To Apologize....(Diego)

[Xazor Elessar]

The Knight Xazor entered the Bar and Grill, looking about for the one which she sought. Sighing for not seeing his face...she found an empty table and sat down.

"I'll just have a glass of water..."

She said softly to the service droid which rolled up to her table. It beeped a few times and rolled away. Her thoughts went back to the day that Diego had been watching her...and she had reacted poorly to him. It was time to make that right and perhaps get to know him. Sighing, she played with the napkin on the table until her water came. Taking a sip of it, she set it upon the table and waited...

[Diego Van Derveld]

Entering some 30 minutes later, Diego brushed off a sheen of rain from outside. Scuffing his shoes on the mat at the door, he entered, heading for an empty table. His blue eyes looked about, halting on Xazor for barely half a second. He continued his path to the table.

[Xazor Elessar]

The Knight caught sight of Diego as he entered the Bar. Lowering her head, she rose from her seat and took her water with her...to his table. Standing at his side, she sighed softly and looked at him.

"May I join you...please?"

She questioned softly, seeming to have a lot more control about herself this day. Her eyes shifted to the floor momentarily and she sighed once again.

"I would understand if you said no...I did not treat you very well the other day and for that, I apologize...."

[Diego Van Derveld]

"I'd normally refuse."

A hand extended to a seat opposite.

"Sit."

Blue eyes regarded her as Diego brushed away a thick lock of brown hair.

"I'd say the treatment was appropriate. You simply weren't informed."

[Xazor Elessar]

The Knight sat down as he instructed and remained quiet as he spoke. She shook her head and looked down at the water she had brought with her.

"No...it was not appropriate. I am a Jedi....and it's in my code to be compassionate to all. I know what it's like to be judged...for I have been judged constantly for at least half of my life. I was rude and I'm sorry."

She said softly and eyed him with a gentle smile. Taking her hand from the glass of water, she extended it to him for greeting.

"I am Xazor....and I am afraid that I have forgotten your name...."

[Diego Van Derveld]

He gently placed his hand in front of her glass, deferring it.

"It is only natural that there would be Garou here. You'd lecture a horse for trodding on a blade of grass, if you could."

He smiled thinly.

"Not that it matters. We've heard the same stories passed on to us. Lectures only waste breath and spittle, when you come down to it. So lets consider that all moot."

He gestured to a serving droid...looking back at Xazor. Looking around the room for a few seconds, he flared his nostrils, before turning back to her, his voice low.

"Diego."

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor nodded slightly in agreement to his words. He spoke the truth...but perhaps it was a bit extreme to think of reprimanding a horse for trodding upon a blade of grass. She did that anyway...and when one walked...well, she knew it did not matter at the moment. His name, though...shocked her a bit. Diego....Van Derveld?! She had heard of him from Vega...but never had seen him before.

"It's a pleasure to meet you...Diego..."

She whispered his name as to keep him pleased. A serving droid came to their table and she ordered something better than water.

"An Ale...please...and whatever he's having."

It was the least she could do...buy him a drink for the trouble she had put him through the other day. Sighing, she shifted her weight in her chair and eyed him curiously.

"And I also wanted to apologize for yelling at you for staring at me....I was brought up to believe that was not proper...but you're right...let's put all of that behind us and start afreash."

[Diego Van Derveld]

"Jagermeister, and a clean glass."

Watching the droid wheel away, Diego turned back to face Xazor.

"Not proper? Do you turn away quickly from things that please your eyes? That would seem improper."

He crossed his arms across his thick chest.

"I admit, there's impropriety, however. We knew each other before a look was necessary."

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor shook her head and smiled once again.

"Perhaps I am a hypocrite then....another fault of mine. You're teaching me too many lessons, my friend..."

She grinned slightly and looked about the Bar and Grill. He was right...she always looked at people...that's what got her in trouble in the recent with her marriage...but that was not to think of at the moment. Sighing, she turned her eyes back to him and smiled once again.

"Well, at least we're acquianted...now you may stare all day long. I was in a bad mood the other day anyway. Mood swings have plagued me lately...and even my Father has said things to me about it...."

The Knight laughed slightly, but she was speaking in all seriousness. It would be good to lighten up a bit anyway...with all of the uneeded stress in her life....

[Diego Van Derveld]

Diego smiled the first sincere smile of the encounter.

"That sounds like what a Garou would say, alright."

As he talked, Diego tore a napkin into a smaller piece, the size of a quarter.

"Do you ever think such moods are justified? That there may be something more to them than some illness of the mind? Instinct...you make it sound like a selfish thing. Maybe it is. That one gentle breeze, pressing you along in the back of your mind. The difference between us, is that one of us looks to a greater set of rules..."

He blew on the piece of napkin in his hand, sending it flitting away on the breeze.

"...and one of us doesn't look at all to find them."

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor shook her head at his words but listened attentively.

"Indeed....there is reason behind my mood swings. I am pregnant...which doesn't help things...and I have been under a lot of stress lately. People are out to judge me....catching me doing wrong, I swear. I'm surprised I'm even a Knight...."

