#shevla

[ermakeys]

An Essential Aspect Of Gravity Is Not Being Afraid To Fall

This is the final chapter, chapter 5.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

AO3

Chapter 5: Beyond

A final message.

An image of Kaert sprang to life.

Kaert sat in a recliner chair with his feet up and Vaar’ika, stretched out beside him. He smiled as his trembling hands, ran over Vaar’ika’s head and neck. He looked frail and tired, but alive.

“I’ve set up the droid, father,” a voice announced. The speaker was out of view of the camera and Kaert looked up with a small frown. “I have some work to do, so I will go into my office and return in an hour.”

Kaert shook his head and muttered, “I don’t see why I should make this. I’ll be off-world again soon.”

“You promised you’d only leave if your health improved,” the feminine voice continued in a stern tone. “If your health continues to deteriorate, you’ll thank me for having made this for Aran.”

He grimacede and the woman off-frame sighed. Dimly the sound of footsteps and a door opening and closing could be heard and Kaert grumbled under his breath for a moment before rubbing a hand over his face. He focused on the camera and made another face.

“My name is Kaert of House Rovhoss,” he declared in a slightly petulant tone. “I am making this recording in case my health does not improve and my daughter does not want to be the one to explain everything to my grandchild why I did what I did.”

He smirked.

“Aran, by the time you see this you’ll be a fully recognized member of House Rovhoss. Mandalore will have gained a new warrior that the Duchess will need to be wary of,” he drawled and scoffed at the mention of the ruler of Mandalore. “They won’t be pleased when they see you wearing your beskar, but kark them. House Rovhoss is powerful enough thanks to our role in the war that the current government can complain and that will be all they can do. The New Mandalorians are such hypocrites. Only marginally better than Death Watch.”

Kaert glanced down at Vaar’ika and smiled softly. He rubbed her head and murmured, “When my part in the war was over, I was lost for a while. Vaar’ika helped ground me and yet I felt like I had no purpose. Until you hid on my porch, Aran.

After years of just surviving, I felt alive when I took care of you. I helped forge you into the warrior you became to hunt the monsters that dared darken your life. I had direction and the fire to help change something again.”

He looked up at the camera again with a grin.

“Without you, I would have faded away. I would have been nothing more than a forgotten name in the Rovhoss family register. Remembered only by my daughter and perhaps Jango and his son.”

Kaert let out a bark of laughter, loud enough to startled Vaar’ika. He shushed her, rubbing at her ears until she settled down again and he chuckled, “Boba is a little firecracker just like you. I think you’d get along very well.”

He fell silent for a moment, smiling to himself.

“My fondest memories are of Shevla and you, Aran,” he admitted and lowered his gaze. “Shevla gave me the courage to fight for what I believed in to secure her a future. You needed someone to help you become strong enough to fight your demons.”

He cleared his throat and avoided looking at the camera.

“Both of you have grown to become wonderful and strong children of Mandalore. I am proud to call myself a father and grandfather to both of you.”

He swallowed, opening and closing his mouth a few times.

“And that was also why I had to do this quietly,” he continued, voice cracking with emotions. “I know you have… mixed feelings about Mandalore. By having you become a foundling to Shevla, you will have the right to return to Mandalore, if you ever chose to.”

Kaert slowly raised his gaze to meet the camera and his eyes were wet with unshed tears.

“I am old, Aran. Just like Vaar’ika. Shevla has made a name for herself here and secured our house. You have your friends and connections all over the galaxy and I can’t keep up with you anymore. If anything should happen or you ever need aid, I need to know that someone of mine will be there for you. As a full member of House Rovhoss you gain more rights and protections than you had before.”

He snorted, wiping at his eyes with one hand.

“And some responsibilities unfortunately.”

Kaert sat there for a few minutes, staring ahead and thinking. Finally, he shook his head and grinned.

“Hopefully, you’ll never have to see this silly recording Shevla made me do,” he drawled with a roll of his eyes before sobering with a deep breath. “If you do, well, I will know you forever. I will keep both of you in my heart even beyond this life.”

He sat up with a grunt and frowned at the camera.

“I will attach a file to this recording for you, Aran,” he explained as he pulled a datachip from his pocket. He waved and the camera rolled closer before stopping before him. Kaert fiddled with something before there was a chime of something having been uploaded. “Shevla would find this information interesting, but ultimately useless as she never fully trained in the way of the warrior like you did.”

Kaert smirked down at the camera.

“Just consider this a little gift from your grandfather. Something you could use to change this galaxy for the better if you chose to. No one would miss Death Watch anyway.”

He stared into the camera with a smirk.

The recording shut off.

[kotorswtor]

Nauri and Des, absolutely, sign me up for muscular otter wife and general shenanigans (the military rank but also just, you know, generally). After that I would actually be extremely curious about a Shevlah route.

Yesssss. I feel like one of the fun things about both Nauri and Des is that you can swing a stick anywhere and hit about five dudes with a very similar overview of tropes/attributes, but it’s a lot harder to find women who are doing the “low-key, practical, conscientious, married to my job but also 100% devoted to you” thing or the “overgrown twelve-year-old boy with hidden reserves of competence and maturity” thing. A Shev romance would be unconventional in the extreme/not everyone’s cuppa. Along with her sensory processing/integration and social difficulties, and that silently, invisibly following you around is her primary love language, she’s ace as heck and may meet certain definitions of aromantic (full disclosure: for my personal mileage, the difference between a super-close platonic friendship and a romantic relationship with no sexual component turns into Zeno’s Paradox very quickly). People who are up for meeting her where she lives rather than expecting a romance to transmogrify her into a completely different person are in for a sweet, strange, more-zoological-trivia-than-your-body-has-room-for time.

