| Author |
Topic:
When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge: LOTF speculation
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Zonoma
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
7/1/06 8:18pm
Subject:
When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge: LOTF speculation
- Date Edited:
8/2 11:06am (13 edits total)
Edited By:
Zonoma
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Title: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne
Author: Zonoma
Timeframe: post Legacy of the Force: Betrayal
Style: Response to First Sentence Challenge. This is due to be extended in the near future. You can thank McEwok, among others, for that devil of a plot extension.
Nobody was really surprised when it happened, not really, not on the subconscious level where savage things grow.* That didn’t keep the pain of the betrayal from jarring them, though.
Jacen used to have a crystal snake when we were children. I think it was his favorite pet, if you could compel him to admit to having favorites. Sometimes, he reminds me of it. He is very adept at hiding in plain sight, basking in the glowing affections of his family and soothing their worries into peaceful slumbers.
I think it was the worst for Master Skywalker. I remember him smiling fondly and encouraging Jacen to never stop asking questions, eagerly asking about his long treks and taking an active interest in every obscure branch of learning that Jacen would talk about. If Jacen remained silent about many of them, then it was because Jacen was a thinker and so wished to meditate on what he learned before sharing.
Master Skywalker, I believe, saw in Jacen what Anakin Skywalker could have been. He saw the destiny heralded by his father’s birth finally realized. Balance made flesh.
It was Kyp that first distrusted Jacen, finding him unpredictable and cavalier. Risking losing the favor of the Council, the Skywalkers and the Solos, Kyp confronted Luke about his indulgence of Jacen. He left the Council after the ensuing shouting match with Luke where he insisted Jacen was dangerous.
Too powerful, he said.
Most people secretly believed Kyp was jealous. Jaina remained, quite out of character, thoughtful and quiet during the exchange. She left shortly after Kyp, refusing to speak to anyone.
Jaina and Zekk, who were inseparable by then, were the next to bring their worries to someone. I don’t know why they chose me, but I’m glad that they did. They worried that Jacen was too hasty, too casual with his power.
By that time, I already knew what they did not, could not, know. I defended him. I pointed out that he prevented a war. What were a few lies compared with that? They nodded and kept their silence.
Mara grew uneasy. Luke told her they would notice changes in Ben if anything was truly wrong. She countered; reminding him of Ben’s erased memories and Jacen’s increasingly ‘reasonable’ explanations. Luke worried that if they took Ben away from Jacen, he would shut down - again becoming the half-soul they dreaded having for a son.
“Better to shut down than go Dark,” was Mara’s acid reply.
My informants in the Temple tell me they did not speak for three days. When they finally did, Luke’s only concession was to watch Jacen more closely. Mara warned him once more before bowing to the Head of the Jedi Order.
Leia was the last one to speak of the disquiet growing within the Force, but who knows what a mother sees and knows before she chooses to act? She told Han first. He didn’t want to believe her; he refused to understand. When finally he did look at Jacen for what he was, he went to work on the Falcon and didn’t come back for days. Leia wept, but only a little. I think she knew much, much earlier and was merely waiting for confirmation. She has always been able to see the darker sides of life and live with them better than her brother and husband.
My own epiphany came heralded on the iridescent wings of sapphire assassins. In the span of a single moment I watched Jacen weigh consequences and decide to protect our daughter at all costs. Even from the boy who loved him and called him Master.
I knew then.
When he came to me on Allana’s seventh birthday requesting to train her, I asked.
Jedi? Or Sith?
His answer neither surprised nor disgusted me. Already, I was lost in the Consortium - I despaired of ever feeling the sun on my face unveiled. I named my price and sold my soul.
He does not teach the mindless, easy nobility of light blinded Jedi – that would be a weakness here in the Crystal Palace.
He doesn’t instill within her the voracious hunger for power that, by all accounts, the Emperor was consumed with. Hapes has seen enough of that within the Matriarchy in the form of my own grandmother and her cousins.
He is training her as a ruler, the leader of worlds. Sith he may be, but he can teach her how to love, how to punish, how to think. These are the skills she needs.
I know what he did to Ta’a Chume now. Even through the blood lust he felt in the wake of the attack on Allana and I, he was able to reason out the best course for the survival of his daughter. Even more impressive, he was able to overcome Master Skywalker’s training and actually do what was required. A leader indeed.
