Private The Lady of the House

[Madelyn Lowe]

THE LADY OF THE HOUSE
Natasi Fortan

​

When Madelyn Lowe first heard Natasi Fortan had been captured on a diplomatic mission and was unaccounted for, she was rattled. Not because the pair had any sort of relationship—in fact the last time they'd spoke was before the woman's death—but because it had seemed in that moment that one of Madelyn's precious few remaining connections to her old life, her real life, had been severed for good.

So it was that when the news broke that Fortan had returned from her ordeal relatively unharmed, Madelyn sent a brief communique to the Senator's office. The subject line: All My Other Friends Are Dead.

Now, she paced up and down the entryway of her Coruscanti away-home, waiting for the announcement that the Senator for the Renascent Republic's entourage had arrived out front. Madelyn was nervous - when had she last been this nervous? She couldn't even recall. Maybe that it was that Fortan had been her superior back when she was a young upstart in the Order, maybe it was that the two of them had shared similar experiences, freed from the ravages of time by unnatural means. Probably, it was just the first time in months Madelyn was seeing someone she actually cared to talk to.

"Any word?" she asked Talyn, her oldest assistant, an inscrutable loyalist from her days as Grand Vizier, now lined and greying. He had seen her fall from grace, the spiral she had taken after being widowed.

"No, Madam, but I am sure they will not be long." he replied primly. "The Senator is not one to be tardy."

Madelyn nodded. The man was right, but still she worried.

Since her visit to Malsheem, and her Renewal, Madelyn had been lonely, bored and apathetic, even prone at times to bouts of cruelty, though she did not admit that to herself. Her new lease on life had not given her the purpose for which she longed, nor had it mended wounds wrought in the last decade of her life in the Alliance. The gifts she had been given had come with a heavy price, and though her potential was endless, Madelyn was without direction.

Ah well. Maybe that would change. It wasn't like Madelyn was short on time. She leaned against the wall of the hall and listened to the hushed chatter of her aides, the clinking of the house staff dining in the back room. Madelyn spun the ring on her finger idly. The gold band was thick and uncomfortable, but she could not remove it.

Madelyn straightened up and forced herself to relax her shoulders.

She wandered over to the kitchen and grabbed a brimming glass of sweet wine, drinking from it deeply. What a strange and morose thing she had become. She needed to lighten up. It was a party. She was going to see an old friend.

 

[Natasi Fortan]

The Supreme Leader -- such as it was -- was pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation from Madelyn Lowe, and even more pleasantly surprised to learn that Madelyn had a place right there on Coruscant. Natasi was in no fit state to travel long distances, even if her bodyguard and future husband would have allowed it. He had grown rather good at putting his foot down; Natasi might have been irrirtated if she weren't proud. And frankly, she was glad of an excuse to stay close to home -- or as close to home as could be found on the soul-starved ecumenopolis.

Dyrn accompanied her, agreeing to give her the space she wanted to visit with her old friend in exchange for being near enough to force his way in if push came to shove. Natasi was almost certain it wouldn't come to that. Madelyn had never been the kind. But she supposed it was unwise to think herself safe based on the impressions and memories of some decades back. Given how much Natasi had changed, it followed that Madelyn Lowe could be anyone by now.

The Senator had arrived on time, though she didn't move as fast as she once had. Still recovering from her ordeal at the hands of the Mandalorian, she walked with a stick of simple black wood, topped with a gilded lion. It had belonged to her grandmother, who had passed it along to her mother. Reima had never needed it, though it had become fashionable to walk with one in the years before her death. Natasi had had it for years, brought it with her from Galidraan to Dosuun, from Dosuun back to Galidraan. It had been among the things her daughter -- another Reima -- had kept aside from the sale of Herevan.

And here it was, just when she needed it.

The more she moved, the less she needed to lean on the stick, but the ride across the city had left Natasi feeling each one of her nigh-on ninety years (though her cloned body was barely 20). Not quite doubled up as she left the speeder, by the time she had reached the door she was all but straight. She hoped by the time she was admitted the stick looked more like an elegant fashion accessory than a medical necessity.

