Beyond - Legends Saga - Legends Fragments of Jade | Kessel Run Challenge 2022

@Nehru_Amidala

Just so

 

Week Ten Challenge: Write a story between 100 and 400 words, and include these three words: galvanize, cavalier, adversary


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10. The Game (the Jade/Skywalker family, approximately 12 ABY)



“You may be a worthy adversary,” Corissa remarked, “but you’re going down.”

From across the board, Mara rolled her eyes. “And you talk a big game, but in case you hadn’t noticed, my Grimtaash just stunned your K’lor’slug.”

Corissa scoffed. “That will only galvanize my Monnok—”

Sitting a meter away on the couch, Nico looked up from his sketchbook. “You coated your Monnok in zinc?”

“Oh my gods, Nico,” Corissa said, sending him a forbidding look and ignoring Mara’s smirk. “No one cares about your engineering trivia.”

Dad glanced over mock-sternly from the kitchen, where he and Mom were bent over the shop’s weekly sales report. “Don’t be so cavalier about engineering, young lady. It’s paid for your dance all these years. Not to mention your food.”

It was obvious enough to Corissa that Mom was biting back a smile. “Corissa, be respectful. Nico, quit baiting your sister. Ronan, what about that motivator replacement scheduled for next week? Did they make a down payment that needs to be included in this week’s totals?”

A familiar whirring of servomotors and wheels sounded behind Corissa, and she turned in time to see Artoo come up beside her, offering a series of beeps and whistles.

“Hey,” Mara said, glaring at him. “No strategy suggestions from the spectators.”

“Wait!” Corissa swiftly looked from her sister to the droid. “That was about the game? Artoo, you know I don’t speak binary! Where’s your translation pad?”

Beside Nico, Luke laughed out loud and looked up from the datapad he was reading. “Too late, Corissa. Artoo, come away and let the girls play in peace.”

“Or you’ll be in pieces,” Mara added meaningfully, leaning toward Artoo in a way that would have intimidated anyone who didn’t know her well. Artoo, of course, just gave a skeptical gurgle and wheeled off.

“See,” Corissa said, lifting her eyebrows. “Even Artoo knows you’re secretly a pushover.”

“I’ll show you who’s a pushover,” Mara said. She sent her Ng’ok on the offensive, and Corissa’s Kintan Strider fell over.

Mara grinned, her reserved facade instantly evaporating in the triumph of the moment.

Corissa couldn’t help but grin back. “You’re such a jerk,” she said.

“I know,” Mara replied, her eyes shining, and Corissa felt a swell of love not just for her, but for them all, together at last, and forever.

She reset the board, still smiling. “Best two out of three?”

 

family life with a game, with all the bickering and bantering that goes with it

 

Lol, I suppose that's probably true. And aw, you're the best!

doesthismeanweshoulddopoetryagainnextyear?

Space chess!

(Or dejarik, whatever. )

Nico! And bonus points for working in both definitions of "galvanize".

Corissa and Artoo crack me up.

lolol

Awwww

I love it all! Amazing job with all of your secret prompts, babe! And I can't wait to read your finished 5+1 vig in its entirety!

 

@earlybird-obi-wan

Indeed

@Mira_Jade

lolol, gimme the thoughts, Mira *grabby hands*

Aw, thanks

Hey, at least Alderaan is still there to get an unmistakably worded warning

It's really something, isn't it? That's one of the aspects of the PT era that I feel had an outsized impact, getting to see Palpatine before he was Emperor. The amount and depth of skill and power and menace it adds to his portrayal in RotJ is enormous, realizing just how much effort went into his gaining that position, and for how long, and how very well he handled it.

Aw yeah

It was interesting to write Mara's Emperor's Hand mindset for another character, while Mara herself was standing right there and seeing through it all!

Exactly. Mara believed much the same thing in canon, because that was all she knew, and even if she'd been inclined to push back, the punishment would have been severe. Sometimes you believe the lies all around you because the alternative is worse

I really need to write some Mara-Nico scenes that don't wind up in an argument But being just four years older when she was taken changed everything for Mara. She's clearly adapted and survived just like Nico did, but for her it's an act, because she had those extra years with their parents, and remembers the horror of their kidnapping, and wasn't young enough to either forget or believe it was for the best. But can she really get through to Nico, is the question...

Thank you! On the other hand, maybe I'll just write Mara and Nico fighting forever, since it's such an effective tactic

Right??? I can't believe I did this to Ronan and Nadira

Can you imagine the dynamics of Force-sensitive and non-Force-sensitive siblings growing up together, assuming the Force-sensitive one had any training or control over their abilities? You'd really have to be on the ball as parents, to teach the Force-sensitive one to not abuse that power, and there would still definitely be moments like this

That sense of duty was one of the reasons I chose to make Mara the oldest child in her family, but it can be used to heartbreaking effect, all right

Eeyup

You and Vi are just indefatigable I still think that Corissa would be very dramatic about the whole thing...

I feel that I need to clarify that the description that Ronan once heard is in fact a quote I once heard, and not my original writing! Perhaps I shouldn't have included it at all, but I just don't see how I could come up with anything that felt more accurate, and I did try to phrase it in a way so that the reader could guess that it wasn't mine. Credit goes to Elizabeth Stone, apparently (I had to google; although the quote's stayed with me for years, I never did know who'd said it), and the full quote is: "Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

Yeah, the EU really overdoes the namesake thing. There was some real life inspiration too, in that my own parents just chose names they liked the sound of, without choosing namesakes or looking up meanings. Also, bitter is strong and distinctive and not for everyone but dearly loved by those who appreciate it, and that describes Mara exactly

This prompt was just custom made for Ronan, it really was. (I've been surprised all the way through at how well each prompt suited the Jade family theme, honestly.) He's the "still waters run deep" type right to the core, and exactly the sort of person who would be thinking all these very deep thoughts about lifelong parenting goals and how to accomplish them while holding his first almost-still-newborn baby in the middle of the night. And literally, my earliest summation of Ronan's character while writing Renewal was "introverted, completely devoted to his family." So of course I had to use this prompt to show just how much is going on under the surface with him, and how very very much he loves Nadira and Mara, and being a husband and father

lol, while Ronan is definitely inclined to give Mara the benefit of the doubt here - and I did try to walk the line where either interpretation was possible, even if a new father's partiality was the more likely one - he's not wrong, at least, in his beginning to associate determination with Mara

