1 hour ago
[Kalkoran Estate, eve of boarding for Bon Sor]
She heard the doors closing as the second occupant of the room departed, leaving the air lighter in the wake of the words exchanged. Echoes of clattering metal and bright, brilliant madness weighted and pressed - making the exchange just now feel a dream. Hazy, ethereal...joyful. Was it joy? Many emotions clawed and fought for dominance as eyes blinked back to reality.
In this empty room out of earshot from her youngest son, Xurion, did words flow freely. The audience? A smaller, ornate black box sitting open on the table - pearled, precious earrings with a delicately interwoven thin chains of gold, shaping a wide necklace, inlaid with gemstones on two central 'knots' of the weave. True craftsmanship, befitting of a bride to House Horuset - Daria Thume, wife to Darth Crannus Horuset...mother to Ahandra Yaria Horuset. A wedding gift from years past, to a stuttering and young flustered girl of House Nyash, marrying a newly made Lord Kalkoran.
"A kisassi priestess with a weighted interest in preserving our ways, delving into history and apparitions of the dead and passed. Jen'kaar spoke of you with such reverence, to me you were...what my mother -had- been. Ambitious, beautiful and stood in none's shadow but the one the glorious Horuset Sun cast as you stood before it. ".
Fingers gently traced the outer edge of the box, viewing how its innards caught the light as her hand's shadow passed over it.
"I even felt your hurt at a distance. The anger when your first husband settled for an alien, crashing of a window in the Horuset Spire. Betraying vows, his family and all that had been built - my father did the very same. On Orsus...your words dragged me out of my comfortable shadows. Taking to the fields of war under the command of Ahandra Yaria Horuset...not until after that, had I dared to wear this gift from you".
"All was well, I welcomed your ascension to your seat with the boons it brought my house. My family".
The room's temperature dipped slightly, as if the very thoughts that struck across Sarias' mind was enough to deny any warmth to what came next, in this moment of reflection.
"Then...you got in my way".
"In the way of my future".
"In the way of my legacy".
"In -my- way..".
An almost pitiful look was granted to the jewelry, the alchemist's fingers interlacing in a grounding motion to not tear apart the table. Eyes flicked to the ornate dagger that rested beside it, unsheathed - permitting its blackened hilt and ruby-crested pommel to playfully flicker under nearby torchlight. Much like the blade intended for her father...this one would never see use now.
"Truly, the suffering you caused...was it ever noticed, or did I simply fade into the shadows of the sun after that one moment of pity showed?". Leaning down, her hands placed themselves on either side of the box - one closing over the dagger's hilt, straining her glove's fabric. "To speak I never stood a chance, as if I was some lost child who simply had served a purpose of providing him children. A young, pretty thing to be tossed aside when a path to -true- power presented itself before him? A path you so -graciously- had demanded if he ever hoped to ascend as a Dark Lord?".
The air shock for a moment, as a crack in the force threatened to rend apart the table and half the room.
She breathed.
Sarias gently cradled the side of the box, clinking the gilded jewelry with a sense of...care almost. Empathy?
"...I grief for you. How many years did you walk, believing he loved you? Even when you carried his child, did you ever think...no, you never gave it thought. Eyes cast to your future, the powerbase stabilized with an obedient pawn that could take care of House Kalkoran, while you stood at the top so we could bathe in your light, and that of your equal by your side".
The dagger was raised from its place on the table, ruby catching the reds of her eyes. "...The Sith poison was not designed to kill. I wanted you alive and aware, when the moment of truth arrived....then, you made me wait. So many years, only to depart in a beautiful, breathtaking ritual of old".
The dagger was returned to its brilliant sheathe, slotted away into the depths of armor and fitted cloak that drifted upon Lord Sarias standing back up...eyes narrowing quietly, inspecting the jewelry once more. The room had remained cold, but even now...no sparks of anger was managed. Simply...dulled disappointment. A death that had come and passed without her hand acting, leaving only a hollowness that maybe the future could fill with enough passion and conquest.
"..Its alright, Ahandra Yaria Horuset. Do not be upset...it was never a choice. You were never truly a choice to begin with...".
A clink of metal, as she fashioned the jewelry under her armoring - inspecting its precious emeralds once. "...You shall not be forgotten".
The cloak cast a shadow over the now empty table, leaving the table and box empty.
