Herding Nexu
By Andrew J Talon
10 ABY, Yavin IV
This is a sequel to A New Hope Will Emerge, set after the original Thrawn Trilogy, and right after Grogu goes off with the Mandalorian. It's a strange mesh of canons, but it's been working pretty well so far.
Mara woke up to a strong presence in the Force. It wasn't familiar, but it was benign... If... Annoyingly happy. She sat up in her bed and blinked blearily as the presence opened her door. Another person was with him-Female, and also wayyy too happy this late at night.
The man was tall, blue haired and tanned, dressed in spacer garments and wearing a lightsaber on his belt. His hair was shaggy, and he had a five o'clock shadow on his face. Not that Mara could see much of it, given the woman with him.
She was muscular but curvy, with warm eyes and outrageously colored hair. She wore multi-colored Mandolorian armor, that was clearly well used. The two were making out feverishly, their passion so intense they didn't notice when Mara cleared her throat.
But bouncing a can off the tall man's head got their attention.
"Ah, er, sorry," the man said, his arm tightly wrapped around the shorter woman's waist.
"Didn't know it was occupied!" The woman said cheerfully.
Mara sighed heavily.
"You must be Bridger, and Sabine Wren," she stated.
"Ezra's fine," the young Jedi said with a smile, "you must be Mara."
"Or Celina," Sabine stated dryly, eyeing her in suspicion. Mara sighed and rubbed her face. Ezra cleared his throat.
"Well, uh, sorry for disturbing you but-"
"Room at the end of the hallway is empty, and soundproofed," Mara growled, "now beat it."
Neither looked unhappy with her tone. Ezra grinned and dragged Sabine off. The Mandolorian woman actually giggled as they vanished down the hallway, and into the spare room. Mara groaned, got up, and shut the door, before grumbling as she dove back into her bed.
Well... She could only hope those two were just so happy to see each other they were giving into their passions, and they wouldn't be this bad in the morning.
She was wrong. She was completely, utterly wrong.
"Awww... You cooked this for me?" Sabine cooed as Ezra set down some breakfast. Thankfully they were at another table, away from Luke, Rotta, Artoo, Ahsoka, and Mara.
"Got pretty good at it, remember?" Ezra said back, nuzzling her. She took a bite of the food, beamed, and then kissed him messily. "Mmm..."
"I do remember," Sabine sighed happily, and they began to feed each other.
"Ughhh," Rotta moaned, "I can't eat and watch this..."
The Hutt closed his eyes and began to eat blindly. Ahsoka chuckled at the looks of disgust on Luke and Mara's face.
"They've been apart for several years now," Ahsoka said, "they're finally together and happy. You can't hate on them for that."
"I don't hate on them," Luke muttered, "but they're really kind of nauseating."
"They'll get it out of their systems and go back to normal," Ahsoka soothed.
"I hope so," Mara growled, "otherwise they're going to enjoy eternity in eachother's arms... Dead."
"Mara, calm down," Luke said gently, "it's gross, but it's not that bad..."
"I think I'll sit in your lap for breakfast, Ezra," Sabine said cheerfully, sliding in. "Now you can cuddle and feed me!"
"Great idea!" Ezra cheered.
"Oh come on!" Mara hissed.
Luke finally smiled, and chuckled.
"Come on guys," Luke said calmly, "you've had your fun."
Sabine and Ezra smirked over at Mara. She scowled.
"You were pranking me?!" She demanded.
"A little," Sabine admitted, "but we are actually this happy to be back together. So uh... You'll kind of have to deal."
"Speaking of," Ezra said with a grin, taking Sabine's hand, "wanna go use the Nightbrother's med bay to see if you're pregnant yet?"
"Wanna use it to make sure I am pregnant?" Sabine cooed seductively. Ezra picked Sabine up in his arms, and went out the door so fast Mara swore he used Force Speed. Luke sighed.
"Well, we're not going to see them for the rest of the day," he said, "who wants to go train? Far, far away from the temple-?"
"Me," Rotta and Mara voted, holding their hands up.
"I'll go do my rounds for the temple," Ahsoka said, getting up and heading out while laughing softly, "you prudes."
"Deviant," Luke shot back, chuckling a bit himself.
