With Illesia finally taken care of and the ghosts of the former Xiis project left on Chuffon Prime by Renso and his research teams finally put to rest, the Champions were finally able to celebrate the victory of once again preventing the galaxy from falling into anarchy.
It wasn't until they had docked in the hangar and Yerbol pulled her close to his chest, mumbling an apology for the somewhat unexpected gesture that two things dawned on Aria: not only had they not had the opportunity to freely share a warm embrace since leaving Taris three or so months prior, but she had nearly LOST him forever to, in his own words, “a power-hungry lunatic of a woman” no less. The gravity of the second realisation hit her so hard that it all but knocked the breath from her lungs, prompting the Champion’s grip to tighten around her partner's torso in response to the overwhelming surge of protective instinct that flared in her chest. If anybody wanted to so much as lay a finger on him again, they'd have to go through her (and two sets of serrated teeth, no doubt!) first. But he was here, he was REALLY safe from harm, and she was NEVER letting him go again. She tried to convey her relief to him as some form of words in addition to their embrace, but ultimately all she could manage to mumble into his chest was:
“I love you.”
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Hearing that there were some Xiis still remaining did cause their mirth to deflate momentarily, though most of the Elders were quick to jump in to defend their own capabilities, implying that they did not expect the duo to be the ones carrying out the pursuit if they would rather abstain from such activities for the time being.
“Come now, Matthew.” Cheriss commented, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes, “I think some of us would benefit from the exercise that would come with tracking these stray Xiis down ourselves for once, no?”
Matthew fell silent then to allow Voldon to speak, the former battlemaster’s praise supplemented by a further nod from Ailel, who proclaimed:
“Indeed, Voldon. I daresay that if we start to rely on their help any more often than we are now, we’d have to start paying them stipends.”
After exchanging a few more statements regarding the status of the academy's student body and prospects for future lecturers, the pair were dismissed and left to decide for themselves whether to slip back into their teaching roles right away or to simply goof off for a while (which sounded reasonable).
The duo spent the next couple of weeks taking full advantage of their ability to relax, chipping in on a few lessons here and there but for the most part keeping to themselves. There were still places in the jungle and the mountain ranges which had not been fully explored by Zinuthra’s newest inhabitants which made for several interesting hiking excursions, filled with much laughter and messing around, or on other occasions choosing a tranquil location to sit together and pick out shapes in the clouds while the Tuk’ata terrorized the local Riika cat nests. One such scenario brought both hounds slinking back after disappearing for an hour, for Taral to tuck his tail between his legs and proceed to whine petulantly at Yerbol about the state of his nose, which looked as though the cats had scratched it to pieces.
“Bit off a little more than you could chew, huh? Told you to be careful there wasn’t more of them waiting to ambush you.” Aria chided them as she scratched Taral’s ears while the duo channelled some basic Force healing auras to fix up the worst of the damage.
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Having the option to lay about doing absolutely nothing even if she had awoken a bit sooner than she would have liked. She had watched Yerbol sleeping peacefully beside her for a few moments, glad to know that he was able to get rest untroubled by visions of Illesia and his terrible experiences during his capture. She had been content to simply lie there with him until he woke, until some persistent (and familiar) scuffling and grunting at the door drew the Champion’s attention.
“Waaaaaallkkk?”
“Why are you suddenly unable to take yourselves for a walk? It’s not like the rest of the doors are locked.” she grumbled, but both hounds persisted to the point she was worried they would wake Yerbol and thus was resigned to complying with their demands in order to shut them up. While it was unlikely that the temperature in their quarters was REALLY below average, it still felt cold enough against her bare skin to elicit a slight shiver from the Champion as she fumbled to slip on a plain shirt and similarly coloured bottoms. The hounds greeted her as eagerly as ever on the other side of the door, and seemed quite glad for her company on their latest trek as she trailed along absently behind them. Perhaps, she theorized, they had simply been concerned because the pair had locked the door last night and hadn’t left the room since, it was after eleven in the morning according to the chronometer. The fresh air did her some good, Aria feeling more refreshed as they returned to the academy building shortly after twelve, only to run into Janika as the young Knight was leaving one of her previous classes. This led to more time being spent in conversation whilst accompanying the Knight to the library, which the Champion could not deny was nice. As fond as she was of her partner, she also appreciated the opportunity to sit with Vano and Janika and exchange “girl talk” gossip which she was sure Yerbol would much rather abstain from (the chief topic of choice being whether Cheriss and Matthew were in fact, flirting, or “was I imagining that the other day?!”)
