London, Belgravia District, in the waning months of 1906. An elegant, more than well-appointed Eaton Square townhouse where within reside Galen and Eugenie, the Viscount and Viscountess Delbridge of Ravenlock, and their son Lyman. Of course there are the many servants. Just another wealthy, privileged Edwardian Era family? Look closer, harder...
Bright as hope the sun streamed through the morning-room window as Lady Delbridge opened the morning post. Her husband, Galen, a handsome brown-haired, hazel-eyed man of nearly fifty Earth winters, poured for himself a third cup of coffee, his mind on many things, chiefly on that letter his wife dispatched to Glinda yesterday. He knew Eugenie did the right thing in alerting those prominent Ozites to her niece's inherent evil and avariciousness. Galen was also aware of that person's leading role in the impending coup against Oz by using an army of battle droids to invade that peaceful land. Only someone from the Clone War days would know how to construct such an army, but the commander has yet to realize Ozites' resilience and resourcefulness. After all, hasn't Oz successfully warded off and repelled nearly all previous attempts? Such as the last, serious attempt orchestrated by the Nome chief steward Kaliko, and that man now is more than willing to go along with Parva's insane plan to oust Ozma and set herself as ruler thus have an upper hand in finally vanquishing the remaining Jedi on Earth via an Oz takeover.
Already Galen knew now was the time to play his hand. If Parva's most recent attempt to infiltrate Oz, in the guise of a local girl (and this was passed on to him via Eugenie from Glinda), fails, then she would resort to more desperate measures in order to bring down the newest Jedi in Oz. That would the musician and composer Madeline Tasou whose own personal secrets, as well of those close to her, have to yet to be publicly known — That Galen's Jedi Master, Ethan Dornay, is Maddie's biological father, and that the woman's birth parents and godfather kept this from her for more than three decades.
Not a good thing, he ruminated, remembering a disgusting episode his wife had to
endure courtesy of his late sister-in-law. What was this lady thinking? Putting her
eldest sibling in a most difficult position. Forcing her to take the Unbreakable Vow
before she unleashed her own brand of deception on one man whose own ethical
and moral code grew shakier by the day.
What irritated Galen was that Parva's father promised to protect Eugenie and her
people — magical peoples — from those who would not understand the magical ways.
Yes, Eugenie was a witch as was her sister and many more whose ancestors originally
hailed from the Old Republic, Haruun Kal to be precise. Unusual property, that
planet has,. where its inhabitants are so intuited with the Force, and that includes
the celebrated Jedi Master Mace Windu as well as the Force Masters Deke Lightfoot
and the twins Mariah and Rath Baxter. Whatever made Eugenie's ancestors, more than a
millennium ago, migrate to other star systems is, to this day a mystery. Those
reasons will be made known in time, but Galen was well aware of those migrants'
Force potent proficiency, which, once they settled in their new home, slowly evolved
into what the Earth peoples call magic. While not quite a brand of magic known to
the wizarding and witching worlds of Dumbledore or Ozma, it is magic nonetheless.
With note in hand, he approached his wife, asking innocently as not to alarm the attending housemaid removing the vestiges of mid-morning coffee, "Anything interesting in the post today?"
Eugenie, ever more beautiful than in her youth with her tall, regal bearing, pre-
Raphaelite coloring: pale skin, wavy dark auburn hair, and lambent blue eyes, merely
replied as she opened the last of the correspondence — the kind that comes
regularly through the Muggle post, "Oh, just the usual. I see the Bellamys
have invited us to dine with them next Thursday. The French ambassador, no less, is
the honored guest."
She sifted through more letters and invitations. Letters from the couple's various
friends and acquaintances within London society, invitations to luncheons and dinner
parties, a ball or two, a request from Lady Prudence Fairfax for a charity drive,
even a weekend at Syon House. As stated before, these came through the standard
post; the others, far more important correspondence arrived at the Delbridge house
through very different means. These came via an interesting network of both Owl and
Droid Post. The former from the wizarding world, the latter from the fairyland of
Oz. Droids? In Oz? Thank the arrival of several Jedi and Force Users to lend their
advanced technological expertise to push Oz into the Twenty-First Century, if not
beyond.
