Full Circle

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He felt like a child.

"I will eat." Vrak said simply. It was really all he could do not to turn around and screech at her. This entire process was utterly humiliating. Not the least of which reason was because he had been confined to a cell and now...

Now he was being treated like a child.

He turned to face her, his eyes still filled with that same rage as before.

Vrak hadn't wanted to kill her before, he truly hadn't, but now? Now he wanted to see her broken. He wanted to see her beg and fallen into pieces. He wanted to see her as nothing more than a smoldering corpse on the ground. He would have his way.

Eventually.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Vrak could have simply decided not to pursue her back to Naboo. If the fool had simply left her be, left Prakith and carried on with himself instead of this delusion of unwarranted revenge against her, none of this would have happened. "The only person you have to blame for the situation you find yourself in now is yourself you know." Surprisingly her voice was not sharp, or demeaning. It was honest. Calm. "If you hadn't come to Naboo. If you hadn't kidnapped me from the palace. If you hadn't done what you did back then." Her head shook in tandem with the rise and fall of her shoulders. "None of this--" She gestured to the surroundings. "Would have happened."

She sighed.

"Even now I just wish I would wake up to find you were never really here to begin with. Just some bad dream. A demon in my own head."

Obviously she knew that wasn't the case. But it was still a nice hope.

"I don't understand your blanket disdain for all humans. I didn't choose to be human any more than you chose to be Sith. But the choices we do get to make are what matters. I simply can't unravel why you make the ones you make." She may have been speaking to herself at that point, but she spoke all the same.

The small bowl of fruit sat on the tray between the two, which she picked up gently. "How would you like to do this?"

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I do not hate humans." Vrak said simply, and he didn't. There were quite a few humans back on Athiss that he didn't feel anything for, there were even some that he rather liked. "I just see you as...less."

He went on. "You could be any one of a hundred species. Selkath, Nagai, Chiss, Besalisk, it wouldn't matter. You would still not be Pureblood."

That was really the crux of it.

"We are perfection." There was absolutely no hint of irony to his tone. "All of you, humans included, are but a pale, ugly shade. You cannot, and never shall be, one of us. Some of you have worth, some of you may even be the equals of my kin, but the greatest of you will never walk among the greatest of us."

It was a distorted, sickening though process, but it was how Vrak viewed the galaxy. He was Pureblood, and that very fact made him better than anyone else in the galaxy. Better than Jamie, better than her Master, better than anyone she had ever met. His face was stone as he told her, no hint of mocking or anything of the sort. Perhaps that would make it more disturbing.

"I shan't bite." He told her in simple answer as he looked down at the fruit.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I would disagree. The best of your people were hunted to extinction by the other races among the stars. That fact alone should speak for itself."

Pureblooded Sith were little more than sentient, humanoid versions of other creatures within the galaxy with a natural affinity towards one side of the Force. Believing ones self elevated above the others for that simplistic gift, natural or mutated, was a foolish prospect. Clearly one that did not aide the Sith of old. That was something that she found incredibly odd that the man sitting in front of her absolutely refused to believe.

"If your people were truly better, staggering odds to the contrary should matter for nothing. You yourself were beaten by some hired band of criminals as you put it. How does that make you better than me? How can you see yourself above me, when you have such a limited grasp of the Force yourself?" Jamie had never seen a Sith Lord before. At least not up close and personal. But she had seen what Aela and other Jedi Masters could do, and they were completely out of this man's league.

The blonde plucked a few of the berries from the cup, considered them for a moment, and then offered them to the man.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Vrak ate them with an odd gentleness, plucking one from her fingers with an almost delicate touch. He chewed for a few moments, and then glanced back down at her again. His lips thinned for a few moments, then he went on.

"You did not listen." He said simply.

Jamie held up another grape, and once again he grasped it with the same delicateness as he had before. It was oddly comical considering that the only contact the two of them had before was within the middle of violence.

"I said you would never match the greatest of us." His ego was wounded at what he was about to say. "I am hardly the greatest."

Not yet anyway. "My people, as with any, often lose themselves. We are not all perfect, but we have the potential to be."