[enewsedition]

Boost your immunity with this seasonal, hyperlocal Maharashtrian sabzi

Boost your immunity with this seasonal, hyperlocal Maharashtrian sabzi

[ad_1]

By: Lifestyle Desk | New Delhi | Updated: July 28, 2020 12:30:16 pm

Learn how to make this special seasonal bhaji this monsoon. (Rekha Diwekar/Instagram; designed by Gargi Singh)

Since there is a lot of conversation around eating local and seasonal along with traditional foods to boost immunity and overall health, there is nothing…

[todaynewsadda]

Here’s why indigenous produce is garnering more attention during the pandemic

Here’s why indigenous produce is garnering more attention during the pandemic

[ad_1]

Tendli, shevla, phodsi, kantola or potol — rarely do we see these desivegetables on a restaurant menu. However, because of the current pandemic, locally grown vegetables are making a dashing debut. With international, and even national, supply chain networks collapsing under the lockdowns, procuring exotic ingredients has become increasingly difficult. As a result, chefs are exploring…

[ermakeys]

An Essential Aspect Of Gravity Is Not Being Afraid To Fall

This is Chapter 4.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

AO3

Chapter 4: Mandalore

The bro squad goes to Mandalore and Aran realizes life isn't fair.

The firespray was silent.

Aran sat on the floor of the passenger area, arms resting on their knees and staring straight ahead. They felt so… empty. And full at the same time. So, they sat here. Hoping that it would all go away. That the storm would pass.

Just like when they were little.

They didn’t acknowledged the quiet footsteps of someone approaching. They didn’t react when someone sat down next to them, their shoulder touching Aran’s. They just sat there.

The silence stretched on.

Like the quiet before the storm.

Aran shuddered at that thought. Reminded them too much of the time before their ba’buir. The time before Kaert.

“I don’t want to go back to Mandalore,” they whispered and whoever sat beside them made a humming noise. Aran swallowed, trying to get the words out. They felt like they were choking on them, but they had to come out or they would suffocate under the pressure. “There are too many memories from… from before my ba’buir adopted me. I can’t, but I need-.”

Aran made a strangled noise, bowing their head and resting their helmeted head in their hands. An arm was carefully placed around their shoulders and Aran shuddered under the touch. They didn’t know if they wanted to lean in or rip themself away.

“The New Mandalorians won’t let me into their city,” they rasped and tried to curl up even smaller. “They’ll think I’m Death Watch because I refuse to take off my helmet. And it doesn’t matter how I feel about the karking planet, they won’t let me enter because I’m a True Mandalorian.”

They squeezed their eyes shut.

Their ba’buir had raised them in the fashion of the True Mandalorians. Keeping the helmet on wasn’t one of the tenants of the Super Commando Codex. It was something Aran had chosen for themself. A shield against the world. A shield to protect themself against anything and anyone. They just couldn’t.

“I can try making a few calls. I’m sure the rulers of Mandalore would like to be on the good side of a potential chancellor.”

Chad.

Aran scoffed and their hands curled into fists. The ‘New Mandalorians’ wouldn’t allow it. They were too pleased with themselves and their new form of government that they didn’t even see their own flaws or how rigid and uncompromising they were. No wonder they had problems like Death Watch breathing down their necks.

“Hey, we’ll find a way, Aran,” Chad murmured, giving a light tug. Slowly, Aran slumped into Chad’s side and allowed their friend to wrap both arms around them. “We’ll talk with Purse and Kit when we get close and think of something.”

Chad laughed and shook both of them with the force of his laughter.

“I mean, look at us, bro! Together we helped defeat a sith lord from taking over the galaxy! How hard can it be to enter Sundari?”

Aran couldn’t laugh. They would have before, but with their ba’buir gone now… It felt like all laughter had been sucked out of their chest.

“Why do you think he didn’t tell me?”

They felt Chad take a deep breath beside them.

“I don’t know, bro. You’d know your ba’buir better than I would, but maybe he didn’t want to worry you? Fett said that your ba’buir was missing home.”

Aran snarled, pushing Chad away. They scrambled to their feet and growled, “If he didn’t want me to worry, he shouldn’t have just disappeared! I need him! He can’t just-! I can’t-!”

Aran roared and clutched at their helmeted head, panting and trembling. Keep it together. They had to keep it together. Control. They had to be in control.

“How can he just choose to enter my life and then leave?” Aran demanded and began to stalk back and forth as Chad stood up as well. They pounded a fist against their chest as their voice rose in volume. “He saved me from a father who beat me and a mother who manipulated me! He and Jango were the only ones I had after ba’buir took me away! He named me his child! Helped me choose my name and gave me this karking armor! He taught me everything!”

Aran spotted the pair of pale green canes and grabbed them in one hand before hurling them to the floor and roared, “I fought and bled for him! I would die for him! I love him as my true ba’buir!”

The canes clattered against the durasteel floor and Aran stood over them as they howled, “Did it mean nothing!? Why would he abandon me now? I need him!”

Their chest heaved as they sucked in air. Their entire form shook as they stared down at the pair of green canes. Hidden spears. A gift for helping a village that had been terrorized by a cruel bounty hunter. Aran had hunted down the bounty hunter themself with minimal help from their ba’buir. Kaert had been so proud.

“I need him…” Aran whispered and wrapped their arms around themself. Anything to try and stop the tremors as sobs tried to force their way out. They squeezed their eyes shut in attempt to stop the tears, but they wouldn’t stop. They leaned into Chad when they felt his arms come around them again. “I need my ba’buir, Chad. I’m afraid to face the world without him.”

“We’re here for you, Aran,” Chad mumbled and Aran tightened their grip on him. If they could, they would burrow into him. Hide somewhere where the galaxy couldn’t hurt them again.

“We’re approaching Mandalore,” Kit called from the cockpit and Aran flinched in Chad’s arms. Slowly, they pulled themself away from Chad until the only thing connecting them was Aran’s hand curled in his. They reached for a handle and held on as the ship exited hyperspace with a shudder.

