The nondescript stranger who's carefully followed them through the last three stores quietly examines the selection of electronics on the far side of the shop. Surely she's not close enough to overhear them.

"It's not good for you."

"Say your baby-napping Jedi."

"Ekkreth..."

"I'm not wrong."

"It's a necessary evil. What the Sith do is far worse."

"Well, I'm not claiming that anything Svahe taught me is philosophically valid."

Very engaging electronics. Such battery. Many wire. (She can't help grinning. She likes this other Sith.)

"The Jedi are keepers of order for the Republic," Karzel says.

"See, that's the thing. Order. Chaos. Not good and evil. They're not the same thing."

"Order isn't tautologically good, but it's better for people. People need stability, the ability to predict what's going to happen next."

"The fact that people need a minimum of order in their lives doesn't prove anything. People need an element of chaos in their lives, too, of freedom. Or they're nothing but slaves. Don't Jedi call their teachers Master, too, just like the Sith?"

Karzel sighs.

She puts her generic shopper mannerisms on and drifts closer, careful not to draw attention to herself yet.

"You can't deny that the Republic has higher standards of living than the Sith Empire. The Sith are evil, Ekkreth, you know that better than anyone."

"That's the thing about chaos, though. You can say 'the Jedi this' and 'the Jedi that' because they're orderly; even if they're not all the same they're responsible for their organization and their organization is responsible for them. Sith are much more independent."

Karzel reaches out and grabs her wrist, but not in a restraining way. "Ekkreth. No matter what else, when you use the Dark Side you become more angry. When you're angry you're not happy. You deserve to be happy, after everything that's happened to you."

She steps closer for a moment. Her eyes meet his with a vulnerable intensity.

--And then she steps away and shakes his hand off. "What I deserve has never mattered before. And happiness isn't my highest priority."

She is a sucker for a dramatic opening. Her mannerisms don't change, but she loosens her hold on her Force aura, letting it become obvious that there's more than one Sith in the room: "Plus, that's kind of bullshit. You can have both. It just takes some work."

Karzel's perception may not have been good enough to sense her before she let him, but his reflexes are good. He whirls into a stance, his hand drops to his lightsaber--

And Ekkreth steps in front of him, holding up one hand to indicate that he shouldn't attack, at least not yet. "Hello."

She inclines her head in greeting, almost too casually; she hasn't gone for her saber but her stance says she can, as soon as it seems prudent. "Hello. I assume you want to keep him?"

"Yes. He's very silly but also very useful.

And good in bed."

Karzel splutters faintly, at least as much in amusement as indignation.

She chuckles. "Well, there are worse decisions you could make. Anyway, I hear you're having a master problem?"

"You could say that."

She nods. "I had one of those, once. Might be able to help with yours, depending."

"I got away. Karzel thinks I should just stay away but he killed my parents so I'm going to go back and kill him."

Nod. "Reasonable."

"What's your name?"

"Lord Pradnakt." If she's familiar with the Sith language, she'll know that it translates as 'dusk'.

"Hm."

"Hm?"

"Darth Svahe didn't mention you."

"Yeah, I like my privacy. Not that engineers are as well known as commanders, regardless."

"Mm, I suppose. Lord Svahe's training was light on Sith culture and heavy on interesting ways to maim people with the Force."