Songbird- an IT Vader vignette, minor angst

I feel I'm going over the top somehow, posting two vignettes in a day, but *shrugs* why not? I hope you enjoy it, and please reply!

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?Songbird?

The bird was nothing but a nuisance.

Really, it was not important to him, but Vader couldn?t get rid of it. The cage that it was forever confined in might have hung on his wall, but the bird was always in his mind, and he had the terrible fear that if he killed it, as he often thought of doing, it would haunt him forever. A childish fear?not one deserving of a Sith. But that didn?t stop him from being afraid of the bird?just a simple gimchi bird, smooth, white, and elegant, with a structured yellow crest on its head, an indescribable flair.

It had been the property of one Captain Derieen, commander of the starship Golgotha, one of his recently failed promotions. Sometimes he wondered why the vain Imperial citizens quested so for power. They were too weak to hold it, it only burned away their fingers and destroyed them. A stormtrooper would have a safer life than one of Vader?s admirals.

The population of the army were either too ignorant to see that, too drunk with the mere idea of power to mind, or too confident in their abilities to think it could happen to them. But they were wrong; it always did.

Derieen had been one of the confident ones, and his rash actions designed to find the Rebel?s base led to the loss of an entire fleet. So Vader had taken care of the matter with his usual cool efficiency, and then, from behind him, he had heard the melancholy song begin. The bird that he hadn?t noticed before sang the almost impossibly low melody, echoing with mourning.

It is sorry because its master is dead, Vader had realized, and then instantly hated himself more for the thought. Birds were animals, and animals did not feel, could not feel. They were less than anything sentient.

But something about the gimchi struck him as odd, and he?d had a younger trooper take the bird back to his chambers, not wanting to have the ludicrous image imprinted in his mind of the fearsome Lord Vader carrying a dead man?s pet bird through the halls of the Death Star.

That was not the picture he wanted the lower men to have of him.

Since then, the cage had hung in his chambers, and the bird, that had first sang so lowly and achingly of the loss of its master, grew to recognize Vader as its new lord, and the songs that it sang became songs for him. Praise, tinted with fear, reverberated in his chambers long after the gimchi had ceased to sing.

The songs were too sweet, the adoration of that small, delicate bird too complete for him to not be reminded of Padmé. Of Padmé, of their visits to Naboo, where thousands of gimchi birds had clustered in the opulent pink leaves of the trees, singing with clear thrills of joy. Many of them had sang far better than the bird that now lived with him, but that didn?t seem to matter.

The bird sang sadly, and he was reminded of the look on his Angel?s face when she knew and understood that he had finally turned. When she could reconcile herself to the fact that there would be no going back, that he existed to destroy and would cease to be Anakin Skywalker, and would only be Vader. Only Vader, always Vader, never Anakin Skywalker. Never again.

The bird sang reverently, and he would remember young Anakin Skywalker looking worshipfully on as his Master performed perfect katas, executed perfect drills, and then before jealousy could arise in him, passionate and dark, the memories would lead him to a different road?Obi-Wan wiping tears, Obi-Wan attempting to bake cookies and clearly, spectacularly failing, Obi-Wan tending cuts and healing burns, Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan.

His Angel and his Master?two people he had dedicated his life to forgetting. He had prayed more than once that if his Master was not dead, that at least he would never lay eyes on Obi-Wan Kenobi again. Because he would kill his old Master, and retire to his chambers, and again, he would hear the bird sing.

 

I like it.

 

Beautiful. Just lovely. The symbolism of a songbird has been long used in literature - but the way you used it with Vader, and the way he was frightened of killing it - simply amazing. I'm quite impressed. . . and hoping to see more!

Sil

 

i liked it a lot! very conflicted and emotional....just the way i like my vadey

 

Another excellent story, Lady_Moonbeam. I'm going to put you on my watched user list and check out your other story. Keep up the good work.
I especially liked the part when Vader ordered the troop to take the bird to his quarters. It would be so un-Vaderish to do it himself.

 

This is actually just my second story with Vader, so please tell me what you think. Even if it is, "Stay away, you don't know what you're doing."

You definitely should write more Vader. I just read this one and the vignette about the breathing apparatus; they're both excellent.

Talking about songbirds: have you read Orson Scott Card's "Songmaster"? Even though the songbird in it is actually a boy singer, there are interesting parallels...

 

Listen to the bird that would never leave its cage sing of the memories that he wanted to forget, and he wouldn?t ever kill it because it was too much like the soft voice inside of himself.

I don't normally read anything that isn't NJO. But this is excellent! Gorgeous writing. Wonderful imagery. I love the idea of Obi trying to bake cookies.

Well done!

 

*is enthralled*

Lady_Moonbeam, you are spectacularly talented. That was beautiful. The symbolism, the words, the imagery, the emotion - girl, you nailed it. This story just worked. I can't explain, really, what it was that made it that way. But it is. I should go to a theasaurus just to find more words to describe this, but I'm too lazy.

On another note, I read Given Mercy, and I thought that was lovely too.

 

So sad! Very in-character, and very touching.