Private She and Her

[Ala Quin]

"Your lightsaber, Master Quin."

The guard's voice wasn't harsh, if anything, he sounded baffled that she'd tried to breeze past the checkpoint with a weapon still clipped to her belt. Ala nearly jumped. She wasn't defiant. She was merely distracted. Merely.

The bravado she'd used to stare down the Sith had evaporated the moment she got home. She'd spent that night curled on her sofa, burying her face in a tub of cheap Nectrose Freeze and sobbing until Lorn walked through the door. Confrontation had never been her gift, but she was damned if she'd let the Council, or this pouting Sith, see the cracks in her foundation.

"Of course... of course," she murmured. She unhooked the hilt and dropped it into the bin. The metallic thud was followed by the finality of a latch. The weapon was gone, locked away in shielded storage.

A cold wave of defencelessness washed over her. As she stepped through the scanners and into the hall, the Force felt muffled, the dampeners stripping away her connection and leaving her feeling raw and exposed. Ella Nova was the only prisoner in this block, tucked around an L-shaped corridor to keep her out of sight.

Ala stopped just before the turn. She closed her eyes, drawing in a few jagged, deep breaths to find her center. Once she rounded that corner, the mask had to be seamless. Fake it 'til you make it, Ala.

The scuff of her boots on the floor announced her arrival long before she came into view. She stepped around the bend, stopping a few meters from the shimmering energy barrier that held Ella Nova.

"I trust your meals are being delivered on schedule?" Ala asked, her voice steadier than her heart. "What are they feeding you these days?"

| Tag: Her |​

 

[Her]

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Tag: Ala Quin

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' She and Her '
A tale set in Shiraya's Sanctuary

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Meditation. It is an act by a Jedi designed to temper the emotions, shift through the feelings, and allow the Force itself to permutate through you like a river flow that cools the temper and frees the mind. For a Sith it is an opposite act: a method used to stupor on those emotions which clouds a weaklings mind and brings clarity to those of a stronger, more powerful ilk. As the Force flows through a Jedi and allows them to become one with it a Sith surrenders themselves to the flow of the Dark Side and in turn makes it their property to do what they wish.

One considers their fate and submerses themselves to the currents which takes them there. The other derives their own place in the Galaxy to take what they desire.

Fate or gullibility.

Take your pick.

"I trust your meals are being delivered on schedule? ... What are they feeding you these days?"

The Force was strong in Shiraya's Sanctuary.

It had been some years since Her had felt this connection. Not since the pilgrimage to Childhood all those years ago when she had saved the life of Darth Ayra in exchange for a new life. From those days until now the path had been convoluted, murky and filled with a nuance that the likes of Ala Quin did not know and neither appreciated. It led Her all the way to Naboo some weeks ago where they would later find themselves incarcerated by a reconstituted Jedi Order reeling from the Great Core Wars or persecutions wrought not unalike made by those of the Inquisitorius whom Her had called associate, comrade, or associate since the-turn-of-the-ninth-century.

Lies atop of lies. A castle of deceit. Don't believe a single word.

"I confess that I miss the produce that was often on my palate back on Lianna," Her confessed to the Jedi Grandmaster as she sat in meditation with their arms wrapped together into the dark sleeves that she wore as garments and their legs crossed near the waist in a perfect meditative pose that would make any Jedi Knight proud. All the trappings of someone trained by a Jedi and yet so distinctly enigmatic, elusive, and terrible. So dark.

Ala believes that she is a Sith.

"Something about the Lothal soil which produces that fresh taste others in my company did not fully appreciate," Her continued to reply with their eyes closed and the Force flowing through them. Anger, hatred, passion. It was all there like a cup filled to the brim and ready to seep over. permutating the tranquillity of the sanctuary. They say that there has been a recent bout of incidents with the children nearby. Initiates or Padawan learners who had similar dreams and visions describing things that were wretched and cur.

"I made sure that such niceties were transported daily during my time among the Imperial remnants. Others in the city were not so fortunate. Imagine the taste of the artificial. Tasteless. Efficient. No, I prefer the real thing."

Near the doorway (perched atop a stool bolted into the ground) were the remnants of a meal Her had eaten while she explained: "However, the Nabooian taste will be something I will have to grow use to. I confess that I am a novice when it comes to the food here on this planet. My last meal here, before my incarceration, was something that I did not enjoy or finish. Instead I choose to enjoy the conversation nearby."

