THE HEART OF THE JEDI. Worth Living For
by Martina

Disclaimer: The people and situations used in this fic are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd. 
WORTH LIVING FOR His concentration was absolute. ‘The Force is my ally. Nothing is impossible for whoever controls the Force’. Luke Skywalker stood, with perfect balance, on the edge of the railing on top of the Imperial Palace’s roof. The evening wind was calm. It swept softly over him and grabbed his light brown hair and the fabric of his black Jedi uniform. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a short moment and focused his concentration even further. ‘Do or do not,’ he thought. ‘There is no try.’ Then he started running. His eyes were looking straight ahead. Step after step he ran forward. And each time his feet hit the narrow railing with perfection. He never hesitated; the thought of it never even came to his mind. Luke knew he would not fail. He gathered strength and jumped. Once in the air, he twisted his body and landed, with equal perfection, safely with both feet on the other edge of the roof. Not even for a second had Luke doubted that he wouldn't lose his balance. He never lost his balance. He was a Jedi. A Jedi Master. Now turned in the opposite direction, he started redoing the exercise without delay. He ran over the railing, jumped and performed the most spectacular stunts and movements. What he did wasn’t merely extremely difficult. It was absolutely dangerous! But fear was no option. Fear was meant to be overcome. A Jedi should know no fear when the Force was with him. Fear was the will of the Dark Side. Luke had been in contact with the Dark Side once, ages ago, as it seemed. The more remote the memories of that experience were the better. He never wanted to experience that again. And right now he had nothing to fear. He felt the Force flow through him. They were one. It guided him. It showed every single one of his movements in his mind before he actually performed it. It gave him balance. It gave him self-esteem. It gave him trust. It gave him strength. It gave him everything! Well, claiming that was perhaps a little bit away from the actual truth. The Force gave a Jedi all the strength, skill, insight and wisdom necessary. But the Force could not fulfil all needs. Needs like companionship. Luke didn’t have much to complain about, though. He was quite happy with his life. Considering everything he had been through in his lifetime he thought of himself as quite blessed. Things could have been a lot worse. He had his family; his sister and her family, here on Coruscant. He had his Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 and many friends and allies surrounded him. He had an excellent health and his physique was astounding for a man his age. He had reached mastery within the Force and he now was the last known living Jedi Master in the galaxy. But there were still things that were missing. Things he had yet to achieve. And it would require something completely different than the Force to acquire them. Things that others managed to get for themselves all over the galaxy every single day. Things that most took for granted. Luke wanted to become a father. More certain of that than ever, he knew that was his greatest wish in life now. His whole life was filled with heroic deeds, drama, victories and losses, sadness and joy. He knew the responsibility of leadership, the importance of knowledge. He knew of strategy and learning. He was a master pilot and he could wield a lightsaber as if it was a physical extension of himself. However, Luke knew nothing of how it was to be a father. He knew how to be an uncle, though. His sister’s three children had given him lots of practice at that and also given him the image of the kind of parent he would like to be himself. Still, now at the age of thirty-eight, nothing in his life indicated that he would experience that in the near future. Luke had always been a dreamer. Ever since he was a child he had looked up to the stars and wondered what was out there. When he had been young he had gazed up at the double sunset back home on the moisture farm on Tatooine every night before going to bed. Master Yoda had once criticized him for his dreaming, but Luke was who he was and that part of his life he did not want to change. His dreams were perhaps the only remaining thing he had left of the life he had lived before joining the Rebellion. Although sometimes he wished that things were different. He had often asked that question, trying to picture the scenario. How would his life have been if the Force had not been a part of it? Where would he be today? His school at Yavin 4 would not exist and he would not have been able to help so many people ever since the civil war and forward. But his life would have been simpler, no doubt. He would have been one in the crowd. Probably he would never even have gotten off Tatooine. He would not have been famous and worshipped, or hated in some circles, for who he was and what he could do. But above all else, he would probably not have been so alone. And Luke Skywalker truly was lonely. That was a truth he mostly kept quiet, though. He was a Jedi. He served the Force and the Light. His duty gave him a meaning in life. And he was willing to risk that life to save the lives of others. That brought him a sense of happiness. That he was needed and belonged