#luke and vestara

[magnetarbeam]

I just spent like 2 hours infodumping on Discord about a Skykhai AU that's kind of inspired by Myn and Lara's plot in the Wraith books.

Basically, Ves is sent to infiltrate the Jedi half a year before FotJ even starts, and having to fit in with that environment brings out the altruistic and compassionate impulses that have always been in her, as she and Ben are falling in love, and Vestara is, debatably of or against her will, finding a family in the Jedi and questioning everything the Sith ever taught her.

Then when FotJ does happen, she tags along on the quest with Luke and Ben, and coming into contact with the Sith again causes her to have all kinds of existential issues about who and what she is.

At some point in Ascension, the Jedi find out that she was a Sith and had been lying to them, and the ensuing fight leads to her ostensibly rejoining the Sith, except she actually spends Apocalypse constantly sabotaging them from the inside out.

Due to her accomplishments there, as well as a twist that I want to actually hopefully surprise some people with, she is recognized by the Jedi as having had a redemption arc and she gets to come back and stuff.

Sleep deprivation is starting to set in now.

[magnetarbeam]

THANK YOU

Luke being in character. Ves and the Skywalkers trusting each other for once.

Also, I'm so glad Fala's potential as a character has occurred to someone other than me. I still haven't thought of a less pleasant way to find out you're Force-sensitive than having your mind turned into a dark side nexus by Abeloth.

I'd be extremely curious to hear what you have in mind about that.

Why on earth was haven’t I been rereading Conviction more often?

I’m just going through the most interesting parts of Conviction (ie, the ones with Vestara and the Skywalkers), and there’s just so much I forgot and it’s amazing and asdkjadkjafk

Luke actually acting Jedi-like and more in character instead of whatever the hell Denning was doing?? them all working together really well as a team? luke being protective of ben and vestara just looking on and getting really sad because her dad would never? (srsly just give him the worst parent of the year award already) Later though it turns out he lied to the other sith so they actually don’t know who killed taalon, to protect her, and she’s all confused. ves acting insulted at being called a jedi at the beginning of the book but not at the end, and her just constantly experiencing thoughts and feelings she’s not used to. There’s a lot more emphasis on vestara’s character development and growth than on any ~romance~, and we finally get to see a whole book of her and the skywalkers just trusting each other and being on the same side. Honestly this is literally the only book in the entire trilogy where there’s no massive betrayals or breaches of trust by her.

Obv other stuff is good too like Seha Dorvald existing and going on a mission and Tola Annax being really dramatic, and Fala showing up (i’m already planning this elaborate story in my head about what happened to her in the months after apocalypse), and the bits of the other plot lines I saw, but !!!

I just want to quote all of it. Sorry if this is really ramble-y and disjointed but in conclusion: GOOD BOOK. Or at least the parts that I read of it.

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Luke Skywalker: I'm not laughing. I haven't laughed since my wife died. Vestara Khai: Why did you laugh when your wife died?

[stpeachery]

Still on my Legends brain rot, with no chance of recovery ♡

Extra under the cut ↓

[knightofthenewrepublic]

Lego Jedi Temple on Yavin

Without looking at the tags, who can name them all?

Without looking at the tags, who can name them all?

[star-wars-forever]

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi

by Sergeant Kreel

[my-last-brain-cell-is-socrates]

Brb on my way to make the most oddly specific playlist titled "songs that apply to both Luke and Vestara"

[legends-expo]

Happy 10th release anniversary to the novel Crucible by Troy Denning! This book is chronologically the last story within the Legends timeline featuring the original trio of Luke, Leia and Han. Many loose ends are tied up in this novel, but some things, like the fate of Vestara Khai, remain unknown.

