Beyond - Legends The Jade Prophecy - L/M, H/L Thank you to the readers!!!

Quickly snatches first 100 post!

* throws confetti *

 

Already? Wow, LP, you go girl!

Congrats

LOL, Michele! No, you're not senile. According to Bri, that's definitely my department.

:::says nothing, merely hands her the gingko:::

::Windstar Out::

 

*narrows eyes at Bri, despite the fact that her offering of gingko was fully expected*

*tosses more confetti for LP*

 

:::smirks:::

We're getting too good at this.

::Windstar Out::

 

How sweet and romantic you sound! I can't get my husband to read any of my stories...(is jealous of your lucky wife!) Well, I, uh... thank you! Really I'm lucky to be married to such a wonderful wife! (And your husband is missing out on some great writing!)

I really enjoyed Mara's thought that the male of the species doesn't effect her... ha! She hasn't met our favorite Jedi yet! Keep up the good work!

 

The MALE of the species doesn't affect her.

Does that mean....?

Hmmmm.....


Wow! Mara just got a whole lot cooler!

 

*reads*

Can I say, I love Rydor. 'I'm so smart', lol! Taking after daddy dear, I imagine.

NOOOOOO! Not the Force-proof lizards! Waaah!
When do we get to see Lukie again, LP?

 

Jedi_Liz: Hmmm, will she discover those could be useful in capturing Luke?

- The ysalamiri will definitely serve their purpose.

GreatOne: LOL! Antipasto with ysalamiri and a glass of chianti, please!

RebelMom: I'm sure that Tauro has a shady background or even a shady present.

- More on Tauro's past/present in later posts.

- Glad you had a good time.

Bri_Windstar: Mara always did come off as a bit of a conundrum to me, she's so enigmatic. That's what makes her so fun!

- Yes, Mara's an interesting bundle of contradictions.

Saber-of-Light: Welcome to the story! Glad you like it so far!

Darth_Lex: Mara, my dear, I don't think the strange sensation of longing was about the pilot part...

- Hmmm...what COULD she be longing for, then?

- And yes, Tauro is an OC.

A-Windsor: So, Baby Bantha likes Mara? Nice B.B.!

Jedi-2B: Just as Mara Jade is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery that is Tauro.

- And the plot thickens... * LP wrings hands and cackles evilly *

Gabri_Jade: Whew! So glad to know that you at least have one official version of the answer about Mara's age!

NETTYTHEPRINCESS: Thanks! Although it's not going to be a 1:1 ratio for long. Stick around, though, there will still be H/L going on in here...

TorontoJediMaster: This Tauro is interesting. He seems to be a composite of Karde, Thrawn and Xixor.



- As far as your speculations...Heh. Heh. Heh. I'm not giving nothin' away....

The MALE of the species doesn't affect her.

Does that mean....?

Hmmmm.....


Wow! Mara just got a whole lot cooler!

* Thwack! * Out of the gutter, young man!!!

Miska: Mara isn't such a bad old scout.

Tycalibur: Mara may very well wind up with two enemies.

- Yeah, Mara's not so good at making and keeping friends.

Rivad_Bacar: I really enjoyed Mara's thought that the male of the species doesn't effect her... ha! She hasn't met our favorite Jedi yet!

- EXACTLY!

Sock_of_Darth_Vader: Can I say, I love Rydor. 'I'm so smart', lol! Taking after daddy dear, I imagine.

- Of course, Rydor is like Han!

When do we get to see Lukie again, LP?

- We see Lukie again tomorrow!

More tomorrow night!

 

How's my analysis? Is it up to the caliber that it was on the other story?

 

Nice plot you seem to be cooking up. I really like your Mara characterization, but I've said that already.

I will admit that the ysalamiri always felt to me like a rather weak plot device in the EU (one of Zahn's not-as-good ideas, even in the interesting context he created for them), along with that wierd Cordobite (sp?) ore stuff in the duology. But I'm sure you'll do interesting things with it.

