Rikki Barnes aka Nomad (nomaderwhat) wrote in starnomad, @ 2015-04-25 18:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: mara jade skywalker, character: rikki barnes, date: [61.03], location: jade shadow |
Who: Rikki Barnes & Mara Jade
When: 61.03
Where: The Jade Shadow
What: Little itty bitty baby Ben!
Rating: Low
Status: COMPLETE.
Mara had told her more than once that Rikki couldn't rely on her knowledge of the future, not completely. After all the timeline had been changed just by Rikki's arrival and she had been actively tampering with it. Just what would and could change was completely up for debate. But Rikki also knew that there were certain parts of the future that simply had to happen, that there was no way that she could possibly influence them to change. Which was evident in the moment as they were making their way off Coruscant, heading out into space to meet up with what she knew would be the rest of the Solo Clan. Granted she believed they would still be separated by atmosphere but it was something. Yavin wouldn't be long after that though, a few weeks maybe? It was hard to tell when all she was working off were stories that Anakin had told her over months and the occasion reading of the wikipedia when she had gotten too curious for her own good. Still she knew something had to be happening. Tinkering on her blaster, she kept looking up and watching Mara carefully. Ben was born around this time. Anakin knew about him and Anakin's birthday was coming up. 16 going on 17 never to reach 18 unless Rikki had something to do with it. Which meant that Mara had to be pregnant. Unless something had gone wrong, unless Rikki had changed something that caused the Skywalkers to lose the child they had wanted so badly. "Are you feeling all right, Aunt Mara?" Rikki asked as she looked up again. Of course Mara was feeling all right -- more or less. Truthfully though, she was distracted but so far no one other than Luke had noticed. Luke had been right when he'd said, if a teenage boy doesn't have it brought to his attention he won't be looking for it. Her Nephew had noticed absolutely nothing. But the truth was, there was something to notice. Mara was pregnant. She'd noticed herself when she'd done a check for health and looking for the disease earlier in the month, but the only person she had shared this information with was Luke. It had seemed safest somehow to keep it quiet until they were certain about what was happening - whether there might be complications from the disease. Perhaps too Mara was a bit afraid that if they spoke too soon, something would happen to spoil it. Which was not to say that she was superstitious - or that she actually truly believed it, but still. With Rikki's question, she looked over at Rikki and offered her a smile. "I'm fine." Had Rikki actually caught onto the fact that she was feeling a bit anxious. She thought she'd been hiding it well, but the girl did have a decent ability at reading her. Or maybe she knew something... Mara put down what she was working on and gave her niece a look. "Why do you ask?" "I-" Rikki immediately closed her mouth with a small frown as she tried to puzzle through exactly what she should say. There was so much about the future that she couldn't tell them, couldn't tell anyone. They were already playing with forces they didn't necessarily understand but sometimes, sometimes, Rikki just couldn't help the fact that she knew things, things that she shouldn't possibly be able to know. And she knew Mara had to be pregnant. The timing was right. But how did she bring up the fact that she was curious to know if it had happened? And if it hadnt, what then? Let Mara know that she was supposed to be having a child but somehow Rikki's interference had ruined that for her? "Just. There's this thing." Rikki stumbled out instead, looking at her blaster momentarily before setting her face with determination and facing Mara head on. "Are you pregnant?" Mara had not been expecting that question. It was startling, but almost as quickly as she found herself startled she realized she shouldn't have been. In fact, Rikki probably knew - well, if she knew that Mara was pregnant, or she was asking, then it must be because she had a child in the future Rikki knew of. Anakin had known of a child, and he'd told her, or she'd known of the child from her sources or... Mara clamped down on the ramblings and questions and turned to look at Rikki. There was no point in asking how she knew. She only said: "We're not telling anyone." And she looked down at her own blaster and then back up at Rikki. "At least we weren't planning on it just yet. You know though, or you knew, from when Anakin is from?" "I won't tell anyone!" Rikki immediately fell onto the promise, her eyes wide at the confirmation of her suspicions laid out for her. Which was a relief really. It meant that she hadn't completely veered their lives off course. And Ben was a good kid. It would suck if she had somehow done something for him to not exist. Not that she would have intentionally done something like that but his parents hadn't exactly had a teenager from the Undercity living in their apartment in Anakin's original timeline so who knew? But some of the stress bled out of Rikki's shoulders as the news settled into her mind. "But yeah." Rikki nodded subconsciously as her shy little smile replied to Mara in kind. "I mean, I won't say anything more about it. Unless you want me to." Rikki seemed so relieved that Mara almost smiled. She supposed they were all a little tense. With the disappearance of a Jedi Apprentice at Duro, and the possibility of Peace Brigade involvement, or even shady dealings within CorDuro, it was difficult to not feel some anxiety. Both at the possibility of her putting herself into danger, and also the possibility of putting Anakin or Rikki into danger as well. But hopefully it would be simple, and not nearly as dangerous as she was thinking it might be. Mara knew that was unlikely. "Please don't yet," she said simply. "Luke and I... I want to make certain everything is all right before we say anything to anyone. I just... found it myself. How did you know? Did you know of... well, my child?" Mara still didn't know if it was a boy or a girl, and she realized she shouldn't ask the question, probably. It wasn't something she needed to know, but still she wanted to know desperately if this child would be all right - if the disease had caused any difficulty for her unborn baby. It was selfish to ask - but she was going to anyway. Mostly, she had been so very good in this regard. Rikki immediately brightened up, the smile growing in place. This was something she could do. It was just a small bit of knowledge of the future, but it was more similar to telling Luke that Mara would survive her illness. So much of what she knew of the future was shrouded in darkness, there were so few things that she could share that were actually filled with hope. And really that was what Ben was, Luke and