Private Can You Feel My Heart

[Vesta]

x​

METALORN

TOMB OF TRIBULATION​

867 ABY​

To cut through the light was a thing many had thought was impossible - its rays were meant to shear through the darkness, it was implicit in its existence that darkness could only be where light was not, that it could not grow unless its rays shrank. A sword, a blade forged with the raw might of the dark side, ran counter to that belief. Its edge caught the rays of light, it cut them, and it devoured them like the countless tears in the fabric of space and time that dotted the endless void of space. The Talon of Typhojem it was called, a masterclass in subverting what was accepted as fact in the unending conflict between Jedi and Sith, and it was this weapon that would form the basis of the tool Darth Daiara would craft, with her master's guidance, to push her further down the abyss she desired to navigate.

The sound of crumbling stone and scraping steel echoed along the walls of the crypt as Darth Mori plunged her blade into the center of a wide circle made of Sith runes and stone effigies. These structures, figures of humanoids prostrated in fear, in pain, and despair, were like personifications of the emotions that both the blade and the dark side in all its glory invoked into the hearts and minds of those caught in its cloud, which hung heavy in this room. A long chain hung loosely from the Shi'ido's other hand, the one that wasn't resting against the hilt of the blade she had thrust into the ground, without an adornment in sight. It was plain, heavy, and long, and when she tossed it over towards her apprentice, who stood by at the edge of the circle, she made a subtle nod towards it with the tilt of her head. "This will be your clay." She said plainly, her hand slipping from the sword as she turned to face her. "The conflict within you and the resolve you feel will be your tools to mold it in the image, to the purpose, you most desire." She explained, gesturing towards the stone figures that surrounded her, in particular to the one with a fist raised in anguished rage towards the ceiling beside her apprentice.

"Be it a sword, an amulet, a shield, or the hilt of a new lightsaber, you will dominate the force and force it to do your bidding - I will guide you."

Her words were hardly whispers and yet they seemed to come clearly in the ears of anyone listening, carried in the air from every corner of the room. She strode towards the girl as her hands fell to her sides, and for perhaps the first time she let the facade she'd carried, the image of a woman that could only be read in the way she desired to be seen, fall from view. The anger in her, the rage, swelled with the pain that boiled underneath, heated by her hatred. The Sith lord was a veritable storm of emotion, a terrifying sight if she had intended to do harm - the intent, however, would be implicit, to provide herself as the sustenance her apprentice must learn in the secondary lesson she was being taught. "You fed on my very being in the past, apprentice, but today you must feed on the dark side in order to accomplish your task, and to understand what it is to be Sith." Mori elucidated as she slowed her approach.

"Feel my anger as you harness your own, draw them together and let the two soar." She growled, her demeanor shifting as she let her mind wander towards a face that only brought out her anger now, where there had once been care before. "Use that anger to force out your hatred and mine, focus it and direct it on your pain, on your anguish, and let it guide your resolve - let it lead you, motivate you, to your goal as I do towards mine." She said, her own anger drawing out the hatred she felt for that face and the galaxy at large - hatred that she used to honed in on the pain of solitude, of abandonment, and then led it towards her broader goal, a single solitary vision. The girl she saw through her physical eyes now matched the image held in her mind, and towards her flung the darkness that was held in the Sith Lord. Empowerment, some would call it, but the wiser ones knew well what it was for. A bonding between master and apprentice, a bridging of power and emotion that would aid the girl in her growth and understanding without acting as a crutch, was being built.

The Sith lord's focus waned, momentarily, and her red gaze shifted away from her apprentice and towards the entrance to the crypt, towards the presence of another - one uninvited.

Kaalia Pavanos

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Boy and the Beast
Darth Daiara | Darth Mori

​

The harsh heat of the sun had made way for the night to take its place. Moonlight now dimly lit the surface of Metalorn, though most of the light Kaalia used to navigate the barren wasteland came from the magma pits that littered the environment. Every step forward served to strengthen the woman's assuredness that it was here where she would find what she had been searching for. Who she had been searching for. Keeping track of the time spent had been neglected entirely. All Kaalia had been keeping herself busy with was finding her daughter.

