Undercity streets

[Sarahi Leor Qui]

"I'm impressed." Sarahi walked up behind Brendak. "Most jedi I know would have panicked. You have not ceased to amaze me." She gave a small smile.

[Brendak Shiel]

Brendak accepted back his cloak with a nod of thanks. "Don't ever forget to watch your back," he reminded her.

When Sarahi spoke he failed to press back a smile from tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Outward emotions are easy to conceal. However, inward feelings are something less simply subdued." He locked his gaze with her emerald eye, and a face that seemed so familiar. "And," he said slowly without taking his sight from her face. "If I amaze you, then we are mutual in our feelings toward each other. Sarahi."

[Sarahi Leor Qui]

Sarahi blinked a few times, taken aback by Brendak's compliment. She threw her hood over her head quick in an attempt to hide her reddening cheeks. Sarahi groped for a response, hoping she didn't sound to idiotic. "Er....right then."

She switched her attention over to Cla 'Tal who was making sure Shaa was steady. "You can't heal a flower, but you can help stabilize another jedi infected with Rakghoul Plague?" Sarahi shook her head. "Unbelievable Jenoth...unbeliveable."

[Saint Dane]

Shaa looked at Cla'tal, confused. "You can't heal a flower?" She laughed. "I tried that once, I didn't work."

[Brendak Shiel]

Brendak felt the flow of blood to his own face as Sarahi yanked her hood over her head, concealing her features. His conciencence reeled backwards. He realized what he had implied with his careless words. Idiot!

He rapidly turned away from the scene, feigning interest in the rest of the group. He resisted the urge to catch one more glance of her face, his mental power knifing his thoughts. He resented himself for the simple thoughtlessness of his words, yet, he couldn't push away the feeling that he had spoken words that channeled directly from his heart.

[Sarahi Leor Qui]

Cla'Tal let out a small laugh. "Well...yeah, I was never the greatest in Force Healing. I think more flowers died in a month from me than all the jedi combined had killed over a few years." He blushed and rubbed the back of his head. For the first time in a while, Cla 'Tal switched his focus over to Sarahi. She and Brendak were exchanging a few quick words.

Their conversation quickly ended when Sarahi through her hood over her head. Cla 'Tal frowned, either Sarahi was really upset or really embarrassed...and Sarahi was rarely embarrassed. Cla 'Tal strode over her quietly and grasped both her shoulders. "Are you okay."

"Don't touch me." Sarahi voice was low and quiet.

Cla 'Tal felt Sarahi pulling away for him. He grabbed her arm tightly before she could slip away. "No, tell me what's wrong." He lifted her chin and looked into her tearing eye.

"I said don't touch me!" Sarahi pulled back her hand and slapped him hard across the face. Cla 'Tal blinked and realize the impact of her hit had knocked him backwards onto the ground. He put a hand to his burning cheek.

"Okay then..." was all Cla' Tal managed to say. He stared at Sarahi for a moment longer and then pushed himself up onto his feet. He glanced at Brendak. What did he say that made Sarahi so...out of character? Cla 'Tal gritted his teeth. What ever Brendal said hadn't been good; and now he was in for it.

[Saint Dane]

Shaa watched as Cla'tal was knocked to the ground. What is up with those two?? She asked herself, wanting to know more.
She would have gone to ask Cla'tal if he was okay, but, she didn't think that right now was the best time...

[Brendak Shiel]

Brendak halted as Cla'Tal grabbed Sarahi's shoulders. Quiet, sharp-edged words passed between them, and Brendak simultaneously, and to his surprise, felt his body tense into a rigid outline when Cla'Tal refused to let Sarahi go.

When Sarahi struck Cla'Tal across the face with such force that he hit the ground, he found himself glaring at Cla'Tal with such passion that the started when he realized what he was doing. When he looked back up, he found Cla'Tal rebounding the look of complete hate that he had just thrown in his direction. With a stern stare of what emotion Brendak coudln't quite place, he stalked away.

[Ketreelawa Ochor]

Ketreelawa frowned as she watched Cla'Tal fall to the ground. Whatever was transpiring between Brendak, Cla'Tal, and Sarahi, wasn't good. Her trust in Sarahi faltered, and her trust in Brendak began to fall once again. Ketreelawa walked over to Cla'Tal, offering him a paw.
"Need a hand?" She asked.

