Day 1 of my Final Finale! (No, we aren't near the end, but I've done it for a while.) So, basically, for every day where I have a final, I post a new chapter. Let's see if this breaks my writer's block. . .

Chapter Eight

~ Kya Ranor ~
To say I was surprised was a grave understatement.

"What do you want from me?" I knew they would hear the unspoken message of I thought I would never see you again. Although Lady Elizabeth had once been my Lady Mother, because she had been dead long before me, with the passing of my initiation into the Order I had lost contact with her. Any further guidance, I had been told, I would have to seek from the Force itself.

When I had woken to find myself in the netherworld of the Force, I had known it had been because someone had wished to speak to me.

I hadn't expected that someone to be Lady Elizabeth.

My former Lady Mother smiled. She was as beautiful as she had been before, frozen forever as she had been at the height of her power and glory, just as all my brothers and sisters were – long blond hair, blue eyes, silver robes and a lightsaber hanging ever-present at her side. Of course, not all my sisters and brothers had lightsabers, for quite a few had not been Jedi, for various reasons: some had come before the Jedi Order, and others simply had been Walkers without being Jedi. But Lady Elizabeth had been a Jedi, and right now, I could tell that this was no mere visitation; her brow was creased, her mouth tight, and her fingers folded at her sides. It was a Jedi's stance, one that spoke of tension one fought to hide behind a neutral face.

"I have come with a warning from the first of us all," she said, finally. She reached out towards me, and despite being only a few steps away from me, her fingers stopped just short of my shoulder, as if unable to cross some unseen chasm between us that contained all the years that separated us. "Be wary, sister. This will be your greatest test."

I fought down the flush of pride at being called sister. It was, I knew, her way of acknowledging that we were equals, now. But her words were more important.

"I know."

She smiled slightly, and her hand fell. "Do you, really?" The smile vanished abruptly, and suddenly she was standing tall and straight, towering over me even though she only had a few inches on my height. "Your daughter and mate have crossed with you. You will not stand alone in this. And thus . . . your life is not the only that will be at stake."

I gaped at her. Ben I had expected to cross with me, as he had last time –

But Aurora?

She was my daughter, half a Walker, and quite a strong Jedi Padawan in her own right. But she was young. And untrained. Ben had trained her well, but – she was still a Padawan for a reason. I couldn't imagine that she was ready for this. She had never faced this kind of test before, where her life was at stake and forfeit over a single misstep. And worse, not necessarily even her own misstep.

Mine.

I had come into this willingly, at first, knowing the cost. I had been raised a Jedi, willing to forfeit my own life in the Clone Wars if it would turn the tide of only one skirmish, end one battle, make the tiniest impact on the terrible war ripping apart our galaxy. I had been willing to give my life to save the Force. And then, when Ben had come along – well, his life had been tied to mine, so really, any choice I made was for both of us, and I knew he had trusted his life in my hands long before we had even really known what I was.

But now . . .

Aurora was quite a different story.

"Why?" I managed to blurt out finally. "Ben is my soulmate, I understand that – but why my daughter?"

Lady Elizabeth blinked serenely at me. "It was not my decision, and I do not speak for all of us," was all she said. Which basically was her way of saying I don't know why. "But that is my warning to you." She hesitated, and took a step closer, as if imparting a secret – which was laughable, nothing was secret here. "Sister, be careful, please. Your cousins are not so easily fooled. You must be ready to use your words as well as your weapons."

"My cousins?"

But she was already fading, her outline blurring into a hazy line that was dissipating like smoke, and in seconds she was gone, and I was alone. And then a rumble of thunder rolled through the Force, and then I was falling like the floor had opened up underneath me as the Force rushed around me, cocooning me like a giant golden wave, and then –

My eyes flickered open to see Aurora standing over me.

Then the golden light vanished, and I saw Aurora stagger back, the golden shield fading away to leave me lying on some sort of table, the restraints crumbled to fine ash that I brushed away. Fortunately, there was no other resistance – clearly, they had underestimated the power even a child of a Walker held.

Unfortunately, Aurora hadn't done it alone.

The sight of my old Master standing there, Skywalker at his shoulder like the old days, nearly made my knees crumble to the ground in the age-old urge to yield. I had obeyed Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master, as my teacher when I was young for so long that it was instinctive. And here he stood, like a sight plucked from my memories, strong and young again, with Anakin standing close by, eyeing me as though he thought I might leap forward and try to swing at them.

And then I knew what Lady Elizabeth had meant.

The Jedi and the Walkers hadn't been always close. Many times, actually, they had clashed – the morals and the teachings of the Walkers were a little different, and of course we broke the greatest rule of the Jedi Order, the one about attachment. But we were still cousins, in all but name.

And now I had to try and deal with their suspicion, at the worst possible time, because I knew this ship and I knew when my old Master had last looked like that and I knew when Anakin had last stood before me clad in the robes of a Jedi.

We were at war.

"Rescued by celebrities," I said, fighting to keep my voice level. "I'm flattered, Master Kenobi, Jedi Skywalker."

