Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Legacies Come in Wholesale (Ailyne Viren)

@[member="Ailyne Viren"]

The Lady Najwa had become the Inquisitor Gyaumchem, the Imperial Navy Officer Ahani Najwa-Keth made berth in neutral space on the tail end of a dream. The Scribe had shown her a glimpse of her history, or better put the history she'd become and now Ahani wanted more.

Ever more.

Always more.

The Sith in her wanted the universe to burn round her ankles, or become better with resplendent passion in all corners until all she lost was returned. It was this Ahani who came to the station outside neutral space, a station well known to house some Chandaari diaspora who had made it out of Sith rule. She squared her shoulders and tugged at the collar of her white shirt, then brushed her hands across the metallic silver trousers tucked in to her silver boots. Somewhere on this station was the second closest thing to an answer or family that she could find. And find it she would.
 
“Find them! Find them before anyone else does!” Shouted the Chandaari Queen, the tempest of her storm-grey eyes boring through the guardsmans.

No one knew the true peril of this great reckoning as Ailyne understood. The foretold awakening had begun, and force bless that Raien should not stir from slumber.

--- a week later ---

A quiver in the force touched the fringe of Ailyne’s senses and caused a ripple effect that reached into the farthest corners of her mind. This presence was as familiar as the breath that filled her lungs, one Ailyne - and another other of Ahani’s lineage - had touched many times.

It was darkness that trailed the Najwa Matron like a blazing fire, leaving a traceable path in her wake. Such a signature as hers, was easy to pinpoint, but Ailyne hadn't needed to venture far. The Star Mother had returned, and her lineage was readily waiting at the station, having already detected the ancestor of legend, unsure of what to expect from the long rested woman.

Dressed in formal battle ware, Ailyne's outfit conformed snugly around her lithe shape, sleeves spiraling in red ribbons up her pale arms. Both her shoulders were squared, supported by the responsibility and burdens that only one of the royal lineage would understand.

Ahani was a ghost woman, and even in slumber the Echani had seemed so surreal. Yet here she was. Blood of her blood, flesh of her flesh.

"...@[member="Ahani Najwa-Keth"]."
 
The act of following an Echani was fool hardy at best, but an Echani whose back burned with the heat of her enemy's ire was a death wish no matter how one spun it. The Shadow Sword moved through the station inspecting the troops, figuring out what the Chandaari had become in her ignorant slumber. They moved like curious Echani children, lacking the nuance of their full blood elders, yet the mix was undeniable.

Allowing @[member="Ailyne Viren"] to follow her round, Ahani waited until she'd gotten away from the majority of people. Distance, the Keth-wife craved. Distance, clarity, privacy. She moved with the freedom of absolution, and stopped at the voice behind her. She sniffed the air. "Ahhhh you're one of mine. I can smell you, you are one of mine. Come to stare at your ancestor? Were you the one that tried to free us?"

Slowly, ever slowly Ahani turned around to peer at the face of her distant kin. Perhaps not so distant, with that look in Ailyne's eyes. For her part, Ahani kept her body loose and muscles relaxed. Her puzzled face peered at Ailyne with the whimsy of a mother who had once held Ailyne as an infant and had been gone for many a year. There was a softness, an irrepressible joy at seeing a member of her defendant line, to know what she did had been worth it and one of her children survived. . . No greater joy. "You are one of mine. . . Yuca made it." She whispered, lips working and eyes rimmed with the red of relieved nearly tears.
 
@[member="Ahani Najwa-Keth"]
Ailyne stood strong with her shoulders pulled back and her silver hair swept away from her face, staring at the moving shadow before her. "Every day, I have watched over your families slumber," She started, a soft yet hard edge in her tone. Both pale hands folded just behind the small of her back, and the point of her chin tilted up toward the sky in silent prayer, gaze falling once more to Ahani. "Generations, upon generation... have protected the sheath that covered a blade, that too many men have died by." She reached, and pulled out a pendant from beneath the silk around her neck, removing the heirloom from off her head and cradling it in the palm of her hand. "If ever we dared to think that blade looked pure... we only had to remember, that it was because the blood washed so easily from it's edge." The engraving around the pendant had faded drastically, stained, and near broken through the test of time, but it was a testament, a reminder of what had been. Always. "Luca's pendant symbolises this, and every first of kin is tasked with this burden when we come of age." Ailyne allowed her fingers to smooth over the face of the artifact, feeling the grit of it's edges under her skin. "But the sword is still sheathed... and for now, I am happy."

