Chapter ONE

rewritten

The morning sun reflected off of the stone temple grounds causing Mara Jade to cover her eyes while her eyes adjust. Something brought her out here, but she can't explain what. A sense of danger far distant, urgency, and despair all coming from outside. She frowned and tried not to think of the warm bed and the even warmer husband she had left because of her 'feeling'. Skywalker would be dealing with the beginning of Jedi classes tomorrow and she didn't want to wake him up because she'd had a 'feeling'. Most especially since she didn't know how to explain it, and as much as she loved him, with anything of this sort he would want to analyze the emotion to death.

Mara heard rustling and crashing from the left. Either this enemy was horrible at stealth or so arrogant they didn't think to hide their approach. Or bring a ship. Some of the tension in her shoulders left. Maybe one of the students was out early?

A bruised and battered woman in her late twenties or early thirties stumbles out of the swarming trees. Her mannerisms made her seem drunk, or drugged. She looked like she had stumbled out of a war zone. She had the look of a war veteran, someone who has seen too much death and can't believe that there is anything beyond that. People like that didn't often last very long.

The few students outside gave her weird looks and avoided the woman like she a stormtrooper. A twi-lek student looked relieved to see her.

As Mara got closer to her the woman she thought she heard her say, "Is this a Corellian Hell?"

"No, welcome to the Jedi Academy." Mara said wanting to smile at the irony, but the newcomer was inclined to see that as a threat.

"Are we dead?" The woman seemed almost happy at the prospect, which threw Mara slightly off guard.

"No." Mara noticed how strong the force was with the woman and chanced to glace at her belt where two lightsabers were attached.

"You're safe here, however you got here."

"Safe?" she echoed.

Mara grabbed the woman's arm to keep her from falling, and knew immediately that this wasn't an act.

"But you're going to have to tell me your name."

"Our name?" The woman shook her dark hair. "My name- Yun- no! That wasn't it. It's Zekaya, we think."

"We?"

"Me, I think. Just me now." Zekaya rubbed her eyes.

Mara frowned. Schizophrenia? She hoped the Jedi healers would know what to do. Mara led her towards the temple. She stopped the barefooted Tatooine kid along the way, what was her name, and asked her to run ahead and tell the med center.

"We're going to get you some help."

Jedi Healer Frida noticed how skiddish her new patient was.

"I'm Frida, I'm a healer. I'm not here to hurt you." Frida said grabbing the girl's arm .

"What is your name?"

"Zekaya-"

Frida proceeded to take a blood sample to testing. Death Sticks? Zekaya watched the blood leave her body with indifference.

"That hurts." Zekaya looked around the room. "I guess this is real."

"Did you take a hallucinogen?"

"Did we?" Her patient became confused. She almost seemed to expect a response.

"How did you get here?" The healer said as she looked to Zekaya's wounds. Several new lacerations and a few deeper wounds she was certain were made by a lightsaber. Underneath was a pattern of scars that either indicated a life of battle or a pattern of abuse.

"We don't know, I wished to die, and I couldn't and then I was in the forest."

Such words were repulsive to the healer. Life was sacred.

Zekaya touched one of the walls. "I know that that doesn't make sense."

Mara led the healer out of the room.

"Test for Schizophrenia while you're at it."

Frida nodded and stood at the door when Mara went back in.

"Who trained you?" Mara asked evenly, allowing herself to be direct.

Zekaya clearly searched for a convincing lie. "Trained? We-"

Mara would have none of it.

"How did you get those?" Mara asked, gesturing at the lightsabers. "Either you were trained …or you managed to kill two Jedi."

Zekaya looked shrewdly at the floor before looking her directly in the eye.

"I killed Jedi." She said vehemently, daring her to argue.

The Healer gasped, but Mara's surprise was of another sort. She stood up, and crossed her arms in frustration.

Frida left using the blood tests she had to do as an excuse.

Mara knew that Zekaya was lying. At least as to how she had gained the lightsabers. She had been trained in interrogation by the Empire and that much was clear. Who in their right mind would claim to have killed two Jedi at a Jedi Academy? It was a virtual death sentence. But that was it wasn't it? This girl wasn't exactly in her right mind, and she wanted Mara to kill her.

