The End (Friends welcome)

[Bolt]

Zaiden acknowledged the mans offer, with a shake of the head, "I have had enough." As it was, any that got close enough would think that Zaiden had bathed in bourbon and scotch. But then after giving it more thought he shrugged and moved to a hall nearby.

Returning a few minutes later, he was seen chugging a large portion of a fresh bottle of Fine Corellian Scotch. Stopping short of sloshing the drink down his chest, he offered it to the others in a counter proposal.

"Don't worry. I'll buy another to replace this one....some day...."

[member="Feena Mason"] [member="Vorhi Alestrani"] [member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Felicity Mason]

"...Can I have some?"

The girl appeared out of the dark hallway, eyeing the bottle in her uncles hand. It had been a long time since she drank anything. Not since the night with Owain.

Her eyes were dry again. She'd managed to cry herself out now, but her fingers were trembling and her eyes were still red and puffy. No sign of Owain. He was probably staying clear, taking care of the baby so she didn't have to worry about her. Still, she wished he would turn up. She could go try to find him, but that would take her too far away. What if they needed her?

[member="Razor Shot"] [member="Vorhi Alestrani"]

 

[Bolt]

Zaiden nodded and held the bottle out, "Sure sweetheart. You got it even worse than I do, and I feel for you.." He said, wanting badly to hug the young lady that meant a lot to him. But he didn't want to force himself onto her in a time when she may want to be alone.

Casting his mind back to the previous track they had been on, he began to repeat the words he had long ago read in the Sith Archives. Combined with what had happened when he was trapped in Raves sword, he began to feel slightly better...

"She won't want it...but I have to..." He murmured, aware that the others likely thought him in a drunk stupor - to which he was a bit drunk, for the first time in years; more so than he had been dead as well. Alcohol had stopped being innebriating for him long before his death.

[member="Felicity Mason"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"You could say that" He would reply to Feena's quip with a small smile, trying to keep his composure. It was then that Feena's second daughter would burst in, and before long, Feena would ask to be left alone with her.

"Of course, Feena. I hope to see you again before the day is done" He spoke calmly as he would exit the room. When he did, he tried to squeeze himself through the crowd in order to get himself some air. He noted Feena's older daughter asking someone for a drink. A family member, most likely.

 

[Felicity Mason]

The girl snatched the bottle out of her uncles hands and started to chug it. She had little in the way of alcohol tolerance, but she knew this day would be easier if she was a bit drunk. Not too drunk. Not enough to upset mother. If she did it well, mom wouldn't have any clue. Dad might, of course, but Dad was still going to be here when the day was out.

Dad... She knew how her Father handled things. Never very well. He loved his wife. He really did. There were so many couples in the Galaxy that would just fall apart at the first sign of trouble. Not them though. They seemed to just cling tighter. Was it mom that kept her Father sane though, or was it her father that kept mom sane?

She hesitated, then took another long sip. Her uncle was mumbling something now. Her blue eyes slid to the side, trying to read his lips. Something about...
'she won't like it'.

Who? What? It didn't matter. The man was probably drunk already. She looked at the bottle, then to [member="Vorhi Alestrani"] . Yes. She knew him. She hadn't noticed him until just now, but there he was.

"Master Alestrani," she greeted, taking another sip before turning to, "And [member="Joshua DragonsFlame"], correct?"

[member="Razor Shot"]

 

[Beowoof]

She calmed her weeping for the time that it took the remainder of people to leave the room, though her body continued to quiver violently after they had left. Just her and Dad. Her fingers relaxed their constricting clamp as she tried to regain some composure. But Mom was dying. How could she be okay with Mom dying?

She only released her hold on her mother's hand to take the necklace, digits ever so gently releasing its clutch and shakily removing the jewelry from Feena's neck. She whimpered, "What about Felicity?" Normally, Celeste would not have hesitated to gloat about her gifts in front of her big sister, but the times had changed. And death was the most sobering factor of all. Where was her sister? She needed her now! Mom needed her! "Please don't go, Mom. We're not ready."

The teen slowly curled the chain of her mother's necklace and snapped it to hand about her own neck. Her arms fell across the queen's body and she laid her head against the dying woman's chest, blue eyes staring into the fading light of Queen Mason's own. "I'm not brave enough yet," she whispered. "I need you."

 

[Feena]

A faint laugh could be heard through the former Queens pale lips. A rush of air. Not many more laughs left. They hurt. They hurt like the harsh winds of this world. They hurt like her daughters eyes hurt. Looking at them cut her deep.

"Shh..." she soothed, running a cold, dead finger through the girls black hair, "Felicity will see me before the end too. I have a gift for her as well."

Her eyes flashed to her husband, practically pleading for his help in this.

"You are strong. You are powerful. You are brave. You are smart. You will survive this. You are a Mason. Don't you ever forget that. Promise me that you won't."

[member="Keter"] [member="Celeste Mason"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Correct" The Jedi Master would speak softly, with a small smile toward [member="Felicity Mason"]. "Felicity Mason, no? I recall seeing you once at a party but I don't believe we've met in person before. Your mother is a good friend of mine" He spoke, as he realized his hands had been shaky this whole time. He never took the death of someone he cared for very well... But that was just another thing that shaped who he was.