These special deliveries were never made during the daytime as not to arouse suspicion among uncomprehending everyday people. That is, people who are neither intuited with the Force or magic. The owls and droids deliver their loads after dark, via chimney flues, and, in the Delbridge household, Galen and Eugenie promptly remove any and all parcels and letters before retiring for the night. It had to be that way lest the maids who clean the grates and lay fires in the morning, out of curiosity, examine, possibly, Heaven forbid, an odd package or envelope. Both Eugenie and Galen, like their many magical and Jedi brethren on Earth, had to be extra cautious. One slip can send those still loyal to the Separatists and Imperialists streaming towards the planet in a heartbeat.
"Galen," said Eugenie in that imposed, cultured "landed gentry" accent that separates those who have from those who do not, "Place this to go out tonight." She handed over two letters.
"To Glinda?, " inquired Galen, placing his own correspondence into the hidden compartment near the hearth.
"And to Deke,." Lady Delbridge spat out. To her husband, "I take it your letter is to go to—"
"Precisely."
Then,"It is obvious from your last letter to Ozma that Parva will be more readily
identifiable by those markings. For that I'll give your sister proper respect. It
is, in my opinion, the only decent thing she did after the chaos she created."
Eugenie, on the verge of tears after this mild verbal assault on her long-departed sister, couldn't agree more with her husband. Yes, he was Jedi, and he could somewhat read people and their thoughts thus predicting what they'd do the next moment, hour, day. Perhaps Galen should have been there, when Eugenie's sister forced that Unbreakable Vow. Oh how Eugenie, if it were possible, to go back in time, to prevent her sole sibling from committing a most heinous act. No, that would be reserved for Parva's father whose own life was to take one huge dramatic turn the moment he stepped out on that planet — and straight into the path of Jedi Master Ethan Dornay. To this day no one knows what transpired between Master Dornay and this mystery man, and only one other person, one of Eugenie's magical friends back home, had some idea what happened.
Amazing that the sister's visions of nearly every player in the ever-increasingly complexities have nearly come true, if not totally on the mark. One thing for sure, two unwitting players will see the light, both literally and figuratively.
~~~~~~
Meanwhile, in Emerald City...
At the precise hour our Edwardian Jedi and his magical wife dispatched replies,
Princess Ozma
received Luke Skywalker's complete report on Parva Eugui, her origins, and what made
her go ever
so dark. Ozma agreed that even what some would describe lost causes, such as Jenny
Jump, Anakin
Skywalker, even Ugu the Shoemaker, have a small glimmer of love within, a tiny bit
of remorse. It
takes something truly traumatic to bring that bit of good to the surface, allowing
the wrongdoer
to make amends and step into the light, hopefully for good.
For Jenny it was facing, literally, dark facets of her personality — the anger,
arrogance,
overtly obsessive ambition, imperiousness. For Anakin it was watching the Emperor
slowly
electrocuting Luke to death. This was Padmé's child, as was Leia, and Palpatine was
determined to
snuff out the last vestige of that love Anakin had for her. For Ugu it was losing
his humanity,
literally and figuratively, after causing much damage after he became a powerful
sorcerer. Of
course, just like that other magical man, Kaliko, Ugu used his new talents
for selfish
purposes. First he stole Cayke's magic dishpan, using that to steal Glinda's Book of
Records and
the Wizard's Black Bag. Topping off these misdeeds was kidnapping Ozma then turning
her into an
enchanted peach pit. Dorothy Gale ended Ugu's rampage by transforming him into a
dove, using the
Magic Belt. Ugu truly atoned for his crimes and requested to remain a dove so he can
live in
peace and not harm anyone ever again.
Now, whatever can be done to turn Parva Eugui from the dark side? Surely there is
something, a
glimmer of love, a tiny bit of wanting to belong, to have a family, but the woman
was, as Eugenie
Lightfoot described, conceived without anything remotely resembling love. And the
deed was done
in similar fashion as Merope Gaunt induced Tom Riddle, Sr. , to fall in love with
her. Only
Eugenie's sister was not abused by family like Merope; the girl was just terribly
off-balanced
mentally. Eugenie's sister simply slipped the object of her obsessive affections a
potent Love
Potion then had her way with him.
There was one telling repercussion: Upon conception, all throughout the pregnancy
and painful
delivery, the woman experienced vivid dreams and visions. Yes, the lady was a Seer,
and she
foreshadowed events that would surely occur decades after her child's birth and
beyond. She saw
the coming of the Clone Wars and subsequent Empire as well as the fate of her own
planet. Then
she saw what the future held for her daughter, a spitting image of the mother on the
outside with
every bit of the father's dark weaknesses on the inside. Self-absorption in the
extreme, a thirst
for power and glory, a total disregard for the damage she inflicts, and a coward
underneath the
thick but oh-so fragile veneer of bravado.
