ASAACAAT: Book I - Enkousokugetsu 31/31 (NC-17)
ASAACAAT: Book I - Enkousokugetsu 31/31
xiasangli
Yavin IV
Tired and emotionally exhausted, Luke left Kirana Ti’s room. He was sick of all of them. Not only did they question his physical relationship with Mara, now they questioned his emotional attachment to her. When she arrived, she was cast as the villain. Now she was being cast as the victim.
Luke grew up in a strict conservative family and Mara was the victim of heinous crimes, including molestation. Because of this, he recognized that a physical relationship with her could cause them to confuse dependence with passion or even love. He wasn’t nearly as stupid and naïve as people perceived him to be. Being a farmer was not the equivalent of being an idiot.
Sensing that Mara was still upset at being caught as well sexually dissatisfied, he waited patiently outside the room hoping she’d calm down. Offering more sex was not the answer and like most storms, he’d just have to ride this one out. It wasn’t his night because he was outside the door too long and he attracted attention.
“What’s going on Luke?” It was Kam.
“Nothing much. Mara’s upset and I’m trying to stay out of the line of fire.”
“Do you want to talk about it? Things seemed to have gotten a little out of hand tonight…from what I can sense.”
“No, I don’t want to talk about it.” Resentment wormed its way into his stomach. Kam was itching to discuss Mara and Luke wasn’t going to have it because ten minutes earlier he was a very happy man and now he was supremely aggravated.
“Fine, suit yourself,” Kam said as he walked off. “Why don’t you try locking up that little vixen? Perhaps then you’ll both learn a bit of control.”
Luke jogged after him. “What the hell does that mean, Jedi Solusar?” Although the Tatooine native didn’t touch the other Jedi physically or with the Force, Kam spun around as though propelled by a physical hand.
“I’ve seen this before, Luke.”
“Seen what?”
“Two people who love too intensely. It’s frightening. Sometimes your love, or whatever it is you’re doing, comes across like hate. It makes everyone uncomfortable. It’s not natural.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Luke was entering the pissed zone.
“You two get so wrapped up in each another that you make other people feel like intruders,” said Kam. “Remember what happened when Mara threw Jag? Or tonight when your little tryst disturbed the harmony of this academy? Neither of you exercised any self-control.”
“Kam, I can’t believe you’re saying this. What is the basis for this misguided opinion?” Luke was baffled by the assortment of problems his friends and fellow Jedi managed to conjure up. No one except Han and Streen actively supported his decision to lead his life as he saw fit.
“I can’t explain. I guess you have to be on the outside looking in. But I can tell you this. I can see you and Mara Jade overwhelming each other. You’ll drown in the juices of your own passion or it may burn you up with its intensity.”
Kam started to walk away and then half-turned back. “I hope you plan to requisition your sister for a new table because some of us actually used it for dining.”
~~~
Jarvis Minor
“I’m sorry to have to do this. Please sit down again,” Tendra said, lowering the blaster. “Would you like another cup of tea?”
Bwembya returned to the chair as instructed but one hand moved towards her throat.
“Don’t touch the stone,” Tendra snapped. She had no idea what she was doing. Where is Lando? “Better yet, remove the necklace and toss it over here.”
Bwembya complied and threw the necklace at Tendra’s feet. Her unconcerned manner made the Lando’s fiancée more uncomfortable. There wasn’t even a question written in the beautiful woman’s eyes. She seemed to simply accept the situation.
“Aren’t you the least bit surprised?” Shaking in fear, she collapsed in a chair across the room.
“A little but very few things truly surprise me anymore. But I am curious as to why we’re still drinking tea?” Bwembya voiced the question without a hint of fear.
“Forget the tea. I want to talk to you about Mara Jade. She’s the reason I’m here and the reason I was searching for you.”
Bwembya’s dark eyes lit up and a worried look crossed her lovely face. Deep in thought, she curled her legs beneath her again and stared silently out into nothingness. A short time later, she spoke. “I can’t stay here too long. They’ll come looking for me. You’d better make this quick.”
“I have to wait for Lando and so do you.”
“Calrissian?” This time there was a note of surprise in her voice.
“Yes, he’s my fiancé.”
