Saga - PT [DDC 2016] Letters Never Sent (OCs | ROTS) - COMPLETE, PARTIAL E-BOOK

Entry 30

<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 10:12>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: MARDRI SOULWORKS COLLECTIVE ARCOLOGY, AUREA>>

The next disaster awaiting for me was what happened to the Camp. A band of Stormtroopers – now I know that they are the sterile-looking Imperial soldiers wearing white – raided every single corner of it, looking for alleged enemies of the Empire.

And then they took away my friend, Tarasbulba. With no explanation that would make sense. The word from the new Corellian Sector moff, Fliry Vorru, was that he was looking to undermine the system, together with a couple other Mid and Outer Rim aliens. Interestingly enough, Humans were behaving, so were us Dralls…apart from poor, poor Nen.

Aurea as a part of the Galactic Empire. This sounds surreal to my friends, as well as me. We have no idea what this planet could be used for. It never produced a single representative, let alone a senator. There is nothing resembling army or government on here. Do they want crystalline glass? Or did they just pick this planet for their vulgar display of power, because it’s so peaceful and irrelevant to most?

We found out that Vagran fell, too. Of course, it’s the Grannos, they were probably thinking something in the lines of “Oh, by Iasonné, don’t touch our precious ecosystem, we’ll do whatever you say!” The president accepted the deal to close all the known spaceports and use a small one in what was described as a “bizarre location”. This was described as an assault, yet nobody got hurt or died in the end. They can’t fight, can they? Or they thought Darth Vader and his mission would scare the alleged “Burping Sarlacc”. Where on Vagran is that monstrosity, anyway? Yuck!

Ironically, the only system that the new Moff managed to sign a special deal with was…surprise, surprise, the Sacorrian one! The Triad demanded that the Empire cannot use more than 50% of foodstuffs to feed the army and that no produce should be exported outside of the sector. They also required for all the Sacorrian Selonians to be treated as equals to Humans and Dralls of the sector, because they’re “more civilised”. Yes, they are, they are like cookie-cutter shapes, if you know what I mean? There’s got to have been something more that would have convinced the Emperor and his Moffs – that would be the worst wailer-group name ever, by the way – to continue to allow somebody to be bigger than them.

And Jumus, the factory world? The Skakoans who bought it from whatever Diktat was in charge some eighty years ago – don’t expect a Sacorrian to know more about this – they have mysteriously disappeared, hopping away on their stupid single foot things. Hop-hop-hoppity-hop.

I’m cynical. And I’m not sorry. If this wasn’t horrible, it would be plain ridiculous.

We sat up all night, wondering what to do. Sure, we were not able to go back inside as the bubbles started moving either way, but would we have gone in at all? This was supposed to be one of the most autonomous places in the sector. Same goes for Vagran, but seriously, Vagran.

Speaking of the sector itself, it’s no longer what we think it is. The Galactic Empire just defied astrogeography, as we know it. They annexed the Duro sector and made Nubia the capital, as opposed to Corellia.

Nubia. N-u-b-i-a!

Nubia, the planet of nerf-herding podracers and sports bets…I mean, yes, there are the starship designers, but tell me, do they make up for the amount of those who aren’t? I won’t be surprised to get there and see cybernetically-modified nerfs with wheels. Because…it’s Nubia!
And Coovo and Sayran volunteered to go there in order to find somebody at the Design Collective who could help rebuild the broken dome in Crysallia. There is no chance that glass workers could produce such a large piece assisted by the crustacean slaves in the Eternal Furnace – something would break. So, Nubians will help us out, supposedly. And if the Emperor or Vader are there at the same time as the mission is…oh, kriff.

Vaylo doesn’t like the transparisteel domes of Nuba City. He’s a glass worker after all and transparisteel may never break apart the way glass did yesterday, but it was not crafted with love. There is no soul in it. I think he may be going a bit crazy, but apparently, this is his reason for not wanting to go there. And guess whom he wants to go to Nubia instead?

That’s right. Me.

Challenge accepted. I am going to be a part of this mission. Sure, Nubia is far from Sacorria and they’re probably not looking for me anymore on Corellia, anyway.

The bad thing is that we have to depart immediately.

<<***** HAS BEEN IDLE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES:: TURN THE UNIT OFF? Y/N>>
<<THE UNIT WILL BE TURNED OFF>>

<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<FAILURE RETRIEVING LOCAL TIME. ARE YOU IN SPACE?>>
<<FAILURE RETRIEVING GALACTIC LOCATION. ARE YOU IN SPACE?>>

So, I took everything I have with me, even though we won’t be gone for more than five to seven days. Call me paranoid, but-

<<CRITICAL FAILURE. ARE YOU IN HYPERSPACE?>>
<<SWITCH TO BACK-UP POWER SOURCE Y/N?>>
<<SWITCHING TO BACK-UP POWER SOURCE>>
<<BACK-UP POWER SOURCE IS NOT RESPONDING!>>
<<THE UNIT WILL BE TURNED OFF>>

<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 27:22>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: NUBA CITY, NUBIA>>

29 hours per day? That’s nine more than on the previous planet…

I am on Nubia at the home of this one Giubiasco family. They’re really nice to Coovo and me, they keep us fed and they have sworn on their lives that they would protect us. At first, they said that their adopted daughter was an alien and I nodded, absentmindedly, not knowing what I was in for.

And then she appeared.

It was Korgah! Kriff kriff kriff kriff kriff kriff kriff kriff kriff this.

Just kriff it.

My reaction was a scream. As expected, since she never changed at all, she thought I was excited to see her again. I was not!

The Giubiascos were confused and asked what was going on. So was Coovo, and Coovo is never confused. So, Korgah introduced me to them as her ex-boyfriend. She couldn’t keep her mouth shout about it. But her parents, they are some granno types, the complete opposite of what she told me back in the days, so they didn’t mind the fact that I was 40 and she was 20 back when our unfortunate affair took place.

Korgah says that Borgiska is still alive. Gwynda and Lor are married and living together, with their new baby and two other children from Lor’s previous marriage. Anjie is eight years old, older than all of these younglings, and he is now regularly visiting his father’s family on Naboo. He’s still cute, she said, but his hair is starting to go dark. I asked about his emotional well-being and she didn’t know what to say. She had a holo, though – one of him sitting with his quetarra, which is still larger than him, and a tooka trying to hit the strings as well. If only I could see that little boy again…kriff Blobbo the Hutt!

And Zizi? He departed a couple of months after me, after the Imperials started regularly harassing non-Humans and non-Drall in Coronet City. He’s now on Aeithera, running a restaurant. The planet is a colony of Alderaan and they have a policy against specieist harassment that somehow managed to survive to this day. I recounted that he’s 28 now and I wondered if he got married. Korgah shook her head. She couldn’t tell if he was celibate – then again, to her, “celibate” might as well mean not lusting on other beings while asleep or at the ‘fresher – or if he just didn’t care. I did not even try to explain what I think his situation was. It’s not like I knew much about it, but whatever he had with Mariklare…I wish I had comforted him more back when we were teachers on Corellia. I was so selfish. I should have asked him about it. I should have been a friend, instead of constantly causing more and more trouble, acting like I was the younger and dumber of the two and so on.

That’s it, I guess.

Tedesa and Kornio Giubiasco were looking at me with those strange facial expressions all evening long. I mean, they know their daughter is strange, right? Even with a degree in art history, which she cannot yet have any use of because the universities on Corellia no longer allow, I quote “individuals of unidentifiable species” in their staff, she is the same creepy, barbaric creature as she always used to be. And these people wonder about me. I guess she told them about spice and suddenly, everything she did fades in comparison.

They gave us a room in the basement of their house, located close to the biggest podracing track in the city. And that was some major relief – imagine if I had to sleep with the young comradette…I mean, mistress. How funny that the Sacorrian in me pops up like this.

Before going to sleep, Coovo asked me what was I thinking when I got with Korgah. I shrugged. I don’t remember thinking much other than showing Gwynda that, yes, I could find something to rival our friendship.

