Nomi and Zernvik

During the crew's first full day on Zoph, Nomi Amersu seeks out Zernvik Akawoi in a quiet moment when there is a lull in preparations. "Master Zernvik, do you still go by Master? I was hoping that I could consult with you on the upcoming confrontation and perhaps a little on my relationship with the Force, as well," she prompts as she stands in the doorway, hands and lekku both behind her back as she rocks on her heels.

Zernvik has settled into one of the small bedrooms in the temple surrounding the central gathering area. "Oh! Yes! Please come in. I was hoping to find time to talk to you." Though Nomi didn't really get to know him during her time at the Jedi Temple, she can see he's been through hard times in the year and a half since he came to Zoph. He was already tall and gangly and his time in the vergence has made him downright gaunt. His tan robes are rumpled and dusty with assorted cave detritus. Somewhat incongruously, he wears a pair of square-framed glasses that have become noticeably bent and scratched in the course of his various hardships.

Idly, Zernvik waves a finger in the direction of the door and it swings shut after Nomi steps inside. He leans forward on the carved stone stool he's sitting on and studies her intently. "I remember you from Coruscant. Vesper talked about you sometimes. I thought you were just an apprentice mechanic then. Not a spy...agent...whatever. And you definitely weren't Force-sensitive. What happened? I was aware of Nawah's condition, and I'm glad she got that addressed, but that doesn't seem like it's what's going on with you."

Nomi stands awkwardly just inside the door and rubs the back of her neck. "Mmm, yes. That was the cover story at the Temple. In a lot of ways, things would be simpler if that were true."

She waves at his face. "When all this is done, remind me to have Beepo give you an eye exam and we can get you new glasses," she says with a warm smile.

After a beat she answers his question. "It was Damasa. Um... We did not start out best friends. In our interactions we arrived at wary acquaintance status at most, but um, one night I couldn't sleep and we were talking to each other and I mentioned that I intend to get Lilikai to come back to us. Then she did her prophetic thing and said the only way I would have a chance was if I was Force sensitive. So she made me that way. Did you know she could do that? I was very upset at first. I wasn't sure I could handle it or that I deserved it."

"It was Damasa?!" This is definitely news to Zernvik. He blows a heavy breath out through his nose and shakes his head in astonishment. "She must have done the same thing to Nawah. At least I know Nawah definitely wanted it to happen." Zernvik removes his glasses and nervously polishes them with the hem of his robe, fidgeting rather than actually cleaning them. "I'm not aware of any Jedi in recorded history who could forge entirely new connections in the Force, unless you go back to the oldest and most fragmentary legends in the archives. People would kill and die for that kind of power. So, no, I did not know she could do it and I'm rather alarmed to hear that she can. I mean, I wasn't even sure she was still alive until you told me." Then, more softly, as if suddenly realizing the added dimensions of what Nomi has said: "...but are you okay?"

Nomi shakes her head and her lip trembles as she holds the rest of her body stiffly still. "I don't know. To be honest, I feel very stressed and under a lot of pressure to do everything right. Like, I am the Captain of our ship and people trust me with their safety and making the right decisions. I have fully taken on that duty and I don't resent it. Before, it was somehow not so hard. Now though, I feel like everyone is looking at me and I feel a lot of judgement. Because now, apparently, my decisions have so much more weight. Which I think is stupid because a decision is the same amount of moral or immoral, right or wrong if you have the Force or not. But Efnir and Somi don't perceive it that way. And I love them both and I want them to be happy with me. But they grew up in the temple and I grew up on the battle field. My blacks and whites are different from theirs, somehow. Maybe I'm a bit more... Pragmatic.

"Somi just seems to be waiting for me to fall to the dark side and the more certain she seems to be that I'm going to the more worried I get that she's right. She says I've taken on too much responsibility and that's it's clouding my judgement. But I don't think that's true. Her opinion of me and Lilikai makes me sad. She says she doesn't care and yet she speaks about it with such bitterness sometimes."

