Private The Princess & The Wolf

[Quinn Varanin]

//: Gerwald Lechner //:
//: Attire //:

This was the meeting she had been dreading. The Wolf had been the one that allowed the Princess to try and bring Susevfi into the folds of the Empire alone. They didn't know what awaited her, and despite her efforts, she became the source of a galactic crisis. The Empire had sent everything to retrieve her; even the Mors Mon had blocked out the sun. Quinn's failures drew the Empress from her home - putting her in danger.

Slowly, Quinn walked down the long hallway; she was only left with the sound of her heels against the metallic flooring. It was daunting, and she partially wished Srina had given her the upcoming lecture. She feared the Wolf would see her failures as a liability and have the young Echani removed from the Second Legion. The thought made her fists clench, but it was understandable; her mistakes brought the deaths of hundreds of loyal Sith soldiers unnecessarily. Quinn stopped and stared at the doors that led to Gerwald's office.

The Princess frowned; she needed to face her mistakes. It was nice that at least Gerwald waited till she was almost fully healed. She knew this would be a disaster and wished she hadn't gone to that cursed planet Susevfi. Quinn felt her anger rising, knowing that everything would have been different if she had only thought her actions through. If she had brought someone with her, a small squad, or even Kaila with her.

Again, there was no reason to ruminate on the what-ifs of what the Princess could have done differently. All she could do now was deal with the aftermath of it all. The one good thing that happened through everything was that the entire Empire heard the claim of the Empress. Quinn was the Empress' daughter, and because of this, she knew she needed to grow and become stronger. Not only did Eshan weigh on her shoulders, but she felt the weight of the entire Empire.

Fractured as it was, she was their Princess.

Guards would nod to her and allow her into the office of the Wolf. Stepping in, despite everything that had happened leading up to this, Quinn held her head high. With her pride and the legacy she carried, the Princess had to continue forward.

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

TAG: Quinn Varanin

The summons had waited long enough. Gerwald had the time he needed to calm himself, and Quinn had what she needed to recover. He had avoided her mostly, outside of checking in on her well being the requisite amount to avoid appearing unfeeling or uncaring. Neither were true of course. The Dread Wolf wore his emotions on his sleeves, especially to those who knew him. It was rare that the beast hid what he thought or felt. It was better that those opposite him knew where they stood with him. Why make someone feel safe when they were not, and why make someone feel in danger if they were not.

Her steps echoed down the hall. Gerwald could hear them through the door. Even with the soundproofing on the ship, the Wolf's sense of hearing picked up sounds others would not detect. It would take more material and effort to completely prevent Gerwald from hearing what was happening on his ship. It was better his crew did not know how well he could hear them.

Blue eyes looked up to regard the Echani as she walked into the office. Her head was lifted, her chin held at just the right height. Etiquette, training, and breeding, shown through every movement she made, and the posture she held when she stood still. The beast could not help but take pride in the princess. Despite recent events, her radiance was not diminished. Yet, Gerwald did not smile. This was not a happy moment, even if he was not angry with her.

With a firm gesture, Gerwald commanded her to sit. There was nothing in his body language which made it optional. For the moment, she was not a princess, she was another member of his legion, one which would give an account for her actions on Susevfi. The conversation they were about to engage in would determine if the Echani could grow, or if she could not. There would be no room in his ranks for those that could not learn from their mistakes. They were going to take Susevfi regardless of how it happened, but Quinn failed to bring it about as she had claimed.

Would she know why, or would she blame others for her own failings?

The Dread Wolf sighed. Neither one of them had been looking forward to this exchange, and both of them likely knew it. In truth, Gerwald liked Quinn. He believed she had potential. None of it was informed by the fact her godmother was the empress of the Sith Order, or his mistress. The Echani had earned his respect without her connections. It was incumbent on her to maintain it without them.

Gerwald would not treat her differently because of who she was, or she was connected to.

It was why he was the perfect mentor for her during this season.

"You live."

I am happy to see you have recovered.

"From the beginning. I need to know that you know why you failed."

 

[Quinn Varanin]

//: Gerwald Lechner //:
//: Attire //:

The Princess wasn't used to the gesture for her to sit. Here, she quickly learned that her titles didn't matter to the Wolf. Her feelings were torn on the matter. On the one hand, she was happy to finally just be a person who belonged in a group, but on the other hand, she felt disrespected by his actions. Quinn took the seat, her posture remaining, her head held high despite the matters. Her Mother trusted the man on the other side of the desk; therefore, the Princess had no reason not to trust him.

