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Another bland hallway, illuminated by the archaeologists' motion lights and girded by the ubiquitous metal ribs, this one stretching a little over 20 meters before another set of stairs disappeared up and to the left. Apparently harmless. Alee didn't believe it for a nanosecond. She crouched and began tapping her teeth as she puzzled over a slight convex curvature to the floor. She stood. Completely unadorned walls. Here, the flat ceiling was etched with stripes running the width of the corridor. She glared at the lines, as if staring long enough and hard enough would reveal the secrets harbored there.
Gently tapping her shoulder, Luke raised his eyebrows questioningly. Alee shrugged and they moved forward, lightsabers in hand. The Force continued to negate the effects of the poison in her system, and Alee was able to walk with only a slight limp, reminiscent of sitting in a cramped position for far too long. Though, overall, she did feel a little like a Gand had used her as a punching bag.
At the halfway mark, a loud clank and hint of movement from above sent the Jedi jumping to the side to press themselves against opposite walls. Large chunks of ceiling crashed down around them, sending shards flying everywhere. Dust choked off air and visibility. Alee bent over, coughing, and held her sleeve against her mouth and nose.
She reached out her senses, located Luke in the haze, and stumbled over several large pieces of rock to find him leaning against the wall, massaging his weapon hand.
"Are you okay?" she asked, trying to spit the chalky taste out of her mouth.
"A chunk got my hand. Sent my lightsaber flying," he replied.
Alee could sense Luke searching the area through the Force. She joined him, creating a hologram of the hallway in her mind as she investigated shapes in her hunt for an oblong tube indicative of lightsabers. She sensed the weapon two meters back, and scrambled over a meter-high rock barrier to retrieve it. Climbing back over the rock, she paused and ran her hand over the smooth surface, frowning at the uniform rounded shape that blocked almost the whole width of the hallway, and seemed like a pillar that had been sliced vertically and allowed to fall, flat side down.
Pressing the lightsaber into Luke's hand, Alee moved forward cautiously, with Luke a few steps behind. Every two meters they came to another inverted half pillar. Five of the odd barriers brought them to the bottom of the stairs. Alee looked back. The dust was beginning to settle and was hovering beneath her chin as gravity pulled it down, particle by particle. She studied the ceiling with wide-eyed amusement and felt Luke's eyes turn from her face to follow her gaze.
After a moment he chuckled. "Those rocks were once molten puddles."
Alee smiled as she stared at the evenly-spaced inverted troughs now exposed in the ceiling. "Yes. Puddles that would've poured down on our heads if they hadn't solidified."
"Finally," muttered Luke. "Something that didn't work after 2000 years."
"Yes, well. We aren't there yet, are we?"
"Are you always so cheerful?"
Alee smiled grimly and waved her hand. "Heroes first."
Luke eyed her for a moment, then turned to the stairs. He touched a toe to the first step. Nothing happened. He kicked it. Nothing. He stepped onto it. Nothing. Testing each stair, Luke advanced slower than a Bothan negotiates a treaty.
Alee's agitation rose with every step up, jittery expectation skittering along her nerves. She wanted to push him, tell him to run and get it over with. The silence was drumming into her ears and pounding her inner voice of calm into space dust. Her muscles clenched with each shuffle, each eye blink, each breath. The air grew Tatooine-dry, parched and oppressive. A shiver crawled over her skin. It was like entering a crypt, ripe with the smell of death - not the moldering, oozing, rotting kind, but a mummified death, ancient and brooding.
They reached the top step without incident, yet Alee found each breath to be a conscious act, inhale calm, exhale tension. Luke suddenly swung around to face her, and she found her lightsaber in her hand, her finger frozen on the switch. She clamped her eyes closed and concentrated on centering herself, but a dark curtain hung between her and the Force. Despair lapped at her thoughts. She opened her eyes and locked on Luke's blue gaze.
"You feel it, don't you?" she whispered.