Nomi makes a frustrated noise and runs her hand over her face. "I don't even know what I'm saying. I'm just rambling now. What I'm most worried about is this upcoming confrontation with Lilikai. I need to help her. I don't have any idea how I'm going to do it. How can I convince her that being a part of the Empire is not the only way and not the best way to protect us? If that's even the reason she stays..." She throws her hands up.

"Worry so much, you must not. To trust in the Force, you need." Nomi says in a voice from the back of her throat. With a wry look she finishes her rant: "Maybe I'm too used to controlling my own destiny."

Zernvik holds up both hands in a "slow down" gesture. "Whoa. That's a lot. Let's maybe take this one thing at a time." He puts his glasses back on and takes a deep breath as if to center himself. "It sounds to me like Lilikai might be the most pressing matter of everything you brought up. Maybe even at the center of some of the other things. I got the sense that you and Somi had...uh...really different perspectives on her. To put it mildly. Did Lilikai say or do something to you that makes you think she might be willing to change her mind?"

Nomi takes a deep breath and nods. Putting her hands on top of her head, she tilts her neck back, staring at the ceiling as she exhales just as deeply. "Yes. Many things." She stumbles on the next words that try to come out of her mouth and she presses her lips so tight that the purple turns white. "A few things. I have to admit, it's more of a feeling than something she said or did. But the look on her face when she hurt Somi, for starters. She was horrified at what she had done. A true wielder of the Dark doesn't feel such remorse, right? Then, she keeps saying over and over again that she is doing what she is doing in order to keep us more safe than if she were not doing it - to protect us. And she has, multiple times, referred to herself as a Jedi, which to me seems like she still identifies as a Jedi. I have told my friends and it's no secret that I have been exchanging messages with her since the fall of the Temple."

Nomi drops her hands from her Lek and stands there in front of Zernvik. "I learned from Iscandar that her 'job' in the Empire involves hunting down any Jedi that escaped the original slaughter and either turning them to the Dark side or killing them. And I do realize that if she wasn't the one in charge of that there would probably be a bit more heat on finding us and doing just that. Iscandar was convinced that the 'experiment' as he called Lilikai was doomed to failure because she is given too much leniency in carrying out her duties and she is too involved in her own personal interests, per his observations. The way he described her would be exactly how I would act if I wanted to insert myself into an organization to spy there."

Nomi looks slightly ill. "It's all... it's dark, but somehow tempered. The last thing she told me, and I haven't responded yet, is that she has to be careful what she does and says, even in our anonymous messages. That her master's senses are far-reaching. But she told me that she got backed into a corner and that she is trying to find a way out."

Nomi shakes out her hands, bouncing on her feet a little as though she has too much energy in her to keep standing still, but Zernvik's chambers are not large and a couple of paces would take her back and forth. "I do realize that it... that none of this is very clear evidence. Like I said, it's a lot of feeling, instinct, the Force, call it what you will."

"Instinct and intuition both matter," Zernvik says, after listening closely to what Nomi has to say. "If you'd been trained in the temple, you would have been taught to listen to that inner voice and not to sell it short. You know Lilikai a lot better than I do. If your intuition tells you that she isn't past saving yet, it's worth listening to. And that's even before we get into Damasa's whole...whatever." He looks briefly pained. "I kind of hate to admit that her visions are usually right, but they are. What she did to you...it wasn't right, but something tells me it might have been her way of helping. I knew her to be blunt, and thoughtless certainly, but not deliberately cruel. Most of the time. I don't think she would have put you through this if there wasn't some sort of purpose behind it.

"But I guess what I wonder is, what more can you say to Lilikai that you haven't said already? It sounds like you've been exchanging quite a few messages with her since this all began. Is there something you've held back before now? Some agreement or trade you'd be willing to make with her? It would be good, I think, to know your boundaries and to stick to them. The dark side will try to persuade you to make concessions you might regret making later on."

Nomi nods. "I have come to the same conclusion about Damasa. I think she doesn't concern herself with the finer points of - politeness - when ensuring the big things come out the way she thinks is best. She can't see the individual person now compared to the universe later. " Nomi pauses and then looks like she just had a realization. "I had thought that she was just being cruel when she told Lilikai she would fall, but maybe it was the only way she saw to make things come out better than worse." Nomi frowns. "Kriffing rancor poodoo, if would be really nice to be able to read minds sometimes!"

