Kyttl'threndek Hraenykk

=Description=

Appearance
Kytt is a‭ ‬1.6‭ ‬meter tall Tasiv of a dark brown color with dappled black streaks across his carapace.‭ ‬Apart from the identifying tattoos carved into his carapace,‭ ‬he is virtually indistinguishable from other of his race,‭ ‬except to a trained eye.‭ ‬Most of his tattoos,‭ ‬which were once brightly colored,‭ ‬have been inked over in black,‭ ‬traditional of an outcast from his society.‭ ‬The tattoos are symbols of the Hraenykk tribe,‭ ‬and,‭ ‬to someone versed in them,‭ ‬told the entirety of Kytt's life with his tribe,‭ ‬up until the time of his exile,‭ ‬denoted by a Exile tattoo which sits perfectly square on his forehead.

Kytt does not typically wear clothes,‭ ‬as Tasiv do not have any external reproductive organs,‭ ‬nor any real concept of nakedness,‭ ‬but does favor simple robes when out among the humanoid populace,‭ ‬as it tends to help him blend in better.‭

Backstory: It was obvious from the beginning of his life that Kytt simply did not fit in with his brethren.‭ ‬It was not that Kytt was rebellious,‭ ‬nor that he was stupid,‭ ‬for in fact he was both quite cooperative and intelligent,‭ ‬yet he always managed to find his own way to do things and his own particular style,‭ ‬which infuriated those above him.‭ ‬Creativity is not a cherished attribute in Tasiv society,‭ ‬where conformity and obedience are the norm.‭

When Kytt reached‭ [‬i]Veltmere‭[‬/i‭]‬,‭ ‬or the Tasiv coming of age,‭ ‬it was decided by the Matriarch of Tribe Hraenykk that he should be one of the Warrior caste,‭ ‬one of the‭ [‬i]Tiyafih‭[‬/i‭]‬.‭ ‬It was here that Kytt developed a true passion for combat,‭ ‬and immediately started out his adult life by breaking the rules of his society by his unconventionalism.‭ ‬Although at this time the Empire of Tasivid had not been formed,‭ ‬there were still offworld traders that would occasionally stop by at the capital city of Kaphal to trade various goods,‭ ‬and Kytt was known to travel to Kaphal without permission,‭ ‬despite it being held by a different tribe,‭ ‬and meet with these offworlders just so he could learn new ways of fighting and combat.‭

This was met with stern disapproval by his superiors,‭ ‬until eventually he was ordered not to leave the village without expressed permission.‭ ‬Kytt found,‭ ‬however,‭ ‬that despite the loyalty and ingrained sense of obedience that every Tasiv is infused with from hatching,‭ ‬that he could not obey.‭ ‬Rather than going to Kaphal,‭ ‬however,‭ ‬he began to merely go out into the desert surrounding his village to track down predators and watch them fight.‭ ‬He would watch the way they moved,‭ ‬the way they stalked their prey,‭ ‬and,‭ ‬ultimately,‭ ‬the way they delivered the kill.‭ ‬Over time,‭ ‬Kytt became quite adept at killing these animals,‭ ‬and he developed a different attitude towards death itself.‭ ‬For him,‭ ‬death was not a macabre thing,‭ ‬but merely a part of life.‭ ‬Everything died eventually,‭ ‬only some things died sooner than others.‭ ‬It was the fight for life that interested him more,‭ ‬the way prey animals would fight with every ounce of energy to preserve their own existence.‭ ‬He noted many different times when a prey animal,‭ ‬in the flurry of a fight for life,‭ ‬would commit some unpredictable act,‭ ‬and thus manage to escape.‭ ‬It was a lesson well learned:‭ ‬unpredictability was the ultimate defense,‭ ‬and,‭ ‬as a predator,‭ ‬the greatest obstacle to overcome.‭

Even after he had achieved the status of a fully fledged Soldier,‭ ‬his supervisors grew more and more displeased with Kytt,‭ ‬despite his incredible aptitudes for fighting and learning combat.‭ ‬He had left the village twice to accompany different Shamans as they endured the rigors of their trials and to learn how to use their bladed Tsi,‭ ‬and this especially left his superiors with a feelinging that the young warrior he had simply become too uncontrollable.‭ ‬Even after scourging him and chastising him,‭ ‬which Kytt endured dutifully and without protest,‭ ‬they eventually turned his judgment over to the Matriarch for her to decide.‭

