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To Weave the Tapestry: Part 2

Chapter 1

"The reason why is because of you."

After they landed, Alena found herself on a much larger ship—perhaps a space station, for all she knew. She didn't know where she was, let alone its name or where it was. She was put into a standard prison cell, where she was thankful to have a bed to sleep on—any flat surface that was slightly cushioned would do at this point. She was ready to drop from both exhaustion and stress.

After passing out in less time than it had taken her to collapse onto the bed, she was asleep.

***

In her dreams she was in front of that window again on board Vader's personal shuttle. The difference was that this time, Vader was standing in front of her minus his helmet and with the black Jedi robes he had worn in her dreams of Coruscant.

She was wearing that blue dress again, except this time it was a darker blue, more of the color of the sky at twilight. Her arms were folded. She was trying desperately to be calm, cool-

But all of that changed when she looked into his eyes.

"The prisoners have been executed," he told her calmly.

This news should have disturbed her. She felt stirrings of sadness for the lives of the two people she had met. Lorna, and Morn. They seemed nice to her. It was a shame that they had died. She wondered what their method of execution was, but then changed her mind and decided that she didn't want to know. It was enough to know that they had been killed, and at Vader's hand.

She looked out the window to see the stars. They were more brilliant than they had been before, and seemed to increase in speed past her window into shining blurs.

"Since you provided the information I required, and truthfully, you will not be."

She turned around to look at him. His eyes looked upon her very intently, and she had noticed that they had changed color from blue to grey. They were both dark and beautiful as she gazed into them, and it seemed that the longer she stared, the more she could see storms and lightning as she looked within them. He was the thunder, the hurricane, and the lightning. More the hurricane, she reflected, as she noticed how much her head seemed to spin as she saw what was in his eyes.

"Is there something that you want to tell me?" he inquired. Something in those words seemed to unlock something in her soul.

"I don't understand," she blurted out, "how you can tell me what you just said and still have the most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen."

"Because," he intoned, his voice so low it was almost a purr, "I am looking at you."

***

Alena awoke with a start to find that Vader was standing over her by her bed.

"Good, you are awake," he told her coolly, "now get up and follow me."

She blinked. The contrast between the Vader of her dreams and the Vader who stood before her had more power to wake her up than a million cold showers. She leapt out of bed without another thought and followed him down the corridor. His strides were long and fast, but she managed to keep up with him.

Vader stopped abruptly before a door in a corridor where he quickly pressed a few keys into a control pad. The door—or rather doors, Alena noticed, as the two halves opened—led into a rather spacious room with a large bed, night table, and dresser.

Before she could open her mouth to ask why he had brought her here, he spoke. "This will be your room from now on. All entries and exits from this room will be monitored by me personally. If you wish to dine, there is a kitchen and cafeteria down the hall to your left."

Her mouth fell open about as quickly as the doors had.

"And just so you know," he continued, seemingly oblivious to her reaction, "the rebels have been executed. I would not hesitate to do the same to you should you attempt to escape."

 Alena couldn't help herself. "Lord Vader-"

"Yes? What is it?"

"If the prisoners have been executed and I assume my innocence in my supposed assistance of them has been established," she added with a flourish, "then why am I still being kept here?"

"You are being kept here," replied Vader calmly and decisively, "because the exact nature of your innocence has not yet been established. There is still some questioning that I have yet to perform. In the meantime, consider this gesture as a token of my generosity and do not abuse it."

"Questioning?" she responded, her voice getting slightly higher than normal. "When will this 'questioning' take place? And when will I be allowed to go home?"

"As soon as I have finished with other business, I will begin. You will remain here in the meantime."

"But-"

"Oh, and just so you know," he added, interrupting her, "my quarters are located across the hall from yours, so if you desire to leave, do not think it will go unnoticed." He stepped outside of the room, and the doors closed behind them. She walked up to them, wondering how they opened. But it was obvious to her that they were locked, and probably locked from the outside at that.

The realization was dawning on her, not slowly in the least, that he had absolutely no intention of letting her leave. Perhaps ever. The thought settled into her mind, and panic set in. Feeling lightheaded, she took some backwards steps and fell on the bed behind her.

***

Alena didn't recall leaning back at all, let alone falling asleep, but one moment she had been sitting upright, and the next Vader was once again standing over her as she was on her back lying down on a bed.

'This is getting to be some ridiculous habit or something,' she thought drowsily to herself.

"Awake at last, I see," he stated. The sarcasm was undeniable, and she knew that for whatever reason, she was annoying him. Again.

"It was either that or count the threads in the sheets," she retorted without thinking.

"I see." She could hear him emanating an anger that felt to her as a cold darkness, and instantly regretted her words. "Would you rather I kept you in here a bit while longer? Perhaps a day or two?"

