Beyond - Legends Saga "A Brighter Sun, a Bigger Sky" | Song!verse AU | Kessel Run Challenge 2024

Title: “A Brighter Sun, a Bigger Sky”
Author: Mira_Jade

Time Frame: Everywhere! (post-RotS AU; my Song!verse)
Genre: Everything! (with more fluff than not, let's be honest)
Characters: Everyone! (with focus on the Skywalker family, and friends)

Summary: In another time and place . . .

Notes: This is my response to this year's Kessel Run Challenge, and boy, does it feel good to be back writing for SW again! All of the stories in this collection will be set in my Song!verse, which is an AU where Anakin Skywalker was not, and I quote, dumb and Sithy with falling to the Dark Side. It's not necessary to read anything prior in this 'verse to understand what's going on in this collection, but, if you're interested, you can find links to those stories beneath the spoiler tag below.

Spoiler: Stories of the Song!verse

• “An Old Song, Re-Sung” | The one that started it all! A complete RoTS AU short story where, and I quote: Anakin is not dumb and Sithy. From a certain point of view, at least.
  
  
• “Her Still, Small Voice” | The sequel to AOSRS. A Mara Jade origins story that is, unfortunately, on hiatus.
  
  
• "Even Without a Voice" | My answer to the 2018 DDC. Ahsoka's companion story to Anakin's, picking up right from her leaving the Jedi Order through just after the subverted events of RoTS.
  
  
• "In That There That Isn't Here" | This is something a little different for me. A Sintas Vel diary I started for the 2020 DDC. This is, as of now, another incomplete WIP, but one that I hope to start up again someday.
  
  
• "All That's Unsung" | A complete short story, set 3 years post-RoTS. Featuring Anakin and Padmé trying to have a date night, and Rex and Ahsoka babysitting the toddler twins.
  
  
• "So Few Things" | A WIP novel, set five years post-RoTS, focusing on Bly/Aayla Secura after the subverted events of Order 66.
  
  
• "And Dances With the Lilliadils" | A very special vignette featuring Jesse and Chyntuck's OC Nazmat Koch, written for the 2023 Spring Bingo.
  
  
• "Color Me Pink" | A complete, goofy short story written for the 2020 April Fools Challenge, featuring the preteen twins and Mara Jade building their lightsabers, set about 13 years post-RoTS. It mainly focuses on one of my OCs, Rhysa, and her relationship with Ezra Bridger. With bonus married and happy Aayla Secura/Bly on the side.
  
  
• "Our Hearts Were Never Meant to Kneel" | A Darth Maul and Mara Jade decathlon, written for the 2023 Summer Olympics.
  
  
• "Your Heart Will Catch Its Breath Again" | A WIP short story set 16 years post-RotS, featuring Darth Maul, Mara Jade, and a mission to Abeexis.
  
  
• "We Claim Our Own Landscape" | A WIP short story, set about 20 years post-RoTS, where Han meets the parents.
  
  
• "Antigravity" | A collection of short stories written for the 2023 Kessel Run Challenge.

Then, various odds and ends can be found in “The Rest is Silence”, "Our Love of Constellations", "Cut Into Little Stars", "The Courage of Stars", and "From Such Infinite Space".

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, but for the words! My title for this collection is a lyric borrowed from Claire Guerreso's Battle Cry.

---

Index ​

Week I: "Anakin Skywalker and the Peril in the Deep" | 29 years post-AOSRS | Anakin Skywalker & Mara Jade Skywalker, Meili Skywalker (OC), Neriyé Skywalker (OC)

Week II: "Ricochet" | 20 years post-AOSRS | Leia Skywalker/Han Solo & Luke Skywalker/Mara Jade, Anakin Skywalker, Chewbacca

Week III: "In Answer to the Aubrett" | ~15 years post-AOSRS | Zaed (Darth Maul) & Mara Jade

Week IV: "Memories of Water" | Times Bygone to Times Yet to Come | The Japor Pendant

Week V: "Soak My Wounds in Deep Blue Seas" | 15 years post-AOSRS | Commander Bly/Aayla Secura

