Figlia d' 'a Tempesta
Cora had collapsed back into bed after the last feeding. She was tired, but sleep wouldn't come. So, she did what any healthy adult did when they couldn't sleep: mindlessly scroll through her datapad.
The small screen washed her exhausted face in pale highlights and shadows. Her finger swiped upward to a numb rhythm, until it stopped, lingering on an image that was both familiar and foreign.
In the rubble of what had once been a Coruscanti district, stood her family crest. A banner of blue emblazoned with gold trim, fluttering in slow rolls of fabric within the ember-sown breeze. Cora stared for a good few minutes, then chalked it up to her lack of sleep.
She didn't sleep for the rest of the night.
—
Three weeks later.
Luciana had slept better after that night. To a degree, at least. Fewer wake ups, fewer feedings needed. Sometimes she slept uninterrupted for six, eight hour stretches.
Cora had set them up in the manor's garden. Lucy was on settled on her stomach atop a soft play mat while her mother took to pruning the rose bushes. Overhead, rolling clouds offered a reprieve from the summer heat.
"Hm," she went. "I don't like the looks of the browning on the edges."
Cora held up a snippet she'd sheared from the bush. Verdant at the beginning, dull at the end.
"Ah!" Lucy went. She raised one hand and smacked it on the mat. It made a nice sound to her ears, so she did it again.
"I think you're right." Cora held the sprig up towards the sky to better examine it. "It might be the heat, given how hot it's been over the past few weeks."
Cora lowered her hand and looked to Luciana. "What would you do to fix it?"
The babe gurgled in response.
"A bold suggestion, but let's try it.” Cora hummed. “I must say, you’re quite skilled at thinking outside of the box.”
Lysander von Ascania
Last edited: