Absentee Dad

[Judah Lesan Jr.]

JJ and Kes had not been that far behind Judah and Magena, but enough that they were not there in time to stop his father from killing Dothan. The conversation was missed which led to the action, so JJ had no context. All that he knew was that he watched his father kill a man in cold blood.

He froze. JJ tried to say something but couldn’t. His eyes shifted to Kestrel and if he could have, JJ would have walked out of the room. The shock kept him from doing that.

“What the... dad, you just killed that guy... walked up and just ran him through? What was that?”

When JJ finally managed to say something it was laced with frustration, anger, and shock. His father was not this man. He was always running off, but he was not a cold hard killer. Eyes moved to the other Zeltron in the room. Magena Dray, Kestrel’s mom. He suddenly felt awkward for her. This meeting was not going to be easy, and Judah had only made it worse.

“What is going on here? You seriously didn’t leave those breadcrumbs just so we could see you kill a guy? Help me out here Kes...”

[member="Judah Lesan"] | [member="Magena Dray"] | [member="Kestrel Dray"]​

 

[Amz]

Everything they were seeing was troubling and Kestrel felt more distant from her Master now, more than ever.

Her tongue wet her lips as she tried to form the questions that were stuck in her mind, into words.

It was a surprise, a very unwelcome one, to see Magena. She could barely recall any memories they had together, and the last time they had seen each other was that day on Tatooine. Growing up those few early years in space, made that dry desert heat seem even more exceptionally cruel as her mother's ship flew off with Kenara. The separation from her twin had been more taxing than a long day of work for Tavid, and harder than the sting of his palm on her face. But she'd been told that it was needed, that it was unavoidable. Maybe it had been. Kestrel sometimes made up stories in her mind for all the good reasons why they could not be together. But that lost connection was harder to bear each year.

Of course, over time, she realized there was no reason at all.

Magena had left bother her daughters to live with horror, fear, and abandonment. Kestrel was lucky enough that Judah had paid off her debt, and taken her in.

Now, Judah and Magena were together...but she had no intention of prying Magena for answers. She didn't care.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," she said calmly, feeling her stomach do a flip. "I'm sure you did everything you could to keep him alive. That there was no other way...?" Kestrel didn't have faith in the answer.

[member="Judah Lesan Jr."]

 

[Judah Lesan]

Judah was about to answer Magz when he heard the familiar voice of his son bellowing through the room, as shocked as he should have been. His eyes locked with his own, then turned to Kes. Her eyes were set on her mother. There was a certain pain and anger mixed in them, something that Judah always knew resided inside. The resentment was strong, but now Judah seemed to be feeling it aimed toward him a bit as well. He had never told Kestrel about the nature of his relationship with her mother, other than they knew each other. Now it seemed everything was going to come out at once, a scenario Judah had not intended when he left the crumbs.

"You're early," he said to JJ and Kestrel. "And she is right, there is more here than it seems. The killing was justified. Now, you two, Magena has a son locked in the brig here, and we need to save him."

It was all Judah would say as he led the way. He knew soon enough they both would realize this brother was a shared brother between them. If he was anything like either parent, he would be strong in the force and carry a certain signature that would mark him as both. His features would betray Judah as the father, the picture was in Judah's mind that they would anyway. He sighed as he looked at Magena and dropped an answer to her question, and one of his own, into her mind.

"I don't know what difference it would have made for us, but it might have made a difference for him. I won't pretend that I had unrealistic expectations back then. I was in love with you for crying out loud. You're right. we will hash it out later, but what are telling them about our son? They're going to figure it out?"

[member="Kestrel Dray"] | [member="Judah Lesan Jr."] | [member="Magena Dray"]