Following the battle in the banquet hall, the bodies of the male attackers were promptly incinerated in the Fountain Palace's furnace in the lower levels. The bodies of the guests who died during the battle, on the other hand, were taken by their escorts who had waited outside the Palace for the duration of Allana's birthday party. Needless to say, none of those escorts were happy that they had to bring their charges back to whatever city on Hapes or whichever planet in the Consortium that each of the guests hailed from.

But that wasn't what mattered right now to Han and Leia as they sat in the two guest seats of their granddaughter's luxurious bedroom. Across from them was Allana herself, who averted her gaze from her grandparents as she sat on the edge of her bed.

"Allana, are you okay?" Leia asked out of concern.

"I'm fine, Grandma," Allana replied, still not looking at either of her grandparents in the eye. "And I don't wanna talk about what happened tonight."

"Look, c'mon, kid, your grandma and your aunt are worried," Han chipped in. "I mean, what you did to that man-"

"It's what I had to do," Allana said, her eyes still elsewhere. "And I don't see Aunt Jaina around here, if she's so worried."

"We don't need Aunt Jaina's help," Leia explained. "She knows that your grandpa and I can talk you through this ourselves."

"Talk me through what?" Allana asked. Still, her eyes were focused on the wall off to the side.

"You didn't have to kill that man, especially not the way you did," Leia said. "Your mom could've handled him. You were supposed to stay out of sight for your own safety."

"Is that it?" Allana asked, her gaze finally focused in on her grandmother.

Leia shook her head. "Allana, your mother, Aunt Jaina, and I, we... Well, we felt something from you when you killed that man."

"Well, then, why didn't you just say so?" Allana asked impatiently.

Han and Leia exchanged confused looks before conveying that sustained glance on their granddaughter. "You're not going to ask what it was that we felt?" Leia asked.

"I know what I felt better than you do," Allana said with a more assertive tone.

Both Solo adults were taken aback by their grandchild's attitude. But Leia recovered first as she took on the diplomatic tone that she typically reserved for stubborn political opponents.

"Allana," she said, "we're worried because we felt the dark side coming from-"

"You. Don't. Know. What. I. Felt," Allana interrupted and emphasized. Her tone was so even and yet so aggressive at the same time that it was terrifying to find in the mannerisms of a little girl.

Again, Han and Leia were struck silent. But before either of them could say anything, Leia and Allana perked up, and Han could see that they were feeling something through the Force.

"What is it?" he asked his wife.

"Tenel Ka," was all she said.

The three of them then made a beeline for the door to head to the throne room, where Tenel Ka currently was.

.

Tenel Ka could very well see an influx of assassination attempts on her life, she thought. At least she could predict who might be responsible this time as she looked over her datapad in her throne room. She would have to make apology letters to the families of each of the dead guests; not that it would curb the attempts on her life at all, but as Queen Mother, it was one of the duties that she had to see through, especially since she had invited the Duchas and nobles who were now deceased.

The Queen Mother readied herself for the first apology letter, her datapad placed on her lap as she sat in her throne, when her 'pad's screen suddenly received static. After a few seconds, the static increased until the blank word document that she was to write the letter on faded completely to be replaced by total blackness. The blackness lasted for all of two seconds before that, too, was replaced by a dark, silhouetted figure - his/her features obscured by the shadow cast by the video feed - against a contrasting light blue background.

"Your Majesty," the figure said. The voice was given a filter to mask the stranger's identity so that Tenel Ka could only hear a deep bass voice that she knew - even with her limited knowledge of communication filters - was not part of the speaker's natural vocals. "I am surprised that you and your daughter survived the attack that my men had brought upon." The figure shook his/her head, as if he/she was in disappointment. "And to think that Flerand could take you on. Flerand was the male with the lightwhip who I assigned to fight you, in case you didn't figure that out."

"Who are you?" Tenel Ka asked tersely. "How and why are you contacting me?"

