Thank You

[Alwine Daye]

the morning following Mambo No. 5​

Alwine was standing outside the Nutcracker, looking up at the ship that she knew housed the woman by the name of Madalena Antares. She and [member="Gerwald Lechner"] had left her where she'd been the night before as they ran off on a hunt, and had returned that morning. Yet considering the events of the night before, Alwine felt it was not right to leave the woman and ignore her. Part of her wished she had nagged Gerwald about coming with her, yet she somehow felt now was not the time. She would give him another day or few to recover from the events before she tried. For now though, there were things she had to say to this woman.

This woman… Alwine sighed. She knew of the spell by now, knew of the extent of it. And yet she could not help but wonder, while knowing she lacked much of the vital information, how effective the spell was. She had seen the way Madalena had looked at her the night before, and how she had looked at her brother, even though there was no reason for either of them. Had something happened between Gerwald and Madalena that Alwine did not know about, or were there cracks in the spell that let parts of Scherezade bleed out of it? Was there perhaps something else going on?

The Lupine did not know, and did not know if she had the tools to find out. What she did know though, as she re-balanced the pot in her hand, was that she owed the woman a thank you. Oh, sheowed the original woman much more than that, but for now, for the night before, she wished to thank Madalena Antares for her protection.

Taking a final deep breath, Alwine rang the comm, noting how ridiculous it was that the Nutcracker was so closely parked to the ship she and her brothers were living on.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Unlike herself, Madalena was still in bed that morning. She had returned home from the party last night in tears, feeling lonelier than she could ever recall feeling before. The combination of realizing she was finishing the night alone with the rude snubbing delivered by her brother had left her miserable, and she had quickly left the party after that, seeing no reason to remain at all.

The night had been as eventful as every night these last months. She had gotten very little sleep, constantly waking up screaming as the nightmares took over. The only difference was that now she had Baal, who was always there when she woke up, letting her bury her face in his fur until she calmed down, and then licked her face until she was able to try to go back to sleep. The wolf, it seemed, had infinite patience with her, and Madalena was glad she had ample time to give him without her so he could catch on his own much needed sleeping hours.

But for hours now she just lay in her bed, curled up among the blankets. No sleep. She could not figure it out, she could not understand, why Brayden was behaving the way he was. They were supposedly united again, twin brother and sister. It was supposed to be a happy thing. Yet outside of the occasional mission, it felt more like he was doing anything he could to avoid her. Part of her wanted to blame the woman he had been with last night, but she knew well enough that that no woman or man existed that could cause such a split between them. But then, if not her, what was it?

She checked her comlink every so often, hoping to see a message from him, since he hadn't called yet. But so far, nothing.

Madalena finally managed to drag herself out of bed and start making her way towards the common room when she heard the buzzer go off. Frowning, she wrapped one of her blankets around herself and walked to the door instead, not really bothering to check who it was. Because what for? They were on Geonosis and she could boil the blood of most forms of intruders anyway.

But standing before her wasn't an intruder or anything, but a short woman, carrying… A pot? Madalena blinked. "Alwine?" she asked, remembering the night before, "is everything all right?"

 

[Alwine Daye]

The doors opened and in front of her stood Madalena, a giant of a woman, covered in nothing but a blanket. Alwine blinked. Alwine blinked again when a wolf appeared behind her, bigger than she was when she was in her wolf shape, its fur as black as night. Madalena had a wolf? Why?

Forcing her attention to the question asked, she nodded. "Yes," the Lupine answered as a matter of fact, regaining her composure. This was… Strange. The two had met on two different occasions now, but it was always with other people. She had never actually had time alone with her, at first because she did not know of her existence, and then… Well, there had been a plethora of reasons.

"I am here to thank you," she explained herself, "for yesterday. I… I lost control, twice over. Once with your brother and the fires, and then once with the shifting. You tossed a shield over me to protect me from the flames I caused and I was uncertain how to properly thank you so I thought perhaps food would be an accepted gesture. I made bantha soup this morning."

