It took all of Luke's patience not to grab his hat off his head, throw it in the garbage bin, and rip his collar off. He was a little squirmy on the walk, but he tried not to make it apparent. As a way of taking his concentration off of his uniform, he slipped his arm around Mara's waist.

"Skywalker, I'm beginning to think you might be a little nervous."

"Me? Nervous? Why should I be? I have a confining hat on, an itchy collar, I feel like half my senses were ripped away, and I'm walking with the most beautiful woman in the galaxy, who once vowed to kill me and might never have taken away that promise." Luke glanced over at Mara.

"Glad to know you think so highly of me, farmboy."

"You should be, seeing as we're going to have to live in the same suite together for who knows how long...And have you noticed that there's only one bed? I don't want to sleep on the couch!"

"Well, it's a big bed,...and as long as you stay on your side, you can sleep on it, too."

"Ah, yes, but one problem." There was a mischievous glint in Luke's eyes. "I have a tendency to snuggle."

"Do you want to know what happened to the last guy who attempted to snuggle with me?" Mara said in a cautioning tone.

"Umm...I have a good imagination."

"Ahh, the guests of honor have arrived," claimed the Emperor.

"Oh, joy. All hail the holy and omniscient Rebels who have just been nominated to the esteemed rank of Imperial Grand Admirals..." Mara mumbled to Luke, who just grinned in response.

The next hour consisted of their being greatly honored (at least, to the Imperials it was considered honored), receiving their rank insignia, and being bored completely out of their minds. Finally, it was time for the banquet to truly begin. Palpatine, Vader, Luke, Mara, and the other higher ranking Imperial officers walked through the halls to a big, majestic ballroom. Palpatine sat at the head of the table, with Vader at his right side. Next to Vader sat Luke and Mara.

The first course was stewed sughos.

Luke poked at what looked like rotted bantha fodder after a wampa had gotten through with it, and he glanced uneasily at Mara. He whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "Are we supposed to eat this stuff?"

"No, we're just supposed to look at it." Mara mumbled back sarcastically.

"Good, 'cause that's what I'm gonna be doing."

Mara's face began to pale when they proudly announced the next dish. "Skywalker?"

"What?"

"Do you think we could join the few couples dancing?"

Luke barely managed to keep a grin off his face. "Why?"

"Because I can't eat this next dish."

"Why? Aren't you hungry?"

"Do you want me to puke all night?"

"Not if you're sleeping in the same bed as me, no."

"Then let's go dance."

"'Kay." They stood up, and at an inquisitive look from Vader, Luke explained, "'Scuse us, we're going to dance."

Vader nodded, watching them walk to the dance floor.

A slow song was beginning to play just as they got out to the dance floor. "Uh, Mara, is it a problem that I don't dance?"

"This is the easy dance. All you need to do is put your arms around my waist and follow my instructions."

Luke looked at her dubiously, "All right..." He placed his hands gently around her waist as Mara slid her arms around his neck.

"You need to tighten your grip a little, I'm not gonna break." Mara laughed.

Luke hesitantly wrapped his arms tighter around her back and moved closer to her.

"Good, now move to the music," Mara instructed, her breath warm on his face as she moved closer and placed her head on his shoulder.

Luke tensed for a moment, then he slowly relaxed and rested his head against hers. "A few years ago, I'm sure you couldn't imagine you'd be dancing this closely with the man you once wanted to kill."

"I would've promptly sent anyone who claimed this would happen to an insane asylum."

Luke laughed. "I wouldn't put it past you."

"I still would," Mara snickered.

"Yeah. Who do we know that would take my word or an Imperial's? 'Sides, I wouldn't want Han getting wind of this. I would never hear the end of it."

"Then I'll be sure to tell him if we go back."

"Very little chance of that happening...After all, if we twitch wrong we'll swiftly be blown to smithereens."

"You know, I think we've been here long enough, let's go back to the suite."

Luke lightly shook his head, which was still resting on hers, "No, we have to stay here a while. We're supposed to make a speech at 2100, and it's only 1900 right now...You do have your speech all planned out don't you?"

"We have to make a speech?" Mara inquired nervously.

"Yup. You did know, didn't you?"

"No officers ever made speeches when I was with the Imperial Court."

"Well, it's been quite a while since you've been an Imperial; things have changed. We are becoming Grand Admirals, and since that's a pretty high position, we need to make a good impression."

"How would you know? Why don't I eat just enough of that dish to make me sick and we can go back?"

Luke took in a small luxurious breath, Mara's hair carrying to him the scent of uagd'fu, a flower native to her home planet. "You can if you want to sleep on the couch."

"I'll sleep on the floor if we can just leave now."

"Aww, you don't like dancing with big bad Jedi Skywalker? Oh wait, it's Grand Admiral now, isn't it?"

Mara ignored his second sentence. "Well, it's not you, though I'm not sure how much of a Jedi you are at the moment...It's our company...And the fact that I want to be dancing in a more private area with you."

Luke turned his head slightly and saw that the Emperor and Vader's eyes were focused on them like hawk-bats. Hmm, dancing in a more private place with Mara...

"Yes, I'm sure we could dispense with the rest of the pleasantries, if you want to try to convince those two."

"Let's go choke down enough of that so that I'll be sick and we can go back to the room."

"Umm, well personally, I've dealt with enough pain and sickness for an eternity...So, I guess I could ask if we could return to our quarters..."

"You don't want me to be sick?" Mara asked with a hint of confusion on her face.

"I don't want either of us to be sick. I just want to go back to our suite."

"Let's go back to the table, and you can say how sore you're feeling so we can go back to the suite. Then if you want we can..." Mara cut herself off. "Let's just leave right now."

"Of course, I'm the one who has to go over there!" Luke said semi-grumpily.

"No! Let's go right now! Let's just go. No excuses."

"Why? Do you want to be shot in the back with a blaster?"

"Skywalker," Mara said pulling back a little so she could look him in the face, "—we need to just go."

Luke didn't need the Force to see how urgent the matter was.

Whatever it was...

"It won't take too long. I'll just go over there, say a few words, and we're gone."

"Then stop talking and start walking."

"All right." Luke pulled away and turned and walked towards Vader. Mara turned and hurried towards the door.

Vader turned his gaze to Luke questioningly, "Grand Admiral Jade and I are retiring for the night..." Vader continued to look at Luke expectantly. "M'lord," he said reluctantly.

"Go then, son. Your schedule will be dropped by your quarters at 0700 sharp. You are not expected to work tomorrow, but you do have to go and get your bombs 'planted' and receive your Force antidote. The next day, you had better be at your scheduled appointment on time."

Luke nodded, happy that he would soon have the Force back, and he began to walk away, but he remembered to bow, turning sharply on his heel.

The Emperor smiled evilly after Luke, his thoughts on Mara, seeing a sudden vision of the two's future.