Private The Guide in The Dark

[Reina Daival]

Location: Arkania
Objective: Find some resources
Tags: Serina Calis
Outfit​

"Is it brutal compared to the alternative? Broken nose, or death from a lightsaber through the face? A nose can heal. I know. I've experienced plenty of broken noses, fingers and bones in the past...I suppose it depends on if you think letting someone live is brutal."

It came with living on the sea. Sure, they'd be able to get medical supplies that could help with those things but they still needed to heal naturally. That was when the real pain would happen. When you'd be unable to do anything and someone else would have to pick up your slack. Everyone who relied on you now needing to carry your weight. Now that was what was brutal to Reina. Not physical pain. But the pain of knowing that you've let someone down.

"I guess I am single-minded. It's how I was raised. Focus on the task. Focus on what I need to do. Do it until it becomes instinct. Until I can do it in my sleep. I can't count how many knots I can probably do with my eyes closed."

She raised an eyebrow as Serina seemed to be opening up to her. Reina wasn't sure if she should trust it or not...but it would be the nice thing to at least try and go with it. Folding her arms as she listened to Serina, tilting her head a little bit afterwards.

"...I can see why you'd be called manipulative. I feel like you're analyzing everything I do. I also think you're cold. But I'm cold as well. In different ways though. I don't understand feelings. Why I should care about them. I know I should. I just don't know why."

Reina knew what Serina was getting at. About people thinking they're good. People thinking they're selfless. Serina was trying to say that was Reina. But Reina knew it wasn't for one simple reason.

"...I don't think I'm good. Or selfless. I want to be. I want to be good. I want to be a Hero. But I know I'm not. I'm just me. No-one special. I know I'm broken. There's pieces of me missing. Shards of me that are broken. In a different universe, I might be different. I might not have wanted to be a Knight. I might have been a Sith. Or just a regular woman."

She raised an eyebrow when Serina said Reina was strange...and the fisherwoman burst out into a fit of giggles. As if Serina had said one of the most hilarious things in the world. Reina laughed until she had tears coming from her eyes, and just rubbed the tears away with her hand.

"I've known that for a long time Ma'am. If being raised around a bunch of sailors didn't make me weird, I'd be surprised. I'm just...weird. Strange. The Galaxy doesn't work how I see things. Win or lose. Life or death. It's not that simple.. Life is complicated. I just need to learn more about it all."

Afterwards, the woman sighed. Why had she told Serina all of this? Perrhaps it's because Serina had opened up. But Reina wasn't entirely sure if opening up herself had been a good idea.

 

[Serina Calis]

Tag: Reina Daival
​

Serina listened. Truly listened.

She let Reina's words wash over her, absorbing every little detail, every little truth that spilled from her lips.

And oh, how Serina enjoyed this.

Not in the way one might enjoy a victory—not in some sharp, smug sense of conquest. No, this was something richer. Something deeper.

This was delicacy.

Reina had begun this encounter cautious, wary, keeping herself locked away. And yet—here she was now. Talking. Opening herself up, piece by piece, laying her very foundation bare without even realizing it.

And all it had taken was the illusion of a genuine moment.

Serina thrived in moments like these. They were the most dangerous form of manipulation—the ones where the other person didn't even realize they were being pulled deeper. Because Reina thought she was making a choice. She thought she was in control.

But Serina had been guiding her this whole time.

And oh, how delicious it was.

She smiled—not smug, not victorious. Just… understanding.

"You say you don't understand feelings," Serina murmured, her voice softer now. "But look at you now, Reina."

Her head tilted slightly, watching Reina with that same calm, patient gaze.

"You say you don't know why you should care about them," Serina continued, voice dipping just slightly, laced with something almost comforting. "And yet you do. So much."

She let a small, quiet chuckle escape her lips. Not mocking. Warm.

"You care about the people who had to pick up the slack when you were injured. You care about whether or not you let people down. You care about the idea of being a Knight because deep down, you want to be something more."

Serina's voice lowered now, dipping into something almost… gentle.

"And yet, you say you're not special."

She shook her head, her lips pressing together in something that almost looked… disappointed.

"That's a lie, Reina," Serina murmured, voice barely above a whisper.

She let the words linger, soft but heavy, filling the air between them.

"You think you're broken because you don't understand everything yet," Serina continued, taking a slow breath as if she truly meant what she was saying. "Because there are pieces missing. Because you don't fit into the perfect mold of what you think a Jedi or a hero should be."

Serina let her gaze linger, searching Reina's eyes.

"But tell me," she said, voice steady, gentle, coaxing, "what if that isn't broken at all?"

She let that sit.

She let Reina sit with it.

Because Serina knew—oh, she knew.

Reina had doubts. About herself. About what she was supposed to be. About what she wasn't. And doubts? Doubts were cracks. And cracks could be widened.

Then—Serina exhaled, shaking her head slightly, her smile soft.

"You say life is complicated," she mused, voice dipping into something almost fond. "And yet, I think you see it far clearer than most."

She let out a slow breath, a carefully placed sigh, as if she was the one feeling introspective now.

"The truth is, Reina… you're not as lost as you think you are."

She let a pause stretch.

"Maybe you just need someone who sees that."

A beat. A breath.

Serina smiled again, this time small, almost… genuine.

Then—she turned, leading them forward through the market.

No pressure. No demand.

Just an open door.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Arkania
Objective: Find some resources
Tags: Serina Calis
Outfit​

Reina squinted as Serina spoke, folding her arms along her front. This was part of what she meant by Serina felt manipulative. The issue for Reina was that it was a warm type of manipulation. It made her feel better about herself. Which is what she wanted. But at the same time, it felt like Serina knew that was what Reina wanted. Reassurance. Familiarity.

"I don't understand them though. I don't get why someone would cry out for their father. Why some people would wait for someone else to help them. Why someone would destroy thousands of lives that don't involve them...Why a stranger would try to guide another strange."

