"...Sorry, he's what? 

"...No wonder that surprised you, then..."

"It takes a lot of training to become a Jedi Knight. I'm aware you're pretty advanced, but..." he isn't going to say out loud that he doesn't expect her to succeed at the Trials, because she would take that as a challenge - and actually, does he expect her to succeed? "...I don't think it's time yet."

"...I hadn't thought he was too much older than I was.

"...I guess I've had to grow up quick."  She sighs.

"I don't really think it's time yet either, but I'm trying to learn about the enemy, as was, and all the stuff that so much as mentions the Dark Side as being a complex subject that could be studied seems to get locked behind metaphorical parental controls.

"For good reason, I think, but considering that if there's anyone the Dark Side is going to have it out for in particular it's going to be me...I need to take its arguments apart, before they take me apart - and it's going to try, or I've got a hyperlane to sell you."

"MOTHER" how does he continue the sentence "of yours got a message from Palpatine saying if you started studying the dark side you'd probably end up killing her! How was that not enough to - look, there's a reason we don't let people study the dark side, and that still stands even if they are Knights! Sure, the Sith have it out for you, but that doesn't mean you have to go and give them a head start at turning you!"

"...The other part of the trick is," she continues, calm as a storm's eye - "I'm wondering if we can turn them.  Because I'm not, actually, confident that the difference between Jedi and Sith, is the difference between Light and Dark.  You yourself have said that Vaapad relies on feeling things."

"And also how dangerous it is. Look, I get the temptation of trying to turn the Sith's weapons against them, trying to walk that line between light and darkness, but emotions chain into each other. They turn into stronger and stronger feelings until you're too far to turn back and you didn't even notice you got there. If you can't disconnect from your emotions, if you can't think clearly despite them, then they'll overwhelm you. The Sith are so far past the turning point that they won't be able to listen to a word you say, because the dark side won't let them."

"...I don't think that what I would consider developing, if I had unilateral philosophical validity, would be - dark as in fearful at all.  Because what has always motivated me is caring about other people.  I want to turn my compassion into strength enough to move the galaxy.  I might be wrong about whether this could possibly work, which is why I'm trying to do this research before I even consider taking this beyond the phase of 'an idea I am thinking about', but...

"That's orthogonal to whether someone needs to tell Dooku the Force is fucking with his head, and what I was originally looking for was something to rub his face in about his ongoing neglect of the Light side and its own unique abilities.  Surely we have some."

Why does he even try - never mind. "There are abilities associated only with the light side, though I don't think Dooku's unaware of them. But emotions don't help with those. Caring about other people does, but not... specific caring, or passion associated with a particular person."

"But talking to Dooku won't help. We have tried, many times, and he doesn't listen. You think you have some sort of connection with him, but even Qui-Gon was never able to convince him to come back. For most of the history of the Order, Jedi keep thinking that they'll be the one who convinces the Sith to renounce the dark side, and not only does it not work, they often end up turning to the dark side too. It's not worth risking it."

"I agree that most of the time it is a Very Bad Idea to try and do this.  But - 

"I'm not the same thing, as a Jedi that was trained in this Temple from birth.  I can approach things from angles people haven't had the right perspective to see, before.  And furthermore, we have knowledge of things that the accumulated weight of the Archives appears to not, these days."

She pauses, holding up a hand, radiating contemplation, getting her thoughts in order.

"Would you know what it meant, deep in your bones, if I said that the Sith Code, as I found it, sounds like people praying for rain on Tatooine?  Would you understand how taking that perspective of the Sith Code and touching the dark is itself an aberration?  Could a Jedi raised within the Room of a Thousand Fountains ever drink deep of water's sacredness on Tatooine?  Could Jedi raised from birth to know they'll be knights, ever understand what it means to be a slave?  Could they speak of the ways slavers lie, when they promise slaves their freedom only if?  Perhaps the former - but the latter...