<<LOCAL TIME: 28:39>>
<<RECORDING STOPPED>>>

Korgah again? Noooooooooooo!

---

Footnotes

Spoiler

Fliry Vorru was the first moff of the Corellian Sector.

The idea of Jumus being a factory world and Skakoans having bought it is part fanon, part Lil’s own assumption from what he heard. You'll see what I mean in another story.

Nubia is a planet in the Corellian Sector that was the Oversector’s capital during the Imperial years. It has nothing to do with Naboo, other than the Naboo queen Amidala using a Nubian starship.

Giubiasco is otherwise the fourth largest town in the tiny wee Ticino region of Switzerland. I liked how the automated voice on the train pronounced that name and I knew I had to use it somewhere.

Aeithera is a planet in Colonies, created by leiamoody for her stories. Zizi Pao does end up living there.

 

Thanks for reading - I'm late...again. Ironically, this was supposed to help me with routine.

---

That leitmotif might be his biggest enemy. But this time, just like when he departed from Drall to Aurea, he did so willingly.

He has got to encourage himself somehow, otherwise he would be...just sitting there, shaking his head in disbelief.

As for what the Empire did - it's Legends-canon. They connected the Corellian and Duro Sectors into a single one and made Nubia the capital.

They are - their megalomania may come across as bizarre, but when one looks closer...eeek!

That must be a socially acceptable way to react to surprises in the Galaxy Far, Far Away, then. But how does a Gand exactly do that? Mandible cracking? *snort*

Korgah is the Elmyra Duff of this story! She wants to pet cute little things...sort of.

That was a relief for me to write, too. I would have NOT been able to stand writing the horror I created by having those two end up in the bunk again! Just noooooooooooooooooope. So much nope!

If Korgah, who is obsessed with herself, can see it from the little she knows - then it's visible from space.

I forgot to include the link to leiamoody's fanon post in the footnotes - will do so ASAP! Thanks for reminding me and a huge apology to Moody!

 

Entry 31

<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 13:32>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: NUBA CITY, NUBIA>>


Been a couple of days, Ranni. A couple of very strange days and so, so many things were happening. Who was that wermo who said that twenty-nine hours in a day were not enough? Oh, yes, it was me. I’m pretty sure that I would like at least one more at this point. Hope I can remember everything that’s been going on! The planet of podracing and grav-balling nerf herders with almost all of its water underground is actually a very dynamic place. Perhaps I’m herding? Heh.

They say that Nuba City is a lot like Coruscant. I will have to believe these stories as I doubt I will ever see the Imperial Capital…apparently, that may be its actual name now…but some of the largest high-rises’ lights here stick out from outside space the way all of Coruscant does. And Nubians think it’s a good thing. Makes them more cosmopolitan, whatever that word may mean, as it does not sound like something a Sacorrian would understand. Didn’t even bother asking.

And just like on Coruscant, something is always happening in the Nuba City. Explosions, riots, notable births, notable deaths…and it’s treated like the most normal thing in the world.

The morning after we arrived, I woke up around noon, to way too much noise coming from the podracing course. Gillad Novo of Corfai died in a podracing accident, leaving behind his young wife Baylyn and the children, Jax and Mezona. Novo had numerous fans here and they all brought letters and holos to the entrance of the main auditorium building. Instead of watching the Emperor on the viewscreen, which has – sadly – become a common occurrence on here, as far as Korgah and her parents are concerned, we were watching footage of Gillad putting little Jax in his podracer and the youngling pretending to drive. It was sad. The president of Nubia, who didn’t look like he went to school for one single day of his life, ordered for black lights to be displayed on all prominent locations in the city and all the HoloNet outlets with viewscreen presence were playing sad music. There were stories about Novo in all possible newsflimsi and holomags.

But the next day, nobody cared anymore because this important woman working for the PharmaCorp had a daughter. The black lights were replaced by the pink ones, the sad music became happy music. The president was now talking about how important this baby is going to be. Gillad Novo didn’t matter anymore, or so it seemed. I recalled something my father told me long ago – that the offworlders are so forgetful that there will come the day where everybody forgets everybody in less than one Sacorrian day. At this very point, daddy’s words buzzed more true than ever.

Dare I think that this is how I’m going to be forgotten?

Silly Lil, nobody even knows who you really are anymore. They forgot you already, now shut up and wipe that snotty muzzle of yours.

On the third day, the Ferrys and I were scheduled to meet the Nubes couple at a place called Shorn Stabilizer, rotating on top of one of Nuba City’s high-rises. The cantina didn’t look nowhere as seedy as most do…not that I have been to more than one, the scary place in Coronet City, but from what Nen described when she told me about Aurah, this place looks like a medcentre. Everybody is so nice and clean. Weird, weird Nubians.

A waitress pointed us to our table where the Nubes were waiting for us. They turned out to be a pair of Ortolans. I have never heard of those things before – they’re chubby…okay, they’re fat! And they have the strangest snouts I have ever seen. And their hands are not really hands, yet these two appear to be among the most skilled of engineers the Nubia Star Drives Inc. has. Maybe none of this is true and there’s something that has spice-like effects in the air. There is no other way to describe that these creatures are real and that they can help rebuild the dome in Crysallia in any way.

Numbo, the male Ortolan, joked that I am the fifth limb on what would otherwise be a double date. I calmly told him that he appears to have five limbs, but he had a clever comeback and told me that I’m probably jealous. Then Coovo teased me about Korgah and said that there could have been a likely candidate for a triple date. They beat me pretty good there, I think. Kumula, the lady Nubes, was just giggling until Sayran showed her the plans for the new dome. The moment she saw them, she became serious and went on and on about the costs and tech specifications. I was slightly worried that this would not work out. I have no idea how much these things would cost otherwise.

According to Kumula, this project is a way out of an uncomfortable situation and the Star Drives Inc. needed this. They are reluctant about doing any contract work for the Empire and the dome project will allow them to delay that moment for a long time to come. They’re brave…I think. On the planet where every second being is wearing that horrible grey uniform, they’re openly opposing the repression.

After the deal was done, we went on a tour through the Nubian Designer Collective Museum of Engineering and Design. It was named after the original company, which eventually became Star Drives and it features models of all starships they produced, as well as holographic schematics of some of their prototypes that never came to life.

I don’t like starships all that much, but these are breathtakingly beautiful. My favourite was the one created for the senator Amidala of Naboo, who died around the time I was on Corellia. It dates back to some fifteen years ago, when she was the planet’s queen.

Kumula took us back to Shorn Stabilizer for lunch. And then, we witnessed just how much a couple of Ortolans could eat. I looked at Coovo and Sayran, they were as confused as I was, but nobody else seemed to be noticing anything. These two probably dine here a lot!

I had something called Bronzium Egg Salad. The waitress droid explained that it was named after Nubia’s most precious ore. It was a simple meal: some pygmy ibbot eggs in a softened shell, a concoction of oil and eggs that they call “mayonnaise” and pieces of dust cornmeal-battered and grilled pygmy ibbot breast spiced with amber-root. Never thought that eggs could have shells so soft that they could be eaten, but it was so good!

And the Nubes talked even more after they had their gigantic, bizarre meals. There are so many stories about us Dralls being obsessed with gossip. Whoever came up with that has clearly never met an Ortolan! They know everything about everybody and they are worse than a sludgenews type of a thing…so much dirt about each of the Star Drives’ customers.

Another interesting thing they told us is that the Sacorrian Triad ordered a very demanding starship some two hundred years ago, but that nobody from the Star Drives ever saw it in use, nor do they know where it was taken. It apparently looked like a command centre on the inside, but it had a shape that could blend into any background and look like the top of the building.

Hmmm…

Hmmm…dare I think that the black light on the Triad Mountain comes from some freaky detachable spaceship? Or would that be too crazy?

Another thing both I and Sayran were interested in is why and how the Empire picked this planet as the sector capital.

Turns out it’s pretty complicated.

