Author's Note: Okay, here's the deal: I could have reread portions of CoPL to better inform the writing of this entry, but I didn't feel like doing that, so if the characterizations or any other details are off, that's probably why. :P
This is the 3x3 Basketball event, for which I had to write three 300-word stories using the prompts: synergy, toil, and dauntless.
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The Courtship of Prince Isolder
27 years post-RotS (8 ABY)
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Toil
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The second prince of the Hapes Consortium was loath to admit it, but he was having trouble keeping pace with his Jedi companion. They'd been trekking through untamed wilderness for several hours and hardly seemed any closer to reaching their quarry; and while Isolder found himself struggling for breath despite being in peak physical condition, the man ahead of him was hardly breaking a sweat. In fact, Luke seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.
"Come on," his friend shouted excitedly over his shoulder, "it's just up ahead!"
Isolder wasn't at all certain that he believed that, but if it was true, that at least meant he would get a break. Assuming the wreckage of the Chu'unthor was indeed intact, Luke was very likely to spend hours combing through it, collecting every scrap of Jedi knowledge that had been left behind centuries ago. Unless… unless Luke enlisted him to help gather up all the Jedi's lost property. Now that he thought about it, that scenario seemed far more likely, and he wondered if that was the real reason Luke had invited him along on this expedition.
The dark, wild forest they'd been trudging through gradually receded, and finally the last of the massive, gnarled trees gave way to a high ridge overlooking a vast desert landscape. At the mouth of that desert, more than half-buried in the sand, were the remains of a massive starship.
"See?" Luke said with a grin as Isolder came to stand next to him. "Right where Master Yoda said it would be."
Isolder allowed himself a moment's indignation. "Could we not have flown to these coordinates in the first place? Surely these witches you spoke of—"
But he was interrupted by a piercing cry, and looked up to see a wooden staff descending toward his head.
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Dauntless
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The witch's name was Teneniel Djo, and she would accept nothing less than their unconditional surrender.
Isolder still wasn't sure why Luke had actually agreed to those terms, but he trusted the Jedi's judgment, and to be honest, he found the woman's brusque manner and her total lack of diffidence refreshing. He'd spent his entire life among confident and powerful women, but never anyone who didn't know or care that he was a prince of Hapes.
The fact that Teneniel Djo was claiming them both as her slaves was something of an inconvenience, and he couldn't say he was particularly pleased that she seemed to have immediately singled out Luke as her prospective mate – the revelation that Luke was married had done little to dampen the obvious appreciation in her gaze, even though she did cease her efforts to woo him – but on the whole, Isolder was finding this leg of their Dathomir journey far more interesting and enjoyable than the first.
"The men of your world," Teneniel said carefully as they sat around a fire that first evening, "they are allowed the same privileges as women?"
Luke nodded, his demeanor as open and friendly as ever. "Mine and many others. We believe all sentients deserve to be treated as equals."
Teneniel turned to Isolder, trapping him in her laser-focused gaze. Her eyes were a warm brown, and he thought he saw hints of orange in them as well. Or perhaps that was merely a reflection of the firelight. "And you? You agree with this?"
Isolder wondered if the very fact that she'd asked him that question at all meant that she considered his opinion worth hearing. He was still getting used to that feeling.
"Yes," he said proudly, glancing only briefly at Luke for encouragement. "Yes, I do agree."
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Synergy
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"Wait a minute, let me make sure I have this right. You and Isolder were captured by a clan of Force witches who have never been off their homeworld and whose entire culture revolves around the enslavement of their men, and instead of trying to escape, you took a member of the Hapan royal family into their village, and you attempted to recruit a number of them for Jedi training, and you helped them defeat a splinter faction of evil darkside witches—"
"Nightsisters."
"—Nightsisters, and now Isolder wants to marry the princess of the witches and install her as Queen Mother over Hapes and all its planets. Is that correct?"
"Yes. Mostly."
"Mostly?"
"I was actually Teneniel's first choice for a husband."
"Over Isolder? I like her already."
"I figured you would. And Isolder did great, Mara, you would have been proud of him."
"Proud seems like a stretch, Luke."
"Impressed?"
"…"
"Moderately impressed?"
"Okay, fine. Moderately impressed."
"And the matriarch of the Singing Mountain Clan gave us permission to remove any and all Jedi artifacts from the wreckage of the Chu'unthor, including a ceremonial Ithorian tea kettle that Master Yoda has been very eager to get back."
"…Please tell me you didn't do all of this for a tea kettle."
"No, of course not! I've been meaning to spend some time with Isolder, and we recovered all kinds of unique training materials, and anyway, Isolder isn't the Chume'da, so Teneniel wouldn't be the next Queen Mother."
"Well, to hear you describe her, she sounds like just the sort of queen Hapes needs."
"If she and Isolder work together half as well as you and I do, I don't doubt that's true."
"Flatterer."
"Hey, I'm flattering myself, too, you know. We are an amazing team, after all."
"Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"Tea kettle."
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