Passing Notes

[Cecily Demici]

It had been many months since Cecily had been captured by the Sith and imprisoned in her own estate on Onderon. She and her ladies in waiting were kept confined to the estate and under 24 hour guard by elite Sith warriors, but as time went on and she showed little sign of resisting her captors, the guard became more and more relaxed. Their patrols within the manse itself were rare, but always at the same time. Meanwhile, her ladies in waiting were now allowed to come and go freely to fetch food stuffs from the city.

Today, Aubiry and Melidy were on their weekly trip to collect fresh produce from the Onderonian farmers and this time, Cecily had managed to slip a message out with the wares that her ladies were taking to trade.

Cecily waited eagerly in the drawing room she had taken to spending most of her time in these days, staring out one of the two massive windows that overlooked the cliff where the estate was situated. She looked nicer today than usual. Though still dangerously thin, she had managed to pin her hair up and had been allowed to don one of her simpler tiaras. She retrieved a simply white gown from her wardrobe and allowed her ladies to draw her a bath. She felt beautiful for the first time since she'd been taken, and yet her stomach was in knots. She chewed her lip eagerly as she watched two massive birds twirling in flight.

"It's been too long now, they've been caught," she whispered to Ruby and Felicity, who were pacing the elegant room behind her and wringing their hands.

 

[Cecily Demici]

Spoiler: Ruby

Ruby, who had been Lady Commander of Cecily's compliment was also the most severe of the seven women who attended the former Senator and Minister of State. She had been with her Lady the longest and ever been her closest and most loyal confidant. Yet she had failed to secure her mistress safe passage off the planet when the One Sith invaded... or rather, had failed to force Cecily onto a freighter. She had protested and commanded her guards to help evacuate other key individuals instead. They had fought fiercely to prevent her ultimate capture, but had failed.

Now, she had failed again to prevent the folly of passing notes to Onderonian officials who remained in power as puppet figures of the government. She had strongly advised against it when Cecily suggested the idea, but her other ladies voiced their support and Ruby was outnumbered 6 to 1. She had been infuriated. Now, Aubiry and Melidy were late in returning and Lady Cecily had worked herself into anxiety. Yet, Ruby had no words of comfort this time. All she could so was continue to pace.

Spoiler: Felicity

Felicity had managed to get a joyful little tune stuck in her head as they awaited the return of their sworn-sisters. It was grating on her nerves, but she couldn't shake the melody. Dum da-dum da dee dee da, she chirped along in her head, smiling absently as she paced on auto-pilot. She knew that Ruby was angry with her, so she made it a point to avoid her icy cold glare every time the passed one another in the treks back and forth across the drawing room. It was all humming and pacing and humming and pacing and humming and pacing until the repetitive cycle was broken by their Lady.

"My Lady, you mustn't think like that," she said, rushing to Cecily's side as Ruby continued to brood, "they were both trained by the Onderon Intelligence Force, they put the 'spy' in espionage, perhaps they just decided to tiptoe back"

Spoiler: Ruby

Ruby stopped pacing to glare at Felicity as she went to console their mistress, crossing her arms and allowing her lips to draw up into a thin line. Her second-in-command was responsible for this, when they got off this planet Ruby was going to demote her into obscurity if this plan of hers didn't work.

"Why on Onderon would they be tiptoeing!?" she hissed severely.

Spoiler: Felicity

Felicity wheeled as her Commander finally spoke, it had been hours now. Sure enough, Ruby's ice cold glare was boring holes in Felicity's face and she suddenly lost all confidence in her statement.

"Well... I don't know? Perhaps.." she searched for a moment, wringing her delicate hands, "they wanted to be sneaky?"

Spoiler: Ruby

Ruby could not contain herself, she crossed the room in two steps and was face to face with her junior officer. "WANTED TO BE SNEAKY!?" she tried to whisper, but it did not come out like a whisper. She was furious that this had even been allowed to happen and now she learned just how little thought her subordinate had put into the plan. It set her over the edge.

"If they get caught, Felicity, do you have any idea what they'll do to us!? You were a fool to suggest it!" she continued, ignoring the tears that were welling in Felicity's eyes.

