Private With a Few Good Friends and a Stick or Two

[Ghorua the Shark]

COMMENOR​

Not much escaped Ghorua's eyes these days.

Being in the know was how he kept food on the table. It seemed nearly half his waking hours were spent researching targets for fellow bounty hunters, and giving them that silver bullet they needed for the catch. It was hard work, for sure. He had his own small ring of slicers he needed to coordinate and keep updated, and constant calls between them and the hunters he supplied. Many of these hunters knew his reputation, from his suspected work with the GenoHaradan, or the Black Sun, or, rarely, his capture of Lady Kay, and were surprised by his sudden shift to deskwork. He always told them, 'my time in the limelight has passed. Take some of the glory for yourself.'

But each time someone asked that question, Ghorua got that yearning in his stomach. To get up and do something.

Of course, Ghorua kept tabs on his friends. He needed to be sure they were alright, that they didn't need his help. There were, of course, times he heard about events after the fact, and those times saddened him greatly, but whenever he caught something before it happened, he sent his slicers to push things back into place. It was the least he could do, quite literally, but it was something.

So when he caught wind of what had happened, that yearning in the pit of his gut wasn't to be ignored. He had to get up.

He'd done some digging into where Kay might be. She was difficult to track down these days. She didn't make waves wherever she went anymore. She stepped quietly, and because of that, it felt more like tracking down someone in hiding, rather than catching up with an old friend. But Ghorua eventually found it. The silver bullet.

Building materials were being shipped out to a familiar neck of the woods.

The Jawsome breached Commenor's atmosphere, and Ghorua directed it to a clearing in the wilderness, only a minute's walk away from the ruins of the Chateau. The enormous star yacht touched down, smoothly dispersing it's weight across a bed of grass. The exit ramp hissed as it fell, letting Ghorua disembark. He was just as enormous as ever, wearing a casual dark undershirt and shorts. A few weapons, like his knife and pistols, were on his person, but he was as unarmed as one could expect him to be.

He wasn't sure what would be waiting for him here. But he knew that he had to be here for it. For her sake.

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[NPC Treasury]

Just as she had told her son she would do, Kay was determined to salvage at least part of the Chateau if she could. Caedyn Arenais had built a home for them all to share, one just on the other side of the mountain. It was lovely and and there were some that were sure to spend many days there. But the Chateau was her home for over twenty years. Veiere had built it for them and with him gone there was so little that she had left.

Being a widow wasn't new to her. Kay had experienced it before she met Veiere. She had been a widow for nearly ten years before the two crossed paths. But this time her pain and grief was so much stronger that she could hardly forget about it in any hour of the day. Her Force Bond with Veiere was broken and now she felt nothing at all. It was as though she was disconnected from everything.

By the time the Jawesome had arrived, Kay was busy emptying the remains of her house. She had two piles laid out in the grass. One pile was for trash and a much smaller pile was there for things that could be saved; some of which consisted of furniture, dishes and a bit of clothes.

It wasn't that difficult to hear of the Jawesome's arrival, so she made her way out of the Chateau to look, wiping her brow of all the dust and sweat from her work. Kay's clothes were but simple slacks, shirt and apron. It was a far cry from the formal gowns that she used to wear, but she didn't have to worry about making an impression anymore.

Especially for Ghorua the Shark . Kay's features lit up when she saw the giant Herglic and quickly walked over to greet him halfway. "Ghorua! What a lovely surprise!" She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug like she always did. Only this time she held him for a little while longer. "It's so good to see you...."

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

When Ghorua saw Kay, his eyes sparkled with happiness. This meeting mirrored so many others they had shared over the years. On their first friendly get-together on Commenor, Kay had hugged him, and it had been the first positive contact the Herglic had experienced since he departed Coruscant. Since then, it had become a constant warmth for him; when they met, they hugged. It was ritual, at this point.

But Ghorua was the observant type. It was Minna's favorite joke at his expense; he seemed to search for puzzle pieces where no puzzle existed. Which he would undoubtedly respond with 'there's always a puzzle, little minnow'.

Even as his eyes sparkled with joy, there was also that sharp inquisitive edge. He took notice of the cadence of her walk, speeding up as she got closer to him, and the working clothes she wore. He returned her hug in kind, listening to her breath, her words, how they intermingled and hitched, looking for meaning. And, of course, he noticed the lingering hug. Which Ghorua complied with readily, kneeling so the Lady didn't have to stretch.

If anyone deserved a long hug right now, it was the Lady.

"Hello, Kay," he said, his deep voice vibrating his chest. The greeting, while lacking in that Ghorua bluster, was accentuated with sincerity. Then the bluster returned. "Apologies about not calling ahead. Datapad was on the fritz."

