Saga - PT Saga - OT [UDC IX] The Sisterhood of the Rose Evergreen (OCs)

Author: Findswoman
Title: The Sisterhood of the Rose Evergreen
Era: Late Saga-PT through early Saga-OT
Characters: OCs, all female, all traveling aboard the Mesens Corporation SCT scout craft Rose Evergreen:
Telfien Viurraanvi (Gand from Gand, Fidswoman)
Marya-Glocke “Glockel” Sternenkranz (Human from Nydringia [fanon planet], spacer/slicer/pilot)
Shulma Trilasha Orrelios (Lasat from Lasan, Ashla shaman)
Lualani’Draba’Takiil “Lua” (Drabatan from Pipada, seamstress)
R1-K4 “Rika” (astromech droid)
Other OCs and ECs may show up along the way.
Summary: Glimpses into the everyday life and not-so-everyday adventures of five very different women traveling and seeking together.
Notes: This is my attempt at Ultimate Drabble Challenge IX. We shall see how I do! I have been wanting to try my hand at some kind of anthology or series involving this group of OCs, and this, I suppose, is my chance.

Spoiler: Previous Stories with These Characters

Telfien:
The Book of Gand
Between the Porch and the Altar
Hoses, Masks, and Canisters
What She Saw
Glockel and Telfien:
Of Urgent Transmissions and Curious Dropped Objects
Dearest Delphine!
Box of Visions
In Search of a Hutt’s Dinner Music
The Spacer’s Song
Shulma:
Almost every story in The Lasan Series
Lua:
The Drabatan Lady Downstairs
All five:
Shaman, Traveler, Oracle, starting with chapter 14
Till the Shades Lengthen

Index
Week I (Adamant, Abide, Afield, Aghast, Aforetime)
Week II (Raid, Pirate, Smuggle, Maraud, Steal; Hondo Ohnaka)
Week III (Professor, School, Gifted, Karma, Gambit)
Week IV (Misty, Lonely, Fiery, Golden, Undying)
Week V (Temple, Sanctuary, Shrine, Monastery, Pilgrimage; Chirrut Îmwe)

 

Week I

1. Adamant
“Rika, calculate hyperspace route to Reuss VIII.”

“No, Glockel Sternenkranz. Not Reuss VIII.”

“Where, then?”

“Svivren, Svivreni Sector.”

“Is this about that vision again?”

“Yes. Telfien has once again seen the giantess amid the lightnings. She is there. The Mists have shown it.”

“Look, can’t we just go to Reuss first for the couplings and then—”

“She requires aid.”

“A giantess requires aid from two random spacers.”

“BWEEEEP!”

“Three. Sorry, Rika. But… really?”

“The Mists have shown it.”

“Okay, fine. Calculate hyperspace route to Svivren. You can be quite adamant when you want, Delphine.”

“Thank you for that compliment, Marya-Glocke.”

2. Abide
Well, the Lasat and the Drabatan were here to stay, Glockel reflected.

She remembered when she, Telfien, and Rika had extracted them from Svivren amid Imperial fire. Back then, she’d figured they’d be on board for just a few days before getting off at some spaceport—just like any other passengers. And then? Back to Bonvika’s for the next assignment. Easy.

But now, after a full Standard week—

“Telfien has intuition that they will be abiding here for some time, Glockel Sternenkranz.”

The Human laughed, shook her red braids, and thumped the Gand’s shoulder. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

3. Afield
Glockel had always loved the spacer’s life. What could be more exciting than zooming through the stars at lightspeed to visit far-off worlds? The farther afield, the better!

For Telfien it was different. She had chosen to leave Gand after the Empire invaded, but it had been a difficult choice. Going far afield meant safety and opportunity—but she missed home.

For Shulma and Lua it was different still. The Empire had forced them from home—twice. They could not return. They were doomed to be afield forever.

To go afield for them had been the least the Rose Evergreen could do.

4. Aghast
It started with the strange squishing, swishing sound Glockel heard down the corridor. She locked the helm and followed her ears… to the ’fresher. What she saw left her both aghast and amused.

