Before - Legends Moon and Blood (Shmi, one-post)

Title: Moon and Blood

Summary: Shmi, in the nine months before Anakin, on love, loss, and being surrounded by things she can't understand.

Note: I've never written a single Shmi story before, ever, and this is different in tone and structure than my usual, so feel free to tell me if you hated it. But love is better, so if you really feel that way, don't hesitate.

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The days are crisp and the nights are young.

Shmi had taken lovers before. Slaves never went long without some form of comfort, even when it was only vague couplings in the dark, not concentrating on the floor beneath her or the ceiling above her or even the man she was with, just thinking strange, disconnected thoughts of moon and rain and sunlight?stars and earth and sea. Things you never saw in the closed steel of the slave pen on the ship. Stranded with so many others, she didn?t yearn for touch so much as she did for openness, and one was not a substitute for another, but it seemed that she could take what she wanted and imagine, for one brief, blissful moment, the sight of the sky and the fresh, sweet smell of grass.

But she had not taken a lover recently.

Recently, she had been alone and slept alone. Master Naton was gracious?he had given her home and food and bed in exchange for relatively little work, and Shmi didn?t want him to feel ashamed of her. Didn?t want him to find her sharing that soft bed with anyone. He had been good to her, kind where other owners were cruel. For his kindness, she gave him her respect, but not her love.

Shmi didn?t think she had ever loved anyone. She felt compassion?she had helped the wounded even when she was young and her fingers were clumsy?and she felt liking?she had friends, once, good ones?but there was no one that she loved unconditionally, no one that she felt she would die for. She didn?t love Naton, how could she? For all of his small acts of kindness, he still saw her as property. Valued property, yes. But not a being. He did not love her and she did not love him, but while she worked in his house, she would follow his orders. There were worse places to be.

I find myself lost in the haze and I do not know where I go when I wander.

?Shmi.? Naton?s voice was thick with accent, heavier than her own. ?Set the table. I?m having company tonight. Fill the glasses with the best wine.?

?Yes, sir.? Shmi caught herself heading in the wrong direction, going to her room instead of to the kitchens, and it seemed for a moment like everything around her was shrouded with fog, and she could hear the faint chirping of the great birds. Another step, another foot placed against the cold wooden floor, and she was back in reality, her breath coming faster.

?Daydreaming again, Shmi?? That was Talos, another slave of the house. She didn?t know what hadn?t happened to him, that he still had a sense of humor.

She shook her head. ?I got lost.?

Talos smiled. ?Well, if you?re going to get lost in the compound, would you mind finding your way to my room some lonely night? It?s too cold here on Tortenna.? He flirted with her constantly, whenever Naton was nowhere near, but lately, his ears reddened when he was around her, so maybe there was more to it. Maybe he hoped she would agree. Or maybe he was afraid she would.

?Maybe sometime,? Shmi said, smiling at him. The smile felt weak and unstable on her mouth and it fell off. She wished she could try for his casualness. Run away with me, Talos, she wanted to say. We?ll become two space-pirates and travel all over the galaxy, and see every sun. But she couldn?t say that, she didn?t have the flippancy, and besides, Shmi didn?t want to live the rest of her life on a ship, even though living the rest of her life with Talos might not be too bad. Instead, she just tried that pasted-on smile again, and said, ?We?ll see.?

She knew that she would never go to Talos?s room.

That was how deep the fog was touching her.

 

Interesting take, Moon, i really enjoyed it. And i love how you weave the 9 months through snippets of life and Shmi's dreams and musings. Very effective.

Another good one, dear. How you pull it off constantly is amazing to me, and a talent to be envied.

::Windstar Out::

 

I agree with Bri. I liked how you connected everything - all nine months - through her dreams and musings. Fascinating and well done. The story is told in such a fashion you really find it believable that so much time has passed, even though there are no end-scene marks or 'five months later' notes. It's paced almost . . . leisurely, I'd say, giving the reader the feeling that one is almost seeing/experiencing the dream along with Shmi. Extraordinary.

Of course, I expect nothing less from you.

 

A very rich and deeply moving and dramatic tale. I loved it!

 

Up!

 

I started by copying and pasting all my favourite lines and then I realized I had copied out almost the whole story.
But I have remark on the way you put these two lines at the beginning and at the end:
Shmi didn?t think she had ever loved anyone.
?I love you,? she said. And that was true.

Did Anakin kill Talos specifically? .
Really great story.

 

Winner, winner, winner! An interesting and unusual topic, and beautifully executed! Dream-like but believable. I love this vignette, Moonbeam!

 

It was a tie between this and My Lips Are Sealed for one of my Three Favourite Stories entries. . Just re-watched AotC. Finally got the connection between Shmi's last words and her idiosyncrasy about/against saying 'I Love You'. [face_shocked] Wow! I always thought this story was good but when that clicked in my mind, I was like GENIUS! [face_shocked]

FORUM ANNOUNCEMENT: Anyone who hasn't read this is doing him/herself a major disservice...

 

Very original. Nice how you applied it to the Starwars Universe.