036: Mother-daughter talk
- Location
- Nova Scotia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The way Lord Myre's soldiers just dropped everything to follow Brenby after Jyte died: 16
Taking a life for the first time: 11
Nearly being killed by Sith: 6
Taking a life for the first time: 11
Nearly being killed by Sith: 6
Skylah
"I guess... there's a few things," you say, slowly. You take a cautious sip of your hot chocolate and wince — still too hot.
Nyx leans back against an unseen wall, arms crossed, prepared to let you take your time. You can see that her lightsaber is on her belt, but it very nearly always is. Never going unarmed is one of the invisible scars of her upbringing, like how much she hates wasting food.
"I guess I got into a bit of trouble."
Nyx frowns slightly. It's not a surprised look. "What happened?"
"There was a Sith Lord here with a bunch of people hiding outside the city. Kind of got on his bad side, a bit. A lot." Catching the minute change in her bearing, you hastily add: "but it's super not a problem anymore, because he's, uh... dead! And so are some other people and, I, uh..." you falter, gulp down some more hot chocolate which you forget is too hot until it's already in your mouth. "I... killed some of the other people. Because they like, wanted to shoot me. Imperialist rebels, I guess."
"Are you alright?" she asks, tone as gentle as her voice goes.
"Yes. Maybe. I will be? I will be." You take a deep breath, and then let yourself slump where you are. You mean that, but it's going to take some time. "He almost killed me. It was... I've never had people try to kill me before!"
"We never wanted you to be around people who would," Nyx agreed.
"Yeah. I know. That's not... it wasn't the weirdest thing, though." You sit there for another second or two, getting your thoughts in order. "So... those rebels. Soldiers, I guess. They were working for Lord Myre, even though he seemed like kind of a terrible boss? And like, they were working for him, and trying to shoot us a lot. And they kept doing that after he was dead, and one of his apprentices was in charge. But then, like, after she died, his other apprentice — Brenby, he was on our side — just like, took charge. And they listened to him, and they stopped shooting at us, and it was just like..." you shiver a little at the memory, absent the adrenaline of that moment. "... almost automatic."
Nyx takes this in, nodding slowly. "Were you hurt?" she asks.
"Some bruises and stuff, and a cut on my hand, but, not badly," you say.
"Good." This most important consideration out of the way, Nyx addresses your actual thought. "That's what people were taught to think, living under us. That we were in charge because we were the strongest, and that obeying us would keep them safe. If the lord you serve is now dead, and there's another in front of you... what could be more natural but to give way before a greater power? Certainly, there was little they could hope to gain from attempting to resist, and the Sith in question would face no reprisal for killing them in turn. The Imperial military became accustomed to this. They understood that, if two Sith walk into a room, sometimes only one will emerge. That our alliances tend to be fickle and temporary." Her expression is distant now, considering a different time, almost a different life. "In my experience, many Imperial soldiers regarded us as something akin to sapient natural disasters, more than people. To be appeased and obeyed almost interchangeably."
You consider all she's just told you, the picture of Imperial society this all paints. What it must have been like to be a normal person living under such a regime. "That all seems... awful, kind of? Like, the worst."
Nyx laughs — barely audible, and over quickly. Almost more of a scoff than a laugh. "For many, yes. It's in our nature to strive for power through extreme means."
"Yeah, but, you're not like that," you point out.
Nyx is unconvinced. "Perhaps. But, you have never seen me in a position like that. I have instead spent my years honing my lightsaber skills in the hope of surpassing my dead master, half out of spite. This comes from a similar place."
You shake your head. "Right, but that's strength, not power. You're not using it to control anyone or hurt people you don't have to. If you can hold back, so can they."
If anything, Nyx looks a little amused. "You're using the Sith Code against me."
"Well, am I like, wrong?"
"In specific principle, no," Nyx admits. "Your other mother has been a... restraining presence." Trying to get her to own up to possessing any actual good characteristics is always like pulling teeth. Whatever she says, though, you know that people can be better than that, if they get the chance. She's taught you that much, whatever she likes to say.
There's still something else bothering you, though. "Anyway, it's been like... a long time since the Empire fell. A lot of those soldiers can't even have been more than kids the last time the Sith were actually in charge of Tyrost."
"Very likely true."
"So, why are they still like this?" you demand.
"If I understand correctly, they're extremist partisans clinging to a time when they think they would have been safe," Nyx says. "It will pass, in time. The Empire is dead."
You frown. "How can they think they would have been safer if they have to worry about their bosses killing each other now while there were just the three of them out here? It can just get taken away in a second!"
"Peace is always a lie, when it comes down to it," Nyx says. "Enough people found contentment enough under the Empire, when it was a real place. The harsh laws, the slavery, the excesses of the Sith... these were things that were usually happening to someone else. Now, the Empire is an idea. All the ugly parts can fall away entirely."
That almost makes a kind of sense. You don't really understand thinking that way, but you can see the shape of it. This is far from the first time that your pa'ma has spoken about horrible things as if they're unremarkable in the galaxy. It's the first time you've had to reconcile it after seeing it for yourself, though. "It's weird," you admit. "I don't like it."
"Would you rather they forced you to kill them all?"
"Of course not!"
"There are times where one is presented with less than ideal circumstances, but must accept that the alternatives are only worse." She's not dismissing your concerns, for all that you know she doesn't feel the sense of discomfort that you do.
You sigh. "Yeah. I guess."
Nyx nods. "I'm sorry you had to face this, Little One," she says. "But... proud."
You blink. "What?"
"You've had to fight for your life. You've had to take lives. You didn't enjoy these things — I can sense it, even if I didn't know that would be the case already. But you still did them as needed, and you're still standing there, telling me that the culture that raised me is 'the worst'." She smiles again, giving you an extremely fond look. "You're strong in the same way she is. It makes me prouder than you can know."
