A New Purpose (Rugs)

[Deleted]

It had been a year since Xiszek had dumped him on Korriban...For an entire year he had been at the academy training diligently, and progressing his studies within the darkside of the force. For a whole year he had been training with the riff raff that flew into this desolate place, and for a whole year he hadn't had a master. Today he was going to change that. Aurellius was the training instructor for all the Sith Initiates, but he was far above being an initiate, and he was making a bold move today.

Walking down the corridors, of the temple he came to Aurellius's chambers, and he sat outside of it for a few minutes. Then he knocked on the door knowing that the elder force user would have sensed him while he waited if not before. After he knocked three times he waited patiently. Dressed in his black initiate robes, with his lightsaber on his side he wondered how this meeting was gonna go. The worst case scenario was that he would get told no, but he didn't think he could take no as an answer.

[Rugs]

Nieraan stirred from his slumber. The Force beckoned at him, pulled his body to motion despite its weary protests. “What in the...” he groggily muttered as he sat upright on the hard cushioning that passed for a mattress in the Sith Temple.

A single ray of pale moonlight passed through a small octagonal window, high and isolated near the corner of wall and ceiling. The pale light illuminated his silver skin, making him seem an otherworldly thing as his mind worked to figure what pulled him from his sleep.

Though the mind needed time to find its bearing, his senses, sharp and listening, did not. A single presence approached his quarters from the hallway. Muffled. Weak, but noticeable. Probably a student just passing by then.

But the presence did not go by his room and on to wherever students might go at night in the Temple. Instead it lingered outside, waiting. Nieraan felt his hackles rising. It could be anything, but he wasn’t about to deal with an Initate’s stupidity. If somneone got their feelings hurt and decided they might be able to catch up him unawares, they’d have another thing coming…

Knock knock knock.

The Firrerreo rose with a grumble, pulling discarded shirt to his hand with a casual tug of the Force and hastily throwing it on. A saber rose to his hand as well, though he clipped it to his belt for the moment, as he parted the door.

Zexva Vuluha. Nieraan instantly recognized the boy. He was an initiate. Tended to do well for himself, though he wasn’t a prodigy. Promising, if nothing else.

“What do you want, Vuluha?” Nieraan asked, yellow eyes peering at the boy in the dimly-lit hall.

[Deleted]

The moment he saw Master Aurellius a single thought crossed his mind...I am suicidal... but he refused to let that be the determining factor in this entire situation. He had been building up the courage to ask this slowly over the past few weeks, and here he was in the middle of the night asking the man he wished to be his master, to be his master. If he didn't get killed it would be well worth it if he accepted, but if he did get killed then that would suck, but that was neither here nor there. Looking the master in the eye he knelt down before him as was proper, and he spoke to him as humbly as he could.

"Master Aurellius I have come here to humbly ask to become your new apprentice." after those words left his lips he didn't speak further.

He would get either a yes, or a no, and that would be that. If the man rejected him it would be for a good reason, and he would train twice as hard to gain his recognition so that he could be apprenticed to him. Zexva would not give up on this venture so easily, but he knew when to pick his battles, and if he lost this one it wouldn't mean that he lost the war. Just that he lost a few inches of footing that he could easily gain back.

Though he wouldn't lie to himself if he was rejected he would be slightly demoralized by the venture for a few days.

[Rugs]

Nieraan blinked as the boy went down to one knee. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but he hadn’t done anything lately that he felt was particularly deserving of random worshippers coming to his door while he tried to sleep.

"Master Aurellius I have come here to humbly ask to become your new apprentice."

Nieraan’s yellow eyes narrowed ever so slightly in the dim light. His grip on his weapon, hidden behind the side of the doorframe, tightened. So that’s what this is, he mulled. He watched the boy, who, for his part, stayed on the ground, awaiting a response.

Nieraan snorted.

“I haven’t gotten anything in my life by scraping around on my knees, boy,” he said gruffly, voice still rough and grating from waking so abruptly from his slumber. “If you want anything in this place, you’d best learn the same.”

Of course, that didn’t mean Zexva needed to be a belligerent idiot, as some Sith were, but what the Zeltron did with that tidbit of knowledge wasn’t necessarily Nieraan’s concern. Not now.

Still, the boy intrigued him—there was a certain boldness to coming to wake him in the middle of the night for the request. A boldness none of the other trainees — even Torrance, the prodigy — had yet shown.

