Star Nomad Cast (starnomadnpc) wrote in starnomad, @ 2015-12-04 11:09:00 |
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It could generally be said that Tenel Ka knew when to keep her hands out of other people's business. She was neither an overly fussy person, nor someone who liked to pick up tasks that did not belong to her, thus perhaps it was a bit odd that she found herself walking through the diplomatic wings of the Hapan Palace with a practically new model nanny droid trailing her. The droid wasn't entirely new. She had been working with another child for nearly three years, but that child had moved into tutors and the droid was going to be reassigned and so Tenel Ka and taken the opportunity to reassign it to herself. Jacen Solo was tired. She could sense it even when he didn't complain much about it. He did say that it was difficult to get enough sleep, and when he had told her quietly over a cup of caf between meetings a few days previous that he and Lyric were planning to keep Derek, she'd sensed both the determination, and the exhaustion in his sense as he'd told her. When she'd mentioned the droid he had hesitated. It might be a good idea, but Lyric had seemed uncertain. So Jacen seemed unlikely to seek one out, but Tenel Ka suspected neither of them would return one gifted to them and right now with everything in chaos, who knew if Jacen could even put his hands on one in the way he might have been able to prior to Coruscant's fall? She had no idea what the Solo's had in the way of assets currently. But Jacen was her friend, and he was more tired than he was allowing to show, she could sense that. And there had been a certain wistfulness that has quickly passed when the idea of a droid had pulled up, and Tenel Ka might know that whatever time she'd had with Jacen might have passed, but she still counted him a friend. And so she held up her hand for the droid to wait and it whirred to a stop. She could sense Jacen wasn't there, well maybe this was better. Tenel Ka hadn't really had the opportunity to speak with Lyric outside of the small and brief interactions they'd had on the mission together. She had sat and watched him while Jacen slept, and she had cared for him because he mattered to Jacen, because he was a team member, and because they had been working together. But she didn't know him much. Perhaps it was time to change all that and if Jacen wasn't there, Jacen could accept no blame for the conversation they had shared that had prompted Tenel Ka to decide this gift might be necessary - not just for Jacen her friend, but for Jacen the Jedi, Jacen the Solo, and Lyric who she knew had been working among the refugee communities here on Hapes. Jacen and Lyric both getting a full nights sleep seemed to be something that would be for the good of the galaxy after all. Her shoulders as straight and confident as always, she knocked on the door. "That's very interesting, Derek." Lyric chuckled softly as the small infant babbled, reaching down to grab his feet now that he wasn't being held down for a diaper anymore. Maybe it was just the relief that Jacen was all right with Derek but even though he was getting about as much sleep as before and the refugees were still requiring more of his time, Lyric felt the most at ease he had since before they had arrived at Coruscant that final fateful time. He lifted Derek up, bringing him close and pressing their noses together. Lyric was rewarded with a slobbering mouth latching on for a moment and then a shrieking giggle. "Yeah, very funny." Lyric mused easily as he tucked Derek easily against his hip. They would have to head back down soon, there was too much work left to be done today and Jacen wouldn't be back for a while. Really he didn't have the time to come all the way back here but Elix had wanted his help earlier in the morning. The knock came as a surprise and Lyric's grip on Derek tightened instinctively. He was in the rooms Tenel ka had provided for Jacen and really there was nowhere safer on the planet likely but instinct died hard. Still after a moments pause he walked over and opened the door, only to be greeted by a familiar redhead that looked up at him. "Jacen's not currently here." he offered quietly as his own greeting. Tenel Ka hadn't had the opportunity to meet the young baby that Jacen said they were keeping. The conversation they had shared had been a quiet conversation, one that he'd asked her to keep to herself because he wasn't ready to talk to his parents about it and Tenel Ka had been willing to do that for Jacen. It wasn't as if she had any particular interest in spreading the information around, but it had left her curious - both about the child that Jacen was taking in, and the man that had convinced him to do so. "I know," she nodded matter-of-factly. "But that's all right, I did not necessarily come to see him, but rather to meet the young one, and to speak with you. Jacen mentioned you would be keeping him?" Lyric raised an eyebrow momentarily before his face trained back into its normal cool expression. He only knew a little about Tenel Ka from Jacen and what little interaction they had on that mission. He knew that she had helped Jacen keep him alive and that when Jacen slept she had watched over him. Of all the people who could she seemed like an odd choice, but devotion to Jacen was something that Lyric understood intimately. Add in the fact that they were only here at her desire and Lyric wasn't sure just how much he wanted to be near Tenel Ka. "Would you like to come in?" he asked, calm as he took a step out of the way. He was calm and even with the Force she could see there was a calmness to him that was certainly practiced. She knew nothing about his childhood, but she would guess that it had been something required as much as her own coolness had been practiced and nurtured from