Chapter 58: Come the Gathering Rain (Part 3)

"Sorry, said I was, for your suffering."

"Gee, pour enough light in to feel like acid, give an apology, and suddenly everything is better in your world, isn't it Jedi?"

Watching Yoda and Rain bicker around eachother was not what Siri signed up for this morning. She keeps the towel she had over shoulder where it is and not-so-subtly backs away to the fresher. Maybe after a long shower, they'll be done. Likely not. Judging from the screaming fit from Rain that Siri can hear over the shower, its not going to be done for a bit, so she enjoys the warm water for a little while longer. She's not too concerned about it coming to 'blows'. Rain can't really hurt anyone without the dark at her fingertips, especially that old troll, and Yoda's not going to destroy her after giving C'Baoth the ammo he needed for his schism because of her.

She comes out wringing her hair and pauses. Rain it literally inches from Yoda's face.

"...and really," says Rain snidely, "Its not like anythings changed for the better in recruitment. Instead of recruiting ten year olds, you're nabbing toddlers."

"Decision of the parent, that is," comments Yoda, "And always a choice, does a Jedi have, if wish to leave they do."

"Yes because they surely know any other path but the one they've walked," said Rain snidely, "Nore have they formed any worthwhile connections, oh I'm sorry, attachments to help them get on their feet once they leave. Tell me, what was it the Jedi offer for those who leave? A ride back to their homeworld if they want and dump them there destitute?"

Yoda's ears flicker. "Oh? No one do you say? That no Knight has befriended a single being outside our Order?"

"No one deep enough to be willing to help."

"Mmm, jaded that is," said Yoda softly, "Underestimate the kindness of others, you do."

"Or you underestimate the cruel reality of life."

"Hmph," grunts Yoda, "Right both outlooks are. Many acts of compassion, and of cruelty, are there out in the galaxy. Likely it is that both would a Jedi meet, should they start on their own. But know the difference between a Jedi and a Sith in this?"

Yoda leans forward, both their faces centimeters from touching. "A Jedi will always be free to leave, to take this other path, but never will a Sith be allowed by their own."

Rain scowled, but said nothing.

"If leave you tried," pressed Yoda, "Would Bane have allowed?"

"If he knew whats good for him he would have," snapped Rain.

"Even as a child if decide against the Path of the Sith, did you?"

Rain gritted her teeth. "At least the reality I lived wasn't an illusion. How many children actually choose to leave the Jedi? How many know they actually can?"

Yoda pauses in consideration, bringing his gimmer stick up to chew on. "Hmm."

"Off the top of my head, know I do not," admits Yoda, "But know I do, that mentioned it is at some point during training. In the curriculum, know I do that it is."

"Oh yes, passed over as a one liner probably," said Rain with distaste, "And probably loaded with things to make it seem shameful, like a failure."

"Considering the Service Corps and how padawans look at them, she's not exactly wrong about the last bit at least," Siri chooses to say, "You could readily ask Obi-Wan how he felt about washing out before Qui-Gon took him."

Yoda's ears flicker, a subtle frown his acknowledgement. "A lesson it is, a harsh one perhaps, but a lesson none the less it is. A failure, being a member of the Corps is not."

"It is when they've been raised on dreams of being a Jedi Knight their entire lives," answered Siri.

Yoda's ears flicker back in forth in thought, chewing on his gimmer stick again. Rain looks so smug at the moment...

"Agree with you I do."

Then Rain startles. "You what?"

"Different way, that lesson could be taught," said Yoda, and Siri wonders if she's dreaming, "Must you be a knight to serve the Force? No. Many ways are there to see its will done, to serve the galaxy, to do good. Jedi Knights the only beings who do good in the Galaxy? Who use the Force to do so? No, they are not. Failures the Service Corps are not."

Yoda rubs his chin in thought. "Mmm, perhaps more integrated, learning about or with other paths should be. Talk with the Council of Reassignment, I should."

Rain's surprised expression schools in a way Siri didn't expect. Siri thought she might be smug, haughty that it was her words taken seriously and causing change. Instead, Rain regards Yoda coldly, almost icily, assessing him as a threat. A Sith Lord seeing an obstacle to their goal. "You're too late, Jedi."

Yoda blinks, going very still at the tone of her words before regarding her warily. "Late, am I? Wonder I do for what."

