Chapter 30: ...Double The Fall
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Hyenanon
stims neurodivergently into oncoming pedestrians
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Chapter 30: ...Double The Fall
Chey-Linn slid to a stop along with Nerim. "Just listen for once in your life!"
Nerim crossed his arms and stared down at her. "Why is it that I constantly need to remind my fellow Jedi that listening is not a synonym for obeying?"
She ignored the comment. "If you interact with the target in any way, you could say something that leads to her fleeing or destroying evidence."
"First off, she's not a target," Nerim scowled, "And secondly, I don't think she's done anything wrong, that's you. I'm not gonna say anything that upsets her. We get along quite well."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Chey-Linn mumbled, beginning to move forward again at a walking pace. Nerim followed after her.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that it is painfully obvious your thoughts linger on your attachments more than your duties as a Jedi," she said in an icy tone. "In the time we spent in the Temple, I often felt your mind center on...unhealthy fixations."
Nerim's frustration dropped out from him for a moment, replaced with sudden fear. He knew there had to have been plenty of times he inadvertently thought of Tetha; she frequently appeared in his mind unbidden. "You what?"
Chey-Linn noticed his sudden apprehension, and restrained a smirk. "Yes, I imagine it was much more obvious to Arwain and Haaka Mahn."
He grit his teeth, feeling his face begin to flush. He didn't respond immediately, quietly becoming angry with himself for letting his thoughts slip. Becoming even angrier at the invasion of his privacy, of his own mind.
Chey-Linn pressed the attack. "Is that why you're so keen on protecting the Cathar princess?"
She had misstepped with that provocation, and Nerim ever-so-slightly relaxed, feeling some relief that she hadn't caught on to Tetha's identity even remotely. "You spend a lot of time thinking about me, don't you?" Nerim asked in a tone as acidic as hers was icy. "It would be kind of flattering, if it weren't coming from a mynock like you."
"You just make yourself hard to ignore," she grumbled.
"Not helping your case."
"The last thing I need is whatever you would define as help."
"And how else can I interpret this constant obsessive need you have to get into my head, huh?" Nerim prodded her in the shoulder, causing her to jump and step away. "Fixating on my fixations. Makes you sound like some sort of weird voyeur when you think about it."
Chey-Linn showed some sort of disgust and horror at the thought. "No! There's nothing in your head that I want to see!"
"It seems almost as if you are jealous," Nerim continued, feeling a sort of malicious satisfaction from how visibly uncomfortable he was making her. "Are you searching for yourself in my thoughts? Because I hate to disappoint you, but I didn't even remember your name until a couple of hours ago!"
"Ugh! It is not of the least interest to me personally!" She grimaced. "I only wish that there was a button to turn your brain off!"
"You're really gross, you know that?! I don't even want to imagine what you'd do if you could—" Nerim suddenly stopped. He felt some sort of strange sensation, like a tugging string tied to the back of his neck, urging him to redirect his attention. "—Wait, personally? Are you reading my thoughts on behalf of someone?"
He saw her eyes momentarily widen, but before she could reply, a familiar figure opened a door and walked out in front of them.
"Why are you shouting...?" Aesha asked, rubbing her eyes. She was visibly sleepy, given that it was still early morning. Somehow the two of them had unconsciously wandered directly outside her room.
The two Padawans replied simultaneously. "I'm not shouting!" and "Because she's always angry!" they both cried.
Aesha stared at them uncomfortably. "...Okay. I will not interrupt your mission—" She said, beginning to turn around and walk back the way she came.
"Wait!" They both shouted.
Aesha froze in place and then slowly turned around, sighing. "Am I to play mediator?"
Nerim and Chey-Linn shared a nervous glance, and then Nerim spoke up. "Uh, actually I was intending to ask you some questions. She just tagged along because she's jealous—"
"Liar!" Chey-Linn said venomously. "I was on my way before your lunatic Master even let you—" She suddenly stopped herself, realizing she was letting too much information slip.
Aesha blinked. "Jealous...? You were searching for me?" Her eyes narrowed slowly, as if she recognized something about this behavior. "Lady Jedi...I am flattered, but..."
"For the love of—" Chey-Linn tugged on her hair. "What is wrong with you imbeciles?!"
Nerim put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Chey-Linn. It can't always work out," he said, as seriously as he could manage.
He had never seen a Jedi more visibly restraining themselves from getting violent.
