[PLOT] Empress Psy'Daio Nox, Princess Xue'Daio Nox - "A Five Letter Word"

Posted on Wed Jul 8th, 2015 @ 9:38am by Xue'Daio Nox

3,093 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Agua Mala

The halls of the entire royal wing seemed to vibrate with the sound of displeasure; yelling, mainly, shouts and swears that didn't at all seem proper or fitting for such a place of grandeur. It was winter, the only season where things weren't sunny and bright – but they were still filled with the warmth of fires, hot drinks, and blankets. The entire world was plunged into a four month span of near total darkness, but the sky was forever alight with the blazing colors of geomagnetic storms playing across the ice in the frozen atmosphere. They danced, twisting like ribbons along the curvature of the world – and the child’s eyes watched, wide with awe and glee. Their pink depths glowed, transformed by the severe beauty of nature that held them fast to the sky with pure rapture alight within them. She smiled, clinging tight to her favorite soft blanket, cradling it to her tiny chest as if it would forever protect her from the demons she knew were lurking in the shadows, screaming such horrible things.

“She’s a monster! You told me she’d change, that it was just lack of oxygen at birth that caused her coloring! You lied to me!” The Empress screamed at her head physician as she paced frantically, “Five years later and still all you can say to me is ‘have patience, Your Grace' and ‘Her time will come and she’ll grow into herself, Your Majesty.’ No! I won’t wait anymore!” She was incensed, savaged by the pallid skin of her daughter and the dove white tendrils of her hair. The child was an albino; a curse against the world she existed in, the only of her kind, and she’d been imparted upon the Empress as what she was certain was a punishment for something she’d done. Certainly, the handsome woman had her wickedness about her, but what she’d done had been to benefit the Ascendancy as a whole! How dare the Gods saddle her with such a burden and such grief! “She’s an embarrassment to Apsha!” She bellowed, unseeing of the wince such words caused her head guard as he stood silently by the fireplace.

The physician bowed his head, “Your Majesty…” He began, trying his best to keep his tongue as soft and civil as possible. “I said she may develop pigmentation over time, and she has. She has developed tatroskiten just as any other child.” The man all but sighed as he explained, referring to the multitude of ‘freckles’ that had come to dapple themselves across the little Princess’s body. “Everywhere I go I hear the people talking of how beautiful your daughter is, how she’s a gift and a sign of the futu—“


“The people only know what I want them to know. That thing isn't beautiful… She’s disgusting! Eyes like that belong on rodents in the labs, not on one of royal blood. I want her gone.” Psy’Daio hissed, curling her talon-like fingers at her sides. “Get rid of her. NOW!” She roared, turning to face her guards as she issued the order to end her own daughter’s infantile life. "Drown her, poison her, sell her. I don't care what you do, but do it now!" Instead of compliance, she was swiftly met by deep rooted contention in the eyes of the two men that stood there. Looking between them, she could practically hear their thoughts screaming back of pain and disgust, malcontent for the vile act their ruler was tasking them with.

Behind her the physician bristled, he may have been born of Ma’raydio blood, but it boiled in his veins. “I brought that child into this world, held her in my hands as she took her first breath just as I held you and your mother before you. Ordering me, or anyone in this world, to kill her will not end well for you Psy’Daio. She’s not an infection that you’re asking to have cured, she’s a walking, talking, feeling little girl that somehow has still managed to find room to love you even though you've condemned her and handle her as if she were diseased and contagious.”

“Ayan Ima—“


The doctor held up his hand, silencing the much younger Empress, “She is your daughter and the belief that she is the dawn of a new age and the embodiment of hope has united every faction on Apsha.” Ayan rumbled defensively, “And you asking her own father and I to put her down like she’s some lame dog in the streets… Well it’s absurd. You disappoint me, Psy’Daio.”

“And me.” Kiv’Watt’s armor whimpered as he shifted position and rose elegantly to his full height. With his shoulders squared and head held proudly high, the once leader of the Makta caste was masterful looking creature. Even Psy’Daio felt a tinge of cold fear run along her wretched spine as she looked between the ancient physician and the strength of her lover, “I won’t kill Xue. I can’t do it. Unlike you, I love the girl.” He planted firmly, folding his arms over his chest. "The people of the Ascendancy love her, your people. Having her disappear will only incense them and drive them back to war."

“Traitors.” The Empress hissed beneath her breath, knowing she’d been outnumbered and out gunned by the men that filled her parlor that repugnant winter night. She was about to open her mouth to lace further into them, demanding how a Makta warrior could ever know anything about love, when the sound of a child’s cry startled her and made her blood run cold. Her narrow aquamarine eyes snapped to the source of the bleat to catch sight of her foot high burden fleeing from the cracked open door, trailing her blanket behind her like a banner. She followed, her lip twisting into a sneer at having been spied on by the miserable little cur.

