Saga - OT Things You Said |OTP Challenge 15

Title: Things You Said
Author Raissa Baiard
Genre: Romance
Timeframe: OT
Characters: Ensemble cast
Synopsis: Short stories based on the prompts for the OTP Challenge #15, "Things You Said"

Thanks to @Findswoman for beta-reading

This is already on its way to becoming an anthology thread; I have another story in the works and an idea percolating. But for this first story, I'm going old school with my original OTP: Raissa and Doran Blayne from Everyone Comes to Doran's Place and In the Cards. These stories laid the foundation for what became the Marzra-Verse. Their family story has grown into a multi-generational saga.
_______
….At the Kitchen Table

“Doran Blayne! Those cookies are for Life Day!”

“No one’s going to miss a few. You made enough to feed a small army”.

“In case you haven’t noticed, with all our grandchildren and Hera and Kanan’s children, I am feeding a small army. And since when have you ever stopped at a ‘few’ Wookiee cookies? Not since I’ve known you!”

“All right, all right. Just one more. You know, I still remember the first time you baked these for me…do you?”

“Of course I do! It was our first Life Day together, back on Merkesh. I don’t know who ate more of those cookies—you or Frugly.”

“We drank hot chocolate and watched terrible movies. And you gave me a kyber crystal worth more than both of us put together made in a year as a present. Do you ever miss those days?”

“Sometimes. I never would have thought it possible, but sometimes I do miss Merkesh—our old house, the Café. I miss dear old Frugly; he would have tried to make friends with all the Loth-cats, probably the Loth-wolves, too. But I don’t miss having to live a double life, Imperial Prefect by day, Jedi by night.”

“Still, things were simpler then. It was a lot easier being a cantina owner-slash-fugitive Jedi than joint headmaster of the Academy and a senior Council member. Ha—Mace Windu’s Force ghost is probably still having metaphysical pittins at that!”

“Whatever the Old Council would have thought, you should be proud of what you’ve built here.”

“Me? No, I just tagged along for the ride. Kanan…”

“It hasn’t all been Kanan. You know he couldn’t run the Academy without you. Face it, Doran, you’ve become the thing you swore you never would: an authority figure. And you love it.”

“Maybe a little…”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“But I couldn’t have done it without you. I’d be a lonely, bitter old barkeep if you hadn’t found me and brought me back to the Light.”

“Doran…”

“It’s true. You know it is. Without you, I’d have marinated in bitterness and Corellian whiskey until I was a wizened old curmudgeon who made Haaz look cheerful.”

“Well… I wouldn’t be here without you, either. If you hadn’t discovered I’m Force-sensitive and taken me as your padawan, I’d have been doomed to a short, ignominious career in Imperial public service. “

“So… we owe it all to each other. And here we are, three children, seven grandchildren and a Jedi Order later.”

“Some things never change, though. You still can’t keep your hands off the cookies. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you’ve been sneaking more while we talked.”

“And you’re still my sharp-eyed Prefect!”

“Come on, we ought to go up to bed. I’ll be up early cooking and you need to rest for your Life Day napping.”

“Hey, that’s not fair!”

“But true.”

“Well, yes, but not fair. All right, I’m coming. You know what else hasn’t changed?”

“What’s that?”

“I love you, Raissa. Always.”

“Mmm. And I love you. Now put the cookies away.”
-----------
Notes:

The story of Doran and Raissa’s first Life Day together can be found here.

Frugly: Raissa’s Force-bonded pet pygmy roba, who has by this time passed away of extreme old age.

Haaz: the ill-tempered doorman/bouncer at the Cafe Alderaan on Merkesh.

Three children: Mara, Nick and Annina

Seven grandchildren: Caleb and Noemi (Mara and Ezra); Aric, Melinda, and Pheylan (Nick and Mella), Lyra and Owen (Annina and Luke)

 

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE! SQUEEEEEEEEEEE! If this isn't JUST. WHAT. I. NEEDED TODAY I don't know what!
LOL My Mom has also been accused of making enough to feed a small army. Great food for hungry family/friends.

