Private Garden of Secrets

[Amelia von Sorenn]

R E C O N N E C T​

Jutrand
Palace Gardens

Time is fleeting and nothing last forever; what is built will inevitably turn to dust, though that should not stop one from building. Memories could last forever and even ideas from those moments may outlive those fleeting moments. It had been a decade since the fall when the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a shining beacon of governance and determination that had spread across the Southern Reaches was laid low by both internal and external forces. There had been a time prior to joining that government when she was wanted by them for supporting the Old Sith when they had come to claim Alderaan, having felt those royal families had turned to their own needs and desires and left the people of the planet forgotten. Her life was one of a myriad of twists and turns, and now she found herself once more in a new home seeking to raise it from the ashes of a region that had been consumed by its own monsters.

Selun was far off for the moment, tucked away into the far Eastern Reaches of the Galaxy at the very end of the Slice, teetering on the edge and poised to fall into Wild Space. It was where she had found herself after spending a decade within the Shiraya Expanse, lost and forgotten by those that she had once thought of as allies and friends; who in turn was now gone, faded into the shade of history and content with remaining in that pocket of space. Determination had been the only thing that pulled her from the Expanse and brought her back to the Galaxy, a place that was still familiar but had changed and would continue to change.

There was one thing that seemed to remain the same, and she was doubtful that they would ever truly be removed for any true length of time; The Sith. She'd lost count of just how many fledgling Nations, Kingdoms, Khanates, Emirates, or Empires they had carved out and claimed as their own before once more falling back into the shadows to reform and rise again at some other end of the Galaxy. Bastion, Dromund Kaas, and a dozen other worlds played host to the Capital of the Sith, and now it appeared that the next unfortunate host was the planet Jutrand. Located in what could have once been described as the backyard of the Confederacy, the planet seemed to be a favored place for Corporations that claimed their own home within the city that spanned the entirety of the planet.

What she was doing in such a place was hard to say, even more so as she was attempting to make her own stories now beyond simply serving a master in some manner or name. Having been tethered to the Confederacy for so long, she found it difficult to breathe at times; at others, it was as though she was worried she'd wake from some cruel dream and discover herself in the quarters of some Confederate warship once more about to plunge into the ranks of an enemy fleet. She was unsure of how many remained, those that she could call friends or those that she had thought were such at some point in her life; even as she found herself traveling to the planet doubt best her, and the worries of old seemed to slowly reform, reshape, and make their presence known. There were times that even as she had found a home within the Confederacy, she still felt alone, as though she was only tolerated for what she was capable of and not because she was truly welcomed. She had worried all those years that a day would come when the Confederacy would have no more need of her capabilities and would replace her entirely for another. A situation akin to that had arisen, and she found herself walking away from it all and finding solitude and seclusion at the far end of the Confederacy on the simple planet of Ukio, and it was there that she was sought out so many years prior to the fall.

The woman had sent two droids, rather annoying things that she was sure had attempted to steal from her or claim some heirloom as a treasure; though it was the message that BNI-Bella and BNI-Leo had brought from their mistress, and ultimately the woman's arrival that had pulled her from that self-imposed exile from her position. For a moment as she sat quietly she wondered what had happened to those droids. Were they still off on their own adventures, still in the employ of their mistress, or had some unfortunate fate found the two? As she mused upon the possible terminus or continued operation of the two droids, it seemed that the individual she had come to seek out had finally shown herself in the Gardens of the Palace. A soft smile crossed her lips as she sat there, hunched over slightly with two hands holding the top of a cane, slivers of white hair peeking out from beneath the cowl of the hooded cloak that she wore to keep her appearance hidden away from others.

"A beautiful day in the gardens, is it not?"

She carefully coughed out, bringing a glove-covered hand up to her lips to muffle her voice in the slightest. Truth be told she could have easily found a means to arrive announced, though she thought that perhaps a surprise would be better; the sun though she could have done without. Still, she remained seated, hunched over slightly feigning old age as she kept her attention down on the ground for the moment.

Srina Talon​

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[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace Gardens |
x
Tag: Amelia von Sorenn
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She was one of the only people in the palace that bothered cultivating nature.

