Authors Note: Happy New Year all, and UP! With a new chapter to the ongoing escapades of Nom Anor...you know he's alive :p don't deny it!

Thanks for all the well wishes and reviews people have posted over the course of this :) As usual, ignore the fact that this wonderful blog doesn't recognize some signs and symbols, so will repost them as question marks :p thanks for reading!

Chapter 13

Nom Anor spun sharply on his heel, heat hammering so fast he thought it might fail him or burst out of his chest cavity. His one, blue eye sought out the source of the voice that had just addressed him. Yet he found nothing, no one stood in the entranceway to the chamber - where the voice had seemingly originated, this was ridiculous!

Wildly, he spun around again, looking high and low for the speaker, adamant that he had heard someone speak his former title. He had to have heard it, he wasn?t going senile!

?Show yourself brenzlit!? He yelled as he continued to search, physically bending and straightening as he searched potential hiding places around the chamber.
?Who are you?!?

Then, Nom Anor felt a cold chill curl up his spine.

?Someone you almost killed, Nom Anor.?

The chill had turned to a hair raising tingle of icy dread - and Nom Anor knew, that if he reached for his coufee now, he would never be able to deal out the fatal blow in time.
His company, was standing right behind him.

He turned swiftly, deliberately taking that one step back, so that he would be able to view them clearly. Though his movements took less than a second to execute, time seemed to slow into a dragging blur, through which he saw only one thing - or rather one person - clearly?
The slender figure adorned in a stainless white oozhith and writhing tendril headdress of the master shaper, Nen Yim.

*****

Tekli breathed a sigh that she hoped would free her of some of the devastating anguish she felt through the force. The sight of the ruined Temple of Unity came into view below the sekotan airship?s boat-like basket, the still-smoking ruins pock-marked with the tiny moving bodies of search teams- both Yuuzhan Vong and Ferroan - who worked furiously to clear the excess debris and pull the dead or dying free.

Though she could not sense the Yuuzhan Vong or their feelings in the force, the young Jedi could almost smell the anguish that Sekot poured into the force, almost as immense as the world was it's self. The air around them reeked of a deep despair - and as a chadrafan, who's species had an extremely acute sense of smell, it was something Tekli could understand all too well.

As the airship began to descend, and although she could not sense them through the force, Telki could see the disbelief and doubt upon the faces of the Extolled.

"They doubt their belief in Sekot's ability to offer them a new life, to protect them." Jabitha spoke softly, as though she had shared Tekli's thoughts.

"This catastrophe could widen the gap between the extolled and those Yuuzhan Vong who were once true caste." Tekli whispered in response.

"Sekot has already begun to observe it, some believe that the gods are taking their revenge upon their children for turning away from them." Jabitha agreed, eyes suddenly clearing as if emerging from a reverie.

A reverie with Sekot? Telki wondered. Sekot's consciousness was all around them here, the whole area felt alive with a heavy intensity that was steeped in the force. It called to her, like a child seeking the protection of it's mother's embrace. And Tekli knew what it was to open ones self to that kind of intense force energy...she was too inexperienced to handle it, even Master Luke Skywalker had found that, quite the trial.

"Then we must do all we can to prevent it - I should make contact with the Jedi Order, if the situation escalates, we shall be ready." Reaching up, Tekli placed a comforting hand on Jabitha's forearm. "The Jedi will help, we will not let war destroy Zonama Sekot."

Tekli snuffled in a regrettable sounding way, it must have been less than comforting to the Magister. But in reality she was overcome by the sheer enormity of the entire scene. There literally was not a single piece of the temple that still stood, and the damage, scorching, extended out from the epicentre of the explosion to the surrounding grashals and minshals for as far as her opalescent eyes could see.

"That may not be necessary," Jabitha commented with a wry smile, " Sekot has survived for millennia, defended herself and protected those who reside upon her now - I am confident that Sekot will solve this before it escalates."

The chadrafan felt a nervous tension rise up inside her, it was almost as if the Magister did not understand the magnitude of what was going on here. If she did not take the appropriate action this time, whoever was organizing all of this, may destroy Sekot and all the Jedi had worked towards achieving here.

