A few days later, early in the morning, Deskyl's panic begins echoing loudly through the Force.

Well, shit. Ekkreth leaps out of bed, lightsaber flying into her hand, and runs down the halls to Deskyl's room.

She meets her halfway, saber drawn and eyes wild, and then turns on her heel and darts off toward the entrance.

Ekkreth follows her.

Once outside, she points momentarily off into the wilderness, and then drops into a loose guard.

(She looks like she could burst into tears at any moment, but that's clearly not the most important thing right now.)

Ekkreth focuses her Force senses in the direction Deskyl's pointing.

Now that she's looking, yeah, someone's out there; his shield isn't perfect, but it's good enough that it's surprising that Deskyl noticed him.

Fucking joy.

Her Force presence twists into its Proper Sith form. She waits.

He starts approaching, slowly, when Deskyl calms down enough to stop projecting.

Innnnnteresting. Ekkreth shields herself and waits to see what happens next.

He's not actually bad at creeping up; it's unfortunate for him that he's already been spotted. If Ekkreth didn't know just where to look, she'd most likely miss him poking his head out carefully from behind a rock to check his approach. As is - he's not distinctive enough to be sure, especially at this distance, but out of the shortlist of people likely to be paying her this kind of visit, he's recognizable.

Sigh.

She stops shielding her presence and flares it instead, stalking over towards him.

He bolts.

Shouldn't've got so close first.

He wasn't that close.

She's still faster, though.

(Deskyl trails along behind, staying well back - there's no telling what he might do to her, what other nasty surprises might be in store if she gets too much of his attention, even apart from the risk of him just grabbing her and getting away.)

She's faster, and she has the home field advantage. She knows the earth beneath them. She can make it do what she wants.

A turned ankle slows him down, but not very much; he's just in sight of his ship and still running when she catches up to him.

A foot planted firmly in the small of his back and an extra helping of push courtesy of the Force send him toppling to the ground. Ekkreth rests one foot on him, lightly, keeping an eye out for sudden moves.

"Well, hello."

"Hello. I don't suppose I could trouble you for a cup of apprentice?"

"Do you imagine I would have taken her if I didn't want her?"

"It seemed it might be negotiable. I can find you ten better ones, if you like. Able to talk and everything."

"I don't think you and I have compatible values of what's better. For example, I don't think it's better for things that can do to people what you did to her to exist."

"Well, you can't please everyone all the time." He jerks to the side, suddenly, attempting to break free.