Ghorua smiled to himself, making no attempt to cover the obvious lie. "It's good to see you too, Kay." Finally, the bounty hunter released his target, standing up to his full height, and looking up over Kay's head, to where the chateau laid in pieces. He gave her a small smile.

"How can I help?"

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[NPC Treasury]

"That's okay. I don't really carry one around much these days anyways." Which was true. Her datapad was back over at Caedyn's house. There was nothing urgent that she needed to keep an eye on, no pressing matter to tend to. So she had left it there so that she could focus on her task at hand.

And yet somehow Ghorua the Shark had found her. Of course she knew very well of his skills as a hunter, so it came at no surprise. But she had meant what she had said. It was good to see him. It was always good to see one of her dearest friends.

"Veiere is gone. I'm...sure that you've heard..." She turned from him to the ruins of the once glorious and private Chateau. "He built this place for our family. I thought...that if I rebuilt it, I'd feel better." Kay had never felt so much pain and grief. It used to be said that physical labour can help with that. So that's what she was doing. "I'm going through it room by room and taking out what I can. Most of it was destroyed when Veiere was being hunted down."

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua gave Kay an incredulous look. She didn't often carry a comm device? How would she connect with the rest of the world? Without it, she would be stranded by herself.

Maybe that's the point.

The Shark's expression grew darker when the Lady mentioned Veiere's demise. He gave her a simple nod, not quite willing to breach that subject quite yet. He didn't quite know how to approach that conversation yet, so for now, he would sidestep it.

Ghorua instead focused on what she said next. She was rebuilding the Arenais Mansion, like Ghorua had expected, beginning with the small step of salvaging what remained. Ghorua blinked once in acknowledgement. "Well then," Ghorua muttered, stepping around Kay, and waiting for her to follow him back to the ruined building. "I don't suppose you'd like an extra pair of hands. In case you need something heavy lifted."

Ghorua began to walk back, assumedly with Kay at his side, until they returned to the broken chateau. He wasn't sure what words would comfort her, or if such words existed in any of the billions of languages the galaxy held. So he would simply have to speak through action.

"How can I help?" He repeated, looking over the site expectantly.

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[NPC Treasury]

And follow him she did. Kay took her place right beside Ghorua the Shark as she often did. Even when she held her titles, she never saw him as anything but her equal. They were best friends. Politics had no place in that.

"I'd love the help, thank you. The couch is a little too heavy for me. And two of the legs on it are broken." Kay could always try to use the Force to aid her, but she was too much against the Force right now that she didn't want any part of it.

She led Ghorua inside. As expected, the building had suffered a lot of damage from the attack on it. There were large holes everywhere, debris riddled the grounds. In truth there wasn't much to salvage, but she wanted to get what she could out of it. "I don't need it to be like it was before. I just want a few rooms. I'm by myself, that's all that I need. It's not like I'm going to be hosting any parties or anything."

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua followed his friend into the husk of a building, noting the damage. A lot had happened to this old home, that was clear. He stepped around a few chunks of plaster and wall, and inspected the couch. Two broken legs, as she had said, but a beautiful, rustic piece of furniture nonetheless.

He hefted it up gently, careful not to break the piece further. He began to walk out with the couch, listening over his shoulder to Kay. And he could only shake his head, not sure whether he wanted to smile or roll his eyes. "Only a few rooms? Well, animals and the elements are going to seep in through the holes we don't fix. We're going to have to patch those up."

"And then, of course," Ghorua said, carrying the seat outside, and depositing it gingerly on the ground, "you have a bunch of rooms with nothing in them. One could be entirely dedicated to tea sampling, or another you can hang art pieces, or watch holovids, or meditate. Probably'll need storage, at least."

Ghorua turned around and shrugged. "Perfectly good rooms shouldn't go to waste."

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[NPC Treasury]

Kay followed in behind Ghorua the Shark as he dragged the couch outside, while carrying some broken lamps to put in the discard pile.

"But most of the rooms are in horrible shape. Isn't it better if they were just torn down? It's not as though I'd be expecting company or hosting any parties." Instead she'd just use it as another place to hide. Right now Kay was very fond of hiding.

She was at the stage in her grief and guilt where she didn't feel deserving of anything good or pleasant. As her son had told her, she focused too much on her mistakes and not on the good that she had done. But her mistakes had cost lives, including Veiere's and she just couldn't stop blaming herself for that.

"I don't need anything bigger than my little cabin on Bakura..." Yet she wanted to perserve some of what Veiere had built all the same.

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua gave the Lady a strange look, those dark eyes glittering with investigative interest. He was really trying to see through this particular puzzle, and it showed, more clearly than most. It was easy to see that Ghorua was pondering her.

Kay was different, that much was obvious. Overbearing grief after overbearing grief could weather down even a monumental person such as Kay. But there was a different angle here, one Ghorua was only beginning to see.