“I’ll find a way for you to be able to enter Sundari, Aran,” Chad promised, tightening his grasp on Aran’s hand. He smiled brightly when Aran scoffed weakly. “Trust me, bro!”

—

Aran thought they were going to pass out when the ramp lowered and they stepped out of their firespray. The glaring sun of Sundari and the arid air made them shudder and they stared at the sight of the Mandalorian city in front of them. Despite being under a dome to shelter the inhabitants from the desert and sun, it was warm.

The sight was revolting.

“Not as hot as Tatooine,” Purse commented as he followed down the ramp, looking around curiously. Chad and Purse had forgone their helmets and Kit followed without his billowing jedi cloak. “Looks nice enough.”

Aran let out a mirthless chuckle.

“Don’t let the pretty veneer fool you,” Aran drawled and narrowed their eyes when they saw their welcoming committee enter the dock they had landed in. “The New Mandalorians may preach peace, but they are just as corrupt and easily twisted as anyone else.”

Kit tilted his head in honest curiosity and asked, “Didn’t the New Mandalorians advocate for peace? Isn’t peace preferable over constant bloodshed?”

“Death Watch was too violent. The New Mandalorians claim they only want peace,” Aran muttered as the welcoming committee came closer. They stepped back to stand behind Kit and slightly to his right. “Yet the True Mandalorians won the Great Clan Wars. All while preaching peace.”

“Welcome to Sundari,” the official leading the welcoming committee declared with a nervous smile. He was flanked by two guards, but despite that protection, he fiddled nervously with his hands. “Duchess Satine could not great Kenobi’s envoys herself, but wishes you have a pleasant stay here.”

Kit folded his hands in the sleeves of his robes and smiled pleasantly.

“Thank you for the warm welcome. It is appreciated.”

The two smiled at each other. And waited. Aran would have been amused by how nervous the official became as Kit simply smiled patiently. Kit had the patience of a sarlacc and could probably outlast all of them if he put his mind to it.

“My apologies, master jedi,” the official stammered with a stuttering laugh. “What is your destination? My orders were to guide you within the city.”

Kit waved one hand and said, “There is no need. I have a guide with me.”

Aran stiffened when the official’s eyes flicked over to them. His expression soured a little as he frowned and he argued, “I don’t think our people would feel easy letting a member of Death Watch-.”

“They’re not Kyr’tsad,” Purse interrupted the official with a sneer. The official’s eyes widened when Purse stalked closer and jabbed a finger at his chest with each following word. “Just. Because. Someone. Wears. Beskar. Doesn’t. Mean. They’re. Kyr’tsad.”

The guards started to move and Purse glared up at them as if daring them to touch him. Until Chad pulled him back and the two began to bicker in hushed whispers. Kit reached back to place a hand on Aran’s shoulder and declared, “Thank you for your kind offer, but as you see we have everything covered.”

The official opened his mouth to say something, but Kit breezed past him, tugging lightly at Aran to follow. They stuck close to Kit’s side as Chad and Purse walked after them and Aran glanced back in time to see Purse make a rude gesture at the official who let out an indignant squeak. That made the frown under their helmet lighten a little and a small smile twitch into place.

“So, where are we headed?” Chad asked as they exited the dock. Aran stared into the busy streets of Sundari around them. The architecture of Sundari was tall and square with sharp edges. Many of the designs evoked old Mandalorian patterns and imagery, but at the same time the shielded dome made Aran want to curl in on themself. It felt suffocating.

“Jango said to take a speeder to these coordinates within the city,” Aran said and led their friends to the closest speeder taxi. Aran gave the address to the driver while the rest of them piled in. It had to be a rather strange sight for him, but he stared a moment and then filtered into traffic.

“I still can’t believe you’re on a first name basis with Fett,” Purse grumbled from where he was squeezed between Kit and Chad. He leaned forward to peer around Kit and glared at Aran. “You’d think that might be something you’d tell us. I never saw you even twitch or react in any way to us clones.”

Aran shrugged and drawled, “Why should I have? Yes, you might look like Jango, but you’re all different individuals.”

Chad laughed from his seat and asked, “How did you get to know him?”

“My ba’buir introduced us,” Aran slowly admitted, hands curling into fists. Thinking of that time made their heartrate pick up. There were good memories, but mostly bad ones of that time. Kit seemed to sense their tension and wrapped one of their hands in his. “Helped me with my training and then helped Kaert… ‘adopt’ me.”

Purse frowned at Aran’s tone.

“Why does ‘adopt’ sound like Kaert and Fett kidnapped you?”

“I was willing to, but my guardians were not willing to let me go,” Aran explained with a sneer under their helmet. “Ba’buir and Jango didn’t give them a choice.”

The speeder taxi slowed and Aran and their friends peered outside. And stared.

“Is this the right place?” Chad asked, leaning across Purse and Kit to look out Aran’s window.

“Excuse me,” Kit called to the driver. “What is this place?”

The driver gave them a confused look before he said, “The Sundari archives. These are the coordinates you gave me.”

Aran opened the door and stepped out, staring up at the large building. It reminded them of the entrance of the jedi temple with the steps leading up except instead of the banner of the jedi hanging in front there was a mural of Mandalorian history along the sides of the entrance and the top. Unlike the jedi temple, there were no guards at the entrance of the archives. Instead, to Aran’s surprise, they spotted a pair of strill lounging at the top of the steps.

“Alright, why did your ba’buir come to a library?” Chad asked and Aran shrugged. His guess was just as good as theirs. They’d never learned everything about their ba’buir. This was turning into one of those mysteries for them to solve.

Aran climbed the steps with their friends and kept a careful eye on the two strill at the front. Behind them, they could hear Purse and Chad make gagging noises and they glanced back to see them covering their noses with their hands. Purse gagged and demanded, “How can you stand the smell of those?”

They passed the two strill that barely acknowledged them with anymore than a slow blink of their drowsy eyes and Aran drawled, “I lived with one for a long time, but usually human men tend to find the smell of them very unpleasant.”

