As they landed at the city, Ayanna could not help but be surprised at how different it looked to Aldera. As they walked down the ramp, her mouth was agape as she saw the holes going deep into the ground, some for miles, "Oh my, this surely is a planet of surprises. I think we're going to need a map." She laughed.

She stretched her arms out, "It's wonderful to actually be doing something that makes you feel a little free. I don't think I've ever seen you have some fun, well, until quite recently." She smiled sneaky with a proud smile, "I'd like to see you more at ease, more at peace. I know the galaxy is under a lot of stress but for once I want you to not think that the whole balance of it all rests on your shoulders. You're a man with needs, and you need to have some fun, with me." She smiled, "I want to help you be yourself, realize what life you could have." She said as she grabbed his hand and ran over to one of the direction boards of the city, "Oh look at that! Underground lakes and eh hem, hot springs? That could be ALOT of fun." She laughed, "It says here there are also enormous crystal mines, that could be interesting too, what do you think 'Master'." She smiled.

Kalin was a bit distracted for he was thinking about what she was saying before. Thinking about 'the life you could have'. But was that there for him. Wasn't his fate already decided. He always felt something else in the Force. A Dark Force rising. And it wasn't Vader. It was something else, like it always kept an eye on him.
"Oh sorry Ayanna. Really I have no idea what to do here. I only came here because you really wanted to, and I didn't want to let you down." He said with a smile which was actually fake.
How could he bring hapiness in her life when he felt his death was so close. Maybe there was another solution, but he would have to go into deep hiding, meaning if she still wanted to be with him, she would have to do the same.

"Well, those mines could be interesting. Then those hot springs maybe?" She grinned again, "Common Kalin..." She said holding his face in her hands, "Don't think about anything except us, nothing else matters right at this minute. Common, maybe we will find some Jedi soaking themselves in the hot springs." She laughed as she led him to one of the elevators that lead to the lower levels.

She seemed to be the one taking charge as she held his hand the whole time, pulling him from A to B. Since they had become close she really felt more happy and open with him than ever before. As they stood in the elevator as it began to descend, everything began to et darker. To the levels they were going, the sunlight almost never hit it, it was made up of mainly artificial light, and for Ayanna that was enough. There was an eerie glow from those regions from the enormous crystal mines, it was something to behold.

When they stepped off the elevator, Ayanna smiled to Kalin as she looked to him. She somehow forgot the formalities of Master and Apprentice for the time being, now they were just Kalin and Ayanna, and that was what mattered. As the entered the crystal caves, Ayanna couldn't help but gasp as she saw giant crystals that were tall enough to put the palace of Aldera to shame. She had no idea such beauty could exist.

"Oh..... Oh my...." She said in awe. She stood at the edge of the platform, looking out to the crystal canyons that were before them. An ancient world, an alien one, but one that made her feel at peace.

Kalin couldn't deny but to be impressed too. But they weren't here for tourism. They came here for potential Jedi danger. And Kalin still had to think of his training which he had left behind for such a long time. The holocron was still in the Thranta and he never used it. Not that he was afraid to, he just never had a chance to open it. But seeing Ayanna in such enthusiasm brought him to a lighter mood, rather than the somber mood he felt before they came here. Kalin watched how Ayanna observed the crystals. It was something unique to see and it was like a new world, especially for her. So he gave her the time she wanted, but he knew it wasn't going to last forever. One day everything would come to an end and that is something he couldn't shake from his thoughts.

Ayanna glanced to look to Kalin, seeing that he was indeed troubled about something, "What is it?" She asked, "Common, it's taken us so long to be finally honest with each other, don't hold back on me now..." She said sincerely as she took his hands, looking straight to him, "If there's something bothering you then you have to tell me. Is it about Vader? The Jedi?" She kept asking curiously, wondering if it was even to do with her why he looked so sad faced.

"Actually it's a bit of both. I still worry about my duty I owe to Vader and I don't feel too proud about killing those Jedi. Although they attacked up first, I know. They were reckless, but also afraid, so I understand why they attacked first. The galaxy has become a cruel harsh world. And one has to have enormous patience for it to restore. It's not time yet. It's much too soon. All will come as the Force wills. But not everybody agrees on that. Surely not the Jedi, not anymore. They are tired of waiting and don't even know that their 'messiah', their 'Chosen One' is still alive. Even if they knew they would never forgive him for his actions. But what scares me the most is that I've got the feeling I'm slowly but certainly changing into him myself. Whether if I try to obey aswell the light or the dark... It seems to make no differene...." Kalin said in a somber voice.

