Private Home From the Hill

[Jocelyn Panteer]

ASTERFALL KEEP
THE ALDERA ALPS
​

Asterfall Keep was an impressive fortress, to be sure. Not as grand as the royal palace, which sat some several dozen miles away, but that was only to be understood. It was older, though, which was a prestige of its own kind. It predated House Panteer's claim on the Alderaanian throne by a century. The destruction and reconstruction of the planet interrupted time in its way, but many Alderaanians chose to view that as an unfortunate interruption which had no impact on dynastic claims. Convenient.

The current head of House Panteer had no such qualms. She had spent her life trying -- and failing -- not to think about her position in the line of succession or, heaven forbid, where she would stand if there ever came to be another contest for the throne. For years, that had been something she had been able to safely ignore. Why did she need to know, when the Organas seemed so solid on the throne. Now everyone knew what a polite fiction that was. Stability was only one scandal, one abdication, one murder away from watching that solidity shatter.

Lady Jocelyn was in the winter garden when the chamberlain entered. "Your Ladyship, Lord Theron's ship is approaching."

She brightened immediately at the words, and drew the fur-trimmed shawl she wore tighter around her. "Wonderful. I'll meet him."

A snow was falling when she emerged onto the landing pad as her husband's shuttle slowly touched down. The thrusters blew Jocelyn's ginger hair and her shawl flapping in the wake until it finally settled as the shuttle's engines wound down. Jocelyn stepped forward, watching the shuttle.

Theron Alde​

 

[Theron Alde]

Jocelyn Panteer

It did not matter that they spoke over the Holo and send each other messages while he was on Naboo. Lord Alde, Theron, was practically aching to come back home again. To see his wife and to return to the comfort of the home they had made together. It was always like this, ever since they had become infatuated with one another, so it was luck that usually they didn't need to part from one another too long.

But this was a different matter altogether.

It had demanded secrecy, speed and the need to go alone. Lest anyone paid too much attention. When his shuttle sat down, he was already walking down the ramp before it completely unfolded.

By the time it had, he was already walking quickly and swept Joy into his arms and hugged her close. "I know it's dramatic, but I missed you so." Theron murmured in her ear, resisting the urge to kiss her. There was some propriety they had to adhere too in public. And his wife was made of some stern material.

Some of it had loosened over time, but some things Theron understood and respected.

Only then drawing back a touch, but his fingers lacing into hers as he looked down at her.

"How is my Joy? I hope everything was well while I was gone?"

 

[Jocelyn Panteer]

Jocelyn smiled when the ramp descended and Theron appeared.

She wouldn't admit it, but she had been worried in his absence. Not just for him -- though, of course, she didn't love the idea of him traveling. The flight of the Organas and the death of the Duke had made life dangerous for Alderaanian nobility, particularly those with a claim to the throne, and her husband's claim was nothing to sneer at. Being alone, if one could be alone in a castle that was staffed and guarded by dozens, had made her jumpy and frit.

Joy turned her face up to take a kiss to the cheek after their embrace.

"It does me good to have you home again," Jocelyn told him as they turned back to the castle. "Come inside before you freeze."

They went inside and meandered, as they typically did, to the drawing room. It was private enough that they would not be observed, but not part of their private apartments to suggest that they were secluded in a crisis meeting so soon after Theron's return. She sat him down and went to the sideboard to pour stiff brandies for them before returning to his side.

"You'd better tell me the damage," Jocelyn said with mock-sternness as she handed him the glass and settled onto the sofa next to him. "What am I being volunteered to do?"

Theron Alde​

 

[Theron Alde]

Jocelyn Panteer

"Good to be home too..." Lingering there after her kiss, nuzzling her jaw softly, before they went inside. "Though I will say that the Naboo climate is quite nice. I think you'd like it on a visit."

He got himself settled in and accepted the drink with a grateful nod. Kissing her hand before she settled down next to him.

Once they were both settled down it only reaffirmed it to Theron. It was good to be home. Immediate peace, feeling at rest, like some sort of small alarm inside of him stopped with the endless ringing. Naboo (and other places) were nice enough for a quick visit, but they'd never replace the home you build with someone you loved.

"You'd better tell me the damage," Jocelyn said with mock-sternness as she handed him the glass and settled onto the sofa next to him. "What am I being volunteered to do?"

His hand laced into hers.

"The Senator is an... impressive figure. She is stern, sharp but I think she deeply cares for people." Or she was so good an actor that the result was the same.

