This started as a challenge from my esteemed colleague, Dancing_Jansons, to
write the story of Luke and Mara's wedding reception wherein there is:
1. An observation of the couple from an outsider
2. Luke's musings on Mara
3. Mara's musings on Luke
4. Luke singing
5. Use of the words "elegant," "cathedral," and "crunt"
~~~~~
*Receptivity*
To say that the wedding ceremony itself had been elegant would be the understatement of the century. That didn't stop half of the guests attending the reception from saying it to Mara Jade anyway.
Leia Organa Solo was particularly hung up on the word and seemed to be repeating it more enthusiastically with each passing hour.
She was standing along with her husband, Han Solo, Mara herself, Mara's newly acquired husband, Luke Skywalker, and a cluster of various compatriots, mostly pilots, and one freshly-laundered Wookiee who remained with the group only until fresh hors d'oeuvre trays were brought out.
A handful of politicians shuffled by, and Leia took the opportunity to snag one of them by the sleeve. "Senator!" she exclaimed happily as the man smiled uncertainly. "Wasn't that the most elegant ceremony?" She beamed at him and he nodded with a politician smile and an awkward help-me glance to the other members of his party.
Mara leaned in toward Luke, wearing the same gracious smile she'd had on for the past several hours and one she hoped she'd not have to wear again for a long, long time. "Skywalker, can't you cut her off?" she hissed through her smile.
Luke tried to suppress a grin. "It's an open bar," he whispered back. "After all, 'we can't ask our guests to buy their own liquor'."
Mara managed a glare even through her smile. "Well, try and slow her down then. If she tells me one more time how 'elegant' the ceremony was, the word will probably lose all meaning to me. Why's she even *drinking*? She *never* drinks!"
Luke bit back a chuckle on that one. He hadn't thought Leia had actually been serious about having to drink her way through his wedding, and he had a fairly good idea about how Leia, stoic, dignified Leia, had come to the level of friendly tipsiness she was at now.
Luke moved to stand on Han's right and gently elbowed his friend. "Are you spiking her drinks?"
Han raised his eyebrows and gave Luke a grin out of the corner of his mouth. "Well, not anymore."
Luke narrowed his eyes and tried not to smile. "Han..."
"C'mon, kid, she needs to loosen up from time to time! It's your wedding! We should live it up, right?"
Luke shook his head and made his way back to Mara, sliding an arm around her waist. "I don't know who's worse, him or Janson."
"Hard to tell the difference between a scoundrel and a Rogue, I suppose."
Leia had let go of Senator What's-his-name and had moved on to pestering Han. "Why didn't we have an elegant ceremony?"
Han looked surprised. "Whaddaya mean! D'you know how much renting that hall alone cost?"
Leia waved a hand at him. "The Corellian flamepetal all wilted halfway through the ceremony."
"And you think I control plant life?"
She went on as if she didn't hear him. "And it *never* storms on Chandrila. Except during our honeymoon."
Solo cast a sideways glance at the group with his signature crooked grin. "Next she'll be blamin' me for the Krytos virus."
Leia paused, mid-rant, and gave Han a long, appraising look. "Now that you mention it..."
Luke listened to the laughter and then glanced at Mara. "Just look what's in store for us a few years down the line," he murmured with a smile. She turned to him.
"I sincerely hope you're kidding. I thought I'd taught you I was always right ages ago," she remarked, delivering the line without so much as a twitch at the corner of her mouth, but the grin was brightly evident in her eyes.
"Why do I always manage to miss the funny stories?" asked a voice from behind Luke. He recognized the voice's owner immediately and turned to see a habitually-gloomy-looking Hobbie Klivian holding a drink in each hand and two in the crook of his elbow.
Wes Janson, another pilot standing in the knot, snickered. "You wouldn't have laughed, anyway." He turned to Leia. "He's the dour one, y'know."
"He's the nice one. I don't see any of the rest of you bringing me a fresh drink." Leia plucked one glass out of Hobbie's left hand and one of the two resting under his right elbow, then took a respectably sized sip from the latter. Han merely grinned at his wife. Mara rolled her eyes, although only Luke had the good fortune to see it, and went to Leia, taking her firmly by the arm.
"Let's take a walk," she told Leia, steering her away from the group. "Outside. In the cold air."
"Mara!" Leia exclaimed happily. "That dress... you look so elegant!"
Luke put a hand over his mouth to try and hide the smile as Mara whipped her head around, shooting him a glare over her shoulder. Luke watched them retreat fondly.