“Fiancé? You’re going to marry him?”
“Yes, I am.”
“He can be decent, I suppose.”
Tendra pocketed the blaster and pushed the chair until her back was to the wall. From there she could keep an eye on the doors and windows just like Lando taught her. “I get the feeling you already know why we came.”
“I have to go. If you know so much about us then you know my friends will come looking for me. You might not survive the introductions. I can’t stay here.”
“Then call them and tell them you’ll be late.”
“That’s not an option.”
“Why are you afraid to talk about Mara?”
“Listen to me. I have to go!” She dashed from the sofa and tried to make it to the door.
“Stop right there!” Tendra bounded behind her with the blaster in hand.
“You’re no killer. I know killers and you don’t qualify.”
“Well, excuse her for being a nice lady,” Lando said, stepping inside. “You know that I’m not a good boy. I will kill you if I have to.”
“Where were you?” Tendra suppressed an urge to hug him.
“I was watching our other little friends. Earlier, I backtracked. I had second thoughts about the shopping and I saw you two together. I stayed behind to make sure they didn’t follow. Did you get a chance to talk?”
“She won’t talk about Mara. Where are her friends?” Anxiety took root in Tendra’s throat.
“I slipped them a bit of Pythericide. They’ll be out cold for about an hour but we don’t have that much time to talk. We need to get off this planet.”
“How did you manage that? To drug them? Did they see you?” Bwembya wanted to know. “If they recognized you, you’re both as good as dead.”
“I wore a disguise and we didn’t come in the Lady Luck either, so they may not make the connection. Now go over there and sit down. You’re here to answer questions, not ask them.” He took Tendra’s blaster while a visibly tense Bwenbya sank into the sofa this time.
“So tell me, sweetheart, how many people have you killed this year? You and your friends have quite an impressive body count. I assume they wouldn’t mind adding you to the list if they thought you’d betrayed them.”
~~~
Lando saw the fear in Bwembya’s eyes and played upon it. Time was running out. By his estimation, they had less than ten minutes to talk to the gorgeous woman. An hour wasn’t that long when it came to departing a planet. On his way up, he paid for the suite so they could leave at will.
Bwembya eyed Tendra and spoke in a soft voice. “I have never killed anything in my life. I don’t even eat animal flesh.”
“Yeah,” Lando said, waving the blaster impatiently. “But you don’t have any qualms about allowing it to happen though.”
“I can’t stop them.” She raised her voice slightly. “If they perceive a threat, they eliminate it and they’ll kill you for talking to me.”
“Well, that’s the chance we’ll take,” Tendra said in a strong voice. “Now about Mara? What’s your relationship to her?”
“We’re friends…family. I care for her. What is it you want to know?”
Lando returned Tendra’s blaster and gave her his for safe-keeping, too. He sat down next to their guest. “Luke Skywalker wants to know which one of your friends is trying to kill her.”
“Kill her? Skywalker’s involved?” Her full lips began to tremble.
“He told us that one of your pals came to Yavin IV and threatened him and Mara.” Lando glanced at the wall chrono. He’d stunned the girls too, but he worried sick about Tendra. Thankfully, she’d suggested that she dye her hair blonde and change her eye color before they landed.
“Is she having an affair with him?” Bwembya asked in a disembodied voice. “Openly?”
“I don’t know about all that, but he does care about her,” Lando said. “Why do you ask?”
“Because,” Bwembya’s eyes darted back and forth between Lando and Tendra, “if she’s with him….sleeping with him...she’s as good as dead.”
“Which one?” demanded Lando.
“I don’t know.” Bwembya gazed into his eyes and her voice was laced with pain. “Mara chose this and she has to live with the consequences. They’re dangerous together…they’ll unleash forces we…we…cannot control…the powers involved.”
“Powers? What powers?”
“I can’t tell you!”
“Look, we don’t have time for this. I’m sure Luke’ll be interested in that later, but right now I want you to tell me which one of them is trying to hurt my friends?” Lando was exasperated now.
“I don’t know!”
“But you do know something!” Lando shouted.
“Are you sure Mara’s with Skywalker?” The color drained from her skin.
“We told you...we don’t know the details! Now talk!”
