Spirit of the Shifting Sand - Chapter Two
Disclaimer: The characters and situations in this story are the property of Lucasfilm Ltd. I will not be making as much as an Imperial Credit from it.
Ash D.
Leia deactivated the message cube and looked dumbly at Han.
"I can't say I didn't warn you, sweetheart. Luke doesn't want to be a political figurehead."
"But the Academy is his life, Han. He's turning his back on it and I can't let him do that." Leia paced the length of the room with quick determined strides. "I won't."
"No, Leia, the Force is his life, followed by his family and then the New Republic… although I often wonder if his family comes first, nonetheless. He's done so much to protect us all. We need to give him the space." Han watched as his strong willed wife struggled to get her feelings under control.
She turned to face him and spread her hands wide in a gesture of resignation. "I guess so. He's done what he was entrusted to do by Yoda and Ben." She sighed softly.
"Yup. He has and will continue to do so. Luke will never stop training Jedi and looking for Force strong individuals. He still wants to save all the galaxy - you know that."
"Sometimes I think you know him better than I do and that's without the Force." A slight tinge of something crossed the pretty face. Then she stuck out her chin in the determined way Han knew so well. "He'll come to Coruscant and work for the Senate. I just feel he needs some guidance in this. I could help him find his place here."
Han wondered if it was a hint of jealousy. Despite the closeness of his wife and her twin, Han and Luke had bonded closer than brothers and sometimes, in some things, the two held similar views on life. "I listen to what he says, sweetheart."
"And I don't?"
Han hesitated before speaking. "Jedi Tionne is not particularly Force strong, but is a good administrator and will keep the others in line. Streen and Solusar have good heads on them and Kyp has that little bit of extra energy. Luke has chosen his staff well. They won't let us down."
"Han!" His wife's stare turned penetrating. It was the look that had cowed leaders of nations into stupefied silence. "How do you know so much about this?"
"Ah, well, sweetheart." He shifted uneasily in his seat. He didn't like Leia's 'Former Chief of State' glare.
"I stopped off at Yavin not that long ago and Luke and I sat up all night talking. He hadn't made any decisions, but talked through a lot of the ideas formulating in the Skywalker brain. He's your brother, Leia and he'll be fine. Can you imagine the real Luke mouldering away forever? He has to be out there in the thick of things."
"I know Han, it's just... I don't want to see have any more pain in his life. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him." She sat beside him and put her head on Han's shoulder. "And you. I want him where I can see him for a change."
"Hey.... He'll be fine. He's left instructions for you regarding our little trip."
"Our little trip?" Leia questioned suspiciously. "What do you mean?"
"Kam and Tionne are expecting the whole Solo family for an all action adventure holiday to...." He paused dramatically. "Yavin IV."
"Nerf." She snuggled back into his arms, then sat up abruptly. "But the Senate, the New Republic!"
"Have agreed to you having a short leave of absence to complete your Jedi training." With a flourish Han produced another data-cube. "Give the kid a chance to be himself for a while. He needs a break and so do you. So we're going to Yavin. Kam, Kyp and Tionne are expecting us. Yes.... the children too."
"But the Senate, the New Republic...?"
"Will agree to you taking a short leave of absence. Now stop sounding like a malfunctioning data disc."
"Oh Han," was all that Leia could utter helplessly. "I never thought that they would agree." She picked up the cube and activated it.
"Leia!"
The shimmering, translucent figure of Luke Skywalker stood before her in his Jedi robes, blue eyes serious and normally tousled hair neatly combed.
"I hope I haven't hurt you too much with my decision. I'm not running out on you or the Academy - I just want to find my own path again. For the past few years I've been following the road set out for me by others. It's time for me to make my own way. The Academy is in good hands. Kyp, Kam and the others will be far better instructors than I ever could be. I have to serve the Force and that tells me to go where I'm needed."
Leia wondered if Luke had any idea of how good he was at 'passing on what he had learned'. He had learned patience and wisdom despite his years and could be a natural in the Senate. Leia wanted her brother to join her there.
"I will return soon, whether it is to Coruscant or to Yavin, but I shall be with you all. I'm going to search for more Jedi. Perhaps do some training and research of my own." He seemed to look into the distance. "And dearest Leia I have a potential student to train, one who is as powerful in her way as we are in ours."
"Mara," guessed Han as he paused the holo.
Leia nodded. It made a certain kind of sense. Mara Jade would not fit in with the trainees on Yavin, nor would she want to. She was too knowing, too cynical and was unique among the Jedi community.
"That's why she looked so funny earlier on."
"Mara?"
"Uh huh. She looked as if she had just been trampled by a Ronto."
"That bad? Luke can have that effect on some people. I like Mara, but I'll be the first to admit I don't understand her. She really looked poleaxed?" His voice rose slightly in disbelief.
"I've never seen Mara so bewildered."
Han chuckled lightly and resumed playing the message cube. The figure of the young Jedi Master shimmered back into focus.
"I'll be in touch when I've found somewhere to go that feels right and I promise I will return. The Senate have agreed to you taking a leave of absence. May the Force be with you."
He smiled serenely, blue eyes pleading forgiveness. Leia lifted her hand in return knowing that he couldn't see her.
"Take care" she sent swiftly through the force. "I love you."
"I know," he sent back. Then he was gone.
"Oh Han." She turned to her husband for comfort. "I feel as if he's turned into a refugee again, looking for somewhere which feels right."
"Leia. This is the guy who wandered into two Deathstars. Not one – two! He's gonna feel as if he's on holiday. No princesses to rescue, battle stations to blow up, clones and Grand Admirals to outwit. Why he'll be running back to us in no time bored with his own company. He'll be desperate to sit in the senate meetings and mediate between the Bothans and every other race which manages to upset them."
"They're not that bad." Leia giggled.
"No? That's not what you were saying only yesterday, if I recall." He waggled his eyebrows comically. "Mara Jade must be more appealing than the Senate. Jabba, frankly, was more appealing than the Senate. Luke has a home wherever we are - you know that."
Leia looked startled. "I wonder...."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"He's been at her to complete her training for years, but she's always resisted before."
"If she is the potential student and if she decides to go."
"I think she has," Han murmured thoughtfully. "Well, I think you'll find that your brother has left nothing to chance concerning your training." He waved the data card temptingly just out of reach.
Leia smiled dryly. "I might have guessed."
