Chapter 3

The dinner and the reception following were held at the exclusive Manarai Mountain Resort in the biggest, grandest ballroom. The resort had agreed to close for the event, so the only people in attendance were the people who had actually been invited. At the front doors, there were security guards, and they were taking their job very serious on this night. The only way anybody got in was by showing security their wedding invitations.

The enormous ballroom that Leia had chosen for her reception was quite spacious and could hold over a thousand guests easily. As the first of the guests entered the ballroom they were awed by the beautiful setting. There were twinkling lights everywhere and many different flower arrangements were set all over the place. Everything in the room was decorated in lilac purple or rose pinks, which were Leia's wedding colors. In the corner of the room there was a table with an ice sculpture of a swan, a rare bird that lived on Alderaan. Next to it was the wedding cake that had six different layers and was made by the best pastry baker in the galaxy who was known for his intricate wedding cake designs.

As the guests arrived and got through the security check, they entered the large foyer that was the entrance into the Amore Bello ballroom. Many of the guests stopped there and were mingling with one another before finding their assigned seats inside the ballroom. But others who didn't feel like mingling out in the large foyer bypassed it and headed for the open bar that was located in the corner of the ballroom.

Mara noted all of this as she entered the ballroom. Being an ex assassin taught you to always know where all the exits were located and even the smallest detail taken in could save your life when you least expected it to.

Mara mingled with the guests for awhile before finding her seat at the top table reserved for the wedding party. She made small talk about the usual things that one talked about at a wedding. The bride's smiling face as she said her vows, the fateful first kiss as husband and wife, and of course the bride's wedding gown. Mara mingled for awhile, but after hearing the same thing over and over again, soon grew bored of the tedious conversations.

Meanwhile across the room, Luke was doing some mingling of his own. He was talking to high council members, influential political members, and several others that had been invited to the reception. Luke nodded his head in response to what one of the ambassadors was saying, but hadn't heard a word he said. Luke had caught sight of red-gold hair headed towards the bar and politely excused himself from the boring conversation.

Mara had excused herself from her group of ladies that were going into detail over Leia's wedding gown. Mara decided to head for the bar for a quick drink before dinner. She had just sat down and ordered a simple glass of wine when she noticed that Luke had followed her and sat down in the empty seat next to her.

The guilt from earlier about stepping on Luke's foot came to the front of Mara's mind. Mara wondered if Luke was mad at her, but she couldn't sense any anger coming from him. She couldn't really sense his mood at all, she realized. He must be shielding she thought to herself.

Luke got the bartender's attention and ordered a beer. Mara raised her eyebrows at this. Luke usually didn't have many drinks containing alcohol anymore. Not after the incident a year ago where Luke had drank way too much alcohol and had made a fool of himself at a party that Wedge had hosted. Luke had ended up singing and dancing on a table and then had ended up passing out and falling flat on his face. Luke hadn't remembered all of the details, only bits and pieces of it. Mara however, remembered it very well. She had taken Luke home and had stayed with him the entire night. She didn't trust him being on his own that night after all of the alcohol he had consumed. Mara had helped nursed him back to health and felt a little on edge whenever she saw him drinking alcohol now of days.

Luke turned towards Mara and knew what she had been thinking.

"Don't worry, Mara. One beer isn't going to make me lose control like the last time."

Mara nodded her head and decided that Luke was a big boy and she shouldn't be feeling this over protective of him. Besides if he drank too much he was the one who would look like a fool, not her.

"Besides," Luke added to his companion "I'm not the one who goes around stepping on people's feet with killer heels."

Mara had been waiting for Luke to bring that up and had her excuse ready for him, since she couldn't tell him the truth.

"I didn't mean to step on your foot. It was an accident. I was trying to step on a bee that I thought had landed on your foot and I almost got him too," Mara added with a hint of pride in her voice. "If that dang holographer hadn't made us stand so still, the stupid bug wouldn't have even landed on your foot to begin with."

Mara was a very convincing liar when she wanted to be. In her previous life, if she couldn't lie, she would've been dead long before now. You had to make people believe what you were saying was the truth, even if it was in fact the opposite. Her story sounded very possible, but the thing about having a jedi as a friend was that they could see through your lies. She hoped that Luke hadn't picked up on that, but with him he probably had. To make him believe her even more she muttered 'sorry' to him.

Luke knew that Mara wasn't telling the whole truth, but didn't feel like calling her out on it. He was puzzled by her behavior, but usually Mara didn't lie and if she was lying she had a very good reason for it. He just wished he knew why Mara didn't feel like telling him the truth. It wasn't even that big of a deal. All she had done was step on his foot. There were worse things to lie about then this. Luke decided to let Mara have her little secret for now, but was sure that he would uncover it one of these days.

After Mara had apologized the tension in the air between them disappeared. The thing was that neither of them had noticed there was tension between them until it had disappeared. They sat at the bar talking about the wedding and where Han and Leia were going for their honeymoon. They sat there talking until Leia's wedding planner, Kierra came up to them and told them to meet in the back room, behind the top table in ten minutes time. They noticed her going up to the other members of the wedding party and passing along her message.

Mara got up and stretched, trying to get rid of the stiffness in her shoulders. Luke couldn't help but stare at this beautiful woman before him. He wished that he could tell Mara how he felt about her, but he valued their friendship too much right now to ruin it. Luke was trying to finish the last of his beer when Mara pulled him to his feet.

"I didn't finish my beer yet!" Luke complained loudly. Mara took Luke's beer from the countertop and gulped the rest down in one sip. She placed the empty cup back on the counter.

"There," Mara said with a smug smile on her face. "You're done with it now, let's go." She pulled Luke along behind her and all the while Luke just looked dumbfounded that she had taken the rest of his beer like that and he followed her to the back room without realizing that she still had his hand tight in her own.

As always let me know what you think. Like it, hate it, want to see something happen? Let me know.

Thanks

-Westerncowgirl