"I am the leader of the Free Men, Milady," the figure replied, with a mocking tone at the title that he ascribed to Tenel Ka. "How I am contacting you is of no concern to you. But why is.

"You see, you know as well as I do, along with every Hapan worth his or her salt, that ever since the foundation of the Consortium, women have been ruling over men with an iron fist throughout the Transitory Mists. We men have been treated unfairly as second-class citizens for thousands of years, as if we were nothing more than beasts of burden to be enslaved instead of sentient beings with the rights that every sentient being deserves. This has been occurring even as the rest of the galaxy - at least the mainstream galactic society - had long accepted male-female equality for thousands of years now.

"So tell me, Your Majesty..." His tone spat acid at her title. "Why then, throughout the entirety of your reign so far, have you not yet remedied the sexism and misandry that all of your ancestors had gladly propagated? You know, as well as I do, that men can be better than this. We can do as well as any Hapan woman in any profession, any academic, that is available to the Consortium! We can be doctors, we can be soldiers, we can be lawyers, we can be all these things, if you only give us the chance!

"But no, you haven't done any of that. Instead, even as you've worked with men before, knowing full well their own capabilities, you still hold up this matriarchy as a symbol for all that is good in the Hapes Consortium! You and every other Ducha across the sixty-three worlds of your precious tyranny deny us the rights that we deserve, as any being deserves, not just you women!

"So, tell me, why we shouldn't be as equal to you in every way possible?"

Tenel Ka was rendered speechless for a moment. For the longest time, ever since she took the throne, she never once gave thought to male equality, even after all her times with men like Zekk, Lowie, Tesar, Anakin, and...

Jacen.

She shoved her initial thoughts away to get back to the time at hand. "Well, for one thing," she said in as diplomatic a tone as she could muster under the circumstance, "an assassination attempt on the Hapan royal bloodline is not a reasonable course of action to convince one of your ideals."

"You left us no choice!" the figure argued. "Women like you, Ducha Lorangal on Andalia, and all the other Duchas I know won't listen to us! If you're not going to let us have our say in what goes on in the Consortium, if you're not going to let us put our own efforts and initiatives into what happens in our Consortium, and its relations to the rest of the galaxy, why shouldn't we try to kill you? Why shouldn't we try to depose this government of its oppressive matriarchy? Why shouldn't we let this become a democracy for all to have a say in the Consortium's affairs? Huh? HUH?!"

Tenel Ka didn't bother to acknowledge that argument. "Whoever you are, you will be found, you will be caught, and you will be executed for your treasonous attempts to assassinate the royal bloodline. Do you understand that?"

"I understand that you will fall, and so will your disgusting matriarchy," the figure replied, his tone full of bile and loathing. "Just as slavery has been overthrown, so, too, will this government run exclusively by one sex meet its end." At that, the image of the mysterious figure disappeared to be replaced by the blank word document again.

Tenel Ka took a moment to compose herself before she did anything more. When that moment ended, her danger sense spiked, and she instinctively threw the datapad forward. Once it was several meters away, she erected a Force-shield in time to protect herself from the explosion that not only destroyed the 'pad, but which was also powerful enough to destroy the throne room's door up ahead.

As soon as the explosion passed, two guards rushed in through the smoke that now encompassed half of the throne room. They both had their blasters brandished and their expressions worried.

"Your Majesty!" one of them called. "Are you alright?"

Tenel Ka nodded absently as she stood up from her throne to leave. "I am unharmed. I shall retire to my quarters for the night. But I will need a new datapad in the morning." As she passed them, she added, "And someone to clean up this room."

Just like that, she off to her bedroom, with her thoughts on nothing more than the simple act of returning to her bedchambers for what she hoped would be a good night's sleep.

Because, right now, she didn't want to think about anything else for tonight.

Halfway to her bedroom, she was met up by her daughter and the Solos.

