"Waking Dreams"
Nieme Yaresh - Chef for The Rhack
Location: Thanatos
Date: Praeda 16, 4 ABY

The midday sun was especially garish and scorching today, and not even the cloak shrouding her could keep its rays from penetrating her fair skin. The layer of lotion she'd applied before leaving her hovel helped to keep her skin from desiccating like a long dead targeyve lizard left to rot in the sands. She tried to find an optimal pace with which to walk, one not too fast so she wouldn't work up a sweat, and one not too slow so she could escape the heat as quickly as possible.

Once she'd fallen into a steady, even gait, Nieme wound her way through the bustling town, weaving her way around townspeople walking leisurely about. They didn't seem as bothered by the heat as she was, even though she'd lived under the unrelenting Thanatos sun all her life. It was that way for her a lot lately, though. Her senses always seemed especially conscious of the intangible aspects of the world surrounding her, and sounds, colours, smells...all were magnified and seemed drawn to her as if she were a reservoir from which they were tapping some ethereal power, one that transmutated them into almost substantial counterparts to their undefined forms. The intensity of each newly defined sensation was always physically burdensome to her; they bombarded her like a torrent of water from an opening floodgate, and perceiving so much all at once taxed her after a while.

It was the same with the scorching sun today. If her senses hadn't been especially heightened today, the sunlight wouldn't have plagued her as much as it was. But every beam that managed to find bare skin caused a twinge of pain to the point where she was certain her flesh was smouldering. The longer she stayed outside, the more discomfort she felt. It wasn't like that everyday, for which Nieme was grateful, but when she was afflicted by it, she tried to find some way to cope. She couldn't put her life on hold, nor would she let it control her.

She didn't enjoy being confined within her small home, no matter how comfortable and accommodating it was. She enjoyed being out in the streets, taking in the sights. Thanatos may have been a barren desert, save for all the inhabitants and abundance of lizards, but to her, it was the epitome of raw, natural beauty. In New Plouton and the rest of Tae'Karada, the potential held within the dry, infertile sands of Thanatos was brought to fruition by the terraforming; if such beauty could be derived from such inhospitable a landscape, Nieme knew that beneath the surface, Thanatos must be just as beautiful.

Nieme smiled as she passed the tenth vendor selling dried fruit; there was no fresh fruit anywhere to be found in this part of the planet. Nieme would have loved to cook a dish with fresh Torna berries in a wine sauce, and although Orn had the resources to import them from Arcadia, the procurement of such an item would have cost a month's profit. It seemed costs to import anything into Thanatos was steep and most likely it was because none of the other provinces wanted to have any dealings with a notoriously violent and ignominious place such as Thanatos. Nieme resented the bad reputation the other provinces had given Thanatos, her home, but she had to admit, their opinions were substantiated time and time again.

So many murders went on in Thanatos that people stopped trying to keep track. Thefts were just as frequent an occurrence and there wasn't a person in Thanatos who hadn't had at least one of their belongings stolen from them at one time or another - except for, maybe, the street thugs. The number of gangs in Thanatos seemed to be growing exponentially, which only exacerbated the violence. It seemed whenever there was a murder, it was linked to one of the gangs, and more often than not, the violence was directed towards members of another gang. The other provinces were right to fear dealing with Thanatos, fear that the vile wickedness of the place would spread through theirs like a plague. They didn't understand, however, that violence wasn't an affliction, it was inherent in all; Thanatos merely provided the proper environment to nurture such tendencies.

No matter how low the opinion of Thanatos was in the minds of the politicians and citizens of the other provinces, Nieme knew it was the people and not the landscape that was evil; it merely harboured those who were descended from the original settlers of the planet, those who were enslaved by the new rulers who landed on Tae'Karada. Their past alone made them prone to violent tendencies and bitterness towards the Arraegans - who were now the citizens of provinces such as Arcadia and New Plouton - but their rage was only turned against their fellow citizens in Thanatos. Nieme was always disheartened by that. She wasn't certain about her genealogy, but she knew she too must have been descended from the original Karadans. She identified with her people in Thanatos and knew that with a little organization and a proper leader, they could turn the province into a more hospitable place and a more respectable one.

