Nerca Beyul: Please tell me that either Han's proposal or the truth about Luke and Mara appears soon. I'm getting just a little bit irritated waiting. Checks notes… Those events are spread over chapters 8, 9, and 10. Gotta drag things out.
Celtic Cross: Update Soon! Imagine if you were some of the first people to read this. They had to wait a year between books.
Welcome, potterfanforever. I like HP myself. And thanks also to Mark C., Countess Jackman, and Mara look-a-like.
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This is what I think of as the 'Luke and Leia' chapter. I don't believe they're too 'nasty' to each other here, Saber Girl. LOL!
A Journey of Discovery ― Book Three: Prism
Chapter Six
Luke scooted over to make room for Mara in his bed, but she swept off her concealing Jedi robe and instead climbed over him into the narrow space between him and the wall. Luke thought amusedly that her choice was probably just to confirm that he wasn't in charge of her actions. In his limited experience, Mara didn't seem to have a preference as to which side of the bed she occupied.
"As much as I hate saying it," he whispered, "it's a good thing you didn't come any earlier. I didn't think Han and Leia would ever settle down and go to sleep."
"Why do you think I waited?" she returned, wrapping one arm around his waist. "I had to block them out, too. Though in hindsight, we probably could've engaged in similar activities at the same time, and Leia wouldn't even have noticed."
"Maybe," he conceded. "But she's getting stronger in sensing my emotions, and I'd hate to take a chance that she'd recognize that I was ... well ..."
Mara sighed in exasperation. "So I guess I'll be keeping my nightgown on tonight, then."
"Believe me, I regret this as much as you do." Luke hugged her tightly against him. He knew the logical side of Mara understood his reluctance in revealing their marriage right now, even as the newlywed side of her rebelled against his hasty decision as much as he did. "So much for every night being a honeymoon night," he muttered dejectedly.
"How were we to know that your own personal Paranoid Protector Squad was going to show up?" Mara grumbled back. "This reminds me of our nights together before we were married."
"Hmmm, me too. But I have fond memories of those nights. Not as fond as recent nights, of course."
"I still don't know why we can't just sleep in my room. Leia's range can't be that far."
"No, but she'd know that I wasn't in here."
"Blazing stars. She even checks on you at night?"
"Has to make sure the evil Imperial assassin hasn't slit my throat yet."
"And you don't think she'll sense that I'm in here?"
"I can shield you, remember," he said, recalling their hiding from Palpatine and Darth Vader on Coruscant.
"And you know perfectly well I can shield myself. So why can't we—"
"I don't think I'm experienced enough at split concentration to shield a squeekbug while we make love," he admitted, thinking of the day in the underground when he and Mara nearly had their first intimate encounter. "Are you?"
"No," Mara replied, a touch of frustration in her whispered voice.
"But I believe I can handle some serious kissing, though," he continued, finding her lips with ease in the darkness. "I even—"
The newlyweds jerked apart when a soft knock sounded on the bedchamber door. Luke rolled onto his other side, facing the room's entrance.
"Luke?" Leia's voice echoed through the door. "Are you awake?"
"Uh ... yes."
Leia apparently took her brother's answer as permission to open the door, and she stood silhouetted in the dim light of the common room. "Can I talk to you awhile?"
As soon as the door slid open, Mara had hunched down behind Luke, both of them double-checking that her Force shroud was in place.
"Uh, sure, Leia," Luke mumbled, pulling the covers further up his bare chest. He could feel Mara's warmth as she pressed tightly against his back. "I'll be right out."
"Couldn't I come in here?" Leia persisted. She stole a quick glance over her shoulder. "I don't want to wake Han."
Luke tried not to twitch as Mara poked him sharply in the back. "No, I'll come out to the common room. We won't wake him."
"Do you have to disagree about everything all of a sudden?" Leia muttered quietly, before sighing and nodding in agreement. Her form disappeared from the doorway, and Luke let out a breath of relief.
"I thought she was asleep!" Mara whispered as loud as she dared.
"So did I." Luke reluctantly slipped from the bed and pulled on a sleeveless undertunic.
