The Wedding of Luke Skywalker
By Ash Darklighter
Chapter 11
Disclaimer: The characters and situations in this story are the property of Lucasfilm Ltd. I am not making so much as a credit from this endeavour. Thanks to the girls as usual as this was a difficult chapter to write - so many misplaced emotions flying around between Luke and Mara.
Small Audience Hall, SenateBuilding
The rehearsal was well underway by the time Mara got there. She'd arrived at the New Jedi Centre to find it abandoned. Only an antiquated 'CZ' secretary droid dealing with basic correspondence was there to greet her. The central office was no tidier than it had been the day before. In fact, there seemed to be even more stuff piled in boxes and crates against the freshly painted walls.
"Miss Mara Jade?" the droid asked in a surprisingly melodious voice.
"Yes," Mara answered. Where in the far reaches of the galaxy had Luke got hold of one of these? Serv-O-Droid hadn't made any for years. They were usually found in third-rate offices and businesses in the Outer Rim. They were cheap and reasonably efficient. Mara was sure this was one of Luke's cost-cutting exercises. She was sure that if Leia knew Luke was salvaging CZ secretary droids to man his office, she'd have it upgraded in an instant to one of the Cybot Galactica protocol droid models.
"I have a message for you." The droid held out a scrap of flimsy in a claw-like appendage. "Jedi Master Skywalker is rehearsing for tomorrow's Knighting Ceremony in the small Audience Hall in the Senate Building. There is transport arranged for you if you would like to go there."
"I…"
"Master Skywalker was most concerned that he did not miss you."
Mara acquiesced gracefully and she could have sworn the droid had given an almost human sigh of relief. The scrap of flimsy held Luke's distinctive scrawl.
'Mara, I'm running through procedures for tomorrow. I will be finished by lunchtime.
Please don't go away without seeing me. This is important.
Luke.
The private air taxi ferried her to the heart of the government building complex. This part of Coruscant was older than the Empire. It had been constructed during the height of the Old Republic but Palpatine had hidden the once beautiful building amongst his soulless New Order constructions. She slipped in noiselessly at the back but Luke had known as soon as she'd arrived. His head lifted from what he was doing and he glanced out into the darkened auditorium. He looked as if he hadn't slept at all. Mara frowned. She knew for a fact that he hadn't. His anguished calling for her in his sleep had awakened her several times. At one point it was so bad that she'd nearly gone back to his apartment to wake him up. This had to stop – he would make himself seriously ill otherwise. Plus she wasn't too keen on having her own rest continually disturbed. Luke Skywalker was on her mind often enough during the day without having him at night. Her face flamed; that had sounded a little suspect – having him at night. She banished from her mind the memory of his firm body dressed in almost nothing, apart from the tight black undershorts.
The new Jedi walked through their paces several times, all treating it with the seriousness the ceremony deserved. Luke grinned as everything appeared to go to his satisfaction.
"We'll finish now," he announced. "I think you all know what you're supposed to be doing. Remember you are allowed to enjoy yourselves." The serious faces all broke into smiles. Luke smiled. "I've said this before but I'll do so again…"
There were a couple of theatrical sounding groans.
"No, I wasn't going to say that."
"What?" asked Lon Tha, a human from Balmorra.
"I wasn't going to say that you will still be learning many things at whatever stage you are in your life as a Jedi. I don't want to say it's a career. It is your life." Luke's blue eyes widened with pretend horror. "Now look what you've made me say, Lon Tha."
Another of the human Jedi, Dashek Aerten from Ord Mantell, raised his eyes. "Don't let it worry you, Master. I'm sure you'll manage to remind us a few more times before the week is through."
Luke nodded. "What I was going to say was…" he paused and the Jedi could tell that the time for joking had gone. "I was just going to say that I was proud of you."
There was a round of applause and several 'thanks' uttered in various languages.
"Now, I need to go over a couple more things with Bebo and Khata. For the rest, the small tapcaf at the end of the next corridor down is expecting you for light refreshments. After that you can all go and I will see you tomorrow. Be on time please, Grenet."
The Rodian chuckled and bobbed his head up and down a few times.
"Okay – so the secretary droid has been successfully reprogrammed. You were still late and that cannot happen tomorrow. 'I'm sorry, Chief of State Gavrisom. One of the Jedi Knights is too busy reprogramming droids to come to his own knighting?'" He raised one of his eyebrows. "How would that sound?"
