#evie che

[defira85]

As someone who has struggled with their own unfinished WIPs for years, I'm sad about Empires Ransom, but I'm not judging you for it or damading anything. But can I ask respectfully, would you tell us your plan for what happens with the Tiralls, specifically Arcann? I've always struggled to come up with a decent reunion scene for Arcann/Thexan. Did you plan for them to be brothers again and live together on Odessan? Thank you for writing what you did with those fics, even if they r never finished

Awww nonny, thank you for this, genuinely xx I don't want to say never ever, because lord knows I've gone back and updated ancient fics before, but at this very current moment in time the spark isn't there. I do feel like, I'd be able to return to it in the future, given that BG3 has renewed my joy in writing again, but obviously I can't give a timeframe on when that might happen so I don't want to break your heart with bad promises

I'm hugging you tightly though

That said, let's strap in for a long LONG breakdown of what was going to happen in the final act of A Tyrant's Atonement (with a few notes about my plans for the Evie/Vaylin fic that would have followed)

Oh boy I just opened the outline document, how the hell was I juggling that many plotlines. Okay this is actually way too much, I'm skipping everyone that isn't directly related to the Tiralls lmfaoooo I have a terminal case of Toomanycharacteritis

Kol'aya and Arcann, as we know, finally hooked up at the end of the last chapter on Rishi, only for her brother to ruin things by calling to say their mother was dying and she was needed back on Ryloth. The two of them travel there together, and Arcann sees a) more of life in the galaxy for normal, every day people as he has on Rishi and Nar Shaddaa these past few months, and b) sees evidence of how long term occupation, brutal regimes, colonialism, slavery etc etc hurts people because we're not done with his Awkward Boy Summer yet. Kol and her family don't get along, as we've previously hinted at. Her mum is cruel to her on her deathbed, and she never gets any sort of closure that she was longing for. As the two of them leave Ryloth, they hear a distress signal from nearby Naboo (because I play a LONG game okay, I introduced Naboo in book one for a reason) and with the Odessen Alliance in tatters because most of their fleet have vanished (Iokath) there's no one in the local area to respond. Kol and Arcann go, and Arcann gets to have a hero moment defending the people and gets mistaken for Thexan (who we know HAS visited Naboo) and goes to Kol and says I think it's time I see my brother, I'm ready

Meanwhile, Vaylin has been having a bad time on Iokath. She and Tahrin have a long overdue sisters confrontation, and Vaylin of course has the same freak out that her brothers had when being confronted with a new sibling, with the added bonus that she's like "oh this is the sister they replaced me with". Vaylin gets away first, lunges back to Zakuul as fast as you can blink, and goes to Atrius and says "I want to get married now, immediately, I need a new family"

So! Now the party chapter in game is STILL a party chapter, but the party is now a WEDDING party. Thexan, seeing the announcements, decides quietly that the time has come for him to step forcibly back into the spotlight because he does not want his baby sister marrying this ass, and makes his way quietly to Zakuul with the intention of breaking up the wedding. Arcann, also seeing the announcements on the holonet, HAS THE SAME THOUGHT

Wedding takes place in a T shaped hall, Vaylin starts walking down the aisle. Queue Arcann and Thexan both bursting in from separate doors basically at the same time to stop the wedding, and both sort of staggering to a halt as they spot each other. This of course distresses Vaylin even more, because even on her!!! wedding!!! which she doesn't really care about because she doesn't love Atrius but it's the principle!!!!! EVEN ON HER WEDDING, they make it all about them instead of about her

She flees to Nathema, where Evie and Asmi et al are already hanging out. There's no Zildrogg storyline in my canon, sorry, but I hate that fucking machine so much. Instead they are working in tandem with Kira and Scourge, searching for the "knife still plunged into the weakly beating heart of the Force" aka they're looking for Valk's original body/Tenebrae, because it is the source of the undeath consuming the planet. Vaylin gets there, does her little break free ritual, she and Evie have significant eye contact and Vaylin goes "why do i keep seeing this weird chic everywhere I go what the fuck". Still enraged at her brothers, she heads off to Odessen, newly empowered, to fuck them over because she's not thinking straight

It takes SEVERAL WEEKS not minutes not hours WEEKS OKAY BIOWARE. THAT'S NOT HOW HYPERSPACE TRAVEL WORKS IN ESTABLISHED CANON. I'M NOT IGNORING 40 YEARS OF CANON BECAUSE IT'D MESS UP YOUR PLOTLINES.