childhood. That was something she understood, even if she couldn't tell anything else about Lyric's background from that small piece of information. It wasn't something she had really asked Jacen about either - he hadn't volunteered and she hadn't wanted to pry. For now she tilted her head at the droid and nodded. "You can wait here," she said with a quiet edge of authority, before she stepped into the apartments. "Thank you," she offered to Lyric. "I am glad that I was able to catch you here. I was afraid that you might be down with your work." She let the door close behind her and considered the baby in Lyric's arms. She had not spent enough time around children to tell much about this one, except that he was clearly under the age of one. Not speaking probably, but he seemed good natured enough. "This is the child then?" Honestly Lyric would have preferred if she simply left but it didn't seem to be in the cards for today. Jacen wouldn't be back for hours yet so barring some strange coincidence he was unlikely to have his jedi show up to take over this conversation for him. Lyric knew they were friends but he could only think of a few reasons why the future queen of the Hapans would want to speak with him specifically and they all had to deal with Jacen Solo. Lyric stepped more fully into the apartment as she made her way in. With the door shut it clearly seemed like she might be here for more than a moment and possibly with something she didn't want other people overhearing. The cool authority from her voice ran a chill up his spine, a natural instinct to run from it carefully put under control. There were all kinds of people like that, especially in Jacen's world, but Lyric wasn't used to anything good coming from that tone. "His name's Derek." Lyric offered as he watched her. "We were just about to head back down to the camp." "I won't keep you for very long," Tenel Ka promised. She had no intention of trying to become friends and she suspected Lyric would have no interest in it. She didn't particularly want to antagonize him, because Jacen was her friend and she had no intention of that changing in the near future. That meant however, that even if she didn't particularly wish to be friends, she needed to be able to have a conversation with him. Lyric struck her as someone who would not be particularly impressed by her title, and she half-wished that she was meeting him simply as a Jedi, as she once had been, but had not been for a very long time. "It is a pleasure to meet you Derek," she said to the young boy, and the corner of her lips turned up just slightly in a smile. She looked up at Lyric. "Do you take him with you then?" The smile was a little bit of a surprise, but Lyric kept it from registering on his face. Whatever it was that Tenel Ka wanted hopefully she would get straight to the point and they could both move on with their lives. While she was part of Jacen's life and someone Jacen cared about, Lyric had no idea what to do with royalty and honestly didn't want to deal with them. "He sleeps a lot." Lyric offered with a small shrug. "Well, off and on. Better than leaving him alone. And if something happens I'm right there." "Of course, it makes sense," she said simply, without registering much surprise. It was what she had gathered from what Jacen had told her. Lyric seemed to be comfortable with the child and with the idea of taking him. That was something somewhat remarkable in and of itself, but it was outside the realm of what she wanted to talk to him about. Well, perhaps not completely outside the realm, but it wasn't directly related. "Jacen mentioned it's been difficult to get some sleep and I thought perhaps I could help with that a bit. It might help during the day as well, but even if not, it would probably help you while you're working with the refugees." "Infants don't sleep on normal schedules." Lyric gave as a manner of explanation. He knew Jacen was tired, frustrated, and likely he had just reached out to Tenel Ka as a friend. It made sense, it was healthy even. But Lyric knew that he had brought this child in with Jacen having no preparation and he couldn't help the small panic in his heart. It was unfounded, Jacen had already agreed to let Derek stay, but there was always that worry that Jacen would change his mind and decide that with everything else a child wasn't worth it, even if Derek had nowhere else to go and no one else to take care of him. "What's it?" he asked, voice calm and contained as he watched Tenel Ka, shifting Derek closer. "Fact," Tenel Ka stated. At the palace of course there were people to help with that, however. At least in the time after the initial birthing period when mothers and babies tended to be somewhat protected in theory, if not always in practice. But this was different. Neither Lyric nor Jacen had birthed this one, and there was a war, and they would not follow Hapan tradition regardless. "A cousin of mine is moving her young child to a tutor," Tenel Ka explained. "When I heard this, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to help the two of you. With Jacen being expected to move forward as a Jedi, and as a diplomat, with the fighting both of you may yet find yourselves in, and the need for sleep to make crisp decisions, it is difficult to do without much sleep. She turned to the door and opened it again motioning the droid in. "Nani come and join us." The droid came in and the door was closed behind her. Covered with softer edges than many droids, this one had been five years ago the newest in nanny droid technology. She had gained a few bangs through those five years, but she had eyes that blinked, and a face that appeared to have constant smiles upon it. Nani gave a slight bow and Tenel Ka turned to Lyric. "Lyric, this is Nani, as I said, she has been with my cousin. She was new before that, and she