Private A Mother's Love

[Ansisa]

Gerra had promised to deliver her to Jutrand to reclaim her children, not because he wanted anything from her in return, but because he wanted to give her what she wanted. He had plucked her from the ruins of the palace on Atrisia, charred and broken from clinging to life not out of spite, but because her heart demanded that she live, that she fulfil the promise she made to her children.

I'll see you soon, my little loves.​

He had spared no expense in her rebuilding. Alchemized alloy replaced bone, Shrikarai flesh wove into muscle. Limbs remade, not just as they were but stronger. And they had tested them not just on a sparring mat, but on hunts and raids, until they felt like hers again, until she could move with the same grace that she had moved with before. Synthetic skin and biofiber replaced the skin that had been marred by the Godflame. If someone hadn't known she had been felled, then they would never see it.

Hasuras Na-Gerra hadn't just rebuilt her, he had given her the chance to be reborn, to rise from ashes as something new and to break the chains that had bound her.

The heel of her boots clicked along dark marbled floors, following the servant that had welcomed her through the palace to the throne room. To Her. Ansisa had handed her children over to Quinn knowing they would fall under the Empress's guard, knowing that if there was any place in the galaxy for them to be safe while the fires of justice burned their course, it would be with her.

Her heart ached, desperate to lay eyes upon them, to feel them in her arms again and hear their voices, their laughs. To see sweet Aureus’s eyes light up when he discovered something new in his books, or Caelia’s tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth when she practiced her sword work. They were her everything, her heart and her soul.

And she would burn everything for them.

Srina Talon

 

[Srina Talon]

Tag: Ansisa
Location: Jutrand [Palace]

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The grand hall that housed the seat of the Empress of the Sith Order was not loud.

It never was.

It seemed to vibrate with a soft hum instead, a vast cathedral of black crystal and pale stone where light filtered in like cold rain. The ceilings were vaulted high with sigils carved methodically into the floors and walls. The air carried the faintest trace of jasmine and old storm, the quiet perfume of a sovereign who did not need to lord her power over others to be felt.

She simply was what she was.

Srina Talon sat quietly on the throne, long white hair parted and pulled into knots on either side of her head while twin ponytails fell in silken waves. She wore a layered mixture of black fabric highlighted with gold, form-fitting but more modest than most might assume. Her feet were oddly bare, peeking out from beneath spider-silk, but she seemed not to notice. The pale woman leaned on the arm of the tall chair with her eyes closed…Listening to the youngling that had learned so much in so little time.

Caelia sat on the steps of the dais a few paces away, small hands carefully holding a thin, paperbound book. It was expensive, bound with silver-threaded armor weave so it would not tear. The girl's voice was soft but steady, and it carried sweetly through the chamber as she read aloud from its pages. Aureus, a little further off, moved through a slow sword form with a practice blade. Well, her version of a practice blade. It was still quite sharp. He moved in his own time, unhurried, each motion precise in a way that suggested long hours of gentle, patient correction rather than punishment.

Twin pendants rest against both of their chests, almost hidden among fine clothing, hand-stitched to mimic the fashion of nobility in the capital. Both had jewels that had been fashioned into dark, glassy charms that were etched with alchemical script. It dampened their presence, blurred attention, made them harder to sense, harder to target. Wards created by the Empress to teach them a most valuable lesson.

How to hide.

Sometimes…Hiding was the bravest thing a child could do.

Her eyes opened, and pale-golden orbs moved between them without either child ever quite noticing. This woman, their impromptu nanny, had never raised her voice with them and had offered certain truths in the only way she could. Honest—But omitting the gory parts. When Aureus let his guard drift, her fingers tapped once against the arm of the chair, barely a sound, and his next movement corrected itself. When Caelia stumbled over a word, Srina did not interrupt, but the Force brushed the page, steadying it, grounding her breath.

She offered security and confidence, without overcorrection.

They were both bright sithlings…And so, she listened to Caelia.

"In this city...
...There are no people.
The lights are on in all the houses,
But, there is no one on the streets..."

It was the children's book she had often read to her own progeny. One she knew by heart…Even after all this time.

