Private Rise of the Wolf: What the Past Remembers

[Gerwald Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
WEAPONS: Ferrum Solus | Blodmåne | Strømafbryder
TAG: Katria Vekarr

Naboo held too many memories for the wolf. He often avoided it as much as possible, save for the fact it was Naedira Darcrath’s homeworld. It had once served as the capital for the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a fact that felt like many lifetimes ago. So much had happened since then. The most obvious of which was the downfall of the once powerful nation.

Gerwald’s years as a young adult had been spent among them. Raised as a warrior on Stewjon, the Lupo had discovered his mother had been wrong. There were others like him in the galaxy, and it led to his departure to join the Knights Obsidian. The predator had found freedom, more than he knew what to do with. Mistakes and their consequences were felt hard in those early years, but with them also came maturity.

The once foolish and stubborn squire eventually became their Lord Commander. It was a task none would have ever thought possible during his formative years among the order. Those who had seen the potential had either left, or died. Only the Exarch Srina Talon had remained to see what the wolf had become, and it was because of her Gerwald was back on Naboo, at least indirectly.

Discoveries of old Confederate technology, resources, and information, were still being made among the wreckage caused by the cataclysmic event over a decade prior. Most of the rumors did not amount to much, but the frequency of them had piqued Gerwald’s interest. There were some items of interest to both the Wolf and the Exarch which needed to remain buried if not in their possession.

The forest smelled all too familiar. Even after so much time away the scent carried by the wind brought back memories which the former Lord Commander still held dear. Naboo had been where he learned that he could move on from the tragedies of his past, and that his loyalty and love for Naedira had been his choice as much as carrying the ring had been his duty and promise. It seemed his search was successful in several ways, and some degree of closure was gained.

Alcohol was the next logical step. With closure came the need to celebrate with a cold, smooth mead. His massive frame leaned against the bar as the Sith made his request. The owner recognized the wolf and shrugged.

“I still have not perfected it,” he offered with a knowing smirk.

Gerwald took a sip and choked it down.

“No, it’s still piss poor,” he said with a chuckle.

The two would spend time catching up, Gerwald careful to not speak of his current allegiance outside of the known connection to the former Exarch. Those who knew him understood that was bond which would not be broken. It was made of materials deeper, stronger, and more intimate, than the things which bound friends or lovers. She had saved his life and returned Naedira to him. Not even death would break the iron forged between them.

Gerwald was not sure how long he had been talking with the barkeep, but it could not have been for more than ten minutes before another familiar scent wafted about the air. Blue eyes turned to the entrance as the woman, no longer the youthful hopeful she had once been, walked into the cantina. The wolf had aged himself, though his features were more battle hardened than betrayed by the signs of old age. It was the benefit of his lifespan.

Memories came with her scent as well.

Unpleasant ones, though they were not caused by the woman in sight.

Their eyes met, which meant there would be no avoiding this reunion. Quietly the wolf motioned to the stool next to him. If it was going to happen, then the least he could do was initiate it.

It seemed Naboo was still full of surprises for the Lupo.

 

[Katria Vekarr]

Naboo

It had been decades.

While that wasn't the first thought that came to mind for her when she thought back on her time with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, it was one of those that accounted for the current state of her affairs. Decades had passed and yet there were still days when she felt as if it were only just the day prior that she had turned on her heels and turned to favor of the freelancing over the established order she had made herself part of. She no longer knew exactly why she had done it, only that the decision had been made with very little input from the peers she had made connections with.

These thoughts were what clouded her mind as she brought her ship down to the surface of Naboo and to the spaceport where she'd heard that the Confederacy once called their core. There had once been a time when she was privy to every inner working of the faction she'd once called her allegiance. Her fingers dabbling in every last finer detail that came in or out of the former galactic power. At present, however, she had carried herself upon mere rumors of the Confederacy's final days to discover the location of their stronghold on a world that was not Geonosis. All together a strange feeling that she could not justify properly in words.

What she found upon reaching the designated coordinates she'd been given was beyond what she could have expected. Lacking the knowledge that she was sure any survivors might have had she was left with only a feeling of shattered awe as she witnessed the devastation that had been left behind of what she assumed had once been a spectacular stronghold. An understanding of whatever cataclysm that had taken place here filled her mind though a part of her mind continued to reject the very idea. She dared not consider that something she had considered her home and her purpose could have collapsed and deteriorated to such a crushing disrepair.

Thoughts and sensations so strong that she found herself, almost as if in a blacked out state of disbelief, wandering into a local bar. While her mind grappled with the realizations and discoveries, her body had done what it knew itself to be best capable of to cope with the trauma. Find something cold, hard and bitter to wash away the pain.

And doing that had been her intent before a voice dragged her back to reality.

She didn't fully recognize his voice for what it was before her memory began to piece together fragments of past experiences. It wasn't until she looked upon his face, met his gaze, that her memories caught up with her. Once upon a time she had been both his colleague and a fellow wrapped up in the challenges of a woman that she was sure that neither of them recognized any longer. Had one asked her why she thought as much, she would have equated it to the grizzled and war shapen look to him that became all the more vivid as she made her way closer to him.

"Gerwald Lechner," she uttered softly but with a very direct and agreeable angle to her voice. "I can't say I'm surprised to find you out here, but something tells me this isn't a routine destiantion for you anymore."

Outfit: Clothes | Taozin Amulet | Gloves & Boots | Arms
Weapons: Sword | Sidearms | Bow

Gerwald Lechner​

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
WEAPONS: Ferrum Solus | Blodmåne | Strømafbryder
TAG: Katria Vekarr

His eyes followed her until the woman occupied the stool next to his. The wolf turned to regard her for a moment before giving his attention back to the barkeeper.

