Miley wiped her eyes as she extracted herself from Elza's arms. She wasn't sure how long they'd been out in the garden but she imagined Orllah would be wondering where she had got to.
"Are you ok?" Elza asked gently, her face etched with concern.
Miley nodded her head and managed a smile, not yet trusting herself to speak.
Elza sighed, clearly unconvinced. "Should I not have told you?"
"Of course not," Miley replied, the strength of her voice surprising even herself. "I just... I wasn't expecting it."
"Nor was I," Elza said with a sad smile. "To tell the truth, I'm not sure knowing makes it any better."
Miley frowned. "Why?" she asked. "We know where she is now! We can go and get her and bring her home."
"My dear, she has been taken by the Nomads," Elza said gently. "You know what that means."
"It doesn't mean anything," Miley said firmly. "I'll tell Orllah. You've seen what she can do! She'll help us bring her back!"
Elza looked up at Miley and for the first time since knowing her, Miley saw tears shining in her eyes.
"What is it?" Miley asked. "What's wrong?"
"I do not doubt the Empress' skills," Elza said softly. "But my dear, consider what you are asking her. Orllah has declared war on Drok Vess and Lady Kysha too for all intents and purposes. Even if she wanted to help, she does not have the resources to do so at the moment."
Miley blinked, Elza's frank explanation catching her by surprise. "You don't know that..." she whispered.
Elza took Miley's hands and squeezed gently. "I'm afraid I do," she said sadly. "Orllah has an Empire to run, a war to fight. We don't know where the Nomads are hiding or even what tribe Sophie is being held by... We don't even know if they'll have kept her alive."
Miley pulled her hands away from her old mentor, tears stinging her eyes. "So we give up on her?" she breathed.
"No," Elza said with a shake of her head. "We will work something out. But for now you must accept that there is nothing we can do to help her."
A dull hollowness settled inside Miley's stomach at Elza's words. She couldn't believe what she was hearing and she felt the sudden need to get away from her mentor before she said anything that she might regret later. She stood sharply, clenching her fists to stop them from shaking.
"I should go," Miley said flatly. "The Empress will no doubt be looking for me."
Elza stiffened, any hint of the tears that she had been about to shed vanishing in an instant. She knew Miley was brushing her off and Miley knew it too. "Of course," Elza said cooly, before adding gently, "You know where I am when you are ready to talk."
Miley afforded the older woman a small nod before turning and striding back towards the palace. Her mind was so full of questions and her thoughts so clouded by emotion that she hardly noticed the performers and the guests that leered unsubtly at her as she strode through the garden. She even forgot about the plug pressing into her ass as she marched determinedly back into the dining hall only to find the head table empty. She stopped a serving droid who informed her that the Lords had retired to one of the private studies for drinks and set off through to find them.
She felt sure that Elza was wrong. She had told Orllah about Sophie's disappearance when they had first met and taken down Rollo Hirst together. At that point Orllah had said that she would help her find Sophie so why should things be any different now?
A guard stood at the entrance to the study but stepped aside as she approached and entered the room. The study was a decent size, the walls lined with bookshelves containing volumes that she doubted Hirst, the palace's previous owner, had ever read. A pianist that she recognised from the House sat in one corner playing a gentle tune that no one was really listening too whilst BD-7 was tending the bar. The Lords and various tag-along members of their entourages sat in large, comfy leather chairs, sipping on drinks from rare Corellian Brandy to Firewhiskey. Vale was holding court, the self-styled Smuggler King looking very handsome in a tailored suit of deep blue, as he moved his hands animatedly in time with his story. The Duke and Duchess sat beside him, the Duke looking bored as one of his young sycophants fed him grapes whilst the Duchess toyed with the hair of one of Vale's equally handsome gang members. Jeska Na sat at one of the windows and winked at Miley as she slipped into the room and moved to Orllah's chair, the Empress watching Vale from over the rim of her glass with a polite smile on her face.
"Where have you been?" Orllah whispered as Miley folded herself onto the arm of her mistress' chair, the plug pressing pleasantly into her ass.
"Sorry," she breathed, only just realising that she had been away from the part for over an hour.
"What's wrong?" the Sith asked, tilting her head to look at Miley from the corner of her eye.
Miley cursed inwardly, the depths of Orllah's perception never failing to catch her by surprise. She met her gaze, considering her words carefully before saying, "Do you remember the girl I told you about? Sophie?"
"The one that Hirst made disappear?"
"Yes," Miley said, glad that Orllah remembered. "Elza has found her. She's being held by the Nomads."
"Nomads?" Vale said, cutting his story off mid sentence. Miley winced, realising that Vale had either had one ear on their conversation or else was an exceptional lip reader.