Private The Silence of Brindle's Reach

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia laughed quietly at his version of the story.

"I suppose every good story does need a satisfying ending," she admitted. "Though I think you're forgetting that sometimes the hero only wins because someone else noticed the clue they almost stepped over."

She offered him a teasing smile before returning her attention to the tracks. They continued at an easy pace, the tiny paw prints weaving confidently through the settlement. Every so often she paused, kneeling briefly to confirm she hadn't lost them where the dust had been disturbed by wind.

"They're fresher here," she observed softly. "And more frequent."

A few steps farther on, she stopped again. The tracks multiplied, overlapping in places where the cat had apparently lingered before continuing onward. They crossed a narrow lane and disappeared beneath the partially raised loading door of an old warehouse.

Talia remained outside, studying the entrance rather than rushing in.

"Well..." she murmured, looking toward Kade. "You were right about one thing." Her eyes moved to the faded lettering above the doorway before slipping back to the paw prints. "A warehouse."

She crouched once more, noticing several torn ration wrappers caught against the edge of the loading ramp and a few empty water containers stacked neatly just inside the shadowed entrance.

"It looks like supplies," she said quietly. "Enough to keep a cat fed..." Her voice trailed off as she peered into the dim interior. "...but I don't think the cat stocked the shelves."

Slowly, she rose to her feet.

"Someone's been here."

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade snickered. "Sure." He nodded as though conceding an obvious point. "Somebody else finds the clue." A beat. "They hand it to the hero." His grin widened. "The hero saves the day."

He spread his hands. "Everybody contributes." Another beat. "I'm perfectly happy with you being an integral part of the story." The wink that followed left little doubt where this was going. "So long as I get most of the glory at the end." The comment was delivered with enough confidence that it was impossible to tell whether he was joking. The answer, as usual, was somewhere in the middle.

As they continued, Kade stayed a half-step behind Talia. His hand hovered near Twin Verdict's hilt, never quite settling, never quite leaving. Now that he knew what to look for, he found himself following the paw prints as well. He wasn't nearly as practiced as Talia, but they were becoming easier to spot.

When she pointed out that the tracks were fresher, he leaned down for a better look and gave a slow nod. "I see it." Then the tracks multiplied. His brow furrowed. "Think that's more than one cat..."

His eyes followed the overlapping prints. "...or just one really busy one?" He glanced toward Talia. She probably knew. Or at least had a theory. Kade wasn't about to interrupt her process.

When she said he had been right, his grin immediately spread from ear to ear. "Of course I was." The response came before she even finished speaking. Then she mentioned the warehouse. His smile somehow grew even wider. "I was right twice." He looked entirely too pleased with himself.

That satisfaction evaporated the instant Talia's voice changed. Someone's been here. Kade straightened immediately. His posture lost every trace of playful swagger. His attention locked onto the dark opening beneath the loading door. Every sense sharpened. His thumb brushed the emitter of Twin Verdict. Not activating it. Ready.

"If someone's inside..." His voice dropped. "...then they're either our witness..." A brief pause. "...or our problem."

Without another word, Kade took several slow, measured steps toward the warehouse entrance. For once, there was no charge. No sprint. No reckless dive into the unknown. Each step was deliberate, careful enough that Talia could stop him with a word if she had a better idea.

He glanced back over one shoulder. "I should probably go first." A confident grin flickered back for just a moment. "If it's dangerous, that's my department." Then his expression settled once more as his attention returned to the shadowed interior, waiting to see if Talia's instincts would send them in together—or send them in another direction entirely.

​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia couldn't help but laugh as Kade claimed the glory for himself.

"I suppose I can live with that," she said, shaking her head with an amused smile. "Though if anyone asks, I'll be sure to mention the hero would've walked straight past the clues without his archaeologist."

The teasing faded as they approached the warehouse. She watched Kade's posture change almost instantly, the easy humor giving way to the quiet focus of someone who had spent years preparing for moments exactly like this. It was a side of him she respected. They approached uncertainty differently, but they approached it well together.

When he suggested taking the lead, she gave a small nod.

"I think that's reasonable." Her voice remained low. "I'll stay just behind you." She rested a hand lightly against the satchel at her side before glancing once more at the tracks disappearing beneath the door. "Whatever's in there... let's try to understand it before we decide what it is."

The warehouse smelled stale the moment they stepped inside. Dust hung almost motionless in the shafts of light filtering through skylights. Rows of shelving still stood where workers had abandoned them, many stacked with ration crates, bottled water, medical supplies, and other emergency provisions. Enough to keep someone alive for months. The cat's tracks wandered confidently between the aisles, weaving through the supplies as though it had made the building its home.

Then Talia stopped.

"Kade..."

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Near the far wall, slumped against a collapsed stack of crates, sat the unmistakable remains of a person. The uniform was unfamiliar, military in design but bearing no insignia she recognized from Brindle's Reach. The body itself was wrong. Not decomposed as she would have expected after only a few weeks, but unnaturally desiccated. Skin clung tightly to bone, clothing hanging loosely from a frame that looked as though years rather than weeks had passed since death.

Slowly, she crouched several meters away, careful not to disturb the scene.

"No..." she murmured, studying the remains with growing unease. "This shouldn't be possible." Her eyes moved over the corpse, then around the warehouse itself. Nothing else appeared aged beyond its time. Only the body.

She looked up at Kade, concern replacing curiosity.

"This person didn't die a few weeks ago." A pause. "Or... if they did..." Her voice grew quieter still. "...something made them look decades older."

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade gave an exaggerated shrug. "Maybe." He flashed Talia a sideways grin. "But history doesn't usually remember who found the clue." A beat. "It remembers who solved the problem."

The grin lingered, though not quite as confidently as before. He didn't mind the teasing. Mostly. Still, he wasn't about to let her think he needed constant supervision.

As they approached the warehouse entrance, he nodded once. "I might be an action-first Jedi..." His hand settled firmly around Twin Verdict's hilt. "...but I'm still a Jedi." He glanced back over one shoulder. "I'm not in the habit of hitting things just because they're there." Another crooked smile. "I like to be pretty sure something deserves it first."