~~~
Bwembya curled into a tight ball at the corner of the sofa. She didn’t know how much she could tell them without hurting Mara directly. It was no secret that her sisters despised Skywalker, but she didn’t think any of them would harm Mara under normal circumstances.
But if she were with Skywalker, the entire equation changed. Bwembya knew why Mara was drawn to him. But if she told anyone else, all hell would break loose.
“I don’t know, Lando. Honestly, I don’t. They all have reason to dislike Skywalker. A small part of me does too, but a larger part is grateful to him. Like Mara, our lives changed drastically after the Emperor was killed. But I can’t be sure which one of them hates him the most. Any one or all of them can be in on it.”
“Are you saying they wouldn’t tell you?” interrupted Tendra. “You keep secrets from each other?”
“They’d tell if they were going after him alone. But with Mara involved, it’s more complicated because they love her, too.” Things were getting tricky. Her sisters were fighting to regain consciousness. Hitomi was the closest of all.
“Why? What difference does it make?” Lando’s eyes were glued to the chrono.
“I’d tell her,” she confessed. “I’d warn her if I knew for sure. Listen to me. You must separate Mara from Skywalker before they do something that will destroy everything they’ve built. She must leave him for her own protection and for his.”
“What kind of people are you?” Tendra asked sadly.
“Survivors,” Bwembya insisted. “You have to go now. They’re waking up.”
“One last thing,” said Lando. “If you find out, what will you do?”
“I’ll send Mara a message that she will recognize as coming only from me.”
“Alright, Tendra, let’s get going.” Lando said, rising from the sofa and taking her by the hand.
“Go and secure transportation to the hanger. I have a question of my own,” she said. Lando nodded and left. Tendra eyed Bwembya uneasily “What is this secret you’re hiding?”
The other woman turned away guiltily. “One that Mara mustn’t find out before she’s ready. Now go before they come. Mara’s secrets are our secrets and they’ll kill to protect it.”
She leapt to her feet and ushered Tendra out the door. “Go now! Please! If they find you here, they will kill you and your friends. What we know and what Mara doesn’t remember is worth killing and dying for. Please leave.”
“What about you?” Lando appeared just outside the door.
“I’ll be fine. Hurry!”
“Wait!” said Tendra.
“Now what?” asked Lando. “We have to get going.”
“Give me another minute with Bwembya. I promise, I’ll be right there.” Lando sighed and moved quickly to the end of the corridor. He checked and rechecked the blaster charges.
“You’re a good actress, Bwembya because you fooled me. I didn’t find you, you found me. But I thought I should warn you about something. You must not keep a secret from Mara that might destroy her life because if you do, you’ll face the wrath of a Jedi Master. You see, I saw the look in Luke’s eyes when he spoke of Mara. He’s in love and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect her. Consider yourself warned.”
Tendra ran out the door and joined Lando. The hover taxi he hired raced to the hanger bay. At Lando’s request, the ship was already prepped and cleared for departure. Neither dared to breathe properly until they were clear of the planet and had made the jump into hyperspace.
~~~
Yavin IV
Still perturbed by the conversations with Kirana Ti and Kam, Luke finally let himself into the room. They meant well, but it didn’t make him feel any better knowing that they were poking their noses into his personal business. The table could be replaced easily, his peace of mind couldn’t. He was tired of everyone trying to dictate every step of his life. They would not force him to choose between the Knighthood and Mara.
Mara was lying on the pallet with the covers over her head. Since the bacterium was extracted, she no longer slept in the bed. Carefully, he slid the flimsy material down past her shoulders. Weariness was the dominant emotion on her face.
“I suppose a stress-free existence is completely out of the question?” She scooted over to make room for him.
“It is right now, but we can start to work on changing that when we see each another again.”
“So, in the meantime, we need to continue with this shameless contract with hypocrisy.” She ran her fingers through his sun-bleached hair.
Luke didn’t like the sound of that. “Mara, we aren’t doing anything wrong and you know it. Having sex in the kitchen isn’t a criminal offense, it was merely stupid.”
“You blame me?”
“No. We both wanted and we did it.” He kissed her atop the forehead. “We’ve been dealing with too many people for too long. It’s time for us to concentrate on each another.”
