Saga Saga - PT Saga - ST Location, Location, Location - Kessel Run Challenge 2025, explorer OCs

Title: Location, Location, Location
Author: Thumper09
Characters: Probably mostly OCs
Timeframe: Maybe some Before, maybe some PT, maybe some OT, maybe some ST, who knows
Summary: Let's go exploring.
Notes: This is my thread for the 12-week Kessel Run Challenge for 2025.

As with all Kessel Runs, I'm not entirely sure where this thread will go, much like the characters aren't sure where they're going either. I'm hoping to follow some of my OCs like the Antarian Ranger from my recent drabble or the Resistance scout from my short story "Detours" to explore some unusual planets and different environments in the GFFA. There won't be a cohesive narrative across the entries. If I can stick with the general theme for most of it, I'll consider it a win.

Constructive criticism is welcome. Star Wars is owned by Disney, etc. etc.

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Index:
Week 1 Entry
Week 2 Entry
Week 3 Entry
Week 4 Entry
Week 5 Entry
Week 6 Entry
Week 7 Entry

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Prompt #1: Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words that ends with this sentence: “For the first time in her life, she felt powerful.”
Word limit = 100-1,000 words
Word count: 963

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The alpine tundra was vast and open, making Rithikarr feel exposed and vulnerable.

She was used to the towering forests on Kashyyyk, where there was always foliage nearby to duck into at the first sign of a threat, or trees to climb for a better vantage point or to slip past predators. Here, amid the gentle sloping of land and the small scrub brush dotting the ground in the scraggly soil, she could see clear across to the bordering mountains kilometers away. She could see everything, which meant that everything could see her.

The young Wookiee growled deep in her throat. When she’d impetuously asked Thyrrekka for a “challenge” in her survival training, being left alone with howling gale-force winds and cold air at high elevation with no shelter and no... anything was not what she’d had in mind. If it wasn’t so overcast, it would be warmer, but at the same time the sun would be too intense without any trees to block it. Rithikarr wasn’t sure which would be worse.

The uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach told her she might have bitten off more than she could chew. This place was so alien to anything she’d ever experienced or was comfortable with. Everything she instinctively knew about how to survive in the forest-- knowledge she’d been very proud of-- suddenly seemed worthless with no trees in sight.

It felt like the whole galaxy could see her standing there and was judging her ineptitude on this flat, open terrain.

How could something so featureless pose such a challenge? And how could she feel so small when she was the tallest thing for kilometers in any direction?

Rithikarr’s eyes were watering from the cold wind gusts. She couldn’t just keep standing there. She had to move.

But where?

She didn’t know, and she felt completely lost.

After another minute of the wind whipping through her shaggy chestnut hair, Rithikarr growled again, but at herself this time. She had to pull herself together. Her mentor wouldn’t have dropped her here if he’d thought she couldn’t handle it, right? Her parents would never have allowed it either. And she was going to have to learn how to deal with this type of environment and terrain sooner or later if she ever wanted to be an Antarian Ranger.

Rangers didn’t give up at the first little difficulty they encountered. Neither would she.

Rithikarr spotted an area on a gentle downslope where the vegetation was slightly more dense. If it was anything like the forest back home, that meant the conditions might be marginally better there. It was as good a place to start as any.

When she reached it and crouched down, she was gratified to discover that the wind was slightly lessened there. A few boulders jutting out of the ground provided even more shelter. With even that partial relief from the relentless wind, Rithikarr could think a bit more clearly. She looked around.

The plants were low and dense, like bushy clumps of moss, and they grew on the ground and in the crevices of the boulders. She experimentally gathered some and discovered that they also helped block more of the wind when compressed together. Rithikarr set about gathering more of the plants.

Before long she had a little nook cleared out between two boulders where she could nestle in tightly, and she’d made a partial blanket out of the plants to help block the wind on the open side. Soon she would have to figure out where to find food and water, but in the meantime...

Would these plants burn?

Rithikarr carefully sheltered a small clump of plants she’d collected and tried to light a fire the way Thyrrekka had taught her. It didn’t work quite as well as it did in the forest, but soon she smiled when a spark caught a few skinny leaves and generated a thin trail of smoke. With those rising wisps, her confidence began to grow.

She was doing it. She was figuring out how to survive in this abysmal place. She didn’t have to rely on someone holding her hand and walking her through every little thing she had to do. Even in a location as alien as this, she could count on herself to make it through, at least long enough to find more knowledgeable help. And if she could do it here, in this barren, harsh land, she could do it anywhere in the entire galaxy.

Rithikarr looked up at the overcast sky. Far beyond the clouds were the countless stars. Before, the open tundra had made her feel like all the beings on all those worlds above could see her. Now, she used that same openness to let her mind encompass all those worlds, unblocked, unhampered.

She could do this. All of those worlds could be available to her. She wouldn’t be stuck in one place, limited and useless; instead, every planet would be an option for her, and nothing could stop her from helping wherever the Rangers would need help. Every door would be open due to her own skill, and that could never be taken away from her.