But you know, I did kind of wonder while writing Renewal and then this, if maybe Mara was, in fact, slower to develop in some ways than readers might expect. For example, with that talent for telepathy, did she perhaps start talking later than normal, because she leaned on mental communication and took a while to fully realize that it wasn't exactly a two-way street? Being extremely intelligent does not, after all, necessarily mean that a person's talents are super obvious at a very young age

Always

Fey'lya was my best bet to keep this story with the overall Jade family theme, because there just aren't a lot of characters they interact with that I dislike. But hey, Fey'lya's still on Coruscant, and still very much in the social/professional circles that Leia and Mara would be part of, and surely Corissa would visit whenever she could, and Mara would want to indulge her with dance performances, sooooo

Of course, it meant that I had to read a bunch of descriptions of ballet styles to bluff my way through that conversation, because of course I had to create an OC who lives for a subject I know nothing about

Heh, it helps that Fey'lya has fur. I've had cats for most of my life (three, currently), so I'm very familiar indeed with the startled fur ripple

You have, but I'll take it, because she is

Yeah, Corissa was much less intimidated than the others to begin with, and by this point? Leia's just family, and Corissa's not going to stand on even a tiny bit of ceremony with her, not even in situations where she probably should

Yay! Corissa's just zooming around at full speed all the time, she doesn't know any other way But writing Mara and Leia in the background was a surprisingly fun nuance to this story, because their relationship is at a different place than it was in Renewal, and having Corissa there changes the dynamic too, and then there's the shared unspoken horror that Corissa is making friends with Fey'lya, of all people And for all her royal upbringing, Leia is neither a dancer nor an especially informed dance observer. She can enjoy a performance just fine, but she's definitely lost in this particular conversation, where everyone else understands the technical foundation of the art, so it was good that she could look to Mara for a concise clarification about just how these mysterious styles differed

And yeah, Fey'lya's not going to win any rounds with Leia in the political arena, but he does get to enjoy this moment, anyway

I always love a good Mara-Leia sisterly dynamic, but you toss Corissa into this mix and it's just too much fun

Mara loves her baby sister so, so much

Right? It's just completely ridiculous and awesome And I can see Mara explaining to her later just what a snake Fey'lya can be, and Corissa being outraged, then adding, "but you have to admit he knows ballet, even if his opinions are all wrong"

The prompt said make him sympathetic, not make him unrecognizably humble and nice

Aw yeah Because let's be honest, I didn't know what I was doing, so thank heaven it worked

I find myself almost as lost for words in replying to poetry feedback as when I'm trying to write it myself Because really, I didn't plan anything at all here except "Mara's emotional development over the course of the Renewal!verse", so each line just got written down as it came to me (with significant pauses to look at a thesaurus to find exactly the right word, and to count syllables, and double check which syllables got stressed ), and each built on the one before it. So this came out of my initial thought of describing family as a dream, and realizing that no, Mara wouldn't have dreamed of such a thing, it would never have occurred to her. I just tried to make that whole description extra poetical, I'm so glad it worked

At least the contradictions of Mara's life offer a lot of fodder for poetry Truly, a lot was given her - but it was all tied up with everything that was dictated and demanded, as well.

Completely a spur of the moment addition - like literally everything else in this poem, I guess But it really did reflect how Mara would have felt - did feel, in Renewal. How strange - and strangely nice - that these people love her, and without even knowing her!

At this point I think I'd gotten my brain fully into poem mode, and imagery was popping up more easily than when I started. I wrote the poem over the span of twelve hours, with pauses for all the necessary adulting and boring things like eating , but I kept snagging every moment I could to go back to poetry, because it turns out that it's really hard to stop writing a poem in the middle; even though I didn't know exactly what I wanted to come next, I felt like I simply couldn't stop until it was done But I did really like this particular image

Mara getting her family back is a miraculous thing, but it doesn't erase the family-by-choice that she'd been creating at the time, either

Mara got her happy ending (Take that, stupid LotF )

We're poets, Mira, how, what even

Shh, Vi!

Yay!

Once I had the basic premise for this one - Mara and Corissa playing dejarik - I thought that, thematically, it should really encompass the whole family, despite the teeny tiny maximum word limit. After all, most of these installments have focused on just one or two characters, and everyone's gotten their turn in the spotlight. If you read each short prompt response in a row, as part of a series, then this last one needed everyone, to emphasize that the overall theme is the family as a whole. So to do that in no more than 400 words, I had to keep the narrative tight, and it made the most sense to bring Nico into it with a snarky remark. And since Corissa just used a word that has a whole other definition that he'd be very familiar with professionally...

lol, I liked how Ronan put the priorities in the order that Corissa herself would have: dance, then food

He is. But, you know, Corissa did say that he was cute and she liked him the first time they met. Artoo's not one to forget that

She is! She's made a whole lot of threats in the time Artoo's known her, and never followed through. He's not about to be intimidated now

Mara does still have a reputation to uphold, after all

Honestly, hope and family are pretty much the main themes of the whole SW saga. I think that the EU (and the ST, but let's not go there ) forgot that way too often. This is just such a fulfilling 'verse to write in, with a family reunited and without everything torn to pieces over and over again. I just love it

Just need to do the final polishing and wait for Vi's starter's gun on Monday morning

@ViariSkywalker

Hush

No, you are

Did you notice that AO3 has an established dejarik tag? "Dejarik | Holochess (Star Wars)" Also, I realized after posting that I probably should have left the actual word "dejarik" in the story - it was there originally, in the second line: "from across the dejarik board". It got edited out to keep the word limit, and then I was so pleased to have hit 400 exactly that I didn't stop to think that it might not be immediately obvious that they were playing dejarik specifically, and that maybe I should edit out another word and put dejarik back in. Oh well

I couldn't resist. I did have a bunch of mechanics/pilots/engineers sitting right there, after all Despite Corissa's declaration, she's actually the only one in the room who couldn't care less about Nico's engineering trivia

They're so adorable together! I need to write more Corissa and Artoo scenes

Mara may adore her baby sister with all her heart, but she's not going to just let her win at dejarik because of that And thank goodness for the Wookieepedia dejarik article, which, in the grand tradition of Wookieepedia, is ridiculously detailed

I did it, Vi! I completed the Kessel Run! I'm so proud of myself

 

Week Twelve Challenge: Write a longer vignette/one-shot of at least 2,000 words using the "5+1 Times/Things" format.

