Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

After her meeting with Thy, Layne and Tyche had returned back to the ship. The latter's physical situation was worrying Layne somewhat; even though she knew she really *shouldn't*. Assuming the girl couldn't handle having her arm broken and set back in place was hardly putting much trust in her. She wasn't weak by any means, and if she was going to get stronger still her master couldn't exactly coddle her either. On the other hand, that didn't mean the girl couldn't use some rest.

Fortunately, the two of them could go back to the ship with Layne still taking care of business. Meeting with that Rist Jedi. Oh boy, that was going to be a... conversation. Wasn't it?

Having extended the invitation, Layne waited for the man to arrive to her little freighter. One that was a bit less neatly organized than one would expect from a Jedi Knight.

Zayne came to the landing pads, looking for Layne's ship. Wearing the Rist Regalia and lightsaber still. "I should get some not so formal cloths..." I said to himself.

Having found the ship he thought was Layne's ship. He said at the door, "Hello? It's Zayne" and knotted.

"No," the intercom responded, "It's Layne."

There was silence for a few moment, though one might imagine that even Layne herself momentarily groaned to herself at that 'joke'.

"Come on up," the intercom crackled again, the door to the ship opening up for him.

Finding his way into the common area of the freighter, which wasn't hard to find, he would find Layne; back in her rather imposing black battle armor and robes. Two lightsabers at her side, both of very intricate design, having clearly received a lot of work over the years. There was also what looked like an ancient sword hilt at her hip, though it was missing a blade. It looked some sort of relic.

"Come in, take a seat. Zayne, was it?"

Honestly, she wasn't sure what to think of this. Granted, she had once been an assassin herself; but for a Jedi to still align himself with a whole house of them, family or not... she just wasn't sure what to think of it. Though part of that was no doubt her lingering sentiments about what they had done to Tyche, who was taking a rest in her cabin.

"I uh... probably got something to drink around here somewhere."

Guessing that it was supposed to be a intimidating display in her armor with sabers. Maybe he would have been if he wasn't secretly an executioner for the Jedi Council to remove those the Council deemed undesirable. But, Layne is in no danger from him.

"Oh, I'm fine, thank you though." He saw her saber hilts. "Very nice sabers you have there." His saber had a faux ornate cover for his Arbiter persona. "I am sorry for your loss." He said genuinely sympathetically. "I have a few siblings, but I barely know them. Being a Jedi for 12 years now, the order is my family."

For her part, the armor and sabers weren't intended to be intimidating; and in fact her generally fearsome aura had never actually come from the equipment she carried. Instead; it came purely from Layne herself. From the way she carried herself at all times, how even when she was at rest seemed ready to inflict heavy violence in the blink of an eye. And of course, some of it came from her reputation as well. The kind of reputation that made it clear that if the council *was* going to deem her undesireable and in need to be removed, they wouldn't send an underling to do the deed.

Not that she was at all worried about that last part.

"Uh... what loss?" She was genuinely confused, it seemed like this Rist was either playing games with her at the behest of his family, or hadn't really understood the situation at all; neither of which seemed very promising for her prospects.

"Maybe I should..." she put her feet up on the table and leaned back, "...go over the situation again."

Her hand stretched over her head toward one of the nearest cupboards as she tried to rummage through it for something to drink without having to get up from her comfortable position, but she gave up after realizing there wasn't anything in there. So she just focused her attention back on him.

"Eight... maybe seven years ago... I was a Sith assassin in the employ of Darth Baras, and I came to Alderaan in order to kill a member of your house. Galen Rist. Which I did. Long story short, I obviously ended up joining the Jedi Order some time later. Now, today, some important seeming lady from your house brought along some of her goons, broke my padawan's arm in an unprovoked attack, and declared vendetta on me. She claimed I killed her sister, Vidara Rist. Which I did not. Apparently this Vidara had been apprentice to Galen, and she's just assuming I'm responsible. Said I have three days to get my affairs in order, before she and her entire house will be thrown against me. Threatened to kill everyone I care about before finally killing me."

She watched him very closely; to see his reaction to all this.

"Oh, I thought is was your sister that died 8 years ago... Daz was not clear about this situation and I was not there at brunch when you were talking about it either. And, I didn't know of a plot to kill another Jedi, either. This may have been concealed from me, because I am a Jedi as well." He said.

