Ask Dathomir Not Expecting the Unexpected

[Arla]

Per my new OP template, thread is death enabled​

Arla was quite dubious about this meeting. It was something that she needed to do for her own sake and for the sake of her people, but that didn't mean she had to be excited about it. As First Sister, it had fallen to her to make an agreement with the Empire, and upon reaching out, she had been informed that a "representative" would be sent to Dathomir.

Arla - with all the diplomatic skills of a rancor - was now preparing to receive the Lord Commander of the Imperial Knights. As yet, she had absolutely no idea the full implications of that as she had no way of knowing just who held that title in the new Empire.

For her own part, she was dressed in a finer outfit than she would normally wear, befitting of the position and the importance of the meeting.

She could hear the Imperial ship setting down outside the royal palace-temple, and she emerged from the doorway to meet whoever was going to descend the ramp. There was no great retinue to receive him, just the single Nightsister alone without pomp.

Be diplomatic. Be diplomatic. Think diplomatic thoughts. Don't think like a Sith. You're a Nightsister, she told herself. She moved out and rested her hands on the handles of the small knives on her belt only to realize that actually looked incredibly menacing and quickly removed them before settling for hooking her thumbs into her belts. It'd have to do.

 

[Wodan]

Dathomir was a strange world with strange customs and strange women. He couldn’t not think about Arla when he had been first asked to come to the planet and discuss its neutrality. Wodan hadn’t seen or heard from her since the Declaration by Altair and the removal of the Sith from Imperial land and space. She would have known he would have sided with his friend and stayed with him through the upheaval.

Perhaps that is why she hadn’t reached out, maybe Arla had gone with Vahliri, with Darth Tempest, she had the power and talent that the Sith Order desperately needed and no the two were enemies. The thought had chewed at him, but the drastic assembly of the Knights and everything thereafter had taken over the entirety of his life; he hadn't been able to reach out beyond conventional means.

Wodan hoped that at least once the meeting today was done he would be able to speak to someone on the planet and ask if they knew anything about Arla, where she had gone and how she was. But for now he had to put that aside, he needed to be diplomatic, confirm and secure the neutrality of Dathomir then ask about Arla.

The ship rocked as the hydraulic suspension took the weight of the craft from the engines. Wodan stood up from his seat, dressed in full Imperial Knight armour, his two sabres hanging at his side, two Shards hanging from his neck. Making his way down the ramp he felt the humidity of the planet smack him in the face.

He was led inside by a pair of Dathmorian Nightsisters, weapons at the ready. He smiled at them both, their brash nature reminding him of Arla. As he was led into the meeting hall, his eyes didn’t at first latch onto the single woman standing at the end; instead they wandered up into the intricate designs of the Royal Palace, a wonder of craftsmanship and skill, evidence of the power and prestige of the Dathmorian Queen Anduil.

Realising his rudeness, he quickly turned and bowed his head, again not spotting the woman in question. “Good Day, my name is Wōđanaz Ása-Liðar Lord Comm…” His voice trailed off as his head rose to meet Arla’s face.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

All of those thoughts about proper diplomacy went out the window as she saw the man who entered. For a moment, her mouth almost dropped open, but she narrowly managed to keep that from happening.

Wodan!? she ended up blurting out. It was about one step away from jaw hanging down and it was anything but subtle, but the Nightsister was still reeling from the realization that he had been the one to go parlay. The truth was, that since the banishment of Sith, Arla had not been in contact with many people from either the Empire or the Sith. She hadn't known that Wodan was a part of the Empire at all let alone that he was Lord Commander of their new Force-wielding sect.

I... she took a quick breath in and steadied her momentary wild thoughts before snapping back into her usual stoic self.

I was not anticipating seeing you, she said. In one day, all of her relationships had changed. She didn't really know who her friends were anymore, and although her reaction to seeing him wasn't quite icy, it wasn't exactly as warm as it normally would have been. Okay, fine, the Nightsister was seldom "warm" but the two of them had built a close relationship over the last several years.

That will be all, she said, dismissing the Nightsisters who had escorted him in as she, herself, took a seat at a stone table, motioning him to take a seat as well.

Lord Commander? It seems you've moved up, she said, still trying to gauge where exactly things stood. Vahliri hadn't tried to kill her, but it was Altair and the Empire that had for all intents and purposes booted Arla out of all her hard work.

@Braden

 

[Wodan]

Wodan was in similar shock to Arla, although there was a chance he had considered it fleeting at best, perhaps a glanced look when moving between corridors and rooms, not as the First Sister he had been told to meet. He took one step towards her, then paused as he felt the Nightsisters around him tense. But as soon as they were dismissed he strode forwards towards her. “Neither was I, well I hoped you would be here. But I wasn’t expecting you.” He replied, coming to a stop a little away from her.

