New Faces

[Sifa Tirel]

[member="Hal Terrano"]

She let out a chuckle.

"It wasn't by choice." Sifa assured him. "At least not mine. You know how the galaxy gets. Pay attention to something unimportant for half a second, shift your focus, look away, and suddenly you're running around with your head cut off."

Not exactly an explanation, but it was the truth in a way, one that she would not elaborate on further. "Sometimes, you just lose control."

That would have been hard to admit, but as she took her careful steps around him, pacing like a jungle cat until she was at his back, a harshness entered her voice. The lightsaber slipped from its place on her back, falling into her palm and hanging at her side as her thumb rested over the activation switch.

She kept the blade off for now, but prepared herself.

 

[Hal Terrano]

That wasn't too offensive.

The man assumed that he was the something unimportant and truthfully, given her rap sheet, he could believe it. What was tormenting an honour-bound Jedi Padawan in comparison to the rest? It was more of a fun little hobby to her, if anything.

“Understandable,” he replied as she moved around to his back.

This woman was perhaps the very last being in the galaxy you wanted to have behind you, and Terrano was more than aware of that fact. However, he kept to his gumption and remained at his desk. Very carefully he moved his hand, picking up the datapad that rested atop her book.

“I would not have needlessly wasted my time translating this text if I had planned upon killing you.”

That was the truth. Of course, if she wanted to finish off loose ends then Hal would have been more than obliged to defend himself and likely would have taken some amount of pleasure from using her to practice his techniques in Force Fear.

“I will concede, that I am curious as not to why you have returned, but as to why you are here,” the archivist admitted, waving the datapad reader he held up slightly.

---

[member="Sifa Tirel"]

 

[Sifa Tirel]

[member="Hal Terrano"]

She frowned.

Could she do it?

There was a hint of reconsideration in her. If only because there was a hint of unknown now. Before she had been the clear victory, she had been the winner. Yet now he stood above her in strength. Sifa was weak in her current state, she was half of what she once was. In time she would be stronger, in time she would have the power she needed.

For now however, for now it was better to play it safe.

Her thumb fell away from the activation switch, moving instead to rest at its side. If he attacked she would still be ready to defend herself, but she wouldn't strike out against him, at least not yet. There would be a time to do that, a place, then she would begin what she had started. "Why?"

Sifa repeated his question, musing on it for a moment.

"Why is anyone here?" She asked of him. "Why are the other apprentices. Power, of course."

 

[Hal Terrano]

He placed the datapad back down, given that she did not snatch it away immediately, hoping that it was enough to stay her hand from temptation to harm him. Conversation would have done nicely for the time being.

“Oversimplified.”

Am I here for power?

Hal imagined that a woman as nefarious as she surely had to have a plan, a plot, a scheme. Something she wanted to obtain, and while power might have been the main staple of her goal it just wasn't specific enough. There had to be a reason. Does one just simply skip death for raw power? It didn't seem right, it almost felt mindless.

He had watched her interrogation holos, a situation in which she lacked real advantage and he had also witnessed her in person, that time in a situation in which she had all of the advantage. Goad when you're winning, deceive when you're losing. At least that was his estimation of her.

“There must be reason beyond that,” he stated, back straightening in the chair and arms folding across his mid-section, “although I do not imagine that you will be telling me.”

---

[member="Sifa Tirel"]

 

[Sifa Tirel]

[member="Hal Terrano"]

She laughed. "Maybe that really is all I want. It's all I've ever wanted really. Power."

It was true enough, in a way, though the means of her power, the way she wanted to get it this time was wholly different than what most would expect of her.

Sifa suspected that by the end of all this she would surprise more than a few people, catching them off guard and hopefully rending them into smaller bits that she could more easily scoop up. It would be interesting to see how all of her plans played out, more interesting to see if they would play out. Though of course, she would have to first set up the pieces.

"Dont you worry." Sifa said quietly. "I won't burn your little library to the ground."

 

[Hal Terrano]

Evidently he wouldn't be learning more than that.

No real skin off of his back, unless she was going to slit his throat while he slept. Always a possibility with that woman. He'd be sleeping very lightly for weeks to come after this encounter, as if he had ever slept soundly within these temples anyway.

“Good,” he responded very tersely.

Attention turned back to a new text, which Hal leafed through until he found his previous spot. Karnak Tetsu and the Sorcerers of Tund had been absorbed, saved and put back in its proper place. His newest point of interest was a rather nefarious but ultimately personally intriguing Force power. Drain knowledge. It planed the seed of intention within his mind, were it not for his disposition, Terrano might have even smiled.

“Then perhaps I will be able to translate future texts for you,” he said, pausing for a moment before frowning, “what would you like for me to call you?”

---

[member="Sifa Tirel"]

 

[Sifa Tirel]

[member="Hal Terrano"]

She frowned slightly.

Suspicion carried through her, and rightfully so. For more than a few seconds she considered killing the man again. A quick flick of her lighsaber, activation of the blade...he wore no armor, only robes. It would be easy enough to carve out his heart and end him before anything happened. He doubted that even with his new found strength he would be able to react quickly enough, but that begged the question, what would it gain her? To her knowledge he would be silent now, silent on her secret.

He had even offered to help.

"Sifa." She purred, her voice still that same tone of confidence and conquest. "That is what the Jedi named me."

Her lips turned up into a smirk, and finally her lightsaber returned to its place on her hip. For now she would not act, for now she would hold off and let Hal live. Perhaps at a later time she would have to return here and end him, but as always, she saw an opportunity for gain here, for personal gain.

That always took priority.

 

[Hal Terrano]

“Sifa,” he repeated, testing the name out in his mouth.

He didn't really have much of an opinion upon her new name. In some cultures, names were vastly important. Often amongst the more pedestrian sentient races surnames and legacies were touted in an almost fanatical manner, welcoming mass breeding and gradually watered down genes. However, some, much more interesting cultures would not even share their real, sacred name with others, using aliases instead.

Likely to the pair in the library names were simply words.

“As I stated, your translated text is on the datapad. If you wish to leave the physical copy of the book within the library you may do so.”

Crimson eyes began to flow along the page, drinking in the technique needed to be used to successfully extract knowledge from the mind of another. It was a vicious ability, and yet one where the benefits far outweighed that rampant cruelty that it displayed. Perhaps power was what he sought after all, just through different means.

“Oh, and Sifa?” Terrano said, head tilting up, staring forward with his usual straight-edge expression, “Do remember to feed your pets this time.”

---

[member="Sifa Tirel"]