The Dark Academy on Korriban

Zeno opens the witches door and steps in. Closing it behind him he kneels down facing away and takes a few deep breaths. Signs of lightning and blood on his clothing are apparent as he removes his tuk'ata trophy and sets it on the floor.

She had been sleeping lightly, especially here among ambitious young Sith waiting for the opportunity to rid themselves of competition. The sound of movement was enough to rouse her, and she reached for the blade at her bedside, against the wall. She sat up with a firm grasp on its hilt, her fiery red hair falling in streams around her shoulders and down her back, free of its veil.

However, spying the frame and the marks, her grip loosened but she didn't release. "Zeno, iz zhat you?"

"It is," he replies quietly. He stands and turns to face her looking ragger and worn out. He had apparently had a long day.

Slowly he approached, with tired steps. "I think if you drank of me I might dissappear my witch-princess."

"Perhaps. It has been a long day des-maker. I am certain you liwed up to your name zhis day. I can zee the zigns of your sport." She drew up her knees against her chest, and rested her head there. She looked over at Zeno as he continued to approach.

"Maybe," he says with a yawn. Eventually he makes it to her side and lowers himself to his knees next to her. Breathing a deep sigh of relief he looks up at her and blinks once slowly.

"But I'm not finished yet."

"Iz zhat vhat you beliewe?" She moved herself in a smooth motion over so that the Sith could sit on her bed. "You vake me up, vhen I've only got zhree more hours to zleep before classes tomorrow?"

She smirked to let him know it was all in jest, though she had thought about letting him squirm at the thought of her genuine disapproval.

When she moved over he reached out and grabbed her foot, pulling it across the bed to his lips. His right hand glided up her calf.

"I do what I want, and take what I desire. Your mistake was showing me what we can have together."

He kisses her foot again. "Unless you don't consider it a mistake."

"You take vhat I giwe, ser Desvright. It just happenz to be zhat I give vhat you take." She leaned back, propped up on her elbows and forearms. Her smirk did not fade, "But do not zhink zhat you could take vithout mein permission."

She drew up the hilt of her sword, its edge glinting an odd green in the dark, flecks of some kind of majik working through it. Pulling at her leg, the drew his hands closer to her body.

"And so the prey stalk each other again," he says, his eyes becoming intense, a grin forming. He lightly bites her shin as he is pulled closer. He lets out a low growl. "I do believe it's feeding time."

"Mein sawage, I zuppose I could indulge you. Ewen if it muzt be confined here, rather zhan beneath the Korriban moons." She reached a hand behind his neck and drew him closer. "In zhe vay of nature, like zhe beasts."

/ftb

/fade in

Breathing heavily, the sith-blood has a hard time keeping his eyes open, pressed against Jun-Tsu's warmth. He traces a small red line on her arm and licks the blood from his fingertip. "Today was long. And intense. I think I'll have to sleep on it before I can talk to you about it. Perhaps you can tell me some more of your home."

She lay half beneath him, blanketed by his warmth and little else. She smiled into the darkness, as she idly ran her hand through his hair.

"Vhat can I say. I have zaid so much, und ve must have our zecrets. Hmm," she thought as she lightly raked her nails across his forearm where it lay across her. "It iz not like Korriban. It iz not dry und dead. It iz not an endless vaste vhere eweryzhing struggles for zurvival. Qvite zhe oppozite"

"It iz a damp, rainy vorld. Vith much of the ten continents cowered in dense jungle. Indeed, in zome parts of Východ, zhe treez have swallowed whole lakes und riwer valleys creating floating forestz. Great aquatic predators hunt beneath tangles of wines."

"Ewen at our poles zhe treez continue in great taigaz frozen in ice."

"And what do you do for fun there? How do you relax and let of steam?"

As he listens, he traces shapes on her skin with his fingertips. His head lies in her hair taking in the scent.

"Ve do vhat any people do. Ve are zhe idle nobility vhen not practicing our jen'jidai zorcerery. Vhe hold hunts, ve play games, ve visit zhe outer guest palaces. Zhough, if ve get zhe chance it iz often best to get off planet. Ve wisit zhe other Sith houses und enjoy idle conversation. It iz timez like zhoze zhat I und Rem vould charter v'one of zhe zhuttles und go planet hopping zhrough zhe outer zyztems. To zhe slawe pits for arena fights, und zhe underground hubs."

"Slave pit fights," he says with a chuckle. "Watching them fight for survival, you really see who wants to live."

He gives her shoulder a playful bite. "Do you actually enjoy those guest palace visits and idle conversation? Parties and the like? It always feels like everyone wishes they were somewhere else while listening to others who only want to talk only about themselves, fashion and other nonsense. Nobody ever really seems to care or listen."

