He/Him. Sentient geode. Trying to figure out my path through writing. If I can help out anyone else while doing so, then all the better. If you're interesting, crazy, or have a kind word to say, welcome to my page. Thanks.
~ excerpt from the personal memoirs of Governor Ryder Azadi ~
A STARBIRD CAME TO LOTHAL
. . . although rumors swirled in the war's aftermath, there was no conclusive evidence that Emperor Palpatine ever intended to strike back against Lothal's resistance to Imperial rule, exemplified by their defeat of Grand Admiral Thrawn. However, New Republic intelligence - spearheaded by Aleksandr Kallus - recently unearthed what appears to be the deceased tyrant's personal memos.
It is one of these entries that caught the eye of Governor Ryder Azadi, who had held a longtime suspicion about the sudden inexplicable wave of organized crime attacking Lothal during the war. The Emperor's military advisers warned against any action against Lothal, deeming it a futile waste of resources that would be better utilized against the growing armies of the Rebellion.
However, Palpatine still nursed a bitter grudge against the planet and its people since Thrawn was a prized asset of his - and so, he planned another avenue of revenge to bring against Lothal. Instead of a decisive blow to bring Lothal to ruin, the Emperor chose to employ a slower, more painful death - the death of a thousand cuts . . .
_ _ _ _ _
"LOTHAL MUST BE PUNISHED.
MY MILITARY ADVISORS DEEM IT A WASTE OF RESOURCES - BUT THEY FAIL TO SEE HOW THIS OTHERWISE INSIGNIFICANT PLANET HELPED TO SPARK THE FLAMES OF REBELLION THAT NOW SPREAD TO EVERY CORNER OF THE GALAXY.
THE JEDI KANAN JARRUS - AND HIS APPRENTICE, THAT FOOLISH EZRA BRIDGER WHO PERSONALLY DEFIED ME . . . THEIR ACTIONS CHANGED THE PLANET'S DESTINY. THRAWN WAS LOST TO THE UNKNOWN REGIONS OF SPACE, SOMEWHERE WHERE EVEN I CANNOT FIND HIM. THE ONLY SOLACE I HAVE IN HIS LOSS IS THAT EZRA BRIDGER WENT WITH HIM - HOPEFULLY, TO HIS DOOM.
WITH THE REBELLION SPREADING ITS ROT ACROSS MY EMPIRE, MY MILITARY IS NOW ENGULFED IN WAR. SO, I CANNOT MOVE THEM TO RAIN HELLFIRE UPON LOTHAL AND ITS PEOPLE.
BUT THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO KILL. TO HURT. TO MAIM. I AM A SITH, AND I KNOW THIS WELL.
LOTHAL - WHERE ONE OF THE SPARKS OF REBELLION FIRST BLOOMED - WILL MEET ITS END. THE DEATH OF A THOUSAND CUTS WILL SERVE AS ITS PUNISHMENT. I WILL BLEED THE PLANET OF RESOURCES, OF HOPE, OF BELIEF THAT THEIR PRECIOUS JEDI EZRA BRIDGER GAVE THEM A FUTURE.
I WILL ROB THEM OF THAT DELUSION. I WILL BURN THEIR FIELDS, SMASH THEIR MOONS, DROWN THEIR SUN IN A NEVER-ENDING NIGHT.
THIS TIME, THERE WILL BE NO JEDI TO STOP ME."
_ _ _ _ _
The death of a thousand cuts. It sounds laughable, even from someone evil like Palpatine. But, he meant business.
A call went out, through Imperial back channels. Secret meetings organized, with all the criminal heads of every organization that thrived in the seedy underbelly of the galaxy attending.
The Hutt Clans. Black Sun. Crimson Dawn. The Pikes. Slavers, mercenary guilds, assassins, anyone who was adept at hurting, manipulating, killing . . . the list goes on and on. They all got the call.
The dark-sided bastard put forth a bounty to these criminal organizations.
The target: Lothal and its citizens. He wasn't looking for anything specific. No, The Emperor just wanted to make our people hurt. To suffer. To die.
