Private So Uncivilized

[Inanna Harth]

“Other gods have been there before,” Asra said. “The Sky-Goddess visited it before she took up residence in Arboria, and the Holy Fool went in with his twin. But only the Fool came back.”

Inanna’s expression became drawn. “What else do you know about the Holy Fool?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“He is a shapeshifter. He became usul over our flocks through trickery, but after many generations of rule, he left our world. He told us that he would return with tools and ships that would allow us to go forth and conquer the stars.”

"Did he tell you his real name?" Inanna asked, her voice strained. "Did he ever call himself Samyaza?"

Looking a bit frightened by her intensity, Asra replied, "I do not know that name. He called himself Kolinahr."

"Of course..." Inanna stared at the ground, clenching her jaw. "The Shi'idese word for fool or jester."

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

The more Asra spoke, the more the details continued to add up. A pair of twins entered the city, and only one came out. No doubt the expense of a sacrifice. To top it all off, he even went under a Shi'idese pseudonym. Cato's brow furrowed, "Sounds like your brother, alright."

He turned to the Zaathri again, "The Fool is dangerous, and not to be trusted," Evidently it was a bit too late for that, "He ruled for centuries, you said?" Something else Asra mentioned sparked Cato's curiosity, "What do you know about the Sky-Goddess?" Perhaps unrelated, but it couldn't hurt to know.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Asra seemed to take Cato’s warning in stride. “He is a trickster god. We had no such deity in the Shaal pantheon before he came. I don’t know how long exactly, but he ruled even during the time of my forefathers.”

“How about two hundred years?” Inanna asked bitterly. “That’s, what, six generations at minimum?”

"Perhaps it has been that long." But Asra didn't know for sure. Cato’s question about the Sky-Goddess earned a shudder from the Zaathri. “She calls herself Rhiannon. She arrived only recently. Rhiannon came to our world with her lover and two children, but the lover left and the little ones were sent away soon after. I do not know why. Now she resides in the great city of Arboria as their patron goddess. It is thriving because of her, but only so long as she has a steady stream of sacrifices to feed upon.”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"So he was just sitting around here, getting drunk on power all this time?" Cato muttered to Inanna. The evidence continued to pile up against her brother. What they really needed was some way to prove it to the others. The topic then switched to the so-called Sky Goddess, and he glanced at Inanna again, "I don't suppose that's another long-lost relative of yours?" What they could possibly need sacrifices for, other than a cruel display of manipulation, was beyond his knowing. But whoever Rhiannon was, she was bad news.

"Well… Thank you for the information, Asra," He extended a hand to shake, before considering that it probably wasn't a recognized gesture on Zaathru, "I'm Cato. I'm the uh…" He cocked his eyebrow, deciding for a moment how far he wanted to go with this, "God of Justice." He settled on.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

"So he was just sitting around here, getting drunk on power all this time?"

“It seems like it,” Inanna murmured. Even though she had suspected Sam was up to no good, this was still a lot to take in. Her long lost brother had apparently been a deified warlord here on Zaathru for centuries. Had her family really had no idea?

"I don't suppose that's another long-lost relative of yours?"

Lost in thought, Inanna blinked. “No. I don’t have any sisters,” she said. “Uh, and I’m Inanna, the goddess of…” She rubbed the back of her neck, trying to come up with something clever, before giving up. “Love, I guess?”

Asra’s eye stalks peered at each of them, his fur paling to white. “Why are the two of you traveling together?”

“Why wouldn't love and justice go hand in hand?” Inanna opened the tent flap with a wave of her hand. “Your debt is paid. You can go now.”

After flinging himself at their feet in thanks one final time, Asra left the tent, heading in the opposite direction of the slavers. Once he was gone, Inanna all but collapsed, folding in on herself.

“I suppose we have what we came here for,” she remarked, glancing up at Cato with a conflicted expression. “This is enough to incriminate Samyaza, although I can’t figure out why he came back to his family if his goal is to conquer the stars.” She sighed. “I still want to go to this City of the Muses anyway, just to see what we can find there...”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato shrugged. One less crazy person to deal with. Although the idea of just leaving someone around to needles sacrifice a bunch of natives didn't really feel all that good, either. He shot Inanna a look as she tried to come up with a title of her own, which turned into a sly smirk when she made her choice. "What, gods can't spend a little quality time together?" He asked Asra rhetorically, before they sent him off.

