The Breaking Dawn [Sio]

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]


As little Aba would probably notice in time, Siobhan was...very sexually 'liberated'. Well, to put it bluntly she was terribly oversexed and lacked an internal censor. In any case, she chuckled. "Yep, totally. Got to make sure he's good enough for my little girl, after all. Maybe I'll give him a questionnaire to fill out," she said half-jokingly. Nothing like having an overprotective femnazi mother!


Food came, Aba expressed sympathy and asked about family dynamics. Siobhan left the burger untouched for now, but took a sip from her drink. "I've got a wife, [member="Tegaea Alcori"], OP's former Lady Protector. We've been together for ages. I first met her when she saved me from a coven of energy vampires. She recruited me into Omega Pyre after I ditched the Jedi. We run Firemane together. Amazing woman. She came from the gutter like and fought her way to the top without having fancy space magic." The Kerrigan clan dynamics were a bit more complicated. What with Siobhan also being Force-bonded to [member="Mirien Valdier"] and sort of in love with her, but she left that out for now!

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"I hope I can meet your wife one day", she said pulling the burger toward her. "I hope she will like me". It was strange talking about family, and nice too. So disjointed is she from hers but she did not mind too much after all, that is how life in the galaxy works sometime. But her stomach put pressure on her, and growled to be fed.

"Sorry", she grinned as the noise erupted from her. Abaigeal began to eat, and once she had started she realised just how much energy she had lost in training. But lunch would soon be over and they would resume. Must she still had to learn and she was eager to get to understand and progress her skills. For one day she would meet the man that killed her mother and she hoped it would be the end of him. But first she must learn to protect herself from him before she can kill him.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]


Siobhan smiled encouragingly at her young charge. "Sure she'll like you, sweetie. You're difficult not to like!" she said cheerfully. Truth be told, [member="Tegaea Alcori"] was not the motherly type, whereas Siobhan seemed to have become addicted to having kids ever since adopting Galina, but she did try and had proved very accepting of their adopted daughters.


She chuckled slightly when Aba's stomach rumbled, then began to eat herself. After all, she was sort of hungry. Time passed as they ate in companionable silence, then a waitress came to pick up their empty plates after they had finished. Taking a last sip from her drink, Siobhan looked at Aba. "Ready for some more training now, dear? We'll be moving on to mind barriers. The basics." Since Siobhan was not a great mentalist, much of it would be theory, but with a practical element thrown in as well.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

She sat back in her seat, her belly a little swollen with food and she rested her hands there to pat. Abaigeal laughed, "I don't think I could do anything physically demanding now anyway". She signaled to the waitress and as she arrived Abaigeal ordered two bottles of spring water for Sio and herself. When they were delivered, Abaigeal took both up in her hands and stood up.

"I am ready to continue, thank you Sio", she said waiting for her, but then something triggered him her, a slice of her mother came to the surface. "One day I will buy you lots of things which include dinner somewhere really nice. Maybe I will do that for your birthday, what are now? one hundred and twenty?", she grinned with cheek that same cheek Iella was famous for. But before Sio could reply, whether with indignation or fun, Abaigeal bolted for the door and out, knowing full well that if Sio wanted to grab hold of her she could do so with as little as lifting her pinkie.

However, it did not take long for Abaigeal to regret her action of running, her belly still full she got a stitch.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]


Trolling mission accomplished! Siobhan, being the vain sort, looked indignant. "Why...you naughty, little girl. I'll have you know that I'm not even forty. You're...uh...grounded!" she declared, though she was not really being serious. A compliment or two about her looks and she'd forget what she'd been indignant about!


Due to her limp she could not rush after Aba right away but caught up with her. "And I still look gourgeous, don't I?" she asked rhetorically, but then looked a bit concerned now that Aba was experiencing that running on a full stomach was not a good idea! Gently she patted her daughter on the shoulder and rubbed her belly a bit. "You alright, sweetie? I guess I'll have to postpone the part a bit where I'll tell you to run a Force-enhanced Marathon," she joked. "Fortunately mental training doesn't require training. It's just a headache."

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"Yes I am fine, just should not have run off", she began to laugh and hold her side. "Actually, you are quite the beauty and you must get that leg of yours fixed". It was time for Abaigeal to be concerned. The old injury slows her down and one day it will be a hindrance and Abaigeal hoped that day would never been in battle.

"I can imagine your wife must be beauty too", She stood up and stretched her back to allow more air into her lungs to remove the stitch in her side. It worked and soon Abaigeal was fighting fit again.

