As always, a warm thank you to my Beta Reader WarmNyota_SweetAyesha at the Jedi Council Forums for the great support with proof-reading this story.


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Chapter Nine

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'Skywalker, are you up?'

Luke woke at the feel of a strong, familiar presence at his door. Fumbling out of bed he quickly headed towards his apartment's main entrance. He hit the release panel and the door smoothly slid open, "Mara! Is everything all right?"

"Good morning to you too, Farmboy." The Trader made her way in, brushing very close past him, making him step aside. A few strides ahead Mara turned around to face her perplexed friend, "Relax! Everything is fine."

Luke's face showed puzzlement. It was ten to five in the morning CST… He was an early riser and he didn't mind the time, but this seemed odd… So whatever Mara was up to, must be important. He rubbed his eyes with the fingers of both hands, trying to dispel his sleepiness. The prior night's visit to the Senate Chamber had kept him longer than what he'd expected, and he'd come back home in the late hours of the night.

Mara took a seat on Luke's couch, "I've put up a few things together," she announced, "It might not look like a lot, but it'll give us a start." She explained as she turned on the holo-projector in her Coder.

Luke followed and sat on the couch, next to her.

"I know I looked in Palpatine's Library before, I had full access in order to download all the intel I needed for each mission… At the time I had other subjects in mind…" She spoke about her time as the Emperor's Hand. "So probably I wouldn't have recognized this information even if I stumbled upon it. But this time I'm sure I got what I need."

The projection displayed a map with seven marked destinations. Luke studied the map attentively, getting familiarized with it while differentiating the marked spots from one another. It looked like an extremely old navigational map of the Galaxy.

"I think this is the place we should start looking first." She offered, while zooming in the intended destination.

Luke had a very good knowledge of the maps of the Galaxy, he had to. Travelling large expanses of the Galaxy alone in his X-Wing with only R2-D2 as companion, required of him to be highly proficient in this cartographic data. "That's uncharted territory, Mara." The Jedi stated. "If I remember correctly, that location you've marked has nothing but a big black hole at the centre."

"Yes, according to our modern navigational maps, but if we do this…" She let a second map – a modern one, appear and made both projections overlap.

When overlapped, the maps showed the image of a small cluster of stars in the zoomed in area.

"Are you telling me that this location is hidden inside a black hole?" Luke inquired, trying to make sense of it all. He'd once flown into the collapsing space near a black hole, an experience he wasn't looking forward to repeating any time soon.

"A fake black hole." She corrected.

Zooming more into the holographic image, a small copper-coloured planet made the front plane. The schematics defining the planet's data appeared in unfamiliar symbolism.

"How do you read that?" Luke asked, referring to the strange glyphs he'd never seen before.

"It's ancient Rakata. The name of the place reads Xaymni Si'kem… It means Dark Gem," Mara explained.

To Luke that sounded like an ominous name for a planet. "I've never heard of that language…"

Mara elaborated on that, "Ancient Sith spoke this language. A Sith Lord named Revan introduced it to his people some millennia ago."

Luke knew about Darth Revan, he'd learnt about him from the Sith Holocrons his father had left him. "A Sith language?"

"One of them," Mara clarified, "I got to learn it from Palpatine, he taught it to me when I was a child. And since then, whenever we were alone – or when he simply didn't want anyone to eavesdrop, we always spoke to each other in this language." She offered matter-of-factly. "And I'm sure there's no one else who can read or speak it, the Emperor made sure of that… So I know that everything he left in this language is meant for me and me only."

Luke studied the images, noticing that all of the seven marked spots would appear as dangerous space, marked as some sort of a natural anomaly in the most recent maps. There was no way any space ship would ever dare go close! Palpatine had certainly hidden those locations right under everyone's nose.

The Trader went on, "This particular file containing these maps was very hard to decrypt… I even thought I had lost it when we tried!"

Luke inquired with a gesture. 'We?'

"Ghent." Mara clarified.

'Of course.' Luke had neglected the obvious. "What about the rest of the other locations?"

"Those, I can't decipher." She admitted a bit discouraged. "I've tried every translator and gotten nothing… That's why I think Xaymni Si'kem is the place to start from. Maybe in there we'll find clues to where to go next, maybe something that might tell us what these other six locations are about."