“Unpleasant is such an understatement, bro.”

They stepped through the great open doors of the archives and looked around. Rows and rows of archive shelves filled a great hall with tables scattered throughout and people browsing the archives. At the front, a circular reception table was manned by two archivists and Aran stepped up to them. The two glanced up from their work and did a double-take at the sight of the four of them.

A Mandalorian in full armor which hadn’t been seen in Sundari since the Great Clan Wars, two clones and a jedi. Somewhere that was probably the beginning of a joke.

“I am looking for Rovhoss,” Aran stated and the two archivists wary expressions shifted to surprise. They glanced at each other and Aran tensed. What did that look mean? Why had their wary looks changed?

“Of course,” the female receptionist said with a small smile. She at least still looked a little nervous looking up at them. “And you are a friend? Relative?”

Aran blinked a few times, staring silently.

“Child.”

Why did that answer seem to make the receptionists even more nervous? The female receptionist jumped to her feet, bowing and exclaimed, “Oh! We’ll let Archivist Rovhoss know you’re here right away. Until then, my colleague here will take you to one of our conference rooms.”

Said colleague paled at her words as she made a shooing gesture at him and he hurried to step out from behind the circular reception desk. His hand shook as he gestured ahead of himself and squeaked, “If you don’t mind following me!”

Aran glanced back at confused looking Chad, Purse and Kit. What the kark was going on? They followed the receptionist through the archives as he babbled, “The Sundari archives are relatively new in the grand scheme of things as you can probably tell. The city itself was rebuilt multiple times in the last few generations as the wars tore not only our society but also our homes apart.”

He glanced back at Aran with a nervous smile and added, “It is thanks to House Rovhoss that we even have an archive that dates back as far back as it does. The Duchess is always most grateful for the support House Rovhoss provides her and the people of Sundari by granting them free access.”

Aran followed silently and Kit lengthened his stride to walk beside them. They leaned close as the receptionist continued about the state of the archives and whispered, “Did you know about House Rovhoss?”

They shook their head and muttered, “Ba’buir gave me his house name. We never talked about any other family members. It brought back… painful memories.”

Kit opened his mouth to answer when the receptionists comm chimed and he listened to it for a moment. The receptionist turned into a new direction and said, “My apologies, Archivist Rovhoss said she would receive you immediately.”

She? Aran glanced at Kit who frowned as well. Finally, Aran gave a small shrug. They would get answers from this archivist.

The receptionist took them through a locked door after typing in a key, leaving the great hall and they walked through a smaller hall with fewer people. Aran blinked in surprise when they spotted a few strill lounging in the smaller hall at the feet of archivists working or sprawled across the floor. The door the receptionist took them too even had a strill painted on with sharp eyes watching over a tome.

Somebody liked strill a lot.

The painted door opened after the receptionist pressed a button and Aran followed him into a large office. They stopped just inside to take a moment to take in the busy room. Books, scrolls, datapads and artifacts littered any surface in the office filled with shelves on each wall.

The large desk was no exception where an older woman looked up from a datapad she had been looking at. Her graying hair was pulled back into a high ponytail that draped over her shoulder onto her magenta robes. Her stern frown lightened a little when she spotted Aran and their companions before she scowled again and said, “You may leave, Orn. Thank you.”

Orn the receptionist looked relieved and fled the office and the door slid shut behind him. The room fell silent. The woman stared at them and Aran stared right back. They didn’t know how to react. They’d asked for Rovhoss, but who was she? They twitched when she demanded, “Judging by your appearance and companions, I can assume you are Aran, correct?”

Aran inclined their head slowly and said, “I am. I had asked for Rovhoss at the reception, but I do not know who you are.”

She wrinkled her nose at their words and scoffed, muttering something under her breath. She stepped around her desk and waving at the four of them to find a seat on the two couches and chair that were littered with books and datapads, declared, “It does not surprise me. Kaert always was tight-lipped. For good reason, but sometimes it made me want to beat the information out of him.”

Aran who had been halfway to sitting down on a couch with Chad, froze at the mention of their ba’buir’s name. She had moved a book from her cushioned chair to her desk and sat down, crossing a leg and folding her hands in her lap with an expectant look. Aran sat down as Kit and Purse occupied the other couch and asked, “How do you know Kaert?”

The woman raised a brow and drawled, “Manners, ad’ika. I believe introductions are in order first.”

Aran sneered under their helmet at her words, but Kit leaned forward with a smile.

“My name is Kit Fisto,” he introduced himself and her sharp gaze moved from Aran to the Nautolan jedi. “These are our friends, Chad and Purse. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance…”

He trailed off with a small gesture towards her. She considered him with a haughty expression and answered, “I am Shevla Rovhoss, director of the Sundari archives.”

Her gaze returned to settle on Aran and they tensed under her scrutiny.

“And to answer your question: I am Kaert’s daughter.”

It felt like the floor disappeared beneath Aran’s feet. Their heart lurched and it felt like their armor was pressing down on them. They struggled to hold their composure.

“He… daughter?” Aran managed to choke out. A daughter. Kaert had a daughter. A family beyond Aran that they hadn’t known about. That Kaert had never talked about.

They felt small and fearful like a child. Like the child they had left behind all those years ago when Kaert had taken Aran away. Had Kaert not… trusted them? Why would he hide this from them? Why…?

“I can tell he told you nothing. The old fool could never let old habits go,” Shevla grumbled with a dark scowl. She shook her head with a heavy sigh. “During the war, our house held a neutral position, but my buir believed in the Jester Mereel of the True Mandalorians. It was arranged that my buir would become a double agent.”

Her fingers began to drum across her knee as her eyes took on a distant look.