Mara smiled at the obvious camaraderie. He was very good with them. Luke's easy manner and unaffected air had earned his students' respect and their friendship. Did he know how rare an honour that was?
The Jedi moved sedately from the hall, apart from Khata Ellynin and the Twi'lek, Bebo. Mara watched curiously. She couldn't hear what was being said, but they seemed to be moving through another ritual. Whatever it was, the two young people almost glowed with happiness as Luke spoke quietly with them.
"Go and have a break with the others," Luke said raising his voice.
Bebo leapt off the stage and jogged towards the exit. As he neared the back, he saw Mara sitting there. "The beautiful Jedi Jade."
Mara smiled wearily. "It's just Mara."
"Is it?" the Twi'lek murmured shrewdly. "You wear a lightsaber at your waist. That is the sign of a Jedi."
"I also have a blaster up my sleeve," Mara replied. "And a knife tucked inside my boot. That is hardly…"
"A well-prepared Jedi," he inserted, grinning. His lekku twitched and he turned to watch the Mirialan, who was still standing consulting Luke about something.
"You think so?"
"The lightsaber is the Jedi's weapon of choice but a Jedi is never unarmed if they have the Force. A blaster can be an additional weapon."
Mara could suddenly hear Luke saying the same pieces of Jedi wisdom to her as he had done on numerous occasions over the years. Bebo had picked up something in Luke's manner of delivery. 'The way of the Jedi…' The memory drew her eyes beyond Bebo, to Luke still standing at the front speaking fondly with the young woman who smiled and laughed sweetly at his words. And suddenly Mara couldn't stand it any longer. Luke and Khata looked good together. He, blonde and handsomely serious in his Jedi robes; she, dark and beautiful – the markings across the bridge of her nose giving her an air of mystery. Something inside her felt betrayed. As she left the hall she was aware of Bebo calling after her but she didn't answer.
Luke saw her go and his heart sank. After he'd collected Artoo the previous evening, minus the flowers, he'd returned to his empty apartment and thought long and hard about his conduct. He'd even meditated on it for a short while but he'd been too restless to calm his mind. Guilt ate at him like a maggot on a corpse. He'd gone about this the wrong way. Deceit wasn't part of his nature but that is what he'd ended up practising on Mara of all people. She'd been right to be so angry with him. He'd taken advantage of her. Mara wasn't the type to sit and meekly take things from him. Of course she was going to react negatively in such instances. He had given up on life and the Force wanted him to go on living. His love for Mara was so much a part of him that the Force had granted him a gift. He'd turned down that gift, whining and moaning like an ungrateful spoilt child. Not the actions of a Jedi Master.
He had been so certain that he would fail and in doing so had surely engineered that very failure. Honesty was the only weapon he had left and he sensed it could be the most destructive one of all.
He had never given himself or Mara a chance. He had to tell her the truth while he could and then take his punishment like a man. He had to find her and tell her. How could he explain to Mara that his pretend courtship of her was the real one after all? The wedding he wanted to plan was with her. He had used this as an excuse to get closer to her. The touch of her sweet lips against his had meant more to him than all the stars in the galaxy.
Khata stopped talking as she noticed the Jedi Master was no longer listening to her. The desolate expression on his face told her everything she needed to know. Luke Skywalker felt more for Mara Jade than mere friendship. She peered out at Bebo who shrugged. "What happened?" she asked.
"She just rushed out of the hall. I don't think she likes me either," Bebo replied whimsically and wandered out of the door.
"We'll go and find her for you, Master."
"No… Khata. It's all right. I have to do this myself." He ushered the Mirialan off the stage. "If you do see her… Tell her I have to speak with her and that it is important. Hopefully she'll return in her own good time."
"Of course," she agreed. "Are we finished here?"
"I think so. Tell the others to start making their way back to the centre. I need some more tidying done before tomorrow."
"That's the only reason you wanted us all here - so we could tidy up after all the mess you made."
"Do you want to be married in two days time or not, Jedi Ellynin?" Luke threatened mockingly.
"You wouldn't!" Her face showed her dread at such a thing happening.
"Of course, I wouldn't."
Khata grinned with relief, her smile making her seem very young. "Are you coming for something to eat, Master Skywalker?"
"I'll be with you in a moment. Go with Bebo now. He's waiting for you." He turned and began gathering up materials, setting out things for tomorrow, speaking quietly to Artoo Detoo who had rolled forward.
