ALWAYS: The Holo-Vid
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Queen Mother Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo never married, instead choosing to tie herself to her empire. Her Majesty campaigned throughout her life to strengthen ties between her consortium and the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. A second Jedi academy was founded on Gallinore ten years after Tenel Ka's coronation. Intergalactically, the Hapes Consortium was as influential and powerful as it had ever been, and of particular aid to their ally as the GFFA was slowly piecing itself together. The consortium never joined the GFFA itself, but became one of its most respected and loyal allies.
Domestically, however, Tenel Ka's reign faced a number of complications. A warrior of honour, Tenel Ka's political movements and reforms were not always well received at the onset. Her enemies were many, and all too prepared to accuse her of witchcraft; the worst of her rivals were found in her own family tree, especially amongst the more traditional members. Despite her inevitable opponents, Tenel Ka enjoyed the respect of her public in most matters, for she was known as a queen of integrity and compassion. When she introduced increasing reforms to do with gender treatment, however, public opinion became far more extreme in its divisions. Tenel Ka's reign saw civil conflict on some planets and stern continuation of tradition on others. Tenel Ka's reforms touched upon an already growing movement among her people, and protests occurred near constantly on the planets Hapes and Gallinore, as well as on others. Although few planets hit a critical point, this trouble lasted most of Tenel Ka's reign.
Although a queen, Tenel Ka died a warrior's death while helping the GFFA fight the First Yuuzhan Vong War, sixty-five years after her coronation. A squadron of the Vong blew up the ship from which the Queen Mother had been commanding her fleet. Victory came fifteen minutes later—the first of a flood of triumphs for the vengeance- and grief-driven Hapans. Tenel Ka knew nothing of this as she crossed the River. Jacen Solo waited for her on the shore.
As she had been unmarried and planned to continue as such, Tenel Ka had adopted a Dathomiri orphan girl of some relation. Allana trained with warriors, philosophers, Jedi, and foreign students before reuniting full-time with her mother. Allana took an increasing leadership role on Hapes, and eventually in the entire consortium. She faced an average of five serious assassination attempts per year. On the tenth anniversary of her coronation, Allana passed laws against gender discrimination in all its forms, and initiated legislation to ensure education and employment opportunities for men. Later historians dubbed Allana's reign as the Great Age of Equality. When Allana was assassinated in her middle age, her own daughter was named Queen Mother without dispute.
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Jaina Solo and Zekk married nearly four years after Kyp and Sanar's deaths. They took three of those years at a very moderated pace in order to deal with the issues in their relationship. In that time, and throughout their marriage, Jaina and Zekk fought and made up, separated and reunited, cried and laughed, and always loved, 'til death did they part.
Jaina survived Sanar's destruction, and even her sister's death. She remained as strange as her resurrection had ever made her, though she became better at hiding it for the sake of those around her. She was eventually considered more eccentric than disturbing. Jaina was one of the key founders of the post-war Jedi Order, much as her uncle had been so many years before. Leia Organa and Han Solo were similarly indispensable. Jaina, however, was not a permanent fixture in the Gallinore Jedi academy—which would become her home in later years—for some time. Instead, she was deeply involved in GFFA reconstruction efforts, both as a soldier and as a (somewhat uncomfortable) peacemaker. It wasn't until her late fifties that she joined her husband as a Jedi Master teaching in the academy. She enjoyed bewildering the apprentices, and terrifying them with her tales of the River. They never knew of her personal turmoil on the topic. Before and during her time at the temple, Jaina took several particular apprentices. Some of them stayed truer to the path than others. Jaina never forgot that redemption was always possible, even if the clock was necessarily ticking. Not every Dark Jedi was Zekk.
Zekk's path never strayed far from redemption. Pitfalls were plenty, and so the hard-won victories were more appreciated. The GFFA did not quickly forget his debt, although many forgave the once-Lord Onyx sooner than Zekk himself did. His history prohibited him from any active military role; further, many powerful people became suspicious when he came too close to a war, or to a leaderless rebellion. He was not often allowed to follow Jaina's reconstruction path; instead, he usually helped with the aftermath. He became a more than capable healer. Nearly twelve years after the Second Imperial War, Zekk took his first apprentice. As one apprentice became a Jedi Knight without any stain, and then another, Zekk became spoken of more as a Jedi Healer than as a former Sith. When he was forty-seven, the Gallinore Jedi academy officially designated him as a Jedi Master, and offered him a full-time position teaching there. Through this, barriers created to keep him away from military and peacekeeping situations were gradually dropped. One of Zekk's apprentices turned to the Dark side, leading to a revolution (quickly put down), and to the apprentice's death (who showed no hint of remorse, let alone redemption). Zekk was devastated by the blow, but not a single Jedi questioned Zekk's own character. Soon after, Jaina joined her husband at the academy.
