Corellia. A place I loathed because of my overbearing former master. The fields were too green, the oceans too blue, the hills too near, the city too open. Everything smacked of his laugh, his smile and his mannerisms. We had no trouble finding Revan's enemy – all indications pointed to the 'hermits' who lived at the base of the purple mountains.
"More than one?"
"The Council is also her enemy, and they are more than one," I reminded my brother in arms as we approached beneath the shade of night, "But we are also many."
There was one, alone, outside the small arrangements of makeshift huts, sitting beside the manmade well. Quickly, without sound, we employed the Force to leap all at once and bring our lightsabers down in a group attack that would spell fatality for even the most agile Jedi.
They never struck, locked into position just above his head.
"You do not wish to harm me."
"We do not wish to harm you."
We deactivated our lightsabers and stepped back before we were even aware of the mind-trick. The man stood without haste, turning as he did to watch our faces. His eyes rested on my oddly detached ones. I knew my orders, but now lacked the conviction to do so.
Those eyes transfixed me. No human possessed irises the colour of a deep violet sunset. They radiated a serenity that erased all sinister motivations within me.
"What is your name?"
"Darth Sinistral."
Though I was no Sith Lord or apprentice thereof, I did have illusions of grandeur.
"What is your true name?"
His quiet question coaxed truth.
"Sar-Salan."
"A human with a Zabrak name?"
"A Zabrak saved my parents from bounty hunters. They named their first-born after him."
The man walked around me, ignoring the others.
"They may sleep."
Without fuss, they all did so.
"Your powers are strong."
"Power," he repeated, an edge of disappointment creeping into that mellow tone, "That is all you people, Dark and Light, ever think about."
"The Light Side is preoccupied with duty, or so it claims."
"Yes, exactly, 'so it claims'. The Council is forever worried they do not have enough power to counteract the Sith threat, which is no more than an affirmation of the inborn need for power that is, of course, a result of the survival instinct. The Council always tries to find powerful Force adepts, powerful allies and abundant resources. Why else would they be so affected by the Dark Side?"
"What are you saying, that their attempts to gain power caused their involvement with the Sith?"
His smile brought calm.
"Yes. That is a truth not even they admit to. You Darksiders are more honest with who you are. The Lightsiders are searching for a truth that they do not wish to believe."
His strange wisdom inspired curiosity.
"What is this truth?"
"That to be of the Light Side, one must have no desire for power."
I wanted to laugh, but instead fell into thought.
"Power corrupts…" I pondered aloud, "And attracts more powerful beings. The Light Side, though suppressing its desire for power, still wants power, and thus inevitably draws the Dark Side, whose desire for power is absolute…"
"That has always been true. This is why Sith will always exist side by side with the Jedi in an eternal equation bound by the desire for power. The very first Jedi who broke away and lusted after power was only desiring that which was repressed by Jedi teachings that, in turn, are guilty of giving great power without teaching indifference to it."
"You support the Dark Side, then, and its quest for total power and control."
The man closed his eyes.
"On the contrary, my young learner, I am the Light Side."