By Alexandra Pope

SYNOPSIS: Thirty years after the fall of the Empire, life is perfect for Luke Skywalker, his wife Mara, and their eight-year-old twin children, Tanya and Nathen. But boredom can do funny things to the mental state, and when an old superstition of Mara's becomes a frightening and deadly reality, all hell is about to break loose. . . and the horror ends in tragedy.

    It was,on Yavin 4,a horrendous day to be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Endor.
The rain was beating down in buckets,still going as strong in the middle of the afternoon as it had first thing that morning.Mist had formed as a result,hanging hot and heavy over everything,and there was not a dry item of clothing in the whole of the Jedi Academy.
      On the whole,it was cooler and less damp outside than in,and that was where the party went on,undisturbed,all day,underneath an enormous blue waterproof tarp,suspended from the tallest of the jungle trees and spread over the whole of the stone landing pad.Beneath the tarp,row upon row of tables had been set up,and chairs...and upon each table was a marvelous setting of food.The sun might as well have been shining,for spirits were higher than high...it had been 30 years of relatively Empire-free living.Sure,there had been a fair share of hurdles along the way,but,there were the true heros,standing in a huddle around a keg of strong Sullustan ale,all of them alive and well and at various degrees of sobriety.
      Among them,perhaps smiling the broadest of them all,was Luke Skywalker,his ordinarily unruly blond hair combed straight and flat despite the humidity,his mood the most buoyant,except for perhaps the mood of the woman standing at his side with her arm around his waist.
"You just should've seen him trying to do a handstand again!" she was laughing."It was incredible!"
The crowd burst into raucous laughter at the thought of forty-two year old Luke trying to do a handstand...or perhaps it was just the fact that his wife,Mara Jade,held sway over anyone in her presence with her energetic storytelling.Or perhaps it was just the ale.
      Whatever it was,Luke was far from insulted as he tried to give his wife a knuckle sandwich,which prompted more laughter from the gathering of X-Wing pilots and the like.
Wedge Antilles gave a snort and took another long swig of ale.
"He always was pretty spry,eh Mara?"
Next to him,Luke's sister Leia Organa Solo spat a mouthful of her own ale into a napkin.
"Oh puh-leese," she chortled,"spare us,Wedge!"
"Oh you know it's true!" Luke exclaimed proudly."You all admit that I did everything,and you guys were just extras."
"Naaahhh," Mara interrupted."You were just lost in your farm world most of the time."
"Obviously his self-esteem hasn't suffered any over the years," Wedge pointed out.
"Course not!"
"Well...."
       The conversation flowed along naturally,easily,and so did the ale,and the heavy air rang with bursts of laughter from every corner,and the joyful shrieks of the children jumping in the puddles on the landing pad,and the clatter and scrape of cutlery on plates.It was a day for celebration-of liberation,of family,of love.A day to remember those lost in the battles over the years...and those won.Those allies gained,those friends long gone.
Death was on no one's mind...and yet,on everyone's mind at the same time.
No one could be sure how long the celebrations could continue this way,with everyone present and accounted for,and no one could be sure who would be the first to end the tradition...but somehow,it didn't seem to matter.
       It was late afternoon when the festivities began to die down,and people began to return to their ships or rooms in the academy,if they happened to be too drunk to fly straight.
The rain had finally stopped,and left in it's place a ceiling of cloud kilometers thick.It would take ages for those clouds to clear.
      Mara was making the rounds,picking up the paper plates off the tables and chucking them into a garbage bag for disposal-a job she ordinarily would have complained about taking on,had she not been in such a good mood,when her husband came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Successful party,I would say," he murmured,and laughed when she dropped the bag in surprise.
"I'd say so too," she said,turning around to face him."I had plenty an opportunity to insult you,darling."
"And I you,darling."
They both snickered evilly,foreheads pressed together.
"You know what would make this a perfect day?" Mara asked quietly.
"What?"
There was a long pause,and at last, Mara smiled.
"If the twins would clean their room."
Luke shrugged."Yeah, I guess that would probably just about do it."
      The couple relaxed happily in each others arms for a while,swaying gently from side to side, just enjoying the rare moment of peace that they could spend alone together,not negotiating bedtime with the twins (heck,life with the pre-adolescent Tanya and Nathen was,all things considered,just a constant negotiation) or checking up on some Jedi rule regarding picking herbs.
     "Do you know how much I love you?" Luke asked after a time,brushing aside Mara's hair with one hand,and then with that same hand, holding hers.
Mara watched his mouth as he said this,watching his lips forming the words she so loved to hear,then turned her gaze to meet his.His blue eyes were shining with mirth,and a youth that was uncommon in most men his age.
"How much?" she asked mischeviously,sensing from Luke's expression that her eyes held the same emotions.
He never got a chance to tell her.