To lose hope. The hope that Ezra sacrificed himself for.
Of course, all of them were skeptical. The Empire hated criminals, almost as much as they hated the Rebellion. They wanted to be the only ones exploiting the galaxy's denizens and the crime lords were parasites that needed to be expunged, no question.
Then the Emperor told them the reward, should they succeed. And here, reluctantly, I must give the devil his due.
One time access to the Emperor's personal treasury. Riches untold - and seemingly unlimited. You could do a lot with that kind of money. Whispers and rumors were endless about what Palpatine hid in his vaults. Not just credits but artifacts, untold wonders, objects of unknown and terrifying power.
Treasures. Even the most jaded, cynical pirate salivated at the thought of exploring the Emperor's secret vaults without fear of being hunted down afterwards. Free to fill their personal coffers to their heart's content.
And so, one by one, they all accepted the bounty.
Lothal came under siege. We had just started rebuilding, barely had a defense force put in place, when the armies of the galaxy's most vile criminal syndicates came to our doorstep.
Capital City burned once more. Our fields burned. Our people wounded, battered, but still rallying to defend our home.
The bravery of a few were what was holding us all together in that dark period. Every day, a new battle for survival - and every night, we buried more heroes.
I could see the light fading from my people's eyes. No attack ever came officially from the Empire, but I knew - I knew this was Palpatine's work. Even the Rebellion couldn't offer much in the way of relief, despite General Hera Syndulla's insistence that they commit more resources to our aid.
Over time, the outcome seemed all but certain: Lothal was dying.
I despaired: if Ezra Bridger ever returned, he would find a husk of a world, barren and lifeless. Perhaps it was better that he died with Thrawn after all - that his last memory of his home was that it was free and alive once more.
And then, one morning . . . she came.
A starbird came to Lothal.
The armies and fleets and soldiers of the galaxy's most wretched scum and villainy threw themselves against a lone Mandalorian - and lost. She beat them back, outplayed them at their own game, went toe to toe with their most ruthless warriors and mercenaries and assassins.
She won. Every single time.
She became a saving light to Lothal - and to our enemies, always multiplying, a burning brand. A warning and a promise: Lothal was defended. The people rallied around her, regaining their drive to fight, to live, to be free.
We would have perished without her. She kept the hope alive - kept the future that Ezra fought for his people alive.
I don't know why she came back. I don't know why she stayed, even when her own home - and her own family - burned and perished. Maybe in the face of so much loss, she wanted to prove that she could still protect something.
Someone. Anyone. Even if it wasn't her family.
Even if it wasn't him.
All I know is that I - and the people of Lothal - are eternally grateful. I know Ezra would be. (I'd like to think he returned some of that gratitude, proposing the way he did to her years later.)
Palpatine said in his own personal memo that Lothal didn't stand a chance because there were no more Jedi to defend it. But Ezra entrusted the fate of everything precious to him in her hands, as we all came to find out. Mandalorians hold everything to their promises - and she promised him.
Sabine Wren would never let Ezra Bridger down. That is a fundamental, unshakable truth of the universe. If Palpatine had understood that then he might have never made to attack Lothal.
I asked her once. Why she came back, why she stayed.
She just smiled and joked, "I might still leave some day, Ryder. Just resting my wings here for a while, until Ezra comes back."
The place she chose to make her new home was a good place for doing just that. She hailed from a world called Krownest, if I recall correctly. A fancy title, befitting a Mandalorian clan that was considered highly by their people.
But the comm-tower once belonging to Ezra Bridger wasn't too shabby a place to lay low for a while. After all, the Jedi himself had made a home of it for quite a while when he was a young boy. The now famous locale has earned another name though: Ezra's Roost. And we all know what kind of animal likes to rest in a roost.
Even starbirds need a place to rest, Sabine always told me.
But that was a lie - according to the myths, starbirds can't rest anywhere because their wings of fire burned everything around them. The only place they slept was far in the sky, near the warmth of a star or sun.
