Chapter Six: Returning

Mara and Anakin hadn't yet spoken on board the Skyheart, Anakin's personal ship. The ship felt empty without Artoo's familiar beeping and the silence filled Mara with a sense of dread.

The trip to Serenno was about three days and Mara was glad that they were going to dock in a matter of hours. Her thoughts had strayed numerous times to her father and Luke who had likely already reached Mon Calamari. She hadn't been able to speak to Luke, but she had sent her father a brief message through the Holonet system on board the ship.

Anakin had left her in the cockpit to fly the last leg of the journey. Mara had flown the Skyheart many a time and had no trouble programming the autopilot without Artoo's assistance. Mara adjusted her boots and propped her legs up. She began to wonder whether Luke was about to undergo his trials. Next time she saw him, he would probably be a Knight.

Despite Luke's recent choices, Mara honestly wanted what was best for him. It had been hard to see him fall so drastically for another woman. When they had been younger, their families had always joked about them getting together. They had balked at the idea at the time but somewhere along the way, Mara had actually given the idea some thought.

And she most certainly had a change of heart.

As thoughts of Luke played in her mind, Mara heard the soft hum of the holo activating in the captain's quarters. Mara doubled-checked the autopilot and crept back to the edge of the cockpit. With the Force, Mara enhanced her hearing. It was a sneaky trick that Anakin didn't even know she knew.

"Master," Anakin said.

Obi-Wan's unmistakable voice crackled through the holo.

"Anakin," he greeted.

"Master, we have a situation. It seems that our friend, the senator from Serenno has had a change of heart about the Jedi situation."

Mara heard her father breathe a sigh of relief.

"That is most intriguing," he replied. "You're on your way now?"

"Yes Master. With Mara."

There was a long pause and Mara felt her heart speed up.

"She's with you?"

Anakin sighed. "Yes. I requested she stay behind on Coruscant. The Council disagreed."

"I bet Mara did too," Obi-Wan replied, a tired and worried edge to his already crackling voice over the holo.

"This isn't a good idea," Anakin stressed. "I can feel it. I've been feeling it for days. Something isn't right."

"I have felt it too."

Mara thought back to the strange tremors she had been feeling in the Force. All her fears came rushing back into her.

There's something they're not telling me.

"I will do my best to protect her, Master. But there is only so much I can do. This place—you remember."

Another pause. "We have to hope, Anakin, that old ghosts don't linger."

A soft beeping from the front of the cockpit suddenly sounded. Mara cursed inwardly and raced back as quickly and quietly as possible. Thoughts attacked her and she felt as if her small world was closing. All Mara had ever known was her life with her father and her life as a Jedi. Her father, her own father, and her Master were clearly hiding something from her. And whatever it was, it was big enough for Anakin to want to ground her.

The beeping started to become insistent and Mara drew her full attention away from the clandestine discussion between her Master and her father. Mara looked at the panel.

Going to Mon Cal. This is it. I'll see you when we both get back. Good luck.

Unfortunately, not even Luke's impending trials could take her mind off the sense of impending doom she felt awaited her on Serenno.

o0o

Mara had opted to meditate for the remainder of the journey and Anakin found her in this position when he finally entered the cockpit. Mara made a point of ignoring Anakin until they finally docked.

A clear and irritated voice sounded over the ship's comm system.

"Unidentified vessel, state your docking licence and purpose."

Anakin leant back and watched Mara scramble to bring up the information.

"Ground Control, this is the Skyheart requesting to dock on Indefinite Licence 099-7-12-88."

There was a pause and Mara hoped that the Jedi haters hadn't suddenly changed their minds.

"State your business, Skyheart," the voice returned, sounding even more irritated. "And your cargo," he added as an afterthought.

"We have business with Senator Belku. Our cargo are only passengers—Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker and Padawan Mara Kenobi."

There was another lengthy pause and it set Mara on edge.

"Jedi," his voice finally patched through, channelling as much disgust as he probably felt.