She realized she’d never really experienced this type of confidence before. She’d always thought she was expanding her horizons by learning so much about how to survive in the forest where she’d spent her entire life, but that whole time she’d actually just been lounging in her comfort zone, treading water instead of diving in.

Rithikarr bared her teeth in a grin, ready to challenge the galaxy to keep her from pursuing her dream now that she finally really knew she could.

Like the barren tundra, nothing was in her way.

For the first time in her life, she felt powerful.

*******

 

This is perfect. Rithikarr on a alpine tundra realising that she can survive there and knows that there are more worlds to discover.
Eager to see where this leads

 

I loved this!!!!!! I could really understand how Rithikarr could feel totally out of her depths in a vast 'wasteland' without any trees. Then when she starts solving the immediate problems of finding shelter and warmth, she then can turn her attention to finding food and water. Her perspective on what she can and wants to do expands to other worlds just by taking small steps in proving she can do what seems daunting.

 

“That sounds like a Wookiee name. Is this character a— heck yeah, nailed it!” Very fun seeing Rithikarr overcome one of the challenges of this unforgiving environment. I hope she proves herself and earns the title she’s after. I only vaguely remembered the Antarian Rangers by name, so I looked them up and I have to say, what an exciting vocation! I don’t know exactly when this story is set, but I think Rithikarr will be a great help to the Jedi. There’s no one you want watching your back like a tough unstoppable Wookiee! If she can tackle this, she should be well-prepared for the challenges ahead in her career.

 

Thank you! It was a good boost to her confidence to realize she could learn to survive there when she initially thought she couldn't. I expect that the entries for each week here will be independent one-shots. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thanks! I imagine Rithikarr seeing firsthand that she was able to problem-solve and figure out what she needed to do went a long way to her realizing that she truly could adapt and venture out of her comfort zone. Especially without any trees around. It was an important step for her to take. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thanks! I'm glad to hear her name was Wookiee enough to be recognizable as such and that you picked up on it so quickly. The Antarian Rangers always sounded like a fascinating group with lots of story potential. This particular story is set sometime in Before, within several decades leading up to the PT, but I'm not really sure on the exact year.

I know, right?
Rithikarr's got a lot to learn yet, but when the day comes for her to help the Jedi, she's determined to be ready. Thanks for reading and commenting!

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Week 2 will be posted shortly.

 

Prompt #2: Write a story between 400 and 800 words using third-person omniscient POV in which a character teaches another character something.
Word limit = 400-800 words
Word count: 796

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The small freighter slipped behind the next asteroid in the system’s dense belt, flying under minimal power. Some of its occupants waited to see if the Blackstar Raiders were holing up somewhere nearby per recent reports.

Those particular occupants sat in the freighter’s cockpit. Antarian Ranger Enok Asger carefully guided the ship from the pilot’s seat while Jedi Knight Heritz Kellen lounged in the co-pilot’s seat, staring out at the boring view which hadn’t changed in way too long.

Both of them were trying-- not very hard-- to not eavesdrop on their trainees sitting farther back in the ship.

It was more entertaining than watching rocks float past, anyway.

Kellen’s padawan, Cado Lenk, frowned in concentration while peering at a datapad his companion held. That companion, Rithikarr, pointed yet again to the first sentence written on the datapad’s display in Basic: “Good afternoon.” Then the Wookiee spoke the translation aloud in her native language of Thykarann, enunciating as clearly as she could: <Good afternoon.>

Next, Rithikarr pointed to the second Basic sentence displayed: “How are you today?” Again she deliberately spoke the equivalent phrase in Thykarann.

She cocked her head at the Human, but the pre-teen looked ready to pull his hair out in frustration. Rithikarr hoped he wouldn’t; Humans had little enough as it was.

All of those words just sounded like growls and rumbles to Cado, no matter how hard he tried to discern one sound from another or even one phrase from another. He rubbed his face, sighed miserably, and said, “I can still barely tell those apart. This isn’t going to work. Ask Master Kellen-- I’m horrible with languages and stuff at the Temple. Sorry for wasting so much of your time with this, but I’m just not gonna get it.” He slouched in his chair, defeated.

Rithikarr regarded him. Enok often worked with Jedi Kellen and now his padawan, so as long as Enok was willing to let Rithikarr accompany him on field missions as part of her Ranger training, she would be working with them too. Rithikarr didn’t like the idea of someone on her team being unable to understand her in an emergency, and Enok and Jedi Kellen had both agreed that it would be good for Cado to learn some Thykarann basics. But Rithikarr had never tried teaching her language to a Human before, and she wasn’t sure how else to do it.

She scoured her brain for different approaches. She wouldn’t end this session with Cado thinking he couldn’t learn other languages.

Rithikarr had been hearing Basic since she could remember, so no ideas there. She’d learned some Xaczik from her cousin, though only the words to that horrible song he’d secretly taught her which had taken up permanent residence in her mind--

The idea lodged itself in her head. Before she could talk herself out of it, she held up a finger for Cado to give her a minute, and then she connected the datapad to the ship’s computer and Holonet access and started typing. Cado shrugged and didn’t protest, though he was disappointed she still felt the need to waste her energy on his immutable problem. Surely there was something more worthy of her time.

