Private Dream Sweet in C Major

[Colette]

A tranquil scene of utter chaos was on full display in the otherwise rather calm and collected Noble apartment. The once pristine couch was now a stained and empty bowl of discomfort. The kitchen, oh the kitchen… Those grease stains would be impossible to ever truly get out despite the obvious signs that someone very much had tried to do so.

But the apartment was quiet at the very least. The children slumbered in their surprisingly clean beds. Vera was browsing videos on her tablet, and Colette was… Well, she was asleep right next to her in their impressive pillow fort composed of just about every single useable soft surface in the apartment, stacked between an armchair and what was once a dinner table. It was an impenetrable fort that had seen heavy use for the last few… Weeks? Days? … Months?

In truth it felt difficult to tell at this point.

But today was the day. Colette had sworn to be by Vera and her siblings’ side until their mother returned, and today — unbeknownst to any of them — was that day. As the padawan laid exhausted in the fort, Vera was as always anything but tired. She was quiet, but not tired. Contently snacking away at this day’s choice of snackies.

Snackies that Colette was entirely unaware that she had left out for the kid to grab.

The door opened, Vera’s eyes set on the wide open arch and…

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Temple Quarters

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Colette

This was it.

Valery stood in front of the door and drew in a deep breath. She could feel her children on the other side, as well as Colette, who would have likely been watching over them. Kahlil would soon be joining them too but he was checking on their apartment away from the Temple to make sure they could all return their safely first. Valery couldn't wait that long to see her kids, and finally pushed open the door.

...only for Vera to already be right there with both her arms outstretched. "Mommy! Mommy!" she yelled with tears in her eyes, and Valery felt herself tearing up as well. She wrapped her arms around Vera, lifted her off the ground and spun around with her little girl in a tight embrace. "I missed you so much, little star," Valery said, her voice breaking a little as emotions overwhelmed. But deeper within the Temple quarters, the triplets woke up.

Aeryn and Adam started to uncontrollably squeal, and Aurra copied them immediately. They knew that something was happening, that their mother was home.

"I missed you too, mommy," Vera cried and with the little Noble still in her arms, Valery walked inside. "Colette? Are you here?" she asked, and before an answer could come, Valery spotted her on the couch. Slowly, she set Vera down for now and walked over, waiting for her to wake up before pulling her into a tight hug.

"Thank you," she said, her voice fragile but her emotions strong.

 

[Colette]

Valery Noble

"Innaminnid." Colette slurred as the cry of the triplets began to invade the privacy of her dreamscape. "Gimmeaminnid."

Her mouth opened wide in an unflattering yawn but quickly shut by the time she found herself in a hug. It took her a moment to even recognize. Sleep wasn't easy when you worried about someone who wasn't your own blood but family nonetheless. She lacked the innate connection that Vera or Valery had, but given that Valery wasn't here that was—

Wait.

Colette's vision cleared up.

WAIT A MINUTE.

It was hard to say if Valery was hurt before or after the hug was given a response. Colette's arms wrapped around Valery. Tears of relief burned against her cheeks as she simply began to weep in joyous anxiety. She was alive; alive but not well.

"I promised to look after them until you were back." Colette whimpered. "I promised them that you would be back."

 

[Valery Noble]

Temple Quarters

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Colette

Even though Valery had been healed and forced into a bacta tank for hours, she still hadn't fully recovered. Faint scars remained and her mind was anything but healed. But with her daughter, and now her Padawan held close, none of that pain phased her at all anymore. Her body relaxed, her cries turned into soft sniffs, and the hug tightened a little.

"I'm so sorry for leaving you all behind," she whispered softly. "But thank you for taking care of them." Valery pulled back just enough to be able to look into Colette's eyes, hoping to convey her gratitude better that way. There was just nothing that meant more to her than finding out her kids had been taken care of.

Meanwhile, the triplets hadn't stopped squealing, and when Valery took note of it, something between crying and chuckling managed to escape. "You uh, mind if I go take a look and hug them? We'll talk more after," Valery said before bringing her hands down onto Colette's shoulder for a gentle squeeze.