Week VI: "With Another Burning Bright" | 46 years post-AOSRS | Jaina Solo/Jag Fel

Week VII: "The Jawa in the Closet" | 22 years post-AOSRS | Anakin Skywalker

Week VIII: "To the Sound of Dusk" | pre-AOSRS; TCW | Barriss Offee & Ahsoka Tano

Week IX: "A Few of my Favorite Things" | ~15 years post-AOSRS | Zaed (Darth Maul)

Week X: "The Eye of the Beholder" | 35 years post-AOSRS | High Admiral Thrawn/Ayesha Eskari (@Chyntuck's OC)

Week XII: "The Gravity of You" | TCW: The Wrong Jedi - 3 years post-AOSRS | Luminara Unduli & Barriss Offee & Ahsoka Tano



~ MJ

 

Author's Notes: For Week One, the prompt was:

• Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words that begins with this sentence: “The rain hadn’t let up in days, and all I wanted to do was scream.”

And, with that, let's dive right in.

---

Week I: “Anakin Skywalker and the Peril in the Deep”
(29 years post-AOSRS)​

“The rain hadn’t let up in days, and all I wanted to do was scream. It poured and it poured and it poured – which, let me tell you, made being stuck on a floating bit of slag from the wreckage of the Abominator in the middle of the Thansosian world-sea less than ideal.”

Wide, unblinking blue eyes stared back at him, and Anakin Skywalker couldn’t help but smile, thriving on the awestruck way that his nearly identical twin granddaughters fixed on his every word, waiting for the story to continue.

“By that point, I’d had enough with water to last a lifetime. There were times when it was hard to tell what was ocean and what was sky – especially at night – and it didn’t help that we were still being pursued by the Resurgenists on one side and hunted by the native saw-rays on the other.”

“Saw-rays?” Neriyé tilted her head to inquire.

“Saw-rays,” Anakin confirmed. “Huge fish – can I even call them fish? They can fly, too. Obi-Wan would know – with long, jagged noses and more teeth than seems necessary for any sub-sentient animal.”

“Wizard,” was Meili’s eager approval of that, even if her sister hesitated to agree.

“How did you escape?” instead, Neriyé settled on a more practical question.

For that, Anakin flashed a look of smug satisfaction. “Easy," he answered, "your father and I just had to find a way to feed Sidious’ goons to the saw-rays.”

“You did?” Meili breathed, just as Neriyé scrunched up her nose in a delicate expression of distaste. Punctuating her daughters' reaction, Anakin then heard from the doorway of the twins' room -

“Okay, that’s enough story time with Grandpa.”

“Aw, Mom!” Meili protested – throwing herself backwards on her bed with a dramatic sigh, “but Gramps was just getting to the good part!”

“Yeah, Red,” Anakin playfully echoed his granddaughter, “I was just getting to the good part.”

But Mara Jade Skywalker was, as ever, entirely indomitable. “You will not be the one they run to in the middle of the night," she pointed out dryly, "when they have nightmares about saw-rays hiding in storm clouds.”

“Nightmares?” Meili protested, clearly offended for merely the suggestion, and Neriyé too was quick to insist: “I wasn’t scared, either, Mama!”

“See – they’re not scared,” Anakin smirked at his former apprentice – only for Mara to raise a brow, little impressed. “They’re Skywalkers, after all.”

“It’s not scary, really – not when we know how the story ends!”

That, however, Anakin hadn't been expecting.

“You do?” he turned to Meili in surprise.

“Of course I do,” his granddaughter proudly revealed. “Mama saved you – she and Aunt Leia, too!”

“Mama is ten times scarier than any saw-ray,” Neriyé nodded quite matter-of-factly to agree.

“Mama is a hero!” Meili exclaimed – so earnestly that even Mara’s stern expression warmed, hardly unmoved as she was by the complete trust in her daughter’s innocent adoration. Anakin, for his part, could only sigh.

“Why do I feel betrayed?” he asked aloud to no one in particular – this had not been his intention when sharing this particular story, after all – and, for his words, a smile pulled at the corner of Mara’s mouth.

