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Chapter 4

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The corridors of the student levels were only lit by the soft lights of the sconces on the walls, no other light came through the windows and only a starry dark sky could be seen through. Everything was quiet, not showing any sign of activity.

He was careful enough to shield his presence from the other Jedi; he didn't want to startle any of them. Some months had passed since he started instructing his new padawan in the Jedi ways. She had come a long way already; her lightsaber handling was more accurate and more connected with the Force, as well as her meditating techniques. Her use of the Force came more natural now. She still had more to learn, but what Mara was achieving was outstanding, not to his surprise. He always knew that she could make a good Jedi; it was only a matter of her wanting to do so. And he was glad that she had come to him, as a Jedi Master he was pleased with the progress of his padawan. As a man he found his heart all tangled up, turned upside down and inside out of trying to stop the unstoppable… him falling for her. In spite of his inner agony, he had managed to keep things strictly professional. Still, he thought this shouldn't stop him from sharing things with her; they were after all good friends.

He reached the corridor where Mara's quarters were located. He stopped at the door and knocked softly… nothing. He knocked again and let his shields drop down only for her. The door slid open to reveal an annoyed, menacing looking Mara in her sleeping clothes and with a blaster in her hand.

"Skywalker, what in the Force's name are you doing here?" Mara asked keeping her voice down.

"I didn't startle you, did I?" Luke said in an amused tone, matching her low voice.

Mara gave him a stern look. "Couldn't have you used the com link? Just like any other normal person?"

"And miss the chance to drag you out of your own bed?" Luke answered even more amused. "Besides, I know you're not a deep sleeper" he took a glance at the blaster in her hand and could tell that Mara didn't see the fun of it. "Get dressed, we're going running."

"Running?" Mara asked surprised "I thought today we were…."

"Change of plans," he interrupted. "We're not staying indoors today, bring a survival kit."

"It's still dark outside." Mara said kind of confused. What was in Skywalker's mind?

"Not for long, so better hurry up or we'll miss it," he urged her "I'll wait outside the east exit."

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oOo

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'Skywalker and his brilliant ideas,' Mara complained to herself while running behind Luke. What was he thinking while taking her out here? In the middle of nowhere, when it was still dark? He better had a good reason in doing so, or he'd be in deep trouble. Along the way she mused on their past months training together. He'd been acting strange lately, not that she was able to read his sense or anything –the man was able to shield himself better than any Force-sensitive she had ever known, but she had known him for some years now and she could notice when something was not right with him, she could read something in his body language, like if something was troubling him deeply, he felt distant at times; not like the warm, easy going farm boy she was used to deal with. His now spontaneous move was much more like the farm boy she knew, may be all that bleakness was only a phase he was just going through and now he was coming back to normal. She liked him much better this way, although she didn't show it, nor was eager to accept.

They had been running up hill for quite a while now and they didn't seem to be reaching the top of any place. During the past few weeks they had stayed training indoors. Today the early morning sky was clear, not a single cloud left from the last weeks of non-stopping rain. Mara could see the billion stars shining dimly above. Luke could sense Mara's annoyance; still she didn't ask where they were going. She trusted him indeed.

They reached the top. It was a small flat area, located high on the side of a hill; down below one could notice the jungle expanding underneath, and on the far side the dark silhouettes of the high mountains.

"We're here." Luke announced, walking towards the edge of the cliff.

'And where is here?' Mara though to herself and followed him to the edge.

He stood there looking out into the horizon "And just on time."

Standing next to him Mara stared at Luke with a quizzical look, and turned towards the side he was facing, noticing the sky was starting to clear up in the horizon.

"What are we waiting for?" she asked.

"You'll see." Luke answered with a smile, asking her to be patient.

They both stood there in silence. The light of the new morning started to poke behind the Massassi Mountains, and then it happened.

The sky turned to different colors and slowly started showing small scintillating showers of rainbows, they were few at the beginning and slowly began to turn larger and more numerous. This was one of Yavin's natural wonders. When the conditions were appropriate, and a large amount of ice crystals concentrated in the upper atmosphere, the sun beams striking at them created the rainbow showers. Multi-colored beams of light traveled across the sky above them. Mara held her breath, the sight was the most beautiful scene she had ever witnessed; Luke noticed the change in her sense.

"This is so beautiful!" she said in a gasp.

"Yes, it is." Luke was looking at her. Yes, the most beautiful thing standing right next to him. He trailed off; "It doesn't happen often," Luke explained "I guessed today we would be able to see it… so I took my chances. I thought you would like it."

She thought of something witty to say, but she was so moved by the sight that she could only manage to say what she really meant "Thank you." She said turning to him. Why was Skywalker always this nice to her? She almost hated him for that!

They locked eyes. They were standing so close to each other that Mara could see her reflection in Luke's eyes. She could feel a current of electricity going up her spine, a magnetic field that forced her to stand there next to him and wanting to approach even more. She always felt this way around Skywalker, she realized just now. Had his eyes always been this blue? She moved closer to him, lost into his eyes.

