Before - Legends "Serpent-Spawn", 08/08/2011 paintings added

Everybody seems to know my inspiration source that triggered my story!



Anyway, I am sorry it took me so long to up-date this fanfic, but I was rather busy with RL issues (such as wedding planning, teaching and managing by various circles of friends) and I also had other projects here on the boards.

My fanart thread

My SW children's book project from 2006 "While you are sleeping"

My graphic SW novel "Fragments of a childhood"

My graphic SW novel "Twist in my sobriety"

My graphic SW novel "When darkness fell"

 

Yah, a new up-date:


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During the next few hours I was not interested in speaking to Solitaire at all. My windpipe burned like fire. I felt a constant nausea and my heartbeat would not settle down.

On top of all I just simply had enough of all the strange secrets that my young step-mother had brought along from Draconis. Knowing that my entire race was nothing more than a breed of living weapons was hard enough.

But being attacked by invisible powers that took one's breath was by far too much. This was not an honest fight. It was against the way of the desert.

Warriors looked each other deep in the eye. There was no honesty and satisfaction in a fight where your opponent did not openly show her weapons.

?We had no choice!? Solitaire suddenly said in my direction. She was sitting at the other end of our sun shelter, her legs crossed.

I pretended not to be interested in her words and stared on into the dune sea. My eyes were perfectly hidden by my sun glasses.

?It was a question of survival the very day our ship came down in the rainforest. We had to change and become one with the natives. But that brought a lot of changes to all of us. The Ophidiae were one thing, but the Midi-chlorians...?

I jerked around, teeth exposed aggressively: ?Humans from a dying planet, Ophidiae, cloners, Medi... what ever, I won't have more of it! Can you hear me? I am so sick of it. Taking with you is like walking on quick sand. One answer leads
to more secrets. No more, can you hear me? No more!?

My breath was coming hard again, but this time my own body was to blame. No invisible hand cramped around my bare throat.

?Somehow I am glad that my people came here. Perhaps it was their destiny after all. Sand is pure and clean. You are fully aware of what you deal with. The desert just has one voice and one face. I could never live in that green hell that you call mother jungle or rainforest. And I am also glad that I know who I am: Marquise Isabeau Riwalan.?

I narrowed my eyes, looking at the surprised face of Solitaire.

?I am fully aware that you are more than you seem to be. But for now, I really do not want to know. Your words give me a headache. Your actions make strange things happen to my body.

I know that a journey into the heart of the desert changes the wanderer. Every companion that you meet out here brings further changes.

But you bring too many changes into my life.

Please leave me here! I can take care of myself. Even with all the injuries that I have. Just go back to the homestead and tell them I am fine. I will come back, but only when I am ready.?

Suddenly Solitaire smiled, a genuine and knowing smile. She stood up and, before I was able to stop her, pressed a kiss on my front.

?So be it!? she said.

Then she wrapped her shawl, that had rested on her shoulders, round her face and head. Afterwards she put on her sun glasses and went straight into the merciless midday sun. Her movements were elegant, almost regal. She did not look back.

I watched her with gratitude and ease.

With a soft yawn I fell back on my blanket. Finally on my own. Just me and the desert. No duties, no family business. Peace had finally come back to me.

I had not only found paradise long before the afterlife, I had to answer to no one but myself.

No sour face of a step-mother confronted me, no Luçien trying to lecture me and no silly kitten to make me stumble over my own feet.

Within no time my body attuned itself to the circle of life. All my senses became as sharp and dangerous as a spear.

********************************************************************

Only three moon nights after Solitaire had left, more memories of my former life came flowing back into my present. This time I just let it happen without any regrets. Each precious memory contained clues of survival for me.

The clan Riwalan always h

 

Lovely update Azure and what a depth to her history.

Sand is pure and clean. yes the desert is beautiful.

 

Yes, dear bird. I wanted Isabeau to have a ritual of initiation like her tribe had it: being totally one one's own in the desert. What better place is there to leave the childhood behind and become an adult?

