A Different Kind of Silence

[Miria Lasedri]

Admittedly, Miria wasn't exactly supposed to be on her own. After all, Onderon was a planet largely unfamiliar to her, and she could very easily find herself lost or otherwise displaced. Then again, she wasn't supposed to do a lot of things she did anyway. It had been explicitly stated, or so she supposed it had been, given she had only been half-listening, that she wasn't to wander off without Gen or another's supervision. In her time living in the orphanage she had lived by much of the same principles, disregarding those rules specified and instead following her own whims and wishes. It had the possibility to reap unsavory rewards, but she never was the greatest at considering the long-term consequences. Such a thing could be attributed to her young age, or the general feeling of youthful invincibility that all those teenagers possessed.

It wasn't as if she was difficult to find if anyone came looking. Her extremely pale skin, white hair and silver eyes caused her to stand out from the crowd, not to mention the Ryn tail that currently swayed absently behind her as she walked. Yes, if someone were looking for her, they wouldn't have any trouble. And she didn't intend to give them any, not really. She had just become bored with the political side of things, and it really was that simple. So, as most teenagers were wont to do, she had decided to find her own method of entertaining herself. And for her that inevitably meant wandering off in search of more interesting ways to spend her time. It wasn't as if politics as a whole bored her, but she hadn't quite amassed the necessary amount of patience to sit through hours of talks before it was eventually time to retire. Not while she was this young, at least.

After all, it was so much more interesting to wander the city rather than wait around for her adopted mother to finish with whatever official business she was busy with this time. Iziz was much larger than the small towns she was accustomed to on Chandrila, and she found it all rather fascinating, truth be told. There were thousands of more people, more species, and far more places to explore. She could spend hours here, even days, and not get to every nook and cranny allowed her. It would take ages to fully examine a place that seemed so large to her, and she decided she wouldn't mind spending a wealth of time doing just that. If there was one thing that truly engaged her mind, it was finding new points of interest to both poke around and exploit later. It was unlikely anyone else would approve, but that wasn't what she was seeking.

No, what she was looking for was, strangely enough, a bit of quiet. For one who spent the majority of her life wrapped in a blanket of her own silence, sometimes that was just what she needed. The most powerful form of learning, after all, was through observation, something she had nearly mastered throughout her childhood. Large populations like this allowed her to utilize those abilities that much more freely. Even if she would stand out and immediately be spotted by passersby, she couldn't help her natural inclination to simply watch. The purest form of an individual was witnessed when one believed they were unseen. It was how she became acquainted with someone without ever saying hello. It was her own form of communication, a largely one-sided kind. And the quiet that inhabited her surroundings them was a different kind of silence. A thoughtful, retrospective kind.

The best place for this kind of thought wasn't highly populated areas, as most seemed to think. It was those out of the way cantinas and bars, those shops anyone rarely visited, spaceports whose only permanent residents were a few employees that jumped at the chance to speak to any spacer that happened to wander through on their long journey to nowhere. It was in the direction of one of those aforementioned spaceports she currently walked, eyes like liquid silver drinking in every little detail about her surroundings, from the way the people walked and talked to how the buildings stood and their exact relation to one another and the sky above. She was pensive, thoughtful. But most of all, she was quiet.

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

This was where ol' cousin Gen lived nowadays, from what Corvetta had understood. Imagine her, greasy bit of a smuggler pilot she was, related to the Prime Minister of the Galactic Republic! Of course, that probably meant Gen did not have any time for her, but she could hope, right? The Lost Cause had taken a detour to stop on by the wilderness world (Nothing much here, Corvetta knew.) and hopefully get a chance to reunite with that princess of a cousin she had. The flygirl had only met Geneviève a few times in her life, but she loved her. Whether Lasedri reciprocated hardly mattered to Salvo. She just liked people.

Ankles of her grimy, lucky cargo pants scraping along the ground with each footfall of her boots, the lifelong spacer sauntered out of the spaceport with that open gait that typified freighters and the like. She had her maroon jacket on to compliment the grease-smudged t-shirt covering her torso. This was a special occasion, after all--meeting with her politician cousin, if the wind blew right. But those goggles never left her crown, holding back the multicolored hair she sometimes had fixed here or there. It had been a while since she had gotten a hair cut or had her locks re-dyed.

Iziz was big, but it was small-time compared to pretty much every other major hub. Onderon was not a prime spot for spacers like Corvetta, so this visit in itself was somewhat of a rarity. Fingers crossed just to add a little more security to her gamble. Gen was usually in office here. It was not too much of a risk. But there was always that chance her raven-haired relative was off campaigning or doing whatever it is politicians do. None of that legal stuff really applied to Corvetta and her crew. They did what they wanted, usually.

Thus was the freedom of the smuggler. It was also a bit of a black mark on reputation with the more 'civilized' people of the galaxy. Everything had its pros and cons, though, in Corvetta's mind. Just think about the pros the most.