Her voice and expression was more stern than their last outing together, he suspected it was a combination of shock of seeing him and the armour he wore. What it represented. When she mentioned his rank he looked down at his armour, raising his hands to look over the red duraplast and phrik, it still felt strange to wear, like a facade, a Sith playing dress up? “I guess.” If anything Lord Commander was a sideways move at best. Yes he was now in command of the Force-wielding sect of the Empire, but that sect had little to no power within the Empire now, a second class, only wheeled out to deal with things blasters and bombs couldn’t deal with.

“And First Sister, you have done well also.” He paused for a moment, a smile drifting across his face. “I’m glad.” She had seemingly not left to follow Vahliri and better yet she had some sort of purpose and security upon Dathomir, Arla was safe and that was important to him.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla was still internally reeling as she looked at his red armor, trying to put together the pieces and noting how he didn't seem all that excited about his new role. That caught her interest.

You are not happy with your new position? she asked. Perhaps he had only remained in the Empire because he had nowhere else to go.

And then he mentioned her position. Yes, how to explain being First Sister? Well, there was really no way around it at this point, so she might as well simply come out and say it.

Yes, the Queen... is my mother, she said. She had only told a handful of people about that, and that had always been intentional. She didn't want to be "Andruil's daughter" and... well, she still wasn't telling people she was Raze's daughter. In fact, it was only now that she remembered just how determined Wodan was to kill Raze. Back when he'd first told her, she had no connection to the Dark Lord. Now, things were... different. Weirder.

Not a "now" problem.

I was never interested in trading on her name, so I seldom told people, she said. In fact, apart from those who were natives of Dathomir, she could put on one hand those she had told.

@Braden

 

[Wodan]

“It's complicated.” There was a lot that went into his role, some good some bad, it was well complicated. Wodan probably would have elaborated, but then Arla dropped her second bombshell of the meeting, Queen Andruil was her mother.

He was visibly taken back by the revelation, so Arla’s mother was one of the most powerful beings in the Galaxy, had forged the Sith Eternal into the Empire that Altair had so recently torn in two. Did that factor into why she was here and not part of the New Empire?

“I can understand why. They would have treated you differently, both on the battlefield and off it.” He said, Arla would have been a target for every power hungry man or woman in the Empire, she was smart to forgo using her mothers name in the Sith. “How are you otherwise?” He asked.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

He was understandably surprised by the revelation, but it would likely make things begin to click into place as well like it was the missing piece of a puzzle about her and an assortment of unanswered questions.

She shrugged as he asked how she was. Fine, I suppose. I'm not interested in going to war, but as you might imagine, having significant assets stripped from me hasn't put me in the best of moods, she said. She had had a controlling interest on numerous worlds within the Empire, and all of that was taken from her for no reason. No, she didn't want war, but she wasn't exactly the biggest fan of the Empire either.

And yet, she sensed that he was perhaps not precisely thrilled with things either. Despite maintaining a place in the Empire, she couldn't imagine he was treated all that well. At least, now that she'd seen his less than enthusiastic outlook she couldn't imagine it.

And you? she asked. Despite everything, she did still like him and she didn't really hold him personally accountable for everything. Even Altair she couldn't fully hold accountable for everything. The situation was complicated.

 

[Wodan]

He understood Arla’s frustration, like her Wodan had a significant stake in worlds across the Empire, had fought hard battles, even sacrificed part of himself. And in a moment it had all been stripped away in a single declaration, they had all been painted with the same brush as Anaris and Draugr. It wasn’t fair, but it was difficult to manage a galaxy wide Empire fairly.

“I am happy you are safe.” He replied with a warm smile. Wodan had taken a seat to the right of Arla at the large stone table, his hand resting on the surface. A large part of him wanted to shift closer to remove some of the formality of the meeting and bring back some of the familiarity of their previous encounters. But as always Arla was difficult to read, would she reciprocate his actions or continue with the awkwardness of the meeting so far.

“I am ok, it's been tough though. Hated by the Imperials you stayed with and hated by the Sith you left behind.” Wodan was slowly coming to an understanding that his position was only going to be a negative one for the foreseeable future. “But we make it work.”

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

He was always sweet to her, she had to admit. The sincerity in his words caused the faintest smile to crack across her lips for a moment. Truthfully, she was glad that he had made it through the chaos as well, and even if the dust wasn't all settled, at least it could have gone worse. Though as she thought about it, it dawned on her precisely what he would be doing.

Be careful in hunting the Sith, she warned, actually approaching worry with the statement. It wasn't that she didn't have faith in him, but if you hunted the most dangerous game for too long, eventually you could make a small mistake, and those mistakes could be fatal.

How do you feel about it? You stayed despite everyone hating you? she asked, a bit more of a probing question. He had been a Sith and hunting former allies couldn't be easy. In fact, she wondered what had become of the Crown Shards. He had been so passionate about that, but those were certainly part of the Sith religion.

