Chapter Eighteen:

Luke and Mara had not gone far on her lifeday due to all the other activities of that day, but Luke wasn't too concerned. He'd been confident that the two of them could make good time the following day and get caught up.

He was happy with the progress they had already made today. They had finally broken the edge of the tree line and seen only the barren rock and minimal scrubs of the high mountain. Luke knew they had to go this way from the map, but he wondered why they had to cross the mountains. He supposed it was simply to make their trek more difficult.

The high, rocky terrain was dangerous to traverse, because the stones and ledges could give way at any time. If one wasn't careful, they'd tumble down the mountainside right along with the earthen material.

It was now midday, and Luke loved that he could see for miles beyond the mountain, since they were so high up. Everything below looked... serene, he decided. Luke took a breath of the frigid air, and he was glad for the fur coats he and Mara had discovered in the very bottom of their packs. Luke wondered if the Kestans needed jackets, since they were warmed inside by their fire-breathing organ. The humans didn't have such a thing, so maybe the Kestans had leveled the playing field by offering a warm coat for the cold days ahead.

Luke's hands were still chilled, but he couldn't complain. All in all he was pleased with their day. What he wasn't happy with was the way Mara was behaving.

Luke couldn't shake the sense that there was something going on with her, but she refused to allow him in. How could he help her if she kept pushing him away?

He'd suspected something a few days ago, when she'd looked stiffer than normal in her daily activities. Mara always kept herself fit and limber, so for her to be acting in such an opposite manner sent warning bells off in his mind.

Then there was the little fact that Mara hadn't been able to use the bow. Luke hadn't exactly made a compound bow, so the action of pulling the string shouldn't have been so... taxing for Mara. But it had taken her a few tries to make it happen. And she had missed! Luke wasn't upset about the loss of food; he could survive without it.

The issue was that Mara was the best marksman Luke knew: her aim was precise every single time. She never wasted a shot, and was always deliberate with her use of ammunition so as not to waste anything. That was especially so with limited ammo such as Luke's crude arrows.

So what was going on?

He knew she looked wrong: even with her normally porcelain skin, she looked pale. She didn't look well at all, and Luke could tell she was flagging.

Luke didn't want to start a fight, but this had gone on long enough, and he was deeply concerned about Mara. Steeling his resolve, Luke paused in his stride to allow Mara to catch up.

They were walking along a ridgeline; one with a drop that would be fatal if either one of them fell. But his attention turned to focus more on Mara, the need to puzzle her out tugging at him incessantly.

"Mara, can we talk?" he asked when she was beside him. She glanced to him, not stopping, but nodded. Luke noted that she had drawn her coat closer around her body at some point.

"I've asked this before, and I'll ask again..." he saw her tense, "are you really alright?"

There was a moment of silence, with Luke finding her lack of immediate answer to be a red flag in his mind.

Finally she muttered out a response. "Yes."

Luke thinned his lips. "Forgive me, but I don't think you are."

Mara looked to him, her gaze hardening. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, you've not been acting like yourself lately," Luke replied, undaunted. He'd faced her wrath before, and he would do so again... for her sake. And he would do it whether she liked it or not, because he loved her.

Yes, he loved this beautiful, independent woman. Luke had been trying since the night she'd spoken to him about her father to relate in turn his own heartache. He had tried and tried, but everything kept conspiring against him, and Luke was frustrated that he'd been thwarted so far.

Either she was too tired and fell asleep before he could chat with her at the end of each day's walk, or something came up during the day when he finally found a moment to try. And then once he had suspected she was not herself, his concern for Mara had overshadowed his attempts to tell her his past.

"Mara, please." Luke pled. "I know there's something wrong: there has been too much happening to refute that fact."

"Like what?" Mara challenged, though she knew full well what he meant. Her head was aching, while her body was both too warm from being sick and chilled from the weather. To make matters worse, the fever was tempering her judgment, which Mara didn't like. But she felt a little powerless to repel the effect. She was just too tired to fully fight the effects of her illness anymore.

"You don't look healthy," Luke said. "You're beginning to look like a ghost."

