Private Quiet Condolences

[Taeli Raaf]

Korriban, Palace of Vardin
Revna
​

There weren't many requests that could be denied a Dark Councilor, even in the semi-detached Holy Worlds, and especially one that was closely aligned with the overlord of the region. Darth Carnifex had been holding the younger woman that she desired to meet for some time, perhaps close to the time that her assault on Formos had taken place to retrieve the information her Master held on the whereabouts of her grandchildren he had kidnapped. That matter had been resolved, to her satisfaction, but others had made use of the situation for their own benefit. Following the Kaggath that had resulted in both her Master being destroyed and the pullback from their power base, she had learned Revna was a guest of sorts on Korriban of its King at his palace.

Her request, to both Carnifex and relayed to Darth Caedes had been rather simple. She wanted to meet with Revna, and her request had been granted. She suspected that the King of Korriban had not fought against it because he saw value in having a Dark Councilor view him favorably. If what she suspected was coming, then the politics within the Sith were only going to increase in complexity and alliance would be need to navigate the agendas swiftly forming around Jutrand. Until that time however, as she was guided to the chambers by a servant of the King to where Revna was, she would hold her own counsel.

What she had to say today was reserved for the young woman that had lose so much. The servant would announce her presence, but Taeli would send them along their way. Formalities were unneeded in this situation. There would be a soft knock at the door, and she would say, "Revna, may I come in?"

 

[Revna]

Revna sat upon a rather comfortable lounge chair, staring out through large, crystal-clear glass windows that gave her a breathtaking view of the horizon of Korriban, and of the distant famed Valley of the Dark Lords. Beside her, sitting on a small, dark metal-wrought table, was a goblet of dark red wine. Revna rarely drank alcoholic beverages, but today was just one of those days. She was deep within the recesses of her own mind, walking alone amidst the mists on a shoreline that had no beginning and no end. It had been this way since that shattering day, and this had become her escape, a place within herself where she could reflect upon the Wound that had been left behind by the death of Darth Strosius .

Beyond the windows of her quarters within the Palace of Vardin, the chill light of the sun Horuset, bathed the land in a golden-red hue that Revna found visually appealing. Where the light didn’t touch, were deep shadows that she knew harbored horrors and nightmarish creatures that would destroy those who ventured out unawares. The young woman found Korriban to be rather fitting to her soul; the place stirred something within her, called to her.

Or perhaps that was just the void that now resided where her heart used to be.

Still, Revna found Korriban to be a place she much preferred over the infamous Malsheem. This was her escape, her break, in a way - and though she hardly knew Darth Caedes , she found she rather enjoyed his company over that of the other Dark Lords of the Kainate. Maybe it was because he’d been there when her world shattered; he hadn’t been as cruel in her darkest moments, and he had called her back from the edge of oblivion. An edge she was still tempted by, and might have leapt over before now had it not been for the tether that connected her mind to that of the Sith King’s.

These were the things she pondered within the recesses of her mind, along with the ever-present question of: what was she to do now? What would become of her? Was she to remain a captive of the Kainate forever now? Would they release her, now that her Master was gone?

She felt the approach of two individuals before the knock ever came, and one presence held a familiar aura to it. She lifted a hand and manipulated the Force with ease to open the door before the knock could come, and she heard the voice of a servant beyond announce the identity of the other, more powerful presence with them.

Darth Arcanix.

What an unexpected visit, the young Sith Apprentice thought to herself.

Lady Raaf’s voice carried through to Revna from the threshold of the door, asking if she could come in. For a few long moments, Revna was still and silent, perhaps keeping the Councilor waiting longer than what was permissible, before she finally spoke, her voice soft but edged and cold.

“If you have come to rub salt into my wounds, then you can leave. If not, then you may enter.”

