{{ simply being loved - chapter 12
After the development with General Jacen Solo, Tenel Ka ran to the door to see what the noise was that had interrupted one of the most intimate moments the stoic Queen Mother had ever experienced. She placed a slender, metallic finger on the release button and the door slid back to reveal a handsome male, a mix of Hapan and something Tenel Ka couldn't quite place in her mind.
A slight snicker was present on the man's pale visage as he pushed his way past his fiancée, entering her quarters.
"What have you been doing in here all this time, Tenel Ka? And why wouldn't you let anyone in?"
"That is none of your business."
Commander Gadell Vessau stood in the middle of the bedroom, his hands clasped behind his back, staring out through the open double doors, out to the balcony and the sky beyond. He was frightningly still, like a statue. "It is my business. We are to be married. We should keep no secrets from each other." Gadell tilted his head slightly as he spoke. He was clad in a pair of baggy, black casual pants and a floor-length cerulean robe that was left open, the long strand of silk that would tie the two sides of the robe together were dangling limply down along his legs. His hair was tied back into a loose knot and his eyes were calm, even though they still held that deadly shade of crystalline ice.
The Queen Mother paced around beside him and paused. She questioned herself as her eyes worked their way over his body, absently assessing him. The way his chest moved as he breathed. The way the shorter strands of his hair would slide out of the loose tie and fall across his face, slicing dark lines into his pale cheeks. She tore her gaze away from him and scowled.
"Dear?"
Gray was trying to work it's way back into Tenel Ka's eyes as she glanced up towards Gadell's serene face. "What?" She snarled.
"My dear, what kind of tone was that?" Sarcasm pricked it's way through his comment as he dropped his hands by his sides and slowly turned to face Tenel Ka. The moonlight spilled onto his face, throwing it into a contrasting chiaroscuro that sent a shudder up the Queen Mother's spine. She slowly began backing towards the bed, plotting in her mind how she could avoid whatever Gadell was planning.
As her mind worked around possible ideas, Gadell lunged forward, pushing Tenel Ka back onto the bed. The way he hung over her, struck Tenel Ka as a sick parallel to how Jacen Solo had been just minutes before. But instead of staring into those rousing pools of brandy, Tenel Ka stared straight into glacial orbs of the iciest blue. With him as close to her as he was, she could see shards of dark azure stabbing through the lighter shade.
For one last moment, the gray in her eyes broke through and she struggled to push him off of her.
And for one last moment, as Tenel Ka glared into Gadell's eyes, the ice melted from them, leaving them a soft shade of cobalt; the color of the quiet Hapan sky.
She instantly stopped struggling, as her own eyes widened at the sight of the Commander, bewildered and breathless. He quickly pulled himself off of her, a look of shock on his face.
"Your highness... I---"
She slowly sat up and let her stormy eyes follow Gadell Vessau as he stumbled backwards, away from the bed, twitching ever so slightly. Closing his eyes and shaking his head, he stopped. And as his eyes were closed, the ice crept back into them - as well as back into his system.
The momentary loss of the Gadell she knew stunned her. She opened up to the Force and found that he was swimming in an ocean of mixed emotions. There was something going on inside of him that seemed hauntingly familiar to Tenel Ka.
The Commander regained his composure and let out a long breath, staring back up to the Queen Mother. "That was odd," he added, in his normal throaty tone.
Tenel Ka continued to stare at him in disbelief, until a jolt of pain shot through her body, originating from her left arm. She fell backwards from her sitting position and writhed silently in pain. Her mind screamed out and her body screamed out.
But she was silent.
Gadell's eye twitched as he padded over to the bed. Standing beside it, he studied Tenel Ka's movements. Her studied the pained look in her shifting eyes.
He studied her body.
He let his right hand run up and down the left side of her torso as she trembled and shivered, her mouth working around screams and words she couldn't communicate.
The poison pumped full force into her system. Every negative emotion, magnified.
Fear, anger, hate, suffering.
Commander Gadell Vessau planted a chaste kiss on Tenel Ka's sweaty forehead and turned towards the door, to get the guards.
They did need to call the medics, after all.
For once, Jacen Solo's dreams weren't vile and twisted.
He was swimming in the waters along the rocky coastline, diving down into the endless water, coming up for air, just playing around out of boredom and a need for exercise. He padded afloat as he noticed Queen Mother Tenel Ka Chume Djo making her way towards the sea. Jacen could see the hypnotizing curves of her body as her thin, casual dress fluttered against her form from the sea's breeze.
He wasn't complaining.
The hem of the dress fell to the ground, and it was all a shade of green that reminded Jacen of Tenel Ka's armor she wore during their days at the Academy. Her hair was hanging loose; no tiara, no intricate style. The wind blew it back, forming a tail of molten copper behind her. Her feet were bare and the only metal present on her body was her late mother's armband that was clasped around the stump of her left arm.
Pulling her dress up to knee level, she sat herself down on the low rock ledge, dangling her feet in the crystal waters. An expression of serenity graced her face as she looked down to Jacen, who was splashing around lightly. He noticed she was wearing the gort eggshell necklace he had made her.
