Vision of the future

'That feels good,' Mara said, closing her eyes.

'I'm putting you into a healing trance,' Luke explained, his voice sounding oddly distant. 'It can be a little slow, but sometimes it's as effective as a bacta tank.'

'I hope this is one of those times,' Mara murmured. Suddenly she was feeling very tired. 'Yet another wonderful Jedi trick you'll have to teach me sometime. 'Night, Luke. Don't forget to wake me if the bad guys crash the party.'

* * *

'Good night, Mara,' Luke said softly. Softly, and uselessly—she was already sound asleep. Is she going to die? an anxious voice asked from beside him.

Engrossed in Mara's injury and the setting up of the healing trance, he hadn't noticed Child Of Winds's arrival. Some Master Jedi. 'No, she'll be all right,' he said. 'The wound isn't dangerous, and I have some healing abilities.'

Child Of Winds sidled a little closer, peering with unblinking eyes at the woman stretched out at Luke's side. Was it my fault, Jedi Sky Walker? he asked at last. Did I not open the door quickly enough?

'No, not at all,' Luke assured him. 'It had absolutely nothing to do with you.' Then it was the Qom Jha who failed you.

Luke frowned at the young Qom Qae. Given the annoyingly persistent rivalry between the two groups, he would have expected a note of condemnation or at least lofty superiority in Child Of Winds's judgment. But there was nothing there but regret and sadness. 'Perhaps,' Luke said. 'But it may not really be their fault, either. The Threateners may have detected our arrival and put together an ambush. And don't forget that cave-dwellers like the Qom Jha probably don't see as well in lighted rooms as you or I would.'

Child Of Winds seemed to consider that. If the Threateners laid a snare, they may enter this place to search for you.

'They might,' Luke agreed. 'If they even know about it, of course. They might not—all the dust in here would indicate it hasn't been used for quite a while.'

Still, they may know even if they do not use, Child Of Winds reminded him. Your friend-machine and the Qom Jha watch and wait below. Should not someone also watch and wait above?

'That's a good idea,' Luke agreed. 'Go tell Splitter Of Stones I want him to send two of his hunters to stand watch at the next stairway exit above us.'

I will obey, the Qom Qae said, stretching out his wings. But he will need send only one hunter. I will go myself to watch with him.

Luke opened his mouth to object; closed it again. Child Of Winds had been chafing under the casual contempt of the Qom Jha ever since they'd reached the cave. This was something useful he could do that probably wouldn't be too dangerous. 'All right, Child Of Winds. Thank you.' There are no thanks needed, Child Of Winds said. It is only what is right for me to do for the Jedi Sky Walker. He cocked his head for one final look at Mara. And for his beloved companion. Spreading his wings, he flapped away into the darkness of the stairway, leaving that last comment echoing uncomfortably in Luke's mind. Beloved companion. Companion. Beloved... He looked down at Mara, her familiar features thrown into starkly contrasting areas of light and shadow by the beam of the glow rod. Beloved...

'No,' he murmured to himself. No. He liked Mara, certainly. Liked her very much. She was smart and resourceful, with a mental and emotional toughness he could rely on, plus a sharp humor and irreverence that made for a refreshing contrast with the automatic and unthinking awe too many people held him in these days. She'd been a trusted ally through some very hard and dangerous times, sticking with him and Han and Leia even when the rest of a hostile New Republic hierarchy had declared her untrustworthy.

And perhaps most important of all, she was strong and capable in the Force, with the ability to share his thoughts and emotions in a way that even a couple as close as Han and Leia couldn't experience.

But he wouldn't love her. He couldn't take that risk. Every time in the past that he had allowed himself the luxury of caring that deeply about a woman something terrible had happened to her. Gaeriel had been killed. Callista had lost her Jedi abilities and finally left him. The list of tragedies sometimes seemed endless.

Still, if Mara's theory was right, all of those disasters had happened while he was still under the lingering effects of his brush with the dark side. Would things be different now? Could they be different?

He shook his head firmly. No. He could try all the logic in the world—could come up with reason after reason why he could perhaps allow himself to have feelings like that again. But not now. Not with Mara.

Because hanging like a dark specter over all of this was the memory of that vision he'd had barely a month ago on Tierfon. The vision where he'd seen Han and Leia in danger from a mob; where he'd seen Wedge and Corran and Rogue Squadron in the heat of battle; where he'd seen himself on the Cejansij balcony from which he would later be taken to Talon Karrde and learn of Mara's disappearance.