The Gallows

chapter vi

I stared at my reflection, noting how clean my hair was. It had been a shade or two darker than it's natural color, since it was caked in dirt and grime. But now it shone nicely, flowing down past my shoulders and held back by the diadem placed on my hairline. The bags under my eyes were concealed, making their bright colors glimmer in the light that reflected off of the pale blue gown my mother had insisted I wore. I looked like a princess again. And I hated it.

A knock at the door brought me out of my misery, and I quickly called for the guest to enter, my heart high in hope that it was my brother. My hope was well met as Tison entered the room with his usual swaggering confidence, but I didn't miss the concern in his glittering eyes. His pale blue robes matched mine, and his pale hair was neatly pushed out of his face. He was handsome, and his face gentle. Tison smiled rather largely before crossing the room with easy, large steps and gathering me into his arms.

"I missed you, sister," he mumbled into my hair, and I could feel the tears rising in my eyes. He held me tight, and it took everything in me not to backtrack on my latest plan, a plan where I would leave him once more.

"I missed you too, brother," I whispered, my voice shaky. He caught onto it quickly, and pulled back to hold me an arm's length away. His blue and brown eyes studied mine with apprehension for a few moments before he sighed, seemingly realizing my intentions. "And I'll miss you forever. You'll make a great king, the greatest Vashika has ever seen."

"Don't do this, Teddy," he said, his voice trembling. "What if we speak with them again? Force them to see what is really going on, what Shaw is really planning? They have to listen to us, we're the future of Vashika!"

"You know they won't!" I tore away from his grasp and turned before he could see the tears leave my eyes. "They trust him more than they will ever trust us. There is no way I stay and we win. Shaw will always win. As long as I am here, he wins." This was a conversation we'd had at least a million times before, though this time the air was different. We'd tried everything and anything, even things that had absolutely no hope at success. "I can't let him win, Ti."

"But why am I losing either way?"

Tison grabbed my chin and held me so that my eyes were locked on his. He knew the last plan, we had mentioned it before but it was never the next. Now, though, we were too close to losing. "I know Shaw is dangerous, Teddy, I know what he's capable of. We can handle him."

"No, you know what we've seen him to be capable of. Vashika is a leader, the planets nearby follow us in more than just politics and war. If he gets the throne, he'll have his own empire at his fingertips. What will keep him from becoming the new Emperor?"

Vashika had been rocked by the Imperial rule of the galaxy. Our lands had been burned and destroyed, our people sent off to fight in battles only to never return. We had been a strong alliance of the rebellion's, though it hurt us more than it helped. Shaw was the son of a well-known politician who supposedly had ties with the Empire, and his father's views had carried on through his son. Shaw would bring Vashika back to its time as a warzone, the people would be enslaved and the planet used as a starting point for the next Imperial reign. Already, the farms were suffering and the people were starving, but the king and queen had yet to open their eyes.

"What if you just run again?"

"They'll find me."

"Maybe they won't."

"Maybe they will. It's not a risk we can take." I took his hands and pulled him close, resting my forehead on his. "Vashika's best chance at survival is you on the throne. Not Shaw, not me, not father. You've trained for the crown your entire life. You're meant to take it." He sighed again, knowing he had lost the battle. Tison shared my stubbornness, but he also had a great deal of reason and practicality about him, traits that gave way to a great future king. "Promise me, Ti, promise you'll take the throne. You'll kill Shaw. You'll save Vashika."

"I promise. I won't let you down, sister."

"I know you won't."

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Tison left shortly after we finished reviewing the final delicacies of the plan. It wouldn't be able to happen until after we met with the king and queen for the night, a meeting in which Shaw and the Mandalorian would be present. Tison would work to move the higher level guards from their places outside mine and his chambers for the night, probably insisting on putting them outside the Mandalorian's instead. Whether as protection for him or us, though, was up in the air. Then we'd try again to reason with them, try to show them Shaw's deception and cruelty, to no avail. Then we'd make our leave. We'd say our goodbyes in the corridor and then we'd separate for the last time.

As another tear slid down my face, I cursed the Maker, I cursed Shaw, I cursed my parents. Hell, I even cursed the Mandalorian for bringing me back, for not just leaving me in that alleyway to die. No matter how appreciative I was of it, I now found myself wishing it had ended differently. It would've prevented all of this.

Eventually I was summoned, and I entered the throne room with as much elegance and grace as I could muster. Shaw hadn't arrived yet, Tison was standing near the door waiting for me, and the Mandalorian was caught in a very one-sided conversation with my father. Tison and I met eyes before turning together and approaching the royals. We bowed our heads at them, Tison adding an extra nod towards the bounty hunter next to me. They nodded back but before the king could return to his conversation, I interrupted.

"We have a matter we wish to discuss with you, my king," I spoke, as strongly as I could. It wasn't much, but it had gotten their attention, as well as the Mandalorian's. He stepped back, still rather close but out of the conversation. My father motioned for me to continue, so I looked to Tison for strength before continuing. "It's about Shaw."

"By the ancestors, Theadora! Stop this nonsense at once!" My mother stood, nearly shouting and nearly sending me careening back. Her usually soft eyes hardened and she didn't calm until her husband placed a gentle but firm hand on hers.

"It's the truth, mother," Tison carried on, locking his pinkie with mine. "He doesn't mean well for Vashika, he'll bring the planet to ruin and chaos." The king scoffed and the queen grumbled under her breath, but that didn't stop my courageous brother's moment of confidence. "There are many better options for Vashika, none of which include him anywhere near the throne."

"He's an Imperial advocate, father," I spoke, the man's eyes swinging to meet mine. "He'll force the people into slavery and he'll send the men out to slaughter. No doubt by the time the first cycle of his reign ends, we'll be dead." That drew silence into the room, though it looked as though my mother was going to burst through her already slim composure. My father's eyes glared daggers into my own, and I could feel the intensity chipping away at the hope I held. "Tison would be a strong leader, a gentle king, a good man. He's the better option in every way, you raised him to be the better option, yet you refuse to ignore Shaw's blatant manipulation of you. If you could just open your eyes to his deception, you'd see that Vashikians are miserable! The planets that follow us are following us into ruin."

"How foolish could you be, to see that when all I see is glory?" Shaw's voice ripped through the wall I had built with my words, and I could see the reasoning I had created in my parents' minds begin to crumble. "Your concern, my dear, is well meaning, but ill placed. I have no intention of leading Vashika to ruin."

"Because you see chaos as achievement, as a victory," I growled, Tison's pinkie tightening as a sign to stand down. I barely took it. "You think that war is inevitable, that peace is imaginary, that suffering is life. Well it is not. And I'd rather slit my own throat than hand my kingdom, my people, my legacy over to the likes of you."

"Theadora!"

Shaw grinned, though the maliciousness was well hidden. "So be it," he whispered, just loud enough for my ears and my ears only. I shot him the deadliest glare I could create before freeing my hand from Tison's and storming from the hall, ignoring the calls of my mother and the eyes of my father and brother. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Mandalorian stiffen, and I wondered if he had heard Shaw's threat. I shook the thought out of my head as I pushed through the doors. He'd be gone in the morning, he was no threat, nor was he a complication. He'd be gone, and so would I.