Private Where We Align

[Calyx Sundrift]

T E M P L E -O F -T H E -S I T H
C O R U S C A N T

It had been home once.

It felt like a lifetime ago when he'd last wandered the halls of the great temple. It had been a bastion of Light back then. Back when his laughter still meant something. Now, despite what the Sith said it symbolised, Calyx could see nothing but desolation.

The absence of joy, safety, and purpose.

He'd resisted the transfer to Coruscant. It was only for a few weeks, a temporary station because the capital needed manpower and they were expendable forces. Still, he'd not wanted anything to do with it.

Calyx drew in a slow breath as he climbed the final steps of the eastern stairwell. At the top stretched a broad hall that led toward the aquatic complex and the grand library. No lifts connected to this section of the Temple, which meant it had always been quieter than the rest.

A humourless smile tugged at his lips. Jedi or Sith, it seemed no one preferred stairs to elevators.

Neither did he, if he was being honest. But the solitude was worth the effort. The quieter corridors were a welcome reprieve from the Temple's main hallways. There, clusters of acolytes prowled in search of easy pickings. Lords drifted through the crowds in dark robes, selecting unfortunate souls to serve them for the day. And everywhere lingered ghosts of the past that Calyx could never quite escape.

No. The quieter halls were worth every step.

Calyx wandered on, slipping into the shadows of the grand pillars only twice to avoid notice. But up ahead was the entrance to the grand library. A place bound to be busy, even at this time. He wouldn't be able to avoid the temple's inhabitants there.

With quiet resignation, his attention drifted to the towering windows lining the hall. Beyond them, Coruscant glittered with countless lights from distant skyscrapers. The ecunomopolis never truly slept. Even in the dead of night, darkness never fully claimed it.

Mesmerised, he almost missed the figure standing beside the glass.

Snow-haired. Always seemingly brooding.

A familiar face, though not one that - in his eyes - belonged in the temple.

He spoke before he could stop himself. "Moonbound? Is that you?"

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant - Sith Temple

Equipment:
Knight Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm | The Wayward

Ace stood near the window with a datapad in one hand, but he wasn't reading it. The screen had dimmed itself twice already. His attention lingered somewhere beyond the glass instead, following the movement of distant traffic between the towers. Not because it interested him, it just gave him something to look at.

The last few weeks had been busy between Covenant tasks on Coruscant, and business on Bonadan. For once, nobody was asking anything from him and Ace intended to enjoy that while it lasted.

But then, he felt something. The sensation reached him before the voice did. Familiarity through the Force wasn't unusual. He'd spent enough time around Jedi, Sith, and everything in between to recognize people by presence alone.

This was different. Closer. Not stronger or louder, just... nearer. Like something that had never went away. Ace's brow furrowed slightly. For months he'd felt traces of it. Fleeting impressions at the edge of awareness. A shadow stretching across impossible distance. Always enough to remind him something was there.

It was infuriating. And because it was infuriating, he'd gotten very good at ignoring it.

Ace closed his eyes briefly and exhaled through his nose. There went the peace and quiet. He turned from the window and found exactly who he'd expected standing there.

"Calyx."

The last time he'd seen him had been on Arcana. Before Genarius. Before the Covenant. That was where they'd learned the truth. They were a Dyad. Two people bound together through the Force in a way neither of them had fully understood. Different from every other connection Ace had formed.

Different enough that even now he could feel things he had no business feeling. Unease, reluctance, and something heavier beneath it. Ace ignored all of it, just like he'd been ignoring it for months.

"Yeah, it's me."

His gaze lingered on Calyx for only a moment before drifting back toward the city beyond the glass.

"Covenant got you too?"

The question came easily, but his thoughts had already moved elsewhere. Isobel. Apparently he wasn't the only ghost from his old life wandering these halls anymore.

Calyx Sundrift​