Ask Serenno On the Shores of Belsallian

Vex

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Vex followed the Empress' example as closely as possible. Two precise drops of blood were placed into her own plate. Then, she placed one hand over the plate of blood and the other over the runes. Her eyes dilated, a haunting violet glow lighting them. A similar mist of violet ichor shimmered in each of her hands. The magic was distant, but she tugged it like a string through a hole. Power flooded into her, then out of her into her catalysts.

She closed her eyes to focus. The blood twisted into helixes as it rose from its resting place, then leaped onto the runes as Vex incanted.

"Troost," she said, mimicking the Empress' words. She kept her breathing even as her focus became the second rune, blood and ink melding together in a black-red symphony. Her hair glowed with eldritch purple flame, undoing her careful braids, until it floated above her in a frenzy. "Froast."

The magic was intoxicating. She felt as though she were in that tomb again.... And then she let the power go with a long exhaled breath. The glow in her eyes, around her hands and hair vanished as she pulled the magic back inside her. She offered a weak smile to the Empress. "Korriban magick is so different than the little illusions I was trying to teach myself when we first met," she explained. "There's a hunger to it. When I call upon it, its will tears through me, demanding consumption. So, I've been training myself to control it through breathing. Sucking in a breath when I let the power in, breathing out when I let it go." She looked down at her handiwork. "That seems to be my method—for now." @Phoenix
 

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Renfry watched as she enchanted the parchments, preparing for the final step of the process.

You'll become more used to it with time, she said. It requires a great deal of mental discipline, otherwise the voices will drive you mad, she said. While they were probably different than the voices of Dathomir, she was certain that Nahri heard voices of her own. Learning to shut them out was the only thing that would maintain her sanity... or she would go mad as some Nightsisters had done before.

You have an item you intend to enchant? she asked. It was distinctly possible that she wouldn't, and if that was the case, it was fine.

If you don't, I'll tell you what to do. I'll enchant my own item in the other room, she said. She offered no further explanation as to why, but she had her reasons.
 

Vex

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Vex had not come prepared to enchant an object; but she did have something to enchant. She reached into the pockets and retrieved a small pendant clasped in iron. The gem at is center was foggy, clouded. If she intended to use it to hide her appearance, that meant it needed to be inconspicuous. A simple necklace would do that much.

She set the object down on the table. The Empress' desire to preform her ritual in another room caught her attention, but she didn't push the matter. The monarch might have additional charms or enchantments she wanted to add—spells that she did not yet wish Vex to know. Or perhaps she just wanted privacy. Either was a valid enough reason.

"This will do," she said.

It wasn't an item of any particular sentimentality to her. Just something she had found rummaging through her mother's old jewelry boxes. Something to remember her by, even if her mother didn't wear it often when she was alive. Vex would make up for it by wearing it now. She awaited the Empresses' instructions. @Phoenix
 

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Renfry looked at the item that the other woman held up, squinting slightly and looking closely.

Little bit creepy looking, she said, probably unexpectedly. It looked like an eyeball set into the necklace, but it would do the job well.

You'll focus your energy into the device, shaping its power in your mind. Most of the work is already done by the words of power, you're simply acting as the focusing point of that power, she said.

Once you feel you've made a connection with the object itself, you'll activate the word of power by looking at it and speaking the word again. Contain and filter the power when its released directly into the item, she explained. She waited to see if the other woman had any question before she would step out of the room.

From the other side of the door, Nahri would be able to feel the power fluctuating as Renfry enchanted the item. It only took a few moments before she returned once again to see how things had gone for the Champion.

@Mockingjay
 

Vex

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Once the Empress was gone, Vex took a moment to focus on the magic resting just beneath the surface of her skin. Summoning it. Calling it. Commanding it to surface. Then, with a flick of her fingers, it surged, violet ichor pouring into the pendant. The gem within shimmered with recognition, then Vex glanced at the word of power and spoke.

"Troost," she incanted. The energy pouring out of her twisted, and the eye in the locket burned a fiery red. "Froast."

