Perhaps a little on the nose with that lyric but here’s the synopsis:
In the aftermath of Corellia, the Dark Council is upheaved by the deaths of Darth Baras and Darth Thanaton. One Darth Nox and the Empire's Wrath fill the gaps as the new generation of Sith rise while war rages on. Zanya and Malavai finally spend some of their newfound downtime determining what "us" looks like when "we" has been so shaky for so long — and whether its worth the repair costs.
Another, admittedly, self-indulgent chapter wrapping up the fourth season to set the more melodramatic tone of the fifth. Nox (Erzilith) visits with Zanya in the earlier half of the episode to chat a little about future plans and their new stations while moving into their quarters on Dromund Kaas, reflecting back on the events of their apprenticeships to others. Nox offers Zanya a place at their side, as allies this time rather than rivals, but Zanya declines the offer as he’d rather do literally anything else than work for them. He has a higher calling now, after all. Nox isn’t exactly pleased, but admits they hope they stay out of each other’s way in the future.
(I always wonder why the wrath doesn’t usurp Baras’s position on the Council, I’m sure there’s a lore reason with them also being the wrath and a conflict of interests, but I reason this out being because Zanya sees himself as above them and didn’t want the title of Darth as a result. Weapons don’t need power bases or something like that. I guess. Zanya makes a lot of weird and self-destructive decisions around now.)
The other part of the episode is the fallout of the proposal. The time skip between season four and five is roughly about 5-6 months of time (given I remember the timeline right, and if not this is TBD) and in that time, Zanya had not only gone back home for Lioran’s funeral, but also given the crew quite a lot of time off while he dealt with himself and solo handled a few missions here and there. No one actually saw him for a while, which left everyone on edge because that’s never really a good sign considering his iffy at best mental state, but eventually he comes back to his apartment and decides he needs to stop being a child (he calls himself a child, he’s just been through multiple warzones and events that are namely traumatic but he won’t say that) and handle his affairs.
One, dealing with Tadhg. But two, dealing with the fact he never gave Malavai an answer on their relationship. I headcanon that he still proposes after Corellia, but it puts Zanya off completely to the point he doesn’t even bother answering. Just … walks off directly after he asks without another word and he doesn’t actually see Zanya for another six months. As a result, this is the episode where they go on a break.
Well, they call it a break. They’re properly broken up by Forged Alliances, even if there are still feelings there that they may or may not indulge in. One specific line from this WIP that will haunt me until the day I write it:
“Regardless of what happens between us now, you no longer have free rein over my heart, Malavai. You forfeited that when you chose someone else over me. Reasons or otherwise, I am not fool enough to allow you that close again.”
(And then nearly ten years later, Zanya does get to be a little foolish. But that’s neither here or there right now)
There's nothing like sitting in the same room as your ex and reading about the social constructionist critique of naturalistic theories of emotion to remind you just how screwed up your own emotions are.