For this response: five times Mara cooked and one time she didn't.


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11. Transformation (Mara Jade, Luke Skywalker, the Jade family, the Solo family; approximately 1 ABY - 13 ABY)


Her ship was still right where she’d left it, on the edge of an out of the way landing field at the quieter end of town, and Mara Jade sighed in relief. At least something had gone right on this Force-forsaken mission.

She’d barely hauled herself up the docking ramp and sealed it behind her before the familiar voice echoed through her mind. “My child?”

Mara cringed slightly. “My lord.”

“You’re late.”

“Yes, my lord,” Mara agreed, dipping her head low even though the Emperor wasn’t physically here to see it. “There were—complications.”

There was a moment of silence, disapproval heavy in the air and in her mind. Mara waited, trying to ignore the pain of the hastily bandaged gash on her shin. “Was your objective accomplished?”

“Yes, my lord,” Mara said again. She swallowed the urge to apologize. The Emperor was never impressed with apologies. Failure was failure, and unacceptable. Being sorry after the fact changed nothing.

“Very well. You will return to Imperial Center at once.”

“Yes—” Mara began, but he was already gone. She stood very still, just breathing, then scrubbed briefly at her face and limped toward the storage area where the medpacs were, selecting one and heading toward her cabin just down the hall. Settling gingerly on the edge of her bed, she unwrapped the makeshift bandage and spread disinfectant on the wound, a quickly indrawn breath hissing against the sting. Mara waited for it to subside, gritting her teeth as she examined her leg. It was only moderately deep, and the edges were clean. Unpleasant, but not dangerous. She affixed a bacta patch and thought about taking a painkiller, only to decide against it. It was her own stupid fault, and nothing she couldn’t handle.

Her stomach growled loudly as she closed the medpac, and Mara took a deep breath, feeling the softness of the bed beneath her and the seductive pull of rest, real rest. It had been well over a standard day since she’d slept.

It had also been more than two standard days since she’d eaten, though, and the hunger won out. Wearily pushing herself up, she returned the medpac to its place and went to the ship’s small galley, forcing herself to walk normally and thinking of all her favorite foods as she went. Seared shaak steak, fresh baked multigrain bread slathered with honey, sauteed mushrooms and root vegetables, juicy plaitfruit, hot spiced black tea. In the Palace, she could have any meal she wanted, any time she wanted. Never before had she so appreciated that privilege, nor so longed to make use of it.

But the Palace was half a galaxy away, and she was too hungry even to sleep, and she didn’t know how to cook even if she’d had all the ingredients prepared and ready before her. She surveyed her assortment of prepackaged meals with a sigh, and selected one at random. Putting it in the cooker, she leaned against the bulkhead as she waited. If she sat down now, she might not be able to get up again when the food was ready.

She would eat, then set a course for home, then sleep. Her usual reports could wait for a day. The Emperor was clearly displeased with her anyway, to cut communication so abruptly. He was unlikely to contact her again before she reached Imperial Center.

Hopefully she’d have time for a proper meal before her next mission.

----------------

Mara surreptitiously slid her hand into her pocket, ensuring that the small bundle hidden within couldn’t fall victim to pickpockets as she slipped through the crowd. As good a place as this city was to hide, it was rife with petty thieves. Generally speaking, Mara was more than capable of avoiding such nuisances, but today extra caution was called for.

She stepped carefully around a suspicious puddle—it hadn’t rained for days, and she didn’t want to think about what might have caused such a thing—and headed west, toward the less savory neighborhoods that had become so familiar in the past month, keeping a casual eye on her surroundings. The buildings became more decrepit as she went, the streets more narrow, the expressions of the passersby a little more desperate, and she almost wished that her connection to the Force was stronger these days, so as to have that extra edge of alertness.

Almost.

She turned left at the next intersection, sidestepping a Devaronian who’d already spent hours in a cantina, if his stagger was anything to go by, then another left. The row houses on this street had little to distinguish one from the other; if the hostel she was currently staying at ever fixed the cracked window by the front door, she might not find it again.

The first moon had risen by the time she arrived, and Mara entered the front lobby with a sense of relief despite the usual musty puff of air that hit her as she opened the door. Around here, it was best to be indoors after dark. Just because she could handle herself around the run of the starlane spice dealers and gang members that tended to frequent the area didn’t mean that she should. It would only have drawn attention.

Attention meant being a target, whether it was for theft or assault or recruitment or a report to what was laughably referred to as law enforcement, and all of those things were an inconvenience at the least, with the possibility of real danger ever present.

No, the wisest course was to stay anonymous and to avoid as many connections as possible, no matter how fleeting. The fewer eyes she drew and the fewer people who remembered her, the safer she was.

A burst of raucous laughter carried from one of the front rooms, and Mara quickened her step down the hallway to her own room toward the back. It took three swipes of her keycard before the door unlocked, but she got inside before any other residents made an appearance. Locking the door behind her, she took off her cloak and checked her pocket again.

The bundle was still there, and Mara smiled.

Her room was small, with just a narrow bed, a wardrobe hardly big enough to deserve the name, and a little table with a rickety chair. But it did have a few extra features that Mara appreciated.

She now unwrapped the bundle and set it on one of those features: a fairly reliable thermapad. Turning it to the lowest setting, she took a bottle of water from the tiny conservator and set it on the table beside the thermapad along with utensils, then headed for the attached refresher. It had been a long day at work, and the odors of various fried foods and stale cigarra smoke clung to her hair. She was pretty sure she’d started daydreaming about a shower before the morning rush was over.

The refresher managed to squeeze all the necessities into a room so cramped that Mara could stand in the middle and touch the opposing walls without stretching, but even on a good day she was pleased enough to have the privacy that she didn’t much care. Today she hardly noticed, relieved just to be able to finally scrub the grease and stink off. She was drying her hair when another scent reached her, the acrid aroma of grain beginning to scorch.

