Rounding off my smooches with Tully and Ma’at for @kunoichi-ume and @cinlat! I’ve drawn this sithy couple in rage mode before, haha, it was nice to get a chance to draw them being soft <3
While Ma’at was running around Tatooine with her husband Tuathal (who belongs to @kunoichi-ume) I accidentally caught this screenshot and instantly fell in love with it.
Tuathal Techtmar. Sith Warrior. Empire’s Wrath. Outlander. Emperor of Zakuul. The most handsome man to ever live. It’s just facts. First Force sensitive born in a traditionally military family, didn’t start his training until his teenage years. Inherited his posh mother’s eye for fashion and habit of being impeccable at all times. Despises being dirty. Agreed to an arranged marriage for his family’s benefit and falling in love with Ma’at was a dream come true. Later falling in love with Malavai and then Theron was both unexpected and delightful. Dedicated father to his son, twin girls and the child Ma’at and Talos have together (it doesn’t matter to him that Ari has no blood shared with him, he loves and protects all of Ma’at’s children the same). Missing five years of their lives is, for him, the worst part of being taken away from them for five long years.
Dina Volezz. Jedi Consular. Healer in training. Secret Cyborg. Second, unwanted daughter of a corrupt senator and an alcoholic mother. Born with several fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, including heart problems, difficulty with attention, low body weight, and speech and language delays that are also directly related to her deafness. Didn’t receive hearing implants until starting her training as a Jedi. Painfully shy and hesitant to speak to strangers because she still struggles at times. Hides her implants under her hair because she is embarrassed about being ‘broken’. Very attached to older sister who for most of her life has been her sole caretaker and companion. Adopted into a Sith family and claimed as a daughter by Ma’at, Empress of Zakuul. Eventually falls in love with Ma’at and Talos’ son Ari.
Zaria Techtmar. Twin. Bounty Hunter. Zakuulan Princess. More likely to act like it than her sister. Doesn’t happen often. Non-Force Sensitive daughter of two powerful Sith. Gets bored easily. Should be feared when she gets quiet and contemplative, because she is definitely up to something. Enjoys blowing things up. Inseparable from her sister. Very attached to her older brothers and protective of younger sister. Took up with a Mando boy, just like Bridae. Mixed reactions from the family, Uncle Quinn doesn’t like it, Uncle Pierce does. The Aunts (Vette, Ashara and Jaesa) already threatened to gut them if they do wrong by their girls. Ma’at and Tully are just happy they are alive, healthy and happy - and not trailing blood through the family home.
Their brothers are just grateful to no longer be number one on the twin’s speed dial for when shit hits the fan.
So this story got so far ahead of me. I went “Oh! I can write that thing from them being kids we talked about once” to “oh but then this needs to happen…” and then “this” and here we are. No long micro, a full on drabble for you. From my Sithy Bunch story with @cinlat this features the children as kids, the boys 8 and 7ish, the twins 3. Ari and Bridae both belong to Cinlat.
Nuada Techtmar and Ari Drellik:
Zaria Techtmar and Bridae Techtmar:
Ari’s arms shook at the strength of the blow he just barely managed to block in time. Nuada grinned, sensing his little brother was going to have to give in soon. They were dancing with trouble, playing with some of Uncle Talos’ vibroswords they found. Never mind that they shouldn’t have been poking around in the store room alone, Ari was sure his father wouldn’t mind. Much.
This was far more fun than following unspoken rules.
The boys had snuck into the training room while their mother was out of the house. The uncles were home of course, Mal and Pierce very purposely staying on opposite sides of the house. While most of their strange, large family got along well those two interacted as little as possible. That was how the boys managed to sneak off for their impromptu “training” session.
Nuada jumped backward, the tip of Ari’s vibrosword just missing his arm. They had the vibro-generators turned down as far as they went, but the edges were still sharp enough to cut. Swinging his own sword around, he forced his brother to retreat before spying Uncle Quinn’s workstation behind him.
Remembering his strategy lessons on the importance of gaining the high ground, Nuada darted over to the table and leapt up on to it. He turned just in time to see that Ari had the same idea, landing on the other side of the table.
Facing one another again, blades held at the ready like they had been taught, they exchanged feral grins.
They were about to lunge at one another when the door opened, and the twins came tearing in. At three years old they were terrors. The girls ran into the room calling for their brothers, though it sounded more like Bridae was saying “brudda”.
