Private Blink, and You'll Miss It

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora enjoyed the outdoor market district of Theed. They reminded her of Ukatis’ own, in a way - even if the stone beneath her feet was more refined, more neatly laid than the paved streets of Axilla.

Weekends attracted heavy crowds, and today was no exception. After changing, feeding, and dressing Luciana, the mother-daughter duo headed for the stall-lined streets.

Perched at a covered kiosk selling blankets, Cora rubbed the patterned fabric between her fingers in slow, decisive rolls. She was trying to determine whether or not they were hand stitched or produced by a machine. Despite her upbringing as a noblewoman in patriarchal society, she found needlework tedious and easily forgot her childhood lessons in embroidery and weaving.

Plainclothes wouldn’t give her away as such. Here, she was simply a woman with a baby strapped to her chest.

Said baby, from the comfort of her sling, gurgled and cooed as she watched the crowds mill about. Luciana had little interest in fabrics and stitching and yarn - instead, she was enraptured simply by looking at the rich colors and interesting shapes as they passed by.

Lily Rhodes

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily was having a bad day.

The security force had marked her after the Exhibition of Light, when she'd been seen casing a manor. Technically, she wasn't doing anything wrong, she was just appreciating the architecture, but they didn't buy it and now every time she passed one of them, they tracked her, conducted searches at random which meant she was stuck, until they decided there was something better to do with their time.

She was glaring at on of them, not watching where she was going when someone knocked her as she passed, in a rush to be somewhere they held up a hand in apology and were gone. When Lily turned back to where she was walking there was an officer in front of her.

"Oh, come on!" Lily threw her arms up in frustration.

"Empty your pockets." He was deadly serious.

"No." For once she had nothing to hide, but that wasn't the point, this was the second time today she'd been subject to a 'random search'.

"You can empty your pockets here, or I can take you into the station where you'll be processed."

Lily could feel her temper rising, that dark pit in her stomach gnawing at her to do something. It would be easy too. He wasn't a force user, his mind was undefended, she could have made him dance a jig, or pull his gun and shoot himself. Lily closed her eyes, that last thought made her feel sick, but the anger still roiled beneath the surface itching to be free.

"This is harassment." The protest was quiet, but it was also a plea as her hands remained firmly in her pockets.

Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora heard the tone before she'd heard the words. Bitter, grave, and accusatory. And somewhere behind her.

She tucked the blanket back in place, then turned. A few paces away, a member of Naboo's security force was questioning…a teenage girl?

Cora frowned. The young woman's posture was defensive - shoulder hunched, hands firmly rooted in her pockets. It didn't take much to piece the situation together. She was being accused of thievery.

Something about the situation didn't sit right with her, and she was compelled to move by the particular way the Force lingered in the air surrounding them; suffused with anger and indignation. It could lead to nothing, or it could lead to catastrophe.

"Excuse me," she appeared at the officer's side, perfectly prim and polite. "What seems to be the problem, officer?"

Lily Rhodes

 

[Lily Rhodes]

The officer stiffened as the woman approached his side a flash of something running across his face. Was that guilt? Lily didn't hesitate to capitalise on the moment. "He and his buddies think I'm a thief so they've taken it upon themselves to stalk me for the last few days and keep pulling me up for no reason at all."

That guilt that had flashed vanished beneath a wave of anger as the officers cheeks reddened. "That's not- you were caught trespassing three nights ago," his attention shifted to the woman "Casing the joint, is the term I believe they use." He looked back, then did a double take as if realising who he was talking to, eyes dropping to the bundle in the sling. "Princess," he bowed his head "my apologies. This really is not a matter to concern yourself with, she is not cooperating so-"

His hand reached for Lily.

Lily took a step back hands coming out of her pockets as fury blazed behind her eyes.

"Don't touch me."

Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora’s gaze swept from the girl, to the officer, then back again as the conversation played itself out.

So she'd been caught trespassing, and now this man thought that she’d been up to more? It wasn’t unreasonable to monitor someone based on prior actions - but harassing them was another matter entirely.

Something in Cora stilled when Lily took a step back. The harsh voice , the furor in her eyes - it was familiar, in a way.

