Chapter 6

"Your Majesty - is it true you've found your consort?"

"Is it true Ben Skywalker has been rescued from Gallinore, your Majesty?"

"Your Majesty - what do you have to say about-"

"Do you have anything to add to the accusation-"

"That. Is. Enough." Allana looked across the gathered holo reporters, her expression hard and unforgiving. She'd stood in the center of the maelstrom for as long as she was able listening to the ugly rumors being thrown her way and their need for confirmation. She'd withstood it stoically - to react would have given them fodder - but the last comment about accusations turned her stomach.

Ben had left her saying he would see her later. How much later, she didn't know, but the official announcement of his recovery couldn't be postponed. Not with the rumor that she'd been in her office with him - and kissing no less! - already flying around the palace. Her discussion with Ben had eaten into her morning and thrown off her equilibrium.

Thankfully, it hadn't mattered.

The moment she'd left her office, her station had enshrouded her like a cloak, her confidence returning as she'd been observed by her people. The second she'd stepped out of the Palace to meet the media, all of her doubts had slipped into the back of her mind. Everything she'd learned in the last four years, everything she'd had to become to deal with them effectively, came to the forefront.

Addressing them now, her gaze was as hard as the snow capped peaks of Braldazinbar, no doubt or weakness was visible. If they thought her weak, her rule would be cut short. "We are not here to answer your questions - we are here to give you information. The rumors that have escaped the Palace are true. Ben Skywalker has been surrendered to Prince Consort Zekk and returned to the Palace."

The reporters shouted an intelligible mess of questions, unable to hold back their enthusiasm.

Allana waited patiently, going so far as to look beyond them to the eager citizens who ringed the area eagerly. Her image was being broadcast live, and Allana knew the look would not go unnoticed. Several children waved as her head turned in their direction, and she went so far as to incline her head. Her inattention to the reporters didn't go unnoticed either and they quieted when they realized she was paying them no attention.

Allana didn't turn her attention back to them until there had been silence for a full thirty seconds. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak once more and not one dared interrupt.

"Ben Skywalker has been returned to us and is currently undergoing a physical assessment to determine if he is capable of fulfilling the task for which he was retrieved. His injuries were grievous upon his return and it was not until this morning that we were able to speak with him. Your patience, my people, is what we now require. Patience and time to determine to our… to my satisfaction that he is capable of performing the duties the Consortium requires of him - providing a heir. Until such time as I have reached my analysis, the blocked on Gallinore -and Martial law - stand. Only when I am satisfied that no permanent harm has come to him will the blockade be lifted and Gallinore's citizens have their freedoms reinstated."

There was dead silence as shock rippled from the heart of the holo journalists. It was not the announcement they'd been expecting - but it was one they should have. Thus far, Allana's politics had been heavy handed and her reign characterized by strength and decisive action. Any slight was dealt with immediately and no quarter given. Why they'd expected her to give leniency to Gallinore on this most grievous of offenses, she didn't know; but it was possible that they'd expected things to settle into "normal" now that she had accomplished her objective.

What they didn't yet understand was that Gallinore was an example and one that must be etched in the minds of her subjects indelibly. She refused to go through that kind of emotional upheaval a second time.

One last, firm look around and she spun on her heel, presenting her back to the crowd in a supreme show of arrogance as she strode back to the palace. The doors closed behind her, but her posture didn't change. "Heenan!"

The guard who was filling in while Mila was on station at Gallinore appeared further up the corridor. "Yes, my Queen?"

"No one except Palace personnel are to be allowed past the front gates. The security cordon is to be maintained."

"And Ben Skywalker?"

"Is Palace personnel." Her tone was firm. "He is my guest until such a time as he declines to accept my hospitality."

"Of course, My Queen."

"Was there something else?"

Heenan presented her with a piece of flimsi, folded in half and bowed. "Jedi Skywalker asked that I deliver this."

Curious, Allana waved the guard away to do her bidding and flipped open the flimsi. A grin split her lips and she laughed, shaking her head.

Inside was a drawing - and not a very good one at that - but a picture of what was supposed to be her and Ben. The stick figures, both of the same height, in what she supposed was a sparring position. One was horizontal with 'x'es for eyes- the image of Ben - while her 'likeness' tossing him over her shoulder. Shaking her head, she folded it closed and found what she was looking for on the back.