"Being with them is fun.
More fun than being with people.
Nobody comes outside anymore.
I hope that I will meet people.
People just for me.
But if those people love me, those special people...
I will have to leave them."

Srina remained in the same relaxed position, listening, but her awareness wrapped around both children like a second skin. She did not soften the world for them. She did not pretend that it was kind. She prepared them, as much as she could, while their mother was…

Away.

The galaxy did not care that they were small. Sith did not spare younglings, and armies did not pause for grief. Their father, Malum of House Marr, had known that. It seemed that their mother had forgotten.

"I will have to leave them, to save them."

Srina's jaw tightened just slightly. Just a fraction. She did not despise their mother for wanting to fight. She despised the fact that she had done so stupidly. There was a difference. The Empress had called the battle to a halt, had drawn the line between vengeance and annihilation. And Ansisa…Brave, furious, and protective had crossed it anyway. Had chosen pride over patience, defiance over survival, and these children, not of her blood, but under her care, had paid the price for it. A lifetime of scars—When their mother was nowhere to be found as their homeworld burned.

Srina did not understand foolishness.

She did not tolerate waste.

The soft echo of footsteps reached the far end of the chamber. A servant's presence, hesitant, and respectful…Not wanting to interrupt Caelia, arrived, but waited for her to finish the passage. Someone new was coming. Someone, the children had sorely missed.

"This is what I think…As I leave the city with no people."

"Very good.", Srina offered quietly. She didn't address either child individually, but they seemed content to assume the cold praise was for both of them. Caelia lowered her book, and Aureus came to a still, careful guard. It wasn't often that anyone interrupted them…

It was only then that Srina flowed from the throne and came to stand, holding the edge of her dress, walking lightly on the balls of her feet. She'd remained barefoot in case Aureus needed a sparring partner. Droids, simply wouldn't do. She stopped moving in the center of the room, and Caelia moved to hide behind her copious skirts, but there was something knowing about her. The great doors opened to reveal Ansisa …The mother they had left behind.

The one they cried for when they thought the dark couldn't hear them.

"You are late."

Not welcome back, no allowance to see her offspring…Simple, fact. The blue-skinned woman would see that her young were safe. Steady. Learning, training, but healthy and alive. Everything Ansisa was willing to burn the galaxy for…Everything…

Everything, Srina had kept safe with barely a thought.

 

[Ansisa]

Her accusation struck like an icy blade, exacerbating the already existing ache in her chest the only way cold could. Not because it was unjust or cruel, but becauwit was true. Carmine eyes met the face and hard stare of the Empress, understanding pressing forward.

"I know."

Her words were soft, barely above a whisper. She should never have taken this long, she should never have stood in the oath of titans.

She should have come, when She called.

There was a mountain of things Ansisa should or should not have done and she could have spent a lifetime contemplating them and how things may have been diffirent if she had made a different choices. But things had landed as they had, and she had spent enough time wrapped in fear and doubt.

The clatter of a metal on polished stone rang through the room, swiftly followed my the fast patter of bare feet. Ansisa sank to her knees tearing her gaze from the Empress to look upon her son, a blur or bluse and black before he collided with her with force that would have knocked another over.

"Csen'ai!"

The cheunh was choked with emotion that bled through the force, muttered in the crook of her neck as his small arms hung tight. Ansisa took a small breath, fighting the lump thay rose in her throat as her arms wrapped around his tiny form. Caelia peered from behind the Empress's skirts, her hand clinging to them for support. She was angry, Ansisa could feel it and it broke her heart clean in two.

"I am sorry, my little loves."

Srina Talon

 

[Srina Talon]

Tag: Ansisa
Location: Jutrand [Palace]

____________________________________________________

Srina did not move when Ansisa fell to her knees, nor did she respond to the deafening clatter of metal in the hall. She watched Aureus break formation and run while a ripple of raw emotion snapped into the Force like a spike. Sudden. She watched the young boy cross the floor, felt the impact of his small body against his mother, felt the way he anchored himself to her. As if she might vanish. Again.

"Why?"

Why was she late? What could be more important than the two sithlings she had born? Her injuries had been severe, but Srina had eyes, ears, everywhere. She had a very good idea of what Ansisa had been up to, and it wasn't adding up. "You were warned…", Srina continued with pale-gold eyes that did not waver. "You were told to stand down…Just as the Kainites were. They obeyed. You did not."