“Don’t worry, Master,” she said – a title she used but rarely since he’d become Father in truth as much as he'd long been in heart. “You’re still the true hero of the story.”

He slanted her a look. “Betrayed and pacified,” he muttered.

“Never that,” Mara assured – mollifying him with a kiss to the brow as she passed where he was seated to tend to her children. “Come now – bedtime,” she repeated, and her daughters – with only a last bit of grumbling on Meili’s part – dutifully obeyed.

“Just wait,” even so, Anakin whispered as he leaned down to kiss Meili goodnight, “and, next time, I’ll tell you the story about the gundarks.”

“The one where Aunt Ahsoka saved you?” Meili asked, her eyes bright.

“What? No!” he sputtered – well aware of the snort of laughter that Mara unsuccessfully managed to constrain, “I mean the other story with the gundarks.”

He was still grumbling by the time they left the twins' room – no matter how toothless his umbrage ultimately was – and Mara paused in the hallway to assure him: “You’re still my hero, you know.”

Even when she didn't need him to be, Anakin thought, with pride just as intense as affection in his heart – awed as he'd ever be that this was the remarkable woman who'd grown from the silent, tortured little waif they'd rescued from Sidious' clutches, all those years ago. “Thanks, Red,” he managed aloud, “you always know just what to say.”

Mara – perceptive as ever – nonetheless heard everything he left unspoken, and answered with her gaze. "Luke just commed to say that he broke atmosphere, and I’m making hot chocolate," she welcomed. "Would you like to stay for a cup?”

"How can I ever say no to hot chocolate?" Anakin happily accepted the invitation, and followed his daughter-in-law to the kitchen.

After all: to the hero went the spoils.



~ MJ

 

YES! This is most definitely the way! So thrilled to see you starting your Run off in such fantastic style with a return to the good ol’ SongVerse—and GRAMPS ANAKIN is the cherry on the cake! I’ve probably said it before, but I’ll say it again: you’ve got his voice 100% spot on, and I could hear Mr. Christensen’s voice in my head all the way through. He absolutely would tell “fish stories” of his heroic exploits to his grandkids—and they absolutely would hear how it really went down from Mom! The two Sky!Granddaughters are absolutely adorbs—twins and so different from each other, the matter-of fact Neriyé and the __ Meili who says “wizard!” (Much like her own granddad at her age! ) And I just ADORE the loving, bantering father-in-law/daughter-in-law bond you’ve established between Anakin and Mara—it’s always a treat to see a good in-law relationship in fanfic, as that’s a dynamic that doesn’t come up as often as it should—a good father-in-law should be his daughter-in-law’s hero! Both of these two deserve no more, no less (especially since they are both heroes, as the girls clearly recognize), and a nice cozy cup of hot chocolate is the perfect Skywalker culmination. Such a fantastic beginning that no doubt will set the perfect tone of feels, fluff, and love for the entirety of your Run—thanks so much for sharing, and color me very eager for more!

 

I have a few replies to share, and then it's onwards to Week Two.

Thanks.

​

Aw, thank you! It's been just as gratifying to write in this 'verse, I have to say, and I can't wait to share more!

SKYDAUGHTERS!!!! (They're just a requirement for any happy AU now, aren't they? )

I could just hear the TCW announcer in my head when I brainstormed it.

Heck yeah, it is.

Vi, they're just so precious and I love them with all the burning fire of a thousand suns.

lol, thanks! (I was lowkey inspired by Sansa and Arya Stark from ASoIaF, in all transparency, and couldn't resist playing on that dynamic. )

It's just biological at this point.

(Also, Gramps! )

He's always going to be a man-child himself in some ways, isn't he?

Right? There's such a sense of expectation from their heritage, for good and for ill - just as much as there's also that feeling that nothing can touch you and you're ready to conquer the world, especially at this age.

(That said, I need to write a follow-up drabble where there are nightmares but one twin will only go to mom and dad if the other agrees to go, too - obviously, just to support each other, of course. )

It's funny you should ask . . .

!

