Chapter 46: Little Pest Skywalker

Its sad, in a way, that the first thing Siri recognizes when she wakes up is that Obi-Wan is gone. Not just from the apartment next to hers, not just from the temple, but from Coruscant. That the simple fact is her first conscious thought urks her, for one, because it shouldn't be her entire world whether he is near or not, and for two, she knows that she drove him away. That gutted look he had yesterday... him running away was hardly a surprise. She doubted it was permanent, he was to much of a Jedi, and to much 'Obi-Wan Kenobi', to stay away from what he saw as his duty forever. Probably took a mission to get away...

To get away from her.

Siri gets out of bed, her mood immediately souring, the Force dimming around her, morso than usual. Her stomach growled at her, she hadn't eaten anything after the spars yesterday. She could ask the guards outside to go get her something, they preferred doing that to keep her here rather than about near other Jedi. But she had, kind of, gotten permission to go to the dinning halls by Yoda when he saw her and Obi-Wan going there. Kenobi isn't here anymore, but like hell is that going to stop her. She is in a foul mood, and she's going to plant herself in a spot where the Jedi can see it.

Childish? Yes.

Petulant like a moody teenager? Absolutely.

Does she care? No.

She never does, that's why acting this way is so much fun.

She stalks out of the apartment and pauses only briefly as the Temple Guard regard her warily. "I am going to the dinning halls to eat."

There is no room for discussion. The Temple Guards fall in behind her, one briefly muttering into a comlink. She doesn't care. When she enters the dinning hall, its at the end of breakfast. There are plenty of Jedi about, some leaving, more definitely moving to leave when they see her enter. No one was in line for food though, and shoveling food into her face rather than acknowledge that she drove Obi-Wan offworld even for a short time sounds like a fine idea. She'll work off the extra food with some exercises in her apartment later.

She catches Ki-Adi-Mundi enter the room out of the corner of her eye and casually sit at a table. Evidently they wanted someone to watch her out of her apartment if Kenobi wasn't with her. She ignores him and moves to an empty table as the dinning hall 'suddenly and mysteriously' seems to be emptying at an accelerated pace. She permeates her mood through the Force around her, and that serves to drive most of the rest away. She eats very slowly, abusing her taste buds with the Force to create more flavor out of the disgustingly healthy mush they call food. Its not very effective...

...and then a tray is placed across from her, and a bundle of blindingly bright Force Presence sits down in front of her. "Hi."

Siri blinks back the whiplash of Skywalker being right there in front of her, not blotted behind other Jedi; he's so much damn brighter now that he was being trained, she has to tilt her vision away from him a bit to only be looking out the corner of her eye at him. "You really need to get Jinn to teach you better shields, Supernova."

Skywalker gives her a baffled look. "Supernova...?"

"It's what you are in the Force. To me, looking at you is like looking into a sun for an extended period of time, you give me a headache," she lamented, "So until you get better shields, I dub thee Supernova."

Skywalker huffed. "I'm just starting! S'not my fault I haven't been taught better shields."

"Don't care Supernova," she says cheerfully, enjoying the flicker of irritation from him.

Skywalker scowled at her before jabbing his tray with a fork and taking a bite, "Shho, how yahh dshoing?"

"Chew, swallow, then ask again," she chides, "I'm the darksider here and even I have table manners."

Skywalker rolled his eyes, but did so. "So, how yah doing?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because its polite to?"

"One, I'm not polite unless I want something or on a mission its required for, two, you're a sand rat from Tatooine, you're not polite either," she jabs, "There's no need for it between us."

Skywalker narrows his eyes at her, stuffing another mouthful at her as he silently glares.

She sneers at the kid, his glare is hardly intimidating.

"Actually," he says matter-of-fact, "A slave has to learn how to be polite, giving the masters a reason to punish us or blow us up is a bad idea."

Siri opened her mouth on habit to give a counter before pausing and realizing she didn't have one. She closes her mouth with a hmph, allowing him the small win. He grins victoriously at her and she has the desire to reach over and whack him.

"You didn't answer the question," he says.

"You have the Force, what kind of mood do you feel like I'm in?" she said flatly, moving to take another bite after.

"Somewhere between Watto and Gardulla on a bad day," he said in consideration.

Siri coughed briefly, giving her chest a good wack to dislodge stuck food before full on eyeing Anakin, trying to ignore how blindingly bright he was. "You were owned by Gardulla the Hutt?"

His face wrinkled in distaste. "Years ago, but yeah. Watto was still a sleemo, but he was way better than Gardulla."

"There are few beings in the Galaxy worse than a hutt," said Siri in agreement.

"Your master?" he poses, spitting out the word as venomously as he had earlier.

"That's one," she commented mildly before noting the look of victory on his face and rippling off him in the Force, though she's not sure why he counts what she said as one, still, she doesn't allow her opponents unearned victories, so she goes cutting, "So, how many whip scars do you have on your back?"

"How many do you have on yours?" he challenged right back.

That got a toothy grin out of Siri. Skywalker liked to fight, that was a point in his favor. "Not many anymore since the healers dealt with them without my permission."

That gets a skeptical look out of him, his mood changing to pure confusion that crashes around her shields."Why wouldn't you want them gone?"

Siri decides that not getting mental sunburn from Skywalker is more important than irritating the Jedi Order as a whole and raises her shields back up fully to try and block out more of him. "Because my scars were from lessons learned and challenges overcome, proof of my efforts and struggles, validation of how I fought to be where I am. That they're gone pisses me off if I let myself linger on it."

Skywalker frowned. "Weird."

"If you say so," she said, taking a mouthful of mush in and swallowing before continuing, "You could look at your scars the same way. Each lash a trial overcome, another incident survived, between your past as a slave and your current freedom."

Anakin turns thoughtful at that. "Huh... I hadn't thought of it like that."

She points a fork at him. "Different points of view, Supernova, its something the Jedi will teach you about, but tell you to ignore in full in regards to darksiders."

Her lips peel back in distaste. "Hypocrisy."

She starts eating again, one eye watching Skywalker as she does. She's also got her senses vaguely aimed in Mundi's direction. She gets the feeling of tension and disapproval from him, directed at Skywalker. She also senses Jinn's presence entering the room and coming this way, probably called by the councilor. She's going to be irritated if this comes to bite her when Skywalker was the one who approached her. Not the other way around...

"Why did you try to kill me?" Anakin suddenly asked, "I didn't even know you."

She catches Jinn pausing a few feet from the table, apparently interested in the answer; Anakin is too focused on her to notice. Siri considers the young would-be-Jedi for a long moment. Its been several months since that spot in time, but, the thing that comes to her mind, above him as a potential future threat...

"Sidious would have cast me aside and forced you to be his apprentice in an instant if he could," answered Siri with blunt honesty, "And I wouldn't wish being his apprentice on anyone, even the assholes in the Council."

