Chapter 4

Mara tossed and turned on her bunk somewhere between asleep and awake. She bordered on the brink of consciousness as the terrifying nightmare that had been plaguing her the last several months returned once again. It was terrifying because she was always helpless to stop the dream or to interact with it, as if she were experiencing it like a bad holofilm that she couldn't turn off, nor turn her eyes from.

As darkness enfolded itself around her, she felt herself floating high above a swirling, liquid surface. She couldn't move. She was frozen by invisible bonds against a backdrop of cloudy, black nothingness. Rain pounded against her body plastering her hair against her forehead. She had to squint to make out the powerful current that pulled every thing within its reach toward the vortex in the center. A high pitched scream pierced through the blackness. Mara peered into the dark whirlpool, the only speck of light a small ash-blond head bobbing just above the surface.

Callista struggled frantically toward a tree that stretched out leisurely over the madness churning beneath it. Skywalker dangled precariously from a branch that looked much to thin to carry his weight. Despite the danger, he stretched as far as he could down to Callista, but was a tantalizingly few centimeters too short to catch her.

"Reach! Don't give up! Try to use the Force, Callista!" he cried. But she seemed not to hear or even see him.

Mara could feel Skywalker making every effort to pierce through the Force barrier that separated him from his love, but the swirling mass below him only mocked his efforts. A chill colder than the pounding rain turned her blood to ice as an eerie but familiar cackle rose to her ears from the depths of the vortex. She wanted to close her eyes to the next part, dreading what she knew was to come, but her eyelids refused to block it out. She watched as with a terrified shriek, Callista disappeared into the vortex. Skywalker unleashed a loud, mournful wail as he stretched as far as could in one last vain attempt to rescue her. Mara called out to him over the gale blowing about her, knowing that he could not hear her. Finally, the branch could no longer support the stress of carrying his weight and snapped, plunging him into the inky black churning waters of the whirlpool. But before he disappeared, Mara's heart stopped beating as he turned his sorrowful blue eyes up toward her. She could feel him battling himself as he was torn between seeking salvation or surrendering himself to his beloved's fate.

Mara's eyes flew open, and she bolted upright. A quick glance around her cabin assured her that she was still aboard the Jade's Fire and awake. She wiped at the beads of sweat that had accumulated on her forehead and breathed deeply, trying to slow her racing heartbeat. Her black satin tank top and pants clung to her clammy skin. After what seemed like hundreds of nights of the same dream, the dream had finally changed. He had never been able to see her before. She brought her chin to her knees and muddled over it for several minutes. She was pulled from her thoughts as she thought she heard a strange noise coming from the other cabin. Puzzled, she padded barefoot down the short corridor to the next cabin and listened intently at the portal. Now she could distinctly hear a soft whimpering from the other side.

Worry filled her voice as she called out softly, "Skywalker?" There was no reply, so she tried again louder. Still no response. Forgetting all notions of privacy, Mara barged into the room and flipped on the lights to find Skywalker thrashing about on his bunk. His face was twisted in a grimace of pain as he was caught in the throes of a frightful nightmare. She rushed over to him and nearly got punched in the eye by a flailing fist. She tried shaking him to wake him up, and when that didn't work, she slapped him across the cheek several times. His face was on fire and sweat glistened on his exposed chest. "Come on, Skywalker, wake up!"

Mara paused as a sudden insight dawned on her. He was probably having the same dream she had been. In fact, she thought peevishly, he was probably the cause behind several nights of lost sleep for her. Her jaw set determinedly. "Alright, Skywalker, we are going to finish this once and for all."

She wasn't exactly sure what she was doing or if it would work, but she opened herself up to the Force and trusted it to guide her. She calmed her nerves and took several deep breaths letting the Force flow through her as Skywalker had taught her. Finding calm in her center, she began to concentrate, projecting her mind into the dream. Suddenly, the world around her transformed and she was again floating above the churning waters that were pulling Skywalker under, but this time she could move. She was free, the invisible chains that had kept her prisoner had were broken. Not only could she move, she could fly. To her surprise, a pair of glowing white wings, a dazzling contrast against the black backdrop, spread out behind her.