"He's detailed you a complete study programme - supervised by Kam. Tionne has been researching information on Jedi who acted as mediators – politicians, if you like. Luke senses that this is the path you are destined to follow. The one, I suppose, you have followed since Bail directed your thinking as a child."
"I like it already. Luke certainly has the right idea. Trying to match the person with their calling. You know, we did speak of this long ago but I've been so busy lately. It's been one crisis after another. That's why I took the sabbatical from being Chief of State. Luke must have decided in his own way that it was time for me to finish what I started so long ago." She smiled at Han and he grinned back, his eyes lighting up warmly.
"You may have taken a sabbatical but you didn't take a break. You're still the Senator for New Alderaan and you're on every committee there is."
"These Jedi…" She shook her head and laughed.
"As for the exercise programme, that will be an activity for the whole Solo family." Han grimaced slightly.
"Exercise programme! Now I am impressed," Leia murmured, her tongue firmly lodged in her cheek. "I haven't seen you hauling your butt up an exercise rope recently."
Han wrinkled his forehead. "I didn't say we were going to enjoy it."
"Come on, Nerfherder. We can hone those famous reaction times along with your muscles for those 'seat of your pants' flying drills."
"Hey! I thought it was to be famous muscles." He looked faintly miffed. Leia pulled Han to her and kissed him. "Better go pack. Are we taking Threepio?"
Han groaned, then brightened. "The kids have to annoy somebody out there."
Leia laughed and pushed away her feelings of guilt. She suddenly felt free.
Coruscant Spaceport
Mara walked casually towards the Jade's Fire. Her nerve ends tingled as she neared her beloved ship. He couldn't possibly have got aboard - could he? She eyed the craft with pride. There wasn't another ship in the galaxy like this one. Of course Luke had got aboard. This was the Jedi Master, not some snivelling farmboy from a backwater planet. She laughed mirthlessly to herself. Her bitterness over Luke had receded over the years but there was still a lot of ambiguity in their relationship. He was a friend she decided. Yup, that's what he was. A friend. Then why was she feeling so nervous?
Mara brushed a wisp of a red-gold curl out of her eye and keyed in her entrance code. As expected, Skywalker sat sleeping in her passenger area. He looked defenceless and younger as he slept. Igniting her saber she crept towards him only to find herself pinned against the bulkhead by a very alert Jedi, who held in his hand her deactivated lightsaber.
"You should never lower your guard, Jade. You know that," he murmured quietly in her ear before stepping backwards indicating with a gesture that she was free to go. But Mara knew that she wasn't free. Luke had already started his tutelage. With a snort of derision she called her saber to her hand and assumed a ready position.
"Good." Luke nodded approvingly.
"Why are you still here, Skywalker?"
"I'm waiting for your decision." He called his own saber to hand. Blue eyes locked with green. Green lightsaber matched with blue. They assumed combat position. Mara circled Luke warily at first, but then relaxed as she knew he wouldn't harm her. Mara lunged forward and there was a loud crack as the sabers met. Sparks flew lighting up the two intent faces.
"You must wield the lightsaber as if it is an extension of your own arm. It must truly become a part of you," Luke instructed gently.
Mara attacked with purpose. They circled each other. Blow and counterblow. Thrust and parry. Finally, with a warm smile, Luke stepped backwards and shut off the bright beam. Mara slid to the floor, her face flushed and her breathing laboured. The Jedi looked as if he'd hardly broken sweat.
"I thought I was in good shape," she panted.
Luke gave her trim frame a cursory once over. "You are," he retorted and then blushed. "But to be a Jedi you must rise to a different level entirely," Luke rushed on, his words tripping over themselves in order to change the subject.
Mara rose up on one elbow and surveyed Luke with interest. "I think you're running away."
"You do?"
"Mm hm. I do. Although I'm not sure from what."
"Perhaps from you?" he questioned, a challenging tilt to his chin.
"No. You can't get away from me. I'm in your past and all your futures." Her green eyes changed, grew cloudy as if she saw something inside herself.
"Yoda told me once that 'always in motion was the future'."
"Perhaps," she responded simply. "We can still shape our own destinies." She sat up abruptly. "What on Bith am I spouting now?" She shook her head at herself in disgust. But Luke ignored her. He had caught the prophetic ring in her voice as she'd declared 'all your futures.' It was something to hold on to. 'Can I handle a relationship with Mara?' Luke asked himself.
Her voice echoed in his mind. "Can you, Skywalker? Can you?"
He glanced towards her and found her sparkling green gaze directed at him - a maliciously cheerful expression on her face.
"You didn't hide your thoughts," Mara said insouciantly. "Are you ready for a relationship with me, Luke?" she taunted. "An adult relationship? You have to trust."
"As you do?"
Oh he was clever, the Jedi. He knew her weaknesses as she knew his.
"I trust you."
"But you didn't before." The hurt showed briefly on his face. "No, I guess you didn't."
"Luke...." She scrambled to her feet and clutched his arm anxiously. "It wasn't like that. It was just that.... I thought you might.... Oh Sithspawn," she swore. "You changed so much and I've had dealings with one Palpatine. I didn't want to...."
"I don't believe you, Jade." Luke tore his arm from her grasp and stalked over to gaze out of a viewport. His shoulders rose and fell with the effort of keeping his temper under control. Mara quailed inwardly. What had she said? He turned and glared at her.
"You thought I would become like Palpatine? How could you?" He ground out harshly. "It shows how little you know me." Mara saw the tremendous effort it took him to gain control - but he mastered it. She suddenly knew that he always would.
"Luke.... I...."
"Goodbye, Jade. I'd better go before the Son of Vader corrupts the Emperor's Hand." He picked up his carryall and made to leave the ship, but Mara reached the gangway before him and challenged him. The blue blade of her lightsaber - Vader's lightsaber - humming before him, Luke dropped his bag and ignited his own saber. The green blade hissed to life and met Mara's as they struck.
"You didn't tell me about Lando." Luke moved aggressively, his saber flying.
"You didn't ask," she parried smoothly.
They continued their duel, he attacking, she defending. Finally Luke had enough and with consummate ease he hooked Mara's saber from her grasp and sent it spinning to the other side of the ship. Mara subsided to the deck, her shoulders heaving with the effort.
Luke closed his eyes and counted to ten - no twenty. They always came to the same impasse. Why? He reached deep inside himself and within the Force for calm and looked at the woman who sat silently watching him. There had never been so much emotion involved before.
"I thought I had asked. But I'm asking now."