Ozma, after reading Luke's reports, wondered out loud,"How can two women be somewhat alike yet so far apart? Both are beautiful to the eye, but the similarities end there."
She turned attentions momentarily to the Magic Picture with which she can view any person or event, in real time, in the world. In this case, and by virtue of Oz being magical and mystical, Ozma, on this occasion wished to see how things are faring with the new Jedi Knight Madeline Tasou. Only she could conjure these images and such information was crucial to Oz's very survival and future.
Ah, so Ms. Tasou has made inroads with the Great Valley dinosaurs, the children in particular. She already learned how Maddie rescued an adventurous Cera from the sinking sand as well as the presence of two dinosaurs, one wanted the other the exact opposite. George, the little dilphosaurus, hung back in the brush, not wanting to be seen by the plant-eaters because his kind was really not welcome. These little dinos gained an unfortunate reputation of spitting deadly toxins at their intended victims, thus blinding them before devouring. Not to worry about George doing any such thing as Ozma knew exactly who George was: An Oz local on undercover assignment. Not to help Madeline as the Jedi should not receive much by way of outside assistance, but as backup in case the relocation efforts go totally awry. The other, unwanted pest Ozma knew on the spot, and she hadn't a doubt that this one was responsible for that awful event Aladar's Herd, Dorothy, and Ojo encountered in the tunnel yesterday.
Day Two of Maddie's first important mission and already one threatens to derail the progress made. While Ozma didn't want to resort to calling on too many reinforcements, she didn't want to take chances. The commander of the impending coup was still at large, in the guise of an Oz local. Her partners in crime were also on the run though one had made a complete confession. That would be the sorceress Sirenna, now no longer in her moth disguise. At present she resides at an undisclosed location somewhere in Ix, and Queen Zixi has no intention of revealing the girl's exact whereabouts. As for Kaliko...Well, Ozma knew exactly where he was.
Quickly, Ozma penned a note to Mayre Griffiths, more popularly known as Trot. There is a tiny favor the princess requests. Immediately Ozma rang for Jellia to take the note straight away. A second note was sent to another Oz local though delivery to that person was done by the magical messenger droids developed by the Force Masters Rath and Mariah, and Deke. What joys! Magic and technology co-existing in harmony. What is so wrong with that? Will Parva ever understand that Oz is not just another country on any given planet, and it is certainly unlike those nation-states in the Great Outside World.
"She will fail miserably. I can feel it, but as Luke said in his report, our victory will come with a heavy price," she said as the tiny droid sped out on its journey across town. Trot will, no doubt, send her reply and will want to help Ozma in any way possible. The other recipient? A, as one recent Oz resident would say, crap shoot at best. No doubt this one would take an easy assignment, but would her husband agree to such? Not that Ozma would blame him; so much trauma in one family is enough for anyone to endure.
With a sigh, Ozma returned to the Magic Picture, watching Oz's newest resident get better acquainted with the Great Valley gang. How wonderful for Madeline to bring the sights and sounds of Oz as well as her music to creatures who, in reality, would not have experienced such. She knew, of course, that the herds, much like Aladar's, heard beautiful music in their minds; some even spontaneously broke into song. A few actually interacted with the Force Ghosts of long-dead composers and earthbound Jedi. This phenomenon in particular stumped both the Great Valley and Nesting Grounds herds, and they can be directly attributed to the presence of Jedi on Earth.
Ozma thought long and hard about this. How can creatures who lived tens of millions of years ago come in contact with those talented humans who wouldn't be around until the early Nineteenth Century and beyond? She came to the realization that these animals are innocents, undefiled by the human world. Who else to trust with profound secrets of that mystical, magical space passage, the fact that there are beings, human and non-human, far advanced technologically, from other star systems far beyond our own? All the more reason to travel to long-past eras to relocate those magnificent beasts to the wondrous fairyland of Oz.
Smiling at the images emitted by the Magic Picture, Princess Ozma breathed a sign of relief. Yes, the future of Oz and all lands within the continent of Nonestica will be safe as long as meddling, maleficent factors are kept at bay. Already she knew how to identify Parva Eugui; it was just the matter of keeping the woman under secure lock and key which would prove most challenging. Moreover, she knew the woman's inner weaknesses, and such could help bring down the Evil One that much sooner, though, Ozma realized with heavy heart, the invasion may not be all that averted. If it comes to battle on the green grounds surrounding Emerald City, so be it.
Copyright©2007-2010 by PRP