Before - Legends Wrong Things [King Veruna/OC for MMM]

Because corrupt Naboo kings need love too.


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Wrong Things



There was no one in the offices to see me when I left. Even Lady Zevon was gone, though she had taken her datapad with her. It was almost quiet, but I could hear the tickticktick pulse of the chrono in the next room. I flung my cloak on, the black, scratching wool cloak I always wore, and adjusted the brooch. I wasn?t nervous. No, I was calm as I stopped to turn off the last light, a glowing, snow lily globe in the corner, and the room was turned into shadows. But I didn?t need it to be able to see. I blinked, and then I could see light from the one swollen full moon.

The door hissed, and then locked shut behind me, and I paused, for only a breath held moment, before I left the Advisers? Wing. The hallway was echoing with quiet, but it wasn?t empty. Oh, I knew that. Governor Bibble would still be shut up in his office, bruise eyed over another cup of caf.

Captain Magneta was out on patrol, even though his shift would have ended, officially, several hours before. His footsteps, with his polished, thudding black boots, had gone away just around the corner.

There was a embroidery thread crack of light under the Minister of Education?s door as I walked past. I had expected that. Apparently, she would even sleep on a fainting couch at the back of her office, when she was busy, and fretting over work she ought to have left to her senior aide, and his assistants.

That is how it should be. Only she can do her duty, my aunt would have sing-songed, with her prim and proper smirk.

Years ago, I might have listened to her. That was before I refused to become one of Queen Mirabella?s handmaidens, and my aunt was through with me. I was sixteen. My aunt had never had any political aspirations, but she was, and is, a devout Royalist, who never forgot that we were descended from Queen Aurelia the Gentle. She thought I looked like Aurelia, or at least, her holopictures, mostly because I was named for her. But I was selfish, daydream dazed, and not at all interested in dying for Queen Mirabella, or even learning how to shoot a blaster. That wasn?t my duty.

When she found out, my aunt locked her house, our house, up, and ordered her maiden not to let me in. But enough about that.

It took me only ten minutes to reach King Veruna?s quarters, down the long, ballroom floored hallways. That day, I was wearing copper shoes, or dancing slippers, that I hadn?t really been able to afford, and I couldn?t hear my footsteps. Only the trees shaking outside in the gardens, and then a pebble throwing of rain against the window. I didn?t look around. I had seen the palace, and the gardens, enough times not to notice them.

The Queen?s in her castle, I heard echo in my mind.

It was an old lullaby, sleeptime song that I used to hear when I was little. I hadn?t heard it since then, and I didn?t know why I remembered it now. I?m not sentimental, and the only good thing about the past was that it was gone. Quite gone. It kept thumping back and forth, over and over again, like a swinging, old-fashioned, even ancient door?

The King?s at the door

waiting waiting waiting?

A woman came out into the hallway just ahead of me, near a moon grey statue of a long ago king whose name I didn?t remember. It was Mina, one of Veruna?s two handmaidens, his swordgirls. Mina, with her dark hair and cat sly eyes, looked as though she could be Veruna?s sister, or cousin. Of course, they weren?t at all related. Veruna came from one of the established, political, new liberal Theed families. They would never send their girls, their daughters, to be handmaidens. It wasn?t done.

She nodded. Oh, I had guessed that she didn?t care for me, but she would allow me to continue. I wasn?t a threat. She waited until I had walked past her. Her cloak swished back, just enough for me to see the dagger she wore strapped to her waist. It flashed, like a mirror in which I could see my reflection, if only for a mo

 

Wow, very rich story-telling. I love how this is almost a one-sided love story, a twisted love story. Usually we only get those with Dark or Rogue Jedi, but I liked the lack of the Force here--somehow, that made it all the more real. Great POV-redirect on MMM!

 

I agree with ginchy! And your attention to detail is exquisite!

 

Very nicely done!

 

I read this twice yesterday. I kept trying to decide what I wanted to say in my reply but in the end, I just decided that the work speaks for itself. So I'll settle for saying simply this: Stunning.

 

Wow! That was a fanstastically woven tale! I must admit that I didn't know that much about King Veruna, but I found this story quite captivating.

Great job!

AF

 

ginchy: Yes, this isn't your usual mush, but for these characters, it's as mushy as they get. I'm glad you liked it!

Jade_Pilot: I agree with ginchy! And your attention to detail is exquisite!

I do try. Thanks!

ratna: Thanks for reading!

VaderLVR64: I read this twice yesterday. I kept trying to decide what I wanted to say in my reply but in the end, I just decided that the work speaks for itself. So I'll settle for saying simply this: Stunning.

*blushes*

Thanks!

AnakinsFavorite: Really, there isn't much to know about King Veruna. He is such a minor character in the EU that they don't even give his age, and he mostly serves as a foil to Amidala. Most people seem to think he was middle aged, but I've chosen to portray him in a way where he fits in better with the Naboo monarchs seen in the movies.

Wow! That was a fanstastically woven tale!

Thanks!