I'm thinking of what Sidious did to the force and the effect it had on the Jedi. It was mentioned but besides using it as an explanation it wasn't really gone into.
Phoenixes Story snippets and ideas
- Thread starter Darkphoenixlady
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That's what the whole thing about the cleansing ritual was about
Yeah, considering Fay is typically looked at as one of the really light Jedi, having something to remove the dark side corruption is a direction that was mentioned in that fict but wasn't explored. Like I said, this is an interesting direction.
Star Wars: Birth of Magic - 2
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Just over a week later Fay has finished her third cleansing ritual, and the water ran completely clear after just a couple of scoops.
Ruefully she looks down at Lily as she helps Harry into his new pressure suit, "You were right, I feel light in a way I haven't for decades or longer."
Lily nods as a droid helps her with her own suit, her fingers not yet nimble or strong enough to do it herself, "It took me four cleanses to be completely clean, the others were because we'd already gone past three, and we were using seven in the ritual. It's quite soothing when you don't have any gunk to get rid of. If you're going to keep using the force rather than magic, then we should make a routine of doing it once every seven or thirteen days."
Harry looks at Lily, "Mummy, what's 13?"
Lily smiles at Harry, "It's 10 plus 3 honey. It's the next magically important number after seven for our style of magic."
Fay frowns, "Why not 11, as that's the next prime number."
Lily shrugs, "European superstition mainly. Different cultures have different numbers after 3, 5, and 7. For example, in China you will never ever see the number 4 turn up in any spells that aren't supposed to kill someone. Some people like to say that magic is alive." Fay opens her mouth to speak and Lily continues, "It isn't, but magic users are alive, and all living creatures have at least some magic, and that has an effect on everything to do with magic. One wizard said that 'Magic is the process of imposing your will on reality'. It's not really true, as we can't just want big things to happen. You've already seen Harry's accidental magic. That's about the extent of what you can do without making tools and frameworks to do magic with. How have you been getting on with finding your own magic?"
Fay smiles with amusement, "I have found the living force inside me."
Lily huffs, "That's not the same thing at all. Your magic is deeper than that. Your magic is part of your very soul, and it's why every living creature has magic. Even plants can have magic, and when they do it does strange things to them. I have been practising your teachings too, though my body is too young to survive the rigours of a cleansing ritual just yet. Same as Harry's too young too, so no working with the unifying force until he reaches his first magical majority."
Now dressed, Harry runs to the door ramp, "Can we go and see the city now please?"
Fay and Lily share a glance, before Lily grabs a belt, "Almost little man. But first you need a special belt. Fay, I'm going to turn this belt into a portkey, that's a magical transportation spell that will teleport everyone that's touching the belt to the ritual circle on the ship. The trigger phrase will be 'Home sweet Home', but it will only work if the person that says it is in contact with the belt."
When Fay looks at her skeptically, Lily smirks, "Tell you what, we can use it to return to the ship once Harry gets tired."
Fay shakes her head as Lily concentrates on the belt and says, "Portus."
"Well, it doesn't feel any different. I don't think it worked."
Lily just rolls her eyes and buckles the belt around Harry.
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Fay groans on the floor of the cargo bay as numerous red icons blink on the HUD in her pressure suit. At the same time, Lily is helping Harry to remove his helmet as he wobbles around.
As Harry's helmet comes off he says, "Baby Mummy bad, time for time out."
Lily shakes her head, "No Harry, I was teaching you how portkeys work. Will you be able to do that again?"
Harry shakes his head, "No, never."
"Not even if an evil droid is pointing a blaster at you?"
Harry uncertainly looks back at Lily, "Um."
"That's why you have the belt, so that you can get home if something bad happens. It's not there to get out of boring stuff. Now go with Nanny and get cleaned up."
Harry nods and runs over to the nanny droid as Lily walks over to Fay.
As Harry leaves the room, Fay manages to push herself into a seated position and take her helmet off, "What the kriff was that?"
Lily kisses Fay on the cheek, "That my love, was a portkey. A magically enchanted item. One that is made with a spell that can only be created if you understand the underlying arithmancy, unlike apperation I hasten to add, which just about every witch or wizard can learn to do if they can focus."
Fay shakes her head, "It was like being spun around the planet on an ascender, and then dropped in the cargo bay."
Lily nods, "It's not a bad analogy that, as it's sort of what the magic is doing. Except it's also pulling you out of the normal three dimensions at the same time so that you don't bump into anything. I wish I had my school books, it would make this so much easier."
"What about all of the errors that appeared on my suit?"
Lily grimaces, "Yeah, magic does that. Places with high levels of ambient magic, like my old school, stopped even simple calculators from working. I'm not sure if that would apply to prosthetics or not, but honestly I wouldn't want to chance it on anyone we care about. Remember, magic does what we want it to, it's not using the universe to accomplish something. Now, while Harry and I have our naps, your homework is to mix a gallon of purifying water."
Fay sighs dejectedly, "Yes Master."
Lily pokes Fay in the chest, "Less of the Master there. Professor Potter is acceptable. If we had wands, you wouldn't even be touching that, as it's fairly advanced potion making despite it's simplicity."
Fay shakes her head, "Why is it advanced?"
Lily looks through the door that Harry left through before taking two steps backwards and sitting on the floor cross legged, "Most potions use parts of at least one magical plant or animal in them. The simplest potions use exclusively magical ingredients. What this means is that the potioneer doesn't need to provide any of their own magic in order to transform the potion from something that is likely to be highly toxic into something beneficial. Many of the oldest herbal remedies are actually potions recipes without the stirring instructions. On top of that, silver is almost magically inert. It is very hard to enchant silver to do anything, but if you can, then you'll have produced one of the most potent magical items it's possible to make. That's why goblin artefacts are so sought after."
Fay looks confused, "Sorry, goblin?"
Lily chews on her lip as she reviews the last few seconds of conversation, "Oh, right, goblins. They're one of the species on Earth, and their known for their craftsmanship, war like nature, and most recently as bankers. They have made a magical alloy that we call goblin silver, and it's harder than the strongest steel without being brittle. It is also used almost exclusively in goblin enchanting, and their weapons are well known for taking on the traits of anything that doesn't destroy them out right. Acids, poisons, dragon breath, and more."
Fay shakes her head, "That sounds a lot like the rumours of Sith Alchemy."
Lily shrugs, "I don't know, this is the first time you ever mentioned Sith."
Fay sits thoughtfully for a moment, then dry heaves as she habitually reaches for the unifying force. "Sithspit that's bad. How did I never notice how much the darkside is covering the force?"
Lily sighs, "I'd imagine it's because there's not really that much there. If you allowed yourself to reach out the way you used to the feeling could go away. And it's better to get past that now than in an emergency."
Fay shudders, the memories of the cleansing ritual still fresh in her mind. None the less, she opens up her senses to the force and grits her teeth against the oily feeling. As Lily suggested, the feeling is just a thin layer over the force. Suddenly inspired she asks, "Lily, do you think you could design a circle that will keep only the dark side of the force outside the circle?"
Lily shakes her head, "I don't know. Maybe. It's far easier to keep everything out, and I don't have access to the books or notes I used to make my last ritual. Anyway, Sith."
Fay nods, "Yes, Sith. They are, or were, a loose collective of force users who believed in embracing your emotions and passions. By implication, that also meant that they willingly drew on the dark side of the force. I don't know of any who didn't end up drawing on it exclusively, however I was a padawan a few hundred years after the end of the last Sith war, so while it was still fairly common knowledge the details were scarce."
"Sith war?"
"Yes. Despite being a loose collective, they still ran an empire and they attacked the old republic. I have the records in my computers if you want to read about it."
Lily nods, "I might do that."
Slightly alarmed, Fay looks down at Lily, "Lily, we're going to have guests in a few days time. There's something important that needs to be done here."
Lily holds her forehead in both hands, "Of course there is. I'll have the astromech droid help me make us some bracelets that I'll turn into emergency portkeys. The activation phrase will be 'Beam me up Scotty'"
Fay looks at Lily curiously, "Does that have some cultural significance?"
Lily nods, "It does. I'm sure that it will be in the data the droids transmit back when the portal opens again."
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Fay stands on a cliff overlooking a lava flow that is currently host to a chemical. As she's joined by three other Jedi, a sense of dread falls over her. Turning around she looks at the three masters, "Knol 'The Fire Eater', Jon 'The Hunter', Nico 'The Freeman'. I see I'm not the only one that felt drawn here."
The bothan, Knol nods, "Fay. Indeed, though there should be a fifth."
Fay nods, "I have a bad feeling about this."
Knol tips her head to one side, "Odd, do you know why?"
Fay shakes her head, "It just feels off."
As she's speaking, a famous human Jedi staggers up to the clifftop and Master Nico turns to face him, "Ah, Master Kenobi. Our little squad seems to be complete."
Knol turns to face Kenobi while Fay is trying to remember who Kenobi is, "Finally, you Coruscant Jedi take your time, don't you?"
With a sigh, Fay admonishes Knol, "Sheath your fangs master Ven'nari. Obi-wan has faced many trials recently… Indeed, I sense that you are still ill."
Kenobi shakes his head, "Just the lingering effects of the confederacy's new weapon. I feel fine. But this is quite a strike team Master Fay, I'm not even sure I'm needed here…"
Fay places a hand on Kenobi's head, "You're the only one who has first hand experience with this new weapon. Your insight will be…"
Fay trails off as Lily walks out from behind a rock wearing her pressure suit and says, "Unneeded."
As the other four Jedi all turn to face Lily and draw their lightsabres, Fay sighs, "Why are you here?"
Lily crosses her arms, "Fay, did you really think you were the only one who could read the force? You've been teaching me for years."
"Lily I…"
"Left without word on a doomed mission."
Rather tartly, Knol asks, "And who are you to say the mission is doomed?"
"Because you're all going to die without help, and your deaths will ultimately cost more lives than this mission will save. More importantly Fay, it will mean that Harry and I die. While my student looks to the future, Jedi Kenobi, will you tell me why you're here?"
Kenobi looks surprised as Fay does sink to the floor in meditation. Quickly rallying, he says, "The confederacy has a new weapon they call Swamp Gas, an illness that indiscriminately strikes down anyone it comes in contact with. This lab has the antidote."
Lily nods, "And are they expecting you?"
Kenobi shakes his head, "No, this is a confederacy lab."
Lily nods seemingly thoughtfully, before shaking her head, "No it isn't. It's just in the outer rim. Fay has already been here for over a week without hiding who she is, so just given them a call and ask them to deliver a sample to her ship."
Nico looks at the island, "The dark Jedi are already here, I can feel them skulking in the shadows."
Lily rolls her eyes, "Fine, tell them that you would like them to place the sample outside the sealed areas."
As Kenobi turns away to talk into his communicator, Fay's eyes flick open, and she looks at Lily, "You're right. Even if we succeed here, it would be a Corellian victory."
Knol shakes her head, "What is the life of one person when weighed against the lives of millions?"
Lily looks at Knol skeptically, "Really? How many people are alive and, more importantly, free today because of your actions? If you die here trying to get a cure that the Republic will be able to produce itself in several months, how many lives will be lost because you're not there to save them, or to save the people who would then save them? I fought in a war before Fay found me, and every loss hurt because we all had irreplaceable skills. There's more that I'm concerned about, but this isn't the place to discuss that yet."
Kenobi turns back with a grim face, "Nico was right, the Sith are already here and they were pretending to be Jedi. I've told them to start evacuating, but we have to stop them from getting the antidote, otherwise the war will become worse than it already is."
Lily looks at the lab with a sinking feeling, "I'll go ahead and try to get the antidote first. You lot do what you've been trained to do."
As Lily disappears with a loud crack of noise, Fay finds herself the centre of attention, and Kenobi demands, "How did she do that?"
Fay grimaces as she shakes her head, "Would you believe, magic?"
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As red alert symbols flash on the inside of her pressure suit, Lily nervously brings up her occlumency and sinks into it as she makes her way into the lab from the balcony she apparearated to. Already, she can see air speeders taking off from the sides of the lab, as the skakoan workers abandon the floating death trap.
Shaking her head to bring her focus back on her own task, Lily has to agree with the workers that, based on what she's seen and read since coming to this planet, getting between the two types of force user is a quick way to an ingnomous death. However, her own force vision was clear about the fact the only way she and Harry would survive is if she joined in.
As she passes a vacated desk, she picks up a stylus and places it on her open palm before whispering, "Point Me" while concentrating on the antidote. As the stylus spins above her palm, she takes a couple of deep breaths to recover from the wandless magic, before following the corridor that the stylus is pointing at.
Several minutes later, she walks into the synthesis lab and quickly ducks down beside a table as a woman with white skin and an armoured humanoid male stand beside a row of test tubes.
Gripping the stylus like a wand she braces herself against the table as she silently casts a switching spell on a nearby test tube and the one that the woman is reaching for.
As the light headed feeling passes, Lily quickly grabs the correct vial and secretes it in one of the pockets on her suit. With the vaccine secure, she touches the control for the built in comm device, only to swear under her breath as it fails to activate.
As she's slipping out of the room she winces as she hears the sound of an explosion on the other side of the lab.
Again using the stylus as a wand, she carefully runs through the full wand motions of the messenger variant of the patronus charm that Dumbledore developed in the war. As her patronus appears she starts to slide down the wall in exhaustion, "Find Fay. Tell her that I've got the real cure and I switched it for a decoy."
As the fox disappears through the wall, a series of explosions rocks the lab and a large crack appears in the floor at the end of the corridor. Reaching for her bracelet, the words to trigger the portkey die on her lips as a sense of danger floods through her at the idea of just leaving. Groggily, she pushes herself to her feet and forces herself to head for the stairs.
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With her head still ringing from the explosion, Fay watches dumbly as a glowing white fox appears and says something about the cure. A couple of minutes later the wild fire that's boxing them into the lab starts to recede and Kenobi asks, "It's stopped? Are you holding the fire back?"
As Fay shakes her head once more to try and clear it, Nico shouts, "No! Master Ven'nari is pulling it in!"
A moment later, Knol crawls out of the smouldering wreckage of the synthesis lab, only to disappear as a bracelet hits her in the forehead, leaving only her lightsaber on the floor.
A surprised Kenobi loudly asks, "Is she gone?"
Shaking her head to try and clear it faster, Fay opens her mouth to reply when Nico instead answers, "Yes, I can't feel her in the force anymore. Now we need to pursue that witch."
Numbly Fay points at a couple of patches of lava that are rising through the cracks in the floor, "And devise an escape plan. The facility has been compromised, we're sinking."
Pointing with his lightsaber, Nico shouts, "She went this way! Let's move!"
As the others run off after the Sith, Fay pushes herself into a staggering walk, only to stop as Lily staggers out of the smoke and picks up the fallen lightsaber. Pausing in confusion, Fay waits for Lily to catch up.
With a childish giggle, Lily leans heavily against Fay, "I guess you didn't get my message then?"
Fay shakes her head to try and get rid of the ringing in her ears, before pointing at them with her finger. "I've still not recovered from the explosion!"
Lily shouts back, "You need to open yourself up to the force! I've got the cure, we just need to let the others know."
Stupidly, Fay stares at Lily as she tentatively opens herself to the force for only the second time since she finished her cleansing rituals. Once more the oily feeling of the darkside makes her shiver, but with it comes a clarity of thought as her centuries of experience uses the unifying force with her living force to heal her wounds while she forces herself not to recoil from the feeling. "Thank you, how did you know?"
Lily looks up at her, "Because I can't stop my own Merlin damned connection to the force. It keeps pushing me with nudges and warnings. Can you carry me? As I'm feeling exhausted, and I keep thinking that we need to catch up with the others before they do something stupid and get themselves killed."
As Fay picks Lily up on her back, and starts to jog after the others, Lily waves Knol's lightsaber around in one hand. "You shouldn't wave that around like that, you could kill someone."
Lily nods sleepily on her shoulder, "I know, it just feels a bit like a wand, like the core is in there but the rest of the device is getting in the way."
Gently, Fay takes the lightsaber from Lily's hand, "Try to get some sleep while we catch up. I'll keep you safe."
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In the end it takes Fay nearly two hours to catch up with Kenobi on the surface after needing to double back at the site of a cave in, or because lava has flooded the route that they took. Not that the combatants seem to have fared much better, as the Sith and the armoured man seem to have been forced to backtrack almost as much by the three Jedi flanking and out manoeuvring them.
Now however, Fay gently lays a sleeping Lily down behind some rocks with Knol's lightsaber, before walking serenely out of the smoke as the Sith corners Kenobi.
As the Sith raises her twin lightsabers to strike Kenobi down, she calls out, "See, where you are now false Jedi?"
With ease borne from centuries of practice against hostile opponents, Fay slips into the Sith's mind and first extracts her name, "Asajj Ventress, you are no Jedi. You are simply hatred and bile given form."
As Asajj spins to face Fay, Kenobi uses the distraction to leap out of the way of the armoured fighter's attack. As Asajj lunges to attack her, Fay levitates some rubble to catch her in the face, only for the test tube she's holding to go flying over the edge into the lava.
As she finally makes her way into the deepest part of Asajj's mind, Fay gives her a sad smile, "Goodbye Asajj Ventress."
Panting, Asajj fights against Fay's mental intrusion, "I feel you in my head, stealing my memories and my name." Dropping to her knees she pants out, "But I am in your heart, you fear me. You know your time is almost ov…"
With a groan, Asajj's eyes roll up in the back of her head and she collapses to the floor.
Grimacing, Fay walks over to help Kenobi against the armoured foe, the Gen Dai, bounty hunter Durge, only to be caught by an explosion as one of Durge's missiles lands not feet away from her at the same time a red light hits her from behind as she tries to dodge.
Some time later she comes around at the same time as Kenobi, only to see that they appear to be the only people left on the small, sinking, spur of rock in the lava pool. As he searches Asajj's corpse, he collapses to his knees and starts to sob, "We failed. After all that we failed."
Lily's voice comes from a nearby rock, "I wouldn't say that."
Kenobi looks up sharply, "You!"
Lily nods, "Yes me, I managed to switch the cure with a random test tube before they blew everything up. Fay and I were trying to catch up and tell you that."
Fay narrows her eyes at Lily, "Lily, did you shoot us?"
Lily nods and lifts the lightsaber, "Stunning spell. Knocked you unconscious, and made it look like the rocket blast did it. Having a focus, no matter how bad, makes all the difference. I put this one under a medical stasis too."
Fay looks down at Asajj's body with wide eyes as her force sense tells her what she's just realised, "She's not dead?"
Lily shakes her head, "No, but I'm running dangerously close to lethal magical exhaustion, otherwise we'd all be back at the ship." At Fay's blank look, she adds, "Your bracelet."
Kenobi finally catches up with the first thing Lily said, and his eyes light up, "You have the cure? I need to get it back to Coruscant."
Lily holds up the vial and shakes her head as she takes off her helmet, "I have conditions, otherwise I will just destroy it."
Kenobi glances between Lily and Fay in disbelief, "What?"
Lily smiles tiredly, "I'm glad you asked. As you can see, I'm a clone. I'm more than that, but the important thing is that this body is a clone. You're using clones as slaves in your army, so my first demand is that you remove the chip that Fay said they're all fitted with. The second demand is that they become conscripts, and get paid accordingly. The final demand is that you do not communicate the fact that anyone but you and the armoured person survived this mission."
Kenobi shakes his head, "I can't do that."
Lily smiles, "Sure you can, you're a high up general and your army has medical droids. You can just tell them to remove the chips during routine medical exams. If you don't, then I'm not going to give you the cure, as I refuse to stand by and watch a new slave class being brought into existence. I couldn't do anything about House Elves because they were already an established part of my society, but I can do something about the clones."
Kenobi shakes his head, "They're not slaves."
Lily cocks her head to one side, "So they're droids then?"
Kenobi shakes his head vehemently, "No!"
"What happens if they disobey an order?"
Softly Fay says, "They can't, the chips won't let them. I agree with Lily, though I think Lily should amend her demand to every clone you are in command of, and that you will do your best to persuade the council to make it an unofficial order. Without the darkside tainting my vision, the clone army seems to be…"
Lily adds, "A monkey's paw? It was a mythical magical item from my home that would grant you your wish, but in such a way that you regret making the wish. Pass it off as Fay's dying force vision if you want."
Fay shakes her head and points to the shrinking edge of their spur, "We should have this discussion when we're not in danger of dying."
Kenobi looks at the distant shore with a grimace, "I don't think we can jump that."
Lily just lifts Asajj's limp hand up, "Fay, hook the bracelet around her finger, and Kenobi, make sure you're touching the bracelet."
Ruefully she looks down at Lily as she helps Harry into his new pressure suit, "You were right, I feel light in a way I haven't for decades or longer."
Lily nods as a droid helps her with her own suit, her fingers not yet nimble or strong enough to do it herself, "It took me four cleanses to be completely clean, the others were because we'd already gone past three, and we were using seven in the ritual. It's quite soothing when you don't have any gunk to get rid of. If you're going to keep using the force rather than magic, then we should make a routine of doing it once every seven or thirteen days."
Harry looks at Lily, "Mummy, what's 13?"
Lily smiles at Harry, "It's 10 plus 3 honey. It's the next magically important number after seven for our style of magic."
Fay frowns, "Why not 11, as that's the next prime number."
Lily shrugs, "European superstition mainly. Different cultures have different numbers after 3, 5, and 7. For example, in China you will never ever see the number 4 turn up in any spells that aren't supposed to kill someone. Some people like to say that magic is alive." Fay opens her mouth to speak and Lily continues, "It isn't, but magic users are alive, and all living creatures have at least some magic, and that has an effect on everything to do with magic. One wizard said that 'Magic is the process of imposing your will on reality'. It's not really true, as we can't just want big things to happen. You've already seen Harry's accidental magic. That's about the extent of what you can do without making tools and frameworks to do magic with. How have you been getting on with finding your own magic?"
Fay smiles with amusement, "I have found the living force inside me."
Lily huffs, "That's not the same thing at all. Your magic is deeper than that. Your magic is part of your very soul, and it's why every living creature has magic. Even plants can have magic, and when they do it does strange things to them. I have been practising your teachings too, though my body is too young to survive the rigours of a cleansing ritual just yet. Same as Harry's too young too, so no working with the unifying force until he reaches his first magical majority."
Now dressed, Harry runs to the door ramp, "Can we go and see the city now please?"
Fay and Lily share a glance, before Lily grabs a belt, "Almost little man. But first you need a special belt. Fay, I'm going to turn this belt into a portkey, that's a magical transportation spell that will teleport everyone that's touching the belt to the ritual circle on the ship. The trigger phrase will be 'Home sweet Home', but it will only work if the person that says it is in contact with the belt."
When Fay looks at her skeptically, Lily smirks, "Tell you what, we can use it to return to the ship once Harry gets tired."
Fay shakes her head as Lily concentrates on the belt and says, "Portus."
"Well, it doesn't feel any different. I don't think it worked."
Lily just rolls her eyes and buckles the belt around Harry.
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Fay groans on the floor of the cargo bay as numerous red icons blink on the HUD in her pressure suit. At the same time, Lily is helping Harry to remove his helmet as he wobbles around.
As Harry's helmet comes off he says, "Baby Mummy bad, time for time out."
Lily shakes her head, "No Harry, I was teaching you how portkeys work. Will you be able to do that again?"
Harry shakes his head, "No, never."
"Not even if an evil droid is pointing a blaster at you?"
Harry uncertainly looks back at Lily, "Um."
"That's why you have the belt, so that you can get home if something bad happens. It's not there to get out of boring stuff. Now go with Nanny and get cleaned up."
Harry nods and runs over to the nanny droid as Lily walks over to Fay.
As Harry leaves the room, Fay manages to push herself into a seated position and take her helmet off, "What the kriff was that?"
Lily kisses Fay on the cheek, "That my love, was a portkey. A magically enchanted item. One that is made with a spell that can only be created if you understand the underlying arithmancy, unlike apperation I hasten to add, which just about every witch or wizard can learn to do if they can focus."
Fay shakes her head, "It was like being spun around the planet on an ascender, and then dropped in the cargo bay."
Lily nods, "It's not a bad analogy that, as it's sort of what the magic is doing. Except it's also pulling you out of the normal three dimensions at the same time so that you don't bump into anything. I wish I had my school books, it would make this so much easier."
"What about all of the errors that appeared on my suit?"
Lily grimaces, "Yeah, magic does that. Places with high levels of ambient magic, like my old school, stopped even simple calculators from working. I'm not sure if that would apply to prosthetics or not, but honestly I wouldn't want to chance it on anyone we care about. Remember, magic does what we want it to, it's not using the universe to accomplish something. Now, while Harry and I have our naps, your homework is to mix a gallon of purifying water."
Fay sighs dejectedly, "Yes Master."
Lily pokes Fay in the chest, "Less of the Master there. Professor Potter is acceptable. If we had wands, you wouldn't even be touching that, as it's fairly advanced potion making despite it's simplicity."
Fay shakes her head, "Why is it advanced?"
Lily looks through the door that Harry left through before taking two steps backwards and sitting on the floor cross legged, "Most potions use parts of at least one magical plant or animal in them. The simplest potions use exclusively magical ingredients. What this means is that the potioneer doesn't need to provide any of their own magic in order to transform the potion from something that is likely to be highly toxic into something beneficial. Many of the oldest herbal remedies are actually potions recipes without the stirring instructions. On top of that, silver is almost magically inert. It is very hard to enchant silver to do anything, but if you can, then you'll have produced one of the most potent magical items it's possible to make. That's why goblin artefacts are so sought after."
Fay looks confused, "Sorry, goblin?"
Lily chews on her lip as she reviews the last few seconds of conversation, "Oh, right, goblins. They're one of the species on Earth, and their known for their craftsmanship, war like nature, and most recently as bankers. They have made a magical alloy that we call goblin silver, and it's harder than the strongest steel without being brittle. It is also used almost exclusively in goblin enchanting, and their weapons are well known for taking on the traits of anything that doesn't destroy them out right. Acids, poisons, dragon breath, and more."
Fay shakes her head, "That sounds a lot like the rumours of Sith Alchemy."
Lily shrugs, "I don't know, this is the first time you ever mentioned Sith."
Fay sits thoughtfully for a moment, then dry heaves as she habitually reaches for the unifying force. "Sithspit that's bad. How did I never notice how much the darkside is covering the force?"
Lily sighs, "I'd imagine it's because there's not really that much there. If you allowed yourself to reach out the way you used to the feeling could go away. And it's better to get past that now than in an emergency."
Fay shudders, the memories of the cleansing ritual still fresh in her mind. None the less, she opens up her senses to the force and grits her teeth against the oily feeling. As Lily suggested, the feeling is just a thin layer over the force. Suddenly inspired she asks, "Lily, do you think you could design a circle that will keep only the dark side of the force outside the circle?"
Lily shakes her head, "I don't know. Maybe. It's far easier to keep everything out, and I don't have access to the books or notes I used to make my last ritual. Anyway, Sith."
Fay nods, "Yes, Sith. They are, or were, a loose collective of force users who believed in embracing your emotions and passions. By implication, that also meant that they willingly drew on the dark side of the force. I don't know of any who didn't end up drawing on it exclusively, however I was a padawan a few hundred years after the end of the last Sith war, so while it was still fairly common knowledge the details were scarce."
"Sith war?"
"Yes. Despite being a loose collective, they still ran an empire and they attacked the old republic. I have the records in my computers if you want to read about it."
Lily nods, "I might do that."
Slightly alarmed, Fay looks down at Lily, "Lily, we're going to have guests in a few days time. There's something important that needs to be done here."
Lily holds her forehead in both hands, "Of course there is. I'll have the astromech droid help me make us some bracelets that I'll turn into emergency portkeys. The activation phrase will be 'Beam me up Scotty'"
Fay looks at Lily curiously, "Does that have some cultural significance?"
Lily nods, "It does. I'm sure that it will be in the data the droids transmit back when the portal opens again."
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Fay stands on a cliff overlooking a lava flow that is currently host to a chemical. As she's joined by three other Jedi, a sense of dread falls over her. Turning around she looks at the three masters, "Knol 'The Fire Eater', Jon 'The Hunter', Nico 'The Freeman'. I see I'm not the only one that felt drawn here."
The bothan, Knol nods, "Fay. Indeed, though there should be a fifth."
Fay nods, "I have a bad feeling about this."
Knol tips her head to one side, "Odd, do you know why?"
Fay shakes her head, "It just feels off."
As she's speaking, a famous human Jedi staggers up to the clifftop and Master Nico turns to face him, "Ah, Master Kenobi. Our little squad seems to be complete."
Knol turns to face Kenobi while Fay is trying to remember who Kenobi is, "Finally, you Coruscant Jedi take your time, don't you?"
With a sigh, Fay admonishes Knol, "Sheath your fangs master Ven'nari. Obi-wan has faced many trials recently… Indeed, I sense that you are still ill."
Kenobi shakes his head, "Just the lingering effects of the confederacy's new weapon. I feel fine. But this is quite a strike team Master Fay, I'm not even sure I'm needed here…"
Fay places a hand on Kenobi's head, "You're the only one who has first hand experience with this new weapon. Your insight will be…"
Fay trails off as Lily walks out from behind a rock wearing her pressure suit and says, "Unneeded."
As the other four Jedi all turn to face Lily and draw their lightsabres, Fay sighs, "Why are you here?"
Lily crosses her arms, "Fay, did you really think you were the only one who could read the force? You've been teaching me for years."
"Lily I…"
"Left without word on a doomed mission."
Rather tartly, Knol asks, "And who are you to say the mission is doomed?"
"Because you're all going to die without help, and your deaths will ultimately cost more lives than this mission will save. More importantly Fay, it will mean that Harry and I die. While my student looks to the future, Jedi Kenobi, will you tell me why you're here?"
Kenobi looks surprised as Fay does sink to the floor in meditation. Quickly rallying, he says, "The confederacy has a new weapon they call Swamp Gas, an illness that indiscriminately strikes down anyone it comes in contact with. This lab has the antidote."
Lily nods, "And are they expecting you?"
Kenobi shakes his head, "No, this is a confederacy lab."
Lily nods seemingly thoughtfully, before shaking her head, "No it isn't. It's just in the outer rim. Fay has already been here for over a week without hiding who she is, so just given them a call and ask them to deliver a sample to her ship."
Nico looks at the island, "The dark Jedi are already here, I can feel them skulking in the shadows."
Lily rolls her eyes, "Fine, tell them that you would like them to place the sample outside the sealed areas."
As Kenobi turns away to talk into his communicator, Fay's eyes flick open, and she looks at Lily, "You're right. Even if we succeed here, it would be a Corellian victory."
Knol shakes her head, "What is the life of one person when weighed against the lives of millions?"
Lily looks at Knol skeptically, "Really? How many people are alive and, more importantly, free today because of your actions? If you die here trying to get a cure that the Republic will be able to produce itself in several months, how many lives will be lost because you're not there to save them, or to save the people who would then save them? I fought in a war before Fay found me, and every loss hurt because we all had irreplaceable skills. There's more that I'm concerned about, but this isn't the place to discuss that yet."