has all of the programming necessary for caring for human infants. In addition, because this is Hapes, she has additional security programming, which, considering the number of times Jacen was kidnapped as a child, and the fact that we are in a war, seems a precaution that might be good in any droid the two of you utilize. Nani, you should meet Master Lyric, and this is young Derek." "It would be my pleasure to serve you," Nani said, in a low voice that despite the mechanical underlay, had a warmth to it. Years of keeping any expression off his face paid off as Lyric watched Tenel Ka impassively. He could feel the chill that ran through his veins as the droid walked in, a gift that he couldn't refuse but didn't want in any way. There had been discussions with Jacen, vaguely talk of C3P0 but this was an entirely different situation than what he was prepared for. Friend of Jacen or not, Lyric was in a position of not being able to refuse when he wanted to do that very thing. Telling the future queen of the Hapan people to leave a room in her own palace wasn't exactly possible. And she had come when Jacen wasn't here, a buffer for Lyric to hide behind instead of being cornered. Droids were tools, Lyric was more than aware of that. They were programmed and following that function was the entire point of their existence. But as much as Lyric tried sometimes logic wasn't what took over, his urge to get as far away from this jedi and her droid cut off by there not being an exit. This wasn't Jacen, who Lyric could speak his mind to without worry. Instead he shut down, mind going over possible polite responses and coming up blank in just what he should do to avoid incident. "You discussed this with Jacen, then?" he offered, voice carefully constrained. The question was not the one that Tenel Ka had been anticipating and for a moment she tilted her head at Lyric sizing him up and considering the question. She hadn't exactly spoken with Jacen. She had asked him if they planned to get a droid to help and he had said probably at some point, but he had seemed a little uncertain which she had taken to mean that he didn't know where they could get one or that Lyric would be the one making the decision. In fact her entire take-away had been that it had been Lyric's idea to keep him and while Jacen had agreed there was a deference to Lyric in most of the questions she'd asked that had made her certain this was Lyric's call to approve any droid, not Jacen's. "I had not spoken with him specifically regarding Nani," she said matter-of-fairly. "He mentioned the two of you might consider a droid. But I suspect they will be difficult to come by. When I heard this one was available, well - Jacen is my friend and you are his." It ought to be explanation enough but she did not know if it was. "She is perhaps the closest to state of the art you are likely to find currently. She has been used yes, but the experience is likely to enhance rather than the opposite." There was almost a bit of relief that Jacen hadn't gone behind his back to find a droid already. He loved and adored Jacen but he couldn't shake the feeling that this was just passing off a child that had already been given up on by the rest of the galaxy if it hadn't been for a soldier picking him up out of the debris of a falling world. But knowing that Jacen wasn't behind this droid didn't change the princess in front of him or the tidings she brought, no matter how well meaning they seemed. The Jedi were different in how they treated possessions and Tenel Ka had clearly been brought up around the same sort of affluence that Jacen had been. But the idea that someone would nearly go out of their way to find an expensive droid for a child they didn't even know struck Lyric as odd. His reservations about the droid aside, he watched the woman in front of him carefully, taking in what additional details he could outside of the short interactions he had had with her on that fateful mission. "That's kind of you. But I'm sure there are people who might need her more." Lyric answered carefully. Tenel Ka waved her hand lightly at Nani. There was no one she would rather see the droid given to and she realized that she ought to have expected Lyric might not be immediately willing to take the droid. Perhaps she ought to have started with Jacen or at least found the two of them together. "She will simply be reassigned to someone else in the royal family and I would rather see her with the two of you." It would likely annoy someone that Tenel Ka had reassigned a droid, possibly her grandmother and while part of Tenel Ka did not with to purposefully antagonize, reminding others who was the next queen did not usually hurt. It did not matter that she was not thrilled for the task, it would likely still fall to her. She looked at Lyric seriously. "You should not tell him that I noticed but, Jacen nearly fell asleep during a meeting the day before yesterday. The galaxy needs Jacen awake and alert. You are working with the refugees and Nani could go down with you during the day to help with young ones. Or she could watch Derek here. Either way she will do you both some good and I think it unlikely there is a young baby more deserving of good care than this particular one." Lyric kept his eyes lowered, his own stone face in place as Tenel Ka spoke to him. Right now he wanted nothing more than to be able to push past her and her droid, to continue on as he had planned and ignore that this had ever happened. But taking care of Jacen was something he desperately wanted, a need that came to war against his own instincts to stay away from a droid that he didn't want. Jacen had been more than kind in all of this, a better man than Lyric deserved like he always seemed to be. But he was also a better man than the galaxy deserved and he would throw himself into the fire to try