Private Lost and Found

[Darth Anathemous]

Location: Echnos, biodome
Wearing: This
Tag: Kirie

Kaila had changed of late.

The biodome was complete, her personal garden was expanding.

Every direction she looked in this sector was red with the flora of Dathomir and other exotic plants which had finally bloomed under her care after so much work. Even the artificial sun here felt warm against her freckled skin.

But none of it made her happy.

Not since the princess left, and not since Kirie-

Kaila tried not to think of that anymore. She wiped the sweat from her brow on burgundy sleeves, a simplistic shirt which should have been the first layer of more complex raiments from her homeworld. Instead she was here, tearing up the ground with her tools and carefully moving dirt over seedlings. The people of Echnos left her to her own devices as always, not because they had no access to the biodome but because her guards stood at the doorway to this particular section when she wished to be alone.

Until one day, someone approached.

"My lord, there's someone here to see you." said the armored figure.

"Why have they not been sent to the office?"

Her voice was smaller than usual, disinterested.

But when she tossed her gloves aside and turned to see who had come, everything changed.

​

 

[Kirie]

The dome was one of many new additions to Echnos, a planet whose main city had changed drastically since she had last visited, in the immediate aftermath of a Sith power struggle, the air still oozing with the residue of the fear machine that had nearly obliterated its population. That miasma was more faded now, but Kirie knew how to feel it more than she had then. The way it made her already fraught nerves even more jumpy, the way it deepened the valleys of her uncertainty, her hesitation. What would it be like to live in the presence of such a feeling, fading though it was, day-in-day-out? How did Kaila manage it? It hardly seemed worth the effort. Though, Kirie supposed one rarely had their pick of the litter when it came to ruling planets, and Echnos was a hard-won notch in Darth Anathnenous' belt.

Anathemous. Kaila. Just the thought of their imminent reunion made her feel sick with nerves. Part of her was afraid Kaila would blame her somehow, that she'd find her inconsolable, or worse, apathetic. All those realities were unbearable, and yet realistic. That gave Kirie pause, but she knew she had to be brave.

She arrived at the square outside the Governor's building. Fear, war, death. Was it memory or an imprint? Kirie could almost taste the Sangnir's blood on her lips. She ignored the disturbing sensation and took in the scene around her. New towers under construction, fortifications and defences, the concrete palace with its brutal authority and...

A garden.

Instantly, instinctively, Kirie knew that was where she would find her.

In the heated air of the dome, Kirie trudged along the fertile beds, a sheen of sweat breaking out along her forehead. She dutifully followed the solemn instructions of the workers, leading her to a secluded section teeming with unfamiliar red plants, each clearly lovingly tended to by their caretaker. Kaila's refuge, a quiet place for her. And here she was stepping into it uninvited. That felt wrong, but what else could she do? At this point it felt crueller to wait.

The guards barred her entry. At her insistence, one reluctantly went to fetch the Governor. Kirie caught a glimpse of her. Strong and lithe, clad in the simplest clothes Kirie had ever seen her in, bent over in the dirt working. She could see the appeal that might have for someone like Kaila, for whom the rest of the Galaxy was serious, and daunting, and life or death. There was comfort in the mundane, in creating a slice of home. When Kaila rose and brushed herself off, Kirie was so glad to see her, but still all the muscles in her legs tensed, a knot forming in her stomach. She forced a shy smile, slowly raised her hand in greeting.

From behind her shoulder, the small droid rose into the air, splitting the distance between the pair of them. When she signed, it repeated her meaning in a close approximation of her voice built on hours and hours of security footage of Kirie speaking in the Varanin home. It was uncannily close, but someone like Kaila would hear the difference easily.

'Hey Kaila.' Kirie signed. 'Long time no see.'

Darth Anathemous ​

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Location: Echnos, biodome
Wearing: This
Tag: Kirie

Kaila froze in her tracks, for just a beat.

But so many thoughts passed behind those wide eyes.

How long had it been since Kirie was taken? How long had Kaila mourned in secret? Was this even real? She didn't care if it was. Kaila ran to her, kicking up precious soil behind her. The guard had to step aside so as not to be trampled by his lord, whom he'd never seen so emotional.

Nor shed a tear, until now.

