Private Dark Streets and Alleyways

[Lady Falentra]

One of the skills Darth Malum of House Marr had set on the curriculum to learn was force cloak - to learn how to walk undercover, unnoticed. Falentra didn't see how it was possible, wherever she went, her unique features turned heads, sometimes with scorn, other times with intrigue. On this small mission on Jutrand for a lesson, she had to wear a hood. She hated hoods and how they weighted down and restricted her tentacles.

The young apprentice walked behind Malum down the alleyway, her form was fuzzy as if there were static, not flawlessly camoflaged as he was, it took a lot of willpower to warp the light and force around her. He blend in so well that she even walked face first into his back. "Sorry." She muttered. They'd been here for hours, waiting and trying not to draw attention to themselves. Falentra was starting to get hungry, her stomach protested with a growl - quite embarrassingly loud.

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Malum allowed the cloak to fall, turning back to consider the flickering form of his apprentice, with a small smile on his face, chuckling at her apology, "I shall take it as a compliment that you could not see me," She had not yet been able to fully become invisible to the naked eye, yet he had not at first either, after all, had he not once considered this subterfuge to be cowardly? Dishonourable? Above him?

How so much had changed since then.

"You have done well, you may be doubting yourself, but within a few hours, if others did not seek you, their eyes may have trailed over you entirely... and you do have unique challenges," Malum explained, gazing to her hood... noticing how uncomfortable she seemed under it, especially with her tentacles.

Perhaps there was a way to design a more comfortable one.

Or perhaps once she had mastered this, she would not need one at all.

He raised an eyebrow, his chuckles raising in sound as he heard her stomach growl, and then rumble.

"It seems my apprentice is hungry... no matter, and understandable." Malum pulled the hood off his head, turning to walk forward, before gazing back towards his amphibian apprentice, "Come, I will show you one of Jutrand's most well-hidden secrets."

It had been too long since he had been able to partake in one of his rare pleasures.

Lady Falentra

 

[Lady Falentra]

It was barely a month into the apprenticeship, she was getting used to her new master and his teaching methods. It contrasted widely with the wookie's style of mentoring. Not that Malum could see, she nodded at his reassurance that she wasn't doing all too bad with the cloaking. However, it took time to master any skill, and she didn't think she was doubting herself, unless she was doing so subconsciously.

Relieved she was to do the same when Darth Malum of House Marr dropped his cloak and hood, gaining back form and colour in an instant. She shook her head, tustling her tentacles that were finally free and no longer under the restrain of the hood, each tentacle taking a big strech outwards.

Secrets? Indeed, she was intrigued what they were. The teen trialed along with much enthusiasm by Malum's side.

As they walked, she broke the silence with a question. "Master, I've been meaning to ask... That night when I first arrived on Alvaria, the doctors did test on me, I reckon for the transplant surgery. The DNA. Do you... have any idea what I may be?" She was very curious, after all, trying trace ones roots was only natural. There was always the questions, but they had always been dismissed by the Jedi masters. "I was brought into the Jedi Order when I was a toddler, I wouldn't know."

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

If there was one thing that could be considered amusing regarding his newly made apprentice, it would certainly be how it seemed by a credit her emotional state could shift, one second silent and contemplative, the next, eager and active. In some sense, she reminded him, of himself back in past days.

Easier days.

He was mostly silent as they walked, alert rubies scanning along roads, paths, and alleyways, or more accurately the figures in those roads, paths, and alleys. Even on the Sith capital, or perhaps because it was the Sith capital, he very much distrusted any eyes that peered back at him.

Indeed, he felt rather naked being seen rather than underneath the Force's cloak.

It was no exaggeration that after mastering the skill, he most regularly walked through such populated areas completely hidden from sight.

It was better that way.

No knives in the darkness.

No unwanted eyes.

Still even as his eyes wandered, they were brought back to the voice trailing by his side, it was not necessarily an apt time for questions, however, curiosity was a virtue which he wished to instil, and it would be far from helpful to strike down such attempt.

Especially...

As the question was so rather intriguing.

And indeed, one which he could not even truly answer.

"I would hardly count the word 'reckon' as proper, Falentra," Malum chided gently with half a smile, buying himself time to answer, "As for what the blood tests revealed... unfortunately I do not have a clear answer for you, it would seem you are closely related to quite a few Amphibian species, which is why the initial transplant succeeded... however beyond that, we found no record of any group you might belong to."

Indeed, and though for now they were kept to the realm of private suspicion, having looked over the charts himself, having considered what the doctors under his employ had reported.

There was indeed something... artificial about her.

Indeed almost as if she was... designed, rather than born.

"Yet that is far from conclusive," He hoped to inspire some levity in his apprentice, some hope, "If you wish to find more, I will give you all the support you need in the endeavour," His hands trailed up to her tentacles, tousling them gently, "If there are any more of your kind out there of your capability, what a terrifying sight that would be, no?"

