Take Me Home

[Liliane]

Home is such a strange term. Where is home? Can people have many homes? If yes, then doesn't it quite ruin the meaning of a home? If not, then what about people who feel at home wherever they are? Is there even a definition for the word 'home'? All these questions about one simple place in the universe. If there are so many questions, there ought to be a ton of different answers.

And a whole bunch of opinions.

Lilin didn't know where home was. She was a wanderer, not used to having a place to stay. For the last few months, she'd never even come close to where she actually lived. All of her responsibilities were thrown into the corner and she had no want to handle them. She had to cleanse her mind and find answers to her questions. If she had to focus on the Republic and the Covenant and her family at the same time, she wouldn't have reached a conclusion.

Now she was quite sure she was ready to return home. But where was home? That apartment in One Sith territory? Her childhood home at Zahat'n'ira? Wherever she wanted to be -- because everywhere was home for her?

Home is such a loos term.

So instead of having to philosophise, she decided to go back to where she was born and talk to the one person she had left in the galaxy -- her father.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

Vitor smiled as he spotted the familiar sight of his daughter's ship landing in the nearby clearing he had prepared. Still he sat back, prepared for the inevitable arrival of his daughter, the firstborn of his family, and the one who would receive most of the inheritance upon his death. His door was left open, a sign he was here as he eagerly awaited her arrival into the family home.

Perhaps she had more control of her draining abilities now.

 

[Liliane]

The door was already open. She had been waited for. Had she told her father about her return home? She couldn't remember. But that was not a bad thing. Maybe Vitor was always hoping for her daughter to return. To be honest, she had no idea what the man was doing on this crazy planet all this time. There was a chance he was still venturing around places and trying to find artefacts, even though she was not quite sure about that.

Her feet took her to the front door and, once again, before stepping inside, she took a short breath, as if she thought whether she should step in or run away. Both of these options were equally great but terrifying at the same time. What would she do if she didn't step in? Or what would she do when she did decide to enter the building?

Decisions, decisions.

She decided to take the courage and take a step into the room. It all smelled just like when she was still a kid. It was a funny smell the house had -- it was the most welcoming scent she had ever smelled. Not because it was the best smell in existence, but more because it was the most familiar one.

"I'm home," she whispered after smelling that familiar homely scent.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"Lilin... great to see you. I was just preparing lunch." Vitor smiled as he gazed upon his daughter, still the beautiful young woman he remembered from before she set out to forge her own destiny across the stars. "I should have enough left to make something for you today, but I'll likely have to go out and get some more meat. Unless you'd like to help me make some jerky."

Salted jerky was nice, after all.

 

[Liliane]

Lilin looked at the person she called her father slightly too blankly. All emotions she had had inside vanished in a moment and all she could focus on was the fact that this place was not home. Even though it smelled like that, she couldn't form a bond with this location anymore. But she couldn't leave. She had to confront her father and come back to reality. She'd been away from everything for too long and it was time to return.

"Hi."

Her voice was cold and emotionless, just like she felt inside. Her time away had torn all emotions out of her and there was only this realisation about who she was and what was happening around her.

She was sure her father would find out about it soon enough.

"Jerky sounds nice." She took a few steps towards the man but her motions remained strict and carefully made while her eyes showed off not feelings whatsoever. "I can help you make it."

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"That's wonderful..." He paused, fading off with his voice as he eyed Lilin over. "Lilin, is something wrong? You seem a bit distraught over something - detatched, even." He frowned, turning to look more properly at his daughter as he pondered over what had happened to her during her tenure away from home. Perhaps it was something... no.

She couldn't be suffering the same issue as her mother, could she?

 

[Liliane]

"I'm fine. I just feel slightly out of place at the moment," Lilin tried to lie to her father, but that was a pathetic try. She hadn't become a better liar than she was before she left. And if she were to be placed on a scale from one to a politician, she would probably be in the negative zone. That has got to tell a lot about a person's lying abilities.

