average-entropy - Tumblr blog

average-entropy · 2 years

Text

Dear @glimmerglanger,

I can’t properly express the joy that your writing gives me, it’s beautiful and painful and it makes me FEEL things, and it’s wonderful. So, since it’s your birthday I thought that I should do my best to give the same in turn. I have some writing in the by the sea verse that I did after those fics snatched my soul from my chest and merrily danced away with it that I’ve dug out from the WIP pile on my computer and copy pasted under the cut below. It’s all very rough and outlined and unfinished, but if you enjoy gift fic, in honor of your birthday please have this loose pile of strings I had in my pocket.

Best wishes for your day and the year ahead!

(Also p.s. I apologize for any formatting errors. I have lurked on this hellsite for many years, but am but a humble posting novice).

Story One – Fives Lives because (sobs) reasons

//One year after his marriage to Cody, Obi-wan finds Fives, in this fic he’s only “dead” and has been instead captured by sociopathic rich men (led by the one, the only, Sheev palpatine) who want to make him into an exhibit but first must figure out how to not have him look dead all the damn time >:( #millionare problems.

//How did Fives get captured? If he’s Eyeyah’s twin then canonically he’s too young to be in battle, and in canon curiosity is (literally :_( fff) his fatal flaw. So maybe Fives was the little mermaid of his family, just really curious about the surface and ships and humans and basically everything that anyone ever told him to stay away from. And then one day he ended up beaching himself/straying too close to a fishing net or boat and ending up captured.

//Did his family just assume that he went out exploring and the shark riders got him? For maximum hurt, did he get hurt on Rex’s watch? Maybe Fives and Eyeyah begged to shadow Rex on the front, and Rex was like, fine, but you have to stay with the healers, promise me. and they were like, I’m not gonna leave the caaave, and then Fives fucking left the cave.

//So, either immediately or eventually he ends up in the clutches of rich man asshole sheev palpatine and his rich man asshole friends. If he was captured by a local fisherman, and sold, then sheev like for sure had tarkin shoot them to protect the secrecy of his investment or whatever, which would make Obi-wan’s eventual rescue of Fives all the dicey in Fives’ mind, like he sees money changing hands (or trying to) before Sheev and his cronies get merked by Obi-wan and he’s like oh look, the girls are fighting again, guess this guy owns me now

Linebreak***

Cody is visiting, when the letter comes in. It’s on thick, expensive paper, and back dated about a month or so. It’s addressed to him, but has apparently taken a rather circuitous route to get here; it was sent originally to the offices of one of the journals he publishes for, and from there to the post office box he retains for business, in a city down the coast, and then in the monthly forward to his post office box in town, where he goes weekly to collect his mail and pick up various foods and delicacies for his new in-laws.

“What is this?” Cody asks, enunciating each word carefully. Now that Obi-wan is learning more and more Mando, there’s really no need for him to speak English, but he insists. He wants to learn Obi-wan’s language, he says, just as Obi-wan is learning his. Cody pauses, a teasing look crossing his face. “Love letter?”

Obi-wan snorts, curling his hand over Cody’s shoulder where he’s leaning on the little dock built out directly out from Obi-wan’s home. “Hardly. Business letter. Let’s see …”

He reads over it and finds himself tsking in annoyance. More rich men gotten in over their heads, trying to keep some poor aquatic creature in a tiny tank for exhibit and wondering why it doesn’t thrive there as it does in the ocean. He hates these jobs, but he’s worked before, discretely, with the authorities to get some of the men arrested on charges of poaching and the animals released, so it’s worth it to go. To try.

“More fish in cages?” Cody asks, reading Obi-wan’s expression. He’s gotten frightfully good at it, better than anyone Obi-wan ever knew besides Anakin, and though it frightens him a little, it warms him inside; fills him, with a kind of quiet wonder.

“Yes, I fear so.” Obi-wan sighs. “Quite far away, this time … I can tell them no.”

“Why?” Cody asks, frowning. He switches over to Mando’a. “Why would you tell them no?”

“Because you just got here, and I’d be gone for a few weeks, at the least-”

Cody makes a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. “I leave for my work. I do it all the time.”

“Oh, but that’s,” Obi-wan waves his hand back and forth, the letter rustling as he does. “That’s different, your work is important-”

“So is yours,” Cody says, tugging at both of Obi-wan’s hands until Obi-wan relents and meets his eyes. “And even if it weren’t, it’s important to you. I don’t expect you to just … wait around here for me. You’ve made yourself a life; it’s … you have the right to live it.”

“Oh,” Obi-wan says dumbly, and Cody’s eyes go sad and wounded.

“I don’t want you trapped here,” he says, more softly, brushing his thumbs over the back of Obi-wan’s hands. “I’m sorry if I made you feel as though I did.”

“No, no,” Obi-wan says softly, in Mando’a, before switching back to English, where his thoughts are easier to articulate. “It was nothing that you did. I just … I want to make you happy.”

“You already make me happy,” Cody says fervently, pressing closer to Obi-wan and nuzzling against his stomach. Obi-wan blushes, can’t not, and Cody makes a pleased click. “So happy. You’re my heart – it doesn’t matter where you go. We’re always together.”

“Alright,” Obi-wan agrees. “I’ll go.”

Linebreak***

Cody, Wolv and even Kix are adamantly in favor of sending at least a guard or two with him, but it’s much farther north than Obi-wan usually goes and he’s worried that this time of year especially the water will be too cold for merfolk. Or at least, a Mandalorian or a Togrutan. It’s possible that so far away there are different Mermaid societies, perfectly adapted to the cold. And if there are other Mermaid kingdoms there, what if Obi-wan bringing in a foreigner sparks some kind of war? That’s the last thing that they need. It’s not worth it, for something that’s so low risk.

None of his new family agree. It seems that Obi-wan is the only human they trust, and that in particular there are no humans they are willing to trust specifically with Obi-wan. Apparently the spot of charred land where Obi-wan’s cabin used to stand still looms freshly in everyone’s minds. But at the end of the day, unless they want to have him tailed – which Obi-wan honestly wouldn’t put past Wolv, but which he knows Cody would never allow – there’s nothing they can really do. He agrees to an escort across the ocean, but holds firm on going up the coast alone, and so it’s near the site of his old cabin that Obi-wan parts from Cody and the guard and continues north with only Boga and his sidearm to accompany him.

Linebreak***

//When Obi-wan gets to Palpatine’s offices the sheer volume of shady vibes they have going on is enough to make him certain that these guys are poachers. And since Palpatine is Too Rich ™ to remember names (of plebes) he’s like, to Ameda and Tarkin, “oh yes, this is the marine biologist, Dr…?”

//And Obi-wan’s like … vibe check failed, my name is … Ben Sky.

