Private Between Blades and Banners

[Veyla Krinn]

The wind along the cliffs of Concord Dawn tugged at Veyla's hair, carrying the sharp scent of metal and distant forges. The hum of industry drifted upward from the valleys below, a constant reminder that even in exile, Mandalore's pulse never truly stopped. She leaned against the terrace railing, green eyes tracing the smoke curling from the foundries, letting the heat and movement of the world below settle around her.

Siv stood beside her, shoulders squared but relaxed, unmasked. The sunlight caught the angles of his face, sharp and controlled, but softened in the shadows of the late afternoon. She noted the faint line of tension in his jaw, the way his hands rested lightly at his sides, and for a moment, she allowed herself to observe—the quiet steadiness he carried, the way he moved as if nothing could unbalance him.

"Siv," she said, voice low, the edge of curiosity threaded with something warmer, "in the years I've been gone…what has shifted? The councils, the clans, the Forge itself…how has Mandalore moved while I was away?"

Her gaze flicked to him, noting the slight narrowing of his eyes, the subtle lift of one brow. He didn't answer immediately, just let the wind carry the sound of her words between them. She shifted her weight, a soft scrape of her boot against the stone, and the faintest incline of her shoulder brushed against him — unintentional, yet deliberate enough to be noticed.

"And you," she added, softer now, leaning a fraction closer, "the man without the mask…what do you see when the halls are empty, when the forges go quiet? What do you carry for yourself when no one else is watching?"

Her green eyes lingered on his, attentive, patient, and quietly searching. He shifted slightly toward her, just enough that their shoulders nearly touched, and yet the air between them remained charged with a restrained intimacy, a tension folded into silence.

"I need to know," she murmured, the warmth in her tone faint but deliberate, "because what I left behind isn't the same as what I might return to."

The wind lifted again, tangling their hair, tugging at her clothes. In the quiet space between them, she felt the weight of unspoken questions, of restrained curiosity, and the subtle acknowledgment that neither was in a hurry to break the moment.

Siv Kryze

 

[Siv Kryze]

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Siv let his gaze follow the smoke drifting from the forges below, the jagged cliffs of Concord Dawn cutting sharp against the fading light. He didn't answer immediately, letting the wind carry her words across the terrace, letting the quiet settle around them. When he spoke, his voice was calm, deliberate, carrying a weight that wasn't easily shaken.

"Concord Dawn has changed," he said, eyes distant yet rooted in the present. "Clans shift, councils squabble—but what endures is duty. The duty to protect what is ours, to preserve what makes us Mandalorian. That duty isn't just to a place, or to a people—it's to a culture that has survived more than most could imagine."

He shifted slightly, letting the warmth of his shoulder brush hers, subtle, grounding. "There is no greater calling than guiding a people from chains to sovereignty, from exile to empire. To ensure the flame of our heritage burns brighter than any shadow, to shape our world so that our children inherit more than survival… that is what I carry when the terraces are empty and the forges are still."

His gaze met hers, steady and unwavering. "It is not an easy path, and I do not pretend it is. But it is ours, and it is necessary. What you left behind has grown stronger, Veyla, and it waits for those willing to see it through—not for themselves, but for the culture that defines us."

The wind tugged again, scattering strands of hair across his face. His shoulder brushed hers just enough, silent and deliberate. "Duty like this," he murmured, "it is not something you abandon. It is something you live, every moment, until Concord Dawn—and all it represents—stands unbroken."

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

The wind tugged at her hair, brushing it across her face, but her green eyes never left his. A slow, knowing smile brushed her lips, teasing yet soft.

"Strong, deliberate…stubborn," she murmured, voice low. "I wonder if you ever let yourself just… breathe. Just be, without the weight of all this…history, and fire, and expectation pressing down on you."

Her shoulder nudged his lightly, deliberately, closer than before. "It's dangerous," she added, warm and teasing, "carrying all of this so naturally. And yet…I can't look away. Even knowing the weight you bear, I like to see you standing there."

A flicker of challenge in her smile, quiet, deliberate. "Maybe one day, Warden, you'll let someone else share it. Or at least…let someone witness it, fully. Watch you carry it—and maybe even…stand beside you while you do."

The wind tugged again, scattering her hair between them. She stayed a fraction closer, shoulders brushing, as Concord Dawn stretched beneath them, alive with smoke, fire, and the unyielding weight of everything they carried.

