Beyond - Legends "One Night Around the Damutek" (AU; A/T, OCs, Vong, others; humor/etc.

Another recovered one of my truncated 'fics, this one set in a happy-ending post NJO timeline.

TIMEFRAME: About a month before the opening of Betrayal.

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39.12 ABY: Zonama Sekot, Unknown Regions:
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"Kinlan! Come inside. It's time for dinner."

"All right," Kinlan Kwaad - not quite 7 standard years old, with sandy blond hair a mixture of both his parents' shades, and blue eyes that were purely Skywalker - sighed, setting the villip he'd been working on back in its holding bin outside the family damutek.

He raced inside, slapping the door-pad to open the irising hatch. Kinlan's aptitude for Yuuzhan Vong biotech both impressed and annoyed his family to no end, especially his twin sister Nenri. The brown-haired girl was already sitting at the table with their little brother, Vuahlin.

At 4, "Lin" was probably the most Force-prodigious of any of the Kwaad children, even if he was prone to seeing things his siblings didn't quite catch. The little boy's grey eyes were hailed among the family's Yuuzhan Vong neighbors as "gods-seeing," even if the Y'uno were no longer hailed in quite the same way as they'd been before Sekot had welcomed her children home.

Vuahlin shook brown bangs out of his eyes, smiling when his mother ruffled his hair and asked, "See anything new today, honey?"

Vuahlin scrunched up his face in concentration, then nodded vigorously while his father started serving slices of basted vu'asa. "Marchin' men, Momma. Lots of 'em. Black clothes," he said, meeting his mother's look of curiosity.

"Cloakers?" Kinlan asked, looking up from where he was cutting a dinner roll in half and starting to spread bantha butter on it. The Kwaads kept a small herd on their property, and banthas were popular relocated animals on Sekot; the Yuuzhan Vong respected the great beasts for their resilience and generally friendly dispositions.

Vuahlin shook his head, while Nenri rolled her green eyes at Kinlan. While the Kwaads certainly didn't disapprove of their children's varying degrees of embrasure of Yuuzhan Vong culture - they had chosen to settle on Zonama Sekot, after all - there were times when Kinlan seemed more Vong than human.

Which, given his mother's somewhat-unique background, wasn't entirely unexpected.

"Nuh-uh. Cov'alls, or jumpsuits," Vuahlin said. He frowned a little, adding, "An' guns, an' helmets."

"Stormtroopers, 'Lin?" his father asked, passing plates around while sharing a look with his bride that was a mixture of amazement and concern - amazement at Vuahlin's memory, and concern that a child so young was having Force-visions.

Except that he's not like Jacen. Vuahlin plays with other kids, laughs ... the Force is second nature to him, but it's not his life, Anakin Solo reminded himself as he watched his youngest son shake his head.

"Not all armor, Daddy. Like your 'suit," Vuahlin said, nodding at Anakin's simple brown coverall. Anakin nodded, understanding, and shared a glance with Tahiri.

He doesn't seem scared by it. Maybe it's just a random vision, Anakin suggested through his Force-bond with his wife.

Tahiri didn't shake her head - she just smiled her smile, but radiated warmth and doubt at the same time. Like the 'random vision' he had of that entire crop of po'rahls fruit going bad because of out-of-control blaze bugs? 'Ri pointed out, and Anakin admitted she had a point.

"Were they coming here, 'Lin?" Nenri asked her brother, but Vuahlin shook his head - he didn't speak, since he was trying to devour an entire slice of vu'asa rib, and was too polite to speak with his mouth full.

"Tahrn, Jokral, and I'd kick their luurs if they did," Kinlan said, grinning. He winced a little when Tahiri raised an eyebrow at him, and mumbled, "Just sayin'."

"Watch your language at the dinner table, please," Tahiri said, and Anakin tried not to snicker, remembering a few exchanges between him and his bride before the kids had come along ...

All right, 'do as I say, not as I do' doesn't work. But I'd rather not have discussions of waste filtering biots during dinner, 'Ri pointed out, the corners of her lips twitching.

Good point ... Anakin agreed, shuddering at the memory of making his way through a damutek's succession pool years earlier on Yavin 4. Tahiri almost giggled a bit, but also radiated sympathy, and Anakin projected back awed affection before putting on his best "teachable moment" face.

"While I'm proud of how hard you work, Kinlan, remember, you don't have to fight all the time to achieve your goals," Anakin pointed out.

He winced as half a dozen battlefield memories rushed through his mind, and Tahiri hid a giggle. "OK, maybe I'm not the best example, but you know what I mean. It's hard work to build something, but that means something. Like - think how long it takes to grow a villip plant?" Anakin tried to explain, and Kinlan nodded.