Mara smirked irreverently. "I've always been pale, Luke. I have fair skin."

Luke blew out a breath, striving to be patient. "Mara, be serious, please."

Mara sighed, stopping at last. "I am, and I'm telling you: it's nothing to worry over."

"What about the other occurrences?" Luke pressed, ignoring her attempt to deflect him yet again.

Mara folded her arms, defiant. "Do tell."

"You couldn't use my bow and arrow." Luke indicated the items slung across his back and shoulders.

Mara thinned her lips, annoyed. "I told you, I was..."

"Just getting a feel for them," Luke finished for her. "You said that before, and I get that. But, Mara, it's a simple bow; nothing difficult to master."

Mara looked away. "So?"

Luke leaned to try catching her gaze. "So why couldn't you even pull the string fully back? It's just a vine."

Mara turned her head further away from him, and he relented momentarily, hoping his action would get her to soften up. "My arms were sore, alright? It's been a long week and a half, and I haven't had the chance to do my normal routine, so I'm not entirely fit."

Luke tilted his head at an odd angle, which Mara saw out of the corner of her eye. "Mara, a couple of days wouldn't make this much of a difference, or affect your aim, for that matter."

Mara swallowed. "I was overly tired."

Luke, upset with her constant deflections, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Mara..."

She shook her head, not speaking this time. Luke came around to face her again, and was grateful when she didn't turn away once more. He took no note that his back was to the cliff face now; too intent on trying to get Mara to confess the real issue at hand was he.

"Mara, I wasn't kidding when I said you never miss. Ever." He tried to touch her hand, but she wouldn't allow him to. In fact, Mara sank deeper into her coat, and Luke heard her sniffle. That increased his suspicions, and Luke tried harder. "You could take on any marksman in this galaxy, and best him or her: I'd bet my bottom credit on you every single time."

Mara did smile the tiniest bit at his praise, but nor did she answer.

"And now you're acting so evasive it's driving me crazy," Luke said, admitting to his frustration. "I don't understand what's so bad that you're hiding it."

Mara knew he was right, but she stubbornly clung to her secret, unwilling to let him see her failure. It stung to know she'd let him down, and she couldn't help the tears that formed in her eyes.

He saw this and stepped closer. "Mara..."

"Luke, just leave it be," Mara said bitterly.

He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry."

Mara ground her teeth, her sickened body already on edge, and her mind muddled by the fever. Mara didn't want to do this: and she just wanted to lie down and sleep. But Mara knew that if she did lie down in this cold weather, she'd not get back up.

"I don't think it's any of your business," Mara said a little tartly, feeding off of her discomfort and going on the defensive.

"It is when we are a team." Luke was firm.

Mara looked away. "Teammates don't share everything."

Luke nodded. "You're right, teammates don't, but best friends usually do."

Mara, already irritable and unsteady with everything going on, snapped at long last. "Oh you should talk!" she hollered, making Luke jump. "You've been so clammed up that you won't let anyone into that blasted heart of yours!"

She emphasized her statement by shoving Luke right in the center of his chest, seeing his hurt look. He stumbled, caught off-guard by her suddenness and her biting words. Still trapped in her fever-induced rant, Mara shoved him a second time, this one harder than before.

Mara's bleary mind didn't hear the warning in the Force, and neither one of them had been paying attention to how close to the edge they had come in their argument. But one moment Luke was eye-level with Mara, and the next he was falling.

It only took one look at the sheer terror on his face to snap Mara out of it. Adrenaline pumped through her to break through the mental fog.

"Luke!" Mara shrieked, diving and lashing out a hand to catch his arm before he was past her reach. He caught her wrist at the last second, and the ensuing tug of his full weight on Mara's shoulder wrenched it so hard Mara was certain it had disconnected.

Mara screamed in agony, very nearly dropping Luke in the same instant that he swung out and back into the rock face from sheer momentum. Mara panted, and her face instantly broke out into a sweat as the agony chewed through her strength like mice chewed through thin containers to get at food.