But she actually felt great that she didn't have to bring the topic up herself. She didn't want to be the one who would go like, "I've got something to tell you." She preferred if others managed to understand what she felt inside.

She walked a little bit closer to Vitor and without taking a moment to think whether it was a good idea or not, she hugged the man. It was not a cold emotionless hug, but neither was it an embrace full of thousands of feelings.

It was just a hug.

"How have you been?"

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"I know my baby girl enough that there's more to it than that." He continued to look at her. "Tell me what's wrong, okay? It's my job as your father to help you through whatever issues are going on." For the time being, he would cease talking about his company's development of nuclear weapons for the Republic - this was much more important.

Family always was.

 

[Liliane]

"It's a long story," Lilin said after a moment of silence. She didn't know how to put what she was feeling inside into words so it was better to cover the whole topic and somehow get to the one thing she really had to talk about.

She backed away from her father and took a seat on the familiar comfortable sofa. She had to sit after having traveled for so long. Her eyes were tired, her mind was not quite as sharp and her body ached. But at least she knew who she was and that was the most important.

"Perhaps it would be better to talk about it after you've let me know how you've been?" she tried to push Vitor to talk more about himself. Her life was nothing when compared to his.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"Very well... If you want to, I suppose." He sat down as his food continued to gently simmer. "A woman by the name of Vanessa Kuhn gave me half of the company known as Emeritus Industries. It's been a bit frustrating trying to handle the company and help it grow, but I admittedly have nothing else to say regarding corporate affairs. The company develops at its own pace. We do have some interesting things the Republic uses now, not to mention a fluid that should help keep my newest apprentice safe in the event of her suit failing."

The absolute last thing he wanted was another family member dead.

 

[Liliane]

"An apprentice?" Lilin asked, but not with a tone speaking of surprise. It was more like a voice which meant absolutely nothing. Would she not have raised her voice slightly at the end of the sentence, it wouldn't have even sounded like a question.

To be honest, Lilin had no idea her father was allowed to take an apprentice an teach them. Perhaps he'd gotten a promotion during the time she was away? Yet the thought of him finally being more than a padawan who left the Order to focus on family was quite disturbing. Not that she wouldn't have liked it. It was nice to know her father was successful in life. But at the same time, it was so new and unfamiliar to her.

"That's nice to hear."

She herself had had a few students as well. At the moment, she had no idea where they were, what they were doing, or if they still were Padawans. But it didn't matter at all to her. They were meaningless for her at that moment. Family was more important.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

"Yes, an apprentice. She wished to learn from someone who could give her a view the Jedi and Sith could not. I willingly obliged, while also ensuring her suit remains functional in this warm and humid environment." He nodded, looking over at Lilin. "What about you? I want to know what's been going on. Tell me, please."

He wanted - nay, needed - to know what had happened to her.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

Sigh.

"Alright." She tried to find a more comfortable position as it was probably not going to be a short story. She knew Vitor would understand her case -- heck, he'd even married a Sith while he himself was a Jedi -- but whether he would tolerate it or not was a completely different question. And she wasn't quite sure the answer to that was going to be positive.

She carefully searched for the words to start the story with. It was difficult to find the ones which would give her the ability to speak and not stop after every few words.

"Y'know, I've always been quite confused about what I am... A daughter of a Jedi and a Sith, born with a really bad ability I can't shut down and with a karking crazy dose of corruption.

Lilin turned her eyes away from her father. It was too uncomfortable to keep an eye contact. It was too embarrassing. She was not brave enough to keep staring at his eyes.

"So I left my responsibilities and my whole life behind and took some time to think. Well, that lasted for a few months. But I was finally able to understand who I was and what I really felt inside."

Confessing things was always quite difficult.

"I... don't think I want to be a good-doer in this galaxy. I am tired of running from the truth. I know it's a little bit too shameful to go the road my mother took... So that's why I am not gonna join the Sith. But that doesn't mean I am not a monster. How could you consider a person who has a random energy-draining ability normal?"

Well, right, she had managed to tell the majority of her story without actually hinting at what she had found out about herself. And about whom she had met during her time away.