It was always eerie, looking at the face of her Mother who so much resembled herself. And again, now, Ailyne could see the stark resemblance she shared with this ancient ancestor.

At last, the Queen allowed the faint crack of a smile to creep up. A sign and show of respect, a dip of her head, all in the assurance and confirmation of Ahani's statement. "I am one and the same, Stela Mo'drea. Daughter, kin. But, tell me... what is the path you choose in this new life you have been given?"
 
"If it was your job to watch over the Krystallsøvn you must've been taking a nap. Manu's gone and before that Echani came and chiseled off bits. They knew exactly where to hit to take pieces from Raien. I'm beginning to see that after eight hundred years people still haven't forgotten my husband's legacy." It was a strange thing being given this woman of crystal and stone. She unlike all before her were able to flit forward and see the impress her actions made on time. Ahani pushed her lips together, watching the stillness of this frail thing and struggled to keep still a creeping smile. "Quite right. Wouldn't want them to. The . . blade, you called it? The blade must not be unsheathed. Leave the weapon where he stays, I am more concerned with my sons."

Ahani's drive had always been one of family and star fire. After letting Manu go from her conscious thought, upon release he was back inside it, and the mother longed to see her children. "What became of Yuca? Was he happy? Did he live a good life, full of valour and honour and pretty ladies?" Ahani's chest heaved and crested, lungs and ribcage working to stall the building joy and agony of knowing her child was gone, fallow and long passed and yet there were some who remembered him. What love could have torn her from her infant prince, what sin could have expunged a flittering life flying between bastions before the net grew closer still? If Ahani had let Manu and Raien kill each other, if she'd taken Yuca and ran as she once had done with her firstborn, would Yuca have suffered or survived? "It comes to me that I did Yuca a favour, possibly, but leaving him in the arms of Manu's daughter. It was the only place I knew. The only safety where he could be loved. Did it work? Was Chiara good to him? Was he loved?"

The tilted head, the tipping smile were enough for Ahani to think may haps the Chandaaran had retained more Echani qualities than first glance expressed. Ahani had been watching for old traditions in new faces, and now began to account for a demure growth and solidarity with two genetics. She shrugged, leaned against a wall and shoved her fingers through her silver hair. "Don't have a clue. Woke up, found a job to give me access to the information and supplies I needed to find you. Well, not you. Manu and Yuca. I wanted to find what was left of Yuca. It was my only plan."

@[member="Ailyne Viren"]
 
@[member="Ahani Najwa"]
"If it was your job to watch over the Krystallsøvn you must've been taking a nap. Manu's gone and before that Echani came and chiseled off bits. They knew exactly where to hit to take pieces from Raien. I'm beginning to see that after eight hundred years people still haven't forgotten my husband's legacy."

Ailyne pressed her lips together, brow creased to shade her grey eyes and making them appear to be darker than they were. "What?!" Ailyne's voice boomed, the slight touch of venom seeped in her tone.

Ahani didn't need to know that scouts had already been sent to scour the Galaxy until the white current of a knight, Manu Xextos had been found. "On my honor as a Viren, on my honor as a Queen, I swear, any who have been involved in this will be begging at my feet for mercy of the Gods!" She turned away from Ahani, every muscle in her body rippling, tensing. She could feel her teeth grinding together, and forced her jaw to 'pop', releasing the lock. Many had wanted Raien and Ahani dead, many had prayed for their wakening, but only the royal family knew where they were.

Was there a traitor in to worry of now? Or were the Echani becoming so reckless and bold? Fools! Every last one. "Do you understand what Raien's awakening would mean, DO YOU?! I'd slaughter every Echani if it meant he never open his eyes again!" Eight-hundred years later, and there was still fear. Sithspawn, devil. She'd not come this far to protect her own, just to watch them burn under the fire of an ancient legend.

"Quite right. Wouldn't want them to. The . . blade, you called it? The blade must not be unsheathed. Leave the weapon where he stays, I am more concerned with my sons."

