Title: Arts-and-Crafts
Author: VeryBusy
Timeframe: End of "Centerpoint"
Characters: L/M
Genre: Missing Scene
Disclaimer: This is not written in order to make any money with it. I do not own anything belonging into the Star Wars Universe.
It was just short after sunrise when Mara opened the hatch of the Jade's Fire and pressed the button to drop the ramp of the ship.
She stretched while standing in the door's frame and glanced over the landing field.
Right now, in the morning light, everything appeared to be a little bit insubstantial.
The other ships standing nearby seemed abandoned and the accumulated ground from where the Repulsor had made its way out of the soil gave the impression of rather standing on an uninhabited moon in the Outer-Rim instead of being on Drall, one of the Correlian Core systems.
Mara fetched the scanner in order to check the Fire's outer hull for hidden damages and already wanted to walk down the ramp, when she suddenly observed a motion on top of one of the more distant loam hills.
Something very small moved approximately 30 cm above the ground.
It flew, stopped, sank down, was out of sight for a moment, got visible again, turned and finally vanished behind the top of the earth wall again.
She blinked and reluctantly placed the scanner back into the toolbox. Maybe the inspection of the ship could wait, because this phenomenon deserved a more closely examination.
There it was again!
The object was so small and that far away that any other person had probably overseen it, but Mara was trained to notice things like that.
Instinctively her hand went to her hip in order to check for her lightsaber and her blaster, but found nothing.
She frowned; it was very untypical for her the leave the ship without it, but this morning she must have left them in her cabin, not really knowing the reason why.
Maybe it was because when looking back at the events of the past weeks, at least this corner of the galaxy seemed peaceful now, and Mara longed for it to be peaceful, at least for the next few hours.
She wondered about getting back into the ship to fetch the utensils, but decided otherwise.
She would have sensed any danger coming from the little object, but there was nothing... and she still had the small hidden blaster attached to her sleeve anyway.
Finally curiosity took over.
She slowly went down the ramp and activated the lock placed on the outer hull of the ship. The Fire's hatch closed behind her with a hiss.
Mara looked around again; there was still no activity on the other ships.
Probably everyone needed little bit more rest than usual considering yesterday's events.
With the morning sun behind her back, always taking care of not to be seen from behind the earth wall, she approached the hill. The little object was now exactly on top again.
Mara stopped in short distance. She was sure that, due to the fact that the sun was still low, whoever was on the other side of the hill had not spotted her so far, so she took her time to watch the object more closely.
It was so small that she had easily been able to take it with one hand and place it into her pocket.
Mara began to smile. She had seen this small device before.
During her escape from 'Corona House', Leia had fetched it from the floor and took it along. It was a children's toy, a little hover car.
Anakin's toy probably, which had now found a new assignment as a soil transport.
This was amazing. Mara edged closer and crouched down to observe the landscape where the little vehicle had moved around more closely. The risk of being caught was momentarily forgotten.
What from distance had looked like an extreme rough ground, were small buildings of different shape and high. In fact, with the help of the little makeshift transporter a whole miniature city was building itself out of the clay right before her eyes.
Wherever the little vehicle dropped its cargo, another building was formed within moments. Mara saw how windows and doors were drawn into the clay by an invisible hand.
She sighted, she knew only one person who was capable of doing something like this and she wasn't sure if she felt like talking to him this morning.
Tentatively she reached out with the force to get at least a small glimpse of the mood he was in right now.
There was not much to detect. The barriers were up tightly, but the little she was able to sense felt rather dark.
She got up slowly and prepared to retreat as silent and of course as quickly as possible.
Too late, Mara winced slightly; she should have known that a force probe like this, even if the touch must have been only marginal, would not go undetected.
The little vehicle, which had been busy taking another microscopic amount of loam to a certain place a few second ago, had dropped its cargo, turned and approached her quickly.
Mara watched the toy circling around her legs and then sinking down to the ground in front of her. She looked up and regarded the figure coming slowly into view from behind the hill wiping the mud from his hands on the fabric of his dark trousers.
"Good morning, Skywalker!" She shook her head in mocked disapproval.
"I should have known that only a farm boy like you is capable spending time with something like this."
He grinned, although the smile did not exactly reach his eyes. "Whom did you expect, instead?"
He absentmindedly combed through his hair with his fingers, leaving some mud on his head without realizing it.
Mara fought to keep a serious expression. "Well, maybe some leftover hidden troops of Solo's cousin, who are now preparing an assault while everyone is still sleeping!" She stood with the hands at her waist.
Luke's gaze skimmed over her figure; something seemed to amuse him, his eyes finally lightened up as well.
"Sure… and do you always go to defend us totally unarmed, Mara? Or are you testing a new trick?"
Count on this man not to miss that little detail. Mara's hand went to her hip again reflexively; surely he had realized at once that she did not wear her lightsaber this morning.
She could feel the heat growing in her neck. On the other hand, if this observation helped to lighten up his mood…
She now grinned as well. "Well, I admit, I knew there was no real danger... I was just curious…"
Luke winked at her playfully. "Have you ever taken into account that I could be dangerous being caught while playing with my nephew's toys?"
He was getting a little bit too smug for her taste. Mara raised an eyebrow. "Right now, I would say seeing you play like this indicates that you are rather not dangerous for a change… Besides you know I never go totally unarmed." She pointed to the small blaster hidden under her left sleeve.
Luke winced. He looked away. "I know, me showing up at your doorframe is surely not a peaceful sign these day…."
His focused on the miniature city again, stopping at one building or the other to straighten a wall or to carve in an additional window into a formally close space.
Mara observed him closely. The darkness he had emanated earlier was back. She tried to recall what she had said exactly that would generate such a reaction in return. It had been meant to be playfully teasing but belatedly she realized that there was probably much more truth in it than originally intended.
Tentatively she reached out and touched his forearm. He turned abruptly and faced her again. His stare was intense.
"Have you ever felt like, all you really care about is ripped into pieces just because it is close to you? …Or because it wants to help you? …Or to protect you?"
Mara looked into his eyes; she did not like the shadows whirling around there. There were probably many things she could say, she really should say, because she felt like she could give an explanation for this, but the pain in his eyes kept her silent.
"After all this crafts work… do you care for a morning caf on the Fire?" The words were out before she could really think about them.
Had she ever invited him to anything at all? Why now?
He looked surprised but not uncomfortable with the invitation. "Yes, would be nice!" He touched her hand fleetingly. Some of the darkness seemed to vanish.
They both turned to take a last look at the miniature city before walking back to the Fire.
"Anyway, nice work… I did not know you were this talented…." Mara was still amazed on the level of detail.
"Sometimes, it is just good to make yourself known again that you are still able to create something… even if it is just something small like this…"
Luke was still very serious. He checked some of the buildings again and did some last adjustments.
Mara picked up the hover-car "To bad that you don't care about making this a profession…"
Luke glanced at her sideways. "I know I am good at such things…. Creating something like this helps to think, but usually I take care that nobody is around …."
"Oh…" Mara cocked her eyebrow again. "Too bad…" she faked disappointment.
Suddenly smile returned on his face and into his eyes. "Or, maybe I should really do it more often… especially if I want to get a morning caf served from someone like you…."
"Skywalker!"
He jumped slightly to the side and blocked her punch. "I hope the invitation is still valid?"
"It is! But you are definitely living on dangerous ground here…" Mara tried to punch him again, but then – maybe she was not really conscious about what she was doing - just linked her arm with his.
They walked back to the Fire, towards the light of the sun.
fin