trans_9 | i hear the tiniest sparks [OPEN]

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i hear the tiniest sparks [OPEN]

It was a little disconcerting how Mara ended up in a different area than she meant to be. Of course, she couldn't blame anyone but herself, as she kept ignoring the little guiding tentacles that tried to get her to where she wanted to be.

Maybe she truly just wanted to get lost.

In any case, she ended up wandering the Statuary, stopping along a few select to flick the switch at the base of the statues and sighing as nothing happened. Of course, nothing happened.

She stopped fully in front of a statue of Luke Skywalker, of her husband, and she smiled to herself, snorting softly. Of course he had a statue...in all honesty, there were probably statues of him on most Inner Rim Planets (not that they existed anymore).

"Can't get away from you, Farmboy."

(Not that she wanted to.)

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"It is a very large statue," Arha said from the doorway. She had not been following, at least not on purpose. She had been walking. It was good to do, like running and training. But she always wound up drifting in next to Jed-Eye. She did drift in and came to a stop next to Mara, a bundle in her arms. It was neatly folded and tied with coarse string. She had found it when she had moved her things from Obi-Wan's quarters. Staring up, Arha let out a soft snort.

"And here! His hair is in his face. Is it for drama that such a thing is portrayed?"

Mara glanced over at Arha and smiled. "His hair is always in his face when he fights. But yeah, he looks pretty...dramatic up there, doesn't he?"

She pointed at his face, outlining her point. "He never looks that...happy, I want to say, while in action. It's rather silly."

"Very dramatic, yes. But, the fight is hard," Arha said, "this piece portrays none of that. It finds the joy in the Force perhaps." Her fingers brushed over her carved lightsaber as she shifted her parcel. The polished wormtooth shone milk-white in the ambient light. "I find joy in fighting. But this? It seems...out of place."

"People who like to look at statues don't want to see the hardships, just the pride and joy of having a monument erected in honor of someone they admire."

She turned away from her husband, a sardonic grin on her lips. "I doubt I'll ever get one. I prefer it that way."

Ew, limelight.

"One should remember the hardships!" Arha said, looking appalled. "It is what is overcome that is the greatest accomplishment. I would take a statue down and do it right myself." She peered at Mara. "I do not wish a statue either, they are large and annoying and false."

"No one wants to remember the Jedi during hardships. They prefer to think we're going to take over the galaxy. We're a...fantastical thing to most people. Something in stories." Mara shrugged.

Then she smiled again, friendlier this time. "How are you, Arha?"

"The people of your universe are silly," Arha said, sniffing slightly. "They should be better educated." And then she smiled back, bright as a sunny day. "Better than I was the last time you saw me, yes? Rested."

"Yes. You don't look so close to collapsing anymore." Mara laughed as she clasped her hands behind her back and moving to another statue. "Which is quite an improvement."

"All I needed was a little sleep. That man, he makes everything so difficult." Arha frowned and shook her head. "I do not take his head off as others might wish to do. I seek to make him independent of a machines that ties him in a single location. And he fights me every moment."

She shifted, trailing back slightly to let Mara lead the way.

"I will persevere," she said thoughtfully.

"He has never liked help." Mara murmured softly, glancing back at Arha. "In the many, many years I've known him, I have never seen him ask for it. He shirks away from the mere thought. It's not you, at the very least."

She sighed. "He's just a very angry man."

"He has, apparently," Arha said, "much to be angry about. I have seen all of it, I think. He attempted to drive me off with it, though it did not work. He did not ask for help, yes. I did not expect he would. I see a piece of him still, just beyond my own reach, that wishes it. I did not give him a choice, but I will heal his lungs if it takes me years to do so."

"You and Luke are much better people than I, then." Mara said quietly. "My memories of him are much too entwined with things I don't like to think about."

"Your past made your future possible," Arha said quietly. "Everything that has happened in it, brought you forward to this moment, to your husband, to your son. If life did not have moments of discord and pain, we would never know what joy feels like after the darkness has lessened."

She shook her head slightly, her hair swinging forward with the movement.

"We are not better people, Mara Jade-Skywalker," she murmured, "we have simply done what we can to embrace all the joy and peace that we find. At least, such is my own view. Luke's could be different. I must give what I can while there is time enough, just as I am compelled to heal this very angry man. I had no debate when I began to heal Vader. It was something I did."