Anyway. It takes several weeks for her to get to Odessen. In the meantime, Arcann and Kol are now on Odessen!! Yay!!! Anya is beside herself with glee at finally getting to meet Uncle Arcann in person, after having haunted him for years through the Force. Arcann begins to find peace again, but Kol is agitated and uncomfortable because as we've established previously, she's bad at saying the L word and fully expects him to leave her at any given moment because she's just a twi'lek, he's an ex-emperor slash prince slash son of the Force and there's no world where they belong together and we know my girl has no self esteem despite having oodles of confidence

Vaylin arrives on Odessen, closely pursued by bear by Evie et al. A battle ensues, nothing as wildly over the top as the Battle of Odessen in game, but a battle nonetheless. Vaylin tries to kidnap Anya and Jaelin, because she WILL be loved and she WILL have family, instead of the weirdly arbitrary choice between Vette and Torian. The confrontation against Vaylin happens on the platform, but Evie distracts her with her presence and her weird little Force trick of mind skimming, followed by a one-two combo by Bejah and Asmi. Bejah, as we have already established, is able to sever the Force in herself and other people, and she cuts Vaylin off so that Valk cannot influence her. Asmi, as we have already established, can shield people and planets while allowing them to remain connected to the Force, so once Bejah severs her and kicks out Valk, Asmi shields her and she is free of Valkorion's poison

Kallathe at this point in more Valk than herself, because as I've used as a metaphor before, he was basically the wasp larva inside the caterpillar, and he's been consuming her from the inside out over time. Kallathe-Valk makes a run for Zakuul, to reimpower Themself using the throne, and Arcann, Thexan and Tahrin follow quickly after. As I said in a post about a month back, Vivaane convinces Arcann to secretly bring her datacron with him

Kol'aya also follow after them, after being unable to tell Arcann she loves him before he heads off to face Certain Doom, and has a Really Bad Day in the endless Zakuul elevator of The Spire, because there's nothing Kol and her claustrophobia hate more than elevators, unless it's elevators actively being bombarded from orbit by the Eternal Fleet, and those elevators are several kilometres long. But she endures the Elevator From Hell, and makes it to the top of The Spire in time to tell him she loves him

Arcann, Thexan and Tahrin face off against Kallathe-Valk on the throne. Vivaane bursts out of the datacron as planned, and tells Tahrin the same line she said way back in chapter three of back one - how do you kill a ghost? with another ghost - and merges her spirit with Valk and forces him to dissipate and rejoin the Force

Ewok party time, woo hoo. the aftermath 2 electric boogaloo. Everyone regroups on Odessen. Kol’aya and Arcann haven’t talked yet but they’re sharing a bed again. Tahrin is in mourning and beside herself, Kallathe is utterly uninterested in remaining with the Alliance and wants to go to Nathema, given that it was the ancestral home of her mother's people. Asmi wants to return to the Republic and rebuild the Jedi. Ellaz has already returned to Coruscant as Senator for Corellia and makes a bid for Supreme Chancellor. Vaylin wakes up to find Evie beside her bed.

Kol and Arcann talk. She struggles with the L word but he says it’s okay.

Long term plans: A Daughter's Defiance! Evie and Vaylin fic would've been about Valk's extra backup plans. I would've rewritten Nathema to be just his original Tenebrae body, no Zildrogg at all. Hate that fucking robot so much. Evie's mind skimming/skipping powers come in handy when they find Kira and Scourge unconscious over the sacrophagus, because she can skip into their dream states to learn what's going on. She tries to convince the others that she should be the one to go in because of her specific powers, rationalising that she is best placed to resist the corruption of the dreams. Everyone tells her not to be stupid, she does it anyway, and then Vaylin finds that she has a connection to Evie from the Battle of Odessen when Evie's presence was the last thing in her mind before the severing, and can communicate with her in the dreams. Over time, as the corruption eats away at Evie, it's up to Vaylin to keep her sane while everyone else tries to figure out how to destroy Tenebrae's body once and for all

Thexan and Ona'la and the girls would have moved to Zakuul, acting in a sort of constitutional monarchy position while the planet transitions from a dictatorship to something more sustainable long term. They have a third child, a son named Kiron (after Kira and Theron, in the twi'lek tradition)

Arcann and Kol'aya go back to Rishi at least for a few years, because he still needs time away from power and the spotlight and they need time to work out their relationship away from mostly prying eyes. They eventually have a son whose name I cannot find anywhere in my notes

Kallathe and Lana get married on Nathema, which Kallathe has latched onto quite hard in the aftermath of all the trauma of Valk and has decided this is Her Planet. This is where Her People were from, it's a Red Sith Planet and it's hers. Hasn't exactly declared herself Empress but she's gonna be a thorn in Acina's side for a long time.

