You show the lights that stop me turn to stone

[Setzi Lunelle]

​

Location: Archipelagos on Glee Anselm​

​

Setzi had been doing a lot of traveling lately, and on one of her recent trips realized that when she disabled the transponder on her Mobquet Medium Transport, she overly sabotaged something else on the starship. While she owned some labor droids, she didn't have one capable enough to make the sophisticated repairs. Therefore, while an engineer worked to fix the transport, she took a shuttle to some nearby archipelagos.

She was meeting [member="Darth Pyrrhus"]'s colleague [member="Sena Lassiter"] who was visiting Tanek on Glee Anselm. While Setzi adored the Togruta's company, she didn't want to hang around idly and distract him from his work. Truth be told, she was looking forward to this day out in the company of another woman similar in age with whom she may have something in common with.

She had a small amount of reservation. Sena was a Sith Acolyte, and Setzi had no idea what the other girl's temperament was like. She was also keen on understanding what he Acolyte knew, and selfishly, what Sena could teach her. In turn, the padawan would offer her own knowledge of Telepathy and Force Valor which was surely something else translated into a Sith power.

The string of islands were dazzling to the eye, and the weather was unusually arid. The crystal-blue water was warm so the girls could swim if they wanted to. Setzi had learned how to dive from her time in the Frontier Corps, but the water was too shallow for any deep excursions. Checking a holomap on her datapad, Setzi showed Sena the route to the local attraction she wanted to take her to: "There's a cave close by that is primarily lit by a glowworm species. It says here that "The insects give the cave an eerie glow and provide natural lighting as though festive green lanterns are placed in close proximity around the cave."

She looked up at the redhead, trying to tell if that sounded remotely exciting to the acolyte.

"What do you think? Does that sound like fun?"

[member="Sena Lassiter"]

 

[Lassiter]

Glee Anselm. Sena had to admit she wasn’t the type of person to part from the grand cityscapes of Coruscant unless she absolutely had to. On occasion she ventured out of the city for a while, but most often she found herself in spots with a bit more of a booming nightlife to it. Which was to sadly exclude Zeltros. Not because she necessarily liked cityscapes anymore than she liked swamps and mountains, but because when you bring someone into your life there is little you can do -- or want to do -- but keep that person happy happy.

That wasn’t to say Sena was starting to grow too soft. On the surface she masked her affiliations and emotions as if it was a secret that nobody was allowed to know of. Ameli was a danger to her just like Sena was a danger to Ameli. The thought of others knowing, of others abusing the knowledge of what they had haunted her wherever she went but... At the same time, she didn’t really care. It was happiness. The girl was important to her and she would end anyone who dared get in between Sena and her Ameli.

“There’s a cave close by-...”

Setzi forced Sena out of her daydreaming. The acolyte promptly shook her head to snap back to the land of the living. Her face scrunched up at the mention a glowworm, something Sena had no clue what it even was. She certainly hadn’t seen one. Unless she had seen it during a mission, in which case she had probably been far too busy cutting down subversive elements that it must have passed her by completely.

“What do you think? Does that sound like fun?” Setzi asked.

“Uh, sure.” Sena responded with her confusion evident across her features.

Setzi had approached Sena, she wasn’t sure why, but she had and considering the fact that the two were on Glee Anselm she was very willing to trick herself into thinking the girl was one of the people that surrounded themselves around Pyrrhus. To what degree the girl knew him was not known to Sena, only that the offer had come not long after Sena had wrapped her business with the Knight.

Though to say Sena had spent a lot of time in daydreams lately would be an understatement. Reasons already given.

“You were... Setzi, right?” Sena had to reassure herself that she was not mistaken. Reasons also already given.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Setzi’s first impression of Sena was that the girl was quiet and a little reflective. Perhaps something was on her mind. But otherwise, the acolyte was polite and even friendly to the dark padawan.

Continually, those she met who were associated with Tanek were challenging her beliefs on what it was like to be a Sith. She didn’t want to display any over-enthusiasm, but her heart suddenly felt a little lighter over the prospect of exploration – both of the picturesque landscape and of their powers - with this fellow Force user.

“Yes, my name is Setzi. I am also a colleague of Darth Pyrrhus.”

