And Occlus requires a few more books. They are straightforward to locate.

Nariveth fetches more books upon being asked, without delay. One does not keep a Sith Lord waiting, even when one is surrounded by fascinating books about the Force.

But then the books are retrieved, and she believes she has her own book to read. Perception! C'mere, you delightfully advanced book, you, Nariveth wants to learn your secrets!

Most Force-users have a basic danger sense and a very good grasp of what is happening immediately around them, in their personal space. Some have a knack for expanding their personal space to a very great radius. There is a story of a Sith who was the absolute ruler of a small city who used this to keep iron control of his subjects' every move. Even more rarely, a few Sith can extend their "personal space" through time as well, and receive visions of future events that directly affect them. These are generally more focused and more reliable than other visions received in the course of more ordinary meditation.

... Want.

Okay, but future-sight sounds rare enough that she likely won't be able to get it during the course of the trials, so she needs to go after more immediate aids. She's already expanding her senses, mind control is unpalatable, and she's not sure she wants to read more Sith propaganda, so she'll go read about acrobatics and enhancing her body with the Force.

She can read enough to get a solid foundation in the theory, but with something like this there's only so much theory can do before you really have go apply it.

As she reaches that point,

Occlus calls her over to return all the books.

"It is time we left."

Nnnnnnnnh but the books.

But she suspects Occlus has a reason for this suspiciously convenient timing, so she nods and returns all books to their proper locations and then will follow Occlus out.

"I trust you spent your time productively?"

Nariveth nods. "I tried to get basics on lots of things so I could practice them in my own time. Thank you, my lord."

"I would find it inconvenient if you died. Try not to."

"Rest assured," says Nariveth, "I'll try my very best."

"Good. The cafeteria is down this hall, they will be expecting you for dinner."

Occlus has other dinner plans. They involve a potential ally with a fondness for Bakuran cloudberries.

Nod.

"Thank you, my lord."

And then, to the cafeteria! Attempting to sense things as she goes.

There is probably definitely a whole lot of angry/anxious/worried low-ish strength people in that big room there!

People are mostly sitting alone, there are a few small clumps, but not many. The food line is over there, two scoops of green gloop one scoop of grey gloop per person, put your trays here when you're done.

Posture guy is sitting with his back to a wall. When he notices Nariveth's entrance, his eyes narrow. She can sense much anger from him, directed at her. Probably not a good idea to sit near him.

She definitely won't sit anywhere within arm's reach of him, that's for sure. And she'll have to keep an eye on him, with that anger. But then, she'll have to keep an eye on all of her rivals, won't she.

Sitting in the middle of the room is better, she thinks. It'll let her sense everyone around her, and really, she's confident that she can notice if someone's sneaking up on her. She gets her three scoops of gloop and sits. The food is less palatable than it looks, but she's ignoring it in favor of trying to pick out her rivals from the crowd, trying to see if anyone's likely to try to hurt her. Posture guy's easy, she'll be keeping an eye on him, but what about the Twi'lek? The Gran? ... She doubts she could recognize the last, the other human, by sight, but maybe she can pick her out through the anger.

The Gran is by himself, chewing industriously. He either hasn't noticed her or doesn't care. That girl sitting by the Twi'lek is probably the one from Nariveth's group, judging by the way they're huddled together talking in low tones and every so often shooting brief glances at her.

That's interesting. Also somewhat worrying. They seem like they'd be more dangerous than the idiot that postures, because she might not be able to see them coming. Well, might not if she wasn't staying on top of things.

Can she sense their emotions?

It's hard to tell. They're not quite like anyone else in the cafeteria, nor anyone else she can remember from walking through the academy. They're almost more focused on each other than they are on her...

Wait a second.

Are they in love?

That... would fit, wouldn't it. Huh. Unexpected.

The cold, calculating part of her notes that this is a potential opportunity, and the less cold calculating part of her tells that part to sit down and shut up, she will not let the Sith get awful Sithy emotions all over her, thank you very much. What would she like to do? ... Get them off planet, clearly. If it isn't too risky to herself. It might be too risky to herself. If there was an obvious way to get off planet, she can't imagine that slaves get much chance to get off planet. But it's better than treating them as pawns, she thinks.

Her life is now complicated, that's great. Fantastic, even.

She'll have to be on the lookout for what the shuttle arrangements are like. The ship that brought her here docked at an orbital platform and she was transferred to a shuttle for the actual descent. There probably aren't any interstellar ships docked groundside. But the food has to come from somewhere, right? Korriban is not exactly an environment conducive to agriculture. That means deliveries. Unless there are hydroponics somewhere she hasn't seen yet.

There's a thing to think about. She'll watch out for that, and for what happens to acolytes that fail besides 'die.' She doesn't expect it to be good, but she might as well understand the situation as much as possible.

It's tempting to try and talk to the duo, but - no, they won't trust her, and it would let on that she's figuring out her Force sensitivity in the area built towards sensing things. While they may be in love, that doesn't mean they won't, say, kill her to try and get a better chance with each other. Or to live. Much as she wants to go, 'Hey! I'm nice, I want to help!' this really isn't the place for it.

She eats her goop, pensively. Can she stretch out her senses to far enough to see a landing pad or two from here?

Academy, academy, academy... nope. No landing pad. Maybe if she knew what direction to stretch, but she can't just expand her radius far enough.

There is an announcement over the intercom. "Lights out in twenty minutes." Acolytes start putting their trays back and moving towards the door. She should probably head back to her bunk soon.

Yes, she should. She finishes her goop, puts up her tray, and checks to see if Posturer is near the door or in some sort of way that he might cause her trouble as she goes to the barracks.