Bankor

"I've met Baesal. I liked her. She's nice." Niall put in, partially to participate, partially to deflect what he suspected would lead to more bickering.

He went on. "I've talked with her a bit. She told me about her time on Korriban. She didn't seem to care for it much." That was certainly an understatement.

She rolled her eyes again at Lunda, then turned to Niall.

"Yeah well, that's probably why she vanished before the rest of us graduated. Kind of sucked, she was one of my few real allies there."

Lunda added, “Well I am glad she did, she’s a good Jedi and was wasted on the Sith.”

"And now you're both Jedi." Niall's lips quirked. "It doesn't take a deep understanding of the Force to believe that that's hardly a coincidence."

“The will of the Force works in strange ways… well I am glad you’re here even if you seem a bit bitter. I am glad you found your way home, the long way I guess but we are glad to have you,” she finished her food with a smile.

“May the Force be with you both…”

She blinked and rubbed her temple and then added weakly, “Watch out for the Wrath of the Empire.”

"I don't know," she said, "he was pretty nice to me. Then again, I doubt the emperor likes me very much these days, so who knows."

Niall, smiling, had been just about to offer Lunda a goodbye as well. The sudden change in expression and the strange statement took the smile from his face.

"Lunda? Are you okay?" He asked, his brow furrowing in concern. "And... what do you mean? The Wrath of the Empire?" He shot a quick glance at Layne as she seemed to know what Lunda meant.

Lunda shook it off, “I don’t know I just… I felt the words more than saw them… and felt that it would intersect with Layne, but I don’t know any more than that. Feels like a choice will have to be made but not sure by who or why.”

"You probably meant the Emperor's Wrath, the guy I mentioned. Not Empire's Wrath. That's not a thing that I know of."

Something caused her to take notice and grow more serious though.

"Did you feel anything else?"

“You don’t age well,” she said trying to deflect and then added, “I wish I could say more, there was a dark place… not as in not lit, just a place that felt dead and wrong.”

"I know the place you speak of," she said seriously, ignoring the deflection. "But I'm still going to have to go there."

“Well you will probably find something you were not expecting,” she responded.

"But you can't be more specific, because the Force thinks that's cheating, right?"

Layne Hoshin wrote:"But you can't be more specific, because the Force thinks that's cheating, right?"

“I don’t see everything, or feel everything; maybe the Force thinks it’s cheating? Direct your bitterness at the Force,” she said with a shake of her head.

"I don't think I'm that bitter," she said, looking away for a moment. "Thanks for the warning though," she turned her head back. "Hey, if it's something I'm not expecting after hearing that warning, I might actually have a chance to not die horribly."

“This is why I don’t tell people, they expect more than I can give,” she said honestly.

"Relax, I know the deal. I just figure it never hurts to push."

Layne Hoshin wrote:"Relax, I know the deal. I just figure it never hurts to push."

Lunda was going to reply but shrugged and said, "Well I am going to see if I can help out on patrol, have a great evening."

"It was a pleasure to meet you." Niall said, rising to bow properly. "Ah... and thank you for the warning. Do you experience that sort of thing often?"

"All the time," she said over her shoulder.

/exit

Niall blinked. That sounded rather uncomfortable.

He settled back into his chair. "That last bit all went by rather fast. I don't suppose you feel like giving me the long version?" He said.

Layne meanwhile was in quiet contemplation. While she might act flippant, the warning had her spooked. So she didn't react right away when questioned.

"...huh?" she finally said, looking up.

Niall offered her a gentle smiling. "The warning. The dark place. Did you understand what that all meant? If you did, I'd like to hear about it."

"You really don't," she said. "Unless you're okay with choosing between either nightmares for the rest of your life or fairly imminent death."

The smile faded. Niall looked at her, his expression serious, although his grey eyes were full of concern.

"Is that a choice you have to make? Or one that you've already made?" He asked. His deep voice had grown quiet now, to match the gravity of the conversation.