//And they’re like nice to meet you Dr. Sky, thank you so much for coming, let’s go upstairs, this is a private matter. And they lead him up to Palpatine’s private office, Tarkin, Palpatine and Amedda all supremely amused for some reason, in a very discomforting way. Obi-wan’s like, ew, lets just get this over with, so the second the door is closed he’s like, alright so what kind of shark do you have and how big is it.

//And palpatine’s like (evil smile) oh, my dear doctor, it’s no shark at all. It would be easiest if you just … took a look. And so he goes over to the safe to get a key out – and Obi-wan sees the gun inside and is like, great, gut feeling confirmed – and uses it to open the steel door to his closet.

//Inside which is a person sized tank. With a merman in it. A Mandalorian merman. And Obi-wan freezes.

//The others obviously see his shock and they’re laughing about it, like oh ho isn’t it so funny, look at his face, while meanwhile Obi-wan’s categorizing all the damage that’s been done to this person by keeping them in the tank, oh god, but if he knows how to do one thing it’s how to compartmentalize, so he’s like, okay, get a grip, how are we going to play this.

//So he very carefully gathers himself up and pretends that he’s never seen a merman before in his goddamn life, makes them convince them this is actually real and not some sort of freakish embalmed corpse sewn onto a fishtail type thing. And so then Palpatine’s like great, it’s clearly dying and we can’t exhibit it like this, how do we fix it. And Obi-wan’s like, how should I know, it shouldn’t even exist, and Palpatine’s like, humor me (and I’ll pay you like a million dollars)

//And Obi-wan’s like, fine, if I had to guess the tank is too small. The most common reason sharks die in captivity is because they don’t have big enough tanks. I’d recommend just building it an enclosure in the ocean, to be honest, rather than trying to haul that much salt water in in a day. And do it fast, too, it looks like it’s on it’s last legs.

//And Palpatine and Amedda and Tarkin are like mmm yes I see, fascinating, and Ammeda’s like, we have that boathouse, and Palpatine’s like yes, that would be perfect, how soon can you have it ready, Tarkin, and Tarkin’s like – tomorrow night if you can pay well enough.

//And Palpatine’s like, wonderful, and he writes down the address for Obi-wan and is like, we’ll meet you there tomorrow night, so you can make sure what we’ve built is sufficient, and then we’ll give you your fee. Thanks for doing business. Let me shake your hand and threaten with my eyes that if you tell anyone we’ll kill you, oh truly this was a pleasure

//And Obi-wan’s like great. See you then. And then he does some shopping. Beginning with snagging Palpatine’s gun, out of his safe.

Linebreak***

Obi-wan doesn't allow himself to think of what he's doing as he's doing it. He learned, in the army, how not to acknowledge that you were killing someone as you killed them. How to push it down, and lock it away, as long as you could, until eventually later it overtook you…

Obi-Wan shoots Amedda and Tarkin quick as a blink. Good shots, clean shots. The bullet Tarkin tried to fire goes wide, shattering a window, and Palpatine jerks in his grip.

Obi-wan keeps him still until he's sure the other two are down and then moves around to his front. His hands are steady as he keeps the barrel of his gun leveled at Palpatine's heart.

"Dr. Sky," the man says, hands up. Even with his two compatriots lying dead on the floor, bleeding out over the scattered bills - his tone is still smooth and composed, still so sickly sweet. Monster, Obi-wan can’t help but think. "Ben. You don't have to do this. Whoever it is, that you're working for, I'm sure you and I can come to a better arrangement. Money is not the only thing I can offer you-"

Obi-wan plucks Tarkin's dropped gun up off the floor and shoots. Once, twice, three times, the first one through Palpatine's heart and the other two wild, to make it look as though Tarkin was firing as he went down. Palpatine falls, with a gurgling gasp, the same kind as Obi-wan's heard so many times before...

No. No. He doesn't have time for one of his fits. if the police come, while the merman is still here, then the consequences will be catastrophic. He sets Tarkin's gun back down exactly where it had originally landed and curls the one he swiped from the safe in the offices into Palpatine’s hand. And then he goes, to crouch down by the pool.

The merman is watching him with narrowed, dark eyes. He hasn't flashed any color, but his spikes are halfway out, and really, if Obi-wan just saw someone murder three people in cold blood, he'd be wary too.

He strips off his gloves and shoves them into his pockets. His hands are numb and shaky, but he un-buttons his shirt as fast as he can and peels it aside to display the mark that sits large and prominent over his heart. The merman jerks, eyes going wide, and Obi-wan holds them steadily as he says, “I am here for helping you. Swear by Sho’cye. Please let me helping you. Please.”

“You speak,” the man says, voice raw and rough with emotion. “You are … you are a Mandalorian’s heart?”

“Yes,” Obi-wan agrees. “And he is my heart. Not hurting him, ever. Not hurting you either. But other humans will come soon, because of … weapon noise. Need to leaving, quickly. Before they see you.”

“Yes,” the man says, shaking himself as if coming out of a daze. “Yes, we need to – do you know how to … how to get this cage away?”

“I do but … coming into water for that. Cutting through.” Obi-wan holds up the shears he’s brought for that purpose. “Is this okay?”

The man hesitates for a moment, but then he nods. Obi-wan nods back, and slips into the water. He weakens enough of the wires as he can, and then heaves, until the metal rends and he’s able to pull back a segment of the fencing. And then there’s nothing too it, but for him and the man to swim through.

He leads the man out into the bay, to where he’s anchored the Memory, glad to see that by the look of things no one has bothered it. Boga is still lounging on the deck, and the light is still shining in the cabin.

“Your boat?” The man asks, eying it warily as Obi-wan swims up to it, and Obi-wan nods.

“I’ll be leaving you here, if you prefer. Or you can swimming beside boat as we go back. But I can be also giving you ride; taking care of you. You’re being very injured, I think. I am worrying that … the better it would be if you were gotten back fast. To your people, and the healers. I’m not knowing well how to help you.”

He knows, certainly, much better that he did when he found Cody. But he’s not a doctor, for either of their species, and he knows that there are treatments specifically for merfolk that he can’t offer.

The man – the young man, really, older than Eyeyah but not by much – wavers. And Obi-wan can’t blame him. He can guess how the others captured him. It likely involved a boat, much like this. But the man’s eyes flicker back down to Obi-wan’s open shirt, to the mark on his chest. And he nods.

Obi-wan dives down and shows him the hatch under the boat, how to get in and out, and that seems to ease him further. He’s waiting, in the pool inside the cabin when Obi-wan and Boga come in. Boga wags her tail, but Obi-wan forces her to sit by the door, where she collapses with a whine, laying her head on her paws and making cow eyes at him. But the poor man’s been through enough without having to submit to the eager sniffs and licks of an unfamiliar creature.

