Private The Valley of hidden songs

[Ridia Alma-Ater Solii]

Remind me, O clear wanderer, of the days whose sadness is borne by the trees, rivers and misery of those ones that once lived in bloody darkness. Will the child of reason ever be able to reconcile the local remnants of a once ancient civilisation with the celestials of the galactic heavens? Will the language of loss and spiritual sickness find sympathy with those who conquered the galaxy, ploughing through oceans and abysses of dead women and children and their husbands and loved ones? Will the larger world accept that mystery, that terrible symbol, the history and truth that the local souls have contained within themselves till this day? How many more childish and immature in its shell and invisible in its logic questions will have to be asked by representatives of the civilised galaxy to finally understand - there are such persons, places and knowledge, which treasures will remain hidden from external guests until the end?...
A light, unremarkable rain dripped down on the ferns and the roofs of the ancient monasteries, only adding to the atmosphere of religious contemplation a whole new level of calm and serenity in which Ridia was immersed at this moment. For weeks now, she had been the only living mortal to cross the wilds of space, welcomed into the Untouched Valley on an unnamed planet in an extragalactic structure called the Red Nebula on the humane and intellectual-spiritual rights of potentially the only living representative of the great culture and religion of the High Weeping Angels. At the moment, Ridia was a little off the main paths that connected the central temple, which served both as a place for prayer and sacred festivals and as a living space for the local religion's disciples and clergy, to the other leading temples and the small, surviving meteor shower and active asteroid impacts that had left the rest of the planet's surface wet and dry, the small economic and social villages and small open-air markets, along the lines of which completed what was once a planet-wide culture called Cosmic Destiny, the foundations and teachings of which were very close to the heart and spirit of Ridia, who listened intently to the leaves and trees around her, trying to distribute her mental resources after a whole night of quietly respectful discussions about the value and necessity of merging and increasing contact with outside young and not-so-young civilisations and companies, which resulted in Ridia finding herself a supporter of the local worldview and an assessment of the necessity of preserving isolationist views but no less technologically advanced worlds and races like this one. Thus, the present satet of Ridia would be more properly viewed as a kind of semi-hypnotic sleep with the preservation of conscious control over the surroundings in order to simultaneously protect herself and the locals, also capable of self-defence. Sometime before lunch began, just after the local bright star had stopped shining over this part of the astronomical body's surface and the precipitation and rain had moved elsewhere, Ridia silently made her way towards the spaceship she had rented for a month to share her "foreign" food with the locals and show off a few antique artefacts of grey antiquity of which Ridia was sure they had positive attitude towards, joyfully looking at the gradually approaching semblance of a spaceport with only a few cargo civilian ships with her almost dark sides, seeing nothing else. A sublime and purifying aura spread from Ridia in all directions without stopping, as if to warn everyone that you were looking at a person who had survived entire empires and federations, and who retained the will and passion to face new challenges and lessons along the way - the true aura of the saint.

For ambience: Fauna - Ethereal Meditative Space Ambient
Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

He had never been to the Red Nebula, chaos, he had not known the place existed until a few days ago. It had only been through the efforts of one information broker that he had already long since forgotten the name of, but had always been useful to the Tsis'Kaar that he had flown out into wildspace in search of this nebula that due to an awesome cataclysm, had begun drifting away from the galaxy. It had been in this drift for thousands of years, or so the stories went, it promised to be a venture that would be as difficult or as boring as finding a needle in a haystack, where the needle was the nebula of course, but the haystack was the unfeeling infinity of the blackness that was space.

He had considered turning back long ago, having spotted little in these unexplored regions of space. Even his objective in coming out here very much did not warrant him wasting his time like this, who knew if that rumoured alien species that looked similar to Sephi was even alive anymore? If they ever existed at all? He technically ruled over Sephi on his Alvaria, it was a long shot to the highest degree, but perhaps if there were any survivors, they could be easy settlers for a planet which desperately needed more.

A long shot was the kindest way he could put it.

Really the larger reason was far less... purposeful than that.

