Beyond - Legends Sea of Flowers (L/M, H/L, OCs... AU) (update 1/22)

dancing_star : Thank you, Star.

Jade_eyes : Yep, she does. Thank you.

Jedi_Falcon : Thank you.

RK_Striker_JK_5 : Well, it’s been a long time between updates. I’d be surprised if you didn’t need to re-read a little bit. Thank you, Striker.



A/N: It's funny how cause and effect can mutate. Why am I mentioning this? Because Rose nearly has a justified giggle attack as a direct result of a prank gone awry in this update. And with that rather fuzzy bit of non-explanation, I bring you this update.

~*~*~*~

When Han arrived, it was with a cart of food in hand, and three kids in tow. He directed them to the play room and wheeled the cart past Luke, who was staring at him dubiously. "Good evening."

Luke blinked. "Hi."

Han motioned to the cart. "Everything all right?"

"That depends on if I snag my shirt on a lecturn tomorrow or not, or if something else that's weird happens in it's place. Until then... mostly yes."

Jaina pulled on Han's sleeve. "What's he mean by that, Dad?"

Han glanced down at her for a moment. "Good question." Now that he was looking down, he noticed she was holding a package. "Where'd you get that?"

"Elsie handed it to me when we passed her on our way here." Jaina smiled as she handed it to her uncle. "She said not to open it in front of Little Needle, or she may never take it off. Whatever that means."

Luke stared Jaina for a long moment. "Right. Thank you. Go play with your brothers, and... oh."

"What?" Jaina asked, knowing he didn't pause like that for no reason.

"It's a surprise. Go play."

Han watched her go for a long moment before looking at his brother-in-law again, only to find him staring at the package in his hands. "All right, Luke. What's going on?"

"We have an extra child. This is for her."

"What? Start making sense now, please."

"When it starts making sense, Neesta will probably be too big to fit in whatever is in this box."

"Who is Neesta?" Though the name sounded vaguely familiar, Han was pretty sure he'd never heard of anyone with that name before. "And why would Elsie be giving her anything?"

Luke blinked again, shook himself slightly, and finally looked at the cart with the food on it in warming trays. "It's a long story. How about we get the cart to the kitchen before Renna, Samir, and Widia get here?"

"So long as you tell some of that story. I'm curious now."

"And as for why Elsie would be giving her anything... I think it's because, in a way, she's been babysitting Neesta for a long time. Which is weird, because how does one babysit a ghost?"

"Neesta is a ghost?"

"Not now. No... now, she's in there, playing with the twins, Ben, and Anakin." He shook his head when Han stared at him again. "No, don't ask. Like I said, it doesn't make any sense yet."

"This is one of those weird Force things, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

~*~*~*~

Mara looked up as Luke entered the kitchen with Han and a cart laden with food, and took in the fact that her brother-in-law had one of the more stunned expressions on his face that she'd ever seen anyone wear. "So which part did you tell him?"

"The part Elsie didn't let me get out of," Luke replied as he handed a package to her. "According to Jaina, this is for Neesta, and Elsie thinks she make never take it off once she sees it, whatever it is."

Mara took the box from him, saw the folded note attached to it, and pulled the note off to read it.

"Mara, this is for Neesta, and I would have handed it to you before I left the apartment, but I got distracted. Seriously, she loves flowers, but has never smelled any before, and I think it would be better served for Neesta to have it as a first present she's ever gotten in the flesh which did not involve her name during your wedding reception, than what I originally intended it for. With that in mind, here. Open.
-Elsie"

Mara frowned and moved to set the box down on the table. She opened it, and found a floral dress and a matching hooded robe, and couldn't help but stare in fascination. "Oh. I can see why Elsie thinks Neesta might never want to take it off!" She held up the robe for Han to see. "Remind you of anything?"

"Yes," Han told her after a moment of staring at the garment. "Yours. Or, rather... Luke's."

Mara folded the garments up and put them back in the box, and put the lid back on. "Funny. Luke, could you go put this in our bedroom, and then introduce Han to Neesta? I'm sure the twins and Anakin will have gotten over the shock by now."

Leia watched them go for a long moment. "That... is really odd."

"Almost as odd as this day," Mara agreed. "Almost."

~*~*~*~

Mara opened the door to find her mother, sister, and future brother-in-law standing there in varying states of amusement. "Hi. How did the comm with Alena go?"

Renna rolled her eyes. "I managed to talk her out of a state televised formal ceremony by reminding her of what yours looked like over the holonet."