It was obvious what she meant by the last comment. Of course, she also could have been referring to Alana. Reina wasn't quite sure herself as she tried to put some walls back up. Shaking her head as Serina went on. Reina could believe some of it at the very least. But there were other parts that she couldn't believe, no matter what.

"I'm not special. I'm not some gifted person. I don't have any special powers. I mean, there's the Spirit, but that's not really rare. I'm simple. What you see is what you get."

Well. Minus the voice in her head. But even now Reina was starting to realise that was a lot more common than she had expected. Alana had a voice in her head. Serina apparently had one in her head. Did that make Reina similar to them? She could see similiarities between her and Alana for sure. But as the fisherwoman glanced at Serina, she took her in for a moment. Tried to look past just the physical. But even then, Serina was an enigma to Reina. Maybe that was their similarity. Reina was an enigma to herself.

"I think I'm broken because I am. I have cracks. Cracks that I'm pretty sure you've noticed. But I don't think I'm permanently broken. I need to find the missing shards. The missing pieces of myself and put them together."

That worked with finding a new purpose. The purpose she was finding with the Jedi. Then she'd need to find her family. Who were they? What blood ran through her veins? If she was asked that question now, Reina wouldn't even say she has blood. That she has seawater running through her veins.

"I see the world clearer than most people, because I have a beacon to light it. A Lighthouse to guide me. It lets me see myself and my shadow in more detail than I'd like honestly. The things I'd want to hide for myself. It makes it so I can't make any excuses for what I am. How I see things. It's blunt."

Like her. Reina was blunt. Which worked for her. It meant she could be a beacon in her eyes. A guide for other people, once she had figured out how to guide herself through the world. Though then Serina said it.

"Maybe you just need someone who sees that."

And Reina hesitated. Longer than she normally would. Serina clearly seemed to see that Reina wasn't "lost". But what if that was part of Serina's plan? Reina squinted at the smile. It felt genuine. It almost gave off warmth...but Reina had faked enough smiles herself to know it wasn't fully genuine. That it wasn't real. Which made her wonder what else wasn't real about Serina?

"...I presume you're implying yourself? I have people who are willing to help me already."

With that being said...Reina went through the open door. Walking after Serina. Not behind her however, as Reina had been doing. No. Reina was walking by Serina's side. Glancing at her every so often, as if trying to gauge something. They were somewhat of similar height, but Serina still felt so much larger than Reina.

"...I've got another way to describe you now. You're sickly sweet. You're saying all the right things. All the things I want to hear. And even still, it feels wrong. Like in the moment, when you eat so much of something because you love the taste of it...but afterwards you feel the most sick you've ever felt in your life."

That was the feeling Reina had been getting this entire conversation. Like Serina had been placing sweet delicacies along a trail for Reina to follow after. Only the delicacies were laced with something. Something that made Reina wanting more and more.

Then why? Why do you go along with it? Why do you keep following the trail? Surely you know the answer. Because I do. And I am you. But go on. Ask her.

The fisherwoman glanced over towards Serina, looking into those calculating blue eyes for a moment. A small glint in Reina's own eyes as she asked a simple question.

"Why?"

 

[Serina Calis]

Tag: Reina Daival
​

Serina lived for moments like these.

The tension that hung in the air, thick and electric, humming with inevitability.

Oh, she had been so careful—so deliberate—laying each piece down, letting Reina find her way deeper into the web. She had coaxed, not pushed. Pulled, not dragged. And now?

Now Reina was asking the right question.

"Why?"

A single word. Simple. Blunt. Perfect.

Serina's smile was slow, measured, luxurious in its unfolding. She let the silence stretch, savoring it, drinking in everything about this moment. The way Reina's brows furrowed slightly. The way she was so aware of Serina beside her now. The way she couldn't help but follow.

The girl was squirming inside her own mind, writhing under the weight of her own contradictions. She knew Serina's words weren't real, but oh—how desperately she wanted them to be.

How utterly delicious.

Serina inhaled slowly, letting the breath fill her, letting herself relish in it before she spoke.

"Why?" she echoed, her voice low, silken, wrapping itself around Reina like a slow, lazy coil. "Because, Reina,"—her head tilted just so, watching the flickers of emotion shift across the fisherwoman's face—"I see you for what you are."

Serina moved carefully, deliberately. A slow step—not closer, not aggressive, but around. A small, almost thoughtless shift that changed the shape of their dynamic. Not leading anymore. Not walking ahead. No—she was orbiting her.

A shift in power.

Serina's fingertips traced lightly along the fabric of her own sleeve, casual, absentminded, like she was contemplating something deep—like she wasn't fully aware of how intensely she was watching Reina.

"You think I'm saying what you want to hear," Serina mused, voice dipping into something lower, something smoothed over with indulgence. "That I'm feeding you sweet, decadent lies to lure you in."

She let her gaze drop just slightly—not in submission, never that—but in calculation. A subtle play.

Then, a slow inhale, a faint chuckle under her breath, like she was amused—but only just.

"But tell me, Reina," Serina murmured, "if that were true... why do my words feel so good?"

She tilted her head slightly, the way a predator might before delivering a final, knowing strike.

"Why do you want to believe them?"

Serina let her gaze roam, taking in the tension in Reina's jaw, the way her shoulders held firm but her fingers twitched—just the slightest movement.

And oh, how Serina loved this part.

The slow dismantling of self-certainty.

The way someone like Reina—a girl who had spent her life building herself on practicality, on harsh truths, on cold survival—was now so tempted by something warm.

"I see you, Reina."

The words were a murmur, almost intimate in the way they lingered between them.

"You want to be good. You want to be stalwart. You want to be whole. But what you really want?"

A pause. A heartbeat. A whisper of movement as Serina shifted closer—just enough that the space between them felt thin.

"You want someone to tell you that you can be all of those things."

Serina let the air settle. Let Reina sit in the weight of that truth.

Then, finally—finally—she let her expression soften, her voice dipping into something softer, something rich, something soaked in knowing pleasure.

"That's why, Reina."

Serina breathed in the moment, took pleasure in the way Reina hadn't stepped away.

"That's why you're still here."

