Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

The Sparrow was too big for this and Tallulah was almost as fast, so Garth came zooming out of the spaceport heading on a beeline towards the Thul Estates. The world had turned upside down, a few little protests had turned into a full blown insurrection and he was frantic with concern.

Even as he tried to practice the mental meditation exercises he'd learned, both Jedi and Aznuri, it only served to reduce his level of concern, not eliminate it.

And when he crested a hill to see signs of recent combat....well that didn't help his state of mind at all.

The guards are alert but after a brief inspection they allow him onto the premises. It does look like there was some fighting here

Garth guns the engine at zooms onto the compound, he heads towards the main building.

She's a soldier, she'll know tactics...consolidate yer forces...most defensible position...

Jumping off Tallulah he starts screaming out for Miyi, sure comms would've made more sense, but these weren't the actions of a clear thinking head.

"Miyi! Baroness!"

Zeno had Miyi busy giving him and Xero details of the extraction and assault, keeping her busy in the medical suite of the main building. He was only half paying attention. When he got notification of Garth trying to make his way to her, he made sure the staff let him through. If he hadn't been arrested already, he likely wasn't part of the treasonous elements of Ulgo. And if he was... well, he'd be in for some pain if Zeno found out.

Zeno wasn't Miyi, but he was the next best thing, someone with some authority. As the guards directed him towards the Duke, he felt a sense of unease rising within him.

"Duke," he panted breathlessly from the exertion of running across the Estate. "It looks bad....is everyone..." His eyes are full of concern and his voice soft and full of emotion.

"Is she okay?"

He knew who Garth was talking about, but he was also of a mind to try and break this whole save the damsel mindset if he could. Miyi was not a damsel, she was a capable woman.

"Who, Ziandra? Yes, she's recovering and has already had a cybernetic prosthesis attached," he said with a nod. "She's resting in kolto for now though, so you will need to wait for a while before you can get an audience."

Garth just narrowed his eyes and the civility drained out of his voice.

"Where....is...she..." Garth asks as he channels his not inconsiderable talents and will at Zeno, but it is not enough to break through the Duke's mental barriers.

D8 EE Sense Zeno Touch of Fate Where is Miyi: 3eF+2eA+1eP+2eB+1eC+1eD 2 Light Side, 3 Dark Side


3 strain, 3 conflict, Destiny flip to tap into the dark...still doesn't succeed though

Zeno fully turns to face him and steps up, holding out against his attempts to touch his mind. "Garth... I thought we were friends. And then you come in here swinging your big force around and making demands in the middle of my home."

"Did you want to be cordial and not try to invade my mind, or did you want to never see her again because you made the mistake of provoking me twice in one meeting and you ended up not leaving this building alive? I honestly prefer the first option, as there has been far too much death today."

"So... take a breath, calm down, ask again politely, and don't do so in a way that seems like you are off to slay a krayt dragon to save a sand princess in distress. Then I will amiably point you in the right direction. And will not let Ziandra know that this meeting had such a poor start which would dash your hopes of being with her."

Being so handily rebuffed was an unusual feeling for Garth, even Beniko hadn't been able to withstand even a more cursory scan. Maybe the darkness he felt, that called to him in that moment, maybe it was like Tethys said, that it wasn't the right way? All he knew for sure was that he was confused and a little drained.

"Ah'm sorry ah didn't mean...ah just." SIGH.

"Sometimes mah emotions get away fr'm me, an it's been a real crazy few hours." He pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers as he tries to relieve some of the stress and takes a few calming breaths as he recalls the earlier points Zeno had raised.

"Ah'm sorry t' hear about th' Duchess, and ah sympathize with th' pain y' must be feelin at what happened t' her, Duke Thul."

"I appreciate that," he says pulling out a datapad and typing a message to let Miyi know that Garth was in the medical suite and she should come see him.

He didn't mention anything about Miyi potentially being on the way while he started talking once more. A little bit of mental anguish never caused someone to fall to the dark side. It took a whole lot of mental anguish for that.

"You try to restrain your emotions? No, that's the wrong way to do it. You don't restrain them, you embrace them then mask them," he says. "Always feel it. Now... you have my permission to look."

He will not resist a sense now.

Zeno Thul wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 08, 2021 6:23 pm

"I appreciate that," he says pulling out a datapad and typing a message to let Miyi know that Garth was in the medical suite and she should come see him.

