Hangar Bay

The ride to the Temple was long and short in its own right. The roaring engines left no room for talk between the Empress and her newest, odd companion. The ziggurat structure soon shot into the view, the desert broken apart by the canyon over the horizon. The well of the Force crept over unsuspecting individuals like tidal waves the closer they came. The Force Nexus within that canyon was strong, and thus an unaddressed reason for the Dark Jedi to choose this place as their home.

Mariah led her and her team into the lowest level of the Temple -- the hangar bay. Without another word to The Holy Man at first, the woman shut down the landspeeder and hopped out effortlessly while her team worked to settle their own vehicles. Her usual activity would have been to depart quietly on her own, but the woman waited, garnering a few questionable stares from the two small teams that accompanied her.

"Would you have us show him to the guest quarters, m' lady?" one finally spoke up.

Although her back was turned to her companion, Mariah took the time to remove her headpiece while waiting for Hiro to dismount. As before, her eyes didn't need to remain continuously trained on him when she kept her sixth sense within the Force, so to speak, wrapped around his every movement and intention.

"No," Mariah answered firmly. "I'll take care of that personally. You all are dismissed."

Although done with hesitant caution, the one bowed at the waist respectfully towards her command. Their gazes occasionally looked over their shoulders as they departed to either ensure the Empress's safety... or perhaps more aptly, the man's. Mariah kept her back towards Hiro, though, while she scanned the hangar bay with a type of critical awareness only acquired through decades of discipline and training.

"Tell me, Hiro," she began, now that they had more privacy than before, "Do you commonly pledge your hopes to earn a stranger's trust? Or do I harbor a mark with a high payout to your employer?"

With her face now exposed, the twitch of her lips in that dark smile was much clearer. If it was all about a mark or mission, the Empress appeared wholly unperturbed by the idea and, instead, seemed to accept the idea as a game of sorts.

"The latter seems far more viable if you ask me, since I'd imagine the former would have already led to your untimely death many years ago. The Force is not always a kind Master." With a half shrug, Mariah added, "Either would be quite a humorous occurrence, though."

At a glance, the crimson-haired woman appeared much more relaxed now that her 'guard' had disappeared into the Temple. She was sure that there were still plenty of eyes about -- security and whatnot -- especially after the latest ordeal. The Empress had ordered it, after all. However, Mariah appeared much more composed and at ease with being alone to deal with the possibility of a risk. Her fate was now rightfully in her own hands instead of relying on possible failures of others.

"There was an old legend passed down by my people about others who could turn even sticks into the most resilient weapons--weapons that could even fight against the ferocity of a lightsaber," Mariah murmured, tilting her head to catch Hiro out of the corner of her eye. Arching her eyebrow, she continued, "You may be a strange man with nothing but a walking stick, but it doesn't make you any less dangerous if you truly wished it."

Mariah inhaled deeply. There was something about Hiro that was… off. She couldn't place exactly what yet, only that there was something deceptive about him. She had attempted to poke into that possibility earlier to no avail. However, this Temple wasn't built in a day, and like this Temple, some secrets would take time to chisel out to see the light.

"I've just dealt with spies in my Temple, Hiro," Mariah stated, pushing herself away from the speeder to spin around on a heel to face the man, "and I ensured their eradication firsthand."

Underneath the dark smile, confidence and pride lingered in that statement as a warning to him. If Hiro truly desired to earn Mariah's trust, he would do as much in due time. However, if there was a single malicious bone in his body, she ensured he fully understood his fate and that she would find enjoyment in executing it.

"Then you arrive shortly after and attempt to convince me that the Force drew you to me. You must understand my hesitance to your... intentions."

Intention--the word rolled off the woman's tongue slowly and deliberately. Although her gaze remained harshly locked upon him, the faint twitch of her lips in a thoughtful purse revealed the slow shifting opinion within her mind.

"You're much sloppier than they were, though, so you have that."

Mariah shrugged a shoulder as she crossed her arms over her chest. Cocking her hip, the woman jolted her head to indicate the Temple's entryway with a chin and allowed another dim smile to play at her lips.

"Now that we have all of that cleared up and out of the way, shall I give you a proper tour, stranger?"

Despite the possibility of an adverse situation, Mariah seemed welcomely amused with Hiro's claim. At the very least, her earlier stiffness in the desert had been wholly released for a dark, elegant fluidity. The appearance of her sinister smile made its way known tenfold from what the Empress revealed earlier. Either her attitude then was a facade for her men, or this was the facade. No matter the case, though, she seemed cryptically curious at Hiro's assertion that he wasn't a 'normal Force user,' as though in some deep recess in her mind, she hoped to find out firsthand what made him stand out from all the others.

