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With a steaming cup of half-caf in one hand and her data pad in the other, Mara stepped away from the cooking niche and walked the four steps that took her to the couch all the way on the other side of the apartment. The place might not have been any more spacious than the room she’d been held prisoner in less than a month prior, but the absence of a guard droid outside sure made it more homey. Well, if one had a broad enough definition of ‘homey’, it did. Mara certainly had; casting her thoughts back over the various smugglers she’d worked for, and the Emperor before that, she couldn’t think of anywhere she’d lived that would fit a civilian’s definition of hominess. A room with a soft bed, food and drinks that didn’t taste like they’d sat in a ship’s hold for years and then been reconstituted more-or-less badly, and no guards outside the door was about as good as it got.
Although the absence of a guard meant that she could come and go as she pleased and choose whether to accept visitors, she hadn’t had much opportunity to do either. She had little reason to go anywhere, since Karrde and his people had left and the New Republic had yet to warm up to her. And for the same reason, she’d had few visitors. Actually, only one visitor so far—Skywalker had dropped in twice this week. Both times he’d inquired whether she wanted practice with her new lightsaber (Answer: yes, but not with him, so no) and made small talk about how nice her apartment was, and was she comfortable (Answer: Skywalker, your attempts at deviousness still leave a lot to be desired). He hadn’t gotten around to resuming their discussion of her next steps as smuggler liaison for the New Republic, but presumably he’d broach the subject eventually.
The question was whether he’d get around to it before the time she hoped to leave, or if she’d need to give him a push. With Imperial City so chilly toward former Emperor’s Hands (even the one now on their side), Mara didn’t want to stick around any longer than she had to. She needed to rest up for another week or two, but as soon as possible she’d be off to meet Karrde, and then this smuggler-liaison thing would begin in earnest. Talking to Karrde and whatever smugglers he’d managed to ally with, coming back to Imperial City to tell the New Republic what they were up to and find out what the New Republic’s requests were, back to the smugglers to deliver those requests, and back ad infinitum or until something happened to throw a hydrospanner in Skywalker’s and Karrde’s nicely constructed plan. Mara gave it six months tops.
But until then, there was a great deal of research and planning that needed to take place. Mara brought her notes file up on the data pad, and prepared to spend her morning dealing with both of the above.
Only a few minutes later, a knock on the door abruptly pulled her thoughts away from an analysis of Par’tah’s trustworthiness. Throwing down her data pad, Mara focused her thoughts on the presence outside the door, although it wasn’t hard to guess who it was. Skywalker needed to learn to take a hint. When a girl said she didn’t want to practice sparring, she—except it wasn’t Skywalker. Mara didn’t bother to focus further and figure out who it was. That would waste valuable time that she needed to prepare to deal with the unexpected threat.
Mara grabbed her lightsaber from where she’d left it on the end table. She might be out of practice, but a lot of people could be scared off if you just waved a lightsaber around enough. She realized she was still holding her half-caf in her other hand, which was just as well; it would make a convenient projectile weapon. Ready for anything, she threw open the door—and came face to face with Councilor Organa Solo.
Organa Solo was smiling benignly, although Mara supposed that could mean anything. Regardless, she hoped the Councilor hadn’t noticed her battle stance. As discreetly as she could, Mara hooked the lightsaber back on her hip, following the movement up with a sip of half-caf. It was far from the most suave or subtle she’d ever been, but she was sure Organa Solo would be too polite to comment. “Come in,” Mara said. “Would you like a cup of half-caf? I have some already made.”
“Yes, thank you,” Organa Solo said, following her into the meager apartment. Her eyes drifted to the lightsaber at Mara’s hip. Mara ignored the direction of her glance and headed for the cooking niche to fetch a cup. “I’m glad you let Luke give you that lightsaber,” Organa Solo added.
Of all the possible conversation topics Organa Solo could have chosen, this was not one Mara preferred. Mara didn’t know why Organa Solo had come or what she wanted from her, and she would rather not wait any longer than necessary to find out. But instead, she carefully stirred sugar into the half-caf as she replied to the loaded comment. “I don’t know what else he was supposed to do with an extra,” she said lightly, “so I thought I might as well take it off his hands.” She handed Organa Solo the cup and took another sip of her own drink. “I suppose he might have tried to imitate the showier Jedi of old and wield two sabers at once, but I’m not really sure what he could accomplish waving two around that he doesn’t get done just fine with one.”
Organa Solo’s lips curved above the edge of the cup. “I’m glad to see it go to someone deserving, and I’m sure Luke is as well.”
“Right,” Mara said. “So are you here on business or is this a social call?”
“Social,” Organa Solo said. “We’re having a dinner party tomorrow evening and I wanted to invite you.”
“That’s nice,” Mara said. She couldn’t think of any reason not to accept. “I’ll be there.” She supposed she could have paused longer and made a show of considering her other social commitments, but then the other woman knew as well as she herself did that she had no other social commitments, so there would have been no point.
Organa Solo made the usual polite noises of acknowledgement. She had finished her cup of half-caf, so Mara took it from her and put both cups back in the cooking niche to wash later.
“So, what exactly is the purpose of this invitation?” Mara asked, turning back from the niche.
“The purpose?”
“The purpose. Are you asking me to do a favor for you, to spy on or schmooze with one of the other guests that you can’t spy or schmooze yourself? Or do you just want me to make an appearance so that everybody there knows I’m back in the good graces of the New Republic?”
Her guest was shaking her head. “It’s not like that at all. Actually, perhaps I shouldn’t have called it a dinner party at all. It’s just a small family dinner, me and Han and Luke. And Winter and the twins, of course. And our Noghri guards will be present, and the droids if you count them. But still, it’s basically just family.”
That almost made things worse. Mara was beginning to regret accepting the invitation so quickly. “Just because I don’t want quite so badly to kill your brother anymore, doesn’t mean you need to be best friends with me now. I’m probably not even going to be around much longer; this liaison job’s going to have me hopping all over the galaxy soon.”
“We took out a Dark Jedi together,” Organa Solo said. “That may not make us best friends, but I think it catapults us past mere acquaintanceship.”
She sounded like she really meant it. “I suppose you’re right,” Mara agreed.
“Then you’ll still come to dinner? I won’t be offended if you want to withdraw your acceptance, since I hadn’t fully explained what you were agreeing to.”
Mara shook her head. “I’d quite like to come. Thank you for asking me.”
As Organa Solo left after giving Mara the necessary details on when and where to show up the next day, Mara stared pensively out the door after her. Did this mean they were friends now? They were something, at least, even if Mara didn’t want to use the word “friendship” yet. Though she supposed she could think of worse things than having Leia Organa Solo for a friend.
Regardless, it was a long time till dinnertime tomorrow, and it wouldn’t do to waste that time wondering about possibilities that would become clearer tomorrow. Mara returned to the couch and her data pad. She had smugglers to analyze.