by Timothy Zahn
"Besides, he's got someone new to take her place," Leia couldn't resist adding. "Shada's officially joined him—had you heard that?"
"Yeah, I did," Han said, giving Karrde a highly speculative look. "You know, I asked you once what it would take to get you to join the New Republic. Remember? You asked what it had taken to get me to join up—"
"Yes, I remember," Karrde cut him off, an uncharacteristic note of embarrassment coloring his voice. "Kindly bear in mind that I have not joined the New Republic. And my relationship with Shada is nothing like that."
"Neither was mine," Han said smugly, putting his arm around Leia. "That's okay. Give it time."
"It's not going to happen," Karrde insisted.
"Yeah," Han said. "I know."
* * *
On the ship's layout map, the room was called a forward visual triangulation site, for use in line-of-sight weapons targeting if any enemy managed to knock out the main sensor array. But for tonight, at least, it had become a private observation gallery.
Mara leaned against the cool transparisteel viewport, gazing out at the stars. Wondering at the right-angle turn her life had just taken.
"You realize, of course," Luke commented as he came up behind her with their drinks, "that they're all probably wondering where we are."
"Let them wonder," Mara said, sniffing the air appreciatively over the mug he handed her. The courtiers of Palpatine's court had always been openly contemptuous of hot chocolate, considering it beneath the dignity of elite such as themselves. Karrde and his people, like the good smugglers they were, had turned up their noses at all nonalcoholic drinks in general.
But the drink fit perfectly with Luke's farm boy past. It gave her a warm feeling, evoking a sense of comfort and stability and security. Simple necessities, which she'd missed so much throughout most of her life.
She took a sip. And besides that, the stuff just plain tasted good.
"Has Leia talked to you about the wedding?" Luke asked, sipping from his own mug as he leaned against the viewport facing her.
"Not yet," Mara said, making a face. "I suppose she's going to want some big blowout High Alderaanian ceremony."
Luke grinned. "Wants, probably. Expects, no."
"Good," Mara said. "I'd rather have something quiet and private and dignified. Mostly dignified, anyway," she amended. "With New Republic dignitaries on one side and Karrde's smugglers on the other, we'll probably need a weapons check at the door."
Luke chuckled. "We'll figure something out."
She eyed him over the rim of her mug. "Speaking of figuring things out, have you decided what you're going to do about the academy?"
He turned his head to gaze out the viewport. "I can't just abandon the students I have there," he said. "That much I know. I was thinking maybe I could slowly turn it into—oh, call it a pre-Jedi school. A place where beginning students can get the basics, maybe learning from older students, and do a little practicing among themselves. Once they've passed that stage, you and I and other instructors can complete their training. Maybe in a more personal one-on-one arrangement, the way Ben and Master Yoda trained me."
He looked back at her. "Assuming you want to be involved with the training at all, that is." She shrugged. "I'm not completely comfortable with the idea," she admitted. "But I am a Jedi now—at least, I assume I am—and until we can swell the ranks of instructors I suppose teaching is going to be part of my job." She considered. "At least, it will be once I've got a little more training of my own under my belt."
"Private training, of course?"
"I should hope so," she said. "Before I can do that, though, I'll need time to gracefully disengage from Karrde's organization. I've got responsibilities I have to transfer over to other people, and I can't just let them slide." She smiled. "Responsibility and commitment, you know." There was a flicker in his emotions. "Yes," he murmured.
"Though even when I'm ready to start teaching I don't think I'll want to stay on Yavin to do it," she continued, studying him closely. "Maybe the two of us could travel around the New Republic with the more advanced students, teaching them as we go. That way we'd be available for emergency conflict mediation and conciliation and all the other things Jedi are supposed to do, while at the same time giving the students a taste of real-life situations."
"That would be very useful," Luke said. "I know I could sure have used some of that myself."
"Good." She regarded him thoughtfully. "Now tell me what's bothering you."
"What do you mean?" he asked warily, his thoughts closing in on themselves.
"Oh, come on, Luke," she said gently. "I've been inside your head and your heart. You can't keep secrets from me anymore. Something hit you when I mentioned responsibility and commitment a minute ago. What was it?"
He sighed, and she could sense him give up. "I guess I still have some lingering doubts about why you'd want to marry me," he said hesitantly. "I mean, I know why I love you and want to marry you. It's just that it doesn't seem like you'll be gaining as much from this as I will." Mara gazed down at the dark liquid in her mug. "I could point out that marriage isn't a game of profit and loss," she said. "But I suppose that would just be deflecting the question." She took a deep breath. "The fact is, Luke, that until that mental and emotional melding we had during the battle in Thrawn's cloning chamber, I didn't even know myself what it was I wanted. Sure, I had friends and associates; but I'd cut myself off so completely from any real emotional attachments that I didn't even realize how much a part of life was missing."
