Sidious stared out the viewport at the blue of hyperspace.  It would be nearly a week before they arrived at Coruscant.  He had just used his ability of foresight to look ahead at his meeting with the Jedi.  The future had not solidified yet, and each vision seemed to show him different Jedi.

No matter.  It wasn't who they were that was important to him.  He did note that they always sent a pair rather than a single Jedi--often a padawan and their Master, but sometimes a knight and their former Master, or a Master and their former Master.

Sidious found the Jedi hierarchy needlessly complex, with its multitude of masters, Council, grandmaster, knights, and padawans.  

Though he had to admit, he didn't have any intention of continuing the Sith Rule of Two.  Perhaps he would kill Plagueis, but he would not force Maul to kill him to become a Sith Master.

Sidious would have to remould the Sith into something else.  Of course, he didn't care for the idea of emulating the Jedi, but he was sure he could think up a different way to organize the new Sith Order that required neither adopting Jedi dogma nor continuing the Rule of Two. He could get ideas from the old Sith, and perhaps--even the Nightsisters.

Suddenly, as if his thoughts had summoned her, Talzin walked into the room and took the copilot's seat next to his.  "I wonder about it," she said abruptly.

"About what?"

"Why hyperspace is blue," she responded.

Sidious waved a hand.  "Radiation-something-something-emissions-blah-blah-blah.  Plagueis would probably know.  Why? Do you have plans to manipulate hyperspace with the Force?"  Sidious had thought about how useful just such an ability could be, from time to time.  But such a thing would require considerably more power and experience than he had now.

"No, just idle curiosity.  Though perhaps the answer to the question could help accomplish that too."

Sidious laughed.  "I suppose.  Knowledge is power, and all that.  But I've always thought that knowing what other people are thinking is much more valuable than knowing why the universe works the way it does.  The latter is largely predictable, yet requires immense resources to bend to one's will, but people are full of surprises, yet their intent can be influenced by nothing more elaborate than words."

"Yet you still seek knowledge on how to increase your power in the Force."

"Of course.  Sometimes it pays to know how to influence the universe a bit.  But my power in the political sphere is even more important.  Without that my Force powers would be little more than amusingly deadly parlor tricks."

"Is that how you plan to bring down the Jedi?  With politics?"  Talzin looked dubious.

Palpatine sighed, laying back in his seat.  "Partly, yes.  To tell the truth, I was going to see what Plagueis planned to do.  He's been at this for much longer than I have."

"That sounds reasonable."

"Only now that's going to be difficult, since I have to kill him as soon as possible."

"Are you sure of that?"

"I would like to be."  Plagueis had not seemed interested in killing off Vidar as he'd assumed, and in general seemed to be more open and...caring.  But Plagueis could not be allowed to find a way to reverse the effects of the Font, which Sidious was sure he would manage to do if allowed to live. He abruptly changed the subject.

"Your Nightsister friends, perhaps you can tell me more about them."  Really, he was interested in knowing more about her, but he wasn't going to say that.  "Your two lieutenants--you said they are Maul's aunts.  So, are they your sisters?"

She blinked.  "Yes."

Realizing that the word 'sister' in this context might have multiple meanings besides the intended, he decided to clarify his question.  "Perhaps I should refine my wording," Sidious said.  "Are either of them your blood relatives?"

"Ah!  No.  Dremra is the blood sister of Maul's late father, and Atherion is her spouse.  As is common among Nightsisters, both of them were originally exiles of different Light Witch clans.  They met before they joined my clan."

"Ah. So, they are your sister-in-law, and your sister-in-law-in-law."

"I suppose," she said, frowning.  "Though your choice of terminology leaves something to be desired."

Sidious smiled. "Do you have a better suggestion to more precisely denote their relation to you?"

"Several."  She smiled back.  "Do all the Naboo use such inefficient terminology to denote their relations?"

Sidious shrugged, suddenly wishing he had chose a different topic of discussion.  "I wouldn't know.  I can't say I ever paid much attention to such things when I was younger, and now all my family is dead."

"Oh," Talzin said, her eyes widening.  "How did that happen?"

He frowned.  "I don't wish to discuss it." That was putting it mildly.  It was difficult enough trying not to think about it.  He'd begun to have nightmares about their deaths, made all the worse because the nightmares were only minor variations on the actual events, and so waking provided no real escape from them.

"All right," Talzin said. She turned to face the viewport, seeming to contemplate the streaks of blue light outside the viewport.  Sidious watched her out of the corner of his eye.  

After a few minutes, he closed his eyes to nap.  He really did need to find out how Plagueis went without sleep before he killed him.  Those nightmares were really starting to get to him.  He would have to find some pretext to get his Master to explain it to him.

He heard a loud clanking noise to his right. Suddenly alert again, he opened his eyes, and saw Talzin had opened the secret compartment under the control panel and removed his lightsaber, turning it over in her hands.

