Star Wars_ Darth Bane 02_ Rule of Two - Drew Karpyshyn [81]
Farfalla snorted. He stopped pacing and turned toward Johun. “And what will your role be in this project?”
“That, too, is for the Senate to decide,” Johun answered evasively. However, after a moment he relented and told Farfalla the truth. “The Chancellor has agreed to travel with a full security complement on future diplomatic missions so that I will be free to go to Ruusan and oversee construction of the memorial.”
Farfalla sighed and sat back down in his chair.
“I understand why you are doing this, Johun. I do not fully approve, but neither I nor the Jedi Council will stand in your way.” After a moment he added, “I doubt we could stop you now even if we tried.”
“At times I can be most stubborn,” the Jedi Knight replied with the hint of a smile.
“Just like Hoth,” Farfalla noted.
Johun chose to take his words as a compliment.
“My father died when I was only an infant,” Hetton said, his voice low enough that Zannah had to strain to hear it over the clacking of their footsteps on the polished marble floor. “Burdened with the responsibilities of being the head of our house, my mother left it to the servants to raise me. They knew of my special gifts for many years before word of it ever reached my mother’s ear.”
“Perhaps they feared what she might do to them if they told her,” Zannah suggested.
She and Hetton were alone now. After her performance in the throne room, he had insisted on bringing her to see his vast collection of Sith manuscripts and artifacts, located in his inner sanctum on the far side of the great mansion. He had also insisted that his guards stay behind. To pass the time on the journey through the seemingly endless halls and rooms of his manor, he had started to tell her his personal history.
“My mother was a strong and intimidating woman,” Hetton admitted. “Perhaps the servants were afraid of her. Whatever the reasons, I was already in my early twenties before she finally discovered my affinity for the Force.”
“How did she react?”
“She saw my talents as a tool we could use to further the fortunes of our house. She had no use for the Jedi—or even the Sith, for that matter—but she wanted to find someone to help teach me to better master my skills.
“This was many years before the Brotherhood of Darkness came to power,” he reminded her before resuming his tale.
“After a number of discreet inquiries and many substantial bribes and payments, she finally settled on a Duros named Gula Dwan.”
“He became your Master?”
“Master was a title he never deserved,” Hetton replied with just a hint of bitterness. “He was nothing but a bounty hunter and assassin who had the good fortune to be born with the ability to touch the Force. Over the years he had gleaned a simple understanding of the most basic techniques to access his power, allowing him to levitate small objects and perform other similar tricks.
“But he had no allegiance to the Sith or the Jedi; Gula’s only fealty was to whoever paid him the most credits. And my family could afford to pay him more credits than he had ever dreamed of.”
They had reached another set of large double doors, though these were sealed and locked from the other side. Her host reached out and placed his palm on the surface, then closed his eyes. Zannah felt the soft whisper of the Force; then the lock clicked and the door swung open to reveal Hetton’s inner sanctum.
The room was part library, part museum. Shelves of ancient manuscripts and scrolls, and endless lines of old datatapes lined the walls, and there was a data terminal and large viewscreen in one corner. Several long glass display cases ran lengthwise down the center of the room, displaying the collection of Sith treasures Hetton had spent the past three decades acquiring: strange glowing amulets, small jewel-encrusted daggers, a variety of unusual stones and crystals, and the handles of at least a dozen different lightsabers.
“Gula’s instruction gave me a foundation on which to build, but most of my learning came from the books and manuscripts you see before you,” Hetton