By the time Kirie finished signing and the words could process, Kaila had her arms around the handmaiden, held tight.

"I thought you were dead." she sniffled.

A short moment passed before she pulled back enough that Kirie may see the corners of her quivering lip twitch into something like a smile, at least until the realization hit her.

She looked at the droid, then her guard.

"Leave us. All of you."

They responded quickly to her stern voice as a little of Kaila's old self came out.

And only once they were out of earshot did her attention snap to her old friend, accompanied by a concerned frown.

"What's with the droid?"

"Are you alright...? what happened?"

​

 

[Kirie]

'Hey. Hey. Kaila, it's okay. I'm okay.' Kirie signed as she pulled away. Kaila needn't have said anything, the tighntness of her embrace and the unspoken worry rolling off her was enough to understand how she was feeling, but the words 'I thought you were dead' ripped a hole in her that would probably take years to patch over.

Guilt churned in Kirie's gut. Guilt over how she had allowed herself to rest, allowed the doctors to pump her full of sedatives while the bruises and the cuts faded, allowed herself to watch, and wait, and understand what was happening before she ventured out, all without seeing Kaila. All without talking to Kaila.

That potent emotion swirled and combined with the relief and gladness of seeing Kaila, and tears sprang into her eyes that she quickly blinked away. She sniffled to match Kaila, then composed herself.

'A long story.' Briefly, Kirie outlined the kidnapping as she remembered it, the way her brain was still fuzzy, how the memories were jumbled and frayed and dim. She told Kaila of the lab, the experiments, the injury to her neck and throat, the details of which she had trouble focusing on. 'Lirka Ka saved me, if you can believe it.' Kirie added. 'I guess some Kainites do have a heart.'

'Anyway, the vocal injury isn't responding to treatment, despite the cocktail of stuff they have me on.' Kirie gestured to her arm, where a little black box was strapped, tubes disappearing into her skin. 'So I've dusted off the ORSL I learned as a girl, and the droid helps make the communication seamless. I can teach you some signs sometime, though. If you like.'

Kirie glanced up, immediately convincing herself on seeing Kaila's expression that like everyone else in her life, Kaila was looking at her like she was made of glass, cracked and liable to shatter at any moment. Kirie wasn't that, and even if she was, she'd just piece herself back together again, same as always.

'Seriously, Kaila, I'm fine. Glad to be out of trouble, mostly. The the Kainites won't be able to touch me again, not for a while anyway.'

Again, Kaila's expression tripped her up, seemed to be concealing more than just concern.

'You seem unhappy.' signed Kirie, her mouth pulling into a tight line, and a frown knit her brow. 'I'm sorry.'

Darth Anathemous ​

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Location: Echnos, biodome
Wearing: This
Tag: Kirie

It took her a moment to realize what was happening.

That Kirie was signing, that she could not speak on her own.

But she tried for her sake to remain calm, to be a good friend who stood aside and listened. Even so her face would repeatedly shift somewhere between relief and horror and anger all at once throughout the story being told. Kaila looked as though she may cry again, hearing that she'd been tormented by the Kainites, because that was one thing no person should ever relate to.

Yet it was not her place to cry now, this wasn't about her.

So instead she focused on how morbidly proud she was, knowing exactly the sorts of things she'd endured.

Kirie gestured to her arm, where a little black box was strapped, tubes disappearing into her skin. 'So I've dusted off the ORSL I learned as a girl, and the droid helps make the communication seamless. I can teach you some signs sometime, though. If you like.'

"Yes." she managed with a nod, barely more than a whisper.

'Seriously, Kaila, I'm fine. Glad to be out of trouble, mostly. The the Kainites won't be able to touch me again, not for a while anyway.'

"I know... I know... It's just a lot."

Kaila tried to smile, fighting so hard to give the girl space to sign away, and because she no longer knew where their boundaries lay. Everything had changed, and though she was ecstatic to see her, it brought so many emotions crashing down when she could no longer run from them as she had been.

'You seem unhappy.' signed Kirie, her mouth pulling into a tight line, and a frown knit her brow. 'I'm sorry.'

"It's fine, you've got bigger things to worry about." she choked, assuming that Kirie already knew.

