High Heavens (Star Wars - Luke Skywalker)

VI - Legacies

The three of them, plus the two droids, crammed into Luke's speeder (or, what was left of it), and followed Ben's directions to his home. Once they arrived, Mara noted that much like Luke's home, it was a dusty russet color that blended nicely with the redder sand. When they entered, she noticed it was more diversely furnished. Items from all over the galaxy were showcased on the walls and on tables. She wondered how many were tokens from his times in the Clone Wars.

"Thank you," Mara told Ben when he offered her a drink of water and small roll of gauze for her injuries. She sat on a rather stiff couch, taking a long sip of the drink. "You've been very kind."

"Of course, my dear," Ben said, taking his own seat. "Do make yourselves at home. It's not every day I have the children of war heroes in my living room."

Luke, from where he knelt by another couch, repairing the one-armed C3PO, looked up at Ben in confusion. "What do you mean 'war heroes'?"

"Your parents were all close friends of mind during the Clone Wars," Ben explained patiently, not seeming surprised that Luke didn't know that information. "If it weren't for them, I'd probably be dead ten times over."

Mara smiles lightly through her water, trying to imagine her parents in the war, fighting as great heroes and Jedi Knights. Her father, Kai-Rin: the kind, well-mannered man whose raised her, and her mother, Jade: the woman Mara had been told died in childbirth: war heroes.

Luke, on the other hand, just laughed, correcting, "No, my father didn't fight in the war. He was a navigator on a spice freighter."

"That's what your uncle told you," Ben replied evenly. "He didn't hold with your father's ideals, thought he should have stayed here and not gotten involved."

Luke processed the statement, not saying anything to agree or disagree with it. Then he changed the subject by saying, "You fought in the Clone Wars?"

Ben nodded. "Yes. I was once a Jedi Knight, the same as your father and Mara's parents."

Mara smiled a little bit. "My dad mentioned you a few times," she said, but then her smile fell. "Only a few times, though. He hardly ever talked about anything that happened before I was born. Not even my mother." She shook her head. "I wish I'd known more about them."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, join the club."

"Anakin Skywalker was the best star pilot in the galaxy," Ben stated. "And a cunning warrior," He looked over at Luke. "I understand you have become quite a good pilot yourself."

Luke smiled proudly, looking away and focusing his attention on C3PO again.

Mara looked over at Ben, with a hopeful glimmer in her eyes, the question probably evident in her expression.

"You parents were perhaps some of the bravest people I ever knew, Mara," Ben informed her, smiling. "Brave in different ways, yes, but nonetheless. With Kai's rebellious nature, he was lucky to have your mother around - to keep him in line."

Mara laughed, both at the statement and Ben calling her father 'Kai'. She'd never heard anyone call him that before.

"Both were quite skilled Jedi, as well. And Jade was the most intelligent of us all. She started her training so much later than the rest of us, it was a surprise she was accepted into the Order at all. Many of us didn't think she'd make it, but your mother certainly surprised us all."

By the time Ben was finished, Mara wasn't m sure whether to smile or cry. Like she had said, she knew so little about her parents, and Ben was probably the closest thing she'd ever get to them. She wanted to know more; about their Jedi training, and the Clone Wars, and how they knew Luke's parents.