somewhere. But it was not total satisfaction. As a Jedi he shouldn’t concern himself with such things. There was no reward in being a servant of the Force. And during the years, Luke had refused to let it be a concern. Yet, the thought remained in the back of his mind, not to mention deeply in his heart. Not all the serenity and discipline in the universe could make it go away. Even though he constantly kept trying. His whole existence was almost like a paradox. He did have his sister and her family. He did have his friends and his students. On top of that he was among the most famous people in the galaxy, attention was never far away. Yet, he was alone. So terribly alone. His work usually took up so much of his time that Luke really didn’t have much left to have a personal life. At times, that fact pleased Luke to a point. He had no one to share his struggle with. He carried so much love within him and it felt sometimes that it went to waste, even if his fellow Jedi did not agree. Did anyone show greater compassion than Master Skywalker? But there was a difference to showing compassion to fellow life and to be able to love that one special person and receive the same love in return. Luke wanted to have a family of his own. He was tremendously happy that his sister had found and created the family he himself wished for, but at the same time he could not deny the envy he felt of not having the same as her. Through the Force he easily sensed Leia’s happiness about being married and being a parent. His duty as a Jedi did not stand in the way of that, not as it had in the days of the Old Republic. Times were different now. Jedi were allowed to love now, even passionately, he had seen to that. And Luke dreamed about creating a future with that one special woman, whoever she was. And he longed to have children. He wished to be a father. Then he would never be alone. Never again. He continued with his acrobatic jumps for another forty-five standard minutes. During this time, Luke barely worked up a sweat and he wasn’t even out of breath. When he eventually came to a halt in his exercise, he decided to sit down on the edge of the railing and enjoy the marvellous view, just as he once had done in his youth back on Tatooine. And it was certainly an extraordinary view! For miles the gigantic city stretched out in all directions with its enormous buildings and skyscrapers. Imperial City, which was the size of a world’s continent, was the absolute and central heart of Coruscant, the New Republic and the whole galaxy. And Luke sat literary right in the very middle of it. He smiled slightly. Leia certainly had her work cut out for her. She was the Chief of State, in control of the ruling body who kept all of this going. She had a few years ago once more been re-elected into the President post. No wonder. Not when she constantly did such a fantastic job. Sometimes, Luke could not figure out how she managed to handle it all. Leia was his twin and they shared many things, but politics was not his strongest side. It was for Leia, though. He understood the obvious things but all the schemes behind the curtains, that was a world Luke preferred to avoid. Not only did he not fully understand it, as his sister had been brought up to do, it was also a world he did not want to understand. Schemes, flattering and the risk of corruption hanging overhead; no that was no place for a Jedi Master. Not for him anyway. Leia, however, was a full-blooded politician. Sure, there had been several problems and crises in the New Republic ever since it had been founded, but Leia always seemed to walk out victorious. Sometimes they all paid the prize for it, but the victory had still always been greater than the loss. Many times because of her. The pride Luke felt for his sister knew no limits. He sat here now and observed everything that was going on around him. Coruscant was a very busy planet, usually too busy for Luke’s taste. The heavy traffic went on in all directions, except around the Imperial Palace where no traffic was allowed to travel. He and his sister, together with their family, friends and allies, had fought with their lives at stake to create all this. The buildings were either Imperial creations or some even from the days of the Old Republic. But they were just shells. What mattered was what was going on inside their walls. It was the people that were the New Republic. It was the people that had fought for peace and freedom. Tomorrow would be a special day. It was the Kashyyyk Life Day holiday. Luke was here on Coruscant now for merely that purpose. It was a returning holiday the entire family and their closest friends celebrated each year. Chewbacca probably was the most eager of them all, obviously. But ever since the children had entered their lives, celebrating Life Day had turned out to be so much more fun. Jaina and Jacen were soon about to become teenagers and their one year younger baby brother Anakin couldn’t wait until he would no longer be considered a baby, mostly in his elder siblings' eyes. But Anakin was right, though. None of the three were babies anymore. And the Force was with them and would grow even stronger with each passing year. But age didn’t matter on this holiday. It was a day when you celebrated all life, and paid your respect to life by spending time with the ones that mattered to you and also remembering those who no longer