Omigosh, I completely agree! Especially before we got the canon from Zahn about how Mara and Darth Vader really (entirely realistically) felt about each other, theirs is a dynamic that's fascinated me for years now, too! Now, writing them together in this AU has been all sorts of gratifying.

There are just so many gundark stories at the end of the day, it's worrisome.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN!

It's powers are undeniable.

Aw, thank you so much! And thank you for hosting this challenge in the first place! It's proven to be a boon to my muse this year as much as it every year, and I can't wait to see where the prompts take us next!

Aw, thank you!

Spoiler

We have spoken, of course.

Because there can never be enough of Mara and Leia being awesome together, in any 'verse.

Everything's just how it should be.

So, so much!

Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I hope that you continue to enjoy these stories as they go!

Aw, thank you so much!

Hee, fish stories. (I'll show myself to the dad!joke corner of shame now - I'm just still channeling Anakin apparently. ) But that's such a compliment about getting the character's voice right, just as it ever is! Thank you!

Meili is definitely an heiress to her grandpa's legacy in every way! I do look forward to exploring their characters more as this collection goes!

Thank you. I do love writing the bonds between these characters, in every way, and am so happy to see them resonate!

And, as always, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to read and leave such kind feedback! I appreciate every word more than I can say.

All the good things, indeed!

Anakin loves being a grandpa, it's true!

lol, thank you! I will never get enough of writing their banter in this AU; never, I say.

*fist pump*

Success!

There are just so many to tell.

All of the Skywalkers would agree.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read, and leave your thoughts!



Alrighty, I will be back with more soon!

 

Author's Notes: Week Two's prompt was:

• Write a story between 400 and 800 words in which a character admits a secret to another character without directly speaking to them. Indirect means of communication are fair game.

This came in with an impressive cushion of -2 at 798 words, which I am rather quite proud of. And, as a bonus, it ties in with my Week One prompt when it comes to what really happened on Thansos during the Palpatine Resurgence Wars.

Enjoy!

---

Week II: “Ricochet”
(20 years post-AOSRS)​

“You're sure you can't be any more specific, princess?”

“Han, that’s not how the Force works.”

In answer, Han quirked a half-grin, and – no matter the seriousness of the situation – Leia smiled, understanding his aim.

Outside the Falcon’s viewport, endless grey skies above blurred with endless grey waters below. Thansos’ world-sea was just that: freezing at the poles and near-boiling at the equator, which made for a perpetual storm-cover that rumbled and sparked with bolts of white-hot lightning.

“You worry about the lightning,” Han had muttered when Chewie first rumbled his concerns, “and I’ll keep an eye out for anything with teeth.”

Yet, for all that the planet was almost entirely water-locked, it was peppered with a rugged array of barren volcanic islands. It was those they now searched, seeking -

Luke?

Father?

- only for silence.

Yet the search-zone cast by the wreckage of the Abominator was immense, Leia reminded herself, even before factoring in Thansos' staggering ocean currents. The storm from that first night had grounded the GAR’s rescue team, and now, two standard rotations later . . .

“Hey, none of that,” Han reached back for her hand, intuiting her thoughts. “We’ll find them; you’ll see.”

Gratefully, she squeezed.

“Luke’s tougher than he looks – and the Hero Without Fear knows I'd never let his ghost forget it if this was his final act.”

Anakin Skywalker, Leia thought, would survive for that alone.

So she once again sought that defining spark at the core of her – and its ever constant mirror. The Force was still so shadowed and cold in Darth Sidious’ wake, but, like the breaking of the dawn . . .

“Adjust heading by 3-3-0,” Mara Jade instructed, just as Leia felt -

“You got it, sister.” Obediently, the Falcon veered.

Standing behind Chewbacca, Mara had been quiet for hours; lost in the Force and hunting far beyond the physical realm. Leia had let her be, knowing that Mara’s skills in this particular area were far greater than her own – uniquely so.

Leia felt an undefinable flicker, and, to Mara, that transient whisper was instead a shout -

“0-2-0.”

. . . Father? Leia too searched . . . Luke?

"3-5-1."

