Private Blood from a Stone

[Corazona von Ascania]

Fatine had brought a boy home.

It was a long time coming, really - and it wasn't the sort of thing that aristocratic families on Ukatis did. Matches were strictly made through parents, to the scion of another noble family, and courting was strictly observed. A young couple was never to be truly alone until their wedding night.

Even without their father's iron grasp around them like a noose, Fatine seemed insistent on pushing boundaries.

That told Cora two things; one, that her sister’s mannerisms, though initially borne through rebellion, were becoming something of a genuine pattern.

Two, Fatine must have really liked this boy. Never had she dared to bring a dalliance this far into the Ukatian countryside.

Cora hadn't been present for dinner, but house staff had kept her well apprised. The boy was polite, but quiet. He answered questions simply, and moved without fanfare.

The complete opposite of Fatine.

Right now, he was asleep in a guest room on the opposite wing of the family's chambers.

In the small hours of the morning, Cora sat at the head of a large dining table. She was alone, save for a pot of tea and a pair of cups.

One was poured - settled in front of her - and the other was not.

She'd awoken to feed Luciana, and remained awake long after the babe had gone back down.

Something told her that she wasn't the only one.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Von Ascania Manor

Equipment:
Nightwear | Cybernetic Arm

Ace had spent most of the night turning over on unfamiliar sheets, staring up at a ceiling too ornate and polished for his comfort. The guest room was larger than most places he'd lived in growing up, warm, quiet... safe. It had only made him more aware of how out of place he felt in it.

He'd learned to sleep lightly, to wake at the smallest noise, to expect trouble even when things were quiet. But this wasn't the kind of restlessness that came from survival instincts. This was something else.

Eventually he'd given up trying. The halls of the von Ascania manor were silent at this hour, his bare footsteps made almost no sound against the polished floor as he wandered without any real destination in mind.

His thoughts drifted where they often did lately. Fatine. What had started as something simple, had quietly grown into something else entirely. Something real. He liked it, but every time he let himself settle into that life with her, even for a moment, it became easier to forget the other one.

The Covenant. The infiltration. The lies. The violence. The slow, creeping blur between the man he was pretending to be and the one he actually was. A few hours with Fatine sometimes felt like none of that existed at all. Like he could almost pretend this was just… life.

And now he was here. In her home. He was aware that Fatine's, and Golden Boy's, older sister was somewhere in the manor as well. He'd only met her briefly during the Life Day season months ago when she was still pregnant. It was a short but polite exchange. Ace wondered if she'd even remember him.

His presence in the Force remained tightly contained as he moved through the halls. It was something he'd learned to do over time, to keep the constant current of anger he carried buried deep beneath layers of control. The dark side always clung to that anger.

But when he was with Fatine… it faded.

The thought passed quietly through him as he turned a corner and the dining room opened ahead. Someone was already there. Corazona von Ascania sat at the head of the long table, a pot of tea resting between two cups. One was filled, the other empty. Ace's gaze lingered on the untouched cup for half a second.

Then his attention shifted fully to her. He could feel her Thread in the Force now that he allowed himself to notice it properly. It was… steady. Composed. Like a deep river moving beneath smooth stone. There was warmth there, a quiet compassion that spoke of healing and patience... but beneath it all sat something harder. Endurance.

Ace remained where he stood in the doorway, his posture relaxed but still. For a moment he simply studied her.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

The words were flat, observational rather than conversational. Acknowledgment instead of greeting.

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Ah.

Cora wasn’t made entirely of stone. A spark of surprise threaded through her expression, then faded into quiet understanding.

This was the dour young man from Luciana’s life day celebration. The one flanking her brother, standing among his cadre of acolytes. The one who seemed to be stewing in his own somber gravity, a grim pillar among the more festive soft lighting.

A Sith. But the depth of the Darkness felt from him, at least at this hour, was superficial. There was something tortured to him, though, something beyond the typical teenage angst that went with dating Fatine.

