The two Sith walked out of the temple with their heads held high. They really had nothing to worry about from the meeting, though they weren't sure what they would have done had they actually been asked to hand over their beloved weapons.
In the end, that may have only escalated the situation more when the various groups had learned of it. Trychon half wished upon thinking about it that Monahan had requested the lightsabers. As much as anyone could want some time away, and even though they'd both learned a little extra trade work, both he and Raezyr were more than ready to move on.
The two of them sat down on a small bench just outside the temple. As much as they wanted to head back out and further discuss a course of action to move things along without waiting so much for Darth Vikon, they needed to stay as visible as possible until the monks realized that Saffron wasn't returning, or until they became worried about that possibility.
They sat there quietly, discussing random things around them. It was entirely mundane, and they wished they could even be doing their chores rather than this. They walked in circles around the general area, making sure that as many people saw them as possible.
As the day went on, they saw a few disturbed whisperings between monks they weren't that well acquainted with. Most of them didn't even notice Trychon and Raezyr. Both of the Sith could feel the tension rising in many of the inhabitants that passed them. Word must be getting around about Saffron's odd absenteeism.
Finally, the brothers were sitting on a similar bench as earlier as the sun began to crawl over the tops of the trees at the edge of the clearing when they saw Mannix talking animatedly in the distance to a group of varying age. Though they were too far to make out any facial expressions, the energetic movements they saw reinforced the sense in the Force that they were agitated.
Trychon saw Baldemar off to one side, watching the same group nearly as intently. Trychon got his attention and waved him over. Baldemar didn't look like he really wanted to talk to them, but he walked up to them anyway.
"What's the commotion around here? We've seen a bunch of people talking in hushed tones all afternoon." Trychon asked him innocently.
Baldemar was surprised. "You seriously have not heard?" After his comments were verified with a simple shaking of the head, he went on. "Saffron's been gone all day! She should have been back hours ago. Odilo is a wreck. She's probably ok, but people almost never go missing here, and with all the odd occurrences lately...." He let his sentence trail off, and his eyes shifted to the side, as he clearly was worried at how the Sith would take his comments. Many in the town, Baldemar likely among them, believed that the two visitors were somehow drawing these events to the monastery.
The irony that this line of thinking was completely accurate was not lost on Trychon, who suppressed his smile as he thought about it. He pointed at the group. "You'd think even Mannix, Force love him, would know better than to use a time like this to rile up everyone else."
Baldemar continued off to the side noncommitally as he muttered "Yeah." He picked up a small stone that was lying on the ground and began to fidget with it randomly. Then he gave the two brothers a somewhat dazed look and wandered off to the side again to continue observing Mannix and his friends.
Raezyr nudged Trychon hard. When Trychon looked at him, Raezyr mouthed obviously "What are you doing?!" He had felt Trychon concentrating on the stone that Baldemar had picked up.
Trychon spoke to him quietly, but louder than a whisper. "Relax. I'm fairly positive that the elders can't feel gentle nuances in the Force. They reacted when we had a strong practice session in the forrest, and that's pretty much it. Brother Varth may notice, but who cares really? I just had him pick up a rock. Let's see what happens."
Raezyr felt like slugging Trychon in the arm, but didn't want to bring them attention as they'd done so well to avoid it thus far. He hoped he'd remember later. In the mean time, he watched Baldemar and the growing group of monks alternately for a few moments. The group only seemed to become more agitated as the minutes flew by. Baldemar seemed to be steeling his nerves to react.
Eventually, Baldemar did begin walking towards the group. He approached slowly and weaved his way through the crowd. He continued on straight to Mannix and placed his empty hand on his brother's shoulder. Aparrently it hadn't crossed his mind to drop the rock. Trychon took gleeful note of this, assuming and hoping that it was simply too far in his subconscious. He consciously ignored his own subconscious thought that Baldemar may have actually simply picked up the stone of his own accord, as Trychon had never really used any kind of mind influence in this manner.
Trychon and Raezyr were still too far away to make out anything of note, but what they could see was that aparrently Baldemar had asked Mannix to quit, and the situation was escalating. Their voices, though the words were still indistinguishable, were become louder by the phrase. Trychon laughed when Mannix pointed angrily at the rock in Baldemar's hand. Baldemar placed it in his robe pocket. The crowd backed up slowly as the conversation unfolded.
The argument reached a peak, and Baldemar gave a dismisive hand gesture to Mannix and began to walk away to the side. Mannix's face was nearly frozen in a seething gaze, but he eventually tried to calm himself and face his friends again.
As Baldemar reached the edge of the gathering and some of his friends came up to inquire about what had happened, Raezyr turned to Trychon. "Well, it was a valiant effort."
Baldemar was explaining his issues to his buddies and turned to point at Mannix. Trychon looked at Raezyr. Then he turned his head in both directions as though he was about to jump through a busy hoverlane. He turned back to Raezyr, and winked as he lifted one hand subtly and made a flicking gesture.
Mannix let out a yelp and grabbed his shoulder as his weight was involuntarily shifted.
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