Private C'est La Vie

[Fiolette Fortan]

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Fiolette couldn't tell you the last time she saw her niece, all she could tell you was that the last time she saw her - the First Order was practically going up in flames. A traitor to all that the Galidraani noble class- the upper lip of society and all that they held dear. Fiolette was a renegade, a ruinous rebel to her family and the class of society they came from. A heart made of stone, cold as ice - Fiolette didn't give two flying kriffs. It showed. It showed as she walked down the streets of one of Galidraan's many cities. She had a meeting with Natasi Fortan but not anywhere where either of them had an advantage. No, Fiolette insisted that they meet at a seaside cottage - rented, borrowed for the moment, located off the North Caernarvon Sea sometimes called the Black Caernarvon Sea. ​

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Far away from Herevan, far away from Thames, far from where either preferred to roam on Galidraan. Fiolette reached inside her jacket and withdrew the cigarra case and took one out. Redhair mixed with a sweet silver and a bit of white that made up ol' Iron Lady's hair. Body built up from almost nothing, Fiolette lifted, fought and sparred these days anything to feel alive. Feel something, her two kids were close by, very close, Iaacen in a hot sling snug against his mother while his sister walked beside their mother. Sunglasses with the aviator look. Black shirt, henley in style fitted loosely over her belt and slacks.​

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Her jacket hung over her henley as she looked at her son and then the cigarra. ​

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The old Fortan would wait for her niece at the cottage, the cottage that now became visible from the horizon. ​

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Roundabout fifteen minutes later, and Fiolette had entered the cottage, a quick four-bedroom little spot, two baths. She worked to get Aerys settled, and Iaacen down for a nap and then took her seat in the living room. The cottage was out of the way, personal security knew the location and set up their patrols. A fleet at her beck and call, paramilitary to boot she settled into the recliner, leather from the feel of it. And took the opportunity to light up her cigarra, scarred up hands from the Battle of Kintan, scarred up arms from the ol' Dubrillion battle. Scars on her face from Omega, azure eyes settled their gaze on the door as she took in drag and felt the burn of the chemicals... She exhaled the smoke and waited. ​

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[Natasi Fortan]

The sweet smell of the North Caernarvon Sea greeted Natasi as she rolled down the window of the landspeeder. It was familiar, reminding her of the holidays she had spent with her parents and Mathes in her childhood along the coast. She was alone today, and quite incognito, though she could tell that the head of her security detail was not thrilled by the idea. Natasi had convinced him that her aunt was trustworthy, if only as far as her personal safety went. It wouldn't make sense for Fiolette to claw her way into the Netherworld and drag Natasi out of it only to send her right back in. Even Fiolette, not known for her compassion or soft-heartedness, wouldn't be so cruel to her daughter as to help her achieve her dearest goal and then reverse the process.

Natasi Fortan pulled the rim of her oversized sunglasses down and peered out at the cottage. This was the place, all right. Natasi pushed her glasses up and then pulled out a compact to check her appearance. Her features were largely obscured by the glasses, and her hair covered by a plain but luxuriant silk scarf. To further throw off the scent, Natasi wore a bold shade of crimson lipstick, something she would ordinarily never wear herself.

What Fiolette would do today -- which way she would jump -- Natasi couldn't fathom, but she was interested to find out. The wildcard of the Fortan family tree could always be relied upon to make things interesting. Sometimes there was a body count involved, but Natasi thought it was unlikely today. There was a time that Natasi had detested her aunt; any discussion of a meeting would have been laughed out of the room. Time had mellowed Natasi, tempered her feelings. It helped that Fiolette was no longer in a position to betray her. Natasi and Fiolette had been disarmed; they could no longer hurt each other.

Well, not much.

"Enough stalling," she chided herself aloud, snapping the visor mirror shut. Natasi levered the door open and stepped out onto the drive, picking up her handbag before shutting the door and locking it with the key fob. Tucking the key into her bag, she took one last look around before slipping the bag's handles onto her wrist. She approached the door, smoothing the simple sheath dress and coat she wore, then pushed the doorbell button to alert the occupants of the cottage that they had a visitor.