Stepping into the room where they were sleeping, Valery watched them flail their little arms and legs around for their mother. Even though they were little, there was already that bond, and Valery couldn't get enough of it. "Come here, mommy missed you so, so much." One by one, she picked up the babies, and each one completely calmed down whenever they were hugged by their mother.

"Were they difficult? I hope it wasn't too hard on you?" Valery asked, now turning back to Colette again.

 

[Colette]

Valery Noble

"Of course." Colette sighed and sniveled. Her hand smeared at her nose to get it away and quickly moved up to her eye to swipe away the tears. She stood up to follow behind Valery to the triplets. Although it made sense that they would shut up real fast once they met their mother, a small smidgeon of envy befell Colette who had spent hours trying to tire them out to achieve the very same effect.

Her arm rested against the doorway. Valery was back but that didn't mean that this lack of sleep would be felt any less. Colette ran a hand through her disheveled hair and yawned yet again.

"They were restless, but…" Colette yawned. "Vera helped a lot."

"She helped show how you did it. The humming and the little things. Even helped feed them. It would have been a lot more difficult without her."

 

[Valery Noble]

Temple Quarters

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Colette

"She did?" Valery asked but she wasn't really surprised. Vera had made a promise to always be there for her siblings, and she'd never lie about something like that. "Even taught you the melody, huh..." Valery chuckled and held up Aurra, before she started to hum the melody. It was soft, pure and she hit every note perfectly to help her little girl fall asleep in her arms.

"I honestly can't thank you enough for this. My kids... they mean everything to me, and I was so worried that they'd be alone and scared when Kahlil left to find me." She hugged Aurra one last time and put her down, before turning to her Padawan. Colette looked understandably tired, so Valery stepped forward to place a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, let's sit down and just take it easy, okay?"

Colette needed the rest, but Valery did too. She was suppressing the internal struggle she was still dealing with, and allowed the joy of reuniting with her kids and Padawans to overshadow the fear and pain she still felt as well. It would take time to heal, but also a lot of rest.

"Mommy?" Vera asked from the doorway. "Can you please stay home?"

Valery blinked, looked at Colette for a moment, and then walked over to pick Vera up again, "I'm not going anywhere, sweetie. Staying home with you and dad for a while." She leaned in to kiss Vera's cheek, and gestured for Colette to follow her back to the living room, where she sat down on the couch.

"How uh, are you holding up, Colette? I know you've had to be strong to look after the little ones, but...." She knew this wasn't easy for her either.

 

[Colette]

Valery Noble

A slow nod and a drowsy smile. The melody had been taught and all. Yeah, the kids were okay but even they had known that something was wrong. Colette understood that Valery would be home for a while, but that hardly meant that the padawan would let up anytime soon. Returning was just the first step on the road to treating whatever it was that had happened to Valery.

"I'm fine." She lied with a straight face. "The children needed someone familiar to them that wasn't just another mentor from around the temple."

There really was no way to say that for a while now she had felt as helpless as the day that she had been attacked as a child, the one that she had told Valery about in the caves of New Cov. Colette had no words to describe the weight of saying 'your mother will be back' every single day, knowing that it was as much of a truth as it felt like a lie given that she truly didn't know. This sacrifice wasn't done with any expected returns, but one that had seemed to at least brought Vera some measure of comfort and at the very least brought the two girls closer together.

So, even if she didn't outright say it, the weight were there in the way that she glanced at Valery and then her children before staring at the ground and the bandages that were wrapped tightly around her wrist.

"I, uh…" She cleared her throat. "Sprained my wrist in anger."

 

[Valery Noble]

Temple Quarters

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Colette

"Mhmm, and they seem to really love you," Valery said, glancing at the triplets first before turning to Vera. "Right, Vera?" she asked, and Vera quickly perked up. "Mhm! She helped me lots," Vera said with a huge smile for the woman she considered to be a big sister. Colette protected her, reassured her and she loved playing with Colette as well! As far as Vera was concerned, Colette could stay as long as she liked.

Valery, however, was focused a little more on how Colette was feeling for now.

