If You Can't Stand the Heat

[Kalladrrl]

The War Master surveyed the damage with a displeased frown marring his features, scrunching up the streak of curious fur that defined his face. Damn, what a mess this was. The Chef hadn't even wanted to let him in here, but between Kalladrrl's authority and the presence of three platoons of Blackguard elite, he had seen Kalladrrl’s reasoning. He wanted to see the results of those who would oppose him, like the treacherous Serie Fond, who had been too frightened by the previous War Master to fight her directly.

If she had been too much of a coward to fight her fairly, then what hope did she have against Kalladrrl Danaankarr, who had electrocuted Essia Contarias into brutal, final submission? Kalladrrl seethed once again at the audacity of the High Judge to subvert the laws that he himself had been charged to oversee and safeguard. The law was clear about the rights of kaggath. Kalladrrl had followed them to the letter. Serie and Evandrus had not.

And Vex and that damnable Togruta had been caught in the middle somehow. Together.

He had heard Vex’s answer to the Empress, but now, standing amongst the ruins of the impromptu battlefield, Kalladrrl would have answers of his own from Vex. He had done away with his armor, opting instead for a black harness with trim to match the cloak. He yet bore his lightsabers, for his own protection on this dangerous planet. Not even a War Master could be safe here. He could feel her approach, even as Blackguard troopers radioed into the earpiece that buzzed on the remains of a fine stone countertop.

@Dread

 

[The Eternal (Vex)]

Less than an hour after the talk with the Empress, Kalladrrl summoned her. Vex had opted not to see him right away in an attempt to cool down in her temporary quarters, which did not work even a little bit. In fact, she was only angrier now. Even after she tried her hardest to get her mind off the subject. Reading, practicing, burying herself in reports all usually cheered her up... but every word she read she forget a second later. Perhaps it was because she could so strongly sense his anger the entire time. They were so close it was impossible not to.

So when he summoned her she left her quarters that very instant. Walking past the Black Guards Vex barely paid them any mind. They were lucky that they moved out of the way as she walked into the kitchen.

When she finally saw Kalladrrl... her heart leapt somewhat. She wanted to embrace him for a split second. Of course it was only for that split second. The anger quickly seized her again.

"How dare you," Vex's voice was almost a low, guttural growl. "How dare you think I'd ever cheat on you." Raising her hand up, she wrapped the Force around a random pot and flung it across the room. It crashed into the wall before bouncing off, temporarily filling the space between the pair with the clatter. "Do you think so lowly of me?" She stared up into his eyes now, those yellows into his dark ones. "Do you think I'd ever hurt you like that?"

 

[Kalladrrl]

He had thought he would blow up at her, that his anger would be explosive, the War Master's ruined kitchen treated to his baying bellows as he let Vex have it. What followed surprised even him, his fury spoken softly and dangerously. The beautiful Vex entered into the room that had been host to so much acrimony and her rage was palpable even without the Force or the bond through which their emotions slipped easily. His jaw tightened and his voice answered her strident barbs, velvety and subtle and yet steeped in anger of his own.

“Imagine for a moment that I had some Togruta trollop following me around, drooling over me like a piece of meat,” he said, spitting the last word out. “And imagine that I'd had a history of eagerly kissing her in front of you and let her handle me in such a familiar way.” His thoughts returned to the way Nayeli had caressed Vex in front of the Empress and his discontent resurged. “And imagine if I had done nothing to stop it. Nothing! To stop the humiliation. And in front of the Empress herself.” Despite the low fury of his voice, he shook with the effort of honesty. “I trust you more than I have ever trusted another being in this fetid galaxy of violence and treachery.” His eyes narrowed and he hardened his gaze. “But damn it, you prancing about with that harlot makes it needlessly challenging!” Despite his exclamations, his voice remained low, contrasting with Vex's violent fury. He did not move and he did move his gaze from hers.

 

[The Eternal (Vex)]

"Nayeli?" the name left her lips in surprise when Kalladrrl said Togruta. That was who he was jealous over? As he continued to speak she felt a wave of mixed emotions wash over her. She did not like the words he choose. They only made her tighten her fists so hard it hurt... but she also understood now. Some of her anger faded away. Some. For the moment.

"Was I suppose to focus on her while I was being scolded by the Empress?" Vex made sure she kept eye contact with him. Made sure he could see the truth. "I barely even registered her touch in the moment."

That wasn't the important part. It was only the part that came out first.

She turned away from him now, walking a few steps away. Not towards the door, just aimlessly to put distance between them. "How can you trust me but still worry? The fact that you'd even think about her and me..." Vex trailed off, feeling her anger finally boil over. A twisted scream of anger and sadness and hurt burst from her. Jerking her hand up again, this time pushing a table nearby with the Force so it fell over and spilled all of the contacts. She wanted to do more. She wanted to destroy something hurt someone because she couldn't handle this...

