DOOM!

w00t! OKAY YEAH. Again, I can't say this word enough: finally. XD (And I just couldn't wait to pet the Kanah/Synje icon. MUAH~)



part X: THE NARRATIVE

She looked quite peaceful while she was sleeping, the way she was curled up on her side with her right hand tucked under the pillow. The covers were pulled up tight under her chin, the way Jacen had situated them. He was over across the room, sitting in a cushy seat near the door to the refresher.

He couldn't sleep.

With his legs stretched out in front of him, heels on the edge of a small table, he rested his elbows on the arms of the chair, steepling his fingers in front of him. He set his joined fingertips on his bottom lip and momentarily let his eyes drift shut.

Jacen had failed to tell Tenel Ka about the girl he had seen in the refresher on the second floor, in the mirror behind him. He still didn't believe it had happened. And he definitely didn't know what to make of it. He wasn't about to tell Tenel Ka. She was already worked up enough -- and Jacen knew that his jealousy of Synje wasn't helping any.

Putting that aside in his mind, he thought back to the girl. For now, he seemed to blame it on a lack of sleep, or the fact that he had no food in his system. He decided that if he was going to tell Tenel Ka about her, he'd have to see some form of her again. Because as far as Jacen knew right now, she was just another vision to him.

Of course -- Tenel Ka did tell me about the woman she saw last night.

Jacen recalled that what Tenel Ka described though, was an almost transparent woman who seemed to float as she moved. Almost colorless. The girl Jacen saw looked healthy, alive.

The bedroom was disturbingly silent. He could only hear his own breathing -- and that was only after he realized he was holding it and let out a surprisingly loud sigh. Jacen tensed as Tenel Ka shifted from the noise, nuzzling her head further into the pillows. Breathing a smaller sigh, this time of relief, Jacen felt a numbing calm spread over him.

On his way back to their room, he had felt Tenel Ka through their connection, seeking out his presence. And even though it seemed a bit more difficult than normal, he acknowledged her and nudged her towards the idea of sleep. She had hesitantly agreed but only after she asked of him one thing.

Wake me when you get here. I am worried about you.

He had responded positively and planned on it -- but once he had arrived, he had collapsed into the chair he was in at the moment and sat back, not wanting to disturb Tenel Ka. For once she actually looked like she was getting a good night's rest.

He'd probably get it from her for not waking her up and letting her know he was back safe, but he couldn't bring himself to stir her from her slumber. His eyes just continued to meander around the room; from the moonlit window panels and the torn curtains, to the viridian and violet blankets draped over Tenel Ka.

Jacen bit his lip. The silence was overwhelming at this point and Jacen felt as though he should be doing something to break it -- before it overtook him and attempted to drive him mad.

Standing, he paced across the room, peering out of the window to the courtyard he and Tenel Ka had met Synje out in earlier that morning. He had expected to see the fountain the boy was seated on, maybe an empty easel set out there, or some paints he had left. But no, he actually saw Synje himself, seated in the same spot on the fountain, painting away.

Jacen threw one more glance to Tenel Ka, who was still sleeping, and the next thing Jacen knew, his feet had carried him out into that exact courtyard. With the night sky hanging overhead, the shadows seemed to loom over the Jedi, his chocolate eyes adjusting to the light. In the silence, he could hear a soft swishing sound -- the sound of a brush over canvas.

His steps broke that air, his boots clicking across the courtyard, Jacen knew he should be tired. Judging from where Fondor's stars and fellow planets hung overhead, the night was clearly half over. Jacen felt like it had just begun. His eyes caught exactly what he had come outside for and after taking a few more steps towards the fountain, he called out.

"Synje?" His voice floated across the area, through the plants and foliage to the ears of the man sitting on the fountains edge once more.

He had a paintbrush in his right hand and the strokes stopped when he heard Jacen's voice. "Ah, Jacen." The response was calm, soothing even. Synje set the paintbrush down beside him, resting the canvas in his lap. He was wearing what they had found him in earlier that day, in that same spot. Jacen also noticed, when his eyes drifted down to the canvas, that Synje had been working on the same painting as before too.

He felt his heart skip a beat.

