Afterwards Luke couldn't understand how he had so completely failed at recognizing the danger the red-headed women had posed. Sure, her appearance was very unremarkable – wearing brown boots and trousers and a loose dark green tunic she had managed to blend in perfectly with the crowd on the market. The only thing even closely noteworthy about the young woman was her red-gold hair that she wore in a tight braid from which some strands had come loose and were now framing her freckled face.

Still, Luke couldn't fathom how his growing Jedi senses had not warned him. One moment he had crossed the market with Sabine and entered this abandoned building, and the next moment they had been attacked by the redhead. As soon as Luke had activated his lightsaber, she had already pulled it out of his hands with the Force – she was a Force user! – and pointed it at his throat. And Sabine – who had visibly hesitated to pull her blaster – had been disarmed just as quickly. Now she was staring at her own weapon which the redhead held to her face.

"Mara", Sabine said, "Is that the right way to greet an old friend?" She took a step forward.

Mara's gaze, which had been focused on Luke, flickered over to Sabine. "Turn around and leave, friend", she said with a strange tone in her voice. "This is not about you. My orders are to kill Luke Skywalker. Go as long as you can."

"I can't let you do this." Sabine took another step forward.

"So it's really true then," Mara sneered. "You're a traitor! I wouldn't believe it when they showed me the recordings. I thought that there had to be some reason, maybe an undercover mission, but now?"

"A traitor?" Sabine's voice rose. "Don't you know what the Empire did to Mandalore? What it did to our home?"

"The Empire is our home!"

Luke could sense a great wave of mixed emotions coming from Mara. But the hand pointing the lightsaber at him was still steady and he did not yet dare to make a move.

"The Empire protects us", Mara continued, "It gives order to this chaotic galaxy, assuring that every single one of its citizens can live in peace."

"Peace!" Sabine gave a dry laugh. "Have you somehow failed to notice that we're in a civil war? And order? That's just another word for taking away everyone's freedom." Sabine took another step until she felt the blaster pressing into her forehead. Their eyes were locked – brown against green – and Mara started trembling now.

This was his moment. Luke took a chance. He made a force-grab and pulled the lightsaber out of Mara's hand just the way she had done it before. Mara pushed Sabine out of the way and turned her blaster to shoot Luke, but he rammed his body into hers and used his free hand to grab her wrist.

A shot was fired, Sabine screamed, and then suddenly everything was quiet.

The world stood still for a moment as Mara's green eyes gazed into Luke's blue ones. Then she let the blaster drop to the ground, pulled herself from her enemy's grab and knelt next to her friend, who was lying on the ground.

"No no no!" Frantically she tore at Sabine's clothing, revealing a big bleeding wound in her belly.

Luke was at her side in a second. "We need to get her to the med-center", he said, pressing his hands against the wound.

"She's losing too much blood. She'll be dead before we reach it." Desperation crept into Mara's voice and Luke had to use every single bit of his willpower to stop himself from panicking.

"There's another way", he said. "A Force Healing."

"A what?!"

"I've never done it, but Ben told me about it."

"Who is Ben?" Mara looked at him like he had gone mad, but Luke chose to ignore her. Instead he closed his eyes, calmed his frantic breathing and reached out into the Force.

He could feel it, surrounding him, flowing through him. He could feel Sabine's presence, her pulse racing too fast, her life slipping through the fingers of his real hand. Luke concentrated on her flesh, her veins, trying to close what had been torn open. He was succeeding, but it was all happening too slowly.

The Force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet. Vader's words echoed through his head. Yes, Luke had access to that power, but it was not enough. Not nearly enough.

Suddenly there was another hand covering his; Mara's mind touching his.

Show me, she whispered through the Force, and he did.

Luke touched her mind and it was a frightening experience. Darkness was there, and death. A little girl was crying, but as Luke reached for her, a wall materialized itself between them.

"You are not welcome here." The words made Luke turn around and a teenaged Mara was standing in front of him. She was wearing nothing but a ripped black tunic that barely reached her knees; there were rope burns on her wrists and a bloody screwdriver in her hand.

"This way!" Suddenly Mara - in her actual grown-up self - was standing next to him. She took his hand and guided him to a white door. But no, it was not white, and there was no door either! There was just a field of energy, pulsating in the rhythm of Mara's heart beat. She lifted their clasped hands to touch it.

Mara saw Luke. He was a small child, building a sand castle, wind and sunlight in his hair. He was a young man, standing next to a burnt corpse, tears in his eyes. He was climbing into an X-Wing, turning his head to catch one last glimpse of the princess, heart pounding in his chest. He was sitting at a bar, surrounded by his pilot friends while Sabine used a black pen to draw the symbol of the rebellion on his upper arm, talking about how she would tattoo every single one of the guys. He was hanging on a ledge, screaming out in pain that was not purely physical.

Mara opened her eyes, gasping for air. She found herself lying on the floor as Luke's face hovered over her with a worried look. "Sabine?" she croaked.

"Over here, sleepyhead."

Mara turned to look at her friend, who was sitting against the wall, looking pale but definitely alive. So alive. Mara tried to get up but suddenly felt dizzy and would have fallen down if Luke had not readily caught her in his arms.

"I'm sorry", he said. "I let this go too far; I should have been more careful with you."

"Do you say that to all the girls?" He blushed slightly and Mara smirked to herself. Of course she knew that he had never done anything like this before with another girl. Actually, he hadn't done anything interesting at all with any girl ever. Mara knew quite a few things about Luke Skywalker now, and the unsettling thought crossed her mind that he knew those kind of things about her now too.

"Guys", Sabine said. "Are you done posing like the star-crossed lovers of a holo drama now? Because I think we've spent enough time in this stinking building for today."

Luke and Mara agreed.