Aeris nodded when Jek said that he could drive. It was good practice for him and she could tell that he was growing more comfortable with piloting the speeder. She hopped into the passenger seat and got comfortable as the young woman directed Jek where to go. When they reached the terminal, she remained in the vehicle while Jek and the young woman got out to go contact the Council.<br/><br/>She had her eyes closed as she considered their next recruit and the best ways to convince him to join up with them. When Jek returned, he told her that he would need to meditate before he contacted the Council again, that they had sensed his love for and attachment to her.<span style="font-style: italic">“I guess that shouldn’t be surprising,”</span>she replied, although it was more like a thought than a real comment.<span style="font-style: italic">“Very well. That’s not a problem. Next time, I’ll drive and let you meditate,”</span>she replied, opening her eyes to watch him for a moment. She’d had to focus on meditating the entire ride last time, so she hadn’t taken the time to watch him in action as he piloted the speeder. This time, she allowed herself the luxury of admiring him for just a few minutes before she smiled to herself and shifted her attention back to the mission.<br/><br/>She closed her eyes again, intent on meditating on the next recruit, rather than any form of deep meditation. She could feel the interest of the woman in the backseat, who was trying to mimic the position she had taken in her seat. She opened herself up to the woman, giving her unspoken instruction on how to meditate as she did. The young woman was a quick study, and soon she had gotten the hang of it, allowing Aeris to focus on the task at hand.<br/><br/>As she reached out to find their next recruit, though, she felt something else through the Force. It was An-Lok. She felt anger and darkness from her, not that this was surprising in and of itself, but she wondered if such tactics would yield any valuable results in such situations. It wasn’t for her to interfere, though, so she shut her out, hoping that Jax would be able to handle it, that this wouldn’t cause more issues between the two of them.<br/><br/>She took a deep breath, calming herself and focusing on the man they would be approaching next. He had a large family and he helped the family with their business, but he wasn’t the sole caretaker for his siblings, nor was he the only one who could help with the business. She thought that they could probably convince him without too much of an issue, especially if they could convince the others in his family that this was the right path for him.<br/><br/>When they arrived in the next town and stopped near their home, she hopped out, looking back to Veena, “You can come or stay, it’s up to you,” she told her before looking to Jek and heading for the front door. She knocked and the door was opened quickly by a short, stocky middle-aged woman. “Hello, can I help you?” the woman greeted them, a little confused, but friendly. “We are here to speak to Cain. Is he home?” she asked, despite knowing full well that he was. “Yes, of course,” she said, gesturing for them to come inside before she called for him.<br/><br/>A few moments passed before a dark-haired young man, probably only a year or two younger than Aeris, came downstairs. He looked at them and didn’t recognize them, yet he seemed to have some recognition of who they were. “You’re here to take me with you, aren’t you?” he asked. “Correct,” Aeris replied simply, “We are recruiting Force Sensitives to join us and train in the ways of the Force,” she told him. She then showed him, as she had with the others, what lay ahead for him. “I can’t leave my family. I have to help with the younger kids, and with the business,” he answered as Aeris had expected.<br/><br/>“What is this all about?” his mother asked, looking at them. Aeris explained what they were recruiting him for, that he was strong in the Force and they wished for him to train those abilities. She explained that the Force had led them to him, that she believed that this was his destiny. She allowed the honesty of her words to be felt through the Force. She was confidence and matter-of-fact, and her presence was commanding, but she was not harsh, and she meant what she said.<br/><br/>“So, who are you with?” the woman asked. “I assume you know the name Revan,” she replied, getting a nod from the woman. “Yeah, but he goes by Darth Revan now, right? So you’re from this Empire we’ve heard about?” he asked. “Yes,” Aeris replied again. “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” he told her, apparently having heard about the Sith before. “So don’t,” she replied simply, as if that were the obvious solution. “We all have our own way of doing things. Some people are… forceful, but that doesn’t mean you have to be,” she shrugged.<br/><br/>He seemed to be considering it, but he was not sold yet. “What happens if I say no? Will you force me to go against my will?” he asked, obviously testing her. “No. I have no use for reluctant soldiers,” she told him honestly, “That said, I don’t give up easily, so don’t assume that means I’ll take no for an answer and walk out,” she added with a smirk. That was, of course, putting it lightly. She was placed in the Dragon Clan as a youngling for a reason.