Traitors To The Heart

Chapter 7: Battle of Innocence

It took awhile, but everybody was used to palace life with Lyra and Nova around. Lyra took the longest to accept it, but she got there eventually. The three girls stayed together almost at all times. Their ability to be around each other so often and never get totally sick of each other was something the palace staff would never understand.

Nova had an absolute blast living on Pantora with her friends. Aurora took them sightseeing every week to explore a new part of Pantora. Every new place was always as beautiful as the last. Nova and Lyra even got their own beds after a week of staying there.

They went the the same market they met in once a week too. Aurora let Nova and Lyra pick out some of their own food, as well as any ingredients she would need for cooking dinner.

It's been 6 weeks since Aurora took her leave as Riyo's handmaiden. Nova and Lyra, even though one of them wouldn't admit it, has never been happier than they were on Pantora. But nothing lasts forever.

What was scary is how Aurora felt about it. She had never been happier either. It was alarming give her special someone she chose didn't make her as happy as two kids off the street did, even though those two kids would turn out to be as good friends with her as Riyo despite not knowing each other for as long.

It's been 6 weeks and no word from Riyo either. So imagine everybody's surprise when her ship was expected to be landing within the hour unexpectedly. Surora was rushing around trying to get her friends room prepared for her arrival.

"I'm confused. Why are you changing into... whatever that is?" Nova asked. Lyra sat on the couch watching her new favorite holovid shoveling popcorn down her throat at 7 in the morning.

"Don't be stupid, Nova. She's obviously going bar hopping." Nova's facial markings contorted in even more confusion.

"At this time? Really?" Aurora rolled her eyes with a playful smile on her face.

"Nova, how have you been friends with Lyra for this long and not picked up on sarcasm yet?" Nova shrugged, not knowing either how she couldn't decipher it. Lyra was too invested into the holovid and her popcorn to comment.

"Lyra, off the Holoscreen. You know those things rot your brain." Aurora lectured as she trekked back and forth with different items in hand each time.

"Oh please, if you were really worried about my brain you wouldn't let Nova talk to me." Again, Nova cluelessly turned around to face the girls with a mouthful of Coruscant crustios I'm her mouth.

"What?" When she opened her mouth, some fell back into the swarm of blue milk in a bowl.

"Again with the sarcasm thing." Aurora complained. She pushed Lyra forward on the couch, straightened and fluffed the pillows she was laying on and walked away. Lyra spared a short glance away from her show to make sure Aurora was gone before plopping backwards on the pillows again.

Her and Nova shared a chuckle behind Aurora's back as she put the last of the dishes away. Nova set her bowl down by the sink and walked around preparing to clean out her dish, only to have Aurora pick it up and take care of it for her.

"Aurora, calm down. You're a cleaning fiend right now. Give us something to do, we can help."

"Speak for yourself!" Lyra shouted from the couch.

"Okay. I can help. Tell me what to do."

"I need you to restock the wardrobe, prepare baked dru'un slices for lunch, dust the—"

"Let me stop you right there, Rory. How about I do the dishes while you take do the fancy Senator stuff."

"That works too. Thank you, Nova." Nova did the dishes while doing he debts to not pay attention to the brain rotting holovid, which was getting harder and harder by the second. First in the show, some girls brother claims he impregnated another woman, then he reveals that woman is his her moms sister, but she reveals that she is really a 16 year old girl.