"Ouch, maybe we can get it fixed up by a Healer. Should be simple enough." Which also meant that Colette probably hadn't because she wanted to stay with the kids, rather than focus on her own healing. It was not easy to know that she had struggled as well, but it also warmed her heart that she looked after the children.

"First though... you look really tired. Do you want to get some more sleep? You can on the couch here or in my bed if you want to be comfortable." Valery then set Vera down in her lap, while she sat on the couch and relaxed a little. It still felt so odd to be back here, relaxed and comfortable. Everything was just so soft, so warm and welcoming.

 

[Colette]

Valery Noble

Love was always nice, and having it reaffirmed even more so. Vera was like a little sister and the triplets were a bundle of chaos in and of themselves.

"It's just a sprain." Colette shook her head. "It will fix itself."

After that she glanced at the couch and the blankets around them. Sleep was inviting but it didn't feel quite right when Valery had only just returned. There was some sort of expectation floating at the back of Colette's mind that she couldn't quite place as if she was forgetting to do something that was expected of her.

"Wouldn't feel right." She said and turned to Valery. "You still need to rest and the children will need attention."

"If anything, do you want to rest?"

 

[Valery Noble]

Temple Quarters

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Colette

Valery blinked.

It was always the normal thing for her to put others above herself. As a mother, she made sure her kids got rest and were taken care of before she took care of herself, and as a Master she'd always put the well-being of her Padawans above herself too. But these were very unique circumstances — she had never been this injured before, and she still hadn't recovered.

"The triplets will sleep for a bit, so we can all just get comfortable on the couch here. Talk a little and, well, probably fall asleep." Valery looked at Vera, who was not letting go off her mother, and chuckled. It wouldn't be long before the young Noble would fall asleep as well. She had been up way too much and now that the emotions of her mother returning had struck the little girl, she was exhausted as well.

"I uh..." she paused and looked down at Vera again, whose head was now resting on her chest with her eyes closed. "Do you want to know what happened? Of course, without details you don't want to hear." Perhaps she'd rather not, but if she wanted the truth — if she wanted to know why she had to take care of the kids for so long — then Valery would tell her.

 

[Colette]

Valery Noble

"I want to hear everything." Colette said, her eyes narrowing as she looked down at the half-asleep Vera. "It's not my own ears that I am worried about."

No child should have to hear the story of how their parents were tortured. Colette might be someone Valery treated like her child — in a sense at least — but she was still an outsider compared to those who were her own flesh and blood. That was just how these things worked, having grown up without either of her parents by her side yet having had more than one substitute parent, some who even had children of their own…

For some people, flesh and blood just mattered a lot more. It was a form of creator bias, if you could call it that.

"Given how you look… I think I can make some guesses about what happened."

 

[Valery Noble]

Temple Quarters

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Colette

"Alright," Valery agreed with Colette, who was about as close to family as possible to her. It made Valery want to spare her from details, but she was old enough and likely knew a lot without having talked about it already. Vera, however, was far too young, so Valery wrapped her arms around the little Noble and kept her hand gently on the back of her head. It didn't take long for Vera to fall into a deep slumber.

"Poor thing, she must be so tired." Valery smiled lovingly at her daughter and held her close. "I know she probably didn't want to sleep and help you watch over the triplets instead." She chuckled and looked at Colette, who probably still wanted to know more.

"I'll start with some context. At the battle of Exegol, a Sith Lord called Danton was captured and transferred to Azrael Asylum. I visited him there and felt...a great evil." She frowned as all those memories resurfaced. "To keep him from causing more harm, I severed him from the Force and this is what sparked his deep hatred towards me."

"He somehow managed to escape with other prisoners, and they tracked me down as I was traveling to Indoumodo on a diplomatic shuttle. We were unarmed and he attacked with stolen fighters, so we had no chance. I was shot down and badly injured but..." She stopped and lowered her chin into her daughter's hair for a moment, as if she was trying to to hide her face by burying it away.

"It got a lot worse. He captured me and subjected me to various kinds of torture to get information from me. About how to restore his connection to the Force." A tear welled up in her eye, and her voice was a lot more fragile all of a sudden.

"I told him too much."

