Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts

[Brayden Antares]

Brayden exited the Citadel with a whole lot less fanfare than was clearly happening outside of the edifice. The intrusion on his mind had been...unexpected and powerful, but he'd been living in fear of his mind being contorted for some two decades now. The Endelaan native vowed long ago that he would never be forced into some type of alternate reality or otherwise manipulated ever again. Dressed in a simple black and silver tunic over a pair of black pants, Brayden allowed his bright gaze to sweep the scene before him.

Immediately the Sith rolled his eyes. In the ancient tongue of the Sith, he issued instructions to all of the Endelaan Warriors present. Leave us. Now. The tanned Sith understood that all of those assembled were merely...doing as they'd been instructed to do all their lives. However, this was not Endelaan, and he preferred they maintain a much lower profile traveling the galaxy.

Following a brief bow of respect, both the new arrivals and the two from Caid's vessel returned to their previous positions; out of sight. The uptick in their intensity was...probably partially his fault. He'd relayed Scherezade's present...predicament to the Elders. They were certainly more than a little concerned about what it could mean if the Princess was going off the reservation. Not to mention, they were probably there to keep Brayden from killing the test-tube siblings that the oh-so-wise-council had thought it best to bring to life. He already had one wayward sister. Now...there were potentially at least a dozen out there with varying levels of knowledge of Endelaan.

The leather-wrapped hilt of his father's sword stood out just above his locks of dirty-blonde hair. Hair that was, definitely, a gene not attributable to his father's side of the family. For a moment, Brayden allowed his silver-green gaze to focus in on the young woman standing near the man he knew to be his kin. Initially, Brayden had known in what way, but a simple look at the man would tell the truth. Plus, he knew of all his family members presently within the Confederacy. "You are Centurion."

Shifting his gaze back to Alwine, Brayden intoned calmly, "And you are?"

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

Alwine noted the two men with their swords drawn. Having no inkling of who they were or what they job might be, she was ready to attack them both while Caid wrestled with the demon he had summoned. But a fight was not to happen. The Lupine wasn't sure if they were all waiting for the person who'd land the first attack, or they were just standing around wasting their time while having their weapons drawn out sort of a thing. It was confusing.

What made it worse was the joining of the other ones. These were dressed differently yet, just as before, Alwine had no way of knowing what the clothes presented and who was on who's side. She wished she'd had enough training to be able to call her fire up on a whim; a few good fireball were usually enough to send big strong men backwards a few steps.

But then weapons were sheathed.

The woman, her facial features resembling that of her wolf as they moved, was clearly confused by it all. If it had not been for Caid's choice to finally speak, she would have attacked right there and then. The wolf knew what it was, to not understand, but to be confused, that was a threat. And Alwine never enjoyed being threatened.

And then the man walked out of the citadel. Alwine stared, openly. He was tall, because naturally, everyone had to be at least a foot over her mere five, and most were taller than even that, but it as the eyes that caught her attention. Less silver than in Caid's, but the green that connected all three family members that she was now aware of could not go unnoticed.

The man… Brayden, spoke words in a language that Alwine did not understand, but it appeared to be enough to send all the other big men away. She let a breath if relief out, only now realizing that she had been holding it at all. Whatever her doubts about herself were, she was a Warrior at present. A Warrior in training, but still a Warrior. But she was not stupid; she could not take on six grown men who probably all had received much more training than her.

Brayden… Had not met Caid before? Alwine stared, unsure how to interpret the words. Was he displeased at meeting Caid or was this their first meeting? And even if it was a first meeting, was he still displeased? And suddenly a question was turned to her, and for once, Alwine found herself without a answer to pull directly out of her sleeve.

Her gaze moved to Caid again, lingering briefly before returning it to the blonde man. Did their family have any women to offer other than the one who had erased herself?

"Alwine Lechner," she finally answered, "I'm… I'm investigating the events that led your sister to do what she did in order to become someone else."

With every word, Alwine felt as though some of the confusion was leaving, and most of her was coming back. Good. By the end of her sentence, the Lupine was entirely herself again.

"Perhaps we should speak somewhere more private. Preferably where there are less big burly men that show up randomly while we attempt to speak." She almost asked them what they were fed in that family of theirs, considering they were both large men, and that the third could never be considered small by any means. But... No. Her brothers were large men too. It seemed everyone got to be physically big except for Alwine.

[member="Brayden Antares"]
[member="Caid Centurion"]

 

[Caid Centurion]

Caid was mostly silent and motionless. As his nephew came into full view, the dark-skinned Sith could not help but narrow his eyes slightly. Regardless of the man's status on Endelaan, they were not presently on Endelaan. A very large part of Caid wanted to correct his nephew, but it would have been useless for such posturing. Caid didn't even like to be referred to as Viceroy. "Second son of Cameron Centurion...just before your father, Diomedes."

Straightening his posture slightly, Caid agreed with Alwine. It was a miracle that they hadn't already drawn attention. "She is right." Turning his body slightly, Caid motioned towards the Daisya-class Infiltrator waiting behind them. Having turned, Caid permitted himself a brief amount of time to evaluate the weapon strapped to Brayden's back. His father had employed a Sith Sword for most of his life as well. Caid...didn't really see the appeal or the point.

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Brayden Antares]

"You summoned me, son of Cameron." Brayden's deep voice remained surprisingly calm despite the meter in which he spoke. Not having recognized the diminutive woman's name, Brayden simply committed it to memory and returned his attention to his most pressing concern. Shifting his gaze back to Alwine, Brayden allowed himself a brief moment of observation. Committing the gentle curves of her body to his memory same as he'd done with her name and force signature, Brayden eventually allowed his bright gaze to return to her eyes.