Her voice dipped, lower, quieter, almost like she was sharing a secret.

"And that's why you know deep down, that my words are right."

Serina watched, waited, relishing in the way Reina's mind would fight against her words even as her body stayed rooted in place.

Because she knew.

Knew that no matter how much Reina questioned it—no matter how much she doubted—

The seed was already planted.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Arkania
Objective: Find some resources
Tags: Serina Calis
Outfit​

She bit in her tongue in thought. Staring off into space for a moment. Most of what Serina was saying wasn't exactly wrong. Reina did want to hear these words. From anyone really. It just so happened to be Serina. She wasn't going to say that the woman was wrong with this. But at the same time, there was something more important to her than being told she could do all of that. That she could be all of that. Something drastically more important. That was doing all of it. She can't do any of it without this shield they were looking for. That was one of her justifications for staying with Serina. The more...selfless one. The selfish one was that she liked the way Serina sounded. Like Reina had said, the woman was sickly sweet. Reina liked sweet things.

"...I guess it's my job to prove you wrong. To prove to you that you don't see who I am. That I'm more than what you think. Or less. Either or works in my opinion. Though I will say. You aren't right completely. I do need someone to say all of these things. It doesn't necessarily have to be you."

Reina broke out into a small grin at that. It didn't mean much but it was nice to just...talk back for once. It was something Reina hadn't done for a while. Joining the Jedi didn't give her much of a chance to talk back, and before that, the only time she got to talk back was when a customer was trying to get some fish for cheap. Her main time talking back had been on the ship. It was part of what made the crew feel like home. They could just argue with each other and then get straight back to work. Like nothing had ever happened. Reina was under the assumption that no matter how much she talked back to Serina, the woman would just laugh it off. As if she expected it.

"Do you even know where they sell phrik here? Or are you just trying to take me the long way to make this conversation last longer? I don't mind talking to you. Chatting. You're strange, but...you make for good company. You make me think more. I need to do that a lot more than I do."

Though Reina would never call Serina a friend. An associate, maybe. But that was it. A good conversation partner, maybe. But that word made Reina squint to herself. Partner. No. That was the wrong word to use. Partner implied a sense of trust or camaderie. Neither of which Reina had with Serina. She was a good...jumping off point for a conversation. No. That made no sense either. At least it proved Reina right when she said that Serina was good at making Reina think. About herself. About the world. She could see what Alana might seen in Serina now at least.

Alana and Reina were similar in many ways. Many ways that Serina perhaps could take advantage of. The only difference was that Reina was perhaps too stubborn to give into Serina's temptations. Too hot-headed to let the cool and soothing words fully wrap around her mind. At her lowest point, she might have been in the same boat as Alana. But right now? Reina was at a somewhat decent place with herself. She knew how to admire the heat, but also to stay just far away enough that she wouldn't get burnt.

 

[Serina Calis]

Tag: Reina Daival
​

Serina drank in every word Reina said.

Oh, how deliciously stubborn she was. How determined she was to hold onto her own sense of self, to fight back even as Serina's words slithered into the cracks of her mind.

And Serina loved it.

It was so much more enjoyable this way. Not a fragile, desperate soul waiting to be broken, but a fighter, a woman who thought she was keeping her distance when, in reality, she had already stepped into the current.

Serina's lips curled into a slow, indulgent smirk.

"I guess it's my job to prove you wrong."

Oh, how utterly adorable.

Serina let out a quiet hum, thoughtful, as she tilted her head ever so slightly, the movement smooth, graceful, as if she were considering Reina's words like they were a particularly fascinating puzzle.

"And yet," she murmured, her voice dipping into something warm, something almost affectionate, "here you are, explaining yourself to me."

She took a slow, deliberate step—not closer, not looming, just existing within Reina's space, moving like water, fluid and inevitable.

"If you were so certain of who you were, why would you need to prove anything?"

She let the words settle between them, let the weight of them sink into Reina's defiant mind.

Because Serina knew.

People who were truly unshaken, truly solid in their sense of self, did not fight back against being seen. They simply were.

Reina was fighting.

She was resisting.

And resistance? Oh, resistance was delicious.

Because resistance meant she was afraid.

Afraid that Serina might actually be right.

Afraid of what it would mean if she wasn't.

Serina let the silence stretch, savoring it, before she let out a soft, amused breath, shaking her head with mock exasperation.

"You're right about one thing, though," she admitted, a lazy smirk playing at her lips. "It doesn't have to be me saying these things. It just so happens that I am the one who did."

She turned, just slightly, her gaze flicking toward the bustling market, letting Reina watch her as she did.

"And as for your phrik..." Serina trailed off, then let out a low chuckle, amused, indulgent. "Oh, my dear, if I wanted to take you the long way, I'd have you wandering circles around this city before you even realized it."

A small, sly look passed over her features, her lips curving into something that was half challenge, half promise.

"But I do know where to find it. The real question is..."

She turned back toward Reina, her expression shifting, softening—just enough to make it feel real.

"...Are you willing to pay the price for it?"

Serina didn't mean credits.

And she knew Reina would understand that immediately.

Because phrik was rare. It was valuable. And valuable things did not come without cost.

Serina let that question sit between them, watching Reina carefully, closely, her expression unreadable.

But inside?

Inside, Serina was thriving.

She lived for this dance, for this slow, tantalizing unraveling of a mind that thought itself immune to her influence.

And Reina?

Reina was already deeper in than she wanted to admit.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Arkania
Objective: Find some resources
Tags: Serina Calis
Outfit​

"Because you feel the need to say you know who I am. What I am. So I feel the need to explain how you're wrong. How not everything you say is the truth."

Reina folded her arms along her front, staying on the defensive as Serina spoke. Unlike previous times, Reina actually took a step back to keep her personal space. Her stubbornness and walls had been growing slowly but surely throughout the conversation once more. It might have been too late to put the walls back up but she didn't care. It was the statement. The meaning behind doing it.

"Proof means a lot in life. Proof that something works. That it won't break when you need it. And I'm already broken, even if you seem to believe otherwise."