Opening their eyes Her found Ala on the other end of the cell. It took every fibre of concentration not to immediately look away. Guilt has a way of making you react in ways you could not even imagine.

"Are you ready to discuss my readmission into the Jedi Order, Grandmaster?" Her lied to Ala.

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[Ala Quin]

The grand master's thick cascade of hair shifted as she inclined her head. Studying the prisoner, Ala tried to look past who she had become, reaching instead for who she had once been. The woman's past lay buried beneath half-truths and outright lies, so deeply obscured that the elven Jedi was no longer certain Ella Nova herself remembered what truth looked like.

"There will be no readmission into the Order...unless you can…" Ala said quietly, her voice softening, "…by some miracle, convince me of a sincere return to the Light." There was no judgment in her tone, only a quiet sorrow for the woman before her.

With slow, measured steps, Ala approached until she stood a foot from the cell's shielding. The low hum wasn't merely sound, it thrummed through her body, an unpleasant ripple she quickly forced herself to ignore.

"You live behind a facade." The words were not an accusation, but a calm, resolute truth.

"I can see the cracks in it, the Jedi within you, longing to be free. But you bury it beneath machinations and lies."

Her head tilted the other way, suspicion fading from her gaze. Soft brown eyes searched the prisoner's face, as though still hoping to find something worth saving.

"Who wounded you…Ella?"

| Tag: Her |​

 

[Her]

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Tag: Ala Quin

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"There will be no readmission into the Order ...Unless you can... By some miracle, convince me of a sincere return to the Light."

A shadow of a smile crept across Her's lips as Ala spoke. It wasn't a full smile, or a grin. Not a confident smirk, or that satisfied smug thing people do. Just a shade of something there in the nether which escaped the Dark Lord while the Jedi Grandmaster admitted that without convincing then Ella Nova would never be able call themselves a Jedi ever again, which of course, was an eerie truth in of itself as the old Knight of the Old Republic had been dead for quite sometime.

Decades ago, in fact.

A victim of the first incursion into the Core Worlds, by the Sith Order, when they re-emerged from the Stygian Caldera after the Four-Hundred Year Darkness came to it's end and gave birth to a new era filled with war.

"You live behind a facade."

Was it the Force who told Ala this truth, or was it something else Her had done? She could not tell yet. Yes, it was the truth, of course. Somehow, someway the Jedi Grandmaster could see right past Her. Perhaps that was why this Shiraya-Jedi became the latest leader of the order. There was some ability to perceive the truth where others had not yet and Her would do well not to let Ala see too much past the cracks in their armour. It was infuriating. Encapsulating. Suffocating.

Oh, hadn't Her had been a clever and cunning liar though? It took all of their concentration not to look away from Ala and confess it all, if not for the act of liberation, but for the desire to satisfy that part which was conceited. To explain all the great many feats that Her had done to the enemies of the Jedi Order in just five years...

"I can see the cracks in it, the Jedi within you, longing to be free. But you bury it beneath machinations and lies."

"Who wounded you … Ella?"

"Should we start with you?" Her retorted. She couldn't take it anymore. Darting their face away from Ala, scowling and sneering to their left, Her lied: "You have imprisoned me without alleging a crime against me while you have declared that I am a Sith. I am not one of them."

Liar.

"I am against the Sith Order. I have been for a long time."

That was true.

Closing their eyes again Her readjusted themselves to return back to that almost perfect, regale pose a Jedi would adopt when meditating. There she allowed the Force to flow through them and found that soothing calmness one attains when you enter meditation in the Shiraya Sanctuary. In that moment Her acquired focus and clarity. Answers to feelings that she felt when in the presence of the woman standing on the other side of the cell.

"Your feelings betray you, master," Her revealed to Ala. "You do not want to be on the other side of this cell looking down on me."

Bowing their chin Her felt something else.

"You want to come in and talk to me. Not as your prisoner but like something else. I sense your admiration and the conflict that it makes. You know that it is wrong to admire me. That you shouldn't come in because you do not trust me. I can hear that voice of yours rattling inside telling you not to go. Chastising the idea of it. Reminding you that I am dangerous. A killer who found their way into this safe haven, not to join you, but to deceive and trick you and the other Jedi here."

No trust.