A survivor. Of what, she could only guess. The galaxy had no shortage of tragedy.

“I was sleeping,” Cora mused as she lifted the cup to her lips. “Until someone needed to be fed.”

And when she couldn’t fall back asleep, she stayed close enough to hear Lucy’s cries.

A small, pleased hum pulled from the back of her throat as she sipped her tea. Cora placed the cup back in its saucer with a motion that was both practiced and near soundless.

“Would you like to join me, Acier Moonbound?”

She gestured once to the chair beside her, watching him in a quiet, unobtrusive - but always present - manner.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Von Ascania Manor

Equipment:
Nightwear | Cybernetic Arm

Luciana.

Fatine had shown him holos of the infant shortly after Luciana's birth, holding the small projector out toward him with a quiet excitement that he hadn't quite known how to respond to at the time.

Ace didn't have much experience with babies, life had never really put him around them. But when the holos flickered to life and he saw the little bundle cradled in Cora's arms... impossibly small, impossibly fragile... something in him had stilled. He hadn't known much about children, but even he understood what new life meant. How precious it was.

The faint hum that slipped from Cora's throat stirred him from the thought. His eyes shifted back toward her just in time to see her lift the cup to her lips, the motion quiet and practiced.

Then came the invitation, the gesture toward the chair beside her. Ace immediately understood. The setting, the quiet of the room, the deliberate calm of it all… it reminded him a little too much of a "conversation" he'd had with A'Mia not long ago. Another person studying him from across it while asking questions that sounded harmless on the surface.

He didn't exactly enjoy the idea of being poked and prodded. Again. Still… the circumstances here were different. Corazona von Ascania was a Jedi. Whatever reason she had for calling him to the table, he doubted it carried the same sort of knife-edge intent as a Sith's curiosity. And this was Fatine's family. For her sake, he could at least make the effort.

Ace crossed the room without another word and took the seat she'd indicated. The chair scraped softly against the polished floor as he settled into it.

For a moment he said nothing, eyes low. His left arm rested against the table's edge, the metal fingers of the prosthetic flexed once with a faint, quiet whirr before going still again. Then he looked back toward Cora.

"Is… your baby fine?"

The question came with a trace of awkwardness he didn't bother trying to hide, but the concern behind it was genuine.

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

The invitation to sit wasn't loaded - at least not heavily. That didn't mean that the air between them was devoid of any gravity.

Only when Acier moved to sit did she let her gaze sweep along the artfully twined circuitry that comprised his left forearm and hand. A note of quiet sympathy touched her eyes at that - while there were cybernetic augmentation enthusiasts in the galaxy, Acier did not strike her as such.

Her lips pursed a little in faintly restrained amusement, and it lent her character something a tad more personable.

"She is fine, thank you. Babies need to eat every few hours, and the night is no exception."

The low, mechanical hum of Acier's prosthetic was joined by that of her own - a mechanical right hand as Cora moved to pour him a cup of tea. The porcelain was delicately set down before him, wisps of steam curling from the rich amber surface of the liquid.

Cora floated back down into her seat with all of the natural poise that her sister had learned and refused to use.

"Fatine doesn't bring young men to the family estate often."

Cora folded her hands neatly in her lap and smiled at Acier. It didn't quite reach her tired eyes. Not yet.

"Or at all, really. You must be someone special."

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Von Ascania Manor

Equipment:
Nightwear | Cybernetic Arm

Ace's gaze lowered slightly as Cora explained, his head dipping just a fraction in quiet consideration. Babies needed to eat every few hours. He hadn't known that before, but the explanation made sense when he turned it over in his mind. They were small. New. Their little stomachs probably didn't hold much at once.​

​

"Hmm."​

​

The low mechanical hum of movement drew his attention again as Cora reached for the teapot. Ace's eyes shifted briefly toward her right hand, noting the polished articulation of the prosthetic as she poured.​