With that, he slipped beneath the partially raised loading door. The warehouse swallowed them in stale silence. Kade's dark eyes swept from shelf to shelf. Ration crates. Water. Medical supplies. Dust. Nothing immediately threatened them. Nothing appeared disturbed beyond the wandering trails of feline paws. It almost looked...

Normal. Which somehow made the place even more unsettling. His gaze moved constantly, lingering on the shadows between the shelving, the rafters overhead, every possible place something could be hiding.

Then Talia spoke his name. Quietly. He followed her gaze. His expression hardened. The body sat motionless against the fallen crates. Instinctively, Kade reached out through the Force. Not with Talia's careful examination. Not searching for history. Simply feeling. Listening. Waiting for...something. Anything.

Nothing answered. No lingering spirit. No echo that his instincts could grasp. Just silence. An empty silence. His fingers tightened around the saberstaff. The weapon came free from his belt with a soft metallic click. Still inactive. Still lowered.

His attention never left the warehouse as Talia moved closer to examine the corpse. He trusted her with the body. His job was everything else. Every aisle. Every doorway. Every shadow.

When Talia explained what she was seeing, Kade finally looked from the room to the corpse again. His jaw tightened. A faint shiver worked its way across his shoulders. "...That's wrong." Not merely strange. Wrong.

His eyes drifted toward the stocked shelves. Then toward the trail of paw prints weaving between them. "The cat can't be living off food that's decades old." He shook his head slowly. "The supplies aren't aged….

"The warehouse isn't aged." His gaze settled once more on the desiccated corpse. "But that is."

Silence filled the space for a heartbeat. Kade lowered his voice instinctively. "Something unnatural happened here." For the first time since arriving on Brindle's Reach, he found himself wishing the answer had been a Sith.

At least Sith made sense. This...This didn't. His grip tightened imperceptibly on Twin Verdict as his eyes resumed their slow sweep of the warehouse. Whatever had done this...

He couldn't shake the feeling it might still be close.

​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia frowned as she studied the shelves, her eyes moving slowly from crate to crate before returning to the body. Something about the scene refused to fit together.

"The rations aren't aged," she said quietly. "Not fresh...just well preserved." She gestured toward one of the sealed containers. "Most emergency supplies are packaged to last for years. Decades, sometimes."

Her gaze drifted toward the wandering paw prints.

"And the cat..." She shook her head thoughtfully. "Or cats. They aren't exactly sentient. They wouldn't understand expiration dates or the significance of abandoned supplies. They'd simply find food where food exists."

The corpse drew her attention once more, and an uneasy feeling settled over her. Instinctively, she took two careful steps backward, increasing the distance between herself and the remains. Her expression tightened.

"I don't want to get any closer."

She couldn't explain why. Perhaps it was simple caution. Perhaps years spent working among ancient tombs had taught her to respect the unknown. Or perhaps it was something subtler, an instinct whispering that whatever had happened to this person might not be entirely finished.

"We don't know what caused this," she murmured. "Disease... some kind of environmental exposure... the Force..." She slowly shook her head. "Until we know more, I'd rather assume touching the body is a bad idea."

As if the warehouse itself had decided to answer, a sudden gust of wind swept through the loft above. Dust spiraled into the air as loose tarps fluttered against their restraints. Somewhere deeper in the building came the sharp metallic crash of something heavy striking the floor.

The sound echoed through the warehouse before silence reclaimed it.

Talia's head snapped toward the darkness beyond the shelves.

"...Kade."

She didn't need to say anything else. Whatever had made that noise hadn't sounded like a settling building.

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade's eyes flicked from the corpse to the shelves again. "I think you might be right about the rations." The admission came easier than most. "They're made to last."

His brow furrowed. "But the colony wasn't cut off decades ago." His gaze settled once more on the desiccated remains. "We know people were living here weeks ago."

He gestured toward the shelves. "And cats don't know what expiration dates are..." A slight shrug. "...but their stomachs do."

He wasn't an archaeologist. He wasn't a biologist. He wasn't even particularly interested in either subject. Still, the pieces refused to fit. The cat looked healthy. The warehouse looked untouched. The body looked impossibly old. None of it belonged together.

When Talia backed away from the corpse, Kade mirrored the movement without complaint. He trusted instincts. Especially now. "Works for me." His grip remained firm on Twin Verdict. "Touching the creepy corpse wasn't exactly at the top of my to-do list."

His eyes never stopped moving. The aisles. The rafters. The loading door. The shadows between stacked crates. Then—

The gust. Dust erupted into the air. Tarps snapped overhead. The metallic crash echoed through the warehouse like a blaster shot. Kade moved before the sound had fully died. One smooth step carried him directly between Talia and the source of the noise. Twin Verdict came up in both hands, still unlit, the staff held diagonally across his body. Protective. Ready. Every muscle tensed.

His breathing stopped instinctively as the cloud of dust rolled toward them. He held it. One second. Two. Three. The warehouse settled back into silence. His lungs began to burn. Finally he exhaled sharply through pursed lips.

"...Kriff." A quick, shallow breath. Then he held that one too. His voice came out quieter than before. "Mystery or tactical retreat?"

His eyes remained locked on the darkness beyond the shelving. "I can work with either." Another few seconds passed before the pressure in his chest forced another restrained exhale. He didn't dare take a full breath. Not with an unexplained corpse and whatever had just disturbed the warehouse.

Without looking away from the shadows, he spoke again. "Your call, Brain." A faint smirk tugged at one corner of his mouth despite the tension. "I'm ready to investigate."

A tiny inhale. Held. "...or run." The second option clearly offended him on a personal level. "But if we're running..." His grip tightened around Twin Verdict. "...I'm running backward."

​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia's pulse quickened as Kade instinctively stepped in front of her, placing himself between her and the unseen source of the sound. She didn't argue. At that moment, she was grateful he was exactly the sort of Jedi who thought that way.

She took one careful step backward, her eyes never leaving the dark aisle.