and protect it. And if Lyric and Derek were making that more dangerous for him, there was nothing Lyric wanted less than Jacen being in danger. "The galaxy requires a lot of things from Jacen." Lyric's voice stayed quiet, calm, the bitterness kept at bay by too many years learning to keep from ruffling feathers to stay alive. It didn't matter if she should have spoken with Jacen instead of cornering him, it didn't matter what Lyric would want in regards to a droid. People like Tenel Ka were used to getting what they wanted and Lyric always ran from confrontation if he had the option. Derek reached up, tiny hand tangling into Lyric's hair and pulling as he babbled quietly for attention. Quietly Lyric reached up to untangle the errant hand pulling the sharp pain in his scalp with a perfectly blank expression. "It's very kind of you." he repeated. "It requires from you too," Tenel Ka said and her voice softened just slightly as she looked at Lyric. She knew little of Lyric's background but she knew enough of Jacen to know that anyone involved with him would need to give their all to the galaxy as well. Perhaps she and Jacen would not have worked - her all had to be more focused, even as a Jedi. There was a flicker, but perhaps it was simply the child pulling Lyric's hair. Despite her Force sensitivity the man in front of her was very good at keeping himself hidden. For an instant she hesitated, an uncharacteristic uncertainty. "He loves you very much you know." In Lyric humble opinion the galaxy could shove its wants where no one would find them, but he knew that wasn't what would happen. Jacen cared too much and put too much on his own shoulders for them to ever be able to turn their backs. If Lyric wanted to love Jacen, and he did, it was something he had to accept even if all he wanted to do was run. Even with his eyes lowered Lyric caught the hesitation. Pieced together with the words that followed the puzzle clicked into place and Lyric suddenly had a much clearer picture of just what was happening in front of him. The future queen of the Hapans had a heart and it seemed to be more concerned with her friend than maybe it should. Awkward and misplaced kindness was better than being assassinated in what little sleep he got. "I do anything for him." Lyric replied, voice still careful and quiet but he couldn't have been more certain of anything else in his life. His hand curled around Derek's, another person added into his small circle that he would, even if that anything included taking a droid forced on him by an actual Princess. "I believe that is mutual," Tenel Ka said with a small smile. She had watched Jacen as Lyric lay slipping away and she knew the amount of strength and will Jacen had woven into the Force to keep the man In Front of her alive. She had woven her own strength in as well, sensing in that moment a love and hope that was fierce in its protection. And even now, she could sense the edges of uncertainty regarding the small child Lyric held in his arms but Jacen had never once said anything to make her believe he did not fully support Lyric. She sobered, packing the emotion away and nodding at Nani, she shifted the subject back to one more practical. "When are you done? I shall send her back with food and the like when you are finished at the camp for the day. I have not had reason to try them, but I have heard her cooking is quite superior." "I have the latest in Cooking updates," Nani said eagerly. "If you prefer a particular cuisine I can ensure that as well. The small one is still in milk, yes?" It took effort not to flinch, effort honed through years of practice. He didn't need droids fetching him food or anything like that. Really all he wanted was to get out of this room as quickly as possible, for Tenel Ka to return wherever she had been prior and to try and figure out just how to start avoiding the droid. There was a quiet panic in his heart as he thought about giving Derek up for the night. While sleep was precious, Derek would be left alone without him or Jacen, and instead simply a droid to watch after him. "You'd have to ask Jacen." Lyric answered towards the question of food quietly. The programmed eagerness grated on him. "Derek's still on bottles." "I can take care of bottles if you wish, sir," Nani said. Tenel Ka watched Lyric for a moment and then looked over at Nani. "I think you can discuss that with Jacen and Lyric later, Nani. But for now we should probably go and let him get back to his work, unless you would like her to watch Derek now?" "Derek can stay with me." Lyric tried to keep the force from his voice but his grip on the child tightened just slightly, Derek babbling in return and grabbing at his fingers with both hands. He wasn't about to hand over the infant until he had to, and even then he wasn't sure if he would be able to. "Thank you for your generosity." Lyric offered, quiet and his eyes kept down. Maybe they would leave now and Lyric could go back to his own quiet panic. Tenel Ka nodded, not completely bothered by the conversation. She would have assumed that he would have wanted to review things with the droid before leaving the young one in the droids care, and if he was getting ready to leave now was no time to do that. She could return Nani later on, and he and Jacen could review that together. Tenel Ka just hoped that it would help - although part of her wasn't certain that she had. It was a sense of something being not quite right, even if she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Lyric was too foreign to her, and she did not wish to pry too deeply - it was not in her nature to begin with - and with Lyric and Jacen being together, there was no desire to dig deeper into Lyric's private affairs. "You are welcome," she said quietly. "I'll let you get back to things then. Come Nani, you can return this evening." |