 

See, star office also works nicely on my laptop!

 

mesmerizing

captivating

mysterious

not your typical star wars story

wow!!

what a rich and unique universe you are creating here

fragment by fragment, leading the reader on this journey of bewilderment and recollection

i am so glad that your graphic novels have led me to read this as well. please, please pm me when you update!

 

*gets patted by a very proud DU, rushing by his computer!*

Thanks, dear ratna. I will go on with my story next weekend. Today I had many ideas in my head and I still have my old script with the original story.

By the way here is a painting I just put in my fanart threat. This is Isabeau:

[image=http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n2/AzureAngel2_2006/SW%20pictures/P9180359.jpg]

It is still a long way for the Tusken to go until they look like this:

[image=http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n2/AzureAngel2_2006/SW%20pictures/Scannen0007-2.jpg]

 

Lovely Isabeau and the Tusken they will become.

 

Isabeau --- Lady Hawk?

 

Yes, dear ratna... see my finance is Dutch as Rutger Hauer is and it is one of my favorite Fantasy movies after all. So I called her Isabeau.

Okay here we go again:

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The longer I stayed in the womb of the dune sea, the more I was convinced that the way of the townspeople were wrong. They were getting too soft and fat with water. Personal comfort and luxury goods from Draconis had become a great issue for too many households. Finally the Ophidiae had found a clever way to tame my people. They had turned us into loyal pets.

I did not wish to end up this way, especially not after my strange encounter with the god-queen. So I did all to steel my body and soul in order to become a deadly weapon.

**********************************************************

During the following weeks, I increased my muscle exercises, ignoring all signs of pain. No softness was allowed to be a part of my life ever again. This was a solemn promise I made to myself. I would never end up as a slave or war weapon.

One night I reached my favourite oasis again. Following an old impulse, I took off my clothing as quickly as the bandages allowed me and ran straight into the water.

With strong movements I reached the middle of the L´ ?il du ciel rather quickly. Then I turned on my back and let myself float on the salt water. With a satisfied yawn I crossed my arms behind my back and gazed up to the glittering night sky.

It felt good to live in a world without stone frontiers once more. I was a bohémienne after all, a daughter of the crossroads. Only the desert winds knew my next destination.

Even though I had to be grateful to papa for sparing me, his way was not mine. It would never be.

Even Luçien had to learn this. My initiation ritual as an honoured huntress had brought my real childhood back to me. From now on I would never forget and remember my roots with pride.

Once upon a time my mother?s tribe had been following the voices of the wind. I had learned how to ride an eopie before I was able to walk in the first place. The taste of mother milk turned into that of fresh bantha milk without any problems. My body had been hardened by sand, wind and the extreme temperature changes. Even the bright sunlight had not mattered that much when I had played in the shadows of the tents with Matin.

Suddenly a comet flew by, dragging a long tail of light after it.

I smiled and made a secret wish. ?Once we will be together again, my lost twin. Just have patience. Now is not the time.?

********************************************************************

The pleasant smell of spice biscuits and fresh coffee with cardamom powder tickled my nasal hairs without any warning.

In shock I tore my eyes open.

How long had I been gone?

A quick check of the night sky told me that it had not been within an simple eye blink.

Calme, who had shone on my way to the oasis, was already gone. The mild tempered goddess of healing was no longer than four hours in the nightly sky. But her mother, the by far bigger Sodalith, was still to be seen.

?Dinner is ready, milady!? Luçien boomed into the serenity I had build up for me so hardly since I left the homestead.

Hastily I swam back to the shore.

The smoke of a camp fire did wave like a torn flag and all of my oaths were gone. In his company I was nothing but a piece of bantha butter in the midday sun: soft and easily handled. It had always been that way.

?Brilliant! I am rather hungry!? I clapped my hands like the little girl that I used to be only a couple of moons ago.

