Noventa - A Star Wars Story

"Then let's take on them only for pure recreation while focusing meaningful efforts elsewhere." He wrapped his arm around her waist like before. "Also together."

/Scene

She squeezed his hand, signaling her response to that. "Not a one."

That made him smile with satisfaction. As they reached a ledge opening into the valley below, he looked at her.

"No mountain to high for us, Runi?" The question was hung somewhere between rhetorical and curious. He assumed, but he also wanted to know her mind on the 'us'.

Runi nodded and took Sharn's hand as she began to leave, smiling toward him.

Sharn looked at Runi whether she'd depart with him. In his eyes there was a glint of emotion he had demonstrated the night before.

"That is all for today, my students." He held an easy smile, before turning to look back out over the rain soaked cliffs. His thoughts were his own, but he felt that he had found two excellent students, their fierce independence a boon to his plans.

"Exactly. Nothing less, nothing more." Sharn was keeping his eyes' attention at Nygmus. "Is it all for now, seneschal?"

She balled her hand into a fist. She was starting to get irritated with being lectured. She took a breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. Calm down.

"... I suppose." She vaguely remembered her mother being easily irritated when she was around... "I'll attach what I feel the need to attach to it." She reached up and pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose. Despite that, she relaxed slightly with his arms around her.

He moved to Runi's side and embraced her waist with a 'not yours' glare at Nygmus. Still, his mind processed the argument.

"True Sith lineage is a genetic resource. Attaching sentimentality to it may blur that. It is not about modelling yourself on any past marked by Sith heritage, Runi, but about acknowledging the fact and either acting on it or forsaking it. But self-alienation rarely leads to preferred outcomes. However you decide about it, you shall not awaken anything in your blood that is not already there, though you may miss a chance of being more of yourself."

Nygmus didn't show how pleased he was at the way Sharn had been so easily goaded into what he wanted. Instead, he only smiled at Runi, and nodded. "Pragmatic. Thoughtful. Intelligent. It is a shame. Even if it dies out as it existed, there will always be a part of it within you, and thus, within the Force. A history that cannot be erased, even when lost in Legends." He slowly withdrew his hand from hers. He hoped that Sharn would understand the point he had been trying to make, in the display, as well as to ease Runi's concerns.

"Even as one looks to the future, one can never forget where they come from, to understand the secrets and truths hidden there."

Runi, meanwhile, looked at him in slight confusion. "That's... not that important. It's a dying lineage."

Sharn exactly knew what Nygmus was doing. It was a ploy to make him jealous and angry, to give in further to whatever was known as the Dark Side. He knew all that, and his gaze told Nygmus as much.

Despite this awareness, he got still very jealous, and very angry, though he kept it bottled up. And thereby realising the point: knowledge was not enough. He did need power to secure what he considered important to him.

"No, please, your presence is most welcome here, Runi." He nodded as he spoke, sensing the nature between the two. He gently reached forwards, taking her hand within his. Before glancing to Sharn, his smile curving slightly. "After all, in your blood is a most divine lineage."

Runi returned the gaze without fear, simply nodding with a small smile. She noticed Sharn's gaze and it focused more on him.

Returning her gaze to her mentor, she asked, "Do you have further desire for me to remain, or shall I go find a good place to start meditating?"

"I am no stranger to meaningful introspection." Sharn replied. "Eventually, I shall shape my lightsabre to be the finest there is." He let a small smile when Runi decided to consider it more. He rarely smiled this way, and this in itself was telling to a keen eye of someone knowing him enough.

"With time, and understanding, all things will be made clear, Runi." Nygmus spoke spoftly, the smile never disappearing. Pulling the Crystal from Runi's grip, the Force exercised as a scalpel. Nygmus clutched it in his grip, before sliding it into a pouch on his belt. "This will be ready for you, when you are, my dear." His dark eyes never left hers, and then he turned to face Sharn.

"Your insight is valuable, my student. That is to be expected from someone like you." He nodded to Sharn. "You, however, will find meditating over the creation of your weapon quite enlightening. Consider that, as you sculpt the saber to your own purpose."

The palpable disappointment got on her nerves more than other reactions might have. She hated disappointing others, even while she had no reason to seek this man's approval beyond his knowledge of her species... and insight into the Force... Dammit.

Sharn's words ease her, though, as he defended her choice, even described her as though she had power in this particular relationship. She respected that he had made a different one. That was fine. At the comment about cutting through red tape, she even chuckled. He helped ease her mood. "I'll meditate on it," she finally agreed.

"She is likely wary that the nature of the crystal will deprive her of the autonomy of her path. We witnessed how the Sith can act not so long ago." Sharn rolled the stone between his fingers. "But your reaction indicates that for some reason you think it will be detrimental for you to lose Runi from your grand scheme."

He looked at the red woman.

"Her goals and mine are quite similar. We strive for understanding more than for power in itself. However, I see the opportunity you offer in slightly better terms as I am allowing myself to act on the hypothesis that power can be the coin of insight just as experimentation is necessary for generation of knowledge. I don't relish sowing terror, though I see its virtue in removing distractions and nuisances, maybe even cutting through red tape." The memories of being mistreated by the Sector Ranger were still fresh in his mind, and he was more than a little vindictive. "So if you want to keep her in your schemes, you'll need to address her concerns."

Nygmus tilted his head. curiously regarding the woman. Had she...

"I... see." His lips pursed, as he looked to Sharn, then a glimmer of a smile. At least one student seemed to embrace his gift. "Well. I understand, Runi. It is all a bit much at once." He stepped away from the pair, allowing them to contemplate things. His mind was racing. He didn't feel... anger, or rage at the student for turning down his gift. But... disappointment. Looking over his shoulder, he then offered a soft smile.

"Of course, I can understand that desire." He had made a misstep with her. The danger of two students at once. Sharn, he could teach with promises of power and knowledge. Runi... would require something more precise.

"Perhaps, you should meditate on it, to consider. There are many kinds of crystals. My eagerness to equip my students may have proven my own impatience in things." Nygmus have a chuckle, as he breathed in deeply.

It was seductive. The idea of power, to go through the world with people unwilling to get in her way... Passion, anger. It felt... good. She squeezed the crystal a little. But... This... Her mother had left to protect her from people who wielded something like this. From those who desired power above all and destroyed everything in their way to get it.

That was all the talk was aimed at. Power, power, power. She wanted to understand. She wanted to option for others not to fear her.

Runi set down the crystal.

"Something like this particular crystal... doesn't match my goal. Fear toward me... at best, it limits my options."