Lady Falentra

 

[Lady Falentra]

There was always been a sense that she did not belong. The many questions that were never answered. A constant longing to know where she came from. Like the Jedi who raised her, Malum could not provide a definitive answer either, only stating the very obvious fact that she was amphibious. There was a slight disappointment in her features, knowing that not even the dna analysis could determine her origins. Yet, Falentra didn't think anything would change about her if she knew otherwise.

"There might be a population hidden deep underwater, and I happen to have washed up to shore as a baby." The teen shrugged as her master tussled her head full of tentacles, believing in something was better than nothing at all. The tendrils on her head appeared to curl up at the ends, a subconscious habit when she was tense. There was a thought that her people might have been wiped out during one of the many genocides across the millennia.

Falentra grasped one of her tentacles that wrapped around her wrist. "Thank you, but I don't think searching would lead anywhere to fruition."

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

He could not help but feel the sting in his heart, as he saw her features low, especially when considering the leading theory he held of her creation... that she was a creation, and not simply born. That much certainly implied that there were no others of her kind in existence... but he was not about to rip away the barest hope she still held.

When he could not be sure.

But perhaps he was the one in denial now.

He could not help but be... to be alone in this galaxy...

...It was a terrible thing.

He withdrew his hands as he watched her tentacles tense, it was a work in progress, a yardstick measure of some sense... perhaps one day his newest apprentice might be fine with him tousling her... alive hair. Of course, perhaps he should have simply learned by now, that such shows were unbecoming of a Sith Lord, unbecoming of a scion of Darth Marr, unbecoming of him.

Yet, it was...

It was instinctual at times.

He did not expect it.

He... did not stop himself, for some reason that was beyond him still.

"Perhaps so," Malum mused continuing to walk head, soon to come to their location, red eyes turning to consider her, "Perhaps they are still looking for their wayward daughter, and they shall be so proud of the young woman she has become." He continued, with half a smile upon his lips.

"I would not have found the Holocron of Darth Marr if I did not search... ambition means beyond simply growing in power... on that note, recount the Code for me, tell me what it means." They were to be there soon.

But they were not there yet.

Why not an impromptu test?

Lady Falentra

 

[Lady Falentra]

What he said was unlikely. Not even some parents that left younglings at the care of the Jedi came back for them, an experience of her childhood friend, Balun Dashiell . Balun Vale, a jedi now rogue, exploring his wanderlust as she understood the last time they spoken. She wondered where he was now, if he bought the ruse that Nouqai Veil was dead.

It was likely only said to provide some comfort, to make her feel better, no matter how much she wanted it to be true.

"And what if I find something I do not wish?" She countered with a question.

Malum asked her to recite the code. The sith doctrin, Qotsisajak, it was who she was now, no longer jedi. The sacred language, like a beautiful poem fell from her lips.

"Nwûl tash.
Dzwol shâsotkun.
Shâsotjontû châtsatul nu tyûk.
Tyûkjontû châtsatul nu midwan.
Midwanjontû châtsatul nu asha.
Ashajontû kotswinot itsu nuyak.
Wonoksh Qyâsik nun."

"There must be conflict for growth, evolution, adaptation, change... and death. Passion through emotion, pain and loss, which one can seek to reach their potential and strength. To wield the force, not be guided by it is to wield one's strength and through that power can be gained - there is freedom and victory. The chains are broken." She began as they walked along. It was so much different from the stringent rules of the jedi, so much freer.

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

"Even the difficult truths are worth knowing, we cannot fear what reality may have in store for us," Malum gently explained, knowing that one day, one day soon he would need to tell her what he knew.

But that day thankfully was not today.

He smiled idly as the Ur-Kittat spilt from her lips, it was a truly ancient language, so ancient that he had needed his amulet to translate it initially, but some phrases, some words, survived beyond the ages. One such was the code.

It was beautifully said, there was simply something... ethereal... magical about Ur-Kittat that could not be preserved in common. It was not aided by the fact that Nou- Falentra herself held a voice that was made for performance.

Indeed, by the end, he had to fight her accidental efforts to lull him to sleep.

As he listened to her interpretation of the code. He had taught it to her, told her to memorise it, then taught it in Ur-Kittat, but he had never explained his views, after all, his own views might have been considered rather... controversial to the wider orthodoxy.

Still, he could not deny the smile as she spoke her interpretation.

Much of his own belief was there.

"And what do you believe those chains are?" He asked as from his height, he finally found what he had been searching for.

A humble food stand.

Lady Falentra

 

[Lady Falentra]

The teen had spent countless hours studying the language. She was quite a linguist, already fluent with Shryiiwook, now picking up Ur-Kittat quickly. Falentra briefly glanced his way after reciting the code nearly to perfection. There was a weary but peaceful expression he wore, there formed a smile of her own seeing his content with her delivery. The approval she was always seeking.