​

It looked… newer than his. A little cleaner, more refined. Ace didn't feel sympathy when he saw it, but something closer to recognition... and curiosity. Had she lost it in battle like him? Or...?​

​

"Oh. Thanks."​

​

The words came bluntly as she set the cup before him, though the tone carried no hint of dismissal. Ace took the porcelain gently with his left hand, lifting it just enough to let a small breath pass across the surface before taking a careful sip.​

​

Then Cora spoke again. Apparently... Fatine didn't bring young men to the estate often.​

​

"Often?"​

​

Ace repeated the word quietly, his brow tightening just a touch as the thought settled. For a brief moment something uneasy stirred in his stomach, a faint edge of insecurity he hadn't expected.​

​

Of course she'd met men before him. Fatine was beautiful, magnetic, and the kind of person who pulled attention without trying. But then Cora corrected herself. The tension that had crept into his shoulders eased almost immediately.​

​

Someone special...​

​

Ace didn't answer right away. He set the cup back down first, the soft clink of porcelain against saucer filling the quiet space between them. His gaze lowered again, thoughtful rather than evasive.​

​

"I don't… get it either."​

​

The admission came plainly.​

​

"I'm… not fun to be around. And Fatine's… Fatine." He shook his head slightly. "I'm still wrapping my head around it. I guess."​

​

For a moment he said nothing more. The whole thing still felt strange when he stopped to look at it directly. Fatine had grown up surrounded by comfort, refinement, and people who actually in rooms like this. Ace had grown up somewhere very different.​

​

Two lives that probably should never have intersected, and yet... they had. Despite the distance between their worlds… he was grateful for her. Even if a quiet part of him still assumed that, sooner or later, she would grow out of whatever it was she saw in him. That one day she'd realize someone like him wasn't really the sort of partner she deserved.​

​

For now, though… she was here. That was enough.​

​

Ace glanced up again, his dark eyes settling on Cora's. He hesitated slightly before speaking again.​

​

"Does Fatine... usually see things in people?" His brow creased faintly. "The good things. Good parts. I mean."​

​

Corazona von Ascania ​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

There was something about conversations that took place in the middle of the night that felt almost…reverent. The words between them came slow and quiet, conscious enough so as to not cause a disturbance to all who may be sleeping.

There were more than just words at play, though. Cora quietly took in the way a thread of tension pulled Ace’s shoulders taut, and the way it relaxed soon after.

Acolytes were tricky business - she regarded them as initiates of the Darkside who were often young, sometimes lost, lured in by promises that the Dark would make them whole. Victims, essentially - but victims who were capable of great power and destruction.

Here, in this moment, Acier revealed something softer and honest; that he was a teenage boy struggling with receiving affection.

Cora smiled tenderly.

“Fatine has always been more of a…” she rolled her wrist, searching for the word. “Free spirit. I suppose she sees what others may not.”

Whether Fatine saw things that were good or bad, was unclear. She was just as ambitious and stubborn as her siblings, though their ambition seemed to take different forms.

“They do say that opposites attract. You like her?”

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Von Ascania Manor

Equipment:
Nightwear | Cybernetic Arm

Ace noticed Cora's smile. It was soft, tender, the kind of expression that looked effortless if you didn't know what to look for. Nobles were good at that, even if she was a Jedi. For a second, he found himself wondering if it was real.

Then her words landed - "Free spirit." The corner of his mouth tugged faintly despite himself. But the rest of it, she sees what others may not, that stuck a little longer.

Fatine didn't move through the galaxy the way a fighter like him did. Or a politician like Sibylla. She wasn't shaped by war, or doctrine, or survival. She was… something else entirely. A noble who pushed against her own walls. An actress who lived in other people's skin. Someone who chose to look closer, instead of away. With hindsight, it made sense.

You like her?

His gaze dropped when she asked the question. For a moment, his fingers moved before he did: subtle, restless, fidgeting against each other as he thought. There had been a time where he hadn't even realized it. It had crept up on him in quiet moments, buried under everything else. Then came the denial and the rationalization.