You feel your eyes start to burn, which is embarrassing, with Imperius and X2 still watching. You open your mouth to say something in return, but your voice catches in your throat. You're saved, though:
Nyx perks up, sensing the presence before she hears. "In here, my love," she calls to someone out of pickup range.
"... making a call?" asks a new voice, drawing nearer. A moment later, Arlunia Lavaeolus steps into view, dressed like she's just come through the door. Her face lights up at seeing you, expression spreading into an open grin as she sees you. "Skylah!"
"Hi, Mom," you say, giving her an almost identical smile, despite the heaviness of the topic from a moment before. "I'm on Tyrost."
Arlunia belatedly goes up on her toes to give her wife a kiss on the cheek. "Still? Did something come up?"
"Well, uh, a lot of things?" You consider where to begin, how to condense the events of recent days into brief and understandable format. "Well, uh, there's a boy?" Arlunia's grin widens, and you realise your terrible mistake. "No, I mean, there are two boys!"
"You've sure been busy!" Arlunia says.
Your face heats, and you scramble to explain. "No, no, no! It's not that kind of story! Anyway, also there's a Sith Lord, except not anymore because he's dead now, and your friend Amira and also Jorden and Avress, who are two other Jedi, and some Sith ruins that Keel's sister, Elra was in with Amira -- Keel is the boy, the first one! Anyway, Jorden and me got captured a bit, then Brenby let me out and uh..." you trail off. You're not sure this is coming out as well as you'd hoped.
Arlunia's smile has slipped at the worrisome elements of your jumbled explanation. "That's a lot of... a lot. Are you alright?" Almost unconsciously, she leans against Nyx's side. Nyx watches you patiently, eye creased with a more muted concern: From the way she's looking at you, she can tell there's still something you haven't told her. She stays silent, though, robotic hand going up to gently run through Arlunia's short hair because, ugh, they are so embarrassing.
"Yes, mostly," you say.
"Did you tell Amira hello from me?" Arlunia asks.
"Uh... not yet," you say. "She's also doing okay! She got a bit beaten up, but nothing too bad. There's, uh some other stuff, though."
"Go on," says Arlunia.
"So, you know Darth Imperius?" you say. "That dead lady you like, Pa'ma?"
Imperius gives you a flatly disbelieving look. "How can you be this bad at this?" You ignore her.
"Well! She, uh, was kind of around. Like, a ghost. And now she's, like... stuck in my head a bit."
Arlunia's expression goes suddenly pensive. Nyx doesn't stop there. She starts, displaying the same sort of muted panic you recall seeing in her when she heard of your first speeder crash — as if trying to reach back through time and remove danger from your path. "You have a Dark Side apparition possessing you?" she demands.
"Yeah, kind of," you say. "It's nothing like... bad."
"Nothing bad?" Skepticism is obvious in every line of Nyx's body.
"She would have died forever if I didn't, and it was my idea, she didn't ask! Also, she saved my life once already and she hasn't tried to take over my body or anything, even though she won't stop making mean comments sometimes."
"Your trust is touching, truly," Imperius deadpans.
"You can't trust something like that!" Nyx insists.
You hunch awkwardly in on yourself, taking a long sip of your hot chocolate. It's cool enough, now. "But, um... wasn't she like, inspirational to you and stuff?"
"Yes," Nyx agrees, "and she will be again, once she's properly dead and no longer haunting my daughter."
"Charming," says Imperius, examining her nails. Even though they're ghost nails and they probably can't get anything underneath them, so why is that even necessary, other than to annoy you?
"You're not helping," you mutter to her. Or, from anyone else's perspective, to thin air to your right. This induces a lingeringly awkward silence, stretching on for expensive seconds that you're glad you don't need to pay for.
"Do you need help?" Arlunia asks you, putting a soothing hand on Nyx's back.
"No," you say, shaking your head. "It's fine. I'm not really so worried about Imperius, honestly. More Darth Shaed." At the expressions on both their faces, you plough on: "I talked to her on holocomm. Don't worry, she was nice!"
"Oh, was she?" Arlunia asks, cautiously optimistic past the concern.
"No, she wasn't," Nyx says, with as much certainty as if she'd actually been there to hear. "How did you draw her attention?"
"Well, okay, yeah, she wasn't that nice. And, uh... she knows I'm on Tyrost, and roughly where; the Sith Lord was her apprentice. But I'm leaving soon anyway, and she actually only threatened me the one time, when she was warning me that she'd better not find out I'm hiding the holocron she wants."
Nyx sighs. "And are you hiding it?"
"Well, she didn't find out!"
Nyx groans.
"Well, I already promised it to someone else, and he'd given up a lot and kept up his end of the bargain." You look to your mom for support. She certainly doesn't seem happy about these developments, but she gives you more of an understanding nod than Pa'ma's giving you. Sometimes, helping people and being a good ally has to come before staying personally safe.
"Skylah, Shaed is vicious and unpredictable, even for a Sith," Nyx warns you. "This is not a woman whose ire you want drawn to you. Are you sure you don't want to come home?"
You shrug awkwardly. "I'm sure it'll be fine," you say.
"Will it?" Nyx asks again.
"Well, it's not like Ex-Two and I will be travelling alone anymore," you offer.
Article: Why won't you be travelling alone?
[ ] You'll have Brenby with you
[ ] You'll have Keel with you
[ ] You'll have Amira with you
[ ] Well, at least you'll have Imperius with you
To be entirely clear, Imperius is still going to be possessing her regardless. The "well, at least you'll have Imperius with you" option is indicating that Skylah won't pick up an additional ongoing travelling companion.
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