Taeli Raaf
​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Revna
​

She would wait for as long as needed, even if it were beyond the expected length of permissibility. She understood, all too well, the pain the younger woman was experiencing, and she would patiently wait until she spoke. Her own reaction to discovering the loss of her loved ones had been, perhaps, even more destructive as she distinctly remembered a destroyed lake shore when Corvus and Melori vanished. A Force Scream was entirely permissible as a reaction and the coldness in her statement was completely justified.

"I would not be here if that were my intention, my dear," she replied, just as softly as Revna but within a neutral if not understanding tone. She had also caused Revna pain when she attacked Formos with her power base, so a frosty reception was also justified. But with permission granted, she would step over the threshold of the door and close it behind her.

It was unlike a follower of Carnifex to leave a prisoner, even in a gilded cage and space to soar, unobserved. She suspected, like her own creation, the watchers were more ethereal in nature. Still, the quarters offered to Revna were quite the gilded cage indeed and a lovely view of the landscape that stretched out to the Valley of the Dark Lords.

She would settle herself onto another chair in the room, looking out the window as well in silence for several long moments.

"I remember as a young Knight coming to Korriban on an expedition for artifacts, decades ago," she said quietly, breaking the silence. "We didn't find much then, and the expedition leader moved us onto Khar Delba not long after, but I found an appreciation for the world all the same. An enduring legacy of the Sith, one that even the sands of time and our enemies can never permanently wipe away."

Another moment of silence.

"For what it is worth, Revna, you have my deepest condolences. How events occurred was never anything I wanted to happen."

 

[Revna]

The young woman did not move as Taeli stepped over the threshold and into her private chamber, closing the ornate ebon door behind her, assuring Revna that she would not have come if her intentions were less than agreeable. The little Sith accepted the woman’s words with a quiet dip of her head, and turned her face slightly to watch as the older Sith approached and took a seat beside her, before returning her gaze to sights beyond the glass.

The two sat in silence for several long moments; Revna reached for her wine and took a sip, savoring the rich but sharp flavor of the beverage, content to simply sit in the quiet for the meantime and prepare herself to face the topic of the conversation that she knew was coming.

She listened as Taeli recounted one of her past visits to Korriban, seeking artifacts but finding little. A ghost of a wry smile touched the young woman’s pale face then; she knew that Korriban and many of the other ancient Sith worlds had been plundered for many thousands of years for their artifacts and baubles. The fact that any could be found at this point in time was astronomical. But Revna suspected that it was the dark beckoning that drew many Sith back to the planet, despite this.

Another pause followed the story, before Taeli offered her condolences for what had happened. Revna stiffened slightly, before lifting her goblet back to take a deeper drink of the wine and setting it down with a soft clink on the table between them.

A myriad of emotional and violent thoughts raced through her mind, inflamed and embittered but she did exactly what her Master had taught her to do when she’d first come under his tutelage: she brought them under her control.

“And what alternative would you have liked to see, Taeli? My Master submit to the will of His enemies?” Revna asked, her voice sharper than she intended, but she did not apologize for it. “None of this should have ever happened in the first place. I have many thoughts and opinions on, well - everything - but the past can’t be changed. If I could change it, I would do so in a heartbeat.”

After another long and heavy silence, Revna turned her face towards Taeli. “How are your loved ones, Lady Raaf? I assume your family is back together, whole and in one piece?” though she tried to ask out of genuine curiosity, there was no hiding the hint of bitterness that tinged her words.

Taeli Raaf​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Revna
​

"I would have preferred that your Master understood to reach his goal, he needed to play the Game," she answered, giving the younger woman a side glance. She had felt everything race through the girl, the anger and bitterness, the violence that spiked within her thoughts. In such a state, even as Revna reigned them in, they were such a potent expression within the Force they were impossible to fully hide. She was trying to keep it all in, to put on a controlled face for the galaxy to see.