It was the Lasat, Shulma, cleaning the ’fresher. Yes, that... giant purple woman was hunched over the waste cistern, scrubbing it with the Swiff-O-Sonic while wearing pink rubbroid utility gloves. It was… quite a sight.

Once over the initial shock, Glockel slapped Shulma’s shoulder (she couldn’t stifle a twinge of pride as the Lasat reeled slightly) and laughed, “You don’t really need to do that, you know!”

5. Aforetime
It was... depressing sometimes, sharing a ship with three displaced-exiled-survivor types (or whatever you wanted to call them). Sometimes Telfien, Lua, and Shulma sat for hours (hours!) reminiscing about their distant aforetimes on Gand, Pipada, and Lasan before the Empire came.

Glockel usually left them to it. She didn’t belong to that club; she’d taken to the stars by choice. The Empire had never cared about Nydringia anyway. (Well, except when Darth Vader had come looking for her Uncle Wym, a Jedi, and he’d stood up to him and bravely sacrificed his life—

—but yeah, no, that wasn’t the same.)

Spoiler: Notes

Shulma and Lua first join the Rose Evergreen in chapters 14 and 15 of Shaman, Traveler, Oracle.

Shulma cleans the Rose Evergreen’s ’fresher in chapter 16 of Shaman, Traveler, Oracle.

The story of Glockel’s uncle’s encounter with Darth Vader is told in my early story “There is no death!”

 

Yay! YOU GAVE INTO THE CALL OF THE DRABBLES! I was so, so happy to see you join in on the fun, especially with a collection featuring the marvelous ladies of the Rose Evergreen. They really are one of my OC favorite ensembles, and you are already off to such a fantastic start with this first set!

Ha! Yep, Glockel may have a point at first glance there, but Telfien is spot on in her insistence that they need to go and go now. And thank goodness, too!

I loved the dialogue heavy aspect of this first drabble; it really helped establish the voices of your characters right off the bat! Oh but I've missed this crew.

(And of course I loved Rika's indignation over not being included in that number. Of course she is just as important an addition to any flesh and blood sentient aboard.)

Ha! Indeed she can be. And I of course loved the little bit of sass that slipped out from Telfien. She can very much indeed be cheeky when she wants too.

Great back and forth! Yep, these ladies will be here to stay.

This was my favorite drabble of the set! I love how the Rose Evergreen really represents freedom and a new chance at belonging for its captain and crew, each in their own way - either through choice or by bitter circumstance. I really felt some fierce Firefly vibes from this drabble, in the best of ways. Just like the Serenity, the Rose Evergreen is a place and a feeling that it encapsulates for those displaced souls its collected aboard.

Ha! Oh no, she had to! I loved seeing this moment from Glockel's POV.

Oh sweetie, it's not quite the same - nothing can ever compare to surviving what they've survived, of course - but she too has been touched by the Empire's brutality in her own way. I just love that Glockel too has a place and a healing here - a theme that I imagine will indeed be expressed further as these drabbles go on!


Again, these are off to a fantastic start and I can't wait for more!

 

Wow, thank you all so much!

Thanks so much for coming by to read, so glad you enjoyed these characters even if they were unfamiliar! Yes, I enjoyed writing a bit about their reminiscences in "Aforetime"—which have an especially bittersweet element to them given that the Empire invaded both their homeworlds (and in one case devastated it and wiped out almost all its population). Glockel too may wonder a bit how much of it is true, and she's keenly conscious of not belonging to that "club"—though she has her own bittersweet reminiscences, too. And yes, agreed about Shulma cleaning the fresher! That was something she mentions doing in my 2018 DDC, and I knew the moment I saw "Aghast" on the list that that was the match for it. Many thanks again!

Thanks so much, as always! Yes, it's a different dynamic, and Glockel feels it (and it makes her a little self-conscious)—but in the event that she, too, chose to share her experiences, these other ladies would definitely listen sympathetically. They will all grow to understand and sympathize with each other—that's what a real sisterhood is made of! <#

Thank you so much, so great to see you here, and I appreciate those kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed this and appreciate your taking the chance on it even though these characters aren't familiar. I guess there is a lot under the surface—these OCs are ones I've worked with in some form or another for some time now, so those previous stories are a large part of them for me—and I'm glad that shines through. Thanks so much again, and I hope you'll be back for more!

