Benediction

[Darth Callidus]

The light of Hapes was distant. Drawn as a heavy shroud around the world, the Transitory Mists darkened the dazzling lights of the Cluster and suspended Terephon in an unsettling state of perpetual twilight. On the rolling moorlands to the south of Villa Solis, a darkness marred the otherwise unbroken sea of grasses and lilac-coloured heather. A shadow, drawing into it whatever light and life it touched, watching the horizon with empty eyes.

His will stretched out across the landscape, touching a familiar presence.

Come to me.

[Razielle Alastor]

Inside the fortified compound that was Villa Solis, the young Chume was abed. Lira Terranova dutifully close by, as well as her Chume'nor. Chume'doro patrolled the grounds about the small, dome shaped buildings connected one to another comprising the well appointed and opulent Hapan villa. The Queen Regent had taken to her bed even earlier than her daughter, complaining of a persistent ache in her head. Those who dared to speculate assumed it was due to her recent strain in regards to The Incident at the gates of the Fountain Palace. Or from the travel, or both. What they knew was that the Regent had taken to her bedroom and would see no one.



It should have been harder than it was, Anxia (http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h227/Drakania/terephon-raz_zps635pwnd4.jpg) supposed, to leave the villa right out from the watch of the Chume'doro. It was no lacking on their part. They had not been trained to deal with the likes of her.. She had gained much experience with this concept on Onderon, having escaped both the palace and city walls of Iziz countless times before. Properly using the Dark side of the Force to maximize stealth was among the many skills she had learned from the one who called to her now.

Heavy chains could not have held her back.

Each step brought her closer to him. For her, drawing near to Callidus was like approaching a singularity in deep space. The closer she came, the less she would have been able to turn away had she wanted to, and she did not. It was inevitable. Their bond drew her forward to his location, as surely as the light that was drawn in and erased..

[Darth Callidus]

As she neared, the white core of a lightsaber seared to life in the half-light, the blade staining the soil blue. The Sith Lord's voice was a low growl.

"Arm yourself."

[Darth Anxia]

There was no confusing this creature with the Queen Regent of Hapes. No jewelry. No silk. All that made up Chume'la lay in a discarded heap on the Villa Solis bedroom floor, shed like a serpents skin. She had been stripped down to her core, and had walked out Anxia (http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h227/Drakania/gear_zpsf5kcafv1.jpg), armed with the her weapon of choice, a Sith sword (http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h227/Drakania/anxia-sword_zpsktgqgmqk.png) she had claimed for herself years before on Onderon. Part of a horde she had discovered along with the combined efforts of her master, her sister Creas, and Captain Victer Dejan. Something that had been purposefully lost to time, but that they had found all the same.

Pulling the sword now from the scabbard at her left hip, she continued forward without breaking her stride. She could fight him, or fuck him, as long as she was with him, Anxia was content. The blade rotated once in her right hand, before she took it up in both hands, running forward now..

[Darth Callidus]

In one moment, he was a statue etched in shadow. Callidus held his saber low at his side, his head bent forward, eyes imperceptible in the dark hollows of his mask. In the next moment, he surged towards her. The folds of his cloak snapped in the sudden shift of air created by his Force-enhanced sprint towards Anxia. When their collision was imminent, he swung his saber high above his head, ready to strike -

- and then he vanished. Gone, in the blink of an eye.

[Darth Anxia]

Eyes could betray you, so do not trust them.

It was not just something the Jedi taught. It had been at the core of her training with the various master's her father had provided. Her eyes had been bound in stripes of cloth and she had slowly, sometimes painfully, learned to anticipate the attacks and feints of her opponents. The end result was that she could now literally fight with her eyes closed because of it. Instead she relied on other senses to see for her. Even the slightest sound of soil compacting beneath a footstep. The brush of dark fabric against the tall swaying grasses. The flight of a marsh bird startled away from it's nest, but there was nothing.

She would have to rely solely on her own instinct, and the guidance of the Dark side. Continuing her forward momentum, she ignored the threat of a lightsaber bearing down on her from above. She used her speed and agility to send herself sliding, feet-first, beneath the obstacle of her master's legs, based on where she judged him to actually be. She kicked up off her back, swinging in two hands from her right, to spin around and defend her now unprotected back..