Ah, Master Skywalker again. It was, as I said, hardest on him. He took over Ben’s training when Jacen’s path became known. He fell into the training with a passion, and Ben took to it gratefully and willingly. He never shied from the Force as Luke feared.
Jacen and Luke kept an uneasy peace through negotiations done by Jaina and Zekk. Jacen allows them to come to Hapes and leave with Force sensitives for the Temple. They culled the questioners and malcontents from the Jedi training and sent them to Jacen.
On Ben's nineteenth birthday, after spending a warm day with his family, he said his farewells and left.
He now stays in the small school Jacen started. There, they teach something not precisely Jedi and not quite Sith. Ben has taken over much of the training there, as is proper for the rightful apprentice of a Master.
No one was really surprised, not really, not on the subconscious level where savage things grow.*
* sentence by Steven King
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BigFatty
Registered:
Mar '05
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Date Posted:
7/1/06 8:20pm
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Excellent vig, my dear. Even more excellent that you wrote it and posted it. 
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Kidan
Title: TFN EU Staff
Registered:
Jul '03
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Date Posted:
7/1/06 8:53pm
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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very great job!!!
Great post!
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You sadistic Yank!! - McEwok No Krakana - http://nokrakana.wrighton.org Believe in the Constitution? Ron Paul '08
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G__Anakin
Registered:
Apr '06
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Date Posted:
7/1/06 9:15pm
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Intresting.... I don't realy know what to think. 
It was good though 
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Souderwan
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
7/2/06 8:45am
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Yay! You're posting again!  Now if you'll just make your way over to another story you're writing...
I won't do my normal "I have no idea what the heck is going on" routine because you left enough in there for me to follow well enough!  Nice work there.
I like how you sort of lay it out, this sense of Betrayal that everyone knew was coming but Luke somehow ignored. That was really well done.
My own epiphany came heralded on the iridescent wings of sapphire assassins.
Loved that line. Very powerful and poetic.
And great use of the Stephen King line, too!
Great job!
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"When we hurt each other we should write it down in the sand,
so the winds of forgiveness can make it go away for good. When
we help each other we should chisel it in stone, lest we never
forget the love of a friend." ~Godefroy
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Lola64
Registered:
Mar '05
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Date Posted:
7/2/06 10:41am
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Woohoot!! The Z is now back in Twisted Sisters!
And what a grand return. Excellent work.
First I have to say it does not surprise me one bit that my Kyp was the first to notice. And of course Luke defends him forcing Kyp to leave. That is one theory why he is not in betrayal.
I can't help get over though that no one else seems to want to stand up against Jacen. Is he really that powerful? One has to wonder. 
He now stays in the small school Jacen started. There, they teach something not precisely Jedi and not quite Sith. Ben has taken over much of the training there, as is proper for the rightful apprentice of a Master.
Poor Bennie. I had high hopes of him escaping from Jacen's teachings.  But you wouldn't allow that, would you, you Sithly author. 
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Kyp/Nurse Lola: the new ship  I stalk people. It's a Lola thing. Senator & Dozen 11 of the KDFC
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WynssaStarflare
Registered:
Nov '04
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Date Posted:
7/2/06 10:47am
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Great job! I love the analysis of the events that led to Jacen's 'fall'. I also liked having to figure out who was telling the tale. It was heartbreaking for see her tell how she compromised what she believed in for the sake of what would work with her daughter. Seeing things from Tenel Ka's perspective, perhaps the one person who knows Jacen the best, was very enlightening. Excellent vig Z!
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Finally free!!! Now only to find employment....
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angel_gidget
Registered:
Apr '04
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Date Posted:
7/2/06 11:58am
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Awesome. Simply...awesome!
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Ben: She says you're a killer.
Mara: We talked about that, Ben. Sometimes I have to kill. Many Jedi Masters do.
Ben: Mom, what's cold blood?
"No, I'm not going to eat his remains."--Jacen Solo, The Joiner King
Stories and art in Bio
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Killik_Twilight
Registered:
Apr '05
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Date Posted:
7/2/06 12:12pm
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Wow! I was wondering who's POV this was from, Z – and when I found out, it was someone other than I had expected.