Kenobi turns back with a grim face, "Nico was right, the Sith are already here and they were pretending to be Jedi. I've told them to start evacuating, but we have to stop them from getting the antidote, otherwise the war will become worse than it already is."
Lily looks at the lab with a sinking feeling, "I'll go ahead and try to get the antidote first. You lot do what you've been trained to do."
As Lily disappears with a loud crack of noise, Fay finds herself the centre of attention, and Kenobi demands, "How did she do that?"
Fay grimaces as she shakes her head, "Would you believe, magic?"
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As red alert symbols flash on the inside of her pressure suit, Lily nervously brings up her occlumency and sinks into it as she makes her way into the lab from the balcony she apparearated to. Already, she can see air speeders taking off from the sides of the lab, as the skakoan workers abandon the floating death trap.
Shaking her head to bring her focus back on her own task, Lily has to agree with the workers that, based on what she's seen and read since coming to this planet, getting between the two types of force user is a quick way to an ingnomous death. However, her own force vision was clear about the fact the only way she and Harry would survive is if she joined in.
As she passes a vacated desk, she picks up a stylus and places it on her open palm before whispering, "Point Me" while concentrating on the antidote. As the stylus spins above her palm, she takes a couple of deep breaths to recover from the wandless magic, before following the corridor that the stylus is pointing at.
Several minutes later, she walks into the synthesis lab and quickly ducks down beside a table as a woman with white skin and an armoured humanoid male stand beside a row of test tubes.
Gripping the stylus like a wand she braces herself against the table as she silently casts a switching spell on a nearby test tube and the one that the woman is reaching for.
As the light headed feeling passes, Lily quickly grabs the correct vial and secretes it in one of the pockets on her suit. With the vaccine secure, she touches the control for the built in comm device, only to swear under her breath as it fails to activate.
As she's slipping out of the room she winces as she hears the sound of an explosion on the other side of the lab.
Again using the stylus as a wand, she carefully runs through the full wand motions of the messenger variant of the patronus charm that Dumbledore developed in the war. As her patronus appears she starts to slide down the wall in exhaustion, "Find Fay. Tell her that I've got the real cure and I switched it for a decoy."
As the fox disappears through the wall, a series of explosions rocks the lab and a large crack appears in the floor at the end of the corridor. Reaching for her bracelet, the words to trigger the portkey die on her lips as a sense of danger floods through her at the idea of just leaving. Groggily, she pushes herself to her feet and forces herself to head for the stairs.
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With her head still ringing from the explosion, Fay watches dumbly as a glowing white fox appears and says something about the cure. A couple of minutes later the wild fire that's boxing them into the lab starts to recede and Kenobi asks, "It's stopped? Are you holding the fire back?"
As Fay shakes her head once more to try and clear it, Nico shouts, "No! Master Ven'nari is pulling it in!"
A moment later, Knol crawls out of the smouldering wreckage of the synthesis lab, only to disappear as a bracelet hits her in the forehead, leaving only her lightsaber on the floor.
A surprised Kenobi loudly asks, "Is she gone?"
Shaking her head to try and clear it faster, Fay opens her mouth to reply when Nico instead answers, "Yes, I can't feel her in the force anymore. Now we need to pursue that witch."
Numbly Fay points at a couple of patches of lava that are rising through the cracks in the floor, "And devise an escape plan. The facility has been compromised, we're sinking."
Pointing with his lightsaber, Nico shouts, "She went this way! Let's move!"
As the others run off after the Sith, Fay pushes herself into a staggering walk, only to stop as Lily staggers out of the smoke and picks up the fallen lightsaber. Pausing in confusion, Fay waits for Lily to catch up.
With a childish giggle, Lily leans heavily against Fay, "I guess you didn't get my message then?"
Fay shakes her head to try and get rid of the ringing in her ears, before pointing at them with her finger. "I've still not recovered from the explosion!"
Lily shouts back, "You need to open yourself up to the force! I've got the cure, we just need to let the others know."
Stupidly, Fay stares at Lily as she tentatively opens herself to the force for only the second time since she finished her cleansing rituals. Once more the oily feeling of the darkside makes her shiver, but with it comes a clarity of thought as her centuries of experience uses the unifying force with her living force to heal her wounds while she forces herself not to recoil from the feeling. "Thank you, how did you know?"
Lily looks up at her, "Because I can't stop my own Merlin damned connection to the force. It keeps pushing me with nudges and warnings. Can you carry me? As I'm feeling exhausted, and I keep thinking that we need to catch up with the others before they do something stupid and get themselves killed."
As Fay picks Lily up on her back, and starts to jog after the others, Lily waves Knol's lightsaber around in one hand. "You shouldn't wave that around like that, you could kill someone."
Lily nods sleepily on her shoulder, "I know, it just feels a bit like a wand, like the core is in there but the rest of the device is getting in the way."
Gently, Fay takes the lightsaber from Lily's hand, "Try to get some sleep while we catch up. I'll keep you safe."
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In the end it takes Fay nearly two hours to catch up with Kenobi on the surface after needing to double back at the site of a cave in, or because lava has flooded the route that they took. Not that the combatants seem to have fared much better, as the Sith and the armoured man seem to have been forced to backtrack almost as much by the three Jedi flanking and out manoeuvring them.
Now however, Fay gently lays a sleeping Lily down behind some rocks with Knol's lightsaber, before walking serenely out of the smoke as the Sith corners Kenobi.
As the Sith raises her twin lightsabers to strike Kenobi down, she calls out, "See, where you are now false Jedi?"
With ease borne from centuries of practice against hostile opponents, Fay slips into the Sith's mind and first extracts her name, "Asajj Ventress, you are no Jedi. You are simply hatred and bile given form."
As Asajj spins to face Fay, Kenobi uses the distraction to leap out of the way of the armoured fighter's attack. As Asajj lunges to attack her, Fay levitates some rubble to catch her in the face, only for the test tube she's holding to go flying over the edge into the lava.
As she finally makes her way into the deepest part of Asajj's mind, Fay gives her a sad smile, "Goodbye Asajj Ventress."
Panting, Asajj fights against Fay's mental intrusion, "I feel you in my head, stealing my memories and my name." Dropping to her knees she pants out, "But I am in your heart, you fear me. You know your time is almost ov…"
With a groan, Asajj's eyes roll up in the back of her head and she collapses to the floor.
Grimacing, Fay walks over to help Kenobi against the armoured foe, the Gen Dai, bounty hunter Durge, only to be caught by an explosion as one of Durge's missiles lands not feet away from her at the same time a red light hits her from behind as she tries to dodge.
Some time later she comes around at the same time as Kenobi, only to see that they appear to be the only people left on the small, sinking, spur of rock in the lava pool. As he searches Asajj's corpse, he collapses to his knees and starts to sob, "We failed. After all that we failed."
Lily's voice comes from a nearby rock, "I wouldn't say that."
Kenobi looks up sharply, "You!"
Lily nods, "Yes me, I managed to switch the cure with a random test tube before they blew everything up. Fay and I were trying to catch up and tell you that."
Fay narrows her eyes at Lily, "Lily, did you shoot us?"
Lily nods and lifts the lightsaber, "Stunning spell. Knocked you unconscious, and made it look like the rocket blast did it. Having a focus, no matter how bad, makes all the difference. I put this one under a medical stasis too."
Fay looks down at Asajj's body with wide eyes as her force sense tells her what she's just realised, "She's not dead?"
Lily shakes her head, "No, but I'm running dangerously close to lethal magical exhaustion, otherwise we'd all be back at the ship." At Fay's blank look, she adds, "Your bracelet."
Kenobi finally catches up with the first thing Lily said, and his eyes light up, "You have the cure? I need to get it back to Coruscant."
Lily holds up the vial and shakes her head as she takes off her helmet, "I have conditions, otherwise I will just destroy it."
Kenobi glances between Lily and Fay in disbelief, "What?"
Lily smiles tiredly, "I'm glad you asked. As you can see, I'm a clone. I'm more than that, but the important thing is that this body is a clone. You're using clones as slaves in your army, so my first demand is that you remove the chip that Fay said they're all fitted with. The second demand is that they become conscripts, and get paid accordingly. The final demand is that you do not communicate the fact that anyone but you and the armoured person survived this mission."
Kenobi shakes his head, "I can't do that."
Lily smiles, "Sure you can, you're a high up general and your army has medical droids. You can just tell them to remove the chips during routine medical exams. If you don't, then I'm not going to give you the cure, as I refuse to stand by and watch a new slave class being brought into existence. I couldn't do anything about House Elves because they were already an established part of my society, but I can do something about the clones."
Kenobi shakes his head, "They're not slaves."
Lily cocks her head to one side, "So they're droids then?"
Kenobi shakes his head vehemently, "No!"
"What happens if they disobey an order?"
Softly Fay says, "They can't, the chips won't let them. I agree with Lily, though I think Lily should amend her demand to every clone you are in command of, and that you will do your best to persuade the council to make it an unofficial order. Without the darkside tainting my vision, the clone army seems to be…"
Lily adds, "A monkey's paw? It was a mythical magical item from my home that would grant you your wish, but in such a way that you regret making the wish. Pass it off as Fay's dying force vision if you want."
Fay shakes her head and points to the shrinking edge of their spur, "We should have this discussion when we're not in danger of dying."
Kenobi looks at the distant shore with a grimace, "I don't think we can jump that."
Lily just lifts Asajj's limp hand up, "Fay, hook the bracelet around her finger, and Kenobi, make sure you're touching the bracelet."
Star Wars: Birth of Magic - 3
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Asajj slowly comes to, lying on a hard metal floor. As her memories flood back in, her eyes snap open and she reaches for the force, only to freeze as there's nothing there.
Rolling to her feet, her quick eyes take in the fact that she's in the cargo bay of a ship before she registers the design on the floor. Shivering, she stares at a Dathomire magic circle and she starts backing up until she hits a wall. Spinning around she screams when she realises that the wall is nothing of the sort, it is in fact the inside edge of the circle.
Desperately she reaches out for the force again and again, only to find nothing there as she sinks down in the centre of the circle alone again. Just like she was after her master died.
"Hello?"
A child's voice makes her head snap up, and stare at the human boy that's holding a plate of cookies.
"I heard you crying, and Nanny," he indicates the droid behind him, "helped me bake some cookies. Though she only ever lets me eat two at a time, unless they're big cookies, then I might not even be allowed a whole one."
Asajj stares at the child that's rambling about some sort of confection, despite the fact that no witch she's ever heard of would let a child anywhere close to a ritual circle, let alone a male child. "Child, can you let me out of here?"
The child shakes his head, "Uh huh. Baby Mummy said that you can leave whenever you want, you just need to leave the icky stuff behind. Mama cried the first few times she was in the circle too."
"Where is your Mummy?"
The boy smiles, "She's still asleep with Mama. They collapsed after the man left, so I told Nanny to put them to bed. Would you like some cookies?"
Asajj's hold on her temper breaks and she screams, "No I don't want your stupid cookies. Now let me out of here!"
As the boy drops the plate and runs, she slides down the invisible wall that's preventing her from leaving the circle and sobs, "Let me out of here" as memories of reading about the victims of the witches perverse rituals chase through her mind.
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Lily smiles as she wakes up in James' arms, and sighs in pleasure as he pulls her tighter against his chest. A moment later, her eyes snap open as the hardness of the bed filters through her consciousness. Looking around, wakefulness quickly replaces her sleepiness as she realises this is Fay's room.
"Fay, are you awake?"
From further up the bed, Fay's voice says, "I am now. Though I am somewhat surprised to be here rather than a bacta tank."
"How long do you think we've been asleep?"
Fay works her top arm free of Lily's grasp and reaches up to touch a panel on the wall by the bed, "Just shy of 36 standard hours according to this."
Lily pushes herself off the bed with a cry of, "Knol, we need to check on her."
Fay pushes herself into a sitting position with a confused yawn, "Oh, excuse me. I don't remember the last time I slept. We sent Jedi Master Knol to the city before we gave Kenobi the cure."
Lily nods and fails to snap her fingers, "I remember now, I asked D12 to change the symbols in the circle to those needed for an exorcism, and it took you three tries to activate it before we both passed out. What do you do instead of sleep?"
Fay shrugs, "Meditate on the living force, and recently magic."
Lily yawns widely before shaking her head, "Come on, we should see how our guest is doing and let her know why she's here."
Fay shakes here head, "Why is she here?"
Lily looks at Fay with a serious expression, "To give you a reason to practice dissolving silver, and to find out if there is still a person underneath all of that darkside gunk. She called herself a Jedi remember. But first I need to use the fresher. Oh, and while I remember, you said you were going to explain what was special about the lightsaber."
Fay picks up Lily and settles her on her hip as she heads for the fresher herself, "Lightsabers need a special type of crystal to work, most commonly a Kyber crystal or rarely a Kunda stone. While they can be made, Jedi tend to seek out their own crystal as part of their journey towards becoming a knight."
"Well Ollivander, the wand maker, told me that the wand chooses the witch. Given that I must have gone through at least 20 different wands, I can quite believe it. So we should probably try to find some natural ones."
Politely pulling the door mostly closed, so that Lily has privacy but they can still speak, Fay muses, "Well, I got my first crystal from Ilum, but the Adega system was also popular. I hear that the Jedi Order has recently reestablished trade with Dantooine…"
Lily's excited shout interrupts Fay, "There, we're going there."
Fay sighs, "Well, that's a couple of weeks travel as it's on the other side of the galaxy, and we'll need to go round the deep core."
Walking out, Lily steps to one side so that Fay can go in, "I think you said that silver was cheap here, so we should stock up before we leave. We should also check on Knol before we go."
Pointedly, Fay says, "We can stock up easily enough, but it's going to take the droids a couple of days to repair your pressure suit."
Lily winces, "Yes, well… It seemed like a good idea to disguise my features from everyone, and that was the only reliable thing I had to do it with."
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Lily and Fay both walk into cargo hold with a tray of republic ration cubes and a container of water. There they see Asajj lying against the inside edge of the barrier as if it was a solid wall.
At the first sound of their footsteps, Asajj returns to alertness and rolls to her feet, only to stagger slightly as she brushes against one of the invisible walls of her prison. Spotting Fay, she adopts a servile stance, one that once allowed her to get within striking distance of a warlord, "Master Fay, you must release me before the witches come back. Do this and I promise to serve you loyally."
Eyes sparkling with mirth, Lily looks up at Fay to see what she'll do.
For her part, Fay looks at Asajj curiously before saying, "Will you forsake the dark side of the force and let go of your hatred?"
Asajj nods, "Yes, yes, I'll do it, we just need to get out of here before they catch you too."
"Will you keep my secrets?"
"I'll keep your force damned secrets, just get me out of here. I've heard stories of what the night sisters would do, and we don't want to be here when they return."
Fay smiles serenely, "Do you promise to defend those who cannot defend themselves."
"Jedi, does it look like I have a choice? I promise, now get me out of here!"
Fay nods and levitates a bucket of water and a ladle from a dark corner, along with a small packet of silver powder. "Then I will release you before any night sisters come to perform rituals on you."
Stirring the powder into the water, it takes Fay several minutes to successfully mix the powder into the water. As she does, Asajj's eyes widen in terror and she presses herself into a corner of her hexagonal prison, "You're a witch?"
Lily shakes her head, "No, she's a Jedi. I'm a witch, and that is an exorcism circle. It is designed to both isolate and contain dark energies to weaken evil spirits that are possessing people. The potion that Fay is making is a suspension of silver in water. When it touches your skin I would imagine that it will feel like pouring red hot metal over you as it pulls the the tainted… I would have said magic, but there is more than just magic here so I'll go with energy. The only way out of the circle is to be free of the taint of dark magic. I don't know what Fay has planned, but the exorcism ritual will involve D12 here," she indicates her nanny droid, "walking around the circle sprinkling the water into the centre every three seconds until you pass out, or he runs out of water."
Asajj starts to laugh hysterically, "You're a witch?"
Fay stands up, and staggers to one side, as she finishes mixing the water. Picking up the bucket she walks into the circle, "Over the last few years I have been forced to confront some truths that I have held for centuries. Lily comes from a world with very little force, but where they are born with magic." As she enters the inner circle she lifts the bucket, "I have gone through this process myself, and I believe it will be easier on you if you take the ladle and apply the water to your own skin. Once you start you need to do a scoop once ever seven seconds, or in time with D12's chanting."
Asajj grabs the bucket and upends it over her head while growling, "Just give me that and get this over with!" before screaming in agony.
Almost immediately the water turns into a black sludge that soaks into Asajj's clothes and starts to sizzle and pop as the woman screams. A second later she drops to the floor as if her strings were cut and Lily rushes over the boundary of the circle.
"Get her clothes off!"
Fay shakes her head as she grinds out, "I can't, it's taking everything I have to hold her mind away from the pain."
Gritting her teeth, Lily grabs a bit Asajj's arm and uses the weakest cutting charm she can along the whole sleeve. As she winces while peeling the cloth away from the arm, Lily can see the light cut running along the arm showing that it wasn't weak enough. Casting another charm at the fabric on the woman's chest she winces at as the tainted sludge burns her fingers.
It doesn't take long before the woman is completely naked on the floor, her soiled clothes having been pushed up against the edge of the inner hexagon.
Staggering towards the door, Lily falls backwards into the hexagon as the magic of the circle prevents her from leaving. "Heh! I guess we get to find out if I'm strong enough to survive an exorcism ritual."
Fay slumps down on the floor beside Lily and leans against the barrier, "I could teach you to use the force to purify the darkside instead, given that I'm stuck here too. What about Asajj?"
Lily shakes her head, "Honestly, I'm surprised she's still alive. Everything I've ever read says that much silver water should have caused her to catch fire or melt."
Fay shakes her head, "It took everything I had to hold her mind away from the pain. Cut off from the force like we are, I don't think her mind would have survived if I hadn't. Out of interest, why didn't anyone try this on the Voldemort person that killed you?"
Lily looks up at the ceiling, "Two reasons, the first is politics. All rituals were outlawed, but before that, this ritual was illegal unless performed on someone that was confirmed to be possessed. Much like the pure blood exemption to a lot of laws governing law enforcement, that one existed to prevent wizards from stripping someone of the benefits of rituals like Re'em's Blood, that were dark enough to stain you, but weren't really considered dark because it didn't use people as the sacrificial component. The second is that the original participant needs to be willing or unconscious as it takes a while to activate the ritual circle. Once it's activated, it draws it's magic from the person in the middle, but until then it's just a pretty picture on the floor. Also, it's only as strong as the symbols and lines that make it up. Which for us is plenty strong enough unless the participant has a blaster or lightsaber. But at home we used wooden floors and chalk for the symbols. Anyway, what was that about using the force to purify the darkside? D12, could you bring us another bucket of water and packet of silver please?"
"Lily, what are you doing?"
Lily takes the full bucket from D12, "There's no point both of us being stuck in here, and you can't do the exorcism ritual for another three days. Asajj needs at least that long to recover, but we can't leave it any longer without breaking the sequence." She toes a solidified lump of silver water, "I expect that she'll need 3 * 3 * 3 cleanses. I pray to the gods that she doesn't need a 28th, as I've never even heard of someone surviving that many, let alone the full 81 treatments that arithmancy would demand."
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Asajj wakes up shivering and naked on the cold metal floor of a starship cargo hold. The tears falling down her face are just from the pain and the cold, and nothing to do with the nightmares that plagued her sleep, of the warlords slaughtering her parents, and of the same warlords murdering her master for daring to defend the helpless.
As she starts to push herself into a sitting position the voice of the witch says, "I'm sorry about your clothes, but we had to strip you in order to save your life."
Asajj springs backwards against the invisible barrier that's holding her inside this prison, only to crouch down in surprise as she spots the young witch leaning against the barrier on the other side of her cell. With a snarl she says, "I could kill you."
The witch nods, "You could, though I'm not going to just let you do it. I'm Lily by the way, and you probably know Fay by reputation. She's the one who did the most to save your life by the way. My son, Harry, baked some more cookies if you want one." She indicates a plate, before picking up one of the confections herself and starting to eat.
Asajj launches herself across the small cell with her arms outstretched, only to land face first on the floor as her arms and legs snap together, "Let me go! I'll kill you!"
Lily rolls her over onto her back before checking to see if she broke her nose. "No, not while you're still trying to kill me. That was a body bind jinx by the way, a simple schoolyard spell that can be easily countered by any halfway competent witch or wizard. It will wear off in around an hour."
"Why are you even here? Are you mocking me?"
Lily thumps on the invisible walls of the cell behind her as she chews on a cookie, "Nope, not mocking you. I'm as trapped here as you are, because my body isn't strong enough to handle a cleansing ritual. Given your stunt yesterday, I doubt you're strong enough to handle it either."
Asajj sneers, "I can handle any torture you care to inflict on me, even the strongest acid."
Lily shakes her head, and breaks off a bit of cookie to feed to Asajj. "That wasn't acid Asajj. That was a purification potion. If you threw the bucket at Fay it would do virtually nothing. If you threw it at me, it would probably kill me from the shock. Throw it at a Dark Lord, and they'd probably burst into flames. Especially in a circle like this one."
Asajj tries to bite Lily's fingers, but only succeeds in getting a mouthful of cookie. Quickly chewing and swallowing to avoid the indignity of choking, she spits back, "You could have fooled me."
Lily chews a bite of cookie herself at the same time as she feeds Asajj another bite of cookie. "You know, you're not the only one that has lost people and then delved into the dark arts in order to both cope and try to find a way to get back at the people that did it. I was 18 when my mother died of cancer, and my sister started to hate me. 19 when I was embroiled in a war against a Dark Lord, not only because of who I married, but also because I was born to non-magical parents. That's when I started looking at the darker spells, the ones that taint your soul. Not a lot, but enough. To start with they make you feel sick when you use them, but it doesn't take long before you start to feel good. Even if you're only using the dark stuff when you think it's right. It wasn't until we were told that Voldemort was after us specifically that I started to dive into the really dark stuff. That's when James noticed and forced me to undergo a cleansing ritual. Do you know what it taught me?"
Sarcasm drips from her lips as Asajj says, "No, why don't you tell me."
Lily smiles and puts a larger bit of cookie in Asajj's mouth, "It taught me that the dark taint blinds us. In months of searching for a solution I didn't find anything, no matter how much I tainted my soul. In the last few weeks before the Dark Lord found us, I not only found, but also modified a ritual so that it was completely light, and had it implemented ready to go at any point. The difference? The cleansing ritual that James forced me to undergo after he found my research."
Asajj snorts, "What's your point?"
"The point is that you get tunnel vision," At Asajj's blank look, Lily continues, "You become so focused on your goal and the power you have available that you forget that other solutions exist. Take your recent attempt to get the cure from that lab. You could have done that in a dozen different ways, and most of them would have left the lab still available if you needed it in the future. If we hadn't called ahead, you'd have also killed 100's of highly skilled scientists and technicians, as it stands you did kill the people that developed the cure. So why do it the way you did?"
Asajj snarls, "You know nothing, it was the only place that Swamp Gas could be studied safely outside Confederate control."
Lily shakes her head, "Do you really believe that? Or is it just the only place that the Jedi knew existed. Don't look at me like that, it's clear from the holo's that this war isn't the Republic against the Confederate. It's the Jedi and their slave army against the Droids. They're the only people who are everywhere, where's all the other people? The only place they're ever shown is on ships or the planets that supply equipment."
From the door, Fay asks, "You really believe that?"
Lily looks over, "How long have you been there?"
Fay shrugs, "Long enough to hear you talking about that mission."
"Yes, I asked Plex to compile news reports and sort them into three groups. Ask him for the details whenever you want. I know the war's only been going on for a few months, but even so, I think there were only three reports where visibly non-clone, non-Jedi troops were involved, and they weren't the local population on the republic side. The confederacy is doing better with the occasional sighting of someone commanding the droids that doesn't have their own lightsaber. I don't know if it means anything, it just struck me as odd that the only members of the republic army are Jedi or clones."
Asajj laughs, "Ha, you can't even be consistent with what you call them. You just called them slaves before you knew the Jedi was there."
Lily looks back at Asajj, "I'm hoping that the Jedi will be working to make them conscripts rather than slaves. At least that's the agreement I have with Kenobi. At least as conscripts they could desert or ask for better treatment. Slaves, whether mechanical or organic, don't have that luxury. That's before you start on the Jedi. Fay says that they're not warriors, they're peacekeepers, diplomats, and scholars, so why are they the only generals on the planetary battlefields?"
Asajj laughs as she said, "I told you they were false Jedi! Why else would they be fighting like that?"
Lily sighs, "Asajj, I've been living with Fay for four years on a world where we can't get easy communications from the rest of the galaxy."
Fay adds, "Lily, it's been nearly nine years out here."
Lily grimaces, "I forgot about that. So yes, nearly nine years. On top of that, Fay isn't exactly your normal Jedi. So, what's a true Jedi like to you?"
Asajj stares at Lily for a long time, so Lily takes a bite from a fresh cookie, and puts a bit in Asajj's mouth. Eventually Asajj asks, "You're serious?"
Lily nods and continues to eat the cookie, occasionally feeding a piece to Asajj. At the same time, Fay leaves and a faint shiver goes through the floor as the engines start up.
Eventually, Asajj says, "They're saviours. They see a problem and they step in to help, and sometimes that means fighting against people who want to take without giving back. But they always seek to build not destroy, to bring peace and not war, even if that makes those in charge afraid of them."
Lily nods, "That's a lot of expectations to place on people. Did you place those expectations on yourself too?"
Asajj shakes her head violently, "I'm not a Jedi!"
Raising her hand with the cookie placatingly, Lily concentrates on her transfiguration lessons, and turns the bit of cookie into a butterfly, "Neither am I. I'm a witch, and I can teach you how to use magic too. But you have to let go of the darkness. It's ok to grieve, be angry, and hurt, but you can't let yourself be tainted by darkness."
As the butterfly flies off and lands on Asajj's ear she angrily snaps back, "Who says I was grieving?"
Lily looks down at her sadly, "You did when you were dreaming. You don't have to talk about it. Though we're both going to be stuck in here together for at least the next 10 days, so I'm here if you want to talk about it."
Asajj flicks her head to try and dislodge the butterfly that's checking to see if her ear is a flower as the ship makes the jump to Hyperspace towards Dantooine.
Rolling to her feet, her quick eyes take in the fact that she's in the cargo bay of a ship before she registers the design on the floor. Shivering, she stares at a Dathomire magic circle and she starts backing up until she hits a wall. Spinning around she screams when she realises that the wall is nothing of the sort, it is in fact the inside edge of the circle.
Desperately she reaches out for the force again and again, only to find nothing there as she sinks down in the centre of the circle alone again. Just like she was after her master died.
"Hello?"
A child's voice makes her head snap up, and stare at the human boy that's holding a plate of cookies.
"I heard you crying, and Nanny," he indicates the droid behind him, "helped me bake some cookies. Though she only ever lets me eat two at a time, unless they're big cookies, then I might not even be allowed a whole one."
Asajj stares at the child that's rambling about some sort of confection, despite the fact that no witch she's ever heard of would let a child anywhere close to a ritual circle, let alone a male child. "Child, can you let me out of here?"
The child shakes his head, "Uh huh. Baby Mummy said that you can leave whenever you want, you just need to leave the icky stuff behind. Mama cried the first few times she was in the circle too."
"Where is your Mummy?"
The boy smiles, "She's still asleep with Mama. They collapsed after the man left, so I told Nanny to put them to bed. Would you like some cookies?"
Asajj's hold on her temper breaks and she screams, "No I don't want your stupid cookies. Now let me out of here!"
As the boy drops the plate and runs, she slides down the invisible wall that's preventing her from leaving the circle and sobs, "Let me out of here" as memories of reading about the victims of the witches perverse rituals chase through her mind.
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Lily smiles as she wakes up in James' arms, and sighs in pleasure as he pulls her tighter against his chest. A moment later, her eyes snap open as the hardness of the bed filters through her consciousness. Looking around, wakefulness quickly replaces her sleepiness as she realises this is Fay's room.
"Fay, are you awake?"
From further up the bed, Fay's voice says, "I am now. Though I am somewhat surprised to be here rather than a bacta tank."
"How long do you think we've been asleep?"
Fay works her top arm free of Lily's grasp and reaches up to touch a panel on the wall by the bed, "Just shy of 36 standard hours according to this."
Lily pushes herself off the bed with a cry of, "Knol, we need to check on her."
Fay pushes herself into a sitting position with a confused yawn, "Oh, excuse me. I don't remember the last time I slept. We sent Jedi Master Knol to the city before we gave Kenobi the cure."
Lily nods and fails to snap her fingers, "I remember now, I asked D12 to change the symbols in the circle to those needed for an exorcism, and it took you three tries to activate it before we both passed out. What do you do instead of sleep?"
Fay shrugs, "Meditate on the living force, and recently magic."
Lily yawns widely before shaking her head, "Come on, we should see how our guest is doing and let her know why she's here."
Fay shakes here head, "Why is she here?"
Lily looks at Fay with a serious expression, "To give you a reason to practice dissolving silver, and to find out if there is still a person underneath all of that darkside gunk. She called herself a Jedi remember. But first I need to use the fresher. Oh, and while I remember, you said you were going to explain what was special about the lightsaber."
Fay picks up Lily and settles her on her hip as she heads for the fresher herself, "Lightsabers need a special type of crystal to work, most commonly a Kyber crystal or rarely a Kunda stone. While they can be made, Jedi tend to seek out their own crystal as part of their journey towards becoming a knight."
"Well Ollivander, the wand maker, told me that the wand chooses the witch. Given that I must have gone through at least 20 different wands, I can quite believe it. So we should probably try to find some natural ones."
Politely pulling the door mostly closed, so that Lily has privacy but they can still speak, Fay muses, "Well, I got my first crystal from Ilum, but the Adega system was also popular. I hear that the Jedi Order has recently reestablished trade with Dantooine…"
Lily's excited shout interrupts Fay, "There, we're going there."
Fay sighs, "Well, that's a couple of weeks travel as it's on the other side of the galaxy, and we'll need to go round the deep core."
Walking out, Lily steps to one side so that Fay can go in, "I think you said that silver was cheap here, so we should stock up before we leave. We should also check on Knol before we go."
Pointedly, Fay says, "We can stock up easily enough, but it's going to take the droids a couple of days to repair your pressure suit."
Lily winces, "Yes, well… It seemed like a good idea to disguise my features from everyone, and that was the only reliable thing I had to do it with."
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Lily and Fay both walk into cargo hold with a tray of republic ration cubes and a container of water. There they see Asajj lying against the inside edge of the barrier as if it was a solid wall.
At the first sound of their footsteps, Asajj returns to alertness and rolls to her feet, only to stagger slightly as she brushes against one of the invisible walls of her prison. Spotting Fay, she adopts a servile stance, one that once allowed her to get within striking distance of a warlord, "Master Fay, you must release me before the witches come back. Do this and I promise to serve you loyally."
Eyes sparkling with mirth, Lily looks up at Fay to see what she'll do.