Nubia is not exactly a parliamentary democracy. It’s run by corporations and the corporations have lured the Empire into making it the capital of the sector for many reasons. Among other things, they think it’s good advertising. And the Empire gave them Jumus, effectively making it a part of the Sector again, politically, so they had more than one reason to say yes. Now I understand that Star Drives Inc. are working against everyone else and I respect them even more. That’s bold!

I asked who really runs this planet, if it’s not the moff Vorru and the formally elected president.

Turns out that isn’t simple, either. A Hutt named Prall is the owner of PharmCorp, one of the largest companies from here. He also owns a gambling haven called, ironically, Nubian Palace. The amount of credits he has seen in his lifetime would make every other Hutt in the Galaxy jealous, they say. His credit-laundering practices are so subtle that those who should be after him fawn over him.

So, basically, this is his planet. Ouch!

We were back at Giubiascos’ home in the evening. And Korgah had a surprise for me! She arranged for me to take a short trip to Aeithera and meet Zizi! I could then stay there, or go back to Aurea through whatever other means. I really, really like the idea!

Now, the way we’re to execute it is somewhat bizarre – I’m supposed to travel to Corfai first, together with the mourning Novo family. Korgah knows the mortician and he knows somebody who could place me in the cargo department. And yes, that would require me to spend some time next to the Gillad Novo’s corpse frozen in carbonite, but if that’s the price of seeing the best friend I ever had again, I’m willing to pay it.

You would probably scold me over this. I say this often, but this time I really mean it. Korgah’s plans were risky in the past and everything she’s ever done was bizarre. But this time it will work. I know it. I feel it. I believe it.

I’m so excited, Ranni! I’m going to see my friend!

<<LOCAL TIME: 15:18>>
<<RECORDING STOPPED>>>

Nimbo and Kumula are so normal. Another reason to wonder why he turned the way it did. He had all the things I didn't have, for mynock rectum's sake!

Yuck, what does a mynock rectum look like, anyway? Do they even have it? Silicone poodoo must be wicked-weird.

---

Footnotes

Spoiler

Nuba City is the capital of Nubia and, at the same time, the administrative centre of the Corellian Oversector during the reign of the Galactic Empire.

Corfai is a terrestrial planet in the Corellian Sector, known for its taiga.

Jax Novo was previously mentioned in The Black Star, where he is, apparently, the lead character’s celebrity crush. His parents and sister were not previously mentioned.

Shorn Stabilizer Cantina is a liberal place, a good hideout as per Suns of Fortune. Its location was not revealed, so I placed it on the outskirts of the Nuba City, in the direction of Ronto.

Nubian Designer Collective Museum of Engineering and Design appears in Suns of Fortune.

Bronzium Egg Salad – Bronzium is a metal that made Nubia rich. Of course they would name every single little thing after it.

Mayonnaise exists in the GFFA, oddly enough. I’m making it a Nubian thing.

Amber-root is a vegetable. I imagined it as some kind of fennel. Because fennel. OK?

Pygmy ibbot is fanon. I assume that there had to be a tiny wee ibbot somewhere.

The detachable ship was featured in my short story, Nolevorution, Of Course! and it’s not what Lil thinks it is.

Nubia being ruled by corporations is canon. The bits on Jumus' fate are fanon and will be explained in a different story.

PharmCorp is one of the largest companies on Nubia.

Prall the Hutt owns PharmCorp.

Nubian Palace is a resort owned by Prall.

 

Thank you all for reading.

---

Another thing that I...didn't spot myself; but it makes sense. I've been obsessed with the concept of "multiple deaths", to the point where it's almost ridiculous. And that kind of stuff fascinates me, but I never thought about how it can work in cases where somebody isn't actually dead. At least not in this story.

If there's mayo-ketchup, there's mayo and there's ketchup. Then again, given that the Galaxy has eggs and vegetable oil, I just cannot see how it would NOT exist. I can imagine Dex searching for the most awful ingredients in the Galaxy to put in his famous sliders and thinking YES, GREASY, CHOLESTEROL, THAT'S IT.

The small eggs - I need to elaborate on the idea, but I can imagine that some type of a marinade works on them and that it's a secret of the local cuisine. But either way, I may or may not paste a modified recipe for an actual egg salad.

And I'll hook ya up with the book.

There's Koobalt Nubes aka Master Koobs, the drummer of Deeply Religious. He's also, well, yappy and talkative.

As for the rest...well... Lil IS the Forrest Gump of the GFFA after all.

Korgah does not have a concept of "morbid". Sure, she may not know where THAT came from, but we do. Then again, one never knows it with her. She (and kid Han!) *did* help Lil escape from Corellia when Blobbo the Hutt dispatched a bounty hunter...

 

Entry 32

<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 26:26>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: RONTO, NUBIA>>

That was great while it lasted, Ranni. I have been doomed.

Had you really been around to scold me and to stop me from doing something stupid, this wouldn’t have happened. Korgah is about the biggest wermo in the Galaxy.

The ship to Corfai turned out to be an Imperial Star Destroyer. The Empire wanted to pay respect to Novo's family, whatever that may have meant, because the Moff is a fan. This led to change of Korgah's original plan, I was presented as a priest who is meant to serve during the funeral ceremony. That sounds stupid, right? Gilad’s son, Jax, laughed at the idea because, he says, I don’t even look like a priest.

Well, it IS stupid if a three-year-old can grasp it and think it’s that way!

A crewman found it suspicious and asked about my species. The mortician and the Novos said that I’m Corellian Drall. And the Imperials are Imperials and they want to move up the ranks, snitches are common, so this crewman alerted the captain, who then checked things with Prall the Hutt, since he could not find a Corellian Drall priest in any major criminal database.

What happened next? Take a rough guess.

Prall is a Hutt. He knows every other Hutt in the Core. He reached out to Blobbo, who told him that he lost a Sacorrian Drall bounty in Coronet City and that it was “a very short male with abnormally dark fur”. That was enough for Prall to request for the starship to be halted minutes before it took off.

I figured out somebody discovered me. I ran across the docking bay and jumped into this couple's luggage. The couple headed to Shorn Stabilizer, out of all places. Let's say that riding in the cargo department of their speeder above Nuba City's colonial architecture was not an experience I would like to repeat. Once they were out, I made my way out as well and followed them inside. I'm pretty sure that Aarrom, the Ithorian running the place noticed me, but had no idea what was going on. Or maybe he was too busy.

I headed to the 'fresher and bumped into a man who recognised me as "the Drall who was with the trunk folk yesterday". He got me inside of one of the stalls and asked me what was going on. He said that my body language, turning around all the time and a fearful facial expression gave me away. I never thought that I could be so easy to spot. Is it the way I appear to everybody, or is the Nubia pretty much the center of the Sector’s paranoia, now that there are Imperials coming out of people’s conservators?

It turned out this man was filling in for his wife, who is on bed rest for her fourth pregnancy. He introduced himself as Pulott Valorum and, on our way out after the shift was over – yes, Ranni, I spent six hours listening to various individuals relieve themselves – he told me that he cannot stand the Galactic Empire.

Turns out, he pretty much took me out of that place in the last possible moment. Aarrom had a lot of explaining to do, which he’s good at; but he also had to show ISB every single nook of the cantina. Poor Aarrom, he stayed there all night, while this charming individual named Wullf Yularen was probably looking for me in the garbage chutes. If nothing else, now I know who was tasked with looking for me. He apparently has a very young assistant, whose face Aarrom could not remember, but “he thinks it was a girl”. Like that helps.

I am hiding in the basement of Pulott’s horrible, dilapidated family home in a village that looks worse than Curheg. Can you imagine anything worse than Curheg? There is also more spice than in Curheg and no more than two thousand beings live here, which says something…okay, it says a lot. And don’t worry, I didn’t take any. The village is called Ronto and it’s about everything the rest of Nubia isn’t. It’s like all the pipes, drains and machinery are here, so the rest of the planet would be beautiful.