Skywalker's face blanks, his eyes wide as he searches her own. Then, his face goes passive, a sad smile on his face, a soft quiet sense of familiarity, almost kinship if she has to define it, seems to emanate from him through the Force. Why though? Its baffling. "I understand."

She purses her lips and then frowns at him. He got something out of that she didn't understand or intend. "Do you?"

"I wouldn't wish being Gardulla's slave on anyone either," he answered.

Siri rolled his eyes. Oh, she got it now. He was making parallels, trying to equate her experiences to his own. Of all the stupid things he could do, trying to identify with a Sith was pretty high up there. Like, in a catastrophically bad kind of way, from a Jedi's point of view she supposed.

"What do I have to do to avoid your master?" asked Skywalker honestly, "To make him not want me?"

Siri very carefully doesn't let her eyes flicker to Qui-Gon. How long is he going to stand there? Is he waiting to see if she sticks her foot in her mouth or something? "It doesn't particularly matter what you do. He can reshape you how he wishes if he gets his hands on you regardless of how you act or think now. Its not a matter of personality or actions if he's just going to grind you down and rebuild you."

Skywalker chews a little on his bottom lip. "And that's what he'll do to me? He didn't to you."

"And how can you be sure of that, little Supernova?" she asked, leaning forward to stare menacingly at him.

He merely tilts his chin up. "I've seen broken slaves before, and you're not broken."

Siri pulls back, humming to herself, considering Skywalker again. What a curious little thing he is. "I suppose it all depends. I hardly know anything about you, Supernova. I don't know what you personally should do or avoid, I used to be a 'mostly model' padawan before I fell. It can happen to anyone given the right set of circumstance. It can be forced as well if Sidious really wants to without even reducing you to nothing."

"The Dark Side is always a choice."

Ah, there was Jinn.

She watched Skywalker jump a little, looking a little nervous. "Umm, hi Master."

Qui-Gon gives his padawan a nod before staring firmly at Siri.

Siri's lips peel back into a sneer. "Obviously you and Obi-Wan never discussed the views I shared on different ways to become Dark."

"Obi-Wan has been working on a report of sorts last I saw based on some of the things you and he have discussed," answered Jinn, non-committal.

Siri shakes her head. "Regardless, you are dead wrong if you think a choice is always present. You've obviously never heard the true tale of Ulic Qel-Droma."

Qui-Gon's head tilts a little to the side, studying her. "Ulic Qel-Droma is a lesson on how arrogance and a lust for revenge led to the Dark Side."

Siri threw her head back and laughed. "Is that what they tell in the creche these days? Nothing about the Sith poison that was used to destabilize him?"

She leans forward, not towards Skywalker this time, but in Jinn's direction. "Anger, master Jedi. A poison designed to biologically force continuous anger and rage. To weaken judgement and rationality. Just a Drop, Master Jedi, was enough back in the good old days to make a Jedi fall."

There is open disbelief. "You are lying."

"You have the Force, Jedi, you can sense if I'm lying," she mocks, "Altering the victims mind with poison to destroy their inhibitions and their ability to resist the Dark Side, such a thing did exist once upon a time, and Qel-Droma fell as a result of it being administered to him."

Qui-Gon's face turns grim the moment he actually bothers sensing for the truth.

"Of course, you had to be one hell of a Sith Alchemist so be able to create that thing, or so I've been told," mused Siri, "Unfortunately, aside from a brief overview, I never had a chance to really learn about alchemy."

She sighs in disappointment. "Only so much that could be crammed into eight years of apprenticeship."

And the fact that Zannah liked being an absolute tease, holding all those treats over Siri's head.

Qui-Gon swallows thickly for a moment before he schools his expression and Force presence. "Padawan, you have lessons to go prepare for."

"Kay," answers Skywalker, hesitating for a moment, glancing at Siri, "Would he use that on me?"

"Hell if I know," answered Siri, "I don't know if he's any good with Alchemy," she gave him a sly look, "And last I knew half the things needed to create some of the most nasty alchemy creations don't even exist anymore."

Skywalker huffed. "You just really like scaring and messing with people, don't you?"

"I don't deny it," she answered cheerfully.

Skywalker shakes his head and walks away.

Qui-Gon waits for him to be out of the room before he asks sharply, "Why were you talking to my Padawan?"

She raised an eyebrow. "He approached me. Ask your councilor over there if you think I'm lying. He came with questions, I answered."

Qui-Gon purses her lips; she feels another pass from him for the truth before he shakes his head. "He should have asked me to ask you."

Siri scoffed; she knows what his fear is, and its stupid. "I've already made it clear I'm not interested in an apprentice. You have nothing to fear on that end."

"Just because you don't want an apprentice at the moment doesn't mean you wouldn't want one later," rebuts Jinn, "Nor would it stop you from trying to lure a potential threat into a Fall to eliminate them."

"Well, aren't you paranoid," mocked Siri, before sneering at him. "And lets not mince words, Jedi, if he fell, it wouldn't be me killing him, it would be Jedi intolerance delivered via lightsaber. Or them encouraging him to into suicide, does Xanatos ring any bells?"

Jinn stiffens and glares full force at her. "I've tried to give you the benefit of the doubt for Obi-Wan's sake, tried to have compassion, but sometimes, you truly make it difficult to do so."

"You didn't deny it."

"Xanatos chose his fate rather than face justice," answered Qui-Gon cautiously, with a slight air of confusion; from what she could sense, he could see that she was speaking with the intent to harm, but didn't seem to understand why this subject specifically.

A wide smile split her face. "Oh. Obi-Wan didn't tell you, did he?"

The Jedi Master was instantly on guard. "Tell me what?"

"That we discussed Xanatos," she said, predatory delight in her eyes.

"And why should that bother me?" he asked stiffly.

Oh this was going to be fun. "Obi-Wan and I were discussing former Jedi and how the Order may or may not have set them up to Fall. So tell me Qui-Gon, do you know and understand what a conflict of interest is?"

Surely, in the years he was brooding about Xanatos before Obi-Wan became his padawan he had to have had this thought...

That gets an eyebrow raised. "Of course I do."

Does he then? And he still doesn't get the connection? Or has he forgotten? Either way, time to remind him then.

Siri picks up her tray, gets up, drops it off, and then moves to leave, pausing next to Qui-Gon to say, "Then what was sending Xanatos out against his own father if not a conflict of interest that set him up to Fall?"

She leaves the room with a spring to her step, the Jedi Master unmoving as she left.

"Was it so bad, to speak to her?" asked Sidious, watching Skywalker nibble on a pastry snack.

"Naw," answered the boy, "I mean, I've been watching how she speaks to people when she's sparring, so I already get that shes looking for a fight whenever she opens her mouth."

Sidious chuckled. Oh how right the boy was. "Well, from my own brief observations, I don't think you are wrong."