Finally Rithikarr found what she wanted. This particular Wookiee drinking song wasn’t as foul-mouthed as the others she knew-- or all of them, really-- and some enterprising Wookiee somewhere had recorded it in Thykarann and added a video recording of a group of Wookiees acting out most of the song’s words. Plus it was catchy.

Rithikarr started the video and handed the datapad to Cado. Loud, off-key Wookiee singing suddenly assaulted his ears, but he watched out of curiosity. He soon found his foot tapping along with the beat, then his eyes widened at the Wookiees’ rowdy alcoholic activities. He guiltily glanced up to make sure Master Kellen didn’t know what he was watching.

But from the loud words Kellen himself understood and from the developing bond in the Force with his padawan, Kellen knew exactly what Cado was watching. Kellen raised an eyebrow at Enok, who smirked and shrugged.

When the song ended, Cado stared at Rithikarr with a sort of nervous excitement at having seen something the Masters at the Temple would certainly not approve of. Rithikarr grinned and restarted the video. This time she heartily sang along.

Soon Cado joined in enthusiastically, trying to mimic the Thykarann sounds and inadvertently butchering them, but he began to recognize the subtle differences in the words’ vocalizations as he attempted to reproduce them himself.

Fifteen minutes later, Enok pulled his brown leather jacket over his ears to muffle the constant, raucous singing. Kellen was having trouble finding peace and balance in the Force.

It was going to be a long mission.

********

 

That sure is a way to learn a new language, singing. Great use of the prompt

 

LOL A great way to learn a new language, indeed. Next step karaoke.

 

Oh yay! Your set with Rithikarr and Cado Lenk was possibly the one I found most intriguing in your drabble collection, and I'm so happy to see that they got already two stories in this thread! So, without further ado:

Week 1 – Absolutely fantastic description of the place where Rithikarr was sent for training and of how the way she perceives it influences her sense of self.

I'm picking out this line because it's such a Wookiee question. I just love how you showed that a challenging environment doesn't have to be a "layered deathtrap" like the forests of Kashyyyk; the challenge is instead in being thrown into an environment where all your acquired survival skills are useless. Rithikarr rises up to the challenge magnificiently, and there's such a sense of triumph when she realises that she's beginning to figure it out. As a side note, I understand that Thyrrekka is her master, whom we haven't met yet, and I hope the prompts give you an opportunity to introduce him to us!

Week 2 – And we even get to see them during their first encounter and what an encounter it is! I can just imagine poor Cado Lenk trying to learn Thykarann and failing miserably until Rithikarr thinks of teaching him a drinking song I laughed out loud at the mental image of a padawan listening to a Wookiee drinking song, complete with YouTube video, and hoping that his master won't notice. I guess the only thing Rithikarr could have added to the lesson are a few glugs of cortyg brandy, because that's known to loosen one's tongue On a more serious note, knowing what will eventually happen to them, it's a good thing Rithikarr was so insistent that Cado Lenk should be able to understand her. I'm sure that there are many, many adventures in store for them until then, though, and I'm eager to see them again!

A couple of fanon questions, out of curiosity:

Is Thykarann a dialect of Shyriiwook or a different language altogether? Do you have any fanon about that that you'd be willing to share?

I liked the fact that you introduced the logic of a master/learner pairing among the Antarian Rangers, mirroring the setup of the Jedi. Again, do you have any fanon about the Rangers that you'd be willing to share?

 

I love this flipping of perspective!

Yeah, I wouldn't like that either, not one little bit

A phrase that's burned into my brain from some documentary about the moon that I once watched would apply here: magnificent desolation. It may have a stark beauty of its own, but yup, it's intimidating and it'll have that effect on you.

Ooh, Tyria was an Antarian Ranger, wasn't she? I really need to reread Allston's X-Wing books...

This is such a lovely realization, and so beautifully worded

LOL I love this

Oh, I feel his pain. I'm not actively trying to learn any language at the moment, but I like languages in general and follow several Instagram and YouTube accounts that focus on them, and a couple are Vietnamese, and I simply cannot even hear the various tones that are so crucial to a word's meaning. I know they're there, I know that Vietnamese speakers can hear them, but no matter how I strain it all sounds the same to me. I suppose with a more concerted effort or with real immersion I'd eventually pick it up, but yeah, I understand Cado's frustration here.

Aw, she's so thoughtful

I see where this is going, and I approve

I love it. Atta girl, Rithikarr

I can well imagine Lovely work on both of these

 

Thanks! Singing and adding music can be a useful technique. Thanks for reading and commenting!

I can totally see Rithikarr and Cado doing karaoke together, though Cado would probably stick to Basic. Maybe that'll be their "thing" to do during downtimes together. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thanks! Heh, going into this KR I was actually expecting my other scout character to be the primary one I'd focus on, and Rithikarr (and maybe Cado by extension) would be the backup since I had nothing figured out for their characters outside of that drabble set. But now here we are, plus Week 3 also.