"The wind..." she said quietly, listening as the loose tarps above continued to flutter for another second before settling. "...that's normal. Broken skylights, changing air pressure." She shook her head. "That wasn't what made the noise."

The warehouse fell silent again, the kind of silence that pressed in on the ears and made every breath feel too loud. Then came the unmistakable sound of claws scrambling across concrete, sharp and frantic, echoing between the towering shelves. Talia's eyes widened as she turned toward the noise, her voice catching in her throat. "Kade..."

From somewhere deep within the maze of stacked crates and rusted racks, another cat burst into view. It wasn't stalking or prowling with cautious intent—it was fleeing. Its movements were erratic, desperate, as it sprinted forward without hesitation. It was running.

Its ears were pinned flat against its head. Every hair along its back stood on end, making the already lean animal appear almost twice its size. Its pupils were so dilated that little of its eye color remained visible. It never once looked toward the two Jedi.

It sprinted directly at them.

At the last possible moment it veered sharply around Kade's legs, nearly skidding across the dusty floor before disappearing beneath the partially opened loading door and vanishing into the daylight beyond.

Talia remained frozen for a heartbeat, watching the doorway long after the animal had disappeared.

"...That wasn't running from us."

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

She slowly turned her attention back toward the warehouse interior. The darkness between the shelves looked no different than it had a moment ago. Quiet. Empty.

Yet every instinct she possessed told her something had changed.

"I don't think..." she said carefully, "...we're the reason the cats are leaving."

Without realizing it, she had lowered her own voice almost to a whisper, as though speaking any louder might attract the attention of whatever the frightened animal had fled from.

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade gave a single, deliberate nod. "That makes sense." His eyes flicked briefly toward the damaged skylights. "I still think whoever designed this place should've accounted for the wind once they finished building."

A shrug. "Granted..." He looked around at the improvised repairs and aging structure. "...colonists don't exactly get luxury accommodations. They adapt." His attention returned to the darkness ahead. "So should we."

The warehouse settled into another suffocating silence. Then came the frantic scratching. Kade didn't need Talia to say his name this time. His grip tightened instinctively around Twin Verdict. His thumb slid over the activation switch. Not pressing it. Ready to. Every muscle in his body coiled, waiting for whatever emerged from the darkness. Or waiting to bolt if Talia somehow made enough sense of the situation to convince him retreat was smarter.

The blur burst from between the shelves. Kade's stance widened. The lightsaber almost ignited. Then—"...Another cat." The tension in his shoulders eased for the briefest moment as the terrified creature shot around his legs.

He felt it. Not through careful meditation. Not through some refined Force technique. Just raw instinct. Panic. Pure, animal terror. Whatever had scared it...

...was still back there. Talia's whisper pulled his eyes from the loading door. "It wasn't running from us." Kade nodded, an awkward smile tugging at one corner of his mouth.

"No." He watched the last flick of the cat's tail disappear into the daylight. "It kind of ran to us..." A beat. "...before it ran away." The smile vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Somewhere deeper inside the warehouse came more movement. Not one set of claws. Several. Skittering. Scattering. The sound echoed through the aisles before fading once more into silence. Kade slowly shook his head. "I think..." His voice remained low. "...we either found the mystery." He glanced toward the darkness between the shelves. "...or the mystery found us."

Twin Verdict remained unlit, but only barely. His thumb still rested on the activation switch. One movement. One sound. One glimpse of a threat. That was all it would take. He shifted his weight slightly, angling himself to better protect Talia while keeping his eyes fixed on the maze of shelving.

"So..." Without taking his eyes off the darkness, he spoke quietly. "Do we push forward and introduce ourselves..." The faintest hint of his trademark grin surfaced. "...or do we find some better ground before whatever scared half the neighborhood's cats decides to say hello?"

For once, Kadeon Virell was content to wait a heartbeat for Talia's answer. Not because he lacked confidence. Because even he recognized that whatever was deeper in this warehouse had already proven capable of frightening creatures that survived by trusting their instincts. And instincts, Kade had learned, were worth listening to.

​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia didn't answer immediately. Every sensible instinct told her that frightened animals and an inexplicably desiccated corpse were excellent reasons to leave, find help, and return with considerably more preparation. Unfortunately, the unanswered questions were pulling at her just as strongly. She stared into the darkness between the shelves, reaching carefully through the Force once more. There should have been something. The cats had been alive and bright within it, Kade was unmistakable beside her, even the sparse life beyond the warehouse registered at the edge of her awareness. Deeper inside, however, there was nothing.

"I don't know," she whispered, her brow furrowing as she reached a little farther. "I don't feel anyone." The admission should have reassured her. Instead, it made the uneasy knot in her stomach tighten. Her eyes shifted toward Kade. "But the cats certainly did."

A faint metallic sound interrupted her before she could say more. Not another crash, but a scrape. Slow and deliberate, metal dragging against the floor somewhere beyond the next row of shelving. Talia went perfectly still. The sound continued for perhaps two seconds before stopping. Silence returned, and after several heartbeats something small rolled from the darkness into the aisle ahead of them. It crossed the floor in an uneven arc before coming to rest against the leg of a shelf.

Talia stared at it. An empty ration tin. Nothing threatening by itself, except there was no obvious reason for it to have moved. Her gaze followed the direction it had come from, searching the orderly warehouse for anything that might explain it.

"That didn't fall," she murmured. The shelves around them were stable, and the tin had come rolling from somewhere well beyond what she could see. Her hand finally moved toward her own lightsaber, though she didn't draw it. "Something pushed it."

Then she noticed something else. One of the doors farther down the warehouse stood partially open. Talia couldn't swear it had been closed when they entered, but she thought it had been. She remembered looking along that wall while Kade searched the room, and she didn't remember seeing the narrow strip of darkness now visible beyond it.

"Kade..." Her voice remained low as she nodded toward it. "That door."

She reached through the Force again, more deliberately this time, searching the space beyond the doorway. There was no answering presence. No mind she could touch. No life that she could distinguish from the surrounding emptiness. Nothing.

