Fellowship of the Dice

Her demeanor changes slightly, as she says, "I wasn't scared. I knew you would make the right choice. I did have some doubts about you at the start. Why didn't you use your weapon? If you have an advantage over an opponent, you should seize it because its what they would do."

Uri looks off somewhere else. "You said that they would let me keep it if I didn't use it in the fight. I just wanted it back." A part of him tells him to offer it back, but now that he has the Jedi relic in his hands, he can scarcely part with it.

"You say you weren't scared, but you look pretty shaken up. Are you gonna be alright?"

Chantique nods, "I'll be alright. I've only seen one person refuse to end the initiation. They starved to death and their sponsor... Well, he's no longer with us. But I had faith in you! I knew you'd never let us down."

Grabbing his arm, she pulls on him, "Let's get some food. The rest of your training will begin tomorrow."

Uri resists Chantique, and in this moment, the dormant teachings of the Jedi bear fruit, infused with his contempt for the Grand Inquisitor.

"The Grand Inquisitor used you against me, and you had faith? Do you know how awful that sounds? Maybe you're all closer with each other than the Jedi were. And maybe the cat did deserve to be killed. But none of this ever happened at the temple. The Masters never threatened to chop off a hand if we failed a lesson. Not even my rival would think of it!"

"Your rival?" She asks, ignoring the other statements. "What? Who is your rival?"

Uri shakes his head, disappointed that she didn't at least blow up at him, and pauses. "Thraka Barzane. A full-blooded Arkanian, a fact that he lorded over me constantly, like that explained his skill with a lightsaber and his connection to the Force. In the end, he betrayed us to the Separatist army. And killed my master."

"Then we shall find and challenge him! We'll take revenge and kill him for murdering your... mentor." Uri notices that she avoids using the word 'master', and realizes it must be a sore point for her due to her slavery upbringing and word association between master and slave. "Where did he go?" She asks. "Now that you've passed the initiation, we can take my ship and track him down."

"I don't have a clue. Sensing people through the Force isn't my strong suit. The last I saw him, he was on a speeder heading towards the nearest spaceport, on Boonta. Wait. We can just go?"

Kill Thraka? He hadn't even thought about his rival in a while. Weeks ago, Uri might have killed him - were that Thraka was not actually a better Jedi than himself. But at the very least, with Chantique, the opportunity to slip away from the Grand Inquisitor presents itself. Uri's appetite somewhat returns at the prospect.

"Let me see if there's any Thraka Barzane leads on the watch list. If there's a lead, then we can track him down and handle him." She states as she looks like she's gotten back to business. "I'll meet up with you after I've checked the watch list."

Chantique turns to depart, glancing back to Uri.

"Yeah, that sounds great." Uri squirms underneath. If he told her why he wants to get on a ship, surely she would change her mind, he thinks. "I guess I'll go see what there is to eat. Look, to be honest, I don't know what I want to do with Thraka. There are so few of us left now. But he does have a lot to answer for."

Ready to get out of the chamber, he fights the urge to look back, lest his appetite vanish again.