Zekk died just shy of his eightieth year. One of Zekk's apprentices wrote in her journal that she suspected health repercussions of devoting himself to Darkness so long ago may have brought Zekk's death sooner than it would have otherwise been. All other accounts suggest a natural death. Jaina woke in the middle of the night to find her husband gone, in body and spirit. No one ever saw her cry for him. (This is not to say that she did not cry—only that no one ever saw it. No one—from her younger brother, to her apprentices, to her husband—saw her cry for Sanar, either.)
Jaina stayed on at the academy eight years after her husband's death; each day saw her grow stranger than ever. The rumours ran wild. One day, without any warning, she left the academy for Na'Lein'yhpaon. Accounts of her time there are minimal, and often surrounded by myth. The only story that cannot be immediately discounted is this: that a woman matching Jaina's description was seen in a town five hours from Brin's ruins. This woman did not seem to be a foreigner, but acted in such an odd manner that she drew attention. (A few people much later spoke of wisdom, teachings, and magic, but there is no support for this.) This woman spent the afternoon in the town before walking into the wilderness—toward Brin. She told the gatekeeper that she was going to see her sister.
Barring myth and some Jedi legends (of which there are surprisingly many), Jaina Solo was never seen again this side of the River.
Jaina and Zekk were survived by their son, daughter, grandchildren, and apprentices.
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Veras and Braun Yd left Na'Lein'yhpaon two months after the revolution. They never returned.
The Yds lived long lives; they had each other, four children, a ship, their friends, and the stars. They never looked back.
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Miko Reglia recovered from his wounds, and was returned to perfect health upon Kyp Durron's death. Miko and Krista Harif returned to the GFFA not long after his recovery, but they maintained contact with NLY. Over the years, they joined numerous GFFA peacekeeping and diplomatic missions to the planet; more than once, they visited through less official channels to help. They remained close with Dejah Salin.
Krista's brothers very nearly turned her over to a monastery after her two-year disappearing act. She might have been a little too gleeful when she informed them that planet-saviours were to be adored, not banished, and if they ever forgot it she would "sic her Dark side boyfriend on them." Words were exchanged, and Cel had Miko fully investigated before any kind of resolution came on that front; the monastery was forgotten. Krista and Miko dated for two years before becoming engaged. Krista said she decided to marry Miko when he turned down a "chick flick" with her to go to her brothers' long-standing sports night. Miko and Krista were married a week after their engagement.
Krista Reglia (née Harif) left the GFFA Intelligence Agency seven years after returning from NLY. She took an odd assortment of jobs—from smuggling, to legal transport, to mid-level coordinator at the Yavin IV Jedi academy. She eventually took a part-time position as social coordinator for the president of Yavin, allowing her to split her time between work and family. When Krista and Miko's daughter was eight, Krista taught at the Yavin IV academy on intelligence missions. She never once helped anyone with their meditation. (She did, however, have a reputation as the academy matchmaker.)
Miko Reglia played a vital role in reconstructing the fragmented Jedi Order. He was most connected to the Yavin IV academy, where he taught many of the younger apprentices in their introduction to Jedi life and skills. Unlike Zekk, Miko's debt was considered to be paid at the end of the Second Imperial War; although not forgotten, Miko's file was sealed three years after the war. Jedi legends touch upon the subject, but the most common scribe of Miko's Dark past is the Jedi Master himself. Miko Reglia actively involved himself in the rehabilitation of the Dark Jedi with whom he had once formed ranks. He was a significant contributor to the post-war Jedi Order's reputation as redemption-seekers. Miko, like Zekk, never forgot.
