Private To be a Man

[Drego Ruus]

Tag: Zandra Ruus
Wayland, Castle Ruus​

Moving from Mandalore back to the Castle he had built for himself was...rough.

Losing your job, losing your pride, and watching someone else take it. Someone else who didn't share your ideals.

But there was one thing that Drego couldn't stand for. He watched his foundling, the daughter he had adopted, be swayed by these crusaders.

He couldn't allow that. So, he asked she meet him back on the world he had called his. The Pillar of War waited, wanting nothing more than to show her the true Way.

 

[Zandra Ruus]

When Zandra had received the message to return to the headquarters of Clan Ruus, her heart sank. Much had transpired since the days of the protectors, and much had changed about the young girl. She thought that Drego was gone, that it would be better to join a new clan. In truth it had been a lot of manipulation on the part of Sig, her new mentor. In his clan's name she had fought many factions of the galaxy.

Most of the enemies she'd faced were part of the Galactic Alliance, a faction she now nursed a great hatred for. This hate stemmed largely from selfish feelings of being left alone. In Zandra's mind the GA had abandoned her, only defending Coruscant to keep the upper levels safe.

As her fighter touched down, she took in the sight of the castle. It was her first time seeing it since the fall of the protectors. Drego had noticeably spruced the place up, and jacked up the defenses. As she walked through the halls, members of the clan gave her glances of disdain, all had heard of her exploits. From the first raid on Contruum where she stole a GA vessel, to the battle at Manaan where she tried to kill a Jedi, and of course the burning of a city-tree on Cathar. Maybe the galaxy at large wouldn't blame Clan Ruus, but those who knew Zandra felt ashamed. It would be up to Drego Ruus to meter out punishment for these crimes.

Now, it was time to see where her loyalties truly lied.

 

[Drego Ruus]

tag: Zandra Ruus
​

As Zandra entered the room of Drego Ruus, it was dead quiet. High level clan members went silent at the sight of the foundling, all looking to the man in the back of the room. Drego. They didn't need a word before leaving the room behind Zandra, leaving only the two.

"Why?" He said simply. "Why leave for him?"

It was a simple question, but one Drego wanted answered. He'd since fought Sig Dryggo after closing up what had been the headquarters of the Protectors. There was no anger in his voice, no stern authority, only...

Confusion. A want to understand.

 

[Zandra Ruus]

It was a simple question, but one that Zandra struggled to answer. She was still very much a confused teenager, going through life by the seat of her pants. Beneath all the beskar was a girl with a damaged heart, one who'd seen too much and needed a place to belong. Surely there had to be some reason for her actions though, right?

"That's the first thing you have to say to me? To be expected I suppose." Zandra hadn't lost an ounce of her attitude, that much was obvious. "It's a long story okay? We met while I was on a mission and I..."

Zandra stopped herself, she wasn't truly sure the best way to articulate her feelings. Her feelings about the man were complex, more so than she could put into words. Still, she had to say something.

"It just felt right okay? I was feeling like I needed to belong somewhere. I thought that was here, with the protectors, but then I just started having... Other feelings..."

Drego Ruus

 

[Drego Ruus]

Tag: Zandra Ruus
​

"You wanted to fit in." He said with a wisdom behind his words. "You saw how something was getting traction within the culture, and you jumped on."

It was only to be expected. The glory to be found in the crusade was always a popular one within the Foundlings. To fight in a battle with your head held high, against the enemies of our past. The Jedi, the Sith, anything that would bring a fight that would be remembered for the ages.

It didn't mention the worlds burned along the way. It didn't mention the depths the crusaders would go to, simply to goad out the jedi into an honor duel.

It didn't mention the nightmares you'd get at night from the things you did.

"But that Crusade. They paint it as honorable. As a place of glory. It is not."

His tone was calm, that of a father trying desperately to teach his daughter a lesson in morality.

"My clan leader, from Clan Bralor of the Enclave...he told me something that stuck with me. Something I should have already told you. Something that got distracted by making sure you were ready before the sith came again. I failed you on that part. I won't any further."

Drego knelt down, looking to Zandra with calm eyes, taking his helm off to look her deep into the soul. "A Man should be able to stand on his own two feet, and help others do the same. The Crusaders only want to stand themselves. They see the rest of the Galaxy as someone to step on top of. The Alliance, the Imperials, the Sith, all obstacles that need to be stepped over. I want you to be better. To be more than that. They claim it's for glory, but glory is not earned through bullying your way to it. You earn it, through blood, sweat, and honest effort. You earn it through doing what others thought impossible. What the crusaders believe is impossible is what I'm telling you isn't. Being a good person. Because the books might remember your deeds, but your vode will remember who you were. Give them a good reason to remember you."