Oh thank you so much! Really appreciate your reading and reviewing, as always. I've always loved the idea (or trope, maybe?) of "mismatched friends" coming together from very mismatched backgrounds—that can be how real tried and true sisterhoods are made, and that's exactly what I hope to show with these five. And the trauma and loss they've suffered just may make it all the more so—or, again, that's my hope! Thanks as always for your readership and insight, and I'm glad you enjoyed!

Aw, thank you so much! I too was glad to get to the point of being able to post these—I'd waffled a lot about whether to join this challenge—but I'm happy I took the plunge!

Thank you so much, earlybird! Great to see you here, and I'm so glad you're enjoying seeing these characters again. There will be more action from them coming soon!

Oh, thank you, Mira! I appreciate that so much, and it's my great pleasure to join in this wonderful challenge! I've been toying for a while with the idea of doing some kind of series of stories about the Rose Evergreen women, and, well, the UDC just seemed like it might be the chance I was looking for—so here it goes! It and all of its wonderful prompts came at just the right time. <3

Yes, even the soft-spoken Telfien can indeed be quite adamant when she wants, and it does indeed turn out that she's never been so right in her life! It was so much fun to revisit these, two—I haven't written about either of them in a little while, so it was a good exercise for me, too, to take the all-dialogue approach and get their voices set right off the bat.

And yes indeed, Rika too is just as essential to the Rose Evergreen as any of her organic companions—she too is one of the five petals of the rose! (And yes, the number is deliberate! )

Oh, she definitely can, indeed! And she'll have chances galore over the course of these, I'm thinking (hoping)!

Indeed they shall! And along with her little cheeky streak, Telfien's got a gift for understatement, too!

Oh, thank you! I don't know Firefly well, but I love the idea of the ship being a feeling, a state of mind, for those who have come together on board, as well as a chance at a new life. The Ghost was certainly that way in Rebels, too.

Thanks! And good on you for picking up on that little borrowing from Shaman, Traveler, Oracle! Again, when I saw "Aghast" on the list, I knew it could be nothing else but this scene.

She has, and again, if she chooses to share at some point (and probably she will, eventually), she'll have completely sympathetic and understanding listeners in both Telfien and Shulma, who would never see this sort of thing as a competition at all. Because that's part of what sisterhood is, after all! <3

So glad you're enjoying, and thank you so much, as always, for your readership and support!

And the next set will be inbound soon, probably tomorrow or else later today, so do stay tuned!

 

Thank you both so much for reading and commenting!

Thank you so much, and no worries, I’m always glad to have you and your comments here! Yes, of the group, Glockel is the one I felt kind of the most “out of practice” writing, since it’s been a long time since she was the central character in anything—so I really enjoyed revisiting her too. I had forgotten what a fun foil she is for some of the other quieter, more contemplative crewmates!

Hah! It would indeed be fun to see those two try to “out-adamant” each other! I imagine Telfien and Glockel do indeed frustrate each other at moments like these and are both feeling a little bit “what the what? How does she not understand?” But it’s all about compromises, I guess!

Yep, you don’t need any Force/Ashla/Mist talent for it to be crystal clear that these two are here to stay and that a new era is about to begin for the Rose Evergreen!

I enjoyed writing this one. It was a particularly instructive one for me, because before this, I myself hadn’t ever really thought about and compared the crew members’ different motivations, and it was kind of a revelation to me to see a pattern or progression from Glockel’s voluntary adventuring to increasing levels of reluctance and involuntariness on the part of the others, and to explore some of the nuances there: obviously Telfien making a difficult choice to leave when the Empire occupies Gand is on a different order from Shulma being forced off when the Empire all but destroys Lasan.

Oh, I imagine the gloves may have been a little tight, but that Shulma was a good sport about it all the same. She really does just want to show that she’s willing to pull her weight as a member of the crew, and I think the message gets across—and probably reassures Glockel, as you say, because she now sees that this Giant Purple Woman really isn’t as scary and intimidating as she thought. (And I imagine Shulma’s wince reaction when Glockel punches her shoulder probably conveys some of that, too!)

