An unrelaxing Vacation.

[Julias Tannaras]

The master stroke.

Silently, he was cackling with laughter, bellowing, reveling in his deception. It was sometimes shocking to even himself when he lied so thoroughly well that whoever was on the other end found themselves totally convinced.

Maybe he was to good at lying. Maybe he had gone a bit overboard in his turn around. Maybe he had genuinely hurt her in his attempts to seem genuinely hurt.

Despite it all, that wasn't his intent. With a sigh, he would sit up a bit. "...that was a strong outburst, and for it you have my deepest regrets. It was quite a few coincidences that have brought us to meet here, and I would definitely want to continue our conversation as it was previously." Julias would say, feigning regret as he secretly sat triumphant. "As I said earlier, it's been far to long since I dined outdoors with a friend. Not many at the academy I went to saw me as a friend at all, really- it's a competitive institution, but the culture there looked down heavily upon those of the core worlds." He continued, explaining further.

"I'm not used to anyone treating me with any form of amicability. This is the first time in a long while someone was treating me like a friend, which is why my response was so hostile. I do again ask for your forgiveness."

@Llamalove

 

[Iden Farlander]

“It’s alright,” Iden replied, inwardly continuing to sort out her thoughts. Her senses seemed to be at war with her feelings and thoughts within her. It was a terrible feeling. What she thought Julias was... well, on that point she was still, unfortunately, undecided.

“There’s no need to ask for my forgiveness. I... should be the one apologizing to you.”

Was that true? Did she really think that? Was she being honest when told herself that he couldn’t be a Sith or was she letting the implied guilt he had cast upon her get the better of her? She was not sure.

@Tom

 

[Julias Tannaras]

"Hush litel kildre,

Don't ye crie!

I am that voice neath youre pillowe,

I sunge tille the day awafes,

A brighte light in the haefen's sfy."
​

It had been at an opera all the way back on coruscant when he had first heard that song. Ages ago now, it felt. He had to have been five or six. The very, very archaic galactic basic it had originally been written in had struck him in a way that had felt off, compounded by the bizarre performance. His mother had loved every moment of it, giving it a standing ovation from their box while he had just sat in confusion. The memory came to him now just as strange as the words had come to him, and he still wondered what it all meant.

If evil was a true thing in this world, did Julias fit the description? Was manipulating this girl evil?

He didn't have the faintest clue. Was it so wrong that it could be considered an evil act, or was it just malevolent?

Watching that performance those years ago, he still felt bizarrely sick. Uncomfortable. Perhaps there was something evil in the characters of that performance- that dazzling vocalist, who his mother later told him was actually his uncle on his father's side. Or perhaps it was that strange costumed figure in the center, with the massive mask as large as his own body.

Was it the whole of the performance? Was it all?

He tried to piece this together in his mind as he'd look down at their still incompleted meal. His appetite hadn't been fully sated, he surprisingly discovered. Reaching down, he would take a particular vegetable he hadn't ever seen before and take a bite.

Bitter.

But good.

"Your suspicion in all honesty shouldn't have offended me as much as it did. Hell, I probably look like a Sith with the eye makeup and my clothes." Julias would say, although his outfit wasn't of Sith origin at all. Far from it- much of his wardrobe was actually a gift from his late grandfather, and his only Sith ancestor had died centuries ago.

"I often wonder what it is that the wars we've been fighting have been about. I'm... I'm no Sith, but my family is of the core. We intermingled with the aristocracy of the empire for century after century, and as far as we saw, that empire brought nothing but stability to the wider galaxy. It brought an order, it brought peace. Palaces weren't getting blown up every week, cities weren't being blown to smithereens." He would say, sitting up as he'd take another bite.

"How... how are the Sith even evil? What is it that they did? I'm afraid of them because of their power, and how they can use it, but the state they built... why can't we have it back?"

@llamallove

 

[Iden Farlander]

Iden was disappointed to hear Julia’s views on the Sith, but she supposed it was only natural to want to question things and form your own opinions on the state of the galaxy and its varying factions. She kept her tone even and patient, but she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at his “why can't we have it back?” remark.