Much like the prey animals that Kytt had been studying,‭ ‬the Matriarch did something quite unexpected:‭ ‬she demanded that Kytt become one of her consorts.‭ ‬Apparently something of either his physique or attitude appealed to her,‭ ‬for that sort of demand is not made often.‭ ‬The only way a male could refuse such a requirement was to join the Shamanic Order,‭ ‬and Kytt found himself in a bind.‭ ‬There was no desire on his part to join the Matriarch's harem,‭ ‬for at that point it would probably be the effective end of his combat career,‭ ‬and a life of waiting for the Matriarch's whim in a harem did not appeal to him,‭ ‬honorary and luxurious though it was.‭ ‬On the other hand,‭ ‬he had no desire for the Shamanic Order either.‭ ‬The Shamans were highly trained individuals who he respected greatly,‭ ‬but their training was not purely combat,‭ ‬which was Kytt's true passion.‭ ‬Of course,‭ ‬he knew as a male in Tasiv society,‭ ‬his‭ '‬desires‭' ‬were about as important as the dust,‭ ‬and just about as weighty too.

Finally,‭ ‬with much bowing and groveling,‭ ‬Kytt had told the Matriarch that he would not be her consort and begged to be allowed to stay as a Warrior,‭ ‬which was something Tasiv are told from the beginning of life,‭ ‬is simply not an option.‭ ‬The Matriarch's word is law,‭ ‬however,‭ ‬and his refusal of her order was to refuse the law itself.‭ ‬She was so infuriated she declared him to be Outcast and then ordered him beaten and thrown into the desert to die.‭

It was a difficult first lesson for Kytt to learn,‭ ‬having no direction,‭ ‬no purpose,‭ ‬no orders or guidance.‭ ‬After a lifetime of taking orders and obedience,‭ ‬suddenly Kytt found himself,‭ ‬how other beings would have described,‭ ‬free,‭ ‬yet he did not like nor cherish this new sensation of purposelessness.‭ ‬He was now denied the privilege of serving his people for the time,‭ ‬so he decided that his new master would be Matih,‭ ‬the Tasiv god of Death.‭ ‬He wasn't quite sure how that service would work,‭ ‬exactly,‭ ‬but he decided that it would involve learning all he could of combat.‭

Kytt surprised the offworld traders by asking for passage off the planet,‭ ‬for he was the first Tasiv beyond the Shaman who had ever expressed any interest in leaving Tasivid.‭ ‬As much as he loved his home world and people,‭ ‬being around them was too much a painful reminder of all that he had lost through his selfishness.‭ ‬He would seek among the stars for his purpose.‭ ‬Perhaps Matih had ordained all this to happen for some greater purpose.

The offworld traders dropped him off on another Outer Rim planet of sparse population,‭ ‬where he resided for a short time before seeking passage somewhere else.‭ ‬He tried to learn all he could of combat where ever he went,‭ ‬but he found that most beings were rather unsettled by his interest in fighting.‭ It was perhaps six months later that Kytt arrived at Nar Shadda,‭ ‬and found the first environment that seemed to condone combative natures.‭ ‬There were always fights,‭ ‬and death was not a stranger to the inhabitants of the gritty planet,‭ ‬either.‭ ‬Kytt got involved in many street fights,‭ ‬pit fights and every other type of combat he could encounter.‭ ‬The Tasiv sought anyone who would give him any sort of combat training,‭ ‬and took a few mercenary jobs to raise credits to pay for more training.‭ ‬Kytt developed a minor reputation as being not only a very proficient killer,‭ ‬but also exceedingly curious.‭ ‬It was part of his Tasiv nature that just refused to die,‭ ‬but Kytt hoarded very piece of information he could gather and sought to learn everything that he could,‭ ‬even from his victims.‭ ‬He was known on several occasions to stay his hand from the killing blow long enough to query his subject on many different topics before finally ending their life.‭

As a Tasiv with sensitive antennae perched atop his head,‭ ‬Kytt was used to being aware of sensory information that other beings missed.‭ ‬It was mostly by use of these sensory organs as well as a hunter's intuition,‭ ‬Kytt became aware that he was being followed.‭ ‬While he could not identify what the creature was who was following him,‭ ‬the unshakeable feeling was there that there were eyes watching every move he made.‭

In effort to locate whoever his unknown watcher was,‭ ‬Kytt began to partake in regularly scheduled arena pit fights.‭ ‬There,‭ ‬anyone who was looking to observe him,‭ ‬could do so,‭ ‬and just maybe Kytt could pick up on who was trying especially hard to watch him.‭ ‬This persisted for a while,‭ ‬with marginal results.‭ ‬Through careful observation,‭ ‬Kytt was able to pick up on a shadowy figure who tended to enter the rear of the arena while he was fighting,‭ ‬linger until after the fight,‭ ‬and then slip out.‭ ‬Kytt had no way of proving that this figure was person who's presence he was aware of,‭ ‬but he had a strong hunch it was.‭ ‬Others might have called it‭ '‬paranoia‭'‬,‭ ‬but Kytt did not believe in such a thing as paranoia.‭ ‬One could never be too cautious,‭ ‬if safety was the objective.