He'd been good at that, talking himself out of things... until he wasn't. Until that moment. After that… there wasn't really anywhere left to hide from it.

His voice, when it came, was quieter than usual. The edge gone from it. "Yeah. I do."

His thumb traced a slow circle against the surface of the table.

"Much as I tried not to."

Then his eyes lifted again, enough to catch her in his peripheral. A sidelong glance, measuring her now the way she'd measured him.

"…You got experience with opposites?"

Corazona von Ascania ​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora kept her gaze resting on Ace, noting the way his fingers twitched in her periphery. He was quiet, but there was something genuine about him. Raw and unrefined, in the way that a teenager was as they grew into themselves.

It was endearing, in a way.

He didn't strike her as the sort for idle chatter. He weighed his words, careful with the intent that was behind them.

Much as I tried not to.

The line of Cora's lips pursed faintly with honest amusement. Fatine was magnetic in that sort of way. Others were drawn easily into her orbit, for better or for worse.

"I do," she affirmed. Cora lifted the cup to her lips to take another slow, measured sip, well aware that she was being assessed. The silence stretched between them as she savored the amber brew, letting its gentle sting of heat dissipate on her tongue before answering. "My husband is of common birth."

It wasn't something they'd tried to hide, even if they could. Makko was who he was, and she adored him for it.

"You do seem genuine, Acier Moonbound. Truly. Not an ideal trait in a Sith acolyte, I’d imagine.”

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Von Ascania Manor

Equipment:
Nightwear | Cybernetic Arm

Ace's jaw tensed slightly at the mention of common birth. It was subtle, nothing in his posture shifted, nothing in his expression gave it away but the phrase didn't sit right with him. He'd heard variations of it his whole life, dressed up in different words, different tones. But the meaning remained the same: lesser.

He let it pass, because despite that, what she'd said meant something. Her husband. Common birth… and still here. Married. A child. This life. Ace's gaze dipped briefly toward the table as he turned it over in his mind. Whatever they'd had to fight through, expectations, family, the weight of names and status... they'd made it to the other side of it.

And It looked… stable. Like something that lasted. It was early. Too early to be thinking that far ahead. But he did want a future with Fatine.

Ace lifted his cup again a moment after Cora had, the motion almost unconsciously mirroring hers, and took another measured sip.

"Apprentice now, actually."

The correction came flat, but there was a faint thread of something lighter beneath it: dry and offhand, like he didn't entirely care to press the distinction.

He lowered the cup slightly, his thumb brushing along the porcelain as his other hand came up to his chin, rubbing lightly as he considered her words.

"Genuine…" He repeated it under his breath, like he was testing it.

A small exhale followed.

"I'd call it blunt."

Ace took another sip, slower this time, his gaze flicking toward her over the rim of the cup.

"There's a few 'not ideal' Sith in the Covenant. Like your brother."

He lowered the cup again, shoulders lifting in a slight shrug as his eyes dropped back to the table.

"And he's their favorite."

Absently, he scratched at his temple with his index finger.

"Don't really get how a guy like him ends up Sith."

It was quiet, genuine confusion. He'd seen what Lysander was capable of up close, the violence and brutality. But then there was who he was outside of it... the philosopher, the loyal ally, the tender man buried deep beneath. A spark of... hope? Under the darkness.

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora weighed the difference between apprentice and acolyte, under the impression that they meant the same thing to the Sith. Maybe they didn't – but her lips had barely parted to verbalize that thought when Ace dropped a minor bomb.

Like your brother.

Even in the small hours of the morning, Cora had not forgotten the choice that Lysander had made. She wasn't sure if she'd even accepted it, but the blow no longer left her as winded. And then-

He's their favorite.

It wasn't jealousy, not quite. It wasn't raw anger, either. It was a deep, fathomless trench that just kept sinking beyond the pit in her stomach – guilt, longing, concern, and bitter anguish. Heartbreak.

