The Fading Light

Delight: even if one stands still one cannot see everything.

That's the position the both of them are taking here. Stand still, don't move, and as far as the rest of the galaxy goes, because as of right now at this very point nothing is happening that concerns them, its not a necessity for them to go out and look as it were.

They have no motivation save for where they are now, not far from Juna.

Whiskey: The split is unfortunately here, so the question is will it still be here come September? It's too early yet, but so far I haven't noticed much improvement. And truth be told what is probably not spoken aloud is the complaints about it not working to the Mods all ready. Again, it's too early: but we warned them.......

And yes we borrow from various points of view in history a ton, don't we? Because they are the easiest way to predict Humanity's future outside the Earth's timetable of killing species.

You could choose a side and write the perspective based on that side, or you could be the middle observer and create your own judgments, or do what I did and be all of the above because in reality - be it a idea, a religion, a philosophy, or a action - there's a lot of bad to it as well as good because the Human race is directly involved in it. Words written on paper mean nothing until somebody believes or acts on them and that's for the better and for the worse. It doesn't mean whatever you think and belive is ultimately bad, but in all honestly it isn't entirely ultimately good.

I could go on with tons of points, but they would be my points of view in which some of those points I firmly believe to be right. I wouldn't dare be like that, like those blasted Sith and self righteous Jedi.

Rok: Yup, and that's kind like what I am doing here: every good can be bad and every bad can be good. Again, it falls on the individual and how they interpet what they know and believe.

Everyone that knows me knows I am a very inclusive man when it comes to the world because I embrace those who can admit, just as I do, that their beliefs or the history behind them could be wrong or in the name of that philosophy wrongs were done. Simply put we're more Human than we know. I have a lot more respect for any Christian, any Islam Muslim, any Jew, any Hindu, any Buddists and so on when they admit their faith has done some very stupid things; they are admitting they're Human, that they are fallible. I don't when any of them convienently and rudely forget known history that's even found in their scriptures; to me I would think such forgetfullness would be blasphemy in their respected religions, for every example is given with the High-deity tag line of "DO NOT DO AGAIN!!!!" in there somewhere; a morality lesson.

With that said it doesn't make me any better than them and I'm Human enough to admit that. Again I can go on with examples, but I'll stick with what we know here as a group: the story.



For the most part what you're seeing is what I see in the world and it's this: as it pretains to the three group model - Jedi, Sith, Dark Jedi Sith - each individual unit has it right somehow in one area or a little more, but lacks in other areas; just as Whiskey pointed out with the El Cid example. Each area has a point good and bad, but ultimately it's determined by those individuals that represent those areas and most importantly of them all themselves. And let us not forget us; you the readers and yours truly the storyteller, for we are naturally skeptical of things that bare no resembelence to our very own respected moral values. You get that very easily here because, again, we're all Human and like it or not we are born with all emotions and raised with them.


Now, the last post could be tonight but it does depend what I get done. As you can see so far, like Delight mentioned before, the Epilogues are designed to end the whole story right there. That is done intentionally for many reasons I can't all list, but it makes sense to have the kind of closure.

There might be a post tonight and then tomor

 

I'm glad that Naressa is now more willing to accept Enothchild... but it reminds me of a story by Paulo Coehlo (titled "By the River Piedra I sat down and Wept")... a man has the power to heal the blind, the deaf, the sick, but he gives up all that power to be with the woman he loves.

The woman, guilty over that, rejects him.

It's a compelling story... and it sort of relates to Enoth.

You're doing fantastic work, Casper. Keep it up.

As for the Crusades... I wonder how different the world would have been without them.

 

Jaxx: One could make the case that if we didn't have the Crusades then we would be having them right now. That's because there's a certainty in civilizations' developement that dictates there must be a moral challenge of huge proportions every 50 years and epic size challenges every 100 and there is a pattern to it, a blue print to follow we don't know about. It happens when there is stagnation in society, when a majority of folks finally realize something is wrong or something is not working or the previous solution is outdated or they have had enough with the stagnation all together. When treated immediately the results are just as quick. When drawn out there's bloodshed. And again there's a certain way things fall in order in able to advance society as a whole along, so let's thank our lucky stars the Crusades did happen back then.