 

[Wodan]

The little crack of a smile, eased a bit of the tension inside of Wodan. “I will.” He said leaning back in the chair, relaxing a little as some of the icy tone vanished from the First Sister. The armour, like all heavy armour, was uncomfortable to sit in for a long period, the back plate digging into his spine no matter how he sat. The pauldrons limiting his movement and the armguards making every movement with his arms heavy and cumbersome.

“Honestly, it's not great. But I didn’t stay to become an Imperial Knight, I would have been content just being a normal soldier and we were hated before, it's just people were too scared to say anything back then.” The gloves were off now though, insults and slurs were fair game. “I stayed to support Altair, he needed it even if he wouldn’t say so himself. My loyalty to my friend outweighed anything the Sith had on me. Although it has cost me a number of other friends in the process.” His eyes locked on hers, had it cost him her? Although Arla said she wanted to stay out of the war and be neutral, it didn’t mean that his choice to stay with the Empire hadn’t lost him her as well.

 

[Arla]

Arla's brow furrowed into a frown as Wodan talked about Altair and how he needed support. Deep below the surface, a wave of anger rose within her, though it never truly showed outwardly.

Altair doesn't have any friends because he stabbed them in the back, she said. There was more internal pain and resentment than she wanted to admit. She had considered Altair a friend, and the fact that he had turned on her....

She took a breath and huffed it out, reminding herself that he hadn't betrayed her, he had run the entire Sith Order out. It didn't make her feel much better, though.

For someone who condemns the Sith, he sure makes power-plays like them: assassinate the people above you and banish all your would-be rivals, she said before finally relenting. She was going to dig herself into a hole, and she probably would have held her tongue better if she weren't talking to and about people who were... close to her.

But done is done, she said, deciding to simply move on and let her grievances go with time.

I hope you are happy and not staying somewhere that you are miserable, she finally said.

 

[Wodan]

Wodan felt the anger in her statement and he wasn’t surprised, Altair had hurt a lot of people with his declaration Wodan included. It would be rare for him to find someone who did not have at least some resentment to the Warmaster.

Wodan smiled at her statement, she wasn’t the first to point that out, nor probably the last. But where some would call it Sith-like, it was also just power politics. Altair secured his own power base by eliminating others, the same thing would be done in boardrooms and petty kingdoms across the galaxy. This was just on a grander scale than the rest.

“I’m not miserable. And at least this little costume allowed me to come visit you.” He replied with a cheeky smirk.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

She tried to move past the thoughts as they came, knowing that it wasn't to her advantage to linger on them.

Well, that is good, she said when he confirmed that he wasn't miserable. She'd have hated to hear that he hated his new life even if she could sense some of his own frustrations. More than that, he made no attempt to defend Altair's actions, which she found interesting.

She snorted slightly in amusement.

Oh, I see, so you took your new position just so that you could come visit me, she said, managing the faintest hint of a smirk.

You thought to yourself "how can I manage to get invited to a planet full of hostile women" and the only obvious solution was the uniform, she said, her eyes making a show of looking up and down the uniform.

The red looks good on you, she said.

 

[Wodan]

Wodan shifted himself round on the table so he could rest both his arms on the stone, interlacing his fingers as he spoke. “Well I did think, was it worth the danger? I mean any one of these ferocious Nightsisters could have captured me. Made me their own.” He said, pointing at her elegant yet fierce outfit. Wodan pursed his lips letting out a sigh as he continued. “So I needed something to defend me, less I be taken into forced servitude of course.” He finished, shrugging his shoulders as he smirked, eye glancing up to check her reaction to his stupid comment.

Sitting back in the chair, his hands falling to his lap, the red armouring glinting slightly in the light. He nodded his thanks. “As it does on you, the blades are a nice touch.”

 

[Arla]

Arla listened to his words, and found herself almost involuntarily biting slightly on her lower lip. His comments were raising feelings in her that were absolutely not fit for a diplomatic meeting, curse him.

She finally took a breath to break herself from the line of thought that she had allowed her mind to wander down.

You're going to get yourself in trouble if you keep talking like that, she said, her statement delivered deadpan.

They seemed fitting, she agreed, looking down to the blades. It was as much a part of her culture as anything. My position occasionally requires a slightly finer touch to my dress, she said, typically preferring something more function over form. Nevertheless, the Nightsisters had managed to make something for her that still allowed surprising amounts of function despite being a more "official and formal" attire.

Which actually leads back to the fact that we should probably address the real reason you came here to meet with the First Sister before... anything else, she said. Although they did have business to discuss, the mood was notably less tense and formal than it had been only a few minutes ago.

 

[Wodan]

“You can never be sure.” He replied, his face equally deadpan. Wodan was slowly starting to understand a little of how Arla thought and acted, well he thought so at least and no longer took the deadpan comments as lack of interest or concern.

