"Ah, welcome back Master. Is there anything I can-"

"Blankets. Hot blankets. And tea." Keyota shuddered powerfully as she climbed the stairs, breaking a few icicles off her war-staff as she did so. Behind her, a shivering torguta was rapidly rubbing her arms, trying desperately to warm up for the first time in a few days.

"My lord… I don't want to speak out of line… but can we agree to never visit this planet… or any with similar temperatures again?" Ashara thought back to the snow-drift she had fallen chest-deep into and shuddered powerfully, closing her eyes tightly and thinking of the warmest thing she could.

Keyota gave a bitter laugh, wrapping a blanket offered by the droid around herself, "That, apprentice, is a promise I can not only make, but keep. I will make sure to conquer a more temperate climate when I rise to power." She glanced at Ashara as she spoke and smiled, "Still unable to tell when I'm joking, Ashara?"

The torguta shuffled and picked up the steaming hot tea glass that had been laid out on the table, "No I… I'm sorry… it's just… well…"

"It's just that I'm not only a sith lord, but a pureblood sith? The definition of dark-side, used as a warning to young Jedi padawan about the evils of the universe?" Keyota sipped her tea, shrugging indifferently, "While I don't deny my fellow Sith have done a very good job of living up to that stereotype, there are those of us who do not wish to murder orphans for entertainment. And select few even possess a passable sense of humor."

"I know, my lord… I apologize… but you have to admit, you aren't exactly a normal sith lord…" Ashara looked up, a smile hovering on her lips, "In fact, I would go so far as to say you're… rather nice."

"Now see here, apprentice…" Keyota leaned forward, pointing a gloved hand at her apprentice, "I'll have none of that character-ruining slander from you, are we clear? We sith have a reputation to uphold."

Ashara laughed softly and held her hands up in a placating gesture, "Of course my most sinister mistress of the dark! Forgive me for speaking out of line!" This drew an approving nod from Keyota and they lapsed into silence again, sipping the steaming tea and banishing the bone-deep cold from their bodies. Ashara's mouth opened hesitantly a few times, before she finally summoned the courage to voice her thoughts, "Why are most sith so evil?"

The question took Keyota aback slightly, although she had become accustomed to her apprentice asking such questions out of the blue. She pondered a moment and then shrugged simply, "Because they're weak willed." This was obviously not the response Ashara expected, for the expressive torguta's face twisted in confusion. Keyota set her tea down, "Ashara… what is the force. As you understand it?"

Ashara shrugged slightly, "It's… the power that unifies the universe… it ties all living things together and can nudge the universe towards peace or war. The Jedi teach that if you use it in limited amounts, you can do good… but too much of it will corrupt."

"I see… wait here." The sith stood up, setting her blanket aside, and walked briskly into the storage bay. She returned a moment later with a small blue device glowing in her hand. She set it in the middle of the table and sat down, "Do you know what this is?"

Ashara's eyebrow inched up her forehead at the question, "A power core?"

"Correct. Tell me: is this core good, or evil?"

"My lord?"

Keyota gestured to the device: "Is this core sitting on the table good or evil?"

The confusion grew on the girl's face, "It's neither… it's just an object."

"And a source of power." Keyota picked the core up and held it at eye level, "This object, as it sits in my hand, has the potential to both good or evil. It could be placed in a blaster and used to kill… or placed in a kolto tank and used to heal." She looked at Ashara, "With that said… is this good or evil?"

"It's neither… and yet both. Whether or not it is… good or evil depends on how it's used."

Keyota nodded again, "Indeed. This object is only as evil as the person using it. Whether it kills or heals is completely determined by who installs it into which device. The cell itself has no say in the matter, and does not inherently possess an affinity for one or the other." She slowly rotated the cell and looked her apprentice in the eyes, "This core is much like the Force. A source of power, one that is used for both good and evil."

Ashara tilted her head slightly, "But… the force has good and evil. The light side and the dark side."

"Does it?" She set the core down and tented her fingers, "Tell me… when you feel the force, do you feel it telling you to do good or evil?"

"Sometimes… when there is someone hurt I feel it telling me to help, or if I witness a senseless murder…" She left the statement unsaid, looking at the table.

"Ahh…" Keyota pointed a finger, "But is that really the Force? Or are you feeling your own desires, magnified by the knowledge that you have this power at your disposal to accomplish that desire?"

Ashara was silent, her mind processing what her mistress had just said. Keyota waited a moment before continuing: "The sith you hear about… the ones that control the Empire… the ones who enslaved me before my training on Korriban… they are evil, there is no denying that. However, there are numerous people in the Empire who are evil and have no force sensitivity at all. Evil, apprentice, exists whether the Force does or not. It may seem like the Dark Council and the numerous Sith Lords are the driving force behind the evil of the Empire… but that is only because they have a source of power…" she picked the core up again, "... to impose that evil at a whim, and on a much larger scale. "

Ashara nibbled her lower lip slightly, "Then… why do Jedi turn? And why don't Jedi do such… atrocities."

"Because the Jedi preach using the Force in a limited, crippled state. Much like if I connected this power source with only two of the four prongs connected… there would still be more power than before, but not as much as there could be." She set the core down, "The reason for this is because it's not the Force that corrupts… it's the power. The ability to make things happen, things you want to happen, at will."

"Look at politicians… or generals… or warlords who have no force abilities… we still see evil appear… we see good turn bad." She waved her hand slightly, "This is all because they were not strong enough to resist the power they had obtained. A Jedi who turns sith does so because, while he could handle the limited power allowed to him by the Jedi teachings, he could not resist the temptation to give into his desires once he exposed himself to more of that same power."

"So… you're saying…" Ashara spoke haltingly, still pondering what she was hearing, "That it's not the Force… but the person?"

Keyota smiled, "Exactly. Embracing the full power of the Force does not make you evil… but it will expose who you truly are inside."

"How will I know if I can handle it? If it's safe for me to utilize such power?" Keyota sensed a bit of fear in the torguta's blue eyes.

"There, young apprentice, is the true danger of the Force…" She stood up, setting the power core in her apprentice's hands, "You don't know if you'll crumble until you try… and by then it's too late. It's up to you to decide if the risk is worth losing yourself."

She walked for the door, leaving her apprentice staring into the soft blue glow of the core as though the answer to her question lied hidden inside.