 

[Cecily Demici]

Cecily was only half listening to Felicity when she made the attempt to comfort her. She was trying to think about anything but what may have happened to her ladies in waiting to make them so late returning. Instead, she was thinking about the Republic and how much had changed in her absence. They had never attempted to make contact or rescue her and while she knew that logistically a rescue would have been impossible, it still puzzled her that they would just allow her to rot without so much as an inquiry into her whereabouts. Her thoughts were disrupted by a sudden outburst from Ruby and it made Cecily jump as she turned.

She opened and closed her mouth several times as the young woman advanced on Felicity, who cowered at the fury in her superior's eyes. Cecily couldn't manage to say anything, to stop her, despite how loud she was being, that is until she heard rapid footsteps. They sounded almost angry.

"Quiet," she urged, meekly at first, "QUIET!"

Both ladies froze in terror as the footsteps grew closer and closer. None of them breathed as the footsteps picked up pace and then...

 

[Cecily Demici]

Spoiler: Melidy

Melidy was the first through the ornate double doors the led to the drawing room. She was short and wiry, even more so with the lack of food they'd been given lately. She had wild blue eyes that were even wilder as she peeked into the room to see Her Ladyship, the Commander, and Felicity huddled by a window and looking horrified. Yet also relieved.

The thin young woman swept into the room. She was wearing a soft violet under gown and over it a heavy deep violate cloak. She ushered her sister into the room and hurried forward with a massive wicker basket in her hands full of fresh produce. She laid the basket aside and knelt in front of Cecily, taking her hand.

"Fear not, Your Grace, we've returned," she couldn't hide her excitement as she stood back up and busied herself with the basket.

Spoiler: Aubiry

As her sister hurried ahead, Aubiry was far more cautious, checking over her shoulder and peeking in rooms to make sure the patrols had not come yet, even though she knew they weren't expected for another hour. Still, she stopped in the doorway of the drawing room and gave one last glance down the corridor before closing the doors behind her and following her sister to greet their Lady.

"We apologize for the delay, but there was far more news to gather than we'd expected," though they were both beautiful, Aubiry's beauty was the gentler of the two. She had a comforting face. Her under gown and cloak were indigo and complimented her sister's nicely. She waved her hand impatiently at Melidy as she withdrew a large fruit from the basket and cracked it open to reveal a scroll of parchment inside.

"It seems the Prime Minister went a little... forgive me, batty, she's been deposed after a mad grab for power set the forces of the Republic against her, a new... Supreme Chancellor has replaced her and he in turn has replaced you as Minister of State," she said in hushed tones as her sister handed the Countess the roll of parchment.

 

[Cecily Demici]

Cecily sighed in relief with her two handmaidens as Melidy and Aubiry entered the drawing room, having returned at last. She could feel her chest heaving in relief as Aubiry explained why they had been late. Yet, her relief quickly turned to confusion and disbelief as the young woman explained the state of the republic to her in hushed whispers. She took the parchment reluctantly and crossed to a large ornate desk where she unrolled it and began to read the high galactic that had been hastily scrawled out for her.

She was in even more disbelief as she continued to read about what Lasedri had done and periodically ripped off pieces of parchment as she finished reading to hand to her handmaidens. They would take the slivers of parchment and burn them in the fire that was crackling in the hearth. "Jack Sparrow!?" she allowed herself to exclaim in disbelief at reading he had been installed as the Supreme Chancellor.

By rights, the leadership would have passed to Cecily, if only temporarily, but apparently they hadn't given notice to that fact. If she escaped, would they bestow the office on her? Would she return as Minister of State? Had all of her work truly been cast asunder?

"They've moved the capitol again, I warned them Chazwa was not defensible," she muttered as she tore off another strip of parchment. The Republic was not faring well and she was none to happy with the recent developments. There was news of the other major players in the galaxy as well, the Emperor of the One Sith was dead, though she knew that already thanks to her most recent visitor, and the Galactic Alliance was on the move... and apparently inquiring about her whereabouts. "At least someone cares about where I am."

Cecily finished with the last bit of the message, crumpled it up and tossed it into the fire herself. "Ladies, it's time we started talking about how we get out of here," she said quietly the four of them.