Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 01_ Onslaught - Michael A. Stackpole [41]
He knew that desire was kind of silly, but he thought it was fun and hoped Mara would, as well. The purpose of their trip to Dantooine was to let her recover her strength on a world where technology and civilization had not overwhelmed nature. The native Dantari were a simple people, traveling along the coasts in nomadic tribes with little more than primitive tools. Anakin felt fairly certain that if any of the Dantari had seen Admiral Daala’s attack on a colony established when Anakin was barely a year old, they’d have put it down to a war between gods.
Given that the Imperials sent AT-AT walkers against unarmed colonists, whom the Dantari probably saw as intruders, it wouldn’t surprise me to find the Dantari wearing emblems that remind them of the walkers or the Imperial crests emblazoned on the machines. That thought sent a shiver down his spine. The New Republic’s battle with the Empire had reached its final conclusion six years earlier, but Anakin knew there were people who still harbored some positive feelings for the Empire. And some, like the Dantari, who might do so innocently.
He took one last look at the campsite and frowned. Back beyond his tent he’d stacked the various equipment crates and cases. He’d lined them all up straight, but one had slipped out of alignment. Anakin reached out with the Force and nudged it back into place, then smiled.
“Anakin, don’t do that.”
He whirled and saw Mara, looking pale, leaning heavily against a rock that stood near the path back to the ship. The jacket she wore was buttoned all the way up to the throat, despite the day’s warmth. He steadied her using the Force, then slid a camp chair toward her. “You should have told me you wanted to come up here. I would have gotten you.”
Her brows furrowed, and he felt resistance to the Force. The camp chair tipped and tumbled toward her, then bounced away as if it had hit an invisible wall. Mara staggered toward it, bent down slowly, and turned it upright again. She rested her hands on the rear posts. Her red-gold hair slid down over her shoulders to curtain the sides of her face.
Her green eyes blazed with a strength that the weakness in her body mocked. “If I had wanted help, Anakin, I would have asked for it.”
His head came up at the chilly tone in her voice, then he swallowed hard and glanced down at the ground. “I’m sorry. I should have remembered that from when we were landing. You didn’t need my help.”
Mara sighed, then slowly lowered herself into the chair. Her head lolled back for a moment, then she looked at him. “Don’t compound things that have nothing to do with each other. I didn’t want you landing the Jade Sabre because I wanted to do it.”
The youth’s blue eyes narrowed. “It was a tricky landing. You didn’t trust me to do it. You didn’t want me to destroy your ship.”
Mara pursed her lips for a moment. “Given that our ship is the only way off this rock, I didn’t want it damaged, no.” Her expression softened a bit. “And the ship is special to me. Your uncle Luke gave me the Jade Sabre to replace Jade’s Fire.”
“But you crashed Jade’s Fire on purpose. You meant to.”
“I did, and had good reason to do that, but that doesn’t mean . . .” Mara paused for a moment as her voice sank to a dry whisper. She swallowed, then glanced down at the ground. “Your uncle Luke understood how much the ship meant to me. He knew what it meant to me. He respected what I had done in sacrificing the Fire. He had the Sabre made for me to thank me.”
Anakin felt his stomach tighten. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Mara shrugged her shoulders. “I tend to hold tightly to painful experiences