Then there are already more hands fighting for control.

It's a question of trade offs, mostly, he thinks.

Everything is a question of trade-offs. Nothing is ever free.

Yeah. Eventually it comes down to which gain you value more, and which loss you value least.

Just so.

They're managing that, mostly - but people sometimes want contradictory things.

A terribly inconsiderate tendency.

He smiles. "Makes life interesting, though."

"I don't find interpersonal conflict very interesting."

"I find people interesting in general, no matter what they're doing."

"That is fortunate for you, then."

"Yeah; especially since I get pulled into making judgements and all a lot."

"No one ever asked the Sith for judgements," Occlus observes. "Though that did not stop them being rendered."

"Jedi are supposed to be wise and neutral. At least in theory."

"And how is that working out for you?"

"People listen to me. They'll call me in for dispute resolution and stuff, which is hard but - enjoyable. I like helping."

"Everyone needs a hobby."

"And it's good to find ones we like!"

"Helps the time pass, at least."

He hums, nodding.

"You were not born a Jedi," Occlus says.

He shakes his head. "Arguably not even to a Jedi - mom'd left the Order before she had us. She doesn't really talk about what happened then, but Leia and I ended up hidden with different families. I was always told my mom died, and no one knew my dad, but then I met a Jedi Master who said he'd known my mom, and that she'd been a Jedi before Vader killed her."

"Arguably true, I suppose."

"...I think you could say Ani killed Vader, but saying Vader killed Anakin Skywalker is... It underemphasizes the extent to which that was the fault of everyone involved. She has a lot more agency as Ani than she ever had before, and... The reason she stopped being Anakin Skywalker wasn't that the Jedi screwed up and let a bad apple who makes bad choices join them. It was that the system was inherently fucked."

"Then it makes sense that a man who was part of that system would want to downplay that aspect."