SD 241502.08 - Stenellis Ascendancy Log | Empress Psy'Daio Nox, Princess Xue'Daio Nox - "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star pt 1"

Posted on 241502.09 @ 4:03am by Xue'Daio Nox Tr'Verelan & Psy'Daio Nox

Mission: Reconciliation & Reconstruction [Fleet Plot]

Apsha as a whole had come to shudder under the rise of change that seemed entirely premature, but chose to blossom into bloom all the same. The celestial blue of the skies and cerulean waters that surrounded the great city of Aleine felt more like a dream that had been dreamt long ago than a promissory note of the coming days. However, even the sweetest compilations of white sunshine and the smell of ginger roots pulverized into scented soup, rich as honey, were far surpassed by the profanely sticky air hanging over the city’s so-called cheap side, much to the distaste of the Ascendancy’s Princess.

Her entourage never seemed to falter; they swept swiftly through the squalor and the pitiful glares of the destitute as they gazed upon the extravagant shine of six black stallions that had been sent to collect the Princess and her retinue from the docks of Justilfal. They were a new addition to the planet, brought there by Ferengi traders in an attempt to appease Her Excellency’s ever growing appetite for finery and newness. Apsha deserved the same beautiful things that Earth held, but alas such things were only learned of through the little trolls and passing lawless wretches that chose to do business with the building power of the Stenellian Ascendancy. At least the animals didn’t seem willing to fret about the pulchritude of the lower castes or how the labyrinth of streets they loped along seemed to remain in constant shade. So narrow and populated were they that the sun failed to seep down into the unruly cracks – however, the lack of sunlight did little to abate the heat, and the humidity only served to cultivate the stench of dying livestock, decaying minds, and rotting bodies. She wasn’t entirely lost to reason, it churned her stomach when she realized she was only witnessing the outskirts and it truly hurt her heart to imagine what the core of such ghastly madness would look like. If it were up to her, and it soon would be, Xue would have eliminated it. All of it. All of them< /em>.

Xue’Daio Nox was a mewling, barely into her early twenties, and yet the people of the slums glared at her with eyes filled with hatred. Whether it was logical abhorrence, envy, or their natural worn-down expressions that had their lips curled in aversion, she couldn’t quite decide. The only thing she did know was that she’d be forever grateful for the guards that rode along side and behind the carriage train on their great reptilian mounts. Had she known her mother intended to send her retinue through the inferior streets in such flaunt of privilege and riches, she’d have declined or demanded they cross the threshold of the great city through other means. Aliene had many roads and many ways – this one was but an abomination, a black mark against the Stenellis people.

Through the bronze flourishes of her carriage windows, she could easily see the soiled faces of the damned. Filth tumbled from window tops and splattered onto the uneven ground below. Holding a perfumed handkerchief to her nose, the White Princess simply drowned out the stench of depravity that choked the outskirts of the beloved royal city. The cold pink of her eyes fell on the face of a child, no more than a year old, perched alone upon the step of some shop or another and watching the Princess’s procession with wide eyed wonder. She could have stopped, plucked the poor babe from her miserable existence, but Xue’Daio did nothing of the sort. Instead, she settled deeper into the comforts of her warm carriage and absolved herself to the rocking motion the horses created.

Long ago there had been a royal that didn’t regress away from the poor, in fact she was thoroughly contrary. Alira’Daio Nox had been heralded as both a savior and a saint, recognized as a patron of the meek and lowly. Her whole purpose in life had become dedicated to the irradiating of the poverty stricken slums, helping indigent individuals – those without a single hope, and saving the incarcerated slaves. It had been Alira that had won out and ended such abuse, paving the way for paid servitude rather than the folly of beaten and broken men and women. A sixteen year old girl had been the one to obliterate such a historic custom. Sixteen, and loved by the people her family ruled. However, it had been her family that chose to be not quite as humane or compassionate. Many Stenellis had said that Alira had come before her time and that Apsha wasn’t ready for her desired reformations, whereas she knew that her temperament simply stemmed from her Ma’raydio caste ancestors.

