Because I like 3rd person limited a lot more and I want to flesh out the universe outside of the given cast of characters and plot (and make Lorien less completely good, nothing bad).
I own nothing, and I don't own the title reference either (from Joy Luck Club) or parts of the plot that are similar to a chapter in that book. This takes place on Lorien, in this oneshot, there are tribes outside of Loric control on the planet and Sidara belongs to one of them
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Waiting in Between the Trees
Sidara could not be ashamed of her actions, she spent years hiding in shadow, and then leaped with her fierce gold against the people who enslaved her. The Loric would never know of her vengeance. They would be dead and without knowledge of the tiger in between the trees.
Before they were all dead, they had named her Sidara, the tiger of God. Without Legacies and without contact with the sister tribe, they were living in huts but they had pride and they had each other so they lived on with little fear of animals or what else could attack them.
They came in blazes, demanding all they had to give, seeking the leaders of the tribe, the leader of the Toranian. They demonstrated fierce powers and lusted for the women, a feeling all too evident on their faces.
They strode through the passes between the huts and the families came out, bodies trembling with terror as they strangers demonstrated the scope of their abilities as they walked, not casting glances sideways.
Sidara's people showed defiance in their eyes.
They met with the leader, Avi, and discussed what they called a "treaty."
Sidara listened in.
They introduced themselves as the people of Lorien, the Loric. Avi himself was confused as to what Lorien was. Sidara can sense the disgust in his voice as he explains what it is: the planet. Sidara's tribe called the planet Toran.
And so, a treaty was enacted, they were to work in labor camps as a way to pay taxes and all of their huts were now the property of the Loric. At the end the leader of the Loric threatened that if they misbehaved, they would die.
The powers shown were enough to keep them docile, and Sidara's spirit waited in between the trees.
They worked hard, long days and long nights, each never ending. The master whipped them when they did not work hard enough and he punished them with more work when they lagged behind their duties. He was cruel, yet the Loric praised him.
Soon Sidara realized that the Loric treaty was not a treaty, but enslavement. She wanted vengeance.
Avi died, taken by God as her mother proclaimed. The Loric of the compound showed no mercy to those in mourning. The first ones to be lead away never returned.
So Sidara mourned in secret. Her mother turned her nose up at her, it was not proper for Toranians to hide.
Her mother had told her almost every night, before the Invasion (as they called it) that she was born a tiger spirit in a year when many crops died. Sidara had two sides, one fierce and golden which she leaped with in all of her pride and one shadow side, which waits between the trees waiting for the moment to strike.
Soon more and more of her people led away, those who did nothing, scared into submission, and they never returned. Every day in their small room, Sidara asked her mother why. Her mother answered that God willed this to happen. This answer did not please Sidara.
God only helps those who help themselves.
Finally there are few of her people left and Sidara realizes what the Loric are doing.
They are exterminating them, them! Not the strongest of threats! They were led down the long hallway that leads to what is marked as "Gas Chambers" words that Sidara only understood many years of studying. Sidara only cried later, refusing to let her last chance of revenge leave her.
He saw her small face, the face he had given no time to mature.
This is the Eight Elder of Lorien, someone whispered. Sidara secretly glowed with rage, they called themselves the good people of Lorien, yet they slap those less powerful then them like one swats a fly.
Sidara wondered if the animals they slaughtered for food felt the same way.
The Eight Elder trusted her, and didn't send her with the rest. When Sidara came back, everyone of her people was dead. In the hands of God. God will avenge through the tiger spirit.
Soon she discovered his powers, what the Loric called Legacies, which he demonstrated freely. He could move from one place to another, changed shapes like one of the revered animals of her tribe- what they had called Trenerns. To kill one was to be killed.
He could also sense what would happen and what did happen and what is happening. It did not save him.
Sometimes he would bring her to the Council, like a pet. She would pretend to be docile but secretly gathered information and means for an end.
She lived with him for two years, secretly gathering all the information she could. Defense mainframe, attack strategies. She, without Legacies, manipulated an Elder of Lorien.
She waited between the trees, wanting for them to feel the pain of death and losing those you love.
Then her fierce golden side leaps and the knife is buried in his throat.
An accident, they said. A tragedy.
Soon the greatest tragedy of all would occur.
God only helps those who help himself.
The small ship arrives onto the plateau, Sidara is shaken from her thoughts.
Steam comes out of it, not a horrendous smell, before the men in black uniforms come out.
"You promised us information," they say in a wonderfully clear voice in her language.
Sidara feels a rush, likening it to nervous energy of vengeance, as she answers, "Here."
She thrusts forward the papers, every note and every passcode, every weakness and every strength and how to turn strengths into weaknesses. How many soldiers would be needed to attack which areas. The Eight Elder had unknowingly taught her well.
They take a blood sample of her and nod and look pleased at the results.
"Meet us here tomorrow at 7 meridia," they use the Toranian method of keeping time.
They survey the information, and nervousness fades from Sidara. She knwos she did her job well.
The Loric are too naive, and they kill without thinking.
They leave without thanking her. Sidara looks up at the sky and whispers, You will be avenged. God's hands will guide me to victory. Your deaths will not be in vain.
She repeats it next morning, in her sleep, and in the sunlight.
And when the shadows fall, her sun rises with the Mogadorians. Her plans work like perfection, and Sidara feels at peace.
She floats with the feeling of revenge well executed, as the Mogadorians guide her to one of their ships and they take off of the plateau.
Sidara sees the place where her tribe was, recognizing each curve of land. She sees a small ship descending away.
Now you will know what it is to be the last of your kind, butchered by those who could not care less.
Now you are at peace, loved ones.
And when the night that never ends, came, just as it did for her people, Sidara is waiting in between the trees, not seen, not found, not remembered, but still there.