Private Unfathomable Depths

[Vesta]

KHAR DELBA​

There had been great emphasis on the importance of disregarding tools of another in order to foster one's own strength in the lessons that Vesta had drilled into Darth Daiara ' head. Taking the objects imbued with power and using them rather than growing in strength naturally was seen as a crutch by the Sith lord, and it'd only take stripping one of access to that object to greatly weaken such a Sith - a lesson she'd learned by simply observing those in the Empire collapse as they were unable to cope or adapt with losing allies that had betrayed them, allies that were analogous in the woman's mind with the treasures that many Sith hoarded. It was no secret, however, that she'd learned much of what she had in the art of alchemy, and to some degree her nuance with the use of the force, from studying what remained of ancient Sith culture and their abandoned tools and trinkets. She simply hadn't relied or made use of them except to learn how they worked or were used in the first place.

Here, on Khar Delba, many had forgotten about the Sith presence that had loomed here. It was a massive ball of ice and unpleasantness, a world that had remained but a footnote in history as a location of Naga Sadow's purportedly decoy fortress, but despite the disposable nature of the site it had housed many different things of worth - be they the war behemoths, forgotten by time, or meditation spheres and other tools that Naga Sadow himself had engineered and left behind when he turned his focus on the Great Hyperspace War so long ago. It seemed fitting, then, for the Sith Lord and her apprentice to travel here in the time of the second Great Hyperspace War. A lesson in history and a chance to let the girl discover a bit on her own at the same time.

"You can keep whatever you find, but I don't want to see you using them for anything except learning." She said as they walked down the steps that led from the gateway built into the mountainside, the pair having walked into the hollowed out interior from outside. It was likely that there was much that had been taken, but time and time again she'd learned history had underestimated the wealth of treasure left behind in such places - particularly those forgotten by their creators, as this place had been once Sadow had eliminated Kressh. A golden symbol of the system's star was at the foot of the stairs atop a great landing that overlooked an abyss that surrounded it, at its center a small spiral stairwell that would lead them further in. Flying mammals, whether they were mynocks or something else entirely, seemed to line the dimly lit walls of the cavernous depths, the source of light in here the runes that lined the ceiling of the interior of the mountain - sith objects of power that Vesta herself still used to this day, finding them quite useful in imbuing the force into an object without much of the drawbacks such a task usually entailed.

"Anything you hope to find?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

A tint of color hit her cheeks, the dagger's weight pressed against her thigh. Point made, but she did not regret the rules she broke to create it. To her it was more valuable than anything. Even her saber.

"Something for Zaavik," came the subdued but honest answer. It had never grown comfortable to bring his name into their conversation, but it normal and even unavoidable now that he had started training under Vesta's wing. It was no secret that the once-was jedi was struggling. At any point in time he seemed more apt to fall into madness than demonstrate any sign of control.

Vesta had coaxed Aradia into relinquish herself to the power for so long, it was counterintuitive to suddenly be teaching restraint. But with Zaavik it was different.

There was surrendering your body to surpass limitations, and then there was surrendering your mind. Zaavik only seemed to know how to do the latter. A mental block from his upbringing? Aradia didn't know. All she knew was he was finally letting her in with it. A training tool would surely help.

Her boots echoed off the damp ground, a ball of fire illuminating the air around her hand.

"I went to find you last night, but you were gone," she noted, her tone suggesting there was more to be said.

 

[Vesta]

She nodded at her apprentice's answer, keeping her focused gaze set forwards, towards the stairs they'd be climbing down in the next several minutes, and was glad she had a reason that was material. Vesta, on the other hand, was in the middle of a mid-life crisis of sorts - she wasn't here to find anything, nothing of substance anyway. Aradia had learned about the sort of inner turmoil her master had went through after meeting her former flame on Rhand, it'd reduced the Sith to a rather pathetic shell of the terrifying person she preferred to be, but she didn't know about the secret rendezvous that had taken place just the other night before she had left for Nirauan. It was a secret she was intent on keeping, Quinn was a person that seemed to be the pinnacle of the Sith's desire but earning her affection would cost her more than she had to give.

All she could do now was give up on that fantasy and focus on reality.

"I was participating in an attack on the New Imperial world of Nirauan." She answered, as if it was the most casual conversation piece in the world. "I needed to know how much I would need to prepare against Rurik Fel when the Maw moves to target its next world." Vesta explained as they reached the mouth of the stairwell that would bring them down into the depths of the frozen mountain. "I don't want you or Zaavik there, by the way; I will be operating without restraint when it happens." She added upon taking her first step down. All of that was technically true but contained several lies of omission - particularly in her leaving out visiting Quinn and trying, essentially begging, to try to start things again, but also in her knowledge of the planet the Maw already had in mind.