"It was a cover for a job I had to do for Karrde. Honestly, Luke, could you really see us together?" she bit out scornfully.
"No. Not really. But it was there in front of me."
"Didn't Obi-Wan say that 'our eyes can deceive us'?"
Mara felt the relief wash over Luke in waves. He took a deep breath and the tension eased from his frame. He seemed to be jealous. She coloured as he caught her reading his mind. He hadn't masked his thoughts quickly enough.
"Jealous!" His voice cracked and he coughed. "I still have a touch of that cold."
"Stop trying to change the subject, Skywalker. So you were jealous."
She walked closer to him and noted with interest as his face flushed a little just before he resumed his habitual Jedi calm. She would swear on the Emperor's bones that he was embarrassed.
"I have no right to be jealous…"
Mara reached out with her Force sense to gauge his reactions as she idly ran a finger over his chest. "I wondered.... why didn't all your women stay with you if you kiss like.... like...." she stopped as what she had been about to say flooded through her flustered mind.
Luke cocked his head to one side as amusement began to seep through his discomfiture. He stepped closer still to the red haired, green-eyed trader. "If I kiss like what.... this?" His head lowered and it was just the same as it had been in his apartment. Her arms wound round his neck and his circled her waist, pulling her tightly against him.
"I can't be doing this with you," Mara gasped. But Luke brought her mouth back to his and kissed her again, his mouth hot against her smooth skin The Force swirled between them and they were aware of each other as they had been of no one else. Not even with Leia could Luke say that he'd communicated so deeply through the Force and she was his twin. Eventually they drew apart breathing heavily. Mara looked down at her clothing. The Jedi Master had managed to haul off half of her tunic and she was displaying far more of her curves than she normally did.
"I've seen you in less, Mara. Some of your formal dresses." His eyes gleamed wickedly as he recalled black silk. "That one you had on when you came to nurse me back to health."
"That's different, Skywalker," she snapped. "The black dress is not revealing."
Luke shrugged and tried to untangle his own tunic, which her questing fingers had nearly removed. Pulling it off, he twisted it into order again not noticing that Mara was staring at him, her mouth dry. She'd not seen him without a shirt recently. Her hand reached out involuntarily and gently caressed him. Luke closed his eyes.
"Ah Mara, that feels so good."
He sighed and relaxed as Mara traced his body carefully. The Jedi trained body as well as mind and on Luke, without his shirt, it was obvious. Mara didn't think that the general populace saw what lay beneath the flowing robes. Her hand drifted to his belt and hesitated. Luke's eyes snapped open.
"Perhaps not, Jade," he remarked ruefully and a little regretfully.
"No?" She smiled.
"No. It's not the time or the place."
"It's not a normal feeling for us either."
"I'm not so sure, Jade. There are, and always have been, very strong emotions between us. But we shouldn't – not now. I'm going to teach you and tomorrow you'll probably be hating me again. We've been dancing round each other for ten years now. Surely we can take time to figure out what is happening to our feelings and not make mistakes. I do know one thing though."
"What is that?" she enquired tentatively, amazed at the disappointment she felt at his words.
"I need you in my life."
Relief flowed through Mara. "I guess I'll have to put up with that then," she smiled thankfully. Mara Jade was changing in ways that she hadn't begun to comprehend. "I've never hated you Luke - not really. In the beginning you were just a name. Someone Palpatine considered to be a minor threat, to be got rid of without fuss. You were a rebel, a traitor. Then you assumed greater importance when it was discovered Vader had a son. When Palpatine's lies did make me hate what I thought you were, I still couldn't kill you and I had ample opportunity to do so."
"I know." Luke pulled her into his arms and she rested her red-gold head on his bare shoulder. He turned her face up to his again and regarded it thoughtfully. "When did you become so beautiful, or did I never see what was in front of me?" He unconsciously echoed his words from earlier when he'd enquired about Lando.
Mara was unsure whether she was supposed to hear his words or not. She felt uncomfortable at hearing him talk in that manner. "Luke, I…"
"We just have to take our time, We've kissed and made up after a rather nasty quarrel. I don't want to lose your friendship again which means that I'm uncertain about starting a new type of relationship. It may not be right and I couldn't bear to lose you too."
Mara pulled sharply away from his comforting hold. "A new type of relationship!" she huffed irritably. "Who says I want one with you anyway?"
"Why are you still in my arms then? And why did you return my kiss so willingly?"
"I did not," she grouched. "Typical Jedi defective reasoning."
"Mara!" Luke took hold of her chin and tried to get her to meet his blue gaze. She had the grace to look a little ashamed of herself. A cough formed at the back of his throat and he tensed, his eyes watering.
"I'm sorry, Luke." She wrapped her arms around him again and pulled him to a seat. Mara faced him and brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes.
"I'm fine," he said.
"You've had a difficult time recently. But you always try and solve things the hard way. Never give up on relationships or people. One thing I always admired about you was the way you embraced every living thing and wanted to save them. It also annoyed the hell out of me," she added a touch darkly. "You were so damn idealistic and I suppose I thought it was a weakness. But seeing you all closed up made me realise it was part of your strength. Luke - you're healing now. If you can't move forward you might as well give up and become one with the Force."
Now it was the Jedi's turn to grimace at her words. "Jade…"
"Let's see how we go. Look at us." Mara slumped back in her chair. "I don't open up to people easily and here I am babbling on at you. If you want to avoid danger,Skywalker, you're in the wrong profession and I'm definitely the wrong girl." She leant forward, her hands sketching shapes in the air. "Luke. You can't avoid it. In fact you actively seek it or it seeks you. Whether you mean to or not."
"Thanks, Jade."
"Now go and put on that tunic," she scolded. "Remember you've been ill. Leia was right - you have been overdoing it."
Luke's sense grew momentarily frosty. "You've been discussing me with Leia?"
"She's your sister and strange though it may seem, she's concerned about you. We all were."
"Excuse me." He stood up. "I can take care of myself."
"Luke! Will you calm down and stop behaving like a spoilt child. She loves you."
"And what was your excuse?" he enquired nastily.
Mara raised her eyes skywards. "I thought I was your friend. Give me strength. I don't think any girl would want a relationship with you. Temperamental...., moody..., Jedi.... Oh, go and jump in the Sarlacc!"
The last word was hurled in Luke's direction like a proton torpedo.
"Thanks, Jade. I never knew you cared," he bellowed back at her and turned abruptly towards the door. There he had to stop and rest as cough after hacking cough erupted from his painful throat.