Yep, I always thought Glockel might feel like a bit of a “third wheel” once Shulma and Lua came aboard, and that it wouldn’t necessarily be a pleasant or easy thing for her, especially given as the ship actually does belong to her. And again, with time it’s possible that she might get up a bit of the nerve to share her own experiences with the other three organics on board, who wouldn’t begrudge her the chance to do so—it’s not a competition, after all. And it shows that, in way, they all have more in common than they anticipated! Which so often turns out to be the case in a good “found family” situation. <3

Thank you so much! I am so glad you enjoyed, and thank you, too, for your role in encouraging me to take the plunge and begin this series.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! It was a nostalgic experience for me, too, to revisit the first two Rose Evergreen women., and the very first drabble seemed the perfect place to do that. It's true I haven't written as much about Glockel as about some of the others, but I'm hoping these drabbles will be a way I can explore her character some more.

Yes, exactly--she knows Telfien's visions and intuitions are the real thing, even if she doesn't always understand them. (Not to mention sometimes feels that they don't always come at the most opportune time! )

Hah! I never thought about it quite that way before, but you're totally right! And lucky for us, too, because it sure can make for some good stories!

Oh yes, it's part of her unflappable, zen nature. And her cheeky streak, too!

Yes, you're right, that comes up in STO and is exactly what I hoped to expand or riff upon here. Those first few nights are always the hardest, both for the newer denizens of the ship and the less new ones! But they do find common ground and work it out.

Thanks! Again, I really enjoyed the way this one allowed me really to consider and compare the characters' different motivations, because it was something I hadn't really thought about much before myself. I've written a little bit about what leads up Telfien's departure from her homeworld--mostly in Between the Porch and the Altar, but there are some small bits and pieces about her specifically leaving home (or being about to) in Dearest Delphine! and at the end of What She Saw.

Thanks! Again, this was literally the first and only thing that came to mind--pretty much immediately--for this prompt (once again, based on a scene described in STO).

Yeah, this is definitely the moment where Glockel realizes that this giantess is really a very gentle giantess. (And of course, in turn, Glockel's little friendly gesture is a bittersweet reminder to Shulma of a certain family she once loved... )

Oh, it certainly does--being around Glockel is very much a breath of fresh air for Telfien, Shulma, and Lua after all they've endured, and her jovial nature really brightens things for them, and if Glockel knew that, it might help her feel less self conscious about not being a member of that specific "club."

It probably very much does bring back those memories, and you're very right, especially with that bolded bit. But Lua, Telfien, and Shulma know that it's not a competition, and they would have nothing but compassion for Glockel if they knew her story--the same way Glockel definitely does have compassion for them, even if it's awkward for her to express it at this juncture.

Thank you so much, as always, and I'm so glad you are enjoying this! And you shall not wait long, because the second set is coming right up!

 

Here’s my second week, at last! Hondo Ohnaka makes a cameo in no. 7—with the theme of pirates, raiding, smuggling, etc., I couldn’t resist bringing him in. Many thanks to @Raissa Baiard for beta reading.

---

Week II

6. Raid
“THIS IS A RAID!”

Gratitude for that keen insight, Officer Obvious, Telfien thought. While the Imperial officers set about plundering cupboards, frisking innocent café-goers, and interrogating the harried Herglic barista, she stayed in her booth and initiated Sneaking Mist, the Gand Findsman’s discipline of stealth. It was never pleasant to watch such things, but it would be over soon enough (and at least that datastick from the docking office was safely back aboard now, thank the Mists).

Still, it didn’t seem like quite the right moment for Lua, sitting beside her, to open her sewing basket and begin darning socks.

7. Pirate
“Ah, Frau Sternenkranz! Have you had the chance to consider my proposal?”

Oh, this tiresome old pirate again… Glockel sighed as the wizened Weequay approached. She wasn’t even sure which proposal he meant. He was always proposing things to everybody.

“Why, no, Herr Ohnaka, I have not!” she exclaimed. “Because I am not interested!”

