The Star Crown [Tirdarius]

[Quietus]

Kuat - Province of Marrut - Efreet Forest
[member="Tirdarius"]

"What a waste."

Three figures stood at the entrance to the hidden Nursery within Efreet Forest, silhouettes shrouded by a pale morning mist. Through the trees the faint glow of morning sunlight slowly began to emblazon the sky, striking rays across them like some heavenly intervention for what monstrous event would soon take place here.

Nearly a month now since the Burning Tree Treaty saw the signatures of those representative of Kuat and the One Sith. Thus far, the Sith had held up their end - so it would soon come time for Kuat to honor their own word.

The Kuati Sovereign looked out upon the gloom with a gaze of consideration. The nursery had been planted in secret over six years ago by the Republic at the offer of land by the Sovereign herself. Several secluded nurseries existed on Kuat, as well as on other planets within the Kuati system. Not just any nurseries, mind you, but those that specialized in the care of Bafforr trees.

Lorelei Darke narrowed her eyes. It was a waste, but it was also a promise, and the Lady Darke was always good on her word.

"Six years and how many millions we put into these nurseries? For what. To burn them. If I had known we were spending money just to burn it, I would have told the Republic to go feth itself," Pheraella Sanzio, the former Kuati Senator signed in only months before this whole Netherworld debacle, was even less of a fan of the Republic than her own Sovereign. The difference? Phe was a little less ...diplomatic about her distaste. Lorelei blamed this on her youth and lack of experience beyond the Kuatian aristocracy, though she did find it mildly amusing. Phe pulled daintily on the stem of a cigarette holder, looking perturbed.

"If you like I can start the party now," she ashed her habit onto the cobble walk beneath her heels, "course I'm not really dressed for the occasion. Do tell me where I'll find a fire-proof dress, Your Highness, surely you've got one."

Chuckling, Lorelei glanced to the young woman, "I do, actually. But no, the Festival will have to wait until the chosen day, when it can be witnessed by those who matter."

"I don't suppose a simple ball would have sufficed."

"Spending money on luxury does not a confident ally make."

"So we are to burn it instead?"

"Shh..." replied the Queen on a low, svelte tone, "the trees will hear you."

 

[Teynara Jeralyr]

[member="Lorelei Darke"]

To stand overlooking this world was to view arguably the Galaxy's greatest technological achievement, a testament to the will and ingenuity of those that had built it. We have seen massive stations capable of obliterating whole worlds, ships the size of starfighters that can cause a sun to go supernova, and a station that can realign planets and create whole star systems. Yet for some reason, this all seemed to pale into insignificance when compared to the vast shipyards that surrounded the planet of Kuat, an artificial ring built to encircle an entire planet, every square meter of it used in effective form. Those other things were weapons, only to destroy. Here we have a place of creation, that which creates those which destroy. The irony wasn't easily escaped. Small surprise that this place has been fought over so many times over the millenia.

His ship had dropped out of Hyperspace just moments ago, heading towards the planet with the stately serenity of a being in no hurry to arrive. Better instead simply to observe this. Although Tirdarius had seen Kuat before, it had been a long time indeed, and to stare at it now through the forward observation ports of his ship was a moment he did not care to easily pass up. Something we often forget when we speak of Empires and Republics is that each planet can carry a special magnificence not found elsewhere, he mused reflectively. Perhaps she was right to reduce her focus to this: governing one world, understanding it completely, the holochess piece that determines it's own value. Oftentimes the broader view required of a Sith Lord was less than ideal.

Why had he now broken that silent exile, to return here once more? He was not to seek out her guidance, as he had done on occasion over the years, having long ago learned well enough that she held considerable distaste for this notion of being dependent on any one thing. Even her allegiance to the Sith has never been more distant, he reflected calmly. She was Sith, certainly, but not truly counted among their numbers. Trained in their ways, Sith at heart, but not one of them. Silencia had learned a simple truth that the Sith had always failed to acknowledge: her independence from them was how she truly embraced her nature. Thus was she always stronger than those who called themselves powerful.

