Ask Far From Disturbance

Darth Malicia

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Dread
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Zeltros, Outside the Dale Side Resort, Afternoon

Despite her riches, Malicia was staying at a resort for the first time in her life. Her lack of experience was probably because she'd spent the last years of her life doing nothing but building her power base and securing ways to feed.

When she'd decided to produce an heir to secure her throne, she never took pregnancy itself into consideration. It slowed her down, though largely by choice. She had no interest in pushing herself and losing the twins, unless she was forced.

Because she was slowing down, the small Queen found herself wandering far from the resort itself, into the thick of the forest in order to meditate. Not far in the distance she could hear the soft, rolling sound of a waterfall. She stopped to tip her head, listening to the water before adjusting her direction and moving closer towards it.

She was very aware of her stalkers. Two men had taken a liken to her, though she was waiting for them to make their move. She had no interest in a game of cat and mouse, and they were probably looking for some quick cash. They likely thought a tiny, pregnant noblewoman was an easy target. There was no real reason for them to fear her since there was no hint she was Sith. Considering she was staying under her Serreno alias, wearing her blue contacts and in a casual dress. She doubted they'd hesitate to charge once they thought she was isolated and far enough that "her" screams couldn't be heard.

 

Vahn Berand

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The Steel Stag
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Vahn is nothing if not sentimental. He had visited Zeltros long before with his Master and his brother. Briefly, as he was plotting his next journey he set down here to refuel and resupply but also just to see if there was any evidence of him. He was tracing an old path they had all walked together when he felt something; a flash of malice from just a short distance away in the woods outside the resort. Kriff. That wasn’t good. Vahn turned from examining a map of the area fixed to the wall of some sort of fancy juice-shop, and took off towards the trees.

It didn’t take long. A Twi’lek and a Rodian man stalking what appeared to be a diminutive noblewoman. He recognized this move. Find a mark, stalk them until they’ve inevitably isolated themselves, rob them blind. He’d done it plenty of times as a kid. This was sloppy, amateurish work though. You don’t wait for the first possible chance to strike, especially not when they’re still within earshot of help.

Malicia would feel a spike in the Force from behind her, but it was immediately apparent she was not the target. Instead, Vahn calmly maintained his pace behind the two would-be muggers. The two of them wobbled, disoriented and sickened as Vahn poured on a flow of debilitating Force.

“You should leave young travelers alone and rethink how you want to spend your nights. Never know when I’ll be back.” Vahn said as his eyes met the twi’lek’s own. There was fear, but more importantly growing understanding in those eyes. Then, the thug dropped to all fours, retching amidst a wet splatter as he gave up his dinner.

Vahn quickened his stride to catch up with Malicia. He had just a moment to try and concoct some sort of story. Vahn didn’t know how many other would-be assailants might be lurking in the dark more capable of hiding their naked emotions. Brother? No, Vahn was dressed too simply; silver and grey traveler’s robes. He’d never convince someone he was a nobleman like this. A bodyguard or manservant of sorts for the young noblewoman, however...

“Ah, Mistress! You shouldn’t wander off like this!” Vahn called out before coming too close to the young Queen, his speech approximating a more refined Coruscanti accent. “You have your father tearing up the resort looking for you.”

“Shh, I’m not here to hurt you,”
Vahn whispered when he came just within arm’s reach. “There were two men following you from around the turn in that path there. I took care of them but there might be others.”

He then put one hand on his chest, and bowed at the waist fractionally, displaying visible deference for his chosen role.

“Let’s get you back to safety, yea?”


@Dread
 
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Darth Malicia

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Sith Order
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Sith Council

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Dread
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Sensing the Force, Malicia's mind was pulled towards it, as was her body as she turned around to look at the scene. His use of the Force did not have a dark signature, in fact she felt the Light Side instead, despite the aggressive display. Either he was an independent Force user of some sort, or he was Jedi.

Malicia's expression remained stoic even with the realization, completely unphased as she watched the man drive off her stalkers. Usually she allowed herself to display more emotions while she worked under her alias, and part of her considered it, but for now she choose not to. It wouldn't come off that unusual for a married noblewomen, especially if the Jedi was trained around any.

Yet that still left a question. Should she kill him? First of all she was undercover and on vacation, alibet with an identity that was compromised and soon to be completely useless. And the Jedi? This ones face she didn't recognize, his death would not earn her worthwhile prestige. Kill him out of malice? She held no anger towards the Jedi Order unlike many of her brethren. The Jedi were fulfilling their role, just like she was. Either a Jedi or Sith would take her life one day and she wouldn't hold it against them.