He was simply curious to see the place, there were rumours that the infamous smuggler, Han Solo had once visited the Red Nebula, and though there was never a reason to emulate a smuggler, none could deny he was an able pilot.

Such it was that as he held those thoughts, out from the depths of the inky blackness, the Red Nebula emerged.

And so did the comets.

"Well then, Sibby, seems like we have a fun time ahead of us." Malum spoke, with a smirk flavouring his words.

"Beep-Boop-Beep." Sibby responded, seeming almost excited for the challenge that they would now face, as they both prepared for evasive manoeuvres.

---

So would find the Lochris, and the Sith Lord and his Droid without scratch nor injury, as they descended upon the lush world without a name. A world still inhabitable, and a world that had not been destroyed by the forces acting upon it.

He had not chosen this landing spot by accident, having seen another ship nearby, even as the various other structures he saw as he descended likely would have made for places of greater hospitality. He was cautious as he approached, leaving Sibby to guard the ship. Out here, he could hope that strangers would be friendly, more exploratory types than the ones first to draw the blaster.

More importantly, they were both foreigners here, both aliens most likely, it would likely be easier to speak with this figure, whoever owned the ship, and gain some information from someone who had been here longer than he had, before he proceeded forth towards the temple like structures he saw earlier.

Ridia Alma-Ater Solii

 

[Ridia Alma-Ater Solii]

After spending about 15 minutes inside the small enough storage room that it might be better to call it a temporary rented pantry Ridia quickly and carefully packed several favourite volumes of long-forgotten religious teachings from the galaxy's past on top of an armada of all sorts of goodies, including both special flavours and nutritious fibres, as well as 4-dimensional mythological figurines made of black and white, bubbly chocolate, and to make it easier to carry a couple of dozen kilograms of cargo Ridia temporarily heigheted the influence of the core of surreal dreams inside her which regained her true, real from the point of view of biological possibilities of the organism size and body height (256 centimetres tall), and stepping out of the ship she also calmly looked around the small harbour in order to make a simple habit of noting some changes, which already during the first couple of moments, were easily noticed and described in the mental, internal field of Ridia. On the one hand, it was very interesting who had decided to come to such a faraway place, considering that it was already an element of the extragalactic cosmosphere, and on the other hand, there was still a slight possibility that the subject and potential owner of an outwardly symatic spaceship might be an agent of not the warmest, but rather negative value and even physical threats and views on life and the nature of the universe, In case of what, unfortunately, Ridia would have to put the very existence of the only remaining successfully functioning piece of the local planet under a big question mark depending on the level of theoretically emanating danger. But in any case, Ridia did not like to choose, and as always, likening herself to some personal ethical and aesthetic patterns of behavior in her head, she calmly approached the man, who was quite pleasant in appearance and physical data, and leaning forward a little so that her face and the message she would be broadcasting could be seen, asked in a calm and even a little charming feminine voice:
"Is this your first time here? I'd be happy to show you around. My name is Ridia, I am a guest of the local indigenous folks and I am quite familiar with the local traditions, history, and many other aspects of such a unique place!"
As Ridia said this, in her mind she hoped that her height and the insane weight of all the fruit and food she planned to carry, now in a huge blue and gold flanked sack on her back, did not frighten the young man, who looked like he had already seen a lot at such a gentle age.

Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Malum blinked.

Then he blinked again.

Then he blinked yet another time.

Nope, the woman before him was still there.

And she was still far too tall. So tall in fact, that he was tilting his head upward, to actually meet her gaze, of course even then it was difficult to know if he was truly looking into her gaze, for red eyes met... black? The dark lesions around her eyes did not make it very clear, yet somehow even that was not the strangest trait of the woman.

If she was even... well a she.

She certainly looked the part, she certainly to a degree looked human.

But that was balanced out by how utterly alien she looked.

Yet, there was little time to gawk, little time to stare, especially as she had asked him a question.

The incredibly tall woman with flowing red hair.

