Peace and Quiet [Day 10, Late Evening]

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

Jun-Tsu smiled, "You are not zhe only v'one who reachez acrozz time. Who pozzezzez zecretz of bygone eraz. Zhe pazt vhizperz eweryvhere. Ewen here. You vere trained by zhe Dark Lord Exar Kun, I am trained by zhe Lord of Betrayal, Darzh Traya, of zhe Triumverate. She who inherited your vallen Zith Empire. Zhere iz no myztery zhat cannot be dizcovered. Nozhing hidez from zhe Dark Zide."

"I do not expect it to be eazy, no do I expect it to be qvick, but I know vizh zhe rezourcez now at mein dizpozal, und all zhe lore of zhe Zith Empire open to me, zhat ve may vind a vay to break your curze. Zrough zhe Forze all zhingz are pozzible, und zhrough zhe Forze you zhall be zet free."

[Xyll Vanth]

Her gaze was still inscrutable.

That would've been useful to know. A week ago.

"She travelled with the Exile. But the Exile restored her connection through her own means. Not through any trick or hidden teachings. Or am I wrong?"

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

"I know wery little ov zhe Exile, or zhe lore about her, but vhat I can zay iz zhat true pover in zhe Forze comez vrom vizhin. It doez not rely on trinketz, baublez, or plazez of pover. True enlightenment zhrough zhe Dark Zide comez vrom a cultiwation of zuch a connetion to zhe Forze az to become v'one vizh it. To remowe zhe barrier between yourzelf und zhe Dark Zide vould be to undo zhiz je'daii curze."

"Vhat conzernz me more iz zhat zhe je'daii possess zuch a pover at all. How can zhey erect barrierz vizhin zhe Forze to bar our entry? V'once ve dizcover zhat myztery, ve may pull down zhez vallz, zhough it vill ztill be up to you to regain all you hawe lozt. Togezher ve may open zhe door, but alone ve muzt valk zhrough it."

[Xyll Vanth]

"There is no barrier," she says, "the ritual *severs* the connection. Permanently. The Exile only overcame it because she had become a wound in the force, and drew on the power of others, even if she did not realize it herself. In my case, I suppose there is still a connection because they failed in the ritual. And perhaps, with time, I might strengthen that connection to where it once was. But even then... my knowledge is gone. Fractured."

She sighed.

"It is fortunate, at least, that the modern Jedi seem to have lost the ability to perform this ritual; as I recall it was only a single, exceptional, Jedi, who had mastered the art. Or perhaps they have simply chosen not to repeat it for fear of creating another walking wound."

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

An almost palpable, cold hatred welled up within her as the deathwitch spoke, "Zhe je'daii....as corrupt az zhe Emperor. Zuch pover, iv it exizted v'once may exizt again. Zhat zhey, zhe lauded beaconz of zhe Liwing Forze committed zuch blasphemy againzt zhe Forze....," she allowed her arms to unfurl and her sleeves to drape at her sides.

"I now begin to zee zhe izzue. Zhey ztripped zhe wery Forze from her being, drew it out until she vaz a woid vizhin it. Like zhe Emperor. Hiz vaz borrowed pover, conzuming zhe Forze to pover hiz abominable live. Iv I vind zhat he zuffered a zimilar vate to zhiz Exile, I vill perzonlly destroy ewery je'daii temple, und eraze zheir blasphemy vrom zhe face of zhe Uniwerze. All zhe zame, it vaz vrom zhiz desperation on zhe part of zhe Exile vhich taught zhe Emperor zhiz pover."

"I vill zpend mein live undoing zhe damage zhey hawe done to zhe Forze, und zhe Dark Zide, in zhe name of zheir, zo called, peaze."

[Xyll Vanth]

She shrugged.

"The damage has been done. There is no undoing it now."

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

"How merziful of you," the Korrizian witch offered simply.

