scavenger.

26 - the banquet (1)

To say that Anri felt out of place was only slightly inaccurate.

She wasn't as comfortable as she'd imagined she would be in these settings. Always she'd craved riches, always she'd decorated herself in gaudy homemade jewelry for some vain reason she could never figure out for herself (on a thieves' planet like Jakku, flaunting any semblance of material possession made no real sense, but she'd never apparently cared)—but now being surrounded by all this wealth, decked in real jewels, soft fabrics, hair braided by knowing fingers, regal makeup painted on her face—she couldn't suppress the nagging feeling that it was all beyond not just what she could reach, but what she could deserve.

But to some degree, it all did seem somewhat familiar to her. In fact, the dread she felt for this banquet the queen had invited her to was more of an oh, not again sort of dread, as if she'd been dragged to these countless times before, as compared to an oh, I'm not ready for this sort of dread that would make more sense for her lack of experience. Not that Anri ever felt unready for most things.

"Let those rich people think what they want of me," Anri said to the mirror. "I'm going to eat all their food."

Jace would laugh at her.

"So what? He's been laughing at me all this time."

Stupid prince.

Anri kicked at her dress, watched the skirt fly into the air and flutter back down. She grabbed at her skirts and started kicking her legs more, swishing the fabrics around and letting them fly. She giggled.

"Save a dance for my son, will you?"

Anri nearly fell on her ass at the sudden inteference.

Queen Avanthika—Queen Ava—stood at the door of Anri's temporary room, smiling. "Where are your attendants?" she asked.

Anri swallowed. "I sent them away." She hadn't liked the hands. Hadn't liked other people serving her, dressing her—though they seemed perfectly willing to do so, Anri felt she could do it all herself.

The queen laughed. Anri turned red.

"I-is it time?" Anri asked. "To go to the..."

The queen nodded, still smiling. Suddenly Anri felt a great wave of sadness wash over her, for a split second, and then it was gone. She blinked. It wasn't her own...

The queen offered her arm. "You look beautiful, Anri." She was radiant.

Anri took the queen's arm, and felt with slight surprise how delicate the woman was. "Thank you, your Highness."

"Ava, my dear. Please."

With a shy smile that almost felt foreign on her face, Anri conceded. "Thank you, Ava."

——

Jace was wasted.

He was standing alone, leaned carelessly against a wall. Everyone was staring at him.

As usual.

Bheema must be off in some far corner, he thought, smooth talking some giggling damsel, kissing her knuckles with pretended love in his eyes. There was a time when he'd meant it, but those days had been over for some time.

Through the fog, Anri's image manifested in Jace's mind. Surrounded by flowers. Long, billowing white dress. Wild hair. Damp cheekbones.

His head hurt. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he saw the crowd of nobles part and kneel, greeting the queen. Jace squinted. There was a woman on her arm—

He sobered.

——

Anri felt her face heat as she walked with the queen past all these...kneeling rich people. She knew they weren't bowing to her, but...

Beside her, Ava stopped walking and turned to her people, smiling graciously. "You may rise." They did so, and went back to whatever they were doing before, chattering and whatnot. They all had very straight spines. Well, all the vertebrates did. There was a Hutt there, for some reason, but even he seemed to belong. Moreso than Anri did, at least.

She was in awe. To have this much power over people...

Ava interrupted her thoughts. "My child, I'm sure you'd be bored at my side all evening—my son should be here somewhere, if you'd like to find him. Of course, you're welcome to stay with me..."

Anri shook her head. She was a queen, of course she'd be busy. That, and Anri felt exceedingly miniscule in her presence—she was almost desperate to return to herself. "Thank you, your Hi—I mean, Ava. I'll go find the prince." She sort of curtsied.

Ava seemed amused at Anri's stiff treatment of Jace's status, but before she could quip on it, Anri turned and disappeared into the crowd.

She immediately regretted it.

Everywhere she walked, she was stared at. She could hear whispers. She was all alone. Fresh meat. Anri felt somewhat threatened, but knew it was probably in her head. She grabbed a glass of what she supposed was some kind of alcohol from a passing servant's tray (ha! servant—even he looked richer than her), downed it, then put the empty glass on another servant's tray.

There—that's better.

A nobleman with the strangest moustache she'd ever seen approached her and bowed deeply. "I don't believe we've met," he said.

Anri breathed a sigh. Finally, interaction. "No, we haven't," she said. Duh, we haven't. She bowed her head a little bit, not entirely comfortable with the new habit. "I'm Anri."

"Just Anri?" he seemed puzzled. "Anri of...?"

It was Anri's turn to be puzzled. "Of what?"

"He means to ask," said a blue-skinned woman appearing next to him. "From which planet do you hail?" By now a crowd had gathered, the ice apparently having broken.

"Oh!" Anri laughed at herself. "Jakku."

A hush fell over the crowd around her.

The woman's jaw had dropped. "Jakku! You don't mean..."

"Well, I'm not originally from there," Anri said. She could feel herself animating—she could make a sport of shocking people. "I'm not entirely sure where I'm from, really, but I ended up on Jakku."

"You poor thing!" someone exclaimed.

The nobleman sputtered, "How did you—what brings you to Naboo?"

"She saved me."

Anri felt a sharpness in her chest.

The crowd parted, and there was Jace.

He was gorgeous.

Her fingers twitched and she took a step back, tearing her eyes away. Her stomach churned.

He started toward her. All around them the nobles were muttering to themselves, unsure of what to make of the situation. Anri wasn't so sure either. Three days he'd been gone from her life. He'd packed her up on a ship with his dad and he'd flown off into battle. She'd thought him dead. She'd been so empty, so worried, so...bereaved. And when she'd seen him climb out of that ship, she'd tackled him, sobbed into his shirt like a weakling. And then the whole time he'd lied to her! Were he a prince, he ought've said something sooner! How dare he! He'd seen her so raw, he'd borne witness to her whole shitty life, and the whole while—

She smelled alcohol.

Anri looked up. He was standing in front of her. His eyes were as red as they were blue.

"She saved me," he repeated, but quieter.

And then—suddenly—he knelt.