The latter she wasn't at liberty to share yet, even with her apprentice.

"I'd.. like to ask that you keep an eye on her for me when I do leave for that."

There was an uncomfortable pause that followed the request, which was doubly so for the Shi'ido. She turned her head to the side, casting Darth Daiara a sidelong glance, and adjusted her expression according to her expectation of the girl's reaction. "To keep her away - for the same reason I don't want you there, to keep you alive." She said. 'And her,' she silently added in her thoughts. It was unlikely Aradia didn't have some idea of what unrestrained entailed in regards to her master, especially given the context clues pertaining to the implied lethality of such, but she wasn't one to keep things ambiguous when something she was keenly invested in was involved, either. "In case it wasn't abundantly clear, I will not be restraining my hunger. I will also likely be the target of the likes of Fel and similar threats, Nirauan and Jedha gave me an opportunity to test their abilities first-hand to prepare."

She turned her gaze forward again, ready to have every bit of otherwise important and secret battle plan ignored and her simple request focused in on like a lazer.

She knew how her apprentice felt about Quinn.

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia's whole body tensed at the mention of her. In a bid of maturity, she didn't derail the whole moment to demand why. She didn't even balk. She restrained herself to a singular, sharp look, one whose edges hid thoughts and judgement alike.

She was getting harder to read.

"I should be with you," she finally asserted, her attention turning back to the stairs they descended. "I can handle myself, you'll need me at your back if you're really going to draw that much attention."

And if the estranged ex got drained in the process, Aradia simply didn't care. Maybe Quinn should have made better choices. Like not supporting the people that had purged them.

"I'm stronger now. You can't deny it."

 

[Vesta]

She slowed her pace for a step or two, considering the idea of berating the girl in much the same way she had behaved much earlier when they had hardly known each other, but then caught her stride again after deciding not to argue. It wasn't fair of her to put a responsibility that, if anything, she couldn't hold her to and if she was being honest Darth Daiara was right. She'd gotten better, true, but the strength the girl had, or her cunning - she wasn't sure which was a bigger advantage to her right now - wasn't comparable to the sorts of things Vesta herself got into. That wasn't the point, though; it was time to stop babying her.

"..Fine."

She didn't look back that time, her focus taken off of their path ahead and moved far from the two of them. Still, she pressed on with her brisk walk to lead the way down into the heart of the ruins. Her mind did, however, eventually return to the subject of their conversation and her desire to keep the girl out of the sort of danger that she wasn't quite certain she could survive. "If you're willing to pay that price." Vesta added, breaking the pause that had followed her response. "I won't want to, but I will not choose you over success." She warned, something that mirrored the fight she had more recently with Quinn over something rather similar.

"Will you be able to handle that Aradia?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

Her brows shot up in shock as the woman agreed.

Vesta was rarely one to change her mind. Even rarer was the ability for Aradia to dictate her own orders. For a moment she felt a spark of pride, her steps gaining energy, but then Vesta's final words dropped.

All warmth left Aradia's body. "What?" Her voice echoed away from them, growing smaller as it went. Aradia stopped on that step and tried to understand. It wasn't the first time she had heard such sentiment. Force knew it wouldn't be the last. Every man for themselves was the very law of the universe. Every person dead and living operated on it, whether or not they were willing to admit it.

Aradia didn't have problems with it, it was only the timing and the choice for Vesta to say it at all.

The flame grew hotter in her palm.

"You doubt me?"

 

[Vesta]

She didn't need to see Darth Daiara ' reaction to know that the ginger was less than willing to accept what Vesta was implying. Initially, before deciding to simply phrase her answer to her earlier protestations in the way she had, there'd been a modicum of consideration to ask the girl how long she could last if she had been put up against her master in a fight that would require her to survive without a handicap. Of course she had realized who it was she was talking to nearly right away and understood that she'd get the same answer regardless because the girl lacked perspective.

"Yes." She said plainly.