"Tenel Ka!" Leia announced urgently. "Are you-"

The Queen Mother raised a hand to halt the older woman. "I am fine, Leia. It was merely another assassination attempt." She acted as if it was as common as the cancellation of a diplomatic function; then again, in the Hapes Consortium, it might as well have been as common for the government's ruler. She then looked down upon her daughter. "Allana, you are well, I assume?"

"As well as I was when you first asked me after the battle, Mom," Allana answered evenly.

While Han and Leia looked at their sole grandchild with obvious concern, Tenel Ka took what her only child said at face value. "Good," she said before looking back up to the elder Solos. "I will be in my bedroom if you need me. Have a good night, all of you." She proceeded to walk past the three of them.

Han stopped her by gently grabbing onto the shoulder that still had a full arm on it. "Tenel Ka, what's wrong? You seem more rattled than usual from an assassination attempt."

"Leia would know better than you," Tenel Ka said in a more forceful tone than she intended. "She could read my Force-presence." Too late, the Queen Mother realized what was wrong with that statement.

The older woman shook her head with worry. "That's the thing, I can't sense anything from you right now. You're shielding your emotions from me."

Deciding that the only way to save face now was to not even acknowledge Leia's statement, Tenel Ka outright ignored her and returned her attention to the only man in the quartet. "As I have said, Han," Tenel Ka said as calmly as she could as she shrugged herself out of his grasp, "I am fine. Good night." She turned and resumed her pace for her quarters without anymore fuss.

.

"You should listen to her when she tells you to leave her alone," Allana said to her grandparents as soon as her mother disappeared down the hallway. When Han and Leia turned to look down at her in consternation, the Chume'da continued with, "She is the Queen Mother, you know."

Leia crossed her arms. "And I suppose we should listen to you because you're the Chume'da?"

Allana shrugged nonchalantly. "Something like that."

Leia opened her mouth to say something, only to find herself flabbergasted when she saw Han turn around to head to his and his wife's guest bedchamber. "Where are you going?" she asked her husband as she followed along, incidentally forgetting about her granddaughter in the process.

"To get a good night's sleep, like Tenel Ka said," Han replied.

"What, you're actually listening to Allana?" Leia asked.

"No," Han emphasized even though he didn't slow down in his progress for the bedroom. "To Tenel Ka."

"So we're just going to let this hang?" Leia asked.

"Yes," Han answered.

Leia stopped in her tracks for a moment before she shook her head and resumed her pace for her husband. She eventually caught up with him, and by then, they had left Allana far behind. Leia soon stood in front of Han and stopped him.

"Han, we have to resolve this," Leia insisted.

"Don't you see, Leia?" Han asked. "We're not gonna get anywhere tonight. Allana's not ready to talk about it, so we'll sit this one out for now."

Leia bared her teeth. "Jacen was never ready to talk about it, and look how that turned out."

Han's expression dropped into that of renewed grief. He and Leia had tried to get through to Jacen in the early days of the Second Civil War, and it still hurt him every time he thought about it that his older son had to be put down, since he was beyond reason as Darth Caedus.

Leia stepped back and shook her head in the realization of what she just said. "I'm sorry, Han, I didn't mean that. It's just that-"

Han held up a hand to silence her. "Leia. Allana never went through the same things Jacen went through. She'll be fine." He would have kicked himself for how uncertain his tone was, given how it reflected too much of what he felt. It was bad enough that his wife had the Force; it was even worse that she could read past his best sabacc face any day of the week. And this wasn't his best today.

Leia shook her head. "If you felt what Jaina and I felt, you wouldn't bother to kid yourself."

Han looked at his wife in confusion. "Didn't Tenel Ka sense Allana's darkness, too?"

"I wouldn't trust Tenel Ka right now," Leia said. "You saw how she just brushed Allana off like that, like nothing was wrong."

"Yeah, that's true," Han admitted. "But what can we do about Allana?"

Leia sighed. "I don't know. I just don't know. Maybe you're right. We won't get anywhere tonight. Let's go."

Han nodded and followed his wife back to their bedroom.