Star Wars: Shadowbound Chapter 10 - Emotional Acceptance, Aayla's Dream, Force Listening & The Birth of a Sect 

Doc - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-DXSlgfRtOxkzZR6CUKBOTrtHfCa6goMPT_V5YbQHQI/edit?usp=sharing

After following the light from the Tsil crystals for some time, Arenval, with Aayla in his arms and T7 in front of him, arrived at a large opening in the underground cave system. There, Tsil crystals could be seen everywhere, in all directions. 

However, in the middle of the cave's floor, the largest Tsil crystal stood. He reckoned this was the Guardian crystal, and the one communicating with him. And once there, drochs didn't follow him. 

He approached it, laid Aayla flat on the ground, then focused on the large crystal. 

"What's wrong with her?"

An answer came to him through the Force in the form of images and emotions. 

"She fights herself. She battles the darkness within that challenges how she sees you. She loves you."

Arenval physically felt his heart sink; he couldn't really tell the emotion apart, but he felt it in his chest. He looked at the girl he'd known all his life. They were close, more than friends, and now he'd gotten intimate with Komari. 

“This is my doing, isn’t it? The Crush Opposition? I broke her restraint over her emotions? What do I need to do?”

“Walk the way of the listener, and vow to free the Tsil.”

"The Tsil are free of Beldorion."

"Yet the drochs remain a threat. We need you to end their presence upon this planet by becoming our vessel in the Force, a catalyst for our light, and joining us with the Force. Help us shroud this world in light, so that all drochs may die."

Arenval frowned. Using the Force was already a risky challenge for him every time. What the Tsil was telling him to do was akin to opening himself to the Force completely. Letting the Tsil and his Force abilities work together. 

“What if my Dark Side corrupts you too?”

"We do not possess Light or Dark sides. We are similar to you, mere biologies made in a certain way. We reflect and amplify light and life energy, nothing else. Just as you can harness the Dark Side."

"What if I fall? There'll be no one left to stop me."

"For this reason, you must learn to listen through the Force properly. If you withstand this trial, your control of the Dark Side will grow, and so too will your understanding of the Force."

Arenval still wasn’t convinced, and glanced at T7. "What do you think, Teeseven? You’re old. Ever come across anything like this?"

T7 quickly replied with loud whistles. 

"Hero of Tython = Fell // Sith Training = Under Overseer Chastkar // Master Din Ghost = Helped free him and escape."

Arenval nodded thoughtfully. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck on this planet like Beldorion. "How does Force-listening help me heal Aayla?"

"She is lost in a cycle of self-questioning and past memories within her mind. Through Force-listening, you can speak with her directly inside her mind, and guide her to unravel her own prison."

"Is she at risk of falling to the Dark Side?"

"Yes."

Arenval took a deep breath. "I understand. Where do I begin, and how much time do I have? I should also inform my crew in orbit, so they don't come down."

"The droid can do that. You must sit and meditate here."

Right then, a new Tsil crystal came out of the ground near Arenval. This one had a flat top, as if made to sit on. He knew what needed to be done and sat down cross-legged on it. 

"Teeseven, contact Alfred and brief Shmi and Komari. Make it clear they are to remain in orbit."

T7 beeped and booped and extended a small antenna dish from his head. 

Meanwhile, Arenval closed his eyes and began meditating, following the instructions of the Tsil. 

####

Aayla had no recollection of anything. Or Beldorion, the battle, and her jumping to help Arenval and falling in the area of effect of Crush Opposition. In fact, she had no recollection of most of her life. 

Lost, in her mind, she was once again young, small, and innocent. A long time ago, when she was just five years old, the youngling training had expanded. 

Aayla kept to herself most of the time, not liking the comments some older younglings sometimes made about her. She trained earnestly, meditated every single day, and practiced the lightsaber. 

She tried to be the best. However, her own friend was better. Arenval was… an enigma to her. Always with a frozen face, even when she and others looked shocked, Aren was calm; when they laughed, Aren struggled to even smile. 

At first, she was just curious about him, then she became his 'almost' friend. And as she knew him more, he became a true friend. She found the terrible things other younglings told her about Arenval were all lies. 

He wasn't evil. He wasn't a bully. If anything, he always helped her and Orbe with their theoretical study and lightsaber training. He was the best at both of them. Then, as she grew up, she learned about Aren's condition. 