But once again -Tekli almost found it spooky- Jabitha looked at her and merely smiled knowingly.
"Just as the Jedi do, Sekot has her ways - please, trust in that for now."

Tekli issued a rather disconcerted snuffling noise, wrinkling her snout, but tried to focus on her inner calm. Little by little, she drew on the force to focus her thoughts, her fears and the force filled her with it's light. When once she was completely focussed, she could respond to the Magister with a calmness that Sekot would surely sense too.

"Forgive my urgency Magister, it is not my pace to say what should or should not be done, I will do as you suggest, but I will need to report this to the order." She said finally centered.

Jabitha nodded accordingly,
"You must do what you think is right."

*****

From ground level, the damage looked painfully more acute. Large lumps of yorik coral structure, lay cracked and ravaged by the once-extreme heat. The upper-most parts of what had been the temple's spires, now reached up towards the skies, like arms reaching out for an unseen saviour, from the depths of the sunken ash-pit in which the remains were mainly contained.

Now the search had slowed to more of a salvage and clean up operation, and Tekli found the young scientist, Danni Quee, with a settlement-local Priest, both picking through a small area of the ruins.

"When I granted the emissary admittance, they were free to enter the contemplation chambers and shrines - they would not have gone any further than this general area- " The Priest was saying as Tekli approached.

Though his voice sounded rather matter of fact, his posture spoke otherwise. Tense muscles and wringing his hands within voluminous sleeves with every step he and the scientist took. When he looked up and noticed the chadrafan approaching, his expression only grew more grave.

Danni looked up from her work, placing a sample of debris into a steritube that she then placed inside a pouch upon her utility belt, smiling in that way that all humans seemed to whenever they knew situations were bad, but wished to put on a brave face.

"I wish I could welcome you back," she began sadly, "Ibu is a Priest of this temple, he was one of the last people to leave alive before the explosion occurred."

She motioned to the tall Yuuzhan Vong beside her, "He believes he encountered and spoke to the one that may have been responsible for this disaster."

Tekli's ears pricked up at that suggestion, eyes glittering with interest- a witness of sorts, she had not expected that!

The event, by all accounts, had been totally unexpected, with no prior warning that anything untoward was going to happen. What few survivors there were, had seen nothing - this she had ascertained from her dropping by the healers huts to aid their work, prior to arriving here. Yet here stood Ibu...

"Greetings Master Jeedai," The Priest spoke up, his incessant wringing of hands ceasing but for a moment.

Tekli bowed and offered a slightly embarrassed smile, "Greetings Priest, I thank you, but I am no master, I am a Jedi healer."

He nodded in acknowledgement and approval, stark honesty was a very Yuuzhan Vong trait among some castes. This made her more worthy in his eyes.

Tekli took that as her cue to continue, "Tell me what you saw here, please."

The Priest seemed a little uncertain for a moment or two, averting his opalescent eyes for a moment or two, but he did speak.

"I was returning to my minshal after offering nightly devotions, the temple was quiet, so I assumed that my junior colleagues would manage the situations well." He explained from the top, "But upon entering the shrine of Yun-Ne'shel - as I would usually when I check the contemplation pools - I was greeted by a waiting attendant of the Intendant caste."

Tekli's ears perked up again, curving like saucers.

"An attendant? Is this unusual?" She spoke the words in a very suspicious tone.

"Not if they are attendants of the Priest caste - savants. But as I said before, this one was an Intendant." Ibu explained, emphasising the title of Intendant, wondering if perhaps the Jeedai had misunderstood him.
He then waited for the miniature Jedi healer to gesture him onwards. When she did so, he continued.

"The attendant asked that he speak with a priest of Yun-Ne'shel-"

"-The moddler goddess?" Danni interjected curiously, and Ibu nodded in the affirmative.

"This is correct, yes." He replied, "I explained that Thaf Cho was away at the damuteks of the shapers, performing a blessing. But he was insistent."

Tekli shot Danni a wary glance and found that the young scientists' face was set in an equally wary expression. They had to be mindful of the fact that Ibu, as the only possible witness, was also a prime suspect for having had something to do with the explosion.

