Reject the Codes, ferry the chaos.

[TweedPawn]

Gaunerei wished that he had a better place to train. The ash covered remains of Coruscant were being dampened by foggy rain, turning everything into a disgusting mud. Stone ruins peeked like the skulls of giants; their ribs made of pillars. No sun out today, even though it was high noon. Everything was overcast. Were it not for the calendars, Gaunerei wouldn't know what season it was supposed to be. It was sometime during the fall. Its chill was unexpected, but autumn was not its source.

Gaunerei waved a hand, moving the ash from under him, seeing the dead ground for the first time.

"just a little bit of water and care, and you may grow grass again." he said to himself. He dug into the earth, making it soft and loamy. The moist ground still stung his nostrils with cinder, but at least there was a chance of life returning.

"But I was summoned here to tend to other matters, my dear. " He sighed.

 

[GABA]

Ebberla wished Gaunerei picked a better place to train. The ash rained down from the darkened skies of Coruscant, the weather was always chaotic it almost seemed fitting for those of chaos to be present. A strong wind blew, rustling the black robs that Ebberla wrapped her body in order to keep the ash from touch her skin as much as she could. Fog set in along with a mist, soaking her faster than a heavy rain. With her was her droid, Arnine, in a new body and refitted in a former Imperial probe droid in order to cross terrain better than the astromech body had provided. The droid also was fitted a voice box, allow communication in basic to be possible as seen in protocol droids.

"Mistress, the ash will clog my joints, I wish you would have left me behind." It spoke, Ebberla quirked an eyebrow, she was wondering if giving Arnine a voice box was a mistake.

"Don't call me Mistress, you know my name, Arnine." Ebb replied.

"Just calling as what I see it, Mistress." the droid replied with cheek and Ebb ignored it meeting Gaunerei in a plot that was once the gardens used by the padawans before the temple's fall. There was so much pain on the dead world and she wondered if Gaunerei did this on purpose, to make her feel what she wished to push away. To confront feelings that she didn't have time for while the war played around them.

"Hello rabbit." Ebberla greeted Gaunerei, his own face already covered in the ash. Ebb removed a robe, letting it drop to the ground in order to move around more efficiently. "You asked, so you shall receive. As the god of tricks, it doesn't serve you well not to know how to work illusions." Ebb said wiping her wet hair out of her face.

 

[TweedPawn]

"So very true." He smiled as he looked at the dark image of Ebberla Daw. She looked like a queen cloaked in obsidian and shadows. He looked down on his own clothing and felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He was also given sith clothing to wear, and even with his skin painted, it did not suit him.

It was spun with slivers of silverish thread nestled amongst black fabric. It was made for fighters. It was loose, and short. Still, it reminded Gaunerei whose prisoner he was.

"I'm ready to teach others some damn respect."

 

[GABA]

Ebb smirked and Arnine floated to take shelter underneath a canopy made by rubble.

"Very well then. The thing to know about illusions, is knowing detail. If the detail is not there, then your opponent will be able to pick through it easily." The Force begun to stir as she held out her palm creating a lunar flower in her palm, "Pulling from your memory is helpful, remembering how it felt, how it smells, how it reflects the light, immerse yourself in your illusion, believe it as your opponent will believe it also." she explained and more lunar flowers blossomed in her palms, she brought them to her face recalling their fragrance and smiling.

"Illusions are as they are, illusions," she let the flowers trickle from her hands, the fell lightly and faded before hitting the ground, "They serve the purpose of tricking the mind for an escape or gain for just yourself."

 

[TweedPawn]

"Like a painting. Easy enough. But it requires concentration then? And energy. But that's the thing, you and I both know how powerful I can be, but I can't seem to quite tap into it without corrupting myself. Unless that is your goal." He raised an eyebrow. He reached out for the Lunar flower, before watching it fall and fade away.

