[Star Wars] "Dear..."
Title: "Dear..."
Author: shuriken7
Fandom: Star Wars Expanded Universe
Characters: Jaina, Luke/Mara
Word Count: 1,212
A/N: Set sometime between the end of the Legacy of the Force series and the beginning of the Fate of Jedi series. Major spoilers alert!!!
Written for meglw0228 for a donation at helpthesouth.
Summary: Luke hopes that Jaina will find some clarity in her often chaotic life through the wisdom of her aunt, Mara Jade.
******
The Jedi Academy was oddly quiet, many of the Jedi at work or out trying to revive the reputation that Daala was busy sullying. Others had been locked up for an insanity that no one could explain. Boots swept, nearly soundlessly, across the marble halls as Jedi went back and forth about their business. In a small training room, a lightsaber hummed breaking the peaceful silence.
Blood pounded in her ears and the Force flowed through her veins. Jaina deflected bolt after training bolt with her lightsaber, attention finely tuned to each motion of her body. For once her mind was blissfully clear, none of her usual thoughts tormenting her. Nothing was in her way, she was perfectly calm, an emotion she has not been able to feel in months.
Right now she was a simple warrior. She was not the Sword of the Jedi, the slayer of Darth Caedus, or a woman involved in a disastrous romance. Life was simple, her dead loved ones were still alive, not yet a part of the Force that swirled through her. Her life was centered on her steps, the movements of her muscles as she reached up to parry or block. The only sounds that were heard was her breath, the hum of her lightsaber, and the whir of the training remote as it hovered. The ping of a training bolt could be heard from time to time, and the subsequent sizzle as it was blocked on the blade. Every motion, every stance was perfection. The perfection brought her peace.
She sensed a ripple on the edge of her awareness, someone was trying to get her attention. She stopped, signaling the remote to switch off, her lightsaber quickly silenced. She switched her normal senses on, the senses of sight and hearing. The person who now entered the room didn’t make a sound and it took her eyes a moment to see her Uncle coming towards her, the perpetually calm expression on his face.
“You’ll be a Master one of these days, Jaina.”
“I’m not sure if I’ll be handle anything on top of Sword, Uncle.”
He smiled, “You are the strongest person I know, you will find the path.” He placed a hand reassuringly on her shoulder as the real world became rushing back. She focused on not breaking down.
“Thank you, Uncle Luke.”
“I’ve brought something for you, I hope it will give you some clarity.” He held up a data chip for her. She accepted it, examining it.
“What is it?”
“It’s notes and letters that Mara and I sent to each other throughout our life together. She was very wise, perhaps you will learn more about her. It’s a way to remember her.”
“You don’t want these Uncle Luke?”
He gave her a sad smile, “She’s one with the Force now, I need to accept that. Keep them for me, I might want them later.”
“Thank you.” she said, a small smile on her lips. He smiled back and turning on his heel left her alone in the training room, his boots barely whispering across the space. The door swished shut behind him. She didn’t think much of the little card, just slid it into her bag, thinking it was odd that Luke would offer her such an intimate thing between him and Mara. She went back to her training. After a few hours her muscles quivered with exhaustion and her body told her to stop. She hit the showers and found herself lying on her bed in her apartment, trying to will away the specters of her past.
The Force was drawing her attention to that chip her Uncle had given her, that small amount of data that he had felt would reveal something to her. She reached for her datapad and inserted the chip into it waiting for the data to load. There was a list with dozens and dozens of messages. She selected the first one on the list.
Hey Farmboy,
You need to stop messaging me, if I wanted to talk to you I would. Your academy can wait, I have more important things to do. And besides, given our history would you really want me around?
Jade
Jaina figured that one must be from the early days of their relationship, she smiled remembering the stories her Aunt Mara would tell her during her apprenticeship. She would talk of how much she couldn’t stand Luke in the beginning, but he had grown on her and that she would never once again be able to imagine a life without him.
Hey Jade,
If you don’t want me talking to you don’t message me back. As for our history, the Force is always in motion, we never know where we’ll go from here.
Skywalker
She smiled, wishing her Uncle would still joke like he used to.
Skywalker,
Enough with the Jedi speak. Where are you going to be...
The message series ended with them finding out they were going to be in the same place at the same time. Jaina wondered a little bit about if her Uncle had planned to meet Mara there. She tried to imagine that world, a world before the Yuuzhan Vong invasions and before the Corellian Civil War. It had been so much of her life, she was having trouble grasping it. She flipped through a few more full of anecdotes about every day life. They were calming and peaceful. Some of the messages spoke about her, and how her training progressed. Many later on spoke of Ben and him growing up. Jaina wondered if he realized how much his parents worried about him. She stumbled across one towards the end, it was addressed to her.
Jaina,
I wrote this in case you never see me again, it’s just a precaution I’ve always taken before a mission. I don’t want things to be left unsaid.
You are a powerful young woman, you will be a great Jedi. I was a lot like you when I was younger, driven by my mission. There’s nothing wrong with that. I just want you to also be able to look inside yourself and see that there are other things too, things like love. I got lucky with Luke, at first I didn’t realize I even wanted something like that, but he showed me. I would have never gotten to know any kind of true family without him.
So, keep your heart open. I know that Jag and Zekk have been giving you trouble, and you are worried about the mission Luke appointed you to. Being the Sword isn’t everything, you also have to be Jaina.
Hopefully, you will never have to read all this sappiness.
Love,
Mara
Jaina could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she read the letter. A letter tossed in between dozens of other letters between two people who truly loved each other. She knew that feeling, she shouldn’t let it go.
She sat reading the message and reading other letters. The Force spoke to her of the love her aunt and uncle had shared, it was something she wanted. She picked up her comlink and dialed a number, waiting for the man she loved to pick up on the other end.
