Beyond - Legends "The Shadow of Fate" (SJRS Challenge: Episode VII) Complete! 29 August

i also have one more question: is Rodanian supposed to be Rodian? as in the species that Greedo was part of?

 

Oh, the flashback Mara's inner and outer fuming and Luke's calm and firm replies - so in-character.

~

Ah, loved the "present-time" scene too. Karrde was his usual well-informed articulate self and Micah -- something tells me that he'll be sucked into adventure despite being there just to observe.

Yikes, Thrackan is back. Thought he was kinda neutralized literally or otherwise long ago

 

This is really, really great. I love your version of the events on Myrkr. It's so familiar yet suited to the new story you've created.

I also love on of Luke and Mara's kids working for Karrde. I always thought that was a missed opportunity with them having an only child. And it was great to see Karrde again!

I can't remember if the Human League is from Legends or not--but it made me laugh anyway because it's the fake charity George created on Seinfeld.

 

YAAAASSSSS, update. Loved the tense, truthy scene with Luke and Mara...and then a second later I'm cracking up royally at the space station's name. LOLZ. For all his sophisticated mystique, Karrde is such a cornball when it comes to naming things.

 

I enjoyed the flashback with Mara and Luke and their banter - her spinning on him so fast her braid comes across her face - nice. I like Micah and wonder how much his mission will get him into trouble.

 

Thanks! I've seen a few episodes of Arrow - one day I have to sit down and watch the whole thing so far.

No, Rodan was my own invention. I referred to it a few times in previous chapters and I only recently became aware that Greedo's race were from a planet called Rodia (it was from watching Clone Wars actually.) I thought about going back and calling the planet something else, but in the end decided that there's bound to be similarly named planets in such a big galaxy.

Thank you! Micah is a Skywalker, so he's an adventure-magnet! Thracken did get out of prison in the later Legends canon from what I understand, so was using that as a guide - but yes he was dealt with previously by the SkySolos in this universe Basically I'm going on the premise that most of the "big" events of Legends happened, just in slightly different ways.

Thanks! It's nice to write Luke and Mara a bit more informed of the events of the prequels - I think it kind of makes Mara's position a bit more understandable (setting aside that she was indoctrinated from a young age) - Palpatine's Empire seemed pretty popular in the beginning and attractive to people coming out of the Clone Wars.

Thracken's mob is called the Human League in the Corellian Trilogy - basically the neo-Nazis of the SW universe.

Thank you! Karrde is indeed a cornball - how could he resist the pun!

Thank you! As much as Micah doesn't want to be compared to his father, he finds trouble just as easilly

 

He and Jacen need to hang out together for drinks and pun each other to death. Allston would be proud.

 

You know I love this, lady. I love seeing Micah working with Karrde. I find that such an interesting, and perfect, dynamic. I can't wait to see him in action, so to speak. And I love the flashback. You are spoiling us with these two stories in one!!!

“I was raised for it,” she told him shortly, and finally Skywalker reacted, looking away and rubbing his chin as if in contemplation. “Are you surprised, Jedi?”

When he looked back at her there was pity in his gaze. “That Palpatine would take a young child and raise her to kill?” he shook his head slowly. “No, it doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Exactly. I love this exchange.

 

Loved the flashback, loved the present, love them all! Like ginchy said, two for the price of one!

 

Argh, no, I was wrong--George's charity was The Human Fund.

The Human League is an 80s band. Why they didn't think of that when writing the Corellian Treaty, who knows! But it's nice--that's not really the right word, but you know what I mean--to see Thrackan back.

 

Did they ever actually interact in Legends? Someone needs to write that fic - in an AU where Jacen didn't go dark side, of course. Or maybe one in which he did, but was captured instead of killed at the end of Invincible and Karrde goes and visits him in his cell and they have a super tense and angsty conversation...

Thanks, lady! As you know, it was really important for me to have one Skywalker kid who wasn't a Jedi, and it seems a natural fit for Karrde.

Thanks gal! The flashbacks and the present day storyline make for some long chapters, but I'm loving doing my own version of the EU.

Now I'm having visions of Thracken dancing around singing "Don't You Want Me"

 

Great. Now you've scarred me for life.

 

so any updates on when the new chapter might be ready?

 

double post please delete.