"Is that so?"

Mariah arched an eyebrow at Hiro. Although her doubting tones remained, she tilted her head in feigned curiosity, her crimson eyes now burning into Hiro, as though the woman wanted him to elaborate. However, the heart of the issue -- and the reason for the Empress's slow personality shift -- lied in viewing him as a possible enemy instead of a potential ally. It was a tricky game and not always black and white to tell the difference between the two, but it was easier to pretend that it was.

Hiro, though, already had a confession, to which Mariah's smile faded to something closer to a scowl. Her attentive eyes narrowed menacingly, and for a beat, she remained utterly and eerily still. A second longer and she finally inhaled a deep breath and exhaled a sigh.

"So a code name?" she asked -- or rather, demanded an answer. "Or simply one of many aliases you take on?" Mariah growled another sigh before continuing, "I can't say that I'm unfamiliar with them. However, there was only one reason I ever used them, and I didn't stick around long enough for them to catch on."

Mariah kept it as ambiguous as possible, but anyone familiar with the game knew well enough what she meant. Either her mark was met with an unfortunate fate, or she retrieved what she was after and left her target empty-handed before they knew what hit them. Depending on "Hiro's" answer, there very well might have been much more the two had in common.

"So... what's your real name? If you're starting to piece together why the Force drew you here to me, I'll also have to ask for your interpretation sooner rather than later."

In the interest of trust, Mariah at least didn't attempt to strike him down when he admitted to his deception. There was that boiling desire to do so, but she stayed her hand from her saber. She would grant him a chance to speak his piece. The only reason? There was an odd sincerity about him, something even the Empress couldn't ignore.

For a flicker of a moment, Mariah questioned who had actually sent this mysterious man to her planet. Everything, especially information, came with a price. It was a premise she was all too familiar with. However, 'Hiro' played this game recklessly, easing the Empress's brief concerns. Her wry smile had faded from these cautious thoughts, but it appeared again as she elegantly tilted her head. Mariah's crimson eyes glanced over the enigma before seemingly dismissing his attempts at bargaining with a half-shrug.

"You must be mistaken," Mariah murmured with a faint, joyless laugh. "Here, you have no cards in hand, Hiro."

Mariah emphasized the man's false name with a sense of finality to further punctuate her claim. However, this man came and demanded a duel, something that pierced straight through Mariah's figurative armor. If he was as skilled as Mariah was unraveling, Hiro could see it in her expression change--narrowed eyes, the faint furrow of her brow, and the shift t of her jaw from clenched teeth. She took in a slow, deep breath to further sort through her options now, and with just as much finality as her last claim, she continued.

"If a duel is what you desire, though, I cannot refuse. However," Mariah then walked towards him and paused only briefly to again glance over him as though sizing him up, "you will not receive all that you demand until you have proven yourself to me. When you fight my best, they will know your name, your intentions, and that you are a worthy enough opponent. Rest assured, though, I have many fine warriors."

Moves and countermoves. The Empress wasn't so foolish as to allow a strange man bathed in deception to fight against her finest warrior. She had the home-field advantage, something Hiro had to have realized by now. Mariah then headed towards the entrance, deeper into the Temple. She did not look back to ensure he was following but had a feeling that he would.

"Now come. I must show you to your room while I make the preparations. Per my customs, you will eat, sleep, and train among us while you prepare yourself for your imminent battle. On the dawn of the third day, you'll have what you desire."

Unseen with her back turned to Hiro, Mariah arched an eyebrow questioningly. Despite her shift in demeanor, her guard had never gone down. With Hiro seemingly having more of a hand than she perceived, she made a note to remain wary around him. Although she believed it to further from the truth, Mariah knew that acting upon misconceptions tended to lead to an untimely demise. She was typically the one exploiting them.

"Then we agree, stranger" Mariah stated with a sudden authoritative nature, "and you will be tested."

Despite her altered meaning to Hiro's statement, though, the Empress knew what the man meant. Few were forged by the fires of the galaxy's cruelty and lived to fight another day. Perhaps they were cut from the same cloth. She wouldn't divulge as much, though, not until she was sure she stripped him of any dangerous secrets. For now, Mariah allowed a bit of wordplay to further drive her point home. He would receive a piece of what he requested. Until the day that his secrets were brought to light and his abilities were proven to her, though, her best warrior would remain an elusive figure.

All in all, though, Hiro followed, seemingly gracious to accept only that. A woman of few words, Mariah had little else to say for now and remained otherwise silent as she led the two to the turbolift. The doors whooshed shut, and the lift sent them higher into the ziggurat structure. Their destination was the third level -- what Hiro would soon learn to be the living quarters.