Khata nodded and made her way into the brightly lit corridor where she found Bebo waiting for her.
"What was that all about? he asked.
"I'm not one hundred percent sure but it had something to do with Mara Jade," she replied, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm.
"Yeah! She arrived, took one look at him and then left. I thought it was something I'd said. It could have been." He pulled her close into his side.
"Was it?"
"Don't know. I barely spoke to her. Passed a couple of sentences, that's all. She's very interesting. All that history as a servant of the Emperor and then to become one of the Master's greatest friends. But it's more than friendship - he's in love with her."
"Yes. I can see it because I'm in love with you." Khata laid her head on Bebo's shoulder and sighed with pleasure as his arm pulled her close. "It does attune me to the emotions of those around me. She has a tough reputation but she seems a little vulnerable."
"It doesn't fit her character…"
"Vulnerability?"
"Yes."
"She is alone but loves the Master. I am the lucky one."
"And in two days…"
"We will be one soul." She peered up at him. "For a time I wondered what Mara Jade felt for Master Skywalker."
"She's harder to read but I sensed strong emotions coming from her."
"She's in love with him. Oh, she tries to hide it, but she is."
"You sound so sure."
"He's a good man. Why should she not love him? It should be simple - she loves him and he loves her - but it is not. They are apart and the Master is… hurting. That's not the right word but it's the nearest I can think of. I don't like to see him this way."
"You know; if I didn't know that you loved me above all others I could get jealous."
"The Master was my first love. I had this terribly embarrassing crush on him when I first arrived on Yavin." She grinned. "Then this incredibly handsome Twi'lek kept trying to get my attention.
"Handsome, eh!"
"Very. But I thought he was just a good looking rogue with more charm than substance and I continued to languish after the equally handsome Jedi Master."
"What made you decide finally to give up on him and fall for me."
Khata giggled lightly. "I saw you bathing nude and I was extremely taken with what I saw."
"Mistress Ellynin, I am shocked that you would take advantage of my boyish ways."
"Seriously, my love? The Master always treated me as a child and I could never compete with Mara Jade in his eyes."
"She is his ideal woman I suspect."
"One day I found that I didn't want to compete with Mara Jade any more. I had grown out of the crush I had on Master Skywalker. I was getting my emotions and my love ready for you. You make me feel like a woman." She then burst out laughing as she considered what she had just said.
"I thought that was very profound," Bebo drawled with a smirk. "I hope to make you feel like a woman very often."
"It just sounded like a character from the daytime holovids or one of those dreadful romances my grandmother loves to read."
Bebo grinned. "It did rather."
"Oh, you've read them too."
"Well, there was nothing to read apart from those 'dreadful romances' when we visited your grandmother last year." He drew himself up, coiling a lekku around Khata's neck. "I was desperate for some entertainment. I couldn't even touch you without her glaring at me. It did, however, give me some ideas for planning your seduction."
"Oh, really? My grandmother thought your intentions were less than honourable. She didn't think you were the usual type of Jedi Knight."
"She was a shrewd old lady but only partly right about my intentions. Those holobooks of hers were quite… graphic. I learned a lot that week. Yes, I would read them and then commit their suggestions to memory…" He pulled her round to face him and then swept her theatrically into his arms, covering her lips with his and kissing her passionately. They were young and in love and totally absorbed in each other. They sensed no danger so failed to notice Mara Jade as she turned into the corridor and stopped dead.
Mara had been wandering the corridors until she could get her emotions under some sort of control. Luke had seen her arrive. No, not seen. He had felt her arrive. She walked in without a sound and he had known. She had felt the change in him. She was as aware of Luke as he was of her. If she disappeared without speaking to him he would come after her for an explanation. Mara did not know what she would say.
As she nerved herself to return to the hall and face Luke, she turned into the corridor which led to the entrance and… 'No!' Mara could hardly believe what she had just witnessed. Khata Ellynin was kissing the Twi'lek Jedi, Bebo Magnot. She was kissing him just outside the audience chamber, just yards from Luke. Stars! Luke.
Mara shrank back against the corridor wall and eased herself back along until she slipped round the corner and out of sight. There was another entrance. She had to see Luke. She had to see him and tell him… 'Yes, Jade. Tell him what?' the little voice in her head mocked. Mara ignored it. This could damage Luke's fragile heart permanently. If he really loved Khata this would render him incapable of ever loving again.
He could not marry Khata Ellynin whether the Force wished it or not. If he did, knowing that Khata was in love with another, then Mara would give up the Force and never become a Jedi because this was all wrong.