The image was becoming more vivid as Synje worked on it, and Jacen could make out more of it now than he could before. It was the girl he had seen upstairs. Her cropped fiery hair, her wide eyes -- her smile hid something. Jacen faltered, realizing how long the silence had been. It seemed like they were both frozen there, trapped in the nights quiet breeze. He cleared his throat and begin to speak. "I apologize about dinner earlier. I'm sure Teneve told you why I was absent."

"She did." Sliding the canvas off of his lap, he placed in on the edge of the fountain, closer to Jacen.

He noticed a smear mark of red over one of the girl's cheekbones.

Synje continued, a polite smile on his face as his hands found their way to rest in his lap, his legs crossed under him. "She told me you heard a scream or something of the sort." His face contorted a little, his eyes scrunching up under the cloth that covered them. "That seems very odd though, I didn't scream. And as far as I know, there's no one else here." He ended that sentence with a slight chuckle. "Unless someone has been sneaking around and eating my food and such -- taking advantage of me for my eyes, you know?"

Jacen couldn't help but laugh a bit. He admired Synje for being able to talk freely and joke about his vision. The boy laughed with him and that was when Jacen began to feel the tiniest bit relaxed.

"If you don't mind me asking... what happened anyways?" Jacen's question was sort of drawn out, his eyes and most of his attention still focused on the painting Synje had been working on. It looked just like the girl. Her. The one he had seen in the refresher.

"Oh no, it's quite alright." Synje shifted on the fountain, placing his elbows on his knees and locking his fingers together ahead of him. "When I was younger, I told you I hid from the Yuuzhan Vong, I also mentioned I hid in the locked wing of the Manor. That side had been locked since before my family owned the place. Well, I had known where my father kept the key and grabbed it once I knew I was in danger. He failed to tell me why I shouldn't go over there and I found out on my own once I went."

Jacen's eyes finally drifted from the painting to the boy, waiting for him to continue.

"The previous owners -- they were a wild bunch. I found records and old datapads and holos about them over in the locked wing when I was there. Well, some of the things I found were more firsthand accounts than things about them. As far as I could tell, they were just a group of people, no relation to each other -- other than their apparent liking for morbid things. They called themselves the Paladins. And if I can recall correctly..." Synje stopped at this point, his head tilting slightly, as if trying to remember a certain fact. "There were... seven of them."

The boy sighed, his shoulders sagging. Jacen noticed this and prepared to tell Synje that they didn't have to talk about if he didn't want to. But before he could open his mouth, Synje continued.

"The locked wing, besides all the information I found... the rooms were... were amazing. Some in an awe-inspiring sense, some in an interesting sense... and other just in a sickening sense. Me, being the curious little boy I was, poked around a bit after the Yuuzhan Vong left." A swallow of dry air, the Synje's hands went up in the air ahead of his eyes. He motioned loosely as he talked. "One of the rooms -- there were holes in the one of the walls -- up and down, all over it. Every size imaginable. Each one had lights coming through from the other side, a whole rainbow of colors. It was beautiful."

Jacen suddenly felt cold at those words -- the pallid light that bathed the two of them paling in comparision to the bright, vibrant lights Synje was telling him about.

"Something was wrong in that room. I could feel it. But did I leave? Of course not. There was a certain break in that wall that was begging me to inspect it. It would be about eye level on me now -- I had to drag a chair up to it then to stand on. It drew me in for one reason alone. The light coming out of it was the purest white I had ever seen. And it was such a welcoming color after living in the mansion, where white seems to be banned." Synje managed to smile at this point, even though his face seemed strained. "I went straight over to it, it's like I was drawn there, and pulled a fairly ornate looking chair to the wall. And I... climbed up and..."

The boy's breath faltered for a minute and his hands spread out before him, fingers splayed, palms up.

"It was the most beautiful thing ever... I saw a galaxy of peace. No war, no hate, no suffering. I didn't understand it much then -- I just knew it was something perfect. Something this universe could never achieve." His hands dropped, as did his chin, which almost hit his chest. "I don't know how long I was staring through that cut in the wall... but... something... came out of it. To this day I don't recall what it was. Liquid, light, something living. I don't know."

He sighed, "But the next thing I knew, I couldn't see. And I was crying blood for days. I could taste it."