Luke attempted to grab onto the stone beside him, but there were no handholds, and he couldn't find purchase. And when he tried to brace with his feet, his actions only made Mara cry out again, and he stopped moving.

"Mara..." Luke's voice quavered. He felt powerless, because he didn't know why she was in pain.

Mara was weeping, her arm shaking so badly she feared he would slip free from the motions alone. "Luke!"

Mara had hold of a stone behind her that had miraculously stayed firmly in place, so she only had the one arm to use in holding and hoisting him. But she couldn't lift him. She couldn't even hold him...

You already are holding him, idiot! Mara berated herself fiercely. Mara gritted her teeth, determined to at least try to lift him.

Taking a deep breath, Mara pulled against his weight, trying to lift Luke up. But as soon as his weight strained against her arm, Mara's shoulder tore, and she sobbed in agony, her vision going white.

"Mara!" Luke cried, feeling fear for her despite his situation.

"Luke, I can't..." Mara wept, feeling him slip a tiny bit. "I can't lift you!"

Mara glanced behind her, made certain her feet had purchase, and then risked letting go of her handhold. When they both didn't start to slide, Mara knew she could use both arms now.

She reached down, grasping for his other wrist. "Reach up!"

Luke did as she asked, having to heft himself up to do so, and Mara made another sound of pain. Luke sought for Jedi calm around his pounding heart. Despite his situation, Luke's concern was more for the woman he loved above anything else in his life. Including his own mortality.

"Mara..." Luke spoke, though she didn't seem to hear him.

And indeed, Mara was stuck in her own little world, trying to pep talk herself into hefting Luke up.

You can do this... you love Luke... you won't let him fall... lift... Mara began lifting, screaming through the pain but not stopping... LIFT!

Mara kept at it... and thought she might just do it, but then her arm failed her. Unable to stop it, Mara's arm fell back down, and Mara nearly got tugged off the ledge to join Luke when his weight yanked both her arms this time.

Mara cried out in fear this time, breathing erratically as she continued to weep. Finally she heard Luke call her name, and she met his gaze.

"Luke, I can't do this!" Mara sobbed. Her mind was even more feverish now, and in her state, Mara was unprepared to defend against the thoughts that came next.

He's going to die, and it's your fault Mara! You've killed the man you love... Mara balked inwardly: she was like Sidara! That thought stabbed at her heart and Mara's head dropped. She felt a jolt of white-hot shock from Luke as he overheard her thoughts, and Mara couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze.

She felt her arms shaking, and the wound in her shoulder continued to tear as Luke's weight pulled against the limb.

"...Mara, please look at me." Luke's voice was so tender that Mara couldn't deny him. When her dripping eyes met his, all she saw there was open love. "You are nothing like Sidara, do you hear me? You are loyal when she was anything but."

Mara shook her head. "I did this to you."

He nodded. "But I'm not dead yet. Please... let me help."

Mara sniffled. "How?"

Luke touched her spirit with his in the Force. "Let me give you strength."

Mara held his gaze a moment longer, feeling his spirit like a balm to her soul, and she nodded once. "Alright."

She opened to him entirely, not caring to block him in the slightest, and what happened next blew her mind. Luke connected with her, and instantly the two of them seemed to merge, their spirits intertwining like two vines. Mara gasped, as did Luke, and she very nearly dropped him again from the shock of the event.

But Luke sent her his strength, holding nothing back in return, and Mara used his gift to haul him up. It killed her shoulder, and Mara screamed the entire time, but at long last Luke was high enough up to grab at the stone Mara had held earlier. Mara released that arm of his and grabbed his outfit to hoist him up by his midsection now. Luke pulled himself up, and as soon as he was on solid ground, he turned and hauled Mara away from the edge with him.

When they were a safe distance, he collapsed to the ground with her still in his arms, though Luke made certain he was between her and the hard ground. He took the impact and thus Mara simply fell against him. She was shaking head to toe now, and Luke was beside himself with fear for her.

"Mara?" his voice was laced with concern. He sat upright, Mara not fighting it now that she had no more strength. In fact, she was slipping dangerously close to unconsciousness even as Luke hurriedly moved her hair away from her face.

