Fairly Obvious

DISCLAIMER: The characters depicted in this writing belong to LucasArts and the respective developers of the Knights of the Old Republic Series (Bioware and Obsidian Entertainment). I acknowledge their rights and ownership of these properties and admit that i don't own nothin cept' this ol computer i wrote this on. And some clothes too.

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'Do you really have to ask?'

'Should I not?'

'I think given the present situation... I think, by now it should be fairly obvious.'

The fair young woman smirked at the man, tossing a loose lock back behind her ear. 'Help me to understand the obvious then.' A ponytail of lushly jet-black hair hung soft like a leaf down the white robes, trailing just over the shoulder of her thin frame.

'What's obvious to you has never been anything short of baffling to everyone else,' the man mused, smooth sounds of his breath escaping from his slit of a mouth ever so often; most quietly.

'So you're saying I see deeper than the average Joe, is that it?'

'Revan, slayer of Mandalorians, that's precisely it.' His voice resonated like a drop in a murky barrel; a dark and thick mull of words.

'Well, then why are we having this discussion?'

'Funny, I was just thinking that myself. But maybe the truth is that it really is that obvious, and while you're busy poking around in here,' Salo Kurn paused, pointing to his temple, 'You, like the rest of your kind, miss everything here.' The Jedi Exile slid his black gloved hand down to his heart, tapping the chest area twice lightly. Revan's eyes followed the man's fingertips down, and then wandered back to his hazel eyes. They were orbs of glory that begged to stand out, holding the only defined color left in his face.

Her deep blue sapphires locked onto them.

'... or maybe,' the pale skinned man continued, 'You just choose not to look there.'

'I did just look didn't I?' the young woman mused, to which Salo half-smiled.

'That's my girl.' His eyes wandered to the floor, wary of letting hers lock on too long. 'Yeah... Hm,' he sighed. 'So, to what do I owe the dubious pleasure of your visit?'

'I think you know,' she replied firmly.

'Yeah,' Salo grunted, 'but that's not what I asked. I know why you're here, but usually dates like this don't start with a little chit chat.' His voice strengthened, sternly stressing his point. 'You know exactly what I was asking of you.'

The pair locked eyes again, the Exile's voice fading away into the background of the wide open apartment. After that only the flicker and snap of the dwindling embers left in the fireplace dared speak with a tongue, the lickings of flame that still burned dancing against the chimney wall playfully. The ceiling-high windows that overlooked the long slope down the white mountain to their left rattled slightly in reaction to the wind. Salo tired after this and let his guard drop, turning around and wandering past the table at the center of the room to tend to the fire. He pulled the sleeve of his robe back slightly and stuck a hand into the gut of the chimney; a few waves of the palm later and the fire was fully healthy again.

'You can sit down if you like,' the Exile invited of his companion who stood across the room from him, watching. But as her guard never really had been up, the invitation was received with no hostility. An adjustment to the breast plate of her Star Forge robes, and Revan relaxed and made her way over, taking a seat on the rightmost of the two chairs at the rectangular table. Salo rose wearily in anticipation, and turned to face her down. Her presence was expected, but a bother. He had fully predicted this, yet was tired of it already. Why now? It had been such a beautiful day. Regardless, he wandered over to the dark-wood table and slid onto the chair across from her; it would just have to be gotten over with.

But I don't want to get out of bed, the Exile thought to himself. Revan sensed this in his doubts, furrowing her brows slightly as the surface thoughts skimmed past the radius of her awareness. Through strange wisps of green, snaking tendrils that passed through them both, so subtle that one could be sure to make them disappear by looking right at them, the Force tickled and nudged at all secrets.

But then it stopped.

Synchronous with this was Salo slamming his hand down on the table, the wood providing a responsive subject with a loud smack following the descent of his fist; this too echoed throughout the apartment.

'Now look,' he snipped darkly, 'We already talked about this. If you have something to ask, then ask it. But if you keep on with this shryack and boma pussyfooting game of yours, then you will be asking for escalation.'

'Does the prospect of that frighten you?' Revan asked plainly.