TJM's speculation sounds very logical to me. So would that make Tauro a natural partner in crime for Mara or an adversary?...

 

One thing I noticed when I read Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, was how the way Mara and Leia were portrayed differently.

IMO, it started the EU on the path to where Mara is the one who's totally admired by the Solo kids.

In the Thrawn Trilogy, Mara seemed to have more "page time" than Leia did. As well, she seemed to take a much more active role in the plot.

The Thrawn Trilogy was also where Leia's Jedi abilities were shunted aside. Five years after ROTJ, and she hasn't made any real progress in her training, or even gotten a lightsaber yet. (Zahn has her saying that sabers, the weapon that a Jedi uses an extension of themselves, makes her feel "uncomfortable"). Contrast that to how Zahn has Mara expertly wield a lightsaber as she faces the Luke clone.

As well, whether intentionally or not, Zahn made Leia seem like she always needed protecting throughout the Trilogy. Someone always seemed to be after her -not for her own abilities, but because of her children's potential abilities- and she needed protection. In the climax of "The Last Command", Leia is left behind, with a compliment of Noghri bodyguards (So everyone else will be free to go on the mission instead of staying behind to portect Leia) while Mara takes an active part in the mission.

IMO, the reasons behind why the Solo kids worship Mara and look to her as their role model have their roots directly in the first Zahn Trilogy.

 

I get this odd sensation that Toth is either the unknown man behind either the empire or the slave ring.

If he's behind the slave ring that would account for Mara's odd feeling about him, as well as Kalia's comment about the 'things' but that could be about the ysalamiri too.

The fact that he has the ysalamiri, makes me believe that he may be the man behind the empire or another dark Jedi himself, and the ysalamiri set up to distract any other force sensitives when they reach his office as well as setting them off balance again by all the Jedi artifacts. He is also able to block his thoughts from Mara. While this could be her Force sences wanning as they did in the EU to that point, I think that it has more merit in He has the ability to block it.



Looking forward to more LP

 

I really enjoyed Mara's thought that the male of the species doesn't effect her... ha! She hasn't met our favorite Jedi yet!

- EXACTLY!

Of course... reallllllly being able to annoy someone also effects them too! Bwahahahahaha!

 

TorontoJediMaster: How's my analysis? Is it up to the caliber that it was on the other story?

- As if I'd give away that much

- I do agree with you that Leia's loss of status can be traced to what Zahn did in HttE - at Zahn. That doesn't make it right. In fact, it makes it an enormous crime in SW writing. I think part of the reason he had Mara play such a large role, though, was that she was his creation. Of course, he'd feel more comfortable with her than with GL's characters.

Shloz: I'm glad you like the way Mara's coming along. Why did you think ysalamiri were weak? I kind of like them in a creepy way.

maramijade: Hey! Welcome back! It's great to see you again!

I get this odd sensation that Toth is either the unknown man behind either the empire or the slave ring.

- There will definitely be more on Tauro to come...

Rivad_Bacar: Actually, in my stories, Mara and Luke have already met, but there was never a chance for conversation. Not that Mara has much she wants to say to Luke other than, "Die, Jedi, die!"

More right away.

 

Chapter Four

The underbrush in the jungle was thick, making it very difficult for Luke to make out the path. In the distance, he could see the very tops of the stone Massassi temples peeking out over the canopy of towering trees, and calculated another five kilometers of walking.

Luke paused, and wiped the sweat off his brow. The air was stiflingly hot and thick with humidity, and Luke felt he was having some difficulty breathing. His clothes were soaked with sweat and clung uncomfortably to his back and legs. He looked up briefly toward the relentlessly hot sun, and then toward the quarter disc of the huge gas giant of Yavin, which hung pale in the sky.