"Mara, please talk to me!" Luke begged her. "What's wrong, really?"

Mara clung to Luke, seeking the warmth his body had to offer. "I..." she coughed, feeling her head spin with the motion. She was beyond sick now, the exertion of saving Luke far too much for her in her weakened state.

Luke remembered her pain with each attempt to move him, and he looked to her shoulder. To his great alarm there as blood seeping past her clothing and Luke sucked in a breath. Gently he laid her down, and then touched the fabric, though when he began to tug it over her shoulder, Mara yelped.

"Sorry!" Luke whispered, but he didn't stop. His face drained of all color, however, when he got a good look at her shoulder. Luke knew it was the same shoulder that had been stabbed by the hagrabold in the very first event. What had started out as a neatly stitched injury was now a gnarled, infected mess of cracked and dried skin and blood.

"Mara!" he cried, looking to her in horror, but she couldn't meet his gaze. "Why would you hide this?!"

Mara closed her eyes, simply crying. She couldn't answer him; and not just because she didn't want to. She was utterly exhausted, and in constant pain, so she didn't have the energy to speak anymore.

Seeing the state Mara was in as a whole, Luke shoved her pack from her shoulders and stood, placing it upon his own back. He then lifted Mara into his arms, making sure she was secure before he moved even an inch.

Once she was cradled in his embrace, Luke began an urgent search for some sort of shelter. He needed to get her out of the elements, and then he needed to find something to help her. But what? They had left the vegetation behind a few miles ago, but if Luke had to travel halfway down the mountain again to get her some medicinal herbs, he would gladly do so.

First things first, Luke, he told himself. Find shelter.

Luke searched for twenty harrowing minutes, feeling it when Mara at last succumbed to her fever and went limp. He glanced to her, fearing the worst, but upon seeing her chest still moving he knew she was only unconscious. Breathing out deliberately to keep a level head, Luke crested a ridge and cried out in relief when he finally found a hole in the mountainside. It was surprisingly large, and Luke was grateful at how deep into the mountain it went. Luke went in far enough to allow Mara to not be in the elements, but for them to still get airflow.

He laid her down momentarily so he could work to make her a pallet, cradling her head until it was resting gently on the ground. Once she was settled, Luke got to work, pulling out both of their blankets and laying them atop each other. In her state, Luke wanted Mara to have something softer and warmer to lie on than the cold hard stone.

He then lifted Mara again and set her with tender care onto her makeshift bed. Once she was settled, Luke removed his fur coat and laid it over her body. He then moved their packs and shuffled through in the hopes that there as something in them that would help.

But alas, there was nothing.

This is all about survival, Luke, he reminded himself. But he wished there was anything to help Mara immediately. He considered, eyeing their things before he had a thought.

There was some water, and Luke did still have that small animal skin. Mara had given it back to him after her bath; and Luke had allowed it to dry by attaching it to his pack.

Taking out his water skin, Luke wet a small portion of the animal skin and dabbed at Mara's shoulder, thinking to at least cleanse the area. Luke found he couldn't do much, but he was determined to try. Finally he had to stop when he ran out of water. He didn't use Mara's flask in case she woke and needed a drink.

Luke sighed, looking to Mara and knowing he would have to leave her. He needed to find some herbs, as well as enough wood to start and maintain a fire. Luke looked outside the shelter, feeling the chill without his coat even in the cave. But he would much rather that Mara be warm than he, especially in her current state.

Luke would brave the elements for the love of his life.

Luke emptied his pack entirely, intending to use it to carry firewood. Luke then knelt beside Mara, running a tender fingertip down the curve of her cheekbone.

"Hang in there... my dearest Mara." His voice broke with emotion, and he felt a few tears slip past his control to land upon her forehead. He bent forward and placed a kiss to Mara's brow.

With a tiny noise, Luke pulled away and forced himself to leave. Mara needed things that would not just appear out of thin air. He stepped out of the cave, got his bearings, and moved at a swift pace back the way they had come.