He nodded. "Just push past it. I told you it makes things indistinct. This lingering aura is throwing up a smokescreen. When you understand what it is, how it feels, then you realize the Dark Side has no power over you except what you allow it. Reach for the light."
A memory popped into Alee's mind and brought a smile, tugging at her lips. "Yoda taught that there can be no doubt in battle. He said, 'Belief, there must be. Belief, in the Force. Reach for it, you will.'"
Luke glanced down, then back at her face. "He was right, but not all battles are fought with a lightsaber. Some must be won in your mind."
Chagrin painted her cheeks with a warm brush and she clipped her weapon to her belt. "You are right, of course. Yoda chose well in making you his replacement."
Luke shrugged as he turned his attention down the hallway. "A choice is easily made when there is only one candidate."
Softly Alee replied, "The Force chose you, Luke Skywalker. Believe in that."
Without warning, the darkness suffocating her mind melted away and the Force flooded in, bringing, in its wake, a tranquillity that suffused her whole being. Though the impression of entering a place of death remained, it ceased to overwhelm her, as the Force created a sphere of protection around her mind.
Alee joined Luke in studying their last gauntlet. A plain black door stood at the end of 15 meters of alabaster walls that were completely unmarked, not even by any metal ribs. She sent a suspicious glance upwards, but the ceiling was similarly unadorned. Alee narrowed her eyes. Things that appear too good to be true ...
Luke mirrored her thoughts. "This scene is selling innocence. Do you buy it?"
"No. What do you suggest?" she returned.
"I don't know. Maybe we should just run. Fast," he suggested.
At her nod, Luke sprinted down the corridor. Alee took off after him. They weren't quite halfway when the left wall collapsed on top of them. Both Jedi dove forward and to the right, skidding across the polished floor. Alee's head bumped Luke's boots at the same instant the wall thundered to a stop and wedged itself against the right wall a mere 20 centimeters above their heads.
Spasms clutched Alee's left shoulder, as it protested being hammered by the falling wall. Alee forced herself to stay relaxed and let the pain flow through her to dissipate harmlessly.
"Are you okay?" Luke's voice was tinged with pain.
"To absorb a blow is to begin to recover from it," Alee replied in muffled tones.
"I guess that means we are both recovering."
Luke's boots moved a centimeter away from Alee, and then another, as he worked his way down the cramped triangular survival bubble the wall had afforded them. Alee craned her neck to see past him, then under her arm to look back. Near as she could tell, from the dim light at either end, the whole wall had come down on them in one huge slab.
She wiggled her right arm free and reached out, searching for a grip. When the smooth floor gave none, she slapped her palm against the surface to try and create suction. Pushing with her slightly bent left leg and pulling with her extended arm gained her a few centimeters before the suction broke with a soft popping sound. She repeated the procedure. Very soon the only sounds in the tunnel were tight breathing and the odd muttered oath. Alee strained to keep moving. Her arm shook and her foot began to slip. She drew on the Force and kept going, her existence reduced to the next centimeter. And the next.
The sound almost didn't register. And when it did she thought the hissing was simply a variation of the ringing that sometimes filled her ears when she became overtired. The muzziness cloaking her brain didn't lift until Luke's voice penetrated it with a calmly spoken, "Gas."
Alee moaned. She took several short breaths, then filled her lungs with stale air. A new urgency boiled through her veins, and she pushed forward, headless of screaming muscles and anvil-forged cramps. Mist enveloped her, clinging to her skin and stinging her nostrils. Her eyes watered in a vain attempt to douse the flames scorching them. Still she struggled forward.
The slab above weighed heavily in her mind, pressing down, crushing and suffocating. Her thoughts cried out for oxygen. Alee quashed the idea with the knowledge that a Jedi could hold his breath for a very long time. Still the thought niggled and she had to stifle the reflexive desire to inhale. She focused on moving. Just moving. Not breathing. They had to be close to the end. Move. Don't breathe. Just move.