She lunged back into the main room, where a thin tendril of smoke was already rising from her precious bundle. Mara snatched it up, then nearly dropped it back onto the table as the disposable metal dish singed her fingers. It landed hard enough that some of the casserole within bounced onto the table, and after only a moment’s hesitation, she scooped it back into the dish.

“Shavit,” she muttered, shoving her wet hair back. Taking the spoon from the table, she poked at the casserole, lifting a spoonful to sniff, then taste. Mara wrinkled her nose as she did so; it was undeniably, irretrievably burnt.

It was also the only food she had left, passed to her at the end of her shift by a sympathetic cook, and even if she wanted to take her chances going back out to the nearest store, she had no money for anything else. Tomorrow was payday, but that did nothing for tonight’s dinner.

Mara sighed, accepting the inevitable. She turned the thermapad off and left the casserole to cool long enough to put on her pajamas and comb her hair, then sat, deflated, to eat her burned dinner.

----------------

The glow of the setting sun bathed the apartment with a deep golden light, punctuated with random flashes from the speeder lanes where vehicles had begun to turn on the night-running lights. Mara glanced out the large picture window, admiring the view. She always had liked how sunset seemed to gild the various spires. There were some benefits to being back on Coruscant, after all.

“Can you grab that container of cara seeds?” Luke asked, breaking Mara’s line of thought. She looked around; found it and passed it to him.

“Tatooine isn’t really known throughout the galaxy for its culinary traditions,” she observed.

Luke snorted. “That’s the galaxy’s loss.” He added some vinegar to the bowl before him. “Now the peppers.” Mara dutifully handed them over. “I wouldn’t have expected decent food at Jabba’s—not for anyone much lower than Jabba himself, anyway—but didn’t you even get anything from street vendors while you were there?”

Mara shook her head. “Ration bars.”

He paused to point a dried pepper at her. “And that is why we’re cooking dinner tonight. You can’t just live on ration bars, Mara.”

“I don’t,” she said, mildly indignant. “There are restaurants in the Palace.”

“Cheaper to make your own meals.”

“Well, luckily I know someone who eats at those places for free.”

“I’m not eating three meals a day there and bringing you leftovers. Now the prika.” Mara found the proper container and gave it to him. “Are you watching?”

“Yes, I’m watching,” Mara replied, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know why, though. I’m not a cook.”

“Anyone can be a cook,” Luke told her sternly. “Even Uncle Owen could make decent ahrisa.”

Secretly, Mara was pretty sure that cooking was the one skill that was utterly beyond her, but she wasn’t going to admit that. “You haven’t yet sold me on this ahrisa stuff being worth all the work,” she said instead.

“That’s about to change.” He flashed her a grin that made her feel a little funny inside. Not that she’d admit that, either. Luke gave the mixture he was working on one last stir, then set the bowl aside and retrieved a larger one from the cupboard. “Okay, we start with the gazo beans.” A large cupful went in the bowl. “Now the allium.”

Mara handed it to him, eyeing the bowl. “Oh, no,” he said, a glint in his eyes. “It needs to be chopped first. You get to do that. It involves knives, you’ll like it.”

“You’re not funny,” she replied, setting the allium down on the cutting board. “Which knife?”

“I’m very funny. And you’re the knife expert. You pick one.”

Mara glared at him, then examined his collection of cooking knives and selected one. “How do you want it chopped?”

Luke gestured vaguely and continued smashing the gazo beans. “You know, just chopped.”

“That’s not helpful,” she muttered, but she made short work of the allium. It was a little therapeutic. Another thing to not admit.

“Okay, put it in with the beans,” Luke said. “Then grab that spice jar over there.”

Mara did. “What’s in the jar?”

“A blend,” Luke said, dumping a good amount into the bowl. Was he even measuring anything? “I’ll show you that part next time.” He mixed the beans and allium and spices together, then took half a handful of the mixture and stepped back. “Grab some. Now we shape it.”

Mara wrinkled her nose, but did as she was told. “Shape it how?”

“Little balls. Like this.” He demonstrated, then set the ball aside and took another handful.

She watched, and followed suit with her own portion. Together they rolled the mix into a pile of small, grainy-looking balls, Luke pausing midway through to take the haroun bread from the oven.

“Okay, now I’m going to fry them,” Luke told her when they were done. “I need you to stir the rahsa paste over the vegetables.” He handed her the first bowl with the vinegar-pepper-spice sauce he’d been working on and checked the pot of vegetables on the stove. They must have been done, because he transferred them to yet another bowl and gave them to her.

“I thought you were trying to teach me to cook,” Mara pointed out as she began to carefully pour the sauce. “Shouldn’t I be watching you fry? Anyone can stir. Artoo could stir.” From the living area where he was plugged into a power socket and beeping quietly to himself, Artoo’s dome swiveled and he gave her a mechanical whistle that managed to convey a surprising amount of disdain.

“Baby steps,” Luke said. “Anyway, the vegetables are important. Get them coated with the paste as evenly as you can. When that’s done, you can boil the water for the tea.”

Mara obeyed, stealing glances at Luke frying the balls of ahrisa as she did. For as much time as she’d spent working in cantinas, the preparation of food was still largely a mystery to her. She’d certainly made plenty of meals in her time away from the Empire, but whenever there had been the option to purchase something ready-made or rely on ration bars, she’d done so, and when she had to cook, she chose the easiest possible options, things that came from prepackaged kits where she only had to mix things together and heat them. And even then, they rarely came out well. She always managed to either scorch or undercook them, or to leave something important out and not realize it until too late.

Luke, on the other hand, moved about through the kitchen with confidence, and just—knew things like how to chop and portion and cook. He’d told her about his Aunt Beru, of course, and how she taught him, but how had he internalized that information so well? And how had Aunt Beru learned? From her mother or father, Mara supposed. And them from theirs? But who had figured it all out to begin with? How much trial and error had it taken? And how was it that Mara could know so much about tactics and weaponry and languages and all sorts of things, yet not know something like this?

“Because you were taught those things,” Luke said from the stove. “You just need to be taught this, too.”

“Skywalker,” Mara said, exasperated.

“Hey, don’t blame me,” Luke said, doing something to the controls. “You were thinking very loudly. This is almost done. How are you doing?”