Another tear rolled from her eye, one she wiped clean with fingers that were blackened almost to the knuckle.

And distinctly ringless.

"It's just uhm... Does Quinn know you're back...? how is she taking this?"

"I understand if you need to get back to her soon, I do not wish to intrude more than I have."

"But can I offer you some tea before you go?"

​

 

[Kirie]

Kirie plonked herself down in the red dirt across from Kaila, running some of the fertile soil through her fingers, wiping it off on her dark skirt. Her eyes wandered around the leafy crimson foliage, taking in the strange, at times hostile flora. On Weik, the most harmful things were stinging plants and poisonous berries. Some of these plants looked about ready to pick her up and swallow her whole. She couldn't understand the appeal of that on its surface. There had to be some other significance.

'I never took you for a gardener.' Kirie ventured. 'Do you just like red?' She knew it wasn't that. But, like her, Kaila did not liked to be cornered. This way, she had the freedom to tell Kirie as much or as little as she liked. Maybe she might have pressed if the bounds of their relationship were clearer, but as it was, better to leave it up to Kaila to decide what she divulged.

Similarly uncomfortable was the topic of Quinn. Kirie had learned of the separation only after her return, and for the most part she'd accepted it as one of the many things that were different since being freed. There was a dividing line, before and now. Things were different. She was different. The trick was being okay with it, and she still had some work to do on that front.

'I got dropped back at the house and did most of my recovering there. She's finding it hard.' Kirie pursed her lips. 'It is hard, but it's good to have her there.'

Kirie gave a small shrug and her gaze found the coarse red grass before she was able to drag them back to Kaila's amber eyes.

'Anyway. I'm trying to see it as a push forward, to figure out what I want, who I'll be.'

Kirie wondered if Kaila was pondering the same question about herself. Her role had always seen foretold. The Sith. The ruler. The Knight. These she had all seemed embrace easily. Her life, Kirie considered, was built on her interdepencies with the other Sith. She wasn't adrift and vulnerable in the same way Kirie often found herself, but did she feel chained? Why had she never asked her before?

That answer was obvious to her. Fear of Anathemous, then of Kaila, then of herself. Maybe without that pressure, she could finally get to know her properly. For her part, Kirie's ordeal had largely left her without malice or fear. Maybe that would come back. Probably it would, but for now she felt brave enough and strong enough. She wondered if Kaila was strong enough to take her presence, or if she was only adding to her pain.

Kirie realised she hadn't added anything in a while and she smiled apologetically, small dimples forming in her cheeks and her nose scrunching a little.

'I'll take a tea.' Kirie signed. 'Especially if I'm not the one who has to serve it.' she added, joking.

'Need any help with the garden?'

Darth Anathemous ​

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: This
Tag: Kirie

It felt... so normal to see her sit in soil.

To get it in her clothes.

Kaila's mind been so scattered she'd forgotten to stop and enjoy the nature she was cultivating. Thinking on it, had she ever seen Kirie so far from duties which demanded the utmost cleanliness? Had Kirie ever seen her outside of uniform nor vestments?

'I never took you for a gardener.' Kirie ventured. 'Do you just like red?'

"I get that a lot lately." she managed a chuckle.

Kaila didn't blame them for it, perhaps most assumed the plants in her officer were tended by servants or droids. She'd worked so hard to put up that front, to be the unfeeling, unyielding titan all Sith claimed to be.

It worked.

Sometimes too well.

She decided to sit in the dirt across from Kirie, shed that reputation for a moment, just catch up with an old friend.

'I got dropped back at the house and did most of my recovering there. She's finding it hard.' Kirie pursed her lips. 'It is hard, but it's good to have her there.'

Kirie gave a small shrug and her gaze found the coarse red grass before she was able to drag them back to Kaila's amber eyes.

'Anyway. I'm trying to see it as a push forward, to figure out what I want, who I'll be.'

Who I'll be.

Kaila nodded slowly.

She wouldn't dare compare their struggles but those words resonated with her more than one might think. Kaila, Anathemous, a certain woman had shown her that now more than ever, she hadn't the foggiest clue who or what she was.

Remembering that conversation made her frown, and reach for something in her pocket.

'I'll take a tea.' Kirie signed. 'Especially if I'm not the one who has to serve it.' she added, joking.

