Orielle Kitai

"Lady Orielle.''" "''Just Ori. I've told you a dozen times."

- Jelph Marrian and Orielle Kitai

A female Force-sensitive Human, Orielle Kitai was born around 3,985 BBY into the Lost Tribe of Sith during its isolation on the Wild Space planet Kesh. Known as Ori by her friends&mdash;but never by Keshiri slaves, Kitai eventually became a Sith Saber, and her mother, Candra Kitai, was promoted to High Lord following the election of Grand Lord Lillia Venn in 3,961 BBY. While many believed Candra might become the next Grand Lord, the dreams of the Kitai family were cut short on Donellan's Day in 3,960 BBY, when uvak wrangler Campion Dey, who represented the Kitais in the holiday's rake-riding competition, suddenly attacked Grand Lord Venn. Dey was killed, however, and the Kitais, now suspecting of plotting against the Grand Lord, were made slaves.

Kitai fled to the farm of her friend Jelph Marrian, where she stayed for several days, plotting a way to reinstate her and her mother's former positions within the tribe. When she discovered that Marrian was actually a Jedi from the Galactic Republic and was hiding a starship on his farm, she attempted to use that information to gain political leverage over Venn. The Grand Lord, however, discovered the starship when Kitai's mother betrayed her. Venn attempted to use the ship to escape Kesh, but was killed when the ship's proton torpedos detonated. Kitai and Marrian lived the remainders of their lives in secrecy in the Takara Mountains.

Biography
"Whoever did this to us will pay&mdash;and I'll have my name back."

- Orielle Kitai, following the assassination attempt on Grand Lord Venn

The Force-sensitive daughter of Candra Kitai, the Human Orielle Kitai&mdash;known as "Ori" to her friends, but never to Keshiri slaves&mdash;was born around 3,985 BBY on the Wild Space planet Kesh. Born into the Lost Tribe of Sith, Kitai joined their ranks as a Tyro, during which time she experienced a Force vision of a star falling from the sky, setting her and everything in sight aflame. When a dying Kitai asked the star why it had destroyed her home, the star replied, "Because you thought me a friend."

Kitai passed the trails of apprenticeship and became a Sith Saber by 3,960 BBY, and she acquired her own uvak&mdash;flying beasts of burden native to the world&mdash;which she named Shyn. She and her mother, who had become a High Lord a year earlier after the election of Grand Lord Lillia Venn, lived at Starfall&mdash;a county estate south of Kesh's capital city, Tahv&mdash;with several slaves. As the second most powerful individual in the tribe, neutral in the political feud between the Red and Gold factions of the Tribe, Kitai's mother would likely become Grand Lord upon the death of Venn, and Kitai, as her daughter, was slated to lead the Sith Sabers in the future.

Kitai frquently visited Jelph of Marisota, whom she had discovered after following a Keshiri florist to Jelph's farm. Jelph, a Human slave, made his home along the Marisota River near the Takara Mountains south of Tahv, and made his living selling flowers. During the Tribe's holidays, Kitai would buy flowers from Jelph, whom she had grown to admire. The day before Donellan's Day in 3,960 BBY, Jelph gave to her an uvak harness fitted with stretched waterskins, which would make the transport of her frequent purchases easier. Kitai purchased several dalsa flowers from him that day, which she used the next day to decorate her mother's private viewing box in the Korsinata stadium, where gladiatorial competitions called rake-riding.

As Kitai and her mother took their seats in the Korsinata, the uvak wranglers&mdash;including Campion Dey, who represented the Kitai family&mdash;entered the stadium. While Kitai believed Dey would perform well, her mother told her he was as good as dead. Before the competition could begin, however, Dey's uvak&mdash;which, as all uvaks bred for rake-riding had their wings clipped, should have been flightless&mdash;flew into the air as Dey, standing in the saddle, activated his lightsaber. Ready to defend herself and her mother if necessary, Kitai activated her own lightsaber and leaped atop the railing of her mother's viewing box. However, Dey's uvak flew instead toward Grand Lord Venn, in her own luxury compartment above the stadium. Before the uvak could reach her, Venn unleashed a storm of Force lightning, sending the uvak and its rider into the lower seating of the stadium as the Sith Sabers Sawj and Flen Luzo&mdash;rivals to Kitai's potential leadership of the Sabers&mdash;leaped toward Dey, lightsabers in hand. Knowing that the Kitais, as the sponsors of Campion Dey, would be blamed for the attack, Candra sent her daughter back to Starfall to tell their slaves that she would not be coming home that night.

As Kitai returned to Starfall two hours later, she was reminded of her childhood Force-vision when she saw her mother's Keshiri slaves carrying her possessions, and those of her mother, out of the house and burning them on a bonfire. Candra's caretaker, an elderly Keshiri, revealed that the burning of her possessions had been ordered by Grand Lord Venn just a two hours earlier. Suspecting a trap set by Venn and the Luzos to reveal guilt, Kitai decided to return to Tahv, where she believed her mother would already have revealed the true mastermind behind the assassination attempt. However, as she was mounting Shyn, her mother's caretaker called her "Ori," a name reserved only for Kitai's friends, and never for Keshiri slaves. At that moment, Kitai realized the truth: she and her mother had been condemned to slavery.

After journeying back to Tahv, where she learned that her mother was still alive in the clutches of Grand Lord Venn, Kitai fled to Jelph's farm. She stayed for several days in the care of the Human slave, keeping her uvak&mdash;which were forbidden to slaves&mdash;hidden in Jelph's composting barn, which had once served as a stable. As she learned the ways of a slave, simultaneously plotting her return to power, her relationship with Jelph grew. However, it came to a halt when Jelph announced that he had to leave for a day to attend to his customers, as the autumn growing season was approaching. Though she pleaded, realizing that she could not live without him, Kitai was unable to convince Jelph to stay. Instead, Kitai remained at the farm alone, tending to the traps that Jelph kept near the forested mountains in the hopes of catching edible rodents. After returning from clearing the traps the day Jelph left, she found her uvak Shyn dead on the floor of the barn, its life ended by the blade of a lightsaber. The Luzo brothers emerged, and, before Kitai could charge them with her own lightsaber, produced two scrolls, tossing them at her feet. Kitai read the scrolls, which stated that her mother had plotted with the High Lords of the Red and Gold factions to assassinate Grand Lord Venn. Both scrolls were signed by her mother, which also stated that Candra, now the slave of Venn, pledged her eternal loyalty to the Grand Lord. The Luzo brothers confiscated Kitai's lightsaber, and returned to Tahv.

Personality and traits
"This isn't like you. The person who stayed with me those days didn't care about that anymore. That person&mdash;''" "That wasn't me. That was defeat!" "''But I liked the other you&mdash;and I don't care what you call it. That was a part of you."

- Marrian and Kitai

Powers and abilities
"You know, Ori, you're the first Sith I've ever fought''" "''You may need to try harder against this one. We're not all so easily charmed."

- Marrian and Kitai

Behind the scenes
Created by John Jackson Miller, Orielle Kitai makes her first appearance in Lost Tribe of the Sith: Purgatory, the fifth installment of the Lost Tribe of the Sith series of eBooks. She later makes an appearance in the series's subsequent installment, Lost Tribe of the Sith: Sentinel.

Appearances

 * Lost Tribe of the Sith: Purgatory
 * Lost Tribe of the Sith: Sentinel