She laughed slightly and looked around...a few of her Padawans dotted the room as well as friends...and some 'enemies'. Her eyes made their way back to Diego's face though.

"Yes, instinct does not help matters much....I have had to fight it all my life....even though giving in is sometimes much easier than following the higher rules I have sworn my life to. The way of the Jedi is not easy...especially for one that battles against themselves..."

[Diego Van Derveld]

Pregnant!

He was an idiot. How could he not have known? It was there, in her scent, for all the universe to see. His jawline clenched momentarily.

"And you're quite confident in your higher rules, as you would be."

As his drink arrived, Diego scrutinized it, both with his eyes and with his sense of smell...critical of the smallest impurity that would cause his disapproval.

"Tell me, Xazor."

The thin smile returned.

"That other one...Dasquian. He's your mate?"

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor smiled gently and nodded at his comment. Indeed...she was very confident in her higher rules...it was her life. Their drinks came and she eyed the Ale for a moment before taking the glass in her hand and sipping the cool liquid. It went down her throat gently and refreshed her. His question caught her off guard for a moment...and she became a bit nervous, but nodded.

"Yes....he is my mate. But I did some terrible things to make it so..."

[Diego Van Derveld]

"And you intend to raise this child you have conceived together? Even with impure blood?"

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor narrowed her eyes at him slightly, but then relaxed.

"I wouldn't call it impure blood....yes, we shall raise our child together...I love him..."

She looked at him carefully, wondering where he was going with this. Impure blood? Indeed, Dasquian wasn't Garou....but he was not impure or anything.

"I could not find another Garou anyway except for my Father...and that's just wrong..."

The Knight giggled slightly and took another sip of her Ale before setting it upon the table...

[Diego Van Derveld]

"And my son?"

His eyes locked onto hers.

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor looked down at the table as thoughts of Vega flooded her mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, shaking her head.

"I am a Jedi....when I met him he was a Sith...now he is a Dark Jedi. Indeed, we formed a friendship...but things have...changed...over time. He wishes to kill anyone standing in his way of being with me...even if that means killing me as well."

She looked down at the table, trying to avoid the eye-lock with him. It was too difficult to avoid so slowly, her eyes rose to meet his and she became nervous again.

"Vega is a different person than I am...he has taught me many things...I even went to him for training in my heritage. He taught me how to change better than I had previously done...and how to change back...and things of the such. But like I said...I love Dasquian....and if it was not Dasquian...it would have been my husband as it should have been in the first place. If Vega would have come along sooner I..."

It was no use explaining. Vega and her own brother were friends at one time...and then it was she and Vega....and now...there was a great deal of dissension between them. He had even resorted to throwing her about her living quarters at one time....and now terrible memories flooded her mind....

[Diego Van Derveld]

"At one time, you might have been his only salvation. Imagine a Garou and Lupine. Cruel irony indeed."

His face hardened.

"He is dead. Whether blood runs in his veins or not, he is dead to me."

His anger surged in an inner fire, his face tightening.

"All of my children, abandoned me on his example. Abandoned their heritage, for a damn cult!"

Hate-hardened eyes looked at Xazor.

"I don't expect you to understand, Garou. You're more willing to live by rules some others have laid down, and by law outside of blood. But, lawless as we may seem, there is the most sacred law in our kind.

Family."

He scowled deeply, a tear disappearing into his angst-ridden lines of his face.

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor looked down at the table and shook her head. Was he trying to put blame on someone for what happened to his family? She knew not...but there was one that she knew of that he probably had never met....Vega's twin sister. The Knight had heard rumors of this...and knew that her Brother had taken the girl as his mate. Her eyes shifted to Diego's and she smiled gently.

"I hold family in high esteem as well....it was not until a few months ago that I was reunited with my Father. I am even close to my Brother who joined the so called cult you speak of. I understand your feelings....it must be hard to see them go and serve like that and neglect their family ties..."

She said softly, knowing more than he knew she did what it was like. Her heart ached for the few she had lost but she brushed the memories aside and hid her pain as she took another sip of the Ale and set it upon the table.


ooc: Check your PMs if you would... :)

[Diego Van Derveld]

"It destroyed my family"

He closed his eyes, his rage ebbing down.

"Their disrespect cannot be forgiven, and I must rebuild anew now. That is why I have done what I've done. They have taken the name I gave them and sullied it with their cult. Until I can take back what I should command by blood, I will not have it uttered in my presence."

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor sighed and nodded once again.

"That is why you did not want us to call you by your name, yes? I understand now. If there is anything I can do to help you...don't hesitate to ask. I too am of the same blood...almost. Garou, Lupine...it doesn't matter to me. My Father on the other hand..."

She laughed to herself, knowing how he despised those that called themselves Lupine. He always said it was just a new name for the Garou...and that they were ashamed of the name 'Garou'.

"He doesn't understand those that differ in names....to me it matters not...even with differences...we're the same..."

[Diego Van Derveld]

"We are not the same."

Diego allowed a wan smile.

"But your understanding is appreciated."