"In truth it'z a nice change of pace. Vhen one haz spent monthz ztaring out zhe same vindows v'one can appreciate new wistas. Bezides, it iz good to meet new people, und much of zhe outer nobility iz far less uptight zhan zhose near here. Less politiks, more bloodshed. I often wisited House Yzit. You may not know of zhem, zhey lost prominence long ago, but zhey retain zheir vealth."

She had a nostalgic look on her face, and a fond smirk, "Zhey only eat sapients. Dining vith zhem iz alvays a decadent experience. Zhey beliewe to eat lesser beasts vould impinge upon zhere purity."

"Surprisingly enough I have had opportunity to eat with them. Father has invited them on a few occasions in efforts to broker deals and each time he ensures to cater to their tastes," he replies. "It's all about how the meal is prepared though. Anything can be delicious if done right."

He licks her arm with the tip of his tongue. "I prefer my meat to be raw, fresh and wild."

"Vell, at zhe wery least, House Farro does not car vhat ve eat, vhether man or beast. It is zhe vay of nature zhat zhe predator enjoys all lesser prey. But, v'one can appreciate zhe dewotion of House Yzit to higher ideals. Zuch vays hawe become passe in zhe core vorlds here. It may be zimple superstition but zhere iz a regalness to zuch tradition. Marks of zhe nobility to have existed long enough to have zhere own vays. Zhere own culture. Not like zhese new Houses zhat rise und fall in decades."

"They rise and fall in decades because of fear," Zeno says. "Fear that if they ally with more powerful houses to strengthen themselves they'll be consumed. Fear that if they bring too many in to treat as equals they will be stabbed in the back. They do not know how to unify within their own ranks. They don't understand the pack mentality, that standing alone makes one vulnerable to larger prey. The great houses are not individuals. Even your great grandmother, with all her power, would not be a house without the respect and support of the rest of the family."

He grabs hold of her hip, fingernails pressing in but not breaking skin, as he pulls Jun-Tsu tightly against him. "A truly powerful house must be tightly intertwined. To see the threats from outside as more important than the scheming within. They must remain close despite disagreement."

She nodded silently, wrapping her leg over his, "It's also a matter of breeding and lineage. So few nowadays trace themselves back to the old bloodlines. No offense."

"Und zhese modern Houses just don't have zhat foundation of strength zhat comes vith a powerful lineage. A powerful progenitor founds their house und vithin a generation or two their lacking successesors squandor zhat strength. Of course, not like zhe Desvrights, who have instilled competition und trial into zhere House. A smart precaution to ensure zhat v'one does not rest on zheir laurels."

"Yes. Our house is one built on merit and ritual rather than blood. The blood that binds us is the blood we shed for our brothers and sisters. I don't believe anyone can truly trace their lineage to our founder because leadership is based on talent and skill," he says. "It is more tradition than lineage, though lineage does tie into it with many lines within the house being consistent over years."

He presses his forehead against hers and closes his eyes, while opening his mind to hers, pressing forward with the force until he eventually makes a connection.

She let him in as she relaxed, "Any healthy House should have prominent linez. Zhey're like pillarz to build on. Zhey zupport zhe House, und zhey allow for zhe interplay vithin zhe House. Alliancez betveen linez, pooling of resourcez, zhe collection of new resourcez. Zhey are zhe treasuriez, zhe waults, of a House."

He lets her emotions envelop his mind, washing himself in them, allowing them to feed and shape his own.

"Much like the many houses do for the Empire as a whole, each bringing their own specialties and resou..."

He pauses and moans at something he finds particularly appealing within her feelings.

"Their own resources and specialties."

He separates and locks his gaze with her. "Always so intense and primal. That feeling is so freeing and enticing."

"I zhought you might enjoy a tazte. Talk of mein homevorld alwayz brings it out in me, ezpecially having been gone for zo long. Und zhe promize of more time away. I miss zhe moon-drenched shores und zhe freedom to be totally as meinzelf. To zpend days or veeks just avash in zhe powver of zhe Umbră-Ușoară. Ve do not have zhese endless lessons. Ve learn, yes, from our elderz, but ve are encouraged to explore our connection vith zhe Dark light, to come to it organically, und channel it az nature doez. To feel it az a pulze of life into death into life. Creation into destruction into creation. Death as life, und destruction as creation."

"Zhese little rezpitez vith you are satisfying, but," her hand drifted to his hip and raked lightly into the supple flesh there, "zhey are like rain in zhe desert, enough to surwive but not flourish. Not zhat you don't try."

"Then I have an idea," he says with a sly smile. "Let's try to find a vergence out in the wastes, a strong one. Something strong and overflowing with the dark light. And perform the ritual there. Perhaps then it will be as standing in a monsoon after a dry season."