Aquilae

Without hesitation, Aquilae drew her blade and moved to strike against Peli. Reacting a fraction of a second behind, Peli drew her own weapon to counter--but she was flung backwards before their blades met, and Bellusdeo rushed to stand between them.

"Master Aquilae!" Bellusdeo shouted, holding her arms out to create a barrier between the two. Aquilae hesitated, facing Bellusdeo, then lowered her blade.

"Tenebrae," she said, greeting Peli in distaste.

"Who?" Peli asked, but before she got a response--

--The world shifted. Everyone froze, and Valkorion appeared.

"Intriguing," he remarked, looking at the Jedi. Was that a waiver in his voice? Peli opened her mouth to speak, but was distracted by unexpected movement.

Aquilae, unlike Bellusdeo, was not frozen. She walked towards Peli and Valkorion, passing the scion without a second turn.

"How are you here?" Peli asked, baffled.

Aquilae spared her a single turn of her head before turning to Valkorion. "It has been long enough," she said. "It is past time we met."

"You think you're so clever, Jedi," Valkorion spat.

Aquilae did not rise to his taunts. "I avoided you out of fear of what I might do. Now, I see it was the correct choice. Your story was never one where I had a part to play."

"What nonsense," Valkorion laughed. "You were never a threat to me. A single Jedi Master? You could barely defeat the least of my servants."

"You are scared, Tenebrae," Aquilae said. Valkorion, oddly enough, fell silent. Peli couldn't feel anything from him--not anger, not bemusement, nothing. He was hiding from her, which meant--was Aquilae right? For once, Peli didn't want to say anything--she didn't want to interrupt whatever happened next. She had never seen anyone push Valkorion like this, and she had never succeeded in taking him so off his guard. It was glorious.

"You are nothing," Valkorion hissed. He moved to challenge her, so he was staring down at the Jedi. Yet even with the direct challenge, Aquilae did not physically respond. She turned her face towards him, calm, collected, in control. Maybe there were some things the Jedi got right--Aquilae seemed to embody their ideals, and she was a little scary.

The Jedi's words carried the same weight as her stance. "In your life, that is correct. I am merely an observer."

"You are dust, not worthy of the breath you use. I don't know why I bother," Valkorion said, a laugh on his breath.

"I know why you bother, Tenebrae," Aquilae said, repeating the word that seemed to draw his ire. "I know how you die."

There was a sensation like being pulled in half, then being pushed out of a moving speeder. The world shaded back to normal, and Bellusdeo turned around, somewhat confused to find Aquilae suddenly behind her. And Aquilae--was that a smile?! It was gone before Peli could confirm what she saw.

"Did you just hang up on him?" Peli asked. When Aquilae didn't respond, she continued, "Can you teach me how to do that?"