She didn't fully understand why the Dark Side was bad, just that it was bad. Most younglings ignored him, or were afraid of him, especially ever since that Force Choke incident. He did that for her, after what the senior called her. 

She had felt the cold chill as well. Most of the younglings avoided him after that. But she felt even more drawn towards him. 

And before she knew it, the way she looked at him started to change as she grew older. But she was stuck in that cycle, going from youngling to Padawan, and repeating. She relived those memories as they were safe and warm. 

The way Aren always cared about her, the way the three of them laughed. 

Her most cherished memories.  

####

Arenval followed the Tsil's guidance. He already knew a bit about Force-listening, but what the Tsil wanted him to learn was much more detailed, in-depth, and stronger. Common Force-listening allows a Force-sensitive person to understand another language or listen to organic beings talking far away. 

However, what the Tsil were teaching him increased the range to an entire planet and its atmosphere. That was the only way he could help them kill all the drochs to begin with. He had to be able to feel all the Tsil across the planet and connect them, with himself as a nexus. 

Meditating, the training went on. He felt the largest Guardian Tsil, and through it, he felt all the other Tsil the Guardian could control. At first, the Tsil had to talk to him with emotions so he could feel them. 

Slowly, he tried to remember that feeling and get used to the presence of the Tsil. The next step was to communicate with the Tsil without them initiating it. He had to use the same communication method: emotions and images. 

He struggled with that. He didn't understand emotions at all. He knew the definition; he didn't remember feeling them. His entire life had been spent suppressing them, hiding them, and modifying them into manageable sensations so it wouldn't trigger the Dark Side. 

That was his weakness. 

I can't. I'll fall… I can already feel it. 

"Your imagination. You fall only if you wish to fall. It cannot happen on its own. If you hold dark desires, make peace with them, then let them go."

Arenval reckoned he'd have frowned at this moment if he knew how to. 

I have no dark desires.

"Your wish to control your very biology is a desire."

It's called taking precaution.

"You cannot control the Force. A Jedi can fall to darkness, just as a Sith may turn toward the light. Your worry of losing control stems from your fear of the Dark Side."

How do you know all that? About the Sith?

"We are old."

What should I do, then? Stop caring and use the Force however I please?

"You could, if you were a perfect being, untouched by emotional fluctuation. But you are living, and imperfect. By sealing away your ability to feel, you have only broken yourself further. Arenval Tython, you have not cured anything. You have merely delayed the inevitable. All that you have locked away will one day break free, all at once."

Arenval inhaled deeply, focused and meditated. He could tell the Tsil was right. Lately he'd been feeling weird about himself. Noticing sensations in his body when thinking about Aayla, when freeing a slave.

I still fear… becoming what I fear. 

"Then do not seek to control the Force. Seek to master it. The Dark Side heightens passion, love, rage, all emotions. But one who truly masters the Force knows the measure of each, and uses them as tools within the laws of nature."

Arenval let his shoulders relax and followed the guidance. Gently, he stopped trying to fool his own mind. He stopped circulating thoughts in his head that turned fear into nothing, joy into nothing, and…  

For the first time, Arenval realised one could be grinning while being teary-eyed. He relived all his memories and felt the locked-away emotions. He relieved them one at a time. Panic, fear, sadness, but then joy, relief, and friendship. Orbe's banter, Aayla's naive love, Yoda's wise care, Obi-Wan's lightsaber sparring, Master Shaak-Ti's kindness. But also his emotions of abandonment, his confusion about his Dark Side affinity. His origin, who birthed him.

In his past life, he was but a lab-grown human being with no family at all. Bred for one purpose alone. He hoped to at least have someone connected to him by blood in this life.  

I…

It felt like he'd opened a floodgate and too much information was reaching his mind. He tried to sort through them at first, but they became too much. It felt like a clash between all his negative emotions and the good ones. Like a tally of which was more common in his life. 

I… I want to… know why I’m like this. How can a person be locked to the Dark Side? Who brought me into this world? If not that, then who created me?  

Before he could realise, his lips uttered his one greatest wish in this life. 

Why was I found there in the sewers? What is my purpose? Am I once again just a lab-grown rat? An experiment gone wrong?

"Then seek the answers. Why conceal the question?"

What if the answer isn't what I expect it to be?

"But it remains an answer, does it not?"

For a while, Arenval remained silent; his thoughts went from turmoil to calm, and then warmth. He remembered the recent events. And finally, he realized what he felt for Aayla back then when she was in the pilot seat. 