Luke trusted Mara, she knew her craft. So if she said they should start there, so be it. "Have you got anything more?"

"There's more, all right!" Mara keyed in for what she wanted to show Luke. Different images of old scriptures appeared in the high definition holo-projection. "I have been able to pull out more information on Zaferath, with a lot more detail of what I had before… Specifically about the ritual to vanquish her. Apart from the spell or incantation I will also need some sort of old weapons… and I might know exactly where these are kept," She eyed Luke with certainty in her expression. "But we can get into that later, once we get whatever is awaiting in that Dark Gem of a planet. I don't think we'll run into Zaferath in our first try." No, it couldn't be that simple.

"Are you certain?" Luke asked dryly, a part of him dreading the moment of that confrontation. He'd never been one to fear a showdown with an enemy, he was always ready to face any foe and fight if necessary, but this matter was spooky all along. He couldn't read its energy through the Force at all! And this gave him a weird feeling of unease.

"I am sure." Mara soothed him, picking up on his discomfort. "Trust me, Farmboy."

"I trust you." He assured. Mara was right, Palpatine wouldn't have the Witch's location in a file and done nothing about it.

Luke noticed that some of Mara's tension concerning this matter had dispelled somehow. Perhaps the fact that she'd been pursuing her objective and had now some new information on which she could act upon gave her a sense of accomplishment. Mara had always been the restless kind, she needed continuous challenges or would get bored and cranky, snapping at everything and everyone. It was good to see his friend with a focused set of mind, back to her usual self. He liked that.

"Here! See this?" Mara showed him the two complete sets of symbols she'd found in the Library. "These are the ones used by the Witch, and these… These are the ones that are used in the vanquishing ritual."

Luke studied the two sets of symbols. Both were intricated designs of lines and curves, a little geometric at times, some made of sharp lines and the others of soft, flowy outlines.

"I have checked them out against the symbols I had in holos," Mara continued, "The ones used in Palpatine's chambers and in the smuggler ship I boarded… This particular combination is the one that appeared scorched in both sites." She separated the set in the hologram. "And this is the one symbol the Emperor used to repel Zaferath."

Luke looked at the one symbol, its shape almost organic. It felt infinite and full of unbending intent. He wondered why it hadn't been enough for Palpatine to defend himself… The Emperor had barely survived when he'd used it. How powerful was this Witch then? "Do you know what these mean?" he asked with deep curiosity.

"I haven't figured that out yet… But it'll come." She expressed with certainty.

Luke was sure of that, once Mara was determined upon something, there was no way of stopping her. "What about the spell you mentioned?"

"Tha mi na Neach-dìon air Solas Taigh na Brenna. Tha mi a 'gairm an Solas. Thig rium!" She recited the phrase by memory. "I know it by heart, but I don't know what it means… and have found no translation." She confessed with a hint of frustration. Palpatine hadn't known its meaning either.

Luke reflected on the words he just heard. The spell reverberated in the Force like nothing he'd felt before. "It sounds… powerful."

"It must be… It's the spell to vanquish her after all." The former Emperor's Hand stated with conviction.

The Jedi realized that there were a lot of pieces to this puzzle. The vanquishing ritual seemed elaborated, there were a lot of elements to be taken into consideration and then bringing all these elements together at the appropriate time could prove tricky. But Mara seemed confident, as she explained the process she did it with ease, like if it felt natural to her. "You've done a lot in a very short time, Mara."

"Remember that I'm very efficient with my time," She smugly replied. "While we remain in Coruscant, I'll use all of my free time to keep digging into this information and learn as much as I can."

"That's a good idea. We can never be too prepared." He said, meaning it.

"There's something that keeps bothering me…" Mara made a pause, not sure if she should mention what was in her mind… Then she decided that she should, "In every ancient scripture I read, I keep finding the same statement: 'Men did not have any power over the Zaferath Witch.' It makes me worry… worry about you." She eyed Luke with certain apprehension. "Among the numerous files I have searched through, I found list after list of names… Lists of the people Palpatine sent to the Witch, to never return… All of them were human males!"