“What is that,” the man asks, eying her warily.

“A dog – a pet, like an octopus. But very friendly – not hurting. And I keeping her away.” Obi-wan draws a little closer, and sets the bucket and bowl he’s brought down by the edge of the pool. “Here. For eating. I bring more, but, looks like they not feeding you well. So many small meals are being better. Keep you from sick.”

The man glances, at Obi-wan’s chest, where his tattoo is still visible under the sopping fabric of his shirt. He reaches into the bucket, selects a fish, and dives a little further into the pool to eat. But he thanks Obi-wan as he goes, and that’s progress.

Linebreak***

Before now, Obi-wan has only ever committed one type of crime in his life, but though he is new to … murder, at least the illegal kind, he knows how bad it would be for him to flee town immediately. So he remains at the docks for the night, enquires at Palpatine’s offices in the morning, and then goes back to the boat to wait.

He’s tried his best to explain to the merman why they would not be heading underway immediately, and though he didn’t look exactly pleased with the news, he doesn’t immediately flee out the hatch. He spends most of his time alternating between sleeping and eating; which, Obi-wan can only hope, will at least put him in a position to better survive if he does ultimately decide to strike out on his own. Obi-wan tries to give him his space, and spends most of his time out on the deck with Boga, reading or working on his most recent manuscript.

On the third day, the police finally come. There are only two of them. Hopefully they would have brought more, if they were come to arrest a man who’d murdered three people.

He walks himself down to the lower deck, Boga trotting happily by his side, as they clearly pause in front of his slip. “Hello, can I help you?”

“We’re looking for a marine biologist?” the older of the two asks – the younger one seems preoccupied with patting Boga, who’s jumping up and wagging her tail with glee.

“That would be me – well, I didn’t go to school for it, so perhaps it’s a bit presumptuous to claim as such. But I have published, in scientific journals and the like.”

The officer nods politely, but doesn’t look all that interested in the specificities of Obi-wan’s professional qualifications. “And what do you know of a man called Sheev Palpatine?”

Obi-wan’s mouth turns down with a displeasure that he does not try to hide. “That I suspected him of poaching; though if you’re here asking me about him, I suppose you already know that.”

The younger one opens his mouth, no doubt to try to correct Obi-wan as to why they’re actually here, but the older one gestures him to be quiet. “And why did you suspect that.”

“Well, he’d written to me, asking me to come out and see some large aquatic creature that he caught, that was not adjusting well to life in captivity. I have the letter somewhere, here amongst my papers, if you’d like …”

The older officer nods, and Obi-wan goes up to the top deck to fetch it. The older passes it off to the younger to review, and gestures for Obi-wan to continue.

“It’s not uncommon for me to receive such letters, and they’re usually from men who’ve managed somehow to get their hands on sharks, either to keep as pets or to exhibit. For all the wealthy seem to be enthralled with them, sharks do not do well in captivity – they die quickly. So their owners panic, and rush to me to try to protect their investment. I suspected this was the situation Mr. Palpatine had gotten himself in, and so I agreed to come, to see what manner of creature it was. And suspecting that if it was indeed a shark, it was almost certain that …”

“He’d poached it,” the older officer fills in, lips turning down, and Obi-wan nods.

“Some smaller species of shark are legal to own – but most are either captured illegally, or bought and sold on the black market. When I went to his offices, to meet with him, he was incredibly cagey. I asked outright what the animal was that he had, but he’d only describe it in broad terms … approximate size, what kind of tank it was kept it, the like. I told him time and time again that it would be difficult to help him if he wouldn’t tell me what it was, let alone whether or not I could see the creature, but he was reluctant. I finally just recommend that he secure a much larger area for it to swim, since that never hurts, and suggested that perhaps once it was relocated, I could see it in person. He said he would contact me in a day or two, but he never did.”

“Was anyone else in this meeting with him?”

“Yes. A friend of his – another fop to be frank – called Amedda, who was investing in the project, and another man, Tarkin … he honestly seemed a rather unsavory character, and he never really said what his exact role in all of it was.”

The officers exchange a look, and the older one nods.

“It’s … nothing we’ve ever been able to prove, but it’s common knowledge that he’s – was – mobbed up,” the younger one nods. “Based on what you’re telling us, I’d guess that he one that obtained the animal in question. His crime family is well connected to the blank market.”

“Was,” Obi-wan says, and the older officer shuffles around, pulling some pictures out of a briefcase.

“He was killed, a couple days ago, in what seems to have been a violent altercation between him, Mr. Palpatine and Mr. Amedda. It seems as though they took your advice. They were in a boathouse, down by the warf, recently purchased, and they’d fenced off an area of the water. We also found a dried out tank in their offices, so presumably this was was where they’d moved whatever it was that they had.”

“Presumably? You mean, you didn’t find it there.”

The man shuffles through his pictures to find the one he wants, and passes it over to Obi-wan. It’s of the section of the wire, that he cut. He studies over it, before passing his back.

“Looking that, I’m almost positive that it was a shark, and just as large as they’d claimed, too, to have been strong enough to rend the wire like that.”

“You really think a shark would be that smart?” The younger one asks, a bit doubtfully, and Obi-wan shrugs.

“Smart, perhaps not, but very practiced. The great whites are drawn to the lobster traps, especially when they’re young and inexperienced and looking for an easy meal. Eventually some of them figure out how to get into them, through trial and error. Talk to any trapper, and they can show you a dozen of their larger boxes ripped up just like this.”

“You’re making me glad it was gone before we’d gotten there,” the younger officers says, grimacing.

“We’d thought that one of them had let it go, or tried to steal it, and that’s what set off the argument.” The older officer says, a questioning tilt to his tone.

“It’s possible, but I think unlikely, if only because I’d imagine that whoever attempted such a thing would have ended up … somewhat perforated. It’s a myth, that sharks attack people, at least the wild ones. They mostly only attack when provoked, like all large animals. But they’re not necessarily picky eaters, if they’re truly hungry enough, and those in captivity, that have been cooped up and underfed – will bite first and ask questions later, if given the chance.”

“Now I’m really glad it was gone before we got there,” the younger officer mutters, eyes wide. “Guess if it got out on its own they still could have suspected eachother, anyway.”

“Either that, or tempers started running hot when they realized their cash cow’d escaped,” the older officer says tiredly, tucking his photos away. “You tie up a lot of money in something and then that thing’s gone? That’s when the guns usually come out, especially with the mob involved. The only thing we gotta worry about now is a pissed shark out in the harbor. You think this thing’s going to stick around, head for the beaches?”

“I’d doubt it; it will naturally be drawn back to deeper waters on it’s own. And I think it’s had quite enough of people for a lifetime,” Obi-wan says, and none of that is even a lie.