Where most gardens would have been carefully maintained and manicured to meet the expectations of high society—This space had a far more monochromatic approach. It wasn't that it lacked color. It was the fact that it was full of one color. Red. Bleeding, bloody, brilliantly scarlet roses that creeped through archways and among stone gargoyles. The flaxen-haired moved across onyx cobblestone in relative silence. That wasn't unusual. Some things, never changed.

Moonlit hair rolled down her back in silken waves that were far longer than what she had maintained during her time as an Exarch to the Confederacy. If she didn't get it trimmed soon it would reach her knees when intricate twists and braids were fully unraveled. These days…It grew faster than she could be bothered to keep up with. Her form was styled very deliberately in carefully arranged cloth that left a dangerously ethereal outcome. An empire waist, glamours, deflective fibers, and the will of the Force made it seem as if the young woman had not changed.

Her face was just as achingly beautiful as it had always been.

Had a decade truly passed for her?

It had. Echani genetics simply ensured that it didn't show. Some of her species, by rights, would still consider her a child barely grasping the strings of adolescence. Srina had visited Eshan with Maliphant to set the record straight. To ensure that her House and Queen knew that she was a youngling, no longer. Her mother was a steward, a caretaker, in her name. As it should be. With her current situation they had little choice but to adapt. Without her husband supporting technological advances—Her home was little more than a target. They simply weren't strong enough.

Srina would not have that. Never, again.

Pale hands held a plant that she had spent an inordinate amount of time with. After a long-awaited meeting with Arcturus Dinn the glacial woman had decided to incorporate a cerulean blue rose into a place where she might be able to see it each time, she stayed on Jutrand. He was the only son of her beloved husband. Adopted, perhaps. But his child all the same. The young man would not know the truth of what it meant, to be referred to, as his mother. The honor. The deeply internalized, reoccurring nightmare, that the strings of family might somehow be undone.

So—She brought roses of remembrance.

There were four blooms on this thorned plant with deeply packed roots waiting to find purchase in fertilized grounds. It was a pervasive, poisonous flower, that had been genetically engineered not to multiply. It would bloom annually. Four blossoms. One for Arcturus…And two for children that had yet to be named. One that never would be. None but the newly crowned Empress would really grasp what she held in her hands.

Only that roses were her favorite. That, she had an un-Sith-like penchant for blue.

Not that it was her version of an altar for her children.

An older woman sat hunched on one of the many stone benches that littered the space. At first, Srina seemed to pay her very little mind. She knew who it was. There was not a weapon in any arsenal that would have kept her from knowing the sensation, the frame, of Amelia von Sorenn . While the spacepiress had viewed her time with the Confederacy as some strange form of limbo, perhaps purgatory, Srina recalled a much different figure. A warrior. A survivor.

Someone that people had oft looked up to for both technological advancements and a sense nobility.

Only…Amelia had never been able to see it.

No. Just, the wheel of war. Turning. Over, and over.

Srina knelt down to a plot that had already been partially prepared in the center of the gardens and set about to planting the poisonous blue roses in her grasp. She handled them expertly—As any daughter of the moon would have. It was an Arkanian mistake…But beloved, by her people. A symbol that even the most beautiful of things could still be deadly. "You have traveled far, Amelia."

It had been a long decade. Srina had spent much of it settling the remnants of the Confederacy into the Shiraya Expanse. Chasing down the specters that had laid them low in their weakest hour. By the order of her Master…Erasing them from existence. It had taken a long time, doing it alone.

So very, very alone.

Silver eyes burned a pattern of gold that would be familiar and a light cloud cover began to percolate above the palace and governmental buildings. Srina picked up the trowel and in silks fit for royalty began to dig in dirt that she slowly warmed. It was not planting nor growing season. The Sepulcher would have been horrified. They couldn't fathom why she insisted on doing the work of a soldier, the work of a commoner, when their terrible and magnificent Corpse Lord had thought to elevate her to his side.

"But…Why have you come to the heart of the Sith Order?"

The former Grand Marshal would see the effortlessly elegant woman pause and rest back on her haunches for a moment before tossing a glance over her shoulder. "Could it be that…You've missed my scintillating personality?", the words were filled with air, though, her eyes remained the same color of corruption. Her expression was empty…But there was something in it that seemed to have been an attempt at self-deprecating humor. It was a grand step forward from what the vampirika-hybrid would remember. Srina, stepping from her steel cage? Utilizing sarcasm? Expressing…Anything?