"I think we move forward," she decided, stepping closer to Kade rather than venturing ahead of him. "Slowly." Her eyes never left the partially open door. "And if you see something before I do..." Her fingers curled a little more firmly around her lightsaber. "...don't wait for me to understand it."

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade nodded slowly. "Normal." His eyes briefly tracked upward toward the damaged skylights and fluttering tarps. "I'd still say a smart designer accounts for the wind once the building's actually finished." He gave the warehouse around them another glance.

"Can't always control what kind of environment you're building a colony in, sure. But that's the whole point of adapting." A small shrug followed, as though the architectural criticism was settled. The more important part was what Talia couldn't feel. Nothing. That bothered him. Kade's grip tightened around Twin Verdict until his knuckles pressed firmly against the weapon's casing.

He wasn't someone who turned around because something felt strange. Usually, strange was an invitation to keep moving until he could hit whatever was responsible. This felt different. Not fear exactly. Just the growing certainty that they were missing something important.

Then came the scrape. Kade's attention snapped toward it instantly. His body shifted with the sound as he tried to track its origin through the warehouse. One step carried him subtly closer to Talia, narrowing the space between them so neither could easily be separated from the other. The sound stopped.

His thumb settled over Twin Verdict's activation switch. Ready. Nothing. Then the tin rolled into view. Kade stared at it. "...Well, that's not creepy at all." He didn't relax. Normally, he wasn't going to base tactical decisions on the opinions of cats. But the animals knew something.

Whatever had sent them fleeing had inspired enough raw terror that even Kade wasn't going to demand they stand their ground purely because retreat offended his sensibilities. Then again, a rolling ration tin wasn't enough to send him running either. When Talia suggested it had been pushed, Kade nodded. "Something acted on it."

That much seemed obvious. What that something was remained considerably less obvious. Wind? A person neither Jedi could sense? Some Force phenomenon that didn't register as a living presence? Kade hated not knowing. More accurately, Kade hated waiting to know.

He took a step toward the aisle the tin had emerged from. Then Talia spoke his name. He stopped. His gaze followed hers toward the partially opened door. There. Kade gave a slow nod. That was better. A direction. A destination. Something they could actually investigate.

When Talia decided they should keep going, Kade immediately began moving toward the door, each step considerably more controlled than his usual approach to danger. Then she gave him permission not to wait. Under normal circumstances, don't wait for me to understand it might have earned the biggest grin Kadeon Virell was capable of producing. This time, only the faintest hint of one appeared.

"Finally starting to appreciate my methods." The arrogance was there. The excitement was there. But so was hesitation. Just a fraction. Enough to betray that even Kade wasn't entirely comfortable with what might be waiting beyond that door.

Twin Verdict remained dark in his hands as he advanced. Slowly. His eyes stayed locked on the narrow opening. "Stay close." There was no joke attached to it. Kade moved another step forward. "If something comes through there..."

His thumb rested firmly against the activation switch. "...I'll make sure it regrets picking the physically gifted Jedi first." A beat. The smirk finally surfaced. "Which, obviously, is me."

Then he continued toward the door, prepared to put himself between Talia and whatever waited beyond it—while hoping, perhaps for the first time since arriving, that he wouldn't actually need to strike first.

​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Despite herself, Talia gave him a sideways look as they advanced. "Physically gifted?" she whispered. "I'm beginning to think humility was the lesson you skipped immediately before archaeology."

The humor helped, if only for a moment. She stayed close behind him as instructed, one hand resting on her lightsaber while the other remained free. Unlike Kade, she hadn't drawn hers yet. Something about igniting a weapon in the darkness felt premature, particularly when they still had no idea what they were dealing with. More troubling was the continued silence within the Force. Talia reached outward again as they approached the door, searching beyond it for even the smallest impression of another living mind. There was Kade beside her. Life outside. Faint impressions from elsewhere in the abandoned colony. Beyond the door, nothing.

She stopped just before they reached it. "Wait." Her voice was barely audible. Talia wasn't looking through the opening anymore. She was looking down.

There were marks on the floor.

Not footprints exactly. Something had passed through recently, disturbing the thin layer of dust that had accumulated during the colony's weeks of abandonment. A long scuff crossed the floor near the doorway, followed by several irregular impressions that continued into the room beyond. Talia crouched without touching them, studying their shape. They were too large for the cats and too irregular to immediately identify as ordinary boots. Whatever had made them had come through this door recently.

Her eyes slowly lifted toward Kade. "There's something I don't like about this." That earned an almost incredulous little shake of her head. "Something beyond the obvious, I mean." She pointed toward the impressions. "We have physical evidence that something moved through here. The cats reacted to something. Something moved that ration tin." Her gaze shifted toward the darkness beyond the partially opened door. "But the Force keeps telling us there's nothing there."

Talia rose slowly and drew her lightsaber at last, though she left the blade unignited. Her curiosity hadn't disappeared, but caution had decisively overtaken it. "So perhaps we stop trusting what we don't sense." She looked at Kade. "Eyes. Ears. Everything physical. If there's something here that we can't perceive through the Force, reaching harder isn't going to help us."

She nodded toward the door.

"And, Kade?" A faint smile returned despite the tension. "You can be the physically gifted Jedi." She moved close behind him, preparing to follow him through. "I'll settle for being the one who notices the monster before you walk into it."

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade's mouth curled into a smirk. "Facts are facts." His eyes remained fixed ahead even as his voice carried the familiar self-satisfaction. "If acknowledging obvious physical excellence counts as a lack of humility, I don't know what you want from me."

A moment passed. "Though..." His brow furrowed as if seriously searching his memory. "I might've been sick on Humble Day at the Academy." That sounded plausible enough to him.

He was still wearing the smirk when Talia's quiet command came from behind him. Wait. Kade stopped immediately. No extra step. No complaint. No insistence that he had everything under control. He simply stopped. His gaze followed hers toward the marks in the dust. The humor drained from his expression as she laid out everything they knew. Something had crossed this threshold. Something had frightened the cats. Something had moved the tin. Yet neither Jedi could feel it.