"To save your Order from itself," said Rain in a hushed, dangerous tone, "You are a Jedi who got the complacency kicked out of them and didn't rebury your head in the sand, whats more, you are actually in a position to do something about it rather than just shout to the heavens and be ignored. Had this happened a century or so ago, perhaps you could have done something to save your Order, kicked it into gear to actually challenge the Sith. But, Sidious is already moving into the end-phase of the Grand Plan, your Order already suffered a splinter that is only going to get worse, the end war is already on the horizon, its too late."

"Never too late it is," countered Yoda, "Stopped, Sidious will be."

"Maybe so," said Rain leaning forward again to be right in his face, "If Siri is right about Skywalker or her own efforts pan out, but the question is, will the Jedi still be around then?"

*beep beep beep*

Obi-Wan slowly opens his eyes from his joint meditation with his padawan. Helping Jinzler undo the damage C'Baoth had done in his training had been, and continued to be, a trial. C'Baoth had tainted her ability to meditate, drawing her dangerously close to the Sith method of a focal point, of her own emotions. Letting herself go, and trusting in the Force again, was something she struggled with. The hesitancy, the loss of faith, the loss of trust, especially in herself...

It was something Obi-Wan would never take for granted again.

Jointly combined together in the Force, it was so painfully easy to see the splinters and cracked webbed through her. It made him ache that he could not immediately pave over and sooth them. But easy paths were rarely as plain as they were made out to be. He had a way to resolve immediate issues; whenever he pressed compassion and care to her, she generally relented to whatever he was saying, but he also made the realization that he was doing a 'light' version of what C'Baoth had done.

C'Baoth pressed his demands against her, she obeyed.

Obi-Wan pressed his compassion and care against her, she obeyed.

He didn't like it.

He wasn't trying to take advantage of her state, and her need for it, but he was very much aware that if he didn't restore her to a solid foundation, that the damage could so easily return. If she relented to whatever he wanted, formed a dependency on him, what would happen if he died, or when she was knighted out on her own? Or worse, something happened that made her perceive a betrayal on his part? could shatter so badly. He will do what he must to help her in the immediate, but he will not ignore the long term; Jinzler needs to learn to trust in herself and the Force again.

The fact that she couldn't properly meditate without him to guide her in, couldn't properly release what she felt to the Force without him, and likely hadn't been able to for several years now... it sends shivers down his spine of where this would have ended up...

*beep beep beep*

"Master," murmured his padawan.

He nods and fishes out his comlink, glancing down at the message, frowning. "It would seem Master Yoda has called for a... informal meeting."

"Informal?" asked Lorana.

Obi-Wan smiled mirthlessly. "He has something he wants to discuss that he wants our input on before he approaches others."

Lorana nodded, face falling a bit. "Okay. I'll... I'll work on my homework until you get back."

He doesn't like what he feels coming off her. "Oh? I would have that you'd like to be a part of the discussion?"

She shrugged and looked away from him. "What use would my opinions be?"

Obi-Wan purses his lips, resisting the urge to press his care against her, he cant use it as a crutch every time she acts like that. "I cannot force you to do so, but I would like you to at least come and observe, to listen, and perhaps we could discuss it on our own when we are alone?"

Give her the option, the safety, of it just being the two of them to voice her opinion, rather than a large group. Slow steps, slow steps...

She hesitates for a moment before nodding slowly. "Okay."

They make their way over to what has become a rather new informal norm: His lineage all gathered in an apartment, with a councilor or two or a different master there for their opinion on whatever the subject is. Fay is interestingly not there this time. Master Windu and Master Koon are however. Anakin sits on the floor at the table with a datapad, homework likely, be still present. Dooku stands near the door, arms crossed, while Qui-Gon sits on the couch behind Anakin. Master Koon and Master Windu stand at a respectful distance while Yoda paces back and forth slowly, his stick softly thumping on the floor.

Yoda glances over at Obi-Wan has he enters, a solemn look on his face, and gets right into it. "How felt you, when sent to Bandomeer to be in the Corps you were?"

Obi-Wan twitches at that, especially at his padawan's surprise, shock, and mortification on his behalf; he schools his face. "It was the decision of the Council of Reassignment and I accepted it."

Yoda doesn't seem satisfied with his answer. "Consider it a failure, did you?"

"Being a member of the Service Corps is not a failing, it is a different path of service," Obi-Wan voices diplomatically.

"Feel that at the time, did you?"