"I would not mind doing a run, but yeah maybe not now. But I am very eager to begin the mind defense .. this lack of skill is what .. he used to twist me". She had zero defense against the murderer of her mother. "Thank you, that feels good", her tummy rub doing more good than she realised, the loving touch of someone that cares is more rewarding and healing than anything the force could provide.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]


Compliments were always a good way to put Siobhan in a cheerful mood. Especially if they were about her looks, or her in prowess on the battlefield or in the bedroom! So she gave Aba a bright smile and squeezed her shoulder. "Thank you, dear. And, yes, my wife is very beautiful, but then she's a redhead!" Redheads were special, as everyone knows. Siobhan liked hoarding them. She did not say anything in response to Aba's comment about her leg. While it was very accurate, Siobhan was extremely prideful.


Taking Aba's hand she led her away from the corporate office building and back towards the training grounds before settling down on a bench, gesturing for Aba to do the same. "I can help you defend your mind, sweetie. I can't give you the whole package, but send you in the right direction. First, I need you to tell me what exactly he did to you. I know this is hard, but it's important," she said in an tone as reassuring as she could make it.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Abaigeal stopped walking and began to try and recall what Kaine had done to her. She understood Sio would give her as much as possible to defend her mind and from that, Abaigeal could work on it herself or seek others to help her progress. Sio had already given her a name of a master that would help her.

"It was while I was on the slab, after all the cuts and injections I did not crack. The pain, although hurting, I endured that and he knew it. Finally he entered my mind, it was like.. ", she tried to remember. "It was like, he had walked in. Projected himself there and took hold of my thoughts, read them and twisted reality. It hurt, very painful .. and everything 'changed', I did not know my own name. Of E'ron that is. It was like he wiped it from my mind. I had constant headaches, as if subconsciously I was fight it, but there was a barrier blocking me. I was not until my mother came and she broken down those barriers that I remembered who I was and what happened".

She looked at Sio, a questioning look on her face, "Does that makes sense?".

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]


Sad, but compassionate eyes looked upon Aba as Siobhan hugged the girl against her body. "It does, dear. I've...experienced similar things. Maybe not quite the same, but similar. After I duelled a Sith on Alderaan...I temporarily lost some of my memories. A few years. My poor, brave angel. Your mind is the most precious thing you must guard, at all costs...but it's something that can be defended." Every Force technique had a counter. Even Sio's absurdly brutal TK spam or Sith mind voodoo.


"There's disassembling; a technique based on which you shield yourself by keeping your thoughts fluid, like a river, to keep them out of an enemy's grasp. Though a powerful mentalist could disrupt the flow and disorientate you momentarily. To protect your mind you can erect a barrier, analogous to one you would cast to shield your body from attacks. Only this time it's erected round your mind. Mental walls, if you like. That's the image I use to envisage things for me, though you'll find your own. Guard your inmost thoughts, the things that make you vulnerable, keep them close to you. To erect a barrier like that takes concentration, focus, a strong will because Sith will try to confuse you, play on your emotions or simply batter through your mind by inflicting pain."

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"A thought shield", that made sense to her, the force can be used to shield a body and so the same for the mind. "I understand .. If something is 'moving' you can not grasp it, just like when you are fighting with a saber, a moving target is harder to hit".

Like the image she had used to protect her body against the electricity she would need another. But this would be different, her body did not mind the pain, where as her mind would. Abaigeal began to think of something important to her, something she could use to create a mind shield and she search her past for an answer and found one.

"I have the perfect place in which to shield my mind", she smiled remembering her youth, growing up in the cave on Tython which was located in the Silent Desert. Nothing could heard there, no sound at all.

"I am ready to try", she said prepared for Sio to enter her mind.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]


"Ok, dear. Stay calm. What's gonna happen may be unpleasant. Use that desire to resist so that your power grows. Don't worry, I have your safety foremost in mind. If it gets too much, I will stop," Her last words might sound like a platitude, but she looked so earnest and concerned.


So she sank into the Force and concentrated. Thing was that Siobhan lacked the gentle or refined touch of a more skilled mentalist. Blunt force was what she did, but it would be a start. Amusingly, one of her daughters, [member="Natoline Kerrigan"], was quite good at mental tricks. Maybe the two could meet some time.


So without further ado, she tried to push inside Aba's mind. She did not do finesse or subtlety, her use of the Force was like a bludgeon, though like with the lightning earlier she would seek to keep it measured. What she would seek to find out was how efficient a defence Aba's thought shield was and for how long the girl could keep it up while her mind was being battered by her assault.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

The sudden infiltration into her mind took Abaigeal by surprise and she physically winched. She knew Sio would not mean anything by this, save to have her best interests at heart, but it hurt and her hand raised to press against the side of her head. But Abaigeal would not want for her to stop, no she had been caught out and in situation where the enemy are involved they would never ask for an invitation.

What Sio may 'see', would be thoughts of images of her recent past, some fun times on Nar Shaddaa with Elpsis and that beautiful man she 'met'. Oh we don't want Sio seeing to much of that!

