Bereft a Father

From TFC Galactopedia

“Mumma, your hand’s too tight!”

Candas spared a glance down at the older of her twin daughters and loosened her grip fractionally.

“Stand still, Roxzannah.”

Her voice was tight, the words harsher than she intended. For once, the six year old obeyed without complaint. Her twin girls stood to either side of her, Roxzannah in blue and Snow in purple. Tigre, her three year old son, had one little hand firmly buried in the fur of Roxzannah’s tail. His big sister was too absorbed in her own thoughts to notice or care. Candas noticed he was chewing on the claws of his free hand again. She made a mental note to speak with the nursery servants about discouraging that sort of behavior.

Snow tugged at her other hand. “Mumma, why does Da have to leave?”

Roxzannah piped up, “I don’t want him to go!”

Even Tigre looked up hopefully. “Da?”

Candas shook her head tiredly. “Your father is leaving, and that is the end of it.”

Snow sniffled and Roxzannah backed her ears.

“But-.”

“It was best for everyone that he go,” Candas interrupted her daughter stiffly. Roxzannah’s eyes met her own, and she fought to stifle the hollow ache in her chest. It was too like staring into Aerion’s stubborn brown gaze. Their fights had escalated to near violence, and neither had been willing to give an inch. For the sake of their children, her children, he had to go. When she freed a hand to smooth the skirts of her cream silk gown, Roxzannah darted forward to the mirrored crystalplex window and pressed her nose to it. Tigre trailed after her, still holding fast to her tail. Below the pane spread the wide duracrete pads that composed most of the Turashene spaceport. Sheer rock walls a hundred meters tall kept the sunken spaceport and the berthed ships safe from the icy winds that whipped over the tundra surface above. A medium sized passenger liner was nearly finished boarding just below the window.

Candas felt her breath catch as a lone white furred figure stalked up the boarding ramp. Aerion paused, almost as though he had heard her, and turned to stare directly at the window, his gaze icy even through the mirrored plexi. ‘It is not possible… He cannot know.’ The look he gave her was not a friendly one. Aerion had been a Jedi before his family called him home to do his duty. He had given up his entire life to become her consort- her third, in truth, but the only one to give her children and attain full status as her mate. He cared nothing for wealth, position, or possessions. Their children were his greatest joy, and denying him access to them had hurt him worse than anything else she could have done.

Zannah pressed one small hand to the crystalplex as her father turned his back and strode the rest of the way up the ramp and into the ship. She cast a pleading look up at her mother, but the other’s countenance was cold and stony. The girl kept her eyes on the ship all through its preflight checks, just knowing it must be some mistake, some cruel joke. Only when it had lifted past the upper edges of the rock walls on gently humming repulsors did she allow herself to understand the truth. Her father was not coming back. Tears blurred her vision and she felt a sob building in her throat, though she struggled to suppress it.

‘I love you, Da. I miss you.’

Snow burst into tears when Aerion’s ship disappeared from sight. Roxzannah followed a moment later. After several bewildered seconds, Tigre joined them. The boy was too young to truly understand, but cried because his sisters did. Candas felt her own resolve flagging under the onslaught, and sank to her knees, ignoring the mess she knew she was making of her gown. Candas Touras-Lyles, Queen Mother of Lemoria Prime, sat on the dirty spaceport floor with her head in her hands, surrounded by the sobs and wails of her children, and for once in her life she had no idea what to do.