Fiolette Fortan

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

Ding. Dong.​

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Fiolette rose to her feet and set her jacket on the back of the recliner, she padded across the hardwood floors. Boots were rough on the otherwise polished look of the place. She turned the handle and opened the door, the cigarra between her fingers as she sidestepped. She motioned for Natasi to enter the cottage and shut the door behind Natasi. Fio placed the cigarra between her lips and headed for the window peering out briefly before conducting another check. ​

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"I'd offer you a drink, but the place is clean dry - unless you happen to like a glass of the finest Juna Juice this side of the galaxy." Fio gestured toward the fridge in the otherwise bare kitchen. The boots added height to Fio not that she really needed it but she stood at least three inches taller as opposed to the usual two, over her niece. "You can use the bathroom if you wanna, uncake yourself, or not - up to you." Offered the older of the two women as she motioned to the face. ​

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She placed the cigarra between her lips as she took a drag and settled into the recliner. "Looking better than the last time I saw you, which, if memory serves..." Her voice trailed off as she relished the chemical high from the cigarra, "was just better than dead." Fio offered a wink and a half-smile as she leaned over and grabbed the ashtray off the coffee table and set it on the arm of the recliner. Fio dusted the ashes off the cigarra into the tray and looked at her niece again. The woman relaxed in the recliner and waited for Natasi to get comfortable. ​

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"So."​

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The hazy smoke lifted off the cigarra as she took yet another drag, Fio's lips curled, "Ariel's placed you on the throne has she?"​

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"Must be nice," she added as smoke unfurled from her lips.​

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Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi looked up when her aunt opened the door. She was always surprised by her aunt's appearance, since she had traded in her dignified, white-haired appearance for that of a woman half her age. Good for her, Natasi thought wryly. Fiolette greeted her in silence, so Natasi responded in kind. Perhaps the old woman thought they were being watched or eavesdropped upon, so Natasi didn't challenge it. Instead, she nodded a gracious thanks and stepped between her aunt and the door, wandering into the cottage.

She took off her sunglasses and tucked them into her handbag carefully as she waited for Fiolette. Her aunt offered her the use of the facilities, which Natasi declined politely. "Thank you, but no," she said quietly, instead following Fiolette through to her seating area. She clasped her handbag with both hands as she surveyed the room before her gaze fell once more upon Fiolette.

"I feel much better than that, too," Natasi said pleasantly, and it was true. Resurrection was murder on the Galidraani noblewoman. She still didn't know if it was getting used to a physical body again, or the sheer pressure of being a mortal again, or even the new friend she seemed to have brought with her from the Netherworld, but the long and short of it was that she had been sick for weeks following her resurrection. "Thank you, again, for your part in that plan. It can't have been easy to wade into the Netherworld, especially... well." Her voice fell off with an enigmatic smirk. The least said about that the better, she thought.

The former Grand Admiral settled into a recliner. Natasi stood, not having received an invitation to sit and not wanting to make assumptions, especially around her aunt Fiolette. She fixed her aunt with a curious gaze, considering the woman's commentary. She pressed her lips together for a moment and then smiled. "That's right," Natasi replied pleasantly. "It's pleasant enough, I suppose. It is nice to have a purpose and a role where I can be of service. Ariel and I work well together; we have complimentary strengths and weaknesses. Your daughter has a remarkable force of personality, Fiolette."

She paused a moment, then bowed her head lightly. "I heard about your separation from -- Ms. Raaf? I'm afraid I don't know all the intricacies of the Sith Imperials' titles." Natasi sighed softly. "I'm sorry it didn't work out. Are you all right?"

Fiolette Fortan

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

Fio settled into the recliner and then realized Natasi was still standing, "go on, have a seat, somewhere - you look like you're about to keel over out of locked knees alone." Fio plunged the cigarra into the ashtray without much of a second thought, she pushed the black sleeves of her shirt up and ran a hand through her hair pushing the loose strands out of her face. A slight chuckle, more a hrmph if anything when Natasi mentioned Ariel's rather forceful personality. "Kid grew up somewhere between one empire and another, and most of it at the hands of either Lucy or yourself."​

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The older Galidraani was under no assumption that Ariel's upbringing had anything to do with her. The youngest of her brood with Josef had been bounced around more times than anyone cared to count. Natasi brought up Taeli and Fio was a little surprised by it but replied nonetheless matter-of-factly, "yeah."​