"I was a child...," begins Obi-Wan defensively.

"An attack, this is not, young Kenobi," says Yoda, sighing after and waving his gimmer stick, "An attack, a failing, it was never meant to be, to any."

"Not everyone is suited to be a Jedi," pointed out Windu, "And some need the lesson, if not the humbling. Force knows I needed a good kick in my younger years."

That gets an eyebrow raised out of Qui-Gon.

Windu returns it with a flat look. "We all have examples of our youthful foolish that make us cringe to look back on, I am no different, and neither were you."

Qui-Gon smiles with amusement. "No, I suppose not."

"Point it is, that a lesson it may be, but a lesson how many take?" posed Yoda, "How many feel, that an attack on their worth, it is? Feel their dreams shatter, do they?"

"The path of a Jedi is not easy, nor often is it kind, and constantly tests us, the earlier we learn this the better," says Windu slowly, a little perplexed, "The lessons we learn on the field are often harsher, but still needed to shape us into who we need to be."

Yoda shakes his head. "Voicing my point incorrectly I am."

He paused to think for a moment. "If learn alongside the Corps, believe do you that lesson this thought of 'failures', it would?"

Windu frowned, thinking.

"A failure it is not," continued Yoda, "But more, a failure those who walk a different path, do not deserve to be thought of that way."

That gets Windu to nod in agreement. "No, they don't deserve that."

"Agreed," said Master Koon, "But, I will point out that there are already many different areas that the Corps receive their education and training scattered across the galaxy. How would we handle that? Recall them all to Coruscant and force them to learn here? In a place that may not suit them? The Agricultural Corps as an example cannot learn everything they need through theory or within the Room of a Thousand Fountains. All the sudden uplifting their way of life..."

"Hmm," murmured Yoda, resuming his pacing, "A point well made that is."

"Its something to discuss with the Council of Reassignment, and with the Corps councils themselves," advised Windu, "And not something to be rushed or done carelessly. We must also consider if it is something that needs to be done now, or something that can be done later once more pressing issues are settled, if it truely needs be done at all."

His jaw sets. "C'Baoth's most recent speech has... lured a number more Jedi away, we need a stopgap to this."

"We cannot force Jedi to stay if they have lost faith in the Order," said Master Koon, sighing, "And looking back... the so called 'Yam'rii crisis' was mishandled from start to finish."

"It was mishandled in the exact same way as Galidraan," said Dooku harshly, no small amount of self-recrimination in his tone, "We rushed in without proper and thorough investigation, regardless of the supposed immediate direness of the situations, we were used as tools and weapons to slaughter and repress those who had been wronged. Led by the nose by those in the Senate, with or without prodding of the Sith."

"Do you believe the Sith had a hand in both?" posed Windu.

"I don't know," admits Dooku, "But they've certainly not hesitated to benefit from them at our peril."

"Parasites," muttered Windu in distaste.

Yoda glances at Windu briefly before shaking his head. "Handled that already we have, separated more from the Senate, we have been, investigate missions before taking them, we do. Solve everything it will not, but help some, it will."

Windu nodded. "I suppose that will settle for now, was there anything else Master Yoda?"

Yoda paused for a long minute, and Obi-Wan felt the Force swirling around him. Windu's eyes narrowed in that way he got when he saw something through shatterpoints...

"New Council do I wish to make," said Yoda, earning the undivided attention of everyone present, "The Council of Preservation."

"Preservation?" posed Dooku.

"If fail we do, if defeat the Sith, we do not, ensure they will that our teachings will not fade, that in the right time, new eyes may find what we leave behind hidden and start again anew," said Yoda.

Obi-Wan stared at him, shocked, as did everyone else.

"Master Yoda," protested Windu, "Surely you don't think we will lose to the Sith!"

"Think we will lose, I do not," said Yoda, "Willing to have nothing in place, if wrong I am, I am not. Afford to have nothing in place, when laid so low we have continually been, right under our noses, we can not. Arrogant, complacent we have been, in assuming the defeat of the Sith."

Qui-Gon's eyebrows furrow. "Master Yoda, has it not always been you who have said not to dwell on the possibilities, that the future is always in motion? Focusing on worst case scenarios..."

"A new perspective, needed was," said Yoda, "A new perspective, I have. Introspection on what went wrong. Meditated long I have on my seclusion, meditated more I wish I could have, but needed I was to return here. Guarantees, there are not in life. Guarantee that survive the Jedi will, there is not. Four thousand years ago, nearly wiped out the Jedi Order was by the Sith, impossible is it to happen again you say?"