“Peace and oppression can never coexist,” Iden responded with conviction, not hesitating as she recounted a few of the teachings she had been taught daily by the Jedi for the past eight years of her life. She was as well versed by the Jedi in the evil of the Sith’s actions and conduct as she was probably ever going to be.

“Wherever the Sith reside, there is always death and turmoil. There is never true peace. The Sith’s own code confirms this— ‘Peace is a lie. There is only passion.’ The Sith are as interested in peace as... as banthas are in taking a bath.”

@Tom

 

[Julias Tannaras]

While Iden may have felt dissapointed at Julias’ viewpoints, The young Sith felt wholly opposed to virtually everything she had just said. There had been an absolute minimum in terms of armed conflict over the past five hundred years up until the mandalorians had begun their little crusade, while the Jedi and the galactic alliance had worked to dismantle the empire that had maintained that peace for centuries. What Iden was saying, at least in his mind, made absolutely zero sense.

“I doubt that the natural state of the Sith is a constant warring and strive to maintain chaos. Even the most traditional Sith on Korriban weren’t actively starting wars. The Drast dynasty on Coruscant- they felt the force stronger than most any other alive, and they certainly weren’t Jedi. They ruled over the galaxy for 500 years, how could it be that they brought death and turmoil to the Galaxy, when there was basicallyno death of turmoil while the empire existed?” Julias asked, his defense seeming less personal and more just questioning her reasoning.

“How many centuries went by under the rule of the Sith without war? Without constant bloodshed? Without billions dying in planetary bombardments? It feels more like the Sith of the imperial republica were maintaining the peace, as paradoxical as it sounds. Perhaps the Sith were personally violent towards each other, maybe to innocents on occassion, but hasn’t any regime that’s ever held power abused it?” Julias would say, his tone a bit quick.

“And the Jedi- it doesn’t feel like they’re much better on the moral side. If the Sith so greatly oppressed the galaxy over the past 500 years while ruling it, than was it really so noble of the Jedi to skulk in the dark for half a millennium and just allow it to happen? To sit there, observing it all on Ilum, or Ossus, or wherever it is they set up shop! How is being a bystander to cruelty and oppression nobler than doing it?” He’d ask her, leaning forward as he’d take a bite.

“that single, contiguous state the sith had? I don’t think their code was enshrined in law- peace existed. So why can’t it exist again?”

@llamallove

 

[Iden Farlander]

“Whatever the outcome of the Sith’s crusade was—peace, as you call it, or not—the end does not justify the means. Two wrongs never make a right.

“No, I don’t believe being a bystander to oppression is any nobler than carrying out that oppression,” Iden agreed. “On that point I can agree with you, Julias. Good people should never stand idle. Strange though... that you should bring up the Jedi. I don’t think I mentioned them.” She looked at him expectantly. His defense of the Sith, his accusations toward the Jedi... perhaps she hadn’t been wrong before after all.

@Tom

 

[Julias Tannaras]

"Curse it all." He thought. She was still sharp, and she was still detecting everything. Even something so seemingly innocent like this hadn't escaped her.

"I know my history," Julias quickly countered, taking a deep breathe. He had gotten a bit overzealous towards the end. "The groups are intrinsically linked. The Jedi's dogmatic 'light and zero dark' policy alienated many of their individual followers as time passed, and eventually they alienated one who would become Andraste." He would continue. "Their narrow viewpoints can really be seen as the true crux of all this conflict- though the mandalorians would have probably still begun their little kill, rape and slaughter fest going on right now without it. If neither existed, we'd all be slaves right now." He finished, also completing his work on that vegetable he'd been eating for the past few minutes.

He had worked hard to maintain the illusion that this was just a simple political debate. He could recognize it for what it was though- it was a battle of ideas.

But he was getting... tired of this. The food, the landscape, and especially the charade. What was he actually going to do? It was clear that they couldn't spend hours up here. The longer he was here, he ran the risk of his illusion cracking, the mask slipping, and allowing her to see the monster behind the curtain.