He shifted in his seat. "So tell me Young Skywalker, do you believe what I asked of you is reasonable and possible?"

Anakin fidgeted a bit. "I mean... why me?"

Because he wanted the boy more exposed to the temptations of the Dark Side, and as another eye on Tachi. The boy was already an unwitting spy within the temple, directing that focus a little more could be useful. Though there was potential backfire if Skywalker ever let slip what Sidious had asked of him.

"Children are often underestimated," answered Sidious, "People often don't watch what they say around them, overlooking them entirely. With their guard down, they may say things they wouldn't in others company."

Discomfort spreads through Skywalker's Force Signature. "I don't... really like the idea of spying on a friend."

That gets an eyebrow raised. "A friend?"

"Well... I mean not yet," admitted Anakin, "But I kinda like her. She's fun, in a fighty kind of way, and not afraid to speak her mind, even if shes kind of nasty about it. I know she's dangerous... but..."

Hmm... a rapport between the pair could be a potential troublesome avenue if ever allowed to bloom. But he has doubts the Jedi will ever allow that.

"I get where she comes from, being a Sith Apprentice sounds an awful lot like being a slave to me," he continued, making Sidious resist scoffing, "Its why she tried to kill me."

Well now, that is a curious statement. "Could you explain?"

"She said its because she wouldn't wish being Sidious's apprentice on anyone."

Sidious goes silent for a long moment, disquieted. Being chosen as his apprentice was a gift unlike any other, not a fate to avoid. All the Force Sensitives in the galaxy should beg to study under his foot. "I see."

Anakin went for another pastry, chewing on it for a moment. "I did learn something scary from her, I guess."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, something about a Sith poison that could make people Fall, said it was used on some Droma guy. Said it was called Alchemy."

Sidious frowned intently. How did Tachi know of that? He had never, not once, referenced Sith Alchemy to her. That was an incredibly advanced subject for an experienced Sith Master to dwell on and experiment with. Not to be wasted an overeager apprentice that would get themselves killed with it. Where could she have attained such knowledge? He was careful in what material he gave her to learn from, it was unlikely she could have randomly stumbled upon it, and the only Holocron...

Zannah.

A smoldering fury ignites in Sidious chest. "That is very troubling, did she mention anything more about this 'Alchemy'?"

"Nah," said Anakin, "Said she only got an overview about it, she sounded disappointed about that."

The fury relaxes. So Zannah wasn't completely stupid then. He had warned the Holocron off subjects his apprentice would not be ready for, and that he had deemed her not having earned the right to learn of yet. It would seem however the Holocron had interpreted his rules loosely. If Tachi knew about Sith Alchemy, she likely knew about other things he hadn't deemed her ready for or worthy of yet. When he eventually got his hands on the Holocron again, he was going to pry from it everything it had disclosed to Tachi before destroying it...

IF he could ever find where Tachi had hidden the blasted Scimitar, as the Holocron certainly hadn't been left anywhere else if it wasn't in her old room in the warehouse building. The tracking beacon on the ship he hadn't expected her to leave unmarred, but there was a certain presence about the Scimitar, a stain of the Dark Side long embedded in it, that should scream out to him in the Force. Yet, in several visits to Naboo, he had not once sensed it. Had she made a stop and switched ships on the way to Naboo? Or was she hiding its presence somehow? There were ways to do so, but nothing Tachi should know about...

Should being the keyword.

Just what had Zannah potentially let slip or instructed her on? The Holocron had been meant as a tool to pull Tachi back from her disastrous first Sacrifice, nothing more. He disliked when his tools got ideas above their station and purpose. While it could be amusing, sometimes fruitful, it could also be a great nuisance...

"Qui-Gon wasn't happy about me talking to her though," said Anakin sourly, interrupting his thoughts

"Well, she is dangerous I suppose," agreed Sidious with fake understanding, knowing that wasn't what the boy meant, "But I question if she would truly try something in the heart of the temple."

"No, I... I think he's afraid I'd become like her," said Anakin with frustration.

"Just by talking with her?" asked Sidious with fake incredulousness.

Anakin threw up his hands. "I know, right? I was asking her how to make Sidious not want me as an apprentice, not how to become one!"

Hmmm... that bears deeper thought and meditation on how to address. That subject needs to be approached with a fine delicacy. Encouraging the boy to adopt some of Tachi's traits could prove beneficial after all.

"It's not my place to question Master Jinn," begins Sidious, deciding to test the waters, "But that seems almost... paranoid."

Skywalker doesn't react with immediate negativity, he just shakes his head. "Nah, he's just worried for me, mom used to do the same thing about some of the other kids back home."

Good, good, not immediate sharp, aggressive defense of Jinn. It was important to gauge the manner and severity of defense as it was to see if it would happen at all. Qui-Gon Jinn would unfortunately fill the father-figure role for Skywalker for the time being, it would take time to whittle away at that. Kenobi filled the position of a brother, and Sidious would allow that for now, if only because of the potential Kenobi might offer as Leia's father. Dooku and Yoda thus far seemed to have failed to fill a grandfatherly vacancy, which Sidious would easily slide into in their place. Skywalker had heavily voiced his frustration with both elders of his lineage line. Which was good for Sidious, so very good.

He doesn't particularly wish to have Skywalker over Tachi, but if he must, the boy's issues with the elder Jedi is yet another reason it would be easier to convert him.

"Do you believe he will not allow you to talk to her?" inquired Sidious.

Anakin frowns. "He didn't exactly tell me I couldn't, just said he didn't like it."

Sidious gave him a conspiratory smile. "Have you ever heard the phrase 'better to ask forgiveness than seek permission?'"

Anakin giggled. "No, but I get what you mean."

Sidious nodded in agreement. "I don't particularly wish to risk you getting into trouble with you master..."

"But its important," agreed Anakin, "Especially since I don't think the Jedi are doing it right."

Sidious blinked. "Doing what right?"

"Trying to get Siri to stop being a Sith," answers Anakin.

Danger...

The Dark Side whispered ominously in his ear, the potential for conflict in what Skywalker was saying. "How would you say they are failing then?"

"They're never going to force her to turn away from the Dark Side, let alone the Sith," said Anakin flatly, "They're trying to take her choices away and pressure her into their way. They can sit Obi-Wan in her room and have him argue with her for years, but that's never going to work. They can threaten to imprison her, or watch her, track her once the ten years is up, do whatever, but she won't care. She's not scared of death, she tried to kill herself rather than risk letting Sidious get her back..."

Sidious startled, completely caught offguard. "She did what?"

Anakin shrugged. "It happened when she was in the cell. Dooku said she was terrified of how Sidious would hurt her for how she failed on Naboo before he killed her. Being all super sithy and then not anymore."