Still, the woman felt like a child sitting before her father. Her eyes took a moment to meet his gaze, unsure if she could keep the tears of shame from falling. Their eyes met, and an understanding formed; Quinn knew while she was in trouble that Gerwald was a benevolent master. He was here to teach and mentor, not to punish. Nerves settled, and she nodded, listening to the brief commands he gave her. Another indication that she was not a princess here was that she was not the Empress's daughter; she was one of his - and he gave her a chance for atonement.

"I do." She responded. Quinn Varanin lived by only the will of the Empress. A part of her wondered if it was the Force's will as well, but knowing her Mother, it was pure disobedience. The Force did not will Srina Talon; she willed the Force. This was a status that the Echani Princess could only dream of now, but one day.

She shifted uncomfortably, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. Despite knowing that this was the conversation they would have, she still did not enjoy talking about it. Quinn sighed, taking a minute, and soon, she spoke, her voice not wavering, remaining confident in her initial choice of plan.

"The choices I made set the mission for failure. Simply put, I was confident in my abilities only because of who I am and what I represent. I should have asked for help and not wave off the support you were offering." She wanted to look away, feeling the twisted knot of her shame taking form in her chest. Quinn continued to look at the Wolf, "My ego was my worst enemy. I arrived on Susevfi dressed in the riches of royalty when I should have met them as an equal, not a tolerant autarch." She remembered the look on their faces when she arrived. Quinn knew she foolishly looked the other way from the darkened faces of the crowds. They hated her and everything she represented.

"I took their resentful glares as a challenge, a chance for me to show my worth and make a difference like I needed to do." the silken fabric of her pants creased under her fists. The desire to prove that she was worth everything that came with her existence, the legacy that sat upon her shoulders, and the last name that had struck fear into the galaxy. Everything felt stacked against the young Echani.

"I put my trust too easily, hoping that kindness and compassion would be enough to sway the masses. I failed to assess my situation; I should have known that the emotions I was pushing away from me were dangerous. I failed because my hubris felt I knew better. My desire to…" Her voice faltered for a moment, and she gritted her teeth, trying not to lose her composure. A moment passed, and the Princess sighed, doing what she was trained and taught to do.

Perfection.

"My desire to prove myself to be more than a bargaining tool for politics or a figure to bring favor to the Echani Government. I made this mission about me and not about the Empire and not about the people I wanted to help."

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

TAG: Quinn Varanin

“Good.”

The exchange was brief on that matter, but not lacking. Quinn lived, and while the Dread Wolf could not call her his daughter, she was his charge. In a way, she was a daughter of the legion itself which made her more than just his. The Echani would come to learn this the longer she stayed among them. The culture Gerwald was building on his ship, among the Second Legion, was one of community. They belonged to the legion, and because they belonged to the legion, they belonged to each other. A few nights of drinking and reverie, a raid or two, would not be enough to see it.

Had she known the entire Legion had surrounded Susevfi, for her?

Gerwald crossed his arms as he listened to Quinn explain what she believed to be her reason for failing. A nod indicated she was partly correct. His assessment would come when she was finished detailing what was going through her mind. Quinn was accurate about her hubris, however, what Sith was without it. Her mistake had been that she allowed it to blind her.

“You could have gone to them as an equal, but was that the message we wanted to send? Our goal was to take Susevfi. You wanted them to join our fold by seeing the Sith Order was a better alternative to what they currently suffered. That was not going to happen if you went in as an equal. You needed to be benevolent, not tolerant.”

Perhaps she would see the irony in his words. It was not like Sith to be benevolent, not unless there was something they could gain from it. Susevfi was likely not a prize worth the amount of generosity which would have been required to sway the people, not when all of them had been under the weight of such oppressive poverty for so long.

No, had Quinn arrived as an equal they would not have believed she could offer them a solution. Yet her opulence had been a deterrent.

“Had I gone with you, I would have caused a riot. My presence would have been seen as an act of hostility. Had your goal been to subjugate them, to crush them, and force Susevfi to bend to our will, we should have just raided them.”

The Wolf was not scolding her, but rather pointing out her method required more of her than she could have seen. It had been this way with the Confederacy. When they entered a world as the benevolent benefactor, they had to go all out. Even Srina Talon had been known to put on quite the display. Quinn needed to understand the role she was undertaking. Gerwald needed her to understand it. Until she did, Quinn would not be able to see why the Second Legion had to play the villain.

She could play the role she had wanted to on Susevfi, but after the beasts had taken what they wanted.

“You did make the mission about you, but you were not there to help the people. You were there to convince them the Sith Order was better. Raiding them first, they would have accepted you no matter the mistakes you made.”

Maybe now she would see. Perhaps Quinn would understand her role.

