House Abrantes
Sibylla's breath caught as Senator Dominique Vexx's voice startled her from her thoughts, the young teenager freezing but for a moment as if expecting a strike, but then recalled where she was.
She drew a breath, doing her best to compose her expression before turning to meet the Senator's gaze, all the while refusing to let the faint flush that touched her cheeks betray more than warmth from the archive lighting.
"Senator Vexx," she said smoothly, giving an incline of her head in greeting, that Royal House poise slipping easily back into place. "You caught me midthought."
The young Ambassador lifted the folio just slightly in a purposeful gesture rather than idle wandering.
"I've been reviewing the older accounts of the Set and Vere mythos," Sibylla explained quietly, mindful of how her voice could potentially echo within the archives.
"Some of the fragments from the new site along the Five Veils Route conflict with the traditional retellings. I thought… perhaps the old records might help trace where the story shifted. Or why."
She glanced down at the folio in her hands again, the edges worn soft beneath her fingers, then looked back up at Dominique, expression composed once again, her smile quiet but thoughtful.
"My mother has long insisted that Naboo's heart lies tucked within its stories. And if that heart is now shifting, I should very much like to know who dares shape it...and to what end. Especially if I am expected to walk the line where our strength must be drawn not solely from tradition… but from the willingness to adapt."
There was a pause, something unreadable flickering in her hazel eyes.
"At least… Vere tried."