Private A Story of Blood and Steam

[Scherezade deWinter]

Immediately after "A Chapter Between Towels and Rancors"

Hekate 's warning about not being late wasn't needed. Scherezade was ever the punctual girl, making sure to arrive on time to anything she could. Being late was something she mostly used as a weapon, and not because she lost track of time or hadn't properly planned the time she had.

Her hair still damp, but her body thankfully dry and covered in a pair of shorts, a black tank top, and boots that were unnecessarily heavy, she made her way towards the Mess Hall, a small backpack slung on her back. She'd collected a few items from her ship during that half an hour, mostly trinkets, holoimages and recordings, and some random memorabilia, that she thought Hekate would like to see.

And she also brought a freshly new Whimsy-issued holocommunicator with her, already programmed to make the other deWinter family members easy to reach whenever Hekate decided she was ready. First and foremost, of course, was Celestine deWinter 's holoinfo. The rest would become available once lunch was over, probably.

It had been strange to go over the lists she kept. Brayden, not seen since… Well. Poof, that one hurt. A lot. But she didn't want to linger on her missing twin who had seen the results of Scherezade breaking but never got to see Scherezade herself. Then there was Hellys, of course. That would be Hekate's other sister. Madalena was on the list as well, as one of Scherezade's twins.

For the comminformation about Asteria and Angelo, Scherezade had decided to send Celestine the request for permission. She would decide on the timing, and she had given her, in witch-fashion, a year and a day, though she was certain it would far less time than that before Hekate got to speak with her mother.

Her heart still thumping wildly with excitement, the Sithling burst into the Mess Hall and chose a table that was as far from other people currently in there at present. If Hekate would ask to move closer to them, she'd have to say it out loud.

 

[Hekate]

Hekate arrived in the Mess Hall to find Scherezade already at the table.

Was she late? And after the request I made of her not to be late herself.

Hekate went to rush over and apologise stopped herself and breathed calmly. If she rushed over and started to apologise profusely she'd never stop then she'd get anxious and nervous again. She had had enough of that for one day. For one lifetime really. Hekate took a breath.

Time to learn about family

Her heart fluttered at the thought.

Hekate made her way over as calmly as she could given she was just about jumping out of her skin to hound Scherezade with questions. She was glad Scherezade had picked a table away from other people. Hekate tended to avoid crowds and strangers if she could. Hekate stopped herself from shying away from them with body language.

She had already made a terrible first impression on her new family. Hekate groaned inwardly. Attacking her on their first meeting. It was going to make the rounds at family gatherings she just knew it.

Hekate sighed to herself. That was ok ribbing each other was part of being in a family. They could rib her for that all they wanted to. She just hoped they wouldn't be cruel about it. She was hoping a lot based on a family she knew nothing about, had only met one member of who was a mercenary.

It was hard not to. Breathe Hekate breathe. You're done being a nervous wreck for the day.

She wished she could believe it, but she'd try her best.

"Hello." Hekate greeted awkwardly playing with her sleeve of her favourite red jacket. "Am I late? I stared at the clock on the vall until it was time to leave. I made sure to leave early."

Hekate hesitated

"I do not have my own holovatch or pad or coms device. I think I am getting on vhen ve go on mission though yes?"

Hekate paused and breathed. She sat down, waited a few moments.

"Pleaze tell me ov family? Our family. Are they kind?"

Scherezade deWinter

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

She could practically taste Hekate 's nervousness as soon as her cousin stepped through the door. Under normal circumstances, Scherezade would probably point it out. This time, she was trying to be the professional adult, the one who Knew Things[tm], the one who wasn't going to be a butt about it. So she didn't mention it, just gave her cousin a smile that, once again, she hoped was calming, open, and friendly.

"You're not late," she answered, "I got here a few minutes early to grab a good table."

As soon as Hekate sat down, Scherezade grabbed a bag of cheese cubes from her bag, and placed it between them. Sure, it was nothing like the food they sold here, but now they both firmly had their behinds in chairs, so there was no reason to break the setting just to get fed. Besides, cheese cubes were life. These ones came in various pastel-ish colors, ranging from the common white and yellow to the stranger purples and greys.

She also had no idea if DeathDrop issued their own holowatches, pads, whatever. She was still using hers. But she made a mental note to check, to make sure her newly found cousin wouldn't go through the poodoo that she herself had gone through when she was younger just because she hadn't known any better about what she could and couldn't have issued.

"Kind… Isn't a word I'd use," she said slowly, collecting her thoughts as her hands rummaged through her bag, bringing a holoprojecter out.

