The Dark Academy on Korriban

Sylvain weaved his way through the encampment. Sleeping aspirants dotted the dig site tightly snug in their tents.

This had been an exciting day for Sylvain. He was unable to sleep at an early hour as a result of going over the events of the day in his head.

He'd spotted where Moyr had put up her tent when he was strolling along earlier and made his way to the entrance.

Standing a couple feet away he whispered, "Miss Moyr, are you up?"

When silence seemed like it wouldn't be broken and no reply would come, there was a cute yawn.

"Possibly. Why are you still up, Syl?"

"Does one need reason to be up late on a camp out in the wastes? The real question is why are all you lame-o's sleeping so early?" He asked with a smile as he tried to peak between the opening folds of the tent.

"You up for a walk?"

"Seems you're still in mood for verbal sparring. In that case my answer is no. Enough sports for today."

She sighed resigned as she sat up. Perhaps his peeking had not gone unnoticed.

"What's eating Sylvain Torsin?"

His tone was far more mischievous than confrontational but he assumed Moyr had every right to be grumpy considering he probably woke her up.

Smiling he replied, "Nothing too much... Figured I'd see if you wanted to do a bit of looking around and talk... It's been a busy day and we didn't get to chat much earlier."

A bit of rustling and she appeared outside wrapped in her cloak. The golden eyes were slightly misty as they sent sweeping gaze across Sylvain.

"All right, we can take a stroll."

"You won't regret it." He said with a smile.

I hope...

The two of them set off away from the encampment a short distance until they came across yet another dig site that was surrounded by enormous dune hills.

"There anything like this on Ryloth?" He asked pointing to the Dunes, "Nothing like it on Dromund Kaas, but it seems like someone could have fun on the dunes."

"There are dunes on Ryloth. You wouldn't walk across them in the night though. It's too cold. Like eternal night cold. The planetary spin is calibrated with the orbit. Ryloth behaves like a satellite around its star."

She paused, looking up to the moons.

"In fact, only equatorial regions of the sunside are truly unhabitable. It's usually too cold elsewhere. But only in caves. The surface is often claimed by violent firestorms fed by solar wind that devour everything. It's a place far worse than Korriban, and none would even care to build a single spaceport there if not for two things, ryll and Twi'lek women."

Sylvain nodded. "Doesn't sound like the nicest place to grow up."

He stopped and took a seat on a large boulder stuck in the sand, it was big enough for two if she wanted a rest.

"Were you there by yourself, or did you have a family back on Ryloth?" He asked with interest.

"I did have parents and siblings. I was the only Lethan in my immediate family though. This colouration mutation is rare. Most Twi'leks are blue or green..."

She knelt, taking some sand in her hand.

"But I didn't have much in the way of family life. I didn't fit in. Complacency and docility were societal rules I kept spurning, steering my way into a solitary place away from the... flock. Selling daughters off-world as entertainers and sexual items was par de course how 'bright future' was defined in my family."

"I could see how one would develop a strong individualist spirit if that were the case." He said with a comforting smile.

"How'd you get out of that hell-hole then?"

"On a slaver ship, of course. I was supposed to be shipped to some Republican greasy-handed pig in the Senate with a taste for sexual rarities. I don't remember the name though. I probably wiped it off my memory. But the slaver didn't get too far on his way to Coruscant."

She shrugged. Her voice was dispassionate.

"Scum like that deserve whatever fate you dealt out." He replied with a nod.

"I'm glad you were resourceful enough to make your own path. You truly are an impressive woman Moyr." He said with a hint of admiration.

"Just a one who refuses to succumb to forces conspiring to abuse, disfranchise or enslave her. But thank you. Between this personal red line and how life is there's a narrow space to walk. One can learn to be resourceful in such circumstances."

A small smile, and an undulation of her lekku. She then looked at him more keenly.

"How are you holding up? Were you close with your father?"