 

I'm actually working on this fic for NaNoWriMo, so there probably won't be any updates until at least December. But the upside is that (hopefully) I'll then be posting new chapters regularly after that

 

December eh? well that's unfortunate but i can wait another few weeks. what's the story called that you're working on NaNoWriMo

 

Oh, sorry, I meant I am writing this fic for NaNo - so I'm trying to get 50k words of it written in November and then edit it and post regular chapters from December onwards.

At the rate it's going 50k words won't be enough to finish the entire fic, but will certainly get a good chunk of it done.

 

Update time! I got a good amount of this fic written during Nano and am the process of editing, so should be able to stick to posting updates once a week. If anyone else would like me to tag them in updates, please let me know.

Tags: Gemma

_________________________________________________________________________


Chapter 11

1 NRE

Night had fallen on Myrkr, and Luke was thankful for the rest. The temperature had dropped severely when the sun had set, and Mara had built a small fire in a clearing they had chosen for the night.

Luke contemplated the woman seated a few feet away. She was fiddling with the wiring of her blaster, trying to get it to work again. Ever since learning that she had been the Emperor’s Hand, Luke had felt more uneasy about her intention to kill him. It was not a threat he took lightly, especially hearing the vitriol she had thrown at him earlier.

And yet, there was something about her, a feeling Luke couldn't quite place. He’d always felt as if he could get a sense of people, and despite the danger Mara posed to him he couldn’t help but feel a connection. Other than Leia, she was the only other Force sensitive he knew of, and more than that, she’d had rudimentary training. True, her instructor had been a Sith Lord, but Luke felt that perhaps there was much he could learn from her. His own training by Obi-Wan and Yoda had been scant, and although he had spent much time studying the Jedi holocrons and self-tutoring, Luke felt he was missing the practical element.

Mara had let her hair out from the severe braid she’d worn, and loose red curls fell lightly about her shoulders, glowing a soft gold in the firelight. Luke deliberately turned away before his gaze could linger, walking slowly towards the edge of the clearing. His gaze shifted to examine the small creature perched on a low branch of a tree. It was reptilian in appearance, with long claws that seemed to embed themselves into the wood of the tree itself. Luke felt empty so close to the creature, the Force lost to him so completely that his entire body felt devoid and lifeless.

“The ysalamiri,” Luke asked, turning back around to Mara. “How can they block out the Force?”

“I don’t know,” Mara shrugged, eyes still on her blaster. “Maybe they just don’t have the Force within them.”

“The Force is everywhere – it is made up of all living things,” he reasoned. “It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together, and I cannot believe that these creatures are untouched by it. There must be a way to counteract them.”

Mara snorted. “Blaster shot between the eyes would probably suffice.” She wound two exposed wires together, then jumped slightly as it gave her a shock. Mara threw down her blaster with a loud huff and put two fingers to her mouth where she’d been burnt.

Luke was about her ask her if she was alright, but thought better of it. Instead he looked at the surrounding trees, counting the ysalamiri he could see on their perches. It took several minutes of study and contemplation before he walked to the centre of the clearing, lining himself up in just the right spot.

The Force came back to him like a gentle wave on a sandy beach as he stood between the Force-devoid bubbles the ysalamiri projected. It was a weak connection to the Force, but a connection nonetheless, and Luke closed his eyes to drink in the feeling of peace the Force provided. He refreshed himself after the long day of travel, and reached out into the ether, trying to find Leia.

Disappointed, Luke opened his eyes again. The link was too tenuous, and he could not reach beyond the scope of the Forceless pockets surrounding him. Still, he turned to Mara, who was watching him curiously.

“Come here,” he invited softly.

“No.”

Luke smiled genially. “If you want to survive on stim-pills it’s up to you,” he said.

Mara looked at him for a long moment, then sighed and rose, walking over to his position. Luke’s hand dropped to his side where his lightsaber hung, just in case. Mara did not miss the action, and smirked.

Then she gasped as she stepped into the sliver of the Force, and Luke wondered how long it had been since she’d been able to access it. She stopped about an arm’s length from him, the stern and sharp angles of her face softening as she closed her eyes with something like relief, Despite himself, Luke reached out to her through the Force, gently touching her mind in search of understanding.

Mara’s green eyes flashed open dangerously, and Luke was taken aback by the swarm of images that she did not have time to conceal from his probe. They were dark and bitter and painful, too jumbled to see anything clearly, and yet he picked up dank loneliness, the thrill of righteousness, the pain and exhaustion of endless training and an overwhelming, all-encompassing sense of duty. He had also felt her natural strength in the Force, and knew why the Emperor had chosen her. And yet her Force sense was dampened, as if it had been kept contained and controlled, never allowed to reach its full potential.