"Oh and if you do run into those guys again, be sure to tell them that, as the final arbiter of their divine judgement, I will cast them into an righteous and terrible hell in the afterlife should they continue to practice slavery," Cato added with a salute, then added further, "Uh, unless you think they'd hurt you for saying that. Then don't. I'll just, I dunno, tell them myself sometime." Religion was a popular excuse for inciting violence. Perhaps not making the decree himself would only give them the ammunition to do so.

Then, the Zaathri was gone, leaving them to relax a bit, "Well that was something." They more or less had what they needed. An account of Samyaza's betrayal and deception. A look in the city would perhaps be of use regardless, "Yeah, that's what I don't get. Surely just handing a primitive civilization blasters and ships isn't the most efficient way to try and take over the galaxy," He shrugged, "Could just be some bullchit excuse he fed them? Maybe we'll find more at the city."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

"What, gods can't spend a little quality time together?"

“You cannot carry out justice properly on someone that you love,” Asra replied, taking the question completely seriously. “It seems an odd pairing.”

The Zaathri seemed very confused by Cato’s words, though he didn’t question it after Cato retracted the divine commandment. “Should you ever have need of me, you need only call upon my name, and I will serve you.”

With that he was gone, bounding away into the darkness. Inanna couldn’t help but notice that dawn was approaching.

“Something,” she echoed, bidding Cato down to her level with a gentle telekinetic tug. “I don’t know what to think.” Shrugging, she said, “We should probably try to get some more sleep first…”

But her mind was too troubled to rest. What did she know about sacrifice? Certain Sith would drain the life of others to feed their power, as Rhiannon seemed to be doing. But the most significant sacrifices had to mean something to be truly worthwhile. If they were right, Samyaza had sacrificed his own brother, his own master, to get something out of those ruins.

“Is he planning to bring someone in my family back here to make another sacrifice?” she whispered out loud. Her mother seemed the most likely candidate. How monstrous could her brother get?

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato raised a brow, surprised and a little impressed by Asra's lack of blind faith, especially in the face of two figures he believed to be actual gods, "Well, if the Goddess of Love ever happens to do anything morally unscrupulous, I'll be the first to know," He snarked, before they ushered the Zaathri off. It wasn't until catching the earliest hints of dawn arising, that Cato realized how tired he still was. Those natives had really cut into his sleep cycle, "I like that one," Cato yawned, rejoining Inanna. He plopped down and closed his eyes, hoping for just a couple more hours of precious rest. Just when he was about to find it, Inanna's voice broke through,

“Is he planning to bring someone in my family back here to make another sacrifice?”

Cato groaned, "Ugh… Shit… Probably," He rubbed his eye, and looked over at her, "You wanna get a head start?" If she couldn't sleep, then no reason for them to burn time laying around. Even though Cato could certainly fall asleep for a little longer.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“No.” Would she regret this decision later? “We’ll both be useless if we’re tired.” And even if she couldn’t sleep, at least Cato could. The heroic god of justice would definitely not be useless against whatever they might face in the ruins.

Turning over, she wrapped an arm around him, and was quiet.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

That worked for Cato just fine, "Fair enough," He immediately shut his eyes and soon fell asleep, keeping Inanna's comfort close.

The sun was up and they were ready to move. Cato still wasn't exactly feeling fully rested once it was time to leave, but it was better than nothing. He stepped out of the tent and into the harsh light and heat of the desert. He squinted, and shaded his eyes with his hand before checking on the speeder, "Rise and shine, babe," Was he talking to Inanna or the bike? "The magic murder city isn't gonna find itself."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

While Cato whispered sweet nothings to the bike, Inanna deflated the tent. It was a lot easier than getting the thing to inflate, at least.

