There and back again...

[Jane Black]

She returns. A figure shrouded in a simple black robe. As she steps in to the council room, she tilts her head slightly upward, allowing it to fall back. Two black eyes stare out from behind a dark cascade of hair. She holds her breath....remembering....she then speaks in a whisper.

"It has been too long."

"Why did I ever leave?" she ponders to herself, then a still small voice inside of her anwsered, "You had much to learn." She had left the Sith, long ago, in an effort to find herself. During a period of seclusion, she had truly awakened to the dark side. The evil, and blackness of her heart had consumed her like a violent flame. Only then, had she decided she was ready to return......to the only family she had ever known.

"My Lordesses, my Lords, I humbly come before you. I ask of you a single thing, allow me to continue here. I am at your service."

[Rama Sha]

Lady Diamante is no longer with us.

:: Rama said. ::

The only problem I see is finding you a nea master.

[Dara Shadowtide]

:: Sith Lordess Dara Shadowtide Rayial remembers the fellow apprentice of the now retired Sith Master Lady Diamante and nods to her ::

"Welcome back to the Empire, Jane Black."

[Jedah Lynch]

Many Sith had come and gone over the years, some returned, few ever stayed gone forever unless they were dead. In time however they would return from the mist of time to rejoin their place in the service of the darkside. So now too did this woman of the night.

"Welcome back to the ways of the Sith. May the word be with you."

[Jane Black]

Jane bows her head sadly

"My friend and master, the Lady Diamante, is no longer with you? I had hoped to see her again. She taught me well."

turns to Rama

"But if it is the will of the council that I be trained yet again, I will submit. Rank matters not to me, only being here."

[Dara Shadowtide]

:: Dara nods in understanding ::

"It was indeed a loss to the Empire to see our Master Lady Diamante retire, but such is the way of life in the galaxy and it was her choice to be made."

:: Pausing just briefly before continuing, Dara looked at her fellow council members and then back to Jane ::

"I don't see why you cannot return at your current rank of Sith Warrior, Jane. You would just need to choose a new Master from those available to train and perhaps engage in a spar or two to renew your dark skills."

[Nupraptor]

It came as little surprise that the gathered Sith had taken no notice of his presence - Few ever did. Even as the tendrils of darkness writhed and twisted of their volition, they paid it little heed. As always, it wasn't until he decided to make himself known that it was so.

"I knew you'd be here..."

Rather than cutting across the room dramatically, as it should, his voice was dull and flat, offering hardly an echo off the cavernous walls. And there, in the corner, stood the speaker. He had on the same midnight-blue cloak that he had worn the day he met her, although now it stood in tatters upon his body. His head was bowed so that not an inch of his body was offered to the light, yet not a single person in the room had any difficulty recognizing him: the one-time Jedi Master, Nupraptor.

"Amazing what a little clairvoyance will do for one's insight."

The fallen Jedi offered a brief chuckle as he stepped forward and out of the shadows and, even as he did so, the inky-black tendrils stretched out and followed him, like worshippers attempting to prostrate themselves before their lord. He absent-mindedly brushed them away with one hand, stopping just a few paces away from the returned Sithling.

"I do so hate to sound like a walking cliché. But it has been a while... hasn't it, Jane?"

[c][/c]

[Jane Black]

Jane does not turn to look at figure standing before her. A small throwing dagger appears in her hand, and she begins to twirl it skillfully on her fingertips. When she finally spoke, her voice had a dangerous edge to it.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my old friend. Tell me....how is it that a Jedi Master comes and goes freely on sith domain? You haven't turned have you?"

She narrows her gaze, and trains it upon Nupraptor. Jane's whisper comes out as a hiss.

"L'obscurité a-t-elle altéré la qualité de votre coeur, enfin?"

[Nupraptor]

Nonsense! NonsensenonsensenonseBabble!

He chose to ignore the insect, like so many times before. It wouldn't do to tell the thing that it was the only one spouting nonsense. At last, Nupraptor lifted his head. He wanted to laugh again, but couldn't. Instead, his voice came out grave and barren.

"I hardly think I'm welcome here. There are many that would likely see me dead, if I gave them half the chance. Jedi Masters, however, are not easily trifled with."

He brought up his hands, steepling his fingers in front of his face in a contemplative gesture. His mechanical eye throbbed dimly in the relative darkness.

"Turned? No, far be it from me to join ranks with these Sith - the very creatures I loathe. I've simply... reassigned my priorities."

[Jane Black]

Jane lets out a soft laugh, and the dagger vanishes from sight. The Sith warrior advances on the form of the fallen Jedi, until there faces are inches apart. Her mouth smiles, but her eyes do not. Leaning forward she speaks into his ear.

"Then you must certainly loathe me.....my troubled friend. I am not the same as I once was. You would do well to keep your distance."

[Nupraptor]

Subtly, just barely perceptable, Nupraptor arched an eyebrow. With a single, deft movement, his hand darted out from under his cloak, streaking for the Sith's neck. But before she could react, the hand stopped short, instead grasping the silver pendant she wore.

"I know you, Jane. I know you very well indeed. Even now, when I was surely just a distant memory in your mind, you still wear the necklace I gave you."

He fell silent as he the cries of the centipede grew to a roar. His left eye twitched, but he showed no other physical sign of unease. Instead, he released the necklace and let it fall into place once more between her breasts.

"Perhaps you aren't the same person any longer... but neither am I."

[Jane Black]

Jane's face becomes white with anger.

"How dare you mock me. How dare you mock the power of the Sith! Very soon, I will once again bring suffering to the Jedi, and all those opposed to the sith. Take care that my arrow does not mark you, Nupraptor. For as you know so well... I never miss."

She lifts her hand, and points sharply at the doors.

"Now, get out."

[Nupraptor]

The corners of his mouth curving upward into a cruel smile, Nupraptor looked up until his eyes locked with that of the Sith. Then, still smiling, he took a few short steps backwards - widening the gap between the two just large enough so that he could bend at the waist in a bow.

"As you wish, m'lady", he intoned, crossing one arm in front of his chest. "But I remain ever-vigilant. And ever near, as well."

He continued to retreat into the darkness until it enveloped him, inky-black arms wrapped themselves around him in a nocturnal embrace.

[Jane Black]

As she watches him fade into the darkness, she finds herself touching the pendent. Jane frowns, and forces her hand to return to her side. A wave of fatigue washes over her. It was suddenly as if he took her strength with him, as he left. The gazes of Sith coucil members bring her mind sharply back to reality. Jane falls into a graceful bow.

"Thank you, thank you all. I will serve the Empire, well."

Janes glances back at the spot, that Nupraptor had occupied.

"No matter what it costs me."

[Vega Van Derveld]

Vega watches as the conversation between Jane and the 'interesting' looking man whom he did not recognise. Shrugging off his curiousity about the tendrils weaving about the mans head, the Lord turned his attention back to Jane.

"Are you aware of who is available to train you, Warrior?"