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In Flight Aboard the Epoch Wren

Corvin laughed at Elyria's question, but there was the faintest hint that it was not entirely with humor. "My quarters..." he mused, "are a little too stationary for my tastes. Besides, all my things are here." He neglected to add how unwelcome he felt among the other students, clearly more advanced than the padawans but lacking the traditional upbringing of other rangers.

Once his companions had made themselves comfortable, he took a deep breath and began. "You're already familiar with masking your force presence... it's something like that, but so much more." He closed his eyes, and Davth and Elyria both had to fight a momentary impulse to do likewise as he continued. "Have you ever wandered a spaceport at night? You watch the rainfall as it passes each and every lamp, every headlight, spotlight, searchlight, landing light. The light glints off the drops of water, a brilliant display... but if you look away from the lights, you can't see the rain. Only hear it. Everywhere... you know it's there, all around you, but you can only see the rain where there is light."

Corvin was gone. His onlookers could still hear his voice, but it seemed to come from all directions at once, like an echo in the spacious hangar, it's source unidentifiable. They weren't even certain now at what point in his speech he had vanished, but there was no mistaking it - Corvin was invisible. FUBAR made a protesting whine and began to dart to-and-fro across the room, it's optics swiveling anxiously. "The light and the sound are the keys.." he explained, "Reach out to them with the force... hold them like they were fabric you could gather in your hands, and wrap it around yourself like a cloak."

He came back into view then, like a man walking through a heavy velvet curtain to make a grand entrance on stage. His chest rose and fell heavily, and a sheen of sweat had beaded on his forehead which he reflexively wiped away with the sleeve of his robe. FUBAR whined again, this time in shock, and Corvin took advantage of the distraction to catch his breath. "It's not easy..." he said casually, "But I've been practicing for weeks. Perhaps you two might have more luck... but you won't have much time."

Putting on his best scoundrel's grin, he concluded by saying "And I'll advise you never to use it to gain entrance into restricted areas to watch the Jeda'ii holocrons. You could get into all sorts of trouble..." he made no pretense to hide his past actions... in fact, he secretly hoped his daring-do might impress Elyria. Besides... he thought, It was SO worth it!

Coruscant -- Temple, Main Level

Zara had hoped to avoid dealing with the guards at the main entrance by slipping out through the back, but she saw a squad of soldiers training in the courtyard right outside. Damn. There went that plan. At least she had thought it through enough to give him the garb of a Sith apprentice, so that he could blend in.

She turned around and marched down the long entrance hallway with the Je'Daii in tow, but the tall guard at the front lowered a techstaff across the doors, barring their exit.

"And what business have two acolytes in the dead of night?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Zara lowered her hood and stared up at the man defiantly, crossing her arms over her chest. Pale moonlight spilled from the tall windows overhead, illuminating the girl with an eerie, ghostly glow.

Please. I don't have time for this. We are on official business. Step aside before I force you aside. she thought to the guard, who seemed to jump a little at receiving sudden, unexpected telepathic thoughts. But he smirked all the same, looking down at her with a condescending glare.

"Oh? On whose authority?" he sneered at her. Even though she was Sith, the guard didn't seem threatened by the young girl in the slightest. As much as Zara would have loved to dispose of him to speed things up, she knew that causing a scene would be the worst thing she could do right now. The plan was to slip out as inconspicuously as possible, and she couldn't afford to draw any unnecessary attention.

Zara thought fast, whipping out the datapad from the day before, from when the Emperor had summoned her to the throne room. Silently, she passed it into the guard's free hand.

The guard snickered as if he didn't believe her, but he still stroked his chin thoughtfully, not sure if he should bring them in for questioning or not. And that man she was with... there was something wrong with him... it was as if he were ill, or something.

You don't believe me? Then let us see his Lordship and you can have a lovely time explaining to him why you had to delay such an important mission. I'm sure he would love to hear your excuses. Or, you could get out of my way, and we can avoid all of the unpleasantness.

Zara's smile was dripping with honey and venom.

The guard rolled his eyes, accepting defeat. He took a step forward, squinting at the man Zara was with. In the darkness he couldn't quite make out his face, and he was no Force sensitive. Still, he was convinced there was something strange about the situation.

"What's wrong with your friend?" he grunted.

Had a few too many drinks. He'll be alright. Just needs to walk it off. she assured him.

The guard eyed them both for a moment longer before slowly raising his staff and nodding at them to go through.

Zara pulled the Je'Daii master with her into the night, relief washing over her in waves as she took deep breaths of cold air. She waited until they were well away from the temple before she stopped in an alley to catch her bearings.
It was all smooth sailing from here. Zara knew the streets of Coruscant like the back of her hand.

Coruscant - City Bloc > Dance With Your Devils

Though it was the middle of the night, one could always count on the artificial lights of the city to illuminate the streets. Even the shady alleyway they had stopped in was well-lit.
Leaning against a dumpster, she glanced at the Je'daii. By now, the sedative should have started wearing off.

You holding out alright over there? she asked, not really expecting much of an answer.

She had calculated that it would take about a half hour from now before someone discovered that the prisoner was missing, as that was the time when a guard did a round along that section. Maybe the captain of the guard could buy her more time, but even then they had an hour at most.
They needed to get somewhere public, and fast.

We should go somewhere crowded. A cantina or bar, perhaps, where our Force signatures cannot be singled out so easily.