...or that she had hurt him unwittingly by keeping Nayeli around her.

She closed her eyes and breathed in and out slowly in an attempt to control herself. "Kalladrrl you should of told me sooner about these thoughts. As much as it hurts that you'd worry... I understand. Okay? I understand. I don't need to be around her. And I don't want to hurt you or make you worry because I love you." Vex lowered her gaze somewhat, feeling her emotions shift. "I love you." Her hands relaxed somewhat and she put one over her heart, gripping her chest. "I love you and only you, Kalladrrl. You're my heart."

 

[Kalladrrl]

His jaw tightened visibly as she said her name and his pain was revealed to her. He didn't know what he had expected Vex to do when that damnable strumpet had touched Vex in the presence of the Empress, but something would have been better than nothing. Even a jerk of the shoulders would have shown all the Sith assembled that there was nothing between them.

Kalladrrl let Vex have her rage as she spoke again and it pained him that they were locked in this loop of anguish. She hurt because she knew she had hurt him and the pain merely looped through their bond. He did not react as she lashed out again with the Force, throwing around one of the Chef’s only intact tables in the kitchen. He would be livid if he saw what was going on yet again.

And then, Vex’s anger slackened somewhat and she looked honestly vulnerable as she… Forgave him. She understood. She had to know how he felt. She said that she loved him and Kalladrrl’s heart felt full to bursting as she repeated it again and again. She loved him.

And he loved her, more fiercely than he loved anything.

He took a step to close the distance between them before Kalladrrl took to one knee and then the second before her, his eyes shining with tears as he looked up at her.

“Vex…” His voice was low and strangled as both of his hands reached to touch her, the pair finding the back of her knees and gripping at her.

“I think I loved you from the very first moment I set eyes on you, but I didn't realize it. I thought I had lost the ability, that it had been ground out of me by a century of pain.” His face scrunched up, tears falling as he lowered his head and pressed it against her stomach. “I'm sorry I ever doubted you, rrankyra. Please…please forgive me.” He made a choked sound, rendered bass by his massive chest as a single sob ripped itself from him and he clutched at her in need. He didn't feel worthy of her affection after his weakness, but his need for Vex ran deep into him. Everything he was, was hers.

 

[The Eternal (Vex)]

Vex felt his hands on her. It sent jolts through her body, making her heart nearly leap from her chest. How she had missed his touch. How she had longed for it again yet did not want to admit it in the moment. But it forced her hand to grasp her chest even tighter.

Then he spoke. He spoke from deep from within his heart.

Vex turned around only to see tears streaking down his cheeks which caught her off guard. He seemed completely vulnerable. Kneeling before her, even though he was in fact her superior.

Completely losing herself at the sight, she grasped for his face, placing a hand on each side, looking deeply into his eyes. "Of course," she began, tightening her grip on his face while she spoke. "Of course I forgive you you fool!" It was then that her hands fell lower while she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, falling into him. Collapsing completely into his care. Burying her face into his left shoulder and ebony hair.

While she didn't completely understand why her eyes began to fill with tears. They streaked down her face and she began to sob. There were so many emotions. So many thoughts. The weight of all of it finally caught up with her...but it didn't really matter in the end. All that mattered was she was with him. That she was with the man she loved and loved her in return. Between her sobs she let out a small cry, "Nothing in this galaxy could ever make me stay mad at you..."

 

[Kalladrrl]

Forgiveness did not come easily to either of them, and he did feel like a fool, but in the best way imaginable. He’d been a fool to doubt her and a fool to doubt that she would be nothing but accepting of him and his flaws; he tried his hardest to mitigate his tendency towards possessiveness. Kalladrrl was hers because he had given himself to Vex willingly, but he didn’t own her. Nobody could own another. Her grip on his face had turned his gaze back to her, his eyes watery and pleading as Kalladrrl looked up at the woman who was his life.

But he didn’t need to plead any longer as she sank into him. He traced his hands up the sides of her legs to avoid impropriety as he leaned back to slide his legs into a crossed position beneath him, drawing Vex into his lap and wrapping his arms around her waist as she gripped his shoulders and despite the tears that racked them both he would rather be nowhere else. Kalladrrl let them both have this moment of total openness with one another. They needed it. They needed a place and a time where they could both lower the guard that they had to put up against an entire galaxy. He held her as she sobbed, letting her make her emotions clear and expressing them in the most plaintive way.

"And I could never be angry with you."

His left hand left her waist after a time, tilting her chin up to face him and he leaned into to plant his lips against hers gently, almost politely. Last time, it had been her that had kissed him, but now he took that step.