And that was the least of what Alwine owed her. Alwine owed the woman who was inside that head a life debt, but she could not speak of it, because Madalena had no idea what Scherezade had done. She would not discover that from Alwine, but… But offering the woman a thank you, at least for last night, was something the petite knew quite well that she was doing more for herself than for the woman who could've been a fine Shield Maiden if she only had some chin hair.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Madalena leaned against the cold metal frame of the entrance opening, listening as the tiny woman in front of her spoke. How was she so tiny if her brother was huge? Permitting herself to taste Alwine through her blood hound abilities, there was no answer that Madalena could gain. They were siblings, in truth and in full. It was so weird.

Her other hand rested on Baal's head. She could feel his desire to jump forward and jump on Alwine but without checking with her first that it was okay, her pup knew it was best to wait for permission. "Pup". He already reached her hip. It was going to be a pain to find a planet-side lodging where he could be freer than inside of her little ship.

There had been many people that Madalena had helped over the recent months, but aside for her closer friends, she couldn't recall anyone ever actually offering as much as a thank you. Alwine had thanked her the previous night before she and Gerwald ran off, but now…

A big smile broke on her face. The gesture was more than welcome, especially after the bad night she'd suffered. "Why don’t you come on in?" she offered her, motioning with her arm, "I'll just need a moment to get dressed. I can offer to add some bantha wings on the side if you're interested. We can make a full breakfast out of it!"

Pausing, Madalena took a mini side step, and motioned to Baal, "Alwine, this is Baal, he's a Loth Wolf. He's sort of my friend and roommate. Baal, this is Alwine, she can change into a wolf. Try not to lick her to death if she allows you to get close to her."

With that she turned around and went into the ship, leaving her wolf and not her wolf together to come on in.

 

[Alwine Daye]

Alwine seemed to do a lot of blinking these days. She had intended on bringing the pot over and going away, not really counting on being invited in. But that smile she was given left her with little other choice, and suddenly she was going to have breakfast with Madalena and… Baal.

She paused before coming in, looking at the wolf that was bigger than her when she was in wolf form. There was something about its eyes that told Alwine this was not just a senseless animal. There was a soul behind those eyes. What was he? Madalena had said it was a Loth Wolf, but what was that? Alwine was going to have to look for an explanation later on.

Carefully, she stepped into the ship, the big wolf by her side. Was he doing his version of a smile? Alwine let one hand drop to pet his head, and was met with a lick. So there was no hostility to be found between them. That was good.

A few feet in though, and Alwine stopped entirely in her walk. She had seen enough ships by now, been in enough of them. Not a single one of them had been… Like this. The metal walls that usually made the interior of ships were entirely covered by paint, murals stretching from floor to ceiling. The jungles and lakes seemed almost real, and she felt as though with every breath she took, they pulsed as well. Madalena could paint? Did she have this commissioned?

One foot after the other, Alwine followed the paintings. There were fantastic creatures there, some of which she recognized, others that she did not. There were strange cats, and magnificent owls, and various other things. But she came to a stop when she reached the wolves. A gray one and a white one, their heads turned away from the viewer. Gerwald and the auflaque? Why would Madalena paint them? Had this ship perhaps belonged to Scherezade? Alwine swallowed hard, looking at the opposite side of the wall now, where a girl… Woman… Was standing, her hair billowing in the wind, her eyes shining with green fierceness. There were no other features on her face save for those eyes. Had she painted herself?

Baal gave a small bark next to Alwine, breaking the spell that had held her for a moment. How much did the wolf exactly know, she wondered. Baal guided her then to the kitchen, where she set the pot down on the table and looked around. There were sausages hanging along the walls, probably air drying. She recognized the method. Herbs were drying as well, and there were a few blocks of hard cheese on the table. While small, the kitchen area was very welcoming. It looked like thought had been put into filling it up.