Blackness washed the shores of her mind and Alee sandbagged it with the Force. She couldn't let the void win. If she did, she'd breathe - and die. Still the blackness ate away at her rampart and remembering to creep forward became more difficult. She started to drift and shook herself awake with the realization that she hadn't moved for a moment. Maybe two. She pressed on. She had to be close. Her eyes hurt too much to open them and check. Push and pull. Tense the muscles. Push and pull. Focus on this moment. On this ...
A hand grabbed her wrist and skidded her out of the passageway. A door slammed. Dry air tickled her lips and sprang open her locked jaw. Alee greedily rasped oxygen into her starving lungs. When they no longer clambered for air, she flopped onto her back and pried her eyes open. She blinked repeatedly, trying to clear the burning filter that reduced everything to red silhouettes. After a moment the silhouettes faded to grey, then finally began to be repainted in their true colors. Luke's face floated above hers, his blue gaze filled with concern.
Alee cleared her throat and croaked, "You sure know how to show a girl a good time, Skywalker."
A smile crinkled out from his eyes. "A Jedi always seeks to serve."
Wry amusement tugged at one corner of her mouth. Her eyes shifted from his face to the ceiling. It was a white dome topped by a large elaborately carved medallion with a web of black metal strips fanning out from its center, giving Alee the impression she had entered the lair of a large and nasty predator.
"We're here," she whispered.
"Where they found the orb? Yes. But it's picked as clean as the rest of the building," Luke said.
"Yes, well. Scavenger is part of an archaeologist's job description, isn't it?"
Alee tried to sit and her body seized up. She grabbed the Force to fend off the pain steamrolling over her, and choked off the groan forming in her throat. Luke slipped his arm under her back and levered her to a sitting position.
"I feel the same way," he said. "Better get up and move around before you petrify."
He helped Alee to her feet and leaned her against the door. She watched him circle the room and noted he was favoring his left leg. Scanning the room confirmed what Luke had said, that there was little to see, except the dig team's lighting array. The metal strips stretched from ceiling to floor in what seemed to be the inside of half a sphere that spanned roughly six meters. The web pattern of metal strips was repeated on the floor. Four evenly-spaced casements, opposite the door, indicated windows had once looked out onto the valley, though now the only view they offered was the smooth sandstone that iced the whole structure. A narrow marble table sprouted from the center of the floor and a ten-centimeter pedestal branched up from the center of the table, with the whole unit appearing to be one piece set deep into the floor. Even the most resourceful scavengers would have a difficult time moving that piece of furniture.
"You couldn't hide a microchip in this room," Luke commented, "never mind a journal."
"We have to be missing something," Alee replied.
Alee straightened up and forced herself to begin a slow walk around the room. Every few steps another ache added its voice to the cacophony resounding in her head. Individual hurts, that by themselves would seem inconsequential, melded together to make her feel as if she'd just walked away from a spectacular pod-racing crash. The Force eddied and flowed around her, soothing her aches and quieting her mind.
As Alee began a second turn around the perimeter, she became more attuned to the nuances in the room, the subtle friction between Light and Dark, the malevolent aura that clung to the surfaces like bantha fodder to new boots. This was where the transformation had occurred; she could feel the pain and terror and determination echoing through the centuries. Alee stood in front of the table with her back to the windows. She sensed she was standing exactly where the unknown Jedi had given his life to protect others from the thing he had created. Her gaze fell to the floor. It was the only spot in the room that appeared to be dusty. Alee shuddered. The archaeologists had scatted his ashes without even realizing what they were.
Laying her hands on the table, Alee could feel Luke's thoughtful gaze on her as he leaned against the wall to her right. She ignored him and concentrated on the feel of the marble beneath her fingers, cool and sleek and unyielding. She froze. A stirring in the Force. A whisper. Someone's coming. The Council's envoys. The room faded to a ghostly relic seen through a dark glass - a table cluttered with scientific paraphernalia, books cramming shelves and overflowing into piles on the floor, and pale sunshine throwing the shadow of a man over it all. A man reaching out through the Force. A chunk of wall shifting, sliding out of sight. A room.
