#tasiele shan

[ospreyeamon]

tasiele background headcanons

Tasiele’s mother Renisele Shan was a Jedi Master, born to two Jedi Masters. Tasiele’s father Bon was a paralegal employed by the Jedi Order parttime to advise them on tax law and conflict of interest declarations. Tasiele loved philosophy and she loved arguing about it, something her parents jokingly both claimed she had inherited from the other.

Her mother was killed in action during the overthrow of the Myrialite autocracy in the Kanz sector*. After her death, Tasiele's father’s contract with the Order was not renewed, with the reason given being that his relation to a member of the Order presented a potential conflict of interest.

The lover Tasiele petitioned the Jedi Council for the right to marry and raise Satele together with wasn’t Satele’s biodad – that brief relationship had fallen apart before Satele was born. It was part of the reason why Tasiele initially had Satele communally reared in the creche; she wasn’t confident in her ability to juggle her duties within the Order with the responsibility of being the sole caretaker of a young child.

In addition to visiting her daughter between missions, Tasiele also volunteered in the Creche when she was on rest-stay in the Temple. She found she enjoyed working with babies and toddlers as she became more confident in how to talk to and teach small children – enough that she was considering becoming a fulltime Creshe Master.

The lover Tasiele wanted to marry and raise Satele with was a sullustan named Jenb Tumm, an actuary employed by the Ord Ibanna Environmental Protection Agency. They met on a thrilling mission involving whistle-blowing survey-droids, forensic accounting and trespassing in swamps, which resulted in the Chief Compliance and Financial Officers of Czerka Brema receiving five-month suspended sentences.

Tasiele had no idea that she was at risk of being exiled and losing all contact with her daughter when she made her petition to the Council. For the vast majority of the Order’s history, it had been considered normal for some Jedi to raise their children or marry or both. There were many examples of Jedi like single-mother and adult-entrant to the Order Nomi Sunrider who rose to sit on the High Council. The request wasn’t a radical one, but rather an appeal to return to tradition; to do what Tasiele’s parents and grandparents and great-grandparents had done freely. The Galactic Republic weighing in on what should have been an internal Jedi affair caught her completely off-guard.

The Jedi Council suspended Tasiele’s sentence of exile early in the Great Galactic War, when it became clear the Order would need to call in every Jedi it could find to stand a chance of holding off the Sith. By then it was already too late – she was gone.

*The dates for the Kanz Disorders and the Great Galactic War come from very different sources and would put the end of the Kanz Disorders as happening in the middle of the Great Galactic War. Given that the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order lost that war, spending most of it being pushed back or in stalemates unable to retake territory, I think it would be very unlikely that they would have diverted resources to dismantle slavery in the Kanz sector. I believe it makes more sense to place the Jedi-Republic intervention led by Knight Mari-Elan Nora a couple of decades before the beginning of the Great Galactic War instead.

[swtorpadawan]

The Future Halcyon Legacy

From left to right: 1. Maykia Ishris Kaarz - daughter of Ulannium Kaarz and Nadia Grell 2. Firaneya Vaiken - daughter of Gahraath Vaiken and Raina Temple 3. Tasiele Beniko - daughter of Lana Beniko and Theron Shan 4. Bela Senya Carsen-Halcyon - daughter of Corellan Halcyon and Kira Carsen 5. Orgus Fideltin Carsen-Halcyon - son of Corellan Halcyon and Kira Carsen 6. Arro Tirall - adopted son of Vette and Arcann 7. Corellan Tao'ven - son of Ranna Tao'ven and Viyo of Kalikori Village 8. Qorit'oksh - son of Kael Nosrol Krannus and Jaesa Willsaam - eventually adopted into the Alliance

Well. That got out of hand. All of them wind up in the Eternal Alliance, with Tasiele acting as “The Alliance Commander” and Bela acting as “The Outlander”.

So - Any questions?

Tagging @raven-of-domain-kwaad​

[sullustangin]

Who’s Your Daddy?:  Tasiele Shan and Her Lover(?)

Does Satele look more like her father?  Or her mother, Tasiele Shan? 

The relationship between Jace Malcom and Satele Shan is pretty epic:  two great leaders of the Republic, the future Supreme Commander and the future Grand Master of the Jedi Order.  Their son, Theron, is an obvious SWTOR fan favorite and a hero in his own right (though as a spy, his accomplishments can’t be as publicly acknowledged).  Theron did not know who his father was until he was 26 years old, nor did he speak to his mother openly as her son until that age.  This makes for complex, adult connections.

One thing that several people in fandom have discussed is Satele’s decision not to tell Theron about Jace or Jace about Theron.  While I was ruminating over the question, I came across the point that Satele likely didn’t know who her father was.  Satele had gone through life without a father; if you’ve never had it, how can you miss it? Jedi!Theron wouldn’t have the worst life if he didn’t know who his father was... but then he turned out to be not Force Sensitive, and there went all of Satele’s well-intended plans.

There are a lot of unknowns about Tasiele Shan, Satele’s mother.  Nothing is known about her father.  Tasiele first appeared in a sentence on Satele’s Holonet entry, coded in Aurbesh: ‘Jedi exiled her mother.’  In the SWTOR encyclopedia, it was revealed that Tasiele was a philosophical revolutionary who advocated for attachments among the Jedi.  (Yes, in our world’s psychological sense, they do have positive attachments to those in the order, in the Galaxy, and at Temple; ‘attachments’ in the negative sense for the Jedi run along Buddhist lines, per George Lucas himself.  Attachments lead to desire, which leads to suffering, which leads to the Dark Side, in a nutshell.)  These teachings were disruptive enough that Tasiele was indeed exiled.  When the Jedi went to retrieve her from the remote planet she’d been left on, Tasiele was gone, leaving her writings to Satele, who is describe as still “young.”  I’ve speculated in my fics about how all that went down, but there’s no canon consensus. 

So what do we know? 

Satele was born on Brentaal IV.  Brentaal IV in Legends is a commerce-driven planet.  It is an intergalactic marketplace, sitting at the crossroads of two major trading routes, the Perlemian Trade Route and the Hydian Way (which was still being created when Satele was born in 3699 BBY; it was complete in 3694).  As a result, the Brentaal system has become increasingly war-torn, as it is highly desirable for both the Republic and the Empire.  At the time of Satele’s birth, however, the Sith Empire was about 18 years from returning, so the planet was at peace and thriving, the Hydian Way being established right nearby. 

