In the Meadows (Ask before joining)

[Aithne Charr]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYgJAN1Ol5g

His hands drew the bow over the strings of the instrument as he sat alone watching the darkening sky, it had been a long day and his eyes drew over the horizon. He was smiling for once and the crimson in his eyes was dulled as he watched the water coming off from one of the few oceans on the planet. He was not far outside the main city on the planet and he was staring up at the sky now as his hand stopped and he just listened to the sound of the wind before resuming again and just thinking to himself.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

Taeli had decided to go on another small mini-vacation, and today was her last day before she returned to her duties. She felt completely refreshed now, having gotten rid of all the stress she had been feeling from recent events. It was always nice to relax and a walk had been called for in this glorious night.

Dressed in a soft green dress, she slowly walked in the environment around the city when she heard the violin being played nearby. Curiosity, as always, piqued her interest and moving closer she could feel herself wanting to sigh. Solan Charr, why did she keep running into him at such random places. He was good though, she had to admit that, and she could feel he was much more at ease.

Waiting until she finished, she said, "That was rather good, Shade. Had the same idea I had I see to take a break from all the stress in our lives."

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

His head slowly turned to look at the woman for a moment before thinking about something and setting the violin in a case with the utmost care as if it would break at a single touch. Only then did he smile and look at her as he sat back down on the ground of the planet that was nothing but meadows and a few oceans. "I see that you seem to like finding me in the oddest of places fallen diathim, perhaps you are following me? After all this is the fourth or fifth time weve met?" His hands crossed in his lap as he looked at the woman with a curious view. "Id imagine being a sith is a bit stressful, usually sith are hot headed and cruel creatures. Which is why you are a rare oddity miss."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"Or maybe you're following me," she laughed, coming over to sit next to the Dark Jedi. As much as he usually annoyed her, she would talk with Solan for a little bit at least. "And I've got a temper, just takes a lot to really get me angry, and only then it's triggered by a few select things. Such as someone destroying knowledge."

Shrugging, she smiled and asked, "So why exactly do you think I'm different from the others?"

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"You hold an aura around you, something different and welcoming, that doesn't leave me with a sour distaste for your aura. To look into one with the force, and to touch on their feelings with a natural empathy i could never teach you... its revitalizing. Especially after the last conversation, your love, your need to protect, your anger at being put on the same level as the monsters i hunt, the monsters i am. An enigma in a group that would see the galaxy burn before they were denied power, yet you protect the masses, you support them. Such a unique flower in a field of weeds and pests... like nightshade, deadly and beautiful." His hands started playing again, though it was a low sound so that he could hear her talk.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"Well I can't decide if you were hitting on me for the nightshade thing, but I'll take the compliment," she laughed. "Although I must admit, you're not too bad yourself when it comes to such things. You might consider yourself a monster, but . . . I sense you have been trying to change your ways yes?"

Taeli could feel herself getting lost in the soft music of the violin, and she was sooo tempted to start singing, but . . . that might be embarrassing to reveal she was actually a good singer. Not a trait many would give her, even her sisters didn't really know, all Taeli had told Corvus was she liked music.

"As for being what I am, I do what I must to still call myself human," she said, plucking at some grass. "One can lose their humanity if they don't think about and try and help the little people. I just do what I can to further that goal and show people not all Sith have to be evil megalomaniacs."

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"Change my ways? Sadly, hate to disappoint you but you are wrong. Thirty two..." He didn't explain what the number was for a few moments. "That is how many i have gutted since the dance, twenty five have been burned, a number of others broken beyond the realm of mental sanity and then left there spasming. I am still very much so a monster as the last time we met. I just have a thought process to one day end it all but not yet, i think i will try and find that new path first, and along the way i will accept what i am." He paused for another few moments before opening one eye and staring right at her. "What are your goals, all of them, and don't lie to me. I know when someone is lying."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"A pity. If you didn't kill indiscriminately, I might actually not find you as annoying," she said, sighing and then she couldn't help a snort of amusement as he asked his question about her goals. Wasn't asking much was he, Force almighty. She had a few goals of course, but did she really want to tell this man who had admittedly said he was a monster and who worked against the Sith even accept her answer.

"Other than protect my sisters, especially my youngest one?" she asked, tilting her head. "I want t grow my company more, I want to still burn Titan Industries for what I was forced to do, I want to ascend to become a Voice of the Sith."