'No,' Salo replied irritably, 'but it doesn't intrigue me. I'm tired and bored, and I'd rather save it for another time. I'm not a skippy young General anymore, my Lord. So if you have something you'd like to ask get it over with. You have my ears for now.'

'But that's all a moot point isn't it?'

Salo jerked his head back in slight, if mildly uninterested confusion. 'Is it?'

'In a way, yes.' Revan took a deep breath, stopping for a moment and then continuing. 'Because, when it comes to us -- our history, you are utterly incapable of telling the truth. And...when it comes to us, I am equally incapable of believing a damn thing you say.'

To this, he sat quietly for a moment, the rapping of his gloved fingers on the table matching the pace of the fire's spitting. 'Well...why let that stop you?' he responded sincerely. 'The question, and your need to ask it, is probably worth more than the answer.'

'Well I have more than one of the former, so I hope you have a couple of the latter for me.'

Salo smirked; if escalation wasn't intriguing, at least this might be.

'Okay. Shoot.'

Revan nodded and raised her eyebrows, stopped, and then motioned with her head towards the window. 'Why Alderaan?'

His head jerked back again. 'Starting light are we? Oh, this will be a long night.' He took another breath, still tapping his fingers. 'Aside from the scenery and, if I daresay -- the excellent shopping in the cities -- I've come to have a rapport with these mountains. Outside of these walls you won't find welcome, but challenge.' The tone of his voice felt calm and lightly smug, but wholly sincere. 'You don't get up here without a fight. And you have to be one hell of a pilot too. Oh, I meant to say: congratulations on that. So nice of you to brave the mountain for me.'

'It was no pleasure cruise, I assure you.'

'But, for me you would. How sweet.'

Revan seethed on the inside, but on the out wore an absolute wall. Her eyes, no matter their brilliance, felt cold; between her speeches they would wander occasionally, examining all around the room as if she were seeing through them for the first time -- testing them. The woman's narrow, slanting face, however, wore a clean and neutral look save for the hollow half-grin that lingered to hint at what was inside.

'I came back from beyond the reaches of the galaxy for you -- just for you,' she iterated, a hard edge accompanying the neutrality. 'You think a mountain would stop me?'

'No, I guess not. Did you happen to catch a glimpse of Malachor on your way in?'

'No.'

Salo chuckled with a dark tinge to his mirth. 'Blew that mother away pretty good. Made one hell of a light show.'

'Funny,' Revan challenged, 'I heard you spent a lot of time there. A lot.'

'I did before I left,' he responded curtly, 'much to the chagrin of my tainted companions, who called like little siren whores for me to leave the Core. That place has a lot of scary...' The Exile paused, letting the lump in his throat follow its course as he swallowed. 'That place -- it has some very dark magic about it.' His tone followed a darker line, the memory bringing a tense shade to his words. 'I expect it was useful to you at one point. Didn't do much for me, except drive me mad; throw all my guilts and sins into the red light of that nightmarish Core for two years while I tried to find, of all things, you.'

'Me?' Revan asked.

'Yes, you. I... expected... the echoes of that place would reach you; bring you back from your war, wherever you fought it. Our old mutual Master was wise but,' he paused, clenching his teeth, 'Force bless her heart, so distastefully cryptic. She might as well have just have hummed a tune and told me you were 'in a galaxy far, far away' which, however close to the truth, would've been about as useful as what she did tell me.'

'So you used...' the woman asked with a scoff of disbelief, '...one of the most powerful incarnations of death ever marked... just to find me?'

'Not find you,' he corrected, 'I used to it to make echoes; to call you back. But hey, if you'd fly up a mountain, babe, I'd exploit a dead world.'

'You certainly know how to hold a grudge,' Revan chastised, shaking her head. Salo ceased his tapping, which had become steadily quieter, eyes wandering in a recall of thought.

'Or... maybe you just... tend to bring that out in people.' The two let this resonate, remaining in silence for a moment. 'Darth... Rev...'

'Don't you say it!' she snapped, the façade of a grin disappearing from her face to be replaced with sternness. To this he bit his tongue, and let it wander around inside his mouth, pressing against his grey cheeks now and then as the fireplace became the centerpiece to their eardrums once again.