“And what,” he said, leaning some of his weight against the frame, “makes you think you can handle being my apprentice?”

His eyes focused on the young Sith, allowing a meaningful silence to hang for a moment.

“Boy?”

[Deleted]

“I haven’t gotten anything in my life by scraping around on my knees, boy, if you want anything in this place, you’d best learn the same." was the first thing Nierraan said to him, and he understood what it meant all to well.

Groveling, and begging weren't in his nature, but there was a certain measure of respect you had to show others. There was a time, and place for war, and diplomacy, and right now was a time for diplomacy. Sure others would rather just attack to show their strength, but he preferred the subtle nature of the dark side. The slow moving tide that could rise into a tidal wave when the time called for it. Smiling as he looked down he heard the second part of Aurelius's comment.

“And what, makes you think you can handle being my apprentice?” his gruff voice tore through the silence.

Standing up he looked straight into in the bigger, and stronger mans eyes, and smirk curving at the edges of his lips.

"Because Master Aurelius, unlike the rest of those who dwell here, I have the spine to approach you, and ask despite knowing you could just kill me off in rejection." he allowed his words to hang into the air for just a second. "Because I am worthy." he finished his voice never faltering for a second.

[Rugs]

“Because you are worthy?” Nieraan asked, voice tilting with amusement. “Boy, I can think of several of your peers who are more ‘worthy’ than you claim to be.” Nieraan spoke flatly. He wasn’t there to pamper the boy, and certainly not to lift his ego.

Waking him up in the middle of the night was one thing. Making proclamations of his perceived value was quite another.

But the boy had gumption, and there was something to be said for that, at least. But Nieraan wasn’t going to just hand out an apprenticeship. That was a kindness of sorts, because the boy surely wouldn’t get many kindnesses if he got what he was after.

“But fine,” Nieraan said, yawning as he lifted his weight from the doorframe. “If you want to be my student so bad, then impress me.” He cracked a smile, showing his fangs as he backed away from the door and into his room. “Prove your worthiness, boy.”

The door closed behind him as he left the boy alone outside, and outside he would remain unless he took action.

If Zexva wanted Nieraan’s tutelage, after all, he’d have to come and get it, and he’d certainly find that a tough road to walk.

After all, nothing ever came easy in the Sith Temple.

But Nieraan waited within, waiting to see what the boy would do…

[Deleted]

This was it, the test he knew would be coming. Aurelius was not like his old master, he hadn't known him since he was a child, and hadn't groomed him. Aurelius didn't know what he was capable of, and this test would show him exactly what he needed to teach him. On top of that he had to do well enough to earn his apprenticeship by this man, and he refused to take no for an answer. So when the door's closed in front of him he took out his rancor claw necklace, touched the top of it to his head for luck, and then placing it back under his robes took out his lightsaber, and the golden blade flared to life. Taking a step forward the door opened, and then he commanded the force around him.

He didn't guide it, ask it, or allow it, he told it to give him it's strength, and it did. Increasing his speed he rushed towards Nieraan, ducking low to avoid a close ended swing, or a clotheline he aimed a cut right across his abdomen. Of course his saber wasn't set to stun that much would have been obvious to the man he was attacking. They weren't training, and in a life or death situation you had to be prepared to kill someone, and just stunning someone who was going to be torturing you for the rest of your life just wasn't going to cut it in his eyes.

He drew on the entirety of his well of hatred, and allowed it to fill him up he wasn't going to take it easy on this man, because he knew that he wouldnt' receive the kindness in return. Not that he knew how to be kind to people in the first place, only how to fake the emotions, and actions of others so he seemed to understand what he was doing.

[Rugs]

The door hissed open. Nieraan smirked. Of course the boy would follow. Nieraan had felt the shift in the air around him, the hardening of his will to pursue his goal.

Unfortunately for Zexva, this goal would not be an easy one to reach.

Nieraan waited as the boy, pink skin illuminated by a lone finger of wan moonlight drifting through the window, stepped into the room. He lunged at Nieraan, crouching to avoid a counter that wasn’t coming. Instead, as the boy’s blade swept out, Nieraan stepped forward, putting himself well within Zexva’s guard. His hand swept out and grabbed the Zeltron’s wrist. The boy was strong, for his age, but Nieraan was stronger. He could struggle, if he wished, but that blade wouldn’t touch the Firrerreo.

