Chapter 24

Mara

"Who's coming in?" Luke asked when he noticed a small ship landing on the primary tarmac as he and Lando walked around the side of the palace a few days later.

"That's the Jade Fire," Lando told him.

Luke looked at him with interest. "Really?"

"Yeah," Lando answered, curious at Luke's tone.

With a smile, Luke handed Lando the datapad he had been carrying.

"I think I'll go see what she's doing here."

Lando watched with interest as Luke hurried to the small ship so he was there to welcome Mara Jade as she came down the entrance ramp.

"Luke! I wasn't expecting the great Jedi Master himself to meet me."

He smiled at her. "I often take a personal interest whenever a well-known pirate visits my base."

"Your base?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

Now he laughed. She threw her arms around his neck and he held her tight.

"It's good to see you, Mara," he told her as he released her.

"You, too, Luke," she said.

He took hold of her arm and began to lead her toward the palace.

"How long are you here for?" he asked.

She shrugged. "It depends on what's happening around here."

"I'm sure that whatever's going on now," he informed her, "isn't nearly as exciting as what's going to happen with you here."

Callista stood at the top of the stairs watching as Luke and Mara walked toward Luke's office. She turned at the sound of a footstep and saw Leia approaching.

"Who is she?" Callista inquired.

"Her name's Mara Jade. She's an old friend of Luke's," Leia answered.

"Obviously – what's she doing here?" Callista asked sourly.

"I don't know," Leia responded. "I didn't know she was coming."

Callista made a humphing sound and turned back to her own suite.

Leia entered Luke's inner office.

"I understand Mara Jade arrived this morning," she said.

"Yeah," he murmured, not looking up from his work.

"And that you have supper plans with her tonight," she continued.

"News certainly travels fast," he commented dryly.

She sat down in a chair in front of his desk. "It might interest you to know," she added, "that I secured my information from one of your wives."

Luke looked up suddenly from the reports he had been scanning. "They know?"

She smiled. "Callista saw you as soon as you walked in with her this morning."

"And?" he asked.

"And what?"

"Come on, Leia. What'd she say?"

"It wasn't so much what she said as what she didn't."

"Now what does that mean?"

"It means ... I don't know what it means, Luke. I guess if I were Callista or Amethyst and I knew that my marriage was going through a shaky period and I saw Han walking arm in arm with a good looking old friend, I just might wonder what they would be talking about over supper."

He stared off into space a long moment. "So do you think I shouldn't?" he asked.

"I can't answer that," she told him. "I guess something that needs to be considered before you make that decision is: What are you going to be talking about over supper?"

Luke and Mara sat at a table on the back patio of the palace. They had spent their supper talking about what each of them had been up to since they had last seen each other.

"I think there's one point you've overlooked," Mara told him as she finished desert. "I would've thought your wives would've been the first thing you'd want to talk about. It's the number one topic of gossip in the galaxy."

He put his drink down with a thud.

"Or maybe not," she added slowly. After a long pause, she added, "I know you well enough to know that you don't care about the gossip. Is something else bothering you, Luke?"

He hesitated and then answered, "No ... not really ... I guess not."

She arched a delicate eyebrow. "Now that sounds like man who doesn't know whether or not to agree with himself."

He gave her a long look. She smiled invitingly.

"Why don't we go for a walk," she suggested standing up. She held out a hand to him. "You can tell me how well everything is going ... kind of ... really ... you guess."

Amethyst stood on the balcony of Luke's suite, watching as Mara and Luke walked off into the garden. Callista came to stand beside her.

"We have only ourselves to blame," Callista commented.

"It is his right," Amethyst answered but there was a great deal of pain in her tone.

"So, what are we going to do?" Callista questioned.

Amethyst shook his head. "I don't know that there's anything we can do."

"Think, Am. You're the historian's daughter. Do you mean that Luke can take as many wives as he wants and there's nothing we can do about it?"

"Wives? No, he can't take any wives without our approval. In fact, he shouldn't be approaching any woman about becoming a wife except through you. But he can bring as many women into the Household as he wants."

"But no wives?"

Amethyst shook her head. "A formal wife is an official position within the Household. We all have to agree to it – or at least we all have to be willing to accept it. But a concubine," she shrugged. "They're added to the Household to form alliances, settle disputes ... for pleasure ..."

"To supplant disagreeable wives?"

