Saga Book of Days-- The Diary of a Tusken Raider-- For the 2008 Dear Diary Challenge, updated 1/14/2008

This is my first attempt at writing a diary of any kind, including a real-life diary that only lasted for two entries...

I'll do a PM list if anyone is interested...

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Entry 1:

Dear Diary,

I was very happy to see that the Elders though me responsible enough to have a Book of Days. Indeed, these books are rewarded to the most prominent young people in our tribe, and I feel honored to be among their ranks.

I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Charratha-Taark of the Rising Sun clan. We live on the Eastern side of the Dune Sea, where the sun peaks up over the ridges and casts an orange glow on the surrounding sands. We are not a very nomadic tribe, which is to say that we don?t move once-a-week like some of the other Tusken. Instead, we keep our grounds until they are completely drained of nutrients for our flocks, and then we move on.

My mother and father, who are dead now, were founders of the Rising Sun clan. We broke away from the warrior tribe of the Dune Sea clan, and were in hiding for many years. But now, we have defeated the Dune Sea clan, and we are free to live as we wish.

I don?t have any siblings, but that is normal for our clan. Generally, each family is blessed by the goddess with one child, although occasionally there are dual-births and last year, I witnessed a thrice-birth! Well, not witnessed. No one but the woman?s husband is allowed to help her through child-birth?except for the medicine-woman, who is always called in.

I?m not sure what we?re going to do, now that the medicine-woman has passed away. She was very old, and had many jewels on her fingers. I always thought of her as a kind old grandmother-woman, but I don?t know if she ever really liked me that much. When I was younger, I had thought that being a medicine-woman would be a fun task, but now I?m not so sure.

My coming of age ceremony is in three days. I will be fifteen years old, and will be a woman for once and all. I will have more privileges, and I will have a life-task assigned to me, that way I can help support our clan, and bring honor to our people.

But at the same time, I am quite scared. The Elders choose a life-task for you, and I was never in good spirit with the Elders. I was always the one female child that ran away to strangle sun lizards with the boys, or to come back and my bantha be scarred from rough-housing.

The Elders also choose a life-mate for you at your coming-of-age ceremony. That makes my heart chill so that I can scarcely breathe. I get along with most of the boys in our tribe, but none of them particularly like me. The only one I can think of that I like would be Rorrun. Rorrun is a mighty warrior man, and I?ve hunted with him on several occasions?

But nothing like that is for me to decide. The Elders choose our mates and our tasks for us, and they are always in perfect harmony with the ways of the desert. I am most excited, even though I don?t have the slightest inkling of what they might choose for me.

I hope that I become a Diviner. I can always guess what?s going to happen?the medicine-woman told me that my mother could do that as well. She said it is a trait blessed upon those by the goddess. She said it is a very special trait.

But I?m still not sure. Ah! It is time for the evening meal. I will try to write again, Diary,

-Charratha-Taark

 

Interesting start and I hope it will give more insight in an interesting people. And you can put me on your PM-list

 

Wonderful beginning!

I love how richly you've developed Charratha-Taark's character with just the first post.

I hope the elders chose a good life task for her...

Please PM me when you update

Looking forward to more

 

Earlybird_obiwan- Glad you are enjoying the story! Yes, I'll put you on the PM list.

KEILIA- Thank you so much! I never thought I was any good at characterization. The life-task... yes, a tough choice... You are on the PM list!

Okay, this will be updated in like, twenty minutes!

 

The PM list so far:
earlybird-obi-wan
KELIA

If you want on/off the PM list, just let me know!

Entry 2

Dear Diary,

My coming of age ceremony was earlier today. Unlike the other female who experienced her walk into womanhood today, I am not quite as happy. Indeed there were some things that I am sure the Elders made mistakes with?

But I suppose I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start by describing how my day went from the very beginning. The sky dawned quite clear, but it soon became evident that a sandstorm was fast approaching.

Hastily, I got up, and started on my morning chores. My mother and father have commissioned me with the same tasks ever since I was a young one. First I must go and brush our banthas, and then I must feed and water them, after which we sit and have breakfast. The hunters were out last night, and in honor of the occasion, my parents bought some Krayt Dragon meat?a rare delicacy around here?and shared it with me. I was delighted.

But then I had to stay cooped up in our tent for hours due to the torrent of sand pelting down on our humble abode. I fashioned some clothing for a doll for the girl on the other side of the camp. She had lost her father in a recent raid that backfired, so I felt I should comfort her.

Anyway, after the storm, my parents showed me my beautiful new gift! You see, in addition to this signifying my fifteenth time around Tatooine?s twin suns, I became a woman today. As a child, we Tusken wear gender-neutral garments until our coming-of-age ceremonies. Oh diary, when I saw the beautiful garment in which I would be a true woman, I nearly fainted.

It was gorgeous to say the least. The face-plate was studded with gems of all different colors. Sapphires, rubies and emeralds sparkle so in the desert light, and I was so pleased! They also bought me my first age-ring to mark my passage into womanhood. The Tusken women receive an age-ring for their finger at the age of fifteen, and every year thereafter to mark their growing wisdom.

My parents then told me I would no longer have to do minute tasks around the house, and would instead start to learn to tend the home and cook the food. No more mucking out the bantha stalls for me! Although, my little brother wasn?t too thrilled about that, he?ll live? I hope. I almost died the first day I had to clean out those stalls; the stench was unbearable.

Anyway, so I instead spent my day readying myself for the ceremony later on. Indeed, it wouldn?t start until the last rays of the suns had dipped behind the dunes. They say that you wait because the desert spirits come to bless the new adults when the suns go down, and nobody wants to enter adulthood without blessing.

Preparations for the ceremony are as lavish as you wish them to be, and I wished mine to be superfluous. I rubbed scented oils into my hands and ate sunberries to make my eyes sparkle, and that there took over an hour. I don?t know if it really made any difference, but mother said it was supposed to, so I did it.

But I?m tired of describing all the normal stuff. Instead, I will now skip to the evening. The most dazzling sunset I had ever seen marked my passage. My brother claimed he had seen brighter, but I don?t believe him.

We began the ceremony with feasting. Rare fruits and drinks were supplied for everyone. I was very excited?it was my first time tasting water. It was so cool and crisp; I wish I could have it more often. But it costs many trading items for a single glass. I don?t know how the Elders managed to procure such abundance!

Next was the dancing, oh the dancing! I had been practicing for months, and was very excited to show off my skills. It?s more of a game really. All the women join hands around the fire and we walk around once. Then, very slowly we clap, twirl, crouch and spring back up. This is repeated numerous times, faster with each round until there is only one person left. The winner gets something special.

I didn?t win, but my friend, Arrakka di

 

Loved your description of the ceremony and their life

 

Charratha-Taark, your life task is...

Oh that wasn't a very nice place to leave off!!



Its unfortunate Rorrun had to marry someone else but I admire Charratha's acceptance.

Great update