This was all she said so far about her relationship with the powerful Togruta Knight. Perhaps if they had time to get into a deeper conversation, Setzi would confide more in Sena, but as with all new acquaintances, she more comfortable with small talk.

The padawan began walking, beckoning the red-haired girl to accompany her to the direction of the iridescent caves.

“Lord Pyrrhus told me that you are a competent acolyte and a quick learner. I was hoping as we explored you would be able to impart some of your knowledge.”

She stopped suddenly to gage the other’s reaction and sincerely hoped she wasn’t being too forward in asking for the acolyte’s help.

“Sena,” she started carefully. “Were you anything else but an acolyte at one point? What did you do before you joined the Sith?”

[member="Sena Lassiter"]

 

[Lassiter]

Had Setzi met Sena perhaps a few weeks earlier they might’ve not even had this walk and talk. At least not under the same circumstances. If anything Sena could have been approaching her, dagger out and ready to strike. The girl had the size up of a perfect mark, but even then that voice within Sena’s mind had calmed itself. She tried to wipe the smile off of her face and put on a slightly more unfeeling one but Sena ultimately failed at that too.

The two women were still on their way down the beach. The other person’s name was indeed Setzi and she was a colleague of Darth Pyrrhus. Sena nodded her head in reaffirmation that she had been right about her name. Then came the part where she was told the man had called her competent. The acolyte’s brows propped up in surprise.

“And he would be right to do so, of course.” Sena nearly sung with utter self-appreciation and bowed her head. “I am honored nonetheless.”

Sena came to a halt nearly a split second after Setzi stopped. Her green eyes darted over to the girl in a stare as her eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly in suspicion. Call it a drifting sense of paranoia. A sense of paranoia that would quickly fade as the acolyte heard her name in the soft voice of her newfound acquaintance.

Was Sena anything before the Sith? She shook her head and readied her well-rehearsed lie.

“I was found by the Ember of Vahl as an infant and raised by the lesser priestesses to become one of them.” Sena spoke as if it was the only truth she knew. “Now I help them fix problems. Find sacrifices, eliminate any of us who stray too far from the herd.”

“It’s messy what I deal in.” Sena shrugged. “I wouldn’t want it any other way as long as I honor my master.”

Nevermind the fact that Sena was an avid practitioner of murder and torture. She had long since learned that those lines tended to scare people away. Actually, keeping quiet about the part where she enjoyed both of them equally was probably just something best kept to oneself altogether.

“What about you? Were you raised within the organization as well?”

Obvious answer: No. Sena had never seen this woman enough to make her actually think so. Call it a test of the other woman's trustworthyness. If such things were to be had amongst the Sith.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Sena was a confident girl, but this didn't throw the dark padawan off. The Sith had a hubris to them. Humble, petty, sycophantic - none of these words described the Darth Pyrrhus she knew, and she would only extend this assumption to the red-haired acolyte. In fact, Setzi hoped a little of that confidence would rub off on her.

Ember of Vahl. Setzi had not heard of them,but the way Sena had described her upbringing made her think it was similar to a religious cult like the Primeval. But what kind of sacrifices? Animal? Human? She tucked that thought away for a moment focusing instead on the question directed towards her.

Her eyes widened for a moment and she answered, "No I was raised on Aduba-3 on a maze stalk and nuna farm." She chuckled softly. "Definitely not as exciting I promise you." As she gazed ahead, Setzi could see the entrance of the cave and also a beautiful, lagoon off to the side of it with a cascading waterfall, trickling down through a the cracks of a steep, wall of rock.

"On Aduba-3, the AgriCorps came to help us one year after we suffered a crippling drought. They found out I was Force-sensitive, and I was recruited by the Jedi Order." She arched an eyebrow mischievously. "Obviously, that didn't work out."

Setzi unbuttoned her white linen top and lay it atop of a nearby fallen tree trunk. The brunette padawan was clad in a bathing suit, under the shirt and she kept her shorts on, not sure if they were going to swim or hike into the cave.

"Would you like to explore the lagoon or take a walk in the cave?" Setzi had an idea of what she wanted to ask Sena during their excursion, but that didn't mean they couldn't take a detour to have a little fun and relax.