Based on what we see in comics and mentioned in Legends novels, Brentaal IV  was an active, bright planet with lots of entertainment and a grand variety of products.  As a crossroads between two trading routes, if a person had the money, no desire could be left unfilled.  Based on the description on Wookieepedia, I’m personally viewing this as almost a space Renaissance Venice; those with money run the government, and unhappy citizens make for bad sales -- the government still needs to keep the people happy.  The buildings tend to be bland because of corporate interests, but then people insist upon trees and organic features in their environments. 

That’s where Satele was born.  That doesn’t mean it’s where Tasiele met Satele’s father or became pregnant. 

Briefly, I considered whether Tasiele might have done Revan’s tradition of found family:  whether with the Exile or Malak or with the crew of the Ebon Hawk, Revan created his family not by blood but by choice of association.  Who says Tasiele didn’t adopt a baby girl, and then only later discovered that this child was Force-Sensitive?

Revan, that’s who.  In Shadow of Revan, he identifies Satele and Theron as his bloodline; their biological connection enabled him to watch over them and their forebears for centuries while the Emperor’s prisoner.  So as intriguing as the adoption angle is, Revan puts the kabosh on it.  

Tasiele wrote about attachments in a positive way, but we don’t know what sort of experience Tasiele has had with them. We know Tasiele named Satele.  However, beyond that, there is nothing explicitly said about the nature of their mother/daughter relationship.  Depending on Satele’s age when her mother was exiled, she could have already been at the Temple; Satele was found to be Force Sensitive early, so her education as a Jedi may have started very early.  Alternatively, she might have been removed from her mother’s custody if she was under a certain age or if Tasiele objected to her child being parted from her, based upon their attachments.  Again, Tasiele’s ‘revolutionary’ stance adds a lot of baggage and complication to how we try to read the relationship -- if there was one.  If Satele and Tasiele were close before Tasiele’s exile, then maybe all of Tasiele’s writings were rooted in her attachment to her daughter and how the daughter thrived. 

That leaves the obvious biological question of how Tasiele became pregnant.  Star Wars takes place long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away.  Most writers in Star Wars are mute about getting pregnant and how not to get pregnant; it’s only recently that we have canon evidence that women menstruate in SW universe (a good Padme novel).  Likewise, there’s not much about birth control other than “taking precautions.”  Could Tasiele have just gone to a clinic and picked a specimen that had potential (assuming we have sperm donors in the Old Republic)?  Would she have screened for potential Force Sensitivity?  Or did Tasiele cruise the bar scene and have a one-night stand, purposefully?  One does not need a relationship or a connection to someone to get pregnant; if Tasiele just wanted a child, there are a lot of ways to have a kid without getting into an involved relationship with someone.

Or did Tasiele get attached?  Were her writings initially about someone she felt something for?  Obviously, she would not name names, but speaking about attachments to individuals would have likely been in her journals.  Did Tasiele Shan have a relationship that resulted in her pregnancy?  If so....

Does Satele’s father know he is?  Or did Tasiele hide it?  Satele hiding it from Jace has a different context; Satele had signed onto the Jedi way, without her mother’s ‘deviant’ philosophy -- there was no room for Jace and a baby in her attachment-free life.  In Satele’s mind, it was better for all parties to be unaware and parted from each other, especially if Theron became a Jedi himself.  In contrast, if she was in an attached relationship, Tasiele may well have told her lover about his child.

So far, what I’ve written above sort of revolves around the idea that Tasiele was out in the galaxy, away from the Jedi Order, and that whoever the father was, he was not a Jedi.  After I gave this to Spouse to read for the first time, he reacted positively and wondered aloud, “What if Tasiele got exiled because the father was a Jedi master?”

And that’s yet another scenario to consider (and this is technically the last paragraph I wrote, ha). Tasiele Shan was on the edge, philosophically, but there is no mention as to how powerful she was.  We know Satele is very powerful; she’s actually been toned down in-game compared to some of the mind-reading/mind-control powers she had in novels.  If a Jedi:  was it a love affair?  A passionate night?  Something unsavory?  Was it swept under the rug for him, but not for her (pregnancy as evidence of misconduct)?  Or did Tasiele take the fall for someone she was very attached to? 

If Tasiele was pro-attachments and she was in a relationship with the father of her child, Jedi or not, then what happened to him?  Was it a hostile break-up?  Did he die?  Did Tasiele intend to tell Satele about her father when she was old enough?  Was all of that thwarted when she was exiled?  The exile itself sounds as if it was done against Tasiele’s will rather than mutually agreed upon, so it probably looked more like an arrest than an amicable “go sit on this planet, please.” 

Again, where Satele was during this entire process is not known.  There is no mention of her father in any of the information we have, so we assume he was either not involved ....or that what he did, said, wanted -- none of that ultimately mattered or affected what happened to his daughter. 

How all of this affects Satele is not known.  We know she does not inform Theron or Jace of their connections.  That may be prompted by the situations discussed above.... or that might just be Jedi teachings about attachment at work and the perils for a Force-Sensitive child. We only know she’s reading her mother’s works after Zakuul.  Satele was Grand Master of the Jedi Order; she was viewed as a paragon.  However, when we dig a little bit into who Tasiele Shan was and why she is not around, this reveals, potentially, a far more complicated Satele with, maybe, a troubled childhood; Echoes of Oblivion feels even more hollow to me after writing this.  This post offers no conclusions, only speculation and perhaps a springboard for other fanworks.

[ulavii]

Theron Shan Week : Day 4 (Heritage)

Prompt : Heritage Warnings : Child trauma, parents issues. Also SWTOR spoilers : KotFE, KotET, Onslaught Word count : 621

Read on Ao3 here - Full work below

@theronshanweek-official

Theron was twitching his fingers. It wasn't his first reunion with his mother, he actually had a few since Rishi, but it stressed him each time. He never knew what to say and how to act, and it previously led them to some awkward moments he hated to have to go through. She was probably sensing his anxiety, but she wasn't saying anything. She never did. It was always those long moments when she was just there, sometimes staring at him, sometimes having her eyes closed, not saying anything. And it was always making Theron even more nervous. He was maybe not very good at communicating with her, but she wasn't good at communicating with him, either. Well, at least, it was a bit better than the first time.

