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Doma Lowsyk had many secrets. They were not particularly interesting, nor shocking, nor worth gossiping about. However, a new emergence, a particular development which involved another, would easily break the status quo.
The young man, whom she had been visiting periodically for months, went by “Palpatine,” his surname, and would not acknowledge his given name at all. She and he had been seeing each other, frequently, for many months. It was a business venture, of sorts; a symbiotic association. Each party was careful in their journeys to the other, although she was usually the one walking upon the university’s pathways, grey-blue eyes reflecting bioluminescent flitterbugs.
Scanning the horizon of the lake as she briskly moved along the path, she considered her options. Doma had known the news for weeks, her deadline was coming closer;
And she could not deal with her dilemma. What was she to do? Future careers and dreams and hopes all seemed to be dependent upon the one decision she would make that night, alone with a private, kind, and strong young man.
Deep down, in the recesses of her heart, she knew. No matter what, she was going to go through with it. No one could convince her otherwise, not even herself. That man would never deny her.
Except, what if Palpatine did deny her?
What if he wasn’t the man she thought he was, and would deny support to her? Would she scream at the twilight sky, throw herself on her bed, continue her schooling, and go from there? Avoiding her parents, her family, and friends, isolating herself?
He was so kind, so supportive, so shockingly empathetic, if a bit- quite a bit- distant.
The building was looming ever closer, her legs moving without her consent. It towered over her, every individual window a possible onlooker, a possible gossiper, a possible enemy or outcry or holocam or-
She was inside now. The entry room was violet and red, blue and black, richly ordained as was expected of a high ranking family’s heir. Doma took a deep breath, in, and released it, out, her shakiness abating slightly.
Breathing techniques had always calmed her.
Black door encroaching on her field of vision, she raised her fist, and knocked.
One,
Two-
Three knocks reverberated throughout Palpatine’s temporary abode, interrupting his musings.
As he stood, he thought of his current home. It was the fifth academy he had been to in the past decade. Their stringent rules, weak willed students, it all made for a just slightly gratifying yet terribly annoying time. Sneaking past guards, blowing away “competition” in any subject, manipulating his peers; it was delectable, however, there was no challenge.
He traversed the carpet, the hue of the reds and blues so dark they were easily misinterpreted as black. Similar in coloring, his tunic and trousers were deep blue, laden with contrasting splashes of vermillion.
“Doma?” He opened the door, frowning. “I wasn’t expecting a visitor. Are you alright?”
“Well, I was wondering if we could talk,” she uttered, her voice shaky.
“Of course, of course.” What could we have here? “Please, sit, make yourself at home,” he gestured to a comfortable seating arrangement, plush chairs facing one another in a never ending stare-down.
“I don’t,” she took a deep breath. “Palpatine, I’m pregnant.”
Not what he expected.
He smiled, eyes widening. Not something he particularly reached for, in his machinations for the future. Palpatine’s thoughts raced to conclusions and rearranged plans. A youngling? An heir? Would they have the power he wielded? His intelligence? His potential?
“That’s great!” He smiled, gliding over the carpet. Hands grabbing her waist, he leant down and laid a chaste kiss to her lips.
Doma Lowsyk pulled back, his hands soon barely grazing her cloak. She looked through Palpatine, “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.
She doesn’t have a choice. Do not let her leave your grasp.
“Dear, I will take care of you,” he lightly gripped her chin, willing her blue-grey eyes into his own line of sight. “I will support you both.”
“I mean… Palpatine, I don’t think I want to go through with this.”
“Our relationship?” She will NEVER take what is his
“No, I don’t think I want to keep it.” NO
“Sweetie,” It's time for a test, Palpatine. “How long have you known?” Devastation, depression, turmoil.
“Weeks.”
“You have known for weeks?” Shock, horror, betrayal “Did the thought not cross your mind to tell me?” Now you pull away, show her what she could lose.
The grey-blue eyes began to glisten, the blonde brow began to furrow, her arms almost reaching out to him, only to close around her chest. “Yes, I thought you may be angry, or,” she sniffled. “That you may leave me, us, considering out lack of… formality.”
“If my departure frightens you, all in relation to the youngling, then you dare to birth it, do you not?”
“Well…”
Now, boy. “Your fear shows that you love the youngling,” Present a winning smile. “I love them, too.”
“I-”
“I don’t think you are truly considering that,” he huffed. “Option. Your fear not only beguiles you into doubting those who will support you,” Palpatine put a hand to his heart. “It demonstrates your innate hope and fondness for our future, us, the trio. Two parents, the youngling…” She was silent, her eyes flickering everywhere but at him. “Perhaps in Lake Country, where they’ll have plenty of estate to play on. Imagination, running wild.”
“So, you would take care of them?”
Please do not inherit her innate stupidity, heir. Her only admirable facet is her choice of mate.
“Of course! Yes! The both of you! What we lacked in formality, we made up for in romance.” Desperation smells and sounds horrible. Never shall he act that way again.
As she mulled over his confessions, the eldest Palpatine heir considered Doma Lowsyk.
Absent of potential. Absent of confidence. Lacking intelligence, truly idiotic. Only admirable for her physical traits and her instinct to take advantage of opportunities.
In short, she cannot be present in the youngling’s life. Palpatine would solve a singular problem at a time, and always, always, would emerge victorious. The first task: Terrorize his father, move the gravid woman to Convergence. The second task: Her inherent, unchangeable future as a lost woman, an absent mother, one who abandons.
“You are always there, Palpatine.” They joined together, slow and languid; a predator admiring its prey.
“You… how could you!” Cosinga Palpatine snarled. His opaque blue form was small in stature, yet commanded attention. The target of his rage, the eldest Palpatine heir, barely contained a thin-lipped smirk. “Do you know what this could do? Do you? Our family name, tarnished. Ruined!”
“If it’s so easily ruined…” The heir spoke quietly, his body tense, his rage locked behind many-layered beskar walls.
“Quiet!”
“Father, if no news has emerged, no comlinks rung…”
“Yet.”
“Yet, yes. Yes. Yet, nothing has gotten out, yet. What makes you so absolute? That this is the end?” Heir swung their hand outwards, back straight. “A new life has come! Isn’t it a joyous occasion?”
“Ha! Your seed has sown youngling. What a pathetic, desperate woman, to procreate with you.” Incorrect. She is indeed an idiot, but an idiot who knows who to look towards for guidance and leadership.
“Perhaps our lineage is still seen as worth grabbing for, Father,” He sighed, silence permeating between father and son. “You of no faith.”
“Faith? In the failure I have somehow bore?” He rolled his eyes and huffed. “Bailing you out, dozens, no, hundreds of infractions! If anyone else was your father…”
“I have gone to great lengths to conceal the entirety of the ordeal. When I arrive home to Lake Country, you’ll need not worry any longer.”
“I need not?” He laughed humorlessly, then fell silent. “The mother?”
Hopefully, her genes are weak willed.
“As I said-.”
“Whom is she?”
“Human. Of an admirable yet unimportant clan. Our interactions were merely transactional in nature, until now, it seems.”
“She must reside at Convergence. That is certain.”
“I have no need to acquiesce, Father. She is a woman who can comprehend an amazing opportunity.”