Very, very interesting… Jacen, in this, seems to be more of a gray Jedi like Qui-gon, than either a 'normal' Jedi or a Sith.
Great job.
KT
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"Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that
men have died to win them."
Franklin D. Roosevelt
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SilSolo
Registered:
Mar '04
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Date Posted:
7/2/06 5:49pm
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Excellent vig indeed. I love it! You wrote J/TK perfectly!
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Zonoma
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
7/2/06 9:19pm
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
- Date Edited:
7/2/06 9:20pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Zonoma
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Thank you all so much for stopping in and reading my bunny. Someday, I might have to turn this into a fic, the bunnies won’t stop hopping around when I consider this line of thought. Until then…
Sara ~ As always, thank you for stopping by and for looking this over before I posted.
Kidan ~ Hey! Are you stalking me?  Thanks!
G_Anakin ~ Thank you.
Souderwan ~  What a surprise to see you here. You don’t often come up from the other boards. Thanks. I liked that line, too. I almost took it out because I wasn’t sure it fit, but there you have it.
Lola ~ Interesting. I didn’t know that theory existed. I’ve been writing that into the other story for a while now, though. I like it a lot actually, and would like to be vindicated via Legacy eventually. Maybe.
I think the others didn’t stand up to him for the same reason TK didn’t. She saw that Sith!Jacen was not Sith!Palpatine and still felt some measure of love for him.
Perhaps there was some truth to Lumiya and Vergere’s arguments. There often is a grain of truth in the most convincing lies. Perhaps Vergere was a learner of Sidious’ and took what she could from the Sith that was practical. That part makes sense to me, actually. Either way, it makes for some wonderful discussion and stories. I am dying to write the story of Vergere now. Aren’t you?
As for Ben, I rather hope he doesn’t escape Jacen if Jacen turns out the way I hope. I hope Ben escapes the Jedi.
Wyn ~ You rock my socks! Thank you. I tend to make a person guess a lot, don’t I? I would think it gets dull after a while, but it never grows old for me.
angel ~ Thank you for taking a chance and reading this!
KT ~ Now I’ve got to know. Who were you expecting? And thank you.
SilSolo ~ Thank you for saying so! I rather thought you might be disappointed.
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Kissa
Registered:
Jan '06
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Date Posted:
7/3/06 8:11am
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Very nice.
I really enjoyed this piece. 
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Padawn to NYCitygurl  I'm more Word Processor than human; Twisted by plot bunnies and feedback cravings! Replica: Sequel to Replaced: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/24053902/p3
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Healer_Leona
Registered:
Jul '00
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Date Posted:
7/3/06 3:02pm
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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The title caught my eye immediately. Fantastic response to the challegne. After I was done and looked back, I was amazed at how short the piece was. So much detail and information in that viggie.
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Any way youll never know
The many ways I've tried
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TelannaTani
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
7/3/06 3:25pm
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Wow, Z! Awesome stuff. Crazy how we think alike. Interesting that Tenel Ka chose to ask Jacen to stay on Hapes and establish his ‘school’ there. But you know what they say – keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I think you’re right. When it finally hits him, Luke will take it the hardest. To have his “nephew and one-time star pupil” be a Sith is going to be as much as a shock to his disillusioned mind as was the declaration of his parentage on the breezy walkway in Bespin all those years ago. But as you reasoned so well, Luke has always encouraged Jacen’s searching – even when it made him wishy-washy and indecisive in the early years. Now it has led to a new Sith Lord – or, in my estimation, it will.
Darth Krayt here we come!
Great job, Master!
Tela
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John 8:31-32
Callsign: "Voz"
Padawan to BigFatty
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Souderwan
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
7/3/06 7:34pm
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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Up! Up! And Away!
-----signature-----
"When we hurt each other we should write it down in the sand,
so the winds of forgiveness can make it go away for good. When
we help each other we should chisel it in stone, lest we never
forget the love of a friend." ~Godefroy
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Stormtrooper_TK-421
Registered:
Nov '04
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Date Posted:
7/4/06 12:48pm
Subject:
RE: When Serpents Sit Upon the Throne, Response to the First Sentence Challenge
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I'm dreadly confused, but that's probably 'cause I haven't read Betrayal yet.
Either way, it was excellently written, Z. Good job.
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