‭(Despite only having a passing understanding of the galactic society he was part of now, Kytt began to keep his ear to the ground, and learned from various sources of the existence of the "Green Shadow". This shadow was supposedly one of the best assassins in circulation and adhered to a personal code all his own. While he had no evidence to support his hunch, Kytt began to suspect that the mysterious observer who had been stalking him was this Shadow. The only clue he had was that the Green Shadow had supposedly been seen on Nar Shadda recently, and the timing coincided. Perhaps it was nothing, but there was another lesson he had learned, and that is that small risks often return substantial rewards.)

Finally Kytt left Nar Shadda,‭ ‬headed for Coruscant.‭ ‬He had no desire to escape whoever it was that was‭ ‬chasing him,‭ ‬but rather to see if this person would continue the pursuit.‭ ‬After all,‭ ‬Kytt wanted to watch this hunter a bit himself before they met,‭ ‬for Kytt was confidant that they would meet,‭ ‬one way or another.

Coruscant was everything it was promised to be to Kytt:‭ ‬like Nar Shadda,‭ ‬only taller,‭ ‬deeper,‭ ‬darker,‭ ‬and with a more shiny veneer on top.‭ ‬At first it seemed as though the hunter was not interested in chasing Kytt to this place,‭ ‬for he dwelt there for several months without a twinge of being watched and without any word of anyone pursuing him.‭ ‬Kytt found this to be disappointing,‭ ‬that either his hunter lacked the skill to find him,‭ ‬and thus had nothing to teach Kytt,‭ ‬or lacked the incentive,‭ ‬and thus lacked the respect that a hunter ought to give to the prey.

It was in the wake of this disappointment that Kytt began feeling a strong desire for a community.‭ ‬Tasiv are social creatures by nature and to be without the social framework of an organization was akin to a lacuna for Kytt.‭ ‬It was with this desire as a motivational force that Kytt ended up sinking into what could only be considered the‭ '‬gang‭' ‬life.‭

The gang he fell in with was a petty group with an almost opprobrious reputation:‭ ‬the Slagfists.‭ ‬They were a heavy handed,‭ ‬heavy headed mix of humanoids,‭ ‬almost entirely male who were short on brains,‭ ‬but big on muscles.‭ ‬They accepted Kytt as their own on the sole basis that he willingly allowed them to‭ "‬jump‭" ‬him in,‭ ‬and endured their pitiful bare handed beatings with hardly a sensation of pain against his hard carapace.‭ ‬It was quickly clear,‭ ‬however,‭ ‬that his priorities were vastly different from theirs.‭ ‬They had no sense of professionalism or desire for improvement,‭ ‬and Kytt had no desire for the things that interested them,‭ ‬which seemed limited to alcohol,‭ ‬drugs,‭ ‬money,‭ ‬and fornication.‭ ‬Kytt's only interest of those choices was money,‭ ‬and that was solely for the knowledge that money could buy.‭ ‬Ultimately,‭ ‬it was because of his distinctly Tasiv etiquette that he left‭; ‬being used to a strictly matriarchal society,‭ ‬Kytt could not bear the disrespect that they heaped shamelessly and needlessly upon females.‭ ‬He effectively absolved himself of further responsibilities with the gang by neatly killing the leader with a slash to the back of the human's neck,‭ ‬cutting deep into the spinal cord,‭ ‬while the human was distracted with his latest victim.

The rest of the gang did not take too kindly to this,‭ ‬and sought to prove this point to Kytt,‭ ‬who was treated to the pleasure of fighting each one of them and killing them all.‭ ‬While he did not find the combat to be satisfying in its difficulty,‭ ‬there was a sense of satisfaction at not having to endure their unprofessional conduct.‭ ‬And,‭ ‬of course,‭ ‬there was lessons to be learned in that,‭ ‬such as how to fight against large groups,‭ ‬even if they were unskilled.‭ ‬He made a pact with himself and with Matih that from then on,‭ ‬he would only ally himself with those who give proper respects to those who deserve it,‭ ‬a proper respect to the divine art of combat and for the grand finale of combat,‭ ‬death.