"How about, instead, you tell me how it is you've come to even know of my sister and what you claim she has done. Right here. Then we'll see if this little...rendezvous need continue any further." This was the first person that Brayden had met and engaged in a conversation with his sister long enough for it to even be useful. He too was quite curious...as to what may have caused the incident. As his mind ran through a number of possibilities, it did not escape his awareness that his dear uncle obviously had allowed too much information to fly forth from his mouth.

Chancing a brief glance back in Caid's direction, Brayden quickly returned it to the woman. She was certainly...well-proportioned, attractive. She was perhaps a bit small, but that could have simply been age. Was she to become his uncle's mate? Brayden was learning about the greater galaxy, but it was a process. Either way, he could see the source of his uncle's attraction were it the case.

Was Caid one of the many men in this galaxy that just completely lost their mind when a pretty woman smiled at them? They might both have to die if that was the case. Brayden had enough problems with wayward siblings not to mention his Uncle Aiden that apparently even the Elders knew nothing about other than his existence.

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

Alwine's gaze moved between Caid and Brayden, trying to understand what the situation she had placed herself in was. Apparently, there were more family tensions than Caid had suggested there might be. But whereas Caid remained calm and collected, the behavior of the one named Brayden was not something Alwine approved of.

"A woman is one person one day and another person the next, and you think not a single soul would notice?" she asked genuinely, the twin brother's question seeming so strange to her. Had he even met his sister? As Madalena, Alwine had been left with an impression, and she could only assume the same could have been said for her when she was Scherezade. It was another one of those moments in which she wanted to kick Gerwald for not telling her more.

"I owe your sister a debt that is heavier than life even though I had never met her as Scherezade," Alwine finally said, "as Caid is my trainer and a man whom I deeply respect, I asked him for advice regarding my very personal investigation. He recommended I speak with you."

And apparently Caid had summoned a demon. A good looking demon, no doubt, but on Stewjon, he would have already been thrown to the pyre merely for how he insisted on announcing his presence. She supposed it mattered little though, as they were not on that dreadful planet. And still, she could not claim she was a fan of his peacocking.

"Now let us go speak elsewhere," she said. For all her short stature, Alwine knew how to make herself seem and feel bigger than she was. It was one of the very rare gifts she had managed to obtain despite the very strict and limited life she had been forced to mold herself into. But she was running quickly out of patience. Even the Jedi Master had been friendlier than that, though he had deeply mistrusted her at first. If the demon-twin would not agree to finally go elsewhere, she would leave with Caid. There was always more than one way to uncover the truth.


[member="Brayden Antares"]
[member="Caid Centurion"]

 

[Caid Centurion]

Caid interjected before Brayden had the opportunity to give any form of a retort to Alwine. Having interacted with enough of his family members, Caid understood Brayden's...direct approach. If the situation were different, he likely would have been irritated himself. However, not born of Endelaan, Caid understood if the man had something of a fervent devotion to protecting its secrets for the time being. Outside of that, he was more concerned about finding a way to...help Scherezade return to who she really is.

"Apparently, Scherezade conveyed some amount of information about her home. She also made some statements about potentially being able to assist Alwine and her family ensure the future of their race. The only person that would really know more, however, is Scherezade." Falling silent, Caid glanced briefly in Alwine's direction. He said nothing at first. "Alwine, I think, can better explain what it is she would like to do." Shifting his gaze back in the direction of the Citadel, Caid made one final statement. "Others will be rising soon. Let's retire to my vessel for further discussion."

Leaving rather little room for debate, Caid turned and began to proceed in the direction of the waiting Daisya-class Infiltrator.

 

[Brayden Antares]

Brayden's gaze did not waiver from Alwine. Whether or not Scherezade pretending to be Madalena was obvious was not his question. His question was how had she come to know his sister, period. There had been no fanfare to his arrival, no ceremony. All that had transpired...transpired not of his own doing but because of the actions of the two individuals presently standing in front of him. Still, the Sith Lord was a creature of understanding. None of what was presently happening made any sense.

That changed when Caid shed a little bit of light on the situation. Following a deep inhales, Brayden nodded his head simply, focusing his gaze on the slightly older man. "I see. Very well then. Let us go and discuss this...debt and what it is you hope I can do to assist in private then." Walking forward, Brayden shifted his gaze to Alwine just long enough to make one more comment. "I will still be interested to know how it is you have come to even know Scherezade. Guard your knowledge of our family and its ancestral home well, Alwine Lechner."

Once they were all inside of the Nightstalker, Brayden waited for Caid to secure the loading ramp. "So, Ms. Lechner," Brayden started as he took a seat inside of the medium-sized dining room with the others. "You have my attention. Kindly start from the beginning of your knowledge and interaction with my sister, and we will see if we can't all come to a greater level of understanding." As it stood, Brayden still didn't know why Scherezade had elected to create Madalena.

The truth probably was not going to be very well received by the Endelaan native either.

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

"The information she conveyed about your family's ancestral home planet was minor and insufficient to be able to track it down in any way," Alwine said quickly after Caid felt the need to help her explain the situation. Had she done such a bad job of it herself? Did Caid know more about the demon-twin to understand what he needed to hear in order to come along? She would have to remember to ask him later, when they were alone again. Turning to Brayden, she nodded, "you perhaps do not believe me now, but I hope that by the end of our conversation you will; there is no ill will I bear to you or yours. None. Your sister at one point had wished to provide my species a thriving future on your planet. Much more than that has happened, but for that part alone, I will do all that I can on my part to keep the knowledge safe and secure. I told you that I owed your sister a debt that is bigger than life, and I do not say such things lightly."