“You know, Theron... I didn't know my mother very well, either.”

They had been talking for a few minutes, now, but Theron was still surprised that subject was coming in suddenly. He never heard much about his grandmother, he barely knew her name... and even less what she did.

“Is she...” he asked, not sure how to say it “you know... ?”

“Dead ?” simply said Satele like it was nothing. “I don't know, exactly. When the Jedi Order tried to bring Tasiele back from exile, she had disappeared.”

Tasiele. Right. That was her name. All he saw about her was the book she wrote, which is not much. He didn't even know what she looked like. Or used to look like.

“She was exiled because she challenged Jedi views on marriage, right ? Like Revan” questioned Theron.

It was Malcom who told him that, once. With him neither, he didn't talk with a lot. None of them had the time. Furthermore, he didn't really want to talk with him much either. It was hard enough with his mother... he sighed inside. What a complicated family.

“Yes” answered the Jedi. “It seems our family has a history with rebellion.”

But not you. Theron hesitated to say. He didn't want to antagonize her. Not right now. He did it before, when they had talked of Revan. And it wasn't the right time. It has only been a few days since the Alliance helped Satele out of the Emperor's control. And even if Theron refused to admit it vocally, he had been scared for her.

“A big family of Jedis.” he said instead.

That's something that used to hurt him, when he was younger. When he realized he couldn't use the Force. He had felt ashamed to not being able to do like the rest of his infamous family. It made him feel further away from his mother. Made him feel angry, even. He felt better with himself now, mainly thanks to his job in the Alliance.

“Not every Shan was a Jedi, you know. Revan's son wasn't.”

Theron heard about that before. Erian had told him. But somehow it didn't made him feel much better. If he had felt ashamed, it was also because Satele never took care of him. He didn't want to blame her, but deep down, he still felt kind of resentful. He wondered why Satele didn't rebel against the Jedi rules on marriage, too. They had talked about that before, but it still wasn't easy to accept her reason. Sometimes, she just seemed... cold. His relationship with his parents weren't simple. And he wasn't sure what to think about his heritage. He was proud, in a way, but he also felt so disconnected from the Shan family, it didn't seem right.

“Theron I...” started Satele.

The spy raised an eyebrow. Did she seem... flustered? That was very unlike his mother. His so very wise mother. When she looked like that... it meant she was about to open-up, but he wasn't sure she would go through with it. It wasn't her type, to do it.

“I'm still proud of what you became.”

[jarael]

The Kavi legacy: Gen 2 Johto

Teeubo Riggs: born shortly after the Ilum campaign.  Adira is pregnant with him during her fight with the Voidwolf.  She had joint custody with Corso when Teeb was a kid.  Gets along with both of his moms and his dad.  Relatively normal and slightly less spontaneous than his mom.  He is poised to inherit the family business once Adira retires.

Meshi Cadera: born during the Makeb campaign.  She is relatively goth, and is reserved much like her dad.  She is working with other Mandalorians to dig up as much of their history as they can.

Iyakata and Feliae Iresso: born shortly after the Revanite crisis.  Fel is more similar to her father, while Iya takes more after her grandmother(thankfully, in terms of personality and not morality).  They both have an unusual connection to Force spirits, including the ones that have hung around them since they were small...

Rhaegor and Tasiele II Shan: born halfway through D’leah’s popsicle stint on Zakuul.  Rhaegor is definitely a momma’s boy, very honorable and patient.  Tas is a girly girl, though she isn’t afraid to defend herself.  

Rhielle: born shortly before Copero.  She is Force sensitive like her siblings and her mother.  However, due to all the anguish her parents have suffered after Xenli defected, Rhi doesn’t use the Force unless necessary, as she fears it opens her up more to the people who want her family dead.

All 3 kids were given to Jaesa and Vaylin(fuck you, she’s alive and redeemed and not body hopping) as small children shortly after Vitiate was finally killed for good.  While most of his servants were wiped out, there were a few stragglers who wanted the renegade former Wrath and all her associates and family dead.  In addition, there are a few ballsy Sith who dare challenge her.  As a result, the kids were trained by Xenli’s apprentice and her girlfriend.

Zayne Vortena: born shortly after Nathema.  As a Miraluka/human hybrid, he is physically blind, but can see through the Force.  He can also “see” with the soles of his feet, and is very in touch with his surroundings.  He feels pressured to live up to the legacy of his mother and his grandmother, and has both his parents’ moral compass.

Niika Chudo: adopted by Adira and Cassie Quax(who belongs to @abyss-wolf) shortly before D’leah is thawed.  She was inspired by Lehusa to join the military, though she has some spy training as well.  She, like Cassie, is one of the two people with brain cells in the immediate family.

[greyias]

👏🏻give👏🏻us👏🏻more👏🏻shan👏🏻trivia/facts👏🏻☕️ :’) I love your posts on all the disaster family that are the shans

I’ll give you one for each member of the Disaster Space Family!

Theron:

Before the age of 23, Theron had earned the regard of the Skyraiders of ThonBoka to the point where he had a standing invitation to go fly around with them (very likely as a result of a previous assignment with the SIS). Considering he mentions that they fly in a saddle, and the most famous flying creature in the ThonBoka nebula grows between half a kilometer to over 1.5 km long, one has to wonder exactly what sort of insane vacation our favorite disaster spy princess was supposedly considering before plot purposes took him in another direction–

—just kidding, we all know Theron never takes vacations.

Jace:

Page 44 of the SWTOR Encyclopedia tells us that Jace was a stereotypical, small-town, All-AmericanGalactic good ole boy. His parents owned a ranch on the planet Bacaria that he worked on while growing up, and was also a big fan of grav-ball. He was just a small town boy wanted to see the galaxy, so he enlisted as soon as he came of age (and possibly escape the noxious fumes of his home planet’s main export, “Bacarian claw salt”, as far as I can tell, a stinky salt that somehow looks like eyeballs WTF STAR WARS YOU’RE SO WEIRD). 

The status of Jace’s parents as far as I can tell are not confirmed one way or the other — so it’s possible Theron’s paternal grandparents are still around.