were with you. Luke also enjoyed this holiday. After all, it was his duty to make sure that all days were like Life Day. Nothing was more important than life. Except for the things that made life worth living. Luke was glad that he didn’t have to spend the next day by himself. The few rare times he had been forced to do so had been unbearable. His gaze left the city below him and the Imperial Palace, which actually was the tallest building ever built in the whole known galaxy. The abyss underneath him was so deep that even if you removed the layers of clouds it was still impossible to see the ground floor or hear its sounds. But right now, as so often, it was not what was below him that caught Luke’s interest. His blue eyes aimed up towards the sky above. He found himself caught in the magnificent sunset. The enormous, orange sun gave him sweet memories of the sunsets back home on Tatooine and also of the ones of Yavin 4, which he also enjoyed to observe before going to bed these days. Some habits just never went away. But the slowly declining sun suddenly made Luke think about something that he had not expected. Its bright, red colours reminded him of someone, someone who had been a part of his life for quite some time now. How long had it been now? Ten years. Luke had to admit that it sure had been ten years filled with a lot of action, especially every time he and she had been in the same place together. She had affected his life in many ways ever since they had met. She was known for her temper, if provoked. She had a fire within her that was as warm as the sun he was presently observing. Her hair was as golden red as well. And the Force within her was as bright as all the energy of this star. There was a difference, though. Mara was so much more beautiful than the sun of Coruscant. - “Beautiful sunset,” a soft, female voicee suddenly said behind him. Mara Jade stepped out from the shadows behind Luke and approached the railing on which he sat. She had the great pleasure to actually see him jerk when she had stated her opinion. To be able to sneak up on a Jedi Master without him knowing about it was not an easy thing to do! Actually startled, Luke turned around to see the very person that had occupied his thoughts a mere moment ago. Somewhere in the process of turning, the unthinkable happened. He lost his balance. Without so much as a sound, he fell over the edge. Slowly and gracefully, Mara walked up to the railing without the slightest bother or concern. Jedi Masters had, after all, been around for several millennia and they could hardly have been able to accomplish such a long existence if it were this easy to get rid of them. That was why she was not surprised to see him hovering in the air safe and sound about a meter below the railing. ‘Now he at least lives up to the meaning of his last name.’ Mara thought to herself in amusement. - “Good evening, Skywalker.” - “Good evening,” she heard him mumble bellow. Mara smiled with superiority while Luke levitated himself up to her eyelevel. The green, intense eyes of hers seemed to burn right through him. But not in a vicious way. - “Are you trying to kill me again, Mara?”” he asked calmly. A small portion of embarrassment at being caught off-guard so easily still slipped through, though. - “Only in my dreams,” she replied in a moocking tone. The fact that she had indeed managed to surprise him was a great victory for her. Almost a victory worth living for. - “But, Jade, you are flattering me!” Lukee burst out with the same mockery. - “I didn’t know you had dreams about me”.. She frowned. - “Those are my nightmares, Jedi,” she reaassured. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Luke decided that he was tired of defying gravity. He levitated himself back up to the ledge and sat down on the railing once more. His feet were dangling over the edge, over the abyss. - “So, what brings you all the way up heree?” he wondered. What surprised him the most, though, was not the fact that she had come to see him. It was that he had not sensed her coming. Was he beginning to get soft in his abilities? Mara looked at him and a small smile appeared in her face. Once upon a time she would never have looked at him this way. Ten years ago, when they had met on Myrkr, her eyes had been able to kill. Because that was what she had once wanted to do. Kill Luke Skywalker. Two decades ago, Mara had served Emperor Palpatine. Her codename had been The Emperor’s Hand. She had been the most efficient assassin in the entire Empire, performing the Emperor’s personal orders simply through a thought sent to her through the Force. But that life, that whole existence, had been put to an end rather sudden. The Empire had been defeated at the Moon of Endor with the destruction of the Second Death Star and the death of her Master and Emperor. Mara’s whole world had fallen apart. In an instant she had suddenly been nothing. She had had nothing. And nowhere to go. Except for her hate and thirst for revenge. In nightmares she had seen visions of how a young Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker, together with the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, had killed her Master before the Death Star had been destroyed. Vader had died but Skywalker had still been alive. And for murdering her Master, Mara had wished the Jedi’s head on a plate. The Emperor’s last command to her