What a bother this had become. Though, there was a positive to it.

This company had... stimulated him, for lack of a better term. He felt ready to continue on his journey, and it was becoming blindingly obvious that his plans would have to pick up speed if he intended on accomplishing them. Julias had spent some time here, with his hobby, with company, with conversation- and on the note of his company, he had actually enjoyed the time he had spent. The initial greetings, the meal- that brief moment of empathy she had shown him, the ensuing cat and mouse game, and his masterful deception. Such a change from Korriban in many different ways.

Would she even be opposed to his revealing of himself once more? He considered that she might be able to feel the force- how else was it that she had felt his mask slip, even for that brief moment?

It dawned on him than that she might not yet be fully trained, that she hadn't yet committed to any disciplines. Even if she was trained, most likely by the Jedi, she seemed to be his age- her values were most likely not set in stone yet.

"She could be turned."

The thought only fully realized itself as the words manifested within his mind. She was vulnerable, weak even. Her guard was down, and it was best not to let her get it back up.

"It seems like our meal has drawn to it's close." Julias would say, looking down at the emptied bag before them. "Would it be time to make our exit? In my assumptions, you have taken up lodging in the same city as I, yes? We could walk back- the journey is a long one without a speeder, giving us a few hours to enjoy both the changing scenery, and later, that urban life that being of noble birth has me prescribed to." Julias offered, standing and outstretching a hand.

It seemed like it was meant to take her own hand. She may have even taken it.

If it were not for his palette and brush flying across the hill to meet his palm.
​

He would turn around, walking towards his painting. "My work is not yet finished," Julias would say a bit louder, looking down. "You could go on ahead of me. In fact, you could leave right now. I'll meet you again, that I promise. Or..." He would stop, musing as he turned.

His eyes burned like orange coals in a fire, iris' blazing like flames.

"...would you want to see me work?"

@llamallove

 

[Iden Farlander]

Iden realized now that she never should have doubted the emotions and feelings she had experienced through the force earlier. It had been a revelation; a small, short-lived slip in Julias’ facade, in his well-hidden identity as a Sith. The force and one’s instinct should never be doubted, and yet... she was glad that she had.

Iden openly could admit to herself that she did not regret the doubt she had experienced earlier in their conversation when he had so cleverly masked his identity again.

Now, as the palette and brush flew to his hand guided by the force, he was no longer wearing a mask. He was no longer hiding his identity. Iden could only surmise as to why he had deemed now an appropriate time to stop pretending.

Had Iden been fully convinced of his identity before and not doubted herself, she would have drawn her sabers on him and arrested him on the spot. Now, however, she saw a much better opportunity before her. He could be turned—turned to the light side. Away from the darkness and the evil, pain, and suffering that it always caused and instead to the welcoming arms of the light—a life of meaning and purpose, a life full of good deeds and promises, where only true peace could be found.

During their exchange, Iden had seen sides of Julias that she had never witnessed in any Sith she had encountered in the past. Grief, joy, openness, and... even kindness to a stranger. Julias had not yet been fully drug down into the filthy mire of the Sith to wallow in it with them. He could yet be saved—he could yet devote his life to the betterment of himself and the galaxy.

All Iden had ever wanted to do was to help those around her and to do the right thing. What could be more right than saving Julias’ life, to turn it around so that he could not only help himself, but more importantly, help others? He could yet be turned to the light. She was convinced of it.

With this plan in mind, she answered with a smile, “I think I would like to watch you work.”

@Tom

 

[Julias Tannaras]

He did not initially appear to be preempted for any of the various responses that she would throw at him, but silently, he was preparing for an attack. His free hand's fingers twisted and gnarled as they prepared to possibly use the force against any attacks. Julias considered what would work best against her. If armed, lightning could easily disarm her. He hadn't fully mastered the technique, but a quick blast of lighting could still prove to be a serious threat to anyone. If all she came at him with was her fists, or even the force, choking her would be the best response. Cutting off her air flow would throw her off, sending her into survival mode while he would press forward- or more likely make his escape.

