Private Concrete and Gold

[Corazona von Ascania]

Zeltros​

"Oh- really, again?"

With a disgruntled sigh, Cora held a sweater out at arm's length. A hole had been chewed through the thin fabric, one she hadn't noticed while packing.

"Did she get any of yours, too?"

Cora turned to Makko with a scrunched nose. Where Lula liked to leave clumps of fur everywhere, Estella was still in that phase where she gnawed at everything in sight. Nearly every wired device in their shared apartment had fallen victim to tiny, sharp teeth.

The apartment had been a big step for them. This one was even bigger. The thought of a larger home had crossed her mind occasionally. Lately, she'd been getting the sense that Coruscant wouldn't be a permanent residence for them.

The ring on her finger caught the light as she turned, a golden glint that drew her eye. Cora's focus lingered there for a moment before dropping the damaged shirt unceremoniously onto the bed.

"The curator won't be able to meet us until tomorrow evening."

Time away that was not strictly for a mission was rare with the state of things. They'd managed to swing this assignment - the retrieval of an alleged Force artifact from a nearby museum - to work together.

It would not take the three days they'd been allotted, nor would it take two experienced Jedi Knights.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko grimaced as he looked through the hole in the sweater at Cora.

"She got some socks," he offered up.

The two were not equivalent. Makko enjoyed fashion and his tastes had changed from his love of crass neon techno garb, but even if she racyon had taken one of his tops it wouldn't have hurt him as much.

He was hoping it was a phase for the racyon. Disposable tech often needed to be replaced when the wires were chewed through. He still loved his little ball of fluff.

Makko quickly rifled through his clothes to ensure there was no more damage.

"So we have all of tomorrow free?" he asked rhetorically.

Makko smiled at her. Far from his cocksure grin, this was a nervous expression. He glanced down at their unpacked clothes and then back at Cora.

"We're doing this..." he said quietly.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"Tonight, and tomorrow during the day," she said.

Though still holding her sweater, Cora's focus shifted. From the hole in one of her favorite garments, to the decision they'd made. In the back of her mind, she wondered if they were about to make a mistake. Not for the act itself – they both wanted this – but the execution they'd settled on.

"We are." Her voice was firm, as if she were convincing herself of that fact. A moment later, her expression faltered. Had she sounded too unsure?

"I mean I'm glad that we're – no matter what it is, in whatever form that it takes. Are you sure that you're okay with doing things...small?"

Cora had been the one to broach the subject at first. Even if they were surrounded by their loved ones, a large ceremony would make her feel like a spectacle. It had once before, on Ukatis.

But it wasn't just her opinion that mattered. Marriage took two.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko glanced down at the floor and then back up at Cora. It had taken just a moment to decide on his answer.

"I'm sure," he said.

His smile had softened, but he looked more certain as he met her gaze.

"I could think about it more. Then I'd worry about other people and think too much. It's not about them. It's about us. It feels right to me."

He finished unpacking and sat on the edge of the bed. There was no colour in his hair today. For once it was completely black and he'd had it cut and styled.

He stopped his thoughts before they could go backwards. To the times they had almost lost one another. They had spent too much time dwelling on this past. This was about their future.

"I feel a little nervous, but good nervous. I think asking you the question was the most scared - or like good scared - I've ever felt."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora sat down next to Makko. She reflected on a time, long ago, when she would've been hesitant to do so.

"I think we've spent too much time thinking about how other people see us. Or, at least, I have."

She let her head drift toward him until it rested against his shoulder. They'd come from very different backgrounds. When they'd met, Cora's family name and social rank had been incredibly important to her.

It was funny how things changed. How they'd grown, shaped by the harshness of the galaxy and the nurturing light of their friends and caretakers.

"Good scared," she repeated. "I think I feel that too. But I'm glad that we're here. Not just here - but like, at this point."

Cora nuzzled against his shoulder. She felt as though they were standing on the precipice of some great change - after all, this was supposed to be a milestone.

Would things really change that much?

"You sure you're alright with marrying a widow?" She mused.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

As she leaned her head on his shoulder, he tilted his head to rest against hers.

Cora has certainly worried what other people thought. Her father's will had controlled her life and sent her down a dark path. She had done what was expected of her.

He had been shaped by a complete lack of parental guidance. In two different ways they had been made without the confidence to back up their own thoughts and feelings with actions.

Cora nuzzled her shoulder and he placed his hand over her own. His thumb stoked up and down. There was simple comfort in the gestures. In a way it reflected what she said.

He was happy with where they found themselves. Excited for the future, but an easy comfort with one another. They lived dangerous lives and they accepted that. But he carried a piece of her wherever he went and they knew they had one another to return to safely.

"A widow?" Makko turned and placed a kiss on her head. "Yeah I'm sure."