God that's so long. Does that cover everything? That's not even a quarter of the characters in the cast, jesus christ. Please feel absolutely free to ask me any further questions nonny, I did have a lot of fun going over my notes to write this, and this is frankly only a fraction of it all. I do really appreciate your lovely message, and I'm glad that Empire's Ransom meant as much to you as it did to me. One day it'll get an update, I'm sure of it xxx

[thegingerjedi]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 6/14 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Series: Part 2 of The Destiny of an Alliance Summary: Raelyn Politryk - the former Emperor's Wrath and now Outlander - has been rescued by Lana Beniko and her estranged brother, Raj. Now she must return to the Alliance she has dreamed of, and must put her plans into action while also dealing with an Emperor-parasite who threatens to rip apart everything she's worked for. Including her relationship with the woman she loves.

It was one thing to be doted on when she was barely awake and in more pain than she could fathom. It was quite another to have Maraalor buzzing around the medical suite like some sort of hyperactive gnat for six days, insistent that she follow his regimen of dull food, terrible medicine, and painful exercise. It was like he never even slept! Just kept fluttering around, datapad in his hands, making notes and typing while he clucked his tongue.

In short, he was Maraalor. And he was exhausting.

Not even Rimea had taken pity on her, calmly insisting that she just needed to be patient, just until she was well enough and strong enough to get around on her own.

She was damn strong enough now.

Don’t get her wrong, she was infinitely grateful for his help and his healing. He really was one hell of a doctor, and had even managed to shut up Valkorion with his insults. That alone was worth thanking him for. But he was so damn fussy. All the time.

Raelyn opened her eyes as she heard him step out of the room - five minutes and forty-three seconds. She had five minutes and forty-three seconds until he returned from his other rounds. Which meant she had that long to make a break for it.

As soon as Maraalor’s footsteps were out of earshot, she rolled herself to a sitting position at the edge of the bed, feeling every movement twisting and pulling at her injured gut. She grimaced and put a hand to it, but didn’t let the pain stop her. Of course, nearly toppling over when she tried to stand up stopped her briefly, but as soon as the spots cleared from her vision and she had her feet squarely beneath her, she shuffled to the doorway, poking her head out into the dimmed interior of the hospital to make sure there were no surprise guards that Maraalor had set up while she was asleep. There weren’t any.

So far so good.

There was a faint twinge from inside her head - Valkorion warning her to not move too quickly, probably. Well fuck that guy.

[defira85]

A Star Wars: The Old Republic story, set during the KotET era

“I bring word from Darth Malora,” Duun said, her tone crisp and cold, a fitting match for her eyes and her entire demeanour. “The mission on Dathomir has been compromised.”

That was not the best news to hear, but the fact that Malora had sent a lackey instead of calling herself was promising. “How so?” she asked, immediately bringing up her files on the Sith expedition, taking note of the three Intelligence agents assigned to the operation in various roles. There was one outstanding report waiting for her, filed in the last hour- it must have come in while she was in the meeting. She discreetly opened it and started to scan it quickly. “Was the site unsuitable for excavation?”

“There were Jedi,” Duun spat, a flare of venom in her voice. “None of the preliminary assessments provided by your department indicated there were Jedi within a dozen systems of Dathomir, and yet-”

“Is her Lordship safe?” Thessa interrupted. “Was there an attack?”

A rather significant crack of thunder rolled through the air, the lightning flash casting Duun in even more stark shades of white. “My lord, thankfully, is safe,” Duun said coldly, “no thanks to your people.”

So it was going to be like that. Thessa folded her hands before her on the table. “If that will be all, captain,” she said. “I will await more detailed reports from your team-”

“Do not dismiss me, Minister! How will you account for your failure to adequately anticipate an attack of this scale-”

“Do not interrupt me, captain,” Thessa retorted. “I’ll remind you that I officially outrank you, and I will not be drawn into making hasty conclusions without any information that will then be used against me as further criticism of some imagined failure. Either explain to me the problem, or get off the line and write a damned report.”

