Chakra Twilight: Jaleela's Tale (PG-13)(Reserved for Yamimoon)

[Lady Celeste]

(Rated PG-13: Parental Guidance Suggested for Children Under 13.)
(For Violence, Sensitive Subject Matter, and Some Inappropriate Language and Content.)

Upon arrival in her hometown, Lust immediately took notice of two officers of the Taliban standing idly close by. She walked away from the portal before Chastity emerged; it would be easier to show him this than to explain it to him. Motioning for Chastity to stay back, she proceeded to walk across the street toward a nearby pharmacy.

It was not long before one of the officers took notice of her. A visibly angry expression formed on his face as he marched toward her. "You! Woman!" He shouted at her in Dari. "Where is your mahram*?"

Lust was already similarly angry, but feigned a panicked tone. "Begging your pardon sir..." She whimpered, also in Dari. "I have no mahrams. My father and husband are dead, and I have no son or brother to escort me." She shuffled slightly toward the pharmacy to continue the part. "Please, my babies are very sick. They need medicine soon or they might die!" As she backed away, she lifted her pant leg from underneath her burqa to "accidentally" expose her left ankle.

This did not go unnoticed by the other officer, and he quickly pulled out a large metal rod strapped to his belt. "Shut up, harlot!" He barked at her, bringing down the rod onto the exposed ankle, causing Lust to fall over. Both officers promptly surrounded her on both sides while she was down, both proceeding to beat her. "Atheist whore, you are no Muslim!" The second officer shouted. "If you had any faith at all you would stay in your home and wait for Allah to cure your children. Stop your whining and cover that sinful flesh!" He said, indicating the exposed ankle, which he hit with the rod once more.

(*Mahram = close male relative (father, husband, brother, son, etc.))

[Yamimoon]

As Chastity exited the portal and saw that Lust was heading over to where two men were standing. She motioned to him to stay back. He didn’t understand what she was doing, and this didn’t look like it would be a good idea. But he stayed back, and watched what was going to happen. He knew enough of the language to hold his own in a conversation, but he didn’t like to use it.

Chastity saw as the soldiers approached Lust, and started to question her. He heard the whole conversation, and didn’t like the way that it was heading. Then what happened next made Chastity angry. They hit her. Never in his life had he seen this happen. He never raised his hand to a female, he only defended himself. He knows that Lust was his enemy, but this was uncalled for. He started to walk up to where the men were surrounding Lust, as he hit her once more. As he reached the men he went behind the one that had instigated the situation as well as hit Lust twice on the ankle. He then grabbed a hold of the rod, and attempted to pull it out of his hand. He was not going to allow this to continue. Even if it meant that he was going to have to kill these two men.

[Lady Celeste]

The surprised officer nearly fell back as Chastity yanked the rod from his hands, immediately turning around to grasp the top of the rod in a bid to reclaim it. "Who are you to defend this worthless slut? You saw the way she exposed herself!" He spat at Chastity, reaching to kick him out of the way. His partner had already taken notice of Chastity, turning behind him and swinging his own rod at Chastity to try to knock him down. "Infidel, you are under arrest!"

Chastity's sudden intervention had allowed Lust some time to straighten herself up. The brief beatings she had just taken were already hurting badly, but that was to be expected for such a reckless demonstration. Still, it was surprising for her to see any man, let alone one who was supposed to be an enemy, demonstrate such nobility as to defend a woman, especially without any influence from her powers. Reaching inside her burqa, she had already removed two darts from her pockets and now held both of them in one hand, the other proceeding to rub the Aridorran healers' prescribed ointment onto the beaten ankle, hoping to give it time to recuperate so that she could aim the darts properly.

[Yamimoon]

Chastity kept a firm hold on the rod, as he looked the man in the eyes. He didn’t say anything, for this idiot wouldn’t understand. Then the man tried to kick him, but instead of allowing it he side stepped the kick. He then pushed the rod towards the man letting go. If everything worked right he would fall back. The other man got behind him, and tried to hit him with the rod. Thankfully Chastity had side stepped instead of something else. The rod missed his head, and hit him in the shoulder. Chastity cringed in pain from the hit, but that was all.

