Saga Jedi Snapshots 2 (JA short stories - humor/serious)

Gimme an I!

 

I!

 

Ummm, sis... surely you've missed something... like the U...?

*Jem & Calam start arguing... Calam moves one place up with the U to stop her sister making a prat of herself...*

(j/k sis!!)

Loving this Marnie!!!

 

Yeah, Calam just pointed out that I have just confused all the guards and baffled Qui into submission, because U does in fact come before I in Qui-Gon. I can't spell!

Unless it's his good looking younger brother, Qiu-Gon! One for both of us, Leona!

Gimme a...what's the next one?

Gimme a bar of chocolate, somebody!

 

Yes! Somebody PLEASE give Jem some chocolate!

 

A prat???!!!

*Jemmy snatches the G from whoever is standing next to her and whacks Calam in the face with it*.

Gimme a break!

Go Qui! *G*

 

Well, I could try posting Jemmiah one of my double-chocolate Devil's Food Cakes, but I don't know how well it would stand the trip up to Scotland.

Marnie, it's sad that Jemmiah feels herself somehow unworthy of Qui-Gon, that she has so little real self-confidence. It's also touching that that is partly because she admires him that much. I do like your own characters in this, too. You've got some good characterisation and some solid motivations in there. Riarda at first looked like a wet lettuce, and then turned out to be far more- just before he died. Tunnoka is another good character in that he clearly has his own code of honor even though he's not a nice person. Hana's reactions were well written. Even Tawaline had her moments .

So, how are you going to wrap things up? Any more twists in this particulat tale?

 

LOL! There's a riot in the stands I'm so happy! As for more twists, I don't know yet - I'm making this up as I go along

The Price of Freedom; continued

The touch of the collar was an infection. It crept into every part of him, dimming his sight, dulling his senses. His back felt strained by gravity, his legs weak, and his heart laboured. A man buried alive could not have cried out more desperately for light and air than his spirit cried out for the Force.

Walking was meaningless. Fighting was meaningless. Carrying on living was meaningless. Jemmiah was...

He looked down wearily at the small, closed face. Her eyes would not meet his. She twisted the strap of her helmet back and forth, wringing it. Still in her fugue of shock and regret. QJ felt as if he was in the prison of misery with her - cut off from everything that made existence worthwhile.

Jemmiah was not meaningless. Jemmiah was depending on him.

He tied the inhibitor closed, his fingers clumsy from touching its vileness, staggered, held himself upright only by clinging to the shoulder of a guard. The man looked at him with barely concealed horror.

None of them understand what this is doing to me.

"This is..." Even his voice was unsteady, "Like having the air taken away. I can't breathe." Aware of how pathetic he looked he braced himself, faced Tunnoka with whatever dignity he had left. "Give me a moment to get used to the sensation."

"Of course. I wouldn't want anyone to say I took advantage of you."

Relaxed, confident, Tunnoka shrugged his jacket off and gave it to one of the pages. Another of the droids was marking out a chalk square on the ground within which they would fight. Quite a crowd had gathered by now - servants were even putting out chairs for the ladies. Qui-Gon was forceably reminded of the Malastare gladiator pits, though here he doubted if the match would go on long enough for refreshments to be served.

He knelt. Long ago, as a padawan, his master had made him train like this - cut off from the Force. Cut off from the Force! The choking sensation rose up again to claw at his throat. His heartbeat speeded, and he slowed it with deliberate, meditative breathing. He had trained like this before. He could do it again. My inability to feel it does not mean it's not there. It was just a matter of finding the appropriate memories.

"Are you ready?"

He rose, letting his cloak fall, bowed to the onlookers. Someone had found Jemmiah a chair - she sat next to Dubal's wife, fists on her knees, staring forward into emptiness. She does *want* to come home, doesn't she?

It was a bit late to worry about that now, when the hope was all he had left. They could discuss it later. If he survived. "Yes," he said, "I'm ready."

*****

Smack! The crack of a bone breaking. Jemmiah couldn't bear to look. Couldn't bear not to look. A glance showed her Qui-Gon, bent over clutching his side. He looked slender beside Tunnoka, overmatched, face drawn and sickened under the touch of the slave restraint.