He had to admit, regardless of Mara's distaste of the word, she did look elegant in its absolutely most extreme, most perfect meaning. Her dress, made of some shimmery material Luke would be hard-pressed to name, floated around her in a cloud of white, making her red hair even more striking. It hung midway down her back, one of his few victories. * "It'll be in my way all night!"
"Please, Mara? Just this once?"
"Look, Farmboy, you like it so much, I'll cut it off and you can wear it."
"You look so beautiful when you wear it down... But I suppose it's for the best. If you wore it down, I probably couldn't take my eyes off you the entire night." * Yes, she looked absolutely stunning, but his feelings went much, much deeper than that. If anyone had told him five years previous that he would be standing here, watching Mara Jade, watching his *wife*, escorting his tipsy sister outside for a sobering night walk, he was sure he would have laughed until something inside him gave way. Now, watching them, he *did* feel something inside him give, something that moved every time he looked at Mara. They had something, something that went beyond the clever banter and fiery arguments (though those tended to be more one-sided anyway) and witty insults, something Luke at least had resigned himself to going without. And after everything they'd both been through, he thought they were probably the two most deserving people in the world, selfishness be damned.
"Congratulations, Luke!"
He glanced up to see Tycho Celchu grinning broadly and Wedge Antilles, not grinning but looking confused, and not doing it at Luke but at Hobbie. "I thought you were getting us *all* drinks."
***
Outside, Mara was prying the drink out of Leia's left hand. "Here, let me just take that for you," she said as Leia swallowed the last few drops of the drink in her right. Mara sipped at it gingerly and then made a face. "Leia, this is Whyren's Reserve." She sipped again. "Straight Whyren's Reserve!"
Leia smiled at her. "It's got ice in it."
Mara shook her head and finished the drink herself. After all, it was her wedding, and she could hold her liquor ten times better than Leia. Gods, a ten-year-old could hold her liquor ten times better than Leia. Mara sighed and sat down on one of the benches overlooking the gardens that surrounded the reception hall. It felt good to sit down; she'd been on her feet all night in torturous shoes that had been a hurried purchase a week ago with assurances that they were "like walking on pillows". She wondered what kind of pillows Bothans normally slept on.
It also felt good to be away from the crowd for a moment. Yes, they were all-well, *some* of them were people that she did genuinely like, in spite of herself and in spite of her outward demeanor. But Sith, there were hundreds of them she didn't like *at all*, and all of them wanting to talk to her and tell her the same things, again and again and again.
Perhaps what felt the best was finally being able to relax her face. She rubbed her aching jaw muscles, opening and closing her mouth a few times, trying to relieve the tension.
"You're perfect for him."
Mara's jaw would have dropped at that had the muscles not been in spasm. Leia gestured back toward the group of men and smiled again. Mara merely blinked and said, "Wh-... ih... oh." It was difficult to catch Mara at a loss for words. It was nearly impossible to reduce her to mere syllables. Leia didn't appear fazed at the accomplishment. She simply began to explain.
You balance things out. He's calm. You're not. He's gentle. You're not. He's sweet. You're-"
"I get the idea," Mara said loudly, suddenly wishing for another drink and wondering if it would be bad form to knock her new sister-in-law off the bench and into the bushes.
Leia, however, wasn't done. "And you're all the things that Luke isn't. Practical, grounded, tempestuous, outgoing..." She trailed off and for a moment, Mara thought she might have forgotten what she was talking about. In any case, Mara felt the sudden flare of indignant wrath fade away. "And you're both good people. You have high ideals. Idealists. You're idealists," she proclaimed. "You both care deeply about the things... you... care deeply about." Leia paused, replaying her words, and then shrugged. "I never thought I'd say I'd be proud to have you as a sister-in- law, but I am. Saying it. And being proud."
Mara stared at her for a good minute before she felt the smile begin to spread across her face. She wondered at the fact that this time, it didn't even hurt.
***
"'Rectum'!? It nearly killed him!"
The laughter that followed was loud enough that even Mara and Leia heard it from across the hall.
"Wes, don't you know any *clean* jokes?"
"Okay, how 'bout this one: a Gungan, a Hutt, and a stormtrooper walk into a bar-"
Wedge waved his hand. "Forget it. Stick to the dirty jokes. At least those are funny."
"Hey, that's a classic!" Janson exclaimed, looking hurt.
"What's a classic?" Leia asked, moving to stand beside her husband, although to Mara it looked more as if she were leaning against him to remain upright. Han obligingly put an arm around her, though, and she smiled.
Wes started again. "A Gungan, A Hutt, and a stormtrooper walk into a bar-"
Leia snorted. "That's the worst joke in the galaxy."