Satele:

Kao Cen Darach, the Battlemaster of the Jedi Order, was Satele’s last master as a Padawan. She began training under him to learn about the dangers of the dark side, something that was slightly more academic in the time of relative peace that Satele had grown up in to that point. He’s the one who taught her in the art of the dualsaber, and was apparently so uptight about the Dark Side he got on the nerves of some Republic politicians and got assigned to go patrol this nearly forgotten outpost above a planet called Korriban. This of course is ironic because everything about this mission introduced Satele to the dark side (Jace, the return of the Sith Empire, her first real lightsaber battle), and sadly led to the death of Master Kao as depicted in the Return trailer. 

According to The Journals of Master Gnost-Dural, the death of Master Kao left a lasting impression on Satele, and she had vowed to make sure his sacrifice wasn’t in vain, a promise that as of the beginning of the Vanilla game, she was still striving to keep.

Tasiele:

The fate of Tasiele (Satele’s mama) is interesting —  she was exiled on an unnamed planet in the Outer Rim, but when the Jedi later went to retrieve her years later they found no trace of her “except for her clifffside dwelling and a set of journals dedicated to her daughter Satele”. One of these journals, Aspects of the Force, The Light and the Dark, can be found in Satele’s camp in KotFE Chapter 12. However, it should be noted, they never found any actual proof that Tasiele perished on the planet. She was simply… not there.

[zemissinglinkus]

You know what bothers me? Satele Shan never once mentions her mother. She never bothered to go look for her. She never bothered to ask about her despite the fact that Tasiele literally sparked a political controversy so intense that the REPUBLIC more or less “ordered” the Jedi Order to exile her...

And yet Satele never looked into why she was exiled. Satele never bothered to figure out why her mother just... disappeared to the point that even the Jedi couldn’t find her when they tried... and Tasiele still hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

This really bothers me okay.

[the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond]

Slides this across and vanish, disappearing back in her lair

Oh it’s a redraw of this sketch btw

[sassheliosazuras]

The adorable brood of  Sass/Lana/Theron

Thought it was time to introduce all of Sassy’s, Lana’s, and Theron’s many children in chronological order. This time with updated looks and information.

Firstborn son; Zho’Beniko’Shan.  🌱

A hybrid child of primarily cathar/chiss heritage with partial zeltron descent. Sassy wasn't quite sure what Zho would come out looking as.Not that it would have mattered that much anyway. Zho was born in the spring of the year 3630 BBY/ 23 ATC on Odessan.

Titles and Nicknames; Prince Zho, Princling, Kitten son, purr-machine, and  destroyer of Jackets. Last moniker by Theron after kitten-son tests his new fangs on Dad!Therons jacket.

Biological Father; Sass’Helios’Azuras at time of birth, til both Sass and his son took on the names Beniko & Shan after Sass’s marriage to Lana and Theron.

Biological Mother; Santixes, my Cathar smuggler. 

Adoptive mother & father; Lana Beniko and Theron Shan. 

Traits; Official family cuddlier, happy go lucky child, and tree-climber extraordinaire :D  Moderately force-sensitive, empath, affinity for force healing and force camouflage. Loves hugs and ear scratches. Uses his force healing abilities constantly on his less graceful siblings broken bones and cuts. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Second Child and Firstborn Daughter; Kelsa’Beniko’Shan. 🌻

A shy green-eyed babe, little Kelsa may look the most like her mother out of all her siblings. Yet she possesses the quiet even temperament of her adoptive grandmother Selena. Born in the fall of the year 3629 BBY/ 24 ATC on Odessan.

Titles and Nicknames;  Princess Kelsa, Ke-Ke, quiet one, baby girl (by parents), jewel-eyes, and little fuzz. Sass gave her the last nickname, when she was born she was covered in small fine hairs, hence fuzz or fuzzy.  

Biological Father; Theron Shan (to his great surprise!)

Biological Mother; Lana Beniko.

Adoptive Father; Sass’Beniko’Shan

Traits; A quiet child with a sweet temperament, her grandmother Selena dotes on her the most. Kelsa is strong in the force, inheriting many of her grandmother’s Satele Shan’s abilities. She grows up with a love of the martial arts, along with the outdoors and dancing. 

Kelsa likes to stick close to Sass, and spends the most time with him as a small child. She does eventually come out of her shell and becoming a bit more outgoing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Third Child and Second Daughter; Tasiele’Beniko’Shan  💕

A spunky, strong-willed child little Tasiele delights in attention and being in the limelight. Born in early winter of the year 3626 BBY/ 27 ATC on Zeltros. She came a few weeks early while the entire family was on vacation at a resort island. 

Ever since then island was renamed “Isle of the Princess’😉 Extremely powerful in the force, even more so then her parents are.   

Titles and Nicknames; Princess Tasiele, Lady Tasiele, fashionista, pearl, Lord Tasiele, and Tasie.

Biological Father; Sass’Helios’Azuras 

Biological Mother; Lana Beniko

Adoptive Father; Theron Shan

Traits; A strong-willed and charming child, Tasiele grew up with a cunning eye and a sense for fashion. Also gifted with a lovely singing voice, she dreams of being a celebrated singer and fashion icon at the galaxy famous Dromund Kaas opera house. 

With some slight hesitation on her parent’s part, they do eventually make her a odessan ambassador to Dromund Kaas. While asking a friend of the family, a Darth to take her under his wing.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fourth Child and Third Daughter; Mahiya’Beniko’Shan 🍓

Sass’s zeltron heritage has finally shown in his last daughter. Though Sass still swears it was the bottle of pink champagne he and Lana had consumed all those months age that give them their little strawberry. 

Born in early summer of the year 3624 BBY/ 29 ATC on Odessan. Mahiya is moderately force-sensitive, while inheriting the ability to see forced-visions same as her father. She holds no interest in her abilities otherwise.

Titles and Nicknames; Princess Mahiya, bubblegum princess, strawberry shortcake, pinkie, freckles, bucket.

Biological Father; Sass’Helios’Azuras

Biological Mother; Lana Beniko

Adoptive Father; Theron Shan

Traits; A Happy-go-lucky child, Mahiya is a joy to be around, with a smile for anyone. With a great love for baking and dancing, she isn’t that concerned with the future preferring to live in the here and now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last-born child, and second son; Sorin’Beniko’Shan 💙

Born a sickly baby, Sorin’s first few months of life were difficult. Once taken in by Theron and his family, little Sorin rapidly began to improved and grow into a healthy chubby babe. 