Mara nodded somberly as she let the three of them in and closed the door. "I'm glad, though you don't know the half of it. Something odd happened today."

Samir frowned at her. "Odd how?" He was answered when someone small latched themselves onto Widia's leg with a cry of "Grandma!"

Mara smiled while Widia regained her balance and got a good look at just who it was hugging her leg. "Well... this odd. Neesta, I realize you're happy to see everybody and to touch them, but really."

Neesta peered up at Widia. "I'm not grounded for this, am I?"

Widia pried the little girl off of her leg and bent down. Looking at her, she couldn't help but smile. "No, child."

Neesta stared at her, then slowly reached up touch her grandmother's cheek. "Why are you crying?"

"Happy tears." Widia broke her gaze with Neesta to look up at Mara in question.

Mara shook her head. "Not sure how it happened. Just that it did."

"Ah."

~*~*~*~

Two hours and a fully marked up white board later, and Elsie had yet to figure out just what had happened in that warehouse. It didn't matter how she looked at it, it just wasn't making any sense at all. None. A tentative knock on a wall, and she glanced in the direction of the noise to find Rose staring at her with wide eyes. "Hi. Glad you could make it."

Her team leader entered the room and peered at the white board, and Elsie knew she was probably feeling déjà vu from the time she'd cooped herself up in the basement and pieced things together with notes and diagrams on multiple white boards for a week straight. "Okay. Explain, or I'll go get Jill and haul her across dimensions for a therapy session."

"I'm trying to figure out how a ghost could end up with a body," Elsie explained to her team co-leader patiently. "Which is why I called you, oh hallowed mistress of magic-like energy. You've had experience with something like this, even if it was an accident."

"A what ended up with a... huh?"

"Exactly."

Rose sighed and came closer to study the white board, folding her arms in thought as she did so. "Hmmm... I know of one way it could happen, but that involves casting the Prakentocha, which nobody here did." She glanced at Elsie, who was looking at her funny. "You know, the spell that went awry and killed people for three thousand or so years before it finally got solved? The energy release was what caused our suddenly re-solidified ghost thing. Those that wanted to live again, got to."

Elsie nodded. "Oh. Well, there was a flash. Does that constitute an energy release, if it also drained energy from people in the area at the same time?"

Rose studied the white board again, chewing on her lower lip in thought. "Was there anything special about... oh wait. There had to be something special about it. I need to see that warehouse!"

"If it helps, there was a Force Detector there, too."

"Where is it now?"

"Evidence lockup."

"I'll be needing to take a look at that thing, too." Rose motioned to the white board. "You know, you are really scary when you're on a mission of discovery."

"Funny."

"Thought it was."

~*~*~*~

The warehouse was as non-descript as it was creepy, Rose decided as she looked around. There wasn't much to look at, aside from what appeared to be really old equipment covered with far too much dust and various piles of debris. On the surface of things, she found nothing to explain what had happened here. "So where was the kid standing?"

Elsie led her to the spot. "Here. Darvis and I were over there, and Chris was shifting through this pile here, chatting with her." At Rose's quirked eyebrow, Elsie shrugged. "I'm not sure when he started seeing ghosts on his own, but he is now."

"It only took him... what? Forty years?"

"Say that in his presence, he might take offense."

"True." Rose paused and turned in a circle, taking in everything from where 'the kid' had been standing. "Where was the device in relation to her?"

"Over there with me."

"Walk there and show me." Elsie did, and Rose frowned in thought. That was rather far... "And did you feel anything strange when you arrived here?"

"Strange how?"

"That was out of place in an ordinary warehouse."

Elsie nodded slowly. "Actually... the air was humming. Kinda like it does on Elidar, but weaker. I didn't think about it then, but that's probably because I was focused on the task at hand, and Darvis isn't Adam." At Rose's frown, she sighed. "He doesn't always accept the weird and the strange, even though... well, you know. The living on Coruscant, is the son of two Jedi thing. The closest he's been to a ghostly incident that he's aware of was the wedding reception."

Rose chuckled. "Ah. Humming like Elidar, huh?"

"Yeah." Elsie blinked when Rose crouched down, closed her eyes, and startled mumbling under her breath for a moment or two. When Rose opened her eyes and stood back up, she was biting her lower lip again and staring at Elsie. "What?"

"The three of you were very lucky," Rose muttered. "Very. This place is on a planetary ley-line nexus ground star, and you're lucky all it did was drain you."

"Huh?"

"You're the one who said it was like Elidar in that the air hummed. That's why Elidar humms."