[member="Sena Lassiter"]

 

[Lassiter]

Sena had never heard about Aduba-3 either. Whatever Setzi was before didn’t matter, not really. Even the fallen saw reason, this Setzi girl was proof of that. Not only that, but she was proving herself a font of knowledge on the more natural aspects of the galaxy as well. Then again, what would the young acolyte expect from a farmer? Or perhaps that was ‘former-farmer’ too at this point.

There was something to the other woman though. That weird calmness about it all. The chuckles, the mischievous smiles and the fact that they were even having this walk as if they had known each other longer than they had. Either this girl was quick to adapt or she was just simply meant to be part of the organization. Sena didn’t doubt either answer, but there was just something about her newfound acquaintance that either felt weird or out of place.

Nonetheless it would all be fixed with time. Sena certainly was.

Who would have guessed she was a petty criminal once, right?

Excluding the running tally of ‘sacrifices’, of course.

Clothes were dropped and with it Sena looked away on instinct. She played it off as if she looked to the lagoon and the nearby cave. She didn’t even know where to go. She wore no swimsuit and most likely wouldn’t wear one either. There was the ever problematic fact that most of the good ones left her back exposed and considering her history it was just safe to assume the prospect of going bare-back was not appealing in the slightest.

“The cave sounds cool.” Sena nodded as she spoke and for a moment the unease broke through her facade only to be replaced with curiosity. “This is going to sound... Weird.”

Sena took a deep breath. “What is life with the jedi like? I’ve... Never met more than one.”

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

"The cave it is," Setzi answered with a slightly crooked smile. Sena made her feel strangely at ease, and not the opposite as she had feared. Perhaps it was their closeness in age or maybe it was because she knew that Tanek held the acolyte in high regard. Or it could have been that Setzi could forget her troubles for a little while and pretend they were just two friends, exploring nature together and getting to know each other. At Sena's question, she said:

"I don't find it strange at all. The Jedi order is... monastic. Rigid. Very regimented." She walked towards the entrance of the cave, leaving her white shirt where it was, since it was humid, and the cave was likely to be slightly cooler but certainly not cold. "You aren't allowed to be emotional. Or irrational. It's odd... I mean, that is what life is about. Nobody can be that perfect all the time."

She took a hand torch out of her backpack. "According to the map, we don't have to go that far until we can see the glowworms. But it will be dark until then."

Setzi hovered at the mouth of the cave, waiting for Sena to catch up. The darkness had begun to envelop her, and her face was bathed in an eerie light from the torch. "I like that the Sith do not repress emotions. In fact, after awhile do you want to try an experiment?"

She didn't elaborate, but slipped into the cave quietly. The soft glow of her light outlined her svelte body.

[member="Darth Drethi"]

 

[Lassiter]

“Sounds boring.” Sena responded immediately after Setzi had described the Jedi Order. “Why would you want to limit yourself like that? I mean-”

“According to the map, we don’t have t go that far until we can see the glowworms but it will be dark until then.”

“Yeah, sure” Sena spoke and waved her hand dismissively. “- I mean, I would never want to be locked up like that. Girl’s gotta have her fun, you know?”

The duo continued into the cave. The form of her guide pierced the light ahead in two and had circumstances been different, perhaps Sena would have been inspecting the girl, but such was not the case. Her eyes was kept straight on the bright-lit stony surface as the girl sensed her way ahead.

“What kind of experiment?” She asked with a wobbled voice as the rocks beneath her feet caused her to nearly trip over.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Girl’s gotta have her fun, you know?

With this sentiment, Setzi felt immediately warmer towards Sena, captivated by her almost. Yes, it had been so long since she’d had any kind of fun. While she was certainly happy with Tanek, their lives were serious and regimented, same as when she was in the Jedi Order. But the vast difference was the freedom he gave her to come and go as she pleased and to support her in whatever she endeavored to do, both emotionally and materially. And for this she was very grateful.

But stumbling over each other, belly-ache laughing, tipsy dancing, teasing fun? She could not remember when she experienced that last.

“I know what you mean,” Setzi said, smirking. Her voice echoed as they moved deeper into the cave. “Oh watch your step!” she exclaimed as Sena lightly tripped on some slippery rocks. Their journey wasn’t going to get any easier as before they met the glowworm cavern, the passage would get narrower and a little more claustrophobic. But the brunette acolyte led the way with her lighting rod.