had been to kill Luke Skywalker. To the last, she was determined to carry out her order! But everything had turned out to be so different those five years after the Emperor’s death. She had by then become Talon Karrde’s second in command and had hardly been interested in the Imperial affairs anymore. When she and Luke had finally met, one circumstance after another had prevented her from carrying out her orders. And as if that hadn’t been enough, in the end she had even needed his help. And together they had managed to destroy the mad clone Joruus C’baoth. Her hate for Skywalker had subsided. She was no longer a threat to Skywalker. Luke knew that her hatred, which had been wrongfully created by Palpatine’s lies to her, had vanished a long time ago. And in its place a very true friendship had emerged. Although Mara still enjoyed reminding him of how she used to regard him, if just to tease him. But was there any risk of her hatred to ever return? No way! If not for Skywalker, she would probably still be living and believing the lies that Palpatine had planted in her. The Emperor had had her life in his hands for as long as Mara could remember. In fact, she could not even remember her real parents very well, only a slight vision of a woman who probably had been her mother. Her father she had no memory of at all. Palpatine had told her that he had found her as a very small child, probably just a year or two old, and had brought her with him to Coruscant to raise her there. Her Force abilities had fascinated him. He had called her unique Mara still remembered. And that was also how Palpatine had treated her. He had formed her into an assassin, but he had also spoiled her with the best in life. Her life had always been in shadows, though. As a child she was not to be seen by any outsiders. No one, except for the people who cared for her, was allowed to even know of her existence. Yet she had been provided with the best education anyone could dream of. Mara knew the ways of politics and diplomacy, she knew how to handle all sorts of weaponry and was also skilled in different martial arts, she knew about different races and cultures, early on had she become a pilot. Palpatine himself had taught most of it to her. Yet, there was one thing that had always been an irritating wonder in her mind, even if she had never let Palpatine know of it. He constantly kept telling her how special she was, especially regarding her Force senses. Still, Palpatine never developed her skills in the Force. He only taught her the absolute basics, but no more. Back then, Mara had accepted it, as her Master’s wish. But now she knew his real reason. Palpatine had wanted control of her, nothing more. He needed her abilities, but not that she developed them beyond his control. Her whole life had been a cage. A large cage in which she had been able to roam freely, but there had always been bars all around her, no matter where she had gone. Until the voice had stopped speaking to her. It never would have stopped if not for one man. Luke Skywalker. For such a long a time she had hated the man carrying that name. Five long years. Now he was the only one, except for Talon Karrde, which Mara felt she could fully trust. With her life even. She and Luke were, against all odds, very good friends, even if it sometimes seemed like a very odd friendship. But that was the perspective of the ignorant observer. Mara noticed that Luke, as usual, was carrying his lightsaber. It was safely attached to his belt. She carried her own with her as well. The very same lightsaber that Luke had given to her as a gift right after the Thrawn crisis had ended. It was his previous lightsaber. And before him it had belonged to his father. Anakin Skywalker. Mara had only known him as Darth Vader. She had been shocked, to say the least, when she had learned of this truth. Luke Skywalker was in fact Darth Vader’s son. Not that she had been the only one surprised over this fact, but Mara had been more surprised of the surprise that she had not known of it. Because, considering her previous Imperial life, she should have known about it. But the surprise hit her as strongly as it had with everybody else. Certainly not in the same way, though. Not if you considered the degree of involvement she had had in this peculiar family drama and what real part Palpatine had made her have in it. Not until she had learned of Vader’s true identity had she fully understood why the Emperor had wanted Skywalker dead. And this knowledge had been one of the strongest reasons for her to fully resign all her allegiance to her former Master. If she was going to kill Skywalker, or anybody for that matter, it should from now on happen because of her own wishes. Her own reasons. No one was to tell her what to do ever again. Mara gazed at the Jedi Master sitting in front of her. He had been lucky, despite his great skill in the Force and sense to survive in all kinds of situations. Sometimes she wondered if Luke fully realized how close she had come to actually fulfil Palpatine’s last command. Sometimes not even Mara herself wanted to think about how close it had become. She hated to admit it, but she cared for Luke too much. If he were no longer in her life, it would become much emptier. That, she knew, Luke realized even less. Because she had made damn sure he would never know she felt that way about him. Still, a tempting