Super... super sithy?! Sometimes he really wishes to reach over the desk and strangle this idiotic slave child. Regardless, Tachi was not entirely wrong. She would have suffered like never before, he wouldn't have killed her, wouldn't have wasted all that time and effort, but she would have wished he had when he had been done with her. None the less, pain and suffering fed the powers of a Sith. The torture would have only made her stronger in the long run. Surely she understood this... or perhaps... was it because she couldn't touch the Dark while in the cell? Being suppressed stripped away the power and surety of the Dark Side, it allowed her pathetic fears to manifest instead of being properly subjugated. Perhaps he needs to make dealing with the effects of Force Suppression a mandatory part of all future training of the Rule of Two.

"Obi-Wan disagreed a little," said Skywalker, fiddling with another pastry in his hand uneasily, "It goes with what Siri said to me earlier. She mentioned he might 'grind me down and build me back up', and I'm not one of these stupid core kids, I KNOW what she's talking about. I've seen that happen with other slaves, mostly Hutt Slaves. They destroy everything about the person and make them the way the slavers want them to be. Its..."

The boy's voice cracks a bit. "It's awful, and I'm pretty sure that's what Siri is really afraid of if Sidious gets her again."

Sidious was... stupefied for a few moments. Half the reason he wanted to keep Tachi was because she was who she was without being destroyed and remade. She had fallen almost entirely on her own with the death of her Master and a push from Maul. He'd barely delved into torture at all to pressure her into accept becoming a Sith Apprentice. Then she had embraced the role over the years. You can break a Jedi down and build them up as a Sith, but they will never embody it as much as someone willingly embracing it. Tachi needs a bit of correcting, yes, and severe punishment, but she is foolish if she believes that ruining everything he strove for with her apprenticeship by destroying it all is what he wants. Not unless she were to truly turn away from the Sith and the Dark Side, then all bets were off.

Was she truly so obsessed and consumed by her hatred and fear of him that she missed this? She was not a tool as he had been preparing Maul to be, she was meant to be a true apprentice. Where had this disconnect come from? What was she getting wrong? And if not from her, then surely not from him, and even IF it was, it was likely a fault in Plaguis's teachings than of him. He was the perfect Sith, and it would take the perfect apprentice trained by said Sith to even have the chance of becoming his legacy.

Skywalker took a moment to compose himself. "Anyway, unless she actually wants to stop being dark, stop being a Sith, she won't."

Well, they were in agreement with that.

"How would you go about it then?" asked Sidious cautiously.

"Show her shes not alone," answered Anakin quietly, "I've seen slaves like her before, who lash out at everyone around them, distrusting everyone and everything. Its why she acts well... like she does, to drive people away. Unless the Jedi can accept who she is as a person now, she's never going to want to become anyone else. Obi-Wan is the only one out of all the Jedi who really wants to help her for her own sake, instead of just 'because' if they even want to, but he doesn't know how to do it right. Mom... well, give Siri to my mom for a year and she'd be mostly better by the end."

Sidious wanted to snort and laugh; for one, Tachi was a Sith not a slave, it was not comparable, and two what could a single paltry slave woman do? "You have quite a high opinion of your mother's abilities."

Anakin smiled warmly, and Sidious wanted to wretch at the sickeningly pure light and warmth that suddenly emanated from Skywalker. "I do. She's helped other slaves before, and I mean... me and mom had it better than most being owned by Watto, but it still would have been easy to become as mean and nasty as Siri is. Mom... she always kept me happy, gave me hope, always listened, always cared. She was scared to let me race, but when it was actually my choice, that I wanted to help, she still let me; and when... when Master Jinn offered to take me away from Tatooine and slavery, she let me go because she wanted me to be free, wanted more for me."

Skywalker sniffled a bit, it was absolutely pathetic. "So yeah, assuming no one got in the way or Sidious didn't find her there, I think mom could help Siri, but... its not going to happen. I'd be laughed at for even suggesting it. The Jedi would never let Siri out of the temple for her parole, and if they did, it'd be under guard by a lot of distrusting Jedi which would ruin the whole thing."

The whole notion is absolutely absurd...

Danger...

Yet it still sets Sidious with unease. The Dark Side is sharp, hissing for him to pay attention and treat this seriously. Why? He makes a show of closing his eyes and rubbing his chin in thought. "Hmm..."

He reaches out quietly in the Force, probing for the future. Its ridiculous, but he will not make any mistakes here. He demands the Force show him an outcome where Tachi would be allowed this. He feels that the potential for it is basically none-existent, a single pathway with only an extreme amount of efforts and circumstances that would allow it to happen, nothing someone without the kind of foresight Sidious has would see. With the veil of the Dark Side blocking such scrying, or at least muddling it, no one would find this pathway. But he doesn't have that issue, so in an effort to understand the actual danger, he looks for an impossibility and bends the Force to his will...

His apprentice paces in a sand ridden rat-hole, an aged slave woman that he assumes is Shmi Skywalker stands in the entryway, watching. Tachi is twitchy, angry, pent up like a cornered animal. There is an uncomfortable swirl of emotions around her, chaotic and churning in a way Sidious hadn't felt since Tachi's time with Siolo Ur Manka.

"What is it that you truly want, Siri?" asked Shmi Skywalker.

"I don't kriffing know!" spat Tachi, whirling to glare at her.

Shmi only smiled, not seeming phased at the anger. In fact, if Sidious didn't know any better, she seemed a little fond. The woman is comfortable around Tachi despite her fury, which suggests what he sees is something happening much later than their original meeting. He's missing far to much context to know how they got to this point, or how long his apprentice had been there. Why in the world had she not simply slipped away if she had been sent here?

Shmi walks over and places a gentle hand on Tachi's shoulder, and shockingly, Tachi trembles under it, almost like the care on the woman's face and touch burns her. "But you do Siri, you do. Forget the Jedi, forget the Sith, forget the Light, forget the Dark, forget Sidious, forget Obi-Wan, forget the Force, what is it that you, Siri Tachi, as a young woman, as a person, want?"

Tachi swallows thickly, staring so wide at Shmi, and there is something in her eyes that shifts. Any lingering hostility towards Shmi Skywalker seems to die. Her entire Force Presence is flickering, shifting and churning so sickeningly between Light and Dark that it gives Sidious a headache to sense. "Why do you care?"

"Because I see a young woman who has been hurt by both Jedi and Sith, who was taken away from the love of her own family, trained and raised to be a tool and a weapon from childhood on, whether it be to the Light or the Dark, even if the Jedi didn't intend it to be that way, and I grieve for her," answered Shmi softly, "I grieve for the sins that etch your soul, the life you've lived, and wish I could have done something to help you."

"I don't need your pity."

"It's not pity, and you know it," scolds Shmi gently, "Its care."

"I'm not your brat."

"Family is more than blood," countered Shmi, and Sidious can feel the wretch worthy love and care that emanates from her...

