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

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Physical affection was a currency Aurelian rarely traded in with most, and the rigid, frozen response from Cora proved why. Sensing her profound bewilderment, he smoothy leaned into the awkwardness, feigning complete nonchalance as his hand dropped away. Thank Shiraya for the infant tucked securely against his chest, providing a perfect tactical shield to hide his own rare misstep as he moved away.

Listening to her use sanitized language for the slaughter of her peers made his jaw tighten. The urge to deliver an I told you so burned in the back of his throat. He had warned her about the nature of the dark mystics, about the inevitable tragedy of these zealots, but looking at the exhaustion carving lines into her face stayed his tongue. A lecture would only drive a wedge between them.

"That must have been hard," he murmured, the uncharacteristic softness of his own voice grating on his nerves. He was growing entirely too soft lately, a dangerous trait for a king.

A quiet breeze rustled the budding roses as he watched her process the lingering guilt. The urge to understand her limits finally overrode his restraint.

"Do you still think he is worth saving? I can have this problem taken care of."

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

“It was,” she murmured back without fully registering the tender tone Aurelian had taken with her. Instead of the lecture she’d expected, he’d shown acknowledgment and understanding.

That gave her more room to simmer in her feelings, and realized that she hadn’t meaningfully reached out to Lysander until it had been too late. Her silence had spoken enough, and now he was too far down that dark path.

Too far to come back…?

“I don’t know,” she sighed, dissatisfied with her own answer. “I hope so. I always thought I believed in second chances, but…”

Cora let that hang, a thread without a knot. She wanted him to be worth saving. She wanted Lysander back in her family.

Then, her expression pinched. Not as tightly as it had the first time he’d alluded to a fix more permanent in its nature, a line she refused to cross.

“How would you take care of it?”

Aurelian Veruna

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Cora's hesitation was deafening. The fierce defiance that usually defined her defense of Lysander had eroded into uncertainty, a striking shift from their first argument on the matter. Seeing her so deeply fractured by the weight of her brother's actions forced a rare reassessment from Aurelian. Where he once saw only a rabid dog deserving of a swift blade, a strange curiosity had begun to take root regarding the blonde Sith. Recent, brief encounters with the man suggested he might still possess some strategic value, perhaps even enough to eventually earn the title of uncle to the infant currently flailing in his arms.

"That entirely depends on your attitude towards him," Aurelian mused.

A slow step forward brought him closer to the budding roses, his gaze drifting from the flowers back to Cora's pinched expression. He knew the boundaries she drew, the moral lines she refused to cross, but royalty required options that weren't bound by Jedi sentimentality.

"For you, and for Lucy, I could make an actual effort to retrieve the man. We could detox him of whatever darkness is eating him alive, or I can simply kill him. Whatever suits your needs, princess."

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora watched Aurelian and said little. What more was there to say? No one ever told her that holding onto hope would feel like wearing an anchor around your neck. It's weight dragged her down a little further each day.

Again, she looked quietly surprised. The last time they’d spoken, his solution to the Lysander debacle seemed more permanent. Lucy dropped her rattle, breaking Cora from her quiet stupor.

Almost immediately, the infant began to whine. “Alright, alright,” her mother cooed, stooping down to retrieve the toy from the garden path’s stone tiles. She seemed to be lost in thought while wiping the rattle with her skirt.

“Retrieving him strikes me as the more difficult option,” she said, passing the newly cleaned toy off to a chubby hand before pressing a quick kiss to Luciana’s temple. Subjugation and extraction required a certain finesse. Cora arched a brow. “Do you think he’s worth going through the trouble?”

Lysander was tough, of course. And Cora wasn’t aware of everything in Aurelian’s arsenal. That didn’t meant that she wanted him to snipe her brother into being another casualty of war.

Aurelian knew that. Cora knew that. She liked to imagine that Lysander, for all of their shared dramatics, knew that, too.

“I can’t tell if you’ve grown soft or discerning,” she remarked with a wry hint to her otherwise somber tone. “What changed?”

Aurelian Veruna

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

A sudden clatter broke the tension as Lucy let the silver toy slip from her fingers. Aurelian lunged instinctively to catch it, but the rattle bounced off his boot and settled onto the stone path. He watched Cora kneel to retrieve and clean it, using the quiet lull to genuinely weigh her question. Lysander von Ascania was an objective nightmare, an unstable weapon, and personally, Aurelian didn't consider the man worth a single credit of the hassle. Yet, the unspoken truth remained that he would deploy the full might of his resources if his friend simply asked, an irritating development given his general aversion to sentimentality.

"No, not one bit," Aurelian admitted, his tone flat and unblinking.

Gently bouncing the infant to soothe her rising whines, he waited until the cleaned rattle was safely back in the baby's chubby grip before meeting Cora's eyes again. A king needed leverage, but a friend required a different kind of currency.

