A/N: Thank you to everyone who is still reading! I apologise for the delay. This story is about to kick into high gear with the angst, so buckle up!

Chapter Fourteen: Social Engagements

Mara heaved and panted, sweat pooling on her forehead. She let her fingers twist around the handle of her lightsaber. It felt good in her hand, the weight seemed perfectly matched to her. Mara had been training with a lightsaber since she could remember. At a young age, she had been entranced with watching the older students spar. She loved to see the blur of mixed colours, sweeping and gliding through the air.

That same enchanted feeling had accompanied Mara through her adolescence and she had rarely turned down an opportunity to master the skill. Both her father and her Master were competent at sparring, but Mara had to admit that she loved sparring with Luke.

For a reason Mara had not yet determined, Luke had still not been asked to go off-world. After his successful mission to Vandor-3, Ahsoka had openly praised him to the Council. Mara knew first hand that the Council did whatever they felt like though, and Luke's obvious success as a Jedi Knight did nothing to sway their opinion.

She pushed the thought into the far reaches of her mind lest her shields fail and her thoughts would be leaked into the general Jedi populace. As Luke's lightsaber edged dangerously close to her braid, Mara returned her attention to the task at hand.

She focused on Luke. He was graceful with his blade and the way he balanced his body while he fought was full of stealth and charisma. Above anything, Luke fought with pride, honesty and skill and it was one of the things that kept Mara coming back for more.

She grinned at him as he took a second to catch his breath. "Had enough, Skywalker?"

Instead of answering, Luke lunged at her again, crashing his lightsaber against hers. "Hardly," he boasted. "Although it looks like the little padawan still needs some lessons."

Mara growled and removed her lightsaber away from Luke's and attempted to thrust it to Luke's left. Luke sensed what she was about to do instantly and met her thrust with vigour, sending her balance into a tailspin.

In the split second it took for Mara to regain her footing, Luke took the advantage and came down at her with what could have been a fatal blow. The training blade zapped Mara as it came down on her shoulder. Mara hissed as the contact was made and immediately retracted her own saber. It snapped shut with a firm click.

"Murderer!" Mara whined at Luke and winced, the zap having hurt her shoulder blade.

Luke shook his head and retracted his own lightsaber. "Why did you give up?"

Mara glared at Luke and launched her lightsaber across the room. It landed in the bay perfectly. She breathed heavily and undid her thick braid. "You had me beat, Skywalker," Mara pointed out. She moved her tunic out of the way to reveal a large, red welt on her shoulder blade.

Luke shook his head and sent his own lightsaber hurtling across the room. It too fit perfectly in the spot right next to Mara's. Mara didn't miss the mixed look of surprise and disappointment that filled Luke's normally encouraging face.

"Since when has that ever stopped you, Mara?"

For once, Mara had no reply. Before Luke could say anything, Mara's comm loudly announced an incoming call. Luke broke his eye contact and Mara quickly took the commlink out of her pocket.

"Mara," Leia's voice called through the comm. "Is Luke with you?"

"The philosophy master himself is standing right next to me," Mara grumbled.

"Hi Leia," Luke replied diplomatically. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Mara smirked as she could hear her friend sigh over the transmission. "I know you're a Jedi and all, but do you have to be so diplomatic all the time?"

"Says the politician!"

"That's more like it!" Leia enthused. "Just because you're both Jedi, doesn't mean you need to be so boring."

"Who're you calling boring?" Mara pointed out as she grabbed the bottle of water and began to quench her thirst.

"Well, that depends. I know my saber-stuck-in-the-mud brother might protest, but I was hoping the two of you might be free for a small soiree at my place this evening."

Luke's eyebrows shot up. "A party?"

Mara finished her drink and smiled. After being grounded and being persona non grata for two weeks, she had found her prudent Jedi lifestyle to be overwhelming. She might have grown up with the pillars of service and sacrifice but if she was being honest with herself, the conformist lifestyle sometimes haunted her. She didn't even want to consider the dark voices that assaulted both her dreaming and waking moments.

If she were to begin rebuilding her reputation and skills as a Jedi, she would have to be able to navigate the line between her life and that of a Jedi. Her Master had fought for the right for a personal life outside the Temple, and Mara felt she needed to take the opportunity he had afforded her. If Leia, the most level-headed person she knew outside the Temple, wanted to throw a party, she was definitely going to be there.