She slipped in through the stage door entrance and moved stealthily up a little flight of stairs. The figure of the Jedi Master stood in front of her, head down, sorting out data pads and presentation citations. He was completely absorbed in what he was doing, concentrating fiercely. Mara suspected that he hadn't sensed her approach.
Luke kept focussed on his task. He would do this and then he would go and find her. He could feel her near him so she hadn't gone too far. She was very near, in fact… He stiffened but it was still a shock when she spoke.
"Luke!" Her voice cracked on his name.
Luke whirled around and saw Mara standing behind him in the shadows in the wings. His face lit up with happiness. "Mara! I'm so glad you came." He took a deep breath and the words rushed from his mouth. "At first I thought you wouldn't come and then when you did and then left, I thought it was because you couldn't bear to be in the same room as me especially after what happened between us…" His voice ran out as she didn't respond to the words tumbling from his mouth. "I didn't mean to deceive you…"
"What do you mean, deceive me?" Her voice grew very quiet.
"My marriage…"
"There is no marriage." Her words came out flat.
"Well, there is… There should be."
"No." Mara shook her head. "What are you not telling me, Luke?"
"This isn't easy. I've gone about this all wrong." He gave a self-deprecating laugh. "I should have told you everything much sooner and then we could have laughed about it together."
"I need to know the truth." Her voice was still, her face expressionless. She didn't understand. "Laugh about what?"
Luke's face turned red and then white. "The truth?"
"Not from a certain point of view. I need to know everything."
"If I can." Luke was wary as he watched Mara standing rigidly before him. "You won't like it."
Mara's emotions were swirling and she clenched her hands in a vain attempt to maintain control. But it was no use, and suddenly her fears burst forth with accusation. "You're marrying Khata Ellynin. Aren't you?"
Luke gave her a little puzzled glance at her sudden change of subject, but nodded calmly. "The day after tomorrow. Naturally, you're invited."
The pain hit her. Her eyes darkened to slate. "Luke, you can't. Yesterday you kissed me. I know it was some twisted experiment, but kissing me one day and then admitting you are marrying another only two days later is monstrous."
"Why can't I? I'm the Jedi Master. There's nothing to say that I cannot marry her. This has nothing to do with me kissing you. That was one of the things I wanted to talk to you a…"
"But…" Mara interrupted as she closed her eyes. "You don't love her and she doesn't love you."
"Of course, I don't love her… Mara, what the hell is this all about?" Comprehension and the feeling of helplessness began to trickle back into his sluggish brain. She didn't really think he was going to marry Khata, did she? The sudden urge to laugh warred with his growing irritation that she could mistrust him in this way. The amusement won out for a brief moment and he began to chuckle. The laughter faded as quickly as it had begun.
Her eyes opened, pure green antagonism. "You hypocrite! You talk about wanting to fall in love and you're marrying a woman barely out of her teens just to fulfil some sort of Force command. If this is the life that a Jedi has to lead then I'm having none of it. Do you hear me, Skywalker! I'm having none of it. I will never become a Jedi. You are as bad as the Emperor…"
"Mara!"
Mara turned and fled.
"Mara!" Luke shouted again but she refused to stop. She had to listen to him. This behaviour was extreme even for her. She'd got it all wrong. His amusement vanished. He couldn't lose her. The quiet, dignified, and apologetic discussion he had rehearsed over and over in his mind vanished. Panic welled up in him, freezing his anger. Stopping dead on the edge of the stage, he held out his hands summoning the power of the Force to his aid and, as Mara made for the exit, the doors shut and locked with an audible click. "Mara, listen to me," he pleaded as he leapt lightly off the stage and began to walk towards her.
Mara tugged at the handles and tried to get them to move but she was not as powerful as Luke. Pulling her lightsaber from her belt she ignited it and gazed bitterly at the blue blade. Luke had given her this and now she wanted no part of him. How could she love someone like this? Love. So it had come to this. She'd finally admitted what she felt for him in his presence but only to herself, never now to him. She closed down the saber and cast it on the ground at Luke's feet and from her sleeve pulled her small hold-out blaster. "I should be using this instead," she mumbled, staring at the tiny weapon in her hand before replacing it in her concealed wrist holster.
"Mara, no." Luke's face was now deathly white, his tiredness apparent. "You've got this all wrong. Yes, I've deceived you, but not in the way you think. It's more what I haven't said…"
"Isn't that enough? Your bride is not in love with you." Mara's voice was cold.