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Sorry about not posting: been busy. Here's a little bit, and more should be coming tonight.

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They held each other for a few more quiet moments, and as Naressa relaxed the rain began to cease. However they were getting wet, and standing so close caused her nose to wrinkle as the dampness uncovered and amplified his alien, masculine scent locked in his clothing. She politely said, "No offense, Enothchild, but I can't stand the smell of a wet Vhinphyc."

He couldn't blame her really, smiled a little, and said, "I can't either." He thought about it, and then teased, "It's your fault."

"My fault?"

"Yes. Every time you cry the rain comes. Just another Sith conspiracy."

"Smart arse," she spat out with a smirk as he chuckled, pulling herself a way a little to remove herself fully from his grasp. His hold didn't cease, though. "What?"

"A gentleman should escort a lady down," he insisted, hooking his large arm through her conveniently positioned arms ready to clasp down and accepted the escort.

As one Enothchild and Naressa stepped through the narrow opening, he was leading the way like a perfect chaperone arm and arm with the belle to the ball down the wide steps. During the long descent they could hear the rain let up slowly, the sounds of reputation echoing off the windowsill when they drew near to the walls giving them perfect measure of events outside. Yet the air was still filed with plenty of sorrow. Juna still needed to be tended to, but with them on the same page there was also something else in the air: hope. To save Juna, perhaps it would take a Jedi.

Perhaps, Naressa felt, it was time to tell him everything. All of it. Even if he still had been with the Jedi Order Enothchild deserved to know what they were possibly going up against, and since it was the Dark Side anything to aide in the light side perspective was going to be a winning advantage.

They exited the Tower Maze, under the glow of the moonlight as the cloud cover began to break, giving Naressa's white skin a much brighter glow when the shadows drifted away. She didn't see why she had to wait any further, and stopped. "Enothchild, wait."

"What is it," he asked, and he did sense some apprehension from her. But also need. Something important.

Naressa let go of his arm and turned her body to face him, and in this position the moons were behind her. "I have something to tell you." He nodded in understanding as the clouds really broke and all was just about lighted for all to see. She went to speak, and his eyes suddenly darted from hers. Enothchild was now looking behind her with his mouth slightly open. "What?"

"Whoa," was all Enothchild could say. "Look! It's incredible!"

Naressa suddenly felt something physical move through her, a shifting of physiology that momentarily went up and then down; a very alien concept, yet not necessarily unnatural. Still she did not like it, and such feelings begin to spell the word of the doom down her back, causing her to turn slowly and stiffly. Before the two of them, actually before all of Naboo, they watched the most central of the three moons move upward unch

 

Someone else, indeed. Holy crap, Casper!!

And I loved the part about the moons... the tiny pebble changing the shape of the wave. If that's not thought-provoking, then I don't think anything is.

 

They should've used more duct tape on Juna's restraints.

 

Wouldn't it be funny if Juna popped out from around the corner and said, "Hi mommy! I'm right here This was just a practical joke!"

hrmm... where IS she off to, indeed? Who nabbed her?

Can't be Prophet, can it?

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!




OH MY GEE GOLLY GOODNESS COW!!! As I started reading that post, about halfway through, as Naressa was thinking to herself, I was thinking ... no way ... can't be
... nope! I was right the first time...crud!

Nyah! Shock of reading this...coupled with... euphoria from seeing X2... sanity ... collapsing!!!!!

<snik>

WHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Come my Monkey Minions! We ride like the oatmeal!!

 

Ty-gon: In the universe gravity is king and tidal forces its existing reminder. So its only fitting that such power in nature is used in philosophical metaphors; it seems the most powerful of things are reserved for the most heavy of points.

Whiskey: I'm sure Dizzy had some on board the Falcon....

Jaxx: Ah the finer misery of mystery: how it provokes the thinker muscle.

Rok: It's nice to know that after all these posts I could still make people change there minds after every single sentence.