Siv Kryze

 

[Siv Kryze]

Siv's eyes lingered on her for a moment — long enough for the silence between them to shift, to take on the cadence of something unspoken but not unseen. The forge-light from below caught the edge of his profile, painting his features in muted gold and shadow.

"Breathe?" he echoed quietly, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "I've been told I forget to, sometimes." He let the words settle, eyes drifting again to the horizon. "But when you spend long enough carrying something that matters… you stop noticing the weight. It just becomes part of the armor."

He turned slightly then, enough that the distance between them all but vanished, his voice lower — not guarded, but measured, almost reflective. "History has teeth, Veyla. It bites at those who turn away from it. So I don't. I face it, and I make sure it remembers who I am — who we are."

The wind cut between them, sharp and cold, but Siv didn't step back. "Still," he said after a moment, softer, "there are times when even a Warden needs to remember what it is to live, not just endure. To stand beside someone and not behind a cause." His gaze found hers again, steady and searching. "Maybe that's what you're here to remind me of."

A pause — then a faint breath that might have been a quiet laugh. "Dangerous company, Veyla Krinn . You make a man start to believe the fire could warm, not just burn."

He turned his head back toward the valley, voice a low murmur carried on the wind. "If you mean to stand beside me… then do it with open eyes. The path forward isn't gentle. But it's real. And if you can bear that—"

He met her gaze again, a rare flicker of warmth threading through the steel. "—then I won't look away either."

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

She didn't look away—not when his voice dropped softer, not when the warmth in his eyes surfaced like embers catching air. Her smile deepened, quiet and sure, a touch of heat beneath the calm.

"I don't want gentle," she murmured, the words carried by the same wind that tugged at the strands of her hair. "Gentle never forged warriors. Never built worlds worth fighting for."

Her gaze dipped briefly to where their shoulders met—the contact soft, steady—before lifting to hold him again, unwavering.

"And I'm not afraid of fire, Siv." A slow step closer, no hesitation. "Burns heal. Cold…lingers."

The forge-glow from below traced the edges of her green eyes, brightening something bold inside them.

"If I'm here to remind you to live—" her voice dropped, intimate but honest, "then maybe you're here to remind me there's something worth returning to." A breath. Soft. Almost a touch of laughter—like she wasn't entirely used to letting truth show.

"So I'll stand beside you." Her chin lifted just a fraction—warrior's pride, wrapped in something warmer. "Eyes open. And not looking away."

The silence that followed wasn't empty—it was full. Heavy with everything neither had spoken aloud.

Then, with a spark of mischief threading through the heat. "Dangerous company goes both ways."

Siv Kryze

 

[Siv Kryze]

Siv's expression didn't shift at once—but the faintest breath left him, a quiet exhale that might've been amusement, or something closer to release. The forge-light from below caught in his eyes, reflecting back in tempered gold.

"Then we understand each other," he said, voice low and deliberate. "Gentle never forged warriors, no. And it never carried a people from the edge of extinction to the threshold of an empire."

He turned slightly, just enough that her reflection framed in the visor of his gaze met the world burning behind her. "Fire is what makes us, Veyla. It tempers, it scars—but it builds. Every strike, every loss, every exile—it all becomes the metal we shape into something stronger. That's what Concord Dawn teaches. That's what I live by."

For a moment, his hand flexed at his side, as though fighting the instinct to reach out. Then, quietly—"Cold lingers, you're right. That's what duty wards against. Not the absence of comfort, but the death of meaning. As long as there's someone willing to stand in the forge beside me… the fire's worth it."

He let the words breathe between them, then added, quieter still, "You speak of return. Then return as you are now—eyes open, unflinching. We're not rebuilding what was. We're shaping what will be. From enclave to empire, from ashes to something that remembers its name."

The wind pulled at the edges of his cloak, scattering the faint glow of the foundries across the terrace. "You'll find no promises here, Veyla," he said at last, gaze steady, voice lined with conviction rather than warmth. "Only purpose. But if you can live with that… then stand with me. We'll make sure the next generation doesn't inherit silence."

A flicker of something passed behind his eyes—steel softening just enough to show the man beneath the Warden. "Dangerous company," he echoed, the ghost of a smile returning. "Then let the galaxy learn what becomes of those who play with Mandalorian fire."

Veyla Krinn