New life, Old habits.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

The armored luxury speeder and its escort had worked their way across the land early in the morning, their destination a fair distance from the palace and Coronet. The few occupants of the speeder, however, hadn't talked much. Her personal advisor had tried, of course, giving her details on their itinerary for the day, but the unwilling princess was, well, unwilling to hear it. At least, that was how it seemed as she gazed out the tinted window at the scenery flitting past.

She was a classically lovely woman with just a hint of a more fierce looking bone structure beneath. That had to be her father's genes in her. Queen Sara had much more delicate and refined features, while King Kovus had a face that hinted at more stout and stern blood. Their daughter, therefore, fell somewhere between the two. When she'd appeared before the poor woman who was to be her advisor, Layla had nearly had a heart attack. Coat? Boots?! WEAPONS?! Even the uniform pants with the bloodstripe had nearly sent her into a fit. "Princesses just don't wear these sorts of things....they're elegant, mi'lady!" But no, no way could she argue down a princess, and so Aunna had left the palace looking more military than royalty.

At least it had been in colors that were important to the planet! ....and the 2nd degree Bloodstripes had been a bit of a blessing to hold it all together.

....the droid....Layla just didn't know where to start. It wasn't leaving, and Aunna wasn't telling it to.

For her part, Aunna was listening, but she also had other things on her mind....Go out, he said. It will do you good, he said. Let the people see you, he said! He does remember I'm still upset with the military, right? Oh but this will be safer, right? Uugh....and having to bring this woman along? Not that she isn't nice enough, but by the force... Still, she supposed it was a step in...some...direction, but whether it would be a good one or not remained to be seen. Even she wasn't sure yet.

Absently she trailed her fingers along the back of Eressea's chassis, the draconic little droid curled up on her lap and staring at Layla. Well, that wasn't true. Her game of pong was against the far side of the speeder, Layla just happened to be there. She was so close to beating Sender's score! SO CLOSE! Aunna's mind, however, had trailed off to Vex once more now that the 'advisor' had fallen silent. He'd looked so happy with their children...she wanted him to be able to hold them, touch them....even if it was only physically. Maybe he wouldn't, he wasn't a very...tactile...man, but maybe.

....Maybe....

Sapphire eyes blinked herself back into reality as the speeder and security detail followed a new MP speeder into the base and finally slowed to a halt.

It was time.

"Now, Princess, you recall we have a schedu--"

"I'm aware, Layla, but we will see if it's adhered to, or not. These are our troops, the men and women who give everything to protect our system and the Republic. If they need more of my time, then that's what they will get."

With that she stepped from the speeder with a sort of grace and poise that seemed to radiate out from her no matter what she was wearing (it still made Layla cringe inwardly).

---

It was a long day around the base, and a tiring one, but she was a gracious and attentive guest, listening to both praise of how Rook had run the military, and complaints about what needed to be fixed. It was one meeting after another until noon when finally Layla had suggested lunch. Aunna had never been happier to agree. What they didn't agree upon, however, was where to have it. Layla was insisting heading back to the city where their next orders of business would be, but Aunna was of a different mind completely. They had, of course, debated the two ideas thoroughly before Aunna had turned on her heel, emerald green and gold coat sweeping around her knees, and strode off....much to Layla's horror.

The destination? The mess hall.

That's right, Princess Aunna Borgonia (not that she would call herself that) was headed for the mess to eat with the soldiers.

[Kerrick Void]

Kerrick Void wasn't typically stationed on Corellia. While it was the system he came from, he didn't consider himself an asset to the royalty of Corellia. He wasn't even born on the planet, being born on one of the others. Yet there he was, being stationed on one of the worlds farthest from where he should be, close to the front line. He was a man of war and if war broke out while he was in some base in the core worlds, he would consider breaking chain of command to go fight it. He was not guard nor was he trained to be. Staying here made him uneasy.

