Out of Place

[Aaron Belargic]

There was a steadily growing crowd outside of the doors to the Alliance Senate chambers. Every other new arrival was a life-form that Aaron had not seen before. He had come dressed in what he considered to be relatively plain Hapan garb (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b3/13/36/b3133691ca0083601d8fcc1978bca43e.jpg), but now was beginning to wonder whether he was under-dressed.

The corridor was full of aliens in elaborate outfits, many with large headpieces or shoulder pads that would have been hard pressed to fit through the doors to the Fountain Palace. They were the aides and associates of the honourable Senators, whose morning session was about to come to a close – but to Aaron, they were also a menagerie of oddities that he had yet to come to terms with.

Fortunately, he did not wait long before the Senate session came to a close and the many dozens of dignitaries within began to spill out of the Senate chambers. The crowd thinned and with a pang of relief, Aaron caught sight of the Hapan delegation. The flow of foot-traffic was not one that even the delegates could go against; he could not join the Hapan party until they reached the stairs that swept down from the Senate house into the city of Drev'starn.

He waited at the foot of the stairs, looking up at Elaine Alastor as she lead the group towards him. She looked... radiant, and Aaron smiled in spite of his sense of displacement.

“A productive session?”

[Elaine Alastor]

Elaine Alastor, daughter of the previous Queen Mother Ishara, former heiress to the throne of Hapes, presently a Senator for that same Consortium of sixty-three worlds beyond the Transitory Mists, rose with the conclusion of the day's session. It had not been a complete waste of her time. The princess had asked for this assignment, wishing to serve the people of Hapes in this capacity, a debt she felt she owed. Diplomacy was a skill she was learning. It held a different meaning for those who lived outside the Queen Mother's fold. In the Cluster, the only will of any concern was that of the Chume, or presently Chume'la, the Regent. Beyond the borders of her birth, things were different. A new set of rules seemed to apply to each planetary delegate, and if she wanted to be any good at this new game, she had to learn them all. That was why Elaine Alastor pushed herself to attend as many of these sessions as she could. Not all matters pertained directly to Hapes, but they were each of them a valuable lesson in the customs and expectations of other worlds, and peoples.

While she was committed to her purpose, Elaine (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rk_T1kyWDkw/TxKN8MZ_3SI/AAAAAAAAJgo/0ouFTxNczjQ/s1600/troy+%25289%2529.jpeg) was still relieved when the matter was concluded and the dignitaries released, with an appointed time to reconvene. Hapan attendants and aides hovered closely about their former princess as she exited the hall, and descended the stairs. She was grateful for their presence around her, shielding her from the crush of other bodies in motion. It did not take her eyes long to find Aaron among the crowd, drawn to him as though she already knew where to look. Her cheeks, dusted with a light shimmer powder, blossomed into a small smile as she made her way to his side.

"You might say that. No one yelled about anything today, it was remarkably civil."

[Aaron Belargic]

"Your schedule is clear until tomorrow morning, Prin - Senator Alastor," said one of the women who surrounded Elaine - speaking in the Hapan tongue and almost, but not quite, calling Elaine by her old, royal title.

As a concession to the Consortium, the Senator's aides were all female. Tradition could abide men in the service of the Royal Navy, if they had no better use, but men in politics? Every good Hapan woman knew that the male brain was simply not suited to the intricacies and intrigues of the political battlefield - and on that account, Aaron was more than happy with his lot.

The group paused at the foot of the Senate steps. Ahead, the Bothan city of Drev'starn practically churned with life. People of all species were coming and going in all directions, some in political garb, others in what Aaron was beginning to suspect was Alliance military attire. He tried not to watch the crowd, but part of him felt hyper-alert and on guard whenever he was out in public with the princ - the senator. She was a goddess - literally to the Hapan's - walking among the common people, and those common people often came a little too close for Belargic's comfort.

[Elaine Alastor]

Elaine nodded to the aide who spoke. It was good to know she was off-duty, so to speak.

Stopping at the last steps before the Senate, she turned to the aides who remained close by her. While she had no other appointments today, they would expect her to discuss the session, to get her views on the subjects. To find out if she had any stances she wish to make, or inquiries on any of the diplomats or situations that would be discussed at her next appearance. All of that was important to her, and she would pay it the time and attention it required, but for now she needed a respite. "Actually, I'm parched. It seemed quite warm in there today. I will see all of you later to review before tomorrow."

