Private It Takes a Family

[Malcoma Hesse]

Yes.

Yes, Yu was right. If Mal waited to tell Ivory about her new set of circumstances until she had them entirely figured out, the Donna would never find out.

Malcoma nodded. "Sound advice. Better to fumble the delivery that to make it too late." After shifting her weight from one hip to the other, she rose her glass over the countertop for a belated toast.

Yu Karloo

 

[Yu Karloo]

Yu stretched out her own glass, until it kissed Malcoma's with a soft clink. Another sip of wine followed. Yu studied her host across the counter, with both her eyes and her head tails. Some might have thought using the hormone-sensing tendrils was somehow unethical, or at least in poor form. For Yu, it was done almost without thought, they were part of her sensory anatomy. To ask her not to use those sensory organs would have been as silly as asking someone to close their eyes and not look at you.

Yu discerned that Malcoma had vented her secret, and with her guest's advice, was ready to leave the matter lie. The Nautolan decided to redirect the conversation, hoping to find something that would lead away from the anxiety-rich subject of the Headmistress' secret identity.

"I know you just met Eyana, but from what little I have given you, and from the few moments with her, what are your thoughts for her? What happens when a girl comes here anyway?" Yu admitted her curiosity, and her regretful lack of understanding of how the Guesthouse really worked.

Malcoma Hesse

 

[Malcoma Hesse]

"I think she's sweet," began Mal, "maybe to a fault. Not of hers, mind you. Many of the girls that have come into my care over the years, as well as some of the men, bare the trait, not as necessarily part of their true personality but as a scab of the past. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that it is very...sad." She had paused shortly to think of another word, but sad was the one that really captured her meaning best. "Evidently, not to all hardened criminals, but to a few." She was insinuating herself and Yu, as well as unnamed others.

Some of the ever-growing circle of individuals who knew why the headmistress really got up to crime had an inkling that she had gone soft on the Underworld. Of course, the truth was she hadn't, nor was she planning to. The reasons behind her measures of cruelty hadn't ever changed, not from the time that she started out out the streets until now.

No, she had simply found a way to preserve her original qualities in the relentless torrent that was this kind of lifestyle.

"First, they take a grace period," she explained to the second part of Yu's question. "It is as long as they need, or want, to get accustomed to their freedom. After that, they take classes here, downstairs. Some are taught by tutors of basic educational subjects. Others are on directly applicable occupational skillsets. Of those, sometimes Family members are interested in sharing their crafts."

Malcoma took another quick sip of wine, emptying her glass, then took the bottle back out of the fridge. She'd refill Yu's glass, if offered, before her own. As she worked, she added, "I'm trying to rehabilitate, but I'm not trying to rehabilitate." She repeated the word with an intonation that suggested that she was getting at a nuanced meaning. "We're all in with a mob here. If one of my tenants decide to become a saint—" provided, not a tattling one, "—so be it, but that isn't my intention."

Yu Karloo

 

[Yu Karloo]

Yu continued to idly sip her wine as she listened to Malcoma. The Nautolan didn't know much about her host, but the Headmistress was associated with the Family, which meant she had criminal connections, or was one herself. It had lead Yu to wonder about her selfless philanthropic projects, and how separate those virtuous ones were from those less virtuous.

Malcoma's comment about Enyana was disconcerting at first, but Yu began to wrap her mind around the woman's meaning. What she was doing was a good thing, a virtuous thing, in that she was taking in former slaves and other unfortunates. Caring for them, educating them. But Yu began to see where the criminal and the philanthropist overlapped. If Yu read Malcoma correctly, those at the Guesthouse could be groomed to be recruited by the Family.

Yu held out her glass to receive more wine. A wry smile touched the Nautolan's lips. "You are offering them a new life, and a tract by which they can be successful and reach their full potential." Yu offered to affirm her understanding. Again, in her mind, Yu saw the curious dichotemy Malcoma faced, the criminal world versus one of royalty. In essence, the Headmistress's Hapan world would be a political one. Yu derided herself. When was crime and politics ever separate world!

