489. Manipulation of Emotion - Trychon

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.

488. Flight of the Decoy - Raezyr

The Wasted Rancor circled in a holding pattern around Adascopolis, the capitol city of Arkania.

"What's taking them so long to give us landing clearance?" Anya pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It could be any number of things. This kind of wait time isn't all that out of the ordinary with a completely enclosed city like this," Tyrrazapon said hopefully. He didn't want to admit the wait was starting to bother him too. They had chosen Arkania as their next destination, thinking it would be far enough from Balmorra to not be actively looking for their ship, but he was beginning to think they should have chosen somewhere a bit farther.

Anya uncrossed her arms and leaned forward, looking out the cockpit windows to the frigid tundra below. She had grown immensely sick of the cold on Hoth, and was grateful that the cities here were completely enclosed, sheltering the inhabitants from the bitter cold weather.

Finally landing control contacted them with their approach vector, and as they drew near, they saw the force field in the landing opening flicker and go out. Tyrrazapon guided the ship into the city and set the ship down gently in the place they were instructed to land. Glancing back at the entrance he watched the force field flicker back into existence, and he hoped they wouldn't need such a fast get away this time, or things might get a bit hairy.

The two Sith exited the ship, paid their docking fees which included a refuel, before heading over to the private hagars. Tyrrazapon had an old smuggler friend who said he had a job for them.

They were met inside by a human male dressed in a black tunic and tan pants. The blaster he wore on his hip was slung low and tied down. "Hey Tyr, long time no see?" the man said, clapping Tyrrazapon on the shoulder. He turned and looked Anya up and down. "My, my, who do we have here?" he asked, grinning.

"Anya, this is Kal Van-Dohr... Kal, this is Anya," Tyr said, introducing the two.

Kal took Anya's hand and kissed it. "I tell you what you ought to do: ditch this nerf-herder and sign on with me... but that's alright, we'll take care that later," he chuckled.

Anya smiled back at him, then spoke to Tyr. "You never told me Kal was such a charmer." She gave Kal a coy look.

Tyr chuckled. "You better cool it Kal, you're way out of your league with this one, trust me."

"If that's true, then what's she doing with you?" the smuggler laughed out loud.

487. Manipulation of Emotion - Raezyr

Trychon and Raezyr took a long, round-about route back to the monastery, coming in from a completely different direction than they left. If anyone were to ask, they just took a long hike, only returning just before the noon meal.

As they entered the village they passed by the Healer's Hut, and Brother Odilo stepped out to meet them, having spotted them through the window.

"Ah, Raezyr... Trychon... did Saffron find you?" the old healer asked, looking behind them a bit as if expecting to see his apprentice trailing along a short distance back.

Trychon and Raezyr looked at each other in mock confusion, then back at the monk. "I'm sorry, but we haven't seen her since yesterday," Trychon said. "Why? Was she looking for us?"

"Oh, I thought it best to give you two a check up after your ordeals yesterday, just to make sure you were alright. I sent her out to fetch you a couple of hours ago, but no matter. She's be along once she realizes she's missed the noon meal. Come... come... step inside and let me take a look at you," the old monk said, ushering them in the door.

"Would you like us to go look for her when we're done here? Mathias and Violet gave us the day off, so we don't have to be anywhere in particular today," Raezyr offered. He hoped the healer wouldn't take them up on the offer, but thought it might look suspicious if he didn't at least volunteer.

"No, no... like I said, she'll be along eventually. Besides, I believe Father Monahan is looking for you both as well," he said, looking down his nose at them. They all knew what that was going to pertain to.

Their check up didn't take long, and Odilo proclaimed them the picture of health. He also offered to feed them lunch, which they took him up on. After the meal was over, they helped him clean up and politely took their leave.

They decided it would be prudent to head straight toward the temple, and take whatever Monahan was going to give them right away, and just get it over with. They soon found themselves outside of his office door, and gave a polite knock.

Father Monahan's voice replied from the other side, bidding them enter. Once they had done so, he indicated the two chairs sitting opposite his ancient desk.

"What am I supposed to do with you two?" the elderly monk began. "No one here seems to be able to come to a decision. Some want you cast out for your use of weapons, and you know that we are peaceful. The only person in the village allowed a weapon is the Constable, Brother Abbot. But his is a ceremonial position. I don't even think he knows what end of his ancient spear he is supposed to use.

"Others think we should ask you to hand over your weapons for as long as you live here, for the same reasons, yet what have you done but protect our people?

"Which brings up yet another point: What happens if yet another incident occurs, and you do NOT have your strange light blades? Besides, the majority of the community is ready to hand my office over to one or both of you, as it is.

"You see, I must take all their beliefs in to consideration, yet both sides are vehemently opposed. So what am I to do with you?" Monahan concluded, looking back and forth between the two problematic outsiders sitting before him.

"Father, the last thing we want to do is cause problems," Trychon began. "Neither my brother, nor I buy into this 'prophecy' thing. We're just two humans who happened to get stranded in a remote part of the galaxy. We'll abide by whatever you decide, won't we Raez?"