And find her, she would. Such was the responsibility one had towards their family, and Aradia Pavanos was family. They did not share blood, but she was as much of a daughter to Kaalia as those who did. As stubborn as Aradia had been, as much as she had questioned the very bond that those around her attempted to create and as much as she had turned her anger and frustration towards Kaalia. The mantle of mother had been taken, a decision that was permanent.

And for her children, Kaalia would stop at nothing.

Learning that it was the galactic north, where the once-great Sith Empire was making its last stand, where her clues led to had been entirely unsurprising. Despite this revelation early into her search, every single piece of the puzzle that followed had been exceedingly difficult to find. The first time Aradia had gone missing it was born from the girl's own decision to disappear. Circumstances then had made it so it only took a reasonable amount of effort to retrace her steps. Now that Kaalia was looking for her a second time, however, her task ended up being far more complicated. Aradia's ship had vanished and her comms were dead. All the woman had at first were hunches and wisps of the Force.

In the end, after countless dead ends, Kaalia found herself on Metalorn. Before her she saw a tomb. The Force became darker of nature the closer she got, hiding none of the suffering that had been experienced here. Years of being surrounded by such darkness had taught Kaalia how to stand tall within it, allowing her to take from it without letting it bleed into her being. Discipline instilled in her before taking up the title of Sith had given her an unorthodox philosophy; to wield the Dark side with her fist, not inside her heart. Even now that she burned the mantle she once wore and laid down her titles to rest, that path was still the one she walked.

Pure strength of mind. Strength that made her the Lady of Defiance once.

As Kaalia approached the crypt entrance, two presences settled into her Force-attuned sense. One was unfamiliar, another told her that her search had finally come to an end. Now, she took careful steps into the dark interior, careful to never let her guard down.

 

[Darth Daiara]

Terror. It echoed through her core as she sat in that tomb, the dark energies threatening to engulf her. Self-preservation tried to overtake her muscles and rip her away, but she did not let them.

It was ignorance. Fear of the unknown. She said this to herself like a chant, her resolve unchanged as she kneeled herself before the circle. Power laid at the end of this challenge-- power she needed for her goals to come to fruition. There was no other way, she reminded herself, no other way. She let out a slow breath as Mori spoke, her shoulders relaxing under the instruction.

The agony of the space grated up against her. She seized in hesitation. No other way. She let out another slow breath and picked up the chain, her palms sweaty. She would be fine. Another breath. Zaavik would catch her.

Her resistance chipped apart, then dissolved, the darkness allowed to bleed into her. Her spine straightened with the power she could tap into, but it wouldn't be enough-- it had never been enough. She met Mori's approach with a gleam of hunger, ready for what came next.

Darkness crashed into her like a tidal wave. Her back arched, a gasp catching as she struggled against it. A part of her resisted, but they both knew that was there. Her chest heaved as she tried to refocus on her priorities. She felt Vesta there, reaching out to guide her. She began to reach back-- a distraction yanked her away, her concentration shattering as she looked up.

"Master," she breathed, aghast. Her shoulders crumbled in as the power she had begun to gather left her, ripped from her body without her will to command it. She keeled over and gasped, the stark contrast almost feeling like she had been stripped of life itself. She had been so close-- her palm hit the ground.

Pained eyes pulled up, tears of exertion streaming down cheeks.

"What are you doing here?"

 

[Vesta]

x​

The steps, the approach, the gasp, the fall - all of it reached her ears, touched upon the darkness that fed into and flowed from her, all at once. "Master," Aradia had said, as the Sith's eyes fell on the woman she'd perhaps least expected to see here now. "What are you doing here?" Was a question that was shared by both the girl and the Shi'ido, a predatory curiosity painted on the latter's face. And rage. So much of it, white-hot, that it nearly pained her to let it fester, that she turned her attention fully from her apprentice even as she let her frustration known against the floor. This was a woman she knew well enough, the old Triumvir of Strength in an Empire that was now in its death throes, but she wasn't welcome.

No one was.

Her glance moved towards the sword she'd plunged into the ground some several steps away before it flickered back to Kaalia Pavanos , an arrival that, like all the rest of that crumbling relic she'd abandoned, symbolized an experiment that never should have taken place. "Who is she to you?" She asked Darth Daiara , her voice a low hiss, as she moved her hands to reach for the hood that hung loose behind her back. Being recognized wasn't a concern, she'd worn the face of a man when she had paraded through the Empire as the Thearch of its swelling religious movement, but this was a face she didn't want seen. She bridged the gap between herself and the girl soon enough, leaving the object she'd eyed behind as soon as she'd settled on which to prioritize, and placed herself firmly in the space between the other two.