"This is your eldest sister, Celestine deWinter ," she said as she clicked a button, and a holoimage of the woman blinked into life, "We used to live together every now and then when we still had access to the deWinter Penthouse on Coruscant."

That was… An introduction. But it wasn't enough, she knew.

"Parts of our family rock," she grinned, and then frowned, "and other parts of it suck major balls. There's also quite a lot of us, but since we don't treat death in the linear fashion most of the 'verse does, it's sometimes hard to know who's around and who isn't."

Was she making it easier for her new cousin? Probably not. She wasn't sure how to make it easier.

"Okay so, you have two sisters that we know of. Celestine, and Hellys. I've just got off a call with Celestine, and she was…" she paused for dramatic effect, "shocked to hear about you. And unfortunately, she needs a few days before she can part from her stupid rancors, but she wants to meet you as soon as possible. She's got a lot of questions, just like you do."

Scherezade leaned back in her chair and sighed. She was aware that she was just making a salad out of all the information. Was there an easy way to explain it all?

"So…" she mumbled, "do you want, like, a family tree? Or have specific questions?"

 

[Hekate]

Hekate smiled gratefully when Scherezade didn't make a point of her nervousness. She was trying, but having it pointed out only made it worse. She stopped the thought that she should apologise for the accidental attack again. She was sure it had gone past the point where the constant apologies had begun to become annoying and full of false self sympathy. Plus Hekate was beginning to feel it was pathetic. A strong warrior such as Scherezade respected strength not weakness.

"Thank you" Hekate pointedly did not glance at the table chatting nearby. "I vould prefer a private conversation as vell"

Hekate picked through the cheese cubes fastidiously. It was strange being able to eat whenever you wanted however much you wanted. Hekate had seen fights break out over this much food. It was also strange that now that she had access to so much food she rarely ate. It was as if her stomach was still adjusting to all the rich food as opposed to slop she was used to. Hekate continued to pick through enjoying the fact that she had the ability to choose and picked a scarlet one.

"Thank you." Hekate caught herself in time before slowly putting it in her mouth. Enjoying the taste as it rolled around her tongue.

Grimacing slightly a little, her shoulders slumped. She had been foolishly hoping the family would welcome her with open arms, had even entered a silly little fantasy of vague blurry figures at a Spring Festival like when she was young. It hurt more than it should that not all of a family she'd never known were unkind.

"Ve don't die?" Hekate blinked confused. "Vhat do you mean?"

Hekate blinked again.

"At least I vill have one thing in common vith one of my sisters"

"I like vancors. I used to have one… she died vhen they… vhen it happened." Hekate smile grew, flickered and died as she remember her young Rancor Fluffy. "I anmed her Fluffy. At first I vanted a cat but then my parents pretended they had given her to another family."

Hekate sighed.

"I vonder if.. Celestine? Vill let me meet her vancors?" Hekate asked tentatively knowing the a rancor bond was not something to be shared lightly.

Hekate brightened.

"Ave a family tree vould be vonderful!" Hekate exclaimed beaming.

"but… first, vhat about my parent… are they not… kind?"

Scherezade deWinter

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Scherezade noted the slumped shoulders, but she wasn't sure why they were slumping. Had she said something that disappointed her cousin? And of course, there was the whole question about death, though that would be far easier to explain. Thankfully, Hekate had asked that question out loud, giving Scherezade another reason to grin like an imp.

"Oh, we absolutely can die," she nodded firmly, "we die of natural causes. As a deWinter, your natural causes of dying are if someone manages to kill you. But stuff like sickness or old age? Don't think that's happened in a good amount of generations."

Then was the bit about rancors. Scherezade tried not to roll her eyes. She knew all about how Dathomiries liked their pets, but if she was frank, most animals she got to encounter were the type that she had to kill lest she wanted to be eaten by them. She didn't particularly care for any specific group of animals either, though there were a few individual ones that she would protect with her body and her life if it came to that.

Kinda the same like she did with people.

But first… The parents.

"It's not that they're not kind!" Scherezade blurted quickly, cursing herself internally for explaining it all wrong, "Asteria, that's your mom's name, she's my aunt, and I love her to death. Always will. But when people meet her at first and they don't have the privilege of being related to her, she can come off as a little bit cold. Okay no, a lot cold."

And then there was the whole thing with Angelo.

"I don't know about your dad," she admitted, "I mean, I know he's a great guy who loves his mate and daughters, but he's sort of being held somewhere against his will by your paternal grandmother, Petra, who can be a real witch sometimes. In the bad sense of the word, not the cultural meaning of it."

She threw a few cheese cubes into her mouth to have an excuse not to say anything for a moment.

