Soul of Solitude

[Lira Terranova]

It was not a wise thing to do at the Hapan court, stand with ones back on the room, but Lady Lira Terranova was not Hapan. Her first assessment of the Consortium had been years ago when she had first visited with Princess Razielle, on a diplomatic mission from Queen Basillie of Onderon. She had been only a handmaiden to the princess then, but the experience had been enough to alert her that nothing in the Consortium was ever as it appeared to be. Loyalty had purchased her the title of Lady Terranova, and given her the privilege of being one of the only people to ever directly attend the Regent and the little queen, but it had not come with the positive attention Lira had once ignorantly assumed anyone with a title received. What she had found out was quite different.

Instead of the new friends and acquaintances she had hoped for to begin her life on Hapes with a fresh start, she had found herself quite thoroughly snubbed. No friends were forthcoming, jealously over her connection to Chume Beatrix prevented that. As well as distaste for the foreign inferiority of her birth and former status as a servant. They looked down at her. The only people who had shown even the slightest interest in her at all had been those who only desired her assistance in catching favor with the Regent, and that she would never do. Resolved to her solitude, Lira waited like everyone else in the parlor, watching as the waves slammed themselves against the walls of the fortress below in futility.

[Renart Al'Gray]

There was no telling how long the Royal Court would be gathered (http://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?23371-Beyond-the-Sea), but until such time as the doors to the war room parted the man of the Chume'nor would remain uneasy. A thirty strong unit of Her Majesty's Select Commandos had made the journey to the Reef Fortress. They had come dressed for a battle that they would almost certainly never see, with royal blue cloth beneath gilded armour and gleaming, curved blades at their hips.

To an outsider, bringing near three dozen armed soldiers to keep the peace among some sixty-odd politicians might seem like overkill, but the noble Houses did not travel alone. In the chambers adjoining the war room, the many droves of attendants and assistants to the Ducha's and Countesses fidgeted and fretted, and none more so than the Chume's own handmaiden.

She lingered at a window overlooking the sea, not ten feet from where the Lord Commander had ordered Renart Al'Gray to wait.

“The Queen is safe,” he said, in a surprisingly articulate approximation of Basic, at least for a Hapan.

[Lira Terranova]

The room was quietly buzzing with rapid Hapan speculation and gossip. Although Lira had learned enough of the musical tongue to get by, it was not her first language. When she had first arrived she had been excitedly learning it, until her confidence had been shattered in one instant when someone told Lira that 'her common nature was less obvious when she spoke her own language and did not try to pervert theirs'. Now she only practiced Hapan with a four year old queen, and never with anyone but Bea around. Lira understood it quite well though.

One voice swimming in the in the sea of them at her back stood out among the others, owing to the fact that it's owner was speaking Basic. Basic decadently accented with Hapan, but it was enough to gain her attention, since the words had obviously been for her. Lira's head turned first, the rest of her quickly following suit.

Uncertainty flashed across her features momentarily. No one spoke to her unless they wanted something, and yet this man was one of the Chume'nor. She rather doubted she had anything to interest him. Maybe it was just what it seemed to be, one of Her Majesty's Select Commandos, assuring her servant that all was well.

Inclining her hatted head slightly, Lira spoke extremely quietly, also in Basic. "Thank you.. "

She was not sure which of the Chume'nor he was. There were only so many names she could manage at a time, and in the end Beatrix was Lira's only real concern. Whoever he was - he cut an impressive figure in his armor, Lira could not help but notice. Of course, all of these people were gorgeous. She really should be used to it by now yet..the sea had suddenly lost whatever interest it had held for her. He was far more mysterious, more dangerous and as far removed from her limits as the limits could get.

Still.. there was no harm in looking.

[Renart Al'Gray]

Renart focused his attention on some indistinct point in the mid-distance, the practiced stare of a man who had spent many an hour on an uneventful watch duty. Yet, out of the corner of his eye he saw that he was still being watched by the Chume's lady. This was what happened when foreigners came to Court: they stared. It was, his sister the Ducha Al'Gray had surmised, because they were dazzled by the Consortium, by the perpetual light of its stars and the beauty of its people.

Then again, she was the Chume's handmaiden. Had she not had the time to become accustomed to her surroundings? Perhaps there was some other explanation for her.. gawking.

