Mara stood motionless, her saber arcing before her. The droid brought her to her senses as it finally spluttered and died, lurching drunkenly to the floor.

'Great'. Now she'd 'killed' her last droid and they weren't exactly cheap. A live opponent might have been preferable, but the way she was feeling the preferred opponent might not have lived long enough to make it worth her while. 'That man' had a lot to answer for. Mara kicked the blackened metal, her mouth firming and her green eyes snapping with unreleased fury. The vanquished droid hissed impotently and she turned away, her red-gold braid swinging wildly behind her, ignoring its final death throes.

It had only been a couple of months previously but they'd had an argument of sorts. Nothing new there, Mara thought disgustedly. Luke had mentioned the subject of her Jedi training again. He never forgot to bring up the issue when they were together. She'd come to expect it, but at that time Mara had just not been in the mood and had refused to discuss it point blank. The ease they usually shared was awkward with strange new tensions Mara declined to contemplate.

Luke had tried to be reasonable, but in the end had given up and vanished stiffly from her apartment, his blue eyes strangely blank.

Mara left the next day on a few trading runs in the core systems. They were the most profitable and helped to banish the Jedi from her mind. He would call - it was only a matter of time. He usually did - his cheerful face would appear on her viewer suggesting exercises for her to try. He wouldn't mention the tiff and she would come round. Luke somehow managed to charm her from her sulk without using the Force.

However, Luke Skywalker was no longer the impetuous, reckless youth he'd once been. He was a man now and as such had learned to bide his time. They'd been friends for such a long time, Luke and Mara, but they could still, and did, argue fiercely. She, the aggressor - he the pacifier. It was comforting in a twisted way to have someone close enough to argue with knowing that they would still be there for you in a crisis. There had always been this connection between them – even from the very first moment they had met. The reserved, gentle man had become different with the beautiful, fiery trader. He was more open, fun loving and passionate about the things he believed in, but only with her. It was then that Mara saw another kind of man, one she'd begun to unknowingly care very deeply about. Mara had come to rely on him more than she knew. But this time, there was no call. 'He's sulking because 'I'm right and he knows it.'

Mara had stormed back to Coruscant, green eyes hard, barely keeping her infamous temper in check. She'd contacted him to arrange a lightsaber practice session and met him in a small gym near Luke's empty, lonely, flashy Coruscant apartment. Luke had tutored her patiently with Mara sniping at him verbally in return. The training exercise had been more antagonistic on both their parts, Mara becoming careless in her anger, until with a decisive thrust, Luke easily won the encounter. Emotionlessly he'd closed his saber down with more of a snap than usual and fixed it to his belt. "Something's gnawing away at that temper of yours, Jade. What is it?"

"You usually get in touch."

"Why, so you could point out all my faults as you've been doing lately?" He tried to hold on to his own calm. "If I annoy you so much, why do you bother?"

"You're imagining things. You always call."

"I was busy."

"Oh." The little word crept out and sat pathetically between them.

"I have a life, although you don't seem to acknowledge that fact. You may not want to join the Jedi, Mara but it is my mission to return them to the galaxy."

"That's harsh…" Mara's voice stalled. Unsure of what to do she glared at him.

Luke cleared his throat briskly. "I've only booked for a couple of hours. We'd better do some more work."

He was keeping something from her. She didn't know how or why she knew – but he was. Perhaps it was the way he shifted from one foot to the other not meeting her eyes and with his barriers firmly in place. She'd once found him so easy to read. Her mood darkened sourly. She didn't want to read him she told herself, ignoring the little voice which laughed at her.

Mara closed her hand tightly over her own weapon glad to have its reassuring weight. Assuming a classic posture she flashed him a defiant look from keen green eyes. "Continue."

Luke's saber flew from belt to hand and matched her position. They maintained that stance for a moment before Mara attacked. Luke smiled grimly as the sabers buzzed and clashed. The classic thrust and parry of their practice was not unlike the struggle for equality and balance in their relationship.

Luke shut down his saber and the only sound was their tortured breathing. They'd been fighting vigorously for well over two hours. The unresolved 'something' just simmering between them. Luke wrapped a towel round his glistening shoulders. The famous blue eyes darkly alive with turbulent emotions.

"What is it, Jade? There's more here than just a missed holo-message."

"You always assume something is wrong, Jedi Master." She shot defiantly back. "I could ask you the same thing."

He raised an eyebrow in a manner he'd perfected indicating disbelief. "I'm quite calm. You on the other hand…"

"I can be as boring as you, Skywalker. I'm fine."

Luke recited the little list he'd been keeping in his head. "You've a lot of stuff whirling round your head at the moment, Jade. You're tense, angry and frustrated."

"You would know about that then, Skywalker." She gibed nastily. "The frustration part?"

Luke removed the towel from his neck, attached his saber to his belt and picked up the casual jacket he'd been wearing. There was no reasoning with her and he'd had enough of being her whipping boy. "I have to go," he said stiffly.

"More people to scout the galaxy for?"

As soon as the words had left her mouth, Mara knew she'd said the wrong thing. What had Luke done to her that was so terrible that she could belittle him and be intentionally cruel. There was no getting away from it. She was being thoroughly horrible and she'd hurt her best friend.

A flicker of hastily concealed pain screamed briefly in her mind then fell silent. "I…"

The Jedi Master stood solemnly, not Luke or even Skywalker, but the Jedi.

"You could be right. Goodbye, Mara," the words sounded so formal. Then he hesitated on the threshold as if he was going to ask her something.

Mara retreated, bringing up her mental barriers and backing away a few steps, appalled at her own behaviour and Luke thought she'd retreated from him. Deeply hurt although unsure why. He built his brick walls around himself and offered her his oddly formal little bow. Mara remembered Leia once telling her how she'd had to coach Luke and Han in formal diplomatic etiquette for the Bakuran Treaty. Leia had laughed softly, remembering, her brown eyes shining at a treasured memory. "Luke did it beautifully, but Han always bordered on insolent.

The door hissed shut. Mara jerked her head towards where Luke had been, but he'd gone. Mara was alone and felt her isolation keenly.

Three days she called his apartment but received no answer. Three days she'd sent apologetic messages through the Force to him. Three days she even went to sit outside his apartment at weird times waiting for him to show up, all to no avail. Finally, inevitably, Mara caved in and contacted his sister.

"Mara! You're not…?"

Mara frowned at Leia Organa Solo on the vid-screen. She would swear on the grave of Darth Vader that Leia hadn't expected to see her. "I wondered if Luke had contacted you recently? He is still on Coruscant?"

The former Princess of Alderaan shook her head. "Luke's gone off planet. I thought he was going to ask you to go with him. He muttered that it was something the Intel boys wanted information on. You know that Luke can get in and out of these places easier than a fully trained commando squad. But he was going to ask you to go with him." She smiled. "Just as back up. Han was rather put out," Leia confided, not noticing that there was no answering smile on Mara's face.