"You're very lucky to have her. And by what has been said of you in the past... I'm sure she's very proud of you" He would add warmly, scratching his eye a little, trying to relax himself.

"Also, don't drink that too fast. I've tried that, it doesn't always go down right and alcohol in the wrong place doesn't end very well" Joshua would remark with a soft chuckle, trying to ease the tension, the pain... She was going through a lot more pain then he possibly could. Trying to at least cheer her up was what he should be doing.

[member="Felicity Mason"]

 

[Felicity Mason]

Yes. A party. She did recall the meeting, or at least crossing paths with him. Although, honestly, she could not for the life of her remember what the party was for and who was hosting it. Details. They mattered so little.

"Were this any other occasion, Master Dragonsflame, I would be properly flattered."

She did have a reputation. Good or ill, she supposed, was depending on the person. She was a wild one, fiercely independent. She could play the lady, but she would punch and kick and claw and bite when it came down to it. Was that a good thing? Was that something that mother, who had always valued peace and love, would be proud of? Was she proud of her?

She took another sip, realizing that she'd drained half the bottle. She blushed and went to hand it back to her uncle.

"I... What exactly has been said of me?"

[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"] [member="Razor Shot"]

 

[Beowoof]

Celeste trembled but she did not move. Her eyes drowned in moisture and nose dripped as she sniveled, withholding the profuse weeping she had allowed only moments ago but unable to completely contain her misery. She closed her eyes and let the torrent of sorrowful liquid release as she felt Mother's hand rake through her locks. Feena was in pain. She could feel that. Celeste wanted her to stay forever--even stay in this moment. But the pain she felt in her mother was perhaps too great. The queen needed to leave this horrid galaxy and move on to somewhere beautiful and without hurt.

But Celeste needed something too. If she was going to be brave, she needed a reason to be. "I promise if you promise I'll see you again."

 

[Vorhi Alestrani]

[member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Razor Shot"] [member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]



He sat and looked around the room, watching the young girl drink. "Yes, I am Vorhi Alestrani. But you can call me Vorhi. There is no need for formality, not today," he said calmly. The one I was supposed to train, he thought, chiding himself. He hadn't been ready to take on such a willful student. Not yet. He smiled softly and looked to her. "After you're done preparing, you should speak to her. She....she wants to see you," he said softly.


He barely coughed out that last bit. He wasn't going to start crying in front of a bunch of kids. He was a little too stubborn for that. But still, this was annoying and cruel. Hadn't he had to watch enough people die? Then again, maybe that was the true curse of playing the oracle. You saw plenty of things that hurt you, as well as things that helped. He pocketed his flask. He wasn't going to get fully drunk. "Heh....didn't see it happening this way...go figure...." He mused out loud, debating, well, something.

 

[Felicity Mason]

"Heh....didn't see it happening this way...go figure...."

"I did," the girl replied at once, "I... saw it. I did not see it this soon, but I saw it."

It was months ago. Dreams came to her in flashes and voices. She awoke nearly every night since then with a head ache, her skull on fire. She bit her lip momentarily, a habit her Father said came from her Mother. She was like both of them in this way. But she did feel she favored her father in most things. Her hair came from his side of the family, likely her eyes too, and certainly her fiery personality. She liked to imagine, think, dream- when her dreams were pleasant, at least.

"We have mere hours left, I think..."

Master Alestrani would no doubt recall that the girl was also in possession of that... 'gift'. To see things before they happened, things far away. But after half the Galaxy disappeared one day, a new gift had found her. She saw the dead as they walked among the living. And she saw them often now.

Too often. Out of the corner of her puffy red eyes, she saw one now. Drifting down the hall, pale, flickering like a flame. She knew who she was seeing. Mother told her often about the man she'd killed. She locked eyes with this spirit and he flickered out again.

[member="Vorhi Alestrani"]

 

[Feena]

With trembling fingers she placed a hand on her youngest child's cheek. She gave a reassuring nod, making sure she saw it. She'd give anything in the Galaxy just to have the strength to go on, to reach out and hug her little girl again. But it was beyond her now. The numbness in her fingers had traveled all the way to her wrists.

"Nothing could keep me away, Princess."

And she meant it.


[member="Celeste Mason"]

 

[Bolt]

Zaiden took the bottle back fr his lovely niece, and tilted the rest of the warm liquid down his throat. He finally tore his mind from his plans. Soon she would call him back inside. When that happened he would spend the last few moments she had in her body with her...

Turning to the man who spoke, seemingly to no one, he countered with, "It takes a stronger mind than most to see the true death of friend or loved one..its harder than its made out to be..."

[member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Vorhi Alestrani"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"It's a shame indeed that our first actual meeting was in circumstances such as these... But there is always a meeting, and there is always a parting. It is rare that, even with death's looming embrace waiting to return us to the Force... That a parting means forever" The Jedi Master would speak calmly, smiling faintly. To her question, he would merely chuckle, before speaking quietly.

