Come Home, Dear Children

[Liliane]

"Vindi, what are you doing? Didn't you bring her with you?" Lilin asked, just as confused as Vitor. No, confused was not the right word. She was shocked, even. And she did not like that feeling at all. She had set her hopes high because she really wanted to see her sister. Yet it looked as if her brother had not even taken her along.

She stood up and tried to get a better look, but she couldn't. There were no signs of a soul around. Anywhere. The Sithspawn was either perfectly hidden or not there at all.

Or perhaps she didn't exist at all.

"Does she even exist?"

 

[Onrai]

"I sense something..."

"I brought her with me. She merely is absorbing all light, all power... She is a walking void." At once he noticed the shadowy figure that stood out on the balcony, like a spectre, waiting to come into the home. "Is that you, my daughter?" She was hard to perceive, merely as a shadowy outline of a young woman.

"Are you there?"

 

[Liliane]

Lilin just looked at Vindi first and after he had told the two where the kid was, she looked towards the shadow. She truly looked like a nightmare, she had to say. Nothing like a human being, she had to note. A lot of the Dark Side echoed from her and it made Lilin shiver. It was too much for her to bare. The house was getting more and more corrupted, she was starting to feel slightly ill.

"I will have to take a break."

She burst out of the door, nearly storming through the shadow of the Sithspawn, nearly hitting Vindi on the way. She ran out of the house, away from the village. There was too much Dark Side in the house. The sword tempted her, her own sister was made of corruption, the house radiated the darkness of Lilith.

Her home was not what it used to be.

She couldn't stand it.

Vomit gathered in her stomach, making its way towards her mouth.

She couldn't keep running. She fell.

Her nose hit the ground rather hard and she felt blood coming out of it. But that was OK. It was just a little injury. Nothing bad, she thought to herself. But the feeling of darkness rose in her and that was not something she considered normal.

 

[Onrai]

Vitor took a step towards his corrupted child, giving a soft frown as Lilin ran away - the power of the sword pulsating, trying to touch the depths of her spirit. Her father, however, got to one knee in order to look at her. "Can you make yourself more visible, my daughter?" If she could, this would be better... Certainly easier.

He smiled, trying to find eyes he could look into.

 

[Liliane]

Lilin got to her feet again to run. To continue hurrying away from the madness. She didn't like the feeling of corruption. Yet somehow, she felt like she was determined to feel that. Like it was her fate to have that inside her. For the first time ever, she felt like her mother was a curse to her. The power she had gained from her was fantastic, but the side-effects were not.

She yelled.

And then it was silence. Everybody who could still see her from the village looked at her, thinking she had gone crazy. Maybe she had. Maybe she couldn't just bear the darkness her mother had caused in her and which were then induced by the sword and the Sithspawn.

How could Vitor live in all that madness, she thought.

Maybe it was time to go back? Maybe it was better there?

No, it couldn't have been better. She didn't want to return. She hated her sister, she hated her brother, she hated her father. The moment's insanity had effects on her she would never want to see again.

It was the dark side of her. It had been carefully hidden so that nobody, even she herself, could see that. But now the cover had been lifted and it was free.

She closed her eyes. And stopped running.

Instead, she sat down.

While in the house, Merikh the Sithspawn opened her eyes.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"Hello." He looked at his daughter, motioning for Vindi to go and find his sister. His arms opened wide, hoping that Merikh would simply come forward to embrace her. "Please... Give your father a hug."

"Lilin... What's wrong?" Vindi caught up with his sister, frowning as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come home, Lilin. We'll be a family together.

 

[Liliane]

Lilin looked at the direction where that sound was coming -- she knew it belonged to Vindi, it was clear enough she'd remember exactly what her brother's voice sounded like after years of living in the same house -- but she did not open her eyes.

"I'd like to be family. But I feel like we can't be that. The darkness of our mother resides in all three of us. I feel it. And Merikh is just making it worse," Lilin said. She opened her eyes to see her brother trying to get her to come back home. But she didn't feel the spark which would have made her do that. Her heart pounded and the sickness in her stomach was something so odd she couldn't even describe. Was that the feeling one got when wanting to go back home? Definitely not.

"The problem's not in her. It's in me. I can't just tolerate corruption in her. She is made of the Dark Side of the Force. She radiates it."

Lilin released a deep loud sigh.

"I don't want to be our mother's legacy. I want to follow the path our father took. I want to be good and do nice things."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"And that means we can't be together? We can't be a family?" Vindi frowned. "Our father loves all of us, regardless of how corrupt we may be. He's an exceptional human being, one we should all be proud of. I want you to be there too... Look how we've neglected our stepbrother." It was true - he had no idea if the young man was even alive.

What an odd family.

 

[Liliane]

"It's not about our father. She can bear with us, but I can't. This darkness drives people insane, I feel it growing inside me. And it is not a good thing."

She stood up, dusted herself off from the dirt that had gotten to her clothes and turned towards her brother. She had always loved him. Just like she had always loved her father. Just like she wanted to love the third child. But she couldn't. She was driven by fear. Fear of falling. Fear of losing control over what was happening to her.

"I've talked to the step-brother. He seems fine. But we can't be fine. There's this curse we all have. I don't want it."

Lilin realised she was being overly dramatic, making a huge problem of a simple thing.

"I want to come back, I really do. But what if this darkness will slowly turn us to the right track? What if it will make us accept the corruption our mother left us with?"

