Shattered Remembrance

Chapter Thirteen

Mara dropped her satchel just inside the doorway, and gazed around to survey the spacious room.

"Will this do?" Han asked from behind her. "We included all the gizmos and contraptions we thought you'd need for awhile."

Tumbling mats, exercise equipment, overhead gantry … "Looks sufficient," Mara returned dryly. "But I expected to actually have a trainee here."

"Leia's bringing him in a few minutes," Han said. "Thanks again for agreeing to this, Jade. But we want you to remember that Luke isn't himself. You'll have to be patient with him. No sniping at him, no belittling his efforts. No—"

"I don't need to be lectured to, Solo," Mara snapped. "Believe it or not, I can be as tolerant and understanding as the next person."

"Good to hear." He gestured at the lightsaber dangling from her belt. "We'd appreciate it if you'd hide that thing for the time being, though. We haven't mentioned anything about lightsabers to him yet."

Still bristling, Mara's fingers lightly brushed against the precious weapon. "You can't pick and choose what to shield him from. He'll need to be able to defend himself, and his lightsaber is the best way for him to do that. In fact, Luke once told me it was one of the first things Kenobi had him learn."

"Now who's lecturing." Han crossed his arms, a scowl forming on his rugged face. Mara wondered if he was regretting asking her to train Luke. "We're smart enough to realize deflecting blaster bolts has to be on the training itinerary. We'll bring out Luke's saber when we think he's ready. Meantime, Kam Solusar is on his way to Coruscant with a couple practice sabers for you to use. He can also give you some pointers on a typical training agenda that they use at the Academy."

"I've been to the Academy," Mara retorted. "I don't need any pointers." She could sense Luke and Leia approaching. Fuming, she yanked her lightsaber off her belt and stuffed it into her bag. "Maybe you should just have Solusar train him."

"Would you rather we did?"

Mara forced down the urge to lash out any further. This was Luke's brother-in-law she was talking to. Her eventual brother-in-law, she had hoped. Truth be told, she'd always thought well of Solo. And there was no way she was entrusting Luke's training to anyone else. "No, Han." She lifted her chin. "I wouldn't."

The doors to the training salon opened, and Luke and Leia entered side by side. His limp was much less pronounced than when she'd ran into him, literally, at the medcenter, but it was still noticeable.

"Luke, this is the woman who is going to begin your training," Leia began. "Her name is—"

"It's you," Luke interrupted, his eyes riveted on Mara.

Leia looked back and forth between them. "You remember her?"

Han cleared his throat. "Uh, that's my doing. Mara and Karrde were in the hallway outside Luke's medcenter room one day, and he asked me their names."

Leia nodded. "I see. Well, then, I supposed you can get started." She backed up toward a small bench along one wall. "Han, let's sit over here."

"You're staying?" Mara asked. She had been looking forward to being alone with Luke.

"Is that a problem?" Leia returned coolly.

"Of course not," Mara lied. It wasn't that she intended to try anything shady. Like kidnapping Luke. Though come to think of it, that idea did have a certain appeal.

Schooling her features into an impassive mask, Mara led Luke to a padded mat lying in the center of the massive room.

"So you're one of these Jedi, too?" Luke asked, his blue gaze radiating skepticism.

Mara glanced at Han and Leia out of the corner of her eye. They appeared to be out of earshot. "Yes, that's right."

"They said I was the boss of the Jedi." Luke also flicked a quick glance the Solos' way before narrowing his eyes at Mara. "That would mean I'm your boss."

Mara gritted her teeth. "I've never seen you 'boss' anyone around," she dodged. "You always treat everyone as your equal."

Luke grunted in response.

Gathering her patience, Mara sank to her knees, sitting back on her heels, then gestured for Luke to do the same.

"Why?" he said, staring down at her with a frown.

"It's a meditation pose," she explained, smiling up in what she hoped was encouragement.

He didn't move. "I don't want to," he ground out. "It would hurt my leg."

This was starting out just dandy. "Sit with your legs straight out, then," she said.

With a barely-contained scowl, Luke sat down as instructed. He gave Mara a sharp look when she nudged his feet apart so she could scoot closer to him.

"I need to be able to reach your hands," she explained, hoping to diffuse any possible outburst.

"I want to learn combat moves," Luke said suddenly. "Like you used on that holoreporter."

"Listen, Luke, you would never do what I did to that reporter." She lightly touched his arm. "You would've hidden your presence from him, or ignored him. Or calmly asked him to respect your privacy. You're above lashing out as I did."

Luke's attention focused on Mara's hand with obvious annoyance, and she reluctantly sat back.