"I second that," Mara said, raising her glass to punctuate the sentence, and Janson looked torn between being indignant and agreeing.
Han good-naturedly nudged his wife in the side and grinned at Mara. "Did you two come back in here just to insult us?"
Leia shook her head. "No, it got chilly outside."
Han gently tapped the side of her glass with his index finger. "With all that, ya still got cold?"
Leia scowled, gave a distasteful look down at her glass, then slurred, "There was probably a fold crunt moving through."
A beat of silence followed the proclamation and then the group was laughing harder than ever.
"What was that, Princess?" Han practically howled.
The blush covered her from ears to neck in the span of a heartbeat.
Janson scowled. "And you tell me to watch *my* mouth," he muttered at Wedge who couldn't do anything other than hold his sides and laugh helplessly.
Mara wiped tears from her eyes as Leia continued to look embarrassed. "A cold front," she corrected with a firm nod of her head and then gave the group a disapproving look. "Well, it's not like I actually *said* it."
Luke was laughing so hard he wasn't even making any noise. Just had one arm around his middle, the other holding his glass and trying not to spill it, his shoulders shaking wildly.
Mara studied him and decided that he ought to laugh like this more often. No anxiety about the Jedi, no concern for his sister's political objectives, no weight of any sort on his shoulders. It made her vaguely sad that he didn't usually get to relax and have fun anymore. There was always something going on, something keeping his mind occupied and his expression tired at best.
Now, however, he looked so content that it made her want to stay there forever, in that moment, surrounded by her most favorite people, watching her husband laugh. Laying a hand on the still-shaking shoulder, she said, "I'm going to get a refill. I'll be right back."
Luke could only nod weakly in response.
Mara crossed the distance to the bar and held up her empty glass in a universal give-me-another gesture. When her third of the night was pressed into her palm, she leaned against the railing and studied the group from a distance. She shook her head. Gods above, she'd gone and married Skywalker. With a chuckle, she took a sip and sighed happily.
He looked amazing in blue, that was certain. Black, she'd told him, was thoroughly unacceptable for their wedding. * "It's a wedding, Skywalker, not a funeral. Lose the black."*
He'd chosen blue, and it didn't escape her notice that it was probably as close to black as he could come without actually crossing into the color- free realm. Dark blue pants, dark blue vest, dark blue cloak, and a plain white shirt underneath. It made his eyes look electric. It made *him* look absolutely-she paused for a moment before realizing how her mind had finished the sentence-elegant.
She laughed out loud.
***
The reception had been going on for hours and was showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. Luke was glad that he couldn't say the same for Leia. They were all sitting around the head table, relaxing and watching the rest of the guests dance, eat, and generally enjoy themselves.
"Why, why did you let me drink so much?" she murmured in Han's general direction, her chin in her hand.
"'Cuz you're a riot when you're drunk," he replied smoothly, grinning. Leia made a face and tried to smooth her hair down.
"I'm ridiculous when I'm drunk. I talk too much."
Mara smiled inwardly at that. No doubt her little garden speech would not have been as forthcoming without who-knew-how-many drinks she'd downed. If it would have been forthcoming at all.
"Oh, c'mon, sweetheart, that's not true. You talk too much even when you *haven't* been drinking."
Mara braced herself on Han's behalf but Leia merely laughed and laid her head on her husband's shoulder. Janson shook his head. "I've been punched for less than that."
"I've never been punched," Hobbie murmured morosely.
"Mara..." Luke said in a mock-warning tone as his wife started to stand, fingers clenched in a loose fist.
"Oh, c'mon, farmboy, it's not like I was really going to do it!" she replied indignantly. *But if a smack in the face would cheer him up, I'd gladly knock him unconscious*, she thought and was only mildly startled to hear Luke chuckle beside her.
*Stop that, Skywalker.*
Luke sat back in his chair with a smile.
"What is this! I thought this was supposed to be a celebration!"
Han grinned as he turned around. "Why, we were just waitin' for you, Lando!"
Lando gestured at Leia. "Mind if I take her for a spin?"
"Just don't spin me too much," Leia said, rising. "I don't want to make a scene."
"Yeah, 'cuz we've all forgotten about that whole fold cr-"
"*Don't*... say it." Leia glared at him once more for good measure before letting Lando lead her out to the dance floor.
Luke watched them leave, then gazed around the table at his friends, settling on Hobbie who was staring morosely and enviously at the sea of couples on the dance floor. Luke nudged Mara. *Ask him to dance.
