Beyond - Legends In the Flesh (Mara, repost)

Title:In the Flesh
Author:ginchy
Category: Drabble-type musings
Disclaimer:I don't own Star Wars. It belongs to George and Disney. But I certainly love the galaxy!
Notes: I wrote this in 2006 and just re-discovered it and wanted to repost it (with a few minor fixes) because I love how it turned out and I love Mara. Mara’s background has always intrigued me and as I never met my father until I was an adult, I can imagine some of her possible musings.

**


She is like her mother, but doesn’t know it.

“Luke?” she asks one evening, as they sit doing nothing in particular. He looks at her. “Do you ever think that maybe you’re like your mother?”

He smiles at her sadly. “I know nothing of my mother.”

“Neither do I,” she answers, though they both have long known the other as orphans.

Luke moves closer, but does not touch her. He knows she’s not ready for that. “I think your mother must have been tough as durasteel, yet full of integrity. After all, you maintained those qualities.”

Mara is quiet, but reflective. Certainly Palpatine hadn’t taught her integrity. She quirks an eyebrow at Luke. “Your mother must have been very diplomatic.”

Luke laughs. “Like Leia.”

She half-smiles at him. “And you.”

Luke puts his arm around her then, and she welcomes it.

**

She looks like her father, but can’t see it.

It occurred to her once, that every day she must catch a glimpse of her parents in her mirror.

She spent long moments looking into the glass then, studying the high cheekbones, the straight nose, the slant of her eyes, and the red-gold hair.

Staring closely at her own reflection she tries to remember. A woman with her hair, a man with her eyes.

As the Hand she learned to tamp down distinguishing habits or actions, but after more than a decade as Trader turned Jedi, a few have returned. Did her mother scrunch her forehead in the same manner when trying to figure out a particular problem? Did her father smile as rarely, but as truly, with a single dimple to the left side of his face?

The mirror cannot answer her questions.

**

Her son has his maternal grandmother’s smile, but people only comment on his Skywalker looks.

In the mornings, while still asleep, Ben looked exactly like his father. They slept in practically the same position, both taking up more than their share of any sleeping space. Barely four, Ben’s little determined chin held the deep Skywalker cleft, and people could not seem to stop commenting on it.

“Force,” Luke lamented, playfully, “he’s as cursed as I am.”

Mara liked the dimple on both of them, anyway. But though he could almost be a copy of his father in looks, save the red-gold hair he inherited from his mother, his mouth was different. Luke’s lips were full, the bottom one fuller than the top, and they almost turned down when his mouth was at rest. Mara’s lips were plump, slightly turned up in the corners. Ben’s lips were thinner, the top lip barely more full. And when he smiled his whole face changed, he looked different, less Skywalker, more something almost familiar to Mara.

Mara wasn’t quite sure, but when she watched her son smile she felt that perhaps she was not seeing only him, but just perhaps, echoes of her past.

**

She has her mother and father’s fighting spirits.

She used to dream of her parents, shadowy figures she couldn’t quite see, but whom she knew did not want her to be taken. She felt, even, that they had fought against it.

Her parents were probably killed, she knows, and wonders at herself that she cannot remember. Her parents, murdered and she—what? Vague memories continue to plague her…words, sounds. The Emperor.

She was obedient. Resourceful and fastidious. She had appreciated her position. She lived through years of a life she did not choose and then continued into a life she did. She learned that there were no easy answers.

And through it all, she fought and she remembered. Her parents had not wanted her to leave. They had not given her away.

And so, with their spirit made flesh in her body, she continues to survive.

 

I don't think I've ever seen this one, but I'm glad you reposted it! I love how you broke the moments down by facial features, and Mara's reflections on them. Excellent work!

 

Mara's parents continue to live in her and I am sure they are proud of her. She is a real woman, strong, clever, beautiful, loyal, wonderful wife and loving mother. I am proud of her.

 

great fic

 

Nicely written...but why does everybody assume Mara's parents are dead? They may be alive and well and never once thinking the wife of the Jedi Master was their child stolen from the Maternity ward so many decades ago.

 

I don't think I've ever read this one, so I'm glad you reposted it. It's very beutiful.

 

Well not EVERYONE assumes they're dead *cough*Home*cough*. But in seriousness, I have read a couple where she finds her mother (why is it always her mother?).

 

Oh, I love that. The reflective tone, you would almost think is not Mara, but it is, perfectly so, in this context. I love how she sees her past in their son and sorta almost recalls her parents with wisps of just-out-of-reach memories. But, !! I love the first scene because Luke knows when to reach to hold her, and she knows and is able to welcome it. Made my tummy all melty.

 

That was wonderful and it felt very natural. I have to ask, though ginchy , where are those paragraphs in VOTF? I can't place them.

 

hahahahaha Hazel, thanks for catching that. I just copied and pasted the disclaimer for Never a Bride!! I'm a mess. LOL!!

 

Ooh, okay

 

It's interesting today my best friend was showing her baby off somewhat. Bryg and another woman talked about how Liam's eyes are shaped like his mother's and the jury is still out on the nose.

I think that those that never knew their parents do wonder who they look like or act like.


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"The Starman and Moon Goddess."

 

Absolutely mesmerizing! *happy sigh*

 

That was beautiful....makes me want to make up a fiction about Mara's parents...I've always seen her father as the red-head though for some reason. I think that's how I read it with one piece of fiction I read.