[Tethys Carrack]

Tethys is not the sort of person who makes a regular habit of seeking out the various contraptions meant to substitute for ordinary physical activity. Rather than spending time on a stair simulator or a treadmill, she'd much prefer to use that energy actually going somewhere. Unfortunately, however, there are not a lot of places on a warship for taking long walks in the city or rambling in the woods, and one soon comes to regret letting too may days go by without much movement, so... here she is, in the cramped gym for the Valiant Star's crew, jogging at a leisurely pace on a treadmill.

As far as one can tell through the screen of her habitual impassivity, she looks rather bored.

[Garth Wayne]

"Ain't all that bad," a familiar voice calls out from the far entryway. "Sounds like th' campaign's almost over. We've nearly driven the Mando force off planet. A good victory party and we all move on t' whatever the 'verse has planned fer us next."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Garth," she greets him, freeing a hand for a semi-wave. "Almost over? We've only just got back to your element."

[Garth Wayne]

Garth grins playfully. "That's why it'll be over quick." He replies with a self assured smile.

"Pride ain't a thing ah gotta worry about right?" His smile turned into a slight grimace at the thought.

[Tethys Carrack]

Her lips quirk and she shakes her head reassuringly as she steps off the contraption and powers it down. "There is nothing wrong with a justifiable confidence in your skills," she says, rather warmly for her. "If you are prone to become envious of others or get angry when your pride is disappointed... that is where you'd need to watch out."

She's dressed fairly similarly to the way she had been the time he visited her in the strike force barracks--soft trousers, sleeveless tunic, with the addition of a scarf to keep her locs well out of the way while exercising. Flowing robes aren't the most practical garb for the gym.

[Garth Wayne]

"Yeah, nah, the Tenant keeps me in check if ah'm getting too big fer m' boots. Never really been th' angry type either, just seems...well pointless. No point gettin' angry over stuff y' can 't change, and if ye can change it, then jus' do that instead."

Clutching both ends of the towel draped around his neck he looks out one of the windows into the black.

"Not quite like the ocean, but ah find it rather calming still. Gives me th' same sense of perspective, it's so vast, we're so tiny." He muses out loud.

[Tethys Carrack]

She drifts over and flattens a palm against the transparisteel plate. "The currents of life are different... more diffuse, further away. But I agree, there is something similar there."

[Garth Wayne]

"Can ya feel 'em? The people? The life?" Garth asks curiously. "From all th' way up here?"

His gaze drifts down to the planet below them.

[Tethys Carrack]

"Only in a general way. But it's there." Her slight smile is a little sheepish. "Some Jedi have a much stronger and clearer sense. Perhaps I'll develop it eventually. But... you can hear the waves breaking, even if you don't know exactly where the shoals are."

[Garth Wayne]

"But there's...somethin' there isn't there. Ah felt it near the Anzuri, think ah need to talk to that monk we captured about it."

His brows crease as he finds himself deep in though, which admittedly for Garth isn't THAT deep, but still...

"Dunno why, but ah think ah'll be staying behind awhile after this. Take some leave, convince Badera to loan me a Spitfire. Spend some time helpin' these monks recover from what Mazakin did t' them, mebbe learn a little from 'em as well."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Hm." She turns her head to give him a thoughtful look. "You must choose your own path, but... be careful with them. They play with darker powers than I think they realize."

[Garth Wayne]

Garth grins cheekily.

"Well, if'n ah had th' contact details of a fine upstandin' Jedi Knight t' report to..."

[Tethys Carrack]

A brief, musical laugh bubbles up. "You only needed to ask, you know." She leans her shoulder against the bulkhead and looks out at the planet again. "You'll have to choose your path yourself, one way or another. The Aznuri might have some wisdom for you; I don't know. But they remind me of colonists who do not realize they've built their settlement next to an ancient civilization's weapons site."

[Garth Wayne]

"Then ain't it a good thing t' have someone here to keep an eye on them? We've been fooled by one of 'em already after all."

Garth places his back against the cool metal of the hull and relaxes.

"Ah know ah ain't one of yer Jedi, but there's somethin' dark down there, we've all felt it. And if anythin' changes, then the people best versed in dealin' with it should know about it."