"Trust me," Ghorua said, smiling, but taking care not to sound overly lackadaisical. He went back into the house and started picking up armfuls of loose trash. "I'm just as big a fan of little cabins on Bakura as the next Shark. But no company? Ever? You must still have plenty of friends out there. Where will they stay?"

"We can certainly knock down a few rooms, if you want. But I can't, in good conscience, leave you with only the bare essentials of survival."

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[NPC Treasury]

Kay shrugged her shoulders a little as she followed Ghorua the Shark back inside. "They are scattered to the winds. After I was sent to Purgatory, most stopped talking to me." And she knew why. Her reputation was shattered once it was revealed that she had killed the Elders to secure her rule over Commenor. For her, it didn't matter that she was heavily under the influence of the Sith at the time, after months of torture. What mattered was that she still had done it.

Going through some of the bits of drywall, Kay made sure that there were no keepsakes inside of the pile, before carrying it all outside. "Caedyn built his own Estate on the other side of the ridge. He wanted me to stay there as there are plenty of rooms, but I'm just...not ready yet. Especially with being around a bunch of people. I like the quiet of here. And there's no one to point fingers at me either." Kay was certain that she'd have that coming her way. That was probay partly why others kept their distance. She had made bad mistakes and plenty couldn't forgive her for them. While Veiere was able to redeem himself, she could not. As some had pointed out; she was a 'has-been' and powerless to boot.

"So...what's kept you busy, these days? Still hunting?"

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Of course, Kay's friends abandoned her. Once the news of the Elders was leaked, it made sense that they were all either scared away by her, or by the political pressure of staying close. Ghorua felt a little stupid for suggesting it, although he did expect some of Kay's old friends to have spines.

Ghorua frowned heavily, following Kay's lead as they tidied the place. "Alright," he said, defeated. "Nothing but the bare essentials. For now."

As Kay asked her question, Ghorua scooped up a large piece of rubble, and manipulated it out the door. "Not... not really. I've stepped back, taken more of a info-broker role. Got my own team of people I coordinate, young upstarts I point in the right direction."

Ghorua found a smile again, wiping away dust from his large hands onto his clothes. "It's fine. Nothing to write home about." His smile wasn't forced, per se, but it didn't hold any passion. "It's not like being boot-deep in the muck of the galaxy, but it keeps me busy."

He didn't want to mirror the question.

"And you?", he asked anyway.

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[NPC Treasury]

"Yes...for now. I don't exactly know how long I can bear to stay here. I might just book passage on a transport some day to....well I don't know where to yet." Truth was Kay didn't feel welcomed anywhere. Although Caedyn tried his best, there was just too much guilt in her for the wrongs that had been commited here. The wrongs that she had done.

Kay gathered more broken items and debris in her arms, carrying them behind Ghorua the Shark as he spoke of his current branch of employment. "It sounds to me as though you miss hunting. I'm sure that there'd be one way or another that you'll get back into it. Until then though, your team is lucky to have you to mentor them. You'll teach them well."

Her own question sort of fell back on herself. That was to be expected though. So Kay merely shrugged her shoulders a little. "I make and sell tea. That's....pretty much it. Nothing to write home about either. I have my own shop on Altiria where I brew the teas and bake some goods. A far cry from ruling over dozens of worlds, hmm?"

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

"No shame in a change of scenery," Ghorua noted. "It's healthy, I think."

Ghorua didn't know much about mental health, to be fair. The Shark was entirely sure that he wasn't qualified for any opinions on the topic. But it followed that if a place made you unhappy, you shouldn't be there.

Of course, Kay saw that he wanted to be hunting. In multiple conversations they had shared, he had said as much. That he would never be happy sitting in one place. And yet, here he was, sitting in one place, not happy.

"Maybe." Ghorua sighed a little, hefting a broken bench over his shoulder. "I don't know. It might be time for the next generation of bounty hunters to have a turn. My time in the limelight..."

Ghorua shut his mouth. He wasn't going to use his go-to half-truth. Not with Kay. He sighed, even heavier this time.

"It's... complicated, is all I meant to say."

Let's not open that can of worms, eh?

"Running a shop is good," Ghorua said, smiling, trying to banish previous thoughts from his head. "Making people happy? Tea? Seems right up your alley. Maybe even moreso than ruling."

A small, teasing laugh accompanied the statement, but Ghorua wasn't entirely kidding.

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[NPC Treasury]

Oh things were complicated. That was for sure and certain. She was well accustomed to that.

Kay picked up some broken art pieces and followed Ghorua the Shark back outside, depositing them in the garbage pile. There was a lot there already and still more to go through. But not every room in the ruined Estate was safe to try to walk into.

"Yes, tea. We all know how I like to share my addiction with people. And now I make a bit of a living off of it. Most of my customers are casinos however. The teas I sell are....special." She gave her friend a bit of a conspiratorial look. "You could even use them on some of your hunts."