Tiny hairs prickled at the back of her neck. For a long moment, silence filled the space between them, undercut by the soft sounds of Lucy’s coos.

“Officer,” she began, bringing her own hand to rest on the man’s shoulder before he could complete his reach for Lily. “It sounds to me as though you don’t have any proof that this young lady did anything.”

The man went still, hand hovering mid-air.

“Otherwise, you would’ve opened with that.”

Cora smiled, but the corners of her lips were as sharp as the edge of a knife. “You’re doing fine work protecting Theed, but I believe," she patted the officer's shoulder once, "that you are wanted elsewhere."

The man blinked, as if a stupor had overcome him. With a mumbled apology to the women, he made his way back into the market crowds. Once he was gone, Cora turned to Lily. One finely manicured eyebrow arched.

"What was that all about?"

Lily Rhodes

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily was ready to fight, to run to whatever it took to get out of this. But the woman stepped forward and laid a hand on the officers shoulder, he went still at her quiet words, their soothing cadence obviously charged with something because he got that odd glze look people generally got when they were manipulated mentally. He walked away, leaving Lily and the woman and her kid alone in the middle of the market.

Around them people kept moving, like nothing had happened. Lily's hands clenched and unclenched at her side, the sudden flare in her temper that had no where to go leaving her restless.

"Thanks." Lily muttered still watching the officer wander away when her question pulled Lily's attention back, she remembered he's called her Princess. Was she supposed to bow? Or curtsey? Feth, suddenly all her etiquette lessons form her cousins eluded her. She opted to treat her like she would treat anyone else who had probably just saved her skin.

"You tell me, I'm not a local, I don't know how this place works. Just passing through enjoying the architecture and getting harassed."

Okay, so that wasn't entirely true, but somehow admitting she was a thief to a Princess seemed unwise.

Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora's lips drew into a pursed, amused little smile at the girl's brusque reply.

"I'm not a local either. Just here to do some shopping." One hand moved to idly smooth out the fabric of her skirt while the other cradled the child strapped to her chest.

The Dowager Princess of Ukatis wasn't bedecked in finery. Rather, she wore a long linen dress - simple, but with clean, tailored lines, no different than the clothes a Ukatian commoner would wear. The nobility was in the material, which was of far higher quality.

"Cora," she offered. "And this," her hand patted the baby's back through her sling, "is Lucy."

Lucy watched the young woman intently with wide blue eyes, transfixed in the way babies often became. Then, she gurgled.

Cora smiled down at her daughter, then lifted her gaze back to the teenager.

"Are you hungry?"

Lily Rhodes

 

[Lily Rhodes]

“Oh…”

Realizing she wasn’t local made Lily’s frown crease in confusion. The guard had called her Princess, so if she wasn’t local then she was what? A delegate from another world? Just shopping? Lily shook her head. Whatever, it didn’t matter, she’d helped her, and that was enough for Lily to give her the time of day.

“Lily.” She offered her name in return, offering the babe a small but uncertain smile which faltered when she found herself under Lucy’s scrutiny for a moment before she uttered a happy noise.

“Um…” Lily blinked, lifting her gaze back to Cora as the question took a moment to land. “Yeah, I am actually.” she was instantly brighter at the prospect of food.

Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora noted the gentle exchange between Lily and Lucy with a quiet smile.

“Me too,” she said. A wave of her hand indicted Lily to join her as she resumed her meandering through Theed’s busy market district.

“Do you often get harassed by law enforcement while visiting new places?”

Her brows arched subtly, but her tone was nothing if not conversational. This young woman’s particular style was a bit edgier than you’d expect for the soft lines and splendor of Naboo. That wasn’t a good reason for her to be accosted, and it wasn’t what had caught Cora’s interest. It had been the fire in her eyes, the way the air quivered when the officer had moved to grab her.

“You seemed upset back there.”

Lily Rhodes

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily didn't hesitate, the prospect of free food was too good an opportunity to miss, she fell into step alongside Cora, stuffing her hands back into her pocket as she did.

"I'm a street kid for the under belly of Coruscant, so sometimes." she shrugged "You get used to it, being singled out, I'm normally pretty good at not drawing attention but I dunno, maybe Theed is just to clean for the likes of me."