It takes Sidious a split second to realize the woman is Force-Sensitive, not trained, but still managing to press her feelings instinctually against Tachi's shields, and that shakes Tachi, to feel that, "What is it that you want, Siri?"

"I... I want..."

Sidious loses the vision to the sickening light that starts to tip the balance over the dark from the vision of his apprentice. He makes the immediate decision that Skywalker can never, ever, be allowed to go back or see his mother again. Nor can Tachi ever be allowed to meet her in anything more than passing. In fact, this woman needs to be exterminated. Not immediately no, she's not currently a threat where she is, but she has the potential to be. Loose ends are a dangerous thing that need to be dealt with. If he is forced to take Skywalker over Tachi as his final apprentice, this woman could threaten that, could influence Skywalker, and he would tolerate no one but himself having control over his apprentice.

Keeping Skywalker away from Tatooine is easy, all he needs to do is invite Jinn over for a chat about Skywalker and casually embellish Skywalker's attachment to his Mother. Perhaps even allude to Xanatos and his own father, oh yes, that would sow the seeds of discord that would not only keep Skywalker from his home, but breed distrust between Jinn and Skywalker.

Keeping Tachi from her is even easier; he needs to nothing specific, just allow things to progress as they are...

Danger...

Except the Force is still nudging him. Its not about Shmi Skywalker though...

He opens his eyes, staring at the young child curiously watching him.

Its Anakin Skywalker, not his mother, that is the current danger. The boy who still embodies himself and his mother's lessons rather than the Jedi's, or Sidious's through manipulation and influence. Which is apparently more of a threat than his apprentice's desires for Kenobi. No, not more, just the more immediate and pressing.

"Well young Skywalker, just be aware that Siri Tachi IS a dangerous and unstable individual," he cautioned, "Set her off enough, and she might lash out even inside the temple."

Skywalker shrugs. "So would anyone."

"Perhaps yes, but few of those could shock you to death with lightning," answers Sidious.

"Would probably hurt more than a shock-prod," Anakin agreed.

Hmm, perhaps he should get one of those to use on Skywalker if he became his apprentice. "The more of your childhood I learn of, the less I like."

The more he thinks it wasn't enough. A slave child had no business being so disgustingly light. He supposes he can rightly blame the boy's wench of a mother.

Anakin shrugs once more, looking down for a moment. "Not much anyone can do about it now."

Sidious nods in fake-sadness.

He doesn't miss Skywalker's hand slipping up to grab the last pastry to slip into his pocket though, he doesn't comment on it. He merely settles in to consider how best to carefully have Skywalker and Tachi interact, without risking either of them...

"Here."

Siri blinked, looking up from her dinner plate, once again taken in the cafeteria to aggravate the Jedi, to see Skywalker offering her a slightly crumbling and smushed pastry. "Supernova, did you pull that out of your pocket?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you offering me a crushed pastry?"

"Why not? If I could sneak food from my masters for my friends and not get caught I always did back home."

Siri rolls her eyes and nabs it, considering Jedi don't believe in physical comforts, especially unhealthy comfort food, she's probably not going to have a lot of this over the duration of her parole. She takes a quick bite; its not half bad. "So little food pilfering Supernova, where'd you nab this from?"

"Chancellor's office."

Siri coughs, a sputtering laugh escaping her lips. "Supernova, you are unbelievable."

"What? He said I could have some," said Anakin sheepishly.

Siri shakes her head slowly, darkly amused by the audacity. If called out on it, he could use that excuse he offered along with his 'childhood nativity' to get away with it. The boy definitely had put that in practice before, there were the beginnings of cunning there that if molded right... no, that's not going to happen. For one, she wants this child nowhere near the dark side, she's already got one stupidly powerful Sith to overcome, creating a new one is not her goal at the moment. For two... nah, she can create a dozen reasons not to do it, not worth wasting the mental capacity to think on.

She watches the boy as he sits down with his own tray. "You going to make a habit of pestering me?"

"Yep."

"I'd question if your Master or Obi-Wan set you up to this, but Jinn already made his thoughts clear on that matter."

Skywalker squirmed a little. "Well, Qui-Gon didn't say I couldn't speak to you."

Siri's lips peeled back in amusement. "You know full well that he doesn't want you to, interpreting it as unless he explicitly says no is bound to get you in trouble, Supernova. Not to mention me."

He crossed his arms and tilted his head up; stubborn brat. "Unless he tells me not to, I'm going to keep coming back."

Siri frowns at him, gripping her fork to take another bite. "Why?"

"No one deserves to be alone."

The fork freezes an inch from her mouth as she stares at him silently for a moment. She scoffs and takes the bite, chewing it over as she glares at him. He takes his own bite and meets her gaze unflinching. She is less than impressed with the little shit. She tolerates Obi-Wan and his attempts, she had rebuffed Bant, and now she had some random hyper-powerful slave child she had gone out of her way and tried to kill offering to 'help'? Where they all going to start crawling out of the woodworks? What was next? Dooku coming offering platitudes? Guess she was wrong in her initial guess, because this was too obvious.

"Which one of them was stupid enough to put you up to this?" snapped Siri, her hostility rippling into the Force and drawing wary stares from the few Jedi still in the room, "Honestly, if Kenobi gave up and they sent some random brat to try and 'turn me light' instead, the Jedi are even more stupid than I thought."

"Not a brat," said Anakin, scowling at her.

"Could of fooled me Supernova," she said, scowling right back at him.

He wrinkled his nose at her, annoyance all over his face. "And I never said I cared about you being all darky or lighty. I don't even get what half that stuff means."

Siri opens her mouth, then closes it with an audible snap when she feels the truth from him. The hell...? Its been several months now, how can Jinn or any of the other Jedi not hammered that in yet?

She shakes her head. "Then your Master needs to have a very long discussion with you about what the Light and the Dark Side of the Force are."

Anakin shrugged. "He has, I just don't get it. He says what the Jedi use is good and what the Sith use is bad but he doesn't say why. So why then?"

Siri rolled her eyes. "I'm not the person to ask, Supernova."

"Why not?"

"Because I enjoy not being in a cell for the duration of my parole."

He gave her a skeptical look. "They wouldn't do that for just explaining somethin, would they?"

"One of my parole rules was to not attempt to 'seduce' any initiates or padawans to the Dark Side," she answered, rolling her eyes, before thumbing at Councilor Mundi watching them from his table in the corner, "Why do you think conehead over there is not even bothering to be subtle watching us?"

Anakin blinked, looking over at Ki-Adi-Mundi, blushing a little at not noticing him, before glaring back at Siri. "Hey! That's rude."

"I'm sure he's heard worse," said Siri, head turning to give Mundi a sly look, he merely raises an unamused eyebrow at her, "Actually, lets go have a chat Skywalker."