<br/><br/>--<br/><br/>Jax was quiet, standing behind her as she told the man what they were here for. He could sense her anger boiling long before the man had said or done anything to really earn it. He guessed that she had sensed, just as he had, that the man was the type to view men as those who should be in authority, and she had not taken it well. He couldn’t blame her for finding that irritating, but he wished that she would have at least given the man the chance to do something to prompt her ire before she made it so obvious that she disliked him. She was not making this any easier on them.<br/><br/>She turned her attention to the young man who had opened the door, promising him power and freedom, two hallmark promises that the Sith always offered, without fail. The man who owned the place did not take this well. He insisted that the young man was his property, he had paid for him, so the young man would serve him until the day he died. Jax felt irritated by this mindset, the idea that someone could own another person, but he pushed his emotions down, knowing that he couldn’t afford to lose his control right now.<br/><br/>Whatever semblance of control An-Lok had when she entered the home had apparently dissipated with those words and she went into full Sith mode, lifting the man off the ground and shooting lightning his way. She was torturing him, alternating between choking the man while shooting electricity from his body, then giving him just a taste of air before repeating. It seemed like this was not something new to her, as the repetition seemed practice, seamless, like it came naturally to her. That was a terrifying thought, but he didn’t allow it to linger.<br/><br/>He needed to stop her before she killed the man, and he didn’t think that she would listen to reason right now. Without even really thinking about it, he decided to act. In an instant he had rushed into the house, leaping over An-Lok and landing squarely between them in the instant that she loosened her grip to give the man what she thought would be just a taste of air. He landed in a crouched position between the two, his saber in his hand to block the burst of lightning that came next, redirecting it away from them all before he threw his arms out to either side, using the Force to push them apart.<br/><br/>The man was flung a little deeper into the home, his back hitting a wall. An, on the other hand, would be pushed out the door, although he had full confidence that she would land on her feet and remain unharmed. She would be pissed at him, but he could live with that more easily than he could live with the guilt of knowing he had let a man die because he was scared to piss off his girlfriend.<span style="font-style: italic">“Sorry, Princess, but I can’t let you torture and kill a man in front of me,”</span>he told her through the Force. He didn’t say it, but he also couldn’t bear to see her like that, either, to watch her torture a man, to see her twisted by the Dark Side. He wouldn’t allow it, at least not without doing whatever he could to stop it.<br/><br/>As the man his the wall, Jax pointed the blade of his lightsaber at the man, who lay coughing, trying to catch his breath, his skin bearing the marks of burns from the bursts of lightning he had suffered through. “If you want my protection, you<span style="font-style: italic">will</span>release him,” he told the man, his voice deep and calm, yet stern and commanding. The man nodded fervently, obviously more afraid of what An might do to him than he was to lose a single servant. “Good,” he nodded, “You might also want to reconsider your views on women, considering you just got your ass handed to you by one,” he added for good measure, hearing the man crying, begging for his life, promising that he would do anything if they would spare him. Jax silently hoped that he wasn’t about to get his own ass handed to him by the same woman, but he didn’t focus on that right now.<br/><br/>Satisfied with the man’s answer, he turned his attention towards the young man standing in the door. “You heard the man. You have your freedom. So, what will it be? Do you want to come with us and learn how to use that talent of yours? Or stay here?” he asked quickly, taking up a defensive stance, just in case an angry An-Lok came through the door intent of harming the man again, or harming him, for that matter. He didn’t wish to fight her, but he couldn’t just sit by and let this happen, either. He hoped that she would understand and that she would forgive him.<br/><br/>“I’ll come with you!” the young man told him with a voice filled with some mix of fear, anticipation, and excitement. He wasn’t entirely sure if the young man was afraid of what An might do to him if he said no, afraid that he would allow him to go back into slavery if he said no, or if he was impressed by their displays of power, but he didn’t particularly care right then. His eyes were trained on the door as he tried to reach out to An through the Force, to let her know that the man would be coming, and to apologize for pushing her the way he had. He didn’t expect that it would be that easy for her to forgive him, but it need to be said either way.