[Tethys Carrack]

She nods. "There is. It's the old Sith complex; the Sith Emperor called up some very powerful dark energies there long ago, and it has left a scar in the Force that's never healed. It still sits there like a black hole in the center of a dead star system, trying to pull down everyone who gets within its reach." The thought clearly bothers her, not just for the problem itself but for the fact that she hadn't had the strength to correct it. "I plan to consult with the Jedi Masters, see if there is some way for a larger group of Jedi working together to cleanse it. Though I do not know what the Aznuri will think of that."

[Garth Wayne]

Garth ponders Tethys proposal for a good thirty seconds before he responds.

"Why?" He asks simply at first.

"Ah mean, why's it need t' be Jedi. There's a large community of Force users down there already, if'n we convince 'em that this is what swayed Sister Mazakin t' betray them, couldn't that be 'nuff t' shut it down?"

[Tethys Carrack]

"Possibly." Tethys frowns thoughtfully. "But the temptation would be very great. I am not sure they fully understand the danger. And they may not be prepared to resist it even if they did understand."

She tilts her head back a bit and her gaze becomes distant. "I stood on the steps of the temple and felt it call to me, offering power without limits if I would take it into myself. Closing it alone... I felt it was possible, but it would have used up everything I am. I didn't have the resolve to do it." She shakes her head slightly as though the memory has a physical presence that needs to be cleared away.

"The Aznuri value strength so much, without seeing distinctions between light and dark. If they open themselves to the vergence in that way, it might consume them all. Or they might close it, but only at the cost of one or more of them becoming a dark Force user of great power."

[Garth Wayne]

"Ah'm bettin' ye're just bein' too hard on yerself. Ye've got more resolve an' discipline than anyone ah've ever met, if y' ask me that's why y' didn't try t' close this thing."

He turns so his shoulder is against the wall and he's looking at Tethys directly.

"Any young padawan coulda decided t' just try an do th' 'right thing'," Garth continues, even making the air quotes with his fingers. "An' try t' close the vergence, ah bet it took a lot of control t' not just blindly try, t' sacrifice without knowing what woulda happened."

Garth pauses and takes a deep breath.

"They say there's gonna be an attack on that freighter later tonight." He says softly as he gestures out the window. "I don' wanna go into the battle with regret in mah heart, so ah'm gonna try an kiss ya in a minute. Y' can stop me at any time with a single word." Garth confesses as he waits politely to give Tethys the chance to object.

[Tethys Carrack]

"I..." A slight widening of her eyes is all that betrays her surprise. "Garth, I--you know I can't really be the person you might want me to be to you." She too turns to face him straight on. Her smile is genuine, and a little sad. "I mean... the person I think you want, when you ask for this. No matter how much I care about you."

She tilts her chin up just a little to meet his eyes and lifts one hand toward him gently, palm up, as if to reach for his hand.

"But if you still...? For luck..." she trails off, not quite sure how to finish the sentence.

[Garth Wayne]

"Ah know." He replied a little sadly, but unsurprised. "No attachments or entanglements."

He takes a gentle grip upon her extended hand and presses his lips to her knuckles. "If this's all ah can have of you, then ah'll cherish the moment, an' continue t' call y' friend."

His cheeky smile returns after he relinquishes his hold. "Dibs first dance at the victort party though."

[Tethys Carrack]

She squeezes his hand gently before letting go. "I am glad to be your friend. Very glad. The dance is yours... if you're willing to risk being stepped on." The hint of a dimple appears beside her smile, a rare occurrence indeed.

[Garth Wayne]

"Ah'm willing t' risk much wi' ye Tethys, bruised toes are th' least of mah concerns." Reaching up he gently lays his free hand upon her dimpled cheek.

"Now there's the true smile ah was hopin' t' see when we talked 'bout lettin' go a little. That sight alone's worth a million kisses."

[Tethys Carrack]

She shakes her head a little, laughing softly in spite of herself. "I promise you, Garth, my smiles are rarely false ones."

[Garth Wayne]

"Ah know y' ain't a deceptive sort," Garth clarifies.

"But there's a quality about that one that ah ain't seen before, like y' just let yerself react freely, no conscious thought, in th' moment." He shrugged at the end of his statement as if he was uncertain.

"Or maybe ahm just reading too much into it. Either way, ah like that smile."

[Tethys Carrack]

"I'm... not sure," she admits, shaking her head slightly. "It may be you have noticed something I can't see about myself. Like the back of my own head." The thought makes her laugh quietly again. "You are a more perceptive man than some people might think, Garth."