thought suddenly came to her mind. Mara surely didn’t have her friend’s patience and things were too slow up here. Maybe she should give it a try, just to see what would happen. If she could do it at all. She stepped up right next to him, standing behind him. - “Oh, no reason really,” she replied to hhis question. Luke didn’t even turn to look at her. Yet, Mara could see a faint grin appear in his serene face. - “Come on, Mara. You never do anything foor no reason.” He was on to her, but Mara had been expecting that. - “You think you know me well enough by noow to reach such conclusions all on your own? Better be careful now, Jedi. Your ego might sting you.” Just as much as the tongue from the red head could do! Luke couldn’t hold back his giggle. He slowly looked over his shoulder to her now. - “Coming from you, Mara Jade, I will certtainly take that as a compliment!” Mara simply nodded. She could feel that she had managed to place him into a false security, which was never easy with this man. - “Then you will learn just how much such ego can sting!” Probably it was her natural and vast talent that managed to actually be quicker than his Jedi senses. Or she had indeed been lucky enough to fool him. Either way, Luke never responded in time to stop her as she, with even relatively little effort, pushed him off the railing. He did not make a sound. Mara stood there for a moment, arms crossed, letting the breeze grip her red hair. A smirk of satisfaction was apparent in her pretty face. It was no more than a play, but it was still a victory for her to accomplish this. After a few seconds, she lowered her eyes and just barely managed to see him disappear out of sight in the abyss below. To prove that she was not entirely without feelings, she called out to him telepathically through the Force. ‘Skywalker?’ There was no reply. Mara didn’t like that. She knew she was reaching him. But what she liked even less was the annoying feeling of actual concern for her friend that was growing inside of her. She had not expected to feel that. Not so soon. ‘Hey! Drag that excuse of Bantha poodoo you call body of yours up back here again or I’ll be forced to go and tell your family why I felt the urge to kill you! I don’t think such news the day before Life Day will be appreciated.’ This time she did receive an answer. But not the one Mara had hoped for. Laughter. And that annoyed her even more! He was disrupting the very point of her play. ‘What is so blasted funny!?’ she asked him. ‘You were actually worried there for a moment!’ she heard his familiar voice utter within her mind. ‘Admit it, Mara! You were worried about me!’ ‘Keep dreaming, Skywalker!’ she spat. ‘While you still can. You will soon reach the bottom.’ His only reply was even more laughter. And it was no ordinary laughter. It was a very joyful and delighted laughter, something she rarely heard from her friend at all. And now when she finally did, she could not laugh with him. He was not supposed to be amused by this! ‘I’m glad that you’re happy, Skywalker,’ she lied and wanted him to know it. ‘Ah, cheer up, Mara! Wasn’t that the reason why you pushed me off the edge in the first place?’ She frowned. ‘Is that coming from a Jedi Master who basically never has any fun or hardly even knows the meaning of the word?’ Mara asked. Her telepathic tone of voice was somewhat more sympathetic than what she had wished, though. ‘I’ll show you what’s fun, Ms Jade!’ Mara’s honed danger sense reacted immediately. But it was still half a second too late. An enormous and unstoppable push from out of nowhere grabbed her entire being. With a subdued yell, Mara fell over the ledge. When she managed to come back to her senses she found herself falling down to the depths of Coruscant. Now she was mad. After throwing out loads of terrible words and curses that probably would have made even Han Solo blush, she calmed down a bit and called out to her friend who at this time was her tormentor. At least, he was that now. ‘Skywalker!’ Mara tried to remain calm in her telepathic voice, despite the fact that she was falling ever quicker down, passing windows of the Imperial Palace, and frightening the bureaucrats inside senseless. She was considering killing him for this once she found him --- after he had put her down safely on the ground again that was. ‘Skywalker! Do you hear me!? You better catch me soon, or you will be sorry!’ This time she was not even trying to sound calm. ‘When I’m through with you there won’t even be so much as an atom left to become one with the Force with!’ Her trust in her friend, though, was so great that the thought that he wouldn't break her fall in time never occurred to her. Luke still didn’t answer her verbally or telepathically, yet her fall was beginning to slow down. And finally, Mara came to a halt in midair and the slow climb upwards towards the sky began. She was about halfway up to the roof and irritated, trying to avoid the staring eyes from all inside the windows as she passed them, when something grabbed her waist from below. It was Luke. And he carried a smile from one ear to the next. - “Hi there! Are we having fun yet?” he assked. Her heart was pounding, he could sense it easily. Had he scared her more than intended? No, not Mara. She was no fully trained Jedi but it would take so much more than something like this to scare her. - “You’re nuts, Skywalker!” she