'Need any help with the garden?'

"Hmh."

"I didn't expect help from a servant tired of her lot."

She chuckled, then gestured at a bag of seeds under a nearby shed.

Kaila pulled two items from her pocket then; a commlink, and a little metal box.

"Zero, bring my tea kit the garden would you please?"

The droid beeped and wooped on the other end, something about the dirt, to which Kaila only rolled her eyes and turned off the commlink.

"He'll be here in a moment." she sighed.

Finally she stood, approaching her shovel while opening the little box in her hand.

It was full of cigarras.

"I'll answer your question about my little red garden in a moment."

"But first..."

She glanced at the little box in her arm, worried she might aggravate the girl's throat if she lit one.

"...do you mind if I smoke?"

​

 

[Kirie]

"I didn't expect help from a servant tired of her lot."

'Always feels different if you're not doing it for work.' Kirie remarked idly. 'And I'm always happy to help a friend.' There it was. A term that somehow felt ridiculously loaded despite its innocence. But Kirie was determined not to let the complexity drag her down. The past was tragic. The present was confused. But, her future was bright. She would make it so, or else kick and scream and bite at those who would try to take things away from her. Besides, there were already more than enough people who had it out for Kirie. She had to protect her fragile relationships, complex as they were, not sabotage them.

So Kaila was a friend. End of story. Time to press on. No looking back. A flawed philosophy, maybe, but it was a better alternative to the drowning feeling she'd been experiencing.

'Back home I always used to help my mother with the vegetable patch. Said I had a green thumb. ' Kirie expertly pushed back the knot in her chest that came with thoughts of Cephis, and gently reached out and touched a crimson leaf. It was dappled with splotches of violet and covered in a soft fuzz that seemed to shrink away from her when she touched it. 'Never saw anything like this on Weik though- where's it from?'

"...do you mind if I smoke?"

'Sure. It's your bio-dome.' Kirie had never smoked. The stuff hadn't really been available on Cephis, and most of her other experiences with it involved having puffs of the acrid stuff blown into her face when she was standing downwind of the guards. What Kaila was brandishing looked much more fine than whatever chopped-up rubbish the Kainate's lackeys smoked, but it didn't make Kirie want to partake any more, even if a part of her felt disappointed for not joining Kaila in the ritual.

'I don't think I ever saw you smoke before, either.' Kirie signed. It was like she had woken up from her rescue to find herself in a similar, yet slightly altered Galaxy. Maybe that was the case. Stranger things had happened. Stars, stranger things had happened to her. The only thing that wasn't clear was whether this new reality was better than the old, or worse.

Darth Anathemous​

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: This
Tag: Kirie

A friend.

Kaila stopped, giving her a glance.

Kirie had managed to answer a great many questions in so few words, and slowly, they pulled her features into a warm smile. She watched her prod at some of the more exotic flora in her collection, listened carefully as she recalled her home. Kaila wouldn't ask of her mother right now, knowing that the former slave had a troubled past, it was better to save such questions for another time just in case.

To hear of Weik though, now that was intriguing.

It made her realize just how little they knew of one another, despite their shared adventures.

'I don't think I ever saw you smoke before, either.' Kirie signed.

Kaila frowned, glancing up at the filtered sky while she held the cigarra to her blackened fingers.

Within seconds, that contact burst into flame.

"I've uhm. picked up some bad habits from A..."

Fanged god... what were she and Rinea ?

"A friend." she chuckled nervously.

Kirie was correct of course, Kaila only smoked the expensive stuff. It had a distinct smell but it wasn't so bad as common tabac. She took a long drag of it and then turned her head to blow the smoke away from present company.

It gave her a moment to close her eyes and relax, loosen those broad shoulders she'd held so tightly for the past for minutes. Days...? Months, perhaps.

She smiled after a moment, thin as it was, glancing back at her plants.

"It's all from Dathomir, in the outer rim."

"My homeworld, I think."


"If you look up there," she pointed with her cigarra

"Those vines crawling up my shed? It's part of that fuzzy bush you like. It's hard to see because of those purple spots, but Hwotha berries grow on those vines. Care to pick some for us?"

