The Voice on the Wind

[Eveline Valois]

Naboo - Theed
Broadberry Meadow

A floral tinged breeze wafted between the beige pillars supporting the domed roof of the hexagonal building Eveline sat within, stirring the ebony tresses coiled loosely at her nape. Elegant fingers temporarily departed the page of the manuscript she studied, brushing away a stray tendril of hair before returning to the last place she had read. Her place now marked, her violet eyes departed her work and peered through the narrow archways of her temporary cloister; brusquely scanning a set of bodyguards that shadowed her every step through the city. Her mother was a very cautious individual and there was not a time that Evie could remember not having some kind of hired guard watching her every move. She understood her mother's reasoning but that did not keep her from begrudging her astute but admittedly very boring guardians their constant vigil.

She imagined slipping out the back and diving into the crystalline waters of the river, swimming to the far embankment and just running until her need for breath was too great she was forced to stop. Doubtlessly, she wouldn't make it two steps without one of them catching her. She supposed she could use one of the tricks she taught herself. But, she had absolutely sworn never to perform such things in public or anywhere else that a prying eye might behold her abnormality.

Her train of thought prompted a disgruntled scoff and she gingerly folded her work with a wax page lodged betwixt the sections she was translating for the historical society her mother founded. Rising from a narrow bench within the building, she circled the goddess statuette posed at the room's center and leaned against one of pillars; gazing out at the vast city. Colorful boats traversed the calm waters, silk merchants and other lavishly decorated shops dotted the waterfront as far as the eye could see. How she longed to stroll among them freely...

Her mother promised the day would come when she would be able to. Why couldn't it be this day?

[Gavin Alexandros]

A large tower rose up from the paved streets of Theed twenty meters from the water's edge. From his vantage point about seven levels of, Gavin could easily see the entirety of the landmass that ended at an abrupt cliff. Two guards stood at the dock, twisting at the tips and head to survey a visible arc a tad wider than 180 degrees. Gavin had already planned for that, but wanted to ensure they hadn't decided to be a bit more curious than they had on previous days.


His blue eyes looked passed them, unable to see the figure within, but knowing she was there. Every opportunity he had made to contact her through conventional means had never even reached the woman. The Mystics had not just told him, but shown him that this woman would be an intrical part to his future. In what way he wasn't entirely certain, but he did know she had a historical background, and that was enough to help him believe in what he had seen.


His gloved hand scraped away from the stone, turning and moving into the stairwell just behind him. He descended the split level staircase in a quick jaunt that had the tail of his cloak snapping against itself and the stone in a barely audible sound like fingers snapping. At the base level, he gathered a black bag and moved around the far side of nearby circular building towards the tree line.


The sound of the water crashing over the cliffside was enough to drown out the sounds of his actions. Thrusting the bag open, he removed a few lengths of rope and a harness which was hastily put on. He secured his line and clipped himself in, letting slack out for him to lean off the ledge but have a steady anchor. Before he did that Gavin took up a grapnel gun and slowly moved off to the edge. The angle of the cliff face forced him to lean from the edge, bracing an angled foot against the side of the cliff and leaning at a near fourty-five degree angle off the cliff face.


He could hear the rope tighten as it secured against itself with the sudden tension. He took a breath, steadying his nerves and letting his trust go, then fired the grapnel gun across the waterfall. The tip pierced the rock wall and dug in, the cable attached back to the weapon still. He clasped it instead to his harness, and set another back up tip and line into place, fired a few meters off, and watched it equally dig in. That line too was secured to his harness.


Another breath, fear and doubt touching at his mind. Fear in his equipment failing. Doubt in his math. He surrendered himself to fate, and shed the clasp that held him to his original anchor. He fell for a moment until the slack tightened up from his harnessed lines, and his body moved in arc of the fulcrum. Water splashed over him as he passed under the falls and began to arc back upwards. When his arc was at it's highest and the momentum slowed enough that he wouldn't dislocate his shoulders, he dug a climbing axe into the rock wall and stopped his backwards swing.


The climb up that followed was child's play in the wake of the free fall and swing, the rock face jagged enough from the weathering of years that he had enough of a hand hold to scale the ten meters needed. He pulled himself up over the ledge into the woods on the secured embankment and shed his climbing gear. He peered through the trees first at her guards, then finally to her, able to spot her figure against one of the pillars.


Rivulets of water coalesced together and ran down his jacket, stepping out of the woods outside of their arc of vision and onto the soft grass that did well to muffle his steps. He stayed off of the stone walkway, moving around the tree down the small slope from her pagoda. He moved beneath the shade of the tree, angled that he was visible to her but less so to her guards. He began to cross his arms over his chest, giving her a slightly beckoning gesture to join him.


He took a gamble on what he had observed of her, that her isolation was not self imposed and she would jump at the opportunity to have words with someone outside her normal circles.