How do I save her?

"Use the Force-listening you have learned. As you reach out to the Tsil, reach into her mind. Be gentle. Let her come to you, then guide her toward peace within her turmoil, as you have done with your own."

Arenval accepted the guidance and sensed Aayla near him while he stayed seated. He still hadn't fully digested his years' worth of emotions yet, but he was confident he could help Aayla. 

Once he could feel Aayla in the Force, he tried to listen to her thoughts. 

####

Aayla saw her twelve-year-old self in the mirror, fixing her attire. It had been two years since she became a Padawan.

With a deep breath, she left her assigned Padawan quarters to go and find her Master. She didn't know what training Master Vos had planned for her, but she couldn't wait for her first field mission to be assigned soon. 

"Where's Aren now?"

Like her usual mornings, her first thought after getting ready was to find where Aren was, then look for Orbe, and then go eat breakfast together. But it was troublesome now because she had become a Padawan, and Orbe was soon going to be picked. 

Moving from the Padawan quarters, she came across plenty of other Padawans, some new like her, but most were her seniors. And as usual, with over ten thousand Jedi in the galaxy, not all had the best of character, even in the temple. 

Bullies were everywhere, and came in all sorts. Bullying amongst the Padawans was more subtle, laced with verbal jabs than anything physical. Aayla didn't bother with those things, but that didn't always keep her from becoming a target. 

"Padawan Secura."

Right as she turned a corner to head towards the youngling section, a group of three Padawans called her name. They looked older, and all three were humans. From one look, Aayla could tell their intentions were bad. 

"Yes?"

"You are a Padawan now. Avoid going to the creche from now on."

Aayla frowned. "Is that a rule?"

"Here's some advice from your predecessor. Those who get left behind do so for a reason. We avoid attachments because their fates are unknown."

"Aren isn't left behind. He's the best with a lightsaber," she declared without hesitation. 

"I wasn't talking about him. But since you brought him up, you're attached, aren't you? Attachments are bad, Secura. Be careful. You wouldn't want to be thrown out of the Order. Twi'leks don't often become Jedi, and a Twi'lek Force user is a prize worth chasing for countless pirates looking to catch and sell one."

Aayla's face turned to disgust. "What do you mean by that?"

Another older Padawan spoke up. "Nothing, really. Just look at yourself and the way you dress. It's practically meant for seduction."

"If my clothes affect you, it speaks more about you than me."

"Calm yourself, Padawan Secura. We're just trying to give you some friendly advice. You wouldn't want to slip up and end up enslaved on some Outer Rim world, now do you?"

Aayla rolled her eyes. She couldn't remember how many times she'd heard those things before. It was always Twi'leks and slavery with the bullies. 

"Are we discussing slavery?"

Right then, Aayla stopped frowning as Aren himself appeared, stopping right beside her. She smiled with the usual morning cheer. "I was looking for you, Aren."

"You found me. Now, who are these... Padawan braids, I see. Excellent. Since we're discussing fashion, how about I give you all the same attire as Secura here? I'm rather skilled with a lightsaber. Precise cuts, no burns, I promise."

"Let's go."

One of the oldest Padawans in the group tried to pull the other two with him. 

Aayla shook her head, watching them go. There were two things widely known in the temple; the first was that Arenval wasn't broadly liked, and the second was that finding trouble with Arenval could either get them hurt, expelled, or punished by the Masters.

She sighed and looked at him. "I was going to retort this time."

"Didn't look like it."

"I promise, I did." She insisted. "I'm not the Aayla from before."

"We'll see."

That was how Arenval usually was. Rarely talking plenty, and then short responses, with no facial expressions to notice at all. Not that she minded. 

"Let's go, I'm hungry." She grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "Orbe's probably already done eating." 

But halfway, Aayla realised it was hard to drag Aren along. He seemed reluctant to follow her. She stopped and turned around to look at him. 

"Huh?"

But to her shock, Aren had suddenly grown much taller; there was a trace of a beard growing, and his eyes seemed different, brighter. And then… a smile? She felt her heart nearly stop beating from it. 

"Who… Aren? What happened?" She asked, utterly confused. But… then she felt different herself and looked down. Her legs had grown, her chest bigger, and her lekku longer. "What's happening?"

"Why are you here, Aayla?" 

Aren's voice felt different, deeper and more serious, but not so monotonous anymore. There was actual worry laced in it. 