But for now he had no reason to leave. His unit was there and there was no active war. All he could do was train. However at the very moment he wasn't. Constant drilling was commonplace, but even he recognized that there was a limit. Exceeding this limit often had poor results. So instead drilling to death he just walked around the base. He was not one to sit still nor was there much else to do.

He wasn't aware of the presence of royalty that had just arrived. Not like he would have particularly cared. They weren't his royalty. He was a soldier of the Republic, not Corellia. Even if he was Corellian. He didn't serve out if wanting to please. So he just went about his day as if it was normal and as if there wasn't a princess entering the confines of the base, helmet in arm as he wore his armor.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

"You realize your father will hear about this?"

Aunna sighed deeply at the digitized voice of the 'female' dragonling droid attached to her shoulders. Last she had checked she had grown up and had her own life and family. When did her father hearing something like this bother her?

"Very well, as long as you're aware."

Sometimes it still amazed the woman how astute the little droid was. She knew exactly what that particular sigh had meant. Eressea never ceased to amaze her...

"What, exactly, do you intend to accomplish by eating at the mess?"

...and then she asked things like that.

"I intend to accomplish the act of eating," came the facetious reply, a smirk on Aunna's lips as she continued the steady walk across the base. After a moment, and a chuckle, the woman continued. "It's a matter of morale, as well as getting to hear some of the comments of those who aren't officers, see how they're feeling overall..."

"You don't believe they will react differently to you? Or around you? You aren't exactly the least known person in the galaxy, Aunna. If it wasn't treason, it was scandal, and now that's been compounded with royalty..."

Aunna nodded slightly, thoughtfully. "They may," she admitted. "but that's a risk I'm willing to take. It's better to try than not to bother. How do you think it would feel if the buzz went around that a royal was here, but didn't bother with the normal soldiers? I know I wouldn't be pleased." Blue eyes slid to the side as a lone figure walking caught her attention not far from her. From the general feeling about him, the man seemed at ease enough but didn't particularly enjoy being here. He didn't look like CorSec, who also shared this base, so perhaps he was ground forces. Slowing her stride slightly, she gave him a nod as his path came near to intersecting her own. "Afternoon," she greeted.

[Kerrick Void]

A detail of some kind was not a very common sight, since most of the time anyone having anyone else follow them were usually general officers, since they had advisors or guards (sometimes both) that went with them. The lead figure was dressed in more military fashion compared to the other woman who was more ornately dressed. Neither of them were easily identified by the officer, however the lead was definitely recognizable, as he got closer he thought about who she could be.

He was unsure what term to greet her back with when she addressed him. She didn't exactly have the rank stripes or pauldron to denote her status like field soldiers did. He just settled on a basic term to make out a quick response.

"Afternoon, ma'am, going somewhere?" He gave her a simple nod to accompany the response. He briefly thought about what she could be doing in the base, a inspector of sorts coming to mind, her partner troubling that theory with her lack of military attire. The other girl might have been an ambassador from somewhere and the military woman was a form of guard. That was what the question was trying to find out, if she was an ambassador.

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Aunna's detail had, grudgingly, let her go off on her own...after all, in a base full of military personnel the chances of something happening to her were considerably smaller, but that didn't help their sense of duty. Even the elegantly dressed advisor had finally let her go off on her own. So, by the time she and the man had reached each other the reluctant princess was quite by herself. Eressea aside.

"The mess, actually...It's about that time of day," she replied simply. "Aunna Praetor, a pleasure to meet you, captain...Void?" Offering a hand out for him to shake, she made her statement more of a question as she eyed his rank bars and the name on his uniform. "Care to join me, or are you off to somewhere particular? I don't want to hold you up."

Eressea's holographic wings had long since vanished from sight, the bright sun making them fairly difficult to see with the pale coloring of them. Instead the scale-shaped solar catchers along her back worked to keep her at maximum efficiency as she studied the man Aunna was speaking to. Truthfully, the REA didn't see a need to interject herself into the conversation, instead filtering through the military database to see what she could dig up about the captain's career record and current stationing or command.