[ she sets the autopilot and sits back in the seat. she works her jaw for a minute, finding the words.

calm doesn't come. energy hums around her like an open wire. she turns finally to look at mara again. ]

If you wanted more than business, you shouldn't have waited for me to come find you. You shouldn't have waited until it was business that brought us together. The world was coming apart, and you left! Both of you!

[ it's not entirely fair, perhaps, to hold luke's crimes against mara, but in this context they are surely shared. it's not easier because mara thought she was protecting her. it's not easier at all. the extenuating circumstances do not change the life that she lived, alone.

she gathers herself up and stands. ]

I didn't come looking for a mother. [ she stopped looking for that a while ago. ] I came for answers. For a teacher.