Ask What Is Left

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri had worked tirelessly since her ascension to Dark Lord of the Sith. For the first time in decades, the Sith teetered on the brink of collapse - driven to the edge of the Galaxy. They had no resources or assets to draw upon anymore, and no one that could truly be called allies. Altair had taken everything from them - and left the Sith Order to die or build back from the ashes. Perhaps, it was precisely what they needed in the long run - despite the losses they suffered in the short term. While the rest of her followers disseminated into the wider Galaxy, Vahliri attempted to make outreaches to the few people she still believed that she could rely upon. There was a flock of Acolytes, Champions and Sith Masters that had traveled to Thule or otherwise contacted her, driven out of Imperial territory by the closure of multiple academies.

All the same, Vahliri’s attention was focused on one person in particular.

Her relationship with Arla was one that went deeper than ties to the Order. She was a genuine friend - someone that the half-Annfyn enjoyed being around and had spent multiple evenings of free time with. She was a Sith Master and avid historian of their Order - with an unparalleled knowledge of the Arcane under her belt. She was someone that Vahliri wanted by her side. Someone who she could genuinely trust, in their most crucial moment.

But whether the Nightsister wanted the same was.. Unclear. The half-Annfyn didn’t miss that Arla had been absent from the meeting on Junction, and had otherwise flown under the radar since Altair’s proclamation. The decision for Dathomir to secede from the Empire was to be expected, and certainly dampened any aspirations she might’ve had to bring the Dark Siders onto her side. At least, for the time being.

There were a multitude of things that Vahliri wanted to ask of Arla - and it was past time for a visit. While Dathomir wasn’t welcoming to outsiders, the half-Annfyn had traveled there on occasion in the past, and had communicated with Arla beforehand about making a trip to the homeworld of the Nightsisters. She didn’t know what answers she would receive, but hoped that their friendship was able to survive it regardless.

For the moment, Vahliri waited on a cliffside overlooking the jungles below - her Starblossom Yacht parked several meters away. While she was dressed in her new armor, the visor and helmet were currently tucked under her left arm, leaving her face open to the cool air carried on the breeze. She was left with nothing but her thoughts until Arla arrived - amber eyes cast out across the crimson-hued horizon.

 

[Arla]

Arla had seriously considered making a grand entrance on a rancor or a chirodactyl, and sometimes that would have been her choice, but this meeting had too many unknowns and too many pieces that Arla couldn't be sure of.

The facts were these: the Sith Order had been outed from the Empire, Vahliri had summoned all the Sith to Junction, and Arla had not gone. She knew what the meeting on Junction was going to be about and although she didn't yet know about what had happened with the Imperial arrival there, she knew that her lack of appearance was a strong statement. It was a statement that she didn't stand with the Sith Order or that she didn't stand with Vahliri. Neither was something that a Dark Lord of the Sith was likely to be happy about.

Arla appeared like a ghost out of the foliage. Her red, tribal garb was notably without any weapons apart from her always-present hunting knife, but Vahliri also knew Arla well enough to know that she seldom carried real weapons.

Are you here to kill me for not coming to Junction to bend the knee? she asked, her voice as neutral as ever. She considered Vahliri to be a friend. A close friend at that, but she had considered Altair a friend as well. She had heard the stories of her mother and Darth Caelestis. She knew that in the Sith, sometimes friendships didn't outlast rivalries and power plays.

Although Arla made no move, she was ever-alert should that turn out to be the purpose of her friend's visit. And yet, that wasn't truly why she thought Vahliri had come. If for no other reason than hunting Arla down on this very world would have been a fool's plan.

 

[Darth Tempest]

For just a few moments, Vahliri closed her eyes - allowing herself to slip deep into her own thoughts. There were a hundred different things that swirled within her mind - uncertainties and possibilities to be weeded through. The next steps would guide the Sith along, to ensure their survival, and ensure they would come out stronger than before. Efforts that would require her attention to cultivate. Individuals she either needed to cull or set on a path towards success. It was more a burden than anything the half-Annfyn had experienced thus far in her life.

And yet, she had no intention of relinquishing it to anyone.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Vahliri felt the presence of another brush across her senses - turning to watch as Arla emerged from the foliage. She knew that the Nightsister had defied her Ascension - either on a personal note, or out of disrespect to the Order as a whole. Vahliri wondered whether either of those things could be rectified, if Arla was even someone she could trust now, and how the conversation between them would go.

She clearly noted the traditional garments and lack of weapons. Vahliri herself - while she donned the armor of her station and persona as Dark Lord of the Sith - carried no saberhilts on her belt. Not that either of them needed physical weapons to be deadly.