The older officer snorts. “Haven’t we all. Well, we appreciate you talking to us, helping us tie up some loose ends. This is all pretty open and shut, we’ll probably have it closed out by the end of the week. You mind we take down your address, of that letter, just in case we need it later?”

Obi-wan gives them the number of his city PO Box, says he’s frequently on the water but he sees everything usually in a month or two. They seem unbothered by this, and with one last pat to Boga, amble off the way they came.

It was all so very easy, in the end, except for the chill, still lingering in his chest.

They set out the next morning, after Obi-wan’s done a night’s worth of fishing, and stocked up in the city on whatever else they might need. The man is still asleep, as they get underway, and so Obi-wan leaves him his plate of food and dives down to secure the bottom hatch himself, sealing it off against the water of the sea. He’ll leave it open at night, so his guest can leave, if he wants, but not while they’re moving. It won’t do either of them any good if he gets sucked right out into the ocean.

He makes good time, managing to get a third of the way down the coast before pulling into a bay for the night and casting out the lines and diving down to open the hatch. Then, there’s nothing else for it to check on his guest.

Linebreak***

Reyshe’ase wakes to the feeling of vibrations, through the water, and for a second he thinks they’re the drums of home. But he quickly comes to his senses, and remembers where he is. He’s on the boat, of the impossible human, the one who has a Mandalorian heart. The human who said that they’d start moving, come morning, which would account for the vibrations. He’d warned Rayshe’ase that he’d be sealing the hatch, at the bottom, otherwise the current created by the movement would just suck Rayshe’ase out; and a quick dive refers that he’s done so. But even if this was all a trick, even if the human never opens that hatch again … it’s still better than where he was. More space, better food, and someone that can actually speak, properly speak, words that Rayshe’ase hasn’t heard in so long…

The human has left him a lot more food than usual, and a … a note, whose characters he recognizes, heart leaping, even if they’re on a weird dry white thing, that crumples when touched. Mine guest, I must staying out to steering while we move, but please shouting need me. Am hoping I leave to you enough food for the day, but there is being more. If all are being well, I will coming back once we stop for the night, for checking on you.

It's not signed with anything. Do the humans not have names, to call eachother by? Reyshe’ase has spent … too long, around them, but he’s tried his best to learn as little as he can of them. What more was there to learn, than that they were exactly as monstrous as they’d always been taught? His energies were better focused to remembering, on dreaming of home, of giving himself over to the stale, awful water of his prison and hoping that he’s just … fall asleep, and not wake up.

Perhaps he’s gotten his wish, and this is all a dream. It seems fantastical enough.

He spends the day just as he has the previous ones, swimming up to eat when his stomach wakes him, and then sinking down into the soft embrace of the water to sleep. This fresh lovely water, that makes it easy to rest, easy to reach for the pleasant memories of home in his dreams. They were at war, when he was taken, he knows. But in his dreams, he can return to his childhood, memories of him and all his brothers racing through the water at the edges of the cove, of going to the surface and daring eachother to poke their heads above water. Of sleeping, at night, curled up in bed with Eyeyah, their Mom’s soft singing coming close from the next room.

He's woken for the first time not by his stomach, but by a noise down below, and his heart pounds in alarm until he realizes what it is; the human, unsealing the hatch at the bottom, so that Rayshe’ase can unhook the metal door and leave, if he wanted. Just like the human promised.

He uses his dwindled strength to swim up so that his head, at least, is above the water. And waits.

The human comes in with more buckets, the creature, and with … much less clothes. He only wears some small cloth around his waist, concealing where his body splits to form his legs, and nothing else. His skin is odd, and pale, and it only makes the ink on him stand out more sharply. The scars, too, so many; as many as Rayshe’ase’s father ever had. A warrior. And a long, beautiful string of pearls, strung around one of his legs in the same pattern a Mandalorian would string about their tail. Proof of marriage, proof that whosever heart he makes beat must love him dearly, to give such a lavish gift.

The human tells the creature – who he calls useless, for some reason – to sit, as he always does, and it makes the same noise as it always does as it complies. He gives Rayshe’ase a tentative smile, and sets the buckets down by the edge of the pool.

“We are stopping for the night. Brining you this, if you wanted for bathing.” He dips his hand into the bucket, and lifts it up, showing Rayshe’ase the … the sand, merciful Sho’cye, the sand, and he hears himself make a pained, desperate sound in the back of his throat, but it’s been so long since he’s been clean that the rot has sunk into his scales …

He scrambles forward for it, sloshing water against the sides of the pool and out over the floor, but he doesn’t care, he seizes a handful of sand and scrubs, hard and fast against his tail. but he’s weak, so weak, and the sand drifts out of his hand as his arm falls away, he can’t even bathe himself …

“Is okay,” the human is murmuring, soft and low. “Shh, shh, Is okay. I are helping, yes? I are helping you. Don’t worrying.”

The human unlocks some sort of latch, and one of the walls that keeps water from splashing up out of the pool swings away. The human unrolls some sort of lumpy fabric thing on the floor, and then … and then he’s lifting Rayshe’ase up and out of it, so that his top half is spread out on the fabric thing, with his tail still in the water. The fabric thing, it’s soft, almost like a bed of kelp, and the whole arrangement becomes even more comfortable when the human slips carefully into the water and raises up some sort of platform that supports most of the weight of Rayshe’ase’s tail, so that he’s lying completely prone. He hasn’t been able to lie down in what feels like so long, he’s almost forgotten the feeling of it. It’s glorious.

“Okay?” The human asks, and Rayshea nods. The human swings another one of the walls away and sits so that his legs are left dangling in the water, the weird bend of them brushing against Rayshe’ase’s tail. He reaches over for the bucket, and lifts out a handful of sand. He meets Rayshe’ase’s eyes, and asks, carefully, “I helping you?”

Rayshe’ase can’t say that he wants the human touching him, wants anyone touching him, but by Sho’cye he so wants to be clean. So he nods, and the human carefully starts sprinkling sand over his tail, and gently rubbing it through the dead scales and filth layering Rayshe’ase’s fin.

The human goes slow, and careful, and stops whenever Rayshea’se makes pained noise, to slather on ointment that smells as though it could have come straight from Kix’s shelves. It didn’t – it must have been given to the human by his heart – but it still makes him flash with sorrow, still makes him shake, and the human hushes him gently, and starts to sing.

Linebreak***

//After Rayshe’ase’s bath, Obi-wan asks if he wants to go down through the hatch and swim around a little, and when it becomes apparent that Fives can’t really swim at all, since he’s been trapped in a tank, Obi-wan’s like, okay, here’s what we’ll do, and makes a loose loop around Rayshe’ase’s chest, under his arms, and ties the other end of the rope around his waist, and swims around, dragging Rayshea’se through the water behind him.