"And I agree, none of this should have happened, but that does not mean how we feel about it, how you feel about it, is not something one should bottle up or dismiss as unimportant," she continued. She could address the other part of that statement, about going back and undoing all of it, but she would refrain for the moment. There were ways if one was daring enough and strong enough. Instead, she would reply after another period of silence to her next question.

"My family is whole and healthy and growing," she said, looking over at Revna and keeping her tone politely neutral, as though she were merely discussing the weather beyond the window. She had heard the curiosity in the question, even tinged with bitterness as it was. "I'm truly sorry yours is not."

She would return her gaze to the window.

"I know how it feels to lose someone you love, someone who your entire world was built around, who you would have done anything for. When I was your age, I discovered the truth from my adoptive parents in a rather... explosive revelation. They had kept the existence of my birth family a secret and when they found out I was Sith, when I found out that they kept the truth locked away, I lose control. I tore the house apart and killed them by accident, but in that anger, in that panic, I found a locket."

She would reach inside her robes and pull it out, a small hololocket that would display an image of dark-haired woman with the same eyes as Taeli and a man with the build of a farmer.

"They left me instructions on how to contact them, how to contact my real family... but it was too late for me to meet most of them. A bounty hunter executed almost everyone but my youngest sister Melori in an attempt to draw out my sister Corvus, a Jedi Master. I found them though, connected with them. I trained Melori to be a Sith and bonded with Corvus, even joining Corvus in the Jedi when I went undercover for the Sith. I was... beyond happy."

She would smile slightly, although there would be a bittersweet tinge to it.

"I loved them, wholly and completely... and then they disappeared. Corvus on an assignment for the Jedi that she never returned from, Melori fleeing the Sith that she had tried to usurp with another group. I was devastated, beyond consoling. I lose control again, destroyed a good acre of land and lakeshore in the Repulse."

She would look over at Revna again.

"The point being... I know what you are feeling. You can talk to me about it."

 

[Revna]

Revna scoffed lightly hearing Taeli’s response. “Could He have done things differently? Yes - I wont deny that. But He still played the ‘game’. He just didn’t play by the same rules as everyone else. But it doesn’t matter anymore now.” She took a deep, even and steady breath - exhaling slowly as she did so as she waited for Taeli to answer her question on how the elder Sith’s family was doing. She did feel a hint of relief upon hearing that they were well and whole, but it was soon overshadowed by a spike of pained hollowness at the reminder that hers was not. And Taeli had a hand in making sure that her family had been fractured and destroyed. But that was something she wouldn’t touch on right now, for if she did - she wasn’t entirely sure she’d be able to hold herself back on trying to enact upon her more violent thoughts and desires.

She knew she wouldn’t stand a chance against Lady Raaf right now anyway - and she couldn’t throw away her Master's legacy like that.

Revna returned her attention to the lengthening shadows as the red sun above began its descent towards the horizon, as Taeli shared with the younger Sith woman that she knew what it was like to lose someone that was loved. She listened quietly to the elder woman as she shared a story with her, a story of loss and pain, something for Revna to grasp a hold of and understand. Her attempt to have them both find some common ground, even though the Dark Councilor had set herself against Darth Strosius and his people, which included Revna as well.

Revna’s eyes flickered to the hololocket that Taeli produced, revealing the image of a man and woman within; she could see the resemblance between Lady Raaf and the woman in the image. The story continued, and despite the roiling emotions within, the young Sith found herself smiling a bit. Hearing the story brought happy memories back to Revna as well, a time where she connected with her own Brothers and Sisters in Wonosa. When she’d gained a family she never thought she’d have.

Taeli looked back at Revna, and told her that she could talk about what she was feeling. There was silence between them once more, before the little Sith sighed and looked down at the goblet wine in her hands, swirling the blood red liquid gently.

“I know that…loss will come when one walks the path of the Sith. And I know that there are many out there who would tell me how foolish I am to even bond with people who could die, and will die at some point, sooner or later. But I refuse to live my life disconnected from others. I find my greatest purpose in those bonds, the relationships I forge with those who earn my loyalty and respect.”

