Leaving Common Isolation

[Connor Harrison]

The Queen of Commenor always had a way to inject something new into the conversation. Connor thought he knew the rough outline, but she always proved that he knew little. His best bet was to be quiet, and just listen.

"Ties to the Mandalorians and Je'daii? Well. I didn't know that. I've had little run-ins with the Mandos, to be fair. When I see them, they always want to try instigate a new generation of their kind, but seem to just...fizzle away. As for the Je'daii, I know a couple of names. Well, I did. Don't know if that's their path now. But they seem a nice, focused group of individuals.”

Hmm. How interesting she had these ties. He took another drink of water.

"I hope they flourish on their paths taken. I'm sure with the right heart of their mother, they will do you proud.” The less of the father, the better. "Do you know a lady by the name of Jairdain at all?”

The name sprung to mind. This would be someone he would like to get another view of.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay knew very well of Mandalorian leaderships coming and going. Each one steered the way for a different path. It would go on strong for the start, but then fade out. Hopefully her own government wouldn't be the same. So far it had lasted through a few changes to the Mandalorian regime.

She sipped her tea as she leaned back in her chair. "I'm a leader of a bustling trade economy...I have ties to all sorts. Except for the Sith, and maybe just one or two others..." Yet just as with the Mandalorians, many other gov'ts have come and gone elsewhere too.

Kay nodded a little as [member="Connor Harrison"] remarked on his hope for her children's future. It was a hope that she shared, yet their Father held many great qualities as well.

A brow was raised as he mentioned Jairdain. "Yes, I do. I hired her as my adopted son's advisor and tutor. He needed reigning in and she seemed the type to handle that well. They were gone for a while but have recently returned. Why do you ask?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor stretched out a little, tapping his fingers gently on the glass and adjusting into a more relaxed state of mind.

"I bumped into her recently in one of the city plazas and just had a rather nice chat. Seemed to speak a lot to me about similar views; balance, light and dark blinding so many people blah blah blah.”

He shrugged a little as if it was nothing.

"I was just curious to what you thought of her. She told me about her ties with you and the children.”

Another question came to mind. He wasn’t here to talk politics – more an honest and open chat about whatever came about.

"The Silver Jedi. What do you think of them. They’re a different breed to what I knew on Voss, but they are ones I know little about now.” He took a final mouthful and finished the drink of water. "Not intending to pry. I’m just…curious.”

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay sipped her tea while [member="Connor Harrison"] spoke of Jairdain. She had yet to have a chat with the woman. Their biggest heart to heart was when she was hired on. Other than that...

Again her brows rose as he asked about her thoughts on the Silvers. That wasn't an easy question to answer. "I'm not entirely sure...Both my meetings with members of their government hadn't gone well. They wanted to have privledge over others, even wanted to form some kind of trade block, but that's not what we're about. Do I trust them? Not really. But there aren't a lot of governments that I do hold trust in. However there are a couple of good friends that I have that are among them. And those people I trust. But there's good and bad in every government, isn't there?" She took another sip of her tea. "Including mine." No one was perfect, afterall.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Interesting. Connor pursed his lips and raised his brow for a second before looking away.

"Oh, of course. Good. Bad. Light. Dark. I'm all for finding that balance now. It's all I can do since seeing both sides and how much pain it can bring. The Silver Jedi are next for me to look at. I had no idea that they seem so...industrious now. Trade routes? Hm.”

Truth be told he knew little of their council, their codes or allies and enemies. Bar the Confederacy. He knew they were on side.

"I'm going to visit their system one day. See what's going on.” He brought his hands around and rested them on his knee, and gave her a look.

He wasn't sure how to converse about things that weren't all about work and duty and the Force and politics. It could be stilted, but he had offered for her to come along. He hadn't forgotten his previous encounters and how sour they had turned. Connor looked around again.

"Do you, do you know about those storms? Do they come over here or are they atmospheric? They must be far away, right?”

What a boring conversation he was starting.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded. She had no control over where [member="Connor Harrison"] or anyone else went. It just wasn't her way to tell people that they couldn't go anywhere. Could she tell them not to do something? Perhaps. But more often than not, they didn't listen.

She sipped her tea and contemplated her losses. With how little her words were regarded, Kay was beginning to think that she was just being fashioned into a figurehead and nothing more. She could feel it all slipping away from her fingers. Just how that managed to happen, she had no idea. But it was gradual. Maybe Veiere had all the power all along, and she was just the pretty face to sell the idea. That could be it. It might explain a few things too.

Kay shook her head of her thoughts as Connor asked about the Valley's weather patterns. "They do come over here. Almost every day. The flowers will let us know when it'll come this way. And if we set up rods, we can use them to attract the lightning. I saw one Sith Lord use that method to harness the lightning and practice shielding himself from it. It was quite the thing to watch." Not to mention dangerous. Kay wasn't confident enough to try it herself.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Now there was something to try.