He quickly turned and faced the man. “Do you think that you will be able to arrest me?” Chastity said as if taunting the man. He was already reaching under his shirt in the back where he keeps his sword, when he was visiting earth. He pulled out his sword witch had taken the form of a dagger. Since he was unable to access his power over the waters at the moment.

[Lady Celeste]

The salve did not work as quickly as Lust might have hoped, but it was not very long before she could move to her feet. "Personally, I doubt it." She said aloud, this time in English. The officers, though apparently unable to understand English, were visibly infuriated by the mere sound of a woman's voice, and a sparse crowd of passersby stood in shock. The man not currently battling Chastity immediately swirled around, moving to swing at Lust once more. But this time it came to naught, as in one fluid movement Lust threw off her burqa, revealing the attire she usually wore in Aridor save for a pair of black slippers, and caught her attacker's wrist. Without hesitation she ran one dart across his hand and kicked him to the ground, a paper-thin red line the only evidence of what she'd done.

The other officer would stumble back from Chastity's attack just as the other man lay writhing on the ground. The cut had been too shallow for any lethal dose of venom to set in, but clearly the first soldier was in a world of pain at this point. Taking a glance at his partner, his eyes widened before then glaring at Lust. "You mongrel witch! I'll enjoy watching you burn to ash in the afterlife!"

"You first, coward." Lust said neutrally before flinging the other dart his way, leaving a similarly shallow cut on his shoulder. She watched for only a few seconds before both men ultimately passed out. Picking up her burqa, she proceeded to dust off the fabric as she glanced to Chastity. "That was just enough to keep them out for some hours, but I doubt they'll see any pleasant dreams in that time. I did tell you that this was necessary." She asserted as she put the burqa back on. "But enough playtime. I need to find a certain contact of mine independent of Aridor."

[Yamimoon]

Chastity was unaware that the man that he had pushed had gotten up, and attacked Lust once more. By the time this registered the man was on the ground screaming. This took Chastity’s eyes from the other man. He looked over at Lust. Now she looked like he knew her. A woman that was not afraid, but assertive, this still puzzled him as to why she was here in the first place. That would have to wait as she then threw a dart his way. It missed him hitting the man behind him. He didn’t help the men for he figured this is something that he would be unable to correct without his powers.

He listened and watched as she replaced her burqa. “I see what you meant now,” Was all that he said as he waited for her to move. He was not too familiar of the surrounding villages or this one. In fact he was completely lost. He would need a way fro her to tell him where to go. “So how are we going to get there? From what I have seen if I were to fallow you it would not be good. So how do we proceed?” Chastity asked in a natural voice. He hoped that the guards would recover from their strife.

[Lady Celeste]

"I got myself into trouble just now for a reason, and not necessarily the ones you may be thinking." Lust explained, making certain no one else could hear her as she moved slowly away from the fallen officers. "When the Taliban were removed from the central government, some people thought this country would change for the better, that the violence against women would finally stop. But it hasn't stopped. Here in Herat almost nothing has changed, and in some areas it gets even worse."

Realizing she was almost off-topic, she shook her head. "My point being, the real power in Afghanistan lies with the warlords, not the government. Pride put me in touch with some like-minded friends in this country, but let's just say the warlords don't really favor their ideals. They've had to scatter themselves for their own safety, and I'd hoped that by causing a little riot they would be confident enough to come out, or at least give them some shocking press to let other countries know that this is still real."

[Yamimoon]

Chastity listened to all that Lust had to say, as he placed Ensui back into its sheath. He wondered if this would work, or bring out some unwanted attention. He didn’t know, but that would have to wait to see if it worked out the way that she wanted. For now all he could do is sit by and watch what was going to happen. He thought of why he had even found interest in Lust. They had been on opposite sides of this war, and have has several encounters. Why now of all times would he have an interest of why she was I this war to begin with?

If it weren’t for the incident a couple of day’s ago he wouldn’t be here in a situation that he no clue of what was going to happen. For all that he knew this was a trap, and he was falling right into it. He shook his head and got his mind back on track. “So we just wait here, and see if it worked. Or are you going to go to them?” Chastity asked as he crossed his arms.