Pulott says that he’s got a wife named Crixa and three daughters up there. The said wife is, as I have said, on bed rest, because she is eight months pregnant. This time it’s a boy, he hopes. Not sure why he wants a boy that much, but Humans…one never knows what to expect from them. Anyway, he asked me if I know any good boys’ names. I didn’t dare tell him what kind of ridiculous names we often give to younglings on Sacorria and I didn’t want the poor baby to be stuck with a traditional Drall name, either.

I came up with the name Charon. That’s pretty progressive in some way, yet it doesn’t really mean a thing, right? I was quite proud of myself, which is stupid, because it’s not like he’s going to name his child that. Also, that would not be a pretty name if it’s a girl, after all. Knowing my luck, the poor woman might as well give birth to a mynock and dianoga lovechild. If Sacorrian Triad could get a Hutt who then gets the Empire to go after me, then two Humans can conceive a silicon garbage eating hybrid, right? And then it would turn out to be a metaltarian and have an extremely refined taste in food.

That wasn’t even funny, right?

I feel like a major kriffslider sometimes. Can’t anything go right, for a change? Instead of seeing Zizi for the first time in years, I’m looking at floor boards move above my head, as this house is in horrible condition and I won’t be surprised if one or two of Pulott and Crixa’s daughters end up squishing me like a flatcake. Or maybe all three of them!

It’s too dangerous for me to go to Aeithera. On top of it, it’s too dangerous to me to stay on Nubia or return to Aurea. I have been discovered again and, while we only hope that Blobbo has not notified the Sacorrian Triad yet, he is most certainly aware of my being there – Wullf Yularen is said to be ambitious when it comes to reports, and so is Prall, otherwise he would not be kind of owning Nuba City.

Pulott knows people. He is well-acquainted with a bunch of pronk bands who perform in the legendary club on the 1337 Corellia Day Street. Not that I understand what’s so legendary about it. There’s somebody named Seemor Starwatcher who has a small transport ship that needs to be sold, because life is hard. Yes, that’s the excuse. Should I be suspicious? And he can always follow the said ship in his runabout. This is, by far, the riskiest plan of getting me out of the mess I’m in,

The best part? Wherever I end up going to, Korgah won’t know about it.

The worst part? The Ferrys won’t know, either, unless Pulott manages to notify Aarrom and, by some miracle, they meet the Nubes or whomever else at Shorn Stabilizer again.

I am the champion of losing friends, aren’t I? How does it compare to losing you, Ranni? You were good at ranking things, so can you rank my failures, please?

I am not sure where I’m going, but since life is clearly mocking me, I’m to be associated with Grannos, sooner than later.

May the light of Sacor have mercy on me!

<<LOCAL TIME: 00:00>>
<<RECORDING STOPPED>>>

What what what what what what what what what just what? Is this that hidden holocamera type of a thing? Is somebody pulling a practical joke on me? Is everything even real? But…him…I mean I, I mean, here….What?

---

Footnotes

Spoiler

Aarrom, the Ithorian as the owner of Shorn Stabilizer is canon, as per Suns of Fortune.

The idea of imagining what kind of things Wullf Yularen had to do to get the Empire’s trust was fun. Because, he had to. They could not make him important again overnight.

Ronto is fanon and it was previously mentioned in the appendix to The Black Star. So was Seemor Starwatcher.

Watership Down fans, you may recognise the name “Crixa”. It's the centre of Efrafa, at the crossing of two paths.

The 1337 Corellia Day Street club was inspired by a famous venue of similar nature in real world.

 

Thanks for reading. The next entry is the shortest one in the entire DDC, so that could, I dunno, give people time to catch up.

---

Korgah's the GFFA's greatest planner, ever...

...not really. O_O

And given that the child (Jax) noticed that the plan was bizarre, this was to be expected.

Your guesses are all right.

 

Entry 33

<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 11:30>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: TOO MANY SPELLINGS FOR THIS LOCATION. PICK ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: ANASLINEA, ANASLINEAHOC, ANASLINEA-HOC, AHNAUSLINEA-HOC, ANEASLINEA-HOC>>
<<ERROR>>
<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 11:42>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: TOO MANY SPELLINGS FOR THIS LOCATION>>
<<WARNING: NAME PICKING FUNCTION WAS DISABLED>>
<<ERROR>>
<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 11:49>>
<<WARNING: NAME PICKING FUNCTION WAS DISABLED>>
<<WARNING: NAME PICKING FUNCTION WAS DISABLED>>
<<WARNING: NAME PICKING FUNCTION WAS DISABLED>>
<<WARNING: NAME PICKING FUNCTION WAS DISABLED>>
<<ERROR>>
<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 11:59>>
<<THE DEVICE HAS RECOVERED FROM MULTIPLE CRITICAL ERRORS>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: ANASLINEA-HOC, KAZ*AAN BAY, VAGRAN>>

Congrats Lil, you’re a Granno now.

Seemor Starwatcher dropped me here and headed to Thaeme, where his buyer is. He assumed that Pulott Valorum will be waiting for him there. He was initially following us, but when we got out of hyperspace, his runabout was not there. I dare not think that somebody was following us and that they got rid of him. I didn’t even bring it up. I just thanked this strange pronker for bringing me here, though I couldn’t determine what “here” was.

Seriously, WHAT is here?

First the sign on the viewscreen greeted me with WELL COME TO VAGRON. Then this thing died a total of four times. Four times, Ranni! Just because of what seems to be a place nobody has ever heard of, with a pretentious name in Olys Corellisi.

The spaceport workers did notice that I was frustrated and somebody tried to help me get this to work…but then four of them started patting me on the back and asking me just how many times the device died. When I said four, they went on about how it’s an incredible coincidence. Pretty sure that one even said “incredibly incredible”.

So, I’m supposed to find this Laoda Caraway-Kaeni being. Where am I going?

Oh. Kriff this. This just cannot be! That town just nearly made my holorecorder implode and…now I need to go there?

<<LOCAL TIME: 12:04>>
<<RECORDING STOPPED>>>

It’s okay, Lil. I was confused the first time around, too.

Footnotes

Spoiler

Thaeme is one of the three canon cities mentioned in the Vagran entry in Suns of the Fortune, next to Vagran City and Abatore.

Anaslinea-Hoc is a fanon town that was previously featured in The Black Star and its own history can be read in the Forever Away from Home series. The varying spellings are, however, a new thing.

Laoda Caraway-Kaeni appears in The Black Star, where she mostly goes by her married name, for a whole set of reasons.

 

Thanks for reading. I know that this entry was kind of odd, but I just had to.

---

Glad that you appreciate all the little things I threw in here. Even though they're crazy or whatever.

 

Entry 34

<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 17:30>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: ANASLINEA-HOC, KAZ*AAN BAY, VAGRAN>>

Being only one inhabited star system away from my lover makes me think of so, so many things. If I could tell you that I am not that far away and that I am thinking of you, what would you do? Would that make you feel any better? I know it would make me even more worried. But knowing you, you are not worried...you are still angry. Not only that I have been gone for four years now, but the whole thing with Korgah was just...too much.

My first impression of Anaslinea-Hoc other than the obvious fact that it's close to Abatore was that it looked extremely bizarre and it was getting more and more bizarre as I was approaching it. It looks pretty beat-down. I could not quite make up my mind - was it never properly built or was it destroyed? I am going to look around more once I am no longer feeling like thousands of probe droids are being sent after me each time I take a breath. Perhaps somebody will give me an answer.

The spaceport I recorded the previous message from is painfully small and, right next to it, they have…a burping sarlacc! It's real! It burps every morning and it has become somewhat of a tourist attraction. Of course, just like everything on this planet, it's surrounded by a barrier. Next to it, there's a seaside road leading to the town, it's a nice walk, on a beach covered in black sand. It reminded me of our beach, Ranni.

The waterfront is dotted with small hotels. The first one I spotted was too lavish for my taste and it reminded me of everything I disliked, plus there was an overly enthusiastic owner who may have been a bit too social. I walked out backwards.

Next door, there was a place as strange as the town itself and I walked in. Or below. It's covered in so much kriffin' hedge, that one can't even see what it is. I think the outside walls are white, though.