"Did I say you could rifle through my possessions?  How did you find that, anyway?" There wasn't even a visible seam around the compartment.

"I saw you open it the first time I entered your ship."

"Oh."  That made sense.  He'd brought his saber with him whenever he expected he might encounter any of the native denizens, and he'd stowed the weapon away each time he'd left.

"This is very nice.  Where did you get it?" She ignited the saber, moving it in a slow arc.

"From the Sith Saber Store, of course," Sidious said.

"Come now, don't tease me," she laughed.

"I made it," Sidious responded.

"Impressive.  A powerful and handsome weapon.  Much like its wielder."

Sidious felt a swell of pride at the compliment.  "I do like to think I put a lot of myself in the construction."

"It's very impressive."

"Do Nightsisters use sabers?"

"Occasionally." She turned the lightsaber off and handed it to him.

"Do you have one?" he asked casually.

"I do."

"May I see it?"

"Certainly."  She pulled a flaming green sword from the air.

"Showoff," he said.

She shrugged.  "It is a creation of magic--this is simply the most expedient way to summon it."  She held the hilt out to him and he took it, examining it intently.

"Incredible," he said.  "Quite detailed for a temporary creation.  Truly a work of art."  Pulling energy or mass from nothing was possible, but took incredible effort.  

Sidious doubted the saber he held truly came from nothing, but the ability to manipulate matter and energy in this way was still no small feat, he judged.

"It really is impressive."

"Thank you," Talzin said.

An idea occurred to Sidious.  "Usually I spend most of these trips meditating.  But perhaps there is a more worthwhile use we might put this time to."

Talzin tilted her head.  "What did you have in mind?"

"Perhaps some sparring, to practice our saber skills?"

She smiled.  "That sounds delightful."

He held her saber out to her.  Instead of taking it, she dematerialized it and then rematerialized it in her own hand.

"Showoff," he said.

She smiled at him. "I suspect I'm not the only one."

They moved out to the main room in the ship where there was more space to move around and stood across from each other.  Talzin held her green saber at a slight angle in front of her.  She tilted her head expectantly.  "Are you going to draw your saber?  Or did you lose it already?"

Sidious smiled and shrugged, his hands empty.  "I must have forgotten it."

"That's unfortunate." Talzin said. "For you." She lunged forward.  

Sidious waited until she was halfway across the room to draw his saber from his sleeve.

Their blades clashed, the green blade pushing down with considerable force on the red.

"Unfair," Sidious said, tilted backward and smiling up at her.  "I was unarmed.  There's supposed to be a countdown."

"Lies," Talzin said, amused. "You were obviously not unarmed, Sith Lord, and I gave you more warning than you'd have given me."

"I'll admit, you've got me there," Sidious said.  He pushed upwards until he had enough leverage to sidestep the green saber.

Their sabers clashed together again and again in quick succession.  Sidious concentrated on evading Talzin.  She slashed at him again before he blocked the green blade and then flipped over her in midair.  He'd dueled Plagueis, droids, and a large number of (now deceased) sapients, but that had all been in considerably less pleasant circumstances.  

Plagueis despised dueling but Sidious had never been able to beat him at it.  And the others had mostly been melee fights, pitting Sidious against a large group of foes.  

Both were demoralizing--Sidious hated losing to someone who obviously had so little passion for dueling, and being forced to expend so much effort on scores of unskilled opponents had always irked him when he could think of much more satisfying ways to dispose of them.  

But this was different.  Talzin was clearly enjoying herself, and certainly had had prior training in this regard, though her style was markedly different from anything he'd encountered before.  

They paced around each other, two predators testing the other's vigilance, looking for an opening.

"Not bad, but I think I'm going to win," Sidious remarked.

"Really?" Talzin said, slashing her blade sideways at him.  He blocked the blow and slipped away to the side, forcing her to overextend to meet his attack. "Care to explain why you have this misconception?"

One corner of the Sith's mouth quirked upward. "If you could beat me with a saber, you wouldn't have needed to cheat the last time we fought."

"Ah, but maybe I just don't like to expend unnecessary effort in performing such tasks." She parried his attack and spun around him. He turned simultaneously to face her.

Sidious clashed abruptly against the side of her blade, forcing it from her hand.  The blade clattered to the ground, dissolving on contact.

He held his red blade near her heart.  "I win," he said, breathing heavily.

She took a moment to catch her breath before answering.  "Yes, it appears you do," she said, smiling.

He turned the saber off.  "That was a good duel."

"I agree."

Sidious settled onto an armchair in the corner of the room.  Talzin leaned against the wall next to him.

Sidious glanced up at her. He'd been hoping to avoid this for a bit longer, but this was the perfect opportunity to bring it up.  It would surely take some time to finalize the details of such a decision, after all, so it was best to get started early. "There is a matter we should discuss."

