Author's notes: Sorry it took so long – real world sucks, besides, I had to stop singing songs from Phantom of the Opera to be able to focus on writing Star Wars. Heh, but anyway, here is the intermezzo.

Chocolate for everyone who can find out where I got the idea for Revan´s clothes!

By the way, votes for Exile's gender are officially over. Here are the results:

The results are in the favor of fem!Exile, so I have to oblige, as I promised. It's gonna be a female Exile. I have the name for her ready and I have chosen how she's gonna look like. But you'll have to wait a bit to find that out.

Dalis'ilhea – Oh, she knows about the conscience… she's just suppressing it when needed. Good idea – I should insure my fingers. Reviewers are pretty demanding, you know. Give ´em a finger and they eat your hand!

zazei– I wonder too. Kavar/Exile? Now there's an idea…

Cka3ka– whoa, triple review! Thanks – I try to make Revan original. Heh, the "LS mush" Revan quote made me laugh! And it's so true! Yeah, Malak´s betrayal and fall are much more convincing with a female Revan. Jolee made me laugh in the game, but despite his neutrality, it was clear he was no more Sith than Mission. Kreia was pretty much his counterpart and I actually liked her better, even though she was also a bit too obvious.

LadyHuntress – thank you very much for the kind words, I had hoped that my Revan character would be acceptable by others and a bit more unique than the usual Mary Sue head-over-heels with Carth character I seem to be encountering all over the fanfiction archives (all over the net). Thanks for the advice, fem!Exile it is.

Phht – I like leaving you guys confused – everything she does has a purpose, whatever way she chooses later on. Oh, I added Yuthura to the party on impulse, really, so I'm not sure what will happen. But to make you happy, I have decided what Revan´s gonna choose. (psst! It's the (alignment whitened) Side!)

Dark Lord Daishi – Hmm, Jorak is a loony, but I might let him take over. Not sure yet. The Sith from the Academy can be brats. Thanks and read on.

Brynn– Yuthura is one of my favorite characters – once I found out that you can actually redeem her, I don't think there has been one LS game in which I didn't do it. And the character has potential, with all the conflict. Um, I sent you this chapter and waited for a response, but either you didn't receive the email or didn't have time… either way, I decided to post it anyway.

X X X

Intermezzo VIII – Journey's End

X X X X

There's no chance for us, It's all decided for us
This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us
Who wants to live forever, Who wants to live forever?
Who dares to love forever?... When love must die

But touch my tears with your lips, Touch my world with your fingertips
And we can have forever, And we can love forever
Forever is our today

Queen, Who wants to live forever

X X X X

Revan impatiently paced back and forth in her chambers. Having to trade the Adamant – a first-class warship – for a simple diplomatic vessel like the Stargazer wasn't exactly her dream, but she thought that if some civilization was nearby, it would be better to not make them think they are being invaded.

Hyperspace travel proved to be long this time – the Forge was far from Manaan. Too far to take less than a week to get there. She spent most of the time locked in her chambers, finalizing the plans.

When the fateful day came, she was nervous – a rare state. Kreia´s words echoed in her mind. She didn't want to be disturbed until arriving at the Force, which she sensed very clearly, even against the background life of the universe.

A darkness, calling her name in an angelic voice which one could learn to love, become addicted to. If this was seduction, she wasn't giving in. She wasn't overwhelmed by the offerings of power. It was like the Trayus Academy – promising power, seducing Force users to the darkness. And each time it failed with her, it tried again, starting as a soft whisper, finishing as a powerful call.

Every time, she was the victor.

But the Star Forge seemed to be enjoying the challenge, waiting for her to break. It had no idea that that moment would never come.

Waves of awe and surprise came from all the corners of the Stargazer as they reached it at long last.

But then a wave of something lese hit her – and the ship shook violently, smashing Revan against the wall. Rushing to the communications console, she instantly hailed the bridge.

"What in Force's name is going on?" she growled at the captain.

"It's a disruptor field, Admiral." The captain quickly explained, "All systems are red, we have critical overloads."

"What's the nearest planet?" Revan snapped, her only concern finding a place to land.

"There's only one here, milord – it seems tropical."

"The field must be coming from there." Revan muttered. She raised her voice again, "Land there – the island where you're picking up only static."

The captain blanched completely. "B-but our hull may breach from the heat – and we have no idea what effects the atmosphere could have…"

"Would you prefer being space dust, captain?" He gulped, shook his head, nodded that he understood and ended the transmission.

