We meet for the last time for the first time [EA, D10]

[Xyll Vanth]

Xyll wasn't expecting visitors for the moment; which gave her ample opportunity to study those interviews between the Emperor and the Exile some more. There was much knowledge to be gained there, after all; and she was determined to get the most out of it.

[Lord Jo'ren Rath]

Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition! But it wasn't them. It was Jo'ren Rath, and he had brought bloodwine. He hit the buzzer and waited as patiently as a large violent Sith was able. He didn't even reach for the universal door opener...

[Xyll Vanth]

Though these were still the sort of abodes for the ultra-wealthy, a luxury penthouse was quite a bit smaller than having an entire tower or full-on estate to oneself. As such, he didn't have to wait long before the door opened and a domestic droid of humanoid design stood in front of him.

"Ah yes, Lord Rath I presume. The downstairs desk informed this unit of your impending arrival. I had yet to inform Master Vanth however, so if you'd care to wait a little while lo--"

Presumably Jo'ren would ignore the droid and just stomp on in at that point; if not he'd have to look forward to another minute or so of waiting around before the droid gave the okay. Either way, he'd find another droid nearly bumping into him; a small one that seemed to focus on the task of collecting dust. All too easy to overlook if not for the fact that even a layperson would get the distinct impression it was at least a thousand years old.

And then, as he entered the main room, he'd find there were lots of other ancient things there; on display shelves and inside cases. Just little old relics of bygone eras. None of them looking Imperial in origin.

And there was Xyll, looking up at him from a table; her one eye still pale as it had been after the fight with the emperor.

"Lord Rath," she said, "I was not expecting you."

[Lord Jo'ren Rath]

Lord Rath had remarkable tolerance for droids, but less for waiting, so he did indeed push the greeting droid out of his way. He noted the artifacts, the dust droid, and the pale eye of Vanth upon him as he entered.

"No, I expect not." He walked closer, taking a long look at her before placing the wine on the table. "We need to talk."

[Xyll Vanth]

"Do we?" She said, looking at the wine with some amusement before casting a glance at the domestic droid.

"Right away, Master Vanth." The droid would move into an adjacement room, and before long returned with a couple of glasses.

"What is it we need to talk about then?" Xyll asked.

[Lord Jo'ren Rath]

He chuckled and poured them some drinks.

"Oh I don't know. How about the Brotherhood of the Sith?"

[Xyll Vanth]

"Oh yes," she chuckled, "I did mention a thing or two about that, didn't I?"

She took her glass and swirled it about, observing its consistenty and general texture.

"What do you want to know?"

[Lord Jo'ren Rath]

"Well for a start you don't look hundreds of years old. So... Possession? Suspended animation? I know carbon freezing can keep a person stable for decades at least." He took a swig of the wine, curious to know what had happened.

[Xyll Vanth]

"There are ways to maintain a youthful appearance despite one's age," she said, amused, before looking out the window. "But you're right. It was a carbonite process. Ironically, it had probably come from my own homeworld. One final insult by the Jedi."

[Lord Jo'ren Rath]

He gave her a funny look. "Yeah, you don't strike me as a Zash." Nodding at her explanation he seemed somewhat relieved. "So you knew him. You've been chasing his trail? When did the Jedi catch you?"

[Xyll Vanth]

"Yes," she said, still looking out the window. "I knew Exar Kun. He came to Empress Teta to destroy my master and the Krath. She and he shared the same master, after all, and so we were all a threat to his ambitions. But that is not what happened. Instead we became allies, and formed the Brotherhood of the Sith with Kun at its head, and my master leading the Krath warmachine in our holy crusade against the Jedi and their republic."

Her words became gradually tinged with hatred as she spoke.

"It all went rather well. Until my master perished. I don't know what happened precisely; but I felt it. Betrayal. All the stars in the Cron cluster went supernova, and destroyed our fleet there, my master along with it. The radiation that event produced would devastate Ossus; where the Jedi kept their great library. Forcing them to evacuate. So, Exar Kun and others, myself included, fell upon Ossus to take advantage of the confusion."

