A Father's Blade: Chapter Nine

Tahiri groans, wakening to a fog clouding her senses and a throbbing pain situated in the center of her forehead. She struggles to remember where she is, what she was doing, but the last thing she can recall is ordering the Corellian whiskey at the cantina the previous night. She sits up in the bed, clutching the sheet to her chest, and takes a moment to look around.

It's a simple bedroom, containing a dresser, a wardrobe an open door which appears to lead into a refresher and a closed door which Tahiri assumes leads to the hallway. The only oddity is that the far wall is a huge mirror.

She stretches out with the Force, but it is still oddly clouded, and she turns inwards, focusing on her own body. She frowns as she discovers the toxin which has built up in her system.

I've been poisoned.

She tries to stand, but instead falls down, bouncing off the bed and landing on the floor with a grunt. She opens her eyes, and is rewarded by a close view of the carpet, resisting the urge to vomit as it seems to move and squirm in front of her.

A loud voice seems to thunder at her from everywhere at once. "You'd be best served staying right where we put you, Tahiri."

And I'm being watched.

She tries to raise her head, frowning as she scans the corners of the room, trying to find the camera, even though she knows it's probably too small to be visible to the naked eye. The movement of her head causes a wave of dizziness to slash through her head and she allows it to drop back to the carpet, exhaling slowly.

She bolts awake as hands grab her shoulder, brusquely yanking her up off the floor. Her eyes travel down the tattooed covered arms until she finds herself looking at the mass of scars, tattoos and open wounds which is a Yuuzhan Vong face. His markings reveal that he is a member of the Intendent caste, and Tahiri strikes out, slamming the heel of her palm against the exposed cartilage of his nose.

The Intendent grunts in surprise and drops her. Tahiri lands on the bed, and tries to stand up, waves of dizziness slamming into her again. She falls back onto the bed, closing her eyes trying not to throw up.

Again, the thundering voice, "You need to behave, young lady."

She lifts her head, glaring at the mirror. "I'm going to kill you."

The voice doesn't reply, and the sound of a door closing draws her attention from the mirror. She looks around, noticing that the Intendent had left the room. She sighs, and drops her head back onto the pillow, staring at the ceiling, trying to use the Force to purge the toxins from her system.

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Noelani happily wanders from shop to shop, keeping an eye on the sun so that she can return to the hotel room before dinner time. She looks up from her wandering, finding herself standing in front of a junk shop. She twists her nose slightly and glancing at the wares for sale in the window steps into the dim interior of the store, her opening of the door is accompanied by the tinkling of bells.

"Wizard." Her voice is silent with awe as she looks around at all the various tidbits of technology strewed around the store. She steps closer to the wall and picks up a flattened dish, with a single large glass visual sensor facing her.

"Wow, this is a Serv-O-Droid DUM-series. This thing must have been around during the Clone Wars."

"You are right on that youngling. That droid has sat in this shop for nearly sixty years now. Far as I know, it still works."

Noelani looks up from the pit droid to see a hulking, aged Cathar behind the counter, his honey-colored fur interspaced with patches of whitish gray, especially around the muzzle and through his mane. He wears a red tunic with gray and black squares around the collar and arm cuffs, and is leaning on the counter. Noelani smiles at him, hoping it doesn't maker her look like prey.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. I was just looking around. I hope you don't mind? I love stores like this; you can find all sorts of interesting things in them."

The Cathar chuckles loudly, "I do not mind at all youngling."

At that moment, another Cathar enters the shop from a doorway with steps leading up towards a second floor. Noelani looks at her, noting the familial resemblance with the elder Cather, a sort of similar shape to the muzzle. Short honey colored fur covers her exposed skin, extending to the slightly deeper warm brown of her mane. Yellow eyes shine with an inner light and she is dressed in tight fitted leggings and an equally tight sleeveless shirt. Wrapped around one exposed arm is a thin circlet of gold, matched by a band of gold hanging through one of her ears.

The elder Cathar smiles at the newcomer. "Ah, Lyrvar, how are you this fine morning?"

Lryvar eyes Noelani for a moment, before turning to the shop keeper. "I'm fine this morning." Lyrvar looks at Noelani once again, and she has the distinct impression that the young Cathar is considering her prey. "I must attend to some things, Father."

Without another word, she brushes past Noelani, bumping her and knocking her against some of the broken machinery which lines the shelves. Noelani scowls at the feline alien's back for a moment, at the shopkeeper chuckles once again.

"Pay no mind to Lyrvar. She is still young and I'm afraid the fire in her blood might be a touch to strong for her to be a shopkeeper like myself."

Noelani smiles for him again, as she says, "Oh, it's not a bother. Actually, what I'm looking for is ideas for a design."

