A Conversation Between Gods

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael lay upon a flat stone altar in the midst of Inari's sanctum on Exocron.

There were no worshipers about, no people to see him defile the alter of Moross' mother. That was likely a good thing, for Soliael was not wearing his mask. Indeed he looked like a regular man, his eyes glazed over and his body as normal as any other man. He seemed to shift slightly, getting more comfortable on the stone tablet, almost as though here were trying to sleep.

The false god let out a heavy sigh, his eyes fluttering closed. Amorella should be coming around any time now, checking on her sanctum for one thing or another. Soliael knew her schedule well enough that he could predict her movements, and she usually showed up here around now, usually.

The truth was that they had not talked in quite some time, not for any reason in particular, but both of them had been busy. Amorella had taken to diplomacy like a Bantha to the desert, and Soliael had all but disappeared into his research over the last few months, hardly being seen by god or mad. It was the way of things, though he suspected that she would be rather upset at his sudden appearance, especially since he was being rather...brash.

He let out another sigh and tapped the pocket of the coat hanging from the altar. Smiling, he hoped that what was there would sedate any anger she might have felt.

Soliael waited.
[member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Ereza]

Amore never would have considered herself predictable, but only because this wasn't something she often thought about. Typically her days were consistent, but not necessarily for herself so much as for the people. Vascious was gone on an exploratory mission and Soliael ... well, all things considered, he'd not proven to be a very consistent or even present leader. So with a measure of heavy obligatory duty Amore had taken up the mantle of running the Crusade.

This duty bred into her a daily routine that had apparently become predictable, but it wasn't something she was going to lose sleep over.

No, she'd lose sleep over things like her death replaying in her mind, the pain of her heart still on the mend, the confusion of this strange relationship growing between herself and Cameron, the fear of the Horde threat, the ache of her homesickness, the endless list of things requiring her attention, and the growing needs of their quickly expanding territory and populace. All this and more were taking its toll on her.

In the end, Amorella Mae Darke didn't have the spare energy to be angry. She was simply exhausted.

The entrance doors opened with a soft groan in the hours of early dawn and through them stepped the diminutive form of Aesir Inari. With her came a heavy presence of calm, quiet, something that accompanied her nigh every where she went anymore. It was no side effect of empathy, but merely an effect of her presence much like Soliael's father had once traveled with a cloud of dread and terror surrounding him. When she spied the lone figure at the far end of the hall lounging on the stone dais where she normal sat and meditated, it gave her pause.

Amore gently closed the hall entrance door behind her but not before ordering her White Guard to remain stationed outside.

She approached then, steps slow and barely making a sound, curiousity rising as she drew nearer.

"Soliael?" she tested, coming to a halt several feet before her shrine, an expression of concern hidden beneath her silver half mask, "Is something wrong?"

Why else would he be here? Ever since her rise to Aesir and moving out from his home in the city to her chambers above the Reviver's Hall, Soliael had made little effort to interact with her. Amore had thought him busy or otherwise involved. She'd tried on a few occasions to approach him before, but the timing had always been off. Sometimes she wondered if perhaps her presence offended him and so he kept his distance, or perhaps he never really cared at all. Either way, she found it best not to impose.

But now here he was, on her shrine of all places. Something had to be wrong.

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael opened his eyes as he heard footsteps, though he made no move to leave the alter. There was no reason to after all. His eyes slowly drifted to the side, spotting Amorella as she approached. A smile twinged his lips as she asked if something was wrong. That was a staple of hers, always being concerned about others, before even herself. Perhaps that was why she made a better god than him, why the people loved her so.

He was inherently a selfish being, caring only for the knowledge he gained and the skills he could learn. Amorella was different, she genuinely cared for the people of Moross, while he only made a show of it. The smile on his face faded, and loudly, he spoke.

“Yes.” His voice echoed in the empty hall as he slowly slid upright. His muscular form righted itself on the altar, and he looked his aunt in the eye. “I have wronged you Amorella.”

Soliael said the words quite easily, he had never much been one for pride, he knew full well what that could do to a person, and when he was wrong, he admitted it.

“I left you alone. I allowed the weight of a nation to fall on your shoulders...alone.” The admission stung him harder than he would have liked to admit, but it was true. For an intense and purposes Amorella had been running Moross entirely by herself, something that any normal being, would have already broken under. He blinked, obscuring orange eyes for a moment.