Alira had been destroyed when the Emperor passed, her own older sister being her judge, jury, and the proverbial executioner to kill the rising whispers of how Alira should have challenged for succession. It would never be. Instead it had been the foolish little Ferengis that had been saddled with that load and they’d taken the sweet Princess and turned her into nothing more than a slave of the flesh. It had been a fitting punishment, the newly minted Empress had thought in bold amusement. What happened from there… Only the Gods knew, and Xue couldn’t have given a hot damn less in any regard. Alira had been too soft and gentle, a mistake that the albino refused to fall victim to. No… She was just as wretched and cut throat as the woman that had sold Alira into slavery alongside the fallen Emperor’s concubines.

“Your Grace,” A rider at the carriage side called, plucking the albino from her thoughts with a frown and a sigh. The sound of her silk robes rustling preceded the appearance of her face at the window. “We’re fifty strides from the palace bridge.” He nodded to her, his braided cobalt hair wavering along his back with every laboring stride the massive reptile beneath him was forced to take in order to keep up with the stallion drawn carriage.

Xue nodded with indifference, “Tell the Empress that old traditions need to die. We’re no longer barbarians. Parading through the streets with animals drawing carriages ended in Earth thousands of years ago and I’m over it.” She replied, taking her eyes from the warrior and disappearing back into the dark warmth of her privacy and thoughts. With all of the technology and advancements the empire had made, the reason why her mother continued on with such silly displays eluded her. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the wealth and comfort, quite the contrary; it was that she detested settling for the archaic and being placed on display like a yenkukhu hanging in some meat market window. As badly as the Empress wanted her to marry, or at least take a consort, Xue was determined to deny her the pleasure. So many had tried, so many had fallen, so many families had been brought dishonor – and she’d loved every minute of it. The Princess wasn’t a withering flower, reliant on male attention and her feminine wiles to succeed in life – she was a warrior, and it pained the Empress greatly to watch her as she trained with the Makta, besting them as they sparred and grappled. It simply wasn’t proper.

The carriage progressed steadily forth and took a sharp left that seemed so unnatural, but the city before them opened up like a giant, blooming flower. Sunlight finally filled the cabin as it reflected off the white walls and crème walls that followed and hugged the ground’s natural path and fluctuating gradients. Cheapside had given way to the bounty of something greater, a place where people sauntered about with freshly baked flat loaves and the smell of rot had been replaced with that of blossoms and cooking meat. Children ran and laughed in play, doing their best to avoid the unrelenting wave of motion from the horses and goianai lizards. If Xue angled her head alongside the diamond cut grates of her carriage windows, she could see the palace standing tall, proud, and mighty. Long ago the Nox family had built it on the blood and bodies of those they had conquered. The closer they rode, the deeper into the crimson shadow of the palace they were entrenched and the albino couldn’t help nor stop the quivering sensation that rippled through her stomach. Slowing hoof beats and the scraping of reptilian talons as they charged across the heavy iron bridge and through the palace’s portcullis only served as another reminder that home was mere feet away, and the show was about to begin. The albino closed her eyes and steeled her resolve as her retinue yelled and the voices of the aristocracy joined them in announcing her arrival. It had only been four years, granted it had been spent with the bloody Cardassians, but the point remained that such a ‘celebration’ was unwarranted and unneeded.

And downright irritating.

Her nearest guard, an impressive male with skin the color of alabaster and eyes the color of the sea, opened her carriage door and extended a massive hand to her when at last they’d come to a halt and the true procession began. Xue gave him what he requested. Her hand was small, dainty, and elegant – and even in his pallid palm, it stood out like a dove against a storm cloud as she descended ever so gracefully from the dark holds she’d ridden in. All around her she could hear whispers, words of how her pallid appearance and the bright pink of her eyes posed such a bewitching aspect to her otherworldly fascinations; so authentically candid yet subliminally arcane. In short, the young Princess was a delicacy for the eyes to savor. “The Empress awaits, Your Grace.” He spoke and received only a nod in return. He’d been of the many she’d sent to ruin, the head of the Makta.

