Snowblind

[Darth Decepis]

"Hahahahahahahahaha" was the Sith's only mocking reply.

[s'Il]

A perplexed, sidelong glance was sent to Zem, and s'Il squared her shoulders as she turned her gaze back to the Sith. She had no wish to continue this fight, and her body language conveyed just that.

"Who are you," she growled, "Answer me plainly."

[Zem-El Vymes]

Just as it seemed that the Sith would respond, a whine grew over the horizon. I knew it instantly as the drone of approaching Rebel patrol craft. The darksider looked to us again, and spoke in half meanings once more.

"I am the kernel of doubt in each of your hearts. The doubt that says everything you do will be for nothing."

He looked to the sky, and waggled a finger at us.

"We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other."

And suddenly, in a violent spray of ice and snow, he vanished.

[s'Il]

Shielding her face from the spray, s'Il lowered her arm as the cloud died down. For a few seconds more she stared at the spot the Sith had been. The whine of the patrol ships drew her from her thoughts though, and the Lupine turned to where her sabre had fallen in the snow, calling it to her hand while reacheing up to gingerly test the cuts that laced across the side of her face.

They gave a dull sting, but the cold had done well to numb most of the pain.

Clipping her sabre to her belt, the Lupine let a long breath escape her lips as she sank tiredly to the ground, propping her arms up on her knees. Head down, she finally spoke.

"He's going to come back for that you know," a hand waved blindly at the red bladed lightsabre that Zem still held.

[Zem-El Vymes]

After a moment, I looked down at what she was mentioning. Both mine and the Sith's blade glowed in the cold air, and I deactivated them as the patrol craft landed.

"I know." was the only answer I could come up with. The attack was over as suddenly as it began, and there wasn't even a clue as to how the Sith had arrived here, or why he had come.

[s'Il]

A slight tremor ran through her, hopefully the final aftershock in the wake of the electricity her body had taken in.

The Lupine lifted her head then, craning her neck to watch the canopy of the lead craft pop open. Her eyes turned to Zem once more. The expression on his face was enough to cause her concern, and she struggled to her feet.

The cuts on her face had stopped bleeding, and she gave them no more thought.

"Let me have that," she said, a hand going out for the Sith's sabre.

[Zem-El Vymes]

I handed it over to her.

"Ironic, it's beautiful. Hardly befitting such an ugly thing."

A rebel soldier trudged from the patrol craft, and hailed the two Jedi.

"You said you were under attack? I didn't see anything coming in."

"It was a single man, on foot. He fled suddenly, did you see him, or maybe a nearby ship?"

The soldier shook his head.

"Not a thing, sir. I checked every grid from base to your position, and there's no metal objects."

[s'Il]

Turning the serpent hilt over in her hand, s'Il bit her lip as she stared at it. It was a beautiful thing, and had to admit that it felt comfortable in her grip. Such a feeling was tainted however, by the thought of the man it belonged to.

"I get the feeling that he's not from the Empire," she ventured.

She looked to the rebel then, placing the sabre into a buttoned sidepocket. "I'd recommend posting an extra guard until we leave, regardless."

[Zem-El Vymes]

"I agree. It's almost as if he considers the whole civil war beneath him."

I thought about his face, and those terrible eyes.

"I have the feeling that we're facing something older than that. Something possibly very old."

[s'Il]

s'Il scowled, looking into the distance to where the taun tauns had once been; the battle with the Sith had spooked them enough so that they'd run a fair ways off.

She shivered then, suddenly ecutely aware of the chill. Whatever else was to be said on the matter could be discussed back at the base. She did not wish to stay out in the cold.

Her eye twitched, and the Lupine huffed out a breath through her nose as she started off after their mounts.

And the day had begun so wonderfully, she thought to herself glumly.

[Zem-El Vymes]

"We'll meet you back at the base."

"We'll keep an escort while you get your mounts, sir."

The soldiers remained near as we retrieved our Tauntauns, and it was a much longer ride back in than it seemed when we rode out.

[s'Il]

It was before they rode fully into the hangar that s'Il pulled up on her animal. It protested noisily, wanting nothing more than to return to the warmth of the stables. As well, she herself wanted nothing more than to be in her own room, but something the Sith had said had been eating away at her thoughts during the quiet ride back.

" 'I am you when you are weak'," she repeated the words that'd been circling through her mind, then turned a worried look to Zem.

"What do you think he meant... ?" She had a good enough idea as to what they meant, but hoped all the same that Zem would tell her otherwise.

[Zem-El Vymes]

I looked at her and shrugged ponderously.

"The Dark Side thrives on the failings of Jedi teachings. Anger, hatred, and such things. He's trying to get into your head."

He was right, of course. Though it wasn't nearly that simple. That magnitude of evil doesn't just occur suddenly.

[s'Il]

s'Il nodded, and once more turned in her saddle to look back at the way they'd come, as if expecting to see those horrid yellow eyes and twisted face following. Satisfied that nothing of the sort was behind them, the Lupine nudged the taun taun forward once more, and the two Jedi left the snowy outside.

Dismounting, she removed one glove to run a tentative fingertip over one of the thin cuts. A scowl.

"At least these won't be here for too long," she sighed.

[Zem-El Vymes]

"Let me see."

I turned her head with my hand, eyeing them carefully. Satisfied, I gave her a gentle kiss on the superficial wounds, once out of sight from the others.

"You'll be alright."

[s'Il]

s'Il smiled up at him as she pulled him close.

"I know."

She embraced him fiercely, holding tightly to him as her eyes closed. And yet the only thing she saw were the eyes of the Sith.