Jacen Solo hadn't even realized his mouth had been hanging agape, or that his eyes had been stuck open -- until he blinked to moisten his brandy-browns after Synje had finished his tale. It had silenced him completly, it was appalling and intriguing at the same time. "What did it look like...?" It was all he could stammer out, and didn't realize till after he asked it how cold and selfish he probably sounded.

Synje obviously didn't take it that way as that childish smile slipped across his face. "Sometimes I think it might've been worth it, when I recall how it looked... it's impossible to describe."

Solo began to nod, when he remembered Synje couldn't see that and agreed. "I can imagine..." His mind drifted back to Synje's opening to the recollection, his hands planting themselves on his hips. "So how much did you find out about these 'Paladins'?"

"Only a bit before I found that room. I'm sure all the information is still over there. But I understand why the wing was locked now. Everything I saw -- after this happened to me, my mind raced back to everything I had seen and picked out things that might be as dangerous as that little white fracture in the wall... I saw so many beautiful things as I wandered around... and I figure that others could hold just as nasty of a secret as that wall, some possibly deadly. They didn't seem like a very nice bunch of people."

Jacen's silence led Synje to his next statement, "You're going to go explore over there, aren't you?"

"Of course," Jacen said lightly, his voice taking on a much happier tone than his gut was telling him it should.

"Well then you should get some sleep then, oh Hero of the Galaxy." Slipping from the edge of the fountain, Synje planted his feet on the ground and turned, his hands shooting straight for where the painting sat.

"You're right." His eyes catching the painting once more, Jacen's hand caught on Synje's shoulder. "Who is that? In the painting, I mean."

"Oh!" Synje's face brightened a bit, his cheeks flushing slightly in the moonlight. "Her name is Kanah. She's beautiful, isn't she?"

His words struck a chord in Jacen, who knew Synje was painting from the mind's eye, but still wondered exactly how his painting could look exactly like the girl he had seen in the refresher. Exactly like her. "She is," he responded, a sudden shiver creeping up his spine. Realizing how distant he seemed, he added, "Your work is extremely detailed, you do a wonderful job." It was true, Jacen could definitely admit that. But the girl didn't sit right with him.

"Thank you very much." The boy couldn't help but beam as he tucked the painting under his arm and started towards the entrance back into the mansion.

Jacen followed, quick on Synje's heels. "You're very welcome."

They parted ways once they got inside after saying good night, Jacen almost jogging back up to the quarters he shared with Tenel Ka. Suddenly something seemed very ominous about the hallways of the mansion, like it was some big creature, alive and teeming with spite. It had swallowed them whole and Jacen realized Synje seemed to be the virus inside of it, the only shining spot in this seemingly endless void of malevolence. He was quick on his feet as he entered the quarters, quickly spinning around and smacking the panel to shut the door behind him. He took a moment to catch his breath, resting his forehead against the cool wood.

"Where have you been?"

Solo jumped and spun around, slamming his back into the door. A sigh of relief slid from his pursed lips as he saw Tenel Ka sitting up in bed. Even though they had been in small scuffles and petty arguments since they had gotten there, none of it stopped Jacen from cracking a lopsided little grin at the disheveled Queen Mother, who was sitting in bed with blankets swathed around her and strands of copper hair sticking up.

"What?" She finally asked, sluggishly trying to pull herself out of the blankets.

"Nothing." Jacen kicked off his boots as he walked over to the bed, crawling into it and flopping onto his side, pulling her back down next to him. He grabbed the blankets with her and covered himself up as well, the heat from her body hitting him as soon as he lifted the comforters.

"Where have you been?" She repeated.

"It's a long story."

"I have time."

"I don't. I'm tired. And we have lots of work to do tomorrow." The half grin grew wider as Jacen invited himself under the covers and settled in, shutting his eyes.

Tenel Ka stared at him, stone daggers silently and repeatedly sliding across his face. She knew he had come back and left again, breaking his word to her. But for some reason she couldn't get angry with him.

"Oh," he exclaimed, his eyes opening once more. He leaned over, planted a kiss on the Queen Mother's forehead and then settled back down, nuzzling his head into the pillow. "Good night, Your Majesty."


FINALLY. Okay. XD And I should have a new original short story up here very soon! (Hopefully at some point before the end of this week~ :D)