Hoping her suggestion wouldn’t ruin the light mood, she said, “When I was in the Jedi Order, there was a skill called Force Valor. Basically, by channeling the Force, you could enhance combat skills. Better accuracy, faster speed... that kind of thing. I think there’s an equivalent, but you have to tap into rage."

Both of them could see a faint luminescent greenish-blue glimmer ahead. The glowworm cavern was close now.

“Would you try that with me? I’ve never done it before, and I’m apprehensive to try it alone.”

[member="Darth Drethi"]

 

[Lassiter]

Fun meant murder.

Murder meant freedom.

Freedom meant the voices were quieted for a while.

Sena was abnormal by regular standards, somewhat normal by sith standards. By the very least so she told herself as an excellent excuse to feel no need to apologize for herself. Then again, even that was if she felt remorse for it. She felt good doing it, Ameli felt good doing it too and when they did it together it was exhilarating. A duo drawing blood, made from blood, sharing blood.

They were perfect, and they knew it.

Setzi provided information on Jedi skills, Sena listened.

Setzi provided good suggestions, Sena nodded in the dark.

“I am not familiar with this, but we can give it a go once we aren’t at the risk of falling over pebbles.”

Time passed and the two acquaintances passed further into the cave.

“What did it feel like?” Sena remained quiet for a bit. “What did it feel like to have your eyes opened? Toss the falsities of the Jedi aside?”

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

At the question, Setzi thought for a moment. “Liberating,” she answered. “Pure freedom. Exhilaration.”

“Passion.”

Finally the passage widened, and they stepped into the glowworm cave. It was like the holo guide book said: the ceiling of the cave appeared as though a thousand small iridescent lanterns were strung around. Glowworms were also dotted around the rocky floor, and lay under the water, making it glow a bright, neon blue. Both of the girl’s faces were bathed in an eerie, turquoise light. A faint dripping sound could be heard off in the distance but the cave itself, aside from the pool of water, was not necessarily damp or moist.

Setzi was eager to get started with the experiment. “Maybe we should try illusions to help fuel our anger,” she suggested. “What do you think would make you really enraged?” The brunette acolyte wasn't very adept at tricks of the eye, but she had learned a little from Darth Pyrrhus.

“If someone double-crossed you? Or maybe jealousy?”

She hoped these questions were not too bold. She had a vague idea of how she wanted to conduct their self-training. But Setzi needed Sena to open up a little about her personal life and emotional triggers in order for it to be as she imagined it.

[member="Darth Drethi"]

 

[Lassiter]

Liberation, freedom, exhilaration and mostly passion. The way it was pronounciated, the way it was phrased, this woman was prodding at Sena for details. They passed into the cave yet Sena refused to avert her attention from the former Jedi. Sena’s privacy was her own, she didn’t share much and she wasn’t planning on starting now. Much less to someone who in a most factual sense was still a stranger.

“I have my reasons.” Sena muttered to avoid the question. “I don’t share secrets with anyone. Much less anything that could be used against me.”

Which in itself was a dead giveaway of exactly what kind of things made Sena angry. Her history, the one person close to her, these were the things she used to fuel herself with. To share her history as a slave was out of the question, it was a secret that spoke of her unworthiness within the Sith itself. She had been weak, she still was weak and no matter what she did she would remain weak.

On top of that Ameli was her deepest secret and fear. A connection she had formed with someone on so many levels that letting anyone in on what they truly shared between one another served not only as a danger to Sena but Ameli as well. Sena was not above using a lover against someone and to assume others wouldn’t as well was foolish. It would remain her secret and greatest joy in life.

“So let’s say betrayal. Try to come up with a scenario for that.”

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Setzi had no idea how much she was prying, and if she did she would have been embarrassed and immediately stopped. But she was perceptive enough to sense a reticence from the other girl. Not to mention the fact that Sena admitted she didn’t share secrets.

But without a secret or two, the Force Rage may be difficult to tap into.