Slender hands resting against the transluscent panels that constituted the control mechanism for his ship, Tirdarius focused on the vessel around him for a moment, adjusting the ship's heading with a thought, directing it now not towards the gigantic shipyards surrounding the planet, but rather towards the world itself. Another thought, and the neural interface fired off a short transmission to the surface, encoding the ship's name and registration, matching transponder code and, naturally, the name of the pilot, all as a precursor to being allowed to land. A few moments passed as this was sent and received, and a small line of text appeared on the transparisteel screen on his left side, indicating landing co-ordinates. Simplicity itself, he thought with a sigh.

The Sith Lord knew she would likely sense him coming. Dealing with the starport bureaucracy was an irrelevance: that they knew he was here was but a function of being able to set down upon the planet. He was not here for them, though - he was here to talk with his Master, though whether either of them would like what the other had to say remained to be seen. That's all part of the fun, though, isn't it?

 

[Quietus]

There was a time, centuries ago, when Lorelei Darke's presence could be readily observed by nary a practiced Sith or Jedi. A beacon to some, like [member="Tirdarius"] Those years seemed far and away, much like the beginnings of Aslyn Denethorn's Apprenticeship. How long had it been now? Decades - something that felt like only minutes within her life. A short blink in the full span of her years.

For the past eighty years she'd remained hidden from the galaxy. The name Silencia disappeared into obscurity, overtaken by her present facade. Tirdarius would not find a single trace of that old Sith presence here, no matter how hard he tried, but he didn't need to in order to know she was here. The Queen of Kuat had remained firmly implanted on her home since the One Sith came to call, if only to prove a point.


"Time to go," her voice broke the growing silence of the Nursery, to which a curious glance was given by Pheraella, "we have company."

"Who?" Phe queried as she fell in stride beside the Sovereign.

"An old ...acquaintance. Someone I've known for many years. Depending on the circumstance, it might be beneficial for you to meet him." His presence here was curious to her, given that the last she'd spoken to him directly he'd been part of the now fallen Sith Empire. Sent him off to mentor her son, she had, much to the boy's benefit. Strange to think how long it had been since even then - the Empire, not more than several years dismantled. Silence from him, since then, yet now he returns with the changing tides.

He'd become embroiled with the One Sith, there really was no other explanation.

"I don't recall there being a meeting on the itinerary for today," Phe commented, ashing her cigarette on the walk again.

"Would you rather oversee the Festival preparations?"

"Not at all, Your Majesty, I could hardly do your plans justice."

"Then consider your afternoon itinerary changed."

Pheraella wasn't about to argue, nor was she going to complain any further. Trees were a dull afair, even if they did seem like they had eyes, "I hope he's at least decently handsome."

The Queen loosed a laugh before stepping into their waiting transport. Once settled she issued orders to direct Tirdarius to her private manor. It wasn't yet time for old ties to connect with new ones. Cordelia DeWinter, stationed at the Palace in Kuat City, could remain uninvolved until certain things were set straight.

 

[Teynara Jeralyr]

[member="Lorelei Darke"]

His ship safely landed and resting quietly in the starport adjoining the planetary capital, Tirdarius had made his way quickly to find a suitable means of transport to help him navigate the vast planet. He had little need to see the sights: he'd seen them before, but even had he not, such was not the reason he had come. Fortunately, Kuat was well-travelled, and there had been plenty of waiting air-taxis waiting to ferry new arrivals to various destinations. Starport Administration had informed him that he was expected at the Queen's Residence, and so it was that stop that he had directed his driver.

Strange, to be on a world so recently enamored of the Republic. He'd seen several before, but usually during and in the moments after their conquest by the Sith, and such places had never had that peaceful, productive luster that Kuat had in evidence now. No, usually they have smoke and flames pervasive, the smell of blood and clear evidence of recent violence there for the survivors to observe. This was something very different indeed: a civilised world at the height of it's power, experiencing peace because it was far too valuable to destroy. And because it is kept this way, of course. He had little doubt as to who was responsible for that.

The journey passed quickly enough. The driver had attempted to be talkative initially, but met by a wall of stoney silence had discontinued. Hardly surprising, Tirdarius noted. I am not considered the most sociable of people even on my best day. He had little interest in the events of local politics, or in which sports team was dominating a league that he could care less about. Such mundane considerations are the toys of a life I lost decades ago. Perhaps he might have been interested once, before he had come to understand the nature of the Force and the convoluted nature of the world that so few truly perceived in the way that he and his kind were required to confront by dint of that gift. Hard to focus on sports results when you are too busy observing the consequences of a galaxy-wide chess game played with planets and governments.