Amethyst turned to stare at Callista. "You think so?"

Callista shrugged and commented sarcastically, "Well, I certainly don't think she's here to join the Fleet." She was quiet for a long moment and then added thoughtfully. "But he's always been adamant in his attitude about concubines – and his love for us."

"But we haven't behaved properly. We've quarreled among ourselves. And we've allowed that discord to affect Luke and the order of his Household. Then when he came to us to settle the strife, we weren't open with him."

"Yeah," Callista admitted sourly. She sighed. "So, what do we do about it?"

The two women exchanged an intense look and then turned to watch the couple as they walked in the garden.

"The first thing we do," Amethyst turned to stare at Callista, "you and I need to stop acting like children and start acting like the wives of a great Lord. And second," she turned to looked where Luke and Mara had disappeared into the garden, "we get rid of her – if we aren't too late already."

Amethyst looked up at Callista. Her pain was evident in her tear-filled violet eyes.

"I can't believe you mean that," she said softly.

"I'm sorry," Callista replied. "You said you wanted to know – I'm telling you. I think you live in a fantasy world. You act like you're a princess who's been saved by the handsome prince and expect to live happily ever after."

"I am a princess … or I was. And as the son of Darth Vader, Luke is a type of prince. And he did save me."

"Yes, but ..."

"I don't understand," Amethyst told her.

Callista sighed. "It's like you have no idea about what it takes to run a household on a day-to-day basis!"

"Give me an example."

"Okay, if I were sick and you needed to see that a special dish that Luke had wanted served at supper was ready on time, what would you do?"

"I don't know," Amethyst admitted. "Ask Luke or Leia."

"See! That's exactly what I mean! How could you survive as long as you have without knowing how to control a basic servi-droid."

"They didn't have droids in the prison. I ate what was given to me."

Callista stared at her, open mouthed. "Are you telling me ... do you mean ... Look, I know you weren't in prison all of your life."

"No. When I was young, I lived with my father in hiding. I cooked our food."

"Cooked? You mean you took raw ingredients and ... and ... did whatever to ..."

Amethyst smiled and nodded. "And cooked it? Yes, I cooked. After that I was with the rebellion. I worked in the control areas. If there was food available, it was served. There were no special orders."

Callista continued to stare at Amethyst in amazement. "I ... I honestly don't know what to say. I never thought that you never ... that you couldn't ..." She sat beside Amethyst and took hold of her hand. "I am truly sorry, Amethyst. You're always so beautiful ... so perfect looking. To look at you, one forgets what your life has been. I guess I ... It just never occurred to me that you actually have never learned to operate a servi-droid."

"Callista, I will try to do whatever I can to help you. But you have to be willing to allow me to help and you have to train me. Just as I'd like to train you."

"There you go again: train me to do what?"

"Perhaps train is not the best word. I know that you went through complete Jedi training. But I also know that I was raised to be a member of a royal household. When I try to explain to you how some things should be, I'm not trying to make things harder on you. I'm trying to let you know what I've been taught to believe is proper. If you'll explain your concerns to me, perhaps I can be more constructive in ways to establish Luke's Household as I've been trained to do."

"I feel that ..." There was a catch in Callista's voice and tears now glistened in her eyes also. "I feel that you think that I'm not good enough to be Luke's first wife."

Amethyst smiled gently and slipped an arm around Callista. "I know that you haven't been educated the way I have and therefore have no knowledge. You must remember, I believe that my first and only duty is to Luke. I would've never suggested he take you as his first wife if I didn't believe you were the best choice. I can tell you what should be – you know how to accomplish that. I can't. I don't live in a fantasy. I did live in purgatory for so long, I can no longer function on my own in your world. I don't deny that."

"I don't feel comfortable here either," Callista admitted. "I was locked away for 30 years! I feel so out of touch with everybody and everything. The last time I had a body, I was a fully trained Jedi Knight. I had the full use of the Force. Now, suddenly, here I am: a wife, of all things. Not just a wife, but one of two. And the other one is a princess and is beautiful and knows all about proper society and ... and ..." She broke off with a sob. She put her face in her hands.

Amethyst hugged Callista tightly. "And is pregnant."

Callista nodded. "Luke had tried to get me to marry him for some time, but I knew he'd need children strong in the Force to follow him. I thought I could handle you having his children. I don't mean to be jealous but ... I know I'll never give Luke a child and ..."

