Sith Academy

Despite her attempts at reassuring Gavin regarding the names, Mariah still found him protesting. Although she didn't say anything more, the slight movement of her head and narrowed gaze upon him revealed her disappointment. Perhaps one day, she would translate their names, the essence in which they were named after, and it would make sense. The mere fact that she had discussed what she did -- she wasn't expecting it to flow as easily as it did, and that alone was enough to halt her tongue.

Locked between caution and a slowly building trust, Mariah welcomed the acceptance of challenge. She had ample reasons to return to the Academy as it stood; however, they all paled in comparison to this new one that presented itself. Her excitement delved deeper than a mere chance to prove herself, though, to be given another chance to initiate him full force. With his acceptance, it marked the chance for an actual spar, something she had been denied for too long. The faintest of smiles revealed itself on her lips, a determination burning in her crimson eyes.

When Gavin revealed that he did, in fact, carry all of them, Mariah glanced back and forth between he and the multitude of weapons twice, before her eyes settled upon him as though sizing him up. At the mention of telekinetic lightsaber combat, she said nothing and only nodded her head in understanding. A mental note she didn't want to forget, when the day came for when they would lock blades. Her attention was gathered back to the present, though, as he held out Scadav Soulu for her to see. The runes that marked all along the black chrome caught her attention, but the other design elements soon set in.

"You may say that mine have better names, but yours hold a craftsmanship above anything I could think of creating."

There was a whispering question in the back of her mind, asking about the runes and their meaning, but before she could heed those thoughts, Gavin had moved along to the last two in his collection. Mariah looked over each; however, something in her stance shifted with his explanation. While she still looked over them with the same sense of interest as all the others, she took a half step back to view them with a bit more distance. Perhaps from reverence; perhaps from the lingering guard she still kept; perhaps both. However, the odd design of the one in his right hand held her attention for a split second longer than the one in his left hand. Although she felt compelled to say something, as he had with hers, nothing came, and he carried on within her silence.

With the final hilt owned by his brother, Mariah took a moment to look it over, the same as all the others. The seven virtues and the Kiffu Guardians had sparked a curiosity, but at the mention of Justice, she could only suck in a deep breath and turn to walk away. For all of her attempts to leave the last two of hers unmentioned, it felt as though there was some enigmatic force in the background continuing to push and push and push. She felt like she had no other option but to yield to it.

Picking up her two shotos from the mix of his weapons, Mariah returned back to her pile and carefully set them down before picking up the last two -- the curved hilt sabers. "I've never once used these..." she stated quietly, her eyes glancing up to Gavin for a brief moment before returning her full attention to the gold tones of the electrum hilts. It took another beat in silence to convince herself to continue with her explanation. "I keep them in memory of my mother. They were passed to my sister who preferred Makashi, a form I shied away from, but then they ended up back in my possession when she passed. Roughly translated, their names are Justice and Mercy."

Mariah lingered by her own weapons before she picked up the six knives, attaching them back along her belt. She had a feeling their time would come in this discussion. Instead of offering the sabers out for Gavin to gather a closer look, though, she set them on the bed to reveal the simplistic elegance of the twin hilts. She took a single step back and crossed her arms over her chest, but a part of her attention was torn between the sabers and Gavin. Her discomfort was evident enough, but should he still reach for them, she wanted to be prepared to stop him.

"Much like your Deepstrike and Blockade, Iustitia carries a more of an offense aura, Miserere a defensive one... or so she claimed." Mariah breathed in deep and exhaled a sigh, steadying the doubts in her mind before continuing. "They can also be combined together into a saberstaff, a style she was very... brutal with."

There was a level of understanding that Mariah shared in those words, weapons of war. Each had their own story, like a relic of time, revealing the heart of the crafter at the time of its creation. Yet it delved much deeper than that for her, and perhaps that was where she believed she had failed in the art of her sole standard saber in comparison. Lack of resources, making due with what she had, the need for a hasty creation for survival, thus sacrificing the time she wished she could have spent. It was at that thought that her eyes drifted back down to the twin electrum sabers, which radiated with the simple splendor of their past. She had long shunned the story behind those sabers, until it was too late. Her mournful expression was the only hints to these thoughts, as her eyes remained fixed upon the hilts.

