Private Behind Gilded Doors

[Liliane]

Tag: Kirie

The palace was quieter today, but not empty. It never truly was.

Liliane moved through the hallways with careful, silent steps, her dark cloak brushing lightly against the polished floors. She carried no obvious tools of duty — no tray, no datapad, no burdens of station — but she belonged to the Empress’s will, and that was enough to require her presence wherever it might be needed.

Today, it was an errand. A minor duty. Something small, though she had learned quickly that small things often carried heavy weight in this place. She passed under tall archways, slipping into the deep recesses of the palace’s winding corridors. The windows here were tall and narrow, and the light that filtered through was cool, almost blue, pooling across the floor like water.

She had heard it whispered: the Princess was visiting. Daughter of her Lady, the imperial heir. It wasn’t her place to see her, let alone speak. She knew better than to be noticed, especially today. Better to remain quiet. Better to stay out of the way.

Stay unseen. Stay ready. Old habits stitched into her bones whispered louder here, where the walls were steeped in secrets. Liliane kept close to the shadows, where the patterned stonework broke the lines of her silhouette. A hand at her side, loose but prepared, she paused at an intersection of halls, an alcove where she could linger unnoticed if needed.

That was when she heard it,the soft fall of approaching footsteps. Different from the guards. Quieter. Lighter. She stiffened, instinct pulling her further into the shadowed alcove, her body poised to move or vanish as needed. Her heart ticked once, sharply, before she reined it in with the discipline her Lady had begun to forge into her.

 

[Kirie]

The palaces of the Sith were almost always empty and cold. On nights of revelry, or ceremony, they thrummed with life, halls aflood with officials and dignitaries. Then the hearths blazed, the tables were laden with food, and the guests wandered to and fro between their quarters, their meetings, and the function rooms. That was the exception though. Usually, there was no great event. Whole wings would stand empty, save for the servants coming by to light the candles and dust the fixtures. The royals would take their meals in their private quarters, rather than the great hall, and silence and chill would descend.

This evening was one of the quiet nights.

The air was so quiet and still that Kirie heard the shushing of fabric and the soft sounds of footfalls ring clearly through the twisting corridor. She stopped moving instinctively, and so did the sound of the other person. For a moment, Kirie thought she had imagined it. Indeed, when she carefully poked her head around the corner she saw only the plush rug that ran along the hall, the silver-haired portraits on the wall, and the long shadow cast by the brazier behind her.

But she had heard a sound, right? Kirie held her breath, her ears straining in the silence. Yes, there it was. Soft breathing a few paces away. Kirie wished for a moment she still carried the saber she had found at Quinn's, but she shook off the thought. She had made a vow and she would abide by it.

"Hello?" Kirie called out. Her voice seeming incredibly loud despite being scarcely more than a whisper. Her heart thudded in her chest and she was suddenly certain the other person could hear it. Kirie looked over her shoulder. How many paces to the room where she'd left Quinn? Fifty, a hundred? Far. But maybe if she screamed...

She continued, managing to keep her tone level. "Who is there? You can come out."

Liliane

 

[Liliane]

Tag: Kirie

The voice broke the heavy stillness of the corridor, quiet, but edged with authority. Liliane did not move immediately. Instinct urged her to stay hidden, to vanish into the shadows like smoke. But she knew better. Silence could be as damning as action in a place like this.

Still, when she stepped into the brazier’s flickering light, it was with the poised, deliberate caution of a creature who knew survival was a matter of inches and seconds. Her dark cloak brushed the stone floor, her blood-red hair a muted halo against the gloom.

The faintest shift of her arm brushed the inside of her sleeve, just enough to feel the cold weight of the small knife hidden there, a familiar comfort against her skin. She didn’t draw it. Not yet. But she was ready.

Her ruby gaze, sharp and unblinking, took in the figure before her. A young woman, alone, no weapon obviously in hand. Not a guard. Not a Sith Lord. Yet Liliane knew better than to judge a threat by appearances alone. A breath of silence passed between them. Then she cut through it in a low, clipped voice.

"I am only passing through."

She stayed half-turned, her body angled subtly toward escape or defense if the need came. Her eyes did not waver. There was no challenge in them, only a clear, quiet warning: I am not helpless.

Yet something stirred beneath that tension. A flicker of recognition. The way the stranger held herself — the slight tension in her stance, the way her eyes searched the shadows — spoke of old habits Liliane knew all too well.

Still, she kept that awareness buried deep. Trust was a luxury she could not afford.

Not here.
Not yet.

 

[Kirie]

"Passing through?" said Kirie, cringing internally at the skepticism that had crept into her voice. As she regarded the girl's heavy robes, the crimson eyes that reflected the firelight, the tension in her step, she knew it had been foolish to present herself as so openly suspicious. What if this really was some unpredictable acolyte, or worse, an assassin sneaking through the halls? If that were the case, with a wrong move she could easily earn herself a saber through the heart or a knife across her throat.

Kirie worded the next part more carefully, her voice emotionless and level, the model of the good and harmless servant she was. It would have been better if she could have turned her eyes to the floor in respectful submission, but she couldn't bring herself to look away from the red eyes, lest it prompt the girl into attacking.

"So." said Kirie "Do you need help getting where you are going, or do you want to be left to yourself?" This part of the Palace was rather isolated from the places officials and aides usually scurried about, being so close to the royal quarters. And the hour was so late. Kirie had just about made up her mind that the girl was trouble and was turning to excuse herself when a flicker of recognition.

"Wait-" said Kirie. "I recognise you from somewhere." She did, and thankfully not as a Tsis'kaar agent nor a Sith apprentice, but as a commoner, a servant like her, hovering over the shoulder of some royal. But who? The circumstances of having seen here before were blurry, and there were any numbers of siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews of the Emperor and Empress that she could serve.

"You work here- right?" she ventured, and offered a gracious bow of her head. "I'm Kirie, handmaiden to the Princess of Eshan."

Her dark eyes found the girl's sanguine ones again, this time watching her with curiosity rather than fear, but still unsure what she would do.

Liliane ​