“Stay out of my head, Skywalker,” she growled dangerously, mental barriers quickly forming to rebuff him.

“Sorry,” Luke breathed, recoiling from the dark emotions he’d touched. And yet, Mara had not felt as Vader and Palpatine had, when Luke had been in their presence. The Sith Lords had been tainted with the dark side, it had coursed through their veins and sought to infect all of those around, and while there was darkness within Mara, it was not quite the same. In the Force Palpatine had been dark like the blackest night; Mara still had stars.

“You better come away,” Mara said shortly as she turned and took up her place by the fire again. “The vornskrs like to hunt Force-sensitive beings, and we don’t want a pack of them on us.”

Luke obligingly returned to their small campsite and sat cross-legged on the sleeping mat which he’d rolled out when they’d made camp. He watched Mara pick up her blaster again and diligently resume work on it.

“Who described the Force that way?” Mara asked after a long silence, and gave him a curious look. “That it was part of everything?”

Luke thought back to his earlier words, and realised that he’d unwittingly used the same description Obi-Wan had when he’d first told him about the Force. “My Master.”

“Maybe he was lying,” Mara suggested, and began searching through the survival pack.

“He wasn’t.”

“What, he never lied to you?”

Luke looked away, his jaw clenching involuntarily. Mara gave him a smile, but it was not pleasant. She knew she’d scored a hit, touched a vulnerable nerve.

“All Jedi are liars,” she said.

“And how would you know?” Luke challenged her. “Aren't I the first Jedi you’ve ever met? I haven’t lied to you.”

“If you say so.” Mara was dismissive as she pulled a bacta patch from the pack and began peeling off the synthflesh with a small vibroblade.

But Luke was too curious to let the matter drop. “How did the Emperor describe the Force?”

“As a tool,” Mara replied as she wound a sliver of the sythflesh around one of the exposed wires of her blaster. “And a great asset to those who were worthy and gifted enough to tap into it.”

The difference between Jedi and Sith philosophy, Luke mused. The Jedi believed that the Force was in everything and everyone; the Sith that it was only for the elite few. And yet Mara Jade chose to separate herself from her former life, worked and as far as Luke knew lived on a planet where the Force was only intermittently accessible.

“Why do you work for Karrde?” Luke asked on that point.

Mara unscrewed the nozzle of her blaster and inspected it. “I fail to see how that is any of your business.” She blew into the blaster nozzle to clear out the dust.

“I was just curious,” Luke shrugged. “If you really believed the Empire, why not fight with the Imperial Forces after Endor? Even now I’m sure there’s still Imperial groups out there.” She had passionately defended the righteousness of the Empire earlier, so Luke was curious as to why she had not tried to save it.

“You and your rebels had already won,” Mara answered, screwing the nozzle back on her blaster with perhaps more force than necessary. “Any fool could see that, so why drag out the war any longer?”

“Fair enough.” Despite himself, Luke yawned. The Force had re-energised him, but it had also settled peace upon him and the desire for meditation. “Are you intending to sleep tonight?” he asked.

“No.”

“If I go to sleep, will you promise not to kill me?”

“No.”

“Alright then,” Luke sighed. “Guess we’re both staying awake.”


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

29 NRE


Tatooine wasn’t much like Kara Ravenlok had imagined it. Luke had of course described the endless sand dunes, the rocky cliffs and canyons and the dry, intense heat and when he had spoken, it had seemed to Kara like a world that offered primitive, visceral adventure. It had never been officially aligned with the Old Republic or the Empire, and therefore had always been a haven for criminals, warlords like the Hutts and other unsavory characters amid the poor farmers who tried to eek out a living from the barren world.

Kara had been sixteen when Luke Skywalker had taken her as his padawan, and when asked he had spoken at length about the planet and his early life. To Kara, who had been raised in wealth and privilege on Coruscant, it represented a wild frontier life; the promise of adventure unconstrained by etiquette lessons, soirees and controlled social events. Even though that had been close to fifteen years ago, Kara had still been excited to visit her former Master’s homeworld and give reality to her adolescent dreams.

But she probably should have taken Luke seriously when he had told her of the hard living on the planet which could be as monotonous as the landscape. Luke and Ben had flown out together that morning, and Kara was taking the opportunity to clean her own X-Wing which had been battered by inclement weather ever since they’d arrived. Kara was fastidious to a fault, and disliked even a smudge of dirt on her ship’s hull.