'You know...' he started quietly, 'Our old Master may have been something of a friend to you, but everything I am now I owe to her. I mean... in what I've done I've failed her terribly but... I remember many things. The most poignant of which was about you; when she spoke of you.'

Revan relaxed her sharp features, interest caught deeply now. 'And?'

'I asked her,' the Exile carried on, 'about your fall to the dark side.' He paused, throwing the black cape draped over his shoulder back. 'And she asked me if it was even a fall at all. She believes you made a choice. That you became Darth Revan out of necessity. Now, whether or not that was the truth is all a moot point. What does matter is that you, even after the Council stripped away your title and your 'dark side,' you were still you. You jetted across worlds, killing your way up to Malak. And even though the Jedi honored you promptly after, you know why you did it. Because when Revan was 'reborn', she was still Darth Revan. Or, Darth Revan was still her, if you'd like to put it that way. The significance of this is that our Master was right. You always were you. The choices were always wholly in your hands. You chose what you did, there was no 'seduction of the dark side,' you did it all; to the Jedi, to the Galaxy... to me.'

'Ah, so,' Revan hissed, 'the point -- emerges.

'I told you it was obvious,' the Exile chuckled ironically, pounding his palms on the table as if celebratory. Still engaged however, he sat up in his chair, pointing at the woman. 'You're so used to seeing the stars beyond the battlefield; you forget that the battlefield is where the ships actually fly. But, today you get a lucky pass; your totals are a dead twenty, so to speak. If that question still burns, the one you came here to ask, now is the time to speak it, my Lord. I'll humour you.'

Salo leaned back, resting his hands back on the table in anticipation.

Revan leaned forward. 'Why?' she asked plainly, a tinge of desperation outlining her voice.

'Why?' the other scoffed. 'That's a pretty general question. I expect I'll bore you to sleep if I have that much to go on, my dear.'

She was not amused. 'Why. Why? Why - did you kill the Jedi?' Salo slumped back, rolling his eyes as she continued her questions. 'Why have you done what you've done since? To your friends... to... Ca...'

Salo's right palm shot up to face her, halting the line of speech. Locking his hazel orbs onto her sapphires, he reached down with his other hand and tapped his heart again. 'Just keep your concentration on this while I talk, would you?' Revan's eyes wandered back down to where his fingers tapped, and then back up to his eyes.

The man took a deep breath, and dove in. 'So, you want to know?' he asked rhetorically, a sigh following. 'It started when I came back from the Outer Rim ten years post-war. I crashed on Telos and ran into, of all people, Atris. It was there, meeting her again, being taunted by my own saber, that I convinced myself I was so right, as I had almost convinced her.'

Revan nodded receptively, her interest decidedly fixed. 'Atris, huh?'

'Yes. You remember her don't you? The decision to fight the war, to battle the Mandalorians, to choose Exile, it had all been right, even in light of yours and Malak's actions; it's what I told myself.' The man spoke with a barbed tongue, as if the very memory had caused distaste in his mouth. 'It was my... reaction to her snide contempt, and the burning rage of more Jedi secrets that drove me; seeing the holo of my trial only planted more questions, more uncertainties, more doubt. After ten years of endless wandering, searching for answers, they gave me only questions. That was when I crossed a line from which there would be no return. 'It was them,' I thought. 'They are to blame, and they -- will - pay.''

Revan said nothing.

'And it was all for a good cause, I said,' mused Salo, talking depreciatively of himself. 'The galaxy didn't need any Jedi arrogance any more, as a friend had told me, and every suffering was worth ridding the galaxy of flawed teachings, self-destructive passivity, indifference and dangerous ideals that the Jedi Order taught. That was what I told myself then.'

'That was what you believed?'