Mara's hope. And he was still going to exist, he was still going to grow and thrive into the jedi his parents would want. "The baby's fine." Rikki was careful in her language to not reveal too much. Even this was something she probably shouldn't be talking about. But it was just a little thing, a little peace of mind that was all too rare in this galaxy right now. Mara's relief was palpable. She placed the blaster on the table in front of her and she closed her eyes for a moment letting some relief flood off of her. Her baby was fine. Whether it was a he or a she... that didn't matter. She and Luke had given up on the idea of ever having children of their own. And while the timing might not be ideal - the middle of a war, where the galaxy was being irretrievably damaged and altered, was hardly the best time to have a child - she couldn't be sorry for it. It had been unexpected, perhaps even miraculous, and knowing that the baby would be all right well, Mara would take that gift and hold onto it. She breathed out and opened her eyes, looking over at Rikki. "Thank you," she said softly. "I won't, I won't ask more, but thank you." Mara tilted her head towards the younger woman. "We really did just find out, I felt - well, I felt something and it took me a while to figure out what it was." The look on Mara's face was almost mesmerizing. Rikki was not sure if she had ever seen the other woman so at ease. Of course a great weight likely was just lifted off her shoulders with this knowledge. Between her sickness and the war how could it not have been? The galaxy was full of what could and would go wrong. Ben Skywalker would be one of the few bright spots that they would have in their lives for the next few years. And if anyone deserved that it was the Skywalkers. Rikki wanted to make sure that they would keep that bit of happiness. "I mean, I just knew it had to be soon." Rikki looked down at her blaster, quiet for a small moment. "They're born not long before." Her lips pulled tight for a moment and she forced a smile. "Well I just knew that it had to be soon." Mara's face sobered. She realised in an instant what 'before' meant, and it was enough to pull her into silence. She reached for her blaster again, working through the process of cleaning it and ensuring it'd be ready to use if it was needed when they got to Duro. Of course intellectually she knew that time was closing on her nephew. but it was one thing to know it intellectually, and another to put a date on it, or a near date - which is what they had essentially just done. Anakin would meet her child, but he wouldn't live much longer - a year, at best. It wasn't much. She didn't know what to say. To say it didn't have to happen that way, when she was pregnant which was a thing that clearly did happen that way seemed disingenuous. She finished the blaster and put it away in its holster. "When you say they," she said thoughtfully, pulling away from the darker topic and back to the one that could make her smile. "You don't mean I'm having twins, I hope?" "You didn't ask me what gender." Rikki as grateful for the reminder of kinder thoughts. It was too easy now for her thoughts to stray back to the looming shadow of Anakin's death. But there had been no news of Jedi disappearing, at least not like they should be if the voxyn were beginning to hunt. Then again she wasn't entirely sure when that was supposed to start happening. The distraction of something as wonderful as a baby, well, it was welcome more than Rikki could really say. It was a distraction, sure, but she didn't have to agonize over Anakin every moment of her life. "So I didn't want to tell you if you don't want to know. But it's not twins. That's just Leia." her smile became a little more natural. "No, I didn't," Mara admitted. "It's not that I'm not curious, but at the same time I realize there's a bit of... well I've probably already asked more than I should and I don't want to put you in the position of having to choose whether to tell me something or not. But- the twins thing... I'm rather glad it's just one." And that was for a number of reasons, one of the most important was that one child - when she had it outside of herself - would be difficult enough to protect. And she'd watched the challenges that Han and Leia had gone through with Jacen and Jaina. And the war that had been being fought at the time had been far more civil in many ways. The Imperial Remnant of the time - well, there had been dangers, but nothing as brutal as the Yuuzhan Vong - not truthfully. "And I suppose you know all sorts of things that you can't say, or shouldn't, but it's enough to know that it will be safe and healthy. It had been at the heart of my concerns." Mara reached inward, touching the small tiny growth that she had recognized as another presence - part of her and part of Luke. "I suspect it will tell me whether it's a male or a female soon enough. I've never much thought of myself as the maternal type... but right now - this opportunity. I'm grateful for it." It felt good to say it to someone who wasn't Luke. Someone who had at least some possibility of understanding how much she had wanted this. Rikki watched Mara carefully, falling quiet as she did. Maybe Mara didn't see herself as maternal but Rikki definitely saw it. She saw a woman who reached out to help others and not just in the obvious ways that a jedi would. Mara had helped cultivate Rikki's mind, she had helped her learn how to survive even better in this galaxy than she could have ever done on her own. Maybe it wasn't hugs and kisses and reassuring words, but they were lessons that someone who cared would give. There were moments when Rikki felt like so much more than just a source of information for them, like she could almost be part of their small little family. "I think you'll be good at it." Rikki finally offered as she turned back to her blaster. "And that's not a knowing the future thing. I just think you'll be good at it." Mara looked over at her niece. It was nice to hear, and nice to hear from someone whom she'd spent quite a bit of time with in the past month. She suspected it would be complicated particularly if the child she carried was a daughter. She had seen enough of Leia and Jaina's struggles to realize it might be difficult. But it was a journey she could not help but be excited about beginning to step into. "Fair enough," she said aloud, offering Rikki a small smile. She picked up a datapad in front of her and flipped through to the reports and information she had prepped for Rikki. When they arrived at Duro, they would need to be ready to go, and they would be undercover. Mara had chosen the disguises she had because they would both hide their faces, but also would not be locals and they would not have to know the things that locals would know. This went double for Rikki, and she handed the datapad over. "This is some information for you to review before we get there. I believe it'll be essential for what we're doing." |