𝕮𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍
━━𝑺𝑰𝑳𝑽𝑬𝑹 𝑫𝑹𝑶𝑷𝑳𝑬𝑻𝑺

❝ 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆. ❞

━━ 𝘊𝘌𝘝𝘈𝘙𝘠𝘈
𝟬𝟲 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀, 𝟭𝟴 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀, 𝟯𝟳 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀

"YOU'RE SO KIND. And so beautiful."

The little girl's eyes are wide in awe and Neira lowers herself to her level so that their faces are at the same height. The skirts of her dress whisper as they touch the grass beneath; around the little houses a meadow of lush green grass stretches out, flecked with vibrant dots of color – orange, purple and yellow flowers swaying in the warm breeze.

This is the reason, she thinks.

This is the reason she fights for peace on Cevarya, the reason why whatever wrong she and her mother might be doing will be forgiven in the long run. Neglected, upon what they will achieve.

"Thank you." Neira gently pokes her nose, tanned and covered in freckles, and the girl giggles. "What's your name?"

"Miri." Miri beams.

"Nice to meet you, Miri."

Ezzie interrupts the two, whirring around them as fast as he can go. His metal body is covered in stains of grass and some lost flower petals he must have collected on the way by accident.

Neira arises again as the girl's attention shifts towards the droid, admiring it's shining form and flashing buttons.

Behind them the village Miri comes from stretches out, a loose arrangement of small huts around the glistening waters of a lake. Three shipments of tools, holo-books and droid pieces and other resources have been received by this village in the past month alone, and Neira is proud of the progress they've made so far. It has not been easy, and it won't get easier unless something changes, she tells herself.

But for this moment, she just lets it be. For this one heartbeat it is enough to just stand here, taking in the scenery around her, the rolling hills, this wide space consisting of only an azure sky and green grass, filled with the warm scent of plants and winds bringing freedom.

Unintentionally her thoughts drift towards Obi-Wan, this feeling of ease she has when he's around reminds her of how she feels right now: if feels like there's a horizon before her, opening up just for her alone.

In the past few days the space between them has grown even more relaxed, a safe sphere where it is suddenly so easy to breathe in.

Neira likes that.

And the way he always means what he says, the way that there is never a hidden implication in what he says - it is refreshing to talk someone like that. And yet, he is cautious about his words - but not in a bad way, rather in a way a craftsman carves his figure, thinking about how every stroke will shape the final product.

His face is open, and his eyes are sincere but there is an ease to it you will rarely find. A humor, hidden behind the polite words, a spark calling to her, bright as drops of moonlight.

She likes that, too.

Don't be stupid, she thinks the next second. Focus.

But it's hard to focus in an environment that makes you breathe so easily, that dissolves any shield of caution to shimmering particles when the sun hits them, running through your veins like silver.

She is so lost in thoughts that she almost misses Miri's next sentence: "I want to be just like you when I grow up." Her eyes are flashing with admiration and Neira's heart swells.

Do you?

Doubt passes her mind, shadowing the bright scenery like a bird's wings shadow over sunlit land. After all, she is a liar and her methods don't follow a high moral like Obi-Wan's.

Will she think the same of me when my mother takes over?

Neira automatically rises her chin, her gaze stern as she watches the soft curves of the hills rising and falling around them, the patterns the wind forms as it sings in the long grass.

The shadow passes, leaving only determination, and belief – almost as strong as before.

Of course she will. They have the people's best interest in mind, and are not afraid to take action.

Neira can be proud of herself.

She is sitting in the library, hunched over countless documents shown on flat screens and holopads scattered around her, as this shadow is manifesting once again. Hovering over and around her, stirring the peaceful atmosphere.

The library lies vast, no sound but the quiet whirring of some archivist droids and the soft rippling of water interrupts the warm, thick silence lying over everything like a blanket.

Because the palace's hoard of wisdom is located at the far bottom, so close to the ocean that the air tastes of rich sea salt. On the righthand side the small river that comes from the dining hall has turned into a waterfall, cascades of liquid gold gathering in a small basin, spraying refreshing mist onto everyone who sits close enough to it.

The crystalline library. Knowledge buried in endless shelves of glass, every row allowing the sunlight to pass through them and to cast patterns of prism light onto the clean floors. Turned into a fiery temple of wisdom every sunrise.

Neira's eyes are skimming over the pages, barely acknowledging the information, but a handful of words catch her attention nonetheless, letters of blue light standing out as if they have been marked.

Her body tingles with the forebonding knowledge that something isn't right as she reads again, and again.

Trade restrictions...curfews...As collectively decided by the republic senate, the tax on cevaryan exports rises about another ten percent.

This is the official announcement presented to cevarya's citizens by the council, but this doesn't make any sense.

