Mercy and The Mand'alor

[Bobbi]

A flower blooms within the Hapan palace walls and catches the attention of The Mechanic.






Sadhric:
Normal habits were dangerous.

Methods of doing anything could be time-savers, safety-enforcing... or dangerous.

Here and now, normal habits and methods were dangerous for new reasons.

Sadhric left the Queen's private briefing hall with a dark blankness of thought after hours of spinning out scenarios within itself. He felt heavy. He felt tired.

Lenses glinted. Copper glinted. He felt the weight of weapons that weren't weapons.



Lotus:
Vhen Mares stood a good two meters taller than she did, over shadowing the Twi'lek and gazing down toward her with a tick of his whiskered mouth. He looked like a giant (space) catfish, complete with the dead eyes that seemed as dark as a pool of oil. Blue skinned Lekku twitched and throbbed against Lotus's shoulders as the Mon Calimari kept rambling on while their translation aide struggled to keep up until Lotus sigh inwardly and brought her thin blue hands out to gently cut the larger alien off, "I'm sorry, Ambassador," she said, waiting for the translator to do their job. A young Calimari who was a personal aide to the elder, possibly related by the markings on their fishy-looking heads, "We will have to continue this another time. I'm late for another engagement." It took two more minutes for her to wriggle free, promising through the young translator to find him once she was free once more. Disengaging from the Mon Calimari, Lotus was flanked by a gaggle of her own aides who were keeping their respective distances, except for an advisor who walked directly to her right. She was leading the group toward a corridor at a rather quick pace, looking like she had some place to be in order to avoid being stopped by someone else. About halfway down the next hallway over she spotted someone she hadn't yet seen at the summit. Lotus had only arrived some short hours before, "Dr. Tlin?"



Sadhric:
The grand doors behind him slid closed on a view of Nikolaus Buffton and the Queen just as he turned to eye the one who had called his name.

He straightened when he recognized her.

"Well, well. The Daimon has come to catch the creds raining from the sky in their ample pockets?"

Lotus:
Graciously Lotus smiled, her lekku twitching slightly against her shoulders. She was dressed for her station within what was becoming the diplomatic growth of the Daimon Empire. "I am sure I don't know what you mean. The Daimon has come to invest, not line our pockets."



Sadhric:
The Mechanic smiled slightly. Half a second late, by design, he bowed in semi-formal greeting. "Your time must be at a premium. Shall I walk you to your destination?"



Lotus:
"That is a generous offer," Lotus stated, her lekku catching in amusement, "One I cannot refuse." She paused there to speak over her shoulder to the group waiting behind, "Please go on ahead. Haller, inform Solus that I will be with him shortly but may be delayed." Dutifully the gathered aides behind the Twi'lek began to disperse, moving past both her and Sadhric in the way they had first been traveling.

Haller was a Gerrenthum native male who had shifty eyes and nervous hands who wore the badge of his station against the lapel of his purple based attire. "Ye-yes of co-co-course." The stutter was sharp, but stumbled through with Haller blinking in a physical tick before following after the dismissing group.



Sadhric:
"Oh good," Sadhric breathed with a sigh. "The flies have left the carcass. What shall we discuss today, my dear? --I warn you in advance: I reached my limit of salon chit-chat before this conference even convened."




Lotus:
Standing there, Lotus was giving him an appraising eye. He looked heavy, weighed down but more tired -- perhaps mentally. Little whispers of The Force were at work, indirectly, to give some depth to what she thought she was seeing in Sadhric, "Well, if you wont take salon chatter, would you take my thanks?"



Sadhric:
He turned his head as he laughed. Without answering, he turned and offered her the crook of his arm. Salon chit-chat was out, but apparently he was comfortable enough with that brand of gesture.

"For cutting the crap? Certainly."



Lotus:
Easily, the Twi'lek looped her arm through his, her lekku throbbing in even pulsating movements against her shoulders and down her back, "For that, most certainly. But also for the warning you gave me. We didn't know what we were looking at, but having known it was there we were able to purge our systems once things calmed down. Knowing it was there made it easier to find."



Sadhric:
Sadhric began walking in the direction Lotus had been going originally rather than looking to her for guidance. For several easy strides he didn't say anything. "I wonder something about you."



Lotus:
Her laugh was as light as her expression, Lotus giving Sadhric's arm a gentle squeeze with her own at the elbow, "Oh? And what do you wonder?"



Sadhric:
She laughed; he smiled in response. His words had nothing to do with the smile. "I wonder if you ever change. Or wish to change."