He weighed all his options for a moment, keeping direct eye contact with what could be the most dangerous threat to any and all of his plans yet. Beyond his instructors, beyond students who had tried to subvert and sabotage his efforts. This was a threat that would seek to gain nothing from him, yet take everything from him.

Yet Iden's response wasn't one of violence, and as the words rolled off her lips, Julias expressed his slight surprise by the brief raising of his eyebrows. It wasn't like the Jedi to not immediately show nothing but a violent disgust and hatred for anything of the dark side- which is exactly what she had displayed when his guise first slipped unintentionally.

But now there was a warmth, an accepted welcome to his offer of maintaining cordial relations. He hadn't actually planned for this at all... so he would take the time to continue with what he had planned.

"...very well." Julias would calmly say, looking down at his paints. "Unfortunate- it seems I brought paints which quickly dry by a stroke of mistake. It would be a great shame if I had to scrap this entire portrait- it's turned out so well, but such renditions are often of poorer quality than my better works. I usually use them for requested portraits." The young man continued. His emotions exuded an outward calm in the force, small and tranquil ripples in the wider current. Looking past it though, it could best be visualized as an inverted hurricane. A constant blowing pool of calm while at the center, compacted, tightened and constrained to merely the eye of the storm of emotion, was there the pure, visceral power of the dark side.

Yes, he was more composed now. He knew how to respond to all of this.

"You asked me many a question not to long ago, and I answered, though dishonestly, to the closest truth to reality. I did learn of philosophy, history, mathematics and the sciences at that particular academy. But I learned the philosophies of the various Sith lords of old. I learned the history of the Drast dynasty, the old Sith, and the empire I draw heritage from. I studied the mathematics of precision in lightsaber combat, and the sciences of ancient Sith alchemy. All this I learned on Korriban for the past ten years. All this I took to heart- so if you planned on using some Jedi argument for moral convictions, you'll find it will take at least twice as long to pull me away from the ways of the Sith than it was to bring me in." Julias would lengthily elaborate, before finishing with what sounded like a pretty solid declaration.

"This is in my blood, Iden. My family, my house, my dynasty. My oldest ancestor, Melkiars? He brought our family from the dregs of festering cruelty and poverty to the upper echelons of society, but it was the Sith blood that flowed through his son, Morgias, and his son, Saurias, that allowed me to stand here, that allowed me to travel freely to planets such as these. To indulge in the passions of my life. Even if I didn't wholeheartedly believe in my order, why would I ever give it up?"

@llamallove

 

[Iden Farlander]

Iden listened patiently to Julia’s speech, never opening her mouth as he spoke. This proved a difficult task as there were extremely tempting moments when she wanted to interrupt him and tell him how oh, so wrong he was. A calm emotion flowed from him now, despite the lingering darkness at the core; she could sense it through the force.

“I don’t believe that people are defined by who their ancestors were, that people’s destinies are determined by their ancestors’ destinies. Each person is accountable for themselves and for their own actions, wether those actions are good or bad. We shape our own destinies—we choose our own path through this life. You aren’t defined by who you come from, Julias. You are defined by you— by the choices you make. Wether you’ve adhered to the Sith code for ten years or thirty years, it is never too late to change your mind and the course you have set yourself on to follow. There is more to this life than indulging our passions...”

Iden’s words roused her to her feet, and she naturally took a step toward Julias and his painting, as if drawing closer would somehow get her point across. There was no ill intent or malice in this gesture, merely conviction and warmth, both directed solely at him. She was determined to accomplish some measure of good here. “As tempting as a life of only indulgences may sound, even to me, it is never fulfilling. It never brings true peace, true happiness, true tranquility or unity with others. Peace and happiness, tranquility and unity—these can only be found through making the right decisions, through living a life spent serving others. This... this is where true pleasure and fulfillment are found. Without this, one’s life is wasted, in vain.”

@Tom

 

[Julias Tannaras]

The words rolled off her tongue with the conviction of a schoolgirl reciting lines in a play. As the wind began to flick at Julias' hair, he'd let out a soft chuckle.

And than he would laugh.

