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[Aurielle Stratus]

Two weeks ...

Dene's trial had taken much from Aurielle's spirit, something already of a fragile ball. One made of beautiful crystal, and hung on an ornate silver chain. Then, smashed against a marble floor till shards chipped off. The Princess really had no idea what to do with herself. Upon the trial's completion, Aurielle went to her room without speaking to anyone but Bryn, who had been instructed to take her away. Anywhere she could be alone, it did not matter. When asked if her father was to be given access to the ... information of her trip, Aurielle's hard conscent was given, as long as he swore to let her be and to keep his goons out of her sight. This time, she wouldn't even fight his security.

Ithor was her destination, something Aurielle had really no care in knowing. A beautiful planet of jungle and danger. For anyone except Aurielle. Bryn's choice in obtaining a floating room that moved across the hotel's lush viewscape was not impressive. Aurielle walked in, sensing goon-stench everywhere, and promptly ignored it. She went into her room, drew the metallic blinds to a hard close for utter darkness, lay out on her bed, and curled into a ball.

For two weeks, she moved only to relieve herself, and to eat when the pains of hunger could not be fought off anymore. She was vaguely aware of a doctor visit after a few days, Bryn's sheer panic making the event happen without Aurielle's conscent. She spoke to no one, and requested nothing. Just wanted to be utterly alone. And every once in a while when she caught sight of security or cooks or cleaning people on her short outings from the pitch black room, a single tear fell from her cheek.

Being alone was utterly impossible.

So she drew deep into her mind, where nobody could bother her. Her father's goons were not able to go there. Bryn couldn't go, either. She pretended in the dark that she could be completely alone, pretended her mind was real and her reality was nothing but a dark dream trying to drown her in despair. The two weeks passed mostly happily, and when Bryn had worried enough, Aurielle did not put up a fight at the command to turn right around and return home (a fact that disturbed her personal planner so much more than the ever present and constantly deepening depression Aurielle was lost in).

Upon her return home, Aurielle had still not spoken. Not for two weeks. She wondered within her little mind if she still could. She sat in the Palace gardens, and lifted a hand. Auri focused on a flower, red petals so fragrant and delicate, trying to move it. The Force complied, making it dance in an invisible wind.

"Home ..." she whispered, the sound sounding so loud but so very silent to the guards behind her. More goons, in the one place she thought she would be safe. In the one place she could not be touched. Why? What was the point? A sigh escaped parted lips, hand moving to brush blonde strands from her face. Home, for better or worse.

[James Stratus]

It was the end of a long day. James Stratus sat in his office when one of his aides walked in, being the last one to leave for the day besides himself. "Yes, Leseita, what is it?"

"Your Highness, I just got a call from Bryn."

He raised his eyebrows. Strange. With everything that had been going on he had lost his focus and had not sensed her arrival. That alone troubled him. He found her presence immediately once he reopened himself, and he could feel her state of gloom. He rose immediately. "She's back." He replied simply. "Thank you Leseita."

Rather than inquire her destination of the guard, he decided to re-tune his senses and try to get a feel for her surroundings to pinpoint her location. Having just come from Ithor, the Palace Garden indeed made sense.

Auri was sitting in the garden alone, two guards were near. The guard count in the garden increased dramatically, though Auri no doubt sensed her father's presence long before the sign of his arrival. He stood in the archway, and waived away the guard instructing the majority of them to back off. He took a seat next to his daughter and remained silent for a moment.

"How was your trip?" he finally asked softly.

[Aurielle Stratus]

She felt her father, before he even entered the room. But she gave nothing away to the two goons behind her. She let the numbers do the talking. And when she could feel her father close, watching her, a small smile threatened to surface. Oh how amusing. She forgot the politics of the Palace, having been so detached in her little mental breakdown.

He sat, and Aurielle did not look up at first. She continued to play with the little flower. Not touching it with her skin, but making the petals move in the synthetic sun. The first time she had been willingly in the light since Dene's trial. It had been so hard to see, to be made to bear witness. To have everything she had ever felt for him questioned, Dene's very character be made to sneer at on a public slab. Just thinking about it made her sad. Too sad, too strong a reaction.

She let the silence sit between them, a stranger. For the first time since her rescue, Aurielle was uneasy around James Stratus. She had been skiddish after her captivity, but never around her rescuer. Now she wasn't sure where to begin. Wasn't sure why she was hurting so deeply. Wasn't sure if he even loved her anymore.

"My trip?" she blurted, quietly still. Whispering tones still sounding louder than normal speech. Blue eyes widened in surprise. She figured he would know. "A waste."

Her brief moment of anger led to a slip in her control of the Force. The red flower she had been playing with snapped at the stem, and a very small blip of death happened as the flower became less than a living thing. Now it was dying. Auri had killed it. The surprise of such a loss of control made her drop it next to the stem it used to be whole with. Gulping, tears suddenly filled her eyes, and she didn't know why. One by one they fell, pat-pat-patting as her skirts stopped their dropping downwards, little wet spots showing in the white fabrics.

