Chapter Three:
Luke stopped by Leia's home before he returned to his own quarters, and knocked softly on the door. It was early morning, with the sun up, but he knew the Solo children usually slept until at least 09:00.
The door opened to reveal Han Solo, who glared at him for a moment before he stepped aside.
"I hope you've had a chance to clear your mind." Han groused. "Leia's been in a fit since you hung up on her."
Luke sighed. "Where is she?"
"Right here."
Luke turned to see Leia standing nearby with her arms crossed over her chest. He stepped toward her.
"I am sorry for overreacting." Luke began. "And I will be attending the Ball; I just wanted to make sure that you and I are okay."
Leia narrowed her eyes, while Luke stood his ground.
"What made you change your mind?" she pressed.
"A talk with a friend." Luke admitted.
He could feel both Han and Leia's curiosity perk at that, but he did not feel like telling them about his night with Mara. The last thing he wanted was to place his best friend in his sister's crosshairs.
Is she only a friend, Skywalker? Luke asked himself.
He shook his head. This was not the time or place for self-reflection.
Finally Leia looked away with a tired sigh.
"No Luke, I should apologize. My comment was out of bounds." Leia closed the distance between them and embraced him cautiously. "I'm sorry. I just want to see you happy."
Luke tightened his hold on his sister, and kissed her head. "I know, and I love you for it. But please, let me make my own decisions."
"I guess I do have a tendency to baby you." Leia admitted softly.
Luke released her, and nudged her shoulder affectionately. "Hey, it's what siblings are for, right?"
She smiled at his attempt at levity. "I suppose."
"I'm going to head home now. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay. I love you Luke."
"Love you too sis."
Luke patted Han on the back on his way out, and received a nod in return. A small smile played across Luke's features. All was right with Han and Leia. This day was shaping up to be a good one.
00000
20:00 came sooner than Luke had hoped, and he was waiting just inside the front doors to the gym. He felt the anticipation build, and made an effort to keep his feelings in check.
Private lessons with Mara! How much better could this day get? Luke felt a lopsided grin sneak past his defenses, and try as he might, he couldn't quite wipe it off his face.
His attention was drawn by a pair of men practicing hand-to-hand combat. Luke watched with interest as the taller man jabbed his companion with a right hook, followed by a left jab, and then dodge away from the counter-strike.
The smaller man made up for his miss by sweeping a leg through the other man's the ankles, dumping him to the ground where he held him down for a count of three.
"I've seen better."
Luke nearly jumped, having been too caught up in watching the display to notice Mara's arrival. He turned to see her wearing a dark green jumpsuit that fit her curves quite perfectly. She definitely had a dancer's lithe figure!
Luke caught himself, and tried to keep his embarrassment in check for fear that she'd be angry at him for looking too closely. He did not want to jeopardize their agreement by gawking at her like a school-boy.
"You ready?" Mara asked him.
Luke nodded. "Lead the way. Would you like to go first or shall I?"
"Why don't you begin class first, Master Skywalker, since this was your ingenious plan?" Mara said with a devious smile.
Luke returned the grin without qualms. "Sounds great. What would you like to work on first?"
"I think I would like to hone my levitation skills." Mara answered. "Force knows that's a real weak point for me."
"Alright. Maybe we could get you to try floating meditation too: it will help your focus in both meditation and levitation." Luke offered. "Once you are more comfortable with basic levitation that is."
"That would be fine." Mara agreed.
They found an unoccupied room where they could practice uninterrupted. Luke set up a small assortment of objects on the sole table, ranging in size from a small piece of fruit to a rather large and heavy medicine ball.
"Okay, let's start with the small fruit." Luke said. "Visualize it in your mind, and then picture it coming to your right hand."
Mara took a cleansing breath to clear her mind, and then held out her right hand, palm up. She pictured the small yellow fruit, and felt it in the Force. Next she envisioned the food floating across the short distance toward her.
Moments later she felt the satisfying weight of the object in her palm.
"Perfect!" Luke congratulated. "Now, move the hand-weight."
Mara pictured said object following the path of the fruit, and again was successful. She couldn't help a triumphant smile from forming on her face. But it quickly faded. Small, lightweight objects were of course going to be easy to manipulate.
Mara opened her eyes to see Luke smiling at her.
"Very good, Mara." he said. "Okay, let's try the medicine ball."
Mara bit her lip, but closed her eyes and pictured the object lifting off the table. She gritted her teeth, and peeked an eye open to see the object wobble slightly, but it did not leave the table.
Mara blew out a breath and stopped, lowering her hand. "Why is it always harder with heavier objects?" she asked curiously.
"Because they require more focus, more trust in your ability to move them." Luke replied. "It was the same with me when I was on Dagobah. When my X-wing sank further into the swamps there I tried to retrieve it, but failed. It wasn't until Master Yoda did it that I really started to believe what I was capable of."
"You're not going to ask me to lift a ship are you?" Mara quipped, only half-joking.
Luke's mouth tugged up in a smile. "Not right now, but perhaps for a final levitation test."
"Test?" Mara repeated warily.
"Of course." Luke answered unabashedly. "Tests are an important part of the schooling process."
Mara lifted a brow. "Remember that when we start learning the more complicated dances, Farmboy."
Luke winced. "Right. Well, fair's fair I guess."
"That's right."
They shared a laugh, and then Luke gestured to the ball. "Alright, quit stalling. Go again."
Mara sighed to herself, but acquiesced. She blew out a steadying breath, and this time kept her eyes open. She reached out with the Force and grabbed the ball. With an effort she lifted it from the table, and as it started slowly toward her, it dipped more than once. A sweat broke out on her forehead as Mara exerted more attention and effort into getting the task done.