Shifting slightly, she added under her breath, "and I want to change how the Sith are. Go back to using cunning and patience, not waste people or resources. Get rid of some of that cruelty and sadism."

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"Its not indiscriminate. I write down the names of the ones i know, mark down their date of death and when they died, how they did, and the last words if any. I record their feelings, and for what reason they had to die. I don't kill someone for fun, i do it because i must, i do it efficiently, and with finality. Or i do it for retribution in the case of a slaver and his cronies. If i had been there, as you mentioned before to me in why you became a sith. And i had gutted those boys, or burned them alive, maybe hung them from a course, rough rope. Would you have cared about how annoying i was then?" He stopped playing, his eyes sliding shut once more and his breath halting before he started playing again. "None the less, those are good goals, noble goals. And only make you more intriguing."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"True, but then I'd be terrified and fear you," she said, smiling a little as she thought about how she had been before . . . then. "I bet that is weird, hearing a Sith state they have noble goals and such, but I actually feel it's what makes a Sith a little different from a Jedi. Whereas Jedi believe all of their actions have some good and they always pursue those goals, a Sith can choose to be that way or not. We have more freedom and while many abuse it, some of us do have something else driving us or have different plans."

She couldn't stop herself from humming along to the music he was playing again. It was a familiar song after all, and she rather liked it.

"You know, you aren't as annoying as you once where," she said, still humming. "You still can be aggravating and a dunderhead, but you seem to have matured I guess is a word. At least you aren't consciously trying to hit on me anymore."

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"Cant have you saying that now, otherwise i might think you are warming up to me." He smiled, and it was clear the words were on purpose and simply placed in the air to spite her for saying he had matured. Once himself, always himself. "As for you fearing me, that would be interesting to see, someone like you cowering..." He stopped playing for half a second and aimed his head at her without opening his eyes before continuing the soft song. "Also, your... enjoyment is a bit too much, try not to let your emotions run rampant right now or i might start thinking i can actually play this thing well."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"You might say I'm learning to live with your ways," she said. "Can only get hit on so much before you just start accepting that's how you talk, and don't knock yourself for how you play, it's actually rather good if a bit . . . unrefined."

She didn't mind that he could sense her enjoying the music, she was rather fond of the violin and other string instruments after all. His empathy must be powerful though to pick up on such things, far stronger than Glyph's or Claire's. Oh well, she would just enjoy the music for now before asking, "So any other questions for me, Mr. Shade?"

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"None that come to mind, though you know you can use my name now right. There is no one for miles and we are after all in a place where the sith have no ears at all. Hmm... one question, did i ask your name before my dear?" He rubbed his chin, trying to think back to that night for a few moments. He had a feeling he did but he wasn't quite sure. It didn't matter too him, his curiosity simply demanded he ask and get the question out there in the air where it belonged.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"It's Taeli," she replied, chuckling a little that he had forgotten. "Taeli Rae, if you must have my full name."

Technically that was true, but she certainly didn't trust Solan enough to reveal her biggest secret that Rae wasn't her real last name anymore. But then she could just picture the look on his face if he knew she was related to the current Jedi Grandmaster. Oh it would be funny . . . but again, she didn't trust him enough. Although now she had a question for him.

"What started you on the path you're on?" she asked. "What made you decide to become a monster for the monsters of the galaxy?"

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

He stopped, his hands frozen and his breath held in his throat as his eyes slowly opened up to stare at the ground. "Your story..." He started, his eyes unmoving as the red started to return, started to burn crimson as hate and anger started to fill him. "Your story is one of personal loss... and the advantages the sith took on you... Mine is not the same at all. My parents had been jedi that left the order, love was still something that was not right between people there. Atleast not theirs, im a third generation after all, i could have been a great Jedi my parents were told but they left. Why they left the order wasn't clear, i was told for love but.. it had to be more." His hands tightened on the neck of the violin.

"I lived with them their whole lives devoted to me, our home still on Dantooine. It was a quiet life, one where we hurt no one, and helped those that we could. But... all peace is a lie, you cannot find happiness in this universe without someone ripping it from your arms, destroying everything you hold dear. A Sith, one of your predecessors that is dead and will remain so if i ever have the misfortune of meeting him in hell. He convinced the local populace my parents were sith, that they wanted the death of all those there. Drew them to the home..."