'No, aren't you listening, dammit?' the Exile snarled. 'Look at my heart, not my head, woman! It was what I knew. And it all came back to Atris.' His breathing slowed, and he took a calmer tone. 'My companions may have told you, in the time you have spent with them, that she had leaked information of my whereabouts to the Exchange and the Sith. She had... destroyed the greatest of the Jedi on Katarr as a result of her hunger for battle, and still looked down upon me - me - as a tool of the dark side. And there was also the point of Brianna. You've met her by now, right? I must've stared at her body for hours before confronting Atris one last time. The thought that she had been taken from me, by one such as her, no less, only fueled this hatred, and made her so much easier to blame. Though Brianna did, as you know, survive the encounter, I never forgot that empty feeling, seeing what I thought was her lifeless corpse dripping blood onto the Academy's floor.'

'You killed Atris... didn't you?' The woman waited for the answer.

'Oh, I did,' Salo stressed deeply. 'It was when I realized what I 'knew' to be true: Atris was the cause of all my suffering. She was the cause of every horror that I had been made to inflict upon the helpless citizens of the worlds I ravaged, the source of every hurt I had been made to feel.' Salo tilted his head, smiling like a madman. 'For that, I killed her... slowly. It's a memory I manage to drown out most of the time, but every so often I can hear those holocrons hissing as I plunge my saber deep into her heart, remove it, and do so again. And again. And again.' The smile faded from his face. 'But even then I felt guilt, though it was quickly washed away by the desire to find yet another scapegoat.'

'Atris didn't satisfy?'

'No; far from it. I couldn't let go. It was after that revelation at Malachor, that I realized what I had to do. With... you... gone, nothing would remain of the past, there would be no more pieces unresolved. The one who enthralled me with promises of war would pay the price. The great Jedi, the Prodigal Knight would suffer again for paving the path that had ultimately brought me here.'

Revan lowered her gaze. 'The obvious comes out.'

'I decided there and then, after casting Traya into Malachor itself, that I was to bring you out of where ever you hid, not follow that old witch's misleading. To rectify all of my darkness, I would destroy you.'

Salo leaned in over the table, mere inches from her face. 'I would kill - Revan.'

Their eyes stayed fixed upon the other, deeply entwined now. 'That's your explanation for everything?' Revan asked with disbelief.

'Explanation?' the man scoffed, his thin grey brows shadowing his eyes, 'No. That was the why; an explanation implies some sort of rationalization -- something that justifies... vindicates. My actions and the stories thereof hold nothing of justice.'

'Well,' the woman mused, the suppressed rage boiling like a reflux inside her, 'at least you're rational enough to admit it.'

The Exile pulled himself off the table and sat back in his chair again. 'But, that's not really much is it?' The words were murky as he spoke them. 'Nothing I've done has ever been rational. Hell If I can even remember why I joined that war, 'cept for you. Thought killing Jedi would make me feel better after,' he huffed depreciatively. 'Huh. But we're far from me and you now, aren't we?'

Revan sat back in her chair as well, eyes unwavering, and nodded.

'Still no remorse over that?'

'Do you have something to ask, Salo?'

His palms lay stretched over the edges of table, fingers rapping lightly again. The winds picked up outside and the fire in the pit behind them slowly began to whimper and secede. Windows rattled and the chimney whistles along with the force of nature outside.

'Heh. You're uh... in a talking mood now, are you?' he teased.

'If you'll exploit a dead world, I'll hear out some venting, my Lord.'

Salo laughed heartily, watching his gloved hands with divided interest. 'Why we didn't unite against Vrook more often is a mystery to me. What a sight that would've...'

'You had a question?!' Revan cut him off with a sharp snap. Salo grimaced and eyed her unkindly.

'Yah,' the Exile retorted venomously, 'Yeah... I have a question. What -- in this great, big, wook-shagged galaxy -- did you ever see in that yarn spinning little farm boy?'

'Carth?'

'Yeah, if that's what you wanna call him,' the man taunted. 'I just go with 'hair-of-flare,' or 'that guy with the fruity jacket.''

'He never...'

'No? Never did anything? Maybe that's true, but let me ask you this: After ten years of wandering, post-your betrayal, and after all that happened with Traya and Atris, what is the last thing I find before I go to Malachor? Huh?!' His tone became menacing, the anger seeping across the pale face. Revan did not answer him.