"Anything to get away from that disgusting affection," Mara shuddered.
"HEY LUKE CATCH ME WHEEEE!"
Luke sighed and held out his arms. He used the Force to catch Doctor Aphra, and then rotated her to sit next to him. The archaeologist happily pushed herself into his lap, laughing as she hugged him.
"Aw, is that any way to treat an old friend?" She asked. She looked back over her shoulder, batting her eyes. "Hey Mara! You look good! Nice to see you too!"
Mara grit her teeth and stabbed her food. Luke cleared his throat.
"Aphra," he said, and he pushed her off his lap with the Force, "we already had to endure Sabine and Ezra's affection fest. Let's not add to it."
"Awww..."
It wasn't like Mara Jade resented Doctor Aphra. Well, any more than she resented anyone else associated with Luke.
It wasn't hard to discern that she and Luke had... Some kind of history together. Aphra was an energetic, cheerful person, but she reserved all her physical affection for Luke. Her touches lingered just a bit too long, and her gaze locked onto him.
It was nauseating, really. That she could be so close to him and he just let her...?
"Hey, your rock's gonna fall," the perky archaeologist commented. Mara started out of her meditation, and several rocks fell to the ground around her. She turned a venomous glare over at Aphra, who smiled all too innocently.
"Sorry," she said. Mara sighed, and glared across the training clearing.
Luke and Rotta were going through lightsaber katas. The young Hutt was very determined, and practiced the strokes over, and over, and over again. She recalled that Luke sometimes had to float the big Hutt back to his room by nightfall, as he had a tendency to keep practicing even when he should be resting.
Still, all his hard work was paying off-Rotta wielded his lightsaber with a lot more confidence now, and Luke complimented him as they sparred.
"One, two, three-Good! Now, you need to keep reaching out. Don't overfocus!" Luke coached the big Hutt as their sabers clashed. Mara glared back at Aphra, who continued to smile.
"You distracted me. Got a scheme in mind or do you just want to annoy me?" Mara grumbled.
"Oh, I'm prrrettyyyy sure I'm already annoying you," Aphra said, plopping herself down next to her, "but I do have something more specific to tell you!"
Mara sighed and closed her eyes.
"And that is?" She grumbled, trying to resume her meditation.
"Don't break his heart."
Mara's eyes snapped open, and she turned to gape at Aphra in outrage. Aphra though was looking... Serious. For her, anyway.
"Excuse you?!"
"You heard me," Aphra stated, "don't break his heart. Don't toy with him. Don't lead him on."
"I-Look, I don't know what you're thinking," Mara stated, "but I have zero interest in Skywalker. Period. We're... Well we might be friends, but that's it! And even that is a big ask-!"
"Sure, sure," Aphra smirked, "I'm just letting you know... Don't break his heart."
"Or what? You'll kill me?" Mara asked, green eyes flashing dangerously. Aphra stared back, her own dark eyes quite cold.
"If I have to, yes," Aphra stated calmly. Mara didn't drop her hackles, but she was assessing the amoral archaeologist a lot more clinically. Her assassin droids were near the edge of the clearing... And her Wookie bounty hunter was nearby, but hidden.
She had to admit, she may have been underestimating her. So Mara changed tactics.
"Why do you care?" Mara asked. "You two are over."
Aphra was silent for a moment. She sighed, and pulled her hat off. She clutched the ridiculous cap in her hands, looking down at them, before she looked back up.
"Luke and me... I... He's special to me," Aphra admitted, "he... Changed my life. And yeah, I do care about him. Maybe enough that I was tempted to... Ya know... Settle down."
"You?" Mara asked incredulously. She reached out through the Force, expecting to sense Aphra's usual shield of intense emotion. The archaeologist was very good at hiding her thoughts via purely mundane ways...
And all she felt was pain. Images of Luke looking at her, holding her, smiling at her...
Aphra slowly nodded, at Mara's realization.
"But I can't," Aphra sighed, "I knew he was going to go fight Vader and the Emperor... And I realized, I was too scared of seeing him fall and fail. I couldn't have faith that he would survive... Or even triumph. I... Luke doesn't need someone who can't believe in him... But he needs someone to look after him. Since Solo's not here... I'll do it."