 

[Zandra Ruus]

As Drego gave his speech, Zandra stood there, listening intently. She would hear the opposite viewpoint out, even if he wasn't understanding her. What was bringing her to this wasn't just the Crusader's ideology, it was being blooded with Sig. Maybe he hadn't noticed the new gray streaks on Zandra's helmet, the symbolic lines of ash from the burning of the Cathar village. In that moment she had embraced the old ways, of purging those too weak to survive.

"I respect your mentor, and your teachings Drego, but there's something else going on. When I lead the charge on Cathar, I was committed to a new cause, a new mission. A mission with Clan Dryggo." Breaking the news to Drego was going to be among the hardest things Zandra had ever done.

She didn't hate the old Mandalorian, not like some others of her clan might. While his ways were different, he'd still saved her from a warzone. A debt like that could never truly be repaid. But, then again, there was more at play than just a commitment to a mission. Something stronger than even the bond of clan and kin.

"I follow Sig not just because he's the kind of man that the galaxy needs, he's the kind of man that I need. Someone who can really solve the problems destroying our ways. He takes charge, he does what's needed, even if it's wrong. That's a real man."

She believed that she laid out her feelings for the man well enough, this was not a mentor and student relationship anymore. In the short time she'd known Sig, she'd grown quite attracted to him, in spite of his evil ways.

Tag: Drego Ruus

 

[Drego Ruus]

Tag: Zandra Ruus
​

"is that what he told you?" Drego said, his eyes staring Zandra down. "That it's needed? If you believe that, if you truly believe that...then leave. Nothing like that is needed. Nothing like that is necessary. You chose to burn Cathar. You chose to be wicked. A real man knows the difference. A real man doesn't parade around talking like he's better than everyone else. A real man helps his clan, his family, and understands that glory is nothing something you can find. It's something that finds you. Glory is when you do what's needed to help those around you. Glory is finding the hard way in a hard war, and surviving. If you walk out that door right now, you will be my enemy. But not just mine. The enemy of Clan Ruus. The enemy of Way, and most importantly, the enemy of the Cathar. There is a woman out there, a living storm. Zandra, she will wash over you like the hurricane. And she will show you no mercy. If you forsake the Crusaders, I can help you find Glory. I can help you overthrow governments in need of it, I can help you find The Way. But that needs to happen right here, right now. And if you don't...Ka'ra, you better pray the next time you step foot on Cathar, because she will come for you. For you, for Sig, for all of Clan Dryggo."

He paused, staring down the foundling. "And so will I."

 

[Zandra Ruus]

Drego's words bore both kindness and wisdom in equal measure, something that was lost on Zandra. She wasn't hearing thing the way Drego intended them, the meaning muddled by rage and rhetoric. Everything he said was being corrupted in her mind by the conflicting ideologies. In her thoughts she was being turned away by those she once thought of as family. Which in this case, was fine by her, she had seen The True Way, the ways of Mandalorian tradition.

"Feth all of this sanctimonious banthachit! You think you're some bigshot don't you Drego?! Well look around you, at what you've created. A home for Dar'manda. And yet, you think you're better than those of us who are trying to live as the ancestors intended! Well I say feth off!"

Zandra pulled something from off her back, something she had brought just to make a point today. It was a spear, one made from city-tree wood and heavily refined durasteel, augmented by technology from deep in a GA laboratory. Zandra referred to it as the Savage Roar, its true name in the Cathar tongue being lost to her.

As she drew the spear it began to glow a bright emerald green, and a network of light activated in the spearhead, accompanied by a high pitched whine. In a display of force she pointed the spear at Drego, leveling the point towards his face from a far distance.

"You see this? This is the way! If those savages on that backwater planet were true warriors, this spear wouldn't be in my hand. It would still be a tree somewhere, worshipped by primitives like some kind of golden idol. That is who you'll put your clan on the line to protect? Bollocks to that! I refuse to risk my life for savages. As for this mystery woman? Send her a message..."

Zandra emphasized this point by slamming the back end of the spear into the floor, a fire in her eyes behind her T-Visor.

"Don't build weapons if you're too much of a coward to use them!"

Drego Ruus

 

[Drego Ruus]

Tag: Zandra Ruus
​

That word got thrown around like a ball on a playground. Dar'manda. What did it even mean anymore?

"Is that what you think? Is that how you treat the man who took you in? Okay."

Drego looked to the other side of the massive room, to a lone woman who was watching the door. "Grantu Ruus, send the message to Jedi Master Si. Zandra Dryggo wishes to meet with her at the soonest convenient time." His tone was calm, but purposeful. Drego didn't hate Zandra. He knew she was simply misguided.

But he also knew this kind of rhetoric was only quashed by being humbled. Only put down by being put in your place, and forcing those who believed it to reassess their beliefs.

To destroy an ego, one must find the bigger fish.

"Now leave, Zandra, else I have the entirety of this fortress hunt you. Myself included. You wish to be of Clan Dryggo? Go, be of their kin. Come back only when you find yourself humbled by the Unrelenting Storm. We will welcome you then."