Ursburng let Devon sleep for eight hours. On the minute of the eighth hour, the Sith Lord knocked on the door to Devon's room on the ship. Having slept in his clothes and with his lightsaber at his hip, Devon slid out of bed, slightly groggy, and stumbled to the door as quickly as he could. He took three deep breaths and made himself stand up straight before opening it.
Even with his hood down around his shoulders, Ursbrung looked menacing. His long hair shadowed his face and the metal half of his visage showed no emotion. His human eye burned brightly, boring into Devon, who carefully looked at Ursbrung's nose. Devon's eyes were still blue, they had not turned orange or yellow, like many Sith. Ursbrung's eye was orange and red. What skin he had on his face remained largely unstained from Dark Side corruption, besides a few darkened veins about his eye.
"I tested your physical capabilities yesterday, today I will test you mentally. What would you say your mental strengths and weaknesses are?"
"I got top marks in every subject in school, but I excelled in math, logic, and applied technology," Devon said.
Ursbrung raised his eyebrow. "Robotics? Slicing?"
Devon nodded, "More robotics, they didn't have much slicing at my grade, but I experimented with slicing a few Republic holo terminals in my free time."
"Hmm. And your weaknesses?"
"Art, literature, team sports," Devon thought about it for a moment, "technical writing."
"Oration?" Ursbrung continued to bore into Devon with an intense stare.
"I received good marks, but I am not a talented orator." Devon wasn't inclined to lie in the first place, but with Ursbrung right in front of him, feeling a palpable sense of danger, he felt a need to speak as truthfully as possible.
"I see. I pulled up your school records before choosing you. Now you will take some more specific tests." Ursbrung led Devon into his own quarters, which surprised Devon in their beauty. Several sculptures from various cultures were evenly spaced about the room and well lit. An intricate tapestry hung above Ursbrung's bed and four paintings adorned the walls. Devon caught a glimpse of two of them: a dancing woman in red and a skull on a pedestal. He saw a dark painting on an easel, but Ursbrung took him straight to a holonet terminal before he had time to get an impression of it.
Ursbrung punched a few buttons and a written exam came up on the holoscreen. He nodded at Devon, who sat down and began to read. As he did so, Ursbrung left. It was a very long test, with math, logic puzzles, spatial reasoning, reading, and science. After two hours, with his mind already feeling like mush, Ursbrung returned with food and drink. It was delicious and the drink must have had some mild stimulant in it, because Devon felt energized. For another three hours, he sat before the holoterminal, solving puzzle after puzzle, reading text after text. Seven hours in and he felt like his mind and body might collapse from the effort.
He took all day tests before at school, but in those, he felt confident of easy success. He'd always placed highly in his exams. This felt different. He skipped many questions when he had no grasp of the subject and, perhaps worst of all, had no idea how long he'd be taking the test. Before, he knew the details of the exam. What subjects would be included, how long each section would take… but at the seventh hour of the exam, if he was asked if he wanted to duel Ursbrung or continue to take the exam, he would have chosen the laser swords.
Devon stood up and walked about the room for the first time in seven hours. He'd get back to the test in a minute. Drawn to the painting on the easel, he began to examine it. It seemed to be a very dark room, perhaps a cave, but no, many of the lines were too straight, the angles too perfect. Two large yellow eyes floated in the darkness. Something seemed missing from the center of the painting. He saw the paint and brushes organized loosely on a small table next to the easel. After looking at the painting, he could see that all the paintings on the walls, and a few lying in a pile on the floor, were all by the same hand, almost certainly Ursbrung.
His eyes passed over the sculptures to a painting of a woman outlined in red, wrapped in silken chains. The next was a statue in a dark landscape lit by lightning. The largest painting, taking up most of a wall, was of a Sith in a hood standing in a crowded battlefield, with vast hordes of strange creatures swarming through the right half of the frame, dead humanoids and monsters trampled underfoot, and on the left a large army standing in darkness. The light hit the resolute Sith from behind but revealed nothing of his face. The grotesque faces of many-eyed and tongued monsters lay full in the light as they slobbered and charged.