―――――
As Luke padded softly into the sitting area, he noticed Leia was sitting in the middle of the small couch. Apprehensively, he took a seat next to her. Leia gave him a wan smile before taking one of his hands in her own.
Luke's eyes flickered to their joined clasp, then warily gazed at the resolve in her expression. "I'm not changing my mind about Mara," he blurted out, not anxious to resume their disagreement.
"You!" she chastised, apparently catching the underlying implication he was reading into their physical contact, then nudging him with her shoulder. For good measure, she tightened her hold on his hand. "Luke, the last thing I want is for us to become estranged over her." Leia sent him a reassuring smile. "I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude. And that's not want I wanted to talk to you about."
"It's not?" Luke answered, not hiding the surprise in his voice.
"No." Leia gazed quickly toward her closed bedchamber door.
"Don't worry, I can sense if Han wakes up," said Luke, noting her anxiety. A perplexed frown creased his brow. "Can't you?"
Leia shook her head minutely. "Well, sometimes, but ... I'm not always sure. Perhaps if that was all I was concentrating on, I could. But I don't know if I'd notice if I'm engrossed in a conversation."
"Leia, if you'd just—" Luke bit back the rest of his rebuke, wincing a little as he received the annoyed grimace of a student who's heard the same scolding from her teacher one too many times. "Okay, no lectures on training tonight. But at least let me show you how to keep a connection to Han."
"All right, go ahead," Leia said, giving in with a sigh.
"Remember that every presence is unique," Luke began. "Here." He raised her hand to his temple, allowing her access into the curtained-off section of his mind where Han's slumbering presence rested. "Stretch out with your senses to Han, then isolate his presence in your own mind, just as you feel I've done. Got it?"
Leia nodded, her eyes squeezed shut in concentration.
"Now tuck his sensation into a corner of your mind where you can be aware of it, but not monopolized by it." Luke patiently waited while Leia implemented his directions. "That's it – just leave a thread of perception to alert you if he stirs. Good!" Luke beamed, proud of Leia's grasp of his impromptu lesson. "You're a quick learner, when you give yourself a chance."
"You're a good teacher," she returned, the corners of her mouth upturning in a slight smile. "When I give you a chance."
"Now then, just what is it that we're going to be engrossed in conversation about?" he said, relaxing back against the couch and putting one arm comfortingly around Leia's small frame. "Are you and Han at odds about something?" He refrained from adding 'again,' even though the pair's compatibility seemed to rise and fall as regularly as the tides on Mon Calamari. Han's revelation that afternoon, however, had left Luke with the feeling that things couldn't be better between the two.
"No," she answered, biting her lip. "Things have been wonderful lately between us. Exceptionally wonderful, for the most part." She paused. "Almost too wonderful."
"I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Han's been kind, and polite, and attentive beyond belief."
Luke waited patiently, trying to imagine what could possibly be the problem. Han was right – women were difficult to figure out at times.
"It's just ... well ... Oh, I shouldn't be bothering you with this."
"Of course you should. That's what big brothers are for."
"Uh-huh," Leia muttered.
Luke narrowed his eyes. This must be serious if she was too distracted to correct him regarding who was older.
"All right." Leia took a deep breath, then plunged ahead. "Han's been dropping little hints lately, nothing blatantly obvious. It's more his mannerisms. He takes notice of things that he's gone out of his way to ignore before."
Luke made a 'hurry up and get to the point' gesture with his free hand, then thanked his lucky stars that Leia had closed her eyes and hadn't seen it.
"So ..." he prompted cautiously.
"I think ... Maybe I'm just being absurd. But I think ... Han may be considering asking me to marry him."
Luke broke out in a wide grin. Han was justified in his confidence after all. "That's great!" he said, giving her a warm hug. A hug she didn't return very enthusiastically. He gazed at her sober expression. "Isn't it?"
"I don't know, Luke," she whimpered in a voice that was as close to wailing as Leia ever got. "I'm just not sure. I mean, I could be imagining this whole thing. Maybe I'm misinterpreting his actions. Maybe I'm worrying for nothing."
Luke's mind was spinning, wondering what he was missing. "But you love Han," he said with conviction. He couldn't be that wrong about his own twin sister.
