Beyond - Legends Saga Before - Legends Before the Saga Beyond the Saga A Hundred Drabbles (UDC IX-Multi Era, Ensemble Cast)

@earlybird-obi-wan Thank you so much for commenting! I'm so glad you enjoyed this set focusing on young Luke and his family

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha As always, thank you so much for commenting! I really enjoyed writing this set so I'm really happy to hear that you found these to be excellent family scenes where different memories were connected to different beverages and drinking vessels

 

@amidalachick Thank you so much for commenting, and no need to apologize for falling behind. Definitely read at your own pace, because I'm always happy to get any readers and any comments at all, whenever they come!

I'm so glad that you loved my set for Week 7, and that you found it to be another fantastic look at Padme because I've been feeling recently that there is so much depth of Padme that can be explored in fan fiction and I feel like I'm beginning to tap the surface of that and hopefully can continue to dig deeper in the future.

The scene between Padme and Palo was honestly a very peaceful and beautiful one for me to write. I could almost hear the waves as I wrote about Palo's painting, so I'm so happy to hear that you could almost hear the music of the waves as well when you read the description of them. I really just love the sound of waves so much that I couldn't resist including that detail into my drabble.

Writing "Thrush" did make my heart sing just because it seemed like such a sweet father-daughter moment, and I'm so glad that it connected with you. "Barrel" was a much sadder piece for me to write, of course, but it's good to know that you found it so poignant since I wanted to convey the tragedy of the situation and the helpless sort of grief Padme experiences at the scale of this loss.

I couldn't resist writing a bit of sisterly bonding between Padme and Sola, and I like to imagine that Padme is able to truly relax and unwind around her family. To be herself and to just laugh in a way that is temporarily free of all responsibility. And I'm so glad that you liked the mother-daughter moment in "Beautiful Heirloom" as well since writing that drabble did warm my heart.

I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed Week 8 as well and that you felt the drabbles were sweet explorations of some of your favorite characters. I'll be revisiting Tatooine again with this week's set of drabbles although with a different cast of characters, and I hope you'll continue to find my use of the prompts to be great.

I definitely picture Beru as having a real tenderly, motherly side when it comes to Luke (I see her being the affectionate aunt to Luke while Owen is more of the stern uncle) so it was nice for me to have an opportunity to showcase her motherliness in "Cup" and "Mug."

So glad you got a laugh out of my depiction of Luke in that passage since I admit that I was grinning to myself as I wrote it. And I think Surly Sarlaac is just a perfectly Tatooine name for a drink...

I love the idea of japor bringing luck on Tatooine so I just couldn't resist integrating that detail into one of my drabbles, and I am with you and Luke in wondering why I have some stuff that I polish but never get around to using--stuff that is so valuable I just never use it at all. I am a strange creature indeed

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Title: Raised in the Sands of Tatooine

Characters: Anakin Skywalker; Shmi Skywalker; Watto; Jira.

Genre: General, Family, Friendship, Angst.

Era: Before the Saga.

Summary: Anakin lives with the heart of being raised on Tatooine.

Down to the Wire (or Explosive)

He hadn’t expected the consequences of cutting that crimson wire to be so explosive, Anakin thought ruefully after snipping the wrong wire in an effort to repair a broken droid into something useful.

“Are you trying to fix that droid or blow up my shop, boy?” Watto’s wings whirred in agitation. “I pay you to fix droids, not blow up my shop.”

Watto didn’t pay Anakin anything at all—work without rest and without pay was what it meant to be a slave on Tatooine—but pointing that out to Watto would only earn him a cuff to the ear.

Scary Speed and Blazing Crash

“Doesn’t going so fast in your pod ever scare you?” Anakin’s mom kissed a burn on his cheek that testified to another attempt at finishing the Boonta Eve Classic that had literally gone up in flames. The med droids had rubbed a cooling, healing unguent on his seared skin, but it still hurt until his mother’s chapped lips kissed away the pain.