Ayanna listened to him thoughtfully, letting him get all of his worries out in the open, "You're a good person Kalin, never forget that. I know what we did at Aldera would be considered by many as evil, cruel, but as you said they attacked us. We didn't threaten them in any way. Perhaps if they had made their presence known another way, something else could have been done. But no, they attacked us full force, not one of them tried to stop and calm the situation. Geez, one even seemed angry at me, the one who hurt my shoulder, that's not a Jedi trait, that's a Sith trait, and that's why he fell so quickly." She said as she thought back on it all.

"You don't have to worry about being lost in the darkness, Kalin. I will help you, just as you have helped me. There are things we must do that will be unforgivable to others, we have to ignore it. If you think the Chosen One is really alive, and inside Lord Vader, then we have to bide our time. He will choose the moment that is right to bring balance to the galaxy. Perhaps we will have lived and died before that day ever comes. Maybe we will never see it with our own eyes, but as long as we know it is coming, then you should be satisfied." She then held to his face again so that he would look her in the eyes, "But we will see that day, you and I. I'm sure of it. Please don't be sad, I can't bare to see you sad...."

Kalin smiled to show he was still confident in his destiny, "I think you're right Ayanna. But I must confess there's something else that bothers me. It's not that I don't want to be Sith. But the conversation I had with Alluria had a major effect on me." He sighed, "Don't get me wrong... It's not because I still feel something for her. You know you're now the only one for me, Ayanna, you'll always will be" He said once more with a smile, holding her hand close to his heart, "You and I are two of a kind. "However, I don't want to get consumed by the Dark Side and I don't want the same happening to you either. I feel like I get pushed by both sides. I feel I had to kill those Jedi for several reasons. To uphold my duty to Darth Vader so I can stand at his side and help him. And second because we were indeed defending ourselves. But never did I want to kill them for my duty as a Sith. I don't hold such a grudge against the Jedi. They were flawed, but so are the Sith! The only thing I can blame the Jedi now is that they still hopelessly want to train their Padawans sending them to certain death, just as the ones we found in the underground in Aldera. It's wrong. Alluria sees everything black and white. She only thinks Sith equals evil, Jedi equals good.... But that's not true. Sith can be good to, if only they have the compassion. What difference does it make they use the Dark Side if their goal is right."

She sighed, placing her other than on top of his as he held her other one to his heart, "I won't let you become consumed. We have each other, there is love here. Love does not grow in the darkness, so while you have my heart and I have yours, we can never be completely consumed by the Dark Side. That's the way that I see it. Before when I was Zaria, I didn't have love in return, I felt it but it was like an empty shell with nothing inside it to comfort me. Now I have you, and I'm happy. I use my passion especially for you instead of for cruel things. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the Dark Side attracts me, but I'll never become enslaved to it while I have you. Only if I lost you would I ever completely fall. I don't think I could recover to the light again... I would feel too much sorrow." She said honestly as she spoke gently.

"It's just, I can't deny I'm afraid now. Such a massacre created a great disturbance in the Force, which certainly the strongest of Jedi felt... Which would lead them here. I don't know if we are still safe on this planet. Yet then again I don't want to leave either. Besides they would endanger their own lives with coming here. They probably know the massacre took place in Aldera, and now it's swarming with stormtroopers there, because of our doing... Now because of their own doing. it wasn't our fault!" He said angry, but also angry at himself not just towards the Jedi. "There is somebody I felt in the Force who had long time forgotten, maybe even presumed to be dead... But it seems he's still alive." Kalin seemed worried about the person in question, though he did not seem to ready to reveal what happened between him and this person. He wasn't too keen also on revealing everything what happened between him and Alluria. It was not a mystery that there might be a connection between them.

"You worry yourself too much, like you said if any Jedi come to Alderaan then they will be foolish. They cannot hide from that many troopers, it's impossible. You're so troubled aren't you...." She said, holding him closer to her, "Don't let yourself be a slave to these worries, you need to learn to let go of them. I have my concerns too but I try not to dwell on them too much, otherwise I would overload. No one person can carry that weight on their shoulders, it's too much of a burden. We will enjoy ourselves while we can here on Alderaan, then we will move onto the next planet, then the next, then the next until Lord Vader orders us back to Coruscant for another assignment. Try to keep your thoughts here and now where they belong. Here there's no danger, there's only me...."