As there is no other chair, Nomi takes a seat on the floor and leans against the closed door with a sigh. "I hadn't thought about offering Lilikai anything to come out of the dark. I mean, if I have to bribe her... I'm not sure that would work, would it? I haven't talked to her in person and I haven't come out and said, 'now is the time for you to give up the Dark Side'. I told her at the outset that I expected it, but I haven't said 'do it!' yet. I guess I was thinking that's where things would start and I would go from there. I know I don't want to lie, cheat, betray or screw her over as I think all of those things would be counterproductive to my goals. Do you... Have any suggestions?"

Zernvik looks like he might be coming to the same realization about Damasa as Nomi. "It's definitely possible. You weren't around to see it for yourself, but I really can't exaggerate how close Damasa and Lilikai and Firith were. Much closer than Damasa ever was to me. She wouldn't have ever *wanted* Lilikai to fall, no matter what she told anyone - herself included. But I think some part of her was also self-aware enough to understand that she couldn't be the right one to bring her back, either.

"So what do I think you should say? I definitely don't mean bribe her, or make some kind of bargain with her. You're right that it wouldn't work even if it were the right thing to do. I think...you can't control what she says or does, not really. You have some influence over her, sure, but in the end the choice is her own. Where you have control is in what you do, in the boundaries you draw. If she won't come back to the light, where does that leave the two of you? Like, you've kept this connection with her, talking to her through the dead drop this whole time, even after you knew what she had become. Does that still go on if she says 'this is who I am now and you won't change me?' Or is the cost of making that decision that she loses you and Somi both?" He spreads his hands and shrugs. "I don't know the answers to those questions. Only you do. But you should know them before you meet her again."

Nomi rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands, then sighs and looks up at the ceiling. "That is a really good question. And I think I know the answer but... I have kept up this connection to her with the intention that she have some contact to something else, some influence outside of the Empire and her Master and the things that she is being told to or deciding to do, a reminder that there is something else to strive for than power to outlast the Annihilation, or survive longer through it. Love instead of pain and severance. Support instead of threats and fear. But if she makes it clear that there is no way; that my love and care is meaningless, then what would be the point of such a connection except to cause me pain and stress?"

"There is historical precedent for Jedi who never gave up on their fallen allies, who never cut their connection to them," Zernvik says thoughtfully. "Revan, for one. Though I'll admit those tales date from so long ago they might as well be legends. As many people will say she prevailed in bringing her companion back to the light as will say the two of them fell together in the end. Of course, I don't expect you to be Revan.

"I'm not sure what keeping a connection with Lilikai no matter what would serve. I hate to sound like a holovid set to loop, but you're probably the only one who can answer that. Do you think it would get through to her more clearly if she saw you and Somi presenting a united front? Or do you need to approach this in a different way because your relationship to her is different from what Somi's was?"

Nomi nods. "Having the connection is stressful enough as it is. I have it so that I can help her to come back to the light. If there is no hope of this and she tells me so, then there is no reason to keep the connection open. "'Besides, I think that if I were to close that link and she changed her mind, wanting to come out, she is strong enough in the Force that she could reach out to me or get me a message, just as she did with Somi. Now that I am open to such a message there is no need to rely on mundane means. Of course, that means that I will have to tell her."

Nomi looks at the ceiling, not really seeing it. "I wonder if she will then redouble her efforts to get me to join her and become one of these Inquisitors by her side, or if that might give her pause and make her wish to come out of the dark to mentor me, especially if I insist that I will be trained only in the Light. Maybe that is what Damasa saw, that by now having the Force, Lilikai will feel she can no longer protect me from afar but will see a need to be accepted as a mentor again."

"That all makes sense," Zernvik says. His expression becomes more pensive. "I'm not sure what kind of priority Lilikai would put on personally training someone in the ways of the Force. I always thought she seemed a bit...pragmatic about that, except for where your sister was concerned. More interested in making sure someone had the right teacher for the job than in keeping friends together. Then again, my entire experience with her as a teacher consisted of her wiping the floor with me in the sparring arena a few times and calling that a lightsaber lesson, so my perspective might be skewed.