The news of the Slagfist's death spread very quickly in the small sector in which Kytt had made his home,‭ ‬and the denizens of that particular corner of the underworld suddenly gave him much wider berth than they had before.‭ ‬Especially when the deed was recent,‭ ‬Kytt often found himself treated to such delicacies as a glass of fresh water‭ (‬a rarity,‭ ‬in the smoggy,‭ ‬sooty underworld‭) ‬by the local bartender,‭ ‬looking to keep him happy.‭ ‬It wasn't that the Slagfists were especially feared for their toughness‭ (‬although they were tough‭)‬,‭ ‬but more that people understood anyone who could take down a gang of approximately fifteen in one sitting,‭ ‬must have had some skill.‭ ‬Or,‭ ‬in Kytt's case,‭ ‬a lot of skill combined with an agility that far outstripped any of the Slagfists.‭

Even as Kytt was trying to decide his next move,‭ ‬word came to him that an unknown person had been around,‭ ‬asking questions about him. It must have been the unknown hunter from Nar Shadda and now Kytt was more curious than ever to discover who this person was, and what their goal was. A meeting was evitable, and Kytt began searching for a way of luring this hunter out into the oppen.‭ ‬How to accomplish this feat,‭ ‬was,‭ ‬however,‭ ‬a mystery.‭ ‬The urban environment was not his natural one,‭ ‬and Kytt did not know how to connect with this society to accomplish his goals.‭ ‬Still every predator followed the same simple principle:‭ ‬follow the prey until the time comes to strike.‭ ‬So,‭ ‬to lure the predator,‭ ‬either Kytt had to convince him that it was time to strike,‭ ‬or he had to create the impression of movement while remaining stopped and wait until the predator had left cover.‭

Using money stolen from the ex-Slagfists,‭ ‬Kytt was able to bribe information concerning this stranger. The locals described him ambiguously at best, but they all agreed that he spoke in a strange way with an odd breath pattern. It wasn't much to go on, but it was a start.

He knew what had worked in the past, and so he tried it once more: entering advertised pitfights to see if the stranger would arrive. He chose a small arena this time, nestled in an abandoned warehouse, so as to better track the occupants.

His third night of fighting, on his third night of the fight, just as the clock struck the third minute, Kytt picked up on a disturbance by the door. There was a shadowy figure, perched near the dark recesses of the entrance. Kytt couldn't make out details, but he had an intuitive feeling that was his target.

Without further delay, Kytt gave a jump clear out of the ring and set off after the figure, who vanished out the door so fast it was as if he had expected as much from Kytt. It brought to mind another lesson learned by Kytt: whenever a hunter chases a prey, he has given control of the conflict to the prey, for the prey gets to choose the path that best suits it. Often times the prey is just looking for place more suitable to fight. At this juncture, however, Kytt did not care. It is very difficult for Tasiv to experience fear, and Kytt was no exception. He would find out about this person if it killed him.

The chase was a good one, with his query leading him on a blind trip down alleys, upstairs, out windows and around hundreds of blind corners. Kytt was very impressed by the being's endurance, and he hung doggedly on to the chase, not letting is prey out of sight.

With a sense of finality, the prey rounded a final corner, and put on a burst of speed the likes of which Kytt would not have thought possible for such a stocky figure. As it was, when he rounded the corner, there was no sight of his query, only the entrances to three different warehouses at the end of a dead end. Kytt slowed to a stop, looking at each of the three numbered doors, but there was no visible indicator of which one had been used. It struck him suddenly: the being had waited until the third round of the third fight on his third night to make an appearance. Could that have been done as a clue?

Kytt approached the third door. He was able to ascertain a stronger olfactory sensation in the air, as if someone had just passed through there. More than likely, the person was the one he was looking for. Of course, he realized what all this meant: the person inside had quite deliberately set this up, and was very much expecting him to follow through this door. If this was a trap, Kytt would be at this stranger's mercy. While he was quite willing to die in the pursuit of this goal, he had to admit that dying simply because he was being careless was a poor excuse.

With a powerful leap, Kytt jumped to the second story window and managed to secure himself on an outcropping while he kicked in the window. It was not as quiet an entry as he would have liked, but he was still in a hurry, just in case his query was still running out the other side.