"I think I managed to take some of the doubts away. She put a lot of her political capital into the Organas, but I think I made her understand that the Thuls... they are bad for Alderaan. And she is curious about you. Intrigued one might say."

His hand squeezed next.

"I think we will have the backing for your claim, Joy. If we are careful... I think we can outmaneuver the Thuls and secure Alderaan's future."

 

[Jocelyn Panteer]

Jocelyn's face was impartial as she studied her husband.

"I rather doubt it's that simple," said Jocelyn thoughtfully. "What is it your father always says? Nothing gets you nothing, right?"

Joy sipped her brandy and reclined against the armrest, allowing her fur-trimmed shawl to slip down her shoulders. She had little need of it now, in the warmth of the drawing room, a low fire burning in the grate. She crossed her ankles and considered carefully. She had been hesitant to send her husband to Naboo to begin with. He was very charming, very competent at diplomacy, but he wanted this more than she did.

Anyone who wanted it wanted it more than she did.

She had seen now what happened to people who reached too high and claimed too much. The struggle for power had always exposed the lie to the Alderaan's gentility, but things had entered a more difficult, more dangerous era. She wasn't so convinced of her own greatness that she thought she alone was best-suited to the throne. It might even come more naturally to Theron, come to that. But the crown, if it landed in her family, would have to come to her.

It was too bad they hadn't had children, Joy thought grimly. Their claim -- uniting the Panteer and Alde claims -- would be perhaps stronger than any.

"What do they really want?" she asked. "Some kind of loyalty pledge? Military support for their inevitable war with the Sith?"

Theron Alde​

 

[Theron Alde]

Jocelyn Panteer

It was true.

It would never be nothing for something, but Theron believed the something was something that they could live with. That Alderaan at large could live with. It was better to live under High Republic rule than under Sith Covenant rule. The Republic had its faults, any nation did, but it was a democracy build on the rule of law. And while Alderaan might believe they could go at it alone, the last year had proven that was not the case. They had not been able to do anything to stop the Covenant from swallowing their world into their influence cloud.

Yes, the Sith hadn't yet arrived with sword and torch in hand, but that was a choice... and in the meantime they were feeling the effects of their proximity already.

The Organas had tried to stand up to them and it had resulted in disaster. A whole district turned to glass from an orbital bombardment, ordered by a supposed Jedi too.

It was insane.

"What do they really want?" she asked. "Some kind of loyalty pledge? Military support for their inevitable war with the Sith?"

"They want us to join the High Republic, Joy. They want us to become a member of their nation with all the duties, consequences... but also the rights that come with it."

He leaned back a little, thoughtful.

"It would mean giving up our independence that we so recently gained." Calm eyes studied her. "But our world has lived under Alliance rule, Empire rule, independent rule... I think independence is a nice slogan, but in the Galaxy we live in today, I do not think it is realistic either. It requires strength that we lack to assert ourselves and push anyone out that is trying to push us around."

Strength they simply lacked.

 

[Jocelyn Panteer]

"I assumed as much," Jocelyn murmured into her drink. "I don't think our obligations change simply because the Organas have departed, and we were committed to joining under the terms of that agreement. I would fully anticipate that they would expect us to keep up that end of the bargain."

She reached out, laid a hand against his shoulder.

"Independence is a funny word," she breathed. "And a fictional one in the current galactic context."

Jocelyn lifted the snifter to her lips for another sip.

Then she took a deep breath to center herself.

"All right. I can live with that, if it means we do not fall prey to the Sith Covenant. If I stood by and let what happened in the Tapani Sector and Coruscant happen here -- " A dark shadow crossed her face. " -- I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Not a bit."

Theron Alde​

 

[Theron Alde]

Jocelyn Panteer

Alde put his own hand over hers, squeezing it gently, before letting go again.

"Indeed, my thoughts exactly." Maybe that was why their relationship had grown into such an easy partnership. More often than not their thoughts were aligned in the same direction without them needing to do anything about it. They didn't need to have a pre-conference to line their ideas up. They were already there from the start.

The decision to ascend the throne had been the first (and Theron hoped the last) time that they had diverged.

It was still uncomfortable to him.

" -- I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Not a bit."

"Knowing you, you wouldn't have to." Theron said dryly before taking a sip from his own cup. "...because you'd be at the front lines, doing whatever you could, rather than running away to New Alderaan or whatever other colony is out there."

It was said with a tone of pride, but also with sober realism.

If the Covenant came for Alderaan and succeeded, he did not think it likely they'd survive it. Alde too was not one to run away and would fight for a free Alderaan to his last breath.

There was nothing else to it.