I loved every single solitary word!!
I loved their reminiscing and the reciprocal I love you's.

Thank you @Raissa Baiard for posting this. More than I can say.

 

RAISSA AND DORAN! I was just thinking a few weeks ago that I miss seeing these two around -- though I'm very much enjoying all the younger generations and their stories. It's really nice to see them living happily ever after here. The nostalgia for Merkesh might not be what they would have expected to feel when they actually lived there, but it makes a lot of sense. That was where they found each other, after all. I'm glad that Lothal has become a place of happy memories as well. And I adored the love-yous mixed with cookie thieving. Some things never change.

 

I have not read your previous stories on these characters, but I sure will
This was so heart-warming! I loved reading it.
You portray Raissa and Doran's love and trust on one another perfectly, it can be felt in each word.
Great job!

 

Nice story, distantly remember the characters from some of your other stories I've read over the years.

 

Aww, thank you so much! I'm glad this little vignette was able to give you a lift Wookiee cookies have always had a special place in the Baiard-Blayne family, and with hungry grandchildren (and hungrier husband!) Raissa needs to make sure she has enough on hand Lots of memories for her and Doran...and many more to come.Some things, like their love, don't change as time goes by.

Thank you! It was great for me to get back to where it all started with this story, and I'm glad you enjoyed it too. I need to get back to them and fill in some of the gaps in their story, but in the meantime, their happily ever after phase makes me feel warm and fuzzy

Thank you! These two have been together for something like forty years story time by this point (and something like 25 years Real Life time ) so they have built up quite a history! I'm glad that their love shows through even without knowing their backstory.

 

This next vignette is sort of a follow up to Letters Across Hyperspace, featuring Ezra and Sabine reuniting five years after the Rebels finale.

Thanks to @Findswoman for beta reading
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....With No Space Between Us

“Ezra!”

“Sabine?! Is that really you?”

“Ezra!”

“Sab—Whoa!”

“‘Whoa?’ I’ve been waiting five years to kiss you, and all you can say is ‘whoa’?!”

“Well, it was kind of a surprise…I mean, I’m not complaining or anything, but I didn’t even think you… You’ve been waiting five years to kiss me?!”

“Yes, and I was hoping for something a little more than ‘whoa’ as your response.”

“Wait… hold on… Five years. When I left, we were… I mean, I always… but you… I didn’t think… This...this is not how I pictured this moment.”

“How did you picture it, then?”

“A lot less of me stammering like a moof-milker, for one thing.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I. Okay, so… I thought I’d be the one to see you first, Jedi senses and all that, and I’d call out to you. We’d run to each other and I’d catch you in my arms and just stand here holding you as long as I could. And we’d laugh and maybe cry when we realized this is really real and not just another dream.”

"You’ve given this a lot of thought."

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it.”

“Okay, then what?:”

“We’d go to the cantina on the other side of the marketplace and talk for hours about what’s happened to us since I left, and what Hera and Zeb and everyone are doing. And after we’d gotten all that out of the way, I’d tell you that there hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought of you—when I get up, when I go to sleep. I’d tell you I lost count of all the times I tried to catch a glimpse of you in the Force. That I wrote you a stack of letters even though I knew I couldn’t send them…because I love you, Sabine. I always have. I always will.”

“And I’d tell you that I have my own stack of letters. And that there hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought of you. Because when you were gone, I realized how much you meant to me—how much I trusted and relied on you. And I realized that I love you, too. So—once we told each other everything, what happened?”

“Well, that was kind of where I thought the kissing might fit in.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea. I’d hate to completely ruin everything you had planned, so…”

“I… I didn’t have anything planned out past this point, except, you know, more kissing. I guess I’ll have to make it up as I go along.”

“You were always good at that.”

