Homecoming

[Neology]

The computer chirped softly, attempting to exchange landing codes that were nearly a year out of date. Novus leaned against the console, frowning at the image of the planet below which had, years ago, so violently derailed the course of her life. Loathsome dust ball. Home only to vicious beasts and vicious people. Here, she had gone from Jedi Knight to no one at all, and then, when Paxis had come for her, what she is now.

If given the choice, Novus would wish to be elsewhere, yet the Jedi on Vendaxa had confirmed the continued existence of the Sith. It was time to check up on her brothers and sisters. All she had to do was wait. The com chimed.

“Excuse me, my - my Lady?” A pause. “This is second technician Marcus Selanno. I need to confirm your identity before I can approve your shuttle to land.”

“Very well. What do you require? I am impatient to be home, technician.”

“A voice scan will be sufficient. One moment.” Another small pause. “Thank you, my Lady. Please proceed to Hanger Three.”

The shuttle's propulsion systems hummed back to life. Novus set back, letting the autopilot handle the routine descent.

”Send word to the temple, technician, if you haven't already.”

–

The temple had changed, though she could not put the specifics into words. It was subtle. Fewer new recruits and more teachers. There was a sense of order, perhaps, now that all the old lines of power and command were sussed out. A smirk turned up the corners of her lips as some old memory briefly surfaced. Paxis and Iniquitous had both preached very high ideals. Perhaps that was finally coming to fruition? In the early days, she'd felt more like one of many loosely connected murderers, clinging to the Sith legend.

'Now, is it Darth Renata's hand I sense?' If she was right, well, that was interesting. Novus did not know the other Dark Lady well, preferring work and studies that took her far away from Korriban. But change like this could not belong to Eurachis. That rather narrowed down the choices.

Furtive glances and hushed whispers followed her as she moved through the halls, searching out her old chambers. For now, no one bothered her. That was something she truly loved about the Order – look important enough and busy enough and you could get away with nearly anything. Not that she needed to - her title was shelter enough.

[Meira]

"My lady."

Renata's eyes did not glance up as the officer who had entered came to a stop across the desk from her. "Hmm?"

"Darth Novus has returned."

That got her attention. Renata's whole face lifted. The datapad she'd been scanning through fell from her fingers and into her lap, forgotten. "And who told you that?"

"The control room, my lady. Voice scan confirmed Darth Novus as her ship came into Korriban space. It is landing now in hangar three."

"Thank you." Renata said, dismissing the man with a wave of her hand. A quick check at her computer confirmed Novus' ship.

How long had it been since her sister had been here? A year? Renata stood, trying to consider what might have brought Novus home again. Nothing substantial came to mind. But the two had never conversed much. And secrecy had shrouded Novus' work. It had not meant much to Renata to know what her compatriot was working on. She had her own business to attend to.

But now that Novus was back, it would not do to leave her without some form of welcome. Renata moved from her office to her quarters and changed into a fresh gown. The light, flowing black fabric was well suited to the heat of this planet. It was quite remarkable how she'd so quickly adapted to the harsh conditions. But Korriban was her home now. She could not be at war with it.

Now much more presentable, Renata summoned Jessoin on her comm. Surely he would love to meet another powerful woman; such a thing being a weakness of his. Grabbing a bottle of her favorite wine, Renata made her way to where she seemed to remember Novus had taken up quarters last time she was here.

It didn't take long for the Dark Lady's senses to pick up the almost forgotten presence of her sister, and follow it through the corridors until she came to the door of the chambers. Renata pressed the call button and waited for admittance. It had been so long, but Renata remembered having a certain fondness for Novus. Perhaps it had only been a sense of comradery, as women in what was inevitably a testosterone driven environment. Whatever the case, curiosity won overall. Renata wondered what had brought Novus back to the Temple, a realm which Renata had come to see is very much her own.

[Dutch]

Jessoin cried out in victory as his saber twisted and slapped lightly unto flesh. The initiate cursed and quickly flipped away, his hand over the burn left by Jess' lightsaber. The Zelosian barked a laugh and crooked a finger towards the boy. The Korriban sun blazed over his pale skin, tinted greener due to his chlorophyll reacting. A gust of wind blew up a cloud of dust, Jessoin using the opportunity to leap forward. The dust stuck to his body, the top of his robes tied around his waist to further expose himself to the sun. His lightsaber angled forward to strike a debilitating blow when the Force twisted around them. Jessoin spun on his heels to peer upwards with the rest of the sparring circle.

The aura resonated from a lone shuttle that flew overhead, whispers instantly erupting among the group. Only a higher powered Sith could leave such a ripple, and this presence wasn't a familiar one to the Zelosian. Not a second later the comm tucked into his robes buzzed and bleeped. The whispers stopped, they all knew Jessoin answered to but one in the Temple. And when a Darth paged you, it was never an option to ignore. Jess' vibrate green eyes scanned over the group, gleaming excitedly as his smile widened.

"It seem our Dark Lady has summoned me. Continue sparring and we'll meet here tomorrow at sun up. And whoever has the least marks on them, has to fight me first thing. Have fun!"

Jess winked at the group before he switched off his lightsaber. He turned to trod back towards the temple, his lightsaber now tucked into the waist of his robes. As soon as he passed out of the sun and into the shade of the inner temple Jessoin could feel the change in the temperature on the stone below him. Fighting barefoot in the sands of Korriban made footing anywhere else in combat feel easy, and he had been making sure that any sparring was done there. Jess reached out with the Force to find his Mistress, instantly recognizing her presence and jogging to her location. He took the stairs two at a time, adrenaline still coursing through his veins from the training.