She stood her ground as well as she could. Reina could run at this point, yes, but that meant admitting to her fears with Serina. Which she wasn't ready to do. Not yet at least. The fisherwoman wanted to stand her ground for as long as she could. To prove to herself that she was defiant and had her own will. She wasn't anyone's toy. the only person in charge of her was herself, and the Spirit of the Sea.

Which is why Reina's eyes narrowed at Serina when she started to talk about the Phrik. Talk about the price of it. No price was too small for her to live out her dream. Right? With the ability to be an unbreaking guardian for the people she wanted to be, to be a Knight like she had been dreaming of, there was nothing someone wouldn't put towards that. Their money, a favour, anything! Yet Reina's eyes stayed narrowed as she replied almost instantly to whether or not she was willing to pay for it.

"No."

That was it. Her answer. Reina was willing to put her dreams on hold than deal in the idea of favours or gifts. She didn't want to owe someone. Especially not Serina. Nothing was worth that price in her eyes. You never made deals or favours with people you didn't trust. That was how you'd get stuck in a situation that you'd never want to be. It was part of why she joined the Jedi. She owed them a favour for Keshi and Jedha.

"I'll just work with a Durasteel shield. Or something else. Phrik is too rich for my blood, as you've pointed out. Only the best can afford the best. So I'll just go with the average."

Another way of her defiance. Linked back to her saying she was no-one special. No-one great. Reina was just your average woman. And so she'd just go with an average shield. It wouldn't be amazing, it wouldn't be perfect, but it could do the job. Just like Reina.

 

[Serina Calis]

Tag: Reina Daival
​

Serina watched.

She let the silence stretch, drinking in every flicker of movement—the way Reina stepped back.

Ah.

Now that was interesting.

A statement, not of fear, but of control. A desperate attempt to pull back, to reclaim the space Serina had already woven herself into. The girl was feeling it now—the weight of Serina's words, the slow, creeping realization that something was changing inside her, and she was fighting it.

And oh, wasn't that just precious?

"No."

A simple, clean answer. Instantaneous.

Serina's lips curled ever so slightly. Not a smirk. Not amusement. Something deeper.

Reina thought she had made a choice.

But Serina knew better.

"I'll just work with a Durasteel shield. Or something else. Phrik is too rich for my blood, as you've pointed out. Only the best can afford the best. So I'll just go with the average."

Serina let a small breath of laughter escape her lips. Soft. Patient.

"Oh, Reina," she murmured, shaking her head ever so slightly. "You poor thing."

She took a slow, measured step—not closing the distance, not looming, just… existing within the space between them.

"You speak of proof," Serina said, her voice smooth, gentle, as if she were explaining something kindly to a child. "That things must work when you need them to. That they must not break."

Her head tilted slightly, those sharp blue eyes gleaming with something unreadable.

"And yet here you are," she mused, "deliberately choosing something that will."

She let that sink in.

"Why, I wonder?" Serina continued, watching Reina carefully, the way her muscles tensed, the way her fingers curled just slightly at her sides. "Why would you deny yourself the best tools available? Why would you choose to go into battle with something weaker, something more fragile, something that—when the moment comes—may fail you?"

A pause. A breath.

Serina let her gaze settle on Reina's eyes, her expression softening, as if she were seeing through her.

"You want to be a shield," Serina murmured, her voice lowering, dipping into something more personal. "You want to protect. But protection is only as strong as the shield that bears it."

Another pause. Another step—not forward, not threatening, but to the side, as if circling a thought, rather than Reina herself.

"Tell me, Reina," Serina continued, tilting her head, her tone almost curious now, "what happens when that shield breaks?"

The words were slow. Purposeful.

Not if—when.

Serina let the weight of that settle, let Reina feel it.

"Because it will," she said smoothly, her voice dipping into something softer, something gentler—the kind of tone one used when leading someone to their own conclusion.

"When you need it most—when someone is standing behind you, believing you will keep them safe—"

Serina took another step, her gaze never leaving Reina's, her voice never losing its patience.

"—what happens when it shatters?"

She let the silence stretch, let Reina's own thoughts twist against themselves, let her mind turn inward as doubt seeped in like ink into water.

"You think you are being humble," Serina murmured, softer now. "That by choosing the lesser thing, you are simply acknowledging that you are no one special."

A pause. A breath. A slow, gentle exhale.

"But, Reina…"

Serina sighed, as if she were disappointed, as if she were genuinely saddened by what she had to say next.

"…all you are doing is ensuring someone else will suffer for your choice."

A step back. A slow, deliberate look over Reina's expression, waiting—watching—for the moment the words landed.

And then, softly—so softly, almost like an afterthought—

"Knights do not choose the weaker shield, Reina."

Serina tilted her head.

"They choose the one that will never fail them, not just for themselves, but for those they protect."

She let that hang in the air, let it settle over Reina like a shadow.

And then—she smiled.

Not smug. Not victorious.

Just patient.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Arkania
Objective: Find some resources
Tags: Serina Calis
Outfit​

She hated it. The way she laughed. The way Serina spoke to her as if she was a child. Reina had to remember to breathe. Not to let her frustrations get the better of her. It was hard. All she wanted to do right now was throw herself at Serina. Get revenge for being pitied, for getting laughed. Break that nose of hers. But she held back that desire. It wasn't the right thing to do, no matter how angry she got. There was more to life than solving things with your fists. Reina had slowly been learning that. And now? She was very grateful for that lesson.

"—what happens when it shatters?"

Yet Reina had a response to Serina. For what she would do if the shield broke? It was simple in Reina's eyes. The shield was a tool, yes. But you didn't always need a tool to do the job. The tool just made it easier. Safer to do. But Reina had done plenty of jobs without the right tools. There had been plenty of times she had thrown herself into a situation where she would have gotten out of it safer.

"Then I will fall back onto the last shield I have. Myself. I have been broken, beaten and bruised, but I don't give up in a fight."