"You should learn to trust your feelings, Ala. Your instincts make you stronger. More powerful."

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[Ala Quin]

"You admitted to working with and amongst the enemies of the Republic. You claim to have been working to undermine them, but we have no proof. And then aggressive posturing towards the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order?" Ala replied softly, resolute in her calm curiousity, "you are rightfully imprisoned, and should be grateful we have not turned you over to Republic authorities...yet...as an enemy of the state. For now you are an internal Jedi matter..."

Her gaze remained soft, examining the woman as she turned away. Such a wonder was she, Ella Nova...the charade of enigma...wrapped in a sad...pretty thing. Ala considered her for a moment longer. Pity. Pity washed over her expression.

"You try so awfully hard to believe the words you say."

When Ella began down the path of luring Ala, tempting her into some form of longing, it caused a long, slightly exasperated sigh to escape Ala's lips. Through pursed lips she expressed her disappointment, as she shook her head and her mass of curls.

She held the fallen Jedi's gaze for far too long, watching...searching within the her eyes for some hint of light, some reason and hope to which the grand master could cling.

"We could be friends...you and I," Ala said after attempting to stare in Ella's soul, "but you are a habitual liar and manipulator."

The first sign of weariness was shown when Ala rubbed her temples and averted her eyes, looking towards the controls to the door. She cleared her throat and looked back to the prisoner.

"I will ask you again...who hurt the Jedi named Ella Nova?"

| Tag: Her |​

 

[Her]

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Tag: Ala Quin

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Her was quiet as Ala spoke. There was no movement, or even a desire to interject into what the Grandmaster was saying as she talked. Sometimes silence was as a true was a confession as it pertained to a guilty liar, and under the weight to Ala's words, Her felt the familiar pang of guilt whenever she was in conversation with this Jedi. As Ala continued to speak (while alluding to the signs which told her that Ella was a habitual liar and a manipulator) Her quietly opened their eyes to stare at the floor and into space while the Grandmaster kept trying to reach the Jedi that she used to be.

"I will ask you again... Who hurt the Jedi named Ella Nova?"

"You need to come to some understanding," Her muttered to Ala with their voice so low and solemn that it was barely above a whisper. "I am never going to tell you anything about myself."

The beast within coiled itself at Her words for the Dark Side itself was an ever constant tool to this woman, even here, in the Shiraya's Sanctuary. Her found their hate again. Felt it coursing through them. The reasons for why she left the Jedi Order to become a Dark Lord of the Sith where she became the greatest conspirator against the Sith Order since Bane himself. As anger eroded the senses and buried down the guilt down deep, Her found their confidence again, and with it, their cunning.

"Understand this as well: there will be a day when you are standing where you are now. On this day I will walk out of this sanctuary free and you will be opening the door for me."

It was a preposterous idea to think that the Jedi Order would let a known Sith Lord walk freely out of Shiraya's Sanctuary as a free citizen of the High Republic. A woman who confessed on record to working with the Jedi killers among the Imperial Remnants. An enigma clearly aligned and a follower to the pathology of the Dark Side of the Force; and yet Her said it with such a resoluteness, with such a conviction, that it felt as if it was already going to happen regardless to what Ala or the other members of the Jedi Council thought about it.

As the Grandmaster chewed on their first declaration Her met Ala's gaze again to make a second one:

"Whether I walk out of this cell, as a Jedi, or not is now entirely up to you. You are the one with the power to decide whether or not we are going to be allies together in the next war to come. As we converse here our mutual adversaries in the Outer Rim systems are stirring and are on the move. Do you really want to disregard what we could accomplish together against them?"

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[Ala Quin]

With a long, patient breath through her nose, Ala let the words of the Sith linger, all the while observing and examining the woman, seeking just the hint of a crack in the facade. She played at enigma, but Ala, as usual, sought for more than what was given.

"You are correct about one thing, Ella," Ala said, insisting on call Her by her true name — her Jedi name, "you will not leave unless I give the word. But when that is...truly...is up to you."

"There are always adversaries. I feel no urgency. I feel no rush..."

With a casual calm, her hands came to rest behind her, on the small of her back. She was not planning on leaving any time soon. So, she might as well get comfortable.