"Childish sentiment from a childish belief system from a childishly foolish set of morals, perpetuated by an order of fools who lost any actual compassion the moment they blindly began in the pursuit of it over all else." Julias would whisper, a grin stretched across his lips.

"I hope that perhaps you are not as deluded as whatever masters trained you though. You've already proven far different from any Jedi I've come across-" He would begin, turning around a bit to continue his work on the landscape. The clouds had shifted a bit, but he had decided to continue with them first. "-different, in that you haven't attempted to shove a lightsaber blade through my chest. Already a step far beyond any of your order."

Stroking across the soon to be finished sky, Julias would add a general shade of very subtlely light grey to the background, and would follow by darkening certain shades with a light brown.

"Perhaps this argument reflects on us in many a different way. I came out to this field for the express purpose in the indulgence of my passions. I came to paint look upon the surface of this world, and to create a rendition as beautiful. But you didn't- you came for peace. Silence. Isolation, and appreciation of the land. In that final sentiment we share all, but beyond that, our motivations are of black and white." Julias would calmly continue, the wind now blowing a bit quicker. the lower skirt of his top fluttered in the wind, and his eyes bore into anything before him.

"Intrinsically though, there is one thing I know- that I am free. All actions I have ever taken were guided by me and not one other. The path of pursuing in the glory of my heritage is one I walked down on my own, not one thrust upon me. I have defined myself."

@llamallove

 

[Iden Farlander]

Iden had expected complete resistance from Julias both as a result of her words spoken and in retaliation to his supposed accuracy of her words spoken. She had not, however, expected him to laugh.

A twinge of annoyance sprang up inside her as his laughter filled her ears, but swiftly that unwanted emotion was pushed back down into the depths it had sprung up from. No matter, she told herself, returning to a total state of calm. You didn’t think it would be as easy as that to convince him, did you? Of course not.

“I am not deluded, I can assure you. I have been taught by my masters over the years—as you have been taught by yours, I might remind you—but I have formed my own opinions on matters and think for myself. There is nothing wrong with having a moral compass that guides you, an outline to follow to ensure you do not divert from the correct path of living. In no way does that mean I am deluded.”

Crossing her arms in thought, she calmly stepped closer to the edge of the ridge and stared out at the view he had been painting only moments before. Her voice was even and quiet when she continued. “And what sort of glory do you think the pathway of the Sith leads to? The glory of the Sith is a fleeting, fickle type of glory that is built upon death and destruction, often ending in apprentice cutting down master. That is the cycle of the sith, after all.”

@Tom

 

[Julias Tannaras]

He could sense the slightest twinge of anger from his words, and he would silently smirk. This was the beginning.

Julias himself had also been quite annoying by Iden's remarks. When she had said that a life not devoted to sacrifice and helping others was "in vain" it had struck a chord deep within him- and now, he wasn't afraid to mention it.

"You speak as if the Sith have not at all evolved from the days before Andraste. Do I look like some half naked, red skinned Massassi savage who barely qualified as a humanoid? The Sith do not revolve around the tribalistic rule of the strongest in the way you seem to think it did. Even in the old empire, things have progressed far beyond what you act like they are." Julias suddenly snapped, pivoting to look directly at her.

"The glory of the path of the Sith is the farthest thing from fleating possible. All it takes is a single Sith to build a dynasty that lasts centuries on end, to build monuments and tombs studied millennia after their initial construction, to discovering secrets the Dark Side allows only the greatest and strongest of us to know, and to passing down knowledge that strengthens every one of us to come." He would explain, raising his hands in front of him at an angle, as if beckoning from the heavens.

"It is in that where the glory of the Sith is truly revealed. You spoke so highly of self sacrifice earlier- but is not training an apprentice with the full knowledge that they will kill you the ultimate act of self sacrifice? Is not taking someone with mountains of potential and training them in the ways to use it, to grow more powerful, knowledgeable, and great in commanding the force than you? To do all of this for anyone- man, woman, child, friend, sister, brother. To spend years, or even DECADES of your life in the pursuit of another's own path to glory?" Julias would explain, the emotion in his speech surprising.