Love the Expanded Universe? Join us for LegendsCon on September 9th & 10th at the Marriott Burbank Convention Center in California! Featured guests include Randy Stradley, Matthew Stover, Corinna Bechko, Sean Stewart, Barbara Hambly and Abel Peña. Learn more on our website at https://legends-con.com

[tremendouskoalachild]

the canonical (well, Legends, but you know what i mean) version of Ben Skywalker and Vestara Khai's relationship is so fucking funny

their first kiss is him consoling her after she has to bisect her father. their last (and possibly second??) kiss is her reassuring him while his father is in critical condition, while fully knowing he's about to find out she betrayed his family (he then tries to arrest her, they fight it out and she ditches him in an evil sentient spaceship)

they're officially an item for a couple weeks maybe? (before that they've been flirting for idk, a couple months to a year? the timeline is a mess in this series.) they tell Luke (who is their only surviving parent) about the relationship immediately, too. she is never introduced to the rest of Ben's family for no reason

she mournfully thinks about killing him all the time, including the period when they're together. she spends more time fake-mourning Ben than actually thinking about all of her dead loved ones and colleagues combined

i'm pretty sure they are both each other's first human their age they've met (on page that is). Vestara has a different species bff who gets killed by Ben and she doesn't care all that much. unless we count that interaction i believe Ben literally never meets another person his age lmao

when they meet Vestara presumably knows a lot about him since he's a) famous, b) friendly af and c) has personal history with the evil spaceship that becomes her bestie. to Ben she is the mysterious sole survivor of a group trying to kill him and his dad who they then chase around a bit and take hostage. he doesn't find out all that much by the end of the series either

despite being the main romance arc of their series they only meet four books in, start dating midway through book 8 and break up in book 9. it's a slowburn but only if you're burning a fuse

regrettably these two are my otp

[joellesolo]

Luke: Maybe I'm the one who needs to change. Maybe I'm too set in my ways to believe that someone who was born Sith, raised Sith, and grew up surrounded by Sith can set that aside enough to become a Jedi.

Jaina: Well, I would have used the word 'crotchety' myself, but yes, that's what I'm thinking.

Luke: That's what's wrong with younglings today. No respect for your elders.

[magnetarbeam]

How's this?

JADE SHADOW

HYPERSPACE EN ROUTE TO KLATOOINE

"Vestara, are- kriff!" 

Ben's shocked exclamation was obviously the result of having the blade of an expertly crafted shikkar placed up against his throat, a split second after Vestara reflexively called upon the Force to push him into the wall. 

As Vestara began to register what she had just done, she pulled back and released him. 

"What was that for?" 

"You surprised me," Vestara replied coolly, putting the blade away. 

"I just wanted to know if you were hungry," Ben said plainly, his tone one of trying and failing to not sound as rattled as he felt. 

"Oh." Then, as seemed to happen constantly in Ben's presence, her emotions betrayed her. "Yes," she admitted sheepishly. "I think I am."

Internally, she chastised herself for the display. These people were, for the moment, showing kindness and consideration. But there had to be another motive at work, a knife they would only draw if she presented her back to them. If she faltered in the face of their hospitality, if she let them get to her. 

There always was.

—

JADE SHADOW

HYPERSPACE EN ROUTE TO KLATOOINE

"She's really traumatized." 

Luke raised an eyebrow at the words his son chose to open the conversation.

Ben sat down next to him in the cockpit and described the incident that had apparently occurred a few minutes ago. 

"I went to ask her if she was hungry and she pushed me against the wall and pulled a knife. She's on edge, Dad."

Luke had seen too much in life to be particularly shocked, but he still felt a pulse of pity for both of the teenagers. 

"I don't have to imagine what the Sith might have done to her, to make her like that," Ben concluded, the words showing again how much he had been through in his short life, "but I know there's good in her."

Luke knew where his son was going, of course. "You want to turn her?" 

"I want to protect her," Ben clarified. "I want her to be able to trust someone. If we're lucky, maybe she'll come over to the Light too."

Luke sighed. "And if we're going to get her to trust us, we have to trust her first."

"That's what you did with Mom, right?"