"They're sweet, and just a little tart, makes for a fine dessert and finer tea."

Maybe they could talk of Weik and Dathomir over a cup?

The thought made her smile again.

"I only share them with friends."

​

 

[Kirie]

'Well, I don't know that they seem like a very good influence.' Kirie signed, 'but, I'm glad. You have someone, I mean.' That didn't come out right, and Kirie let herself trail off instead of making it more awkward, before pressing on. 'It does make you look kind of cool though.' Kirie smirked. She wondered if Kaila, the Sith with the moniker 'Lord of Blades', considered herself cool? She undoubtedly was, but somehow Kirie doubted she thought so. People were strange that way.

Kirie watched silently as Kaila took a drag, watched as the tension slowly drained from her powerfully wound muscles. Kirie listened, interested while Kaila explained about the plants. Listened as she brought up Dathomir. It seemed like they were learning a lot more about each other already. That felt important. That was a trend Kirie wanted to continue.

'You don't know where you grew up?' Kirie asked Kaila. She knew that Kaila had been recruited as Carnifex's apprentice, but she'd always assumed that had happened when Kaila was an adult, or at least an older adolescent. Now she wasn't as sure. Her mind cast back to a day she didn't like to dwell on, to the realisation that Kaila's bones were made of solid metal. When had that procedure happened? What else had she endured? Again, Kirie had never asked. Though she would not press Kaila for the information now, it just set her mind wandering.

Stars. She was introspective today, wasn't she? Not the usual push-your-feelings-down-until they-go-away Kirie. Not the usual yes-of-course-everything-is-fine-why-do-you-keep-asking Kirie. She was sad, and regretful, and thoughtful, and grateful to be opposite another person who she was pretty certain was feeling the same way.

"Those vines crawling up my shed? It's part of that fuzzy bush you like. It's hard to see because of those purple spots, but Hwotha berries grow on those vines. Care to pick some for us?"

"They're sweet, and just a little tart, makes for a fine dessert and finer tea."

Kirie nodded in assent and rose unceremoniously from her seat in the dirt. She followed the snaking vines from the bush as they weaved towards the shed, where the lattice gave them purchase to twist and fatten, reaching towards the sky. The thickest sections were splotched with purple, and sure enough, around them the vine was laden with plump berries. She pinched the stem with her fingers, digging her short-filed nails into into it until she came away with a bunch, holding them up for Kaila to see.

Excited to sample the Hwotha Berries, Kirie removed one of the smaller ones and popped it into her mouth, biting down on the fruit with a satisfying crunch. Immediately, her expression changed to one of disgust and she resisted the urge to spit it out. She looked back to Kaila with a grimace.

'That one I think was a little underripe, unless they're meant to tast like tanned leather.'

Her excitement now appropriately measured, Kirie rejoined Kaila, listening out for the sound of the returning droid and running her fingers through the grass.

Darth Anathemous ​

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: This
Tag: Kirie

"Does it?" Kaila pondered.

It wasn't something she really thought about before.

She made herself look powerful before, or wealthy, sometimes attractive, but always with an ulterior motive. Did she look cool? Jacen Breska certainly seemed to think her powers did.

"Hmh."

"I guess it does." she grinned.

"I'll light it on my saber next time, really ramp up that cool factor."


Kaila took another drag, watching the handmaid watch her with that same introspective look she'd seen in the mirror so often of late. There was a question asked, and it made her remember how little the two women knew of each other. They'd been separated so often even before the incident, by distance and duty, she suspected.

"Vanquo." she exhaled, coughed the slightest bit.

"I grew up with the Mandalorians on Vanquo, until the legion took me."

"I was sixteen, I think."

The young Darth took another, shorter drag, casting her gaze over the garden.

"But I was born elsewhere, and I've reason to believe it was Dathomir. Always been drawn to it's wilds."

'That one I think was a little underripe, unless they're meant to tast like tanned leather.'

Kaila chuckled softly.

"The soft ones, dear. With the gray-blue sheen to them."

Zero came rolling into the garden moments later, kicking up lots of dirt in his wake till he slowed to a halt so as not to dirty his master nor guest. After a friendly wave to Kirie with his little servo arm, the droid opened up to reveal hidden compartments stocked with Duraporcelain cups, tea bags, and a hexegonal little tea pot, all of which were carefully set out one at a time.

