Private Bother

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia's breath slowly hissed through her nose, the girl falling in sync besides the woman. She held the umbrella over them both and let Kaalia's questions roll inside her mouth.

"Yeah," she finally exploded, the words rushing through her like a pent up storm. She looked tired in that moment. Taller. Older. A bit less spirited than the small shadow that use to follow constantly at Kaalia's heel.

"It's... it's complicated. He's not like them. He doesn't-... think like them. He cares." She excluded the mentions of the times he had tried to kill her, too.

"Ziost's victory is... it's hallow, Kaalia. I protected that place and for what. Have you seen it now? This isn't going to end well if we keep mindlessly slaughtering each other. The imperials are behind this all." She spoke with utter confidence.

"They're our enemy. Both of ours."

It still didn't explain why him. Why together. She crossed her arm over her elbow and hoped Kaalia didn't notice. It was chilly, out in the damp air. She positioned the umbrella to better cover the woman, coming to a stop at the noodle shop.

"...What did you do to him?"

Kaalia Pavanos

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

"It's... it's complicated. He's not like them. He doesn't-... think like them. He cares."

For a moment, Kaalia wondered if saying what she was thinking was the right move. Everyone who picked up a weapon to fight cared, though for different peoples and ideals. Perhaps a bit of truth was necessary, but she'd let Aradia continue her explanation first. There was more perspective to be offered, but simply dropping her own on the girl all at once wasn't going to accomplish anything. Especially when her beliefs were so strong.

The mentioning of Ziost made Kaalia nod her head slightly. It was yet another tragedy in the unending story of galactic war. It was the belief that once made her gravitate towards the Sith to rise above it, but now she was simply tired of it all. Where Aradia was younger and saw reasons to fight, Kaalia had no desire to place her weight on either side of the scale any longer.

Still, deep down, Kaalia couldn't help but feel a tinge of satisfaction whenever the New Imperials faced a setback. Not out of love for the Sith Empire, but out of silent contempt for its people. The Sith defectors had given her enough headaches during her time as triumvir and member of the Dark Council.

"...What did you do to him?"

Kaalia let out a deep breath at the question, her eyes fixated on the noodle shop. "Long story short, I had business in Alliance territory and couldn't risk being identified. I had to incapacitate him, but I used his comms to notify his colleagues before I left." There was a certain neutrality in her voice as the woman explained what had transpired when the two first met. "I doubt he came out of it with much more than a few bruised ribs and a nasty headache." A fate much kinder than most Jedi she had crossed blades with over the years.

"And everyone cares," Kaalia then said quite suddenly as they approached the shop. "Ideals are a tricky thing."

 

[Darth Daiara]

"Yeah, but he cares about the right things," she insisted back, just as quickly. It was odd to hear herself defend the boy. More often than not, she doubted him herself. But somewhere between Ziost and now their lots had officially become intwined. She wasn't just defending his motive, she was defending her judgement.

Even if she wasn't sure of it herself, she remained stubborn in her resolve.

"He's had the opportunity to harm me. He hasn't. He knows who the real enemy is. He's not like the others-- he understands." But she didn't expect Kaalia too, no matter how passionately she appealed for the boy and her choice.

There were no words that could ever justify the risk she was undertaking, because it wasn't facts that had swayed her mind. Not that she was in tune with herself to notice that. Irrationality was often just that-- irrational.

Then came the thought, a paranoid seed that grew between the two.

"...You're not going to order me to kill him, are you?"

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Kaalia came to a halt before the door, waiting to push it open. The subject matter they were discussing wasn't part of an everyday conversation and it was only risky to let others overhear it. She tilted her head towards Aradia, looking to draw her attention.

"Had I wanted him dead, I would've done it myself. Back then, or just now." Besides, the woman was no longer in any position where the topic of needing someone dead ever came up. Acts of senseless violence and needless killing had always been criticized by Kaalia, and now that she was gone from the galactic scene there was no point in being a threat to her or her family. It was a much better life.

