Chapter Two: Luminescent
Tahiri Veila swiftly packed her few personal belongings into a travel bag and snapped it closed with determination. She scanned quickly around the room to see if there was anything she might have forgotten, and finding no shunted items, picked up her comlink.
"Control, this is Tahiri Veila, is my ship ready?" she asked with more assurance than she felt. Tahiri had been practicing more lately on the pilot simulations, at the prodding of Face Loran, but her skills weren't anything to brag about just yet.
"Jedi Tahiri, your exit has been cleared and an X-wing has been prepared," the smooth voice of military personal answered.
"Thank-you, I'll be there right away," Tahiri replied, then clicked off the communications device. She shouldered her bag, which was light despite her gender, and left the room she'd inhabited sporadically for the past few months. She was leaving Borleais, and probably not a moment too soon if the Vong movements were any indication.
Her breath caught in her chest as she entered the hangar bay and saw the gleaming X-wing waiting for her. She'd been given her own ship, and what seemed casual for some people was a big deal for her, as she'd never owned anything quite so powerful or expensive before. The painting, still shiny, was white, with red stripes running along the sides.
Red like Anakin's blood.
Pain coursed through her and her heart clenched. Until recently, tears had always formed in her eyes, but Tahiri was beginning to think there were no more left. Yet her pillow was always soaked in the morning.
Tahiri closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, warding off the fresh stream of grief. She stowed her bag, climbed the ladder and meticulously ran through the list of checks she was supposed to do as she strapped herself into the cockpit seat. Where Tahiri was going, there was one person that understood what she was going through. That person had suffered the same loss, experienced the same piercing pain, and had taken on even greater responsibility than Tahiri herself had, despite the ceaseless, unrelenting inner torture.
Tahiri powered her repulsor lifts, clearing the sky and upper atmosphere, then set a course for Hapes.
* * *
The Royal Court of Hapes was grand and opulent, with ceilings held up by pillars that towered over the noble heads and an elegance that spoke of a millenia long tradition and treasuries full to bursting.
Tenel Ka D'jo sat on an electrum dias, listening to the droning of two egotistical politicians, trying to decide whether she should simply motion for the guards to escort them from the chamber, or if she should step in herself. Usually, she merely presided over the Senate, but there were occasions she had to demonstrate her power to keep her subjects in obedience.
As the argument escalated into a petty disagreement between the two men, with jibes the other's history stirring each other up, Tenel Ka hit her scepter against the stone floor. The sound rang sharply through the room and most heads turned in interest towards the throne. Whispered conversations stopped, except for the two politicians, who were completely absorbed in their yelling match.
Tenel Ka stood regally and made an expectant noise in her throat. Both men trailed off in mid-sentence and turned fearfully to face her.
"I suggest," Tenel Ka said scornfully, "That if the senators cannot refrain from sharing embarrassing personal details, they should exit immediately. Otherwise, I believe the floor now belongs to Arabanth."
Her tone was strict and no nonsense, carrying a slight note of threat that she hoped would dissuade the senators from behaving in such a manner again. It was unlikely to work but it showed her power to the rest of the dignitaries.
The meeting was about to carry on, but the double doors on one side of the room flew open and a harried looking man scurried in.
"Queen Tenel Ka D'jo has just received a visitor, waiting for her on the private landing pad. The visitor demanded that I relay this message immediately," the man spoke with irritation.
Tenel Ka tilted her head in a muted gesture of curiousity.
"Who is this visitor?" she asked haughtily, hating the sound of her voice as she used the tone.
"Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila," the man answered.
Inwardly Tenel Ka took in the news with great pleasure, but outwardly her face remained immobile. She nodded her head once at the messenger then turned back to the waiting council.
"You may proceed without me," Tenel Ka said and then strode confidently from the room, feeling in better spirits than she had been for nearly a month.
* * *