"I… We're going to ea—What happened to my voice?!"

"Aayla, you need to wake up." 

Aayla's eyes went wide as she felt Aren step far too close and both his hands press on her cheeks. She tried to look around to make sure nobody was there. It was the Jedi Templ… No, it wasn't. She couldn't recognise this place at all. 

An interior of a ship? 

"I'm awake, Aren." She looked back at the man Aren had become, and she had to say, he looked gorgeous. She always knew he'd look amazing. Didn't love that dark attire, however. 

"I can hear your thoughts, you know."

"What? How is that possible? One of your evil skills?"

"Hah, so I'm evil now?"

"..."

Was that a laugh? Aayla gulped, now frowning, shocked; she'd never heard this before. Arenval had tried to chuckle before, but it was always fake; she could tell. But this one was true. So, she reckoned she was just dreaming, and none of this was real. 

And then came strange names and memories. For no reason, she began feeling sad.

"You are... You never told me how close you and Komari were. I only learned when I heard you two."

True sorrow appeared on his usually plain face. 

"We aren't close, Aayla. But I am at fault. Komari was expelled from the Order because her infatuation with her Master was never returned. To heal her mind, I had to give her what she longed for most. In her case, it was intimacy. I felt nothing, but I had to play the part. I should have told you this sooner."

Aayla smacked his hands away from her face and scratched the tip of her lekku. "I thought… we shared a special bond."

"We do."

"But you and Komari…"

"I was no different from a droid. Her emotions may be real, while I only saw them as a means to heal her mind. Aayla, all my life I've trained my mind to ignore every emotional impulse there is. Now I haven't the damn idea what's what anymore.

“Everything feels false, and I can't tell one thing from another. But what I feel for you is real because it's physical. I don't know why it feels strange in my chest, or why my thoughts go blank when you say something.”

"Like what?"

"Anything…"

It was Aayla's first time seeing Aren talk so genuinely. And there were so many facial expressions, so many different tones of voice, that it almost seemed too much. But he was being honest. 

"What am I to you, Aren?"

"Family. Both you and Orbe are the closest thing to family I have. I've known you for most of my life. I feel like making you happy, making you laugh, keeping you safe, helping you grow strong. But I don't know if those are feelings or simply tactical thoughts. I can't tell if it's friendship, liking, love, hate, passion, excitement... not without going Vitiate-like."

"Who's Vitiate?"

"A dead man, I hope. My point is, Komari is Komari. Aayla, you're the most important person to me; Orbe comes next. And if anything happens to either of you, I'm going Dark Lord of the Sith, no coming bac—"

She couldn't take more of his rambling. It looked so different from Aren she knew, the stoic, calm, collected, and with a plan. This one was mumbling without aim, seemingly flustered, and well, since this was just a dream, she decided to just go for it and shut him up. 

Aayla gripped his dark robes by the collar and rose on her toes, leaning closer to his face. 

"Please don't get any taller. I won't be able to reach then…" she murmured.

She roughly pulled him down even lower, making him lean toward her, and planted her lips on his. She'd wanted to do this for so long, and finally she knew; it felt as warm as she always thought it would. 

This was her first time, so she explored even more, kneading her lips onto his. 

Aren's lips were so soft; maybe all lips were, but she liked to believe his were the softest. He did always look amazing even after long training sessions, flushed with a glossy sheen. 

Feeling his lips, she tried to take in more of his scent, pulling on him harder so he would lean into her. Her other hand reached behind his neck, up to comb through his dirty blonde hair. She pulled and tugged as if she wanted to melt into him right then and there.

She knew all about kisses. She was a Jedi, but she had access to the Holonet. The next step was to use the tongue, but she knew it wouldn’t sit right for their first time. It was for later, for a more special moment.

But since this was a dream…

She tried to suckle his lower lip, and felt how his mouth reacted. The heat of their breath blended into each other’s as their kiss grew intense. Her own body started to feel hot, feverish from the inside of her lekku. She didn’t know why, but she knew she didn’t want this to end. 

Her eyes closed, and slowly her breath grew sharp. 

Huh?

Suddenly, she felt something. She remembered standing, but all of a sudden she felt a cold surface all over her back as if she was lying on the floor. And then, the sensation on her lips vanished. She opened her eyes. 