For her part, Fay looks at Asajj curiously before saying, "Will you forsake the dark side of the force and let go of your hatred?"
Asajj nods, "Yes, yes, I'll do it, we just need to get out of here before they catch you too."
"Will you keep my secrets?"
"I'll keep your force damned secrets, just get me out of here. I've heard stories of what the night sisters would do, and we don't want to be here when they return."
Fay smiles serenely, "Do you promise to defend those who cannot defend themselves."
"Jedi, does it look like I have a choice? I promise, now get me out of here!"
Fay nods and levitates a bucket of water and a ladle from a dark corner, along with a small packet of silver powder. "Then I will release you before any night sisters come to perform rituals on you."
Stirring the powder into the water, it takes Fay several minutes to successfully mix the powder into the water. As she does, Asajj's eyes widen in terror and she presses herself into a corner of her hexagonal prison, "You're a witch?"
Lily shakes her head, "No, she's a Jedi. I'm a witch, and that is an exorcism circle. It is designed to both isolate and contain dark energies to weaken evil spirits that are possessing people. The potion that Fay is making is a suspension of silver in water. When it touches your skin I would imagine that it will feel like pouring red hot metal over you as it pulls the the tainted… I would have said magic, but there is more than just magic here so I'll go with energy. The only way out of the circle is to be free of the taint of dark magic. I don't know what Fay has planned, but the exorcism ritual will involve D12 here," she indicates her nanny droid, "walking around the circle sprinkling the water into the centre every three seconds until you pass out, or he runs out of water."
Asajj starts to laugh hysterically, "You're a witch?"
Fay stands up, and staggers to one side, as she finishes mixing the water. Picking up the bucket she walks into the circle, "Over the last few years I have been forced to confront some truths that I have held for centuries. Lily comes from a world with very little force, but where they are born with magic." As she enters the inner circle she lifts the bucket, "I have gone through this process myself, and I believe it will be easier on you if you take the ladle and apply the water to your own skin. Once you start you need to do a scoop once ever seven seconds, or in time with D12's chanting."
Asajj grabs the bucket and upends it over her head while growling, "Just give me that and get this over with!" before screaming in agony.
Almost immediately the water turns into a black sludge that soaks into Asajj's clothes and starts to sizzle and pop as the woman screams. A second later she drops to the floor as if her strings were cut and Lily rushes over the boundary of the circle.
"Get her clothes off!"
Fay shakes her head as she grinds out, "I can't, it's taking everything I have to hold her mind away from the pain."
Gritting her teeth, Lily grabs a bit Asajj's arm and uses the weakest cutting charm she can along the whole sleeve. As she winces while peeling the cloth away from the arm, Lily can see the light cut running along the arm showing that it wasn't weak enough. Casting another charm at the fabric on the woman's chest she winces at as the tainted sludge burns her fingers.
It doesn't take long before the woman is completely naked on the floor, her soiled clothes having been pushed up against the edge of the inner hexagon.
Staggering towards the door, Lily falls backwards into the hexagon as the magic of the circle prevents her from leaving. "Heh! I guess we get to find out if I'm strong enough to survive an exorcism ritual."
Fay slumps down on the floor beside Lily and leans against the barrier, "I could teach you to use the force to purify the darkside instead, given that I'm stuck here too. What about Asajj?"
Lily shakes her head, "Honestly, I'm surprised she's still alive. Everything I've ever read says that much silver water should have caused her to catch fire or melt."
Fay shakes her head, "It took everything I had to hold her mind away from the pain. Cut off from the force like we are, I don't think her mind would have survived if I hadn't. Out of interest, why didn't anyone try this on the Voldemort person that killed you?"
Lily looks up at the ceiling, "Two reasons, the first is politics. All rituals were outlawed, but before that, this ritual was illegal unless performed on someone that was confirmed to be possessed. Much like the pure blood exemption to a lot of laws governing law enforcement, that one existed to prevent wizards from stripping someone of the benefits of rituals like Re'em's Blood, that were dark enough to stain you, but weren't really considered dark because it didn't use people as the sacrificial component. The second is that the original participant needs to be willing or unconscious as it takes a while to activate the ritual circle. Once it's activated, it draws it's magic from the person in the middle, but until then it's just a pretty picture on the floor. Also, it's only as strong as the symbols and lines that make it up. Which for us is plenty strong enough unless the participant has a blaster or lightsaber. But at home we used wooden floors and chalk for the symbols. Anyway, what was that about using the force to purify the darkside? D12, could you bring us another bucket of water and packet of silver please?"
"Lily, what are you doing?"
Lily takes the full bucket from D12, "There's no point both of us being stuck in here, and you can't do the exorcism ritual for another three days. Asajj needs at least that long to recover, but we can't leave it any longer without breaking the sequence." She toes a solidified lump of silver water, "I expect that she'll need 3 * 3 * 3 cleanses. I pray to the gods that she doesn't need a 28th, as I've never even heard of someone surviving that many, let alone the full 81 treatments that arithmancy would demand."
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Asajj wakes up shivering and naked on the cold metal floor of a starship cargo hold. The tears falling down her face are just from the pain and the cold, and nothing to do with the nightmares that plagued her sleep, of the warlords slaughtering her parents, and of the same warlords murdering her master for daring to defend the helpless.
As she starts to push herself into a sitting position the voice of the witch says, "I'm sorry about your clothes, but we had to strip you in order to save your life."
Asajj springs backwards against the invisible barrier that's holding her inside this prison, only to crouch down in surprise as she spots the young witch leaning against the barrier on the other side of her cell. With a snarl she says, "I could kill you."
The witch nods, "You could, though I'm not going to just let you do it. I'm Lily by the way, and you probably know Fay by reputation. She's the one who did the most to save your life by the way. My son, Harry, baked some more cookies if you want one." She indicates a plate, before picking up one of the confections herself and starting to eat.
Asajj launches herself across the small cell with her arms outstretched, only to land face first on the floor as her arms and legs snap together, "Let me go! I'll kill you!"
Lily rolls her over onto her back before checking to see if she broke her nose. "No, not while you're still trying to kill me. That was a body bind jinx by the way, a simple schoolyard spell that can be easily countered by any halfway competent witch or wizard. It will wear off in around an hour."
"Why are you even here? Are you mocking me?"
Lily thumps on the invisible walls of the cell behind her as she chews on a cookie, "Nope, not mocking you. I'm as trapped here as you are, because my body isn't strong enough to handle a cleansing ritual. Given your stunt yesterday, I doubt you're strong enough to handle it either."
Asajj sneers, "I can handle any torture you care to inflict on me, even the strongest acid."
Lily shakes her head, and breaks off a bit of cookie to feed to Asajj. "That wasn't acid Asajj. That was a purification potion. If you threw the bucket at Fay it would do virtually nothing. If you threw it at me, it would probably kill me from the shock. Throw it at a Dark Lord, and they'd probably burst into flames. Especially in a circle like this one."
Asajj tries to bite Lily's fingers, but only succeeds in getting a mouthful of cookie. Quickly chewing and swallowing to avoid the indignity of choking, she spits back, "You could have fooled me."
Lily chews a bite of cookie herself at the same time as she feeds Asajj another bite of cookie. "You know, you're not the only one that has lost people and then delved into the dark arts in order to both cope and try to find a way to get back at the people that did it. I was 18 when my mother died of cancer, and my sister started to hate me. 19 when I was embroiled in a war against a Dark Lord, not only because of who I married, but also because I was born to non-magical parents. That's when I started looking at the darker spells, the ones that taint your soul. Not a lot, but enough. To start with they make you feel sick when you use them, but it doesn't take long before you start to feel good. Even if you're only using the dark stuff when you think it's right. It wasn't until we were told that Voldemort was after us specifically that I started to dive into the really dark stuff. That's when James noticed and forced me to undergo a cleansing ritual. Do you know what it taught me?"
Sarcasm drips from her lips as Asajj says, "No, why don't you tell me."
Lily smiles and puts a larger bit of cookie in Asajj's mouth, "It taught me that the dark taint blinds us. In months of searching for a solution I didn't find anything, no matter how much I tainted my soul. In the last few weeks before the Dark Lord found us, I not only found, but also modified a ritual so that it was completely light, and had it implemented ready to go at any point. The difference? The cleansing ritual that James forced me to undergo after he found my research."
Asajj snorts, "What's your point?"
"The point is that you get tunnel vision," At Asajj's blank look, Lily continues, "You become so focused on your goal and the power you have available that you forget that other solutions exist. Take your recent attempt to get the cure from that lab. You could have done that in a dozen different ways, and most of them would have left the lab still available if you needed it in the future. If we hadn't called ahead, you'd have also killed 100's of highly skilled scientists and technicians, as it stands you did kill the people that developed the cure. So why do it the way you did?"
Asajj snarls, "You know nothing, it was the only place that Swamp Gas could be studied safely outside Confederate control."
Lily shakes her head, "Do you really believe that? Or is it just the only place that the Jedi knew existed. Don't look at me like that, it's clear from the holo's that this war isn't the Republic against the Confederate. It's the Jedi and their slave army against the Droids. They're the only people who are everywhere, where's all the other people? The only place they're ever shown is on ships or the planets that supply equipment."
From the door, Fay asks, "You really believe that?"
Lily looks over, "How long have you been there?"
Fay shrugs, "Long enough to hear you talking about that mission."
"Yes, I asked Plex to compile news reports and sort them into three groups. Ask him for the details whenever you want. I know the war's only been going on for a few months, but even so, I think there were only three reports where visibly non-clone, non-Jedi troops were involved, and they weren't the local population on the republic side. The confederacy is doing better with the occasional sighting of someone commanding the droids that doesn't have their own lightsaber. I don't know if it means anything, it just struck me as odd that the only members of the republic army are Jedi or clones."
Asajj laughs, "Ha, you can't even be consistent with what you call them. You just called them slaves before you knew the Jedi was there."
Lily looks back at Asajj, "I'm hoping that the Jedi will be working to make them conscripts rather than slaves. At least that's the agreement I have with Kenobi. At least as conscripts they could desert or ask for better treatment. Slaves, whether mechanical or organic, don't have that luxury. That's before you start on the Jedi. Fay says that they're not warriors, they're peacekeepers, diplomats, and scholars, so why are they the only generals on the planetary battlefields?"
Asajj laughs as she said, "I told you they were false Jedi! Why else would they be fighting like that?"
Lily sighs, "Asajj, I've been living with Fay for four years on a world where we can't get easy communications from the rest of the galaxy."
Fay adds, "Lily, it's been nearly nine years out here."
Lily grimaces, "I forgot about that. So yes, nearly nine years. On top of that, Fay isn't exactly your normal Jedi. So, what's a true Jedi like to you?"
Asajj stares at Lily for a long time, so Lily takes a bite from a fresh cookie, and puts a bit in Asajj's mouth. Eventually Asajj asks, "You're serious?"
Lily nods and continues to eat the cookie, occasionally feeding a piece to Asajj. At the same time, Fay leaves and a faint shiver goes through the floor as the engines start up.
Eventually, Asajj says, "They're saviours. They see a problem and they step in to help, and sometimes that means fighting against people who want to take without giving back. But they always seek to build not destroy, to bring peace and not war, even if that makes those in charge afraid of them."
Lily nods, "That's a lot of expectations to place on people. Did you place those expectations on yourself too?"
Asajj shakes her head violently, "I'm not a Jedi!"
Raising her hand with the cookie placatingly, Lily concentrates on her transfiguration lessons, and turns the bit of cookie into a butterfly, "Neither am I. I'm a witch, and I can teach you how to use magic too. But you have to let go of the darkness. It's ok to grieve, be angry, and hurt, but you can't let yourself be tainted by darkness."
As the butterfly flies off and lands on Asajj's ear she angrily snaps back, "Who says I was grieving?"
Lily looks down at her sadly, "You did when you were dreaming. You don't have to talk about it. Though we're both going to be stuck in here together for at least the next 10 days, so I'm here if you want to talk about it."
Asajj flicks her head to try and dislodge the butterfly that's checking to see if her ear is a flower as the ship makes the jump to Hyperspace towards Dantooine.
Star Wars: Birth of Magic - 4
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 4
On shaking legs, Lily pushes herself to her feet and staggers over to Asajj where she's curled into a fetal ball on the floor of the Hexagon. As she's doing that, Harry runs into the circle carrying a couple of towels and crying, "Mummy!"
Wanly she smiles at her son as she takes one of the towels, "Harry, would you be able to help clean Asajj. Gently!"
Harry nods and rushes past Lily, only slowing down at her warning and gently scraping off the gelatinous gobs of tainted liquid, being careful not to let any of it touch his skin.
This was the forth gruelling session, and the first one that didn't knock her out less than an hour into the six hour ritual. A modification she made to account for the fact that there were two of them in here, with D12 splashing each of them alternately every three seconds instead of each person being splashed every three seconds.
As she makes it over to Asajj's side she leans heavily against the inner barrier, only to stumble as the barrier doesn't even impede her movement. The only reason she doesn't fall is D12's swift movements to catch her. Looking up, she weakly smiles at the droid, "Thank you. And thank you for doing this."
D12 looks down as he steadies his charge, "No thanks are necessary. Ritual: Exorcism has been classified as a medical procedure."
Lily places a gentle hand on the droid, causing him to glitch slightly, "I know you did, but you're still a nanny droid, my nanny droid."
D12's eyes glow a cheery yellow colour, "And Little Lily needs a nap."
Lily nods, "I do. But I need to make sure Asajj is comfortable first."
D12 scoops Lily up in his arms, "Nanny is watching Harry as he looks after patient Asajj."
Lily can only nod weakly as D12 successfully takes her away from the ritual circle for the first time since she rushed in to strip Asajj's clothes. Not that she remembers the first time, but Fay said that she had to argue with the droid until she said that Lily was sick.
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Lily doubles over with a groan as Harry lands on her stomach shouting, "Mummy! Mummy! It's daytime, can we explore the farm please?"
Lily groans, "What farm?"
Harry turns around and sits on the bed as he chatters excitedly, "The Jedi one that we landed next to. Mummy took me with her yesterday, but she wouldn't let me explore until I had a belt. I don't understand, I was already wearing my belt."
Lily climbs down off her bed and smiles up at Harry, "She wants me to make your belt special, like I did on Queyta just in case there's an evil droid. Now have you brushed your teeth?"
Harry sucks in his lips to cover his teeth, and nods while saying, "Uh huh."
"And would Nanny agree with you? Go and brush your teeth you little tike."
Harry jumps off the bed with a squeal and runs out of the room shouting "Yes Mummy" behind him.
After taking the time to use the fresher herself, Lily clamps down on her urge to reach out to find Fay with the force, and instead quickly looks around the few living spaces on the ship, before ending up in the cockpit.
"Fay."
Fay turns around from where she's running some checks on the ship with a confused expression, "Lily, how are you feeling?"
Lily smiles, "Better, though I think it will be some time before I'm in top condition again. I just want to check something with you."
Fay nods, "Go ahead."
"Am I the only one who feels like we've landed in the eye of a hurricane?"
Fay shakes her head, "I don't know what a hurricane is, but I believe it's a type of storm from the context. And yes, I feel it too."
Lily looks out over the rolling plane ahead of them with a shudder, "Could we move the ship into the mountains and borrow a landspeeder?"
Fay shakes her head, "The mountains are several hours away by speeder. I was going to tell Plex to take the ship deep into the mountains if Harry appears onboard without us. I feel like we should send the ship there when we go into the caves."
Lily nods, "I agree, though I don't want to go into the caves until we've confirmed that I'm clear of taint."
Fay nods, "I don't blame you. Honestly, I'm surprised you're walking around now."
Lily shakes her head, "Honestly, I'd still be asleep if Harry hadn't jumped on me. Now I've been up a for a bit, I don't think I can put the portkey on his belt today."
"Maybe you should ask one of the agricorp workers to be a tour guide today, and do it tomorrow if you feel up to it."
Lily nods, "That sounds like an idea. What about you?"
Fay indicates the computer beside her, "P1 3X has been reporting some errors on the ship, so I'm going to be chasing those down to make sure they're not serious."
Lily looks confused, "Who?" before she winces as she processes the rest of the sentence, "That's probably us then, as these cleansing rituals are very magically intensive on the participants, and that magic has to go somewhere. That and magical dwellings tend to be, odd."
Fay looks at Lily intently, "Odd how?"
Lily looks at the floor, "You know, little things like rooms that don't quite match their external dimensions. Stairs that go to different floors, extra rooms, rooms that move around, that sort of thing."
"And you didn't think to mention this before?"
Lily winces, "Because I didn't think of it. Besides, it normally takes decades for it to start happening to a house. But houses are on planets, and we're on a spaceship."
Fay snarks, "Anything else I should know about?" In a conciliatory tone she immediately follows up with, "That was unfair of me, as you have a decade of experiences to draw on, and we've only been talking about the academic and practical side of things."
Lily waves her off, "I get it, I really do. There's that storm like feeling, and if magic is doing anything really funky to the ship, it could prove deadly. Right, I'm going to take Harry exploring with a guide."
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Lily allows herself to smile as Harry runs down the ramp and turns towards the farm buildings nearby. Breaking into a run herself she easily keeps pace of the child, even though she's not catching up.
As she round a large shed, she slows down as Harry runs up to a green skinned humanoid male with what appears to be octopus legs instead of hair, and overly large eyes.
Slowing down to a jog she catches up with the two of them, "Harry, you shouldn't just run up to people."
The man chuckles, "It's quite alright, it's refreshing to have children like yourselves running around here."
Lily smiles at the man, "It's nice of you to say so, but it's still rude. Harry apologise to the nice man."
Harry looks up at the man with wide eyes, "I'm sorry."
The man smiles as he crouches down, "That's ok, you know better for next time. Now, I know I saw you around yesterday, but is this your sister?"
Harry shakes his head, "No, that's Baby Mummy."
Lily sighs, "I thought he'd got past adding baby. Sorry. I'm Lily, and yes I'm this one's mother. There was a, call it a force accident, and I ended up in a cloned body when he was one."
The man smiles, "I can't feel the darkside on you, so I'll accept that. I'm Forri, what current brings you to our part of the ocean?"
"We're looking to get some lightsaber crystals, and this felt like the right place to go."
Forri nods in understanding, "The caves are a short hike towards the mountains. Are you going today?"
Lily shakes her head, "While there's a storm brewing, I don't think we need to hurry, and I'm still recovering from… a bout of sickness. We probably won't leave for four or five days. I was hoping that someone would be able to show us around and tell us about what we're looking at, as neither of us has been to a farm before."
Forri nods, and makes an approximation of a smile, "You're in luck then, as we're between seasons here, and there's only the jogan fruits that need picking. Not that we export those as there are plenty of planets that produce them in far larger quantities than we do. While we are part of the agricorps here, the purpose of this farm is really to provide a contact point between the local government and the few Jedi that want to use the caves. The last thing the council want is for another dispute to break out causing us to lose access to those crystals."
Lily cocks her head to one side, "Oh?"
"Oh yes. You see 3,000 years ago the Jedi used to have an enclave here…"
Harry and Lily both follow Forri as he spins a historical tale of the area and the crystal caves, including a visit by Revan.
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Bitterly, Asajj looks up as Lily comes into the cargo hold with a happily bouncing Harry who's carrying a couple of jogan fruits.
"I suppose that's it. Now you're free and, you're going to leave me alone to die here."
Lily walks in to the circle and sits down beside Asajj, "What's the matter Asajj?"
Asajj picks up an unresisting Lily, and places her on her lap, "You weren't here when I woke up."
Lily shakes her head, "D12 put me to bed yesterday, and Harry wanted to show me around the farm today. He even picked those fruits for you. You know we landed the day before yesterday, so what else is going on?"
Asajj squeezes Lily tight, "You left like my parents did, like my master did. I was alone."
Lily looks at Harry, "Harry honey, can you take the food to the galley and then go and find Mama? Asajj needs some Mummy time."
Harry looks upset for a moment before he sees Asajj's face, then he smiles, "Yes Mummy."
As the door closes behind Harry, Lily reaches up to touch Asajj on the cheek, "Asajj, how old are you?"
"I'm 18 standard years old."
"Christ, you're not even an adult. When did your master die?"
Asajj buries her face in Lily's hair, "'Ve years ago."
"You poor thing, you've been forced to survive on your own since then. No wonder you're like this."
Asajj shakes her head, "I'm strong, I showed them, I hunted them all down and made them pay for murdering my master."
Lily squirms around to hug Asajj, "You've been hardened Asajj, and being hard isn't the same as being strong. You shouldn't have ever needed to be strong, but the world isn't kind like that."
"I am strong, I have the force and that's all I need."
Gently Lily lifts Asajj's chin so that she can look her in the eyes, "Asajj, all of us need more than that. We need friends, family, and a community. We need people to help hold us up when we're not strong. To keep us grounded, and to make us laugh."
Asajj shakes her head, "You're not coming back are you."
Lily frowns, "What do you mean?"
"This punishment. You're free now."
Lily's eyes widen in realisation, "Oh! You think that you're going to have to face this alone. Sorry to say this, but you're stuck with me for the next five sessions, as I need to finish the set of 3 * 3. Even after that, if you want me to I'll be here as you go through any other cleansings. Though I'd be very surprised if you need more than 9 cleansings, especially at the moment."
Asajj shakes her head, eyes wide, "Why?"
"Why what? Do I need to do another five sessions? Would I stay with you? Three times three?"
Asajj nods, "Yes."
"You'll need to let me go, as I need to get the datapad that I've been making my notes on."
Reluctantly, Asajj lets Lily go, and ignores the single tear that tracks down her cheek as she leaves.
Almost as soon as the door closes, it opens again and Harry walks in carrying a plate with cubed fruit on it. As the door closes behind him, he walks into the circle with Asajj and holds the plate out, "Mama helped me cut up the fruit, as she said that you couldn't get the skin off yourself. Will you mediate with me?"
Asajj forces a smile as she takes a cube of fruit, "Sure, though you won't be able to feel the force in here."
Harry shakes his head, "Mummy doesn't want me to feel the force until I'm 11. Don't tell her, but I think she's scared that I'll get trapped in a circle like this if I do."
Asajj nods, "So why are you meditating then?"
Harry beams a smile as he takes a piece of fruit and starts to chew. "She said I need to find my magic, and that it's inside, and then deeper."
Glancing up at the nanny droid that accompanied the boy, Asajj looks back down, "Sure, you'll have to tell me how to do it though."
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A few days later, Asajj painfully pushes herself into a seated position after the latest ritual. On the other side of the exorcism circle Lily sits smiling proudly at her.
Asajj tries to put a little heat into her voice as she says, "What are you looking at?"
Lily smiles, "A strong and healing young woman. How are you feeling?"
Asajj coughs and spits out a gob of black slime she must have accidentally inhaled while she was screaming, "Like hell, you know that."
Lily nods, "I do, but you're also sitting up rather than shivering on the floor. That's an improvement."
Asajj nods, "I am, I still hate you though."
Lily shrugs, "Ok. I'd probably hate me too if I'd forced me through this. I know I came close to hating James when he forced me to do the cleansing ritual. But it was either do that or do this."
Asajj's eyes betray her curiosity as she asks, "What's the difference then?"
Lily points at the circle, "The seal only stops energy from coming in, not people and energy from leaving. And you have to ladle the water over yourself. It's also quicker because of that, but harder because you have to pour the water over yourself every seven second until you run out of water, or you pass out. It's what Fay was trying to offer you when you dumped the entire bucket over your head. I have to say, you're looking healthier too, I can't see your ribs anymore, and your eyes aren't sunken."
Asajj rolls her eyes, "Thanks, I think. I've been mediating with the squib, and I was wondering. Would you be able to teach me how to turn cookies into those insects?"
"You mean butterflies? I could, but I'm not going to accept until you're free to leave, as it wouldn't be fair on you. But, on the subject of requests. Fay and I are going to go into the caves tomorrow, given that I didn't have anymore taint to be removed today. Would you be able to look after Harry, and maybe help him with his studies, while we're gone?"
Asajj sneers, "Why not one of the farmers?"
Lily looks Asajj in the eyes, "Because I trust you. You probably haven't felt it as you're isolated from the force in here, but it feels like a storm's coming. I don't dare reach out to find out what's going on, as I have no wish to be trapped in here again. But something's coming."
"You're really just going to let me go?"
Lily nods, "Once you can walk out of the circle, we'll drop you off on a populated planet that isn't hostile to you. At that point you can walk away, or you can come with us and I'll teach you magic."
"Why though?"
Lily walks over and sits down in Asajj's lap, "Because now that we've cleaned off all the gunk, I can see the vulnerable young woman that you really are. If we don't give you the choice, then both we and you will always wonder if you stayed because you wanted to, or if you stayed because of what we did to you. No matter the result, the fact of the matter is that it was torture, even if it has been classed as a medical procedure by the droids."
Asajj nods, "Sure, I'll look after the squib, he's grown on me." She points at a datapad by the wall, "Besides, your P1 astromech droid gave me that when I asked."
Lily frowns, "Do you mean Plex?"
"Is that it's name?"
Lily shrugs, "I guess so, it's what's stencilled on it's chassis."
On shaking legs, Lily pushes herself to her feet and staggers over to Asajj where she's curled into a fetal ball on the floor of the Hexagon. As she's doing that, Harry runs into the circle carrying a couple of towels and crying, "Mummy!"
Wanly she smiles at her son as she takes one of the towels, "Harry, would you be able to help clean Asajj. Gently!"
Harry nods and rushes past Lily, only slowing down at her warning and gently scraping off the gelatinous gobs of tainted liquid, being careful not to let any of it touch his skin.
This was the forth gruelling session, and the first one that didn't knock her out less than an hour into the six hour ritual. A modification she made to account for the fact that there were two of them in here, with D12 splashing each of them alternately every three seconds instead of each person being splashed every three seconds.
As she makes it over to Asajj's side she leans heavily against the inner barrier, only to stumble as the barrier doesn't even impede her movement. The only reason she doesn't fall is D12's swift movements to catch her. Looking up, she weakly smiles at the droid, "Thank you. And thank you for doing this."
D12 looks down as he steadies his charge, "No thanks are necessary. Ritual: Exorcism has been classified as a medical procedure."
Lily places a gentle hand on the droid, causing him to glitch slightly, "I know you did, but you're still a nanny droid, my nanny droid."
D12's eyes glow a cheery yellow colour, "And Little Lily needs a nap."
Lily nods, "I do. But I need to make sure Asajj is comfortable first."
D12 scoops Lily up in his arms, "Nanny is watching Harry as he looks after patient Asajj."
Lily can only nod weakly as D12 successfully takes her away from the ritual circle for the first time since she rushed in to strip Asajj's clothes. Not that she remembers the first time, but Fay said that she had to argue with the droid until she said that Lily was sick.
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Lily doubles over with a groan as Harry lands on her stomach shouting, "Mummy! Mummy! It's daytime, can we explore the farm please?"
Lily groans, "What farm?"
Harry turns around and sits on the bed as he chatters excitedly, "The Jedi one that we landed next to. Mummy took me with her yesterday, but she wouldn't let me explore until I had a belt. I don't understand, I was already wearing my belt."
Lily climbs down off her bed and smiles up at Harry, "She wants me to make your belt special, like I did on Queyta just in case there's an evil droid. Now have you brushed your teeth?"
Harry sucks in his lips to cover his teeth, and nods while saying, "Uh huh."
"And would Nanny agree with you? Go and brush your teeth you little tike."
Harry jumps off the bed with a squeal and runs out of the room shouting "Yes Mummy" behind him.
After taking the time to use the fresher herself, Lily clamps down on her urge to reach out to find Fay with the force, and instead quickly looks around the few living spaces on the ship, before ending up in the cockpit.
"Fay."
Fay turns around from where she's running some checks on the ship with a confused expression, "Lily, how are you feeling?"
Lily smiles, "Better, though I think it will be some time before I'm in top condition again. I just want to check something with you."
Fay nods, "Go ahead."
"Am I the only one who feels like we've landed in the eye of a hurricane?"
Fay shakes her head, "I don't know what a hurricane is, but I believe it's a type of storm from the context. And yes, I feel it too."
Lily looks out over the rolling plane ahead of them with a shudder, "Could we move the ship into the mountains and borrow a landspeeder?"
Fay shakes her head, "The mountains are several hours away by speeder. I was going to tell Plex to take the ship deep into the mountains if Harry appears onboard without us. I feel like we should send the ship there when we go into the caves."
Lily nods, "I agree, though I don't want to go into the caves until we've confirmed that I'm clear of taint."
Fay nods, "I don't blame you. Honestly, I'm surprised you're walking around now."
Lily shakes her head, "Honestly, I'd still be asleep if Harry hadn't jumped on me. Now I've been up a for a bit, I don't think I can put the portkey on his belt today."
"Maybe you should ask one of the agricorp workers to be a tour guide today, and do it tomorrow if you feel up to it."
Lily nods, "That sounds like an idea. What about you?"
Fay indicates the computer beside her, "P1 3X has been reporting some errors on the ship, so I'm going to be chasing those down to make sure they're not serious."
Lily looks confused, "Who?" before she winces as she processes the rest of the sentence, "That's probably us then, as these cleansing rituals are very magically intensive on the participants, and that magic has to go somewhere. That and magical dwellings tend to be, odd."
Fay looks at Lily intently, "Odd how?"
Lily looks at the floor, "You know, little things like rooms that don't quite match their external dimensions. Stairs that go to different floors, extra rooms, rooms that move around, that sort of thing."
"And you didn't think to mention this before?"
Lily winces, "Because I didn't think of it. Besides, it normally takes decades for it to start happening to a house. But houses are on planets, and we're on a spaceship."
Fay snarks, "Anything else I should know about?" In a conciliatory tone she immediately follows up with, "That was unfair of me, as you have a decade of experiences to draw on, and we've only been talking about the academic and practical side of things."
Lily waves her off, "I get it, I really do. There's that storm like feeling, and if magic is doing anything really funky to the ship, it could prove deadly. Right, I'm going to take Harry exploring with a guide."
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Lily allows herself to smile as Harry runs down the ramp and turns towards the farm buildings nearby. Breaking into a run herself she easily keeps pace of the child, even though she's not catching up.
As she round a large shed, she slows down as Harry runs up to a green skinned humanoid male with what appears to be octopus legs instead of hair, and overly large eyes.
Slowing down to a jog she catches up with the two of them, "Harry, you shouldn't just run up to people."
The man chuckles, "It's quite alright, it's refreshing to have children like yourselves running around here."
Lily smiles at the man, "It's nice of you to say so, but it's still rude. Harry apologise to the nice man."
Harry looks up at the man with wide eyes, "I'm sorry."
The man smiles as he crouches down, "That's ok, you know better for next time. Now, I know I saw you around yesterday, but is this your sister?"
Harry shakes his head, "No, that's Baby Mummy."
Lily sighs, "I thought he'd got past adding baby. Sorry. I'm Lily, and yes I'm this one's mother. There was a, call it a force accident, and I ended up in a cloned body when he was one."
The man smiles, "I can't feel the darkside on you, so I'll accept that. I'm Forri, what current brings you to our part of the ocean?"
