Sticks and Stones

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

"I almost got the bonfire treatment when I first got here, but that was a misunderstanding. Kilia Four isn't pre-technological, it's post-technological. A few centuries back, when the planet got reconnected to the galaxy, tons of people came here looking for a simpler life or just a theme-park curiosity. Then they got stuck here when the Dark Age came on. Basically, most of Kilia knows that offworld is real, and some have seen leftover bits of tech and such. The Rangers used to use bayoneted sporting blasters and shield projectors, and a few old ones are still around. So in the end, you don't need to worry about getting burned at the stake for building droids, and anyway the people I hire are pretty inured to bits of offworld tech, so Castle Miriamele is safe as you can get. You won't hear too many thees and thous inside, though I had to study for weeks to get a handle on the archaic Basic dialect that most of the planet speaks. Weeks, plus some Theran Force-listening -- Force speech comprehension and long-range eavesdropping. I'm glad I had Eiarra -- my steward and, um, image consultant; she's Chalactan. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to live here.

"Don't let the homespun and hand tools fool you, though." Mara pulled a knife and picked bacon from her teeth. "These people are surprisingly cosmopolitan."

 

[Kaili Talith]

“Ohhh.” Kaili muttered as she leaned back in her chair. “I see.”

So it wasn’t as much that Mara’s force sensitivity that did it as much as some sort of misunderstanding. As far as things went for Kaili she took that as an indication that she really had nothing to worry about. Things were a-okay as long as she tried to keep it down somewhat. Then again, the option to try something new was hanging right there in front of her, wasn’t it? Either she went to the workshop and did her regular duties, or,

“Soooo,” Kaili began. “Could I come with?”

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

"What, for the petitions and stuff? Sure, if you want to. I'm kidding -- of course we can go to the workshop. I'll take care of my other business once you're settled in. There's still a couple of hours left until the petitioners arrive." She wiped her mouth on a cloth napkin and dabbed her fingers in a tiny bowl of rosewater. "I'm full. Good to go whenever you are. Matilde will take care of the food -- what's left all gets eaten. We don't like waste around here." That was the justification, anyways, for feeding a couple of families on your breakfast leftovers. With a grimace, Mara stood and adjusted her coat. She still only wore her shift underneath, and flashing leg didn't always go over well around here. Since she had to take audience later, she'd just get into a decent dress, formal enough to look good for the literal peasants, but durable and simple enough for work. She had a few dresses that fit the bill, all in super-strong offworld fabrics that just happened to look local. Eiarra had taken care of all of that during preparation for the initial voyage to Kilia Four.

"Tell you what. I'll go get dressed, check my stocks and HoloNet messages, yell at my aunt, and meet you in the basement in like half an hour? That work for you?"

 

[Kaili Talith]

Kaili nodded. Yes, the petitions, even if that might have seemed a bit unnecessary. Part of Kaili had to admit, the idea of wearing a long robe, stand behind a throne and mumble inaudible advice into a regent’s ear seemed rather amusing. Part of her could already imagine it. Hems that almost dragged themselves across the ground and a hood that could hide not just the one head but three of them. It wasn’t every day Kaili considered Jedi-and-or-Sith apparel, but today seemed to be an exception.

As for the rest, Kaili wouldn’t mind skipping them. Thirty minutes seemed like a fair amount of time to wait for Mara to get what she needed off her chest and out of her wallet. Kaili nodded.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll try not to create too much of a mess of it.” She was referring to the shop. Kaili’s genius worked best in an organized mess. It was just fact. “So I’ll see you in thirty, I’ll have a tiny droid ready for you, I’ll show you what I do all day before we listen to your people?”

“That’s a deal.” Kaili agreed before ushering Mara out the door. “Now, if you excuse me. Lady Talith needs her privacy as she gets changed, Queen-Duchess Merrill.”

“Thank you.”

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

Thirty minutes was a lot of time if you had a lot to do. Mara checked stock prices while she put on that simple-tough-and-elegant dress she'd mentioned. AEI was showing a half-percent bump off something VP Ostanes had done, which meant she'd just gotten, oh, a few hundred million richer. Silk wasn't publicly traded, nor was ICE, but the dividend checks didn't care. Arakyd and Stargo Forge Works were the icing on the cake. Then she checked a handful of other numbers while doing up a quick braid.