At the reception, there were three girls. The twins were in their mid to late teenage years, the youngest one must have been of Anjie’s age. They welcomed me to Taliore. That's a nice name. What does it mean? Why does it rhyme with Abatore? Then they went on and on about how this is actually the best place to stay in the town because the building is quake-proof. Nobody told me about quakes!

One of the two identical girls asked me if I wanted to rent a room or not. The other one was talking through a mouthful of some brightly-coloured snackstuffs and the youngest girl was aloof. I said yes. I should’ve asked them where their parents were, but I didn’t care. The idea of some younglings renting me a room underneath a giant hedge was fun.

The room had a surprisingly good view through the “hedge”. I took a leaf off the nearest branch and I remembered that the apex trees from a Deep Core planet of Ska Gora have these thick and juicy leaves. They were also said to be sacred, but that may have been a spacer tale I heard.

Anyway, I’m so, so tired.

<<***** HAS BEEN IDLE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES:: TURN THE UNIT OFF? Y/N>>
<<THE UNIT WILL BE TURNED OFF>>

<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 17:30>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: ANASLINEA-HOC, KAZ*AAN BAY, VAGRAN>>

I slept for a couple of hours and now I’m outside, walking. I asked to be pointed to the town centre and a local seemed to be laughing at me, but he still gave me the directions. Once I got there, what I saw was mostly rubble. Some people told me that there was a quake here, less than a week ago. Is that why the town looks the way it does? Now I feel awful for having said what I said.

<<***** HAS BEEN IDLE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES:: TURN THE UNIT OFF? Y/N>>
<<THE UNIT WILL NOT BE TURNED OFF>>

I think somebody over there just spotted what I was doing.

<<***** HAS BEEN IDLE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES:: TURN THE UNIT OFF? Y/N>>
<<THE UNIT WILL NOT BE TURNED OFF>>

Ohwell…I’m dumb.

<<***** HAS BEEN IDLE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES:: TURN THE UNIT OFF? Y/N>>
<<THE UNIT WILL NOT BE TURNED OFF>>

As I have said a while ago, I am dumb. There indeed was a quake, but the things I have seen are not rubble. They’re ancient ruins of a city that the archaeologists named Taliore. That is what the three little girls’ hotel I’m staying at is called. It…makes sense, I guess?

<<***** HAS BEEN IDLE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES:: TURN THE UNIT OFF? Y/N>>
<<THE UNIT WILL NOT BE TURNED OFF>>

On top of it, these people had a rough, rough history. According to what a bunch of beings just told me – and they spoke at the same time, each and every single one of them thinking it was their duty to explain it to me – they came from Jumus some eighty years ago. They were chased away when the Skakoans bought the planet and decided to use the strategically important cape where the town of Anaslinea was located for some undisclosed projects. They were literally chased away with fire!

And guess which planet did not want these refugees? Sacorria! So, they went to Vagran, founded a new town and named it Anaslinea-Hoc.

What happened here was a mass plague, because this was a swampy area. One third of inhabitants died, including the new mayor’s little daughter. The statue at the little pier is supposed to be one of her, Karmenee Caraway. A local artisan made it in a hurry, so the remaining beings would not leave the town. They were encouraged to stick together, just like in the previous twenty-five millenia of their history, just like the bits of stray metal turned into this statue. For whatever odd reason, that worked.

For the next thirty years, things were seemingly fine and then came the quakes. A lot of them. One of them literally tore the place down, but ironically, when cleaning up after it, some droids found the first column of Taliore. The prime minister of Vagran personally forbid for any new buildings to be erected wherever there is a possibility of finding more ruins. At this point, it is assumed that they’re as old as the Taung relics found on Roon and Coruscant.

Ever since then, theories have been popping up like funghi. Some say it must have been the Rakata. Some say it was a species from another Galaxy. Some say Celestials. Whenever in doubt, always pick the Celestials!

<<***** HAS BEEN IDLE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES:: TURN THE UNIT OFF? Y/N>>
<<THE UNIT WILL NOT BE TURNED OFF>>

This looks like one of those places where it’s impossible to record during the day. Everybody wants to meet the new Drall man in town and, from what I understood, since, as I have said, everybody talks at the same time, there are quite a few individuals who want to buy me dinner. Two men remained arguing over it and I’d better stop recording and just allow everybody to feed me, or something.

Knowing my luck, I should be joking about people in this town being a dark and sinister cannibal cult. But I am not in the mood for such jokes. I’m hungry and whatever they could offer me, I’m ready to try it.

And then they say that everybody on Vagran is a granno. These folks are so not Grannos. And they’re making me happy. Is it too early to say that, since I only met them today?

Later, Ranni. If I survive the gourmet offers I’m getting right now, that is.

<<LOCAL TIME: 20:09>>
<<RECORDING STOPPED>>>

---

Footnotes

Spoiler

Abatore is a canon city. The area it’s in is, however, entirely fanon. I invented the Ka’zan Gulf, Anaslinea-Hoc and its spaceport and ruins, the nearby continental town of Lyro and the Chiro Mountain.

The infamous burping sarlacc can otherwise be seen in other stories featuring Anaslinea-Hoc as their setting.

Apex trees are indeed from Ska Gora.

Taliore is obviously fanon – this goes both for the hotel and the ancient town.

The Taung relics on Roon and Coruscant are canon. The rest, nope.

 

I'm slightly late - was too tired on the last day and then my mom got a stomach bug and I had to devote her...a lot of attention. There was also this bike ride on the hairpins on top of cliffs to the nearest village and I don't regret it the slightest. So, anyway, I'm sorry for being three days late and the next post is coming right after this reply.

---

I'm glad that's visible, all I can say.

That one is obviously not a part of my own experience.

All these things are precisely what I wanted to channel here - he was to be a part of things because they are, in some way, like him, and those people have been through a different kind of hell.

Lil's organised around hypothetical ruins that are his own life, so the whole "ruins in centre" analogy applies to him, too.

We'll see.

Will definitely watch that.

 

Entry 35

<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 21:34>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: ANASLINEA-HOC, KAZ*AAN BAY, VAGRAN>>

Ranni, you know who loves you?

I do and I feel the need to tell you this!

I am not saying this often enough, do I?

I just go on and on about my woes and, until I woke up after my nap yesterday, I probably had this love/hate thing going on in my head with you. Ever since I left Sacorria, I played out our life together in my mind. There were more arguments than moments worth remembering and there was a lot of bitterness, resentment.

And then, after one afternoon nap, it was gone. I’m not sure how to describe this. Was this the change I needed? Is this the right place for me? Do I need to find you and bring you here and make you forget everything that the life will inevitably gift you, now that our love is no longer standing in the way of your political career? Do I even need to be here myself? Is it what I had last night that's making me hallucinate or am I really at peace with you?

I should stop adding these stupid jokes to serious conversations with you…I mean, one-sided serious conversations.

That said, I am not sure just how much I ate, but I’m still full. It was a lot. Apparently, the locals figured out that I had second thoughts about staying here and they are always looking for some new friends. So, they had to offer me pretty much everything they had, as that is err…the right way to keep somebody around?

A group of people asked me if I was an archaeologist. Not sure why I sounded like one, probably because of the Mardri Soulworks Collective waistbag I forgot to take off when I unpacked my luggage. Some seemed disappointed that I wasn't, some wondered if I was "some sort of an artist" and when I said that I was a failed artist, that didn't stop them from talking at the same time. Seriously, Ranni, it was about six people and one of them was repeatedly patting me on my back. I thought he wanted to beat me up because he didn't like my muzzle or something, but then he ecstatically blurted out that I have wonderful eyes he'd never seen on a Drall before. Well, thank you, kind Master, you shortened my life which is already going to be far shorter than average!

Where was I? Oh, yes, art.

