Private Children Will Listen | Invite

[Natasi Fortan]

The flagpole at Herevan Hold stood bare. The Earl of Herevan was not in residence.

By virtue of being the Duke of Foxfield as well, George Vitalis had the run of any number of properties and, being a nine-year-old boy, delighted in spending time with his grandmother and uncle at Foxfield Park. At Foxfield Park, he was treated to sweets from the kitchens, indulgences from his grandmother, and hunting lessons with his uncle. It was all the better for George and his sister Reima to be away from Herevan, for they may have been underfoot for the important events that took place there in the recent past. Worse, they may have seen the macabre machinations that had resurrected their mother to the land of the living. They might have witnessed that which they were unprepared to witness.

The subject of this battle between life and death wasn't sure that she was prepared to witness it, but here she was.

Home.

Natasi Fortan spent most of her time in the study. The dark, heavy curtains blocked out the harsh glare of the lights that hurt her eyes, hurt her head, hurt her bones. The room was done in tones of navy: dark blue striped damask walls, dark hardwood floors and furniture, and a dark sapphire rug that matched the dark blue fabric of the sofas that flanked the black marble fireplace. The household staff was gone except for the Human Republica Droid staff that Natasi had purchased from Darth Adekos. It was years ago now, but they were still trucking along, as efficient as ever. Natasi had to admit that their cooking skills weren't quite as good as she remembered Mrs. Emberle's cooking, but it was serviceable. The lights stayed on, the linens were laundered, the tea was served. Everything was operating like clockwork.

It was the Herevan way.

But these markers of normalcy only served to underline the bizarre, surreal experience Natasi was going through. She remembered... everything. Her life. Her death. The Netherworld. Waking up at Herevan Hold surrounded by strangers. And Ariel. The ringleader. Natasi had needed time to adjust to herself, to come to terms with what had happened to her since her death, to think about how to interact with her children, to consider her place in the universe. But after two days of solitude and thoughtful silence and very little sleep, the burning question that remained wasn't what but why? Why had Ariel gone to all this trouble? Why had she shifted heaven and earth to drag Natasi back to the living? Natasi was fond of her cousins, but she wasn't sure she was fond enough to overthrow the order of life and death if one of them died.

It wasn't natural to meddle in the affairs of mortality. Life was worth preserving, but once it was finished, there was something beautiful about death, as well. Natasi had learned to view death as rest and reflection. Not prison. Not Hell, exactly. Just... the end. Natasi had to know what Ariel wanted to accomplish with all this -- what cost Natasi was expected to pay for this new chance at life. Natasi rose, moved to tug the bell-pull by the fireplace before returning to her seat behind the desk. A few moments later one of the HRDs entered the room. Natasi did not look up from the small bubbling fountain on the desk; the sound and sight of running water was a balm to her. She said: "I need to see Lady Ariel, please."

Yes, a voice hissed in her ear. Find out what the girl wants... and if she can fit into our grand plan.

Natasi shivered, drawing her shawl tighter around her shoulders, and leaned back in the tall desk chair, closing her aching eyes.

Ariel Yvarro​

 

[Ariel Yvarro]

Ariel's mother had gone for the next day or two, and her stepmother was within reach if she needed anything. The Pavanos elected to stay at a cottage in the village, Lady Kassandra Distorith wasn't too far away either, after all, a risen woman from the dead would need caring. Where Decima had gone was something of a mystery to Ariel but she suspected her cousin wanted it that way. It had been quite the adventure and trip from Neritria to Herevan there had been a lot to learn. Ariel stayed in a guest room, it'd been her first time at Herevan and if she had been there before she didn't recall. It was something out of a holofilm she swore it. ​

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Lucy told her she'd get used to it and Ryssa told her not to dwadle. She was summoned to see Natasi in the dark and cold study, and as she looked out the windows of the second floor. She understood why her mother wanted to recapture the magic of Herevan at Bastion. Pity the New Imperials would decimate it soon enough. All the more reason to get the First Order up and running she gathered. Admittedly, Ariel hadn't thought they'd be capable of pulling Natasi out of depths of the Netherworld. ​

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Initially, she just wanted to find something anything that Natasi had left behind to read from, but why bother with a book when you could bring the woman back, body and soul. Even better, it meant that Natasi could lead the First Order back to glory. Her steps were hurried as she made her way to the study, ever with a bounce in her step Ariel swung into the study with a book in her hand. "You wanted to see me cousin?" She inquired with a smile, "and oh, here you are - I thought you'd like to read this one, it's a book from Dosuun one of the old shops on Avalonia that survived the Fall. It's about this girl who discovers she has powers and what she does with them and, well, it's a lovely read." ​

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Ariel offered the book to Natasi as she came to stand in front of the woman, much like she did when she was a young girl. "Are you feeling any better?" Leave it to the younger of the two to go on as if nothing had happened and it was just another day that ended in y.​

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Natasi Fortan ​

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[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi sharply inhaled when the door opened, casting light from the hallway into the room, the motion so sharp that it sounded like a hiss, even to her. Light was still difficult; the study was lit by a few candles scattered across certain surfaces, but nothing electric, nothing that could hurt. Sound, too, was a challenge. Resurrection had been, for the first few days anyway, like a migraine impacting her body and soul: painful, exhausting, and debilitating. "You will forgive me, I hope, for needing some time alone. Should you ever have this experience, I'm sure you will come to understand."

She listened to Ariel's chattering, her eyelids flickering weakly. At one time, Natasi found the girl's enthusiasm charming. Today, it was very nearly too much to bear. Still, she offered her cousin a gentle smile and extended two delicate hands to take the tome from her. A girl who discovers she has powers, the voice whispered in her ear; Natasi's eye twitched at the intrusion. Appropos, don't you think, my child? You can sense it; you knew it from the moment you opened your eyes here. Do you think she suspects? The book weighed heavily on her wrists, so she set it down on the desk next to her. Ariel's conversation was infuriatingly inconsequential; she had resurrected Natasi and now all she wanted to talk about was books and how she was doing and she didn't know what next.