“The magic murder city,” she muttered, slinging her pack over her shoulder. The fire had died, but she kicked the ashes just to be sure before approaching Cato. “Let’s go, space cowboy.” She swatted playfully at his behind before getting on the bike.

The second half of the journey seemed shorter than the first. Soon the ruins came into view, tall and spindly. The sense of darkness became more oppressive, to the point where the sun seemed less bright and a chill descended over the desert in the middle of the day.

Rather than forcing them to look for a way in, the entrance was plainly visible to the naked eye. A long tunnel, the walls of which were lit with scintillating colors like something out of a carnival. Not at all what Inanna was expecting from a place as pervasively evil as this, but it occurred to her that maybe that was the point. Malicious intent or not, it was supposed to look inviting.

“Well, the lights are on,” she remarked. “That’s pretty odd, if nobody’s home…”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"Space cowboy," Cato repeated, jolting up reflexively when she slapped him, which then made him turn to shoot her a similarly playful smirk, "I like the sound of that," He revved the engine, and sped off across the dunes.

Their forward progress was marked by the change in atmosphere as much as it was by visible proximity. Metaphysical darkness grew thick and heavy over the land. It seemed to coat the air, and soon Cato's lungs. An untraceable sense of discomfort. And a stark contrast to the entrance that beckoned them further in. Darkness was choking, but to the rapacious and the desperate, it was seductive.

Cato preferred to think he was neither of those things, but that wasn't really stopping them from heading right in anyway, "Just assume that anyone and anything in here is trying to screw us over."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“They think these ruins were built by the Zaathri, or at least their distant ancestors,” she commented, if only to keep her mind off the oppressive atmosphere. The broad passageways certainly could’ve been built for their anatomy.

The tunnel was wide and tall enough for them to keep riding inside. The floor sloped downward, until all traces of natural light disappeared, and there was only the artificial glow of the metropolis. Inanna shut her eyes, but she could still see the lights.

It wasn’t long before she started to hear voices. Whispers crawling through her skull, saying things only she was supposed to know. She hunkered down and tried to block them out. But her mind was weak even on a good day, and right now she was operating on no sleep.

Eventually they would have to walk, if only to conserve enough fuel for the return trip. As the bike slowed to a stop, Inanna spoke. Her voice was soft with exhaustion, yet she remained alert enough to be firm.

“Do you think it would help if we built a telepathic connection?”

She didn’t ask this of him lightly. In the past she had refused to use even the most surface level telepathy. Her mind had been brutalized one too many times by people who exploited her weakness, leaving behind psychic scars that not even the skill of Rianna Organa could completely heal. Even now, the thought of making such an intimate connection frightened her. But Cato was the one person she trusted most. If she was going to allow anyone to forge a bond with her mind, it would be him.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"Can't say I'd know enough to be sure…" Cato muttered, "But if so they've got… interesting taste." Their push into the sit was a drawn out affair, until they were fully enveloped by the city itself. The burden of that intangible darkness only amplified, now seeking to gain access to their minds. Cato could fight off its basest intrusions, but it didn't halt the attempts. And it didn't do any good for Inanna. When they stopped, and she suggested a telepathic connection, he turned around slowly to face her.

"…Is that what you want to do?" Cato asked to be sure, recognizing the weight behind her question. In their earliest encounters, she had firmly (though still politely) asked him to not communicate with her telepathically. "It can't hurt," He assured. Although in truth, that was partially a lie. There was a chance that her weak mental barriers could theoretically dampen his own. But for her, things could only go up.

Cato placed his hands against Inanna's shoulder, then slid down to take her hands, "I've got you," He said softly, and with her permission, would reach out from his mind to hers.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

"…Is that what you want to do?"

“It’s something I have to do,” she admitted. “I can’t stand this place, but I have to be here for the sake of my family. We have to find out all that we can. If it will help me bear it, I have to try.”

Pausing as he laid his hands on her shoulders, she added, “If it’s any consolation, I’m glad it’s you I’ll be doing this with, Cato.” Consolation for him, or consolation for her, she wasn’t clear on the matter.