Everything was moving slowly.
Jacen didn't mind it this time. He could float in this dream forever.
Her gray eyes blinked as he swam towards her, pulling himself out of the water and sitting down on her right side, drenching the rocks under him. She continued to stare out towards the water, her hair slowly gliding out behind her. Jacen leaned towards her and fixed his lips to her temple, placing a soft kiss there before pulling back and watching a small smile shape on her lips. Tenel Ka turned her head towards him and he could feel her right hand run down his side as they leaned in to kiss...
And then the dream was violently ripped away from him as a blinding pain tore through his system. He pushed himself up, the covers falling away from their tangled place over his head.
Although the pain seared through his mind and pounded in his head, he could still hear a banging on the door of his quarters. Stumbling towards it, his eyes shifted in and out of focus, causing him to almost lose his balance once or twice. He smacked the unlock button, then the release button and the door slid open revealing a nowhere-near-as-pained Jaina Solo.
Jaina knew something was going on with Tenel Ka, she could feel it. And she knew Jacen would be feeling it a thousand times worse, since Jacen and Tenel Ka shared an incredibly close bond. She grabbed her brother's wrist and began dragging him down the hallways, towards the Queen Mother's quarters.
It was the middle of the night.
Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker could feel it, they were worried. But they knew they could do nothing to help.
Leia Organa Solo was sitting up in bed, shaking her head. She could feel Tenel Ka's pain... she could feel her son's too. Han was rubbing her back and telling her everything would be alright.
Tahiri Veila was curled up on her side, crying quietly. Feeling the Dark Side tug at a close friend of hers wasn't something Tahiri could take lightly.
Lowbacca and Zekk groggily sat at a dining table across from each other, cringing at each ethereal scream. They both had known Tenel Ka for years... but neither of them had ever thought she could be the Dark Side's victim. Zekk knew firsthand what it was like and he didn't want Tenel Ka, or any of his friends for that matter, to have to go through it. Lowbacca and Zekk didn't believe it.
Jacen, wincing at every sharp stab in Tenel Ka's mind, was worried that they were too late. There was nothing they could do about it anyways. Uncle Luke had always told them, long ago at the Academy, that it is only up to the person whether ot not they want to travel the right path.
Maybe she's mad about having to marry Gadell...
The siblings were coming up on the Queen Mother's chambers and as they did, the door slid open. A female was pushed out of the room.
"She wants food! Don't come up here and say you can't get her any. And don't even hand me the 'It's late' excuse!" Gadell's voice was lowered to a guttural growl.
Anhaje cowered away from the door, "I will send something up right away, my liege." She turned and sped away from the scowling Gadell, straight past Jacen and Jaina. She didn't even make eye contact with either of them.
Gadell's eyes followed the handmaiden down the hallway and narrowed as they landed on the nightclothes-clad twins, lurching up to the Queen Mother's quarters.
"Good evening Jaina, Jacen. How may I help you this fine night? What are you doing out of bed so late anyways?"
"We want to know what's wrong with the Queen Mother," Jaina spoke, as she tried to sense what Gadell was thinking.
Jacen poised his head towards the ground, closing his eyes. They rapidly moved around, looking for some sign that this was all another dream. His search proved useless. The General's eyes opened and trailed upwards, locking on Gadell's. His head was still shifted slightly towards the ground, giving Jacen an unmistakably determined appearance.
"Sweetheart, your friends are here to check up on you," Gadell called back to the darkness, throwing Jacen and Jaina a small smirk as he vanished into the shadows of the bedroom.
They could feel a fiery presence blaze towards the door.
Draped in the same crimson robe she was wearing when Jacen had seen her earlier, Tenel Ka stepped up to the open doorway. Her clothes were the same, but her face portrayed a much different expression than what Jacen had witnessed before. She had an expression of negativity on her face, a crossbreed of anger, loathing, depression and fear all rolled into one tight little Hapan package.
It almost drove Jacen Solo to his knees.
"Tenel Ka," Jaina began calmly running through her Jedi relaxation techniques, "Your presence is blaring." She referred to the fervent pain rounding it's way through the Force. No one could feel it as hard as Jacen, and Jaina knew this. "Are you feeling alright?"
Jaina's question was returned with a blank stare of sterling.
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Actually friend Jaina," Tenel Ka laid emphasis on the word 'friend' in an almost terrifyingly sarcastic way. "There is something you can do." Her mechanic hand moved to the panel with the door's controls. "You and your dear brother Jacen can go back to your rooms and go to sleep. I am fine. I am a bit ill. That is all. All these years you have known me, and you think I cannot handle a small fever? How dare you. I do not need people worrying about me. Now good night."
The door slid shut.
Two sets of brown eyes locked on each other, both faces attacked by an expression of confusion.
"That was not Tenel Ka," Jaina spoke quietly, shaking her head.
Jacen choked up, "It was. I could feel it."
| 