“Ah, I wouldn’t want you to regret your decision, Frau Sternenkranz!”

“Have no fear of that, Herr Ohnaka! Now, if you’ll excuse me, business calls! Good afternoon!”

As she left, she heard from inside: “Ah, Mr. Cloudkicker! Have you had the chance to consider my proposal?”

8. Smuggle
“Okay, where is that datastick?!” Glockel burst into the common area. “Telfien, do you have it?”

“Telfien was under the impression that you had it.”

“Well, I don’t,” Glockel retorted. “I set it down, and now it’s gone. Shulma, what about you?”

The Lasat sighed. “I have not seen a datastick. I know nothing about a datastick, because, if you recall, you insisted I stay behind to guard the ship.”

“Well, of course! You’re the biggest!”

Shulma rolled her eyes and returned to writing in her notebook. Glockel, however, continued blustering about. “This is what I get for playing smuggler…”

9. Maraud
Telfien could sense it: they had to leave, and soon. It was too risky to stay with the local garrison marauding about. Rika’s sensor sweep had reported multiple, successive raids within the hour.

All, seemingly, for that datastick from the docking office. Whatever data it held was apparently more important than anyone had suspected. And if the spaceport was their next stop (Telfien could feel the Mists hinting that, too)—

It was time to fly. The sooner they got that stick to their contact on Rugosa, the better.

There was only one problem: the befoggèd thing was still lost.

10. Steal
Glockel paced nervously. “Seriously, we have to find it. It’s only a matter of time before the docking office notices it’s gone… gone here.”

Then Lua walked in. “You SAY something about a DATASTICK?”

“Yes,” Telfien interposed. “Glockel seeks the datastick she stole from the docking office.”

“Excuse you, I didn’t steal it! It doesn’t belong to them!”

“Well, then, extracted.”

“Stole, EXTRACTED, whatever, I got a DATASTICK RIGHT here!” Lua held it up.

The Gand and the Human started simultaneously. “Wait—what—”

Lua smiled her broad smile. “Hey, THEY come SEARCH, who GONNA look in an old lady’s SEWING BASKET?”

Spoiler: Notes

Mr. Cloudkicker: I originally had “Cloudskimmer” or some other generic Star Wars-sounding name involving the word “cloud,” but when Raissa Baiard pointed out that a character named Kit Cloudkicker was part of another show that was also worked on by Hondo Ohnaka’s voice actor, Jim Cummings—namely, Talespin—I couldn't resist putting in this little Easter egg! Especially since the name still sounds nice and Star Warsy, I think.

 

Thank you both so much for reading and commenting!

Thanks so much! This made for a very fun dynamic to write. The two of them are foils, in a way!

Thanks so much, glad you're continuing to enjoy these! I will freely admit that this mission of theirs is a bit of MacGuffinism on my part—I haven’t completely come up with the what, why, and how of it—but one thing I do know is what you’ve just said: that it IS completely legit, that their motives and cause ARE completely on the up-and-up. And as such, Hondo is indeed barking up the wrong tree.

Yep, Lua knows exactly what she’s doing—she’s far from clueless about the situation! Just as Telfien has her Sneaking Mist discipline to protect her, this is how Lua protects herself, and it works.

Indeed! As a by-now-experienced spacer, Glockel has encountered Herr Ohnaka’s type multiple times (as well as encountered Herr Ohnaka himself multiple times), knows that he makes his “proposals” to pretty much all and sundry, and knows that no good is likely to come of them. I too hope Mr. Cloudkicker will have the same perspicacity! It was my pleasure to include that little Easter egg, both for the Jim Cummings / Talespin connection and because that really does sound like a GFFA name!

Yeah, I imagine that as being something she gets a lot. Not only can being the biggest be as inconvenient and awkward as being the smallest in general, but now that she’s been forced away from Lasan she’s also encountering the rather uncomfortable stereotype that members of big species are invariably big, brawny bruisers who think only with their fists (a stereotype that Zeb himself ran into more than once)—not an easy thing for a member of a big species who happens to be more cerebrally and spiritually inclined. But it’s just part of their getting to know each other, in the end, and Glockel will learn!