"Yes, I do," she confirmed, tiredly rubbing one hand across her temple. "But marriage isn't something you just jump into."
He wisely said nothing, waiting for her to continue and unobtrusively erecting barriers around his own emotions.
"It isn't that I don't think we know each other well enough," she attempted to explain.
"You don't want to marry Han?" he ventured tentatively.
"Yes, I think I do," was the contradictory answer.
Luke didn't have to feign confusion. He was appreciating Mara's straightforward bluntness more and more by the minute – a bluntness that Leia usually had no problem employing when she wanted to.
"The question isn't if I want to marry Han, if he does ask. It's a matter of when – a matter of timing. I'm just not sure if I'm ready right now for a permanent union." Leia nervously twisted her robe's sash around her fingers, an action that Luke had not seen often in his normally composed sister. "I mean, I'm so busy with the New Republic, and everyday Mon Mothma is handing off more and more duties to me." She shot a quick glance at Luke, an amused smirk momentarily lighting up her face. "I only got away to come here because she was afraid you'd botch this mission by letting some girl get the better of you."
"Very funny." Luke grinned at her in mock annoyance. "But I think we were discussing you and Han."
"Yes ..." Leia trailed off, staring off into the dark corners of the room. "It wouldn't be fair to Han. He gets irritated enough now as it is, with all the late night meetings I have to go to." She curled one hand into a fist. "Of course it's different when he stays out late at a sabacc game, or flies off in the Falcon on some supply run, or spends all night in a maintenance bay tinkering with that hunk of junk."
Luke squeezed her shoulders warmly and sent waves of compassion to her. Leia visibly calmed, laying her head against his shoulder. "Tell me what to do, Luke. I don't want to lose him, but I don't want to make a terrible mistake, either."
"Leia, you know I can't make that decision for you."
"Yes, but—"
Gently turning her head with his free hand, Luke gazed into her large brown eyes. "What does your heart tell you?"
"I ... I don't know ..." Leia looked pleadingly at Luke's solemn expression.
"Leia, you and Han love each other. I knew that long before Bespin, before either of you would admit it, even to yourselves. It's evident in every glance, in every touch that passes between you. You two belong together." Luke hugged her tightly. "But if you're not ready for marriage right now, I'm sure Han will understand. He'll wait for you."
A change came over Leia at his words, and she pulled herself into the strong-willed woman that Luke loved and admired so much. "How did you get to be so wise, little brother?"
"You expect me to give away all my secrets to my baby sister?" Luke chuckled, tugging lightly on a strand of her long brown hair. "Besides, you don't even know if Han is considering marriage. You may end up having to ask him someday."
"I can just see myself down on one knee, asking for his hand. I wouldn't be able to see any higher than his knees."
"Then I guess you'd better leave it up to him," Luke returned, his humorous tone diminishing as he thought of Han's disappointment if she turned him down.
Leia nodded and her demeanor likewise turned serious, as she was no doubt having the same thoughts. She cast her gaze downward in thought as she resumed fingering the belt to her fuzzy robe. Leia seemed reluctant to leave Luke's company, and he felt the same way. It had been nearly a month since they'd shared a late night chat, and he missed her familiar warmth and companionship.
"So the Regent is going to finally begin the negotiations tomorrow?" Leia eventually said into the silence.
"He said he would," Luke confirmed.
"And you remember what to expect, right? Barring his trying to conscript you into their navy, that is. You have to present the New Republic's beginning proposal, then he'll make a counter offer, then—"
"I know what to do," Luke interrupted.
Leia raised an eyebrow dubiously.
"I do listen when you're describing every detail of all your long, drawn-out trade agreements. It just looks like I'm sleeping because I'm usually meditating."
His attempt at humor got the desired effect. Leia laughed out loud, covering her mouth when she realized she might wake up Han.
"All right, Ambassador Skywalker, I get the point." She settled back into his embrace. "Now, I want to hear why you were late getting here."
"I told you, we had—"
"Yes, I know. Mechanical trouble with the ship. But ten days! Luke, you've always prided yourself on being able to fix anything." Leia paused and frowned as an amused smile flashed across his face. "So I want to know what kind of repairs took so long."