"There's a lot I don't like about this." The words were delivered with unusual seriousness. Kade glanced from the disturbed dust toward the narrow darkness beyond the door. "But yeah. That part's pretty high on the list." His instinct was to reach outward again. He'd been doing it almost unconsciously since they'd entered the warehouse, feeling for that warning through the Force that had guided him through countless fights.

Instead, at Talia's suggestion, he stopped. Not severing himself from the Force. That would have been impossible and stupid. Just changing how he used it. Rather than searching for a presence that apparently refused to exist, Kade turned that connection inward. His awareness sharpened around the physical world instead. The scrape of his boot against the dusty floor seemed louder. He listened for movement beyond the door. Watched the narrow slice of darkness for a shifting silhouette. Drew in the smells of dust, stale air, old supplies and anything else that might not belong. Eyes. Ears. Instinct. Those were things Kade understood.

He nodded. "Alright." Twin Verdict remained inactive in his hand as he resumed his approach. Slowly. Carefully. Yet there was nothing small about Kadeon Virell even when he was trying to be cautious. He moved tall, broad shoulders squared rather than hunched, carrying himself toward the unknown with the same confidence he brought onto a training mat.

Then Talia volunteered to notice the monster. That earned her a brief glance over his shoulder. "Perfect." The grin returned. "See? We're already figuring out our roles." His attention returned to the doorway. "You notice the monster." Another measured step. "You warn me." Another. "And then I handle the part everybody remembers."

He stopped just short of the opening. For all the arrogance in his words, he meant the arrangement. Talia was better at this. She noticed things Kade missed. She questioned details that his instincts would have carried him straight past. If something waited beyond that doorway and she saw it before him, that wasn't competition. That was exactly what he needed her to do. Because once she gave him the warning… Well. That was when Kadeon Virell intended to become very difficult to overlook.

​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia resisted the temptation to point out that Kade's division of their respective responsibilities seemed suspiciously designed to ensure he received all the glory. There would be time for that argument later, preferably somewhere considerably brighter and without an unknown presence apparently capable of existing beyond their perception. For now, she remained close behind him, attention shifting constantly between the marks on the floor, the partially opened door, and the surrounding shelves. "Everybody remembers the person who notices the monster first," she whispered, allowing just enough humor into her voice to answer his arrogance without disturbing her concentration. "Otherwise, there's nothing for the physically gifted Jedi to dramatically defeat." Her hand remained wrapped around her lightsaber as she moved slightly to one side, giving herself a clearer view past Kade without surrendering the considerable advantage offered by having his much larger frame between her and whatever might be waiting beyond the doorway.

The room beyond appeared to be another storage area, smaller than the main warehouse and illuminated only by the weak light spilling through the opening behind them. Shelving lined the walls while several cargo containers occupied the center, all of it looking perfectly ordinary at first glance. Talia forced herself not to reach through the Force for answers. They had already established that whatever had frightened the cats wasn't announcing itself there, and continuing to rely upon a sense that had repeatedly failed them seemed foolish. Instead, she studied the physical details. One of the cargo containers stood open, its lid pushed aside rather than properly released, while several sealed ration packets had been scattered across the floor. One had been ripped apart with enough force to leave the packaging twisted and ragged, its contents completely gone. "Kade." Talia lightly touched his arm before pointing toward it. "There. Someone's been in these supplies." The colony had been abandoned for barely a month, and everything they had seen suggested its people had maintained their emergency stores carefully. This wasn't something left behind during an evacuation.

She followed him farther inside, eyes tracing the scattered packets before something else reached her awareness. This time it wasn't the Force at all. It was a smell beneath the stale air and stored supplies, faint enough that she might have overlooked it had Kade not deliberately reminded her to trust her physical senses. It wasn't decay like the body they had discovered earlier, nor anything she immediately recognized from the warehouse itself. It was warmer, organic and strangely unpleasant, carrying with it the unsettling suggestion that something living had occupied this room much more recently than the missing colonists. Talia stopped abruptly. "Do you smell that?" Her voice had dropped until it was barely above a whisper, and she drew her lightsaber completely from her belt without activating it. The weapon suddenly felt far more reassuring in her hand than it had a few moments earlier.

A soft click came from somewhere above them. Talia's head snapped upward, searching the ceiling and the upper shelving, but nothing moved. Several seconds passed before another click sounded from behind the shelves to their left, followed by the faint scrape of something brushing against the wall. She didn't pursue it. Instead, Talia stepped toward Kade until there was scarcely any distance separating them, eyes moving through the darkness while every instinct warned her that something had changed. The sounds weren't random anymore. Whatever had made them had moved from one place to another while she was listening, yet the Force remained maddeningly silent. No warning. No mind. No recognizable life at all. Talia swallowed and tightened her grip around her unlit lightsaber. "We're not alone," she whispered. For once, she didn't care that the Force continued insisting otherwise.

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade chuckled quietly. He had heard Talia's argument. The person who noticed the monster first deserved some credit because otherwise there wouldn't be anything for the hero to dramatically defeat. Fair. He wasn't going to say she had a point, obviously. There were limits.

Instead, he moved through the doorway and let his eyes sweep across the smaller storage room. Shelves. Cargo containers. More supplies. Dark corners. Nothing moved. Nothing immediately screamed monster waiting to murder two Jedi.

Kade's first assessment was simple. Clear. Then Talia touched his arm. He didn't flinch, but his attention immediately followed her gesture toward the open container and scattered ration packets. His expression tightened. "Yeah."

Someone—or something—had definitely been hungry. Kade studied the torn packaging for another moment before continuing forward. It mattered. Probably. But it wasn't what had sent those cats tearing through the warehouse in blind terror. Whatever had done that was still their priority.

The smell reached him next. Kade's nose wrinkled slightly, but he initially dismissed it as another unpleasant feature of a warehouse that had been sitting abandoned for weeks. Then Talia stopped. Do you smell that? Kade inhaled carefully through his nose. This time he actually paid attention. "...Yeah."

