Chapter Sixteen:

The next afternoon found them several miles from their campsite and deep into the forest.

Luke had spent the remainder of the night wide awake after his episode. The relapse, while frightening, hadn't bothered him when compared with the fright his nightmare had.

Why had he dreamt of Sidara murdering Luke and taunting him, now that he finally decided he wanted to be wholly open and honest with Mara? Why now?

Luke had been kept awake as he tried to puzzle that out. Finally, all he'd been able to deduce was that the nightmare had stemmed from his subconscious. Luke had held onto his pain and fear for so long now that anything different had likely upset his internal balances.

Luke considered why the method of Sidara's attack had changed, but he supposed that didn't matter. He had already been tired and stressed, so Luke figured that had translated into the bad dream.

And the rest, they say, is history, Luke thought sardonically.

His ruminating turned to the other events of the nighttime. Mara had seen the image Luke had sent to her! He hadn't known if it would work, since Luke knew that it only did for two Force users who were very close. Such as with Leia and he.

For Mara to have seen so readily told Luke that he and Mara were indeed close. A lot closer than Luke had thought.

But he never could have guessed that the two of them had grown so close as to hear each others' thoughts! Luke looked to Mara in wonder, unable to tear his gaze away. She must have felt his gaze, for she glanced his way. Upon catching him eyeing her in such a manner, Mara frowned, looking down to see if there was something on her front. When nothing emerged, she lifted a brow.

"What's the matter, Luke?"

Luke bit his lip, nervous about how she'd react to his ideas. But then he plunged into the unknown waters. "Mara... you saw the image I sent to you last night, right?"

Mara blinked. "What image?" Then it hit her. "Oh, you mean from last night? Sure I did."

Luke tilted his head as they walked. "Do you know how uncommon that feat is among people, even among those who can access the Force?"

Mara looked a little uncertain. "I'm guessing not very common by the way you're acting."

Luke nodded. "It's rare. Leia and I can send each other images, and we can understand each other because we are so close as twins."

Mara ducked a fallen tree bough, using the action to buy herself a few seconds.

"...oh." She really didn't know what else to say. She didn't stop walking, and she was a little worried at where Luke was going with this line of conversation.

Luke kept even with her as much as their little trail would permit. They were beginning to gain altitude, and Luke knew that in another day or two, they'd be in a small mountain range. He had spotted a game trail and suggested they follow it so long as it went in the direction they needed to go. So far it had paid off, and thus they remained upon it.

Luke sensed Mara's hesitation and fed off of that. He didn't let it stop him entirely, though. "Mara, only two Force users who are really close can communicate with each other in such a manner."

Mara coughed gently. "I thought it was due to the emergency. Tense situations like that can have affects on Jedi too."

Luke heard something in her tone, caught a hint of... something in her body language, and frowned. "Mara, are you alright? I'm... I'm sorry if I upset you. I didn't mean to do that."

Mara glanced to him, seeing it when his demeanor shifted back towards his hermit-like ways. She cursed herself: here he was trying to be more open with her and Mara was shunning his efforts.

Blast it Mara! She yelled in her mind.

She stopped, not paying attention to where they were. "Luke, I..."

But her words died when she looked over her friend's shoulder to see a pair of Kestans appear nearby. Luke, following her gaze, found Shiva and her teammate cresting a hill.

When the Kestans caught sight of the humans, something crossed Shiva's features, and her wings flexed. "Oh, it's you two."

Mara bit back her normal acidic reply and tried instead to be nice to this woman. Having heard more of Shiva's story from Leader Afkin, Mara wondered if a friendship might be kindled between them to replace the animosity they had shown one another.

"Hello Shiva."

Shiva didn't respond, though she did draw close to the humans. To Mara's dismay, Shiva frowned at her when they drew to within arms distance. When Shiva began sniffing carefully, Mara had the odd thought that maybe Kestans could smell illnesses. Could Shiva sense Mara's infection, or was it just so bad that anyone could have noticed? It sure felt like it...