 

[Colette]

Valery Noble

Colette gently shook her head. Vera hadn't been much of a sleeper in the last few days, though in truth that didn't bother her as much as she was thankful for it. Without Vera at hand the triplets definitely would have been a bigger problem than they already were. Having a familiar figure at hand was a godsend.

Once the kid was in a deep slumber, Valery finally began to open up and Colette listened with an intent to memorize every single thing that was said. Danton, Azrael, and a great evil. Indoumodo and stolen fighters. Torture for information on restoring a force connection. The metaphorical corkboard was put up, the little notes, and red string that connected relevant pieces to one another.

Beyond that, Colette moved in to wrap an arm around Valery once she noticed the wetworks were running down her cheeks. The padawan gave the master a gentle squeeze.

"Hey, no," She whispered. "This fear is what he wants from you."

"And even so, some secrets aren't worth dying for."

Uncertain what to do, Colette let in a deep breath and began to hum the little melody that Vera had taught her. She didn't quite know why, but it felt like the right thing to do; a distraction.

 

[Valery Noble]

Temple Quarters

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Colette

A shaky breath left Valery's lips when Colette's arm wrapped around her, and she tried to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes. She didn't want to look weak or vulnerable in front of her Padawans — they so often relied on her for strength, and she never wanted to burden any of them with her own feelings. But what had happened... what had threatened to break her away from the people she loved was just too much.

"I know but..."

She clenched her jaw and forced her eyes shut for a moment. Tears were squeezed out and another erratic breath followed. Images of what happened flashed through her mind, but also images of where he'd go next. "He can do so much harm if he restores his connection. If I had only held out for an hour longer..."

She frowned and didn't really know what to do or say, or even how to feel. Was it right to blame herself at all? Or were none of these emotions rational whatsoever? She couldn't find a way through all of it, but the sound of a familiar melody snapped her away from thinking about it at all.

It distracted her.

"I can hear why the little ones seemed well-rested," Valery said with a soft, teary chuckle. "Thank you for everything, Colette. You mean the world to me."

 

[Colette]

Valery Noble

"You took it away once before," Colette nodded confidently. "You can take it away once again."

The kid couldn't quite understand what the emotions were, but she had an inkling of how they were. Strong, raw, and most of all fresh. Valery was in a vulnerable position that she wasn't used to, and for a long time before Colette had even been there she had to carry that on her shoulders with the help of her family. Colette supposed that she was part of that now.

"Part of the tribe, part of the family." She said and ran her thumb up and down along Valery's shoulder. "You would have done the same for me."

"Back home we were encouraged to talk our way through these things. It's never easy but it get easier with each talk." Colette said and stared off into the other room to listen for the triplets who were still asleep. "Instead of allowing shame to get in the way we were encouraged to feel all of it so that we could understand it and be honest with ourselves."

"And that might be difficult sometimes, but if you want someone to talk it through with that isn't Kahlil, well…"

"You know where Loomi and my room is."

 

[Valery Noble]

Temple Quarters

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Colette

The idea of finding him and taking away his connection again was almost terrifying to her now, and likely not something she'd do again. There was a time when she'd not hesitate to kill any person as corrupted as Danton, and perhaps that is what she should have done. Some were simply beyond redemption, but where did she need to draw the line? It was a question she wasn't going to burden her Padawan with. Not now.

"You would have done the same for me."

Valery looked up and smiled faintly, before dipping her head. "Always," she said with more strength than anything else she had said thus far. There was just no doubt in her mind about it — she'd always do everything she could to help her family, her friends and her Padawans.

"I'm spending a lot of time with Kahlil to talk and work through things, but you're right." She paused a moment and let out a soft sigh. "The worst part about what happened isn't the physical torture. I was beaten, cut, whipped and he pushed a spear through my hand just to take my wedding ring." She frowned and looked down at the ring around her finger for just a moment.

"The worst was the mental torture. A headset with sound capture of a people being massacred. After I was already weakened, I was forced to listen to it for hours and-" She stopped herself, took a deep breath and looked at Colette. "I'm afraid of going to sleep because I know I'll still hear them in my nightmares."