Natasi had to confess that the Galidraani-ness of it all was comfortable. But her constant companion found it... less endearing. She could feel the impatience and smoldering rage somewhere within her, in the space the voice had come to occupy. She leaned back in her seat and studied Ariel for a moment more before she said: "Not especially, no. I think perhaps it will be some time before I feel right again. Human again. It's early days still, I think." She let her eyes close and inhaled deeply; the scent of Talbot's t'bacc and Natasi's perfume were trapped in this room, in the carpets and drapes and walls. Oh, Talbot, she thought.

You cannot save him, the voice murmured, seeming to take great pleasure in it. He's not important. But we are.

She squeezed her eyes shut harder, then opened them again. Ariel was still there; of course she was. "I'm sorry, Ariel," said Natasi -- no longer Countess of Herevan, no longer Grand Moff, just a bag of skin and bones now -- before she scooted forward with the chair and folded her hands over the book Ariel had brought. The one about the girl who discovers she has powers. "Sit," she said, gesturing to the comfortable club chair opposite her desk. "Please sit. We need to discuss..." Natasi hesitated, her dark eyes peering at her cousin searchingly. She didn't know how to put it.

"Why have you done this?" she finally asked, what little color she had draining from her cheeks. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

Ariel Yvarro​

 

[Ariel Yvarro]

The young woman did as she was told and delicately took her seat, the drawn curtains, and the lit candles registered nothing for Ariel but the signs that perhaps someone needed time to themselves. For a girl who grew up in the routine of a Galidraan home but was often faced with the paranormal and dark realms of her stepmother's occupation. She shifted in her seat and listened to her cousin the word human stuck out to her and it occurred to her that perhaps Natasi would need more time. As it was, Ariel would have to face an angry Renata Westaway upon return to Dosuun, but she hoped - hoped that the arrival of Natasi would help soothe things over.​

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Then again, Ariel's preceptions were slanted at best and her understanding of the things around her, less. Life beyond Natasi had been one long lesson after another and it all seemed to blur. She could comprehend the texts, and pass the tests but in practice, Ariel was much darker than she wanted to be, ruthless even and so when pressed about what she had done. ​

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Ariel both did and did not understand the consequences of her actions. She felt in some way she could not bring the First Order back properly, she lacked the confidence to apply the knowledge of governance to the real world. Ariel understood that in a lot of ways there could not be a First Order without Natasi Fortan, and perhaps she could learn still from her cousin what journals and notes could not offer her. She knew somewhere in the back of her mind she should have left well enough alone, but she did it. She knew the people to contact and she felt it right in her heart of hearts that whatever would happen from here on, it would be for the better.​

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There in her mind, she recalled the faces of the Dosuun Hegemony. The men she murdered, the looks on their faces when they realized that Ariel Yvarro did not bluff, she had cleansed Dosuun and brought back order where it was needed. She looked at Natasi and studied her cousin's eyes and even now found it hard to lie. It had always been a weakness in her armor Natasi had all but to look at Ariel to gather a confession. As grown as she was Ariel decided not to hide behind her feelings. "Yes and no, it's all still something of a shock admittedly, I didn't realize that it could actually be done." ​

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Ever loyal, ever faithful - the young woman's enthusiasm and tone rolled forward as she spoke. ​

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"All I knew was that if it was going to be done, it had to be you, and not Sieger." She continued onward, "there was a choice at the facility in the Dead Nebula, it was you or Sieger. Decima had gone for Sieger and I had gone for you, and in the end." It was obvious who came away with the breath of life. "I realized that I could never be the leader you were." As it happened, Ariel lacked her cousin's confidence and backbone and ultimately sold herself short. Ariel had nearly single-handedly brought back the First Order and suddenly froze in her tracks, which led her down the path of resurrecting Natasi.​

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Then there was a moment, perhaps levity, a realization, "nothing comes without a price and I know that, but..." Here it went, "I am also aware that there are people here connected to our family who are quite powerful." Ariel didn't care that it went against the primary of Galidraani beliefs or even Natasi's. Then again, Ariel shared something with her mother - their thoughtfulness only went so far. There was always something in it for them, even if for Ariel it seemed as innocent as it was. Had it truly been necessary? For Ariel, the answer would always be yes, for others? Well. That remained to be seen. ​

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Natasi Fortan ​

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[Natasi Fortan]

...there was a choice at the facility in the Dead Nebula, it was you or Sieger...

A searing pain tore through Natasi's head, the manifestation of her companion's rage -- or was it her own? Natasi had been loyal to Sieger Ren in life, having sacrificed herself not just to give the people of Dosuun time to flee, but to give Sieger's empire the chance to survive. How could anyone who knew her -- or the First Order -- have thought that of the two she, Natasi, was the indispensable piece? Her eyebrows furrowed and she remained silent, unable to trust herself to speak as the tempest continued in her soul. She simply continued to listen, straining to focus on Ariel's words and not the ferocity of the rage warring inside her.

"Ariel," she began but fell silent. Words were difficult for her, uncharacteristically so. Had she ever been speechless before? She supposed she had when her cousin Imogen had betrayed her and the First Order, and again when she discovered Ludolf Vaas was having an affair with a pop star, but that was... fifteen years ago, now? She looked at her cousin but past her, her eyes unfocusing after a few moments.

Kill the girl, the voice whispered contemptuously. She is a traitor. Kill her.

"No," Natasi snapped, coming back to herself. Her eyes refocused and she found herself back in the room. The voice's mumbling about disobedient, foolish women fell away. "Ariel," she said briskly. "I understand your motivations, but I am concerned. I am concerned that you have taken these actions without fully appreciating the potential consequences. I wasn't even aware of the plan to create clones of myself and the Supreme Leader. This was beyond even my knowledge and control. Anything could happen. There could be some kind of... control module or kill switch in the hands of people we don't know -- or people we do know but don't trust."

She stood and paced around the desk, for a moment it looked like she was going towards Ariel, but instead, she went to the fireplace, where embers still burned in the grate. "More than that, what you have done -- meddling in the very fabric of life and death -- could be dangerous. For you. For me. And yes, I appreciate the irony of having been alive again for seventy-two hours and being concerned about danger. But you are dealing with forces beyond our comprehension. And you've put me -- and Herevan -- at risk in so doing. We shall need to be vigilant against... unintended consequences. And my children must be kept somewhere safe." Natasi picked up the fireplace poker and raked it across the embers, causing them to glow.