"No, no, that's quite fine," she replied hurriedly. 'Gods,' she thought, 'he makes Nyara look as calm as Erna.'

"Good, then. You will follow me." Not 'follow me,' but 'you will follow me,' she noticed. Alena had no idea what was going on, but figured that it was either this or possibly get killed. Perhaps worse. Something about this reminded her of something that Nyara had said to her long ago, but she couldn't remember it.

He brought her to room filled with officers, computers, and equipment she didn't recognize. 'Great,' she thought, 'just great. What now?'

"Lieutenant Tarvers," he stated. As Alena watched with more than a degree of fascination, a man in uniform who had previously been hunched over a console immediately snapped to attention.

"Yes, Lord Vader."

"This is Alena Doron." Alena blinked. He knew her full name.

Before she could react, Vader had placed his hand behind her neck, and nudged her slightly forward. "She will be stationed on board this ship under my watch." With Vader's not-too-gentle touch on the back of her neck, Alena could feel her body temperature rise, much to her annoyance. This was not the time, nor the place, to be having warm feelings about Lord Vader.

Tarvers nodded at her. She smiled faintly and nodded in return, not knowing what else to do, nor did she entirely know what was going on. And there was Vader's leather-clad hand still holding the back of her neck, and it was—oh gods—very distracting. She could feel warmth spreading into her cheeks, and hoped that it would be taken for her embarrassment at being introduced like this.

"Please see to it that you set up the proper security and access for her on board this ship." His hand still hadn't moved, and Alena wondered if she was either going to run away or faint. She prayed that Vader wouldn't notice her reaction, and willed herself to exhibit nothing on her face but calm. Slow inhalation, slow exhalation. This was beyond embarrassing. The timing was wrong, her reaction was wrong, everything about how she was feeling right now was wrong. She could hear him breathing steadily behind her, and something about the combination of it and his hand on her neck made her body rise a few more degrees. Her hands were beginning to sweat, and she was thankful that he had long released her from her restraints. Unfortunately for her, she could also feel moisture on the insides of her upper thighs that she knew damned well was not sweat.

"Yes, sir, right away." 'Please let this be over soon,' she prayed. All she wanted to do right now was find some tiny room somewhere, far away, and lock herself in it. Why didn't Vader leave her in her new quarters? She was beginning to regret wanting to leave so quickly.

"If she has any questions about where to find anything on board this ship that she may require, please answer them. But she is not to leave this ship under any circumstances."

Did his hand tighten around her neck slightly? Yes, it had.

"Not to worry, Lord Vader. I'll be sure to assist her."

Yes, his hand had indeed tightened a bit, and she could almost feel electricity from his fingers down through her neck and into her body. This was decidedly more intense than her the dream she had. Perhaps out of the stress and tension of the moment, or the fact that it was actually happening to her as opposed to in a dream, she thought. Who knew?

"Excellent."

There was a decided degree of relief when he had finally removed his hand, but as he did so, there was a slight brush of his finger across the back of her neck. Alena, much to her chagrin, immediately felt her body react as if some bliss-producing drug had been shot into her veins. She began cursing in her head in the two languages she knew, Basic and ancient Riolian—three if counting the dialect of ancient priest caste Riolian that the two Oracles had taught her.

He exited the room, and as she watched him leave out of the corner of her eye, she knew all too well that he had known of her reaction, and perhaps enjoyed it as well as embarrassing her. Maybe he could even read her thoughts. She cringed to think of that. 'Gods, I hope not,' she thought. But oh no, what if he could? That was even worse than the reaction she had at him touching the back of her neck.

Damn him.

"All right, Alena Doron, let's set you up as Lord Vader requested."

'Set me up for what, I wonder?' she thought to herself. Aloud she replied, "Certainly." But she didn't feel in the least bit certain.

It was sometime during the time Lieutenant Tarvers set her up with security clearance, badges, and a million and one questions and forms that it hit her square in the face with an almost physical force. She was an undeterminable distance away from Riol, from her home. She looked at all of the consoles and everything written in Aurabesh—which she was thankful to learn on top of Riolian script—and felt the space between her and home grow even wider. And what of her family? Her parents? Nyara and Erna? She assumed that the two women would let her parents know, and oh, how they were probably worrying. It was maybe too much to hope for that Vader would let her send a message to them that she was all right, but Alena made up her mind to ask him at the first opportunity. In the meantime, she was stuck. Stuck out somewhere in space on board some strange vessel of the Empire, surrounded by strange faces and customs, and on top of it all, dealing with a Sith Lord who made her thighs damp just by putting his hand on the back of her neck.