She stopped, turning to face her, and arched a brow. Vesta shot her a questioning stare, wordlessly asking her whether she was willing to make a painful mistake on an otherwise pleasant day, and then moved her hands to rest them on her hips. "You aren't some little cub that I can't let out of my sight, Aradia, but I'm asking you if you're willing to do everything it takes to survive being put up against the sorts of people who, if I happen to be having an off day, could kill me." She reiterated, unfazed by her apprentice's irritation. "I might see your potential, girl, but if you and I were to fight, and seriously, you would die." Vesta explained sternly, tensing the muscles in her left arm.

"The very same people I am concerned about you potentially running into cost me an arm just so I could be standing here today because I underestimated their resourcefulness."

She turned away, slowly beginning to continue her descent down the steps.

"I don't want you to make that commitment and then be forced to ignore your cries for help because you didn't understand how serious I was when I asked you."

 

[Darth Daiara]

The force sucked into Aradia's body like a rock dropped in water. It was the only warning Vesta would have, that and perhaps Aradia's predictability.

A ball of heat shot forward, a flaming inferno of fire that careened without restraint down the stairs after her master's back. If they fought seriously Aradia would die? She was willing to test that assumption.

On a perfectly pleasant day too.

The girl shot after the flames, the force empowering her steps as she withdrew the arm length dagger. The one Vesta couldn't heal from. She had no intention of actually killing the woman, but if it was what it took to show that she was now a force to be reckoned with...

She jumped through the flames and tried to slice the woman shoulder to hip-- the long fall besides them be damned.

 

[Vesta]

She didn't need to feel the warm air rushing towards her, didn't need to hear the whistling of air as convection changed the current of otherwise still air around the growing flames, and before the girl had even released the ball of fire from her hand Vesta was well aware that the girl had chosen to disappoint her again. She lifted the hand attached to the arm which she had been forced to replace, shifting her weight onto her heels in order to smoothly pivot towards the girl's incoming attack, and without a word forced the flames to simply disappear into the woman's palm as if it had never even been there - only to be returned to Darth Daiara as a wall of branching arcs of electricity that moved far faster in the slightly heated cold air, feeding off of the static charge that was inherently present in such climates.

It wouldn't matter if the weapon the girl held could cut her in a way that the Sith couldn't recover from if she couldn't reach her with her blade in the first place, after all.

All of this with one hand - the other which lifted and reached out for her apprentice with the force, to grip her in the air by the throat in much the same way the cliché went for Sith. Telekinesis was an invaluable tool, but it was one that wasn't quite suitable against a master of the force on their guard, especially in a duel they were prepared for in the first place. It was probably a fine detail lost on the girl in the heat of the moment, but if she had tried the same thing on Vesta it would've been met with resistance from the force itself - an aura of sorts that was more or less instinctively kept around her person, not unlike the sixth sense for imminent danger that most with a moderate sensitivity to the force possessed.

She flexed the muscles in her hand, corresponding to the degree of force she'd put on the girl through the force.

"I'm sorry." She said from behind a clenched jaw, narrowing her eyes. "Did you want me using a lightsaber?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia's slipped to the side, back brushing the wall as the electricity shot past her. The edges of a shield shimmered as it absorbed the static arms of the attack. Before Aradia could move forward against it she was hefted upwards.

The force resisted for the sparest moment, but even that that was circumvented. Aradia quickly found herself dangling. Her stomach sank in bitter disappointment. Unlike the past, this moment only hardened her reserve.

Her eyes narrowed at her Master's taunt.

"You're just afraid you couldn't keep me back."

Bladework had always been Aradia's sharpest skill, one that needed little to none assistance from the likes of her. It was the force that had been Aradia's weakness, and it was the force she now used against the woman. The pressure built around Vesta, Aradia's face growing red she fought, with notable resistance, to smother the woman with the growing power.

It would never have been enough to overwhelm the sith lord, but that didn't matter. By the time it became clear what Aradia was doing, it was too late. She released the power in a telekinetic blast, the concussion shooting downwards...

And collapsing the stairwell right out from under the sith lord.

Aradia fell with freedom to the ground with a gasp of fresh air.

 

[Vesta]

There were so many ways this could have ended much more quickly, but none of those would've taught her apprentice a lesson that didn't end with her death. That was the dilemma, the reason she was so adamant on being so frank about the dangers associated with tagging along to wherever it was the Maw was looking to destroy next. There was always a hard limit to training and this was quickly approaching that, even if the girl didn't understand it or realize it. The girl was smart, she was resourceful, and she could hold her own against so many people - but she didn't take the time to figure out how to deal with the sorts of people who weren't the average duelist, she based her decisions on what she knew and experienced which only took her so far.