"Uh..."

Siri picked up her tray of food and casually made her way over to Ki-Adi-Mundi, plopping down across from him, Skywalker tentatively following to sit a few spots down from her. Mundi gives her a dry look. "To what, do I owe the pleasure."

"Well, it seems Master Jinn's been rather lax in his training," mocked Siri, "If Skywalker here still doesn't understand Dark VS Light and has to ask me about it. Perhaps you could enlighten him instead?"

The pinched expression that crossed his face was priceless. "Padawan Skywalker, what would possibly possess you to ask a Sith?"

"Right in front of you conehead," said Siri flatly.

"The point still stands."

"Well... I've been hearing people talking about understanding people's point of view...," began Anakin.

"And you believe that includes the Sith?" stressed Mundi.

Right. Kriffing. Here.

Also, so called it.

A dark look crossed Anakin's face that stirred an ill feeling in Siri's stomach. "Just because she's a Sith doesn't mean she's not a person."

Siri held back the instinctive twitch that wanted to run down her spine and tightened her shields instead, keeping back how startling those words were to actually hear from someone. Its not like she gave a bantha's ass what the Jedi thought, but when ninety-nine percent of the Jedi referred to her as if 'Sith' was her name, it did grate a bit. Outside of Obi-Wan, Bant, and Yoda, it had been a bit... lacking in consistency. Skywalker though... did he really not care that she was a Sith? Or was it simple ignorance?

Mundi blinked at him. "That is not what I said."

The dark look turned into confusion. "I don't understand..."

"Understanding the perspective of others differs in seeking knowledge and understanding from them," explained Mundi.

Skywalker blinked stupidly at him in response.

"I think this is where I leave you," said Siri dryly, "Jedi dogma hasn't been my thing in nearly a decade."

Deciding she had neatly avoided a landmine by directing Skywalker to Mundi, she took her leave...

Much to Siri's amusement, Qui-Gon is there in the morning sitting at the table she usually conquerors, ever wearing that serine detached Jedi look. "Jinn."

"Tachi," he answers back.

"Am I going to be joined by both you and your padawan now?" she asked dryly.

"He is rather determined," mused Qui-Gon, avoiding what is likely an obvious answer, "Despite myself and many others advising him not to."

Siri hums and digs into her food. "I did not ask him to be here."

"You didn't need to," he refutes with fond exasperation, "Anakin gives with no thought of reward simply because he sees someone he believes he can help."

Doubtful as kriff. No one does something 'just because', even if the reason is wanting to feel good about himself for doing a 'good deed'.

"Did you give him a talk about Light and Dark?" she poses pointedly, "I don't particularly appreciate being put into that kind of position."

"It was not his intent to get you into trouble."

"I didn't say it was."

Qui-Gon exhaled. "I, and others, have attempted to instruct him on the matter, its something he will need age and experience to understand."

Siri eyed him doubtfully for a moment, and considered yesterdays thoughts, of how she wanted Skywalker no-where near the Dark Side, and decides to be 'helpful'. "I think you are being blind on the matter."

He narrows his eyes at her. "He is not anymore fated for the Dark Side than you or I were or are."

She rolled her eyes. "That is not what I said."

"Then what are you saying?"

"That he was a slave," she snapped, "His understanding of good and evil, right or wrong, is FAR different than a Jedi's, than a Sith's, than the vast majority of the Galaxy, and if you fail to consider that, you will readily push him into Sidious's clutches."

The startlement and surprise that ripple of Jinn makes her want to sigh in exasperation. Jedi are such isolated idiots sometimes. They preach about different points of view, but fail so badly to incorporate that for their own members. All Jedi have their own quirks and little personality shifts, but they are all cut of the same cloth. All emotionless detached cogs of the light. Obi-Wan and his Master are two of the more unique Jedi, and even then, they arn't that different aside from their more relaxed outlook towards attachment and willingness to bend some rules. The point of the thought was that the Jedi as a whole expect all of their members to be of at least a somewhat similar mindset. Anyone far to outside the box? Obviously something is wrong with them and they need to be chiseled into the 'proper Jedi'.

Jinn gives her a very solemn appraisal. "I see. I will not say I did not consider that before, but... I hadn't expected that his past would still weigh him down so when he has his future ahead of him here."

Kriffing moron.

One doesn't just get over being a slave for the first nine years of their life. It would always be with him. She's not stupid on that anymore than she'd be stupid with herself. Even if she turned away from the Dark, her time with Sidious would always be with her. She wouldn't let it rule her, well, she'd try not to, but it would still lurk in the depths of her mind and soul. Killing Sidious was going to be pleasure, and the culmulation of all her struggles, but even after he's dead, she knows his lessons and actions will survive if only in her nightmares.

"I suppose I will have to restructure a few of my lessons to help him adjust," commented Jinn thoughtfully.

"Or get him some damn therapy," muttered Siri, stabbing her food and shoveling a bite.

The look of disapproval he gives her is amusing. "Anakin does not need the stigma of that on top his efforts to adjust to the life of a Jedi when he can simply release it to the Force."

Oh yes, because 'release it to the Force' works for everyone. Okay, so Jinn is really going to just leave that weakness there? Leave past abuses to simmer underneath the surface? If Anakin were to become a Sith, that'd be great. Plenty of anger and pain and suffering to feed off of, so long as it didn't cripple him. As a Jedi? That's so kriffing stupid. Hmph, like Master like apprentice then, because she doubts Jinn sought out a Mind Healer over his issues with Xanatos's Fall or his lady friend's death. The hell had her name been? Tafae, Tapa? Tahri? Tahl? Ah, that one, Tahl...

She withholds her thoughts on the matter when the boy in question arrives with his own tray and joins them. "Hey Master, hi Siri."

"Padawan."

"Supernova, when are you going to get better shields?"

Skywalker rolls his eyes and sits down, plopping a fruit in his mouth.

Jinn raises an eyebrow at Siri. "I fail to see what is wrong with his shields."

"He's kriffing blinding to look at, even if I tighten my own."

Jinn gives her a puzzled look. "Is he?"

Siri blinked. "He's not to you?"

"When we meditate and delve into the Force, yes, he can be a bit... overwhelming," answered Jinn, giving Skywalker a small smile of no-offense, before continuing, "But otherwise, no."

What the kriff...?

She frowns thoughtfully at that, curious where the difference in perspective comes from. Maybe its a Dark VS Light thing. She looks from the shadows, rather than from the light. Unless its something she can use to her advantage, she dismisses it for the moment as a topic to toy with when she was bored. "Still should get better shields anyway."

"'Said I couldn't till I was older," said Skywalker, huffing a little, "'Apparently' I need to wait 'till my mind grows up a bit."

Siri scoffed. "Improving my shields was one of the first things I well and truly tried to do, and continually did throughout my time as Sidious's apprentice."