"I know, Dad. I don't wanna blow stuff up either, but I wouldn't let anybody mess with you guys or Bangor or Fiver," Kinlan said, really serious, nodding as Anakin's astromech droid trundled in from his alcove.

"Freweept!" the R7 droid greeted the family, finding his usual place by Anakin's side. "Dweep-tweet dwoot?"

"Just talkin', Fiver. 'Bout how we'd protect our family. Gramma Leia'd try to talk to the bad guys, first, though, right, Dad?" Nenri asked, and Anakin nodded, smiling a bit.

"Talking is always the best place to start. But being ready to defend the people you care about is important, too. But, even if you sometimes have to fight, it shouldn't be the place you start at, understand?" Anakin said, looking intently at all three of his children.

Vuahlin nodded, while Nenri smiled - a little too vindicated, maybe - and Kinlan sighed with too much melodrama. "I get it, Dad. I won't punch Brahk next time he shoots his mouth off," Kinlan promised.

"Good," Anakin said, feeling like he'd achieved something parenting-wise (even if, half the time, he still felt like he was making it up as he went along).

"If he punches me first, then I'll punch him," Kinlan said sagely, flinching when Tahiri raised another eyebrow at him.

"Punching isn't the best solution, Kin," Tahiri said, smiling with Anakin. Teamwork was another critical part of parenting, they'd discovered.

"Now, a nerve strike, that'd put the other guy down for a while ..."

'RI! Anakin sent, aghast until he sensed Tahiri's teasing affection through their bond.

"... but I'm not teaching you that until you're older," Tahiri finished, giving Kinlan a warm but serious look, and the boy sighed.

"OK, OK. After dinner, can I go check on the polyps?" Kinlan asked. Anakin and Tahiri both started, a little worried, until Kinlan quickly added, "With Aunt Niirit, if she's around? I know better'n to get too close."

"ONLY if Niirit's around. Amphistaff polyps are nothing to mess around with," Tahiri said, totally serious, and Anakin nodded, holding Kinlan's gaze to be sure the boy got the point.

"Got it," Kinlan said, his eyes darting down to his food as he started gobbling his dinner. Anakin was grateful that, while his kids had definitely unique personality quirks, picky eating wasn't among them.

No, they're too busy having Force visions and talking with banthas and raising Vong weaponry ...

Yuuzhan Vong, a familiar, almost punch-line-like retort rang in Anakin's mind, and he grinned at Tahiri.

"Ugh, mushy old people," Nenri groaned, rolling her eyes, and Anakin was unable to keep from laughing merrily.

Unique ... unique is OK. Better than OK.

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"I'll have him back inside of 30 kets," Niirit Esh assured Tahiri as Kinlan ran to catch up with his "aunt" and mentor in the shaping arts. Like Niirit, Kinlan was wearing a cloaker and shoe-socks, carrying a blaze-bug lamp to light their way through the deepening twilight.

"Thanks, Niirit. Have fun and be careful, you guys," Tahiri said. She waited until they were out of sight before she shook her head at how she sounded.

When did I become somebody's mom? 'Eat your vegetables,' 'pick up after yourself,' 'don't let the amphistaves bite?' she thought, shaking her head as she walked out to the bantha pen to check on the herd. Even Sekot had its wild predators that might try to attack the calves or pregnant cows.

And that brought Tahiri back out of her bemused reflection. She hadn't become some overly-comfy Chandrilan shockball-mom, with 2.5 kids and the expected pet squall.

There was a gaderfii over the damutek fireplace, banthas out back, and the neighborhood sewage system's gurgling was that of a maw luur, not an artificial made-thing pumping system.

A. Solo, T. Veila-Kwaad, and children - and the odd bantha, droid, and occasional wild pet brought in by Nenri - were decidedly not the holo-perfect family. But if anyone obsessed too much over being perfect, they probably had issues, 'Ri had decided long ago.

We're part Yuuzhan Vong, part Tusken, part Jeedai and all people, Tahiri thought, proud of her and hers.

"SNORT."

"Hey, you," Tahiri called, ruffling Bangor's head as he shuffled over to the fence and leaned down. Mhraka, the alpha cow of the small herd, wandered over also, and Tahiri scratched her too, examining the banthas before opening the gate and walking into the pen.

This region of Sekot rarely changed climate too radically. The living world had found a stable, yellow-white sun to settle around, deep enough in the Unknown Regions that the few still-frothing Bothans dedicated to the ark'rai were stymied by gravitational pitfalls and other astronomical threats. In all, it was almost always warm enough, even in the evenings, to go outside in bare feet, if one wanted to.

And while it wasn't Tatooine, Tahiri had learned to enjoy the feel of soil between her toes.

