LIVING HISTORY
by ardavenport
= = = Part 32
Looking up, Obi-Wan saw his Master and Sebo still in the same places, on their knees, facing each other. Sebo's expression was ecstatic, tears streaming down her cheeks, but Qui-Gon faced partially away, his expression not visible to him.
The lights faded down on stage, leaving everything in dim twilight except for one bright light on Nirid, her head bowed.
Above the stage the enormous transparent holo-face of Sebo appeared:
"I am the Lady of the Tower, whose name was so dangerous it was taken from me."
Another platform appeared, crossing high over Sebo and Qui-Gons' platform. It carried a woman in simple clothes, the same pale yellow tunics that Sebo wore. She just stood there, her eyes closed while the platform crossed to the other side as the narration continued.
"I left the peak of power on this world after I re-discovered the love that was greater than anything else in my life. And then lost it."
Another high platform appeared crossing on as the first crossed off. This one carried another woman, also dressed like Sebo, but her belly was large and round.
"Keth's body was burned and the ashes scattered over these lands. Minigan returned to the Jedi and told them I was slain, which was true in a way. Darth Yarr was no more. I was only Nirid again. And I bore Keth's child.
The pregnant Nirid passed off stage as another one above passed on. Obi-Wan gasped in shock. There were four figures. Nirid and three others who accepted the baby she gave them. It was the same as his vision.
"And my daughter grew, raised by those who imprisoned me. They loved her as much as they had thought they once loved me. And after I died she became Cloras the First, who reunited this world after the chaos I had left behind." The head lowered its eyes.
The platform with Nirid and the three women passed off to the side.
At the front of the stage, Nirid looked up and the orchestra music changed.
. . .
"Here lies everything.
I am imprisoned in defeat.
My life is incomplete.
He was my everything.
Everything I ever. . .
. . .
I have nothing.
"But I must go on.
There is a life within me now,
Keth left me with somehow.
I am the Force's pawn
Everything I ever. . . .
I must live on."
. . .
The light faded and she fell into shadow, a lone dark outline on a stage of dark outlines behind her, including Qui-Gon and Sebo, still on their platforms. The last notes died away from the orchestra.
The giant holo-face looked up again.
"I am the Lady of the Tower. And I renounced my power to grow old and die with no name. And my daughter, Cloras the First, reunited this world after I died unknown, my ashes scattered over the same lands as Keth. And she, nor any of my long lines of descendants to the present day have ever felt the call, the Force of that power.
"I am the Lady of the Tower. And my name was Nirid."
The face faded away. The stage went to black.
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The roar of cheers and applause started before the lights came back. Qui-Gon squinted. Even at the back of the stage it was bright after total darkness. Looking down, he saw that the platform he kneeled on was lowering to the stage. He picked up his lightsaber hilt and put it back on his belt.
Climbing to his feet, he stepped down. Then he held his hand out to Sebo. She took it and stood, her cheeks wet, her eyes still streaming, the smile in them of a person whose life was complete.
"Thank-you," she said breathlessly.
There was nothing for her to thank him for. He had fully intended to not participate in the Play, but the red vision had taken him again. And amidst the lust and corrosive desire, he had seen a spot of blue. It had been balance and he had to go to it to defeat the Dark. But when he stood before Yarr's ancient blade, the red light changed to a clean, cold blue; it overwhelmed him, blasting away the Dark into a nothingness from which there was no return. For one weird moment he had felt the Force completely leave him, as if he was adrift in empty space, the heat of any star impossibly far away. But it had rushed back at him, filling him again with strength and warmth.
"You are most welcome." He inclined his head so she could hear him; she grabbed him in a fierce hug and he patted her back.
From the sounds of clapping and shouting, pandamonium had broken out in the audience. He saw the outlines of people standing on the viewing platforms, including Obi-Wan. The storm of tension, anxiety and fear that had permeated the backstage hallways had broken into waves of bliss and happiness from everyone on stage and behind it. They had succeeded. They had won.
With one last squeeze, Sebo finally released him and blissfully happy, walked to the front of the stage and the line of performers bowing to the audience. Looking down, Qui-Gon bent and picked up Yarr's lightsaber and discarded mask. Staring down at the empty eye holes, he turned it over. There was nothing there on the inside, just a plain, dark padded surface.