[Lady Celeste]

Lust was already turning to look about the crowd, her eyes soon locked on a third man now approaching them. But unlike the other two, his expression showed no hostility and indeed he looked somewhat amused. "Looks like it already worked. Hopefully that's the one I was told to locate." She said to Chastity, only to realize later that she was speaking barely loud enough for the new person to hear them.

The new addition immediately focused on Lust, but apparently with a warning caution rather than anger. "Jaleela, careful!" He whispered, confirming Jaleela's hunch when he spoke in English without an apparent accent. "You know what they do to women for speaking in public. Honestly, you'd think that stunt you just pulled would be enough of a lesson."

"It was worth it. The more bad press we can create for either tyranny, the better off we'll all be." Lust said. "Where are the others?"

The man was about to answer, but then he caught a glimpse of Chastity and drew back somewhat defensively. "Who's your friend? I don't right off recall any mention of new supporters."

"Oh." Lust promptly turned to eye Chastity, trying to find a suitable cover story for him. "He's one of the visiting students, from America. We go back a ways, so I was just showing him around." She thought to give a name for Chastity, but decided to let him pick one for himself instead.

"Well, anyone with enough guts to stand up to those Talibs definitely has my respect." The man responded cheerfully, offering Chastity his hand. "Steve Gordon. Pleasure to meet you sir."

[Yamimoon]

Chastity just watched as he man approached from one of the allies. He did nothing to but listen, and watch. He knew better to do much when you were at the mercy of not knowing what was all going on. So he waited toll he knew more. Then when Lust made an excuse for him, he decided that it would be best just to play along. At least till he got the answers that he was looking fore.

The man then approached him, saying his name; He didn’t take long to answer him. For he knew that it would be rude to make him wait. He took his hand and smiled. “My name is Gilberto Hikari. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Chastity said. He didn’t know if using the name ha abandoned all those years ago was a good idea, but that was the only name that came to mind. “That was also no prob. I hate men like that,” Chastity finished still smiling.

[Lady Celeste]

"Believe me, you're not alone there." Steve said, somewhat more soberly than his previous tone. "I'm surprised it took Americans five whole years to finally do something about it. And even that's superficial at best."

"Actually, that's why I came." Lust said, moving slightly closer to both men. "A close friend recently informed me of a mole somewhere in the system, and I need to find the others. Where are they now?"

Steve shifted his eyed around the general area to check for prying ears. "Well most of us have gone underground ever since Commander Farzaad essentially put a price on our heads. Now, Mr. Hikari, Jaleela here already knows the procedure but, for security reasons everyone who pops in for a visit has to be given one of these." He handed Chastity a small, handheld tape recorder.

Lust explained slightly further. "This is the only listening device you can have while you're there and they'll check you for any others, but they still need a record of you during your time there. When you're ready to leave, turn in your tape to the Records desk, but you can keep the recorder for later." She procured her own recorder briefly through the burqa, then glanced back to Steve. "Er, we actually came here by bus." She excused nervously.

"Not a problem. I'm still using the old taxi service. Come on." Steve said, and promptly motioned toward a small jeep parked behind the pharmacy.

[Yamimoon]

Chastity had never thought that he would ever put himself in a situation like this. He was in more danger that he has ever been in, and on top of it he was powerless to defend himself if he needed to, but it was too late to turn back now. He was snapped out of his thinking when Lust moved in to talk to both of the men. Then he learned some more info, and was handed a recorder. He took it with out delay, and looked at the man confused slightly. Then lust told him what it was fore. “Well that is understandable,” Chastity said as he placed the recorder in his pant pocket. He fallowed them to the jeep, and got in.

He then looked at Lust as he asked her a question under his breath. “Why are you here in the first place?” He asked not wanting to start a fight. But he truly wanted to know the nature of her visit to Earth.

[Lady Celeste]

Evidently Steve had taken notice of Chastity whispering, so Lust thought quickly. "Why don't you go ahead and start it up Steve? It seems Gilberto dropped something in the riot."

"Sure. Hurry it up though. Don't want anyone seeing you close by." Steve said before slipping toward the jeep.

Lust waited until Steve was out of earshot, before turning her full attention to Chastity's question. "Nothing to do with Aridor, if that's what you're getting at. I came here for personal reasons." Quickly searching around for prying eyes, she finally concluded that there were none, and continued. "Afghanistan is in complete chaos now. Every day these people are faced with one of two tyrannies: the Taliban who oppress their women and even ban simple comforts like music and books, or the warlord mafias who abuse everyone around them without so much as a slap on the wrist."