Then she went and yelled at Rave Merrill, time-warping monster-making galaxy-shaking war criminal, until she was blue in the face and the candles started flickering. And her aunt sat there and took it with a faint smile plastered to her lined face, then told Mara exactly what she'd done to Kaili Talith's mind. Then there was a bit more yelling, but more out of stunned reflex than anything. Then thirty minutes was over, and Rave patted her on the shoulder and went off to alchemize the toilets or something.

At thirty-three minutes, still inundated with a sense of 'uhhhhh...', Mara descended the basement stairs and entered the workshop.

"You, uh, find the place okay?"

 

[Kaili Talith]

As for Kaili, well, she did what she always did. The workshop was pretty much like the one she had at home, if not a bit more up-to-date by galactic standards. It had the things to make Kaili’s life just a little easier such as automated circuit fusers, robotic arms that did half the work for you if you let it. Yet for all that comfort was worth there was a reason why Kaili stuck to the old ways. Laziness bred laziness and it was once you got into that particular pit that things would go downhill.

Droidcraft was an art. It was Kaili’s art and she would much rather shed her blood over a discarded hand-made prototype than a dime-a-dozen off-the-mill one.

Footsteps called from the stairs. Kaili’s hydrospanner struck at the shell of a small four-legged droid to test it’s balance and with the snap of a finger she watched as the little crab-looking thing scuttled away in no particular direction.

“Oh hey, Mara. Yeah, yeah, of course.” The Talith threw in the direction of her friend before turning back to her little crab. “Nice workshop you people have here.”

“You know that you really like to use the word ‘feth’ a lot when you are angry, right?” Kaili grinned at her friend and raised the little crab bot for her friend to see. “Whispers travel fast around here it seems.”

“Anyway, here’s that tiny droid I promised. I’ve named him Roger.”

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

"Sorry I cuss so much. It's a Merrill thing. We cuss too much and we fly way too fast." She grinned. "As opposed to Taliths, who mostly aristo too much and snowflake too hard. Yeah, I went there. Sick droid. That was really impressively quick." As she watched, it crawled off the desk and down to the floor. It reminded her of the crabs back on Q-27, the juicy kind that played in the beach shallows. She'd just eaten, but her mouth watered regardless. "Tasty."

She squatted near the crab and poked at it as it tried to crawl over her boots. "Roger, eh? Hey there, Roger. What's your job? Kaili doesn't make ornaments, so I'd be willing to bet you're fully functional at something."

She looked up at Kaili. "Oh, uh, I talked to my aunt. Loudly. She told me everything she did to your head. I think she thought it was a good idea to pay you back for your inconvenience, so what she did is, um, sort of reverse drain knowledge. She dumped about half a holocron's worth of Sith mechu-deru in there. Belia Darzu stuff. Let me know if you start thinking in Kissai or feel any special urge to sacrifice my blooood."

 

[Kaili Talith]

Mara Merrill apologizing for being Mara Merrill? Kaili perked her brow in disbelief, albeit for a very short amount of time as they moved on to discuss the Taliths. The lifted brow was suddenly accompanied by the other as Kaili chuckled.

As for the droid.

“Well, I mean, that was just thirty minutes. So, you know, he actually is pretty much an ornament in his current state.” Kaili shrugged and knelt down to pick up the walking shell. “I like hi-”

Though the young Borleian kid abruptly paused and looked up at Mara.

“Huh?” There was little else she could say. The sudden bout of worry did not go unnoticed in the tone of her voice. At least not until, “Sith-... What?!” Kaili erupted as the worry turned into outrage. “She- sh- she- wha- she WHAT?! She stuffed me with Sith what?!”

“What the feth?!”