As far as "work," she and Anakin continued their mediation between the Extolled and the former warrior and priest castes, although tensions had dropped off considerably in recent years.

Sekot's biosphere produced more than enough food and clean water, and the shapers and Jabitha had negotiated a balance between biots and Sekot's own grown living quarters. Something new had been created from Yuuzhan Vong culture and the Ferroan people who'd called Sekot home for untold years.

A synthesis ... I'm used to that, now, too, Tahiri thought, smiling as she let starlight fall on her face, and she listened to the breeze in the undergrowth - and the flows of the Force and Vongsense, switching between the two as naturally as breathing.

'Kin reached for her, just being, and Tahiri wrapped mental fingers with him; Kinlan was excited about some new feature of one of the amphistaff polyps Niirit was working with; Vuahlin was happily playing with his toys; and Nenri ...

"Hi, Mom!" the girl called, brushing out a baby bantha cub while its mother gently watched over them. Tahiri wasn't too worried that her daughter had snuck out to play with the herd. The banthas knew the Kwaad children and treated them like their own, especially Nenri, who had Tahiri's gift of Force-speaking with animals.

"snort? Snirt-snork," the cub sniffed, nudging Nenri, and Tahiri helped her daughter work on brushing the cub.

"SNORT," the cub's mother replied, and Nenri laughed, before smiling with Tahiri.

"She doesn't want him to wander too far off," Nenri explained - Tahiri had caught the meaning of the bantha cow's intent, but she liked to see the joy in Nenri's eyes when the girl figured out another nuance of communication.

"You're picking up on all this fast. And you remembered to wear your boots," Tahiri praised. Like Anakin, Nenri tended to wear practical outfits, such as coveralls, but the girl did often prefer to go shoeless, even when it wasn't wise to do so.

Nenri beamed and nodded, a quick flash of disgust crossing her face when she mumbled, "I don't wanna track in bantha scat."

"SNORT!" Utrahk, one of the bulls, grumbled in mock annoyance, and Tahiri radiated calm to the big fellow. He wasn't actually threatening, but sometimes banthas could be moody.

"Silly. Mom, did you an' Grampa Sliven farm banthas like this?" Nenri asked, curiosity dancing about her like a dust devil on the Dune Sea.

"Well, it was a lot hotter. And grittier. And the nights were colder. Tatooine was ... harsher, I think is the best word, than Zonama Sekot is," Tahiri explained, flashing back to when she'd been Nenri's age.

There'd been a time, during the worst of Tahiri's struggles with Riina, that she was afraid she'd never remember her childhood clearly again; that, at best, her life with the Tuskens would fade into a dim set of faded slides, or at worst, that the false Yuuzhan Vong memories implanted by Mezhan Kwaad would crush the reality into so much mnemonic dust.

But I still have all that. And more, Tahiri thought, smiling with her daughter as they continued to talk about bantha farming, and how they compared to quednaks, and a dozen other simple things.

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The stars were so far away, but they each sang in the Force.

Like blaze-bugs dancing, Vuahlin thought as he sat on a rock just outside his family's damutek with Fiver.

Daddy was talking with Uncle Kunra, while Momma and Nenri were out back with Bangor and the other banthas, and Kinlan and Aunt Niirit were feeding the amphistaves.

"How many 're there 'gain, Fiver?" Vuahlin asked his droid friend. He didn't understand machines quite like Daddy did, but Fiver was like family - Vuahlin understood him well enough.

"Frebweet ardweet-dweetweep," Fiver said, leaning back a little so his eye could look at the sky. Vuahlin's eyes got wide - 400 billion was such a big number, he couldn't imagine that many!

"You prob'ly haven't seen all of 'em, have you?" Vuahlin asked. Fiver chirped no, and Vuahlin nodded - not even Daddy and Momma, or even Grampa Han and Gramma Leia, had been to all the stars.

"I wonder if Grampa Anakin went to all of 'em. Maybe after he died. Force ghosts go lotsa places," Vuahlin said confidently, nodding as the Force flickered a bit.

A beautiful night, young one, Sekot said - she wasn't sending a real person, just her/itself, and Vuahlin was used to mind-talking. Not just with Sekot, but with lots of people.

"Did my great-grampa see a lot of stars?" Vuahlin asked the planet-mind, and a warm chuckle came back to him - not teasing, like Kinlan laughed sometimes, but like Daddy or Momma laughed.

I suppose he did, Vuahlin. I haven't spoken with Anakin Skywalker for a long time. I've had ... other visitors, Sekot said, and she/it faded away.

Vuahlin wondered about that, then looked down the path to the fence for the damutek yard ... and he felt a kind of emptiness down at the front gate.

