...what.

What? 

Did he just fall into her trap? Because this Sith seems far too cheerful to have just lost. 

He's confused enough that he stops actively attacking, but doesn't drop his guard. 

"You're good. But you could be better."

"...I think I shall take that as a compliment."  

His saber is still pointed in her direction, no matter how relaxed she seems to be. 

Her lips quirk into a smile. "All that emotion. Think how powerful you could be if you used that."

He flinches, hard, taking half a step back before his brain catches up. It's probably just a guess, maybe she tries this on every Jedi, it doesn't mean—

But she has sharp eyes, and she was watching him. Her smile is probably not reassuring, it's an unpracticed motion that make her face pull in strange directions. "The Jedi are muzzling you. Keeping you caught up in their web."

He needs, he needs to get himself under control. He needs—

Breathe in. There is no emotion, there is peace. Breathe out. 

In. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. Out. 

"I don't have to listen to this." 

There is no passion—

"Peace. Is. A. Lie." She tilts her head back. "There is only passion."

He wants to close his eyes, block her out, but that might be just what she's waiting for.

Breathe. Breathe. There is no passion—

There is no passion, there is—

"Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power." She holds up one hand, electricity sparking off the tips of her fingers, not that he can see that, but he'll be able to feel it through the Force, and hear it crackle.

Yes, that sure is Force Lightning. What is going ON.

He notices, with the fraction of his attention that isn't on the Sith, that the tip of his lightsaber is wobbling. Why is it—oh. His hand is shaking. 

"Through power, I gain victory," her voice is dropping, as though sharing a secret, "Through victory my chains are broken. The Force shall free me."

...oh.

He believes her. 

It's hard not to, when she stands there so confident in her own power, lightning at her fingertips in a palpable display of the power she claims. 

And, oh, he wants it. It feels like the first sight of the ocean to someone who's spent his whole life in the desert, stumbling from oasis to spring. Not just something he didn't know he was missing, but something beyond his wildest imaginings. 

The Force shall free me. My chains—my chains—

"You could be so much more than you are."

"And, what, you'll teach me?" 

He's trying for contempt, misses by a mile and lands closer to the tone of a teenager lashing out at a lecturing parent, anger that's barely concealing tears. 

"I'm not a very good teacher," she admits frankly. "But I can show you. Give you the tools you need to free yourself."

"...for what price?" 

"Information. It's hard to go unnoticed on the core worlds. And who doesn't want to know their enemy."

He's faintly suspicious that she's offering the trade only to placate him and soothe his suspicions. But he can always walk away. Even if he can never go back to the Jedi after this, that doesn't mean he's made any commitment to the Sith. 

"Alright." 

He's tried the Jedi way and failed. Time to try the Sith way. 

"Wise decision. Will you be bringing your ship, or would you like a lift?"

A good question. Bringing his own ship would allow him an easier getaway if necessary, but...

"It isn't my ship." 

Holding on to something of the Jedi, when he's made the decision to give them up, feels wrong. 

"Your choice. If you're worried about them tracking it, I can disable any locator beacons."

"No, I think I'd rather we both take your ship."

(Part of his mind is racing ahead, plotting out contingencies for if the Jedi catch him. Willingly following the Sith in his own ship would be much harder to pass off as an abduction.) 

"I think we'd both rest easier if you checked my communicator for trackers, though," he adds, so she doesn't think he was expressing a lack of confidence in her skills. "I'm not quite so willing to rid myself of that one." 

She nods. "We can do it that way. My tools are on my ship." She waves a hand in a direction, probably the one her ship is located in. "Shall we?"

"Lead the way." 

He might have decided to learn from this Sith, but he's still not quite willing to have her behind him just yet.