Private Upon a Stone [ Torva ]

[Aether Verd]

Wearing:
Armor - Darksaber - Mask of Mandalore
.​

RONION OUTSKIRTS, MANDALORE

The excuse was as thinly-veiled as they came.

Yet no one would dare bat an eye. Officially, Mand'alor the Iron had plucked a young member of the Iron Wolves away from their duties. The reason? An inspection of the organization's training abilities via a personal audit. Simple. Clean. Efficient. No one would bat an eye at the Sole Ruler taking a day for this task. However, if one bothered to look between the lines even a little bit, they would see the justification for the bullshit that it was.

The truth?

Quality Time.

Ever since the Empire had liberated Ketaris, the young Torva had been under Aether's wing. In fact, he formally adopted her as his own daughter mere months after she adopted the Resol'nare. From that point on, there never seemed to be enough time. From the Diarchy, to the Imperials, to now the Lightbearers...there was always another fight. Always another nail that needed to be hammered into place. Neither Mand'alor nor Iron Wolf shied away from their duties - but the call of honor made home empty.

So for one day, they would simply be.

Aether had given his daughter the coordinates to a rare oasis on the outskirts of Ronion, Mandalore's northernmost city. By all accounts, the space was a modest reprieve from the desert heat. A pool of clear, drinkable water was present, a few palms and other vegetation, and just enough shade made it an ideal spot for their rendezvous. When he arrived, it was via landspeeder. He packed decently for an overnight stay in the wilds and promptly deposited his pack at the water's edge.

And while excitement bubbled in his chest, Mand'alor the Iron Torva's Father took a seat upon a stone.

Torva Vikar

 

[Torva Vikar]

An Oasis, Ronion Outskirts, Mandalore

The summons to meet with the Mand’alor came to Torva mostly out of the blue. On the surface, it appeared as nothing more than an inspection, but it made her narrow her sapphire blue eyes. The coordinates she received were not for some place familiar or within the city limits, but beyond it in the outskirts. She would need a landspeeder to get her there, but it wasn’t difficult to source one and make the journey.

Despite what the summons said on the surface, Torva had a feeling that it was being used to disguise the true reason behind why Aether would call her out towards the location of an oasis - and it brought a smile to her face.

Why?

Because uninterrupted one and one time with her adopted Father was rare these days and she was happy to take any opportunity she had to spend a little time with him. She hoped that was the reason behind this summons, and her heart told her it was.

She found the little oasis after the short journey to the outskirts, and she spied a landspeeder already at the site ahead of her. The oasis and the sparse palms offered a reprieve from the desert heat, and she was all too eager to get out of direct sunlight. She brought her landspeeder to a stop near the other, before disembarking and walking her way towards the figure she saw seated by a clear pool of water on a large stone.

“Fancy seeing you out here!” Torva said as she tugged off her helm and tucked it under her arm before giving Aether a big, happy smile that reflected in her eyes. She didn’t stop her approach until she was right there next to him. “Hi Dad…” she said, her soft voice full of affection as she set her helm down on the rock beside him to free up her arms, before wrapping said arms around the man in a tight embrace. ​

Aether Verd ​

 

[Aether Verd]

Wearing:
Armor - Darksaber - Mask of Mandalore
.​

OASIS, RONION OUTSKIRTS

When the speeder approached, Aether perked up.

The roar of distant engines was akin to the eve before one's Life Day. Every second felt like an eternity. Yet, the Mandalorian's patience was soon rewarded when Torva arrived at the oasis. There was an eagerness in her step that Aether matched when he rose from his seat. And when she greeted him with her joyous words, his own smile matched her own. "What an odd coincidence!" he answered, placing his hands on his hips in mock surprise.

And then she embraced him.

Aether's arms ensnared around his daughter tightly and he leaned back, giving her a right and proper bear hug. It had been far too long since he had seen her, let alone embraced her. When finally he set her back upon the ground, his lips graced her brow. There was, of course, a river of questions waiting on his tongue. An unholy cocktail of concern and curiosity danced within the man's mind as he beheld his child. Yet for now, he motioned with his chin towards the oasis behind them.

"It's hot now, but it'll be frigid come nightfall. Let's get setup."

With their immediate direction established, Aether briefly stepped away and knelt beside his own supplies. And whilst his hands hunted through what he had brought along, one question formed and fell from his lips. It was...the most obvious one any father would ask of their daughter. Especially one her age. Especially one of HousefreakingVerd.

"So...How are things what that boy of yours?"

Torva Vikar

 

[Torva Vikar]

Aether’s embrace filled Torva with a sense of warmth and belonging - a sensation that once upon a time would have felt strange or alien, but had since become something she cherished, especially when it involved her Dad.

She had a happy grin crossing her face when he released her and turned to the gear he had brought with him to the little oasis, indicating that come nightfall the temperature would drop and it was best that they got camp set up before then. Torva lingered nearby, waiting to accept whatever item he handed her to begin setting up their camp. Her green eyes watched the man search through his gear, noticing that he seemed like he had something on his mind that was distracting him a little bit.

It didn’t take long for her Father to drop the first of what she guessed was a dozen more questions on her: "So...How are things with that boy of yours?"

A dusting of pink rose up to color Torva’s freckled cheeks, and her grin turned a little more shy at the thought or idea of telling her Dad about the man she’d fallen head over heels for. It hadn’t truly been a conversation they had had before, and it seemed that Aether’s curiosity was truly coming to the surface now. She knew it would only have been a matter of time before the questions started coming, especially once the truth came out that she was “seeing someone.”

A small smile brightened her face and eyes for a moment before she responded. “Things are…going good. At least I think they are.” There was another short pause as she shifted her weight from one hip to the other. “And he’s not just ‘that boy’, Dad. His name is Jaren.” she lightly scolded, though it was in a playful way.