Another lightside power that the acolyte hadn’t used in a while was Force Empathy. She felt a little like a mental thief, stealing away a memory that did not belong to her, but she entered into Sena’s head to sense just what may cause the other girl the most betrayal. There were lots of dark emotions there, and it was taking a little bit of time to sift through them all, so she rather clumsily tried to make small talk, pointing out her favorite parts of the glowworm cave.

“Hm, I wonder if the pool of water contains any fish. Oh look, a stalactite!"

Poor Sena was probably bored out of her skull, while Setzi droned on, but finally the fellow acolyte pinpointed something she thought she could use. There was someone Sena was very fond of to the extreme that Setzi sensed a vulnerability there. A weakness she could exploit.

The brunette wasn’t cruel by nature, but her curiosity often put her the type of situation where she was clearly trespassing where she shouldn't be.

Setzi’s eyes glittered in the light of the glowworms. “Who’s Ameli?” she asked suddenly looking directly at Sena.

[member="Darth Drethi"]

 

[Lassiter]

Stalactites. Sena cared not for stalactites, but she did care for what it was that the other woman had planned. All around them the dripping noises of the cave lent the two women an ambience that spoke of cold, yet the temperatures provided spoke of the heat from outside. For now Sena played along, the mention of stalactites had her kneeling down. Finger running through a nearby pool of water she let her eyes get blinded ever so lightly by the glowworms within.

The liquid was warm, warmer than the Vahla had expected at least. For a second she desired to get herself lost in a childish play with water but the mere thought was unbecoming of an acolyte. She was above acting like a child who-

“Who’s Ameli?”

Sena’s eyes opened wide, her gaze set along the surface of the water and towards the wall on the opposite side of the pond. Did she know? Who told her? How? Sena tore at every fibre of her being to not lose her cool but even then her eyes locked dead on the Padawan. Unflinching she got up from the ground. Water dripping to the ground her boots echoed around the narrow corridors of the cave.

A heavy silence weighed on their shoulders, the right nerve had been prodded at if Setzi wanted to get Sena mad. Had the girl known who she was dealing with, perhaps she would have remained quiet. Had she prodded at the memories of the slave pit, the acts of mercy she had to witness, the joy she felt when killing her first victim.

Well, perhaps, the whelp would have held her tongue. Personal space destroyed and annihilated Sena intruded upon the grounds of her training partner.

“Who would miss you when you’re dead?” Her voice rung cold as she stared into Setzi’s eyes. “Does anyone know you’re here? Would anyone care?”

[member="Darth Azurea"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Setzi’s gaze had also been pulled downward to rest on the pond as Sena trailed her fingers lightly in it. Therefore, she saw the anger flash up in the reflection's visage, before she saw it in her new acquaintance’s own face. Still even though the reflection was slightly diffused, the other girl’s reaction was enough to cause a prickly feeling up her arms and shooting up the back of her neck like electricity.

Suddenly Sena was close. Too close. Rage and confusion emanating from every fiber of her being. Good, this was a good start to their experiment, Setzi thought rather clinically. But it seemed like Sena’s indignation was spawned from emotion and not the Force. To use the Force she would have to get her to attack. And she would have to defend, unless the red-haired human turned the tables on her somehow.

“I don’t know,” she spoke. Would Darth Pyrrhus care if she died? She assumed he would, but another person came to her mind. Someone from her past.

“My sister Chastity would,” she said in an emotionless voice. “But she’s already dead.” The end of her sentence landed in almost a growl, letting Sena know that she was matching her with her own irritation.

The Acolyte wasn’t very skilled with illusions, but she had caught a glimpse of the “Ameli” in Sena’s mind. With a curl of her index finger upward she pointed towards the pond that the other girl had just trampled out of. Sena would see Ameli there, standing in the pool of water, barefoot and in a thin, white dress. Using the Force, Setzi began channeling her own rage, mostly pulling from the thought of her own sister dying on Ziost. She sauntered over to the figure of the other girl.

“Did you know that Ameli came today?” she asked Sena with a smirk. In slow motion, Setzi began to stroke the arm of the other girl, sliding her slender pale fingers up Ameli’s soft limb to rest on her thin shoulder. With her eyes still glued to Sena, she then took the other hand and began to slide it around the small of Ameli’s back. With telepathy, she implanted a message into the mind of her acquaintance:

What do you feel now? Jealousy? Betrayal?