“There!” Leia exclaimed in unison with Mara, and, over the crest of a dark atoll -

“ - a signal flame, I see it,” Han confirmed. “Though I wonder what they found to burn on a planet like this.”

Father! she exclaimed. Luke!

Leia!

Their mental greeting sparkled across her senses, firing like fusion at the heart of a star and reigniting her own sun. Feeling suddenly incandescent, she opened her heart and mind, until -

- Mara! Leia heardfeltsaw – and for the answering bloom of blissadorationrelief, she drew back with a flush, recognizing Mara’s presence in her twin's mind, unwittingly ricocheting from his consciousness to hers like a solar flare.

Only seconds later, they landed – and then Leia was flying down the ramp and straight into her father’s arms.

“I’m so glad you’re safe!”

Of course we are, was Luke’s unspoken reply, even as Anakin affirmed aloud: “Of course we are.”

You’d better be – resonated again from her twin – you still have to marry me, and I’m holding you to that promise.

It was only through years of Padmé Amidala’s patient teaching that Leia managed to hide her reaction. Perhaps somewhat pointedly, she slammed her shields down – but not before Luke's eyes flew wide, and her father too noticed -

“Hey there, are you okay?”

“Am I okay? I should be asking you that,” Leia finally managed – her brother and father both looked like castaways, storm-battered and sea-worn, and then there was that wonderful smell. Was that . . .

. . . was that fish?

“No, Chewie,” sure enough, Han noisily exclaimed, “I don’t want to try and eat it!” as they observed the makeshift fire that even now burned from the carcasses of the . . .

. . . oh, so that was a saw-ray.

Leia was suddenly very eager to leave this rock behind – her father and brother safely in tow.

I’ll always find you – you’re stuck with me, Skywalker.

Feeling the start of a migraine, Leia rubbed at her temples.

“I know,” Anakin caught her gaze, “they can’t keep a thought to themselves, can they? Come on, let’s get home, and then you and I can act surprised when they tell your mother.”

“Maybe you should hit the ‘fresher first, too," she wryly advised. "You smell like a days’ old Mon Calamarian buffet.”

Anakin winced. “If I never eat seafood again it will be too soon,” he grimly declared, just as -

“Seafood’s definitely off the menu for the wedding,” Luke gave up and said aloud to Mara – uncaring who overheard them – and -

- Leia couldn’t help herself: she burst into laughter, giddy and overwhelmed with relief once more.



~ MJ

 

Oh ho! I'm pretty sure I see what you did here! And man, I absolutely felt Leia's secondhand embarrassment ricocheting in the Force after what she eavesdropped on! What a bombshell! But in its way, of course, not an unexpected one, and it was all born of the bubbling-over excitement that Luke and Mara both have about their engagement. Of course Luke wouldn't be able to totally resist keeping quiet about it even literally and verbally—which meant you were able to accomplish the prompt twice within the same story, which was no mean feat and darn cool! I love the idea that Anakin and Luke get to go on missions together in this 'verse (father-son bonding for the win!—even if it means sometimes subsisting on not-totally-fresh seafood that makes Jyn's flash-boiled sandcrabs look like delicious delicacies). The SkySolo family banter is scintillatingly done, as always—and what a particularly priceless touch that Leia gets to be the one to deliver the line "That's not how the Force works"! Just perfect! A1 all around, and great work with a tricky prompt!

 

Aww, Anakin telling a story to his grandchildren! How cute

Getting into adorable overload territory here!

Very true that he will not be the one they run to with their nightmares

Nice little surprise and twist there. Especially with how utterly blindsided by it Anakin is.

Too true and too precious

Poor Anakin

So sweet Mara offers him this consolation.

What a perfect line.

Anakin just can't win this story time and I love it

How indeed? Wiser words were never spoken.

A great final line like the whipped cream on top of the hot chocolate

An excellent opening line that tells me exactly who is speaking because it is totally in Han's voice. And Han's voice continues to be completely on point throughout this entire story. Bravo!

You do a fantastic job creating the atmosphere and setting the scene here.