"I know that."
"And you're not unhappy about it?"
"Of course, I'm unhappy but what can I do?"
"Find someone else."
"I cannot."
"Khata Ellynin is in love with Bebo Magnot. She cannot marry you."
"I'm not marrying Khata," Luke insisted. "Well, I am but not marrying her." He stopped, his face full of consternation. "I think I see where this has all gone wrong." He held his hands out in appeal but Mara ignored it. "I'm marrying her to Bebo. Khata and Bebo are getting married and I'm performing the ceremony. Mara, what the…. You think I could marry a girl young enough to be my daughter and also one of my students?" He turned and walked away from her, his back stiff. "I know she's in love with Bebo and he with her. It's so obvious. As soon as they're in the same room… on the same planet together, you know that they're in love." He swivelled to face her again. "Do you really think so little of me? Do you think I would do such a thing? I could never come between people who truly love one another no matter what the Force ordered me to do."
Mara's face was a picture of shock as the room swirled around her. She swayed as darkness wrapped her in its grasp. With a gut wrenching gasp, Mara held onto her consciousness. Luke wasn't marrying the Mirialan. She'd got it all wrong – very wrong - and had accused him of having no morals or honour.
"Khata Ellynin is not the woman the Force suggested I marry." Luke took a deep breath and stepped forward. He had to tell her but stopped as his foot touched the lightsaber Mara had flung at him. He bent and picked it up, his face twisted in agony. She'd rejected him. She'd rejected the Jedi and by doing so had rejected him. His planned talk vanished from his agenda and all he wanted to do was go away and lick his gaping wounds in private. He couldn't think, couldn't make decisions rightly or wrongly. He had to get out and get away from her. He loved her but at this moment he hated her too. If this is what she thought he was capable of, then their relationship had no future. The Jedi Master's calm logic and reasoning had disappeared and in its place were the emotions of a tired and vulnerable human being. She wasn't ready to hear what he had to tell her. She might never be ready.
Mara slumped against the door she'd been leaning against and watched as the man she loved moved wearily back to the opposite end of the hall.
"Luke…" Mara opened her mouth and his name emerged faintly. "I'm sorry."
He stopped but didn't turn around. "So am I. Go home, Mara," he rasped, his voice sounding hoarse. "We'll talk when I've had time to think. At the moment I cannot deal with this. I have other things to think about. You are angry and so am I. Go home." He waved his hand and the doors unlocked. Immediately the doors opened and some of the students burst through.
"Is something wrong, Master? We felt a disturbance in the Force." Lon Tha ran into the centre of the hall.
Luke summoned up a smile from somewhere and shook his head. "No, nothing's wrong. I don't think I'll need you at the centre today after all. Go and see that Khata and Bebo don't do something stupid before the ceremonies. That goes for you too. I would like twelve beings to knight tomorrow."
Dashek Aerten bowed low. "The Force will provide."
"Leave the Force out of it," Luke managed to say. "You can survive one evening without trouble?"
Lon Tha glanced at Dashek and Grenet. "Don't worry, Master Skywalker. I'll tie them to their sleeping pallets nice and early."
Grenet turned to Mara. "Good to see you again, Trader Jade," he squeaked.
"We hope to see you at the Knighting Ceremony tomorrow," Clak Damsa said politely.
Mara made some sort of response but had no idea if it was the correct one. She stared at the floor for a moment as the students trooped out of the hall, hopefully leaving Mara alone with the Jedi Master once more. Mara stood waiting for them to leave, unable to believe her own appalling behaviour. She'd attacked Luke with her tongue and had not thought about what she was saying. She had accused a decent man of having no honour, and worst of all, had flung his most precious gift to her at his feet.
"Luke!" she called and lifted her head. "Luke!"
But the hall was empty. While she had been distracted with his students, he had gone.
In a sort of numb haze Luke had finished clearing and cleaning his old apartment and had spent the rest of the day moving the last of his meagre possessions into what had once been his father's Coruscant home. It was mind-numbing work but he needed to keep busy. Finally settled in his new apartment, Luke held the shabby red box in his hands, twisting it round and round aimlessly. His shoulders slumped and the tears he was trying so hard to keep at bay began to trickle down his face. Jedi Masters could not cry; they shouldn't show such emotional weaknesses. But he was just plain Luke Skywalker and he was hurting badly. Soon he would get over it and get on with his life but the empty days ahead beckoned with ghostly fingers.