She shook her head. "I mean, look, I cried when the Jade's Fire crashed. A ship—a thing; and yet I cried over it. What did that say about my priorities?"
"It wasn't just a thing, though," Luke murmured. "It was your freedom."
"Sure," Mara said. "But that's part of the point. It represented freedom, but it was freedom to escape from other people if I decided I wanted out."
She looked out at the stars. "In many ways, I'm still all closed up emotionally. You, on the other hand, have such an emotional openness it sometimes drives me crazy. That's what I need to learn; and you're the one I want to learn it from."
She moved closer to him and took his hand. "But that's just profit and loss games again. The simple, bottom-line fact is that this is the right path for us. Like that Qom Jha proverb Builder With Vines quoted at us in the caverns, the one about many vines woven together being stronger than the same number used separately. We complement each other perfectly, Luke, all the way down the line. In many ways, we're two halves of a single being."
"I know that," he said. "I guess I just wasn't sure you did."
"I know just about everything you do, now," Mara reminded him. "Faughn was right—we do make a good team. And we can only get better at it. Give us a few more years, and enemies of the New Republic will be running for cover like crazy."
"And those enemies will definitely be there," Luke said, sobering as he turned again to gaze out the viewport at the distant stars. "That's our future, Mara—out there in the Unknown Regions. Our hopes and dreams; promises and opportunities; dangers and enemies. And for the moment, we're the ones who hold that key."
Mara nodded, stepping close to his side and putting her arm around him. "We'll have to decide what to do with that overview Artoo downloaded. Maybe send probe ships out to take a look at some of the worlds Thrawn had listed, just to see what's there."
"Sounds reasonable," Luke said. "Either on our own or under New Republic auspices. And we also have to decide what to do about the Hand of Thrawn."
"My vote is that we leave them out of it," Mara said. "If they're not interested in talking to us, the last thing we want to do is try to force the issue."
"What if Parck decides to talk to Bastion instead?" Luke asked. Mara shook her head. "I don't think he will. If he hasn't contacted them by now, it must mean he's picked up the news reports that the Thrawn sighting was a hoax and decided to go back to lying low."
"He could also b
e plotting how to come after you for what you did to his hangar and ships," Luke warned.
"I'm not worried about it," Mara said. "The ships themselves he can undoubtedly replace, and he ought to be grateful I stopped him from giving the Hand of Thrawn to Disra and Flim." She shrugged. "Besides, Fel did tell me to take my best shot." Luke smiled. "I doubt that was exactly what he had in mind."
"I'm not responsible for what Baron Fel has in mind," Mara reminded him. "Seriously, I think if they do anything it'll be to try to recruit me again."
"And, of course, wait for Thrawn to return."
Mara thought about the dead clone floating in the flooded chamber. "That could take a while."
"True," Luke said. "Still, I suppose that even if they get tired of waiting and contact Bastion, we have a treaty with the Empire now. Maybe ultimately we'll all head out to develop those regions together."
Mara nodded. "And to face whatever's out there. That could be interesting." Luke nodded back, and for a few minutes they stood arm in arm looking out at the stars. An almost-vision floated before Mara's eyes, a vision of the future— their future—and of what they would face together. Challenges, children, friends, enemies, allies, dangers, joys, sorrows—all of it swirled into a sort of living mosaic, fading away into the distance. A vision like she'd never seen before.
But then, she'd never been a Jedi before. There were indeed going to be interesting challenges ahead.
"But that's the future," Luke murmured, his breath warm on the side of her face. "This is the present."
Mara pulled a little away from him. "And as head of the Jedi academy and brother of High Councilor Organa Solo you should at least put in an appearance at the ceremony?" she suggested. He gave her a wry look. "Yes, that's just about what I was going to say," he acknowledged. "I can see this is going to take some getting used to."
"There's still time for you to back out," she pointed out.
He kissed her warmly. "Not a chance," he said. "I'll see you later." Setting down his mug, he headed for the door. "Hang on a minute," Mara said, stepping away from the viewport and her tantalizingly brief vision of the future. As Luke had said, this was the present. The future would take care of itself. "I'll come with you."
®, ™ and Copyright © 1999 by Lucasfilm Ltd.
ISBN: 0-553-10035-1
FB2 document info
Document ID: 7d22a83c-3b03-426a-89b7-1e033a667beb
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 3.4.2012
Created using: calibre 0.8.10 software
Document authors :
Timothy Zahn
About
This file was generated by Lord KiRon's FB2EPUB converter version 1.1.5.0.
(This book might contain copyrighted material, author of the converter bears no responsibility for it's usage)
Этот файл создан при помощи конвертера FB2EPUB версии 1.1.5.0 написанного Lord KiRon.
(Эта книга может содержать материал который защищен авторским правом, автор конвертера не несет ответственности за его использование)
http://www.fb2epub.net
https://code.google.com/p/fb2epub/