Again the gem changed color, this time to an icy blue. But it was only a momentary transfiguration. A moment later it was a deep, crimson red. The color of the blood she had provided to empower her spell. And then it was done. She exhaled, and let the power go. For a moment, the room was silent. Gingerly, Vex reached out and touched the cool metal containing the eyelike gem. The power of the spell was immediately obvious to her.

It had worked.

The Empress returned a moment later, just as Vex was placing the amulet around her neck. "I think I made it creepier," she joked, motioning to the eye-gem's changed color. "But I think I got it right. The magic certainly felt more controlled than it had ever been."

She cradled the teardrop-shaped pendant, regarding it for a long moment. She was thinking warm thoughts until an intrusive one wormed its way into her skull and made it out her mouth. "Do you think this how Palpatine... You know? Covered up the whole—" Vex gestured broadly to her face before breaking out into a fit of laughter. "—I mean he looked normal at some point, right?" @Phoenix
 

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Congratulations, your first artifact, she said with a smile as she saw her putting the amulet around her neck. She leaned forward again as Nahri mentioned it was creepier and examined it more closely.

She half-nodded. Uhh... yeah, maybe, she said. Renfry who had butchered animals, slaughtered people, and done so many other violent, blood, and gory things, was not a fan of eyeballs as it turned out.

She shook the thought from her head and thought about the comment on Palpatine. Renfry had heard about that, and she'd heard competing theories about the reason he suddenly became shriveled. She had not, however, ever heard or seen anything definitive on the topic.

It's certainly a possibility, she said. Difficult to really say for sure unless we find some sort of record, she said, which she wasn't counting on.

Renfry chucked as she broke out into laughter. Yeah, he wasn't reportedly a very attractive man, she said, though she'd be lying if she said he wasn't interesting.

His dabblings came with a price. It usually does, she added more seriously.

@Mockingjay
 

Vex

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Vex's expression straightened at that last necessary reminder. Darth Sidious was the most powerful Sith Lord to have ever walked the galaxy. And that power had come with a terrible price—a price he was more than willing to pay. She touched the pendant again, recalling the way Varyn had begged her not to step into the pool. The words she had countered him with.

I will pay any price.

She meant it then. She meant it now. The Empress had to know that. She was warning her because she knew the cost of that power. She lived and breathed that cost every day. Vex nodded sharply. "I understand," she replied.

Then another, less dark, thought occurred to her. She needed to express her gratitude somehow. She had learned valuable lessons from the Empress today, and though she still had a ravenous desire to learn more, Vex had begun to change since their last encounter. There were other things the two women could do that didn't involve laboratories all the time; and Vex had been paying attention to the other things the Empress had said. The non-magical sort.

"You know," she said, as she began gathering up the mess of her workstation. "Nalju Manor sits on the edge of some exquisite wilderness. Pines and evergreens as far as the eye can see. Harsh, jutting mountains, out of which flows cold, pristine rivers teeming with wildlife." She eyed the Empress as she turned around to put away some of the extra supplies. "Perfect for hunting, if you ever got a weekend away here or there."

She realized she could be taking a risk. After all, who asked the Empress of the fucking Sith Empire to go hunting with them? She imagined Palpatine never got such invitations from Vader. Just the mental image of the two of them stalking about the backcountry with nothing but a bow and arrow between them was almost enough to send her into another fit of laughter.

But the more Vex had learned about the Empress, the more she wanted to know. They seemed like natural, kindred spirits, in a way. She had not encountered very many women like that in the Empire. Not yet, at least. @Phoenix
 

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Renfry didn't belabor the warnings any further. The woman knew, and she was an adult capable of making her own decisions. Renfry's price had been different than many others, but there were still prices to pay.

