Private Seas of Change

[Judah Dashiell]

"Board meetings are rarely stressful. The company is large now with multiple revenue streams. While that may seem daunting, as long as everyone keeps their job and we aren't swimming in debt, I consider it a good day. It helps now my son is older, and while he has his own company, it is still under a larger umbrella so things run smoother. Now if you would have asked me twenty-five years ago..."

Shoulders shrugged, implying a rough time. Which was to be expected as a single father trying to upscale a company.

"Grace sounds way harder than living life and finding a path, but if it works for you who am I to judge? Knock out the easier parts first and go from there is a solid strategy."

Iandre Athlea​

 

[Iandre Athlea]

A soft laugh escaped Iandre.

"I think you've just made grace sound like the more difficult option." Her smile lingered as she shook her head. "Perhaps I should reconsider my strategy."

She listened while he spoke about his company, noting how differently he described it than she had imagined. There was no boastfulness in his voice, nor the relentless drive she had expected from someone who had built something so large. Even when he admitted it had been rough at one point. Instead, there was a quiet satisfaction in seeing it continue to thrive, especially with his son now helping shoulder the responsibility.

"You speak about it differently than I expected." she observed thoughtfully. "Not as though you've built an empire, but as though you've built something you're happy to share."

Her grey eyes met his across the table, lingering there for a quiet moment before a gentle smile returned.

"I like that." she admitted softly. "It's...reassuring to know you measure success by whether the people around you are doing well."

She paused, almost surprised by the thought as it formed.

"I think that's one of the things I find myself liking most about you."

Judah Dashiell

 

[Judah Dashiell]

"Can't pick up the salvage on my own. Although I did that at first. Key to growth is keeping those I have." Judah paused, only to tell a joke. "Afraid I was some evil corporate overseer? There are quite a few in the galaxy, you would be right to be concerned."

Surprised colored his features when Iandre Athlea stated she liked him. Genuine surprise. Judah didn't expect such an admission at dinner, or ever really. Not many admitted they actually liked him. To be fair he wasn't sure how to take the information.

"Plenty of time to find things you don't like about me."

 

[Iandre Athlea]

A small smile lingered on Iandre's lips as she watched the surprise cross his face. She hadn't expected such a simple admission to catch him so off guard.

"I'm sure I will." she answered gently, without a trace of disappointment.

She lowered her gaze to her plate for a moment before looking back up.

"I don't think liking someone means expecting them to be perfect." There was a quiet certainty in her voice. "If anything...I think it's learning those parts of them and deciding they don't outweigh everything else."

A faint smile returned, warm and sincere.

"Besides," she added with a hint of humor, "I'm fairly certain you'll discover a few things about me that try your patience as well."

Judah Dashiell

 

[Judah Dashiell]

"Hmm, you say that now but when I'm on the tenth business call of the day chain smoking on the back patio ignoring you, your tune might change. Workaholic, is what I am trying to get at. Despite not saying life is stressful, it does get busy. As I'm sure it does for everyone. So keep your words in mind."

It was time to turn it back on her. Not a fan of talking about himself, but part of growth was realizing dates were an exchange of information. A bit of poking at one another to see if it was wise for a second date or to just cut the losses and run. At least at their ages. Maybe he would have felt differently thirty years ago.

"Oh? So tell me what you think your most annoying qualities or habits are? I'm sure you're going to tell me something incredibly pedestrian like leaving towels on the floor."

Iandre Athlea ​

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre considered his warning for a moment before a small smile touched her lips. Ten business calls and an afternoon of being largely ignored didn't sound quite as alarming to her as Judah seemed to think it should. She had already spent enough of her life close to people carrying responsibilities that could consume entire days without warning. She understood that sometimes work demanded someone's attention, and she had never needed to be the center of another person's every waking moment.

"I think I could survive ten business calls." she assured him, amusement warming her grey eyes. "Besides, I'm something of a workaholic myself. Or...I was." She paused at the distinction, realizing how strange it still felt to speak of that part of herself in the past tense. "I'm trying to discover what people do when they don't have an endless list of responsibilities demanding their attention. So far, I'm not particularly good at it."

His question made her lean back slightly as she considered herself with far more seriousness than the subject probably warranted. "I don't leave towels on the floor." she informed him first, as though that particular accusation needed to be eliminated immediately. "But I have difficulty leaving things unfinished. If I tell myself I'll work for another twenty minutes, there's a reasonable chance I'll still be there an hour later." Her mouth curved with quiet amusement. "So perhaps neither of us is in a position to criticize the other's work habits."

