Private Bloodlines and Briars

[Aurelian Veruna]

Location: Ukatis
Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Royalty demanded a certain level of administrative patience, though Aurelian usually outsourced it. The Jedi Order was bleeding political capital across the Republic, a slow-motion collapse that honestly felt overdue. Mystics rarely brought anything but civil war and property damage. Yet, one specific Knight refused to stop throwing herself into the meat grinder, a baffling habit for a woman who had recently made him a godfather.

A Republic intelligence brief had cut through the usual boredom, detailing a Core Worlds skirmish aboard an old Alliance vessel. Two specific names caught his eye: von Ascania. A recent, candid conversation with Sibylla on Alderaan had shed a stark light on the psychological toll that specific family name inflicted. The report was enough to pivot his schedule. Nominally, a royal visit to Ukatis was on the books to dote on his goddaughter. In reality, checking the mental stability of an ally took priority.

The manicured hedges of the palace gardens offered a quiet escape from court politics. Nestled in the crook of his arm, infant Lucy seemed entirely unfazed by her godfather's reputation. Aurelian stopped by a part of the garden, gesturing with a wry tilt of his head toward it.

"That is where your mother may or may not have threatened my life for the first time," he murmured, his thumb idly tracing the edge of his signet ring.

Lucy cooed in response, aggressively shaking the rattle he had gifted her.

Amusement flickered across his face. "My thoughts exactly, princess."

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora half-suppressed a snort. It came out as a harsh puff of air through her nose.

"And yet, the garden blooms."

It had been little more than a patch of dirt and ash when she and Aurelian had their first honest conversation. Now, green seedlings clustered together, sprouted from the earth after months of diligent caretaking.

Cora looked on at the eternally baffling yet heartwarming sight of Aurelian holding Lucy. She'd long since given up on being shocked, and chalked it up to him being the one to deliver her in that blasted elevator. Her first hint had been him cussing her out for daring to step foot into one of her refugee operations pregnant.

"Have you ever held a baby that wasn't her?"

Lucy looked entirely comfortable in the arms of Veruna's scion. Like a little queen with her scepter, passing judgement.

Aurelian Veruna

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

The snort of air signaled Cora's approach before she even spoke. Aurelian turned, a smile smoothing over his features as he shifted the weight of the infant in his arms.

"Ah, there she is," he murmured, angling Lucy toward her mother. The baby obliged by shaking the rattle in Cora's direction, a tiny gesture of absolute approval. "I have held plenty of babies. How do you think I won the crown so decisively? Endless photo ops on the campaign trail, though none quite as adorable as this one."

A soft chuckle escaped him as he gently nudged Lucy's chubby cheek with his knuckle. Stepping away from the stone path, his boots sank slightly into the rich soil of the newly revived garden bed. It was a stark contrast to the dirt of their first real interaction, a moment where the polished masks of nobles had been slightly lowered.

Amusement faded into something far more calculating as he studied Cora's face, looking for the cracks. The casual banter was a comfortable shield, but he hadn't traveled across the sector just to compliment the flora.

"I came to check up on you both," Aurelian admitted, his voice dropping into a more grounded register. "Word reached the capital that you had quite the family reunion in the Core."

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora's mild expression bloomed into a genuine smile as Lucy shook the rattle at her mother.

A hand affectionately brushed a dark wisp back from the baby's forehead, only for it to fall stubbornly back into place. "You sure do like that thing," she murmured.

All parents thought that their child was the most beautiful thing to grace the galaxy. Cora believe that to be true, and the consistent attention Lucy received only served to further her point.

Then, the other shoe dropped. Cora frowned, at first in displeasure, next in quiet thought. Aurelian surely wouldn't miss the tense of her brow at the quiet indignity of a welfare check.

"We're both doing well," she insisted with the sort of somber drop that came with a lack of belief in her own words.

Her gaze drifted from Lucy's cherubic face up to Aurelian. Not exactly guarded, because she couldn't deny that the Prosperity had wounded her deeply.

"What do you know?"

Aurelian Veruna

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Pride flared briefly at the baby's obsession with the rattle. Clearly, his eye for gifts remained unmatched. Future presents would need to be significantly louder, if only to thoroughly annoy her father, but the internal amusement vanished the moment Cora's brow furrowed. The quiet indignity of his check up had clearly hit a nerve.

Defensiveness was a natural reaction for people who usually had to carry the weight of the galaxy. She likely expected a lecture from him on the recklessness of a new mother throwing herself into the fray, or perhaps a stern warnings about Sith with shared bloodlines. Giving her what she expected rarely yielded results, especially when dealing with someone who had just been emotionally gutted.

Stepping closer, Aurelian offered a loose, one-armed embrace, careful not to jostle the cooing infant resting against his chest. It was a grounding gesture, a tactic that had recently worked wonders on another friend-adjacent who had been drowning in her own anxieties.

"I know both you and Lysander were aboard the Prosperity," he said softly. "And I know you shared some words. I imagine that was... hard?"

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora didn't shy away from Aurelian's brief embrace, possibly because she hadn't expected a moment of tenderness from the snarky royal. She stared at the hand on her shoulder in profound bewilderment, wondering if he'd intended to swat a bug from her sleeve.

Nope. It was a hug, sort of.

Cora blinked, silent for the duration of the gesture. Only when Aurelian's hand fell away did she begin to understand what had transpired.

She wasn't offended, just…confused. Aurelian's softness was, in her experience, hard-won. And while she didn't mean to be cold, the embrace had caught her by surprise.

"It wasn't a conversation," she murmured, careful to moderate her tone. Not for his sake, but Lucy's. "It was a slaughter."

Cora chewed on her lower lip, weighing her words more carefully in the presence of her daughter. She might not have understood exactly what they were saying, but babies understood tone.

"The Sith came for what remained of the New Jedi Order, and he…" she waved a hand vaguely in the space between them "Un-alived Jedi."

Cora glanced to the budding rose garden. It felt like sacrilege to speak such ugly memories in such a beautiful place.

"We did more than just talk. We fought," she sighed. "Well, I fought him. I tried to. He refused to strike at me, even when I came at him."

It all felt so backwards, enough to age Cora by a decade. Exhaustion and guilt carved down to the bone. She couldn't save the Jedi and she couldn't save her brother. Sometimes, it felt as though she was moving through sand.

Aurelian Veruna