“Well, that sounds as easy as taming a Tuskin Raider, Skywalker. You don’t see what they see when they look at me.”
“I don’t care and you don’t either, so I why are you even bothering to bring this up. Besides, the only hypocrite in this room is you. If you just went out there and told them how much you loved me, then this whole thing would be over.”
Her eyes widened; anger began seeping like hot gas between them. “Is that what you want? For me to…to…say that to them.”
“No, of course not but I’d like to hear it myself sometimes.”
“I’d rather tongue kiss a jawa.”
“I can arrange that.” He rolled over, sat up and pressed his back against the wall. It was inevitable that she’d start an argument because this somehow fell into the sphere of unique Mara Jade logic.
His lover curled up in his lap like a feline, wanting to be stroked. “I can make things simpler. You must accept that I’m not a good person. If you understand that, then all of this will make sense to you. If I let you go and walk out of your life, that’ll be the only unselfish thing I’ve ever done in my life. That will be my redemption.”
“Mara, you’ve changed. You’re not the same person I met ten years ago. Not to mention, I’m not the same person either.”
“But nothing I’ve done can make up for my past or change who I really am. I am Mara Jade, Emperor’s Hand, smuggler and assassin. There doesn’t seem to be any way for you to understand this because you’re a good person, Skywalker. I’m not saying you’re prefect, but you’re good.”
“No, I’m Darth Vader’s son, and nothing can change that. Some would say that being involved with a former cold-bloodied killer is much more than I deserve.”
“That’s Bantha fodder and you know it. We both have to face the realities of who and what we are.” Mara sat up and straddled him.
“But I will say this,” she said, stroking his cheek with her fingertips. “You are not responsible for the sins of your father. He killed the Emperor and died to make amends for his wrongs. And for the past few weeks I’ve been sleeping with a farmer-turned-hero. A man who had risked his life to save an unknown Princess without any thought to his own personal safety. A man who jumped into an X-wing and destroyed the first Death Star, all the while fighting side by side with people he’d just met. A man Han Solo offered a safe berth aboard the Falcon.
“Mara, that doesn’t mean…”
“Shhhh…I’m talking.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “You helped me even after I declared I would kill you. You saved Karrde from an Imperial prison…a man who once imprisoned you. You helped the Bakurians while you were very ill. You wanted to save your father, not kill him, even though he mutilated you. Need I say more?”
“Mara, why do we keep spiraling toward this black hole that is our past? This road that is the source of all of our arguments?” He nudged her to the side, laid down on his stomach and peered out the window at the bright moon.
“Because the future looks bleak?”
“The future always looks promising.” He didn’t want her to get disillusioned about them.
“You’ll never be able to fall in love with me the same way you loved Callista.”
“It’s always Callista with you. When will you finally understand that it’s always been you?”
“She loved you and you loved her? That’s what I understand.”
“Perhaps, love is over-rated. You’re as good a substitute for true love as anything else. I do this much. I’m deeply attached to you.” He rolled onto his back, drew her on top of him and kissed her gently on the lips. “I hope you feel the same way in time.”
“You sound like a leech to me. But you’re right. Why ruin a perfectly good deeply personal friendship by letting it degenerate into love?”
~~~
Jarvis Minor
Bwembya sat up in the bed and tried to orientate herself. Knowing that she was almost out of time she rolled out and rifled through the closets, throwing various shopping bags around the room. The others would arrive at any minute. From the moment she spotted Lando and Tendra at the spaceport, she’d begun preparing for their eventual meeting.
Fortunately for her, Tendra and Lando were unaware that they’d been deceived. She’d never been in their suite. They’d never met face to face. She’d projected her image and she’d modified their thought processes.
Lando was cleverer than she’d given him credit. Not only did he drug and stun Zena, Hitomi, and Delber, he also separated them. That meant they’d spend more time tracking each other instead of the culprit.
Mara was having dreams and memories now. Part of the truth was hidden in plain sight but mercifully Mara wouldn’t know that truth even if it walked up and greeted her. Skywalker was the ultimate trigger and Mara’s feelings for him could destroy them both. But if there was any justice, perhaps a new and better life was on the horizon for her old friend. Bwembya prayed for the latter.