Revan gripped the nearest piece of the wall tightly, focusing her power of holding the ship together.

The crash was slightly softened by the sea, but the capital ship was still very much destroyed, the hull breached by the impact, the hyperdrive and engines destroyed. The ship wasn't going anywhere soon.

Coughing in the dust, Revan scrambled to all fours, crawling through the wreckage until she managed to see sunrays. The level she was on was very damaged, but she managed to get out. Once she felt water beneath her, she slowly made her way to the shore – they weren't far from it.

At the sound of breaking glass, she turned her head to see Malak land in the water, also beat-up. Both had their robes soaked, covered with sand and torn – not as representative-looking as Revan might have hoped. Still, as long as they were stuck on the planet, it hardly mattered.

"Still in one piece?" Malak asked, for once without cynism.

Revan nodded curtly, "I'll live."

But both were bleeding in several places, though hopefully, no bones were broken. Revan assessed the situation and decided to tear the fabric of her already destroyed cape to stop the bleeding. Without the hood, the mask seemed strange, so she clipped it to her belt.

Meanwhile Malak glanced at the wrecked ship. Even a rookie mechanic could see that heap of junk was here to stay.

"Well, there goes our return ticket. Permanent vacation, then, Revan? You have it all here – sun, sea and a beach." He noted, though not completely sarcastic.

"We've survived worse. Besides, you know I hate hot climates. The more time I spend here, the more unpleasant I'm bound to become, so rethink that proposal."

"That's a no, then." He sighed. Making Revan behave unpleasantly wasn't wise, especially when she was completely soaked and irritated. "I'll see if I can get anything from the ship's storage room – some food, at least. No idea what easting things we find here might do to us."

Revan nodded, tucking strands of her now almost mahogany hair behind her ears – it was soaked, thus way darker than her usual golden-blonde, a mess and loose.

"That's a good idea. I'll check the shore for any sentient life signs."

"And greet them, like the Sand People?" he wasn't objecting, though. In fact, he seemed to be hoping to get a chance to slaughter someone, just to vent his own anger.

"Perhaps later – if anyone is here, they might have some information." She swiftly turned around, her arm shooting up as she caught a stun grenade through the Force.

About a hundred feet away stood probably the strangest kind of alien anyone could imagine. But the pair recognized it immediately – it looked like the Kashyyyk hologram. A Rakata.

Unlike the holo, however, this one didn't seem to be in the mood to talk. It charged at them with a primitive vibrosword.

It didn't even get one swing at them – Malak grabbed its arm, breaking it easily and as the creature struggled, he drained the life from it, healing his own wounds easily. He turned to see Revan sitting on one of the pieces of the ship, tearing her cape again. She then made a very swift motion with her hands, closing her eyes in pain.

Only then did his eyes travel to what she was holding – it was her own foot, free of the heavy boot, completely covered in blood. The ankle was twisted in an unusual way and she pulled at it again, half-successful in returning it to its normal position. The rest of the blood was now on the shred of her cloak – she was wiping it away almost carelessly.

"You said you were alright!" he almost yelled at her, silenced by her death-glare… or because he was preoccupied by inspecting her ankle.

Revan hissed like a wounded tuk´ata, but said nothing, merely wrapped what remained of her cloak around her foot, ignoring Malak´s protests, pulled her boot back on and, hissing slightly with every step, limped to the shore. By the time he caught up with her he could have easily found her by following the trail of Rakatan corpses.

He found her, finally, attempting to converse with some more Rakata, though there seemed to be a few linguistical issues – the ancient Rakata clearly had a slightly different dialect than these. But there seemed to be no language Revan couldn't master. In a minute, she smiled slightly and nodded to the Rakata, beckoning Malak to follow as the Rakata began walking somewhere.

"Care to explain why you torture yourself and then ally yourself with these goggle-eyed freaks you use for target practice?" he muttered, sparing her foot another glance.

"They are like bloodhounds – blood draws them. Or perhaps they thought they could take us prisoner. I made them kneel and now they think I'm one of their gods, so they asked me to come see the One – their leader. He might be able to help us." She frowned, "But this primitive communication bores me. Sign language on such a basic level. They didn't evolve over the millennia – quite the contrary. But they feel­… strange. Almost as if they were the pause in a symphony, as if they were translucent in a whirlpool of colors. As if…"

"…they were blind to the Force." Malak finished, "I sense it too. Strange that such a species would develop such a Force-strong object, isn't it?"