Again, the question rolled around in her mind.

"Why?", she repeated, her gaze tearing away from Aureus, while her focus shifted and landed on Caelia. It was true that Ansisa could refuse to answer her, but it wasn't for herself that she asked. It was for the sake of the two that had been left in her care, in the care of a stranger. She could have done anything to them. She could have killed them…Turned them over to the Kainite to pay for the sins of their father. Of course, she hadn't…But Ansisa couldn't have known that at the time. Not for certain. The question remained…

Why had she chosen to fight rather than be the shield her children needed?

Why had she made the Sith Empress that shield?

Why had she left her to explain her absence?

She turned slightly, skirts whistling across the stone, and she extended one pale hand behind her without looking. Her fingers brushed soft fabric before finding smaller ones that immediately squeezed. Caelia was…Quiet, but expressive. "Come…", Srina murmured, not sharp, inviting, rather than commanding. She was often better with children than adults.

It was easier to understand their motivations. Their pain.

Then Srina gently curled her fingers around d the child's hand and drew her forward. Coaxing rather than pulling. Caelia stepped out from behind the Empress's shadow with her small jaw set tight. Eyes bright with something wounded and fierce…Something…Unmistakably angry. Srina lifted her hand and patted the back of it, softly. Offering steadiness without a word.

"Your daughter sees as I do. Things that were…Things that are, things that may be."

Srina had noticed it almost instantly. The faraway look she got when she thought no one was watching. Which meant…She was too grown for her age. And she was likely aware of some of the things her mother may wish to forget. She would take…

More coaxing, that Aureus.

As one who had moved stars to protect her children, to be with them as often as she could, this was not something she could understand. She could not offer insight for Caelia…Not when she herself did not understand. All she could do was assure a mother's love.

She couldn't explain her decisions.

 

[Ansisa]

The question lay heavily between them. Why? Why had she taken so long to return to them? Why had she left them? Why, when the Empress had called for the fighting to stop, had she ignored her? She took a deep breath hand stroking the back of Aureus's head as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, his small hands digging into the fabric of her top holding fast.

"It took time to recover and regain my strength." Her eye's settled on Caelia peering from behind Srina's skirts. "I did not want you to see..." It was a whisper, wrought with barely contained emotion. She swallowed, pressing on. "When I had recovered, I had to find us a place to go. I needed to know that it was safe, that I would not be moving you into danger a second time."

She lifted crimson eyes then to meet the pale gold stare of the Empress. Trying to find an answer for why she had not stood down, trying to find words to explain. She could have woven a story, made herself sound righteous in what she had chosen to do, but it would have been a lie. "I was so sure, so certain that they would have taken them from me, that they would bear the punishment of their father's sins against the Order, i thought if I could just buy you time to escape." Tears welled in her eyes drawing Aureus closer, holding him tighter as she looked down the Caelia.

"I should have stayed. I should have listened. It is a mistake that is etched in flesh and bone and one I will not repeat."

For a woman who was appeared as hard as the marble her skin reflected, the Empress was gentle with Caelia, coaxing her out. Ansisa choked back a sob at the way she looked at her, resisted the urge to beg. She deserved all the rage her tiny body could carry. Her gaze snapped up at Srina's final words, speaking of Caelia's sight, confirming suspicions she had already had. Caelia loved to draw, her nursery walls were covered with pictures, pictures of people she hadn't met. There had been some darker ones, of fights that hadn't happened ones Ansisa had carefully removed while she slept.

Her jaw tightened, settling back on her daughter as tears rolled down her own cheeks. "Marr'caelia'karan," Caelia stiffened at the use of her full name, despite the softness with which it was spoken. "veuhn bo k'ir vah veb?"

"All of it." Her voice was so small, but it carried the anger well enough.

Ansisa closed her eyes and bowed her head.

"I told you, Csen'ai, I told you he would kill you. You didn't listen!" Her bottom lip trembled.

"You did, little one. And you are right, I didn't listen. But I did not die. I am here. I am alive. And I am so very sorry."

Srina Talon