      "Luke!" someone called from behind them,and Mara groaned,releasing Luke's hand and turning away.
"Wedge?" Luke asked,spinning around and promising himself he'd make it up to Mara later.
"I'm off," Wedge said,jogging over and zipping his flightsuit.
"Aww,you sure you can't stay?" Luke moaned."Qwi will understand,won't she?"
"You obviously don't know Qwi very well," Wedge chuckled."Besides,I've got work tomorrow,remember? Unlike some people who are on permanent summer vacation!" He jeered in Mara's direction,not being serious in the slightest,and she flashed him a smile.
"See you round,Wedge.Have a good trip," she called,giving a half-hearted wave.
"She feeling okay?" Wedge asked,turning back to Luke.
"She says we don't spend enough time together.I don't know how much togetherness she wants-I mean,we're together every day,teaching classes," Luke shrugged.
"Now you see why I have to get back to Qwi?" laughed Wedge.
"Yeah,yeah,I can take a hint.Been nice doing battle with ya,Wedge.You come back and visit,alright? The doors are always open here."
"Sure thing," Wedge agreed,and clapped Luke on the back.The two men regarded each other for a moment,and it was Luke who folded first.
"Oh hell....I'm gonna miss you,buddy," he said,throwing his arms around Wedge in a bear hug.
"Okay,dry up!" Wedge exclaimed loudly,hugging Luke back."It's not like we're never going to see each other again."
"Yeah,I know," Luke said quietly.He didn't mention the fact that,with the way their lives seemed to change in the blink of an eye,there was a very big possibility of not seeing each other again.
"Later,Red," Wedge called over his shoulder as he swaggered back to his ship with the bow-legged pilot's walk they'd all adopted in their experiences.
"Later,Red," Luke said softly to his friend's retreating back.
      When he turned back to find his wife,she had disappeared.

      The jungle air had not lightened at all as Mara trod lightly through the mud,taking a few much-needed moments alone to clear all shreds of jealousy and desire from her mind.
She knew it was unfair to be angry with Luke - he hadn't seen his pilot friends in months.And it wasn't right to be angry on this most hallowed of days,either,even though the festivities left her with a feeling of being excluded.She'd been part of the Empire still,on this day thirty years ago.She'd been working at a pump station,picking up the pieces after her failure at Jabba the Hutt's palace on Tatooine,plotting how she was going to try and kill Luke Skywalker next.She never would have dreamed,in a million light years,that she'd be here,her lips still tingling with the memory of Luke's kiss.
       She found the hammock exactly where she'd left it,strung up between two tall trees outside the Temple of the Galaxy Lake.She'd chosen this particular spot because of it's seclusion,yet proximity to the Great Temple,and because,if she listened very,very closely,she could hear the waves inside the Galaxy lake,a constant reminder of what it meant to be a Jedi.A reminder of where she came from.
      Drawing and releasing a long breath,she eased herself into the hammock and closed her eyes.She could hear the waves,seemingly louder than usual today,probably on account of the jungle being divided into pockets of air and fog.Everything within this particular pocket could be heard,twice as loud.
It was a little bit frightening,being alone in the mist,with nothing but an old stone building in sight,and every birdcall sounding like a scream in her ear.
      But the pros far outweighed the cons.Number one on the list: making Luke feel guilty.

      "Mara?" Luke called into the great hall of the temple.The hall,which had been a bustling center of activity all day,was suddenly empty.Not a whisper could be heard-not even an echo of Luke's own query.
Feeling slightly squeamish,Luke ventured forth into the hallway.The corridor by the turbolifts was also empty,save for a snake winding it's way across the floor to disappear under the doors of a turbolift with a last flick of it's sinewy tail.
Luke crossed the hallway into another corridor,peering into both the comm room and the kitchen.There was no sign of his redheaded wife.
      Beginning to get just a little bit nervous,he called again.
"Mara?"
She didn't really possess the talent of being able to stay hidden for long periods of time.Her record was two days.Luke really didn't want a repeat of that episode,since when he had found her,she'd been the closest thing to dead he'd ever witnessed.
      The semi-nervosity became full-blown fear as he entered the war room,not seeing even a hint of Mara.The only thing he did see... was a small little silhouette emerge from behind a cabinet and stand framed in the light from the window.
"Daddy?" a familiar voice asked coyly."Come play with me?"
"Tanya,you know you aren't supposed to be in here..."
"I'm not hurting anyone," Tanya retorted smartly,and giggled,beckoning to her father.Luke,untrusting even of his little girl,backed up.The silhouette advanced,holding out a hand.
Luke shuddered and backed away furthur,nearly falling over the edge of the doorframe as the door began to slide shut.
Tanya shrieked her laughter,raising her arms to the sky....