 Born in late summer of the year 3620 BBY/ 33 ATC on Rishi. Extremely strong in the force, but also unstable and volatile when using the force. It takes decades for Sorin to fully learn to control his force abilities.

Titles and Nicknames; Prince Sorin, blueberry, cheeky, pirate prince, baby boy, Rin.

Biological Father; Sass’Helios’Azuras

Biological Mother; N/A

Adoptive mother & father; Lana Beniko & Theron Shan

Traits;  A adventures and curious person, Sorin could be called the dreamer of the family. Desperate to make his own mark on the galaxy and escape his heroic royal father’s shadow, Sorin’s teenage years were filled with arguments and his constant running away from home. 

The night after Sass passed away Sorin stole the family ship, and went out into the wider galaxy (that Theron and Lana had left unlocked the night he left, fully stocked, with a droid companion, and a tracking device hidden away) 😉  

From there on he choose to start his own smuggling business and fell into piracy as a bonus, eventually becoming a famous pirate in a few systems. With full immunity when he docked on Odessan of course. He makes sure never to raid any odessan ships. And is more then willing to help his sibling’s smuggle in stuff under their parent’s nose.

Artwork of all children was done by the talented @moonlitalien 

Thanks moon!

[lavampira]

some of the things that kai found by snooping around satele’s ship and camp because I thought that they were interesting:

combat techniques of a jedi battlemaster by kao cen darach

locket with a holoimage of teenage theron

tython training grounds: techniques to achieve jedi enlightenment

studies of the force by ngani zho

satele’s recordings on jedi and sith holocrons

korriban training facility: exercises in harnessing sith power

aspects of the force, the light and the dark by tasiele shan

a pot of rootleaf stew

unassembled lightsaber parts

satele’s day-to-day journal since arriving on odessen

[inyri]

Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. All things change, and we change with them for Satele Shan

(This took longer than it ought to have; Satele hits me in a strange place sometimes. But given the discussion I’ve seen about Satele on Twitter today it’s fitting that I finally managed to wrangle it into something passing for coherence.)

light

In the heat of high summer the breeze is a mercy.

It flutters at the panels of the canvas tent, carrying the scents of camp along with it, and when she inhales she breathes them in- caf and kolto, gun oil and the ozone tang of blaster fire- and thinks of Jace.

She’s supposed to be meditating. They move on the Imperial encampment tomorrow and she needs to calm herself, to gather her thoughts, to focus on the battle at hand. But as happens too often in these last few months she finds herself distracted; the wind grazes the nape of her neck where with her head bowed her robe gaps away from her sweat-beaded skin and she remembers the brush of his mouth there, tracing the lines of her collar as it falls open and-

(Not much armor, he says later, and hands her her belt. I wish you’d wear more. If-

The Force protects me. She fastens it around her waist, smooths her tunic down over her hips. I’ve no need of heavier armor than this.

Jace frowns. It didn’t protect your master back on Korriban. Or Malgus, for that matter.

No. But that’s not how the Force works.

A convenient excuse. But you don’t need it, anyway. He brushes one of her braids back from her face, the silver beads rolling between his fingers like a worry token. You’ve got me.)

When she opens her eyes Master Dar’Nala’s looking at her, and when she dismisses the padawans to fetch their dinner she gestures for her to stay behind.

“Satele, are you well? You’re very-” Dar’Nala considers, brow furrowed, though her eyes are kind- “unfocused today. If your injury from last week is still painful, you should visit the medical tent after we eat.”

She’s thankful for the question. It means she doesn’t have to lie. “That won’t be necessary. My wounds are healed.”

“What’s on your mind, then? Worrying about tomorrow?”

“Yes, master.” That wasn’t what she meant to say; it slips from her mouth, thoughtless, easy. Untrue. The breeze prickles her skin again and she shivers. “Only worrying. It will pass.”

*

They say the little things are how the dark gets in.

She knows it, in theory, but she doesn’t understand how they could possibly mean this. Alone, she is expected to endure- they both are, she and Jace, both flung into battle after battle after battle because they are soldiers and there is nothing left in the world any more but war. (The Sith call peace a lie. Sometimes she wonders if they’re right.) The chaos is wearing her down like water running over stone, carrying little pieces away bit by bit until one day she’ll wake, she thinks, and be nothing more than a robe and a blade, a mindless violent thing good for nothing but killing in the name of the Republic-

She needs this.

She needs him.

If this is how the dark gets in then everything she’s ever been told is wrong, because he is the only bright light in the entire galaxy.

*

(She tells herself it isn’t about the sex.

That is a lie, and honesty is important. It’s a little bit about the sex.

She doesn’t have much of a frame of reference, adolescent fumbling in a dark corner of the library and the night after Bothawui- the hangover wasn’t the only thing she regretted when she woke up- notwithstanding. But they’ve known each other so many years now, half a lifetime almost; she’s pretty sure Jace knew that about her and she’s more than sure he didn’t care. If he has complaints, at least, he certainly doesn’t voice them.

And blessed Force, there’s power in it-)

*

“You don’t have to be so serious,” he says. “Not with me.”

She smiles back over her shoulder as they keep moving through the trees. “I’m always serious. Haven’t you realized that by now?”

Jace grins and his scar tugs at the corner of his eye, pulling it into a near-wink. It still hurts him at times- she catches him rubbing at it when he doesn’t think anyone’s watching- but he won’t hear of having it removed. He wears it like a blazon of honor, like the medals pinned to all their chests after Alderaan, and only she knows what it really means: not just for the Republic like everyone thinks but also for you, Satele, for you there is nothing I wouldn’t do-

(He is not the type to say “I love you” but neither is she. That would complicate things too much.)

“When the war’s over, you should meet my mother.” The sunlight breaks through the clouds overhead, throwing the shadows of leaves across their faces; he pauses, looking up. “You two’d get along like a house on fire- not a single sense of humor between you.”

“Says the war hero. I’ve seen that recruitment poster.”

He wrinkles his nose, though it might have been the sun in his eyes. “Don’t remind me. Really, though, I think you’d like her.”

“I’m sure I would. But you know we can’t-”

“Can’t what?” There’s no one to see when he steals the words from her mouth with his. “We already are. We’ve been fighting their battles for them since we were children. Don’t you think they owe us this?”

*

Believing that, even for a moment, was not her first mistake.