That he wasn't being directed towards the Palace spoke volumes: clearly Silencia did not intend for this to be a meeting of state, but rather a private conversation. That suited him well enough - neither of them were well-known for airing their thoughts and plans in public, even though she was now a public entity of considerable authority, as she had been for decades. She lives her entire life in public view, but whether any of those who surround her truly understand who and what she is... He rather doubted it, but then he fully suspected that he was oblivious to that as much as any other. Her gift has always been to spread illusions over herself, so that even those closest to her do not truly know whether what they see is real or a mirage. No wonder she was capable of being as she was: a Sith Lord at the heart of one of the Galaxy's most powerful planets.

The arrival at the manor came none-too-quickly for his tastes, exiting the air-taxi as though glad to be rid of it, paying off the driver with a careless handful of credcoins, disposing of the man with as little consideration as need be offered. To think that others among our Order might have opted to remove his tongue to cease his inane chatter, and considered it a gift. The thought amused him, but was quickly quashed as he moved onto other things: now he was here, and had work to do.

The doors to the building were, much as he'd expected, guarded, a thought which amused him further. The notion of a guard is to protect the people and property within, he reflected thoughtfully. When the guarded is of more capability than the guardians, what purpose do they serve other than window dressing? Silencia, keeping up appearances as she so often did, giving little reason for anyone to question that she was anything other than what she appeared to be: an upper-class Kuati with considerable political power. That she could level the building with a thought doesn't come into it at all. Amusing.

Walking up the smooth stone steps leading to the doorway that served as entrance to the building, the Sith Lord came to a stop, his flowing outer robe coming to rest against his slender frame as he did so, staring towards the guardsmen with impassive grey eyes, assessing them calmly, though knowing they were unlikely to offer any threat, whatever words might come from their mouths. I wonder what they would do if I were to simply stride past them and through the doors? It was a little tempting, even he had to admit, but it wouldn't be polite to his hostess.

"Please escort me to your mistress," he informed the guards imperiously, folding his hands before him calmly, his eyes flickering between them. "She is expecting me, and I don't much brook delay."

 

[Quietus]

"Who is it?"

"You are persistent."

"If he's to be of benefit, I should know why."

"Benefit ... remains to be seen."

Phe hadn't yet let go of the mystery surrounding this unexpected guest. Any typical guest would never garner so much attention and redirection from the Queen. If nothing else, Lorelei seemed positively electrified with internal machinations. Visiting dignitaries hardly qualified for even a bat of an eye. This particular guest was someone important ... or at the very least, someone relevant. The dark-haired woman narrowed her gaze, one that sparked through several hues before settling on a flash of vivid green.

Ah the envy.

Lorelei sighed, "He was once my student, long ago. One of my greatest. In many ways he is like a son to me."

"He is a Sith, then?" Phe pressed.

"If he has not fallen from the path I set him on, then no, he is not a Sith. But we all must play our parts when the stage set changes.... something he was always quite good at. His perception of the tides of power within this galaxy are exceptional," Lorelei replied, her tone suggesting simple fact on the matter. Aslyn had never been a difficult man to read - not if you knew the language with which he wrote his life, and just as she had taught him so long ago the man maintained a plan, a purpose.

"Why would he come now?" it struck Phe that perhaps if he was as invested in his mentor's good will as it seemed, he should have been present at the treaty talks. What Phe failed to understand was that image was everything.

"We shall see."


Darke Estate - Royal Manor

The Guards did not move from their station, but to their credit they gave the man no issue. Without ceremony, the massive entrance doors parted to reveal a gray-green scaled face of a female Noghri dressed in traditional honoghran priestess garb baring the royal house colors. [member="Tirdarius"] would recognize her instantly as a long-standing piece to his Master's gameset. Her name was Sahti, and she bowed deeply to the man as she motioned him in.