Everyone who tries to help me, she thought, looking at the collar, Ends up like this. A slave, and then...then... She looked away before she had to watch it happen.

*****

Qui-Gon straightened against the pain. He half expected the punch to his jaw that followed. Block the punch, knifehand to the great artery in Tunnoka's neck - it should have knocked him unconscious instantly, but brawn was thick around the vein, protecting it. Dubal only stumbled briefly, shook his head, and came back snarling, with a body blow it almost hurt more to block than to absorb.

The broken rib flared in agony as he jumped over a kick. Bending forward filled his lungs with the taste of blood. Breathing came hard - as though the jagged point of bone was sawing flesh each time he inhaled. Not much time. He felt desolate and heavy without the Force. Unable to heal or endure. He would have to finish this fast.

But Tunnoka was

 

Wow, Marnie! That was superb. The way you described how Qui-Gon felt as if he couldn't breathe without the force, and how he wondered what the point was of carrying on unless Jemmiah wanted to come back was just incredible. A spectator sport - urgh! Imagine making Jemmy watch that, sitting on a chair next to the lady of the household. And Quiggy won! YAY!!! Tunnoka dead under his foot like he imagined his revenge might be...shiver time! Maybe it was a glimpse of the future rather than what he actually wanted, but still I'll bet he wonders!

But will they be able to get away now, or will someone else object?

 

Just upping this incase anyone missed the big moment... (and I'm not talking about me hitting Calam with the 'G')

 

This is a tiny post just to finish that last bit off. It's the school holidays, so I doubt if I'll be able to get to the computer with more this week. Blast!

****
The Price of Freedom,

He loosed the collar, dropped it on the ground - astonished even after so short a time of deprivation by the amount of light there was in the world. Its clank on the stones was loud, inappropriate, in a courtyard full of people who could not believe their eyes. Guards' faces were washed blank with shock. Dubal's wife sat with her hands over her mouth. Jemmy looked up at him as if she loathed everything he was. Yes, Jemmiah, I'm a killer too. It was the first time she had had to see it.

The only thing unfrozen in the tableu of disbelief, he walked over to where the ladies sat, waited until Lady Dubal looked up at him. I did not want revenge. And now I have it, I hate it.

Their eyes met - a sensation of ice and extreme delicacy - and he bowed. "Your husband was an exceptional fighter. I regret I could not have defeated him in any other way."

She had been dazed, now she hardened. "Spare your regret. He would not have offered it for you." With a small gesture she dismissed Jemmiah, "I honour my husband's last oath. Take the little slut and go. She has brought nothing but misfortune to us."

Still with the sensation of unreality, as if moving in a dream, unsure if everything is about to turn horrifying or simply disappear, QJ offered his hand to Jemmiah. "Lets go home."

It was a hard thing, he knew, to watch someone kill for you. A hard responsibility to bear. He could see it in the dulled tarnish of her copper eyes. For a moment she stared at his fingers as though they were coated in gore.

"Tangles, please."

Perhaps it was the novelty of being given the choice. After an instant of rejection which hurt much deeper than the broken ribs, she stood and allowed him to lead her out through the gates. But she remained mute and sullen, and she would not take his hand.

****

 

That was powerful, Marnie. Absolutely, utterly powerful.

 

Uh-oh! So QUi-Gon has won the battle, but I doubt if he's won the war... that last bit was so heartbreaking. I ached with Qui-Gon as well when she initially seemed to reject his offer to take her home. And it was sad how she realized that he was a killer too. Looks as if Jemmy's inner deamons are being realised.

That was wonderful, Marnie

 

Hurray! Half term is over and there's some sanity back around the place As for this story - it just won't go away


The Price of Freedom; continued


****

"The results have come in." Tawaline hesitated in the doorway, though her perfume stole into the room and filled it with flowers.

Jemmy raised her head slightly from where it was pillowed on her knees. "Oh."

"You're not pregnant. They don't think he ever touched you."

She put her head down again, looked out onto the garden passively. "Oh."

The older girl gave a strangled cry of annoyance, surged into the room. Tawaline was stately in her many skirts, like Riarda's mother, and there was something of the same ruthlessness in the way she pulled the shutters over Jemmy's view, stood, hands on hips, waiting for something. "Is that all you're going to say?"