She took a sip of her wine before continuing.

"We accomplished what we had set out to, but the retreat was... chaotic. Our leadership was broken and confused. Kun must have fled back to Yavin IV, leaving us to fend for ourselves. With Aleema dead, and Kun gone, we were simply trying to hold on as best we could. Our fleets were on the defensive throughout the galaxy, and eventually we were left with nothing but Empress Teta itself. Until the Republic took even that."

She sighed.

"After that there was really just me. A few lessers joining me in exile. We found Korriban. And then the Jedi found us. They were determined to root out the Sith entirely."

[Lord Jo'ren Rath]

There was a wistful smile on his face as he listened to her story. A wince at the sudden but inevitable betrayal.

"Oh the things you've seen." He nodded slowly and raised his glas. "So the Jedi captured you and stuck in you in carbonite because you wouldn't repent? Or is there more to it than that?"

[Xyll Vanth]

She stared at him with an inscrutable gaze for a while before she answered.

"There was a ritual first. Something they'd done to others. A way to cut one off from the Force. They presumably thought they were doing me a mercy with it. Weakness is what it was. An inability to kill what they thought was just a child still capable of 'redemption'. Of course, the incompetent fools messed it up, and they were only partially succesful."

[Lord Jo'ren Rath]

Lord Rath sighed. "Fucking Jedi. Always think they know best." He took a drink.

"Let me guess. It took away most of your power but not your connection to the force. Left you in pain too, or at least frustrated to the point of obsession."

[Xyll Vanth]

She stared at him with that inscrutable gaze some more.

"Please, tell me what you really think, Lord Rath."

[Lord Jo'ren Rath]

He shrugged. "It sounds like the opposite of what Zash did to G... To a bunch of people. She was sucking out their essence to enhance her force powers. The Emperor was probably using a similar ritual. But what you're talking about sounds like severing, not extracting."

Leaning back he stroked his spurs. "Maybe what happened to you is the precursor to the ritual that extracts essence and wounds the force?"

[Xyll Vanth]

Perhaps she had misjudged his tone.

"Yes, I've discussed it with Zash. There are similarities. Nonetheless, the ritual performed on me and others has not been employed in centuries. The last person known to have suffered it was the Exile, who fought alongside Revan."

She leaned in a little closer.

"Were you aware that Revan and the Exile fought the emperor and lost? And he had a great deal of information about the Exile censored from Imperial archives?"

And back out again.

"In any case, it doesn't matter anymore now. My power will not return to what it was. Not quickly, anyway. Perhaps the Emperor's ritual or that of Zash might bring me closer in an expedient manner, but even if I could deduce the specifics of those rituals, the personal cost is likely to be too high for comfort."

[Lord Jo'ren Rath]

"The Exile huh? Don't know much about that period. Plenty about Revan, but only from Darth Malak's perspective. I wonder what they did that had the Emperor on edge, given that he won."

More questions than answers there it seemed. He nodded at her admission. "That seems wise. Guess you'll have to do it the old fashioned way."

He raised his glass. "Here's to self improvement."

[Xyll Vanth]

"From Darth Malak's perspective, you say?" She seemed mildly interested by that. Truth was, of course, that period in time was *after* her own, and hadn't been a subject of study... but looking into the Exile meant looking into Revan to some extent, and that naturally had turned up Malak as well.

"I wouldn't know, in any case, what the emperor's reasons were."

She did have his personal interviews with her, but those interviews didn't seem to reveal much on that particular topic.

Xyll raised her glass before taking a sip from it again.

"In any case, now you know why I had expressed an interest in your encounter with Kun."

[Lord Jo'ren Rath]

He nodded and say back in the chair. It creaked in protest.

"Yeah. Not what I was expecting. Thanks for telling me the truth about what happened to you. So, are you going to go and look for him?"