"We're looking to get some lightsaber crystals, and this felt like the right place to go."
Forri nods in understanding, "The caves are a short hike towards the mountains. Are you going today?"
Lily shakes her head, "While there's a storm brewing, I don't think we need to hurry, and I'm still recovering from… a bout of sickness. We probably won't leave for four or five days. I was hoping that someone would be able to show us around and tell us about what we're looking at, as neither of us has been to a farm before."
Forri nods, and makes an approximation of a smile, "You're in luck then, as we're between seasons here, and there's only the jogan fruits that need picking. Not that we export those as there are plenty of planets that produce them in far larger quantities than we do. While we are part of the agricorps here, the purpose of this farm is really to provide a contact point between the local government and the few Jedi that want to use the caves. The last thing the council want is for another dispute to break out causing us to lose access to those crystals."
Lily cocks her head to one side, "Oh?"
"Oh yes. You see 3,000 years ago the Jedi used to have an enclave here…"
Harry and Lily both follow Forri as he spins a historical tale of the area and the crystal caves, including a visit by Revan.
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Bitterly, Asajj looks up as Lily comes into the cargo hold with a happily bouncing Harry who's carrying a couple of jogan fruits.
"I suppose that's it. Now you're free and, you're going to leave me alone to die here."
Lily walks in to the circle and sits down beside Asajj, "What's the matter Asajj?"
Asajj picks up an unresisting Lily, and places her on her lap, "You weren't here when I woke up."
Lily shakes her head, "D12 put me to bed yesterday, and Harry wanted to show me around the farm today. He even picked those fruits for you. You know we landed the day before yesterday, so what else is going on?"
Asajj squeezes Lily tight, "You left like my parents did, like my master did. I was alone."
Lily looks at Harry, "Harry honey, can you take the food to the galley and then go and find Mama? Asajj needs some Mummy time."
Harry looks upset for a moment before he sees Asajj's face, then he smiles, "Yes Mummy."
As the door closes behind Harry, Lily reaches up to touch Asajj on the cheek, "Asajj, how old are you?"
"I'm 18 standard years old."
"Christ, you're not even an adult. When did your master die?"
Asajj buries her face in Lily's hair, "'Ve years ago."
"You poor thing, you've been forced to survive on your own since then. No wonder you're like this."
Asajj shakes her head, "I'm strong, I showed them, I hunted them all down and made them pay for murdering my master."
Lily squirms around to hug Asajj, "You've been hardened Asajj, and being hard isn't the same as being strong. You shouldn't have ever needed to be strong, but the world isn't kind like that."
"I am strong, I have the force and that's all I need."
Gently Lily lifts Asajj's chin so that she can look her in the eyes, "Asajj, all of us need more than that. We need friends, family, and a community. We need people to help hold us up when we're not strong. To keep us grounded, and to make us laugh."
Asajj shakes her head, "You're not coming back are you."
Lily frowns, "What do you mean?"
"This punishment. You're free now."
Lily's eyes widen in realisation, "Oh! You think that you're going to have to face this alone. Sorry to say this, but you're stuck with me for the next five sessions, as I need to finish the set of 3 * 3. Even after that, if you want me to I'll be here as you go through any other cleansings. Though I'd be very surprised if you need more than 9 cleansings, especially at the moment."
Asajj shakes her head, eyes wide, "Why?"
"Why what? Do I need to do another five sessions? Would I stay with you? Three times three?"
Asajj nods, "Yes."
"You'll need to let me go, as I need to get the datapad that I've been making my notes on."
Reluctantly, Asajj lets Lily go, and ignores the single tear that tracks down her cheek as she leaves.
Almost as soon as the door closes, it opens again and Harry walks in carrying a plate with cubed fruit on it. As the door closes behind him, he walks into the circle with Asajj and holds the plate out, "Mama helped me cut up the fruit, as she said that you couldn't get the skin off yourself. Will you mediate with me?"
Asajj forces a smile as she takes a cube of fruit, "Sure, though you won't be able to feel the force in here."
Harry shakes his head, "Mummy doesn't want me to feel the force until I'm 11. Don't tell her, but I think she's scared that I'll get trapped in a circle like this if I do."
Asajj nods, "So why are you meditating then?"
Harry beams a smile as he takes a piece of fruit and starts to chew. "She said I need to find my magic, and that it's inside, and then deeper."
Glancing up at the nanny droid that accompanied the boy, Asajj looks back down, "Sure, you'll have to tell me how to do it though."
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A few days later, Asajj painfully pushes herself into a seated position after the latest ritual. On the other side of the exorcism circle Lily sits smiling proudly at her.
Asajj tries to put a little heat into her voice as she says, "What are you looking at?"
Lily smiles, "A strong and healing young woman. How are you feeling?"
Asajj coughs and spits out a gob of black slime she must have accidentally inhaled while she was screaming, "Like hell, you know that."
Lily nods, "I do, but you're also sitting up rather than shivering on the floor. That's an improvement."
Asajj nods, "I am, I still hate you though."
Lily shrugs, "Ok. I'd probably hate me too if I'd forced me through this. I know I came close to hating James when he forced me to do the cleansing ritual. But it was either do that or do this."
Asajj's eyes betray her curiosity as she asks, "What's the difference then?"
Lily points at the circle, "The seal only stops energy from coming in, not people and energy from leaving. And you have to ladle the water over yourself. It's also quicker because of that, but harder because you have to pour the water over yourself every seven second until you run out of water, or you pass out. It's what Fay was trying to offer you when you dumped the entire bucket over your head. I have to say, you're looking healthier too, I can't see your ribs anymore, and your eyes aren't sunken."
Asajj rolls her eyes, "Thanks, I think. I've been mediating with the squib, and I was wondering. Would you be able to teach me how to turn cookies into those insects?"
"You mean butterflies? I could, but I'm not going to accept until you're free to leave, as it wouldn't be fair on you. But, on the subject of requests. Fay and I are going to go into the caves tomorrow, given that I didn't have anymore taint to be removed today. Would you be able to look after Harry, and maybe help him with his studies, while we're gone?"
Asajj sneers, "Why not one of the farmers?"
Lily looks Asajj in the eyes, "Because I trust you. You probably haven't felt it as you're isolated from the force in here, but it feels like a storm's coming. I don't dare reach out to find out what's going on, as I have no wish to be trapped in here again. But something's coming."
"You're really just going to let me go?"
Lily nods, "Once you can walk out of the circle, we'll drop you off on a populated planet that isn't hostile to you. At that point you can walk away, or you can come with us and I'll teach you magic."
"Why though?"
Lily walks over and sits down in Asajj's lap, "Because now that we've cleaned off all the gunk, I can see the vulnerable young woman that you really are. If we don't give you the choice, then both we and you will always wonder if you stayed because you wanted to, or if you stayed because of what we did to you. No matter the result, the fact of the matter is that it was torture, even if it has been classed as a medical procedure by the droids."
Asajj nods, "Sure, I'll look after the squib, he's grown on me." She points at a datapad by the wall, "Besides, your P1 astromech droid gave me that when I asked."
Lily frowns, "Do you mean Plex?"
"Is that it's name?"
Lily shrugs, "I guess so, it's what's stencilled on it's chassis."
Star Wars: Birth of Magic - 5
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 5
Wearing their pressure suits for anonymity, Fay and Lily both walk across the plain toward the hills that hold the only entrance to the crystal caves. Overhead their ship passes them only a few 10's of meters above the hills, as it heads for the mountains and somewhere that it won't show up on most scans.
As the two of them find their way to the cave entrance, Lily looks around curiously, "Fay, I'm sure that Forri said the predators around here were aggressive, how comes we haven't even seen one yet?"
Fay puts her hand on Lily's head, "That, my little padawan, is because I'm using a force ability to make us seem like we're friends with the local animals. It's a weaker version of a technique I use to defuse violence, though it doesn't work on droids."
Lily nods, "It seems like a useful ability, though one that could be badly abused by people with the wrong motivations."
Fay nods in agreement, "Indeed, and the Sith are said to have their own versions of the skill I used to disable Asajj. Only they use them to dominate the minds of their victims. The fact is that both this ability, and the one I use to forstall violence, need a serene mind to use otherwise your own emotions will disrupt the technique."
Lily nods, "That's one thing that using the force has over magic, spells all tend to be very targeted or take a lot of concentration from the caster to maintain. Even transfiguration, which was James' area of expertise, is a once and done thing, and if you want it to do something you didn't, intend you need to re-transfigure it."
Switching on a head mounted flashlight, Fay makes her way into the cave, "I've been meaning to ask, are transfigured creatures alive?"
Lily shakes her head as she switches on her own flashlight, "Not unless they were alive to start with. They don't have a soul as their entire animating force comes from the magic the caster put into the spell. When the magic runs out, so does their life. One avenue of research I looked at and discarded was the creation of life using ritual transfiguration, there's at least one magical creature created this way. The quintaped was the result of one such ritual, although the popular stories say that they were transfigured wizards, the ritual books used them as a cautionary tale about not understanding exactly what you're doing. I considered using that magic to make homunculus, bodies that rely on magic for their very survival. I'd have used them as a decoy, but they take months to create, time I didn't know if I had."
Fay nods, "That is both reassuring and disquieting to know, as the Sith have used the dark side of the force to create new life through mutation and alchemical treatments."
The two of them pause their conversation as they come face to face with their first kinrath, an arachnoid almost the size of a human. Stepping to one side, they allow it to pass up the corridor towards the surface for a dozen meters, before it taps the floor a couple of times and slowly makes its way back towards them.
Looking up at Fay, Lily asks, "Will we be safe here? As, until I get a focus, I'm not going to be that much use with my magic."
"I should be able to keep their attention off of us, but these creatures are especially simple minded, and while that usually makes them easier to influence, that only goes so far. How are you going to get a focus down here?"
Lily pulls a few crude wands out of a pocket on her leg, "I picked up a branch from one of the jogan trees yesterday and had Plex shape it into wand blanks for me. If I can find a suitable crystal here, I can cut a sliver off and put it into the blank as the core."
Fay shakes her head, "I can't see how a wand can make that much difference to your magic."
Lily smiles behind her helmet, "You'll see. Shall we continue?"
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After nearly 10 miles of walking, and occasionally being carried while napping, through the twisting, turning, and occasionally cramped tunnels dug by the kinrath; the tunnel eventually transitions from mud and clay to the granite of the mountains.
As they walk through the natural caves, they start to see glittering crystals occasionally growing out of the walls and glowing with their own inner light.
With a smile, Lily removes one of the gloves from her suit, and runs her hand over a crystal, "They're pretty."
Fay nods, "They are, and they grow over thousands of years through the power of the force. If it's anything like Ilum, once we reach the main caves, they'll be thousands of crystals dotted throughout the caves. You'll need to meditate on the force in order to find the one for you."
Lily groans, "I've only just finished purifying the taint in the exorcism ritual. I don't think I can survive another just yet. I think I'll wander around till I find one that feels like a slight match and make a temporary wand. I can then use that to harvest slivers of the other crystals and find a better match in the future. It's probably not the way Olivander would do it, but it's a quick and dirty method for wand craft that Fleamont taught James and I, before he died. He thought it might be a necessary skill because of the war. A skill he said he was taught in the Grindelwald war by some old wizards. It means bleeding on the core before you seal the wand again, but he said it would make a serviceable wand until you got to a wand maker to get a perfect match."
Fay frowns, "Why would you make a temporary wand? Surely it's a waste of resources."
Lily shakes her head, "I don't mean temporary like that. The wand will last for as long as any other wand. It will just never be quite as good as a wand made by a professional. My wand was 10 ¼ inches, made from willow, with a unicorn hair core. Whippy and good for charms. You should see if any of the crystals here call out to you too."
"What difference would that make?"
Lily caresses another crystal as she thinks, "In theory, magic is as limitless as the soul. It can do anything you could possibly imagine, but the same is true of our bodies, or the power runs on the ship. However, without a focus, using magic is exceedingly difficult and exhausting. Um, like trying to power the engines without a cable would use vastly more energy. However, using a focus, any focus really, is like connecting the generator and the engines with a crowbar. It gives your magic a path to follow, and allows you to direct it in the outside world. A magical wand, that's even a passable match, allows you to do things that would otherwise be too exhausting to even contemplate outside a ritual. You've made the silver solution, and you know how hard it was."
Fay shakes her head, "I could have simply refreshed my strength with the force, making the task trivial."
Lily nods, "I'm glad you didn't, as it would have defeated the purpose of using it as a way to help you find your magic."
Fay shakes her head, "I have to confess that it's less to do with that, and more to do with the revelation about how much the taint of the darkside on the force has affected my thinking. I can think of several moments, before I took Harry through the portal, where I perhaps didn't look deeply enough into problems I was dealing with because I was confident in my abilities and the visions the force gives me. It has left me a little unsure in my own judgement."
Lily turns around and reaches up to take Fay's hands, "Fay, you can't do that to yourself. I'm only 26, and I know I don't have all the answers. Merlin knows Professor Dumbledore didn't either, but he seemed to think he did. From everything you've ever said, you've always done your best and sought to be as fair and even handed as you could be. Knowing how much the darkside tainted your perceptions doesn't change the fact you were doing your best. That's what the cleansing rituals are for after all. They won't help if you revel in dark magic, or live off the darkside, as there comes a point where you can't even make the potion anymore. But for people who are actively trying not to stain their souls…"
"Lily, this isn't the first time I've dealt with self doubt, I doubt it will be the last time either. It just takes time to get past it, this time is just hitting me a little harder than before, as I'm fairly sure I would have died on Queyta, and I know that Master Knol would have done. No matter what some people think, Jedi aren't infallible pillars of knowledge and truth. We are called to act as voices for the living force."
"Fay, given our discussions on what to teach Harry and when, I think it's safe to say that we are going to continue to disagree on just what the Jedi order is. I'm going to do my best to make sure that he has the best life I can give him, and has the chance to choose his own path in the future."
Over the next hour, the two women continue to talk about the things that have been happening since they left the planet, and by extension the portal, for the wider galaxy.
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After nearly an hour of touching different crystals, Lily stops in the middle of the largest of the crystal caverns and her gaze turns toward the ceiling as a queer expression crosses her face.
"Fay!"
Fay looks up from a formation of crystals that sing to her senses, "Yes Lily?"
"Would you be able to lift me up to that cluster of crystals there?"
Fay puts a hand on the crystal that's caught her attention, as her other hand gestures to draw on the force and lift Lily off the ground. As she does, the crystal she's touching glows brilliantly for a brief moment, before it splits with a loud crack, and a long sliver of crystal breaks away from the corner of the larger crystal.
As the sound echoes through the caves, it's joined by a similar crack from the ceiling. The two sounds combine to the point it almost sounds like there's a cave in. As the last echoes of the cracks fade into silence, the sound of skittering feet rapidly takes its place.
As Fay deflects the attention of the first few kinrath that pass through the tunnel, she lets Lily down to the floor and warningly calls "Lily!"
Lily pulls her attention away from the missing part of her soul, that she's holding in her hand, and reaches for one of the wand blanks while looking up, "I just need a moment!"
Fay shakes her head, "I don't think you have a moment, we need to run as I think we've triggered some sort of reflexive response."
Lily licks her lips and ducks behind a stalagmite, "Just give me two minutes and I'll be done."
"Lily! I'm not a guardian, and I can't stop this many creatures while they're panicking without bringing the cave down on our heads."
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Hands shivering, Lily ignores Fay and concentrates on the grain of the wand blank and chants the words to a transfiguration spell that will open it up along the entire length from the inside.
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On the other side of the cave, Fay snatches up the sliver of crystal that broke away in her hand, and begins to climb the nearby wall, while the trickle of fleeing kinrath turns into a flood as they try to climb over each other in their attempt to flee into the tunnels.
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Once the wand has opened all the way to the core, Lily stabs her thumb on the sharp point of the crystal and lovingly, if hurriedly, smears her blood along the entire length of the crystal, before placing it into the groove and cancelling the transfiguration. Over the next few seconds the wood closes over the gap, and then seems to compress down around the crystal shard until only the rough wand is remaining. Almost lovingly, Lily reaches down to the wand with her bare hand and picks it up.
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As she's clinging to the walls, Fay curses and squeezes her eyes shut as the entire cave is lit by a fountain of golden sparks flying out from behind the stalagmite that Lily's hiding behind. Suddenly she hears Lily shout, "Glacius Maximus!" and the temperature in the entire cave drops several degrees.
Once she's able to see once more, Fay gasps as the dimly lit cave is now lit by a brilliant blue fire that's stuck to the ceiling. Towards the tunnels she can hear the skittering sound of the retreating kinrath, while deeper into the mountains is a large icewall blocking off the caves deeper in.
Looking back down to the centre of the cave, Fay looks at Lily standing there holding a nondescript stick in one hand, and starts to revise everything they discussed about magic.
When Lily waves her stick, no, her wand, at Fay and levitates her away from the wall as easily as she'd earlier lifted Lily to the ceiling, Fay can't help the yelp of surprise that comes from her mouth.
As she lands on the floor, the yelp of surprise turns into outright staring, as Lily conjures two armchairs, and a small table, with three stabs of her wand.
Impishly, Lily takes her helmet off and looks at Fay. "Well, come on then. Take a seat and I'll help you make your own wand."
Fay stares at the chairs for a long moment before walking forward on weak knees and gingerly sitting down in a chair. As she does, Lily pulls a second wand blank from her pocket and places it on the table. She then quickly glances at the wall of ice and the sound of scrabbling from the other side.
Gingerly, Fay pokes the table, "Is it real?"
Lily looks back and nods, "It is for as long as the magic lasts. I didn't put much in these so they'll probably be gone in a few minutes. Did you find your own crystal while I was looking?"
Fay fingers the thin sliver of crystal that has somehow survived in her gloved hand, "I think so."
Lily smiles encouragingly at Fay, "While I'm opening up the wood, you need to take your glove off and smear some of your blood on the crystal."
Fay watches spellbound as Lily runs her wand from the base of the blank to the tip. As the wand passes over the blank, the wood unfurls like flower petals opening to either side of the heart of the wood. At Lily's pointed cough, Fay tears her eyes away from the sight and hurries to remove her glove.
Once her hand is bare, she looks at the crystal sliver with a little consternation, before Lily suggests, "Just use the sharp point of the crystal to cut your finger or thumb, you only need a couple of drops of blood."
Once she's done that, Fay looks up at Lily, "Now what?"
Lily smiles, "Place it in the wand, and I'll seal it up."
A few seconds later Fay finds herself staring at a rough wand that looks as though it couldn't possibly contain the crystal sliver that she'd just placed inside.
Gently, Lily points at the wand and says, "Well, go on then, pick it up and give it a little swish."
Hesitantly, Fay reaches out and grasps the wand and lifts it up. As she flicks it to one side, it feels like the living force inside her bursts into song before it flows through her and down the wand at the same time as a spray of green, red, and purple sparks explodes from the end of the wand. At the same time all of her control over her emotions, and connection to the force, comes crumbling down and she feels like she's been cast adrift on a wave of exultation into the galaxy, with the planet floating below her.
An instant later the moment is over, and she comes crashing back to her body as the sparks peter out until she's only holding her wand. She only has a moment to process the fact that it is her wand, before the force seems to shout a warning about the farm.
Looking down at Lily, Fay urgently says, "Lily, we need to go, as the farm's under attack."
At the urgency in Fay's voice, Lily frowns at Fay's wand, "You need somewhere safe to put your wand."
A second later she points at Fay's utility belt, "Don't move, I'm just going to cast a spell on your belt."
Jumping off her chair, Lily tugs open one of the pouches, and waves her wand in a complicated pattern over the pouch while she mumbles a spell under her breath. A few seconds later she grabs her helmet from the table, "Fay, put your wand in that pouch and get your glove on. I'll apparate us as soon as you're ready."
When Fay doesn't respond, Lily snatches the wand from her grasp and drops it into the now expanded pouch.
Fay almost snaps at Lily when her wand's taken away, but instead takes a deep breath and forces herself to calm down, and push her emotions to one side. A moment later, her glove appears on her hand and she's sucked into a tiny tube.
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Forri grimly ducks down behind the corpse of the bantha he was trying to lead to safety, before it was hit in the head by a heavy weapon. As the incoming fire lets up for a moment, he pokes his head over the heavy bulk and takes aim with his vermin rifle, trying to buy time for his coworkers to lead the other animals to safety in the barn, and grab weapons from the small armoury in there. Scattered across the farmyard between him and the attacking droids, are the remains of the farming droids that tried to buy them time to escape after they received the message from Master Windu that a detachment of 50 droids was heading towards them.
As he ducks back behind the dead beast, Farri muses that they should have probably just run for the hills rather than trying to save the animals. But you can't be a farmer without becoming attached to your farm animals.
As he leans back over to return fire again, he hears a scream from behind him, as five droids shoot at someone. Clenching his teeth, he sights down his own rifle and takes three measured shots before another group of droids takes aim at him, forcing him to duck down once more. At least he got two of the soulless machines.
A couple of seconds later, he spots Liam waving at him from the 'hayloft' of the barn, and he crouches ready to sprint for cover, only for another group of five droids to round an outbuilding and open fire on the barn.
This process repeats itself over, and over, while the droids move from cover to cover, and they try to cut off all avenues of retreat. At the same time Forri and the others return fire to the best of their ability, while trying to prevent the droids from circling around the farm and surrounding them.
When all hope seems lost, there's a massive crack of thunder over the farmhouse, and everyone, including the droids, turns to look. When Forri spots a woman and child on the roof, he can't help it, he stands up and waves both hands at them, "Run you idiots, we're under attack!"
Instead of running, the child raises their hand and points a stick at the tool shed. A moment later the shed explodes as though it was just hit by a turbo laser, showering the ground with large lumps of ferrocrete along with the mangled bodies of the droids that were hiding behind it. At the same time, the woman makes a force assisted jump towards the barn, and scoops up the person that was shot earlier.
Reacting to the change in the battlefield slightly faster than the droids, Forri shakes his head and runs back towards the barn, while taking potshots at the droids.
As he's running, he stumbles to one knee when the rubble and tools from the shed grow legs and start attacking the droids. A second later the woman walks out of the barn and raises both hands in front of her. Across the entire farm, all the droids that are focused on the child lift into the air and start to flail around, before crumpling into balls of metal and dropping to the floor.
As he stumbles to the door of the barn in shock, there's a quite pop and the child appears beside the woman. Then she says, "I didn't know you could do that Fay."
Fay chuckles and points at the rubble that's running around, "There's a lot that you don't know child. Equally, I didn't know you could do that."
The child looks back and nods, "Blasting hex followed by a boatload of animation charms."
Fay looks up at the horizon, "We've only bought ourselves some time, there are already reinforcements on the way. Can your magic do anything for the injured?"
The child nods, "I can at least make sure they'll survive to get to medical treatment. If you can find some rope, I can turn it into a portkey to get us all to the cave entrance, but something that big will probably wipe me out."
Forri startles when Fay turns to him, "You're Forri aren't you? Take some of the padawans and grab what food and medical supplies you have and bring them back here."
Forri nods and calls, "Yes Master Fay!" as he immediately starts moving to obey the command.
As he's running into the barn to get a couple of volunteers, Fay points at a couple more workers, "You two, scavenge as many weapons as you can from the droids. The rest of you find some rope and tie the bantha's to it…"
Wearing their pressure suits for anonymity, Fay and Lily both walk across the plain toward the hills that hold the only entrance to the crystal caves. Overhead their ship passes them only a few 10's of meters above the hills, as it heads for the mountains and somewhere that it won't show up on most scans.
As the two of them find their way to the cave entrance, Lily looks around curiously, "Fay, I'm sure that Forri said the predators around here were aggressive, how comes we haven't even seen one yet?"
Fay puts her hand on Lily's head, "That, my little padawan, is because I'm using a force ability to make us seem like we're friends with the local animals. It's a weaker version of a technique I use to defuse violence, though it doesn't work on droids."
Lily nods, "It seems like a useful ability, though one that could be badly abused by people with the wrong motivations."
Fay nods in agreement, "Indeed, and the Sith are said to have their own versions of the skill I used to disable Asajj. Only they use them to dominate the minds of their victims. The fact is that both this ability, and the one I use to forstall violence, need a serene mind to use otherwise your own emotions will disrupt the technique."
Lily nods, "That's one thing that using the force has over magic, spells all tend to be very targeted or take a lot of concentration from the caster to maintain. Even transfiguration, which was James' area of expertise, is a once and done thing, and if you want it to do something you didn't, intend you need to re-transfigure it."
Switching on a head mounted flashlight, Fay makes her way into the cave, "I've been meaning to ask, are transfigured creatures alive?"
Lily shakes her head as she switches on her own flashlight, "Not unless they were alive to start with. They don't have a soul as their entire animating force comes from the magic the caster put into the spell. When the magic runs out, so does their life. One avenue of research I looked at and discarded was the creation of life using ritual transfiguration, there's at least one magical creature created this way. The quintaped was the result of one such ritual, although the popular stories say that they were transfigured wizards, the ritual books used them as a cautionary tale about not understanding exactly what you're doing. I considered using that magic to make homunculus, bodies that rely on magic for their very survival. I'd have used them as a decoy, but they take months to create, time I didn't know if I had."
Fay nods, "That is both reassuring and disquieting to know, as the Sith have used the dark side of the force to create new life through mutation and alchemical treatments."
The two of them pause their conversation as they come face to face with their first kinrath, an arachnoid almost the size of a human. Stepping to one side, they allow it to pass up the corridor towards the surface for a dozen meters, before it taps the floor a couple of times and slowly makes its way back towards them.
Looking up at Fay, Lily asks, "Will we be safe here? As, until I get a focus, I'm not going to be that much use with my magic."
"I should be able to keep their attention off of us, but these creatures are especially simple minded, and while that usually makes them easier to influence, that only goes so far. How are you going to get a focus down here?"
Lily pulls a few crude wands out of a pocket on her leg, "I picked up a branch from one of the jogan trees yesterday and had Plex shape it into wand blanks for me. If I can find a suitable crystal here, I can cut a sliver off and put it into the blank as the core."
Fay shakes her head, "I can't see how a wand can make that much difference to your magic."
Lily smiles behind her helmet, "You'll see. Shall we continue?"
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After nearly 10 miles of walking, and occasionally being carried while napping, through the twisting, turning, and occasionally cramped tunnels dug by the kinrath; the tunnel eventually transitions from mud and clay to the granite of the mountains.
As they walk through the natural caves, they start to see glittering crystals occasionally growing out of the walls and glowing with their own inner light.
With a smile, Lily removes one of the gloves from her suit, and runs her hand over a crystal, "They're pretty."
Fay nods, "They are, and they grow over thousands of years through the power of the force. If it's anything like Ilum, once we reach the main caves, they'll be thousands of crystals dotted throughout the caves. You'll need to meditate on the force in order to find the one for you."
Lily groans, "I've only just finished purifying the taint in the exorcism ritual. I don't think I can survive another just yet. I think I'll wander around till I find one that feels like a slight match and make a temporary wand. I can then use that to harvest slivers of the other crystals and find a better match in the future. It's probably not the way Olivander would do it, but it's a quick and dirty method for wand craft that Fleamont taught James and I, before he died. He thought it might be a necessary skill because of the war. A skill he said he was taught in the Grindelwald war by some old wizards. It means bleeding on the core before you seal the wand again, but he said it would make a serviceable wand until you got to a wand maker to get a perfect match."
Fay frowns, "Why would you make a temporary wand? Surely it's a waste of resources."
Lily shakes her head, "I don't mean temporary like that. The wand will last for as long as any other wand. It will just never be quite as good as a wand made by a professional. My wand was 10 ¼ inches, made from willow, with a unicorn hair core. Whippy and good for charms. You should see if any of the crystals here call out to you too."
"What difference would that make?"
Lily caresses another crystal as she thinks, "In theory, magic is as limitless as the soul. It can do anything you could possibly imagine, but the same is true of our bodies, or the power runs on the ship. However, without a focus, using magic is exceedingly difficult and exhausting. Um, like trying to power the engines without a cable would use vastly more energy. However, using a focus, any focus really, is like connecting the generator and the engines with a crowbar. It gives your magic a path to follow, and allows you to direct it in the outside world. A magical wand, that's even a passable match, allows you to do things that would otherwise be too exhausting to even contemplate outside a ritual. You've made the silver solution, and you know how hard it was."
Fay shakes her head, "I could have simply refreshed my strength with the force, making the task trivial."
Lily nods, "I'm glad you didn't, as it would have defeated the purpose of using it as a way to help you find your magic."
Fay shakes her head, "I have to confess that it's less to do with that, and more to do with the revelation about how much the taint of the darkside on the force has affected my thinking. I can think of several moments, before I took Harry through the portal, where I perhaps didn't look deeply enough into problems I was dealing with because I was confident in my abilities and the visions the force gives me. It has left me a little unsure in my own judgement."
Lily turns around and reaches up to take Fay's hands, "Fay, you can't do that to yourself. I'm only 26, and I know I don't have all the answers. Merlin knows Professor Dumbledore didn't either, but he seemed to think he did. From everything you've ever said, you've always done your best and sought to be as fair and even handed as you could be. Knowing how much the darkside tainted your perceptions doesn't change the fact you were doing your best. That's what the cleansing rituals are for after all. They won't help if you revel in dark magic, or live off the darkside, as there comes a point where you can't even make the potion anymore. But for people who are actively trying not to stain their souls…"
"Lily, this isn't the first time I've dealt with self doubt, I doubt it will be the last time either. It just takes time to get past it, this time is just hitting me a little harder than before, as I'm fairly sure I would have died on Queyta, and I know that Master Knol would have done. No matter what some people think, Jedi aren't infallible pillars of knowledge and truth. We are called to act as voices for the living force."
"Fay, given our discussions on what to teach Harry and when, I think it's safe to say that we are going to continue to disagree on just what the Jedi order is. I'm going to do my best to make sure that he has the best life I can give him, and has the chance to choose his own path in the future."
Over the next hour, the two women continue to talk about the things that have been happening since they left the planet, and by extension the portal, for the wider galaxy.
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After nearly an hour of touching different crystals, Lily stops in the middle of the largest of the crystal caverns and her gaze turns toward the ceiling as a queer expression crosses her face.
"Fay!"
Fay looks up from a formation of crystals that sing to her senses, "Yes Lily?"
"Would you be able to lift me up to that cluster of crystals there?"
Fay puts a hand on the crystal that's caught her attention, as her other hand gestures to draw on the force and lift Lily off the ground. As she does, the crystal she's touching glows brilliantly for a brief moment, before it splits with a loud crack, and a long sliver of crystal breaks away from the corner of the larger crystal.
As the sound echoes through the caves, it's joined by a similar crack from the ceiling. The two sounds combine to the point it almost sounds like there's a cave in. As the last echoes of the cracks fade into silence, the sound of skittering feet rapidly takes its place.
As Fay deflects the attention of the first few kinrath that pass through the tunnel, she lets Lily down to the floor and warningly calls "Lily!"
Lily pulls her attention away from the missing part of her soul, that she's holding in her hand, and reaches for one of the wand blanks while looking up, "I just need a moment!"