Her lips tugged down ever-so-slightly when Arla asked her blunt and neutral question - brows furrowing together. The tension between them was palpable in the air, and Vahliri mentally prepared herself for their encounter to take a turn for the worst.

“If I wanted to kill you, do you really think I would’ve announced myself and come here?” There was a pointed edge to her voice that wasn’t often there - but the implication wasn’t one she particularly enjoyed, either. It was a fool’s errand to fight the Nightsister on Dathomir, and she was smarter than that. She had no intention of doing Arla any harm for simply not showing up on Junction.

But it wasn’t difficult to decipher that her absence left questions to be answered.

 

[Arla]

No, but stranger things have happened, and I had to ask, she said. Both women had always been quite direct, and that meant that Arla mostly trusted that if Vahliri said that wasn't why she was here then that wasn't why she was here.

She let out a quiet sigh and moved over to some large rocks and sat down on one. Reaching back to pull a leather wineskin from her belt, she popped the cork and took a drink of the sweet wine inside before passing it over in offer to Vahliri.

I am glad to see you, she said after a moment. Even with the tension in the air, they were still friends through everything.

How are you doing? she asked, the question a sincere inquiry rather than the pithy question that most people used in greeting. I imagine you want to talk to me about my plans? Or something else? she asked.

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri.. Couldn’t really argue that stranger things had happened recently. She had the courtesy not to explicitly name Darth Draugr’s bizzare action, instead letting out a quiet sigh. “Fair enough,” She muttered. There was undeniable tension between them, but the friendship has lingered all the same. It was a relationship that she didn’t want to compromise, when so many other bridges seemed to burn at her feet.

“So am I,” Vahliri offered Arla a small smile - the words genuine and not simply said to reciprocate. She was happy to see the Nightsister - and truthful needed to speak with her. Perhaps the only person in the Galaxy she would willingly ask the questions she planned.

She didn’t hesitate to accept the sweetwine, taking a long drink from the skin. If it wasn’t evident the level of stress she was under, that certainly left no mystery before she passed the wineskin back to the Nightsister.

“I am.. About as well as you can guess,” Which wasn’t great. When Arla mentioned what Vahliri wanted to talk about, she merely nodded in response. “Both. I want to know what your plans are. Though I can already guess where you stand with the Order,”

A single moment ticked by. “Or with me as it’s leader.” It wasn’t meant to be a barb, but it was a simple reality. Regardless of their relationship, Arla either rejected the Sith as a whole, or couldn’t tolerate subservience to Vahliri.

“But I also wanted your advice and perspective. You are more versed in our history than most,” Vahliri glanced towards her. “And the fate of our order is uncertain. What remains has rallied behind me, changes needed to be made if we are to survive.. And I’ve yet to determine what elements of it to discard.” It was no secret that the Order needed change. The weakness and stagnation that had taken root during the Empire - the dilution of what the Sith truly were.

Trelain had her own ideas on what changes needed to be made, and so did Vahliri - but it was Arla’s perspective she was curious about.

 

[Arla]

Arla watched her guzzle down the wine, and realized she should have brought more than one wineskin. Between the two women they were going to finish it off within minutes. She took it back and took another drink for herself before capping it and setting it on the ground between the two of them.

She didn't enjoy seeing Vahliri in this position, and she wasn't happy that they had both been forced out of the Empire and what they had earned there. But there was no point in crying over spilled spotchka.

For a moment Arla was silent, not because she didn't know how she felt about things but because she wanted to choose her words very specifically.

I decided not to go to Junction, and I don't think that you should have either, she said. The Sith Lords are dead, the Order is in shambles, and the people who make up "the Sith Order..." she said, even making finger quotes in the air around her head ...are all the people who... she paused, trying to think about how to say this.

In old Sith Empires, they never would have even been put in league with the Sith Lords. Pawns, she said, finally remembering the word that Nakoa had used for it. The "Sith" were incompetent enough to spark a rebellion and too weak to do anything about it, she finally said.

None of those people are going to teach you or me anything. There's nothing they offer that we couldn't accomplish on our own, she said. Yes, it was a lack of confidence in the Sith Order much more so than in Vahliri.

The true Sith are better off finding each other and building in secret rather than trying to reassemble the tatters of a failed Order, she finally said.

 

[Darth Tempest]

For a moment or two, Vahliri was silent as a crypt - eyes tilting up to stare across the crimson-hued skies of Dathmoir. All the while she listened to what Arla had to say, her expression unchanging through her friends assessment of the situation. The half-Annfyn wasn’t entirely pleased with her current position, left to pick up the shattered remains of an Order.. Barely worthy of the name. The thought of abandoning them all - retreating to the shadows to rebuild on her own.. Had crossed the half-Annfyn’s mind. In truth, it was still part of her plan to a degree.