As Aregra Kalkoran breathed freely for the first time in years.
She heard the doors closing as the second occupant of the room departed, leaving the air lighter in the wake of the words exchanged. Echoes of clattering metal and bright, brilliant madness weighted and pressed - making the exchange just now feel a dream. Hazy, ethereal...joyful. Was it joy? Many emotions clawed and fought for dominance as eyes blinked back to reality.
In this empty room out of earshot from her youngest son, Xurion, did words flow freely. The audience? A smaller, ornate black box sitting open on the table - pearled, precious earrings with a delicately interwoven thin chains of gold, shaping a wide necklace, inlaid with gemstones on two central 'knots' of the weave. True craftsmanship, befitting of a bride to House Horuset - Daria Thume, wife to Darth Crannus Horuset...mother to Ahandra Yaria Horuset. A wedding gift from years past, to a stuttering and young flustered girl of House Nyash, marrying a newly made Lord Kalkoran.
"A kisassi priestess with a weighted interest in preserving our ways, delving into history and apparitions of the dead and passed. Jen'kaar spoke of you with such reverence, to me you were...what my mother -had- been. Ambitious, beautiful and stood in none's shadow but the one the glorious Horuset Sun cast as you stood before it. ".
Fingers gently traced the outer edge of the box, viewing how its innards caught the light as her hand's shadow passed over it.
"I even felt your hurt at a distance. The anger when your first husband settled for an alien, crashing of a window in the Horuset Spire. Betraying vows, his family and all that had been built - my father did the very same. On Orsus...your words dragged me out of my comfortable shadows. Taking to the fields of war under the command of Ahandra Yaria Horuset...not until after that, had I dared to wear this gift from you".
"All was well, I welcomed your ascension to your seat with the boons it brought my house. My family".
The room's temperature dipped slightly, as if the very thoughts that struck across Sarias' mind was enough to deny any warmth to what came next, in this moment of reflection.
"Then...you got in my way".
"In the way of my future".
"In the way of my legacy".
"In -my- way..".
An almost pitiful look was granted to the jewelry, the alchemist's fingers interlacing in a grounding motion to not tear apart the table. Eyes flicked to the ornate dagger that rested beside it, unsheathed - permitting its blackened hilt and ruby-crested pommel to playfully flicker under nearby torchlight. Much like the blade intended for her father...this one would never see use now.
"Truly, the suffering you caused...was it ever noticed, or did I simply fade into the shadows of the sun after that one moment of pity showed?". Leaning down, her hands placed themselves on either side of the box - one closing over the dagger's hilt, straining her glove's fabric. "To speak I never stood a chance, as if I was some lost child who simply had served a purpose of providing him children. A young, pretty thing to be tossed aside when a path to -true- power presented itself before him? A path you so -graciously- had demanded if he ever hoped to ascend as a Dark Lord?".
The air shock for a moment, as a crack in the force threatened to rend apart the table and half the room.
She breathed.
Sarias gently cradled the side of the box, clinking the gilded jewelry with a sense of...care almost. Empathy?
"...I grief for you. How many years did you walk, believing he loved you? Even when you carried his child, did you ever think...no, you never gave it thought. Eyes cast to your future, the powerbase stabilized with an obedient pawn that could take care of House Kalkoran, while you stood at the top so we could bathe in your light, and that of your equal by your side".
The dagger was raised from its place on the table, ruby catching the reds of her eyes. "...The Sith poison was not designed to kill. I wanted you alive and aware, when the moment of truth arrived....then, you made me wait. So many years, only to depart in a beautiful, breathtaking ritual of old".
The dagger was returned to its brilliant sheathe, slotted away into the depths of armor and fitted cloak that drifted upon Lord Sarias standing back up...eyes narrowing quietly, inspecting the jewelry once more. The room had remained cold, but even now...no sparks of anger was managed. Simply...dulled disappointment. A death that had come and passed without her hand acting, leaving only a hollowness that maybe the future could fill with enough passion and conquest.
"..Its alright, Ahandra Yaria Horuset. Do not be upset...it was never a choice. You were never truly a choice to begin with...".
A clink of metal, as she fashioned the jewelry under her armoring - inspecting its precious emeralds once. "...You shall not be forgotten".
The cloak cast a shadow over the now empty table, leaving the table and box empty.
As Aregra Kalkoran breathed freely for the first time in years.