Thank you. It was definitely a "fish out of water" moment for her, both physically and mentally.

Thank you! Yes, Thyrrekka is the one who's teaching her the basics of survival in different terrain when she's younger and before she tries to join the Rangers, and he hasn't made an appearance here yet. The quote for the prompt made this tricky, specifically including the word "first." Trying to figure out how to make a Wookiee feel powerful means that they have to not feel powerful to start with, and Wookiees aren't exactly prone to being timid. This was the best way I could think of to start with a lack of power-- take away Rithikarr's comfort zone and all the resources she would typically have at her disposal. ("Nope, no big trees for you! No trees at all!")

LOL, it's a fun mental image. I wonder what kind of resources the Jedi have to learn other languages. Some sort of GFFA equivalent of Rosetta Stone or Duolingo? Or do they have a protocol droid tutor? Whatever it is, Cado's master is probably going to look a lot more seriously into those when they get back to avoid more drinking songs. Cortyg brandy's the good stuff, but Cado's tongue might have gotten a bit too loose. They'll definitely be having more adventures in the meantime, maybe even at a bar or two.

From how I interpret things on Wookieepedia (though I know there's some questionable stuff on there), I take Thykarann to be a different language from Shyriiwook, but related very closely so there's some overlap in being able to understand the other. My real-world comparison would probably be something like the Spanish and Portuguese languages. Shyriiwook is said to be more emotive while Thykarann has more technical terms. Then there's Xaczik, but that seems to be a more insular language from a particular area on Kashyyyk. I'm just using Thykarann here because it's something a bit different. (And it wasn't until afterward that I realized the language name Thykarann and the character name Thyrrekka look similar enough that it could cause confusion, and I should have given the character a slightly different name. That's what I get for trying to develop Rithikarr's background on the fly. )

I'm pulling a lot of my info here from the Wook as well, except for the bits I remember from the Wraith Squadron novels, though the organization at the time of the Wraiths had been nearly wiped out. I really should track down some of the PT comics the Rangers appeared in. But anyway, the Antarian Rangers in Rithikarr's era (prior to ROTS) were basically a sort of security / paramilitary organization of wilderness experts dedicated to supporting the Jedi in any way they could, and they took that dedication quite seriously. Most of the organization were support personnel, and the Rangers themselves were fewer in number and had a lot more training and responsibilities. Someone who's in training is called an Explorer, and they go on field missions with a full-fledged Ranger until they attain that rank themselves. While they could do a lot of ground prep and support work for Jedi on certain missions, the Rangers also did more of the "dirty work" too. They fought for the Jedi in the Clone Wars, but the relatively small size of the Ranger organization and their spread-out nature made them fit better in smaller ops or more like commando units (in my mind). When Order 66 hit, the Rangers were hunted and purged like the Jedi were due to their close affiliation with and support to the Jedi. While the Jedi / Force users were the priority for the Empire, the Rangers ran a solid second. This is all Legends-based.

So that's the general basis I'm using in my head for the organization Enok and Rithikarr are in. I don't know how much of this is "accurate" per the EU.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thanks! I heard someone who grew up in Kansas say that he felt more comfortable out in the wide plains because he could see everything coming at him, versus the later places he lived where the big hills blocked his view. I'd never thought of it like that before, and it kind of stuck.

Me neither. Especially the wind.

Yup, I agree. Tundra can be very beautiful, but it takes a special kind of mindset to survive and thrive there, especially when resources might not be readily apparent.

Yup, she was. Tyria's background was my introduction to the Antarian Rangers. (Yesssss.... reread.... dooooo eeeeeeeettttt... )

Thanks, I'm glad to hear that worked because I really struggled with the wording.

I wonder if humans appear to Wookiees like hairless cats appear to us.

I can commiserate with that. In the times I've tried to learn a different language, I'm good with the reading/writing aspect, not super with the speaking aspect, and extremely challenged by the hearing aspect. Even some particular accents in English give me trouble. I've never tried anything as nuanced as Vietnamese. Best of luck with it, and LMK if you find a good way to train one's ear for sounds like that.

She does have a soft spot for Cado, which made it tricky figuring out how... "adult" of a song she would teach him.

LOL, there are few things that can't be fixed with a Wookiee drinking song.

Heh, she's a problem solver.

Thank you, and thanks for reading and commenting!

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Week 3 will be posted in a bit.

 

Prompt #3: Write a story between 500 and 1,200 words that takes place at a wedding and features at least one EC and one OC in speaking roles.
Word limit = 500-1,200 words
Word count: 1187

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Padawan Cado Lenk squirmed uncomfortably in his formal robes but remained at his post in the back corner of the gathering hall. Colored lights splayed across the walls and ceiling, and banners from both of the minor royal families hung between the windows. Rows of seats faced the front where the ceremony would take place.

The crowd inside was growing as attendees arrived, and the ambient noise, already filled with odd-sounding orchestral music, increased with every new conversation between beings who had come together for the occasion. Each one was dressed in their native finery. Locally, this particular binding ceremony was a major, high-profile event, though the hundred or so people present would only constitute a small party on Coruscant.