Luçien, who slowly came towards me with a turned away face, wrapped me in a rather long towel that smelled of jasmine blossoms.

His fingertips stayed away from my skin in a very obvious way. His ice-blue eyes rested on a nearby crescent dune.

I took him by his small wrists and shook them with

 

Another list with my name on it...



I wonder what I did wrong...



You simply love to get teased by me!

 

*will SPAM you with texts to be edited once she is healthy enough to sit more than 20 minutes in front of the computer!*

 

and he is right mourning for a bird. Maybe it had been his pet.

Nice update with Isabeau in the Dune-sea.

 

Beste bird, this was an even more complex relationship than you thought. But soon more will be revealed!

Thanks for reading!



And here is actually more:

********************************************************************

It was more than my bad conscience that plagued me. It was the cursed silence that made my ears ring after Luçien had stopped his song. He had not sung the lyrics for very long, but every single word had made me sick.

With shaking hands I put my clothing back on. The bandages especially proofed to be a problem at that moment. I cursed under my breath.

Luçien still sat on the stone and the falcon was lying in his arms. His bronze coloured face was full of pain.

My helplessness mixed with resentment.

The falcon had been only an animal, nothing more. Food that could be eaten and digested. My step-brother was acting ridiculous. It promised to become a dreadful ride back.

I touched the bindu on my front.

Solitaire would have been able to read Luçien's thoughts and understand them. But I could claim no such bewildering powers. I was simply myself and no enigma like him.

A couple of moons I had been proud of him. Now I was getting more and more annoyed about the things that lurked under this surface of politeness and efficacy. How many languages was he able to speak? What else was he hiding from me?

My mouth became dry. ?Can we please go?? I creaked with a voice that was not fully my own.

Luçien rose wordlessly. His face was as smooth as the alabaster surfaces in papa's palace. His eyes went through me when he walked towards the eopies that he had tied to one of the bigger palm trees.

********************************************************************

It felt good to be reunited with Crépuscule. She was such a gentle and understanding creature. Her presence calmed me on the way back. My hands constantly rested on the outline of her slender neck.

When Luçien and I finally reached the small canyon that lead back to Fort Grand I had reached the point where I wished for the high stone walls to give in and bury him together with his equally unnerving eopie Argent. In between he had put his veil back on, but I could not care less. He had made my return as unpleasant as run-off bantha milk.

********************************************************************

In the very narrow inner yard of the homestead our ways suddenly parted. With a muttered excuse Luçien turned his steed around and galloped away through the still open entrance gate.

I would have preferred another slap in my face. He had deprived me of my prey. Now I had come back home with empty hands. It was a face-loosing act. This scoundrel had tricked me out.

?Bastard!? I hissed.

I also felt like sending more curses after him, but Zouve and Papillion were eyeing me rather curiously from their watch posts. Even though Luçien´s cousins wore the midnight blue caftans and the black turbans of papa´s ducal guard, I was able to recognize the two clowns with whom my long journey had started in the first place. They had that very unpleasant smell of testosterone around them.

My fingers grabbed harder for Crépuscule´s reigns. The harder I grabbed the less my body shivered with anger. It also helped to think it was Luçien´s bare throat. I wished him to choke on the bird meat when eating it.

I moved my eopie further to the stables.

Another gardien of the ducal household came running towards me. Judged by the low height and the sweet smell that it had to be Tourbillion, one of Luçien´s countless half-brothers. He was only twelve moon-years old, but was already a groom. Luçien had promoted the kid for the initiation rituals before Tourbillion´s voice broke.

?Salut la zone! Ça boume?? the youngster called happily in our common mother tongue Ronronner.

Crépuscule let out a small snot and allowed herself to be led away by the small boy. There were not many Lidérc the proud [

 

This is just so fascinating. Lovely reversal on the customs with veils. And this:

a daughter of the crossroads

what an image.

I wonder, is Lucien descended from hawks? So many threads from the past to be unravelled. I am completely spellbound.

 

Well, dear ratna, you will see soon.

