Bankor

Layne was hungry. And when Layne was hungry, she found food. It was a pretty obvious thing to do, really. She'd filled up her tray with what was on offer, including some local variety of what she guessed was potato, and could be found at a table, by herself, stuffing her mouth full of food in the sort of way that made it clear she had not been raised with table manners.

The massive zabrak entered the mess hall for his daily intake of protein based military grade food. To any other type of person, this food would be considered bad or even disgusting, but when you were raised as a slave, any sort of nourishment is something to be glad for. Zhao noticed that Layne, the young wrathful padawan, was eating alone. After picking up his tray the zabrak jedi approached.

'' The mighty padawan, Layne Hoshin...'' Zhao said teasing her. He sat in front of her. '' Pretty good beating you received kid, but hell, if the roles would had been reversed probably i would had ended with the same fate or even dead. You're quite tough. How are your wounds? '' He asked while devouring with enthusiasm his food. The white zabrak table manners were at the same, if not worse, than Layne's.

"Gone," she said, watching him as she devoured a tater.

'' Good, we will need your strength for the following days '' He replied.

Then along, quite awkward, silence happened between the two, only broken by the sounds of food getting devoured and bad table manner. After some minutes Zhao casually while still eating and without raising his head to look at her put and end to that situation.

'' How did you ended in the Sith Empire, kid?'' He asked.

Layne shrugged, chewed some more food for a bit, then answered.

"Got stuck on Kessel," she said, which must've been after Zhao had seen her. "Some deranged wannabe Sith lord wanted to buy some slaves, noticed I was force sensitive I guess. Did some fucked up things, and I killed him. Which must've impressed someone cause then I was suddenly on Korriban."

'' I see...'' Indeed she was the same girl, Zhao met years ago. The same little kid fighting for her life against her captors '' I can only imagine the pretty fucked life you must had suffered in there.'' He said with a neutral tone. After all, Zhao also suffered a lot in the mines as well.

'' I heard that some fat ass Sith Lord blamed you for some terrorist situation at Nar Shaddaa...''

Strictly speaking, Layne hadn't been fighting for her life against her captors when Zhao had seen her. She had been fighting *for* them. Like a semi-tamed vicious hunting animal they could set loose on disobedient slaves, or sometimes a dog they'd throw into a fighting ring to take bets on. Of course, fighting for or against them was a narrow difference, and not something a small child would have had much choice in. Kessel only came later, once she became too much of a liability for the slaver crew known as the Oblivion's Jaw. *That* was when she fought against her captors... and naturally failed.

She shrugged.

"Darth Baras. One of the most dangerous and ambitious Sith in the empire."

'' Your old master, right? '' Zhao had read a bit of Layne's past after remembering about her. '' Why did he toss you away? Well, i guess it is sith nature to throw away people when they don't longer have a 'purpose' for their ends '' He adds as he ate a full spoon of protein paste.

"Because I fought him. I'd felt the light side of the force, and he didn't like that. I lost, of course. And then he gave me another chance... but I let myself get talked into facing him again, alongside others. I think he thought he killed me, they all probably do. But I had some help, I guess. Anyway, I wasn't really liking that life anyway. It was like a prison with no bars."

'' A prison with no bars, eh...like slavery.'' He replied. '' Like you said in that cantina, someone who is no longer enslaved can't really try to grovel again. I meditated a lot about your words after that day. You were right and i was wrong...'' He admitted it.

'' But now you are here with us. I admit that sometimes i get frustrated with the Jedi Order innaction but i still believe in them.''

"The Sith code is about breaking your own chains. Trouble is the way you're supposed to do it. It's all about getting power. And there's always someone more powerful around. The Wrath. Baras. The Voice. The Emperor. Unless you're on top, or completely useless and inoffensive to everyone, you're never really free among the Sith."

Zhao nods to Layne's explanation

'' After hearing you, i assume that you do not regret defecting to the Jedi Order...'' Zhao said, not trying to tease her or anything like that. Simply he wanted to know her own opinion of her recent life changes. '' You must not be very popular among the other jedi, with your past.''

"There are moments I have a few small regrets. But generally I don't. I like not feeling on edge all the time. As for not being popular, I was never popular to begin with so it's just more of the same, really."

'' It is just natural to remember your past and feel nostalgic, sometimes, but we should always move forward. Besides, regret is another path to the darkside, right?'' He genuinely asked because he wanted to know. Zhao has felt the charming whispers of the darkside in his own life, but never like Layne. She was a former sith after all.

'' In any case, I don't think that you're a bad person. So at least you have a friend, or at least an ally, here '' He shrugged. Zhao understood a bit of Layne's life.

"I wouldn't know about that. It can be I guess, but people assume I was some hardcore shooting-lightning-from-my-fingertips darkside icon when I wasn't. I got pulled toward the lightside pretty much days after I hit Korriban's surface. Of course, a lot of that was just me rebelling against the crazy people and situation. "