{{ urbania's void - prologue
...it begins (day zero / 0)
I have grown to love my life at the Fountain Palace. It is my home now. I love every detail. The way the carpets feel under your bare feet. The way the breeze gently tickles your cheeks as you stare out to the sea. The way the vines in the garden snake up the Palace and endlessly try to grow into the open windows. Hapes is my home.
I am the Commander of its fleets. I have no immediate family. All my relatives have died. But I do have a sister. She's not related by blood, but by trust, friendship and love.
Her name is Tenel Ka. We've become close since the events that took place two months ago. We're close enough that I can get away with calling her 'Tenna' which is a nickname stumbled upon one day awhile back. She was calling me 'Della' after I so unceremoniously donned one of her many tiaras to try to cheer her up, so I thought of a nickname for her too.
She's needed a lot of cheering up lately. And that all started a few days after Jacen Solo and the rest of our guests had left, after the post-war celebration.
At first she was very cautious around me, as if she still sensed the void of poison surging in my system. A few weeks had passed and we were getting closer in a friendly way... and after that it ended up growing into a sibling rivalry type bond. She once said to me that we reminded her of how Jacen and Jaina Solo used to act on Yavin 4.
She has told me many stories of her childhood. About her left arm and the Diversity Alliance and everything before, between and after. I always sat near her, like a little child listening to his parents read The Little Lost Bantha Cub; interested and begging for more. I didn't know she had been through so much and it gave me a new level of respect for her.
As for the planets, we have made new plans for the Hapan fleets and we are planning to build new ships, just in case another war ever surfaces. We have stayed up many late nights, in her quarters slaving over prints and plans of the new fleet, which is going to be bigger and better than anything ever created. And I have found myself curled up on her sofa the next morning, both of us collapsing the night before, from exhaustion.
Hapes is really becoming a strong set of planets, in the political sense. We've noticed a decrease in assassination attempts (to which Tenna said, "They just know I would win in a fight with them. They are frightened."), an increase of political support and continued cheers for the Queen Mother.
I, myself, have been busy training in the Force. Tenel Ka has taught me many things I never knew I could do. And she has also told me the ways of the Jedi, what's right and what's wrong. I'm learning... slowly but surely I'm learning. She always tells me that when Jacen comes back, he will teach me a few important things also...
When Jacen comes back...
We got a message, a general distress call, from him clothed in a disconcerting disguise. And that was Day Zero.
|