She whipped around to eye Ahani as if she'd rattled off treasons. Did the Queen hear correctly, or was this some trick? This ancestor wanted Raien to remain in his slumber? Was this some game? Some tactic to drop Ailyne's guard down? No. There was truth in her body language, in her posture. Even so, she wouldn't let Ahani out of her sight for even a moment.

"Yuca was the beginning of this Kingdom. The history texts say he was unlike any other boy. An expert duelist, and wise beyond his years. Legend believes his Mother swallowed holocrons and saber crystals while he was still in the womb, going as far in saying he cut his way out with a constructed lightsaber of his own. But those are just stories that the common folk tell to the young ones before bed. You see, Yuca became as much a God in the eyes of our people, as Raien became the demon of terror that punishes naughty children. You ask if he was loved? If he lived a full life? Yuca saved Chiara Xextos, he was her moon and stars. Nothing could separate her from the love she had for him, not even Erryn Xextos. He loved, lived, fought, and died. But not without leaving a legacy that has been carried on through thousands of generations."

Her head shifted slightly to the right, "You haven't been to Chandaar yet, have you?"

Each stone, every single monument built, was centered around the founding history and legends. They were Gods and Heros, tales of old that left many to wonder the truth behind such stories. From the weaving, uneven cobblestone streets, to the crystal palace that glittered like a thousand stars in a midnight sky, and all the way down to the thrashing amber waves against Ambaril cities cliffside, Chandaar was saturated in the mists of myth and wonder. "Come back to Ambaril, and see for your own eyes the legacy of your children." Where I can keep an eye on you.
 
"Now, now, slaughtering millions makes you just like him. Turn your stove to simmer and think more like a Queen. It's your job to make them go 'huh, if I'd have followed this woman from the start it wouldn't have been so hard. I think I'll be one of hers.' Trust me, although Echani answer to strong leadership, they don't react well to wholesale slaughter." Ahani tapped her forehead with a knuckle and kicked one foot atop the other. She shook her head, no she hadn't gone to Chandaar. "I know enough about this timeline to know Chandaar is in Sith space. I have nearly less desire to travel through the Sith Empire than I do to see Raien awake. I know more than you about what Raien's capable of. I'm the one he tortured for six years, whose husband he murdered and I'm the one who went nuts. I get it, Ailyne. I was hoping the time in stasis would heal him, he was so wounded he could but share the wounds with the universe. Try and cut them all to make sense of why his heart was broken. What sort of safety do you have, or are you the Queen with her back against the wall and invaders on all quarters? How badly do you need a proper view of history?" The prospect was tempting enough to have Ahani lick her lips and bite down on them, hoping with another minute she could rise above the deep desire to see Yuca's historical footprint.

"Ambaril, you say? Yes I can go. Eventually I will be needed back on Atrisia, I've started a new life and the connections I'm building there are helping me locate Manu. I can feel him, tugging at the back of my mind. All is not well with my son and I can only think that the Krystallsøvn was incomplete. I must get to Manu before the waste which struck Raien's bones seeps further into my boy. He won't last long before the tainted sliver in his heart consumes his spirit. What do your stories say of Manu? Of me?"

@[member="Ailyne Viren"] spoke well of Yuca and the mother in Ahani wept for her infant child. Ahani hiccupped an inhale, red-rimmed eyes bursting with threads of tears. The moisture slicked down her face, she laughed rubbing at her cheeks with her palms. "I assure you he didn't come out fully formed and swinging a lightsaber. When I found I was pregnant, I did hide with Raien in a Nebula where the remnants of old stars were reconfiguring into a new planetary system. The life in the place was beautiful. We meditated on the cycle of destruction and creation, knowing our constant meditations would help form the solar system in the future. Yuca was born on a small moon, I went alone to bear him my Echani midwife and I. None of the Sith were to know Raien had another son. We stayed hidden, raising Yuca with no outside influence until the day came when Raien kissed me and I knew. He left to confront Manu. Yuca had this little foam lightsaber, it had a magnet in its foam that attached it to a little . . . what was it, Nexu? Predatory feline from Vendaxa. He used to play with that all day. When I gave him to Chiara, it was the only toy I had to give him. . . he was loved, then."
 

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