"Absolutely. We only want what's best for everyone," Raezyr added.

The old monk sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Very well. As before, please refrain from using your blades without permission from myself or a member of the High Council, unless in case of extreme emergency, as happened yesterday."

"Yes sir," both Sith students replied in unison, realizing that in reality nothing had changed, but was only said as a formality.

When the two young men had left the office, Monahan got up and went to his cabinet, and poured himself a small glass of wine. Something strange was going on with these two. He only hoped it was truly the prophecies being fulfilled, and not something else.

486. Manipulation of Emotion - Raezyr

The next day, both Violet and Mathias were called to the temple for a meeting. Raezyr and Trychon could only assume that it concerned yesterday's events and probably more so about their use of the lightsabers. Either way, their respective teachers told them to take the day off to rest more.

Violet had applied some salve to Raezyr's minor cuts and scratches the day before and they were already looking much better, although Raezyr had insisted it was unnecessary to treat them in the first place.

After the breakfast chores were finished and everyone had left the house, Trychon and Raezyr decided to head down to their spot at the river. The fights yesterday had whet their appetites to cross blades, and they wanted to discuss things further without fear of being overheard.

Once they arrived, they began their sparring, both finding themselves a bit sore from their exertions the day before. They sparred for a while in silence before Trychon finally spoke. "How much longer do you think we have to be here?" he asked as he blocked and incoming strike from Raezyr.

His younger brother spun back and beyond the reach of Trychon's return blow. "I don't know, but we're getting stale sitting here. We have training and studying that isn't being done while we play 'monks' here with these naive imbeciles."

They continued their match, which had started at half speed, but began getting quicker as it went on. They concentrated on anticipating each others moves, and on what else they were missing while the Galaxy continued to spin.

"We also really need to check on the Black Phoenix. They should have set up a new base of operations by now and we did promise to help them out if they needed anything," Trychon commented as he parried a strike.

"Yeah, right. You still have Haley on your mind, don't you?" Raezyr said, ribbing his half-sibling as he lunged for an opening in Trychon's defenses.

Trychon deftly blocked the attack and made one of his own. "You can't tell me you don't want to get back to Dianna."

"Touche, Trych. But my question is what do we do with Mannix? He seems to be progressing perfectly down the path of the Dark Side, guided by our 'innocent' nudges. Do we take him with us? Or let his fate be the same as the rest of the Taxl monks?" Raezyr pondered, back peddling a bit and regrouping for his next attack.

"I say we just wait and see how things pan out. If he survives everything here, then we'll decide what to do with him. Until then, we just continue what we've been doing, although he could be a powerful Sith, with the dark side of the Force as his servant," Trychon noted, narrowly evading one of Raezyr's attacks.

"No matter what happens, we just need to get these stupid amulets and get off this rock. I hope Vikon's plan doesn't take too much longer, I'm getting sick of this moon, although the ale is good enough it almost makes it worthwhile," Raezyr said. He was about to swing at an opening and hopefully end their match, when suddenly the nearby bushes rustled.

Both Sith students froze, listening and turning their attentions to where the noise had come from. At the same time they felt the presence, they heard footsteps running down a riverside path away from them.

Instantly both of the apprentices took off at a dead sprint, cursing themselves inwardly for being so caught up in their match and conversation they hadn't bothered to monitor their surroundings.

They rounded a corner in time to see a hooded monk running as fast as they could down the path which followed the river, heading back toward the village. It was a couple of kilometers back to the settlement, and the Sith both let the Dark Side sustain their energy, quickly gaining on their target, while their quarry slowly succumbed to fatigue.

Within a couple hundred meters, Raezyr had closed the distance and gave a shove, sending the small monk face first into the dirt. He stopped and grabbed the figure by the back of the robe and yanked back the hood to see who had been spying on them.

Trychon caught up at that moment and looked into the dirt covered, tear streaked face of Saffron. She was breathing heavily, and sobbing. "How much did you hear?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Enough."

"Let her go, Raez," Trychon said to his brother, who was still holding her by her hood. Raezyr cocked his head to the side as if to question Trychon, then shrugged and let go of her robe.

Trychon reached down and took her hands, helping her up. "I can't believe what I just heard," she said, sobbing. "You two are monsters. What about everything we've done for you? What about the prophecies?"

Trychon gently wiped the dirt and tears from her face with the cuff of his sleeve, then pulled her close. He hugged her and lightly kissed her forehead. Still sobbing, she buried her head into his chest as if maybe it was all a bad dream.

"It's okay. See, your Brother Varth is actually an accomplice of ours. He uses the Force to see the future, and then inserts the so called 'prophecies' into ancient, long unused texts, so really there are no prophecies," Trychon explained as if the words he were saying would somehow make things better.

Saffron pulled back from Trychon and stared into his face with a horrified expression. "How is that 'okay?'" she asked incredulously.