He saw Darth Renata down the hall at the top level, slowing his pace to saunter towards her. It was only then that the Sith became aware of his disheveled presence, his dark hair slicked back from the sweat that still dripped down his brow onto his chest. The black of his light robes were reddened with the dusts of Korriban, as were his bare feet. The cobbled together curved hilt lightsaber gleamed in the pale light of the corridor, matching his eyes and teeth visible from a wide smile.

"Well my Lady, it does seem the day has gotten much more exciting! Who is our new friend? Their aura is palpable..."

[Neology]

Novus paced a slow circle around her office, bringing various electronics to life with a touch. At a glance, her rooms appeared entirely undisturbed – a very pleasant surprise. For most of her life, the thought of a space that belonged only to her had been a strange, impractical novelty. Now, it was simply another benefit of her title.

She stopped, examining the wall of imported plants that bracketed the window behind her desk. The gloves peeled off and Novus tested the soil in several planters with her fingertips. Satisfied, she wiped the lingering traces of dirt on her pant leg. It seemed the autowaterer system and timed lights had done a fair job in her place; only a few of the more fragile specimens were beyond saving.

The door chimed. She extended her senses, recognizing Renata's presence and another that was entirely unfamiliar. Her brows creased, briefly. She hadn't expected visitors so soon and there was no guarantee that the other Dark Lady would be glad to see her. Even so, she couldn't keep her sister waiting. She unsealed the door with the press of a button and watched as the partition slid aside.

Well, a pretty dress and a bottle of wine were good signs; it meant this probably wasn't an execution. Novus smiled, stepped around her desk, and inclined her head in greeting.

”Sister. It has been too long.” She turned slightly to include the man, the source of that unfamiliar presence, in their conversation. She took in his state of dress with a quirked brow. He'd be handsome, perhaps, in some other setting. At the moment, however, he looked quite out of place beside Renata's sleek formality. ”You'll have to forgive me, but I don't believe I've met your friend?”

[Meira]

Her senses picked up Jessoin's presence just as he reached the top of the staircase behind her. Renata turned, a smile prepared to congratulate the man on his promptness. But that smile quickly disappeared when she took in his general state of uncleanliness. The corners of her lips turned downward as her nose crinkled at the offensive sight of him. He spoke and she rolled her eyes.

"I appreciate your punctuality, Jessoin," she said, turning her eyes back toward the door, "but next time, maybe you could try to wipe the grit out of your teeth before presenting yourself."

The door opened and Renata stepped ahead of her apprentice into the room. Her smile returned, she moved fluidly over to Novus as the woman made her greetings. "Far too long." Renata agreed.

At the mention of her friend, Renata turned her head, again studying Jessoin with a resigned sigh. "I apologize for his appearance." she said, an air of what can be done? in her words. "This is my apprentice, Jessoin Zarander." and then to the man she said, "Jess, you have the honor of meeting Darth Novus. Be a dear and pour us some wine."

She handed the bottle off to Jess with hardly a glance at the man, then turned to link her arm with Novus' own. "You cannot know how happy I am to have you back, sister. I hope you are not too tired from your travels to sit a while and talk with me?"

[Apillis]

Since the Battle of Thila, Hervor had returned to her usual routine within the Sith Temple as though it were yet just another day, and for her--it largely was. She had sacked fortresses in the past before many within the temple's own great grandparents were even born. It was not new territory. While admittedly those battles were not near equal in scale in numbers, it was all still the same ever progression within the galactic machine of war continuing to persist as it always has long before her existence and many others going back eons. It never ends, it never changes.

The battle tattered, torn, and ragged white Jedi Archivist cloak in spite of its being washed since the great battle still has some of its newly attained blood stains amidst some of the old that never did wash out. Though the cloak was more an off-white or light grey these days from its immense age. The cloak closed by an old Jedi utility belt wore over it with a clearly battle proven lightsaber that looked difficult to tell whether it had been repaired with an electrum lightsaber or perhaps the other way around. Under it nothing more than a simple dark grey halter top, scuffed up dark brown pants, and battle worn out black knee high officer's boots. The hood of her cloak was down leaving her asymmetrical styled red hair to fall in a devil-may-care way. The lower half of her face hidden behind her black mask with crude, jagged grey fangs.

Since Thila her presence has certainly become more palpable and felt within the halls of the Sith Temple, like a long forgotten beast within the abyss as time passed out of mind, but was stirred from its slumber and now has crawled out of its depths. Awake. Alive. The fight with the Jedi Master seemed to had certainly awoken within her, like something that had been dormant had been stirred but stronger--more intense than it was in the past when she last felt it so many years ago.

And yet, in spite of that, she simply fell into her norms within the Sith Temple--serving as its Archivist and filling what subjects she discovered to be lacking for holocron lessons, she filled them herself. Which is precisely what she had set out to do. A simple well-used brown leather satchel slung over her shoulder with several holocrons within them she had personally made to restock the archive with, yet on her return, she paused.

Finding before her were two familiar faces, Jessoin and Darth Renata waiting out in a corridor of the temple she was walking through. The former served under her during the Battle of Thila when she lead the main force of the Sith army to victory with the aid of several Sith, and Jessoin was one of them. The latter of which she had not really formerly met but knew the name and visage as any Sith should as she is one of the Darths of the reformed Sith Order. But as she was nearing them to soon pass them by she saw a third opening a door to them, it took her a moment to place the third one, but she did after a trice recognize the visage but yet another she had never met, Darth Novus, a name she had heard within the temple walls but again never encountered personally.

Her hands gloved with black leather fingerless gloves, the right of which rested on the strap of the satchel as the strap lay across her chest. Eliciting to pause in her steps no longer, she continued on her way which lead to approaching the trio. She slowed in her steps to see if she would be acknowledged or addressed by the Darth pair. She was curious as to how they would receive her, and weighed what actions she would take if they chose not to...

((Edit: Fixed a mishap.))