Obi-Wan winces a little. That particular period of Jedi history was something many either found enthralling or horrifying. Revan, Malak, Surik, the Mandalorian Wars, Jedi Civil War, the Jedi Purge, and all the events during that period of time for hundreds of years before or after were... hectic. Dealing with Siri in the cells below a few years ago had made him refresh his knowledge on that period, and he cant say he enjoyed reading it all. Judging by the startlement Jinzler felt, its a topic she hasn't either studied yet or paid much attention too.

Windu pursed his lips, not pleased, but relented. "Do you have any ideas on who you wish to be a part of this... council?"

"Mmm, open to suggestions I am, here, and when propose it to the council I do," answered Yoda.

Obi-Wan takes his time to consider it, as does everyone else, before Obi-Wan offers, "What about Master Tholme? If not as an active member, then at least with suggestions on places to hide the knowledge. He and Quinlan have been to many, many different parts of the galaxy, any shadow might be able to provide insights on locations."

"Mmm, good suggestion that is," agreed Yoda, "Obvious locations, it cannot be, as find and destroy them, the Sith would. Many, needed would be, to support this new council. Copies of information, new holocrons, a vast amount of knowledge must be carefully selected. Decide on what has worked to carry on, and what had failed that should not."

"You almost sound... defeatist," posed Windu warily.

Yoda shook his head. "All things change, even Jedi. The same as we were a thousand years ago, we are not. Whether we survive the Sith, or are destroyed and remade later, the same we will not be. Open, honest we must be with ourselves, without arrogance, without complacency, on what was done wrong, what was done right, and what we do not know, for the future to be better..."

Siri wonders if its going to be a new norm.

Coming out in the morning to find a Jedi pestering or parting shots with Rain.

"...and what do you mean," asks Qui-Gon Jinn, a hologram of some young black-haired man in his hand, "That this is not Darth Bane?"

Siri blinks. That looks nothing like his holocron image did on Korriban.

Then she looks at Rain, and Rain looks shellshocked. She stares at the image with so much grief and regret. She takes a moment to gather strength before she speaks, "Its... that's... that's not Darth Bane, that's... that's Tomcat. My cousin. I..."

Her shoulders slump. "I drove him insane with my power, dumped a number of Jedi lightsabers on him, and hid with my Master when the Jedi came and killed Tomcat, taking him for Bane."

Oh kriffing hells, Siri hadn't known it had been Rain's own cousin. That's bad. Was that... had that been Rain's... Zannah's sacrifice? Or just another part of the job?

Qui-Gon regards Rain for a long moment. "I see."

He sighs softly. "Well then, I suppose we should get this 'Tomcat' cleared then. He deserves better than to be remembered as an insane Sith Lord. Would you be willing to speak before the Council on this?"

Rain stares at the image of Tomcat for a very long time before so very quietly saying, "Yes, considering he had been trying to save me in his own foolish way, perhaps he deserves it..."

Siri sits outside the council chamber next to Anakin. Rain and Qui-Gon along with Jocasta Nu and a few shadows in there discussing Rain's revelation about Darth Bane and Tomcat with the Council. Anakin fidgets, something dark in his gaze, glancing at Siri every now and then.

"What is it Anakin?" she finally says, exasperated.

"He was her family," stressed Anakin, sounding personally offended, "How could she betray family like that? So horribly? I got the gist of what she said to Qui-Gon, that Tomcat guy was basically trying to do the same thing Obi-Wan was trying for you, and she drove him insane and set him up to die, to be remembered horribly, as thanks. You don't... you don't do that to family."

"Do not," warned Siri, "Ever underestimate what the Dark Side does to a person, Anakin. I once considered the Jedi Order my family, now? I don't particularly care if most of them die. Not that I truly miss feeling that anyway, most weren't worth being considered family."

"Would you have done that to Obi-Wan?" he demanded.

"The circumstances were completely different," said Siri, "And Obi-Wan wouldn't have just let me do that."

"That's not a no," he said harshly.

"I'd like to think no," said Siri, "Incase you forgot what happened on Naboo. I could very well have killed him there, and no one would have truly known I was a Sith at the time slipping away after. But I didn't."

"So why didn't she make that same decision?" asked Anakin.