Skywalker, I can't dance. My feet are killing me, I can't even feel them.
Just one dance.
bYou/b ask him!
Mara...*
Luke felt a surge of irritation followed by resignation, and although she'd deny it forever, beneath it all, there was also a note of benevolence.
"Hobbie, come on, let's go."
Hobbie looked surprised, then fearful. "I don't *really* want you to hit me."
Luke stifled a chuckle and Mara looked equal parts impatient and amused. "I'm not going to hit you. I'm going to dance with you. Come on."
When Mara was out of earshot, Luke turned to the rest of the table. "She may not hit him, but she may very well step on him a few times."
*I heard that!*
***
"Excuse me, everyone," Wedge began, raising his voice above the general din in the reception hall and tapping lightly with a spoon against the side of his glass.
"Oh, that's not gonna do it!" Han scoffed. "If ya wanna get people's attention, you-" He started to reach for his own spoon.
"Han," Leia said warningly. Han stopped and spread his hands innocently.
"I'm just sayin'..."
"If I could have your attention?" Wedge waited another beat and the silence spread out across the hall in a wave. He then nodded toward Han. "There you go. Take it away."
Han stood and glanced quickly around the hall before settling his gaze on Luke. "I'm gonna... I'd like to propose a toast."
Luke looked a little surprised and smiled, motioning at Han with a go-on gesture. Han cleared his throat.
"I'm just about the only person who hasn't tonight, but y'know what they say about savin' the best 'til last."
A round of laughter rippled across the hall and Han gave the crowd his trademark smile. "But here's the thing, kid. You," he gestured at Luke with his glass, "you make everyone you meet better somehow. I don't know how ya do it, but you do. And who knows where most of us would be right now without ya. You deserve to be happy more than anybody else here. You both do. And you," here he waved his glass at Mara, "you make him happier than I've ever seen him. Just, y'know... just keep it up." He smiled crookedly one more time. "I'm not the best at makin' speeches, so... to Luke and Mara!" he said, raising his glass high in the air, and grinned at Luke as everyone echoed the phrase.
As Han sat back down, Leia put her hand gently on his arm. "That was beautiful," she said with a smile. Han ducked his head.
"Nah, it wasn't, it was just-"
"It was just perfect," Luke finished and grinned. "Thanks, Han."
Even Mara looked pacified, not her usual expression after hearing much of anything come out of Han's mouth, and smiled. She found herself becoming annoyed at how disgustingly *cheery* she was being, not her usual posture at all, and then dismissed it, keeping the smile. So she let it slip a little tonight, so what? If Leia could drink, she could be cheery.
Wedge good-naturedly nudged Han's shoulder. "Solo, that's about as poetic as I've ever heard you get."
Han grinned slyly. "You like that, you'll *love* this. 'There once was a man from Aralia, with outrageously large-"
"Han!" both women at the table exclaimed while Wedge, Luke, and the rest of the pilots laughed heartily.
"That one's got a great ending," Wedge chuckled and Mara rolled her eyes.
"C'mon, Farmboy, take your wife out there and dance with her," Mara ordered, standing up.
"I thought your feet hurt," Luke replied mildly with a smile.
"Not as much as my sense of decorum," came the quick reply.
"Now I'll never hear the ending," he pouted as he led her out onto the dance floor.
Mara grinned. "I'll tell you when we get home."
The band struck up a slow song, and Luke wrapped his arms around her waist, her head resting lightly on his shoulder. She thought about what Han had said: Luke did deserve to be happy. He deserved to be the happiest being in the whole galaxy after everything he'd done and seen and sacrificed. And maybe, somewhere deep down, she could admit that perhaps she deserved a little bit of happiness, too.
It was then she realized what Luke was doing.
"Skywalker, are you *singing*?"
Luke didn't answer her directly but leaned back to look into her eyes and kept going until the band reached the instrumental bridge.
Mara looked dumbstruck. "I had no idea you could actually sing."
"It's not something I want spread around. The great singing, dancing Jedi Master? I don't think so."
Mara grinned as the music swelled. "Don't miss your cue."
"What, you want a whole serenade?"
"Don't start what you don't intend to finish," she replied with a smirk.
Luke leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. "I never do."
"Oh, no?"
"I married you, didn't I?"
Mara chuckled. "Yeah, you followed through to the bitter end on that one."
Luke shook his head. "No," he said with a gentle smile as he pressed a kiss to her lips. "This is the sweetest beginning in the galaxy."
From the head table, Han, Leia, Wedge, Wes, and Tycho watched the couple fondly, happy, well-wishing grins plastered all over their faces.
