Vila and I exchanged a look, then took the nearest seats that weren't marked by prominent clan symbols, left empty, maybe probably for this exact reason. For guests... Was this a test? Perhaps... As for the chairs, they were also made of stone, stiff and uncomfortable. And... for a moment, I felt like that was also intentional, as not every decision that is made here would be... comfortable. Sometimes a decision would be hard and something that one had to swallow no matter what. Throwing my rapidly changing thoughts to the back of my head, I watched as HK remained standing behind and between us, perfectly still, except for the faint whirr of servos, which meant he was recording everything... which wasn't opposed by Mand'alore either.
"I was told that you negotiated with my people in good faith over Christophsis," he said, almost conversational, "And that you refused to let the blood debt sprawl into slaughter. You forced my captain to think, not simply to fight..." As he spoke, his blue eyes remained cold but bright under his brows, one of which had a scar running diagonally over it. Then... as he spoke, his eyes flicked to Vila. "But it also means we are still owed a lot."
"That's why we are here," Vila smiled, not quite as coyly as she usually does, forcing some restraint on herself, "To even things out."
"We will see." A tiny ripple of amusement crossed the Unifier's eyes, and as I tried to read him, it was like facing a droid. He had remarkable self-discipline, making it hard for me to grasp his true feelings. He was elusive, knowing how to feed me lies, distractions, truths, all that mixed up, becoming a grey goo in the Force. He was... good. Very good. "I also heard you saved the life of one of my solenaars... one of my shadow-walkers."
"You mean your spy?" Vila asked back, making him slowly nod his head.
"He is aboard the ship." I added, "We sedated him because he almost killed himself when we caught him."
"As per their training." Mand'alore nodded, "He is the first of his ranks to return home like this... It is another issue you brought to me, but... That will be dealt with within our ranks. I will send people for him; the rest is no longer yours to care about."
"If you kill him, it will be our thing to care about." Vila pushed, making the man shake his head.
"No. Not even then... He is a Mandalorian, and this is Mandalore, not Yavin 4."
"We understand," I interjected, gently sending a look towards Vila to not push it. Not now at least... "Hopefully, his punishment won't be harsh, because he fought well, and if we are not Jedi, he wouldn't have failed in his mission," I added, trying to make sure the man wasn't going to get the death penalty.
"I believe that," He agreed as he turned his helmet, playing with it so its T-visor faced us across the stone, as if the mask itself had joined the conversation. "I have the feeling that you know our history... Or think you do."
"I know some," I answered after a brief pause, "I know enough to have a discussion with you about the future of both Mandalore and Christopsis."
"Do you now...?" he smiled, lifting the hand from his helmet, leaning back in his chair, "Do you know then, what a Clan's response is, when another takes their sons and daughters away from them?" His gaze slid briefly to a relief panel decorating the chamber's walls. It depicted a siege, hammered into a bronze surface, and then pressed into the stone. It was of basilisk war droids flying through fire over a broken city. His voice was still cold, but now with a tinge of pride in it, and I could feel he was fully believing in what he was saying. "We have always been strong at the edge of a blade. That is something that is still in our blood, and when we bleed, we become... impatient. Someone would say we become rightously angry... Others would say that we become dishonorable because we would do everything to enact revenge. Maybe all of that is true at once because we won't stop until our sense of honor has been restored... That... That part has yet to change."
[Cheerful Statement: I can confirm millennia of Mandalorian edge-related competence in my memory banks. Addendum: Patience remains unsupported hardware... They are easily angered.]
"..." Mand'alore just looked at HK for a moment, and then, I could feel something stir in him... confirmation? Recognition? Something... but he wasn't going to speak about it, I knew that too. "What you can't understand, Jedi, is that I may be their leader, but the decisions are made as a family. The clans and their leaders sit here now, not because they forgot how to hate each other, but because they remember who benefits the most when they do." He touched two sigils at once with a knuckle. One was a stylized mythosaur, the other a sharp-winged shrike. "I made peace between ancient enemies with centuries of blood feud racked up between them... When I took this seat, I shut down the things that made us stupid and ended grievances that made us kill each other... To the best of my abilities, that is. However, I am constantly balancing it, as it will take generations to eradicate all that from our blood and collective consciousness. For now, I can not rush things."
Ah. I understood suddenly... The war was the idea of one of the clans, which wanted to avenge the men they had lost. Probably others were also in favor of it... And as far as I managed to glean from the Force, Mand'alore was open to other solutions. But until it satisfies everybody, he would not support it over one of his own supporters... Haaah. Politics. How I hate it.
"Don't you... I mean... Can't you just say no? Wave the... What was its name?" Vila asked, glancing at me once, "The Darksaber! Yes, that one... Can't you wave it around and order them to stand down?"
"No." He smiled slightly, "Those things, like that relic or the ancient mask of Mand'alore from the old legends, mean nothing now. In fact, both of those antiques now reside in the Hall of Legacy," he explained, and I could feel the amusement in his aura, "That is where they belong: They are part of our history, but they are not part of our current leadership and authority."