"The girl is with me, turn and leave."

She offered no threat, nor did she try to make herself intimidating - it was not in Vesta's nature to make others aware of her intentions or her capabilities - but context would provide the credible need for caution that her inaction did not. Not that she would remain passive for long.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Darth Daiara | Darth Mori

What Kaalia saw before her was not just unexpected. She felt outright shocked. The endless silence had been no more than a smokescreen for Aradia to hide herself from her. With the thick darkness that hung in the Force betraying what was taking place here, all she saw here was a daughter that had decided to disappear on purpose, perhaps even to never return. Not against her own will, but with full intention to do so. It felt all too much like catching Aradia in the midst of a most heinous act.

A metaphorical dagger was plunged into Kaalia's back. The secrecy of it all was what hurt the most. Aradia's tone of voice only served to make it worse, beyond that. She seemed well aware of the bridge she was dousing. The girl's utterance of the word 'master' was the lit match, dangerously close to lighting the fire.

"I was hoping you had learned the first time," she spoke with disappointment in her voice, shaking her head as she did. Yet despite that betrayal, seeing how bereft of life she looked was the most concerning thing of all.

It was not long before her eyes were laid upon the one who accompanied Aradia, her attention drawn by the question posed to the girl.

"Who I am to her is none of your concern."

All Kaalia could see was how this stranger was putting her daughter through something she had not been ready for. There was no doubt that this woman was responsible for allowing Aradia- or even making her- take such a step so early. So when the woman stepped between Kaalia and her daughter, she would see a former Triumvir and Dark Councilor with eyes piercing through her skull, showing no signs of trepidation. A steadfast poise that did not waver in the face of an unacceptable command.

"I need to speak to her," Kaalia's response sounded, ignoring what was said to her. Her hands were close to the hilts that hung from her hips, though she made no motion towards them yet.

 

[Darth Daiara]

She turned her head away from Mori's inquiry, rejecting both woman as she sat overwhelmed. An old master and a current master; it was not a situration she thought she had to face for a long time. A stream of red dribbled from her nose, consequences of a broken ritual. Aradia smeared it away with the back of her palm, another hiss of frustration leaving her. A talk .


She felt a protective shadow cast over her and hunched further into the ground. She was furious. Furious that she had been so close and furious that Kaalia looked at her with such disappointment. Her anger exploded from her chest, four barely contained words cutting from her lips like ice.

"Now you'll talk."

She seemed to remember the way Kaalia left at that dinner. At that disappointment-- that fething disappointment make a burst of indignation explode from her core. It wasn't even just that she couldn't handle what this woman had come for, she could feel the way they both moved towards their weapon.

"Enough," she ordered. She lashed out with the force, forgoing the lesson in attempt to exert her will over them instead. The color left her cheeks, a pool of red spattering to the ground underneath her. She ground her teeth in frustration.

"You're interrupting my lesson, Mom."

 

[Vesta]

'Speaking passed me?'

The thought was voiced within her head with sneering contempt, her lips curling into a frown as her question was dismissed by the interloper without even a modicum of regard for the purpose of the question - in and of itself an answer that satiated her curiosity enough. There wasn't a lightsaber on her person, the only threat she had anticipated being the girl's petty attempts at lashing out, but she didn't seem the least bit intimidated when she noticed the saber hilts that hung from the woman's waist. She'd been prepared to speak when the girl's voice answered for her, something she might've reprimanded her for if the situation had called for it.

"Now you'll talk."

This was a degree of spite she hadn't noticed before, and it nearly measured up to feelings she'd been bottling up inside herself. She hazarded a glance over her shoulder, her obscured face more readily visible to the girl from her vantage point on the ground, and arched a brow questioningly. Her head turned back towards Kaalia Pavanos but her eyes swept to the side instead, back to where her sword had remained, and was about ready to ease the tensions in her own way when Darth Daiara decided to do what she did best: frustrate her.