“How did the sand get everywhere?” Kara grumbled to herself as she wiped out the proton torpedo shafts with a dry rag. “How are the sensors, R6?” she asked her little droid in the X-Wing, and it tootled back at her forlornly. She didn’t need a translator pad to know his response. “Alright, I’ll get to them next.”

Kara wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked around the small courtyard where she, Luke and Ben had berthed their X-Wings. Eren Pax had been required to land her Sorosuub 3000, the Fury’s Lament, outside of Anchorhead as the town did not have a spacedock large enough. Tosche Station bracketed the courtyard which served as a docking bay, and Kara could see part-owner Camie seated under the veranda, creating a breeze with a small hand-held fan and eyeing Kara suspiciously.

Turning back to her work, Kara ran her fingers over the hull of her beloved T-65 model X-Wing. It had been her father’s, back when he’d flown for Rogue Squadron. The symbol of the Rebel Alliance was still there, as red and bright as when her father had painted it on. Next to it was the blue crest of the Ravenlok House he had painted on after he’d married Kara’s mother, happy to take her family and name as his own.

It was an ache that never seemed to dislodge itself from Kara’s heart. She knew the story of her parent’s courtship like the back of her hand - Oren a Rogue Squadron pilot with no family, determined to fight the Empire, and Sidel a society lady with a conscience, who had been secretly began passing information to the Rebellion for years under the codename Fulcrum. Oren had been her contact after the Battle of Yavin, and they’d communicated first by message and then by secure comm. They did not meet in person until shortly before the Battle for Endor, but from there it was a very short step to marriage.

Sadly, Kara had few actual memories of her parents, and had needed to rely on holos and explanations from her grandfather. However, Trevin’s grief was deep for the daughter he had loved so much, and it pained him to talk about her. Once he had been so consumed with grief that he had railed against Oren, who he blamed for taking his daughter away from him. If only Sidel had acquiesced to his wishes and married the boy she’d been betrothed to since birth, Trevin had argued, she would still be alive.

It was no use reasoning with her grandfather when he got himself in such a state, to point out that all of the aristocratic houses had all either changed their support to the New Republic following Endor, or they had disintegrated with the Empire. Imperial Moffs became Senators or Governors within the new system, and the New Republic Navy, Army and Intelligence forces were full of officers who had defected. That was the consequence of peace, and most had flowed easily back into the democratic system, as they had done from the Republic to the Empire decades earlier. But Trevin could not see such logic, and privately still held a grudge against the Alliance for stealing his daughter from him.

So Kara stopped asking him, and instead turned to others who had loved her parents. Luke had flown with Oren in Rogue Squadron and had been more than willing to spend hours telling Kara about him. She had felt his pain through the Force at losing his friend, but Luke had never allowed that to stop him from relaying anecdotes and insights about her father. Luke’s sister had also been forthcoming, since she’d known Sidel from her Senate days and they worked closely together following the restoration of the Republic.

And yet it wasn’t the same as actually knowing them, Kara thought sadly as she finished cleaning her X-Wing. But her experience was not uncommon amongst those her age, for the civil war had created many orphans. Kara was always aware of the privileges she had, for she was not a lower-leveller left to fend for herself like so many others after losing their families. She had her grandfather, whom she loved dearly and who had ensured that she never wanted for anything. Trevin was proud and old fashioned, and despite his misgivings about the New Republic, when Kara had told him that she wanted to become a Jedi, the old man had made the same choice as before. He had not forbidden or disowned Kara, but rather allowed her the freedom to live her own life, even if he did not agree with her decisions. That was a gift Kara did not take lightly.

“Alright, I think I've gotten all of the sand out,” Kara told R6, not allowing her inner musings to distract herself from the task at hand. “Try running the diagnostics again.”

R6 warbled in the affirmative, and Kara absently ran her hand over the ship’s hull again, thinking that she should paint the Jedi crest next to her House sigil and that of the Alliance. Her father had always been so pleased in her Force sensitivity and the possibility that Kara would one day be a Jedi like his friend and former commander. The Jedi symbol would truly make the ship her own.

Then suddenly Kara’s blood ran cold, and she felt an ominous tingling on the back of her neck and down her spine. She swallowed heavily, her mouth suddenly tasting like bile. It was what she’d felt when they’d first come out of hyperspace above Tatooine, although it was far stronger now, powerful enough to turn her stomach. The dark side.