“The New Mandalorians believed he was their spy when he was fleecing them for every piece of intel they had. When the True Mandalorians were broken…”

Shevla’s voice trailed off and he hands curled into fists. Aran felt their own insides turn cold with anger. They could remember the story. Their ba’buir had told it often enough as a cautionary tale. They had seen the sorrow in Kaert’s eyes. Shevla’s identical eyes turned hard with her own anger and she snarled, “Kaert wasn’t there when the True Mandalorians were destroyed. He blamed himself and decided to leave and grieve for the fallen. We decided it was better not to be in touch in case the New Mandalorians decided he was a traitor after all.”

“And then he found me,” Aran breathed and Shevla nodded. They felt like they were shaking. It made sense. Kaert not saying anything made sense and yet they could still feel their chest aching with a mixture of hurt and betrayal. “Where is he?”

Shevla flinched and Aran straightened, alarmed. She took a deep breath and murmured, “He came here to ask me for a favor. Buir wanted to surprise you once it was done, but…”

Her words faltered as her expression twisted into one of grief and for the second time in the conversation Aran felt like the floor vanished under their feet.

“Kaert won’t wake up anymore.”

—

The med droid fled the room the moment Aran appeared in the doorway with Shevla and their friends. Shevla stepped inside to look over the monitor and ran a hand over the strill’s head that lay at the foot of the hospital bed. The ancient strill didn’t even lift her head. Just whined and her tail flopped a few times.

Aran couldn’t take their eyes off of Kaert.

Their ba’buir.

He lay in his hospital bed, connected to a machine that breathed for him. Aran remembered him being larger than life with an easy smirk and loud laugh. Now he was silent and so… small.

Tiny. Fragile.

“Aran.”

They flinched at the quiet murmur beside them and glanced to the side to see Kit take their hand and give it a squeeze. They were shaking within their armor. They couldn’t speak. Something clogged their throat and no sound could come out. Kit squeezed Aran’s hand again and asked, “How can we help?”

How could they help?

Aran wanted their ba’buir back. They wanted him to wake up and explain why he hadn’t said anything. They wanted to get him up out of that bed and hug him and…

“Don’t…” Aran started in a weak whisper and swallowed when their voice broke. “Don’t let anyone else in.”

Kit nodded and released Aran’s hand as they took a small step further into the room. The door slid shut behind them and Aran tapped the controls of the room, so the windows darkened and no one could look in or out.

They took another small step forward and stopped at the foot of the bed. Hands shaking, they pulled off one glove and held it up to the strill’s nose. Her nose twitched and Aran whispered, “Hey Vaar’ika.”

Vaar’ika raised her head and gave Aran’s head a lick with a quiet whine, tail trying to wag. She had already been old when Kaert and Aran had met. Now she was ancient.

Just like Kaert.

“Father inherited Vaar’ika when his grandfather passed,” Shevla said in a quiet tone, switching to Mando’a now that they were alone. She trailed a hand over Vaar’ika’s pelt as the strill settled down again, already exhausted from greeting Aran.

They swallowed, trying to remove the lump in their throat and moved further up the bed to stand beside Kaert. Their bare hand took Kaert’s and their knees almost gave out when they felt how cold and bony Kaert’s hand was. They tightened their grip on him and gasped, “Why did he just disappear? Why didn’t he say anything?”

“He wanted to surprise you.”

Aran whipped their visor up to Shevla and snarled, “What could have been so important that he couldn’t tell me?”

Shevla didn’t even flinch at Aran’s harsh tone. Just like Kaert. He hadn’t ever been intimidated by any of Aran’s bluster either. She took Kaert’s free hand and said, “Father came to me three weeks ago and told me about you. Told me all these stories about a child he had saved and how much joy you had brought him after losing nearly all of his friends to the war.”

Aran nearly buckled at her words, but Shevla didn’t notice. She was looking down at Kaert, tears filling her eyes.

“He wanted to officially register you as part of house Rovhoss,” she explained with a watery smile and Aran inhaled sharply at her words. “He asked me to adopt you, so you would be registered as a direct descendant of his. To gain all the rights of a citizen of Mandalore. A true foundling after the old traditions.”

Kaert had claimed them as his foundling. Had always said they were his grandchild. They had avoided Mandalore though and Aran had never thought about or known that they could be registered as a member of house Rovhoss.

Aran shook their head and whispered, “I don’t need that. I just want my grandfather.”

“He’s not going to wake up, ad’ika.”

They flinched at Shevla’s words and slowly curled themself up over Kaert’s hand, resting their forehead against Kaert’s shoulder. They knew that. Shevla had explained the attack Kaert had a few days after he had arrived on Mandalore. They could see it now as they hovered over Kaert, silent tears rolling down their face as they clung to his hand.

They knew Kaert wasn’t waking up.

“I can’t let go,” Aran choked out and felt their entire form shudder. “Without him, I can’t… I can’t…”

They jumped when they felt a hand land on the back of their neck and Shevla declared, “You are not alone. Kaert made sure of that. You have an entire Mandalorian house at your back. You have Kaert’s old friends that survived the war and even I can tell that you have three wonderful friends standing outside that would do anything for you.”

Aran bit their lip to keep from sobbing loudly.

Shevla removed her hand and Aran heard her step away as she said, “I’ll give you some time alone with father. I will wait outside with your friends, ad’ika.”

The door opened and closed and except for the machines keeping Kaert alive, it was silent for several long minutes. Aran straightened and ripped off their helmet, dropping it on the floor. They pressed Kaert’s hand to their face and sobbed, “You fucking bastard. You should have said something.”

They cried, clinging to Kaert’s hand and wishing things were different.

“I wanted to introduce you to my friends,” Aran gasped, trying to wipe some of the tears away from their face. “Kit is sharp like you and Chad is too kind for his own good. Purse is a dumbass, but would do anything for his friends.”

They gulped in a breath as the words tumbled from them.

“Cody is like a big brother and Fox terrifies me like you and Jango did when I got into mischief. I also met Fives, Tup, Sister, Omega and some more jedi though I’m not sure how fond of them you’d be.”