She was grateful, at the very least, that he respected her unspoken wishes and made no motion towards handling them. Another understanding shared between the two. She could only exhale a sigh. It didn't matter how many times she thought it, how many times he mentioned it -- her disbelief never lessened. Only magnified, especially when he spoke of rage and serenity.

"Sounds like one of her sayings..."

Her words were quiet, as if she whispered them more to herself than for his sake. The myriad of her mother's 'wisdom' echoed, repeated over and over in time, ingrained in Mariah's memory. Lessons deemed useless and tossed aside throughout the currents of time, almost forgotten, until now when she stared down the hilts. But why now? Her eyes narrowed at the question, one with an answer she knew, but one she still refused to accept. With it, her attention drifted from the sabers back to Gavin, who appeared to pay his own respects. It was a split moment to snap herself from her thoughts.

Snatching up the hilts, she connected the two at the ends. It was like a vision, seeing her mother's stance, the way she would deftly handle the staff, the way the golden blades danced around her body. A meld of techniques that she made appear so effortless, it was still sure to put anything Mariah had accomplished over the many years to shame. Yet as she held the weapon in her hands, she felt frozen. Even as she was given a chance to handle Kolk Illuminate, a weapon she had never seen or used before, she could at least hypothesize ways of utilizing the blades. Yet she couldn't bring herself to do the same with these weapons, ones that she had seen and experienced the brunt of their essence countless times. With a shaken exhale, Mariah detached the two.

"It is very awkward to handle."

Her agreement may have come; however, there was a sharpness to her words now, her guard rising again. Able to offer nothing more regarding her master or her sabers, Mariah retreated back to her things. Settling the electrum sabers with the rest, she then removed her belt, shedding herself of the knives, and took a seat, cross-legged, on the floor next to them. Her eyes locked on the far wall as if some detrimental fate awaited her should she turn her attention away again.

"The Kiffu Guardians," she mentioned. "Were you among them, with your brother?"

Although the second virtue was the defining shifting point, the last strike which urged her onward, she had still heard all seven listed. In each of those, she could easily see those traits in him, even after a single meeting, as if he walked them, be it from his own experiences or in honor of his brother. No matter the answer that came, however, she hoped it enough time to recover from the unseen strain from discussing her old master. Although she had grown receptive to this apparent lesson laid out for her, there were some things too much, too soon. So why offer the information, why continue this conversation. The bitter questions were met with a whispered answer in her mind, attempting to soothe her strain, yet to no avail. With a few steady breaths, as though she attempted to throw herself into a calm, meditative state, she waited for his answer.

It was only a matter of a few breaths; Mariah was able to steady those raging thoughts that plagued her mind. When a simple yes or no would have sufficed, her question was answered more fully by Gavin than she had expected. Well, perhaps from another. He carried no qualms with sharing these matters with her, like all the others. At least the additional explanation gave her time to not only relax her mind, but her body seemed to follow soon. Her once rigid, meditative stance shifted with another exhale, her shoulders falling forward slightly. The oddity of it all was that she listened. The names of his adopted daughter, his brother, their stories, Gavin's own laced within the history of the Kiffu Guardians. The denial of his full involvement, though, brought Mariah to purse her lips thoughtfully.

"So the work you do here, it's like a repeat in time, like a memory of the past."

For something that could have been laced with venom, spitting his words back at him, her words instead carried a curious lilt to her tone. As her question rang in the air, her gaze settled back upon him, as if she sought to study him more closely. He asked no questions of her, and only answered hers. As the way of the universe, when one question is answered, more arise in turn. If he left the door wide open, she figured there was no harm in prying. Not like that typically stopped her anyway; however, this conversation was still different from all those she had experienced in the past.

"If you had such a close hand, what duties stopped you from officially joining them? Your ties, opinions on the Force, or...?"