She lay in her bed thinking about Tendra. Lando was lucky to have found such an extraordinary woman. On the surface, she didn’t look like Lando’s type but in reality it made perfect sense. Deep down he was the type of man who always fell in love with women like Tendra.
Hitomi burst into the room. Bwembya quickly closed her eyes to feign sleep. “Bya are you al right? Bya?” She shook her sister but she didn’t respond.
Zena followed close on Hitomi’s heels. “What happened?”
“I think we were drugged,” Hitomi said.
“By whom and for what? Who could have drugged us?” Zena spied a tea cup on the headboard. She sniffed the liquid in the cup. The smell was vaguely familiar. “It’s Pythericide…but Bya wasn’t with us when we were at the cantina. Something’s not right here.”
“No, it isn’t.” Hitomi said. “Where’s Delber?”
The fair-haired woman shrugged.
Bwembya opened her bloodshot eyes. “What happened? “How did I get home?” she whispered hoarsely. Tendra was right, she was an excellent actress.
~~~
Yavin IV
Early the next morning, just before the dawn of a new day, Mara was assailed by feelings she had never experienced before. Lying in the arms of the man she’d once threatened to kill, she realized with a start, that deep down inside her where the real Mara lay, she was not the least bit afraid to care for this man.
It both thrilled and scared her to realize that she wished she could keep him. Today, tonight, tomorrow and for a long time, just because of the way he made her feel. She drew back the covers and moved her hands up and down his bare chest, planting soft, warm kisses on his lips and neck.
Even in a heavy troubled sleep, his body responded to her ministrations. He moaned softly as her hands continued to explore the contours of his hard body. At last, she rubbed the inside of his leg and then leisurely fingered the expanding manhood. Finally, she bravely held it firmly at the base as it gently pulsated, seeking stimulation.
She moved her face closer to it for a close inspection, gently manipulating it with her hand. Despite all they’d done together, Luke was shy. For some reason he didn’t want her to worship the very thing that gave her so much pleasure although he worshipped her each and every time. On impulse, she licked the head, running circles around it with her tongue.
“Mara! Gods!” Luke cried out. She locked her lips around the head and held it in her mouth and then she began swirling it around her tongue. Luke began trembling and shaking as the monster organ began throbbing violently in her throat. Sliding it in and out of her mouth faster and faster, she took more and more of him, savoring the taste, feel and smell of him. This was so different from anything she’d ever experienced before.
“Come here girl!” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulled her onto his abdomen. His hands clutched her breasts, pinching them firmly until they stood pointed and hard. Raising his head, the wet tip of his tongue assaulted the nipple nearest to him, swishing it back and forth.
Warmth flooded her body; her walls contracted involuntarily with a force that nearly knocked her over. Luke’s big blue eyes were on her, watching her reactions. The little moan that escaped from her lips made his eyes grow larger and he seemed more determined than ever.
As the contractions continued unabated, flooding his abdomen with her juices, he latched onto the other nipple and suckled it like a desperate baby. All at once, his lips slipped away and he blew lightly on the wet peak, causing a shiver to shoot through her. It was then she noticed the sly grin on his face.
He thinks he’s in control.
Without warning, he latched onto the same nipple again and nibbled it with his teeth. The sudden nip made her jump back in surprise. In retaliation, her tongue and hands were everywhere, constantly moving, rubbing, touching, sucking and licking all over his body. His manhood was stiff and weeping nectar but she ignored it until she lay flat upon him again and brushed her moist warmth over it. He arched to get inside but moved just out of its reach.
Over and over again, she tortured it, teased it. The thrusts and violent twitches continued unabated as he struggled to squeeze himself between her legs. Then, without warning, he chuckled. It was musical, sexy and seductive all at once. That quickly became Mara’s new favorite sound.
Finally, she sat up and captured the pulsating rod like a prize and lowered herself upon it a little at a time, bending her legs at the knees, slowly drawing him deeper and deeper until she had all of him. She sat quietly for a moment, savoring the fullness of him inside her as he filled all of the empty spaces inside her.