"But for her, I would help her uncle," he added, choosing the safer, less vulnerable excuse.

The subsequent accusation of softening brought a sharp, genuine scoff to his lips. Lucy's eyes went wide at the sudden shift in his demeanor.

"I am not soft," Aurelian seethed. "What makes you think I have gone soft, princess? Discerning is the word you are looking for. I merely recognize when a piece on the board is valuable. And the favor of Ukatis is valuable for some time."

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora watched Aurelian as he spoke. She watched the way he bounced Lucy, the way he didn’t miss a beat in declaring his personal opinion on Lysander, and the way his upper lip curled into a sneer at the suggestion he’d softened.

Her own tired smile felt like it came out of nowhere, slow and genuine. Little Lucy tilted her head back, wide eyes observing every crevice of her godfather’s sour expression as she gummed on the rattle.

“Of course,” Cora said, a faint curl of amusement at the edge of her tone. “Of course. Many mistake softness for weaknesses.”

The King of Naboo’s prickly demeanor had gaps where a few individuals were concerned. The Lady Luciana von Ascania, for one, seemed to breeze right past that aristocratic armor.

Cora’s gaze rested on her daughter, the conduit for this conversation. “Her uncle needs to learn to help himself, first.” That didn’t mean that Cora could fully still her protective, if controlling instincts. “I love him, still. But I cannot abide by what he has done.”

The dowager princess’ focus lifted to Aurelian. He had no love for Lysander, but he had his own connections he'd fight to the edge of the galaxy for. “What would you do? If you were in my shoes."

Aurelian Veruna

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Old lessons paid for in blood flared up at the mention of weakness. Under his father's harsh hand, every trace of vulnerability had been systematically beaten out of him, a relentless forging process to ensure the Veruna legacy wouldn't crush him. A boy who had never known a mother's touch was naturally prone to seeking warmth, but his father made sure that kind of softness carried a lethal price tag. The idea that softness wasn't a weakness felt like complete blasphemy.

Rather than picking a fight over deeply buried childhood scars, Aurelian focused on her question, weighing the ruthless instincts of a survivor against the bond sitting right in front of him.

"In truth, I might dispose of him," Aurelian said flatly, the cold reality of how he had handled his own tyrannical father lingering unsaid behind his words.

A heavy silence settled over the garden path as he glanced down at the infant, his thumb gently tracing the back of Lucy's tiny, soft hand. The cold edge in his voice softened into something more practical.

"However, he is your brother. How would a forced dark side detox suit you? Chain him up in an anti-Force cell, let him wither with his own thoughts until the corruption starves out. Tear him down to build him back up, so to speak."

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora didn’t balk at Aurelian’s frank answer. She’d come to expect as much. There was a wound named Lysander on her heart, one that never seemed to scab over - the pain had become familiar in the same way breathing had.

“I…”

Cora frowned, searching for her answer over the curve of Lucy’s chubby cheeks and in the bright blue of her eyes.

“If that’s what it took,” she admitted on a slow, exhausted exhale. Lucy gurgled over the rattle, and Cora reached out to cradle her cheek. The babe lifted her mouth from the toy, all smiles.

“That sounds brutal,” she said. “And somehow merciful, at the same time.”

The quiet of the garden path was still heavy, punctuated by bright florals and not-so-distant birdsong. If there ever was a place for a difficult conversation, this was as picturesque as it would get.

“I spoke with him on Ukatis,” she said, her voice no less steady for how quiet it was. “He expressed a desire to come back and join his family, but struggles with leaving the responsibilities and connections he’s built. I can’t blame him for that.”

Cora opened her mouth to say something else, closed it, then frowned.

“Let’s say that it did happen,” she looked to Aurelian, then. “That he found himself in Republic custody. Would he spend the rest of his life in a cell?”

Aurelian Veruna

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Aurelian masked a brief flicker of surprise behind an unreadable expression. The fact that she was actually contemplating his brutal proposal proved just how deeply Lysander's actions had cut. Beneath the exhausted Jedi armor, the wound was bleeding fresh.

Nodding slowly as she revealed her brother's desire to return, Aurelian found the confession surprisingly consistent with his own observations. The blonde Sith was visibly fractured, caught between duty to the dark and nostalgia for the light. Detecting that level of internal conflict didn't require mystical abilities, just basic observational skills and a working knowledge of desperate men.

"Your uncle wants to come home," he whispered down to Lucy, giving her a gentle bounce before lifting his gaze to meet Cora's anxious eyes. "The Republic and the Jedi Council would absolutely demand a permanent stay in a high-security cell. Given the recent body count in the Core and the Tapani sector, a life sentence is the best-case scenario under standard law."

