Private Of Matters Most Pressing [Leon]

[Iliya Ismaren]

Meeting Deyanira Draco was not high on Iliya's list of things to do on her second day on a new world. No. It didn't feature high in the first month's list actually. So when Isadora was invited to tea with her mother, it was assumed that Iliya would attend with her. But this was not about to happen. And thus, an excuse was concocted. The tea time with mother dearest was likely to overlap with the scheduled catch up with one Leon Draco. The stout wee Draco was surely inebriated beyond belief at this stage of the day, and would have provided entertainment, no doubt. But Iliya saw him as her scapegoat, someone needed to pass on the message that Isadora would be unable to make their appointment.

Much to Iliya's dismay, she also realized that it was time for her to start playing her part. And should be become truly desperate in finding a wealthy match, she would be grateful for having started working Leon over ahead of time. He was a dreadful last option, but desperate times...they say...call for desperate measures. Even as she dressed herself in her thin, free flowing garment, she felt the chill of disgust creep over her. Not just for her willingness to try and seduce one so deformed, but for her willingness to be party for a match based purely on financial gain. It was all she abhorred.

Now, standing before the door, preparing to knock, she felt a wave of unease creep over her. She had heard only a few things about Leon Draco, and what she had heard was not tremendously flattering. The guard next to the door cleared his throat.

"Sorry...yes..."

A light tap was issued on the door. One given with the hopes that it would be so faint as not to garner any attention. With each second that ticked by she could feel the judgmental nature of the guard, Iliya just knew that he knew...what she was trying to do.

 

[Leon Draco]

“One minute, please,” came the muffled answer to her knocking.

Three minutes later, the door opened. Inside was an office, though the desk which would have been the centerpiece of the room had been pushed to one side. In its place was a table surrounded by plush couches and pillows. Leon Draco sat in a comfortable-looking armchair which had been built to accommodate his size. The dwarf was clean, groomed, fully dressed, and... well, not completely sober, but relatively alert. There was a tired, almost pained squint to his eyes which spoke of either a sleepless night or a nasty hangover. Probably both, judging by the glass of wine in his hand.

He glanced up at the young woman curiously, then tilted his head slightly toward the guard standing outside his door. One of the few Jedi powers Leon still practiced with any degree of regularity was empathy, and what he was picking up from the two of them was… odd.

“You’re Lady Iliya Ismaren, right? Isadora’s new friend.” He gestured to the seat across from him. “Please, make yourself comfortable.”

While she had requested a meeting with him, the reason for it had been left rather vague. He got the impression that she was trying to avoid a confrontation with his mother—and he certainly couldn’t blame her for that—but still. Why him? It was all very intriguing.

"How can I help you?"

Iliya Ismaren​

 

[Iliya Ismaren]

She made moves to leave for a time, even after the short Draco had spoken through the door. Each time, the guard seemed to judge her for her failures. Their very breathing altered...or so it seemed. Perhaps it was not the guard, but her own conscience that judged her. It was easier to ignore her conscience if it was the guard that was judging her, so it was the guard.

Finally the door opened, and Iliya found to her embarrassment that she was looking lower than she should have been. It wasn't intentional to look at his belt. But she mused that with such a small target of a person, a small misjudgment lead to greater errors. She would have to be more cautious in future.

"Not a lady, m'lord," she said with an accepting bow. She needn't stay long for this errand, but the invitation was accepted nonetheless, "my family holds no rank or station on Chandrila. Ours has been a family of merchants. My father has done...well. So it is just Iliya."

Her eyes quickly took in the room. It was more set for socializing than administrating. In fact, the desk having being pushed completely aside gave cause to wonder if Leon completely avoided the administrative in favour of social gatherings. He had at least one thing going for him.

As she sat, Iliya adjust the thin straps to her dress, pulling them closer to the edge of her shoulders. It was a ploy of which she was not in the least bit proud. But it was a ploy nonetheless. Her mind screamed to leave the hair that had fallen across her chest in place, but her hand had already moved it aside to brush behind her shoulders.

"You are kind. Lord Draco. Thank you."

A pregnant pause was left to hang. There wasn't much to say, and her message really could have been delivered at the door. But there she sat, as a prize ham in the butchers window, on display.

"The Lady Isadora regrets to inform you that she will not be able to keep her scheduled meeting with you this afternoon. She has been summoned before Lady Draco on matters...most pressing."

Exaggeration was unbecoming of a lady, Iliya resisted the urge to wince at how she made the Draco woman's meeting out to be more than it really probably was.

Leon Draco​

 

[Leon Draco]

Leon followed her gaze downward, checking to see if he had something on his clothes or some other issue that might draw her eye. Seeing no stains, he glanced up again to find her bowing. He returned the favor, albeit with a half-assed little wave of his arms, careful not to spill a drop of his wine.