Luke paused to think that over. How many times had he let Mara have his back, even when there were still compulsions in her head demanding that she kill him? How many times had she threatened to make him suffer for what she thought he had done to her?

And then she hadn't. 

"I suppose you have a point," Luke admitted.

—

JADE SHADOW

KLATOOINE

As Ben read over Threepio's rough translation of the conversation between Vestara and her father, his anger became increasingly hard to control. 

"What kind of parent does that? Who tries to use their kid's emotions like..." Even as he said the words, Ben knew the question was only rhetorical.

To his side, the silence spoke volumes of Luke's own reaction. 

"We need to keep her away from him," Luke concluded eventually. 

Vestara Khai another version

She had no problems with her best (and only canonical) friend being willing to kill her. She expected it. This statement alone shows you were she’s at. I’m not talking about trust issues later on, I’m talking about constantly.

On Dathomir the witches are careful with her, the girl doesn’t even calm down and acts like she’s walking on eggshells the entire time.

It’s no better when she’s on the ship of her literal enemies. You could call it post traumatic stress… only it’s different. There is no post, it’s ongoing, in her mind everything kind they do will have a price. She owes them now, but she has no intention of paying it back and she’s waiting for them to realize and get violent.

She jumps when the ship makes sounds she’s not used to.

Ben’s had that shikkar (the one Gavar gave her) pulled on him so many times already. She tries to hide it, that she’s afraid. But this isn’t Kesh and unlike there everyone is not in this constant state.

They let her keep the knife. She hasn’t hurt anyone and it’s clear she thinks she’s going to need to defend herself. Best not to put her further on edge.

She doesn’t flinch at death, and she’ll hide her injuries to the point of collapse because she doesn’t want them to see her weakness.

When she starts to get closer to Ben Luke’s opposition is different. His fear that Ben will get hurt is more about Vestara misunderstanding his sons intentions and defending herself. She sees almost everything as a threat.

They want nothing more than to get her out, they’ve talked about taking her to a psychiatric facility but it’s clear she wants to remain Sith. Why does she want to remain Sith?!

Her manipilations don’t work, she just thinks they do. They already care too much, they just want to protect her.

In the eyes of her people she’s a model apprentice. The Jedi see a lost little girl.

[magnetarbeam]

While talking through Voices of the Force stuff on Discord, it occured to me that Luke post-Conviction, trying to be compassionate to Vestara and give her any amount of comfort and stability, and something familiar that doesn't mean Sith stuff, might have introduced piloting as a focus for Vestara's ambitious nature.

Something she knows she's good at, and enjoys, but didn't have a lot of chances to practice before, and a goal for her to work toward that isn't part of her crisis about being Jedi or Sith.

Even if Ves decides she's not quite ready to live as a Jedi (the context in which this came up was if alive!Mara could convince Vestara to talk about Natua, and how they'd work through it without Ves rejoining the Sith because of it) this still gives her plenty of chances to find community and common interests among the Jedi and their friends.

Doesn't even have to be combat piloting, although I think doing that in simulation would work best for this.

[myevilmouse]

September: Enlightenment

"She tried to kill you!” Ben yelled.  “Remember our last time on Dathomir?”

“I remember,” his father said evenly.  “The coven had been swallowed by the Dark, yet you wanted to save them.”

“Yeah,” Ben snarled.  “I was wrong.”

“You were right.  We had to try.  Now we have to try again.”

Ben was silent, eyes shining with unpleasant memories.

Luke waited.

“The Jedi path is never easy,” Ben sighed finally.  “I should’ve figured that out by now.”

Luke rested a hand on Ben’s shoulder.  “It's never too late for enlightenment.”

“Maybe for Vestara.”

“Maybe not,” Luke answered.  “Let's go.”

Just a reminder that this series of drabbles is based on prompts from The Year of Luke 2023 by @lukeskywalkerfanart. Now that I'm caught up, you'll have to wait until October for the next one! Thank you for reading!

