Gathering Pebbles
Title: Gathering Pebbles
Characters: Ben/Vestara
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: implied boinking
Summary: NO ALLIES SPOILERS, I SWEAR.
A view of stars outside viewports often calmed those who saw them; meditating on the vastness of space, the distance that that light had to travel to reach the very point it was being observed from was a humbling thought. Too, the sight of a planet from orbit was sometimes thought to be soothing.
To Ben Skywalker, sitting in the cockpit of the Jade Shadow, they weren't quite as esoteric. He'd grown up hopping around in this ship which, despite her age and the many uses she'd been put to, was still one of the best private ships in the galaxy as far as Ben was concerned. Maybe that was because he now owned it, and he was biased. It had once belonged to his mother, had passed to his father when she had been murdered, and when Luke Skywalker had decided that the life of a planet-jumping Jedi Master was no longer a good one for him, it had become Ben's. And he had thus far put it to very good use.
But it was hardly a place to meditate upon the wonders of life and existence, given its current occupants.
"Ben?"
The twenty-seven year old turned in the pilot's chair to look back at the other occupant of the Jade Shadow at present. Vestara Khai had brown hair, brown eyes, and an all-too-innocent smile on her face that Ben didn't trust a whit.
"It's late planetside. Come to bed."
"In a minute," he replied, leaning forward under pretense of checking some readouts on the engines. "I've got a couple systems I want to check real quick before turning in for the night."
"Don't be too long." She leaned down, pressed her lips to his cheek, and left, the only trace of her passing the scent Ben always associated with her.
Oh yeah. She was definitely planning something.
Vestara Khai had worn many titles in her life--Sith, traitor, seductress, friend. Some of those she'd worn before she'd been able to drink or gamble on many worlds in the GA. Some of them were still attached to her years after the fact. Currently, there were a few still in debate. Sith was one of them.
As he stalled for time, checking over the Shadow's systems, Ben reflected on that last thought. Vestara would never let herself be called a Jedi; she'd been raised a Sith, indoctrinated in their way of thinking. It was up to him to show her what life outside of the shadows could be like. Until then, he'd just have to deal with certain predilections, peculiar aspects of Vestara that arose from time to time.
Shutting down for the night, Ben made his way back to the cabin that had once belonged to his mother and father. Luke had agreed, however grudgingly, that it was a place full of love and comfort, and that it would only be right if another pair of lovers occupied it. Ben kept a picture of the three of them--Luke, Mara, and Ben when he was much younger--in one of the recessed shelves on the wall. It was this picture that Vestara was studying when he entered the room, already shrugging out of his cloak.
"Brushing up on your history?" he asked. She turned. Her night clothes were brief, sheer black shimmersilk, and Ben couldn't help it--he looked her over. She caught his gaze and grinned.
"It's always good to study it," she said. "That way I know how not to repeat it."
"Mom and Dad had a life worth repeating, I think."
"By your own admission, they had a drawn-out, tumultuous courtship period, and then their marriage was forever being interrupted by war."
Ben shrugged, pulling his sleep pants on and getting into the bed. Sometimes--though he was pretty sure it was just a trick of the mind--he thought the moment he laid down, he could smell his parents. It was a comfort thing, probably. "You getting in bed, or are you going to stand there smirking at me all night?"
She tossed her hair a bit but slid in beside him. Lifting a finger, Ben used the Force to dim the lights to sleep mode. Starlight filtered in through the viewport, starlight and reflected light from the planet below them. It was relaxing, and Ben turned onto his side, reaching for Vestara--
--and removing the thin glass needle just barely protruding from under the neckline of her sleepwear.
Disarming Vestara before bedtime had become something of a mainstay of the time they'd spent together. She was always coming up with new things, things like this nearly-invisible needle, which he'd only seen because he was looking for it. And as always, Vestara was smirking at him.
"Good to see you're not slowing down in your old age," she sneered.
"You're the same age as I am," Ben pointed out.
What commenced afterward could be summed up as a very thorough search of a suspect's body for further weaponry, and afterward, Vestara lay her head on Ben's arm, hair sticking to sweaty skin.
"You've gotten better at that," she murmured. Ben smiled at the pleased tone of voice.
"I get lots of practice." He was quiet a while, staring at the starfield outside. All on the Shadow was quiet, calm; their heartbeats were slowing.
"My parents," he said, not wanting to speak too loudly, "Weren't the most normal people. But they loved each other, and they loved me. That's what got them through everything."
Vestara shifted against his side. "And yet your mother is dead and your father's years weigh heavily upon him."
"I'm not saying it made it easy. I'm saying that when everything else was spiraling the event horizon, they had that to count on."
They both fell silent again, and eventually Ben heard Vestara's breathing change and felt her presence drop into its sleep state. He stayed awake a little while longer, fingers brushing up and down her arm. This trip through the galaxy was more than just a vacation for two Force-sensitives who were looking for some time away from their various duties; it was Ben upholding an unspoken promise he'd made, years ago on an unnamed world in the Maw.
It sounds lovely, Ben. But that's not my world.
It could be.
Ben had long accepted that you could take the Khai from the Sith, but you couldn't take all the Sith from the Khai, and he knew that getting Vestara's feet firmly on the light path wasn't the most practical goal. He wasn't sure he wanted that, anyway. His parents had loved each other with all their myriad personality quirks and their vices, and with Vestara (once enemy, now lover) Ben could not help but follow the way they had led.
