"All right, farmboy, are you happy?"
"Well, I'd be happy if I was off this blasted ship, had the Force back, and if Tontay and my students were still alive, but I guess I'll have to take what I can get."
Mara looked pained, almost like she'd been slapped, but it only lasted for a moment.
"No, Mara, I didn't mean..."
Mara recovered swiftly, "You didn't mean what?"
Luke was silent for a moment. "Do you think it's been easy on me to lose so many of my students in one blow when there was nothing I could do about it? I should have been on Yavin with them so I could protect them. It's my fault that they died...my fault that she died. I am the one to blame for their deaths. You don't know how hard that is for me to live with. You don't know how hard it is to carry the burden of causing thousands of people's deaths. I killed many people on the Death Star, some of which were in Imperial service for innocent reasons...If I had been on Yavin, I could have stopped most, if not all, of the attack. When I said what I did, I didn't mean that I don't have feelings for you. I just don't want anyone else to die. I try so hard to prevent it, but—"
"But you can't protect everyone. Luke, it's not all your fault that they died. Though you should probably start doing the one-on-one teaching that the Jedi Masters of old practiced, because if you have a whole lot of students, then some of what they should learn gets lost in the process, so when they have to call their skills to bear, it doesn't work as effectively as it could've if they'd had more personal training...But you, not even a fully trained Jedi Master, taught them as much as you could within your abilities, doing a fine job of it. I understand that you thought the galaxy needed several more Jedi to help with its catastrophic problems, but perhaps you're trying a little too hard...You can't always protect everybody. People need to follow their own paths and make their own choices. Tontay made her decision. You are not the one to object to it." Mara gave Luke a hard look.
They continued walking down the corridors, and Luke kept quiet. They arrived at their suite, and Luke punched in the code. Mara walked in and collapsed on the couch. Luke sat down on the recliner a bit more gracefully then Mara had. The pittin mrowled and jumped into his lap, tickling his chin with her furry pink tail. "So why did you want to leave so quickly?" Luke asked. "I'm not that bad of a dancer."
Mara laughed, "I'm not so sure about that farmboy."
Luke wasn't getting off track so easily, "So?"
"So what?" Mara avoided his eyes.
"Why did you want to leave so quickly?" Luke repeated.
Mara shrugged, "I felt...claustrophobic."
Luke gave her a skeptical look, "I'm not gonna fall for that!"
"I wanted to avoid someone." Mara gave him a look that said 'Drop it!'
"Who?" Luke wished he could send out a tendril of Force probe.
"One of my old Imperial...friends..." Mara could see that Luke didn't quite believe her. "Look, I'm tired right now, can we finish this conversation another time?"
Luke gave in but stated, "We will talk later." Mara nodded, and Luke picked the pittin up off his lap to set it on the floor. Her tail lashed angrily at being disturbed, and Deedah viciously bit Luke's finger, jumped out of his arms, and ran swiftly into the other room. Nursing his hurt finger, Luke asked, "What is wrong with that thing?"
Mara just rolled her eyes and went into the other room. She opened the package to see what kind of nightclothes they had given her. I don't think so, Mara thought. There was quite a collection of revealing garments. Wonder if they remembered to give me a robe? She checked thoroughly through her stuff and struck gold. There was a silky green robe that went remarkably well with her green eyes. Reluctantly, she grabbed some lingerie and her robe then went into the refresher and changed. When she came back out, Luke was sitting on the bed, clad in a robe of his own. He was immersed in a datacard and didn't even look up when she came in.
"What are you reading farmboy?"
Luke glanced up. "Just some historical documents. You about to go to bed?"
"Yeah, I'm tired. It's been a long day."
"I can't wait till they take this anti-Force stuff out of my system," Luke sighed.
"Tired of being a normal person?" Mara gave him a cool look.
That statement stung a bit. "It's not like I asked to be able to use the Force."
"Well, you sure don't waste any time flaunting it." Mara held her hand up before he could say anything, "Sorry, I'm not exactly thinking straight. I'm going to bed." She grabbed a blanket and started into the other room before Luke could protest about her sleeping on the couch. So much for their earlier discussion.
"Good night, Mara," Luke's voice carried into the living area.
Mara didn't reply, just pounded her pillows a bit, softening them.
"Good night, Mara," Luke repeated.
Again Mara didn't say anything, just closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.
"Good night, Mara," Luke said, much louder this time.
"Sithspit," Mara mumbled, then she called back to him, annoyed, "good night, Skywalker."
