Ask A Return To Royalty

[Darth Arcanos]

The wedding festivities had been exhausting. It had been centuries since so many royal families all gathered in the same region for any kind of ceremony. Thousands of guests and countless feasts later, Azar was happy for the quiet. He had to manage his time to attend to both his new wives and ensure they acclimated well to living in his palace. While he wasn’t too worried about Ilyan’s behavior, he knew Thalisa was raised as a princess all her life. Sharing her husband with a desert chief’s daughter was likely not what she envisioned. Nevertheless, the opportunity to marry a Pureblood King came around for the first time in hundreds of years, so her family was honored to beat out the other royals.

Azar was relaxing in the royal baths, tended to by several servants that prepared wines and snacks. Thalisa was welcome to join if she pleased, though he half expected her to snoop through all the wardrobes first. She was presented with countless new clothing and jewelry to satisfy a woman of her appetite. She was materialistic, but it was something Azar could relate to, so he had a suspicion they would find some mutual understanding.

The Pureblood closed his eyes and relaxed in the warm water, his tattooed form entirely nude and submerged. It was silent except for servants playing gentle harps somewhere in the distance and out of sight. As he relaxed, he thought back to how he had to fight and claw to regain his name. There was a time where Thalisa’s family would have had him executed for his exile and committing patricide. And now they couldn’t wait to hand their daughter off to Azar to have his children. Royalty was always fickle and unpredictable.

@LouJoVi

 

[Thalisa Sarasashi]

The wedding celebrations had been exhaustive. Needing to maintain a perfect facade while dealing with people that were insufferable and dressed worse than clowns from a circus was very tiresome. However, the large number of gifts that Thalisa had received compensated for the exhaustion that she felt .

There were so many new clothes that Thalisa had to fill an entire new closet, being her third one in the palace. And the jewels? Each one being more expensive than the other. Together they were enough to buy a small moon.

She wondered what Ilyan was doing with her gifts. Does she even know how to wear jewels? Maybe she received something more suited to a desert girl, like some pet scorpions and some beasts of burden. All that would remind the other woman of her origins among the sands. Thalisa was still baffled that they had offered that Pureblood as a bride for Azar.

Azar. The man was obviously trying to please the two, but Thalisa had some experience with people to know that he wasn’t much interested in his two wives. She already expected that. There was no love between them, she knew that when her father announced her marriage with him. The woman also heard the tales about the king’s partners and was aware that he would have preferred to marry them.

However, she would fulfill her duty as a good wife. At the moment, Thalisa was arriving at the royal baths dressed only in a black satin robe. Her husband was already there and she wanted to spend some time with him. “Good morning, my king.” she bowed to him, while entering the room. “Did you sleep well?” she said, while removing the robe and joining him on the water.

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Arcanos]

Azar may have had his preferences, but he would treat his queens with the respect they deserved. He could give them everything in the galaxy. Except for love. He was convinced he couldn’t love them, but he had been wrong before.

The King calmly sipped from a glass of wine, floating a goblet over to Thalisa as she began to step into the water. He took a moment to allow his gaze to wander over her nude, lithe form. She was a queen in every sense of the word, perfectly graceful, her skin unmarred, her slender and flawless bearing a reflection of her privileged life. In contrast he had multiple healed scars across his body, which were fortunately not too noticeable with the tattoos.

“No,” Azar answered flatly as he took a sip, his gleaming golden eyes meeting hers, “I rarely sleep well.”

He looked away, listening to the harp for a moment before he spoke again, “Is it everything you imagined? Marrying the first Pureblood King of Korriban in centuries?” He asked her.

@LouJoVi

 

[Thalisa Sarasashi]

Thalisa nodded to his answer. “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.” she said, while picking one of the glasses of wine that were offered to her. It was no surprise that Azar had problems in being able to sleep. She never expected that ruling Korriban would be something easy. Besides that, her husband probably had other problems. Everyone has those things that keep them awake during the night, gnawing at your thoughts until it was early in the morning.