She fixed Mara with a steely glare.
"So yeah. If you break his heart? You're going down."
"I did try to kill him," Mara pointed out, "several times."
Aphra snorted.
"So did I. All unintentionally," Aphra retorted, "and he still cared for me. So yeah."
"Mara? You're up!" Luke called. Mara looked up at Luke, and stood up. She ignored Aphra's stare as she headed into the training ring.
Luke treated Mara to a smile, as she ignited his father's lightsaber. He held up his own, set for training mode.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Don't you dare hold back, Skywalker," Mara returned with a smile.
"I would never dream of it," Luke replied. He thrust and swung fast, using some basic Shien, before he transitioned to a few quick strikes in Djem So. She countered with Ataru, and transitioned to Shien to counter his strong blows.
There was a smile on his face as they clashed, and one emerged on her own.
Break Skywalker's heart? Please! She'd break his face first...
Rotta slithered on by, settling down next to Aphra. The archaeologist beamed up at Rotta.
"Great work, Rotta! You're getting better all the time!"
"Thanks, Doctor Aphra," Rotta panted. He lowered his voice.
"Gotta say, I'm really happy I'm not sparring with Miss Jade," he muttered, as Mara and Luke sparred aggressively, "you... you think Master Luke can handle her?"
"Oh, I'm very confident he can," Aphra chuckled. Rotta chuckled along, sensing there was a joke but not quite understanding it.
Humans could be so strange...
He saw them through the door, plain as day. Alive, and well. And waiting for him, around the dinner table. The light was so warm, so wonderful. He raised his hand towards it, as a warm, deep timbred voice spoke in his head.
"If you go through the Door... They shall live... Your life will be your own... You will be happy... Who would ask for more...? There are infinite possibilities... But you must open the Door..."
"Ezra? Where are you? Ezra?"
"Ezra...?"
"Ezra?"
"Ah! Haaa...!"
Ezra woke up, covered in sweat. He took deep breaths. He felt a warm, familiar body next to his, holding onto him. He looked over to see Sabine, eyes wide in concern next to him.
"Ezra? Are... Are you all right?" Sabine whispered.
"I..." Ezra nodded. "Y-Yeah... Yeah, I'm all right... I'm all right..."
He squeezed her hand, and wrapped an arm around her waist, reassuring her as much as himself. She cuddled up to him, still worried.
"You sure? You want to talk about it?" She asked quietly.
He did... But... He closed his eyes.
"Just... Let me blow off some steam first," he said softly. He kissed her lips, and rubbed her round belly with a soft smile.
"Okay," Sabine said, her voice neutral. Her mood was confused, slightly hurt... But understanding.
Ezra got up and exited their quarters. He went for a walk, out of the temple. He found a bench and sat on it, and stared up at the stars. He took deep breaths, letting the Force flow through him, as he listened to the chirping of the various insects in the night of the jungle.
"You okay?"
Ezra looked up. Luke walked up to him, and sat down on the bench next to him. Ezra nodded.
"More or less," he admitted, scratching at his beard. He returned to looking up at the stars, and Luke did the same. Neither said anything.
"... When Palpatine tempted you," Ezra started, "I mean... On the Death Star... How did that go?"
Luke was silent for a time. He didn't look at Ezra. His mood was unreadable, even through the Force. Finally, he spoke:
"For me? He basically put me in the perfect trap," he admitted quietly, "hundreds, thousands of Rebels were dying. My friends were going to die on the moon below us. The Rebellion was going to die. The whole... The whole mission was to kill the Emperor, and he had made it so I could. All I had to do... The only thing I had to do, was give in to my anger. To my rage."
Luke let out a soft, humorless laugh. Ezra didn't make a sound, just listening.
"On the face of it, it sounds like... I should have done it, doesn't it?" Luke asked. "Just end it... But the Darkside is a rush. My father, when he fell... He was carried away by his rage, his hatred, his fear. He rushed headlong, nothing else but the quickest way to his goals, as it utterly consumed him. If I had struck down Palpatine or my father out of hatred... I would have become a monster. Just like him."
Luke shook his head.
"I wouldn't have saved anyone. I... I nearly went over."
Ezra's eyes widened.
"You?"
Luke smiled wryly.