"But, Callista," Amethyst chided gently, "don't you understand that one of the privileges of being the first wife is that any child of the Household belongs not only to its biological mother but to you also. You will be as important in my children's lives as Luke will be. That was another reason I wanted you to be the first wife, so you wouldn't feel alienated by my bearing Luke's children."

Callista raised her face and looked at Amethyst.

"Really?"

"I swear. Please trust me. As his bonded consort, I asked Luke to take you as his first wife for many reasons. Let's learn from each other. With the two of us together, I know that we can form a perfect home for Luke. We can overcome the alienation we both feel with this time and place. That's why both of us have been provided for him – individually, neither of us is enough for him. We just have to trust in the Force and each other."

"What is it?" Callista asked as Amethyst stopped talking and turned to stare at the door.

"Luke's home. He's feeling guilty and trying to decide if he should come in here."

"Can you ... you know ... nudge him away?"

With a smile, Amethyst closed her eyes and reached out as much as she was able, trying to put a subtle suggestion into Luke's mind.

"Well?" Callista asked when Amethyst opened her eyes.

"I don't know. It has to be such a subtle hint in order for him not to feel it, it doesn't always work."

The two women looked at each other. Suddenly they both smiled and reached for each other. They hugged each other tightly.

"I don't ever want to do this again," Callista stated. "I mean fight like we have been."

"I know ... I feel just the same."

"I never had a close friend before. These last few weeks, I've felt terrible … not being able to talk to you ... joke with you."

Amethyst smiled lovingly at Callista. "From this point forward, we have to be willing to sit each other down and talk about problems. It was your judgment that there would be no secrets between us. That was a wise rule. I wish we'd been wise enough to follow it."

Callista smiled broadly. "We will from now on," she pledged. "And I'll try to not be jealous of you any more."

"Or I of you."

"Of me? Why would you be jealous of me?"

Amethyst smiled. "Because you can go anywhere and do anything and make things work out. I can't even ... I don't how to ..."

"Order supper?" Callista supplied with a teasing grin.

Amethyst laughed. "Order supper," she agreed.

"Let's get ready for bed," Callista said standing up.

"Let's discuss our other problem first."

Callista turned back toward Amethyst and smiled evilly. "I don't think she has a chance against the two of us."

"I don't either, but let's map out a little plan. Both for her ... and for Luke after she's gone."

Luke glanced up periodically as he ate breakfast the next morning. Both of his wives were being very quiet – too quiet to suit him.

Neither one had questioned him about his evening out. Neither one had mentioned that it was after midnight when he returned to the suite the previous night. Neither one had brought up the fact that, even though they were awake when he returned, he had not gone in to tell them goodnight.

Their extremely well behaved attitudes this morning bothered him more than shouts and accusations would have. Once more he glanced up from one to the other.

"What are you two going to do today?" he asked cautiously.

Callista shrugged. "We really haven't discussed it."

"Is there something you'd like for us to do?" Amethyst asked.

"No," he told them. "Why would you think that?"

"We thought," Callista informed him, "that you might like us to invite your friend for supper or something."

"What friend?" Luke asked innocently.

"The beautiful red-head you were with yesterday," Amethyst answered.

"The one you spent the night with," Callista added.

Luke glanced nervously from one to the other. "I wasn't with her all night," he stated sharply.

Callista stared evenly at him and then shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"Stayed with until after midnight," Amethyst amended.

Luke looked at her for a long moment then, trying to sound causal, asked, "Why would you think I'd want to invite her for supper?"

"To meet your wives, perhaps," Amethyst told him.

"Because you two would like to spend more time together," Callista inserted.

"Since it's a customary way of entertaining," Amethyst finished.

There was a pause and then Callista added, "Unless of course you don't want your wives around when you're with her."

"No ... nothing like that ... I thought it might be nice to have her up for a while," he stammered. "I really hadn't decided. I don't even know how long she's going to be here."

Leia opened the door of Luke's inner office and spoke his name. He jumped as if someone had fired a blaster at him. She quickly closed the door.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine!" he snapped.

She arched an eyebrow and stared at him.

"I'm worried," he admitted.

"Why?'

"Callista and Amethyst ... they never said a word about me being with Mara all evening. And they were so sweet at breakfast this morning."