Fay shakes her head, "I don't think you have a moment, we need to run as I think we've triggered some sort of reflexive response."
Lily licks her lips and ducks behind a stalagmite, "Just give me two minutes and I'll be done."
"Lily! I'm not a guardian, and I can't stop this many creatures while they're panicking without bringing the cave down on our heads."
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Hands shivering, Lily ignores Fay and concentrates on the grain of the wand blank and chants the words to a transfiguration spell that will open it up along the entire length from the inside.
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On the other side of the cave, Fay snatches up the sliver of crystal that broke away in her hand, and begins to climb the nearby wall, while the trickle of fleeing kinrath turns into a flood as they try to climb over each other in their attempt to flee into the tunnels.
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Once the wand has opened all the way to the core, Lily stabs her thumb on the sharp point of the crystal and lovingly, if hurriedly, smears her blood along the entire length of the crystal, before placing it into the groove and cancelling the transfiguration. Over the next few seconds the wood closes over the gap, and then seems to compress down around the crystal shard until only the rough wand is remaining. Almost lovingly, Lily reaches down to the wand with her bare hand and picks it up.
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As she's clinging to the walls, Fay curses and squeezes her eyes shut as the entire cave is lit by a fountain of golden sparks flying out from behind the stalagmite that Lily's hiding behind. Suddenly she hears Lily shout, "Glacius Maximus!" and the temperature in the entire cave drops several degrees.
Once she's able to see once more, Fay gasps as the dimly lit cave is now lit by a brilliant blue fire that's stuck to the ceiling. Towards the tunnels she can hear the skittering sound of the retreating kinrath, while deeper into the mountains is a large icewall blocking off the caves deeper in.
Looking back down to the centre of the cave, Fay looks at Lily standing there holding a nondescript stick in one hand, and starts to revise everything they discussed about magic.
When Lily waves her stick, no, her wand, at Fay and levitates her away from the wall as easily as she'd earlier lifted Lily to the ceiling, Fay can't help the yelp of surprise that comes from her mouth.
As she lands on the floor, the yelp of surprise turns into outright staring, as Lily conjures two armchairs, and a small table, with three stabs of her wand.
Impishly, Lily takes her helmet off and looks at Fay. "Well, come on then. Take a seat and I'll help you make your own wand."
Fay stares at the chairs for a long moment before walking forward on weak knees and gingerly sitting down in a chair. As she does, Lily pulls a second wand blank from her pocket and places it on the table. She then quickly glances at the wall of ice and the sound of scrabbling from the other side.
Gingerly, Fay pokes the table, "Is it real?"
Lily looks back and nods, "It is for as long as the magic lasts. I didn't put much in these so they'll probably be gone in a few minutes. Did you find your own crystal while I was looking?"
Fay fingers the thin sliver of crystal that has somehow survived in her gloved hand, "I think so."
Lily smiles encouragingly at Fay, "While I'm opening up the wood, you need to take your glove off and smear some of your blood on the crystal."
Fay watches spellbound as Lily runs her wand from the base of the blank to the tip. As the wand passes over the blank, the wood unfurls like flower petals opening to either side of the heart of the wood. At Lily's pointed cough, Fay tears her eyes away from the sight and hurries to remove her glove.
Once her hand is bare, she looks at the crystal sliver with a little consternation, before Lily suggests, "Just use the sharp point of the crystal to cut your finger or thumb, you only need a couple of drops of blood."
Once she's done that, Fay looks up at Lily, "Now what?"
Lily smiles, "Place it in the wand, and I'll seal it up."
A few seconds later Fay finds herself staring at a rough wand that looks as though it couldn't possibly contain the crystal sliver that she'd just placed inside.
Gently, Lily points at the wand and says, "Well, go on then, pick it up and give it a little swish."
Hesitantly, Fay reaches out and grasps the wand and lifts it up. As she flicks it to one side, it feels like the living force inside her bursts into song before it flows through her and down the wand at the same time as a spray of green, red, and purple sparks explodes from the end of the wand. At the same time all of her control over her emotions, and connection to the force, comes crumbling down and she feels like she's been cast adrift on a wave of exultation into the galaxy, with the planet floating below her.
An instant later the moment is over, and she comes crashing back to her body as the sparks peter out until she's only holding her wand. She only has a moment to process the fact that it is her wand, before the force seems to shout a warning about the farm.
Looking down at Lily, Fay urgently says, "Lily, we need to go, as the farm's under attack."
At the urgency in Fay's voice, Lily frowns at Fay's wand, "You need somewhere safe to put your wand."
A second later she points at Fay's utility belt, "Don't move, I'm just going to cast a spell on your belt."
Jumping off her chair, Lily tugs open one of the pouches, and waves her wand in a complicated pattern over the pouch while she mumbles a spell under her breath. A few seconds later she grabs her helmet from the table, "Fay, put your wand in that pouch and get your glove on. I'll apparate us as soon as you're ready."
When Fay doesn't respond, Lily snatches the wand from her grasp and drops it into the now expanded pouch.
Fay almost snaps at Lily when her wand's taken away, but instead takes a deep breath and forces herself to calm down, and push her emotions to one side. A moment later, her glove appears on her hand and she's sucked into a tiny tube.
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Forri grimly ducks down behind the corpse of the bantha he was trying to lead to safety, before it was hit in the head by a heavy weapon. As the incoming fire lets up for a moment, he pokes his head over the heavy bulk and takes aim with his vermin rifle, trying to buy time for his coworkers to lead the other animals to safety in the barn, and grab weapons from the small armoury in there. Scattered across the farmyard between him and the attacking droids, are the remains of the farming droids that tried to buy them time to escape after they received the message from Master Windu that a detachment of 50 droids was heading towards them.
As he ducks back behind the dead beast, Farri muses that they should have probably just run for the hills rather than trying to save the animals. But you can't be a farmer without becoming attached to your farm animals.
As he leans back over to return fire again, he hears a scream from behind him, as five droids shoot at someone. Clenching his teeth, he sights down his own rifle and takes three measured shots before another group of droids takes aim at him, forcing him to duck down once more. At least he got two of the soulless machines.
A couple of seconds later, he spots Liam waving at him from the 'hayloft' of the barn, and he crouches ready to sprint for cover, only for another group of five droids to round an outbuilding and open fire on the barn.
This process repeats itself over, and over, while the droids move from cover to cover, and they try to cut off all avenues of retreat. At the same time Forri and the others return fire to the best of their ability, while trying to prevent the droids from circling around the farm and surrounding them.
When all hope seems lost, there's a massive crack of thunder over the farmhouse, and everyone, including the droids, turns to look. When Forri spots a woman and child on the roof, he can't help it, he stands up and waves both hands at them, "Run you idiots, we're under attack!"
Instead of running, the child raises their hand and points a stick at the tool shed. A moment later the shed explodes as though it was just hit by a turbo laser, showering the ground with large lumps of ferrocrete along with the mangled bodies of the droids that were hiding behind it. At the same time, the woman makes a force assisted jump towards the barn, and scoops up the person that was shot earlier.
Reacting to the change in the battlefield slightly faster than the droids, Forri shakes his head and runs back towards the barn, while taking potshots at the droids.
As he's running, he stumbles to one knee when the rubble and tools from the shed grow legs and start attacking the droids. A second later the woman walks out of the barn and raises both hands in front of her. Across the entire farm, all the droids that are focused on the child lift into the air and start to flail around, before crumpling into balls of metal and dropping to the floor.
As he stumbles to the door of the barn in shock, there's a quite pop and the child appears beside the woman. Then she says, "I didn't know you could do that Fay."
Fay chuckles and points at the rubble that's running around, "There's a lot that you don't know child. Equally, I didn't know you could do that."
The child looks back and nods, "Blasting hex followed by a boatload of animation charms."
Fay looks up at the horizon, "We've only bought ourselves some time, there are already reinforcements on the way. Can your magic do anything for the injured?"
The child nods, "I can at least make sure they'll survive to get to medical treatment. If you can find some rope, I can turn it into a portkey to get us all to the cave entrance, but something that big will probably wipe me out."
Forri startles when Fay turns to him, "You're Forri aren't you? Take some of the padawans and grab what food and medical supplies you have and bring them back here."
Forri nods and calls, "Yes Master Fay!" as he immediately starts moving to obey the command.
As he's running into the barn to get a couple of volunteers, Fay points at a couple more workers, "You two, scavenge as many weapons as you can from the droids. The rest of you find some rope and tie the bantha's to it…"
Star Wars: Birth of Magic - 6
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 6
While the others work, Forri walks over to Master Jedi Fay and kneels down beside the child she's tending to, "Master, what do we do now?"
Fay looks up from Lily's sleeping form, "What do you think we should do now?"
Forri shakes his head, "I don't know. We can't stay here, as any scouts ships will immediately spot a group this large, and we can't hide the bantha's. Even if we could hide, it feels, I don't know, wrong to do so. We're not the only farm out this way, but the other farmers, they're just civilians. At most they'll have a vermin rifle or two, and a cellar to hide in if things get bad."
Fay takes her helmet off with a hiss of air and looks Forri in the eye, "What of you," pointing behind him she continues, "what of them. Aren't you civilians too?"
Forri shakes his head, "None of us are Master. We were all padawans, I can't speak for the others, but I just got too old before a master picked me." When Fay doesn't say anything, he looks down, "What about the child? Is she a padawan?"
Fay smiles gently, "I'd like to think she is, but no. The Jedi order could never accept her as a padawan, she's too old."
"Then how was she able to do that stuff? I've never heard of any one able to do that. The closest I've heard is the Dark Jedi that raised the Gungans she'd killed with swamp gas, and sent them against the Jedi."
Fay shakes her head, "I hadn't heard of that."
Forri looks down, "They didn't include it on the public holo's as the Jedi council thought it would be too demoralising. But we still get the Jedi dispatches as we're agricorps."
As Fay's thinking, Forri watches as she reaches into one of her pouches and pulls out a stick that's at least five times longer than the pouch is deep. As she rolls it around in her hands she muses, "If you had a way of purging someone of the darkside, what would you do with it?"
Forri opens his mouth to answer, and then stops for a moment, "I think… I think that I would use it on those who fell through no fault of their own. Give them a second chance. I don't think I'd want to give it to those who went looking for forbidden knowledge."
Fay puts her hand on Forri's shoulder, "In this, perhaps, you are wiser than I. As my thought was to hide it's existence from the order so that it wouldn't encourage people to explore things best left buried."
Forri's tentacles frame his face in thought, "Is this some forgotten force technique you've discovered?"
Fay waves the stick through the air, trailing red, green, and purple, sparks from the tip as though mesmerised by their appearance, "What? Oh, no. Not Jedi. I'm mostly convinced that it's not even using the force."
Confusion clear in his voice, Forri asks, "What else is there?"
Fay trails the stick in front of Forri's eyes, "Magic."
Forri shakes his head, "We were taught that there was no such thing as magic."
Fay sighs and resumes rolling the stick around in her hands, "I have been reminded a lot of a scientific maxim. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I fear that in our ignorance, we Jedi have taken our knowledge of the force and all the ways we've ever seen it used, and assumed that means that magic does not exist."
As she finishes speaking, Fay looks up and over at the worker that's lying in stasis on a transfigured stretcher.
Forri turns to follow her gaze, "I thought that was just some sort of healing trance master."
Fay shakes her head, "It's a spell that Lily learnt in her own world, and I've seen her use twice. The first time I too assumed it was just a force ability that drained her because of her lack of training. But with a wand it seemed like it took her no more effort than creating the stretcher or blowing up the shed. Yet transporting everyone here and the animals exhausted her."
As Forri is turning back to face Fay, he catches sight of one of the droid blasters, "Master, you asked me what I thought we should do. I think I have an answer now. We know where the reinforcements are going to be and we are well enough armed. We should ambush them before they can move away, and possibly kill our neighbours."
Fay puts the wand back in her pouch and smiles at Forri, "Then that is what we will do. You know the terrain, so I will follow your lead and provide support if you need it."
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After the battle, Forri juggles a data cylinder in his hands as he looks around the ruins of the farm he's called home for the last five years. All around are the bodies of dead droids and another dead bantha, as their plan caught them completely off guard. Slap bang in the middle of the farmyard is the ship the droids arrived in. A standard troop ship rather than the massive droid unloaders that are used on the main battle fronts.
As Forri reaches up to rub at the bacta patch on his shoulder, Liam leans out of the ship and shouts, "Hey! Forri! We've taken control of the ship! Almost everyone else is leaving, are you coming?"
Forri looks back at the bantha's and Master Fay, who is meditating serenely on what remains of the farmhouse roof. Then he looks down at the data cylinder that Fay gave him after they started talking about going to Coruscant. After a nearly a minute he walks over to the ship and holds out the data cylinder, "Actually Liam, I think I'll stay here and see if I can't go with Master Fay. Give this to the Grand Master for me. And I mean personally, not through an aide. If I remember, he likes teaching the younglings."
Liam shakes his head, "Hey, it's your funeral. I'm just looking forward to being able to make a difference in this sith damned war."
Forri shakes his head, "I understand, I just don't think this is something that will be solved on the battlefield. Look, I'm going to see if Master Fay will allow me to travel with her, and maybe take me on as a padawan. Even if she doesn't, maybe we can turn this into a haven or something. Just remember to honour her request to stay anonymous."
Liam smiles easily, "Don't worry, we all know how to keep our mouths shut. Besides, she didn't actually do anything when we took back the farm, so that will be easy enough."
Forri looks back up at Fay before shaking his head, "I wouldn't say she didn't do anything. I'm not sure what she did, but it was something."
Liam shakes his head as he pulls it back inside, "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, last chance to leave."
Forri steps back away from the ship, "Thank you for the offer, and may the force be with you."
Liam hits the button next to the ramp as he calls back, "May the force be with you!"
A moment later Forri watches at the ship ponderously takes off on its vertical repulsors before the ion drive kick in, and send it shooting into the sky.
"You did a brave thing there."
Forri jumps as a voice comes from just below his left elbow. As he looks down, the child appears out of nowhere. "Where did you come from?"
The child removes her helmet, and reveals herself as the same child that was running around the other day, "Disillusionment charm, and a silencing charm on my feet. By the way, I'm Lily."
Forri's nictitating membranes flick across his eyes a couple of times before he ventures, "Um, pleased to meet you? I thought you were asleep back at the camp."
Lily shakes her head, "Forri, it's been hours, and this body is five. I just needed a nap. Beside, I portkeyed the old and injured back to the barn when Liam sent the message that farm was clear. That was 20 minutes ago."
Forri frowns as he considers that he'd seen Yma helping to load supplies and just not questioned it. As he's trying to think, he opens his mouth a few times before closing it again. Eventually he settles on, "Why didn't anyone notice you arrive?"
Lily shrugs and turns towards the ruined tool shed, "That's probably a question for Fay, but I'd guess it's because you expect them to be on the farm. Come on, there's lots of cleaning up to do, and even with magic it's going to be a lot of work."
Somewhat skeptically, Forri asks, "Magic?"
Without looking back, Lily pulls her wand out of her pocket and stops a few meters away from the remains of the shed. Deliberately taking her time, she moves her wand in the right gestures and says, "Repairo" while pointing at the shed. Almost immediately, the scattered rubble from the shed starts to roll and tumble back to the shed, before slotting right back into the place they came from, including a cloud of dust.
As the shed comes together, Lily turns back to Forri with a smirk, "Yes, magic."
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Asajj looks up at the ceiling as tears track down her cheeks while her hand gently strokes Harry's hair as he sleeps with his hair in her lap. Just like her master used to do for her in the early days. She even told the same force damned stories he did.
Instinctively, she reaches for the force, to allow it to pass through her and take away the pain in a wave of feeling. Instead, there's nothing. Just her in this cage.
With her eyes closed, she bangs her head backwards against the force cursed barrier that's surrounding her. "It's Not Fair! Why did you have to leave me? Why did you die?"
A second later, a gentle hand touches her face as Fay says, "Let it go, it's all in the past and he has returned to the force."
Asajj opens he eyes to spit out an angry retort, when Lily's voice comes from the doorway, "I disagree. Hold on to your memories of your master and try to make him proud of you. Live up to his memory and prove to the people that killed him that you are better than them in every single way."
Fay glances over, "Lily, that's not the Jedi way."
Lily shakes her head, "I'm not a Jedi, and neither is Asajj. What I am is a witch and a mother. I also lost my father when he was killed by my enemies. I'm not suggesting giving into hate, quite the opposite." More gently she continues, "Asajj, do you think your master, your father, would be proud of what you've done since he died?"
Asajj's anger dies stillborn in the face of first Lily's defence of her, and then that damned question. A question that hangs in the air as Harry wakes up, hugs Fay with a cry of "Mama!", before getting up and running over to Lily and hugging her with a cry of "Mummy!"
With the moment broken, Lily smiles, "Well, I was going here to use the fresher and change my clothes while Fay checked our stores for a portable generator. However, it looks like I'm going to be doing that too."
Fay has the grace to look abashed as she puts her hand on the inside wall of the exorcism circle.
Asajj dashes the tears from her eyes and frowns, "Why do you need a generator anyway?"
Lily coughs and looks down with embarrassment, "The farm's generator was damaged in the fighting, and I got carried away with my repairs. Apparently generators don't like being repaired by magic."
Asajj forces a sound of curiosity into her voice as she asks, "Magic?"
Lily pulls her wand out of her pocket and waves it in her hand. Before she can do anything else, Fay warns, "Not until you've found the generator. And don't use it on anything we might need later."
Lily sighs before her eyes widen and she smiles as she runs over to a crate with hull repair plates in it. A tap of her wand has a few plates dance out of the crate as she sings, "Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together and what have you got
Bippity-boppity-boo…"
As she sings she waves her wand in time with the music and turns the plates into a pair of armchairs and a wooden side table with a chessboard inlaid in the top, before having them dance into circle. A moment later a hand full of nuts and bolts turns into white and black chess pieces and they march into circle before climbing onto the table and settling down.
By the door, Harry laughs as he jumps up and down while clapping. At the end of the song Lily points her wand at him and transfigures his clothing into a little princes outfit.
Breathless and laughing, Lily turns to the two women in the circle, "I always wanted to do that. Anyway, yes, magic, no force required, and I think I've spotted the generator. D12 would you mind grabbing that crate for me please?"
D12 just remains standing by the wall where he was unobtrusively keeping an eye on Asajj until his heuristic models of the world were just broken. A moment later a stinging hex pings of his chassis and Lily shouts, "Worry about it later and help me move this crate."
D12 shakes his head and walks over to pick up the crate, "Yes mistress."
As Lily, Harry (chanting 'Again! Again!'), and D12 leave, Asajj disbelievingly pokes one of the chairs experimentally, "Do you think she meant that?"
Fay walks over to the other chair and gingerly sits down in it, "Meant what?"
"The stuff about holding on to my masters memory."
Fay pulls her wand out of her pouch again and rolls it around in her hands as if mesmerised by it, "Probably. Though I find myself knowing less about the universe than I knew yesterday."
Asajj shakes her head, "More riddles, my master was fond of those too."
Fay laughs self deprecatingly, "Not riddles. Just the truth. We like to say that anything is possible with the force. But none of us actually expect to be able to do anything. Same as we've never come across anything that other, more primitive, cultures call magic that can't be reproduced with the force, or at least hasn't been reproduced without the force. Even with what Lily was doing, I could sort of see how it could be done with the living force. I could even feel her reaching for the force while she was doing her 'magic'."
Asajj sits on her chair and laughs bitterly, "Well, this beats talking about feelings. What changed?"
Fay holds up her wand, "This did." and touches it to a chess piece with a look of concentration. Over the next couple of seconds, the chess piece slowly melts as it changes colour from black to purple. When Fay lifts her wand away, she's left with a misshapen purple rook.
Asajj snarks, "Wow, brilliant work there Master Jedi."
Quietly, Fay point out, "We are both currently cut off from the force, and I didn't use the living force to do that."
Asajj looks at Fay's face searchingly, "You're serious aren't you."
Fay nods, "I find myself having doubts about a lot of what I've been taught, and I'm afraid of what I will find when I look further."
Asajj shakes her head, "I didn't think we were supposed to feel fear, or doubt. At least that's what Master Dooku said."
Fay shakes her head, "That's not what the code's about. It's not about lacking fear, it's about not letting fear control you. 'There is no emotion, there is peace' and 'There is no passion, there is serenity' they're supposed to be goals to reach for, not a state of being. You can't be alive and not feel emotion. But if you allow yourself to be ruled by your emotions you'll never be at peace. And so the first line tells us that emotions are transitory, and when we understand that and stop them from ruling our lives we'll find ourselves at peace. The reason it's reiterated is that the third line is talking about making decisions. If we allow our passions to rule us, then we will make avoidable mistakes, we'll be blinded by what we want to be true. It's only when we can set those emotions aside for the moment that we can find the serene state of mind we need to see clearly and make the best decision we can."
Asajj shakes her head, "My master never described it like that."
Fay shrugs, "I am older than most, and I have had a lot of time to think about things. Despite everything that's happening around Lily, I still believe that the Jedi code is the right path. That hasn't changed, what's changed is that I have been shown how arrogant I have been by assuming I am knowledgeable when I am in fact ignorant. Which, itself breaks the second line of the code, 'There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.' As that line demands that we seek to replace our ignorance with knowledge. Even if that knowledge is just that there is someone that can actually explain what we're ignorant of."
Asajj sighs as she plays with some of the pieces on the chess board, "My master, he rescued me as a toddler after the warlords killed my parents. He wasn't even supposed to be on that planet his ship crashed there and nobody ever came for us. Then they killed him too, they shot him in the back and tried to kill me too. All because we were protecting the innocent and bringing an end to the fighting. Why didn't anyone ever come?"
Fay leans over and takes Asajj's hand, "You said he crashed. It's quite possible they believed he was dead. Several hours ago, a wise man pointed out that this circle could be used to give those that fall to the darkside a second chance. I know that you're somewhat older than the order allows for it's padawans since the Ruusan Reformation, but then again I'm somewhat older than the average Jedi Master. If you wish, I could take you as my padawan, and make it official once you are free of the darkside."
Asajj stares at Fay in disbelief as something she's sought for so long, even when she claimed to be sith, is just offered to her as part of a conversation.
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On Coruscant, in a grand temple set apart from the rest of the city planet by deep ravines, the grand master of the Jedi Order shuffles quickly towards his personal quarters with a data cylinder grasped like a lightsaber in his tiny hands.
When he reaches his quarters he plugs the cylinder into the computer and reads through the documents with increasing levels of disbelief. Shaking his head at the absurdities it describes, magick that isn't part of the darkside indeed. He selects the first video and watches as Master Fay first mix silver into water, and then hand the water to a droid who proceeds to splash it over a naked woman and girl in side a silver circle. For 6 hours he watches as they scream as the water turns into brown sludge that drips off of them to the ground.
At the end of that time he leans back on his haunches and begins to meditate on what he's seen, and what it could mean to the order if this is indeed a light side force ritual.
While the others work, Forri walks over to Master Jedi Fay and kneels down beside the child she's tending to, "Master, what do we do now?"
Fay looks up from Lily's sleeping form, "What do you think we should do now?"
Forri shakes his head, "I don't know. We can't stay here, as any scouts ships will immediately spot a group this large, and we can't hide the bantha's. Even if we could hide, it feels, I don't know, wrong to do so. We're not the only farm out this way, but the other farmers, they're just civilians. At most they'll have a vermin rifle or two, and a cellar to hide in if things get bad."
Fay takes her helmet off with a hiss of air and looks Forri in the eye, "What of you," pointing behind him she continues, "what of them. Aren't you civilians too?"
Forri shakes his head, "None of us are Master. We were all padawans, I can't speak for the others, but I just got too old before a master picked me." When Fay doesn't say anything, he looks down, "What about the child? Is she a padawan?"
Fay smiles gently, "I'd like to think she is, but no. The Jedi order could never accept her as a padawan, she's too old."
"Then how was she able to do that stuff? I've never heard of any one able to do that. The closest I've heard is the Dark Jedi that raised the Gungans she'd killed with swamp gas, and sent them against the Jedi."
Fay shakes her head, "I hadn't heard of that."
Forri looks down, "They didn't include it on the public holo's as the Jedi council thought it would be too demoralising. But we still get the Jedi dispatches as we're agricorps."
As Fay's thinking, Forri watches as she reaches into one of her pouches and pulls out a stick that's at least five times longer than the pouch is deep. As she rolls it around in her hands she muses, "If you had a way of purging someone of the darkside, what would you do with it?"
Forri opens his mouth to answer, and then stops for a moment, "I think… I think that I would use it on those who fell through no fault of their own. Give them a second chance. I don't think I'd want to give it to those who went looking for forbidden knowledge."
Fay puts her hand on Forri's shoulder, "In this, perhaps, you are wiser than I. As my thought was to hide it's existence from the order so that it wouldn't encourage people to explore things best left buried."
Forri's tentacles frame his face in thought, "Is this some forgotten force technique you've discovered?"
Fay waves the stick through the air, trailing red, green, and purple, sparks from the tip as though mesmerised by their appearance, "What? Oh, no. Not Jedi. I'm mostly convinced that it's not even using the force."
Confusion clear in his voice, Forri asks, "What else is there?"
Fay trails the stick in front of Forri's eyes, "Magic."
Forri shakes his head, "We were taught that there was no such thing as magic."
Fay sighs and resumes rolling the stick around in her hands, "I have been reminded a lot of a scientific maxim. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I fear that in our ignorance, we Jedi have taken our knowledge of the force and all the ways we've ever seen it used, and assumed that means that magic does not exist."
As she finishes speaking, Fay looks up and over at the worker that's lying in stasis on a transfigured stretcher.
Forri turns to follow her gaze, "I thought that was just some sort of healing trance master."
Fay shakes her head, "It's a spell that Lily learnt in her own world, and I've seen her use twice. The first time I too assumed it was just a force ability that drained her because of her lack of training. But with a wand it seemed like it took her no more effort than creating the stretcher or blowing up the shed. Yet transporting everyone here and the animals exhausted her."
As Forri is turning back to face Fay, he catches sight of one of the droid blasters, "Master, you asked me what I thought we should do. I think I have an answer now. We know where the reinforcements are going to be and we are well enough armed. We should ambush them before they can move away, and possibly kill our neighbours."
Fay puts the wand back in her pouch and smiles at Forri, "Then that is what we will do. You know the terrain, so I will follow your lead and provide support if you need it."
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After the battle, Forri juggles a data cylinder in his hands as he looks around the ruins of the farm he's called home for the last five years. All around are the bodies of dead droids and another dead bantha, as their plan caught them completely off guard. Slap bang in the middle of the farmyard is the ship the droids arrived in. A standard troop ship rather than the massive droid unloaders that are used on the main battle fronts.
As Forri reaches up to rub at the bacta patch on his shoulder, Liam leans out of the ship and shouts, "Hey! Forri! We've taken control of the ship! Almost everyone else is leaving, are you coming?"
Forri looks back at the bantha's and Master Fay, who is meditating serenely on what remains of the farmhouse roof. Then he looks down at the data cylinder that Fay gave him after they started talking about going to Coruscant. After a nearly a minute he walks over to the ship and holds out the data cylinder, "Actually Liam, I think I'll stay here and see if I can't go with Master Fay. Give this to the Grand Master for me. And I mean personally, not through an aide. If I remember, he likes teaching the younglings."
Liam shakes his head, "Hey, it's your funeral. I'm just looking forward to being able to make a difference in this sith damned war."
Forri shakes his head, "I understand, I just don't think this is something that will be solved on the battlefield. Look, I'm going to see if Master Fay will allow me to travel with her, and maybe take me on as a padawan. Even if she doesn't, maybe we can turn this into a haven or something. Just remember to honour her request to stay anonymous."
Liam smiles easily, "Don't worry, we all know how to keep our mouths shut. Besides, she didn't actually do anything when we took back the farm, so that will be easy enough."
Forri looks back up at Fay before shaking his head, "I wouldn't say she didn't do anything. I'm not sure what she did, but it was something."
Liam shakes his head as he pulls it back inside, "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, last chance to leave."
Forri steps back away from the ship, "Thank you for the offer, and may the force be with you."
Liam hits the button next to the ramp as he calls back, "May the force be with you!"
A moment later Forri watches at the ship ponderously takes off on its vertical repulsors before the ion drive kick in, and send it shooting into the sky.
"You did a brave thing there."
Forri jumps as a voice comes from just below his left elbow. As he looks down, the child appears out of nowhere. "Where did you come from?"
The child removes her helmet, and reveals herself as the same child that was running around the other day, "Disillusionment charm, and a silencing charm on my feet. By the way, I'm Lily."
Forri's nictitating membranes flick across his eyes a couple of times before he ventures, "Um, pleased to meet you? I thought you were asleep back at the camp."
Lily shakes her head, "Forri, it's been hours, and this body is five. I just needed a nap. Beside, I portkeyed the old and injured back to the barn when Liam sent the message that farm was clear. That was 20 minutes ago."
Forri frowns as he considers that he'd seen Yma helping to load supplies and just not questioned it. As he's trying to think, he opens his mouth a few times before closing it again. Eventually he settles on, "Why didn't anyone notice you arrive?"
Lily shrugs and turns towards the ruined tool shed, "That's probably a question for Fay, but I'd guess it's because you expect them to be on the farm. Come on, there's lots of cleaning up to do, and even with magic it's going to be a lot of work."
Somewhat skeptically, Forri asks, "Magic?"
Without looking back, Lily pulls her wand out of her pocket and stops a few meters away from the remains of the shed. Deliberately taking her time, she moves her wand in the right gestures and says, "Repairo" while pointing at the shed. Almost immediately, the scattered rubble from the shed starts to roll and tumble back to the shed, before slotting right back into the place they came from, including a cloud of dust.
As the shed comes together, Lily turns back to Forri with a smirk, "Yes, magic."
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Asajj looks up at the ceiling as tears track down her cheeks while her hand gently strokes Harry's hair as he sleeps with his hair in her lap. Just like her master used to do for her in the early days. She even told the same force damned stories he did.
Instinctively, she reaches for the force, to allow it to pass through her and take away the pain in a wave of feeling. Instead, there's nothing. Just her in this cage.
With her eyes closed, she bangs her head backwards against the force cursed barrier that's surrounding her. "It's Not Fair! Why did you have to leave me? Why did you die?"
A second later, a gentle hand touches her face as Fay says, "Let it go, it's all in the past and he has returned to the force."
Asajj opens he eyes to spit out an angry retort, when Lily's voice comes from the doorway, "I disagree. Hold on to your memories of your master and try to make him proud of you. Live up to his memory and prove to the people that killed him that you are better than them in every single way."
Fay glances over, "Lily, that's not the Jedi way."
Lily shakes her head, "I'm not a Jedi, and neither is Asajj. What I am is a witch and a mother. I also lost my father when he was killed by my enemies. I'm not suggesting giving into hate, quite the opposite." More gently she continues, "Asajj, do you think your master, your father, would be proud of what you've done since he died?"