Alwine sighed, and wished both her brothers were with her now.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Inside her room, Madalena quickly dressed, grabbing the nearest leather pants her hands reached, and matching it with a soft pink top. She looked nothing like the prettily dressed person she usually was at parties, but also far from the walking armory she usually was outside of them. She took a few moments to run a brush through her hair, releasing some of the tangles that yesterday's actions had caused, and pulled her boots up.

A few minutes later, she walked into the kitchen, smiling to see Alwine already there with Baal. She could tell by Baal's body language that he liked the short woman, which as far as she was concerned was another great reason to let her on the ship. Despite the many friendships she had, Madalena rarely got visitors aboard.

Humming, she removed a basket of bantha wings in marinade from the fridge and spilled half a bottle of oil into a pan, waiting for it to properly heat up.

"So what exactly happened last night?" she asked as she took a seat and offered Alwine to grab one too, "I was inside when I heard my brother screaming. Brayden, the guy with the blonde hair and glowy green eyes, that's my brother. By the time I made it to the gardens everything was on fire."

 

[Alwine Daye]

The flow with which Madalena moved about her kitchen to get the wings was impressive to Alwine. She supposed she hadn't thought about it, but if she had, based on what she'd heard, she would not have taken her for someone who was so comfortable in a kitchen. She smiled, feeling a little bit more comfortable. While Stewjon had not been a safe or good place to grow up on, she recognized the moment for what it was. Women had often bonded together in kitchens there, though this time there was a vast difference; both women were here because they wanted to be, and not because they had no other choice.

"There was a spell," she explained, wondering how it was that Madalena did not know what had happened, "the drinks, they were laced with something. It made a lot of people fall in love. That is how your brother and I ended up together. Your brother realized it though, immediately after I offered him to breed with me. But rather than explain, he left me on the floor as he made his way to that woman that was with him when you arrived. I raged at his treatment of me."

Oh, she had raged. She had felt like how she imagined Scherezade had when her brother had been an idiot. She could not fault the demon-twin for having a love, but the least he owed her was some form of explanation rather than leave her there on the floor, confused and in pain.

"The woman he ended up with… She drank with my brother and they had their few moments as well. But when my brother shifted into his wolf after your brother moved him from the woman, the spell over him broke. As it did when I finally shifted as well."

Alwine sighed as the smell of wings slowly began to take the room over.

"I have no fight with your brother regarding his feelings or his heart," she assured Madalena. No. The demon-twin could chase any woman his heart or his prick desired, it had nothing to do with Alwine, and she certainly held no lust or romantic love for him. "But I must trade words with him about his behavior. However, this has nothing to do with you."

Before Madalena could ask, Alwine explained, "when we shift to human or to wolf, during the shift, we are helpless. There is no pausing a shift, no going back in the middle. If the flames had consumed me, I would not have been able to do as much as crawl away before the shift was over, and because I am young, I require a full four to five minutes. When you came to the gardens, you protected me, even though we are perfect strangers. And that is why I am her today. To thank you."

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

A spell? Now it was Madalena's turn to blink. Her brother had warned her not to drink anything before he left, but he hadn't really bothered with explaining why. That butthole! She'd been so tempted to drink just out of spite after he'd left so abruptly, he couldn't waste air on a few more words to explain why?!

And as the petite woman told the tale of what had happened before Madalena showed up in the gardens, the Sithling's anger continued to bubble. She could not believe her brother would behave like this! It was all part of his strange behavior lately, but that was unjustified in any way. He'd been a shmuck to both her and Alwine the night before, and it was uncalled for. She was going to have to pummel his face in when he finally decreed to show it around.

"I'm so sorry…" she whispered, looking at the smaller woman.

As Alwine explained about the shifting, Madalena caught the smell of the wings, and quickly rose from her seat to take them out of the oil, putting them on a platter between the two women, as well as bowls and spoons and everything else that was needed for the soup. The chunks of cheese were moved to the table as well along with knife, and she motioned for Alwine to feel free to take anything she wanted to.