In fact, even Hobbie smiled.
1. An observation of the couple from an outsider
2. Luke's musings on Mara
3. Mara's musings on Luke
4. Luke singing
5. Use of the words "elegant," "cathedral," and "crunt"
~~~~~
*Receptivity*
To say that the wedding ceremony itself had been elegant would be the understatement of the century. That didn't stop half of the guests attending the reception from saying it to Mara Jade anyway.
Leia Organa Solo was particularly hung up on the word and seemed to be repeating it more enthusiastically with each passing hour.
She was standing along with her husband, Han Solo, Mara herself, Mara's newly acquired husband, Luke Skywalker, and a cluster of various compatriots, mostly pilots, and one freshly-laundered Wookiee who remained with the group only until fresh hors d'oeuvre trays were brought out.
A handful of politicians shuffled by, and Leia took the opportunity to snag one of them by the sleeve. "Senator!" she exclaimed happily as the man smiled uncertainly. "Wasn't that the most elegant ceremony?" She beamed at him and he nodded with a politician smile and an awkward help-me glance to the other members of his party.
Mara leaned in toward Luke, wearing the same gracious smile she'd had on for the past several hours and one she hoped she'd not have to wear again for a long, long time. "Skywalker, can't you cut her off?" she hissed through her smile.
Luke tried to suppress a grin. "It's an open bar," he whispered back. "After all, 'we can't ask our guests to buy their own liquor'."
Mara managed a glare even through her smile. "Well, try and slow her down then. If she tells me one more time how 'elegant' the ceremony was, the word will probably lose all meaning to me. Why's she even *drinking*? She *never* drinks!"
Luke bit back a chuckle on that one. He hadn't thought Leia had actually been serious about having to drink her way through his wedding, and he had a fairly good idea about how Leia, stoic, dignified Leia, had come to the level of friendly tipsiness she was at now.
Luke moved to stand on Han's right and gently elbowed his friend. "Are you spiking her drinks?"
Han raised his eyebrows and gave Luke a grin out of the corner of his mouth. "Well, not anymore."
Luke narrowed his eyes and tried not to smile. "Han..."
"C'mon, kid, she needs to loosen up from time to time! It's your wedding! We should live it up, right?"
Luke shook his head and made his way back to Mara, sliding an arm around her waist. "I don't know who's worse, him or Janson."
"Hard to tell the difference between a scoundrel and a Rogue, I suppose."
Leia had let go of Senator What's-his-name and had moved on to pestering Han. "Why didn't we have an elegant ceremony?"
Han looked surprised. "Whaddaya mean! D'you know how much renting that hall alone cost?"
Leia waved a hand at him. "The Corellian flamepetal all wilted halfway through the ceremony."
"And you think I control plant life?"
She went on as if she didn't hear him. "And it *never* storms on Chandrila. Except during our honeymoon."
Solo cast a sideways glance at the group with his signature crooked grin. "Next she'll be blamin' me for the Krytos virus."
Leia paused, mid-rant, and gave Han a long, appraising look. "Now that you mention it..."
Luke listened to the laughter and then glanced at Mara. "Just look what's in store for us a few years down the line," he murmured with a smile. She turned to him.
"I sincerely hope you're kidding. I thought I'd taught you I was always right ages ago," she remarked, delivering the line without so much as a twitch at the corner of her mouth, but the grin was brightly evident in her eyes.
"Why do I always manage to miss the funny stories?" asked a voice from behind Luke. He recognized the voice's owner immediately and turned to see a habitually-gloomy-looking Hobbie Klivian holding a drink in each hand and two in the crook of his elbow.
Wes Janson, another pilot standing in the knot, snickered. "You wouldn't have laughed, anyway." He turned to Leia. "He's the dour one, y'know."
"He's the nice one. I don't see any of the rest of you bringing me a fresh drink." Leia plucked one glass out of Hobbie's left hand and one of the two resting under his right elbow, then took a respectably sized sip from the latter. Han merely grinned at his wife. Mara rolled her eyes, although only Luke had the good fortune to see it, and went to Leia, taking her firmly by the arm.
"Let's take a walk," she told Leia, steering her away from the group. "Outside. In the cold air."
"Mara!" Leia exclaimed happily. "That dress... you look so elegant!"
Luke put a hand over his mouth to try and hide the smile as Mara whipped her head around, shooting him a glare over her shoulder. Luke watched them retreat fondly.