Sidious had made the point to test them, painfully, repeatedly.

"You were also six or so years older than Anakin, and physically closer to physical brain maturity," said Jinn.

Siri gives him an unimpressed look. "Being complacent with your mental shields, regardless of age, is dangerous. Perhaps not for the average Jedi, but for him?"

She levels her gaze at Anakin, and she feels it with the Force as she speaks it, "You will meet Sidious one day, and if you are not ready, he will destroy you through any means possible."

Anakin swallows thickly. There is fear, ready and apparent, but there is also foolish bravery. "Then I'll be ready. I hafta be, I'm the Chosen One."

Siri blinked. "The what?"

She is not blind to the way Jinn tenses, but Skywalker misses it and continues, "Everyone says I'm supposed to be 'The Chosen One', 'sposed to 'bring balance to the Force', whatever that means, and destroy the Sith."

Siri allows his words to go in one ear and then out the other, snickering afterwards.

He scowls. "What?"

She laughs again. "Oh, the Jedi's prophesied savior are we?"

She grins at him mockingly. "Let me tell you a little secret, Supernova, there isn't a Force Sect out there that doesn't have their own version of that. Hell, even the Sith have the prophecy of the Sith'ari, the perfect Sith."

Anakin stares blankly at her, surprise rippling off him, and doubt.

She leans forward, unable to resist needling. "Oh destroy the Sith? Here I was thinking you wanted to help me, not kill me."

He scowls at her, Jinn however relaxes, an air of confidence about him after her dismissal of Skywalker's so called status. "Destroying the Sith doesn't necessarily mean killing them."

Siri rolls her eyes and goes for another bite. "Sure, whatever."

"Though I am academically curious about the Sith's own legend on my old Master's behalf," said Jinn.

Siri huffed. "The Sith'ari is a funny legend, because many Sith are so full of shit and arrogance that they think they were the Sith'ari."

"You don't?" he asked.

Her amusement faded. "I'm not perfect by any means, Qui-Gon Jinn. I was never a perfect Jedi, and I'm certainly not a perfect Sith, you being alive is a testament to that."

Jinn fixes her with a calm stare. "Then perhaps it is for the best you weren't."

Siri grunted, going over the Sith'ari legend in her head again, wishing to drop herself as a topic. "If we're going to be honest, Darth Bane is probably the only Sith that fully fits the criteria for the Sith'ari."

Jinn frowned. "You've mentioned him before, I believe you called your 'lineage' the Line of Bane. I've researched that name in the archives, and the only result that came up was the last surviving Sith who was killed on Ambria after the end of the Brotherhood of Darkness. Is he who you refer to?"

Siri slowly shook her head. "That wasn't Bane. That was the bait."

Jin narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Bait and switch, Master Jinn," said Siri softly, "If you can't figure it out, that's not my problem."

His frown didn't go away, merely staring at her silently.

"So... what are you up to today?" asked Skywalker.

"Same shit I do everyday, meditate, exercise, maybe be brought out to spar, maybe get called to the Council Chamber, read the holo-net out of pure boredom," she complained, "Let me tell you Supernova, don't do the last bit, I can feel the garbage I read literally rotting my brain."

Skywalker snickered at that, she flashed him a grin.

Jinn, of course, had the typical Jedi response, "Perhaps you should take some of that time for introspection. That is part of your parole after all."

She gave him a cold look. "I don't need introspection to know how I came to be where I am. I know my choices, and I know their consequences. I live them."

"And you truly have no desire to change?"

"I am who I am, Master Jinn," she snaps at him, "All of the wishful thinking in the world wont change that."

She crossed her arms. "Besides, you shouldn't want me to turn away from the Dark."

That gets a single raised eyebrow from him. "No?"

"Two is better than one," she says mockingly, "Do you want Sidious to only have to worry about facing the Jedi, or the Jedi and me? Two separate entities and mindsets to deal with are more difficult to manage than one. Fighting against the Light and Dark is more complex than one or the other I imagine."

Her lips peel back. "Especially since I would be useless as a Jedi, and I refuse to be weak."

The Dark rippled through and around her, growling in agreement, the hound snapping at her heels in her mind's eyes. It loathed weakness as much as she did.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Why do you believe you would be weak as a Jedi?"

Her face shuts closed, made of stone. "Why do you think?"

"Guilt?" he asks, leaning forward in challenge.

She narrows her eyes...

"Master," scolded Skywalker, interrupting, "It's breakfast!"

Jinn blinks and leans back to his normal position and giving his Padawan a knowing smile. "Of course Padawan, no arguments before lunch that do not involve sending you to class."

Skywalker huffed. "Most of the stuff they're trying to teach me is podoo, especially first period class. Who cares about et... eta...fit..."

"Etiquette?"

"That."

Jinn gives him a patient smile. "When there are thousands of different customs in the Galaxy, it is rather easy to cause needless tension and incidents. The class covers many of the more common forms, best methods to research them prior to mission arrival, and how to ask without offering offense."

"I'd like learning how to use a lasersword more."

Siri snickered at that.

"What?" asked Skywalker defensively, "You can't have liked that eti... eta-whatever class?"

"Not really, I was more of a punch them in the face or glare daggers at them while playing nice kind of padawan," she reflects briefly, smiling fondly at the aggressive memories.

Then Skywalker has that 'victory' feeling again, and she glares at him.

"Like that?"

"Yes Supernova," she answers flatly, flicking food childishly at him, "Like that."

Then Skywalker put a forkful of food on his utensil and flicked it at her. Neither of them left the dining hall without food in their hair and on their clothes. Master Jinn was needless to say, unimpressed to be caught in the brief food fight crossfire. Siri couldn't recall the last time she had pure childish fun like that, readily disregarding the baffled look most gave her. Who said Sith couldn't get into food fights with obnoxious snot-nosed wannabe padawans?

Of course, when Mundi arrived at her door at the end of the day daring to impose 'chores' on her for her earlier behavior, she ended up eating her words. She didn't have to agree, she could have closed the door in his face, but, she didn't want to be disallowed back in the dinning halls for causing a mess and not doing something to 'make up for it'. Jedi could be petty like that with their 'vaunted lessons' by taking away privileges. So she found herself with a old-fashion mop in said dinning hall, grumbling to herself. This was droid work, it really was.

At least Skywalker was there cleaning as well under his Master's watchful gaze.

He grinned at her from across the dinning hall, and she couldn't help the grin she gave back. For a little shit, he wasn't too bad she supposed.

Author's Note:

Gave a little nod/reference to a certain awesome star wars fanfic-series in this chapter, just a single word, a name for a EU thing never properly named, shouldn't be to hard to spot.

