Beyond Burning Bright * UDC7 * Week 17 posted 21/May

Title: Burning Bright
Author: Hazel
Summary: Mara Jade-centric drabbles
Genre: drama, introspection, romance, humor, etc.
Characters: Mara Jade, Luke Skywalker, etc.
Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to G.L and Uncle Scrooge.
Notes: Written for the Ultimate Drabble Challenge 7.


***************************************************



Week One



Baby

She was her daddy's little baby. His little princess, his little angel, his little girl. He still found it hard to believe he had participated in making such a precious being.

How fortunate he felt while watching his little baby Mara sleeping in her mother's arms. Despite the dark times the galaxy faced and the death that followed them everywhere, there was still light to be found. There was still hope, there had to be.

Collecting the baby from her mother's arms, he held her close against his heart and silently vowed to never let any harm come to her.



Child

Mara was an adventurous child. She liked to pretend she was an explorer, sent by a secret organization to go where no one had gone before. That explained why she moved around a lot. It wasn't because the dark man chased her family; it was because they were secret explorers sent by the secret organization. That was what her daddy said and Mara always believed her daddy.

She knew she couldn't tell anyone else about their secret adventures - only to mommy and daddy. Mommy had said so.

Her exploits ended the day the dark man caught up with them.



Teenager

There was something void inside of Mara. Even though she was a teenager, she was not an ordinary one. She was an extension of her master's will and she did his bidding unquestioningly.

It was the right thing to do.

At every command the hollowness grew larger, but she didn't notice since the will of the Emperor overtook all her senses.

But sometimes in the dead of night, an ever-growing sense of cold would wake her from her sleep and, for a fleeting moment, she remembered what it was like to live with the warmth of someone who loved her.



Adult

The cold night and the furiously blowing wind made the young adult woman seek shelter in a sleazy cantina lost in the middle of a no-man's town situated in an outer rim world.

'How the mighty have fallen?' She thought bitterly. Just a year ago she had been on top of her world. She held the Emperor's trust and she had her whole life ahead of her. Now look at her, a vagrant struggling to survive the freezing night.

It was all that Jedi's fault. Once again she vowed to fulfill her master's final command.

'You will kill Luke Skywalker.'




Elderly


She could not remember ever being so hot and so cold in her life. The fever consumed her body and her mind, mixing her dreams and her memories in a soup of hallucinations. Her past and her present mingled with visions of a future. She saw herself as an old woman, standing on a terrace next to an elderly man with bright blue eyes. He spoke to her and his voice blended with voices from another time - a chorus saying 'I love you, Mara.'

She didn't realize it then but when the fever finally broke, Mara began to heal.


**************

Yay, first set of drabbles ever

Blisses!
Beautiful & accurate portrayals of Mara. !!

Ooh very nice! I'm excited you're doing the drabble challenge!! I especially loved "Baby" and "Teenager".

Beautiful! I can't wait to read more of these Mara-centric drabbles.

I found the Baby, Child & Teenager bits really intriguing.
Just imagining Mara so little, innocent & vulnerable was sweet & sad at same time..
Nice job!

Caught this over on FF.N earlier. Lovely, Hazel!

This was beautiful...I did like the baby part...but I am partial to her vision of her with the elderly man with blue eyes (I'm a sucker for Luke what can I say)

Thanks Jade!!

Yeah, i decided to give this a try and poke my muse. Thanks!

I can't wait to find out about the next set of prompts.

Mara's early life is a sad one. Fortunately she met Luke and

Thank you!

Yeah, Mara drabbles are not complete without Luke.

Little Mara is so cute. Great job.

She is, isn't she! Thanks!

Lovely how you show us a young Mara

Loved 'em, Hazel. Especially Adult with the sleazy cantina.

Thanks earlybird! I hope to show you Mara at every stage if i get the proper prompts.

Thanks Daena! I'm glad you liked it.

Week Two - Healthy, Injured, Sick, Stressed, Frustrated



Healthy

Mara had always been a healthy person. She hardly ever got the flu or felt nauseated, she could endure every single headache with only a simple painkiller. She had never called in sick in her life - not while working for the Empire, not while working in all those slimy places after the Emperor's death, not while working for Karrde or for the Smugglers Alliance, and most certainly not after becoming a Jedi.

As a matter of fact, she hadn't been to a doctor in years, if she didn't count those annoying mandatory checkups.

So why was this happening now?



Injured

It was true that she had been injured enough times in the line-of-duty and, for most of those injuries, she had to be committed to a medical facility, but that was it, and as of late she didn't even need that much. She'd just use the Force to heal herself the way Luke had taught her to do. It was definitely more comfortable than having to stay put in some medical ward somewhere.

Mara really hated medical wards. It wasn't that she had anything against them, per say, but she'd just rather stay the hell away from them.

She groaned.



