"No!"  Simetra gestured viciously, though there was not accompanying tremor in the Force, no sweeping movement or surge of anger.  "That is a<em>child's</em>question, a master's insult!"  She set her staff aside, laying it outside the circle.  It was still close enough that one of the other students would not be able to reach her before she called it to her hand, but Xollen was much closer - and more capable of heightened speed than Simetra herself was.  She was not unarmed - her crystal knife could still defend against a light saber but she was still very vulnerable seeming.<br/><br/>Except for her skill with the Force.<br/><br/>She rose to her feet and laced her fingers together in a manner that looked as painful as it was complex.  "You ask me to teach you what comes naturally from the Dark Side.  You call upon it, draw it from others, use it for yourself already  -and it calls to be used, is easily pulled from others as you make them fear and hate you.  No, this I do not need to teach you.  What you must learn is not that - but control - not of the Force, but of your self!"  The strange twi'lek closed her eyes and clearly uttered strange, sibilant words.  Purposefully enunciating them, she made it obvious she was reciting them so loudly for the benefit of her students - for she sensed Damania lurking nearby.  It was not a potent spell, but it was unusual.  It had grown from an understanding of how agitating the Force could produce lightning, whirlwinds, and even fire.  This was more subtle, but it could be put to great use, with the rings of power inscribed in the floor to make the agitation visible.<br/><br/>Glowing radiance slowly came to life from the outer edge of each circle as Simetra chanted.  In Xollen's case, the glow was radiant and vibrant, hot red flares and white bursts of light radiating along the floor as her hate and psychopathic anger burned from her like a star.  From Simetra's circle the radiance pulsed, venomous green and black rings that rippled and surged in a tight circle around the outer ring of her own rune.  She finished the chant and the glowing auras along the flow brightened.  If one looked at them, it would appear that Xollen's aura was the stronger of the twain, her aura a vibrant, glowing, radiant thing that extended nearly half the distance between the two women.  Simetra's aura was much smaller in radius, a mere few feet from her circle, but it was a much thicker, denser aura than Xollen's.<br/><br/>"The Dark Side can be deceptive.  It can be hidden, from the Jedi, and from other Sith.  But it requires presence of mind, mindfulness!"  Her voice, turning gruesomely gravelly and songbird beautiful by turns, was not vindictive or cruel.  She unlaced her hands and then held both of them  palm down towards her current victim.  The soft, vibrant hum of the Force being worked intensified in the room, and she gazed at Xollen with her good eye.  "You are a childish creature, neglecting your true strength in favor of self destructive behavior.  You deny your desire for bloodshed and the wish to cause others pain, and it burns within you....your Jedi training serves you well, girl, but it means nothing compared to the hidden strength of the Dark Side!"  Purposefully feeding the once-Jedi's self-hatred, the auras about Xollen's circle grew, her aura expanding as her rage and hatred grow stronger.  "You see?  Your hatred grows, and you throw it from you like a shell of plasma cast off by a dying star!  And it will give me strength, because you cannot draw from mine....unless you can break through the veil of the Dark Side that protects me from the senses of others."