Private A Shared Word || Lace

[Darth Metus]

The Night had come.

Verun was an unforgiving world. According to their most learned individuals, the planet was currently in the midst of its summer cycle. The heat was unbearable during the day and water was perpetually scarce. But, there was a reprieve. When the sun retreated beyond the horizon, the temperatures plummeted to a comfortable degree. Cool breezes would finally grace the growing encampment, lulling most to sleep. Night was a welcome reprieve for the Settlement; and at this hour most would finally hit the hay.

It wasn't this way for Isley. When the night finally arrived, he finally had a moment of freedom. A chance to set aside the crown and to breathe.

Things had been going well. As well as they could given the circumstances. His people were making headway in mastering their new home. The raids were lessening by the day. Rationing was succeeding. All the major concerns seemed to be addressed. And so, Isley could spare thought towards family - specifically towards his kin who had found him all the way out here. Many of his children flocked to Verun at his call. And, surprisingly, they were joined by their aunt: Lace Verd .

Prior to this very week, he hadn't seen her in months. And it was high time they shared a word. Just the two of them.

Thus, with his plate more or less cleared, Isley departed his command tent and strolled to where his sibling resided. The accommodations, for the time being, were modest but comfortable.

"Sister, you awake?" he'd call from just beyond the entrance.

Lace Verd​

 

[Lace Verd]

Names had been swirling around Lace's head since she had answered her brother's call. Nieces and nephews she had never heard of, or couldn't remember. Letter by letter, name by name, she wrote them down in her journal, along with who they were, what they looked like, and any other small details about them.

Just in case she forgot again.

While she had not brought much with her to Verun, Felix was kind enough to provide her new journaling supplies. Told her it'd be good for her mental health to keep the habit, after all her other supplies and journals were lost on Naboo. While she didn't disagree, of course, she brought only a couple journals, ink bottles, and writing utensils, leaving other decorative supplies with Felix.

The soft sound of a pen scrawling across paper filled the little tent, as she wrote about her family at her desk, until she heard Darth Metus at the entrance calling for her.

"Yes, just a moment!"

Setting the pen down, she stood from her desk, and hurried to open the flap to the tent with a smile.

"Come in, I was just doing some writing." Guiding her brother in, she'd walk back to her desk, and look at him happily. "What brings you here?"

 

[Darth Metus]

The Sith stepped lively within the tent.

Though modest, her accommodations plainly said that she was doing alright. And frankly, that was the largest thing that Darth Metus wanted to confirm. It did his heart good to see Lace's beaming face. As they stepped inside, he settled down on a separate chair.

"Before everything went to shit, the last I had seen you was when Felix found you." He recounted simply.

"So, I wanted to make up for lost time. We're...all that's left I imagine."

He was referring, of course, to the remainder of their siblings. All of whom he hadn't seen in over a decade each.

Lace Verd

 

[Lace Verd]

Lace nodded with a contemplative expression at her brother's implication. She still couldn't remember a large majority of their family, no matter how many times she tried. Part of her wondered if she ever would.

"I see... I feel like I should be more upset, but... It's hard to be sad for people I can't remember. I could find their names, and a few faces in some files but nothing ever came back to me."

A bitter laugh came from her as she looked down at her journal with a frown.

"I feel like a bad person because of it... Knowing my siblings are probably missing or dead, but feeling nothing but a mild sadness. I hate it."

Darth Metus

 

[Darth Metus]

The Sith did not realize just how lost his sibling was.

They did not have the opportunity to truly dig into her ailment. The fact that she lived and remembered Darth Metus had been enough for the time being. And now that they had survived the Cataclysm? There was even less reason to focus on the past.

"You're the furthest thing from a bad person, it's not as though you deliberately turned your back on them." he began. "Besides, they would all be happy that you were alive and safe. That's what's important."

As he spoke, a thought did occur to him. A relic that had been given as a gift by his apprentice's current lover so long ago.

"There...might be something I can do to help jog your memory. It's a touch invasive..."

He spoke simply, just to see if there was any interest in what he had to propose.

