Her

It had been four months since Marilla and Palpatine came to meet for the first time at Lasay Lake. The Jedi had been transferred during the first week to a new house at Master Yaddle's orders. The place was now more comfortable than the community house for the students and closer to the end of campus, very near to the lake. That's why this was the perfect place for their weekly meetings, besides it being quiet and beautiful, it assured Marilla that Palpatine would do everything he could to be with her, even walk a long away from his house to the Lake. It was a bit selfish of her, but as long as she kept it to herself, it was okay to be a tiny bit happy about it.

Marilla and Palpatine were very good friends, Her favorite part of it all, besides Lasey Lake's nightly encounters, was going to meet Mas and finding him instead. Mas and Marilla were also close, but she disapproved of most of his actions, even when he argued 'Palpatine, has done worse!'

"So, what do you think?"

They were sitting on a rock by the lake; she had stuck her lightsaber onto the soil and a blue light spread around them. There were fireflies buzzing all around them and the sound of a near cascade, where the lake became a river. The wind made the willows whisper through their hanging leaves.

She showed him a flower she'd just drawn.

"Amazing! You don't need anymore of my lessons!"

"I don't come here just for the lessons." She said blushing while folding the paper.

They kept quite for a moment, as Marilla observed Palpatine's work. He had been working on this intricate design for a while. Marilla thought it was nothing like his ships or nature elements, but she could tell it was something else.

"So, what is it?"

"I'm not finished…"

"Oh come on, Palpatine. You've been working on that 'circle' for so long, it has to be something important." She grabbed his hands keeping him from adding any more details to the giant circle on the paper.

"I'm not sure what it is exactly."

"Well, it looks like a moon to me." She said smiling, remembering their first conversation. Had he drawn that for her?

"That's the point. But it's more like a… spaceport."

"Really?" She admired the paper tracing the lines with her finger. "And what's that?" she asked pointing at a smaller circle in the middle of the spaceport.

"That's uh… some kind of weapon… like a laser or something. For defense."

"And it could disguise itself as a moon while facing an enemy! Palpatine, that's brilliant!" Marilla patted him on the back.

Palpatine chuckled for a second. "Thank you." He saved the drawing on his bag.

"Hey look what I got you!" she pulled out of her vests a Manual she'd been concealing within the cloth.

It was a leather-bound of "The Jedi Path", Marilla had been teaching Palpatine the ways of the Force. Not how to use it, for she wasn't qualified to do that, but about their history and their legacy. Palpatine said it would be helpful for when he was to become a Senator.

He browsed through the pages carefully. Marilla watched him with a smile on her face. "We use it a lot in class. It's really helpful! You can keep it if you want." She offered.

"No, it's alright. I might just read a few chapters, but I'll return it to you in no time." Palpatine saves the book on his bag. "I guess we're done for today, no?"

"Mmm… actually I was thinking that today we dive into the Dark Side of the Force." She pronounced the last few words in a lower tone followed by an evil laugh and the waving of her hands.

"Really?" he said teasing. "Now, tell me more about it."

"Well," she stared at the lake in front of them admiring the beauty of the place with all the fireflies and the moonlight. "The Force, as we know it, can be manipulated in two different ways. We have the Light Side of the force, which is the work object of us Jedi, and the Dark Side of the Force."

"Who uses the dark side?" Marilla loved Palpatine's questions; he was always so curious and excited.

"They call themselves the Sith."

"The Sith? I have never heard of them."

"Really?" She was surprised. The Sith had once been the most powerful group in the Galaxy and Marilla thought it was common knowledge. "I guess they aren't mentioned much… But they were very powerful once, the Sith Masters especially. They were the Jedi most vicious enemies. Some people believe they're extinct but there are rumors…" she stopped there. In the Academy no one ever mentioned the Sith, they were gone and not worth thinking about. But the Dark Side was taught to the Padawans because they needed to fight the urge to follow it. Marilla thought it to be a good thing to teach Palpatine, but now it seemed as a bad idea. The Sith were not to be tampered with.

Palpatine noticed her stopping. "What rumors?"

"Oh… it's nothing." Marilla smiled. "We should probably stop here. Be back tomorrow?" she stands from the rock.

"No, wait! You can't just stop the lesson there!" he grabbed her hand smiling. "Come on!"

Marilla's body shivered with his touch. "Huh, well I don't really know many details. But why don't we save it for tomorrow, I'll try and get Adi or Aayla to tell me more about it." She smiled again. Before she turned completely to leave, she looked down at Palpatine's bag. "Hey, can I keep your drawing?"

"The spaceport?"

"Yeah, the spaceport moon!" she said while removing her lightsaber from the dirt.

Plapatine shuffled through his bag and got the drawing out. "Sure, Why not?" he smiled.

Marilla admired it in her hands. "Actually, now that I think about it, it looks a little bit more like a star." She walked away disappearing within the willows.