Leia laughed as she settled into a chair. "There are some people who are never happy. Aren't you the guy who was in my suite a few days ago complaining because his wives were so argumentative and bickering all the time?"

He gave her a rueful grin and nodded. "You think I'm being foolish?"

"I think you're getting what you asked for. They're controlling their emotions. They're trying to make sure you're happy. I wouldn't rock the boat if I were you."

"Yeah ... I guess so." He hesitated and then added, "They just make me nervous when they're this well behaved."

Mara laughed and leaned her head against Luke's shoulder.

"It is so good being with you again," she told him.

"It's good to see you again," he agreed. "It's nice being able to spend a nice quiet evening," he added ruefully.

She looked at him in surprise. "I hadn't realized that there were any hot spots right now."

"Militarily, there's not ... that's not what I meant."

"What then?"

He started to say something and then shook his head. "No, it's nothing ... just a little ... nothing."

"A little what? A domestic problem?"

"Why do you say that?" he asked sharply.

"Hit a sore spot, did I? Luke, I've been here three days. Since we saw each other last, you have married – two wives! You haven't introduced me to either one of them, even though they're just down the hall from where we sit. At first, I thought you didn't want them to meet me – you know – protecting them from bad influences. But for the last three nights, we've had supper together. Then you've stayed and talked until I had to throw you out to go to bed. Now I have to think you don't want me to meet them. And I have to wonder what you're protecting me from? Do you want to talk about what's going on?"

He shook his head again. "No ... it's really not your problem." He took hold of her hand. "And it's not you. I would, of course, like you to meet my wives. It's just ... here recently, we've been a little ... unsettled. Callista is wild enough to do almost anything that might pop into her mind. And Amethyst is pregnant and so temperamental ... it's hard telling what she might do or say from one day to the next."

Mara laughed softly. "Luke! For a guy with two wives, you sure don't seem to know very much about women."

He grinned. "That's what Leia keeps telling me."

Luke entered his suite. It was after midnight. Everything was dark and the door to the women's area was closed tightly. He started over to their doorway then stopped half-way across the room. For the third day in a row, he had seen his wives only at breakfast. For the third night in a row, he had not eaten supper with his wives. For the third night in a row, he had returned to his suite well after midnight and had not even gone in to tell his wives good night. He took a deep breath, turned and went to his own sleeping area.

The next morning, both of his wives were on the balcony making sure breakfast was prepared breakfast. To his surprise, Mara Jade was there also. He gave each of his wives a quick kiss on their cheeks and turned to smile at Mara.

"What a pleasant surprise," he said as he sat down.

Amethyst and Callista quickly prepared two plates. They placed one in front of Mara and one in front of Luke.

Mara gave him a questioning look. "You didn't invite me?"

He glanced at Callista and Amethyst, saw them pointedly ignoring him as they prepared their own plates. He turned back to Mara. "I mentioned I'd like to have you for breakfast," he lied, "but I didn't realize they'd invited you for this morning."

"That must be why you didn't mention it last night," she commented pointedly.

"It slipped my mind," he responded quickly.

She nodded, not sure whether she believed him or not. "Well ... I'm happy to meet your wives. They're both charming. I'm looking forward to today."

"Today?" His voice came out in a strangled, higher pitch.

Mara looked startled.

"We thought we'd show your friend around the base," Callista explained.

"And Leia has invited the three of us for lunch," Amethyst added.

Luke looked swiftly from one to the other. There was something about their tone and attitude that made Luke extremely nervous. He turned quickly to Mara and gave her a smile that he knew not even she would believe.

"And then we thought it would be nice for her to join us for supper?" Callista inquired.

Luke and Mara exchanged looks.

"If you're free," he replied cautiously. "Perhaps you can come to my office later this afternoon and after we complete our business, you can let me know if you'll be available."

Amethyst and Callista exchanged a look and then both smiled demurely.

"This is your ship?" Amethyst asked.

"Yes ... I've had her for a long time," Mara answered.

"I'll bet you'll miss traveling around the galaxy ... going new places ... meeting new people," Callista commented.

"Miss traveling?" Mara responded. "Why would I miss it? I'm not planning on stopping."

"But it will be impossible for you to continue to travel as you have in the past," Amethyst told her.

"Why?" Mara demanded.