[Xyll Vanth]

"It is not mercy, for I will have my revenge. But that is a matter separate to what has been done. There is no path to 'fix' it. If there were, it would've manifested itself by now. Thus, I move forward, rather than be held back. There are other paths to take than the one already travelled."

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

"Zhen you may happily take zhem. I, hovewer, do not accept zheze voundz in zhe Forze und vill zee zhem zown zhut und zhe zcreaming blight remowed. Zhey are too dangerouz to be allowed to exizt. In plazez of true emptinezz of zhe Forze, zhere are mind-zhattering horrorz to be vound. Und I vill not hawe zhem being ztumbled upon. But allow me to conzern meinzelf vizh the vell-being of zhe Forze und itz healing. I zeek communion vizh zhe Dark Zide anyvay."

[Xyll Vanth]

"If it is the purely the wounds you speak of," she said, "I am tangentially aware of there being ways to shut such things down. But it is not something that can be done through the Dark side. To heal them would turn you toward the Light."

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

"Zhankfully zhere are zhoze in zhe Empire who hawe chozen zuch a pazh. I beliewe I could create such a cowen of acolytes to deal vizh zhiz matterz. Zhough, zhe Forze iz not juzt zhe Light, und to mend zhe Forze az a whole, iz not to imbue it vizh zhe Liwing Forze at zhe expenze of zhe Dark Zide. Zhe Light may allow it to grow, but like a roaring vire, zhe Dark Zide muzt burn out zhe infection to allow new live to zhrive."

"Too much Zith miztake zhe nature of zhe Dark Zide. It iz pazzion unrestrained, it iz emotion und vill unbridled left to rage like an inferno. It iz aggrezzion und luzt und joy und zorrow. Yez, anger, hatred, jealousy, und greed, but zhat iz not all zhat it iz. It iz zhe ztrom vhich bring rainz, it iz zhe vildfire vhich bringz loamy azh, it iz zhe predator who liwez from zhe deazh of itz prey."

"Zhere iz more zhat zhe Dark Zide can do zhan many beliewe."

[Xyll Vanth]

"You need not tell me," she said and shrugged. "In any case, it may be that healing such wounds is not necessarily in our best interests. They can be made to serve a purpose."

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

Jun-Tsu canted her head, as though curious about some matter on the horizon, "I am avare of zome....benevitz, yez. Zhough zhey are of greater uze to zhoze who vould hide zheir allegiance to zhe Dark Zide. Iz zhere ozher benevit?"

[Xyll Vanth]

"They can be used to hide from the sight of others, yes. By both light *and* dark. That makes these places of great value, naturally. But those who adhere to the light must have great reserves of willpower to stay near them for long. To have the Force scream into their souls at all times, to be cut off from the rest of the universe... it must surely take a toll on them. And that... has value to the Sith."

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

A cruel smile slipped over Jun-Tsu's features, a hand rising to idly play with one of the talismans around her neck, "You ztrike upon a provocatiwe detail. Yez, it muzt be a great ztrain upon zhem. Vhat torture it muzt be to dvell zo long in zuch a place."

Her tone implied a kind of feigned sympathy for such a fate.

[Xyll Vanth]

"Indeed. So perhaps closing these places off too quickly would be a miscalculation. They could be useful in turning some of the Jedi."

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

"Or zhoze vizhin zhe Empire zhat do not embrace zhe darknezz az zhey zhould. I hawe long been zeeing an unsettling trend of zhoze aligned vizh zhe Light rizing az patriotz among zhe rankz of zhe Zith, zomezhing zhat zeemez in total anazhema to zhe true teachingz of zhe ancient jen'jedaii, und all zhe great myzticz of zhe early Empire."

"Zhey may yet ztill hawe zheir uzez, much az zheze voundz hawe, in...calibrating zome amibitionz of zhoze disloyal to zhe Emprezz' rule. But in time, zhe purity of mein dahrling'z Empire muzt be vorged in earnezt."