"I sent a savant to locate Thaf Cho." Ibu continued on, giving no sign of suspecting that the two before him might suspect him being responsible for this.
"As soon as she arrived, I left the temple, but I was scarcely at the membrane of my minshal when the explosion occurred."

The Priest remained pensive, calm on the outside, but in his eyes, Tekli could see his emotions broiling in a tumult of confusion and perhaps some self loathing.

Danni had already risen from examining another sample she had been collecting, to offer Ibu a sympathetic glance. Perhaps they had been wrong about Ibu?

"There was nothing you could have done, you had no idea..." She began, but the priest interjected.

" Of course. I was knocked unconscious by the force of the blast, it through me against the wall of my minshal and I only regained consciousness after I had been brought to the healers." He looked at Danni Quee more confused than anything, perhaps this was that infidel humour he had heard so much about. None of it made much sense.

Tekli's mind was running in hurried circles, analysing all the information and the feelings she had felt from Sekot radiating in the force. Then suddenly, her eyes appeared bright again.

"Ibu, do you know which damutek this attendant came from?" She asked with a voice that was high pitched with excited hope.

Ibu raised a brow ridge curiously, and in sudden recognition, he replied "There is only one. All the settlement's Intendants hail from it."

Now Tekli was smiling, her features alert.

"Could you show us where it is?" She asked with an intrepid twitch of her snout.

"Of course Jeedai...follow me."

*****

"No...this is impossible!"

Fear and confusion threatened to twist Nom Anor's guts a notch harder, wringing him until he felt like he would double over.

"I....I watched you die!"

His pulse was racing so hard, he had begun to feel extremely light headed and his knees felt like they would give way at any moment. If it was not for the icy cold invisible hands that gripped his every muscle, he was certain he would have fallen to his knees.
Adrenaline, pure and cold was trickling into each and every synapse, urging him to stand his ground and make a move, or run and never look back.

The apparition, for that is what it just had to be, did not move a muscle either, though it's expression yielded a small smile at the former prefect's exclamation.

"You are incorrect, executor Nom Anor. You merely assumed I would die, but I did not, could not, not when I had so much left to live for." It said, it's leafy-green eyes sparkling brightly in the dull light of the chamber, increasing in intensity as it observed Nom Anor curiously.

"I fear you misunderstand" It added after a fashion, ominously.

He was going mad, he had to be! How else would he be seeing this? Words would encircle his mind, but every time he wanted to shout them, he could not bring himself to speak them, his tongue paralysed by shock.

The apparition took a step back, just as he had moments earlier, as if to gain a better view of him.

"So much I can see of you, and the others, I gave them a chance to set things to rights, I would offer you the same." She said.

Though she stood barely a meter away, her voice sounded impossibly huge - it echoed in his head and reverberated off the walls as though it were a huge cavernous place, rather than just a small chamber in a new damutek.

"Others? The...sa-" Nom Anor did not finish his sentence, he was insane to do so much as to open his mouth, this was madness, Nen Yim was dead!
Even that abominable shaped Jeedai had confirmed as much.

But just as he knew she would, she answered.

"Despite the harm you far outsiders caused me, despite their repeated attempts to destroy me, I took you all in. I allowed you to start anew, build a new future for your future generations. Not as you were - for you have lost your way - but as you should be."

She paused then, moving closer with her right arm outstretched. Nom Anor's blood ran cold as her hand loomed ominously close enough to touch his forearm. He fought the overwhelming urge to recoil, he had nothing to fear from imaginary ghosts from the past - or did he? Something in the way that this one spoke, was inexorably not 'Nen Yim.'

"You once tried to kill me, murder me for reasons I did not understand until now." She was saying, palm almost connecting with the bare, burn-scarred flesh of his arm.
"And now you wish to destroy all those who wish to make the best of this new beginning? Neither could be so - you, Nom Anor, once gave the extolled hope...that hope and their dreams are not yet ready to die. I am not ready to die."

Her hand reached him and an icy jolt of what felt like electricity, shot through his limbs, shaking him to the core of his soul. And in that instant, Nom Anor knew this was not Nen Yim. It was as he has suspected....Sekot.

