Blood Bound to Blood

[Arla]

The Trials had finished, and Arla had immediately taken the pendant down into the bowels of the temple, a workspace where she knew she wouldn't be interrupted and where she knew that she could be alone. Alone to think, alone to study, and alone to... well, just generally try to figure out what had just happened.

She set the pendant down on a table and then sat at a chair, staring at it for what had to have been minutes as if it might reveal all of its secrets with a long enough period of silent interrogation.

It did not. But it did give Arla time to sort through her thoughts, which she began to do out loud after a few moments.

So I'm in charge of the Trials and Raze shows up. That's not a coincidence. No way, so he planned that, she began, talking to the amulet as if it might be able to confirm some of her suspicions.

But why? Did Mother tell him? Well, obviously he showed up to give you this, but... well, what is this? she asked, once again motioning to the amulet before getting up and beginning to walk around the room.

Okay, let's think. He wants to give me an amulet, but we've never met or spoken before. So it's either because of his relationship to Mother or his relationship to Dathomir. Maybe because I'm going to be Queen someday? That's why he wanted to know if I'm planing to go my own way, right? she said, nodding and deciding that made sense.

Okay, so it's got to do with me being Queen and him being the Fanged Spirit's representative. He's bestowing his blessing on me? she said.

That makes sense, she said, nodding to herself and walking over to the amulet on the table. So... what's it do, then? she asked herself as she started to examine it more closely.

 

[Arla]

As Arla turned it over in her hands, there was still no mistaking the amount of power that was within it. But how to unlock that power?

Ustupi i otkroy! she commanded in Dathomiri, though to no avail. The amulet just continued to sit there. It wasn't shocking that it didn't work, but it was like trying to break into a house without having at least tried to see if the door was already unlocked.

She pulled out several ingredients and lay them across the table, tracing runes along a set of summoning parchments.

Sestry, ya vzyvayu k vam. Prinesi mne svoyu silu otkroveniya i prislushaysya k moyemu prizyvu. Obryadom krovi ya prizyvayu tebya, she said, summoning the Spirits of her dead Sisters to help her and channeling her own power into the ink on the pages.

Green beings began to fill the room, flowing around her though invisible to the naked eye. Arla could see them. Second Sight allowed her to perceive all of those who were around her whether living or dead.

I need to know about this locket. Anything that can be told to me, she said in Dathomiri.

It is of very fine construct, the voices said, mixing together as one and echoing throughout the room. The lights seemed dimmer or more distant as she spoke to them.

It is made of our own power, a connection of Spirit and blood, the voices said, and Arla found herself turning over in her mind what it meant exactly. So it was made with Nightsister magick.

We will say no more, said the spirits before melting back beyond the Veil.

 

[Renfry]

Renfry liked to give the impression that she knew everything that went on on Dathomir. It made her more difficult to defy, and gave an aura of terror that she'd found useful as Empress.

The reality, though, was that while she knew most of went on on her planet, she didn't know everything. She didn't know, for instance, that Raze was going to show up while she was gone. She'd heard the reports before she'd gotten back, but the fact that Arla didn't call her - and wasn't dead - was a good sign at least.

Raze had visited Arla. Emryc and Renfry's relationship had been... a bit strained for many years now. The reality was that she knew if he asked, she'd still burn planets down for him. Whatever tensions or frustrations or even resentment there was there, they had built a relationship with roots that ran deep.

She had always wished he had been more involved in the life of their daughter. Or rather, that he had been at all involved in her life. She suppressed a hope that this was a sign of something changing. She knew Emryc too well, and the fact that he hadn't outright killed Arla years ago was... probably about as good as she was ever going to get. She had tried to raise the young woman not to think of her father at all, but she was fairly certain that some of Renfry's own negative emotional issues had transferred over.

When she made it down to Arla's lab, she could sense the swirl of energy and emotions from inside. She cracked the door and looked inside, sensing the swirl of Spirits as they left the room.

You seem busy, my little gizka, she said as she saw that Arla was coming down from the high.

I heard you had a little surprise during the trials, she said.

 

[Arla]

Arla jumped slightly as she heard a voice behind her, turning with relief to see that it was just her mother.

Don't scare me like that! she objected with a scowl, those same silvery eyes that Renfry knew so well from Emryc staring back at her.

Did you know Raze was going to be there? she asked, frowning now and wondering if this was all something that her mother had been in on from the beginning. But if so, why?