Not many artists find Anaslinea-Hoc inspiring, they say. There was this woman who asked me if I could draw her and this one individual who let a loud, loud sigh when I said that I’m not that good with three-dimensional art, because he wanted a bust of his late pet. He was the only person who figured out I had something to do with Aurea and I used the opportunity to say that I'm a Corellian who moved to Aurea and then was not good enough for the Collective. Not sure if he bought the story.

Either way, each of these people brought me something they cooked themselves. That's what I meant by "gourmet offers" last night. I was initially afraid of what could be a common meal on this planet, but these people have learned what is edible and what is not edible the harder way. Not to mention that I had angleberry pie! I was trying to hide my excitement, but it was hard. I mean, angleberries were outlawed back home on Sacorria!

Once I returned to Taliore, it was close to midnight. Instead of three giggling girls – or not really, two giggling brunettes and the creepy little resting Duros face blonde – I met their mother. She introduced herself or, as she says, "herselves" as Laoda Caraway Kaeni. My first thought was that the second planet of this very star system is called Laoda and she confirmed it, then went on and on about whatever mythos the name is associated to. It's impossible to get a short answer to a question here, it seems. She wanted to know if I liked my room, if I mind if the mouse droid kicks me out every day at eleven to do his job and if I plan to stay for a longer period of time. I didn't know how to answer the latter. I cannot make any long-term plans and the credits I earned at Halin's on Drall can't exactly last me a lifetime.

Hours later, I found myself at the black sands beach – which is actually called that, the Black Sands Beach – across the street from Taliore, trying to draw an abstract picture of the Kaz'aan Bay. Sure, I had plans – I was hoping that beachgoers would ask me to draw them and by the end of the day, I had seven customers. Why didn't I think of this earlier, for example on Corellia, instead of going through the administrative nightmare of forging my diploma?

The afternoon brought the waves. I have never seen them that big, yet people seemed to be enjoying them. I found that to be a bit of a paradox – those couple of times I vacationed on the shores of the Dorthus Tal Sea at home in Sacorria, everybody was running away from far smaller waves. Here, people embrace them. Is this supposed to be symbolic?

And now I'm here on the roof, trying to picture the skies and the Chiro Mountain in the distance in all their beauty. The two synchronised moons, one big and one small, have such stupid names – Aedem-01 and Aedem-02. Two generic words with numbers, for two gorgeous celestial bodies…why? Why don't they have the beautiful names related to the story of Iasonné, the way the rest of the Vagran System does? I heard of things such as binary star systems, but this is different. It's the moons, one of them orbiting the other and both of them orbiting Vagran. There is so much symbolism in that! One thing depends on the other and they can both influence some other. One's decisions will inevitably change the course of many lives. An individual coming and going will leave an impact on the lives of those around him or her. And no matter what, there is something bright in the centre of all things, making everything else look irrelevant.

That was stupid.

I'm not good with philosophy, religion and the like, but I can admire them, right? I can talk nonsense that nobody else will hear, the kind of nonsense I will forget by the next time Iasonné rises.

Perhaps I'm better with science? The complex balance of the two moons, the large Aedem-01 and smaller Aedem-02…that is what makes the tide high. The more complicated things are, the higher the tide. Convenient. Simple. But I can't stop admiring the analogy.

Laoda says that I should visit the Goddess of the Chiro mountain. Nobody has ever seen her, but a certain number of Grannos…okay, Vagranites, believes in her and brings her gifts. A local holographer named Groyo is going to the mountain to shoot some scenes for the tourist posters and I could go with him. He does not believe in that kind of stuff, but he does not think that people are ridiculous if they do, Laoda assured me of it.

I won't lose anything if I subject myself to the said experience, right? And perhaps other visitors on Chiro want to be drawn as well? Is it normal to be this confident, by the way?

It's because I love you, right? I love you, I love you, I love you to the point where I am hoping that the alignment of the celestial bodies in this system could send you my love to the ugly system next door, all the way to your home in Saccorata. I love you more than I was ever able to tell you.

<<LOCAL TIME: 21:40>>
<<RECORDING STOPPED>>>

Yup, there’s something in those pies. The moment you eat one slice, you express eternal love to whomever. Watch out for the pies!

---

Footnotes

Spoiler

The names of other bodies in the Vagran System can be found in my fanon entry on the planet.

 

Thanks for reading - this thing probably got too complex to properly follow, but I promise an e-book with all entries up to Vagran ones #soon.

---

It's the kind of a place where one cannot quite be invisible - there are not too many people and they will notice an interesting foreigner. And they're extraverted enough to say everything that's on their minds, too.

...I totally did not see the latter thing! Analogies come naturally to me and I'm excited when people find them and explain them. Tee-hee, now I'm giddy!

That was not the only known oracle. Cue: summer residence of the gods.

All of that is a proof that pragmatic and silly/eccentric/hyper/extraverted can exist in the same place. I hope. And he caught onto pragmaticism immediately.

 

Entry 36

<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 00:00>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: THE GODDESS PEAK, CHIRO MOUNTAIN, KAZ*AAN BAY, VAGRAN>>

The mountain is tall.

From the Black Sands Beach, it looks blue. When you’re close to its very top, it looks black and the beach in the distance looks blue. In the end, we’re all black and blue. The life is a series of shades going from light blue to complete darkness, just like the night and day on most terrestrial worlds. And sometimes, those shades turn into the most gorgeous paintings. The downside to that is that whatever is going on must be too complicated…but hey, at least it’s beautiful.

From the top of the mountain, I can see the whole Ka'zan Bay.

That large mosaic-like shape would be Abatore. That little thing surrounded by hills is Anaslinea-Hoc. For such a chaotic place, it’s so, so strangely…structured. Somewhere near it, there are the burping sarlacc and the spaceport.

There are clouds below my feet. That feels surreal. It’s like being transported to the skies, but not quite. In the world as it is, with the hyperspace technology having been normalised more than twenty-five millenia ago, we no longer think of anything as magical, unreachable. And then, a moment like this makes you wonder. How would have somebody felt when the sky was the limit, having clouds underneath his or her feet, as opposed to seeing them up in the sky?

This is where I also realise that I have never climbed a proper mountain peak before. I was ill that one time we visited the Triad Mountain with school, the peaks of the Corelle province were always scaring me and there were no major ones in the other two. The mountains on Aurea were not like this, either. Compared to Chiro, they look pretty harmless.

I am here to see the Goddess. The only creature Vagranites would ever believe in. I am not sure if this is a fad, a thing that would make me start calling them Grannos again or if there is something more to it. But Groyo brought me here, it was free, so why wouldn’t I be doing it?

The goddess is a semi-Human, semi-equine creature, the statue of whom is the only vaguely interesting thing about the Port of Abatore. And I was told that I can see her only if I am pure at heart, if I believe in the balance between the sentients and non-sentients and if I clear all my thoughts, whatever that may mean.

So, how am I supposed to see her? There are no tangents between the Aurean Soulism and this odd belief on Vagran, but the idea that everything comes from the inside is as close as it gets to there being one. It’s all about seeing the world on the other side of one’s eyelids.

The Goddess is supposed to provide the visitor with four solutions to four problems, and she crushes each problem with one of her hooves. Many beings cannot come up with that many problems. Many beings cannot restrict the number of their problems to just four.

I tried and I failed.

My problem number one is three dangerous authorities wanting to see me dead or incarnated. That is pretty clear. I know my time in this world is limited because of the stupid things I have done, but I would rather die of an illness than of a blaster wound or as consequence of being tortured.

My problem number two is not having the woman I love beside me. The only woman I ever really loved could be with somebody else right now, or hating me. I can make peace with either of these solutions, as it’s been evident during the past couple of days, but can I really forget you, Ranni? I don’t think so.

My problem number three is having to make friends all over again. It’s an effort. With each new friendship, a part of my heart goes away. Does this mean my heart is too close to absolute blindness and that I cannot see the Goddess at all?

My problem number four could be anything. Come on, Lil, find something for that blasted fourth hoove. Do you need credits more than you need inspiration, or is it the other way round? Do you fear that you won’t be remembered or do you want to do something new? Do you even have four problems, you little black Drall?