[Jenina Fenwyn]

Jenina stared, bewildered and confused by the flurry of ever-changing emotions that flowed around her.
Lisa watched everything, a thoughtful expression on her face.

[Sarahi Leor Qui]

Cla 'Tal sighed and brushed off his clothing. He gave a weak smile to Ketreelawa. "Nah, I'm good." he replied.

[Robbie]

Jarx saw everyone was ready, and tapped Cla on the shoulder, "Time to go lover boy. Lets go find that green alien jedi master of yours."

------------------------------------

Fiddela nelt down by the body he discovered. The almost eaten skeletal form of Rukils apprentice was in a fetal position, with something tightly in her hands.

Fiddela made sure he felt no emotion, as he pried the object from the corpse's hands. It was the datapad. He could hear them coming from behind, he could sense them. He put the datapad in his cloke and turned to meet the intruderers. It was a bad of Gomorreans. He heard they congrigated near there, but didn't think of how close they really were. He ignited his lightsaber and spoke, "Come, if you wish to be one with the force."

[Ketreelawa Ochor]

Ketreelawa's curiousity was going by the second about Brendak, who was he really? She walked over to him, she wasn't sure she would like his answer, but she had to know. She looked him straight in the eyes.
"Master Brendak, I have a question," she said in a low voice, "Please answer me truthfully, I must know. Are you related to Darth Morax?" She held her breath, waiting for his answer, good or bad.

[Brendak Shiel]

Morax.

Brendak felt his blood freeze inside his veins, and his heart nearly stopped. He rolled the name over in his mind, blanching with every sharpening image that sprung forward. Sound and fury crashed into his ears and almost deafened him.

Barely able to keep his upright position, Brendak turned stiffly to stare at Ketreelawa with eyes of blue ice. What did she know? Breathing heavily, he thrust his face to the filthy sky, daring it to deny the atrocities that he accused it of watching without interference with his wilting gaze.

He only had a second to think about how to answer the wookiee's question before the past burst inside of him and consumed his concience...........


"Mother?" A thin, wiry girl no older than eight jumped on a simple bed and sat on the edge, leaning off so far that Brendak though that she might fall off. The girl rested her hands on her knees and looked up at her mother. "What does he look like?"

Passing through the hallway, Brendak hesitated and stopped outside the door of his sister's bedroom. He knew who she was asking about, the man that she always asked about. The man that she couldn't ever get enough details about. The man that she never felt shy about dreaming about, and the man that the both of them had though about since the day that they were old enough to comprehend why that man wasn't a part of their life. Their father.

He couldn't deny that he was as interested as his sister was, though. He had wondered about him constantly, even if he hadn't voiced it like his sister always did.

"Oh, where do I start?" Brendak heard his mother's soft voice run through his ears. He relaxed slightly. Whenever something bewildered or frightened him or his sister, the sound of her voice or the memory of her name never ceased to calm them. Hacia. "Well," she began again. "He has eyes like yours and Brendak's. Like the midnight sky on a clear night, thick and dark." Hacia's voice almost sounded wistful as she continued. "I loved them. But whenever I'm missing him, I just look at you and your brother and I see him there." He heard her mother kiss his sister's forehead.

"Go to bed Kiarea, Its much later than I would have liked you to be up."

"But I'm not tired at all-"

"You will be as soon as you get in bed."

Brendak shook his head from the daze of listening and nearly walked away, when his Kiarea murmured something inaudible.

Hacia stopped pulling the blankets over her daughter. "What?"

Brendak pricked his ears for the sound of Kiarea's quiet movements before she finally repeated the question. "If he came back right now," She said softly. "Would he love me?"

The weight of questions, of desire, kindled inside of Brendak, voiced only by his sister's courage to speak. He could practically hear the smile breaking out on his mother's face.

"Yes." She wrapped her arms around Kiarea. "He would love you very much......."



Pictures and different visions blurred and twisted until Brendak found himself becoming, once again, part of the past. He watched himself running around the corner of an alley...... Searching every inch of space with the force...... Catching sight of a body that lay broken on the ground..............................

Brendak gritted his teeth and tried to pull himself from the vision taking place. No, Not here! Using the force and all his strength to no avail, he finally gave in to watch the one scene in his life that he had made a promise never to return to.