Then, Yu posed another question. "Say one of your 'guests' did turn out saintly? Enough to cause... problems. What then?" It was a hard but fair question, especially when it came to the Family. Anyone associated with the Family was bound to protect it's interests, no matter what.


Malcoma Hesse

 

[Malcoma Hesse]

Malcoma knew she had opened herself up to that line of questioning. She had half a mind to reprimand herself for it; it wasn't a nice mental exercise to go through by any stretch of the word's definition. Still, the other half of her mind told her to press on.

"Then I'd ask Damris or one of the other security guards to collect them," she said matter-of-factly. Her eyes met Yu's solemnly. "After that, I'd clean up my mess." A sip of wine. "I'm committed to this Family over all else. My wards are no exception.

"Now, my own vice is not the only reason that I usher them into the life we've—" the two women as well as their Family and friend, "—chosen.

"I don't know what your experiences as a woman in this galaxy has been, though I'm sure you've noticed that many of us have an exceedingly hard time surviving, to say nothing of thriving." The muted passion with which Mal had spoken with up before was nothing compared to the subtle flavors of it that peppered her tone now. "As if those circumstances weren't bad enough, the police departments of just about every apparently-civilized world that you could name for me now refuse to support the broken playthings of men. The law, universally, promises us nothing more than revictimization. No healing, no hope.

"Criminality has been my saving grace. It has allowed me to pay my fortuity forward. In many ways, I am a mother to many. I offer of my own volition much protection, but even my generosity does not know no bounds.

"There's always another girl." It was clear that the headmistress was biased towards that gender. "If one scorns me and mine, I will scorn her back."

Bloodily.

She shrugged. "Or him, as it were."

Yu Karloo

 

[Yu Karloo]

The dynamic had shifted between the two women since their casual conversation began, from a courteous banter to one of intimate confidence to the raw reality in which both lived. The altruistic Headmistress was not to be misunderstood. The set of Malcoma's lovely jaw and the penetrating nature of her gaze peeled peeled back the layer of the Headmistress to reveal the core of the woman beneath. The one Ivory Stroud must have trusted.

The Nautolan listened with intent, her impenetrable all black orbs fixed on Malcoma. Yes, her experience had indeed exposed her to the ugly reality many women faced in the galaxy. As a vagabond and petty thief in the streets, Yu had seen many girls, some friends, become victims. She once thought she had survived and rose out of the streets by her own strength and wit, but it was most likely luck that kept her alive long enough to make her escape. It was a cruel fact Malcoma cited, there would always be more girls like Eyana churned out by the galaxy.

Yu's polite smile had faded to a more sober countenance. "I know all too well. I have known no other way than the life of crime... (and the ways of abuse) "...from a very young age. Even living as the wife of a wealthy elitist, it was a lie, a long game to take all that I could from him. I am no lady, I am a charlatan, a thief. TranStar is the only thing I have ever done that fell on the right side of the law." She very much could have ended up like Eyana, if she had not conned her way out of homelessness. The smuggler exec sipped again at her wine and idly fingered a bronze band around a head tendril draped over her shoulder.

"We do what we can, right? At least we have family." Technically, Yu was more like the trusted next door neighbor to the family that could let themselves in when invited to dinner. Just for that Yu was immensely grateful. The Family was unlike any organization she had known. Aristocracies were rife with pettiness and back-stabbing. Smuggling rings were little better, with only a rudimentary unspoken code that was more like guidelines. But the Family acted just like that, a family business. Family was something Yu had never had, and that fact elicited in the Nautolan a profound loyalty to the Family and Ivory Stroud. Malcoma very much sounded like the Donna, when she spoke of her work at the Guesthouse.


Malcoma Hesse

 

[Malcoma Hesse]

Malcoma's blue eyes softened just so. "Then you know perhaps better than most," she continued, "that money offers us power we've never had before it. That and breaking the rules that were broken first by those who broke us. I might have become a Sith if I had been born Force-sensitive."

