An Afternoon Garden Party

[KhreRiovtRex 0]

The day had been exactly as L'haiy had noted earlier, as near to perfect as you could get. A light sea breeze lightly touched her skin with a slight tinge of salt, as it blew in from across the deep purple depths of the ocean past the cliffs. The verdant green of the garden was a striking contrast to the stark white and grey of the cliffs that dropped to the sea crashing into the rocks below them. It made for an absolutely beautiful backdrop for this occasion, and she envied Morgana having had such a beautiful view growing up here. t'Rexan smiled to herself as she took a siuren and remembered her recent night with Var'lon on the white sandy beach by the ocean, and thought of what was promised to become her new home by the sea as well. Finally, things were beginning to seem better than they had been for years.

 

She had purposely been able to control the mayhem around t'Ksas ceremony, knowing that she had better keep it as small as possible. If she had na, it would be likely that the Daise Maenak would take the first opportunity to strip her hide off with that laser scalpel she was so fond of in retribution for this day. They did however, have to invite many of the local officials, as well as several high ranking officers living and serving in the area, and those she and her family had contact with as well numerous family members. But for all intensive purposes, she was able to keep it so that the ceremony was about Morgana, and not the curious, trying to question her about her resurrection or transformation. She had been clear as she made the rounds of the crowd in the hours following the ceremony, that she would na be a topic of today's conversation, and that was how things were to remain. She continued to make small talk with several of the guests and family members as it was the sort of thing that was expected of her, and most of these people had na had an opportunity to speak to someone of her rank before, let alone her notoriety. They were probably finding her most disappointing at the moment, na the terror they might have expected from her reputation.

 

Most conversations were just cordial greetings, compliments on her officer t'Ksa, well wishes that she had been 'saved' by the Daise Maenak, a few questions about the mission, which she had to truthfully decline discussing, as the details were still classified, and the weather on ch'Havran, which as she had yet to return to her own home was unable to comment upon. Several had asked if she would mind if they could take, or be hrrau a holopic with her. She had to almost laugh to herself, when a certain one or two, would be all full of themselves, and claim to know that the 'young maenak' was destined for great things, almost if trying to take credit or link their name with her rising star. Politely listening and occasionally nodding in agreement, she kept an eye on that pair that traveled the garden that afternoon.

She purposely kept herself towards the far edge of the throng to prevent any conversations that would take away from the festivities, as well as deflect any comments about the Daise Maenak's part in it. tr'Vatrix's people had been briefed and had done a fantastic job with the crowd control. She envied the loyalty that they all showed towards him, and thought again of what an amazing man he had become. She only wished that she could elicit the same loyalty as he had garnered in his people, hrrau her own.

 

Occasionally she caught a glimpse of the couple keeping largely to themselves across the way in the garden. Her watchful eye, or now more accurately she supposed as she grinned to herself yet again, 'eyes', plural, noted that the maenak was finally beginning to relax a bit and perhaps enjoy herself. She had indeed looked as if she was to be ill earlier, but that had either passed, or she had discretely taken care of that. Maec seemed to be a great comfort to her, more than that, a firm rock that she was able to steady herself by, and L'haiy prayed to the Elements that those two would finally put aside all the stalling and cold feet and just get it over with and bond with each other. She had half a mind just to walk over and say just that very thing, but decided she valued her new life and to push t'Ksa today, might get her on the wrong end of that laser scalpel. They were clearly a fine match. To someone that did na know them, io would think them already bonded anyhow.

 

L'haiy hadn't felt this type of satisfaction in some time. It was different than the satisfaction she felt making Var'lon happy. This was something that had been totally unasked for, and she was so pleased to do something for this woman that she considered a friend. Ie, she was pretty much her only friend, and for that matter, t'Rexan had na idea if Morgana even considered her a friend as well, or just a troublesome patient to keep alive for Galae. The woman had kept her confidence over these years, and this was io way that she could repay her trust. Though the maenak did na like attention, this was something that L'haiy could do to publicly acknowledge the woman, acknowledge her to Galae Medical, as well as honor her family and her house. Morgana had been worried about her name, but L'haiy and Var'lon had plotted, planned and worked well and fast and h'nah, everything had worked out perfectly. As she had told Morgana before, 'they would take care of things.'