After spending a few minutes to collect himself, Luke picked up his lightsaber and continued hacking his way further through the jungle. He walked for what felt like a small eternity, and then suddenly paused. Over the incessant jungle chatter of chirping birds and insects, Luke could hear something that sounded distinctly like a waterfall. He cocked his head and listened more carefully for a few more seconds and then turned and headed in the direction of the waterfall.

The sound of running water became louder as Luke continued walking, but there was also the sensation of a presence in the Force, which was becoming stronger with each passing second. Trying to maintain calm, and to keep his frustration at bay, Luke forced himself to cut through the jungle underbrush slowly and methodically as always.

Luke cut through a particularly thick knot of Canci vines and then suddenly found himself standing along the edge of a river. His eyes widened in surprise. How was it that he didn?t know about this river, which was so close the Academy?

Luke looked back toward the direction of the Massassi temples but could see nothing over the jungle canopy. He wasn?t surprised. He had trekked downhill for the last hundred meters and assumed that the temples had just been blocked from view. When he looked back toward the Yavin sun, however, he paused. The gas giant of Yavin, which had always hung overhead in the sky over the jungle moon, was gone.

Bewildered, Luke looked back down toward the river. It was making a rushing noise, but there was a more thunderous sound of water upstream. He followed the curving riverbank until he suddenly came upon a series of seven waterfalls that fed into the river. The falls were not high; probably no more than ten meters, and they created a stunning view. But the falls were not what caught Luke?s attention. The water from third waterfall from the left diverged as it spilled over an outcropping of rock; this distilled the powerful rush of water somewhat. Under the overhang of rock, and directly under a spill of water, Luke could distinctly see the outline of a figure.

He continued edging along the riverbank closer to the falls, squinting to see the figure more closely, and then gasped. In his surprise, he slipped, almost falling into the river.

A woman was standing on a rock ledge under the waterfall, and it appeared she was taking a shower. He could only see her head and her arms raised to wash her hair, which appeared a dark auburn. The rest of her body was swathed in water, and only occasionally could Luke glimpse bits of flesh that peeked out through the water. The woman did not seem to notice his approach, although as Luke came closer, he could feel her strong Force-signature.

It was Mara Jade.

What in the galaxy was Mara doing on Yavin IV? Luke wondered. He glanced up toward the sky, but again, could not see the reflection of Yavin. As he looked down toward the waterfalls, he could see that Mara?s arms were raised and she was calmly wringing out the wet locks of her hair.

And then, suddenly, Luke saw something black and very fast streak out of the jungle toward the riverbank. It was a large felinoid, and it appeared to be heading toward Mara. She didn?t seem to have noticed the attacking animal at all.

With his lightsaber raised, Luke charged after the animal, yelling to distract the creature before it c

 

Nice post, LadyPadme. It's funny that he's dreaming about her nekkid, hehehe! But did it disturb his Jedi calm?

Astro

 

Poor Luke. The political hassles of rebuilding the Jedi Order have got to be the worst part of his post-ROTJ life. He must envy Old Ben's hermit life on Tatooine at times like that.

Hope he gets a bit of happy time with old friends before you wreck everything.

Okay, maybe it's me, but it seems like Luke might be missing some of the symbolism of the latest dream. I mean, he goes toward Mara and gets attacked by a vicious animal -- in other words: DANGER! You would think a Jedi Master might pick up on that.

Then again, Mara in the shower would distract me too.

Also, I'm just a little curious: Is the "prophecy" of the title a piece of spiritual evidence we've yet to learn about (like the Chosen One prophecy about Anakin Skywalker), or is it a more metaphorical description for the visions Luke is getting from the Force? Feel free not to answer, but it never hurts to ask.


p.s. Dear Luke: You're linked because she's trying to hunt you down and kill you.

 

Hmm. The dangerous saber tooth cat has green eyes... Mara has green eyes.... I think Luke is overlooking some important connections here!

 

Ah, but you have to risk being hurt in order for true love to happen!

