Emily

As he tilted her head back, Emily’s eyes bored into his. And for the first time in years, she saw the eyes of her father. John looked out from Andon’s eyes, that knowing smirk that always haunted them there if she searched hard enough. And there was no way she could say no to those eyes. In that moment, Emily realized something about who she was. Yes, she was broken. Yes, she made mistakes. Yes, she drove people away. But there was one redeemable quality about her: she would do anything for her family. With that clarity came a sensation of rest, like the teasing of a fresh cool wind on a dry hot afternoon. She clung to it. Then Andon blinked and the moment was gone, but the memory endured. Whatever pain would come, it would come. She wasn’t going to let future pain stop her from salvaging whatever good life had left to offer her. She had just come to a decision when Andon offered one last bit of information. He tried… That knowledge was final confirmation. He had tried. He had failed, but she knew that some things couldn’t be changed. Some people couldn’t be saved. Slowly, she sank down on the bed next to him, and then slipped her arm under his, intertwining their fingers. “Thank you,” she said simply, her voice sad but steady. “I...I’m here for you as long as you want me. As long as you need me. And longer.” They sat in silence for a few more moments. Emily just treasured being near him after all these years. A few more heartbeats passed, and Emily gradually broke the silence again. “You know, it’s been 22 years today since my father died?” She untangled their hands and rose. Crossing the room, she grabbed one of her lightsabers and twisted off the end cap, revealing a small wafer. She tipped it out and crossed back over to the bed. Resuming her seat, she clicked the wafer with her fingertip and a holo appeared. It was the same holo she had had on her ship before it’s destruction--Andon and John stood in the center of the frame, twin smirks on their faces, while their wives graced their sides, grinning. “I think the Force has a wry sense of humor in it’s timing sometimes.” The image of the holo robbed the air from Andon’s lungs. He stared at it for a long while, the tips of his fingers hesitantly reaching out to graze the image of John and Sirvani, as if he could will them to life with but a touch. The trace of his fingers caused a slight distortion in the holo, causing his hand to cease its attempt and return to his side. He remembered that day well… it was the last day that the four of them were together. Before Hapes. Before The Precipice. Before The Room of Infinite Thrones. Andon draped his arm around Emily’s shoulders and pulled her close to him as they looked at the holo for untold moments together. “I miss your dad every day. It’s good that you’re staying, he would want it that way. “He’d want me to look after you.” He turned to face Emily, that familiar family smirk tracing his lips. “Because if you’re going to get into mischief, you might as well get into spectacular mischief.” No matter where he had been and what he had done, it was abundantly clear that somewhere beneath the layers of what he had become, her uncle was still the Andon of her youth. That was enough to elicit a small chuckle from her. “You really haven’t changed, have you?” She smiled wryly. “Yeah, I suppose we should stick together.” She hesitated for the briefest moment. “If only to keep all that Colos-Skywalker crazy in one place.” “Absolutely.” His smile was light and goodness, “can’t just let that kind of magic run around uninhibited. Entire worlds would revolt.” He turned his head to the wall, as if seeing something beyond the scope of Emily’s vision. Jaina was up and would be here soon. His smile grew. His wife would find them when she was ready, for now, he simply enjoyed Emily’s company.