If domination of the mind hadn't been a strong suit of hers she might've embarrassed herself there, but she'd been the architect behind a mind-controlling mark tattooed on millions, perhaps billions, of the Sith Empire's population - people who were enthralled to her will if she so desired it. Control, especially in the manner the girl sought to take, was something that Mori would not so easily forgive being taken from her, even if Aradia failed to do so. "Qazoi Kyantuska." Were the words from the ancient tongue she spoke, a phrase which roughly meant to dominate will, and it was simultaneously the incantation for the Sith spell of the same purpose.

"Swallow your tongue." She hissed.

"So you're the dead master, are you? Playing master for your own child?" Mori asked, her tone almost a taunt. "I tried that with a lover, once. It seems we've seen the same result in both instances - sentiments getting in the way of rationality." She admitted, though she shrugged exaggeratedly in a way that seemed to imply she had more to say that was less than flattering. "Must have been a really chit parent for your own daughter to find a replacement and tell me that you died." She noted with a laugh. "Get up, girl." She said to the girl, any humor in her voice vanishing as she barked the order. "She's remarkable, truly. One of a dozen I've seen who will surpass the entirety of that crumbling ruin of an Empire, including you."

'You may speak freely, but you will watch what you say.' She whispered into the girl's mind, her voice inserted there through telepathy.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Claws
Darth Daiara | Darth Mori

'I don't let people stand in my way.'

The thought was shot back with a sense of indifference. People like this stranger would always exist, but as long as they knew to keep themselves away from her, Kaalia had little reason to care about their actions. Had it been someone else standing in Aradia shoes, she would not have seen any reason to interrupt. All she was here for was her daughter; if the woman did not make herself a problem, no conflict would be necessary. Kaalia was quite certain problems were going to arise, however. Still, she would not cast the first stone until then.

Aradia would make her voice heard in a much more direct manner. Her comment received no clear response, though that was not out of confusion. Kaalia had cut down Aradia's resistant behavior before the girl's disappearance and it was clear her words called back to that conversation. Kaalia had the hope she had taken her time and realized just how unreasonable she had been behaving. Sadly, it seemed to only have gotten worse from the looks of it.

Aradia even reserved her first time referring to Kaalia as 'mom' for a time when the latter had been clear about not wanting to share her connection with the former. The fact she tried to exert control over the older of the three, a vain attempt though telling nonetheless, certainly aided in growing the deep-cutting disappointment Kaalia felt.

All that took a jarringly sudden back seat when the woman all too frivolously subjugated the will of her daughter. It was nothing short of an insult of the highest order to someone who lived in defiance of those above in the years of her own growth, but more grievous was the anger she felt as a mother. The darkness Kaalia held in her fist tried to whisper temptations of retribution, here and now, but they were too quiet to be anything but a weak attempt at swaying her. Cooler heads prevailed, always, even if at this point she wanted little more than to run a blade through her chest.

The anger was acknowledged, drawn from, but it failed to affect her actions. The stranger's scathing words to Kaalia's character and ability made only a small dent.

"You are making many strong assumptions, there," Kaalia responded, unfazed. She had stood face to face with too many Sith who spoke cutting words to be left defenseless. "Sadly, you seem to have a poor sense of judgment when it comes to those who are greater than you."

Acting the way Avacyn would have done was effortless. Laying down the title did not mean Kaalia had forgotten how Sith were, or what mattered most in the philosophy. Facts and in-depth rebuttals were far from the most important things when deception and posturing took center stage. Perhaps Aradia recognized this side of Kaalia from years ago.

"I will speak with her. I am quite certain it will be to the benefit of all of us." In what way, Kaalia felt no need to explain.

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia found herself falling quiet, a sense of blank following that action that almost made the moment appear blissful. Almost. The ancient words clicked in the back of her mind, and while she did not possess the experience to override it, she understood what had been done to her.

A taste of her own medicine then. She grimaced bitterly all the same, brought to her feet by her own will. It did not stop the look of daggers that pierced Mori's head. 'Don't do that,' she interjection, her hypocrisy shinning a light on her immaturity.

This wasn't a moment for childish antics. Both woman were fully capable of causing harm. If she was able to see past her own nose she would remember how much she didn't want either of them hurt. As it was, she was a bit overcome by the lesson's anger. She did nothing to deescalate the situation.

"How dare you," There was no seeing past the red in her vision as she stepped around the masculine edge of Mori's frame. She looked at Kaalia, her nose wrinkling in spite.

"I did not invite you here. And you do not know what's best. Go home. When I am ready to talk with you, I will come."