Oh, by the Force, never. Simply couldn't be.

Darth Empyrean would have been proud.

 

[Amelia von Sorenn]

R E C O N N E C T​

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Jutrand​

Palace Gardens​

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A hint of a smile seemed to begin to pull at her lips as she kept a firm though loose grip upon the cane that she carried, lightly tapping and tracing it along the flagstones that made up the path that seemed to slip in and out of the gardens as though it were a river of grey in a land of red. The Sith, leave it to them to take the color red in all of its hues and smother every little last inch that they could in its many shades. At times she thought that perhaps it was some long-forgotten joke of some long since past Sith Lord that had convinced the rest of their kind that red was the Order's favorite color. As she lightly tapped the cane upon the stone, listening carefully to the few words that were shared between the two, it seemed as though they would fall right back into their old ways, those fleeting moments that they had shared back on Naboo, oft those meetings boiled down to a simple nod between the two individuals as they continued about their days. Perhaps they were considered more like statues in that manner than anything else. ​

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"You have traveled far..." ​

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Those words seemed to strike a chord as she brought a firmer grasp upon the head of the cane, no longer tapping it slightly against the stones as the memories seemed to flood in from some dark corner of her mind. She had indeed traveled far, having remembered her time back on Alderaan, the place she had considered home all those years ago, she couldn't return, not while certain elements remained; even Pantha, the homeworld of her parents was gone, obliterated, and left broken in an event that seemed to break the back of the Eternal Empire, that mass that had seemed to serve as a foil and thorn to the Confederacy so many years ago had now gone the way of the latter. Even Commenor was a fond memory of long ago; she wondered where Kay-Larr was now - Amelia hoped that she had finally found some peace to claim as her own, some little corner of the galaxy in which she could be content without worrying about the troubles of the Galaxy. ​

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Of course, it went without saying that her time on Naboo and within the Confederacy still weighed heavy on her shoulders, even a decade following her own attempts to resettle the remnants into the Shiraya Expanse. For a moment she thought that maybe, just maybe, she should have stayed in that dark corner of the galaxy, remained on Khrea, and ignore the Galaxy. That thought just as quickly slipped away, she knew that she couldn't do that, it was likely that she would once more have those two little droids in her office with a message from their mistress calling her back to the galaxy in some capacity rather than hiding herself away. ​

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"We've both come far, Dread Queen."​

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The words slipped from her pursed lips, though they were not meant as a slight, nor had there been venom behind. It was meant with the utmost respect and reverence for the woman that seemed to be the true power behind the Confederacy more so than any other individual. That soft tug of a smile slipped into a smirk as she thought back on those days, each memory both welcome and unwanted as they crept from their hiding spot in the dark corners of her mind. She remembered Eshan clearly, one of the first engagements she had undergone after having joined the Confederacy, she remembered the death and destruction that the Mandalorians brought to the planet, the tantrum they threw by crashing a Star Destroyer into its Capital - The Death she brought when Amelia herself unleashed a Nuclear Strike against the Mandalorian Fleet...​

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They had both come far since those days, and each had found themselves in some capacity once more serving some Government or movement... serving the people that sought to lift them up on a pedestal as a symbol of something greater. She had never felt that way, in all her time serving others, she had only seen herself as a weapon, she couldn't fathom that others saw her as anything more or less than a tool to be utilized - pointed in a direction and unleashed. ​

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For a moment she carefully brought her head up, the slivers of white hair falling over her face as golden-yellow hues fell upon the woman that had often been a stoic voice of reason or a silent gaze that could just as easily pierce through an individual as though she were looking through them. Pressing the cane to the ground, she slowly brought herself forward, deciding that it was time to drop the charade, after all, it wasn't for the benefit of the woman before her so much as it was to keep others from taking notice of the woman; she easily stood out in a crowd. A soft groan slipped past her lips as she slowly stood up, bones creaking and popping as she began to stretch and place herself upright until, at last, she stood at her full height, the black robes draped over her figure, though she still kept the cane in hand, its twisted, gnarled shaft still resting its point against the stones. ​

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"Why have I come indeed..." ​