"Usually, my illusions were just a facet to amuse myself, or taunt mortals. They were incredibly easy to make when I was dead. It was like having your fingers made out of brushes. Effortless. But now? well..." He produced a smoky apparition of the same flowers that Ebberla created. They were ethereal, ghost like.

 

[GABA]

"You're a powerful Force-user, Gaunerei." Ebberla started. She took a step forward, the Force beckoning to her call as the ground below her feet started to change, taking on the garden that used to stand where they stood. "You fear what your power can do because you have seen what your power can do. You have seen what others can do." Ebb withdrew her illusion, quirking an eyebrow.

"The corruption you feel is your own, the Force is powerful, but we still have the choice to pick how we wish to use it. Illusions and mind tricks are fickle in that manner, a minority of Jedi opposed any such use when I had first joined the Order." Ebb paused, feeling herself drift into thought as memories flooded back to her; her eyes left Gaunerei and fell on the sith temple in the distance as she recalled how it stood after reconstruction, but realizing Gaunerei was still listening to her, she closed up.

"Besides, there are simpler ways to corrupting you..." she took his palm looking at the flowers and shaking her head, "Not enough effort, share how you remember them, create them with the same intensity as you saw them for the first time. There is an emotional connection to illusions, but you must be the stronger person, do not fear. Know, and you won't be overcome." she explained.

 

[TweedPawn]

Did Ebberla understand what really drove his fear? What he had seen in the timelines? He didn't fear certain things, but he feared one thing in particular that seemed to find its way like a virus in every stream. The same virus that lurked in Gaunerei's deep subconscious, just waiting to be let out by some idiot.

But for now, that was safely locked away. Gaunerei closed his eyes, trying to remember what they looked like as he was mortal. They were plentiful back in his childhood. He had almost forgotten they existed until Ebberla showed up. It was hard to recall them right now. He usually used the Force to help him pull out those file cards of memory. But it was difficult to do that and summon an image at the same time.

"dammit, come on." he growled at himself. The Force churned in him, unsatisfied at the extra work that was coming. The flower finally formed, nearly perfect, but much better. But marks also burned themselves on Gaunerei's skin. He had attempted to force the Light. Wield it.

 

[GABA]

He was holding back, his frustration getting the best of him as he forced the flower to bloom in his palm. "Better..." she said, not completely satisfied, but he knew what to do, it would be up to him to fully accept his ability to do so.

"Illusions are not dark, they're not light, it is their purpose on how you use them. Now!" Ebb perked up, "Now, impersonating others, I developed a trick...You may look and sound like the person, but as we're connected to the Force, many don't realize we also feel differently." she explained as while pulling on the Force again. She closed her eyes, concentrating, her presence becoming light, care-free, but burdensome, as it will quickly appeal to Gaunerei that Ebb felt like Della in the Force.

"I call this Mirror"

 

[TweedPawn]

Gaunerei's mouth dropped, he was speechless at first. Then, he scooped Ebberla in his arms and swung her around.

"Mirror! No way! How did you figure this out on your own? This is incredible!" He was more than excited. He couldn't believe his luck at finding the one person who developed such a trick! Think of he could do with it. Ebberla had to either trust Gaunerei, or thought she could fully control him. There it was, that nagging flag in his mind that sought to harsh his good mood.

"And to think, how do I know you weren't Della all along? hrm?" He playfully teased.

 

[GABA]

Ebberla wrapped her arms around Gaunerei as he spun her around, he was elated and his excitement made her smile also. She stopped and thought for a moment to reply his comment, baffled on how to respond a serious, matter-of-fact answer. Looking away from Gaun, it hit her that he was playing and she blushed slightly to her misinterpretation.

"Well, there's a catch." Ebberla stopped him, quirking an eyebrow, "Depending on the presence you create affects your own presence in the Force. If you look to mimic an alignment, dark side or light side, it could possible corrupt your own presence in the Force." she took a step back, "For example, when I used to mimic Della, her light presence didn't affect my light presence at the time, however, if I mimicked, Thaed, I could be corrupting myself at the time."