Mara rushed for water, all enmity forgotten and pounded him solidly on the back.
"Hey! Ouch," he coughed.
"Skywalker, should you be out of bed?"
"Mara, I'm fine. Just leave me alone."
She took a few paces away from him. "Okay, farmboy - have it your own way. You know where to leave."
Neither Luke nor Mara budged. They stood glaring at each other until Luke's shoulders slumped and he rubbed a weary hand over his forehead. Mara returned immediately to his side.
"I'm sorry, but you do bring out the worst in me."
"Ditto."
"Luke you can't do it all, so don't even try. Should you be flying out tonight?"
"I have to, Mara. Don't ask me why because I don't know."
Mara nodded. She knew it was a whisper in the Force. "Okay. I'll trust you on this. But I want you to report to me when you find a place to go. I need to know you're all right." Mara had a fairly good idea where he would go. There were a couple of places he might head towards - as long as it wasn't Chad. He could still be predictable at times, but she didn't want to let him have all the sabacc cards programmed in his favour. Luke felt her questing Force sense try to read what he was thinking. With a sense of heading off into the unknown Luke welcomed her into part of his mind and taught her how to retrieve some images. It was easier showing Mara how he'd felt when they'd quarrelled than putting it into words.
"I'm so sorry, Luke, I hadn't realised." She spoke in his mind, the words as clear as if she'd shouted them.
He smiled gratefully at her and she tossed him his tunic which he pulled in a haphazard fashion over his head. Mara smoothed his rumpled hair and involuntarily they moved together for a final kiss, which turned into a series of kisses.
"Now go, Skywalker, and may the Force be with you."
"Hey Jade! I guess I have your decision."
"I guess you have."
She activated the door control and watched as he carefully made his way to his x-wing.
Mara dreamed again that night. But it wasn't about sand obscured planets. It was all about one of the grains of sand that had left that world. In her dreams a man with laughing blue eyes wielded a shining sword. This man didn't have the weight of his heritage heavy on his shoulders. Restless she moved uneasily in her sleep. No - she couldn't love this man, whatever she felt about him now. Love was a step too far for her to take. He was too dangerous and he'd ruined her life once before. He could do it again.
Mara awoke in the morning as if she'd drunk far too much, even though she hadn't touched a drop. Her head ached and the startlingly beautiful green eyes were cloudy with pain.
"That's what I get for consorting with the Jedi," she remarked fractiously and winced as the sound rebounded against her throbbing head. "Where's Skywalker and his self-healing techniques when you need him?"
The com beeped. Mara cursed petulantly. "Sith, I don't need him."
"Mara - Talon Karrde here. I'll be docked in ten minutes. Hangar Bay 48. I need to see you - now."
She frowned. Talon hadn't sounded any different but she felt his unrest as clearly as if he'd shouted it out loud. Something was wrong. She could feel it.
Grabbing something to ease the pain in her head she dressed quickly, then pulled on a dark forest green cloak, drawing the hood over her bright hair. The Jade's Fire was a well enough known ship, but Mara didn't want to advertise her presence too openly. Nor would Karrde want her to. She would have been rather disconcerted to find out that in her mode of dress she echoed those she had long debated in joining.
Karrde watched as the hooded figure approached the ship. By all the Ysalamiri on Myrkyr - it was Skywalker! Then his common sense reasserted itself. The figure was shorter and the walk was more feminine. Not the rangy stride of a Tatooine farmer or the measured pace of a Jedi Master. It was Mara. The door slid open and the hooded figure raised her head. Karrde found himself looking into the green eyes of his second in command.
Mara didn't realise the significance of her clothing, but Karrde did. The form fitting jump-suit in her favourite green was topped by a short overtunic which was belted and came to mid-thigh. The tiny blaster, he knew, would be in its usual wrist holster and the lightsaber hung prominently at her waist. With the black polished boots and covered by the cloak, it was almost identical to the outfit the Jedi Master had worn for years. Hers was green - Luke usually wore black.
"You took your time," Karrde said in his precise clipped tone.
Mara raised a surly eyebrow. "I just woke up."
"I take it you saw him." It was not a question.
"Saw who?" she asked brusquely.
"The one person in the galaxy you've been avoiding, at my count, for the past year."
Mara grimaced inwardly. Karrde was far too shrewd to be fobbed off for long. The trick was to keep your reactions hidden. Karrde could spot a minute flicker of an eyelash and would have you telling all in seconds and if he wanted to know - he would find out. She had no idea how he did it. Chances were he knew already but he did like these little games to keep you mentally on your toes.
She shrugged and raised an arched brow, daring him to say anything more. But Karrde was smarter than that and headed towards his office.
Karrde adjusted the brown leather waistcoat he wore and seated himself behind his carved greel wood desk.
"We have problems," he muttered. Mara's danger sense reared its head again. Reaching out with her largely untutored Force skills, she again felt his unease and his general disquiet.
"Something's wrong."
"Yes."
"Skywalker...."
A brief sardonic grin twisted itself over his features. "So.... you did see him." He stretched out a calming hand as she half rose from her chair. "He's fine - last I heard. But he only left here last night and we don't know where he was headed."
A flicker of resignation flashed over her face but, being Mara, she continued to play dumb. "I'm sorry?" she queried frostily.
"Come now, Mara. You're probably keeping tabs on him too. How else would you have avoided him so successfully over the past year? When did you see him?"
"Sith! Persistent aren't you?"
"I'll find out anyway. This just saves me a little time."
"What's wrong, Karrde? Stop playing these games. I can see through them as easily as a sheet of transparisteel. What's happened - what are you hiding? Tell me, Karrde."
Mara knew sure as the spice on Kessel that something was hideously wrong. Karrde's teasing held a false note. Something cold settled in her gut.
Karrde's pale blue eyes went even paler if it was possible and he surged to his feet. "We've a meeting set up in the boardroom - come on." He stopped, took a deep breath and continued in an undertone. Mara had to strain to hear him.
"The entire crew of one of our freighters was butchered seven days ago. They left a single survivor and he was so badly beaten he can barely speak."
"What!"
Mara's face whitened and her expression turned grim. "It's a message of sorts. One life to tell the tale. The survivor can let us know the deal for the next time. What has he said so far?"
"Nothing – he's been under sedation for most of the time. I've had him brought here. Dankin went to Piroket to pick him up."