She had never spoken to Kaalia with such absolutes before, but then again... she had wanted the girl to find her voice.

It had been found. Along with a few other... concerning developments.

 

[Vesta]

There it was.

Perhaps Kaalia Pavanos hadn't realized it yet, and she doubted her hot-headed apprentice had noticed the slip, but the sentiments of grandeur that the former Triumvir had boasted were the precise reason that Darth Mori felt so comfortable behaving the way that she did. Her hand slipped up and over the shoulder of the young Darth Daiara to rest just near the nape of her neck, cold fingers slowly finding purchase as the mother and daughter duo argued in such a manner that she might as well have left the room - Kaalia's insistence to speak with the girl aside. "I am afraid I know you far better than you know me." She answered, placing pressure on the girl's shoulder as she demanded her surrogate mother leave.

"Certainly, though, I can't keep a girl from her mother, or her mother from her daughter - how hypocritical would I be to deny something I've been wanting my entire life?"

She turned her gaze down towards Aradia, a certain expression on her face that seemed to convey reassurance, or perhaps it was just signaling that this was the punishment for her behavior and attempted assault on her master's agency just minutes prior. "We control our emotions, girl - do not let them rule your judgement." She said before turning her attention back to Kaalia. "Speak with her, learn from the past. It is the only way we determine how not to repeat its mistakes." Mori continued, coolly. 'But do not forget that you are the future, not her.' She added, silently, with a whisper into the mind of her apprentice.

She smiled.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Darth Daiara | Darth Mori

The stranger had just subjugated Aradia's will only moments ago, but the one she spouted out her anger towards was Kaalia. It had hardly been the first time, frustratingly so, but at a moment like this it was even more jarring. Someone so easily willing to do such things to her was ultimately treated with more respect. Something had gotten into the girl's head and at this stage Kaalia had to wonder if she had found her too late.

"From the looks of it, you have had the ability to reach out, yet you did not." A simple check-in was all Kaalia had asked for, twice now, and still Aradia would not cooperate.

There was no anger behind the words, there was only the simple observation. It took much to not address the other statements hurled her way, but she knew they would only make things worse. Her expression would only shift when the woman interjected.

As long as the stranger believed she knew Kaalia well, the posturing did what it was supposed to, regardless of the results. Her direct manner of speaking and clear demands were certainly part of her character, but that which emulated Darth Avacyn- of which the assertion of superiority was the most obvious- were not. The Sith across the galaxy had only seen Avacyn rather than the woman underneath that mask, and for this she would don it again.

She did not know this woman and had no reason to believe she had the faintest idea of what she was truly capable of, even if her words were to the contrary. Kaalia would still raise her blades against the woman if the situation called for it, though, and without hesitation.

The sudden shift in the stranger's behavior, now providing no resistance to Kaalia's demand, raised suspicion. Eyes that mirrored the feeling met the woman. Qazoi Kyantuska, she had spoken, depriving Aradia of her free will. There was a chance its effects still lingered. Regardless, Kaalia needed a way to get through to the girl. She had proven herself to be exceedingly difficult to reason with. Ever since putting Avacyn to rest, the girl had been unwilling to listen, showing only bitterness. The stranger's presence most certainly had no positive effect.

"Only if she wants to listen, and in private," Kaalia remarked, her attention shifting from the stranger to Aradia. "I will not keep you from walking your own path, but certain things need to be made crystal clear about our alusra." Alusra, or family in the Kro Varian tongue. A word Aradia would know. The choice to speak that word in a different language was clearly intentional.

Sadly, only the gravest mistakes taught the greatest lessons sometimes. If truly nothing else worked, there was nothing Kaalia could do to prevent Aradia from falling too far one way or another.

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia didn't feel like she had much of a choice, both by Vesta's look and Kaalia's obtrusive presence.

There was something about the former that earned her no pity, not even when a forlorn look was leveled up at her. "Fine," she snapped, the lesson emotions falling on deaf ears. She kicked the chain away and started back out the cave.. Her hand lashed out, impulsively grabbing at the blade Vesta had favored and shooting the woman a look over her- her lips parted, her eyes widening ever so slightly at the gaping hole of darkness that roared to life in her palm. It was poignant, the space around it devoid of any light. Its energy vibrated through the air and tugged at something at her core. Her nerve endings screamed at her to drop it. She didn't. She turned away from Mori, denying her any chance to see the understanding she reached.