She hoped that for now, this would suffice. The three walked to Caid's ship, and Alwine did nothing on her part to break the silence that lingered. She had wished to speak in private and the two men were providing her with exactly that; so there was no reason to speak further of it until they truly had the privacy. Still, she permitted her thoughts to drift for a precious few moments, all while continuously keeping her mind protected as Caid had taught her all that time ago. When she had met Caid, she thought she had been lucky in finding someone who was willing to train her. But now she could not help but wonder if luck was what it was, or if perhaps there was something deeper there, something that tied them together and carved the path towards a road that at the time, neither of them had even known existed. She had been… Much closer to the child Caid would have mistaken her for on Stewjon, and she knew nothing of her brother's story, the auflaque's involvement, or what lay at stake.

But did it even lay at stake? She had the package. As far as anyone cared, she could have not spoken a word for it until she collected the means of having it done, and none would be the wiser for it. There had been no demand in the letter; even the part about not telling Gerwald and the auflque had not been a request, but a plea, joined with words that promised no payment would ever be taken for the package and what it contained. Too many questions. Absolutely no answers.

Once inside, the demon-twin took his seat, and Alwine sat opposite him, her hands above the table.

"In the beginning, I had no knowledge of your sister," she began, knowing that Caid would be nearby and listening as well. "All I knew of was that she had been involved with one of my brothers, and that he, in his eternal stupidity, did not see her for what she was. As he explained the matter to me, she adopted and was adopted by the auflaque, and that they were like sister. My brother was seeing them both without the two knowing about it, she had told him that she was in love with him, and the truth only came out when your sister was injured on Coruscant. I do not know exactly what her injuries were or how the truth came out; what I do know is that at the end of that night, your sister disowned them both, with an emphasis on the auflaque. I know there are big parts in story that are gaps, but this is all I have managed to get out of my brother thus. When he told me, I cannot say that I cared overly much beyond your sister being the proof that my brother should not be with the auflaque, but that is another story for another time.

A few days after my brother revealed what he had to me, which he only had as a result of a conversation he had with your sister some time after these events took place, I received a package. The package was from your sister, and it contained the key to saving my species, to ensuring that by the time my brothers and I had children, they would be surrounded by hundreds of other Lupines who do not share blood with them, and not only by those who are family. For you see, we are a near extinct species, with only two known families left, under threat to become one.

Scherezade knew of the Lupine predicament. She dreamed of a future with my brother, and I believe this key was initially intended for them. But she never gave it to him, not after what happened. She stated that my other brother and I should not be held as collateral damage because of what happened between her and my brother, and she sent us the package. Among other things, she mentioned that she had envisioned these new Lupines to grow as a clan on your ancestral home world, have the freedom of the forests and the lakes, to leave and return as they please. But she also wrote that the planet was not a place for the broken and weak, and that she was thus forever barred from it, and would never set eyes on it again."

Alwine paused. It was the second time she retold the tale, but it was not getting any easier. The letter that Scherezade had written was full of love… And full of pain.

"She signed off by saying not to look for her, because she would already be gone by the time the package reached me," Alwine finished that part of the story, "it sounded like a suicide kind of goodbye. I did not heed her request. I searched for her. And I found nothing. It was as though no one by that name had ever existed within the Confederacy. My brother said that he saw her after the night she disowned him and the auflaque and she looked as though she was in a dire situation... But I suppose no one offered her any help, or that whatever help was offered was insufficient, as we all know she is Madalena today."

She could no longer sit down. Carefully, Alwine rose from the chair, allowing her legs to stretch a little bit from the motion, and leaned against the wall behind her. It was the end of two stories, but there was more coming.

"I hope this explains why I owe your sister a great debt," she resumed at last, "and for many weeks, I did not know what to do with it. I could not raise the subject again with my brother, and I could not find her. But then the Confederacy threw a festival on Hypori, and my brother and I stumbled into her, only she was no longer her. She called herself Madalena Antares, she had those glowing eyes that both of you have, and she spoke to my brother as though she had never met him before. She said…" what had her words been? "Who are you? I have been… Feeling, sensing you, these past few weeks now. You are like a shining beacon upon the Great Web. Those were her exact words, and they did not taste like lies. But my brother simply excused himself and walked away.

But I had her current name now, and it was a name I could find in the Confederacy files. I compared mission presences with dates, and tracked down a short list of people who I believe knew her both as Scherezade and know her now as Madalena. The first few on the list were dead ends, but there are two that I believe are promising; a Jedi Master with the Silver Order, and a Mandalorian Protector within the Confederacy. I am hoping to meet the Jedi soon enough, and once I have, I will look for the Protector. Hopefully, this will help fill in the gaps that I am lacking in the full picture.

You asked me earlier what I intend to do, and I answer you – I do not know. I know that I owe your sister a debt, and I know that your sister is not herself, and that it is by her own doing that she is not. When I have the complete picture, when I know exactly what happened and why, I will be able to know what I must do, and how I may return a sliver of the debt back."

Alwine sighed and took her seat again, looking carefully at Caid and Brayden. She had spoken so much, and for so long, that her throat was parched. But she would not request water, not now. The two of them would have to let the knowledge enter them, especially the demon-twin, before anything would be done. But Alwine was nothing if not eternally patient. There would probably be questions. She already knew she would not be able to answer most of them.

 

[Brayden Antares]

Brayden was silent and motionless as Alwine recounted her experiences. At one point, the Sith's jaw clenched, biting back a combination of rising irritation and confusion. Had his sister seriously made such claims and promises to an entire species on a whim? And for no other logical purpose as Brayden could discern other than to please a love interest.

