After they had touched down on Tython again, everything passed by in a blur of accusations, questions, and instructions. For the most part, Aria stood silently beside Yerbol as they were situated in the center of the Council's meeting chamber. After she and Yerbol had collectively recounted the trials they had faced on the Sith home world, she said very little at all, her eyes darting between each of the Masters warily as they each spoke, adding their own viewpoints into the exchange. On a few occasions, her mouth would open as if she wanted to put her own points into the discussion, but whenever Master Satele or another of the Masters would cut in and ask another question, Aria would frown and close her mouth again as though she had thought better of saying anything for the time being.
The acolyte crossed her arms tightly over her chest and, eyebrows still knitted together in a tight frown, leaned to the side to mutter under her breath in Yerbol's direction. "Is it just me or does it sound like they think we're making this whole thing up? I don't like where this is going." despite the fact that Master Satele seemed to share Yerbol and Aria's suspicion of the younger Master Soto, it seemed that the other Jedi on the Council were more reluctant to question Soto's loyalty to the Jedi code of honour. Aria was somewhat surprised when the pair were dismissed to Yerbol's quarters soon after, with so little progress made regarding a course of action. Huffing crossly, Aria marched after Yerbol, letting the young Knight lead her through the labyrinth-like corridors until they finally stopped at what he indicated was the door to his quarters.
Did the Jedi not understand how much danger they were in? That the longer they took to debate the validity of the evidence they had been presented, the more vulnerable they would be? Patience had never been a strong point of Aria's, but she really did try to sit and wait patiently with Yerbol. Before the hour was up, however, Aria found she could no longer stand sitting still. She just had to do something, exactly what, at this point, she wasn't sure...but anything was better than sitting here and being kept in the dark about the lengthy debate the Jedi Masters were currently having. Glancing across at Yerbol, she found his attention was absorbed in reading something from the screen on his datapad, giving the Sith the perfect opportunity to slip away unnoticed. For the briefest of moments, she'd considered asking Yerbol to accompany her, but that idea was quickly dismissed. She wouldn't be gone long....he'd never notice.
Due to the curfew imposed by Master Braga only a little while ago, the hallways were largely deserted meaning she didn't have to explain herself to any unsuspecting Light siders that she might have met on her wanderings. Originally, her intentions began in an attempt to sneak back to the meeting room and try to eavesdrop on the conversation inside, but she soon discovered that the guards from before stood at the door just as vigilant as ever, and any hopes of getting close enough to detect anything with her Force senses without being noticed were dashed. The acolyte grumbled a few unsavoury phrases under her breath, sitting with her back against the wall while she pondered on where else she might be able to 'overhear' something.
Her attention was diverted as she glimpsed Master Soto breezing past the corridor out of the corner of her eye. After taking a split second to look between the door to the Council chambers and the hallway that the suspected True Sith agent had hurried into, the temptation proved too great for Aria to resist and she abandoned her original recon mission in favour of trying to sneak after the other Jedi Master and find out what she was up to. She managed to locate and catch up to Master Soto, shadowing her until she stopped in an otherwise deserted alcove to fish some kind of holocommunicator out of a pocket. It was impossible for Aria to make out any features of the projection, but by risking getting a little closer, she managed to catch a small snippet of the conversation.
"--I didn't expect them to survive the last trials. Do the Jedi suspect anything?" asked an all too familiar voice on the other end of the channel.
"I'm not sure. They're still deciding whether or not it could be a trick." Soto answered, her frown apparent in her voice.
"I see. Keep a watch on them, then. And don't let them leave Tython alive."
Perhaps it shouldn't have surprised Aria to hear Bracknell's voice on the other end of the communicator, given what she now knew about the True Sith's agenda, but nontheless it shook her enough that she didn't realise the call had been cut off until she looked up to find herself practically nose-to-nose with Master Soto.
"Were you following me, Sith?" she asked sharply, her eyes narrowed expectantly. Stifling a yelp of surprise, Aria quickly scrambled backwards, shaking her head as she fumbled for an excuse to cover up her mistake. "U-Uh, no Ma'am! I...er, I needed some air and I thought I would just slip outside a while but I um...got lost."
Soto eyed her from head to toe, Aria dropping her gaze to the floor to avoid the piercing scrutiny in the Jedi Master's gaze. Panicked, she shut her eyes and latched onto the link between herself and Yerbol, hoping that somehow he might pick up on her thoughts that way and come to her rescue.
Help, Yerbol!
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