Beyond - Legends Romantic Roulette Challenge: Never Flow Away [Tahiri Veila & Anakin Solo]

This is for the Romantic Quotes Roulette.

Characters:
Tahiri Veila and Anakin Solo

My quote was:
16) Beauty And Love by Andrew Young

Beauty and love are all my dream;
They change not with the changing day;
Love stays forever like a stream
That flows but never flows away;

Me being me, I will begin with another quote about how I interpreted the official quote. Oh, Will, take it away!
"Whom I do love and will do till my death." A Midsummer Night's Dream: III, ii

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Never Flow Away​

Setting: A few months after the events of Legacy of the Force, Tahiri Veila retreats to her home planet of Tatooine. She needs the calm in the Force to try and speak with a spirit from her past.

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Banished.

That’s what she was now. Tahiri Veila was no longer a Jedi. She wasn’t a Sith. She, surely, wasn’t a bounty hunter, though that was her current profession at the moment. She was now an outcast. And she felt that she deserved it.

Her regrets were many during the past several months. She murdered. Seduced. Lied. All in the name of power. She could see how misguided Darth Caedus had been, yet she followed him out of some sense of imagined loyalty. She could see what he could become. Or rather, what he would not become. And what did that get her?

She was now sitting on a bench at the edge of the Anchorhead spaceport on Tatooine. She was waiting for a member of her old Tusken Raider tribe to take her into seclusion. Tahiri wore the proverbial tail between her legs in sending the message to Tamarraqq. The member of her tribe arrived, eventually, in the disguise of a merchant on dewback. To wear her official Tusken robes in Anchorhead would attract the wrong kind of attention. Tamarraqq invited Tahiri to get on the dewback and they were off to beyond the Jundland Wastes.

On the way, there was not much talk. Tahiri focused on why she chose this place, her home. Tatooine in the desert was quiet. For what she had to do, she had too many thoughts in her head for any other place. She thought back to her first encounter at the Valley of the Spirits. It was at the funeral of her adopted father, a high ranked member of her tribe. She was told the story of the Valley many times. A great warrior wielding a blue staff punished a tribe for kidnapping and killing his love. The warrior slaughtered the entire tribe. None survived. The Tuskens thereafter say that the members of that tribe still hover there in spirit.

Tahiri knew the identity of the warrior. To say his name before the Tuskens was forbidden. At her father’s funeral, the Force showed her a vision of that night the warrior struck. And the Force showed her who that warrior had once been.

Anakin Skywalker.

The Jedi who would be the galaxy’s ultimate doom in the form of Darth Vader. It was he who experienced his first real taste of hatred in the Dark Side. He murdered the tribe after they tortured his mother and killed her. That was the start of his own path to the Sith.

Grief was hers.

Tahiri soon settled in the Tusken camp for the night, gathering strength for what she had to do. The Valley of the Spirits allowed victims of the past to speak. She hoped there would be one spirit in particular with whom she needed to speak to. She waited until the darkness of night to move. She wrapped herself in Tusken robes but kept her boots off. People always associate Tatooine with extreme heat. At night, the Tatooine desert could be as cold as Hoth. She made her way to her destination on foot.

She reached the Valley and she sat cross-legged on the cold sand. She called upon the Force to summon a spirit.

Anakin. Hear me. Come to me.

Silence.

She tried calling again, this time mouthing the words.

Nothing. Even the sound of the wind had died down. She was about to give up when she felt it.

She could feel him. He was here. Tears started flowing down her cheeks. How long had it been since she felt him in the Force, or otherwise? She shut her eyes in remembrance of his touch to her mind. She was afraid he may not recognize her mind now. It had been split into two different personalities, courtesy of the Yuuzong Vong “shaping” her. With whom would he identify? Tahiri Veila, or Riina Kwaad?

“I identify with you, Tahiri,” said a familiar voice behind her.

She opened her eyes slowly, lest she was dreaming. The glowing figure standing before her proved evidence to the contrary. Underneath the bright blue-white glow surrounding his frame, she could see his sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. “Anakin? Is it really you?”

“Last I checked.”

She grinned. “Solo humor. Of course, it’s you. I didn’t know if you would show.”

“Why would I not want to see you, Tahiri?”

She shook her head in disgrace. “I’ve done things, Anakin. Dark things only a Sith would do. I regret them all.”

“I know. And I don’t mean that in the usual Solo way. The fact that you regret them says more about you than you realize.”

“Anakin, the Jedi banished me for the things I’ve done. Your nephew, Ben, tried to defend me.”

“Yes, he would. He’s a Skywalker. And a Jade.”

“I feel so alone now.”

“You are never alone, Tahiri. You have the Force. Always.”

“What if that’s not enough? It’s never been enough since you’ve been gone.”

“That’s the point. I never was gone. Physical form is meaningless in the Force. You should know that from our training.”

“I’ve forgotten. I have forgotten a great many things since you left me. I need you now more than any other time in my life, Anakin.”

“You speak of your love for me. Our love extends beyond death, Tahiri. It’s like a stream that flows endlessly. Always elegant. Always moving. But never goes away. Our love stays forever.”

“But I never told you, Anakin! I denied you that last kiss before you—” She stopped before she could finish the sentence.

“No, Tahiri. You did give me that last kiss. You flow-walked with my brother. You changed it.”

“It…it wasn’t real.”

Anakin smiled. “It was as real as everything is in this galaxy. Just like our love between us. You tell me about your love for me every day, whether you know it or not.”

“How can you know?”

“I listen. I can feel our love in your heart and your mind.”

Tahiri cocked one eyebrow. “My mind has sort of a roommate now.”

Anakin grinned. “I’ll play along with your roomie analogy and tell you that it is up to you if you want to share your mind with Riina Kwaad, or evict her.” He paused after she chuckled. “I know you will still mourn for me. But you must take that grief and allow our love to swallow it. Know that I am at peace in the Force and I rejoice in our love. As for your banishment, trust me when I say that you will atone for your actions. The Jedi will accept you again. We have foreseen it.”

“We?” she questioned.

Anakin grinned and brought a single finger to his lips. “Shhh. One mystery revealed at a time. I have to leave you now. I have time to tell you that our love will endure through the Force. Beyond death.”

“Anakin, don’t go!”

“I’m already there. I will always be with you, Tahiri Veila.” He gave her the Solo salute. “Next time, kid.”

Tahiri cried out with full tears, “Anakin…I love you!”

He gave her the famous lopsided Solo grin. “I know.”

She grinned and said, “Now that was definitely done in the Solo way.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” He turned and faded away.

She looked at where he once stood, now only a pile of sand. She thought it might be the last time she would ever see him again. She shook her head with newly found confidence. “No, I’ll absolutely see him again.”

THE END​

 

Poignant response to the challenge; thanks for sharing.

 

This was so touching. I always hated what happened to Tahiri after Anakin Solo's death.
I like that she got to speak with him again in this. And that she finally realised that he was always with her.
So good!