"For that, i can only say that i am sorry." He had no idea what to say next, an odd thing, coming from a God.

In truth he expected an outburst from her, anger and perhaps even rage. Moross had been his design, his creation, and yet he had neglected it. Oh he had still used its resources of course, he had been there on days of need, during Silken and Ceto, but he had been an Absent god. The people no longer saw him, and he doubted that anyone but the Resu even worshiped his name, though that did not matter. Their love he could regain, but could he do so with Amorella?
[member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Ereza]

"Yes."

Amore felt herself freeze. Oh Gods, she'd done something wrong. She'd crossed the line somewhere along the way ... but when? Had he been watching all along, simply observing her ability to lead? Amore wracked her brain, suddenly feeling very small and very, very young. For a moment she imagined her mother standing over Soliael, words of displeasure slowly and methodically leaking from her lips. Their eyes were so different but so much the same - how a bad look could make her cringe...

"I have wronged you Amorella."

What?

The woman blinked, realizing only then the tense grimace of anxiety wedged into her expression. The silver mask dug into her brow and cheeks, ever so uncomfortable. As he explained himself it shifted slowly into a weary sort of thing, "Sol..." Amore wrung her hands together within her sleeves, her chest was beginning to ache again with her heart beating so forcefully from the apprehension, "I thought ... that you hated me."

She made a strange move towards him, a gesture, a step, one that caught before it really began. His Aunt hung back, fighting a growing need to go to him. It was so hard, this practicing restraint. All she wanted was to embrace and be with her family, she missed them so much it hurt. Yet she couldn't help but feel he wouldn't approve.

Why. Why was it easier to simply approach and hug a man that had killed her than a man of her own ilk?

Perhaps it was because she had something to lose.

Emotional pressure reaching its boiling point, Amore gave a sharp intake of breath at the sudden sting of her heart. She reached up, clutching a hand over her bosom and winced, "It's so hard to talk to you, I don't know how."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael watched his aunt for a moment, his head quirking to the side slightly as if he was confused.

“Hate?” The word felt wrong on his tongue, strange due to his nature as a Sith. “No. Never hate. Not you, not my family.”

He had no cause to despise her, no reason. If anything he owed her greatly, owed her a nations worth of work he supposed. Slowly he reached over to his coat, dragging it onto the altar and dipping his hand into the inner pocket. From he pulled a large round object, enveloping it in his massive hand and hiding it from Amorella's view. He stood from the altar, orange eyes drifting over the room.

“I became lost Amore. Lost within my own little world.” He took slow methodical steps towards her. Not threatening of course, he would not dare put any amount of fear in her. But they were methodical, slow and thought out, as if he was trying to pace himself, as if walking towards her was a difficult task.

“Perhaps I believed myself the god that I claim to be. So lost within knowledge that i ignored the ones i loved” Of course that was not so, but it was close. “Or perhaps I became disillusioned with the lie that I created. Hating what i had forced you to become."

His steps halted, bringing him only a foot or so away from her. “Or perhaps, i am simply just not easy to talk to."

“I think I may have gotten that from my mother.” His face broke out into a smile, and slowly he held up his closed fist. It was a way of apology, something he had taken on one of his trips with Anaya, something he had been meaning to give to Amorella for months now, but never had.

“I have something for you, a way of beginning my apology.” Finger after finger peeled away to slowly reveal a beautiful Krayt Dragon Pearl.

 

[Ereza]

Amore shook her head slightly, wanting to tell Soliael that he'd not forced her to becoming anything. She'd done so of her own free and foolhardy will. If she had anyone to blame for her current circumstances, it was herself. That would suggest that she was unhappy, which, truly she was not. Just ... overwhelmed at times.

She did smile faintly at the comment on his mother. Yes, that could explain many things about him, though she didn't think on this long. Pale, tired blue eyes settled on the gleaming, beautiful proffered gift. Amorella moved forward, curious, heartbeat in her chest slowing and dulling.

"What is it?" she asked him, reaching out to stroke a finger across the glassy surface.