"You... Changed Mandalorian culture?" I asked, getting intrigued.
"Why not?" He asked sharply, tilting his head, "Cultures aren't stagnant. Water that doesn't move becomes a hotbed for infestation. The first thing for the reunification of my people was to change our ways. Clinging to symbols was not the way, and I made them see and understand that hard fact. We can honor our pasts, but if we want a future, that must be built by us, not by ghosts and delusions of past grandeur. So, I discarded those symbols... Not literally, of course. I let our children see them... They teach the new generation of our ways, but they are no longer what would lead us."
"That must have made you enemies." Vila stretched her legs under the table like a lounging cat, seemingly also interested in the impromptu history lesson, "People love shiny symbols... They don't tend to be happy and willing to let them be taken away because they would feel their power is being ripped away from them."
"That is true... but I dealt with those voices and now we are united in such a way that was unheard of for thousands of years. I showed them that if they want to revive the past glory of our people, they must accept change."
"You even reforged your world," I added, curious about how they did it.
"Yes, we did." His eyes flashed at me, clearly not willing to go into details, but I still tried pushing a little.
"Besides the Vong signatures, we picked up signs of Ithorian involvement. But as far as I know, there is a galaxy-wide ban on vongformation."
"The Republic calls their technology a miracle when it supports their agenda and an abomination when it doesn't." His mouth flattened, speaking directly to me. "I call it work, and so did the Ithorians. It is a technology, nothing more, and in the right hands, it can be used for good. We are the prime example of it."
"I am not here to accuse you of anything," I added quickly, "You are not under Republic ruling anyway."
"We are not." He nodded, "And we aren't reporting to the Jedi Order either... And it will stay like that. We will remain independent. We paid the Ithorians for their help, and we maintain trade, protection, and concessions. We ensured that this world would be habitable again and helped others, accepting their pleas as we became the suzerains of the weak... inducting them into our new ways. The Mandalorian way. And we don't need a Jedi's, a senator's, or an emperor's blessing for it. And this brings us back to the main issue..." He breathed, looking at each of us for a silent moment, "We were dealing with Christopsis as they dealt with us... but now, suddenly, the Jedi appear. Many won't take well to it, as it is meddling in something you have no reason to meddle in."
"We were invited into it without knowing the details."
"Which is your fault, as you should have looked into it first." He rebuked me, "Tell me, Kael Varo: how does a Jedi choose when to stand in the way of someone else's justice?"
"When justice becomes revenge," I answered promptly, "When the debt asked is larger than the crime, because it will never feel large enough and will spiral out of control." I expanded on my view, keeping my voice level, "When you came to Christophsis, you'd already proven your point." I spread my fingers on the stone, not breaking eye contact, "Killing the innocent, wives, sons, cousins, would have gone over any kind of justice."
"Yet they were allowed to kill the innocent...?"
"No, and we would have stepped in if we knew about it, too."
"But you didn't." Before Vila could say something, he raised a hand, stopping her from interjecting, "I am not blaming your Order. I am aware that even if you are a Jedi, you are not omnipotent and can't be everywhere."
"And you told me just a moment ago that I stopped a slaughter." I muttered, recalling his words, and by sensing his feelings, I was putting things together in my head, "You would be satisfied with just Dhar's head..."
"..." to that, he didn't answer, simply leaned back again, crossing his fingers, watching me.
I knew I was right... It was simply that he couldn't state it openly. It became like... we were talking without eyes, as he invited me in, allowing me to feel more of his thoughts and intentionally dropping some of his defenses. I could now see much more clearly. By removing symbols from the equation for Mandalorian power, he raised the clans to an equal level. It didn't matter who had the Dark Saber or found Mand'alore's mask or any other ancient relic. What mattered was who the Clans chose as their leader. Currently, it was he, the Unifier, sitting on the Mandalorian throne, but he wasn't a leader who would make decisions on his own.
The Clans under him would also have a say in shaping the future of Mandalore, and it was something he intended for. He wanted it to be like this, even if it binds his hand, like right now. He saw how one single voice can lead honorable warriors astray and be corrupted by greed or... a Jedi's meddling. This way, there would be a failsafe, preventing it from happening again. It was a mix of how both the Republic and the Remnants operated.
"You need us to convince not you..." I spoke after a minute of silence, "But the Clan Leader whose people died..."
"I am glad that the Order sent someone like you on this mission." The Unifier smiled a little, "It makes things much easier."
"Kael?" Vila asked, glancing at me, as I pinched the ridge of my nose.
"This is not going to be easy..."
"No, it won't be." Mand'alore said, nodding once, "But I will help. Still, if you fail, Christopsis will pay its debt... And I will lead the strike force to claim it. Even if your Order decides to stand up against us."
"You want us to prevent you from fighting against us?" Vila moaned, feeling her head starting to hurt, "This barely makes sense..."
"It is simple," He continued, standing up, signaling the discussion was coming to an end, "In the end, I am the current Mand'alore. I will stand with my people's decision... always."