Cora kept silent, unnaturally so. Unlike Ace, she did not hide the pain in her expression. It lived in the subtle down-turned line of her lips and the glass of her eyes. For a few long moments, she looked away. Cast her gaze elsewhere, unfocused on some dusty corner as a sharp breath helped to regather her thoughts.

"Of course they like him," she murmured. One part hurt and one part pride. It was a strange mix. "He's one of the most charismatic people I've ever met. Could charm a Hutt out of their fortune in an afternoon."

Her gaze flicked back to Ace, this time less openly assessing. His words didn't feel like a calculated blow, unless he was far more conniving than he'd let on. Cora's ability to sense intent was refined, but not perfect. Nothing was.

"It's an attractive path by design. The Dark can make you feel like it'll give you what you crave the most – power, stability, control. That is it's nature." She spoke quietly, reflecting on perhaps her own past brushes with the corrupted side of the Force. Her voice was gentle, fatigued from being awake at this hour and perhaps, the unintended psychic damage her brother's memory caused.

"What brought you down that path?"

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Von Ascania Manor

Equipment:
Nightwear | Cybernetic Arm

Ace felt it the moment the silence settled. Not the quiet of the hour, but from something deeper. He'd said something he wasn't supposed to. Or rather… something he wasn't aware he wasn't supposed to say.

His eyes lifted just enough to catch it. The subtle shift in her expression and the weight behind it. He'd struck a nerve. Once, he might've shown it, some flicker of sympathy, some acknowledgment that he understood. But that version of him had been worn down, piece by piece, over months of careful control and colder choices. Now, his face conveyed only stillness.

Ace's gaze dropped again, settling on the surface of his tea as Cora spoke of Lysander. Charismatic. Magnetic. Ace could hear it in her voice, the contradiction. The pride that refused to die, even in the face of everything else.

His thumb traced faintly along the rim of the cup as Cora spoke of the Dark side. It didn't sound like doctrine, it sounded… known. Familiar. Ace's eyes lifted slightly, studying her again, more carefully this time. Then the question came.

He didn't answer right away and silence stretched again, but this time it was his. When he finally spoke, his voice was even.

"Curiosity."

It was the truth, but... not the whole truth. His gaze lowered again, briefly.

"Now… I stay to protect my people."

That, too, was true. Just… incomplete. For a moment, his thoughts drifted and faces passed through his mind in quiet succession.

Fatine.
Sibylla.
Lorn.
And others. People who existed outside the Covenant. Outside the mask he wore. People he wasn't willing to lose.

His eyes flicked briefly to Cora's right hand as it rested near the table, the prosthetic catching the low light, before lifting again to meet her gaze properly this time. Blue. Not like Lysander's sharp green, or Fatine's softer brown, but connected all the same.

"The Dark side…" He said after a moment, tone quieter now. "Your understanding of it. It's more than academic, isn't it?"

Corazona von Ascania ​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Protecting his people?

Cora's attention was already on Acier, but now he had her focus. For a long moment, she silently searched his expression, his body language, for what he'd left unspoken.

She didn't find much in those quiet, stony features. Her lips tilted into a little frown, pursed with concern.

"Are you feeling threatened?"

Ace's question about her dealings with the Dark would be brushed aside for the moment. Instead, she honed in on his reasoning for joining the Sith. She didn't quite buy the curiosity bit when he revealed a little more.

"Is someone…threatening your people?"

Abuse wasn't uncommon among the Sith, no matter how civil they tried to appear. It could take the shape of something more insidious than physical damage: manipulation.

Acolyte - or apprentice - though he was, Cora still viewed as something of a child. A victim.

She leaned in close, expression flattening to stone. When Cora spoke next, even the hush of her voice held somber gravity. She held Ace's gaze, not stern, but unyielding. There was a kindness behind those steely eyes.

"If you stay with them under duress, tell me. Despite what they try to project, they are not unavoidable. You have my word that I will help you."