Alee's eyes flew open and she stared blankly while she slowed her breathing back to normal. It was what she'd hoped would happen, but it had passed through her like death sweeping through an epidemic-ridden city, its frigid wake striking indiscriminately and numbing random bits of her mind. She looked down to see her hands quivering, then caught Luke's curious gaze.
"A memory?" he whispered.
Alee nodded. Her voice was wispy. "A room. Straight ahead. A Force-triggered mechanism up high." She closed her eyes for a moment. "2.5 meters up, where two strips of metal meet."
Luke moved to the other side of the table and stood, back to Alee, searching. She was relieved to let him do that while the Force thawed the icy trails snaking through her brain. Several minutes later a clunk pulled her attention to the surface they were facing. A two-meter high piece of wall, nestled between two of the metal strips, was now recessed. With a faint whir, it slid to the left, out of sight.
A gaping black hole beckoned.
"The draigon's lair," Alee muttered. "Or is it his mouth?"
Luke stood at the threshold of the hidden door and peered into the yawning darkness.
"The archaeologists never found this room," he commented. "If we were gamblers, I'd have to say this is our lucky day."
"That's what it's felt like so far," Alee replied.
"But we found his private quarters. Untouched. Doesn't that make everything we've been through worth it?"
"Who said we're through everything?" Alee exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry, Luke. The day started with me watching the vaporization of one of the few family members I've ever met, and it hasn't improved much from that point. I'm feeling very ... drained."
Luke narrowed his eyes. "It's more than that. The memory you just received was extremely upsetting for some reason, wasn't it?"
Alee suppressed a shiver. "It was like a frozen skeleton thrashed through my mind, snacking on chunks as it went."
His expression turned grim. "The Dark Side. I'm afraid other memories you might receive concerning this Jedi will be similarly tainted. Maybe you should wait here. I'll find his journal, if he had one, and we'll get out of here."
"No." Alee took a cleansing breath. "You know any memories the Force might give me in there could be valuable clues. My revulsion is irrelevant."
"Stop being such a hero, Alee," Luke chided gently.
She arched one eyebrow and pinned him with a glare. "Lead on, Skywalker."
"Into the dark?" he asked with a small smile. "Why don't we borrow the bank of motion lights in this room? At least then we'll be able to see what we're stepping in."
Glancing down at the dusting of ancient ashes on her boot, Alee quickly moved to grab one end of the portable lighting unit. She kept her head down as they maneuvered the lighting into position in the middle of the floor. The air, arid, its vitality long gone, constrained her senses and deposited a fetid coating in her throat. When Luke pronounced himself satisfied with the placement, she turned inward momentarily, to dip into her center of calm, before looking up.
Alee stood a meter inside the door, in a large room carved out of sandstone. She looked clockwise around the room, taking in a table and chairs, a huge bed, a closet, a doorway, a desk and enormous bookshelves. The normalcy of the scene tinged her mind with relief.
While Luke headed for the desk, Alee turned to the shelves of books lining the wall to her right and started skimming titles, running her finger down the odd spine. She noted her findings to Luke. Books on everything from astronomy to physics to historical treatises to cultural studies. The collection of a man thirsting after knowledge. Nothing untitled that might indicate a journal or workbook.
Her eyes slid past the bookcase to a tapestry hanging between it and the desk. A dark warrior holding his double-bladed lightsaber high in victory, while his foot rested on his slain foe - another Jedi, clad in brown, lightsaber extinguished. The red of the lightsaber was mirrored in the pool shimmering around the defeated warrior's head like a scarlet halo.
She shivered and swung left to examine the table. Made of black marble, like all the furnishings in the room, it was round with four low-backed chairs tucked around it. One place setting waited patiently for its owner to come claim its 2000-year-old meal. Alee peered in the top of a glass rimmed with a white powder and wrinkled her nose, even though any odor had long since dissipated. Shrivelled brown lumps were piled on the plate. Alee turned away with the realization she had never eaten breakfast. Or anything else, for that matter.