Lotus:
Her smile lessened just for a brief moment, her lekku catching in a twitch in time with the brief loss of expression before it returned. Her hand came up, drifting to lay against Sadhric's forearm as they walked together, "That depends on the direction of change. I'd like to believe I've come a long way from where I had been when Lang was in charge. How much further would you see me go?"



Sadhric:
He cocked his head as they walked, a kind of shrug. "My question isn't about me. And it isn't about the past."



Lotus:
"So, then, you are asking about my....hobbies...?" To put it gently. Mercy's lekku were, for the world around them, twitching in time with her steps and carried gracefully about her shoulders. "I do wonder, at times, how different things would be if I carried on where Shaon left off -- his struggle to find something beyond what he found in himself."



Sadhric:
"Ah. Talk about that." He seemed amused by her initial response, but this had snagged his interest.



Lotus:
"Right before he found his end," here in the palace she spoke as if it were just something that happened. Something that didn't matter. It was a practiced face, a mask that Sadhric knew better than to believe, "He had begun question as to whether the Tekal woman had it right. He began to wonder if he had been wrong about it all his entire life. His heart turned, he was not the man who had liberated me."



Sadhric:
"Would the new man have liberated you just the same, do you think?"



Lotus:
"I think so," she answered after a moment, "But I doubt that it would have been for the same reasons. He wanted someone he could mold, someone he could keep in the shadows that the galaxy wouldn't suspect."



Sadhric:
Well, she'd already suggested as much about the reasons. The Mechanic let it go. "So bring that back to you, and back to the concept of change."



Lotus:
"I doubt very much would be any different in respect to my job, and to the responsibility I hold for the Empire. It might even be... refreshing....to drop the pretenses I have learned to carry about who I am. I have no interest in claiming any titles beyond what I have now. This is work enough for me. I have thought about it, but where would I start?"



Sadhric:
A real shrug this time, if small. "So what you're suggesting is that you're content."



Lotus:
"Mm," Lotus purred softly, "I wouldn't say content. I think more complacent."



Sadhric:
"I wouldn't think you'd like that word," he said, shooting her a curious look.



Lotus:
"I don't," Lotus cast a look up toward him wearing a halfsmile, "But it is a fitting word. I've become rather used to how things are, and the position I hold."

“It has its certain....perks."



Sadhric:
"Getting to walk arm and arm with the dashing Mand'alor, for example?" he asked wryly.



Lotus:
"Oh," her half smile rounded just slightly as her lekku twitched in time with the gentle nod she gave, "So, the rumors are true, then?"



Sadhric:
"Are they still only rumors out your way?" A laugh. "They're true."



Lotus:
"We are a little behind in the rumor mill, but we'll catch up soon enough. Its a surprising thing to hear from you, though. I didn't think you'd hold such an interest, to become Mand’alor."



Sadhric:
"No? Why not?"



Lotus:
"I always figured you were too smart to become so entangled in leadership." Her head turned once more, and she shot a wink Sadhric's way, "I do wonder, however... With this new position have you met many Mandals?"



Sadhric:
"Oh no--we aren't yet finished with the other topic, are we? I was interested in you, in change, in your thoughts on Shaon. You mentioned the late Master Tekal as well. Don't jettison your escape pod just yet."



Lotus:
Laughing, Lotus gave Sadhric's arm another gentle squeeze, "I wouldn't dream of it. But you mean to tell me I haven't exhausted your curiosity on the matter?"



Sadhric:
"No," he told her seriously. "There aren't many left who knew both Shaon and Master Tekal."



Lotus:
"I didn't -know- her personally. I knew her by her reputation. I knew her by way of what Shaon said about her. I didn't care to mingle with Jedi like that." Her smile was gone, her lekku laying still but for a nearly missable throbbing. "Not the way he was willing to."



Sadhric:
"What did he claim she said, then? You said he wondered if she had 'it' right."



Lotus:
"Her views on The Force. They differed greatly Shaon's, perhaps for obvious reasons. Near the end, Shaon had begun to wonder if he'd been blind to happiness and compassion -- the things that he saw in her and how she lived her life. I think he wondered just what his life could have been if he lived as a Jedi instead of otherwise."



Sadhric:
"What do you think could have happened?" He shot her a knowing grin and, as they walked, made a show of leaning toward her slightly. "I'll stop being tiresome soon. Indulge me."



Lotus:
Her response to that was a sidelong delicate smile, the tip of her right lekku swaying against her back, "I think, maybe, he could have found the truth he was looking for. The one he didn't get to find in the life he had. Whether with her, or maybe someone else." Her slender shoulders rose and then fell in a smooth shrug.