"It doubles as a form of self preservation, and I am well aware of this- but devotion to the higher cause of the Sith, of power, of empire- how could anything in the pursuit of such goals ever be considered wrong? In what way could any death in the pursuit of that goal, in the closest accomplishment to that goal- be considered vain?" He would finally finish, hinting a bit at what had sprung his speech forward with the very last word in his sentence.

"If I were to renounce that goal, than it would be the true death of the Sith. It would mean that any and every death along this path to glory would have been for nothing. No death is ever vain until the cause, the beliefs that a person died for, are finally ended, and as long as there are still Sith, as long as there is a galaxy left unconquered, a galaxy ruled by the weak, by the foolish, by all those whose ambition lay in nothing but to rest on their laurels instead of push forward? That task will never end. It will never stop. I will continue in that quest in my own way, as any Sith should. Can you say that the goals of the Jedi are any greater? What greater goal could there be than ours- that through our passion, our hate, our power, we will achieve the final victory of spreading our empire to every edge of the universe."

@llamallove

 

[Iden Farlander]

Evidently her “in vain” comment had struck a chord in Julias, and it was not a pleasant one. Oddly, either due to the passion in his voice or the look in his eyes, Iden experienced guilt over her words. She knew she had spoken nothing but the truth, so she was aware that there was no reason for her to feel guilty.

“I didn’t mean...” Biting her tongue, Iden turned back to the landscape and gathered her thoughts, not finishing her former thought.

“I don’t see how you can think the Rule of Two is the ultimate self-sacrifice... a sacrifice to what end? To whose betterment? Just so the apprentice can gain more power? How does that help anyone else other than the empowered apprentice?

“And this greater goal you speak of—what is the greater goal of the Sith? It seems to me their ‘greater goal’ only benefits themselves.”

@Tom

 

[Julias Tannaras]

"You don't understand the ways of the Sith- and that is to be expected. Your order has been preaching that we have only ever been totally evil, selfish and monstrous for all recorded time." Julias would say with a shrug, smirking a bit. "But you must surely understand this- a Sith's ultimate goal is the accumulation of power. Guarding that power from opponents is a key aspect of being a Sith. Competition is the way of the universe and life itself, so why would they ever open themselves up to a possible danger?" The young man began to explain, his smirk widening into a grin as he finished.

"It would make no sense if a purely evil, purely selfish person were to give an opportunity for one to take their power. One cannot look at the Sith as a collective, homogeneous group. It is a collection of hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of individual Sith who all fight and vie for power amongst one another. Looking at it from such a perspective, it becomes plain to see that taking an apprentice, teaching them the ways of the dark side, investing time and power into bettering a single person who may eventually kill them is entirely selfless."

The wind was still blowing. Curiously, Julias reached behind his neck and over it to his head, and pulled out the pin holding his hair in place. At once, it fell back, and it turned out to be much longer than it appeared, reaching down to his shoulders. At the same time though, it didn't appear to be ragged, greasy or unkempt- much like the rest of him, it was immaculate, and deceptively beautiful.

"If it is any consolation, I myself do not believe in the killing of the master and usurpation of the apprentice. There can never be to many Sith, or competition. An apprentice should build their own power base, not simply slaughter and take someone else's. Many choose to do so because it is tradition- and it is quick, and easy." Julias would personally explain. "In hindsight, I have wondered if my mother had sent me away to Korriban in order to prevent me from doing just that to her. There was a brief period of my life where I hated her for doing what she did- but now, I realize it was her closest way of expressing her love. She allowed me to be so much more than just a simple, young noble. Now, I am better."

@llamallove

 

[Iden Farlander]

“And still, I have not heard a satisfactory answer to my question... what is the point? What is the point in gaining such power? So that you can rule others? Suppress them? Be proud of yourself and your accomplishment in gaining such power? All of these, in my line of thinking, are selfish reasons. They only benefit self. Isn’t it better to live a life dedicated to others rather than oneself?”