Thankfully it would start soon. The sooner it started, the sooner it would end. The sooner it ended, the sooner Cado could change out of the itchy robes. He was convinced he had an allergy to something the formal robes were made from. He fidgeted again and scratched his arm, then he adjusted the small breathing mask on his nose and mouth for the fortieth time. The locals were used to the atmosphere’s lower oxygen content, but he hadn’t acclimatized to it yet.

His master, Jedi Knight Heritz Kellen, unobtrusively moved next to him. “Keep your eyes open, Cado,” he murmured quietly through his own breathing mask. “With so many people here and the wedding about to start, this would be a likely time for the militant group to attack.”

Cado nodded. “Yes, Master," he responded softly. The thirteen-year-old continued scanning the crowd and the doors for any suspicious activity or trouble. He warily tried to open himself to the Force to sense approaching danger, but instead of that nice, controlled channel Kellen was trying to teach Cado to receive, the strong feelings from the crowd instantly rushed in and overwhelmed him. He quickly shut that connection down, discouraged at yet another failure. What kind of Jedi had a glitchy connection to the Force?

None, that’s who.

He’d always had that problem to some degree, but he’d hoped he could have gotten past it by now.

Well, he would just have to do his duty with his non-Force senses. Cado listened for any odd silences or dissonances in the ambient noise, and he watched for anything out of place.

When Cado’s eyes eventually passed over the main entrance door yet again, he stiffened at seeing the figure who calmly walked in. Master Yarael Poof had to briefly lower his head on his long, thin neck to come through the doorway. Once inside, Master Poof soon spotted Kellen and Cado, and he smiled as he slowly headed their direction.

Kellen moved forward the few paces to meet Master Poof, but Cado remained where he was, making a more exaggerated show of looking all around for danger as an excuse to do so. It bothered Cado that he felt intimidated by Master Poof now when he’d never been before; in fact, Master Poof had been one of Cado’s favorite teachers when he’d been an initiate. But... expectations were lower as an initiate. Now Cado was a padawan, which meant he had more to live up to. And, frankly, he didn’t want Master Poof to see that Cado wasn’t doing a very good job at that, despite his best efforts.

Poof and Kellen respectfully bowed to each other. Kellen’s rich, dark complexion contrasted sharply with the Quermian’s pasty greyish-white skin. “Master Poof,” Kellen greeted.

“Knight Kellen. Padawan Lenk,” Master Poof returned in kind, easily looking at Cado over Kellen’s shoulder. Cado blushed and offered a hasty bow. “Any trouble?” Poof’s voice, though pitched low to not carry to the nearby crowd, was slow and rhythmic. Cado had never seen him rush anything. Maybe time felt different once one was centuries old.

“No, Master,” Kellen replied. “All’s quiet so far. Has your friend heard anything further about the threat?”

Poof shook his head. “Not that I’ve heard. They may be a little busy at the moment, though.” He spread one hand to indicate the attendees and decorated hall. “And your own friends are keeping an eye on things outside?”

“Yes, Master. Unless there’s a problem, though, they’ll remain very low-profile. The attendees won’t even know they’re here.”

At Kellen’s words, Cado’s eyes longingly strayed to the main door close by, as if he could peer through it to the mountainous terrain outside. He would much rather be out there, patrolling with the Antarian Ranger Enok Asger and his trainee Rithikarr, than stuck in here in these itchy robes and stilted atmosphere of proper ceremonial etiquette. There was nothing formal or rigid about that pair. Without realizing it, Cado started softly humming the Wookiee drinking song Rithikarr had taught him.

He tuned out the rest of the conversation between the two Jedi several paces away until a deep gong resonated through the hall. Talking from the attendees quieted as they moved to their seats for the ceremony to begin. Master Poof said to Kellen, “I see it’s time for me to find the seat I’ve been assigned. I wonder if they’ve put me near the front, as it’s easier for beings behind me to see. Oh, and Padawan Lenk,” Poof added, almost as an afterthought.

Cado nervously snapped his eyes up to him. “Master?”

“You may want to save that song for the reception afterward, not the ceremony itself,” Poof joked with a smile. Then he ambled away toward an usher.

Cado’s blush turned his ears bright red and drowned out the fading freckles on his light cheeks. He couldn’t believe he’d just let a member of the Council know that he’d learned such an... inappropriate song for a Jedi. Master Poof had to think it would also be inappropriate for Cado to become a Jedi and represent the Order if that’s the kinds of things he knew.

Kellen grinned in amusement and came back to stand beside his padawan. “Well, back to work, I suppose,” Kellen said quietly, still smiling but resuming his watchful monitoring of the hall as well. After a minute, he fiddled with his breathing mask, leaned over, and asked, “Is everything okay? I thought you liked Master Poof, but lately you’ve been tensing up around him. Closing yourself off like that from anxiety or fear also closes you off from the Force. Is there something I can help with?”