He hung the pot over his own plasma torch, kept on it's lowest setting to boil.

"Thank you, Zero." hummed Kaila, who came to sit and stir the ingredients.

"You know, I don't think I've ever asked you about Weik. Is that where you're from?"

"What's it like, if if you're comfortable sharing?"

​

 

[Kirie]

'Now you're just showing off.' Kirie replied with a grin. The smile though was shortlived, and faded into a serious, attentive look as she considered Kaila's origin. Sixteen. It was hard to imagine the kind of person she would have become if she was taken by the Sith at only sixteen, but Kirie was pretty certain she would not be nearly as good, or caring, or conflicted as Kaila was now. Who would Kaila Irons be then, if she hadn't been taken? Certainly not Irons for starters. Probably a Mandalorian warrior, battling her way across the stars for family and glory. Only, she had been taken. Now she was here, with her Lordship and her amber eyes and metallic bones. A fate as inexorable as Kirie's own. Neither of them had chosen this life. Both of them were in too deep for anything else.

Kirie considered telling Kaila about the way she sometimes imagined her alternate life, where her ship had arrived at its destination in the Core, or she had never been forced to leave Weik in the first place. Where she was a farmer, or a blacksmith, or a fabricator. But, she didn't ultimately, their past was fixed. The only things they could change was what was ahead.

'Home has more to do with a feeling, than where you've spent the most time.' Kirie signed. 'If you feel like Dathomir is that for you, then that's what it is.'

Kirie's attention returned to the droid that was ambling its way back towards them. It was a cute little thing, the kind of droid Kirie'd be surprised to see Kaila own if she hadn't already learned to look beneath the woman's surface layer. No doubt it was the soft side of her that felt an affinity for the chirpy little thing.

At Kaila's instruction, Kirie selected one of the softer berries, squinting at it to see the sheen Kaila was talking about. She popped the berry into her mouth and sighed in satisfaction at the sweet tart, almost spiced flavour that ran across her tongue. She was even more excited to try the tea.

'Thank you Zero.' Kirie added, following Kaila's example.

"You know, I don't think I've ever asked you about Weik. Is that where you're from?"

"What's it like, if if you're comfortable sharing?"

'It is.' Kirie confirmed. 'I don't know if you know the system, but it's basically the edge of the Rim, and my town, Cephis, is way north, up by the pole. It's very, very, very small.' Kirie didn't linger on the details. If she did, she new she'd be lost awhile in memory. The smell of the conifers, the crunch of the snow underfoot, the smudges of grey chimney smoke against the clear blue sky. 'It's a good place, with good people who live much less complicated lives than they do on this side of the Blackwall. I'm not really welcome back there anymore, though.'

'Do you visit Dathomir often? I imagine it might be complicated, crossing into another empire.'

Darth Anathemous ​

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: This
Tag: Kirie

Kaila stopped stirring.

"...me too." she sighed.

"Clan Solus would never have me as a Sith. I might never again see the pines of Vanquo."

Still she managed a sad little smile. "But as you said, home is a feeling."

There was a moment spent glancing around the garden, at Zero, at Kirie. Did Echnos feel like home yet? It was a question she'd asked often, somewhere deep down where she could not hear that little voice. After recent events, that voice had only grown louder.

But maybe, for just a moment spent with a friend, she could pretend to know the answer.

'Do you visit Dathomir often? I imagine it might be complicated, crossing into another empire.'

"Hm."

The warrior-gardener continued to stir, pouring in a handful of dried berries and crushed leaves.

"No." she shook her head.

"The Mandalorians make it difficult. I've made a few trips however, spoken to sisters of Alya, the Wanica thirteen and even attended some gatherings recently to address existential threats with the Nightsisters."

Despite the melancholy subject, Kaila managed to smile a little.

"I've a grimoire in my collection, from my homeworld. It has taught me some magick. I used it to take your pain away when we removed that brand, you see. I guess that makes me a witch."

"Do you have witches in Cephis?"

​

 

[Kirie]

Listening to Kaila speak about Dathomir, and the people who had forsaken her, Kirie was reminded of something that keeped cropping up whenever her conversations with Kaila broached any level of depth.