However, as Brayden thought on the matter, his irritation and confusion changed to outright anger. There was a smoldering hatred for anyone that would, apparently, destroy his sister's heart in such a manner. Further more, the idea that his sister was barred from traveling to the planet of her birth because of some perceived weakness was preposterous.

As Alwine's recounting of past events came to a close, the Endelaan native's anger simmered and then disappeared entirely. Brayden was very confident that both Alwine and Caid would have been able to feel the turbulence of his emotions within the Force. It wasn't because he was specifically doing anything. Brayden, quite simply, had just never been in a situation that necessitated strangling the manner in which his emotional state influenced the Force and the very environment around him. It had only very recently become a small necessity, and he frequently forgot.

Leveling a cold, expressionless stare at Alwine, Brayden made a simple statement. "And just like that...the mystery of my true sister's disappearance is unraveled. She has done this to herself. Your brother..." The Sith Lord paused for a moment, clenching and unclenching his fists instinctively. "...only a part of the problem," Brayden was able to concede. It would have been easy to blame the nameless, faceless brother, but the Endelaan native knew his sister better than that. It was not merely some lost love that would drive her to something like this. The statement of her not being able to return home because she was broken and weak spoke to something more. Their father had struggled with...something similar though certainly no lost love had been involved. He had endured just as Scherezade would endure. Brayden would make sure of it.

After glancing briefly to Caid, Brayden settled his gaze on Alwine once more. "You understand of course...you both understand this is a complicated proposition even without considering the implication of transplanting an entire species to my home?" Straightening in his seat, Brayden exhaled slowly. "I don't know what key Scherezade was referring to, but the only techniques I know of are all based in Sith Alchemy. If you go down that path, these Lupine...they won't really be like those created naturally. They will always be different."

Falling silent, Brayden considered his next words carefully. "I do not like the idea. I do not like it at all, Ms. Lechner. However...I will support this endeavor if and only if, Scherezade is successfully brought back to the fold. In that instance, you will have the considerable resources of my people to make this work. I have been inside of Madalena Antares' mind. My sister is there...locked behind an impressive wall of mental blocks that I'm sure she spent no short amount of time developing. What are the names of this brother and... Auflaque? Is that what you called her?"

 

[Alwine Daye]

She had felt his anger rise, but Alwine made no motion and offered no words to help calm the demon-twin down. Mostly, because she knew very well that had the positions been reversed and it had been she who was sitting in his chair, her anger would not be so calm, would not be so contained. She often prided herself on being a creature of cool and brutal logic, but there were matters that could cause her to blow up both insides and out, and pain involving her brothers was certainly at the top of that list. She could not imagine what must have been going through Brayden Antares as she told the tale, and thus, when the anger was directed at her through his own gaze, she did absolutely nothing.

"You misunderstand me," she said calmly once Brayden had finished speaking, taking her seat back, "I make no demands or any form of request to have the Lupine on Endelaan. I was not even aware that was a viable option in any way, and I would not do this to your sister even if she was herself right now. The key to the Lupine's future is not what is at stake here, and it is not what is currently important as far as the three of us, as well as your sister, are concerned."

She wished it were not so. Alwine dearly wanted to make this about the Lupines, but it was not. A creature of logic, she knew that as long as she had the key that was sent to her by Scherezade, the future of the Lupine was intact. There would be more Lupines. There were enough planets in this galaxy for them to be on and start on anew before venturing out to see what else the galaxy had to offer. But this meeting, the reason she had told Caid any of it, had nothing to do with any of that.

Brayden had mentioned that he had been inside Madalena Antares' mind. That Scherezade was inside of it, behind… An impressive wall of mental blocks? Alwine blinked, trying to understand what his words meant. Were these like the walls Caid had taught her, how to protect herself? Certainly, they could keep people out, but how did they change the person that was inside?

And now he wanted names. This time, Alwine shifted uncomfortably in her seat, all too visibly. She had no qualms giving up the name of the auflaque. She could die the most terrible of death when the time was right, and the petite would not even blink at it. But her brother, for all his mistakes, all his terrible and horrible mistakes, was not someone she wished to hand over to this demon-twin in any way. And giving one name would undoubtly open the path to discovering the other's.

"Auflaque means dog," she said with a shrug, "but not the animal, not in the way I use it. It means… It is a bad word, made to demean the person who is called that, from every possible direction."

Would Caid have any sort of interest in keeping her brother safe? Alwine glanced at him, unable to bring the words to her lips. Her brother trained with him as well, but had either of them developed the sort of respect that Caid and Alwine had between them? She had never asked either of them before, and now it felt as though she certainly should have, much before Caid called upon the demon-twin.

"Is it vengeance you are after?" she asked, looking at Brayden again, her chin raised, "he is still my brother, and I will not see him harmed. If there is any penance you believe he should be undergoing because of what occurred between him and your sister, I will take it upon myself. I cannot defend his actions in any sort of way, but he remains my brother, and he is important to me, as I am more than certain your sister is to you."

She did not flinch as she spoke, she did not shy away. Hurting Gerwald was never to be part of any deal or any help that would come from this direction. She would get up and leave if he would insist on it being so. Once she had Caid's word that Gerwald would not be harmed in this, she would more than gladly give them all the names and anything else she could provide.

"How does a person build such metal blocks that they are lost inside themselves?" she asked, now looking at Caid, "surely that must not be the way she had done it." No. You could not become a whole different person simply by building mental blocks. There was no logic to that. "And are we certain that destroying these blocks is the right thing to do? Should we not look for the rest of the pieces before making such a decision? There would be no point in bringing her back only to have her bleeding and broken worse than before."