"It is not so pressing now, Master Windu, with the present Chancellery, but does the Order answer to the Force, or to the Senate?  Because masters are greedy; they do not share what they have taken.  And the Jedi's masters in the Senate...oh how they have taken, and near enough walked the Order like a bantha to the slaughter as they did so.

"If Palpatine's plotting had been as perfect as he thought it was, we could all have died of it.  Would have all died from it, as the galaxy was plunged into an empire of suffering beneath his iron hand.  And that is what the darkness wants, what it will give to Dooku - and this, we can tell him.

"I don't think that my 'connection' with him will do anything more than get my foot in his door.  Will do anything but save me from immediate dismissal out-of-hand.  The rest, rests on my argument.  Which is why, to bring everything back around to what originally brought me to your chambers, I need to find proper sources."

"I know the Sith ideas can be appealing to people who've never really had much but suffering, and yes, Dooku might take you a little more seriously than he took any of us, except maybe Qui-Gon. The problem is that - maybe you, maybe someone, would have been able to convince Dooku years ago, but he's been changed by the dark side, he's not able to think clearly about what you tell him. And the fact that you're not a typical Jedi only makes it more dangerous for you to be looking into Sith philosophy."

"Just what are you looking for sources about?"

"What the dark side actually is.  Because I'm going to have to put a fucking stop to it, if we believe the mysterious crystal visions.  And if Dooku isn't able to think clearly about what we tell him...That will make him track down and murder the source of the intrusion into his brain himself, and since it's the literal mastermind of galactic suffering, all I can really say is 'good fucking riddance'.  Seriously, he prides himself on his ability to reason, and if we can prove it's been sabotaged..."

"Not sure how we're supposed to prove that, but what the dark side is... well, there are plenty of debates among even Jedi scholars, but Sith texts aren't going to be a reliable source on that. The Sith say that the difference between the light side and dark side is just in terms of how much power they offer, which is completely wrong. It feels more powerful to a novice because it's quicker to master, but it doesn't actually make them any stronger."

"You yourself said he wouldn't be able to consider my arguments.  Just point that out hard enough."

"...Yeah, I figure most Sith are like that.  Which is why I had the thought to see if Revan, having looked at both sides of the Force, had done any more rigorous analysis.  Or any other Jedi who had turned and come back, if such others exist."

"I don't think Revan wrote much, and no, I'm not giving you recommendations."

It seems Windu isn't changing his mind.

"Well.  If you're certain, I can hardly hope to change your decision.  That said...There is no ignorance, there is knowledge."

...She's going to go regroup and think about what she wants to do about this.

...It's obvious, when she finally thinks about it.

She's going to ask the Force.  Or more accurately, the woman who the Father called his daughter.  She might believe what the man says, but she's pretty sure she doesn't actually trust him.  He sounds...

Wrong, somehow.  Like a trap, or a trick, or...

Something isn't right about him.  It's probably the paternalism.

So she wants to hear from his daughter.

"Asking the Force" isn't quite a high-enough-bandwidth channel for a conversation in Basic, but sure, the Daughter can send general impressions of answers to Kina's questions.

...What does she think of The Father?

What does she think of her brother?

What does she think of herself?

Is there somewhere she thinks Kina should look, for...anything she thinks Kina ought to know?

She likes her father, although she's a little frustrated at him. She definitely does not like her brother. Generally positive feeling regarding herself, although she gives off the impression that she's a bit confused by what the question is asking.

Kina should pay attention to the people that she cares about; think about what might have been hurting them, and try to fix that. Another feeling of frustration, as if she's having trouble answering the question.

Is there somewhere that would make it easier for her to do that?

She can try coming to Mortis?

...That feels like it's going to be dramatic.  Right now she's kind of not really feeling like adding more drama is going to help.

Is there something specific about what might have been hurting Kina's friends, that she wants to try and twenty-questions out?  Would that help?

"You're sure I can't tell her - "

"That would be interfering a little too much. Each of them is on their own path in the Force, and his is not ready to be shown."

Nope! Nothing to say!