“It doesn’t scare me to go so fast.” Anakin wished he could explain how free—how unlike a slave— he felt when he was flying fast. “It’s just the sudden blazing crash at the end that scares me.”

Thought that Counts

“Do japor snippets really bring luck to whoever wears them?” Anakin asked his mom as she stared at a stall full of jewelry she could never afford to buy. “Can wood truly make somebody lucky?”

“Maybe it’s not the wood that makes someone lucky. Perhaps it’s just thinking the wood is lucky that does the trick.” His mom turned from the stall, smiling at his questions. “Maybe it’s the thought that counts.”

“I’ll carve you a japor snippet myself.” Anakin slipped his hand around his mother’s, squeezing her warm fingers between his own. “Then you won’t have to buy one.”

Absorb the Light

“That’s a beautiful awning.” Anakin gazed admiringly up at the new awning stretched above Jira’s fruit stand.

“I wove it myself.” Jira’s wrinkled face shone with pride. “It’s not just meant to be beautiful but also functional, absorbing the light and heat of the sun so my skin doesn’t burn. Even the beauty on Tatooine has to be functional, remember that, Annie.”

Anakin promised he would, placed an order for two pallies and grinned when he saw Jira slip him an extra pallie for free. Clearly today Jira was going to pretend to be too old and senile to count.

Dream of Changing the World

Anakin longed to change the world so much it invaded his dreams. When he closed his eyes at night, images of escaping slavery and Tatooine himself and then coming back as a strong man—a warrior—to free all the slaves flared stark red in his mind, but he didn’t just free the slaves. He killed all the masters with a sword of scarlet light—a blade like the Jedi wielded— that cut cruelly and deeply as injustice. Yes, Anakin wanted to change the world so much he dreamed about it, and the intensity of his dreams made him shiver.

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Thank you so much for commenting I'm so glad that you found this to be a superb use of the prompts. I really wanted to showcase the everyday moments of Anakin growing up on Tatooine in this story as well as his dreams of freedom and his desire to throw off the chains of oppression. This week's collection definitely ended up being about freedom versus captivity and oppression, which was very interesting to explore.

 

@Cowgirl Jedi 1701 Thank you so much for commenting! The last drabble definitely packed an emotional punch for me as I was writing. It raised chills on my spine to imagine Anakin with a red lightsaber in his hands mowing down beings, but at the same time, I could understand how much Anakin wants to change his world and fight back against injustice. So it was a lot of emotion packed into one small space, which is I guess what drabbles are so good for...

@AzureAngel2 Thank you so much for commenting! Writing this set of drabbles was definitely an emotional roller coaster for me, and I'm flattered you think I was able to manage writing such a range of emotions beautifully. Thank you as well for the kind encore, and I hope you'll enjoy the next set as much!

 

@amidalachick As always, thank you so much for commenting! I'm so happy to hear that you thought this week's set was a great use of the prompts and that you appreciated the glimpses into Anakin's childhood on Tatooine. The line you highlighted was one of my favorites from this week's drabbles so I'm so glad it stood out to you as well. Podracing always seemed like it would be a great way for Anakin to have some sense of freedom when he was a slave, and it's awesome to know you felt I could capture some of that sense of liberty he has when Podracing.

Writing "Thought" did warm my heart, and it makes me so pleased that you found it such a sweet mother-son moment. I liked being able to show Anakin's sweet side in terms of carving his mother a japor snippet of her own.

I always liked how grandmotherly Jira treated Anakin in TPM, so I couldn't resist writing about her here, and having her slip Anakin an extra pallie just like a grandmother slipping a grandchild treats.

Change was very powerful for me to write, and I'm so glad that seems to have come through for readers as well.

Thank you again for your kind words, and hope you'll enjoy the next set as much!

 

Title: Out with the Old and In with the New.

Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi; Qui-Gon Jinn.

Genre: General; Friendship.

Era: Before the Saga.

Summary: Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon celebrate the Spring Festival and lunar New Year.