He thrust upwards, needing more as she squeezed him repeatedly with her love muscles. The Jedi Master cried out in primitive pleasure. The ride began slow and easy at first and then became hard and heavy as he tried to match her pace by jamming himself inside her. It hurt but she was equally addicted to the pleasure and the pain. The heat between them increased as she began sliding up and over him faster and faster, leaving a glistening trail of fever marking her womanhood.
Weakened, she grasped his shoulders for leverage as she buried her knees in his sides, continuing to writhe and squirm in wild abandonment as she rode him. Luke was nearly hyperventilating as he struggled to stay in the game.
Finally, her grip on his manhood was too much because the pulsating probe couldn’t stand it any longer. It grew massive in size, completely demolishing her inner walls as every vein in his throbbing organ filled with blood. Luke cried out as it spewed its heavy load in a series of violent eruptions until he completely emptied himself inside of Mara.
The former assassin’s release weakened her to the point she collapsed upon him. They lay intertwined for a long time. Just when her pulse and breathing wased back to normal he spoke.
“Mara? Was it safe to do this?” He held her close and licked the perspiration from her neck. “We were too careless. I want babies with you, but…”
“It was safe, Luke,” she assured him. “No tricks this time.”
“Hmm…I’m not sure about that. After all, you have Force-enhanced eggs.”
Keeping him inside, Mara repositioned her body so she could kiss the cleft in his chin. “And you have Force-enhanced swimmers. Tell them to leave my eggs alone.”
“I’m not joking, Mara. I’ve already hurt you once with a baby you weren’t ready for and…”
She tried to repress the shudder zipped through her soul. She was crushed when Cilghal reluctantly told that she had indeed once been pregnant and she’d lost the child. The tears she shed for her baby daughter could have drowned her in sorrow. Somehow she’d always known the pregnancy was real but she’d never wanted to face it because it hurt too much.
“That was then, Luke,” she whispered. “It’s different now. You belong to me.”
“Yes, I do.”
Another half hour passed before they tried to separate. He hissed in pain as she tried to dismount him. As before, it was difficult from that angle. Even diminished, there was too much of him and he was buried too deeply. When she was finally free, she curled next to him as he closed his eyes to fall asleep.
“Why can’t we keep doing this? Is this a crime or something?” she murmured and slipped into a deep sleep.
~~~
//Mara? Can you hear me? Please listen with your heart if you can’t hear me in your head. If you want us, no one will ever keep us apart again.//
You can’t make promises like that, Luke Skywalker. I will kill her if she fails in her duty.
//Over my dead body.//
The shock of the voice ripped Luke out of his peaceful slumbering. He shot up on the pallet and scanned the room. The sweat that poured down his chest drenched the cover.
Fair enough. I can’t think of a more fitting ending to this sordid tale. Perhaps upon reflection you’ll realize that I’ve already won. From this moment forth, I will wait patiently wait for your demise because you have served your only purpose. Everything is proceeding as I have ordained.
“My only purpose?” Something wasn’t right but he couldn’t put his finger on it. For a passing moment he felt a strange weight on his heart, but then the memory of that moment faded.
Did I truly hear that woman? Did she speak to me directly?
Just as he was about to dismiss the notion, something in his neck clicked; he tasted blood in his mouth. In the early morning light, he peered at his lover again. Instinctively, he knew that something had changed but he didn’t know how it happened.
He touched Mara’s shoulder and leaned over to kiss her. She frowned and rolled out of his reach. It was at that moment he understood. Somewhere between the time they’d made love and the woman’s intrusion, a line was silently drawn and a new barrier was quietly erected between Mara and him.
This knowledge made his heart pound painfully in his chest, as if something sharp and hard-edged was slicing into him. The tide of the battle was turning against him and it was difficult for him to see how he was going to make up so much ground. Making matters worse, it was ground in which he couldn’t even pinpoint the areas in which he’d lost.
Ever since he arrived on Yavin IV, he’d been preparing himself to do battle with the woman. What he didn’t realize until she made a direct threat against him was that she’d already begun the war and she’d also won several battles. Despite his careful planning and mindfulness, he’d walked headlong into an elaborate trap.