Revna fell silent once more, staring into the goblet in her lap as she let her mind drift to memories that brought her both joy and sorrow in equal measure.

“Darth Strosius gave me everything, Taeli. I had nothing when I first came to Formos; I was a runaway slave, still wearing my slave collar. He was so patient, so kind…gentle, even. A part of me connected to Him the day we first talked to one another. He gave me choices - to stay and get my feet under me before leaping out into the stars, coming to the Academy here on Korriban, even offering to bring me here Himself - despite how He feels about everything going on in the Holy Worlds or who they belong to. I had those choices, the first ones ever presented to me in my entire life…and I made the choice to stay. I asked if He would guide me, be my teacher. He could have said no…but He didn’t. He brought me under His wing; gave me a home, a place to live, a purpose and direction in life. I made it my goal to wake up every day and give the Order, and Him, everything I had to offer. So much so that He had to forbid the other priests and priestesses from taking up my offers to help, and even scolded me not to take so much upon my shoulders.” she said with a soft chuckle. “There were days when I woke up before anyone else and was in the library in our Cathedral, reading and studying everything that I could - waiting for Him to emerge from His quarters so I could be His little shadow. I was afraid I would annoy Him and He would chase me away but…He was so incredibly patient with me. I found I rather enjoyed whenever the work I did pleased Him; I strove to give my utmost and my best at all times. I fell short, a lot. But not once did He punish me for it; He let me learn from my mistakes, and used them as teaching moments. I never expected Him to elevate me to the position of Disciple - His apprentice. Up until that point in time, I’d just been an ‘Acolyte’. The pride I felt, the honor…” she trailed off for a moment, recalling the memory in vivid detail in her mind, before the images faded away and her present surroundings came back into focus.

“He used to be a bit…stiff with me. Formal, keeping to the Teacher-student role. In hindsight, when I look back over the time that we had together…I realized that I had been connected and trying to bond with Him in a deeper way, and I think He started to recognize that and He didn’t do anything to stop it. I distinctly remember the day when the line blurred, and Ali stopped being my Master and became…something else entirely. We both were vulnerable with one another, and He finally opened up and told me what He was, and the connection he had shared with Alina, that He had become a Sangnir for her, so she wouldn’t have to go through that process alone. He was trying to explain to me…what love was, is. The rewards of it…as well as the risks. What love will make someone do, how far it can push a person to go, how it can blind them even. He was trying to warn me, caution me, that it can be the source of great joy as well as the greatest pain.”

A tear dripped down Revna’s cheek, followed by another. She didn’t try to stop them, and she didn’t wipe them away.

“I…didn’t understand what love was. I never have. I wasn’t exposed to it as a child, as a slave. I didn’t know what it looked like, what it felt like. It was foreign and alien to me. But something I did feel, just as deeply and strongly, was my devotion. Long before that moment, our heart to heart, I had begun to see Him as more than just my High Priest, more than just my Master. But it wasn’t until that moment when He exposed that part of His heart to me, that I truly knew what He was, what He had become. I wanted to tell Him then…but I was too afraid He’d reject me.”

The memories of the Kaggath returned to her, seeping through her like acidic poison, deepening the pain and the icy void that filled her chest.

“He had become my Father, and the devotion I have for Him was how I showed what people call ‘love’. And I never got the chance to tell Him that…before He was taken from me. And I hate myself for waiting so long. I hate myself for a lot of things right now.”

Taeli Raaf​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Revna
​

Once she had concluded her story, at least part of it, she could tell it had resonated with the younger woman just from how the silence seemed to change between them. Revna was swirling the wine in her goblet, thinking on how she would respond, not if. She settled herself back into her seat and simply waited for the silence to end.

She didn't have long to wait.

