"Great. Things are really looking up now," Brinna whispered grouchily as she, Carth, and Canderous left Yuthura Ban behind.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse…she thought to herself. Then again, I must be doing a great job, being that I've been a Sith for all of twelve hours and I'm already involved in my very first murder plot. Mom would be so proud…

As Brinna was making her way out of her room, Yuthura had stopped her. The meeting had begun with Yuthura expressing her belief that Brinna was the most promising of the four new Sith that Uthar had welcomed the previous day. Brinna had immediately become wary—and for good reason, as Yuthura had then proceeded to tell Brinna of her plan to murder Uthar and take over the Academy and had then extended an "invitation" for Brinna to assist her.

Yuthura's "invitation" had set the acid in Brinna's stomach churning. Brinna supposed she shouldn't have been surprised; after all, these were the Sith. The Twi'lek had gladly taught Brinna the Sith Code and had offered up several helpful suggestions as to what Brinna could do to gain some of the prestige she would need to convince Master Uthar that she was worthy of the final test: entering the tomb of Naga Sadow. Yuthura had explained that Malak had once visited the tomb and, ever since then, prospective Sith who made it through the Academy were put through some sort of test in the tomb, to prove their worthiness.

Carth had immediately latched onto this information. "Darth Malak went there? Very interesting…isn't it, master?" he'd asked.

Brinna had known immediately that Carth had surmised the exact same thing she had: the Star Map would be found in that tomb. In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Carth's calling her master had been so unexpected that Brinna had just barely been able to refrain from laughing. The Twi'lek had looked at Brinna appraisingly at that moment and Brinna, scrambling for some way of diverting Yuthura, had found herself asking the Sith about her past.

To Brinna's surprise, Yuthura had begun to tell her the tale of her history. Though she had been reluctant to say much at first, Brinna had been able to gently coax Yuthura into telling more and more until Brinna had heard enough to convince her that she'd been right about Yuthura. The Twi'lek was far more than she appeared.

Yuthura had told Brinna that she had once been a slave on the planet of Sleyheyron and Brinna had thought back to the previous day and the expression on the Twi'lek's face when Brinna had told her that Carth and Canderous were her slaves.

No wonder she looked like she did. Her hatred against her slavers drove her straight into the arms of the Sith. Maybe she can be redeemed, Brinna now found herself thinking. Her intentions were good but the dark side got the best of her, just like Juhani. I helped Juhani to find her way back to the light. Maybe I can help Yuthura too. Maybe I can convince her to give up this mad plot to kill Uthar and get her back to the Jedi, where she belongs.

"You're trying to figure out a way to save her, aren't you?" Canderous asked, startling Brinna out of her thoughts.

"And if I am?" Brinna asked him defensively.

The Mandalorian sighed. "You have yet to meet someone you haven't wanted to save. Aren't you exhausted yet?"

"What would you suggest, that I just strike them all down and be done with it?" Brinna asked him, rolling her eyes.

Canderous smiled at her. "It would save you a lot of trouble, wouldn't it?"

"Leaving you behind on this planet when I leave would save me a lot of trouble," Brinna grumbled.

"I'd like to see you try," Canderous told her, with an arrogant smile.

"Don't tempt me, Mandalorian. Now fall back. Don't you think it looks a little strange for my 'slave' to be walking right next to me, carrying on a conversation with me?"

She could hear him grumbling multiple creative invectives under his breath as he fell a few steps behind and she couldn't help but smile. Everyone else might have motives that proved far more complicated than she had anticipated but at least she could trust in the fact that Canderous would be doing everything for the glory of battle.

They wandered around the dormitories of the Academy looking for Dustil. Along the way, they unfortunately ran into Brinna's fellow inductees, none of whom was particularly thrilled to see the "fallen" Jedi and her two "slaves." With each encounter, Brinna could sense Carth tensing and she began to worry that when they finally did find Dustil, he'd do something rash, like throwing his son over his shoulder and hauling him bodily out of the Academy.

As they made their way down the only corridor they hadn't yet searched, they ran into a young man who was sitting in an attitude of meditation but Brinna immediately sensed that he was far too troubled to get much out of his feeble attempts to connect to the Force. He introduced himself as Kel Algwinn and he was so jumpy that Brinna knew there was something going on in that head of his that made him uneasy. It wasn't long before she'd persuaded him to tell her about his ambivalence when it came to his decision to join the Sith. Brinna felt sorry for him. She could sense that the kid had a good heart and was simply misguided. Almost before she knew what she was doing, she found herself gently suggesting to him that maybe he should think about joining the Jedi instead.

"What the hell are you doing?" Canderous hissed at her through his teeth.

Although Carth didn't say anything, she could sense that he was of a similar mind as Canderous. She knew that they both thought she was crazy, that they were both positive that she'd just blown their cover. Ignoring them, she continued to talk to Kel Algwinn and it wasn't long before she knew she had the kid. He didn't belong among the Sith and Brinna sensed the relief that her suggestion had given him. She and her companions watched as the kid turned and walked casually out of the Academy.

"It worked," she told the two men.

"How do you do that?" Canderous asked, shaking his head in wonder.

"I don't know," Brinna said, feeling a momentary sense of disorientation. She didn't dwell on it for long, though, because she saw Carth impatiently shifting his weight from one foot to the other and decided she'd better lead them onward.

Stepping past Kel Algwinn's room, Brinna found herself face-to-face with a young man so familiar that all of the breath rushed out of her body in a whoosh.