The old tale of Gaethel and Ialinh came to Mara's mind. Gaethel had renounced to everything for love… Her priesthood, her spiritual gifts, the good she could do for the world… Love had destroyed the maiden priestess… So in a sense, it had been love itself what had created Zaferath. Mara had to admit that it was one twisted notion. And then the Zaferath Witch had dedicated her existence to avenge what she'd lost, taking it on every man that crossed her path… This had lasted for so long that the tale got lost in the extents of time and became a myth, just one more story… Until now. The Witch was certainly taking a very active part in her own tale. She didn't dwell in her own space and time like the legend stated. She was here! In this space and time… And now she was actively hunting men… and this made her even more dangerous.

Luke's clear voice brought Mara back from her ruminations.

"Come on Mara, I'm a Jedi! I know how to carry myself when facing a threat. So don't you worry about it." He assured, trying to sooth her. "And no matter what, I'm coming with you!" He warned. For a moment he felt afraid Mara would argue about his stand on coming along.

Luke and Mara had always been loyal to each other, and once their word was committed there was no turning it back, ever! So it was not a surprise to her that the Jedi would stick to his word.

Mara nodded firmly in understanding. "We leave next Heptaday." She stated with resolve.

Luke turned to look at those bright emerald eyes, a spark of determination in the blue eyes of his own. Then turned his gaze to the holographic copper-coloured sphere, "Dark Gem, whatever you have in store for us, here we come!"

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oOo

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The clarity of the new day crawled slowly in through the large windows of the apartment. It was not long after that when the intelligent home systems turned the artificial lights off, these being substituted by the natural light of the early morning sun.

Luke and Mara had kept talking and agreeing on the logistics of their trip, so they could be ready for their day of departure. They calculated the estimate time of travel and everything they'd need to take with them. It was agreed that R2-D2 and C-3P0 would come along. There was still a week ahead of them before they could leave, but it was always good to be prepared beforehand. With the busy days ahead of them, they couldn't know if they'd have a chance to meet again before that day, so they were making the most of their time now.

As they worked through their schedule, Mara let out a yawn she couldn't quite suppress.

"Have you slept?" The Jedi inquired with suspicion. He knew the Trader had a tendency to over exert herself.

She shook her head, her red mane softly brushing her face, "No time!"

"Do you want some caf?" He offered.

"Sure." She accepted.

Luke stood up and went to his kitchen. A few moments later he came back with two cups of hot beverages, one in each hand. He carefully extended one of the cups to her, "Here… black, no sugar…"

Mara took the cup in her hands.

The Farmboy stood in front of her while he offered the caf cup to her. Mara noticed the casual nature of Luke's appearance… Walking around barefoot… The white baggy pants and the light blue shade of his tunic… The blue of the fabric accentuating the colour of his eyes. Those light colours looked nice on him… His hair was tousled and his sleeping tunic half open… He looked kind of sexy… 'Sweet mother of Chaos! Stop it!' Hanging around with Skywalker this long was already messing with her head! Right now her mind should be on other matters, not on the Farmboy's good looks! But she liked what she saw, and she couldn't deny that she'd been thinking about him… about how their relationship had changed over the years. She'd already had come to terms with the notion that she felt close to him… But to what extent was this closeness she felt? That, she didn't know.

Luke went back to the kitchen and brought with him a small platter filled with the Mākhana pastries he'd brought from the Market.

Mara followed him with her gaze, as he walked the trail all the way down and back.

"Something wrong with the caf?" He asked when noticing the undecipherable smirk on her face.

"No! It's fine. Just how I like it." The corner of her mouth lightly twisting with impishness.

Completely unaware of Mara's inner dialogue, Luke sat and sipped on his own cup, filled with an exotic mixture of hot chocolate he enjoyed very much.

Mara nibbled on one of the pastries. "These are nice!"

"I got them on the Market last Pentaday. These are my favourites!" He cheerfully said. "Which reminds me…"

Luke stood up and walked to the bedroom area, retrieving a small bundle of cloth from a drawer and coming back to where Mara sat. "This is for you."

Mara gave him a quizzical look, "What is it?" she asked before even daring to take what the Jedi was offering to her.

"Take it!" he encouraged, a soft chuckle accompanying his words.

Mara took the small bundle with suspicion. Carefully she unfolded the piece of soft cloth… to discover a small glistering piece of a tangerine crystal, mounted on a delicately engraved golden chain.

"A shard from a Kaiburr crystal." He explained.

