DOOM!

Part three! YAY! I don't know if I'm fully happy with this one really, I kind of wanted to describe more about what happens to TK, but then again I don't... cause I don't want to give too much away. XD BOOHAHA~



part III: THE ENTRANCE

"Gadell was right." Jacen skimmed over the datapad in his hand, glancing up every few moments to compare. "This place is huge."

Tenel Ka sauntered down the ramp after him and peered over his shoulder to where he was furiously scrolling left and up, tracing the outer wall of the technical readout that was present on the datapad. It seemed to be the layout of the buildings, but the glare from the diffused, yet still harsh sunlight kept Tenel Ka from confirming exactly what he was looking at.

"He says it's at least three times the size of the Fountain Palace." Jacen hadn't believed Gadell when he had told him that, but now that he stood in front of the massive place, he was beginning to agree.

"Mmm, exciting." Tenel Ka exclaimed in a bit of a monotone drawl. Her companion could sense the sarcasm laced within the comment. "And I still get lost in the Palace." She eyed the immense walls before them, over Jacen's right shoulder. "This should be quite amusing."

"Oh come on, Tenel Ka. I have a layout of the place in the palm of my hand. What could go wrong?"

The Queen Mother was quick to respond as she exhaled a sigh. "You said it youself in my office recently."

Jacen turned his head and peered to her, a puzzled look on his face.

"You are a Solo."

She watched as that lopsided grin appeared on his face, then she finished her thought.

"Everything could go wrong."

With a quick laugh, Jacen shut off the datapad and slipped it into the back pocket of his jumpsuit. They had left the ship in a small hanger, which was across a large courtyard that sat beside a side entrance to the chateau. The courtyard was barren. A fountain that had run dry what seemed like ages ago sat in the center, barbs of dead vine cutting dark lines in the pale stone. Jacen Solo tilted his head, letting his eyes linger on the black husks of what used to be flowers, then the weeds that tried to grow through cracks in the walkway.

He sighed. This place was already beginning to disturb him and they weren't even inside yet. He admitted that he was curious what happened to it, and the people who used to live inside -- and work at the shipyards... but a part of his mind told him to leave while he could.

Oh, he was just being paranoid again.

Right? He asked himself. That's it, right? Just a little unsettled, that's all.

Turning his head, Jacen wanted to see Tenel Ka - he just wanted to look at her. To know she was still there, to know he wasn't alone, to reassure him by just being by his side.

There was nothing.

"Tenel Ka?" He called out frantically.

She stuck her head out of the hatch, a relieved sigh sliding through Jacen's lips.

"What?"

"Nothing," he waved his hand and turned back to the courtyard. Stop being so jumpy, Solo.

Tenel Ka had retreated back into the ship and was in her bunk changing her clothes. She decided that Jacen, who had suggested jumpsuits earlier, had a good idea for once. Jumpsuits seemed more practical than Jedi robes when it came to exploring. No snags, easy to run in...

She paused in the middle of snapping the last few buttons around her collar.

Easy to run in... practical for missions and combat...

Was there something Jacen wasn't telling her about this place?

Emerging from the hatch moments later, she stood at the top of the ramp, rolling her left sleeve up over the stump of her left arm. "Jacen," her voice carrying across the courtyard, causing him to shift his head and look at her from his place by the fountain. He squinted against the sun and stared at her silhouette.

"Are you keeping something from me?" She paused, then threw a glance to the building, jabbing a finger in the direction it sat in. "About this place?"

Solo shook his head, resting his hands on his hips. His face took on that partially confused expression, letting Tenel Ka know that he was hiding nothing. "No, Tenel Ka. I know just as much as you. I've told you everything Gadell told me. You know I can't hide anything from you." He added a small chuckle to the end of his sentence, his expression becoming serious only seconds later. "Why? Is there something wrong?"

"No," she stated, ripping her gaze from the building's tall spires. "It is just that suggestion about the jumpsuits came at an odd time, I guess -- I thought maybe you had a reason for sharing the idea."

Another shake of his head caused a few locks of brown to fall into his face. "No, no particular reason. But you know me - better to be safe than sorry."

Tenel Ka felt the corner of her lip upturn. She did know him and part of her figured that was what the case was. She had just begun to wonder about it though, as she changed -- especially after seeing the place.

Pacing down to the ground, she reached back and punched a few buttons on the bottom of the ship which retracted the ramp and shut the hatch. She glanced around the hanger and hesitated, then exited through the open front out of the shadows. As she approached the center of the courtyard, Jacen peered up to her. He was seated on the edge now, the datapad in his hand once more.

"How's your head?" He inquired, standing.

Tenel Ka nodded and before she could get any sort of coherent thought out, Jacen continued prodding her. "What about your eyes?" Leaning in closer to her, he peered into her stone gaze, her eyes looking as clear and calm as they could -- what he was used to. Crossing his arms, the datapad rested against his side as he exhaled a sigh.