The table was situated in front of what used to be a large window set in a rounded corner. A few meters beyond, another casement broke the smooth expanse of light brown wall. Alee's eyes drifted past the blank rectangle to the bed abutting it. It was massive with four marble posts reaching upwards like square stalagmites to come within centimeters of the ceiling. A sheer curtain of black shimmersilk hung from a frame mounted in the ceiling to outline the perimeter of the bed and brush the floor, the gossamer fabric fluttering with the slightest air current. Thoughts of this Jedi sleeping there, dreaming there, flitted through Alee's head. What did he dream of? Slaying other Jedi? Cold gusted through her mind and she skirted around the bed, almost tripping over the bank of lights. She caught Luke's curious gaze and promptly avoided it to focus on the wall of closets looming before her.
Luke joined her and stared at the shelves and lockers crammed with books, clothing, and various other odds and ends. It presented a myriad of hiding places. Alee stepped forward to begin searching, but Luke's hand on her arm stopped her.
"Before we tackle this, come look at what's behind these storage compartments," he said.
Alee turned away from the closets with a shrug, and followed Luke through the doorway sandwiched between the closets and desk. She stopped short. Only one light managed to throw its beams into the room, casting large shadows on the opposite wall. A corner hutch and computer console dominated the far right corner, and glassed-in cabinets filled with scientific instruments and supplies lined the far wall. Alee barely registered those details, her attention focused instead on two large weapon-like machines pointed at a pedestal cowering between them. Situated on tripod stands, they had cylindrical ends with spherical centers and conical heads that tapered to an opening only millimeters wide. Alee surmised they would focus some sort of beam on whatever was placed on the pedestal. Instruments of destruction, or creation?
The Force pulled the suddenly reluctant Jedi forward. With each step, air was harder to draw into her lungs, and the sound of her struggle filled her ears. Alee halted a meter from the pedestal, her feet fusing to the floor. She looked down to see a pool of monochromatic, ethereal blood spreading out from her feet. Panic hemmed her senses. Didn't Luke see it? Didn't ... A cry split the air and blackness slammed into Alee, swallowing her mind.
Alee snapped awake with a noisy gasping in of air, as if she'd ceased breathing for a time and her body only now remembered she needed to continue doing so. She stared unblinking at the patch of ceiling directly above her, wondering why it was such a small ceiling and why she was surrounded by faint black walls. The floor beneath her shifted. A soft floor, not at all like stone. More like ... a bed. The weight of a hand rested on her shoulder and Alee turned her head to meet Luke's gaze.
"Welcome back," he said.
Alee frowned and cleared her throat. "How long have I been gone?"
He ran his fingers through his hair. "A little over four hours."
"What?" She started to sit up and fell back. "That means it must be ..."
"Close to 6 p.m., Coruscant standard time. With the shorter local day, it's later here. Should be getting dark outside."
Alee felt piqued. "You don't seem too concerned."
"I've had a very productive time while you snoozed," Luke replied.
Alee pushed her self to a sitting position and leaned against the cold marble headboard. "You found the journal."
"Yes, I did." Luke smiled. "It took me an hour, though. As soon as I realized that your circuits were fried and you'd be down for repairs for some time, I moved you to the bed. And there it was. Just laying on the covers. Black on black, so I almost missed it."
"You left me on the floor for an hour?" Alee's tone was accusing.
"I kept thinking you'd wake up any minute." He gave her a sheepish grin.
She returned a bland look. "And? What did you find out?"
"You first," Luke shot back. "What kind of memory sends you reeling into a short hibernation trance?"
What was the memory? She closed her eyes to concentrate and it hurled itself into her mind's eye with a ferociousness that made her gasp.
A cry. Agony slashing across wrists.
"Hold still, foolish apprentice. You know we need this blood to bathe the orb."
"Yes, Master." Lifeforce running in rivulets. "It hurts."