He smiled out of the corner of his mouth, "I was for the most part. Fathers and sons never see fully eye to eye, but I respected what he was able to do for the Empire. He never let me enjoy the finer things of noble existence, it was a very determined way of raising a child. He was the type that never offered anything without the other person having to expend effort to receive it. Nor was he unfair in his dealings with others... Never had slaves in the home; he preferred to hire and reward good work rather than compel others to provide shitty work."

He smiled, "I'd like to think he was proud of me today at least... but that's probably just my sentimentality getting in the way."

He then chuckled, "But I think I didn't do terribly today..."

"A rhetorical question or a real one?"

The tattooed-on brow went up.

"It sounds like he was a strong reference point in your life, for better of worse. His death is a departure point toward something new."

She smiled faintly.

"I think the best way to deal with melancholy is to sing it out. Do you sing, Syl?"

He shook his head, "Not really. Do you Moyr?"

"Well, I do have a bit of a singing voice. Most Twi'leks are somehow artistically inclined."

She replied casually.

"You got a song for a dead father and a son who stopped the Empire from having a civil war?" He asked with a smile.

"Probably not. But I have this."

After making small alterations, she intoned the song.

"I wanna miss you, lonely as the desert sand;
Sparkle like a star, stranger in a faraway land.
Pockets tie his hands up, feet stuck right where he stands,
Divide grows wide ‘tween work and ambitions of men.

One hand holds the pulse, the other a steerin’ wheel,
On one hand it is his curse, on the other it’s what is real.

I shine bright like the wide, wide world
when you’re standing on the moon, it could be as you've been told.
Your hands are tied, but your heart is free.
If you learn to cut the rope, please make your way to me."

He listened to the song staring up at the moons above Korriban. The almost haunting but welcoming voice of Moyr touched him in a way normal words didn't have the ability to. Music too was a powerful tool, one that Moyr was effective at wielding.

"That's beautiful Moyr..." He said with a smile.

"There's an old poem your song reminds me of..."

He took a breath before reciting what he could from his days of studying in his room about proper court etiquette.

"Amidst the setting sun I
am alone with my pot of wine
drinking by myself;

then lifting my cup I asked the moon
to drink with me,
its reflection and mine in the wine cup,
just the three of us;

then I sigh for the moon cannot drink,
and my shadow goes emptily along
with me never saying a word;

with no other friends here,
I can but use these two for company;
in the times of celebration,
I too have to be content with all around me;

I sit and sing
and it is as if the moon
accompanies me;
then if I dance,
it is my shadow that
dances along with me;

while still not drunk, I am glad
to make the moon and my shadow
into friends, but then when
I have drunk too much, we all part;

yet these are friends I can always count on
these who have no sentimentality
whatsoever; I hope that one day
we three will meet again,
deep beyond the moonlight."

"Is it how you feel now? Alone?"

She asked quietly, looking up at him from where she was kneeling, her lekku curving forward.

He shook his head, "Not really. I've got those who care for me... it reminded me of you perhaps. Wishing I could be the wine, shadow, or moon for you tonight..."

He smiled, "My father hated that poem. Thought it to be too individualistic, too 'self-involved'. It was from a collection of poems by a philosopher from near the early days of the Empire. Not standard reading for the Imperial Academy. But I found it at an old reading shop in Kaas City."

He leaned back on the boulder, "There's something about the story you told that makes me feel for you... It's not pity I assure you. Admiration would be the much better term. Tragic, but life affirming."

She was about to say something else, but then looked toward the moons.

"I don't know why I am the way I am. None in my family had the slightest inclination to break their mental chains. Right now I believe it must be the Force that has somehow given me the nudge, and has been giving me the defiance and the anger so I could put a stick in the gears of the system... I don't contemplate the past too much. I didn't end up as a slave, it didn't degrade me."

"However it may be so, your fierce will to live free and your ability to take success out of the jaws of defeat... That's who you are meant to be and it's quite impressive."

He smiled warmly at the Twi'lek, "I enjoyed watching you and your associates today. It was a very informative experience. Even if I most likely failed in my aim to impress you as effectively as you've impressed me."