The Avenger finally returned to Kaas after months away, but Ragious chose to continue keeping communications silence even as he landed his personal ship on the grounds of the Eirndeth Estate. Stalking through the grounds, he searched for his daughter, drawing the force in on himself to keep her from sensing more than a general presence. He found her in the training dojo attached to the main house, sparring with several practice droids, a lightsaber in each hand.
Watching her in silence, Ragious felt the pride of a parent at the young woman his daughter had become. "You're even more beautiful than the last time I saw you, and twice as deadly."
The familiar voice brought a ready smile to the young pureblood's lips, and her lightsabers were de-activated and at her hips before she had even turned around to run into Ragious's arms. "Father!"
He embraced her, lifting her in the hug until her feet left the floor. "I've missed you so very much. I was hoping you would have been able to join me on the Avenger before we went into the Deep Rim, but the timing was all off."
"The bantha more than made up for it. I love that creature!" she laughed, hugging his neck for so long a moment, it seemed she might not let go. Finally, she stepped back to give him a sly grin. "So, what did you bring me?"
He laughed and bent to plant a light kiss on her lips. "My Thala, always wanting more. Good thing I love you most." Reaching behind him on his belt, he pulled loose the two ornate lightsabers he had hanging there and held them out to her. They were obviously handcrafted by an expert, someone well versed in the Sith art of lightsaber construction. "I have been working on these since the day you were born, and I am so proud to finally be able to gift them to you."
Thala took the lightsabers with an expression of awe, testing the heft of the one in her main hand. "They're practically weightless! Fighting with these will be like using an organic extension of my own arm! I'm honored." She looked up at him with a wide smile of affection and appreciation. "Thank you, Father."
"No, Thala, thank you for being worthy of them. Now, tell me all I have missed. I want to know everything."
She frowned at the request, and with a glance toward the doors to make certain they were closed, she gestured toward a side area where they could both sit. She secured the new lightsabers to her belt in place of the old ones as she headed in that direction so she could discard them onto a side table next to her other equipment. There had been more to her routine than simple lightsaber training, and she tapped a command into the console on the wall to signal for the droids to begin cleaning up the training room.
There was a carafe of water and two glasses on the table, and she took a seat there before speaking again. "I'm not sure of everything. I've been trying to piece it all together, but there's a lot that's not making sense. It looks like Kiabe and Jocelyn Arren were going to make some sort of coup attempt."
He followed her, taking a seat and pouring himself a glass of water. "A coup for what? Your mother isn't still pissed at me, is she? I was out winning battle after battle, leading the soldiers loyal to this house."
"I have no idea. I can't find her."
It was his turn to frown. "And why would Kiabe be conspiring with Jocelyn? That makes as much sense as if I was to begin conspiring with my Rattataki slave. What do you mean you can't find her? Your mother? She was on Nar Shaddaa last I heard."
Thala shook her head. "A few days after you went radio silent, I went to the Outer Rim with Lady Qel. She was on a business trip and wanted company, so I acted the bodyguard for her. When I got back, there were a few messages from Kiabe. In the last message, she was babbling about how I shouldn't trust any of the men in our house - especially you and Khor - and that she was going to 'repair the damage' that you two had caused. I thought she was being over-dramatic.
"There was another message from one of the servants at House Arren - a distress call. It had been a couple of days though, so I only came in on the aftermath of what had happened there. I've been trying to piece things together ever since."
"She was really still upset about Aittera? Thala, let me explain something to you, something that if you truly are my daughter, and the Sith I know I have raised, then you will understand. I have never hidden anything in my life from you. I have never safeguarded you against the uglier things I have done, and I see no reason to ever start. You are my daughter, and I love you more than anything else in this galaxy. We are born to conquer, and at times our emotions draw us toward something that we must possess. For me Aittera was and remains one of those things. I had her, and she slipped away, and I did everything to possess her again."
"Father, you never owed me an explanation for Aittera or any other conquest, just as I never owe you one. We are Sith. We are entitled to our own pursuits," she confirmed with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"Which servant sent the distress call, and what were the contents?"
"The one that attends to the household when Darth Kaldaras is away. She simply said that something was wrong and requested assistance from a member of the family since he was away.
"I went there immediately, but obviously, the danger was past by then. I've managed to put together what I think is an accurate timeline of the events that happened there, but the surveillance was tampered with, and you know how inaccurate servants can be."
"Tell me what you've discovered then. Last I heard Kaldaras was on some journey tracing down some holocron that a tablet he came across referenced."
"Kiabe paid a visit to the house, specifically to meet with Lady Jocelyn. The servants' accounts are a little varied - some say there was a fight, some described something more like a disturbance involving the Force - and none of the survivors are firsthand witnesses. Whatever happened, when Kiabe emerged, she cut a swath through the household, killing half the servants - including all of the alien ones - and the only one who saw Jocelyn was the servant who sent the message. She said Jocelyn appeared, shoved her into a closet, and told her to send the distress call."
"And no one from House Arren has since tried to contact you? Not Kaldaras, or his Chiss? Just silence?"
Thala shook her head. "The servants say they haven't seen either of them or Lady Jocelyn since that day."
Ragious sighed. "I guess it is a good thing I have returned then. Because it appears I have two houses to put back together."
She nodded sympathetically. "I've done my best to hold things together here, but quite honestly, I would rather be in the fight somewhere than babysitting a bunch of whiny servants."
"That does seem like more of a job for one of your brothers."
Thala laughed, nodding. "If Khor is at all to blame for whatever is happening, you should make him do it. He seems to like playing with things that are beneath him."
"I was thinking your twin. He seemed to like stirring shit while we were on the Avenger. Maybe I'll make his little blonde whore into one of the house servants too. I obviously cannot trust her on the Avenger."
She smirked. "Even better. You should've seen the messages he sent trying to rub it in my face that he'd been posted on the Avenger with you."
"That was your mother's doing. I wanted you, but you had not yet returned."
"It gave me the perfect chance to piss her the hell off when I did get back," she sneered.
Ragious smirked at his daughter. "I'm sure she's worried with you around that I would truly be replacing her."
"She should be. I'm ten times the woman she is and a hundred times the fighter."
"And very soon, you may just be proving both of those things to me." He leaned over to kiss his daughter again on the cheek as he stood. "I'm going to go put House Arren back in order. I will return in a few hours. Until then, see if you can't raise Thalkyr up on the Avenger and inform him to bring a shuttle - and his slut - down."
Thala's lips curled into a cruel, delighted smile. "It will be my pleasure, Father."