Great job LP! I eagerly await the next post!

 

Whew, so finally made it here--I'm now back in Williamsburg, VA

anywhoo--this story is intriguing (as usual ) and i look forward to reading more (perhaps tonight before my classes start tomorrow?)

*grin*
up

 

awww, Luke, if only you knew... LOL

Anyway, great post! I can't wait to see what happens when those two meet up ::laughs evilly::

 

That dream!

Pervy, LP, in true HM fashion.

Methinks Luke has become the New Republic's errandboy. Wonder whats on that datachip, esp if it seems so important.

Off topic, LP, but do you know any really good sites where i could find H/L images? I mean a TON of them, a plethora, because all of the sites i seem to find have crap in the way of images. Thankees much.

::Windstar Out::

 

Yes, B.B. thinks Mara is hot and the showering scene just didn't help! (tho wonderfully written) You see, Bantha's mature at a much faster rate than humans. He is in his 14-18 year old male stage. Good Force help us all.

Awesome chapter, as usual.

Lukie dear is missing out on some VERY important clues.... *shakes head*

Do we get to know about Leia's baby any more? How far along is she? Did you say and I missed it?

MORE SOON, POR FAVOR!


Hehehehe.


A. Windsor and Baby Bantha
"B.B., calm your hormones!"

 

Oi,

this is my second post here on the JCF in general.

First, praises for your fanfic LadyPadme, I haven't read the fic preceding this one, I guess I'm too much of a Luke/Mara shipper for my own good. You are making L/M's relationship even more complicated than the original. Hopefully it won't take them 20 years, instead of 10, to get toghether. I mean, Mara has her own motivation this time, there's no little voice in her head (or did I miss something?).


I'm sorry, LadyPadme, TorontoJediMaster, but I disagree (almost completely) about the disrespect of Leia in comparisson to Mara having its origins in TTT.

I think in TTT Leia kicked a lot of butt. I partially agree about her not being properly trained in the force at that period in time, however, she had a new government to build, and she didn't need the force to kick ass.

She also had a lot of "screen time" on TTT. She was very effective against the noghri on Kashyyk in HTTE and later on DFR she brought the noghri to her side. She doesn't need to be a great warrior because she's the brains of the big 3. Even then she always holds her own.

I've been lurking these forums for the last couple of months and I already know that a lot of Mara haters don't like the way Mara is upstaging Leia on the NJO (haven't read a single book). Seems that Leia says things like "You are the braver one", or taking a lot of flack from Mara.

Take a look at TLC, where Leia has 2 serious talks to Mara. IMO Leia completely dominated Mara in those 2 talks. In my interpretation, Zahn wanted to portray how much more mature Leia is than Mara in those scenes. It seemed like a patient mother talking to a spoiled brat. Luke had already cracked the shell Mara had built around herself on the 2 previous books, but Leia was the first to peel away the pieces. She was the first to make Mara see that perhaps it wasn't herself that wanted to kill Luke. She confronted Mara with her past, made Mara cry, and finished the conversation bossing her:


(translated from brazilian edition (portuguese), so maybe a few differences to original)

(Leia)
-I'll see what i can do. In between...
Her eyes fixed on Mara's - You can't mention what you told me to anybody. Anybody. Thrawn is still getting information from here inside... and this is an information for which many would kill whitout hesitation.

-Right - Mara agreed, sudenly feeling cold.


IMO, there's no way Zahn's Leia would take "sith" from Mara. And Zahn's Mara would never be disrespectfull to Leia, no matter what stressfull situation they would be in.


Sorry LadyPadme, I didn't mean to hog your fanfic pages. I'll go to the Lit. forum to be trown on a carbonite pit by the Mara haters as a penitence.

Benjor

 

pppst, Luke.......you're dreaming of Mara cause your sister is secretly matchmaking you with her cause she wants you married!


Nice post......naughty Luke dreaming of Mara taking a shower!