A Matter of Concern (Closed)

[Josiah Rendar]

*Josiah sensed the anger inside the young man, which disturbed him as well as disappointed him. So far into his training, Darius should have already been able to overcome becoming angry during a simple conversation. Clearly the boy did not understand what was being taught to him, and clearly his item had a hold over him that had the potential to become destructive. Josiah no longer had the time or patience to try to work information out of the apprentice, so he knew that it was time to be blunt. Given the nature of what the boy had just said, it was clear that bluntness was something he would understand.*

“I make it a point to know all I can about the few species living on our world,” Josiah told him, “so I do know about your kind. What you are now, however, is Bendu. When you become a member of the Bendu Order, you forgo simplicities such as race. Your heritage becomes the heritage of the Bendu. Your priority is to be a metaphorical son of The Skywalker. However, if you expect me to understand or even allow the behavior that you’re portraying here now, I suggest you stop lying to me about what you’ve found.”

 

[Solus]

River winced. He couldn't help it, he had angered Josiah Rendar, who had thusfar been kind to him. The words had just slapped a bit of sense back into him, and had flickered the sudden fear that he had felt. However, this fear overcame the anger he had felt.. now knowing what he had to do... and what might be done.

"High Priest... I..." he said, unsure of what to say. "I... I have heard from my sister of a thing called 'addition' or 'addiction' or something. She says it's when somebody's body craves something and when he doesn't get it, he goes through a 'drawing' or a 'withal' or something. It is very bad, she says. I have a need like that. I need to drain others' life. I had it once and it's been unbearable since. It comes and goes like lightning, and the only thing keeping it from taking me over before I can lock myself up is this," he said, holding up the emerald pendant. "I... I am terrified what I would do without it."

 

[Josiah Rendar]

*Josiah stopped listening to what Darius had to say after he heard the words “drain other’s life”. He could have been wrong, but to him that sounded as if he had literally drained the life out of another living being. If what he thought happened after that was true, Josiah had very few options.*

“You drained someone else’s life,” Josiah asked as he shot up from the ground. “What happened to this person?”

 

[Solus]

((You are scaring me, Bac))

Terror coursed through his soul. What was Josiah going to do to him? "It... I... He... died - but it was a long time ago! I've been fighting it ever since, I've regretted it all my life." He said, grasping the pendant.

 

[Josiah Rendar]

((Prepare to be scared again.))

*Josiah winced at the comment, hoping that it wasn’t so. He even hoped that after the words had been said, the boy had simply told him a lie. Yet, the Force of Others told him that it was so. The person was dead and Darius was responsible. While Josiah stood up and walked over to the window to look out into the grasslands and the capital city, the winds brought him only one option. Though he had wished it wasn’t so, he had no choice.

He turned around and took a few moments to look into the boy’s eyes. They were filled with fear and confusion, something that Josiah expected. However, his position as High Priest obligated him to carry out the laws of the Bendu and the laws of Kal’Shabbol. He stepped away from the boy and opened the door to his chambers. As he made a signal towards one of the guards, the guard stepped into the chambers and stood at attention as he awaited Josiah’s orders.*

“Guard,” Josiah said, “please escort the boy to his chambers. Post guards at the door and at every exit in the area. Make sure he doesn’t leave.”

*The guarded nodded and stepped over towards Darius. When the guard stood behind the boy and waited for him to stand, Josiah turned back to him and also waited for him to stand. If the boy was able to sense the thoughts of the High Priest, he would not have sensed anger or hatred or frustration. If anything, it was the one emotion that crush the person who sensed it more than anything else.

Absolute disappointment.*

 

[Solus]

That hurt.

All these years without incident... and now he was being locked away? Like some mental? Like a criminal?

Strangely, River, though inexperienced as he was, could not feel any pride or discrimination in the High Priest, and it was maddening.