"Speaking of Somi...I really think you should talk to her about all this, if you haven't already. Just the two of you, one on one. It seemed like some of the things that came up about Lilikai the other day touched a nerve with her. But that was the wrong place and time for that conversation." He shakes his head. "Even if she doesn't want to be involved when you do meet Lilikai, she should probably at least know what you plan to say to her."

As he mentions Somi, Zernvik gets a rather unexpected reaction. Nomi's eyes well with tears, and she looks horrified at herself, and then these tears quickly start to spill over, wetting her cheeks. Nomi hides her face with her hands. "I'm sorry!" She gasps between sobs. "I... I tried to talk to her. It just... We are not understanding each other right now and then she said she didn't want to talk and started to meditate while we were having the conversation. All I feel from her is her judgement that I am drawing ever nearer the dark side and she says all I am doing is arguing and justifying. And then she just... Quit."

"Oh no," Zernvik says, sounding mildly distraught himself - either because of the news of Somi's reaction, or Nomi's emotional outburst, or some of both. "Don't apologize. That sounds really difficult and you're right to be sad about it. And it also sounded like Somi's been having a hard time with everything that's happening, but still..."

He trails off and, after a pause, tries again, speaking more calmly and softly this time. "If it's any consolation...I've spent more time around the dark side than I'd like. From the spirit that was trapped down here with me, and from Master Quiet before that. It's easy for me to sense now. And I don't sense anything like that from you, no matter what Somi thinks."

Then, somewhat awkwardly: "Do you need a hug?"

Nomi sniffs and wipes her face with her sleeve. She accepts his offer of a hug, dragging herself off the floor and across the space to lean against his gaunt frame. "Thanks for not telling me that I shouldn't be emotional," she says.

She leans back and wipes her face again. "I'm... thanks for telling me you don't sense the Dark side in me. I mean, I could feel that too, but it's good to have an outside opinion." She takes a deep breath and lets it out. "I am going to try and talk to Somi again, I just haven't worked up the courage to do it yet. I need to figure out how not to react to her communication the same way because I want a different outcome."

"It's gonna be okay," Zernvik murmurs, patting Nomi on the back as she pulls away. It sounds like he almost believes it.

"People can't always tell when they've fallen, you know. They lie to themselves about it a lot - like Master Quiet did. I think maybe that's part of why Somi's reacting the way she is. Like she missed it with Lilikai, so now she has to be more vigilant. It doesn't work that way, though." He sighs. "Trying not to react to her in the same way again...that's a place where Jedi training really does come in handy. At its best, the things the Jedi Code teaches are meant to allow you to keep your center no matter what's going on around you. To perceive things as they really are without letting them sway you from what you know is right. Maybe you can find a little bit of that inner peace the next time you talk to her. I know that's a lot easier said than done."

Nomi nods. "Master Quiet was crazy, but I am lucky he was lying to himself because if he had accepted that he had fallen I wouldn't be standing here today. He would have just killed me when I challenged him for control of my ship and said 'anyone else want to question my authority?' And yes, that is maybe why she is reacting the way she is to the things I do, especially if she keeps seeing me act in ways that make her think I am too angry or too upset. Or maybe the ways that I act remind her of Lilikai." Nomi's lips turn up at the corner. "Damasa accused me of being just like her... after I yelled at her the first time we met. I must admit that I did not give her the benefit of the doubt. But I think Somi wishes Damasa had been her Master."

Nomi wipes her face with the sides of her hands one more time, banishing the last of the tears. She takes a deep breath. "So, inner peace and not arguing and not explaining myself in a way that makes Somi feel like I am trying to prove her wrong. I hope I can do it. I definitely know I need to do it before I meet Lilikai in whatever confrontation is going to occur. I'm putting a lot of faith into the idea that she won't decide to kill me in an ultimate move to 'protect' me or herself. I really hope I am not wrong."

"You did what to Master Quiet?" Zernvik shakes his head. "You are lucky. Under the current circumstances, the loss of any Jedi Master is a tragedy. We won't ever get some of Master Quiet's knowledge back. All the same...let's just say some masters were always easier to deal with than others.