He had to admit, regardless of Mara's distaste of the word, she did look elegant in its absolutely most extreme, most perfect meaning. Her dress, made of some shimmery material Luke would be hard-pressed to name, floated around her in a cloud of white, making her red hair even more striking. It hung midway down her back, one of his few victories. * "It'll be in my way all night!"
"Please, Mara? Just this once?"
"Look, Farmboy, you like it so much, I'll cut it off and you can wear it."
"You look so beautiful when you wear it down... But I suppose it's for the best. If you wore it down, I probably couldn't take my eyes off you the entire night." * Yes, she looked absolutely stunning, but his feelings went much, much deeper than that. If anyone had told him five years previous that he would be standing here, watching Mara Jade, watching his *wife*, escorting his tipsy sister outside for a sobering night walk, he was sure he would have laughed until something inside him gave way. Now, watching them, he *did* feel something inside him give, something that moved every time he looked at Mara. They had something, something that went beyond the clever banter and fiery arguments (though those tended to be more one-sided anyway) and witty insults, something Luke at least had resigned himself to going without. And after everything they'd both been through, he thought they were probably the two most deserving people in the world, selfishness be damned.
"Congratulations, Luke!"
He glanced up to see Tycho Celchu grinning broadly and Wedge Antilles, not grinning but looking confused, and not doing it at Luke but at Hobbie. "I thought you were getting us *all* drinks."
***
Outside, Mara was prying the drink out of Leia's left hand. "Here, let me just take that for you," she said as Leia swallowed the last few drops of the drink in her right. Mara sipped at it gingerly and then made a face. "Leia, this is Whyren's Reserve." She sipped again. "Straight Whyren's Reserve!"
Leia smiled at her. "It's got ice in it."
Mara shook her head and finished the drink herself. After all, it was her wedding, and she could hold her liquor ten times better than Leia. Gods, a ten-year-old could hold her liquor ten times better than Leia. Mara sighed and sat down on one of the benches overlooking the gardens that surrounded the reception hall. It felt good to sit down; she'd been on her feet all night in torturous shoes that had been a hurried purchase a week ago with assurances that they were "like walking on pillows". She wondered what kind of pillows Bothans normally slept on.
It also felt good to be away from the crowd for a moment. Yes, they were all-well, *some* of them were people that she did genuinely like, in spite of herself and in spite of her outward demeanor. But Sith, there were hundreds of them she didn't like *at all*, and all of them wanting to talk to her and tell her the same things, again and again and again.
Perhaps what felt the best was finally being able to relax her face. She rubbed her aching jaw muscles, opening and closing her mouth a few times, trying to relieve the tension.
"You're perfect for him."
Mara's jaw would have dropped at that had the muscles not been in spasm. Leia gestured back toward the group of men and smiled again. Mara merely blinked and said, "Wh-... ih... oh." It was difficult to catch Mara at a loss for words. It was nearly impossible to reduce her to mere syllables. Leia didn't appear fazed at the accomplishment. She simply began to explain.
You balance things out. He's calm. You're not. He's gentle. You're not. He's sweet. You're-"
"I get the idea," Mara said loudly, suddenly wishing for another drink and wondering if it would be bad form to knock her new sister-in-law off the bench and into the bushes.
Leia, however, wasn't done. "And you're all the things that Luke isn't. Practical, grounded, tempestuous, outgoing..." She trailed off and for a moment, Mara thought she might have forgotten what she was talking about. In any case, Mara felt the sudden flare of indignant wrath fade away. "And you're both good people. You have high ideals. Idealists. You're idealists," she proclaimed. "You both care deeply about the things... you... care deeply about." Leia paused, replaying her words, and then shrugged. "I never thought I'd say I'd be proud to have you as a sister-in- law, but I am. Saying it. And being proud."
Mara stared at her for a good minute before she felt the smile begin to spread across her face. She wondered at the fact that this time, it didn't even hurt.
***
"'Rectum'!? It nearly killed him!"
The laughter that followed was loud enough that even Mara and Leia heard it from across the hall.
"Wes, don't you know any *clean* jokes?"
"Okay, how 'bout this one: a Gungan, a Hutt, and a stormtrooper walk into a bar-"
Wedge waved his hand. "Forget it. Stick to the dirty jokes. At least those are funny."
"Hey, that's a classic!" Janson exclaimed, looking hurt.
"What's a classic?" Leia asked, moving to stand beside her husband, although to Mara it looked more as if she were leaning against him to remain upright. Han obligingly put an arm around her, though, and she smiled.
Wes started again. "A Gungan, A Hutt, and a stormtrooper walk into a bar-"
Leia snorted. "That's the worst joke in the galaxy."