“So the pup wants to bite,” he said, smiling darkly as his grip tightened harshly on the boy’s hand wrist. He adjusted is grip just so, to keep the Initiate from trying to readjust the weapon and stab him. “But does the pup have any teeth, I wonder?”

Nieraan reached out with his free hand to grab at the front of the boy’s shirt. He shifted his weight using it and his strength to pull the Zexva off balance and, with a rush of strength from the Force, try to heave him across the cramped room. It certainly wouldn’t be a pleasant experience, if the boy didn’t react in time.

[Deleted]

So his new master wasn't even going to grace him by showing him his lightsaber. That would be fine by him. As he was flung unceremoniously towards the wall he didn't allow this mans words to bite into him, and cause him to become angrier. He had to remain in control like Xiszek taught him. The darkness didn't rule him, he ruled the darkness. He had a split second to act, and then his golden eyes would shimmer slightly as he used his telekinetic powers to slow down his momentum enough that he could place his feet against the wall, and then with a powerful kick of his legs fueled by a force push he launched himself back at the man as quickly as he could.

Knowing that he was incredibly vulnerable flying mid air like he was, he had to react quickly to whatever it was that this man was going to do. Aiming another saber strike he was hoping to cut Nieraans chest or arm. Of course this sith was older, and stronger so he doubted that it would work the way he wanted to, and chances are he would just be flung out of the window, but if he succeeded it would be great, if he didn't it would be less great...

"You won't stop me that easy." he growled his voice defiant in nature as he hurtled himself towards the seemingly large target.

No you won't stop me at all. he thought to himself, and that single thought spread through his mind like water. He would not fail this test no matter the cost.

[Rugs]

The boy righted himself in the air, turning Nieraan’s rough toss into a chance for attack. That was promising at least—much more than if he’d just gone crashing into the wall. He might have even won the day with the surprise move against most of his peers.

Still, the boy would learn that Nieraan was a hard nut to crack than his own peers. The Sith’s senses warned of the looming danger, but he didn’t need that in such a small space. He reacted quickly, stepping around the boy’s blade as it hummed hungrily through the air where he’d stood only a half-heartbeat prior.

Nieraan’s dropped his elbow hard as Zexva went sailing by. He meant to drive it — painfully — into the boy’s back and force him to the ground, if the boy didn’t react.

“The stubborn pup,” he taunted, stepping back to put space between himself and the boy’s blade again. “Yapping and howling, desperate to prove it’s worth. Come on, boy, you’ll have to do better.”

[Deleted]

There it was the half second dodge to the side, he began to twist his body in mid air for a block, but he couldn't react quick enough as his opponents elbow was dug painfully into his ribs, but his chance for an attack still wasn't lost. Even as the air was driven out of his lungs leaving him gasping for air quickly he struck out his left hand, and forced his rage into an arc of lightning against his now point blank target. His left side was hurting, from the powerful elbow strike, but if his Force Lightning was successful than he atleast succeeded in giving the man a few minor burns.

While his skills were effective at manipulating the minds of his enemies, his offensive skills were still okay. Rolling over quickly he got back up not caring if he hit or not he blasted out with his left hand again with a Force Push allowing his hatred of the world to consume him, and give him more power. He didn't need words to prove anything to this man, he would show him just who he was dealing with, and that he wasn't like the rest of weak initiates here.

I was born of the darkness, molded by it, they just adopted it! he roared in his own mind stirring up his anger, and rage even more.

[Rugs]

The flash of lightning. The quick, sizzling burn that crawled across the skin, setting nerves alight with sensation for a heartbeat as the boy dropped to the ground. The pain of knowing he'd been hit might have aggravated Nieraan, but it didn't. A wicked smile spread across his face, bearing his pointed fangs. It lent his visage a predatory cast, sharp canines exposed beneath his yellow eyes in the dim moonlight.

Pain was an old companion for Nieraan. Some minor hurt was nothing to work himself into a lather over, not like some other Sith might. But it was a sign that he was alive.

And further, a sign that this boy might have potential.

But potential left unmolded served no purpose, and this child still had not proven he could withstand the fires of Nieraan's tutelage.

The pink boy rose, throwing a hasty, angry blast of the Force Nieraan's way. Nieraan countered, using a focused blast of his own to cut through the heart of Zexva's attack and send the Force rushing harmlessly to the walls, disturbing little more than old dust.