"W-What is…" She looked around; bright crystals were everywhere. It seemed like they were underground. She then realised Aren was holding her head on his lap. Her one hand was gripping hard on his chest, the other combing through his hair. His lips looked particularly wet and red. 

"..."

She gulped, and the memories returned. Their battle against Beldorion. But first, she felt her heart still racing just like the dream. 

"T-That… wasn't a dream, was it?"

"Not at all, Aayla. Not a moment of it."

It didn't help that he sounded so warm, and his lips were smiling. It was the most honest and beautiful smile she had ever seen in her life. From Aren of all people. Her heart didn't settle down. 

"I think I love you, Aayla."

"..."

Aayla stared at his face, into his flaming yellow eyes filled with passion. She gulped, burning everywhere inside. "You think?"

"Well… I don't know what love is supposed to feel like. But Teeseven said that since I feel it in my chest, it's lov…"

"Shh…" She pressed a finger to his lips, smirked, and once more roughly pulled him by the collar, down on her face. This time, she felt Aren lean willingly and pluck a kiss from her lips. It was short and sweet, lasting a moment. 

"Let me help you find out, Aren."

His face was all smiles. "I'd appreciate that, Aayla. But about Komari…"

"Shh... let's cross that bridge when we get to it. What happened to Beldorion? Are you all right?" She tried not to think about Komari. She still wanted to savor this little moment. "What happened to me?"

"You were affected by my Crush Opposition."

Aayla's jaw tightened. She realised what had happened. What those dreamy memories were. But she remembered his true emotions. 

"You feel different, Aren. Smiling now?"

"The Tsil. These crystals are sentient. Let's just say I learned a little wisdom from them. I don't know how things will turn out going forward, but I'll try to be myself, at least around those I'm close to. First, though, I need to help the Tsil and end the drochs plaguing this world."

Aayla listened to Aren give her a summary of their situation. Of what happened after she fell unconscious. 

"While I help the Tsil, I've got something for you. I have a Holocron I want you to study and learn the Force Light technique within it. I don't know how badly injured Beldorion is, so it may come in handy."

Out of nowhere, she watched Aren just summon a Holocron. It had no Jedi markings, but it didn't seem to have any red color of the Sith either. 

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know if I can learn it, and I don't have the time to try right now. But I know you can, Aayla."

Calming herself, Aayla took the holocron from him. She wanted to help him, and if this would, then she had every intention of mastering this. 

"Finally acting the Master Tython part." She teased.

"Uh, don't use that name."

She giggled. Oh, she knew she'd love this new Aren with overly expressive faces since he lacked the understanding of subtlety yet. It was either hide them or show them. 

"Understood, Master Tython."

####

In the Hutt Residence above, 

Beldorion was injured, and while defeated, his servants still feared him. They gathered together to heal the massive Hutt, but there was no Bacta tank on Nam Chorios, so rudimentary first aid was given. 

That meant the Hutt remained unconscious for hours upon hours. Yet, not a single servant attacked. The centuries of tyranny Beldorion had unleashed on the planet were ingrained in generations of residents of the world. 

And there were too few to begin with. 

Still, Hutts were built to last. And after ten hours, Beldorion regained consciousness, albeit still unable to move as much. It pained him, and it felt as if years of his lifespan had been drained. He felt old and weak in the Force. 

"Master… Thon…"

Beldorion dreamed, and when he woke up, he remembered his ancient past. 

"What… have I done?"

The giant Hutt, for the first time, attempted to battle against the darkness dwelling within him, amplified on that planet. 

"Slaughtered so many… for what? Slaves… I enslaved…"

Beldorion was running a fever. Perhaps it was that delirium which allowed him to think those things. 

"I fell… I must not fall again…"

####

The Force Storm Arenval had caused outside had stopped long ago. 

With his training with the Tsil done, he prepared to fulfill his end of the deal and finish all the drochs on the planet. In a way, he was doing a service to the galaxy, as ending the parasites there meant they wouldn't spread in the galaxy where Tsil crystals didn't exist to keep them suppressed. 

While Aayla tried to master the Force Light, Arenval traveled to the surface of the planet with the Guardian Tsil's help. As the acting nexus, his job was to connect the Guardian Tsil with the rest of the Tsil across the planet and make them fight against the drochs in a unified way. 

And Arenval, being a Force user, would wield the Force at a greatly amplified scale to deal the finishing blow to all drochs. He didn't know what it would do to his body and mind, and his alignment to the Dark Side; he just wished for the best. 