//And even though he’s not swimming it feels like he’s swimming and it’s a very emotional and comforting experience for him.

//They repeat this process when they stop every night, having Rayshe’ase swim when he can and Obi-wan drag him when he can’t, to build his muscles back up, and this dispels any lingering doubts that Rayshea’se has that Obi-wan isn’t on the up and up, because he’s basically strengthening Rayshea’se up and giving him the means to escape, and Obi-wan leaves the hatch unlocked every night when they’re done, just like he promised.

Linebreak***

//Reyshea’se assumes that since Obi-wan has Mandalorian tattoos that his heart must be a Mandalorian inker, which makes sense to him because the inkers are the ones that go up to the surface the most often, to get materials for their dyes, so that’s probably how they met. And another Mandalorian wouldn’t have asked an inker to come and mark a human, that would be a literal death wish.

//So when they introduce themselves, once Rayshea’se is feeling more up to talking, Rayshea’se doesn’t tell Obi-wan his real name, because every Mandalorian knows who he is, and if Obi-wan were to tell his heart that he met another Mandalorian named Rayshea’se Obi-wan’s heart would freak out that the royal guard was coming to kill them and then Obi-wan. So he tells Obi-wan that his name is Shea.

//So Obi-wan has no idea that it’s Cody’s brother. There is a strong resemblance, but he’s already met all of Cody’s family. So he’s like, must be a funny coincidence. Nice to meet you, Shea.

//Rayshe’ase’s also figured out that Obi-wan’s inker hasn’t told Obi-wan that their relationship isn’t illegal from a Mandalorian perspective, and Obi-wan has no idea the danger his heart’s put him in. And the more time they spend together the more they get to know eachother and Obi-wan always talks about his husband so loviningly and so wonderingly, like yes, my husband is kind and strong and talented and he’s so good to me, better than I deserve, really, and I was so alone and sad before I met him, and now I’m so happy, it’s so wonderful that we found eachother. And Rayshe’ase kind of resents this mystery husband for deceiving such a sweet person like Obi-wan, for kind of … taking advantage of him, a little, but he recognizes that in this case it would be more cruel to tell Obi-wan the truth.

Linebreak***

"Are you being sure you will not coming home with me?" Obi-wan asks. He's wringing his hands, a little fretfully, and Rayshe'ase is helpless against the fondness that blooms in his chest. "My riddur can be helping you, can be calling your family, the healers. No need for swimming by yourself."

There's every need. Obi-wan's done so much, for him, and Rayshe’ase will not put him in any more danger than he already is in. And nor will he reveal the danger that Obi-wan's husband has put him in - he'd rather cut out his own heart than ruin the bond Obi-wan has in his, than reveal just what the man Obi-Wan loves and trusts so much has really done.

"No, we're very close. I'll be fine, I promise." He darts forward and enfolds Obi-war into a hug. May your heart take good care of you for the rest of your life, he prays. "Thank you. Thank you for all you've done for me."

“No thanking. It was being the right thing." Obi-wan squeezes back, before pulling away to earnestly meet Rayshe'ase's eyes. "Shea, may Sho'cye ever bless your path."

"And yours," Rayshe'ase chokes, pulling Obi-wan close again and pressing their foreheads together.

Obi-wan softens, hushing and holding him, until the worst of Rayshe'ase's trembling stops, until Rayshe'ase pulls back again, full to brimming with so many things he's not sure how to say.

"Is okay." Obi-wan tells him. Still smiling. "Can be going. Being sure your family is so excited to see you. Not needing to keep them waiting any longer."

Rayshe'ase nods, throat tight, and holds the memory of Obi-wan's bright smile in his head as he dives.

Even with all Obi-wan has done for him, all their swims together with the rope, Rayshe'ase is still so weak. It takes him hours and many breaks to even reach the halfway point down to Sundari. And he doesn't know if he'll find family, excited to see him. They were at war, when he was taken. What if they lost, and Obi-wan's inker is able to take refuge in a human because he’s one of the only Mandadorians left?

Luckily, he’s not tortured too long with what-ifs. There's a phalanx of the royal guard swimming up towards the surface. He has no idea why in the name of Sho'cye they would be doing such a thing, but he's too grateful to care. He calls a song to them, voice rusty with disuse, and they pivot, flashing shock all down their bodies.

"Prince Rayshea’se! How-!"

"It is a long story and one I wish to tell only once. Please, just," Rayshease's voice cracks.

"Please just bring me home. I'm... too weak, to swim fast on my own."

They do as he asks, of course, spinning into motion with a flurry of activity. Their fastest surges off to bring the news to the capitol, and the rest gather around him; two press close to his sides, ducking under his arms, and do his swimming for him, speeding him down quickly to Sundari. They tell him that the war is over. That his family is all well, so it's with only joy and anticipation in his heart that he looks down over the city.

There's already music, celebrating his return, moving through his bones, and it only adds to the dreamlike quality of seeing his family waiting for him on the ridge overlooking Sundari. His mother, and Rex, and Kix and Boba, and he breaks free clumsily and surges toward them with all his strength.

They meet him halfway, enveloping him, shining with happiness and laying praise on Sho'cye for his return, and it's everything he's dreamed about for the last two years, except...

"Where's Eyeyah? And Kote, and Wolv? The guard said that they were alright, that they lived..."

“They do, they do," his mother soothes. "They were away, but not far, and we sent word to them. They'll be back any minute, I promise."

"We can wait for them at the palace," Kix says, a little pointedly, throwing an arm around Rayshe’ase's shoulder, and bracing him up against his side. “In the healing halls."

Rayshe'ase's been notorious for avoiding the healing halls ever since he was a minnow, but right now he can think of nothing better than to be ensconced safely in them, looked after by his own brother. "Okay. Just this once."

Kix flashes in amusement and snorts for good measure. But he bears Rayshe’ase forward with utmost gentleness.

His family catches him up on the end of the war, once he comments on the ink over Rex’s heart. Apparently, they won by allying themselves with the Togruta, and Rex is now married to the one of the Empress’ daughters. Ahsoka, he says, proudly and happily, and he’s sure Reyshe’ase will like her. He tells her the story of how they met, her sneaking away to join the delegation, them fighting together, and fondness and love are clear in his every word. Reyshe’ase can’t be anything but happy for him, and tells him so, and Rex beams.

They tell him also, about Wolv and his capture, faces sobering, so that Rayshe’ase won’t be surprised when he sees him. He’s doing so much better than he was, Kix promises, healing well in both mind and body. But he did lose an eye, and much of his mobility, so he’s moved from the army proper to the royal guard now.