“Get out,” Ari yelled, voice raised to be heard over them, and looking away from his brother. When the girls didn’t listen, running around the room as they took turns trying to catch one another, both boys stepped closer to the edge of the table. It was one thing for them to be in here, but the girls could get hurt and they knew who would be in trouble if they did.
Zaria turned toward them, grinning before she started running toward them as fast and her little legs could carry her. Ari started looking for somewhere to put his sword when Nuada shoved his into his brother’s hands. Struggling to get a hold of both hilts, the staggered backward and the table creaked terrifyingly before collapsing beneath their combined weight.
Several things happened all at once. The boys fell hard to the floor, Ari’s precarious hold on the weapons failing as they flew out of his hands toward their little sister, two hands stretched out, reaching with untrained Force connections to try and catch them.
Neither boy noticed the other doing the same and tried to stop both swords.\
One stalled midair, Nuada’s focus on it overwhelming Ari’s and sending it clattering to the ground, but the other was caught between their simultaneous pulls. It twisted in the air, spinning dangerously.
Zaria tried to stop when the boys fell but her forward momentum was too much for her small body to overcome. To Ari’s horror she was headed straight into the rogue blade’s arc. Abandoning the attempt to stop the sword, he pushed her backward just as the blade swung toward her head. He was fast enough to stop her from taking the full blow as she stumbled backward, but not enough to stop the tip of the sword from tearing open her chin.
She fell to the floor with a shriek as the sword struck the wall. For a moment both boys stared in shock at the blood pouring down her chin to soak her shirt before Bridae screamed when she saw her sister’s wound.
Rushing over to her, Nuada pulled Zaria into his arms and tried to get his hand over the wound. He had never seen so much blood before but remembered Uncle Mal telling him how important applying pressure to a bleeding wound was. Uncle had been speaking about a cut on Nuada’s hand, but he hoped it would work the same.
Ari had grabbed Bridae, trying to stop her from getting too close to the blood. “Is she okay?”
Nuada looked up at him, eyes wide with fear when he realized he didn’t know. “Go get Uncle Mal,” he snapped. “Now!”
Malavai Quinn was in his room, reading the newest reports about Zakuul’s activities in the galaxy and searching for any sign of his lost love. It had been just over a year since Tuathal Techtmar, his lord and lover, had disappeared. The Empire had declared him dead, but Quinn and Tuathal’s wife Ma’at, refused to believe it.
He needed Tuathal to be alive.
However, it seemed the news of the day wouldn’t be any help. Soon he was going to need to take more proactive measures to find him. He would be gone already if Ma’at hadn’t asked him to stay for a while. Quinn had a suspicion that she felt it was her responsibility to keep him safe in her husband’s absence, but when she asked him to stay for Nuada and the twin’s sake he couldn’t refuse. Ari still had his father, and Talos loved Nuada and the twins as his own but they were Tuathal’s children. He owed it to them, and to Tuathal, to be there for them as long as he could. The selfish part of himself was acutely aware they were the only bit of Tuathal he had left.
He sighed heavily, setting his datapad down on the table and picking up his tea. Looking out at the Dromund Kaas rain he tried not to remember relaxing mornings spent with Tuathal, the man who should be sitting opposite him.
Quinn’s contemplation, because he refused to admit he was sulking over his grief, was interrupted by the loud pounding of feet and a voice yelling his name. He was already standing when Ari burst into his room, panic evident on his face and gasping for breath.
“What happened Ari?” Quinn asked, his mind supplying countless horrific scenarios.
With Ari the one running for help it was likely something had happened to one of the other children, one of Tuathal’s children.
“Uncle Mal, hurry,” the boy gasped, leaning with his hand against the doorway. “Zaria’s hurt in the training room.”
Quinn didn’t remember sprinting out of his room as soon as the words were out of Ari’s mouth, or that he took the stairs two at a time – something he often got after the boys for doing – only that he needed to get to her as soon as possible. He hadn’t stopped to ask how she was hurt, or the severity, but could only imagine the worse and it made him feel sick as he ran. He was their doctor and he didn’t think he could live with himself if something happened to any of them.
He was in a state of total panic by the time he reached the training room. It wasn’t until he saw Nuada holding his baby sister, Bridae close by, and her blood dripping down into her lap and coating his hand that he was able to push the panic down and get into what Tuathal had once lovingly called “medic mode”. Quinn crossed the room quickly, barely hearing Nuada’s panicked explanations and the twins crying as he visually assessed her injuries.
