Saga - Legends "Provenance" - Luke Skywalker / Mara Jade - A powerful foe from Mara’s past reappears.

OH, YUM, YUM! for the early morning Luke/Mara scene! Meltilicious! The reunion with the Naberries hit all the right heartwarming feels!

 

What she said. And I would like to add that Mara asking Luke to marry her first just felt so right. She's definitely the kind of person that, once she decides on a course of action, she doesn't procrastinate.

 

Hi @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha ,
I did want to make this romantic scene very special, tender and loving; I feel so happy to know that this is exactly how you found it to be

Hi @Carlos Danger ,
Glad to know that you liked this chapter.
It was about time, wasn't it? And here it is! I hope it was everything you wanted it to be
Thank you for reading and for always leaving a comment

Hi @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha ,
YUM, YUM! So glad that you enjoyed that scene
And that the Naberrie reunion felt heart-warming. I wanted Luke to have something nice and positive from his mother's family, so this is why I decided to make this scene so.
Thank you for your comments, it is really nice of you that you always take the time to leave a comment apart from beta reading

Hi @Cowgirl Jedi 1701 ,
Glad to have you back commenting and happy to know that you enjoyed this chapter enough to make you come out of the lurking zone
It's nice to hear that you liked Mara asking first. When I first thought about it, it felt so right! Then I kind of gave it some though because I didn't want it to seem like a forced thing or something... But after deeply considering Mara's character I decided that this was something she would definitely do and went with it. Happy to hear that it worked!
Thank you for still reading and for leaving a comment

 

I wish I could just transfer all of my feedback from FanFic over here! Love, love, love this book.

Especially love it now that I can listen to it with a halfway decent narrator!

 

Provenance
by Jâd Sphera


Notes:
Thank you for reading.

To @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha , thank you Ny for your valuable help with proof reading this chapter.
We made it!



Chapter 39



This story has been removed by the author.

 

Wow. Just wow.

 

Wonderful details on the relaxing facation, the delightfully 'rustic' festival, the gorgeous temple and Luke's saying he would let Mara go if that was what she wanted, and SQUEE on her saying he was her home. This has been a remarkable journey of self-discovery and also for them as a couple, one of the best L/M fics I've read.

 

@Cowgirl Jedi 1701
I'm so happy that you liked it
Thank you for reading till the end

My dear @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha ,
What can I say? It's been such a treat doing this with you as my Beta. And you deserve all the credit for helping my English to read right and for helping me decide what the best course of action was when I didn't know what to do with so many words , and for bearing with me and my very seldom achieved deadlines I had so much nervousness about typos and grammar mistakes when I first started; and then the very first day I posted my request for a Beta in this site I got you! Right away, just like that! It was meant to be
Thank you so much for everything, it’s been a long ride and I'm glad that you took it with me.
And it also makes me very happy to know that you enjoyed it while doing it
And that little note you have down in your profile's signature... Well, it got me speechless and teary All of happiness, of course
I'm so very excited about working on our collaboration

 

Excellent ending to a very unique and exciting L/M story. You did a great job with this fanfic.

 

Hello @Jedi Sarabel !
Good to see that you have joined us in here You'll find wonderful fellow writers in here, you'll see.
Don't worry about not having your previous feedback in here, I have read it in FanFiction and feel very grateful to you for all your nice comments.
It's very interesting that you have this auto narrator you can use, the one I have is really crappy - is the inbuilt Windows narrator. I use it to do spell check and to listen to the flow of the paragraphs and the conversations specially. I have learnt that if I listen to what I'm writing I can make sure it is making sense and find out if it sounds right
Good luck with your Beta Reader hunting! I hope you find one really soon.

Hi @Carlos Danger !
It's been great to have you faithfully around, reading and commenting. It's meant a lot to me. Thank you so much!
"...a very unique and exciting L/M story." It makes me very happy you find it so. It was a joy to me to write this, particularly since the idea had been on the shelf for so long.
Again, thank you for everything. And will be seeing you around here

 

Provenance
by Jâd Sphera


Notes:
And this is the end of this 9-month journey.

Thank you to everyone who have followed this story.