He had long ago stopped believing that all Purebloods were better than everyone, that belief was foolish and disproved by the very fact that he was here. He knew that given time he would sit above all others, but he was not there yet. It was an odd form of humbleness, one that might surprise Jamie just a little bit. "When the Jedi struck at us, we were not all slaughtered. Some survived, such as Vitiate, Vindicus, dozens of others that reformed Empires. Even this age has seen a few of us wander the galaxy. They are your betters. As I will be."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Only better at hiding." She remarked.

"And you claimed that Sith 'are perfection.' Yet if that were true, you would not have to try and achieve perfection. It would simply be." Jamie gave him an oddly suspicious stare. "All species believe they are perfect. If that were the case, the light or dark side of the Force would remain dominant for eternity. Your people would not have been slaughtered by the billions. The rest would not be hidden away in the far corners of the galaxy. No singular species is perfection. Not mine. Not yours."

The girl sighed again, handing the man the last few berries from the cup.

"The choices you make are what define you. Not your birth. Your belief in that will be your undoing. Even if you somehow escaped this. Even if you killed me."

After all, she was a noble in her own right, but still cared as much for those less fortunate than she, despite the relatively little need in doing so.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He smiled. "You may believe as you please."

It was clear that no amount of words could ever take Vrak away from this mindset. To him, his people simply were the ideal. Those that garnered enough power, enough strength and knowledge, they were perfect. There was nothing and no one better to him, and his aspirations was to be one of them. This was so ingrained in him that to Vrak there was nearly a guarantee of achieving that goal. A single uniform thought that he would have what he wanted.

Power.

"One day you will be made to see." That was his final comment on the matter as she offered him the last of the berries.

The nerf steak proved a little more difficult, mostly because Jamie of course couldn't just slap it in his face and expect him to actually eat it like that. Rather she first had to cut it into smaller pieces which then had to be fed to him. This all would have been much easier of course had she simply deigned to take the shackles away from his wrist, but he decided not to point that out as he watched her quietly cut the nerf into smaller and smaller pieces.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Freeing a killer's hands? The same one who abducted and tortured her once was more than what she was already comfortable with. Making his life simpler by releasing him to eat? She'd rather just feed him like a toddler instead. It was safer that way. Regardless of how much he talked to her, how little he resisted her, she knew that the only thing going through his mind was a desperate search for how and when to escape. The only reason he hadn't yet made an attempt to harm her was because he hadn't figured all of the pieces to the puzzle yet.

He had pushed her a number of times, too many times. She wasn't taking chances with him anymore. Everything he spoke she presumed was a lie of some measure. The only things she believed were honest truths were the bits where he believed himself and his people above all others, and that was only because his ego was big enough to fill Theed palace.

"I will, will I?" The blonde raised a piece of the meat in front of him. "What is your plan for that? Going to jam another knife into my body?"

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Vrak ate the small pieces of Nerf Steak, finding that they were far more to his taste than the fruit was. Purebloods weren't carnivores like other species in the galaxy, but everyone had something they liked a little bit more. He frowned slightly as he chewed, glancing down at the Jedi with a slight smile.

"Perhaps." The knife of course had never actually been really meant for torturing her. He was sure that it had hurt, it was a knife after all, but the blade had been necessary to strengthen his own connection to her. The mind was a powerful thing, especially when it was trained like Jamie's. That meant he'd needed a bit more to show her what he had wanted to. Vrak wasn't a mentalist, he just used the artifact and Battle Coordination to force his own histories on the girl.

A savage thing really, but necessary.

He ate another small piece of steak, consuming it. "You had told me you were interested in our past."

Vrak reminded her.

"I showed it to you." There was no hint of mockery in his tone.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"In the most general sense of the term, maybe."

Sure, he'd shown her things. Glimpses, images, brief facets in time. But there was limited coherency to it all. There was even less continuity. It was a jumbled mess of time periods and events. People and figures. Battles and wars. Bloodshed and dominance. Pieces to a very large puzzle that Jamie had barely begun to put together.

It may have made perfect sense to Vrak. But to Jamie? She was still that same girl from Naboo that was struggling to understand the galaxy.

"I would have preferred you not kidnap me, even more so not caused me a great deal of pain. If that was your idea of doing me a favor, it was not well received."

He certainly had a deranged way of enlightening her.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I doubt any other way would have worked." Vrak said plainly.

Walking onto the surface of Naboo had been difficult enough without getting caught, plus...this had been far more entertaining to him. Even with his current predicament he did not feel any regret for what he had done, and the very fact that it irked her so was more than a little entertaining to her.