Their lives were mirrors.

How many experiences had they shared? And yet, through ripples and timings and circumstance, the paths they had been placed on had diverged completely. Kaila was a Lord of Sith now, a member of the foremost group of demigods who lorded their power over the masses. And yet, she was as much trapped behind the Blackwall by station and circumstance as Kirie, a lowly servant. How? Kaila was influential and strong, and yet it seemed like the Sith had found a way to rob even the strongest, most capable of its members of the autonomy to leave.

Kirie thought she knew why, but it was not a theory she wished to share with Kaila, not least because it reflected poorly on Kirie, too.

In her lordship, Darth Anathemous had inherited a planet, command over soldier and domion over the Force that could not be achieved anywhere else in known space. But in doing so she had entwined herself in a web that now snared her: Power. Alliances. Territory. Relationships. Comfort. And her goals, as Kirie understood them, would pull her ever deeper as they were ticked off, a self-fulfilling prophesy to turn her into exactly what the Galaxy thought she was.

And after that, where could Kaila Irons go, where Darth Anathemous wouldn't follow her?

And how was Kirie different? Was she not also wrapped in the same golden net at this very moment? The whole concept was disturbing, and Kirie tried to push her mind away from the matter. Thankfully, Kaila broke in with a question to pull her out of the spiral.

"I've a grimoire in my collection, from my homeworld. It has taught me some magick. I used it to take your pain away when we removed that brand, you see. I guess that makes me a witch."

'I've heard about Dathomiri magick.' Kirie signed, nodding. 'I never knew that's what you were using that night.' Another swathe of memories hung over her head, but those had been overexamined enough to no longer pose an immediate threat. She pushed on.

When Kaila asked about witches on Cephis Kirie let out a puff of air resembling a snort and wrinkled her nose.

'No. But that is definitely a label some of them would use for me.' Kirie paused for a moment, but her wry comment demanded more explanation. In brief, she outlined the story of her exile. How she had found a strangely warm and light stone on a walk when she was 17; how unbeknownst to her, it had sickened the entire town, causing those closest to her to waste away; How a passing Jedi had found the stone and demanded to know who had brought it there; And how, on the 20th birthday she had left the town heartbroken and alone, and boarded a ship bound for the Core which would never arrive, instead shot down by the Kainites, dropping Kirie into the waiting hands of the Sith.

'I'm sorry.' Kirie added when she was done. 'I know that is not what you meant. I guess I've just been meaning to share that for a while.'

Please. Please, let the tea be ready soon.

Darth Anathemous ​

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: This
Tag: Kirie

She grew quiet.

Staring into the kettle, she continued to stir throughout the story, the only sign that she was listening being the way her expression slowly settled into melancholy.

Sometimes it felt as though she and Kirie related for all the worst reasons.

Half way through she closed up the kettle and shuffled closer, enough to touch shoulders.

"It's fine." she murmured.

"I think it's..." a sigh, "We never really had time to share, did we?"

"We were always kept separate for one reason or another. I never realized how similar our stories were."

Hesitantly, she laid an arm around Kirie's shoulders. It was heavy, with the weight of metal bones, and with decision. She didn't know if the Princess' possessiveness would have scorned her for touching what was hers the way it once had for her own sake, but in this moment she did not care.

She needed to be there for her friend, something she'd once failed to do.

"I... was once Kaine's apprentice." she finally confessed.

"Something of a battle-thrall, almost. It's not an experience I'd wish upon anyone."


"...I'm sorry, Kirie..."


A beat passed, and her sad glance was interrupted by the whistling of their finished tea. She reached out with one hand, but seeing the emotional moment, Zero slapped his master's hand aside and began pouring tea himself. Kirie was given her cup first, then Kaila, who offered him a faint but knowing smile while she savored the warm, sweet-tart drink.

"Mm." she slowly breathed out some of that tension.

"I've been meaning to ask, what will you do now?"

​

 

[Kirie]

'No.' Kirie agreed. 'We did not.' Regret gnawed at the edges of her mind, that she hadn't tried harder to understand Kaila, to know her better, instead of holding her to an image in her head. Maybe then she wouldn't have hurt her. That was just one of a laundry list of things she regretted about the last year, but like all the others, it wasn't worth lingering on. Today was about moving forward.