While she was no longer the Royal Princess of Hapes, she had still been born a princess. When she spoke, others tended to obey. There was no protest, they simple bid her a good afternoon, leaving her on the steps with Aaron. There was no getting rid of him. He was where Elaine was, which seemed to suit the two of them just fine.

"Let's go find a nice place to have a cold drink? I have something I wanted to ask you."

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron watched Elaine's entourage disperse in a flutter of fabric. The Senate was not the court of Taa Chume'Dan but the Senator's young aides seemed as at home in Drev'starn as they would have been on Hapes, if not more so. The rules were different here and their ambitions could flourish here in a way that they could not at home. While they adapted to change, however, Aaron still had one foot in the past – as he stood a step lower than Elaine on the Senate stairs.

“Of course, ereneda. Is there... somewhere you had in mind?” he asked, turning to look out across the open courtyard. The city beyond the Senatorial complex was as strange and unknown to him as the Mists.

[Elaine Alastor]

"I have absolutely no idea." Elaine admitted.

The princess did not miss the fact that, just like always, Aaron placed himself in a place of deference to her. She knew he could not really help it anymore than he could force himself to stop breathing. It was just a part of who he was as a Hapan male. To concede to their females superior natures was ingrained into them from birth. It was a lot of rubbish.. She saw that now, of course.

Deliberately, she stepped down so that they were on the same level, literally.

"Let's just walk a bit until we find somewhere that looks good?", she suggested, holding out her hand to him.

[Aaron Belargic]

As Elaine reached out to him, Aaron remembered the first time (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?19051-Our-Darkest-Days-Echoes&p=300016&viewfull=1#post300016) Elaine had held his hand and how strange it felt to touch, what was to the Hapan people, divinity. He wasn't ready to give up that well-worn belief yet, but now the quickening of his pulse that Elaine inspired was little and less to do with her royal status. They walked hand in hand away from the Senate square, following the cities wide, cobbled pedways as they meandered among towers with brightly coloured onion domes and spacious malls, that were as immaculately clean and tidy as Hapes Prime. The streets were not crowed, but now and then they passed other members of Alliance personnel - some of whom acknowledged Elaine with nods - and many of the native Bothans, coming and going with long, purposeful strides.

[Elaine Alastor]

While she walked, the senator-princess tilted her head ever-so-slightly to the side, as though she were listening to something only she could hear. To Elaine, it was less a sound and more a feeling, one that she just sometimes had. She could not have described it if asked, but it seemed to accompany moments of some significance. She felt it most strongly when she thought of her brother, Tristan Alastor, the prince of Hapes that no one seemed too distraught over the loss of.

He had most certainly perished by now, she had been assured. So why did she still feel him?

At the moment, the source of the fluttering sensation in her belly could either be in regards to some pivotal turning point for the senate, or it could just as easily be the result of spending time alone with Aaron. Her thoughts were centered on the day they had first attempted to leave Consortium space as well, but for slightly different reasons.

"I did not know what I was searching for, the day I asked you to take me beyond the Transitory Mists. I had no idea that I would become a member of the Senate, or that we would come to this place, but I think this was always what I wanted.."

From one of the shop fronts, a balcony laden with baskets of overflowing flowers provided relative shade from the heat. Elaine stopped for a moment to pose a question. "Would you go back if you could?"

[Aaron Belargic]

Though she might not know it, Elaine had given voice to a question that gnawed at Aaron's thoughts on an almost daily basis. Like so many of his people, Aaron had rarely traveled beyond the boundaries of the Hapes Cluster; there had been no need to. The Consortium provided everything: structure, security, purpose. Stood aboard the command deck of his ship as a Commodore in the Royal Navy, Aaron had known that he was doing good by protecting the Hapan people. When the late Ishara had announced he was to be exiled from the Consortium, Aaron had felt lost, bereft of place and purpose. Even now, the memory of that day made him feel unsteady.

"The Consortium is my home. I think..." he said, searching for the right words as he stared into flowers displayed before them, blooms in all the colours of the skies above Hapes. "It will always be home, at least to some part of me."

[Elaine Alastor]

The senator's golden head dipped in quiet understanding. True, she had been far more eager to breach the borders of the Transitory Mists and explore the greater galaxy beyond, than had been former Commodore Belargic. Yet, she also understood his meaning. The Consortium was not simply an address that they had left behind. It was their home. As much a part of who they were as they families they had been born to, shaping them into who they had become. All of the beauty of the Cluster inherent in the genetic makeup, and there was no distance that could deny that truth.