It was well past one in the afternoon before she returned to check up on Yerbol again, a smile forming on her features as she faintly heard him cheering from down the hallway.
“You certainly snore like one.” the teasing response to his statement as the door shut behind her was followed up with a more rueful apology.
“You were sleeping so well, didn’t want to disturb you. I was hoping to crawl back in before you woke up, actually, but a certain pair of somebodies decided that if I was awake I should be doing something other than staying in bed.” A fondly reproachful look was shot in the hounds’ direction as Aria explained how Neta had also holocalled while she had been with Janika and Vano, the former spec ops demanding to know why they had yet to pay her a visit and “What in the galaxy was taking them so long”.
“So I guess we should make arrangements for that...” settling beside him, she perched her chin on his shoulder to peek down at the datapad where a message flashed up from Voldon summoning them to a meeting of particular importance in the Council’s chamber.
“...after we see to this, I suppose.”
Arriving once again before the group of Elders, they would find them regarding the message from Saresh that had come through earlier that morning, suggesting that a formal treaty agreement be drawn up between the Qyaari and the Alliance.
“I know, we promised not to disturb you for a while.” Ailel apologised. “But this is an important step and we thought you'd like to be a part of it.”
Upon playing back the Twi'lek’s message, the unanimous decision was that it would be beneficial to attend the ceremony the Chancellor was proposing, with the academy running so well and the stigma Bracknell and Soto had created all but forgotten, it would be foolish to discard such an honourable invitation.
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Coruscant turned out to be one of the planets which had suffered the least from the Xiis’ brief reign of terror, and thus was the location the Qyaari were summoned to for the ceremony. Aria had to admire the dedication and resilience of the planet’s people as they stepped out of the spaceport and made their way towards the square where the former Senate Tower was situated, the place looked a lot closer to its former state that she had been expecting. Sure, there were a lot of establishments with the shutters pulled down and the windows boarded up, or here and there a dishevelled pile of rubble and broken glass, but a lot of the destruction Illesia's minions had wreaked since the Champions and Voldon had left seemed to be contained, on the upper levels of the city at least.
Chancellor Saresh and what remained of her aide team met the Qyaari in the forecourt, Aria dipping into a respectful half bow out of habit.
“Chancellor.” Ailel greeted the Twi'lek with a warm smile. “It's good to see you well, and unharmed.”
“Likewise, I appreciate you all agreeing to make this more official.” Saresh responded in kind.
“With the academy doing so well, and with your recruitment broadcasts yielding such a strong influx of new recruits it was the natural next step.”
“We never expected the class numbers to expand quite so quickly as they have.” Aria chucked, “Not that we're complaining, of course. It's good to know people are seeing the Qyaari as a positive force, for doing good and helping people. That's what we wanted.”
“And this new treaty intends to ensure that.” Saresh promised. “It will tie you in as important political allies to the Alliance and all worlds under its protection (which should also bring more recruits into the academy you have on Zinuthra), while still ensuring you have the ability to act independently of the Cabinet for the good of any people involved, should the need ever arise.”
“Without forcing us to become too politically entrenched?” Ailel inquired carefully. “The Jedi Council made that mistake and it left out hands tied in places it shouldn't have, all thanks to political treaties and promises.”
“I assure you we took your instructions on board, Master Sparr, in an attempt to avoid exactly that.”
This was getting too political for Aria already, the small statured Champion huffing out a quiet sigh as she pulled a hand through her hair.
“We should've brought Cheriss along, she likes all this political jargon, she'd probably know what she was looking at.” but after the stint on Dromund Kaas, the Dathomirian had protested that she would much rather remain on Zinuthra and let Ailel take the lead for once in this instance. While not as politically versed as her counterpart, Ailel knew enough to converse with the Chancellor properly in order to seal the treaty, alongside the other Elders who had volunteered to come along.
Those who remained behind on Zinuthra with Cheriss would be tracking down the escaped Xiis, once their locations were triangulated those Elders could then lead squads of newly qualified Knights, perhaps supplemented by Alliance personel if Saresh agreed to it, and ensure they were taken care of too. Soon, they would be nothing more than a bad memory.
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