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Yuthura Ban had survived another long day full of terrorizing students and was enjoying a well-earned drink in the Dreshdae cantina when the Dark Lord of the Sith walked in. She didn't recognize the woman's face, but that Force presence was unmistakable.
Uthar had to be quaking in his boots.
She could pretend not to know – apparently that's what the Jedi accompanying Revan were doing – but something teased at the edge of her mind. A premonition? A vision? Or simply an echo of a future in which she played along, accepted the Dark Lord as her student and used her to topple Uthar and–
No. Darth Revan had given up the Darkness, the Force whispered to her. She could play along, following a road which would lead to challenging the greatest warrior of her age with predictable results, or she could choose to upset the plots and plans of mortals entirely and place her lot with the Force.
Yuthura chose.
"How may I serve my Lord today?" she purred.
Revan stopped dead in her tracks. "What?"
Yuthura smirked. "I'm sure those who have never met you in person are completely unaware of your identity, my Lord. Yet those of us who have known the presence of the greatest among us will never forget you." She looked at the two Jedi to either side.
The one to the left, the old man, shrugged. "Seems to me the lady recognizes you."
The one on the right, the Cathar, looked even more confused than Revan.
"You will explain," Revan said, furious and confused and yet as delightfully unshakable as ever.
Yuthura smiled and bowed her head. "Of course, my Lord. But perhaps away from prying eyes?"
"My ship, then."
"You consider me a fool? No." Yuthura ignored the two Jedi accompanying her Lord and focused on the prize. "Perhaps the valley? It is wild, and the Sith of the Academy do not venture near the tombs for obvious reasons."
"I suppose that will do," Revan grumbled. "I'll kill you if you betray me."
"My Lord, I would expect nothing less."
Revan seemed taken aback at the fervent joy in Yuthura's voice in response to her threat, but she followed nevertheless – as did her minions. "What's this, then?" she asked when they had passed the final guards into dreary dust and desert. "Why do you call me your Lord?"
Yuthura knelt at her feet. "Darth Revan, I follow in your wake. Command me!"
Revan stumbled back a step, then two. "What?!"
The old Jedi sighed. "Well, that's thrown the goose among the gizka."
Yuthura eyed him. "Why does she not recall? Her name, her triumph, her disappearance – what happened?"
"They did something on Dantooine." The old man snorted and turned to Revan. "Probably before that, too. What's the first thing you remember?"
"Taris," Revan murmured. "I awoke on the Endar Spire. There was an evacuation order. Before that–" She shook her head. "Nothing."
"The Jedi have great compassion," the old man said. "Even when they shouldn't. Well, I told you that before, didn't I? With my wife and I."
"And yet here we are, with you leading me off into the desert to die together," Revan said glibly. "Yes, I remember that story too, Jolee."
"I do not understand any of this," said the Cathar. "Yet I understand you were kind to me, and I will follow you wherever you lead, even unto my death."
"She has ever been the greatest of us, Jedi and Sith alike." Yuthura stood. "I could have used you against Uthar – he is no threat to you – and so taken the Academy for myself. But this Academy is nothing in the greater picture. What is it that you seek?"
Revan sighed. "We're looking for Star Maps. And why did you call me Darth Revan?!"
"Because you are, my Lord." Yuthura raised a brow. "Memory loss or not." She turned and pointed towards the tomb of Naga Sadow, some distance across the valley. "It is said you discovered something there, once, when you traveled with your friend Malek as a youth. Go, with my blessing. If any give you trouble, show them this." And she pressed a medallion into Revan's hand. "When you return, I will travel onward with you."
The Academy was nothing in the larger picture. Something… something tickled at her in the Force. Something new. Something that tasted of freedom.
Revan gave her an extremely dubious look, but she went, and the old man chuckled at her side.
"What is this?"
"A new friend," Revan said, staring the Jedi woman down. "She's turned to the Light. I'm sure the Council will agree."
Yuthura had turned to the Force, and let go her petty schemes and the Darkness alike. But it was apparently close enough for the Jedi – both Bastilla Shan, and some quorum of the Council on Dantooine.
As for the High Council on Coruscant, who knew what they thought?
The Dark had not broken her chains. The Light had not set her free. But perhaps – perhaps this third option would do the trick. Yuthura had only ever wanted one thing: an end to slavery, an end to servitude, for herself and all those who suffered as she had.
Revan seemed willing to strike down every chain she found in her path.
It was enough.
Witnessing Darth Malek's rage and despair when Revan, unshaken, threw his words back in his face on the Leviathan was worth all the dirty looks Yuthura could possibly amass from all the Jedi on Dantooine.
"Suggestion: Master, perhaps you should put the Onasi human out of his misery and tell him that you have chosen to press your mucus-covered lips to those of the Twi'lek Sith instead."
"HK-47, when I want your advice on my romantic affairs, I'll ask for it."
"So noted, Master." A moment of silence. "Commentary: Master, at least you've chosen a meatbag that has managed to resolve their basic personality conflict."
"I will strip you down to bolts and capacitors if you don't shut up right now, HK-47."
"So noted, Master." Another moment of silence. "Query: May we space the Onasi human, Master? It is a long-standing fantasy of mine."
A long silence.
"Objection: Please remove the arc wrench from my innards, Master, you're scaring me."