Ask Belasco Change is as Good as Rest

[Korre Belasi]

It'd been quite some time since Korre had called on her old friend Ilana to visit. They were both busy women, after all. Ilana was the CEO of MorataCorp and the mother of a teenage daughter (which was surely a challenge in of itself), and Korre had all but disappeared into her laboratories while staying as far away as she could from cameras and galactic politics. And man, time away from politics had really been a blessing for Korre. As much as she loved the excitement of it, the stress of dealing with things out of her control was unwelcome by her. People, events, and the awful, awful games everyone in the Senate loved to play.... She was much happier tucked away in her lab and pursuing her next degree.

Despite having not seen one another in a while, Korre still talked with Ilana from time to time, either by message or holo. But the Belascan wanted to see her friend (in person, not over holo), so she'd invited her to come out to Belasco to tour the newly renovated Palace gardens with her.

Korre stood waiting by the private spaceport, tapping away at her datapad while she waited for Ilana's ship to arrive. The woman was wearing a lightweight, off-white linen sundress with a big floppy hat to keep the sun off her pale, freckled face. As soon as Ilana arrived they would be able to disappear quite quickly into the building and toward the gardens, though in this private spaceport the media was hardly a problem.

tag: @Killa Ree

 

[Dr Ilana Morata]

It had been ages since she saw Korre last. The closest she ever had to a best friend, and a fellow curious mind, she felt like she could discuss things with Korre, and not have to stoop, or explain. And the fact that she never felt assaulted by emotions around the former PM was an additional relaxing point. Even when talking politics, she was at ease.

So when given an invitation, of course she couldn't refuse. Though she had officially retired from her position as head of MorataCorp, she still acted as president chairman. And that came with its' own perks.

A slender silver Nubian ship descended to the private spaceport with a grace that could only hint at the occupants within. Perhaps she fulfilled the middle-aged obligation of buying a new ship, but really, it was a thrill to use once in a while.

When she descended, it would be in the outfit that Korre, and a few others intimate with Ilana, would recognize. The Arkanian-Offshoot went for simple, understated comfortable elegance; a silvery-blue blouse over a black pair of simple leggings, and simple flats. Long white hair was pulled into a low ponytail, with a simple straw hat perched on her head.

The moment amber eyes met Korre's, the frigid woman offered a faint grin, and a sweeping bow. However, a glint of humor gleamed in her gaze.

"Madame Belasi, it's an honor."

@lizziie

 

[Korre Belasi]

Korre's lips spread ear to ear when she laid eyes on Ilana, and though a smile was far from uncommon on the Belascan's face, it was just a twinge brighter than usual as her friend bowed before her with a lowered head and sweeping arms. Amusement glinted similarly in the woman's eyes, and Korre decided to play along, her lips closing around her teeth to purse at the doctor.

"Princess Belasi, actually, Dr. Morata," Korre corrected in a tone that was far too formal to be taken any way but in jest. She haughtily held her hand out as if she expected the Arkanian-Offshoot to kiss the back of it, but before a moment passed she grabbed Ilana's hand and pulled the woman into a brief hug.

"Ilana! It's so good to see you again." She would release Ilana from the brief embrace and grin back at her. "How have you been? You look great!" Korre would always be impressed by how young Ilana always looked. Of course, she was only somewhere in her thirties (which, as Korre approached them herself, would tirelessly defend as "not old"), but she still looked like she was fresh out of college.

"C'mon, let's get in out of the heat. The gardens are climate-controlled."

tag: @Killa Ree

 

[Dr Ilana Morata]

When she was pulled up into a hug, for a moment the good Doctor stiffened in surprise, before wrapping her arms around the woman in a reciprocal hug; something she wasn't sure she could even do back when she was just a mob doctor back on Nar Shaddaa. But how far she'd gotten. She gave Korre a responding smile, and linked an arm through Korre's, moving to keep in step with now Princess Korre.

Another reminder the galaxy may have changed, but life moved on.

"Korre," she replied, giving a slight tilt to her head. "You haven't changed a bit; you're as lovely as ever." Still, Korre knew a direct path to the Doctor's heart. At the mention of the gardens, she looked ahead, keen interest glinting in amber eyes. "You know you had me sold at gardens; should I be worried with how keenly you're luring me in?" However, despite her deadpan tone, the Belascan would know she was merely teasing.

After all, Morata needed a break from the monotony of retirement, and this request seemed the best of any to break free of her recent malaise.

