Finding Leira

[Rae Anne Jarrus]

Location: Somewhere In Space
Time: 10:45 am
​

Ashlynn Rys had been on the move for a while now.. just like her niece. Since she had gone into hiding and left the Jedi for certain reasons, she joined another faction and started picking up missions. She had been on a few since then, got captured a few times, escaped and then coming to current time, she had a low time and nothing had happened the past few months.

Since she had found a break in her work, she decided that she would try and find her niece again. Ashlynn missed the girl terribly and just wanted to be an aunt and spoil her. She wanted to see how much Leira had progressed and how she looked now compared to then. It was planned to be in Leira's life and then issues came up where Odyne made some questionable decisions that Ashlynn disagreed with.

So now she was sitting in the middle of space on her ship, just waiting for one of her search droids to go off to show that it was tracking her niece's trail. Ashlynn knew that Leira had been going from world to world, so she set up a few of the old droids on each planet and waited in space until one of them signaled that they had found her.

~ @Leira Rys ~​

 

[Leira Rys]

From behind glass, Leira gazed out at the harlequinn colors of space. Shades of crimson and mauve mottling a sea of obsidian, adorned by sporadic alabaster gems. It was sight always fresh on her eyes, it's beauty unwavering no matter how many times it was seen.

The atmosphere was bathed in silence, nothing to hear except metallic taps, signalling nearby droids. The child sat comfortably in front of the colorful depths, her figure illuminated by distant starlight. She'd been coaxed into the ship by promises of meeting a relative she'd neither seen nor heard about. Ashlynn Rys, the name bearing the dreaded surname of the monster which had destroyed the lives of so many. So evil, that it was willing to torment its' own child.

Leira rejected him. Every mark of him was discarded from her, down to something as miniscule as a last name.

They arrived. The hatch opened with a thump, and lead into yet another ship. Gripping surrounding walls, Leira lifted herself. The space behind her was quickly filled by droids, the cold barrel of a gun nudging her forwards. Teeth clenched with irritation, she tried to swallow down the invectives creeping up to her throat. First impressions were important, after all.

A short walk brought her to Ashlynn. Brown eyes studied her, a peculiar silence lingering between the two. Until Leira could bear it no longer.

"Uh... Hi?"

 

[Ashlynn Rys]

After a few hours of waiting, Ashlynn could hear something in the back of her ship and sensed something she hadn't in a very long time. With the button to her droids, she walked to the back of her ship to see her niece, Leira Rys. It had been such a very long time since she had seen the young girl. For a few seconds, they studied each other, Ashlynn trying to remember Leira from when she was a baby. When Leira broke the silence, she heard slight frustration, but Ashlynn gave her a warm smile anyway.

"Hi Leira. I'm sorry about the droids. They've been a little moody lately."

she hit the button to them and they returned to their storage room and turned off. She then looked back to Leira and took a deep breath.

"I know you don't know or remember me, since the last time I saw you, you were just a child. Your father also known as my brother, kept me from seeing you. He never told me why, but I assumed it was to keep you from knowing someone better than himself. He didn't take kindly to me either..."

she continued. She then motioned for Leira to join her in the common room at the table and grabbed two glasses of water for herself and Leira.

"So enough of me talking, how have you been all these years?"

she asked, sitting down at the table as she gave a warm smile.

 

[Leira Rys]

"Oh... It's uh... Fine."

Fingers locked together in nervousness. She feigned vague interest in them, until the constant staring got awkward. Her eyes darted anywhere, to the paintings and engravings on the wall, to the texture of the carpet lying beneath her feet, but never returned Ashlynn’s gaze. She bore semblance to Odyne, yet, they were so different. She wasn’t twisted, narrowed by the constant hate nestled behind flesh and deep within bones. Similar enough, though, to seem as if she were staring into the eyes of the man she killed, the demon she wrestled with for years on end. It was a surreal feeling, one she couldn’t shake.

She found herself at the end of a table, with nothing to look at except her aunt. Leira tried to distract herself, to take refuge in the confines of her thoughts. If she looked at Ashlynn, her guilt would be obvious. Then, she’d have to explain. Leira did murder her brother, after all.

Ashlynn’s words were but a slight murmur, buried by the thoughts and questions amassing in her head. When her voice rose, hinting at an inquiry, she was forced to respond.

"Me? I was with the Jedi for almost a year, but then I left. Now I'm a smuggler for the Accord... Leading the Fireflies."