Once he arrived on the surface, he sat down cross-legged in an open field. Then, the Guardian Tsil protruded out of the ground, unknown how it even moved or grew. The massive crystal formed a dome all around him to protect him from all the storms. 

Finally, he crossed his legs and began to focus. 

"Focus upon the goal, and nothing else. Your connection to the Force will be heightened beyond what is natural. Any inner deviation may bring chaos to you, and to this world."

He got the warning from the Guardian Tsil and followed the short training he had received. He emptied his mind, an easier thing to do as it was similar to locking away emotions. The hardest one to empty was curiosity. 

Arenval closed his eyes and formed a connection with the Guardian Tsil first, using the Force-listening as a medium. And then, he sought other Tsil nearby and joined them as well. 

He formed a web that expanded after reaching each Tsil, which acted like a node. It was an extremely time-consuming and mentally draining process. With each new crystal, Arenval felt his control over the Force becoming easier. His connection was growing stronger. 

But at the same time, unstable. Even the most minor thought deviation felt like a stumble. He tried his best and thought about nothing. 

He could hear the Force Storm already. And the way he was trying to expand his Force-listening across the entire planet, he reckoned the entire planet would be covered in a Force Storm. 

Hours passed, strength drained from his body. The Dark Side whispered every second, and he had to ignore it by his mere will. It was tempting at times, but his dream of ignoring the Dark Side's effects collided with what the Dark Side itself offered. 

He didn't seek unlimited power or an endless lifespan. He just wanted the ability to decide his own life. 

As more hours went by, he joined with multiple other Guardian Tsils across the planet. Through them, his Force Sensitivity increased, and he connected with minor Tsils. That amount of information overloaded Arenval's mind, and his nose began to bleed. 

But he sat focused. 

More hours passed, and he stopped feeling any more Tsils no matter how hard and far he tried to look. By then, he could sense every single being on the planet. Aayla meditating, Beldorion injured, all the living, sentients and Force sensitives, and even Shmi and Komari in orbit. 

He let the Tsil do their own thing first. The drochs were everywhere, and they all needed to be found and contained, as even one leftover drochs could breed into countless more. 

Ugh… Be fast. I can't keep myself awake that long. 

The toll on his body was high. Especially his mind. The Tsil across the planet were communicating with each other while he acted as the medium. He didn't even try to understand them. 

"Commence now."

As soon as he received the advice from the Tsil, he used the Dark Side. The entire planet and all of its layers came under his senses. To kill the drochs, he needed the light side of the Force. However, he supplied his Force connection, and the Tsil gave him the light. 

Through each Tsil, he expanded. It was no intricate Force ability, just his senses. He could feel all the drochs; there were billions of them, breeding and multiplying. Once he knew their location, he focused the Tsil to use their light. 

Ugh… It's hurting now. 

Arenval felt a strong headache, and at the same time, sharp needle-like stabs all across his body. He guided the Tsil to the drochs, and also let them all communicate. But his body wasn't made to withstand that. 

Hurry up.

The Dark Side was turbulent. Arenval felt so powerful, and he could swear if he wanted, he could drain the life energy out of that entire planet. The Force itself whispered that idea to him. However, Aayla being there made sure he didn't even entertain that idea. 

The ground, the sky; he felt he could control the entire planet by now. 

Feeling those drochs getting wiped out started to feel thrilling. The idea of doing the same with Beldorion came to his mind. But he fought against it. 

"It is done."

Arenval stopped everything instantly. He opened his eyes and found his body shaking, his skin burned on the surface, all his bones aching, and a puddle of blood on his lap, oozing from his nose. 

I can't… stay awake. 

"You can rest, Arenval Tython."

He did that. He closed his eyes and fell backwards. It was dark, but he felt downward motion, as if the Tsil was going underground. And then, he heard a series of chimes. 

Ting! 

Ting!

Ting!

Is that Teeseven? 

He had no energy left to speak. 

####

Two days later, 

Arenval woke up to a strange hum which he immediately recognized as a ship. Everything around him was white, and he didn't recognise it, but the scent of medicine told him where he was. The room was too spacious to begin with. 

"Aren = How?"

He tried to sit as he heard T7's noise. The droid was right beside his bed. "What's going on, Teeseven?"

"Two days = Passed."

"Two days?" He frowned, rubbing a hand over his face. But then he noticed hovering red alerts over T7's head. "Let's see what all that noise was."