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"Made peace with the idea that she loved her power more than anything else," It wasn't a point to argue anything, it was the acceptance in her tone. "But I think what got me most was how she treated Aerys." Fio's gaze moved somewhere in the distance as she thought about it. "Aerys is my second child with Taeli, but she wasn't sensitive in the Force. A failure as far as Taeli saw things never quite gave Aerys the same kind of attention that she gave Nerralyn."​

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"I've told Aerys that you don't need the Force. I didn't need it, Ariel doesn't, and well, for the most part, you didn't either," and that much to the day had been true. Neither of the women mentioned had been gifted in the Force and yet each one managed to carve a path out for themselves. Fio's expression reflected her feelings, "so, I did what I had to, and here we are." There was more to it, "plus, of course, the Sith's idea of how to treat Imperials might've added to it all, I suppose." ​

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Fiolette's gaze focused on Natasi and she studied her niece, there was then the unspoken truth. The truth of the Netherworld, the truth that well - that's exactly where Fiolette would end up. She had cheated death at least three times over by now, "but I didn't ask you out all this way just to ask how the eighty-year-old is managing after a divorce from a woman half her age."​

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"I asked you out all this way, because by now I thought you would have been resettled back into the land of the living. Ariel's schemes aside, that and our little trip in the Netherworld." Exposed more of Fiolette's past than she'd thought would be necessary.​

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Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi took a quick glance around the room and then perched on the edge of a chair nearby, smoothing her skirt under her as she sat and perfecting her 'Duchess slant' before resting her handbag on her knees.

The younger Fortan woman knew that Fiolette wouldn't go to pieces over something so pedestrian as a divorce. She'd discarded more personal relationships than Taeli Raaf in her decades on the mortal plane: her parents, her siblings, her niece, her daughters, her husbands, multiple nations. That didn't mean that she was immune to heartache. Even Fiolette, Iron Pants herself, had a heart in there, somewhere. Deep inside. Very deep. Deep, deep, deep. That Fiolette seemed perturbed by neglectful and abusive behavior by a parent was proof enough that something within her had changed, at least as far as her own children were concerned.

"We've always known how the Sith tend to treat people. I suppose it was expecting too much for Raaf to be any different," Natasi agreed with a grave frown. "I have such worries about what will become of Galidraan. It's... why I'm here," Natasi replied in response to her commentary on the Sith Eternal's treatment of imperials. Even if Fiolette wasn't bothered, Natasi's concerned extended beyond her fellow imperials to everyone who wasn't deemed immediately useful by the Sith Eternals. "There are people arraying themselves for leadership positions that are Galidraani but their ideas... their vision for what this planet needs. Ideologically more similar to a Gand than a true Galidraani," she sniffed disdainfully.

It was true that Natasi's Galidraan was perhaps not the same as all Galidraani, but there had been a time where they were united by tradition and honor and common cause. It seemed like the more Galidraanis became elevated to the galactic stage, the less true to the old ideals the group seemed. "But that's neither here nor there, I suppose," she said. It was hard to say on what side of this ideological struggle Fiolette might land on. She was equal parts 'us' -- aristocracy -- as she was 'them' -- rebels and iconoclasts, and of all her many impressive skills and traits, loyalty was not among them.

"I don't know how much 'settled' is the right term," Natasi said slowly. "I'm certainly becoming readjusted to living. I'm coming to understand that it is -- more blessing than curse, but certainly some of each." She lofted her eyebrows and folded her hands around her handbag, trying to formulate a question. Finally she said: "Speaking of... that day: I've been wondering, since then... why you? It seems unlikely that you were there just to please Ariel." Natasi offered her aunt a knowing smile. "The only thing less likely is that you were burning to resurrect me. So I'm curious as to your motivations."

