#Nield

[fanficistherapyandcanonismybitch]

New chapter = New post

Feemor when he finds out what Obi-Wan has been up to:

[stream-of-thought]

Melida/Daan: The Legend of Ben

Ben is among the oldest of all the young at 13.

At 13 he soothes the fevers of the littlest who have never had enough strength or food or love, he holds up buildings that should collapse and kill them all (yet he does not do so with his strength for he is scrawny like them, weak like them. He doesn’t even touch the wood) finds water sources that are impossible to see, shoots steady even when his hands shake (as if guided by something, as if he is not entirely himself but something other, something more).

He calls it the force, they call it Ben.

At 13 he becomes a legend.

Legends aren’t born, but made in the desperate tunnels full of dying children. They say he appeared one day from the sky, that when his elders left, he refused to. That he was not born on the bloody battlefields of hate, but that he stayed because he saw them, felt with them, heard their song. He stayed when the Jedi left.

The children see how he balanced Cersai and Nield (love and hate, peace and war, water and fire). They see how the three click into place, Melida and Daan and Other. They wonder if maybe there was always an empty spot between them, waiting to be filled. Wonder if that is how this war started. Wonder if between every Melida and every Daan there is a space for something Other.

No one remembers how the war started, only that it did. Maybe there used to be a third faction, maybe something other (something more, something Ben) and when it died or left there was nothing left to bridge the Melida and the Daan.

Ben is sure as the earth, light as the air (only because they cannot hear him cry at night). He is a contradiction. He says strange things and does the impossible. Sometimes he glows with something else (something more).

He is remembered as the one who stayed (no one will say where he went). He is remembered as the Other between all Melida and all Daan.

There is an empty seat in every house. An empty seat in the Trivumate, waiting to be filled. Outside historians call it the Absent Third Phenomena— they are not sure why it is (they do not want to dig deeper, dig into the bloody history, tear their secrets and traditions and culture from the rotting bodies of child soldiers. they do not want to know). In Melida/Daan there is a word that is untranslatable that describes it, A’Benui. It is sacred. It is told to every child too young to remember the sewers, told by every Young that was touched by Ben (his something other).

(The Melida-Daan don’t know this, but somewhere else in the galaxy Obi-Wan Kenobi leads his second army of child soldiers and wonders if he was meant for anything else. Wonders if they see the cracks and uncertainty and self loathing; the first ones hadn’t. He wonders if they would be ashamed of him now, fighting, bleeding, warring, killing even now. Wonders if he will ever know peace or if he will always be a false legend made from blood and tears and a need to believe.)

[jonathananubian]

Standing in a large meeting room filled with planetary governors, leaders, and royalty- Obi-wan Kenobi placed his face into his hands and let out a long sigh.

The moment Satine had tried to flirt with him, in her usual aggressive manner, Jango had practically jumped down her throat.

Then Pre got involved and... since when had Pre known that he had once infiltrated Concordia? He most certainly had been involved with Pre for a short time, pretending to be a servant of the Clan while trying to find out more about Kyr’tsad, but he’d thought that Pre had forgotten all about him

Nearby Nield was sniping at all of them, telling them that he’d known Obi-wan longer and that Melida Daan had claimed him years ago.

On one side of him Quinlan was cackling at Anakin, whose mouth had fallen open in shock. On the other Cody was looking out over the mess with a completely neutral expression on his face.

Finally his Commander seemed to have enough of the noise and took a deeep breath, prompting Obi-wan to use the force to protect his ears.

“Enough!” He bellowed, drowning out the crowd with a voice meant for battlefields.

Everyone went quiet, even Jango, as they stared at the man in surprise.

Cody cleared his throat and stepped forward. “Who here either- has a claim on Kenobi, has fallen in love with Kenobi, or has slept with Kenobi?” He asked the room at large.

More than half the occupants threw up their hands.

Obi-wan ignored the indignant squawk and sudden spluttering of his former padawan.

“I will Skira’kaanir (Revenge Duel) anyone in this room who’s laid their hands on Ob’ika!” Jango snarled, bristling.

A slow smile crept across Cody’s face as he crossed his arms and shifted his stance. “I’ll take you up on that offer, Prime.”

Both Jango and Satine let out affronted noises and Obi-wan felt his ears going red as he put his face in his hands again.

This... might get a little ugly.

[thevalesofanduin]

Made some icons of the Melidaan crew using this and this picrew.

In order: Obi-Wan, Nield, Cerasi, Deila and Roenni

[fizzykiddiez]

cannot keep tamagotchi alive it always dies :( makes me so sad

[20th-century-man]

Christina Hendricks / photo by Sheryl Nields, 2010.

[sab3rtooth]

[wonderlandgirl4ever]

Britney by Sheryl Nields

[itgirls-n-wannabes]

Scarlett Johansson photographed by Sheryl Nields, 2013

[kiki-de-la-petite-flaque]

Julia Stiles by Sheryl Nields.

[denastudio]

scarlett johansson by sheryl nields

[i-am-roadrunner]

Sarah Shahi photographed by Sheryl Nields [x]

[mayxthexforce]

The parallel between Obi-Wan befriending Cerasi and Nield then Cerasi is killed and Nield resents Obi-Wan to the point they never speak again, and Anakin befriending Darra and Tru then Darra is killed and Tru resents Anakin to the point they never speak again

[meanderfall]

on my hands and knees, BEGGING the fandom to stop saying Qui-Gon abandoned Obi-Wan on Melida/Daan.

