"Homeless"

Note: Malavai returned before KOTET.

Note #2: The story takes place after Chapter 2 of KOTET.

Note #3: THIS is why one size doesn't fit all (same KOTET story for all classes)!

Attira was standing by the Fury, looking at the landscape of mountains. Malavai approached her, and saw something on her face he had seen only once before: on the worst day of their lives. Back then he had been the cause. Now? He didn’t know.

“They treated me like a stranger,” she said. “Like I didn’t belong.” Another tear rolled down her pale cheek. She looked up at him. “We build a home on Dromund Kaas. We got married on Dromund Kaas. I gave birth to Nil’awr on Dromund Kaas. We planned future on Dromund Kaas. Yet they treated me as if I was there the first time; a short-time visitor.”

She silenced for a moment. He couldn’t find any words.

“I’ve been rejected, again,” she whispered. He knew what she meant: her parents had abandoned her like a stranger. Now the Empire treated her like a stranger, too. Her own words. “I am not seen as a Sith. Or someone from the Empire. I’m treated like a separate entity. Like a potential enemy, who could become an ally for a while.”

Another tear slid down her cheek. His heart was breaking at her pain. He wished there was something he could do, but he had no idea what that could be.

She turned to him; her tears of sorrow turning into tears of anger. “Is that what I have to suffer?” she barked. “Five years of my life stolen. And now I’ve been thrown out of my own home! Why? Due to my absence?”

“They see you as a head of another state, my lord,” he said quietly.

She snorted. “I don’t want another state! I want to defeat the enemy, and then go home!” She turned away to look at the mountains again. “This is not some kind of empire I’m building here,” she growled. “This is a bunch of deserters and defectors from the Empire and the Republic. Nothing more. Once the common enemy is gone, we go back to fighting each other. The Jedi will return to their goal of total Sith annihilation. What will I do then, hmm?” She looked at him again. “Where will I go? Where will you go? You’re still Imperial. I’m — apparently — not any more. Even Vowraun treats me like a stranger, and addressed me ‘commander’. Vowraun! The Sith I consider the closest thing to my master!”

Malavai wasn’t sure she was more furious or more morose. He knew for certain she was hurting, but had no idea how to help alleviate her pain. It was as if her parents abandoned her again, but this time it was the Sith Empire. It pained him. She had done so much for the Empire; she deserved more than this.

On the other hand he knew it was not lack of respect towards her. It was because Acinia saw her as equal, not a servant.

Malavai smiled slightly. His very own Sith always considered herself to be in service of the Empire. She thought of it as her duty. Now she was...homeless. Duty-less. His smile faded away. He knew all she wanted was to be done with Valkorion and his insane offspring, only to return home to start rebuilding it. She just had learnt that home didn’t want her back. That she had no home.

That also meant he didn’t either.

“Maybe you can build a new home,” he suggested quietly.

The look she gave him made him take a step back. “Not you too!” she shouted, gesturing angrily. “I don’t want to hear any more word about that nonsense of destiny and taking that foul seat! You hear me?!”

“Yes, my lord, forgive me,” he said but his words were drowned by her rage.

“I want the enemy destroyed! Utterly and completely annihilated, so that they aren’t a threat any longer. I want them to burn. I don’t want their disgusting throne or worthless empire of people who wait drooling for their droids to wipe their bottoms or narrow-minded cretins praying to a serpent! You hear me?!”

She suddenly silenced, eyeing him suspiciously. “If I’m rejected as a citizen of the Empire, and not allowed to return, what will you do? Where will you go?”

The question gave him a pause. His place was by her side. He was her husband. It was his duty to stand by her, and serve her.

But his service was first and foremost to the Empire. All his life, and it had never changed. For years, serving her and serving the Empire was one and the same. Would he face a choice of serving either his wife, or his Empire?

As he stood there opening his mouth, closing it, opening again, and still not finding words to answer her question, her suspicious look first turned into furious, and then sullen.

“Betrayed again,” she whispered dramatically, leaning on the railing, and looking back at the mountains.

“Never,” he said firmly with conviction. “Never!” he repeated, shaking his head.

“If they force me to do what I don’t want to do, and if they don’t let me go home, you will have to make a choice,” she said dryly, not looking at him.

“My duty is where I am sent. But my home...my home is where you are.”

She pushed away from the railing, straightened, and walked away slowly, not looking at him. He knew he had blown it, but he had no idea how to fix it. Instead of support, all he gave her was one more stab in her already severely pierced in many places heart.

Calling himself an idiot, he thought he should understand better what she felt. He’d feel the same if he was not considered Imperial any more, and treated as a temporary guest in the city he had grown up in.

He wanted to fix it. He had to fix it.

He had no idea how to fix it.

He watched her tiny figure walk away, feeling he had failed her.

Again.

She stopped by the plank to the Fury, turned, and seemed to wait for him. He quickly walked toward her. Her eyes were dry; her face was resolute and expressed confidence. When he was a step away, she grabbed the strap on his chest, pulled him close, and said softly, “I’m sorry,” before giving him a passionate kiss.

He hugged her, and returned the kiss. Then he whispered, “You are the Wrath, my love, everything will be exactly as you wish.”

She gave him ‘you’re right about that’ smile.

This is how he liked her.