"Blind rage," he started as he took a step forward, "will get you nothing." The Force stirred suddenly within him, much like the storms that arose from seemingly nothing during the hot, humid summers on Ruusan's plains in his youth. He took another step forward and loosed a push that dwarfed the boy's, with the intent of sending him crashing across the hallway.

"Boy. Focus it, or it will be your undoing."

A silence hung in the air for two heartbeats, then was shattered as his golden lightsaber hissed to life.

[Deleted]

He could sense this man molding the force into something powerful he just didn't know what it was. Then the release of the wave exploded outwards from his teacher towards him. Crossing his arms in front of him as a makeshift guard he was blown backwards towards one of the walls crashing against it. Using his telekinetic abilities to cushion the blow as much as he could. With bruises he could still fight, with a broken back not so much. He was told to focus his anger, and he got that. He would have to in order to defeat this man.

That was when Nieraan's golden lightsaber hummed to life, and readied his own. Drawing the force into him he increased both his strength, and speed so that he could hopefully overwhelm this guy. So he rushed at Nieraan once again, and instead of fighting him head on like before quickly pivoted on his left foot spinning to the side, and aiming a slash to hit right across his right ribcage.

On a normal opponent that tactic might work, and disembowel them, but this was no normal opponent, and he knew that he was going to have to try something new soon.

[Rugs]

The boy went crashing out into the hallway. Nieraan followed, his casual hold on his lightsaber allowing the tip of the blade to briefly dip against the stone wall and leave a glowing trail of superheated rock in its wake.

"Good," he called as the Initiate rose to his feet again, with fight still obviously burning in his blood. Fight was good. Passion was good. But the boy would have to fight better if he wanted to come anywhere close to touching Nieraan.

He rushed ahead, a pink, gold-illuminated blur in the dark hallway as his saber screamed through the air at Nieraan's chest. At the last moment, he abruptly pivoted to the side and struck out at Nieraan's ribs.

Nieraan smiled subtly as he shifted his weight subtly, bringing his focus to bear on the boy and his blade up from below. Gold met gold with a hiss and flash of light as he forced the Zeltron's blade up and harmlessly away. The Force boomed out of him again as he buffeted at the Initiate with another push.

[Deleted]

He could feel the force being molded around Nieraan as the older Sith easily parried his blow, and then unleashed another Force Push. Zexva had absolutely no skills in defensive force techniques, and could not block this attack with a barrier, but he could do something akin to it. At the same time as Nieraan released his burst Zexva released one of his own albeit it was weaker, and rushed slightly, but it would be effective for what he wanted. His push acted like a buffer to Nieraan's push, and it blew him backwards just like the last one, but not as hard as it could have been.

Once again he found himself on the floor, and he gritted his teeth as he could feel new bruises coming into existence as this man beat the crap out of him. Determined as ever though he would not give up, and once again he pulled himself up to his feet. His rage building, compounding as all the endless lessons Xiszek taught him rushed through his memory. The one good thing about his last mentor was that he had taught him patience was everything. You had to wait in order to strike hard, it was easy to land multiple light strikes, but all you really needed was one attack to turn the tables.

So far he had landed a few light strikes, but nothing substantial yet. Then Nieraans voice rang through his head..."Boy. Focus it, or it will be your undoing.", and that is what he did. He focused hard drawing upon his vast reservoir of contempt, and hatred for the world around him, the world that abandoned him, and left him in the care of a sadistic father figure. Instead of unleashing a physical force attack however he rallied up his power around him, and staring straight into Nieraan's eyes he unleashed a furious, and ferocious mental assault against the man. He would bring this man's fears to light, and make him cower beneath him like so many others.

[Rugs]

Nieraan snorted as Zexva fell to the ground again, unable to fend off the blast of the Force that'd been sent hurtling his way.To his credit, the boy had tried, even using a technique Nieraan was quite familiar with in trying to stop the blast with a weaker one of his own.

But the gap in their ablities was too broad, and the Zeltron's efforts too feeble to halt even Nieraan's casual efforts to bring him down. The Firrerreo supposed, as he walked down the hall to his crumpled foe, that the boy was lucky that he held back.

Yes, even if the Zeltron fought to kill, Nieraan did not. Not truly.

