SW ficlet: A thousand fountains – a thousand thoughts

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:55:52 GMT

Title: A thousand fountains – a thousand thoughts
Fandom: Star Wars EU AU
Main character(s): Obi-Wan Kenobi
Minor character(s): Kirra-Lo An (OFC)
Rating: PG
Words: 500

Summery: Obi-Wan is struggling to come to terms with the loss of his Master.

Author's Note: I will readily admit this vignette was mainly written because I wanted to write something very short and very simple that introduced Kirra-Lo.

Disclaimer: Star Wars doesn’t belong to me – it a registered trademark of LucasArts or some such – I'm only a fan with too much imagination and a need to express it. I don’t make any money of this and I only claim my own characters since everything else is obviously not my own.

- - -

The Room of a Thousand Fountains, Jedi Temple, Coruscant, 32 BBY

There was a void in Obi-Wan’s mind as he sat and attempted to take in the serenity and beauty of the Room of a Thousand Fountains – he could hear the calm fall of water in the falls and the soft, almost inaudible, rustle of leaves in the foliage as the environmental system worked on supplying oxygen to the huge greenhouse. When he was younger he often sought refuge here as Jedi training became too difficult and it had always worked – until now.

Qui-Gon was dead – it was the only thought tearing through his heart and soul now that he for a short moment could allow himself the luxury of grief and mourning.

Growing up he had fantasised about a time when he had been Knighted, but still could seek the wisdom of his old Master – in some cases the master-apprentice bond didn’t last beyond the Padawan years, as was the case with Qui-Gon and Dooku, nevertheless Obi-Wan had imagined him and his Master to be different. Yet, here he was, a Jedi Knight with his own Padawan, and he was alone.

It was selfish, he knew – the living mourning their own loss rather than rejoice in their loved ones joining the Force in a way no one alive could ever come to understand, but still he couldn’t stop the void from filling his being.

He was alone and Qui-Gon was dead.

Never again would he sit at the edge of his old Master’s sleeping couch, a cup of leaf tea in his hands, and listen to his wise words. Never again would his old Master hand him his Lightsabre, a stern yet amused look on his face, and berate him for loosing it once more. Never again.

A gentle movement in the bushes caught Obi-Wan’s attention – a figure approached him as if oblivious to his wishes to be left alone – Kirra-Lo was characteristically silent as she sat down on the stone bench mere inches from the grieving Knight. The Theelin-hybrid did not look at him, her eyes were veiled and lost in the distance as she took his left hand in both her smaller ones and did not speak.

Reassurance emanated from the young Jedi’s hands and he could feel the raw edges in heart stop to bleed – they still ached, but the hurricane was now only a throbbing – his mind found focus in the anchor her touch provided.

He remembered his old Master many years ago, deep in reflection, in one of the Meditation Gardens – Obi-Wan had only been a young Padawan then and wondered why a renowned Warrior Master would spend so much time in contemplation. When he later asked Qui-Gon that question the older Jedi had smiled calmly at him and answered: ‘How can you expect to bring peace to the galaxy if you can not bring peace to yourself?’

Yes, Qui-Gon was still dead, but would never depart as long as he was still remembered.

- - -
[back-dated from curlaw @ lj]

SW ficlet: Lack of sincerity

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:54:54 GMT

Title: Lack of sincerity
Fandom: Star Wars EU AU
Main character(s): Keyla Saloma (OFC), Dooku
Rating: PG
Words: 593

Summery: Dooku decides to have an important talk with his Padawan before she faces her trials.

Author's Note: This ficlet/scene is an instalment in a much larger story, that I as of now only have locked away in this pretty head of mine, but given enough time I’ll have it all down in writing one day.

Disclaimer: Star Wars doesn’t belong to me – it a registered trademark of LucasArts or some such – I'm only a fan with too much imagination and a need to express it. I don’t make any money of this and I only claim my own characters since everything else is obviously not my own.

- - -

Jedi Temple, Coruscant – 67 BBY

“You have been a good Padawan,” Dooku told Keyla as he handed her a cup of steaming green leaf tea; they were seated in his personal quarters – she on the edge of his sleep couch and he on the chair by the computer console, “better than I feared when I took you on.”

She smiled and nodded at his words while she kept uncharacteristically quiet feeling he had something important to tell her. Even though he hadn’t been her Master for such a long time – only for the past two years since her first Master, the Jedi Knight Dahar Zerga, had died on their last mission together – she had learnt to read his moods well; the muscles in his neck were tense and his movements were overly calculated as if he forced himself to proceed.

“I will convey this to the Council of course,” somehow she imagined he had told his last Padawan something similar – it sounded like a pep talk of sorts, “but there is something else I will tell, for your benefit alone, that I wish you keep with you in your heart: you have a flaw.”

Keyla’s soft smile failed, but she didn’t look away from him – Master Dooku had always been blunt in a strangely graceful manner and she couldn’t help but love him for his frankness – in a way it was refreshing not to be coddled like her first Master had had a tendency to do.

“We all have them,” he continued – not changing the tone of his voice even though he must have seen how his words affected the Padawan. “But as long as we are aware of them they do not become failings. Your flaw is that you are too eager to please – compassion is a virtue to some degree – but never forget that in the end you are always alone and betrayal is the only thing you can be sure of.”

Her Master didn’t mask his smirk as her eyes widened in wonder – no one had ever really accused her of being too sympathetic – everyone from her fellow Padawans to the Grand Masters had at one point or another criticized her for being too impulsive and careless, because even though her instincts in a majority of the cases were correct there was always a possibility that they won’t always be – but overly compassionate? That was a new one.

Even as she thought this a new fear entered her mind and refused to leave – she didn’t like the idea of being alone. Sure, she sometimes sought out the library for some peace and quiet, but she was never truly alone even in the privacy of the record hall – never cut off from the rest of civilization in the manner her Master just now seemed to suggest was needed.

“Then who should I trust, Master?” Keyla asked as casually as she could manage and took a deliberate sip of tea for good measures.

“You only have yourself in the end,” he stated coldly, trying hard not to be annoyed when he had to repeat himself.

“You and our fellow Jedi,” she continued as seemingly relaxed as she had asked the previous question, “I can only expect betrayal from you?”

“For now we are allies,” Dooku explained, “but we will not always be.”

“And the sooner I accept this the better off I’ll be,” she stated, but they both knew she didn’t mean what she said – he didn’t comment on her lack of sincerity and she didn’t comment on his lack of faith.

- - -
[back-dated from curlaw @ lj]

Sue and Stu

SW ficlet: A thousand fountains – a thousand thoughts

SW ficlet: Lack of sincerity