"A lightsaber crystal?" She could not hide the surprise in her voice. Those Kaiburr crystals were rare, extremely rare… Why was he giving her a precious object like this? Why didn't he keep it? He surely would have more uses for it than her!

"Just a reminder that you'll always have that option… Whenever you feel ready for it." He softly told her.

Mara tensed slightly and didn't say anything. She already had a lightsaber, Luke's father's actually, the one he'd generously given to her years back. When giving her this Kaiburr crystal, he was suggesting that she should construct her own Jedi weapon. The construction of a lightsaber was the final step into becoming a full Jedi Knight, it was a part of the knighting rituals. She would need to train before committing to the construction of such weapon though, and later complete the trials. For a moment she felt overwhelmed… but there was no implied pressure in the Jedi's voice, no veiled expectations in his sense... Skywalker meant well. It was what it was, a reminder of an opportunity within her reach… If she wanted to.

Attempting to ease the slight tension of her shocked silence, Luke added, "Or you can take it as a thank you gift for what you did for me, by giving me all those files full of information from the Vault… And it is a pretty pendant too!"

Mara had nothing to object to, and she graciously accepted the Farmboy's gift.

"It is very nice. Thank you… Luke." She expressed with sincerity and a soft smile.

Luke grinned back. Mara had accepted the crystal! They hadn't fought over it! He'd expected some resistance on her part… a big argument even! But there were no objections, no rejections. That had been simple! And she hadn't called him Farmboy, or Jedi or Skywalker… She had used his name this time and that was a good sign, it meant she was pleased. He absolutely loved when she called him by his name! A realization that came to him just now.

And maybe, just maybe, this was also a sign… A sign that things between them could change, that they could evolve… and maybe this would give him the chance to explore how his relationship with Mara could perhaps become more.

Mara looked at the piece of crystal. He was right, it was pretty. The clear deep orange of it reminded her of the sunsets in Tatooine… where she had spent numerous days and nights in Jabba's Palace, waiting for the then Jedi Knight to make his appearance. She felt happy her plans had not come to pass… that her mission had failed. That was the one failure of which she now felt happy about. Her mistake had allowed her to have this cherished friend with her now. And for as long as she kept it, the crystal would also remind her of him.

A thank you gift he'd said… for what she'd done for him. Looking back from the jewel, Mara carefully inquired, "Have you found anything interesting in those files?" She didn't mean to pry, but a part of her wanted to know if he had found anything useful.

"Well… I've found a lot of interesting things!" A shade of hidden emotion in that answer. There was so much to tell… Where to start?

Mara looked at him, sensing his hesitation, intrigue in her green-eyed gaze.

Maybe he should start with the most relevant of it all, "I know who my mother was." He plainly let out.

Huge surprise was reflected in Mara's deep eyes. She even gawked a little, something she never did. 'What?!' That was life-changing news! "You know who your mother was?" she dumbfoundedly repeated.

That was a very rare sight to witness! Mara Jade was never dumbfounded. Luke took certain delight at having gotten that reaction from her. "Padmé Naberrie." He finally revealed, a bittersweet tint in his words, "Also known as Queen Amidala of Naboo and Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo."

"So you're royalty!" She expressed with even more surprise. This was so bizarre!

That statement took Luke aback… He, royalty? "I hadn't really thought about that!" he let out deeply perplexed.

"Of course you are! You're the son of a former Queen, that makes you part of the Royal family!" She couldn't believe the Farmboy could be this oblivious!

Luke really didn't want to think about the implications on that. So he dismissed Mara's declarations, for now at least. "They were married… Anakin and Padmé. I found a copy of their marriage certificate."

"I thought Jedi in the Old Republic couldn't get married!" Mara stated.

"They couldn't… but it seems my parents did anyways." He clarified with a half-smile. Now he knew where Leia an he had gotten their stubbornness from.

"They must have done it in secret!" Mara let out as she put the pieces together in her head. It was expected of a man like Vader to have always wanted to do as he pleased, that he would not care about breaking the established rules… And Luke's mother… she must have had a fiery spirit too!

Luke was gladly surprised by Mara's interest, he'd never thought she'd be this engaged, so he continued to appease her curiosity, "I'm guessing that it was, indeed, a secret marriage. There's no official record of it in the NR archives, what I found belonged to a small brotherhood native to Naboo. They weren't married very long…"

Mara knew this was so big for him! And not easy. "What happened?"