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

“A Krayt Dragon pearl.” Soliael said simply as he revealed the gem completely to her. To him it was a simple thing, the pearls were of course vastly expensive and difficult to acquire, given that in order to collect one you had to kill a Krayt Dragon. Thankfully, he and Anaya had killed several on their little jaunt to Tattooine and he had been intending to give this one to Amore for months now, but he had never found the time.

“It starts out as a normal stone.” Soliael explained, almost in a lecture. “The Krayt swallows the stone in order to help it digest food. Then over centuries of life the stone is ground, polished, and turned into a gem like this.”

His grin widened slightly, he didn't mention how he had acquired this particular stone, that amused him slightly. “Many Jedi seek them to place in their lightsaber, though for you...i thought perhaps you would have a piece of it fashioned into a necklace or something else.”

Soliael shrugged to her. What she did with the gift was up to her, though he knew she wouldn't be using it as a Lightsaber Crystal. That was part of what he like about Amorella, she did not fight. It was not because she was weak, just the opposite, her willpower was stronger than his in fact. She chose not to fight, chose to be somewhat of a pacifist.

And that was why he respected her.

She had done something that even he could not manage. She took the galaxy as it was, and decided not to fight it, but to work with it. Something that Soliael himself had long ago abandoned.
[member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Ereza]

Amore's eyes widened a fraction in partial disbelief and awe. She'd never heard of Krayt dragons before, so the gem held a bit more mystique to her than to someone accustomed with their stories.

"Thank you," her voice was soft as she carefully accepted the stone from him and turned it over in her hands. Its sheen was a lustrous blue with swirls of pale green, iridescent in the faint light of the morning sun. It would make a lovely centerpiece to a necklace or perhaps a ring.

She smiled, mentally bracing against her pain, and moved forward to reach up and embrace Soliael, arms around his neck, as tightly as she could muster. The real gift was his presence and knowing he still cared.

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael embraced the tiny woman, holding her loosely for a moment before noticing something...wrong.

She felt frail, tiny, fragile as a teacup. A frown covered his face for a moment, and slowly he parted himself from Amorella, releasing her tiny figure and looking down at her with vague concern in his eyes. He eyed her for a moment, his gaze shifting over her form as he tried to assess if anything was wrong with her. Unfortunately, he had no skill in healing, or anything related to it. If something was wrong, it was not obvious.

“Amorella...” He trailed off for a moment “Is there something wrong?”

He had heard of a slight...scuffle she had been in recently, but in truth he did not even know half the tale. It was a failing on his part. One of many.
[member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Ereza]

It took a moment for her to register his question. Was she crying again? The woman touched at her face to find it dry. Then what was he...?

"Oh..." a frail voice answered him, her expression falling. Amore couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye for she still held much shame and uncertainty about that terrible fate brought upon her by Mikhail Shorn. Truthfully she was more uncomfortable in telling Soliael then she had been with Cameron. Perhaps because, to her, Soliael was still such an unknown entity. As much as she liked to think she knew the man, she also knew there was much he kept hidden. Amore supposed that was the nature of the beast - no pun intended - in being the son of Quietus.

"Yes," she answered finally, gently clutching the pearl in one hand while brushing her hair from her face with the other, "and no."

A frown crossed her face as she turned away from the man and paced off several steps towards her shrine. She could still picture the fallen bodies of her White Guard, motionless in a lake of blood. Mikhail's face, gaunt with shock as she stood, how tightly he'd held her when she offered her forgiveness. To this day Amore wondered about the event. So many things unexplained...

"There was an intruder while you were gone. A man very powerful and very ... distraught."

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

“Distraught?” Soliael perked an eyebrow. What exactly did she mean by that? There were many ways of being distraught, and many ways of comforting the “distraught”. A frown settled on his face, and he was no longer sure he wanted to delve too deeply into Amorella's little tale.

After all what she did on her own time was her business.

“Did he harm you?” He decided to ask anyway.

Amorella was not one to fight, this was one of the things that Soliael admired within her. It also meant however that she was left vulnerable. Oh sure she had her guards, white cloaks and fancy training, but even they were no match for some of the dangers that they potentially faced out in this galaxy. If somebody had harmed her...well Soliael would be inclined to chase after the one who did, and that outcome would not be a pleasant thing at all.

Though he was the Keeper of Knowledge, Soliael did not shy away from a fight.
[member="Amorella Mae"]