Fiolette Fortan

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

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Fiolette was perhaps the most Sith-like of the family. Watching out for numero uno since the day she had been told who she would marry, who she would produce an heir for. It was like something inside just snapped and since then, she's used everything she had to gain what she wanted and here she sat across from her niece. Her niece who sat so prim, so proper that Fiolette thought she was staring down Old Dowager Fortan herself, kriff. The older woman rolled her head between her shoulder shoulders gently. Eyes closed as she let the smile form on her lips.​

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She listened to Natasi speak on a few subjects, and of course the mention of the Galidraani Insurrection. "Complicated," she answered as her eyes slowly opened. Blue eyes settled their gaze once more on Natasi's eyes. "On the one hand, I want Galidraan to stand on its own - to push back the filth that are Sith because we bloody well can. However, I know that which you speak, the Barrans and the Tals - brutal men and women, yes." They were necessary, necessary to fight the Sith with the same amount of cruelty they had displayed against Imperials. ​

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"Galidraan has been heading for this change for years, Natasi."​

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"I heard it rumbled when I was girl, I saw it push up to the surface as I left the only place I had ever known - and here and now it is erupting."​

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"Galidraan will not look like what you and I knew it as when this is over, it will look quite different but it will be for the better," added Fiolette who still held that gaze, the smoke-filled haze had disappeared and her blue eyes had never been brighter. "However, we are Fortans and that must be the reminder to our nation, so if there is an inclination within you that wishes to see something of our old life remain then you must represent it, fight for it, and become part of the change." Fiolette wanted Galidraan to be free, at any cost. ​

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That much was evident in the tone of her voice. Fiolette drew in a breath and continued as she exhaled, "otherwise, were I you, I would not fret the happenings of a distant world - no matter how close it is to your heart." A delicate undertone emerged as she went on, "for you must know that between your elegance and Ariel's forcefulness, Dosuun has been transformed. It stands to be as Galidraan as Thames, Calavar or the small towns right along the North Carnervron." ​

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The smile that Fiolette wore only grew when Natasi inquired as to her own motivations for walking into the Netherworld on that fateful day. The old Admiral leaned forward, and answered plainly, "we needed someone who you knew, and knew well - so in the practical sense there were two choices. Myself, or Ariel, now, on the surface Ariel might have made the better choice - but why gamble away the First Order's future?"​

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Or Fiolette's lineage. ​

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Fiolette was slightly hurt by the idea that she was less likely to want Natasi back, however; she could somewhat understand why her niece felt the way that she felt. "Political machinations aside, I knew how much you meant to Ariel and how much you meant to me." Fiolette let out a heavy sigh, "there are a lot of regrets I have in my life, prices I paid to gain the power that I have now." It all stacks up. "Every person betrayed, every nation sent on its heels and down on its backside by one plan or another - people were involved. People that I cared about, that I loved who I knew would be hurt by what I saw as something I had to do."​

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"That includes you, Natasi."​

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Her gaze was unflinching, her voice didn't waver in some nonsensical guilt - but rather a very open and sincere reverb in her voice. Fiolette didn't cry but it seemed that her gaze went past Natasi. "There are days that I replay the events in my head and wonder what would have happened if I played it differently."​

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She shook her head and pursed her lips, she only wished that she had a beer on hand.​

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"I went in there, Natasi, because I wanted you back as much as Ariel."​

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"You are the best of this family," there was a softness there, "you, you took the system that we grew up in and you turned it on its head, you took any system, any rules that were presented to you and you played it until it bowed to you. You did it with grace, with dignity, and even when life threw you every red card play it had. You stood there and did what you had to."​

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Fiolette hadn't noticed the single tear that had escaped. "So, yes, it was me, and I thought... I thought that it would be appropriate to lay down my life in exchange for yours." Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. So too, did Fiolette believe that there had been no greater love for her family than to lay down her life for theirs. ​

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Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi shook her head slowly, her eyes rolling upwards in annoyance. It wasn't at Fiolette (not this time). Rather it was at these upstarts who were circling Galidraan like sharks around bloody. Galidraan had survived hundreds of years in the time-honored traditions observed by the Fortans, and along came these revolutionaries, these firebrands trying to co-opt the. The only reason it was worth anything to co-opt was because of her forefathers -- and not just hers, but the other great families that for good or for ill had dominated Galidraan's history.