Standing again, he spotted a rumple of dark brown fabric on the black stage, his robe. Some of the performers, running out to join the others at stage center, stepped on it on their way. Qui-Gon snatched it up and shook it out, still holding the Sith lightsaber and a strap of the mask in one hand.
He held the robe up, looking for the hood. It was upside-down. He grabbed what he thought was the hood and shook it out again.
"Go out! Go out!" The stage technicians frantically pointed at him, waving their arms, one of them hopping up and down. Qui-Gon ignored them.
Holding up the robe again, he saw that he had grabbed a sleeve and it was sideways. He turned it one way and it was upside-down again. Going the other way, he finally captured the hood, the most reliable way to find the shoulders.
"Ssssssatz!" Tykon's voice cut through the jubilation.
Exhaling, for half-a-second he considered ducking, but there did not seem to be much point. He let Director Tykon grab his arm and drag him out for one last formality with the crowd of performers at the front of the stage.
The shouting and clapping increased as Director Tykon held up his arm, presenting his trophy to the audience. Everyone in the Hall was standing, the people in front, calling out. On one of the platforms above, Obi-Wan stood and politely clapped with them; his expression bemused.
Tykon seized his shoulders in a hug. The Director was garishly dressed in a sparkling red shirt open half-way down his chest, white sash and metallic gold pants. Staring forward, Qui-Gon felt his breath on the side of his head, but he did not turn. So, Tykon had to settle for planting a wet kiss on his ear, his tongue curling up under her earlobe. The audience loved it.
Someone yanked his arm from the other side. Then Roobi Mwemas stood in the same spot he had been and grasped Tykon's hair, forcing his mouth to hers. The crowd loved that even more. Mwemas wore an iridescent long dress decorated with a wide sparkling floral pattern on the edges and that hugged and displayed her various curves and bulges too honestly.
Joining them, Thwurn Aka, wearing wide white pants and a bright yellow tunic, and Quembu Smetin in a long shiny, green and purple tunic, both grinned and laughed as if they were twenty years younger.
Qui-Gon rubbed his damp ear-lobe with his sleeve.
A floating platform descended, and Custodian Tykon, large and stately in her dark blue formal robes heavily trimmed in gold, her hair brilliantly white, stepped off to join them. And Qui-Gon saw that the formalities were not finished.
Sneaking behind him, Sebo latched herself to his other arm. She adoringly beamed up at him and he smiled back. He supposed that she would no longer be living the austere life of a deposed Sith anymore. This moment of glorious completion would last for the rest of her life and Qui-Gon was glad of that for her. Under the folds of the robe wrapped around his other arm, he still had Darth Yarr's lightsaber and mask.
On his other side Director Tykon drank in the adulation with an unquenchable appetite, smiling and holding his arms out as if to expose as much of his body as possible to their praise as he could. Roobi Mwemas eyed him with clearly carnal intent.
The performers ran up to stage center in groups, extending their moment of glory as the crowd threw bunches of flowers at their feet. The shadow dancers; Jedi, Sith, and the later versions of Nirid. The Castle servants. Darth Yarr's guards. The ones who had spoken or sung individually took extra bows, separate from the others. Then Hulus, back from the dead. Then Minigan who bowed with a flourish and a little dance step that got him a laugh. Then Keth and Nirid came forward together before Keth stepped back and Nirid got the biggest applause. Then all the performers lined up together. Qui-Gon spotted the three performers who had befriended his Padawan standing together. None of them had very large parts in the Play, but they now looked as ecstatic to be on stage as all the others.
Amidst the fragant piles of flowers on stage, the naked joy was like warm sunshine. Qui-Gon could feel it fill everyone there. Accepting the moment for what it was, Qui-Gon took his bows with the rest of the Creative Committee. He and Obi-Wan would be gone long before the celebration ended.
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Obi-Wan saw his Master disappear from the stage with Sebo while the performers were still accepting the audience's wild aclaimation. Roobi Mwemas ran to the side with 'come up' gestues and soon the whole orschestra was lining up on stage as well, some carrying their instruments and makng noises with them. More flowers, in bunches and long strands were brought on stage. Soon, everyone carried bunches in their arms or had garlands draped over their shoulders.
