Fic: "Mountains" -- Luke/Mara, G, 1/1
Title: "Mountains"
Author: deaka
Timeframe: During Union
Setting: I quote, "Vlassy nature reserve, Garqi, Outer Rim" :p
Keywords: Missing scene, canon, vignette, romance
Summary: Tranquility works best in small doses.
“Tell me again why we’re trekking up a mountain?” Luke said, slightly breathless. Gravel crunched under his boots.
“I thought you were supposed to be the fit one,” Mara called back. “What happened to that Jedi fortitude?”
“Left it - ” Luke slipped on a patch of loose rock, regained his balance - “back at camp.” He paused, hand on a spindly tree that had somehow found purchase on the rock. It shifted at his touch and he recoiled. Garqi wildlife still startled him somewhat; trees, he felt instinctively, should not move.
Mara came back and looked at him critically, examining him like a suspect crate in a smuggling shipment. “Could be the altitude,” she said.
Luke waved a hand. “You’re the one who tells me not to use the Force all the time. Which I’m beginning to suspect was just so you could outpace me.”
She crossed her arms. “Maybe you should work on keeping fit the hard way like the rest of us do. Not sitting around all day on Yavin 4 then cheating with the Force.”
“I’ve spent the last month traipsing through underground caverns,” Luke reminded her. “And I get plenty of exercise on Yavin 4.”
“Sure you do,” Mara said, turning and starting up the track again.
“But really,” Luke said, catching up with her, “why are we climbing a mountain?”
“Because it’s here,” Mara said. She turned, a few steps ahead of him, and lifted her head, framed against the mauve sky. “The view is decent,” she offered.
Luke looked at her. She lowered her eyes to his, and he smiled and turned. The valley below was in shadow, pale white-blue shadows wreathing copses of green and grey. The sun glinted from a lake in the distance. “It’s nice,” he allowed. “The view from inside the tent was nice, too.”
“Oh, can it,” Mara said, unsympathetically. “Dawn is wasted if you’re sleeping through it.”
Luke looked back at her. “Is this early rising thing a habit?”
“You know it is,” she said.
He climbed up the steep path, level with her. “In nineteen years, my uncle couldn’t make me into an early riser,” he said, against her ear.
“I relish a challenge." She grinned.
He laughed, and set off. She climbed after him.
“You know what?” he said over his shoulder. “I think the mountain thing has another reason.”
“Oh?”
He turned, arching an eyebrow at her. “You’re bored.”
There was a flash in her eyes, almost guilt. “What?”
He was quite pleased with himself. He remembered when the meaning in her expressions had been completely closed to him; she’d been impenetrable, implacable. Somewhere in the last few months he’d absorbed enough of her to know what the small tilt of her lips meant, to catch the momentary widening in her eyes. It was almost like a language, one he was still learning, completely aside from the Force.
“You,” he said, “are bored. It’s so perfectly relaxing here, perfectly tranquil and peaceful and infinitely, endlessly calm, that you just have to find a mountain for us to climb.”
She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head.
“Right?” Luke prompted.
“It was driving me a little crazy,” Mara conceded. “It’s very… serene. But the birds, and the lake, and the quiet.” She grimaced, then gave him an odd look and seemed to wait.
“Me too,” Luke said. “Tatooine more or less inured me to the thrill of nature.”
“I thought you might be upset,” Mara said, with a vague hint of query.
“Oh, no,” Luke said. “Relieved. I thought I was marrying a mountain-climbing fanatic for a while there.”
They found a spot slightly off the path with a view of the valley. Luke rested against a boulder, Mara leaning beside him. “So,” she said, “does this mean we fail some kind of relationship test?”
“Does it?”
“I don’t know. Don’t couples do things like this?”
“Leia suggested it, but you’ll notice she and Han haven’t had a proper holiday in years.” Luke shrugged. “If you don’t like spending time in nature reserves, and I don’t like spending time in nature reserves, and together we don’t like spending time in nature reserves, I don’t think it’s catastrophic.”
“Catastrophic we’re good at,” Mara said. “Put us together in a flooding chamber with a dead clone and killer droids, and we’re fine. Or in a room with a crazy Jedi clone and your warped double. Or a bunch of rock-eating bugs. Or…”
“Yeah, I was there too.” Luke smiled. Mara smirked, and looked down at the valley.
There was a silence. Then Luke said, because he didn’t think she would, “The real test is everything else. Waking up every morning, going to bed every night, breakfast and dinner and lunch, you juggling missions for Karrde, me handling Jedi assignments and the administration of the academy, deciding where and how to live, your training, me mismanaging my finances…”
“I still can’t believe the state of your accounts,” Mara muttered. “It’s a good thing Tionne took over the academy coffers or you’d be truly sunk.”
“Still here?” Luke said. “That’s good.”
She pushed her arm through his, and leaned to bump her head against his. “I said yes,” she said chidingly. “I meant it then and now. Unless you’ve changed your mind?”
“No,” he said. “Not ever.”
“Ever’s a long time,” she said.
“I’m reasonably certain,” he said.
She smiled at that. “We’ll work it out.”
“I believe you.”
She kissed him, hands on either side of his face, fingers spread, warm against his chilled skin. She tasted like powdered caff and grits, like fierceness and trust and certainty.
“Up the mountain?” he said when they parted.
“Back to Coruscant?” she said.