Her thoughts were invaded by the sounds of a scuffle somewhere on the street. Without even casting her eyes upon the scene, she knew the source of the commotion was probably another fight brewing between the local gangs. It was about that time of the day, when all the gangs were out in the daylight, marking their territory and trying to antagonize and intimidate the other encroaching gangs. Word on the street lately had the Feltreys in the forefront at the moment and as she finally glanced up and focused on the fight going on before her, she knew the Feltreys were becoming more aggressive in their attempts to gain power. She'd seen their leader before and recognized him now as she watched the fight. His shock of white-blond hair made him stand out from the rest, as well as his perverse enthusiasm in inflicting brutal punishment upon those rival gang members who dared infringe on his territory. He seemed to be driven by an unquenchable bloodlust, one she could feel emanating from him. The sudden wave of sick pleasure he derived from pummelling the defenceless boy turned Nieme's stomach. She hastened her pace to get herself out of range of the negative emotions he was broadcasting and to find some shelter from the violence.

***

Nieme was still feeling unsettled by all the raging emotions around her and decided to cut her daily excursion short. There was only so much hate and violence she could tolerate without feeling physically sick. She was especially sensitive today, for some reason, and couldn't escape the rampant emotions drifting along with the dry, desert breeze. She headed back for her small hovel, gripping her churning stomach, but was stopped dead in her tracks by a blood curdling scream. The shrill cries - a woman's voice - resounded in her mind with a painful intensity. She slapped her hands over her ears to drown out the sounds piercing them like tiny daggers and staggered as the pain within her mind intensified.

Looking around frantically, she tried to determine the source of the screams, but nothing. They seemed so close, yet Nieme saw nothing. No one else wandering the streets seemed to notice. Not one head turned nor did anyone look at all startled. Living in Thanatos and being exposed to so much violence everyday made them complacent, but they were still fascinated by the violence and no matter how desensitized they were to it, even they still flocked to a scene of violence.

Nieme looked around at all the blank gazes, unaffected by the screams that were still assailing her ears. As the cries continued without relenting, a veil of darkness descended over her vision. Nieme began to panic as her sight was blinded to the world around her and her hearing was consumed by the screams. She staggered, aimless and disoriented, as she desperately tried to shut out the noises and find some light to guide her from the darkness. Nieme's heavy breathing mingled with the cries as her fear and desperation rose. She couldn't see and all she could hear were the woman's piteous cries, but as she felt a scream growing in her own throat, an image flashed across the darkness. A man... A dagger... A pair of blue eyes with a horrified gaze... A cloud of dark red liquid suffused through the blue pools as the dagger came down upon her.

The man's face was a distorted reflection in the now blood-red eyes of the woman whose screams had suddenly ceased. The vantage point suddenly changed and Nieme found herself staring face to face with the man. His smile could chill water and his eyes...his eyes held a darkness she could see emanating straight from his soul. His dagger went up again, dripping with viscous globules of blood, as his lips curled into a sinister smile. Nieme tried to cry out but her voice dissipated in her throat. The dagger came slashing down upon her and Nieme's body jerked with the expected pain that should have been coursing through her body from the impact.

As a splattering of blood spilled across her vision and blotted out the man, Nieme's cry finally broke loose. The light of the midday sun cut through the red veil over her eyes and all heads turned in unison in the direction of a shrill cry down the street that drowned out Nieme's. Many of the citizens turned and flocked towards the screams with the sick fascination she'd learned them capable of. She too felt drawn by the curiousity that drove them, and moved with the crowds towards where the cries had once originated but had now ceased. Loud murmurs arose in the crowd as they gathered around the entrance to the small alleyway from where the screams had arisen. Fragments of words drifted through Nieme's ears. "So much blood... Not another one... Anything valuable on her?"

Nieme pushed her way through the thick aggregation of onlookers, fearing what she would see on the other side. As she got to the forefront of the crowd, Nieme covered her mouth and choked back a sudden acidity rising into her throat. The desert sands were darkened by the blood soaking into it. Lying lifeless atop the bloodied sands was a woman in ragged clothing riddled with holes now and stained with the same blood seeping into the sands below her. Nieme apprehensively let her eyes wander up to the woman's face. She'd never seen a dead body this close before, but as she looked into the woman's piercing blue eyes, she saw the light that must have once resided there truly burnt out.

The eyes... They stared back at Nieme almost imploringly and with an almost accusatory gaze. Why didn't you help me? Where were you when I called out to you? Nieme whimpered as the chill of the lifeless body permeated her and chilled her own. She staggered back into the crowd, unable to tear her eyes from the woman's, the woman from her vision.