Honor his father's lineage. Her words trailed off, as though something regarding it, yet again, struck a chord in her. She was starting to feel as though she was going insane, constantly on repeat with him. Surely, she was imagining things at this point and simply perpetuating a problem that didn't truly exist in anything but her own mind. With a deep breath to cut off the flow of these thoughts, she didn't reveal much else of her discomfort and simply pushed onward, a shift to the conversation, without expecting an answer. If there was one thing that push it away, something to stop this loop, it was a loss she could never fathom.

"It sounds like it was a noble group of warriors," she found herself murmuring. "Your daughter was surely a force to be reckoned with."

Mariah wasn't one to offer empty condolences, and thus, her words stopped there. She had never met his daughter, and her words were only based off his story, that of a stranger. At least in her mind, she still pushed him out, labeling him as such, even as he shared more of his life with her. However, despite all of this, his words from now and then resonated in her memory. His adopted daughter, the last one he had mentioned, the final loss before he had made his own decision to run.

"I imagine you think of her often."

A thoughtful hum was the only reaction Mariah had to Gavin's admittance, at least at first. In her own way, she found his revelation amusing. For a man who was so quick to shun her earlier words, following the only path she knew, there were still those subconscious workings that did the same with him. Although their stories, the way they handled their respective pasts, they both seemed to be guided towards the aspects they knew as home.

"It's why I travel," she whispered. "Never settling in one location for long. We were constantly moving about, even when I was a child."

She offered a half shrug to her words. They were simple enough, revealing a part of her life but nothing regarding the secrets she needed to hold. It seemed, however, that she wasn't the only one with secrets to keep. Gavin had been so at ease with each of her questions, sharing details beyond what she requested, all up until this point. Had she the mental strength to delve deeper, she would have. However, their conversation had all but sapped away all of that energy from her. The way her eyes narrowed upon him, she showed him that she recognized this, that he held something back.

That piercing look remained, even as he spoke of Tyra, and then another of her line Anya. With a shake of her head, Mariah turned her gaze away, and with a deep breath, she leaned back, tilting her head to lean against the wall. Closing her eyes, Mariah could hear his final words echoing in her head. The lessons he tried to lace within his explanations brought the upwards twitch of her lips into a wry smile. She allowed a moment of silent to pass as he finished, before she spoke.

"I'm not your student." Her words were frigid, to say the least, if only lessened by her quiet tones. She took in a deep breath, another moment to calm her thoughts. "You have no idea..."

Her eyes opened, and again her gaze returned to him. Still narrowed, still sharp. Again, her words had trailed off. It was best that he, like all other outsiders, didn't know the rest of that sentence. To be guided by those who have passed, the whole reason she was here. Instead, she needed to push the conversation forward, again, deflecting from that which shouldn't be discussed. The only thing she had, though, was another unwanted topic. The lesser of two evils...

"My mother's sabers... They were supposed to be a gift for my apprentice. Perhaps one day, I'll finally rid myself of them."

She attempted to hide the mix of emotions she felt discussing it. Anger, sorrow, disappointment, to name a few. If Gavin looked hard enough, he may have seen it, but even if he did, Mariah tried not to give him the opportunity to poke around in that aspect of her life, even if it was one she wasn't bound from discussing.

"Is Anya here, at the Academy? Or is she off and about with other work?"

Mariah could see the questions burning within him, those that he didn't ask. The way he quietly chastised himself, the way her own story started to fall into place in his understanding. She knew what she should have felt -- caution, guarded, all wrapped up in that facade of harshness she had built for herself over the years. He had pegged her well enough regarding that. For whatever reason she couldn't put to words, though, that harshness now dissipated, and with a defeated sigh, she turned her attention away from him yet again.

"I'm a shame to her teachings," Mariah explained quietly, followed by a joyless laugh. "A Master Jedi among us... positioned as my own master. I never could get past that." She had no idea why she was sharing this, but the look in his eyes, seeking that understanding, was burned into her memory like an answer. "Regardless, she would want someone to use her sabers. That's why I passed them down to Aria when I found her... when I truly found her again. Just as you passed Tyra's blade to Anya, they belong to her son."