Late to the Party

“We’re going to be unpardonably late to the party, Master,” Obi-Wan shouted through the refresher door, glancing at his chrono and instantly regretting it. It showed in glowing, uncompromising numbers they’d ten minutes to arrive at the gala opening the two week celebration of Spring Festival their hostess, the Empress Wu of Tianjian, had invited them to attend. He’d been ready for fifteen minutes, but Qui-Gon was taking an absurdly long time to style his hair.

“Not unpardonably late but fashionably late.” Qui-Gon smiled, finally emerging from the refresher as Obi-Wan’s boot tapped the floor impatiently.

New Year Fireworks

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan arrived at the gala with enough time to greet the Empress Wu with deep bows and gift before joining the crowd gathered on the balcony to watch the festivities in the city square below. A mythical creature that looked like a cross between a Moraband serpent and a krayt dragon snaked a red and gold path through a parade of revelers. Crimson lanterns with yellow tassels and black ink characters to bring luck in the lunar new year being celebrated floated overhead. Above even the lanterns, fireworks of mythical creatures exploded against the dark sky.

An Appropriate Lucky Gift

It’d been a difficult task to find an appropriate lucky gift for Empress Wu. It had to be crisp, new, and in even numbers, not including the number four that in the native tongue sounded too much like death. It couldn’t be white, because white was associated with funerals on Tianjian. Nor could it be black or blue, colors of death on this planet. It had to be a bright hue— red or yellow— to bring happiness, wealth, and good fortune in the New Year, though Obi-Wan wondered who could be happier, wealthier, and more fortunate than an empress.

Strange Delicacies

“What’s this oddity?” Obi-Wan asked his Master after swallowing a briny bite of green food that looked and smelled like seaweed. He could imagine the green slivers wedging between his teeth and longed to brush them. It had been served to him on a silver platter by a polite waiter, and he now wished he’d never tasted it.

“Tianjiani sea-thread,” Qui-Gon murmured, ocean eyes dancing. “A delicacy on Tianjian. Our hosts are very fond of it, I believe.”

“Our hosts may be fond of it, but I’m not.” Obi-Wan was much less amused than his Master.

Farewell to the Old

“It’s an uneasy time between the old year and the new one.” Obi-Wan leaned on the balcony railing beside his Master, staring out at the fireworks cracking over the cityscape. “Do you think the fireworks are meant to banish the old year as much as welcome the new?”

“I do.” The flaming fireworks reflected in Qui-Gon’s gaze. “The ancient Tianjiani started lighting fireworks for the New Year to scare away evil spirits bringing ill fortune.”

“Evil spirits?” Obi-Wan quirked a dubious eyebrow.

“Tianjiani don’t believe in evil spirits anymore”—his Master shrugged—“but they still light fireworks.”

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha As always, thank you so much for your kind comments! I really wanted to convey a sense of a unique culture even in a relatively short amount of words and space, so it makes me so happy that you felt sense of culture shone through in this set of drabbles. It was really nice for me to imagine all those details of a culture and try to weave them into the drabbles in a way that felt deep and rich. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan bantering affectionately is always super fun for me to write and always brings a smile to my face, so I'm so glad you think I captured that so well in these drabbles. Thank you again for reading and commenting!

@earlybird-obi-wan Thank you so much for reading and commenting! The banter in this was very fun for me to write and brought a grin to my face, so I'm so happy to hear that you loved it as well!

 

Title: Entwined Memories and Interconnected Body Parts.

Characters: Anakin Skywalker; Padme Amidala; Obi-Wan Kenobi; Tru Veld.

Genre: General; Angst; Hurt/Comfort; Friendship.

Era: Saga-PT.

Summary: Anakin and his entwined memories and interconnected body parts.

Entwined Memories and Interconnected Body Parts

Skull Trophies

“Skulls.” A sweat-soaked Anakin emerged from the hot haze of sleep, voice hoarse from screaming as his mother was tortured in his dream. Horrific as his dream was, the true nightmare was what he found when he awoke: his mother dead and beyond his power to rescue.