 

[Colette]

Valery Noble

The torture, much like it tended to do, sounded horrible. Colette couldn't even begin to imagine what the death of a whole people sounded like but she could imagine things bad enough to make her shiver for a moment. Valery was a far stronger person than she was both mentally and physically, so if the things had managed to shake even Valery, then Colette would have been more than a little damaged by it.

"You know what? I take it back." Colette said and hugged Valery again. "How about we skin this guy alive instead the next time we meet him, hm?"

Valery would be able to tell that Colette wasn't serious. Skinning someone alive was a long and tedious waste of time. Sometimes the simple solutions really were just as good as the right ones though. If Colette ever had the chance to meet someone like that and best them in a fight she would probably just end them then and there. One less problem in the world, so to speak.

"If you want to sleep I can stick around for a bit longer or until Kahlil comes back." Colette mused. "Besides, what am I gonna do? Catch up on the exercises I've missed?"

 

[Valery Noble]

Temple Quarters

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Colette

"I think Kahlil would very much agree," Valery said with a soft chuckle, "I've never seen him so angry before." Of course, he had every reason to be furious, but there was something about seeing someone who was otherwise very stoic just explode. It made him scarier than any Sith she had ever faced in her life, and made her worry about him just a little. For once, she felt like he needed her for support as much as she needed him.

There was a lot of strength they drew from each other.

"Could you please stay until my husband comes home?" Valery then asked, her chin lowering until her head rested against the sleeping Vera. Valery was exhausted, and now that she was sitting still with her kid in her arms, it was starting to really hit her. Adrenaline was gone, the motherly desire of reuniting with her babies was satisfied, so finally the brain caught up and was allowed to request the rest it needed.

"If you want to sleep as well, just close your eyes too. We can just... rest."

 

[Colette]

Valery Noble

It made sense that Kahlil would be especially angry, this was his wife after all. Colette smiled at Valery's small chuckle and took it for the small victory that it was and nodded at her master's request.

"Of course." She said and leaned in against Valery with a lazy yawn. "After you."

Colette pulled the blanket she had over herself and let in a deep breath of relief once Valery's eyes finally shut. As the dim lights of reality slowly faded from her conscience she could almost feel it as every single fiber of her body thanked her for going back to sleep again no matter how uncomfortable it really was.

But something didn't feel quite right. If Colette moved her hand she could have sworn that she felt… Sand? Actually, she found that she had a really surprising range of awareness right now. Winds were blowing, yet they felt as if she had experienced them before. The dunes seemed to stretch for miles, yet she could only remember them in part as if she had read about it once.

In the distance she saw Valery sitting on a rock, just looking out into the wide open spaces of her home, Colette's home. In the distance she could see a vague silhouette of the camp her people had put up once Keer had come around to pick Colette up, but… It didn't seem as if Valery was quite looking at that.

"Valery?" Colette asked, perplexed at the whole thing. In reality, her message seemed to carry itself over to Valery's mind, snaking its way into the sleeping master's brain like a whisper on the wind. "What are you doing?"

The kid rubbed at the back of her neck.

"Is this a dream?"

 

[Valery Noble]

Temple Quarters

​

Appearance: Link
Tag: Colette

"Valery?"

After so easily falling asleep, it was a voice that seemed to wake her up, but not where she expected it would be. She wasn't on the couch with her daughter in her arms, and Colette up against her side. No, she was sitting on top of a rock, surrounded by dunes of sand while her hair was blowing in the wind. Was all of this real, or had her mind taken a lot more damage than she thought? Turning around to the voice, Valery spotted Colette, and things began to click.

"I'm... not sure what I'm doing," she admitted with a sheepish smile, but Colette didn't really understood either. "But I don't think we're both just lucid dreaming." She chuckled and gestured around.

"We are asleep, but I think this was created by our minds, or at least one of our minds. It doesn't look familiar to me, so I'm assuming it does to you?" The way she spoke made it sound like this wasn't her first time entering someone else's dreams or mind. In fact, she had gone into Kahlil's mind like this many times, and he had done the same in reverse.

There, it was a product of their Dyad, but here? She wasn't sure.

"I also don't know if it's supposed to show us the past, present or future. Any idea?"