 

[The Eternal (Vex)]

Kalladrrl's arms wrapped around her. Nothing could comfort her more than being completely in his grasp and so the feeling washed over her warmly. Even though she still wept, her muscles and body relaxed.

While they had just fought, she still believed there was no sweeter man in the galaxy; no man that could provide her with this much love. That was why she had reacted so intensely to his doubts.

She brushed away some of her tears when he tipped her head up, closing her eyes for his kiss. A soft, gentle, affectionate kiss. And she kissed him back lovingly. Bringing one hand back to place on his face again as if to hold onto the moment for as long as she could. Her tears ceased and she finally began to calm down.

"I don't want to fight ever again," she said softly as their lips parted, though she knew that relationships could be challenging at times it was still a true wish. "But I'm glad we talked about it and it's over."

 

[Kalladrrl]

His grasp only tightened around her even as she sobbed in his embrace, trembling slightly from the sheer overwhelming emotion. She was so beautiful. Everything but her stopped existing in that moment. He wasn't the War Master and she wasn't the Wraith. He was Kalladrrl and she was Vex and there was nothing outside of them being together that mattered; not his duties or hers. No one could come between them and he understood that now. He could see…no, he could sense that Vex's feelings for Nayeli were insignificant compared to her feelings for him. Between that and her assurances, Kalladrrl had no doubt about where he and Vex stood. He would be better in the future. He pledged himself to working out what was wrong in him that made him so jealous and as they embraced each other, Vex would feel it. She would feel his commitment to her and to them.

He shook his head as she spoke.

“No. Never again. You were right to be angry with me and I was not right to be angry with you.” Kalladrrl spoke with total humility and submission to Vex, so unlike him and yet so appropriate. It felt right. He nuzzled her cheek gently, almost needily, glad that he had said his piece regardless of how petty and useless it seemed now. He kissed her once again, more fiercely and confidently, wrapping both arms around her as one hand trailed its fingertips in a circle on her spine at the nape of her neck. Her physical affection was intoxicating and her actions spoke even louder than her words or the truth of her feelings could. It empowered him and it smothered that sinister voice inside him that told him he wasn’t good enough for her, that she could never love him for what he was.

It was wrong. Vex had shown him the way.

 

[The Eternal (Vex)]

Vex caught herself smiling at his reply, though meekly. She felt more than a little guilty agreeing with him but it had hurt a lot that he had doubted her. It never needed to happen, though she understood and reminded herself it was over. There was no need to waste another second on the subject.

The moment his lips pressed against hers again, she felt a kindling of passion spark within her. Then his lips pressed harder and more passionately than before, prompting her to part her lips to taste his breath. It tasted something heady and sweet that could only be described as him.

Without thinking her body curved up against his while his hand circled on her spine. She met his caresses with a slow sweeping stoke of her own; her hand moving down his chest, his defined and powerful muscle adding to the deluge of sensations. The silkiness of his ebony hair slipped through her fingers, their coolness a contrast to the heat flaring between them.

Pulling back her lips again, they rested only a hair's breadth away from his as she breathed, "Kalladrrl." Her hand stopped, unable to go further down so she made circles of her own. "We should go."

 

[Kalladrrl]

Kalladrrl felt her body arc to press against him, the curving of her spine meshing with his body as she returned his embrace. He felt her hand on his chest and a shudder ripped through him as her digits trailed over his powerful muscles. Every action she took seemed to inflame his passions further. Perhaps it was the call of the Force between them, acting as a feedback loop that made their feelings all the stronger. It didn't matter one way or the other because they felt as they did and little could change that in this moment.

He resisted the urge to close the gap she out between them, grumbling softly but melodramatically at her suggestion; it was a little over-the-top but that was the point.

"If you say so, Vex.” His words were soft, private and warm. "I imagine the chef may not be pleased to see you again so soon.” He pressed his forehead to hers for a moment before he stood, lifting her briefly and setting Vex on her feet. He cast another look around the ruin of a room before he took his leave, leading Vex with him.

As they exited, his adjutant snapped to attention, the Wookiee waving off the formal act.

Do you know this Sith?” The War Master's question was punctuated by a jab of the thumb towards her, and the adjutant nodded his assent.

“That's Master Vex. She aided the regiment when it was merely a battalion, back on Sarka.”

Kalladrrl nodded imperiously.

"Correct. Disseminate this throughout the regiment: Master Vex speaks with my voice. Is that understood?”

The adjutant’s eyes flickered between the two of them.

“Of course, my lord. My lady.” He bowed to each of them in turn.

"Signal the Katarn and let them know to prepare for my arrival. Set security condition to maximum. I don't want anyone on that ship without my express permission save the Dark Lord of the Sith and the Empress herself.”

With that, he strode away, hoping Vex would follow his decisive steps.

//end thread