Time passed slowly in my teacher’s hut, mostly secluded from the world around us. We only ever got rumors of the outside world, when patients came and told us of recent events. It was about a year ago when we first heard that the Sith had taken control of the planet. It seemed like such a distant thing, however, there in that little hut in the frozen wastes.
Over the years my teacher and I spent together, I developed a great respect for her, and I learned many things. For each of my greatest strides, she would give me a tattoo, as is the custom of my people. Before coming to her, I only had two, which my parents had given me. Two diamonds, above my eyebrows. My teacher added to these over the years, until they formed a V on my forehead.
Oh Mirial, we have a strong belief in destiny. It’s a central focus of our religion. In reality, this is actually a primitive understanding of the Force. How it guides all things towards their future. Our Tattoos are tied to this. Markings that chronicle our path towards our destiny. They aren’t always good things. Oftentimes, great failures or crimes will be recorded on our faces too. Visible for all to see.
I am thankful to say, that my dear teacher never gave me any markings like those. Yet as the years went on, I found myself growing more and more restless. My progress with my teacher seemed so very slow. Always she cautioned me to be patient. Always she warned against moving too quickly. Already I had become a capable healer, but I’m ashamed to say… that I wanted more.
Every so often, the dream I had as a child would return in my nightmares. A cruel reminder of a crueler galaxy beyond the dark sands and chill air of my homeworld. Each time I awoke I thought: “How do I stop that from ever happening again?” Each time I thought ‘I have to grow stronger.’ I’m ashamed to say, that these thoughts of mine would become twisted to a dark end.
I was just waking up from one such nightmare when I first met him. He was dressed in dark robes with a long cloak. I jumped when I noticed he was there when I saw his dark eyes staring into me like he somehow saw straight through me. Straight to the heart that was now beating fast in my chest. “The power you seek is already yours.” He said.
I pressed myself against the wall, I knew he had to be an offworlder. He was human, and his accent was thick. “Who are you?” I asked when I finally found my voice. “What are you talking about?” He pushed himself off the wall and walked closer to me. I thought about calling for help, but I knew the chances of someone being near enough to hear me over the ice storm that raged outside was next to none. Not even my teacher was nearby, trapped in another city, unable to return thanks to that same storm.
“You want to become stronger.” He said, ignoring my first question. “Strong enough to stop an atrocity like that from ever happening again.” My eyes went wide. I realized he must have been reading my thoughts as I slept. “Who are you?” I repeated in a panicked voice. He smiled at me, it was a friendly smile, the kind I would never have pictured on his face before that moment. “I am Edru Voatri. I have been sent by your father, to awaken the power within you. The power your teacher has kept from you for so long.”
I felt a funny feeling in my chest as he mentioned my father. A man I had not seen in more than a decade since my mother’s death. I’m ashamed to say, that just the mention of my father was enough for me to set aside all the red flags the darkly robed man had displayed up until that point. I am ashamed to say, that over the next few weeks, while the great storm raged outside, I submitted myself to his teachings and betrayed the teacher whom I loved and admired.
Edru was undoubtedly, Sith. I knew that. Yet in many ways, he subverted the expectations of that moniker. He wore a mask of kindness and wore it well enough that I never saw through it until it was far too late. He was polite, charismatic even. The kind of man most young women would be quite taken with, although I myself never had such feelings for men.
At first, learning from him was very difficult. His first lessons were to teach me to draw upon my anger, as many sith had since time immemorial. Yet anger was not a thing that came naturally to me. Even when he pushed me to think of the Mandalorians, and my mother’s death, still I only felt sorrow. When I told him this, he closed his eyes, feeling the pain, and the sadness that for so long I had buried within me.
He took that sadness, the sadness of an innocent child, whose mother had been torn away from her and he twisted it into something ugly. I’m ashamed to say that I let him. It was easy after that, to unlock that power he spoke of. My progress came so quickly! Far quicker than I had ever learned from my teacher, who seemed to have been holding me back my entire life. It was exhilarating, intoxicating even, to feel the power that was at my command growing.
As the weeks of the storm drew to a close, Edru had an idea. He wanted to give me some new tattoos to mark my great strides in learning the dark arts. I’m ashamed to say, that I was totally on board with the idea. I felt so proud of what I had accomplished. I still have them now, two little diamonds just behind my ears.