Wincing with the remembrance of how it had felt, she willed herself to listen to Tarvers' rambling dialogue about the ship they were on, where they were located, and all of the amenities they had on board. Alena didn't hear any of it. All she could feel was the necklace of the amber star weighing more heavily than usual on her neck, but even heavier still was her stomach that was threatening to eat its way through the soles of her feet and into the floor.

For the first time ever since the fever visions she had when she was twelve that had started everything, she felt terribly lost.

***

It was sometime after the tour of the ship that she was brought back to Vader—much to her dismay, when she had hoped to go straight to her new room. He was in a small briefing room, perhaps used for meetings. He gestured for her to sit in one of the chairs—which she gladly did—but he remained standing.

After slowly pacing with his hands clasped behind his back, his cloak following every movement, he finally spoke.

"Now, Alena," This was perhaps the first time aside from her dreams, she realized, that he had addressed her aloud. There was something about hearing his voice say her name that shook her slightly. She looked up quickly in his direction, waiting for him to speak.

"You will tell me everything that those women on your home planet taught you. And I mean everything." He turned towards her, his hands coming out from behind his back to lean on the table in between them. "They taught you a bit more than just seeing into the future, didn't they?"

Alena blinked. "What am I being accused of?" she asked. "If this is about the Jedi thing-"

Vader brushed her off impatiently. "This has nothing to do with our continued hunt for the Jedi and the rebellion. This has to do with you and your Force talents."

"My…what?"

"Your abilities." He paused, watching her face. "You have more than just a gift for sight. You have a healing ability as well. And you can manipulate objects via the Force. Like that vase your friend threw at me."

Alena felt the blood drain out of her face. This was not the conversation she had expected to have with him. Then it occurred to her: she had healed him. Healed him to what extent, she didn't even know. Why hadn't he mentioned it? Was he truly too proud to thank her?

"It would be wise, perhaps," he continued, "to let you know that you had a hand in my recovery. But I'm sure that you remember."

Her eyes narrowed. "Of course I remember," she snapped. This was ridiculous. What games was he playing with her? "I was beginning to wonder if you had remembered at all, however."

"Every time I can eat normal food unassisted, or move any part of my torso and feel skin on it, I remember," he responded calmly. There was something in his tone and his words that made her gasp slightly. When she spoke next, her tone was gentler, but firm.

"Then why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Because I was not certain if you had betrayed the Empire or not, and had sided with the Rebellion. And I had to be certain that you hadn't. You see," he continued, his voice rising slightly, "if you had, there would've been dire consequences."

She just looked at him, uncomprehending. Then she felt something, like a small whisper, nudge her. A light dawned.

Then she boiled over, practically bolting out of the chair and leaning forward on the table as he had done so, moments earlier.

"You—you did it on purpose—you brought me here on purpose." Her eyes widened. "That was an excuse, wasn't it?"

"I do not think that you truly understand the consequences of your actions," he drawled, not seeming to react to her emotional outburst. "You assisted two members of the Rebel Alliance with prophecy, then I had to hear about it later from my intelligence. And tell me, dear Alena," he was practically glowering down at her at this point, "what was I supposed to think?"

She sighed, her expression shifting back into neutral. "As I explained to you before, Lord Vader, the Oracles of Riol are in a position of neutrality. We are not inclined to assist anyone or join any sides in any political or military movement—we cannot afford to do so. I aided only out of obligation to the gods, nothing more than that."

"Very well then, neutral Oracle of Riol," he stated coldly and sarcastically, "please tell me how you came to learn such talents with the Force as you have."

"I really don't know what to tell you. The abilities to heal and see into the future, I've had those all of my life. Everything came later, rather by accident."

A dangerous tone crept into his voice. "'Everything'? What exactly do you mean by 'everything'?"

She winced. She would have to be more careful with her choice of words around him. "By everything, I mean…I don't know, moving things around with my mind like you saw, seeing not just into the future but the present as well, knowing what people are feeling and sometimes thinking." Her hands were starting to sweat again. What exactly was it about Vader that caused her to drip liquid every time she met him? 'Dammit', she thought, cringing at herself. 'I can't believe that I just thought that.'

"Can you feel what I'm feeling right now, or what I'm thinking?" He folded his arms across his chest and faced her squarely.

She considered this for a moment. Know what he was thinking? Definitely not. His mind was completely closed to her. Feeling? Other than glimpses here and there, she hadn't a clue.

"Not really," she admitted.

"And do you want to know why?" he asked. The volume of his voice was starting to go up again. Not a good sign.

Alena considered this also before responding. "Yes, I'm curious," she stated slowly.

Vader stepped around the table to where she was standing. His breathing seemed to her to increase in pace, or perhaps she had imagined it.

"The reason why," he answered, his tone deathly calm, "is because of you. You blocked me out, and I demand to know why you did it—and how."

to be continued...

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