There was something unjust about letting other people do the work of creating and building only to swoop in after the hard work was done to take control of it. She inclined her head and shook it gently. "If Galidraan chooses these... people," Natasi declared imperiously, "then that is Galidraan's choice. I have no moral obligation to support a regime that would harm myself and my children. Perhaps I should simply liquidate and sell up. Our investments are diversified enough that we won't run out of funds, so..." She shrugged her delicate shoulders. "We'll have to take it as it comes, I suppose."

The Supreme Leader settled back into the seat she was in more comfortably now; Fiolette seemed -- if not friendly or even conciliatory, then at least not snarling. In fact, Natasi found herself somewhat taken aback by the woman's words. They seemed genuine, too. Her fingers fiddled with her bracelet as she processed the woman's words, her gaze lingering on the wall behind Fiolette's recliner.

Natasi was touched -- rather unexpectedly so. "That's very nice, if you mean it," said Natasi. She was not used to seeing Fiolette in an altruistic or friendly light. "I'm glad it didn't come to your life or mine, in any event," the Supreme Leader said politely, her gaze wavering slightly as her eyes shone amber with emotion. "But now that I'm here -- the land of the living, I mean -- is there something specific in mind that you hoped to achieve?"

Fiolette Fortan

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

Quietly, almost too quietly, "no."​

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"I have no motivation for what I had done, other than wanting to see you returned to this life," she felt the fabric of the recliner against her back. The fingers of her right hand touched her chin delicately. Her eyes were empty, vacant almost for a moment, and then she looked over toward Natasi. She chewed along the inside of her bottom lip, "you died much too young, and with so much left to do."​

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"Times have changed, and the galaxy with it but it needn't mean that you could not change with it."​

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"Raise your family, Natasi. Enjoy the splendors of life, reign as you should over the realms in which you and my daughter foster in your care," her voice was clear, and as she sat up in the chair. There was something about the way she sat, the way Fiolette brushed the loose strands of red and silver hair out of her own face. "Leave Galidraan where it will, it is not your concern, not mine either - our family's legacy is no more tied to this patch of dirt than it is to Dosuun."​

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Fiolette's gaze sharpened on Natasi, "our legacy, what we leave behind is how we lived, and what we did while we were alive."​

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"You, you, my dear, as I have said have been the best among us all, be sure that that greatness does not end with you," Fiolette leaned forward and looked toward her niece. Blue eyes once more softened, "I realize that affection in our family is scarcely spoken of, and almost rarely shown."​

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"A mistake..."​

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The older woman drew in a breath and exhaled, "I love you, Natasi. I am proud of what you have accomplished in this life and the last."​

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"I would say that one day I will no longer be here and that you would become the Matriarch of this family, but..." Fiolette's voice lingered a moment as she drew her attention away. Her eyes shut for a moment, flushing the tears from where they had all but promised to fall. Fall they did, and when Fiolette opened her eyes again she added, "you already are, and always have been, my dear."​

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Fiolette could feel death, it was so much like a memory, and to that end she would ensure that her current children. Aerys and Iaacen remained with their sisters, remained in the care of those who knew what it was like to be human. To be in touch with their emotions, she exhaled, another sigh of relief. "We are Fortans, and we will always look to the future, ever onward unto dawn."​

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Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi opened her mouth, then closed it again and remained silent for a few moments before she inhaled and tried again. "I was going to say I didn't mean it like that," she said quietly. "But I did mean it like that. Perhaps subconsciously I can't conceive of an altruistic Fiolette." She offered a smile, equal parts apologetic and sad. The truth was she had never truly understood Fiolette. Natasi Fortan had, for the last two decades of her life (give or take), viewed the galaxy through the lens of the First Order. It had been a third parent, a child before she'd had her own, a spouse. It had been Natasi Fortan herself. Thus, Fiolette's betrayal of it had been a betrayal of Natasi herself, and she had found it difficult to forgive.

But what she had come to realize only in death was that Fiolette had her own lens to look through. They would never see things exactly the same way. Fiolette's motivations may not have been to hurt Natasi. She had not even, perhaps, been motivated by hatred.