Think you can take me yet? was scrawled in his bold handwriting and unsigned.

Did she ever! Just not today; she'd had enough fights for one day and while taking Ben to the mat had merit, she doubted she'd come out of it intact. Ben might not appreciate some of the tricks she'd learned in his their time apart. Of course, she likely didn't know all of his tactics either, but it wasn't something she could deal with today.

Allana made her way to her quarters and stopped short just outside, another piece of flimsi stuck in the crack between the doors. She retrieved it and found another drawing. This one was equally as bad as the first, but showed a less violent scene. The figures were in a forest of badly done trees, though doing what she could only guess. Walking probably. She flipped the drawing over and found another note.

I enjoy long walks through wooded glades - it's a shame Hapes doesn't have many.

A wistful smile tilted her lips. She missed the forested tracks of the academy too. On more than one occasion she'd found herself longing for the miles of safe tracks and the swimming hole they'd spent a good deal of their time in. A sigh escaped as she pushed open her door and stepped inside. The two flimsis were dropped on the table just inside, reminders of a time before she'd had to become Queen. Before she'd had to become hardened to those around her.

Kicking the door shut with her heel, she headed for the 'fresher and the shower she'd promised herself once she was finished dealing with the vultures. Something about them made her feel dirty and it was almost becoming a ritual to cleanse herself after a tough encounter. She reached up to unclip the pin holding her hair back from her face and sighed as the braids cascaded over her shoulders. Massaging her scalp with both hands, she stepped out of her half boots and crossed the room in her stocking feet.

Her apartments were quiet, the windows paned not only to prevent assassination attempts but to mute the sounds of outside. To mute the sounds of the populace who owned her life like some adored diva.

Allana dropped her hands from her hair as she reached for the door leading to the 'fresher, her thoughts turning back to her speech - and the encounter with Ben in her office.

It hadn't been the reunion she'd expected.

What exactly that had been she didn't know, but it certainly hadn't involved kissing. She frowned. No. That wasn't true. Several of her fantasies had included Ben sweeping back into her life like some avenging hero to claim what was rightfully his. At least, they had when she'd first arrived. As she's grown and matured, forced to adapt to the ways and nuances of her position, those fantasies had changed from physical rescue to emotional.

It was boring in the Palace - or had been once she'd 'convinced' Mila to see things from her point of view. Few challenged her, the men was foppish and fawning, believing she found any of it appealing, and she'd quickly learned to hide herself from the public. To only let them see what they wanted to see - what they needed to see.

Her reforms had been stalled in her initial months in office until she'd learned that crucial lesson. It had been then that her fantasies about Ben had changed. Indistinct longings sometimes filled her nights, driving her to distraction. Other times she'd simply dream about frank conversation where she didn't have to pretend interest and could honestly speak her mind.

No hidden meanings

No politics.

Flipping the controls for the shower, she set the temperature and disrobed. The hot spray was like needles against her skin as she stepped in, but she endured it, working her fingers into the warrior braids and pulling them loose one by one until a curtain of red hung down to the middle of her back. The chore completed, she tilted her head back, and let the water melt away the stresses she could still feel in her body.

Stresses. She almost laughed, permitting herself a smile and a shake of her head. She'd hoped one day to have the kind of stresses Ben would bring back into her life. Now... now she found she was questioning them. Doubting them.

Or rather, doubting him.

She leaned her forehead against the wall of the shower and closed her eyes as the water sluiced over her in a curtain of soothing heat. Doubting Ben Skywalker. Never would she have believed it possible, but wasn't that exactly what she was doing? Doubting his ability to accept her the way she was now? Doubting his fidelity to his promise over the years, his intentions?

Did it really matter what his intentions were so long as she got what she needed - an heir?

Her eyes snapped open and she angrily pushed away from the wall. Her mother's advice resounded in her head and she would have clapped her hands over her ears to drown it out if it would have helped.

Love wasn't necessary.

Slapping her hands against the wet inside of the shower she shook her head. Her mother was wrong. Love was necessary. Perhaps not in the manner she implied, but in her own way, her mother had loved her father. Not as Jaina loved her father perhaps, but at the very least she'd loved him as a friend and turned to him to help her. Or so she believed. She didn't know the precise details of her conception - nor did she wish to - but her father had never denied feeling something for her mother. It had been enough for them - could it be enough for her?

"Idiot." She snapped the insult at herself as she reached for the soap. "You already love him."