    And Luke blinked barely in time to see a black shadow swoop in front of the window,large enough to block out all the light for only a fraction of a second.Tanya's silhouette disappeared in half of that fraction,replaced only with darkness,and Luke's breath caught in his throat.Someone had it in for him...and in a fraction of a second,that twisted deception was complete.
     A fraction of a second was all it took for the axe hanging above the arch of the door to the war room to come swinging loose with the slam of the door...
    A fraction more was all it took for Luke to be knocked unconscious by the handle,while the blade sliced cleanly into his chest.
   The axe clattered to the floor,and Luke spiralled into darkness,although the shadow had passed,leaving only dust motes dancing in the cold,steely light that poured through the window,where once had stood the giggling form of his daughter.

     "Do you know how much I love you?" Luke asked,his voice hazy and faraway in Mara's dreaming mind.
"How much?" Mara prompted coyly,smiling,expecting at the very least an answer,now that she was dreaming,and there would be no dream-Wedge to interrupt them.
"So much I would die for you," dream-Luke whispered,and leaned forward as if to kiss her.
Mara drew back.
"That's only semi-romantic,Luke.Too morbid," she informed him casually,and shoved her husband away.
He squawked in surprise-
And Mara jerked awake.
    "What was that?" she cried,wiping cold sweat off her brow.That squawk that had come from her dream husband-that had not been a dream.That had been in real life.And that had been enough to rouse her from her light sleep.She was feeling sort of ill,wanting to go back to the temple and apologize to her husband for being so immature.But before she could move,the squawk sounded again,closer this time.
     A chill raced up Mara's spine,and she looked everywhich way for the source of it-it was like no birdcall she'd ever heard before in her life.
    The third call was long,low and mournful,and it was upon the trilling close of that call that the source made itself known to Mara.
As she watched,an enormous black bird swooped down from the trees to land on the mess of leaves,moss and lichens that covered the jungle ground.It's talons dug into the damp,fertile earth,and as it strutted,it's pointed beak turned to the misty canopy,every single flash of green along the ground turned to a dead shade of brown.
    Mara watched in fascinated horror as the bird cocked it's head towards her,it's ruby eyes flashing with fire a million degrees hotter than the surface of the sun.It made sure she was watching,and drove it's beak into the ground to pull out a worm.The instant the hapless creature met the pointed beak,it ceased it's hopeless wriggling.The bird swallowed it whole,screamed again,and took off flying into the clouded sky,heading towards the academy.It left behind it the sickly-sweet stench of decaying flesh,and as Mara leapt off the hammock,her stomach heaving,she was filled with a new knowledge...a new degree of terror.
    Death had returned.

    "Nathen!" Mara cried,almost tripping over her younger child on her way into the academy foyer.She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him towards her before he could run,thinking she was playing some new game with him.
Mara brushed aside Nathen's thick blond hair,and kissed his forehead,silently thanking the Force that he was not marked by the strange presence she'd witnessed in the forest.
"What are you doing,mom?" he asked,gazing skeptically up at her."Am I 'it'?"
"No,thank the maker," Mara said distractedly,not catching her son's meaning.
"Am I in trouble?"
"Not yet," Mara said,glancing around."Where's Tanya?"
     Nathen didn't answer right away,but looked at the ground,blushing.
"Nathen..." Mara warned impatiently.
"I dunno," her son answered at last,still not meeting her gaze.
"Why do I get the feeling you're not telling me something,Nathen Skywalker?"
"I dunno."
Mara made a grab for his shoulder again,but he suddenly took off running down the corridor in the direction of Jacen Solo's room.
     Of course,Mara chased after him,racing straight past the war room and around the corner. Nathen was giggling,caught up in the thrill of the chase,and the miracle that he was finally faster than his mother,who'd always seemed to be able to catch him before.
Mara's heart just wasn't in it,though.Worry and fear were weighing her down,and she needed to find Tanya.Nathen disappeared into Jacen's room with a final sassy wave and a giggle to his mom,and the door slammed just as Mara reached it.
Naturally,it was locked.
     Defeated and next to tears,Mara decided to actually try the twin's room,the scream of that horrid bird still echoing through the pathways of her mind.

      The main room was darkened; the only light filtering through came from the gaps between the drawn blue curtains,and even that light was gray and dull to match the day outside.
     Mara tiptoed in,letting the door slide softly shut behind her.
"Tanya?" she whispered softly.The shadows yielded no response.Mara crept a few steps further over to the bed by the window,and felt beneath the pillows for a lump that might just be her eight-year-old daughter.
     But she felt only fabric.The softness of it beneath her fingernails chilled her,and a shudder crept it's way up her spine.
    "Tanya," she tried again,louder this time,her feeling of dread growing.The shrill cry of the bird she'd heard in the jungle kept ringing in her ears like a warning - she had to find her daughter.