Looking back up to Tosche Station Kara saw that Camie had disappeared, but a quick Force probe of the area indicated that she’d likely just returned inside. Yet Kara could not find the source or location of the dark side presence. It was all around her, infecting Anchorhead like a scourge and clouding her senses, and Kara turned slowly in a circle but saw nothing. She ignited her blue lightsaber and held it out to her side, ready for an attack that did not come.

She was alone.

The darkness receded as quickly as it had come, but Kara still felt tainted by it, and she kept her saber lit, just in case. She reached out to the Force for reassurance but found no answers, and yet the dark side presence seemed to linger somewhere at the back of her mind.

Eren Pax appeared from an alleyway, breathless and looking grim. She’d been meeting with some local contacts in the town centre, but had evidently run back to Tosche Station when she’d felt the dark side presence.

“Did you feel that, Kara?” she asked, approaching and putting a hand on her shoulder.

Kara nodded, severely unsettled. “Someone was here,” she said. “Watching me.” For somehow she knew that she herself had been the target of observation. Kara wondered whether the presence had been shielding itself prior to her sensing it, and exactly how long she had been observed.

“It is the same presence that Ben and I felt out in the Dune Sea,” Eren told her, eyes scanning the area, still searching for the observer even though she must have known it was long gone. “Whoever it was has never ventured so close before.”

“They waited until Luke had gone,” Kara reasoned, uneasiness churning in the pit of her stomach as she extinguished her lightsaber. What could the Sith possibly want with her?

Eren didn’t answer, and swiftly moved past Kara into Tosche Station, evidently concerned that the Sith had done something to Camie. Kara told R6 to wait with the ship and followed Eren into the small station bar, where the woman herself was half-heartedly wiping down the counter.

“Are you alright, Camie?” Eren asked the older woman.

“Why should I be alright?” Camie answered somewhat petulantly. “It was a terrible harvest this year so business has been down. It’s as hot as hell and to make matters worse, the place is swarming with Jedi asking me stupid questions all the time.”

“Why did you come inside before?” Kara asked, for it hardly seemed like a coincidence that the darkness had approached Kara as soon as all witnesses had left.

“I had a customer,” Camie said. “I don’t have all day to keep an eye on you, missy.”

Kara bit back a sharp retort that it was Camie’s own husband she should be keeping an eye on, not her. If there was anyone Camie had less cause to be concerned about on that front, it was Kara. She had less than zero interest in Fixer or any other man.

"Who was it?” she asked.

“Just some regulars,” Camie shrugged. “Now are you going to order anything or what? It’s bad enough that you’re always loitering about.”

“We are paying you a fair rate for lodgings,” Eren reminded her, but Camie was not cowed, instead snorting as if she did not believe the rate was fair at all. In fact, what they were paying the couple for two rooms and use of the courtyard rivaled the cost of elite hotels on Coruscant, but Luke had agreed without too much haggling. Later, he’d told Kara that he remembered how hard the living was on Tatooine, especially in a year with a slight harvest.

“We’ll have two cups of caf,” Kara suggested, indicating to Eren that they should take a seat in a nearby booth.

Camie pursed her lips and threw her rag down. “We don’t have none of that fancy Coruscanti caf,” she said. “Just Mos Espa brew.”

“That’s fine,” Kara said, and put down some credits on the counter. Camie huffed, but pocketed them and went to the caf machine.

“I do not understand these people,” Eren said lowly as they sat down. “I cannot see how Master Skywalker was raised among them.”

“Harsh living either creates hard hearts or soft ones, I suppose,” Kara opined.

Eren smiled wryly. “And easy living the same?”

Kara returned the older woman’s smile, and inclined her head. Eren’s manner was easy and light, and yet Kara sensed her deep unease that could not solely been from the Sith presence.

“You really are concerned about Ben’s vision, aren’t you?” Kara asked her.

“He has the sight,” Eren nodded softly. “As Master Skywalker does, and they have both sensed darkness ahead.”

“How do you think the Sith returned?” Kara asked, a question she had been pondering for some days. Luke had told them without doubts that the presence they had all felt was indeed a Sith - not a mere dark side user.

Eren held her answer as Camie approached and carelessly set down two cups of caf on the table, giving Kara a disgruntled look before returning to the bar. Eren watched her retreating form and then turned back to Kara.

“Perhaps Palpatine and Vader were not the only Sith in the galaxy,” Eren opined. “Although I doubt it.”

