The Art of Chaos and Darkness

Chapter Seventeen

Her words echoed in his mind still hours after their conversation.  

It was long into the night, not that it mattered in space.  Din had tossed and turned in his bed for hours before giving up any pretense of sleep.  He rose from his bed and sat, cross- legged on the floor.  The Dark Saber lay in front of him, metallic hilt gleaming in the faint light.

Forget the past.  Kill it if you have to. 

Din rubbed his eyes.  Grogu was gone for his own safety.  So were the Jedi.  Perhaps it was time he embrace his own future.  If Grogu had shown him anything, it was that there was a world beyond bounty hunting.  

Din climbed to his feet, pulling on his Beskar and then the helmet.  He gripped the Dark Saber in one hand as he entered the cargo hold.  Valda was awake, he could sense it.  And he was not wrong as he followed the sense of her presence into the cockpit.  

She was perched in the co-pilot chair, staring into the depths of space seemingly without seeing anything.  She turned as he entered the space.  Her eyes drifted to the Dark Saber in his hand and she raised her eyebrows.  

"Teach me," he said.

"Teach you what?"

"How to control my memories.  How to embrace the part of me I'm afraid of.  How to use the power I've been given."  His voice came out strong but inside he was nearly shaking from the words he had just spoken.

Valda raised her palm and he hesitantly placed the Dark Saber in it.  She studied the hilt.  "This will take you down a different path than the one before, Mandalorian.  Once you choose this, everything will change.  Many will oppose you and the claim you lay to the Mandalore throne."  

"How do you know?  Can you see it?"  He swore she could hear his heart hammering in his chest.

"No," she said, flipping the Dark Saber over.  The blade exploded to life.  "It happens to all rulers.  To all who choose to embrace their destiny and embrace power."  Valda studied the blade, holding it close to her hand.  Sparks and electricity flew from her finger tips into the blade.  It seemed to greedily absorb the power.  She abruptly cut it off and handed the Saber back to him.  "Are you ready?"

"Yes."  He answered without hesitation.  

She dipped her head.  "I'll teach you what I can before we part ways."  

Din took a seat in the pilot's chair and opened his mind to receive the Ancient Sith Order teachings as Valda repeated what her master had told her and the masters before him.  

"Emotions make you strong.  Anger, fear, hate and rage are powerful.  Use them correctly and you will become unstoppable.  But you cannot let them control you.  You must be in control of them.  Recognize they are tools to help, not tools to control your life."

Her words struck something within Din as he remembered Ahsoka's words and her refusal to train Grogu. 

His attachment to you is strong.  I've seen what such feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi knight.  I cannot train him.

"Craving power is good.  It will motivate you, force you to grow stronger in order to achieve this.  But do not become a slave to the lust for power.  It will destroy you.  Balance is key.  Understanding yourself is key." 

Din leaned forward.  "What about attachment?" 

"To another person?"  Valda stared at him, not blinking.  "To... the child.  The one you traveled with." 

"Yes."

Valda said nothing still watching him.  Then her eyes widened.  "The Jedi refused to train him because of the bond you formed with him."  A small, hoarse laugh escaped her.  "That is what makes them foolish.  Arrogant.  They believe emotions are weak and feelings are cause for destruction."  Valda shook her head.  "And where did that get them?  A destroyed Jedi Order while the Sith flourish." 

And for a split second, Din was reminded of what Valda really was.  A Sith Lord, merciless, power-hungry and bloodthirsty.  He saw beneath the layers and remembered where she came from.  Her eyes flickered to him like she could sense his thoughts.  The amber glow of her eyes dimmed and she looked away, back into the void of space.  The smallest ember of regret and guilt warmed in his gut before he realized those were her feelings.  Then it was gone.

Finally she spoke again.  "Your connection to the child can make you strong.  It already has, it was the fuel for your decision to embrace your destiny as ruler.  To embrace power.  Let that passion guide you."  

As Valda continued, she told him nearly all she could in the short amount of time.  Hours passed and neither the Sith Lord nor the Mandalorian moved from the seat until finally Valda fell silent.  Din didn't feel any different.  He didn't feel changed.  Instead what he felt was a grasp of understanding.  Understanding of himself and Valda.  

He studied her from the corner of his eye, through the helmet.  The sharp angle of her jaw, the raven hair that fell just to her shoulders.  Those amber eyes that always burned with smoldering embers.  He closed his own eyes and tried to feel the strand that connected the two of them.  This bond they now shared that had been formed by her choice to save him life.  

In his mind he tried to picture a thread between them, shimmering hundreds of colors.  He could sense her on the other side, her presence a mixture of shadows and darkness but unmistakably her.  Din reached out, fingers brushing the thread connecting them and then dipped his hand into the shadows.  

A vortex of death and destruction opened before him and Din didn't have time to react before he disappeared into the darkness.