[member="Brayden Antares"]

 

[Brayden Antares]

Brayden was silent, eerily silent, once Alwine finished speaking. Slowly, he shifted his gaze towards Caid. Brayden's dark-skinned relative stared back at him. For several moments, they remained in that position. For several moments it looked as though the two kin were about to tear at each other's throats.

What Alwine would not know outside of general intuition...was that they were communicating silently between each other.

This will go much easier if we dispense with the idle threats of conditions and acceptable actions. Scherezade is my sister. Clearly...everyone in this entire organization and your little apprentice's family failed to keep her safe, to treat her with any amount of dignity and respect.

The response was just as forceful. This is not Endelaan. You do not rule here, nephew. Mind your place. Would you betray Scherezade's identity were she the one responsible.

Fortunately. My sister is not a very apparent waste of life. Never mind the fact this man contributed to her destruction, but he's clearly moronic enough to nearly be party to wiping out his own race.

Rather than continue in the conversation, Brayden turned his head back towards Alwine. "I am after getting my sister back. If that does not happen for any reason, you can rest assured that my vengeance will be the least of you and your entire species' worries." There was no version of reality where Brayden lied to this woman and promised her that he would safeguard everyone's life. That was not how his part in this story went. Clasping his hands together on top of the table, Brayden sighed slightly. "You recognize this information is readily available within Confederacy databases correct? I promise you that I am not the Son of Endelaan you need worry about."

Brayden paused for a moment before allowing a brief glance in Caid's direction. "Nor is it this uncle of mine." In the end, Brayden had asked the question merely to gauge Alwine's worth. Truth be told, if she'd just regurgitated identities because he asked, he would have judged her much harsher. Ironic that her gentle sidestep had granted her a begrudging amount of respect from Brayden. "In response to your question. There are many ways, and it's not exactly something that can be conveyed with simple words. It takes a combination of many abilities. My guess in Scherezade's case...is that she cast some type of spell. I've witnessed Madalena do so on occasion."

Brayden leaned back comfortably into his seat. "And no. Destroying the blocks is absolutely not the right thing to do. If it were, I would have already done it. There is a key...a way to trigger an emotional response so powerful that it breaks the spell. This is why I need to know the identity of the individuals involved. I can only create images based on knowledge I have of a person, of their lives."

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

Alwine narrowed her eyes as she stared at Brayden and Caid staring at each other. She did not need to be privy to their conversation to know that one was happening, though she dearly wished she could hear what was being said. She knew nothing of Brayden other than that he was Scherezade's brother, and while she trusted Caid, only now did she pause to consider whether he could continue to be trusted now that the demon-twin had been involved as well. By what Caid had told her earlier, they were both Princes. Why has she not considered that this could easily be turned into a competition for power? She had seen it happen more than once on Stewjon, had witnessed it her first hand. Fool, Alwine cursed herself.

"Is it readily available?" Alwine asked, "I have been searching for answers for weeks and have found very little. Neither your sister before what she did, nor my brother, appear to have had many friends. There is little to nothing that is readily available, as you put it."

The woman leaned back in her chair. If information had been so easy to obtain, she had little doubt that she would have found it. If Brayden cared half as much as he claimed he did, he could not have had any trouble finding it either. Yet here were both of them, grasping at straws, trying to build a fuller picture of events that had occurred. Was the demon-twin even aware of that?

A spell then. Scherezade had cast a spell. Did she have witch training? Was she a witch? Alwine hadn’t a clue. "I know nothing about spells," she openly admitted, seeing no reason to pretend otherwise, "but I know stories told around campfires, stories of old gods and their mighty powers, and in those stories, all spells could be, and usually are, broken."

Would he already have done it? Alwine looke at Brayden with intense focus trying to gauge if he truly could. He had said he'd been inside Madalena's mind but… What if he could simply not break the blocks? Were the twins different in powers and abilities? It made little sense, if they grew up together and learned together, but she knew nothing about Scherezade or Brayden's life.

"I need to know my brother will not be harmed," she shook her head, "once I know you give your word and keep it, I will elaborate about his life, and what I know of the auflaque. If there was a way to hand her over to you without it potentially endangering him, you would have had her head in a box much before now."

Alwine wanted to slap herself. Protecting the auflaque. How low had the Lupine sunk. It was disgusting.

[member="Brayden Antares"]

 

[Brayden Antares]

Brayden was pretty certain that Alwine had misunderstood what he meant. The information he was referring to was that of her brother's identity. After all, he already had her last name, and he certainly knew someone with an access level high enough to...access what he needed. However, it was ultimately a pointless correction to make. The girl wanted some...assurances. Brayden refused to lie.

"Ms. Lechner, I can assure you that if my sister is safely recovered, you have nothing to fear from me. I cannot, however, make you that promise if the opposite ends up being true. Further more, I cannot guarantee what action my sister will or will not take." Exhaling heavily, Brayden placed two fingers to his right temple, rubbing slowly. The Warrior Prince honestly did not have time for so much posturing. "The information I seek is necessary to affect said safe recovery. I have little time for settling relationship disputes or providing attitude corrections to sentients that, honestly, mean nothing to me."

Lowering his hand, Brayden leaned forward slightly. "Now if we could get on with it, we can set to the true task at hand." Though Brayden did not outright say so, he was happy to just do everything himself should Alwine leave him no option.

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

"And what if it takes years for your sister to become herself again and you lose patience before that happens?" Alwine asked back immediately, "what if we bring your sister back tomorrow only to discover that she wishes to be gone immediately again?"