[Darth Callidus]

Her instincts were sharp: Callidus was behind her and moved as quick and soundless as a knife. Lightsaber in two hands, he twisted the point of the beam towards her gut in a corkscrewing lunge.

[Darth Anxia]

The svelte Sith apprentice followed the direction of the Dark side as it urged her to bend, arching backward away from the thrust of blue light, aimed to penetrate her abdomen. Her hands, one still gripping her sword, pressed into the rich moist ground the of the marsh, releasing the earthy sent of mud and decay. Her lower half pursued her acrobatic tumble backward, booted feet coming last to kick, one after the other for his middle as she went down.

She did not stay there long, bouncing off her shoulders, right back into action. Callidus would find that she had an amassment of pent up energy where he was concerned, one that demanded an immediate outlet.

Without hesitating Anxia attacked, determined to not spend the entirety on the defensive. Her sword practically purred in her hands, wanting blood as much as she did. Not necessarily his, but he was here..

Here was so much better than not here.

[Darth Callidus]

It was as if they had stepped straight from the wilds of Onderon onto the moors of Terephon. Anxia was a blade now, as she had always been, and Hapes had done nothing to dull her edge. Behind his mask, Callidus grinned for an instant as his apprentice tumbled and twisted right back onto the offence, pushing him back with an expert cut of her sword.

He stepped into the attack, matching her fencers' prowess with his own.

"Have you had much time to practise your swordplay, Chume'la?"

[Darth Anxia]

Gritting her teeth, the Sith knight didn't let the taunt distract her. She knew when she was being baited, and from him she liked it.

"Practice...", she growled back, from beneath the mask concealing the lower half of her face, ".. implies a lack of perfection."

She displayed for him that the defect of practice was not her problem, by pressing her advantage, setting the twilit moors alight with the crash of forged alchemical steel caressing blue sparks.

"What I lack, is worthy opposition."

[Darth Callidus]

Their blades locked together for an instant, but no more. The saber's snarl was short and vicious.

"Hapes has not been challenging enough for you?"

Callidus threw out his free hand, the Dark Side rippling from his clawed fingertips in a concussive wave.

[Darth Anxia]

Hapes.. Beneath her mask, Anxia's lip curled in barely contained hatred.

The blast of Dark Side energy barreled toward her. The palm of her left hand lifted, a gesture signifying to stop, but her desires were unheard by the Force. The wave met her outstretched fingers, even as she pushed back, but he was simply stronger than she was. Even adding both hands to the task of pushing back, her boots slid through the soft terrain, losing whatever ground she had gained - which only set her off more.

"It's a damn cage. You put me in a cage!", she accused, and not for the first time.

A beautiful gilded cage it may be, but a cage no less. Since Razielle Shadana had come of age, on her own island paradise on the Sovereign world of Davora, she had wanted nothing so much as to break free of the burdens that came attached with her royal title. Onderon had been a less restrictive prison, one that she had almost grown content in because of who shared it with her - but being stranded inside the Transitory Mists somehow felt even more cage-like.

Some husbands bought their wives brand new houses for a wedding gift. She'd been given sixty-three inhabited systems, but it would never be enough to please her. Not as long as she remained on one side of the Mist while he remained on the other.

However... that inflamed nerve did give her the push she needed. Strengthening her, planting her firm, as she pushed back harder.

[Darth Callidus]

The energies of the Dark Side blasted Callidus like a cold wind, his cloak rippling like a tattered flag behind him. With a twitch of his claws, the Sith Lord sharpened the focus of his power and lunged at the empty air - willing the Force to lock around Anxia's throat and lift her from the ground.

"And you were powerless to escape?"

[Razielle Alastor]

Lifted off her feet, the Sith Knight dangled there, booted feet idly kicking but with no purchase to be found. Eyes narrowed, one gloved hand pulled ineffectively at her throat. There was no relief forthcoming. Her sword did her little good when she could not reach her opponent, unless she decided to throw it and skewer him with it, but that was beneath even her.