She had just stepped out of the sanisteam when there was a knock on the door. Emily sighed. Throwing on some clothes, she heard his muffled voice on the other side of the door. She bit her lip. This was not a conversation she wanted to have right now, but she had learned not to put off things like this. Besides, they were still in transit. She couldn’t avoid her uncle forever. With a gesture, she used the Force to trigger the opening mechanism on the door, her back to Andon as she brushed her wet hair. “Why shouldn’t I leave?” she asked. “Jaina doesn’t need me anymore, if she ever did. Not when she has you.” It was decidedly colder with the door open than it was with it closed, Andon had discovered. It was difficult for him to not view her as the little girl on Raxus Prime that had poured endless adoration upon him. However, he had missed most of her life, and he most likely remembered a girl that only existed within his mind when he did so. Emily was a woman, and had experienced much in his time way. Perhaps too much. “Because I need you.” His voice was tender, human in its uncertainty with how it would be taken. “I won’t make you stay, but I would like you to.” He entered the room and mindlessly traced a finger along the frame of the bunk, before leaning against it. “I’ve already missed so much of your life in my… travels. I don’t want to miss anymore with you.” There was an involuntary noise at the back of her throat, and she set the hairbrush down quickly. “You don’t need me,” she countered, trying and failing to hide the tremor of emotion in her voice. “No one needs me. It’s…” she paused, then finally turned to look him in the eye. “It’s my fault, you know. My fault that you were left to seek out answers alone. I could have gone with you. I could have helped you. And together, we would have found what you were seeking. But I abandoned you.” Her voice was full of regret and self-loathing. “Let’s be honest, all I do is make mistakes. And I care too much about you to drag you into my mistakes any longer.” Andon looked at her for a long while, processing all that Emily told him. “You know what hasn’t changed, is you’re a very bad liar.” His voice was light. “You can’t even convince yourself wholly that I don’t need you. I came back for my family, last I checked you were a part of it.” He reached out and tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. “I know you would have gone with me if you could choose again. I would have taken you anywhere with me. Maybe even let you fly my ship.” Her uncle smiled as he spoke, as if old hurts had happened lifetimes ago from his perception. Perhaps they had. “But where I went… it was better that I was alone. There were many difficult choices, impossible choices, no one should have to bear the consequences with me.” Andon paused and exhaled, taking a moment to gather his words: it was uncomfortably human. “I could tell you of a great many mistakes with unimaginable catastrophe in their wake,” the cornea of hazel-gray eyes momentarily flashed a vibrant bronze before returning to their normal shade. “But life with you is not something I could ever count as a mistake.” The two were unique in the galaxy because of their eyes, the same two pairs of eyes searching the other now. “Besides, we both know I’m gonna get into trouble regardless of who I’m with. Might as well enjoy the ride with me.” Was it really so simple? Emily felt a war going on inside her. She wanted to believe him. She wanted more than anything to rekindle the familial bond between them. After all, wasn’t that why she was tagging along after Jaina this whole time? Why she was determined to help save Tirzah? Andon believed what he was saying, of that she had no doubt. But she was also practically a stranger to him. When he reached out and tucked a strand of her wet hair behind her ear, she hurriedly turned away. That one simple gesture set off a firestorm of emotion within her, and she almost sensed Quietus’ presence physically in the room. And with that hallucination came the other side of the argument. You’ve heard pretty words before. Promises, even. Promises that were broken once he saw who you truly are. Andon will do the same thing. It’s only a matter of time. In the end, everyone leaves. It would be better to just cut it off now. To not let herself get reattached. Better for him, and better for her. She was just opening her mouth to tell him that, when another thought occurred to her. Does that mean for the rest of your life you’re not ever going to attempt it? That you’re determined to live as a hermit, cutting yourself off from everyone left that you care about? Or are you brave enough to try? To risk getting hurt again, yes. But the moments in between the hurt...aren’t they worth it? Despite the pain and the mistakes, if she was being honest with herself, she didn’t regret her time spent with Quietus or with Raia or with Nishant or even with her parents. She bit her lip. “Nothing will ever stop us from being family,” she said softly. “You’ll eventually see the truth of who I am, and it will become too much for you. I’ve seen it over and over again. But until then, you’re my uncle, and I’ll always be there for you.” She paused. “But...being near Jaina now...it’s like all my emotional wounds are being constantly torn into. She has gotten everything she ever wanted, plus everything I ever wanted on top of it. And it’s...I love her, but it’s hard to see. I don’t want jealousy to make me into someone I’m not, or to ruin what trust we’ve been able to build between us.”

The journey to Coruscant had been quiet. Emily’s desire to discover what Andon had learned during his exile had faded when she had heard the song of her dead cousin echoing throughout the corridors of the Traitor’s Hope. The melody stirred up a powerful mixture of hope, anger, and an overall creepiness that she normally associated with Sith on the caliber of Sheog. Jaina had given her a bunk, and Emily had spent most of the trip confined to it, healing Roe’gall before spending time trying to catch up on her sleep. Not that she had much success on the latter. Her heart was in turmoil within her. Eventually, she rose and headed back to the cargo area, where there was enough space for her to go through her lightsaber forms. The physical exercise had double benefits: it cleared her mind and gave her the space to work through her emotions, and it strengthened her still-not-fully-recovered body. As sweat poured down her brow, she finally realized just what exactly she was feeling. Jealousy. She wasn’t proud of it. In fact, labeling it made her feel ashamed. But there it was. Andon had returned and was dedicated to putting his relationship with Jaina back together again. One look at his eyes and it was clear how much he still loved and cared about her. And not only that, but he came back with the power to--hypothetically, anyway--bring Tirzah back from the dead. And he had focused his attention solely on his daughter without giving any thought to Emily’s own dead child. If he really has the power to bring her back, why would he only bring her back? Don’t I merit even the same chance at regaining what has been taken from me? The jealousy wiggled inside her like a flob-worm. She couldn’t help but notice that Jaina was well on her way to having everything Emily had ever wanted. She would get her daughter back, her husband back, and she had Raynuk on top of all that, in whatever way she wanted, with a special astral bond to boot. She even had belonging in an Order of beings she respected. Maybe the Force really is out to get me after all, she thought, spinning to avoid an imaginary blaster bolt. I probably deserve it anyway. But a quieter voice whispered comfort to her. That’s not how the galaxy works. It was nothing you did or didn’t do that caused all these things to happen to you. Well, maybe you should have handled things better with Quietus. But the Force is not out to make you suffer. She bit her lip. She wasn’t sure, but it was certainly tempting to believe that truth. Maybe I should leave. The thought had been crossing her mind frequently since they had left Yavin IV. She had already begun to feel like a little bit of an intruder between her aunt and uncle. Now, there would be the added bonus of not having to watch Jaina get everything at such a close range. Perhaps she should let them try to recover Tirzah on their own. Andon was uber powerful now, anyway. It wasn’t like they needed Emily’s help. She stopped, freezing her final form in place for a moment, then shut down her twin blades. She had finally taken the time to fabricate and install a crystal in the second one, and it seemed to be working fine. She hooked them back on her belt and headed back to her bunk. There was probably just enough time for a sanisteam before they landed and she’d have to figure out what to do next.