You just have to wait until the wedding!

 

*hums "Now is here" from CLANNAD*

 

********************************************************************

The smell of fresh hay, herbs and the excrements of forty eopies shot towards me like an arrow when we entered the stables. It was a pleasant, homely smell for me since I was a toddler. I preferred it to the perfume loaded air of the serail. Many times I had to be carried out by papa's guards or even himself, because I had refused to sleep in my own bed.

With ease I jumped out of my saddle and took the time to greet all the eopie heads that looked towards me from their boxes. I found a kind word for each of them, stroked many nostrils.

My step-father Alezan loved his breed deeply, perhaps even more than his five wives and his offspring. He was present at the birth of every foal. Not only did he observe everything, he took a very active role in it. With ancient love songs he calmed the females down, made them forget their pain and agony. He dried the newborns with perfumed linen and even with drinking water.

When one of the eopies turned ill, he called the most skilled healers from Calme's temple grounds, also referred to as the House of Healing. He never hesitated for the costs of a treatment. And when an animal died due to high age or a battle wound he was in rage until he broke down crying. Then it was Luçien who cheered him up again.

Luçien, it was always Luçien who was involved in matters of the homestead. He was mirrored in all that surrounded me. Even in these stables here, four meters deep underground in the save heart of the building complex.

I let out a hateful spit, that made Tourbillion jerk back from his duties and earned me a reproachful look by some from some of the elder eopies.

When someone was ill under this very roof it was Luçien who held hands with that very person until all was well again in no time. He had great skills as a healer.

If one of the slaves had to be scolded it was Luçien doing it. He always had a way of motivating people.

When one of the little ones could not sleep Luçien sang the sweetest lullabies. They all adored him.

In battles with the nomad tribes it was Luçien who fought in the line of fire, shielding papa's back as much as his interests.

If his mother Fleur wanted company on her sitar he was called into the serail and it never took Luçien long to show up there once she had expressed that wish. His speed and sudden appearances seemed unnatural to me at times.

He gave council to all who were in desperate need of it: household members, merchants, farmers and even the slaves.

Luçien was a plague and there was no escape at all from his almighty presence. Why had it taken me so long to see the bitter truth?

My stomach made strange noises.

It was his fault that I did not have a decent breakfast yet. Midnight was over by now. I did not even finish the coffee that he had done for us. He had left the tea pot at the camp-fire. Such an act of forgetfulness that was not typical for him. And he knew how much I hated the waste of water.

The death of the falcon must have shaken his soul very badly, but I refused to take the blame. I was an honoured chasseuse now. Death was my business. The way that Luçien acted he was to become one of those mind twisted vegetarians.

I simply failed to understand him and his motives any longer. Something had changed him beyond the mascara he wore and the veil. Perhaps it was even more than the responsibilities of the homestead.

There where bewildering rumours. The supporters of Dealg, a god whose worship was forbidden on this planet, had formed a secret society. They called it the Brotherhood of Shadows. It was about using dark magic and weird rituals.

Tourbillion stepped into my way and was on the brink of asking something, but I griped my lance, whirled myself through the air, landed softly on my feet again and held the pike against his throat. "From now on: never bother me when I return home from the hunt. I am not in the mood for your childis

 

What a lovely update to read more about the Eopies and isabeau's reaction to that bearded human

 

Thanks, bird. That is very sweet from you.

You'll be surprised how fates will be woven into one another soon. This is just the beginning.

 

I'm glad to see the continuation of this story.

 

It goes slower than I thought, but it moves on at last.

 

Ah, the fascination continues. I must confess that all of Isabeau's thoughts are giving me a serious crush on Lucien. Better not tell her that, though.

I wonder, too, if he is Force sensitive?

 

*beams*

Lucien is always a surprise, dear ratna.

*has a dear friend who also has a crush on Lulu even thought that friend is not into SF & Fantasy at all and has a gorgeous boy-friend*

 

I am at your mercy