Soaping her hands before attacking the tangle that had become of her hair, Allana rubbed her skull with brisk force, as if trying to clean the thoughts from her mind. Ben deserved better, she knew that, but the Hapan part of her that had grown here on Hapes was demanding more.

It was demanding a scheme, a plan, something as a backup to achieve what she wanted.

She did her best to ignore it and block it out, but the thought was there all the same. A shiver racked her frame and she suddenly felt soiled, dirty for even consider it but the thoughts didn't stop. How could she get what she needed, keep what she'd had and take what she wanted without destroying the friendship she treasured more than life itself?

No answer was forthcoming as she washed herself, soaping her hair twice more but it didn't help.

She still felt dirty for even having considered on some base level a scheme to keep Ben on Hapes no matter that she'd schemed to get others off Hapes for similar reasons. This was Ben; her best friend, the man who'd known her better than anyone and had offered her the chance of a lifetime.

A second chance.

And the last thing she wanted to do, she found herself thinking as she turned off the water, was to blow it. She wouldn't get a second chance at this; there would be no re-dos and no one to pull her out of the fire if she fell. The towel drifted to her hand as she stepped from the shower and she rubbed her face before covering her hair, her mind still absorbed with the dilemma before her.

Ben had asked for honesty. He'd asked for time. She could give one, given the other, but did they really have the time to spare? She had to present the people of Hapes with either proof of an Heir or proof she was working at obtaining one in less than three weeks. Would it be enough? Would Ben be able to know her, really get to know her in three weeks?

Absently chewing her lip, she turned it over in her mind as she rubbed her tresses between the folds of the towel. Alternatively would it be too much time? Would seeing her for a week be enough only to have him see her for what she'd become and grow to hate it in the weeks that followed? Would he resent her eventually, unable to accept the changes she'd had to grow into to survive in Hapes' cutthroat politics? Would he even care?

Borrowing trouble wasn't going to get her anywhere.

Wrapping herself in a towel, she entered her room and stopped by the bed stand, keying open the private channel to her staff. "Heenan."

"Majesty?"

"Cancel my appointments for this afternoon."

"All of them?"

"All of them." Allana's tone was firm. "I'm taking a day for myself."

"What shall I tell them, Majesty?"

"Tell them... that their Queen Mother is occupied attempting to fulfill the terms they require for her continued reign."

There was silence on the other end for the briefest of moments before Heenan's enthusiastic reply was unmistakable. "I shall clear your schedule for the week, My Queen. Enjoy yourself."

The comm. clicked off, and Allana stared at it, wondering if she was doing the right thing. She'd already announced to Hapes her intentions, despite what she'd told Ben, and now her schedule was clear to entertain him minus the odd emergency that would crop up. Taking a deep breath, she turned towards her closet.

Worrying would get her nowhere; it was time to make good on her promise to Ben and reacquaint herself with his quirks. The smile that tilted her lips was anticipatory; she was looking forward to it.


The fluttering of flimsi drew Allana's attention as she made to leave her suite an hour later and she bent to pick it up with a half-smile on her lips. She was just turning it over to look at the drawing she knew she'd find when a sound startled her.

"I had help with those."

Whirling, her lightsaber in hand before conscious thought had registered the voice, her blue blade crossed emerald. Ben stood behind her, just outside her doorway, their lighsabers crossed at chest height. He wore the irrepressible grin she remembered so well - the one she'd used to delight in drawing from him.

"Good to see you haven't lost your reflexes, Twitch. Next time I'll sit on the roof."

Allana's lightsaber deactivated and she stepped back, her heart pounding swiftly in her chest - and not from fear. "I could have killed you."

"Not likely - after our discussion, I figured your time in office had only honed your reflexes. Otherwise you wouldn't have been here to rescue me. Your dad was kind enough to lend me his blade."

"I thought you were going to have a nap."

"I visited my cousin instead. Did you like them?"

"What?"

He waved to the picture and the ones that were visible on the table inside the door, deactivating the lightsaber and letting it hang loosely to the side. "Do you like them?"

Her lips twitched. "They're very... primitive."

"Your brother insisted on helping me so I let him draw so could I write on the backs - he's a smart kid for his age."

"He is." She leaned against the door, not inviting him in. "Was there some reason you felt you had to leave me notes?"