The truth, painful though it may be, was that he had hit upon the truth of it. She was powerless to escape.

"Yes.", she rasped, choking out the response.

Then more quietly, but with far more sincerity. "Yes."

If Razielle had been there of her own accord she could have walked away at any time. But she was not there for herself..

[Darth Callidus]

His hand still outstretched, Callidus stalked towards his captured apprentice with his blade lowered at his side.

"Do you hate me for what I've put you through?"

[Razielle Alastor]

She was no stranger to hate.

She'd hated her father, and he was gone.

She'd hated Ishara, and she was gone.

There were others... and they were all gone.

But apply that feeling to Salem? That was unfathomable to her. Salem was the rock she was built upon. Her entire existence was as secured to him as the Fountain Palace to it's basalt cliffs. It would take an act of the gods to tear her away.

"No..", her voice low, and scratchy.

[Darth Callidus]

His hand fell and with it, the hold on Anxia slipped away. Callidus was there to meet her as she returned to solid ground. He drew her body against his with one arm, the other arm behind his back, lit saber still in hand.

"You don't belong in a cage."

[Razielle Alastor]

Once booted feet touched down upon terra firma, her body pulled against his, the anger went out of her. Contact with the source of all of her strength and emotion working both as a balm to her ire, and a charge to her drive. She could have continued their fight, invigorating as this was, but fighting was getting further from her mind with each repetition of Salem's heartbeat beneath her ear.

"If you're going to crush me like a worm...", she breathed out a shuddering sigh, "..you could at least use your hands. I'd have enjoyed that."

[Salem Ave]

There was a hiss, the sound of his saber's blade dying. The absence of it's ice-blue glow left the two of them in star-lit darkness. The skeletal mask of Callidus rippled like moonlight on dark water, the rictus vanishing to reveal the face of Salem Ave beneath.

"It's not too late."

The hand at the small of Razielle's back ran upwards, until his fingertips curled around the back of her neck.

[Razielle Alastor]

The barest hint of a smile twitched at the left corner of her lips, unseen behind her mask. Hooded head tipping back into waiting hands, that smile made it's way up to her twilight violet eyes.

"Well.. thank the Force for that." The Sith sword dropped from her hand, it's ancient point embedding itself deeply into the soil of Terephon.

This time, the crushing squeeze came in the form of slender arms coiling about her master's waist, sealing them together even more tightly from hips to chest.

[Salem Ave]

Salem drew back her hood and sifted clawed fingertips through the dark hair that spilled out from beneath it.

"Take off your mask."

[Razielle Alastor]

The claws combing through the weight of her dark hair made Razielle's eyes heavy-lidded with pleasure, though she didn't close them. She had no intention of missing even of a fraction of a second spent with him. As commanded, fingertips rose to the left side of the mask, releasing the catch and pulling it away from her face.

[Salem Ave]

With the mask drawn away, the eyes that looked back at Salem looked almost as full of promise and possibility as they had when he had first met Razielle. She believed him, perhaps now more than ever.

"I have... neglected you, haven't I. Neglected your potential."

[Razielle Alastor]

"Have you?", she echoed back. Her head tipped slowly to the side, as though she needed time to consider the notion.

To say it was complicated was greatly simplifying the matter. As he had already pointed out, finding time to practice the skills she had learned so far was tricky to manage contained within the Fountain Palace, constantly surrounded by a bevy of beautiful guards and attendants. Also, leaving Beatrix was not an option. It would be far too easy for an outside influence, or one fanatic Hapan traditionalist, even with the best of the Commandos at her side. After all, Commandos had surrounded Ishara too.. Would she rather be irreplaceable as the Regent of Hapes, or have the freedom to do as she pleased? Every decision had to be weighed carefully in the balance.

Yes, she was quite stuck as she was. A butterfly pinned to it's place.

"Tell me Chume'la is so indispensable, so vital, that there was simply no other way.", she advised, with a conspiratorial lean forward.

Restlessness churned within her, despite the levity implied in her words. Frustration.