She thought for another moment before her expression brightened. "Oh, and I constantly forget about my caf." A soft laugh escaped her. "I'll make a cup, drink perhaps half of it, become distracted by something, and discover it cold much later." She hesitated for a beat before admitting the worst of it. "And then I drink it anyway."

Her brows lifted slightly as she regarded him across the table. "Is that sufficiently annoying, or were you hoping for something more scandalous?"

Judah Dashiell

 

[Judah Dashiell]

"I was honestly hoping for something crazy. Muddy boots in the house level insane. As I suspected, all very innocuous in nature. You made it sound as if you were holding back some deep, dark secrets. Maybe if I'm given a little time to get to know you better then I'll find something that irks my nerves and I'll get back to you."

Putting down his fork, his gaze leveled towards her. Something she had said about working twenty minutes more and finding herself working hours afterward. There was a piecing of a few things together.

"Something tells me paperwork isn't going to keep you happy for long. Too boring, too simple for someone like you. Now what that other thing is I don't know but its certainly not a cog in the machine that is government."

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre gave him a look over the rim of her glass. "Muddy boots? Absolutely not." The answer came with enough immediate conviction to undermine his search for something scandalous. "You'll have to keep looking, apparently. Though I'm beginning to wonder whether I should be concerned by how determined you are to discover something objectionable about me."

His observation about her work gave her more pause. Iandre lowered her glass slowly, considering an immediate denial before realizing she didn't particularly believe one. The work she had taken on was useful. There were problems to solve, people who needed assistance, and an endless assortment of small matters that kept a government functioning. She liked being useful, and there was satisfaction in completing something that needed to be done. Whether that amounted to happiness was a different question.

"You may be right." she conceded eventually. Her fingers turned the glass slightly against the table. "I don't dislike the work. I actually enjoy parts of it. There's something satisfying about taking a problem off someone's desk and leaving it solved." She paused, searching for a way to explain something she hadn't entirely worked out herself. "But I don't know that I can see myself doing only that indefinitely."

Her grey eyes returned to Judah, a trace of amusement appearing as she realized he'd managed to turn her own uncertainty into something she was now discussing over dinner. "The trouble is that I don't know what the other thing is either." A small shrug accompanied the admission. "For the first time in a very long while, no one is telling me what I'm supposed to do next. I thought I would find that liberating." Her smile became a little rueful. "Mostly, I've discovered I'm not very good at having too many choices."

She studied him for a moment before the smile warmed again. "Perhaps you'll have figured me out by the time you find that terrible habit you're looking for."

Judah Dashiell

 

[Judah Dashiell]

"Then maybe...don't do anything for awhile? What I'm saying is continue to what you're doing now. The paperwork. Veradune. The sitting around and wondering what comes next. First off, after everything that has happened, you probably need to just shut your mind down and relax. Secondly, once you're bored then thats when folks get creative."

Finishing off the last piece of his starter, fork went down and he leaned back, evaluating.

"May not happen for a year or two...but where are you going? In the grand scheme is it going to ruin anything? I really doubt it."

Iandre Athlea ​

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre glanced down at her plate as Judah spoke, turning his suggestion over rather than immediately answering. There was something almost strange about being advised to do nothing, particularly when so much of her life had been built around the expectation that she should always be moving toward something. Training had led to service, service to war, and awakening in this century had eventually led her straight back into responsibilities of one kind or another. Even her current clerical work had begun because sitting entirely idle hadn't agreed with her.

"You make doing nothing sound remarkably productive." she observed, a small smile appearing as her grey eyes returned to him. "I'm not entirely convinced I'm capable of shutting my mind down, but I understand what you're saying." Perhaps she didn't need to decide what the rest of her life looked like simply because she had reached a point where nobody else was deciding it for her. The thought was obvious when put that way, yet accepting it was another matter.

She took the last bite of her starter before continuing, allowing herself a moment to consider his question. "No, I suppose a year wouldn't ruin anything." Her mouth curved thoughtfully. "Neither would two. It's difficult to remember that sometimes. I spent so long feeling as though I had to catch up with everything I'd missed that standing still seemed like wasting even more time." She shook her head slightly. "Which is rather ridiculous when I say it aloud. I have more time ahead of me than I know what to do with."

Her gaze settled on Judah again, and a warmer hint of amusement entered her expression. "Perhaps I'll take your advice. Keep doing what I'm doing, allow myself to become thoroughly bored, and see what brilliant idea eventually emerges from it." She tilted her head slightly, studying him across the table. "You do realize that if this experiment goes terribly wrong, I may have to remind you that it was your idea."