"You ever look back and how we first met and it's like... Like looking at different people in another timeline?"

He took a deep breath. It was a good kind of nervous. It was balanced by a clear determination. They didn't need to do this. They could have gone on as they were. It felt right.

"I never thought much about marriage," Makko said. He knew it was a big difference between them. "But I want to call you my wife."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Where Makko had never thought much about marriage, it had been an inevitability for Cora. An expectation. One that, as a girl, she'd looked forward to. Then, it had put a hard boundary on how far they could take their budding relationship.

Cora's next breath caught in her throat. A small, but audible gasp. Hearing that he'd wanted to call her his wife inspired a surge of emotion. Her eyes stung, teary.

"I'm glad," she whispered. "I'm glad that you want to. I was glad that you asked me. I know that marriage on Denon isn't as big a deal as it is on Ukatis. And I'm glad that…" A pause, as she sucked in a heavy breath. "I'm glad that you will be my husband."

Second husband, her mind wanted to correct. Cora didn't want to give Horace the honor of being first in anything. Still in Makko's gentle grasp, she turned her hand over to twine their fingers together.

"I do look back sometimes. At the way we were. I think we liked each other before we both realized it." There was a note of humor in her otherwise hushed tone. "Sometime I wonder what would've happened if those two desperate kids really did try and run away to Ord Mantell."

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

The way they were.

Makko thought about that for a moment. When had they known? If they had realised the way they felt sooner, would they have fled for Ord Mantell?

"I've wondered that too," Makko said.

"I've thought about how you wouldn't have suffered as much," he said.

It was easy to say that the past remained behind them, but Cora carried scars. Some on her skin, but the ones that could still hurt ran deeper. She had barely survived what she had been forced to endure.

"But I don't know where we would have ended up. Never can," he said with a shrug. "And I know where we are now. We might have had a happily ever after, but I like this one."

He turned and offered a small smile, before pressing his forehead gently to hers.

When he spoke again his tone was much lighter.

"When do you think you knew you loved me, before you knew?" he asked.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora remained quiet as Makko spoke, but it was the comfortable sort of silence. During her marriage to Horace, she had often imagined what would've happen if she'd run away to Ord Mantell with her love. Even after the marriage had ended, she still wondered.

The scars Horace had given her would never disappear completely, but there was some distance between then and now. Enough for the what ifs of Ord Mantell to fade from her mind a little more each day.

"I like this one, too," she agreed in a whisper. It had taken time for them to get here. They'd spent a while circling one another, recovering from the hurt, rediscovering that what they'd once shared had not died out.

To Makko's question, Cora let out a low hum in thought.

"I think…" she trailed. "The night before I left. When we had that confrontation in the hall, and then the tattoo."

It had been an emotional moment for them. They'd both said some unpleasant things, but their anger quickly gave way and revealed their pain. The tattoo - a final symbol of defiance against Horace - had been seared into lines of gnarled flesh and ink by the Prince.

Its meaning remained the same, though.

Cora reached up to trace the nearly identical mark on Makko's chest, over the fabric of his shirt. She'd nearly cried when she first saw it.

"I don't regret it, though. When did you know?"

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

"I think…" she trailed. "The night before I left. When we had that confrontation in the hall, and then the tattoo."

Makko took in a deep breath as he thought back. The pain was no longer a barrier. It didn't stop him from thinking clearly. It didn't stop him from moving forward.

It still hurt.

Getting the matching tattoo whilst she was taken away felt like such an insignificant gesture compared to Horace searing hers from her skin.

"I don't regret it, though. When did you know?"

"I asked you an impossible question. Should have known you'd ask it back," he replied.

Makko placed his hand over Cora's. He searched his own thoughts as he looked into her eyes. His thumb slipped beneath her fingers.

"I think maybe a little before then. It must have grown slowly. Then the engagement just made us look at it. I never meant to corner you and..."

He stopped himself. That conversation had hurt, but if he had walked away they would have never reconnected as they had.

"I... Wrote down some words to day tomorrow. I've never been good with words, but I hope that's okay?"

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora squeezed Makko's hand. They'd conjured some less than pleasant memories, but right now the sting didn't hurt as much as it usually did.

It would probably never dissipate completely, but time and distance still dulled what used to be sharp and piercing.

"You…"

Her lips parted in a gentle expression of surprise. Then, she smiled. "Of course that's alright. I'm glad, actually. It…feels kind of impersonal, doesn't it?"

No grand ceremony. Just a document for them to sign, a contract, and the exchange of rings. Her father would've been horrified, and that thought almost tickled her.

"My father would hate this, you know," she murmured. One corner of her lips began to lift in a wry little smile. There was, perhaps, a note of bitterness buried there. Things hadn't worked out between them. "No priest, no wedding party…at least there's no dowry to pay."

Makko Vyres