[Salem Ave]

“Mm,” was all the reply Salem offered at first, save for the hand at the back of Razielle’s head, drawing her closer. For all he had achieved - they had achieved - Salem sensed the restless energy stirring inside of Razielle; the wings of a bird beating against its cage.

“The Force should free us, but with every step, every success, we are… more tightly bound.”

[Razielle Alastor]

That she was an entitled, spoiled, brat was established fact. Even she would attest to it. Instead of enjoying the privilege and comfort that fate had seen fit to settle upon her brow in the shape of a crown, she had been trying to escape the bonds of duty for years. Salem was right, the harder she tried, the more entangled she had become. A couple of years ago she would have run to the edge of the galaxy, happy to disappear with him, duty be damned. Now there was Beatrix to consider. The security of the Mists, the devotion of Bea's people to her, these could not easily be set aside for Razielle's personal pleasure, no matter how tempting.

Her head tipped backward, curling kittenish into his hands. It was entirely possible he could snap her pretty white neck and she wouldn't even struggle.

The Force would set them free. That was the point. She considered herself a true believer. She had faith. A series of lessons, plans, tests, and struggles had been placed before her, by her master. By him. She was keeping up her end of the bargain, and she believed together they would not only succeed, but triumph.

[Salem Ave]

“If you asked,” Salem said, breath tickling Razielle’s throat as his head dipped, lips almost within touching distance of her neck. “I would release you from the Consortium, forever.”

As he spoke, the Dark Side of the Force wound around them, serpentine. “You would be at my side always and... soon enough,” he paused, the silence punctuated with a kiss pressed to the side of her neck, “your power would come to equal my own.”

[Razielle Alastor]

Her eyes were growing heavy with pleasure, but now they also burned, just a little. Her fingers curled tightly, where she clung to him.

There it was. All she had ever wanted since she had been a foolish young girl on a distant beach. So much longing! Longing for Salem to just take her seriously. Longing for his attention and respect. Longing for him to be her own. Longing for any excuse to be at his side, rather than being a carefully placed pawn in his galactic game. A thousand times over she would have said yes, and now..?

"And our daughter?"

[Salem Ave]

Another kiss, this one to the line of Razielle's jaw.

"Hmm..."

Beatrix Alastor. His daughter, and the lynchpin of his hold over the Hapes Consortium.

Hapes was ostensibly a hereditary, matriarchal monarchy, but any number of families in the Court would eagerly lay claim to the throne. Dynasties turned on the twist of a blade. In it's current state, it would take almost nothing to render the House of Alastor a footnote in the Consortium's long and sordid history books. Overnight, the loyalty of the Royal Navy would shift unerringly to the usurper.

The people would speak of the new ereneda as they had the old, and Darth Callidus would be forced to repeat himself, to bend the new monarch to his will or else break her, in a potentially endless cycle...

At that thought, the energy embracing Razielle and Salem crackled for a briefest instant.

"Who would take her place?"

[Razielle Alastor]

It was impossible to think with Salem's lips skimming over her skin.

The quickest answer to leap to mind was Beatrix's Aunt Elaine. The Princess had abdicated her throne during Ishara's rule, but it was clear now that she was serving as Senator to the Alliance, that she was capable of beholding a larger picture, and that she still desired to serve her people. Salem could do it, all too easily.

The answer was unsatisfactory. The Consortium had been under Razielle's control for too long for her to simply hand it's ruling over to someone too weak to hold onto it. She lacked confidence in Elaine Alastor, and a hasty decision could be disastrous.

Razielle may not like it, but the wisest decision was to stay the course.

"There is no one strong enough."

[Salem Ave]

Unspoken, Salem’s thoughts had followed the same path as Razielle’s and arrived at an identical destination. The chill in the night air deepened.

“Then we must wait. You.. must wait.”

There was no doubt that, given the chance, Elaine Alastor would retake the throne, that the Hapan's would welcome their golden Princess back with cries of joy. They might even look favourably upon her brother, should Tristan Alastor ever escape the thorns of Dathomir and return to Hapes, as if from the dead, with a tribe of Nightsisters in tow.

Salem’s eyes narrowed a fraction.

“Unless... the Consortium could be made to worship the Force as ardently as it does the throne.”