And specially, I want to thank my awesome Beta Reader, @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha for her incredible commitment, support, patience and generosity while helping me with proofreading this story. I could have not asked for a better Beta.
Ny, we made it!

Please see the end notes at the end of this chapter for some background on the story and some acknowledgements.




Chapter 40




EPILOGUE



This story has been removed by the author.




____________________________________________________________________


Writer's Notes and Acknowledgements.


Dear reader,

Provenance is finally done!

After and 9-month journey is hard to believe I made it. Provenance is quite a milestone for me and I feel very proud of it for many reasons.

The idea for this story had been with me for many years. The first nameless idea on it sparked in my mind back in 2007, but at the time I was writing other things, short stories… This plot idea surely looked like it would give a lot, and I didn’t feel ready to commit to a long story. So the narrative continued to take form only in my mind, and over time I continued to jot down notes and thoughts on it in a little old notebook… 10+ years had to pass in order for me to feel ready to write it, and this is how Provenance came to be.

Everything started with a question that popped up in my head: Why did Palpatine chose Mara to become his Hand? What is it what made her so special and important to him? Given that we know so little about her background and origins, or at least I did/do.

And then the story started to circle in my mind and take form. I jotted down so many notes over the years! I have this dedicated old notebook for all my writing ideas that may pop out when I least expect them, and I write them down all in there. But for Provenance I already had a separate section since notes started to pile up, not only in the notebook itself, but in pieces of all sorts of paper that I just inserted into this notebook.

I dropped writing for I think ten or so years, and the notebook stayed dormant for this long. You know, life happens and one kind of forgets about the things you love to do and switch them for the things you have to do. Anyways, in August of 2018 I found the AO3 site for some reason, I can’t remember how I got there but the fact is that I did and started reading in the SW fandom again, L/M stories of course. And the spark reignited! I read and read until one day I found the notebook while looking for something else... And there it was, all the notes for Provenance, which was a nameless story then. Once feeling with renewed inspiration thanks to all the wonderful writers I found and reconnected with in AO3, I started looking back into my unfinished stories and decided to finish them. I finished Come Back to Me, Farewell and A Night Out in Level 24 (still have a few more to finish yet). These are short stories which helped me to get back in writing shape. When I felt ready I started to seriously look into Provenance.

I knew Provenance would be a long story, but it ended up being longer from what I initially planned. It turned into a whole book! LOL! But this is what the story called for, so I only went with it. When I did the transcript of all the notes, I had 102 pages of them! It was quite a challenge to give a coherent order to all these notes so I could include them in the story, and I must say that practically 90% of all those notes have ended in the final manuscript.

I can only say that I just wanted to write Mara’s back story in a way that I hadn’t read before. And of course have Luke along for the ride.

I wanted to write about Luke’s inherent kindness, loyalty and awesomeness too, without fangirling too much - A sin I committed in my very first piece in which he was the protagonist back in 2006 ;P

The first few chapters came out quite easily, but as the story progressed things started to turn harder and new story lines opened before me that I had not considered earlier. For example, the Guardsman was meant to be a mention only, but he was stubborn enough to demand to have a more relevant role in the story, and I just obeyed, LOL! And I feel glad I did.

Creating OC characters was a big challenge. I just wanted them to blend in with the SW world and feel like characters who belonged there.

Provenance has taught me so much, and I feel like I have grown as a writer and feel very thankful for this.

I can go on and on with everything I have enjoyed and learnt with writing Provenance, but I won’t or we’ll be here till Christmas

And I must stop here.


Now that is done, I think the obliged thanks are a must.


There are so many people who have stuck with me along the way and I feel really grateful to all of you.

I want to specially thank my awesome Beta reader, @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha for your incredible commitment, support, patience and generosity. I could have not asked for a better Beta. You stuck with be throughout these months being a grounding force that helped me to keep motivated and writing. My English improved so much as I got your feedback. You know, those verbs with prepositions… They’re just so hard! You helped me so Provenance would read right. I have no words to tell you how much I will be forever grateful to you. Ny, you truly are the best!

