Private The Friend Test

[Makko Vyres]

"It's nice to know that there are people back there who actually care," Makko said. He knew he sounded a little bitter. The mention of Cora's father had done that.

Makko had been there when the man tried to strike Cora for disobedience and she finally stood up to him.

"I know she's strong and I respect that," Makko said, echoing her words, "but if someone from Ukatis tried to put her through all that again, I would tear the damned stars out of the sky for her."

His expression hardened as he took a breath.

"I know Cora has changed since coming to Coruscant," he said, thinking back. He smiled again, letting the tension go. "But I think for the better. I'm sure she's still the friend you had."

 

[Mathilde Leyweald]

"I know you do not like us", came Mathilde's response - unbothered by the declaration. Even a girl with her head in the clouds like the tender dreamweaver could see how others sneered at the mere mention of Ukatis. And, for all of its faults, that world was her home. "But some of us do care, yes."

It was his words of warning that left her quiet and introspective once more. It would be Makko's right to do so - even according to Ukatian customs, really, if one managed to spin the story as a damsel in distress being rescued by her man. An unflattering notion, and one that entirely misrepresented the reality of the situation, but a much easier pill to swallow than the truth of a Jedi descending onto Ukatis to meddle in the affairs of the nobility. Stars, but Mathilde never understood how people could go into politics. Lying must have been as easily for them as breathing.

"She is, and yet she is not", spoke the grovetender gently, her expression truly beatific. "She is less, and she is more. But her light remains true, and... perhaps greater, now that it has known darkness. I am not her protector - even if I believed I deserved such a station, what use would I be? I scarcely know how to raise a sword, much less defend another. All I can do is to offer my thoughts to her, and my affection."

Then, her features betrayed a touch of worry.

"But, unless she renounces the throne, Corazona may very well become queen, once His Majesty passes into the great dream."

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko offered an apologetic little shrug. What she had to say made sense. He nodded along.

Then, he stopped nodding. His eyes went wide.

"She might what?"

 

[Mathilde Leyweald]

There was a slight lift of her brow in the face of Makko's confusion. Was he truly this unaware of the implication of dating a Princess?

"His Majesty's son died in that unfortunate accident", reminded the dreamweaver patiently, as if she were talking to someone missing the color of the sky... and yet, there was something else behind her eyes - a clear desire to see his reaction to her choice of presentation of that fact, a clue as to what, exactly, had happenned to Horace von Cholmondeley III. "Unless he produces an heir, Corazona's claim to the crown would be strongest. Although I am certain that some distant cousin could very well start a civil war over the entire matter."

And with that, she stood up from her seat, gave him a truly gentle smile, and a rather elegant little curtsy.

"I would brush up on courtly etiquette, if I were you, Ser Makko of Coruscant."

And just like that, she was gone, humming happily to herself.

Makko Vyres