Disclaimers: The usual.
    Summary: Mara and Luke sum up their past in a fairy tale format to put their four-year-old granddaughter to sleep.
    Timeline: In between the events of Masks Part 4 and 5.
 
 

     "Grandma, tell me a story," Laurel said, placing her small hands on Mara's knee.
Mara looked down from the data pad she had been reading to take in the sight of her only
granddaughter, staring up at her with wide, multi-colored eyes--looking rather blue at the
moment--with the most adoring, pleading expression on her face.
     She sighed. "Okay, one story, and then you *have* to stay in bed, okay?" Laurel
nodded eagerly and Mara patted the couch beside her. Laurel scrambled up and huddled
into Mara's side, putting her head on Mara's lap.
     "Tell me a fairy tale," Laurel requested, getting comfortable.
     "Okay, which one?"
     "Make one up."
     Mara almost snorted. "Make one up," she murmured. "Okay, once upon a time
there was a little girl named---"
     "Mara," Laurel said.
     "Okay, Mara. Mara lived in a beautiful home with her loving mother and
grandfather. But when she was 14 years old, an evil wizard came and kidnapped her and
took her to his fortress a thousand miles away."
     "That's not very far," Laurel murmured.
     "Okay, a thousand light years away," Mara amended.
     "Okay. That works."
     Mara grinned. "Okay, so the evil wizard kidnapped the little girl and made her a
princess, but he wasn't a very nice wizard. He lied to the princess and made her believe all
sorts of things that weren't true--"
     "Like he was a nice man?"
     "Absolutely. And he made her do all kinds of terrible things that she didn't want to
do, but he made her believe that all she wanted in her life was to serve him."
     "What kinds of terrible things?"
     "Like killing dragons."
     "Like the pretty horn dragons on Tarus Seven?" Laurel turned her head and looked
up at her grandmother, her eyes wide.
     "The ones with the pretty rainbow scales? Just like that."
     "That's mean!"
     "He was a mean wizard." Mara stroked her hair. "Well, one day while the princess
was out running her terrible errands for the wizard, a handsome prince came and slew the
wizard."
     "Oh good! And the prince and princess got married!"
     "No, not yet. You see, the princess was away, and when she came back she found
the wizard dead and swore that she would get revenge on whoever had done it. And she
knew that it had been the handsome prince, so she swore to kill him."
     "But why? The wizard was bad!"
     "Not to the princess he wasn't. He had made her believe he was a nice man,
remember?"
     "Oh, yeah, I forgot. So what did the princess do?"
     "Well, with the wizard dead, she had no home, so she had to leave and wander
around the galaxy. She spent five years searching for a new home, but never found one.
And then, one day, while she was out in her spaceship, she happened across another ship
that was in distress. And guess who was inside?"
     "The handsome prince!"
     "Yes. He was on a mission to slay another wizard, one that Princess Mara knew
was evil. But she didn't care, all she wanted was to get revenge on the prince. So she took
him captive and tried to kill him."
     "Oh no! Did the prince escape?"
     "He wanted to, but he knew that the princess was very powerful and that he would
do better to get her help, and make her reconsider killing him."
     "Mara," came a voice from behind her, "I think you're leaving something out."
     Mara looked up into Luke's sky-blue eyes and smiled. "Oh, what's that?" she asked
slyly.
     "Grandpa, you know this story?" Laurel asked.
     "I sure do. You're leaving out that the prince fell in love with the princess at first
sight."
     "Well, I don't know about that," Mara muttered.
     "And that the princess," Luke continued, "had also fallen in love with the prince,
even though she thought she wanted to kill him."
     Laurel frowned, but then smiled mischievously. "That's a weird way to fall in love,"
she said, sounding a good ten years older than she was.
     "Isn't it?" Mara agreed in a murmuring voice. "Okay, Grandpa," she challenged,
"you know the story, you tell us what happens next."
     "Well," Luke said, coming around and sitting down on the couch next to Laurel,
"the prince managed to convince the princess to help him, and since she found herself
unable to kill him, she went along, figuring that eventually she would find the right
moment and get rid of the prince and the wizard at the same time."
     Mara grinned at him, but said nothing.
     "So did they defeat the other wizard?" Laurel asked.
     "They sure did. And when they did, Princess Mara realized that the other wizard,
the one who had kidnapped her when she was young? He was also very evil, and he had
hurt her without her ever realizing it before. But the handsome prince, he made her see it,
and when he did, she realized that she couldn't kill him."
     "Did they realize they were in love?"
     Luke sighed, gazing at Mara. "Not yet."
     Laurel snorted, just like her grandmother. "Sometimes princes and princesses can
be really dumb."
     "Tell me about it," Luke agreed, his eyes not leaving Mara's face.
     "But didn't they ever figure it out?"
     "Not for a long time. You see, the princess was still very young, and she needed
some time to go off on her own and figure out some things."
     "What kind of things?"
     "Grown up things," Mara interjected.
     Laurel muttered something. Luke laughed.
     "And don't forget," Mara added, "that the prince was still on a crusade to kill all the
evil wizards. He was too busy with his quest to think about the princess in any romantic
way. He needed time, too."
     "Yes, he did," Luke agreed. "But then, a lot of years later, the princess went on a
mission to stop an evil brotherhood that had holed up in a fortress on a planet far out on
the rim. But something happened and she wound up getting lost in a deep, dark cavern
underneath the fortress. The prince heard about what happened, and he went to go rescue
her."
     "Much to the princess' embarrassment," Mara said.
     "And together they defeated the brother...the hood...the bad guys?" Laurel said,
getting very, very sleepy.
     "Yes, they did," Luke told her. "And they finally realized, while they were lost
together in that dark cavern underneath the fortress, that they were in love."
     "And they got married?"
     "Yep," Mara said, smoothing the hair away from Laurel's brow.
     The little girl shut her eyes. "About time," she whispered, and was promptly asleep.
     "I'd say that's an accurate statement," Mara said, winking at Luke.
     Luke stood up and walked around the couch. He reached out and ran his hand
through the underside of Mara's hair, right by her neck. It sent a chill down her spine.
     "At least the prince got the princess," he said, kissing her.
     She murmured against his mouth. "Don't you mean, the princess got the prince?"
     Luke smiled. "Also an accurate statement."
     Mara nipped at his lip. "Goodnight, Skywalker."
     "Goodnight, Princess Mara." He reached down and carefully picked Laurel up,
taking her away to bed.
     Mara watched him go and sighed. "Who says happy-ever-afters are cheap?" And
she went back to her datapad, feeling peaceful.