And do you... why would he come here? I know he was your Dark Lord and he has connections to Dathomir from your conquest and after, but... why would he come to see me? she asked.

Or give me this, she added, holding the amulet up for her mother to see and handing it to her.

 

[Renfry]

Renfry smiled as Arla leapt in surprise, it was that glowing smile that only Arla could really produce in her.

It faded slightly as Arla asked if she knew that Raze was going to be there. No, I didn't, she said, practically already able to feel the slew of questions her daughter was going to ask her. An inquisitive and relentless mind was something she came by honestly, and Renfry knew there would be no shaking the questions that would come her way.

And then those concerns were all washed away as Arla held up the amulet. She frowned a moment, head tilting to the side in puzzlement. She reached out and took the amulet, and the moment it touched her hand, she knew what it was. It was... her breath caught in her throat for a moment. She knew what it was because the basis for it had come out of her grimoire years ago. At the time, she had lacked the power to make anything of the sort, and so it had all been theoretically. She had never been able to overcome the hurdle of syphoning from an unwilling participant, but now that she held it in her hand, she understood. It worked because Emryc was willing. He had willingly given a piece of himself to her daughter. Their daughter.

Her teeth clenched together and she turned away to "regard" the amulet, though the reality was that it was merely a cover so her daughter wouldn't see the tears welling in her eyes.

She reached up and put a hand at her chin and then her mouth. It slowly snaked up to wipe the tears from her eyes. He... he gave her this, she thought. She knew how long it had to have taken, and how many years he must have worked on it. How long and painstakingly he had crafted every piece.

After several moments, she turned back to Arla. It is exceptionally powerful. It won't hurt you, she said, as if guessing Arla's thoughts. Quite the contrary, it took many years to forge, she said, handing it back to her daughter, who seemed to look more confused now than ever before.

 

[Arla]

Arla watched her mother, but she couldn't read a single thing from her in the Shadow. Never had been able to and her mother was... quite adept at concealing things when she chose to be. There was no question that the amulet had impacted the Queen one way or another, though again, why, Arla didn't know.

When she turned back and gave it to her, she was... well, she was as cryptic as Arla had ever seen her. Of course, there were things that Arla didn't know about her mother's life before she was born, but there weren't many things that she refused to tell Arla. In fact, the only things she'd ever come across that her mother refused to answer questions about were certain techniques she didn't think Arla was ready for, the occasional ISB operation from the past, and her father.

The thought struck Arla, but she dismissed it as preposterous. Raze being her father was just... too out there. If that were the case, Mother would have told her. No, her Father was some Sephi loser who had abandoned her Mother.

So then it was something to do with powers that Arla shouldn't be toying with? But her mother wasn't telling her to stop? It had her mind churning.

What is it? You haven't told me why he gave it to me? What's... what's the history here? she asked, her gaze deadly serious as she took the amulet back.

 

[Renfry]

Always the questions, and... if Emryc hadn't given her the amulet, she probably would have told her. Told her who her father was and why he had taken an interest. But no, he had given this to her without explanation for a reason and Renfry... wasn't going to destroy whatever small father-daughter bridge was being built.

He left it for you. As a puzzle or a test if you want to think of it that way, she said. The implication of the statement was clear: a test for you to figure out alone.

She knew her daughter was as relentless and stubborn as she was... perhaps even more so. She would find the answer to the amulet, and when she did... well, she would be in for a surprise.

Get to work. It should keep you busy for a while, she said with a smile. She turned to leave the room, and as she did, the tears began to fall from her eyes. Tears of joy and hope. Tears that knew how long he had worked on that amulet and tears that now understood he had always thought of her at some level.

As she ascended the stairs, she pulled out her comlink and typed a message to Emryc. She's hard at work. You'll be seeing her again very soon, was all she typed at first before she paused and added another line. She knew it was a line he probably wouldn't care about but it was something she felt an urge to say all the same.

And thank you.

@Sreeya

 

[Arla]

There was definitely something here that her mother wasn't telling her. Had he tested her in such a way when she came to power as Queen? No, Arla doubted it. That had been very different. And why would Raze care about testing her at all? Just to make sure she would make an adequate Queen?

No, something deep in her gut told her there was more. As her mother handed the artifact back to her, she took it, watching the other woman turn to leave and she was once again left alone with the amulet.

She set it back on the table and looked at it.