"It's up to you whether you trust him or not. You know him better than I do." With those words spoken, Kaalia finally pushed open the door and gestured for Aradia to move in first. "If you need to know what I think of him, he seems like an honest kid. He either wears his heart on his sleeve, or he's an incredible liar."

 

[Darth Daiara]

phone posts for the day, don’t judge

the muscles around her rib cage released, her breath coming a little easier.

Would she be able to that? Kill him if Kaalia ordered it? Goosebumps grew over her skin, her knee jerk “yes” catching on something inside of her.

She banished the thought before it could be given anymore life, stepping inside the shop.

“Yeah. He’s pretty stupid like that. ...s’dangerous tracker though. And his ties give him more intel into the imperials than even I’ve been able to uncover. He always catches me there,” she grumbled, sitting down and grabbing at a menu.

She didn’t even notice how easy it was for her to order now.

“It’s unnatural.”

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Whatever the duo's dynamics were, Kaalia saw no reason to intervene. They were adults, and whether they acted that way or not wasn't her concern in any way. Only if the zeltron ever decided to try anything funny with Aradia would the woman step in. Until then, she kept her hands off. If the Jedi was lucky, he'd give Kaalia no reason.

The woman chuckled as she took a menu of her own and started reading through all of the options. "Maybe there's more going on," she said while keeping her eyes affixed to the piece of laminated paper in her hands. "After all, the Force can be a funny thing sometimes."

It had been Ishana many years ago who had gotten Kaalia hooked on a good bowl of noodles, so there was quite the standard she was hoping the shop would be able to meet. When the waiter came to their table she had her mind made up. "Number 14. Oh, and a glass of water please," Kaalia told him before turning her attention to Aradia. "What did you want?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia frowned, her attention shifting from the menu to Kaalia at once. "What else would be going on?" She asked, sharp and defensive. The waiter at their side was ignored entirely, the concept of time and place discarded with the rest of Aradia's manners. She had lost a lot of them since Kaalia's step back and step down in her life. The woman had wanted to encourage Aradia to step up and find her own voice.

As it turned out, attitude was the thing Aradia had found easiest of them all.

It would be clear that she would not let the question pass until it was answered. Kaalia could answer now, or force the waiter to whiteness another wave of teenage drama.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

"We both know there's no need for this," Kaalia told the girl while shaking her head. Before Aradia could cause even more of a scene she turned her attention to the waiter, an apologetic look forming on her face as she did. "She'll have the same, thank you." If Aradia had wanted something different, she should have had ordered it before it was too late.

Only after the waiter took his leave did Kaalia return to the question levelled at her. "There was no deeper meaning in what I said. Sometimes the Force simply brings two people together, whether they be friends or enemies." Her various encounters with Dax shared much of that energy.

"More importantly, though, I'm not all too fond of your attitude." The woman was clearly unamused by Aradia trying to make up for the years of puberty in which she hadn't been able to be so needlessly rebellious.

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia's cheeks turned red, the only part of her to betray the internal panic Kaalia's displeasure brought forward. She knew the woman well enough to know no blow would follow those words. They still made her heart beat faster. Enough to make her bite back her building sass and sit back in her seat.

"I thought you wanted me to find my own voice. You told me that it was important. That I needed to find my own friends. My own purpose . You took me off the front lines over it, remember?" Despite her efforts, her tude found its way to her words. Her finger tapped the table with each point she made, a noise of frustration catching in her throat.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

"Absolutely, becoming your own person is important," Kaalia promptly replied. She put the menu back where it came from and waited to continue until she had done so. "But it's also important to remember you're not the only person in the galaxy. Such an attitude can be quite hurtful and difficult." More concisely put, the woman tried to get the point across that Aradia still needed to think about other people's feelings. Needlessly antagonizing others was never a good thing.

