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Lana. Xyshari. Theron.
Theron is mostly just along for the ride.

It had been Theron's idea, entering this contest.

Both Lana and Xyshari had balked at the idea of such a thing. The dresses the year before for their wedding had been extravagant enough, but to actually build costumes for a role in the parade... well, that wasn't the kind of attention that either Lana or Xyshari were particularly fond of.

"It'll be fun," Theron assured them. "Besides, aside from the whole cutting the bonds they made because he didn't want her to kill herself bit, you two are a perfect fit for the characters in the story."

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"I really do have to question the necessity of this," Lana said as she looked at the yards of black fabric with gold accents. "And why do I have to be the Golden Seraph?"

"Well, your hair and eyes are a far closer match than the Commander's - no offense, Xyshari," Theron said, looking at the Cathar. "There's also the fact that you're human. Also, the Dragon costume will have a full mask on it."

"Ugh, I'm not particularly fond of masks. Wearing that one in Raider's Cove to trick that weak-minded Kai Zykken into spreading rumors about a fearsome pirate captain was bad enough..." Lana muttered.

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"I might not be fond of masks, but I can work with it," Xyshari said. "After all, as a Council Guard, I had to get used to wearing one. Perhaps I can build some sort of display into the mask to facilitate being able to see more effectively - a visor with optical nodes in the eyes of the mask, if it's to be much taller than I am."

Theron and Lana paused to look at the Cathar master. She was about Lana's same height, but all the depictions of the Golden Seraph and her faithful Dragon had the Dragon at least somewhat taller than the Seraph.

"I'll help you with that," Theron said. "Lana, maybe Senya and Arcann could help with the rest of the costume?"

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Both Lana and Xyshari were impressed with how quickly Theron had come to trust the disgraced Zakuulan emperor. However, Xyshari supposed that was because, when they had gone to crash his sister's party and expose that she was not as powerful as she thought, he had fought at their side against her.

"I'll go see what they can contribute. I heard that Arcann is apparently a competent smith," Lana said, looking at Xyshari with a knowing look.

"Yes, he gave me some Zakuulan armor he hand-crafted while he was healing on Odessen," Xyshari said. "The craftsmanship was excellent."

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"Never would have figured him for the type," Theron said. "Then again, never figured him for the type to end up on our side until he actually was, to be honest."

"He spoke to me about you before Lana and I found you on Nathema," Xyshari said after a moment. "Asked me to find it in my heart to show you the same compassion I'd shown him, my sworn enemy at the time. He also acknowledged that doing so might be challenging, considering you were a close friend."

"He... did?" Theron asked.

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"He did," Xyshari said.

That had all been a month and a half ago, now. In the days that would come after that, the costumes began to come together: Senya, Lana, and Xyshari would work on the dress for the Golden Seraph costume, while Theron worked on the optics for the mask of the Dragon costume, and Arcann worked on the bulk of the Dragon costume. Once it was done, Senya switched gears from working solely on the dress to adding accents and detailing to the Dragon costume, edging some scales in gold, and making others fade from black into gold.

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The dress was a sight to behold, and even more so when it was on Lana. It had an ephemeral quality to it, and Lana looked perfect in it. The Sith had shot Xyshari more than one dirt glare that screamed don't look so pleased with yourself, but had relented the moment Xyshari told her that she was admiring how her wife (something that Lana would never get tired of hearing) looked in that dress, even if it was just a costume.

Thin, golden threads came from the back of the gown and attached to a loop just above Lana's elbow, which extended once more to another loop at her wrist on either arm. The waistline was an empress-style waistline, and at the point where all the fabric gathered, Senya had placed an amulet with the symbol of the Dragon of Zakuul.

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The Dragon, on the other hand, was in stark contrast to the Seraph. Arcann told Theron, Xyshari, and Lana that he made the scales out of the same material that the Knights of Zakuul made their armor out of, and he had placed a mechanism in the Dragon's tail to allow Xyshari to move it via several predefined patterns. The visor that was attached to the mask worked just fine; if Xyshari had one complaint, it was that she much preferred seeing near eye-level to her wife, and not towering a good head and a half above her.

There was also the fact that her feet were not actually on the ground, as Arcann and Theron had built digitigrade legs. Fortunately, they weren't too high up, but Xyshari still made it known that she was not entirely appreciative of the height difference.

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It was about then that someone bothered to look at a chrono and realized that the deadline was actually much sooner than any of them had realized; they thought that they had about a week's time still to prepare.