"I can't answer that, Supernova," she said, sighing.

He shakes his head over and over again, like he just cant comprehend it. There is a stirring in him, something dark and ugly, full of disgust, revulsion, and distaste. Siri can probably count on Anakin never having a good opinion of Rain after this.

"Why am I the person you'd look the other way on, and not her?" posed Siri.

Anakin looks her right in the eye, a hardness in his eyes and tone. "Who says I look the other way?"

Siri doesn't say anything else for the rest of the ongoing session.

Its been a very, very long time since Siri sat down and had tea with anyone in this manner.

She sits at Jinn's table, next to Obi-Wan, across from Qui-Gon, Rain's holocron set on the table next to her, gatekeeper active and sitting as well. She reluctantly admits to herself that she kind of misses it. Even if she had been invited only to turn it into a session of Jinn needling Rain for information.

"I'm very curious how Bane survived Ruusan and the Jedi victory there," posed Qui-Gon.

Rain snorted. "Jedi Victory? Is that what you think Ruusan was?"

Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't it?"

Rain shook her head. "You stupid, ignorant Jedi. Ruusan was a Sith victory, one of the greatest they ever had. Tell me, whom do you think it was that lured Kaan into using the Thought bomb?"

Qui-Gon goes still, eyes going wide. "You can't be serious."

"I am," said Rain.

Qui-Gon opened his mouth, but Rain cut him off harshly, jabbing a finger in his direction. "I. Was. There. What do you not understand? I felt the Thought Bomb activate and... and you have no idea what it was like to sense that. I was there when Bane gloated about it, what did he call it? 'Kaan's smartest decision'?"

Both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan look nauseous at her words.

Siri merely hums. "Clever bastard, wasn't he?"

"Oh you have no idea," agreed Rain.

"Would you be willing to explain that before the Council?" asked Qui-Gon, voice sour with disgust at Bane's act of treachery.

Rain made a disgruntled face. "Not if they are going to poke and pester and very obviously go off topic and pry at me for other reasons again. I'll talk to one or two of them, but I'm not doing that huge session again."

Qui-Gon nods. "Very well, I will contact..."

They all pause when they feel a storm of emotion heading their way fast. Qui-Gon's expression pinches, "Would you please excuse yourselves to my room for a minute?"

Not interested on being on the receiving end of a Supernova temper-tantrum, Siri takes Rain's holocron, the gatekeeper fading back into it, Obi-Wan sighing and going as well, both quieting their presence in the Force. Doesn't mean Siri wasn't going to eavesdrop though, so she stays near the door. She heard the main door open and Anakin come barreling in. She heard what sounded close to a tackle hug and a resounding 'omph' from Qui-Gon.

"Anakin?" asked Qui-Gon almost to softly to hear.

"I hate them," spat out Anakin, sounding frustrated and hurt, "So much."

"A Jedi does not hate," instructed/scolded Qui-Gon before he sighed, "Have the other padawans and initiates been bothering you again?"

Obi-Wan turned his head to mouth. 'Again'?

Siri shook her head and mouthed back 'Don't know'.

"Yes!" exclaimed Anakin, "They just won't stop! Saying I'm not a Jedi, that I feel too much. That I'll turn bad just because I hang out with Siri. If... if slavery ever comes up as a topic anywhere and I'm around, everyone just looks at me like... like..."

"I'd say they are the ones not acting to the standards of the Jedi," said Qui-Gon gently, stopping his outburst, "And while you do feel more openly than most Jedi, it doesn't make you a bad person, Anakin. They should be more understanding that you come from a different background than them."

She could practically feel Qui-Gon frown from the other room. "While I personally do not approve of your friendship with Tachi for my own reasons-"

Siri rolled her eyes.

"-, just by knowing or interacting with someone who has-had... fallen, does not make you fallen as well. I know this more than they do," said Qui-Gon.

Obi-Wan winced beside her, while Siri crossed her arms. Not-so-subtle reference to Xanatos right there.

"I just...," struggled Anakin, "I just wished they stop. Wished they stopped telling me to 'let go' when I talk about home and mom..."

There is something in Qui-Gon's presence that shifts the moment the last word leaves Anakin's mouth, a faint agitation and frustration. "There is truth in that, that a Jedi does need to let go and move on. The past should not be forgotten, but we cannot let it rule us."

