- Location
- Somewhere, probably Earth
A Discussion of Philosophical Differences
Ciaran returned from Malachor V...different. Shaken, clearly, yet with a kernel of resolve. The experience, whatever experience she'd had there, had affected her deeply. This much was obvious. She spent a week, a full week, in quiet meditation, examining "Something she had learned there." Even Ventress was tight-lipped about what had happened, and no amount of needling would wring the truth from her. As much as one CAN safely needle a Sith Assassin of her caliber.
Silas Cata was worried, and he was not the only one. Thrawn had seen her, but had been confounded. "Her entire person has undergone a mild, but distinct, shift" indeed. Apparently what that meant was as vague as how he said it. Ciaran, his granddaughter, was changed in some way he could not comprehend. In flux somehow. He wanted to be there for her...and he was. A sigh escaped him as he sat at his desk. He was there for his family, and Ciaran knew it. It'd take more than a "mild, but distinct, shift" for THAT to change.
It just meant that there wasn't anything he could do about it.
And didn't that just wrankle?
An alert popped up on the screen he was pretending to work on. A message from Ciaran. His earlier worries flared for a moment before being stamped down. Opening it...a request to be forwarded.
To a member of the Jedi Council.
Ciaran wanted to arrange a discussion with Jedi Master Yoda. Over tea.
...well, the unexpectedness of this move was certainly in character for her. He started drawing up a list of contacts...
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Ciaran was sitting in the back room of the Diamond Deception, that cantina she'd acquired so very long ago. A private place for a private meeting, with a generous complement of Agents hiding nearby, in plain sight and otherwise. It was less worry about her guest that brought the need for security, and more worry about a possible third party. The last thing she needed was Sidious catching wind of a Jedi Master meeting her.
Which was why she'd gone to the efforts she had, arranging for this room and all the force presences within it to be sheltered from without via a minor adaptation of the Buried Presence technique. Which was why she needed such a generous complement of Agents in the first place. Maybe with some refinement, the technique could be managed by just a single squad...
Her musings were interrupted as the door opened, and in strode the wizened, green, robed Jedi she'd been meaning to speak to.
A smile towards him, soft and yet full of mischief. Though not as much as before. She had an image to maintain. "Master Yoda," she greeted him, "thank you for accepting my invitation."
Master Yoda picked up on the difference immediately, of course. At his age, reading people is likely a simple matter. "Changed, you have, Lady Ciaran."
Her smile turned a touch more wry at this. "I suppose I have," she replied. "One must change to meet the times." A sip of her tea, as Yoda sat across from her. An appropriately-sized cup was filled with an appropriately proportioned amount of hot, amber fluid. "And yet, so many things remain the same. One might assume they were always such, and always will be."
She sets her cup down as Yoda takes his own first, experimental sip. "Seek change, you do," he said, cutting through her words. "A new path, you believe."
"Maybe," she says, keeping the uncertainty of her words out of her voice. Folding her hands in her lap, she takes a deep breath. "I have...learned a great deal, over my years. Doing what I do. Hiding in places noone thinks to look." A pause. "I thought I knew the way of the universe. The Force. I thought that learning more was...unneeded. I only invested myself as much as I thought I had to, that it was a tool and thinking of it as more was..."
"Arrogant?" the little green man finished for her. For once, he seemed amused. And Ciaran was the discomfited one. Dammit, this was not the natural order of things!
She tried to keep the sneer out of her voice, but a tiny sliver poked through. "Yes. I looked at the Jedi and the Sith as they are today, and all I could think was 'What a bunch of self-righteous pricks.'"
Unexpectedly, Yoda let out a laugh at this, even though he was the one being insulted. "Indeed, indeed. Blinded by Light, we sometimes are. Peacemakers, Monks, Jedi. But prone to mistakes, all the same."
Now Ciaran was well and truly caught off guard. She'd had hopes for this meeting, but for a Jedi Master to admit he was sometimes wrong...
Yoda, of course, noticed this too. After a sip of his tea, he continued. "This truth, you have shown me. Deceived, we can be. Beliefs, we might blindly follow. When our focus wains, our emotions can push through. How we shall fall, it is. To some, still hidden."
And there it is. This was the best way this meeting could go. Yoda had been partially disillusioned from his Orders rigid philosophies, and was willing to discuss and critique alternatives with an open mind, instead of the staunch, ignorant denial of his colleagues. If there was ever a time to open up, to get a different view...huh. Maybe this is what a fracture is.