After navigating a heavily booby trapped warehouse, however, Kytt discovered his query was waiting calmly for him in a back room. The being quite levelly first introduced himself as Kolfar, a Gand assassin and a member of an elite organization known as the Dinkos. He next congratulated Kytt on his successful pursuit, then went on to explain what his purpose was: he wanted Kytt to join the organization that he worked for.

It seemed a golden opportunity to Kytt, who readily agreed. Kolfar was an instantly familiar figure to him, someone that he was immediately comfortable with. Perhaps it was that they both had an insectoid biology, or merely that Kolfar was so obviously someone from whom Kytt could learn, but Kytt quickly developed a form of camaraderie with Kolfar, and, after a meeting with a Rodian named Nashka, Kytt was initiated into the order of the Dinkos assassins.

That was how it came to be that Kytt became one of the Dinkos.‭

Kytt fell into place easily among the other Dinkos, a strange fit, but a fit never the less. His peculiarities were accepted on the foundation that anyone who could do the job effectively was entitled to his quirks. And Kytt proved himself to be an able assassin. His ability to survive in harsh environments, even toxic ones, for extended periods of time, alone gave him a sharp edge over many would be competitors.

If Nashka had developed a reputation of being the "honest" assassin, than Kytt soon developed the reputation of being the "polite" one. It was true that both off the job and on, he was well known for being polite and respectful to just about everyone. Strangely enough, this politeness seemed to be especially terrifying to his marks, who seemed to lose all nerve at the sound of his polite, yet stoic, speech.

The Tasiv was also noted for being especially polite to females of any species, once again, owing to his deeply ingrained Tasiv psyche. Whether they liked it or not, every female member of the Dinkos received the title of "Akimi'tis", a feminine title of respect, and no amount of begging, pleading, or threatening would make him drop the title. Kytt developed a particular devotion Caila, Nashka's mate, and, although he never spoke such thoughts to any one, in his eyes, Caila was the sole and rightful leader of the Dinkos, not Nashka. The male merely got the label of "consort" when compared to Caila, in Kytt's mind.

Kytt joined the Dinkos right as they were on their upswing and it didn't take long for him to make a name for himself, even though for a long while, he was attached to Kolfer. He was very much a background member to begin with, an observer of the power struggles he perceived to be taking place, but not a participant. Power struggles were nothing new to him, as Tasiv society is rife with such tensions.

What happened next, however, surprised him, even though he had been expecting a conflict: Calia laid in death, her life ended by the Barabel Skarrek's hand. Again, Kytt was silent on his thoughts, but in his mind he knew that Matih's face would smile on Skarrek for daring to strike down his own ruler, and he would find an early death. Even though Kytt would have gladly pursued Skarrek there and then, Kolfer would hear nothing of it, saying simply that it was task best left to Nashka, and Nashka was likely to take revenge on anyone who stole his chance to avenge his fallen mate, despite the hit being issued by Nashka himself. Kytt had subsided, but found the state of affairs of the Dinkos to be deplorable.

The Dinkos' head lay still on the ground while the body continued to thrash. That was Kytt's thought as he watched the group bisect itself in a messy break that left none satisfied and everyone wary of the other side. What had been friends a year or two previous were suddenly enemies, and Kytt found himself wondering if he likewise should try to make an exit. With the death of Caila, Kytt had wondered if Nashka would be able to keep things running as well as she had. He had a lot of respect for Nashka as one of the best assassins in the galaxy, but he still had his doubts.

(I assume you'll have to correct some liberties and assumptions I'm making with/about the Black Sun) Things changed drastically when the Black Sun had taken note of the Dinkos' success and decided to capitalize on someone else's work. The Dinkos became an extension of the Black Sun's arm, and their clientele changed. More often than naught, their targets weren't given to them by some high paying client as in the past, but rather, by some upper level of Black Sun leadership who, more often than not, merely used his political sway to settle some personal vendetta by using the Dinkos. This did not bother Kytt much, as a target is a target, although he gathered that Nashka's ire was kindled somewhat by having his band employed for such personal uses, and often not as lucrative, uses. More unusual than this change was the sudden influx of manpower they experienced as many Black Sun assassins were transferred into their number. Among this number was Skarrek, and Kytt seethed at the thought that the treacherous killer was allowed again the prestige of working under Nashka. He also wondered why Nashka did not end the traitor's life right then instead of resorting to passive-aggressive techniques that seemed only to infuriate both of them. Kytt did not speak up, however. With Caila dead, he had come to accept Nashka as the rightful leader of the Dinkos, and so the choice was Nashka's, and his alone.