Renfry's eyebrow quirked up at the suggestion of going hunting. Most people didn't make an offer like that, but Vex had shown she wasn't afraid of putting herself at risk. Renfry wouldn't lie, she loved hunting. Often she went into the wilds of unknown planets where she could simply be her old self without responsibilities or burdens. Vex was still pushing to enter a part of Renfry's world that held many barriers and walls, and the Empress still wasn't certain she trusted her motives. Malicia, Morgan, Artorigas, even Raze had taught her to be wary of other Sith. It was central to survival.

The truth was that she enjoyed Vex. She had an inquiring mind and a commitment to her goals, but she also had an ambition that was powerful for the Empire and a reason for the Empress to distrust her. For now, she would allow time to sift the truth.

Is that a standing offer? I may take you up on it someday, she said. Not today or tomorrow, but sometime.

What do you hunt with? she asked after a moment more. She realized that most people probably didn't use quite as "primitive" means as she did. But an energy bow had always served her very well.

@Mockingjay
 

Vex

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Vex smiled and nodded. She hadn't expected the Empress to jump at her offer. Just consider it. "Of course, it's a standing offer," she confirmed. "I can't promise the game on this world is particularly interesting," she added, not knowing where or what the Queen of the Sith had hunted. "But despite my appearances, I prefer nature. And Serenno has plenty of that."

And on that note, she would make it a point to return home more often. Belsavis and Rakata Prime were currently where her duties lay. They could not fall to the wayside when so much work rested on her shoulder. Yet she could not let her mind be splintered under stress. The Empress' warning weighed on her now. The voices were there, yes. But they couldn't get her if her mind was strong. Perhaps it was time too look into investing a private, country residence on Serenno for meditation purposes. To steal her mind against the costs of her magic.

And then her attention was robbed away by the Empress' question. "When I hunted often," she explained, "I did it with a rather basic bow and quiver of arrows. My father again." A nostalgic smile touched her lips even as her eyes became distant with. memory. "Everything with that man was a lesson, and hunting to him was more than just about learning to manage the giving and taking of life. It was about honing your ambition. About setting goals and achieving them, even if the tools in your hand are crude and primitive." She thought of how she had weaponized the tabloids and the Hutt Cartel to win back her father's company. Yes, no tool was beyond her. "I suppose I could afford new equipment now. But sometimes I just prefer to be back at the basics."

She snapped out of her daze and looked now to the Empress, a light, teasing edge slipping into her voice. "And you? Are bows and arrows your fancy, or do they give you a super-secret hunting kit when you become Queen of the Sith?" @Phoenix
 

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Woman after my own heart, she said. She'd always been more inclined toward being in the wilds than being in the cities. She'd learned to appreciate the city as well, but it was never her first love.

I don't meet a lot of bow hunters, she said with a quirked eyebrow. Nightsisters use energy bows usually, she said. She hadn't been one of her Clan's dedicated hunters, but she was no slouch with the weapon out of necessity. When it came to throwing spears, however, she fell far short.

I still like to keep it simple. Not much for blasters, she said, scowling at the comment. So... clunky, she said. The fact that there was a literal army of soldiers serving her who used blasters was irrelevant.

She motioned for Vex to follow her and headed back out of the lab, heading back toward the turbolift that had brought them down.

Eventually, she walked out into the sunlight of the planet again, looking out over the courtyard where several Nightsisters were practicing their trade as well. Despite having been Empress for so long, she still relied on her own people for most of the most critical jobs.

You could almost forget there's a war going on, she said, looking out at the crashing waves beyond. Plenty of people blamed her for the war, and it wasn't wrong, but it wasn't the whole story. No one's hands were clean in this war.

@Mockingjay
 

Vex

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Vex eyes lingered on the Nightsisters performing their drills in the courtyard before gazing past them at the sea. Serenno had that effect on people. A way of making them forget about the troubles of the galaxy. She imagined that was why Count Dooku often retreated here during the Clone Wars. He had been a shrewd, but elegant man. How the war must have weighed on him, much as this new war was weighing on her Empress.