[member="Darth Drethi"]

 

[Lassiter]

“But she’s already dead.”

“Most of your kind tend to end up that way, jedi.”

Sena gritted her teeth. This Jedi was not in territory either of them wanted to be in right now given the company. Sith attacking Sith, while certainly expected, was still something Sena frowned upon regularly. It diminished what they had, there was no increase in anything, only loss. However, this woman, now this woman was quickly turning into an acceptable one. Even if just merely for the purpose of Sena being allowed to have her secrets remain just that; secrets.

But the worst was to come.

An image of Ameli. The illusion of a woman playing a trick on Sena’s mind no doubt, but an image of the woman she loved still. Her blonde hair, the sapphire-like hues of her eyes, the shape of her body and the way her presence could make any day get better. Had it not been for the fact that it was an obvious illusion Sena would have wrapped herself around the woman and professed her life story as she should have done so many times before.

But instead time slowed down as Sena sent a force push in the direction of Setzi as if to cause the illusion to break up and disappear from a lack of focus. Boots clacked rapidly against the ground as the force sped up Sena’s every move. Her hands wrapped themselves around the brunette’s throat in a choke that would last even as the brunt force of Sena’s approached forced the two girls into the water.

Well, Setzi by the very least.

Sena’s nails dug in deep, tugging at the carotid artery looking to almost tear it from her neck. The other woman was at her mercy, of this was convinced as she proceeded to try and bash the back of the former Jedi against the rocky ground in their shallow pond.

A message of her own infused itself upon the Jedi’s mind.

‘Stop resisting. The weak die, just like your sister.’

[member="Darth Azurea"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Setzi laughed like a mischievous child and soaked in Sena’s jealousy. Envy was a perfect toy for Force Rage to play with. Furthermore, this specific power was extremely for any Jedi to use, and now, she could see why. There was no light at the end of the tunnel here. All she felt was a consuming power forged by acrimony. And honestly, it felt quite delicious surging through her body.

“I’m not a Jedi!” she screamed back, so ready to put that part of her life behind her. No more the foolish padawan!

Sena then threw Setzi backwards with the Force, and ran at her, tackling her down into the water. Still in only a bathing suit top, the water splashing up on her back, startled her with its coldness, momentarily threatening to dissipate the rage. But she latched onto it again, and the fury inside her mind continued. Neither girls seemed to mind that they were now surrounded by benign glowworms which lit up the pool of water like a laser show.

But when the red-head Acolyte, gripped Setzi’s neck and dug in, the fellow acolyte felt a shock of pain. Trying not to cough, she was still chuckling from the sublime rage which flowed through her body, but needed to be careful. At the rate she was consuming, the passion bordered on mania. She felt suddenly as though death may bring her even more relief, so when Sena’s message slithered into the furthest reaches of her mind, she shot back, “When I’m dead, I can join her. I’m not afraid to die.”

She felt herself gasping for air now, her face turning almost as blue as a day-old corpse. Suddenly, survival instinct kicked in. She used her channeled anger, and with a Telekinetic burst, pushed Sena off of her, attempting to launch her into the air so she could breathe again.

[member="Darth Drethi"]

 

[Lassiter]

The message was clear, at least to Sena. While the jedi might not have the guts to back it up the fact still remained: One of the two girls would be walking out of this in a limp and it wasn’t Sena. Setzi would feel pain, Setzi would feel Sena’s pain and Setzi was going to enjoy it or die trying. At the very least Sena was enjoying it and that was good enough for her. The previous green eyes had been replaced by that of a bright shining crimson. The jedi was going to pay for this and she would pay dearly.

A fact that was all the more evident as Sena found herself tossed out of the water and onto the ledge of the pool of water. The vahla got up from the ground. Her clothes sagged, her perfect hair a mess like a supermodel disgraced. Which, for all that it mattered, was something Sena might just as well have considered herself.

Offering her ‘friend’ no chance for respite she set off in a sprint for the pool of water again. Saber at the ready she ignited it to extend the orange blade. Thrum for thrum, step for step she got ever closer to the Jedi.

“Then prove it!” She screamed as her saber was swung for Padawan Lunelle’s head. “Die!”

[member="Darth Azurea"]