Packing the costumes had been no small feat. The dress was easy to put in a protective sleeve and fold, but the Dragon was practically a suit of armor. Arcann had designed it to be taken apart into multiple pieces, showcasing the fact that, without the armature that allowed it to move set inside it, the tail could collapse down on itself for easier storage. The main blessing was that they were already located on the same continent as the city of Aldrect.

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The morning the day of the contest, Lana and Xyshari had been awoken by Senya singing as she did final touches on the dress, and the sounds of Arcann and Theron unpacking the Dragon costume. As soon as any of them were aware that Lana and Xyshari were also awake, the Cathar and human were pulled from their bed. Senya (with Xyshari's help for a brief while) did Lana's hair and prepared her makeup, giving her a faint dusting of gold on her lips and around her eyes. As soon as the Dragon costume was in a more put-together state, Theron and Arcann began to assemble it around Xyshari.

"Let's go, people," Theron said. "We've got to be in line for the sign-ups in the next ten minutes."

That was when they all heard the commotion break out.

Arcann, Senya, and Theron all looked at each other, but stationed themselves around Lana and Xysahri. The two of them looked at each other and sighed, shaking their heads.

<Even if we wanted to go look, we'd lose our place in line and we'd never hear the end of it from these three,> Xyshari said.

<You're right,> Lana acquiesced. <We may as well see what comes of this.>

Join the contest

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Admittedly, when they went inside, Xyshari's eyes adjusted to the change in light quickest of the four, so she was the first one to lay eyes upon the host. She placed a hand on Lana's shoulder and moved forward, only to hear the man lament that they had just given away the last participant slot.

The other man there interjected, and Xyshari felt herself bristle when he suggested performing together, and that he had been planning to be the dragon. However, before Xyshari could respond, Lana cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry, but I came here to perform with my wife," she said, motioning to Xyshari in her own golden dragon costume.

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"Your wife?" Auberon asked, looking at the others there. His eyes almost instantly honed in on Senya, but Xyshari cleared her throat pointedly, kneeling down and bringing the mask of her costume to be at eye-level with the man. She studied him closely before she reached up to dislodge the mask from its position and removed it, revealing the blue-eyed Cathar ensconced within.

"Did you think that I was but a showpiece? A droid?" she asked.

"A- a droid? What's a droid?" Auberon stammered. "Is that like a robot?"

"I suppose you could say that," Senya said, folding her arms.

"Either way, yes, this is my wife," Lana said. "And it was my intent to perform with her. She and I may not be of this world, but I don't think it would make sense to have two dragons and a seraph."

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"Come on," Lana said after a moment. "We may as well make our way back to the crowd, see what we can see," she said, turning around sharply, her golden eyes glaring daggers at Theron and cautioning him not to say anything.

Once the group was outside the tent, Xyshari looked between the other three pleadingly, her mask still held at her side.

"Since this ended up falling through, after a manner, could I please get out of this and into something a little more comfortable?" she asked. "Honestly, I'm surprised that I've managed to last this long in this thing..."

"Of course," Senya said. "Follow me - I made an additional dress just in case."

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Senya whisked Xyshari away, her dragon costume seeming more of an annoyance to her now that she wasn't going to get to use it. Lana offered a soothing feeling over the shared bond between her and Xyshari before she turned to regard the former Zakuulan emperor and the former SIS agent.

"...she's frustrated that we didn't get to enter," Lana said. "Despite what she might have been exhibiting just now, she was actually looking forward to the performance."

"What were you going to do?" Arcann asked.

"You know... we hadn't decided. But we would have been in perfect sync during it," Lana said. She could feel a physical weight lifting from her ask she spoke - clearly, Xyshari had just shed the dragon costume, which had looked rather weighty.

"The two of you share a special bond," Arcann observed. "That much is obvious, given that you two are married, but..."

"We share a bond in the Force, yes," Lana said.

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"I suspected as much when she and I dueled on Asylum. I could tell, looking back now, that she was actively suppressing my father's ability to control her - but that she was also more concerned about you, and if you were all right. However, she was also actively trying to keep those thoughts below the surface, like she knew that if I was able to grasp onto even a hint of that emotion, I would turn it against her."

"And would you have?" Lana asked, folding her arms.

"Had I not been so focused on my father, I would have," Arcann said. "After all, you'd entered the room just as I was about to kill her."

refuse to participate and return to the crowd.