Annoyingly Wodan was forced to bite his tongue on his sly, potentially inappropriate comment back about her dress as Arla pulled the conversation back towards the actual reason he was here. The Lord Commander had completely forgotten about the reason he had come to Dathomir in the first place. And it took him a moment to gather his thoughts and remember everything he was supposed to clarify and say when coming to this meeting.

“We probably should.” He said with a smile. “Your Queen, Arla’s mother, still shocking. “Has declared that Dathomir will succeed the Empire and stand as a neutral planet. The Imperial Court wishes to confirm if this neutrality will also extend to members of the Sith Order who reside upon the planet in peace. As well as those who reside here but with nefarious and malicious intentions towards the Empire in mind.”

 

[Arla]

Arla listened to what he said, and she knew that she had her own goals to come out of this meeting. Actually, no, not her goals. The goals of herself, her mother, and the entirety of the Nightsisters. It was time for the Clans to look inward rather than looking to help the rest of the galaxy.

The Sith are not welcome to operate on this planet any longer, she said. Actually, as I'm sure your ISB is familiar, Sith were heavily restricted from coming here even when we were part of the Empire proper, she said. The relationship betwene the Sith-Empire-Nightsisters had always been a strange one with some overlapping boundaries, but never quite one unified group.

We had an alliance with the Empire, but most of the Nightsisters who aided the Empire were Nightsisters first and Sith either second or not at all, she said, which was true. While a few like Arla had actually taken to the Sith teachings, most were simply warriors and hunters in service to the Empire. Most of the galaxy probably didn't know the difference, but those in the Empire did. With the dissolution of the alliance between the Sith and the Empire, our position will return to neutral, she said.

I have cut my ties to the Sith Order as have the rest of the Nightsisters. As I'm sure you noted, none of the Nightsisters answered the call to go to Junction, she said, which should have made the position very clear. They wanted nothing to do with this war.

To be blunt, my mother and I both want for our people to be able to travel through the galaxy - including Imperial space - without having to worry about being detained without cause if we follow your rules, she said. They were surrounded by Imperial space, which meant that for the sake of simply existing, getting supplies, and more, they would need to be able to move through Imperial space.

And we will not allow Sith to use this area as as staging ground for any sort of insurgency or troubles within the Empire, she said. And that was a fact. If they found Sith trying to drag Dathomir into a war, it would be eliminated with extreme prejudice.

 

[Wodan]

Wodan nodded along as she spoke, ok this may be simpler than he initially expected when he arrived on the planet. “As long as no Nightsister breaks Imperial Laws, they will not be hassled in Imperial Space.” He replied, the Nightsisters would technically have the same legal standing as the Jedi Order if they ever chose to enter Imperial Space in the future.

“The Imperial hierarchy will be happy to hear that Dathomir will continue its stance on Sith members operating on its surface.” He said, it was the single greatest issue they had with Dathomir becoming neutral, sitting deep within Imperial space, the planet would have been a potent base for any insurgency to strike from.

“I would advise that any Nightsisters within Imperial Space keep their use of Magicks to a minimum. Although it isn’t breaking any laws, the general public will probably not see it that way. And they will not care if you are a Nightsister or a Sith.” He said, concern clear in his voice. The last thing he wanted was any of Arla’s people to be harmed due to a misconception.

 

[Arla]

Arla, too, was surprised at how smoothly this was going. Perhaps it was the goodwill between them or maybe it was just that she expected too little from the new Empire with her own scars still so fresh. She could only hope they would live up to the end of their bargain.

Naturally, if they're breaking laws then I would expect them to be detained, she said. She was more concerned with former-Sith, now Nightsister ships being flagged and stopped at the spaceports despite cut ties. It didn't sound like that would be an issue.

Well... that was more painless than I expected, she admitted honestly, sitting there and blinking for several moments in surprise.

Can we go back to talking about me keeping you as a slave for... purposes? she finally said after another moment, this time actually trying to keep the smirk off of her face.

She almost wanted to take him to look around the planet, but she'd found that most off-worlders didn't seem to appreciate it like she did.

 

[Wodan]

Was it supposed to be this easy? Wodan wondered if the ease had anything to do with their previous relationship, any fake bravado and machismo either of them would have conferred on another party pointless when either of them could see straight through it. “I agree, it's probably the daggers, I have seen what you can do with them and I don’t want to argue.” He teased, was he now supposed to shake her hand to confirm the deal struck, should he have written any of this down?

Arla’s comment brought a smirk to his face Wodan couldn’t hide. Resting his elbows on the table he interlocking his fingers and resting his chin against his hands. “Well I would resist of course.” He began, his voice serious. “So I hope the punishment for resisting is not too severe. I would hate to disfigure this beautiful face of mine.”