"The Jedi will still come and likely they'll die... I don't want that to happen for some reason. I mean I've already have so much blood on my hands, Ayanna. Before I met you I've killed so many Jedi before. But at that moment I did it because I really enjoyed killing them, though my master still tried to teach me a balance between the light and the dark. If it weren't for him, II would have been completely consumed by it and who knows, you would be dead. I'm so glad that didn't happen. The thought of me killing you is... unbearable..." He said with a sad voice. Kalin just couldn't shake those dreadful thoughts away. He just was too worried about what would happen in the future. The future looked only dark to him even a new light would open for the galaxy, for its people, he would forever be stuck in the dark and it made him wonder what fate would await Ayanna if that ever happened. "Anyway let's try to amuse ourselves. We'll see what is in this city so we can have some more fun."

"That's the spirit." She smiled as she grabbed his hand again and dragged him deeper into the crystal caves that went on for miles underground, "I'm hoping to see some of the underground lakes, can you imagine how beautiful it would be?"

Ayanna seemed to be very comfortable with pushing her worries aside for the sake of their relationship, though she knew all too well that Kalin still carried the burden even when he smiled.

"Do you ever wonder what it would've been like had we never done any of this. I mean if you were never a Jedi, if I was raised by my real mother. How different things could have been. When I was little, and I know you don't want to talk about the old days but you should remember them fondly, I used to wish that I could live with your mother. She was so good to me, helpful. You weren't though..." She laughed, "You were horrible. I only remember you a few times, you were always away, I guess it was with your training but.... I was about four, you would've been about ten, and you were meant to keep an eye on me. All you did was ignore me!" She laughed again, "And when you weren't doing that you were throwing insects and spiders at me! Oh you were a rotten kid." She snickered as she thought back on it. She found it all so unusual, "I still can't believe that we would meet all these years later. You barely even noticed me back then. But, when your mother died, that was it. That life was gone, everything got worse after then. For you certainly but also for me. I'm still sorry what Adanna did, I still feel semi-responsible."

Kalin shook his head, "Nah don't worry about it. I accepted my mother's death a long time ago, though I always hungered to track down her assassin. The 'real' assassin, not you. I wanted revenge and had a bloodlust. Now that is luckily gone. You might say I have become more similar to a Jedi... To the way of a Jedi at least, though in many aspects I'm still Sith. But it makes a fine balance." Kalin kept on talking about balance and the Force, simply because he did not like to talk about the past. He wanted to concentrate on the here and now, however he couldn't take the future for granted. It's something that always was on his mind even what it would involve for Ayanna. Kalin felt another disturbance. He simply said with a faint voice, "They are coming for me...."

Ayanna knew instantly what he meant, "What? You mean..... Surely they wouldn't, they would be idiotic!" She said, concerned, "Do you mean.... Alluria?" She asked, as that was certainly one woman she did not want to look upon again for the rest of her days, "We were able to take on more than twenty Jedi I don't think you need to concern yourself Kalin...." She knew however they could not simply continue as though nothing was going on, "What should we do?" She asked serious, as she knew they were going to have to prepare for this.

Kalin spoke in a very sincere voice, "She's not alone, she's with... Nevermind, when we would confront them, we'll see if we can avoid to fight, though I think she probably thinks we just killed those Jedi because we are Sith Scum. As I said she sees things black and white and her padawan probaly thinks the same way. Well you know her better than me. You had a short coversation with her. But there is someone else and I have no idea how he would think of all this. Well I won't lie... His name is Qurhon, an old friend of mine who I lost about the same time Alluria refused to continue our relationship and pushed me aside for her duty as a Jedi."

Ayanna listened carefully, "Were you really so torn up about her? So much so it caused you to fall to the Dark Side?" She said, feeling a little sting but she tried to recover from it, "Well I understand, I think if the same happened with you I'd rival Palpatine on the 'evil scale'." She laughed slightly though it was kind of true, "Surely this Qurhon will be more reasonable than Alluria was. Her padawan was alright, I can't deny that. She was friendly to me, didn't look down on me so I of course returned the favour. Geez, I ever told her I was in love with you.... I feel so stupid about that.... I bet she told Alluria, even more annoying..." She said as she thought about it.

"I don't know about that, but yeah it's likely she told Alluria about us. And I bet Alluria will even more look down to me because of that. She is now despising me for being Sith, but she can't see beside that title, which is just a flaw in her, not in me. She doesn't really know what the Will of the Force is requesting. She just presumes that all Jedi do know the Will of the Force and the Sith don't. Well the truth is the Sith do know the Will of the Force, they just ignore it cause it interferes with what they want. Passion is useful cause it allows you to tap deeper in the Force itself. Of course the Jedi think you can only tap into the Dark Side with our passion, however that's not entirely true. Passion is useful. It just depends on what passion you have. If you're selfish the outcome wouldn't be good. But am I a selfish being? I don't consider myself to be selfish or 'evil' as many Jedi presume me to be."