It was one more way Cado was proving to not be padawan material. He was sure no other padawans had such trouble with their connection to the Force, so he would just have to work harder. He suppressed a sigh and said, “I’m fine, Master.”

Kellen radiated disbelief through their bond, but he didn’t push things.

The wedding soon began, all pomp and circumstance. Cado mostly ignored it, only watching for threats. Every so often, though, he would catch words from the officiant about the binding of two people and two houses, causing them to become one. Just like he was supposed to do with the Force.

He hoped this couple would have better luck than he was having.

******

 

Super details about the wedding and Cado's discomfort, first with the robes he's forced to wear, then his insecurities and frustration about Force attunement. This naturally leads him to be self-conscious around Master Poof and it's understandable he'd want to be outdoors with Enok and Rithikarr.

But to not confide in Kellen... He just might discover that his struggles and feelings are not as uncommon as he thinks.

Plus not confiding in Kellen keeps him from getting the assistance he needs.

 

Love you OC Cado and his interactions with Poof. Humming that song and being corrected by Poof. He sure has a lot to learn and confide in Kellen.

 

Oh, poor Cado! To be a thirteen year-old padawan, standing there in those itchy robes and feeling so out of place, and to feel that you're such a failure because now that you're a padawan you should be able to do all sorts of stuff that initiates can't do (as if it were like flipping a switch!) and not to feel comfortable talking about it to your master... well, that's just not a pleasant situation, and I can totally see why he'd rather be out there with the Antarian Rangers. And he wants to be there so badly that he doesn't realise he's humming the Wookiee drinking song and then he doesn't realise either that neither Master Yarael or Master Kellen were actually reprimanding him. You did a great job here at portraying him as a self-conscious teenager who also happens to be a Jedi, and he clearly still has a ways to go to build a proper bond with his master. I really hope that the prompts continue to inspire you to write more about this cast of characters; they're all so interesting each in their own way, but a Jedi with feelings of inadequacy is an angle that really begs to be further explored.

 

I like this Padawan Cado Lenk, I'm all too familiar with the discomfort of formalwear as a teenager.
His "glitch" in the force reminds me of Zayn Carrick. Worry not Cado, all have a place in the force!
Sometimes it's just a little surprising.

I enjoyed your use of Yarael Poof, he is definitely one of the more interesting and quirkier Jedi Masters.
His tease relating to Lenk's taste in music was worth a chuckle.

Good story.

 

Sorry, I wanted to give better replies to everyone but my schedule's off, I have to get Week 4 edited and posted, and I've got a cat climbing on me. This evening is not proceeding as I have foreseen.

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Thanks! Hopefully Cado will confide in Kellen soon so they can work on the problem together. Cado isn't quite thinking yet that he's there to learn from Kellen. The itchy robes probably aren't helping his thought process either. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you! Cado definitely has a lot to learn, if only he would let Kellen teach him. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thanks! Cado's expectations of himself are definitely... misguided. He probably has a lot of inner dialogue that starts with "A padawan should..." or "A Jedi should..." instead of focusing on what he can do and what he can learn, and that inner dialogue is interfering with how he navigates his relationship with Kellen and his training. Hopefully he and Kellen will be able to work things out, maybe when they can put the formal robes away for a while. I'm switching over to my other characters for Week 4, but who knows where things will go after that. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you! Using the Force doesn't come easy to Cado, which I imagine is frustrating if one has spent their entire life trying to learn to do just that. We'll have to see where his place is in the Force-- I'm not entirely sure yet. I know what sort of Jedi I don't want Cado to be, but I'm still not sure what sort I do want him to be.

And thanks, I'm glad Yarael Poof came across okay here. He seems like a fun character. Thanks for reading and commenting!

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Week 4 coming eventually-ish.

 

Prompt #1: Write a story between 100 and 1,200 words with an unreliable narrator, using one (or both) of the following additional prompts:

• Don’t stop, don’t think, don’t look back
• Picture ( https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/03/27/13/38/canyon-2178786_1280.jpg )

Word limit = 100-1,200 words
Word count: 1146

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The R6-C4N astromech droid called Waypoint activated its magnetic treads even though it was inside Rumor’s cockpit. The extra securing strength to the deck was welcome as the Mu-class shuttle’s pilot, Lieutenant Tizbyr Vad, attempted to land despite the severe buffeting by the strong wind currents racing through the narrow canyon.

Waypoint trusted its pilot, and soon Tizbyr set them down, unintentionally hard from an unfortunately-timed gust. Tizbyr winced, then signed a quick apology to Rumor and Waypoint before he powered down the ship.

When he was finished, the Anomid turned to Waypoint, and the droid trained its optical sensor on him. In his silent native language, Tizbyr signed with his six-fingered hands, “You’re sure we’re on PY-1019?”

Waypoint activated its holoemitter and used the special translation software to show a holoimage of an Anomid signing the words Waypoint wanted to use in reply. "Yes. As a top-of-the-line navigator, Waypoint found a very efficient hyperspace route to PY-1019, allowing us to arrive much faster than you had anticipated." The droid beeped in immense pride.