In truth Natasi was both nervous and excited. She'd long harbored a soft spot for Lowe. The girl -- a girl, in Natasi's mind, even now; she had the good grace to recognize the absurdity of it, at least -- had been impressive. A prodigy. But the catastrophic intervention of the Ssi-Ruuk Imperium and the sack of Dosuun had shattered everything. One of the countless tragedies that had come of that cataclysm. But most of all she was curious; curious to see what Madelyn Lowe had been up to, of course, but also about what had caused her to reach out now.

When the door was answered, Natasi offered a polite dip of her head -- more than a nod, less than a bow. "Natasi Fortan, for Ms. Lowe. I believe she is expecting me."

Madelyn Lowe​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

Natasi Fortan ​

When Talyn opened the door, Madelyn stood still, allowing a moment for Natasi to look her up and down, to register any shock at seeing Madelyn's newly-youthful visage. Ice rushed down her spine, her nervousness peaking before, just as suddenly, she settled. Grace under pressure. Good to know she still had it.

"Natasi Fortan, for Ms. Lowe. I believe she is expecting me."

"Natasi Fortan. What a pleasure after all this time. Please come in."

Madelyn moved in for an uncharacteristic embrace and leant in close. "The house is bugged." she whispered. "Don't say anything you don't mind the SIA hearing."

She released Natasi and beamed.

"I trust those Mandalorians didn't give you too much trouble?"

The pair were quickly shown to the sitting room, where the house staff had painstakingly crafted an array of Galidraani tea sandwiches and scones alongside the usual Varonati fare of lightly spiced soup with sauteed roots and tubers. Madelyn ignored the food, but she did pour herself another glass of wine, offering some to her fellow Senator.

"It is good to see you though Natasi, I mean it. It feels like there are precious few people I care to talk to these days."

That was true enough, but it was probably fairer to say the feeling was mutual. Since the last election she was nobody in the Senate, the people of Castell despised her, and even her Sith betters were restrained, leaving her to 'whatever work she saw fit'.

"My citizens are all dead, wiped out on Varonat, most of them, the rest on Prefsbelt. Most of the surviving are on Dosuun now. The diaspora here is only small, and I look after them where I can. But in truth there is little that ties me to Castell these days, even less the Alliance.

I suppose that's why I reached out. Trying to find someone who understands, who also feels like the Galaxy has moved on without them."

"Oh! on that note, a little birdie told me you met with Rausgeber." Madelyn said with a slight smile. She took another sip of her drink. "Interesting, don't you think? To see what the Galaxy has done to those of us that are left."

 

[Natasi Fortan]

It must have been an odd sensation, Natasi mused, as it was for her. Madelyn Lowe looked like she hadn't aged a day, much as she was sure that Natasi did -- mostly. If not for the stick and stiffness, she supposed. She was surprised, pleasantly so, but having been on the receiving end of some black magic nonsense to receive her own youthful presence, she had to wonder to what lengths Madelyn must have gone for the same.

She was about to speak when Madelyn embraced her. True to her Galidraani heritage, Natasi went slightly rigid, but it soon became apparent that this was no act of affection. Her eyes cut to one side, suddenly suspicious. Why am I not surprised? When Madelyn released her, Natasi held her at arm's length with a hand on her shoulder. "My dear Ms. Lowe, how well you look," Natasi said, her eyes darting around the room curiously.

"They gave me rather a lot of trouble, as it happens," the Senator said with a tone of self-deprecation. "Not the first time and probably not the last. I seem to attract those... neanderthals." She could not keep the disdain dripping from voice as she joined Madelyn on the trek to the sitting room. She agreed to a glass of wine with quiet smile and looked around the room. "You're doing well for yourself, Madelyn. This is a lovely home." And she meant it.

Natasi settled delicately in a chair, carefully resting her stick against the side. "I always wondered what became of you," Natasi said carefully, accepting the glass of wine with a nod of thanks. "After the First Order collapsed -- the first time, I mean -- there were so many people that..." She frowned and shook her head sadly. "I can't tell you what good it did me to receive your invitation. I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't heard you were sitting in the Senate, but I suppose when there are so many, these things can happen."

