#lightfound

she should’ve known he’d given into that lingering exhaustion when he’d stopped responding to her. vague, mumbled responses taking the place of full fledged answers - the bond between them … the place where she’d always felt him; quieting. sure enough, when she looked his way his eyes were shut. and she huffs out a quiet laugh, “ well that explains that, doesn’t it ? “ not expecting him to say a word, she lets out a sigh as she settled in beside him, nestling her head against his - how exactly he could sleep in such an uncomfortable position was beyond her, but if this was giving him the rest he needed, she didn’t care how it happened.

linking her arm through his, movements insistent as she tugged him carefully away from the growing crowd. “ you know what i think you need ? “ she asked softly. “ time. spend a few minutes with your wife and perhaps then you’ll realize everything will still be there. waiting, “ at least long enough for him to get out of fight or flight mode. for him to take a breath and realize he was just one person, human, and deserved to be treated as such. “ or wasn’t it you who said i could do with one ? “

“ i felt you in there, “ she murmured, “ if that wasn’t a sign we both need to take a minute, i don’t know what is,” worried. that was what it had been. whatever that brush with the force had been had been nothing but worry , and she’d reached back to reassure him. through their bond, and through reaching down to slide her hand into his. she’d not let him go, and still hadn’t .

“ it is fine,” she’s quick to point out, “ nothing but a few scratches. “ yet the residual weakness that pervaded and leaked into her bones as a result of the coomb spores didn’t exactly help matters. she’d been slower than usual, and that … wasn’t good. she knows he isn’t a fool, and she knows the bond between them would make whatever attempts at subtly worth absolutely nothing. she knew . but they had bigger problems, and she could hold out until then.

“Well, if it isn’t what the Massiff dragged in.” Camie jeered, taking her hands off the laser-ball machine, which clunked and clanked as the now-unattended laserball ricocheted past the bumpers unmolested and triggered the tell-tale fanfare of a game over.  “L-l-l-l-loser.” The machine’s barely serviceable vocabulator warbled mockingly.

Without the presence of Fixer, Tank, and Biggs, the solitary social-area of the Tosche Station seemed anything but social. The trio of boys, much like herself, had all grown tired of waiting for the perpetually late Luke Skywalker to show, and they had collectively opted to set off into Anchorhead without the errant farm-boy. 

Biggs had opted to arrive on his new swoop-bike, replete with fancy-threads and a haughty air that only the salary of an enrolee to the Imperial Academy could provide. Thus, without Luke, there hadn’t been enough seats to ferry them all into town. Camie, not for the first time, had drawn the short-straw and been left to wait for Luke.

“It’s me. I’m here. I promise.” Luke’s already hovering like the mother hen that he gets to be like, at times, and Mara, battered, aching, exhausted in a way that weighed on bones and spirit alike, offers up the faintest of smiles as her vision flickers, black encroaching from the edges and threatening to pull her under.

Mara Jade Skywalker senses, more than sees, Luke’s hesitant reach, questioning and asking. Picks up on the overwhelming hope riding atop his grief ( and a little deeper, a little tucked away. not quite fully realized ) and his guilt.

Her husband. The idealist.

She sways on her feet, the last dregs of her Force-borne strength fading away ( she’s in a safe place now. home. ), and staggers forward, almost boneless in the way she falls.

It’s ungraceful. The kind of thing she had been trained out of by the age of ten. Right now, Mara doesn’t care. She’s home. She’s alive.

The rest of the details can be sorted later.

The last thing Mara Jade sees as her vision fades is Luke’s worried face, brow furrowed so deeply she felt like she could’ve made a joke about a canyon....

i don't wanna sound superficial but the first thing that came to mind was my smile and my hair. i know i'm not perfect but people always recognize me by my hair and my smile :)