"We'll work on hand-to-hand defense in a few days," Mara replied. She already regretted the first impression she'd made on him that day. "First you need to learn how to tap into the Force."

"How?"

Luke's steely gaze bored into her, and Mara couldn't help but reminisce about how she'd always found his blue eyes fascinating. Even when she'd still adamantly claimed to be out for his blood. Expelling a breath, she pulled herself to the here and now.

"Take my hands," she said, holding her hands out, palm up. Luke slowly complied, though it was apparent that he was hesitant.

"My right hand … it's not real," he murmured, finally adverting his gaze away from her face.

"I know. It's fine." Mara gave his fingers a gentle squeeze. She wished she knew what explanation Han and Leia had given him for the prosthetic. As protective as Leia was being, surely they hadn't sprung 'Your Sith father cut it off' on him yet. "Now relax, close your eyes, and clear your mind."

Erecting a shield around her own inner thoughts, Mara tentatively entered Luke's mind, almost recoiling at the swirling confusion, mistrust, and yearning desire to regain his memories. Carefully, she guided Luke through reaching out to sense her Force-presence, then Leia's and Han's. Luke's cheek twitched as Leia responded to his touch, and his eyes flew open to stare at his sister. Giving Leia a nod, Mara redirected Luke's attention to other sentient beings in the vicinity of their building.

It wasn't until Luke began gasping that Mara realized she needed to show him how to build a barrier against feeling emotions from every being on Coruscant. It was easy to forget how Luke had to deal with his staggering amount of power every minute of every day. For the first time, Mara felt unsure about being responsible for teaching him how to do so again.

After taking a break, Mara moved to what she hoped would be an easy subject – levitation. Luke proved to be a quick learner, effortlessly following her direction to lift increasingly heavy weights, and then to call small objects to his hand. Though they hadn't interfered, Mara felt relieved when Han and Leia had finally left midway through the morning's lesson, most likely due to Han's constant fidgeting.

"Very good," Mara complimented as Luke floated yet another stool to the gantry overhead. She gave him a wicked grin. "Tomorrow you can lift everything all over again while doing a handstand."

Luke's beginning grin suddenly turned to a frown. "What?!"

"Luke, m'dear, I've seen you lift gigantic boulders while balancing on one finger, and hold them in the air for hours."

This time it was Mara's grin that faded.

"My … dear?" Confusion was etched on his face.

"Just an expression," she said quickly, mentally kicking herself. "Sometimes we tease each other, that's all." As nonchalantly as she could manage, Mara sauntered over to her carry-all bag. With her back to Luke, she reached under a towel on the bottom of the satchel, her fingers curling around a metal cylinder. The Solos weren't going to like what she was about to do, but blast it, she had rights, too. Withdrawing the forbidden object, she twirled around and tossed it to Luke without warning.

"Hey!" Luke caught the cylinder mid-air, his reflexes still lightening quick. "What the—"

"It's a comlink," Mara explained. "My personal code is already programmed into it. If you need anything – someone to talk to, a question to be answered – anything at all, you can call me." Walking closer, she laid a hand lightly on his arm. She could sense Leia and Han in the outer hallway. "Day or night, anytime at all."

Luke could apparently feel his sister coming for him, also. He nodded in understanding, then slipped the comlink into his pocket just before the set of doors opened.

"Everything go okay?" Leia asked, a bright smile on her face.

"Fine," he said quietly, picking up a towel from a nearby bench and wiping his face. Mara didn't think he'd even broken a sweat with what little exertion they'd practiced. It seemed to her his movements were more to avoid Leia's clinging hold.

"Shall we go have a late lunch, then?" Leia continued, her eyes roaming over Luke as if to check that he was indeed still all in one piece.

"I guess."

"Learn lots of neat tricks, kid?" Han said, winking behind Leia's back. She elbowed him anyway.

"Mara taught me several Force skills," Luke said evenly. For the first time that day, a genuine smile escaped. "I'm looking forward to learning more."

"Join us for lunch, Jade?" Han invited. Perhaps he wanted to make it clear that Leia's suggestion included Mara also, or at least that it should have.

Mara hesitated, watching as Leia hovered and fussed over her brother, to his obvious discomfort. She almost envied Leia, being able to openly show her love and concern for Luke. After having to restrain herself all morning, Mara wasn't sure she could maintain her indifferent façade any longer that day. "Perhaps some other time," she replied reluctantly.

As the others headed out the door, Luke looked over his shoulder at Mara. Although he appeared unsure of how he felt about her, through the Force she could detect the barest inkling of acceptance and trust toward her.

For now, it was enough.