Devon lost himself in the painting for a while, examining the expressions on the soldiers behind the Sith, the writhing forms of their foes. Finally, he pulled himself from the painting and sat back down before the holoterminal and went at the test with renewed determination. For another hour, he labored away. He felt like half the questions were beyond him, but he did his best. He thought he must be failing, but he dared not quit or give anything less than his best. Ursbrung did not seem a brute, but he knew better than to displease a Sith.
Finally, Ursburng walked back in with a plate heaped with food and a large mug of tea. As Devon ate ferociously, Ursbrung pulled up the results of the exam. He went over them twice and then watched Devon eat. Devon stopped with a handful of meat on the way to his mouth when he noticed Ursbrung's gaze.
Ursbrung waved his arm in a gesture towards the food and Devon continued to eat, but with more self-awareness. As the plate emptied and Devon drank the last of a warm, soothing cup of tea, Ursbrung said, "You did well, Apprentice. You exceed my expectations."
Devon felt like he failed the test, getting at least half the questions wrong, so he brightened up. Ursbrung continued, "You are quite intelligent and your test results near the end of the exam were almost as good as when you began. You have mental fortitude."
Devon shifted uneasily in his seat. "Thank you, Master."
"If you had not been gifted with the Force, you would certainly have served the Empire in another way. Perhaps an engineer, slicer, or architect. However, as a Sith, making things will not suffice. You must be a leader, an inspiration. You must embody the ideals of the Empire."
"Yes, master," Devon said. He tried to remain confident, but his spirit wavered and he almost withered under Ursbrung's red-orange eye.
"Your training begins in earnest in the morning. Think upon what it means to embody the ideals of the Empire. Good night."
Devon stood up and walked from the room, catching a last glimpse of the painting of the Sith standing before the charging masses. He walked the short distance to his room, which still bore the damage of his duel with Ursbrung the day before. The holoterminal seemed to be largely repaired during the day. Exhausted and full of food, Devon soon fell asleep, despite trying to think about the ideals of the Empire.
The next morning, Devon woke quickly and scanned the room. He checked the lightsaber at his side and looked into the shadows in the corners. He took a deep breath, rose out of his bed and walked the length of the room several times before slowly sitting down cross-legged in the middle of the floor, closed his eyes, and began a series of deep, slow breaths.
Thirty minutes passed and Devon opened his eyes. He stood up and stretched. He heard a quiet knock at his door. The young man stared at the door for a moment, his face solemn, before stepping up to the door and opening it. Ursbrung stood there, his red eye intense.
"Come, Devon, I have an important task this morning, and I want you to watch." Ursbrung turned and strode down the hallway. Devon followed without hesitation as Ursbrung stopped to punch a code into a panel by the door to the cargo bay. The door slid open and they walked in. The woman frozen in carbonite dominated the room. She screamed silently, eyes closed.
Looking at the woman, Ursbrung said, "She is very dangerous, even weakened as she is now. You must stay behind me at all times, do not let her get near you." He turned to look at Devon, "She was once a great patriot. She served the Empire well, but then she fell and began to," he paused, "devour what she once loved. It is a common fate, Devon. I want you to watch her carefully, to learn from her mistakes."
Devon nodded. Though the carbonite encased her, stopped her heart and mind, he could feel a faint emptiness emanating from her. He stood behind Ursbrung, who motioned for him to stay where he was, four paces from the carbonite. He typed a code into the controls on the side of the frozen prison and the carbonite began to glow and melt around her face and hands first before the glowing light spread to the rest of her body. Her head nodded as the carbonite released her. She exhaled with a rattle and slowly bent forward. She fell a short distance to the floor and Ursbrung waved his right hand and then his left, sliding the remains of the carbonite frame to the right and then pushing her sliding along the floor against the far wall. She hit the wall with a dull thump and shuddered.
"Greetings, Lord Cavum. I hope the carbonite sickness is not too severe," Ursbrung said in a cheerful voice.
She still wore the black hood and robes she had on in the cave. Devon could not see her face. She pushed herself up with her arms, her head hanging low. He heard her hoarse breaths.