Lace Verd​

 

[Lace Verd]

There was sorrow in Lace's eyes as she looked up at her brother. Listening to his words, her mind wandered to whether he was correct, Would they be happy for her? She couldn't remember if any of them cared for her or not, or if she cared for them. Surely that was the case, but part of her couldn't help but be afraid...

Jolted from her intrusive thoughts by her brother, she looked at him confused.

"Invasive? I... How invasive would it be?"

Worry laced her words, and she rubbed at her wrist. Thoughts raced through mind of what she could remember. She'd been a Knight Obsidian, once. Apparently been to the Netherworld as well... What if she remembered something she didn't want to? A faint scar on her arm reminded her of the state Oleander had found her in...

"And... How much would I remember?"

Darth Metus

 

[Darth Metus]

Understandably, Lace was troubled by the suggestion.

She rubbed her wrist lightly as she spoke, her tone alive with concern. The Sith reached out and gingerly placed his dominant hand upon her shoulder. "I can make it so that we walk through your memories. You'd relive them as a spectator. See what happened as if you were watching a...very interactive holoflick."

"But, it would require me to walk through your mind. To enter doors you've closed. To break walls you've built. Only then can I help you remember what you've lost and who you were."

His hand gave her a confident squeeze.

"I will say this...sometimes, it is good to let the past die. You are one of the few people who can have a fresh start. Unburdened by the sins, scars, and hurts of the past. I envy that, sometimes. You know you have a family - me - who loves you. Nieces and nephews who adore you. You have a home and a place among us."

"So I leave it up to you. Do you wish to return to who you were? Or remain as you are?"

Lace Verd​

 

[Lace Verd]

Thoughts of anxiety ran through her mind as she listened and pondered over her brother's suggestion. Part of her desperately wanted to remember her family, and she knew she wouldn't regret reliving happy memories of them... But as she looked over the barely-there scars that ran up and down her arms, the idea of reliving the five years of torture she had gone through was...

Terrifying.

"I... I don't know. I don't know if I even could be who I used to be, anymore... Or if I even want to be. I... I know I'm not who I was before I disappeared, you know. I was able to find some old records on myself, and I was able to do so many things before that last mission. But, you know, I can't remember if I was as happy back then as I am now, after finding you again.

"Even then, those years I was gone... I think I'd rather leave those memories untouched... Forever."

Sighing quietly, Lace leaned back in her chair, contemplative. After a moment of silence, she spoke with more confidence than she had in a while.

"I think I'd rather see where life take me now. Memories or no memories, I'll remember what I'm meant to remember."

Darth Metus

 

[Darth Metus]

This was not an easy question to answer.

Without her memories, Lace was a completely different individual. She had become someone unique - and the burden of the past would conflict with who she was now. Thus, the question of remembrance was more than breaking amnesia. It was a question of identity. And here, there was no wrong answer - for Darth Metus would care for his sibling all the same.

After all, she was the last he had.

"I think that's an excellent choice." he said, offering a smile. "You have your whole life ahead of you - quite literally. Whatever you remember is what you remember, but the past is behind you."

He paused, reaching for one of the rings upon his fingers. "It's going to take some time, but I'm building something new here. A kingdom. And technically speaking, that would make you a princess of sorts." The Sith chuckled at the thought.

"So I give you this, my ring and my name, if you're willing. Consider it a physical symbol of a fresh start." He removed the ring and offered it to her upon his palm. The offer? To become a Verd - a full member of his house.

Lady Lace Verd did have a nice ring to it after all.

Lace Verd​

 

[Lace Verd]

Like her brother, the idea of her being a princess brought a small laugh out of her. Part of her wondered if she had fantasized about such a thing as a child. Judging from what she knew of herself before... Everything, she assumed not. The idea was nice though.

When he offered the ring, she was brought back to reality from her thoughts, and stared at the ring for a moment in surprise. It didn't take long for a smile to spread across her face as she took it gingerly, and held it close.

"Of course I accept. Why would I not? You're the only brother I have left, and... I want don't want to leave ever again. I was gone for far... Far too long."

Darth Metus