Aran raised their gaze to look at Kaert’s still form and feeling their chest constrict at the sight, whispered, “I helped defeat a sith that was trying to ruin the galaxy. Not much time to hunt monsters since, but I’m helping my friends choose a chancellor for the Republic. They mean so much to me.”

Their face twisted with guilt and they bowed their head.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I don’t know what I’ll do without you,” they wept and heard Vaar’ika whine. They raised their head to see the strill had raised her head and plopped it closer to them. Large brown eyes stared back up at them and a fresh wave of tears rolled down their face as they placed a hand on her head. “Both of you.”

Vaar’ika blinked slowly at Aran before lifting her head again and turning to look at the closed door. She glanced back at Aran before looking back at the door.

Where their friends waited.

Their friends.

Chad, Purse and Kit. The friends they trusted the most. The ones they would lay down their own life for. Do anything for.

Beyond that lay Coruscant. Where many of their other friends waited for them to return to. Aran wanted to finish helping Cody and Fox dismantle the system that oppressed clones. Ensure Omega got to enjoy her childhood. Let Fives and Tup recover from their ordeal at the hands of the sith.

On Tatooine Aran also had Jango. A friend to reminisce with about the many adventures they had gone on with Kaert. To share stories and their grief.

And here on Mandalore.

Aran couldn’t help but flinch. Mandalore held many dark memories and at the same time… It was where they met Kaert. Met Vaar’ika. Trained with Jango.

It was now also the home of their house. The home of Shevla Rovhoss who had welcomed them with open arms because she loved and trusted her father. Trust did not come easily to Aran anymore, but the people Kaert had brought into their life had been true.

This entire trip. Kit, Purse and Chad had all proven over and over again that they weren’t alone. That Aran didn’t have to face their fears on their own.

Something clever Vaar’ika had instantly picked up on as tired and weak as she was.

Aran shot Vaar’ika a watery smile and rubbed the top of her head with their hand.

“You’re always so karking smart, Vaar’ika,” they grumbled and turned back to look at Kaert. Seeing him like this hurt unbelievably, but they leaned forward to press their forehead to Kaert’s. “There is nothing I can say to express my gratitude or devotion to you.”

They straightened and smiled even as tears rolled down their cheeks.

“You saved me. Taught me everything I know. It is thanks to you that I get to live the life I choose. A life devoted to bettering the lives of others. Just like you.”

Aran reached down and picked up their helmet before slipping it and their glove back on. They pressed Kaert’s hand to their forehead and whispered, “I swear to keep fighting. To keep protecting others, like you named me. A life in service to others.”

They rubbed their gloved hand over Vaar’ika’s head one last time before stepping away from the hospital bed. They swallowed thickly and said, “I won’t be strong enough to come back here, but I think if you trusted Shevla enough to come here, you’ll be in good hands with her.”

Aran tried to swallow down the lump in their throat.

“I will know you forever, grandfather.”

[kotorswtor]

OC fact swap: Michaeli's trained with saberstaves as well as regular ones, even though she doesn't prefer them.

Shevla can use lightsabers of varying types but prefers not to. They emit light, vibration, and noise, which both hecks around with her sensory issues and is the total opposite of stealthy. Her weapons of choice are ordinary analog knives.

[kotorswtor]

Des 1-5, Ellekai 6-10, Shev 11-15

I answered parts of this and had them eaten about three times. Here’s the whole thing. Under an RM because llllaaonnnnng

Des

1. Does your character have any idea of where they might be in ten years?

Des hopes her military-strategic talents will be obsolete in ten years. If they aren’t, she’ll be in a command-and-control role on big interforce military actions. If they are, she’ll be shepherding a clan of Jedi initiates at the Temple.

2. How does your character regard their appearance?

She doesn’t much. Other than occasional jokes about working on her HELLA MUSCLES or how no one will ever make a jacket with enough pockets for her, she’s pretty cheerfully uncouth and unconcerned.

3. Would your character rather receive traditional scientific medical treatment, or Force healing?

Force healing is what she’s accustomed to and she’ll default to it, all other things being equal. But she recognizes that certain medical or logistical situations make one a better choice than the other, and will select accordingly.

4. What are your character’s views on romance; how, if at all, do they approach the subject?

Her Massani-influenced Jedi take on things is that romance is one of the big handful of close, intense ways of relating to other people that gets fraught with complications when your job requires you to be focused, impartial, and away from home doing dangerous stuff most of the time. Can it be done without hurting either party or a spectacular dark side swandive? Sure. Is it for everyone? Naw. Do you need to serious about priorities and boundaries and good communication in a way that people who don’t have your job can afford to not be sometimes? Hell yeah.  

Des liked Aur. Des made it really blatantly obvious that Des liked Aur, and then Des sat on things and let Aur decide what, if anything, he wanted to do about it.

5. What’s the dumbest injury your character has ever received?

Fractured clavicle from falling off of a riskily-modified swoop bike

Ellekai

6. What is the worst thing your character believes about themself?

Training and time entirely aside, she still carries around a lot of her early mentors’ (and other influences like her parents’) fears that she’s out-of-control and inevitably likely to hurt people.

7. What’s the silliest thing your character has ever done?

She’s usually self-conscious about dancing. But when Loren II shows up on an impromptu visit and starts Pied-pipering his way around the Temple courtyard, she, apropos of nothing, drops everything to join him.

8. How much emotion does your character tend to display, and how do they display it?

Ellekai keeps herself on a very tight rein. If she doesn’t, her affective foo tends to leak out and influence the people around her in unpredictable ways.

9. How much sleep does your character tend to get?

It’s feast or famine. Under four hours (sometimes none at all depending on conditions; she can substitute meditation for sleep in the short term) or over ten at a shot.

10. How does your character treat people they dislike?

Merely dislike? Depends. In a srs bsns situation, no one would know the difference. When nothing important is at stake, she’ll be more tactless and unsparing than normal by an order of magnitude.

