Chapter 9: Hidden in the Sands
The Emerald Dawn sparkled under the twin suns of Tatooine as Luke guided the ship through the atmosphere toward the sandy surface of his homeworld. In an effort to avoid any possible detection, Luke brought the craft low to the ground and skimmed over the surface of the Dune Sea, the repulsors creating a cloud of dust under the ship as they kicked up sand from the desert below. Noticing their destination, Luke reduced the throttle and brought down the transport's landing gear. With the audible clicking of the repulsors cycling down, the ship came to rest in the desert.
Luke quickly gathered his cloak and walked down the already deployed ramp of the ship. He looked over the horizon of the Dune Sea and saw the binary suns still hanging low in the sky. It was still during the morning hours on Tatooine so he would still have enough daylight to complete his intended task on this world before nightfall. Luke turned around when he heard a clicking from the ship's ramp to find Mara exiting the craft. She made her way over to his side and looked over the barren wastes in front of her. "Wonderful place here. Much better than the lake country."
Luke rolled his eyes at Mara's sarcastic comment. He hadn't especially wanted to leave either. Luke would have preferred to have stayed on Naboo and taken more time to look into his mother, but that option been taken away by the circumstances. Besides, they wouldn't be on Tatooine for long. After a lingering gaze at the horizon, Luke turned to Mara with a shrug. "It's home."
Ignoring the slight embarrassment on Mara's face, Luke turned to the old hut behind them. The desert had encroached on the entryway years earlier and, in time, the abandoned dwelling would be swallowed by the sands entirely. For now, it would provide them a place safe from the desert during their brief stay on Tatooine. But first, Luke had matters to attend to. Alone. He gestured toward the hut. "I have something to take care of. The hut is secure or you can stay on the ship. I'll be back before nightfall."
Mara looked from the hut to the transport and simply nodded her understanding. After a simple wave goodbye, Luke secured his cloak and set out across the desert toward some unknown destination. Mara watched his figure grow smaller against the horizon and couldn't help but wonder just why he would go off without her. Luke was usually hesitant to leave her alone, but this time he had told her to stay by herself without even an overture that he wanted Mara to accompany him. Something was up. After a quick trip into the transport to gather the supplies necessary for a trek across the desert, Mara exited the craft and locked it against intruders. She could just make out Luke's dark form on the horizon and started to make her way across the desert behind him, following the tracks left in the sands.
After a nearly two hour march across the Dune Sea, Luke found himself nearing his destination. He knew that he could have just flown the transport to this place, but Luke wanted the time to think and the opportunity to deal with things on his own. Luke had given himself plenty of time to reflect during his trek, but hadn't come up with any good answers to his lingering questions about his place in the galaxy.
Luke knew that he had fulfilled his first step towards his ultimate destiny by facing his father and the Emperor. He had been able to look the Dark Side in the eyes and resist its power. Luke Skywalker was a Jedi Knight. The only Jedi Knight. That was the simple part. Now, it was up to Luke to rebuild the Jedi. He had been left without his teachers or even the father he only had for a precious short time to face his daunting task alone. Luke didn't know where to begin with training new Jedi. He was still learning about the Force himself. In fact, Luke wasn't even sure how he would find new Jedi. Surely, it wouldn't continue to be as convenient as it had been to find Force adepts. Leia had been there all along and, if what he thought was true, he now had Mara to teach as well and she had come into his life out of nowhere.
The thought of the only two potential Jedi he had found served to shift Luke's thoughts in a new direction, however. Luke snorted to himself as thought of his love life, or lack thereof, came into his mind. He had spent his early years in the Rebellion nursing a crush on a woman that turned to be his twin sister. Thankfully, Luke had never acted on his immature feeling toward Leia, sparing him from a good deal of embarrassment when he learned the truth. Besides, Leia had fallen in love with Han even before knowing of her true relationship with Luke. They would have never had more than the relationship between siblings even if they weren't in fact brother and sister. The Jedi Knight fighting for the good of the galaxy with a beautiful princess at his side was never meant to be.
Maybe following the path of a Jedi meant Luke was meant to walk the galaxy alone. The old order had forbidden marriage and who was Luke to say that they were wrong in doing so? Perhaps, it would be easier to just follow that path and save himself the heartache. It wouldn't be easy to find a woman which could understand his life, even if a Jedi didn't oppose their religion as it did when he met Gaeriel. Cutting his losses now before he made another mistake in the matters of the heart would be the safe path, but Luke Skywalker was not known for following the safe path. And Luke knew deep down that it was already too late. He was already falling again for a woman that didn't even know who she was. All things considered, how could he be developing feelings for Mara?
Luke shook his head to clear his mind of its muddled thoughts. Throwing back the hood of his cloak, Luke surveyed the building in front of him. He had arrived. Luke stretched out with the Force and found that the structure was abandoned as he expected. After Jabba's demise, his lackeys had dispersed and the late gangster's palace now sat vacant. Calling on the Force, Luke stretched out his arm and tightened his hand into a fist. Answering his call, the gate of the palace creaked and groaned as it was raised under the stress of an unseen source. Luke released his fist once the gate had raised enough for him to walk through without trouble.
Turning on his lightsaber for illumination in the dark corridors, Luke quickly made his way into the heart of the palace. A few nights prior, Luke had a vision of his visit to Jabba's palace. On his way into the main chamber to face Jabba, time seemed to stop around him. He turned to the crowd gathered to his side and was met with a pair of familiar eyes. Mara's eyes. Her hair was darker and she was dressed as a dancing girl, but Luke knew it was her. Luke had been unable to shake the vision and had decided to make the trip to Tatooine to confirm his suspicions. Mara had been in Jabba's palace when Luke had come to rescue his friends.
Luke walked into the middle of the main chamber. The room had been stripped of anything of value, leaving it looking as bleak and abandoned as it was. Shutting off his lightsaber, Luke stood in the center of the room in the same place he had faced down Jabba the Hutt before being thrown to the rancor. After giving his eyes time to adjust to the dim light of the room, Luke turned around to face where the crowd would have been cheering for his death and stretched out with the Force. He could still feel a lingering sensation of cold anger at the edge of the room. Luke reached further and was greeted with a flash of vision from the Force.
Through the haze of a dream, Luke could see Mara watching him fight the rancor, a sense of hatred emanating from her. Hatred toward him. Luke's eyes snapped open just as the vision looked up, seething at his survival after being tossed to the rancor. The pieces were starting to come together, but Luke didn't like what he was seeing. Luke shook his head, driving the distasteful thoughts from his mind. All he knew for sure was that Mara had been in the palace and that she was one of Jabba's dancers. Anything more was still just speculation.
Luke exhaled a deep breath while keeping his eyes glued to the place where he knew Mara had stood just a few months prior. Another piece of the puzzle now rested in his hands, but Luke wasn't sure where to place it. Only one thing was certain. "She was here."
"Who was here?"