"If the galaxy can change and if I can change, then I should not have assumed that you couldn't change," she said by way of apology. "I don't know that I could leave Galidraan, truly leave it. I've left it many times, but I've always been there. Its borders lie around my heart more than around a specific system. But perhaps it is time to draw a line under it all. Mama and Papa are gone. Pierce and Imogen are gone. Auntie Hyacinth. Talbot's family would prefer not to see me, since I was, apparently, single-handedly responsible for his death. The girls don't really seem to consider Galidraan home. So, Herevan -- " She sighed heavily. It broke her heart to think of abandoning Herevan. " -- is it such a great loss?"

She frowned gravely, looking to one side to avoid allowing Fiolette to see the emotion building in her eyes. It wasn't just the thought of losing Herevan; her words had such an impact. She discreetly reached into her handbag and drew a monogrammed handkerchief. She dabbed at the corner of her eye and finally looked balefully at her aunt. "If Granny could see us now, she's hit us in the shins with her stick." She laughed into her kerchief.

Fiolette Fortan

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

The sound of rain against the window drew Fiolette's attention if only temporarily. Fiolette only offered a half-smile, "and I would not fault you." In honest, there weren't many people who could. "Altruism isn't something that I've been acquainted with - at least not until recently." Her voice was quiet again, she studied her niece's features as the younger woman spoke. She noted the smile that was equal parts apologetic and sad. Fio returned it with a warm smile that for once was kind. ​

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"I'll give you one thing, Fortans are a rather stubborn lot so, change doesn't necessarily come easily to our family." They also knew how to hold onto a grudge. The rain continued to pour over the cottage, heavier now, slightly. Fiolette wouldn't fault anyone for having a grave distaste, or great disdain for her being. Natasi's tone shifted - the sadness was there even if she hadn't intended to show it. Fio picked up on the shift, she settled back into her chair but not all the way. Relaxed she leaned into the recliner's left side and listened to her niece intently.​

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Names of their dead, Ferrathias. Fiolette thought, not that her son had ever truly called Galidraan home.​

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Granny was blunt, if well-meaning. "It doesn't have to be." The cogs in the old Admiral's mind were turning.​

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The rain fell heavier still, filling the silence between them. "Sticks to the shins notwithstanding..." her voice trailed off as she began to think. There formed a look in her eyes as the older woman pushed her hair away from her face once again. "What if, what if we took Herevan, Foxfield, and anything else, anyone else who will go with you to Dosuun?" ​

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Natasi Fortan ​

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[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi studied her aunt for a few moments, the cogs in her head turning as she considered what Fiolette had just asked her.

"You can't mean..." said Natasi, but her voice fell off when she realized that 'can't' and 'shouldn't' weren't words that fit neatly into Fiolette's vocabulary -- or Natasi's, for that matter. Both had passed this attitude on to Ariel Yvarro. Was Fiolette really considering to relocate Herevan and Foxfield Park to Dosuun? How could that happen? How could it possibly be achieved?

She shook her head in disbelief, a mixture of perplexity and pleasure on her face. She couldn't really fathom how it could be accomplished, but her aunt might well have a plan in place.

"How?" Natasi asked, sitting forward excitedly. "Is this just a lark, or have you given some thought as to how you could do it?" She frowned thoughtfully, her dark eyes glimmering with excitement. "Is there a way to do it without offending the Sith Eternal and the New Imperials? I find it hard to believe that either of them would even care, except for the public relations black eye one or the other would get, depending on who controls the planet's political powerbase at the time?"

Fiolette Fortan

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

"A lark? Perish the thought," Fiolette looked at Natasi and involuntarily her jaw clenched as she thought about how to word what she was considering. Fiolette had the technology and money to accomplish the movement, "in my time with the First Order, I developed many projects but very few came to fruition, one of them was a play on the old Starkiller Base, however..." Cogs continued to turn within the old Admiral's mind. She then gestured her hands open as she thought aloud. "What if I retrofitted those designs to fit a more humanitarian purpose?"​

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Hands closed together as if she might pray but they moved to the arm rests of the recliner as she shifted her weight, "utilizing a variety of terraforming technologies, anti-grav and repulsor tech as well - we could virtually. Uproot the properties from where they rest and place them into this base and move them across the galaxy."​