Too many variables. Too many dangers her brothers could face. Her brother was ten times a fool, a hundred times, but he was still her brother. The demon-twin that sat in front of her was not someone to mess around with, and she had little doubt that he would seek to hurt Gerwald if the opportunity presented itself. And yes, perhaps she was judging him too harshly, and simply thinking that he would behave as she would if the situation was reversed, but the bottom line was that for all her brother's ill doings, he was and remained her brother. That did not cease because he was with the dumb auflaque, and that would not cease even if he made all the mistakes that would cost them their species' future.

"You are assuming that he can fulfill the picture, fill in the empty parts of it," she resumed, "yet what if he cannot? What if there were things happening that even he was unaware of? When he told me that she disowned the auflaque because she and he were together, he said it was his fault for ruining their relationship, yet when I pressed him for knowledge regarding their relationship aside for his involvement, he did not answer, and I believe it is because he did not have the knowledge to answer. For all we know, what he has to say may simply open up more questions instead of provide any sort of answers."

By the gods, she loathed every moment of it. This need to defend her brother but at the same time defend the auflaque as well because if she gave her up, the path would lead directly to her brother.

"Mr. Antares," Alwine asked, looking into those silver-green orbs, "have you paused to consider that your sister might not want to return? Have you given any thought to the possibility that your sister thought removing herself from existence was her best option?" She sighed. Those were more unfair questions. But she was not Scherezade's sister, and she had the privilege of having an easy time to accept it if the answer to any of those questions was yes. "What was your relationship like with your sister, before she became Madalena Antares? Why would she choose to remove herself if she had her brother, her uncle, and whatever other family members you may have?"

[member="Brayden Antares"]

 

[Brayden Antares]

Brayden let Alwine finish her entire statement before he bothered to give any type of response. Nodding his head with an air of finality, Brayden reached into the pocket of his pants, withdrawing a datapad. As he tapped in a few commands, he offered Alwine answers to a couple of her questions. "I'm assuming a lot. Assumptions and investigation are all that I have. However, without all of the possible information, I cannot try everything, and she deserves no less than that."

As the database on his datapad loaded, Brayden raised his eyes without raising his head. "I have considered every possibility. However, my attempt to investigate her thoughts did not go as planned, so I have no idea what she does or does not want. The information I need, I'm hoping, will help me to communicate with her. If I do not fully understand her struggle, truly, then I am not in the best position to succeed."

It did not take long to reverse-search personnel records for anyone with the last name 'Lechner' serving in the Confederacy. While he certainly did not agree with a lot of the government practices employed by the Confederacy, he could not deny that their heavy reliance on electronic records and access for specific authorities was making his present efforts much simpler than they otherwise could be. Two returns were received just as Brayden leaned back and raised his head to regard Alwine. "My sister and I were born into this world holding each other. Throughout our infancy, we were always in contact, our minds linked. Even...when the event happened, I could feel her presence and I knew she could feel mine. When that disappeared, my entire mind was shattered. I've never felt so tragically alone in all of my life."

Pausing for a moment, Brayden shifted his gaze to Caid. "Caid, here, was never in the picture. We did not even know he existed until rather recently. I'm certain..." Shifting his gaze back to Alwine, Brayden continued. "He knew nothing of Endelaan at all until very recently. His father, Cameron Centurion, never fully believed in Endelaan...though he was the one to discover the reality of our family connection to the world. He re-introduced it to all of us, but he preferred to traipse around the galaxy pursuing his personal pleasures wherever he so desired. That was not the case for my sister and I. We are born of Endelaan, it is a part of us, and we are a part of each other. There is nothing I would not do for my sister."

Extending his arms out to indicate his existence on Geonosis, Brayden concluded his statement. "She is the very reason I am here. If I were to kill the love of my sister's life, regardless of what transpired between them. She would not be happy. She would not feel any completion. She would feel only the finality of loss, a hopelessness that goes even deeper than whatever drove her into this state. Your brother may well be the one thing that helps to bring her back." And yet...he just might not.

"So was it Gerwald or Varick, Ms. Lechner?"

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

Had he truly considered the possibility? The way he spoke of his sister, Alwine was not inclined to believe that he had, not truly. Perhaps just enough to feel as though he had. The mere thought of losing one of her siblings in such a terrible manner, to still have them there but at the same time not… To her, the thought itself was almost unbearable. But to him, who had to live it?

And he had tried to investigate her thoughts. That must have been how he had learned of the mental blocks that were in place. His datapad was out, and Alwine froze beneath her skin, guessing what it was he was doing with it. The datafiles were open to any member of the Knights Obsidian. Certainly, restricted information remained restricted, but none of the Knights were secret agents. Their names were accessible to their fellow Knights. That was how she'd discovered Madalena's friends in the first place. Did the demon-twin know how to properly spell? One of the things that had held Alwine back was her inability to spell Scherezade before she received the letter. Madalena had been easier to figure out.

She remained silent as he told the tale of the twins' birth. In truth, it sounded some form of a fairy tale, almost impossible to believe. If she had not known of Scherezade's transformation to Madalena, she probably would not have believed it at all. And the event… What event? Why were there so many events in that woman's life? Ow long ago was that event that separated them?

And Caid… Not involved until recently. But then again, he had said that he was one child out of nine, and that was but one side of the family. With so many members so close in blood, how sensible was it that they did not know of all of them? But if all of them bore the title of Princes of Endelaan, how could they not know how many of those existed? What was it about Endelaan, that Brayden Antares spoke of it almost as a holy planet, something that felt through his words like a living and breathing thing?