“Done, I think,” Mara said, pouring the boiling water into the teapot. She did know how to make good tea, at least. “Should I put all the rest of this on the table, then?”

“Yes, please.” Luke found some sort of slotted ladle and started pulling the ahrisa balls out of the fryer, and Mara made several trips to take the rest of the food to the dining room, and to set the table nicely.

She’d just finished when Luke brought the ahrisa out on a platter. “You’re not even going to believe you’ve gone this long without eating Tatooinian food,” he informed her.

Mara raised an eyebrow. “Big talk.”

“I’m completely right.” He filled their plates with hearty servings of everything while she poured the tea, then sat down. “Go on, try it.”

It did all look and smell surprisingly delicious. Still— “Don’t just sit there and watch me eat. It’s weird.”

“Oh, for—” She glared at him, and he sighed. “Okay, see, I’m not looking.” He turned to his own plate with rapt attention, never glancing up from his food.

“Don’t watch me through the Force, either,” Mara warned.

“Don’t broadcast, then,” Luke retorted, still not looking up.

“Mm.” Mara watched him suspiciously, then carefully took a bite of the ahrisa wrapped in haroun bread—and felt her eyelids flutter shut in appreciation. This was what people ate on that remote dustball? It rivaled anything her own personal Palace chef had ever prepared.

“I told you,” Luke said, smug.

Mara had to take a moment before she could respond. “I told you not to watch me.”

“And I told you not to broadcast.” Luke grinned irrepressibly.

Mara took another bite, savoring the blend of warm, smoky spices. “It’s good,” she admitted.

“Wait until you try the vegetables,” Luke said, indistinct through a mouthful of his own dinner.

“I’m still not going to cook something like this every day,” Mara said, a little regretfully. “I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. I’m telling you, I always manage to mess up cooking.”

Luke finished chewing and swallowed. “Tell you what,” he said. “I cook pretty regularly anyway, and it’s just as easy to make dinner for two as it is for one. You can come over whenever you want and I’ll do the actual cooking as long as you help with the prep work and cleanup. Deal?”

Mara smiled, an unaccustomed sense of warmth spreading through her. “Deal.”

---------------------

Her mother’s kitchen was cozy and bright and cheerful, painted a soft dusty herb green with very pale gray cupboards and copper fixtures and a tendency to get too warm when any cooking took place, so the back door was open despite the cool of early evening.

“Can you stir the rice, sweetheart?” her mother asked.

It took a moment for Mara to realize that the words were directed at her. The still-unaccustomed warmth of being called ‘sweetheart’ warred briefly with the wariness of being asked to assume any responsibility for cooking food, and she bit her lip as she picked up the spoon and did as she was asked.

“See, I told you you could do it,” Corissa said cheerfully from her perch on a stool at the high counter that edged the kitchen.

Nico cast her a patient look. “Mom told her she could do it. Not you.”

“I said it too,” Corissa replied, affronted. “Or if I didn’t, I was thinking it.”

“She can’t read your mind,” Nico said, expertly weaving his way between Mara and their mother in the small kitchen to bend down and look in the oven.

Corissa turned back to Mara. “Can’t you? With the Force and everything?”

“It’s complicated,” Mara said, scrutinizing the rice. “But even if I could, I wouldn’t. Mom, does this look right?”

Her mother came to her side and looked at the rice, then smiled. “Perfect. Just stir it every few minutes so it doesn’t stick to the pot.”

“Mom,” Nico interjected, “what’s the estimate on the stew? Because the bread is just about done.”

“Another fifteen minutes or so,” their mother said. “Take the bread out if it’s done; it’ll still be warm when the rest of the food is ready.”

Mara glanced over toward the dining room, where Luke and her father were discussing the latest models out of Incom. Dad didn’t work on starfighters very often, but Luke always kept up on the new designs and Dad knew starship engines inside and out, so between them the conversation was animated and full of interesting (boring, Corissa had whispered to her; but then, Corissa wasn’t a mechanic or pilot) details about various features. It was a conversation that Mara would have enjoyed being a part of, but tonight Mom was teaching her some basics of cooking, and despite her own lingering uneasiness over the prospect, it was going fairly well. Luke felt her glance and returned it, smiling at her before returning to the discussion about recent upgrades to the civilian U-wing model.

She smiled back, and stirred the rice again.

It was, in fact, only about ten minutes before the stew was done. Nico told Corissa in no uncertain terms that since she had just watched while everyone else cooked, she was going to dish everything up. Corissa argued that no one had asked her to help cook and there wasn’t room in the kitchen for everyone anyway, and Nico pointed out that she still hadn’t done anything and could do something now.

Mom, pretending not to smile, caught Mara’s gaze and rolled her eyes, and Mara bit her lip again, this time to hold back the laugh that wanted to escape at her mother’s expression of amused long-suffering. Mom stepped over to wrap Mara in a tight hug, then leaned her own forehead against Mara’s for a moment before letting her go. “Corissa’s right about one thing: the kitchen definitely won’t hold everyone. You can go sit down now, sweetheart. We’ll have the food right out.”

“I can take something,” Mara volunteered, strangely reluctant to leave, even though the dining room was only a couple of meters away.

“Bread,” Nico said, momentarily lifting the platter high as Corissa ducked beneath it and past him to enter the kitchen, then handing it to Mara with a quick smile.

She took it and returned the smile, suddenly shy, and joined Dad and Luke, setting the platter on the table and sitting beside Luke. Dad turned his attention to her, his eyes warm and his sense in the Force overflowing with love. Daddy, she thought, and smiled at him before she realized it.

“I’m so glad you’re home, Mara,” Dad said softly.

“Me too,” Mara said. It was hardly above a whisper, but she knew he heard. Luke’s hand found hers underneath the table and squeezed, and she squeezed back as her mother and brother and sister joined them, and Mara thought that she couldn’t be any happier, sitting down to a meal with her very own family.