“Yeah, well… Let’s make it up together, okay?”

“Deal. I love you, Ezra Bridger, and I’m not letting you get away again.”

“Good, because I don’t want to. Let’s go home, Sabine. I’ve been away too long.”

 

SQUEE! Sweet conversation even with all the initial stammering You can really sense that they've each given this a whole lot of thought and have been longing to find one another again.

 

Hahaha... things like that never go the way we have them built up in our minds. But that's okay, it generally makes for a better memory that way!
I love how Ezra had it alllll planned out. That's really sweet!
And the end -- perfect!

Edit: I just realized I'd read your second story and not the first!

I loved at the kitchen table! Such sweet memories! And yes, I feel like that many kids to feed is like feeding army!

I love this line! It gives so much depth to their lives together.

Beautiful job!

 

Sweet reunion.
Nice moment for these two but that's to be expected if they haven't see each other in five years.

 

It takes a lot to make Ezra speechless—maybe not quite as much to make him stammer like a mood milker —but Sabine manages nicely here. They get the reunion they’ve been hoping for, even if it doesn’t happen quite the way either of them had in mind.

From the message Ezra leaves the others at the end of Rebels, Ezra seems to know that he’ll be coming back, and that Sabine will be the one to bring him home, so I can just imagine that he’s gone through a hundred different scenarios over the course of five years. And that he’s rehearsed everything he wanted to say to get to that long anticipated kiss (which he’s probably been planning since approximately the moment he met Sabine!). But in the end, even if it didn’t proceed as planned, it is a moment they’ll both treasure.

Thank you! It was sweet to come back to Raissa and Doran and write them at a stage in their lives when they have so much of a shared history and a large and loving family together(something I’m sure you understand, having your own multi-generational saga )

Well, thank you! I enjoyed writing Doran and Raissa as an “old married couple”; the kitchen table prompt seemed perfect for them. They’re at the stage of their life together where love is more often warm and domestic than wild and exciting—which isn’t bad, just different The cookies are a bit of a recurring motif for them, something that’s always been a part of that warm and cozy side of love as they’ve built their family. As you note, it is all about family, and theirs has grown past anything they could have anticipated.

It’s still a pretty new ship to me; ironically I can see it more now than I did when Rebels was airing, probably because I was neck-deep in building the Marzra-verse then. But hey, I figure in an Infinity of Ezras, there’s at least one ‘verse where he and Sabine get together I think thoughts of Sabine (and the letters he’s written) have gotten Ezra through many long lonely nights by this point, and likewise for Sabine, who, like a true Mando, isn’t afraid to get right to the point by kissing him. Not what he expected, but definitely what he’d hoped for! And of course he’s still concerned about his Ghost-mates. Nothing’s more important than family, after all. Okay, kissing takes slight precedence over family news, but overall, Ezra’s ready to go home and start this new chapter with Sabine.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Ezra and Sabine have definitely been looking forward to this moment for quite some time!

Thank you! I enjoyed writing these little fics (and writing something short is always a challenge for me ). The list of prompts was so intriguing—and I have so many OTPs—that I couldn’t stop at one!

Ha! Yes, she’s had a long time to perfect her cookie-baking and defending skills Of course, Doran has had just as long to perfect his cookie-sneaking skills....

Aww, thanks! Doran and Raissa have always had a relationship that’s been based on respect, trust and friendship, and it’s really been a fun process to develop that initial friendship into love and have it continue to grow and deepen as their lives have changed I love how you phrased it in the bold part; that sums things up beautifully.

Yes, Raissa and Doran have reached a point in their lives when they know that where they are is right, it’s what they’ve been working towards their whole lives and now they can enjoy the life they they’ve built together. Ezra and Sabine are just on the edge of something new and exciting—it’s something they’ve hoped for but still a surprise!

The entire cast of Rebels lives inside my head. It’s handy, because then I can make them recite the lines I write. Usually they cooperate

Thank you so much; I am glad you enjoyed them!

