Looking up from her milkshake glass, Vestara grinned coyly at Ben from across the table.
Ben returned her grin; but his smile was much more blissful and carefree. "What?" he asked. Even his tone sounded light.
"I'm just wondering, Ben," Ves said, "are you ever gonna drink that milkshake or do you want me to get fat on seconds?"
Ben looked back down at his drink. "Oh. Yes." He gave a light chuckle. "I forgot." He then mechanically picked the glass up and sipped from it before setting it back down on the tabletop in the same manner; he didn't even touch the straw that he could have sipped from.
"Close enough," she said with a raised eyebrow. She then took a sip from her own shake with the straw that was there.
The two of them were sitting in an ice cream parlor in Kesh's capital city of Tahv, with various other Sith around them who were seemingly minding their own business and enjoying their own scoops of ice cream or glasses of shakes.
However, as laid back as all these Sith seemed, they were all internally alert for the young Jedi Knight who was sitting across from one of their very own; if anything should happen—in other words, if Ben Skywalker were to suddenly stand up and try to resist his captivity—the Sabers and Tyros around the Jedi and Ves would be on hand to neutralize the threat promptly.
But as much as Ves appreciated their concern—even if that concern came more from the mandate of High Lord Workan himself than any actual sense of empathy these Sith may have held for Ves—she knew that there was virtually no chance that Ben would rise up.
The reason for Ben's compliant behavior, as it had been for the past several days since he arrived on Kesh, was because he was incredibly high on a combination of acid and marijuana. With that combined with the intimacy that Ves provided for him, he could probably be tortured seven ways to next week and not feel anything.
When Ves previously came to the Circle of Lords with her plan for Ben sometime after her departure from Hapes, they had all been skeptical.
"Even assuming that the Circle of Lords would accept the idea of a young Jedi walking free on Kesh, Tyro Khai," High Lord Workan had said, "how can you be so sure that your plan won't seriously damage his mind? He wouldn't be a useful Sith, after all."
"If I'm unsuccessful with my plan, and Skywalker's mind is scrambled beyond repair, my Lords," Ves had said, "I will accept any and all accountability for my failure and I will even kill him if I have to."
Surprisingly, the conversation that the Circle had among themselves didn't take long. In the end, Grand Lord Vol declared, "Tyro Khai, the Circle of Lords approves of your plan."
Not long after that, Ben had arrived to Kesh, where he was captured and taken into Ves's home.
Now, here he was, on a particular combination of drugs where he was being conditioned to accept his surroundings. Ves knew that her love and affection for him could only distract him for so long before the overwhelming feeling of the dark side of the Force that permeated the entirety of Kesh would have prompted him to turn even on her.
Of course, Ves knew that she had a challenge on her hands during her time with him on Hapes; when he had told her of his brief time on the ancient Sith world of Ziost during the Second Galactic Civil War, Ves realized it would take a lot more than her love to seduce him to the dark side.
"It was cloying, yet seductive," Ben had told her during one of their post-coital discussions in her Hapan apartment. "It felt destructive to my soul, yet I wanted it. I wanted it so badly; but in my heart of hearts, I knew I couldn't completely bring myself over to it. I couldn't do that to myself; not as a Jedi."
Ves had completely turned over to him and pulled her body closer to his. "Do you think that if you were to have stayed there any longer... you would have turned, Ben?"
He had looked back to her with a haunted stare. "I think I would have, Ves."
But Ziost was one thing, Ves knew; the permeating feeling of the dark side there was ancient and without form, like a force of nature. The dark side of the Force that permeated Kesh, on the other hand, though it had permeated for thousands of years, was alive and with so many to embody its power in every Force-sensitive member of the Lost Tribe of the Sith. One would think that would make the dark side feel that much more tempting to someone like Ben, but Ves wasn't foolish enough to believe that; even on Ziost, Ben found it within himself to fight back against the force of nature that was the dark side on that planet.
If he had been allowed to roam free on Kesh, he would have something tangible to fight back against in the form of the Lost Tribe itself. Oh, sure, he might not be able to fight for long, not against so many Lost Tribe members, before he got himself killed, but Ves knew that he wouldn't go down fighting.
But Ves didn't bring him here so that he could die; she brought Ben here to turn him. And to do that, he would need to undergo a long time of brainwashing, where his ingestion of drugs could better acquaint him with the feeling of the dark side that Kesh provided. Then, when Ves judged that the time would be right, he would be weened off the acid-marijuana combination like a toddler being weened off a formula bottle. When that happened, he could start down the path of embracing the dark side with his altered but sober mind.
And even after that, Ves will see to it that Ben wouldn't be completely sober; not only will he get back to drinking with her, but she, too, would always make sure that his love for her will make him completely forget his Jedi ways. In time, he would forget what it meant to abide by his duties as a Jedi Knight as he became a member of the Lost Tribe of the Sith.
But first, Ves thought, she had to make sure that he could consume a milkshake like a normal person; being high could only go so far as an excuse, she thought.
Ten minutes after they sat down with their shakes, they had just about finished them; and Ben had accidentally poured about a quarter of his own drink down his shirt toward the end of his consumption of it. He only giggled in his stupor; Ves couldn't help but share in that giggling.
But just before either of them could stop giggling, a pale Tyro suddenly and swiftly stood up from his seat near Ves and Ben's table and held his shikkar blade up to the latter's throat.
Nearly everyone, including Ves, stood up from where they sat and had their hands to the lightsabers on their belts. A long moment passed where everyone and everything seemed to be frozen in time.
The only person in the ice cream shop who barely responded was Ben; he was still acting as if he were passively dreaming.
"Ves?" he asked with concern; his tone was still ridiculously upbeat and oblivious to the threat posed to his life. "You want me to stand up, too?"
Ves looked up at the Tyro, a male her age named Dubloch Velk, before looking back down at Ben.
"No, it's fine, Ben; you sit there for as long as you like," she said.
"Okay," Ben replied.
Ves returned her gaze at Velk; he was looking back at her with evident contempt on his expression.
"He lost quite a bit of milkshake there," the Tyro said, pointing with his free hand to the mess on Ben's tunic. "I get a little upset at seeing that kind of waste, Ves. Sorry; I may have overreacted."
Ves could tell from Velk's Force-presence that that was merely an excuse; he just wanted to make sure that Ben wasn't faking his stupor. It seemed that Ben had satisfied Velk's little test.
"Apology accepted," Ves said as Velk calmly returned to his own table. Every other Sith also returned to their seats, as did Ves.
"I'll tell you what, Ben," Ves said as if nothing of note just happened, "how about I take you to a special place tomorrow?"
"Oh? Where would that be, Ves?"
"The very ship that brought us here: the Omen."