[u]Zanna and Jayda. A simple trade.[/u]

Zanna was in her own quarters when Jayda came storming through, the anger and other emotions roiling off of her in a wave. Zanna looked up from her chemical station(after the fight with Thallia she decided to make a larger variety of poisons and potions. One could never be too careful.), to see the Zabrak walk by, quiet rage etched into her every feature, and close the door to her quarters. Soon after, muffled screaming and crashes could be heard through the walls and the doorway. Zanna raised both eyebrows. [i]What has gotten her so angry?[/i] She wondered. From the brief times she had seen the Apprentice, the Zabrak was ridgedly in control, even around her Master. So something truly bad must have happened to make her lose that control, even in the privacy of her own room(which wasn't really all that private, all things considered). Thoughtfully, Zanna stopped what she was doing. She could use this opportunity to talk to the Zabrak, learn more about her. [i]Though if she's anything like her master...the experience will be far from pleasant.[/i] Zanna felt her lip curl in distaste at even the thought of the Trandoshan. Still, she had to find out more about Jayda before anything else could happen. Thus, she packed up her chemical station and waited for the screaming and crashing to stop. After all, it was a bad idea to try and talk to someone when they were this angry, and she doubted that Jayda would even here her knocking.
 
Soon enough, the sounds dwindled away and came to a complete stop. Zanna waited a moment longer, then crossed the hall to the other Apprentice's doorway and knocked. 
 
Jayda's room was a mess, her body sat in the corner and fought the shiver of rage which sank below the surface. Her darkened eyes stared, half empty and lost in the heat filling her, started at her trembling hand. Her right leg was propped upright to support the arm while she sat there. Sweat plastered her loosened bangs against her forehead and the evidence of Jewel's little 'lesson' was etched upon her mind as well as her body. The shoulder hadn't even been tended to in her fury. The blistered skin, filled with new pain and ache, lingered just a bit from touching the wall. No cold metal would ease the pain now. If it wasn't for the fact her immunity would prevent infection, at least slow it, and in time, help her heal, Jayda won't have wasted time within her room. 
 
Despite her sense of preservation, she was still spiteful at her failure. It might've not been all of her emotions yet it was a fair amount lost to contribute. Even worse, the fact she had difficulty in controlling and directing it accurately was revealed. Her hand fisted then slammed against the wall. It made a hollow thunk then left her hand stinging. Her mind failed to register it, lost in the sour mood. 
 
 
It was meant for Sish. That hate, fear, rage and pain, all of it was suppose to have been stored. Not released in a struggle to survive. 
 
Her head jerked up when her ears caught the soft knocking. Her lips drew back, her teeth exposed in an animal like fashion with a growl under her breath. She didn't want to deal with visitors. Not now or anytime in the future. Part of her want to bellow for whom ever was behind the door to leave, a childish reaction, but the other wanted her to investigate. She closed her eyes. The emotions stilled withered about her as if it was vast ocean and she was drowning within its furious grasp, her breathing took heavy inhales. It was ill paced and rugged at first, then slowly it edged into a calmer pace. In and out, in and out... Several moments had passed before Jadya was good and ready to answer who ever had the worse timing to chose now to approach her. 
 
With surprising poise and lithe, Jayda pushed herself onto her feet. She moved towards the door and pressed the panel, the door came open with a hiss to reveal the glaring Zabrak. Her arms straddled across the width of the entrance and blocked any sort of entry into it. Her voice was icy cold in her questioning, voided of the earlier emotion. "What do you want?" 
 
Zanna kept her initial surprise at the devastation in Jayda's room hidden. She had expected destruction and damage, but not this much. The glower shot her way made it clear the Zabrak didn't want company, but not nearly as much as the icy tone. Zanna imagined you would have found more warmth in deep space. She paused a moment, giving a slightly timid smile, before speaking in a realitvely neutral tone. "I heard screaming and crashing and I just-You're hurt." She had just noticed the wounds and scars on Jayda, the most recent obviously caused by a lightsaber. Her tone hadn't changed with this observation, and it didn't when she continued. "Hold on. I have something that should help with the pain, and help it heal." Without waiting for the expected refusal, she quickly walked back into her room and grabbed the needed salve. Lightsaber wounds were common in Sith Apprenticeship, and the various ways to treat them had been one of her first Alchemical lessons. Thus, she always kept at least one salve in her room, easily accessed. Returning to Jayda's room, she handed the jar filled with a light blue cream to the Zabrak. "Apply it daily, to both wounds,and you should be fine soon enough." Zanna hesitated, before continuing.
 