'Silent treatment, hey?' Salo snapped. 'Hah. We let you women think we don't like it.'

'What did you find, Salo?' the woman patronized, grating upon the man's nerves even more.

'What did I find? After all my trials, after discovering the truth of your betrayal,' he snipped darkly, 'I find this... upright, insufferable little tit of a man with butterflies in his voice for your name, and yours only.'

There's the why.

'But never the rationalization,' Salo added, attuned to her thoughts. 'There was nothing rational about what I did to your proper little flame, just like with the Jedi. But you know something? I don't think I've ever enjoyed doing the wrong thing to anyone more in my life.'

The Prodigal Knight felt the seething boil again; her eyes ablaze.

'How is the insufferable tit, anyway?' the Exile asked sincerely.

'Clinging to life, if that makes you proud.'

Save for the fire, the room sat silent for another moment. Ceasing his rapping with finality, Salo broke the stalemate.

'So all the cards are on the table now,' he mulled calmly, 'we've hit a full twenty. I'm me and you're you, and we're us. That's that. Where do we go from here, Prodigal Knight?'

'Tradition would dictate a saber clash,' Revan proposed with light sarcasm. 'Blade on blade, light on dark; we're us. But I don't want that, and I don't think you do either.'

'Oh, I want that,' Salo chuckled hoarsely. 'But you say don't, and that interests me. Because, unlike you, I've learned to look to the heart first. And what your heart is saying to me pretty lady, is that you're sincere to your last word in that statement.'

'Does that change things, my Exile?'

The Exile smirked. 'Slightly.' His eyes darted to a dark spot around the corner in the room to Revan's back. 'HK-47.'

A cold shear of terror burst throughout Revan's body as her head flew around to look; a pair of crimson lights appeared in the darkened corner just two meters off the ground. The droid did not move.

'HK,' the man ordered coolly, 'I am requesting that you stand down.' Clicking could be heard as the unit moved forward, likely to speak its protest. 'I don't want to hear a thing about it! Your assistance is required no longer and you are to shut down.' Salo looked over at Revan, who turned back to him. 'Whoever wakes you up will be your new Master, HK.' Her breathing slowed. 'You may now stand down.' It had not been obvious before, but the absence of the light humming from the corner was now most apparent. The droid had been present the entire time, with its old Master directly in scope; the very thought made Revan uneasy.

'Now, it may have been a slip of the tongue, but it was an honest, however foolhardy slip. You don't want to kill me, at least not yet. I'm not above fighting a passive opponent, but the whole situation begs another big 'Why' for me.'

'Ask away then,' Revan told him smoothly.

Salo leaned in, speaking most deeply. 'Why are you here?'

'Shouldn't it be obvious?' she joked half-heartedly. Reading the other's displeased reactions however, she quickly retreated to her answer, speaking almost sheepishly. 'I'd heard what you had done to Dantooine and all those other worlds, Salo.' The Exile scoffed almost instantly; a child anticipating a lecture. Revan continued in ignorance of this. 'I saw what you did to my friends and how you made every life in your path a pawn against me for revenge. But still, when I found that he still lived...'

A whip seemed to snap somewhere in the distance.

'How do you know?' Salo whispered, a hint of fear seeping into his voice like a slow, creeping oilbath.

'Your old companions gave me all the hints I needed,' Revan explained clearly, 'How you had been missing him during your time on the Ebon Hawk... curious how much information you gave to people you planned to betray.'

'I didn't plan...'

'It doesn't matter,' she forcibly interjected. 'What matters is I know. And you wanna hear the damndest part of it?'

The man looked away, surveying the billows of snow being kicked up just outside the windows that shook every so often. He looked back. 'And what is that?'

'The damndest thing? After I found out, I didn't want to chase you any more. It's... there was...' She stopped, taking a deep breath. 'There was... a part of me that hoped that that love would restore you somehow; no matter what you did, with everything over and done you'd just be you again, for his sake.'

'Guess again,' Salo muttered.

