Chapter Six

Shadie’s vision was blurred when she opened her eyes, but she quickly became aware of her surroundings.  She was lying on a medical bed at the Jedi Temple.  Master Juun Kloh sat by her side.  Shadie stirred and tried to sit up.
           ‘It will take time for you to regain your strength, Shadie.  It was touch and go for a while, but you’re alive.’
           ‘How long have I been out, Master Juun?’ she asked him.
           ‘Roughly a few weeks,’ he replied.
           ‘A few weeks!’  She bolted up in her bed and regretted it the moment her muscles began to throb, sore from having not been used for a little too long.  ‘Blast it.  Lahnius.  Kromus.  They’ll have regrouped and…’
           ‘Patience, Jedi,’ Master Juun soothed in his deep voice.  ‘The battle against Kromus and his Sith is not over.  Do not fear.  While I was in a healing trance with you, I could sense that you’ve grown in the Force.’  His blue lekku twitched.  ‘You absorbed some of Lahnius’s Force ability as well, when he was draining your life.  Whatever happened in that moment, you gained that ability.’
           ‘How do you know?’
           ‘When I began the trance with you, you reflexively tried to drain my life.’  He smiled.  ‘You must’ve perceived me as an intruder into your mind until you recognised me.  And I know that when you first arrived at this academy, when you were still a Sith, you did not posses that particular Force ability.’
           At that moment, Knarf entered the room, an Ithorian blubbering in grovelling tones in his language followed behind him.
           ‘I understand it’s pressing, but I have to see my friend.  Your coding will have to wait till later.’
           The Ithorian objected in his language, but Knarf was no longer listening to him.  His brown eyes were fixed on Shadie, his smile brightening the room.
           ‘It’s good to see you awake, Shadie,’ he said.  ‘I’m very relieved.’
           ‘You’re not the only one,’ said Brenum, as he and Trylia entered the room.  Shadie smiled.
           ‘She will need to rest,’ said Master Juun Kloh.  ‘I will leave you, Shadie, with your friends for now.  When your muscles find their strength anew, I suggest a walk around the Temple.  Then when you are ready to begin your training, come and find me.’
           ‘My training?  But I’m already…’
           ‘Your newly acquired powers,’ replied Master Juun.  ‘A Jedi, you may be, but many of us Masters knew that one day, your Sith training would have its purposes for the light side.  You will be facing a great and powerful foe.  Kromus is a formidable opponent, as much in sabre techniques and forms as in the Force, much more than Lahnius, and you must defeat both.  You might as well be ready to face them and know how to use those dark powers with light side ability.  As one who trained you in the past, I would like to be the one to refine your abilities with you.’
           ‘Thank you, Master Juun.’
           He nodded and left the room.
           ‘Rumour has it he’s the one who sent word to the Mandalorians,’ said Brenum.
           ‘Which we assumed,’ said Shadie.
           ‘Except that he denies having anything to do with it.’  Brenum’s lopsided smile indicated how Master Juun’s words must have indicated that, but his Force energy must have told different.
           There was a pause.  Everyone looked at the Ithorian, who mumbled something to Knarf before exiting the room.
           ‘He gets grumpy.’  Knarf looked back at the door.  ‘I’ve been helping him program protocol droids and coding new systems.’
           ‘New employer?’ asked Shadie.
           ‘Far from it.’  Knarf turned back to Shadie.  ‘Contracted work.  Never could stand the hammerheads long enough for more than just a contracted period of time.’  Knarf chuckled.  ‘I’m really happy you’re all right,’ he said as he walked to her, beaming, ‘my Lady,’ he added in a whisper.
           ‘We’re all very relieved,’ said Trylia.  Shadie smiled.
           ‘Come,’ said Brenum.  ‘She needs to rest.  We’ll have plenty of time to fill her in with the latest later.’  Brenum and Trylia left the room.
           Knarf stayed and looked at her.  ‘I was so worried.’
           He took her hand.  His touch sent a tingle through her body.  She squeezed gently and closed her eyes to rest.