"I'm glad you didn't burn into wolf-crisps," she said with a little smile as Alwine completed her tale, "though it seems we both have rude brothers as a shared trait. I can't apologize enough for Brayden's behavior. He's been… Weird, since coming back."

Taking her first spoonful from the soup, Madalena finally smiled again. "This is really good," she grinned, taking another spoonful, "compliments to the chef."

 

[Alwine Daye]

The speed of the emotions that were emitted off the woman across her were almost dizzying to the Lupine. There were no visible signs of attempts at self-control that she could discern, it seemed to just… Shift in moods from one to the other, first anger, then sympathy, then… Joy? To Alwine, it seemed tiring, but the woman in front of her seemed as bubbly as ever by the time she began to actually eat.

As Madalena commented that they both had rude brothers, Alwine could do little but laugh. It appeared that this was true, though each for different reasons. She was not certain what Madalena was referring to when she said her brother had been behaving weird. As far as Alwine could tell, while his behavior at the party had been surprising, it should not have been. It was all on par with the term she had given him; the demon-twin. However, that did not mean she would not be speaking with him

There were so many questions that Alwine wanted to ask the woman. And almost an equal amount of questions that she knew the woman would not be able to answer. The one that could answer was locked somewhere inside that head, hidden behind a wall, her brother had described. Alwine held no false hopes that she would be able to break through them.

She permitted some moments to pass as the two women set to eat. Her soup was hearty and wonderful, the wings provided by Madalena were crisp and good. Alwine was surprised at how comfortable she felt just sitting there, eating quietly, with a woman that despite everything, was a complete stranger to her.

"These murals on your walls," Alwine finally asked when her soup bowl was half way through, "are they of your making?"

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Madalena was tremendously enjoying her food. She was not much of a soup person, so it was rare that she had any of it, but Alwine's was really superb and was almost good enough to make her reconsider her stand on going through the motions of making it on occasion. She was definitely going to have to ask for the recipe before she left.

As Alwine asked about the murals, Madalena grinned. "All mine," she said, "when my brother and I were growing up on Coruscant, we used to create stories together about a magical kingdom far away. When I bought this ship it seemed so impersonal, and I guess I wanted to give it some color, and then with my sleeping issues, one thing led to another, and before I know it everything is covered."

It had helped her survive the long nights before she'd had Baal to help calm her down. Hours were spent crouched, standing, and climbing on things to reach the tiniest corners to cover them with paint. She had shown at more than one event with color covered finger tips, and on occasion, had neglected to notice her cheek was splattered with paint as well.

"I'm not done though," she continued, "I mean, I have some of the stories up, and I got the Princess from the stories, but I still haven't painted the Prince. Brayden also recently added a dark Queen to the stories, so I'm going to have to figure out if I want to add her as well. And there's also the matter of the uncompleted story that I was supposed to finish before he came back from the Unknown Regions, but then he came back two and a half years earlier than intended so I'm still not done."

And there was also the matter of the girl from the nightmares… But there was no reason to discuss that one. It was also invisible when the doors to her own bedroom were open, and they most definitely were left open.

 

[Alwine Daye]

"Sleeping issues?" Alwine asked, blinking. If the sleeping issues were severe enough for Madalena to have time to paint all those murals when she should have been sleeping… Why did no one know of this? The demon-twin had not mentioned any of it, and the Jedi master had not said anything about the topic either. Did either of them even know?

She listened to the rest of it though. Stories of a magical kingdom, far away. That must have been Endelaan, then. Future-Aiden had spoken little of it, both Brayden and Caid had mentioned it, though not given many details. Those murals then… They were places of Endelaan? Memories? Why would Scherezade erase all her own memories to replace them with Madalena, a woman who, either remembered or… Alwine put her spoon down as she realized. She was not completely sure, but she was fairly certain at that point that these so called stories were not part of the plan. Scherezade must be bleeding through. But how? To what extent? And why? Or perhaps… Perhaps Alwine was entirely wrong. That was a possibility too.

The mention of a dark queen caused her to blink a second time.