As Padme pressed a palm to his forehead to check if he was feverish, he jerked away from her, muttering, “The Tusken Raiders take the skulls of their victims as trophies.”

But no Tusken Raider would take his mother’s skull as a trophy for he’d slaughtered the tribe that had captured her.

Spineless Friend

“Obi-Wan’s been appointed to the Council.” Anakin wished he could keep the blazing jealousy from his tone because what kind of man begrudged his best friend a promotion?

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Padme’s fingers tickled his spine. “He can advocate for you with the Council.”

“He can but he won’t.” Anakin shook his head. “He’s too spineless for that.”

“After all you’re complaining about him being too stubborn, I never thought I’d hear you complain about him being spineless.” Padme smiled.

“That’s the problem.” Anakin scowled. “He’s too stubborn with me and too spineless with the Council.”

Toothless Legislation

“What a useless piece of legislation.” Obi-Wan scrolled through a Senate brief at breakfast on his datapad as he often did. “It’ll do nothing to address the issue. It’s toothless.”

“Toothless?” a baffled ten-year-old Anakin hadn’t realized laws could have teeth.

“Meaningless words.” Obi-Wan glanced up from his datapad to offer this definition. “Words that give no incentive to comply or punishment for failing to do so.”

Seeking something to sink his own teeth into, Anakin pointed to the abandoned nilluk strips on his Master’s plate. “You going to finish those or can I have them?”

Confused Fibula and Tibia

“Which long bone is the slenderest in proportion to its length?” Anakin quizzed Tru, anatomy and physiology textbook opened to a diagram of the humanoid lower leg.

“The tibia?” Tru guessed.

“Nope, that’d be the fibula.” Anakin shook his head.

“Tibia. Fibula.” Tru shrugged. “What’s the difference?”

“The tibia is larger and bears more weight.” Anakin’s eyes roved over his friend’s thin, elongated limbs. “I wonder if that’s true for Teevans.”

“Of course it is.” Tru was remarkably confident for someone who a moment ago had confused the fibula with the tibia. “Our bones are just longer and more flexible.”

Cuts to the Bone

“This wind cuts to the bone.” Anakin drew his cloak tighter about him as an autumnal breeze tore through the forest surrounding him and Obi-Wan, shaking leaves in a thousand shades of orange, yellow, and red to the brown dirt below.

“I find a brisk wind invigorating.” Obi-Wan’s face was serene, but Anakin suspected it’d be as serene in a blizzard. No doubt, Obi-Wan would call a blizzard invigorating as well.

Before Anakin could hurl this accusation at him, Obi-Wan removed his cloak and tossed it to Anakin, wiping all memory of bitterness from Anakin’s mind.

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha As always, thank you so much for commenting!

The nightmare in the Skull drabble was so vivid that it gave me shivers as I wrote it, and you're totally right that Anakin will have a hard time falling asleep after that one.

With the spine and teeth drabbles, I admit that I had some real fun with the literal and figurative meanings of the words, since I love wordplay, and the nice Master/Padawan moment over breakfast did make me smile to write.

The scene between Anakin and Tru was fun to write for the teasing that you mentioned.

And I liked the last drabble because of Obi-Wan's kind and pragmatic gesture easing the cold that Anakin felt.

Thank you again for commenting, and I hope you'll enjoy the next set as much!

 

@AzureAngel2 Thank you so much for commenting! I'm flattered that you think I can capture so many of the different cultures across the galaxy. The potential rich world building of all the different planets in the galaxy is one of my favorite aspects of the Star Wars universe, so I'm happy whenever I can explore and showcase that.

I often picture Qui-Gon as having a sort of gentle smile on his face, so I'm happy whenever you can hear the smile in his voice.

I did take Latin in high school, so I admit that the Tusken Raider tradition may be inspired by the ancient Celtic tradition as described by the ancient Romans...