"I came to you for help," he said, very quietly. "I was told of my sensitivity and here I am. I have been successfully fighting it ever since, it's hurt but I've done it, somehow. Now I am shut up like a rabid animal, thank you for your trust, not that I really trust myself, but I don't live like some monk," he said, feeling indignation within him again, but he knew that it was unwise, and again buried it. However, that left his void filled with nothing but hurt. "Lillianne forgave me. Lillianne was trying to help me. If she knew what you say, it wouldn't surprise me if it made her sick. The Ussej the First himself turned to the Bogan, once. Should you have locked him up for fear when he returned? Or do you not remember your own order's history?" he said, betrayed, though not angry. Without another word, he stood and followed his warden out the door, leaving Josiah there.

The door to his chambers shut behind him, and he could hear the bolt click. He turned back to look at his prison door before bowing his head and falling to his knees in agony.

An animal, that's all he was, an animal fit to be caged. Some beast one should mount above their door, something to be left alone and let loose in the woods, left to eat and be eaten. Locked away forever, to be viewed behind bars. He looked up at the ceiling in utter hopelessness.

:: Lillianne... say it isn't true. Please say it isn't true... :: he said, reaching out to the only confidante he had.

 

[Josiah Rendar]

*He could not begin to imagine how Darius was feeling, but at the moment it didn’t matter. All that mattered at that point was that a man was dead and Darius was responsible for it. Josiah was not a judge in a court of law, so he could not pass judgment, but as the leader of the Bendu Order he could still hold someone under house arrest without a warrant. All he needed was the admission of guilt. He did not know if Darius was dangerous, nor did he know if he was a flight risk. Because of that, he had no choice but to keep Darius in his quarters for the time being. If he didn’t, he had no idea what could happen. However, he knew that he had to talk to Lillianne. He had already asked her to meet him at the beaches the next morning, so that would seem as appropriate a time as any.*

((First, I’m going to move this to Story, since this is definitely a bigger plot now. Second, I’ll have my conversation with Kelly in the thread “Choices”. I just have to edit my post in there to reflect that. So, unless Solus has something else to say, I'd say we're done with this initial thread.))

 

[Solus]

((I suppose... but I would really, really like Kelly to post before this is completely closed down))

 

[Brandon Rhea]

((Well, it's never going to be closed as in locked. I was referring more to being done between you and me and all that.))

 

[Solus]

((Perhaps. We shall see))

 

[Lillianne Crasse]

Lillianne had been following her own studies when she heard the desperate voice of her apprentice calling out to her through the Force. Alarm filled her as she quickly stopped what she had been doing and made her way toward the place where she felt him.

"I'm coming," was her simple response to him in her reassuring tone.

As she rounded the hallway and made her way toward River's quarters, she saw the guard posted at his door.

"What's going on here?" she asked the guard in her usual pleasant tone, yet with eyes glittering with a fire burning deep within.

"The High Priest's Order's, ma'am."

Pulling her shawl over her shoulders, she raised her head slightly to the guard. "Let me in, please."

OOC: I'm assuming there's no restrictions on people seeing him...only in his leavig the room.

 

[Josiah Rendar]

*The guard was unsure what to do. His orders had clearly been to keep the apprentice locked in his quarters under house arrest until further notice, yet the High Priest had said nothing about visitors. The guard turned away and pulled out his communicator and contacted the High Priest, hoping to clarify the situation. When he received his reply, he placed his communicator back onto his belt and turned back to the Bendu Knight.*

“Five minutes, ma’am,” the guard told her. "Not a second more."

 

[Lillianne Crasse]

Lillianne nodded her head and waited as the guard stepped away from the door. Knocking upon the door before entering, her eyes swept across the room until she found River. Slipping inside, she tried to close the door, hoping the guard wouldn't object.

"River? Are you okay?" she asked him, concern filling her words and her expression.

 

[Solus]

River was sitting on his bunk, staring at the opposite wall. At first, he mad no response to to Lillianne, but then he bowed his head in shame. His eyes were dull, as if there were no soul behind them. His eyes shut as he spoke.

"I deserve this, don't I?" he said, quietly, "... are they going to kill me?" His voice was hideously resigned as he went on, his soul in turmoil at the admission of every word, "Are they going to exile me? Keep me from all sentient life to meditate on what I've done?" he'd heard of that being done before, and it frightened him, "I don't want to be alone, Lilly. Please, I don't want to be alone..."