 

[Quinn Varanin]

//: Gerwald Lechner //:
//: Attire //:

Quinn listened and began to understand the role she would have played if they had gone with the original plan. With their lives on the line, they would have seen her as a savior, the gentle but firm hand of the Empire. As the Princess slowly accepted the man's words, her hands loosened on her pants. Things were slowly making sense and far more complicated than Quinn thought. Hearing about the calculated way of obtaining worlds was a blow to the gut, especially in places like Susevfi.

She wanted to avoid bloodshed or create turmoil, but it all happened. "I understand," she sighed, her eyes falling slightly from the Wolf's gaze. "It's so complicated. Constantly playing mind games and trying to figure out a way to break people." Her voice showed her hesitation. It was uncomfortable, but it was a moment the woman realized how romantic the stories of her parents actually were. Everything she had learned about their exploits all made sense now. There was no way to do the things they did, the things that the Empire needed to do, by doing things the way she thought.

Even the Princess's plan was to control the crowd's minds. "Ashin Varanin was the conqueror of ten-thousand worlds…" She started her voice quieter than before. "I stupidly, like a child, thought it was because people wanted to join the Eighth Empire, but you don't earn a name like hers without brutality." her eyes widened, understanding her birth mother's role in it all suddenly. Spencer was adored, loved, and considered the gentle hand of the pair. She was the Mother of worlds. "I truly understand now." The epiphany hit her, and she shook her head slowly and looked back to Gerwald with a new perception, "I understand the roles we play. Strengths and weaknesses, like you said, the world of Susevfi hated the Empire for what happened - they were war-torn and then forgotten. Me arriving trying to earn their love when there was no love."

Quinn pursed her lips together, "You would have broken their last ounce of soul, and I would have gone in, giving them the love and care of a mother taking care of her broken children. I would have been seen as their savior - while you were be their butcher." Her eyes never left his as she let the scenario play in her mind. The ones that would have fought back were the ones who were radical, the ones that had taken her and tortured her till the Second Legion and the Empire showed her strength.

"I realize now that I have a lot to learn, and I now understand why the Empress sent me to learn from you." The Princess thought back to the words the man had said after a handful of tankards of mead. She wondered if what he said was something he truly felt or if it was the Wolf's drunken thoughts. Remembering it made the woman feel guilty. The man believed in her along with the Empress; now, she wondered if she could earn the belief of the Empire.

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

TAG: Quinn Varanin

“Breaking people is not complicated. You are just overthinking it. It does not matter what method you choose. The right one is the one that works.”

He grinned knowing the answer was likely not something which Quinn wanted to hear. It was the kind of answer which would have frustrated Gerwald when he was younger, but now that he was more experienced he appreciated.

“You can cut off limbs and still a person will fight. Crush their spirit, decapitate their soul, and you will own them. Yes, my raid would have accomplished that. The destruction of the city which Empress Talon ordered certainly did more to see it done. They would have loved you even without it all. You did not need to understand them to know how to win them.”

She was beginning to get it. Everyone did play a role, and she would play many different ones as part of Gerwald’s legion. Quinn would be the princess, other times she would be the warrior skilled in combat, and she would even play the butcher as cold and feeling as Carnifex himself. The Lord Commander would ensure she knew what to be when she needed to be it. His role was not to coddle her, or hold her hand. Srina had never done that for her Dread Wolf. The Echani Exarch had ensured the beast recovered, and then pushed him toward strength. Gerwald would do the same for the princess.

For the moment, the wolf would not push too hard. Her mind settled on the truth, and for now that was enough. Gerwald had not called Quinn to him just to chastise her for her mistake, but rather to see she learned from it. The Sith Order was only as strong as its weakest link, and he would ensure that no one in the Second Legion was it. He would especially ensure Quinn Varanin was not even suspected to be.

“I am glad you understand. You will apply yourself differently next time. The Galactic Alliance will not remain quiet forever. We cannot afford to wait for them to strike either. War is coming whether by our design or theirs. As such, we need the people of the worlds the Rimward Trade League abandoned when we destroyed them. We will be quick and decisive.”

The wolf’s fingers tapped about on the top edges of what seemed to be nothing more than a plain wooden box. He contemplated whether he should wait, but instead pushed the box across the table. Quinn was still too much of a princess around his more rugged and rough raiders. She needed to maintain some sense of her nobility, but the young woman needed to embrace the part of her which understood brutality. For her to survive as a part of Gerwald’s warband, she needed to accept the important parts of what made it work.

“Open it.”

As Quinn opened the box she would find a dagger. It was strong, sturdy, and heavy. The material was not what made the gift something of value however, it was the words etched onto either side of the blade. They were names which Quinn would recall.

V́atyn the goddess of fire.

Xæiar the goddess of divination and prophecy.