When feeling her move closer, Luke snapped back from his contemplation and took a step back softly holding Mara by her arms. Taking a deep breath, he managed to say something "We should start heading down."

Mara realized how close she was to Luke "Yeah, all right…" was all she said. Had that bleakness set back upon Skywalker just now?

Both took a last look into the horizon. The rainbow storm continued until the sun came out from behind the mountains making the multi-colored view start to vanish. In a few minutes it was gone. Luke smiled at her and jogged down, Mara followed.

They reached a clearing next to a great calm lake. There were several trees around the clearing and a large, high formation of rocks on one end. It was the ideal spot to hold their morning lesson. Today they focused on Mara's technique to enhance her body muscles. They practiced jumps and turns, flips and back flips. Jedi muscles needed to be very strong to be able to perform this kind of physical challenges, but she was up to the task.

Mara watched as Luke showed her how he used the force to jump as high as eight meters reaching for one of the ledges on the rock formation and then letting himself drop down and land softly on the ground. It seemed simple enough; doing it herself would be a different matter though.

"Your turn," Luke announced, "Want to try that?" he asked her nodding towards the ledge he just landed from.

"Sure, why not?" she answered with confidence in her voice.

"Just concentrate and visualize what you want to do. Reach the lower ledge for a start." He instructed her. It was only about five meters high.

Mara nodded, and focused on what she had to do. She prepared herself and jumped up. As she approached the aimed spot she noticed that she had miscalculated and was going to miss the ledge by less than a meter… this was going to hurt. She braced herself and got ready to bear up her crashing against the rock, and it was when she felt Luke's touch with the Force, helping her go up the last stretch. She made it, thanks to Skywalker.

Now she had to go down. She looked down at Luke.

'It will be all right. You're doing great for your first time.' He encouraged her 'I'll be here if something goes wrong.' He reassured her without words.

'I don't want you to baby sit.' She sent back in annoyance.

'You want to break your neck then?' he pointed out.

'Well… when you put it that way…' she conceded. 'I could use my utility belt, you know… is not like I'm resource less.'

'Mara…' Luke warned.

'All right, all right Skywalker.' She sent annoyed, agreeing to do it the proper Jedi way. 'I'm going to get you for this.' She threatened.

Turning towards the edge of the ledge and taking a deep breath she let herself drop down. While descending she lowered her speed using the Force, but still landed a little too fast; to compensate she rolled over her shoulder minimizing the impact.

"Well done." Luke approached her.

"A whole life of imperial training has to be of some use." She added sarcastically.

"And just imagine what it will do combined with you Jedi training." Luke pointed out to her.

Well, he had a point there. Mara smiled with satisfaction.

They continued with their training. Mara got the knack of it pretty fast. She was a fast learner and Luke a good teacher.

Mara noticed that while training, he took his Jedi Master role quite seriously. He had just spared her from a painful –and may be embarrassing experience a while ago. She didn't like it when people got in the middle of her own things. She considered herself to be strong enough to overcome anything that could be thrown at her, she had done that her whole life; but Skywalker's protectiveness made her feel that she was part of something… even if it was being part of the Jedi's worries… that, she could tolerate. She sometimes let herself think further concerning Skywalker's interest in her… what if…

Yes, she sometimes thought about herself and the farm boy; about this strange relationship of theirs. How could he bear with her? Considering that she wasn't the friendliest person in the galaxy. She hadn't been raised to have acquaintances, or friends, or family… she had been taught to consider every sentient being as a tool to get the job done. On the other hand, the Jedi was an insufferable idealist. What was it that kept Skywalker coming back into her life? And what had been keeping her coming after him one time and another to save his rear end every time he got himself into some kind of trouble? Maybe they were both masochists. Yeah, that was it. They both liked the hard life. Well, it had to be… you sure had to be out of your mind to yield to this crazy training and to live giving yourself bruises, cuts, sleepless nights, feeding on ration bars, endure the most bizarre planetary conditions and living in a space ship for months. And it was even worst with Skywalker, because on top of all that he also wanted to save every single soul in the galaxy in the process. The man was really out of his mind… and she was too, for letting him drag her into all of this. And the worst thing of all was that she really enjoyed it.

Definitely, they were a pair of masochists.

'Force, it is so hot out today.' Mara continued thinking to herself. She was feeling so sticky and could see that Skywalker wasn't any better. 'Talking about enduring the hardships of nature… this damned planet and its damned jungle…'

Luke liked to use his teaching time as practicing time for himself too, so he worked as hard as any of his students. This meant that he would execute every exercise he wanted his padawan to do. He was in the middle of his demonstration of a back flip when he sensed something; finishing his turn in the air earlier he landed in a squat and stayed there… attentive. Luke's attentiveness made Mara tense her own body, readying herself for the unexpected. He straightened up just slightly.

"Do you feel that?" Luke asked the alerted padawan. Mara gave him a negative nod.

Suddenly there was some movement on top of one of the trees, and Mara could distinguish a rather large creature coming down the tree trunk reaching the ground very fast. In a blink the blur splashed into the lake.