Abaigeal focused through the pain, began to gather images of the silent desert in which she grew up in a cave below the surface, but times were spent in the desert, play with silence and watching the shifting sands. Abaigeal pulled all these memories to her, the grains of sand shifting continually, never still for a moment. No sound is hear in this place and Abaigeal silenced her mind. Rather than close the walls around her mind, she set them free in order to be illusive, like the wind .. not able to be caught.

It worked, she felt Sio there, as if she was standing on the edge of the desert looking in or across something blurred or mirage.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]


Well, there was some interesting stuff to see inside Aba's mind! Sad, horrible stuff in the dungeons of the Sith that made the anger rise inside Siobhan, but good things as well. Elpsis is a bad influence, Siobhan decided for herself when she saw some images about the shenanigans and adventures the two had experienced on Nal Hutta, though she chuckled a bit when she got some interesting sutff on Zeltros.


Then we get to...well, other fun stuff. Ok. I shouldn't be seeing my kid do that, she decided when Aba and a young Adonai got to know each other better. As oversexed as Siobhan was, she did not want to watch her daughter have a fade to black scene! Well, at least I don't have to give her the birds and bees talk. Probably best lecture her about contraception, she decided.


As she further traversed the depths of Aba's mind, she concluded that though she was a beginner, Aba had skill. Truth be told, her idea of shielding her mind was probably more intricate than Sio's. Silence reigned inside here and the thoughts of her daughter were kept fluid, never still for one moment, which made it difficult to get a read on her or grasp them. The image that flashed through Siobhan's mind was like a continuously moving whirlwind, throwing up sand, dust and the like.


Siobhan smiled slightly, feeling proud. She knew Aba was out there somewhere, shielded, but she could not get a solid grasp on her. Someone more adept at perception might have. If one were to use an analogy, one could compare it to a sandstorm obscuring her. Pulling at the tangled web of the Force, Siobhan harnessed her willpower and strongly pushed against the wind, trying to dissipate it and reveal what was hidden.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

Sand began to pile around her boots as the wind swept the grains across the desert. No a sound, no a whisper filled her mind and it was deafening as her thoughts began to crowd her, pulling deeper within the confines of her own mind. Shhh .. she told the thoughts, no one needs to know of you.

Sand particles stung her cheeks, cutting her skin as she stood in the desert as still as the tall stones around her, such an old place, once the home of a school long ago where many Je'daii had come to Qigong Kesh. How many times had she climbed those arching stones as a child? When allowed out of the secret cave below them to find the light of day. It had been for their own protection, mother and father had to go in exile for some time and on their return they moved here to have their children but turmoil still corrupted the Jedi Order and life was lived as if walking on broken glass. No one knew, no Jedi had ever found out. The cave remains there to this day untouched, some of her toys still there laying on the cave floor waiting for her to return but never will .. maybe .. maybe one day she will. The flowing underground river, that can never be touch until one is foolish or knows the knowledge of the waters. She smiles remembering happier days, running naked through the underground tunnels and finding secret gardens of planet that glow in the dark, such beauty to behold.

She can sense her coming, Sio is pushing her way through the storm, and Abaigeal holds out her hand to reach for her, wanting her to see her old home. But she remembers she is not truly there, this is a test. Abaigeal drops her arm and walks away, turning her back to walk into the storm ...

​

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]​

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]


Siobhan, being wholly ignorant about the history of the Je'daii, was not familiar with the deeper, historical significance of Qiqong Kesh, though she could sense this was a place that was important to Aba. After all, she had picked the deserts of Tython as her safe place to shield her mind from intrusion.


The powerful storm whipped across the deserts, throwing up clouds of sand and dust along the way. No thought, no sound save the howl of the wind. Aba's thoughts were like the wind, omnipresent and yet elusive. However, not all of them escaped Siobhan, for she picked up on the feeling of happiness emanating from Aba. Perhaps one or two happy memories of carefree days spent in the caves bled over to her.


Her daughter was somewhere in the storm. For a moment Siobhan believed she could sense her presence. There was a feeling that Aba was reaching out to her, but then the moment passed. The mental, ethereal Siobhan, the one who was currently taking a trip through Aba's mind, called the Force to her muscles and leapt into the air, gliding through the dissipating storm as she tried to look for Aba. The winds whipped at her but she pressed on. In the far distance she believed she could make out Aba and so she reached out, trying to pull her towards her. This was all a test, of course, but at the same time this was Aba's mind. Here she held the power; the girl just needed to realise it.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

She continues to follow. Coming ever closer but Abaigeal walked until she reach the entrance to the cave, a secret entrance only she knows and began to descend the stairs into the private chamber. In her mind, she allow Sio to follow, giving her the direction in which to go luring her in. She left the secret doorway open, and began to walk step by step down the stone stair to the waters edge. A large underground river, with a current strong but calm lapped at the stone steps, Abaigeal knew .. she knew what had to be done in order to cross the river. It is a secret only the family knows of, not even the Jedi Order had any knowledge of this place and that is how Iella and Syn wanted it.