"I know you don't mean to be hostile towards me, but it makes things much less pleasant. A stranger or someone who doesn't know you as well won't have that kind of patience, either," the woman explained, feeling like she was teaching someone much younger than Aradia's actual age. Still, considering the girl's history it was difficult to judge her. She was learning things on a different timeline than most.

The waiter returned with a tray holding two glasses of water and placed them down on the table. Kaalia gave him a thankful nod and a soft-spoken 'thank you', then waited to see if Aradia did anything of the sort herself.

 

[Darth Daiara]

Aradia didn't even seem to notice the waitress, treating her with the same level of regard as she had received as a slave. Her hands wrapped around the glass. The condensation against her skin was a pleasant distraction from the uncomfortable conversation. She didn't realize how bristly she had gotten with her mentor lately, but the frustration she harbored pepetuarated in the prissy expression she dawned.

"No one has ever been pleasant to me. Not as a slave and certainly not serving as your Acolyte in all those wars. Speaking of which. I'm stuck that way now, aren't I? I was looking it up, and only Sith Lord can progress an acolyte to the next stage. But you've put that title down, didn't you. So what does it matter, how 'difficult' I am for you?

I am the only person here that matters," she grumbled, her presence tangibly darker as she glowered on that bench.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

There was a lot Kaalia wanted to comment on, but there was no point in doing it all at once. Getting Aradia to settle down was the most important matter here, regardless. She left her own glass untouched as her attention remained square on her adoptive daughter.

"It matters because I- we, as a family, are trying to create a bond with you. Though, if that holds no value to you, that's not going to work. It needs to come from both sides," the woman explained bluntly, showing a clear sense of disappointment in what Aradia was telling her. "In a family, everyone matters. Equally."

The subtle sigh that followed carried the same feeling. Kaalia then finally wrapped a hand around the glass and lifted it up to her lips, taking a sip. "The imanhan have been asking when their new big sister was coming back home every single day, you know?" Her little ones, or 'imanhan' in the tongue of Kaalia's homeworld, had a penchant for asking the same question a mind-numbing amount of times.

 

[Darth Daiara]

Lines of confusion crept around Aradia's eyes and softened her dower expression.

"Really?" She echoed, unable to help herself. There was a degree of unbelievability in Kaalia's statement. She had existed around the family for years and none had even paused to give her the time of day before. She had lived as an outsider her whole life. It made it hard to trust the new gestures that welcomed her in.

Perhaps this was another test.

She had never pegged Kaalia to be cruel, but the woman had no issue doing what was necessary to breed the desired results. Maybe this was all some elaborate test. Tempt Aradia with things that would take her off the path to see how committed she was. The academy used harsher methods than this to prune its members.

Well. Aradia wouldn't fail. She squashed down the desire to met by those children's love and she crossed her arms.

"You can tell them I don't have time to play with stupid dolls or cut your vegetables for lunch. I have stuff to do. Important stuff. Someone has to deal imperial mess you've ditch." The bitterness for Kaalia's step down began to show. Or rather, it had been growing stronger with each war she faced alone.

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

Kaalia's brows furrowed at the scathing words shot at her, but she wouldn't immediately give a verbal response. Instead she reached for the wallet in the pocket of her coat and took out a credstick to cover the meals, leaving it on the table. After shoving it back and buttoning up her coat, she levelled a piercing look at Aradia. That was when she finally spoke again.

"I am not entirely sure what has gotten into you, but this is not how you treat family," Kaalia bluntly stated before standing up. "We have been patient, knowing it was going to take time for you to adjust. All I'm seeing here, though, is only more resistance than before. Nothing will happen if you're unwilling to be a part of it."

The woman stepped away from her chair and straightened out her coat. "The credstick is enough for the bill. Think on whether you truly want to be part of our family, and tell us. Until then, I cannot help you," she asked of the girl. "I am not a Sith and I am not your master. I am not going to treat you as though I am. All I ask of you is to do the same. We are not testing you."

If left uninterrupted, Kaalia would move to leave. "Stay safe. Contact me once you're able to."