Torva would accept anything Aether handed to her and follow any directions given to begin setting up their getaway camping site. As she did so, she decided to speak a little more on the topic of Jaren - to break the ice about the whole relationship idea with her Father.

“We uh, don’t get to see each other as much as either of us would like. He’s usually pretty busy at his forge or doing bounties or this or that, and I’m training a lot these days.” She admitted quietly. Truth be told, Torva missed Jaren fiercely. Each time she saw him in person only deepened how she felt about him, and their limited time together often ended far too soon in her opinion.

“Is that why you dragged me all the way out here - to interrogate me about ‘that boy’?” Torva said after a moment of silence, nudging Aether with her shoulder as she gave him a playful smirk that reflected in her emerald colored eyes, making it clear she was teasing him. “I can tell you have more questions, buir. So ask away.”

​

Aether Verd ​

 

[Aether Verd]

Wearing:
Armor - Darksaber - Mask of Mandalore
.​

OASIS, RONION OUTSKIRTS

Aether chuckled as he continued to rummage through his belongings.

Why did amusement fall from his lips so easily? Because his daughter was smiling and warmth radiated from her like the sun. Even though his question was one that fathers were discouraged from asking their daughters (at least according to the holovids), Torva responded in her same, bright voice. As she described how things were going between them, Aether could tell that she was happy. And to him, that was the most important thing.

"Well excuuse me," came his initial answer. His hands raised in mock surrender when Torva lightly scolded him. His name was Jaren, not that boy. "I'll make sure to refer to him properly next time, my liege." Smirking, Aether did finally find what he was looking for: a ferrous rod, and tossed it over to her.

Fire would be the first necessity. Once that was sorted, they could move onto shelter - and then the fun part Aether had planned.

Of course, when Torva shared that she and that boy Jaren didn't see each other as much as she'd like, he tilted his head. "I'm impressed," he began, "you haven't abused your power once to rearrange your schedules for more quality time? Bravo." He added a light golf clap as the cherry on top.

"And no, I didn't drag you out here just to talk about your Jaren. I just wanted to know what's going on in your world." He then thumped his fist upon his breastplate. "And it's a two-way street my dear, you can 'interrogate' me just as much."

Torva Vikar

 

[Torva Vikar]

The red head’s joy and the amusement she had with the playful banter with her Father was clear to see in the grin that spread across Torva’s face as Aether raised his hands in mock surrender. She chuckled merrily and rolled her eyes slightly at his response, before catching the ferro rod he tossed her way.

Torva took a few moments to gather some dead, dry and discarded leaves from the various plants around the oasis pool and even snapped off some dead branches and dropped them in the shade of another tree before she got down on her knees in the sand and dirt and dug out a shallow hole to contain the fire.

"I'm impressed - you haven't abused your power once to rearrange your schedules for more quality time? Bravo.” Aether said after a few moments of silence, even giving a small clap, pulling Torva’s attention from the fire she was building and back towards him, pursing her lips in thought.

Truth be told - Torva often forgot that being the Mand’alor’s daughter came with perks. She just lived her life like everyone else, never truly dwelling on the fact that she was now technically royalty by Mandalorian standards. So no, she had never ‘abused’ the power granted to her by proximity and formal recognition.

She was still thinking about that when Aether continued, making sure to answer her previous statements. "And no, I didn't drag you out here just to talk about your Jaren. I just wanted to know what's going on in your world." Her Father thumped his fist over his breastplate, and added: "And it's a two-way street my dear, you can 'interrogate' me just as much."

That brought another bright smile to her face as she arranged the tinder and snapped branches in the shallow pit, before striking the ferro rod to produce sparks that would hopefully catch the tinder. The first couple of attempts did nothing, but that didn’t deter the young red headed woman. She did take the opportunity to respond back to her Father, though.

“Honestly, Dad - it never occurred to me to actually use my ‘power’ for such things. I mean - I’m sure it would make life easier but…I don’t know. Just because someone has power, doesn’t mean they should use it willy nilly, you know?”

She struck the ferro rod again and a wider array of sparks landed in the tinder, which began to smoke a few seconds later. Torva encouraged the smoldering ember to become a small flame, and within a few minutes a small fire had formed in the center of the firepit. She grinned again, taking pride in her ability to start a fire, and tossed the rod back at her buir. “We have fire!”

Torva rose back up on her feet and brushed some of the dirt and sand away, ready to attend to the next task that was needed to continue setting up camp. Nearby, the small fire crackled merrily as it began to consume the tinder and branches. More would be needed, but for now it was fine as it was. For a moment, the young woman was quiet as she watched her Father, her expression thoughtful. She was old enough to remember her biological father and mother and siblings. She’d been a young adult when she had lost them - and while she still missed her family, what the Manda had given her in return was something she would argue was better.

Her biological father had ignored her most of the time and never spent quality time with her. Aether, on the other hand, took any opportunity he could to make sure she was loved, noticed, and appreciated. She truly felt a deeper bond of kinship with him, than she had ever felt with her blood relatives.

It was why Torva was truly and earnestly beginning to call herself a Verd, and not a Vikar.

“Just doing what I can where I can, that’s what I do with my day to day life.” she said after a brief pause. “Training a lot…I recently went out on one of my first dangerous missions. In the Mines - cleared out some beasts. Got to fight alongside some brothers and sisters, Jaren too.” Her cheerful smile returned again. “It was from that fight that I learned I prefer a blade in my hand over a blaster or rifle though. I like how the weight feels in my grip.”

Torva turned to tend to the fire for a moment, adding some more dried branches, glancing over her shoulder at the Mand'alor. “What about you, Dad? How’s life been treating you? Anything interesting happening in your world?”

​

Aether Verd ​