Organic. Warm. Wrong. His expression hardened. He didn't know what it was. He knew it hadn't been there long. Click. Kade heard it. His eyes shifted upward without his head following them. If something was watching them, he wasn't going to announce that he'd heard it. Nothing.

Then another click. Left. A scrape. Different position. His eyes moved. His head didn't. Kade's fingers tightened around Twin Verdict. Were there two? Had one moved that quickly? Or—Talia stepped closer.

Kade's free hand extended automatically, finding her without looking and keeping her within reach. Not grabbing her. Just making certain he knew exactly where she was. If something came at them, he wasn't allowing it to separate them. We're not alone.

"No." For once, Kade didn't have anything clever to add. Then something moved. Fast. A shape unfolded from the darkness above the shelving. Humanoid. That was the first impression. Tall. Lean. Wrong. Its limbs seemed just slightly too long, its posture crouched in a way that made judging its actual height impossible. What little light reached it caught irregular surfaces across its body—armor, hide, equipment, Kade couldn't tell.

Its head snapped toward them. And then it charged. "THERE!" Twin Verdict erupted to life. Green light flooded the storage room as both blades ignited with their familiar snap-hiss.

Kade stepped toward the attacker. Of course he did. Whatever caution he'd shown during the investigation disappeared the instant the mystery became something willing to fight him. This was a language Kadeon Virell spoke fluently.

The creature crossed the distance with startling speed. Kade pivoted, bringing one blazing end of Twin Verdict across his body to intercept the incoming attack while the opposite blade swept outward to threaten its flank. Whatever it was, he wasn't waiting to learn its intentions anymore.

It had attacked him. That was sufficient evidence. "Finally!" There was altogether too much satisfaction in the word. Kade planted himself between the alien and Talia, shoulders squared, the green blades whirling into position as his grin returned. "You picked the right Jedi!" The boast lasted right until another sound came from somewhere behind them.

Click.

Kade's grin faltered. Not from the creature in front of him. Somewhere else. Then another answered from farther among the shelves. His eyes flicked sideways for barely an instant. Oh. That complicated things. "Talia..." Twin Verdict snapped around as Kade drove back against the creature attacking him. He didn't dare turn around. "Remember when I said you could notice the monsters..." Another scrape came from the darkness. Plural was becoming increasingly appropriate. "...before I dramatically defeat them?" His stance shifted, positioning himself so neither he nor Talia could easily be isolated. "Now would be an excellent time to start counting."

​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia didn't have time to answer him. The first creature had barely committed itself to Kade when the second came from the darkness to her right, dropping from the upper shelving with a speed that made her stomach lurch. There was no warning through the Force. No flicker of intent before it moved, no approaching life she could feel, nothing except the sudden scrape of limbs against metal and the physical evidence of something large descending toward her. Her thumb slammed against the activation switch, and sea-green light flooded the room as her lightsaber came alive. She twisted aside rather than trying to meet the creature's momentum directly, bringing her blade up between them just as it struck. The impact jarred through her arms hard enough to force her back a step. Whatever it was, it was strong. "Two!" she called, although she suspected Kade had already worked that much out for himself.

The creature didn't give her time to recover. It came at her again with those unnaturally long limbs, forcing Talia to abandon any thought of studying it until she survived the next few seconds. She caught the second attack with her blade and redirected it past her rather than attempting to overpower something larger than she was. Her training picked up where the Force had offered her nothing useful. Footwork. Distance. Watch the shoulders, the hips, the angle of the limbs. Physical movements still betrayed intent even when the Force didn't. She gave ground deliberately until her back met something solid and warm, and for one startled instant she almost turned before realizing it was Kade. "Don't move," she warned him, unnecessarily, settling back-to-back with him as naturally as if they'd practiced it beforehand. Twin Verdict's green glow mixed with the sea-green of her own blade, pushing the shadows farther toward the edges of the room while giving each of them someone they could trust at their back.

Then came another click.

Talia's eyes shifted without turning her head. Beyond the creature confronting her, something moved between two shelves. Not charging. Not retreating. Watching. The third shape emerged only far enough for the combined lightsaber glow to catch the outline of its limbs before becoming still again. That frightened her more than another immediate attack would have. The first two had rushed them like predators, but this one was behaving differently. It was waiting. Talia adjusted her grip and refused the instinct to look over her shoulder toward Kade. "Three," she said, much quieter this time. "Definitely three." The creature before her shifted to one side, and Talia mirrored it carefully. In the darkness beyond, the third shifted with it, maintaining distance rather than joining the fight.

Her breathing slowed as understanding began to settle over her. She couldn't sense aggression from it. She couldn't sense patience or calculation either. That terrible absence remained absolute. All she had was behavior, and behavior was enough. "Kade, the third one isn't attacking." She kept her voice controlled as the creature facing her feinted forward, testing her reaction. Talia brought her blade up but didn't commit, and it stopped almost immediately. The watcher remained motionless. "It's waiting." Another click passed between the creatures, and Talia felt Kade shift against her as his own opponent pressed him again. She planted her feet more firmly, refusing to let herself be drawn away from him. "I think they're testing us."

The creature opposite her suddenly lunged again, faster this time. Talia caught the strike and turned with it, letting its momentum carry it past rather than allowing herself to be driven away from Kade. Sea-green light flashed across its irregular features for an instant, offering her the clearest glimpse she'd had yet, but she didn't let curiosity steal her attention from the fight. She returned immediately to Kade's back, shoulder brushing him as she reset her stance. The third creature had moved closer. Only a little, but enough to confirm what she suspected. It wasn't waiting for an opportunity to join the others. It was waiting for one of the Jedi to make a mistake.

"Kade." Talia's voice dropped as she stared at the shape lurking beyond her opponent. "Don't chase yours if it backs away. Stay with me." Her blade remained steady between herself and the creature stalking her, but her attention kept returning to the third. "That one is waiting to see which of us shows weakness first." A faint, nervous smile touched her lips despite everything. "So for the next few minutes, I'm going to need you to pretend humility wasn't the only lesson you missed at the Academy."