"I understand. Despite how I left, or at least my attempt to leave, I cannot deny Hapes as a part of myself. It's why I chose to serve.."

Plucking at the petals of a bloom, as though the answer were of little consequence, she continued. "So, if you were able to return there, you would?"

[Aaron Belargic]

Elaine's question teased at a knot inside of Aaron. As he stood considering the possibility of returning to his home, the owner of the shop they stood in front of bartered with a senatorial aide about the price of an elaborate bouquet that would form the centrepiece of a dining table during a critical diplomatic discussion.

"I don't know," Aaron said, shaking his head. "I'm... not sure that there's anything there for me now," he went on, looking up abruptly at Elaine. "Unless, you had cause to return."

[Elaine Alastor]

Aaron had a way of speaking her thoughts. Elaine smiled. She would go anywhere the Senate required her to, as long as he could accompany her. Maybe it was simply instinctive, after being stranded with him for so long on Shedu Maad. For a long time it had been only they two.. Perhaps, or perhaps there was more to it. All she knew was that she felt better the closer he was.

"If it's asked of me."

Just before them, a potential beverage location appeared, a Bothan cafe, with a human host on duty inviting people within, or to sit outside beneath shady umbrellas.

"I have heard the Bothan representatives speak of kothtri.", Elaine speculated. "We could try it?"

[Aaron Belargic]

When in Drev'starn... “I’d like that.”

The cafe was bustling inside and out. With a polite smile, the host motioned Elaine and Aaron to a table between two others. On one side, a family of Nautolan tourists had pulled two of the tables together, two children sharing one chair, their feet dangling and not quite reaching the floor. On the other, a grey-furred Bothan sat alone reading a news flimsi while sipping carefully at something dark in a tiny porcelain cup.

The host placed two menu cards down on the table. Aaron gave them a quick glance and was reminded of his early forays into learning Basic. Lessons often involve roleplaying scenarios in cafes or restaurants, asking for something to eat that would suit the Hapan palate. At the time it had seemed improbable, and more likely that he would need to know how to communicate naval matters, but now he was glad.

He removed his hat, setting it on the edge of the table, and not noticing how quickly the pair of Nautolan children began to gawk at it.

“Could we have two glasses of kothri, while we look over the menu?”

[Elaine Alastor]

Elaine found herself sitting too straight in the seat beneath her. She had to remind herself sometimes that she was not Chume'da Elaine, any longer. She was not on Hapes, being judged by lovely pairs of eyes that would report her every word, deed and thought to her mother, Chume Ishara. Those days were over. She could relax..if she wanted. Easier said than done.

Instead of sitting like a sculpture to be admired, Elaine observed how the other people around her sat, and acted. She smiled at the pair of Nautolan children, and the way they were squished together into one chair. While waiting for the kothri to arrive, the former Princess of Hapes made a decision. She rose, pulling her chair around the table, a little closer to Aaron.

"That is much better..", she concluded, settling herself, body angled toward him.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron smiled as Elaine drew nearer. Though he doubted he would ever stop thinking of her as the Princess, he no longer felt completely awestruck in her presence. When her arm brushed against his, he didn’t freeze or flinch away; instead, he slipped his hand back into hers, with a gentle squeeze. They were not on Hapes now, after all.

His mind still lingering on the Consortium, Aaron glanced down at their interlocked fingers as he spoke. “I have… kept up with some of the news reports from the Consortium. About the young Chume. Do you think she might…”

Pardon me? Reverse the exile placed on me? Aaron swallowed the words before he could say them.

“Want to meet you?”

[Elaine Alastor]

Holding onto Aaron's hand, Elaine listened to what he was saying, and maybe not saying, regarding her niece the Chume. Tristan's daughter. A little place inside her heart ached all over again for her brother. Everyone told her that he was dead, and she should accept it. Maybe that was why she had put off returning to Hapes this long. Maybe seeing his daughter would be painful. Or maybe it was what she needed.. to do as they asked.

"Maybe it is time she did meet me." Elaine considered.

The kothri arrived and she accepted her glass in one hand, keeping her fingers linked with Aaron's.

"What have you heard about Her Majesty?", she encouraged with a smile.

[Aaron Belargic]

What Aaron had heard was, admittedly, not much. Communication did not flow entirely freely out of the Consortium, a fact that Elaine would be all too well aware of. While thinking, he ventured a sip from his drink. His nose wrinkled a little at the sharpness of the flavour, though he found himself licking his lips a moment later, savouring the taste.