"You said it well, Ariel. Nothing comes without a price. We must both bear that in mind going forward." Natasi set the poker back in its place and gazed into the ember's for a moment, then straightened and looked at herself in the mirror over the mantle. She looked young but drawn -- almost ill. "But there is no point in dwelling on the past. What's done is done," Natasi said, her voice softening. She turned and sat in the other club chair, a cool hand going to take Ariel's, covering it with her other hand. "Now. You'd better tell me what I've missed. It was a blessing to learn that my children are safe and well. But just what state is the First Order in now? What news is there of Minister Calgar? Director Shepard? Rausgeber?"

Ariel Yvarro​

 

[Ariel Yvarro]

The moments had ticked away, passed with what seemed to be an eternity. Ariel had drawn her gaze away from Natasi as she thought on some form of defense for what had occurred. She had only turned to look at her cousin, and take in the older woman's appearance, as awful as it seemed. Then again, Ariel took it as normal - who wouldn't look so full of dread after a resurrection she had thought to herself. Only to find herself startled in the next instant when Natasi snapped. The younger of the two's hand shifted Ariel clutched at her chest, she hadn't been on the receiving end of Natasi's temper before. Or what she assumed to be a temper at least. ​

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At the next moment, there was a more brisk tone to Natasi's voice and Ariel found herself gravely confused. The more Natasi spoke the more she became not just confused but slightly irritated, "what? How could you have not known about Foundation?" There hadn't been mentions of it being kept out of the Grand Moff's purview. After all, it made sense, Natasi and Seiger were vital to the First Order but in her opinion more so Natasi than Sieger. Ariel took a deep breath and exhaled, her cousin had a point albeit an odd one - no sense in putting a kill switch in the very person that was required to run the government.​

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Ariel placed a hand up as she tried to speak but instead when Natasi came to sit back down she took Ariel's hand. Ariel's brow furrowed a moment as she looked at what had just happened. So after the number of questions that were shot her way, she wanted to address a previous statement of her cousin's first. "I-" She had to gather her thoughts and then speak them carefully as to not misstep. "I know that this entire ordeal was a risk, and will continue to be a risk, but without risk, we would not be talking. I didn't gather that any of this was going to be easy or that it would be a walk in the park afterward, and yes, you're right we'll have to be vigilant."​

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Then she remembered Lady Kassandra Distorith from the trip and the resurrection. "We should seek someone to help us, someone who we already know."​

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"But, we can discuss that at a later time, now for your questions."​

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The younger Galidraani looked at her cousin in a way she hadn't in nearly seven years if not longer, with a fondness of a child. An unconditional type of devotion, the same type of devotion that led Ariel as a child as she shuffled through Natasi's wardrobe. The same that led her to the finest Galidraani schools, and the very same that led her to Dosuun. "As for the First Order..." Ariel proceeded to Natasi what had happened over the last six years, from the Fall to the Hegemony to the Charter. She described in the best details how the collapsed happened, and that she hadn't a clue where Calgar, Shepard or Rausgeber had gone too. All that Ariel knew upon her arrival were the sycophants who greedily took Sith-Imperial coin while the people of Dosuun suffered.​

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Ariel would have none of it, she burned a fiery rage across Dosuun until the Hegemony was broken. The younger woman elaborated on the final stages of the Reclamation Campaign that saw the Ssi-Ruuvi vanquished from the homeworld. "We're rebuilding now, slowly, and there are growing pains but if there was ever a time for you to return cousin, it is now." ​

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Through it all Ariel told of the propaganda campaign started by Valessia Brentioch, the very architect of Natasi's 'mother of the nation' platform had returned to see her old friend canonized, worshipped as a goddess who would smile down upon her 'beloved children.' "I believe we can put that spin to our advantage, though."​

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Natasi Fortan ​

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[Natasi Fortan]

"You misunderstand me," Natasi said impatiently. "Of course I knew about Foundation. I established Foundation -- as part of Project Aeternum, with Minister Calgar. But cloning me was never part of the program. The Supreme Leader was the indispensable figure to our Order. Grand Moffs would come and go as the needs of the empire changed, but the Supreme Leader was -- constant. Eternal." Natasi frowned and half-turned in her seat, pushing her hair behind her ears. "Or so he should have been. You have played god, my dear, and we can only hope that your faith in me has not been... misplaced."

The rest of what Ariel told her was distressing and embarrassing in turns. Dante wouldn't have stayed away if he had the option. Ditto Sybil Shepard. Rausgeber was... less reliable, Natasi reasoned, although it did not surprise her to learn that he had made a play for it once Natasi and Sieger were out of the way. He had never been short on ambition, that one. The picture was becoming clearer, but she had to admit that she was feeling overwhelmed by all the information. What Ariel and everyone else had had six years to absorb, Natasi was learning it all at once.

"I -- oh, Ariel," Natasi whispered as she absorbed that she had been deified in death. "Not only have you dragged me back from the dead, but you've set me up to be some kind of goddess." She stood up and paced away from the chair again, padding along the hardwood. At the other end of the room, a portrait of her parents hung over a sideboard. She picked up the heavy crystal pitcher and poured herself a glass of water, then lifted it to her lips as she looked up into the faces of Frejrik and Reima.

They would have been as uncomfortable as she was with the notion. They had raised her to be humble, to approach the world with a sense of noblesse oblige. Her mother's dearest ambition for her had been that she marry well. Her father's had been that she would take control Herevan Hold. She wondered what they would think of her now. She had risen above what was expected for women of her class on Galidraan, above what was expected of anyone, to be a major player on the galactic scale, a leader of the largest nation of its time. It would be easy to believe her own press, but that way lay disaster. Natasi turned back to her cousin and forced a smile. "So, no pressure, then." She walked back to the desk and sat behind it, in the high-backed chair that would have dwarfed a lesser woman.

"Tell me what you have in mind."