She explained that she wasn't a lady, to which Leon merely shrugged. "Oh, I get it. You are her lady-in-waiting, correct? So you will be a lady, but you must wait." It was a silly joke, but harmless. Or so he thought.

"You are kind. Lord Draco. Thank you."

Was he imagining things, or was she extremely on edge? "You're welcome."

Leon's confusion only doubled when she revealed why she was there. The message could've been sent as a note or a text, yet she had come to deliver it to him in person? By now his suspicions were heightened, yet he couldn't help but be intrigued. It sounded like juicy gossip. "What sort of pressing matters?" he asked in a low voice, taking a sip of his wine. "Or do you not know?" That seemed unlikely. From what he had seen, the pair of them were as thick as thieves.

Iliya Ismaren​

 

[Iliya Ismaren]

She smiled at the quip, features allowing for what could only be termed a demure laugh. "The wait is long, indeed, my lord," she said, head tilting down under the unbearable shame of it all.

She paused, mouth agape, as she sought an answer to the most obvious of questions. Her muscles tensed, and she looked towards the door. This was a foolish endeavour, and one through which she was unequipped to maneuver. She breathed in through her nose sharply, and refocused back on the the short Draco.

He really is quite short. Shorter than I had imagined.

Her eyes closed to ward off the thought, and she leaned forward with her smile forcibly turning to one of teasing intrigue. The revealing nature of her leaning was unintended, but she did not retract when she realized what had occurred.

"I suspect...it is another marriage arrangement that is being discussed...it is all so exciting...a handsome lord no doubt."


Leon Draco

 

[Leon Draco]

It took a bizarrely long time for her to answer.

Leon patiently awaited her response, taking another sip of his wine. Yes, something was definitely going on here. He just had to figure out what.

"I suspect... it is another marriage arrangement that is being discussed... it is all so exciting... a handsome lord no doubt."

"Really?" That didn't sound like his mother at all. Deyanira hadn't let him hear the end of his suggesting political marriages during the peace talks, reminding him of the stupidity of the idea every chance she got. Never mind that he had never meant for it to be taken as a serious suggestion. Now, Mother certainly wouldn't be opposed to the idea of an arrangement, but he doubted she was seriously considering a match for any of her children at this present moment. Let alone for Isadora, the baby of the family.

"A handsome lord, you say? Well, that doesn't exactly narrow it down, there are many handsome and eligible lords to be had. None so handsome as myself, of course, but it wouldn't do for me to marry my sister. Could it be Lord Darius Amnen ? Or what about Lord Romin Renoux ?"

Tapping into the old Empathy a little more, he found that she was brimming with shame and anxiety. His eyes finally did stray to her dress, taking in the suggestive way it was cut. Not to mention the, er, ample view he was getting now that she was leaning forward. The straps of her gown were on the verge of slipping down over her shoulders. Surely she could sense that they were about to fall, yet she hadn't moved to fix them. "No, that can't be it," he murmured, thinking out loud. "It must be something else..."

By the Force, is she coming on to me? Whatever for? Ugh, don't tell me she's another one of those women with a fetish for the "unusual"... No, more than likely she was doing this for purely practical reasons. By her own admission, she was not a Lady. Did she have designs on becoming one? But why pick him to realize her ambitions, of all people?

Because she thinks you will be easy to manipulate. A drunken dwarf playing the fool.

Pursing his lips, he sighed. "Miss Ismaren," he began. "Iliya. Why did you really come to see me?"

Iliya Ismaren​

 

[Iliya Ismaren]

"Both would make fine matches," Iliya said, allowing an almost genuine smile.

Just as she was growing ever so slightly more at ease with the salacious character she was playing, it seemed that Leon was having second thoughts about their friendly tête-à-tête. It was instinctual, but Iliya's cheeks flushed a deep shade of red and she leant back on to the couch. Every fiber of her being was screaming to run and save further embarrassment, but her resolve fought through her own protestations.

Arms crossed without much though given to how defensive she now appeared.

The way he emphasized her name. It yanked at her conscience firmly. Her mother would be ashamed of her. Her father too. Her brothers would probably be disgusted, but they knew what she would have to do and did not protest her departure.

It's not for you, Iliya. It is for the family name.

Her arms uncrossed, hands falling lazily to each side as she leant back into the couch.

"I hoped to become acquainted with my dear friend's family," she said as innocently as she could muster.

Leon Draco

 

[Leon Draco]

Iliya turned bright red with embarrassment, leaning back against the couch with her arms crossed over her chest. With her vast tracts of land thus obscured from his gaze, Leon exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and took a long draught of his wine. She was young and pretty and looked gorgeous in that dress. Any man would've loved to have her attentions lavished upon them. But he was all too keenly aware of the fact that there was no way she was flaunting herself out of genuine romantic interest in him, and it admittedly stung to be reminded that no woman had ever truly loved him. Possibly not even his own mother.