[Eveline Valois]

Eveline closed her eyes and steadied her breath, submersing herself within the natural din of her surroundings; the rushing of water, the faint chirping of birds, and the sound of metal striking stone. Her brows narrowed inward and she strained to hear more. Strange. She could hear a pulse beyond her own, the elevated thumping of a heart rate affected by physical stress or perhaps even fear? The tenuous connection she stumbled upon remained elusive, teasing the fringes of her senses for a few minutes more before it faded into the subtle crunch of shoe soles alighting upon fresh grass. Her eyes opened then and she saw him, loitering beneath the swaying canopy of a large tree. He beckoned to her and her head canted at a curious angle, her violet eyes sliding in the direction of her guardsmen.

She disengaged her gaze from them shortly thereafter, slowly moving forward toward where he stood. A sudden coolness drifted over her skin as she stepped under the shade of the tree, her hands clasping at her lower back and a cautious smile set upon her lips. He seemed somehow out of place amidst the kaleidoscope of colors that was Theed's canvas, dark and mysterious in every sense of the description. The kind of a person her mother would implore her to avoid. It was for that very reason she had been spurred into his company.

She was a safe enough distance away so she could elude any sudden movements from him, at least she imagined as much anyway. Grabbing the cerulean layers of her gown, she dipped into a casual curtsy. "How do you do?" She asked politely, her eyes strolling down the rivulets of water that trailed down his coat and then wandering back up to meet his gaze. The question of how he came to be here was evident in her stare but her uncertain smile was welcoming enough to not seem overly suspicious.

[Gavin Alexandros]

His estimation of her was accurate. She wasn’t shy to the idea of meeting someone new, even if it was strange that he had come from the woods that mere meters back ended in a sheer cliff and waterfall. She curtsied with all the propriety that would be expected of a Naboo noble. Even her choice of words was extremely proper. In that moment, he desired to free her from the shackles that dictated she needed to speak a certain way and behave a certain way. To him, she was not free to be who she wished to be.

He reached a hand up to brush the back of it across the upper plane of his jacket, sweeping away rivulets of water, then reversed and did the same to the other side. “I’m fine, how are you?” It seemed rude not to ask her the same back, but he was also curious what sort of scripted reply she might come up with.

His hands grasped his jacket, giving it a flair that shook loose even more water. He twisted at the hip, glancing around, then twisted back taking in the small delta. “Seems lonely.” He fixed his gaze on the backs of the guards. “They don’t seem much for conversation.” His eyes moved up towards the hexagonal pavilion. “What were you doing?” There was that impatient, brazen, youthful side of him that wanted to leap right into his purpose and offer to spirit her away from their current location, but he knew he needed to practice temperance.

[Eveline Valois]

The reply that came was not brusque but it was far more casual than the typical responses expected from the Naboo. As he dismissed the water from his coat, one dark in color and design that bespoke an origin very dissimilar from her own, her eyes politely inspected him. A bit more flair loosed more droplets from his jacket and she snapped her eyes up to his; well, it was where they would have landed had he not diverted his gaze toward the delta. Steered in the direction of his attention, she contemplated his words with a furrowed brow. Lonely. Lack of conversation. Life had been this way for her since she could remember but that did not mean she couldn't consider everything she was missing under her guardsmen's constant vigil.

Very near to staring bemusedly, she shook her head and lofted a brow in the direction of the pagoda. "Translations for the historical society, Rakata in origin. Do you have much interest in ancient texts, Mr...?" This was asked as she strolled to his side, looking the direction from whence he'd supposedly wandered. One of her arms hugged her abdomen, her other propped atop it while her fingers posed quizzically beneath her chin. "Or perhaps you are the more adventurous sort? It must have been quite the feat making it here from..." She gestured openly behind him. "..there."

[Gavin Alexandros]

The way she moved to his side to look past him into the copse of trees suggested she was not feeling timid in his presence. “Alexandros, but you may call me Gavin if…” He turned to face her, the way she stood and propped her arm conveying a combination of being both aloof, and yet interested. Like he was some great mystery to her that she sought to puzzle out but wanted to play with it rather than have her answer immediately. “…you’ll let me call you by yours.”

He had to confess there was something drawing about her, seeing her from such a proximity now and the demure way in which she carried herself. If he had another life he could have seen them having something, except she would have needed another life as well with how sheltered her family kept her. He realized he left her question unanswered for too long as he contemplated this fantasy life that could have been, that never could have been. “I do.” Have an interest that was. “Actually, both. Adventurous and scholarly we’ll say. That’s why I am here, or was here. I’m not really sure now.”

His motives felt very different now, but he also knew he could use this shift to his advantage. “Are you happy here? Forgive if I am inaccurate, but I get this distinct feeling like you’re some sort of caged bird.” All he needed was for her to say she wished for more, and he would give it to her, and then follow up on his purpose. If she were happy, then they could enjoy a brief scholarly talk and maybe schedule a meeting and that could be that. It really was in her hands now.