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade had already worked out there were two. Mostly because the second one was currently trying to kill Talia. Twin Verdict spun through his hands, one green blade catching a sweeping strike from the creature opposite him while the other immediately came around from below. The alien twisted away with unsettling speed, forcing Kade to change the angle midway through the attack. Fast. Strong. Good. Under different circumstances, Kade might have enjoyed this.

He drove forward with a quick combination, using the double-bladed weapon less as two independent blades than a constantly shifting barrier. One end threatened high, forcing the creature aside, while the second swept low and made it surrender another step.

Then something pressed against his back. Kade tensed. Every muscle tightened for the fraction of a second before his brain caught up with what his senses already knew. Talia. Don't move.

"Wasn't planning on it." He adjusted immediately. The arrangement wasn't difficult to understand. Talia moved, and Kade moved with her. When she needed room to turn, he drove his opponent outward. When pressure against his back told him she'd surrendered a step, he compensated with one of his own. Twin Verdict gave him an advantage there. Two blades let him control space aggressively without needing to abandon their position.

And if the arrangement meant Talia got to concentrate on surviving while he managed the battlefield around them...Well. Obviously they had chosen their roles correctly. His focus narrowed onto the alien before him. Which was why he missed the third one entirely. Three.

Kade's head started to turn before he stopped himself. "Three?" His attention divided. Not much. Just enough to search the edge of his peripheral vision while Twin Verdict intercepted another attack. There. A silhouette. Watching. Kade grunted. That was worse. He would have preferred another charge. At least then he'd know what it wanted.

His opponent struck again. Kade caught the blow with one end of Twin Verdict, rotated the staff and brought the opposite blade sweeping across its path. The creature retreated from the green arc. Kade immediately pressed. Not to chase. To move it.

He drove his opponent several steps laterally, forcing it toward the same side of the room as Talia's attacker. His back remained against hers as much as their movement allowed, subtly forcing their entire formation around. Another strike. Parry. Turn. Advance. Until Kade had shifted himself into the position he wanted.

Talia behind him. The watching creature beyond him. If number three finally decided to enter the fight, it was going to have to get through Kadeon Virell first. That was much more reasonable.

Then Talia told him not to chase. Kade almost objected on principle. Almost. "If one runs, it runs." Twin Verdict snapped around, catching another attack. "We'll hunt it down later."

He drove the creature backward with the opposite blade. "We finish these two first." It wasn't the answer his ego wanted. Every competitive instinct Kade possessed despised letting an opponent escape. But leaving Talia alone against two of these things while he chased the third through an unfamiliar warehouse would have been idiotic. Kade was reckless. He wasn't stupid.

Then came Talia's comment about weakness. And missing lessons. Kade sighed. He thought he understood what she was suggesting. He didn't particularly like it. And with no idea how much Basic these creatures understood, announcing their plan aloud seemed like a spectacularly bad idea. So he didn't answer.

Instead, he reached toward Talia through the Force. Nothing elaborate. Nothing that required words. Just a subtle impression passed through the connection between them. Alright. Followed immediately by something considerably easier for Kade to communicate. I hate this. And beneath both: Tell me if I'm wrong.

Then Kadeon Virell did something that offended nearly every instinct he possessed. He started fighting worse. Not obviously. At first. His next defense came slightly late. Twin Verdict still caught the creature's attack, but too close to his body and at an angle that forced Kade to muscle it away rather than redirect it cleanly. He recovered.

The next exchange was better. Then another mistake. His rear blade drifted just slightly too far from center. The alien attacked. Kade corrected at the last instant, catching the strike with an ugly block that sent vibration through both arms. Come on. If these things were testing them...Test him.

He allowed his stance to open again. The creature took it. Fast. Too fast. Kade saw the attack coming and twisted, but Twin Verdict wasn't going to reach it in time. For one instant his instincts screamed at him to use the Force. He didn't. The blow landed hard against his shoulder. Armor took it. Pain exploded through the joint and knocked him half a step sideways. Kade grunted.

Twin Verdict immediately came around defensively, both blades carving brilliant green arcs through the darkness as he recovered his position against Talia. That one had been a little more convincing than intended.

His jaw clenched. He resisted the temptation to glance toward the third creature. If Talia's theory was right, he didn't need to. It had just watched one of the Jedi make a mistake. Now they would find out what it did with the opportunity.


​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia felt the impression from Kade through the Force and understood almost immediately what he intended. Her first reaction was an emphatic No, followed by the realization that saying it aloud would accomplish exactly what he was trying to avoid. She couldn't know whether the creatures understood Basic, but they had already demonstrated enough coordination that assuming they didn't would be foolish. Instead, she answered through the connection with reluctant agreement, accompanied by a very clear sense that if he got himself seriously injured proving her theory, she intended to remind him of it for a very long time. Then she had no attention left to spare. Her own opponent lunged again, forcing her sea-green blade upward to intercept the strike before she pivoted away from the follow-through. She wasn't trying to defeat it anymore. She was maintaining the engagement, keeping it occupied while watching how it reacted to every opening she offered and every defense she successfully made.

Unlike Kade, Talia didn't deliberately worsen her performance. Her opponent was giving her enough difficulty without assistance. She relied on the physical discipline of her training, watching its body rather than searching for intentions the Force refused to reveal. It attacked high, and she redirected. It swept low, and she stepped clear before returning her blade between them. Gradually, something about its behavior changed. The creature still attacked, but there was less commitment behind each attempt. When Talia caught another strike and immediately brought her saber around to deny its advance, it didn't press her defense. It withdrew. She expected another feint and held her position, but instead it shifted sideways, head twitching toward Kade's fight before returning to her. "That's right," she murmured under her breath. "I'm not the interesting one anymore."