 "If you don't mind me asking, who did this to you? Your master, Lord Sish?" There was a subtle, unconscious, inflection of disgust when she said the Trandoshan's name. How he ever became a Sith, much less a Sith Lord, she would never know. Through brutish violence, she assumed. Given the anger Jayda had displayed, and the scars that covered her arms and likely continued onto the rest of her body, she doubted that the lizard had done it. Apprenticeship made people used to what their master did to them. Or, at the very least, helped them control and hide their reactions.
 
 Jayda's expression was pissed from her last encounter, her wounds still stung but she ignored them. It could wait until later. Standing before her was another Pure Blooded Sith, a female, and the very source of the knocking. The Zabrak's eyes narrowed and fought down her bitterness, thankful the anger had faded for now, to focus. She took in the Sith's appearance to set into her memory. The first thing Jayda had noted was the fact the woman was about a few inches shorter, her head tilted downwards to locate her. Like most pure blooded Sith, the red skin and face tenacles remindered her of the older Sith. She was however, younger then him, with her black hair was flipped to the side and flowed to her shoulders. Dressed in black robes, she gave a timid smile then a friendly answer to Jayda's commotion. 
 
 The Zabrak's eyebrow raised in question. This wasn't the normal, unable to trust this 'kindness' given as before she could object, the Sith had popped off back to her room. Jayda leaned out into the hallway a little to watch the woman's retreating back then rested back upon her heels. A soft growl under her breath. What the hell did she do to attract unneeded atttention? For a moment, Jayda considered just falling back to her room and shutting the door. However before she could, the Sith had returned. When she held up the jar, Jayda felt her neck hairs rise upright and dance from alarm. Sith didn't help each other unless there was something to gain. Why waste the time and resources if there wasn't anything to gain from it? That was the question pounded through Jayda's skull in that moment. 
 
 Slowly, her hand reached out for the jar and took it. It was if she expected it to bite her. Jayda had a nasty feeling she would regret this but it was unlikely the woman would simply take her hnts of not wanting help. Namely after she darted off before waiting for an objection. When the topic changed to the wounds' origins, her figure stiffened halfway from returning to her room. She stopped in her tracks. 
 
 "It doesn't matter how or who inflicted them." Jayda made it clear she wasn't about to go into details. "It won't happen again. Though one would wonder your motives for such kindness, a very distinct rarity among Sith..." 
 
Zanna noted the wariness of the Zabrak, but refrained from commenting. It was doubtful that anything she could say would ease the caution displayed. Silently,however, she applauded the intelligence of the Jayda while she kept a facade of timid friendliness on her face. It was smart of her to not trust a random Sith appearing and offering help, even if it was inconvient. The other apprentice turned to leave quickly, likely to dispose of the salve as well, only to stop at her question. With the Apprentice's back to her, Zanna smiled. At least she had stopped the Apprentice from cutting this little meeting short. Now came the hard part of making sure she didn't just shut the door in her face. Caution and distrust seemed ingrained into Jayda. Quite a different beast from the Jedi Xid. "Somehow, I suspect it won't." She replied, delaying giving an answer to Jayda. Her mind raced. She could try to continue being the timid Sith apprentice, friendly and not used to the ways of the Sith yet, but she suspected that the other woman wouldn't buy that. She needed something new. 
 