"You seem..." Shiva began, and Mara sent her a look that would have frozen a seasoned admiral in his tracks. Shiva lifted a brow, looking as if she would call Mara on her action, but then she snorted once and shifted her statement. "You seem different."

Mara held the other's eye for a time, and thought she saw the barest hint of respect there. But it was hard to tell for certain.

Mara eventually turned to the woman's teammate and nodded politely. "I don't believe we've been introduced, I'm Mara." It was true: Mara had been so focused on showing up Shiva, that she hadn't paid the second Kestan any mind.

To both Shiva's and Mara's surprise, it was Luke who answered. Mara only then saw the friendly manner between Luke and the blue and tan Kestan beside him. In fact, the two had gravitated toward each other almost immediately, had begun chatting quietly while Mara and Shiva worked things out on their end.

"This is Thea." Luke gestured to the blue and tan Kestan at his side. "She's quite a historian and lover of nature."

Both Mara and Shiva stared at the other pair, and then asked almost in sync, "you two know each other?"

Thea snorted gently. "We met at the feast."

Luke offered a look to the other pair, making eye contact with both Shiva and Mara respectively. "It's actually really easy to make friends when you're not holding a silent war."

Mara felt her cheeks flush, and beside her Shiva huffed, though she noted that the gesture held less ire than normal.

"Yes, well, we must continue on," Shiva said, already moving away. "This is a trek for each individual team, after all."

Thea sighed, but moved to follow. "See you around, Jedi Skywalker."

"Bye Thea." Luke waved... but the gesture halted when something suddenly loomed into view beyond their group. It was massive, and Luke gaped at it for a few seconds, wondering what it could possibly be when Shiva spotted it also.

"Golem!" Shiva hollered, instantly moving to attack the creature.

Luke blinked. So this was a golem?

He came-to when Shiva's actions of pummeling the creature with stones caused it to roar and swing at her. Thea rushed to her teammate's side and joined the attack, with Mara close behind. Luke held back, thinking to point out that the creature hadn't done anything to provoke the attack save appear.

Mara, on the other hand, thought the golem looked like a collection of mossy boulders and twigs with oddly glowing eyes. They didn't shine like a droid's photoreceptor, but rather looked like they could have been pockets of bioluminescent algae. She also took note that this creature rivaled a bantha in sheer mass.

Mara moved to find a weapon, but Luke placed a hand to her arm. "I don't think it's trying to harm us."

Mara offered him a look. "Luke, it's attacking."

"Is it?" Luke challenged over the sound of the battle, "or did we just start attacking it without provocation?"

"Are you so soft that you can't take out a stupid brute?" Shiva mocked when she overheard Luke's words. "It's nothing more than a menace, and it needs to be destroyed."

Luke thinned his lips, but refused to be cowed. "I think it's merely defending itself."

Shiva laughed, but Thea looked at Luke thoughtfully. Mara noticed this and felt something odd course through her; she'd had no idea Luke and Thea had hit it off so well.

Shiva sucked in a deep breath and blew flames at the golem as Mara drew even with the black and grey Kestan. When the golem was un-phased, Mara spoke. "It's made of rock, so I doubt flames will do much against it."

Shiva glared at Mara. "Do you have a better plan?"

Mara nodded. "Yes," she caught sight of Luke... and the part of her that loved him wanted to help him. "It's large and cumbersome, so it would be easy to throw it off balance. We could knock it down and get away."

Shiva began to argue, but Mara cut her off. "You said it yourself that this trek is more important. Why waste energy fighting this thing to the death when you could incapacitate it and get away instead?"

Shiva huffed, but conceded. "Fine... you do have a point."

Mara looked around and spotted a climbing plant on a tree nearby. Hoping it wasn't toxic; Mara grabbed the base of the vine and gestured to Shiva. "Can you reach the other end?"