"A single stab wound isn't much." He said plainly. "There are those who would do much worse."

As far as Sith went Vrak was probably one of the more pleasant. He was not a sadist, and unlike some Sith took no real pleasure in causing harm to others. He had enjoyed showing Jamie the past, yes, but not because of any pain that it caused her. What he truly got out of it was the fact that he thought he was right. That more than anything was what gave him joy. Playing off of his own ego and narcissism, allowing him a little bit of satisfaction.

"A single knife to the leg isn't too bad." Comparatively.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"No?" She raised an eye, before glancing down to Vrak's broken leg. "I imagine that hurts quite a bit. Would you say it's not too bad though? Because your wincing and tensing muscles would disagree it would seem." There was a plethora of medication she could offer to him. They had a wealth of doctors on hand that could quite rapidly see to his injury and set the bone. The only thing stopping her from doing either one of those two things were the very real possibilities that he would use those moments of generosity against her. It was simply a risk not worth taking.

"Despite what you may think you know of Jedi, many would have killed you back on Prakith for what you are. You think I'm weak because I didn't end your life when I could have. I think you're failing to appreciate the knowledge others could offer you." There was no such thing as learning too much. Of that she was absolutely certain. Yet it seemed like Vrak wanted all the knowledge of the galaxy, but felt as though only his own people could somehow understand knowledge, despite not having been the creators of a great many things.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

For a second he simply looked at her.

"I'm well aware of what knowledge others can offer me." He had learned and studied under some of the most powerful Purebloods on Athiss. Not to mention the holocrons, scrolls, and dozens of volumes he'd read on the force and histories of his people. Vrak had made sure that he had no ignorance. Every bit and scrap of knowledge that he could take made it's way into his mind. Even in his experiences with Jedi were taken into account. "I'm no fool."

He looked at her. "Perhaps though you have a rather low estimation of your own Order."

The three Jedi that he had met so far hadn't really been inclined towards killing him.

"I've met several other Jedi." She had been only the second after Taheera, but still. "They, like you, were unwillingly to kill me."

He wasn't saying that she was necessarily wrong, perhaps there were Jedi in her Order and in the galaxy that would readily kill him, but that hadn't been his experience so far. He'd nearly killed Jamie twice, Taheera almost three times, the third was the same. Though then again the man had hardly been in any position to kill him. He frowned for a second and then let his gaze return to Jamie. "I've not sat idly by and twiddled my thumbs. I've learned as much about you as I could."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie shifted in her seat. "I have no order." Her nose wiggled. "I'm not bound by any Jedi code. I do what I believe is right."

Vrak had clearly not met any of the Silver Jedi, an Order so loosely based on the light they could often scarcely be called Jedi. The sheer number of them wading through the dark side likely outnumbered the rest. "You've never been to Voss." She said confidently. "I promise you they would not hesitate to end your life." Certainly not all of them, but a vastly surprising number would be more than happy to metaphorically skin him alive.

The point he had made about her though was what really interested her. "Well, aside from your future of twiddling your mental thumbs, what is it you believe to have learned about me?" She raised a hand to stop him before he started. "Other than being inferior, weak, and the slew of other things you believe of all others not born Sith." That horse was already well beaten, and no amount of debate would likely change either person's viewpoints. But what he actually thought he knew about her she was interested in.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Why would I want to go Voss? Those mystics are so mired within their own 'truths' they can't even see what's sitting right before them." It was clear that Vrak had more of a distaste for the people of Voss than the Silver Jedi Order. The latter to him didn't hold much more distinction than the New Jedi Order or whatever else was out there. He didn't particularly care where a Jedi came from or what they were taught, most of them all followed the same generic formula.

A tiresome thing really.

"You're a noble." He told her simply. "You work closely with the Galactic Alliance, Your Master aided in the liberation of Coruscant."

These were all things that one could learn quite easily by simply looking around on the Holo-net. "Your parents live here on Naboo. Though you have not visited them in some time."

That last piece might cause a spike of worry in Jamie, though Vrak only knew that bit of information because he'd sent an agent here several weeks before he'd ever tried to strike against Jamie. Besides that all of the information he knew about her was generally in the public eye. He knew nothing of her dealings with the SIS or really what she actually did.