By this time, Kytt was weaned off of his very unofficial apprenticeship with Kolfar. Most of the jobs he did were solo now, although he still viewed Kolfar as a mentor, and held him in a reverent light. Because Kytt was a more veteran member in an organization that had grown beyond its original conceived size, Kytt was delegated control of a small assassin squad, and given his first taste of leadership.

His responsibilities were limited: he would be given a certain number of hits that he would have to then delegate to the assassins in his squad. The hits were always of minimal importance, as most of the assassins under Kytt were neophytes at best, but Kytt enjoyed this new challenge of trying to match tasks to the skills and strengths of the people under him. He couldn't help but wonder, however, at the strange turn of events that had taken place. Just the mere presence of neophytes within the organization suggested to him that the Dinkos had gone from being the elites to merely yet another branch of the Black Sun. It was not for him to question such things, however, and he couldn't say that he was unhappy: he worked for some of the best fighters and killers in the galaxy, he was able to continue his passionate quest for knowledge, and he had the feeling of being part of a community. There was little more else he could ask for.

As squad leader, Kytt was first introduced to Hivissi Mocurek, a young female Selonian who had fled her homeworld for reasons best left unexplained. Vissi, as she was called, took a strange and intense liking to Kytt, and would often force him to sit for hours, sharing his experiences and adventures with her, which he was much too polite and respectful to turn down.

Although Vissi was young, just past the point of being considered an adult, she was extremely bright and already had earned a reputation as a dangerous killer. She had an intensity about her that was very uncharacteristic of the normal apathetic assassins that the Dinkos normally had, and this intensity made her that much more dangerous, if a touch unpredictable. She was hot headed, hot blooded, and never shied away from telling people what she thought. While she was not much of a combat fighter, she was nearly impossible to catch when she was trying to elude someone, and she had a strong knowledge of alchemy, which she used both in the construction of poisons and explosives. She also had a knowledge of computers that far surpassed Kytt's, and thus was often employed in tandem with other assassins for the utilization of her slicing abilities.

The two became good, albeit unlikely, companions, and Vissi became one of the few people to ever hear anything of Kytt's home world, Tasivid, for normally he refused to share any details of what the Tasiv people were like to anyone.

Approximately a year after meeting, Vissi quite suddenly vanished while out on a mission. The mission had been one that was expected to be easy: a low profile leader on some speck of an Outer Rim planet. Never the less, she did not return nor check in. Kytt left personally to investigate the situation and ascertain her fate. He did not fear that she was dead, for even if she was dead, fearing it would not change it, but rather he hoped to discover any perpetrator in her disappearance. A high profile organization like the Dinkos could not afford to let members be killed without serious retribution to discourage other attempts.

Kytt's inquest was successful: Vissi's transport ship had been waylaid upon arrival by a group of pirates known as The Emerald Legion, supposedly led by a crazed female Cathar called Emerald Eyes. It took several months of tracking to locate the slavers that she had been sold to, but finally Kytt was able to secure Vissi's freedom through a serious bloodletting slavers and pirates.

He took her to the closest Black Sun safehouse for medical attention, as she was in very poor health, and left her there. For whatever reason, his communications with the main Dinkos headquarters were ominously going unanswered, so he left with all haste to determine what was happening.

The news shocked him: Xizor was dead, and the Black Sun was literally being ripped apart as every crony who had a stick to wield took as much of the organization as possible. The Dinkos were gone, scattered and divided. Nashka had vanished, as had Kolfar and most of the original members.

When Kytt had returned to where he had left Vissi, she, too was gone. The safehouse had been raided by the local law enforcement, who no longer feared a backlash from the Black Sun. Discrete questioning revealed that the safehouse had been empty when it was raided, however. She was not incarcerated, she had merely left.

Once again Kytt found himself in a position of being suddenly alone. He had no immediate desire to try to attach himself to an organization, yet he had no desire to remain alone, either. The idea of hunting down any of his former compatriots seemed futile, as they were all masters of hiding and, more than likely, they did not want to be found. Even Vissi had apparently decided to strike out on her own. He entertained the notion of going taking revenge on the Emerald Legion, but since the Dinkos were gone, it hardly seemed worthwhile. There was little point behind defending the name of something that no longer existed.

Eventually Kytt decided that he would continue his original plans: he would seek out those most knowledgeable in the ways of war and receive instruction from those he could.