Mara almost had it to her hand when a loud bang against the wall made her jump, and the ball thumped solidly to the floor.
Mara let out an irritated growl. "Shavit."
Luke shook his head. "You almost had it. Maybe we should work on split-attention exercises too?"
"Obviously." Mara snapped, irritated at her jumpiness.
Luke took it in stride, and simply gestured to the ball, returning it to start position.
"Again, please."
Mara repeated her maneuvers, and this time got the ball to her waiting hands without more than one dip. When it settled firmly into her grasp, she let out a triumphant hoot.
"Great job, Mara!" Luke applauded her. "Okay, new levitation technique. Sit on the floor, please."
Mara did as he asked, somewhat taken aback by his manners. She wasn't used to her instructors asking instead of ordering her to do things. This fact alone made her more willing to cooperate without much fuss.
Luke brought over several remote droids used for blast-deflection training, and arranged them in a circle around her. Mara frowned at him.
"Am I going to deflect the shots sitting down?"
"No. The remotes will remain deactivated for this." Luke answered, sitting cross-legged a short distance before her. "I want you to start with one remote, levitate it and hold it in place. Slowly, when you feel confident, levitate a second, and then a third and so on. Keep going until you either have all five remotes in the air and held steady, or you need to stop."
"I see. And how long will I hold them in the air once I am done with all that?" Mara inquired.
"For a few moments at least." Luke replied. "Let's just see how many you can manage for now. Once you have them all in the air we will work on holding them, and then lowering them one by one as you lifted them."
Mara nodded and took a few breaths. She centered herself in the Force, and reached out with her mind to the remote in front of her. It was lighter than Mara had expected it to be, and she found it easy to get the first one into the air. She held it firmly in place, and then tentatively reached for the next remote clockwise.
The first remote wobbled slightly, and Mara paused to regain her firm hold on it. Only then did Mara return to the second droid. It lifted slowly but surely into the air to reach the height of the first.
Mara felt elation sweep through her, and the sensation caused her focus to slip enough to almost drop the objects.
Mara cleared her mind and steadied her emotions, and then continued the exercise. She held the two floating remotes and reached for the third. This one was trickier, because she was not used to levitating multiple objects like this.
"You're doing well, Mara." Luke's voice was soft, but firm. "Trust in the Force, and in yourself."
Mara didn't reply as she grabbed the third remote and it wobbled precariously into place with the first two. She gritted her teeth, feeling more sweat roll down the center of her back, almost tickling her.
The three remotes wobbled as soon as she got the third in place, and Mara was forced to concentrate on keeping them in the air. Mara's focus began to drift as she became aware of her body trembling ever-so-slightly with the effort she was putting forth.
She also realized that she forgot to eat dinner, and her stomach began to protest the lack of food. Mara wrenched her attention back to the task at hand, and almost dropped the three droids.
Mara regained her focus, shoving out everything except for the droids. Almost immediately the remotes stood still in her refocused grasp. Mara allowed a small smirk of satisfaction before she reached for the fourth remote.
To her genuine surprise, Mara was able to lift it with no problems and soon she had four out of five remotes hovering just above head-height.
"Excellent. One more." Luke prompted in his teacher's voice.
Mara nodded once in acknowledgement. Reaching out one more tendril of Force energy, Mara located the final remote and grabbed hold. When she pictured it rising, it at first did nothing, and her concentration between the four floating remotes and the one on the ground began to slip precariously.
All four floating remotes wobbled, and Mara finally could contain them no longer. Four remotes came crashing down despite her efforts to halt their progress, and Mara blew out a frustrated sigh before lying back, breathing heavily.
"That was very good, Mara." Luke's voice broke through her haze of self-reproach.
"But I failed the task." Mara said, sitting up so she could see him better.
Luke shook his head. "No. Your task was to lift as many as you could handle. Four of five is impressive, especially for the first attempt."
Mara shook her head. "But it's not 100%."
Luke nodded. "True, but that is not the point of today's lesson."
Mara frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Luke offered a knowing smile. "Today is more about showing you that you are capable. And that if you believe in your ability to use the Force, and if you trust the Force itself, all things are possible."
Mara was doubtful, but he was the teacher in this so she decided to take his word for it.
"Let's call it a day, shall we?" Luke offered.
"Alright. Dance lessons in the morning then?" Mara offered.
"I look forward to it." Luke replied. "But first, how about we feed you? Your stomach seems to think that it's being neglected."
Mara grimaced. "I can't cook worth a lick."
"I can, and would be glad to impart my culinary know-how if you are interested." Luke told her.
"Ah… two-to-one odds, now, is it Skywalker?" Mara asked. "That wasn't part of our deal, you know."
Luke shrugged. "I really don't mind if you don't."
Mara cocked her head, taking in her friend in a new light. Was this a new side of Luke she hadn't noticed before? Or was he just pulling out all the stops to try and impress her?
Her stomach chided her not to be so picky at that moment, and she made up her mind to trust him. This was Luke, and she knew he would never take advantage of her or their friendship like that.
"Alright, but I must warn you: I can't even scramble an egg without it bursting into flames." Mara said.
At this Luke chuckled. "Well then, it's a good thing Artoo has a built-in fire extinguisher."
Mara punched him in the arm, eliciting more bouts of laughter from her companion.
"Don't try your luck, Skywalker." she chided. "And don't think this will make me go soft on you during dance class either."
"Yes Ma'am." Luke said with a salute as he rose to begin gathering their things.