The woman still wasn't getting it back.

She forced herself to continue forward. She didn't meat Kaalia's eyes as she guided her back the way she had snuck in. They were hardly around the bend, but Aradia turned anyway and started on the Master that was no more.

"What are you doing? You said we would have this talk when I was back," she hissed, blood smeared down her chin. "Do you have any idea what you've interrupted? You've embarrassed me!"

 

[Vesta]

She merely raised her hands in a gesture to show her palms, as if signaling that she was more than willing to give them their moment together. She glanced down, towards Darth Daiara , and nodded her head slightly, towards Kaalia Pavanos , accompanied with an expression that seemed to urge her to go. "I have no intention to interfere. Do whatever you want." She said, turning her gaze back towards the older woman while lowering her hands back to her side. She'd been eyeing her sword for some time, it would've been quite useful if things had come to blows, but now she was certain she hadn't needed it in the first place - she didn't know how soft Avacyn had become.

"I trust her." She added, her eyes following Aradia as she walked forwards.

The lesson could wait, the one she was teaching the girl now had been one she would've saved for much later but instead presented itself to them as an opportunity she could not let go. A flicker of amusement crossed her face, obscured by the hood now at the distance the other two were from her, at the sight of her apprentice spitefully reaching for Mori's blade, the Talon of Typhojem. She'd half expected her to drop it or recoil immediately, but, with as stubborn as she was, the girl kept it in her grip and continued out of the crypt without giving her the satisfaction of seeing her reaction. Left alone, now, the Sith lord waited.

She was patient.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Darth Daiara | Darth Mori

Aradia's decision to bring the blade with her was so utterly unnecessary to Kaalia, yet the girl battled its darkness just to do so. This was a far cry from the apprentice she once had. The Force that hung around Aradia made it all too clear that venturing deeper into the Dark at a rapid pace, something that simply could not be reversed.

If the girl was inclined to throw out all of her teachings, then Kaalia knew there was no point in trying to correct that course any longer. Any lessons Aradia would learn would be from the consequences of her actions. There was just one thing Kaalia needed to nip in the bud. And so, when they turned the corner and Aradia exploded at her once again, Kaalia swiftly and tightly grabbed the wrist that held the blade, inadvertently sharing the effect of wielding it. For her, it was no struggle. "You will cut that tone out and listen to me," she spoke, her tone as piercing as the look she shot to Aradia. Her behavior was no longer tolerated.

"I told you to check in the moment you could, and you didn't. You said nothing about a new master, so clearly there was more going on. I see no reason you could not reach out for even a simple message from here, regardless. This is not about any talk, this is me trying to figure out where in the Nether you went, Aradia. You want me to stop looking for you? It's all in your own hands." Kaalia would leave no room for rebuttal, quickly continuing to speak.

"You cannot keep hiding away and lying by omission and expect me to be okay with it. If you want us to be your alusra, then act like it."

Her eyes swept over the blade for a moment, then back to Aradia herself. "That wretch is as manipulative as they come. I've seen enough of her kind to know them well enough. You watch yourself around her," Kaalia continued, her voice quieter but equally as intense. "I cannot step in when you go too far and the consequences find you. Nobody will shield you from the Dark side's fatal temptations. You are not invincible, and I will not let you hurt our alusra."

Kaalia let go of Aradia's wrist and with it fell a moment of silence. She let that moment pass, hopefully letting her words sink in.

"Now, am I clear?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia expected many things to be critized, but... not checking in? Hadn't she ...said she was going to go dark? Hadn't Kaalia left in a huff and told her they would not speak again until she ready to put things down and... come home? That was the biting message she had received that night, when Kaalia had left her alone at that dinner.

She thought they were on the same page, but instead Kaalia put distance between that had never been there before.

"I cannot step in when you go too far and the consequences find you.

Her blood ran cold as her wrist was released. She didn't even feel the way the swords rage engulfed her. She only.... stared, too stunned by Kaalia's ultimatum to speak.

Blood slowly returned to her lips.

"Cannot, or will not." She didn't think this was about her not sending a message, and she would have held Kaalia accountable to it, but a wave of fury spat through her, so hot she thought it might melt her insides.