“If you decide that talking with someone can help you sleep better, I’ll be there to listen, my lord husband.” she said with sincerity in her voice. As a Queen, it was her duty to support her King in his difficulties, turning his burden easier. In reality, she thought that it was the duty of any partner, even those that weren’t royal.

She sipped some of the wine, while listening to his questions. “To be honest, I never thought that I would end up married to a King until my father told me about it some months ago. I always thought that I would end up engaged with some noble.” after all, Azar had only unified the planet some years ago.

“However, it’s really beyond my expectations. I’m surrounded by luxury beyond anything that I had in my entire life, but the best of all is that my husband is gorgeous and treats me well.” there was no love involved, but Azar treated her like a queen deserved. “I think that I was lucky because of the last one, arranged unions can be very dangerous for women and not all husbands are like you.” she knew some cases that ended in tragedy. “What do you think of me so far?”

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Arcanos]

Azar listened quietly as she spoke, taking a comb to run through his long, silky hair. Thalisa was an intelligent woman and was raised well educated to navigate the political stage. Women like her had to find many ways of arming themselves beyond just Force use. They had to learn to manipulate and play the long con to get to the outcome they preferred.

“I think you can outsmart most nobles you come across,” Azar answered with a faint grin as he took a sip of his wine, “And you certainly know what you’re doing in the bedroom after your family boasted so much about your virginity,” He said with a knowing wink. Everyone was a snake in the royal stage, but he could respect the hustle. Azar fell in love with men that had no clue how royal politics worked, but Thalisa was not that. She was raised just as he was - to be methodical and calculating. She would prove a solid partner in expanding his influence and campaigns.

“Tell me, Thalisa,” He said, “What shall I do to kill the possibility of any rebellions breaking out against my rule?” After all, no Pureblood king lasted for very long before in-fighting and rebellions broke out. Their people were terrible at keeping a regime together for long.

@LouJoVi

 

[Thalisa Sarasashi]

Thalisa smiled with Azar’s praise. “In a world like ours, we need to find any way possible to defend ourselves and our families.” she had learned to be smarter than many politicians of Korriban and had used her skills to help her family many times, even if it was simple by suggesting what her father and older brother should do. They like her advice, even more after achieving good results with them.

Now, she would use her skills to help Azar’s rule. After all, as her husband, he was her family now.

Azar’s question made her stop drinking and think deeply. There were many ways to answer it, all of them depended on the way that the King wanted to act. “The typical way would be to kill all those that you distrust, eliminate all of them before they act against you. However, removing them can cause internal instability and you risk ruling a pile of ruins. I particularly think that this course of action should be considered a last measure.”

“You should conquer the hearts of your people, show them how you care for both nobles and commoners. Especially commoners. Many can joke that they don’t possess resources, but their numbers can cause a revolution.” differently from many of her peers, Thalisa had read the history of other planets. She understood how the people caused revolutions there and believed that such revolutionary ideas could also appear among them.

“By winning the total loyalty of the people, they can even oppose nobles that try to rebel. After all, how can a noble maintain their delusions to rule if the masses are completely at the side of their king?” she walked through the water, until she was closer to Azar. “Regarding the nobles, show that you care and will protect their interests. If necessary, manipulate nobles and commoners until they distrust each other, but can only trust you.”

“With them divided, you move to eliminate those that are more dangerous. The creation of a secret police can help with it.” after finishing her advice, Thalisa moved to pick a comb and started to brush her hair.

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Arcanos]

There was merit to what she said. It was clear that she was raised for a life of politics. He sipped from his wine, gazing over the rim of his glass. The Pureblood smirked at her, “If we are going to be married, let’s cut the bullshit, dear,” He said, “I know you were raised for the sole purpose of being a dutiful wife that would fuck some abusive noble whenever he demanded it. Your parents envisioned you habitually on your back popping out a royal brat every year and presenting as an obedient queen that dotes on her children while daddy fucks off all around the galaxy.”