"He did not let on that he was gone from anywhere, or had a moment at which he had to return," she admitted. More and more pieces of that damned puzzle. "Would you…" Alwine asked, "would you be willing to tell me? One of your stories?"

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Madalena looked at Alwine as the little woman asked her about her sleeping issues. She hadn't told anyone really about her nightmares, no one except Josh, but… But there was something about the way the petite looked at her that made Madalena not only feel comfortable, but also as though she cared. Was she simply interpreting it to suit her inner desires? She'd wanted to tell Brayden about it so badly, but it had never come up. And with all the missions that surrounded other people with Josh, she hadn't had a hot minute to talk in depth with him about it either. Not even with Daisy or Dia had she talked about it…

"I can't really sleep," she explained, "I have night terrors. The second the nightmares start I wake up screaming and then it takes a forever to calm back down enough to go back to sleep. I go through a few rounds of that every night."

That was… Enough, for now. She barely knew Alwine, and she didn't want to tell her what the nightmares were exactly about. It sounded stupid, anyway. She'd felt dumb enough around Josh when she detailed to him what she saw every time they began.

The notion that Brayden had not mentioned he'd returned earlier than planned was surprising to her as well. It seemed her brother was full of surprises lately though, and not all of them overly pleasant.

And then Alwine wanted a story. Madalena sat up straight in her chair, her eyes gleaming with the excitement. It had been so long since someone wanted a story from her, so long since she'd sat up all night with Brayden under their blankets to create any of them.

"Have you heard the tale of the Immortal Princess?" she asked, grinning from ear to ear, "This is not the Princess that I painted, but another one. One whose tale of love and betrayal will woe the hearts and minds of those who hear it. More than one listener has burst into tears at the pain she endured as she faced the God of Life and the God of Death who toyed with her heart's desire."

And so, Madalena fell into the telling of the tale, spinning the images as vividly as she could as she did so.

 

[Alwine Daye]

She said nothing as the other woman explained her nightmares. How many months had she been spending like that, without proper sleep? It was something she was going to have to tell Caid and the demon-twin. At this point, Alwine was convinced they did not know of it at all. She felt as though there was more about these nightmares that Madalena was not telling her, but it was hardly her place to press the matter.

Once again the mood shifted, and now Madalena began telling a tale, of an Immortal Princess, love, betrayal. For a moment, Alwine hoped it would be a story that she would recognize of what little she knew of Scherezade's life, but it quickly became apparent that it did not. Yet there was something about her voice and how she spun her tales that had the little Lupine mesmerized in it.

It was nearly two hours later when the women found themselves on the couch, bursting in laughter at the end of another one of Madalena's tales. Alwine had found herself captivated the entire time, wanting to hear more and more even if the vast majority of it was complete nonsense.

"You have a way of weaving stories," she commented once her stomach had stopped hurting from so much laughter. Alwine could not remember ever being so comfortable with another person without it being one of her brothers or without it revolving around her training. It was as though she was a child again, visiting a friend, playing all day long. But she was not a child, and Madalena was not either. Madalena was safe. The fact that Alwine was a Lupine did not put her in danger now, and she did not have to hide it. For a heartbeat, she wondered if that was what it felt like; to have genuine friends.

Yet how genuine was this, when she knew this woman was almost entirely made up, that parts of the original woman that had been there were bleeding through, whether on purpose or by accident? She did not wish to dwell on it, but the moment had been enough to shatter the spell that had engulfed her these past few hours.

"Some of the finest Warriors on Stewjon were Bards as well," Alwine said with a smile as she looked at Madalena, "there weren't many things that I can say that I loved there. But the bonfire and the storytelling… Aside for the time spent alone with my brothers, those are the few moments that I often find myself missing."

Rising from her seat on the couch, slower than she had thought she would, Alwine looked to Madalena again. "I believe it is best I leave now," she apologized, "I had not thought you would invite me for breakfast, and I had not expected to remain for so long. But I have had a wonderful time, Madalena, and I hope we can do this again sooner rather than later."