"Because last I've checked, you've done nothing at all. I've fought for this family. I kept the imperials back. I'm the reason you had a chance to get off that wretched planet. And where you were you? Making lunches and kissing heads.

"You had a duty. To the Empire, to me. Don't you talk to me about not showing up. That's all you do."

Her fingers tightened around the hilt, her voice raw with spite. It was the way Kaalia looked her. Not the same. Disappointment? Disgust? As if everything she had become was wrong, and that was confusing. So confusing.

This was her Master.

"You will meet, and likely have met, people who keep you from moving forward, people who tell you of danger that they, themselves, have undertaken."

"You just want to hold me back," she accused, her voice a sharp whisper. Energy began to build in the sword, her hand shaking in the anger the came out like ice.

"People you thought were friends, family even, will look at you differently now, though they will pretend to behave the same."

"You never intended to see me this far." It wasn't a question. Her muscles grew tense. Coiled. A slight static appeared over the metal gripped tight in her palm.

 

[Vesta]

There was no mistaking the tension building just beyond her line of sight, the pair outside incapable of managing their feelings in a way the Sith lord would have if she had been in either of their places, but Darth Mori's attention wasn't affixed to her apprentice, nor to the girl's mother, but rather inwardly towards a conflict she'd been silently brewing in herself. The chain that Darth Daiara had cast aside was pulled from its place on the ground and through the air into the Shi'ido's hand, her fingers running over its cold, smooth, surface as she let her mind wander to the face of another woman that this scenario reminded her of. Mori, Vesta then, had been the one to disappear - not of her own free will, or, at least, not of her own conscious one.

Aradia, at least, had been looked for.

Her gaze shifted from blankly staring off into space and towards the prostrated statue that symbolized fear and stepped towards it, a hand reaching out for it. 'Am I so terrifying?' She wondered, to herself, as she clenched her fist around the chain, its surface slowly smoking as it became red-hot and bright. A strand-cast, an imitation, was what she was. Her hand shifted, its features far more slender, meek, for but a moment to acknowledge that fact in a more physical way before shifting it back to the hand she'd paired with the face she was adorned with now. Her lips curled in disgust - whether it was with herself, or for another, she wasn't entirely certain herself.

She thought back, to shortly after Thule when she'd encountered Solipsis, to her offer to work with them - the Maw - and the internal agreement she'd made to accept a more traditional method of Sith teaching. Aradia, her mind returning to the girl outside, was going to be her legacy - she'd said it herself, when another had chosen otherwise - and in the eyes of tradition there was no way to pass that down without proving beyond a shadow of a doubt the girl's worth. Her eyes wandered to the frozen expression of horror in the face of the statue, her own expression grim. She understood, now, the purpose behind Bane's rule - she'd be free of her own turmoil soon enough, once the girl was ready. Her head turned, leveling her gaze towards the hallway that led out to the pair beyond, and sighed. Kaalia Pavanos had presented herself as a test to the girl's resolve, if only unknowingly.

It was one Mori could not afford the girl to fail.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Darth Daiara | Darth Mori

Apparently, the answer to Kaalia's question was a resounding no.

"I said that you will not speak to me that way," Kaalia promptly responded, promptly grabbing Aradia's arm again and ripping the sword out of her hand. The shock she felt was weathered, causing just the tiniest specks of corruption to find purchase in her eyes. She tossed it away from them, clattering a few times and sliding across the ground a small distance before coming to a halt. With a stomp of her foot, angled spikes of solid rock shot out of the ground to cover it.

"Do I really need to tell you the stories of all the wars I fought in, from before you were even born until long after that? And everything I did after I took you in? Just because you don't see it, does not mean I do not give everything for us. The reason I never wanted you to fight for us was because it was never needed. Every exit was carefully planned long before we even met," Kaalia said in an unwavering voice. "You simply refused to listen. And we both are well aware that no empire is worth dying for."

Kaalia felt the lingering touch of potent darkness on her hand. It was slowly absorbed, added to her strength, but in measured paces. No wonder Aradia was so utterly out of it.

"I have nothing to gain from holding you back. If I really wanted to hold you back, I would've kept you from ever going out on your own." She glanced over to the imprisoned sword for a moment.

"She really did get into your head."

 

[Darth Daiara]

It would take a severe struggle to remove the blade from her grasp. She might not have trained with Kaalia in some time, but she had been working on her guard.