Iden hoped that somehow her words her getting across to him, but she doubted they were. Turning, she saw that he had released his hair from the pin holding it in place and was allowing it to be blown with the wind. He almost looked like a painting himself, striking and confident as he stood there, and Iden couldn’t help but let a small smile cross her lips. He takes better care of his hair than I do.

Listening to him speak of his mother, she couldn’t help but be reminded of the day she had left her own mother. “You no longer regret not growing up alongside your mother?” she asked him curiously.

@Tom

 

[Julias Tannaras]

It was strange to him that she still did not realize where it was that he came from. Almost alien, in a way. How could she shy away from the idea of power? Of victory? Sure, she may have been conditioned against pursuing those goals, but how many stories were there of Jedi turning to the dark side out there? How many hundreds of little, repressed bundles of emotion had burst forth over the years and brought "ruin to the galaxy" or caused "decades of strife?" Corrupting a Jedi to that idea had to be easy, and he had never failed to drive a point home.

"I wouldn't want to defend myself by stating it as natural- so many things in this galaxy are natural that have no credence. Disease, the dying of stars, the extinction of worlds. Needless murder. So much falls into the perceived natural order that we do not quest. Yet, is that not what ambition is?" He'd ask. "You pursue goals, and you work towards them. I have never met one who hasn't. Yet you wouldn't consider yourself evil for following them. Ambition always leads to the pursuit of power in some form. My ambitions are... high, in that regard." Julias would finish, letting out a sigh, and looking down once more. The winds had slowed quite a bit, and he was stuck standing there, hair resting on his shoulders.

He heard her words in regards to his mother, and they stung, and he considered it for a moment. The path of the Sith, of the dark side- it was a path to glory he wouldn't ever fully turn away from. But there were other ways to continue a family legacy- his mother's legacy.

He had wished he had spent more time with her. He had wished he had truly gotten to know her, in all the ways that mattered. He had been told about her funeral- how they had to do much to make her body look presentable. Most of her body had been destroyed or damaged by the attack, but she was still dressed in a set of the most opulent robes she had worn. It was similar to most of his own wardrobe- flowered, vine patterns, gold and black laced. In her hands was the saber that had rested in a hearth in the family chambers, next to Melkiars' massive suit of metal armor that he had apparently constructed by hand, despite it being made of razor sharpened plate metal. On her head was Saurias' diadem, fashioned to appear like the tiara and crowns of ancient Brentaal and old core world cultures made of olive branches and flowers, but made of blackened Obsidian. It had sat on his mother's head, his grandfather's head, and every generation of the house of Tannara for five hundred years.

Every one of the, except him.

"Come with me." Julias would suddenly say, looking up.

"You... you want to turn me from the Sith, right? Maybe even push me far enough over to the Jedi. I'll never do that," He would flatly state, "But I do not pursue an existence dedicated to the power of the Sith. I pursue one dedicated to my own power, my family... or what's left of it." He finished, closing his eyes.

"A little conversation on a hill won't convince me from turning away from the Sith, it could never. But you could still make the fight you and your Jedi pursue easier. Follow me to my home world of Brentaal. Take your ship, get on a hyperspace lane, and go. Help me convince the legal authority there that I am the rightful heir of house Tannara, and that I, Julias Tannaras, am to inherit my family's estate. Only than would I even dream of turning away from the Sith order." Julias finally explained in length. he was determined, and that much was clear by the look on his face. He meant much of what he said- but he had his own machinations.

Julias' ties with the Sith could easily be used as a way to strip him of any of his inheritance rights. Hell, it might even be used as a way to lock him in a prison cell. The Tannaras had always flaunted their illustrious ancestry- even if that ancestry only connected them to a single mid-level Sith who was born a century after any of the great founders of the empire were already dead.

But the word of a Jedi, even if it were the word of a padawan or a knight, held plenty of credence to any government officials who were posted on Brentaal- ie, any who held actual power.

