THE TASTE OF ANGELS

Disclaimer: Last I heard Uncle George hadn't insert my name on is will. So, SW still belongs to him. I'm not hearning any money (dollars, Rands, Euros, Yens, shells, beads, or whatever with this.

It was lunch time at the Imperial Palace and the Emperor was having
a special lunch with some private members of the Empire. He was
about to introduce a young dancer to his private friends.


Usually he saved introductions for the evening meal, but this one
was too young to stay up late, so he decided that lunch would be a
good time to do that.


Lord Vader was not happy about that. He could not eat and the sight
of all that food was torture to him. Sometimes he caught himself
thinking about the reasons that had lead that fool Anakin to fall to
the dark side, and now, as he watched the others eat, he was
reminded that he could not eat normally as others did.


But he was in the room where the lunch was to be served. The room
was decorated with dark balloons and rainbows, with a little stage
at the front of the room. A Dark throne had been placed at the
center of the room and only the personal guard of the Emperor was
there.


Vader entered thinking that it would indeed be a very close
reception, as only 3 chairs were there, besides the throne. He sat
to the right to the throne, the place without a plate in front, only
a basket containing a sweet called "angel wings", because it was
shaped like an angel's wing. Vader was sure that the emperor always
ordered it as a reminder of another life and another man, a reminder
that his journey had found his destination. From there he should
only go to lower levels and never reach for brighter skies.


The Emperor arrived, grinning. With him came his favorite courtesan.
Well, the favorite for the time being at least. She was very pretty,
but Vader thought that she would not last long. None of them lasted.
Palpatine consumed their youth and their presence and then delivered
them to the back quarters of the palace in a state of despair, where
they lived hollow and in sorrow, not sure why they ended felling
that way.


Vader stood and bowed to his Master.


"-Lord Vader. How nice of you to join us. "


"-Your wishes are my orders Master!"


"- Yes, yes! So you keep saying…."


Palpatine took his seat, as did Vader and the courtesan. She nodded
to Vader proud of her rank within the court. Vader knew why she was
there too. The fact that she was the favourite was only a
coincidence. She was the dancing teacher, and she had come to
introduce her student.


As the Emperor signaled  with his cane, the lights went down. A spot
of light at the center of the small stage came on and a small girl
entered the room and stood in the light spotlight quietly until soft
music began playing.


Vader sat watching as the young girl started dancing, slowly at
first, then moving faster as the music rose in volume and tempo. The
girl danced with a power far too dark for such a young being. She
moved gracefully with her red hair flowing behind. Something about
her movements told Vader that she was using some Force ability to
dance.


He could smell the "angel wings" in front of him, causing something
more sad than darkness to envelope his heart. A vision of a fallen
angel, dancing for her wings of freedom as the darkness surrounded
her more and more until the music stop.


The lights were turned on again. Brightness seeming strange in the
dark mood of the room. The little girl steped forward, surprisingly
not shy or concerned with the Emperor's presence.


"-Very good, my child. You will be a great weapon in time."


The girl open her big green eyes and seemed angry.


"- I will be?" she spat. "What am I now?"


The courtesan looked worried by the lack of fear of her student, but
the emperor laughed a sinister laugh, turning to Vader.


"- Lord Vader, the young artist with a temper is Mara. You saw her
grace at dancing, she will do well dueling with a saber, don't you
think?"


Vader was quiet. The Emperor had a plan and he was not sure if he
liked it. He was thinking of training the child in saber practice,
that's what all the dance was about, movement.


Mara was seated on the table, looking at Vader with curious childish
eyes. She had seen him before, everybody knew him, but it was the
first time she was close to the masked man.


The food was served to all but Vader. He sat watching the others
eating. The Emperor was lost in a private conversation with the
courtesan. Vader thought that they were not behaving properly in
front of a child, but he hid that thought.


"- Why are you not eating?"


The voice woke him from his reverie and he stared at the girl.


"- I cannot eat with this mask," Vader answered flatly.


"- But everyone has to eat. Why don't you take your mask off?" The
child asked innocently.