Judah Dashiell

 

[Judah Dashiell]

"Remind me? Sounds like you will be seeing me again then."

Dinner breezed by and at the end they lingered over dessert and coffee before he paid the bill, realizing they should go before they were kicked out. Not wanting their evening to end, he had suggested a small walk around the historic areas. Serreno wasn't as well known for their architecture but Judah found it rivaled that of Naboo. It had an old world, lived in almost looming feel.

​

"I hope you had a good time this evening. Thanks for joining me. Thanks for coming all this way too. Next time I come to you...if there is a next time? I might have shot myself in the foot along the way this evening."

Not out of the realm of possibility. He had a habit of sticking his foot in his mouth without realizing. Or realizing it much, much later. He hadn't seen any reaction from Iandre Athlea to suggest otherwise but she could have a good poker face.

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre fell easily into step beside him once they left the restaurant, enjoying the slower pace after spending most of the evening seated across from one another. Her attention wandered over the old architecture as they walked, though Judah's question quickly brought her gaze back to him. The suggestion that he might have ruined his chances somewhere during dinner earned a soft laugh and a slight shake of her head.

"I had a wonderful evening, Judah." There was no hesitation in the answer, nor any need to soften it behind humor. "You're welcome, and thank you for inviting me. I'm very glad I came." She had arrived curious about what might happen when they stepped outside the comfortable familiarity of business and friendship. Now, walking beside him after lingering over dinner far longer than either of them had needed to, she had her answer. At least enough of one to know she wasn't ready for this to end here.

His uncertainty about another evening brought a warmer smile to her features. "And you haven't shot yourself in the foot." she assured him. "I certainly want there to be a next time." Hearing that he apparently wanted the same left her quietly pleased. Whatever this might eventually become. Knowing they both wanted another opportunity to find out was enough for now.

"Actually, there is something coming up on Veradune." Iandre continued after they had walked a little farther. "There's a festival of sorts. Nothing particularly formal, just a gathering outside the city with food, a fire, music, and whoever decides to attend." She glanced toward him, the invitation carrying slightly more significance now that they'd established neither wanted this to be their only date. "I'd like you to come with me."

Her smile turned faintly playful as she added, "You did say next time you would come to me. It seems a shame not to give you the opportunity to keep your word."

Judah Dashiell

 

[Judah Dashiell]

"Already making plans for next time." He shook his head. "Guess I didn't scare you off too much."

Veradune. Judah knew nothing of the planet except she knew someone in government and she liked doing their paperwork. Sounded perhaps like a small government and a rather interesting world.

"Its a date. I will be there and would be honored for you to show me around Veradaune. I'd like to get to know everything in Miss Athlea's orbit, big and small."

Escorting Iandre Athlea back to her vessel at the spaceport, it was going to be a short trip on her end. However, they would be meeting very quickly once again on Veradune. It was going to be like peeking behind the curtain on her day-to-day.

Stopping in front of her ship, he leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"I had a lovely time. Until we see each other again."

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre smiled at his observation, unable to deny that she had rather decisively answered the question of whether there would be another evening together. "Apparently your attempts at frightening me away need some work." she replied, the humor coming easily now. His acceptance of her invitation pleased her more than she bothered trying to conceal. "Then it's a date. I'll show you Veradune, although I make no promises that everything in my orbit will be terribly exciting."

The walk back to the spaceport passed comfortably, their conversation continuing without either of them seeming particularly eager to hurry toward its inevitable conclusion. Iandre found herself thinking about how uncertain she'd been when the evening began compared to how natural things felt now. There hadn't been some dramatic revelation over dinner, nor did she suddenly know exactly what she wanted this to become. She simply knew she'd enjoyed Judah's company and wanted more of it. For a first date, that seemed like a rather successful outcome.

When they finally stopped beside her ship, Iandre turned toward him with every intention of offering a proper goodnight. The kiss against her cheek caught her just enough by surprise that she went still for a heartbeat. Then her expression softened into a warm smile, the faint color rising in her cheeks betraying how much she appreciated the gesture.

"So did I." Her grey eyes remained on his for another moment. "Thank you for tonight, Judah." She resisted the temptation to turn their goodbye into anything more complicated than it needed to be, stepping toward the boarding ramp before glancing back at him. "I'll see you on Veradune."

There was something rather nice about saying it with certainty instead of perhaps. Iandre gave him one final smile before heading aboard, already finding herself looking forward to the next time.

Judah Dashiell