Bankor

Tethys pauses at one of the corridor intersections in the heart of the Valiant Star's crew deck to recheck her destination. Yes, it should be down the hall... she locates the right door number, takes a deep, slow breath, and taps the call button.

The door slides open and inside is Iyana looking perplexed at her visitor. She nodded and said, “Are you lost?”

"No. Not in any relevant sense." The tall Jedi offers her hand for the handshake greeting common to many (though not all) Human societies. "Tethys Carrack. Jedi. I wonder if we might speak a little."

The woman glanced at the offer and then shook it firmly. She said, “I suspect you know who I am, Jedi. Iyana Miu, Grand Master of the Aznuri, such as they are.”

"I do." Tethys nods. "And from one Force sensitive to another, I am curious about your order. Its history... and its future, after the occupation."

"What are the plans of the Jedi for my order now that you know we exist?" she asked stepping aside for the weoman.

Tethys slips quietly past her and into the small room. "There are no plans, at the moment," she says in a mild tone. "I imagine much depends on your own plans, Ms... what title do you prefer?"

"Iyana will suffice, I am but first among equals," she said honestly.

"Iyana, then." Tethys nods, a very slight smile curving her lips. "The leader of the faction opposed to yours, Mazakin, called herself 'Sister'...?"

“She did, she said she was a disciple of the Void, your Layne thinks this is a reference to your Emperor. The devourer of all things. If this is true then she would have led my people down a dark road… she still might for those that have followed her,” she said with a look of disgust.

"Not my Emperor, I assure you," Tethys says. "But that is a question I wanted to ask you. Of all the places on this planet, or even on one continent, why did your order choose that part of the Viridian Sea for its temple? Your site is dangerously close to a powerful nexus of the Dark Side of the Force."

She frowns slightly in thought, two vertical lines appearing between her brows. "I understand that you do not think of the Force, or the Way, in the same sense that my order does. But if you are trying to walk a middle path, you have a strong gravity well pulling you to one side of it."

"It is a place of testing, where we challenge ourselves... it is not a place that we traverse lightly," she responded.

"What kind of testing?" Tethys gives the mystic an inquisitive look. "Because it appears to me it has succeeded in getting the better of most of your order."

((Is Iyana's dark-sideyness obvious to a Force sensitive person? And if so, does it feel the same as, say a Sith's dark-sideyness?))

“We test ourselves versus the darkness, push our bodies to the limit and then beyond… I suppose we never knew just how dangerous it could be,” she said honestly.

OOC: More primal less, ambition more like an untrained person... they do what they feel is best in the moment damn the consequences.

Tethys nods, her thoughtful frown returning. "Jedi test ourselves against places like it sometimes, but only with great preparation. It's not just a physical trial." She spreads her hands palm-up. "A place like that... it tries to change you, make you angrier and more afraid. To bring out the worst parts of you and then magnify them. I can't imagine Mazakin is the first one of you it's taken."

“Those that failed are shunned or killed, so I would not know. Mazakin was the first to come to us already having braved the dark place. I suppose that should have been a warning, but we took it as wisdom,” she said honestly.

"I see." She nods again, chewing the inside of her lip a little as she thinks. "What will you and the others do once the Mandalorians are gone?"

“I seem to be getting this question a great deal, perhaps it is time we work more closely with the people than apart. Come out of our seclusion and be a part of the larger project on Bankor,” she said thoughtfully.

“Of course the opposite may be true as well.

"That is your decision, though it's no wonder people are curious. We were answering a call for aid from your temple, after all." Tethys's lips quirk wryly. "The call was from Mazakin, not you, of course, but the result is the same.

"She thought she could manipulate your people, it nearly worked, if not for the mercy of the Jedi and a Mandalorian," she said with a nod.

"Padawan Hoshin is... a credit to the Order." Some of the time, at least. Tethys considers her next question for a few beats. "When this war is over, I would like to ask some more experienced members of my Order for their advice about your vergence. It may be possible to cleanse it, or at least... contain it." She watches the other woman, gauging her reaction.

“I believe this is the best thing going forward, to cleanse this darkness and put an end to the corruption. It may even help to settle the people that live in and around it,” the woman agreed.

Tethys nods. "The Jedi will do nothing in your forest without consulting the local people. But I will see what help I can drum up."