will you sink down to me?
The northern approach was draped in more fog than normal. Still, Netra'yaim’s tower easily breached the thick, almost opaque surface to rise up between the mountain crags.
This climate had followed her into the desert nestled into the Cetajan Mountains too, it seemed—not entirely, of course. It was still a desert but, shortly after Damsy moved in, so did more atmospheric moisture. If the biome itself was somewhere that it didn't belong, the relatively more common, though still altogether few, occurrences of rain and fog were similarly inexplicable.
Inexplicable by any law of nature, that was. Completely explainable by the effects of the Dark side.
It writhed against the ordered way of the Light to create a bit more comfort for one of its masters.
Walking through the so-nicknamed Gloom hadn't ever had its intended effect on the hybrid shifter. Just its imposing presence had turned away so many, but to Damsy it was nothing but welcoming: not just knowing that her family home sat behind it but also how it felt like an oceanic embrace on dry land.
Steam rolled off her skin as she moved through the Gloom, evaporating away to rejoin the condensation heavy in the air before she could shift. Before and above her, half of the northern wall was obscured by the low-lying clouds. As she approached, she waved her hand, brushing some fog away to reveal the battlements above. The forms of a few humanoid guards donning beskar’gam bearing the crest of House Verd also appeared.
“Ayo!” she called up to them. “Wha's good? Metus in?”
Unlike the last time Damsy had visited, he would not know that she was coming. Back then, shortly after the first fall of Tython, she had been so full of fire and brimstone that a very small area of the Ardent Reach landscape had begun to change to reflect her internal strife. But today, that loss had burrowed deep inside to join her collective, ever-roiling hatred. It was quiet enough to contain and she was likewise able to suppress her aura.
She wanted to surprise him for once.
“Aye,” replied one of the guards curtly. “Business?”
Before Damsy could even open her mouth to respond, the other elbowed his brother. “Business?” he mocked, imitating the first's voice rather badly. "This Damsy Callat, ya idiot." His gaze swept down to Damsy and gave a nod. “Go on in.”
The gate raised. She passed through then into the castle's first of many great foyers. The darkness and slightly musky scent of old stonework rushed to the door the greet her.
A protocol droid sweeping some meters away looked up at the newcomer. As she eased the door shut behind her with back, she put a finger to her mouth to bade it to be quiet.