Aurielle didn't know why she felt so lost, didn't know why she felt so sad. After a minute, tears still rolling down her cheeks and into her lap, she turned and pressed her forehead against James' shoulder. Her small body was shaking from silent sobs, and it hurt to breathe, like she was being choked in her lungs. This was silly, but she could feel so much now, more than she had ever felt before. And it scared her.

[James Stratus]

James placed a hand around Auri's shoulder and with his left hand moved her bangs away from her face. "What troubles you Auri? I sense great gloom and despair in you. I've been worried about you. Is there something I can do?"

[Aurielle Stratus]

"What troubles you Auri? I sense great gloom and despair in you. I've been worried about you. Is there something I can do?"

James did not know, he was not helping her. Heck, Aurielle didn't even know what was wrong. Normally she was a bottle, emotions building and building until things just exploded. Like now. Maybe it was a combination of losing her parents, and of seeing the Force ghost of her brother. Maybe it was her lack of stability in general. Maybe part of her loved Dene too much and seeing the trial happened was too much.

In any case, it all sounded absurd. But crying helped.

After a while, she pulled back. Her hands rubbed the corners of her eyes, then wiped at the tear streaks running down her cheeks. Thank goodness they were alone. The guards knew better than to comment or offer assistance, but anyone else may have in their good faith tried to be helpful, while really making this release all the more embarrassing.

"I'm not sure what's wrong," she said. "I just feel so ... wrong, I guess. Something isn't right here. And I don't know how to begin to fix it. I have to stop pretending like my return to the public is just fine." ... I never had the chance to mourn my parents, she wanted to say, but did not. Aurielle did not want to hurt her new father, this was not meant to be a "dig" at him, a slap in the face. It was just something she needed to experience. "I don't know what I am doing and if this is even where I am supposed to be."

[James Stratus]

Jim Stratus nodded. He was here, not as the High Prince or Supreme Ruler of the Imperial Republic, but as a father. A role he did not often get to be, due to his line of work. It was sad but his other daughter he mostly saw only on duty and in official capacities, and rarely had time for her either. He had, however, anticipated that this particular moment would come. The truth was, it would never be an ideal time for him. There would always be something going on. He had made plans for such a time as this. "Aurielle, I am going to ask you something, and you can say no if you want, but I think you should consider it. I think its time that you got some sense of closure. I know you have open wounds that need closing, though sometimes in order to close them they must be cleaned out and disinfected first. How about I take a week or two off and take you to visit two places where I know you will be able to accomplish this. It may not be fully, but there is a chance it may forever clense the wounds. The Imperial Republic government has capable leaders that can stand to handle things for a week or two during my absence, just you and me." He frowned as he thought of trying to explain that to his chosen Commandant of the Guard. She would not stand for it, nor would his Captain. In the end he would agree to allowing enough of them to go ahead and secure the way, and hide in teh shadows, and allow the Shadow Guard to accompany him as well. They would remain mostly out of sight, except for the four that would ride the ship with them, the others following behind and more others ahead. They would be out of sight, and she would barely feel their presence, if any. The High Prince was very good at shielding their presence; James Stratus was pretty damn good at it too.

[Aurielle Stratus]

The offer hung in the air between father and daughter, the partial seconds passing like minutes. Aurielle knew she would be stupid to refuse her father. Time alone with him, or any of her new family for that matter, was normally a luxury too precious to be afforded. And for it to be offered, placed right in her lap, seemed almost too surreal.

The small part of her mind not lost to the gloom consuming her screamed for her to say no. Aurielle understood why, for it was far from rocket science. He was the leader of the entire galaxy, and to take time away, even to spend with her, could result in a mess. Any time James Stratus left the confines of the palace, madness generally followed.

But Aurielle was not sane. And, sad as it was, she knew she hadn’t been even while pretending to be a normal, happy girl. She was not content, and knew that if this rent inside of her soul continued, permanent consequences would likely result. She had to be strong, strong for her parents who died for her and strong for her new family that wanted her. Being angry solved nothing, and it was too selfish for the Princess to neglect her duties and responsibilities out of pure self-pity. In fact, it was inexcusable

"Dad," she finally said, more of a gasp of surprise than a thanks or complaint. "I ... are you serious? Just us, alone and away from all of this?" Aurielle let her arm swing in a wide circle, fingers dancing to point out the hiding places of the guard that surrounded both of them in a mockery of the game they played, pretending this was normal. "I don't even think you have permission to grant that."

Her last statement was a joke mostly, but also her tone cried out that Aurielle was afraid now that the offer would be taken back. She had hope in her voice for the first time in a very long time. It was pathetic how badly she craved this, to find any type of healing her new father would prescribe to her broken, shattered heart.

Edited by Aurielle Stratus, 24 May 2010 - 01:40 PM.

[James Stratus]

He smiled at her remark. He did indeed wonder how he would be able to do the manuevering he just described. "Yes I am serious. Away from all this, and to get some closure for you. And," he added quietly "for me." Pushing the thought aside he chuckled as he redirected the conversation. "And as for permission, I don't want you to follow my example, but I have learned many times that it is far easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission. We can leave tonight. I just have to dispatch a few orders prior to leaving, but I can have the Dawn Treader up and running in no time."