The sun gleamed off the glass of her goggles as she passed the security checkpoints and was on her way down the main walkway that connected spaceport to the actual city. Come on! Gen would totally love this surprise, right?

[member="Miria Lasedri"]

 

[Miria Lasedri]

It didn't seem as if Miria would be allowed to make her way entirely to the spaceport that had been designated as her next destination. As it happened, the woman walking towards her did enough to catch her attention and keep it held firmly rooted as their paths passed the other. For her credit she continued walking for a few moments afterwards, acting as if she hadn't perceived the stranger to exist in the first place. Shortly after, however, she turned on her heel, simply watching the woman with the dyed hair, that unique trait causing her to stand out among the crowd, though there wasn't anyone else around to make keeping an eye on her exponentially difficult. Tail twitching with curiosity and the prospect of having something to occupy her time with, she altered her course to once more walk in the direction of the city along that same walkway.

One thing that intrigued her nearly immediately about the other was what she had in common with her own adopted mother. Purple. Purple and silver. It was the latter color she had in common with the woman she considered her mom. It could have just as easily been a coincidence, but she was intelligent enough, even in her young age, to question such a fact. After all, that she happened to be arriving on the planet that the Prime Minister currently resided on was far from something that she could take in stride, especially after her previous observations. Her tendency to associate others with a color or set thereof was a strange one, but it often allowed her a glimpse into their personality that no others were privy to. It gave her an edge of sorts.

Perhaps she wouldn't be granted her own solitude and peace after all, though it was of her own consequence rather than the environment she found herself in. This stranger presented a challenge to her, if just to see how far she could follow the other until she was eventually spotted. And with her strikingly unique, if not bright, appearance, that likely wouldn't be long. Still, observation was the purest form of learning, especially when another believed themselves to be completely and entirely alone. It was when someone was pure, in a sense, entirely themselves and not putting on a front, making themselves appear far grander than they were in actuality. It was the lowering of these defenses, both physical and mental, that she had chanced to witness in times before through this same sort of stealth.

What she would have ultimately wished was a chance to speak with the woman, to confirm if her observations were true, and pry further into her personal thoughts and wishes. To see if her assumption in the relation between this woman and her mother was true, or if the entire thing was wrought in falsity. Not a sister. They aren't close enough for that. Their colors are too different. Maybe a cousin. Maybe nothing. For a teenager she was certainly inquisitive, and perhaps overly so, in some respects. But that same curiosity allowed her to maintain her sense of higher intelligence, giving her the opportunity to further herself in ways that many others couldn't manage, politically as well. After all, it was politics that had interested her in the first place, and with her adopted mother's position she was given ample chance to continue to cultivate her interest.

Who are you?

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

Iziz had built itself up quite a bit over the past few centuries, in spite of numerous setbacks and ceaseless galactic troubles. And while Corvetta rarely ventured out this way, she could already tell a bit of a change in things. It was pretty crazy to get to watch as a place evolved itself from that little wilderness place with one big city... to that little wilderness with one big city that was arguably one of the most important in all the galaxy. That suited her cousin just fine in the pilot's mind, considering the air of some sort of excellence her nearest relative of identical generation regularly exuded. Corvetta was definitely proud of Gen, even if this political stuff she was now the center of made zero to no sense to the smuggler. She supposed they could very well just be sitting around a big room passing around elaborately-worded documents to sound super smart, and it would not change a thing for her. Kudos to Gen if she could play with the big boys! This little spacer would never understand it.

She continued along her path, eyes establishing a hold on that magnificent government structure that was practically brand new. Gen's house. Also the Senate's house, but those thousands of politicians mattered little to a freighter pilot. She was a free bird, so they had little influence on her aside from the taxes and tariffs she paid--and what she could sell on some worlds or just get away with selling on others. Wish most spaceports looked like that.

Pausing in her tracks, Corvetta procured her datapad from her coat's pocket and flicked through some screens, trying to get an idea of where she would need to travel in order to end up at Gen's house. The ludicrousness of the scene was not in the fact that she was actually needing to use a navigation device to find her way about a city that had only a century or two ago been composed of just a few huts and the like, but the underlying fact that Corvetta could not read. Sure, she could read a map. But there were addresses involved in finding where exactly she needed to be to even have a chance at running into her famous relative.

Her head raised to attention and submerged into deep thought intermittently, trying to save face in a crowd of people who probably could not have cared enough to even notice her dilemma. The pilot whirled around, scanning the throngs of people for someone who seemed like she could dupe into giving her something so simple as directions. Well, there was one person who immediately stood out. Snow white hair and a tail to go with it. Young, and just standing there placidly. This girl would do.

So she strode over to her hopeful savior and made a friendly wave. She never once thought that she might come off as some creep being so friendly like that. It was just her nature to be that way; be outgoing and just amiable in general. Besides, who creeps like that, anyway? Corvetta had certainly never known a creep of that sort. "Hey there! You wouldn't happen to know the box I can see the, uh... Minister from, would ya? I've kinda never been here since they chocked that thing up." Yep. Corvy was spacer, through-and-through.