He took her hands, and she leaned her head toward him a little, closing her eyes. Cato would find no resistance from her mind, but that was the weakness, not because she was lowering her barriers. The scars left by others were palpable, some crude and jagged, others clean and precise as the cut of a scalpel. But despite this, Inanna’s mind was surprisingly intact. More or less.

With Cato’s help, she shared in his protections. It was a bit like standing underneath the same little umbrella in the middle of a hurricane, but better than nothing.

“Okay,” she murmured. “We should be all right to continue, right?...”

A strange sound groaned through one of the passageways ahead, like ancient machinery stirring after eons of neglect.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato nodded in understanding. Given what she had been though, it was a big leap, so better to hear that she was certain it needed to be done. "I'm glad you trust me enough to do it," He offered, before starting the connection. It was easy, atypically so, to link to. He frowned, but pushed on until they were done. Despite it all, she had remained strong enough to push onward. And it only further his desire to help shield her further.

Cato's eyes opened again, and he looked at her as if expecting some deeper reaction, "Right," He said, getting off the speeder and taking her hand. A sound from deeper within stole his attention, and he drew the hilt of his saber into his other hand, just in case, "Any bets on what that is?" He asked, before walking them straight to the source.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

As for her lack of a reaction, Inanna could tell it was working, since some of the pressure exerted by the city upon her mind had lifted, but she lacked the proper skills and know-how to be able to reach out and feel Cato’s consciousness with the Force. In the past, she was only aware of others reading her mind because they knew things they shouldn’t. She wouldn’t know if Cato was peering into her thoughts or rifling around in her memories unless he caused her pain. She trusted that he wasn’t doing any of that.

“The reports I read mentioned automatons that would attack intruders,” she said. “Comparable to the tomb guardians of Zeffo. They’re supposed to be tough, but not invincible.”

Sure enough, a mechanical figure came clanking into view. Tall and imposing, it towered over them. A panel in its head opened, revealing a sickly yellowish light that grew brighter and brighter before blasting a fount of energy toward them.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"Oh, lovely," Cato quipped as they continued ahead. At least he knew what to expect.

Right on cue, a hulking machine confirmed its presence soon enough, guarding the way they needed to go. Immediately recognizing that the growing surge of light was bad news, Cato helped push Inanna out of the way as the sentry fired a beam at the ground where they once stood, "Why do they always have to make things difficult," He pulled out his saber and his pistol, before giving Inanna a brief bow, "Allow me to do what I do best, madam: play distraction."

Cato then fired several shots at the machine, pinging off the armor with little damage, but hopefully stealing away its attention, "Come kill me, pretty please! Right here!"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna found herself unceremoniously pushed out of the way by Cato. She had her lightsaber in her hand by then, the yellow blade activated, and had just enough time to blink at being called madam before she leaped into action.

While Cato served as a distraction, she harried the automaton with bits of jagged debris lobbed with telekinesis. It did about as much damage as she expected: next to none. Cato’s blaster shots didn’t do much either. The thing was practically a walking tank.

She came at its flank with her blade, striking at the joints, hoping to find some weak spots. The guardian abruptly spun on her, bringing a huge hulking fist down. It narrowly missed her head, instead crushing her left shoulder just before she darted away. The pain of the injury rang like a gong through their telepathic bond, echoing back to her.

“Maybe shoot the beam thing while it's charging up?” she suggested, gritting her teeth.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato did his best to keep the machine focused on him, avoiding its attacks while peppering it with shots. Inanna used the opportunity to flank, but had similarly little impact. It then unexpectedly spun to counter her as well, just missing a much more serious hit, but all the same landing a nasty strike on her shoulder. Cato stumbled on his feet, and gripped his shoulder as well, surprised by the sudden shock of pain.

Right. Telepathic links.

"Ow. Shit," He grimaced, and rotated his arm a few times as if to work off the pain, "I'll give it a shot," Pun half-intended. Sure enough the panel soon opened back up, and revealed an intensifying yellow light. Cato took aim, and fired several shots, hitting the source and causing the guardian to recoil. Circuits and machinery whined, giving off the impression that it was groaning in pain.

Inanna Harth​