Revan fixed her gaze. 'I came here to give you one last chance to give me a reason to believe that everything you did was just, so I could return to my war knowing he'd be in loving arms that would raise shields for his life. I came here, I wanted to know from you, why you did everything you've done.'

The man considered this silently for a moment. 'So this... was all your idea... of a test?'

Revan nodded, sadness seeping into her voice. 'It was. And you failed. I'm here for our son, Salo, and I'll be leaving with him tonight.' Her breathing quickened; the very utterance of words she had years ago thought would present no use to her suddenly meant everything.

Son.

'Not likely,' Salo Kurn hissed, his voice filled with a sudden snap of defensive rage. 'I took great care to hide him from you after Dxun; I'm not wasting all that work. His life was the only one I cared to watch over after Malachor, to make sure whoever he went to was good.'

'He...' the Prodigal Knight gasped, 'he... isn't with you?'

'What kind of a father would I be if I allowed him to live such a life? I would sooner see him a Mandalorian than at my side, or in your arms. Because, it's as I said, my dear; our old Master made me realize the true weight of Darth Revan. You will always be ready to make that choice,' the Exile accused fervently. 'I may be a slave to my own hatred, but I have never brought my child into that life. With you, he'd be party to that danger at all times.'

'You bite your tongue!' Revan snapped. 'I did what was necessary!'

'Funny how I always hear that from people with big body counts to their name,' Salo mused venomously. 'I spent ten years wandering in his shadow and he didn't even know. He's never known a thing, and he's happy.'

'I have a right to...'

'You gave that right up twelve years ago!'

'By doing what was necessary?!' Revan bellowed.

'Necessary?! Was your betrayal necessary?' The Prodigal Knight opened her mouth to retort, but the Exile gave her no chance to speak. 'I remember the morning after the final battle on Dxun. I remember you in that mask, watching over the valley from the balcony; you didn't say a word, and I didn't even hear him coming as I pleaded with you to reconsider. The only thing you said was 'be done with it,' and then there was only pain. Was that necessary?'

The woman felt stung; truth could do that. 'Salo...' she began weakly.

'And then I felt my knees buckle, and I couldn't understand why. But I didn't have time to understand; I could only watch -- and then scream - while your apprentice sunk those white talons into me; it was hours before I actually realized it had been lightning and not fire. He burned my chest off with such affection,' the Exile growled, half a sob evident in his voice. 'Did that have to be done for the sake of some greater destiny?'

'No,' Revan sniffled. Salo Kurn leaned forward in a concealed fit. His lips curled tightly around one another; the memory was jarring.

'It's been a long road, but I've walked it for some reason, and the truth is with me. Just as Darth Revan is always with you, no matter how many peasants you save, how many stories you share with your friends or...how many times you and Carth play kissy games... that choice is always around the corner. I've made my decision.'

'It's not yours to make,' the woman huffed, fighting back sobs.

'I know, but it's the right one. He is my son, and not yours, and I don't care what I have to do to keep you from him.' Both their eyes ablaze, they locked onto each other's as a mad smile crept across Salo's marred, worn face. 'Killing you, however, will just be a bonus.'

'Well, I didn't come here to kill you,' Revan admitted through the battle of her unchecked emotions; eyes watering. 'I would've been happy to leave you rot in your shell. But for him -- I'll do what I have to. My friends -- I have to protect them.'

'You talk as though I claimed him like a possession!'

'You talk that way yourself! Wherever you've hidden our son, I promise you, from here I'll find him; and your shadow won't hang over the search any longer. I'm willing to do what's necessary, no matter what that is.'

The fire in the chimney burned out at last, its wispy dancing against the stone walls forever gone and done. Slowly and almost reluctantly, the automatic lights throughout the house faded on.

'You were always willing to, my Prodigal Knight.'

Revan reached calmly for her saber hilt, wiped her eyes, and pulled it gently off her belt. Salo Kurn pulled his off as well, slamming it down on the table akin to a Pazaak card. In challenge, the the woman mimicked him.

'And now, my friend?' The Prodigal Knight tensed her fingers.

The Exile eyed her fiercely. 'That, my dear, should be fairly obvious.'