Aww, I love how Han can read her mind even though he is not Force-sensitive because he loves her, and that he instinctively offers her such comfort during a stressful time

And a happy ending with some delightful banter all around

 

Here I am with replies for all of your lovely comments, and then it's sestina time.

Thank you! I am having so much fun indulging all of these Skywalker family feelings, it's true.

For as awesome and wonderous as Force bonds are, there's definitely a downside - especially with one's sibling, that's for sure.

Thank you so much! It was a tricky prompt, but that was half the fun, and I took a great amount of joy in crafting this story to meet its exact specifications as best I could.

I thought of Jyn's flash-boiled sandcrabs too while writing about the saw-ray sushi. It's a veritable GFFA buffet.

And I too love the idea that Anakin and Luke get to go on missions and have all of the father-son bonding time. That's one of the joys of writing this happy!AU.

I was particularly proud of that line, I must confess - and all of the SkySolo family banter, that said.

Thank you so much for reading, and taking the time to share your thoughts, as always!

Thank you!

Aw, thank you.

*fist pump!*

I could receive no higher compliment as an author!

Check and check and check, then, I am more than happy to hear.

I COULDN'T AGREE MORE. And that's really one of the best parts about writing in this AU, to explore those relationships that could have been.

Thank you so much for the kind words, and the awesome feedback, as always!

OMIGOSH, YOU'RE RIGHT, THIS DOES NEED TO HAPPEN

They are Skywalkers through and through, for as much as their personalities contrast - and they are thriving on Gramps-Anakin's stories as much as he is on their telling.

TRUTH

Thank you! Vader and Mara is a relationship that has fascinated me for years now, and writing Anakin and Mara in this happy!AU has been all sorts of gratifying.

Thank you! As soon as I read the prompt, I knew that I wanted to write a mash-up of Force bonds, and the rest of the story flowed from there - especially after writing my Week One story!

lol! Han the gossip is now an idea that scintillates me and I may have to write something along those lines.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and leave such awesome feedback, as always! It's truly wonderful to have you along for the ride!

I was powerless to resist the cuteness myself when my muse first brainstormed the idea.

Success!

So true.

I do enjoy blindsiding Anakin as an author, I can't even lie.

So true!

Have I mentioned that I really enjoy picking on Anakin as an author?

Zahn really did give us the gift that keeps on giving with the Skywalkers and hot chocolate, and I am all too happy to carry that tradition on!

Aw, thank you! There is no kinder praise for an author than that.

I do love setting up atmosphere and scenery, it's true.

THIS! I love that this stood out to you! Because, especially in a story that focuses on Force bonds, this is exactly what I was trying to say through this line in particular with Han and Leia.

Thank you so much for reading, and for taking the time to leave such kind words!

Don't mind if I do, then.

Call-sideways for sure. (call-askance, even )

I went from to so quickly here! Yes, we do need more EtF!AUs where they're alive and happy. (H/L was most excellent in your Regency AU, that said. )

Aw, thank you! I do love setting the scene, so to speak, I really do.

This is something I thought so often through your own AUs, and I love dabbling in it myself, all of these what could have beens! (Especially for Han and Anakin's kinda-sorta-rivalry - gosh but that is an idea that gives me life. )

Why yes, I do know. And your A+ portrayal of twin bonds was very much in my own mind -

- especially here.

FACT

VI, I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH

SPEAKING OF WHAT COULD HAVE BEENS THAT WILL ALWAYS HAVE MY HEART

I loved writing this mash-up cuddle-pile of psychic joy.

YEP

I really do need to make up a proper Song!verse Index one of these days. But no, I have not . . . yet, and that is definitely a plot bunny waiting in the hutch.

Not one bit.

Oh, I think that that's definitely something I can do . . . depending on the prompts.

You sly hostess you, just you wait!

~ T R A S H K I N G ~

And the funny thing is that I originally intended that line completely unironically - he just loves how much his granddaughters adore him.

I was very much thinking of that episode in TCW where Obi-Wan was completely fascinated by the xenophysiology of the brain-worms that were about to burrow into their heads on Geonosis, and Luminara just gave him that look that said that he was more than a little bit out of his mind.

She's very sensible that way.