Silence. Both inside of my heart and on the outside. Had I not been educated to know it cannot be so, I would’ve honestly thought that my pumping machine skipped a beat right there, out of mere inability to pick one more thing. Can I really call it any other way? I don’t feel real enough right now. I don’t feel like what I have left in my chest could even be called a heart sometimes. I’m too removed from what my life should have been like in order to make anything even remotely resembling the right choice.

And now I am sure that nobody knows if the Goddess exists because they could not come up with the fourth problem.

Lil, you are trying to normalise your lack of ability to decide.

I am almost certain that once one starts reminiscing about everything that has ever happened, there can only be a tide of problems, resembling the waves down there on the beach.

Lil, you are trying to convince yourself that everybody has had a life as strange as yours.

Who is this speaking?

Who is this judging me?

Who is this Goddess?

Is she actually my conscience?

Is this how it works?

I don’t actually see an equine individual with a humanoid face.

Then again, I cannot see inside of what I just defined as a pumping mechanism.

Or can I?

Or is the moment over?

Yes, there is that one moment during the night when the two moons seem to be touching one another. “Seem” is the keyword here, because they would have had battle scars otherwise and they would eventually crash against the surface of the planet. But that is the exact moment I'm supposed to see her.

The moment when they touch each other in their imaginary interaction is the moment when the man who interacts with his imaginary listener is supposed to talk to an imaginary creature.

How desperate am I if everything in my life ends in the dead-end valley of imagination?

And what makes me think that the said valley is right below my feet, captured by the thoughts those clouds are soaking up from the air below?

And why did I believe that some mythical creature would appear when the two moons in the night sky are touching the two reflections in the water?

Four moons, four minutes after midnight, four light years away from home. Four ways to get to know myself, none of which I am fully aware of yet.

Whatever the thing I cannot come up with actually is, it’s probably related to my denial of the reality as it is.

Whatever it may be, it’s almost certainly going to be the death of me.

<<LOCAL TIME: 00:14>>
<<RECORDING STOPPED>>>

Now I have to try this. Once we get out of the mess we’re in, of course.

---

Footnotes

Spoiler

The Goddess of the Chiro Mountain is loosely based on various ancient and new-age beliefs, combined. Her being a centaur-like being and the mountain’s name itself are a homage. It’s all fanon.

 

Thanks for reading, reviewing, just being here...well, everything. I'm feeling a bit meh this week, last week was certainly a shock...so, while I'm giving myself a time-out on everything that's not work,

---

Was that supposed to be a "no pun intended" type of a thing? It certainly feels that way.

Yes, in some way, he is not really "down to earth". But at the same time, on a high mountain, you will feel like that by default. And that can have all sorts of effects on characters. Lil could feel mighty, but he doesn't. He feels doubtful and surreal. Somebody else would probably feel invincible. The list goes on...

Almost certainly. The idea of a female deity (or a folklore legend gone too far) that's partly inspired by Chiron was just too good not to be used. Vagran is absolutely not Greece...IN SPACE!, it's just that the Abatore Bay // Ka'zan Gulf happens to be inspired by the Pagasetic Gulf and therefore, adding some of the legends associated to the era was fun. Abatore is not Volos, but it had its own Jason, or, well, Iassoné. Only one thing in the made-up area is almost a carbon copy of its Earth version, but that one is obvious.

Well, does she exist in the first place? What is she, anyway?

The fourth problem may be too literal. Incredibly literal. He has already come across the "thing" that could end up being the death of him, but I don't think that he is aware of how and where he will encounter that "thing" again.

One thing that could help is re-reading the entry where he's about to escape Nubia.

You responded to your own question in one of these.

I...didn't even think of this, once again. Wow!

 

Entry 37

<<<27 DAYS HAVE PASSED SINCE LAST LOGIN. REAUTHENTICATION REQUIRED. ENTER NAMECODE!!!>>>
<<<NAMECODE: *****>>>
<<<NAMECODE CORRECT. WELCOME, *****>>>
<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 13:32>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: ANASLINEA-HOC, KAZ*AAN BAY, VAGRAN>>

I almost never listen to what I record for you Ranni, but I did listen to the most recent rambling of mine and I wondered if all of them were that chaotic. I have not had any spice since that last binge on Corellia, this is the most sober I have ever been…and then I climb the kriffin’ Chiro and end up saying a bunch of things that don’t make sense, whatsoever.

Laoda suggested that I should move to one of the small apartments on the first floor. They’re usually for family members, but she “like” me and she “want” me to feel like I’m a part of her family. She can see that something is troubling me, but to my surprise, she does not insist that I tell her more. She is trying to make me feel better through random acts of kindness – every couple of days, I eat with the whole family in the large dining room. The other guests are still surprised by this practice. I am not. If this is where everybody working in Taliore and Taliore Plus resides and if they are all related, why wouldn’t they be living in their own little commune?

This is the Aurean Lil speaking, right? I prefer him to the Sacorrian Lil and the Drall Lil. Not sure if Nubian Lil is a thing.

There are the days when these meals with the Kaenis are the best meals ever. The little blonde girl spoils the overall impression by looking so angry while eating, the two older girls look too much like one another and they can get too…girly, but I love them all, honestly. Laoda is very talkative, though I don’t understand what she’s saying sometimes, her old mother scares me a tiny bit, but I can see that she’s very wise and full of stories to tell. Master Kaeni himself strikes me as one of those people who doesn’t care what’s going on. Maybe because he’s the only man in the family, maybe because he’s seen everything and nothing can surprise him anymore.

There are days when I don’t feel like eating with them and that is when I sit on my balcony, so my feet touch the neatly-trimmed apex trees below. I stare at the sea, trying to see two suns instead of one. To separate my vision, or something. To try and see my situation from more than one point of view.

Is that who the Goddess is supposed to be? The voice of reason? The conscience? The ability to question own decisions?

<<***** HAS BEEN IDLE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES:: TURN THE UNIT OFF? Y/N>>
<<THE UNIT WILL NOT BE TURNED OFF>>

I am taking a walk again. It’s the hour before the waves start. As soon as they do, everybody gets out of the water and only the bravest remain. By bravest, I mean crazy teenagers and their delusional fathers. Sometimes, the tide is so high that I think it could easily reach the treetops. It’s the exact opposite of the low tides in the morning, when there are so many younglings and the elderly in the water.

For some odd reason, I want to try to swim when nobody else is swimming. Defy the moons’ power over me…or something. I don’t know. But I want it.

If that’s my current biggest ambition, I sure am the least ambitious individual in this galaxy. Perhaps the entire universe. Wrestling the waves, as opposed to, I don’t know, ending the reign of Emperor Palpatine. In the terms of time since the Big Bang, his reign has lasted less than a batter of an eye, but I can see how these two years changed everything. Before him, swimming against the tide would have been encouraged…everywhere except on Sacorria.

Oh, Sacorria. That’s it. That’s it.

I could write a book! Not fiction. I cannot imagine myself writing about something I don’t see. I would like to write a story about my life up to the moment I started recording messages for you, Ranni. I think it’s stranger than fiction and ten thousand times more intimidating than the high tide on this beach. I could be delusional, I have been delusional so many times in my life, but this time there’s the voice that may or may not be the alleged Goddess telling me that it would be a good story. That it could serve a purpose to somebody, someday.

And this is where I think I have managed to figure out the concept of the Goddess – she’s not real, but we are and we need to learn from our own mistakes and, if possible, prevent others from taking the wrong path in life. The peace comes from within, but you can radiate it. Right, Ranni?

So, if I write a book and have it published under some random name, I could expose the whole world I lived in. But only after the world everybody lives in right now is a thing of the past. The Empire could still exist after my death, provided that I manage to outlive the prognosis usually given to those like me and theyou-could-die-tomorrow prognosis every dissident is inevitably supposed to. They could last for hundreds of years. By then, Vagran could blow up, together with whatever I write.

Why do I think so far ahead?