Political leverage was a delicate currency, but royal jurisdiction possessed a few convenient backdoors. If he dragged Naboo into this mess to grant political asylum or claim prisoner transfer rights, the political fallout would be severe. Still, looking at Cora's desperate quiet, he calculated the cost.

"Technically, we could bypass their courts if Naboo or Ukatis claims primary jurisdiction over his crimes," Aurelian said, his tone turning calculating. "It would require a massive expenditure of royal favors and a few legal contortions, but it is doable."

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora couldn’t help but smile down at Luciana. There was tenderness in Aurelian’s voice when he spoke to her infant daughter, who cooed contentedly in return.

“In the few times he’s visited, he’d always bring a gift for her. Lysander really does want to be a proper uncle, I think.”

The notion was warming. Then, reality rushed back in like a cold gust of wind that clung to her spine.

What Aurelian offered her was no small favor; it was a complicated web of political maneuvers that would require finesse to enact successfully. If anyone knew how to navigate Republic bureaucracy to their benefit, it would be the former interim Chancellor and current King of Naboo.

Something still snagged on her morality, though. Not the part about letting a war criminal go free, of course. Cora lifted her attention to Aurelian, where it sharpened.

“Just how much legality would you be contorting, here?”

She didn't want to be party to a scheme that might land her in jail. Her next breath was followed by a huffy exhale.

“If this pipe dream ever comes to fruition, I’d prefer to take responsibility. I doubt Naboo means much to him - but if I’m on the hook for his future behavior, then he’ll tread lightly. Or, not as hard. I hope."

Aurelian Veruna

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Legal contortions were practically a prerequisite for effective governance. An amused smirk cut across Aurelian's face as he weighed the sheer scale of bureaucracy he would be setting on fire. Upsetting the Republic Senate and the Jedi Council was second nature to him at this point, and provided the right pieces fell into place, he could easily spin the diplomatic fallout into leverage for Naboo. Consequences were problems for future Aurelian to outsmart.

"Enough to make the Chancellor's legal team break out in a cold sweat," Aurelian answered, his tone dripping with quiet confidence. "I do not worry about immediate repercussions. Power is about momentum, and I move faster than their paperwork."

Shifted focus brought his attention back to her insistence on taking personal responsibility for her brother's leash. Bringing a unstable Sith back to Ukatis felt like inviting a thermal detonator into a throne room, especially when the man had done nothing to earn his seat back at the family table. Lysander needed to bleed a little for his own redemption before he could simply waltz back into royal grace.

"Coming straight back to Ukatis might be a mistake," Aurelian warned. "The man needs to earn his place here again, not just be handed a soft landing because of blood. But if you want him back, I am offering you an unflinching hand to make it happen. You just need to give the word."

Watching her face, the dark reality of the situation settled in his mind. One more deep betrayal from Lysander would shatter whatever was left of Cora's resolve, driving her completely off the deep end. Aurelian had no desire to watch a friend drown in grief. While doting on his goddaughter was a surprisingly pleasant distraction, he was nowhere near ready to raise the child full-time if her mother broke completely.

"Think about it," he added softly, adjusting Lucy against his shoulder as the infant settled into a sleepy calm.

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora let her eyes rest on Luciana. That didn't mean that she wasn't listening to Aurelian – she was, but she also watched the way her daughter's chubby cheek rested against her godfather's shoulder. Even now, this was a sight she could never have imagined on her own. The King of Naboo was usually all sharp lines and venom, not...soft.

"You're right," she murmured. "He should pay for what he's done. And," she added, "I don't think he'd appreciate a soft landing, either."

Lucy let out a soft little sigh, her tiny fingers curling and uncurling into the rich fabric of Aurelian's jacket. Cora extended a hand and gently tried to ease the rattle from the baby's grasp – there was a good chance she'd start screaming. Fortunately, Lucy let the toy go without a fight, lest it fall to the ground again.

"But after his debt to society has been paid, I will be involved in what comes next. I've already failed to pull him away from Sith influence. If there's a chance that he'll return to us, I want to give him reasons to resist the Dark's pull."

Aurelian Veruna

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Carefully shifting the drowsy weight against his chest, Aurelian pulled Lucy into a final, gentle squeeze before handing the infant back to her mother. The transfer was smooth, his hands lingering just long enough to ensure Cora had a firm grip on the child.

"I will lay the groundwork on my end," Aurelian said, brushing a speck of garden dust from his sleeve as his expression settled back into its default state of calculated grace. "Naboo awaits, and these legal contortions take time to engineer properly. I suggest you and Makko prepare to show your faces when the time comes. Solid family optics will go a long way in turning a public execution into a quiet extraditing."

He had given her a lifeline, a plan, and an exit strategy from her own grief. Now, it was up to her to hold her ground until he set the board in motion.

​