"Well... Lady Ridia, a true pleasure to make your acquaintance," He was uncertain how exactly to operate with such a figure, having noted what she was carrying so effortlessly on her back, though a confusing figure certainly, he could not underestimate her, and she certainly seemed to be strong. Caution would be the word of the day, but he could not help but fail to resist the instincts that were toned into him, a cautious hand reaching out to take hers, bringing it to his lips in the greeting of all nobility, "It is indeed my first time here, and if you could be a guide for me, I would be most fortunate."

There was little harm in this for now, and if she was as knowledgeable as she claimed, perhaps this trip would actually have some chance of success.

Ridia Alma-Ater Solii

 

[Ridia Alma-Ater Solii]

For Ridia, such a generous and sincere act of neutral respect and attitude towards the woman was first of all a signal for a possible equalisation of the status of the two subjects of communication, so that her physical stature and some elements of clothing would not be to the detriment of the young and ambitious man. Leaning forward a little, she carefully returned her hand to a more relaxed position and uttered a few light phrases, the meaning of which concealed the further programme of the meeting of intelligent beings in such an surreal place.
'The temples here and the individuals who guard them are deeply religious and yet open to the mysteries of outer space, both from the heart of the galaxy and its fringes, from which I have travelled here. Saving you some extra time, I would like to add that food, lodging and safety will be guaranteed. At the moment there is no one who could pose a danger to you in this wonderful place, so I recommend that you put your emotional and physiological state on low alert in case I can't get here in time or there is some factor that even I can't resist, although, to be honest, there aren't even a few dozen personas in the entire modern galaxy who can successfully and openly confront me.'
After these words Ridia straightened her shoulders and head and pointing to a place visible through the local trees said. 'I will take you first to the place where you will spend the night, and then you will eat and if you need my immediate assistance, I will take you to a few temples or show you some lesser known but in no way any less beautiful places and some underground tunnels that few minds know about. What interests you most at the moment, Darth Malum?' Ridia crunched her neck bones once more, looking at her temporary acquaintance with a sidelong glance, trying to see what thoughts were on his mind, and how she could use the moment to talk more about the beauties and wonders she had seen in her long, almost dreamlike life.


Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

He allowed her hand to slip from his grip, as he took in and noted each word that she spoke to him.

The people here were deeply religious yet curious.

There were temple strongholds by the sounds, along with those armed and capable of defending them.

She was from the galactic fringes, a useful piece of information certainly, yet still also unhelpfully vague.

Food and lodging being guaranteed were certainly bonuses, if he could trust either, though his amulet at the very least would protect him from any poison. Especially pertinent as though he had lived within the Lochris many a times, and had enough rations stored within for a month or more, it was not as if he particularly enjoyed living within the starfighter's cramped quarters, nor the cold, hard rations that were more intended to be nutritious and keep him alive than to be tasty.

Of course, there was an additional boon that the more he could stock up here, the more rations he could keep from using himself, the more time he had before he had to return to Sith space to resupply.

...He had found himself avoiding the ever-expanding Imperial borders as of late.

Leaving such matters in the hands of trusted and loyal lieutenants like Ylvaris of House Marr and... Ansisa .

The wince was a surprise, yet not unexpected.

He knew he would need to return soon, the Tsis'Kaar, Alvaria, and all those he... cherished.

But not now, for now, he was beyond even the reach of the Sith Emperor, and had no real need to return until he was summoned for campaign.

Speaking of that, he quirked an eyebrow at the giantesses' claim, not even a few dozen in the galaxy that could openly confront her?

That was a confident... nay near arrogant claim. She was certainly large and tall, he could feel the Force billow through her... but that strong? Truly?

He could not believe it.

Yet, he was in no mood or position to test it either.

It was the last of her words that fully caught him off-guard, making him stop mid-walk as he followed after her...

...She knew his name.

How?

"I..." Captured by her words like this, he was not certain where to begin, yet breathing out softly, he considered... she certainly held power, and that could both be a threat, or a boon, all dependent on him, he simply needed to move carefully, "Certainly, I am most curious about all you have mentioned, however, as for my own interest, I had heard there were a people here near in appearance to the Sephi, I rule over a kingdom of them in a far away land, that has since been depopulated, I was curious if any wished to abandon the Nebula for more civilised space."

Ridia Alma-Ater Solii