 

[Lillianne Crasse]

Lillianne didn't know what to say to his first question. Her mind wondered what had happened between the High Priest and her apprentice. This had never been her plan when she first went and spoke to the High Priest.

Heart breaking as he admitted not wanting to be left alone, she stepped forward and knelt down before him.

"Kill you? No, River," she told him, shocked that he could even believe such a fate could befall him in these halls. "This was never my plan," she said as she reached a hand out to touch his face gently. "I'm sorry, River. I was concerned about your safety..."

"You are never alone, River. Remember what I taught you under the tree? We are all linked." Pausing to look behind her at the door, she finally continued in a lower voice, "I can't stay long. The guards have given me only five minutes with you.

"Take heart, though. I meet with the High Priest tomorrow. I will talk to him about this and see if I can clear things up." She paused again as she looked at the despair within his eyes. "Don't give up, River. If you need anything, anything at all, you know how to reach me."

 

[Solus]

At her touch, his eyes wandered over to meet hers as she knelt before him. It shocked him, that she would do so, and he was compelled to kneel with her, so they would be level. "Linked," he repeated, softly. How could he think she only meant him harm in telling Josiah? When at last she was finished, there was a flicker of hope in his eyes.

"Are they like you, Lilly? Or are they like him?" he asked, wondering if he was to be set up with some kangaroo court.

"Lilly," he said, gain, reaching for the chain about his neck, and lifted it off from around his head. He placed the pendant in her hands and shut them, "I know it's what he wants. Just take it. Only promise me you'll leave the room very soon. I don't want anything to happen to you, Lilly."

 

[Lillianne Crasse]

She smiled as she saw a flicker of hope in his eyes. "We are all as Yahweh created us to be. Each person is different. I don't know what happened in your meeting with the High Priest, but I know he means the best for you, the Bendu and his people. Don't lose your faith in him just yet. Give him time to understand."

As he took off th ependant, she looked at it somewhat warily at first, yet finally opened her palm to receive it. "I don't fear that you'd harm me, River. I never have, nor will I ever. You and I will find a way together to help you overcome your need to feed upon others. You'll see. The Force of Others lead you to us for a reason. You are one of us now, River."

 

[Solus]

It would be a difficult thing, to try to understand Josiah, especially since it didn't look like the High Priest was going to return the favor. "One of you?" He repeated after her once more, though, now, at last without the pendant after so many years, he could not help but feel drained and weak, with the echo of the writhing backdrop of that small flame of hunger reverberating in his ears and throat so much more loudly now.

"You and me... I like that," he said with weak grin before becoming more serious once more, "Though I don't think I could ever bring myself, even under an attack, to eve do anything to you, I can't promise the same about anyone else," he sighed, sorrowfully, saddened by how little time she had left to spend with him, and by what he had to do next, now that the worm of need was crawling up his throat, eating at his mind.

"Get out, Lilly. I can't fight it much longer."

 

[Lillianne Crasse]

Lillianne hesitated answering this time, a noticable pause, yet the guard knocked on the door interrupted them both from their train of thought. A looming dread began to fill the room instead.

Lillianne reached her hand out to his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Smiling at his response, she looked deep into his eyes. "You can fight this, River. You're training has taught you the way to fight this. Turn your struggle inward and let your mind focus upon the Force of Others and draw upon it. You must focus now while the hunger is at bay still."

As the guard opened the door, not wanting to have to drag Lillianne from the room, she finally stood and turned her head to nod at him. Giving one final glance to her apprentice before leaving, she spoke again, "focus."

Saying nothing else, she finally turned her back and left the room. As the guard shut the door behind her, River was left alone to his own devices.

 

[Lillianne Crasse]

A full day had passed before Lillianne graced the hall outside River's room. Her words to the guard seemed muffled, yet his leaving footsteps echoed in the hallway.

Slowly, Lillianne opened the door to River's room, not wanting to disturb him. "River?" she asked in the darkened room, finally stepping fully inside, believing he would never harm her.