After he scared off the muggers he sprinted towards her. She remained in place, motionless as a statue as he approached. Her blue eyes rose to meet his face once he started... babbling. He went on about her being his mistress and something about her father. She continued to stare at him, saying nothing while he explained himself. Once he got to his last sentence, Malicia felt her stoic look waver ever so slightly.

"No," she answered defiantly. "I'm going on a walk."

And that was it. Leaving the rest of what the Jedi said unaddressed, the small noblewomen turned and continued walking down the path. A small gust of wind weaved throughout her loose silver hair, carrying it to the side over her shoulder. The wind brought dark clouds with it and they threatened rain. Despite that Malicia kept walking, determined to sit by the waterfall.

She remained quiet for a few steps then spoke up again, "I saw what you did to them. I'll reward you if you protect me until I return to the resort. What kind of gifts do Jedi like?" She wasn't sure if he was a Jedi, but his reaction to her question would be telling, besides she was interested in getting a genuine answer.

@The Steel Stag
 

Vahn Berand

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Vahn seemed surprised. Less so at the note of defiance in the woman’s voice; noblewomen could be very assertive in their own authoritative way. But the fact that she saw through him nearly immediately. However, perhaps he should be less surprised. The Force wasn’t the obscure subject matter it was a century ago. It was likely nobles of all different cultures would be trained to be able to identify the presence of a Jedi.

“Well, at least you don’t mind some company then. There’s no need to reward me, really” he said, before spreading his hands wide, a wry grin on that face. “However if you’re offering…”

“A gift for a Jedi?”
he asked, stroking a gloved hand over his beard. There was no sense hiding it; especially with the lightsaber hanging from his belt. “Galactic peace, scratchy robes, shiny new holocrons that’ll drone on at you about the way things used to be centuries after their lessons were relevant,” Vahn waved a hand in the air, suggesting the tedium with the ideas. “I know one who’s probably really into hair combs. I’ll never understand how he gets it so straight and silky….” Vahn pondered aloud to himself before turning his attention back to Malicia.

“Me, however….I like tea, the more exotic the better, and the most shlocky jedi holodramas you can imagine. I can’t conceive of a better evening.” he said, grinning after a moment. “I recently saw this one Duros vid. I tried to count all the things that were wrong or just awful and…” Vahn was gesturing vividly by this point, before he caught himself and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry; you probably don’t want to hear me go on and on about minute snobbery like that. By the Force was it horrible though,” Vahn chuckled, rubbing a hand at the back of his neck. “I have a habit of talking too much.”

“Oh, and you can call me Vahn. Vahn Berand.”
he stated with a cordial nod.


@Dread
 
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Darth Malicia

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Sith Council

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Dread
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So he was Jedi, a fact that peaked her curiosity more. She'd never had the chance to simply speak to one outside of combat. She understood their job was to kill her, so it wasn't an opportunity she thought she'd get outside of a Jedi in a prison cell.

"Hair combs?" Malicia echoed rhetorically, tipping her head somewhat, allowing a small amount of curiosity to colour her face. A finger tapped against her bottom lip while she listened to his answers. He might've been joking about some of it but Malicia couldn't tell which was jokes and which were serious and committed the answers to memory.

It wasn't long until a parting in the trees opened up to the actual waterfall. They weren't at the bottom of the waterfall but the top. It was slightly disappointing but it still stole her attention. Malicia did not answer anything else he said, not right away. At first she simply walked to a rock that overhung at the side of the waterfall, all the way to the very end, and looked down.

Finally after a moment she answered, "I'll remember you like tea" lowering after until she was on her knees on the rock, overlooking the forest and the waterfall. She breathed the air deeply into her lungs. Fresh, different than Korriban's, similar to Dromund Kaases but it lacked something she couldn't put her finger on.

"Did you have a choice to become Jedi?" she asked, adding, "Or were you born into your Order?"

@The Steel Stag
 

Vahn Berand

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Vahn followed Malicia as she cut through the woods. He didn’t have anything else to do, and helping a pregnant woman take a late night walk seemed to be a worthy distraction from his tasks on this evening. He was increasingly certain as they made their way over the path between the trees that there wouldn’t be any additional attackers, and bit by bit he relaxed, moving from a defensive stance just behind the noblewoman to simply strolling beside her.

Even still, Vahn kept his senses extended. He could sense the littlest life forms approaching, from the little insects scurrying among the grasses, to the nesting birds in the emerald canopy above. Vahn had always naturally acted as a bit of an emotional sieve when he wasn’t keeping his guard up, so Malicia would be able to sense his ambient emotional state with even the barest of attention. His calm, confidence, evident protectiveness, and, strangely, there was something else, hidden deeper in the eddies of his emotional stream. Content, but ribboned with longing, happy, but tinged with pain. Nostalgia. He’d been here before, and left with a strong impression that lingered even now.

