#luminara lives

[romanaisalive]

Stopover

Star Wars Fictober Challenge, day 30 - prompt: peace

Part of the ‘Luminara lives’ series

Yavin IV was a remote world. Kanan couldn’t see the greenery Sabine enthusiastically described, but the moon was full of life, the air smelled fresh and the ground felt untouched under his feet. Ezra did his best to explain the huge buildings they found and the feeling they woke in everyone but he didn’t need to see them to understand. There was something in the atmosphere which spoke to him, even if he couldn’t appreciate certain aspects of the place.

Stargazing, for example, didn’t make a lot of sense. Or it wouldn’t have without the others, but as it was when it came up he was as happy about it as the rest of the crew, albeit for different reasons. Stargazing, when all of them participated, was similar to a meditation session. The peacefulness in the others swept into his bones, silencing his worries for the time.

They took the Ghost out to a small clearing after successfully dragging Hera away from her work. At first they just sat down in the grass, talking quietly about anything and everything, then one by one laid down to stare at the sky (or, in his case, not stare). Hera used him as a personal pillow, one lek laying on his chest while he absentmindedly stroked the other. He listened to the sounds of nature surrounding them and the occasional murmuring voices. Hera kept silent, and if he didn’t know precisely how she sounded like when she was sleeping he would’ve thought she dozed off.

Sabine and Ezra were the loudest. He reached out with the Force to check on them - they were laying at the centre of the clearing with Luminara between them, and the three of them were lazily discussing saber techniques. Rocky start or not, he was grateful she was with them, helping out when his own teaching wasn’t enough.

Ahsoka felt like a statue, but Zeb was shifting around more than all of them, cursing the local plants sticking to his fur. It took a while, but in the end he seemed to find a comfortable position, and stretched out.

He was really thankful that they decided to leave Chopper to get a full maintenance check that day.

[romanaisalive]

Rescued

Star Wars Fictober Challenge, day 25 - prompt: heartbeat

Part of the ‘Luminara lives’ series

Someone was calling her name. The sound barely registered in her mind, feeling more like a dream than anything else. Her sense of reality was lost some time ago, she floated on the edge on consciousness since then. She didn’t know how much time passed, it could have been months or years or just a few hours, but she knew that nobody called her by her name anymore. This was... unusual.

The gentle touch on her back was even more unusual. She could barely recall the last time she was touched, and it was anything but friendly. This woke her up a bit more, but not enough to react, not even in the safety of her mind. Touch meant danger, one way or the other, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

She felt as the person beside her moved closer and easily picked her up, felt a low rumble against her head - they were talking again, but she couldn’t differentiate the words. Then suddenly they were moving, her head resting against their shoulder, faster and faster. She instinctively curled her fingers into the material of their clothes, trying to avoid the pain of falling, not knowing why she bothered. She heard the sound blasters made, a humming of a lightsaber, and her breath hitched.

She was handed to someone else, this time someone big and distinctively furry. A Wookie? Kashyyk?

The sounds of the battle slowly ceased, and she found herself desperately wishing them back. It was proof of something she considered important once, something she couldn’t concentrate enough to recall now. She needed the noise.

She couldn’t do anything about that, though, so she searched for the closest thing to listen to. When she tried it was surprisingly easy to find.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The heartbeat of whoever was holding her now echoed loudly in her ears.

She focused on it.

[romanaisalive]

Mirror

Star Wars Fictober Challenge, day 6 - prompt: friend

Can be read as a continuation of day 3.

Space was cold. Luminara tried to curl up more in her chair in the corner of the Ghost’s lounge, looking on as the others milled about. Hera convinced her to come out and spend some time in the same room as the crew, and so far she didn’t regret it. They were all careful around her, mindful of her personal space and avoided any sudden movement. An almost-forgotten streak of pride protested inside her mind, but she could acknowledge that she needed their thoughtfulness.

