LIVING HISTORY
by ardavenport
= = = Part 31
The orchestra finished off Minigan's Sith Lord song and switched to a new tune as the stage changed, the large frame sliding away; the archway, windows, statues, tables and chairs from the earlier setting returned. The servants and guards danced with perky steps, long strides and twirls. And sneaking in plain sight, Nirid led Keth across the back of the stage. More song lyrics scrolled across Obi-Wan's play roster.
. . .
Keth: "So they say the Sith Lord is this world's true savior."
Nirid: "I suppose so."
Keth: "So they say that she brings love."
. . .
The dancing guards and Castle servants joined in, though they apparently didn't know the Jedi and his guide were there.
. . .
Lead Servant: "It's SO romantic."
Servant #1: "We love her."
Nirid: "So they say that all power is love.
We're strong and we fear nothing,
Thanks to her."
Keth: "Thanks to her."
. . .
Keth smiled warmly at Nirid as the guards and servants took over the song.
. . .
Guard #1: "It's the Sith Lord's power."
Guard #2: "So they say."
Guard #1: "Darth Yarr is leading the way."
Guard #1 and #2: She's so great we cower."
Guard #2: "Death to all of those."
Guard #1: "Who don't obey!"
Servant #2: "So they say she saved us all."
Guard #3: "They say she tortures her lovers,
To make them love her more."
Lead Servant, Servants 1 and 2: "We wish she'd do that to us."
Servant 2: "She is our Lord."
. . .
The two fugitives took refuge behind a statue, evading the dancing and serenading..
. . .
Keth: "My love is true,
Even though I know what they do.
Jedi say Sith are are evil Lords,
But I know there is love in your heart."
Lead Servants, Servants 1 and 2: "Our love is true, too."
Nirid "Oh, you know me too well
And you say,
That you love me today
After years of Sith rule
Finally have you come to lead the way?"
. . .
Wearing a black outfit, with tall boots and broad shoulders and Hulus's lightsaber on his belt, Minigan appeared on the left, carrying the blaster. Overhead, the Sith and Jedi figures floated forward, both with hands out as if questing for something.
. . .
Nirid and Minigan "There's no happy ending
So they say."
Minigan "Not for me anyway."
Nirid "Should I stop pretending?"
Minigan "Stop pretending."
Nirid "Or do I see a new way?"
Minigan: "Kill both Keth and Yarr, treachery to repay!"
Servant 2: "We all love the Sith."
Lead Servants, Servants 1 and 2: "We love the Dark."
. . .
Minigan shot in the air, effectively ending the floor show. People scattered, the guards drew their weapons, but their blasters wavered, lowering. Keth, still behind the statue, stared in shock while behind him, Nirid ducked away off stage, unnoticed.
Keth's expression saddened as Minigan strode before the guards, influencing them to obey him. Most of the servants had fled and the few that remained cowered before this new menace. Finally Minigan seized a servant and throwing him to the floor told him to run and get his Master. He fired a few shots at his retreating feet to make him move faster.
After he was gone, one man stood and defied Minigan. He praised Yarr for being a good and loving Master, better than any common, coarse Sith. Minigan let him rant on a bit. Then he shot him. The man died dramatically. Still hidden, Keth looked stricken.
"So!" a voice called from off stage. It was Yarr. She appeared and strode forward. "You are ready for me." She positioned herself at center stage next to him, her hands on her hips. "I approve."
"Do you like it?" Minigan primped and posed while the orchestra started up.
. . .
"You taught me everything
So now your reign is through
Ha. And just one more thing,
This will be the end of you.
Now your reign will be incompleted
This is the end . . . .
you'll be defeated
'Cause I'm the new Sith Lord,
I will be Darth Kahmtu!"
. . .
Minigan whipped out Hulus's red light saber blade snd struck. But Yarr blocked it with her own and then struck back.
The performers were quick, skilled and precise in their steps, but it was a terrible fight, full of arm waving and jumping with both combatants missing obvious opportunities to disarm the other. But it was reasonably good dancing; he recognized many of the moves from the autitions with lots of energy and speed, kicks and high jumps. And Obi-Wan realized that this was only the second fight he had seen in the whole Play even though most of the time that he and his Master had spent with the performers had been showing them fighting techniques.
