Private Obsidian Wings

[Lina Ovmar]

Wind roared in her ears, ripping at her clothes, tearing at shadowy wings like wisps of smoke, refusing to let their existence remain. The ground beneath her hands was unbearably hot, but she had no skin to burn. Dust made it impossible to see, impossible to breathe, but she had no lungs to fill.

Pain, however, pain she knew.

Pain meant there was still a chance, still a possibility that she could find her way back, but everywhere she reached, everywhere her senses touched there was nothing. No body, no Alisteri, no A’Mia.

Lina curled over herself, head pressing against red sand and she screamed.

The force of it drove the winds back, as the ground beneath her feet shifted from red to black, the darkness spreading from where she knelt, great wings snapping back to life at her back, no longer wispy like smoke but like sleek black feathers carved from obsidian.

This was her domain, the Nether answered to her. She would not be controlled by it, she would not buckle beneath the weight of agony it wished to bestow upon her, she would not let it take from her what she owed.

No.

Others would pay her debt, as soon as she found her way back.

She straightened, pools of ink where her eyes should have been, the darkness spreading from them in thin veins of black. Dunes of red sand rose around her, great jagged spires of obsidian glass jutting from them at odd angles, wind snapped at them carrying a chorus of whispers with the dust it pulled away.

There was another she could reach for, the only other person in the galaxy that remained that she had any connection to, that she carried with her always. Ever since she was a child he had been there, a whisper in her ear.

<<“Hello Father.”>>

Jared Ovmar

 

[Jared Ovmar]

​

Lina Ovmar

There was beauty in the Netherworld if you knew where to find it.

It was a realm of emotion, of desire, of the Dark Side in its purest sense. And it was the home of a man who had been born on the streets of Coruscant and somehow, through chance and oddity, had grown into a man of influence. The kind of power that allowed you to remain hidden, behind the scenes, while your money talked and your name opened doors most people didn't even know existed.

But that was a long time ago.

Jared had left the machinations of the Galaxy behind. Every once in a while he'd resurface, observe what was happening... and then leave to the Nether once more.

Things were more interesting there.

There was another she could reach for, the only other person in the galaxy that remained that she had any connection to, that she carried with her always. Ever since she was a child he had been there, a whisper in her ear.

<<“Hello Father.”>>

Lina would find him in a carve of the Nether she would never have seen before. The sky, if you could call it that, was full of clouds... broken up by bright yellow and amber hues. It shone down on canyons and rock platforms. Jared was sitting at a simple desk, on a simple chair, drinking something incredibly strange but from a simple cup.

And when their eyes meet, he didn't look all that surprised to see her.

"Ah, daughter, right on time." A beat. "Tea time, to be exact. Will you join me?" He gestured towards an empty spot... and now there was a chair.

Funny how that happened.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Jared Ovmar

Jared Ovmar had a way of igniting a particular kind of hatred within Lina. It boiled down to one very simple thing; that for a woman who prided herself on keeping her work and machinations a secret from even her nearest and dearest if it was required, he always fucking knew. She could tell he knew now, by the way his mouth curved, by how relaxed he was, and by how nonchalant he seemed about her appearance.

Her wings flexed, the glass feathers scraping against each other in a noise that was akin to nails down a chalkboard, the only outward sign of her irritation.Then they receded and Lina took the seat, the ground beneath her darkening as she did, black spilled out from beneath her like the very life of it was vanishing in the wake of her darkness.

The easiest way to get her father to do what she wanted was to play his game. “How very quaint.” she commented, her own smile rising though there was nothing warm about it.

A room appeared around them, dark stone walls glittered in the glare of a grand fireplace to their left, a vast bookcase to their right the shelves from a deep red mahogany as tall, narrow arched window panes rose behind him, amber and yellow hues spilling through them.

She pulled a stray strand from her skirt before settling her hands in her lap and lifting her gaze to meet his, the black receding to give way for the emeralds she was known for. “I see you have been busy lurking.”

 

[Jared Ovmar]

Lina Ovmar

Her irritation was like ash on his tongue.

It made him grin brighter.

That grin of his. It had been his trademark for all those decades being active in the Galaxy. The blue eyes, the grin, the appletini, each and every one of them belying a mind that had turned cold, calculative like a clockwork machine that saw the Galaxy as a moving board. With him as the prime conductor behind the scenes.

That is what had pushed Anaya away... that is what kept Lina away.

He recognized it. He simply did not have the tools to do anything about it. Live long enough and you were as much a slave to your impulses as your impulses were a slave to you.

“How very quaint.” she commented, her own smile rising though there was nothing warm about it.

"It is how it should have been." Jared offered quietly as another cup appeared with something strange swirling inside of it. Brilliant, iridescent, starlight in liquid shape. "If she hadn't taken you away from me. It would have been tea by the hearth, books by moonlight."

Survival on dead worlds on the weekends.

A house formed itself around them.

Jared looked around and seemed pleased.

