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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1876234" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 65: Distracting Games“They didn’t track us,” Shadow commented quietly, more to quiet the question Akan had been about to ask than to make either of them feel better. Akan had his mouth half open to speak when she’d said that, so he closed his mouth and looked a bit useless. What was the point of communication if she always answered questions before he asked them?    He paused for a moment...when she didn’t respond to that mental question, Akan smiled to himself. At least some thoughts didn’t seep through all the time. Privacy had at first seemed impossible with the link, but the longer it had been around, the better the both of them had gotten at keeping things to themselves...even if only for short periods of time.    They had found a cave. Only ten or so meters deep and plainly obvious to anyone approaching. But it was shelter. Shadow had insisted on staying Alraxian, meaning that the cold night was causing extreme problems for her. Akan had given her his jacket and tattered robe, but it wasn’t doing nearly as good as it would have with most other species. Of course, most other species didn’t have their body and brain shut down in below tropical temperatures. Though the morphsuit was still small, it was at least keeping her warm enough to not pass out. Despite all the problems, she showed no sign of discomfort. Physically, at least.    Besides, she was still annoyed with Akan. He was far too human for his own good. Thankfully, he had not insisted on going back to get the girl’s body anymore, but she could tell he was mentally tearing himself apart for it. The reason for this was beyond her comprehension. To Shadow, death occurred and one dealt with it accordingly. In Alraxian society, the birth of a child was a time of mourning, as that was another soul that would have to die. A death, then, was a happy occasion as the person joined with the Force. She had accepted that nearly every other species in the galaxy did not believe this way, but at least it rarely impaired their judgement as it had done with Akan. Ironically, Shadow was ignoring her own reaction when her good friend and partner Max was killed. Something like that would ruin her argument against Akan, so it was best to be ignored.    Akan was sitting back against the rocks, looking out into the dark night beyond the cave. He allowed the Force to calm him as best as possible, but it was not enough. Calm was, sadly, not everything. If it was, there would be nice, long moments in the galaxy where everything stopping going wrong. Closing his eyes, Akan tried to get the images of two deaths out of his mind. Yes, he’d lost many friends and killed many enemies, but these two were different. Both were avoidable, should not have happened, and did happen because of his own negligence.    Quietly, trying to get his mind off of things, he asked, “How are we going to get back?”    At that, Shadow shrugged, thinking about it a moment, “We’re not here to just sit around and do nothing with those Imperials. You and I could handle Sadrak on our own.”    “We could?” Akan raised an eyebrow, sounding genuinely surprised at that boast.    Shadow paused, then tried saying it another way, “I don’t like this place. The sooner we deal with Sadrak, the sooner we can get Loki back into shape and the sooner I can...”    When she trailed off into silence, Akan tried to latch onto any thoughts that would perhaps hint at what she had nearly said. He had found slight images, flashes really, and a few things he didn’t understand, but nothing helpful. Then there was only one way to try. He asked, “Sooner you can what?”    Biting her lower lip, Shadow looked off into nothing. He deserved to know...he was tied to her now. But how to explain anymore? It wasn’t anything she was sure of...sighing, she showed a sign of confusion that was strange on her face, “I...am not the real Marix BlueIce. You know that already. I have all of her memories up to her leaving Alrax Prime, but then there’s a blank. Where it ends is when I met Max on Nar Shadaa. I...” frantically, she searched for words, “I know a little of it...the Empire used me. I was an assassin for them, not all that different from the real Marix was on Prime. I don’t know why I stopped, I don’t even remember why I was doing it. Voort said he was there...he knew the real Marix. On Coruscant. I think she’s still alive.”    Akan pondered this a short moment, then said, “We already saw Sadrak’s facility, though.”    “Voort said it was Isard who was first in charge,” Shadow pointed out in her usual deadpan voice, “There’s so much on that planet. The lower levels of even the main city district have never really been mapped out. I just...know something’s down there. I have to find her. I don’t know why...I just need to.”    There was silence for a few minutes as neither of them really knew what to say. Akan eventually managed a nod, understand her desire to find out more but not able to comprehend the details. Perhaps that was how it was for Shadow. No wonder it was such a driving need to know. A strange, almost out of place thought appeared in his mind. It wasn’t right for his current mood, but wouldn’t go away.    Easily noticing it, Shadow’s mood changed and she grinned, “You’re right.”    “What?” Akan hadn’t realized she was paying attention to that thought, and looked sheepish suddenly.    Shadow’s grin grew, “You’re right.”    “I’m exhausted,” he attempted a feeble lie.    “Oh, come on,” she said, getting up and tossing him the robe, “It’d be fun.”    “Everything’s fun to you,” mumbled Akan under his breath, though he was pulling the robe on anyway.The grin became that usual dangerous one and she couldn’t help a nod, “So you going to keep avoiding it or are you ready to get moving?”    Finally, Akan allowed himself a grin as he got to his feet, “Fine. You win. But we don’t even know which direction to go.”    “That’s the fun of it,” Shadow pointed out, idly walking over to the edge of the cave and peering out, “Its been a while since I’ve had a good hunt.”    Akan laughed and stepped over next to her, stretching some and looking at the moon that was still high up above them, “I’ll remember that hunt to an Alraxian means run around blindly.”    Turning, Shadow cuffed him in the shoulder not too gently, “Bah!”    And then, they started out across the plateau. Walking quietly and quickly, the two of them kept eyes and ears alert enough that between the two of them nothing would get close without one of them knowing. Shadow would be first, of course, as Alraxians were just had better senses that humans did. This did not bother Akan, simply giving him a challenge to find things before she did. It took only a few minutes before this developed into a mean spirited game between the two of them, of which neither of them were doing all that well(even though Shadow would never admit to losing).    However, this left both of them too distracted to notice a threat from within. Both of them could feel the force that seemed to hover around them, following and prying, but neither gave it any notice. Simply thinking that it was the other’s thoughts attempting to cheat by using the link.</blockquote>

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