He gently placed his hands on the sides of her face. "There is so much you don't understand. The Galaxy is so much bigger than your sheltered, pathetic little community here."

"You're monsters," Saffron said.

"Yeah, you said that already," Trychon said as he smiled.

"You know I'm going to tell Father Monahan all about this. I'm going to tell everyone, and there's nothing you can do to stop me," she said, determination in her voice.

Trychon slid his hands down onto her shoulders, then spun her around and shoved her.

Raezyr caught her with one hand around her throat and began to lift. Between the fact that she was shorter and lighter than her already slightly built race, and Raezyr's recent increase in strength, he didn't need to use the Force to lift her off her feet. She grasped uselessly at his wrist and arm, struggling to breath, as Trychon stepped around next to Raezyr to face her.

"There's nothing we can do?" Trychon asked mockingly. "That's where you're wrong, dear Sister Saffron. Dead wrong."

485. Manipulation of Emotion - Raezyr

Raezyr switched off his blade, then dropped to one knee. He'd already had a long day, and was already tired before the Dark Side controlled tree began it's attack. During the fight, he had used the Force to sustain him, but now that he had let go of it, the weariness quickly took over.

It was far from the hardest battle he'd fought, but the sustained effort had still taken it's toll on his body.

Someone must have run for help, because once Raezyr had caught his breath and stood again, there were at least 40 monks around, some with axes and hatchets, others were attending the wounded, but most were just standing around, staring gape-jawed at the Sith. Quickly, he tucked the lightsaber into the inside of his robes.

He was glad both the insect event with Trychon, and now this had happened on the same day, before the High Council had had time to tell them their weapons were not to be used. Father Monahan might have trouble with that now, though, after two incidents. The thought made him chuckle to him self, but quietly.

Suddenly someone in the back of the crowd let out a cheer, and it was quickly taken up by the rest, as they swarmed around him, congratulating him, and asking more questions than he could answer all at the same time.

Suddenly the crowd parted, and the lumberjack whom he had saved from the cavern walked toward him. The crowd hushed to listen. "And the trees shall live and swallow them. He who is to come, shall bring his light to bear, and enter the gullet, retrieving the fallen," the man said, clearly reciting some obscure passage from a tome which Brother Varth had probably "uncovered" just recently.

The man threw his arms around Raezyr and hugged him tightly, as the crowd lifted up another cheer. Raezyr awkwardly hugged the man back. He couldn't ever recall being hugged by another man in thanks. In fact, he could barely ever remember being thanked by anyone so sincerely before, as the monk was in tears and still clearly shaken.

When the man stepped back, Raezyr decided to pull a page out of Trychon's book, and began to sway a bit unsteadily for a moment before regaining his balance, attempting to make it look like the fight took more out of him than it really did.

Several monks tried to reach for him, to help him, but he shook his head and resisted their attempts, assuring everyone that he was okay, but just needed to get home and rest for awhile.

Most of the crowd followed him home and loitered around the hut for a while after he arrived. Not until the feast began, did the last of Raezyr's "followers" finally drift away.

Using their respective fights as an excuse, both Trychon and Raezyr declined the invitation to attend the feast that evening. They sat at the table drinking a mug of ale, although they were supposed to be resting.

"So I hear you got to put your blade in action as well," Trychon commented, taking a swig from his tankard.

"Yeah, and as you can imagine, Mannix was almost as torqued at missing my display, even though I don't wield the 'blade of night,'" Raezyr chuckled.

Trychon was about to reply when the door suddenly opened to the hut. Trychon and Raezyr jumped to their feet and instinctively, their hands reached for the hilts hidden within their robes.

The figure entered and closed the door behind him, then turned and pulled back his hood. "You two have done well, so far," Vikon said. "Better than I could have hoped, really. Things are progressing faster than I ever though possible."

He stopped and tilted his head forward, looking from beneath his brow at the two Sith Apprentices, who still stood there, holding their unlit sabers. "Put those away, you fools, and sit down," Vikon admonished, taking a seat himself.

Reluctantly, the brothers did as he said. It's going to feel good to teach this doddering old fool a lesson in humility... when we no longer need him, Raezyr thought to himself, taking care to guard his feelings from the Sith Master.

Vikon stayed only briefly, just long enough to explain the state of affairs in the monk settlement. He said that those who sat on the fence became fewer and fewer each day, and that both sides of the debate were beginning to heat up. Even tension among Raezyr and Trychon's followers were beginning to be strained.

At first, they were all on the same side, convincing the others that the "One" had arrived, but now, as the number of potential converts dwindled, they were beginning to argue amongst themselves as to which of the newcomers the prophecies were actually referring to.

Darth Vikon got up and left abruptly, pausing at the door. "Remain alert. You still have more tasks to accomplish before we are through here."

Trychon looked over at Raezyr as the door closed. Quietly he whispered, "I'm beginning to hate that guy more and more." The look in Raezyr's eyes was all Trychon needed to know that his younger brother agreed whole heartedly.