Chapter 2

The view of Tatooine from the Sabre's cockpit could have looked beautiful. Beautiful if I'd been someone else. As it was, the rusty pale orange planet put a knot in my stomach. It was a knot Luke seemed to share.

It was home, after all. Filled with all the good and bad that entailed. The place he'd grown up, the place he'd lost the closest thing to parents he'd ever known. The bitter sweetness of those memories all seemed to rush in on him, and in turn me.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered as if to apologize for what he assumed was emotional pollution.

Of course, I could hardly look at it that way…

"Don't be…" I simply replied, putting a hand on his shoulder.

My own memories were worse, I wagered anyway. Jabba's palace and how close I'd come to ending Luke once and for all. Back then, I wouldn't have hesitated, not for a second. I closed my eyes, wincing at the thought. It wasn't something I was exactly proud of now. But my own feelings of self-loathing were the only reprimands I'd be getting. Luke never seemed rattled at that particular emotional runoff.

"The past doesn't matter now," he said softly as if to brush away our old demons. "The force led us to exactly where we need to be right now."

I just stared at him, still in wonder at the calm acceptance he had. He really had found peace, even after everything that had happened to him. It was very much a Jedi thing, so I shouldn't have been surprised. And yet…peace didn't come quite so easily to me. I still had more regrets than I knew what to do with…

His calm trance seemed to snap like a soap bubble. Turning to look at me, he frowned softly. "Mara, what's bothering you…?" His voice was soft and genuine, as if from one close friend to another. A 'What's really going on?' sort of question.

I sighed, the fight gone out of me. "Don't you know? I mean you must, right?"

He frowned, the tables turned. Now it was as much a question of whether he wanted to talk about it. But in that familiar way, he smiled so easily again, so warmly. "I'm happy," he finally said.

His blue eyes sparkled; the simple joy almost like a child's.

A child's…

I leaned back in the pilot's seat, the honest truth spilling out. "I want to be…" I admitted bittersweetly. "But then I'm not exactly motherhood material, now am I?"

"Mara…" he said in a low reprimand. "You know that's not true."

I scoffed. "And you know that I don't know that."

He sighed silently, unable to refute that particular point. But his resignation only lasted a few heartbeats. "Your own self-doubt doesn't equal truth."

It sounded a little like a default inspirational Jedi mantra. "Are you just saying that as my Jedi Master?"

His expression suddenly looked hurt. Reaching to take my hand, he held it tightly. "No, of course not. That you even have to ask is…"

"Disappointing?" I guessed. "Well, yeah that's a little ironic because that's just what I'm worried about. Being a big disappointment in a lot of ways…"

"Your fear is blinding you to the truth right in front of you," he said, a note of pleading in his tone. "Can't you feel that? Are these feelings of disappointment?"

A wave of new sensation washed over me; the volume of his presence heightened. I could feel every texture of his emotion as if on my fingertips. The simple joy was there, intertwined with something far more profound. It was love. Of course, I already knew that... But knowing something with your head was a lot different than knowing it with your heart.

Believing it with your heart…

I hadn't realized I'd doubted it until that moment. But there it was, the reality of my fears openly exposed. Before I could stop myself, I felt my mind and heart draw away from the connection. The instinct to hide overwhelmed me.

"I'm sorry," I had to say. "I…I am happy though, really."

He frowned, feeling the lie even before I said it. But he didn't press, no, just tapped a few panels at the controls. Setting in our approach, we slowly moved toward the planet's surface in silence.

His thoughts and feelings were restless at best. Worry seemed to seep from his mind now in waves. It was so dumb. To be able to feel each other's emotions clearly and yet play these word games. Though I was the one to force him into them, wasn't I? He was so polite, too polite, he never wanted to intrude. But…that was stupid too, wasn't it? It was all so incredibly stupid…

I slammed my hand down on the controls, halting our descent with a slight lurch.

He looked over at me, his eyes wide and expectant for whatever I had to say next.

"Don't think it's you," I bit out a little too sharply. "Because it's not. It's all me, all my doubts. You're…" I hesitated, turning to meet his gaze head on. "Almost perfect…" I admitted in as much a compliment as a complaint.

His face softened in sympathy. "Is that really how you see me, Mara? Perfect?" He almost chuckled. "Even after living with me for nearly four years?"

He did have a point.

The sour look on my face eased with a slight playfulness. "Okay, so you have had your imperfect moments here and there."

His eyebrows arched expectantly as if I was a dumb little Padawan he'd just quizzed. "So what does that mean?"

I wanted to be mad at the patronizing tone, but I couldn't really manage it. "That this poor kid is doomed from the start?" Punching in our landing, we started to move toward the planet again.