He laughed bitterly. Who was he trying to fool? He would never get over this. He wondered if it was worth trying again. He had seen goodness even in Darth Vader but this was more frightening in some strange, unfathomable way.
Luke opened the box and stared down at the corusca gems as they sparkled with their hint of living fire. The strange colour mixture of blue and green quietly shimmered against the dark velvet on which the jewels rested but the passionate red heart of the stones had grown dull and lost their lustre.
The box and its contents fell to the floor as Luke placed his head in his hands and wept in earnest, his shoulders shaking. He sat alone in the dark – always alone. Again he'd failed.
The lightsaber he'd once given Mara with high hopes for her future, lay abandoned on his desk. He would think about his future in the morning. The wall chrono told him that it wasn't late but his eyes felt as if they hadn't closed for a fortnight. Sleep sounded good as long as that was all he did - sleep and no dreams.
Artoo Detoo whimpered softly as Luke dragged himself up the stairs and then wheeled over to where the jewels lay sparkling on the floor. Artoo extended a claw-like appendage, picked up the precious items and sliding aside one of his panels, stored them safely.
Mara walked slowly from the Senate buildings and caught a transport to the spaceport. This time leaving the planet never entered her mind but taking apart and fitting new heating coils did. She needed to think without any distractions and such work always cleared her head. Luke had said that he'd deceived her. She still wasn't sure about what. It was probably the identity of his Force-chosen bride. Her fingers moved to her lips and she traced their softness, reliving the feel of Luke's mouth as he had covered her lips with his own. She had felt something strong when they had kissed. They'd both emerged from such a mild encounter more dazed and shaken than a mere kiss between friends should have left them.
Then Mara knew – the clues had been there all along. How could she have been so blind? Luke wasn't subtle; take, for example, his awkward attempts to flirt with her and the strange new tension that had grown between them. Mara dropped her hydrospanner on her feet and grunted with the pain, swallowing several particularly guttural swear words in Huttese. She had been stupid – how could she have ignored the obvious? That little annoying voice she hated returned with a vengeance. 'It's always easy to hide from things you don't want to see. You've always known these feelings have been there. You just chose not to see them.'
Artoo had said that 'Luke needed her but she didn't see clearly where Luke was concerned'. This awareness of her love was new but in reality was not. She had been in love with him for years. Perhaps not in this form, but she had loved Luke Skywalker from the first moment she'd held a blaster to his head. How could being in love cause you such pain and heartache? It was supposed to be so wonderful. Mara couldn't say that her experience of love had been wonderful because it had not but she didn't regret falling in love with Luke. How could she? She'd given her heart to someone who deserved every happiness. He wasn't some worthless nobody, whatever identity he chose – farmboy or knight. She'd fallen in love with the most wonderful man in the galaxy, even if she could shake him until his teeth rattled. He wasn't perfect.
Luke hadn't been courting some nameless, faceless beauty. He had been courting her – Mara Jade. The gifts that he'd given her had been real, from his clumsily wrapped parcel to the beautiful bouquet of lilies Artoo had delivered into her arms as a gesture of apology. This time, Mara knew there would be no such gesture. This time the apology was up to her. She would go and see him now. She dropped her tools, this time avoiding her foot, and glanced at her wrist chrono. It was later than she'd thought. She'd go and see him first thing the next morning.
Deciding to sleep on the Jade's Fire, Mara changed into her sleep attire and curled up in her bed in the main cabin.
Mara reached out into the Force to find Luke and she found him already asleep and drowning in a sea of nightmarish despair. His incoherent ramblings began to make sense.
'Mara… I'm sorry. Don't turn away from the Jedi. You've turned away from me. I know I should let you go… No… I can't let you go. Always something keeping us apart. Without you... Mara… Mara… Mara!'
The last call was almost a scream. Her hand crept up to her mouth to stifle a sob of her own. "I love you, Luke," she whispered into the darkness. The reserved Jedi Master had given way to an ordinary mortal, one who cried and who hurt. He loved her and she'd not given him a chance. She'd been so full of her own righteous anger that she had caused this to happen. Her heart tore inside her.
Yes, he'd deceived her, but so had she deceived herself. She stretched out her hand and peered at the time on her wrist chrono. So it was the middle of the night. She wasn't going to get any more sleep that night. She had to see Luke. She had to do something and it had to be now.
