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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2503008" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 267: ControlSometimes, it seemed like days would never end. This one, in particular, was the longest day that Shadow could ever remember. One thing to another...from Nine, to Kyren, to saving Jyren’s tail, to Ket, to putting the Empire back together, and now to dealing with Jyren being his impossible, moody self. She was honestly amazed that she hadn’t simply killed him after a few minutes of his attitude...or lack there of.    Maybe that was because he at least seemed to be listening to her, even if he wasn’t responding in any way, shape, or form. She had explained her ideas on what to do with the government of the Empire and the improvement of the Knights...not to mention something more important to Shadow: bringing the Tam’day’u back into Alraxian society. It wasn’t something she had outright mentioned to Navik, but it had been at least hinted at enough that she hoped he had gotten the point.    But it didn’t take long for her to have said everything. At first she attempted to simply give him a chance to finally say something, so she turned to look out across the Palace grounds from the balcony next to him. But the link simply stayed just as silent as the rest of him. He was just acting childish now, and she knew it. Trying to make a point. Or...or get sympathy. Or...or...she didn’t have a damned idea!    “Stop sulking like some damned child!” Shadow suddenly growled, punching his shoulder in a very unfriendly fashion.    It got his attention, though when he opened his mouth she already knew exactly what he was about to say, “I’m so—“    ”NO!” Shadow snapped, almost screaming at him and ignoring the fact that they were probably being watched by so many Alraxians,. Claws extended now, she grabbed his shoulder and dug them in to yank him around and face her, “If you even attempt to finish that I swear I’ll throw you off this balcony right now!”    To his credit, Jyren’s only audible reaction was a sharp intake of breath to go with the wide eyed look frozen on his face...probably at least partially due to the very sharp claws that were dug completely into his shoulder. After giving him ten seconds to make sure he made the correct choice, Shadow’s voice quieted, though her tone in no way lightened, “Tell me what’s wrong.”    There was silence, but Shadow had at least expected it. She knew he wouldn’t open up that quickly, but instead of pushing him she simply left her claws in her skin as a reminder that he wouldn’t be able to ignore. And then, finally, his mouth changed from the gaping shock that had remained there and began to form words...it took Jyren’s voice another few seconds to finally start working, “I...I screwed up...”    “Damn right, you did!” she growled in response right away, but slowly retracted her claws. Her hand remorphed from the clawed form to the normal hand, but it remained on his shoulder...a softness contrasting so much with her voice that it left Jyren horribly confused. And Shadow could feel it...which meant he was opening up the link again.    But Jyren didn’t argue. He slowly looked down to the floor under them and nodded. He did not say anything, though, and it became obvious that Shadow was going to have to push him some more. But instead of yelling at him, she took a careful, if not slightly awkward, step closer so that he couldn’t simply look down between them and had to actually look at her. Calmly, in a voice that was not at all Shadow and very much Marix, she said, “If you try to keep everything hidden away again you’ll end up right where you were after Mare died.”    The shock and pain that shot through the link was no surprise was exactly what Shadow had expected...and hoped for. She may have been a twice trained killer and assassin, but Shadow knew that many times physical attacks were not the most effective. Anger faded quickly from the link as Jyren actually began to accept that she was telling the truth. He was doing the same thing...just like before...just like...    “And don’t even try apologizing now, either,” Shadow said quietly, cutting into his thoughts before they even reached that point.    He took a deep breath and, again, nodded slowly, “I couldn’t...couldn’t...I don’t know! I just...reacted. Just like you told me to...but I couldn’t...I don’t...didn’t...I couldn’t control it...and you were about to be...”    “So you don’t think I can protect myself without your help?” Shadow asked, cutting into his thoughts again to something that had been driving her crazy about him for a very long time now.    “No! I...no...” he sighed and attempted to find words despite the fact that he was cornered and had no escape.    Shadow at least spared him the humiliation of going on further with it and instead got straight to the point, “I am not helpless, Jyren. I do not need you to protect me at every turn,” she paused a moment to let it sink in before adding, “And you aren’t either...and don’t need me to protect you.”    To her surprise, Jyren’s mind didn’t even think about apologizing this time. He simply nodded again. Shadow watched him for a long moment before letting out a long breath, “You made a mistake, and a serious one at that. Ket was much more valuable alive than headless. But its too late for that now. What is done is done, and we will deal with it...together.”    “You really mean that, don’t you?” Jyren asked slowly, searching her eyes for some hint but finding nothing at all, “You can just completely ignore that I lost control and murdered Ket. You can completely ignore that I enjoyed it! I don’t have your control! I can’t...I...dammit, maybe you’re right and there isn’t a Dark Side, but how do you explain what I did, then?!”    Shadow waited a very short moment before responding, “I never said there wasn’t a Dark Side. What I said was that the Dark Side is not some evil, external force...it is in you. Your lack of control is exactly the problem. But you can learn control, Jyren. Don’t you understand that? You have fallen...and yes, you can lay there on the ground and just crawl away, or you can get back up and learn from your mistake.”    “I still can’t under—“    She cut him off by putting her hand over his mouth and shaking her head, “I know this is a lot to ask...but can we please let this go for now? I’m a bit...overwhelmed right now with everything else and it would be very nice to have one less thing.”    Silence. Then, slowly, Jyren nodded again, and Shadow could have sworn she saw the slightest hint of a smile tugging at his face. Still in a quiet voice, Jyren said, “Thank you.”    For some reason, Shadow could not fight back a smile, no matter how out of place it seemed to be in such a day, “You know that’s something you never, ever have to say to me.”    It amazed Shadow how good it made her feel when a smile appeared on Jyren’s face finally, “I know...but when has that ever stopped me?”    “You were smart enough not to apologize just a few minutes ago,” Shadow said with a grin as she nodded to the balcony off to their side.    He laughed somewhat nervously, “You would have actually thrown me off the balcony, too, wouldn’t you?”    There was no pause at all, only an honest nod from Shadow, “You know you didn’t need to ask that...” she trailed off then, and slowly realized that it probably hadn’t been the best thing to end on. And so, linking her arm with his, Shadow tugged Jyren slightly towards the room again, “Come on. I think your father deserves better treatment than you gave him.”((A couple things...first, sporadic updates are due to the fact that I'm not at home(sadly, not at GenCon either) for this week. Second, this part is, if you couldn't tell, drawing to a close. When it reaches that point, I'm going to be slowing down from a daily(or close to it) posting schedule to something likely to be every other day. Why is this? Well, I'm going to be starting another Star Wars Story Hour once this part is done...I'll post more about that as we get close to the end of this part.))</blockquote>

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