A sneer. "Pain sanctifies."
"Yes, Master."
"Are you ready?" A knife point pressing into the neck, pricking the skin.
A nod. Fear constricting the muscles.
"Do you remember what to do?"
Heart pounding. Bursting. A nod.
"You must maintain awareness to the very end, my dark acolyte."
A nod. Lifeforce trickling down the knife's blade.
"As your body dies, you transfer your essence into the core of the orb. Understood?"
A whispered plea. "Is there no other way?"
"None. It must be so. Dark blood and dark essence."
Knife sinking a micron deeper.
"Be proud. Your sacrifice will bring the Council to its knees."
"Yes, Master." Lungs heaving. Limbs shaking. Glowing eyes. Flashing hand.
"Father!..."
Alee was hugging her knees to stop herself from trembling as she related the memory to Luke. She swallowed the bile gushing up her throat. Luke gently took one of her hands and turned it over, running his fingers over her wrist. Her eyes jerked up to meet his. To the silent question simmering in pools of blue, she signalled 'yes', she had felt that boy's pain. Dropping her gaze to her wrist, she was vaguely surprised to see it unmarked. The scars were all in her mind.
"No wonder you blacked out," whispered Luke. "We have to get out of here. Now."
"But what did you find out?" Alee asked.
"Nothing that makes sense of this. But I didn't get far. I'll take the journal."
Luke stared through the shimmering black curtains to the room where the orb had been discovered. Alee sensed him reaching through the Force. A moment later the door slid out of hiding and back into position with a quiet thunk. He stood and held out his hand. As he pulled Alee to her feet, the shimmersilk brushed across her skin like a shroud. Shadows pressed in on her senses and vile hatred tainted the air, frosting it with malice. Fixating on staying connected to the Light in order to quash the looming Dark, Alee let Luke usher her back into the laboratory. He led her to the far left corner, giving wide berth to the ominous pair of devices dominating the room. She looked at Luke, confusion furrowing her brow.
"I found a back door," Luke explained.
He turned and uncovered a hidden panel, triggering the switch. A portion of wall retracted, exposing a narrow set of stairs curving to the right and down. Alee started to follow him, then came to a standstill. Needles of venomous rancour pricked the base of her skull, seeking to penetrate her Force-enhanced defenses. That final wail reverberated through her mind.
Alee spun, igniting her lightsaber. She sliced the cone off one device, then the other. A horizontal arc of blue dismembered the body of the second instrument, fusing its circuitry into a mass of melted components. Another slash destroyed the first device. With a cry that vented her frustration, Alee kicked out and toppled the pedestal. She powered down her blade and took a deep breath, expelling the anger that had tinged her actions, and turned away from the destruction. Luke leaned against the doorjamb, his arms crossed and his expression skeptical.
"Was that really necessary?" he asked.
She pushed past him. "Yes. For my peace of mind. There is no justice in this tomb."
Hunkering behind a boulder, they probed the pitch-black night with the Force. Alee could still feel the brooding aura of the ruin, reaching out to snare her mind. The Dark Side always seemed to have more power when sheathed in its own element.
Their retreat from the building was a blur. Thundering down two flights of stairs into a debris-ridden room. Luke resealing the hidden door they had stumbled through. Registering a broken staircase leading up, and a collapsed wall leading out. Having to stifle a cry of relief at the fresh air swirling around them.
"Our friends are still guarding the pass," Luke whispered. "They probably have infrared scanners. I don't think either of us is mentally prepared for a battle. Do we go around, or through?"
"We've had several hours to recover, physically at least. Let's run. We'll be halfway through before they know we're there," Alee replied.
"Halfway hasn't been our lucky distance today," Luke muttered.
Alee stood. "Come on, hero. What's a little more pain? It's all been worth it. Remember?"
Luke joined her. "You should know, ... hero."
They immersed themselves in the Force and exploded from their hiding place like proton torpedoes. Alee in front, they skimmed over the ground, the Force guiding their feet and lighting their path. The gorge walls sprang up, flanking their senses and towering over them, invisible in the inky darkness.