Luke gave a quiet, resigned sigh. "We stopped just outside the Crestar Nebula, to make a course change," he began.
"Near the asteroid field," Leia said, apparently recognizing the location. "Han and Chewie thought the asteroids looked as if someone had been taking potshots at them."
"Really?" he said, keeping his expression blank. "Anyway, the hyperdrive wouldn't re-engage, and I didn't think I could repair it without landing, especially since I didn't have Artoo, so we ventured into the nebula and set down on the first planet we found. Except, we got caught in a windstorm, and a stabilizer rod for the primary wing snapped. Then we had to hike several days to the nearest settlement, which had no technology, and it took us longer than expected to get a replacement for the rod. Then we had to hike back to the ship with it. And before you ask, the nebula was wreaking havoc with our comm system, so we couldn't send any messages."
"All right, I'll accept that." She gave him a shrewd glance. "Now, tell me why you were in a healing trance when I commed your ship, and don't try to deny that you were."
"Let's just say, not all the natives were friendly. And you know what you always say – I don't have to go looking for trouble; it always finds me."
"How bad were you hurt?"
"It was just a scratch, really." He broke into a wry grin, then made as if to lower the waistband of his sleep pants over his hip. "You want to see my latest scar?"
"No!" Leia exclaimed, then glanced again at her bedroom door. "Nerf!" she whispered loudly, punching his shoulder. "What is this, some warped Jedi sense of humor you've developed?"
Luke looked at her strangely.
"What?"
"Mara said exactly the same thing a few days ago."
"Oh." Leia's disposition changed instantly.
"Just give her a chance, Leia," Luke pleaded. "I know Mara's a bit abrasive at first, but if you'd only get to know her, you'd find she's really a caring person." He gave Leia's shoulders a warm squeeze. "Mara's had a hard life. Being raised by Palpatine wasn't exactly conducive to a happy childhood."
"Palpatine ... raised her?" Leia asked skeptically.
"Along with tutors, trainers, and drill instructors. She can't remember having any family before coming to the palace. Palpatine probably recognized her Force talent and kidnapped her, possibly even killed her parents." Luke paused in thought, then looked away. "Or our father did."
"So I'm supposed to feel sorry for her?"
"All I'm asking is that you look at her life from her point of view. It could've just as easily have been you or me that the Emperor discovered at an early age."
"All right," said Leia with a sigh. "If you feel that strongly, I'll try to accept her."
Luke started to speak, but Leia cut him off. "I know, try not. I pay attention when you drone on about Yoda's teachings." She shot him a sly smirk. "I only look like I'm asleep."
The siblings broke into simultaneous laughter, then embraced each other with a warm hug. It was good to be together.
―――――
Some time later, Luke crawled into his inviting bed, pulling Mara back into his arms.
"'Bout time," she murmured sleepily.
"Sorry," he returned, kissing her softly.
"What did Leia want?"
"She thinks Han may be planning to ask her to marry him."
"Which he is," Mara said matter-of-factly. "So why am I not sensing elation from you?"
"She's not sure she'll accept."
"Ahh. That could get messy."
"I didn't know being a Jedi translated into being a marriage advisor," Luke muttered.
"I think that comes more under the category of being a relative, or prospective relative. Though there was no one else that I wanted to discuss marriage with."
"You were a prospective relative."
Mara shifted closer to him, tracing circles across his back. Luke buried his face in his pillow, doing his best to suppress his yearnings for the enticing woman lying next to him. "This just isn't fair," came his muffled whine.
"This was all your idea," Mara pointed out.
He turned his head to one side slightly. "I've never been accused of thinking things all the way through. Just ask Han or Leia."
"Does that include asking me to marry you?"
"You know it doesn't." Luke rolled onto his side to face her. "No regrets there. Not now, not ever."
Mara tenderly brushed her lips against his cheek. "I believe someone was bragging about his ability to shield and kiss at the same time."
Luke replied with a fierce kiss, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
"Hmmm..." Mara sighed contentedly. "Masterful."