Thank you again for commenting! I hope you'll continue to enjoy this collection of drabbles as it continues!

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Title: Mustafar Fires

Characters: Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader; Padme Amidala; Obi-Wan Kenobi

Genre: Angst; Drama

Era: Saga-PT.

Summary: Anakin, his fortress, and his burning memories.

Mustafar Fires

Metal Fortress

Metal and minerals harvested from its lava: that was the only value Mustafar had, the only reason the Techno Union had bothered to acquire the planet three hundred years prior to the outbreak of the Clone Wars. When he was newly named—fresh from his slaughter at the Jedi Temple—Vader had come to Mustafar at his Master’s bidding and slain the heads of the Techno Union and other Separatist leaders. He had used the metal from their mines to build his own imposing fortress on Mustafar. The hard metal fortress reminded him of himself, whom he had to be.

Seismic Upheaval

Mustafar was a world in constant seismic upheaval. The tectonic plates continually scraping against each other caused the volcanic eruptions for which the planet was infamous. The seismic chaos had begun, Vader understood from his research, when Lady Corvax had thrust this once lush garden world out of orbit to be dueled over by the gas giants Jestefad and Lefrani. The warring influences of the gravity from these gas giants had made Mustafar molten. Lady Corvax had devastated a planet to save her husband. Vader understood that too. He would’ve watched the galaxy burn to save the woman he’d loved.

Forged in Fire

Metal was strong, but it only became strong by being forged in fire. Fire gave metal its strength and shape. Like metal, Vader had been forged to strength and shape in the fires of Mustafar. Fire had seared away the arm he hadn’t lost to Dooku and his legs. Fire had replaced his natural limbs with cybernetic ones. Fire had scorched his lungs and throat so that he could only breathe encased in a black helmet and suit. Fire had stripped away his soft skin, leaving hard burns behind. Fire had left him with a blazing hatred and flaming purpose.

Impenetrable Mask

Vader’s black mask and body suit were impenetrable. Alone in his suit, buried behind his dark mask, he was by himself and could pretend that he had always been so. He could imagine that he’d never had a mother to worry over him and kiss away the pain of his bruises and cuts. He could convince himself that he’d never had a best friend whom he’d tried to kill and who had abandoned him to die in a bed of lava. He could tell himself that he’d never had a wife he’d choked while she was pregnant with his child.

Shift in Body and Spirit

The shift in body and spirit that had overcome Vader as he lay in that blazing bed of lava had been no less severe than the one Musafar had experienced centuries ago when Lady Corvax ripped it out of orbit, swallowing it in flames. All memory of love and laughter was burned away from him, so that only a crust of callous cruelty remained. Any joy he’d once felt in Padme’s presence was replaced with searing jealousy. Any friendship he’d once felt for Obi-Wan turned to adamantine fury and a flaming desire for vengeance. He’d become the Mustafar fires.

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Thank you so much for commenting! I'm so glad that you found the history of Mustafar included in Seismic Upheaval to be fascinating and that you felt the rest of the drabbles, especially Shift, were gorgeously insightful. Shift was particularly moving for me to write so I'm happy to hear that it stood out to you.

@Cowgirl Jedi 1701 Thanks so much for commenting, and I'm sorry to hurt your heart. If it's any consolation, my heart was also breaking after I wrote this piece

@earlybird-obi-wan Thank you so much for commentingI'm flattered that you found this to be such a great insight into Vader and what he became as a result of Mustafar. This set of drabbles was definitely all about that introspection, which made it feel very heavy to write.

@AzureAngel2 Thank you so much for commenting These drabbles were definitely very intense ones for me to write, and I did want to capture the heat and violence of Mustafar and of Vader himself while also showing the ultimate tragedy of the Dark Side--the loneliness and despair that it inflicts. Vader's hatred and anger burns in this piece, in a sense, but so does his loneliness and despair, and the loneliness and despair might be where the true tragedy is.