------------------------


Mara didn’t know why it was so important to her that she prepare the dinner herself—well, with Luke—for the first family gathering since they’d returned from their honeymoon. It wasn’t as though anyone expected her to do so, or would think any less of her if she sat out the preparations entirely, or even if she ordered the whole thing in. Mom had, in fact, told her not to go to any trouble, and even offered to bring part of the meal herself, as had Han. Luke had said he was perfectly fine cooking the whole thing if she wanted him to. And Dad and Leia still never cooked anything at all, while Corissa avoided it as much as possible, so it wasn’t like there weren’t other people in the family who didn’t love cooking. Even Luke and Nico were more pragmatic about it than anything else, agreeing that while they didn’t mind cooking, they mostly did so because they liked eating. Only Mom and Han were real cooks in the sense of finding any sort of personal fulfillment in the pursuit.

And yet, here she was, carefully sauteing peppers and allium and mushrooms and greenleaf while Luke checked the shaak roast.

“Almost done,” Luke informed her. “Want me to put the pasta on?”

“I can do it,” Mara said, giving the vegetables one last stir before stepping away to pour the pasta into the already-boiling water. She had pored over a number of recipes before settling on this one: a shaak roast braised into fall-apart tenderness mixed with sauteed vegetables and served over pasta. It seemed practical, combining various elements of a full meal into one dish, thus entailing less juggling of different preparation times. That was the idea, anyway. She stirred the vegetables again, a little suspiciously.

“They’re fine,” Luke said, amused. “It’s all coming together just fine. You don’t have to worry.”

“I’m not worried,” Mara replied. “Mostly.”

“Mmhmm.” Luke slid his arms around her waist from behind and held her close, and she leaned into the embrace while continuing to stir the vegetables. After all, a pleasant distraction was still a distraction, and the problem with an all-in-one dish was that if part of it burned, all of it was spoiled. The door chime sounded, and Luke’s voice was a soft vibration against her temple. “You want to let them in, or should I?”

“You do it,” Mara said, still stirring. Just a minute or two more, she judged; then the vegetables should come off the heat and await the pasta. Assuming that the roast was done…

She could feel Luke’s continued amusement as he released her, and she made a shooing motion without looking his way. He kissed her cheek before obeying, and she could hear the front door slide open and other voices join his as she turned the burner off and lifted the pan to a waiting trivet. Han’s voice, cheerfully gruff, and Leia’s, warm and low. The higher-pitched small voices of the twins, followed by disproportionately loud and fast footsteps and Luke’s laughter. It was astonishing both how fast Jaina and Jacen could run on such short legs, and how much noise that running generated, considering how small they still were. She and Luke had set up a miniature toy chest by way of a basket on the lowest shelf of the main room’s storage unit, inspired by Luke’s tales of how his Aunt Dama, Aunt Beru’s younger sister, had kept a special box of toys for the visits of nieces and nephews, and the twins usually charted a direct course for it once they entered the apartment.

Another voice joined the medley, and Mara’s heart leapt. Corissa. She checked the pasta again, willing it to cook faster so that she could go greet her sister. The voices combined and blended and she was so caught up in listening to them while also watching the pasta that she completely missed the new footstep entering the kitchen.

“Do you need some help, sweetheart?”

Mara felt the smile spread across her face even before she turned. “Mommy.” The timer for the pasta chose that moment to go off, and Mara spun back around, reaching for the pot holders and sending a wordless summons through the Force. Mom stepped calmly forward, lifting the colander and setting it in the sink.

“No,” Mara said. Mom raised an eyebrow, and Mara felt a flush come to her cheeks. “I mean, thank you, but I’m making this dinner for you. You’re not supposed to do any cooking tonight.”

“I moved a colander,” Mom replied, her lips twitching with a tamped-down smile. “That really doesn’t qualify as cooking.”

“You know what I mean!”

“I’ll get it, Nadira,” Luke said as he joined them.

“She’s very stubborn,” Nadira told him, her smile overcoming her control.

“I wonder where she got that from,” Luke said, grinning back at her.

“Luke,” Mara said impatiently as she carefully carried the pot full of boiling water past them and poured it into the colander. “Is the roast done?”

Luke handed Mom the platter full of dinner rolls. “Here, you can set those out and get everyone settled. We’ll bring the rest in a few minutes.”

Mom shook her head, still smiling, as she took the platter. “It all smells delicious, sweetheart,” she said, and headed out. Mara could hear her expertly corralling everyone toward the dining room. Dad, she judged by the sounds and voices, was predictably helping Leia gather the twins, while Nico and Han were talking ships again, and Chewie seemed to be telling Corissa about his last trip to Kashyyyk, aided by Threepio’s translation.

Luke pulled the roast out of the oven while Mara carefully dished up pasta on each plate, then arranged the vegetables on top. Luke was right behind her, putting a serving of roast shaak on top, then Mara, having finished with the vegetables, followed him by sprinkling each dish with some seasoned bread crumbs while he filled two bowls with the remaining pasta and a cheese sauce he’d prepared earlier for the twins.

Mara stepped back to look it all over with a critical eye, counting the plates again, checking that all the servings were equal and no step had been missed.

“It’s not a combat mission, you know,” Luke said gently, glancing over at her as he finished the twins’ bowls.

Mara bit her lip. “No,” she agreed softly. “It’s more important than that.”

Luke reached over to take her hand, entwining their fingers, and waited. Mara took a moment longer to run through her mental checklist for each plate, then squeezed his hand and pulled hers free. “Okay,” she said, looking over at him. “I think it’s ready.”

“It all looks great,” he assured her, picking up two plates as she began stacking several along her arm. “They’re going to love it.”

Mara took a deep breath and followed him to the dining room, where everyone, the whole family on both sides, was seated and turned, conversations pausing, to watch them enter.

Then the conversation picked right back up, various exclamations greeting them or remarking about the food, and Nico smiled at Mara and stood. “Come on, Cor, let’s go get the rest of it.”

Corissa pushed back her chair and followed him, only pausing to complain, “How am I supposed to hug you when you’re carrying half the kitchen?” as she passed Mara. Mara bit back a smile, old memories of working in cantinas mixing with the present moment. Corissa, she rather thought, would have been a terrible serving girl. She would have argued with the customers and scolded her co-workers and forgotten orders and started a few brawls herself rather than defusing them, and probably everyone would have loved her anyway. How the two of them could be so closely related and yet so different, Mara would never know.

Luke set the plates he was carrying in front of Mom and Dad while Mara presented hers to Han and Leia and Chewie. Anakin was miraculously sleeping through the commotion, his carrier settled carefully in the corner.