As she spoke her eyes wandered over the market stalls and the people, she stuck out like a sore thumb, cargo trousers a dakr hooded leather jacket and boots? yeah she was most definitely out of her depth here. she really needed to buy some new clothes so she could blend a little easier in places like this.

“You seemed upset back there.”

Lily's eyes snapped back to Cora. "I don't like being grabbed." she said quietly.

Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Lily's eyes snapped back to Cora. "I don't like being grabbed." she said quietly.

Cora noted the subtle shift in Lily’s demeanor. A little quiet, but not subdued. She met the girl’s gaze with her own, sober but not unkind.

“I don’t like being grabbed either,” she said softly.

Then, she turned her attention back to the colorful stalls. They’d wandered the food district of the market, and the air here was full of spices and savory aromas.

“Do you eat meat?” Cora asked, one hand absently brushing over Lucy’s curls. Fortunately, the baby seemed too immersed in her surroundings to be fussy.

“I’m sorry to hear what happened on Coruscant,” she said. “I lived there for quite a while too, before the Dark Empire conquered it.”

The poor core had been through so many invasions in the past decade, changing hands quite a few times. Now, the Sith had control of the Jewel of the Galaxy.

Lily Rhodes

 

[Lily Rhodes]

There was something in Cora’s soft agreement that put Lily a little more at ease, a quiet understanding that didn’t need to be put into words. Lily took a small breath and exhaled through her nose in a quiet sigh, tension bleeding from her shoulders.

“I’ll eat anything.” Lily replied a little brighter than before, watching the hand that moved softly over Lucy’s curls. A thought stuck her out of nowhere, unbidden and definitely unwelcome.

Had her own mother ever held her like that?

The thought was immediately followed by bitterness and a touch of anger that she buried away with the rest, shoving the thought roughly aside as the conversation shifted to Coruscant.

Lily’s jaw tightened just a fraction as she found the floor suddenly very interesting, a rush of memories far too fresh surfacing, a dark storm, lightening ripping through the building as it came crumbling down around her.

“I haven’t lived there for a few years, Alliance was still there when I left.” How much had changed in such a small amount of time. “I went back… when I heard the Empire was there, went to try and see if I could get some kids out and then the Covenant came…”

She trailed off and shook her head, taking another breath and doing her best to fix her face into a smile. “It is what it is, not like I can change it.”

Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora slowed to a stop, lingering at a stall smoked with heat and spices. Behind the counter, several men cooked skewers of meat and vegetables over a large grill.

"Two, please." A pair of fingers were raised for good measure when she ordered. As she waved her credit stick over the payment kiosk, Cora glanced to Lily, noting her weight of the question in the teenager's body language.

For all of the criticism it garnered, the Alliance had done well enough to support its member words. Until it had become bloated with bureaucracy and the Jedi stretched too thin to make a difference outside of their sphere of influence. Even then, there seemed to be little they could do to sway what went on beneath the surface of Coruscant. The ecosystem there was too entrenched in crime and suffering.

Then, the Empire came and popped that bubble. The Alliance hemorrhaged. It collapsed in on itself.

Cora hadn't know what life was like under the Empire, not like Lily had. It took a lot of guts to walk into the unknown like that.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Were they your friends?"

Lily Rhodes

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily watched the chefs, eyes tracking their skewers as they were made, the smell of spices making her mouth water. She pulled them back to Cora to answer her.

“No, just… I went back to where I grew up, figured I could give some of them the chance I never got to get off world. Hadn’t really made much of a plan for where I would take them after but I knew staying there was bad news and then the whole building came down...”

Her gaze drifted, memories resurfacing harder than she would have liked, but she was granted reprieve when the vendor handed them her skewers. Lily accept hers with hungry eyes.

“Honestly, I’d rather we didn’t talk about it, I relive it enough in my nightmares, I don’t need to when I’m awake.”

She lifted the skewer. “Thanks for this by the way. You said you weren’t local, but I’m pretty sure I heard the officer call you Princess so where are you from?”

Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora accepted Lily’s redirection quietly, though she did give the young woman a silent, sympathetic glance. It sounded as though she’d been through more than most her age, and if she didn’t want to unearth that trauma to a near stranger, then Cora wouldn’t press.

