The pale woman was gladdened when Padawan Swail seemed to accept her thoughts and views on mistakes and errors. It was an odd philosophy to adopt from someone that seemed to strive for perfection in every sense of the word—but without it, Srina would be a driveling mess of self-doubt. Very few things, save for her close ties to Darth Metus, seemed to go her way. These failures existed regardless the fairly strict level of decorum she adhered to.
The platinum blonde haired woman remained arm in arm with her Jedi escort even as a faint feeling of disappointment seemed to rise from the woman. Srina couldn’t tell exactly what it was related to, but it didn’t seem necessary to dwell on it, since it didn’t seem to last. The apprentice instead pointed out another of her kind in the distance out of an effort to dispel any notions of gathering attention. Some considered Echani otherworldly, but Srina, being one, didn’t see it herself.
Her lips twitched when the Padawan pat her on the arm and bade her to be herself. The slender warrior laughed lightly with the notion that the Force worked in mysterious ways, the sound rare, like that of singing silver bells. “Oh, you can say that again. I still don’t understand it sometimes—No matter how hard I try.”
Srina remained silent as she was quickly informed of the recent events that befallen her fellow apprentice. If she felt anything about what was shaping up to be a potentially traumatic story her mirror-made eyes didn’t reflect it. Instead, she stored the information, unintentionally logging it as one would a personnel file. It appeared that her little defender of truth, hope, and justice was not as untouched as she had initially assumed. “I will say nothing.”, Srina agreed, the hip bump pulling a smile from her, though, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Everyone had shadows in their past. She was right. Srina’s just didn’t seem to want to stay there.
Some of the Padawan’s words reminded her of a rainy night on Coruscant she would never forget. It reminded her of how close she had been to accepting death in a similar fashion. It was the very night that she had first crossed paths with Darth Metus. While they were close now, nearly inseparable, they’d endured a fairly rocky start. ‘If you’re planning on using that lightstick just do it. I can’t take this anymore—‘
The half-finished vision, memory, whatever it was, lingered at the base of her heart. Briefly, discretely, she glanced in the direction that she’d last seen her master and tried to swallow sudden remnants of a long-buried ache. “Just me. Stephanie Swail.”, the apprentice repeated after a moment, rolling the idea around in her head before she passed another smile to the Padawan. “Somehow, I don’t think that’s all there is to it.”
White-gold hair shimmered in the light as she nodded her head, granting Stephanie permission, to ask what she pleased. The nature of it surprised her. “What would be the easier question…”, she responded slowly, her head tilting, as she considered her answers carefully. “What I would like to be is strong, indomitable. Like our Masters.”
Who did she want to be? That was another issue entirely.
“I am the apprentice of a Sith Lord. Does that also make me Sith?”, Srina questioned aloud, truly curious, versus being enigmatic. She came from a military, from a world, where she had never before come into contact with labeled Force Users, light or dark. The Priestesses on Eshan had referred to her abilities as gifts from the goddess and had worked it seamlessly into her training. Since then she had seen the worst that the Sith had to offer. In Darth Metus, she believed that she was also seeing the best. The Jedi were a complete mystery to her. “I do not know the answer to that I’m afraid. Want…I do my best not to want. I am who I am. Who I must be.”
“What about you?”, the silver-clad Echani questioned, deliberately turning the topic of conversation away from herself, and back toward her much more interesting Padawan. “Who do you want to be?”
It was right about then that Srina heard a female voice announce loudly that a drinking contest was set to begin. Gray eyes widened just a fraction of an inch. She wasn’t entirely sure that her Master would be able to resist that particular challenge.
[member="Stephanie Swail"]