"I second that," Mara said, raising her glass to punctuate the sentence, and Janson looked torn between being indignant and agreeing.
Han good-naturedly nudged his wife in the side and grinned at Mara. "Did you two come back in here just to insult us?"
Leia shook her head. "No, it got chilly outside."
Han gently tapped the side of her glass with his index finger. "With all that, ya still got cold?"
Leia scowled, gave a distasteful look down at her glass, then slurred, "There was probably a fold crunt moving through."
A beat of silence followed the proclamation and then the group was laughing harder than ever.
"What was that, Princess?" Han practically howled.
The blush covered her from ears to neck in the span of a heartbeat.
Janson scowled. "And you tell me to watch *my* mouth," he muttered at Wedge who couldn't do anything other than hold his sides and laugh helplessly.
Mara wiped tears from her eyes as Leia continued to look embarrassed. "A cold front," she corrected with a firm nod of her head and then gave the group a disapproving look. "Well, it's not like I actually *said* it."
Luke was laughing so hard he wasn't even making any noise. Just had one arm around his middle, the other holding his glass and trying not to spill it, his shoulders shaking wildly.
Mara studied him and decided that he ought to laugh like this more often. No anxiety about the Jedi, no concern for his sister's political objectives, no weight of any sort on his shoulders. It made her vaguely sad that he didn't usually get to relax and have fun anymore. There was always something going on, something keeping his mind occupied and his expression tired at best.
Now, however, he looked so content that it made her want to stay there forever, in that moment, surrounded by her most favorite people, watching her husband laugh. Laying a hand on the still-shaking shoulder, she said, "I'm going to get a refill. I'll be right back."
Luke could only nod weakly in response.
Mara crossed the distance to the bar and held up her empty glass in a universal give-me-another gesture. When her third of the night was pressed into her palm, she leaned against the railing and studied the group from a distance. She shook her head. Gods above, she'd gone and married Skywalker. With a chuckle, she took a sip and sighed happily.
He looked amazing in blue, that was certain. Black, she'd told him, was thoroughly unacceptable for their wedding. * "It's a wedding, Skywalker, not a funeral. Lose the black."*
He'd chosen blue, and it didn't escape her notice that it was probably as close to black as he could come without actually crossing into the color- free realm. Dark blue pants, dark blue vest, dark blue cloak, and a plain white shirt underneath. It made his eyes look electric. It made *him* look absolutely-she paused for a moment before realizing how her mind had finished the sentence-elegant.
She laughed out loud.
***
The reception had been going on for hours and was showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. Luke was glad that he couldn't say the same for Leia. They were all sitting around the head table, relaxing and watching the rest of the guests dance, eat, and generally enjoy themselves.
"Why, why did you let me drink so much?" she murmured in Han's general direction, her chin in her hand.
"'Cuz you're a riot when you're drunk," he replied smoothly, grinning. Leia made a face and tried to smooth her hair down.
"I'm ridiculous when I'm drunk. I talk too much."
Mara smiled inwardly at that. No doubt her little garden speech would not have been as forthcoming without who-knew-how-many drinks she'd downed. If it would have been forthcoming at all.
"Oh, c'mon, sweetheart, that's not true. You talk too much even when you *haven't* been drinking."
Mara braced herself on Han's behalf but Leia merely laughed and laid her head on her husband's shoulder. Janson shook his head. "I've been punched for less than that."
"I've never been punched," Hobbie murmured morosely.
"Mara..." Luke said in a mock-warning tone as his wife started to stand, fingers clenched in a loose fist.
"Oh, c'mon, farmboy, it's not like I was really going to do it!" she replied indignantly. *But if a smack in the face would cheer him up, I'd gladly knock him unconscious*, she thought and was only mildly startled to hear Luke chuckle beside her.
*Stop that, Skywalker.*
Luke sat back in his chair with a smile.
"What is this! I thought this was supposed to be a celebration!"
Han grinned as he turned around. "Why, we were just waitin' for you, Lando!"
Lando gestured at Leia. "Mind if I take her for a spin?"
"Just don't spin me too much," Leia said, rising. "I don't want to make a scene."
"Yeah, 'cuz we've all forgotten about that whole fold cr-"
"*Don't*... say it." Leia glared at him once more for good measure before letting Lando lead her out to the dance floor.
Luke watched them leave, then gazed around the table at his friends, settling on Hobbie who was staring morosely and enviously at the sea of couples on the dance floor. Luke nudged Mara. *Ask him to dance.
Skywalker, I can't dance. My feet are killing me, I can't even feel them.