She ignored the girl's retort, instead letting her attention turn towards the inward pressure directed upon all sides of her like a vice - a grip that was weak despite the concerted effort she perceived was being put into the bind. All that Darth Daiara needed to do was to distract Vesta enough to cause her control over the force to waver so that she could break free from the hold she was kept in, and in a way she succeeded; it just seemed to be a byproduct, a mere happenstance, rather than the clear intention behind her counter. The ground gave way suddenly, the force exerted upon her seemingly a façade to keep her from realizing the girl's true intentions, and, for this, she had to give the ginger her due - anyone else, or at least most people, would've simply fallen to their deaths at this point. It was a shame the girl's master was a literal shapeshifter who could sprout herself wings, or extend a limb, or any other easy way out.

"That was a mistake." She said, her voice carried like an echo after the sound of bat-like wings being twisted and lifted up filled the air.

This futile attempt at persuading the Sith lord into believing her apprentice could handle the sort of people who gave her trouble was something Vesta more than intended to put an end to, tired of this constant posturing that so many people who didn't seem to understand the kinds of situations she put herself through often took part in. In the same passage of time it took for Aradia to reach the ground Vesta had already lifted herself back up to the stairwell, feet touching the ground at much the same time. A moment or two passed and the Shi'ido had bridged their gap with force-enhanced speed that made her as much a blur as a mirage on a hot day on Avidich, little concern spent on anything the girl had to offer - less so to the dagger she carried that could keep her from healing herself were it to cut her.

The twisting stone that rose up from the ground like a serpent, sprouting out from the very steps the two stood on, to seek out the girl's wrists and ankles like chains spoke plenty on why.

"Why do you insist on acting like such a spoiled brat?" She shouted, incensed.

 

[Darth Daiara]

It wasn't a mistake, it had done as intended.

Aradia used her freedom to thrash against the lively rock, dagger and force alike trying to cut through the snaking tendrils and break the chains before they cement her in place. For all Aradia's weakness with the force, her old master was an elementalist. For Vesta it would feel like working against the rocks very nature, their purpose rewritten by the fledging elementalist that tried to control them. It was a practice deeper than the force itself. It might have stood a chance against Vesta;s manipulations, if it had been a master at the other end of it. Aradia never could demand the same control of earth as she did of fire. In the end one foot found itself locked down... before three other limbs quickly followed suit.

Aradia screamed in frustration, her hand breaking free for the sparest moment, before Vesta could regain control and lock her down.

"Why do you insist on acting like such a spoiled brat?"

The air grew dull as Aradia drained the energy from it, her resistance growing by minuscule ticks. It still wasn't enough. "Maybe if you weren't such chit--" she spat, madness biting into her eyes. Sharp words slipped out with a life of their own.

"You promised me power, but you're too much of a coward to even give me a chance. " Cracks appeared around the wrist with the dagger, fighting for life with every fiber of strength she could command.

 

[Vesta]

There was a simple difference between those who had the experience of war and those who had experience with fights; this difference between them seemed negligible at times, and perhaps even counterintuitive at times in regards to which influenced behavior and how, but when fights reached a fever pitch that stoked the same, dormant, flames that literal war did that difference became almost an ocean in depth. Someone who spent their time picking fights with people where the only recourse was, at the absolute worst, death and, on average, living another day to lick their wounds was someone who didn't need to shift their actions at the drop of a hat, didn't face the sorts of situations that forced them to realize that contests of power that took time and wasted precious seconds that could mean life and death, could mean victory for one side in a war over another.

That was the Sith lord had been inferring that her apprentice lacked, and it was that very experience, that intimate knowledge of how easily life could slip from someone's fingers just because they spent time they didn't have to try to keep pushing back at something another had just enough skill with to inconvenience them. It didn't matter that Darth Daiara wasn't a master, it only mattered that she kept Vesta from doing precisely as she had intended in a manner that would've required her to spend more time forcing things to go her way than it would to simply adjust her behavior and come at her apprentice in a different way. She had watched presumptuous Sith, councilors even, die because they had decided it was worth it to risk their lives for their pride rather than to toss aside their efforts in favor of something more opportunistic - something that worked. It was fine that the girl had been wrangled, even if only momentarily, but she wasn't going to waste her time trying any longer as she fought against her binds - she had proven she could keep her master from outright killing her if she kept her focusing on keeping her held instead.

