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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2914995" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 343They returned to Alraxia to the usual controlled chaos of the Palace. It was amazing how many things would pile up after only a few days. Sure, there were people that were supposed to be dealing with those things, but somehow most came to the conclusion that it was best for the Empress to settle. Despite all the changes that were attempted, the Alraxians ha a habit of still falling back to that...which was only more proof that simply escaping the Empire and leaving a council in place would only last for as long as it had the last time...weeks.    But there were more than just government matters to be dealt with. In fact, those were the least of importance to both Marix and Jyren. Somehow, they also fairly easy to escape, at least when the Empress was around to be looked at. And besides, even the Alraxian people had a way of respecting that certain things simply had to come before the government, even for the Empress.    “You need to talk to him,” Marix said over her shoulder, not taking her attention off of the view from the window in front of her. They were in Blackflame territory, far to the south of the Palace and in the part of Alraxia that was much more fields and hills than the forests of the north where the Palace was located.    “If he won’t listen to you, he surely won’t listen to me,” Navik Keros responded from across the room in his home. The two of them were in his study, which was now much more cluttered than it had been years ago when Jyren had first seen it.    Marix sighed and turned back to face the older Alraxian, noting that he really didn’t look much older at all. Years were, generally, fairly kind to most Alraxians. She idly walked over to the desk near the back wall of the study and rested an arm on it, her eyes looking at the many holos that sat on top of it, “He likes to fight with me more than anything.”    That actually got a short laugh out of Jyren’s father, who smiled and shrugged before walking over to the desk, too, “Sometimes it scares me how much he’s like his mother...but I’ll do what I can. Though if he’s got it in his head that he can do something, I don’t think either of us can stop him from going.”    “If he goes, I’ll have to,” Marix said flatly, her eyes now finding one of the newest holos to look at as she thought.    Navik nodded but seemed to have the same discomfort about this as she did, “We will...survive,” he then glanced to the open door at the other end of the room and down the hallway a moment, “All of us will. But if this situation you have seen is as volatile as you think...we will become involved no matter what.”    “We are shielded by Mrrakesh space, the Imperial Remnant, and the lack of hyperspace routes to our Empire,” Marix said, finally looking the Alraxian who had become her best advisor in the eye, “Our people are safe. Charging in, even if its only myself and Jyren, could drag us into a war we would never have been involved in otherwise.”    “You’ve always said we should stop hiding in our little corner of the galaxy,” Navik said with a slight smile tugging at his face, “Jyren is going to go regardless of the greater consequences. He’s as idealistic as his mother and will simply rush in because he feels it’s the right thing to do...and, usually, it is the right thing to do.”    Marix sighed again but couldn’t help a nod, “But the right thing to do isn’t always the best thing for everyone.”    “He probably knows that but he’s going to see the greater threat rather than the smaller ones,” as he spoke, Navik turned to walk over to the hallway, speaking over his shoulder, “I’ll try to talk with him but trying to tell him he can’t go will only make him more stubborn.”    And then the older Alraxian stepped out of the room, heading down the hallway towards the sounds that he’d been trying to talk over and do his best to not let distract him. Navik passed by the two newer rooms, that had been added to his home only a year earlier, before stopping in front of what had been Jyren’s room well over thirty standard years ago. It was still bright red and very much the perfect room for any child...which was surprisingly fitting, actually.    Sitting on the floor in the center of the room was Jyren, and in his arms a small, white-furred and black striped Alraxian child, just slightly smaller than Tobias had been on the first trip they’d all made to Alraxia. Sitting at Jyren’s feet, purring happily and playing with some shape-changing blocks, was another small child that looked almost exactly the same as the other, save that the child’s fur was black and he had a blueish coloured stripe.    Jyren smiled when he saw his father and nodded to the sleeping child in his arms, “How is it that they always fall asleep when you’re around?”    “We old men are good at boring children,” Navik said with a smile.    “Good at boring one of them, at least,” Jyren grinned and reached over to ruffle the fur of the playing child, which got him a gentle bite on the hand and a slight ‘grrr’ in response.    His father nodded out of the room, “Would I be able to steal you for a few minutes?”    “I don’t know,” Jyren looked down at the child who still had a good grip on his hand with some fairly sharp teeth before asking, “You be okay playing on your own for a little while?”    After relinquishing Jyren’s hand, the little Alraxian looked up to him with two big, silvery-orange eyes before nodding a few too many times and going back to the interesting little toy blocks. Jyren, of course, took advantage of this to ruffle the child’s fur one more time before getting to his feet and laying the one in his arms down on the nearest of two beds in the room.    Once the sleeping child had some blankets pulled over, Jyren managed to escape and followed his father out of the home and onto the small entranceway that overlooked the single path in the small community. Jyren looked up and along the hill to where the dining hall for the entire community was before asking idly, “I hope they didn’t drive you too crazy.”    “Of course not,” Navik smiled, “Remember, they always sleep when I’m around. Very easy. Still, wouldn’t it just be easier for the nannies over at the Palace? Surely you wouldn’t have to go across half the planet like this.”    “You know how I feel about that,” Jyren said, looking back to his father.    His father who was now grinning, “Me and all the Empire. Can’t say I blame you, though. But you should have heard this place when people found out the Empress and Emperor were going to raise their children like the rest of us do. Everyone assumed you’d be driven insane trying to balance that with keeping the Empire together.”    “Pity they didn’t know it was too late for that,” Jyren grinned, too, “Where’d Toby run off to?”    “Eating with the rest of the clan, probably,” Navik waved a hand in that direction vaguely, then picked up on his son’s expression and asked, “Would you rather we stop delaying and get straight to the point?”    Surprisingly enough, that actually made the grin on Jyren’s face grow, “You’ve been around Marix too much...but its probably a good idea, anyway.”    But despite the words, both father and son went silent. Truthfully, neither really needed to say any words to make their point, but its seemed like a necessary formality that both were, currently, doing their best to avoid. So both tried to figure out the best way to make their point without offending the other, as, over the years, a somewhat tense relationship had developed due to Jyren’s personality being so very idealistic...which was just like his mother had been, and had been the reason for many, many clashes between Navik and his wife. It was no surprise that the same thing created similar clashes between father and son.    It was Jyren who managed to gather his thoughts first, “You know that I’ve never actually been able to open myself up to the Network like every other Alraxian. I know that you can feel what all the other Alraxians feel through it...like my link with Marix, only less specific and a little less strong. More like...more like the Force only centered around one species,” Jyren sighed and motioned up to the darkening sky, “I feel the same for the rest of the galaxy. This is my home but there...that is my home, too. If I can help them, I should. Its important and...and I can’t just sit around while people die.”    “I understand why you want to go, Jyren, but if you go, Marix is going to go, too,” Navik simply repeated what the Empress had told him, knowing that it needed to be said from both himself and Marix to even have a chance of getting through his son’s head, “The Empress and the Emperor leaving with the Mrrakesh pushing our borders and a galactic war brewing everywhere else will not go over very well. Not to mention the fact that you can’t just run off and leave anymore. You have your reasons for not wanting to have your children raised by others, remember? What do you think’s going to happen if you run off?”    “I know,” Jyren sighed and looked down at the ground, “But I can feel...feel something. Something is growing out there. Something very, very dangerous...and if its ignored it will reach us here. If I go now, then I can stop it before it becomes a threat to us.”    Navik turned around to look back inside his home, idly catching sight of Marix slipping into the room with the children, “You cannot change the course of a war by yourself.”    “But I can help,” Jyren actually sounded a lot more reasonable than usual during these kind of discussions, “Another good pilot is always a valuable resource, and I’m more than just that.”    Glancing back over to his son again, Navik shook his head, “But what about Marix? I doubt you’ve told her as much as you just told me...and from the sound of it, you really are planning to go alone.”    Jyren actually nodded before saying, “I was a pilot long before I tried to pretend to be a Jedi. You’ve seen how I wield my lightsaber...but flying is even more natural to me. I’m not bragging by saying that it’s a rare thing...it is. And the New Republic is going to need everything they can get, even if it is just one more pilot.”    “You’re thinking only about yourself, Jyren. The Empire is—“    ”I don’t care about the Empire!” Jyren snapped a little too loudly considering how close they were to both Marix and the other houses...though, hopefully, most of the other people would be eating instead of listening. The outburst actually surprised Navik, though, as his son had shown over the years that he did, in fact, care about the Empire. But then, after lowering his voice, Jyren added, “I care about my family. If protecting my family happens to be the same as protecting the Empire, then its simply luck.”    At least that made a little more sense. But Navik didn’t say anything to that. His son was being truthful, and arguing that wouldn’t do any good at all. There wasn’t any actual silence, though, as both father and son had turned their attention to listening to the noises escaping the house...giggling, loud purring, and louder laughter. Marix never liked to publicly admit liking her children...but that didn’t meant she didn’t, of course...even Toby.    Eventually, Jyren said quietly, “Would it be too much to ask you to take care of the twins?”    “Ten years and you still have the nerve to ask something like that,” Navik smiled and patted his son’s shoulder, “Of course it wouldn’t be too much to ask....though I can’t help but wonder why you failed to mention Tobias.”    Jyren smiled and shrugged, “You really think he’ll let me run off without trying to tag along? He’s not small enough to hide in the cargo compartment anymore but he definitely has his ways. And even if we do manage to keep him here, the Palace is probably better for him.”    Pushing his son up from leaning against the ledge, Navik motioned towards the dining hall, “You should probably go find the little guy.”    Laughing slightly, Jyren nodded and started for the dining hall. As he walked off, though, a familiar voice jumped into his head suddenly. [When you get back, we’ll talk.]    [Why does that worry me?] Jyren asked through the link.    There was a short pause before Marix responded. [Because we tried this before a few hours ago. Apparently I should have said more than just ‘wait until we get home’.]</blockquote>

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