"You are like Lilikai, in some ways - but so is Somi. It's impossible for any master not to rub off on their student. I see pieces of myself in Vesper all the time. Lessons and values I tried the best I could to pass on...and flaws I wish I hadn't shared, too. Somi may think she would have preferred to be Damasa's padawan. But I know better than anyone that it wouldn't have been a perfect relationship either." Zernvik grimaces involuntarily before making his features return to a more neutral expression. "Masters, padawans, all of us - we've always just been making it up as we go along. I see that more clearly now than I ever did before. And knowing that helps me feel compassion for all of us, no matter what we've done to survive.

"So, no, I don't think Lilikai wants to kill you, or Somi. Maybe not even any of the other surviving Jedi, if she can help it. People who can touch the Force have always been a limited resource, and that's as true for the dark side as it is for us. So much has been lost already. None of us want to lose even more."

Nomi smiles. "I told him to stick it, it was my ship and he could be a guest but not the Captain." She gives an insightful hm. "That may have been the moment I fully and truly became the Captain of that ship in reality and not just for pretend." She proceeds to tell Zernvik the whole tale of how Master Quiet came aboard and what happened after.

She listens to what he has to say and after a pause of consideration asks, "Master Zernvik, have you ever heard of the Annihilating Force?"

Zernvik looks surprised, bordering on concerned. "That's a rather arcane concept - a philosophy with adherents among the ancient Sith. It's not the sort of thing that would have come up in the course of your friends' padawan training. Where did you ever hear about that?"

"First on Sura Sindo. The ghost of an ancient Sith named Alashaa Sanu." Nomi shakes her head. "Damasa is currently stuck in that place with her. I fear the outcome. Second from the entity on Kashyyyk stuck and connected to the ancient Sith ship crashed on the forest floor. And lastly, Lilikai mentioned it two messages ago..." Nomi bites her lip. "I'm not sure who brought it to Lilikai's attention. I don't think it was either Alashaa Sanu or Bara Exana, the ghosts I mentioned. Though we do know Alashaa reached across the Galaxy through other entities, namely a modified clone trooper, so she could have had contact with Lilikai. But I hope not."

"Interesting," Zernvik says. "I haven't heard either of those names before. But that doesn't surprise me. The Sith during the Old Republic were very different from the ones who exist today. They operated very openly all throughout the galaxy. They had academies, fleets, armies. There were at least as many of them as there were Jedi Knights. The secrecy, the limited numbers - that came much later, after the Jedi all but wiped them out.

"It's impossible in a group of that size not for there to be many competing ways of thinking. From what I know of history, the theory of the Annihilating Force was never an especially popular idea even in its time. A person who truly believed in it would find a lot to disagree with in our present day."

Nomi looks at him curiously. "How so? I really know nothing about it except three end goal of Annihilation of everything. And I'm thinking maybe that's a bit of an assumption on my part."

"You're not wrong about the end goal, but well, think about it. The more traditional Sith philosophy has to do with harnessing negative emotions and turning them into a source of personal power. 'Peace is a lie, there is only passion, through passion I gain strength,' blah blah." Zernvik is pacing the small room as he talks, gesturing with his hands, a professor lecturing to a non-existent class. "It's easy enough to understand what's attractive about that - how it could seduce a Force user into believing it was right. Positing that the ultimate goal of the Force is to annihilate all existence is rather a harder sell. I mean, even the most charitable interpretation of that idea, that the function of the dark side is to tear down outdated structures and make way for something new...it's kind of an academic debate. And certainly not the way of thinking that underlies the Sith of today. Like their predecessors, they want to rule the galaxy, not destroy it."

Nomi appears affectionately amused at Zernvik's transformation into a professor persona. "Yes," she agrees. "The underlying fallacy being that once everything is annihilated there is no longer anything over which to have power, if you even still exist." Nomi considers a moment. "It sounds like... I mean... To me it seems like the attempt to gain ultimate power over everything could be born less out of ambition for power and more out of fear of others having power or fear of what others will do with their power. Which makes sense to me, as I am sure there is no trust among those who use the Dark." She shrugs. "I guess one could ask, but then again, I doubt you'd get a straight answer."

