Vision of the future

'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 be 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.'