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Falia was never sure how to feel when an encoded message came from her sister.
One part of her was always relieved, of course. It meant not only did Fuvia still wish to speak with her, but the Jedi were none the wiser to their familial bond maintained in secrecy. She was safe, enough to keep up this dangerous game as long as they could manage.
But another part of her was always frustrated, as a message often also meant a request to meet. No matter how often Falia scolded and insisted to her twin they should only meet in the most dire of circumstances, else death would be on both their tails and not just her own, her sister was stubborn in her insistence to keep in touch in ways beyond the scant messages they could afford.
They were very alike in that way, for better and worse.
Thus Falia found herself on some shithole border planet. Industrialized and forgotten, morphed into a city of sin and waste. Boarded into some cheap inn room, a glass of watered-down cider in one hand and hunched over her notes by the flickering light of the desk. Her mechanical right arm tapped rhythmically upon the worn synthetic material of her chair. Waiting for something to give as beyond the shuttered window rain hushed the neon city to slumber.
The Chiss’ patience was rewarded. The sound of the doors electronic lock being undone. She took a hearty gulp of the swill in her glass to harden her edge and rose from her seat, back still to the door.
“You have no honor to gain from killing me. I have no pleasure to gain from killing you,” she began as the invader gently padded into her room. On instinct, sparks of red electricity began to flicker off her right hand servos, prepared for the worst, “Leave if you value your life.”
“I will leave when I receive what I came here for.” A sweeter sounding voice than her own responded. Falia smiled, not needing to look over her shoulder to know her cowl and hooded sister had her arms outstretched for a hug.
After using her powers to close and relock the door, Falia embraced her twin tightly. Fuvia smelled of the strong incense and herbs the Jedi so loved to use in their rituals. It was comforting, though perhaps sacreligious to admit as someone devoted to the dark side of the Force. Though it had been a long time since she had been considered Sith. Of course, that mattered not to either side. She was an enemy to all, now.
“Must we always go through this song and dance of ‘leave or I will end you!’ anytime we visit each other? We both always know when it’s each other.” Fuvia whined, as always once their warm reunion ended. She sought to make herself comfortable, or at least as much as she could when the bed was hard as a rock and everything in the hotel smelled moldy.
“The day I stop being on guard is the day I know I will regret such carelessness,” Falia reasoned. Fuvia’s response was to huff and pout, perhaps childishly so. There was a truth to her words, since both of them could remember they had always been capable of ‘sensing’ each other, and never once been wrong. Still…
“Better safe than sorry,” Falia took another drink from her stout glass, and continued, “How goes the training? You’ve been asked to help with some of the younglings last we met, correct?”
That lightened her sister's mood, all too eager to share with her sister the adventures she had been on in helping to care for the young force-sensitive children the Jedi took under their wings. The care and teachings that went into such a thing, how much it was also teaching Fuvia about the force in ways she had never considered before. Staying by their side to guide them down the right path, fostering the many potentials of their abilities.
It sounded in deep contrast to the twins' own upbringing. Isolated, the only children on a ship with the heavy burden of navigating them safely. The occasional kind word thrown their way, but in several cases their only comfort had been each other.
Sometimes, Falia pondered if the only reason they managed to keep their powers into adulthood where most of their peer’s faded was because of that one mercy they had. Kept together, through thick and thin.
The Chiss shook the idea from her head. She knew better than to ask questions that had no answers.
“...But enough of that, how are your own journeys? Have you found anything?” Fuvia came to her rescue, pulling her from her own musings. Falia couldn’t help but heave a sigh of annoyance as she looked at her notes. The meager fruits of her last delve into long forgotten Sith temples. Destroyed not by the Jedi, but other Sith.
“See for yourself,” she passed the folio over and pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting off a headache born from pure annoyance.
“Only one place was of worth, a temple constructed by Darth Momin. I had to part a lake to reach it and I can confidently say it wasn’t worth it,” Venom began to seep into her tone, arm clicking as her mechanical digits drummed in vain to guide her frustration elsewhere. “Aside from being exposed to his terrible ‘art,’ the man’s philosophy is useless to me. The promotion of destruction, terror, blind zealotry towards the dark side… As ever, most Sith lords prove themselves to only be weak, selfish beings with a complete lack of discipline, and worse, sense.”
Fuvia was silent, but her expression was enough to let her twin know she was just as aghast, likely from the terrors noted in her research. Jaw slacked, and face drained a paler blue. For a moment the Sith considered sparing her sister the worse details that laid deeper in her observations… No, that would have been a disservice, in her mind. She needed to know the truth, the details Falia had seen scouring one of many accursed ruins. To know the nature of the ideals she was willing to expose herself to in service of her ultimate goal.
Falia leaned forward, elbows set upon her knees as she closed her eyes. Words flowed out before she could stop them, some sentimental thoughts she had no one to share with, aside from her ship droids. Darkness a comfort to these words others of her ilk would cut her down for.
“I cannot help but wonder if there is even another way for the Sith outside the Rule of Two. If elders before me, maybe even the Force itself has doomed this to be the only path for the Sith. Ever self-sabotaging, preferring to destroy ourselves before something else can…”
Her mechanical hand felt especially heavy with those words. After all, it had been the price she paid for questioning the way of the Sith. A simple refusal to kill a peer in combat, despite how talented the boy was. She lip curled in disgust at a memory.
How foolish . To waste a perfectly good pawn for no reason. Such decadent, for-granted behavior was revolting to the Chiss, not just on a personal level. Every body, every resource needed to be squeezed for all it was worth, for the benefit of all. And to deny the bounty of that resource for a single failure or fault…
Any bitter words the memory may have caused her to slip out were stopped by her twin. Holding the folio out in front of her, the Jedi offered a kind, understanding smile to her Sith counterpart. They were of the same mind, after all. To amass and use their powers to make things better for their people, and all.
“If there is another path, I know you’ll find it, Falia. So please don’t give up,” Fuvia said, before placing a hand comfortingly on her sister’s shoulder. “You’re one of the smartest and most resourceful in the family, and you’ve given up so much because you believe this is the right thing to do. I have my doubts about the dark side, but I’ll never doubt you. Please don’t forget that.”
Falia had to stare at her sister long and hard. All at once it felt as if the air had been squeezed out of her, leaving the Chiss weightless. There was no worry of the Force, or their alliances, even their family back home. It was just the two of them. Her sister spoke to her straight from the heart, words no Jedi should utter.
Her pride swelled in her chest, feeling warmth as she sat up and reached out a hand, lightly flicking her sister on the forehead, getting an ‘ ow !’ in response. “You fool, Jedi aren’t supposed to get sappy and emotional. What would your master think?”
“Hey! I’m allowed to act however I please when I’m alone!”
“You aren’t alone, you’re with me.”
“Who knew a Sith could be so cold…!”
Both sisters laughed, continuing their back and forth and stories, the occasionally deep thought flowing between the two of them like the current of a river between two shores. An understanding, peace, even when their words became sharp or they disagreed.
Despite one being Jedi and the other Sith, in a small hotel room in a galaxy far, far away, Light and Dark were perfectly balanced.