As the crowd finally closed around her and severed her link with the dead woman, Nieme turned and ran. The tears streaming from her eyes stung as painfully as the guilt the memories of those blue eyes evoked in her. One of her visions had never become realized before, and had never been as powerful as the one she'd confronted moments ago. Nieme continued running, trying to escape those eyes that seemed to be following her now, blaming her. She wanted it to go away, she wanted the visions to leave her alone and torment someone else. She never asked for the waking dreams, never asked for them to haunt her, but the one thing she did ask for now was that they would simply drift away with the scorching desert breeze and leave her at peace.

---

"Not Ready"
by Kylas Thoamis and
Elisia Melouet
Location: Landro IV
Date: Praeda 16, 4ABY

Kylas walked in from the forest. He had been carrying a large game animal that he would have to butcher if the meat would be ready in time for winter. The winters were mild; they were extremely wet and hard to hunt in. He dropped the animal on a large table out the side. "Love, could you bring out my knives?" he called to Elisia.

Elisia dutifully found his knives and brought them to him. "Isn't that a little large?" she asked with concern. "I mean, I would hate to waste such a lot of meat."

"Not really, no. Butchered properly and cured, the meat can be stored and saved." He smiled and gently patted her belly lovingly. "You'll be eating a lot more soon."

"Saved? I thought we were leaving?" she asked with a frown. "You promised I could seek restitution and justice for Evie's death."

"Not yet, Love. You're pregnant with our child. I could protect you before, but with this...development, your abilities may be less focused and uncontrolled. I may not be able to protect you."

Elisia stared at him. "But you promised. I don't want to stay in this outback for 8 months. I want to find those who killed Evie and bring them to justice." Really, she wanted to kill them, but Kylas didn't seem to think that a good idea.

"Elisia, your own abilities are still not fully trained. As much as you have learned in the past months, you're not ready. And I am one jedi, I can't fight them and protect you from them at the same time. Not when you're carrying another who is force sensitive."

"I don't care. I don't want to stay here." She stamped her foot, her small hands on her hips. "How can we get married if we stay here?" she asked taking another tactic.

"We can get married at the settlement. You have to learn control and patience." He looked at her. "You cannot bring about any justice when you are consumed by hate."

"I don't want to learn patience. I want to go back to a city. I want to shop. I want... Oh, you don't understand." Elisia stomped off and threw herself down on the bed.

"What don't I understand? You want to be among people, to feel the excitement of city life, to have your life back, that I understand. But what you don't understand is that dangerous men are after you, and if they learn you are with child, they will no longer be concerned with tainting you but the child. You would be killed and our child taken. I can't hide us amongst that many people without the natural flow of the force disturbed."

"I didn't ask you to protect me," she snapped. "I never did." She didn't know why she was so angry. She frowned and wouldn't look at him.

"No, you didn't, but you have it whether you like it or not." He lowered the knife onto the table and walked out of the house to the pond.

Elisia watched him go, not sorry in the least. He had barged into her life and taken control of it. It didn't matter at the moment that he had most likely kept her from the very fate that had taken Evie. She was just angry, and the anger burned deep. Her emotions had been all over the place the last few days but this was the first outburst she had been unable to contain. Disappointment raged through her for she knew he would not take her regardless of whether or not she threw a tantrum.

He washed his hands in the pond. He frowned and walked into the house. "What do you want?"

Elisia looked up from where she had buried her face in the bed with surprise. "What?" His question had caught her completely off guard.

"I want to know what you really want, and stop lying to me. I can tell the difference, remember?" He looked at her for the first time with a look of disappointment.

Elisia fell silent. She couldn't answer him. "I don't know," she admitted finally. She wasn't sure in what context he meant and at first inquiry nothing stood out other than the desire to see people.

"So, you're going to tell me you want to endanger your life and the future of not just one but three people, because of a homesick whim?"

Tears filled her eyes at his harsh question. "I didn't ask for any of this." Anger surged. "From the moment Kace found me, everyone else has decided where I should go, what I should do, and who I should be. What I want... I want to find the person responsible for Evie's death. I want to make him pay," she answered. Elisia had no idea that Kace had been responsible for the ship exploding that had killed her sister and Dargus Kandran. Kylas could sense that her anger ran very deep.