He didn't mention anything about Miyi potentially being on the way while he started talking once more. A little bit of mental anguish never caused someone to fall to the dark side. It took a whole lot of mental anguish for that.

"You try to restrain your emotions? No, that's the wrong way to do it. You don't restrain them, you embrace them then mask them," he says. "Always feel it. Now... you have my permission to look."

He will not resist a sense now.

Now, with his emotions calmed (and the fact he can only Destiny flip once a scene) Garth reaches out from a place of a little more peace and control. His recent emotional turbulence makes it harder to let the light wash over him, but Garth manages to just reach out and barely make contact with Zeno's mind.

He found thoughts of Miyi at the forefront, given the recent communication, but maybe that's just because that's what he wanted to see. There was so much about his powers that Garth still didn't understand, after all he'd only been dealing with it for the last five years or so.

Eventually he relaxes the intrusion and visibly slumps slightly. "Still new at this thing 't seems."

Miyi was there, certainly, since he had just been thinking about her. But the emotions he could sense were also present. It was almost like what others might consider a nightmare. There was rage, love, hate, fear, desire... all of it roiled into a form that almost seemed like a monster more than a human. But other than the visible signs from his eyes, his outward appearance seemed pretty controlled. Not exactly at peace, but more like leashed.

"So you saw all of that," he says with a nod. "I assume that your mind looks nothing like it, which is natural because of your disposition and you probably know a few Jedi. If I've learned anything these past few years though, it's that the Sith way and the Jedi way are just dogma. Don't buy into it. Learn what they'll teach you, but be your own person. Light and dark... if the force wants to have an argument with itself let it. Just use what feels right to you and force it when it doesn't want to comply. It's no different, in theory, from an ocean. Take what you need from it. You won't exhaust it."

Garth nodded in minor understanding. "Ah've heard it explained as a well," he confirms. "Similar concept ah think."

Although now he was wondering about all the water based metaphors. He would have to meditate on that later.

"Ah...ah guess mah mind feels diff'rent than that, most o' the time at least. Ah must confess that jus' now, ah don' think there were a lot of diff'rence. I felt much of th' same feelings, but just didn' hide em as well."

"The difference is that I feel that way almost constantly, different emotions moving to the forefront as they arise," he explains.

"But, if you are interested, I can teach you as I have for the Blackguard. They also don't follow the same ideas I do, and I don't care about that in the least. The only thing I offer is an understanding of what the nature of the force is, and how you can utilize it. Light and dark really do not matter when you are trying to understand the things both are capable of," he offers.

"And the only thing I expect in return is to not be a jerk while you are in my home. The few secrets I have are not really secrets for anyone that cares to learn them."

"Not a jerk? Ah think ah can manage that." Garth replied with a nod. "An' ah think ah'd be interested t' see yer perspective on th' Force and..."

Garth glances Zeno up and down before (presumably) seeing what he expected, and pulling a lightsaber hilt out of his own pocket.

"...maybe some other things too?"

He nods at that. "I spar regularly, with the Blackguard. Not so much during this festival, but definitely often otherwise. All of this would be made easier if you chose to become Baron Garth Wayne Thul," he said, in basically explicit support of him being with Miyi.

"Much less traveling if you were just down the hall rather than across the planet."

Garth shrugs at the thought of another name change

"Well ah don' think anyone's real keen t' marry into th' Ulgo name about now." He reasons logically.

"An ah guess I can probably transfer outta th' Navy into th' ADF. So if Duchess Ziandra blesses th' union ah'd be honored t' join yer family."

Zeno nods at that. "I have no doubt she will welcome you."

Especially if the house is gaining a capable member that would only grow in power, he thought.

"We'll need to go flying sometime soon as well," he says. "I'll introduce you to Lt Hilya, the leader of my personal fighter squadron. I think you'll get along with them all."

Garth smiled at the confirmation of what he suspected. "Ah look forward to it Zeno, any excuse to get behind the wheel. Ah hope ah'll get th' chance t' go flying with the Duchess too, when she recovers o' course."

His smile turns into an egotistical smirk. "Th' Tenant an ah will be fast friends ah'm sure, wi' mah winning personality." He chuckles.

"Well, she seems to like me, so I imagine that she can't do much worse picking her friends," he says with a chuckle. "Not a whole lot of people going out of their way to be close to a Sith-blooded, dark force using Thul outside the family. But maybe the Thul part won't be considered such a bad thing after today's crisis."