Rayshe’ase just thanks Sho’cye that he’s alive. It seems impossible that anyone could get taken by the shark-riders and live, but then again, most would say it’s impossible to get taken by the humans and live, and yet here Reyshe’ase is now. Sho’cye must be smiling on them, for two miracles in so short a time.

True to his mother’s word, Eyeyah, Kote, Wolv and a Togruta that must be Ahsoka are all waiting for them in Kix’s treatment room in the halls. Rayshe’ase keens as Eyeyah slams into him. They’re practically crushing eachother with the force of their greeting but Rayshe’ase hardly cares, even when Kix tsks at Eyeyah and orders him to be gentle. They stay clinging to eachother even as Kote and Wolv come forward to greet him with brushes of their temples to his, and careful embraces from behind. And it’s Eyeyah who finally asks, voice cracking with emotion, what happened to him.

“I was taken, by humans,” Rayshe’ase says, and he can see flashes of shock and horror light up the room. “They kept me in a … clear rock cage, very small, for so long. It was … but then they got careless, and made an enclosure for me, in the ocean. So I escaped.”

“They’re dead now,” he adds, lifting his face from Eyeyah’s shoulder to look at Kote. As Mand’alor, he needs to know that their people – all Merfolk – are safe. That they’re not in danger of discovery. As he does so, he notices for the first time that Kote’s heart circle has also been filled with ink. He blinks, but it’s still there. He supposes that it was inevitable; as Mand’alor Kote would sooner or later have to wed. But he still didn’t expect … “You found your heart, too. Congratulations, Kote.”

“Thank you,” Rayshe’ase,” Kote says, but he looks … shifty, almost. Everyone in the room does, all of a sudden. “But there’s, um, something you need to know about him.”

“What, is he not one of the nobles? You know I don’t care about that.”

“Not, it’s …” Kote exchanges a glance with Wolv, and Wolv shrugs. “He’s um … well, he’s a human. But he’s nothing like the ones that took you, I swear, he’s … he’s kind and good and he would never hurt any of us.”

A human. Kote’s heart is a human. Suddenly, a million things starts clicking into place all at once. He holds up his hand, cutting silent Kote’s almost panicked reassurances, and says, “this human, describe him to me.”

Kote tilts his head, brow furrowed, but does. His heart is very pale, skin lovely and white like a pearl, with eyes as blue as the sky and hair that shines red like the rising sun.

Oh, of course he is, Rayshe’ase thinks, and he can see his own colors bloom with amusement, as he shakes his head back and forth, as he clicks happily, and the whole family draws closer, alarmed, but he manages to calm them, and himself, and re-tells the story, all of it, from the beginning. Everything that happened, and all that Obi-wan did for him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell all of it,” he says, once he’s done. “I just … I didn’t know the laws had changed. And I’m sorry for thinking so poorly of you, that you’d somehow, endangered him, deceived him…”

“You were keeping him safe,” Kote says, squeezing Rayshe’ase’s arm and pulling him into a hug, as best he can with Eyeyah still in the way. “Never apologize for that. And I did endanger him, in the beginning.”

Mom clicks in disagreement, and Kote pulls a face back at her. It’s clearly a disagreement they’ve had many times, and they drop it quickly, turning their attention back to him.

“It seems I have him to thank for the life of another of my sons, whom he’s brought back from the dead,” she says, passing her hand through Rayshe’ase’s hair. It’s gotten so long, the humans who had him never bothered to cut it.

“I want to go see him,” Rayshe’ase says. Now that he knows that it’s alright, that he won’t be putting Obi-wan in any danger… “I need to let him know that I made it back safely. He was so worried, when I left. I need to let him know.”

“Hush, Reyshe’ase, we’ll tell him,” Kote says. “We’ll send a messenger, right away.”

“No, I want to go,” Rayshe’ase insists. It’s important, that it’s him. Obi-wan deserves no less. “He didn’t know, who I was. I want to be the one to tell him.”

They all turn to Kix. Kix sighs. “Fine. But tomorrow. For now, you rest.”

Linebreak***

Even home, it’s a disappointment to find that he still doesn’t sleep well. He wakes from nightmares time and time again, jarred each time that he finds his family there instead of the humans that had him, or Obi-wan.

“Is there anything we can do?” Mom asks, rubbing at his arm, the third time he’s jerked awake.

“Could you … sing?” Rayshe’ase asks, feeling stupid. “Obi-wan would sing for me, when I – it … it helps me fall back a sleep. He’s got a pretty nice voice, for a human.”

“Of course,” Mom says, smiling and relieved, before she shoots a teasing look Kote way. “You’re lucky that you got to him first, Kote, or it sounds like perhaps Rayshea’se might have beat you to it.”

There are clicks of amusement throughout the room, and Rayshea’se never thought he’d get to have this again, just the simple pleasure, of joking with his family.

But he doesn’t want to worry them, by being maudlin, so he shrugs, and says, “Obi-wan’s great and all, but the legs don’t really do it for me.”

Kote flashes with lust and then very quickly thereafter with embarrassment, and the clicking gets louder, but Kote holds his chin up high and declares, “You don’t know what you’re missing. The legs are the best part.”

Rex makes a disgusted noise, low in the back of his throat. “Ugh, stop it, Kote, that’s more than I ever needed to know.”

“Oh, please,” Wolv scoffs. “You think that’s bad? You don’t have to hear them, they’re so loud with eachother that it carries through the water-”

“Alright,” Kote snaps, flashing embarrassment again. “What song would you like us to sing, Rayshea’se.”

“Nar’uur,” Rayshea’se asks, a pleading edge to his tone that he can’t control. “That’s what … he sang that one a lot. Said that you always sing it to him, so its one of his favorites.”

“Oh,” Kote says, and he has a soft, tender, poleaxed look on his face. But no one clicks their amusement this time. “Of course, Shea, anything.”

“Lie back down,” Eyeyah suggests softly, and settles with him down on the bed. Mom starts and everyone else picks up the song, note by note, letting it build in the water, and Rayshea’se lets himself fall down into sleep, and doesn’t wake from a dream again.

Story 2 – Wolv gets a prosthetic

“It’s hard,” Wolv says, one night. Obi-wan’s stretched out on the dock, and Wolv is stretched out in the water beside him; they’re both looking up at the stars. All the merfolk that he’s met, that have come to visit Obi-wan, find them both fascinating and very comforting. Cody says they remind him of the way that the plankton glow, especially at night, points of light against inky blackness, familiar and anchoring despite the way that they shift. Not so different as the stars, in the end.

Obi-wan doesn’t ask ‘what is,’ knows that it’s better to stay quiet and give Wolv the space and time that he needs to finish his thought.

“The emptiness,” he says haltingly, and gestures to the side of his face, where the leather patch lays. “Feeling it, always. Even now that the pain is gone.”

