A few weeks after she abruptly hung up on me, Mara and I were having lunch in a small café near the Palace that catered almost exclusively to government officials. So Mara and I were having a wonderful time surrounded by secretaries, adjuncts, security personell, and even the occasional senator.

"I've got to hand it to you, Skywalker," she said, in between bites of the Ithorian dish she had ordered. "You sure know how to show a girl a good time."

Her words set my face burning and I considered the lovely woman across from me. Mara Jade was like a finely crafted blade; beautiful, deadly, and capable of cutting you if you weren't careful. I loved her deeply. How could I not? I'd seen her cut down egos with a word and men with uncanny accuracy. No other being in the galaxy could so frustrate me as she and yet she could remind me of who I really was whenever I let my duty go to my head. I loved her and now I had finally worked up the courage to tell her.

Alright Luke, I said to myself, you can do this. Just say how you feel. Don't choke.

"So Mara…" I began. Mara looked up at me, an eyebrow raised, waiting for my sentence to conclude. Don't choke.

"I, uh, was wondering…" Don't choke.

"Out with it, Skywalker," she said impatiently.

I panicked. "Would you like to come to Yavin for training?" I asked in a rush.

Wait, what? What are you doing?

I could see by her stony expression that this was the wrong thing to say, but I kept babbling on about duty and responsibility. Mara threw her drink in my face and stormed off. The other café patrons gawked at me as I sat there, my shirt and hair soaked and my head in my hands. I was certain that this little incident would be in all the gossip columns by the end of the workday.

Goddamit Skywalker, I thought. You choked.