She stepped up to stand beside the monarch, gazed fixed out on some unknown point on the horizon. "Perhaps one day it can be like this," she said wistfully. "Our people safe. Our enemies vanquished. The Sith religion has been persecuted since we first stepped out of the shadows eons ago. The galaxy had nearly stamped us out. They failed," she turned and offered a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "thanks in part to you."

She could see how someone might take that statement as ass-kissing. Everyone did their fair share of it in the presence of a monarch. But Vex's words were sincere. There was no Empire before the Empress. Just a cult, discredited by the Jedi as pretenders languishing away in backalleys of the galaxy. She wondered what a galaxy ruled by the Empress would look like.

Citizens feared Sith rule, mostly because of Jedi propaganda. But the galaxy had enjoyed stability under the Galactic Empire. Twenty years of it, despite the rebellion happening mostly in the Rim worlds. Legend had it that it enjoyed decades longer of prosperity under the first Sith Lords. Vex wondered if it could be like that again, and there was no better person to ask than the woman standing next to her. "Forgive me if its not my place to ask," she said. "But what do you see at the end of this war? If we win — when we win — what kind of galaxy do you want to create out of the ashes of this war?" @Phoenix
 

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I didn't like the way the Eternal ran things. It was reckless, she said. But for all the rightful criticisms that people leveled at it, there's no arguing that it brought the Sith out of the Unknown Region and brought them back together, she said.

I want the Empire to run the same as its running now, just with wider borders, she said. The Empire's citizens largely thrived. There was stability, strict enforcement of laws and justice, and a strong singular goal.

And the Jedi rooted out from their holds in the galaxy, she said. She'd modeled much of her rule after that of Andraste. Like the great Sith Empress, Andruil had managed to see the Jedi banned from the Republic as well. It was an impressive feat in her mind. Only the FWA remained in the corner of the Lightsiders.

Everyone thinks that everything I say publicly about the Jedi is propaganda, she said, shaking her head. But they really are a more controlling influence than so many people want to see or admit. When you take a step back to look at the objective influence they've wielded over the last milenia, it's staggering, she said.

@Mockingjay
 

Vex

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And this was why Vex was so dedicated to the Empire. Because the Empress was right. The Empire prospered despite every Jedi attempt to have their economy sanctioned, their people harmed. Now, the Sith were closer than ever to exposing the truth about the Jedi Order. To seeing them expunged to the shadows, where they had long legislated the Sith. "The Jedi Grand Master is certainly not doing herself any favors," Vex offered. "She uses her HoloNet platform as a podium to shame the galaxy for embracing sensibility. And now she's building this 'Jedi Empire'. She will only isolate them more, now."

Vex couldn't help but wonder if the Jedi would have been more formidable opponents had any one other than Alexandra Voran led their Order. The woman who at first was almost exceedingly apologetic for the Jedi Order's transgressions, now turned bitter in the face of the loss of so many allies. Losses, some of which, she incurred. But maybe that was the will of the Force. Maybe it too had finally seen the folly of raising the Jedi Order up to oppose the progress of the Sith time and time again.

The steeliness left her voice with her next statement. "If there is anything I can do to be an asset," Vex added more softly. "I will use whatever resources are at my fingertips to do so." Belsavis was coming along, but she could not help but wonder if there was more she could be doing. Ansion and Alderaan had left her restless. The Jedi she had met on the latter world seared into her mind.

And yet her thoughts were also on the Empress' child. On Arla. She could not fathom how much it must weigh on a mother's heart that this war they were fighting would very likely determine the future of that child's life. As someone who nearly had their own future stolen from them, Vex felt a surge of desire to ensure the burden did not fall solely on the Empress' shoulders. "The galaxy is on the verge of a great change." Vex sucked in a deep breath through her nostrils, and with it, the currents of the Force. "You can feel the currents converging in the Force towards... something. The Free Worlds Alliance feels at a tipping point," she added, exhaling. "There must be something we can do to push them over the edge, to make them see the Jedi for what they truly are."