Mara is definitely the brains in her family.

The trashiest, long may he reign.

It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

*curtsies*

Why thank you!

ALL OF THIS

I actually had another hundred words or so that didn't make the cut about the practical aspects of such a search and rescue on a planet like Thansos, even with all of the extreme technology at the GAR's disposal - like, that extreme technology didn't stand up against Hoth being such an unhospitable environment, and they still had to do manual fly-overs to find Han and Luke the next morning, which was forefront in my mind when I composed this scene. I like it when technology and superpowers like the Force supplement the narrative, but all within reason - which is always a tricky balance to maintain, so I was thrilled to hear that you thought I pulled that off here.

I'd bet anything that Luke already has to Han, at that.

You know that I agree with every word of this, too - and your writing was at the forefront of my mind, thinking about Mara and her particular skills with the Force when it comes to mental communication across such a distance.

Juuuust a bit.

The poor girl was doing so good keeping her face composed that she completely dropped the ball mentally.

Coming right up!

 

Author's Notes: The prompt for Week Three was to write a sestina. I, of course, could not resist the challenge any more so than I could resist giving Zaed (Darth Maul) a chance to wax poetical about his not quite redemption.

For those who may be unfamiliar with my Song!verse, but are nonetheless curious, all you really need to know is that Darth Maul is on a somewhat grudging path to the light, with the help of an unlikely friend in Mara Jade. You can read more about their story in Her Still, Small Voice; Blooms in Adversity; Let Every Little Fracture Shatter; Our Hearts Were Never Meant to Kneel; and Your Heart Will Catch Its Breath Again - along with the drabble sets Sunlight Warm Upon My Face and How Do We Teach Eyes to Close, Bones to Disappear?

Enjoy!

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Week III: “In Answer to the Aubrett”​

What is a voice, you ask, if not uttered aloud?
What is a voice in silence – hushed vacant muzzled;
your mouth not a temple for sound, but to hold teeth;
your body made for war, your hands for taking.
I knew my Master’s voice for so long –
too long, that now, I have no words of my own.

What is a will, yet you bid, if not of one’s own?
What is action if not choice – for I spoke aloud
even in silence – thunder-crack loud and empty o'er long,
even if he never thought me anything but tongueless and muzzled.
I took and I took and I took – am even now taking –

I have taken for too long, not to be known by my teeth.
Stop that, you say, an animal may be known by their teeth –
yet you are you, yourself, with a name of your own.
You were taken, and taken from, and for that taking
you worshiped the hand that choked bled silenced you aloud.
You forget – were never aloud to remember – that muzzled
does not mean you must leash your mouth for long

er than it takes to turn the key – before long
you will remember that you are more than fists and teeth;
you will remember that you are not a monster to be muzzled
but sentient-minded and aware – a knight guardian soul of your own;
you are a song unsung, waiting to be lived aloud;
you are your own self for your own taking.

Yet for what purpose, I challenge, for what design in taking?
I lived by my own will, directing my own steps, if not for long;
I rent and I ruined and I raised my voice from my own lungs aloud;
I slashed and I tore and I – took took took – bared my hungry teeth.
Even without a whip at my back, with no master but my own
self, I chained, and even he – nameless brother apprentice – I muzzled

Don’t you see? Even my devotion (love) is savage – muzzled,
poured out and empty, no mater how I take take take – and am ever taking –
He was right, you know: a beast can never thrive on its own.
No matter your kind words, I have been all that I am for too long
not to make fists from claws, not to rend flesh from bone with sharp teeth.
I am a tired old monster, and I have no voice left to give aloud.

Yet what beast is aware of his taking and voices those fears aloud?
What monster gnashes muzzled lips, canny of the danger of their teeth?
You are not the dark of the night, but its own, hesitant dawn – or shall be, erelong.



~ MJ

 

You wrote the sestina! The sestina! I am in awe

That first line really grabs my attention. Wow!

Another very powerful line.

This feels so real and heartbreaking

A heart wrenching description.

Such strong and harrowing verbs here.

A super powerful line.

Thanks for sharing a sestina that resonated with me from beginning to end