Private Breathe Easy [Auteme]

[Ashanti Chandra]

Coruscant {} Galactic City {} Senate District
The Gardens of Equality
Auteme

"Former First Daughter returns to the spotlight! Longtime political followers will recall the eldest daughter of former Chancellor Adhira Chandra, Ashanti Chandra at the many public appearances she made alongside her mother during her administration. Now, with a convenient vacancy in the Senate, the elder Chandra will make her first foray into galactic politics as interim Senator of Coruscant. It begs the question, would she have been offered this coveted position if not for her name sake? And more importantly, will she live up to her mother's legacy? Time will tell.

THIS has been TriNebulon News!"
​

The triumphant little voice of an overzealous reporter was followed by a jaunty orchestral movement that made Ashanti's expression sour almost immediately. She glared down at the broadcasting robot as it soared down the steps of the Senate Building, broadcasting the latest hit piece against her. Her dark eyes turned upward toward the massive dome that loomed before her. Very important, robed officials rushed this way and that in the direction of the Senate Building or otherwise the port that lay behind her. It was like an insectoid hive... drones and their attendants, workers and soldiers, hurrying to their preappointed destinations. She did not have a cadre of attendants yet, just a small retainer staff left over by Mirana Praji.

In theory, she had just become one of the most powerful people in the Alliance, but in reality, it turned out that the first month and half of any newly elected or appointed Senator's term was closely controlled by Senate protocols. New Senators were corralled into groups and put through a fairly rigorous orientation program. Ashanti was, thankfully nearing the end of her fifth week as a Senator so she had earned a degree more independence. Not a moment too soon, either, as she loathed the lengthy lectures, tours of the Federal District, and mock debates. She knew what she was doing, she knew where she was going, and she was ready to get to work. "SENATOR!" Ashanti felt her body contract uncomfortably at the sing-songy tone of the Senate Protocol droid that had been assigned to her.

"I remind you that you are scheduled for your final tour of the Administrative Offices of the Senate Building in.... 2 POINT 5 HOURS... during this tour you will observe: THE CHANCELLOR'S WORKING OFFICE, THE EXECUTIVE SUPPORT STAFF, THE OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR AND-"

"Yes, yes, thank you," she held up her hand for silence and the droid complied, though it blinked as if startled by her sudden rebuke. Ashanti started toward the massive doors to the Senate dome, the droid toddling behind her, unable to keep up. When she finally reached the dais of the entrance, she noticed that a rather lush and extensive garden spread out on either side of the archway leading into the Senate Building. She hesitated a moment, looking back for her droid as it attempted to keep pace with her. Ashanti smirked. Then, in a whirl of her lavender, she headed into one of the gardens. She moved quickly enough that the droid would not be able to catch up with her and would revert to idle programming until she returned.

It was odd to find such a verdant ecosystem growing on the upper levels of Coruscant, but the Garden of Equality spread out for miles with massive trees, blooming flowers, and crawling vines. She wove her way through the labyrinth of growth. And finally, without any expectation, she came upon a simple plaque on the ground in front of a stone bench. It was dedicated to her father and all those who had died in defense of Coruscant during the attack of the Maw that left her mother in a coma. The young woman felt her knees give and she sank down onto the cool stone of the bench, gazing down at the simple memorial with sadness plucking at the corners of her dark brown eyes.​

 

[Auteme]

Ashanti Chandra ​

Auteme much preferred the Garden of Equality to the Garden of Justice, though she often wondered what the difference was. Mirror images, perhaps; justice one day, the next equality. Still, far more often she went to the former garden to sit and rest, when she had a moment -- which was rare enough. Today she'd managed to carve out a break for herself. Her staff were left to their work, and she left to get some air.

Excitement and stress was not what she needed. She needed the quiet. A murmuring, waddling protocol droid at the entrance to the garden seemed an ill omen, but it wasn't as crowded as it was some mornings. With a slight twist of her hand her clothes shifted, shedding the heavy outer layer of her dress into something a little cooler and more flowing. The colors changed just the same, from Alliance blues to the greens and yellows of summer.

She moved into the garden and quickly spotted a familiar face -- one distorted by distress and sadness. Auteme had met Ashanti on a few occasions, but rarely had they spoken; they'd both been in the periphery of Adhira. Now Adhira was gone, as was...

"Aarav was a good man," she said, approaching slowly to sit beside Ashanti on the other end of the bench. "Your mother always seemed a touch calmer when he was around. Though, a pinch of water isn't enough to put out a fire." A half-smile.

"It must have been difficult, losing one parent, and worrying for another."

 

[Ashanti Chandra]

Coruscant {} Galactic City {} Senate District
The Gardens of Equality
Auteme

When Ashanti felt the burning sensation of tears threatening to plunge down her cheeks, she sat back and gave her head a brief, sobering shake. It was enough to bring her back into herself -- enough to make her realized that she was no longer in the gardens alone. Her dark brown eyes found the form of someone vaguely familiar. As she blinked the water from her eyes and her view focused, she remembered the girl from her mother's orbit. She was a moon to Adhira that circled closer than most. "Indeed... he was..." the young Senator said in response to the usual platitudes about her father's passing.

It was more than empty words coming from this woman though. There was something in her voice that most people on Coruscant lacked: compassion. Ashanti found herself smiling, despite herself, at the comment about her mother. Her father had been her anchor through the worst trials of her Chancellorship and the majority of the galaxy had scarcely known that it was him holding her together. "It has certainly become easier as time has soldiered on. Though, some wounds never truly heal, I suppose." Ashanti glanced down into her hands for a moment.

"You're... Auteme, right?" the name had finally come to her, "the 'Voice of Jedi' ... or, well I suppose you were. Not that we knew each other well at the time, I suppose."

Ashanti and Auteme had been present at the same functions, sitting in the same opera boxes, or even right beside each other at state dinners and yet, the Balmorran realized, she had never once tried to make any meaningful conversation. It was strange, but it made Ashanti feel a tinge of shame in her stomach. "You are a Senator now, in your own right, I gather?" She smiled.

"I am too now, I suppose. And I still have not quite gotten used to it... not like my mother, she took to it like a fish to water," she tried to play it off as a joke, but there was an element of truth to Ashanti's bumpy adjustment to politics. "What brings you to the Gardens?"

​

​

 

[Auteme]

Ashanti Chandra ​

Auteme laughed. "Voice of the Jedi -- I can't remember anyone having called me that."

She liked it a bit more than 'Shield', though it was just as vain to believe she could speak for all the Jedi as it was to believe she could protect them all. Still, a nice sentiment; surely the title was buried in some news report or other.

"Just here for a breather," she said. "Senate life can be suffocating at times. Sometimes I feel like I'm still adjusting to things, even though I've been here for-" a pause and shy smile, as she was reminded of how long it'd been. The first time she'd spoken on the Senate Floor felt like an eternity ago; the first time she'd set foot in the building was an even more distant memory. And the first time...

"I met your mother here, actually." Was it this same bench? Obviously it hadn't been dedicated to Aarav then, but the gardens hadn't changed too much over the years.

"She'd, ah, waved off her staff -- that old breathing problem," she tapped her chest, sure that Ashanti knew her mother's health better than Auteme did. "Even she had to take breaks, unbreakable as she seemed."