Cipher 9 strode through imperial intelligence HQ with his usual charismatic swagger and semi-professional air. His absent fathers looks, chiseled features with a rogueish grin, dark brown eyes from his mother and an old scar through his right eye, courtesy of a violent Sith, all gave him the perfect camouflage for any identity he might need but it was the conflicting personas he had identified with in his life that gave him the true strengths he used so often.
He spied his target sitting at her desk. Her short, black hair messed slightly. Tired but alert eyes greeting him alongside a weary smile.
"Things getting on top of you, Keeper?" He teased as he did to all others in his profession but the genuine concern could be heard lacing his voice.
"Nothing to worry about."
Came a short reply that the Cipher Agent thought frankly ridiculous.
"I was thinking perhaps I could treat you to dinner tonight?" He suggested, ever hopeful for more time with the beloved woman.
"I'm afraid I can't. These intelligence reports have been flooding in all day and I doubt I'll be done any time soon."
His demeanour saddened with a slight drooping of his shoulders and the smile on his face lost its hopeful charm.
"I see." He muttered, trying not to show his disappointment but as ever failing to hide much from the woman. "Could I help?"
A short laugh answered his query
"Cipher, you know as well as I do that you are useless with written reports." The cheeky smile she sent his way lifted his spirits as much as it reflected the raise in hers "I could spare some time though."
With that his mood was restored.
"Good." he grinned at the woman as she rose from her desk "I need to pick your cybernetically enhanced brains about this name problem."
She returned his grin with a small smile and the two made their way to a more secluded area, hoping to gain some respite from the rest of the Empire, if not at least from Dromund Kaas.
They chose a covered bench not overly far from Intelligence so as not to exhaust further the already tired Keeper.
The second Keeper seated herself, Cipher could see a stiffness fall from her. She took a few slow, deep breaths and when her shoulders released their tension he finally felt he could converse with her normally and he broke the silence
"So, Keeper-"
"Fionnvharr." She interrupted with a chastising tone.
The agent laughed softly at himself
"Sorry. Old habits." He apologised to her before correcting his wording "Shara, I was wondering if you'd had any ideas?"
"I regret that I haven't. I've been busy what with the new intelligence on
Lord Torrane, the reports from Cipher 6, all these field reports about some new Rakghoul mutation..." She paused to rub her temples wearily "Have you had any thoughts?"
Fionnvharr shook his head, raising a hand to stroke back the woman's hair
"One or two. Neither were quite right."
Shara exhaled slowly in slight frustration at the supposedly simple problem of creating a name and comfort at the man's touch.
Fionnvharr understood her feelings of frustration well and sympathised. She had been swamped by intelligence lately and the strain was showing.
"I have to admit that-" another groan of frustration interrupted her "One second, Fionn."
She turned away slightly, breaking herself from his touch and allowing herself a slight privacy as she accepted the contact from Intelligence.
Fionnvharr smiled to himself despite the interruption.
She had called him 'Fionn'.
She was only the second person in his life to call him that. The first was a man who influenced Fionnvharr greatly and had begun Fionnvharr's lifetime of different personas.
The man's name was Skarru and to the young Fionnvharr Solem he was a god. When Fionnvharr was just a wide-eyed child he was raised on an out of the way planet, new to Imperial control. Skarru worked as an agent for Imperial Intelligence and Fionn was the only person sharp enough to figure it out. The agent had been impressed by Fionn and took the fatherless child under his wing. To the innocent child the agent was everything.
Things changed though, as they of course do. The agent left, promising he would see the boy at Imperial Intelligence when he was grown, and was soon replaced by a new father figure. This new father however was nothing compared to the loving agent. Fionnvharr's mother's beauty which had attracted Fionnvharrs father to her one night all those years ago attracted a new, selfish man. A Sith lord, searching for a beautiful conquest to stand at his arm found Fionnvharr's haven and, as Sith do, took it by storm and introduced chaos to it. Fionnvharr lost all semblance of Fionn. He became It, the subject of abuse and hatred. He became the scared child and then, as he grew so did his desire to fight and no longer be the victim. He became a wild child, the rebellious brooding teen who was no-ones fool and no-ones victim. He remembered his hero and the promise to find him. He escaped his family's new home and ventured to Dromund Kaas where his training began and a new identity was born. Cadet Solem was strong and daring. As his confidence grew with his success, he lost his old selves more and more. He lost It just as much to Cadet as he lost Fionn to the offhand, hurtful term. When he was with women he even lost Cadet, then he was simply baby or handsome. Then he graduated and he lost any trace of his name to Agent. More so to Cipher.
It was then the unthinkable happened. Watcher 2 entered his life and gave him back his name, gave him back Fionn.
In turn he gave her back Shara.
"Sorry about that." She apologised, returning to their conversation.
"Not a problem." He replied, as she returned his tender smile "So, you were saying you have to admit something?"
Shara smiled meekly
"I haven't really done anything like this."
Fionnvharr sympathised with her
"You'd be surprised how many times I've had to pull a cover out of thin air. Usually I can think of a name no problem but I must admit I'm struggling with this one."