“It looks wonderful, Mara,” Dad told her, as Mom thanked Luke.

“Yes,” Leia agreed, picking a mushroom out of her own dish to offer it to Jacen. “Han will hardly let me into the kitchen when he’s cooking. I’m impressed.”

“Mara!” Jaina demanded, and Mara finished setting her plates down and bent over to give each twin a hug as Chewie growled something.

“Right?” Han agreed, the words coming out in a lazy drawl despite the sharp assessment so obviously going on behind his eyes. “She’s come a long way. Unless, of course, Luke made it all and is covering for her.”

Mara sent him a look, while Luke snorted. “Hey, I just followed directions. She picked out the recipe and did all the actual cooking.”

“Of course she did,” Nico said as he returned and set more plates down. “You really think that cooking was ever going to defeat her?”

Mara bit her lip again, smiling at her brother, but before she could say anything Corissa set down her own dishes and practically launched herself into Mara’s arms. “Mara, Mara, Mara,” she said, squeezing so tightly that Mara had to put some conscious effort into an inhale. “I missed you and I got the lead role that I was auditioning for and Nico bought a new speeder and I want to hear all about Garqi except for the leech story you sent, that was so gross, and I’m so hungry what did you make?”

“Shaak roast,” Mara answered, squeezing back before extricating herself from the embrace.

“Corissa,” Mom said with a sigh, “let’s leave the leech mentions for after dinner, shall we?”

“It was Mara’s story,” Corissa argued, taking her seat and reaching for a roll.

Nico rolled his eyes. “So be quiet for a few minutes and let her tell a different one. How was Garqi, anyway?”

“Humid,” Luke said dramatically, and it was Mara’s turn to roll her eyes.

“I’ve been to Yavin IV, you know. Garqi was fine.”

“So tell us all about it,” Dad said, smiling at her.

The last bit of nervousness melted away, and Mara sat down to the dinner she’d made, and began telling her family about the destination she and Luke had chosen, feeling comfortable and happy and secure and loved.

----------------

There was a clatter of pots and lids, and Mara looked up from her seat at the dining room table to the kitchen, where her husband and her mother were cooking together.

Her husband and her mother. For most of her life, the thought of having either would have been completely unimaginable. And now…

Mara smiled and rested her hand on her stomach, then returned her attention to the plans before her as Dad drew a finger across them and shook his head.

“We’d been wondering who would buy that lot,” he remarked. “It was an odd thing to have such a large piece of land go on sale in this area.”

“It was perfect,” Mara said. The sheets of flimsi before them were divided between the flat-holos and technical details of the property as it currently was and the written and drawn plans that she and Luke had been working on for the past year. “It’s a shame the developer went out of business, of course, but we couldn’t have asked for anything more suited for our purposes.”

Dad looked up at her, his brown eyes intense. “Mara, you know there’s nothing in the galaxy that your mother and I would love more than to have you living so close. But you are sure?”

“We’re positive,” Mara assured him. “We’ve been watching Contruum real estate for the past year, anyway. When this one came up, of course we pounced on it. It’s hardly five minutes away from you by speeder. We could walk over if we wanted. And it’s a beautiful piece of property, with all the room we could hope for to build an academy, and to expand it as the Order grows. We have an appointment with an architect next week to talk about drawing up proper blueprints. We can have a house of our own, and a few larger buildings for the academy, and housing for the students and their families. It’s everything we were hoping for—more, being so close to you.”

Dad smiled, but there was still an air of worry around him. “Yes, but Coruscant has far more amenities than even a place like Contruum does.”

Mara shook her head. “Coruscant has amenities, yes. It also has the seat of government, and the longer we stay close to that, the more we’re expected to be an active part of it. Luke and I agreed a long time ago that we don’t want the Order tied to the government that way. We’ll wind up being contract diplomats and soldiers. We don’t want that, and we certainly can’t afford it now, when there’s so much work to be done even to establish an Order at all. We need to find students, learn how to teach them, decide exactly what the Jedi should be as individuals and as a group. Governmental involvement will only delay that, or take us off that path altogether.”

“I trust your judgment on that, and Luke’s,” Dad said. He tapped the table a little restlessly, and she knew his concerns weren’t fully assuaged. “His family still lives on Coruscant, though.”

Mara set her hand on his, pausing the tapping. “Daddy, they can visit here more easily than all of you can visit Coruscant, especially with Nico and Corissa settling into their careers here. In fact, Han will be thrilled to have the excuse to drag Leia away more often. Besides, we hope that in a few years, we might be able to convince her to retire and join us. The government is stable, and there are far more competent politicians than there are potential Jedi. There’s plenty of room on the property for them to build a house of their own, too, and then we could all be together all the time.”

“That would be nice,” Dad agreed. “But I admit that having you here is the best part for me.”

“For me too,” Mara said softly. “Especially now.”

Dad lifted a hand to cup her cheek. “I can hardly believe that my baby is having her own baby.”

“I can hardly believe it myself,” Mara admitted. “Another reason the timing with the property is perfect: we want to be with you ourselves, but we also want her to grow up with her grandparents, and her aunt and uncle. And maybe some more cousins before long, too. I’ll be surprised if Nico and Rielle don’t get married soon.”

“That does seem likely,” Dad said with a chuckle. “Your brother is head over heels for her.”

“She adores him, too,” Mara returned. “Do you think the family can handle another artist?”

“We’ll just have to find more wall space to hang the extra paintings,” Dad said. “It’s Corissa I’m worried about. Force help us if she also winds up marrying someone just like herself. That sort of energy doubled would be exhausting.”

Mara laughed. “I can’t wait to meet the person who convinces her to settle down. Assuming he exists.”

Dad smiled at her, worlds of love in his eyes. “It’s a pretty good family we’ve managed to make, isn’t it?”

“The best,” Mara said softly, as Mom and Luke joined them, setting steaming dishes on the table. “The very best.”

 

From being the emperor's hand to being married to Luke and with her family.
Mara knows how to cook and lets her family cook for her when she is pregnant

 

There's my closet angst-monger. Sibling fights are pretty effective, aren't they?

Buncha nerds

You did!!! *throws confetti all over your thread* (And I will be back with all the feedback, but everything is excellent and I love it. )

 

@earlybird-obi-wan

Indeed!