That gets a return sensation of the exact same thing from Anakin, and for a moment, both Master and Apprentice are clearly at odds. Siri wonders if they are glaring at eachother.

"Now, didn't you say before class that you were working on a project you wanted me to look at?" posed Qui-Gon in a very obvious maneuver to change Anakin's focus, "How about we go to your room and you show me?"

Siri and Obi-Wan slip out after the Master-Padawan pair move to the younger's room, escaping to the hallways.

"Hmph, so that's why he has no friends then," mused Siri.

Obi-Wan frowned at her. "No friends?"

"I asked him once why he continued to pester me when he could hang out with his friends, his response was that he didn't have any," said Siri, frowning, "I didn't press on him as to why that was."

Obi-Wan sighed, shaking his head. "I knew he was having difficulties fitting in, but... I thought that had resolved."

"Or, he stopped bothering and gave up, just sticking with his lineage and me," pointed out Siri.

"That's not...," Obi-Wan stops short, frustrated, before sighing, "The Order is supposed to be our friends and family."

"To you, perhaps," said Siri, "But he already had those before he came here, and its obvious hes not finding that readily here."

Obi-Wan slowly shook his head. "He needs to be able to at least have a respectable working relationship with other Jedi, hiding away in the apartment and only dealing with those he likes isn't going to help with that."

Siri shrugged. "Neither of us are his master."

"No," agreed Obi-Wan softly, "We're not."

Siri goes back to her own apartment, figuring she'll be bothered later by Jedi wanting to speak to Rain about Ruusan, speaking of Rain...

The girl manifests, her image flickering in, a contemplating look on her face. "That boy..."

Siri sat on the couch. "What about him?"

"He is powerful," mused Rain, "And there are mistakes being made that you could so very easily exploit."

"I'm not interested in turning him," said Siri flatly.

"But it looks like it would be so easy! Isolation makes such a perfect target. If he feels alienated by the Jedi, its a situation begging to be exploited," whined Rain, "Its literally 'turning someone 101'. Isolate them from their peers, whether through your own efforts, or manipulating how they perceive others, and it makes them so much more reliant on the ones who they do turn to. If the one they are reliant on is a Sith..."

"I'm not," snarled Siri seriously, "Interesting in turning him."

"Have you ever bothered," asked Rain flatly, "To meditate on the potential of him as a Sith? How incredible he could be?"

Siri shrugged. "Not deeply, I just decided I'd rather him not."

"Moron."

"Bitch."

"Do it," said Rain hungrily, "Meditate on it, tell me what you see, what you feel."

"Prying the future has never been my strong suite," said Siri dryly.

"No," agreed Rain, "But you will never know if you never try."

Siri sighed, but complied, if only to shut her up about the subject. She's not blind, that there is something in Anakin that does call to the dark in her, but it is not something she wants. She does wonder though, for a moment, despite having a feeling that it was an absolutely terrible idea, how deep that boy's darkness, his pain and suffering of his past went. She considers if Sidious has bothered to shroud Skywalker's potential and future by the Veil, considering that he tried to have the boy killed. She considers it for a long moment before shrugging and settling down to meditate. She peers into the Force, into the darkness, and asked the Dark Side what his potential was.

Then the Dark Side answered.

"KHOOOOH PUUUHRR."

Every single hair on the back of Siri's neck stood up, a chill ran down her spine, she reflexively slammed up every single mental shield and braced herself in the Force as if she were about to enter a battle to the death against a foe she could not win against. The sound of mechanized breathing filled the air, and the room disappeared. She stood in utter darkness, and standing at a distance, almost masked by the darkness around them, was no teenage Skywalker, but a towering behemoth, a dark titan in a suit with a death mask, pain and suffering and anguish and grief orbited him, his hatred, his self-hatred, so palpable that it sent tremors down her arms.

She stood before him, and she knew fear. A fear she only ever had known towards Sidious, and perhaps her Master's Master in memories lost to her.

If Skywalker falls, if he becomes this...

She's dead.

She feels it in her bones.

She thinks it in her thoughts.

She gets that sense from the Force.

Its something that the Force just smacks her with.

If he becomes this, she knows she will die.

When she opens her eyes, Rain is looking at her in expectation, but that look slowly fades into wariness, because the only thing on Siri's face...

...is fear.

Fear.

