Noventa - A Star Wars Story

Cal let out a puff of breath. "Well. That's quite a thing to suddenly have dropped on you."

His hand slid down, leaving her face to find her hand once more. He gave it a squeeze. "Well... if you do find out, let me know, huh? Lately I've been finding myself thinking about you quite a bit, after all. Wouldn't mind knowing if something was gonna change." He smiled at her, but the concern was still obvious.

His gaze grew more intent. "In the meantime... seems to me that this doesn't change much. You're still the same amazing young woman I knew years ago." He smirked. "Maybe even prettier now, but that's hard to say for sure."

She shook her head. "Vader was a human. There's... Sith the organization and the True Sith, which are a species," she explained. "I don't know."

Cal blinked. "Sith? As in, like Darth Vader was? Was he one of these True Sith too?"

Clearly stunned, Cal sat back a little, one arm resting on the bed. His leg stayed pressed against hers, though. "What..." He shook his head, giving her a smile. "Sorry. Just caught me a little off-guard. But..." He pursed his lips. "What does all this mean to you? I mean... I guess I'm not quite sure what I'm asking."

"He said they're called the 'True Sith'... As in Sith Lords. He uh... implied they were a whole species that had ability with the Force... Or something. He called himself their Seneschal," she explained quietly.

Cal shifted as she did, so that he sat facing her, but adjacent, his leg resting warmly against hers. "Hey, I'm pretty tough, you know." He smiled, but she could see her concern mirrored in his eyes. He'd heard Darth Vader could block blaster bolts with his hand. No way was he gonna go running off after this thing by himself.

His brown eyes widened slightly as she went on. "Your mom's species?" He echoed. One hand came up to brush along her jawline, gently touching the ridges that were another sign of her heritage. "Did he know who what that is? Did he tell you?"

She chuckled a little and slid up to leads back against the wall. "No... He'd probably take you apart without effort." She looked at him with concern. "Stuff about my species. My mom's species, I mean."

Cal stiffened, just a little, but noticeably. "So, this is a thing with intelligence. I'll admit, I was kinda hopin' for an evil weather control system." He managed to joke. "And I'm figuring that we can't just round up a posse and shoot it, neither."

He tilted his head, eyes narrowing as he regarded her. "What sort of stuff? Here, why don't you sit up and tell me about it?" He smiled. "I'm probably gonna kiss you again at least once before this conversation is over, and I'd rather not have to lean over so far next time."

"The opposite of sweetness and light... but..." She sighed and looked at the ceiling, closing her eyes and smiling a little as he kissed her. "... It knew things. Stuff that's important to me. So..."

She sighed and said, "I know... Thank you."

"And something was there." Cal echoed grimly. "I'm gathering that it wasn't somethin' all sweetness and light, either."

He squeezed her hand, more firmly than before. "I don't know what I can do. But if there's something, you know you can count on me, right?" Smiling gently, he leaned forward. He planted a kiss on her cheek, lips lingering by the corner of her mouth.

"Yeah... We found a map in it, and... well, there was something there. And now..." She waved her hand in the air.

Cal blinked. "A book, huh? Don't think I've ever even seen one of those. Well, how about that."

He continued to gently hold her hand, rubbing it with his fingers. "I'm guessing that the story's just beginning, though." He said.

"The other day, I decided to head up to the mountains with a friend of mine. We were for a place strong in the Force, where someone in the past might have left some kyber crystals - to build my lightsaber, you know?" She took a breath and let it out. "We found a book instead. An actual ink-on-melted-tree-corpse book."

"Uhhh..." Cal scratched at his stubble with his free hand. "That sounds bad, I guess."

Carefully, he sat on the edge of the bed. His hand left her hair to find one of hers, trying to gently ease it away from her eyes. "But... what does that mean exactly? Give me the long version of what happened." He smiled wryly at her. "Maybe use small words. Force business is pretty new to me, remember?"

"I just did," she sighed and looked up at him. "It's turned the planet into a center for the Dark Side. We can't fix this... nothing can fix this." She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes.

Cal's lips pressed together tightly. Normally, his expression was calm, but his concern was growing more evident. "What happened? No, wait. Slow down."

Gently, he began to stroke his hand back through her hair, again and again. "Hey now. Whatever happened, we'll take care of it, alright? We make a pretty good team, you and I. So whatever this is, well, you can count on me. Okay?" He smiled down at her.

His hand briefly paused from its petting to ever so gently brush the tears from the corners of her eyes. "Okay then." He said, his voice soft. "You wanna tell me all about it?"

"Well, of course. It only makes sense. An enormously powerful Dark Side user was released from twenty thousand years of quiescence last night. It makes sense the weather would be a little odd," she replied, her voice tinged with humorless laughter. She let out a breath when he rested his hand on her forehead, tears prickling her eyes. "I fucked up, Cal, and I don't know how to fix it. I don't know if I can fix it."

Cal blinked. "What?" He said. After a few moments, he shook his head. "I'm afraid that's gonna take a bit more explanation."

The question made him frown. "Huh. Maybe. I don't rightly know. I suppose..." The frown turned thoughtful. "I guess I have been feeling a bit uneasy today. Figured it's just the weather. It's really comin' down out there. Haven't seen a storm like that in... well, in as long as I can remember."

His expression grew concerned again. "What's wrong, Runi?" He asked softly. One hand came up, warm as it game to touch her forehead, gently checking for fever.

She didn't open her eyes. It felt like she didn't have the energy with the sheer weight of the Dark Side that now seemed to permeate Noventa weighing down on her. "Oh, you know, just fucking up the planet, no problems here."

"Any feeling of anxiety or unease when you woke up today?"

A moment, and the door swung open; the doors at Twelve Parsec's were largely non-electronic.

Cal stepped in, his forehead lightly creased with concern. "Hey." He said, smiling. "Didn't really get a chance to see you yesterday. Just thought I'd check in..."

He trailed off, the crease in his forehead growing deeper. "You okay?" He asked, concern entering his voice again. His long legs carried him easily to the side of her bed, his brown eyes a little wide as he looked down at her.

"Yeah... come in. I'm not getting much done anyway," she said, waving at the door vaguely. Her eyes were still closed.