[member="Miria Lasedri"]

 

[Miria Lasedri]

If there was any confirmation needed in the way of just why this woman wasn't like her mother in the least, it was that one inquiry. That wasn't to say she necessarily disrespected her just because of the inflection of her words and the casual manner in which she spoke, but it was certainly a drastic change from the usual eloquence and high-mindedness that often accompanied those within the Senate itself. Even the children spoke with a sort of tone that set them apart from most, causing individuals such as this to stand apart. And, well, people like her. It was awfully difficult to determine one's cadence of voice when they rarely uttered a word under most typical circumstances. It didn't leave her much room to talk, not that Miria really did in the first place.

A solitary blink was her only immediate response, but that was more so due to her not understanding what jargon had been added to the question in the first place. Slowly her hands drew up from her sides as she began to sign, all the while entirely unsure if she would be properly understood, 'I can show you, yes.' A pause, and a slight mischievous smile, barely visible, blossomed on her lips, 'Or I could take you to her house instead.' That might have been more telling of her exact relationship with the Prime Minister than she would have liked, but it certainly did do it's job with surprising people. After all, not many had the privilege to know exactly where the leader of the Galactic Republic lived. Not unless you were said individuals daughter, adopted or no.

Besides, Gen wouldn't really mind too much, would she? Especially not if the two were related, as she was beginning to suspect more and more. Family had seemed a sparse thing in her mother's life, and she thought she would only be doing a favor by bringing one of her relatives straight to her front door. Perhaps then she could learn more of the figure that had adopted her, such as just where she hailed from in the galaxy and how her childhood had been in comparison to her own. Details like that had been missing between the pair for some time, and she was more than a little curious. Maybe this would open up that well of unknowing just wide enough for her to glimpse inside, even if it only was for an hour or so. It was better than simply not knowing.

'Are you her sister, or something? You two are...alike.' Okay, that might have been a bit of a stretch, but there was a similarity there that lingered beneath the surface, and it was something even she couldn't deny. To the untrained eye it wouldn't be blatant in the least, but to one so well adapted to simple observation it was as obvious as anything. The way she walked and the somewhat awkward manner in which she had approached was telling of just where her gene pool lay. It reminded her of her first meeting with the one she would grow to call her mother in the alleys of Chandrila. That conversation had gone similarly, though the end result had been a fraction different. Still, a sort of uncertainty lingered. And it was that upon which she based her assumption.

After a moment she began walking, her pace slow and yet confident in just where her destination was. It would be a few blocks until they reached her house, so hopefully what comments and questions had been raised would serve well enough for conversation until their eventual arrival. Then she would have to deal with something else entirely, that namely being Gen's of yet undocumented reaction to her daughter showing up with a woman she didn't exactly know who had wanted to see the Prime Minister, and more than likely had intended to do so in the Senate building itself. But, like her mother, she had never been one to do things by the book, and this was no different. Hopefully no one would be too upset.

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

So, maybe asking a kid for directions was not the smartest thing Corvetta had ever done. Not that anyone could have predicted the strange response proffered by the teenager. The pilot stopped in her tracks as the girl began making several gestures that could have been gang signals for all this offworlder knew, though they were developed in rapid succession and she assumed the hand symbols were either a form of sign language or a string of very rude insults. Corvetta was guessing the latter after noting the devious smile that crept its way onto the kid's face. Well, so much for friendly people. There was probably a good reason no one really cared much about Onderon.

But then the girl began motioning with an expectant sort of demeanor, and Corvetta was beginning to get the hint that maybe those were not actually inaudible curse words after all. Okay, I get it. You're deaf... The brunette watched as her white-haired guide moved her hands in more fluent patterns that probably meant something notable but whose meanings were entirely lost on the flygirl. Still, she did not want to look stupid. So she began miming back, hoping she looked like she knew what she was doing.

Then the girl was on the move, and Corvetta accelerated to catch up and then established pace beside the tailed teen. The whipping of fabric against fabric kept time with her gait as the legs of her cargoes brushed with the back-and-forth of each stride. She was going somewhere. She was on a mission.

Wait. What was she doing following this random, so far anonymous person? She had no idea if the girl had understood her inquiry, much less if she was not about to be strung along to who-knows-where even if she had been interpreted correctly. Well, she was probably not getting lost--or, at least, not as lost as she might have been on her own. Maps were cool and all, but Corvetta needed the paint-by-numbers version. In space, she could practically make up whatever routes she wanted with a little bit of regional cartography and a lot of memory on hand. But traveling around a big city could be interesting.

"So, uh... Is that the Senate building dead 'head?" she asked, pointing at the huge, domed structure looming a few kilometers before them. Hopefully she got this one right.

[member="Miria Lasedri"]