"Don't act surprised," he said, "we're all mortal. We can all fall. It's... Understanding that. Being honest about that, that can keep us from crossing over."
"So... What kept you from doing it?" Ezra asked.
Luke looked down at his artificial hand. The one he always wore a black glove over. He closed it tightly.
"I realized... That I was going to end up just like my father," Luke said. He unclenched it, and turned a smile over at Ezra.
"And then I realized... I didn't have to be. I could choose."
Ezra nodded slowly. Luke looked probingly at the slightly older man.
"And you? Thinking about when you were tempted?"
Ezra nodded slowly.
"Yeah... It... Wasn't the same," Ezra admitted, "the Temple on Lothal... I could have opened the Door. To the World between Worlds, I mean. I'd done it once. Saved Ahsoka that way."
Luke nodded, but said nothing else. Ezra rubbed the back of his head.
"I could have gone through again... Back in there. Gone back in time and had everything I wanted. My parents alive again... But..."
He shook his head.
"If I'd done that... Palpatine would have had access to that world. He could have remade all of time and space however he wanted."
Ezra sighed, and looked up.
"Everyone told me afterwards that... That I was so brave for turning it down. For destroying the temple, denying Palpatine that power... But I..."
"You wanted to," Luke said softly, "so badly. It screamed at you, pulled on you."
Ezra nodded.
"Yeah," he murmured, "but I keep having dreams about it, sometimes. I... I look at Sabine, at Hera, Zeb... At all we've done. I feel my daughter, and..." He covered his eyes with a hand.
"Why?" He whispered, "I made my choice. I thought I had made peace with it...?"
Luke rested a hand on Ezra's shoulder. He looked up, startled.
"You have any idea how many times I have dreams about joining my father? Or Palpatine?" Luke asked. He frowned deeply, and shook his head. "Sometimes, dreams can mean we're seeing the future through the Force. But other times? Well... Like I said... We're mortal. We hurt to make those choices. We wanted to make the wrong one, so badly. And just because we made the right one? Doesn't mean we're free of the emotional consequences of those decisions."
Luke smiled warmly.
"I think though," Luke went on, "that being aware of the now... The Living Force... Our friends that we have here? Focusing on that? Is what keeps us grounded. That's what we fought for, after all." He looked up at the stars again.
"The present... And the future."
Ezra smiled, and nodded as he looked back up too.
"... That helps a lot," he said.
"In the end, if we're gonna be a new Jedi Order," Luke said, "we need to do things differently. Or else, we'll end up like the past order. And I don't want to end up some old hermit on a poodoo planet in the middle of nowhere, do you?"
"Nah," Ezra chuckled, "that would suck."
"Absolutely," Luke said with a nod.
"So, how'd you get so wise anyway?" Ezra asked. Luke shrugged, rubbing the back of his head.
"I've been reading all about the Jedi, everything I could find," Luke admitted, "but more than that? I've been talking to people who knew my father. Fought alongside Jedi in the Clone Wars. And well... I've made plenty of mistakes of my own."
"Same here," Ezra admitted.
"But as long as we learn from them? We will continue on," Luke said.
Ezra nodded. He then grinned.
"Sorry Luke, but uh..."
Luke sighed, and pulled out some earplugs. He put them into his ears. Ezra groaned.
"What's with you and these stupid jokes, huh?"
"Rex and Ahsoka," Luke grinned.
"Figures," Ezra snorted, standing up, "just for that? I'm banging my wife extra loud tonight!"
"Oh, that'll be a change," Luke chuckled, as Ezra headed off back into the temple.
Sabine had been trying to sleep, a pillow tightly tucked underneath her arm. She woke up blearily as Ezra walked back into their room.
"Ezra? What's-Oh!"
Ezra pulled her up into his arms, and kissed her soundly. She returned it eagerly, only breaking it long enough to ask the obvious question:
"What's gotten into you? Not that I'm complaining-Ooh!"
Ezra grinned.
"I love you. And that's all the reason I need."
Sabine couldn't disagree with that. And while they had to put up with a lot of ribbing the next morning at breakfast? It never dampened their smiles.
Because hey, Ezrabine is my jam. And there's gotta be that couple at the Jedi Temple. You know the one...