Gently,she parted the delicate curtains,her ears straining for any hint of a sly giggle (or scream for help...) but she heard nothing - only the wind,rustling the drops of rainwater off the jungle trees outside...
     Mara paused,the curtains clutched in her hands.The window was closed...
Heart pounding,Mara walked silently over to the door connecting Tanya and Nathen's room with she and Luke's.Almost positive that someone could hear her pulse hammering in her chest,she pressed her ear against the door.There was that sound again-the soft,secretive whispering of trees...and a dainty,delicate giggle that could only belong to one person.
    "Tanya," Mara demanded sharply,and tried the door.Locked,of course."Tanya Lei Skywalker,you open this door right now,young lady!" Mara's voice was high and shrill with fear.And her daughter still did not respond.Still,the whispering grew louder.
    "Please?" Mara begged.She looked behind her at the darkened room,expecting some sort of horrible monster to leap out at her,it's claws aimed straight for her throat.Meanwhile,a sensation was forming in the pit of her stomach - dread,mixed with not enough lunch and too much ale,and topped off with the horrible, horrible feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.
    "Tanya!" she barked,jiggling the door handle again.It still did not budge.Now,Mara was not only fearing for her daughter's safety,but her own.Something was brewing,something awful...she wanted to run,to scream,flee into someone's arms...
Panic stricken,she stepped back,ignited her lightsaber,and drove it straight through the lock.The door clicked open softly,and slid aside.
    Relief flooded through Mara with the light that poured from she and her husband's bedroom.
"I didn't hear you calling," Tanya answered immediately from somewhere in the room.Mara couldn't see her,only felt her presence,distant and casual.
"Where are you?"
"By the window," Tanya said,in that same cold,indifferent tone.
     Mara reminded herself to breathe,reminded herself that nothing was wrong,her daughter was safe.
But it was not her daughter that she saw when she rounded the corner of the doorframe to face the window.
It was the enormous black bird that was perched on Tanya's slender wrist,it's grotesque talons wrapped tight around the girl's fist.Mara's heart leapt into her throat,and panic seized her.
Tanya was stroking the bird's long black wings,petting it's horrible pointed beak,whispering something to it and then pausing-almost as if it was answering back.
     Tanya looked towards Mara,issuing forth in her green eyes the essence of innocence...but there was something else there,a silent triumph (I've scared my mama....that means power,that means later bedtimes and more dessert) that yielded complete power over the elder woman as Tanya slowly held her hand out to Mara.The bird squawked softly as it focused it's malicious glittering ruby eyes on her.
"Look,Mama," Tanya murmured,deathly quiet."Look what flew in the window...isn't it beautiful?" She did not remove her gaze from Mara's.
     Mara had only ever seen a nightbird once before - on the day that the Emperor Palpatine,her former master,had been killed.Hadn't that been today? But thirty years ago?
The massive bird had swooped by a groundside fueling station,momentarily blocking out all light in the tiny office where Mara'd been counting money...and that was when her senses had gone insane.
    She'd only found out what the bird was a symbol of years later,doing research aboard the Wild Karrde...according to legend,the nightbird was said to appear when death was imminent,but only to someone close to the one marked for death.The only way for the death to follow through was for the person to invite the nightbird inside...
    "Tanya....the nightbird..." Mara croaked,feeling the colour draining from her face.Her daughter,her precious,beautiful,innocent girl, had invited death into the Jedi Academy.
"Tanya,release it."
"Why?" Tanya asked haughtily,sliding her small hand down the bird's spine again.It made a guttural noise,and nuzzled her neck with it's beak."I think it's pretty,don't you? I'm going to ask daddy if I can keep it."
"Your father..." Mara trailed off as the bird's neck suddenly whipped around to fix it's eyes upon her once more."Your father..."
She just could not form the words.
She didn't need to.
     The nightbird suddenly spread it's massive black wings,and launched itself at Mara.She screamed,and ran backwards,but still felt the caress of the horribly soft feathers on her cheeks as the bird flew over her head,back through the room she'd just came from,and out the door.
Mara was after it like a shot,Tanya hot on her heels.
"Now look what you've done!" Tanya shrieked,racing past her mother and calling for the bird."Wait,bird!"
"Don't you dare!" Mara roared,shoving the girl aside in her panic,and flying round the corner.She saw a flash of black disappear round the next bend in the temple corridor."You stay right here!"
"No," Tanya refused simply.
Mara didn't have time to fight.She had to find Luke.Tanya followed,of course,not willing to let the precious evil she'd unleashed out of her sight.
      Mara skidded to a stop at the junction of two hallways,one leading left,to the war room,and one leading right,to the next row of rooms.
"Which way did it go?" Tanya demanded of her mother,raising a small fist."If you try and kill it-"
"Don't threaten me," Mara advised her."It will kill you without a second thought.If you want to see your ninth birthday,you'll do wise to listen to your mother."