"Count me in!" Mara enthused as Luke looked at her as if she had birthed a gundark.

"Excellent! Luke?"

"I have Temple duty tonight..."

Mara smirked at him. "It only goes until 20:00. You can surely come afterward. Afraid of having a good time?"

Luke puffed his chest out. Mara knew the way Luke's mind worked. He was a fantastic Jedi—of that she had no doubt. He possessed many of the qualities she admired in Jedi; perseverance, courage, loyalty and a deep sense of duty. It was the latter that often collided with her own vision of what it meant to be a fully-functioning Jedi in society.

Mara was part of the generation of Jedi that had been brought up in the New Jedi Code. She had a great sense of duty, but she believed that she needed an outlet to be herself, away from the conformist doors of the Jedi Temple. Especially now, when her own thoughts and feelings were slowly becoming harder to recognise.

Luke, on the other hand, took his sense of duty entirely too far, in Mara's opinion. Begrudgingly, she acknowledged that his fling with Callista had at least opened the door to a more relaxed and personable Luke. It was a baby step at least.

Luke sighed and ruffled his hair. Mara raised her eyebrows at him. "Come on, Skywalker!"

"The Rogues are going to be there," Leia added.

Luke brightened at the thought of seeing his friends. While they both had many friends in the Temple, as they grew, Luke, Leia and Mara had developed deep friendships with non-Jedi. After Leia had officially left the Temple, she had been able to maintain her friendships with greater ease, particularly with her fellow politician, Winter.

Luke and Mara struggled to keep up with their friends— such was the life of a Jedi. Mara had Mirax and Luke had grown close with the group of men he had flown with during his pilot training.

"I'll come," Luke finally agreed. Mara smiled. She caught Luke's eye for a moment and he rolled his eyes and turned away.

"I'll see you at 20:30 then," Leia said quickly, not waiting for Luke to change his mind. "Don't forget to change!"

The connection was broken and Mara smiled triumphantly. "She's right—don't turn up wearing your blacks."

Luke tried to hide his smile as Mara tugged out her braid and shook out her thick hair. For the quickest moment, Mara wondered what it would feel like to have Luke run his hands through her hair. Her body tingled with the thought. As quickly as it happened, the feeling disappeared. A familiar twinge of darkness replaced her giddiness.

He'll never want you.

Her expression must have changed because Luke suddenly looked concerned. "Mara?"

She shook the feeling off and forced a smile onto her face. "I'll see you at Leia's," she tried to enthuse and turned around and left a very confused Luke in her wake.

o0o

Mara had been completely surprised that her father hadn't argued with her about leaving. She wasn't sure what she was expecting but he had virtually pushed her out the door. Mara had been the first to arrive at Leia's and had acted as a gracious secondary host.

Now, the party was in full swing. Everyone was scattered around Leia's grand apartment, drinking wine and generally enjoying themselves. She was thankful that Leia had the foresight to not invite her parents. An evening with her Master hanging off her every move was not appealing.

As a Jedi padawan, Mara was normally forbidden from drinking any alcohol at the Temple or on duty, but she figured that a few wouldn't hurt. She clutched her dainty glass of Alderaani wine and tried to focus on the enjoyment going on all around her.

It was this focus that prevented her from foreseeing Han Solo creeping up behind her. "Look alive, Kenobi."

Mara took a less than dainty sip from her glass. "Why? So I can spend the evening talking to the likes of you?"

Han frowned and tried to grab Mara's glass. "Should you even be drinking this?"

Mara had the sudden urge to punch the scoundrel in his face. She moved the glass away, relishing in the gentle swish of the deep, red liquid as her hand caressed the glass. It was hers. "Who are you, my father?" she snapped.

Han stared at her wide-eyed.

The irritation at Solo dissipated as quickly as it had appeared. She put the glass down.

"Han—,"

He held his hands up. "I'm sorry. I've been trying to get you Jedi types to relax and as soon as you do, I turn into the Princess."

Mara smirked. "You're not wrong," she confessed, sneaking a look at her delicious escape. "But it's a party, Han. The kind of party that I would like to enjoy."

Han stood and extended his hand. "So let's enjoy it."

Mara sighed dramatically and playfully slapped away Han's hand, standing in one swift motion. "You're a hell of a woman, Red. He'll see it one day."