"It's on a ley line nexus?" She knew what one of those was, knew it was the reason for alien invasions of Earth in a few other dimensions, but to be standing on one, feel it, and not realize what it was? Dumb! Very, very dumb!

"Oh yes."

"What does that have to do with being lucky? Or a ghost ending up with body when technically she's never had one before that she remembers?!?"

Rose valiently fought the urge to roll her eyes at how stupid that sounded. "The same way the Prakentocha works. Life to energy, energy to life."

"Rose!"

"Okay... the thing you currently have in evidence was a Force doohickey, right? With odd stones that glow in contact with the Force sensitive? Am I warm?"

"Yes. Very."

"And there was a flash or something, after which you and Chris were rendered psychically blind?"

"Yes."

Rose sighed. "There's your answer. An energy release, a massive one on the level of a small-scale Prackentocha. Only without the spell debacle which will forever be giving Jelin the bad karma, and nobody died, a fact which the three of you are very lucky. Poof, ghost with a body."

Elsie paused and shook her head. "It can't be that simple."

"It wasn't. I'm just explaining it in terms you understand." Rose smirked at her for a long, long moment. "That also means I now get to say something to you."

"Oh?"

"Yep! Congratulations, it's a girl!"

"But I didn't-"

"Your energy, combined with two men? Suddenly solid kid? Sounds like it to me!"

Elsie heaved a very put-upon sigh as she led Rose from the warehouse. Of all the crazy insinuations to make, that she'd done it with Darvis and Chris at the same time! It just boggled her, the places Rose's mind went sometimes... "You ever tell anyone other than Carnegie that, I'll find some way to embarrass you to the moon and back, Rose Vernen-Sitner. Don't think I won't!"

Rose rolled her eyes at the threat. "Like I'm going to do that. Unlike certain team members, I'd like to think I have good sense not to spread rumors that are unfounded. So do I get to meet the former Casper?"

"You want to?"

"Definitely. Whose kid is it, by the way?"

Elsie smirked. "Remember the wedding we ended up at that the rest of you missed when we went on that emergency call?"

"Yes..."

"It's theirs." Elsie turned and looked at her as they got to the air speeder. "And no, you don't get to ask for Luke or Mara's autograph."

"Was I going to?"

"Ranko did."

Rose suddenly frowned in thought and pulled out a pad of paper that had 'Merdin and Merkye's Spell Mistakes Which Need Correcting' written across the top and consulted it. "Hang on. Which dimension is this?"

"Why?"

"Because I think I've been here before, and I won't be able to keep a straight face if I have." Elsie told her, and Rose found the entry she was looking for, and nodded in satisfaction. "Nope. Wasn't here. Good." She glanced at Elsie, who was frowning at her. "Long story involving a prank gone awry. Had to correct it. Involved a Luke Skywalker, but not this one."

"Ah. Was he the one being pranked?"

"No, he was the recipient of Merdin being a moron and forgetting about cause and effect."

"You're not going to tell me about it, are you?"

"No. Though I'm sure you'd find it hysterical."

Elsie stared at the pad of paper. "You... had to correct lots of mistakes?"

"Yes, and some of them were even funny."

"You wouldn't happen to know when the blindness will lift, would you?"

Rose simply smiled at her as they got in the speeder. "No." But if what she'd seen from Elsie so far was anything to go by, she was glad Chris had packed a medical kit complete with sedatives before leaving home... and if she was right and it was a severe energy drain that could have killed a normal person, then sleep was the only way to get the energy back to normal. It also explained why Elsie was manic enough to try to figure something like this out on a white board with multiple colored markers. "I would say to enjoy it while it lasts, but I know you too well. You don't do normal."

"There was a time when I craved it."

"But you never really wanted it."

"No. Not even when I was ignoring everybody for ten years in Greenland."

~*~*~*~

At CPPF headquarters, Chris wasn't surprised when he got a text message from Rose saying he'd better be prepared for one heck of a week. He chuckled and sent one back to her.

Already thought about the sedatives, Blue Magic. Thank you. Where are you two?

Her reply: On our way to Skywalker/Jade apartment so I can meet the kid. Dusty said to tell you to head home and start dinner, as she missed lunch. So she hasn't yet made it to the stage where she's forgotten what food is.

You joining us?

Of course.

Chris chuckled again, put the device away, and looked at Darvis, who was watching him and not trying to hide it. "So... you and Fan busy for dinner?"

"Can't say as we are, no."

"Good."

