Nar Shaddaa

The room was dark lit only by candles and dim crimson lights giving the interior a sinister feel as Lord Zhorrid waited for the arrival of her very special guest. The distraction in town ahd done little to alleviate the boredom and she felt that Moyr was doing things behind her back or maybe not.

She had already forgotten what it was she had sent Moyr to do, but she was sure it was important at the time. Probably.

She lounges on her couch and listens to music as she waits for her guest.

Why am I doing this? Aphr questioned herself as she moved quietly towards where she knew Zhorrid was. It was madness, facing that woman without Moyr around...but she wasn't sure if Moyr would act against Zhorrid yet.

If this can also take the woman's eyes off Moyr, then it's worth it that thought alone strengthened her resolve, and she entered the Compound. Walking along the edges, towards the room, clearing her mind, although it was difficult to forget the Jedi drugging earlier. She paused at the door, torn between knocking or just entering, and went for the safer option of knocking. She expected Zhorrid would know who was there anyway.

The door opens and Zhorrid says, "Come in my little sister."

Little sister now?

"Good evening" Aphr said as she entered, expecting to see a bloodbath as she did so. It was quite difficult to see with the dim lighting. "I hope your day hasn't been too boring?"

“It has been trying, have a seat… want something to eat… drink? I hope you have been well, I have come to think dearly of you. Reminds me of the sister I never had. Do you have a sister?” she asks sipping some wine.

"You've prepared food?" Aphr smiled "that's very thoughtful! Nar Shaddaa can be quite entertaining depending what you are into. Me? I've been..." she sighed "actually, I've been quite annoyed today by the arrogance of a Jedi who invited everyone to a dinner meal just to drug them. Are Jedi always so deceitful? It goes against their code surely."

She hoped a rant at the Jedi and being drugged might turn the womans ire towards the Jedi instead of her.

“Jedi… they don’t even know what they are and surely Jedi lie… they just claim they are honest but that is the biggest lie. Next time someone makes you mad just end their life, life is full of lessons, and some lessons should be final,” Zhorrid responds.

“Or did your fear of her stay your hand.”

Aphr shook her head. "I didn't kill her because there was no need to. She had embarrassed herself, and drugged 4 or 5 different Sith as well as those of use not affiliated to the Jedi or the Sith, so really leaving her alive to continue damaging the Jedi image is a far better use of her lack of skill. Lack of skills that she in turn passes down to the next generation, breeding weaker Jedi or turning more away from the Light side."

Aphr actually chuckled at that thought.

"Sometimes the stupid need to be left alive to deal more damage. She doesn't think she did wrong after all."

“I suppose,” she says not really convinced.

“The Jedi are really just boring. Oh well, do you know what that crystal can do for you, little sister? It can create a lightsaber… you will make one. You will serve me and together we shall rampage the galaxy and do whatever we want because Father is missing and is dead to me.”

“Do you have a father? I bet he was a terrible person like mine. I hate my father.”

"Both boring and stupid" Aphr agreed with a nod "and hidden behind lies that they believe justify being as they are."

She paused as the Sith lord moved back onto the crystal again. She took it out in response to this, placing it down on the table to look at. "You said it's to create a lightsaber. I've not seen a crystal like this before...what is it called? As for my father...well, he sent me away to be a slave, so he's hardly an ideal person either. What happened to your father?"

“Kyber crystal, this one was constructed on Ziost through Sith alchemical processes. They resonate with the force especially the dark side and it is that connection that gives strength to a lightsaber. You will gather the parts for a hilt, you will make one, and you will kill with it,” she says lifting the crystal with the Force.

“As for my father, he is dead… to me. He made me the woman I am, a powerful Sith with no concept of Fear because he terrorized me as a child. Formed his ideas on the terror and pain he inflicted on my mother and myself, it made strong. It made me hate him. One day I will return that gift of pain to him a thousand fold when I drive my lightsaber down his throat.”

“Does that hurt father… yes?” she says as if reliving a moment. “Oh don’t bother begging father, you know that begging only makes the pain worse. Be a good girl, father suffer it. Suffer for my understanding.”

“Otherwise he was rather pleasant.”

"Making the lightsaber?" Aphr looked curious, as she watched the crystal float in front of her "sounds quite difficult. I'll have to look around for the parts to gather, and I imagine the saber is different based on how the user creates it" she said thoughtfully, although she went quiet as Zhorrid spoke about her father. Keeping her frown hidden as she relived some old memory.

