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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Beyond - Legends No Words [Post Legacy AU - Kol Skywalker and (OC) Lukia Skywalker]

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by Briannakin , Aug 24, 2015.

  1. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    Title: No Words
    Author: Briannakin
    Timeframe: Post-Legacy AU (160 ABYish?)
    Characters: Kol Skywalker, Lukia Skywalker (OC)
    Categorization: Legends AU
    Notes: I’m really annoyed with the lack of description in my recent pics, so this was a challenge for myself: a fic of at least 1000 words with no dialogue.

    Lukia Skywalker is an OC of mine as seen in my 2014 diary, but all you really need to know is she was Ben Skywalker’s daughter. I know the math really doesn’t work out with the Legacy timeline, BUUUT I don’t care.



    Kol Skywalker was the one to find his aunt.

    The Grand Master had died, peacefully, but alone, in her offices. She was found, slumped slightly in the worn nerfhide chair. Her head rested against the high back. The dark brown leather was faded and cracked, much like the face of the woman who had died in it. Creases around her eyes that had once been so furrowed with concern and expressed such joy were now relaxed, yet still betrayed her old, frail age of 104.

    Lukia Skywalker had once been hailed one of the greatest Grand Masters in the Jedi Order’s history. Her dedication showed in her hair - any traces of the wild red mane, that had once flown with the breeze of battlefields many moons away from this small office, were gone, replaced with long white frizz. Her calloused hands, sitting atop her dishevelled desk, showed fine scars, blue veins, and swollen callouses, all evidence of either long lost defeats or greatly celebrated victories. Unorganized stacks of flimsy and data cards littered her surroundings. She had died the way she had lived -- surrounded by work.

    Her life had been one of epic adventure and mass loss. She had been no stranger to blood-soaked tunics, fine Corellian liquor, or muddy waters on uninhabitable worlds. But she, in some fortunate twist of fate, had died in a crisp white tunic, fine blue skirt and delicately woven purple slippers that kept her feet warm as she did her work. The image would have brought a smile to many beings long past.

    The young man let out a sigh and ran his hand through his shaggy blond hair as he stepped though the threshold, the door making a woorring sound as the smooth curved sections self-sealed in a clockwork motion behind him. He felt almost uncomfortable, as if he was disrespecting his aunt’s final rest as he entered in his casual brown slacks and black leather jacket. Today had been his day off. He had gone speeder-bike racing. If he had known that he was going to return to a corpse, he wouldn’t have gone.

    Kol didn’t realize it, but he was trying to be as quiet as he could as he crossed the dimly lit room, pass the sitting area with a simple caff table and several off-white lounge chairs, to his aunt. It was silly, since he knew though the Force she was already long gone, but he still checked her pulse. His two fingers pressed the fragile and stretched skin of her neck. She was already cold. There was no need to search further for signs of life.

    He let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. He was unsure of what to do next. Bring in medics to get the body? No, she looked almost content in her eternal rest. Part of Kol hoped she might become discorporeal - that is, make her physical body fade as she became one with the Force. But it was clear she was not going to. The others would be glad of that fact. They would be able to say their final goodbyes. The funeral would be grand without a doubt, and she would hate it.

    Kol knew he should contact his siblings and his cousins, though they, like he, had probably felt her soul leave this realm. It had been like when his grandfather had died. Kol had only been 17 at the time. Ben Skywalker had also died peacefully, but he had been sounded by loved-ones. But in both cases, there had been feelings of overwhelming relief, like a great stress finally resolved. His heart had felt light at the moment of her last breath. There had been no struggle. She had released her last breath and hold on life gracefully, like a puff of smoke dissipating in the wind. His aunt had lived to serve others, being a healer before her days as the Grand Master. The worlds would cry at the news of her death, but wherever she was, she was rejoicing.

    His Aunt Lukia had never married, had outlived her three older half-brothers, and of course held the hands of her father, grandfather and many more as they had departed. She never had any children, though many Jedi Knights and Masters, including himself, could attribute his life and his successes to her healing powers and life lessons. She would leave a legacy unlike any other.

    He looked out the curved plasti window, over the grounds of the ancient Jedi Temple, past the whizzing speeders and the silver spires and black cubes of endless buildings, into the slowly setting sun. A light glow touched everything, much like his aunt had done. She was an unapologetic woman of action. Sometimes harsh, but meticulously logical and rarely wrong. He wondered how many people could say they were alive and free because of Lukia’s negotiating, healing, or battle skills. She saved the Antni cluster from plummeting into civil war through months of talks, had silently assassinated Hutts to free thousands in the slave trade market, and had worked as a medic in the Sorracu wars. How many being did she save? How may lives did she touch?

