High Lady of Asgard

Dealing with complex thoughts and emotions I can't work through in therapy, like grief, despair, a complicated relationship with pain and addiction

"Castle of Glass"

Teyla Marin has spent more time in the Room of a Thousand Fountains than any other place in the Jedi Temple. As a Padawan, she and her master would spend countless hours sparring barefoot in the grass, meditating in the alcoves behind waterfalls, picnicking beneath the trees. It was peace. Even after Master Sifo-Dyas’s death, this place has been a comfort, a place to get away from –

War. Destruction. Death. It surrounds her; the screams of troopers pierce her heart, plumes of smoke choke her, the roar of battle deafens her, but she shuts it out. She needs to focus. Battle Mediation requires all her concentration as she connects all the Republic forces under her command through the Force, allowing them to act as a single entity. Blasterbolts crackle past her head. She finds her Padawan, the clone troopers, brings them all together, each a star burning brightly in a constellation in the night sky –

Consumed by the dark. The Force is screaming, and one by one Jedi across the galaxy die. She reaches out, exhausted, despair clutching her, and tries to pull them all together in the Force. For a moment, it works, and the Jedi gain strength as they hold on to each other. But then a great darkness strikes back against her, stronger than she ever will be, and shatters her mediation, and as she tumbles into nothing, a familiar face, warped and gleeful, cackles as she realizes all is –

Lost. She doesn’t know how long she’s been hiding in the lower levels of Coruscant. She doesn't know where her Padawan is. She doesn’t remember sneaking onto the transport’s cargo hold. She doesn’t even know where the ship is going. All she knows is that she is alive, because the grief would not be so all-consuming if she weren’t.

Evening Dress "Swan"

c. 1954

by Charles James (1906-1978)