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Von Ascania Manor

Equipment:
Nightwear | Cybernetic Arm

His question slipped past her, set aside without acknowledgment as her attention narrowed instead on what he'd said. Of course that was what she chose to focus on.

He didn't answer her first question. Him feeling threatened? The answer to that had been the same for most of his life. Always. It wasn't something he thought about anymore. It just… was. A constant, quiet awareness under everything. The kind you got when you grew up learning to make it to the next day first, and worry about everything else second.

But when she asked about his people, his silence lingered a moment longer.

"Not directly." He said, exhaling. "But eventually..."

He didn't elaborate. Couldn't tell her his endgame. She was a Jedi, yes, but they'd only properly met tonight. Involving her, especially the eldest sister of Lysander, was an uncontrolled variable he couldn't risk.

Cora leaned forward, closing the distance with that quiet intensity sharpening into something protective. He leaned back, just slightly. It wasn't fear, more like instinct. That kind of concern… it didn't sit naturally with him. Still didn't, even after forming close relationships with others.

Her offer, about helping, hung there between them but Ace's expression didn't change.

"I don't need help." There was a firmness to his words. Not aggressive, but solid and unmoving.

His gaze broke from hers, drifting off to the side, settling somewhere past her.

"I'm where I need to be."

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

When Ace leaned back, Cora did not follow. She didn’t retreat, either. She stayed there, quietly observing the young man before her and making space for him to speak.

Her chin dipped, just slightly, when Ace relayed that he didn’t need help. That he was right where he needed to be.

Cora’s brow creased, an expression of silent concern.

“Of course,” she murmured. Slowly, she pulled out of Ace’s immediate space. Straightened back up, let her weight rest against the chair.

Her voice dropped, stern but not unkind: “Where you are puts my sister in danger.”

The cup rose to her lips, and Cora’s eyes never left Ace’s own as she took a slow, measured sip. A silent moment stretched between them.

She hadn’t forgotten his curiosity over her personal dealings with the dark. It was a loaded question, and Cora’s fingers lowered the cup into its saucer as she searched for an appropriate answer.

“A Sith took my hand. I’d lost to him in battle. After that, he sought to make me his apprentice.”

Then, she lifted her cybernetic hand, spreading thin bionic digits for him to observe.

"Sometimes to find the light, we must first touch the darkness,” she added quietly.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Von Ascania Manor

Equipment:
Nightwear | Cybernetic Arm

Cora backed away, not just figuratively. Most people pushed, tested, and kept digging until with him. Cora… didn't.

His eyes tracked her as she settled, the slow lift of the cup, the stillness in the way she held it. Then her gaze met his again, and her words settled in.

Where you are puts my sister in danger.

It didn't hit like an accusation. It landed like truth. Ace's jaw tightened faintly, she was right, and they all knew it. Him, Cora, and Fatine.

"I know." The words came out quiet. Steady. "I tried to…" He exhaled lightly through his nose, eyes dropping for a second as his thoughts caught on something he didn't quite want to say out loud. "End things. But we..."

He didn't finish it. The implication hung there between them. His gaze shifted off to the side briefly, something distant passing through it: Lysander. Lines that were already being drawn without him. He was a Sith Knight and a member of the "Sith Council", surely Fatine and... maybe even Cora, were off limits.

He looked back at her. "I won't let anything happen to her." His voice didn't rise. It didn't harden. If anything, it got quieter. More certain. "If it's the last thing I do."

It wasn't bravado or performance, it was a statement. In his eyes, as long as he lived, no one would touch Fatine.

When Cora spoke again, he listened. A Sith had taken her hand. His eyes dropped instinctively to the cybernetic, following the subtle mechanics of it as she lifted it. Not curiosity for the tech, but for what it represented. Loss. Survival. Choice.

His brow creased faintly as she continued, the pieces settling into place. Lost a fight. Almost taken as an apprentice. Walked that edge and came back. And then...

Sometimes to find the light, we must first touch the darkness.