"What do you want me to say?" Jemmiah wasn't sure why she was still afraid, why she felt so broken. It was all over now. Riarda hadn't touched her, so everything was back to normal between herself and Master Jinn, wasn't it? Why then did she never want to see him again?

"What I want?" Tawaline had opened her wardrobe and was throwing garments onto the bed - the colourless, anonymous, Jedi clothes she had earlier scorned. "I want you to tell me you don't blame me for what happened."

Jemmiah laughed, surprising herself, "I don't blame you. You're not the one who forced me to come here against my will, even though he knew I was afraid."

"But what you were afraid of didn't happen." Tawaline stopped short of trying to strip Jemmy from her nightclothes. Instead she moved into the adjoining bathroom, drew hot water, put out soap and combs with determined energy.

"Something else did." Jemmiah said, annoyed, "That was just as bad. If he hadn't insisted, I would be safe at home, and Riarda wouldn't be dead."

"Poor little Pietr would still be rotting in a dungeon." Tawaline retorted sharply. "I would have been taken instead. Morgien would be at war with the Draconi, Kiffan would be at war with Tunnoka over me... And you would never have known what your guardian was prepared to go through to get you back."

"It's what he did for me that I'm having most difficulty forgiving him for."

She could not get the feeling of whiplash out of her back, and her forehead was bruised from the blow which broken her husband's neck. No matter what she listened to, underlying it there was always the muffled crack of a throat being crushed under a man's boot. She could not forget the look of calm on Qui-Gon's face as he snuffed out that life.

Master Jinn is as cold-blooded a killer as Merdan ever was. Maybe even more. Where does that leave me?

****

Lord Kiffan turned from the window to prop his foot against an embroidered stool. Already he behaved as if he was at home.

"There." Kaemon pressed his seal to the last document, pushed back his chair and smiled. "This is a new dawn for us. Together, Kiffan and I have allied with the Draconi. We will be a force so strong no one will dare attack us."

He cocked his head to look knowingly at Qui-Gon, "And Pietr insists that our alliance should not start any wars. So for the first time in generations we have a chance for a real peace. This is your doing, my friend."

"I was a tool," said Qui-Gon without much bitterness, "That's all. Will the wedding be tomorrow?"

"Yes. You'll be the guest of honour."

Sometimes, Qui-Gon thought, it was ..wearing.. that your own problems were so invisible. Sometimes it would have been nice to have a shoulder to cry on. "Kaemon, I think a wedding would bring back bad memories for Jemmiah right now. Would you be very insulted if we didn't attend?"

"How is she?"

"I don't know. She won't talk to me."

"What?" Kaemon was incredulous. "You risked your life to save her. Doesn't that count for anything?"

"Apparently not." Qui-Gon caught himself, heard how sullen he sounded. He had always been something of a championship sulker

 

WoW!

*sorry, speechless, can't think of anything more to say*

Kithera

 

Stunning post Marnie!

Neither know what to say or do, but I hope for their sakes that they figure it out.

 

The insights into Qui-Gon's padawanship were wonderful, especially the way he had learned to combat stress and how he was using it in his present situation. Liked how his mind and body seemed to argue! I felt bad for the way Ara was so scared, and I could sympathise with Tawaline seeking to draw Jemmy out of herself too...but now what will Qui do? How is he going to explain in a satisfactory way that he unfortunately has to kill people from time to time in his line of duty? If Jemmy thinks he's like Merdan then Qui's got a struggle on his hands, but no doubt he will manage it somehow!

Wonderful post!

 

Oh, wow. Everything- Jemmiah drawing parallels between Merden and Qui because she saw only what was on the outside, not what was going on underneath the Jedi mask- and Qui-Gon knowing that that was probably the problem; Qui-Gon finding a way to send Ara away that the girl could cope with; Hana's gratitude and guilt; Qui-Gon waiting until he was alone, his thoughts that he was somehow letting the Order down by being only human; even Pietr's insistance that the alliance should stop war, not start it- all wonderful, Marnie.

 

Thankyou everyone for some wonderful comments! I only hope the ending doesn't let you all down. Yes, unbelievable as it is, this is the last part Hurray!