"It just isn't done," Amethyst assured her. "As a rule concubines don't travel with the Household at all ... and if they do, they are kept cloistered. They certainly never travel alone."

"Concubines? What are you talking about?" Mara asked.

"Luke hasn't said anything about marriage, has he?" Callista queried.

"Marriage?" Mara gasped.

"It would be quite unseemly for a marriage contract to be discussed between you and Luke. The initial contact should come from Callista," Amethyst told her. "And since he hasn't approached us to negotiate the conditions of your marriage contract, we assumed you've agreed to enter the Household as a concubine."

Mara's mouth dropped open. "What!"

"It's not that we'd object to another sister-wife," Callista added. "It's just that since you have ... well ... since you've already been spending nights with Luke ..."

"I have not!" Mara protested.

"Well, at least your evenings ..." Callista conceded but added, "long, late evenings ... I mean, now you could only enter the Household as a ..." Her voice trailed off.

"Of course, Luke isn't well trained in Jedi traditions. If he indicated anything else to you ..." Amethyst lowered her eyes demurely and then looked up at Mara again. "Maybe we could work something out. After all, we want to make Luke happy."

"As, I'm sure, you do," Callista added. "As you've obviously been doing this week, judging by the amount of time he's been spending with you."

"I'm sorry, Star Marshall," Hodges exclaimed as he trailed a fuming Mara Jade into Luke's inner office.

Luke held up a hand. "That's all right, Hodges. I've had trouble controlling Mara myself," he joked.

"I'm not here to exchange clever repartee with you!" she snarled at him.

"Thank you, Hodges," Luke dismissed his ensign. "If General Calrissian shows up, ask him to wait."

Mara turned and watched Hodges leave, closing the door after himself. She spun around and faced Luke with blazing eyes.

"A concubine! Have you lost your mind?" she demanded.

Luke looked taken aback. "A concubine? I don't have any concubines." His eyes hardened. "If you're referring to Callista or Amethyst ..." his tone was threatening.

"Callista or Amethyst?" she yelled. "I'm talking about me!"

"You!" he croaked. "You want to be my concubine?"

"Not if my life depended upon it!" she assured him. "And I don't have any idea why you thought I'd consider it!"

"Consider it? What in the galaxy makes you think I'd want you?"

She arched her eyebrow. He held up a placating hand.

"I didn't mean that quite the way it sounded," he assured her. He took a deep breath. "What I mean is: what has happened that makes you think I want to take you as a concubine?"

"They explained that if you were going to ask me to marry you that the proposal would've come through Callista."

Luke stood up and walked over to her. "Mara ..." He paused and sighed before starting again. "Mara, if I have done anything to make you think that I wanted you to marry me, I apologize. I was just glad to see you and enjoyed spending some time with you these last few evenings. But I have no intention of adding other women to my Household."

She eyed him suspiciously. "You had no intention of asking me to marry you or become a concubine?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry if I did anything to ..."

He was stopped by her sudden laughter. She flopped onto his couch, shaking her head.

"I think I understand what you were trying to tell me the other night. They are indeed a pair."

Luke studied her a moment and then came to sit beside her. "What did they say to you?" he asked suspiciously.

She chuckled. "They have taken me all over the base, explaining all the wonderful things you've accomplished. And then ... then they expressed regret about me not being able to continue to fly my own ship – because your concubines can't travel unescorted."

"My concubines?" he questioned.

"My reaction exactly. They then went on, very apologetically, to explain that since we've been spending our nights together – or at least our very late evenings, as they pointed out – that I could only be a concubine because that isn't the proper method of securing a new wife."

Luke's facial expression relaxed. He leaned back against the couch and laughed softly.

"I warned you about them," he told her.

"You did indeed." She looked at him seriously. She laid her hand along side his face. "You are very lucky, Luke. They must love you very much."

He patted her hand a moment before she lowered it. "Yes ... almost as much as I love them.

The man stood in the darkened office, watching out his window. As the Jade Fire lifted off the landing tarmac, he clinched his fists in anger.

"I thought this would be perfect!" he exclaimed. "I should never have trusted such a coincidental happening."

"No, sir," another person agreed.

"Do you have the necessary clearances to get away from here without arousing suspicions?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good ... good. As soon as you're able, leave. Oh ... and tell my father-in-law that his daughter sends him greetings. Tell him also that he should approach his Dragoon regarding our plan."

TBC