“Even better,” he said. He took her hand, and they headed back to camp.
--end--
Author: deaka
Timeframe: During Union
Setting: I quote, "Vlassy nature reserve, Garqi, Outer Rim" :p
Keywords: Missing scene, canon, vignette, romance
Summary: Tranquility works best in small doses.
“Tell me again why we’re trekking up a mountain?” Luke said, slightly breathless. Gravel crunched under his boots.
“I thought you were supposed to be the fit one,” Mara called back. “What happened to that Jedi fortitude?”
“Left it - ” Luke slipped on a patch of loose rock, regained his balance - “back at camp.” He paused, hand on a spindly tree that had somehow found purchase on the rock. It shifted at his touch and he recoiled. Garqi wildlife still startled him somewhat; trees, he felt instinctively, should not move.
Mara came back and looked at him critically, examining him like a suspect crate in a smuggling shipment. “Could be the altitude,” she said.
Luke waved a hand. “You’re the one who tells me not to use the Force all the time. Which I’m beginning to suspect was just so you could outpace me.”
She crossed her arms. “Maybe you should work on keeping fit the hard way like the rest of us do. Not sitting around all day on Yavin 4 then cheating with the Force.”
“I’ve spent the last month traipsing through underground caverns,” Luke reminded her. “And I get plenty of exercise on Yavin 4.”
“Sure you do,” Mara said, turning and starting up the track again.
“But really,” Luke said, catching up with her, “why are we climbing a mountain?”
“Because it’s here,” Mara said. She turned, a few steps ahead of him, and lifted her head, framed against the mauve sky. “The view is decent,” she offered.
Luke looked at her. She lowered her eyes to his, and he smiled and turned. The valley below was in shadow, pale white-blue shadows wreathing copses of green and grey. The sun glinted from a lake in the distance. “It’s nice,” he allowed. “The view from inside the tent was nice, too.”
“Oh, can it,” Mara said, unsympathetically. “Dawn is wasted if you’re sleeping through it.”
Luke looked back at her. “Is this early rising thing a habit?”
“You know it is,” she said.
He climbed up the steep path, level with her. “In nineteen years, my uncle couldn’t make me into an early riser,” he said, against her ear.
“I relish a challenge." She grinned.
He laughed, and set off. She climbed after him.
“You know what?” he said over his shoulder. “I think the mountain thing has another reason.”
“Oh?”
He turned, arching an eyebrow at her. “You’re bored.”
There was a flash in her eyes, almost guilt. “What?”
He was quite pleased with himself. He remembered when the meaning in her expressions had been completely closed to him; she’d been impenetrable, implacable. Somewhere in the last few months he’d absorbed enough of her to know what the small tilt of her lips meant, to catch the momentary widening in her eyes. It was almost like a language, one he was still learning, completely aside from the Force.
“You,” he said, “are bored. It’s so perfectly relaxing here, perfectly tranquil and peaceful and infinitely, endlessly calm, that you just have to find a mountain for us to climb.”
She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head.
“Right?” Luke prompted.
“It was driving me a little crazy,” Mara conceded. “It’s very… serene. But the birds, and the lake, and the quiet.” She grimaced, then gave him an odd look and seemed to wait.
“Me too,” Luke said. “Tatooine more or less inured me to the thrill of nature.”
“I thought you might be upset,” Mara said, with a vague hint of query.
“Oh, no,” Luke said. “Relieved. I thought I was marrying a mountain-climbing fanatic for a while there.”
They found a spot slightly off the path with a view of the valley. Luke rested against a boulder, Mara leaning beside him. “So,” she said, “does this mean we fail some kind of relationship test?”
“Does it?”
“I don’t know. Don’t couples do things like this?”
“Leia suggested it, but you’ll notice she and Han haven’t had a proper holiday in years.” Luke shrugged. “If you don’t like spending time in nature reserves, and I don’t like spending time in nature reserves, and together we don’t like spending time in nature reserves, I don’t think it’s catastrophic.”
“Catastrophic we’re good at,” Mara said. “Put us together in a flooding chamber with a dead clone and killer droids, and we’re fine. Or in a room with a crazy Jedi clone and your warped double. Or a bunch of rock-eating bugs. Or…”
“Yeah, I was there too.” Luke smiled. Mara smirked, and looked down at the valley.
There was a silence. Then Luke said, because he didn’t think she would, “The real test is everything else. Waking up every morning, going to bed every night, breakfast and dinner and lunch, you juggling missions for Karrde, me handling Jedi assignments and the administration of the academy, deciding where and how to live, your training, me mismanaging my finances…”
“I still can’t believe the state of your accounts,” Mara muttered. “It’s a good thing Tionne took over the academy coffers or you’d be truly sunk.”
“Still here?” Luke said. “That’s good.”
She pushed her arm through his, and leaned to bump her head against his. “I said yes,” she said chidingly. “I meant it then and now. Unless you’ve changed your mind?”
“No,” he said. “Not ever.”
“Ever’s a long time,” she said.
“I’m reasonably certain,” he said.
She smiled at that. “We’ll work it out.”
“I believe you.”
She kissed him, hands on either side of his face, fingers spread, warm against his chilled skin. She tasted like powdered caff and grits, like fierceness and trust and certainty.
“Up the mountain?” he said when they parted.
“Back to Coruscant?” she said.
“Even better,” he said. He took her hand, and they headed back to camp.
--end--