Private Rainy Reunion

[Tae'l Vizsla]

Black clad soldiers moved into position as a cloaked figure approached the gate. Rifles had been trained on them since they began traversing the bridge, and yet still they approached, slowly, cautiously.

"Halt!"

The leader commanded once they were finally in ear shot, and the figure stopped in her tracks.

"Remove the hood."

Nearby lightning shone across her armor as the hood dropped around her lekku, the guard staring into her distinctly mandalorian visor with suspicion, pure beskar gleaming between the gap in her cloak. She could see in the way he moved that they did not like this one bit, an armored warrior approaching the palace, her equipment hidden behind a veil of cream fabric. They had every right to be concerned, and she might have relished in being treated like a threat, once. Now she wasn't so sure.

The guard threw a glance toward his comrade and cursed under his breath. He knew better than to demand he see her face.

"State your business." he finally said.

"I seek an audience with your lord, tell him Tae'l of House Vizsla wishes to speak with him. It's... urgent."

The guard threw another glance at his people before raising his commlink to relay the necessary information. All the while, Tae'l could feel a tiny little hand tugging on her cloak.

"It's okay Mir'ika, we'll be dry soon, I promise." she whispered over her shoulder to the masked child behind her, who was still lifting the hem of her cloak over their head.



Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

It was not every day that he was summoned to the gates. The Palace of Alvaria was an imposing structure, built high atop the cliffside overlooking the great bay, though he reserved a day to listen to the petitions of his people mainly out from Gil Lodihr, but too the rest of the world should they wish to make the trip, beyond such petitions, whether it was the intimidation of guards lining the walls, or simply the uncomfortable reverence which they showed their Emperor...

...Suffice it to say, it was not a common occurrence that one approached his gates, let alone one which required the presence of himself to contend with what would happen next.

Yet, as the name came over the comms, he could not deny that his pace was quickened, as he crossed the various layers of the palace walls towards the exterior gate. He had not seen her since...

...Bogan it had been quite some time since Geonosis, it was curiosity on his brow that had demanded his pace across his yards, but there was too... fondness, he had not much thought of Tae'l of House Vizsla in quite some time, she would likely think that for the best, but not since he had last spoken to... her mother, their battle that she partook on the side of the Alliance, where Malum had informed her of his last contact with Tae'l, as their agreement had demanded, as his own rather more complicated fondness for her had commanded.

The gates rose up, as he passed by the last walls to his destination, passing by the Palace's staff and his Guards without much notice, even as those in close proximity were quick to bow their heads or drop to their knees in the constant shows of fealty and submission, that he ever still was not entirely sure how to reply to.

So usually did not.

Finding himself at the outermost gate, he breathed. Of course, there was one thought above all else which cloistered at the edge of his mind.

Why?

Why was she here after all this time? No doubt he would soon find out, giving the signal to the helmed guard atop, the gate began to fade away, as stood upon his imperial attire, blackened, yet stripped with red and black, long flowing, as the raven locks which framed his noble face, a face consisting of thin parsed lips, an aquiline nose, and the ruby red eyes that had mended and broken hearts in equal measure.

While laying atop his head, a simple diadem.

As he awaited what would be unveiled behind.

Tae'l Vizsla
Mentioned: Aloy Vizsla

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

"Malum?" Tae'l took a half step forward.

Outwardly, so little had changed since she last saw him. Sure his raven hair had grown longer over the years, and perhaps his bearing was just a little more regal than it had already been, but even under these gray skies, his eyes, his eyes were unchanged. Deep crimson, uncorrupted by the dark side, yet no less striking.

But the world around them, their environment and the ways in which it affected them, that had changed dramatically over the near decade which had passed them by.

The biggest of those changes stepped out from behind Tae'l, a little T-visor staring up at her.

"Mooom... my visor is foggy again...!" Mirium said, her frustrated little frown evident just by her tone in lieu of visual communication.

"It's okay sweetie, I'll see for us."

She picked the child up in one arm, who was quick to slide the Twi'lek's cloak over her head.

"I hope it's not a bad time for us to drop by? I... I know I have a lot to explain, but I didn't know where else to go. Mandalore ain't what it used to be." she said, adjusting her daughter's makeshift hood.

