Masters of the Game

Chapter 13: A Sith Contemplates Attachment

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Erasmesheev Tiberius Palpatine, the Sith Master Darth Sidious, sat alone on the floor beside his brazier, a small table in front of him, a single candle lit.

Sith meditation was meant to be conducted in complete darkness, but in those rare times he had trouble focusing, he sometimes found a single candle to be of help.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor during meditation had started to become uncomfortable of late—a distraction.

Then there were those times when his concerns overtook him to the point where meditation became impossible. Sometimes, there was nothing for it but to abandon his meditation and consider them.

He blew the candle out and shifted, turning to stare into the glowing red embers in his brazier.

He had achieved a major triumph; a goal he had nursed and nurtured for many years. After this campaign, it would likely not be taken from him. Without this, nothing else in his plans could ever have become reality. Now, the Force opened again to him, whispering of grand armies, unlimited power, the final revenge of his sect.

And yet, there was much that troubled him about the past few months. Much that troubled him about himself.

He who possessed Sight unequaled by any Sith before him, still was coming to understand that there were things he had not previously known about it. He recalled some old writings by a Jedi master named Qui-Gon Jinn, whom his own master had studied, writings about the Living Force.

Sidious had now learned that several things could block his Sight, and they could rarely be helped. No matter what one Saw as the inevitable outcome of something, one could say or do a single rash thing, something ill-considered in the moment, and instantly, new sequelae opened in the Living Force. Consequences he could never have foreseen, because they hadn't existed when last he attempted to See.

He had caused himself a great deal of trouble in this manner. Looking back, he saw that he hadn't the patience required for what lay ahead, the fortitude—No. What he lacked was the ability to see enough into his fellow beings to mollify and allay fear.

And that, he simply could no longer tolerate in himself. He was at a point now where mistakes couldn't be redeemed.

He had been most fortunate, these last weeks. And even then, he had been resistant when he should have been open and learning.

What he was going to do with the idiot Doriana, he didn't yet know. Anyone to do something so rash as to risk his reputation in such a manner deserved a quick death. Still, he Saw that the man would have use to him in the future. How, he had yet to learn.

Another thing he had been given to understand was that when a Force-blind individual was heavily involved in some future event, anything that had to do with her was blocked from his Sight, something that had caused him a great deal of anxiety these past weeks.

That could not be helped; but his own rashness could. The fact that she helped shield him from his own rash acts made the detriments and benefits of keeping her around him nearly cancel one another.

The Master should never have needed to rely so heavily upon any other being, let alone one so unequal to himself in the Force. This, Sidious vowed to remedy.

Shortsightedness plagued him in other areas, as well. Had he been better able to shield himself in the Force, he would have been better prepared to be thrown into a throng of lesser beings with such an intense and needy focus on him. 

Now that he was almost assured of a long career in the Senate, this problem was becoming a literal emergency. The longer he served, the more likely he was to be assigned to committees where frequent contact with Jedi couldn't be avoided.