spat at hiim. - “True,” he confessed. - “But no more thaan the lady that pushed me off a skyscraper.” - “You were ignoring me up there. And boreed me to death. That’s why I pushed you.” Knowing her reason, Luke simply grinned. - “Well, if it makes you feel better, you have my full attention now,” he whispered, despite the fact that no one was able to hear them during their climb in midair. His hold on her was steady and firm. It made her feel secure. And uncomfortable. Mara usually preferred to never let this man get too close to her physically. It was not that she found him unattractive, rather the opposite. And deep down, that was the problem. Mara wanted their relationship to stay on a friendly level. She knew she could trust Luke to stay where he was, too, but she had also many experiences with men in general that got quickly carried away when she had made the mistake of letting them too close, even by accident. Even if the risk was less than minimal with the very serene Jedi Master, Mara did not want to risk that with Skywalker. Especially not with him! But right now she didn’t have much of a choice. There was no way that she could push him off her right now, was there? She wasn’t skilled enough to levitate herself up to the ledge, he was her safety line whether she liked it or not. Luke really didn’t need to actually hold her physically; he could carry them both through his telekinesis abilities. But the friendly and caring soul that he was would probably not even get the thought of not wanting her to feel safe right now, despite his trick on her. - “Why am I wasting my time with you?” Marra asked, directing the question more to herself rather than him. - “I’m leaving Coruscant tonight and I don’t have time floating around several kilometres above the ground with you clinging on me”. - “You’re leaving?” Luke seemed unusually surprised. - “I have business to attend to, on Karrdee’s behalf,” she simply said. Never would she betray the confidence that Karrde put in her professionalism or the promise to always keep all their activities secret. Besides, Luke wasn’t interested in individual cases of the Smuggler Alliance’s business anyway - not being more specific wouldn’t hurt his feelings. Mara actually frowned at her own thought. Her not wanting to hurt Skywalker’s feelings. That was a good one! Still, it wasn’t a new thought or a unique one either for that matter. - “So, if Master Skywalker won’t mind, I wwould appreciate it if you could return me back up to the rooftop as soon as possible so I may return to my work.” Luke was, of course, fully prepared to do as his lady friend requested. But not quite yet. They had a bit to climb still and he intended to make use of that time. He still wished for an answer and hanging in midair like this with her was the golden opportunity to squeeze it out of her. - “Why can’t you just admit why you came tto see me?” he asked. Her pulse increased even more. What was going on? - “You came to wish me a happy Life Day beefore you leave, didn’t you?” No answer. She refused to answer him now, in mere protest. Luke nodded. He hadn’t survived so many wars and battles not knowing when to quit. He would not get any confession out of Mara; her silence confirmed that. And he would not hurt her either by pushing her. He knew the answer anyway, why create a storm? It was for the best to give her some more space so she could cool down. It would not be long now until they would reach the top. Gently, Luke let go of her body with his arms and levitated ahead of her. Feeling somewhat relieved that his arms where no longer holding her, Mara could still sense a little slack in his mental hold on her. Was he kidding with her again? Or was his strength running out? Either way, it made her feel uneasy. - “Skywalker?” But Luke was already too high up to hear her. The invisible grip on her seemed to fade even more. ‘Luke!’ Her telepathic voice was alarmed. And she had spoken his first name! Luke immediately stopped climbing and turned around and waited for her to reach him again. He did not know what had triggered such worry in her but it had been enough to take whatever her concern was seriously. - “Stop fooling around,” she spat. - “I doon’t want to die because you are getting tired!” - “Jedi Masters never get tired.” His intention had been to be soothing. But Mara simply found his words as another add to his ego that he constantly seemed to deny that he had. He reached out his hand to her that she, to his great surprise, happily and even eagerly accepted. She held his hand firmly while they started to climb the last meters up to the top together. - “Your grip was breaking up,” she explainned. - “No, it wasn’t,” Luke assured her. - “Itt must have been your imagination.” Mara wanted to protest, but then decided not to. Luke could be, even if it was rarely, a bit of a joker when he wanted to. But he would never joke about something like this. Maybe she had imagined the loss of his telekinesis grip? After all, she had begun feeling it the moment he let go of her physically. Perhaps she was mixing the two different grips up? Perhaps she had never wanted him to remove his arms from her? Perhaps… Never mind. Finally, reaching the roof, they both found safe ground underneath their feet again. She let go of his hand and took a few steps away from him. Mara’s legs were actually shaking a bit. She gave a toothy grin. She