I was channeling a lot of my own household’s energy and feelings around lost objects in this one. Lost objects have that very particular way of throwing off the harmony of the universe, don’t they!

Oh yes, things like this definitely prove that this unassuming old seamstress is no dummy and not just along for the ride—she’s an essential member of the crew and a full participant in the mission. She’ll never be underestimated after this!

Thank you so much! Hopefully in not too long, if I can get myself in gear. So glad you’re enjoying this, and thanks again both for your readership and your invaluable beta input!

 

And here, finally, is my third week! Once again I thank @Raissa Baiard for beta reading.

---

Week III

11. Professor
Shulma opened the small, gold-covered volume. It was one of three that had come with her from Lasan, the smallest yet most beloved: Wise Chava’s own definitive edition of the Stronghold of Prophecy of Osthi of Feldspar Falls, which she had inscribed to her student:

For Shulma
my Storm-Dreamer
as she ascends to the First

Just then golden light filtered into Shulma’s view. She looked up to see that same dear old teacher before her, clear as life, stone-green eyes twinkling. “There now, child,” she said simply, then disappeared.

Shulma closed the book, and burning tears welled in her eyes.

12. School
Telfien watched Shulma, one tridactyl hand upraised to feel the motion of the Mists about her friend. The trace was unmistakable: something in that little book Shulma had been reading had brought her a vision. Shulma had told her once how that book had been a gift from her teacher during her schooling days on Lasan. Had the vision been of those days—a favorite study place, happy times with friends, or even that same beloved teacher?

(Telfien’s own beloved teacher had never given her gifts, only a promise. Then the Empire had come, and he had rebelled and fled.)

13. Gifted
“Whoa, Lua, how’d you do that?!” Glockel gasped, holding up her jacket and peering at a spot on the collar. She gestured to Telfien. “Look, Delphine! I can’t even see where the rip was, can you?”

Telfien peered, too. “No, not at all,” she confirmed. “Very skillful work, indeed. You have a true gift, Lualani’Draba’Takiil.”

“Oh, that NOTHING,” Lua chuckled, waving a wrinkled, gray-green hand. “I just been mending THINGS long BEFORE you were hatched. You WANT GIFTS, that be you and Shulma TALKING to your MISTS and SPIRITS.”

“Yours is much more useful,” was Telfien’s quiet reply.

“WHAT?”

“Nothing.”

14. Karma
Lua couldn’t believe she was back. The Rose Evergreen had detoured through the Svivreni Sector for fuel, so once again she stood before the boarded-up storefront in Wrils, Svivren’s capital, where her seamstress’s shop had been.

A thought hit her: what if she reopened? Time had passed since that nasty moff had forced her out; were things better? No; the place had too much bad karma now, with everything destroyed, customers’ garments slashed and burnt, poor PR-L4 all mangled...

Suddenly Lua felt a warm hand on her arm: Shulma, once her neighbor and shop assistant, was now standing beside her.

15. Gambit
“Everyone THINK Galactic TILES just a GAME OF chance,” Lua said as the others sorted their tiles. “But there LOTS of strategy, too. Whenever YOU take or DISCARD, YOU gotta be CAREFUL, because YOU let everyone know WHAT YOU got. YOUR best GAMBIT is YOUR sabacc FACE. Okay, GO.”

Glockel bit her lip and discarded a Two of Gems. Telfien, her compound eyes expressionless, ignored Glockel’s tile, took one from the reserve stack, and discarded Croptime—which Shulma, her eyes suddenly brightening, grabbed and stashed in her pouch.

Lua shook her head. “WE gotta WORK ON your sabacc FACE, LASAT.”

Spoiler: Notes

On Shulma’s copy of Osthi’s Stronghold of Prophecy, see her “inventory list” in chapter 5 of Shaman, Traveler, Oracle (hereafter ShTO).

Who is Telfien’s beloved teacher? The Book of Gand and some of its related stories may provide hints, especially Box of Visions, Hoses, Masks, and Canisters and Between the Porch and the Altar.

