There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

It took Maul a while to make substantial progress in repairing his relationship with his apprentice. In all likelihood, the feat was only managed because of his willingness to occasionally leave Tatooine and assist the Rebel Alliance on their missions.

Maul was rather grateful for the break in mediocrity these missions offered and his occasional opportunity to teach Ezra to hone his true strength was often the only thing he looked forward to aside from the revenge the chosen one potentially offered.

Aside from that, things had gotten rather confusing in the past year.

There had always been a great deal of respect that Maul held for Obi-Wan; his battle skills and strength in the Force were impressive, after all. This was something Maul found difficult to make sense of, when pitted against the fact that Obi-Wan tended, now more than ever, to not use that strength for anything. Because of that, the two of them clashed the most on one particular subject: complacency.

The subject was a difficult one to talk through, for both Force users. Neither would be able to say that they hadn't made quite a lot of choices in their lives that led to ignorance, deliberate or not. Neither would be able to say they wanted to continue making choices in the same vein. Still, their methods of coping with that past and changing in the present were radically different.

It was Obi-Wan's decision to watch over the chosen one with little to no interference until fate came to collect him, and there were many reasons why this seemed the correct path to him. To begin with, he had been instructed to do so - though that alone would never be enough. Adding on top of that was his own life experience; Anakin should not have been trained as he was. Obi-Wan did not intend to take another apprentice, it would only endanger Luke and give away their position, and Obi-Wan had already proved that he was unable to teach others how not to give in to the dark side. It would simply do more harm than good to try training Luke, especially now that he was a teenager.

It was Maul's protest that they ought instead to begin the chosen one's training as soon as possible. Maul knew Sideous very well, he'd known him most of his life, and there was simply no getting around the immense power the Sith Lord possessed. Regardless of how powerful the chosen one may end up being, Sideous had many abilities that could only be attained through training, intelligence, and endless ambition. In spending so much time chasing after Obi-Wan, Maul had done nothing as Sideous' power grew beyond imagination. As far as he was concerned, allowing Luke to fight Sideous without training him first would be equivalent to handing him over to the Emperor as a Life-day gift.

That said, Maul did not intend to train Luke himself, so he was simply left frustrated at Obi-Wan's reluctance to engage. It seemed as though there was nothing he could do about it, but Maul was not someone who gave up. Too much was it risk. If Luke did not succeed, then there would be no hope of ever getting revenge on Sideous, and Maul absolutely could not allow that under any circumstance, much less a circumstance he was involved in creating.

This was going to be the worst experience of his life, he already decided. He hadn't even begun the plan, and yet it was already a living nightmare. Just the thought made Maul feel sick. But he'd run all the calculations over in his head as many times as he could, meditated on it, gave it time to develop into something else, and this was all he had if he wanted Sideous' death.

When Maul returned from a mission for the Rebel Alliance and found Obi-Wan meditating on the ground, he steeled himself.

"Kenobi. I want you to instruct me in the ways of the Jedi and the light side of the Force."

Obi-Wan immediately broke out of his trance, staring blankly up at his old enemy and blinking a few times before squinting at him incredulously. "Any power you hope to gain using the light side of the Force will not come to a mind clouded by ambition."

Taking a deep breath, Maul stepped over the threshold and sat on the floor, mirroring Obi-Wan's position perfectly. If this didn't work, he was never going to live it down. In fact, he was never going to live it down, even if it did. Drastic times called for humiliating measures, though. Maul had been through quite a lot, and surely he could live through this. "'There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.' All I know of the Jedi are pretty words and promises of keeping the peace; expansive weaknesses that amounted to nothing, in the end. Nothing, but you."

Maul slowly closed his eyes, allowing his mind to open to Obi-Wan. Just enough to let him see how he perceived Obi-Wan; powerful, witty, intelligent, beautiful and perfect in every way except for that he followed the Jedi code and was, as a result, emotionally muted and perhaps silenced often enough that his unwillingness to speak in a straightforward or honest way developed as a defense. Still, even now that he has grown old and has been weighed down by terrible things, he follows his code and it never compromises his strength.

Sensing that Obi-Wan had received the information he wanted him to receive and retreated, Maul comfortably allowed his mind to close back up, though his defenses stayed on the lower side, to project a feeling of trust. "I have no interest in how the Jedi taught their Padawans. They are dead. Tell me of the Jedi ways, as you interpreted them. Sway me to the light side of the Force."

Instinctively, Obi-Wan thought that was a terrible idea. However, once he searched his feelings, he found that the instinct was not from his attunement to the Force, but rather a mistrust of Maul's intentions. He just doesn't understand what Maul stands to gain from it. The light side of the Force is not about gaining things, and one cannot use it for unintended purposes, it isn't even possible. More than likely, Maul would make an attempt and fail miserably, and then blame it on his teaching or the illogic of the Jedi code as a whole.

The Force had something else to say, though. Maul had let him into his mind, and Obi-Wan had felt so many things that he didn't expect- positive things that, if allowed to, could potentially prosper into truth and balance. Granted, those things were a bit hard to see through all the resentment and hatred, but that particular fog was oddly thin in some areas. Perhaps Maul truly did want to understand.

Certainly, there wasn't much to lose.

With a healthy amount of caution to allow Maul to change his mind, Obi-Wan leaned forward the slightest bit, placing his hands atop Maul's. "Very well. I will teach you."