"That's exactly it," Zernvik says, nodding. "At a certain point, the nuances between these ideas aren't really worth getting too wrapped up in. Whether a person adheres to the Annihilating Force or a more pedestrian style of evil, evil is still the result." He sits down on his stool again. "I wonder if that isn't part of what worries Somi - that by trying to understand what Lilikai is thinking, you risk getting pulled down alongside her. I don't think that will happen, to be sure. But I understand how it might concern her."

Nomi hmmms. "I think... I think Somi might equate intense emotion, including anger, frustration and fear with signs of the dark side. And also feelings of guilt and feelings of grief. And maybe also ambitious goals or intentions - especially if they are very difficult to achieve, like, as a small example, bringing Lilikai back to the Light. She finds emotions 'unJedi-like', like when she used to get sad she used to push it aside because it went against her training. I," Nomi laughs. "Well, I have voluminous emotions." She makes a vague hand waving gesture toward her face. "In my training I was taught to hide emotions that did not fit with the persona I took on, but when I am myself I like to be able to express myself and I do. This could make Somi nervous. And yes, I think my contact with Lilikai makes her nervous, though she has never asked to see the messages. No one has. I have made it clear that they can, at any time." She gives Zernvik a lopsided grin. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. I don't feel like my contact with her will make me fall either. For one, she has never tried to convince me her path is right for me. She seems to want to spare me the same pain that she has felt by the path she chose."

"The roles we assume as Jedi are difficult to shake," Zernvik says. "Master Quiet was a Sentinel, like me. Even as he began to fall, he was still trying to uncover the truth and see that justice was done, just as he had trained his whole life to do. But Lilikai...she was a Jedi Guardian, and some part of her still is. She's still trying to defend those who can't defend themselves, even now, as twisted as it's become." He looks up at Nomi with faint sadness in his eyes. "But none of you have to play those roles anymore, no matter what you were trained to become. It's becoming so clear to me that there are more paths to the light than I ever imagined. I'm curious to find out which ones you'll follow."

Nomi nods. "I can see that already. If my talents in the Force were to lie along the talents of my training I would have been drawn to certain things that Vesper or Nawah can do. But I'm not. I have a new role to play in leading and helping others and we'll, in protecting them too, but different from Lilikai. She is offensive, I am defensive. It would be nice to know that I could find someone else who had trained in these same areas to assist me in understanding my skills, but alas, it may not be. And maybe in finding my own way I will be stronger for it."

Looking at Zernvik curiously Nomi asks. "You are not as - strict - about Jedi teachings as I would expect a Master to be. Is this the circumstances or have you always been this way?"

Zernvik laughs. "I was Vesper's master, but not a Master. Most of those who trained padawans were still ranked as Jedi Knights within the Order. The Council doesn't - didn't - hand that title out lightly. Perhaps I would have reached it, under other circumstances, given more time. It speaks highly of Somi and Efnir that true Jedi Masters chose to take them on as students. They've both lived up to that potential. You all have, really.

"It's a stereotype of Sentinels that we're less afraid than others to bend the rules and operate outside of the law when we must. There's some truth to that. I'm not sure how much Vesper has told you already about my...particular preoccupation before I came here, but if you don't know, I was trying to identify a Sith traitor on the Jedi Council. I was so sure that if I could just find the right paper trail and follow it far enough..." He shakes his head. "That work was enough to prove to me that the Order was far from infallible, if I hadn't suspected it already.

"After that, here in the vergence, I had a lot of time to think. I wasn't conscious for the entire time I was inside the crystal - and thank the Force for that - but I was for parts of it, long enough to be aware of how this place's energy flows together with everything in the galaxy." He furrows his brow. "It's hard to describe it to someone who hasn't experienced it. It left a mark. Enough to convince me even more that what the Jedi taught me should be the beginning of my understanding of the Force, not the end of it."