“Psy’Daio!” She heard Kiv calling after her, a tinge of what could only be described as fear etching the deep bass of his voice as it followed her out and into the hallway.

Finding Xue was an easy task. She huddled against the window in her bed chamber, curled up on the plush bench of her bay window seat. The blanket was ever present, bundled into her arms as if it were her life force while her big, coral colored eyes watched the shadows wrap about her mother’s vicious form. “I’m sorry I listened, Momma!” The child’s little voice chortled into the chilly air as the woman threw open the window and nearly sent her tiny frame plunging to her death with the sudden disappearance of her brace.

“Of course you’re sorry. You’re very sorry.” The Empress agreed cruelly, though the depth of the meaning was lost on the young, frightened babe in front of her. A hand reached to stroke the child’s cheek and chin, “And you’re never going to do it again, are you?” She asked, pouting with a tilt of her head.

Xue nodded, her head wobbling up and down quickly in hopes that the fast agreement would lessen her mother’s ire and her little heart beast faster, warm under her mother’s seemingly gentle touch. It was all she craved, but was so rarely treated to. No hugs, certainly no kisses - the tiny moon haired girl was lucky if she received a pat on the top of her wee head, let alone the affectionate stroking of her soft, chubby cheek. “No momma. I won’t. Promise!” She offered a smile, loosening her grip on her blanket in exchange for opening her little arms to seal the deal with a hug.

CRACK!

Color exploded in the little girl’s right eye. Bright red and yellow, some green mixed in as her vision swam and her head bounced off the hard stone wall, her entire body sent reeling in response to the strike she’d received. The softness had jerked away and returned in the form of a back handed slap across Xue’s right cheek, eye, and temple. She never even had time to react or try to dodge, and blanket was gone, coiled in her mother’s sadistic hands.

“You’re right.” Psy’Daio hissed, “You won’t, because if you do, my darling little girl, it’ll be the last thing you ever do. Don’t ever underestimate someone by loving them, Xue. No one and nothing could or will ever love you in return, not even this rag. You're a freak of nature. People pity creatures like you, they don't love them.” She tutted, watching as the child’s eyes flooded and her rate of respiration began to quicken. It was plain as day to see that though the babe was in terrible pain and shock, she was more concerned about the well-being of her blanket-friend as it dangled limply in the monster’s claws. “You want it back?” The Empress asked, holding it out to her daughter.


Xue sniffled, fighting her tears and nodded gingerly. Something in her neck kept catching, and the ache in her head refused to let her move it fast like she had before. This time she didn't make the mistake of reaching for her mother or for her blanket, and Psy’Daio’s lips twisted into some kind of a smile that should never have been spawned on a mother’s lips. “Too bad. It would rather die than be with you.” She droned, flicking her wrist and sending the blanket sailing into bitter cold night, watching as it fluttered towards the sea rolling below. “Goodnight, Xue’Daio. Remember what I said.” The woman all but yawned and turned to leave, uncaring for the child’s tears as it turned to watched the blanket disappear forever into the unknown.

At five cycles old, Xue’Daio felt her heart break for the first time, but didn't make a peep in fear of her mother’s reprisal. Emotion, other than anger, was weakness - she’d been told that time and time again. Make a sound, be punished – but the pain in her chest was unbearable as something within threatened to rip from her flesh and through her soft satin night gown. The cry that slipped from her lips was barely audible, but enough to chill her blood with fear as hands wrapped themselves around her little arms and tore her from her precarious seat and the death-causing cold of the still open window. If she’d tried to close it herself, she’d have fallen. Sleep with it open, she’d die of exposure – though such things should never ever have rendered themselves into the mind of a child. “I’m sorry!” She bleated, trying to cover up her fear and hurt, convinced it was her mother that had returned, but stilled when she felt the body warmed hardness of steel and brass rest against her fragile little self. The hands gave way to arms that wrapped about her microscopic frame and the entire body that held her began to slowly rock.

“Shhh…” Her father shushed her, pressing his lips to her tear washed and hand reddened cheek. “I’m so sorry, Xue. Shhhh.” Powerless to stop the beating and breaking in of his daughter, Kiv’Watt knew all he could do was offer comfort after the fact. It was only going to get worse. There was only so much comforting could one offer before it simply didn't matter anymore. The Empress was bent on destroying the child out of what he could only assume was great jealousy. Never had the people of the Ascendancy accepted or supported her, instead they’d loved Alira and her gentle touch. Xue was their next chosen one, their new hope for equality and fairness for surely a child born of starlight and moonshine would be as pure and soft as each.

No. He thought. Not with Psy’Daio bent on destroying her and inciting the hatred that had long ago turned her own heart black. Black as pitch. Black as the sea that had swallowed his daughter’s best friend whole. “I’m so sorry…” He whispered again, closing his eyes and resigned himself to trying his damnedest to put the fragile, shattered pieces back together – holding her as she cried into the hollow of his neck.


