Better to Light a Candle Than to Curse the Darkness

[Nikolas Faselli]

Tython
Jedi Academy
[member="Zaren Bouqi"]

Sitting on a bench in the academy of Tython, Maria was having a break from training. It was one of the times when she was able to actually be alone, not disturbed by other Padawans and their Masters, and think. Ever since joining the Jedi Order, she had become occupied with all kinds of training and most of the time was spent on a ship going from Anaxes to Tython to Ossus to Umbara... and to Ossus to Tython to Anaxes to Umbara... and all other kinds of variations. As the Witch of Arx Mortis, she had spent most of her days just aimlessly wandering around the planet of Crystalsong or sat on her throne in the powerful Arx Mortis citadel. It had been quite boring and dark there, having to stay only with her slaves and rarely seeing anybody else.

It was a time of darkness in Maria's life, a time she actually even regretted a bit. She had been raised to be a successful member of the Zambrano dynasty, meaning she was supposed to become a great Dark Side Master some day, just like her cousin who was ruling the Pacanth Empire in the Fringe space. She was raised by her father to take over the planet of Crystalsong in the edge of the galaxy, to rule it with the hand of a Zambrano. Her father had had trust in her. And Maria felt like she had betrayed him, made him lonely, secluded, alone.

Maria took a tissue and wiped the tear in her right eye away. She sighed.

But she had had to come to the right side of the Force. There was no way she could be in the darkness forever.

With the war and everything, it was rather rare to see a Darksider coming to join the Jedi Order. Typically it was the other way around with Jedi falling to the One Sith and everything. Of course it was really difficult to let go of the darkness one has developed via being on the wrong side; falling to the wrong side and staying there was far easier.

The mental breakdowns Maria often had now were the only reason why she wanted to go back to the dark. But she knew that's what the darkness wants. It has always been the more tempting side with its corruption and... love. Maria knew it meant a lot of work to create a mental barricade to protect oneself from it, and she really hoped her Master was going to help her at doing that. Even some Master-level people weren't able to do that, so she didn't expect to manage doing that at all.

Only hoped she would.

The woman's hair wasn't set in any particular style, they just hanged there. The Padawan braid was there, though. Her maroon red Jedi robe was beautifully cleaned that morning so it looked quite nice on her. Interesting was the fact that she never wore her lightsaber on her belt on normal days... like training days. Instead, it was in a special bag which didn't let it accidentally turn on.

She was a bit afraid that if somebody saw what did her saber look like, she would be yelled at and that maybe the saber would be even taken away from her. It was her special thing, her only heirloom. It was better to hide it than let anybody take it away.

 

[Zion Krayt]

With the death of Darron Wraith came the ascension of the Protector of Tython. Instead of being the man who protected the planet of Tython side by side with the Headmaster of it's Temple, he was now the Headmaster and the Protector of Tython. If the Force meant to keep him alive, he would be Headmaster and the Protector of Tython for the rest of his life, and hopefully that was a long life.

With the way Jedi Masters were turning to the Dark Side, he was unsure as to how long he would last.

Walking down the hallway he saw the form of [member="Maria Natalja"] sitting down upon a bench. Through the Force he could tell that she was frustrated, or tired. In truth, he wasn't really sure how to discern other's feelings in the Force, that wasn't his thing. Give him a lightsaber, and he'd know how to use it and various maneuvers and marks of contacts, tell him how to read a person through the Force and he'd barely past the surface.

Still though, the armour clad Jedi Knight stopped in front of the Jedi Padawan and bowed to her in greeting. He didn't know her name, they had yet to meet. The rest of the Jedi Order knew him as Bishop, less than a handful in the Galaxy knew his true name, and those people were people that he trusted to keep it a secret. So far, they had.

"What is wrong?"

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Zaren Bouqi"]

"What is wrong?"

Maria looked in the direction of where the voice came. There was a man of a darker skin colour, looking a bit like a Knight or a Master level Jedi - and she only understood that because of the lack of the braid Maria had in her hair. The man didn't look quite like he'd understand her a lot, but... she sensed some empathy in him, maybe even more than some. Or she may have been wrong again, which was not a rare thing. She was only a Padawan, she wasn't supposed to be able to sense absolutely everything in another person.

"N-nothing..." she spoke, her own green eyes not breaking eye contact with the man's seemingly brown eyes, not even for a moment. She had spoken an obvious lie but that was to defend herself.

It was only a few moments after she had said that when she realised she was still in the Jedi structure and all of the people there were good, that they were to be trusted. "It's... just difficult. The recent times have made me feel terrible." It was true, but she had been selective about what truth she's going to tell. Because she couldn't just reveal her past with a single sentence to a stranger.

it would have been nigh catastrophic.