We Need to Talk

[Dune Rhur]

The Bith heard her. All of it though he seemed to not pay attention. An object full of knowledge limited it to but a few items. Especially as it related to the Force.

He watched the butterflies flit about as his mind worked. It wasn't​ that he didn't care about her tears. The object she spoke of could be very dangerous not just to her. Reconciliation would come regardless.

"What does this object look like?"

 

[Riamah]

Ra drew her legs up to her chest and hugged them to her before she answered. Placing her head on her knees and not looking at Dune anymore.

"About this size," she motioned with her hands the approximate size, even if he couldn't see her actions. "It is a dark red with a writing on the sides I can't read. Shaped like a pyramid."

Her now laid with her head on her knees. She had told him what he wanted to know. What the real issue was, she did not know. It had taught her how to move objects and ran her through a simulation. There was nothing dark involved with its teachings.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

The Bith grimaced in spite of himself. It was worse than he'd thought. He knew a holocron when he heard one and it was most definitely that of a Sith. There was nothing else that could fit that description.

He rose to his feet and turned to face her. She was sitting there with legs drawn up like a child. Compassion filled him and he went to her. Dune placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before he spoke.

"What you have described can be nothing but the holocron of a Sith Lord," he told her.

"That pyramid is extremely dangerous. It's a repository of Dark teachings. The avatar can guide you just like a Jedi holocron. But what it will show you is wrong."

He crouched beside her and gently lifted her chin with his other hand so he could look into tearful eyes.

"It is fortunate that you haven't delved very far," he said back to his implacably calm tone "But you must give me the holocron for safe keeping lest something terrible happen."

 

[Riamah]

Ra heard and felt Dune stand and move to be next to her. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and told her what she had just described. A holocron, but that of a Sith.

"But Dune, it didn't teach anything dark! What we have worked on with Alema and then a simulation to gain an artifact. It wasn't a real artifact or anything. How is it wrong?"

With his other hand, Dune reached down and lifted her chin so they were looking at one another again. He said she needed to give him the holocron for safe keeping.

"It's safe on my ship."

The thought of what knowledge would be lost to her by giving it to him, made her want to keep a hold of it more. She knew deep down he was right and she would surrender it, but she didn't WANT to just hand it over to him.

"What's so terrible that could happen?"

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

He looked into her tear-streaked eyes and saw her confusion. Dune tilted his head and considered what she would think from her position. It was just a piece of technology. No different from a datacron or some other holo recording.

Except it wasn't just anything. Ra needed to understand the problem. Dune would do what any teacher owed to their student. He would tell her just what was dangerous about it.

"What it's taught you now is not dangerous," he began "But it's what it will teach you. Not just how to do it but why and when."

"The avatar will corrupt you with Sith lies. It will tell you that you are more important than others. Because you were born with a gift. It will teach you to be selfish and to destroy anyone who gets in your way."

He looked into her eyes with a very serious expression.

"Is that who you wish to become, Ra?"

 

[Riamah]

Ra listened to his wise and words and realised the holocron had already said something. Only one time though and she hadn't really thought anything of it at the time. Though it had never tried to tell her how to go about doing something. Her eyes grew wide when she remembered that and pulled her head up to look at Dune instead of him holding her face up.

"You're right, he also expressed some anger when I told him I hadn't been doing something. He never suggested I was better than others though."

As he finished speaking about being selfish, she gave him a slightly watery eyed flat look.

"Aren't we all selfish at times? He also never suggested I need to destroy anybody...well what he got angry at was me not forcing my will onto another to get my way.
"I used to do that before I ever knew about the Force. Would make bargains always come out in my favor."

Dune looked at her with serious eyes and face, she shook her head in reply.

"I'm afraid it might be too late. This darkness will always be there, master."

She hoped her words weren't true, but she knew she would always be tempted by the dark. There was no escape from it.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

The darkness is always there.

"Yes, it will always be," he told her softly "And you can choose to succumb. Or you can choose to fight it always."

"Our greatest enemy is never another. It's always inside of us."

He shook his head.

"You never force your will on another. When a Jedi performs the Mind Trick, we suggest. We don't compel. We use our judgement to see that they know what we say to be true."

He straightened and stood.

"Take me to your ship, Ra. I must safeguard this Sith holocron."

 

[Riamah]

Ra looked down at the ground a moment and thought on his words. He agreed the darkness would always be there, but that it could be resisted. That a person's greatest enemy was inside of themselves and not external.

"Oh I don't know about that. I've got one enemy that always tries to kill me when we meet."

She actually spoke very little about her personal life to anybody and had never mentioned this man to Dune. They had met twice and fought both times. Neither of them had won and instead fled before permanent harm was done to either of them.

"I stopped forcing my will on others before we met. Maybe it made me fell guilty or just watching my old captain perform and it made me feel likes I was less than him. He couldn't use the Force and usually made out the better bargain."

A small half smile was on her face as she thought of her captain. He had been the first person to really take her under his wing and treat her like a human. His death had been catastrophic to Ra, but she had recovered and didn't think of him very often anymore. When he died, she had taken over his ship.

Ra came out of her small memory and looked at Dune again with a small nod stood up with him.

"You're not going to destroy it are you?"

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

He shook his head.

"I don't believe I will."

The Bith spread his hands.

"Knowledge is important, even this in the right context. It can give us insight into the murky depth of the Dark Side to better combat it."

Gesturing to her he went on.

"Perhaps one day you will be ready to learn. But not now, not when you are learning to master yourself. But come, take me to it."