I pointed this out to her one night after she and Ezra invited me over for dinner and just laughed. "Guess that makes this place perfect for me," is all she replied.
I left in a confused manner, pondering her words. I then heard a yell from the comm-tower's balcony; Sabine sending a final farewell.
I turned - and saw Sabine standing next to Ezra, his arm wrapped around her waist comfortably. She waved cheerfully down at me, their figures visible against Lothal's clear night sky thanks to the tower's interior lighting.
It struck me then.
Starbirds rested far up high in the sky, next to the warmth of a star or sun.
When your drunk Mandalorian girlfriend asks for pictures of her loth-cat at an ungodly hour, you do it because you love her and want her to be happy and not because you fear her wrath if you do not do as she asks.
Transcribed notes from a Mandalorian chronicler, present at the entombment of the Clan Wren family members - Ursa Wren, Alrich Wren, and Tristan Wren:
After years of clearing the planet surface of rubble from the aftermath of the bombings, the armor of the fallen Clan Wren members was finally found. The markings on the armor were verified by the new Mand'alor, Duchess Bo-Katan Kryze; the notification was sent out to the Countess Sabine Wren (her title finally made official after all these years), last surviving member of her family, with haste.
The entombment ceremony was held on the ancestral home of the Wrens, Krownest. The newly confirmed Countess was to perform the ancient rite of Mandalorian Ascendance - the carrying of her fallen family's armor to the Clan Wren tombs, buried deep in the peak of Krownest's tallest mountain. Those in observance were a somewhat eclectic bunch: close friends from all walks across the galaxy.
The Lasat warrior, Garazeb Orrelios, and his partner - a former ISB agent that defected to the Rebellion, Aleksandr Kallus; the Rebel general, Hera Syndulla (accompanied with her child, Jacen, and ever loyal astromech companion, affectionately named 'Chopper'); the Mandalorian warrior, Ketsu Onyo; an odd assortment of ' legitimate businessmen' (the term is used loosely, since they were all verified to be pirates and con artists later on) led by a Weequay named Honda Ohnaka; Governor Ryder Azadi, the current political leader of Countess Wren's new planetary residence, Lothal; and along with these interesting folk were other notable figures from the Rebellion: soldiers, spies, and politicians, former mercenaries, various bounty hunters, and representatives hailing from friendly Mandalorian clans.
But none of these drew as much attention and gossip as the Jedi in attendance. Two there were: a Togruta woman, garbed in gleaming white robes, carrying a mysterious staff of unknown origin - the legendary Ahsoka Tano, who had served during the Clone Wars, survived the Purge, and later fought against the Empire. And the second, a subject of many scandalous conversations back on Mandalore, Countess Wren's rumored paramour, the handsome Jedi Ezra Bridger (the Countess insisted upon this descriptor in our official transcription), garbed in the solemn robes of a Jedi Knight. He was famous for his twin victories over Grand Admiral Thrawn, the Empire's finest tactician, beginning with the Siege of Lothal - and later on, once again, when Thrawn returned to wreak havoc on the New Republic.
(There was also the curious attendance of a loth-cat in the audience. It kept brushing against the legs of those in attendance, clearly looking for pets and belly rubs until it was caught by Jedi Bridger. When asked, the Jedi merely shrugged, sighed, and said, "He must have snuck aboard the ship when no one was looking.")
Once the rite was concluded, a private celebration was held by the Mand'alor to announce the new Countess and hear what declaration she had for the restoration of Clan Wren. Here she surprised everyone - most especially, Manda'alor Kryze - by decreeing that Krownest would no longer serve as the home for her family, effective immediately.
Due to my position as official chronicler for the event, I was privy to the private conversation between the Mand'alor and the Countess immediately following that declaration. For the official history, when a Clan leader decides to make such a move, there must exist a record of the reason for why. With much of Mandalore's history buried beneath tons of rubble, it made sense for why Duchess Kryze resurrected the role of chroniclers in Mandalorian society: something of our people must survive outside of the violence and bloodshed that had defined them for too long.