Lua’s seamstress shop in Wrils, Svivren, first appears in ShTO chapter 8 (and following), which also describes how Shulma takes a job there as her assistant. PR-L4 (OC) was the tailoring droid that worked for her. The shop is destroyed by an Imperial raid led by Moff Belphagor in ShTO chapter 15.

Galactic Tiles is called an arcade game in Wookieepedia, but here and in ShTO I have been treating it as the GFFA equivalent of mahjong, with the arcade version being based on the original game with tiles.

Croptime is named in Wookieepedia as a specifically Gamorrean season, but I can see other worlds using the term, too. (Mahjong has four “seasons” tiles, so I figured Galactic Tiles would have something similar.)

 

Thank you so much for reading and commenting!

Why, thank you! This turned out to be a fun set, though challenging in places—it took some doing to come up with “Karma” and “Gifted,” though I knew I wanted “Gambit” to be about Lua and her galactic tiles. And I’m glad you enjoy the colors—I was going for a kind of “Neapolitan ice cream” look.

Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed the series of moods and the mix of the sad and upbeat! I too am terrible at making and maintaining a poker face, so this was definitely written from experience. The gals are playing basically the GFFA equivalent of mahjong, for which—from the research I’ve done—a poker face is an absolute necessity, so I anticipate that I would have similar problems to Shulma, there!

Once again, many thanks to you both, glad you are enjoying!

 

Many thanks, as always, for reading and commenting. Each one of you makes my day, in case you didn’t know! <3

Thank you! Always glad to have you here and so happy you’re enjoying these. I’ve been enjoying writing them.

Ah, d’oh, that would have been a good and very suitable idea, too! But yeah, again, she knew exactly what she was doing. Putting on the “harmless old lady” guise.

Yeah, unfortunately, she gets this kind of thing a lot at this point! Isn’t that how some people get when something is lost, though—they get desperate and start asking everyone about it, even those they darn well know wouldn’t have any idea. (I’ve done the same.)

Yep—besides just being able to sense in the Mists that Shulma has experienced a vision, Telfien can also sense that perhaps it relate to some feelings of loss similar to her own. She realizes that the two of them have those losses in common as well as their connection to the Force, and sees that perhaps Shulma is someone she can eventually talk to about those things.

Ohmigosh, I have immense respect for people who can sew, knit, crochet, mend, embroider, any of those things! My own abilities in the area of sewing are... well, not super. I can sew a button on, and there was a time long ago when I used to try making doll clothes, but none of them came out excellently. So Glockel’s admiration of Lua echoes my own! (And her reaction here is similar to one I once had after taking one of my favorite tops to be repaired at an alterations shop a few years back. I really and truly still cannot see where the torn spot had been!)

I enjoyed exploring her attitudes toward loss. I’ve spent a lot of time on Telfien and Shulma’s losses, and while Lua’s are humbler in a way (though not much, because heck, the Empire wasn’t so nice to Pipada either), they still hit her just as hard. And even her attempt at starting anew with a new shop on another world was dashed to pieces by the Empire, too. It’s a lot to take! But at least she doesn’t have to take it alone, because she’s surrounded by sympathetic friends—and at that, sympathetic friends to whom she can teach her favorite game!

Thank you so much once again! Your comments and readership always brighten my day.

Ooh, I like that interpretation very much! Sure, I definitely think that could be the case--it's already mentioned in ShTO that Chava is one of two people who appear especially vividly in Shulma's visions (the other being her husband, of course), which we know means she's still alive. And given Chava's own powers, it is indeed entirely possible that she's seeing Shulma at the same time...

Yes, Telfien's situation is at once very similar to and very different from Shulma's, and Telfien is sensing both those similarities and those differences in this moment. Although I admit I haven't fully worked out details (but hey, that's part of what these drabbles and vignettes are for!), I have in mind that Telfien's separation from her beloved took a very different shape from Shulma's separation from hers. Telfien is very secretive about it, of course, but there will probably come a time when she will feel comfortable sharing more about it with Shulma.

Oh, it really is a gift, too, and a big one! Again, I have so much respect for people who can sew competently and confidently, because it really is so useful for so many things. I've been in a similar place myself, with the feeling that my own training and education just feel plain inessential sometimes, whereas there are so many other people out there with skills and knowledge that are actually useful.