She would remain silent, respecting the flow of the younger woman as she started to bare what she was feeling and her thoughts to her. In many ways, she had already understood to some degree of why Revna was so attached to Alisteri, but to hear her true feelings and thoughts as she grieved confirmed and revealed more of the story to her. To have been saved from slavery by the man, given a home and a found family within the Wonosa, to be given a purpose and a chance to make a difference, it was a powerful bond to form to begin with. To then be taken as his personal student, trained and mentored to such a degree that she could be viewed as the heir apparent... and then to be shown that vulnerability... yes, she could see why the walls had thinned and their relationship started to shift.

The regret at never voicing such feelings aloud, the simmering anger that it everything had been taken from her, the pain and loss would make her even stronger as a Sith. She turned her head to look at the younger woman and could see the tears flowing freely.

"There may be many Sith that would say that attachments are weakness, that they only serve as a means to destroy us. I am not one of them," she would begin quietly. "Attachments are what keep us grounded, keep us focused. Yes, they can lead to great and terrible loss. Yes, others can attempt to exploit them to wound us or destroy us. Yes, those we love can pass away and disappear... but that doesn't mean you should never feel them. Never let someone tell you that the bonds we forge are worthless. Those bonds can lead to even greater power than they know."

She would stare out at the setting sun again, a hand resting gently over the place where her Shiantara tattoo was imprinted on her arm.

"I never wanted this conflict with your Master. I didn't want to destroy what he had built on Formos. I didn't desire his death or the deaths of his followers or the people the Wonosa looked over. I wanted to work with him, to see him grow stronger, to see what he might be able to build with proper resources and support behind him. To have an ally that would not be looking to exploit their bonds with him or feed their own ambitions."

She doubted she needed to say the later part, but it would be a shame to not foster the anger the younger woman like felt towards her Master's killer and why he had done so. The Kaggath had been pointless, a mere ploy by a young ambitious Sith who wanted to consolidate and grow his own power base, and built upon the flimsiest of reasons when he believed for a moment that kidnapped children were at least partially of his bloodline.

"But family is everything to me, Revna. I've lost too many to not defend the one I've built myself, even if I wasn't aware they existed for the longest time," she continued, chuckling softly to herself. "How they were hidden from my sight, from my agents, I am still unsure on. But once I knew... once I saw them..."

She trailed off for a moment, letting words hang in the air.

"I was going to do anything to get them back. If he had returned them, at that wedding, when I asked, nothing would have happened that did. He may have earned my ire regardless, but never my violence. And he wasn't the only one to learn that I do not take threats to my family lightly." Her fingers would start to trace over thin silver and gold lines that seemed etched into her left hand like a spiraling tattoo, the remnants of her taste of divinity.

"A Netherworld demon took my wife and I traveled to the land of the dead to get her back, to destroy the demon that had enslaved her and pulled her away from me," she would offer in explanation. "I had to do some things in there that... are beyond normal comprehension, but regardless, there is no length I won't go to protect my family." She stopped tracing her hand. "You regret not being able to say he was your father to him directly... but what if there was a way you still could?"

 

[Revna]

Revna nodded, just barely, with recognition of Taeli’s words about bonds and attachments. Despite how she might have felt about the elder Sith in the moment, she took her words to heart. Within her a tension seemed to ease - if she ever found it within her to form such a close bond with someone else in the future, then she would do so.

There was one other person who had a place within Revna’s heart, someone she felt almost as strongly about as she had her Master.

Srina Talon .

A grim part of her mind drifted to the thought of losing her as well, and a fresh tightness squeezed her chest. But for some reason, the pain just didn’t feel the same. Maybe it was because she was still so raw in her grief that she was beginning to feel a bit numb. The thought of losing others didn’t hold the same edge in the moment.

But something that Taeli said about power seemed to unlock an area of recent pondering within the young Sith woman. She considered saying something to the other woman, but chose to keep the information to herself in the end. She took another sip of her wine, before looking back out into the dry and cold landscape that was descending into night.