 

So, by now you’ve probably realized that I can’t resist jumping around in my timeline The first idea that occurred to me for “...when you were drunk” was Kaz encountering the potent Mandalorian liquor, tihaar, for the first time, which, since he and Wren are sixteen in the current batch of stories, necessitated jumping a few years ahead. And then I came up with this, which is set at least five years after they meet....

...When You Were Drunk
“Wren! Wren! Hey...there you are!”

“Kaz? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be staying with the guys tonight!”

“I know, I know but I had to come tell you--“

“How much ne’tra gal have you had?”

“One? Two? I think? Just a couple and then your cousin Istvan got out that, um, that tee-haaaaar stuff.”

“Tihaar?! You've been drinking tihaar? How are you still standing?”

“Like this? Whoa! Oops...Heh, it’s okay, I’m alright.”

“You need to get to bed and sleep this off. Because if you’re too drunk to stand up tomorrow, I’m going to kill my stupid bucket-headed cousins. Slowly. Twice.”

“I’m fine, really! I feel great. And it’s okay, because your cousin was right, I can say it in Mando’a now. That’s what I wanted to tell you!”

“Say what in Mando’a?”

“Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome…”

“Wait, my cousins got you drunk on tihaar to help you learn your vows in Mando’a? That is the most...Mandalorian thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I know, right?! And it worked, I can say it all now: Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde….Wren?”

“You can say it… All of it…”

“It’s going to be my surprise for you tomorrow. Oh wait...um, surprise?”

“Very. Come on, cyar’ika, let’s find Ro and see if he can do anything about the hangover you’re going to have, because I want to hear you say it just like that in front of the whole clan tomorrow.”

“I love you, Wren.”

“And I love you. Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum.”
——————

Notes:

Ne’tra gal: a spicy, sweet ale similar to milk stout

Tihaar: a hard liquor made from fermented fruit, typically triple distilled, with a high alcohol content and strong taste

Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde: “we are one together; we are one when parted. We will share all. We will raise warriors”. The Mandalorian marriage vows.

Cyar’ika: darling, sweetheart

Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum: “I love you”, lit. “I hold you in my heart forever”

In case it isn’t clear by now, this vignette is set the night before Wren and Kaz’s wedding. I love the idea of awkward, cheerful, goofy Kaz marrying into a Mandalorian Clan. I imagine he goes through something like My Big Fat Greek Wedding (only with more pratfalls) as he tries to prove he can fit in.

 

This is so sweet!! Kaz learning the vows in Mandolorian!

I laughed so hard. That IS the most Mandalorian thing ever! And it kinda makes sense, sometimes not thinking about something so hard makes it easier!

I loved this! It made me happy! Great job!

 

Fantastic! Sweet! This dialogue-only style of ficlet is so absolutely a thing.

 

Funny scene.
Defenetly a Mandalorian thing to do. Wren mentions her cousins so I guess they are Tristan's kids then?

 

I'm so late to the party! Oh NO! I loved the cookies from the kitchen table and the deep love of the second one and that apparently drinking enough alcohol can make you learn an entirely new language. Now hopefully he won't forget the words the next day - or maybe he'll need another couple of shots just to restart his memory....

 

... With No Space Between Us

Aww, I had to come back to this one after reading Letters Across Hyperspace! I really like that the "space between" was quite literal for a while, and now that they're together again, Sabezra can start to close that distance both physically and metaphorically!

Yup, that's them alright! I can absolutely picture them saying this exact set of things.

... When You Were Drunk

LOL, the situation of a Mando bachelor party is absolutely a "When You Were Drunk" story if there ever was one, and Kaz is exactly the person that this would happen to. (Wren's vow to wreak havoc on the bucket-headed cousin crew is delightful, too. )

It kinda is!

Yay, adorable ending! And hopefully if Ro can save the day with a hangover cure, they'll even manage things without too much chaos.