But it might have been the biggest.

*

(They say the little things are how the dark gets in.)

When she clears the crest of the hill she stops short, seeing the bodies. Five Imperial soldiers lie dead at the foot of the hill, face down in the tall grass, and Jace and his men stand over them with blasters still cooling in their hands.

“I heard shooting.” She quiets her saber. “I came as quickly as I could.”

“Damn Imps wouldn’t surrender. We went to disarm them and they drew on us. Isn’t that right, men?” He turns to the rest of his squad as they nod agreement, looking everywhere but at her, and her belly curls into a tight little knot- but then again it’s been doing that a lot lately. Too much caf and not enough sleep, probably. “I guess we won’t need to take them back to camp after all.”

Five bodies in a neat line. Five spots of blood in the grass, five char marks half-hidden in close-cropped hair at the backs of heads.

She doesn’t look at their hands. She doesn’t want to.

She probably won’t see anything.

That is what she is afraid of.

*

“Satele,” Master Dar’Nala says that night, “you look troubled. Is something on your mind?”

She looks up from her reading, another endless treatise on the nature of the Dark Side- she ought to have brought her mother’s journals, might have actually found something there to guide her through this mess, but she doesn’t think the masters would approve- and frowns. “I-”

She bites it back.

Havoc Squad aren’t Jedi. The rules of the Order don’t apply to them, and she isn’t certain of what she saw. She wasn’t there. She might be wrong.

But if she’s right-

“I’m so tired-” she closes her eyes- “of this Force-damned war.”

*

For the first time in a month they’re bunkered in an actual building instead of tents in a forest and if no one realized that some of the rooms are paired, well. They’re all allies, aren’t they?

The privileges of rank extend to private quarters tonight. Ten minutes after she makes her excuses to the Masters he knocks at the door between their rooms and she’s barely got the latch undone before he’s on her like a shot. They’ve had so little time to themselves lately; she’s missed him, and tells him so.

“Did you really?” They stumble across the room together- they’ve got a proper bed for once, too, actually meant for two people, and if they’re lucky they’ll have time to take proper advantage of it. “Say it again.”

“I’ve missed you?” She raises an eyebrow. “Is that so strange to hear?”

He grins. “That sounds like attachment to me. Thought that wasn’t allowed.”

“Jace?”

“Yeah?

“Shut up.”

He hits the edge of the low bed and he falls backward, laughing, down onto the soft blankets; his arms are still around her, and she lets him drag her down too.

*

She tucks a sliver of ginger root into her cheek and even that doesn’t fend off the nausea; she spends half an hour retching into an empty water pitcher before she can focus enough to calm her roiling stomach.

When she finally feels well enough to stand she rummages through her pack, pulls out a scrap of clean rag to wipe her mouth. She’s running a little low on them, which is odd- she hasn’t needed them in-

Oh.

Oh, no.

*

I’d destroy their cities, Jace says, and burn their worlds.

There was a time when she believed that he was her light.

It was an easy mistake to make in retrospect. To closed eyes, light and fire look much the same.

She needed to believe it so badly, needed something bright in all this clinging darkness so much that she stopped trying to control it and let it run wild. She tried too hard to hold onto the light that she thought he was, to grasp it in both hands and press it tight against her heart because that was the only way to keep it safe-

(She knew long before Gell Mattar. She’s just become so good at lying that she didn’t realize she was lying to herself, too.)

-and now her eyes are open and she is holding fire in her bare hands, holding fire in her belly, and Force help her she is burning-

*

It’s too quiet in the cave. She paces back and forth, back and forth, singing under her breath to fill the silence.

Her mother used to sing this song to her, she thinks, when she was very small. She doesn’t remember. She was so young when they sent Tasiele away.

Her son will not remember her either. She has come to terms with that, even if with every kick and flutter her resolve wavers for a moment. But she keeps walking, the swell of her stomach cradled in her arms, and she sings.

He can hear her, she knows; she can feel him through the Force, the way his heartbeat changes when she talks to him. She sings and he is content. He is at peace.

Perhaps some part of him will remember this.

That probably isn’t how the Force works. 

But she hopes so.

[ospreyeamon]

Writing the thing about how the Barsen’thor’s promotions are politically motivated compelled me to also blab about how that played out with my characters. Unsurprisingly, the answer is messily.

During the Desolator Crisis, Grandmaster Satele Shan tried to raise Jedi Masters on the relevant planets to provide backup for the response team, only to discover they couldn’t assist because of another immediate crisis. Even though all the Jedi affiliated by Terrak Morrhage’s plague survived, many of them are still recovering. New emergencies are always occurring. At least the Council and the Supreme Chancellor have a chance to defuse the situation with the Rift Alliance before it goes critical.

The threat to cut all ties with the Republic is surely a bluff; Erigorm would lose too many major clients, Manaan and Saleucami too much trade. The real risk is that the Republic planets might secede to form their own smaller republic with the neutral worlds. It’s hard enough to keep the Republic as it is functioning; two Republics on poor terms will become a nightmare that cannot be awoken from. Though it is unfair to the Republic worlds not threatening to secede to extort concessions from the Supreme Chancellor, the Jedi Council cannot ignore the political realities. Someone needs to take up the task of appeasing the Rift Alliance.

Supreme Chancellor Janarus is keen on Ekkaia Thome with the fancy title of Barsen’thor. Syo Bakarn isn’t sure they are the best Jedi for the job though. Ekkaia is competent and courageous, but they aren’t the best at dealing with people outside the Order. Syo sidesteps the Chancellor by privately asking Ekkaia over distance holocom if they would be interested in taking a mission involving placating some political interests, then asking Tomah Awl when Ekkaia says no.

Ekkaia silently resents that Tomah was promoted to Master ahead of her. She isn’t allowed to resent Tomah though; he didn’t ask to be promoted and she was obliquely offered the high-profile mission before he was. Ekkaia isn’t being discriminated against; Knight San-Esi, Hero of Tython, wasn’t promoted to Master either. It would be wrong of her to pass judgment on the Council. It’s not the Jedi Council’s fault for undermining the rank system for political reasons; it’s Supreme Chancellor Janarus and the Rift Alliance’s fault for being shallow.

Ekkaia is certain they will be promoted in due time. It is better to have things done the proper way, so no one can cast aspersions on your reputation. Ekkaia indicates to the Council that they feel ready for the responsibility of training a Padawan.

