Before - Legends Distant Whispers | Kessel Run Challenge 2023

Sheesh, that Selkath clerk is as friendly as a prison door, like they say in French! Not the best customer service, and for those of us who know what the widow is capable of, probably not the best idea either I loved the snide comments ("how original", "daring today"), the side note about Tarisian ale and of course the fishy sigh and the various allusions to her piscean nature.

I'm curious to find out what this particular colour pattern is intended to mean, but I'm sure I'll find out in due time in EotOR

 

This was a really fun set of stories, thanks for sharing!

The first one is sad and a little ominous, with only hints at why Jolee and his family live in hiding. "Friends" as a cause of nightmares is definitely troubling, and to know that his parents are worried by something he isn't told about must be a strange way to live. From what I gather this has something to do with your longer epic, which I'm definitely adding to the TBR pile.

Old Man Sheev = Sido-Dyas is absolutely brilliant, and I really like how you managed to make him similar enough to Palpatine's public face that you wonder if this is the person old Sheevy could have become, in a different universe. And Mara as Leia who is Bo-Katan (!) and Anakin's kid, the cause of everything seemingly being a Mandalorian conflict and not a Jedi/Sith one... this is just fascinating and if there's ever more that would be awesome.

 

First of all, I have to apologize for not leaving feedback sooner. I read your first piece, Friends, when you posted it for the Kessel Run, and I really should have said something at the time because it is a lovely piece that I quite enjoyed. I know you haven't been around in a while, but I hope you'll see this somehow and know that there are still multiple people who would love to read more from you!

I really enjoyed the way you set this scene, and that it was this detail - the specific way his father was breathing - that woke the boy, rather than the thrashing or the words.

Great description here! I think we all know that exact look from our own childhoods, or from the children in our lives currently.

I love this observation. For some reason, this type of detail in fiction just gets to me on an emotional level that I can't properly explain. There was a scene in, I think it was Saving Private Ryan (it's been a while, I might be remembering wrong), where one of the characters talks about how his mother would come in and say goodnight to him and he would pretend to be asleep even though he knew she wanted him to respond, and he didn't know why he did that... and this whole opening scene had a similar quiet/melancholy vibe to it that really struck me as authentic and lived-in, if that makes sense?

This could be reflecting a child's POV of that uncanny precognition parents seem to have, or it could be a reference to what I suspect is the father's - and possibly also, the boy's - Force sensitivity, and I love that you don't make it immediately clear which of those it is. In fact, it could very well be a combination of both those things.

Again, you do such a great job of setting not just the scene, but the mood as well. Plus the writing itself is just lovely.

The pacing throughout the piece, the way you withhold information and dole it out by turns, is all so well done.

Oh.

After double checking the timeframe for this story, this was where I started to suspect I might know who the father (and the mother) were, although upon rereading your author's notes today, I see that this story follows from a dark side ending for both KOTOR games? In which case, I could very well be wrong in my guesses, it's been quite a long time since I actually played through a dark side ending of either game. My initial (and probably predictable) guess was that the father and mother were none other than Revan and Bastila, but now I'm not so sure. Looks like I'll have to check out the longer fic!

Everything about this was so tactile, I could feel myself there. I really appreciate stories that focus on these quiet moments between characters, and it's impressive that you were able to bring this scene to life so well. And it makes me all the more curious to know more about this family.

JOLEE! This was another detail that made me so sure he was Revan and Bastila's child, but like I said above, now I'm not so sure. Either way, this was a lovely, quiet, reflective piece from a time period that I haven't delved into in a long time but nevertheless have fond memories of, and I'm definitely interested to read more about these characters, if/when you have the time! Very well done!

 

This is simultaneously evocative and familiar, a bit of everyday life that remains the same no matter the place or era - who hasn't been awakened by a nightmare, or witnessed someone we love do so, or been a parent whose appearance of invincibility cracks in such a moment, or a child who sees the crack and wonders?

I do like the phrase "vast stellar tapestry." It's also such an effective setting of the scene, as well as piquing the readers' curiosity as to what, exactly, the parents are looking for, or why.

There's so much mystery here; it definitely draws the reader in and makes us want to know more about these characters we've only just gotten to know, and that's quite an accomplishment with only a thousand words. Very nicely done