The Children of the Stars

The Opening Ceremonies

This was the second attempt. Nellith would never admit it to anyone, especially Allana, but she was nervous. And not just because of the red heels hidden under the hem of her dress were far taller than they had any right to be, or fear of ruining any of the beautiful things on her body, but because her lightsaber was hidden in a thigh sheath of all things, and she was expected to double for her sister.

The combination of the Force and makeup had done wonders. She knew that she would be able to even confuse the Force-users in the room. She after all was Allana's twin, and the two of them carried themselves similarly in the Force. Perhaps someone intimately familiar with one or both would be able to pick out the difference, but she suspected that Brakiss knew neither all that well.

Even when she was the Empress's Hand.

Still, despite what she'd said to Allana and how she outwardly acted, she didn't like taking this risk.

But what else could she do?

She wasn't going to let Allana die. And despite everything, she knew that in the very end, she was the most disposable of all of the Skywalkers. Her sister was the true Sword of the Jedi, even if she knighted her. When Jacen recovered, he would lead the Jedi Order. Allana would be queen of at least forty systems. Anakin. . . Anakin was supposed to be the best of them. And Thea was supposed to be queen of New Alderaan, a return to the best of the old age.

Where did that leave room for Nellith?

She couldn't think about that now, not with the first day of the conference about to start.

One of the large conference halls had been set up for these negotiations. There were four long tables established, with plenty of room in the middle for people to stand— or, really, to keep a No-Man's Land so that the four major parties could not attack each other without being tackled by one of the Chume'doro.

The tables were all facing each other, cloaked in a tablecloth bearing the banner and insignia of the organizations. The New Republic kept the Rebel Alliance's Phoenix Starbird, the Remnant kept the First Order's symbol, the Hapans had the dragon insignia of the Royal House, and the Jedi had their ancient symbol.

In some ways, it looked like a battlefield to Nellith.

Instead of sitting with the Jedi, as she would have if everything had gone as it was supposed to the day before, she instead followed her handmaidens to the table where the Hapan nobles sat. Nellith curtsied to Tenel Ka, as she was supposed to, before taking the seat to Tenel Ka's right.

They sat waiting, rather tediously, as courtiers played music and the rest of the conference filled in. Some were spectators from across the galaxy, who could sit at little round tables on the fringes of the room.

Nellith focused on watching the skylight, which was made of some prism that cast the entire room into a beautiful rainbow.

It was as good of an omen as any, Nellith supposed.

After about an hour and a half of such tedium, Tenel Ka rose and the courtiers stopped, marking the beginning of the negotiations.

"I welcome you all to Hapes," Tenel Ka began. "Today we are here to do what is most courageous— to try and understand each other, to attempt to have peace in our troubled galaxy. We have made the first step on the path to what is right. May we all find solutions that allow us to continue living in harmony once more."

With that, she sat down, and Brakiss rose from his chair as the representative of the Remnant.

"We thank the Queen Mother for allowing us so gracefully to come to Tenel Ka Chume'Dan and offering us her hospitality," Brakiss drawled. His yellow eyes flashed towards the Queen Mother, and Nellith felt uneasy.

Steady girl, don't scare so easy. She gripped the arms of her chair— it made her feel just a little bit safer, more secure.

"We have very few requests that must be achieved," Brakiss said. "The first of which is that the Jedi no longer be allied with New Republic military and be subject to the laws of any other third-party entity. We also request free trade between parties, and that all New Republic military be banned from our territory, any trespassing to be punished with death. Our last is that Kylo Ren be turned over to us for execution."

Tenel Ka didn't hesitate. There was fire in her gray eyes as she practically leapt out of her chair. "No! We will not delegitimize any parties present today, nor will we ask for executions! We are doing this to prevent lives lost, and not decide which ones will be lost in some abstract sense of greater good— rethink your goals and remember that I am overseeing these negotiations!"

Nellith didn't have to look to know her sister was surprised. This was apparently more spine than expected by Allana. But somehow, it did not surprise Nellith. She knew that Tenel Ka was also a Dathomiri witch, and that came with its own ideals and power.

Besides, she also noticed how the Queen Mother's gaze lingered on Ben Solo at the Jedi table.

Just like how Kyp's eyes lingered on her. She wished that he wouldn't keep watching her like that, lest someone discover that she was not the Chume'da. But there was no way to communicate that. And she liked that he saw her. Not Allana,.

As the New Republic's secretary rose, speaking of reparations for the Princess Leia and returning the Republic scientists taken prisoner, Nellith was ashamed to say that she drifted off.

She couldn't help it— other than Tenel Ka, the Hapans had very little to do. It was as if they were only there for show.

Besides, she could see that this was going nowhere. The Remnant was picking fights with every little detail, going and adding little barbs and jabs with their words, trying to provoke one of the other parties present. Nothing really got done that day.

In fact, the only fact of interest was that Nellith had caught Brakiss staring at Allana in her Amelia disguise. Perhaps it was nothing, just curiosity.

But she could've sworn that right after, he looked back at her and smiled. Chillingly, the kind of smile of a predator that had cornered its prey.