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"It's a stretch, but I believe we are capable of doing so, I'll need to ring Ryssa - she might have a better idea of how to accomplish this technical feat and we can ring up our mutual friends, Lady Kassandra, Lady Kaalia and perhaps a few other Force Users to ensure the integrity of the land and of course stone of what we're uprooting." Fiolette's eyes began to light up and she looked at Natasi with that look, the innovator's look. "Of course we'll need to see who in Herevan and around the properties we're familiar with would go with us."​

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Fiolette waved away the thought of any empire, "New Imperials. Sith Eternals. They're not us, they're not Galidraani and they certainly are not Fortans." There was, of course, the Royal Family to consider but they had no power here so there was no point in considering what they thought. She pursed her lips together once more, "the size of the base I had considered will essentially become the largest ark I've come to know."​

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Natasi Fortan ​

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[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi stood and paced side-to-side along the front of the sofa where she had been sitting.

It was easy for Fiolette to brush her concerns about international incidents to one side. Fiolette had spent a large portion of the last few decades of her life being a walking, talking international incident. Now she had severed her connection to the Sith because of her falling out with Taeli Raaf, so of course her impulse was to set a match to the place. Natasi didn't have the luxury of living so freely. Anything she did would be seen as an action of the First Order, and this had the capacity to kick off a war.

Was a war worth it, to secure her beloved family home and her son's legacy?

Almost certainly not.

"Don't you think Lady Kassandra has done quite enough for this family?" Natasi asked, dreading the idea of asking the enigmatic Sith Lordess for more help. She was a perfectly delightful woman -- charming, polished, urbane -- but she did not want to intrude on Kassandra's hospitality forever. "I would hate for her to feel taken advantage of." She hugged her middle, dark eyes thoughtful. Every part of her brain screamed at her to abandon this foolhardy idea, but something within her prevented her forbidding it outright.

Instead, she said: "It could be so much trouble."

Fiolette Fortan

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

"There are times when you have to do what is best, consequences be damned," Fiolette rose to her feet and stretched out her arms a moment before heading past Natasi and down the hall. "Give me a moment, I'm sure I've got something in this old house." Her boots thudded against the wooden floors. The cottage groaned in protest as heavy boots fell against its rather polished floors. Down the hall the shotgun styled cottage revealed several doors, the last one was where Fiolette had entered.​

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The door cracked open, light spilled out dull as it was onto the floor. Inside the room, it was easy to see that this hadn't been used in quite sometime. Dust lingered about in several areas of the room. The bed was well made and had to this day not been slept in. Fiolette busied herself at a desk against the wall looking through a few drawers. Pictures on the vanity close to the door showed a very young Fio and a baby boy. Other pictures were of Fio with her brother and parents, one with her grandmother who sat with pride. ​

​

"Here we go, I came back here after I left the old regime, as it were."​

​

Fio turned and headed back toward door of the room. "Blueprints to what I've been talking about, but if it is an incident you concern yourself with then allow me to be face of it."

"All I need you to do is to figure out where you would like to relocate the whole of it."​

​

Another thought crossed her mind.​

​

"Have you a society set up on Dosuun?"​

​

Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

The Supreme Leader watched her aunt disappear down the hallway. She took a moment to survey the room, her gaze falling on the items that populated it. She wondered how much of it was Fiolette's style and how much of it just was -- the things people collected over a lifetime. People like Natasi (and Fiolette, no matter how she might fight it) inherited things. Some had been gifts to the family over the years, others had been someone's possessions that, once they married in, became the family's possessions.

She didn't have long to peruse, for Fiolette returned not long after. She took the blueprints from her aunt and spread them open, placing them on the coffee table between the recliner and the sofa she had perched on. She borrowed Fiolette's ashtray and used it to hold one side open while the other she braced with something else she found on the table. Natasi stood back, studying it from above, cupping her chin in one hand.

The scale was unimaginable.

And yet...

She cocked her head to one side, chewing the inside of her cheek. After a few moments of silence, she looked over at Fiolette. "We need to talk to Ariel. She controls the First Order's destiny, and if there's even a chance that this may result in the First Order being dragged into a war, she must be consulted and allowed to choose." Natasi knew what she would choose as Grand Moff.