Shev

11. What does your character look for in a friend?

Gentleness. Patience. Interest in the obscure and overlooked.

12. Does your character readily express what they need and want to others?

It usually takes others a while to calibrate to Shev’s means of expressing herself, but that’s consistent enough that people understand her.

13. What are your character’s musical preferences?

Stuff that’s low-key, unobtrusive and a little amusical/noisy/random. Think Psybient/Psychill/Ambient Trance.

14. What’s the best thing someone could give your character?

Companionship and positive regard are way up there. Expressing interest in things she likes is another good one. Basically when your friend wants to show you the havraps drying their wings on the exhaust vent, you go look at the thing.

15. How does your character handle embarrassment?

Unplanned Force-cloaking or other means of hiding. 

[kotorswtor]

For Shev’la, 6, 7, 12, and 15

6. Can your character use any weapons other than their canonical class weapon? What do they prefer?

It took me a million years to roll a Jedi Shadow because I hate polesabers on general principle. Shevla can use one, but you’re a lot more likely to see her with shorter weapons that are easier to conceal and faster to get into position. Paired shoto/wakizashi-length sabers are one option. She likes conventional vibros even better because they don’t shed light or make a lot of noise. 

7. What would your character do with a ship full of gizkas?Watch with great interest while they went about the business of taking up every available space, multiplying with alacrity and eating everything in sight. Learn to talk to and move like them. Bring close friends to watch them do things that people don’t usually get to see.

12. What kind of food does your character prefer?She’s not incredibly picky, outside of the obligate-carnivore thing that comes with being a zabrak. The feral child background means that the habit of protecting her food and her space to eat it in, with violence if necessary, was a hard habit to break. She still mostly prefers to eat alone.

15. What is the most harmless thing your character is afraid ofShe’s got sensory-defensive widginess around flashing or strobing lights and mechanical noise. Coping with extended periods of space travel can be a challenge.

[kotorswtor]

Des 1-4, FSCK 5-7, Shev 12-15

Apologies to mobile users, this is going to get long.

Udesla1. Where, if anywhere, would your character want to keep a permanent residence?Des is a lot more keyed in to her animate surroundings than inanimate ones, but all other things being equal, places with a lot of interesting features to inspect and explore (read: climb on) are probably going to be her favorite.

2. How much personal space does your character generally need?No personal space. Negative personal space. Other people’s personal space. She’s respectful of peoples’ stated boundaries, but she doesn’t have many of her own. 

3. What does your character believe happens after death? If they’re Force-sensitive, are they likely to leave a ghost?She tends to believe in disolution into oneness with the Force (or alternately, dissolution of the illusion that anyone can ever be anything other than one with the Force). She probably doesn’t choose to train in the spiritual tech for Force-Ghosting. Unless she’s got specific reason to believe that she’ll be needed outside of her probable lifespan, it implies a certain degree of neurotic attachment that she doesn’t natively have.

4. How good is your character at dealing with children?Regardless of her age, Des would probably tell you that she is a children. Her enthusiasm, energy, approachability, and talent for working productively with creative chaos mean that she’s at least as effective at herding younglings as she is as a field commander. As a grownup, she probably heads up clans of initiates when she’s not deployed in the field. 

FSCK5. How does your character relate to other species? Do they have any particular pride in their own species?FSCK was booted out of Ascendancy space largely because her curiosity exceeds acceptable cultural boundaries. She’s particularly drawn to things that are novel or weird, and that extends to how she relates to non-Chiss.See what I did there? There’s a normative assumption buried in that, one that she’s absolutely prey to. She carries a lot of implicit bias about Chiss as “default/normal,” and about there being certain things that Chiss are naturally better at doing with their brains than other species.

6. Can your character use any weapons other than their canonical class weapon? What do they prefer?She spends a lot of her time repairing bodies from encounters with weapons, and prefers not to use them if there’s any other feasible option at all. In addition to her constantly-changing set of blasters, she probably uses and does some prodigous mucking around with various kinds of KotOR-style personal energy shield tech. 

7. What would your character do with a ship full of gizkas?Contain them by whatever means she could, set up a vidfeed of them, and post it to the holonet. Make silly image macros and memes about them and paste them all over Space!4Chan.

Shevla12. What kind of food does your character prefer?She’s not incredibly picky, outside of the obligate-carnivore thing that comes with being a zabrak. The feral child background means that the habit of protecting her food and her space to eat it in, with violence if necessary, was a hard habit to break. She still mostly prefers to eat alone.

13. What’s your character like when sleep-deprived?The behavioral kluges that she’s worked up to appear “more socially normal” start breaking down when she’s low on energy. The big change that people tend to notice first is that she goes from “quiet” to “near-aphasic.” 

14. What does your character look for in a speeder or other kind of transport?Small form factor, as quiet as a thing that runs on a motor can possibly be, vibration damped down to the barest minimum, and absolutely no flashy lights. When they’re practical, she prefers animal mounts, because she knows how to “talk” to them. 

15. What is the most harmless thing your character is afraid ofShe’s got sensory-defensive widginess around flashing or strobing lights and mechanical noise. Coping with extended periods of space travel can be a challenge

[kotorswtor]

Nauri and Shevla!

Nauri’s here. so Shevla:

1. The color of their eyes.Grey-green

2. How old they are.Shevla was born in 11 BTC/3664 BBY.  She’s 22 as of the end of the class story.

3. One strange thing/quirk/defining characteristic of their body or physical appearance.When you see it, that is, which is a lot less often than when she’s present. 5’4”ish (tall, for a Massani!) and willowy. She likes robes with big hoods, lots of pockets, and gloves, mitts, or sleeves that go over her hands.

4. One strange thing/quirk/defining characteristic of their personalityLacking better options, she’ll sometimes convey her sense of the tone of a situation, or how she’s feeling, or what she wants to do with equivalent non-sentient animal noises.