And even with all of the physical breaking she has, Reina didn't stay down. Yes, she could break like any other shield, but she'd get up again and again. She was ensuring that someone would suffer for her choice, but not someone else. Reina would be the one who suffered from her own choices. She'd stand the ground, using her body as a shield if it came to it. After all, she had already done it before. On Keshi, there had been the time she had taken a blaster bolt to her back, and then broken her shoulder protecting someone. Then on Jedha, the time she took a pair of claws straight through upper torso from protecting as well.

For once, Reina didn't have the hesitation in her eyes as she stared down Serina. It was obvious to her that Serina was trying to tempt her now. Tempt her into what, Reina didn't know. Trying to make Reina find flaws in herself. Doubt in her own capabilities. And there were a few things about herself she did doubt in now. But the one thing she wouldn't doubt in herself was her resilience. Her refusal to give up. Reina would rather die before she gave up on something.

"You speak as if you care about someone else suffering. I highly doubt that. You're just trying to make me falter. It won't work."

It might have. If it was before she had spoken to Valery, it more than likely would have. But Reina understood that it was okay if she failed. Failed at protecting people. Failed at fighting. What was important was that she kept fighting. Kept trying. As long as she did her best, it was all she needed to do.

 

[Serina Calis]

Tag: Reina Daival
​

Serina studied Reina.

For the first time in this entire conversation, Reina spoke without hesitation. Without doubt. Without second-guessing herself. And that was interesting. That was fascinating.

Because what did it mean?

It meant Reina had thought about this before. It meant she had already decided who she was in this regard. It meant Serina had found the core of her belief.

And now?

Now it was time to break it.

Serina inhaled slowly, exhaling through her nose, her expression shifting—not mocking, not cruel, not amused. No, she softened, just enough for the weight of her words to settle properly.

"Then I will fall back onto the last shield I have. Myself."

Serina sighed.

It was not the exaggerated, indulgent sigh of amusement she had used before.

It was... tired.

Deep. Heavy.

And when she spoke, her voice was quieter now, but laced with something stronger—something deeper.

"Reina."

Serina didn't step forward. Didn't try to impose. She didn't need to.

Instead, she met Reina's gaze fully, without pretense, without teasing, and her tone was leveled, even as the weight behind it sharpened.

"That's not noble. That's not selfless. That's not resilience."

A pause. A breath.

"That's selfish."

Serina let those words linger, let them stab where they needed to.

"You think you are protecting others by throwing yourself into danger? By choosing to use the lesser tool, the weaker armor, the shield that will break?"

She tilted her head slightly, not in mockery, but in genuine thought.

"No," Serina murmured, shaking her head slightly, "all you are doing is ensuring that someone else will have to carry your broken body."

And that—that was where the knife slid deep.

Serina let the silence stretch, let Reina sit in that thought.

Then—Serina inhaled, slow and measured, and her expression shifted.

This time, when she spoke, her voice changed.

It wasn't teasing.

It wasn't even manipulating.

It was... something else entirely.

"I have failed the people I loved," Serina said, her voice low, dangerously raw—not an exaggeration, not an indulgence, but something real.

Her hands curled into fists for the first time, and her gaze darkened—not with malice, but with something buried. Something deep.

"Because I thought like you do."

She exhaled slowly, her jaw tightening slightly before she released it, before she allowed herself to show something closer to truth.

"There was a time," Serina murmured, "when I thought I could take the weight of everything onto myself. That I could endure the pain, the suffering, the consequences—and that, somehow, that made it noble."

A pause. A flicker of something haunted in her gaze.

"It didn't."

Her fingers flexed at her sides.

"All it did," she said quietly, "was ensure that the people who loved me had to watch me suffer. That they had to bear the weight of my failure. That they had to clean up the mess I left behind when I broke."

Serina inhaled sharply, as if steadying herself, as if she were holding back something deeper.

And then, finally, she turned her gaze back to Reina—her voice lower now, but sharper.

"You are not invincible, Reina. And the moment you start pretending you are, the people who trust you will pay for it."

Serina let those words sit, heavy and unyielding.

Because she knew.

She knew Reina had people. People who cared, people who would suffer if she fell.

Serina knew because she had once had them, too.

And she had destroyed them by believing she could carry everything alone. That she had to lie and deceive them into believing she was always in control.

Her lips pressed together, and for the first time, her expression looked almost... regretful.

"I have already broken the ones I loved," she murmured, tilting her head slightly, watching Reina closely. “I have already made that mistake."

A pause. A breath.

"I wonder if you'll make it, too."

Serina let that hang in the air, watching, waiting, knowing—knowing—that even if Reina denied it, even if she fought back, those words would stay with her.

They would sink in.

And one day—one day, when she felt the consequences of her own choices, when someone else paid the price—

She would hear Serina's voice in the back of her mind.

And Serina would always be there when that moment came.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Arkania
Objective: Find some resources
Tags: Serina Calis
Outfit​

Reina raised an eyebrow slightly as Serina spoke. The woman seemed to be different. In her stance. The way she talked. Reina had never paid that much attention to someone before. Though the woman couldn't help but...smirk at part of it.

"That's selfish."

"I know it is. But it is my life. I will live it how I want to. I won't let someone else tell me what's best for me."

So very few things in Reina's life had been her own choice. Being left at sea as a child. Working on the ship. Being sent away to live a better life. But the few things that were her choice, she'd stick to them no matter what. Being a Jedi. Protected people as much as she could. Reina knew she couldn't hold it all on her shoulders. Of course not. But she could hold a lot more than most people expected.

Though then Serina started to talk again. Causing Reina to frown as she listened. This time it was her turn to try and analyse Serina. She did sound honestly regretful. But how much of it was possibly an act? To try and convince Reina that her and Serina were similar. That they were in some ways the same...That was the issue for Reina now. She couldn't know what parts of Serina to trust and what parts to stay wary of.

"I have failed the people I loved,"

"You gave up on them."
Reina was both sharp and blunt at the same time as she spoke. Staring directly at Serina, almost as if she was waiting to see how the woman would react to that. How would Serina act to Reina saying that she gave up on the people she loved. Some people would react violently, some with words. But Reina was most intrigued to see how Serina would react compared to the average person.