The Sith lord took one step towards the girl and lifted her hand in a cupping gesture, like she would've to lift the girl's chin if the two had been close enough to do so. The feeble gnawing the girl made on her binds through her attempts to drain the force within her were immediately put into her master's own perspective with the sudden loss of warmth from the already frigid air, the vanishing of color like an ink drawing splashed with water, and the immediate collapse and fall of so many creatures that flew in a panic because of the duo's clash. The girl had obtained a taste for consuming the force from her master, the woman that had steadily turned every facet of her being into emphasizing that one, singular, hunger.

In the blink of an eye that mere taste seemed so small, so quaint, in comparison.

"I could end your stupid tantrum as quickly as I might blow out a candle." She said icily. Indeed it was only through restraint that she didn't plunge everything into cataclysm, and through great focus and control that she didn't snuff her apprentice's life out by accident while doing so - but this display only served to prove the girl's point. "I said you could come with me, I said what it was that I thought of your abilities, Aradia, but I understand the limitations you have, just as I understand mine." Vesta said, reiterating her earlier explanation regarding the girl's participation in the Maw's affairs. "It is not cowardice to expect you to accept that there are other people who might be able to kill you, I would have told you that you could not come if I had been afraid. I am being pragmatic, I am making certain that you are going into this with me fully accepting that you might not make it out alive."

She paused, looking the girl over, and shook her head.

"Power isn't mine to give, Aradia, it's yours to take. Prove yourself to me then, not now."

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia thrashed in agitation, brought to heel by the reality around her-- whether she liked it or not.

Vesta was right. No matter how much Aradia tried to will it otherwise, it was not the woman she had a problem with. It was herself. She slumped into the hold, all the resistance dispersing with pained frustration. Vesta had given her permission to join but it wasn't enough. She wanted faith-- needed it, even.

It was the only way she step foot in a setting like that again.

She wasn't ready.

She glowered at the ground, still projecting the blame outwards. "You wouldn't be saying that if you drew your weapon. You know I'm stronger." And maybe that was true, Aradia had years of training on her side. But the blade and the force were not the same. Enemies never tied back one hand because your other was stronger.

She scowled and let the blade clatter in surrender.

"Happy?" She wasn't.

 

[Vesta]

She wished she could have been in her shoes, trying to convince someone else to have faith in her - she blinked, not expecting sense enough in the girl to surrender. "Wait, what?" She asked, having half-expected some more bravado, or maybe chucking her knife spitefully at her with the force - not acceptance. She shook her head like she was trying to rid herself of the disbelief she had for the display of.. maturity? She wasn't really sure what to call it, but it was a much better outcome than she had been expecting out of this, at least in her mind, rather chaotic turn of events. It took several more moments for her to realize that she had actually voiced her own surprise rather than keep the questioning words contained as a thought like she had intended. She relented in the tidal pull of life being dragged into herself, a glance made towards the weapon Darth Daiara had let clatter to the floor.

Of course the insult lobbed at her that she actually knew was little more than prideful digging was something she hoped the girl might prove to her some day; as it stood, though, she was rather certain that was a series of events which would have been a much less forgiving end for her apprentice. Pushing the impulse to defend her own skill aside, as prideful of her abilities though she was, there wasn't much else to discuss besides maybe answering Aradia's question in the most "Vesta" way possible.

That is, to say, entirely ignoring the girl's rather open approval-seeking and instead answering the question as bluntly as possible.

"If you're going to mope about this for the next month and then refuse to come with me after all of this, then no, Aradia, I am not happy." She answered coolly as she stepped towards her apprentice, lifting the blade back up towards the girl's hand with the force. "I want you to tell me that you are ready for this, I don't want you to ask me to tell you that you are. You're a grown adult, you are a Sith, you are whatever you have determined yourself to be - if you think you need my approval to feel powerful, then you've already disappointed me more than you could have if you were dead." She paused, eyeing her apprentice's binds with disdain.

"You're a strong and clearly capable young woman, if you tell me that you are ready then I will choose to believe you and I will take you with me wherever I go - but if you are doing this because you think I will think less of you if you know that you are not ready, in the belief that somehow I can protect you when a real challenge comes your way, then you are wrong." She explained. It was hardly an issue for her to change the structure of the grains of rock, sand, and stone that bound Aradia from its solid state to a fine powder that was simply swept away by the upward draft of cool air rising up from the depths beneath them. "I am proud of you, in some ways I even look up to you, but I am never going to advertise that to you, that isn't what either of us deserve."

"Now if we could please continue on with why we are even here.."