"I don't want to develop my Force powers any further. They cause too much terror and I just can't deal with it. I don't want to be a Force-user. I don't want to be afraid of turning into a Darksider."

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"You can call yourself a monster if you want, but you're my monster. I'll always take care of you and do my very best to help you, Lilin. You're my daughter, my firstborn child... Why would you be afraid of telling me what you want to do in your life? I want to be the one you trust more than anyone else." He stepped forward, gently grasping her hands as he stared into her eyes. "I know you're holding something back, Lilin. It's the same look I saw in your eyes when you didn't tell me about that vase you knocked over back when you were a mere nine years old. Please... tell me what's going on."

He did have the resources to protect her now, unlike in her childhood.

 

[Liliane]

Lilin hadn't expected such a response. She had been so afraid that her father would be disappointed to hear his daughter had turned into a monster like her mother had been. How could he manage to live on with a child who was just as dark as Lilith had been?

But as she gained a huge trust and confidence boost, she decided to continue her story nonetheless.

"Well, I met my grandfather while I was away."

She didn't know what to add to it. She also had no idea if Vitor knew about the fact that Lancasters lived in confusion as none of them in the same generation as Lilith had any knowledge about who their parents were.

Randyl had once told her he and Jasmine were trying to find any clues about who were their parents but unfortunately, couldn't find anything.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

"Interesting." He nodded, looking at Lilin with a look that betrayed none of his thoughts. "I never did ask your mother about her parents. I suppose it was selfish for me, since I could hardly relate having parents who've been dead for hundreds of years." He paused for a moment, trying to get a feel for the situation as best he could.

"You know, Lilin, just because you'd be a Darksider if you continued to develop your powers doesn't mean you'll become a bad person. If you still believe in how I raised you, what I taught you was right and wrong, then you will be fine. And I'm willing to guide you down that path of you feel taking it on your own would result in you becoming... Like your mother.

He didn't say it disparingly... But it was a form of regret he showed.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

The conversation was not going in the direction Lilin feared it would. Which was quite nice, but slightly surprising and confusing. She had always known her father loved his children just like they were. Kark, one of them was a shadowy Sithspawn. That has got to say a lot about his tolerance.

But still, she hadn't thought Vitor would support her embracing the corruption her mother had left her with.

"You are not mad or anything?" she asked. "From what Darrick told me, I assumed you would be quite upset about it."
​​
[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]​

 

[Onrai]

He gave a soft sigh, moving forward to give Lilin a soft hug. "Lilin... Your mother became so corrupt because initially, when I first met her, all the darkness still in me touched her very core. I didn't take responsibility and keep her away from evil as I should have. With you, I will not make that mistake. I swear." His hug grew a bit tighter.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

The old Lilin would have started to cry at that very moment. However, the new Lilin remained emotionless. A stranger would have most likely thought the man was hugging a cold stone-hearted woman. And it was practically true. All of the feelings she had inside were buried deep under something she couldn't describe. Why was it so that a person was always troubled with things they couldn't describe or understand? Why couldn't a person feel simple emotions like love, hatred, happiness ...?

"My mother was supposed to go dark, wasn't she?"

Her cold monotonous voice was, for once, coated with a slight tremble of realisation. Everything Vitor had told her about Lilith and all the things she'd heard from her grandfather seemed to finally form a reason for the woman's troubles.

"Everything that happened in her life pushed her deeper into the Dark Side of the Force, right?"

She was still not asking questions. Everything she said sounded more like stating a fact. Yet the next sentence she said finally showed emotions -- emotions of fear, confusion and lost of hope. And it was truly a question.

"Dad, does destiny exist?"

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"I believe it does." He nodded, looking his daughter over - or was this truly his daughter? Whatever had come back to him seemed so strange, so different from the woman who had left to go and seek her future. A sigh elicited from his lips as he pondered such over. "Destinies can be changed, though. Never believe that you are eternally stuck on the path you think you are."

After all, if such was the case, Vitor would never have woken up from his nap.