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She paused for a moment. ​

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"Mayhaps it is because I missed your personality... you always were much more lively than the other statues on Naboo." ​

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That soft smirk returned to her lips as Amelia stepped closer, showing that she had caught the slight joke at the woman's own expense; though she would keep her surprise from the joke to herself, just another memory shoved into the recesses of her mind. Standing behind the woman, and slightly over her left shoulder, those golden-yellow hues fell upon the blue flower, and she hoped that it would be given a chance to live, to remain among the sea of red - though it was not her place to question its purpose or the meaning - she knew that it was symbolic for Srina, and that was more than enough reason for Amelia to leave any prying questions away. ​

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She merely extended her arm, offering her hand to assist the regal woman from the dirt and to her feet once she was ready. ​

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Srina Talon ​

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[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace Gardens |
x
Tag: Amelia von Sorenn
_________________________________________________________​

The wintry creature did not respond while her attention waned toward the temperamental flowering plant that seemed to have a mind of its own. Snagging on her sleeves, pulling along the softened, warmed soil. It tended to bloom year-round on Eshan so she had every confidence that it would find a way through hard-packed earth and bitter evening winds. Her expression remained empty at the notion that she too had come a long way. It went without saying.

She was no longer the golden Apprentice that had hidden with a certain measure of waspish glee behind the greatness of her Master. Her world had changed. Even after the Confederacy fell her existence had been demanded in several places at the same time. She had a young niece ( Iuuna Talon ) to protect and educate. A brother ( Var Talon ) to temper and tame. A goddaughter ( Quinn Varanin ) to find, lest, she become lost among the stars. She had standing orders from Isley Verd to slaughter anything that remained of the Unmaker and its sycophants. She had House Talon to claim and mind. A husband to stand by, and hold, when he ( Darth Empyrean ) was near enough. Himself.

She wore many hats.

Her strength had only increased in her absence from the public eye. If only, because she could spend more time fighting. More time training. Unlike the Vampirika hybrid—She did not hate war and the many repercussions that came with it. She didn't love it…But she did thrive in the chaos.

Almost as if she'd been made for it.​

"We will never stop."

The universe kept turning, regardless, any tragedy that befell it. Everything was in a state of transition. Temporary. Just waiting for the next plague or planetary annihilation to send shockwaves through system after system. The Jedi would rise. Fall. The Sith would rise. Fall. Over and over until it ground their memories to a powdery dust. Srina, recognized that intimately.

Nothing was too large to fail.

A ghostly smirk touched the corner of primrose lips at the admission that she had indeed been missed by the much taller female. "Liar.", the singular word was spoken without any real accusation. Srina well knew that she could be hard on the senses. The intensity of her gaze caused extreme discomfort in even the strongest the galaxy had to offer. Monarchs, titans, world powers, the rich, the poor, and everything else in-between had shriveled to nothingness beneath her sight. "But then again…"

"It does not take much to outshine a statue."

Srina kept working. Fingers, coated in earth. It wasn't out of disrespect to her visitor but because the pale Echani possessed singular focus. When she was finally satisfied she packed down the dirt that she had loosened, not too tight, but enough to secure the azure blooms. The wicked way she'd cultivated within the Force seemed to make every thorn sharper. Every petal, sweetly scented, all the more alluring to the unwary. It would serve anyone who picked one a living hell.

When the time came she took the arm that Amelia offered without thought. It was something that she might have done long ago. In a time that felt a dream, wrapped, neatly within a dream. Srina was careful not to lose her balance. Careful, not to let Amelia be too close. The achingly beautiful woman held too many secrets these days. Much, too close to her chest. Her posture straightened and she made her way toward a bubbling fountain where she let clear water cleanse away anything unwanted from delicate fingertips. "You needn't hide away."

Srina had, after all, already darkened the sky.

"Regardless of your purpose…None will question me. None will halt your entry nor egress."

It was perhaps one of the few perks she considered valuable when being required to wear an actual crown. Not that she did, often, much to the Sepulchers' dismay. It was rare that anyone save the criminally insane crossed her before…Now? They barely spoke out of turn. Even if she asked them to—Implored them, to be disrespectful. These people would not have it.