Tizbyr looked at Waypoint for a few moments, and then nodded. He leaned forward closer to the ship’s front viewport to peer up at the night sky far above. “The canyon walls make it look like there’s a river of stars up there,” Tizbyr signed. “That descent and landing reminded me why I’d gotten out of advanced scouting for a while, but damned if that sight doesn’t remind me why I started again with you.”

Waypoint didn’t respond to the random nonsense its pilot was so fond of. Stars physically couldn’t form a river in a canyon, or anywhere else for that matter. Waypoint had often been concerned by these strange ramblings, wondering if Tizbyr’s organic mind was degrading, but after several conversations had failed to get Waypoint’s worries across or even allow Tizbyr to understand the problem, the droid chose to simply monitor the situation for drastic changes. Waypoint could always contact Tizbyr’s superior officer in the Resistance if things got considerably worse.

Tizbyr pulled his gaze away from the sky above and stood from his seat. As he turned, he surreptitiously punched a few buttons on the cockpit console, but Waypoint easily caught the activity, and it disappointed the droid. Did Tizbyr think that Waypoint wouldn’t notice when he told the ship to calculate its current position using the star field? It didn’t always happen, but the times like now when it did were hurtful. Waypoint had told Tizbyr they were exactly where he wanted to be on PY-1019, but Tizbyr didn’t trust Waypoint’s words. It was a waste of energy for the ship to calculate what Waypoint already had.

Tizbyr began gathering his gear, including his vocalizer mask, a warm jacket, his survival backpack, and his weapon. Waypoint beeped to get Tizbyr’s attention and then holo-signed, "PY-1019 has no lifeforms. You will not need a weapon."

Tizbyr smiled and signed back, “The second rule of scouting is to always be prepared. Even if there aren’t any native lifeforms, there’s a chance the First Order might have found this place too. Take good care of Rumor, and I’ll see you in a few days.”

He opened the exterior hatch and left, though he nearly got blown off-balance when the first gust of wind hit him. Waypoint watched as Tizbyr pulled up the jacket’s hood and set out to take his scans and determine if the planet could be an option for the Resistance to use as a base or for resources. Waypoint felt like it should go with Tizbyr, as the pilot had been having a rash of concerning nonsensical behavior lately and might need Waypoint’s help or protection, but if the canyon walls were any indication, there would be a lot of climbing involved, and no matter how many top-of-the-line features Waypoint’s hardware and software possessed, climbing was not one of them.

Waypoint decided to spend the first part of its downtime by running diagnostics on the ship. Tizbyr’s rough landing had probably caused some damage. While the interior diagnostic was running, Waypoint opened the hatch and rolled down the ramp into the blustery wind outside. The astromech began slowly and methodically scanning every centimeter it could of the exterior of the ship. Just as expected, some minor damage was present.

Waypoint was cataloguing the problems with one of the landing gear struts when the droid’s internal comm system received a staccato burst of clicks, their signal for an emergency. Waypoint immediately stopped its activity and slowly moved away from the ship in the direction Tizbyr had gone a short time ago, extending its sensors’ range as far as it could.

Waypoint was about to comm Tizbyr in audible Basic, but Tizbyr got to it first. “Waypoint, come in!” The rough mechanical words were generated by his vocalizer mask.

"What is happening?" Waypoint transmitted. "Waypoint is outside the ship but requires information to determine how to help."

Before Tizbyr could reply, Waypoint’s sensors finally picked something up. The wind tore the sounds away, but Waypoint’s infrared detectors showed Tizbyr running flat-out toward the ship. On the canyon wall in close pursuit was a large swarm of creatures whose shapes resembled meter-long lizards. Tizbyr was struggling against the wind, but the creatures chasing him ran along the rocky canyon walls with ease.

Tizbyr’s response came a second later. “Get inside and get the ship ready to go!”

"But what is--"

“Don’t ask, just get going and don’t stop until you’re inside!”

Waypoint complied, and the droid kept the exterior hatch open so Tizbyr could quickly get through when he arrived.

Waypoint was halfway through the ship’s power-up sequence when the loud pounding of bootfalls preceded the slamming of the exterior hatch. Mere moments later, thumps and thuds resounded all over the ship from its hull.

Tizbyr dropped his gear in the ship’s corridor and jumped into the pilot’s seat, completely out of breath. That was about the time when several of the large lizards outside jumped onto the shuttle’s forward viewport. They bit ineffectually at the smooth transparisteel, but some cabling and a few smaller protruding flight instruments within their reach weren’t so lucky.

“Are you still certain this planet is PY-1019?” Tizbyr asked in muttered Basic through his vocalizer mask as he rushed through the rest of the ship’s power-up commands. “Looks pretty inhabited to me.”

Waypoint blatted and turned to Tizbyr, but the pilot was working too frantically with the ship’s controls to look at the droid, so Waypoint stuck with audible Basic and said, "It is not Waypoint’s fault that the information for PY-1019 is out-of-date."

More thumps sounded on the hull, and then the lights in Rumor suddenly went completely out and the soft hum of the ship’s systems died away.