Sick

Mara had started feeling sick about two weeks earlier. She felt this overall weariness and nausea that kept her from performing her usual duties to the Jedi and the Academy.

At first she had tried to hide it from her husband, but Luke was too attentive to not notice. When he realized she wasn't getting better, he made her promise to go see a healer. He even made the appointment for her.

He would be damned if he allowed Mara to not take proper care of herself. If he had to, he would drag his wife to the healer's office.



Stressed

As she waited her turn at the healer's ward, Mara was sure she had never felt so stressed before. She knew this wait was normal and that Cilghal was a very busy healer but still, couldn't they just get on with it? Luke was no help to her. Even though he appeared his usual calm self, she could feel his nervousness boiling under the surface.

When they finally got in, it took Cilghal a whole of two minutes to diagnose Mara.

"Mara, you are pregnant." The Mon Cal informed matter-of-factly.

What?!

Just as Mara frowned, Luke beamed at the news.



Frustrated

It took a while for Mara to get used to being pregnant. She was happy, she really was, but the fact that it was completely unplanned made her feel so unprepared for the task.

It didn't help that Luke was so overprotective. Everywhere she went and everything she did, he was there 'helping' her when she didn't need any help. His sister was even worse, offering advice Mara hadn't asked for and buying stuff that Mara didn't even know she needed.

Mara knew that she had to put a stop to this or risk being one very frustrated pregnant woman.




************************************


I bet you all thought I was referring to the cursed Vong disease, didn't you? But in my head canon, the Vong went to another galaxy and are now too busy trying to convert the Ori.

Oh, Hazel, I only hoped you weren't referring to that icky disease. I loved these.

Ha! Now that's a fic I'd like to see.

Lovely drabbles, Hazel. You capture Mara's essence very well. Can't wait to read more!

Hahaha!!! Me to. Know anyone who would write it for us?
Thanks!

I'm glad it wasn't the Vong sickness her being pregnant is much better. Loved it!!

I loved how you had them flowing into one very sweet story so true to Mara's character

Hazel, I thought you were going to make me bring out my Brave Hat!! That was very mean.... but I like it!!

And I can just picture Mara frowning and Luke beaming at the news.

@lukemaraben - of course it wasn't. That stupid illness is just the product of someone's imagination.

@earlybird-obi-wan - Thanks !

@ginchy - I'm sorry honey! But you have to admit, those prompts were begging for it.

Loved both sets!

I especially like Frustrated. I can totally see how difficult it would be for Mara to be used to being pregnant.

Great responses

Those Ori deserve what they get. And then the SG teams can take care of both.

I like how they all were directly connected.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

@KELIA - Thank you so much!

@Lady_Misty - If i had it my way, the Ori would be too busy with the Vong to ever come to bother us.


***********************************************************************




Week Three - Attraction, Love, Commitment, Marriage, Anniversary



Attraction

When had her attraction first started? Thinking back, way back, it had always been there, lurking in the back of her mind, like a destiny awaiting fulfillment. Even when she had first heard his name, or rather read it in some computer stationin the Emperor's library, it had sparked a strange sort of recognition.

She hadn't known what it was then, she wasn't sure what to call it now, but there it was - the everlasting spark. Even in the darkest years of her life, the command her master had implanted inside her could not put the spark out.



Love

How hard was it to admit to being in love? How hard would it have been to reach out and say: “Hi, how are you? I would really like to see you. Will you meet me some time?”

But time passed and every day it became harder and harder to take that step. Sometimes time has a strange way of complicating the simplest things.

But not even time could close that door permanently, not when love is true, and theirs was.

In the end, all they had to do was to open their hearts and allow the feeling to flow.



Commitment

Why had commitment been hard for her? She could commit. She committed to Karrde’s organization whole bodily and to the Empire before that. So why had it been such an issue to commit to the Jedi?

That was it, right? That was the problem. Committing to the Jedi would claim more that her hard work and her time. It would claim her heart and she needed to protect her heart. It had been hurt enough. She would not let it be hurt again.

When she realized he would cherish her heart, she gave it willingly and got his in return.



Marriage

Who proposes marriage in a situation like that? Who thinks of the future when death is so near? He would, and by doing it he gave her a testimony of his feelings:

‘No matter what, not matter when, no matter how, no matter how long, I want to be with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’

She was so touched by the intensity of his love, by his willingness to love her and only her, that all she could do was say: ‘Yes, I will.’

This was the beginning of their wonderful life together.



Anniversary

Was this really their first anniversary? Had she survived her first year of marriage?

People said the first year was the hardest. It was the period of time when two people learn to live together, which was why many chose to only get married after an amount of time of living together. But their engagement had been short, their decision adamant, and the adjustment period had only come after the wedding. They were sure they would make it and they did. They accepted each other’s differences and allowed their love to smooth over the rough edges.

She knew it would last.

Squee! Squee! For each and every word! Yum!