MOTHER TALZIN

As she was watching the commotion in front of her, Talzin couldn't help, but wonder how she ended up in a situation like this.

Not long ago her life was much simpler, as her days mostly consisted of commanding her fellow nightsisters and plotting to destroy Darth Sidious. She wouldn't exactly say these tasks were easy to accomplish, but she already grew accustomed to them. But everything changed when a certain insane sith barged into her village and made her his ally, not realizing how ridiculous the idea it was. Because of that she was now spending time socializing with mandalorians, Republic officers and sith cultists.

The worst part was that she couldn't even say she was dissatisfied with what happened, as an alliance with Darth Imperius turned out to be quite beneficial for her and her sisters. Who knows what would have happened to her village, if not for Imperius' support in repelling separatist fleet.

That was why, against her better judgement, she was overall happy with how things turned out. She however wished her new ally would be a little more...well, sane.

What kind of insanity would drive a leader of a dark-side alliance to pretend to lose the duel against the declared ally, one known for their strict code of honor, in front of his entire powerbase? Especially when he did it in such an obviously fake way. Then again, it might have been a blessing in disguise, as she feared what would have happened if anyone truly believed he lost. Was it possible he surprisingly knew what he was doing?

It was impossible to be certain of anything when it came to this man, so she gave up on trying.

She sighed, weary. Well, she already agreed to become his ally, so she could only accept her new reality and move on. After all, trying to comprehend Darth Imperius' motivations would only lead to madness. Instead she should probably do something more productive now that she was at the party, but what exactly?

Her first thought was to talk with her son, but she quickly discarded the idea after looking at him. Right now Maul was sitting at one of the tables with his red, mutant friend(?), drinking some alcoholic drink for a while, clearly not holding back. Talzin didn't exactly know what he was drinking, but it must have been something strong, as he was barely able to keep himself in the sitting position, leaning on his companion and mumbling something incomprehensible. This kind of behaviour was quite disgraceful, especially for her son, so some part of her wanted to approach him, if only to admonish him. She however noticed that it was the first time since their reunion when she saw him truly relaxed, so she couldn't bring herself to stop her only son (hmm? Ah, right. There was also Savage, she probably shouldn't forget about him). For now she would do something else, like talk to her new colleagues and strengthen her position in the eternal alliance.

She was about to find a suitable person to converse with, like a certain charming headmaster, when she saw Darth Imperius casually walking in her direction, apparently finished with spitting on mandalorian culture and deciding to approach his next target.

Joy.

Talzin had to stop herself from sighing (which became her new habit as of late), deciding to instead put a smile on her face and wait for the Sith lord to reach her, while hoping that their talk wouldn't end up with her being humiliated like Bo-Katan Kryze.

"Ah, Talzin. I am so happy you decided to show up" exclaimed Imperius with a cheerful voice, which was slightly distorted by the mask he was wearing. He looked quite relaxed, despite his actions just a minute ago. He was walking confidently, as if pretending he didn't just publicly humiliate his other ally. After reaching her, Imperius gave Talzin a shallow bow, most likely meant as a sign of respect. She immediately responded in kind, deciding to use the opportunity presented to her. After Imperius' stunt, everyone was looking at him, so they would see that the relation between Darth Imperius and nightsister village is based on equality, not servitude as was the case with mandarlorians. It would raise her position in the eternal alliance significantly. She also knew that some of the people at the party would be quite displeased if she didn't bow back. Unaware of her thoughts, Imperius continued talking. "Is the party to your liking?"

"Of course. I must say, I am really impressed by the fact that you were able to gather all these people in one place without anyone noticing" She responded, meaning what she said. She really was impressed. After all, organizing an event like that, especially as the war between the Republic and Confederacy was heating up, required a lot of talent and effort.

"Well, Lana is quite talented when it comes to things like that" Said Imperius, looking at the woman in question. At the moment she was talking with Admiral Tarkin about something, apparently quite engrossed in the conversation. "You see, she wanted to give me a Thanks-For-The-Resurrection gift, so she decided that I would appreciate this kind of gathering. She wasn't wrong. I couldn't imagine a better gift to give a sith lord"

Lana Beniko, a mysterious sith, who suddenly appeared at Imperius' side one day, becoming his right hand. Apparently she was also his lover, who came from the same time period as him. His love for her was so strong that he decided to go against the force itself just to resurrect her. She still remembered the day when it happened, which shouldn't be suprising, as it would be very hard to forget hearing the force itself scream. To be honest, Talzin didn't know much about Lana Beniko yet, but everything she was able to observe so far suggested that she was an intelligent and dangerous woman. One who was loved by the most powerful person in the galaxy.

It actually gave her an idea. Darth Imperius was a man, extremely powerful and dangerous, but still just a man. Nightsister village was full of beautiful and strong women, if one of them would be able to tempt him…

"Yes, from what I was able to gather she is a very capable woman" She said, as a plan was slowly formulating in her mind. Even if it would only end up as a fling, her village would gain a child of a powerful male. It would be a huge boon, especially as she had no doubts Imperius would care about it, giving a village more influence over Sith's actions. She would of course need to find a suitable sister for this task. Technically Asajj was the most familiar with Darth Imperius, but… Well, she would have to think about that later. For now she would investigate If he was even open for such thing. "The party she organized is wonderful. I should probably organize a similar gathering in the future. You are of course invited. I am sure you would be able to have a lot of fun there. After all, a lot of my daughters were quite smitten by your actions on Dathomir. I am sure they would love to show you their gratitude…" She said, trying to see how he would react to these implications.

" Haha, don't even joke about that" Darth Imperius just laughed, though it sounded weirdly mechanical, as if he was feeling very uncomfortable. His posture was strangely tense, as if he was on guard. "Lana would disembowel me if something like that happened" Talzin looked at him. His tone suggested he was joking, but his tense posture suggested he was actually scared something like that would happen. Just who was Lana Beniko to cause such a reaction?

"Isn't she just your lover?" She asked, trying to understand the relation between them. From what she was able to gather so far, Lana Beniko was romantically involved with Adas Kallig, but she was also working as his subordinate. That was why she naturally assumed that it was Darth Imperius, who was the one in charge of their relationship. Apparently she was quite wrong.

"…Just a lover, you say?" Whispered Imperius in a distracted tone, as if Talzin's words made him think about something. That was… probably not good. " You know what? I think you gave me a great idea. I would love to talk to you more, but there is something I really need to do. See you later" He said and left her without another word, going in the direction of her son and the red abomination he was sitting with. She didn't know what exactly Kallig planned, but it would probably be something quite unusual. She could only hope she wouldn't regret giving him the idea. Whatever that idea was. That man was so chaotic that any attempts of predicting his actions would fail, so she just gave up on trying.

As her head was filled with various thoughts and worries, she decided she needed to relax. Fortunately she spotted Aloysius Kallig, a man with whom she had a very pleasant conversation earlier, sitting alone at one of the tables, sipping his drink. She already knew what she was going to do for the rest of the evening.

Hi, it's me. I am in the middle of writing block, so it was quite hard to finish this chapter.