"Well its not like this is a name that will be used for a minute or even a few days. This is a big one."
"Yes." He agreed, pondering the severity of their undertaking.
It was going to be tough.
Their relationship was difficult as things stood already. Shara worked almost non-stop for intelligence. Her work as Keeper meant she practically lived in Intelligence HQ. Fionnvharr didn't have it much easier. He was perpetually undercover somewhere in the galaxy, and even when he was planet side he rarely saw her outside of a work setting.
It was still strange to Fionnvharr to think of himself in a relationship.
He had been with plenty of women in his time but there were none like her.
Fionnvharr had often been told by women who knew his true identity, Raina and Kaliyo included, that he was broken. He knew it himself too. It was that fragmentation of his self that had made him so good at what he did. Kaliyo had once remarked to him, what seemed like a lifetime ago, that they were both broken and that maybe they would be good, broken together but it wasn't right. He knew that once he met Shara because then he knew what it was like to feel whole again.
"What about 'Kalen'?" She asked, breaking him from his off topic thoughts, with a soft tone and quizzical look.
He laughs softly
"You must be desperate, using your fathers name."
A deep blush immediately spread across her cheekbones which made Fionnvharr laugh a little harder. He loved how cute she was during the few times when he had caught her out.
"Well, my implants aren't exactly perfect for creative means." She huffed, crossing her arms over her ample chest.
Fionnvharr halted his laughing but an amused smile remained
"Okay, okay, it sounds horribly cheesy but don't think, feel."
Her eyes fell to her lap but he knew that meant she was now deep in thought.
Fionnvharr felt odd giving the woman advice. Usually she was the one with all the hints and tips.
It reassured him in his darkest moments, when things looked bleak or it seemed as though his time had come, that some sliver of knowledge fed to him by his Watcher would save him.
She was ever the professional it seemed sometimes.
Excluding mostly their romantic and intimate encounters with one another, Shara hadn't shown much emotion to the Agent. He recalled a time, just as he was about to embark for Alderaan, he compared the beauty of the Alderaanian mountain range to his beloved Watcher. She replied with a remark, asking whether they were as icy, before quickly recanting it.
Fionnvharr had laughed. Certainly, he admitted her exterior was frosty at times, but he also knew of how her eyes shone, revealing how she truly felt.
It was his one window into the Keepers head sometimes.
Since she had taken the role she had become more serious. Every time he mentioned something remotely flirtatious he was immediately shot down.
He thanked whatever it was that seemed to favour him that they had already established a relationship outside work by that point.
But he remembered a time before that.
He remembered being introduced to the woman with the frosty exterior and surprisingly tender heart.
He remembered her weakness and self-doubt at seeing the explosion of Jadus' ship. She had fretted to herself until Fionnvharr had intervened. He assured the woman kindly, more kindly than he had anticipated, not expecting to feel so strongly for the woman. Still he was perturbed by the fear she had shown.
That was nothing though, compared to how she was with Watcher X.
Not only did she fear him for what he could do, she feared him because in her mind she could very easily become him. He was the living embodiment of her greatest fears.
Fionnvharr thought it ridiculous that the woman would ever be like the ex-Watcher. Her fear at such a prospect was proof enough it would never happen. But it was her fear which made him so avid during the final confrontation with Watcher X.
The confrontation was something Watcher 2 would always remember but for Cipher 9 it was the conversation just after that was to be treasured.
He remembered, very vividly, her revealing that she had seen the confrontation. She had seen him turn down the information on herself and Kaliyo and heard his reasoning why too. He had turned it down simply because of her request. It had come very quickly, very briefly, almost in passing, but he knew it was important to her. He wanted the information, information was his life, but as he told the ex-Watcher, he would find out all of Watcher 2's secrets only if she told him. His pathological need to be the best, the smartest, the most informed, was being replaced.
Watcher 2 needed Watcher X to die.
To Cipher 9, that was all that mattered.
When it was over and she walked in he felt a surge of pride and protectiveness. When she revealed her observations however he was overcome with uncharacteristic embarrassment.
As embarrassed as he was though, he would never forget her smile at that moment.
Her smile when she knew she could trust him.
After that she became Shara.
That was what changed him the most.
No longer the wide eyed boy.
Or the terrified child.
Or the unruly teen.
Or the serial flirt.
Or even the secret agent.
He was a man.
"I have it." Shara announced gleefully, her eyes sparkling at Fionnvharr with pride as she uttered the elusive name "Áedh."
"Áedh..." He murmured, rolling the name on his tongue "Áedh." He repeated, uttering it more solidly. Fionnvharr looked into his wife's proud eyes and smiled broadly "It's perfect." He leant in to her and pressed a soft, loving kiss to her lips before sitting back slightly to place his rough hands on her stomach "Our little Áedh." He cooed softly at the precious bump.
The only identity Fionnvharr had ever truly cared for was about to change.
Father would soon be his designation.
And Fionnvharr Solem could not be happier.