 

[Darth Daiara]

Air escaped through Aradia's nose, tight and short. Her answer came in the reformation of the stairs, her heels digging into her stone steep as tendrils of sand jumped to life and filled in the hole she had left behind. It solidified, resembling ice overtaking a windshield as you jumped into the dead of cold space.

"Whatever, mom." She couldn't stop herself, not that she even possessed the awareness to do so. The power she amassed still lingered inside of her, dark tendrils of potential fusing with her very being. She didn't let it go so quickly anymore. She clipped their shoulders and started down, cooling off with each step that lowered them to the caves.

"Do you have a date for this ... event?"

She gathered a ball of fire in her balls, then let it roll off her fingers and drop. She followed its trail to the bottom, judging the distance from its light.

 

[Vesta]

She smirked.

Frustratingly annoying, insubordinate, obstinate, her apprentice could be a great many things - but more than most of the rest she was certainly quick with her wit. "You're too old to be my kid." Vesta shot back without missing a beat, though she couldn't deny that sometimes their dynamic as master and apprentice seemed to mirror something like that. It made it more difficult for her to appreciate the sarcasm, though, knowing how apprentices were expected to achieve the position of master in the Maw - something she was finding more and more of a challenge to prepare both Darth Daiara and herself for, particularly with her own goals being what they were.

"I have not." She answered tersely, her fist clenching tightly into a ball with the recollection of her stupid games she had played with Fel. It had been uncharacteristic of her, then, to let herself be so consumed with the emotional weight tied around her neck. Glancing down, at the replacement limb, she wondered if she shouldn't have just used Nirauan to assassinate the man rather than goad him into finding her in the inevitable climax of her quest for revenge. It would have been so easy - so much less reliant on holding all of the cards - but instead she had decided to toy with the man until he managed to provoke her anger and caused her to get hurt because of that lapse in judgment. She needed to plan for those kinds of confrontations - and, on Nirauan, she hadn't planned for any kind of actual lethal combat.

That was a lesson now permanently attached to her at the shoulder.

"Things will be a more.. chaotic affair." Vesta added, carefully, as she turned and continued walking ever downwards. "A few potential problems are those I've made aware of the threat I intend to make myself, but I think the enemy at large is uncertain of which person they ought to be focusing on in the upcoming razing. Solipsis, certainly, and I suppose Caelitus as well for much the same reason, but it won't be machinery that plays the death knell."

"I will."

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia looked up sharply, concern masked by confusion.

"Death Knell?" She repeated, forcing herself to continue walking. One foot in front of the other, even she knew better than to so freely lean into the attachment she had form with Vesta. They were not friends.

Not here. Not when talking about this. ...Outburst aside, Aradia kept herself in rank as led the way. Another fireball was formed and dropped, as if the girl simply couldn't care less.

 

[Vesta]

Fascination with the macabre had become her most recent obsession, a means to fill the void left behind by the hole she'd carved into herself during Rhand. Normally she avoided speaking in such a way to keep herself from appearing different or strange but it had felt appropriate in the moment, only occurring to her that perhaps she had misspoken when asked to elaborate further. "I will destroy Tython." She said plainly, thinking back to the destruction of Csilla that had awoken her. Those screams had been enough to cause her to stir, motivation enough for so much darkness to swell up against the surface that the ignorant built their cities on. "I have restrained myself out of.. respect.. for others long enough. I'm done hiding in the shadows."

Even her apprentice, whose confused expression was caught well within her tilted gaze, hadn't seen what she was capable of - willing to do. The closest had been, ironically, at the moment they had met. A mere whim was what had kept Darth Daiara alive, and it was on a whim that she had created a façade to limit herself to. She suspected the girl knew there was more to her master than something that was just hungry, than someone who just had the benefit of good training or prodigious skill, but suspicions were like superstitions to her - better exposed and made true than misled. "It will only be the beginning of the end, for them. A ringing bell to signify the futility to their continued struggle."

"A death knell."

She pondered a thought to herself for a moment, then, and glance down towards the darkness that was, for a moment or two, illuminated by descending balls of fire conjured by her apprentice.

"Have you been having second thoughts of sticking with me?" She asked, suddenly curious of something that she hadn't recently, if even ever, brought up. "It isn't like you to be quiet."

 

[Darth Daiara]

Silence. It was only for a moment, but it spoke volumes.

"No." She lied.

She lit another fireball and watched it drop.

"How deep do you think it goes?"