"You are stronger for it" she agreed quietly after a few moments "and we can be inspired by you in that, in our own way. Can I top up your wine?"

“You may.”

“I am not sure if I am stronger for it, I still live in my father’s shadow. No one will take me seriously because Darth Jadus is my father and they feel I have not earned my way. Even when he isn’t here he ruins everything for me. I will have to kill him… cut his heart out and then maybe I will get some respect,” she says looking at the wine.

“Crafting a lightsaber is not terribly hard… the dark side will guide you to create a weapon that will devastate your enemies and with my guidance you will be ready to wield it.”

Zhorrid says with a wicked grin, “Only if you throw off the chains of a slave and become something more than what you are. You can serve a lesser Sith or you can serve me.”

Aphr took a moment while Zhorrid was speaking to top up her wine. She also tried to make out the label of the bottle, so she knew what it was. It also allowed her a few moments to think how to play the next part.

"Where is this Darth Jadus? If he isn't here, then there's nothing holding you back here at least" she offered in some sort of comfort "and I can't see him holding you back for long either." She poured herself some of the wine as well "same as myself. I don't wish to live my life bound any longer. I want to be free, and I will be free. If you believe I am worthy enough to have your tutelage of course...there are few who are as brutal and strong as you are, and fewer still who would deserve such a strong guide."

"Do you truly believe that," she asks.

The wine is from a world called Ziost, an Imperial world.

"That you are strong? Completely" Aphr nodded "I don't know Darth Jadus, but I believe you can find your way out of his shadow as well. You're not one to let something like that hold you back."

"No... I am not," Zhorrid replies proudly.

"I am a Sith Lord, a mistress of the dark side and heir to a powerful bloodline. I create my own destiny. Just as you might prove yourself in time. I would not have guesses an alien to have such... wisdom but you surprise me. I hope that trend continues."

"Thank you" Aphr nodded in thanks, smiling a little now "while we cannot hope to reach the greatness of beings like yourself my lord, sometimes we can be surprisingly useful."

She took a moment to top up the woman's wine.

"And in time I will hopefully surprise you less, and impress you more. I have a question though, if I may ask? I can be quite the inquisitive sort at times, so forgive me if I ask too much...I'm just very curious on the lightsaber process, because I have seen many different kinds that do many different jobs I imagine. I would assume yours is also different design, a beautiful but deadly masterpiece?"

"There are many styles and forms and functions... I preferred something more personal and intimate. I crafted mine using the teaching of those that came before. I gathered the materials from creatures I killed in the wilds of Drommund Kaas and scrounged the parts," she says producing her lightsaber.

It is leather bound around a menacing fang that has been hollowed out and turned into a housing for a lightsaber. It is primal and fierce and it is mine. Your lightsaber is your life, it is tied to you and only those you trust should be allowed to touch it, or those you feel would understand the value and importance of it."

Zhorrid holds it out for Aphr to hold, "Feel a weapon crafted for death, feel the anger that shaped chaos into the doom of others."

Aphr looked over the saber, studying the detail. She hated to admit it to herself, but she was in awe of the weapon - it was clearly very much Zhorrid, and to make it from creatures she killed was impressive.

Then it was offered for her to hold, after the comments about trust. She holds it in both hands, looking it over in detail. "Amazing" she finally said, her eyes remaining on it "I can't imagine there being another even close to this design. And it was made from materials gathered before you had a lightsaber? You must be quite the hunter."

"Father abandoned me in the jungles for my twelfth birthday, I spent six days alone and nearly died of dehydration. I had to fashion my own weapons... I had to survive or die. When I returned he didn't even say anything to me. It would be the first of many lessons, but not the last," she says holding out her hand.

"I can teach you to make your own."

"I hope you won't do the same to me" Aphr said with a small chuckle, although she really did hope it, returning the womans saber. "I would welcome your teachings on lightsaber creation. I will need to find the parts and bring them here I imagine?"

She nods and says, "We shall see."

"When you are ready to continue, I will guide you."

"Thank you" Aphr smiled "I'm very interested in seeing the whole creation process. I've never done any hand to hand combat before, so this will all be an educational process for me. Thankfully I have a very talented teacher."

"Every Sith in training should know the basic forms," she replies. "The lightsaber is a sacred tool but it is only one weapon in the arsenal of a Sith; the mind... the Force... the emotions of your enemies. Every advantage must be exploited when engaged in sacred slaughter."

"You are not defenseless, you have many weapons at your disposal."