She pulled the hood over her bright hair and followed the smuggler chief to the Wild Karrde's boardroom. A collection of Karrde's closest and most trusted associates were present. Mara blinked in surprise. Ghent, the naive computer genius sat in a corner attached to a terminal. Aves sat with Suz Faughan and Dankin, the pilot, with a frail older man of mixed human and alien descent.
Dankin raised steely grey eyes and gave Mara one of those 'this isn't going to be pleasant' looks. She swallowed, her throat dry, but took her place behind her boss and waited.
Aves crossed to the older man and clapped him reassuringly on the back. "This is Calas Hinden, the pilot of the Prada Predator."
The pilot lifted watery blue eyes and then lowered them without meeting the gaze of a single person in the room. "I was...." he whispered.
Karrde leaned forward in his chair. "Can you tell us what happened?"
Hinden shuffled his feet nervously, his eyes glued to the table. "I don't know if I can."
The little mottled spikes on his temples stood up and he trembled. "We were on a usual supply run in the Arkanis Sector when the ship was attacked and boarded." He rubbed a shaky hand over his face. Mara felt the agony as Hinden's pain and anguish hit her and added the gnawing pain of her headache. This was one of the down sides of being strong in the Force.
"I can't remember much more but....but....the blood. It was so red and there was so much and the cries of my comrades..." He put his head into his hands and wept. They killed them in....in.... fro......."
They all jumped as he started to scream. Sharp, terrifying bursts of sound over and over and over.
Mara's voice cut through the noise. "Get him out of here. What were you thinking about? He's not ready to deliver his story. He's still in shock."
Dankin administered a sedative to the older man and two of Karrde's crewers carried him to the Wild Karrde's sickbay.
Karrde's face had gone grey. Mara's was white, her green eyes glittering with suppressed fury. No one touched their people. No one.
"Aves! Report!" she barked.
"What we have pieced together from what Hinden has managed to tell us is that the ship was attacked, the cargo stolen and the crew killed in front of him. They tortured and beat him until he was nearly dead himself then dropped him off on Piroket. He was found lying unconscious in a back alley. The ship was apparently destroyed. Pieces of it were found floating not far from Ryloth."
"Five good men were slaughtered for no apparent reason." Karrde gripped the edge of the table, his knuckles white. "They will pay for what they have done."
"That's all very well, Chief," retorted Dankin. "But we have no idea who 'they' are."
"I could find out," said Mara moving towards Aves. "I could try and access some of his memories. It might help him. He can't see past the block in his mind - he's too traumatised. It wouldn't be good for him to dredge up this. It's too dangerous. Luke...." She cleared her throat. "Skywalker has been teaching me how to retrieve images from the mind. If Hinden is willing, I'll do what I can."
"What he is - is unconscious," muttered Aves. "He needs proper medical help."
"I can do it," she entreated her colleagues. "I used to do similar things when I worked for the Empire and Luke showed me new ways. I'm not as strong as Skywalker is but let me try. No, let me 'do', there is no try."
Karrde ground his teeth. "That's not what he needs right now. Dankin - get on to our nearest medical facility."
"But Karrde...."
"No, Mara, it's too dangerous."
"It is not. I won't harm him, I promise. I can ease some of his pain while we wait to get him to a proper medical facility."
"He spent time in a bacta tank on Piroket." said Dankin.
"It's not Bacta he needs right now. It's ease of mind. You cannot rest when the images torture your brain. When the sights and sounds filling your head press into your skull and oppress your very soul. All you do is die inside." The words emerged low and bitter.
The slicer, Ghent, fidgeted in his chair.
"What is it, Ghent?"
"That place where they fixed you. When you had your neural reconstruction done. Could it help him?"
Mara gave the slicer an angry look.
"Well, we are on Coruscant and they sorted you out pretty well."
She scowled. It was not a time she cared to be reminded about.
Karrde stood up decisively. "Good idea, Ghent. Get me Organa-Solo before she leaves for Yavin. Mara...." He sighed heavily. "Okay. Go and see what you can find out from Hinden. He's a good man and I want the best for him. I owe that much to my people. I won't be long. Don't start until I get there. Just see if you can give him a little peace, and us a little information."
Mara moved cautiously towards the unconscious pilot. Even sedated and confined to the bed, he muttered and shook. She surveyed his form and took in the curious mottled spikes just forming at his temple. A combination of human, Fayrian and possibly something else, she guessed. The Fayrians made for good pilots. Still keeping a wary eye on the sleeping man Mara edged nearer. "I can do this," she urged herself. "I'm ready to do this."
"You ready Mara?" Karrde strode into the room and nodded in the direction of the resident medic on board the Wild Karrde. Mara took a deep breath and picked up Hinden's hand. Reaching out with her feelings, just as Luke had taught her, she entered Hinden's mind. All at once, an avalanche of memories, sounds and images assailed her. She nearly lost contact, so terrible were the sights and sounds in her brain. "No!" she screamed. "No! Please," Mara's voice begged. "We've done no harm." It was her voice, but the words were Hinden's.
Karrde shot to his feet. "Mara, snap out of it." He glanced towards the medic who was looking tense. Dankin eye's had been fixed on the joined hands of his two associates. Hinden's grip on Mara's hand was so tight that it was possible bones might break.
"Leave them alone. They've done nothing. Can't you see that? No-o-o-o!.....Uhgh!" With what looked like a phantom drop kick to the jaw Mara dropped in a senseless heap to the medicentre floor.
"She's out cold!" Dankin exclaimed.
Karrde bent over the unconscious figure of the girl and checked her pulse. "It's ok," he remarked quietly. "She's coming round. Whoa! Careful, Jade. You took a bit of a knock there." He put his arm around Mara and with Dankin's help pulled her to a sitting position.
Mara shuddered and allowed herself for once to be helped. She felt as if she'd just gone ten rounds with a trandoshan, and her hand.... Ouch! She glanced at the unfortunate appendage and found to her horror that it was crushed and bruised.
"It's okay, Jade," Karrde soothed again. "I'll see you and Dankin in my office as soon as Medic Elegin is finished with you."
Karrde sat with his hands folded in front of him, while Aves paced up and down. "Will you cease this wandering."
"Sorry."
"I didn't think that I could be compromising Mara's well-being over this."
"She did offer, Karrde."
"I know, but her studies with Skywalker have been sketchy at best and as far as I know this never happened to him. I shouldn't have let her do it. She's not a Jedi yet."
The door chimed and Dankin entered.
"Where's Mara?"