Natasi settled in to listen to Madelyn, her eyebrows furrowing deeper the more she went on. It was a familiar story, not unlike Natasi's own. And as it turned out her meeting with Rausgeber proved a handy segue into the deeper conversation. "Your little birdie reads the newspapers, hm? It's a bit of an overstatement to say I met with him. I would say -- he happened across me. I didn't even know he was on Coruscant, let alone that he would be coming into the restaurant I happened to be in. If I had, I'm not sure I would have gone. I'm sure he would have preferred I didn't." She frowned, remembering the seething hatred in the former Grand Admiral's eyes as he had been hauled away.

"Before he was arrested, we spoke about you, actually," Natasi said. "He told me that he thought you had become... involved, I suppose, with... " She hesitated, mindful of what she had said about the SIA listening in. Choosing her words carefully, Natasi ventured: "... a bad crowd. I confess that I'm curious about that. After everything we did -- the First Order -- well..." She took a breath and put judgment out of her mind and out of her voice. "Why, Madelyn, if I am entitled to ask?"

Madelyn Lowe​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

Natasi Fortan ​

"I can't tell you what good it did me to receive your invitation. I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't heard you were sitting in the Senate, but I suppose when there are so many, these things can happen."

Madelyn smiled. It pleased her to hear that Natasi was glad to be here. As clear as it was that the former Supreme Leader was exercising her characteristic caution, Madelyn could also sense a sort of ease that existed between the pair of them. They shared a sort of common language, no doubt resulting from Imperial heritage, that Madelyn saw rarely these days. It was nice.

"He told me that he thought you had become... involved, I suppose, with... a bad crowd."

Madelyn snorted. "Well, I can't argue that most of them did turn out to be bad. But my past is no great secret."

"To answer your question, I had no other choice." Her voice quietened. "But, I suppose I should start at the beginning, given you were... Absent, for much of the time."

Madelyn cleared her throat and sat straight, levelling her gaze at Natasi, but looking though her as she recounted the story.

"The Ssi Ruuk glassed Varonat what, two days before they struck Dosuun? I hadn't even thought it possible before it happened. But it did, and almost everyone was dead, and I had fled with what citizens were left. The last transmission I heard from Dosuun was the call to defend the homeworld. I'm sorry to say I ignored it.

"With nowhere else to go, we hunkered down in an old military station on the Hydian Way. I stayed there for three full years, and that whole time, I sent out calls for aid hoping that somebody, anybody, would hear them and save us. I knew that you were gone but I thought someone-- In any case, nobody did."

Madelyn looked at the floor and did not speak for a time. A strange feeling had come over her. Was it shame? Embarrassment?

"That was, until the Sith came."

"It started off as a rather innocent arrangement. They offered my people a safe harbour on Prefsbelt, a system on the fringes of their Empire. I was expected to take care of them and abide by Sith Imperial law. After a time, I came to Carnifex's attention, and my responsibilities grew. I was returned to a position of authority, made the Empire's Grand Vizier.

I respected the Sith, even if I did not always understand them." Madelyn smiled ruefully. "And I must admit I quite enjoyed the feeling of ruling again. The problem was I was given stewardship over an ailing empire at the end of its life. Despite my best efforts, it unraveled quickly, and the New Imperials that emerged from that schism hated their former masters. They cut us to pieces.

"That's when I lost Prefsbelt. Caarlyle Rausgeber —what was left of him— had ambitions, and he had the backing of his Imperials. My people were killed or fled to Dosuun. I was imprisoned briefly, and everything else fell apart pretty quickly after that.

"So then, after the dust settled, I came here. I knew an old Sith Imperial named Tithe, who was treasurer at the time. He made sure I would receive a pardon. And I have been here the last decade, mostly keeping a low profile, doing my best to convince the SIA that Madelyn Lowe, former servant to the Sith, is not worth their time."

That retelling was probably more favourable than she deserved, and was missing a few key details. But those were better left to another time. She had no desire to end her evening in a cell.