Still collecting feedback on the Fay or Yoda as Grandmaster concept. All opinions are appreciated. Fay was an idea that popped out of left field and wasn't planned in advance at all, and while I'm open to it being permanent, I'd have to rewrite a few planned scenes (like Yoda meeting Zannah) to use Fay instead. I'm not against it either way, as a personality such as Fay that is largely unexplored is also something I can use in many different ways.

Review Responses:

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Gendie01: If Ur Manka kept the promise, probably a Gray or Redeemed Siri story. Or a dead Siri & Ur Manka via Sidious.

Guest: Hmm... Zannah I'm waiting for the end of the current Anakin & Siri 'arc'. Not really an arc I guess, but, after this section (a few more chapters) there will be a time skip, ish. Zannah will be taken to the temple, and it will be ALL JAR-JAR'S FAULT!

HappyFace861: The 'banging' was Zannah's attempt to purge her of the emotion, and it worked to a degree, Siri smothered much of herself and delved even deeper into the Dark Side. But saying she shouldn't feel anything after holding onto it is saying Vader shouldn't have felt anything for Luke. Well, perhaps not on the same scale, but in the same line of thinking. If you don't wish to continue reading, that's your choice, you are not the only one whose been offput by the change of pace.

This is a Dark/Sith Siri story, not a pure Sith Siri story. The difference in those two is a subtle thing that many might not realize or properly understand. Think of a pendulum swinging, she started light, swung to dark, even into the depths of a true Sith for a moment, and now is swinging back towards light, but not as far back as she originally was, perhaps not even into light, but it will swing back towards where she was in the Dark before swinging back again. Eventually the pendulum stops swinging, and where it lands is where Siri will end up.

But that is a very long time away. This story will go on for years, and will probably be my longest fanfiction ever, epic length. This 'part two of the story' has been longer than the starting fall/sith apprentice section, and sometimes I regret not delving deeper into that time, but make no mistake, even if this part of the story goes on for double its current length, its still going to be comparatively small to the rest of the story. This should break 150+~ chapters, depending on use of time skips of course. I plan to go up to the Vong war after all.

Molten Thunder: Yoda has no concept of the ability to become a Force Ghost as of the moment to my knowledge. If he dies at this point, he's gone to the Force. I've also considered a third option, where Sidious does go after Yoda, but its more to mess with him/taunt him than kill him. To seed doubt and conflict.

Transformers g1's-Prime: I haven't watched any of the new movies, nor do I generally read fanfiction about it, because it throws out the EU entirely as a possibility and spits on years of effort by so many people. Except for the Chaotic Three fanfiction, but that was more for two reasons: One, it was time-travel, and I'm a sucker for time-travel. Two, Darth-Darth Binks.

Fay is a more calculated choice than that, and I agree, who said she is a good choice at all? There's already been a little backlash hinted at that after all. :D

I probably should have done more on Sidious VS Plagueis reaction, yeah.

I haven't really consciously cherry picked anything from the newer star wars to be honest, if you are referring to bleeding VS Synthetic Crystals, I wasn't aware bleeding was something new, I found it while reading other fanfiction, read a bit about it on Wookiepedia, and incorporated it along with synthetic crystals.

C'Baoth isn't aware he is being lured into the dark, its all happening instinctively for the moment, but don't you worry, there will most likely be a schism-ish occurrence.

Guest: Yoda is not much more powerful, he is even-ish, perhaps stronger at this point without Sidious having time to grow in the next decade. In a straight up fight, were Yoda at his best, he would probably win against Sidious right now, especially without the death of the Jedi and years of war fueling the Dark Side. But Sidious is a cunning bastard, who would say he would fight Yoda head on? Not to mention Yoda is down in the dumps right now, and mindset can determine much in an encounter. Lets also acknowledge that Yoda got the drop on Sidious, he was the one who initiated the duel in RoTS, Sidious was caught offguard and forced to fight in a situation he did not want nor prepare for, unlike when he revealed himself to Anakin and Windu came. But who knows, still haven't made my own decision on whats going to happen.

Guest: Siri has swung back and forth on whether she actually wants to become an Empress, she's expressed that a few times and acknowledged her chances are slim. I don't want to particularly spoil the Clone Wars and the Empire parts of the story, but... the Clone Wars was a trap for the Jedi, whose to say Siri won't recognize that and react differently? Only teaser I will give.

Truth: Hmm, very good points to make. Though, I don't particularly feel that Midichlorian Manipulation will play a further role in the story. Sidious, to my knowledge, never mastered the ability even close to the level his own Master had. Sith Alchemy is after all a different thing.

Nerdman3000: Mmm... the freakout about Zannah will be a bit delayed until she maybe reveals it herself or Siri does. The only ones who knew of her died on Tython/Ambria. Re-reading that part of the book online, all the rest of the Order only knew that a Sith Lord had killed five Jedi on Tython, nothing else. Zannah's message had been intentionally cut short. My knowledge on the Great Galactic war isn't that great, IDK how much I will use it outside of the brief reference to Revan.

Sidious does not currently know, nor would he particularly care about the False Aura of Light. He would be more amused/embarrassed at his apprentice for revealing a tool she could have used herself. He does not hide in the light, he hides in shadows. He has little intention of leaving C'Baoth in the Jedi Order at the point when he converts him, Dooku hadn't been a Jedi when he was converted after all.

EclipseTobias: True, but the Fay we know in 'Cannon' would be far different than a Fay that fought and grew stronger through the Clone Wars. RoTS Obi-Wan/Anakin would after all destroy their AoTC selves. Fay is a barely visible character, with like one comic to her name, thats one of the reason's I even brought her into this. I like using those kinds of characters and breathing in life.

Dolansosar: Exar Kun's spirit will make an appearance eventually, in what manner, who knows?

Guest: Siri will teach Leia. Siri is, much to her own personal frustration and loss, is not likely going to end up an actual mother in this story. Though raising Leia from the ground up might as well be if you ask a Mandalorian.

1saaa: Yoda doesn't know Force Ghosting at this point.

Obi-Wan is currently Siri's biggest shatter-point. If you were to ask Windu that question again after this chapter, Anakin would be there as a slowly building one as well. The important thing is Shatterpoints change over time, and regardless of light, gray, or dark Siri, she and Leia in this story would be Master and Apprentice if Siri lived to the point. It is as important a thing as Siri & Obi-Wan are now, perhaps even moreso eventually. As for your guess at 'downfall' all depends on how you defines 'downfall' I suppose. I won't spoil if/how something happens with that, however... with your thoughts on Leia & Siri, understand that Siri is going to raise & train Leia, regardless of what she becomes, Siri will love her as a daughter, even if Leia does become a complete and utter monster (maybe, maybe not), thus...

I will say ONE potential spoiler, read it at your own peril. In my current long-term planning of this story...

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This story is currently labeled only as a tragedy (I could arguably do spiritual in Dark VS Light, but meh), and whose to say we've come to truly touch upon why yet?

Make of that what you will.