[Razielle Alastor]

Of course she must.

"They could be encouraged to establish a fighting force to rival the assassin at the gates..", she mused, somewhat sarcastically, but it was not a terrible idea. They believed that assassin to be a Force user already.

Managing to lift her head slightly, Razielle did some skimming of her own. Brushing her lips across his rather engaging cheekbone until they were at his ear.

"There is one who could do it."

[Salem Ave]

The shockwave generated by the attempted assassination of the Hapan Queen still rippled through the Cluster. There had been no royal pronouncement on the assassin’s identity or intent, no easy conclusion that could be drawn, only that the stranger carried the weapon of a Jedi. Even Salem, who knew who (https://theholo.net/forum/member.php?2830-Lilaena-De-Ville) had come to storm the Fountain Palace that day, could not say for certain whether she would ever return to finish what she had started...

As Razielle’s lips brushed Salem’s cheek, a powerful memory (https://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?55383-Abandonment-10-045&p=1026137&viewfull=1#post1026137) of that day burned in his mind. Callidus, stood on the cliffs above Ta'a Chume'Dan, the Dark Side writhing, seething, within him as hundreds of eyes turned skyward and saw, for the first time, the monster that walked among them.

“Who?” he asked, feeling an echo of the thrill that came with that memory.

[Razielle Alastor]

Inside her ribcage, Razielle's heartbeat thrummed harder. The gravity of the situation was not lost on her. What she wanted was within her power to convince him of, right now.

Her head tipped backward once more, the better to meet Salem's eyes, meaningfully. "You."

Fingertips returned to the spot her lips had just vacated, tracing the side of his face. "Chume'la can decide during her holiday that the Consortium needs.. a protector. Someone she trusts above all others."

[Salem Ave]

When the people of Hapes had looked up at the shadow of a Sith Lord gazing down on them, had they really seen a monster? Or something else? Something terrible, yes, but something... necessary. A protector.

Salem’s white eyes were fixed to Razielle’s. The mask of Callidus passed over his features like clouds over the moon, faint and fleeting.

“Would you have me leave the Republic?”

[Razielle Alastor]

"I'm sure we can find you a way to keep an interest in their dealings, if that's concerning. Elaine can always be managed."

It occurred to Razielle that there was little holding her upright, just then. The embrace of the Dark Side, and of the Arkanian arms around her. Her feet were barely touching the ground, certainly not planted and steady.

Republic be damned. "I would have you with me."

Razielle did not give a damn if that made her weak. What was the point of it all, if the one thing that she fought for was forever to be systems away from her side?

Inside her, Anxia clawed, and shrieked, and begged for her way..

[Darth Callidus]

Salem Ave, the Minister of State for the Republic, was a survivor of the Clone Wars, a former Padawan who had set aside the Force in favour of bettering the galaxy through diplomatic means. He could no train apprentices, not with the watchful eyes of the newly reformed Jedi Order so near. He could achieve nothing without the approval of dozens of committees, who slowed his every attempt at progress. His plans moved at a glacial pace. He was bound by conventions, by bureaucracy, by history.

Callidus, Lord Protector of Hapes, was bound by no such expectations.

Clawed fingers curled at either side of Razielle’s chin. The Sith mask spread across his features like ice over water, hardening the already sharp lines of his face.

“Command me.”

[Darth Anxia]

Pure unadulterated pleasure crashed through her like charged lightning, so much so that she was not at all certain she wouldn't die from it right there. Shivers rippled over her skin, and she would swear on her daughter's head, the Dark Side was as pleased as she was.

Drunk on darkness, and joy, and him, Anxia reached for one of her master's hands, pulling it downward to where the Sith sword she carried remained impaled in the dirt. Without hesitation or permission, she squeezed his hand around the blade. Hard. Then brought the bleeding wound to her mouth, tasting him, drinking him in..

Her own hand received the same wound before she spoke her commands.

"Stay with me."

"Fight for me."

"Kill for me."

"Rule with me."

[Darth Callidus]

The sting of pain in his hand resonated in the Force as a dissonant note. Callidus squeezed his palm to Anxia's, both hands slick with blood, the Dark Side pulsing in their veins.

