First Reply Tattered in Ash

[NPC Treasury]

Kay was concened over the cough, keeping close to Shoden Moz as they walked out of the Estate. She was sad, of course, glancing over her shoulder as their steps took them further and further away from what was once her home. It was almost comical how the Estate pretty much reflected what her life was now; old, tattered and not entirely useful. There was little that remained that could be salvaged and that was how Kay saw herself each and every day. People would rather start all over again with some newer model than hold out hope that what was destroyed could be repaired.

"The Palace? I thought that it had suffered heavy damage during the liberation. My old office had it's own bedroom up the spiral stair. There were times when I stayed there for a while too, instead of coming here..." Kay sighed a little. "I just hope that he'd want to see me."

 

[Shoden Moz]

"Dad made sure it got rebuilt as soon as he could without taking funds away from Chasin's recovery. The office and bedroom is almost exactly as you left it I think, except he's got his weapon and armor stands up in his room and the decorations are a little different for him but, he really put effort into it." She sighed a bit and watched around them as the scenery changed, the further and further they got from the remains of the old estate. It was strange that nothing had been cleaned away, scrubbed free so there wouldn't be a 'blemish' on the planet. Did Dad have something to do with that? Or was it just, circumstance?

Maybe she'd never know. But she did know something.

"Of course he'd want to see you. He's missed you, I know it." NPC Treasury had been important to Darlyn, Kay had to know that much. Shoden couldn't imagine any reason Kay would have to doubt it now, even if she did have legitimate reasons to think so.

 

[NPC Treasury]

"He should have changed it. Maybe that would have helped..." As far as she was aware, she should be erased from Commenor's history. And if she had the power, then she would do so. Yet she didn't. Kay was just a has-been now.

She listened as Shoden Moz told her about Darlyn Excron missing her, yet Kay wasn't so sure about that. Perhaps what he missed was in not being responsible for an entire planet. It was a tough job and she knew it well. But not well enough to save it...

"I miss him too. And the way that everything used to be...before the Sith arrived." Everything was nearly perfect then. For all of them.

Kay was quite certain that those days would never come again. And she'd never live up to the expectations of Veiere or their son. Even in serving tea, offering free rooms to those that can't afford anything else, she falls short. Yet there was only so much that someone with no ship or pilot or unlimited credits could do. She wasn't as lucky as they were. She was cut off, including with her friends. It was as though she had already died and no one even bothered to notice or care.

Yes, Kay wanted to be wiped from the history of this place. Maybe Darlyn could do that for her.

 

[Shoden Moz]

"Maybe it would. Maybe he needs it to stay on his path, though. Without you or Auburn or Grandma around he doesn't have much to keep him from just..." Leaving. She didn't want to say it, but she knew that she wasn't enough for him to stay, and struggle, and fight against whatever it was that was dragging him down. She certainly wasn't enough to help him either. Nothing exactly could help, as far as she knew, as far as she could manage to investigate. This was all she could do with NPC Treasury to help.

However long it took, she followed along with her aunt, gathering everything the woman needed for this little reunion. She used her own credentials to get Kay through the palace without incident, all the way up to Darlyn's office. She took a breath, and looked up at Kay with a sad smile. "I think this part you need to do alone Auntie. He might not believe it's you otherwise." She hugged her side gently, stepping back after a moment with a nod. "I love you. I'll be waiting out here if you need me."

 

[NPC Treasury]

Kay didn't like Shoden Moz being so troubled about her Dad. It made her wonder if Lori and Caedyn Arenais went through that too when it came to her own griefened state. But she had to shove all of that aside for the moment and focus on the young lady in front of her. "I'll do the best that I can for him."

The mention of Auburn caught her attention enough to get her to raise a brow, but no doubt she'd find out more about that person soon enough. Unless Auburn was some pet of his? Kay used to have her own dragon, but he was loose somewhere on Zakuul, probably as wild as ever.

She kept herself quiet as they made their way through the Palace. It was certainly rebuilt, looking grand in splendour and healed from the wounds it suffered at the hands of the Sith. Hopefully the shields were up again so that such an attack could never befall it again.

Once at the door of her old office, Kay turned to look to Shoden, hugging her back and kissing the top of her head. "I love you too. Here's hoping that he has a box of tissues handy." She faced the door to Darlyn Excron 's office and held up her hand to knock, almost frozen in place as she pondered on just what to say first. There was just so much that she should say and some things that she shouldn't talk about at all. Like Veiere.

Finally she knocked a few times, the sound echoing down the hall. "Darlyn? Darlyn it's Kay...Are you in there?"

 

[Darlyn Excron]

<Switching to active character>

Shoden had managed to slip away, just out of sight, so as not to interfere with whatever happened between her father and aunt.

Meanwhile on the other side of the door, Darlyn lifted his head up from his desk, where he'd been laying for the past hour or so. Everything about him was a mess, unkept hair in knotted and tangled curls, his face showing exactly how badly things were getting to him with dark bags under his eyes, and it took him a minute to focus on what he was hearing. Someone 'knocking' at the door, claiming to be NPC Treasury ? Of all the things to imagine, why he really was outdoing himself.

"Oh of course come in, come in good spectre." He grumbled aloud, using the Force to shakily open the door. On the other side was, of course, 'Kay', and he waited just long enough for the imagined form to walk in before he shut the door behind her. "Wasn't expecting nightmares until tonight but, what the hell why don't we get this over with ahead of time yeah? I could use the sleep if you're promising not to show up. Cup of tea?"

For once while talking to Kay, Darlyn had a mocking tone to his voice, like the offer was as hollow as he believed her to be. Just another reminder to him of everything he lost, and everyone he failed. Everything that he hadn't managed to live up to. A sick joke even for him to come up with, as fitting as it was. Least it wasn't his mother, now that might manage to break him, seeing as she was the last living person he knew of that knew everything that had come to pass regarding him, and the last who could really give pity.

"So, what's the reminder this time? Come to tell me how I've failed our family, what a disgrace of a president I am to sit here and wallow in worthless heartache over something 'meaningless'? Or just how I've failed the job you left behind for me and how disappointed you are in me?"

 

[NPC Treasury]

Kay was about to open the door herself, and yet it opened on it's own accord. The way that Darlyn Excron appeared was...well, not what she was expecting. Yet she knew exactly how he felt.

She only stepped in part way through the room, listening to him as he rattled off his sarcastic comments which gave every indication that he didn't believe that she was real. The dark circles under his eyes were another telltale sign of his condition. Kay knew that she at least could sleep, yet it appeared that he could not. But he was also running a planet while she had only herself and her little business to take care of. Her burdens were far less.

Taking a deep breath, she walked over to Darlyn, moving around the desk so that she was right beside him. Then she wrapped her arms around him as she bent down to his level. "I know how you feel. It's the same way that I feel about myself. I wouldn't of stayed exiled otherwise. But I'm not disappointed in you. Not one bit."