“I’m sorry.” Obi-wan says softly. He’s so, so sorry, for the wounds that war gouges into them all, the deep scars that they need. “I’ve known many men, who lost limbs in the war, and a lot of them say the same. Not all of them can afford prosthetics, but even the ones that can-”

He stops, struck dumb with inspiration, at the same time that Wolv frowns, and repeats, “prosthetics,” rolling the unfamiliar English word around in his mouth.

“They’re a … an artificial replacement, for a part of the body that’s been lost. Not just limbs, they have them for teeth too, and eyes,” Obi-wan explains, heart caught in his throat. “They make them out of glass … remember the marbles I showed you? They’re like that, I think, but bigger. We could … we could get you one, if you wanted. If you thought it might help.”

He holds his breath a Wolv stills, completely and utterly in the water.

“Yes,” Wolv says, after a moment, voice rough. “Yes. I think … if you can really … I think it would.”

Linebreak***

Obi-wan does a little research, makes some inquiries. The general consensus seems to be that while optical prosthesis can be ordered through the mail, if one can afford it the best thing to do is to send for an occulist to come in person. Affordability isn’t the real barrier here, thanks to Eyeyah’s explorations, and Cody’s insistence on giving Obi-wan all the gold in Mandalore’s vaults. More the tail and fins that Wolv sports.

But Wolv has said he doesn’t want any the merfolk to know what they’re doing until it’s done, and has gently but firmly shut down Obi-wan’s plea to at least involve Kix. So Obi-wan does what he always does, when he’s at the beginning of hatching a plan. He goes to Kita.

It’s really not that difficult, in the end. On the path to successfully finding a way for Obi-wan and Cody to sleep close to eachother without getting Obi-wan to wet or Cody too dry, there were many failures, and it’s one of these that they drag back in from the shed. A labor of love on Obi-wan’s part, the frame all basically one big box with a hole in both the top the box and the mattress both, so that Cody would lie with his torso on the mattress and his tail in the box. And a little opening, on the side, where the box could be filled with fresh sea water every night, and Cody could sleep in perfect comfort. And it would have worked a treat, really, if the bloody thing hadn’t leaked and leaked and leaked no matter what Obi-wan tried to plug it up. After the fifth time they’d woken up to a flooded floor and the smell of wet dog Obi-wan had conceded defeat; he’d gone back to the drawing board, and the bed was banished to the shed.

All the effort is more than worth it now. Wolv fits right into it and with a couple of pillows to prop him up and some creative arranging of blankets, Wolv makes a very convincing picture of a bedridden amputee. Once he’s settled, Kita and Obi-wan leave him in Boga’s care, and head into town to pick up the occulist.

Dr. Che is a no-nonsense woman in her fifties. She has an absolutely massive trunk with her in addition to a small suitcase, and Obi-Wan wonders with a little flash of humor exactly how many eyes she’s got in there.

Linebreak***

//There are actually two parts to ocular prosthetics, a circular filler which goes into the socket and is then sewn over with muscle, and then the actual glass eye which sits over that and can be removed as needed. So glass eyes aren’t actually round! The more you know (star and rainbow).

//So Dr. Che needs to come twice, first to put in the filler and then a month later, once it’s healed, fit Wolv for his prosthetic.

Linebreak***

Wolv does exceptionally better, almost immediately, even with just the filler in his socket.

“It feels good,” Wolv confesses, a week after the surgery, when he and Obi-wan asks him. “The socket is still damaged, the nerves, but … it doesn’t feel hollow anymore. It feels more like I’m just closing my eye. It’s … so much better.”

“Being most glad,” Obi-wan says, and the last of his doubts about doing this fall away.

Cody and the rest of the family notice the change too, and though there are many grateful looks thrown Obi-wan’s way, none of them remark upon it. Probably too afraid that if they try to mention it, it will go away. But their joy and relief also works to ease – though not entirely dissipate – the fear that they’ll be angry at him or helping Wolv conceal the whole thing.

The month passes quickly, all told, and then Dr. Che’s returning. He sees her note the changes in Wolv’s demeanor too, and the quiet pride that rises in her eyes at it. She declares that his socket has healed perfectly from the surgery, and that if Wolv is ready, she’ll got ahead and make the cast.

Wolv is more than ready, and he doesn’t even flinch as Dr. Che presses the soft putty in.

She hardens the cast, and then spends some time comparing it to various trays of eyes from her trunk before she’s satisfied. She holds her chosen tray out to Wolv and explains that he can pick any one of these to use, and then she’ll mail along his two others that she makes custom from his mold. Obi-wan has ordered many spares to be made, knowing full well how objects can get easily lost in the ocean.

“This one will probably be the closet match to your color,” Dr. Che says, pointing to the dark brown one at the bottom of the tray.

Wolv’s eye skates over the offerings before he brightens, and shakes his head. ‘I’d like the one at the top. That blue one.’

It is indeed quite blue, almost a perfect match for Obi-wan’s own. Obi-wan swallows, and translates for Dr. Che, before adding. “Wolv, are you sure? You can pick any of the colors that you want, it doesn’t have to be …”

‘That’s the one I want,’ Wolv says firmly, as Kita takes up the mantle of translating. ‘I don’t want to try to make it the same as it was, because it won’t be. And this way, I’ll have the same colored eyes as all my brothers.’

Obi-wan reaches out and squeezes Wolv’s hand, touched beyond words. Wolv’s face softens, before he smirks, and adds, ‘someone has to put a stop to you hogging the color.’

Obi-wan lets out a full, delighted laugh, can’t help it really.

Dr. Che nods, lifts the blue eye up from the case, and gently, gently sets it in place. She’s already warned Wolv that it will feel very odd at first, but tht in less than five minutes the feeling will fade. Wolv clenches both eyes shut, but Obi-wan can see the tension fade from his face as he does adjust. And then he opens them again.

‘How do I look,’ Wolv asks, and the smile – simple and happy – playing around his lips makes Obi-wan’s breath catches in his throat. It’s like he said. He doesn’t look like nothing ever happened to him. But his pleasure, his happiness … he looks like he’s come out the other side of it.

‘You look perfect,’ Obi-wan says, in Mando’a, and Wolv beams.

Thanks to Wolv’s choice, it’s Obi-wan, in the end, who ends up sitting for what Dr. Che calls a color matching portrait, where she shines a light on his face and draws a very large and very detailed imaged of his iris. And then, with that, she’s done. She packs everything up in her trunk, and it’s time for them to say their goodbyes.

