Atris - Sound/Touch

[ice_echani]

The air was dry and chill, but Handmaiden was well dressed for the temperature... long sleeves, gloves and training gauntlets snug around her forearms, warm and fitted trousers and a tunic with the hood drawn up over her bare neck. She could feel the tension inside herself, simmering in her stomach as she walked into the room, her footsteps sounding isolated as they echoed off the unseen walls. "Mistress? You summoned me?" her voice said, uncertain, betraying her feelings.

"I have a task for you," said the voice of the mistress--steady, deep, and calm. "The exile... is dangerous. I am concerned that she was able to return to Republic space and reach Telos without my knowledge."

"Mistress, the Harbinger was lost in transit. It was our failing," spoke her own voice.

"What is done is done," the mistress said, her tone putting the matter out of importance. But now I need you to travel with her."

Handmaiden felt the tension in her stomach twist into a knot. "Mistress?"

"I realize what it is I am asking of you," said the mistress. "And I am asking that you keep your purpose a secret, even from your sisters. I need someone to watch the exile closely--and let me know if she contacts the Sith." She relayed the instructions with the same steady calm, but there was no denying the underlying tone in there. "More important, I need you to study her closely--I need to know what she thinks, what she does. Become part of her group, earn her trust, get her to confide in you."

She could feel herself growing more tense with each word the mistress spoke. Such a command... yet she did her best to hold herself steadily, to not betray her unease with this mission. "I... will do as you ask, mistress," she said, attempting to sound calm and unperturbed, and began to walk out of the room. But her footsteps halted, she turned around. "But mistress, the exile did not seem to pose a threat to us," she said with much more sincerity.

"Ah, but she does," came the reply. "Do not be fooled by the exterior--it is her nature you must beware. She fell to the dark side once; she will do so again." As matter-of-fact as if she were discussing the layout of a building. "I am trusting you with this task, last of my Handmaidens." And Handmaiden could hear it... just enough emphasis on the word last to make that part of her which always knew her inferiority cringe. "Do not disappoint me--the galaxy, the Jedi may depend on it."


Handmaiden blinked, and the world returned. She sat down on the edge of her bed, staring at the dimmed crystal in her hands. The Exile... then... what had she been? A spy. A spy on a former Jedi... not just a former Jedi, but one who had been cast out from them. That was how she had known that woman. And it was not simply a matter of tracking her. To spy on her words, her deeds, her character? She mulled over the words that had been spoken as her emotions twisted, trying to know how she should feel. Harbinger... the name of a ship. Had she and her sisters been responsible for it, on its crew? But that didn't make sense. If they had been on the crew, they couldn't have lost it. Tracking it, perhaps, cooperating with it. A Republic ship and the Jedi, that would make sense. (Did it? What was the Republic?) But what did that have to do with the Exile?

If the mistress was a Jedi... Handmaiden's fists tightened as she recalled her dream and the lightning, the angry and bitter words. Did I command you to betray me? What had she done? Am I a traitor? she wondered. I doubted her. Why? I spoke for the Exile. And I remember the Exile in every part of that dream, heard her voice when I recited the poem. But that was as an agent for the mistress. It had been the Exile at the end, reaching a hand down towards her.

Why could she not know?!

[OOC: Memory reference is here, 1:34 - 2:42. Playthrough is of a dark side male Exile, but apart from pronoun change isn't different for a light side female Exile. 'Cause Atris is a douchebag no matter how you behave.

For punishment, she'll be unable to speak for three days.]