    And yet, she died here, alone.

    Kol swallowed the hard lump in his throat, for he knew he his time for remembering his aunt needed to be over. Life would go on and they would all eventually forget the pain of losing her. He reached for his commlink. The smooth piece of technology slipped easily from his pocket and sat ergonomically in his hand. He dialed the code for the medics, who then informed him they would be on their way to take care of the body.

    More business had to be dealt with; family members informed and comforted, the media told, a new Grand Master appointed. Yes, everything would move on so swiftly without Lukia.

    But that all waited for now. Instead, Kol waited in silence with his aunt. He would be with her now, since everyone she knew had failed to reach her for her final moments.

    No words were spoken. None had to be.
     
  2. divapilot

    divapilot Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 30, 2005
    This is very nice! You did a great job with setting the scene, and I could see it clearly. It's so great to see Lukia again, and a great way to connect the EU characters to the Legends ones.

    She had been no stranger to blood-soaked tunics, fine Corellian liquor, or muddy waters on uninhabitable worlds.
    Excellent characterization!
     
  3. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Wait, there are more stories featuring this character? Yes, please! Love the idea of a link between the post-ROTJ era and the Legacy era and I definitely like that it's a woman! Makes even more sense that Kol married such an intrigued person later...
     
  4. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    Yes. Lukia's questionable origins can be found in Journal of the Forgotten Child. It was mostly just a fun journal to create and develop one of my first OCs that never saw the light of these boards before that journal (one of my first fics that I actually ended up losing before I got the courage to post it featured her and the memory of losing all that cringe-worthy 16 year-old-me writing still stings).
     
    Ewok Poet likes this.
  5. metophlus

    metophlus Jedi Padawan star 2

    Registered:
    Jun 30, 2015
    TECHNICAL

    SETTING - You forced our minds to generate a lot of foggy-edged, fleeting scenes of Lukia as she journeyed the galaxy and slowly wore her body down while helping others. You compressed her life into a miniature black hole that dilates the reader's sense of time.

    Surreal, yet realistic imagery, poetic in its symbolism.

    CHARACTERS - This speaks for itself. But no words need be spoken.

    PLOT/STORY - Kol Skywalker finds that his beloved aunt has died. He reflects on her long, productive life.

    MISC. THOUGHTS - Sweet and heartwarming flash fiction, Briannakin!

    *drops a @};- on his way out*
     
  6. Findswoman

    Findswoman Fanfic and Pancakes and Waffles Mod (in Pink) star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2014
    What a neat idea for a self-challenge! I almost want to try something like this now (though in my own case I'd probably go the opposite direction—dropping all description in favor of dialogue, because the former is what I tend to overdo :p ). I love how the title "No Words" meshes not only with the theme of the story—the speechlessness occasioned by a loved one's death—but also with the challenge of writing a dialogue-free story. Meta! :D

    All those little descriptive details do enhance Kol's moment of discovering his aunt's death. I especially liked the way her face is compared to the cracked brown leather of the chair, illustrating how death has turned her, too, into an inanimate object. And like divapilot I just loved the "blood-soaked tunics, fine Corellian liquor, or muddy waters on uninhabitable worlds." What a nice, concise summary of a full, adventurous Jedi life that was.

    "Life would go on and they would all eventually forget the pain of losing her": well, yes—until some moment comes along where her spirit and legacy make themselves subtly felt in the same way as those rays of the setting sun make themselves felt and scene on the skyline of Coruscant. As T. S. Eliot says, "We are born with the dead: / See, they return, and bring us with them."

    Finally, I'm intrigued by the fact that Lukia, like Qui-Gon so many years before, didn't do the famous Jedi Disappearing Act, and I wonder if there is some story behind that. "The others would be glad of that fact"—does that imply that Kol isn't necessarily so thrilled about it? Or that maybe Lukia herself might have wished for a different end? So many possibilities... [face_thinking]

    Very nice work here, and it's got me curious to check out your 2014 diary again! :)
     
    Briannakin likes this.
  7. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007
    I honestly don't know what I would do if I found a deceased relative.

    A fun personal challenge to have and I think you passed with flying colors and more since it flows so well with no words.
     
    Briannakin likes this.