"The reason why I am worried about you love, is because of this anger. To be a Jedi, you must control it. You're with child. If you try and attack, you're not only harming yourself but our unborn child. All I've ever wanted is to protect you from this." He shook his head. "But the truth is you're not ready to handle yourself out there against those kinds of foes."

"You will never think I am ready," she protested.

"Your skills, and your abilities are that of an experienced Padawan, and in that respect you are ready to face the trials. But for all you have learned, one thing you have not is the most important of all. You must learn serenity and control."

"A Jedi can never be angered or hurt." She didn't understand. She had felt his anger when he walked out.

"No, that's not what I mean. You cannot let your anger cloud your judgment. You want revenge on the one who killed Evie, nothing more."

"Haven't you ever wanted to make someone pay? They took my only link to my home, my past." Tears filled her eyes, but she would not let herself cry.

"No, because I know that vengeance only begets vengeance. You take one life and you lose a piece of yourself," he replied, "and it's a cycle that repeats on you. You kill a person, and their relatives or friends want you dead. Now, Elisia." He walked over to her. "You must have patience. You must learn understanding."

Elisa sighed. "I don't want to be understanding," she admitted. She knew it wasn't what he wanted to hear. But it was how she felt.

"And do you know who killed Evie?" He looked at her gently.

"No," she admitted.

"Then how can you even begin to think of vengeance when you don't know who to direct that anger at?" He looked at her.

Elisia deflated. "I don't know," she admitted. "I just feel so...useless here."

"You're right." He looked at her. "We are useless here, but in this state, we are useless anywhere else as well." He smiled and gently stroked her face.

"There is no one to even witness our marriage," she said. He could feel that this was a large source of her anger and pain at the moment.

"Then do you wish to return 'home,'" he asked her, "but not for revenge?'

Elisia sighed and finally moved into his arms. "No, because there is no one left there either."

"I know you're angry, Elisia, but until you can learn control, I can't protect you in a place where the Empire has control." He held her close. "It will come soon, I sense."

"What am I supposed to do till the baby comes?" she asked with a pout.

"You try to relax and let the force guide you to calmness," he replied and gently massaged her back.

"It isn't working. We have been relaxing ever since those beasts started migrating. I know, I know. Patience. I don't have patience. If I must have patience to be a Jedi, I may never be one." She leaned up and kissed him before he could answer.

He returned her kiss deeply. "You're a sneaky one. You just need to have patience and learn more about yourself." He smiled.

"Are you still mad at me?" she asked worriedly.

"No, my love. You just must learn patience and control above all else." He smiled and looked at her. "You need to harness your strength and be prepared before you can go fighting." He looked at her and smiled.

"Why is it that you always ask of me the one thing that I can't give?" Elisia knew that patience was not something she had ever had.

"Because it is the one thing you need the most," he replied.

Elisia sighed and buried her face against his chest. She had so many doubts and so many worries. That, mixed with the seething anger she felt inside left her feeling tired and worn out. "I will finish butchering the meat if you have other things to do. I would like to be married before I start to look pregnant."

"And we will. If you wish, we can head to the settlement. There is a priest there." He looked at her and felt her exhaustion. "No work for you," he said calmly and led her over to the bed. He laid her back and walked back to the storeroom and opened the ice box. He placed several icecubes into a small towel and walked back to the bedroom. He placed the ice on her forehead. "I want you to rest and let go of everything."

"I am not tired," she protested half heartedly as she tried to sit up, pushing away the ice. "I am not some delicate flower that needs constant care."

"Elisia, stop." He looked at her with concern and gently pushed her back down. "You have to rest, I can feel it. You're burning yourself out like this." He gently placed the ice in her hand. "Please humor an old man." He kissed her forehead gently and left to butcher the meat.

Elisia watched him for a moment, but for once, did as she was told. She laid back and before she knew it, fell fast asleep.

Kylas had finished butchering what meat there was and sealed it. He cleaned up and as he did, he placed a call to the local magistrate. He made the arrangements to have him preside over the ceremony and called a local friend at the settlement, Lucile, to hold it at her bar.

Elisia did not even stir. Her small frame had curled up into a small ball and she was sound asleep. When she was sleeping, her face lost all its worry and concern and she looked small and helpless.

Kylas entered the room. He smiled and walked over to a chair and sat and watched her sleep. She was so peaceful.