The Price of Freedom, - end

*****

Ow! ow, ow, ow, ow! "Oh chuuba!" Jemmy bared her teeth and cursed as softly as she could manage, cradling her throbbing hand and dancing with agony. Her knuckle was swollen and split - it had not been a good idea to try and deform the kriffing ring by hitting it with a wrench. But I can't get the *sleemo* off.

She was back in Jedi clothes, and against Ben's pale sleeves the wedding ring looked even more of an outcast's brand. She wanted rid of it. She wanted rid of the memories and of all the things that had changed. She wanted the universe to go back to how it was when things were simpler. Back to the days when you could tell the good guys and the bad guys apart, just by looking.

But the platinum band was snug, and the flesh of her hands bunched as she tugged at it, so all that happened was the new edges cutting into her knuckle, marking her with the line of a ring in blood.

A ring of blood. Yes, that's exactly what it is. Riarda's blood, Tunnoka's blood, and ..oh frag it.. it could have so easily been Qui-Gon's.

No, she wasn't going to think about Qui-Gon; about how blasted calm and untouchable he was, how he never suffered guilt or remorse, how she hated herself because even now she knew he was a trained killer, she still couldn't stop caring about him.

Stupid, stupid man. '"Leave me alone!"' she'd said to him as she came on board. '"Just go away."' And he - stupid man that he was - had left her alone and gone away. Didn't he understand anything?

She stormed into the cabin's small fresher, squeezed a palmful of runny soap into her hand - Should have thought of this before, make it slippy, - rubbed it over her finger.

"EEEaaaarggghhh!" Detergent filled the cuts with scouring flame. Pain shot up to her elbow, all the tendons rigid as her whole forearm felt as if it had been filled with acid. She looked down at her bleeding, purpled knuckle and couldn't - could not - bear the thought of forcing the sharp edged metal into it again.

"Oh! Oh..." she had no curse strong enough, "You...!" Lifting the bloodstained shiny hand she smashed it into the mirror. "Maybe I should just cut the fragging finger off!"

"Jemmiah?"

Qui-Gon had not come into the room. He stood just outside the doorframe, one hand resting on the chime. Why didn't he come in? It wasn't like she could have stopped him or anything. And why did he look so...so scared?

"Jemmiah, you screamed. What's wrong?"

Abruptly, at his look of helplessness, she realised one of the things which did make him different from Merdan's men. Even now, if she told him to go away, he would. She had power over him. Maybe it was only power he allowed her to have, but it was real nonetheless. If she didn't want him to come in, he would not.

She moved into the centre of the room, held out her hand to him. "I can't get the kriffing thing off."

He was at her side in an instant, taking the mauled hand into his to examine it, eyes and mouth thin with sympathetic pain. "Gods, Jemmiah. One of the fingerbones is broken. Why couldn't you have asked for my help before you did this to yourself?"

Silence. One of those undersea moments of drowning in time. She looked at her guardian, hunkered down in front of her, her injury cradled on his calloused palms. How many times had these hands killed for the greater good of the galaxy? How did he bear it?

His question pressed her, and she breathed in, surrendering. "Because I'm afraid of you."

A terrible, unforgivable thing to say, let alone feel, after everything he had done for her. Now he would turn from her. He would get up in contempt and leave the room, and it would be as if she'd told him about the other thing - her defilement. Force help her, because however much he scared her, she didn't want h

 

Excellent story, Marnie! I loved the way you wove in the symbol of the broken circle and made it stand for a daughter restored, instead of a child lost. The story at the end was good and true as well. Danger really is the price of freedom.

 

That was a truly amazing story Marnie! The end was in no way disappointing, far from it - it was perfect. I thought the way you had Jemmy realize that she cared about Qui was very realistic, and how she never thought it possible he might be scared at all. And the ring - the broken circle - was my favourite bit of the post. And Obi trying to say 'I told you so' all the time like Jemmy predicted was hilarious. I hope Jemmy will take Qui's story onboard. Something tells me she will!

Loved every minute of it, Marnie

 

Stunning story Marnie!

What a lesson to be learned. Let's just hope that both Obi-Wan and Jemmiah take it to heart.

I love the part where Jemmiah was trying to take off the ring. I guess because I've been there struggling to get a stubborn ring off before!