Asajj's anger dies stillborn in the face of first Lily's defence of her, and then that damned question. A question that hangs in the air as Harry wakes up, hugs Fay with a cry of "Mama!", before getting up and running over to Lily and hugging her with a cry of "Mummy!"
With the moment broken, Lily smiles, "Well, I was going here to use the fresher and change my clothes while Fay checked our stores for a portable generator. However, it looks like I'm going to be doing that too."
Fay has the grace to look abashed as she puts her hand on the inside wall of the exorcism circle.
Asajj dashes the tears from her eyes and frowns, "Why do you need a generator anyway?"
Lily coughs and looks down with embarrassment, "The farm's generator was damaged in the fighting, and I got carried away with my repairs. Apparently generators don't like being repaired by magic."
Asajj forces a sound of curiosity into her voice as she asks, "Magic?"
Lily pulls her wand out of her pocket and waves it in her hand. Before she can do anything else, Fay warns, "Not until you've found the generator. And don't use it on anything we might need later."
Lily sighs before her eyes widen and she smiles as she runs over to a crate with hull repair plates in it. A tap of her wand has a few plates dance out of the crate as she sings, "Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together and what have you got
Bippity-boppity-boo…"
As she sings she waves her wand in time with the music and turns the plates into a pair of armchairs and a wooden side table with a chessboard inlaid in the top, before having them dance into circle. A moment later a hand full of nuts and bolts turns into white and black chess pieces and they march into circle before climbing onto the table and settling down.
By the door, Harry laughs as he jumps up and down while clapping. At the end of the song Lily points her wand at him and transfigures his clothing into a little princes outfit.
Breathless and laughing, Lily turns to the two women in the circle, "I always wanted to do that. Anyway, yes, magic, no force required, and I think I've spotted the generator. D12 would you mind grabbing that crate for me please?"
D12 just remains standing by the wall where he was unobtrusively keeping an eye on Asajj until his heuristic models of the world were just broken. A moment later a stinging hex pings of his chassis and Lily shouts, "Worry about it later and help me move this crate."
D12 shakes his head and walks over to pick up the crate, "Yes mistress."
As Lily, Harry (chanting 'Again! Again!'), and D12 leave, Asajj disbelievingly pokes one of the chairs experimentally, "Do you think she meant that?"
Fay walks over to the other chair and gingerly sits down in it, "Meant what?"
"The stuff about holding on to my masters memory."
Fay pulls her wand out of her pouch again and rolls it around in her hands as if mesmerised by it, "Probably. Though I find myself knowing less about the universe than I knew yesterday."
Asajj shakes her head, "More riddles, my master was fond of those too."
Fay laughs self deprecatingly, "Not riddles. Just the truth. We like to say that anything is possible with the force. But none of us actually expect to be able to do anything. Same as we've never come across anything that other, more primitive, cultures call magic that can't be reproduced with the force, or at least hasn't been reproduced without the force. Even with what Lily was doing, I could sort of see how it could be done with the living force. I could even feel her reaching for the force while she was doing her 'magic'."
Asajj sits on her chair and laughs bitterly, "Well, this beats talking about feelings. What changed?"
Fay holds up her wand, "This did." and touches it to a chess piece with a look of concentration. Over the next couple of seconds, the chess piece slowly melts as it changes colour from black to purple. When Fay lifts her wand away, she's left with a misshapen purple rook.
Asajj snarks, "Wow, brilliant work there Master Jedi."
Quietly, Fay point out, "We are both currently cut off from the force, and I didn't use the living force to do that."
Asajj looks at Fay's face searchingly, "You're serious aren't you."
Fay nods, "I find myself having doubts about a lot of what I've been taught, and I'm afraid of what I will find when I look further."
Asajj shakes her head, "I didn't think we were supposed to feel fear, or doubt. At least that's what Master Dooku said."
Fay shakes her head, "That's not what the code's about. It's not about lacking fear, it's about not letting fear control you. 'There is no emotion, there is peace' and 'There is no passion, there is serenity' they're supposed to be goals to reach for, not a state of being. You can't be alive and not feel emotion. But if you allow yourself to be ruled by your emotions you'll never be at peace. And so the first line tells us that emotions are transitory, and when we understand that and stop them from ruling our lives we'll find ourselves at peace. The reason it's reiterated is that the third line is talking about making decisions. If we allow our passions to rule us, then we will make avoidable mistakes, we'll be blinded by what we want to be true. It's only when we can set those emotions aside for the moment that we can find the serene state of mind we need to see clearly and make the best decision we can."
Asajj shakes her head, "My master never described it like that."
Fay shrugs, "I am older than most, and I have had a lot of time to think about things. Despite everything that's happening around Lily, I still believe that the Jedi code is the right path. That hasn't changed, what's changed is that I have been shown how arrogant I have been by assuming I am knowledgeable when I am in fact ignorant. Which, itself breaks the second line of the code, 'There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.' As that line demands that we seek to replace our ignorance with knowledge. Even if that knowledge is just that there is someone that can actually explain what we're ignorant of."
Asajj sighs as she plays with some of the pieces on the chess board, "My master, he rescued me as a toddler after the warlords killed my parents. He wasn't even supposed to be on that planet his ship crashed there and nobody ever came for us. Then they killed him too, they shot him in the back and tried to kill me too. All because we were protecting the innocent and bringing an end to the fighting. Why didn't anyone ever come?"
Fay leans over and takes Asajj's hand, "You said he crashed. It's quite possible they believed he was dead. Several hours ago, a wise man pointed out that this circle could be used to give those that fall to the darkside a second chance. I know that you're somewhat older than the order allows for it's padawans since the Ruusan Reformation, but then again I'm somewhat older than the average Jedi Master. If you wish, I could take you as my padawan, and make it official once you are free of the darkside."
Asajj stares at Fay in disbelief as something she's sought for so long, even when she claimed to be sith, is just offered to her as part of a conversation.
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On Coruscant, in a grand temple set apart from the rest of the city planet by deep ravines, the grand master of the Jedi Order shuffles quickly towards his personal quarters with a data cylinder grasped like a lightsaber in his tiny hands.
When he reaches his quarters he plugs the cylinder into the computer and reads through the documents with increasing levels of disbelief. Shaking his head at the absurdities it describes, magick that isn't part of the darkside indeed. He selects the first video and watches as Master Fay first mix silver into water, and then hand the water to a droid who proceeds to splash it over a naked woman and girl in side a silver circle. For 6 hours he watches as they scream as the water turns into brown sludge that drips off of them to the ground.
At the end of that time he leans back on his haunches and begins to meditate on what he's seen, and what it could mean to the order if this is indeed a light side force ritual.
Taylor and the Dream - Chapter 1
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"It's strange," I reflect, "how so much can change in so little time."
As I break off a piece of lunch and hold it out to a monkey that has a beak instead of a mouth and nose, I amend it to, "Well for everyone else anyway. What do you think?"
The monkey just ignores I and snatches the bit of food from I fingers before running off.
After I finish eating, I sit down in a meditation pose and starts to look for the cracks in the world. It's taken I three months to get to this point, but even with I missteps and mistakes just having a lunch where I doesn't need to look over my shoulder, or use my new powers of cleaning and repair.
According to PHO, powers should be instinctive to use. Fat lot they know.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I slips through I memories. A few minutes later I fall into my own personal slice of winter New England coastline. The waves and sky over the ocean roiling in response to my agitation.
"Damn it!"
As I scream at the clouds, the rabbits and birds all flee for cover in the nearby forest.
A few minutes later I'm able to leave my bit of New England and return to my body. It doesn't take me much longer to find my power and slowly spread it out as I look for the crack I used to get here.
Once I find it, I shudder as memories of the first time I fell through a crack happened, and I just kept falling until I passed out looking up at rivers of light flowing through the sky. As tears start to stream down my face, I slip through the crack onto a street a few blocks away from Winslow School.
As the faint strain of the end of lunch bell reaches my ears, I slump as I try to work out where here is.
Several minutes later, I manage to find my way out to the main road, and the gates of the school. As I look up at the large clock on the front of the school it ticks over to 10 minutes past the start of art class.
Shivering, I hunch my shoulders and walk into the school, wishing desperately that I was invisible so that nobody could stare as I walk into class late, especially The Trio or their hangers on. Wonder of wonders, as I walk into the classroom, absolutely nobody looks up, and Mrs French just kept talking. Slowly, it dawns on me that I am actually invisible.
I can't help myself as I start to hyperventilate. I need to get away, to get somewhere safe where I can't accidentally out myself. As I step backwards everything goes dark and I bump into something solid.
As I do, I can't help but scream and drop down into a small ball on the floor.
After a few seconds my eyes adjust to the darkness, and it slowly dawns on me that I'm not in my locker. It takes even longer for me to uncurl from the floor and start looking around. As I recognise our basement I start to laugh hysterically.
After a cold shower to clean off the dust from basement, I decided to make some more notes in my special notebook about the things I discovered today. After the living room light fails to turn on, I move one of the chairs over to the front room window so that I can take advantage of the afternoon sun.
As I'm writing, an ambulance drives down our street to Mr Persons, the old man that had a heart attack last year. As the siren turns off my pen drops from my suddenly nerveless fingers as I put the lack of power and Mr Persons heart attack together and get murderer.
As my heart leaps into my throat, I swallow hard and close my eyes to concentrate on my breathing as I try to bring my emotions back under control.
"Why did I have to get such a difficult power, why couldn't I have had something simple like flight, or even something useless like bug control?"
I jump as I realise I said that aloud, and then I giggle softly as I make my way into the kitchen where we keep the candles and matches.
With some light, I make my way back into the basement and look for the camping gear we last used the summer before Mum died. When I come across Mum and Dad's double sleeping bag I almost chicken out and turn myself in. Then I remember that my power killed all of the power, and maybe killed our neighbour. I can't afford to be locked up by the PRT, as I could cripple them accidently.
With my resolve reaffirmed, I quickly find the camping rucksack and pack a few changes of clothes, the self help books I've been reading, an old camping guide, a pen, my notebook, and as much tinned or dried food as I can along with the small camping stove and matches.
With a heavy heart I leave out of the back door and jump the fence to our backdoor neighbour before heading to the trainyard.
It was full dark by the time I managed to find my way through the north docks and into the abandoned parts of the trainyard. I am willing to admit that part of that was my reluctance to use the busses given my current emotional state.
As I look around at the spots of flickering yellow light that are visible in the darkness, it occurs to me that this is probably a good time to be here if I want to avoid attention. Not that here is where I want to camp.
"Ok Taylor, you can do this. Just find a sheltered area and then you can look for one of the cracks in the world."
With my peptalk done I square my shoulders and walk away from the last street light and into the darkness. As I'm stumbling over the tracks and discarded sleepers, one of the candles floats out of my backpack and the wick burst into flame. With a smile I say, "Thanks dad" before continuing to make my way deeper into the train. After a dozen steps I turn to look at the candle that's floating innocently near the ground. As soon as I do the candle drops to the floor, and I quickly pick it up before the wick can burn through the wax.
"What the hell?"
Shaking my head, I push my surprise to the back of my mind and continue to trudge on.
In the end it only takes me five or ten minutes to find an old cargo container that's had the top ripped off. I grimace as I look inside, as even by candlelight it's clear from the puddles and mould why nobody has claimed this container. Which, ironically, makes it perfect for my needs, as I have absolutely no intention of staying here.
An hour, eight or nine cracks between worlds, and multiple trips to my personal slice of New England later. Including one rather than hair raising moment where the cracks opened up into a canyon and I fell past an ideal camping spot and had to make my way back to the stream I passed, I finally made it to somewhere I could safely test my powers without putting anyone in danger. Now all I need to do is make a shelter before it gets dark here.
On second thoughts, I should have a cup of tea… Damn it, I didn't pack my teabags. Ok, hot water it is.
With a smile I unpack the camp cooker and pull out the little burner, along with the instruction book, out of the kettle. It's only once I've got it all setup that I end up staring at the burner in consternation, as it's completely empty.
With a sigh, I open the instructions and begin to read. Methylated Spirits! Why couldn't they have printed that on the side rather than on the instructions that were in the middle of the stupid stove. Right, fine, I'll just use the kettle to get some water, as I need to drink.
A few minutes later I'm laying back on my sleeping bag sipping water from the kettle. That's when it hits me. This is the best damn water I've ever tasted. Even the air tastes good. Closing my eyes, I allow myself to sink into meditation as I visualise New England, and try to compare it to here. A moment later I find myself in my own little slice of New England, except it's not winter, and the sea is calm.
"What on earth?"
As I look around, instead of the barren trees and snow covered grass, I'm instead standing in the middle of a spring meadow with flowers of every description blooming from the grass. The trees have that bright green colour of new growth and the sound of insects fills the air. I stand there stunned at the change. What's going on? Is it something to do with the different cracks?
As I'm thinking, I find myself wandering into wood that no longer seems quite so forbidding as it did before. Peaceful. That's the only word I have to describe what the place is like. Peaceful. It's like summer camp before everything…
As my thoughts turn dark, so does the sky with clouds rolling in from out of nowhere and the smell of a storm filling the air. Suddenly this place doesn't seem so peaceful and inviting anymore.
When I return to my body, I'm still lying on my sleeping bag, but my campsite looks like a tornado hit it. The grass is torn up, and my rucksack has strewn it's contents all around me.
Swallowing hard, I say, "It's ok Taylor, this is why you're here. At least you weren't at home when this happened."
Out of habit, I glance at my wrist where my digital watch used to sit. Not that I've worn one since my powers killed the 3rd cheap watch I bought. With a sigh, I look up at the sky and try to estimate how long I was gone for.
Absently, I reach out for the camping guide and flick to the page on how to read the time by the sun. Right, hands and fingers. Raising both hands, I put them one of the other to make my estimate. Glancing back at the book I nod, three and a half hands would be around three and a half hours till sunset…
I glance back at my hands, that are both raised together in the sky, and then back at the book, which falls to the floor with a thud. Right, telekinesis. Stupid powers. Well, first of all, I need to make sure I'm safe to be around, then I can start working on everything else my powers can do.
I 've been here two days now, and I don't think I'm any closer to being safe around people than I was before. It seems like the only smart thing I brought with me is the camping book. If it wasn't for my powers, I'd have had to risk going home already. As it is, I'm starting to get a handle on the telekinesis as it's just so useful.
I pause in my writing as I glance over at the cheerful little fire I've got going, with a pot of water levitating over it. As I spot the steam coming off of it, I take a handful of noodles and drop them into the water while my pen starts moving once more.
I discovered a new aspect of my power while getting firewood earlier, apparently I can use it to cut things as well as light fires. On the subject of my camp, I haven 't seen any signs of predators or civilisation since I've been here. Not that means much, as there's still large tracts of the USA where you can walk for days without ever encountering a road or any other sign of humans. But the lack of planes is a little disturbing.
Day 4
Apparently the wildlife has become more comfortable around me as I woke up to something that looks a bit like a rabbit rooting through my rucksack. I managed to chase it off, but it took the pack of spaghetti with it. I guess I 'm going to need to learn how to make snares. At least I'm now getting practice with my cutting power, as it seems to go through the tins easily enough. I'm currently warming up some ravioli, which will make a nice change.
Day 5
It rained last night, and all the labels came off my cans. At least the books are fine as the rucksack is waterproof. I hate corned beef. Well, the tinned stuff anyway. Apparently the mystery can I opened was one such can. I think I 've also made a new friend, a brown and grey sort of cat. It's mostly like a normal cat, but it's got spines on the end of it's tail. It came out of somewhere and started eating the corned beef while I was heating up some hot dogs and peas. It even let me stroke it while it was eating.
Anyway, I 've learnt a couple of things today. The first is that my ignition power even works on wet wood. The second is that wet wood produced so much smoke. And the last is that I'm going to have to head home soon, as I at least need a tent and some more food. I just hope the house isn't under surveillance. I think the meditation and being out here is starting to help, but it's lonely.
Day 7
The animals here can teleport! I was checking my snares today and I found out why I haven 't caught anything, despite sometimes looking like they've been set off. I heard something rustling near where my snare was, and found one of the rabbit things caught in it. I tried to use my cutting power on it, but before I could, pop, it disappeared. I do mean pop, like the sound you make with your finger in your cheek. I don't think it's the same way I teleported at school, but I think I felt it move. I'm sort of glad it got away as (despite the camping guide saying I should) I don't really want to hurt anything.
Anyway, I found Spike sleeping in my rucksack when I got back so I figured I 'd wait till he wakes up before heading home. Anyway, I'm going to practice what the book calls conscious awareness, as that's the meditation method that seems to be helping me cope with my emotions the best, as the book says to just be part of the world and allow the world to be part of you. Maybe I should check out the library and see if there's any books on meditation, as this one mentioned a moving meditation. Maybe a martial arts book, as apparently there's a few that can help with meditation.
As I break off a piece of lunch and hold it out to a monkey that has a beak instead of a mouth and nose, I amend it to, "Well for everyone else anyway. What do you think?"
The monkey just ignores I and snatches the bit of food from I fingers before running off.
After I finish eating, I sit down in a meditation pose and starts to look for the cracks in the world. It's taken I three months to get to this point, but even with I missteps and mistakes just having a lunch where I doesn't need to look over my shoulder, or use my new powers of cleaning and repair.
According to PHO, powers should be instinctive to use. Fat lot they know.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I slips through I memories. A few minutes later I fall into my own personal slice of winter New England coastline. The waves and sky over the ocean roiling in response to my agitation.
"Damn it!"
As I scream at the clouds, the rabbits and birds all flee for cover in the nearby forest.
A few minutes later I'm able to leave my bit of New England and return to my body. It doesn't take me much longer to find my power and slowly spread it out as I look for the crack I used to get here.
Once I find it, I shudder as memories of the first time I fell through a crack happened, and I just kept falling until I passed out looking up at rivers of light flowing through the sky. As tears start to stream down my face, I slip through the crack onto a street a few blocks away from Winslow School.
As the faint strain of the end of lunch bell reaches my ears, I slump as I try to work out where here is.
Several minutes later, I manage to find my way out to the main road, and the gates of the school. As I look up at the large clock on the front of the school it ticks over to 10 minutes past the start of art class.
Shivering, I hunch my shoulders and walk into the school, wishing desperately that I was invisible so that nobody could stare as I walk into class late, especially The Trio or their hangers on. Wonder of wonders, as I walk into the classroom, absolutely nobody looks up, and Mrs French just kept talking. Slowly, it dawns on me that I am actually invisible.
I can't help myself as I start to hyperventilate. I need to get away, to get somewhere safe where I can't accidentally out myself. As I step backwards everything goes dark and I bump into something solid.
As I do, I can't help but scream and drop down into a small ball on the floor.
After a few seconds my eyes adjust to the darkness, and it slowly dawns on me that I'm not in my locker. It takes even longer for me to uncurl from the floor and start looking around. As I recognise our basement I start to laugh hysterically.
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After a cold shower to clean off the dust from basement, I decided to make some more notes in my special notebook about the things I discovered today. After the living room light fails to turn on, I move one of the chairs over to the front room window so that I can take advantage of the afternoon sun.
As I'm writing, an ambulance drives down our street to Mr Persons, the old man that had a heart attack last year. As the siren turns off my pen drops from my suddenly nerveless fingers as I put the lack of power and Mr Persons heart attack together and get murderer.
As my heart leaps into my throat, I swallow hard and close my eyes to concentrate on my breathing as I try to bring my emotions back under control.
"Why did I have to get such a difficult power, why couldn't I have had something simple like flight, or even something useless like bug control?"
I jump as I realise I said that aloud, and then I giggle softly as I make my way into the kitchen where we keep the candles and matches.
With some light, I make my way back into the basement and look for the camping gear we last used the summer before Mum died. When I come across Mum and Dad's double sleeping bag I almost chicken out and turn myself in. Then I remember that my power killed all of the power, and maybe killed our neighbour. I can't afford to be locked up by the PRT, as I could cripple them accidently.
With my resolve reaffirmed, I quickly find the camping rucksack and pack a few changes of clothes, the self help books I've been reading, an old camping guide, a pen, my notebook, and as much tinned or dried food as I can along with the small camping stove and matches.
With a heavy heart I leave out of the back door and jump the fence to our backdoor neighbour before heading to the trainyard.
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It was full dark by the time I managed to find my way through the north docks and into the abandoned parts of the trainyard. I am willing to admit that part of that was my reluctance to use the busses given my current emotional state.
As I look around at the spots of flickering yellow light that are visible in the darkness, it occurs to me that this is probably a good time to be here if I want to avoid attention. Not that here is where I want to camp.
"Ok Taylor, you can do this. Just find a sheltered area and then you can look for one of the cracks in the world."
With my peptalk done I square my shoulders and walk away from the last street light and into the darkness. As I'm stumbling over the tracks and discarded sleepers, one of the candles floats out of my backpack and the wick burst into flame. With a smile I say, "Thanks dad" before continuing to make my way deeper into the train. After a dozen steps I turn to look at the candle that's floating innocently near the ground. As soon as I do the candle drops to the floor, and I quickly pick it up before the wick can burn through the wax.
"What the hell?"
Shaking my head, I push my surprise to the back of my mind and continue to trudge on.
In the end it only takes me five or ten minutes to find an old cargo container that's had the top ripped off. I grimace as I look inside, as even by candlelight it's clear from the puddles and mould why nobody has claimed this container. Which, ironically, makes it perfect for my needs, as I have absolutely no intention of staying here.
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An hour, eight or nine cracks between worlds, and multiple trips to my personal slice of New England later. Including one rather than hair raising moment where the cracks opened up into a canyon and I fell past an ideal camping spot and had to make my way back to the stream I passed, I finally made it to somewhere I could safely test my powers without putting anyone in danger. Now all I need to do is make a shelter before it gets dark here.
On second thoughts, I should have a cup of tea… Damn it, I didn't pack my teabags. Ok, hot water it is.
With a smile I unpack the camp cooker and pull out the little burner, along with the instruction book, out of the kettle. It's only once I've got it all setup that I end up staring at the burner in consternation, as it's completely empty.
With a sigh, I open the instructions and begin to read. Methylated Spirits! Why couldn't they have printed that on the side rather than on the instructions that were in the middle of the stupid stove. Right, fine, I'll just use the kettle to get some water, as I need to drink.
A few minutes later I'm laying back on my sleeping bag sipping water from the kettle. That's when it hits me. This is the best damn water I've ever tasted. Even the air tastes good. Closing my eyes, I allow myself to sink into meditation as I visualise New England, and try to compare it to here. A moment later I find myself in my own little slice of New England, except it's not winter, and the sea is calm.
"What on earth?"
As I look around, instead of the barren trees and snow covered grass, I'm instead standing in the middle of a spring meadow with flowers of every description blooming from the grass. The trees have that bright green colour of new growth and the sound of insects fills the air. I stand there stunned at the change. What's going on? Is it something to do with the different cracks?
As I'm thinking, I find myself wandering into wood that no longer seems quite so forbidding as it did before. Peaceful. That's the only word I have to describe what the place is like. Peaceful. It's like summer camp before everything…
As my thoughts turn dark, so does the sky with clouds rolling in from out of nowhere and the smell of a storm filling the air. Suddenly this place doesn't seem so peaceful and inviting anymore.
When I return to my body, I'm still lying on my sleeping bag, but my campsite looks like a tornado hit it. The grass is torn up, and my rucksack has strewn it's contents all around me.
Swallowing hard, I say, "It's ok Taylor, this is why you're here. At least you weren't at home when this happened."
Out of habit, I glance at my wrist where my digital watch used to sit. Not that I've worn one since my powers killed the 3rd cheap watch I bought. With a sigh, I look up at the sky and try to estimate how long I was gone for.
Absently, I reach out for the camping guide and flick to the page on how to read the time by the sun. Right, hands and fingers. Raising both hands, I put them one of the other to make my estimate. Glancing back at the book I nod, three and a half hands would be around three and a half hours till sunset…
I glance back at my hands, that are both raised together in the sky, and then back at the book, which falls to the floor with a thud. Right, telekinesis. Stupid powers. Well, first of all, I need to make sure I'm safe to be around, then I can start working on everything else my powers can do.
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I 've been here two days now, and I don't think I'm any closer to being safe around people than I was before. It seems like the only smart thing I brought with me is the camping book. If it wasn't for my powers, I'd have had to risk going home already. As it is, I'm starting to get a handle on the telekinesis as it's just so useful.
I pause in my writing as I glance over at the cheerful little fire I've got going, with a pot of water levitating over it. As I spot the steam coming off of it, I take a handful of noodles and drop them into the water while my pen starts moving once more.
I discovered a new aspect of my power while getting firewood earlier, apparently I can use it to cut things as well as light fires. On the subject of my camp, I haven 't seen any signs of predators or civilisation since I've been here. Not that means much, as there's still large tracts of the USA where you can walk for days without ever encountering a road or any other sign of humans. But the lack of planes is a little disturbing.
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Day 4
Apparently the wildlife has become more comfortable around me as I woke up to something that looks a bit like a rabbit rooting through my rucksack. I managed to chase it off, but it took the pack of spaghetti with it. I guess I 'm going to need to learn how to make snares. At least I'm now getting practice with my cutting power, as it seems to go through the tins easily enough. I'm currently warming up some ravioli, which will make a nice change.
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Day 5
It rained last night, and all the labels came off my cans. At least the books are fine as the rucksack is waterproof. I hate corned beef. Well, the tinned stuff anyway. Apparently the mystery can I opened was one such can. I think I 've also made a new friend, a brown and grey sort of cat. It's mostly like a normal cat, but it's got spines on the end of it's tail. It came out of somewhere and started eating the corned beef while I was heating up some hot dogs and peas. It even let me stroke it while it was eating.
Anyway, I 've learnt a couple of things today. The first is that my ignition power even works on wet wood. The second is that wet wood produced so much smoke. And the last is that I'm going to have to head home soon, as I at least need a tent and some more food. I just hope the house isn't under surveillance. I think the meditation and being out here is starting to help, but it's lonely.
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Day 7
The animals here can teleport! I was checking my snares today and I found out why I haven 't caught anything, despite sometimes looking like they've been set off. I heard something rustling near where my snare was, and found one of the rabbit things caught in it. I tried to use my cutting power on it, but before I could, pop, it disappeared. I do mean pop, like the sound you make with your finger in your cheek. I don't think it's the same way I teleported at school, but I think I felt it move. I'm sort of glad it got away as (despite the camping guide saying I should) I don't really want to hurt anything.
Anyway, I found Spike sleeping in my rucksack when I got back so I figured I 'd wait till he wakes up before heading home. Anyway, I'm going to practice what the book calls conscious awareness, as that's the meditation method that seems to be helping me cope with my emotions the best, as the book says to just be part of the world and allow the world to be part of you. Maybe I should check out the library and see if there's any books on meditation, as this one mentioned a moving meditation. Maybe a martial arts book, as apparently there's a few that can help with meditation.
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Quick question for those who are interested in this story idea, and already know about the deep dream. What are the chances of Taylor being able to hide her "telekinesis" from her father?
Taylor and the Dream - Chapter 2
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 2
As Spike crawls out of my rucksack I finish writing the last few words in the back of my notebook. With a smile I grab one of the left over hotdogs from last nights meal and break a bit off.
"Here you go." I hold out the hotdog towards Spike and wait patiently for him to come forward and snag it. As soon as he's grabbed it, I gently toss the rest of the hot dog away from the stream and quickly pack the remaining tins and the cooker. While I'm hopeful I'll be able to find the camp again, I don't want to run the risk that I can't.
All too soon I'm all packed and I heft the rucksack onto my back with a smile. Just before I start to climb towards home I remember the state of the shipping container I left from. Maybe sitting down isn't such a good idea for this.
Shaking my head, I get to my feet, "Well Spike, I guess I'm learning to meditate standing up sooner than I thought."
Of course, Spike doesn't answer me. Instead he finishes the bit of hotdog and then disappears with a pop, only to reappear over by the rest of the hotdog. I screw my eyes shut and shake my head, as I'm sure I just felt him travel through the intervening space.
As I'm trying to clear my head, my notebook and pen float out of the pocket on the rucksack and I write.
Spike can teleport. Of course he can, why didn't I think of that.
With the thought now on paper I'm able to turn my attention to metaphorical the gaping canyon that keeps trying to drag me down, and away from home. As my awareness of it comes into focus I sway slightly on my feet. Then I start to climb towards home.
Unlike the time I did it a week ago, this time it feels like I'm trying to stuff myself into a dress I outgrew a year ago. Granted it might have felt like that then, but I was to focused on not falling further down the canyon to notice. It certainly didn't feel like this when I succeeded at school.
As the stream fades out to be replaced by another breath taking vista, it occurs to me that I should really also be checking my slice of New England, as that changed too. Even as I think that, I know that I'm procrastinating, as I don't really want to go home, back to Brockton Bay, back to The Trio and their taunts and bullying.
Rather than dwell on what awaits me at home, I instead try to find New England inside me.
Once I managed to find my way there, I look around in surprise. The changes are there, not as obvious as they were when I made it to my campsite, but instead of being in full bloom, it's clear that many of the flowers and trees are still budding. Is that why it's so hard to change? Because I'm trying to undo all of the growth? Or is it because I'm using the wrong visualisation?
Shaking my head, I go through the now familiar process of returning to my body.
As I continue to climb up the canyon, my slice of New England continues to become more wintery, until finally it's back to the way I found it a couple of weeks ago. Rather abruptly, the canyon ends before I'm back in the trainyard.
Don't get me wrong I can still feel it gaping behind me, waiting for me to forget about it and swallow me up. But I've managed to avoid falling so far. Taking a couple of deep breaths, I brace myself for the memories I know are coming. Then I try to find that state where I can feel the cracks in the world.
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When I arrive back in Brockton Bay, the first thing I do is cough and retch at the smell of smog, urine, and trash. It figures that I can't even return to the same spot.
While I'm trying to recover, a man grabs my rucksack and drags me out of the Alleyway into a dark street with several other men. When he shouts something in Japanese I start to shiver and resolutely look at the floor while trying to see a way to run away.
A moment later, a door to a house opens and men start to pour out, their features briefly illuminated by the interior light. As the men all line up on either side of the street my heart drops. Why oh why didn't I spend more time trying to work out how to use my teleport power?
I watch helplessly as their boss steps into the doorway. He's a big guy, but not so big that he would send people running when he walked down the street. He's a little over six feet which still puts him head and shoulders above most of the gang members. Covering his face is an ornate metal mask, and despite the chill in the air, he's not wearing a shirt. I have just enough time to register the sprawling tattoos that cover his body from the neck down, each one depicting a dragon from eastern mythology. Then he's in the street and walking towards me. I don't think there's anyone in Brockton Bay that wouldn't recognise Lung, the leader of the Azn Bad Boys, or ABB as they're more commonly known.
"Who's this?" When Lung speaks I'm surprised at just how deep and commanding his voice is.
The man holding me says, "I found her spying on us in the alleyway over there."
I vehemently shake my head, "I wasn't, I was just trying to get home, I promise."
Lung shakes his head and starts walking past, "Kill her, we don't have time for this tonight."