As Malicia came out to the clearing Vahn allowed himself a moment to appreciate the sight before him. Raw life extended before him, from the forest floor at the foot of the waterfall, to the glittering ocean glinting off in the distance. Vahn smiled. She chose a good spot.

Then, he was shaken back into awareness with her simple question about the Order.

“Born into it? No, no. We don’t do that any more. The only time that would happen is if a child was born to two Jedi, and even then they would always be given a choice,” Vahn explained, and moved to sit down on the rock at a respectful distance to Malicia. His posture was relaxed, leaning back onto his hands behind him with his legs dangling over the side of the falls. He radiated calm in this moment.

“I chose to join the Order after my Master found me. I must have been….fourteen? Fifteen? I tried to steal from her at first, actually. And somehow she knew, she just knew there was something different about me. Some kind of Miralukan trick or something. I was always luckier than the other kids in the slums I was born into, but she was the first to recognize there was something else going on,” Vahn said. He seemed almost bashful talking about this point in his past, and he scrubbed a gloved hand at the back of his neck. He then paused, and palmed his forehead.

“Augh, I’m such a fool. Forgive me, I’m rambling on like this but I haven’t even asked your name. What should I call you, miss?”


@Dread
 
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Darth Malicia

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A few thoughts went through her mind when the Jedi explained his orders lax recruiting tactics and how he'd come to be part of it. They were thoughts she decided to put aside for a few moments, and while he spoke she pulled out her datapad, typing but listening.

At his last question she put away the datapad and looked at him again, "You may call me Lilian."

"I come from a very religious family,"
she said, joining the conversation this time instead of asking more questions. Her hand almost naturally lowering and running along her belly while she continued, "But I will allow my children to learn about any religion they please."

Malicia's eyes flicked to the side, a reaction to footsteps and a cracking branch in the near distance. Despite the seeming suddenness of the sounds, the Jedi wouldn't sense any fear or worry from her. Instead she remained calm as two men appeared between the exact same break in trees.

Both men did not linger quietly, they bowed to Malicia immediately and echoed "Your Majesty". Right after the pair strode to the rock she was sitting on. The first man to make it to the rock set a small picnic cloth down and a lamp in the middle, though he shot a quick displeased look towards the Jedi before returning to a neutral expression and pretending like it never happened.

The other 'servant' placed a teapot and a cup in front of both Malicia and the Jedi, per the instructions she'd sent earlier through text. Not much time had past since her text but it was enough since the resort kept many things prepared around the clock, including tea. Once both men were done Malicia did not have to wave them off, they bowed and turned, vanishing through the trees again and into the darkness.

Malicia grabbed the teapot they left, sitting up slightly while pouring a cup of tea for herself and the Jedi. At first there was only the sound of the tea filling the small cups, but after a second she broke the silence the two servants had left behind, "Since I have been pregnant I have found myself mainly thinking of my children, despite my many responsibilities and aspirations..."

@The Steel Stag
 

Vahn Berand

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“Lilian,” Vahn said, mulling the word over. “I’m pleased to meet you, Lilian.”

He listened to her, the long-winded Jedi quiet for once as he allowed the apparent noblewoman to tell her story. There was a time to talk, and a time to listen. He sensed that she had something she needed to talk about; to someone, to anyone.

“That’s good, I think.” Vahn stated as the discussion turned to religion, his eyes turned skywards. He was enjoying this moment. Between Denon, and Byblos, and multiple missions, the Jedi was strained. Having just a few moments to breathe, relax, and simply bask in life was refreshing to him. “When parents become too concerned with the exact rote method of their children’s beliefs it can become a problem. Freedom is important. Choice is important. My Master always told me that I was free to walk whichever path I chose.”

Vahn sensed the two new beings approach before they broke through the trees, and he turned a casual gaze towards them. He had sensed no hostility, and was unsurprised when he saw a pair of servants approach. He raised a brow at the sudden moment of displeasure from the servant, before replying with a sudden, jaunty grin.

He gratefully accepted the tea, spending a moment to appreciate the aroma, the depth of color and the way the light from the lamp played off it. He sipped quietly, appreciating the drink as Malicia spoke. The tea was quite good, he had to admit.

He was left with a faint half-smile, an uneasy expression as Malicia explained her shift in focus. “I’m...sort of in the same way, I suppose. I recently took a learner, and I can’t help but think about these things as well. It’s almost like...well, it’s almost like your responsibilities and aspirations suddenly shift, like gravity? If that makes sense,” Vahn said.


@Dread
 
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