     A deafening shriek suddenly rang out,echoing through the two hallways,unmistakably the cry of the nightbird.Coming from the war room.
    Mara sprinted the last few meters to the room,and burst in,gasping for breath and near tears.
"Bird!" Tanya called,ducking and running underneath Mara's legs.The nightbird barely glanced up from where it sat - and Mara began to scream louder than she could've imagined - by the prone body of Luke Skywalker.The Jedi lay on his stomach in a pool of his own blood,which poured ceaselessly from a wound somewhere on his chest.The ancient Massassi axe that used to hang above the doorway - an artefact found once on a jungle hike - was lying some distance away,it's blade shining dully with drops of fresh plasma.The nightbird was right in the middle of it all,and it gave a squeal of sick triumph before dipping it's beak in the blood to drink.
     "Luke!" Mara howled,and Tanya stood stock still,guilt written all over her beautiful little pixie face.
"Bird,don't do that!" she cried,and worked up the courage to run forward.
Mara was faster.The axe in hand within seconds,she flung herself at the bird.
"Demon! Get out! Do not touch my husband!"
Tears were pouring down her face as she uselessly chased the bird about the room,swinging blindly with the axe.The bird shrieked in terror as it flew,always trying to return to the body."I'm not going to let you kill him!" Mara roared,and with one deft strike,cleaved the bird in two.It fell,motionless,to the ground,one wing twitching only slightly.
      Gasping for breath,Mara ran to her husband,flinging the axe aside.
"Luke," she gasped,desperately wiping at her tears,and smearing blood on her cheeks instead.She could only tell herself that this wasn't happening...her perfect day was not going to be ruined....this was not her husband lying here,dying before hers and her daughter's very eyes.This was not the way it was supposed to happen.
     Gently,she turned him over onto his back,and tilted his chin upwards,opening his mouth so he could get air.He was still breathing,and that alone was enough to give Mara a surge of hope - he wasn't dead yet,and he wasn't going  to die,not if Mara Jade had anything to say about it.
"What happened?" she whispered tearfully,not having any particular desire to know.
Luke opened his eyes,and to her relief,they were still filled with recognition."You won't understand,Mara..." was all he managed.
"I understand that I was out of your sight for twenty festering minutes,and you decide to go and mortally wound yourself?"
He tried to smile."I don't understand it myself.The shadow...and I heard Tanya laughing,and calling..."
Mara looked over her shoulder at the little girl who leaned motionlessly on the doorframe.Tanya made no attempt to show that she noticed or cared.
Luke chuckled."She's exactly like you in every way."
    Shaking her head,Mara pressed her hands over the wound in his chest in a desperate,vain attempt to stop the flow of blood.His heart was beating so fast,too fast,driving his life-fluid from his body.
"Dammit,don't do this.You have to calm down,Luke.You have to."
Through her demands,Mara was slowly becoming capable of thought again,and turned to her daughter once more,getting a better look at the true Tanya Skywalker.
     Tanya was white as a sheet and guilty as sin,still leaning weakly on the doorframe,the axe at her feet.
"Tanya,go get Cilghal," Mara ordered quietly."Tell her there's been an accident."
Tanya didn't move,and Mara thought for a moment that the girl was going to faint.But then,her eyes snapped open wide,and she nodded quickly before running at full tilt down the hall,screaming for Cilghal,Tionne,Leia,anybody...
     "Someone'll come," Mara assured her husband,who was trying to sit up."Don't move," she instructed,but helped him into a half-sitting position anyway,not removing her hands from his wound.There was a long,heart-thumping silence...
    Then,after a time,her husband did something that didn't surprise her so much as it broke her heart-he held out his arms to her for a hug.
And gosh,did she return it.
She held him like every other touch before that had been trivial,struggling against her tears and her incredible,daunting fear,wanting so badly to turn back time about two days,erasing any possible omens she might have missed.
"Why did it have to be you?" she murmured."Does death only come once every thirty years? Why did it have to be you this time?"
She didn't say anything about the double dark deaths of thirty years prior aboard the second Death Star,although both she and Luke were thinking only of that.
"Why does anything happen?" Luke asked her,tugging on a braided strand of her hair." Just ask Cace or Jiro,or Wroben or...or Ilsa...everything happens for a reason."
     Mara could see that even speaking was a struggle for him...but then why did he hide his pain? Neither one was a stranger to pain-they'd inflicted it upon one another enough times...yet they still felt the need to withdraw and hide from emotion.
"The reason is bullshill,Luke.You're my husband,and the father of my children.You want to tell me the reason?"
"I can't," Luke said helplessly,"I told you before,I can't even explain this to myself..."
"Luke,axes don't just fall from the sky to strike people dead because the maker decides it's time for someone to come home," Mara said flatly.
"They do sometimes," Luke muttered.