"I'm also wondering what happened between when Celestine and I think you were born to day," she found herself saying before her brain had the time to yell at her not to, "seeing as it's been a few hundred years."

 

[Hekate]

Hekate blinked at that.

"Vell… that is interesting.. so does that mean I vill not age?" Hekate asked with a frown.

Hekate wasn't sure how to feel about that she'd always looked forward to the day when she could be a wisened old grandmother with her grandchildren running about her feet. Of course that had been a long time ago. Now though… now not aging would be an advantage to survival, and one thing Hekate had learned about herself was she was a survivalist. If not aging helped her to survive that is an advantage she would use.

Hekate could sense that her confession about Rancors held no interest for Scherezade. Hekate tried not to feel disappointment about that.

"It iz ok, not everyone likes Rancors." Hekate said softly.

Though in Hekate's opinion they were thoroughly misunderstood creatures.

Hekate frowned a little at hearing of the description of her mother.

"Vill she… Vill she still consider me family or vill I be a stranger to be treated… coldly?" Hekate asked hesitantly unsure of her place in this new family. If she would be warmly received by everyone or if even her own mother will consider her somehow separate for not having been raised by the family.

Hekate frowned at learning her fathers fate apparently at the hands of yet another family member. She didn't know what to make of that. She knew that if her Papa was being held against his will be anyone she would fight the whole galaxy to get him back.

"I… should ve go get him?" Hekate asked frowning confused about what her familial obligations were in this new family.

"Are family feuds such as this common?" Hekate asked concerned.

"I knew of such Clans on Dathomir usually against each other, but sometimes a Clan split. Someone married someone half the clan didn't like, someone stole something or accused someone of something. Clans could fall apart in inner bickering and turmoil. Most of those clans were Nightsister clans or occasionally one of the ones who enslaved their men folk."

"Are ve like that? Do we… fight each other?" Hekate asked becoming dejected at the answer

"Vait! A vew hundred years?!" Hekate asked astounded. "but I.. I am not a few a hundred years old. I am…."

Hekate paused as she realised she did not know how old she was. She thought back.

"They came on eighteenth summer. I know because they came during Summer Sulstice so ve vould be caught unawares." Hekate shrugged "I do not know how long it has been since."

Scherezade deWinter

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

She didn't really have an answer to the age question. As far as Scherezade knew, they all stopped aging at one point or another, but while she knew some family members made a conscious decision about it, she wasn't sure all of them actually did. "Probably going to be your choice," she shrugged.

The next answer, she understood all too intimately. She'd been afraid as well to meet her parents. Her brother. To go back to Endelaan. Only once had she seen her mother since her release from the pebble, and that had been sort of in an out of body experience. She'd yet to set foot on the planet she was a princess of and could theoretically choose to become the next queen. At first, it had been because of shame, because she had been so certain that she wasn't worthy of the legacy she had been born to. Now… There were other reasons.

"Family is family," she assured Hekate , knowing that bit for certain. deWinters didn't all love all their family members, but they were family nonetheless. Sometimes, they were just family you were sanctioned to kill.

But getting Angelo? She gave a sad chuckle to that. "Don't," she warned, "you're not experienced enough yet for the dangers such a journey would demand. Maybe after you meet your sisters, you three can plot it out." They could also do more than that, but some things were better left for others to explain. Hekate had almost killed Scherezade by luck, she knew, but tackling Petra would be an entirely different story.

And here it was. The panic and confusion about the age thing.

"I believe you believe you've experienced at least eighteen years of life," she said softly, "but it's not the same… I was born before the Gulag. I should be over seven hundred years old. Do you know how many of these years I've actually lived? Maybe fifteen."

And Scherezade knew she didn't look like a child, or even a teenager. "I was a baby when our grandmother snatched me from my family, locked me up in a little pebble, and I stayed there for centuries. I wasn't as luck as you though, since I knew I was trapped and I had my consciousness. And in that jail, I was inside the Darkness for all that time. When I was released, I was just on Ryloth, in the body of a young woman. All the bits of life and experiences in between? Never had them. And learning to be an adult…" she sighed. Those had been such horrible lessons, trying to catch up. She was glad the hardest of those years were over, "I made a lot of stupid mistakes, and I ended up broken."

With a sigh, Scherezade leaned back in her chair, grabbing a few cheese cubes just so her hands could do something. She was never good at sitting still. Had never even gotten the hand of meditation because of it.

"So I'm thinking something like that was done to you," she finally said, "obviously, you didn't feel it. Doesn't mean you weren't frozen in time or something like that for a large part of the time that's passed since your actual birth."