When I hear the click of a gun being drawn I panic and I use my telekinesis to push everyone away from me as hard as I can. Everything seems to pause as Lung goes cartwheeling down the road. The man that was holding me has just enough time to let out a scream before his head slams against a brick wall with a sickening crunch. A second later the unopened cans float out of my rucksack and array themselves behind me.
From down the street Lung says, "That was a mistake girl. You should have let him shoot you. Now. I'm going to kill you myself."
Eyes wide with panic, I turn to face Lung as he begins to run towards me, and I freeze. He's only a couple of paces from me when I start thinking again, and I throw one of my cans at him as hard and fast as I can. The can makes a loud bang as it hits Lung in the stomach, and then most of it just keeps going trailing a spray of blood and ravioli. Lung just stops and looks at me stupidly as his legs give way. A few seconds later there's a tink, ti-ti-tink, t-t-tink as the can hits the road.
As if that was a signal, suddenly everyone starts moving and drawing their weapons, a mixture of guns, knives, sticks, and more traditional martial arts weapons. I'm not afraid to admit that, at that moment, I peed myself. See, on some level I was aware of the fact that Lung wasn't dead, and large metal plates were already sliding out of his skin to cover him in impenetrable armour.
As the first ganger raises a shotgun, I throw one of my cans at him. Not quite as hard as the one I threw at Lung, but still hard enough for it to burst with a loud crack as it hits his chest.
"I-I'm just going to go home now, nobody else needs to die. See, I-I wasn't lying, I really do just want to go home."
As I'm saying that, I start edging around lung to head west away from their territory. As I edge closer to the far edge of the gangers, they start to part to allow me through. I'm almost ready to run for it when Lung sits up and says, "Mother Fucker!"
That's when I break into a run. It's strange, you read about villains like Lung having super strength, but you don't really appreciate what that really means until you see someone leap clear over your head to land on the road in front of you.
As I skid to a halt, I throw the last of my cans at Lung as hard as I can. This time, instead of punching through him, he braces himself and raises his arms to cover his head, and they pancake against his chest. Then he starts to laugh.
"I told you girl, you should have taken the bullet."
Desperately, I try to push him with my power, but all it does is cause him to stumble backwards. That's when he throws a stream of fire at me and I throw myself to one side, the smell of burning hair and nylon following behind me.
As I land heavily on the blacktop, Lung already has another stream of fire coming towards me from the other side. I quickly roll away from that stream, only to end up on my back and looking at Lung as he laughs while he walks towards me. Each time I try to turn over to scramble to my feet he throws another streamer of fire at me.
As his hand raises to point directly at me, everything seems to slow down. It's a well known phenomena amongst those who have had near death experiences, and people think it's the brain's way of trying to find any way out of the situation. I don't know if that's true, but it suddenly struck me that it's quite chilly out. That's when I remembered that it's winter in my own slice of New England, and fire needs three things to exist, Fuel, Oxygen, and Heat.
I can almost see the fire leaving Lungs hand as I try to bring my hand up to protect me, but my body is too slow, so I let go, as I'd rather fall down the canyon than burn to death here. As I do, frost seems to explode from me as all the water in the air instantly freezes. But it's not enough and the fire punches through the hanging crystals so I screw my eyes shut and wish for it to get colder, so cold that the oxygen will freeze.
A few seconds later I open my eyes to stare into Lungs eyes as he lets out a breath that instantly freezes and turns into snow. As he struggles to take a breath, Lung hunches down and then explodes. I don't mean explodes like you see bodybuilders do when they spread their arms wide, though he did that too. I mean literally explodes in a massive ball of fire that stops a couple of feet in front of my own feet. As the light from his burning body lights up the street it allows me to see the terrified faces of people looking out of their bedroom windows as hoarfrost creeps up their walls and along the road.
Lung deliberately walks towards me, one step after another, like he knows his won. I might have beaten his fire, but I can't beat him. I'm looking him straight in the eyes when the canyon opens beneath me and I start to fall and I let it happen for a few seconds until I can no longer see him.
Then it's a race to stop my fall before I find out what's at the bottom of this canyon.
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As I come to a halt I lie back on the grass and look up at the white streams in the sky while my heart tries to pull itself out of my throat and ice boils off of my stomach. A second later I start to laugh, more than a little hysteria colouring the sound. I'm alive, I survived Lung. I take it all back, my power is great!
I don't know how long I lay there, staring at the streams, but eventually I calmed down enough to start thinking again. That's when I realise that Lung saw my face.
"Oh shit, that means I can't go back to school. Even once I've got control of my powers and they stop trying to out me…"
I trail off when I realise I'm talking to myself, and not in the way people normally do. As I take a couple of deep breaths, my notebook and pen floats out of the pocket of the rucksack, and flips to a new page.
"Ok Taylor, what do you need to do. First of all, you still need the tent and your savings book. You should also pick up some books for entertainment and maybe a couple of packs of cards or dominoes…"
I trail off again as I start to concentrate on just getting my thoughts down on paper.
As I write the last line, some sixth sense makes me look around, like I'm being watched or something. Deciding that I've stayed here long enough, I begin the long climb up the canyon. I hope nobody else fell in when it opened up for me.
As Spike crawls out of my rucksack I finish writing the last few words in the back of my notebook. With a smile I grab one of the left over hotdogs from last nights meal and break a bit off.
"Here you go." I hold out the hotdog towards Spike and wait patiently for him to come forward and snag it. As soon as he's grabbed it, I gently toss the rest of the hot dog away from the stream and quickly pack the remaining tins and the cooker. While I'm hopeful I'll be able to find the camp again, I don't want to run the risk that I can't.
All too soon I'm all packed and I heft the rucksack onto my back with a smile. Just before I start to climb towards home I remember the state of the shipping container I left from. Maybe sitting down isn't such a good idea for this.
Shaking my head, I get to my feet, "Well Spike, I guess I'm learning to meditate standing up sooner than I thought."
Of course, Spike doesn't answer me. Instead he finishes the bit of hotdog and then disappears with a pop, only to reappear over by the rest of the hotdog. I screw my eyes shut and shake my head, as I'm sure I just felt him travel through the intervening space.
As I'm trying to clear my head, my notebook and pen float out of the pocket on the rucksack and I write.
Spike can teleport. Of course he can, why didn't I think of that.
With the thought now on paper I'm able to turn my attention to metaphorical the gaping canyon that keeps trying to drag me down, and away from home. As my awareness of it comes into focus I sway slightly on my feet. Then I start to climb towards home.
Unlike the time I did it a week ago, this time it feels like I'm trying to stuff myself into a dress I outgrew a year ago. Granted it might have felt like that then, but I was to focused on not falling further down the canyon to notice. It certainly didn't feel like this when I succeeded at school.
As the stream fades out to be replaced by another breath taking vista, it occurs to me that I should really also be checking my slice of New England, as that changed too. Even as I think that, I know that I'm procrastinating, as I don't really want to go home, back to Brockton Bay, back to The Trio and their taunts and bullying.
Rather than dwell on what awaits me at home, I instead try to find New England inside me.
Once I managed to find my way there, I look around in surprise. The changes are there, not as obvious as they were when I made it to my campsite, but instead of being in full bloom, it's clear that many of the flowers and trees are still budding. Is that why it's so hard to change? Because I'm trying to undo all of the growth? Or is it because I'm using the wrong visualisation?
Shaking my head, I go through the now familiar process of returning to my body.
As I continue to climb up the canyon, my slice of New England continues to become more wintery, until finally it's back to the way I found it a couple of weeks ago. Rather abruptly, the canyon ends before I'm back in the trainyard.
Don't get me wrong I can still feel it gaping behind me, waiting for me to forget about it and swallow me up. But I've managed to avoid falling so far. Taking a couple of deep breaths, I brace myself for the memories I know are coming. Then I try to find that state where I can feel the cracks in the world.
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When I arrive back in Brockton Bay, the first thing I do is cough and retch at the smell of smog, urine, and trash. It figures that I can't even return to the same spot.
While I'm trying to recover, a man grabs my rucksack and drags me out of the Alleyway into a dark street with several other men. When he shouts something in Japanese I start to shiver and resolutely look at the floor while trying to see a way to run away.
A moment later, a door to a house opens and men start to pour out, their features briefly illuminated by the interior light. As the men all line up on either side of the street my heart drops. Why oh why didn't I spend more time trying to work out how to use my teleport power?
I watch helplessly as their boss steps into the doorway. He's a big guy, but not so big that he would send people running when he walked down the street. He's a little over six feet which still puts him head and shoulders above most of the gang members. Covering his face is an ornate metal mask, and despite the chill in the air, he's not wearing a shirt. I have just enough time to register the sprawling tattoos that cover his body from the neck down, each one depicting a dragon from eastern mythology. Then he's in the street and walking towards me. I don't think there's anyone in Brockton Bay that wouldn't recognise Lung, the leader of the Azn Bad Boys, or ABB as they're more commonly known.
"Who's this?" When Lung speaks I'm surprised at just how deep and commanding his voice is.
The man holding me says, "I found her spying on us in the alleyway over there."
I vehemently shake my head, "I wasn't, I was just trying to get home, I promise."
Lung shakes his head and starts walking past, "Kill her, we don't have time for this tonight."
When I hear the click of a gun being drawn I panic and I use my telekinesis to push everyone away from me as hard as I can. Everything seems to pause as Lung goes cartwheeling down the road. The man that was holding me has just enough time to let out a scream before his head slams against a brick wall with a sickening crunch. A second later the unopened cans float out of my rucksack and array themselves behind me.
From down the street Lung says, "That was a mistake girl. You should have let him shoot you. Now. I'm going to kill you myself."
Eyes wide with panic, I turn to face Lung as he begins to run towards me, and I freeze. He's only a couple of paces from me when I start thinking again, and I throw one of my cans at him as hard and fast as I can. The can makes a loud bang as it hits Lung in the stomach, and then most of it just keeps going trailing a spray of blood and ravioli. Lung just stops and looks at me stupidly as his legs give way. A few seconds later there's a tink, ti-ti-tink, t-t-tink as the can hits the road.
As if that was a signal, suddenly everyone starts moving and drawing their weapons, a mixture of guns, knives, sticks, and more traditional martial arts weapons. I'm not afraid to admit that, at that moment, I peed myself. See, on some level I was aware of the fact that Lung wasn't dead, and large metal plates were already sliding out of his skin to cover him in impenetrable armour.
As the first ganger raises a shotgun, I throw one of my cans at him. Not quite as hard as the one I threw at Lung, but still hard enough for it to burst with a loud crack as it hits his chest.
"I-I'm just going to go home now, nobody else needs to die. See, I-I wasn't lying, I really do just want to go home."
As I'm saying that, I start edging around lung to head west away from their territory. As I edge closer to the far edge of the gangers, they start to part to allow me through. I'm almost ready to run for it when Lung sits up and says, "Mother Fucker!"
That's when I break into a run. It's strange, you read about villains like Lung having super strength, but you don't really appreciate what that really means until you see someone leap clear over your head to land on the road in front of you.
As I skid to a halt, I throw the last of my cans at Lung as hard as I can. This time, instead of punching through him, he braces himself and raises his arms to cover his head, and they pancake against his chest. Then he starts to laugh.
"I told you girl, you should have taken the bullet."
Desperately, I try to push him with my power, but all it does is cause him to stumble backwards. That's when he throws a stream of fire at me and I throw myself to one side, the smell of burning hair and nylon following behind me.
As I land heavily on the blacktop, Lung already has another stream of fire coming towards me from the other side. I quickly roll away from that stream, only to end up on my back and looking at Lung as he laughs while he walks towards me. Each time I try to turn over to scramble to my feet he throws another streamer of fire at me.
As his hand raises to point directly at me, everything seems to slow down. It's a well known phenomena amongst those who have had near death experiences, and people think it's the brain's way of trying to find any way out of the situation. I don't know if that's true, but it suddenly struck me that it's quite chilly out. That's when I remembered that it's winter in my own slice of New England, and fire needs three things to exist, Fuel, Oxygen, and Heat.
I can almost see the fire leaving Lungs hand as I try to bring my hand up to protect me, but my body is too slow, so I let go, as I'd rather fall down the canyon than burn to death here. As I do, frost seems to explode from me as all the water in the air instantly freezes. But it's not enough and the fire punches through the hanging crystals so I screw my eyes shut and wish for it to get colder, so cold that the oxygen will freeze.
A few seconds later I open my eyes to stare into Lungs eyes as he lets out a breath that instantly freezes and turns into snow. As he struggles to take a breath, Lung hunches down and then explodes. I don't mean explodes like you see bodybuilders do when they spread their arms wide, though he did that too. I mean literally explodes in a massive ball of fire that stops a couple of feet in front of my own feet. As the light from his burning body lights up the street it allows me to see the terrified faces of people looking out of their bedroom windows as hoarfrost creeps up their walls and along the road.
Lung deliberately walks towards me, one step after another, like he knows his won. I might have beaten his fire, but I can't beat him. I'm looking him straight in the eyes when the canyon opens beneath me and I start to fall and I let it happen for a few seconds until I can no longer see him.
Then it's a race to stop my fall before I find out what's at the bottom of this canyon.
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As I come to a halt I lie back on the grass and look up at the white streams in the sky while my heart tries to pull itself out of my throat and ice boils off of my stomach. A second later I start to laugh, more than a little hysteria colouring the sound. I'm alive, I survived Lung. I take it all back, my power is great!
I don't know how long I lay there, staring at the streams, but eventually I calmed down enough to start thinking again. That's when I realise that Lung saw my face.
"Oh shit, that means I can't go back to school. Even once I've got control of my powers and they stop trying to out me…"
I trail off when I realise I'm talking to myself, and not in the way people normally do. As I take a couple of deep breaths, my notebook and pen floats out of the pocket of the rucksack, and flips to a new page.
"Ok Taylor, what do you need to do. First of all, you still need the tent and your savings book. You should also pick up some books for entertainment and maybe a couple of packs of cards or dominoes…"
I trail off again as I start to concentrate on just getting my thoughts down on paper.
- Tent
- Savings book
Leave a note for Dad so that he know's he might be in danger- Check shelves for any other survival books.
- Pack books for entertainment
- Find something that's a bit less lethal than throwing tins of food at people. Maybe a quarter staff.
- Use the computers in the library to find out how to make a quarter staff.
- Learn to teleport properly.
- Cooking utensils
- Something for hunting game with, just in case I can't get back to Brockton Bay.
- Costume - Lung already knows my face, so I need to hid in my normal identity.
- Playing cards and a chess set for when I'm bored.
- Practice my invisibility.
- A book on building shelters.
As I write the last line, some sixth sense makes me look around, like I'm being watched or something. Deciding that I've stayed here long enough, I begin the long climb up the canyon. I hope nobody else fell in when it opened up for me.
While I'd be interested in reading this story, the beginning needs work. You keep using 'I' wrong at the beginning. I had at first thought it was some weird kind of glitch as she was inside a dream from the title, but after I read more and saw what it actually was it just seems like errors instead. All of these spots I've colored red should have the 'I' be some variation of 'me' or 'my', and the green 'doesn't' should be 'don't'
These errors stop as the story goes on, so I don't know why they were missed at the beginning.
Anyway, as for the story itself I'd be pretty interested in seeing how she develops. Without the magic background, and with the vastly different array of powers on her world, it'd be neat to see how that changes how her abilities manifest.
While I can see a lot of the utility and teleport powers being something she could learn through trial and error and wanting things that ease her life out in the wilderness, the more esoteric things like using runes to create enchanted things is not likely to be something that she thinks of or develops on her own.
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- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
yeah, I sort of switched from 3rd to first person half way through scene 1. They've been fixed in my source document, and will be fixed for the actual story as and when it's created.
*nods* At the moment she's more like an overpowered house elf, but at some point she'll start using mnemonics to keep track of all the things she's done.
Taylor and the Dream - Chapter 3
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 3
When I get back to Brockton Bay I have to rapidly let myself drop down the canyon again, as I almost climb out exactly where I left from. Only, this time there are gangsters walking around with torches. Why is it only now that it sends me right back where I started, instead of all the other times.
The constant tug of the canyon beneath me has me slapping my forehead, of course! It's because cracks never run straight, while the canyon is a straight drop. With a sigh I turn west and start walking.
5 minutes later, I attempt to climb up again, and end up smiling broadly a I come out on a completely different street. Well, the first time I almost come out in someone's house, but it doesn't take much for me to walk a little further and pop out in the street. It takes me substantially longer to find a road I recognize.
I'm around half way home when the canyon closes up, and a tension I didn't even know I was carrying eases. After that it only takes me around half an hour to finish walking home. Of course, I could have walked it faster if I wasn't following the roads, but I'm not confident about my ability to navigate the cracks. I'm sort of aware of my note book coming out and writing in it as that thought crosses my mind.
- get more accurate with the cracks
As I get into our block, I pause for a moment as I notice that none of the street lights are on. Neither are the normal porch lights. Dad keeps saying how bad the city services are, but surely they'd have fixed at least a few of them in the last week. Shaking my head I continue through the darkened streets to my house. Well, my old house.
Given that it's been a week, I fish my front door key out of my pocket rather than heading around to the back door. As I open the door, I keep my other hand against the door frame to stop the slight creak it makes if you don't. Carefully, I close the door, making sure to hold the latch and the frame so that it doesn't make it's god awful crack that can be heard upstairs.
Rather than cutting through the living room, I carefully make my way down the hall and ease open the kitchen door. There I take of the rucksack and place it against the back door and flick the light switch. I frown when it doesn't turn on, maybe I caused a bigger problem than I thought. As I'm looking around, a candle floats out of a nearby drawer and ignites. I quickly grab the candle and dribble a couple of blobs of wax onto the counter, before sticking the candle down. The last thing I want is to accidentally wake Dad and out myself. It's best if he doesn't know, that way he can't accidentally let the ABB know, and they won't hurt him to find me.
By the light of the candle I grab a glass from the cupboard and fill it from the tap. Lifting it up to my lips I take a gulp before grimacing at the taste. Gah! What do they put in this water? I should get a cantee…
That thought is cut short as the candle light flickers as though something passed in front of it. A moment later I grab my notebook and pen out of the air and firmly put them counter. Then I deliberately add a tin mug and a thermos to my list of things to acquire before I leave; by hand! Then I firmly put the notebook and pen in my hoodie pocket and down the glass of water.
With some extra hydration, my bladder makes itself known and I try to hold it as I light the grill. I guess we're lucky in that respect, as we're one of the houses that still has a gas cooker, even if it is older than I am. Apparently gas cooking and heating was very important back when the Docks worked, because of the constant brownouts.
Anyway, I don't make it to the fridge to get some bread, instead I divert to the small restroom under the stairs. I can't believe how much I missed not needing to use my cleaning power when I finished. I carefully put the seat down before I flushed the toilet, as I know how much sound carries in this house, and I don't want to wake Dad. Then I open the door straight into a blinding light right in my face.
"Taylor?"
My Dad's voice forestalls my first instinctive response and I straighten up, "Dad? You should be asleep."
My dad, Danny Hebert, points his torch at the ceiling, illuminating the hall in a that weird dim light you get from reflected plaster.
Dad looks a little sheepish as he says, "I fell asleep on the couch waiting for you when you weren't in. Mr. Person caught me as I got home, said they'd been a power cut this afternoon and his insurance company sent out an ambulance when his panic button base station failed to phone in. I didn't want you to come home in the dark. Are you ok?"
I look down and towards the kitchen as my mind races, 'Mr. Person isn't dead?' 'This afternoon?'.
I obviously waited too long to answer, as dad asks, "Did they…?"
The half asked question hangs in the air like a loaded gun, 'Did they dump me in a rough part of town again?' Just like in January when I was found passed out in what used to be the South Docks and is now just the Downtown slums.
I shake my head minutely, "No, I, ah, needed some fresh air."
Absently, I take hold of Patchy and squeeze him tight as I try to understand everything that dad just told me, along with the memories of waking up in South Memorial Hospital wearing a hospital gown because my clothes had been taken for evidence. That was after two days of IV antibiotics to treat sepsis. Not that it turned up anything, as my locker had been cleaned out by the time they got round to checking the school.
"Taylor, what was that?" Dad's voice sounds a little faint as he interrupts my spiraling thoughts.
I look around, "What was what?"
Dad turns his torch onto Patchy, "That, it just came floating round the corner and you grabbed it."
As I look down at the bear my brain stalls, "Uh, I can explain!"
Dad chuckles darkly, "Well, this'll be good."
I can't remember the last time I heard dad laugh like that at anything, and so I say the first thing that comes to mind, "Dad, are you ok?"
Dad points his torch at the back door, and the rucksack leaning against it, "Were you ever going to tell me?"
"I, uh, wanted to, but after I killed Mr. Person, I…"
At that moment, all I wanted dad to do is hug me and tell me everything would be ok. Instead he turns the torch back to me, "Taylor, you are my daughter, and you always will be. I know I'm not good at talking about feelings, that was always your mum's thing."
I wince as my mind turns to the self help book I 'borrowed', a book that floats out of the rucksack to beside me. When he sees it, Dad looks sad, "Oh, Taylor. How long?"
I look down and mumble, "Since I broke the plates accidentally in January."
"I'm sure I would have remembered that."
I hung down lower into Patchy's head, "I fixed them. It's one of my powers."
Dad yawns, "I need to be more awake for this."
I quickly say, "We could talk about this tomorrow."
Dad shakes his head, "Would you be here tomorrow?" When I don't answer he shakes his head, "You got far too much of the bad parts of both of us Taylor. Plenty of the good parts too. Taylor, I'm not going to ask about what's going on at school. When you're ready I'll be here to listen, but don't run away. This is your home, and it always will be."
I don't know what it is about what dad just said, but something rubs me the wrong way and I shout at him, "I almost killed Mr. Person and Lung almost killed me! I'm not running away, I'm keeping you safe."
Dad's face turns ashen as I try to bring my emotions back under control before my powers go out of control. When he next speaks it's almost in a whisper, "Lung. Taylor, why shouldn't I call the PRT right now?"
That, more than anything else, quashes my rising anger, "I'm dangerous dad. My power, I can't control it and…" I wave my hand at the dark light bulb, "when I lose control this happens. I did this accidentally when I teleported away from school. What if I did it on the Rig? How many people would die because of me? I can't be around people dad, not until I've got control. That's why I ran away a week ago." I slide down the wall beside the toilet and squeeze Patchy tightly.
Danny shakes his head, "You haven't been gone a week, I'd have noticed."
I don't answer as I'm too busy soaking Patchy with my tears as my fight with Lung, school, my fears, and everything else catches up with me.
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I wake up slowly and stare at the ceiling of my room for several minutes as I try to remember how I got into my own bed when the last thing I remember was crying into Patchy's head. At some point during that process I realize that I'm not wearing my glasses, but I can still make out every single crack in the ceiling. A snorting snore to the side has me looking over to see dad sleeping against the bed like he did when I was 8 and I had nightmares about disappearing at night.
Come to think of it, maybe those scary tales about children being stolen away by the fae, if they didn't go to bed on time, had a grain of truth to them. Maybe I can find mum's old copy of Grimm's fairy tales, the antique one from before they started sanitizing stuff. I'm almost surprised that my notepad doesn't come floating towards me, until I realize that I'm only wearing my t-shirt and panties. Dad must have undressed me when he brought me to bed.
As that occurs to me it's a trivial matter to reach out towards one of my desk drawers and have a notebook float out, along with a new biro from the box I keep there. After making a couple of notes about re-reading the Grimms fairy tales, and also checking at the library to see if there's any way that I can avoid going back to school while keeping dad happy. As there's no way I'm going back there. Not now, not ever. The Trio are bad enough, but now I've got the ABB to worry about. Notes made, I crawl off the end of the bed and consider kicking dad for being in the way of me getting out of bed. Instead I wave my hand to open my wardrobe door and pick out a pair of comfortable jeans and a clean t-shirt and hoodie. A pair of panties and socks follow from one of my drawers.
While I'm 'enjoying' my cold shower, the water stutters as dad flushes the downstairs toilet. Maybe I should've tried to use my ignition power to heat up the water in the storage tank.
Once I'm dressed I walk out of the bathroom to the smell of frying bacon and fresh coffee. With a nights sleep between me and the events of yesterday, I'm able to walk down the stairs with a slight smile. That smile drops away when I get to the kitchen and dad's radio says, "There is a local advisory for North Brockton Bay. Elmwood road is closed for major repairs after an altercation between two unknown capes last night…."
The click of the volume dial catches my attention as dad reaches over and turns the radio off as he turns to face me with an unreadable expression on his face, "Taylor…"
I shake my head, "I'm not running away dad. I'm just going to the Library."
"French toast?"
I nod, and take the peace offering, "Please."
As he's cooking the french toast I pull one of the double doors to the lounge closed so that I can see the bookshelf behind it. A bookshelf that has been mostly hidden for the last two years since mum died. It's where I found the camping guide after all.
From the kitchen, Dad says, "You know Gerry?" At my silence he continues, "You met him once or twice when you've visited me at work. Big guy, burly, Black Irish?"
I poke my head back around the door to say, "Maybe?"
It's one of the weird quirks about the house, you can hear a mouse sneeze if you're upstairs, but if you try to have a conversation between the lounge and kitchen, nothing, nada, zilch. The other person might as well be saying nothing. But from the kitchen to the lounge, crystal clear.
"Rumor's going around he found work. Guess who with."
I shake my head, "Dunno."
Dad turns back to the stove to flip the toast, "He's going to be one Uber and Leet's henchmen."
I lean back to look around the door, "Really? They going to make him wear a uniform? Bright primary colors, Tron style?"
Dad chuckles, "Probably."
My mood immediately drops, "We were supposed to talk about how the powers thing has influenced our lives last Monday."
"Taylor, do you mean this Monday?"
"Dad, I can't go back."
Dad shakes his head, "Taylor, I can't afford to send you to Arcadia."
I shake my head and shout, "Dad, it's not about the bullies!" Softer I say, "It's not about the bullies. It's about Lung. He saw my face dad. Lung saw my face, he was staring into my eyes when I escaped. I go to school and I'm dead. If I escape again then he'll come after you."
The door to the cellar opens with a bang as my backpack flies out towards me and I catch it with one hand. With the other I catch a slice of French toast as I'm stalking out of the house, the front door opening and slamming closed without my input. By the time I've made it to the bus stop I have time to regret leaving so quickly, because I left my purse in the rucksack. Instead, I turn towards Downtown, and the library and start walking.
Taylor and the Dream - Chapter 4
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 4
When I get to the library all the computers have already been taken by kids browsing PHO or whatever they do on them, so I'm at a loss for what to do. My indecision must have shown, because one of the librarians walks over.
"Can I help you Miss?"
I watch her eyes look over my ratty backpack and my burnt hair, and the way I curl in under her inspection. Hopefully before she can draw any more conclusions, I say, "Um, I was hoping to use the computers to find out if there's anyway to get out of school."
I hate the way her expression goes from disgust to pity almost instantly as she looks over me again. Then the moment is passed and she nods, "I'm sorry, but I can't help you with any information about Home Instruction. You'd need to contact the Maine Department of Education for any schooling related queries. I'm also not allowed to advise you that Maine law can be found under number 344"
As I blink at her while giving a good impression of a goldfish, she says brightly, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Um, I left my library card at home. Is there any way I can borrow books without it?"
The librarian shakes her head, "Oh, no. I'm sorry, books in that section are reference books, and we can't lend them out. You can take as many notes as you want, and if you note down the page numbers, we have a photocopier in the back."
"Um, thank you. I'll certainly keep that in mind."
Before someone decides to kick me out, I quickly head off towards the 300's. Once I arrive I have to stop in dismay at the nearly identical books covering three stacks of shelves. Even 344 covers three individual shelves on it's own. All in all, it takes me most of the day to find the first law that mentions Home Instruction. After that it's only another 45 minutes, and a sacrificed page from a school workbook, to look up the actually relevant laws, including the federal law that makes it possible. While I'm doing this I discover that juggling a couple of pencils in my backpack massively cuts down on things doing themselves for me.
When I carry the stack of three large tomes to the front desk, the librarian that helped me looks up and smiles. Seeing that, I immediately want to run as it's never good when the teachers did that. Clamping down on my emotions, and pulling another pencil out of my pencil case, I walk up to the counter with a smile that looks more like a grimace.
"Um. Earlier you said that you could photocopy some pages for me. I think I've found everything I need here."
One of the other librarian's, a large white man, says, "I've got this Sue. Hey kid, this is going to take a while. Would you mind waiting by the computers, and I'll bring the copies over once I'm done."
I glance over and see that there's a free terminal, "Sure, I can do that."
Once the man's taken the books from me, I scoot over to the computer and take off my backpack. Before I sit down, I slip the straps of my bag under one of the front legs of the chair so that nobody can run off with it.
With my bag now secure, I quickly open up a session and go to Lung's page on the wiki, as I want to know about the people who are going to be trying to kill me. It's a little disappointing as it doesn't even mention that he can jump 20 yards from a standing start, or that he can set himself on fire. But it does give me a link to his known associates, Oni Lee and a new one called Bakuda.
As I read Oni Lee's description I have to stand on the zip of my backpack as the urge to take notes becomes almost unbearable. Oni Lee is a teleporter, except, unlike me, he leaves a doppelganger behind for up to 10 seconds. I watch a video, that's linked in the references, with a sort of sick fascination as he appears holding a grenade and pulls the pin before letting go of the spoon. It takes me a few seconds to realise that it's playing the video on repeat rather than playing through the explosion, but still it's terrifying. Especially so given it might be aimed at me.
Somewhat apprehensively, I click on the link for Bakuda, only to sag in relief at her description. She's a Tinker that makes bombs. Scary, but not in the same way that Oni Lee is. Regardless, I keep reading as knowing she might be out to get me means I need to know as much as possible.
I'm just starting to look for information on Elmwood Road when the Librarian walks over with a sheaf of paper stuck together with a paaperclip. "Here you are, all done for you."
I jump slightly at his voice, then I look up with a smile. "Thank you. I didn't know you could do this."
The man shrugs, "We don't advertise it, and we only do it for reference books."
As he turns away I flick through the pages of laws before putting them into my backpack. With my train of thought thoroughly ruined I turn back to the computer and try to remember what I was doing. When I come up with a blank, I open a new tab and start searching for moving meditations until my rumbling stomach reminds me that I haven't had lunch and it's now, my eyes glance down to the bottom of the screen, three in the afternoon. I quickly unhook my bag and log off the computer, before heading home.
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When I get home I search my pockets for my front door key in consternation as I'd forgotten that I'd stormed out without it.
"Stupid Taylor, you should know better than that."
I shake my head at my own admonishment, before walking around to the back of the house, once more thankful that I'm unusually tall for a girl as I reach over the gate for the latch. As I walk past the old coal shoot I briefly consider whether I could squeeze down there if the backdoor isn't unlocked, before reconsidering it. Even if I could get down there, I don't know if the coal bunker is blocked or not, and I don't want to find out what happens if I fall through a crack underground. A growl from my stomach sees me walking around into our tiny, overgrown, back yard. Though, at least we have one. The houses further into the docks don't even have that where they're squished together into back to back rows of houses. Or stacked on top of each other in shared tenements, where rumours say some families are living 10 or 20 to a building with only one bathroom and kitchen between them. Idly I pull one of the cast iron chairs off the tables with a grunt. As it lands on the flagstone with a bang I wince and use my repair power to fix the chip I just made.