A quiet cough from the door averted her attention. Ahsoka stood there with a blanket in her hand which she questioningly lifted in a clear offering, and when she nodded she extended it to her, waiting until she grabbed it. The method had been in practice since she freaked out over Ezra handing her a spoon, and so far proved to be successful. (She wasn’t looking forward the time she needed to confront this particular problem.)

She gratefully wrapped the blanket around herself and looked around once more. Hera and Kanan were in the opposite corner of the room discussing something over what looked like flight patterns, Ezra and Zeb were teasing Chopper (she knew how that one was going to end) and Sabine took hold of the bigger part of the table, painting something. It was domestic, it was nice, it was... weirdly normal. She watched Ahsoka making her way to Kanan and Hera and leaned her head on the back of the chair. Maybe she should try to sleep like this - it seemed easier than at night, alone in her bed, even if she knew Ahsoka was there, only separated by a folding screen.

She almost drifted off when Sabine straightened up, stretching her arms and smiled at her, lifting the completed picture from the table and holding it in her direction.

“Do you like it?”

She squinted at the painting. It was a portrait of her - thin, battered, her skin marred by scars, but it had something she never saw in mirrors anymore.

“So?”, tilted her head Sabine.

“Yes”, she said quickly, clearing her throat. “Yes, thank you.”

“You can have it.”

She took it, and as she stared at the image she found herself blinking back tears. If the girl who didn’t know her before, likely wasn’t even born back then saw something in her... Then maybe, just maybe she wasn’t a lost cause after all.

[romanaisalive]

Destiny Has a Name

Star Wars Fictober Challenge, day 12 - prompt: destiny

Part of the ‘Luminara lives’ series, between day 3 and day 6

Kanan didn’t believe in destiny.

He may have, once upon a time. He still remembered the talk about his Grandmaster’s abilities, about shatterpoints, about roads not taken. It wasn’t exactly destiny, but something like that.

He didn’t believe anymore. His Master’s death couldn’t have been destiny - he refused to accept it, denied even the possibility that it was part of some twisted path he had to walk.

He continued to deny it even after he met Hera. She seemed to believe in some bigger purpose, and while they never named it it was still a little too close for comfort. He had been a part of something bigger and it didn’t work out.

When Ezra first came aboard the Ghost and the Force pushed at him like it haven’t done in a long time he refused again. After a few missions, after they started working together and he accepted his role as the boy’s Master (not because destiny, because he wanted to) he found the humor in that his supposedly-destined padawan shared his point of view on the topic.

When Hera announced that Luminara will be staying with them for an unspecified amount of time he knew it wasn’t destiny.

Except if it was named Hera Syndulla.

[romanaisalive]

Of Jedi and Crew

Star Wars Fictober Challenge, day 3 - prompt: emotion

Hera prides herself on having a clear head when others let their feelings cloud their judgement. She likes to think she knows what she’s doing, and even if she lets the circumstances rule over her at times, she always climbs out just fine. Kanan may be a Jedi, but she thinks - no, she knows - that she does a way better job of keeping her feelings at bay.

Now, though... now she doesn’t know what to feel.

Kanan is hers. Ezra is hers. Even Ahsoka is hers, in a way. She has her hands full of her disasters of Jedi, she doesn’t need to adopt more and their mess.

She doesn’t need to, but with every second she’s more convinced that she will.

It’s not fair, really. Maybe they all forgot that the once-untouchable Jedi proved to be very, very touchable - Kanan definitely did in this case - or what an Imperial prison could do to anyone, but neither of them anticipated this.

She silently watches Luminara staring at the door like she expects someone to come in and hurt her at any time and she has to swallow. She has no idea how this will work, she knows there must be someone out there more suited for the job, but the protective streak in her chest is the same when she took Kanan, Zeb, Sabine, Ezra with her, when she found Chopper...

She can tell the others whatever she wants but in her heart Hera already knows that the Ghost gained another broken crew member.