She wasn’t surprised by Arla’s perspective on Junction - even if her own weren’t so black and white. Establishing herself as the leader of the Sith - both the remnants that established, and whatever there was potential to build - was a decision that came with its costs and benefits. The ‘Walk of Shame’, for all of its HoloNet attention, ultimately worked in her favor. It would kill any remaining sympathies for the Empire, and drive her followers to evolve from their lowest point. Perhaps even a fraction amongst them could truly become Sith.

“Thule had meant to be a solution,” She said finally, her gaze still cast out over the horizon. “A place to truly locate and cultivate talent according our traditions. As the Sith should be, and purge the old blood.” Their Order had been diluted for years, and it was something Vahliri had hoped to address for years now. Trelain had known some of the details.. But not all of them.

Training and cultivating acolytes into a new breed of Sith under her tutelage. Replacing the ineffective leadership of the Empire. Reforming and culling the weakest elements of the Order with herself at the top. It would’ve taken years, but it was a vision she was confident in. “It could’ve been done discreetly. Efficiently and cleanly.” She gritted her teeth. “While the Empire was at the height of its power, and without leaving a power vacuum.”

“Anaris changed everything. And then Altair.” The words were followed with a sharp exhale through her nostrils. For all the ways she knew the Tiefling, she hadn’t predicted his move. Perhaps the most ironic thing was just how masterfully Sith it was, for all the ways that Altair tried to separate himself from the Order.

“The Lords of old would’ve culled them and started anew,” Vahliri wasnt a historian, but she knew enough to know that statement was true. “Maybe you're right,” Vahliri said after a moment. She knew that she had the ability to build in secret, to facilitate their return. All of it could be done on her own. She didn’t need Pawns for it. “Build on our own.. Take what little potential exists within the remnants of the ‘Order’, and discard the rest.” There were some amongst the remaining Sith that.. Vahliri believed might be worth the time and effort. A handful of Acolytes to guide along the path. But the rest?

“Perhaps this was the best thing that could’ve happened to the Sith.” She didn’t like the circumstances. Not at all. But no one could argue that they needed change.

“What will you do?”

 

[Arla]

Arla listened to Vahliri as she spoke, but didn't say anything. Ultimately, the decision would rest with Darth Tempest, new Dark Lord of the Sith.

Yes, he agreed with the statement that she should discard the bad and keep what was useful. The Sith would have to change, but she knew that they would. They were - typically - survivors.

I'm ready for my chains to be broken, she said. Even if she was no longer truly a Sith, there were always going to be portions of the Sith philosophy that she would pursue. She had no interest in stopping her studies of the arcane and she had now a million possibilities laid out in front of her.

I am done bowing the knee to anyone. I will go and do what I want. I'm not going to stop pursuing my own studies. Nightsisters have been assassins and mercenaries for thousands of years before this. Maybe I'll find my way there, she said. She didn't truly know, and the fact that she could do almost anything was exciting in its own way.

You are still my friend, and I hope we will still see each other, she said. If Vahliri opted to cut ties - which Arla doubted - it would be a shame, but it would be telling in its own way.

But Arla was still a well of useful information even as a friend and advisor.

Thule will be a target, she warned, thinking back to Vahliri's mention of the planet a few moments earlier. You need to be like wind: something they can't see or grab, she said.

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri exhaled through her nostrils, nodding along when Arla spoke. There was a part of the half-Annfyn that couldn’t blame the choices that her friend made. As they were.. The Sith Order had fallen from grace, and fallen from the standard of their ancient predecessors. There was little that they had to offer - least of all to people like the Nightsister or Vahliri herself. It wasn’t difficult to see why, and hard to blame, Arla for seeking out her own path unchained.

That was, in truth, more in line with their principles than blind loyalty to a dying Order. And the knowledge that Arla wouldn’t cast her loyalty to the Empire.. Left little for them to actually fight about.

“We will,” Vahliri said when Arla mentioned seeing each other again, offering the Nightsister a small smile. “I’ve no intention of turning my back on you.” The pair had been friends long before they were anything more than worthless Acolytes - and they would be friends regardless of where their paths took them in life.

She sighed. “If the Sith are ever to return, it will mean changing how we have operated all these years under the Empire.” The half-Annfyn stared out across the horizon. “We don’t have the support or manpower to control vast swathes of territory.” She shook her head. “Building in secret.. Acquiring strategic assets through one means or another.”