"I cannot know with certainty… Anakin Skywalker was reported dead in Mustafar, killed by Darth Vader." He turned to her, with a knowing glint in his gaze.

Mara narrowed her eyes, so someone had hidden that Anakin Skywalker had become Darth Vader… "That has Palpatine written all over it." She declared.

Luke just nodded in agreement. "And about my mother… There're no records on the causes of her death, or where she died… Just when."

"On the date of your birthday." The Trader filled in.

Mara had to admit that it all sounded very romantic… and very tragic too. The typical story of star-crossed lovers. She wondered if the tragedy of losing his wife had pushed Anakin Skywalker into becoming Darth Vader... And another interesting thought crossed her mind… Just like with Gaethel, love had also destroyed this other pair of lovers, creating with it, a Sith Lord.

"She died very young…" Luke continued, his tone turning solemn. "It's only stated that she was pregnant at the time of her decease and that the child she carried died with her." He kept quiet while wondering about the occurrences of his own birth.

"But here you are…" Mara offered, deep support in her voice.

"Here I am." He declared, a hint of melancholy in his smile. 'And Leia, for that matter.'

Luke appeared calm, but through the Force sense they shared – a bond that had become more and more refined with the pass of time, Mara could sense deep turmoil within him… and acute longing.

Luke could sense Mara's silent inquiry.

"And yes, I'm kind of ambivalent about the whole thing," He confessed. "I'm very happy about finally knowing who my mother was… That part of my ancestry has been revealed to me at last! But at the same time everything I've got to know only raises more questions!... My mother married Anakin Skywalker, but then he turned into a Sith! What was my mother's take on that? Something in my heart tells me that they must have suffered terribly… I wonder if we have family left… What do they know?... Do they even know about us?... Should I try and find them?... And I don't know whether I should tell Leia… I know I have to! She needs to know! But this has always been a touchy subject between the two of us… She's been so clear about not wanting to know anything about our past… " He stopped, taking a break from the great number of other questions that rumbled in his mind.

This intense obsession with wanting to know everything about his parents, about his descent, was something Mara couldn't quite relate to. She had never felt that urge. The Trader had no memories of her own parents… She just remembered that they didn't want her to leave… but it was really more of a feeling than a memory. She'd been taken to the Emperor at the age of six, and since then she'd given too little thought to that. She had never inquired about her origins… She now wondered why.

And here she was, keenly intrigued by someone else's origin story. Did she have a hidden longing too? A longing she'd been ignoring this whole time?

Mara could tell Luke was clearly overwhelmed, all she could do was to try and sooth her friend. "Well… You just take it as it comes." Was Mara's to-the-point suggestion, her voice even and calm. "You take everything and split it into smaller parts… And then decide on that. I know it's not easy, but you've never been someone who backs off from things!" She gave him an encouraging smile, "And I respect you for that."

Luke had just received a compliment from Mara… and that didn't happen often. Her words meant a lot to him. She was right, he had to slow down and make one decision at a time… Luke felt grateful of having Mara there with him, sharing this huge discovery with his special friend.

"There is a very large portrait of her in the Senate building." He quietly let out, lightening up the mood of their conversation. "I went there last night to check it out."

"In the middle of the night?" She dryly inquired.

"In my pyjamas." Luke added with a tight smile on his lips and a glimpse of child-like mischief in his eyes.

"In your pyjamas." Mara amusedly repeated. "Oh my! What is it going to be said about the celebrated Jedi Master?"

"That I don't have any sense of fashion?" He joked.

"Well… That one is true." She teased.

Luke gave her a face of shock and fake hurt.

They both laughed at the comical image of Luke standing in the Senate Chamber in his sleeping garments.

Thanks to Mara, Luke had found new resolve and to him things looked a lot clearer. 'I must go to Naboo!'

"Then a visit to Naboo is due." Mara stressed, picking up on her friend's intentions through their Force bond.

"At some point… yes. But Naboo won't go anywhere… We need to get to this mystery location of yours first." The Jedi stated. "That's what's important right now."

For the first time since she'd arrived to Coruscant, Mara felt genuinely happy of having Luke by her side in the mission ahead.

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To be continued…