Ariel Yvarro​

 

[Ariel Yvarro]

Ariel had tried her best to take her time, to let her cousin soak it all in. The whisper came through and she took the moment to pause, she watched her cousin's movements and studied her expression and she'd be a liar if she said there hadn't been a smirk. "Why would there be, Supreme Leader?" She pushed forward the title and let her smile speak for itself. "Seiger Ren is dead, and here you are alive and well, mostly." Ariel realized that seventy-two hours fresh from the grave was pushing the 'well' bit.​

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Now it was her time to stand and to her feet, she rose. "You sacrificed yourself so that others might live, and when word spread of your death it spurned Dosuun to fight harder. The men and women in the armed forces were galvanized, so, perhaps we work a bit of theatrics." Hands clasped behind her back. "Remembrance Week is coming up soon, so when we move to signal the very hour and minute of your ship's last moments that is when we reveal you."​

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Then there was informing her cousin about Dosuun itself, and while she had 'highlighted' in her overall spiel about the planet in the aftermath, it was the 'rising' part she hadn't talked about... Yet.​

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"Of course, we'll need to get you to Dosuun..." Although the 'when' was going to be the question, "though I should warn you, it's not the same as you remember it. Avalonia, Prosperia, Victoria, Gawain, the whole planet had been devastated by the Ssi-Ruuvi, in fact there is simply the Canyon of Desolation or the Scar if you're up for it that runs through the region where it's just this gorge of wreckage." She did eventually come to inform Natasi that financially the First Order needed help and Ariel turned to the two women she knew best, her mothers. Fiolette and Taeli Raaf poured quite the heavy investment to get the first two cities back on their feet while Valessia reinvested in Victoria. Ariel continued to work the lines of the Galaxy's wealthiest to gain their money for cities still in need.​

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"In fact, Lady Kassandra, if you recall her has invested in Laurentia and I am told that Valessia's daughter and another benefactor are also working to fund another city's revitalization." Then there was the matter of the Sovereigns and preparing Natasi to see her face on the money, the coin, the crisps, and the cards. "I may have listened to Lady Valessia, a lot."​

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Ariel had in this time been pacing and gesturing she was 'excited' to say the least, "but this is a lot and... I don't expect all of this to sink in right this moment, but when you're ready to travel again, we can prepare the ship to take you." The same rusted bucket of bolts that brought Natasi to Galidraan or another, was still up in the air. "Ishana has volunteered to pilot it back personally." She stopped and looked over at Natasi with a nervous smile, "if you if you'd like her to that is."​

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Natasi Fortan ​

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[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi almost blew past the bomb that Ariel had dropped, but she stopped at the prickling sensation along her spine, another excruciating bolt of pain that ran up her bone and into her brain stem, exploding like a firework of rage in her skull. SUPREME LEADER? the voice roared.

"Supreme Leader?" Natasi echoed weakly, half-turning to look at Ariel, the uncertainty apparent on her face. For all Ariel knew, it was probably modesty and ambition battling for dominance within her. She was mostly right, but there was another, a third party in the freshly declared war. The voice. The presence, not so much a whisper now as a howling bellow. The sound rushed in her ears, robbed her of her breath and focus. Her eyelids fluttered against the storm of rage and pain that washed over her.

Spare me your false modesties, Natasi. You always lusted after my throne. Your every obsequious curtsy was an act to hide your treason from me. I can see it clearly now. What a fool I was. Can you feel your heart hammering in your chest? Harder and faster than it ever beat for a man, or for your children. Pathetic... you will seek relevance and satisfaction by attempting to reign over the broken shards of my empire. Who does this infant think she is to be giving it away to you? If you aren't fit to be heir to my empire then she certainly isn't. Blasphemy. Treason! You will never be what I was, you will never have what I had. Without me you would have been nothing, nothing. You'd be empress to a shattered emperor, or a functionary to a power-mad Sith Lord, or a soporific housewife to a fat noble lord on this soggy, stinking excuse for a planet.

I built the First Order before you even left this frozen hellscape, Natasi. I didn't need you. You needed me. You always did.

You always will. You are nothing.

The sound of shattering glass brought Natasi back to herself, and she whipped round to see what had happened, before warmth on her palm made her realize that she had shattered the now-empty water glass. "Oh," she murmured. She set the shards down and, plucking one long piece from her palm, carefully wound a disused cloth napkin from the tea tray around it to staunch the bloodflow. It wasn't bad. She realized she'd been staring into Ariel's eyes the whole time.

"We will need resources," she said, as if she hadn't just experienced some kind of episode. Perhaps Ariel wouldn't notice. Perhaps she would chalk it up to resurrection sickness. "Dosuun is rich in some, but we'll need more. We need to be smart about it. We need commerce and trade; the duties can be reinvested until we are ready to expand. We must demonstrate that it is safe... surely, the Ssi-Ruuk Imperium has been vanquished, but I wouldn't expect anyone to take our word for it. We must show them."

Natasi calmly rose and went to the bell-pull again, tugging it firmly. "I'll have to find a way to tell my children. To explain... before they hear it from someone else. Before it's on the holo." She went to the window near the fireplace and peeled the curtains to one side; the setting sun still hurt her eyes, but it was better than the glare of the daylight. "If you're referring to that... thing," she nodded out towards where the ship that had carried them to Galidraan was parked on the western lawn. "Then you must be out of your mind. We'd need tetanus shots just by being aboard. What is that, anyway? Where did you get it?"

Ariel Yvarro​

 

[Ariel Yvarro]

Ariel's training kicked in - she hadn't spent all those years growing up under the thumb of her mother to not be trained on first aid. She only left the room for a moment to grab a kit she had seen on the way in, she came back and caught Natasi's gaze. It was somewhat unsettling but Ariel not having any reason to doubt otherwise, believed it indeed to be something related to being resurrected. Still, she thought she would at least explain the happenings to Taeli Raaf . If she didn't understand what was going on then she could at the very least let Kaalia Pavanos know. Lady Pavanos seemed to know all sorts of the macabre arts - since it was she who took the point when it came time to revive Natasi.​

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"Here, let me fix this up for you, and yes I realize that but my mothers could only spare so much," and it didn't come for free. Taeli and Fiolette were granted real estate, same to Valessia, Lady Kassandra and whoever else had been willing to cough up a few billion credits to the First Order. It wasn't perfect or pretty but it worked, hadn't it? "And, while we're at it, the Moff Council and I have decided that we will not see to the continuance of the Knights of Ren." They were a despicable lot, to begin with, at least in her opinion, "still have no idea what we will do with Force-sensitives in the interim though."​

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"There, I think that should do it."​

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The younger woman took a step back and cleaned up around the chair just as her cousin stood up once again. Once everything had been cleaned up she spun to see Natasi at the window. "I can have one of our cousins dispatched, Mr. Branneth to inform them if you like, or uh one of my nieces or nephews as it happens." ​