"Master Tirdarius," the noghri spoke, standing erect once more to gaze upon him. Though the facial expressions of noghri rarely breeched anything other than beastly, for someone as familiar with the people as he should be, Tirdarius would note a glint of pleasant surprise to the otherwise predatory gaze, "you are most welcome. This way..."

Sahti was one of few words.

She lead him through familiar halls. Halls decorated in the rich history of Kuat; House shields, tapestries, portraits of the former reigning aristocracy, antiques and artifacts of the past, works of art, carvings, sculptures, images of the Drive Yards in various states of development. The floor was polished tiles of ebony, columns of deep red and gold stood like guards at attention, rays of sunlight slashed across their path and passerby of the Queen's various employ nodded respectfully. Pausing at a doorway, she motioned the man with a graceful sweep of a clawed hand. The solar that greeted him was quiet and subdued despite being rather expansive. The walls were lined with a rare curiosity: books, as well as their more current incarnations of holo-articles. The furnishings were made of lacquered wood and housed an oddity of trinkets. Windows lined the far end, bathing the room in a warm afternoon glow. To the left the Queen rose from her seat at a table and looked upon Tirdarius with quiet regard.

"Aslyn," she greeted him, voice low, "welcome home."

Though he may deny the latter - that this place was, indeed, considered his home - the man had spent enough time here for it to be so. After all, she'd made it quite clear that he was always welcome as if it were.

 

[Teynara Jeralyr]

[member="Lorelei Darke"]

The presence of the Noghri was of little surprise: Silencia had often kept such beings around her, respectful both of their honourable natures and their dangerous abilities in coping with all manner of threats that might be directed her way. She has always had little to fear from others, but it has oft been her amusement to act otherwise. In truth, he had never known her not to use every aspect of her life as a means of misdirecting others - it was inherent in the nature of the woman as he understood her. But how much does anyone truly know of someone like her? Never enough to be certain, which was how she had always seemed to like it.

He knew this place, of course he did: never one to remain bound to the darker enclaves of those it had amused her to work with, she had preferred a more permanent, civilised residence, one in which it had been possible to live in comfort and train in subtle secrecy, amidst a planetary population unaware of such things happening on their very doorstep. It had given him some pleasure to recall it, noting that his induction into the ways of the Sith had been softer than most in some ways, harsher in others. She was not one to require the pain or torment so often inflicted upon those who would take the Sith mantle. Not that she was always kind and patient: he had also known her to be ruthless, uncompromising and utterly relentless in pursuit of her expectations. To fail her was no small thing, and perhaps is not even now.

In truth, though, he hated this beautiful residence. It is a museum, library, receiving room and spectacle. It was just like her to maintain a home of this nature: openly flaunting of wealth and the good taste she had always employed in her choice of artifacts, framed pictures and sculptures, flanking the walls with that charming elegance that drew the attention no matter which way you might find yourself looking. It is a maze, a distraction, designed to entice with that glamour so that you should always find yourself discovering something new. It was a trap, too: here to intimidate, to make it apparent that the one who owned it all was a being of power and influence. And yet she needs none of it, and therein lies the trap: to be complacent in the assumption that you have any idea what kind of being you might yet be dealing with. Even he doubted that he knew her, though perhaps he had witnessed sides of her that others would never have imagined her to possess. A clever enchantment all of her own. He'd never seen another able to come even close. How much of your life is a complete lie?

The chamber to which the Noghri escort ushered him politely was one he remembered well: that long, well-polished table, the elegant chairs which adorned it as escort, the wooden bookcases that lined the walls. Ah, hello, old friends, he thought, smiling inwardly even though his outward expression remained as guarded as always. Something you taught me, he recalled, his grey eyes looking further into the room, to see his former Master standing to greet him, wearing no mask, but concealment evident insofar as this was a facade as much as all of her identities ever were. Even the Sith Lord in dark robes was but a costume for her. Even now, it struck him that he did not truly know who she was here.

"Very few still remember that name, Majesty," he said carefully, matching her own tone with his usual soft inflections, surprised at the way she had addressed him. Nobody has referred to me that way since we parted ways a long time ago. In truth, he hadn't imagined that she would even remember it. He'd discarded it so long ago, a name belonging to a child that had died under her tutelege, and buried forever by his advancement through the Sith hierarchy. Perhaps, of those alive, only she and I now remember it. That, of course, was dangerous for those she had chosen to have within the room on his arrival. Would she take exception if I decided that they should not live for hearing it? That remained to be seen. "I can't say I imagined that you might use it now, after all this time."