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

"Yeah, she, uh...yeah, I cussed her out for it. To someone like her, that's a huge gift. I'm pretty sure she killed some people for that holocron. Indirectly, anyway. How I hear it, she made a sword that could trap souls forever and traded that for the holocron. To Darth Vornskr. So..." Mara smiled weakly. "...I guess she thought it was enough of a gift to make up for letting her test her Grip of Enlightenment on you. This one time when I was little, it was my birthday and she gave me a terentatek. I had a birthday party and it actually ate one of my friends' dads."

She straightened up, holding the crab droid with its rounded back to her chest. Its legs wiggled. "Never told the Brat Pack about that one. Didn't seem like the kind of thing Aela would approve of. But Dad went and confronted Aunt Rave about the terentatek, right, and she was mortified and kind of offended that I didn't like it. All she said was 'but it's a purebred!' That's my aunt for you."

Mara licked her lips and stopped babbling. She searched Kaili's face and body language and empathic emissions for any idea of how her friend was doing -- whether her anger was under control, etc.

 

[Kaili Talith]

It wasn’t world shattering news, but it felt like a pretty close second. Kaili stared at the ground for a second as Mara somewhat changed to topic to her birthday party. All Kaili could think of at first was the fact that some small part of her might be a ticking time bomb. Forbidden knowledge embedded onto her mind. Knowledge that still stirred and caused a ruckus within. Part of Kaili was furious, but the other couldn’t really deny her curiosity.

Mention of Aela forced the girl out of her out of it. What Kaili heard was more of a confirmation that Rave was about as eccentric as she had expected at first glance, at least the small parts she had picked up from the terentatek story. Eyes rose up to meet with Mara again.

Mouth open to find the words when there was none to be found.

It closed again.

“I don’t know what Aela will say about this either.” Kaili tried to snicker. “I mean, her entire crusade is dedicated to… Not knowing this.”

“Part of me wants to find the switch for this, poke at the fun parts, but that’s the could. Where’s the should?”

“What would happen if I did? Do I want to know that?”

“Has she ever done this to you?”

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

"No. Uh, as far as I know." Mara rubbed the back of her neck. "I think I'd know it if she had. As for the shoulds and the coulds -- heck, you sound just like me last night, talking about my companies and stuff. Remember, she's Light Side now, or likes to think she is. And a lot of mechu-deru is Force-neutral. I'm betting that she focused on that stuff. There's no reason for her to just pump you full of Sith magic, right?"

Roger twitched weakly. Mara set him down; once right-side-up, he scurried away with vigor. She took a seat on a workbench.

"My Dad's gone poking through Sith holocrons a few times. I have too. It's not a good thing to make a habit of, but sometimes you need intel, context. Gotta know how the bad thing works in order to stop it, right? So I'm betting you're probably fine. You've got good judgment. Besides, you're onboard to keep me from straying, ,and I'm more than happy to do the same for you."

 

[Kaili Talith]

“Yeah, as far as I’ve noticed using Mechu-Deru hasn’t made me a bloodthirsty psychopath with a taste for virgin blood.” Kaili snickered in a one-shouldered shrug. “Yet, anyway.”

As for Roger, Kaili picked him up mid-scuttle and deactivated him and put him on his back. A hand strayed out in search for the hydrospanner and Kaili got to work again as Mara spoke of holocrons. Intel, context, ‘knowing is half the battle’ and other such and suchs. Of course, the work Kaili put in was more of a rehabilitation than she would ever admit. Kept her nerves calm while still producing something of worth.

Even if a small walking crab-looking droid wasn’t much of worth. Yet.

“Thanks. Force know I might need it every now and then.” The Talith smiled as she looked up at her friend on the workbench. “Do you know how often people want you to fix ‘escort droids?’ Enough to make you want to rip your own eyes out every now and then.”

“The worst ones are those who bring the droids in without an appointment and get offended when you turn them down, I swear.”

Deep breath, sigh.

“So, I’m officially full of knowledge far beyond my previous scope, huh?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m outraged, but still... Can’t help but be at least a little flattered, right?”

“And worst case, I’ll just get a Mara Merrill trademark beating.”