She allows Wolv to touch her arm, gently, and thank her, excitement radiating out of every part of him, and Obi-wan to gratefully shake her hand. Kita leaves with her, to escort her back to town. And Obi-wan helps Wolv back into the water. He also sens one of the ever-present royal staff back to Sundari, with a request for the family to gather. Wolv passes the time waiting for them swimming around energetically, testing how his new eye fares in the water, and declaring it a success every time he surfaces.

Obi-wan keeps (hah) an eye on him, but ducks away periodically to help the cooks put together a large spread, ever conscious of the fact that he’s hosting his in-laws and wanting everything to be nice for them. Plus, it merits a celebration, this milestone in Wolv’s recovery. By the time the evening rolls around, everything is perfect; a feast is laid out along the edges of the deck and the lanterns that Obi-wan strung up around the lagoon are lit to supplement the glow of the moon.

Obi-wan slips into the water the second that Boyal comes to tell them that the royal family’s arrived, so that Cody can pull him down under the water for their typical enthusiastic greeting. But he encourages them to surface much sooner than he usually would. This is Wolv’s night.

“What’s the occasion?” Cody asks, still holding Obi-wan close even though he’s pulled back from nuzzling along Obi-wan’s throat.

“Wolv has something he’s like to share with you all.”

“Is this whatever surprise you guys have been planning for the last month, that you thought we didn’t know about,” Eyeyah demands. “The one you had to call that human woman for?”

“Dr. Che,” Wolv says. “And yes.”

“A doctor? You’re not sick are you,” Kix demands, looking between Obi-wan and Kita with narrowed eyes, like he expects one of them to keel over at any moment.

“No, they’re fine,” Wolv says, rolling his eye. Obi-wan smiles, because he knows that under the patch that Wolv’s put back on the prosthetic eyes is rolling too. “She came for me. We disguised me as a paralyzed human, so that she could do this.”

Wolv lifts his patch and Vah’yen gasps, her hands flying to her mouth. Kix swears, and Cody lets Obi-wan go to race over to Wolv and take Wolv’s face into his hands.

“What-” he stutters, looking between Obi-wan and Kita. “How?”

“Is that another human’s eye?” Eyeyah demands, with sort of excited and fascinated horror. “Did you steal another human’s eye?”

“No, of course not, it’s … glass. I’ll- look.” Wolv has filed down a few of his nails, as soon as Dr. Che left, and Obi-wan had helped him practice taking the eye in and out until he could do it comfortably on his own. He takes it out now, holding it out in his palm so they can all see. Kix plucks it out of his hand and drops it into Rex’s palm so that he can haul Wolv towards him and look into the socket.

He makes a surprised noise, as he peers in. “Oh, it’s…”

“It’s part of the process. There’s a little ball, that they put in to fill the socket, and then they sew it shut. She said it would help keep me from getting all those infections. And then the … prosthetic goes in the remaining space.” He accepts his prosthetic back from Cody, now that everyone’s had a chance to look, and slips it back into place. “It’s something the humans invented, for when they loose eyes, and Obi-wan and Kita helped me to do it. I … still can’t see, out of it, but it helps me to feel more normal. More … whole. I kept having nightmares where I’d wake up and the eye would be gone and it felt … but now when I wake up, there’s something there, and it’s … a lot better.”

There’s a moment of stunned silence before Vah’yen sobs, pulling both Wolv and Obi-wan close to her. “Thank you, thank you, thank you-”

“No is needing for thanking,” Obi-wan tries to protest, but Vah’yen makes a hushing noise and Obi-wan complies. There’s a splash of water behind him, and it’s Cody, coming to plaster himself along the back of Obi-wan’s back and brush their temples together.

“There’s every need,” Cody murmurs, and presses a kiss to Obi-wan’s cheek.

“Yes,” Vah’yen says. “You keep helping all my children. I am indebted to the both of you.”

“It was Obi-wan’s idea,” Kita says, smiling. She’s stayed safe and dry on the dock, out of hugging range. “I just helped him carry that terrible bed he made in.”

Linebreak***

//Kita is an OC that served with Obi-wan on Melidadaan (in my personal quest to add more lesbians to SW), headcanon that in this verse she left her family in India to serve as a code breaker for the British after all her older brothers were drafted and killed, and then from there was recruited into the MI6 by Cerasi. And she ended up attached with Obi-wan’s unit in between her covert missions, so they fought together and got to be good friends. After the war ended, she went back to make sure her family in India was okay, but she and Obi-wan still wrote letters. Until Obi-wan’s letters stopped coming, and so she went to his address and found it burned down, and so she’s like, okay, and tracked him all the way to his remote island home on Hawaii. So she just like shows up in a sailboat, and is like, oh good, you didn’t kill yourself.

//And she stays for a little while because she’s got her own ish from the war, and because she’s a spy she’s like, hmm, what’s different about you, oh, you’re in love. And Obi-wan’s like, yes, I found someone here, we’re in a relationship but I can’t introduce you, and Kita’s like, I get it, you know I do. I’m happy for you, just be careful.

(Kita and Cerasi were lovers, until Cerasi died in the war. ☹ So Kita totally gets the supreme shittyness of period-queerphobia)

//And Kote’s like, once Kita’s asleep at nights, is like, who is this, oh, she’s like your sister, I see. Well, if you trust her, you should tell her. I want to meet your family.

//And so Kita meets mermaids and is like, mmm, I’ve lost it, but once Obi-wan gets her over the existential hurtle enjoys meeting Obi-wan’s new husband and family and they’re all totally vibing.

//And Kita keeps getting letters from home being like – when are you coming home (and marrying a man) and Kote’s like, I have a great idea! Why don’t you marry eachother!

//And Obi-wan’s like … I am married to you?

//And Kote’s like, yes, we exchanged our vows before Sho’cye. But humans have … fake marriages, don’t they? Where you just report it to the government? You can do that, and then both of you would be safe

//And Kita and Obi-wan are like, what the hell, and Obi-wan’s proposal is like Kita Lastname, will you do me the honor of entering a loveless sham paper marriage with me, so that you can have a career and be a lesbian?

//And Kita’s like yes, a thousand times yes. And so Obi-wan and Kita marry and become the best beards to eachother.

//And if Obi-wan were to someday happen to find his long lost “sister” who just had to come live with them… and if Kita and she happened to just be really close friends … well that’s just a good wife welcoming her sister in law, of course… ie. Kita falls in love and has a wonderful marriage of the heart with idk, Siri Tachi and Obi-wan is like, we’ll just say you’re my sister! And they all live queerly ever after.

//And many of the townspeople are a tad sus that Obi-wan is so well off and still lets his wife AND his sister work, but they’re like, well, if that’s what he wants … *50s man shrug*

//In this verse, Dr. Che is a Chinese American doctor who got into ocular prosthetics after the war because there was a lot of need and not a lot of practitioners. She is, as always, a total bamf.

45 notes · View notes