The ripples of the Force begun to meld and fold to Ebb's beckoning, as she recalled how Thaed used to feel; it reminded her of durasteel of a ship docking in space. Cold, but hard, strong, forceful; it carried power and people knew to respect it. It sent a chill up her spin as she emitted the waves of his presence.

"Its easier to mimic others when you know them well. If you don't know them well, it may be hard to bypass their close acquaintances sensitive in the Force."

 

[TweedPawn]

Ebberla was so cute when she blushed. It was rare too, another reason for Gaunerei to soak in the sight. By instinct, he stepped back when he felt the presence shift. Ah, classic dark sided energy right there. But Ebberla's warning brought in a few questions.

One, was it the nature of Chaos or the nature of Order that caused the corrupting presence? And what did Ebberla define as corrupting? Gaunerei's mind ticked with those he had interacted with. Those who have tried to "persuade" him to finally serve the Empire fully. But at least Ebberla was warning him about this, and thus that had to be a sign that she cared for his wellbeing.

The second thing Gaunerei began to wonder, by imitating the presences of powerful Forces, were they strong or weak depending on who created them? He had to test this. If Gaunerei wanted to really stick it into this loser empire's craw, he was going to have to be clever about it. Still, get rid of the tracking, get rid of the one thing that would allow Geist to find him again. The rest, illusions, mimicry, and Gaunerei's own cunning, would solidify his security.

But his hubris still wanted to make sure, that whatever Gaunerei did, it was going to be with a bang. In any meaning of that word.

In the meantime, Gaunerei tried to recall the way Uriel felt. His presence was like a hot pot of soup from and old culture. There had been the sensation of comfort, the reminder of hands working hard in the fields, and the warmth of family.

"How is this? I can't do this too long, your subjects will get restless. But do you remember Uriel?" Gaunerei replied.

 

[GABA]

Ebberla seemed to perk up when she could feel Uriel's presence. It was shallow and faint, but it was there and it was comforting. It easily brought her memories of their time together in the Order, it was never negative, he seemed to understand her the best. However, a breeze stirred ash, bringing Ebb's focus back to the present and her mental shields came down as she once more closed herself off.

"I remember him." she simply stated, the cold and distance back in her voice. "That was pretty good, obviously, you would be able to mimic those closest to you with the most ease and precision as compared to those you briefly met." Ebb explained.

"So you would have to be careful if you're looking to push to fool someone Force sensitive who may know a person better than you do." Ebb pulled her cloak closer around her body as she gained a chill, "And be careful not to flash around light-sided presences around here too, I don't need someone stabbing you by accident from the shadows." Ebb joked, but she didn't want harm to come to him for playing a stupid trick meant for giggles.

"Questions?"

 

[TweedPawn]

There was that chill again. Ebberla's walls were going back up. Gaunerei sighed, almost resigned, as he felt coruscant's coldness return. He sat on a fallen stone, using the Force to draw images into the ash.

"yeah, easy enough." Gaunerei wondered why he felt disinterested now. Was it because Ebberla still refused to open to him? The burden of mortality reminded him that he was no longer a God who could inhabit bodies, dreams, and minds to command as he willed. He was truly limited now. He took a deep breath, the memory of his own lungs working seared like fire. His newly formed nerves had burned like thousand of needles. How had he survived?

Now, he was in sith territory. Their prisoner.

"Hey, what would impress you?" he asked.

 

[GABA]

His tone changed and Ebberla was taken aback for a moment, puzzled by his mood shift. She didn't want to feel the past it was too difficult for her at the moment, she wanted to tell him but what if he betrayed her also? He was a trickster after all.

