The fight against the Eternal Empire progresses better than any could have hoped. Lana Beniko's guidance and the Barsen'thor's action have come together to form a force greater than the sum of its parts. But a Sith's ambition never rests.
The doors to the Barsen'thor's chambers open with a hiss. Kneeling in the center of the conservatively furnished room, the Barsen'thor is brought back to this world from her meditation by the sound of light footfalls behind her.
"Ah, Lana. What can I do for you today?" she asks, eyes still closed. She has become very used to the woman's presence, and knows it well by now. Normally she would be happy to be visited by her chief advisor, but today, something feels...odd.
The sharp hiss of a lightsaber's activation confirms her suspicions. "Are we under attack? Has the Eternal Empire found us?" she asks the woman behind her, knowing the answers to be no already.
"We are not, no. But you are".
She hoped this day would never come. She had grown to like and respect Lana, and was quick to put their opposing origins aside for the sake of judging an individual by their actions, and not their background. So far, it was working. They worked well together and were finding great success in everything they did together. Including friendship. Or so the Barsen'thor thought. Perhaps it doesn't matter, and friends or not, this was inevitable.
"Why?". The single word summed up all of her thoughts at the moment.
"Oh, don't take it personally. It's a matter of principal. You're quite the celebrity in the Republic".
The Barsen'thor rises to her feet, and turns to face the woman. She extends her arms to her sides, and begins to take steps towards her. The Sith readies her weapon, prepared for some attack, but the other woman's face seems serene. As she takes further steps towards her, she has to make a choice whether to strike or not. She decides to humor the Jedi and see where this ploy leads.
When the Barsen'thor reaches her, she simply wraps her arms around her stomach. Not in an aggressive bear hug manner, but as an actual embrace. She pauses there for a long second, then rests her head on Lana's chest. Being significant;y shorter than her, this was a natural position.
"What are you doing? I could kill you easily like this. You're not going to defend yourself?" Lana asks, looking down at the Jedi, who has her eyes closed and looks as she would embracing an old friend she hasn't seen for ages.
"Not really, no. But I am hoping you'll hear me out before you kill me".
"Ugh", Lana thought to herself, "this misguided habit Jedi have, of trying to make a point with their deaths instead of defending themselves, is why they'll go extinct".
"Fine" she says, expecting some speech about changing her ways, Jedi are nice, you can be too, all of this. She's heard it all before.
"I love you"
Well, that was unexpected. Surely a Jedi trick, to let her guard down.
"I thought Jedi were forbidden from that" she says, humoring her.
"Well, the people who made that rule probably never met you".
"Why are you saying these ridiculous things. We would have killed each other if we met under different circumstances. Why would you feel this way, knowing that?"
"I do know that. It's not my desire to kill anyone but yes, I realize that we may have been enemies under different circumstances. But that doesn't change this moment. The circumstance we did find ourselves in, the circumstance we find ourselves in now". Her voice is somewhat muffled, as her face is still laying on the taller woman's chest. She draws back slightly, to look at the Sith in the eyes.
"At first I respected you. Your talents were invaluable to our goals, and you came up with solutions for several problems for both me and our group. It was easy to respect you. But over the months of working together, I came to admire you. At first for other professional reasons, like your knowledge and skills and pragmatism. But eventually, other things as well. Your beauty, your wit, the way in which you comport yourself. I eventually found myself distracted by thinking of you, even during battle or planning. The Jedi policy of never getting romantically involved with people has always been easy for me, but again, I had never met you before now."
Lana didn't sense any deception. Apparently this was all happening over the time they spent together, but it's so outlandish that she never expected it.
A silent moment passes, as neither can think of what to say. The Barsen'thor rests her head again. If it is what is to pass, dying doesn't seem so bad now; having admitted how she felt.
'Alright," Lana breaks the silence, "a variable that I hadn't considered"
"oh, that's a first for you" the Barsen'thor says, jokingly.
"Well, I admire you too. We'll see if I end up feeling the same way you do to the degree with which you do, but I suppose I'm willing to give it a chance, Barsen'thor" Lana says, slightly incredulously. This is not the way she expected this to go at all, but this isn't such a bad outcome. She deactivates her lightsaber, and wraps her arms the smaller woman as well.
"Let's go then, together" the Barsen'thor says, clearly happy and relieved that this also didn't go as she expected, but this is certainly the way she dreamed it would. She half expected to hear a chuckle and then to be struck down. So this is quite preferable.
With one arm still around each other, the awkward but sincere couple turns to exit the door, and face whatever the galaxy throws at them, together.