When it doesn't work the first time I frown and try to do the same thing I did with the cold last night, and keep making it stronger until it works. Finally, the chip in the enamel reverses and I straighten up with a smile. A smile that quickly drops from my face as I notice I didn't just repair that chair, but I also repaired the table and the other two chairs, the fences, and the back of our back neighbours house.
Sheepishly I flee into the house and quickly make myself a sandwich. It's only when I'm putting the butter back into the fridge that I realise that the power is back on, though the clock still isn't working. My notebook flies out of my backpack and adds an entry to try and work out why the fridge still works while the clock isn't working.
As I sit down at the table I notice that dad left me a note.
Gone to the office to call the power company.
I smile slightly at the note and grab my pen from midair before gently crossing out dad's note.
Found some stuff on Home Instruction at the library. Going to practice not being dangerous to be around.
Note written I put the photocopies under the note. Then I finish my sandwich before looking around the house for the rucksack and my purse and keys. Purse and keys are easy, dad left them on my desk. The rucksack and books, not so much. I even check the loft for crying out loud.
I'm halfway down the stairs to the basement for a second time when I realise that my original notebook is also in my rucksack, and I sniff as tears prick at my eyes.
"Why dad, why?"
I mean, it's not like I can't understand it, he doesn't want me to run away, but he's taking away my choices. Patchy finds his way to my arms as I reach out to turn the basement light on.
As the overhead fluorescent tube lights up, so do my eyes as, from my vantage on the stairs, I can see a box with a pan handle sticking out the top. Using my telekinesis to lift the box down is trivial, and I feel like I've hit jackpot. In the box are gram's old copper pans, and her plates. I grab the box below it and do a little dance, as it contains her kitchen utensils too. As I'm dancing, I spot the water container that dad used to use when we went camping. That goes on top of the boxes, and then I skip my way upstairs. My keys and purse join the box as I make my way into the back yard. Just as I'm closing the door, my backpack flies out to join me and I put the backpack over my shoulders.
Closing my eyes I try to find a crack to fall through and, don't. I don't mean I don't find the crack, I mean I don't fall through it. Almost like I'm a little to big to just pass through it. I frown as I consider that I've just fallen through it before. So what's changed? I open my eyes to look around, and spot the two boxes I'm holding beside me. Could that be it?
Somewhat awkwardly, I sit down and stack the boxes on my lap while I hug them close to me. Then I try again, and woah, that was easy. Well, at least I don't need to worry about people seeing me now.
My notebook flies out of my backpack as I start to think. Right, it felt like I just wouldn't fall through the crack. Could I squeeze through, like I did when I was fighting against the pull of the canyon?
With the boxes levitating beside me, I find the next crack and try to move through it. I try twisting my mind in knots to fit through the gap, all to no avail, until, finally, I step forward in frustration and appear on the other side of the crack with the boxes. Wait? Why did that work when nothing else did? I mean, it's not like I'm travelling in one of the normal three dimensions, so how did walking forward even work? I mean, it's not like I have to do that for my telekinesis.
I glance at my notebook that's dutifully scribbling down my thoughts. Mind you, it's not like I actually control my telekinesis. It's more like it's an extension of my arm. An independent and eager part of my arm.
After that revelation I immediately try it again and, can't find a crack. Right, deep breaths, I need to calm down and feel for the crack. I can't just go for it gung ho.
"Come on Taylor, these things take time. Remember the book said that you just have to do a little better each day, and that the journey was more important than the goal."
After my little pep talk I close my eyes and close my eyes to clear my thoughts while focusing on my visualisation. A moment later I'm standing inside my little slice of New England. Damn it!
You'd think that after nearly three months of practising this I'd be able to just calm my mind without falling in here.
Well, while I'm here I should do my observations. It's still winter, and the ground is still frozen. I kick my shoe into the soil, maybe not as frozen as it is in Brockton Bay, where it's positively arctic. Now to get out of here.
Once I leave my little slice of New England, I try to find another crack, with a calm mind this time. I find it, only it takes me nearly an hour to reproduce my stepping through the crack, as it seems to need a combination of my calm mind to find the crack in the first place, and the frustration I was feeling when I did it the first time. I'm never going to be able to do this quickly, am I.
Right, five more trips to go. But the next one is cold, so I'll just do it the other way. I stack the boxes on my lap once more, then look for the crack in the world and fall through. I'm almost disappointed when I don't feel like I'm falling again. But the cold is already seeping through my jeans, so I put it out of my mind and focus on feeling out the next crack.
And, there's the canyon. With the canyon gaping open beneath me, holding the boxes in my telekinesis while falling to each world is trivial. When I get back to the same world that held my camp my brain stalls, as I don't recognise any of the landmarks. I mean, I know I'm only 3 miles from the train yard, but really? A rocky plain? Not to mention it's now midday when it should be late afternoon.
Looking around, it doesn't take me long to find an easily climbable mound of rock, and that allows me to spot an even larger mound of rock. After what I'd guess was a good hour of walking and climbing, I finally spot a river and what looks like a tree line in the distance. If I'm honest with myself, that would probably be a better camp than my first camp anyway, as I should be able to use some of these rocks to build a shelter, or at least an oven. My stomach growls and reminds me that I didn't bring anything to eat, and there's probably an hour of walking to get to the river. I also wanted to try reproducing my teleportation too, and I've found that… Ok, I just don't want to have to climb over all those rocks between here and the river.
It takes me longer to get down off the rock than it did to climb it, as I don't want to break my ankle. Once I'm on level(ish) ground again, I start trying to do that thing I did before. I screw my eyes shut and take a step, I jump, I skip. I even try dancing. Nowt, nothing, nada, ziltch. None of it works.
It's getting dark by the time I succeed. Well, I say succeed, but it's more that I'm starving and getting desperate, and I don't want to lose Grams cookware, and I just really want to get to my camp where I've got everything setup already. And I take a step to the side and I'm suddenly there.
Huh. Interesting. I've got to wonder, is QA making an appearance, or is she how Taylor is doing her thing?
Is QA very confused because her potential host keeps going sideways to any direction QA has heard of?
Does QA live on level zero and somehow reach into level 1, or alternatively are the deeper layers empty because earth bet is newly created due to the actions of the entities.
Are entities a form of eldritch abomination, or are they a form of garnish to a big ball of iron just like humans?
What might happen if QA follows Taylor?
Is there going to be some guy with an awesome beard turning up to say, "Yer a witch, Taylor"
Is midnight still a no-go zone, or has Taylor sufficiently experienced to not get in trouble now?
Hmm. Depending on the time dilation factor, Taylor might want to look into farming rather than bringing food.
Is QA very confused because her potential host keeps going sideways to any direction QA has heard of?
Does QA live on level zero and somehow reach into level 1, or alternatively are the deeper layers empty because earth bet is newly created due to the actions of the entities.
Are entities a form of eldritch abomination, or are they a form of garnish to a big ball of iron just like humans?
What might happen if QA follows Taylor?
Is there going to be some guy with an awesome beard turning up to say, "Yer a witch, Taylor"
Is midnight still a no-go zone, or has Taylor sufficiently experienced to not get in trouble now?
Hmm. Depending on the time dilation factor, Taylor might want to look into farming rather than bringing food.
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Taylor didn't trigger, she fell through a crack.
Dunno, I haven't thought about it.
No, there is a QA in Realm:1, and canon Taylor is currently rushing her costume to be ready to meat Lung on Sunday.
Yes. They're just a different sort of Eldrich abomination to the ones that live in the Dream
She'd get magic and ultimately start to develop true sentience, assuming she gets back to part of the dream where she's too big to fall into it.
No, that society never existed on this earth.
The Canyon that Taylor keeps describing is the effect from the worlds opening up locally.
I'm sure that someone will think of that at some point. But Taylor is an intelligent 15 year old girl that is making the best decisions she can. Farming isn't even on her radar as anything other than an abstract concept that happens elsewhere in the country. If she was by a coast, then fishing would probably occur to her.
Taylor and the Dream - Chapter 5
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 5
The next morning I wake up with the sun as my stomach complains that I haven't eaten for over 12 hours. I must have fallen asleep almost as soon as I got here, as I don't remember taking my backpack off.
Rubbing my eyes, I crawl over to the stream and dunk my face in it to wake up. Now awake I drink my fill, before getting up and doing my business behind a tree several dozen yards from my camp. Not for privacy, but so that I don't have to smell it. Now feeling more comfortable, I move the two boxes under a tree and grab my backpack before frowning as the state of my fire circle filters through my head.
There's already grass growing in the fire blackened earth, and the wood I left in the fire has moss growing on it. What the hell! I'm glad I didn't leave any books here.
I look from the fire circle to the cardboard boxes and back again. Then I start to unpack the boxes and think as my stomach growls at me. Right, I'm going to need some way to protect the china. I blame my hunger for how long it takes me to remember my cutting power. When I do, I slap my forehead as it could have really helped me against Lung.
Cutting powers and telekinesis are cheating, as it only takes me a few minutes to cut down several stout branches around as thick as my wrist, and turn them into a makeshift box by driving short sections into the ground and then laying the other branches between the stakes. Ok, so I had to redo it three times because I forgot to add the stakes for the walls the first time, and then I forgot to interleave the walls the second time. But I did it, I made a storage box by a tree, so that Gram's china can't be broken. I even had a branch left over that I could pretend to be Robin Hood with. Hmm, maybe I'll keep this branch, as the camping guide said that staves are useful for walking and other stuff, and a big stick is always useful as a weapon.
With Gram's china and cookware in a safe place I grab my backpack and stick and start climbing the canyon with my stomach complaining the entire way. All I can think of is how good it will be to get home and grab something to eat. Or even to find a 7/11 and raid the sweets isle, but I'd rather not spend the money. Hmm, this stick is a bit big, how big were Robin Hood's sticks?
Wonder of wonders, when I get to Brockton Bay it takes me a couple of roads to realise that I'm north of home, and on the right side of the commuter line to get home in 15 minutes, a journey that I do in 10 I'm walking so fast. Then I stop outside the house as I notice the light filtering through the curtains. Swallowing hard I take out my key and unlock the front door, there's no point in trying to be quiet if dad's waiting for me, so I just allow the door to close with a loud creak and click.
"Taylor, sit down."
I wince as dad's voice comes from the kitchen, and I drop my back pack by the door. As it lands it let out a yowl of protest I jump slightly before my power unbuckles the top and lifts a familiar brown and grey cat out.
"Spike?"
"Taylor!" I hurry through the lounge to the kitchen with Spike crying pitifully as he's carried along behind me. I stop when I realise that dad's wearing his glasses at the kitchen table, with my photocopied laws in front of him. On the stove is a pan with something meat based slowly cooking inside it.
At the same time dad is looking past me at Spike. "Taylor, did you pick up a stray?"
I bring Spike forward so that dad can see him, "Um, I think it's more likely that Spike picked me. I fed him a few times at my camp, and he slept in the rucksack."
"Spike…" dad trails off when Spike whips his tail towards me and launches a brace of spikes from his tail.
"OW!" I yelp as the spikes dig 1/2 an inch into my arm, "Fuck that hurt." At the same time I drop Spike and he disappears somewhere.
I give dad a dirty look as he chuckles, "Spike. Taylor, we should take him to the PRT as it might be a Tinker creation."
I shake my head as I gingerly start to pull the spikes out of my arm, "He's not a tinker creation, I saw a couple of other cats like him by my camp. All the animals a weird there. Not as weird as the monkeys with beaks instead of mouths though. No birds though."
"You'll have to show me your camp some day."
I put another spike on the table, "You want to see it?"
Dad shakes his head, "Taylor, I know you're scared. I can't say I understand, but I know that's how you're feeling. But you're my daughter, of course I want to see it. But I don't want you to feel like you need to run away. This is your home. That being said, if lung really is after you then you need to be able to leave in a hurry. That's why I took the rucksack to Old Mike's, you remember him? Runs the army surplus now." I slump in my chair as my heart feels like lead, "Anyway he said that it was unsalvageable, so I bought you a canvas rucksack and a survival tin."
I gape at dad as he drops that bombshell and lifts up a plain white book with the words, 'US army survival manual' emblazoned on the front. "Mike also said that this would be better than the camping book you were using. Taylor, I went by Elmwood on the way home. What happened?"
"Dad!" I hiss, "How could you, what if Lung was there?"
Dad nods as though I confirmed something, "Taylor, it's my job to go to those sites." He raises his hand as I open my mouth to object, "Taylor, I'm the spokesman for the Dockworkers Union. It's my responsibility to find work for the rest of the union, and I can't do that from the office."
As he explains that, I feel like I'm 8 years old again and he's patiently explaining something that should have been obvious, but I never even considered. Haltingly I say, "I was coming home from my camp and I ended up in an alleyway instead of the trainyard, the smell of it made me retch…"
Apart from getting up to turn the stove down, dad listens to me choke and sob my way through the story, even though I miss out the parts where I killed people.
When I'm finished, dad sits there with a grim expression on his face, "Taylor, I may never say this again, but I'm glad you have powers. If you didn't, you'd be a Lobster Doe, or have just vanished."
I know about the vanishing, as there's rumors that the ABB deal in human trafficking, but, "What's a Lobster Doe?"
Dad takes a large stack of printing off the chair and puts it on the table, "A Lobster Doe is the morgue identification of an unknown individual that is pulled up with a lobster pot by the fishermen. It happens two or three times a year, and every time it does we get asked if we've seen anything. Their face is always smashed in, and the teeth removed, and the finger pads cut off too. Not that the lobsters usually leave those untouched. Cause of death is almost always unidentifiable. This is the paperwork for the Wards. I don't mean the forms, I mean the stated mission goals, contracts, and resources. I want you to read them before you are put into a position where you have to rely on them."
I shake my head, "I don't want to put anyone in danger. That's why I can't go into the Wards."
Dad looks down, "I know honey, I know. And I can't force you into the Wards, you've already proven that you'll just run if I try."
I reel back as if slapped, have I really done that?
He continues on relentlessly, "So I'm going to treat you like an adult on this. And part of that is knowing what your options are before you need them. I'm going to trust that you are the same little girl that your mother and I raised to have a good head on your shoulders. God knows I haven't been a good father since then."
I shake my head, "You've been great dad."
Dad shakes his own head, "Did you know that Alan bought me that self help book, and I never even opened it until today?"
I stay silent as he stands up and walks over to the kitchen door. When he comes back, it's with a green canvas rucksack. "I've put $50 into the survival tin. It's there just in case you every have to run and I'm not around. It should be enough to get you to New York."
"Dad…"
Dad turns away to serve up food, "Taylor, I've lived through the worst this city has ever had. We never had to run, but I knew people who did and it's never pretty. I'd rather you joined the Wards, I think any parent would. But even then it's not risk free. I hope plain beef and biscuits is ok, only someone took all of the noodles and cans."
As he turns around with two plates I nod and swallow hard, "Why?"
Dad doesn't answer me as he digs into his food, and my rumbling stomach reminds me that I haven't eaten for too long either.
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Sunday morning, I'm rudely woken up by Spike dropping a dead rat on my chest. A dead rat that is full of spikes.
"Spike! Eww! How did you get in here!"
As I'm looking around my room for an open door or window, Dad barrels through the door holding a baseball bat, only to start laughing when he spots the rat.
"Dad! It's not funny."
Dad leans against the doorframe, "Oh but it is Taylor. Only you could attract an alien cat that behaves just like any other cat."
I humph, "Teleporting cat, please."
Dad smiles at me again, "At least we won't need a cat flap. I'm heading to Lord's market to restock on basics today. Would you like to come?"
I frown for a moment as we never go to Lords Market for basics, then I put a smile on my face, "Sure, I'd like that."
Dad nods, "I'll be leaving at eight then, need to get there early for the best deals."
I glance at my clock, which still says 1:20, "Um, how long's that?"
Dad smiles indulgently as he deliberately looks at his watch, "In around an hour."
I nod, and then wave my hand at him, "Shoo, shoo, some of us need to get up. And take the rat with you."
Dad shakes his head as he comes in to grab the rat and scritch Spike on the head, "Good boy."
"Dad! Spike's a cat, not a dog."
Dad just smiles as he leaves the room. With dad out of the way I slip out of bed and grab my clothes before heading to the shower. Oh hot water, how I missed you. I admit, I spent a decadently long time in the shower, but in my defence, it has been a week since I could make enough hot water to do more than wash my face and hands.
With my towel around my chest, I actually look into the mirror for the first time in months. I mean, sure I glance into it when I brush my teeth, but I don't look at myself. I'm tall and gangly, and my mouth is so wide it makes me look like a frog. No, I have plenty of reasons to avoid mirrors. But today I wanted to see what the librarian was looking at when she decided to help me.
As I look at my hair in the mirror I stifle a sob by biting down on my knuckle. My hair is ruined, it looks like someone's melted a some nylon thread and stuck it all over my hair. No wonder she was helpful, I'd pity me too. If I have to cut it off, I'll never be able to grow it back into the same style mum had her hair.
Wait, maybe my repairing power will work on hair. I close my eyes and concentrate on fixing my hair. I can feel it working. After a few seconds the feeling stops and I open my eyes and gasp. I think I might have over done it, as my hair is falling in luscious waves that turn into ringlets somewhere past my bum. On the plus side, there's no burnt patches. How on earth am I supposed to manage hair this long?
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Danny pulls into Elmswood Road and pulls over when he spots the cordon. Grabbing his clipboard and hi vis waistcoat, he gets out of the car, before walking over to one of the PRT guards that's sitting in the back of a van drinking coffee.
"Hey Steve, what's the damage?"
Steve looks up, "Oh hey Danny. The protectorate think this one's going to stick around for a few weeks. Some of their technicians were taking measurements with old fashioned thermometers and drills as it's doing something funky with electronics."
Danny nods, he knows that the technicians are PRT scientists that are on permanent duty to aid the Government Sponsored Heroes, aka the Protectorate. "So what happened?"
Steve sighs, "Danny, you know the rules. Though you're in luck, and I can't give too many details, but the PRT is worried about this. According to witnesses, the ABB found a white runaway in an alleyway and Lung ordered her to be killed. She then managed to fend off a large chunk of the gang and hold off Lung with her ice powers long enough to escape. We don't think she's dangerous, but we do think she's in danger. Can you spread the word that we're looking for her. Hopefully we can find her before Lung does."
Danny shakes his head, "Shit, and you're sure she got away?"
Steve nods, "The ABB was still searching the streets when Armsmaster and Dauntless arrived. You're looking for a High School aged white girl with long hair and a fire damaged rucksack. I mean a proper rucksack, not a school backpack."
Danny makes a couple of notes on his clipboard before looking up, "Christ, that could describe Taylor. Don't you have anything better?"
Steve shakes his head, "I know, but we don't. We're not sure if it was a power interaction, or just part of her power, but all the nearby phones bricked themselves. Anyway, once the heroes arrived the fire brigade came and put out the road. That's why we've got the mini glacier here, and why we're stuck on guard duty for the next few weeks until it melts."
Danny looks around the corner of the van to see a pile of ice around 6 feet tall. Danny can't help wincing as he imagines Taylor being at the centre of it. "Thanks for the info Steve, you've got my number, could you let me know if you pull out early. I think I'm going to go home and check in on Taylor."
Steve nods, "I get you. It's one thing when they're in costume, but this was just a girl trying to live her life."
Danny nods and waves as he walks away.
The Wizard and the Pony in the Moon - 1
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 1
A/N Inspired by The Wizard and the Lonely Princess by Harry Leferts
"…and some cultures believe that there is a rabbit in the moon. That is the end of our story time, so now it's time for you all to go home for Christmas."
Harry Potter stays sitting at the edge of the circle as the rest of the children all get up and rush for their bags and coats. He might have only been here for a few months, but already Dudley had shown that school would be no different from home.
Eventually, he stands up after most of the other children have left the to take his coat, gloves, and small satchel. Then he follows the other children through the school to the snow covered playground. A light dusting of snow still falling from the sky.
When he spots his Aunt Petunia still standing by the gates, his heart leaps in hope and he breaks into a run. Only for Dudley to run up to stand next to her. Then they turn away and start walking home.
Harry slows to a walk as once again as he quickly loses sight of his aunt in the press of people leaving the school and the sound of car doors closing. Instead he focuses on walking out the school in the right direction, and, as the crowd thins out, following some adults that live near his relatives home.
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When he gets home, the front door is slightly ajar, and he pushes it open and carefully stamps the snow off his shoes before stepping inside and closing the door behind him. Then he undoes the velcro on his shoes and slips them off while hanging his coat on one of the low pegs.
Once his hung up his satchel, Harry checks himself over for any snow or dirt before opening the inner glass paneled door and walking into the living room. As he does, he spots Dudley grab the half sandwich off the second plate on the coffee table and cram it into his mouth.
Head down, he walks over to his place at the table, and takes his tumbler of milk, having learned that Dudley will knock it over if he leaves it. As he takes a sip of the cold milk, he shivers, not yet having had time to warm up.
Eyes widening, Harry starts to gulp the milk down as Dudley reaches for his own nearly empty tumbler of milk.
As Harry's drinking as fast as he can, Dudley puts his own tumbler back and shouts, "Mum, can I watch cartoons?"
Aunt Petunia walks in from the dining room and starts cleaning up the plates, "Did you eat all of your snack Dudleykins?"
Dudley nods, "I did mummy, can I watch cartoons please?"
Petunia nods as she takes the nearly empty tumbler from Harry's hands, causing him to spill milk down his face, "Boy! Go and get cleaned up, then to your cupboard with you! Wasting good milk."
Harry almost protests that he was drinking the milk, not wasting it. But instead, he hangs his head and trudges upstairs to clean himself off.
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As Harry stands on the stool by the sink, shivering lightly as he peels potatoes in cold water. He stares out at the snow covered garden that seems to be glowing blue in the light of the half moon that seems to be staring through the window.
'I wish I could meet the man in the moon. Or the woman. Or the rabbit. Maybe they'd love me if I did.'
At dinner, as normal, Dudley pushes his portion of brussels sprouts and turnips onto Harry's plate while aunt Petunia isn't watching. Harry sighs as uncle Vernon winks at Dudley, as he knows he's not going to have even a spoonful of dessert as he can't eat two portions of vegetables.
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In the middle of the night, as the temperature in the house drops into single figures, the people sleeping upstairs snuggle deeper into their blankets. In the cupboard under the stairs, Harry wakes up briefly and pushes his back against the dividing wall between next door, hoping to get some more heat as he pulls his thin blanket tight around his shoulders. As his eyes close once more, he wishes that he could meet the man in the moon and find somewhere that he can be loved.
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Harry blinks and lifts his hand up to shade his eyes against the sudden sunlight. As his eyes adjust to the sudden light he looks around the grey landscape in awe. As he looks up, instead of blue sky he can only see darkness, with the occasional star visible in the opposite direction to the sun.
"Is this the moon?"
Suddenly, he starts to shiver again, and he realises that the sunlight isn't providing any warmth. Pulling his arms around him, he stumbles forward to try and find the man in the moon.
A while later he spots a dark shape against the unrelenting grey background. Maybe that's the man in the moon!
Breaking into a jog, Harry hurries over to the shape that's almost a shadow. Only to slow in confusion as he gets closer, and is able to make out a dark blue, almost purple, mane and tail against the midnight black of the things fur.
With caution taught at the teeth of Aunt Marge's dogs, Harry approaches the creature and cautiously walks around it. Laying between its forelegs is a head the shape of one of those little Shetland ponies, though a little shorter in the nose. Jutting from the forehead is a long horn.
Seeing that it's asleep, Harry walks closer and then gasps. In the horse's mane he can see glittering sparkles that look like stars. And what looked like a normal horse's mane from the other side, instead flows down the other side of her body like a head of hair. His eyes are then drawn to what looks like feathers against the horse's flanks.
A violent shiver reminds Harry of how cold he is, and breaks him out of his staring. This isn't a man, a woman, or a rabbit, but maybe it's warm and not angry.
Slowly, Harry inches closer, his hand stretched out with his palm held downward in the way that he's seen other children approaching friendly dogs. When the horse doesn't move, he slowly reaches up to touch the warm fur and runs his hand down the horse's flank. Harry marvels at the fact that, even lying down, the horse is almost as tall as him, and it hasn't woken up.
As he runs his hands over the feathers, a massive wing spreads out and almost knocks him over. Then the wing closes around Harry, drawing him into the sleeping horse's body. As the warmth from the horse starts to make its way through his body, Harry stops shivering and slowly starts to fall asleep under a the horse's wing.
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Back on earth, Harry's body stops shivering and falls into a deep, restful sleep.
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After a long day of cleaning the house and then sitting quietly hidden beside the sofa watching whatever Uncle Vernon is watching on TV while Dudley plays games in his bedroom. Harry once again goes to bed without any dessert because he didn't finish his food. Though, at least today he was around in order to eat his afternoon snack. Even if he didn't get a Milky Way.
Later that night, Harry once again wakes up shivering, though, this time he wishes he could find the horse on the moon as he drifts off into a fitful sleep.
As he appears on the moon, Harry raises his hand against the sudden glare of light. Once his eyes have adjusted, he looks around, and spots his footprints from yesterday in the moon dust.
Not yet being old enough to have worked out that Santa, the Tooth Fairy, or the Grinch, aren't real. Especially the Grinch, as he's never had Christmas presents. Harry doesn't question the fact that his footprints are in his dream. Instead, he runs off in the same direction as his footprints until he comes across the sleeping horse.
As he's drifting to sleep under the horse's wing, Harry whispers, "I just wish someone loved me."
The horse turns its head, and nuzzles his hair with its nose, and Harry falls asleep with the hot breath of the horse breathing over his hair.
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On the Sunday, Harry 'played' Knights and Dragons with Dudley and his friends in the park earlier. Harry, being the designated princess, was tied to the metal climbing frame with a few scarves while the other children ran around pelting each other, and Harry, with snowballs while they tried to either 'rescue' the princess, or 'eat' her instead.
When Petunia and Vernon finally took them home, Harry's lips were starting to turn blue, and he was shivering violently. He was so cold that he spoilt some of the potatoes for the roast dinner, and didn't get any potatoes or dessert because of it. Even though he cleared his plate.
This time, instead of waiting till he wakes up shivering. Harry wishes really hard to find the horse again, as it's better than his cupboard.
As he's starting to warm up under the horse's wing, Harry says, "I got to play with the others today. I was the princess who the knights and dragons fought over. I thought play was supposed to be fun, but I was tied to the climbing frame. I was so cold I messed up the potatoes, so I didn't get any, or dessert."
As he's talking, the horse nuzzles his hair in its sleep.
This carries on in a similar vein through Christmas.
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A week after Harry first made it to the moon, and the first full moon since he arrived, Luna yawns widely as her ears flick towards the sound of a strange language comes from under her wing.
Lifting her wing up, she turns her head to look at the strange hairless monkey that's wearing glasses and has decided to hide there. The second thing that she notices, is that the monkey is slightly translucent. The third and forth thing she notices are that the monkey has stopped talking, and started to shiver.
With a, hopefully, friendly smile, Luna's horn starts to glow as she casts a spell, "Stranger to stranger do we meet, together we must learn to speak. Friend to friend do I greet, my language do I now teach."
Using her wing, she corrals the monkey as she lowers her horn to touch its forehead. As the spell flows over the monkey she says, "Hello little one, can you understand me now?"
Immediately the monkey stutters, "I'm sorry for hiding under your wing. I was cold."
Luna brings her wing back down so that it covers the monkey's body, while leaving its head clear, "It is of no matter. May I ask what are you?"
The monkey stops shivering and smiles, "My name is Harry Potter."
Luna smiles, "And I am Luna. Now, how did you find yourself on my moon?"
"At school they told us about the man in the moon, and the woman and the rabbit. So when got home and it was really really cold, I wished I could meet the man in the moon so that someone might love me. Then I dreamed that I was here and I wandered around for a while till I found you. I thought you were a horse at first, but horses don't have wings."
"I am not a horse, I am an alicorn."
"What's an alicorn?"
"An Alicorn is a pony that has ascended and gained the magic of all…"
Harry shakes their head, "There's no such thing as magic. Uncle Vernon says so."
"Your uncle would also be wrong. I used a magic spell to teach you my language."
Harry looks at Luna with what might be a hopeful expression, "Does that mean that you're a freak like me?"
Luna shakes her head, "Harry, you are not a freak. Foals are never freaks, do you understand?"
Wide eyed, Harry shakes their head, so Luna sighs and says, "Why don't you finish telling me about how you got here?"
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As Harry's telling his story to Luna, he starts to cringe backwards under the wing as her face becomes more and more thunderous, like Uncle Vernon's face when he does something freakish.
He's just finished stuttering out the story about yesterdays game of knights and dragons, where he was once more the princess, when her Luna's coat turns black.
"Enough! I Nightmare Moon declare that those foal abusers will be punished. Nobody is allowed to harm my subjects except me!"
Harry starts to shiver as Nightmare Moon or Luna stands up and takes their warmth with them. As she takes a couple of steps forward, Harry is able to clearly see the lack of evidence that she is a male alicorn. After all, Aunt Petunia told him that he's a boy because he has those bits.
Nightmare Moon turns around when the monkey doesn't follow her, "Well, come on, you need to show me where you came from."
Teeth chattering, Harry forces himself to his feet and hugs his hands around himself as he staggers forward. The sudden cold hitting him harder than the gradual cooling of the house.
He's not got more than a few paces when Nightmare Moon huffs, "Well, that's just pathetic, don't move. You said you were the princess in your game, that makes you a filly."
Harry screams as a beam of dark purple light flows from Nightmare Moon's horn and hits him in the chest. Over the next few seconds he shrinks down until the beam cuts off. "There you go, that should stop you being cold."
Harry lies on the ground for a minute as he processes the fact that it didn't actually hurt and he's not cold anymore. Then he tries to push himself to his feet, and immediately topples over backwards, as nothing's where it should be.
When Harry tries to stand up again, Nightmare Moon huffs and her horn glows as Harry finds himself levitated off the ground and placed on his hands and… knees? As Harry looks down and back at his black, furred, feet, his eyes roll up into his head as Nightmare Moon says, "Oh bother."
Isiri Pudireach
Predictive text can go duck itself
Equal parts carring and Fey. An ironic contrast to the other HP/MLP cross I read recently where Celestia was Harry's Godmother.
- Location
- new york
Never do magic when angry. Things get a little crazy when you aren't focused on the spell you are casting.
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Nightmare Moon knew exactly what she was doing. Harry wasn't prepared for what she did, which is why he passed out when (s)he noticed.
- Location
- new york
her Social Fu is quite rusty so she clearly didn't think to tell him what she planned.
Alright, now I need more of this since Harry Leferts will never continue his masterpiece !
Thank you for writing !
Thank you for writing !