His grip tightened harder as he started spitting out the words with enough venom to kill a krayt dragon, the heat around his hands starting to cause the air to shimmer. "My father was out in the fields, far from the house, and the Sith Led those men straight to our door. They forced it open, my mother standing infront of me as they gunned her down like an animal... They deserved to die, all of them... that sith especially... I killed my first man that day. After my mother was gunned down my father had returned, stopped them from killing me and the Sith died to his blade before trying to reason with the men and being shot himself. I killed all but one, leaving that last one alive so that he could warn the people at the space port that if they ever touched my family's home, or the graves of my parents, I would gut all of them and burn them alive..." He didn't even notice as the hair of the bow lit on fire until it touched his hand and he tossed the bow to the side, his palm burnt from the exposure. His eyes were hollow though, the life gone from them and replaced with a distant hate, a memory.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"You haven't told this story to many people have you?" Taeli whispered quietly after he finished. She wasn't sure who had the more horrible story, her or him, but both of them had such heartache and pain interwoven into their stories. Although, she wondered why she hadn't become someone like this and he had, especially after the . . . incident on Lorrd.

"I'm so sorry to hear what happened though," she continued in a hushed voice, also a little sad to see the violin's bow burst into flames. "I certainly understand why you chose the path you did . . . but, and correct me if I'm wrong here, I'm guessing you have never tried to put the past behind you, to try and move on. I know it's not something you can ever fully put behind you . . . believe me I know how hard it is, but in the end this path will kill you and I think you owe it to your parents' memory and to yourself to try and walk a different path."

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

"I owe it to their memory to correct this galaxy and wipe out the people that do this to others. I owe it to them to stop someone else from becoming what i am. For every murderer i burn, every slaver i gut, every rapist i torture. There is one less of me that follows, one less of you. That is why i do not hesitate in becoming a monster. It is so that i can protect those that would become monsters in my place. Their own hell bringing them into positions like yours but without your resolve. That is not how your sadistic creatures are made no?" He glared at her but the moment he did his face turned to guilt and his eyes to sadness.

"Sorry... i just...There is so much that i need to correct, so many that still can be saved from the same path that so many others are forced to take... its so much i can't stand it every time i see a failure, every time i see a slave i have failed. Every time i see someone killed, or raped, every time i see a genocide ive failed. Its... i have to try, i cant just ignore this world like so many others would."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"I'm not saying ignore the evils in the world," she said, looking up into the sky. "I might be aligned with those beings that perpetuate those actions, but you'll never see my name attached to any of them. You should fight them, fight against the murderers, the rapists, the slavers of the galaxy, but . . . I think your parents would prefer that their son wasn't just like the monsters he kills."

Ripping a blade of grass out of the ground, she held it gently with two fingers and buzzed her lips against it. A whistle-like sound filled the air around them.

Taking the blade of grass away, she continued saying, "I know this is weird, coming from a Sith, but maybe justice is better than revenge. Kill if you have to, but don't always kill if you can capture and imprison. Maybe my sister is rubbing off on me or something, but I think it might be a better way than slaughtering every person that deserves it. You can still save the people . . . still honor your parents, but also save yourself from damnation."

Blowing on the grass again to get the whistle sound, she smiled a little to herself at the peacefulness of everything.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

He didn't say anything and just stared at her as she whistled into the blade of grass and spoke. His features softening as he smiled lightly and just watched her as she spoke before turning his head back to the sky. "Thank you for the words... You know. On a Planet in the far outer rim there is this winged creature prized for its wisdom. I think ill start calling you something like it. Got it Eula?" He smiled as he came up with the nickname on the spot and leaned his head back against the grass with a wider smile. "Also, i hope you don't talk like this around the other Sith, they might think you have been fraternizing with a Jedi."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"No I don't usually talk like this around my colleagues," she said, smiling. Looking around with a sly grin, she added, "and I have been fraternizing with a Jedi. My sister Corvus is a Jedi Master, but keep that quiet. It's a secret, and one I hope you keep. But yes, we've met a few times and I could just be . . . myself around her. She never judged me for being a Sith, and I never judged her for being a Jedi."

Pointing at a constellation, she continued saying, "Ossus is there, just a bit to the left. She's there now probably, teaching some younglings or Padawans about the wisdom of Obi-Wan or something or other. I love my sisters, more than anything."

Then what he called her sunk in.

"I suppose I've heard worse," she laughed. "Guess I'm not a fallen Diathim anymore?"