Revan nodded. "I'm not sure what to make of it. Perhaps the Temple will provide answers…"

"Temple?"

"Look to the east – you should see part of it." Indeed, there was a large stone structure, completely white, there. It seemed to generate power of some sort.

"Maybe the disruptor field is generated from within."

"We will have to investigate it later, then."

It's not like they seemed to have much of a choice, anyway – wherever they were going, several Rakatan warriors surrounded them. Not that killing them would be hard, it was just that Revan preferred live prey to a corpse.

Their enclave soon came into view – it was primarily made of stone, only the roofs seemed to be either cloth or thin metal in places. The floor wasn't covered at all, it was just simple earth. Only the large area they entered after a few minutes of walking was distinguishable from the rest of the settlement.

Four portcullises with rancors. And opposing them, at the other side of the room, was a lone stone throne, roughly carved and unimposing, but clearly the sitting place of a leader of this tribe. Their leader, the One, seemed to be fairly similar to his people, except perhaps for the air of authority and perhaps misplaced pride around him.

The warriors stopped at the entrance, but Malak and Revan kept walking forward, side by side only because Revan was unable to maintain her usual brisk pace. They stopped a few feet away from the throne. No one spoke for a few seconds as the one gazed at Revan, motionless. Then, he stood up from his throne and said something like a greeting… but even Revan couldn't be certain. So she closed her eyes and reached through the Force.

The One stopped mid-sentence, his eyes becoming blank. Malak´s gaze moved from the alien to Revan and back, but all he could sense was that Revan was searching for something. And when she found it, her frown deepened – she seemed to be doing something that gave her a headache. Malak had seen that expression on her face before. Actually, he had seen it often when he did something that wasn't logical.

The process took only about a minute. Revan´s eyes opened, weary and content at the same time, and perhaps a flicker of amusement passed through them as the One stared at her in awe as she began speaking in his own language, as if she had always known it.

By now, Malak had guessed what she was up to and sensed a ripple of the Force wash over him. And as he continued listening, he realized Revan had given him the privilege of understanding the strange language as well. For that, he was grateful – if there was anything annoying about Revan, it was her unwillingness to share knowledge with others.

"Our ship has crashed here because of a disruptor field and I sensed power from the stone structure to the east. Could you tell me about it?" Revan was asking. It seemed that the formalities were already over.

The One nodded, "It is the Temple of the Ancients. My tribe has heard of its power, so we came to this island. But I don't know anything of your 'disruptor field'. Many ships fall from the sky and my warriors scavenge them. We do not have the magic to make such metal fly. Not even the Elders do – but perhaps the secrets of the Temple…"

"The Elders?" It definitely caught Revan´s interest.

"There are many tribes of Rakata – many have been conquered by the Black Rakata, by me. We shall reform the Empire of our ancestors – the gods favor us." The One explained proudly, "But the Elders have resisted us. They do not seek battle of blood, but they defeat my warriors with their metallic servants and fire magic whenever we attack."

Judging by the look on Revan´s face, she was trying hard not to smile. Too easy. "I have magic of my own. Perhaps if we would combine our forces, we could break these Elders and gain the secrets of the Temple. You can only gain – I only ask for the deactivation of the disruptor field, so we can leave this planet. The secrets of the Temple will be yours to claim."

Now Malak was holding back laughter. Yes, they would get what was inside the Temple, but the most important thing was orbiting the star, not stuffed in some building. Either way, these Rakatans were getting the short end of the stick… if they would get anything at all, that is.

But the One clearly didn't know Revan well enough to see this was a way too generous proposal. "You speak the truth, Revan. I have seen some of your magic – if you could bring me the secrets of the Elders, I will gladly help you from this planet."

"Do you have any healers?" Only now did Malak notice how completely white she was. He had forgotten about her wound.

"Yes, but they probably won't know how to heal non-Rakata. But we find many supplies on fallen ships. Maybe you could find what you need among the salvage." He summoned one of the guards. "I will allow you to search our storage room for whatever you need. Much luck with your task, Revan. The One has spoken."

Revan nodded respectfully, limping after the guard that led them both to the storage room of the enclave. Fortunately, it was close to the arena and there were quite a few medpacks among the salvage. Never the one to appreciate any kind of injection or implant, Revan insisted that she would tend to her wound on her own. It took an hour or so for to kolto to begin working.