The longer Jaina remained silent, the more Emily’s heart sank. She had hoped that Andon’s casual mention of Tirzah would be a blow that Jaina’s heart could handle, but she knew better. She knew that even on good days, wounds like that could be ripped open in a moment’s notice. They followed Jaina to the cockpit, both of them watching her like she was a stick of detonite. Sure enough, Andon’s words had lit the fuze, and even Jaina’s strength wasn’t enough to overcome the emotional explosion. As her aunt slumped over the controls, Emily was by her side in an instant. Her hand found Jaina’s shoulder, and she sank into the copilot’s chair, not leaving any room for Jaina’s husband. She raised her eyes to his, finding that his gaze was already resting upon, gentle as ever. It was utterly irritating. Rather, she gave Andon a not-so-subtle glare for his lack of tact, and wrapped her arms around her aunt. Her own tears stung the corners of her eyes, and her throat burned as she held the other woman. All the platitudes that she wished she could say and mean were left unsaid. They meant nothing anyway, and both women knew it. Nothing could ameliorate the pain of losing a child. Finally, she said the only thing she could. “You have to keep trying,” she whispered, choking on her words. “Believe me, it takes ten times longer to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart.”

Emily was nonplussed by Andon's complete lack of a response. He seemed a little scatterbrained. But she supposed he had just returned from death, and he was bound to be a little mentally jet-lagged. He took her hand, and suddenly they were Force-sprinting behind Jaina. But it was more than a simple Force-sprint. Emily couldn't put her finger on it, but it was almost as if Andon was tapping into a mere inkling of the vast power reserves he had access to. As they arrived at the Traitor's Hope--or, what was left of it--she felt her anger stir again. Andon dropped her hand, immediately joining Jaina inside, leaving Emily to examine the ship from the exterior. Sorrow eeked through her, sorrow for her aunt's loss, and refreshed sorrow at having lost her own ship to the Cult. The Shadow's Shine had been her home, and her last connection to her mother. From what Emily understood, the Hope was just as much or more meaningful to Jaina. Her glance fell to her own ship, parked next to the Hope. It was in worse condition. "Really?" she sighed. It looked like they'd have to take Andon's ship. The Hope could possibly be repaired in time, but her own brand new vessel was done for. Well, maybe we can salvage some parts. A whine from Roe'gall caused her to turn around, and when she did, her gaze immediately was riveted to the Traitor's Hope. The ship was healing itself: bulkheads growing back together, severed wires reattaching themselves, clouds of ash extracted themselves and billowed away into the atmosphere. Her senses told her that this was a working of the Force, but it was deeper, more wild and raw than she had ever felt it. Curiosity and the desire to know how this had occurred clutched at her, and she found herself darting up the boarding ramp only to see Andon with his hand on an interior bulkhead, his eyes almost drifting closed and an expression of utter calm on his face. As if he hadn't just put a ship back together in seconds as if it were made from a child's building blocks. Power like that...Emily had never encountered it. She had spent years studying ancient Force sects, hidden Force powers, and forbidden knowledge from both sides of the Force, but she had never seen anything like what her uncle had just done. It awoke a fire inside her, a desire and thirst for the knowledge he had. For a moment, the old familiar sensation took her by surprise. With all that had happened, she hadn't thought the pursuit of knowledge for it's own sake would be something she was ever interested in anymore. It was...good that she felt it again. It felt like some part of the old Emily still lived on. She was about to speak up, when Andon killed the moment by asking to be taken to Tirzah's body. The Gray Master grimaced. That wasn't going to end well. But she supposed he had the right. "We also need to go to Coruscant to investigate that museum," she added quietly. "I'm not sure we'll find anything of use here anymore."

