An Affirming Flame by Mac

[gloriana.livejournal.com]

Bra-ha-ha-ha! It's Halloween, so in good M-A tradition, I get to rec a Dead Padawan Society story.

Title: An Affirming Flame
Author: Mac
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Q/O
Warnings:
Extreme angst, says Mac. Deathfic, says I. Duh, says the Dead Padawan instigators.



















Author's e-mail: connie23@iprimus.com.au;
Author's website: The Alternative: http://home.iprimus.com.au/amacker/
Author's lj name: ausmac
Link to story: on Mac's site: http://home.iprimus.com.au/amacker/Affirming.htm; or on the DPS site: http://www.ravenswing.com/DPS/fic.html

Reasons for recommending: I didn't mean to repeat an author so soon in my recs, but if I had to choose a single story from the first wave of the Dead Padawan Society, it would be this one. (The alternative, dear readers, was not DPS but was much, much worse...) And you do know, don't you, that a DPS story has a dead padawan in it somewhere, yes? Good.

The angst quotient is accordingly high. But the thing which really drew me to this story was the quality it shares with M Fae Glasglow's On Day's End and Dinner: an understanding of the Jedi as Other, not simply reflections of ourselves but Force-driven warriors living by their own creed. This story is a pleasant balance to all those diatribes as to how awful the treatment of apprentices is, in both the JA books and in TPM. It shows that a little slapdown in the council chambers is as nothing to what a Jedi might be asked to endure in the field.
Quote from story:

Obi-Wan was on his highest run when the call came through. He'd half-expected it - Qui-Gon was calling to check on him. He smiled and flipped on the comm link in his chinpiece. "Master, everything is fine, I'm having a good flight."

"Yes, Obi-Wan. There is - a problem."

That powerful prescience he was gifted with suddenly hit Obi-Wan with a chill of foreboding.

Extra comments:
I found that ending utterly satisfying, even though it made me cry a little. And I loved the contrast between Xanatos and Obi-Wan, between the lost and the found, the one whose light had died and the one whose Light would live on.

Comments

[ausmac.livejournal.com]

You'll be pleased to know I remember this one. (-: Its one of my own favorites - now and then you write something and it works just how you hoped it would. I'm glad you like it too.

[splix.livejournal.com]

Oh god. I forgot it was Mac who wrote that. I read it only once and it tore me up. It was excellent, but so, so wrenching. :(

[emila-wan.livejournal.com]

I remember this. It was the first DPS story I ever read, and in my opinion still the best.

He wanted to beg for another way, to ask to be excused, to plead inability, to say, Master, I'm only fourteen, could I have a few more years of life - but he couldn't. "I. .yes, I can stop it"

"I know you can, Obi-Wan."

This gets me every time. I love the calm acceptance on both their parts. This is what I think Jedi character is all about.