"My grandfather, Constantias, was the polar opposite of a Sith. He probably fit some descriptions of some winter festival semi-deity on plenty of worlds- old, with some white beard and a kind disposition. It's probably hard to admit for most of the Sith born in the aristocracy who actually care about it, but Sith blood is a myth." Julias would say, gritting his teeth at the brutal honest of his quote. "Myself, my mother, and one distant ancestor are all out of a line of twenty generations. I would let it go on for a thousand more- even if it meant abandoning the Sith part altogether."

@llamallove

 

[Iden Farlander]

“There is nothing wrong with ambition in and of itself. There is everything right with it. It is good and noble to set goals and pursue them, but they must be worthy goals. If you make bad decisions on the path to your goal, you’ve already lost, regardless of if you reach that goal or not,” Iden insisted.

Following this exchange between the two of them, Julias became suddenly quiet, almost pensive. The words that came out of his mouth next were disarming. “Come with me.”

“Come with you?” Iden echoed in disbelief. The prospect was tempting, she had to admit. He would get what he wanted, she would get a chance at what she wanted. If, of course, he was being honest with this proposed plan. “How could I help you attain your inheritance? I am not from a line of any significance. My name carries no weight or importance to it.”

@Tom

 

[Julias Tannaras]

"You carry the title Jedi," was all Julias had to respond with, a flicker of a smile on his face suddenly. "Despite all the Sith have done for the galaxy, it's the Jedi who are seen as good, it's the Jedi who are revered and loved and adored. The people of Brentaal hardly care, but whichever government official is put there will undoubtedly be made to consider the arguments made by a Jedi."

Julias didn't know if this plan would work. He hadn't the faintest clue, in all honestly. The Brentaali government might not care in the slightest, or they would immediately drop everything and suplicate to Iden's wishes. It could go in any one of those directions, and he wouldn't know until they did.

"You would do me a great service, and I would be in your debt. Even a Jedi as humble as you could see the use in an ally within the Republican aristocracy, can't you? A fresco under a duomo, the greatest portrait ever painted, millions of credits, a temple on Brentaal herself, colonies and investments and estates. My talents, my wealth, my lands would all be in part yours, and the Jedi's if you so wished it. Do this- help me, and I will pay you in full and than some." Julias would say, stretching out his arms and raising his head towards the sky as he spoke of all the things he was willing to do. His promises were quite a bit exaggerated, he would admit- but there was a twinge of honor in his heart.

"...and if that does not suit you, than what of things of the force? My family has a few Sith artifacts- things your council would want safeguarded or destroyed. I would sacrifice my heritage if it would mean that the line my ancestors built would survive, if the power of my family reigned once more. Join me in my goal, Iden- join me, and I will be as the one who brings benefit."

@llamallove

 

[Iden Farlander]

What he was promising her in return was significant, tempting—provided he could fulfill these grandiose promises. The intent was there, she thought, as he stared up at the sky, his arms outstretched. He certainly had a flare for the dramatic, but she couldn’t help but smile at this. She enjoyed it.

Which of the many offers he presented before her would be most appealing to the Jedi cause, or rather her Masters—to this she was clueless. The inner workings of the Jedi Masters’ minds often left her baffled. Personally, she would have happily settled for Julias to lend an open ear and mind to the light, for him to turn from the Sith. Wether he would join the Jedi or not was up to him; it certainly was not required. Turning from the path of the dark side— this would be payment enough for her. There was no guarantee he would do such, and he had made no such promise, but there was a chance. A chance was all Iden wanted.

She was not one for speeches, she had never been to Brentaal, and she had next to no knowledge of the aristocracy. She did not know what she would say to convince the council of Julias’ right to his inheritance, but she knew she had to try. She couldn’t blame him, to be perfectly honest, for wanting what was his. Despite the no doubt darker side of his family, it was his inheritance, his legacy, and he had a right to it. Had her father left behind any sort of earthly possessions when his life had been claimed by the war, Iden knew she would have tried to lay claim to them.

“I will help you,” Iden replied, the gentleness and empathy in her voice surprising her. To cover this and lighten the mood, she gestured toward his unfinished landscape and began to gather the food they had not eaten. “And perhaps some day you can paint me a portrait,” she chuckled.

@Tom