HISTORY
Like so many other stories Naedira’s life began on Naboo. It was during what most considered a golden period when things were mostly picturesque and decidedly peaceful. Nikolina of House Silara, her mother, was deeply ingrained with the political sphere and did her family name proud with years of service. There was always a Silara or two embedded within the government, in some capacity, and on occasion they held even the ear of the Queen. Her mother was the epitome of everything their ancestors expected. Bold, fiery, intelligent, and beautiful.
Yet, like many Silara, she had a glaring penchant for scandal. Beyond that, she was also stubborn. Once her mind was made up there was no stopping her. In this instance, there seemed to be a complete upheaval when she fell in love with Konstantine Darcrath. He was also from Naboo, however, his family had taken a rumored darker path to success and fortune. Their credits were much newer and according to anyone with a mouth, it was most definitely through unsavory means. Nikolina’s parents were embarrassed, disappointed, and furious.
Up until the wedding day they tried every foreseeable avenue to get their precious Nikolina to call off the engagement—but to no avail. The two were wed on a sunny day in one of the biggest events in history, save, for the coronations of the Nabooian Queens. Some of the more elderly women in attendance had near fainted from the kiss Konstantine bestowed to his bride. It was inappropriate, highly, but the rakish Darcrath would have done it over and over again to see a blush rise on Nikolina’s face. It didn’t help matters that her father had turned the same color. Of course, Konstantine feigned innocence.
The elders of House Silara never quite accepted Konstantine into the fold, however, they did treat Naedira favorably. The only way that Nae would have known of the discord between House Silara and House Darcrath was the whispering of scullery maids and gossip after tea parties. She was a loved child, however, a little unruly. She could often be found playing mischievously among the gardens on the Darcrath Estate. She was chubby, uncoordinated, and easily prone to injury. She often returned when called for with scuffed up knees and bleeding elbows. Her father always laughed it off but her mother was entirely aghast that she couldn’t seem to act like a little lady.
This trend of tomboyish impishness carried on throughout her early teens. Years later, despite growing into a beautiful young woman, she could still be found climbing trees and diving fully clothed into the Solleu River. She fought with practice swords and even picked up archery when it suited her fancy. She grew up alongside her cousin, [member="Vyra Silara"], who seemed to have a much better handle on what was expected of noble woman but they were cheeky friends nonetheless. She shared her day to day woes with the slightly elder girl and often spent time listening to her prattle on about her diplomatic studies. Vyra had a way of talking that made people listen. Naedira wished she could do that and tried to emulate her when she began to attend University in Theed.
No matter what her lineage was House Silara always expected her to pour herself into politics. Public service. Something that benefitted the nation. Naedira had a hard time with that. She was no great speaker, not half the beauty her cousin was, and couldn’t hope to score top marks even when she studied non-stop. Her attention was always stolen by what was just outside the window. A bird, a tree swaying in the wind, the colors of the sun in sky…It was all so beautiful.
It was on one of these ponderous days in her final year that she spotted a teaching assistant by the name of Alec Antilles. He was dreamy, as any girl with a pulse would swear, but he always had his nose stuffed deeply in a book. He had tawny hair, a tan, and rough hands that meant he had worked to pay for his education. Professor Antilles wasn’t like many of the others at University. Naedira found the more masculine sex in her year to be snobbish and rather spoiled. She spent many an afternoon wondering what shade his eyes were behind his thin reading spectacles but never really got close enough to find out.
Somehow, despite having a vested interests elsewhere, she managed to pass her courses. It was a relief. She could finally start looking for work, and perhaps, strike out on her own. She loved her parents deeply but they could both be a little overbearing. Not long after graduation she found a surprising communication in her personal transmissions from Professor Antilles. It was a request that they meet for a follow up to her occupation prospectives. It seemed that he had forgotten something from her file.
A little worried, but, not at all opposed to meeting with an old mentor they set a date. And then they set another.
And another. She was no longer his student, and it seemed that without that barrier, ensuring her success wasn’t his only goal. He was sweet, kind, and to her surprise genuinely interested in her.
Her. Out of all the proper ladies that Theed had to offer he chose
her. Naedira felt both humbled and elated. They were engaged and wed by the time she was twenty-one. They lived happily in a modest home on the river that belonged to them, versus, something that her family name afforded. It was full of light, flowers, and there was never a moment that Nae didn’t feel
incredibly blessed.
Alec was the perfect partner, the perfect husband, and let her take her time when it came to finding her path. He didn’t demand that she become a politician, or a diplomat, like her family remained so insistent upon but instead encouraged her to do what brought her the most joy. He left her hidden notes of reassurance when he was abroad, buried in holo-notes, and in odd places around the house. Notes that proclaimed,
“Don’t forget to dance. I’ve marked your favorite song” or
“Smile. Theed needs a little sunshine.”