Across the waters is where she was born, her and her brother twins. Abaigeal turned on the step and looked up at the open doorway as Sio approached following her and about to come through the passage way, Abaigeal slammed the door shut, just before Sio could enter. No one knows this place and no one will.

Placing her feet in the water, remembering to only stand on the first step under the water, the boat arose from the depths, an old wooden boat that would ferry the passenger to the other side. If one was to ever enter this place and try to cross the waters in another form they would die as the waters would become turbulent and engulf them taking them down to the deep and sweep them away.

Abaigeal entered the boat, and allowed it to take her home....

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]


Here Aba held the power. The girl seemed to realise that. Siobhan had been pursuing her, but Aba vanished inside the passage way, the door was abruptly slammed shut before her eyes. How naughty!


Siobhan stared at the door for a moment, smiling thinly. Her little angel was good. She wondered what lay behind the door, which seemed to block the path to her inner sanctum, her haven and safe place. For a moment she considered backing off, mindful of her daughter's privacy. But training was about testing boundaries.


And so a surge of the Force battered the door as she pulled upon it with her power, eventually knocking it down with a loud bang. However, as it turned out thia had been a bad idea, for she had not expected the defences behind it. Aba was far away on her boat and out of her grasp, but the waters before Siobhan abruptly became turbulent and flooded her like a massive tidal wave! Siobhan struggled to keep her head above the waters as they engulfed her and threatened to pull her down as she tried to return to the shore. All of this was obviously just happening in her mind, but in the real world Siobhan shook strongly as she was being pushed our of Aba's mind. Suffice to say she would have a headache.


Score one for the Black Orchid!

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

This is a strong place, a powerful place. The shifting sands of the Silent Desert, where not even your breath is heard, serves her well. Her old home in which she was born a strong tire to the world regardless of who has control over it, Jedi and Sith alike well never really control this place, it controls them. Abaigeal could feel Sio, just on the other side of the doorway, a powerful push through the mind and the door blew apart. The strong currents of the underground river churned and formed a whirlpool pulling Sio below it's watery grave. Abaigeal wanted to stop, it is all to real but no. This is a test and Sio is very tough when training, if she was to stop and given Abaigeal knew Sio would not approve.

But his exercise is fatiguing Abaigeal, the mental exertion required to hold the barrier began to fault through it. Little by little Abaigeal returned retracing her steps until she stood on the edge of the Silent Desert and step out. Her eyes opened to see Sio standing near her, her body slightly shaking ..

"Sio! are you alright?', she rested a hand on her arm and squeezed for comfort. "It is finished, I can't do any more", Abaigeal had a headache too, but deep within her there is a strong sense of pride. She had done better then she had expected and over time, this skill will become one of great power to her.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Abaigeal E'ron"]


Training was all about testing limits. Both of the teacher and the student. While Siobhan was generally easy-going - unless she was in a mood, which admittedly happened a lot! - she did not go easy on her students. Thus it was right of Aba not to try and break things off.


The whirlpool of doom seemed to swallow Siobhan wholesale as she was pulled down into a watery grave, then as everything went dark the landscape suddenly shifted, for it was all an illusion of the mind. She coughed, spitting out water and shaking. As she rubbed her eyes, she suddenly found herself standing once again in the Silent Desert. The great storm had calmned down in the interim, though there was still a strong wind blowing across the desert, throwing up sand and dust.


"Yeah, I'm fine. Just need an aspirin," Siobhan leaned into the touch when Aba's hand was rested on her arm. "You did well, dear. Very well. I'm sooo proud of you. Let's get out of here." Spontaneously she pulled the girl into a hug. And so suddenly the two ladies were engulfed by a flash of bright light and when it was gone, they had faded from the desert. When they awoke they would find themselves on the Firemane training grounds again, in the real world.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

She rubbed her own temples, the aching in her head dull but different to what she once felt under the control of Kaine. "That was, trippy", she said as they hugged. "Can we go home now?", she asked very tired.

There was nothing left of Abaigeal to give if Sio wanted to continue training, but she knew it would be the end of the day, and now wanted for food and rest. The two would walk back to the apartment, slowly, and as they entered Abaigeal could smell food cooking, someone was here fixing dinner much to her delight and that of her stomachs. However she walked to a side board, on which sat a large jug of water icy cold and glasses on a tray. "Would you like a drink?", she asked Sio while pouring the first glass and then the second. Abaigeal drank the glass empty trying to help her mind rid the ache.

​

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]​