 

She turned and almost walked into her officer's sister, Lannisal t'Ksa yet again. The woman had an exceptional knack for showing up at the exact moment she kept trying to excuse herself to go try to contact Var'lon. She had taken a particular liking to coming up behind her, and seemed as though she had wanted to become t'Rexan's best friend as well, fussing over the cut of her uniform, and perhaps if she were to wear her hair a bit less sharply. This time she was asking if she knew how to sew and how relaxing it could be, and that was how Morgana sort of got started towards being a doctor, as she would sew up the other children's toys and such. She had continued for some time as well as to the look of the uniforms and why didn't the women just wear some type of dress when they were at this occasion, rather than those heavy looking boots and large shoulders, going on how pretty Morgana would have been without the boots, and then telling t'Rexan the same thing for herself. Morgana's other sister had came over a few times as well wanting to hear how Morgana had crawled through passageways with a rifle and retaken the ship and on and on.

 

Finally, she was able to excuse herself long enough to go use the facilities thankfully, when tr'Guard came over to rescue her, jumping in to tell them how their sister had helped stave off an attack on the medical bay against an army of clones. She would owe him a favor later; perhaps she'd send him another case of that ch'Havran ale from her family's lands that he was so fond of.

 

Having found a quiet spot, t'Rexan contacted tr'Vatrix's staff at Galae as well as those that were waiting for her aboard Talon, that they could proceed with the next ceremony and to get it set up for later that evening. His people had already made preliminary contact with House S'Bien, and Koga's parents and sibling would all be present. Koga had been sent orders that he was to be present on Talon's hteij pad at 1650 hours, regaled in full dress uniform. That was all the information that he was to be given, however, if he would see any of the news feeds for the day, which would be starting to hit the news nets shortly, then he might have some inkling of what she had in store for him.

Deihu Volaris S'Bien had already contacted many of his fellow deihu and many of the social elite that he and his wife wanted present to see the honor bestowed upon his son and his house. Koga's mother, Daise'Sael'Riov Polara Sonaru t'S'Bien, similarly had invited many of her Tal’Shiar contacts and officers she had served with. L'haiy knew she would be standing in the midst of a pit of vipers when she had to do this ceremony, and many of these eyes would be upon her, and na rhea Koga.

 

Checking her chrono once again, she noticed that she needed to once more pay her respects to the family members as well as congratulate Morgana for her service, and then let the family enjoy this day and honor to their house. She needed to go prepare for Koga anyway. L'haiy made her way over to their hosts, thanking them once again for allowing their daughter to serve the Empire, as well as having hosted this reception for Galae's ceremony. She also informed them that she personally would be picking up the entire cost of this reception, and to please forward any receipts to her attention of her staff aboard the Talon. Seeing Maec and Morgana had finally gotten some time alone hrrau the garden, she decided na to intrude upon them, they would na miss her at this point anyhow, she grinned to herself.

 

Var'lon had contacted her to let her know that an uprising on one of their border planets had prevented him from na only attending this ceremony with her, but he most likely would na be able to attend Koga's as well. His position won out this day, as he had to handle planning a course of action to na lose that border world to the Kling'hannsu, and on that front he needed to speak with the Fvillah and Council about it. The original plan had been for tr'Vatrix to attend t'Ksa's with her, then she would stay there with her friend, as he went to deal with the politicians, Tal'Shiar and other sseikea, that would so much like to question her about every little things so she would na have to go there. Unfortunately, this was going to force her to go and face, na only a lot more of the news feeds, as tksa's had been controlled by tr'Vatrix's people alone, but house S'Bien would undoubtedly would have the Deihu feeds invited as well. Luckily, tr'Vatrix had sent orders that in light of the level of this ceremony, that attendance be controlled somewhat. Sighing she shook her head at the term 'somewhat'. What she refused to let happen, is let comments take away from Koga's ceremony. He deserved the same honor and treatment that Morgana had, granted he would only be receiving two of the medals, as she had been the leader, still, they were the two of the highest awards that he could be awarded.

 

t'Rexan tapped her t'Liss, giving orders to the oira on the Talon, to have her party and herself beamed back to into the Talon's hteij room. Momentarily, she looked around at the others there. tr'Vatrix's staff was already there again, as was a sharply dressed Koga in full dress uniform, boots and harness shining.