"You are getting better at this, good, this should be your domain just as it has been mine. Our legacy." If there was an Ovmar legacy, beyond cold machinations, corporate power and the hoarding of so much wealth in knowledge, that could have moved Galaxies... if he had wished it so.

She pulled a stray strand from her skirt before settling her hands in her lap and lifting her gaze to meet his, the black receding to give way for the emeralds she was known for. “I see you have been busy lurking.”

"I prefer to say observe, daughter." The tall man leaned back against the seat, taking another sip from the starlight, as those cold eyes watched her. "You are all over the board. That is her inside of you."

Attaching yourself left and right to mongrels and stupid causes that only land you into deeper trouble.

But Jared didn't say it. He didn't care for another fight, so soon after they met again.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Jared Ovmar

A muscle in her jaw ticked.

The cup disappeared from the table, settling in the grip of black tipped fingers. She disliked all of it, the way he made it like he was giving her his legacy like she hadn’t carved every inch of her power without his help. Then to add insult to injury by mentioning her.

Her temper roiled beneath the surface, she was neither of them. She was beyond them. She brought the starlight to her lips and sipped. He didn’t need to say it.

Lina heard it.

“I think attaching oneself to a lost cause is very much a trait of yours, father. Afterall, what was Anaya Fen, if not that?” Her head tilted, ever so slightly, her smile was almost cruel and so very much like her mothers.

“If you’re going to insult my choices, do so with your mouth. And don’t hold back” As they spoke the house grew, expanded and shifted around them. “We have all the time the galaxy has to offer, no more skirting around things. Let us have this conversation without the weight of life to hamper it.”

 

[Jared Ovmar]

Lina Ovmar

He had almost forgot what it was like to argue with a fellow mentalist.

It was both annoying as well as a welcome home.

“I think attaching oneself to a lost cause is very much a trait of yours, father. Afterall, what was Anaya Fen, if not that?” Her head tilted, ever so slightly, her smile was almost cruel and so very much like her mothers.

"You even smile like her." Jared said wistfully, thinking back to the woman that had caused so many ruptures in their lives. "But you should show your mother more respect than that. You might hate her, but without her, you would not exist. Showing her disrespect, even when she is gone... well... that is simply undignified."

Jared sniffed.

He had never appreciated undignified behavior. Which made his love for Anaya even more ironic. He sipped again from his tea, while his daughter called him out.

"Fine."

Ovmar put the cup down.

"You attach yourself to a tree and a coward." Eyes sharpened, cold. "I wish you would pick someone who was actually worthy of you." A deep disappointed sigh there.

"What are your ambitions, Calina? What do you actually want, beyond just running around, picking up after their failures and pretending that makes for an actual relationship?"

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Jared Ovmar

"You even smile like her."

“Well, you always had the ability to bring the worst out of me.” Then she rolled her eyes, her gaze moving to the fire as it shifted hues from orange to yellow to a bright blue.

“Yes, she did quite the work, using your facilities and your DNA and your staff to bring me into this world.” She looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t over inflate her successes by denying your own hand in it.”

She took another sip, the barest of smirks flickering at the corner of her mouth. If he thought that disrespecting her was undignified, then it was perhaps best not to tell him what she had done with Anaya Fen’s soul.

“How very high and mighty of you, when your own choice of partner was a whore and a nobody.” She cocked her head “Lets face it father, there is no one in this galaxy truly worthy of me. And yes, Alisteri has some… problematic traits, but I find them rather endearing, besides, he’s malleable.” she waved a hand dismissively “As for A’Mia, she is wonderful and you know it.”

Lina swirled the cup watching the starlight glitter within it as she contemplated his question.

“I want power. Not titles or lands or money. Power. I want the galaxy to utter my name as a whisper for fear if they say it too loud I might hear them.”

She paused.

“And I want to break the Zambrano line because I can, and because nothing says fuck you better than bringing a powerful man to his knees.”

 

[Jared Ovmar]

Lina Ovmar

She knew she went too far the moment the words left her mouth.

Jared didn't mind her barbs and quips when they were aimed at him. Truth to be told he had failed as a father. He had moved heaven and earth to try and find them both when Anaya had fled. But his woman, his love, his weakness, had known him too closely. Known his habits, his strengths, knew how he thought and how he moved.

And knew that if she managed to stay away for long enough, eventually Ovmar would be pulled away by one of the million threads that he was spinning at any moment in time.

"I told you not to disrespect her memory." Jared said pleasantly after she was finished.

A malleable man. That was the best she could do. A malleable cowardly man.

"I will grant you the tree. She is a true Sith. But sweetheart, she doesn't love you." The Sith Lord said with no hesitation or doubt in his mind. The same way he always spoke, about everything.

"To her, you are compost. Sentient, yes. But only as interesting as the current cycle of her life." Jared shrugged there. "You deserve someone who loves you, not as a curiosity in a glass box, but for how brilliant you can be."

Then he finished his cup of tea.

"Ah, right. I forgot, your punishment."

