The king and queen did not know what to do. The only way Luke could awaken was by a kiss from his true love, but how could this happen? He'd had no girlfriends, just like Leia'd had no boyfriends. Was it possible they were both secretively in love? Could someone they had never met be in love with them? Or was it too late for love? Were their children doomed?

King Anakin and Queen Padmé allowed Luke no visitors other than themselves. They were too devastated to share their boy with anyone else. Perhaps later they could search for his true love. For now, they wanted to be alone with him and have the body of their daughter back as well.


Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon, though ragged in appearance, was as swift in space as a bird of prey in the sky. Han and Chewbacca (along with the droids Artoo and Threepio) raced across space, urging as much speed from the ship as they could get, as if they were somehow running out of time.

A tractor beam pulled them into the giant space station called the Death Star by Palpatine, and while Chewie and the droids figured out how to deactivate the power beam, Han went searching for Leia.

It was strange, almost as if a mysterious force were guiding him. He knocked out a guard and put on his uniform, then he went through the station, following what seemed to be his instincts. He suddenly stopped at a wall, where he found a secret passageway that led straight into Palpatine's throne room. Luckily, the throneroom was empty, save for a single elevated chair and a giant slab of carbonite.

Swallowing, Solo went to the block of carbonite, staring at the lovely frozen features of Princess Leia.

"A princess," he said, shaking his head. "I really should have known."

He brought up his hands and traced her features lightly with his fingers, marveling at her. What was it about this girl that drew him to her? He wasn't the type to go after some snobby princess—he preferred the wild girls...Didn't he?

And yet...

He felt like he was bound to her, like some invisible force was drawing them together.

What was it with these constant thoughts of some force? He controlled his own destiny!

But he couldn't deny it. Something about this girl appealed to him, something about her spunk, her courage...

Somehow, he knew he loved her.

"Blasted love," he muttered, before, on impulse, he moved closer to the slab of carbonite and kissed her frozen lips.


A dark figure moved through the dark night, bypassing a few wanderers in the street, then silently entering a building. Somehow the figure managed to stay out of sight of all in the building, stopping before a door.

The door opened, and the figure stepped in.

In the room, a young man lay in a bed, and his two parents were asleep in chairs to his left, their heads resting upon his bed.

The figure moved forward, then pulled back a dark hood.

Mara Jade shook free her red mane from her hood, staring down at Luke Skywalker with glistening green eyes while she did so. She moved closer to him, a vibroblade clenched in her raised hand.

But her hand was trembling, and the closer she got the more she lowered it.

She fell to her knees, staring at his side, trying not to look at his face. She raised the vibroblade above his chest, but then she sighed and retracted it, placing it in her boot and standing.

"I cannot kill you, Luke," she whispered, "not even for my master."

She gazed down at him sadly, wondering why she felt so attached to this boy she hardly knew.

Mara touched Luke's arm lightly, then she moved her hand to his face to brush back some hair that was in his eyes. "You are the love I can never have," she whispered, turning to leave.

But something drew her back, and on impulse, she leaned down and gently kissed him.