AND I can see you caked yourself too during the X2 Prison Break Scene. Right out of the comic book, they got a lot of things right this time, especially in the end where you know there will be an X3.

BAMF! Yes......oh Force they had BAMF!

 

No no no no no no no no!

 

Come on...we know it's Prophet.

 

Delight: what?

Sara: Are you sure.........

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HERE IT IS! I did my best to make this conclusive.

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"She couldn't have attacked Muriel, not like that," he said aloud to no one in particular. "How could she physically move?" Even through the Force Juna would have been weak. Then again Juna always had this thing about doing the impossible that rewrote the book on the Force and individuals collectively. Then there was the obvious question: why would she attack Muriel?

From the floor, Naressa brought it back to his first pondering, speaking louder than she was before, but not much, "She's wearing a rehabilitation exo-suit. It's designed to help her move physically and keep muscle tissue loss to a minimum." She clinched her fists tight in frustration. "I thought it up and had it made especially for her."

"That explains little," Enothchild thumped back. "It's not how she moved but why she would attack Muriel. It makes no sense. So that leaves us with someone else had done it." He looked back at Naressa, casting away some of the remorse that filled him as she continued to lay on the floor is disbelief. "You didn't sense anything?"

Naressa raised her head and looked at him with her sad eyes. "No, I didn't sense anything." She then frowned and bit out, "Damn it, you know why!"

Enothchild chewed the inside of his lower lip; yeah, he did know why: Naressa wasn't tapping into the Force at all, or if she was it was at miniscule amounts; she didn't want any of the Dark Side near her daughter.

She forced herself up and said, "And if she learned anything from the Force from you or anyone else it?s the art of deception." Getting to her feet, she was clearly getting madder with the glow in her eyes and the growing darkness around them. "Force Hiding! Placement Misperception! I never taught her those things!" The angry bitterness came to an end and she spent the moment starting to sob again. "I never wanted her to use the Force?damn it."

Enothchild watched Naressa turn away in both sorrow and regret for what she had said; she was indicting him again for being who he was and for what he had done to save Juna. He couldn't avoid the criticism though and it hung around his neck; although the misperception technique was an ability Master Yoda alone had mastered it was clear Juna learned of it from him through contact and the only way such contact would had occurred is if she was on Coruscant, in the Jedi Temple, in a situation in which the both of them were in the same room and in close contact. Obviously the only way that happened was through Enothchild taking Juna to Coruscant in the first place.

The thought brought on just more possibilities; perhaps Juna wasn't kidnapped as Enothchild first thought and still believed heavily. He should have felt something in the way of intruders, or one particular intruder. There should have been the tension of a diabolical plot hanging in the air; it being carried out, the nervous feelings of such acts and the feelings of successful capture if it were anyone else. The particular intruder theory was much weaker than the 'somebody else' theory. Magus Prophet was dead. The only probability of him doing this is that he survived his death and came to Rapier Manor surrounded by ysalamiri to avoid detection. And if it was Prophet why did he leave people alive? Especially those he knew would give him considerable grief if left alive, apparent when he had allowed Dizzy to escape his wraith long ago on Corellia and he didn't follow up on ridding young Juna of her Guardian protector and thus baring witness to Muriel's version of wraith on Alderaan. Back then and the years to follow up to four months ago they gave Prophet as much grief as Enothchild and Naressa did.

And if it were someone else why leave witnesses alive?

If it was someone else: who?

Why?

"She left us," said Naressa, causing Enothchild to look towards her. She had moved from her previous position, had moved d

 

SIDIOUS?? HOLY CRAP, CASPER!!

I thought it was Faradi!

That was one heck of an ending!! **APPLAUSE**

 

NOTE: added information in post. Must have music. See above.

FORWARD!

 

Whoa!

Huh, yeah I guess I should have considered that, though I was thinking along the worst possiple conclusion that Faradi had kicked Juna out of the sub-conscious driver seat.