"Kiarea?!" Brendak watched his own form run through the streets to the fallen figure on the ground.

He slowed as he reached the Kiarea's side. Kneeling down, he slipped his arms under her back and elevated her upper body from the trash-littered floor. His voice choked and he fought tears from running down his face. "Kiarea......"

Her eyes flickered open and danced back and forth several times before she was able to connect her eyes with his. She looked at his face for a couple moments before she finally whispered, "Brendak?"

"Yes. I'm here." He fought his own heart as he kept his voice from trembling. "Just hang on a little while longer, I'm going to bring you back to the temple. They can heal you."

He started to lift her from the ground, but she feebly pushed away his arms. "Its too late Brendak." She smiled up at him weakly, her lips pale and slit from a blow. He felt his hands clenched.

"No, there is plenty of time, I'm going to put you to sleep just for a little while, so you don't feel the-"

"Brendak." His sister blinked and shook her head slowly. "I'm already gone."

He let the force run over her and felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. Her wounds were worse than he ever seen a person still living attain. Internally, every organ in her body was shutting down. Her heart had begun to collapse, and her lungs grew frailer with every passing moment. His own mind seemed to be drowning in her blood.

"Who did this?" He hoped that the darkness of the night concealed the rage that his face held.

Kiarea's eyes opened for a second to study his face before closing again. " I heard that he was coming after you. I tried to make my way here without anyone finding out, but he did." She coughed, blood formed at her mouth. He mechanically wiped it away.

"He wanted me to tell him where you were," She rasped.

"You should have," Brendak choked.

"And where would we be then?" She hissed, her voice low and defective. " Not only would I be dead, but so would you." She fixed her glazed her eyes on him. "This is his fault, not yours. I blame no one but our father."

Brendak was sure that the fire in his eyes shone in the blackness, because Kiarea recoiled slightly before he could fully quench it. "We," he said in a low, deadly whisper. "Have no father."

Kiarea suddenly uttered a sound like what sound have been a scream as her eyes flicked to a sight behind him. Brendak's head twisted around so fast that was in danger of breaking his neck.

A lone ebony figure, a shadow so dark that the night around it paled like the dawn, stood behind the both of them. A blade the color of all the blood that it had ever spilled rested in its hand.

Rage, fear and despair barreled into him like the force of planet. He stared coldly up at the face that he had hoped to never see again. But, like a nightmare that he couldn't forget, it kept returning. Wrapping his arms tightly around Kiarea, who's breaths had become increasingly erradic and unstable, he remained where he was.

The man looked down at him. "Brendak.

Brendak ground his eyes into the man's skull, wishing it were a lightsaber. "Morax."


Pain thrust itself into his heart, sharper than any weapon could be made to be. He had forgotten the pain, how it felt. His eyes blazed. He had also forgotten the anger. The all-consuming rage.

Steely eyes looked upon Ketreelawa, fear or shame that had been there before, now replaced by the frozen rage in his heart that had just begun to thaw. "The question that you ask," He said to Ketreelawa coldly. "Is if that man's blood flows through my veins. If his mind is a part of me. This is not true. All mental ties that I once had with that man are severed." He looked away. "But if you are asking me if this man was once a part of my life, if he once resembled anything near family, then yes. You are correct."

Brendak let his eyes burn a whole into the side of a wall. "He was my father."

[Sarahi Leor Qui]

(Brendak gets a reward for the world's longest post)

Sarahi couldn't help but hear Ketreelawa's question. Morax...the name that sent shivers up her spine. The man who had sent her away to die. The man whole stole her brother and turned him against her. Morax, the man, who killed her mother.

Sarahi clenched her fist, and her prosthestic eye glowed bright red. She waited for Brendak's answer. She glanced at his face, twisted with the pain of awful memories. She knew all to well what that was like. Finally, his reply came. "He was my father."

Sarahi gasped and turned her back to Brendak. She put a hand to her mouth to conceal the wail that threatened to rise from her throat. Her vision became blurry, and even her optic flickered for a moment. Sarahi slowly moved her hand to her cheek and felt the single tear that had willed itself out.

It was almost too much. Sarahi coughed hard to force down her tears. Taking in a deep breath she stood up straight and pushed her emotions as far down as possible. Would it be enough though?