Shiva flew up and grabbed the indicated item, though when Shiva tugged on the vine afterwards, Mara's shoulder screamed in agony. Mara panted, her vision going fuzzy for long seconds before she was able to refocus. She had no idea if anyone noticed her pain, but she chose to ignore that possibility. Once her sight was again clear, she nodded to an impatient Shiva. The two worked in concert and approached the golem.

The thing swung an enormous fist at them, and Mara ducked while Shiva went higher. Another swing nearly took Shiva's head off, but the woman managed to evade. But the evasion brought her closer to the creature, which gave Mara an idea. "Use its actions against it!"

Shiva nodded and the two resumed their actions of approaching the golem. It took a few minutes, but eventually the two of them got within the golem's defenses and wrapped the vine about the creature's legs. It took a few passes before the vine was taut enough to cause the golem to misstep.

As expected it would do, the thing went off balance easily and fell face-first to the ground. Mara and Shiva leapt clear to avoid being squashed by its massive body. The mini earthquake that ensued as it connected with the ground both jarred Mara's teeth and aggravated her shoulder yet again.

A tense silence ensued as the group waited to see it the golem would get back up. When it remained where it was, Mara and Shiva looked to each other.

Shiva actually dipped her head to Mara, the first sign of respect she'd ever shown Mara. "You did well."

Mara recognized the compliment and accepted it. Shiva signaled to Thea and the two moved off again, leaving Luke and Mara alone again.

When it was evident the other pair was long gone, a hand touched her arm, and Luke appeared at her side. "Thank you Mara."

Mara inclined her head, though she couldn't shake the memory of Luke and Thea, and she was unsure how she felt about that.

"So, what's with Thea?" Mara had to ask.

Luke eyed her. "What about her?"

"Are you two best buds?" Mara pressed.

Luke lifted a brow. "She's just a friend. She approached me at the feast after all the speeches to apologize for how Shiva treated you and I. We began talking, and found that we had some things in common... and that's it."

Mara sighed, wondering why she was being jealous in the first place. She decided it was ridiculous, since Luke and Thea barely knew each other, and were of two very different species. It couldn't have worked even if they'd wanted it to.

"Mara, Thea is nothing more than a friend, and will never be more than that." Luke assured her gently when Mara's emotional state leaked through to him in the Force. "And besides, there's not a woman in the galaxy that could replace what we," he lightly touched Mara's back, "have."

Mara met Luke's eyes and was taken aback at the way he was looking at her. But the spell was broken when the golem began to move again. Mara started, having forgotten about the thing.

Mara felt a touch of fear and began to move off. Luke looked as if he wanted to stay, but Mara returned to him. "Luke, let's go."

He hesitated. "I still think the Kestans are wrong about the golems."

Mara saw the thing's arms begin to push it upwards, and felt her fear increase. Would the thing come after her because of her part in downing it? Mara knew her strength was depleting with each exertion she exacted of her body. And soon, whether she wanted it or not, Luke would notice her condition.

"Luke..." Mara allowed her fright to leak into her tone to convey how serious she was about leaving. "Please, let's go."

He returned his attention to her and nodded. "Alright."

Mara saw him look back once or twice, but he stayed faithfully by her side as they left. That act only increased Mara's love for Luke. Mara wondered if she would ever figure out how to care for Luke in the way he inherently knew how to care for Mara. Luke could handle her emotional and mental needs. Her spiritual ones too, Mara knew. But could she do that for him?

After an hour's walk and no signs that the golem had followed them, Mara turned her attention to her body. Her legs were quivering ever-so-slightly, and she feared Luke would notice. To avoid this, Mara stopped.

"Can we call it a night?" She had a thought and bet on his appetite still being present. "Because I don't know about you, but I'm hungry."

Luke chuckled, seeing through her attempt, but not the reasoning behind it. "Alright, let's make camp for the night. But no fire, since we don't want anything to find us easily."

Mara blanched at the thought of the golem finding them in the darkness, and shuddered. "Alright."