Emily was just about to lean out and block the flurry of blaster bolts that had been unleashed, when suddenly they froze in mid-air. Her head whipped around and she saw Jaina and—she caught her breath—Andon. His presence was bright in the Force, and he bubbled with power, wielding it casually. Morthos seemed furious but trying to hide it, his words attempting to sow doubt, but Emily knew better than to believe a word he said. The only hint of possible truth was that Morthos had brought Andon back. That was the logical conclusion, one that Emily herself had considered only half an hour ago. But that didn’t mean that Morthos had done so deliberately. No, she thought as the possessed being’s skull was rent in two by the being’s green tendrils. She got the distinct feeling that, despite having gotten away with the artifact, things here hadn’t gone quite as the being had wanted. She shut down her lightsaber and returned it to her belt, waving Roe’gall back. Pushing strands of her dust-covered hair out of her face, she glanced at the sky. She knew she didn’t have time to make this a heart-felt reunion. They needed to get off this moon immediately and follow the shuttle before it got too far. Hopefully the debris she had flung at it would have damaged the engines enough for them to be leaking trace particles that could be tracked. But before she could open her mouth to get her aunt and uncle to go with her, there was a flicker of light, and the shuttle popped out of realspace. She sighed. Well, now there’s no rush. The particle trail would dissipate over time, but they had a good two hours before it’d vanish completely. She turned back towards her aunt and uncle. Her delight at seeing him alive and in the flesh warred with the enormous sense of guilt she carried, and the conflict made her uncertain of her reception. But then Andon spoke her name, and for a brief moment, she was five years old again, playing games with him in the hanger on Raxus Prime. He approached slowly, pain in his swirled eyes--the only eyes in the galaxy that matched hers for color--and then she was back in the present, his fingers ghosting over the scars that no amount of bacta had yet healed. And as she met his eyes, she saw his sorrow, and she knew that he knew. So when he embraced her, she hugged him back. “I’m sorry, too,” she whispered into his ear. “I’m sorry I abandoned you on Corellia, that I wasn’t strong enough to share your fate. I don’t know what’s happened to you in these past years, but I’m sorry you had to face it alone.” She gave him an extra squeeze. She was truly glad he was back, no matter what pain she’d feel when she inevitably lost him again. Maybe that’s the lesson after all, a quiet voice whispered inside her. As they drew apart, Emily’s eyes flicked to Jaina. Her aunt had to be on top of the moon—or was she? Old loves returning from the grave was never easy; Emily knew that better than anyone else. But something in Jaina’s eyes seemed to indicate a sense of happiness, tentative maybe, but present. Emily’s heart went out to her, and she tried to send her an encouraging look. Andon had approached the figure that had taken his face, and Emily moved over to stand next to her uncle. Nonchalantly, as if it were easy, Andon wiggled his fingers, and the scene played out again in reverse. The sheer amount of power running through her uncle astounded his niece. Whatever had happened to her uncle, whatever he had discovered during his sojourn among the stars, he had changed. These abilities…they weren’t natural. It fascinated Emily, and she longed to question him about it. But now was not the time. She focused her attention back on the figure as it re-exploded in front of them. Andon seemed uneasy, sharing about his previous encounter with the being in some sort of extra-planar prison cell. He glanced at both of them, asking for more information, and Emily nodded. “His name is Morthos. This is the first time I’ve actually come face-to-face with him, as it were.” She paused, sorting through what they knew to display it in a logical progression. “The Cult first came to my attention when I was on Korriban, several months ago.” Had it really been so short of a time? “I caught them doing a ritual, raising Darth Quietus back to life. They had intended for him to be a vessel, a host for Morthos. But they made two errors during the ritual: one, they assumed one of the relics that had been buried with him actually belonged to him, and two, they let me get involved.” The ghost of a smile crossed her face. If only things had stayed so simple. “Quietus returned as himself, and because of the relic, Jaina also was brought forth from death…with some other side-effects, too, apparently.” Her eyes flicked to her aunt and back again to Andon. “We also discovered that they had been holding another Sith, Darth Alarune—the Lady Alora—captive. The information we retrieved from the Cultists on Korriban indicated several other locations where the Cult was working, or at least had visited. Tython, Lehon, Byss, Coruscant, Dathomir, and,” she gestured to the moon beneath their feet, “Yavin IV. We immediately began seeking clues to figure out what this Cult was up to. We found clues on Coruscant tying them to Faust, or rather, Faust’s ritual that he used to attempt to destroy the Force. It seems they found him to be a disappointment. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re trying to recreate something along those lines, but it’s difficult to say for sure. “At that point,” she hesitated for a moment as bad memories washed over her, “the others went to Dathomir to follow up on the clue there, while I returned to Raxus Prime to find that the Cult had ransacked the place, searching for something in my father’s library.” Belatedly, she realized she had never followed up with Xae to see what the Cult had taken. She shook her head. “I was already on their radar by that point, but I was returning to Coruscant when they caught up with me.” Her hand ghosted over her abdominal scars. Whatever Andon knew about what had happened there was enough. She wasn’t about to go into it again. “After I healed, I met up with Jaina again to--” she changed what she was going to say at the last minute. Did Andon know what had happened to his daughter? “To come here,” she finished. “Clearly, the Cult was still interested in what was going on here. Morthos called that relic ‘his’. I wish we had gotten to see what was on it. But with the temple gone, I’m not sure there are any more clues left here. “Oh,” she snapped her fingers, “one more thing.” She shifted her gaze to include both Jaina and Andon. “That woman, Cassandra, that we found in the temple? She was an archeologist for a university on Coruscant. I don’t think she was working directly for the Cult, but Morthos possessed her, too, so any items she had sent back would be suspicious.” They weren’t left standing with many clues. They could follow up with the university, but other than that, it seemed like their visit to Yavin IV had pretty much been a waste.