Ben planted his feet, looking like he was getting ready for a fight. "I was hoping you'd come looking for me."

"I was on my way to do just that when you decided to announce yourself so unorthodoxly."

"I couldn't resist." The irrepressible grin was back accompanied by the twinkle in his eye. "So you found me - now what?"

"I hadn't planned it that far." Allana shrugged. "I was thinking about asking you to go for a run - if you're up for it."

"I think I'll rain check. The Doc told me to take it easy for a couple of days or I'd land myself back in the bacta tank."

"Oh." Allana cocked her head at him. "So what did you have in mind then?"

"Do you still swim?"

"Do you still breathe?"

"Thanks to you."

She winced. "Bad analogy. Why do you ask?"

"Your dad tells me there's a swimming pool somewhere in this palace." He arched his eyebrows suggestively. "And you always did say someday I'd join you."

A blush swept into her cheeks but she held his gaze. "Is that wise after what happened in my office?"

"Probably not." His admission was easy. "But I've been dying to see you in a bathing suit again since the last time. I figure it wouldn't hurt to ask."

Ignoring his admission, Allana struggled to find something they could do that wouldn't tempt her in the fashion he seemed inclined to. She wanted to get to know him again, not just the look and feel of his body. Not that it would be a bad thing - it would help accomplish one of her goals - but it wasn't what she needed. What she needed was her friend first. "What'd the Doctor say about walks?"

Ben extended his hand and the drawings on her table lifted towards it. She caught them as they floated past and arched an eyebrow at him in silent query. He shrugged, letting his hand fall. "I distinctly remember putting something about walks on the back of one of those."

"In wooded areas." She selected the correct image. "Will the beach suffice? There are very few ways one can bug a beach - and my security knows to keep their distance."

"Shall we?"

"In that?"

He grinned impishly. "Look on the bright side. At least you won't ruin them if you get the urge to dunk me in the surf!"

Laughing, Allana turned back to put the images on her table before securing the door to her suite. "There is that. How'd you get past the guards to this point?"

"They didn't try and stop me. Said something about being expected," he cast her an inquiring look. "Know anything about that?"

Heat swept through her face all the way to the tips of her ears and she ducked her head, allowing her hair to fall about her face. Know anything about it? Heenan probably told the entire core of guards just what she believed their Queen Mother would be doing and to help in any way possible. Not that Allana could blame her; her words had been chosen to deliberately misconstrue and Heenan had taken them exactly as she'd planned.

"Twitch?"

"That would be my fault."

"Your fault?" He echoed the words surprised. "I wasn't trying to assign blame."

"Oh, I know." Allana squared her shoulders and glanced his way as they headed for the stairs. "But I asked Heenan to clear my schedule so I could... uh... spend more time with you."

The laughter in his voice was barely suppressed. "I bet there's more to that story than you're telling me."

"Maybe a little."

"Care to share?"

"Maybe later."

"Later? That's a change. You used to be as direct as they come."

"I used to be a lot of things."

"That's not what I mean. Earlier today you were direct - why the change now?"

"I don't want you to think I'm using you, Ben. I don't want you to feel pressured."

"So let me see the whole picture and I'll decide if there's pressure."

"You're going to have to trust me on this one." There was no way she could explain just yet about the necessity of providing an heir - or her failure in doing so and why. She knew Ben wouldn't laugh at her, but she was concerned he might offer to help her - and that was an offer she didn't think she could or would refuse. There was only one problem... she wanted what her father had with Jaina, not what her mother had done to her father. There was a very distinct difference. "I'll explain it eventually, just not... not now, alright?"

"If you say so."

"I say so."

He mock bowed her, half inclining his upper body and sweeping one arm low. "As her Majesty wishes."

"Ben!"

"What? Don't you like my bow?"

"I liked the hug you gave me yesterday better."

He chuckled. "Me too - but you did give me a decree."

"Are you teasing me?"

"Maybe a little." He tweaked one of her braids the way he'd done as a kid. "You need to loosen up, Twitch, you've even more uptight now than you were before your decision to become Queen Mother!"

"It's not intentional, but I am under a lot of pressure right now."

"Do you really have time for this then? I wouldn't want to interfere with official business."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but spending time with you is official business."

"Because of this whole consort thing?"

Allana nodded, taking the stairs down two at a time - and noting that Ben had no problems pacing her. That was different. Before he'd never been able to keep up completely. Or maybe he'd just given her space. "That's a major part of it. I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted time to get to know you again."