Mara swung her lightsaber making the white-blue blade shine into existence "What was that?" she asked already set in a combat stance.

Calmly Luke walked towards the shore of the lake, "It's just a mucous salamander. They are harmless." He turned his back to the lake.

Mara closed down her lightsaber. So much for anticipating possible predators, she thought.

"Can you sense anything coming from it?" he asked her encouragingly.

Mara closed her eyes and concentrated "I don't sense any danger… I can feel certain protectiveness coming from it… it's not alone, there's one more with it… younger…." She opened her eyes.

"Good." Luke praised her. Mara could sense he was pleased with her interpretation. "You're getting better."

Teaching Mara how to connect with the Force sensing primitive thinking creatures had been one of the practiced exercises while training here at Yavin; instructing her to sensing instincts, more than feelings or a pattern of thinking.

"Jacen has a special talent with animals." Luke mentioned, obviously proud at his nephew's ability. He smiled at the memory of Jacen soothing a frantic stray pettin they found on Coruscant's streets one afternoon, and how much they had tried to convince Leia to let him keep it. "It seems like there is no limit to the Jedi abilities. Each one of us have our own inborn talents." He finished.

Mara gave a snort "I wonder what mine are." She added sarcastically. Sensing approaching wild creatures was definitely not one of them, she thought in amusement.

"Each species has its own thinking patterns, Jedi must learn most in order to be able to decipher their intentions." Luke noted stressing the importance of what he had just said.

Mara looked back at him. Couldn't he just relax for a minute? What was it with that dark cloud he was enveloped with? She certainly was going to do something about that. There was only room for one moody person, and that place was taken by her already. A twinkle showed in her eyes and a mischievous smile appeared on her lips. She turned to Luke.

"You look hot, Farmboy." Mara said with a sensual tone in her voice. While saying it a smirk showed on her face.

"Uuhh?" Luke let out, not being sure of how to take that comment.

Mara walked towards Luke with her cat-like walk. He stood there unable to move, a sudden rush of adrenaline going through his body, the unexpected way Mara was approaching… She reached out and putting a hand on his chest she pushed him back and… Luke went down splashing into the water. He came back from under the water gasping for air.

"That's better! Told you I was gonna get you!" Mara said forcing herself not to laugh "You need to lighten up! That much seriousness gets kind of annoying, you know?"

Luke couldn't believe she'd just done that. This was not going to stay like this. "Care to join me?" and with a slight force-hold made Mara lose her balance.

She was standing too close to the edge; she couldn't regain her balance on time and came down splashing into the water, joining Luke in the lake. Now it was Mara's head coming out of the water gasping for some air.

"Now, this is what I call better!" He couldn't hide his enjoyment.

"That's cheating, Jedi!" she yelled at him.

Luke laughed. Mara splashed a hand on the surface throwing some water at his face. Luke answered back. After a short while they had enough laughing, and water splashed at each other.

"Well, maybe it wasn't a bad idea after all," Luke mentioned while enjoying the cool water. "You should have seen your face Jade!" he laughed.

"How funny!" she grunted at him.

"You started it!" he answered playing innocent.

"Yeah, right." She giggled and started swimming to the shore. Luke followed.

They reached dry land and crawled out of the water. They were both soaked, their clothes clinging to their bodies. Sitting by the shore they looked at one another laughing. Luke couldn't remember when the last time was he'd had this much fun; it felt so good when they both could relax this way. Mara thought it was a long time since she'd laughed this hard; at least the Farmboy wasn't all bleaky anymore.

"You pushed me again," Luke remarked while remembering their little incident back in the Gym when he had ended flying to the other end. "I'm thinking that you're starting to make a habit out of it." He joked.

"In your dreams." Mara chuckled, she was really enjoying this. "You're a fine swimmer for a desert boy, Farmboy."

Luke's mood softened a little "Thank you Mara…" He said softly, leaning back on his elbows, with an intention in his voice. Mara looked at him kind of puzzled. What was he referring to?

"…for reminding me that I have to relax and not take myself too seriously." He turned to her "You're the one who grounds me, you know? … the only one who treats me like a normal person." and gave her a broad smile. That smile could brighten the darkest place Mara thought.

"Did you know that you have a beautiful smile Skywalker?" Mara teased, but deep down meaning every word.

"I didn't think you liked anything about me, Jade." Luke answered taking it as one more of Mara's jokes and playing along.

"I'm being serious." Mara looked at him and gave him that roguish smile again.

Luke felt his face blush. Had that been a compliment? A compliment for him coming out of Mara's mouth? Was she flirting with him? Was she just…?

Mara laughed at the effect her words had had in him. Standing up she challenged "Race you back to the Academy!" and started running. Yelling back, she sentenced "Last one is a frozen tauntaun!"

Luke winced at the remark, a remark that had immediately brought back those memories from Hoth. Quickly standing up he raced after her with a sudden burst of joy in his heart… and a warning bell ringing in the back of his mind… The sith with it! He'll enjoy the moment and worry about it later.

He chased after her, losing himself in the denseness of the jungle.

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