"Putting Hinden into a healing trance and trying to remove some of the worst memories from his mind."
"What!" Aves exploded.
"She says she knows what she's doing and will be all right this time. Now she's aware what she's dealing with."
Karrde relaxed, but a muscle twitched in his jaw. "If she thinks that, then it is as she says."
The door chimed and Mara entered, still pale, but the fire had returned to her green eyes. With her customary grace she stalked in and sat down. "Will you stop staring at me like that?" she demanded. "I'm fine and Hinden is sleeping."
Aves turned his head irritably and stared through the viewport.
"We've had no such incidents of this kind since Jabba the Hutt reigned supreme from his stronghold," stated Karrde.
"The Arkanis Sector is way out on the rim isn't it?" asked Mara. "And I mean way out."
"It's an important hyperspace route and very comfortable for us smuggling types." Aves shuffled his feet and coughed. "Can you tell us any more?"
"I can tell you little more. The images were so jumbled and full of terror I'm not sure whether I caught everything clearly. I should have gone to.... long ago." She looked up. "If you'll let me?"
"Go on," Karrde motioned, his face impassive as Mara fell silent, her head bowed.
Mara took a deep breath. "Hinden was piloting the ship along the Perlemion Trade route. They'd just picked up a cargo of valuables from Esseles." She raised her eyebrows at Karrde who supplied smoothly, "Components for a new hyperdrive system. The Esselians are way ahead of everyone in hypernautic technology. Someone owed me a favour."
"They continued on to Brentaal where they stopped for refueling and supplies. They were making for the Pii system, to pick up a load of greel wood when an unidentified ship attacked and disabled the Prada Predator. They were caught in a tractor beam and boarded." Mara swallowed. "This is where it gets difficult. In Hinden's mind this is just a chaotic blur, but from what we already know I've tried to make sense of it. They were relieved of their cargo and then attacked. The crew resisted, but were outnumbered and slaughtered. They.... They... held Hinden down and forced him to watch, then when the rest of the crew were dead they beat him to a pulp. The next thing he remembered was waking up in a hospital bed in Piroket's main spaceport. He discharged himself and contacted Dankin. He was too frightened to stay where he was. His injuries haven't healed properly because he didn't spend enough time in a Bacta tank and the scars in his mind.... I did what I could, but these might never heal."
Her head bowed again, hands shaking slightly, Mara missed the grim looks exchanged by the three men.
"What about the identity of the attackers?" Aves asked.
Mara looked up at Karrde and shook her head. "Again it's not clear because they were masked, but there were two Twileki. They cannot disguise their Lekku after all. A couple of humanoids and what might be a Devaronian and a Weequay."
Karrde twitched. By the Force, it was as if Jabba the Hutt were still alive. A Weequay!
"Go and rest Mara, I'll speak to you later. We have to find out what's happened. Aves," he spoke briskly to cover his unease. "See that the families of the crew are covered and prepare the ship to leave for the Outer Rim territories. We'll pick up the new hyperdrive ourselves. Make sure, Dankin, that all our weapons systems are operational. The expected ones and the unexpected." He sighed. He didn't like this at all.
"Mara!" Karrde put a gentle hand on her shoulder. She hadn't moved. "You know I can't send you to Skywalker just now. In the light of what happened I wish I could. After we find out what happened here and who's responsible I promise to let you go."
"It's okay, Karrde. Luke will understand."
So it was 'Luke' was it? Karrde wondered and not for the first time, what it was between these two that drew them together and yet kept them apart.
"Unless...." Karrde mused aloud. "You could get Luke to help us. We've helped him in the past, perhaps he could help us."
"I don't know where he is. Not yet. That's why I was going to Dagobah."
"Dagobah?" Karrde uttered, bewildered. Where the hell was that? He'd been around the galaxy and back a few times and he'd never heard of it.
"It was the logical choice if I'm to find Luke, I mean, Skywalker. That's where he trained. It's not on any star chart. No, Karrde - this is more important just now. I'll make plans to go and skirt around the Arkanis Sector." She stood up and turned to go, but something teased the back of her mind. There was something vital just hovering out of reach. Sith! What was it? She switched on her comlink. "Ghent. I need you to give me a run down of the planets and trade routes in the Arkanis sector." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Call it a Jedi hunch if you like, but something there will give us the answer."
Karrde came to a decision. "I'll get in contact with Mazzic and the others to see if they've had similar problems. Now, Jade, go and rest and that's an order. Give your hand time to heal. You'll need it if you are to wield that lightsaber properly."
He watched as she finally agreed to do as he asked and wearily moved to the door of the office, her shoulders slumped. Turning back towards her employer she opened her mouth to say something, but Karrde cut her off. "If Ghent turns up anything, I'll let you know." Mara nodded, exhaustion etched on her fine features and left.
Karrde contacted Leia who was horrified to hear of the attack on the Prada Predator and gladly cleared the way for Calas Hinden to receive treatment in the Imperial Palace Medicentre. She also agreed to send warnings out to all New Republic ships travelling the busy hyperspace routes out in the far reaches of space.
"You'll understand this is an unofficial warning Leia, since I cannot be seen to be aiding the New Republic against my own interests."
"I understand." Leia's disembodied voice echoed over the link.
"I considered this to be too important to leave to chance. Whoever it is will start on legitimate shipping next. My smuggling operations have been scaled down of late I assure you. I have few ships engaged in such covert activity - I deal more in information. But to me, it sounds as if Jabba the Hutt has been reincarnated."
The only other sound at the other end of the secure frequency channel Karrde had employed to the Millennium Falcon was a sharply indrawn breath.
"Leia, someone is using his methods. I've been in contact with Mazzic and Clyngunn and they have also suffered losses, but not as brutal as the murder of the Prada's crew. Yet."
What about Calas?" Han's voice asked. "I used to know him well in the old days. He's a fine pilot."
"Mara thinks he'll never recover properly from the trauma. She's seen the inside of his head."
Leia's voice came back on. "Keep me informed. I'll give you a priority link to me on Yavin"
"Will do. Oh and by the way, you don't know Luke's whereabouts do you?"
There was a startled silence. "No I don't," Leia said slowly. "Doesn't Mara?"
"No. I think she's a little anxious. She was going to go and train with him, but I need her to investigate what's happening. She's still one of the best at these undercover operations. I'm not sure what kind of arrangement they came to, but she wants to let him know about the delay."
"Luke will know." Leia's voice sounded strong and sure.