Also, I need to thank many others who have stayed with me during the creation of this story and took the time to read it. Even if you didn’t comment the fact that you dedicated some of your precious time to read is utterly appreciated. And to those who did write a comment, either long or short, weekly or sporadic, know that I have treasured every word. To all, thank you very much!

To @Carlos Danger , for sticking with me every week and always leaving a comment. Those comments really kept me going! You’ve been so kind and wonderful with staying with me throughout the whole process of me posting a weekly chapter and you returning a comment on each of them. So nice of you! Thank you!

To @Findswoman , for asking me those very interesting to answer questions in Tumblr, for all your likes and for following me here in TJCF. Thank you my friend.

To @Cowgirl Jedi 1701 , for coming out of the “lurking zone” from time to time to give me a hint that you were still reading and enjoying the story.

To @Jedi Sarabel , thank you for having a binge book weekend reading Provenance. I have loved each of your comments in FanFictionNet.

@Mira_Jade , @AzureAngel2 , thank you for taking the time to read and to leave a comment.

To all those who join the party after today, my continued thanks for finding this story, reading it and for commenting.
The thought of you choosing to use some of your time to read this will never stop being a thrill for me

And finally, to all those marvellous Fic writers: atamascolily, JadeLotus, JediMorthsith, JadeDjo, frangipani, celinamarniss, Jedi-lover, Jedi Trace, evilmouse and countless others whom I admire so much, for helping me harness enough inspiration to come back to writing after so many years of having put it down.

Reading and writing is the best thing there is for me and I deeply treasure everything in my life that involves it.

May the force of inspiration and daydreaming keep you reading, writing and be always with you.

JS.

 

I adore this epilogue. It has a slow dance, a warm, loving talk between Luke and Mara, and Mara's so in-character reflections. I have no words to express how CHUFFED I am to read an L/M epic... what with new canon emerging and Legends stuff not being seen as much ... it's a true and utter joy to have so many great things all together, a unique back-story for Mara, a riveting adventure, and the delicious romantic journey!!

 

Double post.

 

Dear @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha ,
"An L/M epic..." Wow! Thank you
It's good to know that Provenance gave you so many things, it did to me. I just wrote about things and situations that I wanted to see Luke and Mara in, and then just tried to tie them up all together in a cohesive, interesting way.
I'm so happy that you have enjoyed this story, particularly since you were Beta reading it.
Knowing that you enjoyed it makes me happy, because it tells me that it was not a struggle for you; the story is long and it was nine months of work... You're so awesome!
I know the last third of the story was kind of hard with the deadlines as I ran out of buffer chapters and was writing as the week progressed so I could post right in the following weekend. You were so patient and so generous with me!
Thank you so much for everything!
Really, really looking forward to our next project together.



P.S. And that double post

 

I love Epilogues. You put the audience in a good place and then fast forward to show things are getting better and better. I am glad you continued writing after a ten year hiatus. You tell a great story.

And thanks @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha for being a beta. I used to write with betas, but I am so impatient that I just wanted to post everything right away. Now I just run stuff by my pseudo-beta and say, "Does this sound out of character?" If the answer is no, I just post it. I have no dreams of becoming a professional author, so I don't sweat the occasional grammar or spelling error.

Nice story! What is your next project?

 

Hi @Carlos Danger ,
So happy to hear that you enjoyed the Epilogue.
Ten years is a long time, but I am very glad that I came back to do it. It's been very rewarding.
And to have @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha as my Beta was really a privilege. I'm so thankful for this. I am bit of a nerd when it comes to grammar and spelling mistakes, I am one in my native language and I get even more picky when writing in English
I do have dreams of becoming a professional author. Don't know if it will ever happen, but I'll sure try!
My next project is a collaboration story with Nyota. Also I will be finishing some one-shots that have been half-written for as long as Provenance was, and also I will do the OTP Challenge to be posted before October 7th. And maybe, juts maybe, a second volume of Provenance, picking up where I left it There are a lot of ideas left that I did not introuduce in Provenance itself.
It's been really great to have you around during the duration of this story, it was nice to get your weekly comments, to know that you had gone to SW Celebration and all that.
Thank you and will see you around.