"Nothing else was important." He stated flatly.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Mentioning her parents managed to get a mild grimace out of her. The combination of pain and anger there being momentarily obvious. However the woman said nothing at first, instead she lifted the fork, complete with a piece of meat at the end of it, towards her mouth. "And I--" Biting down into the meat, with an oddly satisfied smirk. "Put the bounty on your head." There was a slight clink of the utensil against her teeth as she pulled it away, that same smirk still on her face.

"As for what you've learned. A simple child could gather that information. A quick HoloSearch could tell you I was a noble, that I live here, that I work closely between the crown and the Alliance, and that my parents, obviously are natives." Jamie looked relatively unimpressed. "None of that took ingenuity to learn."

She replaced another piece of Nerf on the fork and brought it up to offer Vrak.

"Do you know anything about me? You said you learned things about me. So far you haven't said anything that the whole galaxy couldn't easily find."

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Vrak took another bite, chewing for a moment while he looked down at her. "I didn't need to learn more than that."

He said simply.

"Aside from what I already knew." Prakith had certainly been an experience in what exactly she was. A Jedi that would spare the life of a Sith who would openly kill her own men with little to no issue. She had strong morality, was quick to anger, but generally managed to control herself well enough. The traits were those of an acolyte back home really, save for the morality. Most of the acolytes back on Athiss were a picture of sin. "What you are doesn't really matter in the end."

He told her quietly. "I know you spared my life when you could have taken it, I know you see yourself as good."

Vrak practically spat the word.

"What else do you believe matters?" The Sith asked as his eyes fell over her. "That you are a sensuous lover? That you care for orphans? That you try with all your heart to be the best Jedi you can be?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Yes." She said simply. Though she didn't quite answer to which of the statements he had made right away. Instead she left him to make of that what he would. Perhaps she affirmed to all of the above, or just what she decided to comment on. "But right now, you are the orphan. And here I sit." She considered her next few words for a moment before sharing the thought.

"I find it quite interesting. The last time you were on my planet, you called yourself fortunate with a blade in my leg. Yet with one simple act I dictated your fate. And now you sit here. Tell me, does anyone care enough for you to come looking?"

Jamie knew full well she was by and far not the best Jedi. She knew she would never become the best. And she did not truly aspire to become the best. "I think you are confusing my motives. I'm not some Jedi crusader out to dispatch the dark side of the Force, you, your people, or any other people. I simply want a simple, peaceful life for the people of Naboo. I want to learn what I can of the galaxy, of its' people, not bend them to my will. If that were my desire, I would break you in this cell, not feed you."

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I doubt anyone cares." That was true enough. There was no one that would come looking for him because they cared. They would come looking for him because without him there was a power vacuum on Athiss. He left a large space that would need to be filled, and without him it was very likely that his homeworld would break out into a near war over just who was going to fill his position. So they would come, but not because they loved or cared, but because they needed him.

It was a sad fact maybe, but it didn't bother Vrak in the slightest. He had no illusions about what he was or where his place was in the galaxy.

"You cannot have peace." Vrak said simply in answer to her wishes. "You can learn all you want of the galaxy, of the people in it, but that knowledge comes at a price. That price is peace."

He frowned for a moment. "By their very nature there are some species, mine included, that utilize brutality, force, and strength above all else. We do not recognize the very notion of peace. Our lives are driven by feud, outright war. If we do not fight you, we fight ourselves."

Purebloods weren't the only ones of course. Nagai, Trandoshans, dozens of others species were simply best described as Predators. Predators needed prey.

"If you want peace for this world then you cannot learn of others. For the moment they learn of you, they'll see you for what you are, weak." His tone remained neutral. "Ignorance is bliss as they say."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie offered the man a drink of water, all the while remaining quiet for quite some time. "That is why I decided to learn how to control the Force."

As if his words proved her point.

"Many Jedi are born into their roles. As children they are raised to be Jedi. I chose to learn."

Vrak wouldn't likely care of the difference, but she felt it was rather important, at least to herself.

"Naboo, unlike where ever it is you came from is not a planet capable of hiding behind anonymity. Long before I was ever conceived it found itself a focal point of the galactic stage. Wherever you are from, it too, will not remain hidden forever. Your people will be discovered. I simply pray for your sake that you are fortunate enough to have someone like myself discover it."

[member="Vrak Nashar"]