"Even if you fail, you should never give up. You should never abandon the people you love. Because they'll be there for you. To pick you up, if you give them the chance. It doesn't sound like you gave them that chance. If you break something, you stay to fix it in any way you can. You own up to your mistakes and you try to make amends. You don't leave."

And so Reina didn't deny it. There was every chance that she would fail the people she wanted to protect. The people who leaned on her for support. But there was also every chance that she wouldn't. That was the future. Not the now. Reina was focused on the here and now. What could she do now.

"If I make that mistake, I make it. But it will be my own mistake. That I learn from myself. Not because someone else told me what it's like. And when I fail, and fall down, I will get right back up again. There is nothing wrong in failing. There is plenty wrong in giving up."

It was strange. The more Reina spoke, the more she accepted the potential mistakes she could make and the flaws she had...The more she was feeling sure of herself now. When she had stayed quiet, let Serina plant these thoughts in her head, plant those seeds of doubt, Reina had been crumbling to them. The cracks in her were growing. But now that she was speaking out against them, planting her own words in her head, the cracks were shrinking. In a strange way, this was almost like a conversation she needed.

Reina's eyes softened for a moment as she looked at Serina. Debating to herself for a moment. She had just opened up more to the woman in a way, yes. But at the same time, Reina was still working at making distance between the two. Even as the fisherwoman sighed, shaking her head afterwards.

"I'm sorry. For you, and the people you failed."

In a way, Reina now...pitied Serina. They were perhaps similar in a way now. Yes, Serina was smarter than Reina. More educated and more mature than the woman. But at the same time, Reina wondered if she'd be in Serina's shoes if she gave up on people. Perhaps.

 

[Serina Calis]

Tag: Reina Daival
​

Serina watched Reina closely.

There was no amusement in her gaze now. No teasing, no smug satisfaction. Just calm. Just calculation.

Because Reina was changing before her.

The girl who had been so uncertain at the beginning, who had hesitated, who had questioned, who had stumbled over her own thoughts—now she stood before Serina with something solid in her eyes.

Fascinating.

Serina had been expecting to plant doubt. To undermine her convictions. But instead, Reina was fortifying them. Sharpening them like a blade against Serina's words. Hardening herself.

Serina wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or impressed.

But then—

"You gave up on them."

Ah.

That was an interesting choice of words.

Serina felt something cold curl in her chest, something old and buried, something she had cut away a long time ago.

A slow, deliberate inhale. A measured exhale.

She did not scoff. Did not laugh. Did not deny it.

Instead, Serina tilted her head slightly, her expression unreadable.

"You can't give up on what is already gone."

Her voice was smooth, level, but there was something hard underneath. Something final.

"I failed before I even had the chance to try."

A pause. A breath.

Serina let that linger, let Reina turn it over in her mind. Because Reina still thought of failure as something temporary, something that could be fixed, something that one could recover from.

But failure was not always just a lesson.

Failure was a grave.

"You think failure is something you can stand back up from," Serina murmured, her voice quiet, patient. "And maybe, for you, that is true. Maybe you will fall, and you will rise again, and the world will give you another chance."

Her gaze darkened, sharpened, but her tone remained soft.

"But not everyone gets back up, Reina."

She let the weight of that settle, let it sink into the air between them like a cold wind rolling in from the ocean.

She had seen it. Felt it. She had known people who never stood back up again.

People who had trusted her.

People who had died because of it.

Serina exhaled slowly, shaking her head.

"And even if failure is a lesson, that does not mean you should allow it to happen simply because you believe you will learn from it."

Her tone never wavered. Never rose, never pressed.

She wasn't trying to convince Reina anymore.

She was simply stating the truth.

"Your mistakes will cost you, yes. But they will cost others, too. And if you know there is a better way—if you know there is a better tool, a better shield, a better choice—and you still choose the lesser option?"

Serina studied her, gaze unwavering, sharp and precise.

"Then you are not just failing. You are choosing to harm them."

A pause. A breath.

Serina let it sit. Let Reina sit in it.

And then—

"I'm sorry. For you, and the people you failed."

Serina blinked.

For the first time, in this entire exchange, she was caught off guard.

She had expected defiance. Had expected resistance. Had expected Reina to stand her ground against her words.

But she had not expected pity.

Something in her froze for a moment, something deep, something she didn't even name.

Pity.

From her?

Serina's lips pressed together, a slow exhale slipping past her nose as she let her gaze drift—just slightly.

Then, she turned back to Reina, and her expression shifted. Not amusement. Not indulgence. Not satisfaction.

Just... something neutral.

Something calm.

"I do not need your pity, Reina," she said quietly. Not sharp, not angry, just… stating it. "They are gone. There is nothing left to fix. No broken shield to mend. No wounds left to heal."

She inhaled slowly, watching Reina with something careful in her expression.

"That is the difference between you and me," she murmured.

A pause. A breath.

"You still believe you have time."

She let those words linger. Let them drift between them, settling in the air like a storm waiting to break.

And then—Serina turned, not dismissively, not sharply, just… easily. As if she had already accepted that this conversation had reached its inevitable conclusion.

"Come," she murmured, almost absently, as if she hadn't just let a truth hang between them like a knife's edge. "I believe we were looking for your shield."

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Arkania
Objective: Find some resources
Tags: Serina Calis
Outfit​

Perhaps there were more similar than Reina realised. That was her thought as she watched Serina, whilst Serina watched her. It was interesting to see Serina's reaction. The way there didn't seem to be any sound of smugness, or superiority in her voice. Just acceptance. Perhaps stubbornness. Reina had been stubborn because she refused to give up. Serina seemed to be stubborn in thinking that she could only give up. That she had no other choice. That at least gave them three similarities now. Both of them were stubborn, strange and could be cold.

"But not everyone gets back up, Reina."

