The Truth About Masters (Shaed)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville sat at her desk, studying the spines of the books that sat on the shelves across from her. She had summoned Shaed, her apprentice, to appear before her. He had been practicing his saber techniques, and had taken the time to clean himself up before coming to her Study.

She steepled her fingers beneath her chin, and awaited his arrival.

[Kar'h'tzen Shaed]

He was not long in coming.

Shaed strode quietly into the study room, ending up between De'Ville and the books she was eyeing industriously. He said nothing, but cocked his head at a slight angle, inquisitively.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She motioned to the chair across from her, and it pushed slightly back from the desk. "Sit."

De'Ville watched him comply, and sat back a little. There were no artificial lights in this area of the castle, even though Hob had restored the power to most of Bast. Torches on the wall cast an eerie, flickering light on the pair.

She broke the silence with a slight cough. "You killed Banestone." It was a statement, but almost sounded like a question.

[Kar'h'tzen Shaed]

Ah. So... that... was it.

It would have been much nearer the mark to say that Banestone had killed himself. But that would have brought questions much sooner, and would not even have been the spike on the key to Bast that Shaed had wanted at the time.

He looked away from De'Ville's face. Shame? Thinking up a cover story? Regrets? Contemplation? Fear? He wasn't really sure, so he assumed he was contemplating. His pride was a thing of the past - when dealing with the Master, at least.

"Well."

He was at a loss for what to say. De'Ville did not know Shaed nearly so well as he knew her, by now. But that one mistruth did not mean his loyalties to her, and to the Hand, were not real. Thus, he would tell her what he felt it was time to.

"I suppose not."

He hurried on, but she didn't interrupt.

"Yet that does not change the fact that, for all intents and purposes, the creature we call 'Banestone' ceased to exist long ago. You may have wondered why he, a Sith of notable repute, would want to send me to the Black Hand. To you. He was not coy in revealing the details of his acquaintance with you, Master. And despite the time he has been away from... reality... he was not so badly out of touch to assume you followed the Sith ways any longer."

He was practically babbling, and leaning heavily towards changing the subject by sheer instinct. Shaed looked back at De'Ville. He bit back a sigh. He really should have prepared a speech, or something.

"I did not kill him. Literally, he lives still. Though his mind and will are as good as gone, I will make no excuses for him. I told you what I did because it would intrigue you, and would not bring further questions for a time. It would give me the oppurtunity that I wanted, and so far it has.

Banestone killed himself. His soul, his willpower, whatever you would call it. Hardly more than an ingrained habit of eating keeps him from keeling over and dying at any moment, and I would not be surprised if he really was dead, now."

Fear was not a feeling that came easily to him, but he noticed a general sense of unease at having finally to come completely clean with this one thing. He fully expected the next words out of her mouth to be that they would go to wherever the old Sith Master was and kill him right then and there. There was no use in trying to turn him, but perhaps she would think she could try that - until she actually met him again. She could see for herself.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She looked at him, strangely feeling no emotion when told what she had half suspected all along. De'Ville chose not to address the fact that he had lied to her all these months, and instead picked further into the mystery of the missing Sith Master.

"He was not from the Known Regions. Perhaps it was homesickness. I have heard of stranger things." She eyed Shaed, and all the torches were suddenly extinguished except for one lone candle. "Take your goggles off, I want to look into your eyes while you speak to me."

Her own eyes slowly adjusted to the near dark of her study, while her apprenticef slowly removed his darkened goggles. "He was your master, and you lived with him for some time. Tell me the truth..." her eyes hardened with an unspoken threat. "What do you think killed his willpower? And is that the only reason you were able to leave with The Shell, or did he gift his ship to you?"

[Kar'h'tzen Shaed]

The goggles slipped upwards, onto Shaed's forehead, under the direction of his thumb.

"I think it fairly obvious. The Sith killed his willpower. The insatiable urges that they encourage always lead to either death or insanity."

The room was very bright.

"He was adamant in only one matter... that I not choose to follow the ways of the Sith. And that I not choose to join in the foolishness of the Jedi."

Shaed shrugged.

"I did not. But he sent me to you because he knew you were no longer a Sith. Perhaps he hopes to find motivation again. I think it's too late for that... but every being desires a legacy of some sort. I suppose his is now reduced to me. Taking The Shell was my own idea, and I don't think he cared much one way or the other by then. He granted me access to it and hardcoded it to accept my DNA signature, but that was the extent of his active involvement in the matter. I'm... not a very good pilot with the thing."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She closed her eyes for a moment, and all the torches snuffed out as she did so. Lilaena quietly giggled when she opened her eyes to see darkness.

"We are going to go see this shell of a being you used to call a Master." She stood in the darkness, her chair scraping backwards over the stone floor. "You will pilot the ship The Shell to a set of coordinates I will give to you. I have a ship, callsign The Devil's Advocate, in empty space, awaiting my command. We will both dock inside the ship and take it to where Banestone is."

De'Ville walked to the door, and a faint light trickled into the room as she opened it. "We leave in two hours."

[Kar'h'tzen Shaed]

"Very well."

He would have just nodded, but she couldn't see him. Shaed unfolded his body from the chair, and stood as De'Ville left.

The Shell, as it was called, was just outside. On the planet's surface, that is. Amusingly, it blended right into the red-black scorched outcroppings that surrounded most of the castle. The only thing that notably marked the vessel was that it was all smooth - not to the touch, but comparitively speaking with its surroundings.

Shaed packed lightly. There was not much that he felt they would need on this excursion.