Tae'l's voice was regretful, guilt racked even. But she wouldn't let that worry the child in her arms, who was thankfully too awe struck by this new scenery to do so. Malum in particular seemed to draw the child's gaze more often than not, though exactly why was hard to say. Even so, Tae'l seemed to take notice, glancing between the two.

"May we come in...? You know I enjoy the rain, but the kid? I don't think she shares in my Kaminoan pastimes."



Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

He swallowed the breath he had not realised he had been holding, the protrusion by his throat bobbing up and down in silent testament of a thousand different thoughts and a hundred different feelings, all so contradictory, all so juxtapositional, all indescribable, as they entered his head and left his mind in quick, and efficient measure.

"Tae...?" Malum whispered, gazing up and down her form, the beskar plates just as he remembered them, hardly hiding the figure of which he had learned in such intimate detail. The figure that his mind could not entirely comprehend was standing right before him.

He had not seen her since Geonosis, and he had not been able to speak to her then... So much had passed since then. So much for him, and as the child in much smaller plate stepped out from the side, as his amulet unbeknownst to him grew the slightest minutia warmer, clearly, so much for her.

"Mooom... my visor is foggy again...!"

Mum?

A ghost of a smile came upon his features, there was little need to remain composed when witnessing such a sight... to think they had both become parents since the last time they had seen each other...

His gaze rested upon her helm, as she continued to speak, it seemed motherhood had come to suit her, which was surprising to some degree, with her relationship with her own mother as it was, with how wild and free she wished to be, he had never imagined motherhood for her... yet, here she was proving herself every bit the mother that hers had not been.

"Old friends are always welcome here, you can pay by indulging my curiosity," He offered a fuller smile, effortlessly charming in just the way that would have pissed her off in days long gone, the light in his eye faded at the mention of Mor- Mandalore, all which he had secretly build, given way to the efforts of the barbarous.

He blinked the thoughts away, as he gazed upon the helmeted child, offering a wider smile, feigned, but his best impression to ease her, the way Tae spoke was not lost on him, but in the rain, it was hardly time to confront, "We are a rare few who enjoy the rain," He chuckled something that neared morose, opening his stance, his arms widened, bidding them welcome.

"Welcome to the Imperial Palace of Alvaria." As his mind asked question which he had not truly considered.

Where was the father?

Tae'l Vizsla
Mentioned: Aloy Vizsla

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

"Old friends are always welcome here, you can pay by indulging my curiosity,"

Friends.

Tae'l nodded in that hardly transparent way so many Mandalorians did, but internally she was unsure how to feel about the word. Though it was so long ago now, the Twi'lek still remembered a time, however brief, when they had been a little more than friends. Even now, she was unsure if leaving that all behind, if leaving him, had been the right decision.

But it was nice to see him smile again, for as much as she once hated it. It was good to see hadn't changed or at least not overly so.
And better still to see it redirected at little Mir'ika. A chance she should have given him a long time ago.

She took a deep breath and followed, pace quickening until she was standing right beside him for the first time in what seemed like a decade.

"It's... It's really good to see you again, Malum."

Mirium all the while just tilted her head curiously, blissfully unaware of the many confused feelings which hung over her mother like the dark clouds above, or just intertwined she herself was with this meeting.

To Tae'l it was as if a dragonsnake coiled tightly around her guilt stricken heart.

"So... what have you been up to while I was away? Besides the Kaggath I mean. You fought well! I saw it all on the holonet."

Her tone was awkward, but congratulatory, that of a warrior complimenting another on a good kill. Little did she know just how much Darth Strosius truly meant to him, having learned very little of the man despite living in the empire just before the brothers destroyed their master.

But neither would Tae'l tell him that she had been on the edge of her seat throughout the broadcast, for the very real fear that Strosius would be his end.

Just one moment in a long series of events when Tae'l should have been there...



Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Malum raised an eyebrow as she came close, but the smile did not fade from his features, the question would be answered soon enough he imagined, but it was best asked without the child's presence he imagined... while he hoped for the best, her words, her position, it was almost as if she was a refugee, fleeing Mori- Mandalore... with a child in her arms, and yet no father for her, no husband for her...

