As she approached the Jedi temple, Vestara paused behind a small rock formation twenty metres away from the temple in order to steady her nerves, knowing that this part of her plan to join the Jedi order was potentially risky, and could easily be misconstrued as an attack. Finally gathering her nerves, she stepped out from behind the formation, and walked towards the temple, exaggeratedly drawing her saber as she did so.

The gate guards, four senior apprentices, reacted instantly, indicating the presence of a clearly defined drill, where one dove into the small guard hut, shutting and locking the door in the process, and the other three drew their sabers and ignited them.

Vestara, for her part, stood still, and then threw her unlit saber by the blade emitter, sending it cartwheeling through the desert planet's air to land at the feet of the three guards standing outside. She then shed her outer robe, before removing her utility belt and placing it on the ground, all the time holding it by the buckles, to exaggerate the fact she was unarmed. Finally, she was signalled to approach with her hands on her head, her saber having been passed inside the guard hut, and did so.

When she reached the hut, one of the guards told her to "place both hands on the wall, Vestara." Once she had complied, two guards stepped towards her from the side, a buzzing directly behind her indicating one still had his saber drawn, and then Vestara almost collapsed as a fist was driven into her right kidney.

As she tried to stay standing, her hands were ripped from the wall and twisted behind her back, before being cuffed there in a stack position, with her left arm level with the small of her back, and her right arm nearly between her shoulder blades.

Her captors then dragged her inside the temple grounds, before a blow to the back of her head left her knocked out.

~0~

Like all Jedi knights, Ben served a rotation on the temple security desk, and, predictably, he was the man behind the cameras as Vestara made her dramatic appearance. As he watched the arrest proceedings, Ben winced at the unnecessary brutality, and made a note to have the puncher reprimanded by his father. "Temple security to gate detail," he commed.
"Temple security, gate detail, go ahead."
"Prisoner is not enemy combatant, repeat, not enemy combatant. Brutality not required, bring her to me for interview over." He instructed them.
"Understood, temple security. Gate detail out."

Ben sat back at his desk, momentarily, before wandering what force had compelled Vestara to return.

Ord Mantell, 44.7 ABY

As she sipped a cocktail, Jaina marvelled the just how smooth and clean the beach sand was in this part of the planet. She and her husband of two weeks, Jagged Fel had decided to hire a small island on the planet to get away from a mixture of scandal brokers, holotabloid harassment, and several bounty hunters Jag had had sent after him by enemies he had made as chief of state.

As she turned over, she realised just how long it had been, in some way, and how short a time in others, since Jaina had been a sixteen year-old squadron leader in her first serious relationship, and Jag had been the new pilot, from a different culture, she had fallen in love with. The fact that she was also a Jedi, not yet knighted, had meant little to either of them. It was their combined belief in doing their duties which had temporarily driven them apart. The Swarm War had opened the gap further, before it was driven closed by the second galactic civil war.

Abruptly, a high pitched whine tore her from the reflective trance she had fallen into, and after a second, she realised what it was. "TIEs incoming!" she yelled to Jag, as she Force pushed him towards a small cave. She stood her ground, summoning her saber to hand as the first TIE let a volley lose towards her.

Coruscant, Shalto Heights apartment complex, 44.7 ABY

It was like she had never left, Tahiri decided, as she relaxed in a warm bath, having just finished a set of saber cadences intended to keep her battle ready. The recent war, and prior to that, a sentence of execution, had taken their toll on both her spirit and mind, and the ability to relax in a grass floored apartment, with no other being in sight was…. Abruptly, her train of thought was broken by the sound of her door chimes being activated. Swearing to herself, she slowly clambered from her bath as the chime sounded again, seemingly more insistent, and, with a simple over the head dress on, went to answer the door.

With her quickly summoned lightsaber in the palm of her hand, she reached out with the force. What the Force told her, however, was impossible. All of a sudden, the emotions of over a half lifetime without her soul-mate came crashing down, and as she opened the door, and saw through it that well remembered form, who seemed to be the same age relative to her as he had always been, she collapsed into the arms of Anakin Solo.

He held her for one of those infinite moments, before kissing her tenderly on the top of her head, and helping her inside, depositing her on her couch, and then disappearing into the kitchen, returning with a large cup of tea for her.

"Here you go, Tahiri. Drink this." He murmured, he voice deeper and closer to his fathers than before. "I have no idea how this happened. I thought I was dead since Myrkr, the same as you did. It felt like I was dragged out of the Force back into tangibility by someone who wanted their life to mean something, and was willing to give their body in exchange for peace."

"Dab Hantaq. He was in love with me, Jaina said"

"And he was willing to die so I might live again. Brave guy."

"Anakin, can you still…"

"Use the force? I think so, even without anger to power it."

"I would still love you if you were unable to use the force, Anakin."

"And I love you too, Tahiri. Shall we?"

"Yes." She told him, before he used the Force to remove her dress.