But yeah, I suppose I can see Sidious executing and pulling off something like this. This makes it a little worse than Juna just running off by herself, but still not as bad as Faradi behind the "brain wheel".

Still, makes me wonder why Sidious, and I assume Maul was there too, didn't kill Muriel and Dizzy? Sid going soft in his tender age? ?

Whoa. And so it ends. What a crazy mind trip its been...only you could pull something like this Casper. Most excellent.

 

I was thinking along the lines of Rok too... that it was the spirits of the Sith...

But... Sidious.

wait a minute...

OF COURSE!! It's Sidious!!

I see it all now!

...I think.

It makes so much sense!

(if you're going the way I'm thinking... I won't say what I'm thinking lest I ruin it all)

 

Grrrrr...

Rassafraggin' cliffhangers

Oh well...guess I'll be on the edge of my seat just like everyone else.

Honestly, I didn't think Sidious had the cajones to pull something like this. Obviously the phrase about the scorned woman hasn't been able to filter through the earwax of Palpatine

What was that ominous echo?

Casper, I salute you on yet another masterpiece that makes me glad I camped out at your website as long as I did to get caught up on your universe.

Interesting tension buildup between Muriel and Naressa too...I suspect there's more to ol' Red than even Dizzy can see. Oh, wait, what am I saying? Dizzy takes one look at her and loses all interest in anything deeper

Now that Naressa and Enothchild have formally classified their relationship as friends, I wonder what this holds for our hero...will he be the dashing one who gets the girl, or will she still be willing to pay top credit to see him drawn and quartered using a spoon, turnip, and cheese grater?

Then there's still the Faradi question. Is she in Juna's mind, or has she possessed someone else to help hamper a certain rescue mission? Ah, the possibilities.

Anyway, I eagerly await the start of TSM, Casper...don't keep us waiting too long, eh?

 

If it is indeed Sidious... other than saluting his planning and execution skills (he timed this operation so well!), we should also be saluting his skills at being completely braindead.

Great stuff, Casper. Will be awaiting TSM and all the Prologues and everything else with bated breath. Or should it be, with great interest?

Bravissimo!

 

(Cackles like a witch) He........ehehehehehe.

Of the devious plots I have planned for the next book, they pale next to what I have done to the readers!

Whoops......THEY'RE READING MY MIND AGAIN! DOH!

Damn it! Damn you the other voice in my head!

(a more immature response in the near future forthcoming....)

PANCAKES!

 

Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just had a thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About Faradi!!!!!!!!!!!

Something Whiskey said made me think of it...

I just may have put two and two together...

Whoa, it may not have been Sidious after all!

My theories are getting crazier and crazier by the minute!

As usual, I'll spare you all (unless, Casper, you want me to PM you my idea )

 

Oy! The story's over and I'm still confused as to what exactly is going on! Pootie!

MONKEYS!!

 

I'm always confused. It's a fun way to go through life.

Great ending, Casper. I happily hang from that cliff.

 

Ha! I so agree with you, Sara, about the confusion bit.

One happy reader, hanging off the cliff....

Two happy readers, hanging off the cliff....



More seriously, my vote goes to Darth Rune in spiritus incarnatus being the abductor. After all, she is the one behind most of the outrageous plots in this TDH.FL.SM universe.

 

Posting because I know Djuva is reading.....

Actually if you all think about it at the end of the TDH Epilogue it too was a cliffhanger in two ways. Figuratively the story ended with - remember this little fun thinking about moment - Magus Prophet down on himself while sticking his hand where his eye and part of his skull used to be.

I hope you weren't eating btw.

But essentially that was it for TDH. But here comes the two ways:

1.> Really without announcing a sequel - the one you just read - the saga itself could have ended right there because in the long run we know what's going to happen: Anakin comes along, Palpy is Chancellor, the Republic dies and the Empire is born to get it's butt kicked. So what would be the incentive? What would be the point to continue because, hey like any of the older SW novels, a story was told to tide ya over.

But you have all answered the question many a time over: It is the characters that continue the story. We want that in the movies, and we're not getting it. SO we supplement our characterization deficiency by coming here and telling/reading Fan Fiction.