[defira85]

Ohhhhh who's the person you ship with Vaylin?! :D

That would be Evie Che!

Trickster, prankster, larrikin, light-hearted jester who knows that the entire galaxy is her playground and intends to enjoy herself

Evie grew up on Terminus, a planet on the absolute edge of one of the galactic arms that touts itself as “The Gateway to the Galaxy”. A less overcrowded version of Nar Shaddaa, Terminus is a wild and bizarre place that was absorbed into Zakuul’s growing empire a long, long time ago, so Evie is quite at ease with the culture of Zakuul, even if she doesn’t really follow the faith, so to speak. Her parents own a bar on Terminus, and Evie grew up serving drinks and hustling pool games and fixing card games, unbeknownst to her, her sleight of hand skills were aided by the Force, not strong enough to warrant catching the attention of the Knights or the Scions, but enough so that she can have fun with it. 

Several years ago, she caught the attention of a travelling Jedi (Master Ranos) who took an interested in her untamed powers and offered to take her with her. Evie proved to be... a lot, and eventually the Alliance assigned her to Zakuul to help with their interests in the Old World, helping run the bar they own as a safe house and support the Lady of Sorrows network. She fits in far better in the Old World, and has the skills (and the energy) to help run a bar

She helped free the Outlander (Darth Nox) and had her very first encounter with Vaylin as a result. She also flirted with Senya, not realising the family connection    

I wanted someone for Vaylin who could help her remember how to have fun again, someone who could show her that the galaxy is a beautiful place and you can have joy where you find it, someone who can help her to love herself again while falling in love with her at the same time

Hence the song Rainbow as their theme

[defira85]

A Star Wars: The Old Republic story, set during the KotFE era

It wasn’t like that very question hadn’t kept her up for hours in the middle of the night, staring at the ceiling and wondering what might have transpired. Were the flashes of regret just in her imagination? Was the outraged sense of justice and compassion- however askew it was- just an act, or was there something else in there behind the mask?

And did it matter, in the end? He’d refused her help. They’d had word out of Zakuul that he wasn’t dead, despite all the odds, and he’d very abruptly and ruthlessly condemned them as terrorists and mercenaries. She was back on the Most Wanted list.

Whatever she thought she might have glimpsed in his face in the aftermath of the shuttle crash, when she’d hurtled into his arms and stared at him, the moment stunned and intimate and fragile, was an illusion. He’d picked up his father’s mantle without a moment of hesitation, and ruled the galaxy in tune to his whims for five years. She’d lost everything under his rule.  

I have put myself at your mercy, doctor, because out of everyone caught up in this terrible endeavour, I know I can trust you to do the right thing.

She looked across the table at the Force-users, watching her with varying degrees of suspicion and concern in their eyes, and prayed that none of them were mind-readers. “We just talked,” she lied.

[defira85]

Swtor toons and hobbies

I was doing some brainstorming today trying to think about hobbies for one of my characters and realised I was sorely lacking in that department for a lot of my characters. So to that end, I wrote a stupid long list of characters and the things they do to waste time and indulge themselves

Ona’la

Endurance training, especially weights and long-distance running 

Parenting/baby-sitting/crechemaster duties at the academy PILE MORE BABIES ON HER SHE LOVES BABIES

She has a soft spot for action holoflix and romcoms. She likes things that have unquestionably happy endings

Is chocolate a hobby? Thexan says no, Ona’la says yes

Asmi

Gardening, a strange hobby for a carnivore, but it helped her recovery while living on Voss

She was trying to study for at least a Bachelor of Law after being assigned as attache to the Chancellor’s Office, but her various chronic illnesses made it very difficult. She was studying from home, but the workload was a lot to keep up with

Used to binge watch a lot of holoshows while she was bed-bound, has watched every season of Galactic House Hunters (yes, all one hundred and thirty-eight seasons). And yes, she loves watching those cringey old action flix that Felix loves 

Ellaz

SPORTSBALL. Surprising no one, Ellaz is a bit of a jock. Also, one of her brothers was a pro-racer for over two decades, and she was heavily into speeder sports as a result

Collects and builds model spaceships and speeders- another hobby she picked up from an older brother.

She and Aric are fans of crime procedurals. They yell at the screen and throw popcorn when the forensics lab in the shows offers completely implausible evidence about blasters and shrapnel in the murder case

Tahrin

Would you call it mixed martial arts? Whatever it is in a GFFA, Tahrin was extensively trained in every available saber style while locked in The Facility, and many of the more common fighting styles, and likes to practice in her private gyms. She likes to zone out while exercising

Meditating. Again, likes to zone out. Tahrin, do you not like being in your own head or something? 