"Not everyone can. I agree. I don't think everyone can. Not everyone has the mindset for it. The strength for it. But you do Serina. You failed them before you even had a chance to try? You don't seem like the type of person who would just give up like that. If you really didn't want to fail them, you'd tried. No matter what."

It was strange. It felt like the roles had reversed compared to earlier. When Serina said that she knew who Reina was. Now it seemed like Reina was acting as if she knew who Serina was. Perhaps in a way she did. Serina was who Reina could have been like. What she'd be like if her stubbornness had been pointed in a different direction. Similar to how perhaps Reina is who Serina could have been like.

"I do not need your pity, Reina," she said quietly. Not sharp, not angry, just… stating it. "They are gone. There is nothing left to fix. No broken shield to mend. No wounds left to heal."

"You say that. But I find it hard to believe. There is still a wound. For you I think. I'm no healer. Honestly, my way of healing people is to jab a lightsaber against their wound."

A joke, but also a truth. It's what she had done on Jedha. It was one of the signs to her that she was cold hearted. Everest had struggled to cauterise the wound whereas Reina had managed to do it straight away. Perhaps Serina needed something like that. Harsh treatment. Though Reina shook her head afterwards.

"You don't need my pity Serina, but I give it to you anyway. I see myself in you now. You refuse to think that you still have time to fix things. And maybe you do. But that doesn't mean you have to give up."

The conversation was coming to its natural end. But Reina had something she wanted to say. There was a part of her that felt like she would regret it massively. That it would come back to bite her, but after seeing how similar her and Reina truly could be...

"If you don't want my pity Serina, at least take my friendship. You might have failed people in the past, but it's very hard to fail me I think. I might regret this. It might lead to you analyzing me more, and trying to make me doubt myself. But I want to make you doubt in yourself."

Except Reina was doing it in a different way. She wanted to make Serina doubt, and think that she was stronger than she actually was. The fisherwoman sighed and held her hand out towards Serina as they walked together, keeping her eyes focused on the woman. Examining her reactions.

"We can just...I don't know, what do people do for fun? Eat? Watch sports? I doubt you'd enjoy going fishing for an entire day."

 

[Serina Calis]

Tag: Reina Daival
​

Serina Calis did not slow her pace. Her steps remained fluid, controlled—each movement deliberate, measured, precise. A stark contrast to the storm beneath the surface. To the careful battle playing out between the words spoken and the truth left unsaid.

Reina's offer hung between them like an unanswered question, a branch extended over turbulent waters. A fragile thing, foolish in its sincerity.

Serina did not take the hand.

Instead, she turned her masked gaze toward Reina, voice smooth as glass, absent of hesitation or warmth.

"I appreciate the sentiment." A pause. "But your friendship would be wasted on me."

The words were not cruel. They were not sharp. They were merely fact.

She held Reina's stare, unflinching, her steps never faltering.

"You believe I still have time. That I still have a choice. But there is something you fail to understand, something no kindness, no offering of companionship will ever change."

She did not look away. The space between them seemed to narrow—not physically, but through sheer will, through presence, through the weight of unshakable certainty.

"I do not have free will, Reina."

The admission was quiet, devoid of theatrics or lament.

"You think I could choose to stand back up, to fight, to try—but I was never given that luxury. My will, my path, my existence—these things are not mine to command. There is no victory to be won, no redemption to seek, no doubt to entertain. There is only what has already been decided."

A single beat of silence.

Then, with an elegance that almost felt cruel in its restraint, she inclined her head slightly—just enough to acknowledge Reina's words, to acknowledge the intent behind them.

"But I am not ungrateful. You say you see yourself in me. Perhaps there is truth in that. But if so, then I would ask you one thing—"

Another pause. The weight of her unseen gaze bore down, calculating, piercing.

"If you truly wish to change my mind, if you truly wish to make me doubt, then tell me—what would you do, if the very foundation of your soul was not your own?"

The question was not a challenge. Not an argument. Not a trap.

It was a quiet revelation, the smallest crack in the flawless armor she wore.

And yet, even as she spoke, there was no break in her composure. No shift in her control.

Serina Calis remained untouchable.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Arkania
Objective: Find some resources
Tags: Serina Calis
Outfit​

She kept her hand held out. Even now, after what Serina had just said, the woman still didn't take back the offer of friendship. A frown on her face as she took in the words. Folding one of her arms along her front whilst Reina tilted her head to the side.

"I think I should be the one who decides if I'm going to waste my friendship on someone or not."

Because that wasn't something Reina minded. If she could be there for someone, Even as the distance narrowed between them, metaphorically of course, Reina kept her hand out. Perhaps this was all to Serina's plan. To make herself seem similar to Reina to convince the woman to trust her. But Reina...didn't trust Serina. This was different.

"Everyone was born with the strength to fight Serina. They just need help to get started. They need someone to help push against the breeze of the Spirit."

That was how Reina saw it. She had felt like the Spirit, or well the Force, had been pushing her in a direction. But thanks to the bonds she had made with people, with the crew, with Valery, with Alana, they had helped push her to be where she wanted to be. She could feel their hands against her back, pushing her onwards. They had faith in her. And Reina was trying to have faith in Serina.

"I doubt I'll change your mind with this. It sounds like it's something that's...been on your mind for a long time. I'm just one person. I won't be able to change how you see fate, the Force, the Spirit. Any of that. Because you're stubborn. Like me."

Reina watched for a moment. Listening to Serina talk. Noticing the small crack in her armour. Well. If Reina was right about there being similarities between the two...It was time for her to try and get into that crack. Try to make it wider. And so she did. Taking a step forward and taking Serina's hand into her own. Holding it with a relatively tight grip.

"If you truly wish to change my mind, if you truly wish to make me doubt, then tell me—what would you do, if the very foundation of your soul was not your own?"

"I would fight. I would rage. Because if I gave up and accepted that I couldn't change that, I'd lose. I'd do everything I can to fight against Fate. Because I am not it's puppet. And neither are you Serina."

A small smirk came to Reina's face at that as she looked up towards Serina, lifting her hand up into the air whilst still trying to keep a grip on Serina's.