Meanwhile, the Rakata were generous enough to let them choose clean clothes from the salvage. Since Revan was still sitting with her leg up, having a no doubt fascinating conversation with the resident "loremaster" – that was the one word that caught Malak´s attention – it was up to him to find them both something suitable and decent.

The supplies were vast – from battle armor of all kinds (Echani, Verpine, Gammorean and many others, including Mandalorian) to simple clothes, such as Republic uniforms, slave outfits and ordinary civilian clothes. Fortunately for him, he knew Revan´s size and eventually found something she could, under different circumstances, resent, but right now, it seemed to be the best choice.

A simple white gown, almost as plain as Jedi robes, with the exception of a single accessory – a decorative but simple silver belt. The neckline was very high, fitting tight around the neck and it even had a small hood.

He had to stick with Mandalorian battle armor (the only clothing of his size). But Revan, against all odds, didn't protest against his choice of clothing for her. They left the enclave quickly after she was able to walk again, heading to the place the Rakata had told them about – it was near the Temple, similar to the other Rakata enclave. But the sophisticated defense system signaled a high technology level.

A Rakatan hologram, only about two feet tall, appeared in front of them.

"You are not Rakata… what is your business here, off-worlders?" it asked.

"We have come seeking the Star Forge."

The holo actually seemed to pale. "Who are you and why do you seek the Star Forge?" The question showed slight tension.

"I am Revan and this is my apprentice, Malak. The Star Maps have lead us here. We know of the evil that resides in the Forge and wish to destroy it, for the good of the galaxy." Revan easily explained. If the Elders had the secrets needed to reach the Forge, they would have done it long ago, if they wanted to. But if they didn't… it signified fear.

The hologram hesitated for a moment, turning away a bit, as if receiving orders from someone standing nearby. Then, with a nod to that invisible bystander, it said: "The Council wishes to speak with you. You may enter." And, as it disappeared, the electrical barriers vanished as well, the main door opening easily.

When the pair entered, they immediately came face to face with three Rakatans. But, as opposed to the other tribe, their skin was red, though not brightly so – rather, it was a reddish brown one could sometimes see in wastelands. Again, Malak and Revan bowed their heads respectfully, waiting to be addressed.

"Welcome, off-worlders." The central Rakatan began, quite calmly, "Though we doubt you have come to this planet willingly, even if you have come in search of the Star Forge. Do not be taken aback by our hospitality – you are welcome here, as are all who mean no harm."

Revan nodded, "I thank you. I assure you, mean you no harm."

"Then let us get straight to the reason you are here." Another of the Rakatans continued, "There is no doubt that you have indeed found the Star Maps which our ancestors have tried to destroy and obviously have failed."

"What if others would uncover the Maps? They are a danger, but greater harm will come if the Star Forge remains alive." The third Rakatan said, speaking to the other two councilors.

"We have heard that there is some temple here that could help us." Malak suggested, "The other, more primitive tribes we've met seem to think it holds some kind of magic secret."

"The Temple of the Ancients contains many secrets of our ancestors." The central Rakatan explained, "But we cannot reach them."

A frown. "Why?"

"Our ancestors once had the power to control the environment through the energy that bound them and all the other living beings together."

"The Force." Revan noted.

"It seems you know what I speak of. And judging by your lack of weaponry, I daresay you know more than we do. Our knowledge of this power is quite shallow."

"Ours is quite extensive – there are groups of sentients that study this energy throughout known space, the largest – ours – known as the Jedi. The Jedi try to use it in a non-aggressive way, though it cannot be said for all Force Sensitives. If we could combine our powers and your knowledge…"

"We understand what you're saying, Revan." The councilor noted, "And your proposal intrigues us, without a doubt. It also intrigues us why you would seek to destroy something so powerful as the Star Forge."

"There are some powers in this universe that can never be tamed, be it for good or evil." She noted quietly, without turning her eyes away from the challenging gaze of the Rakatan.

"Wise words." He rose. "You shall be our guests for today. I am certain you have many questions, which our loremaster will be without a doubt happy to answer – he doesn't have many opportunities to share his knowledge with anyone outside the enclave, let alone with one who hungers for knowledge so. And you must inform him how you have learned our language so quickly and easily – we are certain it will be intriguing. Feel free to move around the enclave. We will summon you when we have finished our deliberations."

The Council rose and left with another slight bow from both Malak and Revan, who smiled slightly after they disappeared in the corridors.