Ace leaned back slightly, exhaling as he dragged a hand through his ashen locs, pushing them away from his face.

"Guess it makes sense… when you put it like that."

His eyes flicked back to her, studying now, not as an opponent or an obstacle, but as someone who'd actually been there.

"You must be an expert in handling Sith then."

There was a hint of dry humor in it. Light, brief, and gone as quickly as it came. Silence settled again. His gaze lingered on her hand for a moment longer before lifting to her face, something more serious returning.

"How did you…" He paused, searching for the right way to ask it without dressing it up. "How'd you find your way back?"

Corazona von Ascania
​

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora's expression teetered between tension and nostalgia. Tension, for the obvious. Tension, because consorting with the Sith rarely seemed to work out as well as they'd tried to make everyone believe. Unless you were in a position of power, and even then - the higher you rose, the larger the target on your back became.

Nostalgia, because she'd once been a teenager in love, too. Only, she had walked away from it. Ace didn't; he held on tightly to Fatine.

Cora had to appreciate that sort of dedication, even if she was wary of what it would bring them.

I wont let anything happen to her.

"Neither will I."

Cora glanced down to the cup, and drummed her fingers slowly along the porcelain.

"I wouldn't call myself an expert by any stretch," she sighed. "But the experiences that I've had with Sith taught me about the type of person I don't want to become."

She tapped her nails against the cup.

"But to answer your question - I stole a ship and escaped. I found my way back to the Light. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't a linear path, but I suppose that it wasn't meant to be. I thought the Dark could offer what I felt was missing, but I was wrong."

Her explanation blended two experiences - both times she'd been her captive by the Dark - but it felt fitting enough.

She turned her focus back onto Ace. His own focus had lingered on her prosthetic.

"How do you think that being a Sith acolyte will protect Fatine?"

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Von Ascania Manor

Equipment:
Nightwear | Cybernetic Arm

Cora's statement landed and his eyes flicked up to her for a fraction of a second, then settled again, the smallest shift in his posture following it. It wasn't relaxation, not fully, but something eased. He gave a slight nod, almost imperceptible, the kind of acknowledgement that didn't need words.

Now he knew she was reliable. They were aligned in wanting Fatine safe. Protected. Cora wouldn't be a threat to his mission.

When she went on, he listened. His gaze lingered on her prosthetic hand as she spoke. He turned what she'd said over in his mind without saying anything, the silence stretching just long enough to matter. There was a difference, one he didn't say out loud. She had gone in looking for something. Ace hadn't. He'd walked in knowing exactly what it was. That mattered.

Didn't it?

Then her question cut through it and his attention shifted fully back to her.

"...I'm apprenticed to one of the Triumvir."

He let it sit there between them for what it was. Where that placed him. What that implied. On paper, he answered only to Arris Windrun . And no one else.

His gaze dipped briefly, not avoiding her, thinking. Weighing. Coruscant flickered in his mind... and Arris. The conversation they'd had. The idea of pointing the Covenant in the right direction, instead of being an instrument of chaos. Even now, he was still weighing it all out, but it was becoming harder to dismiss.

"I'm close to where decisions get made." He continued. "Closer than most. I've got some standing. I can shift things. Redirect attention." His eyes lifted again. "Point them at problems that actually need a little bit of… force."

His cybernetic hand tightened, fingers drawing into a firm fist against the table.

"If that doesn't work… I'll tear it apart from the inside."

There was no heat in it, nor any attempt to impress. Just a statement, he was certain.

"Right now, it's a long game."

The tension in his hand eased, metal fingers loosening as his focus pulled back from that edge, grounding again in the present.

"But…" He added, quieter now. "Me. You. Lysander. We all care about Fatine. We all want her safe."

He reached for his tea, taking a small sip.

"Lysander's the Covenant's Emissary. He's got more pull than I do. He knows about us too. Me and Fatine."

Ace leaned back slightly, settling again.

"Despite everything, who he works for, Lysander will always bat for you, Fatine, his family. He wouldn't let anything happen to her either. Or you."