* * *

           Walking with unused muscles was one thing, walking quickly with unused muscles was entirely another.  But Shadie was eager, she waned to hurry and find…
           There, sitting at a desk, a protocol droid by his side — it was one of the Temple’s local droids — was Knarf.
           ‘Oh, hello, Jedi Shadie.  Master Knarf has been updating my programming,’ the droid’s tinny voice announced.
           ‘Shadie!’ said Knarf and he powered off the droid.
           He looked at her a while.  Then his lips were on hers, his arms around her, their energies entwining once more.
           ‘Wow,’ said Shadie, feeling a caper in her stomach.   
           ‘I know,’ laughed Knarf.  ‘This energy.’
           He gently pushed Shadie’s hair from her face and placed it behind her ear.  He looked at her in that manner that amazed her.  She wondered how one could seem in such awe of her?  Then again, she probably looked at him the same way.  She figured it must be the energies that made them both in awe of each other.
           ‘I wanted to know if you could accompany me on my walk around the Temple,’ Shadie said at length.
           ‘Why, of course,’ smiled Knarf.
           He walked beside her to the turbolift that took them down.  Outside, instinctively it seemed, he got near Shadie and put a hand around her waist.
           ‘Knarf, not here,’ said Shadie, almost feeling guilty to be pulling his arm away from her.
           ‘Why not?’ he asked.
           ‘People might see us.  We’re at the Jedi Temple.  It’s too risky.’
           ‘Oh, all right.’
           He took a step away from her, to the side, and kept his hands to himself.
           ‘I…I realise you saved my life,’ he said at length.  ‘I’d not realised I was flying into a trap until Lahnius was angered that the sphere was following your commands and not his.’
           Shadie smiled.  ‘I couldn’t let it hurt you.  I think it likes me.  It senses my power and is drawn to it, and I had a long, very long, conversation with it, through the Force, about light and dark coexisting, and of course I had to persuade it I was still Sith, even though I’m Jedi.’
           ‘Wow, that’s amazing, Shadie.  I told you this before, but…  You have the power to bring light to darkness.  That sphere…  You can be pure light, you know.’  Shadie smiled again.  ‘Especially when you smile,’ continued Knarf.  Shadie’s face felt warm.  ‘And when you blush.’
           ‘Stop it,’ giggled Shadie.
           Knarf laughed.  ‘I’m sorry, you’re just so beautiful to me.  And you’re my Lady.’
           Shadie could not help but smile.  And then, out of nowhere, Knarf broke into a song, singing some sort of ballad. By the Back Alley Scoundrels, she believed it was.  Shadie was too stunned to say anything, so she watched him as he sang, listening to the words, their meaning, how he sang them, the face he made when singing and looking at her.  And he sang rather well too.  Then when the song was over, he beamed at her with his charming smile.
           ‘Wow,’ said Shadie.  ‘That was lovely.’
           ‘I was hesitant whether I should sing to you or not,’ he replied.  ‘But I’ve been practicing…  When the hammerhead wasn’t looking,’ he laughed.
           ‘Well, it was very nice.’
           ‘Thank you, my Lady.’  Again he put his arm around her.
           ‘Knarf, we can’t let anyone here see.’
           ‘Sorry, sorry.’  He smiled, his brown eyes boring into her eyes.  Then she realised he was holding her hand, as they kept on walking.
           ‘Knarf!’
           ‘Sorry.  It’s a reflex, I can’t help it.  I just want to have you in my arms.’
           Shadie smiled.  ‘I know.’