Mara had completely and utterly manipulated him. While it was true she genuinely missed him and she cared deeply, she was also struggling under the influence of the woman. That was why every time they took a step forward in their relationship, they were also blown two steps backwards. It hurt to admit it but in order to survive Mara required what Najiime Le sought. From the moment she arrived on Yavin IV, she was after his seed.
Finally, everything made sense.
A part of him also recognized that Mara was more or less his until the moment he found her in the clearing covered with blood. Although he never worked out what it truly meant, he now believed that there was a connection between her and the headless men. The blood changed everything between them because it changed his perception of their lives and their relationship. That incident brought them closer than they’d ever been. In doing so, they’d done the woman’s bidding.
At the time, everything was muddled in his head but now it was so clear; it was blinding like the twin suns of Tatooine at midday. The woman was working like a computer does when it processes data in the background. It was an action that most people ignored.
The mind-numbing fights. The physical pangs of separation. The overheated reunion. The enforced celibacy. The sex games that bordered on torture because true fulfillment was nowhere in sight. Their new connection. Mara’s memories. The premonitions. Everything. He’d been allowed to share in those things because in doing so, it would lead him to where he was. A place that clouded his judgment and made him do the very thing he shouldn’t have done…the very thing his conscious mind even warned him against. He’d given Mara a means to conceive a child.
Everything was directly linked to the woman. Mara’s emotional outbursts, the discourse between him and the Jedi, Najiime Le’s blatant disregard for him and everything else that didn’t make sense kept him kept him off-balanced to the point he didn’t realize that Mara made love to him at the same time every month. She was the prefect pawn and she executed her duty to the best of her ability.
She kept him at bay until the timing was perfect, until she could maximize the chances of getting pregnant. Every encounter on Coruscant, in the cargo hold, on the river, in the kitchen and on their pallet was a part of a carefully choreographed plan to ensure that he got his seed.
On Coruscant, he was more cautious because their feelings were new and tentative. He feared scaring her away. In the cargo hold, he’d utterly failed because they missed each other so much. That day, like on the pallet tonight, Mara was in complete control. She took him in a way that left him with little or no say in the outcome. She’d held him inside her like the claw of life. In that situation, the only means to deflate, the only means to escape, was to give into her insatiable demands.
It wasn’t merely her body that kept him on the brink; it was the depth of her feelings, the depth of her unspoken love. Knowing that she loved him and she wanted his child made him careless. Kirana Ti’s interruption in the kitchen originally did more good than harm. Having, failed, Mara rose before the sun did, something completely uncharacteristic of her and took advantage of him.
Early on, the woman must have given up on a frontal attack and decided to outflank him at each and every turn. She even used his newfound faith in himself and his abilities against him. The woman wanted him dead and she’d kill Mara, too, once the baby was safely born.
Why does she want our baby?
Although Luke was filled to the brim with anxiety and pain, he also had a glimmer of hope. Apparently the woman didn’t count on the one thing that he did. Mara was fighting for them, too. She wanted a life with him. As such, a part of her still belonged to him and he’d move the cosmos to maintain that link. In no uncertain terms would he relinquish any more of Mara to that woman than he already had. To do so would spell their doom.
He gathered his woman in his arms. She frowned at first but then she relaxed and intertwined her limbs with his. “I love you, Mara Jade and that love will stand up against any enemy, even one was crafty as…”
Rosario.
Her name was whispered in the Force.
He swallowed hard, trying to ingest the current defeat because the best thing he would do was let that pass. She’d won this time but from now on he’d fight harder because he wasn’t only battling for Mara’s sanity and soul, he was fighting for her very life. And if he failed, their child would be lost forever.
Gently, he cupped Mara’s chin in one hand. She frowned and tried to turn away but he wouldn’t let her. Although she was in a deep slumber, he spoke anyway.
“You listen to me very carefully. The baby inside you is ours, yours and mine. The tricks and manipulation don’t matter because I love you and I know you love me. She is our daughter, our baby. Don’t you ever forget that.”
In her sleep, Mara released a sobbed and a single tear rolled down her sleeping face.
Luke’s living hand crept over her flat abdomen, wondering if it was already possible to feel the stirring of new life inside of her.
The End
Back to ASAACAAT Book I: Enkousokugetsu
To be continued in Book II -- Kenninfubatsu