“Part of me wants to distance myself from everyone so that I never have to feel this way again. But that just simply isn’t in my nature. I would eventually connect with someone else, sooner or later.”

Revna fell into further silence as Taeli said that she hadn’t wanted the conflict with Darth Strosius, that she hadn’t wanted to destroy what He had built on Formos, that she had wanted to see Him grow stronger and wanted to work with Him…and despite Revna’s best efforts to block it, a seething mass of dark emotions began to seep through her veins like acid. Still, she kept her mouth shut and let the elder woman speak, for she knew she would have her moment to speak her mind - for good or for ill.

She clenched her jaw tightly as Taeli further went on to say how much her family meant to her, and it was something that Revna understood all too well herself. It was part of why her rage seethed just beneath the surface, seeking a violent release. Still, she extended the respect to the elder Sith Lord to let her continue saying what she wanted to tell the younger woman sitting next to her.

Revna pondered the story she heard, about Taeli going into the Nether to get her wife Fiolette from a demon who held the woman in its thrall, and the little Sith wondered just what she would do if she had to do the same thing herself. What lengths she wouldn’t go through to protect her own.

The young Sith turned to look back at Taeli when the woman told her that there might still be a way for Revna to tell Strosius what she had longed to tell him, but never got the chance to. Her anger was briefly set aside as she considered what the Sith Lord seemed to suggest. It was a powerful temptation that tugged at her emotional will power, but Revna knew herself.

“I…it is a very tempting thing to think about.” Revna replied honestly. “It is…still too early, too soon. Perhaps in due time it is something I’d have the strength to do. I’d like nothing more than to tell Him - to speak to Him - to see Him again. If only to slap Him in the face for having the audacity to die on me. But…I know myself too well.”

It was the only indication that Taeli would get from her that if given half the chance right now, Revna would sell her soul just to bring Him back to life.

She heaved a deep and heavy sigh, her thoughts trailing back to everything else the woman had said earlier, the things that had stirred the young Sith’s wrath.

“You and I need to clear some things between us because I won’t lie Taeli, I’m having a really hard time holding back the fury I have towards you at this moment.” She set her wine goblet on a nearby side table, before turning her gaze back to Taeli, and she did not attempt to hide the anger she felt.

“It is very tempting to hate you for the part you’ve played in the slaughter of my family and the destruction of my home. I understand that you had issues with Darth Strosius before I ever came into the picture. And I understand that He was a difficult individual to work with. That being said…you knew damn well what you were doing, when you threatened His bases of operation back on Tund. You knew that He would not take kindly to those threats against His people, His powerbase. Did you expect Him to roll over and bare His belly to you? What self respecting Sith Lord would do that?” Revna said, her voice snappy and cold as the fury began to build more.

“You say that you would do anything to defend and protect your family…did we not also have that right? And you say you never wanted this conflict with Him, that you didn’t want to destroy what He had built, or the deaths of His followers. Yet you unleashed viruses and Bogan knows what else against us…insidious underhanded methods to weaken and destroy. And not only that, your allies, the Kainate, showed up in orbit.”

Her gaze burned hotter as energy crackled over the young Sith. “I don’t have to see my home, the Dresuoti, or Formos City…to know that they are nothing but ruins - ash and dust and cinder on the wind. In fact, if I ever gain my freedom from my Kainate overlords again - I will have no home to return to.” She all but snarled.

Revna pulled her attention away from Taeli and slowly rose to her feet, stepping away from the Dark Councilor and towards the windows that overlooked the shadowed visage of Korriban and the distant Valley. The young Sith was silent for a long few moments, seeming to compose herself so she wouldn’t do something recklessly stupid like attack a Dark Councilor while being a guest of the Sith King. But eventually, she looked over her shoulder at Taeli, the glimmer of anger still there.

“So what should I do now, Taeli? Should I just…pretend that none of that ever happened?”

Taeli Raaf ​