Private A Wager

[Taeli Raaf]

Coruscant, Lower Levels
​

The message would be sent through encrypted means to the datapad of a certain Jedi Master with a simple request:

I want to discuss your recent success and propose a challenge to you. If you are interested, come to the coordinates in this message to meet me.

The coordinates within the message would lead that Jedi Master into the lower levels of Coruscant itself, to a small park built next to an artificial lake. On one of the benches, datapad in hand as she reviewed the reports coming in from her followers, and what her daughter had reported on from New Cov, she waited to see if Master Noble would entertain the message's call. Dressed in simple traveling attire, she would appear no different than many other lower city dwellers, besides the Force presence that was slowly keeping others from bothering her or the bench she was seated on.

Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

It wasn't exactly private knowledge, what he'd done on New Cov.

He hadn't expected to receive an encrypted message about it, though. That was enough to get his attention. Dressed in the typical wear for him, smugglers jacket and such, he arrived. Casually took a seat on the bench, hands in his lap. Eyes up on the layer of Coruscant just above them.

"I should've expected the Mother of Monsters to be interested. So, what's the challenge? And who's currently in danger?"

Taeli Raaf

 

[Taeli Raaf]

She continued reading her datapad as the Master approached, slipping past the aura she was exuding to keep their privacy. Like her, he was dressed in garb more fitting to their level, smuggler's jacket and all.

"Your father thought you might not entertain my message, but I had confidence you would," she replied, still not looking up from her reports as she slid a finger across the screen to flip to the next page. Nerralyn had said that the estranged son had left the testing chamber soon after his runes had succeeded in purifying the Loth-Wolf in an excited rush. He was a Jedi with a mission, and Taeli knew all too well what Jedi like that thought.

"Before we get to business, I did want to extend some praise. The first successful curing of a Sithspawn in recent years, you must have been ecstatic that the runes worked on it," she continued. "But not exactly a difficult cleansing so to speak. Loth-wolves are naturally tied to the Force and the light, and whatever alchemists that warped it didn't exactly inspire confidence in the complexity department. A Class III Sithspawn at best, but I suppose you have to start your tests, as slapdash as they are, somewhere."

Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Technically I didn't know it was you, though even then I would've probably come. I'll ask again, though. What is your insurance to keep me from bringing you in? I know you have something planned, and I'd very much like to at least get people ready to handle it."

He gave a brief, calm smile, though. Brief as he could before it fell to the more serious expression he'd adopted.

"Growing up, you were an.. Idol, I suppose. If I could do something like you could, maybe father wouldn't kill me. Though, you helped him make me, didn't you?" An idle musing, but he waved it off.

"Why are you here, Darth Arcanix?"

Taeli Raaf

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Still not looking up from her datapad, she gave him a small half smirk as he admitted she had been an idol of sorts to him years ago, and once again asked what was stopping him from just arresting her and dragging her to judgment.

"There's no insurance policy against you trying to take me in," she answered. "No hostages or plots to distract you with devastation. Why would I need something like that? We both know I'm not like other Sith, and Force Light doesn't quite have the same punch against me as it would other Sith. You can't pretend to be a Jedi for a decade without using the light yourself."

It was a not-so-subtle reminder that even if he temporarily stripped away her dark side powers, she would be far from powerless.

"And yes, it was an early stage of the Children project, but as always with your father, he had to rush in before it was complete," she sighed. "The final product is much more... binding I suppose."

She closed her datapad and turned fully towards him.

"I'm here to challenge you to try and cure some of the different Sithspawn I've created. I think you'll find them much harder to rune cleanse than your wolf was."

Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"The Lady of Secrets I've heard of wouldn't just sit on a bench on Coruscant and reach out to a Jedi without insurance that she could walk away. I'm erring on the side of caution because I know what you can do, but if you're telling me there is nothing stopping me from trying to take you in than you offering this challenge, you're either not really here, or you've vastly underestimated who I am."

He flashed one last, brief smile as she finally turned to look at him, but it wasn't a smile that reached his eyes. Those were focused. Determined.

"You can't blame me for asking. You brought the Jedi to it's knees in the Republic. Will I be wasting my time to tell you to surrender, and will I be wasting my time to try and bring you in when you say no?"

Taeli Raaf

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Then you haven't been listening to the right stories about me, and I've been coming and going from Coruscant for decades now," she said, chuckling a little. She come and gone as she pleased before, and she would continue to do so. She didn't require such insurances against capture, and she never had. "You could certainly try and apprehend me, but we both know the answer to asking for my surrender."

Determined though he was, she remained completely at ease.

"But you won't do that, or at least I hope you won't," she continued. "You're curious about the path you started down, even if you aren't scientific about your methods. For that, I have to blame your father. You want to pit yourself against someone like me, and pardon me for self-appreciating praise, one of the more legendary or prominent Sith of this era however you can. The cleansing of a Sithspawn, as basic as it was, was a challenge to me and so I give you a challenge in turn."

Unlike Kahlil, her smile did reach her amethyst eyes... but there was still a danger there too. Kahlil's actions were a challenge to all the work she had done for decades now. She was not about to let that pass.

Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"You've grossly miscalculated the type of person I am."

He stood then, calmly reaching for the saber on his hip as he turned to face her. Kept his silver eyes focused on her all the while. No sudden movements, no trying to get the jump. They both knew that if this kicked off into an actual fight, they were both ready for it. And unless she had a way to stop him, his dyad with Valery Noble had already alerted her that Taeli Raaf was here on Coruscant.

"I can still take up your challenge, but I will have to do so with you in a cell, Lady of Secrets."

Taeli Raaf