He thought about it for a minute and said, "Hum, this is big deal. We will have get to the bottom of this quick. But, I don't know how much sway my voice would have with the house. This smells as Thul trying to gain sway from Rist to leave Uglo. I wonder if there is 'proof' or just speculation to this accusations, and if Duchess Giandra a sister, or if she died of suspicious or natural causes. It haven't happening very often, but to have a previously unknown noble died of suspicious circumstances and there is a war starting from it. The nobility here is cutthroat or worse."

She shrugged, "I don't really know or care about the politics. What I care about is making sure this doesn't end up hurting my padawan or anyone else. I guess if its politics, then proof might not matter, but if not I'd like to at least try and establish my innocence. That'd be where you could come in. You may not have 'sway' as you put it, but if you were persona non grata you wouldn't be wearing those colors and you wouldn't have been busy with house business earlier. So, you should at least be able to investigate things from the inside, right?"

She leaned forward. "I was also thinking of maybe paying the duchess a visit tomorrow. Get some things made clear. Maybe you could give me some advice about that."

"Yes, as you say, and I can use my status of a 'Hero of the Battle of Alderaan' as well." I said, when thought for a second. "Oh, and the ancient Rist Jedi battle armor I have also. The armor a priceless piece that was been in the on display for at least a few hundred years in one of the main halls of Castle Rist. So, that might give a fair amount of sway."

He starting to smirk. "You don't like polities? You are on the wrong planet then. This planet is nothing, but politics. Holo-soap operas on other planets have nothing on Alderaan, the entitlement and self-importance the nobles have. Backstabbing, wars, and all the citizens are collateral damage."

In a sober manner. "I don't know what you expect accomplish meeting with the duchess, but I will go with you. The main advice is expect backhanded compliments and everything you say will be scene as a slight or threat. No sudden movements or raising your voice."

"You might want to rethink accompanying me for it, because I don't think I'll be subtle with your Duchess, and I *will* be raising my voice rather a lot. It's kind of what I do. You would likely be better off not being seen to associate with me like that. And... well, if she thinks hiding behind etiquette and tradition will work with me... I need her to understand that it *won't*. Besides, she owes me for my padawan's arm."

She shrugged. "Or you could accompany me and pretend to be there holding the leash of the Jedi's mad dog, as if making sure I won't go completely psycho in there. That could work."

"If I am there, I don't think there will be violence, just more posturing. Maybe, bring Katarzyna and other Jedi would be a good idea. Unless you are looking for a fight. We are trying to seek peace and keep Alderaan in the Republic, which would be undermined if you start a fight tomorrow. We should ask about if there was suddenly evidence out of thin air recently, that 'ties' of to the murder. I'm expecting that, or hearsay." He said flatly.

"I don't want to involve any more Jedi than I have to at this point," she said, "and I'm not looking for a fight. Not a physical one anyway. But I am who I am, and I want her to understand that she's made a terrible mistake in picking a fight with *me*. Alderaan's rules and traditions may be what everyone here holds dear, but they mean *nothing* to me. Not when they are used to excuse violence against children. Nor when it has led to organized systems of legal murder. So, if she intends to hide behind such traditions, I intend to make clear that they will not protect her if she carries through with this nonsense."

She shrugged.

"Usually, people start flubbing their prepared lines when I do stuff like that."

"Well, I'm trying to keep you and your learner alive after day 3. If you think you're the first Force wielder Rist has gone up against, you are sorely mistaking. I'm sure the war here was a great opportunity to honing their skills. The house has its nobles, bureaucrats, military and citizens, but we've got a reputation of the house of assassins for a reason, even if we try to distance us from that." He said.

Layne seemed entirely unconcerned about them supposedly having gone up against force wielders. Galen Rist had shown no indication of being particularly competent in that arena, and not only was he apparently high up enough to have been the mentor of a member of the main branch of the family, but he had done contract work for Darth Baras as well. If *anyone* in the house was going to be competent at dealing with Force wielders, it should've been him. Of course, they may well have shored up their competencies *after* her last visit to Alderaan, but she clearly didn't think that was a particular point of danger.

She shrugged. "Doesn't sound like they're trying to distance themselves from it at all."