Down in the Dark (Zanja)

[Zanja]

Zanja shoved her hands deeper into her pockets and hunched her shoulders as she approached the two men. "Yeah--uh, yes, Master Orgus?" The young Zabrak's eyebrows set in a determined, rather pugnacious line, though she tried not to frown. "What's going on? Everyone's acting weird."

[Faily]

"Are they? How strange," he said without his usual wit or humor as he approached her. Jaric in the meantime stepped into the room they had been standing outside of.

Orgus put a hand on Zanja's shoulder. It felt more like the kind of hold to make sure she didn't bolt right away, and less like the reassuring squeeze the masters often used. "This is not an easy situation, Zanja..."

[Zanja]

"What?" Zanja shrugged Orgus's hand away impatiently, unable to hold still with such a heavy feeling in her gut. Also, why was it so cold? "Just tell me." Whatever. Whatever. I can handle my own shit. No matter what.

[Faily]

He didn't beat around the bush since she wanted it straight. "It has been discussed among the masters, and it has been agreed upon that you are unfit to continue your training with the Jedi." Orgus face was stoic and hard. "You do not belong here."

There were sounds of footsteps approaching from the other side of the door where Jaric had gone in. "But we have secured a new future for you, for you to continue your training."

[Zanja]

"... Okay." Zanja's voice was gruff and hard, her frown stony. Making a scene was out of the question. She pulled her hands out of her pockets and crossed her arms tightly across her chest. "Do I get to know why?"

Haven't I tried?? I did everything you told me. Well, as much as I could. What the hell, whatever... She wouldn't want to stay where she wasn't wanted, anyway. Where people were looking down on her.

[Faily]

"It is sometimes the way it is. You wouldn't leave a nexu cub to be raised by nerfs, after all. Sometimes... we must return things to where they belong."

The door opened as Orgus finished speaking, and three people wearing the marks of the Sith empire with lightsabers in their belts stepped out and approached. The master's hand touched Zanja's arm. Firmly.

"Here she is, my lords," the Jedi Master said to the Sith. "She was always one of yours."

[Zanja]

"What?" Zanja straightened up in sheer indignation. "What the hell? You're just gonna hand me off to them?"

Shit, is that what they think of me? That it's already too late?

[Faily]

"We are returning you to were you belong," one of the female Sith spoke, a Zabrak like herself, but with the red skin pigmentation and harsh black lines tattooed on her face. "You are far too wild and unpredictable for the jedi to handle."

Orgus tried to nudge Zanja forward to them. "It is for your own good. You never liked it here anyway."

[Zanja]

"That's not true!" Zanja balled her fists defensively and stepped away from Orgus, caught between the two groups and looking as if she was ready to take them both on at once. "I liked it fine. I thought I was doing it all okay. And I don't want the likes of you to 'handle' me." She fixed the Zabrak woman with a fierce scowl. "If the Jedi don't want me, I don't need you either. I'm not some piece of meat you can hand around."

[Faily]

She heard master Jaric behind her. It seemed they had almost surrounded her. "And where would you go then? You don't have anywhere else you belong."

[Zanja]

"So what? People like me..." Zanja swallowed, feeling her heart beating in her throat. "People nobody wants got to make our own place. I'm not going to go be a toy for the Sith to break." I can disappear and none of you will ever find me.

"I'm out of here. If you're stopping me, stop me." Suddenly the ring of people was overwhelmingly claustrophobic, and Zanja felt almost as though she couldn't fill her lungs properly. She turned on her heel, looking for a spot to break through.

[Faily]

It was Jaric who grabbed a hold of her arm. "And this is why you could never be a jedi," his voice was as harsh as his words, "you don't listen, do as your told, not even your duty."

His grip was like durasteel. "Take her away. I don't want to see her again."

[Zanja]

Zanja tried to wrestle free, though it seemed hopeless--Jaric was bigger than her, and somehow impossibly strong. "Why do you care?" she demanded, voice cracking. "You don't want me, so why do you care where I go?" Wildly, she looked over at the group of Sith--were they enjoying this? Or would they reject her, too?

[Faily]

The trio of Sith did seem mixed in their reaction. One of them seemed horribly amused by Zanja's distress, while the Zabrak and the other one looked on in disapproval. Maybe they were indeed doubting taking her in too.

"At least this way, we'll know where you are, in case we need to find you again when you stir up too much trouble. As you are prone to do." He roughly handed her over to the Sith, the two on either side of the female Zabrak stepping forward to grab a hold of her too.

"Good riddance," Orgus murmured.

[Zanja]

"Yeah, well, same to you," Zanja muttered, swallowing hard. She forced her body to relax as the two Sith grabbed her. So I'm a nexu? Fine, nexu can lay low. Though she was more ready to use the next chance to bolt than fight, her heart beating terribly loudly in her ears--why. why. why. why. why. But there was nowhere to escape right now, at least no opening that she could see.

[Faily]

The female zabrak leaned close to Zanja before they took her away. "In time, you will break free of these chains. Remember; peace is a lie - there is passion, and through passion you'll gain strength, through strength you'll gain power, and power will break your chains. Embrace this hate of yours, and you'll grow strong."

And she was brought into enveloping darkness. For a long time, the light remained on Orgus and Jaric as she was taken away, but the darkness soon consumed them too.

The smell of mineral-rich water filled her nostrils as the vision faded...

[Zanja]

Zanja stood in the darkness, shivering a little. She wrapped her arms around herself and glared into the empty cavern. "What the hell," she whispered to herself. I thought this was going to be angry rancors or red-hot pokers or something. What in the volcanic hell was that? She made herself breathe more deeply, then almost gagged on the cave-water smell.

She groped for the cavern wall to help her find the way out, moving much more cautiously than when she'd entered.

[Jaric Kaedan]

The light outside was warm and welcoming of her as she stepped out of the cave.

Outside, Jaric was sitting on his knees by the entrance, in meditation as he had been waiting for Zanja's return. He noticed her approach and looked up to her, his expression for once calm and not so hard. "You have returned, Zanja."

[Zanja]

"Uh... yeah. Yes." As she spoke the words, Zanja felt an intense sense of deja vu. Jaric had been there, in the cave, and she'd greeted him in exactly that way, and... she frowned at her circling thoughts.

"Yeah, it was... different than I expected."

[Jaric Kaedan]

"Different than you expected?" he chuckled dryly. "I'm not sure what you expected..."