Faint shouts reached their ears. Blaster shots and thermal detonators lit the path, far behind the Jedi. A wave of heat touched Alee's heels as an explosion rocked the ground nearby. She flipped through the air and kept going, Luke's presence pushing her to greater speed. Then they were out of the gorge, rushing down the slope toward the blue haven glimmering in the night.
A pacing Captain Innis met them at the gate, demanding to know what was going on. He halted momentarily to take in the dishevelled state of the two Jedi facing him, then continued pacing as Luke told him of the attempted ambush. The captain barked out an order and a squad doubled-timed out of the shadows to snap to attention behind him.
"We'll take care of this," Innis said, narrowing his eyes. "You two get cleaned up. I'll expect a report from you when I return."
Alee watched the squad disappear into the night with the captain in the lead. After a sentry resealed the forcefield gate, she glanced askance at Luke.
"Did you sign us up for a tour of duty with this unit?" she asked.
Luke pulled the journal from inside his tunic. "No. The good captain is just very ..."
"By-the-book?"
"Oh, yes. It's a good thing for us that the rules of interrogation are very detailed, and that I was able to convince him we were exempt, on the grounds we answer only to General Cracken. I'm sure he'll remember that before he gets back." He paused. "But getting cleaned up sounds like good advice."
"In other words, he cooperated with us this morning because of inter-governmental regulations, not because of your pretty face?"
Tucking the black volume under his arm, Luke gave her a crooked smile and walked away. Alee rolled her eyes and jogged to catch up with him. They crossed the compound in silence.
"I want to check on Shanni," Alee said, veering toward the Besarcs' hut. Luke trailed behind her.
With a soft knock, she pushed open the door and slipped inside. Dim light spilled out of the open refresher unit and across the young woman who was curled up on the tiny couch, asleep. Alee had glided to the foot of the couch before the girl she'd left to care for Shanni blinked awake and sat up to stare groggily at the two intruders.
A howl of rage jerked Alee around to face a flurry of flailing arms and legs erupting from a bedroom. Shanni fell on her, kicking and hitting and yelling. Alee dropped to her knees and covered her face, accepting the blows, the anger, the hurt that was raining down on her. She winced each time the bullet wound on her shoulder was knocked. She cringed every time the accusation of desertion was hurled at her. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" The blows diminished and the hurting words died away as Alee's lack of response sank into the little girl's consciousness.
When silence and calm settled on Alee's shoulders, she let her hands fall into her lap and looked into the grief-stricken face of the child, now motionless except for her heaving chest and eyes that shimmered like bright green leaves after a spring rain.
Shanni's gaze roamed over Alee's tattered form, flicked to Luke, who remained by the door, and back to the Jedi kneeling before her. In a small voice she said, "You're hurt."
Alee's reply was soft, "You can't believe I would have left without a really, really good reason, can you, Shanni? I love you, child. I would never cause you pain intentionally."
Shanni sniffed loudly and wiped her nose with the back of her hand as she absorbed this idea.
"Where were you?" Her words wobbled.
"We had to see if we could find a way to destroy that orb," Alee replied.
"Did you?"
"We hope so," the Jedi whispered.
She eased to her feet, noting that the young woman had disappeared. She sent a helpless glance in Luke's direction and received an encouraging smile in return. When she offered to stay, the child latched onto her hand and dragged her toward the bedroom. Alee heard a whispered, "Good night," from behind her as the door closed with a quiet click.
Later, after a quick dip under the refresher's tepid spray,
Alee lay on a narrow bed, with her arm draped over the tiny body
nestled against her, and cocooned Shanni and herself in the Force,
letting soothing waves wash over both of them. Aches and pains
gradually ebbed away as she listened to the shallow breathing
of the sleeping child. She rested her cheek against the tangle
of sweet-smelling hair and let the tranquil void lay claim to
her battered body.