Nomi's mouth makes a little "o" in surprise. "They all call you 'Master' Zernvik. I just assumed..." She laughs. "You'd think I would have picked up more of the nuances of Jedi bureaucracy while working at the Temple. Anyway, it's moot now."

She nods as he tells her about his life before. "After you disappeared, Vesper used to try and keep up your work. Did you know that? On occasion I helped him and Somi in some mischief along those lines. It never resulted in anything. But, a Sith on the Jedi Council? Rhen is pretty convinced that the Emperor is a Sith, could he have been the one you were looking for? Also, has anyone told you that we, I mean Efnir and I, saw Anakin Skywalker working with, or at least voluntarily entering the Temple with the Troopers that were killing everyone? He was following behind them, like a commander might follow the front lines troops. Maybe it was him?"

"It's possible. Though if Chancellor Palpatine knows anything at all about the Force, that's news to me." Zernvik doesn't seem especially interested in this topic of conversation. "The tools I had at my disposal would never have found me the answers I was looking for, and I'm not sure anyone has the tools to find them now. I guess I'm more concerned now with holding back the dark side, rather than knowing exactly who is most responsible for its spread. And if we can get this ritual to work, it will be a real step toward accomplishing that."

Nomi seems a little surprised at his disinterest in something with which he'd been reportedly obsessed, but she doesn't have anything more to say about it, so she shrugs. With a certainty born of the necessity that the ritual MUST work she says. "It will work. We'll make it work. Damasa likened my crew to a meteor vs. the usual pebbles that she encounters. I take that as a show of the power we can wield as a group when we work together."

"I'll accept that vote of confidence, then. From you and from Damasa." Zernvik looks momentarily uncertain, as if weighing the pros and cons of whatever he wants to say next. "...is she doing okay, out there past the rim? Damasa, I mean."

Nomi looks uncomfortable. "She was fine. Well, she was avoiding all the issues she knew were going on in the Galaxy, but she was happy and felt she was doing her duty training Sindonese to use the Force. She liked her beach so much that Somi has been inspired to do the same thing - find a beach and disappear for a while. Now..." Nomi takes a deep breath and sighs. "We showed up and started poking around. The Empire showed up too, and we're not totally sure why. She came with us one, to avoid the Empire and two, to check out what was going on that was making Sure Sindo so Dark sided and now she's locked in debate or combat or both with a Master of the Dark Force who espouses the path of Annihilation and last boasted to us that she was converting Damasa to the Dark. But she's not dead and she's still keeping us from using the Artifact to touch Sura Sindo, so I don't think she's fallen. We're going back there next, I think. Or really soon, after we have things settled here on Zoph. We only left because Rhen and Sekar Mirah had been captured and then the situation here became more pressing than the one there. It's a tangle."

After a beat. "Do you want me to give her a message from you? Since you can't visit her yourself."

Zernvik listens intently with an expression that's difficult to read. "I don't know what to say. I guess...it's good she was happy where she ended up, at least for some of that time. She definitely wasn't happy with the Order. And yeah - I think you should go back to Sura Sindo, too. It sounds like there's some unfinished business there, to say the least."

When Nomi asks about sending a message to Damasa, Zernvik adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose (even though they don't really need it) and says softly, "I don't know if I have anything to say to her, honestly. Can you ask me again before you leave? I need to think it over."

Nomi nods. "Yes, of course. You had mentioned to Somi that there were things left unsaid - when you were encouraging her to talk to Lilikai - so I thought I would ask." Nomi takes a deep breath and lets it out. She appears much more grounded and calmer than when she arrived to talk to him.

Once again Zernvik looks momentarily pained. "Good point. It's probably not right for me to ask you to do something if I'm not willing to do the same thing myself. I'll write something down. I just need a little time to get my thoughts together." The smile returns to his face. "I've given you rather a lot of homework, haven't I? I should let you get to it - and let you get some rest before the next crisis emerges."

Nomi returns his smile. "I am happy to help you, if it will, indeed, help you. Thank you for the conversation. It was just what I needed."

"You're more than welcome," says Zernvik, showing Nomi to the door. As she leaves she sees him sitting down on his stool again and gazing ahead into the middle distance, as if collecting his thoughts for the letter he still needs to write.