All of this time, he had hidden in the shadow of rulers and puppets. Desiring the power that came with stepping into the light, but knowing that he had to remain in darkness, or risk revealing his real intentions. Always working at the edges, playing the part of the advisor, the confidant, endeavouring to shape the galaxy without being seen. Yet, Hapes had seen him, seen him as he truly was. With the malleable Elaine Alastor to shepherd the Republic, with his own daughter in command of sixty-three star systems and one of the largest fleets in the galaxy - why hide any longer? Cowardice! He almost laughed at the thought of it.

Let the galaxy look to Hapes in awe.

“Nothing will stand in our way.”

[Razielle Alastor]

There was a weight. A burden that Razielle had been carrying around with her for years. She had never quite put a name to it. Self doubt perhaps? Whatever it was shackled to her soul, it had been holding her back, but tonight was changing everything. Whatever it was holding her back, it had begun to fall away like a serpents shed skin, revealing something much stronger beneath.

Upon the ground, pebbles and gravel had begun to roll inward, toward the place where the two stood. The pull of the Dark Side was disrupting the physics of the world around them. In a very perceivable way, everything was being drawn to them. Building in intensity with every passing second.

Was this him? Or her?

It was them..

[Darth Callidus]

The air crackled around them, seething with the power of the Dark Side.

“Are you ready, for the Galaxy to know what we are?”

In the mid-distance, someone or something was moving steadily towards the two Sith: members of the Chume’doro, inspecting the source of the strange disturbance in the night air.

[Darth Anxia]

Anxia had been ready for years, held back on the leash that was her royal persona, but ready. It had always been only a matter of time. If her master was finally going to drop that jeweled leash and let her stay beside him, she would remain there indefinitely. She would continue to keep the Consortium under their rule, if that was what he desired. And then one day.. if it no longer pleased him, she would burn it to the ground and set him the biggest blaze the galaxy had ever seen.

Still held in the embrace of her master, and the Dark Side, Anxia's toes only scraped the ground. Content to stay there, she was displeased with the intrusion of her own guardswomen encroaching into the affairs of their overlords. Weightless, her head tipped toward them momentarily, before returning to answer her master.

"Oh yes.."

[Darth Callidus]

“The attack at the Fountain Palace… it will only be the first of its kind. Others will come to challenge us.”

As though by happenstance, the guardswomen drew nearer. Close enough that Callidus could hear their voices carrying on the air, but not close enough to understand what they said.

[Darth Anxia]

That there would be others was a certainty. Power such as they had achieved would too tempting a challenge eventually. It was a risk, stay hidden in the shadows and maybe remain undetected, or stop wasting time focusing on the wrong things. Look at how much they had accomplished already. With her master beside her, with her training in the Dark Side resumed, Anxia did not fear the future.

"They will try.. and we will destroy them."

The voices carried closer now. Words becoming clearer as the guards crept closer, penetrating the low roll of fog on the moor. They were preparing themselves.

[Darth Callidus]

“Good.”

Callidus turned towards the oncoming patrol. With a hand at the small of Anxia’s back, he urged her towards the the guards, his voice an almost serpentine whisper.

“Let them see what you are.”

[Darth Anxia]

Behind her mask, Anxia's eyes drifted closed while she drank in the exquisite sensation of being set loose. Abruptly, her pale delicate lids snapped open, as she was ushered toward the agents of the Royal Guard.

Her gloved fingers closed around the hilt of her Sith sword, a light caress in her touch for the blade, a promise. Beneath her fingers she could feel..the blade understood. It had waited, wanting and hungry, for so long. Ripping it from the sodden dirt of the Terephon moors, she rotated the weapon in her grip as she stalked forward, needing no further encouragement. There was no need to expend her concentration pulling at the mist shrouding the ground around her. No need to pull shadows from the world's perpetual twilight to conceal her movements. She would do what he asked. Let them see.. Her master's whisper repeated in her mind, driving her as the guards finally spotted her silhouette approaching.

They bid her to halt in her daughter's name.. Anxia found it hilarious.