He turned and stood up, moving to the entrance and looking out into the horizon. This was such a metaphor for his emotion. Peace and calm, underlying with a hint of ferocity and brewing power.

"That would be a conversation starter. Shielding oneself from lightning? Well it might be worth a try.” He folded his arms, and remembered the cybernetic limb. "Then again I wouldn’t want to risk being a living conductor.”

The temperature had dropped a little, but it was nice and cool where he stood. He heard the faint tinkling of the cup when the Queen took a sip of her beloved tea. He was so close to asking about the trial of her husband. It was a situation he wanted to know about but knew it wasn’t right.

"If….” NO, Connor. "…if there was..ah, never mind. I shouldn’t have asked you to come, I’m sorry. Questions keep pecking at my head and I don’t know why.”

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay had to laugh. No one wanted to be a living conductor. Not even droids. Lightning was powerful and unpredictable. The flowers in the Valley however gave hints to where it would strike. But only those that knew how to read the colours could figure it out. "I can imagine that it wouldn't be much different than blocking Force Lightning. Fortunately I haven't had to try it." Even when [member="Mythos"] was teaching her how to shield herself, he used a vast amount of blaster fire. Not lightning.

Once again she raised a brow as [member="Connor Harrison"] second guessed not only himself and the questions that he failed to give voice to, but of even having her join him on this trip. "I didn't have to come, no. But you and others close to me have told me to take a day off. I know that I need the rest, and I know that the stress is written on my face." Kay set the cup down onto the table and got to her feet. "If all that I'm doing is giving you nagging questions and making you uncomfortable then I will go back home...I don't mind." She stood there and waited. Whether or not he wanted her to go or stay, she was prepared for each.

 

[Connor Harrison]

He rolled his eyes a little, as silly as he sounded. It was all just…adjusting to things. Keeping check on things and not reacting or second-guessing.

"No, I’m being a hydro-spanner. Please, stay, I wouldn’t have asked you otherwise! I just find it hard to turn off my brain.”

As someone had said; baby steps. This was a long road to take and he was only at the start. He had relationships to build and mend, places to go and a status to achieve. Right now he was simply trying to emerge from a shell. Connor looked up and gave her a smile.

"I’m not uncomfortable around you, not now, which is good. And I don’t you are me, or are you just hiding it well?”

He gave a little smirk, obviously toying with their previous history.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

So [member="Connor Harrison"] wanted her to stay. That was good. She sat back down and picked up her tea, taking another sip. It would have saved her from having to repack, not to mention the awkward story to tell her guards.

Just as she was going to suggest that he meditate to try to shut off his brain, Connor spoke up again. A brow was raised as he stated something that she wasn't expecting to hear. "You were uncomfortable around me? Why? Is it my position, because I'm not very intimidating. Being forceful has a way of pushing people away instead of getting them to listen." Connor was always the one that intimidated her. Since day one he would get too close for comfort to her, invading her little bubble of personal space. But maybe that was the only way that he knew how to get whatever he wanted.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Turning the question back to him, Connor wasn't sure how to answer, but he WANTED to answer, because it was a good question!

”I...I don't know really. I think it was, I think it was because you did have a certain power and influence I could never have, and in my twisted mind I wanted to take some of that for myself and show that nobody was invincible and could make me feel small.”

He pressed a hand against his brow like a dunce.

”Pretty immature when you say it out loud. I was trying to be somebody I'm not - to convey a message I didn't believe in or impress people not worth my time. I was messed up.” Like the galactic bully, desperate to fit in. ”But with everything you had to deal with, you never backed down. Made me see how insignificant I was in what I was doing.”

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay furrowed her brows. He was trying to take her power? Was that why he behaved so badly. "But Connor, the power and influence that I have is only felt here. I am nothing outside of my borders. I have no voice. Anyone that reaches out only does so for credits. That's nothing to crave for."

She sighed a little, but not before having another sip of her tea. "I'm sorry if I made you feel small. It wasn't my intention. I'm not one that tries to bait people with snobbery. That just isn't my way." She had even offered him work for a time, yet he had walked away from it.

Again she tried to lighten the mood. "And don't confuse stubborness with not backing down. We all know how stubborn and thickheaded I can be."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Her final comment forced a laugh from him – an honest one, because it was true! He pointed a finger at her, sat there drinking her tea as if butter wouldn’t melt.

”Now that I can agree on!”

Yet his impression left on the Queen wasn’t a good one. She was right, because what had he wanted? Even he couldn’t say. He scratched his beard to buy himself a few seconds.