"You're lying. You trying to get us to kill you. Why?"

Zekaya refused to meet her eye and wiped her face with her hands.

Skywalker chose that moment to arrive, none too pleased that he'd had to learn from someone other than his wife that she had found a visitor. Whatever he had been about to say died on his lips.

"He will come for me, to use me in his twisted power-- and you will wish for death too." Zekaya mumbled, wrapping her arms around her legs making her look much younger.

"Whoever he is, we can handle it." Luke promised.

"No, no you won't, he's too powerful and you wouldn't have the will to." Zekaya lamented. In fact Mara noticed after the first time Zekaya had stared at her husband she had made a point to look at anything else.

Zekaya gained more semblance of sanity after her outburst. Was it for their benefit?

I wish you'd told me about our visitor, Luke sent to his wife.

Would you like me to tell you when I use the refresher too, dear? she sent back.

Luke hid his frustration, burying it deep where hopefully noone would notice.

"Trust me, if the Jedi here can take down the ghost of a Sith Lord, and thwart him through a three year old, and personally see the downfall of Darth Sidious, we can stop whatever tyrant decided to come after you."

Luke reached out to place his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Trust in the lightside."

Zekaya seemed memorized by his words but leaned away from his touch.

"There IS a lightside to the Force," Zekaya said as if she was trying to convince Mara and Luke.

"Yes there is." Luke reassured her. "So you see you're safe here, we can learn from one another. I just need you do one thing."

"What?" Zekaya said.

Luke was certain his gentle nephew Jacen would describe this newcomer as a scared feline. So many of his old students had been like this, certain that he was trying to use them.

"Your lightsaber."

"Lighsabers," Mara corrected.

Luke frowned

I'll explain later, Mara sent.

Zekaya unhooked the weapons from her belt and carefully handed them to him.

"But I want them back." She stated as terms in her agreement to cooperate.

"Fair enough, we just don't allow-"

"Strangers into your school heavily armed?" Zekaya said more reasonably than her recent instability would lead you to belive she was capable of.
"Right," Mara said, confused by her sudden streak of sanity.

"Then you'll want this." Zekaya said devoid of emotion.

Mara tensed as Zekaya pulled out a blaster, but relaxed when she placed it on the table. Mara pocketed the weapons.

There was a knock on the door, the healer was back.

"Sir, I need to attend to my patient." Frida said.

Luke smiled at the girl who kept her eyes fixed on his robes.

"We will talk later about providing sanctuary."

Zekaya nodded.

"I think I scared her." Luke said to his wife as they left.

Zekaya watched as the couple left the room.

"Well." Frida said rubbing her hands on her legs before grabbing a bottle from a drawer. Her master had never warned her about patients like this when she had undergone training. She hoped she would learn a better 'bedside manner' soon. She gave her patient a purple tonic to drink that matched the color in her dark eyes. Zekaya's nose twitched but she downed the tonic anyway.

"This will make you feel better. Whatever drugs were in your system seem to have left it, but the other results are still inconclusive." Frida said smiling as comforting as possible.

Zekaya stood up sharply as something must just have occurred to her. "My blood, you took my blood!"

"Calm down, we just had to do a few tests to see how to help you." Frida tried to send out soothing thoughts despite her misgivings. A patient is a patient.

"Did you look at my DNA or midiclorian count?" Zekaya became threatening.

" Midiclorians? No, not yet, but-"

"Don't look at my DNA." Zekaya said with such Force strength that Frida gasped.

There was a darkness to her eyes that imprinted itself upon the healer as much as she tried to push off the weight upon her mind.

"You will get rid of the blood you have left." Zekaya ordered while waving her fingers in front of the healers eyes.

"I will get rid of it," Frida said in a monotone her eyes glazed. She would do as the more powerful presence ordered.

Zekaya covered her mouth.

"I-" Guilt and shame covered her words but the healer was oblivious to everything but her task.

Frida went for the door.

"I didn't mean-I didn't want to-" Her nails clawed at the chair she was in.