Nothing that he would not do for his sister. Then they were of the same mind, for Alwine felt the same way about both Gerwald and Varick. Varick had been the reason she had survived those month of torture. Gerwald had been the reason she had undergone them. And still there was nothing she would do for either of them, taking upon herself even whatever future penance this demon-twin might decide her brother ought to bare for the events that transpired between him and his sister.

And then came the question. He had found the names. Alwine's jaw clenched, but she did not answer immediately. Instead, she turned to Caid directly for the first time in many minutes.

Please, she pleaded, help me keep Gerwald safe. I meant every word I have said and I will not allow him any harm, but I am probably not enough to keep him from harm against an angry Prince of Endelaan and whatever other forces that come with it.

Caid looked at her and nodded. Of course, Little Wolf, came the reply.

Alwine allowed herself to breathe with a touch less of discomfort before turning back to Brayden.

"Gerwald," she answered truthfully, a small growl that sounded nothing like what a human would produce escaping her throat. It was time to tell that other story.

"My brothers and I were born on Stewjon," she began, "our mother… Should have been placed out of my misery as soon as she was done breeding, but was not. Our father was forever in her shadow, constantly emasculated by her. Stewjon is not a friendly place for almost anyone. The society is divided into castes and we were mere farmers. My brothers were meant to become farmers like our father, and I was trained as a serving girl.

But we were different. We'd known all along that we were not the same as the others. Mother told us that we were Lupines and not human, and that we had to keep it a secret, or we would be placed on a pyre and burned, for the people of Stewjon would see us as devils and demons. Secrecy and hiding was all that we knew. My brothers grew into big and strong men and managed to break into the Warrior Caste. I was not as lucky. Often, we would take turns in shifting into our wolf forms and go run in the woods behind the little cabin we lived in.

The three of us dreamed of a better life. A life away from Stewjon and its oppressive laws. We were wolves, and wolves cannot be caged without paying a hefty price. We cannot bend into servitude against our will without losing an enormous piece of ourselves. And so we endured.

Several months ago, the Confederacy came to Stewjon. Varick and I had no clue, we were in the forests. But with the Confederacy came the Nightmother of the Witches of Ryloth, to celebrate the vanquishing of ghosts that plagued the area our village was in. She is a Lupine as well, and she too had been told that her family was the last. She was apparently drunk, and stumbled into Gerwald. He took her to our home. She had the scent of all of us. And in the morning, she and Gerwald left before Varick and I returned. Gerwald had abandoned us on Stewjon, knowing what life would be like for us. We had all spoken of leaving but… But not like that. Never like that."

Alwine paused. Despite her best wishes, she could not conceal the pain from her voice. She wanted to, she wanted to so badly to be able to speak of it as though it was far in the past, so far that it did not matter. But she still could not.

"He claims that when he saw the auflaque, he saw his future," she resumed. A future that did not include his siblings, was a sentence that she did not add, nor one that Gerwald had ever spoken out loud as far as she knew, but when one quacked like a duck... "but anyway. When Varick and I returned a mere hour or two after they had left that same morning, I raged, and I lit the village food stores on fire, using the Force. I had never used the Force before, did not even know what it was. Both my brothers and I had a touch of it, we thought; enough to have us branded as witches and warlocks if it was discovered. And I was discovered. They locked me up for months and tortured me, broke bones in my body, starved me, froze me… And I did not shift. I knew that if I would shift, Varick would be killed before they could have him join me in the prison cell. A Lupine goes mad if he or she does not poodoo at least once a week. I held out until…

Anyway. Gerwald came to the Confederacy. Although the auflaque was supposedly his future, he stumbled into your sister at a bonfire. They danced and she tried to stab him and something happened there. They went on a hunt together and… Something about sharing a heart, he said. I'm not entirely sure what that means. And then they fornicated.

When they concluded their business, Gerwald went to the auflaque a day or two or something like that later. They had barely exchanged a handful of words at that point, and she had seen him naked because our clothes do not shift with us when we shift. But that day, the auflaque, after knowing what his prick looked like and knowing that his Lupine bits were in order, offered him a crown that would have them rule over… Two families. Hers and his. And he did not immediately respond.

He returned to your sister and they went to Corusant. I am guessing that there are moments he neglected to include in his retelling of the events, because on Coruscant, your sister told him that she loved him, and he could not say it back. From there, they went on a mission together to deal with some virus, and after the mission, your sister was quarantined. Gerwald meant to go see her, but the auflaque found him and they ended up fornicating while your sister was still in quarantine.

I am not certain what happened between that and when your sister got hurt. I know it happened on Coruscant, and that Gerwald and the auflaque rushed there to save her from something, though he would not tell me from what. Of the disowning, I have already told you.

Gerwald claims that he loves your sister still, but has chosen the auflaque, probably because she is a Lupine, and that the two Lupine families must come together but not to breed. Except, of course, him and the auflaque, which I sincerely pray will never happen. I could provide you a detailed analysis of how utterly stupid his choice is without even needing to refer to your sister, but I am certain it is irrelevant to the matter of your sister.

He said that Scherezade was a broken mess, too stubborn to come and speak with the auflaque to make things right, and that he would not leave the auflaque and break her in order to heal Scherezade. Every time he saw her after that he described her a beig a mess, but that he dared not approach because Scherezade had told him and the auflaque that she would kill them if she ever saw them again. Then a few days before I received the package, Gerwald and Scherezade spoke. He came home with a heavy heart, but he would not reveal anything of the content of that conversation. Scherezade wrote that she did not tell him she had the key out of fear that if he asked for it, she would not be able to deny him."

Now she truly paused. She needed air. Alwine was not accustomed to speaking so much, and now she had done it twice. Even during the conversation she'd had with Gerwald, she'd had more breaks, had left enough spots for him to speak himself. But this… This was something else entirely.