For her part, Knight San-Esi, Hero of Tython, views it as a relatively minor instance of the long-term problem of the Republic’s government interfering with the internal policies of the Jedi Order through the High Council. There have been nasty incidents in the past, like the Republic encouraging the High Council to exile Tasiele Shan when she petitioned for permission to marry and raise her daughter. Still, Tasiele’s daughter Satele is the Grandmaster. She wouldn’t let what happened to her mother happen to anyone under her authority, right?

So long as she stays away from the Senate it will just be the Order’s internal political mumbo jumbo affecting San-Esi and her promotion prospects.

Unlike Tomah Awl who was born in the Order and Ekkaia Thome who was given over by their family as a young child, San-Esi formally joined the Jedi Order as an adult in her late twenties. After the Great Galactic War and the sacking of the Coruscant Temple, the Order is still desperately short of Jedi. Stumbling across an already trained already powerful free-range scion of a Padawan who left the Order before the start of the Great Galactic War seemed like a gift from the Force. A lot of San-Esi’s training before Tython was her teachers confirming that she had come to them already possessing the skills of a Knight.

Some members of the Jedi Council, including Satele Shan, believe that San-Esi should be fast-tracked for Mastery. Not only is the Order short on Jedi in general, but even as the Grandmaster she sometimes has difficulties persuading them to listen to her. In cases like Master Tol Braga, it’s because he is also on the Council so she couldn’t overrule him when he continued working on his grand plan to redeem the Sith Emperor when two major crises erupted in Act 1. In cases like Nomen Karr, it’s because he cut communication to “avoid endangering a sensitive mission”. In cases like Nomar Organa, it’s because he was from a powerful family whose support the Order wants to maintain. Some Jedi view “Grandmaster” as a symbolic courtesy title and insist they are following the last order they were given by a different member of the Council.

San-Esi and Satele made a good initial impression on each other. They like each other. It’s a relief for Satele to have another Jedi who is eager to help the Council – not just by doing what she is told but by actively trying to identify problems and suggest solutions. That’s the kind of behaviour she wants to encourage.

Some members of the Jedi Council, including Jaric Kaedan, believe that San-Esi should absolutely not be fast-tracked for Mastery. He thinks it’s a bit suspicious that somebody taught by a half-trained Padawan would have developed the full skills of a Knight. The archives record that San-Esi’s mother’s Master was Vala Xuhor, who betrayed the Jedi in the first year of the Great Galactic War. No, he’s not accusing her of being a Dark Jedi or a Sith infiltrator, but it’s been proven there are infiltrators out there and they don’t know what Knight San-Esi got up to during her years as a rogue sentinel. Please don’t make him have this disagreement in public, Satele, he hates having the ultra-conservatives biased against Jedi who joined the Order as adults agree with him.

Tomah is very uncomfortable when they work out just how political their elevation to Master was. The Jedi’s rank system is not meant to be used this way. They do their best to live up to the rank, but the knowledge they shouldn’t have it – that other Jedi know they shouldn’t have it – adds a new layer of uncertainty to their interactions with other members of the Order.

A year passes. Ekkaia Thome and her Padawan are assigned to join Thomah in the hunt for the Children of the Emperor. Ekkaia is promoted to Master to give her the rank that the Jedi Council feels she will need to be taken seriously by the politicians; she had trouble getting the authorities in Act 1 to take her seriously when explaining that the Jedi Masters were possessed, which hopefully being a Master will help with. It also puts her on an even level with Tomah, which is important as they are meant to be co-leading the mission.

The Jedi Council assumed that Tomah would need extra backup to wrangle the Rift Alliance and battle the Children, but it appears that his neutral position between the worlds within the Alliance has made him a powerful leader within it. The Rift Alliance has gone from being a drain on the Order’s resources to actively supporting Jedi missions.

This is incredibly convenient. The Jedi have allies, but in the case of many of them like House Organa, the Jedi have been giving more support than they have been receiving. However, it will be difficult to direct the resources of the Rift Alliance without offending them if the Jedi Council is giving orders to Master Tomah Awl and just expecting the Rift Alliance to pitch in. If Tomah Awl was on the High Council, though, that would be another matter.

The problem with nominating Tomah for the High Council is that the more orthodox Jedi, including some members of the Council, are disquieted by how deeply influenced he has been by his studies with the Voss Mystics. It didn’t worry the Council before, but before they didn’t have reports on what it was the Voss actually believed.

The compromise is that fiercely orthodox Ekkaia also be offered a seat on the Council. Adding two young Masters wildly clashing philosophies does not result in a more harmoniously functional High Council. It does steadily destroy what remains of Tomah and Ekkaia’s friendship.

Ekkaia’s title of Barsen’thor names her as Warden of the Order. It’s her greatest duty to guard the Jedi from Dark influences – from weakness, from selfishness, from moral compromise. Other Jedi Masters made it clear that she was needed to provide a counter-balance against Tomah and she opposes him at every meeting. He represents outside political interference and dangerous Dark Force-traditions that cannot be permitted to affect the Council’s decision making.

San-Esi, when she and her companions return for their time Missing In Action with the Emperor’s Wrath in tow, is changed. Angry, confrontational, talking about hating and killing the Sith Emperor in a way she never talked about anyone before her capture. It’s concerning.

The Jedi Council is extremely sceptical of Lord Scourge’s claim that the Sith Emperor plans to destroy the entire galaxy, for reasons including but not limited to the fact that none of the members of the Council believe that destroying the galaxy is even possible. Still, his defection is convenient and should be capitalised on. Scourge will only follow San-Esi, so she must be assigned to the mission even if some of the Council would normally not be in favour of sending a Jedi displaying a drastic personality shift into the field. Jaric Kaedan says it’s a bad idea to send a Jedi who might be in danger of falling on a mission which could just be a giant trap, but Satele has faith in San-Esi. San-Esi has triumphed against incredible odds before, persevered under incredible stress before.

PTSD and the Force don’t mix well. That was something San-Esi knew, intellectually, before. PTSD affects your ability to regulate your emotions. The Light-Side comes when you are calm; if you cannot be calm, the Force fails you or the Dark-Side grips you to pull you forward instead. Pain, rage, grief, and fear are all parts of life that cannot be avoided. As a Padawan, she was guided through basic techniques drawing on the Dark-Side so that if she ever fell into using it, she would be more in control, less likely to do something she regretted before she came back to herself.