[Aurielle Stratus]

Her father's remark left her silent, a brief yet harsh reminder that Aurielle was not the only one hurting right now. Normally she was amazing at reading other's emotions and making them feel better, it was part of her strong empathic natural abilities. But today she was just off. She put her hand on the side of his face, a gesture of kindness, and also that she understood his pain. But she found her chest too heavy to speak at the moment.

But the next comment, about not following his example, had Auri dropping her hand and worried face, replacing it with a quick smile as her arms moved out, holding her palms up and shrugging her shoulders innocently. "I think I taught you that, father," she said, then looked affronted. "And if you tell anyone, I will ... I will ..."

She left the threat unfinished. "I could pack again. I think thought that Bryn will be frustrated with me, after our trip. I wasn't feeling ..." right? Could she say that? Her arms and hands fell back to her side, and Auri's eyes fell back to the ground.

[James Stratus]

Jim smiled. "Better pack quickly. If we want to get away unnoticed, we have to leave in an hour, before the new shift of the guard starts." He stood up, gave her a big hug, and then headed off in a hurry for his office. He arrived almost instantly, moving in quick fashion. The current shift of the guard must have sensed something was up, because how quickly and swiftly he grabbed a few small items and moved about the office. He shot off a brief message to Tavria with his notice of a quick vacation with his daughter, to not be announced or let out. As far as the public was concerned, he was still on Coruscant but perhaps during a slow time. The spotlight was currently on the senate, Dene, and this new Kamino incident. He did not need to pack anything in particular, everything he would need was always on board the Dawn Treader in case of emergency. He sent an encrypted short-wave signal to the Dawn Treader and the hangar it was in which began automated processes of powering up and securing the hangar for takeoff. It would signal the Royal Fleet's commander and the Royal Guard's commandant only on its takeoff, a security measure put in place at the urge of Commandant-General Kaidlen Shan. The guards watching the ship looked confused as it begin power-up procedures. A small team of Noghri began boarding the ship as per procedure, only because it had begun power-up. No alert was sent to the Royal Guards themselves, so no teams were preparing for takeoff or a trip of any sort unlike the formidable Noghri. They had served the House Stratus for years, and knew Jim Stratus very well. This was always a preclusion to a secret trip, and they had learned that if they didn't beat the Stratus' to the ship, they would miss the launch entirely and have to follow in their less-conspicuous ships which had much difficulty in matching the Treader in speed.

Jim arrived at Aurielle's suite and the door opened at his "knock." "We better hurry before Tavria reads her memos, and Kaidlen will know the minute the ship launches, though no doubt with her cunning she is already aware." He helped her finish packing and the two went to the private hangar above the Royal Suites together in a rush. The Prince waived off the guards that stood dumbfounded as he dismissed them. He boarded the ship and the door sealed behind them as they entered. He noted the gear of the Noghri's aboard, but they had hidden themselves in their own compartment that had been built especially for them, including weapons and communications control systems where they could effectively protect the two Royals while not being visible. "Looks like you're flying copilot this time Auri."

[Dene Vye Cognatus]

Dene had felt her presence return to Coruscant, why did he feel the need to be sad? It became obvious that Dene had feelings for Auri, and he sensed she was the same way. Dene went back to a time where him and Auri were training together, they were dueling when Auri found herself pinned against the wall. Dene and Auri connected with a soft kiss that lasted what seemed like forever. Dene and Auri agreed on a pact, but life soon changed, Dene would be charged and put on trial for a murder that he never committed... the dream went away. Dene awoke and a tear ran down his cheek.

"Life gives and takes away.."

Edited by Dene Vye Cognatus, 08 June 2010 - 10:21 PM.

[Aurielle Stratus]

Aurielle ran the moment she was released from the hug. She did not stop, did not wait for the guard to catch up with her. Although her head pounded from crying, and her face was red and stung in the cool air, she pushed the mortal thoughts from her mind. Auri would be leaving, and hopefully, her father would be assisting her in recovering the sanity that seemed to evade her thoughts and minds. The minute she got to her room, Auri grabbed a bag from the closet and threw it open on her bed. Packing was also a blur, and when the knock came, Auri ran to open the door and let him in.

They hurried, and Auri hoped with James' input she would have everything she needed. The girl was a bundle of tears and excitement and hope. Hope ... something she hadn't felt in a long time. Once they packed, they moved to the hanger. But as Aurielle moved to board the ship, something pf a presence she would know anywhere stabbed through the heart, and made her turn. Why did this feel like she was finally doing the leaving? She could feel Dene's despair, probably the closest thing to matching hers. Fate was not fair, and she could not help who she was any more than he could. If they had been born poor and never attained titles, maybe they could then be together. But as it stood, Aurielle was not able to have the only thing she wanted.

With a new found sullen pain, she silently strode into the ship. "I can to my best. I have never piloted anything this large before." Her words were an automatic response. The hope was gone from her face, her mind, her heart.

Edited by Aurielle Stratus, 12 June 2010 - 08:57 AM.