"Yes sir, Jedi," Mara replied, barely keeping her contempt out of her own voice. Anakin stopped staring at the comm unit and turned his attention to Mara instead.

Please contain your feelings, young one. It won't do to have even the ground staff wanting to dismember us with our own sabers.

"The Senator's office has validated your clearance. You are cleared for Docking Bay Twenty-Three."

The comm shut down and Anakin breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's time."

o0o

Mara wasn't sure what to expect when she set foot on the planet, but Mara certainly didn't expect such a place filled with dichotomy wherever she looked. It was more than that too—Mara could almost feel the warring aspects of the Serenno system running through her veins.

The spaceport was stationed very close to the city centre and the short walk allowed Mara to run through what she could see.

Unlike Coruscant, Serenno was mostly built on ground level. The inhabitants looked average—humans, Chiss and Twi'leks all appeared in nearly equal numbers so close to the city centre. Mara spied various other species in the throng of beings too.

Mostly, the citizens noticed her and Anakin. Mara plastered her most approachable and friendly face on and tried to focus on the Force. Her lightsaber hung from her belt and while normally most people's eyes went straight to her bright red hair, many citizens couldn't seem to tear their eyes away from her weapon.

A small child made eye contact with her and Mara returned the gaze with a smile.

"Hello!"

The child immediately averted her eyes and hid into what Mara assumed was her mother's long dress.

"They seem to fear us, Master."

Anakin nodded in response. "Many years ago Serenno was one of the most supportive planets of the Republic. However, after a Jedi went rogue and left the Order and claimed his right as a Count, they were dragged into the Clone Wars as Separatists. Anti-Jedi, well more accurately, anti-Force propaganda spread quickly."

"Hence the ban on taking Force-sensitives," Mara surmised. She looked around as Anakin walked up to a speeder rental place.

"Exactly," Anakin replied, taking out Republican credits, placing them on the counter. As Anakin organised the speeder, his voice sounded clearly in her head.

Don't be fooled though, young one. We know for a fact that the system doesn't produce too many Force-sensitive citizens.

Mara was puzzled.

How can you know for sure?

The Council stretches further than you know, Mara.

Mara turned to face Anakin, but found him engrossed in a conversation with the merchant.

The Force tingled and Mara suddenly caught sight of a dark haired man across the street. She frowned as he looked around to check if he was being followed and promptly disappeared into the shady looking alley.

Anakin's gruff thank you to the merchant snapped Mara out of it and she stared at the rented landspeeder.

"Hunk of junk," she commented as she jumped into the landspeeder.

"Best they were willing to give Jedi, anyway," Anakin conceded. "Besides, most of this system's wealth belongs to the aristocracy."

"The Counts, right?"

Mara recalled reading up on them on one of her longer shifts in the Skyheart. Another fact finally dawned on Mara.

"Dooku. He's the rogue Jedi you're talking about, isn't he?" she finally asked.

A strange look passed over Anakin's face and Mara knew that most other people would have missed it.

But Mara wasn't other people.

"Yes," Anakin finally answered. "He's the one who came back."

"But Master, wasn't Count Dooku a Sith?" Mara demanded as she reversed the landspeeder out of the merchant's stall. The same feeling she had experienced on board the Skyheart surfaced. The conversation between Anakin and Obi-Wan still had not left her mind.

"He was," Anakin replied in a clipped tone.

A silence passed between them as Mara expertly steered the landspeeder out of the city centre.

"You killed him, Master."

Anakin kept facing forward. "The world is full of light and dark, Mara. Everyone has both. It's your choices that shape who you are. I killed a Sith. There is honour in saving the galaxy from tyranny. There is little honour in murder. I am wise enough now to know the difference."

Mara disagreed and didn't fail to say so. "Nobody can be both Master. The Force is very clear about it. The Jedi are good and the Sith are evil. End of story."

From her peripheral vision, Mara saw Anakin look at her, sadness clouding his eyes.

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes."