Maul was excited. He couldn't remember the last time he had actually felt excited. They were about to land on Dathomir and he would be able to start the girl's force training. He was curious what abilities he would be able to unlock in her. He would have to be brutal, cruel even, to unlock her full potential. He just needed to be careful. She was brimming with power and he didn't want to risk her losing control and killing him.

He made his way to her chambers and knocked on the door. He heard shuffling from inside, and eventually the door opened revealing a bruised and groggy Arya. As ragged as she looked, she was dressed, and Maul could tell that she had washed herself. He was pleased. She looked up at him with disdain, but her face quickly changed to a blank expression. He turned away from her and started walking down the corridor towards the control room.

"Follow me." He said.

"Yes master." Arya said, wincing.

Good. Maul thought. She called me master. Maybe the beating she received yesterday humbled her a little bit.

When they entered the control room, Arya noticed that the window through which she watched her world fade away now contained a curious scene. It looked as if they were traveling through a tunnel made of blue light.

"What is that?" she asked.

"We are traveling through hyperspace." Maul replied. "It is an extremely fast form of travel and makes traversing the galaxy possible. We have been traveling through hyperspace for about three days now. Your world was in Wild Space, just outside the edges of the known galaxy while my planet resides in the Outer Rim of the galaxy almost completely on the other side. This is one of the longest stretches of hyperspace I have ever traveled."

"How far is that?" Arya asked.

"Farther than your mind can comprehend at the moment. But I brought you here because I wanted you to witness my planet when we come out of hyperspace. It should be in a few moments." Maul gestured to the window.

Arya watched through the window as Maul sat in the central chair and pressed a few controls. The blue tunnel faded in an instant, and Arya was immediately bathed in an ominous red glow. A planet that looked as if it had been dipped in blood appeared directly in front of their ship. Arya could feel herself flood with energy from the planet.

"Why is it red?" She asked.

"Dathomir orbits around a star much older than your own sun. Therefore, the star glows red, and has been red for millions of years." Maul basked in the glow of the planet. It had been years since he had set foot on it. But it was steeped in dark magic and would be a good place to really push the boundaries of the girl's abilities.

"I can feel power from the planet." Arya said. "I don't know how I know it's from the planet. I just…the moment we left hyperspace, I could feel a power and a connection in the direction of Dathomir." Arya looked up at Maul.

Maul started for a moment, and then regained his composure before Arya caught on. How can she feel the planet's power? We haven't even gone through its atmosphere yet. The girl was so strong, he would need to get used to her having an acute awareness of things, or her doing things that he found unnatural. So, he acted as if the this was normal.

"Good." He said. "That is because the planet is filled with force magic. A tribe of women used to reside here called the Nightsisters. They practiced the dark secrets of the force and controlled this planet for a time." Maul seemed sad as he said this.

"What happened to them?" Arya seemed generally interested.

"They were slaughtered by the Sith in their pursuit of power and galactic control." He tightened his hands on the controls of the ship as he said this. "And that, is part of my own personal revenge. Surely, you can understand." Arya simply nodded as she looked out of the window.

They remained in silence, each lost in thought as Maul landed his ship in the middle of a large valley thick with vegetation. When the ship touched down, Maul told Arya to go and make preparations, for they would be spending most of their time on the planets surface. She hurried back to her room and brought back with her a pack filled with spare clothes and needle. Even though she looked forward to her own lightsaber, it felt wrong to not have Needle with her.

She followed Maul down the landing of his ship and immediately got woozy.

"Your legs are getting used to solid ground again. The artificial gravity of my ship is still no match for the real thing. Plus, the gravity of Dathomir is not exactly equivalent to the gravity of your own planet. Do not worry. The feeling will fade." Maul began to walk toward a small hut Arya hadn't noticed. The hut was hard to pick out through the vegetation and trees that surrounded it. As they approached the hut, Arya was slightly confused because the hut from the outside looked like it could barely fit one person, let alone the two of them. As soon as she entered the hut however, she understood. There was a bed in the corner, but Maul had lifted up one side of it revealing a hidden passageway below.

"Dathomir used to be home to the Nightsisters, as well as the Nightbrothers, of which I was one." Maul began as they descended and walked through the dark tunnel. "While they have been destroyed, there still may be other lifeforms on the planet that could make things unpleasant for us. When I resided on this planet I needed a place to practice my skills in secret and without distraction, so I built my own training area underground in the heart of this jungle." Arya watched as the tunnel ended and an enormous chamber opened up around them. There were holes carved in the roof to allow natural light in, although to Arya the red light still felt unnatural. The floor was flat and spanned nearly three hundred feet in either direction. There were piles of rocks and boulders sprinkled around the chamber, which Arya found curious.

"Set down your things." Maul commanded. Arya obeyed immediately.

"One of the most important skills you can learn, is how to conceal your connection to the force. I'm sure by now you have been able to sense me, or at least sense my connection with the force?" he asked this as a question, but he knew what the answer would be. If she could feel the planet's power before they even landed on it, she would be able to sense his own power when they were in the same room.

Arya thought about it and realized that Maul was right. She didn't know how to describe it, but she could feel his presence, and when he was standing right next to her there was no doubt in her mind that Maul was a powerful force user.

"I can feel your power." She said "Although, I did not know that is what it was until now."

"Good." Maul said "So, you can see how problems would arise if you needed to infiltrate a place where a Jedi, or a Sith would be present. They would be able to sniff you out in mere seconds. I have not been able to shut out your own connection with the force since I picked you up on your home planet. But that is about to change. My former master was one of the greatest at concealing himself among enemies. So great that he commonly had dealings with the Jedi Council, a council of the most powerful Jedi known to the galaxy, and remained undetected. This is the skill most useful to us, as our plans require us to move in the shadows and not show ourselves until absolutely necessary."

As he said this he walked around Arya in a circle. She could feel his presence. She watched him with her eyes, and when he walked behind her she still knew exactly where he was. It was like being watched when you aren't looking. For some reason you can feel the stare and know where the person watching is. It was a similar feeling, only stronger as she could track Maul's every step without looking. But suddenly, she couldn't. His presence vanished from her mind. She turned around quickly, and he wasn't there. She turned back around and jumped. Maul was standing directly in front of her.

"How did you do that?" She asked "Your presence vanished in my mind. A presence that I have felt since you found me on my home world."

"I suppressed my connection to you with the force." Maul said "I lessened my connection with the living things around me to make myself undetectable. Right now, you are the only living thing near me, so I weakened my connection to you. You will need to learn how to do this if any of our plans are to work."

"What do I need to do?" Arya asked.

"Have you ever tried to be someone else?" Maul smiled as he said this remembering the girl's disguise on her home world. Arya started and looked up at him. "I have a feeling you may excel in this area." He said. "Your training in disguises is quite extensive. If you hadn't had so much force energy pouring off of you, I very well may have mistaken you for a large male the night I found you. What you need to learn to do is disguise the force within yourself. Feel your connection to me and weaken it. Through the force you can discern what is alive and what is not. Sever your connection to the living things. This will make you invisible to a Jedi or a Sith who would normally be able to detect you."

Maul must have stopped trying to hide his presence from Arya because all at once it washed over her again and she knew exactly where he was. She began to walk in a circle around Maul. She could feel the connection between them, and so she focused hard. She thought about being someone else. Someone who couldn't manipulate the force. She thought about being Arya Stark. But no, Arya Stark DID have a connection to the force. A strong connection.

"You are making your presence even more potent. Focus!" Maul yelled. His eyes were closed, but he continued to turn and face Arya as she circled him. He knew exactly where she was.

Arya quickly got ahold of herself and changed tactics. She remembered her decision to finally accept the fact that she was a Stark of Winterfell and not simply no one. But, maybe she could be both at different times. Maybe being no one right now would help her in this particular situation. So, she focused again. She focused on being a blank canvas on which to paint any person. This was the same process she used when she prepared to wear the face of another individual. She became no one. She had no ties or allegiances. She had no identifying factors. She had no connection to the force or anything living thing around her. She would blend in so well that no one would look twice. She would be nearly invisible, while still remaining visible. Arya let these thoughts wash over her as she walked silently around her master.

"Yes. Yes!" Maul's eyes were still closed but he was no longer turning to face Arya. He couldn't sense her anymore. His eyes opened and turned to find Arya standing behind him. Her own eyes shut in concentration. "Good child. You can reveal yourself to me again."

With that, Arya opened her eyes and stopped concentrating. Maul nearly staggered when her presence washed back over him. "You did well child." He said. "But, you are concentrating so hard to conceal yourself that you are unable to do anything else. You may need to move quickly to escape a situation or fight a skilled enemy while still keeping your presence hidden. I don't know what you did to hide yourself from me just now, but practice that until it becomes second-nature to you. Until you can hide yourself without even having to think about it."

"Yes master." Arya said, brimming with pride.

"Now, I will teach you how to move objects with the force." Maul said.

Arya watched Maul excitedly. This was something that she had been waiting to learn ever since Maul ripped a tree out of the ground on the night they met.

Maul began to walk to the center of the chamber with his arms held wide, slowing spinning and gesturing all around himself. "The force" he began loudly, "is all around us. It flows through us and through all living things. Through the force, we can feel our connections to everything around us. If we focus our attention on one of the connections in particular, we find that we can manipulate the object at the end of that connection." As he said this, he reached out for a small rock about twenty feet from him and the rock lifted gracefully in the air. Maul closed his fingers into a fist and then opened them quickly making the rock shoot across the chamber and shatter against the far wall.

"Now" he said continuing," our connections with any objects through the force is absolute and equal. It is only our minds that convince us that we cannot connect with larger objects the way we can connect with smaller objects. A man may be able to physically pick up a small rock, but the limitations of his physical self will not allow him to pick up a large boulder. This is not so with the force. If we can control our minds and truly focus with the force, we will find that we can move the large boulder, as easily as we can move the small rock." With that, he held out his hand and reached out with the force towards a large boulder and threw it across the chamber as easily as he did with the small rock.

"Try to move any of the rocks in your vicinity." Maul pointed to the pebbles surrounding Arya.

Arya felt along the ground with her mind and was unsurprised to find she could sense the pebbles at her feet. She singled one out and focused on the connection between her and the pebble, reaching out with her hand as she did so. Once she felt she had a grip on it with her mind, she lifted her hand. To her surprise, and Maul's, the pebble lifted with it. She was so surprised that she was successful on her first try, that she lost focus and dropped it.

"Verrry good." Maul's twisted and sinister smile blossomed on his face. "Not many are able to manipulate objects with the force so quickly. Come, try one of the boulders."

Arya looked past Maul to a row of boulders, each roughly the size of her. She took a step to walk over to them, but Maul held up a hand.

"The space between you and the object has little to do with the effectiveness of your manipulation of it." He said.

Arya stopped and stared for a moment. The pebble had seemed easy. It was tiny, and right in front of her. This task seemed far more challenging. But, she was determined to learn this skill, so she remained where she was and probed the surroundings with her mind again. There were the pebbles scattered around her. Then there was Maul. She continued moving her mind along the ground until it came across one of the massive boulders. She felt the connection. She felt the weight and the size of the boulder. How could she lift this thing? She held out her hand and really felt the connection. And then she noticed something. Maul was right. The connection between her and the boulder was the same as it was between her and the pebble. In fact, if she hadn't known it was a boulder before she searched for it, she could have mistaken it for another pebble. She looked at the boulder and pretended it was a pebble. If she could convince herself she was someone else at times, she could convince herself that this boulder was a pebble. She raised her hand, and this time she was not surprised as the boulder lifted off the ground. She swung her hand and let go of the connection. The boulder flew to the far wall. Maul stood there gaping.

"I…I didn't expect you to be able to do that." He admitted. "You're giving me very little to teach. But that is good. It means your power is great and there are things you may learn that extend beyond even my range of abilities. Let's try one more thing."

With that he picked up a boulder with the force and held it in the air between himself and Arya. Arya watched the boulder curiously when suddenly it cracked in half.

"What I just did requires an immense amount of skill to master. To not only manipulate an object's location, but to manipulate the object itself requires passion to fuel your connection. For me, the hatred of my former master is enough to strengthen my connection and split that boulder in two. Now, you try. And as you try, I will attempt to stir up as much hatred in you as possible." Maul paused a moment. "You will not like this, but if successful, you will have a valuable skill at your disposal. Begin."

Arya felt the surroundings once again and easily picked up the boulder.

"Now, split it in two." Maul commanded.

Arya concentrated as hard as possible to crack the boulder in half, but nothing happened. "You are not trying hard enough. Channel your hatred into the boulder itself. Cause it to break!" Maul yelled.

Arya thought of being beaten and left to die. She thought of all the people she had met that wanted to kill her. She channeled all that hatred into the boulder and still, it persisted.

"Let us try another method." Maul said.

While Arya was concentrating on the boulder, Maul probed her mind and found exactly what he was looking for. Arya's decapitated brother with a wolf head sown in place of his own. A glimmer of shock and sympathy ran through Maul, but he repressed it. He thought of a scenario with this memory that would be most effective to stir up hatred, and then projected that scenario for Arya in her mind.

Arya was confused. One second she was attempting to crack a boulder in two with her mind, and the next second she was in her old room at Winterfell. She could tell it wasn't real. That it was all in her head. But it felt real nonetheless. She was crying but couldn't remember why. He brother Robb walked into her room. Rob! It felt good to see him again. The warmth she felt at seeing someone she loved alive comforted her so much she began crying even harder.

"Hello little wolf." Robb said. "Why are you crying?" he wrapped Arya in the warmest embrace she could ever remember feeling.

"You're all dead. You, father, mother. Probably the others as well." She began to sob as her loneliness was now fully realized. She buried her head into her brother's cloak. He felt so real.

"We may be gone. But we're always with y—" Robbs voice cut out with a violent gurgle. Arya felt something warm and wet drip onto her head. She looked up and screamed. It was still Robb, but his corpse with the wolf head. Blood was seeping in between the stitches and onto her. She was struck with shock and horror. Suddenly Robb became Maul, and then the rest of the daydream fell apart around him. She was still on Dathomir trying to split a boulder in two. Maul was still watching her, and he was smiling. Arya's shock and horror began to change. A new-found hatred so powerful it almost hurt began to blossom within her.

"Use that hatred. Use it to destroy the boulder." Maul said from beside her.

So that is how it would be? She thought. Maul would toy with her emotions to get her to react the way he wanted. Fine then. She would show him just how broken and full of hate she really was. She began to growl in anger. Her growl turned into a scream as she felt for the connections of all the stones in the cavern. Pebbles, rocks, and boulders all began to lift off the ground at once and circle around Arya. Maul's eyes grew wide and he attempted to subdue her with the force as he had done on his ship in the training room. Only, nothing happened. Arya continued to scream as her entire body was racked with pain from the hatred she was feeling, so she channeled it into the stones. Every last ounce of anger poured out of her at once and with a sudden boom of power, every single stone turned to dust.

Arya passed out.