Aesha crossed her arms with slight discomfort. "Err, you should know that Nerim and I aren't—"
"From the bottom of my heart I beg you," Chey-Linn said through grit teeth, "Please just stop talking."
"I just want to be clear that I am not arm candy!" Aesha replied indignantly. "I am so tired of people acting as though the most interesting facet of me is my marriageability!"
"I am entirely uninterested in every facet about you, least of all your marriageability!" Chey-Linn said in a tone that was somehow both pleading and furious at the same time.
"Hm," Nerim hummed thoughtfully, placing a hand to his chin and trying his best to keep a straight face. "Then the common denominator is that you're interested in my relationships. I wonder why."
Chey-Linn's face began to take a red hue out of anger, which only made the scene more suspect to Aesha, who was feeling more and more awkward. "Err," The Cathar princess started, "My knowledge of the Jedi Order is quite lacking, but is not that kind of affection forbidden, Lady Jedi?"
Chey-Linn took a sudden deep breath. "This must be a Trial of Flesh," she said, referring to the feared test of a Padawan's tolerance to pain and loss. It was not unheard of for Padawans seeking to become knights to suffer lifelong injuries from the test. Some even died.
Aesha's eyes widened. She crossed her arms over her chest as if covering herself from lecherous stares. "F-flesh?! Calm yourself, Lady Jedi! We are in public!"
Chey-Linn screamed, her voice briefly cracking. "Aah! Just shut up! Just shut the hell up, you cretins!"
Nerim doubled over laughing in sadistic glee. Even compared to his use of telekinesis earlier, he had never felt so powerful. He wasn't quite able to read her thoughts, but he took a greatly un-Jedilike pleasure in scrambling them up. It was almost intoxicating; once he started, it was very difficult to stop.
Fully losing her temper, Chey-Linn pointed at Aesha. "Look, you will escort me to your room and—"
Aesha grimaced and reared back.
"—AND REFRAIN FROM INTERFERING in our SEARCH for CONTRABAND!" Chey-Linn loudly added.
Nerim stopped laughing, and raised his head up in surprise. After all that, she gave the game away?
Aesha seemed similarly surprised. "Excuse me, contraband? What could you possibly—"
"Under article five section A of the Sith Containment Act, you are being detained!" Chey-Linn said forcefully, drawing her lightsaber hilt.
"Whoa!" Nerim raised his hands. He was shocked by the speed of escalation. That sludgy, crawling sensation only grew stronger. There was something thick in the air.
"Move!" Chey-Linn said to Aesha, gesturing her to move back into her room. Aesha kept her hands up and nervously walked backwards.
Nerim quickly fished his communicator out of his utility belt and pressed down on the button. "Master...?" He began, before realizing it wasn't on. He cursed. The battery had run out abnormally quickly while they were trapped in the Temple, and he hadn't had the time to recharge it since they returned. The others might have in the airspeeder ride back, but he passed out before he could plug anything in.
He was faced with the decision to run and inform the senior Jedi and leave Aesha alone with an angry Chey-Linn, and quickly realized it was no decision at all. He swiftly followed the two. "Calm yourself down, Chey-Linn!"
"Quiet!" She barked at him. "And stay back! You're obviously no help at all, at best! Do not interfere!"
He bit the inside of his cheek. He had really pushed her too far this time. "This is even against Haaka Mahn's orders!"
"Those orders were given before you were sent to sabotage me!" She replied. She stepped into Aesha's room, and Nerim swiftly followed before she could shut the door on him. Chey-Linn closed her eyes for a moment. "I sense something Dark in this room."
Nerim tried his best to reach out, and was surprised to find he felt something too—albeit not what he would describe as Dark in nature. It was a small trickle of that same waterfall-like feeling he had in the Revanchist Temple. Aesha nervously swallowed, but did not respond.
Chey-Linn's eyes moved towards Aesha's desk, a large, opulent workspace set next to a tall stained glass window which streamed with early morning light. She moved forward and began ransacking the drawers in Aesha's desk, keeping one eye on the Cathar.
"Hold on, be reasonable," Nerim said as he attempted to remember back to his studies, to pinpoint what law she was referring to. He was made to study it prior to the mission as well. "You don't need to toss all of her belongings. I'm not sure that's even legal!" He objected, desperately trying to buy time to just think.
Chey-Linn pulled out a book and slammed it on the desk with triumphant glee. It was obviously ancient, made of some sort of heavily treated material that gleamed as if dipped in resin. The text on the front was archaic, but Galactic Basic was a highly standardized language, and even four thousand years would not render it unreadable. Even if it did, though, the indented picture on the front would leave little to the imagination. It was, without a doubt, a manuscript of the lightsaber Forms.