It wasn't mean, but more like someone was hiding. Vuahlin wasn't sure if he should look in the Force - Daddy said that was rude, sometimes, unless the other person was expecting it - but he figured maybe this time was OK.

The Force sort of pulled back, like a curtain-membrane in the damutek's living room, and Vuahlin blinked.

There was a man standing there, a human man, wearing black robes, with brown hair and greyish-pale, veiny skin.

The man's eyes were big and brown, and kind of sad - kind of lonely. He didn't come toward the damutek, but he just smiled a little and waved, calling, Hello there.

Vuahlin just nodded - Daddy and Momma both had said he shouldn't talk to anyone he didn't know, 'specially strange people in the Force.

The man laughed, like he was remembering something, and he said, Definitely Anakin's son. Never a spare word. But you're wiser than he was, I think ... I'm glad he and Tahiri are happy. And safe.

How do you know Daddy and Momma? Vuahlin asked before he could stop himself. He knew he probably shouldn't ask, but the man wasn't being mean.

The man sighed and said, That's a long story, little guy.

Here, I'm just visiting to make sure my doofus brother isn't going to get in the way. Maybe we'll meet again.

Then the man was gone, and Vuahlin rubbed his eyes - he wasn't sure if the man had been real, but he thought he had been.

"'Lin? You OK, buddy?" Daddy asked, walking outside. Vuahlin stood, nodding, but looked at the front gate.

"Just talkin' to Sekot an' Fiver, Daddy. And lookin' at the stars," Vuahlin said, standing and walking with Daddy as Fiver followed.

Daddy smiled, feeling kind of proud, and said, "You'll get to visit them someday, pal. Maybe Grandpa Han can take us up in a flight sometime when he and Grandma Leia visit."

"That'd be astral!" Vuahlin cheered. He thought, then, about the strange man, and asked, "Daddy?"

"Yeah?" Daddy said, activating the door-pad while Vuahlin looked back at the gate.

"What's a doofus?" Vuahlin asked, and Daddy looked down at him - kind of confused, kind of thinking hard.

"It's ... not a nice word to call someone. I haven't heard it since ... oh, before you were born," Daddy said, and Vuahlin could tell he was thinking to when he was littler. "Where'd you hear it?"

Vuahlin looked back at the gate, then up at Daddy, and he wasn't sure if he should say anything ... but ...

"Just a Force-ghost, I think," Vuahlin said.
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finis ... ?

 

Oookay. I have had this on my reading list for a long time, and apparently, the reason is that I am going to need notes on who is with whom in this AU and where. Help me, please? The story is good, I can't believe nobody commented on it, but I'm lost, lost, lost!

 

A lovely story with Anakin and Tahiri happy and raising kids

 

Me likey. More, please.

 

@Ewok Poet: I was offline for a bit earlier this week - there was a death in the family, and I've been busy preparing for the funeral - but I can respond to this quickly.

This was actually an old timeline, although almost all of the elements line up with my current AU (except for repentant-Sith!Jacen flow-walking at the end - Jacen will not go Sith in my current AU).

The short version is, this is another AU where Anakin didn't die at Myrkr, eventually settled down with Tahiri on Zonama Sekot, and they lived happily ever after. (It's also a strictly Legends-derived AU, so no Rey, Kylo, First Order, etc.).

The kids are entirely human - at least in their genetics; A/T named them "Kwaad" only as a way to deflect attention from the sludgefeed reporters and lingering Skysolo haters. Kinlan wishes he was YV, but otherwise, he's a normal Force-strong descendant of the Skysolos.

 

Delightful! I love the teasing and warm affection between A/T - spoken and not. The fascinating younglings they have -- each with their own personalities and talents. Each parent is warm and encouraging to their kids. You can really feel the strong family bond.

Sekot is beautifully described. Tranquil and exotic.

 

Now that I know what I'm reading (it was mostly the word "damutek" that confused me), I love it. From the little of post-ROTJ Legends that I skimmed, A/T always seemed like a tragic romance to me. Like a flower that didn't even get a chance to bloom. You have given them a beautiful, secluded life in a faraway place, where they can explore their relationship further, raise their younglings and - most importantly - FINALLY BE HAPPY!

 

EP - Thanks again!

And yes, tragic romance is a very good way of describing A/T; they never had that chance to grow together and create a happier future.

(Just another reason why 'fic can help with course corrections ...

 

Geez louise, it has been years since I have read an Anakin/Tahiri story, and this was a very worthwhile read. I liked it a lot!

 

Nehru: Thanks for reading. I should write something with this in my current continuity (as noted, this setting is basically the same as what's happening in the main timeline I'm writing, just minus Sith!Jacen and plus Rey, First Order, co.) ...