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"Oh that?"​

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Ariel crossed the study, peered through the window toward the ship. "It is a prototype, the Furious MK2. According to mum, it was supposed to be the next stage in ferrying the Ren around the galaxy, equipped with one of the original crystal fused engines but as it turns out, it has stored in its navcom astrogation systems - locations to all sorts of undisclosed First Order facilities."​

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"Found it on Qeravert IV in an underwater facility, and turned out the Empress of Dosuun not only took me and Decima there but it was able to submerge, did you know that?"​

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"At any rate, if that won't do then I'll see to it we find you a proper ship."​

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A moment or two passed and Ariel took a step back and headed away from Natasi, to check the chair and tea tray for any shards of glass. "Mum suggested to either scuttle it or letting her have it to store on her property in Genesia."​

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"I'd offer you to ride in the Concordia, but she's currently ..." Ariel grimaced, "well, mhmm she's not that far away but it would definitely draw attention if I summoned that beast here."​

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"Well, it's not something we need to decide on right this second. Besides, looks like you still need some time to rest?"​

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Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

"Of course," Natasi said. "My suggestion wasn't that your mother and step-mother, or Lady Kassandra for that matter, should be viewed as an unlimited source of revenue. In fact, quite the opposite. We should seek to move away from this model of patronage -- as much as it is appreciated -- and seek to stand on our own two feet. We did it before. We will do it again."

Such certainty, the petulant murmur slithered through her senses, derision dripping from it like blood from a dagger. Such bravado. Charming, were it not so saccharine.

"One step at a time, Ariel," Natasi said quietly as the girl fiddled with her wounded hand. The elder Galidraani woman didn't react; she couldn't even feel the cut, only Ariel's ministrations that tickled the soft, delicate flesh of her hand. "Avalonia was not built in a day. Either time," she added, the ghost of a smirk crossing her pale lips. "At any rate -- no. George and Reima don't know the cousins. I'll go to Foxfield myself. When I'm well enough to travel. You're right; I need to rest. Perhaps see a medical droid to see if there's anything that can be done about the fatigue if it doesn't wear off in a few days on its own." She frowned and flexed her fingers experimentally after Ariel finished caring for her gashed hand. "We can go to Foxfield before leaving for Dosuun. The Allegro should still be onworld, either at Herevan or Foxfield. Perhaps you can have one of the droids investigate."

It was surreal to be so cavalier about it all: that she was here, alive; that she would once again see and speak to her children; that she would soon depart Galidraan for Dosuun, where she would be...

A pale, sickly imitation of a Supreme Leader. A foolish usurper. A puppet for my whim, as always.

"Supreme Leader," she said out loud, her head turning towards Ariel. "I suspect it will take some getting used to. Do you know we never had any kind of succession plan? It was inconceivable to any of us that Sieger Ren could... could... could die." She forced it out like a hard cough. "Then again, we never thought that Vaas might be exiled, or that the Imperium would return. Perhaps we should work on a line of succession as a matter of urgency. That is if I decide to take the position on."

She looked Ariel squarely in the face. "I will need to think about it more, but I will have certain conditions of my acceptance. Chief among them is that I have no intention of being a puppet or a mere figurehead. I trust you didn't go to the trouble and expense of this little adventure for that, but in the interest of being perfectly clear, I want to make that understood up front."

Ariel Yvarro​

 

[Ariel Yvarro]

"Oh yes, because I completely thought hey, let's go resurrect my dearly departed cousin just so she can come back for a bit of tea and biscuits," Ariel gave Natasi a look that followed her rather sardonic and flippant tone. "You take all the time you need, no one else knows you're about aside from our little group of murder britches." She did hear of her cousin's wish to find the Allergo, "sure, I'll dispatch one of the droids - I, uh, you sure about seeing them? Well. I suppose you're sure you wouldn't have said it otherwise."​

​

Ariel's brows furrowed as she watched Natasi a second longer, "you know, I'm going to ask that Lady Kassandra stay by you, and don't argue with me on this either. I'm not sure about your state of being but if anyone can help you it will be her. The woman was the sole reason that gate stayed open as long as it did." She wouldn't hear of any sort of talk from her cousin to say otherwise, she would dial up the Lady Kassandra once she was able to. She did agree with Natasi on one thing at the very least.​

​

"You're right about that, I do have a meeting with Chancellor Emmen Tagge of the Galactic Alliance, and before you start jumping down my throat about it. It was already set up long before I went to have you uh... well, pulled out of the depths of the Netherworld." Ariel looked at her cousin squarely this time. "If we're to make any sort of notion of coming back to full power then we must show and do more than simply sweep the scales from our backyard. We must prove that we are different this time, we are not going to do things the way of that petulant old bag Sieger or his pathetic group of sociopathic teenagers."​

​

Clearly, Ariel had been around for late-night talks or whatever other meetings she could eavesdrop on during the height of the old First Order. Ariel's disdain for Sieger and the Ren came from somewhere, and while it would be easy to point the finger at Fiolette - it was perhaps not so easy to look at all the other fingers that would or may have pointed back at Natasi. Ariel's words were like acid as the came out with regard to the Ren. "We do this our way, the Galidraani way, to hell with the rest of them."​

​

"At any rate, my appointment with the Chancellor will most likely result in my departure from your return to Dosuun. I shall have one of our cousins stay with you, I'd have one of my sisters do it but they're both busy." Lucy was moving to Dosuun as they spoke, and Ryssa was busy running Primo Victorian. "Now then, get some rest - I'll have a word with Lady Kassandra in the interim." Ariel was set to leave and in fact had stepped away, yet she paused and turned toward Natasi again, "but before I go - do you happen to know a Darth Metus? Or uh, what was his name... Darth Prosciutto... Prazuto, Prazutis?" ​

​

"Their names came up in one of the files I had read, well, there were several on the Dark Lords running about." Ryssa had a mind to talk to one of them, or maybe that Carnifex fellow. Of course, they were still dancing around this hole Third Imperial Civil War. Still, she needed to find some manner of security against the Eternal Empire. At least that was in her mind when she inquired of her cousin, "on second thought, nevermind. I'll ask Taeli or mum." Ariel waved it off and headed for the door. ​

​

​

Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

As she listened, Natasi remembered a visit she had taken to Halm with Talbot early in their honeymoon. They had taken the yacht up the river on a lazy pleasure cruise, far enough outside the city that Natasi could sunbathe in a modest bathing suit while Talbot lay out in a rather racy pair of briefs. They spoke leisurely, occasionally holding hands until a shadow fell across them. It wasn't a cloud, but a sandstorm, blowing across the plains and across the river. They could take shelter in the yacht, but as long as she kept her eyes closed and didn't move, she wasn't hurt and she didn't wander off.