Zexva rose again as Nieraan bore down on him, and the Firrerreo supposed that was just as well. He didn't intend to kill the lad, but nor would he pull his punches if Zexva couldn't find the strength to rise as a foe descended on him. "Good," he said quietly as the Initiate turned to him with determination shining like fire in his golden eyes.

Then the situation changed. Quickly.

Nieraan's senses, honed to a razor's edge for matters of battle, first alerted him to the danger. He braced a moment before the boy's mental attack came surging forward, but even he found himself set briefly aback by the intensity. The whole of Nieraan's telepathic capability lay in defending his mind from attack. He couldn't do much of anything to influence the will of others, but he was quite capable of fending off or at least slowing the onslaught of most Force users.

Zexva's attack, as abrupt as it was unwelcome, pressed hard against Nieraan's mental defenses. Nieraan could feel the boy's mind reaching like grubby hands for the surface thoughts, of his love with Danica, the children, threatening to reach into memories that were not the Zeltron's business to know before the Firrerreo hardened his will and pressed back. The boy's skill was concerning, especially for his age, but he didn't have the raw strength in the Force or willpower to match Nieraan's own.

Not yet.

Besides, the best way to stop a telepath was to force their focus to something else. And as Zexva had done about the only thing he could to ensure an enraged Firrerreo, the gloves abruptly came off.

Lightning cracked around his closed fist as he closed what little gap remained between them. His blade struck out, to ensure the boy's own blade was tied up defending himself. Then his fist shot out right at the boy's face, hissing with energy as lightning flashed around it.

[Deleted]

His mental assault while it would easily overwhelm anyone that was his equal, and maybe even a little higher than him, it was not a match for Nieraan. The man willed a shield around his mind that seemed like an impenetrable fortress, but he wouldn't give up that easily as he tried to destroy the barrier that the man had put up. Though it was all for naught as he saw the flash of gold from his opponents lightsaber flare to hit him. Meeting it with his own he did his best to keep his focus on tearing down those mental barrier's something that he was adept at doing, but that was when the lightning crackled.

It lashed out like a whip, and struck him in the face as his, hopefully future master, had intended. Causing him to crash against the wall that he had been against before he could feel the sting of the lightning still lingering on his cheeks, jaw, and forehead. It was a concentrated blast of pure hatred, and he knew that he would be feeling this for weeks to come. It was no different than what his previous master had done to him. Standing back up, although a bit wobbly, he did his best to stifle his groans of pain. No good would come from his showing any kind of weakness in front of this man.

He could feel his body shaking a little as the blast to his face had dazed him quiet a bit, but he was still ready to fight this man in order to prove himself worthy. It didn't matter how much pain he had to endure, Xiszek had tortured him for all of his failure's, and they were numerous. He would not add more to that list.

I am the darkness! he roared in his mind as he wrapped himself in a cloak of force energy, and just like the man in front of him, he let it explode outwards in an attempt to throw him off balance. Then he rallied up his energies holding his sword at stomach level rushed hoping to impale the man, or at least give him something to remember him by.

[Rugs]

[Any action/beating is administered with @solo’s blessing ]

The Zeltron boy crashed again into the wall, and Nieraan began to wonder if Renata might fuss at him for damaging his room. That was a concern for another time, though. Moonlight, drifting in from the lone window atop the will, glinted in his sun-gold eyes as he watched Zexva — with sparks of remanant energy occasionally flickering across his body — groan against the pain.

Yes, it hurts, Nieraan thought as he stood over the Initiate; watching, waiting to see if he had the wherewithal to push himself from the floor again to fight an obviously-superior foe.

His memories flashed to another world, another time; to his countless futile struggles against his mother as she put him through the crucible to forge him into what he was today. For a moment it was almost is if he could feel the lightning wreaking havoc on him, or the saber biting his flesh to burn in the scars that still crisscrossed his back.

Rise, or be forgotten, boy, he thought as Zexva struggled to stand. The boy’s movements were slow, dazed from pain. His muscles, shaky, obviously fought against him as he rose, yet still, he found the strength to confront Nieraan again.

The sight reminded Nieraan of a young Firrerreo on Metellos, rising again and again after countless beatings to face a woman he had no hope to overcome…

If Zexva hadn’t found a way to piss him off only half a minute earlier, he might have smiled. Instead, he narrowed his golden eyes as he twirled his blade once in his hand. Don’t worry, boy. You won’t have to rise again.