A puzzle, huh? she said, looking down at it. He'd asked about her grimoire, maybe that was a hint? A suggestion that something she knew or had learned would bring to light what she was supposed to discover.

She grabbed the book and moved over to a chair, starting the slow process of thumbing through for something that might be useful.

 

[Arla]

She thumbed through the pages of her grimoire. Summoning-type divination hadn't worked, and she didn't see any markings or runes on the outside of the amulet. In fact, it looked relatively "normal" if it weren't for the fact that it exuded great power.

She turned it over and over in her hands as she kept flipping through the book. So it was infused power through Words of Power maybe? Or empowered inks? I wonder if it's still got any of the echoes, she thought to herself, flipping back through the book quickly to try to find any spell that might reveal those lost echoes.

Otkroy pravdu, chtoby ya mog vosprinyat, she said, focusing in on the Shadow, and letting her Second Sight take hold once again. Whispers of words seemed to echo in the air around her.

Blood. Channel. Firstborn. They were each in Dathomiri, but all spoken in a man's tone. A man's voice she didn't recognize or know, but she knew who it belonged to. It belonged to the man who had forged this amulet.

Blood, channel, firstborn. Firstborn? She set the amulet down once again, staring at it as if it were going to jump to life.

No, no, no, no. That can't be right, she said. Was it true? Raze couldn't be her father. But why not? Why couldn't he be her Father? In fact, didn't it make far more sense for it to be him than some no-name. Of course her mother had become pregnant by the representative of the Shadow that walked in the galaxy today.

She looked inward, and her soul told her it was true, but her mind refused to believe. It failed to fill in the gaps that were missing, and take hold of what was quickly becoming an inescapable fact.

 

[Arla]

Arla sat back heavily in a chair and didn't move for what had to have been minutes. She tried to think back to everything that had happened. She tried to think back about the stories that she had heard about Raze and her mother. The conquest of Dathomir, the faith her mother had placed in him, and his appearance now. Maybe... maybe he wasn't just protecting his interests on Dathomir.

Kriff... she muttered to herself. It explained... some things, and she couldn't decide if it made the entire situation more or less painful. He was Dark Lord of the Sith, and surely had responsibilities that consumed much of his time, but she could no longer write him off as some flukey loser.

So he had just chosen to not be in her life. Or had he?

I began crafting it 21 years ago. The words struck her, this time taking on a very different meaning than when she had first heard them. He had started making it for her when she was born. He had... thought of her. Of course he had never been in contact. He was the Dark Lord of the Sith. Surely, any attachment he might form - if he could form any - would be a risk to him. Was his bestowing this on her an indication of... pride in her?

She couldn't be sure... she didn't know him at all, and certainly not well enough to read him. But she knew someone who did.

 

[Arla]

Arla marched up the stairs to her mother's room, amulet now hanging around her neck. Despite not knowing what it did yet, it held a certain sentimental value that she knew was childish and foolish. And yet, she wore it anyway.

The door was open and she marched inside, unsure if she should be angry at her for not having ever told her this, relieved to know the truth, or something else entirely.

Raze is my father, isn't he? she blurted out, her gaze intense and harsh. That's why he came to see me, that's why he made this, she said, eyebrows drawn down into a frown.

Why did you never tell me? Why did you just let me assume he was some loser? Why... her voice caught momentarily in her throat ...why didn't he want anything to do with me? she asked. But she knew that question was wrong. There was more afoot here than she knew. She knew there was something she didn't know.

And why now? Why bring this to me now? she asked.

 

[Renfry]

Renfry could feel the swirl of hidden emotion that was her daughter approaching before she saw her. The anger, the shock, the frustration, the... affection. She turned to see Arla standing in the doorway, demands and questions quickly being made.

On some level, it hurt her to see Arla upset, but on another, she was beaming with pride. Pride that her daughter had figured out the first step, and pride that she had turned into such a capable woman. Pride and hope that one day, she truly would be ready to take the throne and rule their people with skill and grace.

He is, she said, letting the words sink in for a long moment.

I never told you because it wasn't my secret to share. In time you would have found out or I would have told you or... she motioned to the amulet ...he would find his own way to tell you, she said.

How to answer the other questions that Arla had asked. It was no simple thing because of the rich and deep history that existed between Emryc and herself. Emryc: an identity Arla had yet to even unveil.