Everything would disappear for Lina. Out of nowhere. She was strong, powerful, she had learned a long time ago how to close her mind against everyone.

But Ovmar had... years on her and a focus that cost him everything else that she had.

No love to distract him. No ploys to occupy his mind.

The illusion, if it was one, would be as real as the air in her lungs when she walked in the real world.

It was nothing. Empty. No sensation. It was as if she was stripped of her eyes, her skin, her ability to smell or taste. All that there was, was the passing of time with the beat of her heart in her chest.

Then it was over and Calina was back sitting in front of Ovmar.

Who had poured them both a drink now.

"Welcome back. And really, the Zambranos again? You are like a dog with a bone. Is that why the coward appeals to you? Because he hates the Kainate too?"

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Jared Ovmar

Lina opened her mouth to respond, a smart quip on the edge of her tongue ready to trade insults when he stripped her of everything. It wasn’t darkness, because darkness could be perceived. It was just nothing. Nothing but the panicked thump of her heart in her chest, she couldn’t even feel it in her own head. The illusion was so powerful for a moment she almost forgot that it was just that.

An illusion, with no sense of time or sensation to define how long he held her there.

Her composure shattered when he released her, her hand grabbing the edge of the desk between them as she sucked in ragged breaths, glaring at him as her emeralds vanished once more behind glittering obsidian rage.

“He took my fucking daughter.” She spat in response, rising from the chair, planting both hands on the desk as she leaned towards him. “His meddling brought me humiliation and his lessons left me scarred.” The desk shifted beneath her grip, the wood turning into dark glass with fractures that spidered out from her fingertips.

“You expect me to let that go unpunished? To let my daughter be raised with his influence looming over her? To sit on my hands like you did?”

The desk groaned and cracked beneath. "You, who had every opportunity to come for me, but instead chose to sit on your laurels and play games with the rest of the galaxy, while she TORTURED ME!"

The desk shattered, the shockwave rippling through the room and, for a moment, all that followed was silence and Lina’s heavy breathing as she fought to compose herself.

“You don’t get to make judgements on who I choose to love, on the paths I take.” her voice wavered, the darkness receding from her eyes as they brimmed with tears.

“Not when you failed so abysmally as a father.”

 

[Jared Ovmar]

Lina Ovmar

His chin settled on his knuckles as he watched her rage.

So much like her mother.

The thought was there, even if he didn't utter it, which would most likely piss her off even more. It was interesting to see how some people tried their level best to get away from something... but the harder they tried, the closer they came to it anyway. He had followed that little scandal with great interest, in fact.

Marrying a Zambrano had made him shudder. Then cheating on him with some other guy had made him laugh. As father as daughter. Getting caught and losing her own child... if Ovmar was capable of tears, he would have shed them there and then.

"You, who had every opportunity to come for me, but instead chose to sit on your laurels and play games with the rest of the galaxy, while she TORTURED ME!"

“Not when you failed so abysmally as a father.”

Ovmar sighed and shook his head.

"Every opportunity?" He held her gaze without looking away. "I searched for you for years, decades. But your mother knew me better than anyone. She was always a step ahead... my voice in your mind was the only way to be with you... and even that was taken from me, once you became old enough to shield your mind."

A head tilt there.

"You can blame me, I don't mind. But I am not gonna sit here and pretend for your comfort that I wasn't scouring the Galaxy for decades to try and take you back. Or do you think Anaya didn't allow you two to spend more than a few days to weeks at one place, because she enjoyed to sight see?"

His mind reached out where his hand did not.

It gently stroked her jaw.

"Your tears break my heart, Calina. But you have build an image of me in your head, sourced from your mother's demented mind, when all I have ever wished was the best for you."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Jared Ovmar

She didn’t need the comparison that drifted from him, Lina knew where her temper came from. It was why she worked so hard to keep it in check, but with him? He had the ability to strip away every measure of control she had over herself, and she hated him for it.

Yet despite the hate, despite the rage, Calina listened. She let his words wash over her, not justification, but explanation. Her instinct was to argue that he had no excuse after her mother had died, but by then she was in the clutches of Carnifex, and on her own trainwreck of a journey.

Following in her mothers footsteps as a traitor, forced to change her face, to flee and vanish from the radar. She’d stopped being Calina Ovmar, and had become Lina Djo. Facial reconstruction and a new life gave her the foundation to build the Red Hand in the shadows, picking apart her mothers empire and making it into her own.

Lina had never wanted to be found.

She took a step towards him then wavered before her knees gave way looking up at him as tears rolled silently down her face, no longer the powerful Sith Lord she had become, but the girl who had been so certain her father had abandoned her to her fate. But beneath the revelations dawning in her was suspicion, the belief that was sewn so deeply into her psyche it was impossible to remove.

Jared Ovmar was a manipulator whose machinations only ever served himself.

Calina wanted to believe it wasn’t true, that this was honesty but she couldn’t shake the thought away.

“Prove me wrong.” she whispered finally. “Take the chance I give you now, and show me that what you say is true.”