The quiet didn’t last long. As the dust settled in their rocky dome, Emily took a deep breath. And then immediately began coughing. Bad idea, she berated herself. Carefully, she looked around the small area, taking in the position of the rocks, and realized she could let up a little on her Force exertion. A few smaller pieces tumbled down, but overall, the structure held. Her hands absentmindedly verified that Cassandra’s bag was still at her side. Whatever was inside belonged to Morthos, and she wasn’t about to let such a valuable clue out of her possession. Actually, she thought, might as well take a look right now, since it’d be safer to wait for Jaina to help get us out of this rubble. She didn’t want to accidentally bring a large piece down on herself or the tuk’ata through negligence. She had just pulled out the artifact when she felt the Force flicker out around her. Sithspit, she cursed mentally. More of Morthos’ minions had arrived. And there was little she could do surrounded by rubble and stripped of the Force. Quickly, she visually scanned the lockbox, using the Force to attempt to open it, committing everything she saw to memory. But it was sealed with a strange seal, and it took her a few seconds to figure out how to worked. Unfortunately, the Cult moved fast. In those few seconds, an ethereal green tentacle pushed through the cracks in the rubble. Emily cried out in surprise—whatever this was, with the ysalamiri surrounding them, it couldn’t be the Force. The tentacle was joined by several more. Small pieces of rubble began to rain down on them again as the tentacles disturbed the carefully balanced chucks of stone. They seized the artifact. Emily held onto it for dear life, but the tentacles wrestled it out of her hands and disappeared. She cursed again, stronger this time, anger racing through her. But there was nothing she could do. The Cult had bested her again. No. She refused to let them win again. She was the only one who was still in pursuit of the Cult, and by the Force, she would keep fighting until it killed her. She had lost too much to give up now. The rubble was threatening to completely collapse, but she kept her cool, waiting…and the moment the ysalamiri’s influence receded, she gathered her strength. So much for waiting for backup. “Hold on, Roe’gall,” she gritted out. In her mind, she envisioned a massive wall, and pushed with all the strength of the Force. The rubble surrounding her exploded outward, raining chunks of rock on the retreating Cultists. Emily and Roe’gall dashed out of the hole with Force-enhanced speed, and Emily targeted the blank holes of the Force that were the ysalamiri. Rubble took out two of them, Roe’gall ripped the head off of one of the soldiers and crushed the lizard with his massive paws, and Emily’s lightsaber slashed through the remaining one, killing both lizard and solider. The Force, which had briefly flicked out as Emily approached, rushed back. Emily ran forward, Roe’gall by her side. There were more soldiers than she hoped for, but it wouldn’t cause her to hesitate. Making use of the abundance of rubble, she began hurling large chunks of rock towards the Cultists and their ship. A particularly large piece collided with the engines of the shuttle, sending sparks flying, and she aimed another one at it for good measure before returning to targeting the troops with her mental projectiles. Meanwhile, her lightsaber was up in a defensive posture, and she ducked behind another large piece, thick enough to protect her from blasterfire, that had half-buried itself in the soil. She hoped Jaina would get here soon, but either way, she’d do everything she could by herself to stop them from getting away.

