Fountain Palace

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The Fountain Palace, also known as the Castle of Per'Agthra was the premier royal residence of the Queen Mothers who ruled the Hapes Consortium. Situated on Hapes itself, this centuries-old fortress-palace served as an ancient symbol of royal authority for the monarchy: other royal residences such as Reef Home were places where the Queen Mothers stayed, but Per'agthra was the home of the Hapan monarchy.

Even after Queen Mother Ta'a Chume opened the borders of the Hapes Star Cluster to outsiders in 8 ABY, contact was scarce, and this, coupled with traditional Hapan secrecy, may be responsible for some uncertainty regarding the exact location of the palace. While most sources suggest that Per'Agthra stood on the crags overlooking the capital city of Ta'a Chume'Dan, New Republic Intelligence reports said that this was in fact Star Home, outwardly an exact copy of the castle, but in reality a hyperspace-capable cruiser.

Whatever the exact truth, the existence of Star Home attested to the importance of Per'Agthra to both the family of the Mothers, and the state ceremonial of Hapan political life. The Fountain Palace remained as a private residence for the court, while a second, identical castle served as a public proxy, enabling the Mothers to hold court amid the iconic towers and turrets of their ancestral seat when they visited the other worlds of the Cluster—or even, on rare diplomatic visits, foreign capitals like Coruscant.

The Hall of Masters, Royal Residence, Queen Mother's Special Salon, Royal Bedchamber, Queen's Drawing Room, and Royal Hangar were all rooms in the Palace.

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As Ben raced through the palace he quickly looked over his shoulder swearing. "Ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly!" He said, using the worst word he could think of to express his annoyance. He ducked behind a corner just in time for a blaster shot to nail the wall behind him. "I can't die! I'm too pretty to die!" He cried as he ran through another door and turned another corner hoping to avoid his pursuers. "WHY GOD WHY!" He cried out. "Why would you allow the sheer definition of beauty to suffer this way?!?!"

A figure in all black turned the corner following the sound of his cries and lifted a blaster to shoot. Ben Rider ducked and barely avoided a shot once again. "Ha! I'm just too pretty, seriously! You can't touch this." He mocked looking over his shoulder and sticking out his tongue. However, his mocking was interrupted as the Hapan librarian ran into something hard in front of him. As he bounced off the object and hit the ground he rubbed his butt and looked up. "Oh dear...it's ugly number two." He said looking at the one eyed man in front of him who was carrying a nasty looking vibroblade.

Reacting quickly, Ben Rider drew his own sword and barely blocked a strike for his face. "WOAH! WOAH! Not the face!" He said as he ducked a horizontal cut that barely missed his hair. "YOU UGLY JERK NOT THE HAIR EITHER!" He said as he turned and raced into another room. He was feeling accomplished with his escape until he realized the door he had run into was a bedroom with no exits. "Son of an ugly woman..." He mumbled as he turned and saw the two assassins entering the room.

"You sure we can't talk about this? Maybe put down our weapons and have a friendly sabacc game instead?" He said backing up against the wall. "Come on, I didn't mean to hear about you guys. You were talking loud in the library! That's your own faults."

The men said nothing as they approached the cornered Ben. "So...friendly sabacc is out of the question?" Ben said cracking a smile as he gulped. Then he glanced up and saw a chandelier above the assassins. "A HA!" He said throwing his sword at the chain holding the chandelier up. "You feel for my trap!" But as the sword hit the chain it simply made a ting sound and fell to the ground. "Well mother ugly..." He mumbled. "I guess that only works in books. Uhhh...I was just kidding you know...heh, friends?" He said as he dodged a thrust from the one-eyed assassin's blade.

As he ducked and dodged he saw one cut going right for his throat. He leaned back and the blade barely missed his jugular, instead cutting just to the side. Blood flew and Ben Rider stumbled back holding his throat that was dripping blood. Realizing there was no way he was going to get past he quickly looked for another escape.

As the second assassin thrust for his heart, Ben Rider pivoted and dodged to the side and grabbed the man's arm and used his momentum to throw him into the wall. He barely dodged a vertical cut from the one-eyed man, before Ben punched him in the nose. Then seeing a chance he dove for the glass window over looking the crags. As he bust through the window he yelled, "SUCKERS!!!!" Before he looked down. "MOMMMMMYYYYYYYY" He called as he fell.

The injured and scared Hapan bounced from one rock to another busting up his outfit and getting countless bruises as he slide down the crags and towards the city. Luckily for him his fall was softened by a small shop selling fresh fruits. Well, lucky for him physically that is, his clothes weren't too lucky and as the man quickly climbed out of a bunch of splattered fruits he groaned. "I just bought these yesterday..." He said sadly before seeing the assassins at the windows starting to climb down.

Realizing he was still being chased, the pretty man raced into the crowded city hoping to escape. He quickly grabbed a hobo's money jar as he ran in order to buy something to cover his bleeding neck.