The knowledge of the Sith Emperor that broke Tol Braga burns in her mind. The nightmares about what she did under his control don’t stop. She cannot forget, cannot set it aside. Everyone is in immediate danger as long as the Emperor survives.

She asks Satele for help. Satele refuses her. She contacts Tomah and Ekkaia to ask if they can use the shielding ritual to permanently free Leeha Narezz. They have another mission, but Kira is at least able to tell them what she knows about the Children. People ask if she is alright. She tells them she’s not.

If she falters the mission will fail. If the mission fails everyone will die. If she can’t be calm her anger will have to do instead.

San-Esi knows that she is sliding down, struggling for control. She knows that what she is doing is dangerous. But what choice does she have? Unless the Jedi Council provides enough support to enable her to step away from combat, she must keep fighting.

San-Esi maintains her self-control – more or less – until she reaches Tol Braga. She reaches out with desperate compassion until she realises he is no longer under the Emperor’s control. That he aided the Emperor’s plan willingly. That in his arrogance he led them on that doomed mission and then abandoned them and Warren is dead.

In that moment, San-Esi hates Tol Braga as much as she does the Emperor. He is dead before she makes any conscious decision to kill him.

Satele has faith in San-Esi but that faith is being shaken. San-Esi is increasingly belligerent in her demands for backup for her mission even though she knows that the war has reignited and Jedi are desperately needed everywhere. Bela Kiwiiks tells her that her old Padawan approached her for advice, afraid that her friend was succumbing to the Dark-Side. She receives word that San-Esi executed Warren Sedoru, even though Satele saw with her over the holocom that she was able to subdue him alive. When she tells Satele that she has killed Tol Braga there is only rage and hatred in her words, no regret.

San-Esi really should be recalled to Tython, but Satele and the Council decide to ignore her fall to send her on one more mission. Their intelligence will not remain fresh much longer. It may be years before they have another opportunity to strike directly at the Sith Emperor. San-Esi insists that she will kill the Emperor, even when Satele reminds her it is not the Jedi way.

Some Jedi doubt the truthfulness of her report that Tol Braga, the Conscience of the Order, willingly did the bidding of the Sith Emperor. She ignores Satele’s warnings that the Order knows she’s letting her anger get the better of her, her warnings that she needs to guard herself more vigorously against the influence of the Dark-Side.

Knight San-Esi has stopped listening, stopped trying, stopped caring. Maybe stopped pretending, though it pains Satele to contemplate it.

If San-Esi doesn’t care about her relationship with Satele or her place in the Order anymore, then Satele needs to take drastic measures to force her to acknowledge the problem. Unless Satele can demonstrate to San-Esi her choices have consequences, she will continue down her Dark path until it destroys her.

She stages a confrontation it will be impossible for San-Esi to brush off. Afterwards, Satele realises too late that there had been plenty of bridge still left to burn.

[swtorpadawan]

OC Introduction: Arro

This... is Arro.

He's another "future OC" from my Halcyon Legacy. He's effectively a contemporary of Bela Senya Carsen-Halcyon, the daughter of Corellan and Kira Carsen, and Tasiele Beniko, the daughter of Lana and Theron Shan. (Albeit he's several years older than either.)

Arro is a Zakuulan native. He was five years old when the Eternal Fleet bombarded the Spire. Arro's parents were killed, and he himself suffered serious injuries, resulting in his facial scars and later cybernetic implants.

On his own, Arro went underground with other refugees. He didn't trust either the Alliance or the provisional government to trust their relief efforts.

He was just a scared little boy.

Flash forward five years, and he's now a ten-year old, surviving a hard-scrabble existence on the streets of the Old World and living mostly on pickpocketing and the occasional kindness of strangers.

Then one day, Arro spotted an Alliance relief team, aiding the reconstruction efforts. Having no sentiment for the Alliance, he attempted to steal some supplies.

One of the Alliance operatives, however, had once been in a position very much like Arro found himself in. Which the benefit of that steet experience, she spotted him casing the Alliance camp, catching him in the act.

Touched by his story, she wound up adopting him. It took Arro a long time to adjust to life on Odessen, but eventually it did become a positive. He was especially happy they got him properly working cybernetics.

Two years after she adopted him, his adopted mother married.

Arro's adopted parents are Vette and Arcann.

That's how Arro became Arro Tirall. When he came of age, he became an Alliance operative himself.

More on him another time, I hope.

Thanks for reading.

- SWTORpadawan

(Tagging @raven-of-domain-kwaad )

[sullustangin]

headcanon that is questionably canon:

Another part of why Satele gave Theron up: she was scared that he would be taken from her, just like she was taken from her mother, Tasiele.  She was also worried that he would suffer the consequences of her indiscretion; she didn’t want to put Theron through what she went through as a child of a publicly disgraced mother.

[reysexualkylo]

I think in the end of this sequel, Rey and Ben is going to finish what the old canon Shan family started. Through so many generations, starting with Revan and Bastila - they challenged the Jedi Council's views on attachment and marriage. Tasiele Shan, Satele's mother, was exiled for trying to challenge them. Anakin and Padme had to keep their love secret and if they didn't had too, things would had been a lot different.

I can definitely see that happen!

[jarael]

Six Sentence Sunday

I was tagged by @actualanxiousswampwitch!

Tagging: @abyss-wolf, @relentless-endurance, @shanfamilydrama, @julikidmxns, @jacemalcom, @vespertine-legacy and anyone who wants to do it!

Let’s visit with the second generation, shall we?  FTR, this Revan for the Kavi legacy would be East Asian in the real world and not a jar of Miracle Whip like in the game.

“You guys have seen Force ghosts, right?” asked Iyakata.

“Well, yeah,” Rhaegor affirmed.  “Revan visited us a lot when Mom and Dad were off helping your big sister and your mom.  Why do you ask?”

Feliae and Iyakata exchanged looks.  “Well...” Feliae began.  “How much did Revan look like Theron, in your opinion?”

“Not much,” Tasiele responded.  “He looked more like Grandma.”

“Oh.  Because one of the ghosts that visited us when we were little looks a lot like Mom.”

“And,” Iyakata added, “she told us to call her Grandma.”