Private Something So Light

[Bernard]

The queen's guard crossed their rifles in front of the door as Bernard approached. He recognized the men, which meant that they'd recognize him as one of the protection detail, but their rifles didn't budge. After a brief exchange, the guards explained that the queen herself had ordered no one to be given entry and that she'd included him and Ishida expressly to avoid any ambiguity.

It quickly became clear there wouldn't be any convincing the guards, so instead Bernard opted to rest against the wall opposite them, and extend his senses through the Force to keep some tabs on her.

He felt emotions coming from beyond the door. Only two beings, one with intense suppressed anger, and the other's anger slowly rose in response, however, there was a hidden aspect of ill-intent. Whether it was to do violence, or a sign of malevolent hatred was impossible to tell. No voices came through the door, and the force signatures were too vague to discern whether it was the queen or her guest who harboured dark thoughts, and the ambiguity only served to heighten Bernard's unease. If those emotions swelled in intensity, there may come a moment when he would have to force his way inside to protect the queen's life.

The prospect of injuring two royal guardsmen didn't seem all too appealing.

~~~​

When the door swung open again, the queen stepped into the doorframe in mid-sentence of a proclamation to the Duros. If he continued to harass her like he had today, then he'd have to face consequences. Whatever malevolence Bernard had felt had disappeared as well. The queen seemed to radiate frustration and exhaustion more than anything else, while the Duros bounced between concern and bitterness.

The queen eyed Bernard for a second, recognized him as one of the Jedi, and dismissed him from her world. In the blink of an eye, her attention returned to matters of state and she, and her guards, departed to return to the festivities.

The duros walked out of the room a few moments later. He was startled when he found Bernard still leaning against the wall, though recovered and, mistaking him for one of the servers, asked for a drink by making a rude chop-chop motion to stress his request.

Begrudgingly, Bernard pushed off the wall and escorted the Duros back to the main hall, where he excused himself, ostensibly to fetch the drink, but in truth to reunite with Ishida.

He made his way to the other side of the hall, where he'd last seen the daughter of the queen, to begin his search.

Ishida Ashina

 

[Ishida Ashina]

For some reason being an unexpected, and hedging on unwelcomed, surprise made Ishida flash a toothsome grin at the princess.

“Who else are you expecting to sneak into a private green room?”

This made the heir to the throne’s unimpressed expression deepen. Still, through the sour expression, she was pretty, and almost an exact replica of her mother. The only differences (aside from the years of course) was the sharpness of the daughter’s nose and the thinness of her lips. But the eyes, cheekbones, shape, everything else was inarguably shared through royal blood.

A guard emerged from one of the corners, surprised to hear the princess talking to someone. Ishida recognized him from earlier — one of the fellows she’d sparred with — and he seemed to recognize her as well, and relaxed. The Jedi was on his side.

“Doesn’t matter.” The princess snipped, still thrown off by whoever she’d expected to arrive not having shown up.

“Shall we wait for them together?”

“I should get back to the party.”

The guard tightened. It was his job, but at least within this room, the variables were significantly easier to keep track of. Outside, with so many persons swanning about, he had to be on high alert.

“Your mother left a few minutes ago — to go to a private room?”

“She did?” The princess seemed utterly shocked. “She never leaves her guests unattended, or, tries not to. It’s a sign of slipping hospitality — even my waiting back here for the past hour is offensive.”

A small noise came from the guard’s throat.

“Strange.” The princess marvelled and scratched her chin. But within seconds, she seemed largely over it. Ishida’s sudden appearance into her life, through the back entrance, had dashed whatever hopes she’d held on to for someone else to come through those curtains.

"Was she with anybody?" The guard spoke instead, while the princess started to make her way toward the main entrance to the room.

"A Duros." Ishida shrugged. "They'd been speaking earlier."

"Alright, I'm ready to go" The princess interrupted, uninterested in the exchange and feeling somewhat urgent about the need to get out of the room lest her originally intended visitor make an appearance.