"I hope so. Mara will be leaving in two days."
"If she's heading to the Outer Rim, there's a New Republic training facility on Pii 3 and 4. Kayson will let her use it. I'll send clearance codes to the Jade's Fire."
"Thank you, Leia. Karrde out."
The door burst open. Karrde glanced up coolly a hint of annoyance fading away. "I thought I told you to rest, Mara."
"I've just remembered something else. It may be important, it may not. "
"Well?"
"The lead Twilek had purple eyes."
"Purple eyes, eh!"
"Yes, Karrde. Don't just repeat what I'm telling you. Does it ring any bells?"
"You know something, Jade, it just might. It just might. But please stop overriding my door controls. I may just shoot you one of these days."
"Do you think you're that quick, Karrde?"
"There's life in the old smuggler yet."
"Hah!" she snorted disdainfully.
Karrde tossed her a datapad from the top of the desk. "This is from Ghent. The information you required on the Arkanis Sector. I'm surprised that you actually needed this information. You used to spend quite a lot of time out on the Rim."
Mara's face stiffened. The colour seeped away and left her even whiter than she had been earlier. She wasn't normally so obtuse. "Why didn't I think of that place? I've been there. Closing my mind to the inevitable won't make it go away. This is all starting to make some weird kind of sense and I've got an awfully bad feeling...."
"Mara," Karrde's voice broke into her angry self-denigration. "The last time you were in the Arkanis Sector was when you went to kill Luke, wasn't it?"
She slumped to her knees on the floor and sighed. "I never learn, do I? My greatest failure and I just ignore one of the most important hyperspace route's going. Something tells me that we will find out what we want to know on…. on.... Tatooine."
"Why do you think that Mara?"
"Jedi hunch?" She screwed up her eyes and tried to see inwards to touch the force she knew was so strong within her. "After I failed my master, I swore I'd never return and now it looks as if I'm going to have to.
"I've got the Wild Karrde prepped and ready. The Jade's Fire is being prepared as we speak. I've arranged for you to head to a New Republic base on Pii 3. Merson Kaysen Jr. is expecting you. He'll see the Jade's Fire weapons are in order. I'll meet you on Tatooine in fourteen standard days. It will take several days in hyperspace to just reach the edge of the sector."
"I know," she groused. You had already thought about Tatooine, Karrde, hadn't you?" Mara asked curiously. "When I was mentally kicking myself about being so moronic, you'd already worked it out - without the benefit of a Jedi hunch."
"It was what was said earlier. This incident was almost as if Jabba the Hutt was still alive. It has Hutt prints all over it. But the Hutts moved out of Tatooine a long time ago. Only Jabba liked it there."
"A former associate of the Hutt?"
"That's my guess, Mara; someone who was totally familiar with his ways. I've already got Ghent and the others tracking down the whereabouts of his former employees."
"It doesn't make sense." She wrinkled her forehead. "Most of Jabba's cronies were killed. I was there. I saw who went on that desert skiff and I saw who returned. It wasn't many, but it's so long ago. Why would someone wait all this time?"
"There must have been some sort of power struggle."
"There was, I think, but I left as soon as I could. I had to go to my Master and confess my failure. He knew anyway. So I left the planet and I've never returned. I had other things to do and places to go."
Karrde leaned back in his chair thinking heavily. "Lady Valarian," he said thoughtfully.
"The ugliest Whiphid I've ever seen and most of them have been ugly," Mara sniped nastily.
"She took over many of Jabba's business interests. The rest went to his father."
"Did he take them up?"
"I'll have to check. I'm sure the palace was abandoned the last time Luke and Han visited. Apart from the B'Omarr monks, that is. Much of it had fallen into disrepair."
Mara shivered suddenly. "Someone just crawled on my grave. The B'Omarr were there when I worked for Jabba as a dancer, but the scum Jabba ruled at the palace had driven them deep into layers underground. They ventured up occasionally. They study to gain a state of total enlightenment, using thought alone and when they do...." She shuddered again. "They dispose of their bodies."
Karrde shuddered in sympathy. "I know. I've seen their brains walking around in some sort of mechanical spider. Remind me never to become too enlightened. I like my brain where it is."
Mara smiled tiredly.
"According to Ghent, some of Jabba's financial accounts are still in good working order."
"What?"
"They are continuing to prosper, despite the death of Jabba. But they've been added to and worked on recently. We know it cannot be Jabba."
"So we are looking for a former associate."
"I think so. All the clues are there, but not the key to the puzzle."
"I'll find it." Mara declared. "Then...." She moaned softly. "I'll have to go to Tatooine." The memory of the Emperor's anger at her failure still had the power to haunt her. But Luke's earnest blue gaze surfaced in her mind and the terrible yellow eyes faded.
Karrde watched with interest as Mara drifted away in some memory.
"Mara!" he called quietly. "Mara."
She came to with a start. "Sorry, Karrde. I was thinking about my last sojourn on Tatooine."
"You're to go to Pii 3 first, for supplies. Leia Organa-Solo has sent clearance codes to the 'Fire'."
"Speaking of enlightenment," Karrde referred back to the earlier part of their conversation. "What will you do when you complete the training?"
"I don't know if I want to."
"Luke said that you did," remarked Karrde.
The silence in the room turned chilly. A sense of absolute mortification swept over Mara and she raised stricken eyes and fiery cheeks towards him. "I'll kill him," she vowed. "When did you discuss me with… him."
Karrde raised a supercilious eyebrow. "I thought you'd gone beyond wanting to kill him to a nice mature friendship."
Her lashes quivered and fell over smooth burning cheeks. Had she understood the little dig on the current state of their relationship? "Don't push it, Karrde," she growled.
"What else can I do, Mara? I said I'd send you to him if I could."
"So it was a set up. The two of you in collusion."
"No." He shrugged casually. "Luke had the idea that you wouldn't want to see him, that he wouldn't be a welcome sight in your green eyes. I asked what you'd fought about this time."
Mara turned her head away. She couldn't face Karrde on this. Luke and her - it was too personal. Mara Jade kept things like that to herself; in fact, she kept them from herself. The emotions closest to her heart she kept from her mind as well.
Karrde continued softly, every word clear, his calm voice louder than any shout. "Luke is a complex man, but I surprised him that night and he's not an easy man to read. Where you are concerned he says very little but he reacts. If you know where and how to look for them, even the Jedi show little mannerisms. I'm a good judge of character and I know how to read people - part of what makes me a good businessman. Anyway, to cut a long story short, he fed me a load of nonsense. If you want my honest opinion, Mara Jade, the man missed you and was actually hurt that I'd turned up instead of you."