Madelyn drained her glass and placed it on the table. Her head buzzed pleasantly, a sure sign that she had drunk quite enough. She sat back and realised she had been holding her body rigid for the past few minutes. She breathed out slowly, and visibly relaxed.

"So, you have heard my sordid tale, what about yours?" Madelyn asked. "Better to hear it from you instead of the tabloids."

 

[Natasi Fortan]

"There is... shockingly little to tell," Natasi said, sitting up a little straighter. "You know about Dosuun, obviously. As it turned out, the Netherworld was not just a scary story we tell our children to get them to eat their vegetables. I found myself there -- my spirit, or my soul, or whatever you'd like to call it. Some years later, my aunt marched into Hell and dragged me out of there. The continuity of government plan I had set in place before Dosuun had, unbeknownst to me, created a clone using my DNA, and that's the real story of my miraculous resurrection. Not the pomp and circumstance that my cousin and her friends organized, but that played better to the people and the media."

Natasi had the good grace to look discomfited by admitting this revelation. Madelyn was the second living sou to whom she had told that truth. Well, now Madelyn and all of the good people of the Strategic Intelligence Agency.

"My cousin and I rebuilt the First Order or did what we could in the attempt. But it wasn't the same, of course. In some ways it was better than the old one, in some ways worse. We re-established ourselves, but then..." Natasi frowned gravely and looked over at Madelyn, her eyes seeking some kind of reaction. "You must know. The Nether wasn't finished with me yet, and when my son, George, disappeared while on a visit to our home at Herevan, I went in search of him and was -- sucked in, I suppose."

Natasi took a sip of her drink, swirled the contents appreciatively to reveal the bouquet, and set the wine on a nearby table. "What felt like a week or two in the Nether was... over a decade. By the time I escaped, overtaken by a jumped-up Moff who leveraged my disappearance to overthrow the government and the First Order once again shook itself apart." Natasi's voice had grown thick by then, and a single tear rolled down her angled cheek. She reached up to bat it away irritably.

"I hear it is recovering, after a fashion. Some kind of commonwealth." Her smile wasn't even a little brittle. "I hope the region gets to enjoy some stability... such as it is." Natasi folded her hands, one over the other, in her lap. "I returned to a galaxy quite changed, and found the second continuity of government plan having settled in the Adytum system which, by then, was quite close to the border of the Galactic Alliance, and had, by then, flourished into the Renascent Republic. The Prime Minister and I decided it was the time to go public and declare our intentions with the Galactic Alliance. The Prime Minister asked me to represent the Renascent Republic in the Senate."

The Galidraani aristocrat's heavily lidded eyes rolled self-deprecatingly. "As you can tell, it has been an unqualified success."

Natasi wanted to ask Madelyn if, indeed, Madelyn Lowe, former servant to the Sith, was not worth the SIA's time. Natasi was in no mind to undermine the Galactic Alliance, not by any means, but... it would have been a shame to have to turn her back on an old friend. Madelyn may not have been the prodigy she was hoping for, but perhaps the two women could indeed help each other to find a purpose in this brave new world.

"Madelyn, I have to confess that I am finding it a little hard to settle in here," she ventured. "Not -- your lovely sitting room -- but Coruscant, and representative democracy. As Grand Moff and Supreme Leader I took advice, I took counsel from my colleagues and advisers, but the decisions were up to me. Going from being one of one to being one of hundreds is... an adjustment," Natasi admitted, looking somewhat abashed by the confession. "I say this by way of commiserating; I think I know a little of what you mean. Perhaps there is something we can do. Something that won't, I hope, give the Director of the SIA any reason to doubt," she added grimly.

Madelyn Lowe​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

Madelyn listened raptly to her former leader's story of how she ended up here. The broadest of strokes were consistent, but the details were interesting. Stripped away of the pomp and ceremomy, the story of the woman's resurrection was consistent with what she knew of the First Order. It was much more... Fortan. It was clear this wasn't something Natasi shared with just anyone, and Madelyn was slightly touched to have been trusted with her story.