“The droid factories that myself and Wodan rediscovered are perhaps a start of what needs to happen on a larger scale.” The loyalty of Imperials would be difficult to obtain while Altair led their government. The Sith needed to placate and earn the allegiance of those they held dominion over.. But taking the example of the Consortium of Clone-Wars Confederacy might better serve their purposes.

“The Force will always be a tool we have over our enemies,” She said after a moment, glancing back to Arla. “It will always be our greatest asset - and the Arcane arts are something that no Jedi or ‘Imperial Knight’ can replicate.”

“What would you do?” The Nightsister would always have a better understand of Magick and Alchemy than Vahliri would - and it was clear she wanted to know what the woman’s opinion was. Vahliri needed to leverage every tool and possibility at her disposal.

When the topic turned to Thule, Vahliri’s expression grew harsh.

“I am counting on that.” She said flatly. “I’ve already made preparations for regent-rule in the planet, and I don’t intend to spent much time there going forward. But I want the Empire watching Thule. I want it to be the place where they focus all of their attention. Because the more they focus on Thule, they might miss what I'm actually doing.” Vahliri tilted her head back. “I can’t prevent them from attacking or seizing the planet. But I can make them suffer for it.” Thule had once been a fortress world in the past - and the population even in present times was heavily militarized. But that didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what she intended for the planet.

 

[Arla]

Arla smiled and was glad to hear that their friendship would survive the war. It was a position Arla had never wanted to be placed in, but ultimately, she had no choice in the matter and rather than mope about it, she had simply decided to make the best of the situation.

Arla thought about what steps she thought Vahliri and the Sith should take and was silent for a long moment. The truth was that Arla had given this immense amounts of thought already. She had weighed it when she considered the path she wanted to take.

You're right, the thing that sets you apart is the Force, she finally said after a moment. She thought back to all the stories and histories that she had read: Syresh Lapar, Andraste, Darth Kravos, the Eternal, Darth Venator, Darth Malon, Darth Bane, Darth Plagueis, Darth Sidious, even her mother and father. There were so many things to be learned from all of them and how they operated.

There are old secrets out there: abominations and technobeasts. Breeding and raising warbeasts, she said. Not all Sith raised armies, but it was an option. The old Sith Brotherhood raised armies from the backwater worlds who wanted better lives and were exploited by others: Core Worlds and wealthy governments, she thought back. Often the planets that the soldiers were recruited from were not, themselves, powerful military forces.

Some of those things were likely what she would have done, but she was not the most subtle of women.

But the Banite Sith infiltrated governments, took over from the inside out and acted as puppetmasters. That is what you'll have to do to gain resources to arm your military, she said.

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri considered everything that Arla had to say - carefully weighing each option in her mind. Though she had claimed the mantle of Dark Lord, the half-Annfyn wasn’t arrogant enough to claim she had all the answers to every dilemma, and someone else's perspective and advice was.. Quite frankly what she needed to hear, in that moment. She let out a soft hum, nodding towards the Nightsister.

There were some thing that Vahliri had already considered before arrival, knowing that the Sith Order needed to change how it had operated for decades at this point. They couldn’t rely on brute strength or force of arms to conquer swathes of the Galaxy. They couldn’t wave endless credits and resources to win diplomatic negotiations. They needed to be subtle. Cunning. They needed to fall back to their roots, and build themselves from the ashes beneath the notice of any major Galactic player. The days of relying on armies of non-Force sensitives and ‘Imperials’ to do the heavy lifting were over.

“It would seem,” Vahliri said, summoning the wineskin back into her hands. “That I have work to do, and the Banite Sith’s example to follow.” She said, taking one last drink from the skin before passing it over to Arla. She allowed the Nightsister to polish off what remained, taking a pause for a moment before speaking.

“I expect we will both be rather busy,” She managed a rare smile - a genuine one. “But if you need anything, you only ever need to ask.” It was a legitimate offer. Their paths weren’t joined at that moment, but the half-Annfyn would always attempt to assist whatever endeavors Arla pursued. Just as she knew that she could rely on the Nightsister for wisdom and advice.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla took the wineskin and finished it off, glad that despite the shifting galaxy, she hadn't entirely lost a friend. Yes, Vahliri would be busy in the coming days as would Arla, but there were worse things than being busy.

And I am always a listening ear, she said. Even if the Sith proper were not, Vahliri was always a welcome guest of Arla's on Dathomir.

The two women would spend the remainder of the day together, counseling and reminiscing, and simply enjoying being alive and free.

//Thread