Its been several years since Sidious felt even a smidgen of it, if only for a short time where he fought his Master over Tachi, and such a circumstance deserved that response. This? Skywalker walking into his office for a 'chat'? It shouldn't have sparked the emotion, at all. It infuriates him, a flicker of self-hatred before he smothers it. The boy has no reason to suspect him as Force Sensitive, let alone Sith. He will have no reason to even consider that abominable power to rip away the Dark Side. Yet...

It still gives Sidious goosebumps when the abomination sits across from him. "Ah Anakin, I was hoping you'd be able to come."

Skywalker gives a small smile, strained. "I'm a little surprised they let me out of the temple at all after-after the Sith tried to kill me."

Sidious gives him a false-sympathetic smile. "I am sorry about your arm, Anakin, how is the chest wound?"

"I'm mostly off any breathing support," said Anakin before scowling, "Unless I breath in some nasty stuff. Was helping down in the hanger last week, fumes sent me back to the Halls of Healing for a few hours. It'll be awhile before its fully gone, which is okay I guess since I wanted to go with keeping my lung and letting it heal rather than getting a replacement, mechanical or donated."

He fidgeted with his mechanical arm. "Its already hard enough to deal with this thing, can't imagine having a mechanical lung that I'd need to be cut open for to adjust."

Sidious's eyes carefully spot fear-anxiety on the boys face. His shields are oddly stronger than they were before, reinforced. He can still feel some of the boys emotions, which leads him to believe the Jedi had prompted to boy to improve them to deal with his struggles leaking all over the place through the Force. Oh yes, Vosa's attempt hadn't killed him, but the boy was maimed, and was mentally/emotionally impacted by it. Good, good, it would make him easier to kill. Though, he's starting to believe he's going to have to personally do the deed at some point.

"It would be a trial," agreed Sidious, "One I am thankfully that you do not have to face."

Anakin smiles, relaxing a little.

"Now, pleasantries aside, I want to pick your brain about something," said Sidious.

Anakin blinked. "About what?"

"The Council's report on the matter is rather... unclear, vague," said Sidious, "On what you did with Tachi that resulted in her return from the Dark Side."

"Oh, that," said Anakin dismissively.

Dismissively?!

He acted as if it were a trifle, unimportant matter!

"Well...," said Anakin, "I just did my own version of what Ur-Manka did. I read his journal that Siri kept in the old room in that compound..."

"I'm sorry, what?" asked Sidious, startled.

Anakin blinked a few times. "Umm... Siri had apparently hidden Siolo Ur-Manka's journal in her room in the Sith Compound in the works. It detailed a lot of their time together before... before Siri killed him."

Sidious blanks for a long moment.

HOW. WAS. THAT. MISSED?

Likely the same blasted way Tachi had hidden the Schimitar, damn Zannah for teaching beyond his demands of her.

He reigns in his fury. "I see, such a source of intelligence happened to slip by the mention of the Council."

Anakin winces a bit. "Ah... umm..."

Sidious waves his hand. "No no, I'm not blaming you, I thank you for the information. Even if it focused on a Siri Tachi years out of date, the knowledge would have been... interesting to know. So then, what did he, and you, do?"

"Well, I kinda tricked Siri a bit," said Anakin, grinning, "She was greedy for my power, so I gave her a little, but by doing so, to take it into herself, she had to let me through her shields. Then, I used the power she'd taken in to just yank her out of the Dark Side, kind of hurt her a bit, but no one else was giving her a reason to even try to leave it."

Sidious takes a moment to process that before something relaxes. "So if she hadn't let you in..."

"Probably wouldn't have happened."

And just like that, any fear Sidious had washes away. Sidious would never trust Skywalker, as he was or even as a Sith Apprentice, into his own mind. This slave rat will never threaten Sidious's access to the Dark Side. The only way he would get in is if he forced his way in, and Sidious would likely be dying at that point anyway if someone could get into his head without him just killing them. Good, good, how fortunate how his problems resolved themselves.

"Yet she didn't simply just start using the Dark Side again?" asked Sidious, curious.

"I gave her a challenge," said Anakin, "To see if she can decide what she wants with her life without anyone, or the Force, trying to influence the decision. That is the greatest gift anyone can have. The freedom to choose. So many people take it for granted... I know better."

Sidious considers him for a moment.

Then he considers Tachi.

He wants to howl with laughter.

Tachi will choose the Dark Side.

Will choose the Sith.

Will choose Sidious.

If only to try to kill him.