Tizbyr gave a tired, resigned sigh. “Of course. Out-of-date. Right.”

*******

 

and that out of date information will get you an unreliable droid to work with. Nice interaction between Waipoint and Tizbyr

 

Thanks! Waypoint and Tizbyr are a fun pair to work with for misadventures. Thanks for reading and commenting!

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Week 5 will be up shortly. I just realized I put the wrong week number for Week 4 (copy/pasted Prompt 1 instead of Prompt 4), but I feel weird editing things with a due date so I'm just going to leave it.

 

Prompt #5: Write a set of 3 double drabbles, choosing from among the following prompts: ephemeral, journey, labyrinth, flower, barrier, soul, doppelgänger, emblem, killer
Each double drabble must be exactly 200 words, for a total of 600 words
Word count: 200 each

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Flower

The Flowered Plains mostly lived up to their name in Rithikarr’s estimation.

The “flowered” part, definitely. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen so many flowers in one place before; they formed a carpet of various colors in every direction. It was beautiful.

The “plains” part... not so much. The ground was definitely flat, but the flowers covered stagnant swamp water, not grasslands. The massive swamp’s smell of decay was likewise covered up by the overwhelming fragrances of the blossoms.

Rithikarr growled low in her throat. Enok had done this to her on purpose. She was sure of it.

When they’d first landed on the tropical world of Ylesia and Enok had suggested splitting up to cover more ground for their objective, Rithikarr had agreed. She’d accepted the direction he’d said she should go, while he took a slightly different route. But now she understood why he’d been smirking as he’d left.

The jungles nearby would have been easy for her to traverse without leaving evidence of her passage.

But this?

The small raft she’d made parted the flowers as it went and left a very obvious trail behind it on the water’s surface.

Erasing the path was painstakingly slow.


Ephemeral

It had taken Rithikarr a while to figure out how to erase the trail from her raft’s wake. She’d finally found a way to use her long rowing stick to gently swirl the floating flowers back into the gap the raft’s passing had created. Doing this meant she didn’t make progress quickly, but it was more important to be unnoticed, and this ensured her raft only caused a fleeting visual disturbance in the flowery terrain, one that disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared.

It was going to be a lot harder to cover her trail in the dark, though, something that Rithikarr noticed she would soon be facing. The planet rotated once every ten standard hours, making the sun race across the sky in half that time. The short day was messing with her internal clock, and she wondered how Ylesia’s inhabitants coped with it. How could someone structure their life around a day that was over before it began? How could they get any sleep?

The native flora and fauna seemed to have adapted well. As the sky rapidly darkened, the insect sounds changed, and some flowers’ blossoms closed while others opened. Life on this world moved quickly.


Killer

The stars flew across the sky, and the sun jumped above the horizon. Rithikarr’s cautious progress on the raft was the only thing about this planet that wasn’t fast. But she was pleased to see the edge of the Flowered Plains in the distance, where a hummock sloped upward to some tree groves.

A dull thrum made Rithikarr look around, and she spotted a freighter flying high above her but descending. She flattened herself on the raft and stayed still, grateful her raft’s path through the bright flowers and dark water was eradicated.

Rithikarr used her macrobinoculars to watch the freighter land in the groves far ahead. She was certain this was what they were looking for.

If it was, then the freighter had just landed by one of the underground spice processing factories. It was probably offloading a shipment of spice to be refined into glitterstim and a group of new slaves to process it.

Many wouldn’t survive slavery in those killer factories. Their captors worked them to death to make something that would kill many others. Life was nothing more than currency.

Like the flowers covering the disgusting swamp, the planet’s tropical facade hid the deadly ugliness beneath.

*******

 

Rithikarr sure is careful with her journey through the Flowered Plains and makes an important discovery.
A nice story using these double drabbles

 

Super details and very realistic that a world with such a rapid rotational period would throw off Rithikarr's time sense. I'm glad she made the discovery of the mines and freighter.

 

Week 4 – Oh no! When Tizbyr keyed for the ship to calculate the exact location using the starfield (and that was an absolutely fantastic and very substantive use of the picture prompt) I expected that we'd find out Waypoint had led them to the wrong place – which, come to think of it, it could still be, if the problem wasn't thet info being out of date but the hyperspace navigation itself – but now these two are in far more trouble than I expected when it all began with a bit of sign-language banter between a pilot and their astromech! As usual, you do such a great job writing alien species, and Tizbyr felt very, very alien in this. Am I correct to understand from your reply to earlybird that you've already written these characters in other stories? Because I'd like to read more about their (mis)adventures.

Week 5 – Yay, Rithikarr is back! And, once again, she's dealing with unfamiliar terrain, both in the fact that she has to cross marshes and that she's on a planet with such a rapid rotation. Like in the opening story of this thread, it's great seeing her learning from these experiences and figuring out solutions to the problems as they present themselves. It's really great that you focus your KR stories on showing her as an apprentice Ranger; it sets the stage really well for that later story when she's helping Cado survive because now we've seen how clever and resourceful she is.