True, he had stirred something deep within her. These old thoughts, buried deep, nearly forgotten. She could hear her pulse beating in her ears, but her deep and steady breaths kept her otherwise relaxed. When he spoke of the time since he had last heard from Anya, though, he may have expected her to scold him again. He had viewed her a hypocrite once today, though, and to scold him on such matters would only confirm that to be the truth.

When he stood to his feet, Mariah tilted her head to the side, watching him carefully. With his apology, she only grew skeptical over him again. "You only have reason to apologize if you plan to betray that little bit of trust you've gained and harm me later with all that was discussed." The faintest hints of a smirk curled at the edges of her lips as she joined him, standing to her feet as well. "It's not like you know enough to cause any real damage anyway." There was a challenging tone in her words, almost playful, or at least what might be close to it for her. With that said, though, something weighed down her expression.

"You're not my student, Gavin," she said, taking a beat to exhale before approaching him, "but my advice either way. You should reach back out to her the next time you can. If there's one thing I regret in my life, it's that I let Aria walk her own path, and I never reached back out to her during that time. She was the only family left to me... and she was gone within a year. Not a day goes by that I don't remember that feeling, that moment when I couldn't sense her presence anymore."

Her eyes never faltered from his now, even as she discussed this final memory with him. She could see that he was preparing to leave, to let her rest. It was already late in the night, and she had nearly forgotten about her travels come morning. No doubt, he as well had his own agenda for the following day. Still, she couldn't let herself be the only one to take something from this organized encounter, even if he didn't know it as such. If there was just a piece of wisdom she could impart before he left, she would.

Mariah only offered a half shrug at the comment he could manage regarding the sabers. Worth. In her eyes, not even she was worthy of having them, yet she still did. Sucking in a deep breath, that was all there was to it. Perhaps one day, her apprentice would return, and perhaps then, she could bestow them upon him. She wouldn't hold her breath for his return, though.

Trust. She couldn't believe that the word managed to escape, and then the way he toyed with it, so clearly throwing back at her the work that it took, she could only roll her eyes. Words were pointless. He could promise on his own life not to betray that, but in the end, she would see how true those words proved. However, the words he tossed back at her brought a lingering question in her mind, one not yet asked. Before she could, he seemed to have made his decision regarding her advice. Words, as useless as they may be, had no harm when it was none of her business. Whether or not he followed through here would be on his own conscious. With a nod of her head, she accepted his answer and let it be.

Gavin gathered his things, and with it, she expected him to make his leave. Yet he still stopped, making sure she had everything she needed. After everything he'd already been through and offered her. The hint of her smile was there and gone, now replaced by her disbelief.

"I think you covered everything," she said, glancing around his room, before adding in a murmur, "and then some." When her crimson gaze met his again, she huffed a sigh. "Answer me this, though. Why put forth so much effort, just to gain that little bit of trust? From a stranger?" Her earlier, unspoken question. At this point, there wasn't any point in denying he had somehow gotten through to her. With that acknowledgement, though, it only opened him up as a whole new enigma she couldn't wrap her head around. "And if you say common courtesy again, you'll be glad you took your weapons with you."

Mariah's eyes narrowed upon Gavin with that final answer. It was straightforward enough of an answer, but it still left the huge piece unresolved, left to stew in her mind alongside with his words. A side of her easily let it be, the part of her she claimed kept her from Chaos all these years. Yet another wanted to push the matter further. With that slight salute, though, he was gone, and the the sound of the door sliding was the last thing Mariah heard before the sound of silence weighed all around her.

"You're a fool, Gavin Phoenix."

Her murmured words broke the quiet and were followed with her sigh. Crossing her arms over her chest, Mariah finally tore her gaze away from the door, and in the silence of the space, she was finally able to settle her mind, reminding herself of the resources he had given her, the preparations she could take before the following morning. She snatched the clothes from the bed as she approached the bathroom, but she had to pause again, his answer still echoing about in her mind. Like past unspoken answers she concluded throughout their conversation, his brought her little comfort, and instead, struck a dissonant chord within.

"...a much greater fool than I had originally thought."

With those final whispered words to herself, she prepared herself to settle in for the night. There was still one person she needed to speak with before the day was done. Now, more than before.