Before Mara could respond to Han's statement, two Rogues, Lando and Corran sans his Jedi robes joined the group.

o0o

Mara had to admit that she was enjoying herself at the party. Luke had flown with Rogue Squadron in his teens as part of a Jedi outsource training program. Mara herself had done her own outsource training with the Smuggler's Alliance, although she would never admit how much she had enjoyed it.

The Rogues were very entertaining. Mara had been intrigued to hear of all their adventures. Their commander, Wedge, had been close by and intervened with the truth on more than one occasion. Mara had also found Mirax, whom she had met on her own travels.

Mara was currently in the role of observer as she spied Mirax trying to discreetly take in the form of her fellow Jedi, Corran. She considered offering to introduce the pair but she recalled the way Corran had yanked on her padawan braid after she had lost their last sparring match. She decided that it wasn't her responsibility to play matchmaker and kept her feet firmly in place.

Not for the first time, she looked at the chrono embedded in Leia's wall. Luke wasn't just late. He was bordering on not actually attending. Leia had tried to contact him using a variety of methods that had yielded no results. Mara made herself scarce as Leia had even commed her parents. Anakin's stern face had burned into her retinas for long enough and she wanted to escape his look if at all possible.

"Drink?" Mirax interrupted, shoving what Mara assumed was Corellian-style hard liquor into her hand. She saw Corran crinkle his nose in the distance, and she wondered whether he would have something to say.

She took the offered drink and tried to relax when Corran averted his eyes from the pair of them. She took pity. "He's a stand-up citizen," Mara said, taking a tiny, experimental sip of the drink. "If you're into that."

Mirax's eyes blazed. "I- what?"

Mara rolled her eyes, completely versed in the art of denial. Even if she hadn't picked up on the glances all evening, she was a Jedi. She could feel Corran's eyes on Mirax and felt undeniably happy and empty at the tingling of the Force around them. She briefly wondered if Leia felt it too.

"Can Jedi even...you know? Because I'm not really into the whole forbidden love, miserable all the time thing," Mirax added.

"Sure can," Mara confirmed. "You can thank our lovely hostess for that one. Her parents have the patent on the star-crossed lovers cliché. Quite nauseating, really."

Mirax's eyes lit up and she thrust her own drink into Mara's hand. "You're alright, Kenobi. Shame you're a woman of the cloth."

Mara laughed in spite of herself. "I'm a master of weaponry and peace. The Jedi are already walking contradictions. I'm sure Corran will tell you all about it."

With a thankful smile, Mirax turned and left Mara holding the pair of drinks. Mirax practically lit up when Corran leant in close. Mara wasn't sure where he learnt how to woo a woman—he was a Jedi after all. Perhaps his own Master had been a smooth talker.

Mara had grown up with two male Jedi role models—which meant that she and Leia were very well-protected when it came to such matters. Maybe that was why she was unable to communicate her real feelings to Luke. She looked at the chrono again. She had the sinking feeling that he wasn't going to attend.

She tried to see the bright side of it—she had reconnected with old friends and made some new ones. All outside the confines of the Jedi Temple. The old her might have considered this a success. But that was before. She wasn't sure when it had happened, but some things failed to fill her with peace and joy. Her mind convinced her that she wasn't good enough. Her heart told her that everything around her was lacking something. Where she was once content, she was now troubled.

A part of her knew that she should speak to her Master or her father. They would probably know how to help but she could see the troubled looks on their faces in her mind's eye. That's why she couldn't say anything. She had let them both down enough for a lifetime.

In the middle of her internal monologue, Mara's awareness of the Force around her trembled. Her arms felt weak as the uneasy feeling intensified. She locked eyes with Corran, who seemed to feel it too.

Mara turned her attention to the doors just as Luke walked through them. If she wasn't so concerned about the vibe she was receiving from him, she might've welcomed the intense emotion she felt as she saw him.

He still wore his Jedi blacks and his hair was messed in a way that she knew he hadn't had time to even consider changing. Leia reached Luke before she did.

Thankfully, nobody else seemed to notice the Jedi business. Corran must have excused himself from Mirax's company because Mara felt him appear beside her. She didn't dare turn to look at him though—she was completely transfixed on Luke.

His face conveyed just as much as his unease in the Force did. Gone were his expressive eyes—replaced with eyes that reflected fear and concern.

"Luke?" Leia asked. "What's happened?"

Luke and Leia may have been twins, but Mara felt Luke clearer than anything.

"War," she whispered.