He leaned back in his seat, a goofy smile on his face. Secretly, I was seething that he'd gotten the better of me in this little verbal duel. But mostly…

Mostly…I felt his warmth drift into my senses. Wordlessly, I clung to that feeling, that familiar presence. Because it was like a tether, a lifeline. It meant that I…wasn't in this by myself anymore.

My senses stretched further inward toward the small life that had only just begun. The deeper I dove the more detail seemed to pour into my heart. Faint but sure traces of the person he would someday become. The person he already was…

He…?

Feeling some calm acceptance fill me, we broke through the atmosphere. The sight of the golden sand almost seemed to burn beneath the dual suns.

He.

The streets of this particular backwater town were as cramped as all the rest. Cramped and dusty. Tatooine, truly charming. Which is all the more reason I found his nostalgia funny.

"Home sweet home, eh?" I mumbled as we ducked between partly shaded alleyways.

I saw him smile from beneath the cloak. "It's just how I remember it, Tatooine never changes much."

Personally, I thought the cloak and dagger disguise was a bit much, but then I wasn't nearly as famous. Whatever the case, I wasn't in the mood for pretense. I didn't bother shifting my lightsaber out of sight from the local stares. And stare they did, whispering all the while. In a way, I thought it was good if they knew Jedi were in town, it might stir out whatever little worm was behind Karrde's stolen rock.

But if subtlety was Luke's aim, it was a little lost at this point. "Honestly," I muttered as we stopped at the door of a certain auction dealer. "I think you stand out even more in that thing."

He flipped back the hood, a genuine childlike disappointment on his face. "Really, you never mentioned that before?"

I shrugged. "Usually we're not in a town this small. Let's be real, hooded strangers are worse than non-hooded ones."

He sighed, a certain ironic amusement on his face. "And Ben managed to pull it off so well…"

I had to smile at that. Being the Farmboy turned Jedi meant he was a little overzealous to emulate what he assumed were the Jedi of old. Right down to the hoods. Personally, my opinion of the old Jedi order wasn't quite as sparkling. Maybe they're fallen so easily for a reason? Why had his father needed to bring balance back to the force anyway? Something must have been out of whack with how things were.

But it was a thought exercise for another day, at the moment we had other issues to worry about. The auction house door slid open revealing a dimly lit room. A room large enough to accommodate a few rows of chairs, likely for the bidders, I assumed. But the stagnant air and low ceiling still made me slightly claustrophobic.

From among the rows of seats a human man looked over at us. He was about middle-aged, stubble on his chin and worry in his eyes. He all but jumped when he noticed us.

"J-Jedi?" he stammered to himself, before trying to feign composure.

"We're Jedi, yes, that's right." Luke's voice was calm and kind, every bit farmy local as wise Jedi. It seemed to relax the man slightly, though his eyes were still wary.

"What can I do for you, Master Skywalker?" he asked, our reputation preceding us.

"I assume you can guess," I said a little dryly. "Something else Jedi related passed through here recently. A stone. Think you can tell us what happened to it?"

He stiffened nervously. "It was just an old relic, I…" He swallowed sharply. "Forgive me, I'm not versed in Jedi law, I wasn't aware the belongings of one Jedi were inherited by the others…"

His words would have made a nice snide retort, one that inasmuch said: mind your business. But his tone was far too frightened to be anything but a legitimate statement.

"They don't," Luke replied simply, his voice still kind. "You see, the winning bidder was a friend of ours, he told us the stone was stolen. Is that correct?"

You didn't need Jedi tricks to see this guy could fall apart at any moment. His face was pale, beaded with even more sweat than this lousy climate called for. "It was stolen, yes…" he confessed slowly. "But I can't say by whom."

I arched an eyebrow. "You can't say, or you won't say?"

His lips trembled. "I mean, I don't know!"

I frowned but dropped it. He was terrified and lying, a dangerous combination.

Luke held out his hands in a deescalating gesture. "It's alright, we were just interested in any details you might have had. We're very interested in retrieving the stone, you see."

He winced but nodded. "It was just gone, taken straight from the safebox. I-I was running the auction at the time, so I really don't know what happened."

More lies, that much was sure. His emotion was so panicked that it was almost distracting, but I got the distinct idea we weren't the ones he was afraid of. Which made things a little more complicated.

"Alright, thank you for your time," Luke offered before gesturing for us to leave.

I followed him, assuming he'd picked up on the same emotional undercurrents I had. Once we'd stepped into the shade of a side alley he confirmed all my insights. "He's not telling us the truth…" Luke mused slowly. "And he's very afraid of someone."

"Someone other than us," I added, to which he agreed.

"Yes, which means this little theft might be…" he hesitated, glancing at me. "More dangerous than I first thought."

I smirked at him. "And since when does Luke Skywalker get spooked that easily?"

I expected a playful retort, but it never came. Instead, he looked at me, a worried frown filling his face.