Author: shuriken7
Fandom: Star Wars Expanded Universe
Characters: Jaina, Luke/Mara
Word Count: 1,212
A/N: Set sometime between the end of the Legacy of the Force series and the beginning of the Fate of Jedi series. Major spoilers alert!!!
Written for meglw0228 for a donation at helpthesouth.
Summary: Luke hopes that Jaina will find some clarity in her often chaotic life through the wisdom of her aunt, Mara Jade.
******
The Jedi Academy was oddly quiet, many of the Jedi at work or out trying to revive the reputation that Daala was busy sullying. Others had been locked up for an insanity that no one could explain. Boots swept, nearly soundlessly, across the marble halls as Jedi went back and forth about their business. In a small training room, a lightsaber hummed breaking the peaceful silence.
Blood pounded in her ears and the Force flowed through her veins. Jaina deflected bolt after training bolt with her lightsaber, attention finely tuned to each motion of her body. For once her mind was blissfully clear, none of her usual thoughts tormenting her. Nothing was in her way, she was perfectly calm, an emotion she has not been able to feel in months.
Right now she was a simple warrior. She was not the Sword of the Jedi, the slayer of Darth Caedus, or a woman involved in a disastrous romance. Life was simple, her dead loved ones were still alive, not yet a part of the Force that swirled through her. Her life was centered on her steps, the movements of her muscles as she reached up to parry or block. The only sounds that were heard was her breath, the hum of her lightsaber, and the whir of the training remote as it hovered. The ping of a training bolt could be heard from time to time, and the subsequent sizzle as it was blocked on the blade. Every motion, every stance was perfection. The perfection brought her peace.
She sensed a ripple on the edge of her awareness, someone was trying to get her attention. She stopped, signaling the remote to switch off, her lightsaber quickly silenced. She switched her normal senses on, the senses of sight and hearing. The person who now entered the room didn’t make a sound and it took her eyes a moment to see her Uncle coming towards her, the perpetually calm expression on his face.
“You’ll be a Master one of these days, Jaina.”
“I’m not sure if I’ll be handle anything on top of Sword, Uncle.”
He smiled, “You are the strongest person I know, you will find the path.” He placed a hand reassuringly on her shoulder as the real world became rushing back. She focused on not breaking down.
“Thank you, Uncle Luke.”
“I’ve brought something for you, I hope it will give you some clarity.” He held up a data chip for her. She accepted it, examining it.
“What is it?”
“It’s notes and letters that Mara and I sent to each other throughout our life together. She was very wise, perhaps you will learn more about her. It’s a way to remember her.”
“You don’t want these Uncle Luke?”
He gave her a sad smile, “She’s one with the Force now, I need to accept that. Keep them for me, I might want them later.”
“Thank you.” she said, a small smile on her lips. He smiled back and turning on his heel left her alone in the training room, his boots barely whispering across the space. The door swished shut behind him. She didn’t think much of the little card, just slid it into her bag, thinking it was odd that Luke would offer her such an intimate thing between him and Mara. She went back to her training. After a few hours her muscles quivered with exhaustion and her body told her to stop. She hit the showers and found herself lying on her bed in her apartment, trying to will away the specters of her past.
The Force was drawing her attention to that chip her Uncle had given her, that small amount of data that he had felt would reveal something to her. She reached for her datapad and inserted the chip into it waiting for the data to load. There was a list with dozens and dozens of messages. She selected the first one on the list.
Hey Farmboy,
You need to stop messaging me, if I wanted to talk to you I would. Your academy can wait, I have more important things to do. And besides, given our history would you really want me around?
Jade
Jaina figured that one must be from the early days of their relationship, she smiled remembering the stories her Aunt Mara would tell her during her apprenticeship. She would talk of how much she couldn’t stand Luke in the beginning, but he had grown on her and that she would never once again be able to imagine a life without him.
Hey Jade,
If you don’t want me talking to you don’t message me back. As for our history, the Force is always in motion, we never know where we’ll go from here.
Skywalker
She smiled, wishing her Uncle would still joke like he used to.
Skywalker,
Enough with the Jedi speak. Where are you going to be...
The message series ended with them finding out they were going to be in the same place at the same time. Jaina wondered a little bit about if her Uncle had planned to meet Mara there. She tried to imagine that world, a world before the Yuuzhan Vong invasions and before the Corellian Civil War. It had been so much of her life, she was having trouble grasping it. She flipped through a few more full of anecdotes about every day life. They were calming and peaceful. Some of the messages spoke about her, and how her training progressed. Many later on spoke of Ben and him growing up. Jaina wondered if he realized how much his parents worried about him. She stumbled across one towards the end, it was addressed to her.
Jaina,
I wrote this in case you never see me again, it’s just a precaution I’ve always taken before a mission. I don’t want things to be left unsaid.
You are a powerful young woman, you will be a great Jedi. I was a lot like you when I was younger, driven by my mission. There’s nothing wrong with that. I just want you to also be able to look inside yourself and see that there are other things too, things like love. I got lucky with Luke, at first I didn’t realize I even wanted something like that, but he showed me. I would have never gotten to know any kind of true family without him.
So, keep your heart open. I know that Jag and Zekk have been giving you trouble, and you are worried about the mission Luke appointed you to. Being the Sword isn’t everything, you also have to be Jaina.
Hopefully, you will never have to read all this sappiness.
Love,
Mara
Jaina could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she read the letter. A letter tossed in between dozens of other letters between two people who truly loved each other. She knew that feeling, she shouldn’t let it go.
She sat reading the message and reading other letters. The Force spoke to her of the love her aunt and uncle had shared, it was something she wanted. She picked up her comlink and dialed a number, waiting for the man she loved to pick up on the other end.