Kara agreed. From what she had learned from Palpatine, he would have allowed no opposition to his power base, and mercilessly eliminated any rival. The ways of the Sith were complex and mostly lost to history, and it was therefore unlikely that anyone without instruction from a Sith master could become one on their own.

“Perhaps Palpatine trained somebody else before he died,” Kara mused. “He did cultivate a dark side following with the Inquisitors and the Emperor’s Hands.”

Eren took a thoughtful sip of her caf. “And yet he did not teach Master Jade the ways of the Sith,” she said. “He hoarded his knowledge, he did not share it. The Sith were unlike the Jedi in this way.”

Kara cast her gaze downwards and drank her caf, even though it was bitter, thick and overbrewed. The new Jedi Order was that way, Kara corrected her friend silently, at least for the most part. Unlike the Jedi of old, the Archives were open to all, with no knowledge kept hidden from them if they wanted to learn it. There was only one secret Master Skywalker had kept hidden from his Order, and that was the truth about his parentage.

Kara still remembered the rush of elation she’d felt on the day she’d graduated from the Jedi Academy at sixteen. Luke had asked her to come to his office, and Kara had been so nervous, for while he often took classes and instructed younglings, she’d never been alone with him before. There had been a moment of shock when Luke had said that he wanted to take her on as his new padawan learner, but he’d held a hand up to stop her enthusiastic acceptance.

His expression had become very grave, and Luke had said that before she gave him an answer, she needed to know the truth about himself. Between a padawan and master, he had said, there must be absolute trust. Then he’d told her that his father, Anakin Skywalker, and the Sith Lord Darth Vader had been one in the same; that Vader had turned back to the light to save Luke’s life, and died a Jedi. He’d told her that while he had agreed to keep the secret from the general public, he could not keep it from his family and closest friends. As his padawan, he hoped that she would be included in that group, but Luke had also said he would understand if she no longer wished to train under him.

Kara had been gobsmacked, not only with the new knowledge, but the fact that Master Skywalker was asking her if she wanted to train with him, and giving her the option to choose another master if she so wished. It was a humility that Kara had never before seen, particularly not from an elder. He had not even sworn her to secrecy before he’d shared his secret, and had not done so afterwards, either. The trust he placed in others was humbling, and Kara had told him the truth in return: that there was nothing more she wanted in the world than to become a Jedi under his tutelage.

Kara was unsure if Eren knew the truth as well - she had been apprenticed to Master Jade, and so there was a good chance that Luke had wanted his wife’s padawan to know the truth the same as his own. Yet she could not be sure, and so Kara kept forever silent, since it was not her secret to tell.

“Do you think this Sith came from the Empire?” Kara asked, cautious not to telegraph her earlier thoughts.

“Maybe. Mara would know better,” Eren mused. “Maybe I’ll comm her and see if she would have any suggestions about where to start.” She finished her cup of caf and rose. “We should go back to the Fury.”

Kara nodded and rose as well. “Do you mind if I use the comm after?” she asked, thinking back to her earlier musings. “I need to talk to grandfather anyway, and he may remember if Palpatine had any other protegees.” Trevin Ravenlok had traversed through the corridors of power in the Old Republic as well as the Empire, and may remember something of use to their mission.

He probably wouldn’t be happy about it, but Kara knew that he would not deny her if she asked for something. She was lucky that way.

 

I loved reading more of Kara's parents and her sense of wanting to connect with them, somehow. Totally understand Trevin's sense of continued bitterness. Camie is a hard one, still, looks like. True that hard lives either make hard or soft hearts.



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Great flashback and loved Luke's insights into Mara's "sense" and "flavor" in the Force. Happy as all get out that he feels connected to her and can tell there's no soul-deep dark taint in her. And she is gorgeous with her hair loose. Can't help but look.

 

Yeah, I agree -- Mara is always pretty - but with her hair flowing she is a beauty.

 

I will always love the interaction between those two.

Nice update!

 

Adored the dynamic between Kara and Luke - wise but very sweet. And fun times with Luke and Mara camping, LOLZ.

 

Good old Wayland. Some things never change. Your newbies continue to intrigue and delight. Can't wait for more!

 

Good update! I really love this story.

 

I always loved the banter between Luke and Mara. Funny that many relationships start with people not liking each other. I did not like my husband when I first met him. Come to think about it, I did not like him again when we got divorced. Oh well. Super job as always and thanks.