DOOM!

I know it's so late and so short and totally filler --- the reasons I took so long to post it. It's been written forever and just sitting there on my hard drive. But here it is now! And this means I can get into the meat of the story and start writing all the crazy now! ;D



part XI: THE PREPERATION

By the time Jacen Solo opened his eyes the next morning, Tenel Ka had already emerged from the refresher, her barefeet sliding across the floor as she clasped the top closures on her jumpsuit.

"Morning," he murmured, greeting her.

She corrected him, "Afternoon."

Jacen pulled himself to a sitting position, the heels of his palms rubbing against his eyes. He didn't really know how to begin telling Tenel Ka of what happened to him last night and all the things he heard from Synje -- but luckily she brought up something herself that gave him a way to unravel the conversation he had with the boy the night before."What is this?" Tenel Ka padded over to the edge of the bed, handing him a datapad and an old-fashioned cardkey she retrieved from the nightstand.

Peering down at them for a moment, it took a bit before Jacen's still groggy mind told him to read what was on the datapad. It wasn't much, which he realized when he finally focused his eyes on the dimly lit screen.

I trust you both will need this. I'll be in the courtyard if you need me. And be careful.

It was signed by Synje and that's what snapped the trigger in Jacen's mind when he glanced to the key. "This is the key to the locked wing of the Manor."

Setting both items back on the nightstand beside him, Jacen patted the bed, motioning for Tenel Ka to sit down. He relayed everything that Synje had told him the night before about his eyes and the people who owned the property before and all that -- but for some reason he still left the part out about the girl he had seen in the refresher. It just didn't seem right to bring up at this point, and Jacen still didn't know if she was real or if he had just been hallucinating.

As the two asked each other questions and pieced together things Synje had told her at dinner and him afterwards, it was nighttime across the galaxy on the planet of Hapes.

But that didn't mean Gadell Vessau was asleep.

Seated on the low sill of one of the picture windows along the main corridor of the west wing, Vessau was very much awake. His deep blue eyes drifted out across the gardens below while his feet were up against one side if the window frame, his back against the other.

He had turned into somewhat of an insomniac lately. But instead of complaining about it, Gadell took the opportunity to enjoy the Fountain Palace in a virtually empty state. Guards were posted outside, at all the main entrances like always, but the hallways and corridors were empty -- no handmaidens, no council, no guards, nobody. He would watch the moons, wander up and down the hallways, mumble to himself. Lately he had found himself grabbing one of Ta'a Chume's old pieces of "art" from Naboo -- which had just been big, gaudy balls of thin colored transparisteel -- and dribbling them down the halls, kicking them and tossing them around. He knew Tenel Ka didn't care about them. And Isolder wasn't fond of them at all, so he figured he could get away with stealing the "art" and using it for his own amusement.

He sat there now, reclined in the window sill, a piece of Dornish fruit in his left hand which he would occaionsally lift to his mouth to nibble at. He counted four of the seven moons -- the other three hiding above the Palace -- and sighed slowly, his eyes drifting shut momentarily.

The fruit slipped from his hand and bounced to the floor, rolling a few feet away before Gadell's eyes shot open and he jumped a bit, realizing he had almost fallen asleep. He was quite pleased with this fact, seeing as how the night was almost over and he had gotten no sleep yet. Pulling his barefeet away from the window frame, he swung them around and planted them in the carpet, preparing to stand up and wander off to his quarters to attempt to catch the sleep that had snared him in for a few moments -- he stopped when his head raised from the dropped fruit to the person standing above it.

Gadell's vision was blurry and the only light in the hall was the moonlight streaming through the large picture windows along the corridor. But he saw a woman standing there. He could tell by the curves -- and he saw red hair.

That was all he could see before she dashed off down the hall as he rubbed his eyes to clear them. By the time he put his hands down, she was sprinting off into the dark passageways of the Palace. "Tenel Ka?" He called after her.

She looked like the Queen Mother to him, from what he saw. But of course, how was that possible? She was with Jacen on Fondor, right?

Bounding up from the window sill, he forgot all about the dropped fruit and scrambled off after the redhead.

Jacen Solo was dealing with his own redhead at this point, back on Fondor, as she paced silently across the room, piecing together stories.

"So you think we might find some interesting things over in this locked wing?"

"Oh definitely." Jacen sat on the edge of the bed, turning the key over and over in his hands.