"Just don't move," Talbot had said, lacing his fingers through hers. "Then you can't get lost."

A conversation with Ariel Yvarro was like a Halm sandstorm. Mostly harmless, as long as you didn't get lost in the half-expressed thoughts, the double-backs, the lightning pace of it all. Close your eyes. Don't get lost, she told herself, a faint smile tugging at her lips as Ariel headed for the door. Natasi glanced down at her bandaged hand. "Just a moment, Ariel," she called. She stood and followed Ariel towards the door, putting an arm around the girl's shoulder and slowly walking towards the door with her.

"I appreciate your candor -- always -- and you can always say what you think when we're alone," said Natasi calmly. "But you mustn't say such things in front of other people. Any other people," she clarified. "You will be in a privileged position in the First Order, you must not forget, and until I've determined what we're to keep and what we're to dispose of, it's all fair game. I will be the legitimate successor to Sieger Ren. Things will be different, but it's a matter of how it's communicated to the people. They can be like children, sometimes. Too close to the old ways and we will be seen as the same. Too far and we can no longer claim the glorious past. There is a balance and we will find it, but until then: careful the things you say; children will listen."

The Galidraani woman reached with her other hand, her index finger turning Ariel's chin towards her. She smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to the center of Ariel's forehead. "You will be in the royal family. Our every word and action must be entirely above reproach. Do you understand?"

Ariel Yvarro​

 

[Ariel Yvarro]

Ariel stopped when Natasi called for her and placed an arm around her shoulder. Natasi informed Ariel that she would be in a privileged position in the First Order, and Ariel thought the comment odd, she was already - in her mind in a privileged position what with being a Moff. You must not forget. Natasi told her calmly and then reminded Ariel that it was she who was now in charge and for a moment Ariel understood and then she did not understand at all. The legitimate successor to Seiger Ren. Ariel questioned Seiger's own legitimacy but left it alone - people could be like children, sure, and so Ariel nodded with affirmation. ​

​

The younger woman didn't have a chance to reply before her cousin gave her a familial kiss to the forehead. Ariel only nodded silently and felt very much like a child again, a softer memory came to her mind when Natasi inquired if she had understood. "You have to be careful Ariel, alright?" Natasi had just left a meeting with the Cabinet, and Ariel had fallen whilst running when she'd already been warned not to. "There's no need to be upset, but you must use caution and you have been warned, haven't you?" There was a brief pause as Natasi led Ariel to a more private seat at the Imperial Palace and set about looking Ariel over. Natasi had taken the time to look at Ariel and she remarked, "you needn't worry about having a place, there will always be a place here for you, with me." ​

​

Here they were so many years later, and with so much that had happened since then. "Yes, I do." Ariel finally acknowledged Natasi and then quietly slipped out the door and closed it behind her. She stood outside the door in deep thought and she wondered just what had happened. Ariel thought to dwell on it later in the day, for now she made it a priority to seek out Lady Kassandra and then the Allegro.​

​

Natasi Fortan ​

​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Days passed.

Natasi slept more. She ate more. The light bothered her, but less.

She spent more time in the rest of the house. She swam in the river beneath the castle. She took tea in the library.

In short, Natasi Fortan was rapidly approaching being human again.

Some days after her conversation with her cousin, Natasi invited Kassandra Distorith for a turn in the gardens; they met at the portes-fenêtres in the library. It was spring on this part of Galidraan, but that still entailed very mild weather, to the point that Natasi found herself donning a fur-trimmed coat before coming down, working her fingers into her gloves as she stood by the portes-fenêtres to look out beyond the short concrete patio. Capability Russet had designed the grounds at Galidraan some eighty years ago, and thankfully it had been more or less spared when the house had been ravaged by fire fifteen years prior, so Natasi was treated to an expanse of lawn with occasional smatterings of trees and bushes that were characteristic to his style. Much to Mr. Russet's disdain, the Countess of Herevan at the time he had landscaped the place had insisted on retaining the formal gardens on the path leading up to the family mausoleum, but he had hemmed them in on either side with lines of trees.

"Lady Kassandra," said Natasi pleasantly as the woman approached. Kassandra Distorith had been instrumental in resurrecting her, ostensibly rescuing her from the Netherworld. There was a slight hesitation on Natasi's part. "What does one say to someone who has brought them back to life? Thank you doesn't seem quite the thing, but you should know that your efforts are appreciated by many -- including myself, now that I've had some time to think about it. I hope you'll forgive my unsocial ways these last days. I find myself needing to adjust to this reality, much like I needed to adjust to my old one, though I'm sure you won't be surprised to know that Ariel Yvarro is no less demanding a taskmaster than death itself."

She put her hand on the handle of the portes-fenêtres' handles and said, "Shall we? Would the cold bother you?"

 

[Kassandra Distorith]

Creative soundtrack: Zombie - The Cranberries (PMJ Soul Cover ft. Maiya Sykes)

Time had passed since Natasi Fortan had been returned to the embrace of the living.

Days...perhaps weeks?

The passage of time was still something that eluded the Lordess, even though a decade had passed since her own awakening. It had been better in the last few months, but the draw of the Netherworld and the seemingly endless assault of demons upset so much of what she’d managed to pull back together. Keeping the portal open had taxed her in ways she still had yet to discover.

She was anathema in its everlasting gaze, eluding its grasp time and time again due to the gifts of her vampiric physiology. It was for the best that she had not needed to pass through the portal; Kassandra was utterly unsure if she’d be able to return. She doubted the Nether would let go of its prize.

Nor would those souls she’d sent on before her...and given that she’d lived for nearly a millennium as a Sith Lord, the death toll she was responsible for was considerable. Even with the five hundred thirty-seven years she’d spent in a wretched, imperfect of stasis.