Neira's neck prickles as if icy wind has been blown onto it, and her expression darkens. The republic has no power of such things as taxes or curfews on Cevarya, they barely intercept with cevaryan politics. It has always been like this, and what she reads is downright impossible – she knows cevarya's constitution, the only power to set laws like these is the council itself.

Icy dread fastens its grip around her neck and chest as a suspicion hardens amidst her racing thoughts.

Someone is manipulating the people, trying to draw them away from the republic. Neira grits her teeth. And regarding the protests on Soylon's streets they are doing a damn well job with it.

She doesn't dare to think any further, but...what if this is a major scheme, playing her home right into the hands of the Seperatists, ready to absorb it right into their mass of battlefields spread across the galaxy? To expose it so that it would be swallowed up by war's hungry throat, starving for blood and destruction.

Someone is manipulating the people for their own game, rearranging the figures as they wish, and that is...

...not so different to what she and her mother are doing.

There it is again, a raven's dark swings draining the sunlight.

She thinks of Obi-Wan again, of his pure ways and devotion to a fair system, and a cold stirs within her that has nothing to do with what she just discovered.

Leave no room for doubts, she chides herself, arising and rigorously shutting off the holopad. It is too late anyways.

And, as it seems there is far more important business requiring her attention: she has to find out who made those laws, and stop this person before they mess up her own plans entirely.

As it is every night, there is a dinner.

Obi-Wan has grown used to the overwhelmingly glamourous parties, to the elite showcasing their diamonds and rubies, but he will never stop marveling about the beauty of the scenery.

He sometimes wonders what it would look without the crowds, just the music and the stars.

After all he still feels strange amidst this giant swirl of casualties, hidden threats and compliments, and sometimes he wishes his best friend and comrade-like-a-brother, Anakin Skywalker by his side to help him navigate those waters. He would have been perfect for this job, enchanting everyone with his good ways until one was uncautiosly enough to let their guard down and telling him what he needed to know. Maybe the council should have sent him instead.

But from time to time there is Neira by his side, his guide in troubled waters. He definitely would not go as far to say that they are allies in this court and it's games, but there has developed an aura of mutual respect and comfort in each other's presence that borders on trust, maybe even onto the first blossoms of friendship.

And he would be a liar to say that he does not enjoy their time spent together.

Because of her whispered explanations and anecdotes he remembers the members of the court and, more importantly, the councilmembers better and better.

Judging from her stories and his own observations, his assumptions about Maris Zeroh and Téron Verza from the first evening have been proven true: they both are extremely obnoxious individuals.

He is not sure what he detests more – Maris' extreme fake-friendliness that is mocking him with every word she speaks or Téron's openly displayed dislike staining his every sentence when Obi-Wan is around. Probably Maris though – Téron at least shows what he really feels.

Neira – who is a bit more absent than usual this evening - has just saved him from an extremely uncomfortable conversation with two rather feisty courtiers, as plates of silver, loaded with food and drinks are carried into the hall.

Another thing Obi-Wan will probably never get used to – the divine cevaryan cuisine.

He is just about to take his usual seat – unfortunately next to the two courtiers from earlier – as Neira calls his name.

"Master Kenobi!" Her voice cuts easily through the noise of chattering and music. "Won't you sit at my table tonight?"

Glad that she noticed his distress, Obi-Wan arises, taking a free seat at the table she is on whilst shooting her a silent thank you. Neira nods, smiling slightly.

The whole court sits and the smell of delicious food rises from the plates. One second it is a normal dinner and the next chaos erupts as an explosion shakes the room.

A flash of bright light, and Obi-Wan is up in an instant, hand holding onto his lightsaber, as a cacophony of screams and breaking glasses arises and courtiers stumble away blindly from the place of the detonation. It takes him some time to find the source of it in this mess of blind panic and shouting guards, desperately trying to regain control over the situation.

A few tables away, a courtier falls from his seat, holding his face whilst screaming in pain and fear. Obi-Wan makes his way towards him as fast as he can, fully alert and not missing the smallest detail of what is happening around him. Surprisingly, despite some of the courtier's difficulties with him, every single one of them steps back to let him watch the scene. It seems like something in the courtier's dish has exploded as soon as the servants lifted the plate covers.

It takes him some time until he realizes that their expression does not only hold fear. There is something else in their eyes as they watch him, something even more unsettling. It is some form of guilt, or concern.

Because the seat the courtier sat on, was usually his.

Obi-Wan can see the realization settle in their faces like clouds of dust after a storm as their faces grow darker. The lighthearted atmosphere from earlier has died out, or maybe it never really existed.

This attack was planned. Targeting him.

Neira is not the only one who has felt the darkness' presence looming.

