fh_trips | Arrakis - Sietch Tabr

When the students exited the portal, they'd find themselves on a large ledge high above the desert floor; sun blazing overhead and sand stretching out for as far as the eye can see.

"Move along," Ghanima sang as she started herding them towards what appeared to be a small cave in mountain. Once inside the entryway, the students would find themselves confronted with the giant moisture seal doors that led into the sietch. "If you didn't put on sunscreen before we left, get inside. Once you can get settled into your rooms, you can come back out or explore the sietch, but I don't want anyone getting sunburned before our ride."

"K-Mart, Tahiri, and Leto are my lieutenants for as long as we are here. If they tell you not to do something, you listen. And please do not be dismayed if the locals aren't very chatty," she said. "Fremen are notoriously wary of outsiders." Even ones brought by Ghani, daughter of Chani, daughter of Liet. "Oh, and Leto? If I catch you causing paradox, you'll get detention for the rest of your life."

"Which reminds me." Ghanima leveled a finger at her brother. "His name is 'Gavin Darklighter' for the rest of this trip, no matter what anyone asks you. I would like to keep the world from ending, thank you."

Ghanima had a rather odd sense of humor sometimes.

"Now shoo, you've got about five hours or so before we meet back here."

[OCD up!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Raven glanced sharply at Tahiri again when she felt the strange bite of displeasure that contradicted Tahiri's demeanor. Perhaps it was this Spice that Professor Atreides had spoken of. She had warned it might alter perceptions.

"I have never seen a desert before," she admitted. "Fandom is Fandom, and Azarath is filled with grass and trees and plants."

"That almost sounds more like my kind of place," Tahiri said; Riina approved as well, this time (because things weren't confusing enough). "I lived on a jungle world for a few years before I ended up in the war, after I left Tatooine. I loved it there. I don't know what it looks like, now; they've changed it a lot," she added regretfully.

For the better, Riina insisted.

"Why did you come to Fandom instead of going back?" Raven asked.

Tahiri swallowed and looked away for a moment. "I wasn't exactly in a condition to be useful after Anakin died." The Spice must have been playing havoc with her ability to shield, as well; a surge of still-raw grief was evident from Tahiri, coupled with Riina's scorn at the emotional weakness.

She wasn't imagining things; something was wrong here. Tahiri's grief was very real, but the scorn was not exactly self-directed. The name she used also confused Raven. "Anakin?" she said. "Professor Skywalker?" Who certainly wasn't dead.

"Oh." Tahiri looked sheepish, and both currents of emotion abated slightly but not enough that they wouldn't be noticed. "Sorry, no. Not Master Skywalker; Anakin Solo. His grandson . . . um, a different version of him, anyway . . . it's confusing, I know. He was --"

Guilt, now, thinking of how she couldn't let go, and how unfair that was to Ben.

"I miss him. So much."

Raven remembered Professor Skywalker saying he was too young to be a grandfather, but she had not known the grandchild had died. "I am sorry," she said. Her shields were enough that Tahiri's pain/grief/guilt did not overwhelm her, but she could see feel it calling to her empath's heart. "You still carry your pain," she said. "Please, let me help you...."

Tahiri regretted the suspicious tone that crept into her voice much more than Riina did; Riina's presence was giving off the emotional equivalent of a cornered creature, snarling.

"How?" she asked, for both of them, though the next question was entirely Tahiri. "He's gone, and he's not coming back, and I can't ever tell him now how much I loved him."

Recoiling from the sudden burst of aggression, Raven collected herself quickly. "I cannot bring him back," she said. "But I can help to ease your grief so that you can go on with your life. I am certain he would not want you to spend your life in mourning."

"I know that," Tahiri burst out, frustrated, "and I've been trying. But . . ."

Riina, knowing what Tahiri was thinking, was purely disgusted.

In a tiny voice, Tahiri continued, "I'm scared if I let go, I'll forget him."

"You will never forget him," Raven said, soothingly, reaching for Tahiri's hand. "He will always be part of you, in your heart."

She couldn't help but feel envious of Tahiri, for despite her pain, at least she had known what it was to love.

Tahiri reached out to her but hesitated. "What are you going to do, exactly?"

"My gift of empathy allows me to draw out your pain," Raven said. "I take it into myself and disperse it."

"I don't want to hurt you just to make myself feel better," Tahiri protested.

Why are you trying to escape your pain when you should embrace it? Riina demanded.

"It does not hurt me," Raven said, a small lie, since whatever she absorbed affected her for a short time. It was the price she paid to help others.

"At all?" From the look on Tahiri's face, she didn't really believe that. "I somehow doubt that's possible."

"There is some discomfort," Raven admitted. "But it is very minor and passes quickly. I do not mind it."

"I . . . don't know," she said slowly; she still suspected Karla had been more affected by her trip through her memories than the other girl had let on, and Tahiri felt bad about that. "I don't know if I should ask that of you."

It's a quick and easy way to get what you want, Master Skywalker's voice warned in Tahiri's head.

Riina's reaction was much more visceral: Mon-mawl rrish ssu camasami! Anyone picking up a sense of her didn't need to hear the words, or understand Yuuzhan Vong, to get a clear sense of the "Leave me alone!" in the snarl.

Raven drew back at the psychic snarl. "There is something more than guilt wrong with you," she said. "Your mind...it is divided."

"Sithspawn," Tahiri muttered, rubbing at her forehead. "I might as well just wear a kriffing sign."

"You are aware of the conflict within yourself?" Raven said. "Is this normal?"

"As normal as it gets for me." Tahiri curled in on herself a little more. "When I was captured in the war a couple of years ago, our en -- the Yuuzhan Vong tried to make me one of them."

"There must be a way to restore you to yourself," Raven said. "Please, let me try...."

There was nothing remotely friendly about the wordless snarl that Riina let loose in response, as Tahiri jumped up from the bed like it had just been swarmed by a horde of piranha-beetles. "I -- I don't think now's a good time," she stammered, eyes darting about the room frantically.

"Very well," Raven said, not pressing the issue, for the moment at least. "But please know I am willing to help you when you are ready. With both your guilt and your . . . division."

Re: Room 2

weetuskenraider - 2009-07-01 20:01 (UTC) - Expand

trigons_child - 2009-07-01 20:26 (UTC) - Expand

weetuskenraider - 2009-07-01 20:34 (UTC) - Expand

Arrakis - Sietch Tabr - Tuesday Morning

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