”I truly don’t know what I was trying to do, Kay. It was an embarrassing show and it did me no favours.” He walked back to the bed and sat on the end of it facing her in the chair, and took a more relaxed posture. ”The pressure I put on myself was immense. I was without guidance. I had lost my fr…well, a makeshift family first with the Silvers, and then I had to find my connection to the Force again and I spent so long almost trying to…to destroy the image I had been all my life, so I acted the way I did. But inside I think I knew it was going nowhere and I couldn’t stop it. Does that make sense?”

Even now he was surprised he hadn’t been executed, killed or jailed.

”Hence why I came back. There is no point trying to be somebody I’m not. I just have to go with my head and my heart, do what I can, help who I can and take my ego out of the equation because I sure can do a lot more good in that respect.”

The first sensible thing he’d said all day. Yet, he was still curious as to how he was received by the Queen. This situation must be a difficult one – difficult and surreal, having tea in a tent around a storm field with a man dressed like a wizard.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded. She knew full well of what it was like to be list and without a purpose. She had gone through it a few times. Becoming Queen wasn't something that had happened in a good way. With the help of the Sith, even urged by them, she had taken the lives of the Elders. That act alone had secured her rule. And she's been trying to make up for it ever since.

"I know some of what you're going through. Trust me, I've been there. Why else do you think that I'm so forgiving? There are some that would take advantage of that, I know. But others...others become better for it. Just like what you're becoming."

She tilted her head to the side a bit. "So what do you do to unwind?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

That was nice thing to say. Connor tilted his head to her in thanks.

”What do I do to unwind?” How boring could he make this. ”Ahh. I like to read, fiction and history of the galaxy. I find that quite fascinating.”

He was done. Narrowing his eyes, racking his brains, Connor thought a little more about what he could say.

”Spending time with lovely Queens such as yourself and putting the world to rights?” He shrugged. ”I never found many hobbies, but I wish I did! How about you? And don't say drinking tea - that's obvious.”

A rumble of thunder could be heard just after he had spoken.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay blinked in surprise. [member="Connor Harrison"] was a fellow reader? Oh well that'll make this trip a little less awkward. Moments of silence were welcomed with reading.

She smirked as he pointed out her title. After all this time, she still wasn't used to the special treatment that it afforded her. There were moments with certain people where she thought that that was all that people saw when they looked at her. A Queen. To them it was all that they cared about.

Kay finished her tea and set the cup down. "Tea is my addiction. But I like to read as well. Mystery stories, mostly. There are puzzles within them and I like to see if I can figure them out. It helps me to think in different ways." In some ways she was narrowminded and she knew it.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor winced a little.

"Oh? Mysteries? I would have thought you'd be racking your brains enough in your daily duties. I figured you for more a soppy romance, or light-hearted swashbuckling adventure. Maybe I'm wrong."

Personally he was into fact more than fiction - galactic history was an appeal. But, yes, he did read now and then stories to escape.

A silence fell on them again, and he looked around the tent as a thought crossed his mind.

”So what are the arrangements for, ah, sleep? Are there certain protocols I have to follow? The guards going to be standing on alert all night, or do I get a little tent outside under the storm?”

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay had to laugh. "A soppy romance? You've got to be kidding me. And as for adventure, there's plenty of that in my mystery holo-novels as well." Romances. Ha! It wasn't like she was some bored and lonely Princess locked up in some tower. No. She didn't need to pine for such things.

[member="Connor Harrison"] changed the subject, but it was to one that needed to be talked about. There had to be certain ground rules afterall. She glanced around for a moment. "The guards will be on alert all of the time, so don't worry about that." She made it sound as though he was worried that they'd be left alone. "We each have our own beds. So as long as you're a gentleman and no peeking when I get changed, it'll be fine." Kay smirked a little. "And can we maybe...forget the fact that I'm a Queen? I just want to be...normal for a couple of days. Okay? Isn't what this is about?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

The comment forced a sheepish smirk from Connor as he shrugged and looked away.

"Hey, we're only human after all." What a surreal situation to be in. But, a welcome one. "I certainly think we can forget that for now. Kay."

The mood felt more relaxed after that. On that note, he stood and walked to the front of the tent and picked up his satchel and overnight bag loaned to him by the household. Carrying them over, he set them on the bed he had sat on.

"For eating, do we get to so seek our own food, forge our own fire and roast an assortment of things on sticks? Or have you something else up your sleeve where I look a fool trying to make fire?"

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay smirked a little. So [member="Connor Harrison"] had intended on peeking, did he? Well she was sure to keep a watchful eye for that. Afterall, she was a modest lady.

She watched as he moved to gather his backpack. It was funny how she was the Queen, and yet Connor seemed less capable or at least comfortable with being in the outdoors. At his comment of her having something up her sleeves, she peered into them; first the right, followed by the left. "Nothing there but my arms. And of course we can build a fire. It just isn't camping without doing so. And I know how to cook over an open flame, so don't worry. You won't starve."

Kay got to her feet and stretched out a little. "Shall we get started now?" It seemed as good a time as any.