She likes logic puzzles. Something she can sit and ponder for hours until the answer comes to her, something that tests the limits of her knowledge

Kallathe

Lana says she’s not allowed to say sex, what’s even the point Lana?

To the surprise of literally everyone who knows her, she likes strategy games, the harder the better. She’ll play against an AI opponent or another person, and despite her hotheaded nature, she is a masterful tactician. Again, to the surprise of literally everyone. 

She used to be a regular attendee in the front row at Dromund Kaas Fashion Week

Thessa

Reading, especially in bed, or in some kind of blanket cocoon on a rainy day. She will read anything, but has a particular interest in romance novels. They always have a happy ending. Also subscribed to numerous science journals specialising in xenobiology and xenochemistry

An art aficionado, she has a Patron Pass for the Dromund Kaas Imperial Museum of Art so that she can go year round whenever a new exhibit is unveiled  

Is tea a hobby? She likes to go to this particular Tea House in the Csillan Quarter near to where she and Vector and Arram live in Kaas City, it’s easy to lose an entire afternoon in there

Ysaine

Because of her years on Nar Shaddaa, she is inevitably a Huttball fan. Stans hard for the Djilka Dancers, an all women’s team

Involved in a lot of Women’s Support networks- for trans women, for veterans of the Great Galactic War, for domestic abuse survivors. Her services as a bounty hunter prior to the Great Hunt were almost exclusively in aiding women and children escape from bad situations, and she’s tried to follow through with making sure they’ve got networks to support them when they’re free

Enjoys a good raucous cantina. Drinking some beers with friends and watching the game and eating some greasy food and yelling a lot

Kol’aya

Long distance running, just likes to put her headphones on and start running and not stop until her legs are jelly 

Subscribed to a number of medical journals, specifically for neurosurgery and cybernetics but some general ones too

If pressed hard, she’d admit to enjoying sitting down with a beer and binging a couple of horror movies back to back, none of them scare her but she enjoys the genre

When she was younger, she used to enjoy clubbing, and going dancing until dawn

Xolani

Small scale gardening, like keeping small bonsai like plants in her home

Opera, and while she’s not a singer worthy of the stage, she does a worthy rendition of some of her favourites. Visited the Zakuulan theatre a lot during her time as the Lady of Sorrows

Crosswords and word puzzles

Bejah

R O B O T S. What’s that Nikos? Can I have that? Can I build that? I bet I can build that. Unconfirmed reports that she once built a Gree teleportation platform from scratch just from seeing them on Ilum 

M A R S H M A L L O W S. Do you know you can MAKE your OWN MARSHMALLOWS??? DO YOU KNOW MARSHMALLOWS HAVE LOTS OF DIFFERENT FLAVOURS??? 

She loves comic books, because the limited text and bright colours doesn’t make it too overwhelming for her to follow along with. If it’s particularly dense, she and Nikos will read it together. He does silly voices for all the characters. 

Pop music. She got to see Moon Room in concert for her 25th birthday and she cried

GLITTER AND BRIGHT COLOURED MAKEUP, she watches a lot of tutorials on HoloTube to get it right

Evie

Typical pub games- card games like pazaak and sabaac and ball games like billiards and pool

Computer games, especially arcade games 

Not much of a reader, but she’s great at mathematically minded things. She’s memorised the stats for her favourite Grav-ball team, and knows how to count cards, and plays things like Sudoku when she’s got nothing else on hand

She follows Grav-Ball religiously, has a tattoo of her favourite player’s number from the Terminosi Terrors

That’s not everyone obviously but it was all I could get done during work (oops, work?) so we’ll leave it there for now :D

[defira85]

Got tagged by @motheatenscarf for the character meme oooh haven’t done this before, I’ll tag  @sithrightsactivist @angelicfangirl @thegingerjedi @mhara @thesquidhat is five people enough?