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

Mara snorted. "Right, 'cause my combat record is so impressive. I took down a boobplate-wearing Sith acolyte and got myself shot by my own side. Truly fething fearsome." She rose and rubbed the backs of her thighs where the edge of the workbench had bit in. "Besides, I don't ascribe to the 'beat the Dark Side out of you' school of thought. I ain't Aela. Couldn't hack it in the Alliance. No taste for dangling Darksiders over active volcanoes. Not that I blame you for sort of getting me involved, of course -- that was all on me. I'm just glad we both came to our senses."

Was it just her imagination, or was Kaili's touch a little more deft than normal? Could the Belia Darzu holocron, filtered through Rave, really have contained the lost secrets of the socket wrench? That actually sounded sort of halfway interesting.

"Let me know if any of the new stuff is something we could use for tweaking ships. That's about the only mechu-deru I know -- taking a wrench to a freighter's guts. And it's not even close to what you do." She flexed goofily. "Got my own powers."

 

[Kaili Talith]

“Well, my only feat in combat was hosing a sith lord as a kid. Remember McYoda’s?” Kaili snickered. “So unless making Micah eat sand counts, then my record is just as impressive as yours.”

Mara went on to talk about the Alliance. Kaili let out a ‘tsk’ in response.

“I love my family, but I just can’t support a cause I no longer believe in, you know?” Kaili put the tool down and took a seat on the workbench in place of Mara. “I mean, first the Brat Pack was formed which later transformed into the Covenant, kind of. Then the Covenant was merged or integrated or whatever into the early stages of the Alliance which right now is spreading themselves across sector after sector.”

“Just weird to think about how some things go down.”

“Geez, just [young age here] and already pretending to be old.” Kaili blinked before pushing herself off the table and got back to work. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Anyway. Requests? Name something cool for Roger to do.”

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

"Please, please tell me you made Micah eat sand some time within the last five years. Please. And...you'd tell me if you'd done that to Aela, right? Because that kind of needs to happen."

As Kaili traced the roots of the Alliance back to the Brat Pack, Mara found herself nodding. She mulled over the McYoda's incident somewhat -- she still had to tell Kaili about the whole Ayra thing -- but Kaili's question derailed her thoughts.

"Oh, uh -- I'd like it if he could assimilate ship schematics one way or another, to help me rip apart or navigate just about anything. Like, if he could jack into engineering terminals or dataports and get an inside line on a ship's plan -- and then display it in holo -- that'd be brilliant. I don't really know droids, I don't know if I'm asking for a lot, it's just one idea. Um, what else. Decompression patch kit shaped like your butt, maybe?"

 

[Kaili Talith]

“I’d never lay my hand on Aela like that unless I wanted to risk getting the DJ treatment.” DJ being an acronym for Dark Jedi, it was the hip thing to say. Or so Kaili hoped. “Lava pit and all.”

Mara went on to list features, Kaili blinked. It was doable, no question about that, all that really mattered was whether or not there were the parts around to spare. Kaili could most certainly work the slicing angle as much as the ship patches. Though a small chuckle couldn’t help but part her lips and spread wide in a grip.

“Well now, I’m not sure you want it shaped like my butt.” She cleared her throat, looked at the ground for a second. “I was almost issued the boy’s uniform at the LAA, you know.”

Kaili did a spin to show off her, well, rather evident lack of curves.

“Cut my hair just a little bit shorter and you could probably start calling me Karl.”

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

Mara got a good laugh out of that, but after Kaili stopped twirling, the chuckle died off.

"You ever wonder..." She rubbed her neck. "You ever wonder about that whole crusade thing, all-justice-no-mercy, all-jail-no-rehab, that level of commitment...I know she's your sister and all, so I guess I don't want to say it, but...you ever wonder if that's the Dark Side?

"I mean," she hurried on, "don't get me wrong. I know there's such a thing as evil and I know massacres and atrocities happen and I know it's our responsibility, all of ours, to oppose that in one way or another. And I'm not talking about 'fight evil with evil' or anything like that. I guess I'm just talking about, well, that line in the Code of the Outer Rim about not losing your sense of proportion for a cause or a grudge. That feels like the Dark Side to me when I do it, and I don't..." She laughed, embarrassed, and couldn't quite meet Kaili's eyes. Not that Kaili sympathized with Aela, like at all, but even so, this was pushing it. "I don't make a career of it. An identity. You know? Like is that level of...uncompromising hardness something of the Dark Side?"

