"Alright."

"Right now, the two biggest factions are the New Republic and the Galactic Empire. The Empire is united in name only, since the Emperor's death five years ago, though that might change soon. The New Republic is a coalition; there's a few factions within its leadership, but they're - not single cohesive groups, more people who favor one potential for a position over another. There's also currently a lot of independent or undecided systems."

"Remaining Force users... That's pretty much myself, my students, and whoever successfully hid themselves from the Emperor - he wasn't one for competition. None of those have come out of hiding yet."

"That sounds halfway peaceful already."

"We're making progress, yes."

"Certainly helped by the lack of powerful Force users making nuisances of themselves."

"Things do seem to run better that way."

"The one intelligent thing Sidious did."

"Perhaps on accident. He was one of the empire's worst problems, after all." ...That, and her own temper constantly fucking up chains of command.

The Sith ideal is as far as she can tell a really stupid philosophy to run governments on in general.

"Is that still true if you view his empire as an extension of his self, rather than an entity with an independent existence?"

"In his life, it's arguable, though his military at least was often incompetent at getting its goals. And, now that he's dead - well, I'd be delighted to dismantle everything he ever built."

"A fitting end."

"He'd absolutely hate being nothing more than a footnote in the grand sweep of history."

"Were you his apprentice?"

"That's... Very arguable. He doesn't deserve to be counted as my teacher."

"Why not?"

"Comparison. My - real teacher was actually worth being called my master." Not that Ani ever did... "Sidious was scum."

"Who was your real teacher?"

She's quiet, for a little bit.

"Her name was Elesse. She's - the person you remind me of."

"I see."

This explains some things.

"A Jedi?"

"Yes."

"Ah."

"It suited her well, but... There weren't very many other things she could've been."

"Such as a Sith?"

She shakes her head.

"Mm. I never had much of choice, myself."

"A lot of people don't."

"Elesse was - good, about giving me choices." Ani wouldn't have liked her, otherwise.