Fiolette Fortan

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

"Initially these plans were to lay the foundation for the fourth generation of the Galidraan-class stations, however; that did not pan out, did it," referred Fiolette to her own defection. The old Admiral sat on the edge of the sofa where Natasi had been and looked at the blueprints. The old woman looked at the prints and sighed, she rose once more and treaded back down the hall and into the room. She returned rather quickly and this time with a pen and so while her niece studied it.​

​

She began to make adjustments, "yes, we will certainly consult with Ariel. Although I believe we both know what she will choose."​

​

"And it will take any and all of the credibility she's built up, which I'll be honest, isn't a lot," Fiolette commented and stood up. She took a step back and looked at the blueprints again. "This can double as an instrument of defense, which from my understanding will fit inline with Ariel's vision of the First Order." Quietly she placed her hand on her chin and it felt to an outsider at least evident that somewhere the two women had gotten the same notion to carry themselves in this manner.​

​

Fio looked over at Natasi and remarked with a smile, "so."​

​

"Do you have a spot on Dosuun for Herevan? Foxfield?"​

​

Natasi Fortan ​

​

​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi frowned and put her hands on her hips, studying the plans that were in front of her. She could not pretend to understand all the intricacies of the blueprints; she was, after all, not an engineer or a shipwright. But what she did understand was that the machine in the plans was expansive to the point of being massive. Based on her understanding, it looked like the thing was the size of a small planet. The size and scope was breathtaking, dwarfed only by what she could imagine the expense to be.

As she watched Fiolette set about making changes to the plans, Natasi circled the table. "I know what my reaction would be if anyone came around to a world in our commonwealth and hacked a plot of land off it," she said quietly. The credibility of the leader of the nation that would perform such a bold move was not at the top of Natasi's consideration. She considered the Sovereign Imperator, Tavlar. She had developed a rapport with the man, but if he tried to swipe a chunk of land from a First Order world, that rapport wouldn't excuse it.

"This is crazy," Natasi said finally, looking frankly at Fiolette. "Right? It's crazy, isn't it? Of course I don't have a place picked out for Herevan and Foxfield," Natasi said, a chuckle escaping her otherwise-dignified visage. "Until this very moment I didn't think this was even possible. I'm still not convinced," she added, raising an eyebrow. "No offense, but -- this just seems -- fantastical. No?"

Fiolette Fortan

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

Fiolette gave a shrug, a look over her shoulder toward Natas, "probably the part where I attempt to uproot everything without a single brick fallout out of place, maybe, but with the appropriate terraforming technologies I can secure the ground to the station inside." Moving to stand beside her niece the former admiral went on. "And sure, somewhere, someone will be offended but not nearly as offended as I am by this entire situation."​

​

"It would be nice to simply go about my life and not worry about my homeworld as I had done for years, but here we are."​

​

Then the thought of expense must have crossed Natasi's mind and for a moment it crossed Fio's but only for a moment, "listen, do not worry about the costs. I've got that taken care of, a little nest egg I put aside for rather fantastical projects. It was going toward a massive gun but I can wait on that, plenty of governments willing to trade shots at one another's planets these days."​

​

"I could probably ask the witches in the family to assist with the harder details of the project, after all, this is as much their ancestral home as it is ours."​

​

Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

"Don't worry about the cost?" Natasi asked. "Have we met?"

Natasi wished she could have inherited her aunt's boldness and her devil may care approach to life. There were many things that Natasi felt needed to be handled delicately and -- luckily for her -- she was trained to do that. She could speak softly and carry a stick of appropriate size where Fiolette could bark and swing a pipe wrench the size of an adolescent. Natasi sometimes wished that she could wield the pipe wrench herself. "If you say so, Aunt Fiolette," she said diplomatically, her fingers flexing before she wrapped her arms around herself.

"If these witches are going to think they can drop in whenever they want, then I'm not sure we need their help," Natasi quipped sardonically. There was nothing more tiresome than entitled relations appearing at random. Usually, they arrived with no set date of departure and wanted room and board indefinitely.

"Perhaps you ought to come to Avalonia," said Natasi quietly. "Meet with Ariel. Start putting together a plan if that's what we decide to do." The invitation itself was an olive branch; before today it would have been unthinkable for Fiolette to set foot in Avalonia at Natasi's invitation. How times change. "I don't have a place to live, but there are some nice hotels."

Fiolette Fortan