Your information is out of date, Emily snapped icily in her thoughts. But she was too busy to voice them. As soon as the entity sent Roe’gall flying, she went on the defensive, bringing her lightsaber around. But she stopped herself. There was no use killing Cassandra; it was unlikely that the entity controlling her would be harmed with her death. But maybe she could bring the unconscious woman with her… The being’s next words were punctuated by the temple suddenly shaking. It was all Emily could do to stay on her feet. Jaina? she instantly thought. But she rejected the idea immediately. This was the entity’s doing, not her aunt’s. Abandoning the archaeologist, she dashed away towards where her tuk’ata had disappeared. Roe’gall was trained to shake off Force blasts--after all, it was a standard attack in any Force-user’s arsenal--but she had no idea how much power the entity could access, and Roe’gall was already injured. She leapt out of the way as a large piece of rubble came crashing down where she had just been standing, and found Roe’gall in a corner, a little dazed, but on his feet. She darted to his side, throwing up a Force barrier around them to deflect some of the debris. “We need to get out of here, now!” she shouted. The tuk’ata blinked, then let out a rumble that let Emily know he was hurting but fine. After a split second of hesitation, she threw herself astride the giant beast. He began to leap and bound, heading towards the last place they had seen a way out--the small opening Jaina had left by. What pieces he wasn’t able to evade, Emily deflected with the Force or cleaved in two with her lightsaber. But the temple was coming down faster now, and Emily got a sinking feeling. They weren’t going to make it. Gritting her teeth, she reached out through the Force, seeking her aunt. "Jaina! Cult!" That was all the strength and focus she could spare. The temple crumbled around them, and it was all Emily could do to keep a bubble of air around the pair as they were buried under the ancient stones. Eventually, all was quiet.

The voice was cold, and darker than anything Emily likely had felt before. It echoed, both in her mind, and in the room itself as the limp form of Cassandra lifted her head, her eyes glowing a sickly shade of green. A ripple of ice trickled down Emily’s spine as she stepped back a few paces. Every spine on Roe’gall’s back stood straight up, and he growled loudly. She slipped the pack over her own shoulders. She let none of her icy dread show, however, and instead, spoke calmly, addressing the voice. “Well, now we’re getting somewhere. Care to introduce yourself?” The body of Cassandra lifted from the ground, not onto its feet, but floating above the ground like some sort of demented puppet. The head spun to Roe’gall, and a decidedly unnatural and very sadistic grin gripped her unconcious face. No. Without warning, and without the telltale motion that a true Force user would require, Roe’gall was ripped off his feet, and thrown clear through the doorway of the room. This will be your tomb, Emily Zsahra-Skywalker… Darth Eris… Consort of Quietus. I will take what is mine from your corpse.

Now it was becoming a little amusing. Eris’ tone turned sarcastic. “You came here to study the Massassi. Yes, I know. And that dagger with the Cult’s markings just happened to be in your possession. Who do you work for, anyway? What private museum?” Cassandra let out a disgusted sigh, “Why, so you can go kill them too over studying the remains of ancient civilizations that you think you lord over? And the dagger? I didn’t even want the stupid thing, but the leader of the research team that I hitched a ride with when I came here months ago gave it to me. He said he found it in one of the other temples south of here.” She risked a glance down at her now mangled hand. “Why won’t you just let me leave, I didn’t do anything to you…” “No, you didn’t,” Emily replied flatly. “But your dagger-loving friends did. Tell you what: tell me more about the research team and the museum and I’ll let you go. But if you don’t tell me…” she left the threat hanging. “...You’ll kill me and feed me to your dog.” Cassandra finished spitefully. “I was only with them for a day when we first landed, they went their way, I went mine. They left the planet, and I stayed behind to do my job. All I know about the museum is it’s on Coruscant, and is run by Doctor Shomrot. So I guess you might as well kill me, because I clearly don’t have the answers you think I do. I don’t believe you’re going to let me go anyway you schutta.” Emily considered the tear-streaked face of the other woman. “One more question then before you die: you said those researchers went their own way. Which way would that have been? Do you know what temples they were studying? And do you know when they left?”

“Off to a good start,” Eris replied. “Studying the Massassi. Now tell me where the Cult came in. You know, the ones who gave you that dagger? What did they want from you?” If the woman was going to be compliant, then all the better for her. There was time to wait for the full story. The explosions seemed to state that her aunt had gotten into some kind of trouble, but the Gray Master didn’t sense any particular distress from Jaina, so she wasn’t too concerned, and all she got from the Force was a vague sense of unease.

