Occlus walks to the door and beckons Nariveth. "Come, acolyte." They start down the corridor.

That was the most glorious and terrifying thing she has ever witnessed.

It'll be beaten later, she assumes, if she lives, but holy crap she just skipped a trial and won the Sith Lord's approval aaaaa.

She follows Occlus, and debates internally over if it would be overstepping her bounds to ask to use the refresher before library time. While she does this, she is completely silent.

"We will stop first at your quarters. Arriving late as you did, you will not have had a chance. You may pick up a change of clothes and wash some of that blood off. Man or beast, by the way?"

"... Thank you, my lord. Man, technically, though it was more beast by the time it decided to attack me."

"Yes, that sort of insanity can happen with prolonged exposure to areas of intense dark side power. While I applaud your caution, in the future you may wish to spend less time in the tombs."

Walk walk. Occlus knows where she's going.

Blink. "I was not aware that the tombs had such effects, that - thank you my lord, I will take that into consideration the next time I'm in one of the tombs."

She'll just follow Occlus! That is fine by her.

"Here we are. I advise you not to leave anything here that you want to keep. The 'fresher is next door, take you time."

Acolytes get barracks-style quarters, twenty to a room. At the foot of each bed is a small trunk. Nariveth will find in two sets of robes in hers.

Occlus leans against the wall, pulls out her datapad, and starts making refinements to her plans for the unaligned Dark Councilors.

"Yes, my lord," she says, bowing a little. "Thank you."

And then it is systematic get-ready-to-go as quickly and orderly as possible. She gets the blood off first, and considers what she will and will not keep while scrubbing, then gets into the (black) robes and systematically sorts her crap into things she'll keep and things she won't. She transfers the power in her near empty power pack to the second one she got, and leaves the now almost completely empty one in the trunk. Bait, if someone's stupid enough to fall for it. Let them think they're taking something important from her. The now-full one is hers. The other set of robes, her two canteens (both topped off with water from the refresher), thermal blanket, lamp and ration bar go into the rucksack to come with her, aggressively organized to conserve as much space as possible. Her bloodstained clothes can just. Stay in the trunk, as well.

That's all of her belongings taken care of. ... Somewhat depressingly, it's actually the most things she's owned at one time in her life.

"My lord?" she says, when she's ready to go.

"One moment." Occlus finishes typing something, and tucks her datapad away again. "This way," she says and walks off.

"I am not necessarily doing you a favor, by bringing you with me. The overseer resents my interference, and will take this out on you. To the other acolytes, you having my personal attention so early will mark you as a higher priority threat than you might otherwise be. Prepare yourself for this."

Nariveth follows!

She already knew that she'd be a huge target because of this, but it's nice of the Sith Lord to go and tell her. Which reminds her: new senses, tell her more stuff, she can multitask. Can she tell what her rivals are up to? Or something?

"I understand," she says. She considers, and then decides that if being herself has gotten her favored, she should - do that some more. "... May I ask for advice how to prepare?"

She's not that good yet. And she barely knows who her rivals are. Maybe if she pays attention to them when the come back from whatever trial the overseer has them doing, she'll be better able to track them.

"You may."

Is that a smirk? No, obviously not. Even though Occlus is in a good mood because it's still quiet and she's found someone who thinks. Such a thing would be beneath her dignity as a Sith lord.

A literal Sith Lord, will wonders never cease.

"What advice can you offer me on how to prepare?"

Pity about not being able to sense her rivals yet. ... She is not quite brave enough to try to look at Occlus with the Force, but she's brave enough to try sensing the area and layout around them. Can she do that?

If she tries to look at the area around herself, she's going to get at least a glimpse of Occlus's presence. Occlus has a distinctive and distracting signature, the Force swirls around her in a way that (Nariveth may not realize) it does for no one else, like a rock in a stream creating a wake that is much more chaotic than one would predict for a rock of that size. She might get a vague sense of how big the rooms they pass are, how many people are there, and if she concentrates, a sense of their strength.

"I am going to the library to find information on a form of dueling called the kaggath. The library also contains several texts that a new Force-user may find helpful in learning how to harness their power. I expect you to fetch the books I tell you, but not to aid me in reading them. This may lead to periods of idleness for you."

... Nariveth smiles.

"I see. Thank you, my lord."

Also: Occlus is terrifying. Meep. Focus on the not-Occlus, sense room size and people inside and she can start trying to see their strength. Being able to ignore distracting things is also important.

Occlus is very distracting, but Nariveth can learn to mostly not-see her. The academy is not infinite in size, so she doesn't have time to get very far on anything else before they arrive.

"I require these titles to start," Occlus names a list of five. "They should all be in that section there. If you need assistance, ask one of the library droids. I will be at this table." She sits.

That's okay, it's a thing to work on later.

Nariveth nods, and goes to fetch the appropriate titles from the appropriate section. Are they easy to find if she has basic skills of logic?

Yes. This library is maintained by droids, after all.

After Occlus gets her books, she has no further need of Nariveth for a while.

Nariveth questions the droids for books for a new Force-user's education. Anything good?

Here's one on the Sith Code, here's one on mind tricks, here's one about the theory behind Force-enhanced acrobatics, this one on perception and visions is a little more advanced but she seems to be leaning in that direction.

... She grabs all of them, and then sits with her books in a place where she can easily be called upon by Occlus should she be needed for book retrieval, because just because she is excited about education doesn't mean she's going to keep a Sith waiting.

She skims the basics of the one on acrobatics, because she thinks she needs something if things turn to direct confrontation. What can potentially be done?

The Force is an energy field generated by living beings. When you move, it moves with you. The trick is to feel how it moves with you, then harness that to create more motion. When you jump, don't just push with your legs, push with the Force that is moving around your legs.

That is promising.

She thinks she needs to get a good overview that she can try out on her own while on a trial, though - so, mind tricks?

The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded. Take your version of reality, and push it at them. If your will is strong enough, you can overwrite their beliefs or intentions and substitute your own.

... Creepy. She'll take it over 'literally killing someone,' but. She'd rather not.

Okay, she thinks the perception and vision one will take her longer to digest, so - what does the, ugh, Sith Code say?

Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, strength. Through strength, power. Through power, victory. Through victory, freedom.

There's a lot of propagandistic philosophy, but it seems that by holding strong emotions in the front of your mind, you can summon more power more easily. There are several meditation guidelines suggested to help new initiates understand the principles.