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"And where will you go? Must you abandon us - we who relate to you through blood - for someone who could harm you in ways you can't even imagine? You know what our father did to keep us safe from the local Zahat... You know how much he hates that he will never be able to live a truly enjoyable life. You can't leave him..."

He sighed, as Vitor himself eyed his daughter. "Tell me about yourself."

 

[Liliane]

Lilin remained silent. She couldn't talk. Arguing was pointless, she knew that. Her bother was stubborn enough to continue forcing her to come back. But she didn't want to. She needed alone time to figure things out. No, she was not very mad at the fact that the Sithspawn was completely made of darkness, but she definitely did not feel comfortable near her. The dark made her feel sick.

"Don't get it wrong. I support you, I support our father. I am thankful for what he did. But how can I live in a family which is destined to go to the Dark Side of the Force?" Lilin spoke with desperation. She couldn't contain herself any longer. The truth had to come out soon.

At the same time, Merikh hugged Vitor in the house and replied to the question, "I'm Merikh. That's all I know."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"Our father has remained pure despite his constant connection to you, me, our mother, and our stepbrother. How will this be any different?" He gave Lilin a gentle hug before stepping back. "Have faith in our ability to work together. And remember - our father said the Dark Side doesn't necessarily make anyone evil." He sighed, looking back to see his father still giving Merikh hugs.

"Interesting name, Merikh." Vitor smiled, still hugging her and handing her a candy. "Here you go. My first gift to you, my daughter."

 

[Liliane]

Lilin still couldn't calm down. How didn't the Dark Side make anybody evil? The One Sith was full of darksiders, they were all evil. There were countless Dark Jedi in the galaxy. They all did bad things to the innocent. Darkness brought along corruption which would twist a person's personality and in the end, make them turn into completely different people.

Had their mother been resurrected with the Light Side, -- would that have been possible -- she would have been with the rest of her family that day. But instead, she left them all. And then died, anyway.

"I... don't think I agree with you."

She looked directly into Vindi's eyes.

"But I will give it a try."

Meanwhile, Merikh took the candy from her father, smiled widely, and replied politely, "Thank you!"

 

[Onrai]

"Good to see that she taught you manners..." He smiled as Vindi and Lilin returned. "Hey... Lilin, good to have you back. The last thing I wanted to see was another one of the family abandoning me." His smile fades away as he thought a bit more over the situation. "I... Am a bit tired. Perhaps I'll leave you be for the time being."

As he walked away, Vindi gave him a glance. "He's a good man, Merikh. It's good that he's your father."

 

[Liliane]

Lilin looked rather displeased with the fact that Merikh radiated so much darkness she was starting to throw up, but didn't show it out. Just like her father had hinted, none of them wanted to lose another family member after Lilith had made the terrible choice of leaving. Or, well, it wasn't exactly a choice, but...

The girl took a seat again and took a glance at the sword which she had place on the table before leaving. It was still as amazing as it was when she first noticed that. However, she did notice how it was lighting up the flame inside her -- that's what corruption had to feel like -- so she moved her eyes away from the blade.

The sword was too much for her to bear.

"So... to take our thoughts away from all the madness, perhaps we should do something interesting?"

It looked like Lilin was the only one who wasn't at all that excited for Merikh anymore.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"Well..." Vitor pondered over what the best option would be to do. "If you're hungry, I have the cauldron out back. We could make some stew." He did have a good cacophony of foodstuffs, both hunted locally and imported from offworld. There was little he enjoyed now more than sinking his teeth into a cut of boiled nerf, or whatever other meat was there.

Food brought people together, after all.

 

[Liliane]

"Eating sounds nice. Haven't had anything since I started flying here. My stomach may start to growl any minute now."

Wiping the last of her tears away, she tried to smile to make her day brighter and relieve the pain she had felt moments ago. The day was too nice to waste it on being grumpy. She tried to let the positivity in and forget about the sword which made corruption in her double every moment she looked at that. She couldn't even imagine what it could have caused to her had she gone to a fight with that.

"It would be nice to eat some homely food again after having to terrorise restaurants with my presence every day."

She giggled a bit and then looked at Merikh. She wasn't that bad, actually. She thought she would actually get used to the sickness she felt when hanging out with her little sister.

 

[Onrai]

"Well, let me get the pot heated. Vindi, you check the coolers for meat. Merikh, you pour the water inside. And Lilin... Check and see what vegetables we have at the moment. This will be a good meal." He stepped to the side, gathering together some logs to light up and use as fire for the pot. Hopefully, he soon would have it ready.

"Group hug once we're done."

 

[Liliane]

Lilin nodded and stood up. At least she had a chance of getting just a little bit farther from Merikh so she would no longer be on the edge of throwing up. Vegetables were her favourite things, she was glad her father remembered that and allowed her to handle them. She knew exactly what she'd get for the food.

In a few swift steps, she was near the fridge and cupboards where they held vegetables. There weren't many left there, but she thought she'd manage. She took a bit of lettuce, ferroan spinach, stewfruit, corn, charbote root, potatoes, and just in case, a few pickles. She hadn't made a stew in a while, but she remembered the tastes she liked and hoped they would taste good together.

She put the on a cupboard and took a look at them. Yes, they might have tasted good together.

"Dad, do you think these will do the deal or would you choose something different?"

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"They look good to me." He nodded, raising an eyebrow as Vindi brought in some chunks of dried nerf meat. Tossing it into the steaming pot, he smiled, giving a soft nod as the delicious mixture of various veggies and meat were placed in with one another and slowly cooked. "Alright... Anyone have any interesting stories?

He did want to know what they had been up to, after all.