"So I see you're not buying the 'timid apprentice who isn't really a threat' act." She began ruefully. "It works for most Sith who want to drag me into their politics. Afterall, who would think that the timid, short, little pureblood was an ambitious threat? We all have our ways of surviving, avoiding the politics that could get us killed. Thallia through sheer lack of ambition. You through stubborness. If you ignore politics enough, they have to stop wanting to bother you right? I avoid it by seeming to be nothing more than a timid creature, content to experiment in her room and what labs she is allowed access to. Regardless, you're right. I didn't suddenly approach you out of an honest concern about your wellfare. I want...well, I suppose you would call it an alliance." She hurried to explain before Jayda slammed the door shut in her face. "Not how you might be thinking! I'm not planning on drawing you into any secret conspiracy plots to gain me power, or to kill somone." [i]Yet.[/i] 
 
"I've noticed that Sish...isn't exactly one for teaching you the finer uses of the Force. He has power, certainly. But he doesn't have finesse. Direction. He uses brute force when he should be using a light touch. That's the one thing my master, before he died and I was sent here, impressed upon me. Finesse. Mental defense, mental offense. I can teach you how to use the Force as a focused attack rather than a wild and powerful, but directionless, attack." She paused for a moment, considering. "And...I need to work on my lightsaber combat skills. They're pathetic, to say the least. Sish was selected for the attack on the Temple for a reason. Brutish and crude as his use of the Force is, he is a potent lightsaber combatant. As his apprentice, I suspect he passed some of those skills on to you. Essentially, I want us to help each other. I can help you with your Force use, and you can help me with my lightsaber skills. This proposition is nothing more than a benefit to the both of us. No conspiracies, no political maneuvering, nothing that will drag you into a world that we both want to stay out of. People who keep their heads down and their ambition low tend to live longer in our environment"
 
Jayda's tension slightly and unnotably relaxed when the Sith's tone changed abruptly. It went from timid and naive to what she original grew to expect from others, that need to gain something. It was much better then the fake kindness which certianly always held strings and hidden traps. It had slowly eased the instinct to walk on eggshells but that didn't mean Jayda would relax just yet. Her back still to the Sith, her ears caught everything spoken up until the Alliance bit. The head snapped back to Sith pure blood, her hair jerked with the motion. Her first desire was to slam the door right then and there, ending this coversation. 
 
She had lasted this long without being involved and why would she change that? It was suicidal in her opinion, namely those involved seemed set only on killing each other. A mine field was the last place she wanted to be on. Her fingers tighted upon the jar in her grasp until it about to crack in her balled fist, the Sith's words rushed to recover from her mistake. Jayda's body had already been moving to towards the panel, her shoulder faced the woman, while she had started to press the buttons. That's when something important caught her attention. A need to be filled and offered in exchange for something else lacking. A trade of skills. 
 
Jayda's hand lingered over the panel for a moment or two. It was strange how this woman had assumed Jayda's mental skills were weak with no evidence and part of her wanted to pretend this comversation hadn't happened. That woudn't change her weakness however. Namely if she wanted to beat Sish and survive the Sith politics long enough to either vanish from them completely or decide what she would do next. This wa a bad idea but not having the skills needed was a worse one she mentally chided. 
 
"Fine. Tomorrow in the arena." The words seemed bitter on her tongue yet she forced them out, her hand pressed the button and the door slammed shut. 
 
Zanna heaved a private sigh of relief when Jayda didn't slam the door shut. [i]Stupid. Stupid. Shouldn't have used the word, alliance.[/i] She cursed herself, while watching to see what the other woman would do. The words of agreement seemed forced out, as if the Zabrak was unwilling to accept help in any form. Zanna gave a smile, and then the door shut in front of her face. She bit back her intial response, and instead called, "Also, despite what you might think, the salve isn't poisoned! It actually works!" Then she walked away into her own room, closing and locking the door behind her, feeling her own anger and indignation grow. How [i]dare[/i] the disgusting, impure, bitch show her such disrespect! To question her motives(even though, in this case, Jayda was completely right not to trust her) when she should be grateful that she had even been noticed by a pureblood! And then to slam the door in her face! Zanna's fists clenched tightly at her sides as she stood in the center of the room. Unlike the filthy Zabrak, she had more control. She wouldn't be announcing to the entire ship her anger. No, she'd keep it hidden, waiting to be unleashed.
 
"You'll get what you deserve." Zanna whispered, her hands slowly unclenching. "Oh yes. I'll see to that. You'll get everything you deserve and more."