Golden eyes that were framed with Sith corruption turned to glance at the cowl-covered woman. This broken creature was not the wizened, weakened, crone that she pretended to be. Srina did not care how much time had passed. A ridiculous costume, perhaps, to muffle and stifle her legacy so that she might not be recognized on Jutrand. "…I must ask again, Amelia."

"Why have you come?"

 

[Amelia von Sorenn]

R E C O N N E C T​

Jutrand
Palace Gardens

A soft smirk slipped across her lips as she heard the words spoken into being, to be called a Liar by such a woman, it caused her to reel in shock and pain as she feigned a wound that would not be seen physically, one that had struck into her very soul. It was almost too much to handle, were she not as strong as she was, she might have even fainted at such an accusation. She? A Liar? Though the word spoke away was nothing more than a playful joust between the two that had seemingly known each other for what seemed to be eons at this point. It was true though, the woman sought to hide away from conflict, having filled her own goblet many times over in the chaos that had consumed the galaxy. She sought nothing more than simple life of solitude, and even that she could not come by.

She knew as much that she didn't need to hide, even as the words were spoken as the spectral woman grasped her arm and carefully rose, keeping a distance between them. For a moment, Amelia nearly didn't let go, as if she felt that she would see one of her last, what she considered, friends, slipping from her life if she had. The hood kept her face obscured enough to keep the contorted worry of her face hidden, though she figured that the pale woman was more than capable of discerning her feelings from beneath the shroud. She was, indeed, not a broken crone whose best days were behind, though she did not need others to know of that either. A soft sigh slipped her lips as hands carefully came up to grasp the fringes of the hood that kept her face covered, the tattered cloth seeming to give, nearly rip and tear as her fingers pulled back. The individual threads seemed to labor under the force, some fraying, others staying strong as the hood was pulled back to reveal the equally stunning features of the woman that hid beneath.

A strong jaw hid the truth of her nature, showing only when her lips pursed together or a smirk danced across them. Fangs resting as though a serpent in the tall grass patiently awaited its prey to draw near. Her silver hair slipped down over her shoulders, collecting at the puddled hood that sat upon her neck; the tresses slipping down along her back, though held no candle to the length of her companion in the garden. Golden-yellow hues sat within a black void, the cosmetics applied to draw attention fully to her face as she permitted a soft smile to caress her lips as she slowly looked up at the darkened skies above. Amelia brought her hands together before her, clasping them softly as paid no attention for a moment to the Dread Empress carefully washing away the dirt from her hands; attention that was momentarily returned as she took a slow, deep, and deliberate breath.

"To serve..."

Amelia slowly turned so she was facing the woman, though she kept the distance between them, respecting that barrier that was placed by the woman. She was no stranger to wanting to keep distance between herself and others, she had done so for as long as she could remember and it was perhaps the only reason she still remained as so many others had slipped away. ( Fiore ) was gone, slipped through Amelia's fingers as she tightened her grip; afraid of losing her, and in her attempt to keep her close, she did the very thing she feared. ( Jairdain ), she'd not seen her in years, she did not know if she still lived or if she had passed; she could only hope that she was still on Commenor. ( Kay-Larr ) was hopefully somewhere peaceful, away from the conflict that had consumed so many families. ( Luna Terrik ) and ( Kyyrk ), those that she had known within the Confederacy were also gone - though she was not close to them as she was to others, she still only hoped the best for them in their endeavors. There were few that remained that she knew or could seek out.

"For my own purposes..."

She answered away, perhaps it was time that she stop serving others and that she looked to her own interests and needs. She had given so much of herself; she was thin and tired. There had been so many battles that she had found herself in solely because she was looking to the interests of others. How many had she commanded to their deaths because she sought to protect those that couldn't seemingly protect themselves? How many nights had she found herself sleepless and haunted by the faces of those that had followed her into the fires; she remained, they did not.

A sigh slipped from her lips, they both knew the true reason, and there was nothing that she could hide. It didn't matter what Amelia told herself or the woman before her, they both knew the true answer.

"To protect... To be the shield that I have always been for others, no matter how often I seek to distance myself from conflict. I'll always be drawn back to it, not because I love it or because I cannot live without it. No, simply because others cannot protect themselves and need one that will stand for them. Be it a person, or the very galaxy itself."

Srina Talon​

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