Fiddling with her equipment belt, Tenel Ka shifted her eyes down to it as she replied. "I wish we could find an explanation for it, but I would not know where to even begin. We shall have to ask one of the medics on Hapes, or one of the Jedi healers. But for now we can only hope it will not happen again."

Solo watched her fingers work over the belt she wore, over her lightsaber, over the blaster that hung behind it. Tenel Ka was a smart woman, Jacen knew this -- but he also knew that she seemed to want an explantion for everything. It was a good thing to want, but at the same time Jacen knew that not all things had an explanation. And if they did, sometimes it was an explanation you didn't want to hear.

Jacen swallowed a mouthful of dry air, his thoughts running to how serious that condition could end up being and he could see her again, in his mind -- the way the crimson seemed to bubble up into her eyes and take over. It wasn't something he ever wanted to see again. It might not have seemed that serious, but the image disturbed him so much that---

"Jacen!"

Snapping out of his trance, he tore his eyes from the ground and looked to Tenel Ka, who had called his name a good three times until now.

"Sorry." Jacen shook his head. "I was just thinking."

Tenel Ka could see the worry in his face. She changed the subject.

"So what did Gadell say this place was called again?"

He cleared his throat and uncrossed his arms, bringing the datapad up to where he could see it once more. The name was printed across the top of the screen in a basic font, the dark green breaking the sea of black that made up the face of the datapad. "Raoull Manor?" Jacen paused, peering over the top of the datapad to the double doors that made up the side entrance. He stared at the heavy wood as he spoke, "Gadell said Raoull was the family name. They were the family that inhabited this place for only a few years, and they ran the shipyards."

"Did they build it?"

"No. He said it's been here for years. He thought they built it at first, but more research led him to the conclusion that whoever lived there before them built this place." Blinking against the quiet breeze a few times, Jacen lowered his voice. "Then during the war it was all toyed with. The landscape ravaged, buildings destroyed, people killed."

Tenel Ka seemed to hesitate for a second, as if she was giving it all a moment of silence and peace -- then she motioned towards the entrance. "What are we waiting for?"

Solo paused, thinking and in turn just shrugged. "Let's go."

The two paced across the courtyard stopping at the large double doors. They smelled like Ithorian wood, which was always known to be strong and smooth. These doors were cracked and splintered. Scowling Jacen Solo slid the datapad back into his pocket and took hold of the handles, pressing down on the latches and pulling.

They wouldn't budge.

He tried once more. "Locked." Letting his eyes wander to the right, then left and then finally up above the doors, he nodded. "We'll have to find another way in." Jacen brushed his hands off against each other and took a step back, looking to the Queen Mother.

A slightly pained expression had taken over her face, her eyebrows were furrowed, her lips had thinned to a pale line and her right hand was absently running up and down her cheek.

"Tenel Ka?"

"Shhh..." She silenced him, her reply shaky.

He watched her as she backed a few steps away, her glazed eyes running over Raoull Manor.

If she hadn't stopped him, he would've shaken her out of whatever trance she was currently in. But he trusted her, something was happening. She shook her head slowly and dropped her chin to her chest. That was when Jacen took one step forward...

Tenel Ka collapsed to the ground.

"Tenel Ka?!" He was definitely going to intervene now. Kneeling beside her, he brushed copper locks of hair away from her face. Her eyes were open, calm -- she was perfectly coherent now.

"What happened?"

"I..." With Jacen's help she sat up. "I do not know. I heard a... it was a voice. I could not really understand what it was saying."

"Could you feel it through the Force?"

"Yes." As she stood, she narrowed her eyes, mentally demanding an explanation for this whole thing.

And storming up to the door, she grabbed the right handle and pulled it. The door swung wide open, with no trouble at all.

Her eyes widened as she turned to look back to Jacen, whose eyes were just as wide. His jaw was hanging open as well, working around words that didn't seem to want to come out.

"What?" It was all he could say.

"The only word I understood was 'open'..." Tenel Ka recalled from moments before, when the voice was drifting around her head.

With a slight gulp, Solo moved beside her and looked past the doors into the Manor. He didn't want to think about it now -- thinking about Tenel Ka and what had happened earlier, this 'voice' she heard didn't do anything to settle his nerves about the whole thing. He grabbed the side of the open door with his right hand, leaning on it. With his left he presented the opening to her, bowing slightly.

"After you, m'lady."

After smirking openly at him, Tenel Ka entered the chateau, Jacen right behind her. She knew that no matter what, his spontaneous playful nature would help keep her on track. And after she heard that voice in her mind mere minutes before, he and his occasional antics were exactly the things she needed to keep her calm.


I know I haven't explored the exact relationship between Jacen and Tenel Ka yet, they're just kind of there. Friends, something, who knows? We know they've been fighting quite a bit and stuff, but yeah. O_O We'll get to explore feelings within the next couple parts. XD