. He will know."

Navaria half frowned and looked at Sanis. He seemed like he was reliving something on some level that she herself couldn't understand. She tilted her head to the side and did notice that the smuggler's hair was quite disheveled. It looked like he just got out of bed and didn't care about combing it.

Her hand began to rise from the table but only came up for a short distance before being lowered.

"Please ..."

With a bit more confidence, her hand started to rise once more but was shaking ever so slightly.

"Start with the banges ..."

She was almost hoping that Sanis would pull his head away and Navaria stared at Daleethria.

"Trust me, Navaria."

And that was when her fingers gently brushed the stray strands of hair away from his forehead ...

[Dalethria Mal Pannis]

TTT :p

[Sanis Prent]

(A spark of realization exploded above me like a supernova. I'd know....I'd known it in the pit of my stomach, that somehow she was still there, and still looking down on me with caring eyes. As cool hands traced through my hair like summer raindrops, I offered no snappy words, no witty comeback. I was lost in the speck of sand running through the hourglass. Somehow, Navaria could hear clearly what I only thought was my own wishful thinking.

She could hear Daleethria, too. Her insistent grooming was testament enough to that.

I wanted to get away, I wanted to go be alone, before the dam broke and I lost my cool.

Nobody saw the tears I cried...the night that she went high away from me. I made sure the ones that followed were similarly hidden.

But as much as I wanted to pull back into myself, I hung onto the moment like a golden chain hanging high above stormy blue oceans.

The tear jumped off the side of my face, splashing down into my drink.

I could let that much slide....and a smile to go on top of it all, like sunlight rolling over stormclouds. The thoughts, and the touch...they drowned my blues away.

I smiled again, and slowly nodded my head, gently taking Navaria's hand and moving it away, squeezing once as I rested it back on the table.)

Thank you....thank you for this.

(I took a breath....the first in an eternity.)

[Daleethria]

She wanted to hold him, comfort him and love him. Taste the salty tear that slide down his cheek and kiss away all his pain until it turned into the desire that burned from the love between them.

Then it all changed.

Rage was never a word that entered her vocabulary. Daleethria kept that for Sith and beings that lashed out in a moment of pure hatred. Now it was a word that she was beginning to understand.

Daleethria wasn't sure when she stood up and noticed the table that Navaria and Sanis occupied was overturned. The area where the clone had been resting her hands, two large circular pieces were missing and the translucent blue hands rose in front of Daleethria in awe that she could do such a thing. A realization became to take substance.

If she could do this to a table ... what could she do to someone living?

A venomous grin parted her lips as she thought about the possibilities.

[Navaria Tarkin]

Her hands quickly became folded in her lap and Navaria looked down, trying hard to hide her reddened cheeks. The Padawan was at a lost for words to what just happened. It was special and something important happened here. Both Sanis and Navaria knew it.

The hair that rested loosely on her shoulder flipped behind her shoulder as she looked up. Navaria could feel some of the temperature leaving her face and finally found some courage to speak up, not wanting to leave the Smuggler hanging. She just wished her voice didn't crack in the beginning ...

"I ..."

Eyes widening in surprise, Navaria pushed her chair back to avoid the table that was pushed over.

She could feel the hard stares pointed in their direction but she was transfixed on the ghostly image of Daleethria in front of her.

It was her clone that did it but no one else could see it but her. The Padawan silently thanked the Force that Sanis could not see the state that his lover was in because even he would not recognized her.

Navaria took that back. He would. It was the look that was found on the face of her tormentor. Dalethria.

Daleethria?

Nothing. The crazed clone continued to stare at her hands.

DALEETHRIA?

Navaria stood up and stared at her. Still no response.

Daleethria??? Please, answer me?!