Eventually, the shouting and applause lessened, the audience finally exhausting its lavish praise. Obi-Wan spotted Yana, Timoz and Jutwa among the performers, grinning as if bathing in the adulation from the crowd. It seemsed that their defense of Director Tykon's methods was vindicated. All their hard work was now magnificently rewarded. Obi-Wan did not think that any of them would be disappointed with getting only small parts in it, the Play was so well received. He smiled; feeling as if the whole Hall was filling up with happiness, a boundless energy and joy that could make anything possible.
Finally, the performers withdrew having sated themselves on the love and adulatin of their audience. The stage was cleared of props and people except for the piles of flowers and a cluster of musicians. A few more, with their instruments, joined their huddle. The crowd noise descended into a voiceless, anticipatory matter. They were already wondrously happy and they were expecting more.
The lights went out into complete, starless darkness. The sounds rapidly died down. Turning all around, Obi-Wan saw only complete blackness, but the vast room was still alive with people down below. Standing still, he waited with them.
A loud, throaty chord cut the silence before all the colored lights returned, sweeping from the stuge out and upward. The crowd roared.
Clik-clik-clik-clik-clik-clik-clik-clik-clik-clik- clik-clik-clik-clik-clik-clik-clik-clik-clik!
The whole audience stood and starting at the center aisle, the chairs snapped closed and withdrew, rolling out in a huge wave. More chords followed in a rough approximation of a song
The muscians had reassembled themselves into a band, center stage, flaring red and white lights fanning out behind them. A drum beat started pounding out with the music. A woman with fluffed up long black hair streaked with red, and wearing an asymmetric black body suit decorated with a lot of red and white triangles, twanged another chord on the stringed instrument she held.
"Oooowwwwww!"
Dancing, arms up in the air, the crowd called back. Down below, the chairs closed and rolled back from around the base of the viewing platforms as the woman began to sing.
. . .
"Hey, what do you say?
Come out tonight
Replay History
In the moons' light?"
. . .
Colored lights flashed, sweeping around the room as the whole crowd now danced and shouted to the new beat. The party had certainly started.
Obi-Wan saw the new Chancellor and her party stepping onto one floating platform to cross back to the gallery. Another headed in his direction, but it already had two people on it.
. . .
"You can come here any time,
To spin my History,
And we,
Will see,
A new posterity!"
. . .
Along with the lead musician/singer, Obi-Wan saw a line of people with similar instruments complimenting her. Among them was Roobi Mwemas, jumping and cavorting as she played and sang with the rest of the band whose members seemed to be noticeably older than the stage performers. Lights flashed and an explosion of glittering confetti rained down on the audience below.
. . .
"For all time! For all time!"
We'll set this place on fire,
For all time, they can't deny,
This moment of our desire!"
. . .
The floating platform with the people on it drew closer and Obi-Wan realized that one of them was a recorder droid, it's recivers pointed at a man speaking.
" - - - after this MAGNIFICENT performance I do not know how the Poonkagree or the Majwaru will be able to top Ebsi Tykon's latest masterpiece! The pressure will be on - - -"
With horror, Obi-Wan recognized the man speaking as the announcer that he and Qui-Gon had seen a few days ago on the public information holo, the one who had asked the Venerate of the Scared Pond of Urzaro about being neutered. With the chairs gone the floor was clear and many people had moved away from the viewing platforms by the wall and toward the center of the Hall.
The floating platform got dangerously close.
" - - - and now, we have one of our honored guests for this terrific performance of the "The Tragedy of Darth - - - "
Inhaling, feeling the Force rising up through him, Obi-Wan picked a spot and jumped.
"Oh!" Two woman with sparking hair and black and white masks on the upper parts of their faces jumped, but the other revelers he landed behind did not seem to notice. The announcer's platform descended lower.
" - - - and if we can just get a quote about this FANTASTIC Living History Play - - - "
Throwing the hood of his robe up over his head and keeping low, he wove through the bodies gyrating to the music.
. . .
"For all time! For all time!"
We'll set this place on fire,
For all time-ime-ime, they can't deny,
This monument of desire!"
. . .
More things fell from above. Long glittering strands and big shiny bubbles that people bounced and and batted back up in the air. There was an entrance leading to the work areas behind the stage on the far side of the Hall. Obi-Wan needed to rejoin with Qui-Gon.
A hand grabbed his arm.
= = = End Part 32
'Nothing' is roughly filked from 'Everything You Ever' from Doctor Horrible's Sing-Slong-Blog.