“Is there something I can help you with, lady Terranova?”

[Lira Terranova]

So he had noticed her looking. Now, had she been born Hapan, clearly the correct thing to do would be to ask him to turn in a slow circle for her pleasure. Instead, Lira just gave a slow shake of her head, still not quite looking away.

"Not at all."

Giving a cautious look around told Lira that not a soul was paying her any attention. Suddenly her relative unimportance to her peers was not a bad thing. It was probably combination of boredom waiting for the meeting to conclude, a lack of conversation with anyone at or above her eye level, and just plain loneliness - the later of which she kept as carefully buttoned-up as a collar - but she found herself moving away from the window.

Toward the queen's guard.

"I find myself at a disadvantage, sir. Clearly you know my identity." He would not have made a very good Chume'nor if he did not.

[Renart Al'Gray]

It did not surprise or offend Renart to hear that he was an unknown quantity to Lira. While the names and faces of the women currently seated in the war room were doubtlessly known from the Interior Region to the Lorelli Reach, the men of the Chume'nor were just that: Chume'nor. They gave up the right to their titles and lands on entering into the service of the crown.

“It is my duty to know the identities of all who surround the Chume,” he said, blue eyes shifting back to the rest of the room for a moment. It simply did not occur to Renart that there was more to the lady's words than a simple observation.

[Lira Terranova]

Perhaps something had been lost in the translation. It seemed to Lira that would have been his perfect opportunity to dazzle her with his noble Hapan ancestry. It is what everyone else had done so far when she had politely tried to get to know the others that served the Royal House of Hapes. They let her know exactly who they were, exactly how far beneath their pedigree she was and for how many generations it had been so. It may be just the same with him, but he did not take the opportunity to remind her of it.

"Mine as well." It was true. Being in the confidence of the Regent made it her duty to be aware of what was going on around them.

"Am I to refer to you as... Sir Chume'nor, then?"

There was no accompanying smile with her words, just a look of expectancy. Lira Terranova's smiles were all for her young charge, rarely making any sort of appearance out of the little chume's presence.

[Renart Al'Gray]

“If it pleases you.”

There was no humour in his expression or words. What the women of the Consortium deigned to call Renart, or any other male for that matter, was none of his concern. You there was the usual cry, but he and the others would answer to many names.

Lira was looking at him still. Expectantly. He shifted his stance under her gaze, resting one hand on the pommel of his sword. Had his answer not been sufficient? He ventured further.

“The Lord Commander addresses me as Captain Al'Gray.”

[Lira Terranova]

Aha! At long last a name! Lira was sure she had an easier time trying to get answers out of her Queen Bea.

"Captain Al'Gray.", she repeated, certain she would not forget. Lira knew the name well enough of course, the Ducha of House Al'Gray was not exactly.. supportive of the Regent. Or the decision that was even now being discussed behind the sealed doors that the captain was keeping watch over.

"I see." It was probably not in Lira's best interest to have anything to do with anyone from House Al'Gray right now. Particularly one who was on duty during such a delicate occasion.

"Again, thank you for your service to my lady, captain. For your assurance of her safety, as well." For that alone she was grateful enough to leave him in peace to attend his duties.

Lira gave the captain another tip of her hat, and as quietly as she had come forward she withdrew back to the isolation of the window overlooking the sea.

[Renart Al'Gray]

The minutes ticked away.

Around the room, people grouped together in twos and threes, speaking in hushed voices. There were too many of them present for any real privacy to found, however. They passed uncertain glances here and there, and on occasion it would be one of the Chume'nor who earned a raised eyebrow or a whispered word.

It was a display that Renart had become used to – and one that Lira didn't appear to be interested in. Though he didn't look at her, he could see her out of the corner of his eyes, just... standing. Gazing out to sea. It was his turn to look slightly quizzical now, though the expression was quickly smoothed away.

Squaring his shoulders as he watched the room, he said: “You stand on a historic spot, lady Terranova.”

[Lira Terranova]

So many minutes had ticked by after her polite retreat that Lira had just assumed that the captain's notice had moved on. So when she once again heard his voice speaking to her, a little shiver of..something, ran up her spine. Lira did not smile, far too collected for that, but there was the sudden appearance of an involuntary dimple in her cheek. Tightening the grip her gloved hand atop the carved windowsill, she made sure to have it smoothed out all the same, before turning once more toward Captain Al'Gray.

