IC Contact Post [Hadriel]

[mismanagement]

This is Maketh Tua. State your business.

Comments

[hotspurred]

[Henry cocks his head.]

You did not seem out of place with them, for all the years between you.

[mismanagement]

No. But it was different.

[She pauses a moment.]

I am different, now.

[hotspurred]

So you must be.

[For better, for worse.

And yet it cannot have been a great surprise to her twins. They were once part of the Empire, and they died knowing that she would not rebel at that time. They must have known how the Empire would mould her. They also knew and loved the woman she was beneath that veneer.

Perhaps they wondered about the role their deaths played in her change. Perhaps it gave them hope to see her finally attempting to break free of the Empire's ways.]

How long has it been?

[mismanagement]

Almost twenty years.

[She lets out a slow breath. For a long time she had hoped, foolishly, that the twins had someone survived. That they were in hiding out on some distant moon and living wild, storybook adventures. But they had been dead the whole time, hidden away and erased from the official records.]

Itani...she said it was good. That she could still recognize me, after all this time. That the Empire hadn't--killed what I was. Not completely.

[She closes her eyes, holding Henry's hand tight.]

I lived because I was afraid and they died because they were brave. It should not have been like that.

[hotspurred]

That is the actuality of tyranny.

[Henry strokes his thumb over Maketh's knuckle.]

I hope her words bring you comfort. The battle you wage in yourself is worth the hardship.

[mismanagement]

Yes.

[She sees that now. She sees a lot of things clearly now, in the aftermath. It brings her something, though Maketh is not certain that comfort is the right word. Not quite.]

I -- for a long time, I tried not to think about the past. And then I came here and it was everything, suddenly.

[She's quiet for a moment, just holding his hand. The cat purrs into her shoulder.]

It hurts. But I think -- I think I can let them go, now.

[hotspurred]

[Henry listens to Maketh, then gives a small, thoughtful nod.]

Ah... that is good. [More than good — a modicum of peace for his troubled sister.] May God rest their souls.

[mismanagement]

And Iamarl's.

[Even if it was only for a little while, Maketh got to meet her. She lets out a slow breath.]

I think we will be all right, brother. Not today. But in time.

[hotspurred]

[Henry tips his head back, silent for a moment. Maybe. Maybe.

If nothing else, he is weary to the bone of dishonouring Iamarl's memory. He is done.

And what is a Percy without hope? Esperance.]

So we shall be, sister.