Private Inheritance

[Noelle Varanin]

Eshan
Varanin Estate
How quickly everything can change...

Noelle sat on bench, surrounded by the colorful foliage of her mother's garden. ...Make that her garden now. Noelle swallowed hard, her porcelain features impassive as she stared at the stone memorial tucked into a flower bed of poppies. There had been no body to take home. Not a shoe, a tuff of hair, not even a wisp of armor... nothing had survived Spencer Varanin sacrificial death into the Netherworld.

She was proud of her mother for what she had done. Darth Alekto's death had been necessary. If only it could have come at lesser cost...

A long breath slipped from her, her shoulders slumping until her head found its way into her hands. The sense of loss clawed at her chest, leaving her raw and hollow. The eldest Varanin was not ready to have lost her Matriarch, Master, and Mother. She was only 18. She was not finished training. She was not complete. She was not ready to say goodbye. Now Noelle was matriarch. Matriarch to wayward siblings and an empty estate; to a damaged world led by an empty figure.

Matriarch to nothing, came the bitter sentiment.

She pulled her mother's crown from her hair, the silver heirloom the only piece of her mother that had not rode into battle on that day. She stared at the single gem in the middle, her vision swirling as her thumb mindlessly traced the patterns wrought across the crown's body. She should have been there with her mother. She should have gone.

The moment stretched on, the breeze catching the ends of her hair as her muscles slowly grew stiff. The flowers shifted in the distance, a familiar presence stepping forward. Her back straightened ever so slightly, her lips pursing.

"Nice of you to finally visit." She looked up, amber eyes sharpening on a face that mirrored her own.

"Little sister."

Quinn Varanin

 

[Quinn Varanin]

//: Eshan //:
//: Quality Time //:
//: Noelle Varanin //: Vesta //:

​

Quinn had arrived in the dead of night. Unannounced and protected by the shadows. She wondered if her sister had noticed when she had arrived with her lover in tow. Vesta having had transported them directly into the Echani Princess' room in a panic. After heightened emotions subsided, the pair had been able to finally rest. ​

Having the day partially pass by them, Quinn knew that she couldn't avoid her sister any longer. Eventually, the older twin would seek out the younger despite the circumstances. Quinn made her way down towards the garden. In this garden, she and her siblings had played and grown just as quickly as their mother's plants. Crossing through the beds of roses and other flowers, Quinn felt her mind dance across the memories of running from her sister and her brother under their guardians and parents' watchful eyes. ​

Those carefree days were gone, each child moving along different paths. Unlike Quinn, Noelle had remained home with their mother. The girl was always closer to the woman than Quinn was. Still, despite their ways, the desire to be with the one you shared almost everything with overruled it all. Looking to her lover, Quinn smiled softly. "Might be best if you take the shape of something else, possibly a cat." Quinn didn't know how she would ease her sister into knowing that she was in a relationship with the daughter of the woman who perished with their mother. When thinking about it, Quinn could understand that it would be a difficult pill to swallow. ​

Noel would know because if Quinn didn't tell her, the girl would figure it out. Quinn wasn't the only one that inherited things from both their parents. After waiting for Vesta to shift, Quinn would continue deeper into the garden, followed by the tuxedo cat, who oddly clung tightly at her side in a protective nature. ​

Quinn paused as she poked her head from behind the brick wall that cut off the garden's private sitting area. Noelle had known, had sensed that she was there. There was no hiding from her sister. The Echani continued towards her, still with the cat at her feet. "Noelle." The mirrored faces met as they stared for a moment. The accusation in the other's voice wounded the younger as she knew she had been far from home for too long. She had come to the memorial but promptly had other things to take care of. That evening she had met her lover after a failed assassination attempt by the Zambrano. Unknown to Praz and his offspring Vesta - there were two that bore Spencer Varanin's resemblance. ​

"I've been looking for you. Why are you out here in the garden?" Quinn avoided snapping back at the comment her sister accused her of. Arguing now wouldn't get them anywhere. There was time for that, especially when she brought up the topic of Vesta Zambrano.​

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Noel's features caught, her upper lip going stiff. Why was she out in the garden? Her gaze flickered to the small memorial she had had fashioned in place of a grave. The two stone hands reached from the ground, clasp together as if clutching water. Or sand. Time felt like it was slipping through her fingers lately. Unlike her sibling, Noel had had nothing to distract her. The strain of this showed inside her expression, lines etched into her brows and around her eyes. She looked older. Pained.

How do you go from a bustling family unit one moment, to orphaned the next?

She swallowed hard and scooted over on the bench, letting Quinn sit next to her. The soft silks of a simple day dress spoke to the comfortable living she still had. She was not without means, but that was a blessing she couldn't conceptualize. Their inheritance insured she'd want for nothing, but money did not touch the void her parents had left behind.

"I do not like being in that house. It echos."

She resisted the urge to reach out for her sister, even just to hold her hand. It was a comfortable gesture that she had had no issue initiating just half a year ago. The crown in her hand created a barrier that ran deeper than the physical. Noel unconsciously ran her thumb over it, her thoughts slowly turning to puzzle out the sudden arrival of Quinn.

"Why are you here?"

Her attention slid to the cat at her legs, her brows shooting up. "And where did you find that thing?"

Quinn Varanin