His communicator beeped at him again, and Chris looked to find that it was a message from Elsie: Sweetie, be sure to tell Darvis that as of right now, I'm taking off the weirdness blinders where he's concerned. I could have gotten us all killed this morning because I was trying to protect him. That can not happen again. -Elsie

Chris frowned in understanding, knowing there was going to be an explanation for that. He glanced at Darvis. "If you thought we were strange before? You don't know that half of it."

Darvis stared at him wryly. "We had a little girl appear out of thin air this morning. I hardly think it could get stranger than that."

If he hadn't been in the middle of a busy police precinct, Chris would have laughed in his face for a good fifteen minutes. "Oh yes! Oh yes it can!"

~*~*~*~*~

When the door opened, Elsie smiled at Mara, who was holding a quiet Riana. "Hi. We're not interrupting anything, are we?"

Mara glanced at Rose in confusion before looking at Elsie again. "No. What's up?"

"Figured out what happened and Rose wants to meet Neesta... in the flesh. Rose, this is Mara Jade Skywalker. Mara, this is Rose Vernen-Sitner, Blue Magic."

Mara blinked. "Blue Magic?"

Rose chuckled. "I know. There's two of us, and Red Magic refused to do extra-dimentional duty. Though, really, her title is Wild Magic, but that's a whole other story."

Mara stared at her. "And you're here for...?"

Elsie sighed. "Because I couldn't answer what happened in the warehouse this morning by myself. How was dinner?"

Mara stepped aside to allow them entry, then closed the door. "Dinner was good. They're still here, if you want to..."

Elsie shook her head. "No, we're not staying long. And... Rose?"

"Need to get a good look at her first before I can say one way or the other." Rose smiled at the baby in Mara's arms. "Who is this little one?"

Mara returned the smile. "This is Riana. I'll be right back."

~*~*~*~

Widia frowned when Mara returned to the living room and handed Riana off to Leia, who took the baby with practiced ease. "Who was that?"

"Elsie," Mara told her pleasantly, and tapped lovingly on Neesta's shoulder to get her attention away from the game the children were playing with colored sticks in the middle of the room. "Come on, Little Needle. Someone wants to meet you."

"But I've met Elsie," Neesta protested as she got up from the floor and took her mother's hand.

"Someone else."

"Oh."

Widia glanced at Renna, who shrugged and continued to watch as Jaina pulled another stick out of the pile triumphantly.

~*~*~*~

When Neesta saw Rose, she smiled. "Hi!!!!"

Rose blinked and bent down to really look at her. "I didn't think Elsie meant you, when she said a ghost ended up with a body! Hello, Neesta!"

Mara stared as her daughter hugged the woman with enthusiasm, then she looked questioningly at Elsie. "They've met before?"

Elsie smiled. "She crossed dimensions to visit me more than once, so yes. Well, Rose? What do you think, now that you've seen her?"

Rose pulled back to look at Neesta with a practiced eye, mumbled words under her breath that Mara couldn't make out, and then blinked several times. Then she shook her head and looked again. "Wasn't expecting that. Couldn't be more permanent if we tried. Amazing."

"You mean..."

Rose hugged Neesta again and then stood up to look at Mara. "Barring severe injury and illness, and other unusual things occurring... I'd say you'll have her for a good long while. Congratulations."

"So I won't be walking through walls again anytime soon?"

Rose glanced down at Neesta, amused. "Nope. Disappointed?"

"Not if it means I get to touch things! And eat! And not get grounded!"

"Good. Because that's exactly what it means. Though you could end up grounded for normal things."

Neesta frowned. "Normal things? Like what?"

"No need to worry about that right now, all right?" Elsie interrupted them. "And we'll be going now. We've a dinner of our own to get to."

Mara blinked several times before reaching out to shake Rose's hand. "Thank you... but what happened to cause this?"

Rose paused and looked at Elsie, then shrugged. "Let's just say it was a happy accident where nobody died. And yes, that was a very real possibility. Elsie did something really dumb, the Force doohickey with special stones overloaded and caused a chain reaction, and Neesta came out the other side solid. It was a coincidence, all of it, and something got missed. And if I start explaining all the factors involved, we'll be here all night. Is that enough of an explanation?"

Mara nodded slowly. "I think it is, yes. Thank you again."

Rose nodded, opened the door, nodded to them both, and practically pushed Elsie out. "Like I said, we really have to be going now. Good night."

Mara was left staring after them as she moved to close the door. Then she looked down at Neesta, who had an odd look on her face. "Well?"

"I won't miss walking through walls, Momma."

