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The royal knee of Thalia Ashtaroth is bouncing on her throne. She promised Anakin she would take him to visit the forests. She always does good on a promise and now – she'd been all but taken hostage by Shadril for the following couple of days.
She'd hate to admit that she had been bursting with too much excitement and anxiety at the thought of their visit in the woods. That she wants to leave this room and kidnap him, where the guards can't follow them. She won't admit it. She is the Queen, and he is a Jedi. Whatever she is feeling, it cannot see the moonlight.
Because, and forever, her royal duties came first. Especially in the current situation. Myriil had left her the shambles of a scared planet waiting for the assault of their enemies because a certain someone wouldn't let go of her stupid grudge. She blames the Jedi for reopening the case.
"You don't even know if they really killed her," Thalia presses, all but slamming the datapad on the table in front of Shadril. "For someone always preaching that the people come first, you sure do put a lot of things before them."
"The people come first." Shadril's hazel eyes blaze when they look back at her aunt. Suddenly, Thalia is reminded that she is not the eldest, despite what the situation might infer. "The Queen is the people–"
"I am the Queen."
And she's getting tired of having to remind everyone of that, including her own family. Shadril falters a little, and for half a second, her mother is shining in Thalia's eyes. She clenches her jaw, and looks away.
"I know it was them," she maintains, voice smaller now. "Who else?"
"We decided that peace would come first after her death, did we not?" Thalia reminds her, searching for her gaze. "We told them it was a suicide, and we drew a line under vengeance by doing so." She takes a deep breath, grounding herself because clearly, one of them has to. "They are paying the price for it, if they did it. The casualties the war has inflicted on them–"
"What about our casualties? The damages we sustained? Half of the people on the outskirts of the forest barely have anything to eat." Her upper lip twitches upwards, revealing her pearly teeth. "The people suffered while you were busy playing with your Jedi, your Highness."