The woman’s terror was, Emily thought with some pleasure, perfectly right for her situation. Normally, Emily didn’t care to inspire terror except when it suited her needs, preferring to strike swiftly and quietly against her enemies, destroying them before they even knew she was there and disappearing just as quickly. But recently, her careful precision had vanished. The walls she had carefully built to protect herself from the ravages of the dark side had dissipated in her emotional upheaval, and she had shown herself more and more the former apprentice of the Warrior King. As this woman cowered before her, scrabbling against the immovable stone in a vain attempt to escape, Emily was reminded of Quietus’ master class in interrogation, performed not too long ago on another world drenched in the power of the Sith. Her pulse quickened, and a haze of fire descended over her vision. The woman was a member of the Cult—her dagger had proved it. She represented all that was anathema to Emily, the source of the majority—no, all—of her recent pain. It was the Cult that had ransacked her childhood home. It was the Cult that had slaughtered her child. It was the Cult that had brought back a version of Quietus that didn’t love her. “What do I want with you?” The voice that came from her mouth belonged to Darth Eris, harsh and cold as dry ice. Emily was dancing dangerously close to the edge, but she suddenly found that she didn’t care. Roe’gall, recognizing the dark turn in his mistress’ tone, growled threateningly in Cassandra’s direction, his red eyes glinting evilly in the low light of the temple. “I want you to tell me everything you know about the Cult that you are involved in. Why they were here. What they learned. What their plans are next. And above all…where I can find them.” There was the sound of an explosion nearby, and Emily’s mind briefly flicked to Jaina. What the kriff was her aunt up to? But she didn’t let it break her concentration. Whatever had just exploded would have to wait. Eris stepped closer to the crying woman, her lightsaber fencing her in from one side and Roe’gall from the other. “If you tell me everything, maybe I won’t let the tuk’ata eat you alive piece by piece,” she growled. To prove her point, a minute flick of the wrist neatly severed the outside two fingers of Cassandra’s left hand. Roe’gall immediately pounced, snapping up the morsels of flesh hungrily. “Well?”

They were by Roe'gall's side quickly. The tuk'ata was agitated, but less so from his wound than at the fact that his prey was escaping. Jaina dashed off in pursuit, but Emily held the tuk'ata back for a moment. "Hold still and let me look at that," she told him. The dagger was still sticking out of his leg, and she grasped it. With a quick pull, she drew it out and let it clatter to the ground. The wound was small, but deep, and bleeding profusely. Reaching into one of the pouches on her belt, Emily quickly removed a bacta patch, pulled off the packaging to reveal the sticky side underneath, and carefully applied it to Roe'gall's leg. "There." Something tugged at her mind, though, and she glanced back at the dagger. There on the hilt was a symbol she recognized. How many times had she seen it over the past few months, inscribed here and there on items belonging to the Cult? Ice filled her veins. There was no doubt now. The Cult was here. "Let's go get her," she growled. The tuk'ata howled in agreement, and together, they dashed off, the scent of his prey in Roe'gall's nose. Emily used the Force to increase her speed, allowing her to keep up with the mutated monstrosity. They darted by a side room with a corpse in it, and Emily skidded to stop just in time to see Jaina slip through a hole in the wall, heading out to the jungle. "Jaina, where are you going?! Wait!!" But her aunt was gone. Silently cursing, torn for a moment, she hesitated, then tore off after Roe'gall. Her aunt would have to fend for herself. Kriffing cultists. It wasn't difficult for Roe'gall to find Cassandra again. This time, he found her in a large side-chamber. Emily arrived hot on his heels, and when she saw the woman, her bronze saber lit with a *snap-hiss*. "Just where do you think you're going?" she threatened, her voice dark.

The urgent caution in Emily’s eyes faded into dullness, and she leaned heavily against the rune-covered wall. For a moment, she didn’t speak, but she knew that it was only her words that could prevent Jaina from being put into a similar situation. She took a deep breath, then looked up, those dead eyes meeting her aunt’s. “They put me through hell. The Cult was hunting me. Because of my connection with Quietus.” Her voice was quiet and lacking emotion. “They tracked me down over Coruscant, grabbed my ship. I fought with everything in me, but...they captured me. Tortured me.” She swallowed and her voice dropped to a tremulous whisper. “Tore open my womb with my own lightsaber and slaughtered my baby…” The tears that had been her constant companion spilled over, but other than that, she showed dead hollowness as her only emotion. “Then they just...dumped me off with the Remnant. They assumed the Imperials would kill me or imprison me or brainwash me or whatever they’re doing to Sith these days, but one of the Imperial Knights let me go.” She let out a bitter chuckle. “Not sure she did me much of a favor.” A bit of urgency returned to the Garey Master’s face. “I won’t let them win again. They’ll hurt you if they can. They’ll hurt everyone Quietus cares about to try to get to him. And if they know about this bond you have…” She shook her head, and dropped her gaze. “Please. Don’t rush into this.” Wordlessly, Jaina crossed the gap between herself and her niece, wrapping the younger woman in an unreserved embrace. Quiet filled the ziggurat as the two women, bereaved mothers, clung to one another, simple understanding passing between them. There was something else at the root of Jaina’s urgency, but it seemed disrespectful, nigh irreverent, to Emily’s grief to brush aside the warning that she so desperately gave. “I’m not afraid,” she said quietly, the simple resolve of the light filling her words. Holding her niece at arm’s length once more, clasping both shoulders with her hands, Jaina smiled gently. “Besides, I have you to look after me.” “You will be,” Emily replied. “You should be.” Jaina’s attempt to cheer her up didn’t help at all. “I clearly am not able to look after anyone,” she retorted bitterly. “I couldn’t even--” her voice hitched, “I couldn’t even protect my own baby.” Grave sorrow filled Jaina’s features. “Neither could I,” she whispered delicately. Emily closed her eyes. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Jaina. I just...if we can do the research, find out what they were after, maybe it’ll give us a clue that will help us if---no, when--the Cult catches up with us again. Isn’t that worth a few days more of waiting?” A sudden scowl crossed Jaina’s features, and she held up a hand. At some point during the time they had been talking, Roe’gall had vanished from the room. Perhaps unrelated--perhaps not, there was a sudden spike of fear, amplified by the echo of the darkness within the Temple, that crossed her awareness like a firework shooting through the sky on Life Day. They were no longer alone. The presence she felt was distinctly different from the barely sentient natives who had so carelessly thrown their lives away in useless defense. A wary knot formed in her stomach, and without even thinking, Jaina found her lightsaber clutched firmly in her right hand. Locking eyes momentarily with Emily, she whispered through the Force. Looks like we have an eavesdropper, came the grave admission. Immediately, Emily’s eyes flew open and she straightened, her emotions locked up again behind a wall of ice. All business again, she mirrored Jaina’s pose in drawing her lightsaber, leaving it unlit in her hand as she reached out through the Force. From her blood-bond with Roe’gall came a primal satisfaction. “They won’t be hidden for long,” she returned confidently. “Let’s see what this is about.”