“Of course.” The blonde lifted the skewer to her lips, then paused thoughtfully. “Well, I come from Ukatis. It’s a small agricultural planet in the expansion,” she explained. Her homeworld was largely unremarkable, and it didn’t sit on the same galactic stage as Coruscant or Naboo.

“I became a princess when I married the crown prince. I was…” she glanced to Lily, perhaps trying to gauge her general age. “Not much older than yourself, I imagine.”

Lucy whined, grabby little hands flexing. Cora chuckled behind closed lips, then reached for one of the sliced green vegetables on her skewer. “He’s passed on, and I’ve retained my title as dowager princess.”

She pinched off a piece of soft, grilled produce and held it to Lucy’s mouth. “It sounds far more glamorous than it really is.”

Lily Rhodes

 

[Lily Rhodes]

"Ukatis..." Lily repeated softly, a frown creasing her forehead. Why was that name familiar? She watched with a small smile as Lucy fussed, eager to try her mothers food. She pulled a cube of meat from her own and popped it into her mouth chewing slowly, before remembering her manners and swallowing it quickly.

"I'm sorry for your loss." she replied. Getting married was so far off her radar she couldn't imagine what would drive someone to do it so young. Then an awful thought struck her, something she recalled Malum had told her how marriages were often arranged in order to broker deals between families.

Her eyes moved to Lucy, happily sucking on the soft vegetable, its juices running down her chin.

“It sounds far more glamorous than it really is.”

"Yeah, I know." the words came out without thought, like she had forgotten that she was just supposed to be a former street rat. "That life has its own rules and restrictions, sometimes I think nobles might actually have it worse than we do, being forced to fit into a certain shaped box by their own family."


Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"I suppose that might be true, in a sense," Cora murmured after a moment of thought. A life of luxury often came with harsh restrictions, but her basic needs had been more than met. She never had to worry about her next meal, and she always had a warm bed to sleep in. That alone was more than many had.

"She won't have to contend with an arranged marriage, at least." The fingers of her flesh hand absently smoothed back Lucy's dark curls.

The baby's whining had been effectively silenced via vegetable, and Cora chewed quietly in consideration. After swallowing, she added: "The galaxy doesn't like to make things easy for anyone."

A cloth was produced from her pocket, which she used to wipe Lucy's face with. Or rather, tried - the child leaned back from the rag, trying to dodge the inevitable cleaning of her chin and cheeks.

"Have you met other nobles?"

Lily Rhodes

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Well, she supposed that answered that question, Lily thought as Cora gently stroked Lucy's head. It wasn't an unreasonable connection to make that if Cora wouldn't want an arranged marriage for herself then her own to the Prince had been. She supressed a shudder, focusing on her food instead of the what that could possibly be like.

Cora was right that the galaxy didn't make things easy for anyone, she had always thought the grass was greener on the otherside and then she had lived that life. It wasn't greener. Sure, the food was nice and the access to pretty much anything she wanted made it a little more bearable but given the choice?

Well, the fact that she was still thieving her way around the galaxy was answer enough.

She blinked at Cora's question, swallowing her mouthful and watching her wrestle with the squirming babe.

"Yeah, a few." she answered. "Actually turns out that the parents that abandoned me were nobles so..." she shrugged.

Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Lily casually dropped a thermal detonator into their conversation with a shrug of her shoulders.

Cora paused. Seeing how Lucy was happily gumming on the vegetable she'd been given, her mother was the only one surprised.

The back of Cora's hand touched her lips as she cleared her throat, letting the words settle between them. Her parents were members of nobility. And they'd abandoned her. She could think of a number of reasons why something like that would happen, none of them flattering.

"I see," she said softly. A spike of anger surged in her chest at the idea of abandoning a child. The concept hit her harder now that she was a mother. She couldn't imagining discarding a child under any circumstance, and she doubted that Lily's family had done so because they'd lacked the resources to care for her.

"I'm sorry," she said, quiet and reverent. "If you know that they're noble, might I ask...do you know who they are?"

Already, she was filing through a mental list of every notable aristocratic family in the galaxy.

Lily Rhodes