She was sick of being pushed around.

Still. Nails pulled back flesh and joints were strained to a point of almost snapping before there was success. A jolt of electricity shot from its tip as she screamed, the metal wrenched from her hands. Part of the entrance wall crumbled, the collusion echoing like thunder around them. Her nostrils flared as the stone cage took it away.

"You leave her out of this," she hissed, enunciating each word. Her shoulders heaved, while her fingers itched with sensation of the sword that was gone.

"All you do is speak down to me and shove me around." The energy in the hall began to grow stale... as she drained the ambient energies into her own body. "This is my choice. You will respect it. " She took a step forward her frail form seeming to grow larger as shadows built around her.

"Or else."

 

[Vesta]

Rumbling filled the crypt as she let the chain slip from her grasp, the Shi'ido's hand sliding off of the statue's face as she started towards the scene playing out between Darth Daiara and Kaalia Pavanos . Though her intent, her goal, had been to play parent against child, the Sith lord had no illusion that any actual fighting between the two would play out in a way that was beneficial to any of them - particularly if it meant starting the search over again for someone else that matched the girl's potential. Her hood fell from her face as she moved through the hall and out towards the opening, a sweeping hand crushing a fallen section of wall into the ground like an invisible press.

Pale blue light shown against her pale skin and caught itself in her ruby-red eyes, her expression disdainful as she caught sight of the rocky coating that surrounded a blade of her own making. Green smog seemed to pour from the shadows, wrapping itself around her open left hand, and in its closing grip a lightsaber hilt was left as the aether dissipated in the moonlight. She did not approach yet, remaining still a distance away, in the entryway to the crypt behind her, but she was ready, visibly, for the confrontation that her apprentice seemed overly keen on instigating.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Darth Daiara | Darth Mori

All that anger, frustration and threatening, it was outright hurtful to see. After many years of setting aside so much just to give Aradia a chance at a better life, even welcoming her within her most sacred circle- her family- and this was how Kaalia got repaid. Aradia could not even see that she was the cause of everything she hated that her adoptive mother did. After all this time, she still failed to understand that when you pushed someone, they would push back. She endlessly poked and prodded, then exploded at the fact it was not tolerated. Worst of all, Kaalia was running out of ways to make her see that.

"At no point today have you truly listened to what I said. You haven't in a long time," Kaalia said, giving up on trying to get any kind of respect out of the girl. "You aren't so misguided that you have come to believe that disrespect and baseless accusations would have no consequences, are you?"

Even before this confrontation, much of what she had said was taken to be accusatory or otherwise negative, twisted in Aradia's own head to become that way. Before now, there were times where Kaalia could bring her to reason. Reason was nowhere to be found, now.

"All of your choices have been in your own hands, and yet you continue to act as if I seek to control you. This is your own mistake to make. That said, I cannot and will not respect it. Nor do I respect her. But that's not the point."

Kaalia did not want to hurt Aradia. Whatever had gotten into her, though, was getting her close to turning against Kaalia in a violent way. An action she would come to regret if it came to that. If she did lash out, she would find that Kaalia was more than ready to react.

"I clearly explained to you why we wanted you to reach out after the first time, and yet you outright refuse to do so. We worry ourselves sick when you don't check in, but it really seems like you don't care when you just disappear like this. About our worry for you, or us in general."

The stranger's presence rubbed against Kaalia's own, causing the Kro Varian to look over as the woman crushed the pile of rubble. With her there to listen on, now, Kaalia was finished with this conversation that had accomplished nothing, much to her dismay. All it had done was bring hurt, for she felt her daughter slipping away from her. Aradia was set on wandering into the deepest recesses of the Dark, much further than where an apprentice could go without serious consequences. Kaalia was hurt. Upset.

Helpless.

"Now settle down. As far as I'm concerned, everything has been discussed. From now on, I'll leave you to your devices. You'll know where to find me, if you so wish."

She was far from hopeful. To Kaalia, this felt like a goodbye more than anything. All these years of trying her hardest, and the result was failure. To have someone she tried to lift up so vehemently hate her, even if Aradia was far from herself, was outright soul-crushing. None of the hurt seeped through the mask she wore, she had been like Avacyn from the moment she stepped inside this tomb, but once that came off in solitude there was a lot of grief to come to grips with.