Mara yawned and stretched, and opened her eyes. It was mid-morning on Yavin 4; the sun was still down, but orange light was flooding the room from Yavin itself. Luke was spooning into her back, one arm around her waist. Mara smiled and snuggled deeper into his embrace. Ordinarily, he would have been long gone, planning the day's lessons in his office. Not anymore. In the week since their relationship crisis, Luke and Mara had been spending much more time together. They'd spend a (relatively) lazy morning until 0730 or so, then eat breakfast together. They'd spend the day training; Mara split her time between instructing the younger initiates and learning alongside the more advanced apprentices. Then they had dinner together, and after dinner... came dessert. Mara chuckled to herself. After two days of furious lovemaking, they'd found that the sex was less important than just being together as a couple, sitting, talking about anything but the Jedi. In fact, they hadn't had sex in three days, and Mara was fine, no craving.
Of course, I wouldn't mind if Luke is in the mood tonight.
"You wouldn't, would you?" Mara startled as Luke murmured into her ear. He lowered his head and nibbled at the side of her neck. His beard tickled; Mara squealed and squirmed away. Her legs tangled in the bedclothes and she flopped awkwardly off the bed, hitting the floor with an undignified thump.
Mara kicked free and scrambled to her feet, hair in disarray, glaring at Luke as he laughed. "That's it! Now
I'm
not in the mood."
Luke shook his head, smirking. "That's too bad. Leia asked if you could come over today."
"What?" Mara blinked. "I thought I wasn't supposed to..."
"Leia suggested that while you made amends to me, you still need to... apologize... to the other people you lied to." Luke grinned. "You don't have to go if you don't want to, but if you choose, you have my permission."
Mara smiled broadly. "Well, I can't argue with that. I did everyone wrong, not just you, and I should ask forgiveness."
Luke raised up in bed and kissed her. "Off you go. Leia's in the hangar, with Han and Chewie aboard the
Falcon
. I'll see you for dinner."
Mara pulled on a bodysuit-she didn't bother with underwear-and headed for the lift. It dropped to the lowest level of the temple, the hangar bay where Luke had once launched against the Death Star. It was fairly empty these days: a squadron of X-wings in case the academy came under attack, a few of the Jedi's own ships, a handful of speeders... and one very familiar old freighter. Mara smiled and headed for the
Falcon
.
Han was waiting at the bottom of the boarding ramp. He wore a very slight grin. "Hey, Mara. Been a while."
Mara gave him a peck on the cheek, but let her hand linger on his chest. "Leia and Chewie are inside?"
He nodded, then frowned. "Fair warning, Leia's been in a nasty mood ever since she found out about you and Luke." He cocked his head. "Now, I'm not saying I have a bad feeling about this, but there's still time to back out if you want. I'm just telling you, this could get... intense."
Mara's eyes flared. "I like intense."
"I warned you," Han chuckled. "They're waiting in the cargo hold."
"The cargo hold..." Mara blinked, then followed Han into the ship. They headed aft, along the curving corridor to the large open compartment at the back of the ship. Chewbacca was leaning against the wall just outside the hold; he jerked his head in greeting. Mara stepped inside and caught her breath.
Leia looked like an evil queen.
She was dressed all in black, in a style popular more than fifty years earlier. On her forehead, she wore an enameled black circlet which dipped to a wicked point between her eyes. Her hair hung in a single long braid to the small of her back. A flat silver chain hung close around her neck. Leia's ample bosom was further enhanced by a fitted leather bustier. Her arms were encased in opera gloves, the fingertips sewn into clawlike points. A floor-length skirt of sheer black silk revealed tantalizing flashes of her shapely legs, and she wore high-heeled sandals with straps winding all the way up her calves. Hanging from her belt was a coiled whip. Not a crop, or a flogger, or even a cane; it was three meters of supple braided leather, tapering to a vicious tip which, with enough force, could cut to the bone. Her brown eyes, normally kind and warm, were hard, cold, and cruel. Mara swallowed hard.
"Welcome, Mara." Leia's voice was soft, but steely. "So, you're here today to apologize to Han, to Chewie, and to me for deceiving us and cheating on Luke." She crossed her arms. "You may have reconciled with him, but my brother is
much
more forgiving than I am." Her eyes flicked to Han and Chewie. "Tie her up."
Han and Chewie took Mara by the arms and marched her into the middle of the room. It was clearly set up for "play." The hold was mostly empty, except for a few crates, several foam pads and a couple of folded blankets, usually used to protect delicate cargo. The ceiling held a cargo crane on rails, and the walls and floor were covered with padeyes to secure loose cargo. Han tossed Chewie a couple of freight tie-downs, then grabbed the controller for the
Falcon
's cargo crane and lowered the claw. Chewie knotted the straps around each of Mara's wrists and tied them off to the claw about a meter apart, then tore her bodysuit off like it was paper. Han raised the claw until Mara was pulled on tiptoe. She stretched, taking as much weight off her arms as possible.
Leia locked eyes with Mara and closed in, step by step. "You have no idea what you did to Luke. I've only seen him hurting that badly once before: the day he lost his hand and learned Vader was his father. You used us for your pleasure, without caring how much pain you caused." She grabbed Mara's face, fingers digging into her cheeks. "Well, now
we're