I am the Force, or am I? [D1, ME]

[Verse Aura]

"Yes but... where does one find fruit around here? I mean, you've got fruit in the garden here but I'm guessing that's not the right kind of fruit?"

[Sister Hulia]

"Yes but... where does one find fruit around here? I mean, you've got fruit in the garden here but I'm guessing that's not the right kind of fruit?"

"You must find one to give the fruit, laowai," she said with a roll of her eyes.

[Verse Aura]

"Well yes but... wouldn't it make sense if they were in like, an orchard or garden or something? How else would I find them?"

It was a legitimate question, Verse thought.

[Sister Hulia]

“Perhaps you will find them among the fruit trees,” she said thoughtfully.

“The cards do not say.”

She flipped the next card and it showed scavenger rap[tors feasting on a corpse. She said, “A time of suffering will come, some will benefit, others will not.”

She seemed disturbed by the card.

[Verse Aura]

Fruit trees. Now where would she find those? And then there was a third card, wasn't there?

"Well, I don't like that at all. Benefiting from the suffering of others is... not very agreeable."

[Sister Hulia]

"This is evil," she said quietly.

[Verse Aura]

"Sure sounds like it," she said. "Sounds like the Dark Side to me."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya sat bolt upright at the phrase, her antennapalps snapping to point at Verse. The conversation was suddenly becoming concrete to her in a way it hadn't been before, and her head clearing somewhat. She'd muse later about how a phrase like the Dark Side would have just blended into the generally mystical mumbo-jumbo, years before, rather than seeming more distinct.

"The Dark Side?" she said aloud, a prompt, or maybe just her confirming she hadn't imagined the words.

[Verse Aura]

"Oh, you know..."

Err... I shouldn't have said, maybe.

"...it's... well, it's the side of the Force that's not good, I guess. It's what I've heard."

She obviously knew more than she was letting on... Verse was really bad lying and deception, so it wasn't hard to figure out.

[Sister Hulia]

"Sure sounds like it," she said. "Sounds like the Dark Side to me."

“The Sith,” she said picking up the cards.

“The influence of the Sith hangs over you, it seems to affect the cards.”

[Verse Aura]

"Oh, you know about them then?"

Well, the spacecat was out of the spacebag now.

"Yes, the inquisitor, he's a Sith. Has to be. They're the ones that really run the empire, and they're hunting everyone else who touches the Force."

[Sister Hulia]

She placed down a card and it had a two being that was glowing on half and the other was dark. She said, “The Inquisitor is of two halves, he is Sith, he is evil. That is not all that he was, or so say the cards.”

“Perhaps this understanding is meant for you and not for me.”

She turned to Vaya and said, “The Dark Side is the evil and conflict in the darkness given form. It feeds on the savagery of war and malice, it does not drive us to evil, it simply manifests when we give into our dark thoughts.”

[Verse Aura]

"And when we give in to them, it grows, and in turn so does our own darkness. But, there's stories of those that fell to the Dark Side, only to be redeemed. It might be possible to redeem the inquisitor, I suppose."

[Sister Hulia]

"You are an interesting laowai," she tapped the card and then said, "You are Jedi, yes?"

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

And there it was. This is crazy. "This is crazy." She waved her hands. "Uh, not the Force-and-the-Jedi stuff. I'm right with you there." Maybe right with you was more of an aspirational statement, but she was at least past declaring such things 'crazy.' "I just can't believe I just... stumbled into this." She looks at their hostess. "How do you know... no, of course, the Force probably told you I'm not just going to head right out and turn you in. What else has it told you? Why am I here?"

[Verse Aura]

She looked to the other woman for a moment, then back sister Hulia. Karen would kill her if she knew how easily Verse was spilling the beans, but honesty was always the best path, her master had said many times.

"I am. Though I was only still a padawan when... when the Sith made their move. There's very few of us left now."

She then turned to the other woman again.

"The Force is ever mysterious."

[Sister Hulia]

Sister Hulia said, “I do not have the gift, I am no peacewalker, buy maybe Sister Viati may speak of what she feels, though she does not think highly of laowai. The Cards and your eyes tell me all I need to know.”

“You are Jedi, child of Aznuri, is still Aznuri.”

[Verse Aura]

"I'm not sure I entirely understand what you mean by that, but I will speak to this Sister Viati. Where might I find her?"

[Sister Hulia]

"I'm not sure I entirely understand what you mean by that, but I will speak to this Sister Viati. Where might I find her?"

"She stays in the enclave, perhaps I can convince her to meet you on the morrow?" she said though her tone sounded doubtful.

[Verse Aura]

"Please do," she said. "I know I'm an outsider, but if she can feel the force, or has the 'gift' as you say, then maybe she can look inside of me and see that I am not like the Imperials."

[Sister Hulia]

"Please do," she said. "I know I'm an outsider, but if she can feel the force, or has the 'gift' as you say, then maybe she can look inside of me and see that I am not like the Imperials."

"You are Jedi, we know the Jedi," she said with confusion.

[Verse Aura]

"But," now it was her turn to be confused, "you said she doesn't like outsiders, right?"

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

"She's not worried about you being Imperial," said Vaya. "Laowai covers all outsiders -- not everyone remembers the Republic all that fondly, either."

[Sister Hulia]

"But," now it was her turn to be confused, "you said she doesn't like outsiders, right?"

“She does not, but she may be convinced to speak with Jedi, who can say,” she said.

"Yes. she has it right."

[Verse Aura]

"Oh... well, I suppose that makes sense. The Republic tried its best, but it didn't always manage to help everyone even in the best of times. But still, it was better than the empire, I'm sure of it."

She tapped her lips in thought as she thought of something else. "So, the Aznuri, which is your people, know the Jedi? Could you tell me more about that? If I'm not being rude by being ignorant, that is."