Ursbrung said, "Lord Cavum, representatives of the Dark Council sent me to capture or kill you for crimes against the Sith. I chose to capture you, though there is no reward for doing so. Do you know why?"
The woman continued to lay on the floor and said nothing.
Ursbrung contemplated her for a moment. He continued in a pleasant voice, "What emotions do you feel from our guest, Devon?" As Ursbrung mentioned Devon's name, the woman looked up. Devon could see her eyes glowing red from within the depths of her hood. He saw golden threads running across her face but could not read her expression.
Devon let his feelings expand through the Force for a moment. Then he said, "I feel hatred. It is emanating from her like a heartbeat."
"Hatred of what," Ursbrung asked.
Devon didn't think his connection with the Force was detailed enough to reveal that to him, but he tried. He looked at her again, but she had lowered her head and hid her face. The hatred remained, but Devon could now sense fear, anger, and a great amount of pain. "I am not sure, master, but I sense she has lost something. Something important."
"Good, acolyte." Ursbrung stood several paces away from the woman. "You have lost much, Lord Cavum. Not least of which, your ideals. You once served the Empire well and now you tear it apart. What brought you to these depths?"
The woman said nothing, but she inched forward slightly with her arms, moving her head down almost to the floor.
"Stay against the wall, dear guest," Ursbrung smiled, "best to keep the peace in our little corner of space."
She drew herself up to sitting position and looked up again but remained silent. Ursbrung looked into her eyes and Devon watched and felt the tension between them grow. A battle unfolded before him. Rage and hatred again pulsed from the woman, hiding her fear and pain, and Ursbrung, who hid his emotions in the Force from Devon, suddenly flared with power, a power that Devon hadn't seen in his new master before.
But the emotions he felt from Ursbrung were not like those he felt from the Sith he'd met on Korriban, where hate, fear, anger, and resentment ruled. He felt tinges of anger, but also a great swelling of confidence, some disgust, and a surprising sense of goodwill.
Just as this surprised Devon, it shocked the woman, who slumped back against the durasteel wall behind her. Again looking at the floor, she spoke in a gravelly voice, "Who are you?"
"I am Ursbrung Vandrande'eld. I see you and you see me. I ask you again, Lord Cavum, Lilija Kenna, why have you fallen? You once selflessly served the Empire."
Devon blinked rapidly and tried to calm his emotions. Kenna? Could this woman be related to Leannon? He thought he saw the woman look at him briefly, but wasn't sure. She considered Ursbrung again.
She said, "I don't need to explain myself."
Ursbrung chuckled. "You think I have not been betrayed, Cavum? I know the weaknesses of the Sith as well as anyone, but the weaknesses of a few have not blinded me to the needs of the many. The Empire protects and serves trillions. What are your personal sufferings compared to that?"
She glared at him.
"I will give you time to think, Lord Cavum, but please forgive me, I must bind your hands and feet. As you see, I have a young acolyte under my charge and I know your appetites." Ursbrung pulled some metal cuffs from behind his back and approached Lilija. After he took two steps, dozens of thin golden strings erupted from Lilija's hands and face towards Ursbrung.
Ursbrung continued walking forward. He grunted with effort and the golden strings seemed to bounce off an invisible wall that surrounded him. Devon took a step forward before thinking better of it and remaining where he was.
Again, the two Sith struggled and, again, Ursbrung won. He walked right up to Lilija and put out a hand. He lifted her slowly from the floor and pushed her against the wall. She groaned as he forced her hands and then feet together and cuffed them. As soon as the cuffs clinked shut, a current of electricity wrapped around them. Ursbrung stepped back and waved a hand. A seam in the floor flashed white and a force field flickered up to the ceiling and stabilized around Lord Cavum.
"I apologize for my poor manners, Cavum, but I think you understand. Do not worry, I will send in a droid with food and water shortly." Ursbrung began to walk towards the exit of the cargo bay, "Come, Devon, and make sure to stay clear of our guest."
Devon glanced at the woman in her cell, who seemed smaller behind the shimmering walls. He still felt her anger, but he felt her sense of hurt grow until he decided to stop reaching out through the Force. He walked along the far wall to the door and followed Ursbrung out.