"This is the thirtieth anniversary of your father's and the Emperor's death...you're telling me it's just an accident?" Mara asked.
"Yes," said Luke simply, and fell silent.His eyes were closed again,and Mara felt a pang of fear that he was dead,but she could still feel his pulse beneath her palms,and hoped against hope that he was just trying to channel the Force...to heal.
"Mara?" he called quietly,after another long pause.
"Hmmm?" Mara asked softly,tightening her arms around him, as if that would somehow keep him from slipping away from her.
"You know how they say that,right before you die,your life flashes before your eyes?"
Those eyes in question were open again,gazing up at her with more fear in them than Mara'd ever observed.
She nodded slowly,wondering where he was going with that.
He managed a beautiful,if half-hearted smile.
"Isn't it strange...how all I see right now is you?"
     Anger flared up in Mara,and in a moment of insanity,she slapped him as hard as she could,full across his pale face.The imprint of her palm seared red on his skin for a moment,before fading away into sickly white again.
"You just shut up," she sneered."Don't you ever talk to me like that.Ever."
Luke looked confused,but his expression asked the only question that was important: "Huh?"
"Don't try to be sweet and romantic with me,you silly bastard,because you're not going to die,stupid," she spat,collapsing in sobs even as she did so,because she knew just what a long shot it was going to be.Cilghal was taking too long...he had lost too much blood already.Mara's hands and clothes were covered in it,warm and bright.
     Luke only sighed in response to that,and laid his head on her chest.Mara shut right up,although a million other horrible things to say flew to her lips.She wanted to make him pay for bringing this hell upon her so quickly,upon everyone,but just cradled him close to her instead. Blame was not the most important thing at that moment.
     A thousand million memories were sifting through her mind like Tatooine sands;among them was one especially painful one - a recollection of a time when she had hated the man she held in her arms now - hated him enough to want to kill him...and he had simply bided his time,waiting for that hatred to cool,smoothing it over until the only thing that remained was the realization that they were supposed to be together.They were one of those success stories you love to hate-they were just perfectly balanced together.She had needed cooling...and he was like ice in her hands.
    "Mara," said Cilghal from behind her,gently tugging Mara away by her shoulders."I'll take over now.Do you want to stay?"
"What?" Mara asked,waking herself from the pain of recollection.Cilghal was stretching Luke out on the floor,laying his head on a pillow.Exactly how much time had passed while she was uselessly thinking? Exactly how many minutes of Luke's life had been wasted?
"Do you want to stay and watch?"
Mara debated this for a moment.There was nothing to debate against staying,so she nodded.
    "Good,"Cilghal murmured grimly."I could use your help anyway.Now,when I say so,I want you to take your hands away from the wound,but not until I say so," Cilghal instructed gently,removing several canvas strips from her healing bag.
She took one in her hands,and carefully pulled it tight over Mara's hand,fixing the edges to Luke's skin.
"Okay...take that one away."
So Mara did so,and the bandage immediately affixed itself to the wound.Simultaneously,a bright red patch blossomed on the surface of it.
Mara pretended not to notice how worried Cilghal looked as she regarded the bandage,and spread another one on top of it.
     The Mon Cal worked methodically,affixing the bandages and instructing Mara to do various things.
Distractedly,Mara reached out for Luke's hand...and to her surprise,he took it in his with a reassuringly strong grip.Mara let a very small smile tug at the corners of her mouth,but it disappeared again after the last bandage was affixed.
     Cilghal sat back on her heels,and closed her bag,blinking her orbicular Mon Calamari eyes solemnly at Mara.
"Now we wait," she said simply.
Mara clutched Luke's hand tightly in hers,knowing that as long as he gripped it back,he was okay.
     He didn't look okay,though.His cheeks and lips were void of all colour,his eyes closed,as if in sleep.His blond hair was dampened with sweat,yet he was trembling as if exposed to the most bitter cold...and when Mara placed her free hand on his forehead,she saw why.
"He's got the fever,hasn't he," she whispered to Cilghal,feeling a terrible hopelessness welling up in her. She knew all too well that once a wound became infected, particularly a wound as large as her husband's, that infection spread quickly. And though Luke's body fought desperately to ward off the invasion of cold metal and sickly flesh, it didn't appear to be winning.
"Had you found him sooner,perhaps there was more I could have done," Cilghal replied sorrowfully."Master Skywalker?" she called softly,turning her attention back to Luke.
"Where's Nathen?" Luke asked,sounding panicky.He did not open his eyes.
"He's here," Mara lied,a tear slipping down her cheek."And Tanya,and me,and we're all praying for you,Luke."
"Who's you?" Luke mumbled,and Mara's eyes opened a little wider.
"You know me!" she said,confused."Mara Jade? Your wife?"
"I don't have a wife," Luke disagreed.