Finally Minigan made a mistake, though it looked more like Yarr finally took advantage of one of the many openings in her opponent's guard. Her blade grazed Minigan's arm and he cried out, grabbing the 'wounded' arm and dropping his blade. It didn't go out but Minigan managed to 'conveniently' throw his black cloak on top of it as he tried to scramble away. Yarr raised her blade over him.
Keth suddenly ran forward.
"NIRID!"
A drum rumbled from the orchestra purred as everyone on stage froze and there was complete silence from the audience below. The floating platfroms appeared, but they were empty and they slowly moved outward from both ends of the stage.
"Nirid," Keth implored, arms wide. "I know it's you."
Yarr slowly turned her head to him. "How?" she breathed, the Yarr-voice now more like Nirid.
One of the empty platforms was clearly going to pass very close to their seats. Looking to his side, Obi-Wan saw the other passing close to the Castle Custodians' seats. There was a figure in black and red among them.
"From our first embrace here, Nirid. From our first kiss. How could I not know?" Keth's voice broke as he took a step toward her. "How could I not feel the pain I caused you when I left so long ago, and that you pass on to others now?" He took another step, tears running down his face. "But now I know I was wrong to hurt you so. No Force, no power is more dear to me than our love." He went to his knees.
"Nirid, stop all this," he begged, his voice breaking again. "Leave the Dark Side." His voice grew strong again. "I renounce myself as Jedi, the Force and all its powers here before you. And whatever you say now, I will wait for you. It will be as nothing compared to the terrible wait I forced on you when we were young. Please forgive me." He wept openly.
The floating platform very gently touched the edge of their viewing platform. Opposite them, the figure in the black and red Yarr costume mounted the other platform. Qui-Gon remained seated, his face rigid. The platforms moved away, back toward the stage, one with the Yarr standing at attention, the other empty.
Slowly, the Yarr on stage lowered her lightsaber. But behind her, Mingan scuttled back.
The platforms approached the far ends of the stage and the Yarr on one of them activated her lightsaber and struck a pose. Obi-Wan sat forward and stared. This bright red lightsaber blade was real.
Obi-Wan's shock increased as a flow of power from the Force rushed up through him from below. Qui-Gon jumped up and leapt high, the Force carrying him over the audience; he flipped over once before landing opposite the Yarr as the two platforms stopped above the back of the stage. His robe flew off, green lightsaber flashing on as the platform tilted with the impact before righting itself.
Obi-Wan jumped to his feet and two thousand voices below him gasped.
At the front of the stage, Minigan whipped out his fake lightsaber, ready to strike Yarr from behind. The platforms circled; Jedi and fake Sith with two very real lightsabers remained locked in their poses. Qui-Gon's wild expression of shock mirrored Obi-Wan's feeling. He flexed his right hand, but . . . it did not feel right for him to take up his own lightsaber.
"NIRID!" Keth seized Yarr, thrusting her aside, away from the danger. Minigan's blade hit him in the side. From the audience point of view, Keth looked impaled. Horrified, Minigan jumped back, pulling the blade back and away.
"KETH!" Yarr tore off her mask, revealing Nirid's face, her graying hair tightly bound on her head. She caught him as he fell.
"Why didn't you stop him, Keth, why? You could have stopped him!"
Keth smiled, his expression serene. "I renounced my power for you, Nirid. I couldn't go back on that, but I had to stop him." He reached up to touch her. "I'll wait for you, no matter what."
Tears running down her face, Nirid touched his cheek. "No more waiting, Keth. No more waiting. I'm here. It's just me. I'm here for you." They kissed, with Nirid cradling him in her arms.
Behind them, the platforms stopped circling less than an arms's length from each other. The Yarr raised her saber in a salute, extinguished it and tore off her mask. It was Sebo.
Keth went limp and Nirid broke the kiss and wept loudly. As she turned toward Minigan, Sebo went to her knees and spread her arms, throwing her head back.
"Take me!" Nirid screamed up at Minigan. "Take me now! It's all yours! The Castle, the planet, the power! They are nothing to me now! I renounce it all!" Weeping, she clutched Keth's body to her, waiting for the fatal blow.