---


Fifteen years later, the snow white Princess stood in front of the very same window. A warm early summer breeze billowed in, catching the gossamer curtains and the loose silver locks of her hair replaced the winter, but the memory remained all the same. Pal'Marr sat a short distance off. She could feel his corporeal gaze as it bore into the space between her shoulder blades. He knew.

"I find it intriguing how you think you've accomplished something." Psy'Daio sniffed. The sound of a tea cup fitting into it's saucer only served to punctuate the sentence. Xue didn't reply to her mother's goading, instead choosing to continue watching the quiet sea. "You've accomplished nothing. We've known about the Romulans and the Federation for quite some time."

"And you didn't think to warn me?" At long last the Albino spoke, her chin lifting and her head turning a fraction, just enough to allow her to look over her shoulder sidelong at the taller figure of her mother.

The Empress chuckled heartily, "Why would I? You being prepared to see what you saw would have given too much away. The surprise had to be genuine, your reactions the same. I'm just sorry you didn't kill the little green bastard." She flippantly dismissed, crossing the hard wood floors to address her daughter directly. A large hound scattered to avoid being stepped on, choosing to curl beside Pal'Marr. A far safer endeavor.

"I can't." Xue bit her lip, closing her eyes and instantly regretting the words that had spilled from her mouth. She could hear the crackle of energy they conjured within her mother alongside ire and contempt.

A single blue eyebrow lifted high and the Empress sat her mug and saucer down on the window seat with an undignified clatter. "What do you mean you can't, Xue?" She snarled, snatching her daughters face by her jaw and jerking her head to face her. So sudden and rough was the action that the young princess was nearly ripped from her feet. Her eyes flew open, startled and wide but filled with no small amount of hatred burning bright and defiant like a lighthouse in a storm.

"If I kill him now, it will start a war we can't win." She explained slow, her words almost garbled as she struggled to move her lips and jaw with her mother's fingers squeezing the blood from her face, crushing her. The pain was exquisite, but the Princess refused to flinch, whimper, or cry. Her answer was rewarded by her being thrown away like a rag doll, flailing until she slammed into one of the four intricately carved wooden posts of her bed. She grunted as her spine and the back of her head connected with it, forcing her vision to swim. Pal'Marr couldn't save her. No one could. Out of the public eye the woman was different, deranged... Dangerous... And Xue knew it all too well.

She watched as her mother considered the answer, obviously pleased enough to release to young woman from her grasp. "I like how you think, child. For a second I'd thought they'd turned you soft." Psy'Daio chuckled, taking up her tea service. She was about to speak again when a knock came at the open door and drew both of their attention.

"Your Excellency, the Commodore and her retinue are ready for you in the parlor." Kiv'Watt bowed his head deeply, doing his best not to steal glances at his daughter. He knew she was hurt, but also knew that Pal'Marr would have to be the one to tend to her now. With such high profile and potentially treacherous guests, Kiv was powerless to steal himself away. Even for his own flesh and blood.

"Thank you." The Empress nodded to him to proceed and he took his leave. "Just remember your prerogative Xue. Nothing more. Nothing less. We have a deal." She chuckled darkly, running her fingers over the roses emblazoning her tea cup. "Do go out. Show your people that you're not a total recluse." The woman added as she trod across the open floor, setting the tea service back down on its tray, and leaving the room.

No sooner had she disappeared into the hall did the Princess slide down the length of the post until she reached the floor in a cascade of ivory silks and silver hair. This was a game that she was slowly losing, and the knowledge that it was coming down to the wire of kill or be killed bore through her shattered soul like a hot iron against an animal's hide. Closing her eyes, the depths of such thought only served to conjure the barely faded memory of the dying Romulan woman, her murderer leering lasciviously as he loomed over her. Grief welled all the same, threatening to break her right there and then when she felt her weakest - Maec's grief. Her grief. It was one in the same no matter how she tried to differentiate the two.

Just as she did fifteen years ago, Xue'Daio wept openly as her guardian closed the door.

Once everyone else had left the room, Pal'Maar had moved to the princess's side. He crouched down next to her, silently laying an arm around her shoulder. There wasn't much else he could do. If he thought he could get away with it, Psy'Daio would have gone tumbling from a high window, or have some poison tucked into the delicate cup of her tea service. There wasn't a way he could get away with it, and while he may have considered himself a fair trade to protect Xue, he could not place the burden of that punishment upon the rest of his family. They had already suffered so much.

---

Psy'Daio Nox
Empress of the Stenellian Ascendancy
Queen Dowager of Aleine
Queen of Apsha

&

Xue'Daio Nox
Crowned Princess of the Stenellian Ascendancy
Lady of Aleine
Regent of Apsha
Stenellian Ambassador to the Federation

 

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