“That Ta’a Chume is a kind and fair ruler,” he said, setting the glass down. "And that her reign is the most peaceful and prosperous the Consortium has ever known."

[Elaine Alastor]

Elaine found herself oddly charmed just watching Aaron try the new drink. He seemed to have decided he liked it, after a fashion. She brought her own glass to her mouth, cautiously. It smelled good at least. She tasted it, the crispness of the juice on her tongue made her mouth flood with taste. She decided she liked it, and took a more liberal sip.

"I am.. happy to hear that." , Elaine remarked, finding it was the truth.

It was hard to know at times, what was truth and what was the truth as it was presented. That her brother's child was proving to be a kind ruler did not seem all that surprising to her.

"Then, I should reach out to House Alastor.. I am sure that given the opportunity, Ta’a Chume would see you as I do."

She lifted their joined hands, bringing the back of his hand to her lips for a soft kiss.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron smiled as Elaine pressed a kiss to the back of his hand. Since the beginning (https://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?19051-Our-Darkest-Days-Echoes&p=299378&viewfull=1#post299378), when they had first fled from the Fountain Palace, Elaine had believed in the sincerity of Aaron’s commitment to the Consortium. If anyone could convince the new Chume of the merit to allowing him to return home, it would be Elaine.

Thinking of his banishment from the Consortium inevitably brought Aaron’s thoughts to another Hapan in exile.

“I’ve been thinking of trying to establish contact with… my brother. I’ve heard that he’s somewhere here, on Bothawui.”

[Elaine Alastor]

Elaine's thoughts often lingered on the day they had fled.. and inevitably guilt twisted her insides. She had made a choice and as a result a woman had died. There was no one that could absolve her of the deed, Her actions had caused it. The only thing that she could do was move forward, in service to the denizens of the Cluster.

She was grateful for the redirection of her thoughts, dwelling on the past could not change it. The mention of Aaron's brother was not all that surprising really. As it happened, she'd already looked into it, and as yet had gotten no response from him.

"He is.. rather, he was here.." Somewhat apologetically, she admitted to her prying.

[Aaron Belargic]

“He was?”

Aaron’s eyebrows lifted. It didn’t come as a shock, that Elaine had some inclination of Dasquian’s whereabouts. It was more surprising that Dasquian had been on Bothawui, perhaps close at hand, when the two brothers had been separated by entire star systems for so long.

“I asked around some of the Alliance personnel based in the Senate. Many of them knew his name but… they weren’t sure whether he was even working with them anymore.”

[Elaine Alastor]

Elaine's expression was one of patience, cool and calm as always, but obviously that patience had been tested on the subject. Something that might even have been frustration.

"It's why I have not mentioned it. The truth is I do not really know one way or the other. I've reached out to him.." More than once.

She sipped her drink, smiling again at the children who were growing bolder, creeping ever closer toward Aaron. Elaine suspected to get a better look at his hat.

"The most common answer I've received has been 'Unavailable'. One of my aides mentioned the possibility, but I have not yet heard back from him. It may be that there was no truth to it at all. I'm.. sorry."

[Aaron Belargic]

When Elaine smiled, Aaron followed her gaze to the children, and then to the object of their attention. When the children realised they were being watched, they flashed nervous grins as their eyes darted between the feathered hat and Aaron’s own, somewhat bemused smile.

“No, there’s no need to apologise,” he said, turning his attention back to Elaine. “It’s very kind of you to spend time looking into his whereabouts for me. Dasquian was always... very good at only being found when he wanted to be.”

[Elaine Alastor]

Unavailable was one of the more kind responses Elaine had received. 'Probably dead' had been among them, in fact. None of the answers amounted to anything, as they had not provided any solid information one way, or another. If Dasquian was dead surely someone ought to know? Frustrating was an understatement, and to think.. she had once fancied herself infatuated with the impossible man.

The thought, made her smile and scoot closer to Aaron. "I just thought..perhaps the emphasis of having Senator attached to my name might prompt some answers where they had been denied before."

"What would you say to him, if we did find him?"

[Aaron Belargic]

“I… haven’t the foggiest idea,” Aaron said, shaking his head. “It’s been so long since he left the Consortium. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

Even before Dasquian had run away to join the Rebellion, the two brothers hadn’t been close. Not in the way that… Aaron’s stomach knotted. He wasn’t the only one who had lost a brother.

“With the support and resources of the Chume, we could begin again in earnest the search for Prince Tristan.”