Author's Note: I guess at this point the realistic thing to do is to accept that this fic updates only every two or three months. I'm sorry about that, and I'll keep working to speed up, but I won't bore you with any more author's notes that just say the same thing and make empty promises.

Chapter 14: Failure

Obi-Wan was waiting outside when they pulled up. He stood in the shade, arms folded into his cloak, but he took a step forward into the light as they floated to a stop. Mara looked at his face, saw how stern he looked, and knew they would be telling the story in full.

She turned to Luke to see what he felt about this, but he was already climbing out of the speeder, leaving his bags behind. He ducked around Obi-Wan, and disappeared into the house.

Even Beru must notice something was off after that. Mara did her best to pretend everything was normal as she gathered Luke's things along with her own, collected the packages for Obi-Wan and thanked Beru for the ride, but she suspected it did nothing. Beru certainly didn't feel as tranquil as normal. Obi-Wan came up behind. "I appreciate your bringing them back safely," he told Beru. "I'll comm you to come get Luke when they've finished telling me about today."

She smiled slightly in acknowledgement, and left. Mara glanced up at Obi-Wan, found him looking at her, and decided to head on into the house. He followed.

Luke was on the thin cushion they used for meditation. He was facing the wall, but his posture was far too tense for Mara to think he was finding any peace. She was pretty sure he was just hoping to avoid talking about what had happened, and even more certain it wouldn't work.

She placed the packages and Luke's satchel on the shelf beside the door, and crossed the room to put her own on its shelf in the nook where she slept. Obi-Wan was standing in front of Luke when she finished, so Mara sat down on her bed, hunkered into a little ball, and prepared to watch.

Obi-Wan stood over Luke for a moment, looking down, then said "Reluctant as I am to disturb such a valiant effort, I must ask you some questions, Padawan."

Luke twitched, but stayed where he was. Obi-Wan dropped the joking tone. "Padawan. We must talk about this. Come."

This time he didn't wait for Luke's response, but walked away, sat down, and looked over at Luke patiently. There was a long moment of silence, while Mara felt Luke's inner struggle, then he spun around and came to sit closer to Obi-Wan.

There was another silence while they looked at each other. Finally Obi-Wan spoke. "Clearly, this outing did not go according to plan. What happened?"

"It was– After we got everything, we went to the spaceports to see the ships. We thought it'd be good practice, for sneaking and all. and it'd all work out. And it did! Everything went fine! Until- I guess I got..." He grimaced. "Overconfident."

"I've warned you about that, Padawan."

"I know..."

"Continue."

"We were looking at a ship, and I wanted to see if it had hidden weapon hatches or not, but I was too far away. So I snuck in closer, and then I got too focused on the ship and somebody snuck up on me."

"That was all?"

Luke shook his head. "He was pointing a blaster at me. He thought I was a thief, and I didn't have any way of defending myself, and the other man, he mentioned Jabba. I knew I could defend myself, sort of, but you said I shouldn't use my lightsaber, not ever, and–" He stopped, then spoke again, more subdued this time. "I thought it would be easy. Taking care of myself, I mean."

"Mm."

"You told us all those stories, and all the old Jedi could do anything they wanted. All those dangerous things they did and they alway found a way out, no trouble. I thought- I thought I could do the same thing. I thought being a Jedi meant I could do anything."

"And now you've learned a valuable lesson. Overconfidence is dangerous, young one."

Luke nodded. "I'll believe it in the future, really, I will. I won't ever do that again."

"You must tell me the full story later. Now, go run through your forms."

Obi-Wan watched Luke scamper away, then turned back to Mara. She tensed. She'd been afraid this was coming.

"Come here, Padawan."

She uncurled reluctantly, and sat with her hands resting on the edge of her bed for a moment. He wasn't going to budge on this, though, so she stood up slowly and crossed the room. She sat down in the place Luke had just abandoned and instinctively curled back into her ball, waiting for him to speak.

"You were not threatened directly, as Luke was, were you?"

She shook her head.

"Yet something troubles you."

It took her a long time to find her voice. Obi-Wan waited, silently.

"I didn't help him," she said. She thought Obi-Wan would say something to that, but he didn't, so eventually she went on. "Luke said he couldn't think of anything to do, but I could. I knew what might work, to distract that man, and I would've gotten away with it, and I did nothing."

"You were afraid?"

She nodded. "Terrified. I couldn't have done anything if I'd tried. All I could think about was what would happen if I was caught. I mean– I was worried about Luke, I wanted to help him. Just, every time I thought about doing something, I remembered– I– I was terrified." She stopped, then plunged back in. "And it wouldn't have mattered what was happening to Luke. He could have been shot, dying in front of me. I still wouldn't have been brave enough to lift a finger to help him. Not one kriffin' finger." She buried her face in her arms, and squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm a failure." It came out muffled. "A cowardly failure. It was my all my fault, and I did nothing. I'm a stupid, cowardly–"

She squeezed her eyes more tightly shut, and sniffed hard. She wouldn't cry, not on top of everything else. Jedi didn't cry.

Obi-Wan laid a hand on her shoulder, featherlight.

"At thirteen, everyone's a failure," he told her. "With time, you will grow past it." He paused, and suddenly his Force signature echoed with grief. "You will be a Jedi, Mara."

She turned to look at him, and he smiled slightly. Even though it was slight, even though it only made his sadness more stark by comparison, still it lifted her spirits. He never talked about the end of the Jedi order, and so she almost never thought about how hard it must have been. But... If he could hold on to hope even after losing his entire way of life... she ought to keep hoping after one failure.

She nodded, determination returning. "You're right. I'll keep trying. Next time, I'll do better."

"Good. Now... We've clearly been neglecting your meditation techniques. Come, we'll go over the basic set again... On second thought, fetch Luke first. He should have had time to calm down by now, and he certainly needs the practice..."