* * *

           The meditation chamber was dimly lit.  Darth Lahnius was crouched before his Master, who sat in a meditative position.
           ‘She lives,’ said Kromus.
           ‘I sense her too,’ replied Lahnius, though he knew his Master could feel her life much more clearly than he, Lahnius, could ever dream of sensing another at such a distance.
           ‘How dare she proclaim herself Master of my Crypt!’ said Kromus.  ‘I raise her, as my sister; train her, as my Sith apprentice, and she not only turns on me, but turns my ship against me!’
           He opened his eyes.
           ‘Rise.’
           Lahnius stood and Kromus stood as well.  Lahnius did his best to hide his feelings from his Master.  His ship?  No, Lahnius’s ship.  It would be his ship, his Crypt, his domain.  He would be the Master.  But for now, until Shadie was destroyed, he would play his Master’s game.
           ‘The sphere,’ said Kromus, ‘after it…regurgitated you and the others, where did it go?  Can you sense it?’
           ‘I can.’  He could for it was his ship.  Kromus had no connection to it at all.
           ‘I have long lost connection with it,’ said his Master, as though reading his thoughts.  Then in a darker tone: ‘But Shadie….  She is on Coruscant still.  Where is the sphere?’
           ‘I believe it has gone to hide on the planet of its makers: on Dathomir.’
           Kromus smiled.
           ‘Dathomir.  Well, well, the Night Sisters might be of help to us.  Leave it there.  It will eventually call out to Shadie through the Force.  She knows it will protect her when she arrives here at the Crypt.  Therefore you will go to Dathomir, and you will wait for her there.’
           ‘Yes, my Master,’ replied Lahnius.

* * *

           Shadie was in her quarters.  Her training would begin tomorrow.  She was not yet at full strength, but soon enough she would be.  Besides, training would help her strength return to full power.  Since she’d regained consciousness, her recovery had been rather quick, compared to the estimated time her Master had given her.
           There was a chime at the door.  Shadie used the Force to press the enter key.  There stood Knarf, and he entered her quarters.
           ‘Knarf, what a surprise.’  She had not been centred enough to sense his approach.  She scowled knowing that her Force strength needed yet more attention than she would have liked.
           ‘Why, after yesterday’s walk, I…’  He hesitated a moment, his glance intense with energy.  ‘Is it all right for me to hold you in my arms now?’
           Shadie smiled without replying.  Here, in the privacy of her quarters, he could do more than just that.  Using the Force, she pulled him towards her.  Now they stood forehead to forehead.  He smiled, amused, his mouth open.
           ‘Oh, I like that,’ he said.
           Shadie laughed.  ‘A shame you don’t know how to use the Force,’ she said.
           ‘Oh, Shadie, I don’t need the Force.’
           Shadie breathed a short intake of air, smiling.  Knarf kept his deep-set eyes on her, his hands gently caressing her face.  Her arms wrapped around him, they stood feeling the energy flowing between them.
           Slowly, they embraced.  The desire between them increased with each moment, until finally, their passions were as one, and their lips were devouring the energy with which each kiss fuelled them.  Shadie’s eagerness surprised her.
           They let themselves fall onto her bed.  Knarf took his glasses off and looked at her with his bare eyes.  His glance was penetrating.  They let themselves be taken by the moment of pure ecstasy.  Knarf’s smell was inebriating and his touch invigorating.
           Kissing with passion, Shadie felt serene.  Knarf paused to look at her and marvelled at her.  She relished the connection of energies they felt, the intensity of it all, the Force that flowed through them and between them, the awe in Knarf’s eyes.  That a man be so amazed by her was so exalting.  She too felt awed by him.  Such sincerity in those eyes; it made her feel like she could melt.
           As their felicity approached, Shadie realised that this passion, their passion, was serenity.  Then as calmness returned to their bodies, a look of elation in his eyes, Knarf let out a loud blissful sigh and laughed.
           ‘Ah, Shadie, my Lady.’
           ‘Yes, I am your Lady,’ she smiled.
           Knarf held her in his arms, as they lay naked on the bed, relaxed.  Shadie breathed in.
           ‘Hmm, you smell so good,’ she told him.
           ‘You smell better,’ he replied.
           Shadie lifted her head to look at him and smiled.  She kissed him and lay her head back down on his chest.  She definitely felt serene now.

“Darth Shadie: Lady of the Force” is written by Celinka Serre (2018).

Disclaimer: The Characters in this Fan-Fiction are new and have original names. The story is an original written work. The story is derivative and consistent of Fan-Fiction since it borrows the franchise world of Star Wars. Certain jargon and places, or concepts mentioned, along with the SW Old Republic universe belong to Lucasfilm Ltd. and Disney. No characters or storylines from the films are used. No storylines or characters from the games or books are used. A handful of characters from the games may be referenced, but are not the main focus in this fanfic story.  This fan-fiction story falls under FairUse.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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