Look, if you haven't read the book, THIS is how the confrontation actually plays out:

I feel like even without the added context of the entire book, it's pretty clear that Qui-Gon is giving him a CHOICE, one that Obi-Wan seems pretty well-informed about what it means and the consequences for him.

But like, fine. Without context, it might seem that Qui-Gon isn't being fair because all Obi-Wan wants to do is help these people. I have two arguments against though, 1) other options as to how to help these people are brought up during the narrative, ones more in-line with how the Jedi operate, and 2) Obi-Wan's predominant reason for wanting to stay is not because he wants to help.

This is one of the very first options we encounter as to how this issue could be resolved, or at least helped:

This is shortly after they first meet the Young and comes from Cerasi herself, one of the leaders of the group. Asking for more Jedi support or at least broadcasting the situation so that maybe other organizations within the galaxy can help. Which is well-within their means as Jedi to at least try and get more support, and doesn't go against their roles as diplomats and peace keepers. (Obi-Wan, of course, doesn't even bother trying this route, nor does he bring up this possibility with Qui-Gon so we could at least see it being debated and how viable it would be.)

And of course there IS a more hands-on approach that they could take:

Qui-Gon himself tries to come up with a more diplomatic and objective way to broker peace. And the mission was already completed by the way. They were only supposed to rescue Tahl and MAYBE broker peace, but rescuing the other Jedi was the priority. Yoda even tells him before this moment to leave the planet with Obi-Wan as soon as possible because the situation is just too volatile, and he almost lost one Jedi in an effort to help. Qui-Gon is only doing this because he knows how important this has become for Obi-Wan. (And if anyone tries to tell me Qui-Gon doesn't love Obi-Wan, imma start swinging)

It doesn't work, of course. Everyone living on this planet has been steeped in so much anger, hatred, and revenge, that no side, not even the Young are actually willing to talk and really reach for peace. For all that Cerasi and Nield say they want Jedi support, they don't. Not really. Qui-Gon gets stonewalled by them. Both of them mock Obi-Wan whenever he listens to Qui-Gon. What they actually want is for the Jedi to join their army and help them make the Elders listen to them. This is why Yoda wants them to get the hell outta dodge and Qui-Gon feels uneasy and like they can't actually help here. No one actually wants to listen to reason, and the Jedi are not supposed to be soldiers fighting in wars. It gets incredibly obvious in the next book, especially on Nield's end that he wants revenge (a young little warmonger, his parents would be so proud), but honestly? I think we can see it even in this book.

Hey, did you guys know there's a bunch of kids living away from this war. Like, thousands of them, actually. They literally do not have to fight. Nield could take his group of kids (taking the factory working and conscripted kids with him) and fuck off and let the Elders kill each other, and only this generation would be left. They could ask for resources and protection for their new settlement from the Jedi or galaxy instead of manpower to back up their cause and help fight in a war. If Nield ACTUALLY cared about stopping the war and wasn't out for revenge, this would probably be the best choice.

But this possibility never gets brought up, ever, because Nield hates the Elders and wants "justice", Obi-Wan is too inexperienced to realize this is an option, and no one tells Qui-Gon until it's already too late and the Young have declared war on the Elders if they don’t agree to a cease-fire.

All of these options are a more Jedi way of handling the situation in my opinion. Unbiased and working towards actual peace and the end of violence instead of perpetuating it.

And as much as I love Obi-Wan and I know his heart is in the right place, Obi-Wan doesn't care about that, about doing things the Jedi way. Obi-Wan is very clearly taking a specific side in this conflict. I'm not going to put up all the screenshots I took because there are already a lot in this post (and there are. so many more i could put up), but I have quite a few where it's explicit that Obi-Wan is not taking the side of the Young because it's the objectively correct thing to do, but because he likes them. He feels a sense of community with them. He wants to help them, not as a Jedi but as a friend. He is getting involved. Attached.

And, look, I'm not here to argue the morality of that choice. Choosing a different way of life isn't a failure or flaw. Helping your friends in whatever way you can is good. Wanting to stop war and reach for peace is right. There's probably a bunch of people who think Obi-Wan is making the right choice here, and while I might disagree, I can certainly see where they're coming from. I just feel like there's a huge misconception of what actually happened on this planet and what Qui-Gon’s ultimatum is actually about.

Obi-Wan has snuck out time and again to help the Young.

Obi-Wan has used their starfighter, their ONLY transport off the planet, to help the Young on a mission that could very well have shot down the ship. They could have ended up stranded on this planet and might have lead to Tahl's, the rescued Jedi's, death.

Obi-Wan has not been acting like a Jedi. Qui-Gon knows this. Obi-Wan knows this. And in that moment, Qui-Gon is telling him "helping and supporting the Young in such a personal and attached manner is not the way of the Jedi. Do you want to continue on this path?"

And Obi-Wan makes his choice.

(And if anyone tries to argue that Qui-Gon should have brought Obi-Wan with him anyway instead of letting him stay on a war-torn planet, I'm going to start screaming. Yeah, no shit. In the real world, that's probably how he should have reacted.

But this isn't the real world. It's a kid's book. Where kids are the main characters and they go into dangerous situations. So the children reading can see themselves in them and learn how to be brave. How to navigate difficult situations. To learn it's okay to choose a path and maybe realize at some point it isn't what you wanted at all.)

[diegoluna2000s]

[coreyvuitton]

Lil’ Kim, Source Magazine Photoshoot, 2004

By Sheryl Nields 

Ultra HD