Behind her, Kade's carefully manufactured mistake became considerably more convincing when something struck his armor hard enough that Talia felt the impact through their contact. Her instinct was to turn and help him. She forced herself not to. Kade had chosen the opening, and unless he told her otherwise, she had to trust that he could handle what followed. More importantly, her own opponent reacted immediately. It stopped. Not completely, but enough that the difference was unmistakable. Talia tightened her grip on her saber, expecting it to exploit her momentary distraction. Instead, the creature began drifting away from her, one cautious step followed by another. She advanced just enough to maintain pressure and invite it back into the fight, even allowing her guard to open slightly. It didn't take the opportunity. Whatever interest it had possessed in testing her defenses seemed to be disappearing now that another target had demonstrated vulnerability.

"Kade, mine's disengaging," she warned, keeping her voice deliberately factual rather than announcing what she suspected. The creature moved another step away, and Talia refused to chase it. Her sea-green blade remained raised as she adjusted her position against Kade's back, allowing herself enough peripheral vision to follow the retreating figure while still protecting his flank. His opponent showed no such hesitation. It continued attacking, emboldened by the successful strike against his shoulder, forcing Twin Verdict into motion again and again. The difference between them was suddenly impossible to miss. One had tested Talia, found no easy opening, and abandoned the effort. The other had found what it believed was weakness and was now committed to exploiting it.

Then the observer hissed.

The sound was sharper than the clicks they'd heard before, carrying through the storage room with enough force that Talia's attention snapped toward it. The third creature hadn't charged Kade as she'd expected. It remained in the darkness, watching the confrontation, but its head had turned toward the creature abandoning Talia. Another hiss followed, longer this time, and the retreating creature stopped. Talia couldn't sense anger or command behind the sound, but she didn't need the Force to recognize a reprimand when she heard one. The creature facing her twitched, looking toward the observer before turning back to Talia, yet it still didn't attack immediately.

"Oh, that's interesting," Talia whispered. Her fear hadn't disappeared, but the archaeologist's need to understand had found its way through again. She pressed closer to Kade, careful not to interfere with the movements of Twin Verdict as his opponent continued its assault. "The third isn't just waiting for weakness. I think it's watching them too." Her eyes remained fixed on the creature that had abandoned its attack and the silent figure beyond it. "It didn't like that this one gave up on me."

Another hiss cut through the room, and Talia raised her saber as her opponent shifted uneasily back toward her. Whatever hierarchy existed among these creatures, they had just been given their first glimpse of it. More importantly, Kade's ridiculous plan had worked well enough to reveal something neither Jedi could have learned through the Force. Talia sent a brief impression through their connection, equal parts vindication and concern for the shoulder he had sacrificed to prove her theory. You were right to try it. A beat followed before she added the far more important part. Don't do it again.

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

The hit hurt. Kade wasn't going to admit that. Certainly not while the creature responsible was still standing in front of him. Twin Verdict snapped around to catch another strike, one green blade intercepting while Kade rotated the hilt and brought the second around in a vicious counter that forced the alien backward. His shoulder protested. Kade ignored it. Mostly.

Talia's warning that her opponent was disengaging confirmed exactly what they'd hoped to discover. These things weren't merely attacking whatever happened to be closest. They were evaluating them. And apparently Kade had just become the attractive option. Naturally. Even when deliberately performing below expectations, Kadeon Virell managed to become the center of attention.

His opponent attacked again. Twin Verdict flashed upward. Kade caught the blow much more cleanly this time, although he resisted the temptation to immediately punish the opening that followed. Not yet. They were learning.

Then came the hiss. Kade heard it clearly. His eyes remained on the creature attacking him while Talia explained what she'd noticed. The third wasn't merely observing them. It was observing the other two. Another hiss.

Kade's expression shifted. "Boss." It was the simplest explanation. His opponent came forward again and Kade pivoted, redirecting the attack past his injured shoulder before sweeping the opposite end of Twin Verdict across the creature's path. Green light forced it away.

"So we've got two hunters..." His eyes flicked briefly toward the darker figure. "...and somebody grading them." He could work with that.

Then Talia's presence touched his through the Force. You were right to try it. Kade grinned. There it was. Vindication. The pain in his shoulder suddenly became considerably easier to tolerate. He was already preparing several ways to remind her about this later when the second impression followed.

Don't do it again. His grin flattened. That part he liked considerably less. Through the Force came his answer. Amusement. Pride. And the distinct impression that he considered agreeing to such an unreasonable restriction premature.

Then his opponent lunged. Kade's manufactured weakness disappeared. Completely. Twin Verdict became a blur of green. One blade knocked the incoming attack outward. The second immediately followed, cutting across the space the creature would need to continue its advance. Kade stepped forward behind it, suddenly reclaiming the ground he'd surrendered.

"Alright." Another rotation. Another attack. No deliberate openings now. "You got your free shot." Kade drove forward. "Hope you enjoyed it."

The creature retreated a step. Kade let it. He wasn't chasing. Not after Talia had specifically warned him against exactly that. He maintained their position instead, keeping himself close enough that Talia remained protected at his back while forcing his own opponent to respect the reach of Twin Verdict. His attention was different now. Not merely on the creature fighting him. On the sounds around them. The movements Talia made behind him. The location of the second hunter. And, most importantly, the third. If that one was in charge, Kade wanted to know why it hadn't joined the fight. Maybe it was simply supervising. Maybe it was waiting. Or maybe…Kade's eyes narrowed...it was the one smart enough to realize attacking two Jedi directly wasn't going particularly well. That possibility appealed to him.

"Hey, Talia." Twin Verdict turned aside another probing attack. "If you're right..." A familiar grin returned. "...and that one's evaluating these two..." His eyes shifted briefly toward the observer. "...how bad do you think it'll look when they have to explain they couldn't handle us?" He knew perfectly well they probably weren't going to receive an answer to that question. Didn't matter. The boast made him feel better.

Then his expression became more serious. "But if it's giving orders, it's probably the important one." A beat. "And it's the only one that hasn't committed."

Kade adjusted his stance, keeping his blades between himself and the two nearer creatures. "So we don't give it what it's waiting for." For once, the statement wasn't about glory. They stayed together. They didn't chase. They didn't get separated. And they didn't give the watcher another opportunity. Kade could tolerate fighting intelligently for a little while. Especially since his idea had worked. Talia had said so. He was absolutely going to remember that part.


​