Mara had been fighting with the issues of her past for years now, and even more so just before going to face her nephew. She had to debate whether or not she was willing to kill Jacen for his wrongs when she knew she could easily be blamed for hers.

The only difference was it was her son he had threatened and that had been the last straw. Too much. She was willing to do whatever evil was required to keep her baby save.

She reached out and touched Arha's shoulder, softly. "I'm glad to know people like you and Luke. It's you that makes this life enjoyable. The people you fill it with. And if healing Vader is what you want to do, or whatever, I wish you all the luck. And my strength if you need it."

"I would gladly accept your aid, and Luke's. I know this path I walk is one that will be difficult." Her fingers settled over Mara's and her eyes were bright long before her smile washed across her face. "I do this for those who call themselves Skywalker, most of all. I have been so greatly gifted since coming to this place. Your strength, that is something that I shall need and will always be grateful to receive."

Her eyes flicked across Mara's face.

"I have been a healer for a very long time," Arha said, "since before I knew it. I have worked on Vader twice and I shall need all the luck that can be found."

Mara looked down and smiled mischievously. "My husband would say there is no luck, only the Force. And my brother-in-law would say he makes his own luck. Either way, I wish you all the luck...or...Force luck you could ask for. And just let me know when I can help."

"That can be done," Arha said with a nod. She was quiet for a moment, thoughtful. "Mm, before I forget. This thing I have--it is for you."

She held the package up. It was wrapped neatly, proportionately, into a perfect square, the coarse string a little frayed and knotted into a little bow where it was to be untied. Within the neatly done bundle, when unfolded was a jed-eye cloak (http://www.carpatina.com/ClkGreVelvGreLin1.JPG) done in dark green. It was multi-pocketed, each pocket cleverly hidden and big enough for stashing weapons if needed. Too, there was a proper belt done in the same fabric for hanging either blasters or a lightsaber. There were pouches along its length as well, each positioned so that anything inside would not make its wearer off balance. It was similar to the sand colored one Arha, herself wore and hung at her hips rather than her waist. There was a cloth tie used to secure one holster to a leg and the ties slid into small sleeves so they would not catch. It was a secure, comfortable thing.

It seemed highly appropriate and it had been done in her own hand, the neat stitching made that obvious.

Mara took it curiously, glancing at Arha as she did so. She opened it, carefully, and shook the fabric out to look at it, smiling softly at the cloak.

"Arha." She breathed, running her fingers over stitching. "It's beautiful, thank you."

"You are most welcome," Arha said, beaming from ear to ear. "I had thought you might wish something that was useful as well as pleasing to the eye. I had made Jed-Eye garb for Luke after studying the library for quite some time. It was as close to what he might have worn in his own time. A cloak, this is such a thing for a Jed-Eye, also, a place for weapons. The plant suits, they are hardly accommodating."

Her grin managed to stay put right along with the bright wave of delight.

"I am pleased you like it."

"I love it." Mara grinned at her. "Thank you, again. You are too good to my family. Thank you for keeping an eye on my boys while I was gone, too."

"Your husband holds my water debt, by default, that extends to your family," Arha said in a deadly serious tone. "I will watch over all of you with my own life." Her smile was lopsided, but the seriousness of her words stayed within her eyes.

She would defend them without question to her very last breath.

"There is no such thing as being too good, not to my Jed-Eye. Never to my Jed-Eye."

Mara squeezed Arha's shoulder. "Thank you."

Arha's a part of the family, and has been since before Mara arrived...but of all the people Luke had befriended and gathered under his cowl of protection, Arha was, and would be, the easiest to accept, Mara felt.

She just felt right. Right in their family.

"You are most welcome," Arha said, her smile as bright as it could go, but through the Force, it was much brighter--like a miniature sun blazing away. She was a true part of the Force in that she had pulled it into herself and hooked herself into it. Each and every time she touched it (always, at every second!) that joy was renewed and spilled over. It made her a loud, buzzing ball of warmth, unique in her own right, always with the touch of something exotic and strange, but as equally filled with the joy of being alive, of protecting, of healing.

"If you are in need," she murmured, "you must reach. I shall hear you, this I promise. Always. Do not worry about time or sleep, I am here."

"Oh wow," Nanoha murmured, having just been wandering the ship as she was prone to do - she'd never really checked out this room before, but seeing someone unfamiliar within was as good an opportunity as any, right? "I didn't know that Luke had a statue of him here."

"He must be really important back home.'

"He is." Mara glanced over, a small smile on her lips. "You know Luke?"

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