Talzin raised a single brow on her tattooed face.  "Which is?"

"If you will be staying with me, you will need a fake identity and some reason to be doing so."

"Invisibility is not enough?"

Sidious frowned.  "That would not work well long-term.  No, I have a different suggestion." He hesitated.  "Marriage."

"Sure."

Sidious narrowed his eyes.  "That was a rather fast agreement."

Talzin shrugged.  "I have no objection."

Sidious crossed his arms.  "It would be in name only."

"Of course."

"For show only." He frowned.

"Obviously."

His eyes narrowed.  "A loveless marriage."

"Understood." Talzin smiled.

Sidious settled back in his chair.  "We'll need to come up with some plausible cover story."

Talzin sighed.  "Yes.  And my Sisters and I will have to hide our Dathomirian origins or the Jedi might take an unwanted interest."  

Sidious frowned. "That's true.  How do you plan to do that?  Those tattoos don't look like they'd be..." he trailed off, watching in surprise as the tattoos seemed to absorb into her face, leaving only light brown skin in their place.  

"An illusion?" Sidious asked.  "To hide them?"

"No," she said, smiling.  "We imprint the patterns into our skin once with magic. Though they are always a part of us,  we can hide them as well if the occasion calls for it.  We sometimes do this to deceive the Light witches, who would otherwise recognize our nature immediately from the markings.  It is a physical change that allows us to manipulate their ability to be seen, just as we can decide to open or close our eyes. They are still there, just not visible."  

Sidious was intrigued.  "So it's a biological change?  Do you manipulate your DNA?"

Talzin frowned.  "Yes, it is a biological change.  I don't know what DNA is."

"That just makes it even more intriguing," Sidious said.  "No wonder Plagueis wanted to--" he stopped.

"Wanted to what?"

"Oh, nothing," Sidious said quickly.  "You already know I was there to find information on your use of the Force."

"Yes, but I also am curious about what he was specifically after."

"I suppose it won't do any harm to tell you now.  He wanted me to retrieve a 'live Nightsister' to question, with emphasis on the 'live' part.  I can only guess he wanted to interrogate one of you about your methods of Force use."

"I see," she said, smiling.  "And he thought you'd be able to capture one of us?"

Sidious narrowed his eyes.  "Yes, and I have no doubt he was right."

She smiled.  "Perhaps so."  She looked down at her robes.  "I'll need something else to wear for my disguise.  Some may be able to recognize my Dathomirian garb."

"That's true.  I can find you something on Coruscant.  We should also decide where your fake identity will be from."

"Preferably somewhere I've been.  Naboo perhaps."

He gave her a dubious look.  "You will not be able to pass for a Naboo."

"Why not?"

"Can you speak our language?"  he asked in Nabooian.

"What was that?" she asked, her expression perplexed.

"I rest my case," Sidious said, switching back to Basic.  "No, you'll have to be from somewhere else.  Preferably somewhere that doesn't have a distinct language or uniform cultural attributes you would have been expected to pick up."  He put a hand to his chin.  "Somewhere like...Coruscant."

"I've never even been there!"

"But you will have been soon," Sidious pointed out.  "You'll have a much better chance passing as a Coruscanti citizen than a Naboo.  Unless you want to be from somewhere no one's ever heard of like, oh, I don't know, Sriluur?"

She wrinkled her nose.  "I don't think so.  Coruscant it is, then."

"You Nightsisters seem to have a bit of a Core-sounding accent anyway.  I suppose it's from being founded by a rogue Jedi."

"Allya does speak of her life on Coruscant in the Book of Shadows. Her description of it is...not complimentary. I never thought I'd ever want to travel there myself."

"What made you change your mind?"

Talzin was silent a moment, seeming to mull over the question.  "You look into the future sometimes, do you not?"

Sidious laughed.  "Only all the time! That's what I was doing earlier.  But it's usually only helpful to see how my own actions will affect a near-future event.  Why?"

"Usually I would agree that the far future is too difficult to see clearly, but in this case, I saw a single outcome."

"What did you see?"

"The death of every Nightsister and Nightbrother. A thousand deaths, a thousand different ways.  Sometimes our doom is sealed by Jedi, sometimes by scores of white-armored men.  Sometimes we are slaughtered by a four-armed creature too machine to be affected by our magic.  And sometimes..." she paused, grimacing.  "But you get the idea.  In the course of a few decades, sometimes less, I saw us all extinguished.  It was clear to me that as much as it was contrary to my instincts, I had to leave Dathomir and confront the root of these threats if I wanted to have any chance of preventing what I saw."

"Oh," Sidious said.  "That's unfortunate." He smiled. "But I think I can help you with that. Especially in regards to the Jedi."