"You take a wrong turn somewhere?" the young man standing before her asked and she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was Dustil. He looked far too much like Carth to be anyone else.

Before she could respond, Canderous and Carth appeared and Carth's exclamation of, "Dustil, is that you?" immediately confirmed what she'd thought.

Dustil turned to look at his father and Brinna was hit with a wave of animosity so strong that she staggered back a step. Carth was too busy staring at his son in disbelief to notice but Canderous put a steadying hand on Brinna's shoulder and shot a wary look at Dustil.

"Oh, lovely. It's Father. Figures that you'd show up after all this time. How did you manage to get inside the Academy?" Dustil asked in a venomous tone.

"Through the front doors," Brinna snapped, wanting to reach out and slap the nasty smile right off the kid's face.

"Cute. I wonder how interested Master Uthar would be to know just who he has in his web. Unless you've switched sides, Father? But I doubt that. Just why are you here, Father? Not for me, I hope. Couldn't you have gotten yourself blown up on some ship and spared us this reunion?"

"Nice kid," Canderous murmured in Brinna's ear.

She barely heard him. The tension in the air was so thick that she was surprised that no one had yet reached for a weapon. Through the Force, she could feel the violent torrent of emotions that were racing through the teenager and they were so strong that she felt herself trembling.

"Dustil…what? What are you talking about? I…I thought you were dead!" Carth said, confusion and hurt evident in his voice.

Opening herself further to the Force, Brinna reached out to Carth and could feel the hurt that lanced through him at the horrible things his son had said to him. It was disconcerting being connected to both father and son but Brinna felt she had little choice. Dustil was so filled with rage and Carth so filled with a desperate need to save his son that she feared the situation could quickly get out of control.

"Too bad you didn't still think that. Or did you really think I would be happy to see you? Look, everyone! It's Father, come to rescue me at long last! Sure, he may have left Mother and I to die on Telos, but that doesn't matter!" Dustil sneered.

Though the hateful things he was saying to Carth made Brinna want to reach out and give the kid a good, violent shake, she couldn't help but acknowledge what was going on beneath his angry façade. She could sense the hurt, the betrayal, and the fear that a young boy had felt when he had suddenly found himself in the midst of an invasion, his mother too far from him to protect him and his father off fighting a war that had kept him away from his son for far too long.

"No, I didn't abandon you! The task force just arrived too late. Telos was in ruins, and your mother…I held her while…But I looked for you. I swear I looked everywhere…" Carth pleaded.

"Ah, save it. You abandoned us long before. We were alone all during the wars, and even once you came back, you didn't stay," Dustil said, cutting his father off.

"I didn't have a choice! I was needed…" Carth began. It was agonizing, to listen to him trying to explain to his son and to know that his son wasn't hearing a word Carth said. Brinna looked desperately from one to the other, wishing there was something she could do.

"Yeah? Well you were needed at home, too. You were needed when the bombing started and I got captured. You know what? It doesn't matter. Not anymore. I have a new family now, a family that cares about me. I don't need you," Dustil said. In spite of the bravado in his voice, Brinna sensed the fears of a little boy that still plagued him. As he'd spoken of the bombing, he'd had a flash of memory and Brinna had been able to sense part of it. She'd heard explosions and screams of agony and had felt a nearly uncontrollable sense of fear.

"The Sith?" Carth was asking, disbelief strong in his voice. "You can't mean that! No, the Sith killed your mother! The Sith destroyed Telos!"

"So? You're the soldier, Father. How many mothers have you killed?"

"No, you've been brainwashed. The son I knew would never…"

"You never knew me!" Dustil cried harshly. "You weren't even there to know me, so don't presume to tell me what I would or wouldn't do!"

"I don't know what's been done to you, but you're coming with me out of here. Now," Carth said. It was just as Brinna had feared. She took a step toward Carth, moving to act as a sort of barrier between him and his son but the next words Dustil spoke froze both Brinna and Carth in place.

"Touch me, old man and I'll kill you. Get out! Get out of here before I tell the Sith that you're here!"

She felt Carth's pain and it made her want to weep. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the look of disgust on Canderous's face as the Mandalorian stared at Dustil.

"Calm down, Dustil. Carth is only trying to protect you," Brinna found herself saying. She hadn't intended to interfere but she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't bear the pain that the encounter was causing Carth and she desperately wanted to make Dustil listen to his father.

"I don't need his protection! Not anymore. The Sith give me everything I need," Dustil said, glaring at her.

"You can't mean that! The Sith are…they're evil. They're the dark side. They…they took me away from you and your mother. They're…they're what took you away from me!"

"No, they're not evil! They're not! The dark side is superior and you…you were at war long before they came along," Dustil insisted. Brinna could sense his denial and his desperate need to cling to the elaborate lie he had built for himself, a lie that he had devised to insulate himself against the sense of abandonment he had felt. Now that his father had reappeared in his life, old feelings and old resentments were welling up and threatening to overcome him.

"The Sith war to conquer, to rule the helpless. I went to war for you, Dustil. For your freedom, your future!" Carth replied. She could sense his frustration as he struggled to find a way to explain things to his son. He desperately wanted to find the words that would convince Dustil that what he was saying was true.

"Heh. I…don't believe you," Dustil said, but Brinna could sense the fight beginning to slip out of him. In spite of himself, he was listening to his father. There was still a part of him that wanted to believe in his father, even if that part was very small and nearly forgotten.