"But you said Synje mentioned it being dangerous -- and obviously from his story, it is. Why are we risking it?" Tenel Ka stopped, her eyes drifting to the ceiling as she spoke. "We didn't come here to get ourselves killed. Gadell suggested we just come here and look around a bit. We did. We found Synje." She paused, finally letting her gaze rest on Jacen. "We should take him back. We should not leave him in this death trap." Motioning with her right hand towards the direction of the locked wing, Tenel Ka gave up with her pacing and sat on the bed beside Jacen.

She had still felt something odd about the place, something tugging at her. But what had happened to Synje, how he lost his sight, it wasn't something she wanted to experience -- nothing of that sort was something she wanted to experience, and this manor seemed to be crawling with such things.

"Why take him back? He's used to his life here, he might not want to come with us. He's survived here fine for this many years..."

A look of disbelief struck Tenel Ka's visage as she turned her head towards him, her eyes wide. "He has survived fine? Jacen, he lost his eyesight because of something in this building. That is fine to you?"

Jacen didn't speak for a moment, as his hands continued to fiddle with the key. "Well, you know what I mean."

With a sigh, Tenel Ka dropped her chin to her chest. As much as she hated to admit the manor made her feel uncomfortable, she couldn't stop acknowledging the sense of familiarity about the place. And part of her wanted to know why. "I guess we will go then." Her eyes trailed to the key in Jacen's hands, where they stayed locked for a few moments.

He stood and handed it to her, her eyes following it as she took it between her thumb and forefinger. Jacen entered the refresher without looking back at her and proceeded to get ready as quick as possible. He could already feel the adrenaline working itself up in his system as he splashed water over his face.

A little less than a standard hour later they both found themselves standing in front of the main door to the locked wing, similar jumpsuits on, equally similar grimaces on their faces. Their lightsabers hung at their waists, just in case.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jacen motioned to the entrance, his eyebrows wagging as he peered over to Tenel Ka.

She began to open her mouth to reply when she stopped and just glared back at him, deciding to go ahead and deliver her response. "You have the key."

"Oh..." Instantly, Jacen's hand went to his pocket, where he fished between small snippets of flimsiplast and lint for the key to the locked wing. "Yeah." Once he pulled it out, he stuck it in the slot in the middle of the door and left it there, slapping the button beside it. The door seemed to suck the key further into the hole after that, as it melded with the surface. Depressing into the wall, the door slid aside, revealing a long corridor, the end vanishing into darkness. Thick air burst out, melting over them as they stood clenching their fists and squinting their eyes -- it was a musty air with an almost disturbing scent.

The hall was lit at random intervals by dim lamps, some of which flickered a tad and some of which were just out to begin with. They could see offshoots and entrances to other parts of the wing if they looked hard enough in the pale light, but the musty air that seeped out and hit their faces just caused them to turn to each other, blank stares pasted on.

The high vaulted ceiling and the empty corridors made Jacen's heart slow with dread. Just what was this wing used for? Why had it been shut off?

Synje didn't seemed too phased by the whole thing when he spoke of it the night before -- of course, he had lived in the Manor for many years and had probably given up caring and falling into his own way of living. But to think that there was this whole other side of the building that he hadn't been in since that accident with his eyesight. There had to be a reason he had locked it back up. If he was even the one that had locked it up.

Tenel Ka shifted forward first, her right foot landing on the carpet in the hall -- a small cloud of dust kicked up, snaking up her leg. She took a few more steps forward, head darting back and forth, eyes moving up the walls and down the corridor. A shudder ran up her spine at the heavy air. "Come on."

With a deep inhale, Jacen followed her and they both meandered into the darkened wing.

Elsewhere in the Raoull Manor, the noise of a paintbrush on canvas stopped.

She was behind him now, her arms slipping around his neck as she stared at his painting.

"Do you like it?" Synje inquired quietly. The warmth from her body was the only response he needed and he shifted in his seat, letting her arms settle around his neck, her chin sitting on his head. His paintbrush hesitated in the air for a few moments before he set it down and moved slightly in her grasp. Her chin mussed his hair. "They're in the locked wing."

He could sense her body tense up around him, but she said nothing. And that was when Synje pulled himself from her and stood, leaving his paint to dry and marching out of the room. She followed him a ways, but stopped and gave up when she realized why he was leaving so suddenly.

Kanah figured she would leave him to his calling. They were here now. Her people.


A J/TK short story coming very soon as well. :D