Characters: Ben/Vestara
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: implied boinking
Summary: NO ALLIES SPOILERS, I SWEAR.
A view of stars outside viewports often calmed those who saw them; meditating on the vastness of space, the distance that that light had to travel to reach the very point it was being observed from was a humbling thought. Too, the sight of a planet from orbit was sometimes thought to be soothing.
To Ben Skywalker, sitting in the cockpit of the Jade Shadow, they weren't quite as esoteric. He'd grown up hopping around in this ship which, despite her age and the many uses she'd been put to, was still one of the best private ships in the galaxy as far as Ben was concerned. Maybe that was because he now owned it, and he was biased. It had once belonged to his mother, had passed to his father when she had been murdered, and when Luke Skywalker had decided that the life of a planet-jumping Jedi Master was no longer a good one for him, it had become Ben's. And he had thus far put it to very good use.
But it was hardly a place to meditate upon the wonders of life and existence, given its current occupants.
"Ben?"
The twenty-seven year old turned in the pilot's chair to look back at the other occupant of the Jade Shadow at present. Vestara Khai had brown hair, brown eyes, and an all-too-innocent smile on her face that Ben didn't trust a whit.
"It's late planetside. Come to bed."
"In a minute," he replied, leaning forward under pretense of checking some readouts on the engines. "I've got a couple systems I want to check real quick before turning in for the night."
"Don't be too long." She leaned down, pressed her lips to his cheek, and left, the only trace of her passing the scent Ben always associated with her.
Oh yeah. She was definitely planning something.
Vestara Khai had worn many titles in her life--Sith, traitor, seductress, friend. Some of those she'd worn before she'd been able to drink or gamble on many worlds in the GA. Some of them were still attached to her years after the fact. Currently, there were a few still in debate. Sith was one of them.
As he stalled for time, checking over the Shadow's systems, Ben reflected on that last thought. Vestara would never let herself be called a Jedi; she'd been raised a Sith, indoctrinated in their way of thinking. It was up to him to show her what life outside of the shadows could be like. Until then, he'd just have to deal with certain predilections, peculiar aspects of Vestara that arose from time to time.
Shutting down for the night, Ben made his way back to the cabin that had once belonged to his mother and father. Luke had agreed, however grudgingly, that it was a place full of love and comfort, and that it would only be right if another pair of lovers occupied it. Ben kept a picture of the three of them--Luke, Mara, and Ben when he was much younger--in one of the recessed shelves on the wall. It was this picture that Vestara was studying when he entered the room, already shrugging out of his cloak.
"Brushing up on your history?" he asked. She turned. Her night clothes were brief, sheer black shimmersilk, and Ben couldn't help it--he looked her over. She caught his gaze and grinned.
"It's always good to study it," she said. "That way I know how not to repeat it."
"Mom and Dad had a life worth repeating, I think."
"By your own admission, they had a drawn-out, tumultuous courtship period, and then their marriage was forever being interrupted by war."
Ben shrugged, pulling his sleep pants on and getting into the bed. Sometimes--though he was pretty sure it was just a trick of the mind--he thought the moment he laid down, he could smell his parents. It was a comfort thing, probably. "You getting in bed, or are you going to stand there smirking at me all night?"
She tossed her hair a bit but slid in beside him. Lifting a finger, Ben used the Force to dim the lights to sleep mode. Starlight filtered in through the viewport, starlight and reflected light from the planet below them. It was relaxing, and Ben turned onto his side, reaching for Vestara--
--and removing the thin glass needle just barely protruding from under the neckline of her sleepwear.
Disarming Vestara before bedtime had become something of a mainstay of the time they'd spent together. She was always coming up with new things, things like this nearly-invisible needle, which he'd only seen because he was looking for it. And as always, Vestara was smirking at him.
"Good to see you're not slowing down in your old age," she sneered.
"You're the same age as I am," Ben pointed out.
What commenced afterward could be summed up as a very thorough search of a suspect's body for further weaponry, and afterward, Vestara lay her head on Ben's arm, hair sticking to sweaty skin.
"You've gotten better at that," she murmured. Ben smiled at the pleased tone of voice.
"I get lots of practice." He was quiet a while, staring at the starfield outside. All on the Shadow was quiet, calm; their heartbeats were slowing.
"My parents," he said, not wanting to speak too loudly, "Weren't the most normal people. But they loved each other, and they loved me. That's what got them through everything."
Vestara shifted against his side. "And yet your mother is dead and your father's years weigh heavily upon him."
"I'm not saying it made it easy. I'm saying that when everything else was spiraling the event horizon, they had that to count on."
They both fell silent again, and eventually Ben heard Vestara's breathing change and felt her presence drop into its sleep state. He stayed awake a little while longer, fingers brushing up and down her arm. This trip through the galaxy was more than just a vacation for two Force-sensitives who were looking for some time away from their various duties; it was Ben upholding an unspoken promise he'd made, years ago on an unnamed world in the Maw.
It sounds lovely, Ben. But that's not my world.
It could be.
Ben had long accepted that you could take the Khai from the Sith, but you couldn't take all the Sith from the Khai, and he knew that getting Vestara's feet firmly on the light path wasn't the most practical goal. He wasn't sure he wanted that, anyway. His parents had loved each other with all their myriad personality quirks and their vices, and with Vestara (once enemy, now lover) Ben could not help but follow the way they had led.