“If you’re going to stay, it’s time you started to fit in. The weapon is not like the one I gave to the rest of the crew at our last party. This was made for you. It was made with who you are in mind, and who you will become. I have another gift, but for now it can wait.”

 

[Quinn Varanin]

//: Gerwald Lechner //:
//: Attire //:

Gerwald's thoughts would be correct. His response infuriated her; it all made sense, but then it didn't make sense. Quinn kept her frustrations to herself despite the furrowed brow. How could he say breaking someone was easy? None of it made sense, and she wondered if this was what it was to be a true Sith. Several questions weighed on the Princess as she tried to make sense of the conversation. She would have to play many roles, and knowing when to use them would be a challenge.

Quinn suddenly felt it over her head, and she could see why her plans for Susevfi had been in the wrong order. This was on top of her lack of knowledge of how to conduct tense political situations. The original plan could have worked; she could have won the people over without leveling their city. But she didn't know enough, and she didn't let herself perceive the entire situation.

"I understand." She wanted to ask more questions, but the Wolf seemed to have planned more for this meeting. Quinn looked at the box on his desk. "A gift?" Quinn asked suspiciously. While Gerwald was familiar to her specifically because of his connection to Srina, Quinn was still curious. Of all the things to come from this meeting, a gift had not been on her radar.

She reached out and brought the box closer to her. As asked, she opened the box and looked at the blade. Each bit of the weapon represented the man before her and his heritage. Carefully, her fingers moved over the songsteel and the engraved runes. She didn't know what they were at first glance, but recalling the minimal Lupo, she had started to learn - she could make out mainly the names of the Goddesses that Gerwald had mentioned during her arrival to the Second Legion.

"Thank you," she smiled. There was something more with the gift. He had been thoughtful and wanted to include her in the legion. After Susevfi, Quinn found herself wondering if she really belonged and if joining had been a mistake. As much as she trusted the Empress and her elders, the fit didn't feel right, not yet.

This gift, though, meant that he believed in her, and he was right—it was time for her to believe in herself as well.

"I've listened," She started, her eyes still on the blade. There was something that invigorated her, inspired the fire that burned in her chest, and made her a Sith. The Princess had tasted ambition, failing but learning. There was an order to things, and she wanted to climb and provide fruition to the beliefs others had in her.

"I've heard the whispers and the rumblings of the Empire. Reading the reports on Susevfi, I saw that the Empire worked as one, forgoing all its fractions and focusing on a goal. That's the Empire I want." Her eyes raised from the blade, "It's the Empire I want to unite." She had tasted ambition, and she wanted more. "Why are we so fractured and broken? Don't people see what we can accomplish together?"

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

TAG: Quinn Varanin

“You are powerful, Quinn,” Gerwald stated bluntly. “And it is time for you to learn to stand on your own.”

It was all that there was to say on the matter before them. They understood each other, and there was no need to say more. It was the gift which would break the ice and draw them into the next subject they needed to discuss. What the Dread Wolf did not expect was that the heir of the Echani throne would express her own vision for the Sith Order. She wanted an Empire. Carnifex wanted an Empire. Ironically, the one everyone called Emperor did not truly want one. His move had been a political one, and the way to bring the Sith under Eternalist rule.

Was it best for the Order?

Gerwald did not know for certain. If Empyrean ever fell from leadership, the Order would likely devolve into chaos once more. The Dread Wolf did not want that to happen. There were too many who wanted to sit where Empyrean sat, and to do so for their own hubris. Those who had vision beyond the borders of the Sith Order were few. Too many were fixated on simply controlling it.

Her questions made the Wolf pause. He had not expected them. A united Order was one thing, determining the reasons for the fractures within it was another entirely. Short of telling her it had been built to be this way, Gerwald was unsure of what to tell her. He was quiet. Maybe too quiet. The Confederacy had been different. They had been united in purpose and existence. All within it worked toward the same goal.

That was not the case with the Sith Order.

“There are too many competing visions.”

The Wolf tapped the desk as he pondered his words more carefully.

“Ophidia, Carnifex, and Empyrean did not always work together. One was always trying to gain the upper hand over the other. It continues still. Malum wants his place. Carnifex wants to direct the future once more. Empyrean has his own goals. If we were not at war with the Galactic Alliance, we would likely be at war with each other. Echnos was an example of that.”

Gerwald knew it would open a sore wound, but she needed to see it.

“There were so many trying to control the situation, and in the end, only one had the influence to bring it to an end. Too many want control without influence, but in order to shape this Order as it currently exists, influence is required. There are no plans or backroom deals that bring about the unity you seek. Everything will need to be done in the sight of all.”

He paused and looked at Quinn.

“Are you ready for what that will mean for you?”