Donned in a gown and robes that draped off her body like molten gold, Xue’Daio looked ever the picture of the Princess of the Stenellian Ascendancy. Its sleeves were split from top to bottom, billowing and floating to the ground in length, freeing her arms from any sense of restriction and the silk always flowed with her every movement and gesture, using the air to uplift its delicate fibers. Three thick bands of solid gold wrapped about her arms in designated spaces, equal distances apart, and ornamented with patterns lined in glittering diamonds that caught the light and set to dancing and serving to take attention away from the way the garment’s neckline dipped low to expose the soft swells of her pert breasts. Opulence refused to cease there, the skirt itself fell from her waist, cascading to the ground like the tumbling motions of a waterfall. A lengthy slit cut the fabric in two, allowing one of her toned legs to daringly peek through the gap. Behind her a train of over a meter in length would trail, gliding along the ground and flooring like a golden ocean crawling up to the shore. Her long, winter-hued hair hung partially braided down along her sculpted back until it was freed into thick, undulating tendrils. The side strands that framed her pixie-like face had been pulled back and fastened with jewel encrusted clips into the fashion of flower petals and a magnificent crown balanced atop her noble head. In totality, the young woman was a work of art, and evidently like nothing the gawking courtiers had ever seen. Crowds of the more humble Lords and Ladies, as well as a few stray common Makta and Ma’Raydio stood in gatherings, awaiting a glimpse – she could tell by their conflicting expressions that they were uncertain of how to receive her. She smiled to them all the same. Perhaps four years was longer than she’d thought. In that time she’d grown from a girl into a woman.

It was easy to understand their trepidation. Xue carried a notorious name and her infamous disgraces and indignities that she’d bestowed upon many were disseminated. They were as common knowledge as her temper, fierce and cruel. The families of the discarded had made damn sure of that. “I’m ready.” She fortified, feeling a hearty shudder of confidence and zeal seize her body. Even though the white streaks of noon blinded her as its earnest beams bathed upon her exposed skin, she held herself with a sense of savage nobility that refused to falter. Flickers and gleams of copper daubed over her delicate face and dared to further turn her speckled skin to marble, however it was the sun’s reflection of her dress that had set her exterior aglow without the aid of darkness.

Looking on ahead, the great doors were opened wide, yet darkness loomed within and two armed guards stood to either side with their eyes beckoning her forward and with a commanding stride, one hereditarily ingrained with her, she progressed. Her own retinue followed, keeping a distance between her and all of those that would dare to try and steal her attention or make a play to end her life. A grey shadow passed over her rose eyes, and from there everything seemed a blur – clarity refusing to reemerge until she came before the throne room, her entrance into the great hall was all that her mind had truly registered since exiting the carriage. The space was crammed and heaving with the highborn dressed in various colors of silk and fine satins, and despite the already obscenely swollen capacity, the spectators still parted way – offering her a direct passage down to where the Empress sat astride her golden throne. Just off to the older woman’s right, a guard thumbed the butt of his spear against the hard black marble floor and crowed with a stone face; “Her Royal Highness, Xue’Daio Nox, Lady of Aliene, Regent of Apsha, Crowned Princess of the Stenellian Ascendancy!” and she could feel the pace of her heart quicken into a frenzy, though she remained unfazed by the gawking eyes of those around her and managed to maintain the unabashed swing in her stride. Roosting above, the Empress watched her daughter’s procession with eyes that twinkled with pride and marvel of the woman she’d become over the years spent forging their alliance with the Cardassian Union.


--- to be continued in pt 2... ---

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

Xue'Daio Nox
Crowned Princess of the Stenellian Ascendancy
Lady of Aliene
Regent of Apsha