@lizziie

 

[Korre Belasi]

Korre chuckled at Ilana's deadpan, not at all fooled. "There were once rumors that Auden Belasi walked straight up from the sea floor and charmed Senta into uniting under his rule," she commented nonchalantly, referring to a centuries-old myth about her great-great-great-et plus grandfather's ascension to the throne. "Some even claimed he was a siren in disguise..."

Arm in arm, Korre led the doctor out from the hot summer air into the temperate, air-conditioned building in front of them. The building was once used by her mother, the Duchess of Senta, for something entirely else, but she'd commissioned it to be turned into a semi-private garden a few years ago. It was open to the public on the weekends but during the weekdays it was left to the royal family. On this particular day, Korre and Ilana should hopefully have the place all to themselves.

"So, anything new with you? How's your daughter?" Shortly after Korre asked her questions, they would step out into a magnificent courtyard topped with a crystal clear glass roof. The room was just slightly humid, but the climate-controlled temperature made it almost unnoticeable, and it truly was a breath of fresh air compared to the outside heat or staleness of a ship.

This particular courtyard - which was one of three - was landscaped and pathed around a towering, seemingly ancient tree planted in the dead center of the room. It grew roughly, taking sharp, unpredictable turns with its branches and had rough, dark wood bark. Like most of the plants in the room, it was maintained, but allowed to grow as it wished.

tag: @Killa Ree

 

[Dr Ilana Morata]

Amariel couldn't explain it, but here on Belasco, all she felt was peace. The sciences thrived here, there was natural beauty, and above it all, one of her closest friends resided here. When all the galaxy seemed aflame with complications and disasters, here seemed... roughly unchanged.

The warmth, the smell of vegetation of all kinds, and the calm emotions of her friend beside her made the good doctor's previously tense lines of her shoulders relax ever so slightly...

Until Korre mentioned Silvi.

There was a momentary stiffness that set into Morata's shoulders. A quick glimpse of tension around her eyes and mouth, but just as swiftly as these signs of stress appeared, they vanished, and she let out a low chuckle. "Doing things a typical teenager would do, I'm afraid; rebel against authority, talk about her future, and about people she's interested in. When she's decided I'm 'cool enough'," she quoted with her other hand, then sighed.

Walking up to the tree before them, she released Korre to look up at the tree before them, arms crossed beneath her chest. The words she wanted to say, how she truly felt, were locked up behind her mouth; what she wanted to say, what she wanted to talk about wouldn't come. Instead, she cocked her head, and decided to try to deduce which genus the tree belonged in.

Emotions were temporary, but science was eternal, after all.

@lizziie

 

[Korre Belasi]

"I was a bit of a problem child when I was a teen," Korre chuckled as Ilana moved over to look at the tree. "She'll chill out, I'm sure."

The Belascan walked over to join the Arkanian woman by the tree and stood to look at it in silence with her for a little while before she spoke up again.

"I've always wanted kids of my own," she mused as she brushed a bit of dirt off a nearby stone seat. She didn't bother sitting down though. "It seems like such a distant possibility now though... I'm almost thirty and I've done so much, except be in a relationship." Korre chuckled. "Though the tabloids might have the galaxy believing other wise, I suppose."

tag: @Killa Ree

 

[Dr Ilana Morata]

She chuckled once, dryly, at Korre's statement. She could only hope that Silvi would chill out; the girl was headstrong like her father, with that same sense of black and white judgement. And Ilana, with her manipulation and tangled web, confused that right and wrong. But Silvi took after her mother too; Amariel knew that there was an unyielding stubbornness and curiosity to her daughter, and that was what scared her. She was afraid of what her daughter would discover once she ventured alone.

Thank the Force she also wasn't Force Sensitive.

Glancing at Korre, her eyebrows raised slightly, and a small grin touched her lips. "If you can believe it... I had my daughter in my late thirties." Her voice was low, but warm for her usual chill; they weren't intended to be words of comfort, but perhaps, an empathic reflex; there was a time the Doctor would have given anything to not bear children, for fear they would live in the same cold house Amariel's own mother, Yselti Morata, kept.

"It's never too late, Korre. Pursue what you want; the galaxy is yours. Take the advice of an older woman; I know a strength in you to make it happen." Amber eyes leveled, giving the woman a solid stare. "A family isn't only blood, after all."

Then she chuckled, shrugging once. "Lecture over, I promise. But talking of the family way surely wasn't your only goal to lure me from my retirement?" She slanted the woman a sly look, tilting her head slightly. "You have been keeping me in suspense."

@lizziie