"...Though if you don't have any free will, then you can't refuse my friendship now. I took it into my own hands to give it to you."

 

[Serina Calis]

Tag: Reina Daival
​

Serina Calis did not pull away.

Her hand, slender yet unyielding, remained within Reina's grasp—still, poised, yet absent of warmth. There was no hesitation, no flicker of surprise, no visible sign that this act of defiance, of faith, had shaken her. She merely watched.

Not with contempt. Not with amusement. But with something deeper. Something colder. Something absolute.

A prophecy spoken aloud did not cease to be truth simply because another refused to believe it.

"You think you have grasped me, Reina," she murmured, her voice smooth, quiet, and utterly certain. "You believe that by taking my hand, you have defied inevitability. That you have, in some small way, begun to change fate. But you do not yet understand."

She let the silence stretch between them, the air tightening like the moment before a storm broke.

Then, she spoke—not as a woman. Not as a Jedi. Not as anything so small as an individual with fears and doubts and regrets.

She spoke as what she was.

SHE LET THE MASK SLIP.

"It is not fate that binds me. It is not chains. It is not a prophecy written by the hands of the foolish and the arrogant, scrawled in the blood of those who sought to control what could never be controlled."

Her fingers flexed slightly within Reina's grasp—not pulling away, not tightening, but reminding.

"It is inevitability itself. It is the tide that no dam can hold back. It is the whisper that no mind can silence. It is the hunger that no soul can deny."

She took a single step closer, not in aggression, but in quiet, unshakable truth.

"I fought it once." Her voice did not waver. "I fought with everything I had. I screamed into the abyss, I raged against the currents of destiny, I denied it with every fiber of my being."

A pause.

"I tried to end it. Over and over again. And yet—"

Her unseen gaze bore down upon Reina, pressing, demanding understanding.

"IT would not let me."

The weight of those words did not carry sorrow. They did not carry anger. They carried only the quiet, merciless fact of the universe.

"You see, Reina, you mistake me for something separate. You think that I am merely a woman who lost her way, someone who needs only to be guided back to the light. But there is no 'Serina Calis' without IT. And there is no IT without Serina Calis."

Her voice did not rise. It did not waver.

"I am bound by the Dark Side's will. As Dark Side is bound by mine."

She was IT, IT was her.

It was not arrogance. It was not delusion.

It was the truth of what Serina had known.

"Do you understand now, Reina?" The words were almost gentle, a teacher speaking to a student who had yet to grasp the lesson set before them. "I am the whisper in the back of your mind when you are weak. I am the temptation inside every soul that tells them to let go, to stop fighting, to embrace the truth they have always known in their bones."

"I am the voice that will call to you, one day. And you will listen."

Serina's fingers curled, just slightly, within Reina's grasp.

"One day, when the weight of the galaxy presses too hard upon your shoulders. When your faith is not enough. When your anger rises, and the spark inside you craves something more."

"You will hear me, Reina. As all do. As all will."

A small, cold smile traced her unseen lips, invisible beneath the mask but unmistakable in the shift of her presence.

"You will fall, just as every soul has before you. Just as every soul shall after."

Then, with the same quiet precision, the same effortless grace, she released Reina's hand. Not forcefully. Not abruptly. Just enough to remind her—

There was no battle to be won here.

There was no victory in faith.

There was only the truth.

Serina inclined her head slightly, a gesture almost respectful. Almost amused.

"And when that day comes, Reina, I hope you will still call me 'friend.'"

Then, with a whisper of fabric, with the glint of silver and shadow, she turned.

And walked away.

 

[Reina Daival]

Location: Arkania
Objective: Find some resources
Tags: Serina Calis
Outfit​

The Dark Side. That had been what had put Reina on edge at the start of the conversation. The strange feeling she could get from Serina. Reina didn't like the sound of any of this. But she didn't back away. As much as there was fear evident in her eyes at this point, Reina didn't back away. She couldn't let herself. Not when Serina was like this. It did make Reina wonder something to herself. If there was no Serina without the Dark Side, was there no Reina without the Light Side?...Reina didn't feel like she was that close connected to the Light Side. The Light Side was warmth. Forgiving. Comfort. Reina didn't think any of that fit her.

"The tide might not be able to be held back, but you can still push against it. It might still drag you down a path, but you can change your destination. A whisper might not be able to be silenced, but you can surround it it with dozens of shouting voices. And hunger is a natural part of life. The important part is knowing when to stop eating."

Her hand held strong. Reina and Serina were similar in so many ways, yes. But they were also opposites. And Reina was making sure to oppose Serina on every point she made. Not to necessarily make Serina doubt but to show her that they were still ways to change.

"I do not think you need to be guided back to the Light. I am not interested in that. What I think you need is someone there for you. Not in the terms of dark side or light side but in the way that you are alone. You don't need to be. I am not trying to be some beacon to light the darkness in your heart. I am just someone who is trying to support another person."

With that, Reina brought her free hand up and tapped her temple, keeping her eyes on Serina at all times.

"I already have a voice in my head. I thought it sounded like me. But maybe you're right. Maybe it is your voice that's in my head. Telling me to give up. Telling me to fall. But my own voice is louder. I won't give up. I won't fall."

At that, the fisherwoman took her spare hand and gently jabbed Serina with it, metaphorically trying to jab her finger straight at Serina's heart.

"And I am the voice in here. That you don't listen to. The one that tells you to keep trying. To never give up. I am going to get louder. Don't doubt that for a moment. I believe in you Serina. You're stronger than you think you are. The Dark Side can't hold you. You aren't a puppet."

As Serina turned and started to walk away, for once, Reina did not follow. She stood there. Watching slowly before taking in a deep breath. It was perhaps something she would regret. Something that would cause her plenty of problems in the future. But she did it anyway.

"I will always call you a friend Serina Calis. And I'm too stubborn to change."

With that being said and done, Reina spun around on the heel of her foot and walked in the opposite direction. She could get the shield another day. Today she got something more important. Another goal. Perhaps still a childish goal, but also a much more meaningful one.