"The Cult aren't the only ones who have been here." Jaina's reply echoed in Emily's mind strangely. Perhaps it was simply because it was not the reply the Grey Master had been expecting; perhaps it was because of Jaina's hollow tone; or perhaps it was the sudden fire that she sensed ignite in her aunt. Perhaps it was all of those, or perhaps it was the sudden lump of dread in Emily's own gut. But overall, it felt like a blow to an already fragile foundation. Things were already bad enough--the Cult was prowling, Faust was back and undoubtedly trying to finish what he had started, and now there was something else, something that could make her aunt's very blood turn to flame? In how many different directions must they be pulled? Her fingers reached out and tentatively made contact with the symbol. Then she gathered herself. No time to fall apart. You've done too much of that recently. Reaching into a pouch at her belt, she pulled out her datapad. She'd take holos of everything here; there had to be a clue, if not to the reason the Cult had been here, then maybe to the reason this other group had been. Unless they were working together. The feeling of dread intensified. But in the next heartbeat, all the dread vanished into hope. There on the screen of her datapad appeared a face she knew; a face that she hadn't seen for almost a decade. She started and in her surprise, the datapad tumbled from her hands and clattered onto the stone floor of the temple. But it was no mere data short or crossed wires; for a moment, her uncle's face wavered also in her mind's eye. "I am alive," he said, his voice echoing with time and distance. And then he was gone, and Emily found the courage to meet Jaina's eyes. Jaina was weeping, tears of hope and pain and desperation, and Emily did the only thing she could think of: she reached out with trembling hands and slowly embraced her aunt. "He's alive," she echoed, adding her own joyful tears to the mix. "Oh, Jaina..." How can it be? How is it possible? she thought as she squeezed her aunt. But really, why I am surprised? Why is the Force always doing this? Someone leaves, someone returns. Someone dies, and someone is reborn. Suddenly, a terrible thought struck her, and she stiffened and caught her breath. "Oh," she whispered. "Oh, no." She drew back, and wiped away some of her tears. "Jaina...I want this to be a good thing. I really, really do. And to some extent, it is. But..." she was hesitant to bring it up. But Jaina deserved full openness. "It's just that, the last time someone came back, it was you. And if you look at everything that's happened, really everything...and where we are now..." She realized she was rambling, and took a deep breath to steady herself. "Jaina, what if the Cult brought him back? What if it's a trap?" Now that she had said it out loud, it seemed obvious that that was the truth. Her lower lip trembled. "I want to find him. We need to find him. But we need to do this the right way, or we'll be walking right into it." She was forcibly reminded of Quietus' agony, debating whether to go after the Cult or after Jaina, and his eventual decision that the Cult was more important, despite the fact that everything in his heart was pulling him the other way. It had been the right decision, she knew. But clearly the Cult had learned how difficult of a decision that had been for him. When Emily had gotten on their trail, they had tormented her. And now that Jaina was tracking them, too, they were doing their best to distract and destroy her. Well, not on Emily's watch. "Don't let the Cult win. Andon's return is amazing, and incredible, and wonderful beyond words...but not if you let them use him to manipulate you."