She wondered what it had been like, wandering the Netherworld. Was it peaceful, haunting? Did she feel the same after returning? Madelyn dared not ask. Better not to pry. She was sure the former Supreme Leader had no desire to dwell on the matter.

"Madelyn, I have to confess that I am finding it a little hard to settle in here,"

"It has not been easy." Madelyn agreed. That was an understatement. It had felt, in recent years, that if the Alliance wasn't the single thing that had ruined her life, it had certainly been the backdrop to the ruining.

Natasi was right, too, about the nature of ruling in the Alliance. So much arguing, so much bureaucracy and red tape. When one was trying to get something done, it was wholly opaque, and incredibly frustrating. When trying to disguise certain activities, however, it had its uses.

"The rules of the game are much different here. I have not been a brilliant player. Less of a player these days actually. More of a pawn."

Madelyn sighed. All this reminiscing about the old days was riling her up. What was she even still doing here?

Ah well. At least she was here. If her conversation with Natasi highlighted anything, it was that she was one of the lucky ones.

"Perhaps there is something we can do. Something that won't, I hope, give the Director of the SIA any reason to doubt."

Madelyn visibly blanched on hearing Natasi's comment. She raised an eyebrow. "I see."

If there was anything Madelyn needed less of, it was attention. She had spent the last eighteen months stoking corruption on Castell at the behest of her betters among the Sith. She was aware of at least three ongoing cases where the system's importation and immigration records had been subpoenaed. Madelyn had even been warned, privately, that she could be facing racketeering charges.

"What was it you had in mind?" Madelyn asked delicately. "If it's a foray into party politics I must warn you the Imperialist ticket has not proven to be very popular."

Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi's eyes drank in Madelyn's sudden pallor and realized that her wry observation must have hit the younger woman rather differently. Careless, she admonished herself. After she mentioned the SIA listening in. Bloody careless. "My dear," she said, rising at once and going to her side. She crouched -- albeit with some difficulty, given her ordeal -- near her. Never one for uninvited physical affection, she nevertheless rested her hand on Madelyn's forearm and squeezed softly. She spoke, loudly enough to be picked up by the SIA bugs, she hoped: "Of course it was humiliating for me to be paraded before the press to be questioned by that charmless oaf. I'm afraid there's nothing for it but to make a joke of it. The new Director has a distaste for the Fortan name that he must think makes him unique in the galaxy." She adopted a wry tone. "If only he knew how common it made him."

These intelligence types thrived on secrecy. There was no doubt that Messervy was counting on Natasi to want to hide that she was under suspicion; by making light of it Natasi was declining to play his game. But Madelyn's reaction to her comment told Natasi something, a whisper of some deeper truth. She was worried.

"Politics is such an ugly game," she said after a moment's consideration. "And partisan, factional politics worst of all. I always hated the term. It made my skin crawl when people referred to me as a politician." Natasi rose, took a few pacing steps to stretch her aching legs. "There's something tawdry about it. Cobbling together a majority of a bunch of squabbling delegates, compromising and compromising until it's almost not worth doing..." Her voice trailed off a moment before she returned to her seat.

"But there is a lot of good that can be done outside of the political system," Natasi went on. "Foundations, charitable endeavors, that sort of thing. I guess it all depends on what you'd like to do. What do you wish to accomplish, Madelyn?" Her eyes went to the woman, and one of her brows arched delicately. She wanted a real answer, of course, but would she get one with the SIA listening in? Natasi herself was all too happy to be honest, because she had little to hide now.

Regarding Madelyn, Natasi had to wonder whether she had allowed her fondness for the woman to blind her to her true nature. She knew it was never as easy as victim or villain, but as she regarded the onetime prodigy, she couldn't help but worry.

Madelyn Lowe​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

Madelyn smiled despite herself when Natasi knelt beside her. The older woman's care in that moment was comforting, a reminder of a sort of tenderness that had been unknown to Madelyn for some years.

Natasi went on about the irritating dance of the Senate, and Madelyn empathised with her. It was so tiring keeping up the appearances, as if she was happy to be there when really she was seething at the madness of the whole charade. Even Tithe, her once-savior, she had come to detest. Silver-tongued traitor and second Chancellor of the Alliance, the way he had wormed his into the Chancellery with credits and secret cabals boiled her blood.