Do I have the courage for something like that? I should just write the kriffin’ thing and see what happens. Or leave it with somebody whom I trust.

But whom do I trust? And how would they understand the importance of what I know if I have no courage to tell them more about it?

Questions, questions, questions. And now that I know that the Goddess doesn’t provide clear answers, just paths to solutions, I may have to find the answers myself.

Is this how one becomes a Granno or is everything we ever thought of Vagran just the result of typical Sacorrian propaganda? Does Anaslinea-Hoc even count as Vagran proper, or is it, in some way, in its own place and time?

Why do I keep on asking more and more questions?

<<LOCAL TIME: 15:28>>
<<RECORDING STOPPED>>>

If his book is anything like his ramblings, I…don’t think he will have many readers. Maybe this is the reason we never heard of it. The only Sacorrian Drall book I can think of is that piece of propaganda. Funny that the protagonist if that is an artist, too. Then again, knowing Sacorria, that one may be a phenomenon of somebody’s imagination. With those Curheg flowers, it’s got to be easy to write a book about…anything!

 

I am going to leave a reply to invisible comments here for pedantic purposes - because the next entry is important.

Why? It stops other stories from being spoilered!

I have ties among all my stories, but I have taken it too far. This DDC had eventually put The Black Star, Forever Away from Home and the fic-gift I was writing for Kahara in a lockdown, as the stories would just...spoil the bantha poodoo out of one another.

But with the entry below, this will finally change and I can actually post other stuff. The moral of the story? Never invent a freaky creature that stops stories from being told.

 

Entry 38

<<<34 DAYS HAVE PASSED SINCE LAST LOGIN. REAUTHENTICATION REQUIRED. ENTER NAMECODE!!!>>>
<<<NAMECODE: *****>>>
<<<NAMECODE CORRECT. WELCOME, *****>>>
<<<RECORDING STARTED>>
<<LOCAL TIME: 21:45>>
<<GALACTIC LOCATION: ANASLINEA-HOC, KAZ*AAN BAY, VAGRAN>>

It’s been a little more than a month and I have achieved a lot. It would probably not be a lot to you, Rani, you were always the one who aimed higher than Sarcophagus, beyond the range of any weapon known to the world, but to me, it’s a lot.

First things first…I tried to swim during high tide. It was far less dangerous than what I assumed it would be. All you need to do is let the wave carry you and somehow land on your feet once it hits the shore. Otherwise, you’ll be diving…for just a little bit. I tried that, too and it was fun – pebbles were flying before my eyes, some salt water got into my nose…no big deal. No big deal at all.

No, that’s not my number one success story. I may be unrealistic, but not to that extent. It’s just that…I rank my achievements from the most bizarre one to the one I hold dearest to my heart.

I landed my second teaching job, at the local school. Nobody asked me for my qualifications, they just needed a teacher and thought that I’m universally adored by pretty much everybody here. They didn’t phrase it like that, but that’s what it sounded like. These students are so different from the Corellian ones – they want me to tell them stories. It’s bittersweet in some way, because the only person who ever wanted me to do that was little Anjie, but at the same time, it’s like having my own class of wide-eyed Anjies.

And this is also how I gained a new fan. A fangirl, so to say. Yes, it’s a she. And no, no, she is not in the dateable range, thank Goddess, Souls and Sacor. She’s a child. And the one you would least expect to be interested in me in any way.

The little blonde girl was avoiding me when I first got here, now she’s following me everywhere. Her name is Emy, that’s a short for Morusalba, which has got to be one of the worst names I have ever heard.

Oh, wait, there is Dandelion Roba Pavan. Almost forgot that poor youngling. His name makes Morusalba sound like, I don’t know, the name of some respected Core Worlds founder family member.

Anyway, Emy…she’s of Anjie’s age and not interested in things younglings normally like. I said that I always liked plants and animals and she pretty much told me every single thing she knew about every species in the area. There used to be some pretty wacky creatures crawling and flying around at the time Anaslinea-Hoc was settled.

I cannot determine anything from her facial expression. And I cannot figure out why she is attached to her pet to the extent she is.

That said, her pet scares me. For a thing with tiny tentacles and one large heterochromatic eye, residing in a large aquarium in the dining room, he...she...it...they, this thing could as well be a colony, I just don't believe that a single creature could have that many tentacles...preys on me too much. When I arrive to eat Laoda's stupid little cheese sandwiches, the thing sticks to the nearest side of its enclosure and makes those sucking sounds. What on Sacor? Is it in love with me or is it looking to kill me?

She says that the thing is an Amphyplax, whatever that may mean. And apparently, it's cute. She calls it Kalgo-Neet. When she speaks its name, it jumps out of the aquarium and makes this strange sound that goes “ay-ko, ay-ko, ay-ko“. I wonder if that’s its actual name, if it’s the way it would tell us to go away, or if it wants to tell us hello. But whatever happens, it preys on me. The moment I’m here, that thing is sucking against the transparisteel and aiming its eye at me.

The only other thing this creature will prey on is the narrow yard between Taliore and Taliore Plus. Whoever passes by the dining room windows looking at the white wall, Kalgo-Neet will start making the sucking sound. Sometimes, the thing appears to be in trance and Laoda has to put the curtain back on for it to stop. There are beings who don't want to eat in the dining room, they prefer to go outside. I wonder why!

A couple of weeks ago, I asked Emy how she found Kalgo-neet. She does not seem keen on revealing the story, but she proudly told me that he “has powers” and that she “saved” him. Younglings and their stories…they could live and breathe fiction and then one grows into a bitter adult like me and can only tell stories of things that really happened.

<<***** HAS BEEN IDLE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES:: TURN THE UNIT OFF? Y/N>>
<<THE UNIT WILL NOT BE TURNED OFF>>

And this helped me realise that I should write my bitter non-fiction after all. Which is precisely what I have been doing in the evenings and why I have not been recording messages for a while. I need to separate then-me from now-me and split the moons. I mean, mes. What kind of an embarrassing mistake was that, anyway?

I am typing on my datapad as if the past is a thing of tide. I could not wait for it to disappear, I wanted to forget every single thing that was not you, regardless of how impossible that would have been, and then memories come back to me in waves. I have blisters on my fingertips, because each time those waves hit me, I feel like it’s the last time I will be able to recall the moments of my childhood and youth that I so badly want to remember, that I so badly want to share with somebody, someday.

I prefer to write the same way I paint – from the balcony of my little flat. Sometimes, I cannot feel my legs and my rear after a long session of sending my thoughts to the realm of data. The caf I’m drinking is not helping it. Sometimes, it turns my thoughts into repulsortrains that are sure to crash, and the sequences of words that would not make sense to anybody. Either that or caf can cause as many hallucinations as spices can – there was this moment when I was absolutely sure that my toes are becoming one with the nearest branches of the apex trees. But I can always edit what I have written later?

Perhaps it has nothing to do with caf. It could be just a form of painting with words, being more intuitive and flexible. Words are limited when you think of it, when you compare them to pictures. You cannot actually arrange the letters any way you want to, you cannot make the Aurebesh behave, you cannot have the same level of control. You cannot turn a random shape into a letter and have somebody read it. You cannot create a sound that your species would not be able to pronounce.

I need to find a way to approach writing that has nothing to do with painting…I think!

Funny, I’m ending this message during the alleged time the alleged Goddess appears to visitors on the Chiro Mountain. That’s right, I’m so witty. Especially when it comes to others’ beliefs and misbeliefs that I try on like those younglings who goof around in clothes they would not actually buy. That makes me wonder…what does the Goddess wear, if anything?

<<LOCAL TIME: 00:04>>
<<RECORDING STOPPED>>>

The blonde should totally come and check if I’m sleeping one more time. Looks like she was always sticking her nose where she shouldn’t have. Wondering if she still has that…lovely…pet.

Wait a moment, that Amphywhatever species just cannot NOT be sentient. I really, really need to talk to somebody in the morning.

And man, Goddesses are probably naked. There is somebody, somewhere, who has written a Wookiee grandpa screenplay with one of those equine things.