...For the barest moment, the smile flickered off his face, before it was back in place, a blink and one would miss it moment, as he composed himself. His curiosity had always been both his greatest virtue and his greatest sin, he would need to make certain today it would act the former and not the latter.

His eyes softened as her words fell over him as if it was possible his smile widened, "I missed you as well," He truly had, she had taught him much... if she had stayed, it might have been this Vizsla that he had fallen for.

But his luck with Vizslas had never been the greatest, as the potion by his heart remained a forever reminder of how...

Downcast eyes, flickered with brightness, banishing unworthy thoughts, as his gaze fell once more upon the adorably helmed child in Tae's arms, "What's her name?" Malum questioned, with genuine fondness, had it been the revelation of the two red-eyed and blue-skinned children that were... so much more than simply his blood, or had he always had a certain fondness for children...

...As with much in the world, a sum of both seemed to always play their part.

The brightness in his eyes faded as the last of her words spilt forth out of helmed lips, his smile becoming rather fixed, as he turned away, leading them deeper into his palace, through the layers of gates and walls, and suspicious looks from helmed guardsman, far from trusting of their disarmed and unarmoured Emperor walking a Morid- Mandalorian into the heart of his power.

Malum's mind was somewhere else, however.

"...I did not imagine you would be keeping tabs on me," He answered, expecting her to follow as he began his walk, "The Empresses' suggestion, that one of the wounds of the Empire be healed with a public performance of blood, I suppose it worked..." Even knowing the truth, guilt was impossible to avoid.

No wonder some found it difficult to believe he was Sith, "...It has been so long since I last saw you... I took over the Tsis'Kaar after..." His vision flicked to the child in her arms, his amulet warm to the touch unbeknownst to him, "...After I removed my Mistress, I became Emp- King of this world, and of Eliad, I joined the Dark Council, and now... I lead the Inquisition too." It was a long list of accomplishments for someone so young.

Yet only a drop of pride was in his words, the rest was a sobering somberness.

Tae'l Vizsla
Mentioned: Darth Strosius Darth Ophidia Srina Talon

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

"What's her name?"

"Mom can I?" the child asked eagerly, her helmed head seeming almost comically large as she tilted upwards to regard her mother.

"Yes Mir'ika."

She then turned towards Malum excitedly and proudly proclaimed; "My name is Mirium, of House Vizsla!"

Tae'l stifled a chuckle, patting her daughter's armored head with an audible ✱tap✱ ✱tap✱. The closest one might come to physical touch in a warrior society which ran so deeply as theirs. One of it's many shortcomings she supposed, but she and Mirium didn't have to be Mandalorians forever, not behind closed doors at least.

Still she was not fully over the culture to which she was born, shown in her cautious glances, or at least one may conclude they were glances, it could have been difficult to tell the subtle shifts in light which danced across her visor as angles changed and the beskar framing that empty black visage occasionally tilted just enough to alter alter her peripheral by the barest inch. It was simply an old habit more than discomfort, to examine the weapons of guardsman upon any world, or to take note of any exits through which she and her child may flee harm. Or in this instance, Malum, if they came under attack.

Though she doubted he would flee, knight in black armor that he was.

"...I did not imagine you would be keeping tabs on me,"

"I'm a bounty hunter," she chuckled "It's my job to know things."

A jest of course, and so very far from an answer. She could have admitted of course that she missed him, or that news of that impending duel had frightened the young warrior more deeply than any Mandalorian should ever make known, but there would be time. The day ahead of them would be emotional enough as is, soon as she delivered the news which had brought her back to him after all these years.

This wasn't for her, she reminded herself. This was for Mirium.

And perhaps for Malum too, who's stories seemed to carry with them more than the pride such achievements should have. In her absence these stories seemed utterly devoid of whatever context brought such somber tones from his lips, and yet the emotion itself was not entirely lost upon her deceptively stoic warrior.

Her visored chin dipped for a moment, before that black gaze was turned upon him in full.

"It sounds like you've been through a lot," she reasoned by his voice alone.

"We could talk about it, if you want...? Once we've caught up some, I know staring at a faceless visor after it's dropped on your doorstep isn't exactly therapeutic, but I dunno. I could take it off, just not in front of strangers." she chuckled nervously.



Darth Malum of House Marr