"And what, see a side of me you haven't seen yet?"

"One or two," the tease rolled off her tongue easily and she snapped her jaw shut, mortified.

Ben threw his head back with a laugh and slung an arm around her shoulders as they hit the bottom step. "There's the Allana I knew was hiding under all of that formality! I've missed your sharp tongue, Twitch, you should let it loose more often."

Making a face, she poked him in the ribs, but didn't pull away. "You bring out that side of me, I can't help myself."

"And nor should you. So where are we off too? I haven't had the official tour yet."

"After dinner maybe?"

"Am I eating with you?"

"Would you like to?"

"I'd love to. It's a date."

She elbowed him none too gently and stepped away. "Date. Right."

"Allana?" He caught her by the shoulder, his expression concerned. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No; it's just my frame of mind. Come on, I'll race you to the beach. It's about a hundred yards, the doc won't mind that will he?"

"A hundred yard dash, huh? No Force powers?"

Crossing her arms over her chest, she arched both eyebrows. "Since when have we ever used Force Powers when we- hey!"

Ben shot off towards the mark she'd indicated, leaving her behind.

"Cheater!"

He flashed a grin back her way as she took off after him before focusing on his objective. Allana kept her eyes pinned on his shoulders, watching as each long stride, each powerful push of her legs brought her closer. The wind whipped her hair about her face, liberating her in a way she hadn't felt since... since the academy. Closing the gap, she controlled her breathing and pushed herself that much harder.

A flash of her danger sense brought her head around to see the glint of a blaster scope from a distance - but pointed their way. She called on the Force without thought and sent her body from a run into a lunge. "Ben! Look out!"

Ben let out a yelp as she ploughed into him, sending them both rolling. They hit the ground just before the hundred yard mark and Allana controlled the roll, sending them up and over the high tide mark and down the small drop to the beach, and out of danger. In mid-air, she shifted, twisted again this time so she was on the bottom and the air whooshed from her lungs as they hit the ground - and stuck to the wet sand.

His weight bore down on her as her body absorbed the impact, but didn't last as Ben scrambled backwards the moment they stopped.

"Allana, are you alright?"

Gasping, she found the strength to reach out and grab his tunic. With a jerk she pulled him down so his head didn't stick up over the dune - just as a blaster bolt sizzled through the air where his head had been. Ben's reaction was not the one she expected. Instead of jumping to his feet, saber in hand, he collapsed, covering her with his body as he looked around for the source.

"Not..." she coughed, trying to get her lungs to respond once more, "not here."

"Hush, Allana."

Her head gyrated back and forth in frustration as she struggled to pull in enough air to speak. "Over the... dune."

Ben's gaze followed where she pointed - to where they'd come over the breaker - and then his eyes closed. The familiar feel of another being drawing on the Force enveloped her - only he was doing two things at once. Her breathing became less labored as he allowed her body to absorb more of the oxygen she was inhaling. Even as he assisted her, his senses were cast outward, searching for the assassin.

Allana took over helping herself, feeling a little foolish for not having through of it, and allowed Ben to continue the search. Once she was breathing easier, she touched his shoulder.

"Ben?"

"They're gone." His eyes opened, his head turning back in her direction."They disappeared before I could find them."

"That's how assassins usually work. Could you... let me up now?"

"Nope."

"Pardon?"

"You saved my life - not once, not twice but three times now."

"I think my dad saved you on one of those."

"Under your orders."

"Good thing you're not a Wookie - you'd owe me a life debt."

"Maybe I should anyway."

"Ben?"

"I think I'll need to repay you, Allana."

"It's what friends do. You'd have done the same for me."

"In a heartbeat." His body shifted on hers so that his face was now even with her own, but his blue eyes were focused almost exclusively on her lips. "I'd like to kiss you again."

Her mouth went dry as her heart skipped a beat. "You would?"

"Very much." A weight seemed to descend on her eye lids as his face drew nearer. "Would you like me to?"

"I-" Allana almost swallowed her tongue as her lips brushed against his the moment they moved.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Liquid fire.

There was no other way to describe the electric feeling that surged through her system as his mouth claimed hers for the second time that day. Her body reacted with amazing speed as one of his hands slipped into the hair at the base of her neck and cradled her head. The touch of his hand was almost reverent despite the insistence of his lips.