"- Because I will die if I do so."


"- So you never eat!" Mara quirred


"- I am fed in another way," the dark lord answered truthfully.


"- Oh! I would miss food!" she said sadly.


Vader was loosing his patience. He was not good with children.
Usually the rare children that he saw started crying as soon as they
looked at him. Why didn't this one cry?


"- Don't you miss food?" Mara asked with concern.


"-Sometimes!" Vader answered, his irritation growing.


Mara seemed happy for a while, and decided to keep the silence and
eat. But she was far to interested in Vader to stop questioning him.


"- Do you have a girlfriend?"


"-Wh What?" Vader asked, stunned by her question.


"- A girlfriend. Like Palpy!" the red haired child exclaimed.


"- Not anymore" – He said softly and stared again at the sweets in
front of him.


Mara looked at Vader, the giant felt sad and in his mask she had the
vision of a desert world and a boy about her age laughing and
running in the sand, but suddenly there were two, alike, but not the
same. One was taken by an angel, while the other was looking to the
stars but could not find a way to fly. And suddenly the first boy
was not a boy anymore, but despair was consuming him as he lost the          taste of happiness from his heart and filled it with the bittersweet
taste of something that could never be. The second boy stared at
Mara through the reflection of Vader's mask and suddenly he was not
a boy either, but a grown man, staring at her and saying, "I like
the taste of us in my heart Mara!"


She jumped! He had said her name. She didn't like it at all. She
didn't like what she didn't understood. In front of her Vader stood,
apparently looking at her. She could not say if he was concerned or
not. He seemed oblivious to what she had seen.


"-Are you ok? Is your food ok?"


She could feel he was angry. His voice was full of darkness and she
almost shocked with it. But her mind was still filled with her
vision. Confusion made her say what was in her mind.


"- Do you have a son, Lord Vader?" she asked.


Vader rose from his seat. The Emperor stopped to see, curious about
what had happen. Mara knew no boundaries to fear, he was seeing to
that; but she must be more talented that he thought to manage to
anger Vader in such a short period of time. She was a child after
all. What could she do or say to anger a Sith Lord?


Mara was afraid for a while. Certainly he would not kill her with
the emperor there. Besides, she usually said things to anger people,
or to see their limits, but this time she didn't know what she could
have said to get that reaction. She didn't know what she had asked,
everything seemed a little foggy now. The fact that the masked man
all in black was standing in front of her, breathing like mad was
not helping.


Vader thought about shaking her. But without thinking he grabbed the
basket full of "Angel wings" and threw the full content on Mara, who
for the first time in her life had no reaction. She stood there,
covered in pink sweet little wings, still intact on her hair and
shoulders.


Only seeing her, Vader calmed down. He looked to the Emperor with
anticipation. Certainly he would not punish him for being angry.
Anger was of the dark side. The Emperor raised an eyebrow,
questioning Vader. The courtesan was watching, fear on her face as
Vader stood facing the Emperor.


"- Master. I'm sorry for the accident. I was thinking of a way of
improve young Mara's act? Why not add some wings?  She could try and
learn how to fly" And to himself he added "especially away from me"


"- And so you throw food on her, Lord Vader?"


"-Just to test her reflexes, Master. It seems there is some work to
be done in that aspect."


The emperor was not believing Vader, he would question the girl
later, not now. He looked at Mara and smiled. He liked to see her in
pink… and adding some wings… Maybe she could learn how to fly, with
grace.


As for Mara, she was not happy, she didn't like pink stuff on her,
and she didn't want to wear wings. She didn't like the memory of the
other boy, turned adult talking to her. He talked about the taste of
them. How did he know the taste of her? How did she know his taste?
Had she licked him?


Vader sat, quietly again. Sadness enveloping his heart. Why had the
girl asked that? What had she seen? The wings without angels
reminding him of another life, and that taste again, that he craved
but could never touch, sending him down and down, making his dark
heart a grave for his former soul.

The End

26 January 2005

Beted by Karen