Their shoulders touched. A pleasant, familiar contact that she had missed, and one without expectation. Of all the Sith Kirie had known aside from Quinn, Kaila was the only other who had never demanded anything from Kirie. No access, no servitude, no favours. In fact, she had only ever given, and Kirie had only ever taken. She hoped that she could repay Kaila with her friendship, an equal one, where Kirie was not always in need, and dragging Kaila into her dark world.

Even though their arms were already touching, Kirie was unable to stop her body's reaction to Kaila's arm wrapping around her. The blonde would feel Kirie jerk instinctively beneath her, muscles shuddering with sudden fearful tension. She closed her eyes and breathed out slowly, giving Kaila a reassuring pat on the thigh before she could think to pull her hand away. Once the sensation had settled, she looked up and gave a small smile, wriggling a little to lean properly against the blonde Sith.

"I... was once Kaine's apprentice."

There was so much unspoken in Kaila's admission: an implicit guilt, the horrific treatment she must have endured. She remembered when Kaila had told her of her metallic bones and Kirie was immediately sure it was him who had done it. One of the great architects of Sith cruelty, and she had served under him. Kirie could only imagine how awful it must have been, and she knew in her heart that whatever she imagined, Kaila's reality had probably been worse.

'I'm sorry too, Kaila.' Kirie signed, resting her head against Kaila's arm. 'He can't hurt us now.' Was that even true? Probably not, but it felt like the right thing to say, and the both of them were at least out of the Kainate's orbit for the moment.

"I've been meaning to ask, what will you do now?"

'I don't really know.' Kirie replied. 'I guess, there's a few things.'

'I have spent the last years running, and hiding and fighting just to survive, constantly on the edge of death, or worse.' Kirie gave a little shrug, knowing that she was just repeating things Kaila already knew, that she had been through with Kirie, or that she had survived herself.

'I guess what I'm saying is I just want to live my life.' She gave a wry smile. 'Ambitious, I know, but I figured I'd start small.'

Kirie took a long sip from the tea, which had cooled to a pleasant temperature that warmed her chest and stomach. It was sweet and slightly spicy and surprisingly layered. She whistled appreciatively and took another sip.

'What about you?' Kirie asked. 'Surely you're due a holiday.'

If anyone was, it was Darth Anathemous .

 

[Darth Anathemous]

Wearing: This
Tag: Kirie

The former trooper recognized shellshock when she saw it.

The fact Kirie would react this way to touch was unsurprising, but so, so heartbreaking. She should have been more careful, more mindful. It was easily readable in her nervous smile that the reassuring pat was all that saved Kaila from an internal panic of her own.

'I'm sorry too, Kaila.' Kirie signed, resting her head against Kaila's arm. 'He can't hurt us now.'

Kaila didn't believe that.

Not after what she'd just seen, not when she woke up most mornings in a cold sweat. But that wasn't what Kirie needed to hear, nor a fear that should be indulged. Hate, she reminded herself, was stronger. He made her strong because He gave her something to hate. And she made herself even stronger, by breaking that chain.

Even if it still cost her sleep.

So she rubbed Kirie's shoulder, the closest she could manage to voicing agreement right now.

'I guess what I'm saying is I just want to live my life.' She gave a wry smile. 'Ambitious, I know, but I figured I'd start small.'

"Ambitions are uhm... they start small. They need time to build, and they will."

Perhaps that was how she reconciled supporting such mundane goals with the code which dictated her entire life.

'What about you?' Kirie asked. 'Surely you're due a holiday.'

"Pssh." she smiled knowingly.

"Don't I know it."

It was an embarrassed chuckle really, because it felt strange to ask the world for a damn break while she wore the black.

"You're right, of course. You can only sharpen a blade so often before it breaks." she sighed.

"Have to sheath it, occasionally."

Kaila leaned forward, chin pinched in thought. Too deep in thought actually, it seemed she'd never actually taken the time to plan herself a break from war and scheming. This garden was perhaps the closest thing.

A few seconds passed.

Then a few more...

"I don't know." she said, at a loss.

"I'll look for a club or... or something..."

​