Nerim balked, staring blankly at it and then raising his gaze to Aesha. "You...took a manuscript from the Temple?"
Aesha frowned with desperation. "Nerim, it is as I said on Raxus! I...I wish to be in tune with the Force! To be a Knight, like you!"
"Finally," Chey-Linn said with pleasure, smirking confidently and keeping her hilt raised towards Aesha. "We have everything we need. We have the contraband, the genetic evidence at the Temple, and we have a confession. Just think about how much easier this all could have been if you weren't actively sabotaging me."
"Nerim..." Aesha pleaded.
"Hold on!" Nerim said, pushing Chey-Linn to the side to get a better look at the book. His mind was racing for the memorized information he was seeking. "This is...This isn't a Sith text! The Sith Containment Act only allows us to detain or penalize citizens for holding specifically Sith texts, not just any alternative view of the Force!"
Chey-Linn looked at him, clearly unimpressed, still riding high off of her vindication. The morning light streamed through the glass over her face, covering it in a cascade of bright colors that almost hid her facial features, as if she were a floating pair of eyes in a sea of stained glass, marred by dark rings of fatigue. "It's from a Sith Temple! It is obviously a Sith text."
"It is NOT!" Aesha loudly objected. "It is from a Revanchist Temple! Revan was a Jedi!"
"Darth Revan was a Sith Lord!"
"You watch your tongue!" Aesha hissed. "Revan is a hero to my people!"
"Your primitive superstitions are not my concern!"
Aesha's pupils narrowed into menacing slits. "You get one more chance, offworlder."
Nerim felt that electric sensation stronger than he ever had, like a lightning bolt striking his spine. Aesha began to growl, and Nerim jumped into the conversation again. "Just wait a moment! Master Arwain has repeatedly told us that they were not Sith at the time of the Temple's founding!"
"Arwain's insanity is of even less value to me!" Chey-Linn sneered at him.
"She's a Master!" He tried to reason. "Can you recall if there is any case law of artifacts of a pre-Sith people falling under this restriction? Because I have no idea if this is legal or not! Just call Haa—"
"Why are you defending her?!" Chey-Linn said, her triumph transmuting back into fury at his obstruction. "Re-examine your priorities! This is a matter of existential importance! Our utmost priority is to prevent the return of the Sith!"
Nerim stared her down. "That is where we disagree."
"Then you are lost! Just as lost as these Sith-worshipping cat—"
Aesha broke into a sprint, running the short distance between herself and Chey-Linn, jumping in the air, and then kicking both of her heels into the Padawan's chest. With a great shattering, Chey-Linn was sent flying through the tall window beside the desk, and disappeared below the edge of it, while Aesha dropped to the floor.
Nerim ran to the window and looked down in horror, to see Chey-Linn tumble to a stop on an airspeeder landing pad two stories down. The fall looked harsh, but not fatal—especially not for someone as acrobatic as her. After a moment, she got up and ran into the hangar out of sight. "Aesha, you madwoman!" He sighed in, well, not relief, but at least a release of the immediate panic of death. "I mean, I understand, but that was nearly a murder!"
He turned to see Aesha already standing again, holding a short tube of metal. It was polished to a sheen with new parts, and had a button on the handle. No matter how he looked at it, it was definitely a lightsaber.
"Aww, that is illegal!" Nerim whined. "Why can't you just make things easy on me?"
"It's a replica!" She quickly explained. "I made it. It is nonfunctional."
He breathed a sigh of actual relief this time. Replicas were legal, as long as they didn't produce a blade. "Okay, good. So—" She tossed him the hilt, and he grabbed it, immediately feeling a calming rumble from the inside, that rightness and balance he would expect from a lightsaber, only, just slightly off. Like his before he could use the Force to align it. He blinked. "You made it with real parts?! Is there a crystal in here?"
"I have tried many times to make it a real lightsaber," She admitted to him, with both desperation and resolve. "I give it to you as a sign of trust. And also as a plea. I am...I am not a real Jedi. If she tries to kill us, I cannot protect us. You are my only hope."
"That's ridiculous. She won't try to kill us."
"What would you do if you were convinced beyond reason I was a Sith?"
He thought for a moment, and decided not to answer it honestly. He grabbed her wrist. "Come on, we need to get to my Master."