Corazona von Ascania ​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Apprenticed to one of the Triumvir.

Cora's brow lifted slightly, a nearly imperceptible shift. Ace would notice it, cataloguing every quiet tic with those dark, searching eyes.

"You must have impressed her."

Perhaps the most interesting aspect to the Covenant was the fact that all three leaders were women, proving that the fairer sex could just as destructive and cruel as men.

A milestone for the ladies of the galaxy. Huzzah.

Acier revealed a little more detail of his position within the Covenant. He was greater than just a stray milling at the feet of power - he was close to one of the hydra's heads.

Then, he invoked her brother. Fortunately, Lysander's name hadn't been sharpened into a weapon. She wondered if it might have been, had Ace not been dating Fatine.

"The Light never felt right to Lysander, so he embraced the Dark - the Sith, and seemingly everything that came with them. The violence, the lives destroyed, and the savagery." Dark circles around her eyes seemed to hang a little heavier, sink a little deeper.

"To me, that isn't consistent with an act of protection. It's selfishness, trying to twist itself into piety." Cora pinched the bridge of her nose and inhaled deeply before she lifted her gaze to Ace.

"And yet, despite how he's changed, I still see my brother in him. I recognize that you're both trying to keep the wolves from the door, but you seem so certain that you won't be leading them to the kill, instead.

"It's not because I don't trust your intention - it's because Sith turn on each other with alarming frequency. You'll make enemies, if you already haven't. They'll go for your weakness. That doesn't protect Fatine - that makes her a target."

It wasn't an admonishment - it was a lament. A steadily, softly spoken lament. Cora's hand drifted back down into her lap.

"You call it a long game. What are the conditions for winning? What are you doing with them, Acier? What do you want?"

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Von Ascania Manor

Equipment:
Nightwear | Cybernetic Arm

Ace watched her as she spoke of Lysander. She held it together well, of course she did, but there was something beneath it. A strain she didn't let show fully. It was subtle, but he caught it. Talking about him like that… it wasn't easy. He let her finish and then answered.

"Selfishness or not…" His voice was quiet. "Reasons don't matter to me. Outcomes do."

He listened as she continued, gaze lowering slightly in thought. She wasn't wrong. About the Sith. About how they moved, how they climbed over each other, how quickly they turned. He'd stepped into that knowing exactly what it was.

"I know all of this, Corazona." His eyes lifted back to hers. "Which is why I keep everything quiet. No one knows what I'm actually doing. Not even Lysander."

There was no defensiveness in what he'd said. He was just stating the facts of it all.

"And about Fatine, no one knows about me and her. Except you. And him." He shook his head lightly. "I'm not stupid. You think I'd let anyone in that cesspit know about our relationship?"

The words weren't sharp or aggressive, more so clearing the air. Cora's questions lingered though.

What are the conditions for winning?
What is he doing with them?
What did he want?

Ace's hand came up, scratching lightly at his brow as he considered it. Not because he hadn't thought about it before, but because saying it out loud wasn't something he often did.

"I want to keep everyone I care about safe. Even if they hate me for it in the end."

He let that sit for a moment before continuing.

"The conditions for winning… there's a few." His gaze drifted briefly, thoughts aligning. "But I'll keep that one quiet for now."

He'd planned to build allies. People who weren't loyal to the Covenant… or people who've lost faith in it. People like Arris. Or people held something more important to them than the Covenant. Like Lysander. Then, remove the Triumvir, cull the loyalists, and use the Covenant's power. Ace's eyes found hers again.

"I want to bring real change. Not just react to it when the damage's already been done."

Something shifted behind his eyes then, darker, but filled with intense resolve.

"See how we put the Empire down in a single day? Imagine doing that every time something like it tries to rise again. Stopping it before it even becomes a problem. All the death and destruction minimized."

But first, he had no issue with breaking a few eggs to make an omelette. The ends always justified the means.

Corazona von Ascania​