Realizing her little spat, she quickly got back to the point. "Steve and I are members of a special interest group in the area. We work to try and make life in this place better for some of the oppressed, but for obvious reasons our goals contradict those of the authority here. Pride recently informed me that someone in our little clubhouse is actually working for Commander Farzaad, one of the local warlords. I came to find this spy and kill him, simple as that; if he succeeds, the good Commander would have all the information he needs to kill us all off and destroy everything we've worked for, and I refuse to allow that."

[Yamimoon]

Chastity listened very closely to what Lust was saying, and read the emotions on her face. He could tell that she was sincere in her words, and that this was of her own wishes. He then came to the conclusion that she was also probably using him, but that didn’t stop him from listening to every word. He was seeing a side of her that she has never shown in all of the times they have meet on the battle filed. He was seeing her for what she truly was, and that made it even harder to see her fight along Pride. He was aiming to enslave all realms, and to him it seamed like Lust was trying to fight against that.

He banished these thoughts from his head, and looked her in the eyes. “OK! I don’t know everything, but I will help you in this endeavor, but after this I want to know why you would fight with a man that embodies all that you despise,” Chastity said as he walked over to the jeep, and got in. He hoped that he didn’t get into this too deep.

[Lady Celeste]

"Thank you." Lust nodded, taking a moment to examine Chastity. He was being far more understanding toward her than she expected from anyone associated with the United Virtue, let alone one of the Domini. There was little more speaking among the three of them as she also boarded the jeep, and Steve promptly drove off.
_______________________________

It was little more than a ten-minute drive before Steve finally stopped in front of an old brick shack. Every visible window was painted thoroughly with black tar, slightly more so than most of the neighboring buildings were. Steve was quick to exit the jeep and approach the door. "All right. Shall we?" He said, opening the door.

"Thank you, as always." Lust smirked wryly as the door opened, revealing a small group of Afghan women littered on one side of the room, each sewing various articles of clothing, with a young blonde woman in front instructing the rest of the group. The moment Steve had closed the door, Lust was only too eager to remove her burqa in favor of a more reasonable poncho. The women here may have been mostly against the use of burqas, but they had strong moral principles nonetheless, and Lust's usual outfit was most likely too liberal for their tastes.

As Steve closed the door behind the small group, the blonde stood up from her chair. "Steve, thank God! What happened? You've been out all day!"
Steve approached her as well, and they shared a kiss when they finally met. "Come on sweetie, don't tell me you're not used to this line of work yet." He indicated toward Lust and Chastity. "Jaleela just popped in from her leave of absence; that's Gilberto Hikari, he's a student she's showing around. We'll be needing some blanks for each of them." He then focused to Chastity, indicating toward the woman as she reached into the desk for three blank tapes. "This here is my lovely fiancée, Deborah Kendrick. She handles the records for anyone who enters or leaves." He stated, removing his beard and wig to show a clean-cut, almost boyish blue-eyed face, his mop of light brown hair showing evidence of dampness. Taking the blank tapes from Shelby, he handed one of them to Chastity and one to Lust, placing the third in his own tape recorder and pressing Record. "OK well, we better leave you ladies alone for now. See you in a few Deb."

Lust also inserted her own tape, pressing Record as she reached toward a carpet on the floor next to Deborah and the other women, and pushed it aside to reveal a trapdoor. As she opened it and proceeded to enter, her eyebrows went up as frantic screams and sobs could be heard faintly in the more modern living areas below.

Steve immediately turned to look down the trapdoor. "That sounds like Mehri; I better get down there." He blew past Lust and descended the stairs, a slightly confused Lust following a ways off.

[Yamimoon]

Chastity walked into the building with the others, and was greeted by a room filed with women. He was not shocked to find so many that wanted this to end. In fact he would be more upset to find them not having any support. He watched the events, and as the young lady was introduced Chastity smiled. He knew now that this was a cause that he would have never known of if he had not fallowed Lust. He took the tape. “Well I am just glad that I can help. Even if it is just a little,” Chastity said as he looked over to where Lust was standing. He was now starting to get to know her just a little.