“Whatever she is having on my tab.”

There would have been a day where that particular thought would not have crossed his mind. It was not because Gerwald had been a rude person when he was younger. The Lord Commander had simply not been raised with an awareness toward charm and politics. The offer held no romantic allusions to it whatsoever. Rather, Gerwald had finally learned how to be more than the brutish hound his younger self had been fashioned into.

Her statement did not fall flat as he shook his head. Naboo was no longer a routine stop on his tour of the galaxy. He gathered it was not one for her either. The former bastion of the Confederacy of Independent Systems was as beautiful as ever as reconstruction efforts had taken the world a long way from the devastation which had been caused. Though, Gerwald also did not think that she had come to the planet to satisfy some form of latent curiosity.

“Not regularly, no.”

He pushed the mead to the side.

“Let’s stick with whiskey.”

The barkeep nodded and produced the whiskey Gerwald had asked for and the drink which Katria had requested as well.

“Rumors of old Confederate resources brought me here. While there is not much which would be problematic if picked up by looters and graverobbers alike, some things should still remain hidden from the public at large.”

The woman herself had served in intelligence at one point, she would understand what Gerwald meant by it. It was enough of an answer to explain his presence while hopefully satisfying the question her statement implied.

What was he doing there?

What was she doing there?

It was not asked aloud, though Empyrean’s Wrath assumed it was not simply for pleasure. He prolonged the inevitable by scanning the room. It was relatively quiet. While the cantina was by no means hurting for patrons, it was a little early for peak business.

“What should we drink to then? Chance meetings and past lives, or should we cut to the chase and drink to the fact that the witch abandoned us both?”

 

[Katria Vekarr]

Naboo

Almost as quickly as she'd made herself comfortable, situating herself beside a former comrade from decades ago, she felt as if time itself began to catch up to her. As it did so she was quick to wave to the barkeep with a mutter of something strong in her preference that she could down just as quickly as it had been placed before her and wash away the dreadful sense of displacement that had come to fill her mind. This wasn't the type of meeting that she wished to be muddled with regrets and ill-intended frustrations, but rather with uncomplicated perspective for beneficial forward moving.

Once her drink had been downed, another placed before her to replace it with a small wave of her hand, she turned her attention readily to the words that came. His inclination of acknowledgement of her question, followed by an explanation for any visits and then, as much as she likely hadn't fully expected it, the acknowledgement of the bantha in the room. While she hadn't actively spent time thinking back on her, nor did a great deal to avoid any thoughts that might have come or gone, there was no failing to recognize the visible mix of expressions that washed over her face at the utterance.

Wistfulness and longing followed by a heaved sigh that mixed itself with a notion of anger and disappointment. And then there was a silence that even Gerwald wouldn't understand until her well practiced time as special forces faltered in revealing a hint of sadness behind her eyes that she had never quite freed herself of. What he said was true but it was not what she had ever truly hoped for. But a moment of contemplation told her that he was likely talking more of himself than of her; at least to a very minor degree.

But she had been wrong before.

Taking another swig from the glass in front of her, having disregarded it save for a small sip during her moment of recollection, she pursed her lips, then bit down on her lower lip before finally letting out another sigh. A sigh she knew was one for the fact that this would be their first actual conversation in well over twenty years and perhaps one that would not be muddled by what had once been an intermingling complication of a woman between them. Of course not for lack of either of them fully understanding the situation until it ultimately dissolved.

"I'd say I've drank enough for both those notions in just the last minute, but sure. Why not. To our past, our present and the whatever that woman is up to now that she's no longer ruling either of your lives." She returned to his question of gesture and lifted her glass to take a sip from it. Perhaps not what she'd have considered the best of toasts, but one that she would be happy to drink to and let the liquor wash away her qualms. "Now, old friend, why don't you tell me how I can help you with your little project out here for the sake of old times."

Outfit: Clothes | Taozin Amulet | Gloves & Boots | Arms
Weapons: Sword | Sidearms | Bow

Gerwald Lechner​

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
WEAPONS: Ferrum Solus | Blodmåne | Strømafbryder
TAG: Katria Vekarr

Yes, they had both been involved with the Van-Derveld. Gerwald had been naive, and his innocence had blinded him to the reality that decisions he made had consequences deeper than what he could have imagined. The wolf had been taken advantage of by the isolation which his mother had created, and the sudden freedom which came on the other side of it had taken him too far. Time had taught Gerwald balance, and the pain from choosing and still being abandoned had opened his eyes to a world of pain he now knew more intimately than he wished.

Their glasses clinked before Gerwald knocked back the whiskey which was in his glass. A small smile curved at the corner of his mouth when the memory of that night crossed his mind. Naedira had been in a champagne colored dress, and the wolf wore a gray suit. He offered her the choice of whiskey or a fruity drink, and she had taken the whiskey. Since then, Gerwald has always ordered some kind of fruity cocktail, as he did now after waving down the barkeep.

It would sit there untouched.

Even though Naedira was living again, the tradition he created for himself served as a reminder of the one time he had held his feelings to himself when he should have spoken them. Gerwald would never do that again. Every chance that he had to tell the woman that he loved what he felt for her, he did, perhaps even to her annoyance.

Katria may not have known about that part of Gerwald’s story, but maybe in time she would. That is, if she were willing to overlook the fact he now worked with the Sith Order.

How could she help, now?

“What assets are you aware of that not even I would have known about as Lord Commander? Would any of those assets still be here on Naboo?”

He finished the rest of his whiskey.

“We could go looking for them if they are.”