He threw back the glass of his wine, “Me fucking off without a trace will probably still happen,” Azar said pointedly as he brought her glass over and poured her a huge amount of wine before handing it back to her, “But you won’t be sitting around looking pretty and waiting for me to put a baby in you. You’re far too smart to be nothing more than an ornament,” He stated flatly, “So you’re going to drive the humanitarian campaigns that help secure my rule. They will be made in your name. Become the loveable, popular queen of the people. Be the soft touch that makes people look the other way as my men burn cities to the ground and conquer regions I need to bring under the fold.”

Azar took another big swig of his wine, “Form this secret police force to enforce civilian justice,” He said with a smile. He clinked his glass against Thalisa’s, “I didn’t agree to the marriage for your name alone, dear wife, I married you because I expect you to be useful.”

@LouJoVi

 

[Thalisa Sarasashi]

Thalisa listened to what Azar was saying with a serious expression, while internally she felt jubilant. Finally! Finally someone was saying that she could be useful rather than simply whispering her own ideas in the ears of others. She had done it for years with her father and brother, with the two taking all the credits. Much of their success was because of her, but they didn’t give her even a thank you.

Would their tongues fall from their mouths if they simply said a thank you for her advice?

With her marriage, the woman had expected that the same would happen. That she would become a source of advice for her husband, while also being responsible to give birth to heirs. However, Azar was offering her the chance of work. To put her own ideas in practice and have her own name being recognized because of it. Of course, it would be only a footnote in the tale of his rule, but it was better than not even being remembered.

And better than being remembered as the Queen that sat smiling and waving during her husband’s entire rule.

She was also aware that any miscalculation in her projects would make her be blamed directly, but Thalisa would be careful. She knew when the reward wasn’t worth the risks.

“And I’ll be useful, husband.” Thalisa smiled at Azar, their glasses clinking at each other. “Perhaps I could even start today. A little bird told me that there was a fire in some old houses in the poorest side of the capital. Horrible, several are homeless now. A visit of their king with help would comfort them in that moment of suffering and would be a good opportunity to announce the beginning of the humanitarian campaigns.”

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Arcanos]

“Is that so?” Azar asked, not having heard of this fire beforehand. Perhaps Thalisa truly did have a budding intel network. If he wanted to keep an ironclad hold on multiple planets, he would need an extensive source of intelligence from every corner. Exposing Korriban to the galaxy had its benefits and risks - he would also need to consider things like building up a navy and defense forces should anyone attack.

“Very well, I will accompany you,” Azar said as he sipped from his wine, sinking deeper into the water.

“I will be venturing into the desert in a week’s time with Ilyan,” He announced, “We will be gone for a month,” He explained, “You will have everything you need in the palace and plenty of attendants. I trust you will manage things just fine.”

@LouJoVi

 

[Thalisa Sarasashi]

”Yes, it was very unfortunate.” Thalisa said, while sipping some of her drink. “They were old buildings, with no maintenance for years. It was only a matter of time for them to burn. A short circuit last night caused the fire. ” she explained exactly what one of her little birds had told her. The woman had nothing to do with the accident, but she knew how to act when an opportunity had been laid on a silver plate.

“Thank you, my husband. Your presence will show the people that you care for them.” the simple presence of the king imposed respect, but it could also bring admiration and love from the people. Thalisa already admired Azar, since he was allowing the Queen to put her ideas in practice by herself, rather than taking her ideas and using them as they were his own.

Thalisa froze when she heard Azar say that he was going to stay a month in the desert alone with Ilyan. Were they going on some type of honeymoon? Why didn't she have a honeymoon too? Excellent, they were going to have fun while she remained doing all the work. Although, she wondered if her husband would like the desert.

Was there some type of desert spar that Thalisa didn’t know?

Another thing that hit her was concern. Azar would be in the desert, where the clans that still were against his rule lived. She feared that they could try to do something against him. Perhaps even aided by Ilyan.

“I see. When you return, I’ll have everything settled.” she smiled at him, before rising from the bath tube. “Well, I’ll get dressed. We can meet outside to pick a transport to the site of the fire. We should go there before other nobles have the same idea.”

@Sreeya