As Natasi continued, Madelyn watched her carefully. She wore concern on her face and... Something else. Worry, perhaps? Doubt? Madelyn wondered what the woman was thinking.

"What do you wish to accomplish, Madelyn?"

Madelyn froze, not so much taken aback by the question but more surprised she didn't really know how to answer. She just wanted to be happy? Sure, but she didn't know how. She wanted to be in charge again? Maybe, but that had only ever seemed to lead her to misery. She wanted to hurt people? Yes, but that was not very proper, and she couldn't very well admit that to Natasi. Finally, she settled on something neutral.

"I suppose I just want something to keep me occupied." she said finally.

That was true enough. Madelyn had felt listless enabling the small-time smuggling and foreign interference on behalf of the Sith. Frankly, it was boring, transactional, below her. It could be nice to fill her days with something more meaningful, to pass the time until the SIA decided they had enough to lay charges.

Madelyn levelled her muddy eyes, once such a bright green, with Natasi's own, and shook her head gently.

"Best not partner up, Natasi." she said quietly. "It has been a long, long time since we served the Order together. I have had to make decisions I'm not proud of. You wouldn't want your name associated with mine."

Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi's gaze softened and her head canted to one side. In truth, for most of the people who would object, their service in the First Order would be quite enough to condemn them entirely. But if Madelyn was involved with Carnifex, that posed a problem. It was a matter of degrees, she knew. Natasi herself had supped with the Sith Lord, had enjoyed something approaching a friendship with the man who would have, to Natasi's mind, been just as pleased as punch to think of himself as the most evil being in the galaxy. That friendship had spared countless Galidraani lives, and she would have done it again in a heartbeat.

Still, it would be enough to get her condemned by anyone whose view of morality was as unsophisticated as to think things were always just black or white.

The Supreme Leader wanted to ask more, to offer more, but she was wary of the SIA listening devices. She had had one encounter with their new director, which as far as she was concerned was one encounter too many. It wasn't fear of arrest; Natasi was certain that if they managed, there would be Dyrn Grav-shaped-holes in the prison walls.

She frowned thoughtfully and eyed Madelyn. "I'll be the judge of that, Madelyn," she said quietly, her voice approaching gentle. "I suppose the question is as simple as this, my dear: do you wish to be free?" Natasi didn't mean free of an SIA interrogation room or a jail cell, but free to act as she would, without care for the attention of the SIA or concern for being under the thumb of the Sith. "If you do -- it won't be easy, of course, but -- it is possible." She chewed the inside of her cheek, trying not to wonder whether this was part of a larger game on Madelyn's part...

"Madelyn," she began again after a moment's consideration. She needed to get the other woman alone -- truly alone -- and outside the SIA's clutches. "I was planning to spend a few days in the Renascent Republic, catch up on some official duties there. I'd love it if it you'd come and see me there. It's truly beautiful there. Peaceful." Dark eyebrows lifted, leaving the rest unsaid: Not bugged to high heaven by the SIA.

Madelyn Lowe​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

"I'll be the judge of that, Madelyn,"

Madelyn winced at Natasi's response. Either she had had not got Madelyn's hint of serious trouble, or had chosen to ignore it. Madelyn had heard whispers of Fortan's own run-ins with the SIA. Those of Imperial ilk were seldom spared attention from the Intelligence Agency. Perhaps Natasi thought Madelyn's troubles were the same sort of shakedown. They were not.

Still, Madelyn couldn't help but feel elated that her former superior had not given up on her so easily. Nobody believed in her these days. Well, perhaps except Carnifex. But His faith in her was much more sinister.

Not for the first time, Madelyn wondered what the difference was between herself and Natasi. They were of slightly different character, certainly. Different class too, Natasi was a noblewoman, Madelyn born in a Varonati jungle hut. But in the broadest strokes the two were essentially the same. Same background, similar ideology, same position in the Galaxy today. So why was it that Natasi seemed so fundamentally good? She was so successful, even in the strange world of the Alliance, while Madelyn only felt herself sinking, fading into irrelevance. If Natasi's propriety was the farce Madelyn's was, she sold it far more convincingly.