"You're not selfish!" She said as she put her arms around his waist, "Look at what you've done for me, and no I don't just meant recently, I mean over the past year. You've been very understanding and lenient with me, and I don't think that was mainly for your own advantage was it? After all what did you have to gain from it. If Alluria sees you as that way then she doesn't know who you are, not anymore at least. I do know you, you're Kalin Thalis, and I love you. That's what matters to me. If you were selfish and evil, then I wouldn't be here with you now. And I don't think that I am evil either. We just have a different way of doing things, and that counts for the Jedi and the Sith."

Kalin nodded, "You're right. The Jedi can be selfish and cruel in their own way. They just always presume they are 'good' because they were once the guardians of peace and justice. But that was a long time ago. Now they are scattered and hoplesly try to resurrect their order. But it is a selfish act to try to convert people's minds to join their cause. As I said before it almost sends their padawans into certain death. Think of what will become of Alluria's Padawan. She'll be hunted and likely killed, because we do live in a cruel world. But that is how the galaxy is and you just have to adapt yourself to it. However the Jedi refuse to and feel ike they can 'save' the galaxy. From what? Do they think the rebellion has a small chance of winning this war once that thing, the Death Star is operational? Even I'm afraid of that thing. But that is just its purpose, to strike fear into people's hearts to keep them in control." Kalin explained as he almost knew everything about that Battle station by Vader's words.

"I'm not sure what to think, sometimes I think that the Rebels have a chance, sometimes I think that they have not a chance in hell..... Concerning Alluria's padawan, she could be converted I think. I spoke to her about the Dark Side and I think she seemed surprised, she saw things as black and white, just as Alluria does, but I think I opened her eyes a little. Maybe I'm wrong, being over confident, but I did sense a stir in her. But anyway, that is for the future, we should think about now, what we're going to do. Should we try to seek them out or let them come to us? Either way is good with me, I just wonder if it'll come to a fight. Not that I mind so much cause it would give me a chance to practice my saber skills, but for you. They are your friends, or at least were...."

Kalin thought to himself. Indeed they were their friends, but that was in the past. Now they weren't his friends anymore. He said determined, "Let them come to us! Alluria is certainly no match for me and Qurhon certainly wasn't stronger when I was still his friend. And I have learned so much since then. No doubt he became stronger too, but I doubt he'll be stronger than me. But not to sound overconfident, we are going to train now, Ayanna. Heavily! We'll both use the Holocron of Darth Revan. His knowledge will help us through this issue. Let's get back to the Thranta. We'll become stronger than ever..."

Ayanna followed him, feeling excited about learning from the holocron, when they got back to the Thranta she spoke up about her worries.

"Kalin, I know we're lovers but you're also my master. I want to learn another skill. Something I know you are reluctant to teach me but I can handle it. Kalin, I want to learn Force Lightning. It's one of the most powerful skills, I already have some interesting ones but none that make me better than anyone else. I'm vulnerable Kalin, you are a Master worthy of recognition, and you will be remembered for your skills, I am not as good as that. I'm not an amateur, but I'm still a student. Please teach me this skill...." She said determined.

Back at the Thranta, but safe from any curious visitors they stood outside, looking at some cliffs. "Now you feel the Force inside you and you assemble that energy through your body and when you feel that energy is strong enough, you have to transmit it. The easiest way to transmit it is through your arm, cause it gives you a better chance of course to aim at objects, or people. Here... Watch how I use it. I'll try to do it slow." Kalin stretched out his arm. "First I try to feel the Force and assemble the energy. It's no different than the energy you use for something like a Force Push. Know however that the energy you use is combined through the electricity in your body. Your body is filled with electricity. It gets multiplied by the energy you use of the Force. Now the stronger you are, the more energy you can assemble and also faster. Don't wait to long to assemble your energy, cause in a fight you won't have the time. Well now I sense the energy inside my body and you can feel that it sparkles through the electricity inside. Once I feel I'm ready you just guide it through your arm, just as with a Force Push. And then you fire it away like this!" He said firing the Force Lightning away destroying the whole cliff. "Well maybe that was a little much, but do you get the idea of it? Try it for yourself..."