She was immediately defensive, of course. I hoped to become acquainted with my dear friend's family. Uh huh. Right. Leon was not fooled.

"'Becoming acquainted'?" he asked with a snort. "Hmph. That's one I haven't heard before..." He raised his cup to his lips once more, only to realize it was empty. Setting it down on the table, he resisted the urge to pour another glass. "Iliya," he spoke in a stern, almost paternal tone. "Whatever reasons you have for doing this, I assure you, there are better ways of getting the things you want than trying to seduce me."

Iliya Ismaren​

 

[Iliya Ismaren]

Becoming acquainted.

She mouthed the words and winced just slightly. The words would never be clean again, but tainted by her current actions. Apparently, everything was a double entendre when you were in this game. Arms crossed again, as she quietly looped one of her thumbs beneath the strap clinging to left shoulder and pulled it in closer.

He could have taken things so many ways in this scenario. And the one that he chose was to call her out, but in a self-disparaging manner. Perhaps he was not what the stories said he was?

"You're not so bad," she said, with downcast eyes, "unless you are pretending to be kind."

Her hand ran across her other shoulder, pulling the other strap up. Iliya wished to keep her arms where they were, covering her chest, but it felt immature. Instead, she crossed her legs and placed her hands over each other, rested atop her knee.

White eyes now roamed about the room, taking in the details casually...to avoid eye contact.

"It seems I do not possess the guile necessary to get the things I want," she said, jaw moving to the left and right as an unplanned mental distraction from tears.

Leon Draco

 

[Leon Draco]

Leon watched her collect herself, pulling up her straps and adjusting her posture so as to appear less... forward. She was quiet for a while. He didn't speak either, his eyes fixed on the glass on the table, giving her time and space to recover from the humiliation of having been caught.

"You're not so bad," she said, with downcast eyes, "unless you are pretending to be kind."

Leon pursed his lips in an effort to hide the slight smile threatening to curl them. "Well, thank you. But the fact remains that I can tell you don't want to be here, doing this." He gestured vaguely toward her with a small hand, his thick fingers glittering with jewels. They were rather modestly sized gems for a lord of his wealth and status—either he didn't want to be too gaudy, or knew that the bigger the jewelry he wore, the smaller he himself would appear. "You aren't such a bad actress, from what I can tell. It's just that I have certain powers at my disposal, which make lying to me very, very difficult."

Perhaps she should have looked more into his background before attempting such a deception. It was a matter of public record that he had trained under the Jedi, after all. But regardless, what Leon saw before him now was a scared, embarrassed girl on the verge of tears. Someone who thought they had no choice but to resort to guile to get what they wanted.

"Perhaps I could help you," he suggested. "If what you desire is within my power to give, and you promise not to try and trick me. So. What is it you need, Iliya?"

Iliya Ismaren​

 

[Iliya Ismaren]

Her head tilted, brow furrowing with the revelation of his special abilities. Despite her proclivity for divulging far too much to her friend, Isadora had clearly left some aspects of her brother's story out of the mix. Or perhaps, she was not present for any training, or aware of any gifts? Was it? No? the Force? Iliya had never met a Jedi before.

Leon seemed far more interesting now.

"I wasn't trying to deceive you," she said sheepishly, embarrassment still straining her words. I was trying to deceive myself. You. You, I was trying to lure.

She couldn't bring herself to say the word 'seduce', so she left that part unsaid.

Again, her eyebrows shot up with his offer to help. "Really?" She said, incredulity apparently in tone and expression, "certainly...I don't think I could trick you."

Iliya offered a subtle, apologetic shrug of her shoulders. "Navigating the court. It's politics...and such. I am in need of an instructor."


Leon Draco

 

[Leon Draco]

Leon was past the point of caring about the specifics. What mattered now was that this young woman didn't continue down this path. He could help her do that. Or he would try to.

As it turned out, her request was rather simple. She wanted information about the Houses and all their inner workings, the politics of the Covenant. "Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" he asked with a chuckle, rather amused at the whole situation now. "That sort of thing is my specialty. If you just want a quick rundown of who's really running the roost, I could tell you that in less than five minutes."

He paused, studying her. "But you do want a mentor, don't you? Someone to guide you, keep you up to date..."

Well, why not? It might even be fun.

On the other hand... "If you keep coming to see me, people will start to talk. We'll have to come up with an excuse. If nothing else, Isadora will probably want to know why her friend is spending so much time with her brother." Leon actually didn't know his sister all that well, and thus couldn't gauge what her reaction might be. "You came here intending to, uh, sweep me off my feet. Does that mean you wouldn't mind if people think that you were successful in that endeavor?" It would make for a decent cover, at least. But it also might damage her reputation in ways she'd rather avoid.

Iliya Ismaren​