Aurora dropped her lightsaber. Her shock rang clear in my mind through the bond between us, and I stilled her curiosity with a sharp mental rebuke. Now was not the time to explain, not this close to the other Jedi. Anakin and Obi-Wan – these versions – weren't strong enough to eavesdrop on a bond yet, but that didn't mean they were stupid or weak. They had been known as the Team for a reason, after all.

Master Kenobi gave me a quick look, which I could read so easily it was laughable. All these years, I realized, and I still know my old Master.

"We are glad to be a help to a fellow Jedi," he said neutrally. "I understand there is another member of your party here?"

I nodded and turned to where Ben lay in a stasis tank. From Aurora's distaste ringing in my mind, I guessed I had been in something similar, and I shuddered at the thought of a Force-inhibiting collar around my throat. Even now, with all my powers, it would still be a near death-sentence for me.

Aurora stepped quickly around me and clapped her hands again, destroying the tank and the restraints with determination written all over her face. I nodded my approval. There was no need for hatred in this. General Grievous and Dooku had been our enemies, that was all; but hatred would only strengthen them.

I was not, of course, Aurora's Jedi Master, and that was for a very good reason, but that didn't mean I couldn't offer some advice, at least.

Ben was reaching for us before he was even fully on his feet, eyes full of concern, but I merely shook my head and took his hand, letting his fingers wind tight around my own instead of his arm around my back, as he had wished. Aurora ignored us and hugged Ben, but I let it pass; better for them to assume Ben was her Jedi Master than to try and separate them and arouse suspicion. For now, it would have to be enough.

Then Ben caught sight of the other Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his face froze.

Not now, I said quickly into his mind.

Is that . . .

Yes.

Ben swallowed and lifted a hand, summoning his lightsaber, and then he turned fully to me. What are we going to tell them?

The truth.

"Are we ready to be going now?" Anakin said grumpily into the silence.

Aurora glared, but Anakin glared right back. Ben and I traded exasperated glances, and then Ben stepped forward and rested a hand on Aurora's shoulder, light and warning and establishing his place as Aurora's Master. I saw Master Kenobi's eyes rest on it, and I knew he had recognized the message as such, and I sighed in relief.

"Yes," I answered, and then reached out with the Force. I wanted to get off this ship, now, and into some place where we could discuss this problem.

~ Obi-Wan Kenobi ~
"Are you all right?" I asked in a low voice.

The woman turned to me, one eyebrow raised. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"You seem . . . nervous." It was the only word I could think to use to describe the woman's state. And I couldn't explain it any other way than that. It was something only a Jedi would have noticed, perhaps; she was a little too relaxed, and yet she stared straight ahead, seemingly unbothered by anything.

She glanced away, and her shoulders slumped into a more natural state. "This war bothers me," she said finally. "All this death and destruction. . . My shields aren't exactly as good as they should be, and all of this is doing wonders for my senses."

I nodded in understanding. The Force sang with the amount of Jedi falling each day; without shields, no doubt it was bothering every single Force-sensitive strong enough to feel it.

Then Aurora's Master was pushing forward, taking the woman's hand and saying something in a voice so low I couldn't hear. But it made the woman smile, slightly, and the man brushed a gentle hand over her hair before leading her out of the ship onto the transport. They seemed . . . unnaturally close, all three of them. The way Aurora clung to the man made sense, if he was indeed her Master, but there was no such reason for the woman and the man to sit so close together. They seemed practically so close that the curves of their body fit where they sat pressed together, sealing them like puzzle pieces into one being, and only that seemed to make the woman relax as she folded to lean against the man.

"So, who are you?" Anakin asked.

The woman stirred, as if from a great sleep, and then she said, "I am Kya, and this is my partner, Ben, and his apprentice, Aurora." She gave us a tight smile. "I don't really need any introduction on your part, though. You are well known to us both."

Ben raised an eyebrow, but he inclined his head to us, and said, "It's nice to finally meet Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Aurora didn't pay us any attention, though, and then I realized that it was because she was staring out the window, mouth open in despair or surprise as she surveyed the damage the Separatist attack had inflicted on Coruscant. Ben seemed equally startled as he followed her gaze, but Kya just seemed resigned to it, retreating into herself as though she had seen it before and it was just another blow against her cracking resolve.

"I don't remember it being like this," Aurora said, her eyes huge as she glanced at Kya.

"Things change, my child," Kya said, almost absently, in response with a sad smile. "War is the biggest catalyst of them all."

"I know."

But Kya shook her head. "No, you don't. Not yet." She swallowed. "Not like this."

Aurora gave her a look. "Does this have anything to do with Dooku?"

"Not now, child," Kya chastised her, a wary look falling over her face, and Ben looked equally grim as he reached out to lay a hand on Kya's knee, something chasing around in his face, a battle was that equally familiar and strange.

And then I realized that the way Ben looked down at Kya was the same way Anakin looked at Padmé.

The moment we landed, I reached for Master Windu with my mind when I sensed him waiting on the pad, and said, I need to speak with you. This problem is beyond my authority to solve.

What is it, Master Kenobi? he asked.

I cast another quick look at the three, sitting so close together, as Anakin stood and walked off the transport. They were so strange, and taken aback at things that even I remembered from when I had last left Coruscant for the Outer Rim.

I think we have Jedi imposters here.