She ran now, the toes of her boots barely sinking into the turf from her agile footfalls The Chume'doro patrol were readying their weapons, taking aim on her. Their blaster-fire fire was easily dodged. The Force had first manifested itself in her with speed and accuracy, gifts she had only strengthen over the years. She sidestepped around their attacks, which were returned with the sound of her laughter. She was enjoying herself..

The first of the guard Anxia reached engaged her with a polearm, spearing straight ahead with it for her abdomen. Anxia twisted immediately to her right side, grabbing the guard's weapon in her unburdened left hand. Pulling on it, she dragged the woman toward her as the point of her blade went through her midsection like butter. Anxia twisted the blade, inside of the guard all manner of vital things were torn and severed, blood flowed in dark gushes from the site, bathing the length of her blade. Anxia's grip only tightened upon the weapon, eager to sate it..

The second was armed with a sword and came at her with fancy Hapan footwork, attempting to match her circling prowl. When she swung, Anxia ducked beneath the blade slashing across the woman's thigh muscle, bringing her down with a scream of pain that excited both the Sith, and whatever ancient horror lurked inside of her sword. As the woman with the sword dropped, Anxia lifted into the air stepping up onto her shoulder, using her crippled form to propel herself into the air. Her own descent brought the point of her blade straight down into the space between the shoulder and the neck of the last Chume'doro. Pulling it free, a splash of blood sprayed her cheek. Only then did she turn back to the crippled guard, currently still spilling her blood out onto the moor..

Anxia canted her head to the side, regarding the bleeding, panicked woman. Walking back to guard she reached up, pulling away the mask from her face, letting it dangle in her free hand.

The fallen Chume'doro looked to her, recognition on her lovely, pain-distorted face. "Chume'la Alastor...?", she winced, uncomprehending.

"No." Anxia, answered her. "Not anymore.." And took off her head..

[Darth Callidus]

A mere phantom in the twilight darkness, Callidus watched the carnage unfolding before him like an elaborately choreographed performance. Anxia’s movements were precise, the blade moving with the kind of finesse that only came with years of practise. By contrast, her opponents, who had known nothing but a life of guarding their queen, were sluggish. Their ordinarily deadly efficiency was nothing when matched against the preternatural speed and reflexes of a Sith.

When the last of them fell with a shuddering gasp of shock, Callidus was at Anxia’s back, an arm encircling her waist and his mouth at the curve of her ear. He breathed in deeply, feeling the power of the Force as it flowed around her, the Dark Side seething in malicious joy.

[Darth Anxia]

There was almost..a pout on her lips when Anxia ran out of Chume'doro. There was no time to lament her murderous spree cut short. Suddenly he was there, with her. Callidus.

Every muscle in her body had just wanted to keep going, run to Villa Solis and leave a sea of bodies behind her. In part, she had always viewed them as the jailers of her pretty cage, but they were forgotten once more. For a moment, she leaned back into him, a smile of satisfaction on her lips. Her sword dropped into the ground for the second time, and Anxia turned in her master's embrace.

"They saw..", she confirmed.

[Darth Callidus]

Callidus looked beyond his apprentice, to the fallen bodies of the Chume’doro. His mind drifted, unbidden, back to Coruscant, to the thunderous march of the army of the Republic into the Jedi Temple. He thought of Ossus too, the burgeoning community of Jedi that Minister Salem Ave had walked so freely among. Years of training, of dedication, could be cut down in a such a short, flurry of violence...

The Consortium did not want for women who would pledge their lives to the Chume. The fervor would be made even stronger by the knowledge that threats within and without grew more pressing every day.

There was a smile in his voice as Anxia turned into his arms.

“In time, our daughter must see this side of you too. Are you prepared for that?”

[Darth Anxia]

It was not the first time she had considered that eventuality. There was no stopping it. Beatrix had already begun to develop her own abilities. At the same age, Razielle had already been learning the sword. Held to that same standard, Beatrix was falling behind.. Or it could be that their daughter would simply have a different skill set than what they might expect.

"She is ours." Anxia said, without trepidation, as if that cleared everything up. "She will understand."