Sadhric:
"And you?"



Lotus:
"Maybe I'd have wound up a Jedi instead of what I am now."



Sadhric:
"Still speaking of the future, not the past, my dear. Or is that out of fashion?"



Lotus:
"Its not out of fashion at all. My thoughts were just behind me instead of before me." Her lekku twitched subtly against her shoulders as she took a moment to contemplate, "I suppose its possible that I might find myself there one day, but its difficult to think like that given that this is all I've ever known outside the slavers’ circuits."



Sadhric:
He nodded, considering that, and walked on with her through a curve of corridor that on the left looked down into a long mosaic-floored gallery, and on the right into the windows of a hall set apart to memorialize several past Queen Mothers.
“I'll leave off now," he promised her. "I've been thinking a lot about why some sentients seek out change, while others resist it."



Lotus:
"Does this have to do with your new position among the Mandals?" A careful question, asked as Lotus let go of Sadhric's arm just lomg enough with her outer hand to adjust the way her lekku were settled. Below the sounds of beings coming and going across the tiled floor echoed up, filling the quiet viewing space around them with the reminder that some areas were still very active.



Sadhric:
"Moreso the war," he replied. "That particular war." He shrugged. "Imagine that: war causing introspection."



Lotus:
"It did touch a lot of people, and it did force a great deal of change. Where do you see yourself going after it all?"



Sadhric:
"Oh, I don't think we go there from here, my lady. We're already in the 'after it all.' You want me to speculate on the after it all of the after it all?"



Lotus:
"We were talking about the future were we not?" That delicately playful smile returned.



Sadhric:
"We are. But I think the rest of our lives amount to the 'after it all,' don't you? Unless you're asking me to share dreams that have nothing to do with life or likelihood, but that would be foolish."



Lotus:
"That would be foolish," Lotus agreed, "and we are anything but that."



Sadhric:
"Anything but." A little laugh now. Some note hinted that the other topic was now closed. Sadhric compounded that by saying, "Where are we going, anyway? With whom are you investing?"



Lotus:
She found herself looking up at Sadhric, watchful for a moment, "There are some delegates that I have a meeting with to discuss reaffirming ties between their people and the Daimon. But its not for another few hours yet. I was heading that way early to escape a dreadful conversation I was having with Vhen Mares and his translator."



Sadhric:
"Mares. He has a talent for cornering people, but no talent for holding on to them, from what I've seen. Much like the Daimon and its member worlds, these days, no? Hoping to put an end to that trend? --Not a bad goal."



Lotus:
Her jaw went slack, face turned toward him as her mouth dropped open, an offended noise escaping from between her lips, "I think I should be offended by that! Equating the Daimon with the likes of Mares. Sadhric," she chutted, "Think you so little of the empire?"



Sadhric:
He did not acknowledge her reaction other than to say: "On the contrary. I think, if nothing else, I see why so many are prepared to bow their heads low to the floor in the hope of gaining safety in numbers."



Lotus:
"Quite right," her bristling calmed, "Its a shame that it took something like that little war to pull something like this together without the overreaching arms of the New Republic.:



Sadhric:
Just a tiny breath stood in for laughter. "Here is where I leave you," he said as they came to a crossing of corridors. He slowed. "Someday, should change ever interest you again, we might have another conversation."



Lotus:
She slowed with him, drawing her hands back and up his arm to keep him within reach for just a moment, "Before we part, I'd like to ask a favor of you."



Sadhric:
He started to separated automatically, but stopped at the still tug on his arm and looked at her. "I hear those words far more often now that I have a title that means something."



Lotus:
"I promise that it is nothing near any galactic scale." Her lekku twitched, and she smiled as she continued, "There is a young Mandal by the name of Solomon Tekal. I believe him to be somehow related to both an ex officer of the Daimon military, as well as the late Jedi Master. Should you ever see him, would you thank him on behalf of the empire? Without his work with the Remnant Fleet, the Daimon armada would have been dust." Her request made, Lotus removed her hands from Sadhric's arms.



Sadhric:
"I'm not a messenger," The Mechanic said. "And I'm certainly not yours. Should you find your young Mandal, however, I will be pleased to bless your marriage."



Lotus:
"A simple 'no' would have sufficed." She told him flatly before catching sight of one of her aides coming toward the cross of corridors in a hurry, "If you'd excuse me." No reply waited for, Lotus was moving toward Haller and away from The Mechanic.



Sadhric:
He grunted a little, amused, and turned to stroll on.