Ayanna watched and listened carefully, she was so eager to learn this skill. Nodding to what he said, she focused herself, trying to feel this energy he spoke of. She knew how to feel the energy of the Force but just how to channel it like he does is something completely different. She took a deep breath, trying to use all her passion and enthusiasm. Then she felt something, that was it, something she felt inside her, it had to be it. She stretched out her hand when suddenly a tiny blue spark popped from her index finger. Ayanna immediately burst out laughing, all that working up for such a tiny spark,

"What the hell was that?!" She laughed, "That wouldn't even light a candle!" She joked at her feable attempt but then tried to restart and concentrate again, though she now realized how difficult a skill this was.

Just as Kalin had said, in a battle, she had to be prepared to conjure this immediately, without thinking about it, just feeling it and doing it. But now she was just beginning, she wasn't even sure what it was meant to be like. Minutes passed as she continued to focus, then she thought on something. A place where she drained her frustration and anger from and in a moment, long fingers and strands of electricity swum from her fingertips, but died out quickly. She seemed out of breath from the experience, after the long concentrating. She wasn't sure how she was meant to make it last longer.

Her eyes darted to Kalin as she wondered what his suggestion would be.

"We'll try again later, but first we're gonna have a look at the Holocron, we might need all the help we can get, so this device could be our solution."
Back inside the Thranta they sat at the table. Kalin activated the Holocron knowing only Jedi or Sith could do so. An image appeared of Darth Revan. He spoke in a grand voice, passing on history of the Mandalorian Wars. His teachings were very specific and the most interesting was when his memories were taken from him. It was around that time that he learned to tap in the Dark Side without getting consumed by it, which was exactly what Kalin desired. He said the trick lay in his emotions. He said that passion could be used in different ways and explained that the passion he felt lay on another level. He explained how he tried to combine his passion with common sense without losing the power that lay in the Dark Side. Kalin already tried to practice this, but had a difficult time to keep up with this. He would never been able to perform a Force Storm without only focusing on his passion. It would exhaust him. Both listened carefully to what Revan had to say and Kalin knew for certain this would help for Ayanna to master her Force Lightning, though it would require some time and lots of training until she would reach the same level he had reached. They went back outside with now bearing the knowledge of Darth Revan, it was time for Ayanna to make another attempt.

She found it rather haunting to be hearing words that had been spoken from so many thousands of years ago, but also she was priveleged to have experienced it. She tried to remember the things that were said, but of course she knew that she would need Kalin's help.

She began to take deep breaths as she focused herself again, trying to find that passion, that inner strength that no Jedi could muster, and then stretching out her hand, she conjured a fair amount of Force Lightning. enough to stun a person but again a Jedi it would certainly need a lot more work.

"What am I doing wrong?" She said annoyed as she looked to Kalin, "It's something but it's not enough...."

Before he responded Kalin looked in the direction of the capital, despite of it being so far away. "They're here. I know they would come. They arrived in the capital so we don't have much time. We have to hurry!" Kalin looked back at Ayanna.
"Look we have two options now, either we continue this, but you'll not have much strength left when they will arrive, or you take a break and try to fight with the knowledge you gained from Revan and try to practice that Force Lightning during the fight... The choice is yours."

"I'll wait, I think I'm strong enough to defend myself but you will need to help me Kalin, I can't deny I'm scared. You said there is another Jedi with them, Alluria and Amelia on their own I could handle, but I don't know this man you speak of." It was clear she was indeed worried and looked to Kalin as not only her partner but also protector, "Should we wait for them to come to us?" She asked, feeling her heart speeding up as the adrenaline hit her. She knew she was going to enjoy what was coming to a point, but it would also be greatly dangerous for both of them. And she did not like the idea of fighting with Amelia either, she had been nice to her. But times were hard, and she had to adapt to it if she had to.

Kalin shook his head, "No, they'll come to us. We should take advantage of that and medidate for the time being. We need all the strength we can get so resting would be a very good idea if you ask me..." Kalin didn't feel so afraid. His last meeting with Alluria was a bit of a dissapointment. Though the only thing he was slightly afraid of was meeting his old friend again, Qurhon. He couldn't really determine how he would be after all this years. Couldn't predict how he would have changed and more importantly what his opinion of Kalin now was. Most likely the massacre in Aldera didn't please him, but it was not their only fault. They came there to detect the nest but not to destroy it.

Ayanna trusted his judgment, especially concerning these people as Kalin knew them. Though she was not sure if that made it better or worse. The confrontation was still going to be extreme, whether it was going to be with words or by lightsabers. From the way Kalin was acting in their preparations, she was sure it would be the last, as that seemed to be what he was preparing her for. But the waiting was something she was not comfortable with, though perhaps meditating would help soothe her mind.