Mara had to stifle a chuckle as she took Neesta's hand and led her back to the living room. She wouldn't miss her child walking through walls, either. It was good to be able to touch her and not see through her. They entered the living room and Neesta returned to the game. Luke smiled as Mara sat down next to him. "Hi."

"So what's the word?"

"They think it's permanent."

Luke nodded slowly before glancing over to where Renna and Samir were sitting with Widia. No one seemed to really mind this fact, either. "That's good."

"Who's winning?"

Han chuckled. "Jaina."

Mara nodded and settled in to watch as the kids played three more games with the jumbled colored sticks.


TBC…

 

Daena, hi! Super update and great news. Neesta won't fade or be invisible again

 

Loved the update and I'm happy for Mara and Luke that Neesta is permanent. I'm sure they won't mind more soon

btw you have an underscore in my name and I didn't get the tag. And that other name is before my time

 

Nyota's Heart/Jade_eyes: No, she won't... and what my muse suggested originally on the matter shall go unrecorded... Thank you!

JediFalcon: I blame the dehydration headache for not noticing I'd put one too many underscores up there. Seriously. And no, they definitely won't mind to have her around for real where she's not freaking people out. Thank you.

 

A/N: Thank you to Nyota's Heart for the beta.


~*~*~*~*~


Dear Ailee,

I'm not sure what's more odd about this writing thing... the fact that I'm writing in Running Moon's mother tongue so no one else can read it, or the fact that I'm writing about my mother discovering that I can read five languages and speak eight, some of them dead like this one. Okay... not exactly dead. Running Moon's people exist still, kinda... they just don't happen to speak in this very often anymore for... reasons. And... correction: Elsie can read this. Not that I'm going to tell her that I'm writing a journal in Sioux. At least that's what I think it's called...

So far this week, I ended up solid by accident when Elsie did something dumb, discovered I liked Jello, got to be a normal kid, had my first physical and immunizations (don't ask... I did, and I still don't get it), and got to play with my cousins and my brother without getting grounded. And then there was Momma, giving me a learning assessment only to discover that I spent a lot of time on the other side learning things and know more about the Force than her and Daddy do. After all... I lived in the Force for years! And got grounded by Master Yoda! And had to listen to Grandfather Temaru recite every plant genus he knows... backwards! Which made Grandmother Widia laugh when I started doing it because Momma asked just the right questions to annoy me and I couldn't resist.

And just why was Momma giving me a learning assessment? Because spaceship travel is boring and Ben and Ri-Ri were down for their naps and Momma decided it was time. We're on our way to Naboo for Aunt Renna's wedding... and I get to actually meet Aunt Vima, Aunt Alena, Cousin Novami, Uncle Torath, and Aunt Jaelle!!!! And... other people whose names I don't remember right now!!!!

More later,

Little Needle

~*~*~*~

Dear Ailee,

So day one of this trip was Momma giving me a learning assessment thing and this datapad to keep a journal on for 'therapy,' and day two has been Grandmother Widia showing me holos of different plant species from her datapad to go along with the names I know, and Daddy watching us and listening and asking questions. So, so much fun!

But why do I need to keep a journal for therapy? I'm fine! And I don't get to walk through walls!

Today the written language for journal-keeping is Elsie's... she calls it English. English is weird.

Wish you were here,

Little Needle

~*~*~*~

Dear Grandfather Temaru and Ailee,

I'm gonna be in the wedding! As the flower girl! With Jaina! Didn't wanna do it without Jaina!

Still wishing you both were here,

Little Needle

~*~*~*~

Dear Ailee and Master Yoda,

Ailee? Is it always this cold as a real live person?

And yes, Master Yoda, I am being mindful of my lessons. Daddy learned something!

Momma said we'll drop out of hyperspace in a couple hours,

Little Needle

 

Love this idea and can't wait for more

 

Neesta is so very chatty and full of happy news. I just love the idea of L/M with kids and a huge extended family.

 

Who, nice to see this updated again!

 

Falcon: Thank you... more later. (How much later? Probably sooner than this was. )

Nyota's Heart: Hee!!! Thank you!!!

And... thank you, Striker!!!

 

Before I read this, I'd like to read the story it's a sequel to - but the link to it at the start seems to be broken. Is there a working one somewhere?

 

RE: the broken links/truncation issue. I answered this in PM, but the links aren't broken, just a different format because I didn't change it to the new one after the boards moved to their new host. Sea of Flowers (and Obsessed With Flowers, as well as everything BUT Book of Love, because it was a song fic) are also posted at FanFic.net under this same user name.