".... I am sure that before the day is done, anything I could tell you on that subject, she has already, or will tell you soon enough... Feena is not a woman that would allow herself to pass into the Force without telling her beloved daughter just how she felt about her..." He spoke, a warm smile crossing his face. "Do not concern yourself with small things like that... They will, or have already come... And you have bigger things to worry about"

His gaze turned to the door, and he frowned.

"My only regret is I was not able to get to know your mother better during the time I have known her. Like she has been to many others, she has been a gift to my life, in the time I've spent knowing her, as short as the times I have met her in person have been... But that's something that people always wish for in regret, is it not? More time" He spoke quietly, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath. "One of the worst things to feel in this world, Madam Felicity... Is regret. If you feel there is anything you feel you may regret in terms of your mother... This is a better time then any to expunge any demons you may hold. This may be the last chance for a very long time. I do not believe in forever... But time is a fleeting thing. It can feel slow some times... And faster others"

His gaze would return to Felicity as his eyes opened, he would raise a hand to scratch his eye again quickly, before wiping water from the scratching fingers. He breathed, tried to relax once again. "But all in all... I think all Feena feels for you right now is love.... And pride. She's raised a beautiful, strong daughter, who will carry her legacy with a strong yet delicate hand"

He tended to do that - his words had become a symphony of rhetoric, a puzzle formed from words, but each word came from his heart. Complicated as he may be, his words were honest, without deceit.

Her prediction was correct.... He could feel Feena's life draining away. The hours were ticking down.

They did not have much time left.

[member="Felicity Mason"]

 

[Bolt]

Felicity, the next best mark in his life was having difficulty right now. He wanted to make her feel better, but had no idea of what to say or do. So he simply stepped close and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, with the half embrace he murmured down, "Your mother has always had a lot on her plate. Hell so much so that when the time came that we meet, she hardly knew of the twin she would find I was.

"But we all here know she loved her family. Her children most of all. If there is ever anything you need...anything at all. Ask. If it is in my power, it will be yours." With these words he kissed the top of her head.

[member="Felicity Mason"]

 

[Keter]

Keter stayed silent, allowing his wife and daughter to enjoy one of their precious few talks. Celeste would remmeber this, he knew. Good. SOmeone deserved to remember Feena as she was. He stood up. "I'll fetch Felicity," he said softly, padding over to the door and slipping outside. He took a deep steadying breath before calling out. "Felicity. Please come here. Your mother wishes to speak to you too." He knew she would hear him. She always did.

[member="Feena Mason"] [member="Felicity Mason"] [member="Celeste Mason"]

 

[Owain]

Sitting with the baby in his arms, Owain hummed some old marching song under his breath, keeping little Zelda calm. Felicity had gone to be with her mother. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but his uncle had mentioned something about it being someone's time. Felicity growing ever more distraught hadn't helped. SO he'd taken the little one and kept them out of the way. WHatever was going on - it was serious. Enough that even Zelda was picking up on it.

He'd never felt as much a stranger as he did now - that he simply didn't belong. But this was a family affair, he figured, it made sense for him to feel that way.

 

[Felicity Mason]

The girl accepted the hug from her uncle and the few words of wisdom from her mothers friends. She had been about to respond when her fathers voice once more pierced her ears. She went rigid, turned around and wordlessly went to join her Mother once more. Her eyes had finally dried. It was time, she supposed, to make her last goodbyes.

The first thing she noticed was the glossy black hair of her sister. She was practically clinging to mother now. The girls heart skipped a beat. Was she already gone? But... no. Father was too calm. And there, yes, Felicity could she signs of breathing, movement.
The blonde let out the breath of air she'd been holding as she took a seat in a chair next to the womans bed.

"I'm back, mom."


[member="Keter"] [member="Razor Shot"] [member="Joshua DragonsFlame"] [member="Vorhi Alestrani"]

 

[Feena]

"Be strong," Feena whispered to Celeste once more, thinking before adding an a whisper, "and watch over your father."

He had already left the room, likely to go collect Felicity. This was quickly confirmed when the girl and her husband appeared at the door once more.

"Come come," Feena gently chided, "Running off like that. People would think you're afraid of a dying woman, Felicity. Hardly fitting for you."

She smiled to show she was only teasing. Oh, she was dying, but she would cling to humor with her last breath.

"Well, my dear... Here we are. I suppose you already know what I am going to say to you, right? Well, I want to say it anyway, because I will not have another chance to."

Still running fingers through the dark hair of her youngest child, she reached up to touch the face of her eldest daughter.

"You are a miracle, in every way, my girl. You are a rarity- no, not just your gifts. The gifts of a seer are spectacular, but that is not all you are. You are not defined by your gifts, Felicity. You are a gift. You are a person, a young woman, brave, strong and capable. I... should have realized that a long time ago."

She trailed off for a moment, glancing from child to child, then to her husband.

"I am so sorry. I know what I did. I know I let you down. It truly is a regret of mine..."

[member="Keter"] [member="Celeste Mason"]