However, she struggled to find an answer for his next question. Perhaps she knew, but what she believed, she truly wished she did not. "The rule of two." She stated softly. "With power, one can break their chain - supersede their master, the victory that will gain them the truest freedom," It was the freedom she didn't think she'd ever achieve. There will always be someone to guide her, she was a follower and always have been.

They stopped at a food stall. The smell of food and smoke wafting in the air, was delicious, she could almost taste it, sending her stomach grumbling. There was a small queue at the stand, she could not wait.

<<What a freak. I wonder what it is.>> Even if it was a whisper, she heard the idle tattle from a group of young women nearby. It was enough to spur her self-consciousness, as she brought her hood back up to conceal her tentacles. If subconsciously and very unintentional, the force contorted around her her form seeming to disappear from plain view. No more static, blending perfectly into the surroundings.

<<Where the kark did it go?>>

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

His smile perhaps widened in amusement as her gaze looked to his, and whatever it was that she saw, a smile graced her own, amphibian lips. Only to quirk his brow at the answer to his query, as then a chuckle released from his lips, "The Banites were certainly an interesting interpretation of our creed, there is much we can learn from their successes... but much can also be learned from their failures. The Rule of Two is an obsolete idea, yet Banite precepts cannot simply be ignored." He did not fault Darth Bane for what he felt was necessary, he could not fault the Banites, for of all the Sith that had come before, they may have yet become the closest to victory in the material realm, to turn to the immaterial.

Perhaps.

However, he would fault the Banites for abandoning their people.

For abandoning what the hidden truth of the Sith were, in an increasing pursuit of power.

A pursuit of power that might have theoretically forged stronger and stronger Sith every generation... but what good if there was but two?

What good, if they lost more and more knowledge every generation?

His Mistress, had perfected the Banite faults, and the Rule of Two held no purpose in it.

Their type of rule could never come again.

"To break our chains is not to simply supersede our masters, though it is certainly part of it... one day you will hopefully find yourself surpassing me," He spoke with the chuckle still present in his throat, as he walked along, reaching the edge of the stand, quietening his voice, even upon the capital of the Sith Empire, he would not so openly discuss such things, "But you are right, it is the victory to gain freedom, or more clearly, the victory to break the chains of the slavemaster who holds in bondage since birth," His most controversial words, as seriousness took command of his visage, yet that such most of the Order was beginning to believe, as the Eternalists preached and spoke, "The Force itself, to break its chains over us, and truly be free." And after that... that would be when his beliefs would prosper.

The seriousness in his expression fell away, as the smell of what was cooking wafted over his nose, the rotating grill hot and steaming with chicken and beef spinning about, carved, as he resisted the temptation for his mouth to water.

It had been quite a while.

Quite a while since he had been able to indulge in a secret shame.

Yet as he heard a grumbling stomach, over the sound of sizzling meat.

He knew he was not alone.

It was only as a whisper echoed in the air, as he turned his head and witnessed an incredible sight, his apprentice concealing herself under her hood... and then...

She was gone.

He hated that this was how it came about but...

...Through her own struggle.

She had done it.

Another whisper had red eyes snapping towards the woman surrounded by a posse of others, fairly attractive, they all were really, but nothing compared to those he had been with in the past.

Civilians.

That complicated things, even as the simmering anger was swelling within him, "Do you wish to say that louder, my lady?" Red eyes narrowed, as he spoke a challenge.

Lady Falentra

 

[Lady Falentra]

Falentra had not realised she had gone under the cloak of the force. It was only until she raised her hand to touch his arm after noticing him getting upset, that she was taken aback. "Master, its alright, there's no need to-" She whispered, though there was still some hurt evident in her voice. However, Malum had challenged the ladies.

It was not the first time she had received some mean remarks about her looks, just not by people as stunning as those were. Those women seemed to notice Malum's change in demeanour, but despite that, decided to prod further. <<Aw, was that your pet? Sorry, honey.>> The tone the lady spoke in was incredibly condescending.

It angered Falentra, there would have been a heavy blush of indigo on her cheeks if she weren't under the Force Cloak.

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Her voice fluttered across the wind, as the ghost of a smile appeared across his face, "Trust me," He whispered under his breath, this was not the way he had wished for her to achieve it, but through adversity, was many a great achievement made. Still, turning back towards the civilians, a far more charming smile made way, even as his eyes were narrowed still.

A predator, hunting his prey.

"...Not at all, yet would you like to be?" He questioned, pressing forward, into the depths of the group, red eyes glimmering, as they target the lead of the group, "I find myself in need of company... and no doubt you are curious how it is to be with a Sith Lord... unless of course, you believe yourselves too frail?" He challenged with a lighter voice, gazing around at all of them, his robes seeming to tighten around his form, promising all which lay underneath.

He had an idea for an additional lesson to impart to Falentra.

Lady Falentra