When Miko was in his late sixties, he experienced and discarded a nightmare that featured his death. He wrote of it in a later discovered journal, but only told his wife, and in an offhanded manner. It has been suggested that Krista took this dream more seriously than her husband did, despite her inclination toward concrete matters. Two years later, Krista and Miko led a training mission on the Outer Rim. Half of the details of the disastrous week are still unsubstantiated—instead conflicting, repressed, or exaggerated by the few survivors. The Jedi Master, his wife, and a group of several apprentices were ambushed by a scouting party of aliens that were only much later recognized as the Yuuzhan Vong. Krista Harif died first—that is one of the few confirmed facts, as she sacrificed herself while covering the others' initial retreat. She was captured, and the Jedi sensed her death three days later. Despite her husband's desperate attempts to find the Vong's camp, and later Jedi survey missions, Krista Reglia's body was never found.
The same day, the Jedi's rescue transport arrived—just in time for the 'Vong to attack once again. Miko and the two most senior apprentices covered the retreat; only one of these apprentices made it onto the Jedi ship. The second died before the ship had closed its hatch; Miko joined his wife not quite a day later—hardly, one student suggested, before he had even managed to start grieving for her. Krista, of course, had gone first—just as she had vowed so many years before. The Jedi survivors were pursued in space, but despite significant damage done to the ship, they all escaped.
The attack hit the Jedi hard, and even the many years between the Reglias' deaths and the 'Vong invasion did not make them forget. The surviving then-senior apprentice was stationed on Sernpidal during the first full-scale Vong attack; he recognized the aliens immediately. Adrea Reglia—by then in her late 30's—distinguished herself as a force to be reckoned with during the war, both as a Jedi Knight and as a commander. She survived the war to see her parents' retribution, and lived a long and otherwise happy life.
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Geneva and Dachien Tal were assassinated five months after 777. Before her death, Geneva had been well on her way to creating a military-style government in order to guarantee stability, and to ensure that Pucijir's Order could not take power once again. Her death destroyed any such control. Cerile, Geneva's friend and second-in-command, declared herself leader of the Resistance. Mother Niha threw her weight behind Cerile, and it seemed official. Instead, first one of Geneva's generals claimed the leadership position rightfully belonged to her; next, a radical faction of excommunicated Mirese priestesses declared Mujir's Resistance to be heretical and too submissive to the continuing patriarchy. The Resistance soon became embroiled in a war against its own sisters. The remnants of Pucijir's Order were not the only ones to take advantage of the MR's distraction. There was also an ever growing movement of support for a moderate, secular patriarchy.
Cerile won control of the Na'Lein government in 781, but victory came in the form of a coalition government with the aforementioned secular conservative party, to whom she was forced to make concessions. The first stable post-revolution government had two leaders: one man and one woman, the two of whom were to act jointly. It took decades (some said centuries) for the tension to subside to safe levels.
Geneva Tal's role in the MR was forgotten for many years, replaced with the strong image of Cerile and Niha's post-777 partnership. At best, decades after Cerile's death, the lines between Cerile and Geneva blurred together, so that the woman who created a new Na'Lein order took on some of Geneva's qualities. Two centuries after Geneva's death, MR history underwent a revival, bringing Geneva back into her own spotlight. Some legends tie her to the Resistance heroine Sanar Klis as a sister or aunt.
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Dejah Salin continued to fight with Mujir's Resistance. When inner-group squabbling began, Dejah sided with the more moderate political faction under Cerile. Dejah survived the four years of war that came immediately after the revolution. She lived with and cared for her cousin, Teigra Bel, until Teigra died in one of the many battles that followed 777. Dejah and Teigra's relationship, while not returned to what it had been, was healing up to her death. When the government had stabilized, Dejah left the army to spend two years at a new Mirese abbey. She later returned to Quatroc, taking a middle-level position in the liaison office between Na'Lein'yhpaon and the GFFA. She started a friendship with one of the male GFFA ambassador's aides, but no further relationship was ever pursued.
Dejah died in her late forties, when she stepped into the path of an assassin's blaster fire, thus saving the lives of the newly elected (Mirese Party candidate) Na'Lein governor and his wife. Nichyn Whilem honoured her sacrifice with a state funeral, and the Order of Bravery.
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Mother Niha remained a force to be reckoned with even beyond her death. As the last hidden—and first open—Mirese priestess in seven centuries, she shaped the role played by the Mirese religion for generations to come.
Niha died thirteen years after 777. As a high priestess who never backed down, never shied away from adversity or others' opinions, and as a woman who never took her eyes off of the MR's goals, the Niha of history has not been exaggerated in her importance to her time.
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The day after 777, Élin stepped out of the Mirese abbey for the first time in over a decade. She preferred to stay above ground whenever possible after that.