He advanced steadily into the room, approaching her with not a glance to the others within, though he had noted that they were offering their attention as much as she. Curiousity, perhaps, or with a darker purpose? Tirdarius had never assumed for a moment that she might have underlings present to meet him: was their function here to play a part, to teach him a lesson in that subtle fashion she had always used, or was he here to teach one to them? Ah, the games we play, my Master... She still had the power to make him feel like that barely-trained, ignorant child he had been at their first meeting. And perhaps that is their purpose here. Unlikely, though - she would not leave such an obvious gambit there for him not notice it. So some other reason, it would seem.

"I trust I have not inconvenienced you with so sudden an arrival?", he asked, offering her a short bow in manner of apprentice respectfully presenting himself to his teacher, though he doubted any of the others would have understood the nuance of such a gesture. "I hoped that perhaps coming unannounced would offer you some small amusement," the Sith Lord added, a faint smile curving his lips, the only true warmth in an expression otherwise bereft of it. And she will understand that, too.

 

[Quietus]

"It is my name to remember," the statement was clear and inarguable, a testament to the control she maintained over her many pupils in her long lifetime. Though in comparison to most Lords of her station, she had trained very few - by far those very few remained more loyal to her than a hundred of another Lord's myriad students put together.

It was all about the quality, not the quantity.

"and to use as I see fit. One must never forget the place from which they started..." a leering smile met [member="Tirdarius"] at this accompanied by the glint of mirth in her gaze. Would she deign to recall the weak little boy dropped at her feet all those years ago? She'd raised him to become the man he was today, like her own son, how could she possibly forget? The value of blood-ties could easily be overlooked for someone as irreplaceable as he. To remind him of his origins, to make him aware of just how far he had ascended in his life, was but a means to instilling the price of her time to him.

From a seat to her left Pheraella watched the man openly from the smoke of her cigarette. Delicate hands gloved in black satin gently pulled the holder from painted lips as she released a fresh plume into the air with a languid dismissal of any offense it brought to the other two occupants. She was but the only other present save the Noghri, Sahti, who stood in the doorway behind him.

Lorelei's eyes narrowed faintly as she took him in. The length of his life apparent in his face and in his voice, in his very mannerisms. He moved not as a man blindly seeking his place in this galaxy, but as a creature confident in the place he had found and wary of what threats might seek to unseat him from it. That was a good way of being, one that she had nurtured. Not paranoia, like her own son Dissero, but the awareness that only the trust of oneself was assured. Everything else was simply in motion - evolving and changing, the metamorphosis of the galaxy. His unannounced arrival came as little surprise, though at her given age there was little left in the galaxy that would illicit such a reaction from the woman.

Amusement. She tipped a brow at the word, smile vanishing as the man gave his bow.

"No inconvenience at all..." she replied tenderly, the tone of her voice dropping to something of gentle caution, like police-tape used to bar a deadly cliff, "such a pleasant surprise, catching me unawares," a term used so casually it might as well have been sarcasm. He knew better than to believe it. The day he caught her unawares was the day she rested six feet under.

Lorelei swept fluidly into her seat, a subtle nod of her head to Sahti sent the Noghri back into the hall with the door closing behind her in a soft snick. The chamber swelled momentarily, as though the collective powers within had suddenly inhaled deeply in a flush of suspense for what might or could very well happen.

"Am I to introduce myself?" Phe said, dark rimmed eyes whisking from the wine glass now lifted within Lorelei's hand to the smile on Tirdarius' face.

Lorelei's hand paused in its progress of lifting the glass to her lips as she took a moment to consider the two, "Tirdarius, this is my newest assistant, Pheraella Sanzio. She worked as the latest of Kuat's Senators within the Republic up until the most recent turn of events. Now she stands as my Ambassador to the Empire. Do get acquainted."

Phe stood from her seat to greet him, dark rimmed eyes taking in his figure as she offered him a hand, "Enchanté."