Private Repurcussions

[Aiden Porte]

Alina Grayson​

One thing among the many that Aiden loved about Naboo was the weather. The sun shone warmly overhead, broken only by the occasional drifting cloud. A steady breeze rolled across the hills, cool enough to bring comfort without stealing away the warmth of the day. It was peaceful in so many ways, that you couldn't find the words to describe.

Even with chaos brewing around him, Aiden could not imagine being anywhere else. Yet peace did little to silence the thoughts weighing on him.

Efret Farr was gone now. The dark side had claimed her completely. At first, Aiden had felt almost indifferent to it. At first, hurt.....that she had never came to him or sought the help she may have needed. Though if he were honest with himself, he did not know if it would have changed anything in the end. Still, the fact that she had not trusted him enough to try, said more about their friendship than he wanted to admit. Or what was worse, was that she wanted that. The darkness, despair, ruin.....The truth was simple and painful. Efret had chosen her path, and he couldn't go about chasing after her.

Then there was Lorn Reingard , just....gone without a word. Just what was heared in passing, by rumor. Aiden did not know where he had gone or what burdens had driven him away, but he hoped, more than anything, that he was safe.

The Jedi themselves felt fractured, seemingly off. As he waited for word from Ala about his status, part of him silently hoped it would never arrive. He had stepped away because he feared the darkness clinging to him would cast a shadow over the Jedi. Yet after the events at the Embassy, it seemed they were doing a great job of that themselves. Where to place himself, Aiden wasn't sure what to do.

Still, despite everything, hope remained. Aiden sat on the hill overlooking the homestead with a smile on his face. Even with all this going on, he still had hope, even against the impending darkness. That reckless, perpetual hope.....made him stronger than anyone could ever know.

Noticing Alina approaching in the distance, Aiden lifted a hand in a small wave. A smirk tugged at his lips as she drew closer, and a slight hint of mischief could be seen in his eyes.

"You talk a lot in your sleep, you know that?" he teased lightly. "Stuff like, 'Aiden is the best,' and 'I'm so lucky.'"

He barely managed to finish the sentence before laughter escaped him. He shook his head, grinning.

 

[Alina Grayson]

Aiden had a way of standing out even when he was doing nothing more than sitting beneath the Naboo sun, framed by green hills and open sky as if the world itself had decided to soften around him. The breeze caught lightly at her blonde hair as she made her way up the hill, the fabric of her clothing shifting with each step, her gaze lingering on him with a warmth she did not bother to hide.

There were things in him she could feel even before she reached him. The hope, yes, bright and stubborn as ever, but also the weight beneath it. The ache of friendships strained or lost, the uncertainty surrounding the Jedi, the quiet questions he carried about where he belonged, and whether stepping away had been wisdom or fear.

When he spoke, the corner of her mouth lifted. She stopped just close enough to look down at him, one brow arching with clear suspicion and a faint sparkle in her blue eyes. "Is that so?" Her voice carried amusement, but she folded her arms with theatrical seriousness, considering him as though weighing evidence in some very important trial. The effect was somewhat ruined by the smile she was trying not to show.

"I suppose it is possible," she allowed, tilting her head slightly. "Though if I were going to say anything in my sleep, I imagine it would be something much more believable. Perhaps, 'Aiden is impossible,' or, 'Aiden is very pleased with himself again.'"

The smile broke through then, soft and bright, and she stepped closer until she could lower herself beside him on the hill. She settled near enough that her shoulder could brush his if either of them shifted, her gaze moving briefly over the homestead below before returning to him. Naboo really was beautiful like this. Peaceful enough to make sorrow feel almost out of place, and yet perhaps that was why it mattered. Peace was not the absence of pain. Sometimes it was the place where pain could finally be set down, even if only for a little while.

"But," she added, her tone gentling as she looked at him, "I am lucky." There was no teasing in that part. No attempt to turn it into something clever before it could become too honest. Alina let the words rest between them as they were, simple and unguarded. "I do not know if I said it in my sleep," she continued, "but I have thought it often enough."

Her gaze softened as she studied him, taking in the smirk, the mischief, the laugh he had offered so easily despite everything pressing at the edges of his heart. That was Aiden. Not untouched by darkness, not untouched by loss, but still reaching for light with both hands. Still smiling at her from a hill on Naboo as though hope were not fragile at all, as though it were something that could be chosen and chosen again until the galaxy finally learned to believe in it.

Alina drew one knee up slightly, resting her hands loosely around it as the breeze moved around them. She spoke quietly, now letting the words fall gently; he was good at hiding his true feelings behind a smile, she knew that all too well. "So, what's on your mind. You are troubled, that's obvious." Her eyes moved back toward the horizon, giving him room not to answer. She understood that kind of silence. The Church had taught her discipline, but grief had taught her the weight of things left unsaid.

"I can feel it in you. Not in every thought, but enough." Her expression grew thoughtful, touched with concern but not pity. "You put on a strong face. You always do, but you don't have to be strong for me, Aiden. Sometimes even the strongest need to rely on another." She turned her head toward him, azure eyes seeking his. She turned back to him fully, her voice lowering into something more intimate, meant for him alone despite the openness of the hill and sky around them. "I love your laughter. I love that you can still find mischief when the galaxy is trying very hard to make you bitter. But I am here for the good and the bad." She reached over then, her hand finding his with quiet certainty. Her fingers slipped around his, warm and steady, not demanding anything from him except presence.

TAG: Aiden Porte
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