Her husband was the brightest part of her life. He helped her through the best and the worst. When her cousin [member="Vyra Silara"] went missing he was there to help her pick up the pieces. He was there to help her search and there when she mysteriously returned. When she went through job after job, still, seeming too eccentric or erratic for most work on Naboo he helped her dust off and try again. When she failed to carry a child to term he held her, and assured her, that nothing would change. That they would always be a family.
Alec Antilles was
everything.
Her picturesque world was ripped apart in seconds. Naedira can remember the day clearly. She can recall making Alec lunch to take with him to University. She can remember kissing him goodbye, laughing, while he teased about visiting her parents later, and watching him disappear down the quaint dirt road.
He never came home.
The University was subject to a terrorist attack, an anti-pacifist standing, and Alec Antilles did not survive. He was lost with all of his students, his entire class, wiped out in an instant. The news devastated Naedira. It shattered her, completely, and she went voiceless for weeks. She stopped living. She stopped leaving home, she stopped seeing her family, barely ate, and let her entire life crumble into disrepair. Through all of this melancholy grief there came a point when sadness turned to anger. It came suddenly, like an ocean wave, and her fury became real. Something decimated her home. She didn’t know what it was, couldn’t comprehend how it happened, but some sort of explosion had torn through the cottage in such a way that she was the only thing left.
The only thing left standing.
Her father, Konstantine, came at the behest of the authorities to secure his child. He had watched her wallow in her pain for quite some time. There was nothing anyone could do, no matter how hard they tried, to return Nikolina to the bright, wonderful, and warm person she had once been. This was new. She had never truly shown signs of Force-Sensitivity before, not that he knew of, but he feared it could be nothing else. He reached out to his colleagues over the matter and eventually they all came to a singular conclusion: There was no attack. The devastation didn’t come from outside. The young woman appeared to be entirely unharmed in the accident with splintered wood and broken glass all around her. Naedira survived the destruction because she
caused it.
The darker path that was rumored to linger with the Darcrath name did not only refer to business dealings. It was rumored that they held roots in something much worse. Something monstrous. Bleak. It was true. Despite all the vicious tongue wagging that they always denied, it was a well-kept secret that many with Darcrath blood turned to the darkside of the Force. Konstantine had no choice but to admit this to his wife and daughter. This, in turn, caused Nikolina to admit that she had witnessed signs of this in her child before. Both Father and Daughter were shocked.
Nikolina had held no name for it and since the oddities didn’t carry into adulthood she’d tricked herself into thinking what she had witnessed were just parts of an over active imagination. Konstantine and Nikolina forgave each other, instantly, but Naedira was not quite as pliable. Instead, she demanded training. She needed more. More knowledge, more power.
Through this she
finally seemed to find her purpose. It took months for her to have an occurrence of the Force again. It felt like flexing a muscle that had rarely been used. Weak, and atrophied. Months of meditating, reading, and practicing under the guidance of her father. Though he loved his only child he did not show her any favoritism. Her lessons began with stringent dialogue and more often than not she had no sleep at all, just trying to keep up, without getting swallowed. Konstantine laid out many rules. This was not the father she knew, but, the teacher she had never known she needed. “You'll have four training sessions a day: strategy, weapons and combat, force-training, and endurance. Breakfast starts at five daily. If you are late, all you'll have is a cold, moldy, bran ration.”
Through this she learned to train both her body and mind in the bowels of the Darcrath Estate. Rigorous and brutal exercises continued without end until news reached Naboo that [member="Vyra Silara"], the newly crowned Queen of Relovian, had been targeted by a terrorist group.
Despite her training being incomplete she soon left for Relovian to be near to her cousin. Many things pushed her forward, however, it was mostly fear. She refused to lose anyone else through the hubris of men and women who thought they knew better. Naedira had grown colder, harder, and there was no glimmer of joy left to her being. Even on Relovian, she tracked those responsible with a vengeance and gave no quarter. For someone that had led a relatively peaceful existence, it seemed that she now shunned it. It was a testament to what the human body could withstand, learn, and grow strong from when the right motivation was applied. It was through these events that she eventually took up with the Confederacy. She wanted the opportunity to protect Vyra.
She also wanted the opportunity to learn more. Obtaining power to see her will done had become seductive. Her grief over her husband had faded, turning into a flame that burned cold, as she found her way into the Obsidian Knights. There she both furthered her knowledge and kept close tabs on her cousin. Woe be to anyone that so much as disturbed a hair on the head of Queen of Relovian.
Naedira would show them no mercy.