She wondered if he meant literally, or of the great importance of the Houses all being present. Whatever the meaning, she was definitely going to make him tell her, just to listen to the timber of his voice. A girl had to find her entertainment when she could..

"Do I? How so, captain?", she stayed rooted to her spot by the window, speaking quietly.

[Renart Al'Gray]

Renart almost smiled. That she did not know her Hapan history was not much of a surprise. House Alastor had not been especially diligent in ensuring that the memory of their ancestors was maintained in the minds of the Hapan people, let alone foreigners. Why look back on era's gone by when she who is without equal stands before you, they would ask - but that was the duty of the Chume'nor: to remember and to learn from those who had come before, to better arm themselves against any threats that might rise against the current Chume.

“This fortress has served as a refuge for the Chume for centuries. Hundreds of years ago, the last young Chume of the Pleuvoir dynasty made her home here. It's said that she feared for her life so dearly that she would never leave and would admit no one to the fortress, save for her Chume'nor and one other: a son of house Lafleche. History tells that she would stand by this very window at all hours and look out to sea, knowing that Lafleche would appear on the shore below eventually. It's said that he visited the fortress every week, until the end of her life.”

[Lira Terranova]

It was a rather romantic tale, Lira decided. Once Captain Al'Gray started to tell it, she realized she did know the story.. sort of. The names he mentioned at least rang a distant bell for Lira, from one of her little queen's recent Hapan lessons. Not necessarily the specifics of what had happened to them. Something about the tale though made her think of her own lady, Chume Razielle and how she was never quite herself unless she had news that the Royal House would once again be receiving, Minister Ave. A sentiment that Lira had secretly shared for years.

Smoothing both gloved hands over the window where the Chume of old had once stood waiting for her Lafleche, Lira tilted her head at a curious angle. "And Lafleche..", she asked.

"Was he with her when she passed?" Lira turned back to the captain to hear the answer.

[Renart Al'Gray]

There was a moments pause and a subtle tilt to the Captain's head, as if he were weighing his answer. Like so many Hapan tales, the story had meaning endings, depending on which source you believed - and indeed, which House was most in favour at the time of the telling.

“Yes,” was the answer that he settled on, though he hesitated to say more on the matter as a group of court attendants approached to scrutinise the tapestry hung on the wall to Renart's left.

[Lira Terranova]

Now that Lira's interest had been successfully snared, both by the story and by the soft cultured rumble of the voice telling it, she was far from satisfied with the one word response. Captain Al'Gray could not be blamed. It was hardly his fault that he suddenly found himself at the center of a gaggle of twittering Hapan ladies. All of them heedless of the fact that he was trying to do his job. They clustered around him like so many escaped canaries from a cage, ignoring him as if he were some integral part of the wall that the tapestry engaging their present interest hung upon. That they were more interested in some aged scrap of fabric than the exquisite Chume'nor captain standing right in front of them told Lira all she needed to know.

When they did not make any attempt to conclude their business at the tapestry, thus preventing her from hearing more of the story, Lira realized she would have to take matters into her own hands. But carefully..

As if she had been talking to someone else the whole time, Lira chose that moment to continue.. turning her empty gloved hand toward herself secretively. Speaking quite a bit louder than her normally soft tones, and with a small sense of urgency to her hushed Basic. "Yes, I'm quite certain that's what she said. That she would like to meet with the new Ducha of Irimore to discuss Gallinore artisans creating a new set of crown jewels for the little chume made entirely of rainbow gems. No! No one else is supposed to know about this yet, it's to be a surprise for the little queen... Very good, I will let the Regent know.", she tucked her hand back into her pocket, and tried to look as if nothing important had passed.

The trap was baited, now to see if the palace birds descended upon it.

[Renart Al'Gray]

The mere fact that someone was speaking so feverishly in Basic, of all things, was enough to draw the attention of a number of the gaggle. Though the Chume'nor and most of the Queen's close attendants had been schooled in Basic, many common citizens of the Consortium did not speak the 'harsh' language of the wider Galaxy. The nobility had begun to assimilated the Basic lexicon into their own vocabulary if for no other reason than to allow themselves to talk around others without being understood. It was paradoxically both a badge of status and shame to speak Basic.