@ViariSkywalker

Hey, you know I've always liked writing a good fight. It's very cathartic

Aw, shucks Thanks for the inspiration to write more about my darling OC babies

 

Very cathartic.

Aw, you're welcome, babe! Thanks for joining my crazy challenge!

I really like this detail.

Aw, poor Mara. She's still so young here, too, and I like seeing her think about normal things like this, her favorite foods, even in the middle of a life that is anything but normal.

And I love all these details about Mara's fatigue, too. I could immediately understand and empathize with that level of exhaustion.

Ewwwww

These were all really great details to show just how far Mara has fallen in her circumstances and how her own attitude has changed from when she was at the height of her power and influence.

Aww, they're so cute.

You're hilarious, Luke.

I can so relate to Mara. This was definitely me when I got married, and this is still what I would default to if I didn't get eventually get sick of eating those meals. (Okay, fine, I still get prepackaged kits a lot, shhhh.)

Right???

Me, watching people like Luke and Aunt Beru:

Spoiler

lolol

I really love that your headcanon about Tatooinian food has meshed so well with this expansion of Tatooine's culture that we're getting in the new canon. Like, Disney should definitely take a page from your book when it comes to Tatooinian cuisine, is all I'm saying.

lolol I love this, they crack me up

These two!

Awwww, Mara and Nico!!

Daddy

This hits even harder after just having read through Fractured again.

*is dead from the heartwarming preciousness*

I love everything about this, the casual intimacy and then how Mara is all "okay, but I really need to not burn this food", lol.

LOL this is exactly what would happen.

Aww, and now Mara and Corissa being all sisterly and adorable together, my feelings.

Also: the leech story

Yaaaaaasss, Leia retires from all that and everyone lives near each other and the families are all happy together and nothing is sad or terrible ever, YES PLEASE.

I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS. EVERYTHING.

The very, very best.

Congratulations again on a fantastic ending to your Kessel Run!!! I knew you could do it.

 

And to think it all started with a bee funeral, because I just can't resist being contrary

Mara's a true believer at this age, the poor girl.

I mean, I know I wrote this, but it still breaks my heart. There's no way that she wasn't in situations just like this in canon, and she was an active agent when she was still a teenager, and was barely in her twenties when the Empire fell. That's very young to be hurt and hungry and tired and alone, with no one at all to turn to for comfort or support But she does have favorite foods, despite her reticence about admitting it in Renewal. (Headcanon: Mara loves chai )

Me too

She lives in a bad neighborhood, sometimes things are gross and suspicious

Heh, as someone who spent years working in food service, I can write about the desire for a shower after your shift with great conviction One of the things I particularly liked about Mara's characterization in BtEH was that when Gorb offered her a pretty meager salary and a room above the restaurant, Mara thought, "it's probably all he can afford," and just got on with life. Not only did she accept the offer, but there wasn't even any private introspection about how such a place or job or salary was beneath her, and she even started making friends with Gorb and some of the regular customers, despite having spent her entire life until that point living in a palace with unlimited resources. That doesn't mean that she doesn't appreciate the finer things in life (as you know, my headcanon is that she absolutely loves things like fancy gowns and fine food and opera and ballet performances), but she's not materialistic in the sense of always wanting more, or the best. She is, in fact, very practical and cares much more about substance than flash, and that helps her get by with the greatly reduced circumstances she had for those in-between years. But it's also very understandable that after four and a half years of scraping to get by in places like this, she'd reach the point she was at when she met Karrde, desperate for anything better and more stable than what her life had become.

Right? Sometimes it's the small disappointments that can just break you after a hard day, or a string of them.

I love them so much

He is

lol, it was me too until I went vegetarian. Then it was pretty much learn to cook or starve. There weren't a lot of vegetarian prepackaged kits a decade ago

lollll

You know, I don't think that Jedi would necessarily pick up on specific thoughts like this most of the time. Emotions, yes. If the Jedi in question was insightful and empathetic, or if they knew the other person well, maybe more specific lines of thought. But I strongly feel that Luke and Mara come pretty close to being truly telepathic with each other a lot of the time, even when they're not trying. The combination of Luke's empathy, Mara's telepathic gift, and their deep mutual understanding would surely make "thinking loudly" a reality between them.

Of course, being Luke and Mara, they're likely to be snarky about it

That's right If Tatooine was filmed in Tunisia, then it only makes sense to make Tatooinian food similar to North African cuisine, or possibly Middle Eastern. And while I'm no expert, every bit of African or Middle Eastern food I've ever eaten was delicious. (Ahrisa is falafel, fight me)

They're so adorable and snarky

This exchange is so very Corissa and Nico, isn't it? Dang, I love this family

They're so totally going to be best buddies, I can't wait until I get to writing more of that

Aw yeah It would be so surreal for Mara to suddenly have a family like this, but that tiny memory of her parents would go a long way toward making her feel like she belonged

Mara's so happy

She's cooking for the whole family for the very first time, cuddles are all well and good, but she has responsibilities

Corissa would be a terrible waitress, and yet everyone would absolutely love her

They're so adorable together, Vi

But they might have different ideas about what constitutes an amusing story

*takes notes*

That's right

I did not know that I could do it, I'm still so proud of myself

 

Week 7. Daddy!Baby Mara moments so ADORBS!!!! His misgivings and hopes and deep boundless love are so real to life!

Week Nine: A gorgeous poem!

Week 10: A marvelously fun, relaxed family moment. Mara's a softie and that's the worlds' worst kept secret.

 

Thanks to the AMAZING off the chain review by @Mira_Jade for Week 12 I discovered I too had missed it and even if I hadn't I would've been glad for a reread! OH MY! Sheer perfection, Paradise regained, etc. The banter, the warmth, all the nummy food! I loved Mara's progression from barely scraping by and feeling unconnected to a burgeoning friendship with Luke and then all the way through to the marvelous wonderful family feels!!! She gets more comfy with cooking and with the intimacy.

The crowning jewel was the Jedi Academy and the family homes being all in one place! And away from the seat of government! Like duh! This is so in character and so RIGHT! Prioritizing family is so so the BESTEST! I am so happy Luke and Mara are enfolded in such a loving lovable one!