"Oh."
"I said I'd send you, then it was up to you. Did you want to see him?" Karrde asked gently as if he knew that this unusually vulnerable Mara couldn't take much more. She'd had a difficult couple of days.
"I.… I suppose I did." She looked down at the lightsaber attached to her waist. Luke's saber - the one he'd given her as a promise. "Did he ask to see me?"
"No. He didn't have to. I knew. Call it the old smuggler's hunch if you like. I said I'd send you and he nodded."
"That's all!" Her voice rose in disbelief. "But how can this be? He didn't want to talk to me when our paths crossed. A Jedi Master that runs away!"
"He has a healthy dose of self preservation, Jade. All I can say is - it must have been some argument." He got to his feet and moved round the desk to sit on its edge. He knew better than to offer a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I don't pretend to understand the Jedi. I just accept that they exist and around them, things will happen. You and Skywalker haven't proved me wrong yet."
"What did he say?"
"Luke said 'she wants to complete her training, she always has'."
To himself Karrde added the second part of Luke's words. 'And you'll have to let her go so she can do it. You know it and she knows it.'
Mara buried her head in her hands. Luke had known. He'd known before she had herself. Maybe he'd always been aware that deep down inside her very core Mara craved the completeness in the force that Palpatine had ultimately denied her - Jedi to Jedi, the link in the force nurturing, teaching and healing her inner pain. She turned bewildered green eyes towards Karrde's elegant figure. Mara was breaking up inside and she'd always been strong. Palpatine had seen to it that she was as tough as durasteel but even durasteel has a melting point.
Karrde cleared his throat briskly. "Go and rest, Jade. Take time to think. You have two days before you leave. The Jade's Fire will be equipped for the journey. I'd like you to spend the time on the Wild Karrde in the Medibay, just in case your mental activities have any repercussions."
He pressed his com. "Croy. Escort Mara Jade to the medibay." He picked up his datapad, then smiled at his second in command. "I'll speak with you tomorrow." It was a dismissal.
Tatooine
The sands blew around the cloaked figure. Sands as old as time, ceaselessly shifting, never changing but ever changing. The figure enjoyed the sensation of the tiny grit particles as they stung his body. Still he continued to walk, the dunes parted and he walked and walked. The power of enlightenment - that was his and soon he would have it all. Soon.
Pii System
The sunlight streamed through the trees. Little patches of light waved and danced - dappled kaleidoscopes of shifting colours. Strange brightly coloured birds cried and sang above the canopy of greens and reds but below all was peaceful.
The blue eyed man closed his eyes and smiled sleepily. He lay hidden in a hollow in the shelter of the beautiful crimson wooded trees. Small prisms of light crossed his face and he smiled once more. Opening his eyes he focused his concentration and the rainbows assumed form in the air. They became birds, animals, even faces of people he knew and loved before they disappeared. This was the everlasting forest and truly he felt at one with nature and the force. These trees had been here for an eternity. He yawned and settled down to doze. The tree trunks stretched into the infinite sky. He'd found a temporary sanctuary here for a few days and no one would give him away. He was among friends. He closed his eyes again and slept.
Coruscant Spaceport
Preparations aboard the Wilde Karrde continued late into the night. Talon Karrde moved quietly into the medibay. "How is she?" he questioned his chief medic quietly.
"Finally asleep, Sir." He indicated to the bed in the corner where Mara lay curled into a foetal position, her red-gold hair tumbling free over the pillow. Karrde sighed. Luke was right. Her Force sensitivity was growing in strength and like others of her kind she needed to seek out someone to teach and mould her in the true path of a Jedi knight.
When Karrde had first met Mara he had known that she was special. Her uncanny abilities had originally made him suspicious until he'd realised it was something beyond her control. Then Luke Skywalker had landed in their laps and Mara had reacted to him with a hatred so strong it had defied explanation. Mara's reaction to Skywalker had always been extreme, but she roused something, too, in the placid Jedi that had simmered dangerously over the years.
At their last meeting Luke had been concerned about Mara. He'd felt the sudden increase in her abilities through the Force, while Karrde had found her tense and restless. He knew she wasn't sleeping properly and in the last week she'd been oddly quiet, with such a strange, desolate look in her eyes.
Emotionally she hadn't been ready to deal with Hinden's pain. Now she was having to deal with some of her own. Mara was finding out, as Luke had, that you could never unlearn what you knew. Karrde left the medicentre and made for his own quarters. They had two days to prepare and then they would find the slashaks that had murdered his people. At that point, he would let her go. Luke was right. Mara needed Skywalker like the desert needed water, but he had a hunch that there was more between them than just the Force.
Mara gradually relaxed into sleep. It had been a long time before the shivering had stopped. Reaching into herself once more she had yearned for her inner core and found calm. Mara Jade the Emperor's hand had to deal with this or Mara the Jedi would be a complete non-starter. She shifted in the narrow cot and dreamed.
The trees were tall and sunlight streamed through casting dancing patterns on the ground. Mara stood up and walked between the tall trunks. The sunlight shone on her red-gold head turning it to living fire. It was alive. For the first time in ages she felt happiness flow over her and she turned to find a blue eyed man watching her.
"You're in my dream."
"Maybe. But you're also in mine."
He came towards her and placed his hands on her temple, smoothing an errant lock of shining hair as he did so. "This will take away some of the pain."
"How did you know?"
"We are connected, you and I, by something very strong."
"The Force," she whispered.
"Yes."
"You did the right thing, Mara. You put away your fear and you took Calas Hinden's pain to relieve him. He'll survive thanks to you. Now let's deal with you. Be strong, Mara, because you are." His callused hands stroked her hair and the tension eased. Then he kissed her forehead and returned to sit beneath one of the tall redwoods.
"Where can I find you?"
"I'm here just now. But I won't always be."
"Where is 'here'?"
Her only answer was a soft chuckle as the vision, for it could only have been that, faded from view. She awoke, blinking. "Luke...."
But she was alone.
"Luke...." She meant to be annoyed. "Sithspit. Where are you? I need you." But it came out sounding slightly desperate. Gradually she fell back into slumber and this time her rest was dreamless - the healing power of sleep.
In the solitude of the forest the blue eyed man resumed his own slumbers and his, too, were dreamless.