She turns away, and begins poking through the odds and ends on the shelves, hunting for something, but not quite certain what it is.

"What are you going to design?"

She glances up at him again, beaming in her pride. "I'm gonna build a lightsaber."

She notices the Cathar raise an eyebrow slightly. "Those are powerful weapons, youngling."

"I know…. but it's okay, because I'm a Jedi. Well, a Jedi apprentice at least."

The big cat smiles, razor sharp incisors flash in the stores lights. "Ahh. A Jedi. We Cathar have long honored the Jedi. Our history tells us that before our planet was destroyed millennia ago, many powerful Jedi came from the Cathar." The shopkeeper chuckles to himself. "But what does a kit such as yourself care of the ancient history of an alien people?"

Noelani tilts her head slightly as she watches the alien. "My Master tells me that history forgotten is destined to be repeated, and that is why we so often have to fight the same war over and over again."

"Your Master sounds wise. I am Drago."

Noelani walks to the counter on which the Cathar leans, and sticks out her hand. "My name's Noelani, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The Cathar's paw seems to engulf her hand as he shakes it, and Noelani can feel the powerful muscles, as well as the tips of his sharpened talons. After a moment, she withdraws her hand and continues looking around the shop.

The bells attached to the door tinkle once more, and Noelani turns that way, her breath catching in her throat as she sees the Yuuzhan Vong warrior strolling into the shop. The warrior looks around him at the machinery; disgust rests undisguised on his features. His living armor glistens sickly in the stark light of the shop, the gray of his flesh seems somehow even more sallow under the fluorescent glare than it would beneath a natural light.

Drago's lips curl back into a silent snarl. "I thought I told you that you were not allowed into my shop again Rulmon Yah."

Noelani can feel her fear pounding at her heart, and she glances around, trying to find a place to hide. Not finding anything, she presses herself further into a corner, hoping the warrior doesn't look her way.

Rulmon Yah walks to the counter, and Noelani realizes that Drago has pulled himself to his full height, and seems to tower over the warrior.

"I do not take orders from you, Infidel. I have come to resubmit my offer. Turn your daughter over, or we will take her."

Noelani can feel the Cathar's anger, and a low growl seems to come from him. Finally he speaks. "Leave."

Rulmon sneers at him, and turns away from the counter, and towards Noelani. He freezes as he spies her, and Noelani takes an instinctive step back, every part of her screaming that she should run from this warrior.

I'm a Jedi!

Noelani steels herself, pushing back her shoulders and meeting the warriors gaze head on. Rulmon Yah glances at Drago, his sneer growing wider. "I think I might be able to buy your daughter a bit more time, Infidel scum."

Drago moves so fast that Noelani is unable to track him. One moment he is behind the counter and the next he is up and over it, his claws extended and slicing at the vonduun crab armor which the warrior wears. The warrior is faster though, and slams his fist into the back of the Cathar's head. Drago crumples to the ground, and the warrior pulls out a coufee.

"No!"

Her scream echoes in the small shop, and the warrior glances up at her.

"Don't worry human. I've not forgotten you."

Noelani reaches into her hair and pulls out the stokli spray stick. Her hair falls out of its braid as she aims the weapon. As she depresses the small trigger a stream of grayish-white goo flies out and slams into the warrior, wrapping around him, pushing him back against the shelves.

The spray stick beeps once, an indication that it's empty, and Noelani allows the weapon to drop from her hands. She stares at the warrior who is glaring at her, and Noelani belatedly realizes that she sprayed his mouth and nose shut.

She turns from him, and kneels beside Drago, concern etched on her face. "Are you all right?"

The big Cathar heaves himself up, and looks at the Yuuzhan Vong, who is beginning to go into convulsions. He looks back down at Noelani.

"I am just old, youngling. Though I must notice that our guest appears to be lacking a way to breath."

Noelani bows her head slightly. "Yeah, I noticed also. There's nothing we can do now though. That was a stokli spray stick. Even if we wanted to get it off it would take at least a half hour." Noelani turns towards the warrior, noticing that his face has taken on a blue tinge, and offers him a shrug.

Impassively, she watches as he fights against his bonds, his struggles growing in desperation as his oxygen runs out. Finally after about five minutes, his eyes roll back up in his head, and his struggles cease. Noelani knows that he is only moments away from dying, and she is not certain if she is happy about that or not.

Drago's large paw lands on her shoulder. "It is never good to watch death claim someone, but if you are truly in training to be a Jedi, it is good that you watch the repercussions of your actions."

Noelani frowns at the warrior's still form, and then shakes her head. "That's not why I watched."

Noelani tucks her head down, trying to hide her shame and the tears that begin to burn her eyes. "I… I wanted him dead. And not just because he was attacking you."