5. How their parents met.Shev’s parents were both Tython-trained Jedi who withdrew to the interior of Iridonia to concentrate on studies of the Force and the local ecology about three years before Shev was born. Some time later, a hunting party from Wortan stumbled on a tumbledown settlement, the absence of parents, and a non-verbal nine-year old zabrak who seemed more like an angry ghost than a person.

6. Who their first love was, and why they loved themShev’s somewhere on the aro-spectrum; romance is not a way that she connects with people. On the other hand, she’s strongly, non-romantically attached to Coronis. That probably started because she instinctively identified with his difficulties around normal social functioning (even though his originate from a very different place than hers) and wanted to help.

7. How/why I came up with the concept for themI…was in the kindest, most ingratiating possible way “bullied” into playing a Shadow (the only Jedi AC I hadn’t rolled to date) despite a big aversion to saberstaves as a concept. ;) ebonhawksirens had already gotten me thinking about the use of Force Stealth to cope with social anxiety/sensory overload via one of her characters, and I had a sense of a character with a nerdy interest in zoology/ecology, who was going to have some struggle with putting her natural talents to use in an ethical way.

8. Who they eventually end up withIn the best of all possible worlds, a motley collection of chosen family.

9. Their favorite animal.Lots- she generally relates better to non-sentient than sentient beings, but Shev tends to gravitate toward monitor lizards like sleens, ferrazids, and varactyls in particular.

[kotorswtor]

So, just in case anyone was wondering, a dual-stealth team, gaining experience solely via class missions, during a 12XP period is probably the best of all possible leveling scenarios. Cor and Shev have knocked out the entirety of Act II in a handful of hours.

[kotorswtor]

azhuresunsoar replied to your post: Shev’s got a new outfit. Sleep tight, ...

that mask scares the crap outta me. it’s like a cross between a bug and “greys”, which have always creeped me the fuck out haha. BUT STILL, awesome outfit, even if I am freaked out. (and probably gonna have nightmares)

That's...exactly what I was going for. I mean, not that I want you, personally, to have nightmares, you're awesome! But the main first-glance visual impression I want people to have of Shev is "aaaAAAAaaaugh"

[kotorswtor]

kdangerinspace said: can des dance/does des like dancing/would des be good at DDR; how much hugging at random intervals will alecto tolerate from gentian; details about shevla’s fighting style cause i’m curious :? Des can dance, and enjoys it. She's not as stylish/well-practiced/copiously educated at it as, say, Ellekai, but energy, enthusiasm, and a willingness to look profoundly silly are all prerequisites that she's got in spades. The same "portable morale/entrainment" passive Force talent that makes her a boon to unit cohesion in combat also can produce some really interesting experiences when she's dancing in a group. I imagine she'd be pretty good at DDR-generally fit and well-coordinated with a little bit of combat precog. If she's really being a show-off and the difficulty setting's not at max, she might try to swap to working the controls from a handstand. I picture Massanis as generally having a smaller personal space bubble and being quicker to engage in casual physical contact than the average modern Anglo-American. Going from that set of norms to the ones that apply when you're an alien combat-monster in the lower echelons of the Sith is really tough. She's chronically starved for non-hostile touch. So the answer to how much of Gentian's random hugging she'll tolerate is "all of it." Shevla is an ambush predator. She's not super sturdy, physically, and has little endurance for protracted fights, so she tends to concentrate her efforts on waiting undetected until a target is optimally positioned, punching very large holes in it, in a way that seems to be as much or more related to injuring their presence in the Force as/than their physiological being, and blinking back into stealth before anyone can mount a counterattack. Given that, her training's built around a lot of close-quarters grappling and short-range, easily concealable weaponry. She dutifully learned to saber with the rest of her cohort, but you're much more likely to find her with vibroknives or, in a pinch, tools like kunai or marlinspikes (all of which have the additional advantage of not producing light and noise) in her hands in the field. When she works with Cor, the ship name "Cloak and Dagger" is an accurate tactical descriptor. He grabs attention, confuses, and fouls up attempts at coherent offense without incurring significant harm. She inflicts grievous damage.

[kotorswtor]

"So many storms, not right somehow,

how a lion becomes a mouse

by the woods, by the woods, by the woods"

[kotorswtor]

Shev and Cor: 1, 14, 19; Aur and Des: 5, 16, 17; Ellekai and LF: 3, 12, 13

I’ll do this in bits to save people’s dashes. For Shev and Cor:

How did they meet?

They first encountered each other when, after his period of Sith captivity, Cor was remanded to the Jedi Order…with the caveat that he must live and train at the Massani Enclave until they clear him for further service.

For the first couple of months after he landed there, Cor had a silent, mostly unseen, un-asked-for patron spirit who would abruptly drop out of stealth and defuse any situation that exceeded his capability to cope, by means ranging from redirecting the offending party’s attention long enough for him to make an exit to (in one nasty case where he was attacked while exploring outside the Enclave’s perimeter) a pair of toxin-laden marlinspikes under the ribs. When he was ready, he started actually talking to her, and things went from there.

Somehow they wake up in jail together. What are they in for?

Something involving hilarious, inappropriate use of their stealth capabilities, for sure. They may have bypassed all the checkpoints and showed up in a certain Senator’s office to bring him tea, caused a mass panic in a DMZ on Nar Shaddaa by doing an elaborate pas des deux that was visible to infrared scans but nothing else, snuck into the zeldrate enclosure at Coronet Zoo because Shev wanted to show Cor the particular way that mother zeldrates carry their babies around, or something like that.

How do they deal when one of them is down about something?

Shev will do her best to remediate (her sense of) the source of the problem, which sometimes goes well and sometimes doesn’t. Likewise with Cor and his oddly-calibrated sense of humor. Invitation to dancing and practice sparring is another go-to for engaging in something constructive rather than mutually letting their affective difficulties get out of control