Those words,although fever-driven,hurt Mara worse than the most painful torture.She bent over as if she'd been punched in the stomach.Cilghal shook her head.
"Mara,don't take it personally."
      Mara waited for her to say,"he'll remember you when he wakes up,when he gets better..."
But Cilghal remained silent.
Mara closed her eyes,warding off yet more tears,praying with all her heart and soul for a miracle,for a sign of recognition,for a sign that he'd live...anything...
And yet,nothing at all.
"Please," she begged,thinking suddenly of Tanya and Nathen (Daddeeeeeeeee nooooooo!!)...
"Please...do it for the children? For me?"
     But when her eyes opened,his hand had gone limp in hers.

     Mara managed to make it to the hallway before she doubled over and was sick.Reeling with shock and sorrow,chilled to the soul,overwhelmed with unimaginable grief,she sank down to the floor opposite the war room,shaking with the sobs of one who has lost everything.
With blurred vision,she stared at the soaring stone cieling above her,feeling the breeze drifting through the the open hangar doors,now emptied of ships.
"How can someone so powerful let things like this happen?!" she screamed to the sky,shaking her fists at the roof."Why the hell did he have to leave me here?!"
    Her voice echoed emptily around the hall.Only the soft sniffles of Cilghal issued forth from the war room as she covered the body of her former master.Mara refused to believe that he was gone...the Emperor's prophecies had been fulfilled at last.The son of Skywalker was a Jedi like his father...but thinking about it now,Mara wondered what the hell good it had done him.
"We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of Luke Skywalker," she murmured,wiping savagely at her eyes."A pilot who survived countless battles...a jedi who beat all the odds...a man who got the girl...a father who never ceased to love his children..." she looked up tearfully,feeling a presence besides hers in the hallway.
     It was a presence void of feeling.There was only vacancy,and a vacant stare that could only accompany such a presence on Tanya Lei Skywalker's face.
The girl stepped forth from the growing dusk in the war room,her green eyes dull and flat,her red hair seemingly colourless.She walked ever so slowly towards Mara,stopping what seemed like miles away from her mother...and raised her arms to mid-torso level.
     Draped over her lower arms were the bloodied,torn robes of her gallant father.
Mara met her daughter's eyes,fear flooding her to the tips of her toes.She'd never seen that kind of expression on her sweet little girl's face.It wasn't triumphant,it wasn't heartbroken.It was just....there.Facial features without a purpose or reason.
"Sorry,Mama," the child whispered.
"For what,darling?" Mara asked softly,holding her arms out for a hug from her daughter.
"That he didn't remember you," Tanya replied matter-of-factly.
It was as if she had taken a lightsaber and plunged it straight into the core of Mara's heart.She might've done just that,for the amount of remorse that showed on her face was next to nonexistent.She still did not move.
     There was a breathless pause as mother and daughter faced each other off,and Mara,sick and tired of fighting,finally rose to her feet and ran.

      She was almost to the door of the temple when she collided with Han Solo.His arms were around her in an instant,keeping her upright.
"Mara? Mara! What's happened?"
He really had no need to ask,because suddenly,the temple had taken on the reverent aura of a graveyard.Fear stabbed at his heart.He'd heard the nightbird too.If it had been one of the children,one of his children...
"Who was it?" he whispered hoarsely.
     Suddenly furious,Mara shoved her bloodied hands into his face,and watched with sick,twisted satisfaction as the colour drained from his cheeks.
"You really have to ask?" she howled,and pitched forward into his arms again,wanting so badly to tear herself apart,just to escape her overwhelming grief."Happy festering anniversary,everyone."
"Shavit,Mara...I'm so sorry," Han murmured,hugging her tightly."So sorry..."
She pulled away from him,and punched him hard in the stomach,sending him reeling.
"Everyone's so kreffing sorry!" she shouted,kicking the wall of the corridor."I can feel your pity,dammit,I'm a Jedi!"
"Mara-"
"Everyone's sorry except his own kreffing daughter!"
"Mara-"
"Don't say anything! You have no idea who he was to me! No idea! You didn't see her face," She turned,sobbing hard,back to Han,her fists clenched and raised."He didn't know the difference between night and day when he died! Pity means nothing to him!"
"Mara-"
"He escaped so many times...he saved himself- Dammit,he saved me...from the Emperor,from Thrawn,from myself...and I did nothing - I could only stand there like an idiot and watch-"
"Mara-"
"Just shut up! You don't know...anything...just....damn!" She couldn't manage the words,and collapsed against the wall.
Han wasn't fazed,just shocked.It was happening too fast...
"I'll be damned if I have to take your verbal abuse,Mara Jade.I'm going to find my wife."
He started walking,but felt the weak tug of a hand on his vest.
"Please don't leave," Mara sobbed,"I don't mean a word of it,and you know that."