Even if all the ladies circling nearby Renart caught only 'new crown jewels' and 'Gallinore', that was enough. The tapestry was forgotten as they flitted away, eager to find any other morsel of gossip that they could. Captain Al'Gray watched them go with a raised eyebrow, an expression which remained in place as he looked back at Lira.

“That was very.. Hapan of you, lady Terranova.”

[Lira Terranova]

Keeping her eyes fixed upon the, admittedly striking, wind-crystal chandelier twinkling above the parlor as if it were the most engaging sight her provincial brains had ever seen, Lira waited until the group of Hapan ladies had passed her by before returning her steady gaze to the captain. Only then did she respond, not with a smile, but another tip of her head.

"You're welcome.", she commented quite dryly. The captain had not thanked her for getting rid of the pretty pests circling him. Hapan himself, he was probably immune to such.. infestations of noblewomen and not at all bothered by it.

..But it made talking to him something of a challenge, and so they had to go.

"I'm a quick study.", she commented. Pretending to be a simpleton with gossip between her ears in place of brains was apparently all that was required to fit in on Hapes.

"You were saying?", she urged him to continue.

[Renart Al'Gray]

“Lafleche was with the Chume when she passed. It is... believed that as she stood at the window awaiting his arrival, he...” Again, Renart paused, frowning as he tried to conjure the appropriate way to describe what had happened. “Stole into the room and took her life with a blade.”

Though the walls of the chamber were covered in tapestries and paintings, there were none depicting lady Pleuvoir or lord Lafleche. The historical significance of the room was either lost on both its owners and its current occupants, or familiar but of little to no importance.

Renart cleared his throat with a soft cough.

“The House of Alastor took the throne shortly thereafter.”

[Lira Terranova]

Lira could not decide if the Chume'nor was deliberately being vague to spare her delicate feminine sensibilities, or if that was really all there was to the story. That the lady had been delivered to death by the one she loved. She refused to speculate on the tale overmuch, having already determined that everything done on Hapes contained either great embellishment, or the outright omission of distasteful facts.

Her unflinching eyes did not tear up at the sad tale, or show any other outward sign of emotion to it at all - apart from a cursory glance at the floor, as if she might find evidence of a puddle of royal blood at her feet.

"That sounds distinctly like there is a lesson to be learned from that story, captain.", she said after a moment of quiet reflection.

[Renart Al'Gray]

The captain nodded. There was a lesson or two in that tale, though most of them Renart couldn't comment on. It was borderline treasonous to even let his mind wander down that avenue of thought, and so he opted for a more practical, neutral observation.

“If you choose to gaze out to sea, you should ensure that you have at least one of Her Majesty's Select Commando's close at hand, keeping watch over you.”

[Lira Terranova]

Turning her face only slightly toward the Chume'nor captain, Lira peeked at him askance from beneath the brim of her hat. Her expression had softened and there was a slight tugging at the corner of her lips that implied a smile was threatening to show itself, were she not careful.

"I'm quite sure I have no knife wielding beau's after me. Besides..", she lifted her ever steady gaze to his. "I have you to watch over me, Captain Al'Gray."

[Renart Al'Gray]

She was not wrong. Though their duty was to the Chume, Lira's close connection to the crown would ensure that more often than not, one of the Chume'nor would be on hand to protect her. As he thought on that, the captain's gaze wandered the length and breadth of the room. Knives would be the least of her worries here.

“Does the history of our people interest you?”

[Lira Terranova]

All history interested Lira. It was one subject that she could say she had a keen mind for. As a young girl she had spent a great deal of her abundant time alone in the Iziz royal library. She had learned a great deal about her own world, but Consortium history was another thing entirely. It was not one world to learn of, but many upon many, with thousands of years of dynasties made and broken.

Lady Terranova really had no free time to speak of, unless Beatrix was in the company of her mother or Lord Adair. What she did have was one precocious little charge who was even now learning the history of her people, and Lira was always present at her Hapan lessons. It was slow going at a child's pace, but as the little chume learned, so did she.

"It does. ", she allowed, in a much more reserved manner than she felt. Inside she was like a greedy child wanting a new book to read, but without she seemed only marginally interested in the subject.

"I believe there is a quote that is common in most advanced civilizations, regarding those who do not learn from their history being destined to repeat it.."