The pace of events has picked up rapidly, especially after the happenings of the evening before – the courtiers left quickly after the incident, the remains of the "terrible accident" as they call it officially were removed. But Obi-Wan has seen in the faces of the courtiers that they all knew what it was. Later on the members of the council (except Maris and Téron) have apologized to him privately, assuring him that this attack would not repeat itself.

But of course they don't have the situation under control, so Obi-Wan has to watch his back at all times, even more than before.

Shadows are looming, there is a darkness getting more and more visible with each day.

He is in the streets of Soylon, trying to avoid a bigger riot that is gathering, as he stumbles across a part of it, hidden in the hangars and in disguise as a normal trade port, warm white marble walls and a sunlit metal door. The force calls to him, a warning as swift as a cold breath on his neck, whispering to him that this innocent surface is not what it seems.

And so he steps closer, and, when nobody is looking he vanishes into the building, carefully avoiding the security cameras.

He sets foot into the hangar, his ears still ringing from the noise outside. But it is quiet in the wide hall, only his careful footsteps are to be heard. Sunbeams fall through narrow windows on the top, casting rectangular shapes on the stone floor and enhancing golden particles of dust that float in the still air.

The hangar is divided by a large transport box in it's middle. Obi-Wan walks past it and his hand tightens around the hilt of his lightsaber immediately.

Because all along the walls, hidden in the shadow, there are sand-colored droids, eyes lifeless, heads hanging down; like strange embryos of metal attached to their charging stations.

Obi-Wan's eyes scan the room, coming to the conclusion that it is empty besides him and these ghosts of war, mocking him silently from the walls.

He examines the droids further – it is strange to see his enemy like this, and once again he realizes how bizarre this war is: he is fighting against an enemy that is already a corpse, who is held together by codes and numbers only, never alive, never losing.

At least not in a way that matters.

After all where's the glory in killing droids? They are merely shells made of programming and metal.

Maybe that's the reason why the Jedi are the perfect warriors to fight this war - they don't seek the glory, and they don't want it.

Warrior. Obi-Wan has thought of himself as a warrior. Even thought it is just in his mind, it scares him.

The droids are too many to count, and he bets that there are more in the other hangars. For a second he considers trying to disable them, but then whoever is controlling them would know that their plan has been uncovered. He doesn't know how anyways, but he will keep this option in the back of his head.

Suddenly there is noise, a identification card beeps and then a voice says: "It is open already, how strange."

A second voice grunts agreeingly, but none of them seems to bother any further.

"Another delivery," the first voice says again, and Obi-Wan quickly hides behind some droids as the pair steps around the corner and into the sunlit spots. They seem to be trade supervisors, working at the space port recognizable on their crimson uniforms which Obi-Wan has barely seen before.

The other one types into his datapad as they examine the droids. "Hm," is all he says again.

"Everything about this is so...strange. I have no idea who initiates all this," the first one speaks again. "I reckon its someone from the council, huh? Like-"

"Just shut up, Marius, before you get us into trouble again," the second one interrupts, now looking around nervously. "Let's just do our job here and then that's it."

Marius says nothing. He seems offended.

After a few minutes of typing into the datapad they disappear and as the sound of their footsteps fades out, and Obi-Wan leaves his hiding place behind the droids, mind spinning with thoughts.

He quickly examines the datapad next to the hangar doors, but all the screen says is: Delivery reports. Upload to main database completed.

The message blinks a few times and then vanishes, leaving a blank screen and Obi-Wan's reflection in it.

The seperatists shipments – the real reason he was sent here.

Now, as he walks through the narrow lanes back to the palace, Obi-Wan finally knows what they contained. Droids and probably weapons, too.

The Seperatists send military support to whoever they are cooperating with – probably someone in the council, Obi-Wan agrees there with the guard's statement from earlier.

The reason for that is rather obvious. When the time is ready they will take over, and there will be no one to stop them, no one strong enough to resist against the army they have been building for weeks.

His only chance is to find out who betrays Cevarya like that.

And then stop whoever did it before its too late.

✧･ﾟ:* 𝕬𝘜𝘛𝘏𝘖𝘙'𝘚 𝘕𝘖𝘛𝘌 *:･ﾟ✧

there's some weird shit going on on cevarya 👁👁 but you already knew that, now we have more information tho 😌 shady shady SHADY 🥴

both neira and obi wan finding out weird stuff...almost looks like they should 😳team up 😳

ANYWAYS a bit more plot again this chapter! an attack on obi wan as well as droids and suspicious laws and neiras first doubts...we're getting into the fun part!!

also i really really wanna sit in that library 🥺

i've missed posting this story and interacting with you guys so please tell me your thoughts!! 🤍 hope you enjoyed <33