Getting back with that point in mind you all wanted to see Juna, Enothchild, and the rest one last time and in a good setting for a change. With Juna becoming Queen Angelleia, it did demand the CLIFFHANGING question: how does this get from Angelleia to Veruna to Amidala? I didn't answer that, hence why it was a cliffhanger waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back then.

And there were other questions too, like how would Palpy take Juna being his boss? Some of those questions were answered, some were answered in TFL, and others will remain unanswered until an appropriate time, while a select few......just won't be answered.

2.> Then there is can I do it again? Now THERE IS A REAL LIFE FAN FICTION CLIFFHANGER! How too easy is it for any one of us to very easily fall off the face of the Boards: A lost of interest, Darth Real Life, a fatal accident, a fried computer, a screwy modeum, a house fire, a priority change, etc: a trillion things could happen and honestly they have in one form or another happened on these Boards and to Board Members. That's why such a long wait between TDH and TFL, but also why things ended the way it did in TDH; it allows the readers to draw their own conclusions in the long run.

Plus I wanted to run a prediction down a unnamed someones' throat: Let's just say I'm still here and they're digital fertilizer. That also the majority of my fans are still here, and that the majority of their fans nominate and vote for their dormant, unfinished works over and over. Now I ask who has the legacy left behind?

I make a commitment I stick to it; unless something dramatic or drastic happens I won't change. I may be late with finishing things, but I can't compromise integrity with Fast Food Storytelling. Fast food is for eating, not to stare at and to contemplate the spirit. I count 'more story material to write' a dramatic change in planning. Mark my words: unless death consumes me you will all be the first to know things if such things affect storytelling on my part in the future.

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Now with TFL, using the TDH model, the real ending was when Yoda tried to talk Enothchild out of leaving and it's revealed that he is the Big Lug's foster father. That was done not just for storytelling but to raise the climatic bar a bit higher because, hey, TFL has to be a bit better than TDH. The Prophet Ending in TDH was a clue giver and a brain rattler: the Yoda Ending in the thread is no different.

Again, with the Epilogue, there has to be a cliffhanger of sorts. TDH, again, was with Juna becoming Queen; didn't you all ask yourselves what happens next? How do we get to where we at with The Phantom Menace? Angelleia to Veruna to Amidala? How will matters in TDH affect Juna as it relates to the prophecy? What happens to everyone else?

It's what I call a natural cliffhanger, the same kind a lot of us that are old enough experienced at the

 

I make a commitment I stick to it; unless something dramatic or drastic happens I won't change. I may be late with finishing things, but I can't compromise integrity with Fast Food Storytelling. Fast food is for eating, not to stare at and to contemplate the spirit. I count 'more story material to write' a dramatic change in planning. Mark my words: unless death consumes me you will all be the first to know things if such things affect storytelling on my part in the future.


Amen! Real life may drag me down, but I refuse to let it make me churn out sub-par storytelling.

Heck, if time was all I was worried about, I'd just post the chapter outline I have for HellFire and be done with it! But I sure as heck won;t do that! Mainly because I'd be lynched from a flag-pole if I did.

But also because its a slap in the face of the readers, without whom, I wouldn't have anything! Sure I can write a story, but if no one reads it, then what good has it done? Some people may say they don't care what others think, they just write for their own sake. I don't! I care what people think! I do it for my readers, not me. That's why I check the boards twice or three ties a day, just to see if anyone has responded to a post. (And to read other stories of course, but you get the idea! )

Some people may call you long winded, Casper, but I see it as a testament to how much you care for your readership! I say make TSM as long as you darn well want to make it! 'Cause I know you'll cram it with as much stuff to make us go, "HOLY SCHNEIKIES WOW!!! THAT WAS SO AWWWWWWSSSHHHUUUUUMMMMMM!!!!"

Can't wait to see the credits! WHHEEEEE!!!

 

Longwinded?

Anyone who sinks as much mental energy and effort to create a universe as rich and detailed as you have, Casper, is not longwinded...they're passionate.