Just one dance.
bYou/b ask him!
Mara...*
Luke felt a surge of irritation followed by resignation, and although she'd deny it forever, beneath it all, there was also a note of benevolence.
"Hobbie, come on, let's go."
Hobbie looked surprised, then fearful. "I don't *really* want you to hit me."
Luke stifled a chuckle and Mara looked equal parts impatient and amused. "I'm not going to hit you. I'm going to dance with you. Come on."
When Mara was out of earshot, Luke turned to the rest of the table. "She may not hit him, but she may very well step on him a few times."
*I heard that!*
***
"Excuse me, everyone," Wedge began, raising his voice above the general din in the reception hall and tapping lightly with a spoon against the side of his glass.
"Oh, that's not gonna do it!" Han scoffed. "If ya wanna get people's attention, you-" He started to reach for his own spoon.
"Han," Leia said warningly. Han stopped and spread his hands innocently.
"I'm just sayin'..."
"If I could have your attention?" Wedge waited another beat and the silence spread out across the hall in a wave. He then nodded toward Han. "There you go. Take it away."
Han stood and glanced quickly around the hall before settling his gaze on Luke. "I'm gonna... I'd like to propose a toast."
Luke looked a little surprised and smiled, motioning at Han with a go-on gesture. Han cleared his throat.
"I'm just about the only person who hasn't tonight, but y'know what they say about savin' the best 'til last."
A round of laughter rippled across the hall and Han gave the crowd his trademark smile. "But here's the thing, kid. You," he gestured at Luke with his glass, "you make everyone you meet better somehow. I don't know how ya do it, but you do. And who knows where most of us would be right now without ya. You deserve to be happy more than anybody else here. You both do. And you," here he waved his glass at Mara, "you make him happier than I've ever seen him. Just, y'know... just keep it up." He smiled crookedly one more time. "I'm not the best at makin' speeches, so... to Luke and Mara!" he said, raising his glass high in the air, and grinned at Luke as everyone echoed the phrase.
As Han sat back down, Leia put her hand gently on his arm. "That was beautiful," she said with a smile. Han ducked his head.
"Nah, it wasn't, it was just-"
"It was just perfect," Luke finished and grinned. "Thanks, Han."
Even Mara looked pacified, not her usual expression after hearing much of anything come out of Han's mouth, and smiled. She found herself becoming annoyed at how disgustingly *cheery* she was being, not her usual posture at all, and then dismissed it, keeping the smile. So she let it slip a little tonight, so what? If Leia could drink, she could be cheery.
Wedge good-naturedly nudged Han's shoulder. "Solo, that's about as poetic as I've ever heard you get."
Han grinned slyly. "You like that, you'll *love* this. 'There once was a man from Aralia, with outrageously large-"
"Han!" both women at the table exclaimed while Wedge, Luke, and the rest of the pilots laughed heartily.
"That one's got a great ending," Wedge chuckled and Mara rolled her eyes.
"C'mon, Farmboy, take your wife out there and dance with her," Mara ordered, standing up.
"I thought your feet hurt," Luke replied mildly with a smile.
"Not as much as my sense of decorum," came the quick reply.
"Now I'll never hear the ending," he pouted as he led her out onto the dance floor.
Mara grinned. "I'll tell you when we get home."
The band struck up a slow song, and Luke wrapped his arms around her waist, her head resting lightly on his shoulder. She thought about what Han had said: Luke did deserve to be happy. He deserved to be the happiest being in the whole galaxy after everything he'd done and seen and sacrificed. And maybe, somewhere deep down, she could admit that perhaps she deserved a little bit of happiness, too.
It was then she realized what Luke was doing.
"Skywalker, are you *singing*?"
Luke didn't answer her directly but leaned back to look into her eyes and kept going until the band reached the instrumental bridge.
Mara looked dumbstruck. "I had no idea you could actually sing."
"It's not something I want spread around. The great singing, dancing Jedi Master? I don't think so."
Mara grinned as the music swelled. "Don't miss your cue."
"What, you want a whole serenade?"
"Don't start what you don't intend to finish," she replied with a smirk.
Luke leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. "I never do."
"Oh, no?"
"I married you, didn't I?"
Mara chuckled. "Yeah, you followed through to the bitter end on that one."
Luke shook his head. "No," he said with a gentle smile as he pressed a kiss to her lips. "This is the sweetest beginning in the galaxy."
From the head table, Han, Leia, Wedge, Wes, and Tycho watched the couple fondly, happy, well-wishing grins plastered all over their faces.
In fact, even Hobbie smiled.