was a professional dancer, among many things, and her legs were not even supposed to know how to be unstable. Damn that Jedi! Why did he always make her into things that she didn’t want to be or made her do things she wanted to forget that she could do? - “Are you all right?” She gave him a vicious eye. - “What do you care?” - “Mara, don’t talk that way!” She had hurt him, that was obvious to her now. Despite her irritation, his innocent, blue eyes still managed to penetrate all her defences. - “You know perfectly well that I would neever do anything to harm you.” She forced out a false smile. - “Your concern over my well-being is stilll as touching as ever,” she said coldly. His soft, yet stubborn gaze refused to let her temper walk right over him. - “You didn’t seriously think I would actuually let go of you, did you?” he asked. - “Mara, I’d rather let myself plunge all the way down to the ground before letting go of you.” His sacrifice came as no surprise to her. An honest smile came to life in her pretty face. - “That’s very honourable of you, Master JJedi. But there’s a catch in your brave sacrifice. If you plunged to your death, I would still plunge to my own as well once you were splattered against the ground floor.” - “But you would at least know that I diedd before you,” Luke added sarcastically. - “That’s not good enough! I want to live to tell about it.” Luke grinned and shook his head. - “Not even my death is enough to satisfy you anymore,” he stated with a sigh. - “What can I do to make you happy, Mara Jade?” - “That you will never be able to figure oout, Jedi.” ‘You would never believe me either if I told you,’ Mara thought to herself, making sure he wouldn’t hear that. Her heart was still pounding hard in her chest. Had he noticed? What was she thinking!? He was a Jedi Master, of course he must have noticed! But did he understand why? Probably not. And Mara wanted to keep it that way. - “I didn’t think that Jedi Masters were aallowed to have fun like that,” she continued. That was probably why she had been caught off guard and fallen for his trick. She had never expected him to do this; it was so totally off from the classical image of the famous Master Jedi. In the same moment, Mara suddenly found herself pulled close to him again, his left arm holding her firmly. - “On the contrary!” Luke said, deeply enjjoying teasing her like this. - “You’d be amazed at what I can get away with!” His sudden nearness put Mara’s defences on high alert. If she didn’t know better she could have sworn that he was flirting with her. She didn’t know what had gotten into him today, but she would not allow this to go any further! - “You’re not getting away with anything wwhen it comes to me, Skywalker!” she declared with a surprising calm. In the same moment, Luke felt her hit him hard right in the belly. The impact was harder than anticipated and he found himself out of air. - “Have a great Life Day, then, farmboy, aas soon as you have managed to catch your breath,” she continued and stepped away from him, grinning with joy at the amusing sight him trying to rise back into a normal upright position. - “Well…” Luke gasped for air. Her punch had truly hurt. - “With such self-defence as that, I know that I don’t have to worry for your well-being tomorrow.” Mara shook her head. This man could drive her crazy but in the end he couldn’t make her angry. Even when she was hitting him he was being sweet in return. She put all her irritation away. She needed to get back to the Jade’s Fire and get out of here. She really didn’t have much time. And the little time she had she didn’t want to spend arguing with him. - “You don’t need to worry about me, Skywaalker. I can take care of myself.” She offered him a helping hand, which he accepted. - “Yeah, I’ve noticed,” he said. All pain vanished the moment she hugged him. - “You deserved that,” Mara stated. - “I suppose so,” Luke agreed and pulled hher even closer into their friendly embrace. This was how it usually was between the two these days. Any observer could even think they hated each other or that they were constantly in some form of conflict. But that was never the case. The truth was that they were the best of friends and they enjoyed playing these games. It was a different form of friendship indeed and not always did they understand it themselves. But they didn’t want it to be any other way. And they had fought greatly to reach this point. Things could have been so totally different. So very different. - “I must go,” Mara finally said. For oncee, being held by him didn’t feel so bad after all. And she wished she wasn’t so much in a hurry. - “Alright. You have a great Life Day, Marra,” Luke wished. - “And may the Force be with you”. Mara nodded and took a last glimpse at him before turning around and heading for the top entrance of the building. - “Mara!” She turned around. - “Will I see you again soon?” Mara smiled slightly at him. Luke suddenly looked like a little boy that feared to be abandoned. - “Believe in the will of the Force, Masteer Jedi, and it will be so.” Then she disappeared again. Luke smiled. Mara always knew how to make him feel better. Despite all his long years of mastering the value of patience, until the next time he would meet his lady friend again it would feel like an eternity. But it was worth enduring. It was worth living for! To be continued in: Happy Life Day!