 

[Kaili Talith]

Well, Mara was right and wrong in a sense. Kaili did sympathize with her sister much like any other sibling would, but that didn’t mean she sympathized with what it was that her sister had been trying to do. Even if the Alliance was a pretty defining part of who people saw Aela as, there was more to her than what met the eye at first, and only someone close to her would see that. Family and the likes, those that had seen Kaili’s sister during the moments that were far more personal and intimate knew who she was beyond the devotion for justice and light that she had going.

Then again, it was hard not to be biased when it came to family too.

“That’s far more philosophical than you might think, Mara.” Kaili shrugged. “If we’re going to talk light and dark, good and evil we’re entering a very subjective area of discussion where the lines get so blurred that it’s up to anyone’s interpretation to say what is what.”

Kaili hunched over the workbench and got back to work on the little droid Roger as she continued her rant.

“The dark side could be fanaticism, the dark side could all be a sham. Are we judged on our virtues or are we judged by our faults? Is it all willpower and self-control? Are we judged on actions or inactions? What is more dark, actively killing a man or doing nothing to prevent it? Who is to blame?” Apply the small inflation device, outline the partition that will contain the slicing hook… “We don’t have guidelines set in stone that dictate exactly what is good and bad because each side of those two poles are just that; each other’s opposites.”

“Just look at the two sides we have. The Jedi see the Sith as the ultimate scourge, yet to the Sith, the Jedi are evil. Not because of some stupid kind of code,” Or well, kinda. “But because they are each other’s opposite for reasons that has eluded everyone for millenia.” Tighten the inflator to the motherboard, check the bag for punctures… “Dark side, light side, is it all in how we use it? Are things inherently bad?”

“Look, this could go on forever. To me the answer to the questions is quite simple: don’t think about it.”

“Better off that way. Less headaches. Unless personal morals come into play, of course, but as a general guideline I'd just try to stay away from touching or doing anything that gives a bad mojo and I should be good, probably.”

Now, where did I put the... Oh there it is.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Kaili Talith"]

"I think that's probably about the wisest answer to that question I've ever heard. Trust your gut; rely on your conscience. Don't get caught up in splitting hairs, unless you're trying to weigh options when none of them are good." Her eyes tracked the detail work, Kaili's hands flickering over the components. "I think we had this same conversation once, come to think of it, maybe [young age minus younger age plus or minus a reasonable margin of error] years ago. Might even have been that time we found the abandoned research base embedded in the comet, out by Muunilinst and the Braxant. The time with the butt."

For a moment, she was stuck in memory again -- the centuries-old base, its robotic defenders, the strange things they'd found there while trying to repair Mara's old freighter after a hyperspace accident. Not the first or the last time that instinctive astrogation had led Mara into a crash with positive consequences.

"And if I remember right," she said quietly, "I was wrestling with the same question and you gave me the same answer. And you were right then and you're right today. I need to worry less and trust myself more."

 

[Kaili Talith]

“Hard to forget the butt.” Kaili snickered. “I am half-curious to see if it works, but I’d rather much more just avoid hull breaches altogether.”

As far as Roger went he was still being worked on. The last screw for the inflation device was put in place and he was still, well, rather stupid. Kaili gave him a last minute effort to ensure he was operational. Placed him on the table and watched him scuttle straight off the edge. The landing proved harsh and the automated circuits forced the pillow to burst.

There was an electric burst as the droid hit the ceiling. Then it fell to the floor again and Kaili picked it up.

“Well, yes and no.” Kaili shrugged as she got up from the floor again. “You still need to worry, but putting more faith in yourself is always a good thing.”

And so the restuffing of the inflated packaged commenced.

“Though, I mean, there are limits. When and where, that kind of thing. I’d rather not see you put too much faith in your ability to fly without wings and that kind of thing, you know?”

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]