Kneeling next to the children, Quinn took a quick moment to smile comfortingly at Zaria and brush her hair out of her eyes before motioning for Nuada to move his hand. To his relief the cut on her chin was deep, severing much of the orbicularis oris muscle on her chin but the laceration didn’t cut all the way through to her mouth. She would need stitches and an application of kolto, something for the pain, but she would be okay.
Quinn released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding before looking up at Nuada. “Is anyone else injured?”
The boy shook his head. “No Uncle Mal.”
“Good,” Quinn nodded, taking Zaria into his arms. She grabbed his short tightly, getting blood on the pristine cloth but he didn’t mind. His thoughts were already several steps ahead, thinking out how he was going to treat her wound and trying to decide if he should alert Ma’at right away or if it was better to wait until Zaria was taken care of.
The decision was made for him when he arrived at the infirmary and saw Ari and Pierce waiting for them.
“What happened?” Pierce growled, taking in the blood covering both Quinn and the child in his arms.
“I am not sure,” Quinn answered honestly, ignoring the other man’s hostility. If either of the boys had said, he hadn’t heard in his panicked rush to reach Zaria. “It doesn’t look life threatening but she will need stitches. Alert Lord Ma’at and Talos so I can start treatment.”
If Pierce objected to being ordered about, as he usually did, Quinn ignored him. He had more important things to worry about at the moment. When he reached the exam table and was trying to convince Zaria to let him go so he could work, he looked over his shoulder to see the soldier punching numbers into his holo.
“And keep an eye on the other three, we don’t need anymore injuries today.”
Ma’at’s heart had been in her throat since Pierce had called. She had been a mother for eight years but they had been lucky, injuries and scares few and far between, so getting a call while she was attending to matters in her office that one of her children was hurt, bleeding, and getting stitched up while she was away was a shock. It was a blessing that Talos had been with her, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to pilot her speeder in her current state.
Pierce had assured her Zaria would be okay and that Quinn seemed to have it all in hand but she couldn’t help but worry. Force she wished Tuathal was here, he was always so composed in a crisis and feeling his calm focus when things went wrong always helped steady her. Ma’at was far from alone, her lover in the seat next to her proof enough of that, but it felt so wrong that Zaria’s father couldn’t rush to her side as well when she needed him.
Clutching her hands in her lap, Ma’at tried to force her thoughts anywhere else. The pain of Tully’s loss was still so raw, even after all this time, despite her firm belief that he couldn’t be dead. And then there was the even more troubling thought, if he wasn’t dead what in the galaxy could keep a man like Tuathal Techtmar away from his family?
Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good, and her heart ached at the possible theories for his absence. He could be hurt, or being tortured, right this moment and she wouldn’t know it. Ma’at’s only hope was that he could survive whatever trial he faced and returned to them someday. She’s wait, no matter how long it took.
Talos pulled the speeder into an open space on their penthouse’s balcony and Ma’at was jumping over the side before he had even put the vehicle into park. She hurried into the house, heading straight for the infirmary. She wanted an explanation for how her child had been hurt, but first she needed to see Zaria for herself. She needed to hold her baby and know that she was alright.
Outside the infirmary Nuada and Ari were sitting, the former wearing a shirt stained with blood that made her heart miss a beat, under the watchful eye of Pierce. Bridae was in his arms, and tried to reach for Ma’at when she stopped in front of her son’s. Ma’at smiled tightly at her daughter before looking down at the boys. “Are either of you hurt?”
Neither would look up at her but shook their heads. Satisfied for the moment, she swept past them to see out her other child. She froze just inside the doorway, unprepared for the shock of seeing her baby in a hospital bed, gauze taped to her chin. Her eyes were closed and for one awful, terrible, second Ma’at feared the worse.
“She’s sleeping,” Quinn spoke, breaking Ma’at from her shock. He had been standing at one of the monitors in the room and truthfully the Sith hadn’t noticed his presence. He moved to stand next to the bed and Ma’at followed, sitting on the edge and running her hand across Zaria’s forehead. “I gave her a mild sedative, to help her sleep though the stitches.”
Ma’at looked up at him. “She will be okay?”
Quinn nodded. “Yes, there may be a small scar but the cut was not deep enough to do any irreparable damage.”
“Oh thank the stars,” Ma’at sighed reaching across the bed to grasp his hand. “Thank you, so much, for being here to take care of her.”