Chastity placed the tape in the recorder, and then pressed the record button. As fare as he could tell this was not a very big operation, but they were determined. Chastity was now looking down to where the carpet was removed, and was horrified to here the screaming coming from the location. Chastity quickly fallowed behind them He was hoping that this was not what he thought it was.

[Lady Celeste]

The areas below were certainly a far cry from the house outside; young children were gathered around a small bookshelf where one of the men was reading to them from a Sesame Street book in Dari, while most of the remaining children were in a makeshift playroom housing toys and games of all kinds. In this kind of setting, the small "medical center" in the far back could easily be mistaken for a nurse's office at a working-class daycare, were it not for the patients - mostly women, children, and the elderly - lying nearly motionless on small, bare cots laid side by side. With one exception.

Steve rushed to join the nurse in restraining one of the patients: a badly bruised nine-year-old girl with her right arm in a sling. "Mehri. Mehri stop, listen to me. You're still recovering; you have to rest." He blurted in English, before stopping to translate in Dari.

Mehri did not yield, and neither did her cries. Lust stood apart from the racket, solemnly translating each word. "I have to go. Don't keep me. My mother and my sister are still there. You know them, Mr. Gordon. Please don't make me leave them. They need me."

[Yamimoon]

Chastity looked at the scene in front of him, and it almost brought tears to his eyes. He had seen this before in a past experience that he would like to forget, and he suppressed the memories. He listened to what was being translated by Lust for it was to fats and pained for him to make out. He the walked closer to the girl till he was right next to her reaching out his hand in a Gentle manner. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and pushed her down.

“I know that you have no reason to trust me, but if you will tell me where your mother and you sister are I will go and get them,” Chastity said in Dari. He was not so versed in the language, so he might have messed up on the words a little, but he hope that she would understand him enough to tell him where they were.

[Lady Celeste]

Mehri followed Chastity's direction slowly, and on hearing his question she looked down. "I'm not supposed to tell. The serpent... he said if I told anyone where the den was, he'd kill them and then he'd come for me."

The response left Steve clearly upset. "Farzaad. The serpent is what most of the locals call him." He then focused on Chastity in particular. "Mehri here is one of his wives. I know in America this might be a shock, but child marriages are a lot more common here than they should be, and sometimes girls are even thrown in jail for refusing."

Lust then knelt to eye level with Mehri. "Listen to me. My friend and I have friends in higher places than you know. The serpent won't ever lay his hands on you again, and if you tell us where this den is then we can protect them as well." She gave Chastity a sidelong glance as she said this.

Mehri choked back a set of tears, looking back up at the group. Her mouth attempted fruitlessly to form the words, but it would be some small moments before anything could be heard. "A... A cave." She finally said. "There's a cave past the old training camp, where the Taliban used to train the local boys as soldiers."

Steve did not hesitate any further. "That camp's not too far from here. I'm driving."

"Actually Steve, you go on ahead. Gilberto and I can take the back roads in case they see you coming." Nervous as Lust was to use a portal in such an open setting, it seems that it finally came to that. When Steve took off with no audible response, she immediately looked around for a private enough area, ultimately setting her sights on a small utility closet near the playroom.

[Yamimoon]

Chastity looked at the girl as she answered, and had a confused look on his face. How would he get to her here, and why be so afraid of him? This question was answered when Steve spoke. This troubled Chastity that there was so much fear in a country, and it had nothing to do with the war between the Celestians. He didn’t want to see this go on. But just as he was about to say something Lust approached the girl. He didn’t quite understand all of what she was saying, but got the hint when she looked at him.

He smiled slightly as he could guess what she was thinking. Then the girl must have said what was needed, because Steve told them where their hiding spot was, and offered to drive. Lust told him that they were going to take some back roads, and this startled Chastity. He didn’t think that she would be willing to revile their secret to these people, since all the time people found out they usually killed the people in the guys of being witches. He knew that that had been long abolished, but he didn’t know what the modern people would think of their kind.

Chastity saw that she was walking over to a room, and fallowed her, but he couldn’t resist asking her a question. “Are you truly going to do this?” Was all he asked as they entered the room, and she closed the door behind them.