Anyway LET’S GET TO KNOW EVIE CHE

(art by @ladyzolstice)

GENERAL

Name: Evie Che

Alias(es): Vee-Vee to her older sisters

Gender: Female

Age: Born approximately 7BTC, her planet doesn’t use the Republic Galactic Standard Calendar tho. 28 at the time of introduction in KotFE

Place of birth: Terminus, a wild bazaar planet on the far edge of the galaxy that makes Nar Shaddaa look tame in comparison

Spoken languages: Basic, Zakuulan, Binary, Bocce, Meese Caulf, Rammocate, Sy Bisti, Taarja, can swear in at least two dozen languages

Sexual orientation: Bisexual (Freddie Mercury tier)

Occupation: cardshark, bartender, reluctant Jedi

APPEARANCE

Eye color: Gold

Hair color: Black

Height: 5′3″, or 160cm

Scars: An old stab wound on her right ribs from a bar fight gone bad when she was eighteen

FAVORITE

Color: Bright and peacockish, the more colours the better

Hair color: No preference

Eye color: No preference

Entertainment: Card games, drinking, cheating at card games, gravball, old digital arcade games

Pastime: She loves being around people. Gets way too fidgetty when left to her own devices, so just likes being in crowds and groups. 

Food: Loves street food. She’ll eat anything offered to her from a cart. 

Drink: ALCOHOL. Her parents own a bar back on Terminus. She’s a beer girl. 

Books: Comics count as books right?

HAVE THEY

Passed university: Didn’t even go to school. She was running around the bar helping out and picking pockets by the time she was six. She’s smart though, she used to do the books and accounts for the bar, and no one can count cards better than her

Had sex: Yes

Had sex in public: Yes

Gotten pregnant: No

Kissed a man: Yes

Kissed a woman: Yes

Gotten tattoos: Has the number for her favourite gravball player from the Terminosi Terrors tattooed on her shoulder, three stars on her left wrist

Gotten piercings: Two in the left ear, one in the right, one in the bellybutton

Had a broken heart: Nope! Evie has led a relatively charmed life

Been in love: Sort of? Evie loves hard and fast but it doesn’t really ever seem to be anything more than a fleeting thing

Stayed up for more than 24 hours: God yes

ARE THEY

A virgin: No

A cuddler: Super yes

A kisser: Yes

A smoker: Has done, chooses not to, not bothered by second hand smoke in bars 

Scared easily: Not at all. Very difficult to get under her skin

Jealous easily: Nope

Trustworthy: Yes.

Dominant: Yes

Submissive: Nope

Single: Currently but not for loooooooooong

RANDOM QUESTIONS

Wanted to kill someone: Occasionally

Actually killed someone: A handful

Ridden a beast: Does the mechanical nerf in the bar counts because she holds the record for staying on the longest

Have/had a job: Yes. Would much rather be working in a bar than doing this Jedi shit

Have any fears: Ehhh... sort of? She embraces life far too enthusiastically to really have any sort of regrets or fears. Probably a little afraid that this Force magic shit is gonna make her family afraid of her or that people will expect her to be all serious and important like these Jedi seem to be 

FAMILY

Sibling(s): Two older sisters, one brother-in-law and one sister-in-law

Parents: Both still alive

Children: Nope! Fives niblings tho, three nieces and two nephews

Pets: Likes to try and convince people she has outrageous and horrifying pets just to laugh at their reactions

[defira85]

A Star Wars: The Old Republic story, set during the KotFE era

“So you were the captain of a treasury ship,” she prompted, “but five years ago decided instead to become one of the solo agents of the throne, hunting down defectors and dissenters and those who would threaten the stability of Zakuul’s reign.”

Senya licked her lips. “That’s right.”

“And now you’ve had a change of heart, and want to help us?”

“Yes.”

She leaned forward slowly, eyes far too knowledgeable. “My dear woman, we can end with the facade any time you are ready- I had my people search everything about you the moment Captain Voresh called to say you were on your way.”

She sucked in a sharp breath, feeling remarkably light headed. “Oh,” was all she could say.

The Lady’s eyes turned kinder, almost sorrowful. “Indeed,” she said gently. “We were not aware that the Dowager Empress was still alive-”

“Please don’t call me that,” she said quickly. “I- it was never, I was never...”

She trailed off hopelessly, trying to convey the tangle of her ruined relationship with her family in a convenient soundbite. Thankfully, the Lady seemed to understand. “It is no easy thing to turn one’s back on one’s family,” she said, and her hand seemed to drift almost of its own volition to the ring she wore on the chain around her neck. “I can only imagine this has not been an easy choice for you to make.”

It took her a long few moments to respond. “No,” she whispered, “it has not.”

{And here we are at the end. I’ve left a more poignant message on the end of the chapter in AO3, but for now... enjoy. And thank you for reading along with me on this journey}