The conversation was as follows:
Countess Wren: I appreciate your concern, Bo, but I'm certain of my decision.
Duchess Kryze: Sabine. Generations of your family were raised here. For you to abandon your home -
Countess Wren: It's not my home. It was once. Not anymore.
Duchess Kryze: . . . Did Ezra talk you into this?
Countess Wren: (laughter) What, you really think he persuaded me on this?
Duchess Kryze: Right. What was I thinking. I suspect you've chosen Lothal as the new home for your clan?
Countess Wren: Yep.
Duchess Kryze: For the official record (here she gestures towards me), I need a statement as to why.
Countess Wren: Oh, hello. Didn't see you there.
Duchess Kryze: Please don't talk to them. They are supposed to be a neutral observer, nothing more.
Countess Wren: Ah, right. These new fancy 'chroniclers' you've instituted. Can you record this for posterity?
[The Countess makes an extremely rude gesture towards me in jest.]
Duchess Kryze: Sabine.
Countess Wren: Just having fun, Bo. So, do you want the official or unofficial reasons for why I'm moving?
Duchess Kryze: All of it, if you please.
[Countess Wren takes a moment to gather her thoughts.]
Countess Wren: Krownest has borne a certain kind of strength in its warriors - in me. The bitter cold that has stoked the fires within me to rise ever higher, to grow even stronger and hotter. It has helped me survive what others could not. People think the winter to be harsh and unforgiving and cruel. But it must be. Because life can be like that sometimes and to survive the ice and darkness and despair, you must burn and scorch and . . . live. Life is fire. To not fight for it means that you perish in the cold. The heart of Krownest is not the ice it's famous for, but rather it's the flame it makes bright within its people - within me. And, for that, I will always be grateful.
Duchess Kryze: . . . And you're giving all that up? For what?
Countess Wren: For a different kind of flame. There are other kinds of strength. The kind of fire that nourishes, rather than burns.
Duchess Kryze: And Lothal has that? It taught you that?
Countess Wren: It continues to teach me that. The people, the strength in their community, the warmth of the sun on the tall grass . . . it's a gentle strength. It has survived some of the worst the Empire has brought to bear. It grows back. Nothing grows on Krownest.
Duchess Kryze: . . . I see.
Countess Wren: I don't think you really do. It's something you need to experience yourself. You should come by when you have some time, feel the sunshine on your face, the wind in your hair.
Duchess Kryze: Mandalore would fall apart if I take a vacation. But I thank you for the offer.
[I cough politely, prompting a look from Duchess Kryze.]
Duchess Kryze: Oh, right. What's the other reason? The 'unofficial one'?
Countess Wren: Well, the constant blizzard on Krownest does not make it really conducive for wearing a bikini. And Ezra loves to see me in them, come summertime on Lothal. And I love wearing them, so he can see me in them, because it makes him . . . shall we say, happy.
Duchess Kryze: Oh, for the love of - chronicler. Did you write that down?
[I nod.]
Duchess Kryze: Great. Mandalorian history in the making. Chronicler, can you just . . . make that a footnote or something. The thing about bikinis?
Countess Wren: Hey, Bo?
Duchess Kryze: What.
Countess Wren: I hope we make plenty more history.
[Duchess Kryze smiles. A rare sight.]
Duchess Kryze: I hope so, too. What even is a bikini anyway? Some kind of armor?
Countess Wren: A type of swim wear. I'll show you some pictures later. I think you'll like them.
_ _ _ _ _
Deep in the official pages of Krownest's history, a curious foot note can be found:
*Krownest weather was not conducive to the wearing of bikinis or other types of swim wear, as said by Countess Sabine Wren during her inauguration as Clan Wren's new leader, which was a significant factor that led to the migration of her clan to its new permanent home of Lothal.
i know its from literally 5 whole years ago but i js read ur analysis of extracurricular (which i Just finished watcing--Very late to the party, i know) and i could not agree more w every single word
I’m flattered and appreciate the praise all these years later!
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