Pausing on the stairs, Kassandra’s hand rested on the balustrade and her grip tightened as she breathed deeply. Some days were better than others, and today, she drew on what little reserves of strength and energy recouped since she’d slammed the portal closed behind Fiolette and Natasi. She would need to feed soon, and it would behoove her to find a properly remote place to do so, given their location on Galidraan.

She continued after a few moments, taking the remaining stairs at a gracefully brisk pace and slowing to a saunter as she approached the library. The door remained ajar enough for her entry and she offered Natasi a smile upon catching sight of her. She looked greatly improved from the state she’d been in with her first breaths, though she would have a long way to go still. Kassandra nodded and continued towards the portes-fenêtres the statuesque woman waited by.

“Please, Kassandra will do. Let us eschew at least a touch of the formality that normally governs proper social interaction, shall we?” she said quietly, voice warm and hopefully melodic enough to mask what remained of her exhaustion.

She would have continued, but Natasi had only paused and continued to speak. The Lordess blinked and gently shook her head, raising a hand in a delicate gesture. “Truly, thanks are unnecessary...knowing that you’ve returned to life and are appreciative of it is thanks enough. And I do understand your ‘unsocial ways’...it was the same way for me when I awoke, though some days I feel as if I am still adjusting and recuperating.”

“Though I’ve known Ariel for only a brief amount of time, I can imagine. She is a force to be reckoned with, and would be even more so were she possessed of a bit more fire.”

She drew even with Natasi and reached up to adjust the collar of her own coat, before settling a finely crafted pair of gloves on her hands. “Not at all...I think a turn in the garden will do us both some good, and I have been wishing to explore the grounds. After you…” Kassandra gestured, following Natasi out and ensuring the portes-fenêtres closed properly behind them.

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi strolled out onto the grounds. Although she could not see the river from here, the great waterway that ran north to south and terminating at a massive waterfall just south of Herevan powered the estate rushed loudly enough that she could hear it from here. The sound of running water had always been a balm to Natasi. As she took trod along the gentle slope of the hill, the smell of Herevan enveloped her -- the subtle scent unique to her home that had evolved as she had grown. It was the river, the lilies that the housekeeper put throughout the house, the dirt and the grass, the leaves of the trees, even the earthy, mineral scent of the bricks that built the castle.

She sighed and, for the first time since she died some six years ago, smiled and meant it wholly and unreservedly.

The companionable silence lasted a few more moments before Natasi glanced sidelong at Kassandra. "Your experience with this is one of the reasons I wanted to see you. And that Ariel insisted I do," she added with a furtive smirk. "If anyone has an idea of what I'm experiencing, it'll be you." Natasi paused and made an expansive gesture towards the rolling hills, terminating with a tall-treed forest far to the northeast. "This was one of Capability Russet's first grand estates, although he became quite the thing in Galidraani society seventy-five years ago. My great-grandmother saw his work in Calavar -- Somerset Park if I recall - and wanted to see something similar here. His design was quite revolutionary for its time; most of the Galidraani aristocracy had, by that time, adopted very formal, very structured gardens." She paused and sighed softly. "It's perhaps less interesting than a garden bursting with flowers and hedges, but it's... peaceful, you might say."

Natasi continued, gesturing towards the forest. "The trees used to be over there," she said, gesturing to a spot further to the east. "But my aunt Fiolette -- during one of her more spiteful moments -- put some kind of college up on the ridge there, and no one here wanted to look at it, so I had the trees moved... during one of my more spiteful moments, you might say." She offered Kassandra a smile; it was not in her nature to spill the tea in this manner, but Kassandra had wanted to explore the grounds, and in the absence of an amusing hedge maze this was the best she could offer. "We still have a small remnant of the formal gardens. Over towards the mausoleum. But we'll circle around to that."

The onetime Grand Moff -- now Supreme Leader in waiting -- led Kassandra up the broad lawn towards Josephine's Palace, which, she explained to Kassandra, wasn't a palace at all but rather a folly that had been built for her grandmother by her grandfather as a wedding gift. When the history lesson was over, Natasi turned to Kassandra, dark eyes intent. "Forgive me for being blunt, but I've been struggling to find a way to ask you this in a way that was...' Uncharacteristically, Natasi groped for the word she wanted, but found nothing, eventually settling on: "...appropriate. But since I can't, I guess what I'd like to know is... how do I know if I've come back... right? I feel very different now. Like there is something within me that can..." She frowned and shook her head. "It's too ludicrous for words, Kassandra."

She paused and ran a slim, gloved hand along her eyebrow, clearly stalling for time. Then she said: "It seems as if I can feel... everything around me. Ariel. You. The forest just beyond this folly. It's maddening, a constant buzzing of the Balance only knows what. I am at a loss to explain it. Is there any way you can help?" The dark eyes she turned on Kassandra when she lowered her hand from her face were frustrated, searching, and pleading. Natasi Fortan was a woman on the edge.

Kassandra Distorith​

 

[Kassandra Distorith]

Creative soundtrack: Shatter Me ft. Lzzy Hale - Lindsey Stirling

She inclined her head with a warm smile as Natasi spoke, finally breaking the gentle silence that had fallen between them. Time was what she needed to breathe and to begin to gather her thoughts, and of all things that Kassandra had, time was the most abundant. She continued with a most charming description of the grounds and the history brimming therein, which she marveled at.

Much as she herself lived on a similarly sprawling estate, she had built it herself within the last decade. It did not have the history bleeding from every cobblestone and marble folly that Herevan did. Each blossom and burble of water insisted upon its due reverence and she attended to each with diligence and a faint touch of jealousy. This was a family home, an estate of a lineage that was something worthy of remembrance and continuance.

So unlike her own.

A son and a daughter she hadn’t seen in centuries, descendants lost to the Nether, and others she’d lost track of because of her stasis. Parents long since dead at her own hands. A pair of brothers who turned their backs on her and simply disappeared in a life-altering moment.

Nothing to be proud of. So little worth remembering.

Her gaze fluttered slightly, hopefully imperceptibly so, as they walked companionably along the winding paths. Kassandra paused as Natasi’s tone changed, her mind snapping thoroughly back into the moment. One delicately shaped brow lifted as the woman groped for words that seemed just out of reach for the briefest moment. She arrived at those that would at least convey her thoughts and Kass reached over to gently press a hand to her shoulder.