Tachi's hatred of Sidious is so all encompassing and poisonous that she can't truly help herself. She will return to the Dark Side at some point, Sidious has no doubt of that. Though, he might need to give her a bit of prompting at some point. He finds himself amused, by how so easily Tachi was deceived, so greedy for the power coursing through Skywalker that she fell right for a trap. Sidious wont be making that mistake. Not with this abomination in front of him.

Since the boy isn't as dire a threat as Sidious had initially assumed, he will still cultivate a 'relationship' in the event of Tachi falling through, but ideally, Skywalker will die horrifically at some point. That would be the preferred outcome. If Skywalker cannot survive the traps and dangers Sidious sends his way, then he doesn't deserve to be his apprentice. Though... Sidious was loath to waste a continual and free source of information that didn't know any better on what spilled out of his mouth. Hrm... he'd have to meditate on it he supposed.

He idly wonders how Yoda tore the dark from Darth Zannah's Holocron. Perhaps, since it was only a fragment of the original soul, willingness was inconsequential? "I'm also curious, and admittedly agitated about, the... split off from the Jedi Order and the resulting political disaster. Were you there when it happened?"

Anakin shook his head. "No, I was in class."

A shadow crosses his face, and very real hate dances across his Force Presence. "But I was there when C'Baoth tried to force his padawan to leave with him, treated her like she was his slave."

He takes a moment to savor that hatred. Its such a delicious treat. When Skywalker is like this, its so hard to stick to his mindset to just kill-off the boy if he isn't useful. That Skywalker is the pathetic, to easy path. The darkness in him is just so delectable. "I'm sorry, could you explain that? I was under the impression..."

Anakin cuts him off, angry. "He tried to pressure her through the Force to obey him!"

"Like a mind trick?"

"No," said Anakin flatly, "Like actual mind control. Mind Trick's I've been told only really work on the weak minded. He had an in to her head through the training bond, and was... he just..."

The boy is practically choking on his anger. Sidious frowns intently. "I see... the reports I've been given so far had led me to believe that relations between the Republic and the so called 'Confederacy' might be amicable."

Anakin shakes his head, frowning. "Did they not...? I mean... I've heard my Master and Grandmaster talking about it. They think C'Baoth is either a Sith, or heading that way. I wouldn't trust any of them."

"That," said Sidious sharply, feigning irritation and frustration, "Is not something I've been told of."

"I mean... I don't think they have proof," said Anakin, uncomfortable.

Sidious sighed, letting a flicker of exasperation float off his presence. "And of course, the Jedi being what they are, won't make a claim without proof to back it up. Still... I respect their opinions enough to have at least considered the warning. This continual lack of trust between the Jedi and my office is starting to become a frustration. I understand, after what the Sith manipulation of the Senate that they revealed that they don't trust the institution, but have I done anything these last four years but give my support?"

"Do they truly think so little of me?" asks Sidious, feigning helplessness.

Oh the boy was so easy to play, how readily he comes to Sidious's defense, telling him how great he's been, as a personal friend and a politician (not that the boy really understood politics). Oh if only Tachi had been so easy... then again, that would have ruined his enjoyment of punishing her defiance, and the challenge of it. Still, he has another thirty or so minutes of this session with Skywalker, so he settles in to dig his claws deeper and deeper into the little slave rat...

Review Responses:

Pivom9co: Siri and Ventress are likely to be master and apprentice, but Ventress isn't going to be Dooku's padawan. No comment on her eventual fate.

Truth: I do believe the phrase is 'The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions'. Which will describe most of the Confederacy until shit starts becoming openly dark. I know almost nothing about the Zann, weren't aware they even existed before you mentioned it, so IDK. Its less burn-out on A:HoP and more I have to many stories going at once, some that I enjoy more at the moment. Maybe a little burn-out, IDK.

M1dnight217: Such an adorable little sociopath. Pinch her cheeks, go ahead! :stab stab:

DarkSideVortex: I actually intend for Grevious to stay in his normal non-cyborg form. I have someone else in mind for being the Cybord Psychopath. Here is a spoiler/hint, the person in question has already been introduced into the story, though hasn't been modified yet, can you guess who it will be?

Nerdman3000: Zannah won't regain her adult form for a long while yet, mid 'Clone Wars' ish, during a certain part of it, care to hazard a guess as to when/where? :D.

Everyone else: Thanks for the comments.