Private The Price of Loyalty

[Roberd Courbis]

Ukatis. He was home.
​

Cloaked and clothed in the simple garb of a commoner, Roberd had spent many days in the wild, reacquainting himself with a world he had served for countless years. Though he had betrayed its people, the world itself was always welcoming of a wayward son, a soft breeze carrying through the leaves and branches, the stars above shining down upon a Knight who had tossed his nobility away for a false King. He would forever owe a debt to his people that he could never repay, but there was one who was owed more than most by Roberd, and he had come to begin repaying that debt.

Or face a traitor's death. ​

Corazona von Ascania, the so-called Kinslayer, had sacrificed more than most for her homeworld. Her father, in his madness, had forced her to make a near-impossible choice, a choice that Roberd was glad that he would never have to make himself. Still, he was part of the reason that her father even made it to the throne room in the first place, and so he also bore the blame for the events that followed once father and daughter came to blows for a final time.

For several days, he had tracked the Princess's movements. She kept rather busy for a new mother, but a pattern had quickly established that saw her depart the capital for a countryside estate, perhaps the only place she was not surrounded by nobility or dignitaries. Roberd knew that if he was discovered by anyone but Corazona, he would be summarily executed for his crimes against Ukatis and her people. Perhaps he still would be, but if he were to die, it would be at the hands of the woman he had wronged the most; it would be the final honorable act in a traitor's life, not enough to wipe away his shame, and yet it was something Roberd had made his peace with. He had waited until nightfall to begin his approach to the estate, the stars above his only guide as he found his way to the central structure. Roberd knew that Corazona had returned, but was unaware whether she was still awake. Part of him believed that he should simply knock on the front door, but he had decided she was just as likely to ignore him if he did so. Though idiotic, he believed that he had to present himself to the Princess for her to truly understand who he was and why he had come.

It took time to find a proper entrance, but eventually Roberd came upon a window. While the rest of the estate seemed sealed up tightly, it appeared this particular window had been left cracked to let in the cool night's breeze. Carefully, the old knight forced the window open just enough to give him a chance to slip inside, though the process was not without some discomfort as his age ever so slightly began to catch up with him. Still, he had managed to find his way inside, and after his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he quickly discovered that he was in a nursery of sorts.

It was only then that he realized his grave error. ​

His steps were slow and quiet, but eventually he found himself standing over a bassinet, within which lay a child who slept blissfully unaware of the intruder who had forced his way into her room. Roberd should have moved on, slipped out of the room, and moved on to his true goal, but instead, he hesitated. This precious babe was, in his mind, a reminder of just what he had rejected in life in swearing his life to the service of Ukatis and her people. Certainly, he had known love in his time, but something so true and lastingas to have led to a child? No, he thought it cruel to bring a child into the galaxy that he could not properly raise. He had to choose between a family of his own and protecting the countless other families of his homeworld, and he had chosen the many.

Now he was old. Now he was a traitor. He had spilled Ukatian blood for a traitor and a Sith Lord. ​

Could he even call himself a Knight? After everything he'd done?

Corazona von Ascania ​