The Star Chart
CodenameSAILORV caught my kiriban on deviantART, and requested an orange, yellow and blue fractal. She got a little more than she bargained for. :wink:
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Atton finished the last of the jump calculations and set the Hawk on autopilot, leaving the cockpit wearily. He fully intended to hit the sack, taking off his jacket and gloves on his way to the men's bunks and relishing the idea of taking off his boots.
Atton wasn't a middle aged man quite yet, but he certainly wasn't a kid anymore, and his body let him know it. Most of the day was spent in battle and beating a hasty retreat from a dead Sith planet that Atton knew all too well. His arms ached from swinging his new lightsaber and he had a nasty gash over one eye. Everyone else had gone to bed or powered down; the ship was cool and as silent as anything with a hyperdrive could be.
As he walked through the deserted common room, Atton noticed that no one had powered down the central star chart and he paused to turn it off. Something stopped him though, and he looked closer at the set of systems.
Yes, the coordinates were right. He zoomed in on a tiny cluster of planets between twin stars, causing the image to loom large in front of him. There in the center, was his homeworld, left behind long ago and never thought of since. The pattern of the stars and planets stirred a memory deep in Atton's mind.
Sitting in front of the star chart, Atton figured that he wouldn't get a quieter time to practice the deep meditation the Exile was teaching him, and he pushed all the thoughts of fights, stress, rivalry and past deeds away. The need for bed forgotten, he brought the memory into focus just as he had the star chart.
The quilt was warm, and soft. The stitches on one half were neatly done, though as Jaq's eyes followed the pattern across, it got a little sloppy towards the other side. He'd watched his mother sew it by hand, choosing to do so out of love and lack of sewing equipment.
"Here's our system's larger star, Jaq, and over here I'll put the smaller," she said in her loving voice. "Our planet, our home, will go here." She told him other stories and pointed out other interesting worlds and background stars as she worked.
"What's this one?" he asked, fingering a larger, warmer colored planet.
"That's where your father fought in the war," she answered sadly. They didn't talk about Jaq's father much, the memory was too painful.
Now his mother's memory was painful too, as he sat hugging the quilt in the dressing room of the cantina where his sister worked as a dancer. She took care of him as best she could, but she wasn't Mother, and the cantina wasn't home. Feeling hurt and anger well up inside him, Jaq stuffed the quilt inside his pack and decided he was too old to care about it anymore.
Atton pulled out of the meditation and stared at the familiar pattern of stars and planets. It would never do for some well-meaning Jedi or ill-intentioned Sith to peek into his mind and come across these memories. Atton decided that he would add these coordinates to the ones he used to block people out of his mind, strengthening the wall with the love of his mother and the hurt of her loss. With a last look at the beautiful glow of twin stars and homey planets, Atton powered down the central star chart and went to bed.
An absolutely beautiful piece of art! I'm really impressed at how you made excellent use of such vivid, electric colors. The accompanying little story is just icing on the cake. Great job weaving a complex tender/painfu memory with a complex but emotionless piece of artwork! You are fast becoming one of my true favorite KOTOR authors/artists!
cool pix
Amazing! I love the colors in the picture, wonderful work. :D
Wow, that's wonderful, Winter! I could stare at it for hours. And the accompanying ficcy is just lovely.
You already know how much I love this. :D
I'm so happy to see it posted here at KFM!
That is a very tender moment and especially brings out another side of Atton. Great job Winter and I love the art work.
wow! that picture is so colorful and detailed, it looks like the real thing, and the story is so descriptive!!!! you never cease to amaze me winter!!!!!!!
The picture is beautiful :) And the story is great, though it felt a bit... unfinished, somehow. I can't explain why, because there clearly is[/i a resolution. It's been bugging me since I first read this, and I finally decided that reviewing was more important than poinpointing it.
The story, overall, works. It makes sense that Atton should be suppressing all his early memories, and there is a nice resolution at the end, when he discovers/works out that he can, instead of forgetting it, remember it to block his mind... that's great. Your characterisation is excellent, as is the writing.
It's just... argh. I really, really wish I could explain it, but the ending doesn't feel right. Perhaps it's because it's so sudden: the penultimate sentence contains the entire resolution, more or less. Or perhaps it's because the final sentence is a bit disjointed, and something of an anticlimax after the rest of the paragraph.
I really don't know :( Still, I enjoyed it, and that's what's important, right? :)
Wow, that picture is beautiful! :D
That's really touching. ^^ And wow, the picture is really beautiful too! All the colors and the lights and...yeah. Nice job. ;)
That's a beautiful picture, and an absolutely sweet little story. :D