Zexva charged. It was a clumsy thing, saber held awakwardly out in front of him in an attempt to run Neiraan through. The room’s cramped confines made the whole thing an awkward affair, but that didn’t matter.

Nieraan’s golden blade rose in a quick, simple stroke, battering the lightsaber away from the weary boy’s grasp. As the momentum of Zexva’s charge carried him on, the Firrerreo stepped forward and into the attack. His fist found Zexva’s stomach in a blow no doubt made all the worse for their movement in opposite directions. He felt the boy’s stomach muscles harden then fail against the sudden force of the strike as Zexva made some pained-sounded guttural gasping noise.

His weight leaned against Nieraan’s shoulder and as the boy began to fall to the side, Nieraan offered an elbow to the side of the head to send him on his way.

Zexva’s body hit the ground with a thud. Nieraan’s saber hissed away, leaving only the pale moonlight to keep them company. He leaned over to pick up the Initiate’s fallen weapon as his senses felt Zexva struggling to cling to consciousness. It was a losing fight; both of them knew this truth.

“You are weak,” he said simply as the he felt the last breaths of consciousness fade from Zexva’s body.

Silence took the room.

---

A few hours later found Nieraan in a room in the Temple’s medical wing. It was moderately sized, if sparsely decorated. Zexva lay unconscious still atop a hard bed. He’d only allowed the most basic of medical treatment, and had outright denied the Initiate a kolto tank.

Failure bore costs. Those costs couldn’t be pampered away with a bit of salve and a dip in a tank.

He’d not spent the whole time there, knowing that Zexva would be out for a while. But as the sun broke the horizon and threw oranges and pinks across the morning sky he drifted back. For a time he kept to himself, in a state of half-meditation to while he waited. Eventually, he felt the boy’s mind begin to stir.

Nieraan folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the windowsill. Four lightsabers hung at his waist now, rather than the usual three. One belonged to Zexva.

“Do you know what your first lesson is?” he asked as the boy awoke.

[Deleted]

Fighting this guy was like fighting the Rancor all over again, if the Rancor were smaller, more agile, and had the ability to blast lightning from it's fingertips to sizzle his face off. His attack was clumsy he knew that much, but the beating that he had taken was severe, but even then he wasn't going to give up not for an instance. He wanted to become stronger, and in order to do that, he needed this man. The first blow felt like a space cruiser landing right in his stomach, and the second was like a hammer smashing across his face. Once more he found himself on the ground laying there in agony, and he tried to get back up, but he was barely able to move.

The last thing he heard from the training instructor was “You are weak,”, and then he passed out. Zexva didn't have a clue how long he was out for, just that he thought he was going to die a few times, but he didn't which was a good thing for him. To be in as much pain as he was, meant that he had to be alive, and that the man he had sought out to train him, hadn't just killed him when he was unconscious. Waking up his entire body felt like glass, and everything hurt, it seemed that Aurelius had refused him to take a dip into a Kolto tank to fully recuperate, of course he had.

The first thing that he said to him when awoke was “Do you know what your first lesson is?”, of course he had no clue, but he had to think of something to say, even though it was sure to be wrong.

"I believe it was as your words said...I am weak, which means that my first lesson is to get stronger?" he asked in a questioning tone.

[Rugs]

Nieraan watched Zexva as the boy’s wits slowly started returning to him. A brief hesitation followed Nieraan’s answers; the wheels in Zexva’s mind need time to start turning so soon he surfaced form his slumber. They didn’t take too long to spin enough to offer an answer, even if Nieraan suspected it was something blurted out to satisfy him.

"I believe it was as your words said...I am weak, which means that my first lesson is to get stronger?”

“No,” Nieraan said flatly. “You should already know that.” His let his arms fold from across his chest and lazily pushed off the windowsill. He began to walk toward the Initiate’s bed, sabers clink-clinking in rhythm with his steady footsteps.

“If you hadn't accepted that truth by the time you stepped foot in this Temple, then you are already lost, boy,” he said. A subtle smirk twisted the corner of his mouth as he stopped just beyond arm’s from Zexva’s bed. The smirk abruptly faded and Nieraan’s eyes went cold.

“Your lesson is that if you ever go reaching your dirty little paws where they don’t belong, I will kill you.” All the while, he let his Force presence spread around them, lending a dark, uncomfortable weight to the air. “Are we clear?”