Then a nod. "Yes. That's all we can do. That's all that matters." No amount of power they held, even collectively, would rid the galaxy of its most indecent scum: slavers and other abusers.

A pause fell over the room. Malcoma's gaze fell into her wine as she swirled it slowly around, sloshing it up against the sides of the glass. "Force forbid, but as a courtesy, I will let you know if Eyana becomes that...saint." She looked up at Yu but said nothing else.

Yu Karloo

 

[Yu Karloo]

The gravity of the moment hung in the air. It was true, in that kitchen stood two women who had endured much and now possessed much. The source of their prosperity was, for the most part, the embrace of crime.

The term was not inaccurate, but it was an ugly word, Yu thought. Calling their deeds a crime seemed too shallow. There was a complexity to the workings of the two women, their operations, and of the Family. It wasn't just the greedy grabbing of wealth or the perpetration of illegal activity for the sake of mere pleasure or wickedness. It was about preserving those in your care, those who depend on you, and those who work to benefit the group. It really was about family and freedom. In the end, they all had their reasons and justifications for the lifestyle they chose. And most of them didn't feel the need to give a reason for their choices.

"I would appreciate that." Yu replied, sipping again at her glass. Malcoma's promise to inform Yu, should Eyana become a potential threat, was not seen as ominous. It was a hard reality. Though the Nautolan was not particularly nostalgic nor altruistic, Yu had allowed herself a measure of compassion for Eyana. But it would not extend to the point of threatening that which the Nautolan held dear.

Yu had quickly found a fondness and affinity for Malcoma. "I think we understand each other. I can't say that for everyone I have met since coming to Coruscant." She claimed, allowing a small smile to return to her features. "What I have, I offer you, Malcoma." Yu offered herself and her resources again to the Headmistress, her wine glass extended in a fitting gesture.

Malcoma Hesse

 

[Malcoma Hesse]

Another clink of glasses.

"You've been very generous today." Mal set down her drink and would collect Yu's plate and utensils if she was done with them, to put them in the island sink. "I'll find your services a comfortable place here. I'll draft up a plan and send it to you for feedback."

A very slight pause.

"Oh. And? This likely goes without saying, but I appreciate clarity, so I will anyway: tell no one of what you've seen or heard behind my closed doors. The Family maintains me a certain reputation, that I'm a slave's worst nightmare. That story cannot be changed, Yu. If it is, it will have dire consequences for countless victims."

Yu Karloo

 

[Yu Karloo]

Yu stood up a little straighter as Malcoma took up the empty plate before her. The Nautolan drained her wine glass. She nodded at her hosts intentions to take up the smuggler on her offer.

Yu stepped closer to the island, ensuring she had the Headmistress' gaze in her own. Her tone was low and sober when she spoke. "The things I have heard today will remain with me alone. I'll honor the confidence you have shown me." She vowed to Malcoma.

Then she tugged at her leather jacket to adjust it's fit. "And as far as anyone will hear from me, you are still the scariest slaver queen out there." She smiled and winked. "Thanks for you hospitality, dinner was amazing!" Yu added.

Malcoma Hesse

 

[Malcoma Hesse]

Mal smiled back. Yu'd keep this secret too, though Ivory knew the façade the Headmistress surrounded herself with.

"I'm pleased to hear that." She glanced down at her expensive wrist-chron and tapped a button on its interactive screen as she rounded the island counter. She extended one arm out to touch Yu's shoulder, gently guiding her towards the door. "Damris will drive you wherever you need to go next. I have to get ready for another meeting." They stopped nearby the elevator a few moments after it dinged.

Malcoma's personal bodyguard stepped almost out into the entryway, blocking the door's sensor.

She turned to Yu, then leaned in to give her a ghost of a kiss on the cheek. "Until next time, we'll be in touch."

Yu Karloo