"The Force...I've learned much of its nature from two sources. And you won't like them." Dammit, she was hesitating. She had to be strong about this. All in, no coming ba-
"From Darths of old." The old man didn't seem in the least bit surprised, even growing more amused as shock rippled through her. For a few moments, no one said anything, Ciaran struggling to come up with the correct response, and Yoda basking in the feeling of leaving her on the defensive, a feat that has not been managed in a long time, if ever.
Eventually, Ciaran sighed and just said, "Yes...Darth Vectivus and, more recently, Darth Traya."
Now it was Yoda's turn to be contemplative. He knew those names, of course. He was old enough to have lived a good deal of the Jedi's relatively recent history. "Rejected the Sith, they had. Rejected the conflict. A merchant, one was. A cynic, the other."
Ciaran supplied a nod before her reply. "I...assumed they taught the Force was a tool. That treating it as more made those who wielded it arrogant. Powerful, yes, but arrogant. Wrong."
A nod from Yoda. "Confidence, belief, understanding made power. An understandable mistake. Not right, but not entirely wrong."
Emboldened by Yoda's understanding tone, Ciaran continued. "So I treated it as such. And I also treated other people the same way. Tools to be used, some more affectionately than others."
This was as close to an admission of her illicit activities as she'd ever come, but it was necessary. Yoda was silent, for a moment, then said, "But changed, you are." A question, as much as a statement. One she'd have to respond to honestly if she wished anything fruitful to come of this meeting.
"Not...entirely."
Yoda set down his cup, waiting for her to continue. So she did. "Think of the Galaxy as...a wild grove. It grows and spreads, lives and dies, regardless of what anyone or anything does. There are things worth having in it, rare herbs and beautiful flowers, even the wood of the trees and the meat and furs of the animals."
"Needed to acquire, taking from the grove is," Yoda replied evenly. Hesitant, but willing to listen. Good.
Ciaran could work with this. "That's just it. There's two ways to do things. First is to protect the grove from all outside influence. Preserve it. Let it grow on its own, and only take what is strictly needed. To survive."
"The Jedi," the wizened master noted.
"Alternatively," Ciaran continued, "One can just take everything. Harvest everything of value, step on what isn't worth keeping if it's in the way, leaving only that which wasn't worth having to begin with. And ultimately not having enough to sustain oneself, in the end."
"The Sith," he said. "But you believe you've found a new path?"
Ciaran smiled, and said, "Forestry. To encourage growth of what's worth keeping, one might remove that which isn't. It isn't about gorging oneself, or only taking only what's needed. It's about actively working to help the good things flourish, encouraging the prosperity and wealth of the grove, and then letting oneself enjoy a larger share than they strictly need to without negatively affecting the grove."
The Jedi Master contemplated this...then said, "But stunting growth, all the same. Change is necessary. All things fade. By making yourself necessary-"
"Air is necessary," Ciaran interrupted, "as is light, as is the nutrients in the soil. Specific temperatures. Those things might also fade. Moreover, the Grove can adapt should my path for some reason fall out of favor far more easily than should any of these other things change."
"And yet," the Jedi Master retorted, "Stifled, the growth of undesirables is. A chance to become worth keeping, they do not have."
"Every grove needs pruning to flourish," Ciaran replied. "Besides, everything has a use, if one has control."
"Ownership, you mean," Yoda replied. He was frowning now. Shit. "Disastrous to one's Grove, interference would be. What of the Jedi?"
Oh, that's his concern? Well... "The Jedi, in their current state, are a mostly stabilizing force in the Galaxy. They could use a bit of...guidance, but if you're like this all the time then you've got that covered."
"And if they do not?"
Ah...the hard question. Well, Ciaran, you've come this far. "Anything that would ruin the grove, even if they had good intentions, would have to be dealt with. Pruning is sometimes necessary even for the best of plants."
Yoda sipped the last of the tea from his cup and held it, staring forwards at nothing for a good, long moment. Finally, he set the cup down. "A balance, then. To temper arrogance, yours will be. And to temper your greed, will the Jedi be." A deep breath, and he said, "No end to conflict, this is. A change, no more." He was already standing up to leave.
Ciaran simply smiled, settling back into her old self. "But of course, Master Yoda. The challenge is what makes it fun."
Yoda gave a mildly dissatisfied huff as he left. He hadn't won, but...he knew the rules of the game, now. The Sith would be eliminated, and the Abyss Watchers would take their place as a check on the Jedi's power and complacency. And he would have all he help he needed setting those rules up. Because, ultimately, the Abyss Watchers were a better alternative to the Sith.
Ciaran had another glass of tea, a smile on her face. She considered this a win in her book.
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