"If you wish...I can expedite this process and understand you better...it is not without its risks...for either of us...but...I do not believe you mean me any harm. You had your chance, and you did not take it. But with your permission...I can meld with your mind...understand you better."

| Tag: Ala Quin |​

 

[Her]

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Tag: Ala Quin

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[ RESEVOIR DREAMER ]
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Mind melding. It was a Jedi technique Her had thought lost before now. She had heard of the practise in the past where a Jedi Master possessed the ability to join their mind with another in order to gleam insights, memories or information about the other person. It was also dangerous. Her heard that one or the others mind could be hurt (perhaps permanently) particularly if the person being melded too was a strong Force Sensitive. Yet there was no denying that the new leader of the Jedi Order was impressive give that she had such abilities, and they would need someone like Ala to lead them soon, particularly, when she had such a gift with the Force itself.

There was no doubt that if Her allowed Ala to do this and made the attempt then it would resolve some of the lingering questions that the Jedi Grandmaster had about the woman that she had incarcerated after their meeting in the meditation spire. If Ala were allowed to shift through Her's mind then she would, at long last, deduced whether or not this woman was responsible for what happened to the Larkspur Crescent and the other illegalities that Tarsai Vigil were involved in since the days of the Five Veils Revitalization Project which would therefore put to rest the initial reasons as for why Ala had ever distrusted them in the first place.

Perhaps more significantly Ala would be able to confirm or deny the ulterior motives Her possessed in coming to Shiraya's Sanctuary. She would also learn whether or not this woman was the Sith Lord as Ala clearly thought that she was is in spite of the other signs which say that Her was not. It was not uncommon among the members of the Sith Order to have the aims of supplanting, ruining or outright murdering their rivals in order to take their place, and so the idea that Her (who was clearly aligned to the Dark Side) was trying to do these things to other Sith meant that Ala and the other Jedi were not going to allow themselves to be used or manipulated in a power struggle.

Yet, what made Her uncommon and therefore gave doubts to the idea that she was merely attempting to drive the Jedi Order (and their members) into targeting the Sith (to serve their interests) were the other pertinent facts such as the fact that she had been on the side of the Imperial Confederation as they had invaded the Thandon Star Cluster and that Her had never been a known member of the Sith Order itself.

Was it possible that Her was against the Sith for moral reasons, or were the Jedi supposed to be a replacement for the Imperials who had been broken at Brosi? A mind meld would give Ala these crucial insights into her prisoner before she made a decision about their future in the Jedi Order. To deny a return for the apparent Ella Nova and their homecoming, or to accept them back into the fold and work towards a path into the light.

"If you wish... I can expedite this process and understand you better... It is not without its risks... For either of us... But... I do not believe you mean me any harm. You had your chance, and you did not take it. But with your permission... I can meld with your mind... Understand you better."

"Impressive," Her admitted as Ala offered to use their rare talent to solve the mystery surrounding the enigma in their cell. "I did not think that you were this powerful in the Force. But your desire to resolve the issues surrounding my return to the Order has clouded your judgement. As I just told you I am never going to tell you anything about myself."

Pressing their fist into the ground Her climbed up to their feet, and as she got up, Her explained: "To come to an understanding which suits us you will have to make concessions and compromises as I have done. It is only through these things that the two of us can understand how we can work together to unravel the mystery surrounding the Sith."

Now that she was up on their feet Her begun to approach the cell bars and continued to speak to Ala. "You say that I am a Sith and I say that I was a Jedi who would like to come back and join the Order again. But you do not trust me because I am a liar and I am a manipulator. However, you have not explained how I have lied to you or how I am trying to manipulate you."

Inches away from the bars Her locked eyes on Ala again. "It has become clear to me that you have locked yourself onto certain ideas that you have about me. Would you like me to be the person that you think I am, Ala? It would not be difficult for me to be that person."

 

[Ala Quin]

Ala stiffened. Her face washed over with a sadness that became a determined look, though she still struggled against her tendency to look "cute" when trying to look intense. This was no different.

She looked over at the locking mechanism. It would be so easy to just go in there and give Ella a hug. Things could be fixed with a hug, right?

Reality was not so simple. Her eyes returned to the prisoner's gaze, and Ala held them for a long time, as if begging to bring something of the Jedi forth.

"I know what you are. And I can see what you could be. I wish you would take my hand...and walk with me into the light," she said softly.

"I would very much like to work with you. Not against you...but until you are willing...you will remain here, as our guest."

| Her |​