One of her hands was caught between them, still loosely tangled in his shirt, and her fingers clenched without though, unconsciously drawing him closer as he deepened the kiss. She responded without thought, without guile, drinking in the taste and texture of his lips and mouth like a woman dying of thirst.

This was what she wanted.

Ben pulled back, easing away slowly and dropping feather light kisses across her slightly swollen lips. Her eyes fluttered open, staring at him questioningly, unable to comprehend why he'd pulled back as he propped himself on his forearm so she wasn't holding his weight. One hand continued to cradle the back of her head. The other, the one holding his weight, toyed with the ends of one braid. The smile that curved his lips was as soft as his voice. "You kiss like a novice, Twitch."

A cold shower wouldn't have dropped her back to reality so quickly. With a turn and a heave, she shoved him away and sat up. Hurt by his barb, she lashed back without thinking. "So would you if you were being hounded by every male in sixty three systems!"

"Woah!" Ben reached for her, "I didn't mean it like that!"

"Then what did you mean?" Glaring at him, she fought against the sting of his words, completely taken off guard by the statement. "I know I'm not Jysella, but-"

"Stop." His hand closed over her lips, muffling whatever accusation she'd been about to throw his way. "Just stop, Allana. I didn't mean that as a bad thing - I'm glad you kiss like a novice."

Confusion flickered through her eyes, their guard dropping as she looked at him questioningly.

A smile flickered across his lips. "It means you haven't been kissed properly before - which means I get to teach you." Blood rushed into her cheeks and her eyelids fluttered downwards. His chuckled was soft. "I didn't dare hope that you might let me."

"I didn't… I mean, I-" she faltered, her words muffled by his fingers.

Ben shifted his touch so she could speak freely. "You didn't what?"

"It wasn't intentional."

His eyebrows arched and a flicker of hurt sparked in his eye. "What do you mean?"

With a sigh, she stared at him trying not to let the blush get any hotter. "I've been kissed Ben, by quite a few men who covet the position as my consort."

"Really."

"Really!" His skeptical tone made her snap the word more forcefully than normal. "And they have the courtesy not to point out my failings!"

"Being innocent isn't a failing, Allana."

"I'm not innocent."

"Your kiss tells me otherwise." His words were gently teasing. "I'm sure you've seen much and done much that makes you an adult but this… what's between you and me…" Ben shook his head. "You're very much an innocent."

"It doesn't matter," sand covered her wrists as she put her hands down to push herself to her feet. "It doesn't matter if… if I'm as virginal as when I left the academy! My personal feelings on the matter don't mean a thing!"

"To whom?"

"To you, to them, to everyone!"

"They matter to me!"

"Which is why you kiss me and then insult me?"

Ben stared at her and then flopped back to the sand, propping himself on his elbows as he regarded her intently. "Touchy, touchy, Twitch, you're misinterpreting my words. Would you please listen to what I'm saying and not what you think you should be hearing?"

"They're usually one and the same."

"Not from me. You've grown paranoid."

"I told you I've changed."

"Paranoid on Hapes isn't a bad thing," his tone was dry. "But there's such a thing as taking it too far. What you're feeling matters a great deal to me. I'm starting to think I stayed away far too long."

Her shoulders slumped. "What's done is done, Ben." Clenching her hands in the sand, she struggled against the futility of it all. If Ben had shown up sooner, would things be different? "We can only move forward, no matter how much we'd like to rewind and start anew."

"Would you?"

"Would I what?"

"Go back and start over if you could? Change your decisions?"

Allana was silent. Would she? Would she still take the crown knowing what she knew now? Knowing how it would change her into a creature she sometimes recognized? Would she go back and let Ben kiss her back at the academy, knowing now how he would taste and how it would affect her? Or would she still feel compelled, honor bound, to do what she saw as her duty no matter the personal cost.

No matter that it cost her Ben?

Staring at him, she couldn't honestly tell him no - but she couldn't say yes either. He waited, silently, and she was finally forced to look away. Her gaze was drawn to the waves lapping the shore as she tried to sort it out in her mind. Despite their soothing sounds and the gentle breeze tugging at her hair - the peaceful feeling of the whole setting - turmoil continued to reign inside her. Instead of answering his question, she countered it for lack of having an answer.

"Would you, Ben?"

Silence descended between them once more as Allana realized he no more had an answer to that question than she did.