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Vestara Khai: So now we're forced to work together. How ironic.  Ben Skywalker: No, that's not ironic. Ironic would be if we had to work together to hurt each other.  Gavar Khai: No, ironic would be if, instead of the Jedi imprisoning Vestara, Vestara imprisoned them.  Sarasu Taalon: I think it would be ironic if blasters didn't shoot lasers, but instead squirted a healing salve that cured all wounds! Dyon Stad: I think it would be ironic if everyone was made of iron.  [2 hours later] Luke Skywalker: Okay, we can all agree that while the current situation may not be totally ironic, the fact that we now have to work together is odd in an unexpected way that defies our normal circumstances. Is everyone happy with that?

[2stepadmiral]

Decidedly not. I firmly believe that Daala earned her position, but her only arc where she was a truly competent character was when she helped fight Darth Caedus with a network of resources and allies she had built up over decades (though I have questions about her comment on how she built those alliances helping worlds the New Republic didn’t during the Yuuzhan vong war).

In Jedi Academy, she was an incompetent sadist. She could’ve used her formidable fleet of star destroyers to leverage a position of power from the imperial remnant and gain the resources she needed for a protracted campaign, but she refused to do that because men were mean to her at Caridia. She instead launched a campaign that she acknowledged wasn’t going to have any effect on the shape of the war and was just going to be a series of guerilla attacks of terror and wanton destruction, during which her only success was the massacring of defenseless colonists. And the whole time, anytime she was beaten, she refused to learn from her failure and try to recalibrate her overall strategy, plotted ways to hurt the new Republic even more sadistically (specifically trying to order one of her star destroyers on a suicide run to crash into Coruscant and wipe out billions in the process), and barely restrain yourself from throwing tantrums over how unfair her situation was.

In Fate of the Jedi, the credibility she gained in Legacy of the Force was completely squandered by how idiotically she pursued her goals. Her desire to bring the Jedi more firmly under government control isn’t necessarily a bad one, but instead of just meeting with Luke and saying “Hey, I feel like you guys kind of get away with doing your own thing a bit too much, we kinda need to fix that,” she launched a political campaign to forcibly make the Jedi start acting on her standards and refused to communicate or discuss with the order the how or the why. She tried to Institute government selected observers to shadow every member of the Jedi order at virtually all times outside of the temple, even when they were simply on social visits, and instituted a special Jedi court in order to exercise additional authority over them when the observers were overturned in court. She also went around encasing Jedi in carbonite (regardless of whether or not they had committed any crimes) simply because they were suffering from an illness and point-blank refused to allow the order to try and cure these Jedi, refused to let the Jedi have any access to the imprisoned ones, and even prevented family members of those Jedi from seeing the captured Jedi before they were encased. She also hired a company of Mandalorians to try and force her Will on the Jedi by laying siege to the temple because they wouldn’t bow down to her every whim. all of this could’ve been avoided, if instead of being guided by her personal dislike of the order and expecting them to just start acting like another branch of the military, she had just sat down with a couple of the council members and found a workable solution.

In short, Daala is a deeply incompetent character. Granted I haven’t read some of the other book she’s been in, and granted her flaws come largely from so many different writers working with her, but even so, two of her biggest moments were in these two series, and she was clearly a poor villain in both. The EU has a lot of great, strong, female characters, like Jaina Solo, Mara Jade, Mira Gev, Vestara Khai, and Saba Sebatyne, just to name a few, but Daala is not one of them.

did natasi daala successfully utilize girl power by being an imperial admiral, running a secret superweapon research & development facility that designed the sun crusher, becoming chief of state of the galactic alliance, & using her position to try and end the jedi order?

[my-last-brain-cell-is-socrates]

*rhythmically* "She, queen of the kings--"

Vestara cheekily patting Luke's cheek might be the most hilarious thing I've ever read. Slay girl

(FOTJ: Conviction)