It was in that thought of distrust she held that she decided they were done with training. Gaun had retired to a stone and she pulled her hood over her head as to keep the wind from blowing excessive ash into her face. She turned to beckoned Arnine, but stopped when Gaun asked her a question. She studied him for a moment as she thought. It wasn't a question she was normally asked, nor one she normally thought about given outside of her duties.

"I..." she opened her mouth to speak, but paused, trying to think. She placed her fists on her hips, "Well, lets see...." Ebb fell silent as she filtered through things that had left her in awe.

Ebberla smiled, "Would I be able to show you?" she asked him.

 

[TweedPawn]

She smiled at him, her invitation to him. He returned it with a gentle one of his own.

"What I can, and can not do, is decided by the dark council. O shimmering obsidian that sits in one of the dark thrones." Gaunerei gave a playful bow before Ebberla.

"And I am certain that any field trip they deem me suitable for, would be accepted if supervised by one of their own." Gaunerei chuckled darkly, a little too dark. There would always be traces of the conniving trickster in Gaunerei. A simmering beast just waiting for the right opportunity to regain respect and tilt odds in his favor. Not all tricksters were kind. Very few rarely were.

"Maybe it'll inspire me."

 

[GABA]

Ebberla furrowed her brow, trying to decide how to react to his dark jest. She waved her hand at him as though signalling him to stop, even if his bow was playful.

She pulled out her comm device and checked the time, quickly calculating her flight plans as to make it at an acceptable hour. "It had inspired me." Ebberla replied, pocketing the comm and waved for Arnine to join her as she started back to the temple. "Though, with your tricksty past, I'm not sure if I want to know what it would inspire within you." she told him with wink.

"Come now, I'll supervise you, not like you can go anywhere and get too far without your silver fox catching up." Ebberla reminded him, a part of her was grateful for the blood trace that laid within him, she didn't need a pissed Dark Lord chewing her a new one for losing his pet.

Ebberla lead Gaunerei through the temple and to the hanger. She had dismissed Arnine, ordering the droid to wait for her return. She didn't necessarily need him to come along. She felt suddenly excited, a feeling she had not experienced in so long that she couldn't recall the last time she felt the butterflies of nerves and happiness flutter within her. Though, she questioned herself bringing Gaunerei with her, not in the sense that she was afraid of losing him, it was more in the sense that she was about to show him something that meant something deeper than words she could use to describe.

Acquiring herself an Imperial shuttle, she lead Gaunerei aboard, falling into her own focus as she started to fire up the engines. She was an expert pilot, and it showed by her ability to easily navigate the control board in front of her, switching and pressing buttons, giving the ship a quiet hum as the sub-light engines fired up. "Have you been on Corellia?" Ebberla asked him, she was certain that he had not, but given she wasn't necessarily his keeper, he could have wandered off at some point to the woman's homeworld.

 

[TweedPawn]

"I've seen it, but never visited it. It looks like a real party. They have a history of pilots." He winked. Her homeworld? This was unexpected. She had brought Della there once, to help Ebberla find her mother. That ended with Della getting shot. Gaunerei was already nervous of the thought.

Still, there was some recklessness to the idea. At any moment, the leaders of the Empire would catch on to Gaunerei's old talents and rip scores of history from his mind. As those engines fired up, Gaunerei recalled the scores of similar vessels that traveled farther and faster. Great beasts that hummed and shined like fireflies.

"Thank you." said Gaunerei as he made sure he was secured in his seat.

"For not telling them about what I used to see."

 

[GABA]

The ship took off and Ebberla entered in the codes to allow them to exit into the atmosphere and eventually into Space. They bypassed Star Destroyers and TIE fighters, traveling to the edge of the system to get out of the natural pull of the system.

"Well, don't thank me yet, I'm still playing my cards, I'm not revealing my hand until I have no choice." Ebb quirked an eyebrow to him. She seemed more relax, her features softened as they traveled. The navi-computer beeped when the coordinates were clear and Ebb read the jump coordinates frowning. The Corellian knew she could do a better job manually piloting. Sighing and accepting the computer's jump, the hyperdrive engines whirled and they shot into a twisting blend of stars.