Zara didn't even wait for an answer this time. She took his arm and started walking again. If she remembered correctly, there was a nightclub down the corner. It was somewhat new, but already very popular.
Because of her past life as a singer in a place much like this one, Zara wasn't exactly thrilled about going inside.
She even began to feel a little sick when she looked up at the lighted sign advertising the club. "Dance With Your Devils" was what it was called. She smiled sadly, shaking her head.

Used to be a singer. Yeah, a singer. Don't you dare laugh. Never told anyone about it since, but I was real popular on Dromund Kaas. Now I can't step into a bar or cantina without getting this horrible feeling inside of my chest... like something bad is going to happen...

Partially out of shame, and partially out of a childish secrecy and fear of being pitied, she didn't want anyone to know about her past life, though at the same time for two years she had been dying to tell someone. The only reason Zara was telling him all of this right now was because she assumed that the effects of sedative would make him forget. But just in case it didn't...

If you tell anyone about this, or any of the things I've told you, I'll kill you.

Well, she would at least try. An apprentice up against the head of the Je'daii order likely didn't stand much of a chance, so her threat was a bit unnecessary.

Zara kept her eyes straight ahead as she walked inside, brusquely wading through the crowd to bring them to the farthest end of the bar. She sat on a stool and pretended to read the menu, unable to hide her quite visible discomfort.

Coruscant - Dance With Your Devils, Club Floor

As soon as the Zeltron approached them, Zara wished she had planned this out more and brought clothes for them to wear so that they could look inconspicuous outside the temple. She was hoping that they could blend in, but two Sith visiting a nightclub at these hours looked strange indeed.
She eyed the shot glass suspiciously; having just drugged her companion no more than an hour ago, she had grown even more wary of drinks given to her by strangers. But as soon as she saw the Zeltron drink his own that he had poured from the same bottle, Zara followed suit, tipping her head back to finish off the shot. She was very much on edge right now, and knew that a drink or two could do her good.

At his question, Zara paused for a moment, realizing that the Je'daii was still not fully recovered and wouldn't be able to speak for her. Damn. Not quite feeling comfortable using a telepathic link with a stranger she had just met in a nightclub, she typed out her response on a datapad, the lies coming naturally.

Darth Sylas is looking for a venue to host his celebration in light of his recent promotion. You are the owner of this establishment, yes?

Zara slid the datapad towards him and cast him a small, fleeting smile.

Coruscant, Dance with your Devils Club floor

Dawson watched the woman with much more interest than the man she had brought in tow, he seemed to already be a few drinks in but at the same time he clearly wasn't drunk. Once she had accepted the drink he refilled his own and gestured with it towards her before noticing the data pad.

"What do we have here?" he drank his second glass setting the bottle between himself and the two sith. Darth Sylas is looking for a venue to host his celebration in light of his recent promotion. You are the owner of this establishment, yes? "Darth Sylas? Well this is certainly news to me. The Devils' mine, and yes we can host it but when would he be wanting to have this party? he slid the datapad back to the woman. "I figure that a Darth would send some imperials as opposed to a pair of Sith, but what do I know. Are you here for a tour make sure that the master will enjoy it?

Coruscant - Dance With Your Devils, Club Floor

"I figure that a Darth would send some imperials as opposed to a pair of Sith, but what do I know."

Zara's eyebrows raised ever so slightly, knowing he was right about that. In any case, she was relieved he hadn't asked why she could not communicate verbally. Lying about some Sith Lord throwing a party in honor of himself was easy. But there were only so many excuses she could make about her muteness, and none of them were any good.

Yes, normally an Imperial would be sent for this sort of menial task, but for such an important celebration, he wanted the opinions of those he could trust.

She leaned back in her seat to glance over at the Je'daii again, eyeing the shotglass he hadn't touched yet.

I don't think you should drink that. We don't know how the sedative reacts with alcohol. she thought to him.

Zara then took the liberty of finishing off his drink as well, just in case he decided not to heed her warning.

Perhaps it was because of the second drink taking some of the edge off, or maybe it was because the Zeltron was just one of those people that others naturally felt comfortable around, she looked him straight in the eyes and smiled again, finally projecting her thoughts telepathically instead of using the datapad.

A tour would be lovely, thank you. But not yet. I believe my friend here needs to sober up a bit first. she thought to him, chuckling softly.

The truth was that Zara actually needed a few more drinks before she felt she would be ready to venture out on the floor without feeling so anxious. But she knew better than to reveal her fear. Or any emotion, for that matter.

Why don't you tell me a bit more about yourself, and your establishment. How long have you been in business on Coruscant?

In Flight Aboard the Epoch Wren

Davth took a deep breath and started to work on mastering the cloaking the younger man had just preformed and broke down for them to follow. "Remarkable." he commented as he made his hand vanish if just for a second, mastering the sound came easy with his tribal upbringing before he joined the order silence during a hunt was critical. It was bending the light that was troubling him, but he was not detoured he kept practicing for a good deal of time, watching Elyria's progress as well. "I must agree with master stone, this is certainly a trying task which makes you doing to so easily even more humbling that those of our rank struggle with it." he smiled and bowed before Corvin before turning to leave the hold "I will be in the medical hold, I trust there is one? The force is strong but i'd rather have some back up just incase, besides miraculous healing draws as much attention as appearing from thin air."