Clearing his throat, Quinn nodded awkwardly. She could almost see the guilt coming off him in waves. Whether he felt guilty for her getting hurt in the first place while he was one of the adults in the house, or because she was aware how much he wanted to tear across the galaxy to look for the man they both loved she didn’t know. Ma’at wasn’t going to ask and force him to admit either one.
Taking her hand back, Ma’at turned back to Zaria and longed to hold her but didn’t want to disturb her rest. “Will she sleep long?”
“A few hours perhaps,” was his reply before he moved back over to his monitor. “I am putting together a low dose of pain medication that won’t be too strong for her for when she wakes.”
“Good.” Ma’at stood, wanting nothing more than to stay there with her baby but knowing she needed to address the boys in the hall and learn how Zaria ended up injured.
When she exited the infirmary Talos was there, Bridae now in his arms and Pierce leaning against the wall with his eyes fixed on the still sheepish boys. Talos looked to her the moment she was in view, the question already on his lips.
“Is she okay?” Ma’at’s heart soared at the concern in his voice. There weren’t enough words to express how much it meant to her that Talos loved and cared for all of her children as much as he did Ari. It wasn’t ideal, raising three children without their father present, and having him there to help fill that role was a blessing. He could never replace Tully, not as their father or as her husband, but he was always there when she needed him.
Ma’at smiled as she nodded. “Yes, she’s sleeping at the moment. I’m going to sit with her,” she said before turning her attention to her sons, “once I get an explanation.”
The hallway settled into silence as they waited, the boys fidgeting uncomfortably where they sat. She gave them a few minutes to see if one of them would volunteer to speak up before clearing her throat. “Anytime now.”
Nuada stood slowly and Ari followed his lead. Finally they looked up and Ma’at frowned at the pained expressions on her face. Whatever had happened, it was clear the boys felt terrible about it.
“I’m so sorry mother,” Nuada said, “it really was an accident.”
Ari nodded his agreement. “I tried to get her out of the way, I was too slow.”
Taking pity on them, Ma’at placed a hand on both of their shoulders and guided them back to the bench before kneeling in front of them. “I know you wouldn’t hurt Zaria on purpose, I never once thought so. Just please, tell me everything.”
When all was said and done, the boys were grounded from watching their favorite holotoons for the next two weeks for getting into Talos’ things and playing with dangerous weapons. During that part of their day Ma’at decided they would instead start training with practice sabers. If they were so anxious to start combat training that they would sneak off to do it unsupervised she hoped official training would deter them from trying it again. Between Ma’at, Ashara, Xalik and Jaesa they could more than make up for Tuathal not being able to start their training himself.
And Ma’at would hold on to the hope that he would return to finish it.
Ma’at and @kunoichi-ume‘s Tuathal got to play pirates tonight. Naturally, they are too cool to run from an explosion. *cue dramatic walk-off*
I have to say, I remember a time when you could run Rishi cutscenes together instead of having to bounce in an out of each other’s instances. Anyone else remember that, or am I completely wrong. Even my husband swears that our characters were in the same cutscenes and we had to roll for the responses. (he remembers being annoyed that I beat him on a flirt) Granted, this was probably three years ago...
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 3/?
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Female Sith Inquisitor/Male Sith Warrior, Talos Drellik/Female Sith Inquisitor, Malavai Quinn/Male Sith Warrior, Lieutenant Pierce/Ashara Zavros, Lt. Pierce/Ashara Zavros
Characters: Female Sith Inquisitor, Male Sith Warrior, Talos Drellik, Malavai Quinn, Jaesa Willsaam, Vette (Star Wars), Andronikos Revel, Lt. Pierce (Star Wars), Khem Val, Broonmark (Star Wars), Ashara Zavros, Xivhkalrainik "Xalek", Xalek, various original characters
Additional Tags: Arranged Marriage, Open Marriage, Open Relationships, Polyamory, No Love Triangle, no jealousy, Just lots of fluff, Sithy fluff, ALL THE FLUFF, Love, Family, respect, Parenthood
Summary:
Arranged marriages between Sith can be deadly but for Tuathal and Ma’at it’s the beginning of a life filled with love and mutual respect. Neither could have expected that this arrangement would eventually lead to them commanding the most powerful empire in the galaxy or creating their own large, living family.
Now that Thunder and Scars is finished, we are ready to start posting The Sithy Bunch - our wonderful story of love and family starring my Sith Warrior Tuathal Techtmar and @cinlat‘s Sith Inquisitor Ma’at Stasma. The first two chapters are drabbles already posted on our blogs from Fictober18 and the third chapter is our two adorable Sith finally meeting.