     Han sighed,put his arms around his sister-in-law,and rocked her back and forth,just letting her cry herself out.He had to shake his head...Tanya was just a child.Mara didn't understand,of course she didn't.Mara Jade had never been a true child.
    When her sobs had quieted to sniffles,he released his hold on her,and looked down into her red-rimmed eyes.
"Better?"
"It's never going to be better," she said,still struggling with her emotion.He knew there was plenty more where that last outburst came from.
Han nodded.
"I know," he said.

     Barely three days had passed before the calls began flooding in to the Academy on Yavin.The word of the death of the greatest Jedi the galaxy had ever known had travelled fast,and hundreds of thousands of people who shared the pain of his family and friends were calling...most just to make sure it just wasn't a terrible lie spun and formulated by a bored and money-hungry media.
    Mara had been brave enough to answer at least a few of the calls,but the caller needed only to hear the weakness in her voice to know that the loss was not a lie,but really a true loss.Their disbelief would be replaced by a weakness of their own.The conversations would be short...the healing would take far longer.
     It was on the evening of the third day that Mara entered the comm room,to find all of the many lines busy as usual,the lights blinking frantically,with all the callers on the other end thinking up their own special condolences,as if somehow their words would make it 'better.'
    Mara didn't know just what it was that made her pick line three in particular.Perhaps it was some kind of Jedi hunch.Perhaps it was Luke letting her know in his own special way that he was doing alright,wherever he was.
But when Mara pressed the flashing button,and murmured,"Hello,Mara Jade speaking," and heard a very young voice call back,"is this the home of Skywalker?" she felt a little glimmer of hope.
"This is," she replied."Who is this?"
There was a pause,and the tinny little voice came back,"my name is Luke,Ms.Jade...My mom told me it would be nice to offer my condolences to the family of the man I was named after."
Mara leaned over the speaker,speechless.
"You were named after my husband?"
"Yeah!" the boy said enthusiastically."He saved my mother's life once...and she never forgot that.She called him 'the Walker of the Sky'.He's been my hero ever since I could think!"
Mara's eyes welled up with inexplicable tears."How old are you?"
"I'm nine,ma'am."
"Oh," Mara whispered."It's very nice of you to have called."
"I figure it's the least we can do.We're forever in Skywalker's debt."
"Not that it matters now," Mara murmured."Where are you from?"
"I'm a twi'lek,but my mom and me live on Coruscant now."
"I see."
     There was a long silence,as each person considered just what their words meant to the other.
"Why did your mother call him the Walker of the Sky? I mean,besides his name?"
"Because he did just unbelievable things!" the young Luke exclaimed."He could fight rancors with his bare hands,and he was amazing with a lightsaber,and he always cheated death!"
Mara smiled half-heartedly,and let a soft chuckle escape.
"No,not always."
"Yeah..." the boy said sympathetically,as if remembering the reason he was calling."But the point is,he was always the good guy...and when he was around,good always won."
"It always will," Mara corrected him."As long as there's people like you to protect his memory.Don't you ever lose that awe you have.Everyone needs a hero...you're lucky to have found out about yours so early on."
"I'm confused," the boy admitted.
"It took me too long to realize what kind of a person he was,young man.And by the time I did,it was too late."
"It's never too late,Ms.Jade."
"That's Mrs.Walker of the Sky to you,kid," Mara chuckled,and although she knew he couldn't see it,she winked."Thank you for calling....Luke."

     She ended the connection,and sank into her chair,breathing deeply to clear the tight feeling in her throat that warned of the onset of tears.
That feeling evaporated when she felt the presence she had grown almost accustomed to in the past three days.
    Tanya stepped into the room,her arms crossed over her chest,looking at the floor.
"Tanya? Are you feeling alright?" Mara asked,alarmed.The presence almost seemed...upset.
Tanya pointed at the comm unit with a small,trembling finger.
"That boy you were talking to...he seemed very,very nice,Mama," she said timidly,and approached Mara so tentatively,it was like a flower opening up for the first time in spring.
     Mara reached out a hand to her daughter,unwilling to let her slip away again.She tilted Tanya's chin upwards with her fingers so that the girl's eyes met her own.To Mara's insatiable,incredible relief,they were filled with tears for the first time in three days.
"I miss my daddy,Mama," Tanya whispered,and climbed onto Mara's lap."And I'm sorry for what I did."
     Mara held her tightly,not quite believing that her daughter had opened up...but Tanya opened up,and mother and daughter simply cried out their pain,weeping and weeping until there was nothing left to feel sorry for,and nothing left to forgive.
Tanya carried a great weight on her shoulders,Mara understood,and always would carry that weight until she found someone else to place the burden on.
     But perhaps they could both carry on,because somewhere in the galaxy,a little boy named Luke kept his faith and pride in his hero...and somewhere else,a man named Luke was walking the sky.