Corellia was luckily a short jump from Coruscant. Too short to really prepare herself to once more witness her home world having succumbed to the Empire. Fiercely independent, Ebb knew it was the only way for the Empire to gain control over the world and her resources. They were hailed immdiately once they exited hyperspace. Even at the far edge of the system, the Empire was cautious of visitors who came, especially given the increased Rebel activity lately. The Dark Woman gave the Imperial codes to allow them to pass and she was thankful she didn't have to board and wait for a more formal inspection.

Just the feel of the system brought chills to Ebb, hard reminders of her childhood, people she knew, people who she grew up with and many who had died at her side during the war. She could almost recall the particular smell of her home, musty but comforting even if it wasn't the most ideal living situation. She glanced over to the Rabbit and gave him a nudge with the Force to wake him from their flight, but didn't say anything.

Ebberla took the shuttle to a small port outside the capital city.

"We have a little bit of traveling to do, its not anywhere near ports and the such." Ebb explained, feeling odd about it. Why did she have such the desire to show him? She cared for him, but she started to regret perhaps bringing him. A worry clutched her chest as she thought for someone to have claimed to have seen everything in the galaxy, would he even appreciate what she saw, from her own eyes. A preemptive hurt started to stir, but the woman pushed it aside, changing her thoughts as she reminded herself that she would at least get to see it.

 

[TweedPawn]

"Not near any ports eh?" Gaunerei mused. He was enjoying the ride. His mind was able to find pockets of peace and was drifting to sleep on a few moments. There was a moment where Gaunerei wasn't sure he'd be allowed to come with Ebberla, but she made sure to not let that interfere.

"Okay...is it a forest?" Gaunerei pried, trying to see if he could guess wher Ebberla was leading him.

 

[GABA]

Ebberla lead Gaunerei through the Imperial filled port looking for a place to pick up a speeder, until eventually, she flashed around her name and Imperial rank and was able to get one from the troopers patrolling the area. "We have to go through a forest." she finally told him hoping onto the bike. She looked up to the sky, noting the sun was begining to settle for the evening. They were making good timing and Ebb gave a small smile to the thought.

Ebb moved Gaun's arms so he was wrapped around her waist and took off on the bike. Gaunerei would be getting a taste of Ebb's skillful bike piloting firsthand and Ebberla hoped he wasn't one to get motion sickness either. The Corellian zipped through the small port town before crossing the farm fields and into a forest. The temperature dropped as they moved away from the port and the air suddenly smelled crisp and clean. Ebb deeply inhaled, feeling a rush as she switched gears on the bike, slowing it down as not to crash into the lanky conifer trees or the big boulders that speckled the forest floor.

She was getting lost into her journey, it had been ages since she was able to just explore without the worry of being assassinated or attacked by her enemies. She slowed down even more, so she could speak to Gaunerei, "Corellians are superstitious, so rarely anyone ventures into these woods, it is the location where the Kiax use to the lure the gullible and test them with his beasts." Ebb then hit the accelerator and weaved through the forest at speeds no non-Force sensitive would dare to travel.

The setting sun brought oranges and pinks in the sky, giving the thinning forest a dream-like appearance as the mists of the evening begun to lift from the ground. At the edge of the forest the trees became more spread out and the jagged rocks and ledges became more apparent. The woman slowed down and eventually parked the bike the bottom of a rocky incline. Ebb parked the bike and took off her robe, draping it over the seat of the bike. She took off her belt and some of her extra accessories also laying it by the speeder. There was a childish excitement that filled her, a selfishness that she could hold a moment of patient any longer as she took off up the rocky incline.

When she reached the top, she slipped off her boots and leap over the edge, blowing Gaun a playful kiss. As Gaunerei would reach the top, he would see the crystal clear lake below and valley full of purple wild flowers.