His hand delved into his robeskin and found the pommel of his coufee almost instantly. With all the strength and conviction he could muster in this shocked state, he lashed out towards the apparition of Nen Yim, slashing wildly for her throat. But the weapon met no resistance.

Panicking Nom Anor attacked again, yelling in incomprehensible outrage, bringing the coufee round to bear on the apparition's left hand side, but this time, no one was there.

"Stop this now, Nom Anor, repent and start anew as so many of your kind have and I will allow you your freedom."

The voice startled the former Intendant, but he did little more than growl in frustration when he saw her appear again exactly where she had been standing only moments before.

This time, Nom Anor deigned to reply,
"Are you blind?! My species are not content with this facade you have emplaced upon them. The warriors labour in the villip paddies like festering shamed ones, when the shamed live a life of luxury that should have been earned, not given!"

The apparition with Nen Yim's face remained perfectly still and placid, almost inert.

"Your species? Even you must realize that you are not like the rest of your species - I have learned much about you. You could be, however." She said.

Nom Anor cursed his every thought, she was reading him like a qahsa, though he knew not how, knew not who had given her enough information about him to do so. She would speak as though she had delved into his mind like a nerve-mapping provoker spineray, extracting the most buried of memories and thoughts.

Still brandishing the coufee, he waved it in her general direction defiantly as he snarled with all the bravado left in him,
"I know exactly what I want and I know, too, that you could not stop me last time failure or not, you won't be able to now!"

The apparition looked suddenly crestfallen - could it be that his words of defiance and dissent had been convincing enough to draw forth an unseen truth?
She looked at him then, unblinking, as if the action it's self would have been an incredible effort.

"You are wrong, Nom Anor." She responded slowly, quietly with sadness lacing her tones.
"If this is the path you wish to take, you will soon see how wrong you are."

Then in the blink of Nom Anor's one remaining eye, she vanished again, fading out fast into nothing, leaving the chamber in relative silence.

Still astonished at what he had seen here, the former Intendant realized - with a hint of shame - that he was shaking.
He stepped back until the backs of his thighs connected with the edge of the desk-plinth, sitting as he tried to steady his rattled nerves. He was now certain he was not, in fact, actually going mad, he had seen that...had heard it speak to him. And despite all this, Nom Anor knew that he could not speak of this to anyone.
Faith and morale were easily quashed in the early stages of any rebellious movement. If he mentioned this to anyone involved with his plans, they and their fears could backfire to destroy everything he had been working towards - and land Nom Anor in an even more difficult situation.

He was, uneasy - he realized. A cold whips of doubt had fallen across his logical mind like a thin layer of virgin snow. Born of this were the highly illogical thoughts- this world and it's new Jeedai guardians had thwarted his plans before, but in a very ironic way.

No- he thought, clinging to his own form of twisted rationality, Shimrra and his madness did that. The Jeedai were merely riding the crest of a conveniently placed wave of chance. The shamed had more to do with that than anyone.

Now the former prefect's mind wandered back to the moment he had been summoned by the deceased Supreme Overlord, and he had revealed the secrets of the gods true meaning in Yuuzhan Vong society, had questioned Nom Anor's own disbelief in kind. Then he recalled realizing Onimi's true nature, discovering as such on the doomed escape vessel.

Was that to be his fate? He wondered. Was this the fate of the deceptive?
Death, and all it's intricacies held no appeal to him. It was a fate for the old and the useless, not Nom Anor.

He shivered then, as though someone, somewhere had defiled his sacred bone pile. He had evaded death enough times in the past to know there was a solution to practically anything. It was all a matter of locating one in time - you needed to be one step ahead of everything, that was what Yoog Skell, his now deceased superior, had once told him. Well...it hadn't saved him, had it? Nom Anor could learn from the mistakes of those around him.

His gaze slid sidelong to the row of leathery villips, sitting neatly in their coral stands. Then he allowed himself a brief, and not terribly satisfying smirk - it was more ingrained action than reaction these days.
If Sekot and the Jeedai were likely to be a problem, then he needed to see to it that the problem was halved.
Yes...he reckoned he could just about manage that.

TBC.