And then, all at once, I got it. Some mixture of shame and anger seemed to flare together. He winced at the emotional heat suddenly directed at him, but didn't speak.

"You're kidding, right?! I'm not helpless!" I pulled my lightsaber off my belt, gesturing with it and my injured pride. "You're the one who taught me to use this thing!"

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice still kind, unlike…well mine. "And no, I don't mean helpless. But surely you agree we should be more cautious? That's all I meant." His expression was soft, his emotions warm and filled with genuine concern.

And suddenly, like so many times before, I felt like the loose cannon. Like little more than a Jedi in name only. I clipped my lightsaber back and frowned.

"Sorry," I mumbled, looking away from him. "This is…going to take some time to get used to."

He pulled me unexpectedly closer, wrapping his arms around me tightly. "It's a rather wonderful problem to have though, isn't it?" he asked a note of playfulness and joy in his voice.

Standing there, I felt guilt and wonder emerge from somewhere deep inside me. Wonder that he was never intimidated by my rough edges, and guilt…well for a lot of things. Closing my eyes, I let my muscles slowly loosen. Memories of burying a blaster muzzle into his cheek, craving nothing more than to pull the trigger, filled my mind. It didn't really matter how many years ago it had been, the memory was still just as real. The feelings of hate just as strong. Only now, they weren't mine… The seething face of the woman in those memories wasn't one I even recognized.

Those emotions were just ghosts now… As dead as the Emperor was, as dead I'd have been a few times over if he, the perfect Jedi Farmboy, hadn't insisted on believing in me. Now I was alive, so alive that another life could live inside of me. It didn't even seem real… But it was. In spite of myself, of all the doubts I still had, I…had to agree.

It was a good problem to have…

My admittance of that fact reached his emotions, touching them, eliciting a burst of warmth and relief from his own feelings. It was as if a calm had finally settled between the both of us, a true acceptance.

It was…balance.

Suddenly, I thought I understood why the force needed it. The opposing push and pull of two opposites, if their difference could ever meet, ever align…

But the peace was shattered in such a sudden way that I physically jerked away from his arms. The sense of danger was screaming inside my mind. Within a breath my lightsaber was back in my hand and ignited. The blue and green glow of our blades illuminated the dim alleyway, as we stood back to back, facing opponents on each side.

At each end of the alleyway were two odd-looking droids; four in total. Droids, the make of which I couldn't even guess. The arms, legs, heads, and torsos were all cobbled together from parts of every different model. But all that really drew my attention were the clear weapons pointed at us. Two held in each hand, for a grand total of eight blasters targeted on our heads.

Great.

"This is almost nostalgia…" I mumbled, not letting my confidence wobble. After all, we'd both learned a few more tricks since then.

The bolts came without hesitation, the mindless gaze of the droids not having any reserve about killing in cold blood. The flurry of blaster bolts ricocheted off our sabers with an almost hiss. It was an old strategy, overwhelm and eventually wear down your opponents. But whoever had sent these killers, didn't know enough about Jedi. Granted, we weren't your average Jedi anyway. Impatience certainly wasn't an admiral Jedi trait, but I liked to think of it as simply switching to the offensive.

Luke caught a flicker of my plan and sent his approval. I hadn't really thought to ask if he agreed, but I rathered that he did. In fact, he seemed to like it so much he wanted to mirror it. Sharpening our focus, we seemed to gather ourselves. After another split second of preparation, we lunged forward in our respective directions; the force assisting our sudden acceleration. Weaving between the bolts, the sound of two blades meeting droids hissed through the air. Followed by the music of clanking parts falling in pieces to the ground.

Silence was all that lingered afterward. That and the ragged rise and fall of my chest, as I fought to catch my breath.

"Are you alright?" he asked simply.

I stood a little straighter, a smirk on my face. "I'm fine, it's this darn planet of yours, the heat is killing me."

Both of us sensing the danger had passed, deactivated our lightsabers and returned them to our belts.

"Heat aside," he said, his voice as much my doting Jedi master as my husband. "Your technique is getting so much better."

I shrugged, lightly kicking the fallen droid parts. "I guess I had something to prove today."

Luke knelt to inspect the debris, before glancing up at me. This time, any hint of the Jedi master was gone, leaving only a man gazing at his wife. "You never have to prove anything to me, Mara…"

I smiled back at him, my expression drifting to the sentimental. "Maybe, but I still have a few things left to prove to myself. You just get to witness it first hand."

Smiling, Luke stood, a piece of the droid clutched under his arm. A piece that seemed to bear a strange insignia. Something told me it wouldn't be the last time we'd be seeing it…

"Come on," he said, lightly taking my arm. "Let's get back to the ship." He hesitated. "I…have a bad feeling about this mission suddenly."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, now where have I heard that before?"

More coming soon, thanks for reading.