Élin, still quite young at the time, did not immediately succeed Niha after the high priestess' death. She did, however, work closely with the next high priestess, whom she called "sister" rather than "mother." Élin became the Mirese priestess to Quatroc in her thirty-fifth year. As a direct result of her placement, Élin was increasingly called upon by government leaders for consultation. She was particularly close with Nichyn Whilem and his wife.
Élin took the position of high priestess later in her life than Niha had intended; having helped with counsel and negotiations in a time of great conflict, Niha's heir also accomplished more than anyone except Niha herself had expected.
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Very little is known about Isra's fate after 777, and it has been revealed only very gradually to historians. Several documents suggested that Geneva Tal had her arrested and nearly executed more than once. For some time, historians attributed to Isra writings about an unnamed traitor, who was locked away and forgotten about in the chaos following Geneva's death. Later research, however, contradicted this. Instead, previously hidden documents revealed a close working relationship with Cerile, which absolutely refuted the idea that Isra had rotted in a prison. Over the years, historians began to believe that Isra played a vital, leading role in Cerile's post-war intelligence body. Although Isra appears to have mostly worked "off the books," historians generally consider Isra and "Alarica"—Cerile's rarely written of, underground right-hand woman—to be one and the same.
In 793, all mention of Alarica disappears. Given the spotty nature of any information on this woman, it is not known if Isra switched pseudonyms, if further documents still wait to be found, or if this is the end of all clues.
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Clayra and Gantik Whilem remained married for the rest of their lives. Their economic position suffered no small amount in the early post-revolution years; by the year 785, however, the Whilems were much closer in prestige to what they had been. This restored wealth is believed to be due, at least in part, to the protection of Clayra's maiden name, and Gantik's increased role as the once-MR's executioner.
Gantik died first, of age-related illness. Clayra died several months later.
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Lera Verili never saw Devnos Klis again after Sanar's death, but his nephew was another matter entirely. Lera and Nichyn Whilem remained (almost) inseparable throughout their lives. Nichyn studied political science and government at a nearby university for two years before returning to his native planet. Lera remained behind for some years, pursuing a degree in political history, and a minor in GFFA studies. She continued writing, and lived with her mother after her parents' divorce.
Nichyn returned to NLY nearly a decade after he had left. He joined his family at their Quatroc home, and became involved in the Mirese Party. Although he started at the very bottom of the political chain, no one ever denied that his family's background helped him succeed far more quickly than other men in the ever-suspicious MP.
Lera published two novels in her lifetime. The first had a page count in the thousands, and detailed the story of a Na'Lein family through fifty years before, and twenty years after, 777. It received wide critical acclaim, and was said to have inspired greater support from the GFFA lay person for the politically unstable NLY. Her second book was a heavy revised but honest account of the events of 777 as seen by Kyp, Sanar, Devnos, and herself. It was astoundingly unsuccessful; critics slammed the author for following up her first novel with such an unrealistic melodrama.
When Nichyn died, he was in his late sixties, married to Lera with children, and the greatly beloved (and much hated) leader of Na'Lein'yhpaon. Lera died twenty years after her husband as an influential voice in Na'Lein politics, and as a more-or-less acknowledged Na'Lein lady. History makes only the vaguest of references to the difficulties she experienced as a khalen for much of her Na'Lein life. Her children, during their lives and after their parents' deaths, were treated as Na'Lein men and women despite Lera's status, and lived up to the Klis/Whilem legacy. None of them experienced Sanar or Devnos' fates.
What happened between 777 and Lera's death, besides these basic details, is another story entirely.
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The Na'Lein century following 777 was a tumultuous one, broken up by numerous conflicts and plagued by political instability. The former Mujir's Resistance took control of government, sometimes to better effect than to other times. What started as a dictatorship transformed into a system with two leaders (one from the MP, and one from another party) and a series of governors.
Culturally speaking, the Pirese religion was banned. Many people—some women as well as men—continued to practice it anyway. Female leaders were 125% more likely to be assassinated than male leaders, even disregarding their political party of origin. Mirese temples were desecrated, burned, and raided; most abbeys began to fight back after just a few months of trying to influence the perpetrators. But slowly—very, very slowly, amongst wars and murders and Pirese revivals—the planet started to heal.
And then one day, many, many years after 777, Vengeance slipped away.
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Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing! I hope you enjoyed this trilogy :D
- Trickster-jz