"No." Minigan backed up in horror. "NO! NOOOOO-oooooo-ooooohhhhh!" Retracting his blade he threw it away and then went to the fallen Jedi.
Behind them, Qui-Gon's blade went out. He went to his knees as if in shock, staring at Sebo. The music started again. The lights brightened on Nirid, the rest of the stage going into shadow. Nirid began to sing.
. . .
"I touch the Dark Side and it's strange to me.
I look into it and it's cold.
Where is my heart?
My life has come apart.
Instantly gray and old.
Now I'm left with these memories
To curse me with the love I lost.
I am bereft.
They're all that I have left,
Bought at the highest cost."
. . .
She gently lowered Keth's body to the ground and climbed to her feet.
. . .
"So I will walk without the Force.
Neither Sith Lord nor Jedi.
I will walk without the Force!
Until I die!"
. . .
Stepping into the light, Minigan bent over Keth, stroking his hair.
. . .
"I killed my friend and that tortures me.
I have fallen hard and far.
I feel the Force,
It fills me with remorse
That I ever wanted Yarr."
. . .
He looked up at Nirid,
. . .
"So she will walk without the Force."
. . .
They sang together.
. . .
Minigan: "Until the day she dies."
Nirid: "Neither Sith Lord nor Jedi."
Minigan: "And she will live without the Force!"
Nirid: "And I will live without the Force!"
. . .
Nirid beat her breast and shook her fists as she sang.
. . .
"I don't know why I tried to win and turn him.
Now my love and life have gone dim.
I'll be grieving 'til the end of days."
. . .
Still touching Keth's face Minigan sang.
. . .
"What have I done? Why did I do it?
The Jedi Code, I betrayed it.
I should know that evil never pays."
. . .
He stood, joining Nirid at center stage, Keth's body lying behind them.
. . .
Minigan and Nirid: "I look at you
And now I know what I should do."
Nirid "I will walk without the Force!"
Minigin "I will return to the Force!"
. . .
Minigan stepped away from Nirid as he extended his arm to her, and the lights from above followed him.
. . .
"I will return to the Jedi,
Tell them that they both were killed.
Keth's death was true
A hero who loved you.
His light forever stilled."
. . .
Behind them all the servants and guards had reassembled behind the two in the center and again, Obi-Wan had to read the Play roster to sort out what they were all singing at once.
. . .
Lead Servant: The Dark Lord has renounced her power.
Guard #1: Mouring for her Jedi lover.
Guard #2: Turning from the Force, both light and dark.
Nirid: Left with love and sorrow.
Servant #1: The only Jedi survivor.
Servant #2: Now he regrets his lust for power.
Guard #3: Never will he tell the Jedi heirarch.
Nirid: My tragedy is the love that now haunts me.
Minigan: If I told them, they would come for yoooo-oooou!
Minigin and Nirid: "And we were caught by the Force!"
Servants and guards: "They are caught by the Force!"
Minigin and Nirid: "Because we've lost it all!"
Servants and guards: "Because they've lost it all!"
Minigin and Nirid: "We gave our lives to the Force!"
Servants and guards: "They gave lives to the Force!"
Minigin and Nirid: "We heard its call!"
Servants and guards: "We heard its call!"
Minigin and Nirid: "Far was our fall!"
Servants and guards: "Far was their fall!"
Minigin and Nirid: "And lost it all! Lost it all!"
Others: "And lost it all! Lost it all!"
. . .
Their voices rose high on the last note and as soon as the orchestra finished the audience clapped and shouted its appreciation. Going to back to his seat, Obi-Wan skipped past the new song lyrics that had appeared and went to the credits. The names of the performers now appeared next to the character names, including Adie Tykon-Tuzie for both Yarr an Nirid. He scrolled down past the minor part credits and found at the bottom of the list of shadow dancers:
Venerate Lady of the Tower, Sebo
Venerate Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.
= = = End Part 31
'A New Way' is roughly filked from 'So They Say' from Doctor Horrible's Sing-Slong-Blog.
'Minigan's Victory' is roughly filked from 'Sweet's Refrain' from Once More with Feeling - - Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
'Walk Without the Force' is roughly filked from 'Walk Through the Fire' from Once More with Feeling - - Buffy the Vampire Slayer.