Concentrating on the task at hand, she dove down to the surface of the whirlpool. The wind and rain pounded against her face as she strained to make out Skywalker's head above the water. "Skywalker!" she shouted over the sirocco. His eyes widened in surprise at seeing her flying above him, hand outstretched to catch him. "Grab a hold of me, quick!"

A flood of sorrow flooded Mara's mind, so great that she nearly broke Force contact. She heard his voice rise faintly up to her. "I can't leave her," he nearly sobbed. "I've got to save her."

"You can't save her, Skywalker," she shouted, trying to keep her frustration from overflowing her senses. "She's gone. All you are going to do is destroy yourself trying."

He shook his head solemnly. She could hear him repeating his master's words to himself, "Try not, do or do not; there is no try."

"Well, this is a definite do not! You'll only kill yourself. What good will it do anyone if you die?"

This time his response did shake her out of the Force link. Not needed? At first, Mara wasn't sure she had heard him correctly. How could he not feel needed or useful? He has that whole stinking academy to run, not to mention his importance to the New Republic and his family.

Skywalker's muscles had begun to relax, but the lines on his face had only gotten deeper. She knew he was giving up. For a moment, she thought it might be best just to leave him be. Obviously he had woken up from this dream several times in the past, so there was no reason to think he wouldn't wake up this time. He'll wake up and be just fine, she tried to convince herself as she turned toward the door. Until he goes to sleep again and has to wage the same battle all over again, a little voice inside her head whispered. And then I'll never get any sleep.

She stomped back over to his fitfully sleeping body and glared defiantly down at him. "Oh, no you don't, Skywalker!" she spat. "We are settling this tonight. You've had six years to wallow in your own self-pity. Enough is enough!" She reached down and grabbed his left wrist physically, then reached through the Force to grab him mentally.

Skywalker had stopped struggling against the current that was pulling him ever faster toward the vortex. He snapped his head up in surprise when all of a sudden his movement slowed. He found his wrist caught in Mara's iron grip. "I have to go to her, Mara," he pleaded. "It's my fault that she's here in the first place."

"No way, farmboy!" she said through clenched teeth. She squeezed his wrist harder as he started to slip from her grasp, but found herself being pulled precariously toward the rushing current. "That was her own choice and you know it. You can't save everybody, and you are just going to have to face that. There are too many people on this side who need you for you to go off and get yourself killed by trying. And I know Leia would never forgive me if I let you destroy yourself." She felt him mentally pause at the mention of his sister, but she was not going to give him time to find a way to dismiss her too. "Now, if you don't snap out of it and help me, we are both going to get pulled under."

He seemed to recognize the determination set in her jaw. A million emotions flitted across his face in a matter of seconds. He turned back towards the vortex where Callista had disappeared, but a sharp tug on his arm brought him back to see resolve settle over Mara's features. "Decide how you must, Luke, but I'm not letting go."

The seconds passed slowly. Finally, Mara felt his hand tighten around her wrist, both physically and mentally. Gathering the Force around him, Skywalker lunged out of the black water and clung tightly to Mara's waist. The physical world came crashing back in on her with blinding brightness. She found herself pinned in a sitting position on Skywalker's bed with his arms still wrapped like a vise around her waist and his head resting against her stomach. She looked down at his face that was beginning to return to its peaceful state only touched with a tinge of sadness. He had sunk into a deep, dreamless sleep. She tried to slip out of his arms without disturbing him, but her slight movement caused him to squeeze her even tighter. She thought of waking him, but considering the ordeal they had both just been through, thought the better of it.

"Oh, all right, farmboy," she sighed resignedly, suddenly feeling very exhausted. "Just this once." She pulled the blanket across them and placed a pillow behind her head as she leaned back against the wall. Wincing at the lights that were still glaring brightly in her eyes, she tried to use the Force to turn them off, but to no avail. "You've got to remember to teach me that trick one of these days," she whispered softly, then drifted off to sleep.