Just a Cuppa (D6 EA, Aanli's apartment, closed)

[Dr. Aanli Ven]

"A fascinating answer."

Frankly, Aanli had expected something trite like, 'revenge.' Still, much to worry about in there.

"Peace, order, and stability are also what many in the Empire claim to fight for. By using their power to quash opposition, they believe they can create that peace, order, and stability. Your end is noble, but your path is narrow and treacherous. And on the other side of the war, it will ask you to be far more than a warrior.

"Of course, I'm one to talk. I traded my sword for a plowshare before you were born, and now I'm unarmed in a time for swords."

[Tyllia Demici]

"You don't understand the cycle that I speak of," she said, sounding almost... disappointed?

"The empire's reign is just a moment in time. It will fall, and then the Jedi or something like them will rise again. And in the shadows, the Sith or something like them, will wait for another opportunity to come into power again. The existence of one, feeds the other. Always. A never-ending cycle that both sides are too blind and ignorant to see, or too arrogant to halt."

[Dr. Aanli Ven]

Oh no. Is her lasting peace 'kill someone?'

"The Empire is a ripple in a pond. Born of the past, and creating the future. It is not new. The Empire is the Republic, the same organization and institutions and people as before, born of social and economic forces that have been in motion since before the refounding of the Republic.

"Feuds between light and dark aligned religious orders spiral out of control throughout history, but while severing that cycle is a step, it is not an end. Ending the conflicts between Jedi and Sith, ashla and bogan will do nothing to abate Czerka Corporation's thousand years of extracting resources from low-influence rim worlds until they're left smoldering husks, then leveraging the wealth they extracted to accelerate doing the same elsewhere in the galaxy.

"And true arrogance is thinking that breaking the cycle is all it will take to bring lasting peace is to break that cycle. That kind of peace will take an integrated solution far beyond light and dark. There is no 'economic justice' side of the Force."

[Tyllia Demici]

"I never said breaking the cycle was the end of ambition. Only the end of my present path. And the things you talk about are *separate* problems," she said, growing a little more frustrated, "And not mine *or* yours to fix. In the galaxy I aim to create, people will finally have the freedom and means to address their problems *without* people like us tearing everything up every few centuries and getting in their way."

[Dr. Aanli Ven]

Aanli unleashed a technique more ancient, more powerful, more dreaded than any lightsaber kata.

The dreaded teacher's glare!

"Our connection to the Force does not separate us from the rest of the galaxy. It connects us. Of the orders the Jedi have come into conflict with over our history, many rose up independently in response to tyranny and poverty, and only turned against the Jedi when the order propped up tyrants in the name of law, peace, and stability. The problems are inseparable.

"And the way you build a better future, one where there can be peace and justice, is to unite as a community to build that better galaxy. And whether those who stand against it are Sith lords or corporate interests or kings, they are all different pieces of the same cycle of violence and power."

[Tyllia Demici]

"You are blinded by dogma and idealism," she said, not remotely impressed by the teacher's glare. "You cannot even begin to comprehend the fact that your attitude only serves to prolong the cycle. You do not even attempt to understand. When faced with the possibility that you are part of the problem, you choose to ignore it in favor of pointless lecturing and naive soundbites about community and unity. This is why nothing will ever change so long as the Jedi exist."