Your father is a complicated man. Far, far more so than almost anyone in the galaxy realizes, she said. As for why he waited until now, I guess he decided you were finally ready, she said. It was an unsatisfying answer, and if it weren't for the amulet itself, she might have said thought it was that he simply wanted nothing to do with her. But there was some part of him that knew that wasn't true.

Keep digging, Arla. You've only scratched the surface of the truth about him and about that artifact, she said.

 

[Arla]

Well, those hadn't really been answers that she'd received, though the confirmation that it was true that Raze was her father was still... hard to swallow.

She had only scratched the surface? What did that mean? She knew in her gut that there was more to find, but she didn't know what that would look like.

You know I will, she replied. She would dig and dig until she was satisfied. Until she had her answers because she wouldn't tolerate anything less. She'd come too far, and apparently, been born to too high of a station for anything else.

She made her way back downstairs, and her mind continued to churn through possibilities. What could she do next to uncover more about this artifact. Channel, blood, and firstborn.

Blood, she muttered to herself. And channel. What's channel mean? she asked herself aloud, returning to the lab where she had done her work so far.

Channeling something. Magick? Intelligence? she wondered aloud. Well, she could deal with that in time... for the moment, blood was the easier to deal with.

She moved over to a corner of the room and grabbed a needle, poking it into her arm and drawing out a small amount of blood, only a few drops before placing them on the amulet.

Cherez krov' ya probuzhdayu tebya! she shouted, lettting power flow through her words, through the blood, and into the amulet.

 

[Arla]

As her blood mixed with the power that flowed through her and the amulet that lay in front of her, the Force around the entire temple began to shift. It was perceptible to everyone nearby, though the exact source was likely only identifiable to Renfry.

The power that was being felt was the amulet as its energy synced with that of Arla. By blood it had been unlocked, and only by the blood of its creator could it be synced. The blood that flowed through Arla's veins.

She could feel it touching her as soon as her blood had come in contact with it, like a dam on a river waiting for the water to pour through to provide power to entire cities. That was what the Force was... what she was through this thing.

There was a sense of anxiety as she waited for what would come next, and somehow she knew she needed to activate it. She needed to actually allow it to flow through her, to become the vessel for this power.

She took a deep breath, bracing herself as she reached out to the pendant. Obryadom krovi ya vzyvayu k tebe! she said, letting her power, her identity, and her rite as blood relative and first born flow into the pendant.

It was like a floodgate, and somewhere across the galaxy, Emryc (@Sreeya) would be able to feel a surge of power flowing away from him and to some place else. As if flowing down a chute that had been opened for the first time that began with him and ended with her. In that moment, he would know that she had found a way to activate the amulet and tap into its power.

And for the first time in her life, she would be able to feel a power like she had never experienced. It was as if her arms were not her own, but prickled with a power that could reshape the galaxy. That could cast down a mountain through sheer determination and willpower. In that moment, she thought she could have leveled Brighthome itself if she so chose.

But it wasn't just power, it was an understanding. She could feel an icy breath down the back of her neck that she immediately recognized. She turned, but no one was there. It was the same presence she had felt when Raze sat next to her. It was a cold and calculating dispassion that weighed the cost of each things and each life as if they were nothing but numbers. Everyone was a tool, everything was a weapon, and it all played into the greater plan.

But beneath that... was something else. Another mind, hardly what one would consider soft or affectionate, but not the raw, animalistic violence that was Raze. It was silver, and it... did feel. Those feelings were deep buried and rarely expressed, but she could sense them nonetheless, as distinct from Raze as anything she'd ever felt, but nonetheless tied to him in a way. They were intermixed as to be inseparable.

The flow of power became more distant, those two minds that were one shrinking further away, but even so there was... a tether. Perhaps to call it a bond was too strong, but she could sense him in a way. Even now from across the galaxy, the faintest thread connected them, and she knew she would follow it. She would find the man on the other end. After all, that was why he had given her this item.

 

[Arla]

Arla focused in on the lingering trails of that connection. She could sense it connecting them, and she knew that she had to follow it. Wherever it might lead her, that was where she would find... her father.

It was a surreal feeling. After all these years to finally know who he was. To finally have met him and to have finally had him begin to step into her life. It was... odd.

She knew she would chase down this lead though she also knew she needed to know what she was looking for on the other end.

She began to pack up her things and slipped the amulet around her neck, heading to her ship and following that thread of a trail to find the Dark Lord of the Sith.

//Thread