“Oh, yes, you do, Luke,” she said softly “And I can come back later.”
“I don’t understand it,” he said. “But I get to hold her one last time, and I wondered if I ever would. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
He couldn’t see Cilghal’s face now. His eyes were hot and brimming. She patted his arm.
“You thought she would become discorporeal,” she said.
“We talked about it once or twice. I thought she might choose that when the time came. I’m glad she changed her mind.”
“She certainly made sure we had evidence.” Cilghal paused for a second, inhaled sharply, and started again. “It was poison, one I’ve never seen before. But don’t doubt that she also wanted you to be able to say good-bye.”
Cilghal turned and hurried out.
Luke couldn’t speak or even look away from Mara, and he spent a long time staring into her face. If her eyes had opened, and she’d asked how long she’d overslept, he wouldn’t have been surprised. He lifted the sheet to clasp her left hand, and it was just the chill that made him flinch. After a while the skin felt warm from the heat of his own body.
Cilghal needed forensic evidence for the record. But Lumiya had killed Mara, and Lumiya had paid the price. There was no investigation to follow.
Yet that meant there was no need for Mara to remain now, and Luke was torn between wanting never to take his eyes from her and recalling how Yoda became one with the Force: then he might really see her again. But he understood so little of those elements of mysticism. Right then, he was grateful to settle for watching her.
“You really did want to see me, didn’t you?” he whispered, and leaned over to kiss her. He wondered if she would vanish in the next instant. He didn’t dare look away, and knew that it was only stopping him from accepting that she was gone. Even when he felt Ben walking toward the compartment, and heard him walk softly across the deck, he didn’t turn around. He reached out his left arm so Ben would walk up to him and accept the embrace while Luke watched over Mara.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he said to her. “It’s Ben.”
“I’m sorry you couldn’t find me, Dad,” he said. “I just had to go to her and be there.”
It was the first time Luke had spoken to Ben since before Mara had left: it felt like the first time in ages, in fact. Luke tried to think about what it must have been like for Ben to stand guard over his mother’s body, alone and scared, but he was still too mired in his own grief and shock.
“Dad … I know she’s telling us something. I’ve been thinking about it all the way back.”
Poor kid. Luke didn’t quite understand what he meant, but they could talk it through later. He was proud of his son’s strength and dignity. Ben could take the other news, too. He did a man’s job now.
“Anyway, I got Lumiya.”
“Yeah?” Ben sounded surprised. “What do you mean, got?”
“I killed her. I won’t dress it up. I owed it to Mara to give her justice.”
Ben was totally silent. Luke felt a small disturbance around him and his muscles stiffened.
“Dad …”
“I know, legal process and all that, but legal process … Lumiya said she had to … well, a life for a life. That’s all.”
“Dad … Dad, it wasn’t Lumiya.”
“It was. She said
What exactly had Lumiya said?
“No, no, it can’t be, because I was right next to her at the moment Mom died, nowhere near the scene. We’d landed on Kavan, both of us. She was still in the Sith sphere.”
Luke heard Ben’s voice from a long way away, and everything was upended again.
It wasn’t her. It wasn’t Lumiya.
“Dad, take it easy, okay? We’ll find who did it.” Ben grabbed his shoulders. “Dad, that’s why Mom stayed. She stayed so we could find evidence. We don’t know who did it yet. Forget about Lumiya. You just got to her firstI was going after her before Mom died. You did the galaxy a necessary service.”
No, he hadn’t. Luke didn’t feel he had done that at all. He’d killed Lumiyaevil as she wasfor something she hadn’t done. That wasn’t justice.
Luke found himself sinking to his knees. “I killed the wrong”
“Sith.”
“I killed the wrong person. But she said”
Ben put his hands on either side of his father’s face, suddenly years older than Luke. “Look at me, Dad. It’s not good to do this here. Let’s talk elsewhere.”
“Ben …”
“What about all the other people she killed and had killed? She’s not worth your anguish, Dad. Save your tears for Mom, ‘cos I will.”