I admit I had a bit of trouble ending this one, and originally I wondered if it really worked to have Shulma appear--so I'm glad it worked well in the end! That shop was Shulma's livelihood for a time, too, after all, and it and Lua were of infinite help to her at during a difficult time in her own life. The shop may be in ruins, but bond these formed as a result of it persists, and perhaps that's ultimately one of the most important things that came out of it.

Of course you can say it, I like her, too! Even with the hardships she's suffered, she's got a knack for finding the small happinesses wherever she is, and this is one way she is able to share that with her shipmates. Though of course they do all receive it totally differently! I too am one of those who have trouble with keeping a poker face, so I would have face the same challenge as Shulma if someone tried to teach me mahjong! (Which I'm told also often requires a poker face.) But even if Shulma isn't necessarily Taungsday Tiles Club material, she's still having a good time, as indeed they all are. It's another way they can all bond and just enjoy being together.

Thank you so much! And one again an extra thank you for your support and beta feedback, which makes everything it touches better! More coming anon...

 

All right, once again, here we are! I hope no one minds that it technically hasn’t been a week since my last set, given that ten days between my sets 1 and 2 and two weeks between sets 2 and 3. I am going to try (yes, I know, quiet, Master Yoda) to get back onto a more regular weekly schedule, though of course that is completely dependent on RL. As always, I thank @Raissa Baiard for all her helpful feedback.

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Week IV

16. Misty
The Mists moved differently in hyperspace than They did anywhere else.

The Mists were different in hyperspace than They were anywhere else.

Most of the time They were floating, hovering veils shrouding potential answers. To query them was to comb carefully through them as through a forest. But here in hyperspace they moved freely in a lambent, never-ending swirl. Gleaming in that swirl were answers not only to the moment’s questions but traces of infinitely branching possible futures. It was beautiful, wonderful, and sometimes terrifying.

And if Telfien had not been forced to leave Gand, she never would have known.

17. Lonely
Even now, sharing this small ship with four others, she felt lonely sometimes.

She liked them all right — but they weren’t her favorite uncle or the girls she had laughed with at spacer camp. They weren’t the kind Findsmasters who had taught, healed, and loved her. They weren’t her beloved classmates from the Academy of Shamans or the strapping husband whose embrace made her melt and bloom. They weren’t the little boy she had hatched (all grown up now!) or the lively ladies of the Taungsday Tiles Club. And they were all meatbags.

But they were all her friends.

18. Fiery
“Sovereign Spirit, Ashla of all being, in you are all the fiery sparks renewed—”

Shulma paused in her morning invocation and looked at the focusing stone that crowned her Ashla staff, the brilliant red-purple kreposkolite that had once also been her betrothal stone. It was glowing, as it usually did at this point in the ritual — but it was the dim, cool glow of hyperspace, not the blazing brilliance of the Lasan sun. She sighed and lowered her eyes.

And a voice came to her: Your face is my Lasan sun, Storm-Dreamer, and your sighs are my fiery sparks.

19. Golden
What was it about Telfien, anyway? How could such a small, unassuming being be so... uncanny, Shulma wondered?

Then it hit her: it was the eyes. They were golden, faceted, unmoving, and completely expressionless (no wonder she was so good at Galactic Tiles). They glowed constantly within. They looked more like celestial bodies than eyes; when Shulma had first seen them in that long-ago vision, she had mistaken them for Lira San and its star.

But one needed to look only a little closer to sense an Ashla presence as golden as those eyes, and as warm as Lira San.

20. Undying
One corner of the common area was the “memories corner.” In it hung a group holo from the Junior Spacer Olympics, a picture of a young Drabatan male, and another of an officer of the Lasan High Honor Guard. On a shelf below sat the lacquered music box Telfien sometimes used to aid her meditations. Everything there testified to the undying remembrance of past times and lost dear ones.

Rika, of course, had no need for such things, but she always gave the memories corner an approving bleep as she rolled by in the morning. Meatbags had such charming ways!