Ting!

The first notification appeared in red. 

[Minor Quest Completed - Parasitic Cleansing
Description - A threat looms over the Galaxy. End it before it spreads.
Goal - Wipe out all drochs.
Reward - Dark Side Inhibitor +0.1%, Force Barrier]

Ting!

[Minor Quest Completed - Savior of Nam Chorios
Description - Liberating a planet means liberating all its people.
Goal - Free Nam Chorios from the clutches of the drochs.
Reward - Dark Side Inhibitor +0.1%, Force Scream]

Ting!

[Minor Quest Completed - Emotional Evolution
Description - Mark of a true Sith is freedom from control.
Goal - Free the Sith mind from the cage of emotions.
Reward - Dark Side Inhibitor +0.1%, Force Wind]

Arenval stared at all these rewards in silence for a while. All three abilities were really helpful. The first one was neutral, and the last two were connected to the Dark Side. He could learn all three of them. 

[New Ability Learned - Greater Force-listening]

[Ability Log - Updated]

Ting!

[Freed Slaves - 1,296
Slavepoints Earned - 64,800]

"..."

Arenval stared at the Slavepoints, the currency he could use to buy things. It now sat at 99,100 total, more than enough to buy the Rakatta Terraformer and so many more things. He could just pick a planet and make it his base. Or perhaps purchase a capital ship. 

Shhh!

"Aren!"

Right then, the door to that medbay opened, and Aayla came running. The first thing she did was check every single medical instrument attached to his body. Once she confirmed the readings were all good, she hugged him.

“Why didn’t you tell me it was so risky? I could’ve helped you.”

"You helped me enough, Aayla," he replied, spotting a few bandages around the Twi'lek's arm. "What happened to you? What happened after I passed out?"

“Alfred requested a ship from Tython Tech because we didn’t have the equipment to help you. That’s why we’re on this Lucrehulk now.”

"Wait, a Lucrehulk?" Arenval started pulling the medical instruments from his body. "Tython Tech owns a Lucrehulk? Since when?"

Right then, the door hissed open once more. Komari, Shmi, and Alfred walked in. 

"For a year now, Master Tython," Alfred answered. "We own one Lucrehulk and have leased two more. They are used as our primary cargo transporters across the galaxy."

Arenval dumbly stared at the protocol droid. He just realised how little he knew about his own corporation. But again, business was never his goal. "Why do you have bandages, Aayla?"

Aayla proudly shifted on one heel, speaking in her accented speech. "Well, you stopped the drochs, so the planet was safe for Komari and Shmi. But by then, Beldorion had woken up. He was still injured and had no soldiers, so I tried to stop him. 

“He didn't seem as motivated anymore. I used the Force Light and banished the Dark Side from him. Once he was knocked out, the Theran Force Listeners used Force healing to help you. Beldorion is currently restrained in a bacta tank."

He looked at Aayla with pride. "You learned Force Light?"

"Not fully yet." 

"Good work, all of you. We achieved far more than we came here for. I should go see Beldorion now. I’d like to know what his personality is like without the Dark Side."

"Wait, Master." Komari stepped forward. "What do we do with the Theran Listeners? They are all Force-sensitive, experts of healing and foresight."

"What do you mean? They're back on Nom Chorios, no longer threatened by the drochs. Just leave them alone." 

“They’re here, Aren,” Aayla said. “The Theran Listeners lived to stop the drochs from leaving the planet. You wiped them out, and now they have no purpose left. I heard the Tsil guided them, and the Listeners have chosen to follow you after they felt you through the Force. We all did.”

"..."

Arenval scratched his head. He always wanted to expand his operation, but he reckoned it was still too early. Not long had passed since he left the Order. 

"How many are there?" he asked. 

"Forty-two," Shmi chirped from the side. 

He was silent for a while. That number was more than what he expected. Having forty-two Force sensitives under his command was no different from having an army of Force users. Even if they weren't proficient in combat, they could help greatly. 

“Alfred, we’re going to need a bigger ship. See if you can find me a capital ship worth having. Aayla, I’ll need a teaching assistant to train the Therans. Komari, keep an eye on them discreetly. And I’ll start preparing to bring down Gardulla Besadii.”

At last, he got off the bed and grabbed his tattered black cloak from the side. 

"Aayla, take me to the Therans first."

Forty-two Force sensitives. It's nearly a sect now. Wonder how the Council will react.