Though if there was, she didn't know it. They had been given so many chances. So many warnings. How had they not seen it already? @Phoenix
 

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Renfry thought about what Vex said, as well as what she didn't say. While she didn't read the Champion's mind, there was no question that she had a greater perception of what was going on than most. It was simply the nature of who she was and what she could do.

Don't underestimate the Jedi, she said. They may be on the backfoot and without the allies they had, but they still hit us on many worlds, leading countless who resist against us, she said. Her mind turned to Eriadu and Dantooine. Worlds that had been taken by the Jedi despite the power that the Empire had. The reality was that the Empire constantly sat on a precarious point.

And Renfry was tired of being the one to manage it. She missed Dathomir and her people. She missed being that wandering girl who just wanted to see the galaxy with bright eyes.

And the Jedi have dug in deep on a lot of worlds. There are things to learn from them, she said, a statement that usually shocked people. It was an idea that Emryc had introduced to her years ago.

But chip away a little at a time. Coruscant wasn't built in a day, she said.

@Mockingjay
 

Vex

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Vex wasn't used to hearing a Sith Lord speak with such... respect for their enemies. It wasn't like the Empress was defending the Jedi. Rather, she saw merits in her enemy's strategy. And she knew from experience what happened to Sith who underestimated the Jedi. If the Order could come back from a single man and a single woman, twice near the brink of extinction, it was certainly not her place to count them out just yet.

"Of course," she said reverently. "Despite their blunders, I suppose they have some tenacious ones among them." The three she had met on Ansion were certainly driven, if not annoying gnats in the end.

But then Vex looked at the Empress and saw something she had never seen on her queen before. The monarch looked tired. Genuine exhaustion. She supposed that was what it was like. To run an Empire, to have so many dependent on you for vision and leadership. To run a war in which the price was your very existence. She wasn't like Sidious. She didn't enjoy this. Vex guessed she did it out of a sense of genuine love for her people, or perhaps some feeling of responsibility to them.

"You are not alone, my Lady," Vex said, sensing the Empress needed to hear it. "I sometimes cannot fully wrap my mind around managing a single world, much less thousands, so I cannot pretend to know your burden. But I know that there are many in this Empire who share your will and vision." She glanced sideways at the monarch. The sun was dipping now, transforming the Belsallian Sea into an ocean of molten fire, painting the sky in hues of violet and burnt orange. "People who are inspired by your strength. We will win this war. And I have confidence the galaxy you envision is waiting for us there at the end."

She meant this too; because she wanted that galaxy too. An Empire prosperous. An Empire of laws. An Empire without the hypocritical preachments of monks who would see it become stagnant and loathsome. It was not the Sith Empire her Master had once envisioned. It was better. @Phoenix
 

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Renfry wondered how Sidious had managed to do it all alone. For all his pride, what he had managed was astounding to her. Renfry chuckled slightly as Vex complimented what she'd done. She wasn't sure how much of it she believed, but she did know that she'd managed to turn the Empire into something that resembled a legitimate government.

There's a lot that goes into running it, and a lot of people under me who are critical to its success, she said. After a moment she cleared her throat and took a step back from the railing. Enough mulling over the seriousness over her position and brooding. Brooding never helped anything.

I trust you've learned something today. Keep studying, you're making good progress, she said. The sky was starting to go down, but she still had work to do today.

I'm sure our paths will cross again. Until then, that Empire we were talking about still has a lot of work that needs doing, she said.

@Mockingjay
 

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Vex recognized a dismissal when she heard one, but she couldn't help but smile at the higher note this one had ended on. She would leave the gardens of her homeworld feeling more confident and invigorated than she had going in. She bowed respectfully to her queen, then rose. "I have learned a lot, my Lady. Thank you for your time," she said. "May our paths cross again soon. Until then, the work continues."

She spared one last look at the gardens before she left. Beslavis had no such gardens for her to relax in, but it was important she return all the same. She had a prison to finish, prisoners to tend to, apprentices to train, and training of her own to do. And so she marched off into the sunset, leaving the Empress to her own work.

/End Thread
 
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