Would that she could lend the woman a measure of strength.

“If anything about the process of bringing your soul back from the Nether could be called natural, it would be this very sense of absolute discombobulation. You’re feeling different because you simply are different. Just like every other experience marks you in some way, so did this...though perhaps it did so to a much more exceptional degree. Hmm…” her voice trailed off, her crimson gaze flaring brightly before flickering to her original cerulean hue.

Natasi continued, and Kassandra’s other brow joined its twin.

“I can.” the Lordess said simply, raising her hand to manifest a small shimmering orb of energy that flickered and floated just above her palm. It expanded to encompass them both, leaving them to stand in a comfortably quiet bubble.

“That buzzing you feel is most likely what I call the Force, and you seem to bear a sensitivity to it since your awakening. It might be temporary, and it might not be. I would be able to test that, if you wish, but it will be...a likely unpleasant few moments that involve linking my mind to yours.”

Canting her head to the side, she shifted slightly to stand facing her instead of at the woman’s side. She had not known Natasi in her life before, though she had seen much of her in holo-recordings and archival footage that had been provided to her. There was something there, lingering at the edge of her senses, swirling within the woman, and it seemed almost out of place. Part of her and yet not so, at the same time.

“Does this help? It’s a simple trick of muting I normally use to assist my apprentices when they are overwhelmed with the sensations of their Force sense. It takes some getting used to at the best of times, and waking up with it abruptly as you seem to have done is even more difficult. If this does nothing to ameliorate it, then we can dig further to discover what might be causing it.”

Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi studied Kassandra intently, her deep eyes soulful and searching. She listened to the woman's explanation, and as she did, Natasi felt a strange bubbling sensation rising from her gut. By the time it reached her throat, Natasi had identified the feeling but was incredulous at it. She put her hand to her eyes, her shoulders heaving. It was likely not apparent to an outside observer whether the Galidraani woman was laughing or crying, for on Natasi Fortan the two were both equally rare, and unheard of in front of anyone else. Even giving birth to George had brought a dignified and easily-disguised tear to her eye rather than a full-blown emotional response.

After a few moments of this, Natasi drew her hand away from her eyes, where Kassandra could see tears streaming into the corner of her laughing grin. When she had finally regained her composure, Natasi looked at Kassandra with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry," she said over an errant giggle. "It's just, you have to understand. It came as quite a shock to me that there was an afterlife to begin with." She put a hand to her trim midsection, steadying herself, and lifted a hand to her eyeline to wipe away a tear. "My religion does not teach of an afterlife. And what's more, it teaches that the Force is not a benefit or a boon, but a curse, because it takes the universe out of balance — out of the equilibrium that the Cosmic Balance teaches. All my life, I sought the Balance. It comforted me in moments of tragedy, knowing that my grief was offset by joy elsewhere. It grounded me at the heights of my triumphs and reminded me that actions had consequences."

She paused, looking out of the folly towards Herevan in the distance. She couldn't make out the steeple of the temple of Cosmic Balance that her father had built for her mother on the occasion of their wedding. "Essentially, I've learned that I was wrong about the very foundations of my being . For four decades I pursued a religion that got it wrong. Most people would be delighted to learn they'd been gifted with the Force. I can't help but see it as a rebuke."

She paced away from the Sith Lordess, pausing in the folly's shadow for a few moments to collect herself, then turned back. "Can you tell me for sure? If it's uncomfortable, I can accept that to know for sure."

Kassandra Distorith​

 

[Ariel Yvarro]

Ariel was on her way back at Herevan empty-handed, with a torn shirt and muddied pants. The Allegro had been found but it was tied up in biotech, and after a few attempts the ship would unfortunately not be able to be flown directly. At best it remained where it was, and at worse, they would have to purposefully hide it. A cut along the right side of her face was superficial and the blood dried up. "Bloody biotech," she cursed half on her way back to the carriage. She turned her head and caught sight of smoke, purple smoke, she recognized it immediately. "Lady Creed, is that you?" Ariel asked and desperately wanted it to be so.​

​

Rather than it being Ariel talking to an empty cloud... Not that, she hadn't been talking to emptiness at some point in her life. Lady Creed stepped out of the smoke and greeted the young woman. "Moff Yvarro, a pleasure to see you again."​

​

"Yes, yes I suppose so, you were... You were..."​

​

"Right?" Lady Creed remarked with a careful smile, "of course I was darling and did the plan pay off?" ​

​

It had. Although, Lady Creed wanted the young woman to confess.​

​

"Yes. It did, she's back, she's really back," Ariel answered with a smile that seemed to be one of the brightest that Lady Creed had ever seen on the girl.​

​

Lady Creed's own smile grew with warmth, "oh of course darling, just trust me. I assure you, my dear, so long as you listen everything will turn out just fine." She approached Ariel and wrapped an arm around the young woman's shoulder. "Now this is such a better look for your Ariel, your sweet smile so much better than that dour look I found you with those many months ago."​

​

"Two years now, I think." Ariel replied without a thought.​

​

"Ah yes, has it been so long? Oh, I must have forgotten, you know at my age we do tend to forget a few things."​

​

Ariel sounded as grateful as ever, "oh that's quite alright, I'm just glad that you were there, but I must be going Lady Creed. I'm due back at Herevan."​

​

"Yes, of course, do take care of yourself."​

​

"Oh..." Ariel's voice trailed as she got to the carriage. "Should I tell my cousin you're here?"​

​

Lady Creed placed a hand over her mouth, "oh." Her hand fell to her midsection, "no, don't I want this to be a surprise."​

​

"Alright then, shall I see you later?"​

​

"You will dear, believe me, you will."​

​

Lady Creed watched as the young woman got into the carriage and rode away. She smirked with a villainous glimmer she sighed happily for once her plans were finally paying off. Natasi was back and now she just needed to pull the strings of the dear, the poor unfortunate soul of Ariel Yvarro. A look around the Lady checked to see if she was alone before disappearing in that all too familiar puff of violet smoke. ​

​

At Herevan, Ariel disembarked the carriage and decided to clean up before making herself presentable to Natasi and their guests. Then there was a whisper, a thought in the back of her mind, remember no one must know, if you want my help again - keep our little secret, Ariel. Ariel only nodded absent-mindedly as she crossed the threshold. ​

​