She respected the decision of the younger Sith to not indulge in temptation, although she suspected part of it was born from a misguided notion on what she was proposing. Resurrection would be difficult, considering the modifications she had sensed Alisteri had performed on himself during their confrontation on Formos. His body and spirit had been altered at a fundamental level, twisted and stitched back together in unexpected ways to where the soul would be difficult to reclaim intact from the Netherworld. To go Beyond Shadows or to Flow Walk, to simply speak with the dead, was much easier although no less dangerous to someone experiencing such heartache.
She would merely remain silent as Revna's anger at her surfaced, as she explained how she was feeling about the situation and the actions Taeli had taken. The anger would be met with a calm expression as she simply listened and let the younger woman speak her mind. It was even understandable coming from Revna's position and she could empathize with her point of view. To some, it would seem a dramatic escalation of a personal feud where some children had been kidnapped and she burned a world in response. To her, though, it had been a promise and if she were to maintain her own strength and reputation, she needed to be seen as a woman of her word. The threat she had issued on Tund had not been empty one, even if she was not one to usually partake in such wanton acts of destruction. She had warned him to stop acting against her interests, and he had not heeded the warning.
Even so, she still recognized that destroying the only home the young woman before her had ever known would be doubly painful in the aftermath of the loss of her Master. When she finally asked the question, should she just forget everything that had happened, the easy answer would be to say yes. To have her forget it all. To leave it in the past as mistakes and lessons.
She had never been one for easy answers, ones that held such subtle lies of erasing a problem instead of confronting it.
"No, you shouldn't forget," she replied simply, leaning forward in her chair to regard the standing and simmering Revna. "To pretend nothing happened solves absolutely nothing."
Amethyst eyes merely watched the young woman for a few more moments, studying the anger in the younger Sith's and likely her desire to do something foolish.
"The anger you feel, that desire to strike out at me, is understandable. You'd be within your rights to do so, and I wouldn't stop you from trying... but nor would I allow myself to come to bodily harm. We both know I can protect myself from whatever you could throw at me presently. But if you need such a lesson to vent, by all means my dear, take your shot."
It was an open invitation, but as the Dark Councilor steepled her fingers in front of her, she continued speaking.
"Or you can listen to what I have to say. Am I deserving of your hatred for what I did? Yes, it would be justified and I wouldn't fault you for such feelings. In that instance though, you would need to include a few others that contributed to what occurred for it to be truly enduring hatred. The Zambranos, of course, for helping me with the destruction. Your master for doing such overt acts that could not go unanswered. Your cousin for what he did in issuing a needless Kaggath and then killing your master and trying to subsume Alisteri's power base into his own for his own ambitions. That is just to start."
She decided to stand up herself, hands now clasped behind her back.
"Do you know the interesting thing about the tactics I employed before striking Formos? Each and every single I did was reversible. The plague we unleashed? My alchemists carry the cures for each pathogen they invent. The creatures we allowed to proliferate? Easily recalled by my beastmasters. The sabotage of security forces and systems? Repairable. Everything I did before the main attack could have been prevented or nullified if he had just returned the children. When he did not, every death that came was not on my hands. It was on your master's.
"Alisteri and you and the entire Wonosa Order, yes, had the right to defend themselves from me. Yes, my threats on Tund were made to drive him away from that world and project what continued actions against my interests would bring. Yes, they were threats that most Sith could not take lying down, but they were also threats that would only come true if he continued to needle me. They were also given because he was never going to be able to hold that world in the way he understood how to rule something, in how to project your influence when a hostile power is merely parsecs away. I wanted him, from the Tund experience, to realize there were better ways to go about what he wanted, to achieve his goals without painting a massive target on his back and everyone around and underneath him. Now Tund is under the Empire of the Lost, and my influence there in the Centrality continues because it is quiet."
She would turn her gaze around the room, looking over the chambers, the suite really. This was not a prison cell, but perhaps Revna did not see that quite yet. She would though, she was certain. Her eyes would return to Revna.
"I have lost several homes in my life, none of it was ever easy. My family home on Lorrd is long gone. The Sith temple I called home and learned the Sith ways on Coruscant was destroyed when the One Sith fell. The Jedi temple where I connected with my sister is gone, reduced to rubble by the order of Kaine. My home on Bastion was razed when the New Imperials took it over. My home with my wife wasn't a home for decades because of what happened between us. Places come and go in this chaotic galaxy, Revna, but as long as you survive, a new home can always be built."
She would slowly walk over to where she stood, to stand in front of Revna, hands still clasped behind her back. The invitation still remained open for the girl to really work out her violent feelings, but she was not done speaking yet.
"The pieces are already there for you to build something new, something better, for yourself. The Wonosa and half of the Inquisition have sealed themselves up on Faldos, denying all entry into the system, but they are alive and free for the moment. Malum will eventually take them for himself, if he can, and then comes the question of does he just give you them as a gift or keep them for himself, unwilling to trust to them not act out against his wishes and plans? I think we know the answer to that question. But even here, Revna, your cage is no cage and you, my dear, are no prisoner. If you truly desired it, you'd have found a way to escape, regardless of whatever surveillance device Kaine or Braxus implanted into you or declared was watching you. Once you came to Korriban, it would merely be a call to someone and they would whisk you away, but that's not what you really want."
Here came a truth, one that Taeli had seen when she first met Revna on Tund and then later when she briefly accompanied Taeli and Fiolette on a trip.
"You want to be here, not as a Kainite of course, but you want to be Korriban all the same. You came here to truly learn how to become a Sith. One of your own making."
Darth Carnifex
had been holding the younger woman that she desired to meet for some time, perhaps close to the time that her assault on Formos had taken place to retrieve the information her Master held on the whereabouts of her grandchildren he had kidnapped. That matter had been resolved, to her satisfaction, but others had made use of the situation for their own benefit. Following the Kaggath that had resulted in both her Master being destroyed and the pullback from their power base, she had learned Revna was a guest of sorts on Korriban of its King at his palace.
Darth Caedes
had been rather simple. She wanted to meet with Revna, and her request had been granted. She suspected that the King of Korriban had not fought against it because he saw value in having a Dark Councilor view him favorably. If what she suspected was coming, then the politics within the Sith were only going to increase in complexity and alliance would be need to navigate the agendas swiftly forming around Jutrand. Until that time however, as she was guided to the chambers by a servant of the King to where Revna was, she would hold her own counsel.