Natasi Fortan was on the cusp of reclaiming greatness. Madelyn was on the cusp of becoming something she sensed would disappoint the friend across from her greatly.

"Do you wish to be free?"

"There is nothing I want more than to be free."

What would happen if Madelyn slipped off the thick gold band on her index finger, and let loose the power, that piece of Lord Carnifex, that had coalesced in her veins since her rebirth? Would Natasi feel it, sense that the woman she had known in her youth was gone? Call her a monster? Madelyn did no such thing. She was not so self destructive.

Madelyn had not interrogated why she had even thought to invite Natasi over that evening. She had allowed herself the surface thought that she just wanted to see an old friend. It was more than that, she realised. Madelyn had wanted to relive the old days, to reminisce with one of the few people left who might understand. But, in the years since the Order had collapsed, Madelyn had been slowly descending. Without wanting to, without even realising it was happening. She was far below Natasi now, whether the woman realised it or not.

"If you do -- it won't be easy, of course, but -- it is possible."

"Madelyn, I was planning to spend a few days in the Renascent Republic, catch up on some official duties there. I'd love it if it you'd come and see me there. It's truly beautiful. Peaceful."

She nodded slowly. Wallowing here was tiring. By her reckoning, Madelyn had precious few months to make what she could of her life in the Alliance before it became untenable. She may as well explore this possibility. Besides, it would do her well to get off Coruscant, to steer clear of Castell for a week or two. Madelyn had wanted to see what Natasi had made of the Renascent Republic since she'd first heard about it, and the idea of peace was truly alluring.

"Very well." said Madelyn. "The Senate sits next week. If you could spare to send a delegate, I could be there as soon as then?" She smiled warmly, but she felt she didn't quite sell it.

"I would be very pleased to see the home you have created for your people."

Madelyn stood, brushing imaginary crumbs off her dress. The artificial sunlight that filled the high-rise had faded, giving way to soft lamplight. A pair of house staff appeared in the entryway, ready to clear the canapes and drinks.

"Thank you for coming tonight, Natasi, for entertaining my nostalgia and..." She gave the woman a meaningful look. "Everything else."

Madelyn clasped her hands.

"But! Perhaps we should call it a night. Duty calls, and then I will see you on Aegis."

Madelyn stood waiting to show Natasi out the door. How much had changed for Madelyn this evening? Certainly it felt like some things had. If that meant a distraction for some time, that would be welcome. If it meant some greater paradigm shift, she was interested to see what that would entail.

Natasi Fortan ​

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi nodded thoughtfully. She would need to speak with the Prime Minister, but she knew that the younger woman had already begun to pull together a list of understudies who would step into Natasi's shoes during her recuperation. "Very good, Madelyn," said the Senator, and as Madelyn stood and made it clear that their visit was at its end, Natasi rose as well.

She wanted to say more, but -- wishing neither to overstay her welcome, nor to give the SIA more ammunition against Madelyn -- she kept it under her hat for the time being. "It has been such a joy to see and speak to you again, Madelyn," the older woman said instead, and it surprised Natasi as much as anyone how much she meant it. "There aren't many more of us left who understood what -- what it all really meant. Beyond white armor and TIE fighters and the Ren and their ridiculous red lightsabers... what it was for."

Her dark eyes met Madelyn's, held there for a few long moments, suddenly shining with tears she refused to shed. Grief and regret and shame, pride and honor and hope, all passing between the two women until Natasi looked down on the pretense of adjusting her walking stick.

"I won't keep you," Natasi finally said as she opened her handbag and selected a piece of embossed cardstock. "But -- if you ever need me -- " She pressed the paper into Madelyn's palm when the two clasped hands briefly. The two women separated and she followed Madelyn toward the front door. Natasi offered her hostess one more heartfelt smile, squeezed her shoulder softly.

"Be well, my dear. Until we meet again."

Madelyn Lowe​