Her gaze moving from Brayden to Caid and back, Alwine remained silent now after all this speaking, waiting for any of them to say anything.

 

[Brayden Antares]

Blink.

Blink blink blink.

The nearly uncontrolled strobing of his eyes was about the only response that Brayden could immediately manage to the wealth of information he'd just heard Alwine share. The Sith was pretty sure he looked like one of those children's toys that could only blink their eyes and a say few pre-recorded statements on command. Such was the stillness of the rest of his body and the impassive veneer of his face. Inside, Brayden was a bundle of, for the moment, tightly controlled emotions. Typically he did not bother with said control, but he did when he knew that unleashing them full force could be debilitating to those in his immediate vicinity. Regardless of what promises had or had not been made, Brayden had most assuredly decided that he would hate [member="Gerwald Lechner"] with every fiber of his being for the rest of his natural life.

That did not, however, mean he would just blindly engage in any type of aggression with the man. What Brayden had said about his sister was true. It was her problem to address in whatever way she deemed necessary. If she was lost to him forever though... There would be no force in the galaxy capable of holding him back.

Eventually, Brayden offered Alwine a shallow nod of his head. "Thank you, Ms. Lechner. That genuinely does help a great deal. Do you...need some water or something?" It was...a bit curious to Brayden. He could plainly see that the woman seemed as if she were...fatiguing? Based on what he now knew of her past, he wondered if her mastery over basic was recent. It could also just be that she was generally a woman of very few words. That seemed equally likely.

Shifting his gaze to Caid, Brayden made an inquiry of his uncle. "Anything to add?"

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Caid Centurion]

Caid was also pretty much silent and motionless throughout the entire exchange. The only exception was his quick agreement to assist Alwine in defending Gerwald should Brayden...well...act other than how he was attempting to convey. The dark-skinned Sith put it at 80/20 if his nephew made good on his word, but he barely knew the boy...man? Whatever, Caid barely knew Brayden, so he wasn't going to just immediately start trusting him.

"I only interacted with Scherezade twice. I met her first here on Geonosis. She was in a cantina and very, very drunk. It must have been after all the incidents that Alwine described because she did indeed seem like a broken down woman. I couldn't understand why she harbored so much guilt and self-pity. The...interaction did not end well. We went our separate ways...she was drunkenly carrying a crate full of more alcohol."

The Sith Lord paused for a moment. He didn't feel any guilt or responsibility for Scherezade ending up the way she did. She was a grown woman that could make her own choices in life. The galaxy was cruel, hard place, but even he was just now learning the full extent of her hardship. It went beyond even the situation between her, Gerwald, and Katrine. "The next time I saw her was during a mission and she seemed perfectly fine...focused. The most recent was on Hypori when she was Madalena. We didn't really interact as she seemed...very different."

Glancing to [member="Alwine Lechner"] for a moment, Caid asked his own question. "What about the...other woman? Her name, I mean."

 

[Alwine Daye]

Alwine nodded when Brayden offered water. Her throat had been dry before she gave the story in as great of a detail as she could, and she felt out right parched now. As the water arrived, she made no pretense regarding her thirst; the first glass went down quickly, followed by a second that she drank half way before pausing and setting it in front of her on the table. She would have more later, though for now her throat was feeling slightly better.

When Caid began to speak, she moved her gaze to the tall man, searching for clues in the words he had to offer. Very drunk. She wanted to think that very drunk and buying more alcohol was a bad thing, but she also knew she had no way of knowing that. Without knowing the woman as she was before, it could've been anything from being broken down to having some severe personality defects. Certainly, the demon-twin would want to think the best of his sister, but what if the case wasn't as straight forward as they hoped it was?

"Katrine Van-Derveld," Alwine answered the final question, the hatred in her voice entirely unmasked, "she is the Nightmother, the leader of the witches of Ryloth within the Confederacy. She is a Lupine as well, and either intends to make herself the Queen of Lupines or already sees herself as the Queen, even though prior to coming to Stewjon, the only Lupines she knew of were close family. She is a stupid child who pretends to be an adult and behaved as though everything she desires out to be hers simply because she breathes. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Gerwald claims she knew nothing of his involvement with Scherezade, but I do not believe that. Lupines have very sensitive noses. Even in our human shape, we smell things harder and stronger than humans. I do not believe there is a chance that she did not scent Scherezade upon Gerwald, and if she denies it I shall brand her a liar. But it is unlikely that I shall hear her deny it, as we are not on speaking terms, and I will not share space with the auflaque."

Allowing a moment of breath to pass over her features, Alwine sighed. She wished to ask the men in the room to feel free to kill her and simply remember to save her the head as a trophy, but she did not. Her words and her tone were sufficient to understand the loathing she had for the auflaque.

"I believe," she said once she'd calmed down, "that we are missing an important piece. We have no one who knew her before she broke, other than Gerwald and Katrine, and neither of them would be inclined to help us with this investigation. All I have managed to uncovered was after the supposed breaking already happened. Can either of you think of anyone who might have known her as Scherezade, before or during her involvement with my brother?"

[member="Caid Centurion"]

 

[Caid Centurion]

Caid's face fell into an immediate frown at the mention of the auflaque's name. "Katrine Van-Derveld like Ket Van-Derveld?" The moment he finished asking the question, he realized that, most likely, neither of the two people in the room with him would really know who Ket was. Did Alwine know Ket at all? They were of the same species certainly. However, in Caid's estimation, Ket Van-Derveld might have actually been the most mentally unstable person he'd ever come across in...the entirety of his life.

[member="Alwine Lechner"]