A/N: So it has been so long since I have updated I wouldn't be surprised if any of you were beginning to wonder if I was dead. Unfortunately, a combination of writer's block and a crazy few weeks (its my last few weeks of school ever so it's packed full of assignments and revision for exams. Urgh) means that I haven't had much writing time at all. However, I have finally gotten the next episode or two of The Villain's Retreat written!

This particular episode is the beginning of a very busy year for this AU. It is now seven years after the end of The Hero's Descent. It should be the next episode (chronologically) after Episode 6: A Master's Blade.

Enjoy!

Episode 10: The Luke Naberrie Protection Squad

The wide vaulted halls of the Jedi Temple always seemed to glow, softening the long shadows cast by pillars and windows. Light from the bright sky outside always seemed to stream in through each large window and get absorbed by everything it touched until the very building itself was suffused with golden luminescence even after the sun had set.

Eneas-Faertalla Avauras liked walking the halls during her spare hours, exploring little-known passageways and finding ways to get around the Temple unseen. It was the closest thing she had to a hobby. Her private tours of the Temple were her favourite ways to unwind after a long stint of studying the Force or expend the built-up energy she usually generated during a bladework lesson with Master Skywalker. A walk to unknot tired muscles or after sparring with her peers or after sitting in a meditative position for too long was the best way to finish a day. It was also a great way to run into trouble.

As little Luke Naberrie appeared to have discovered.

Ava turned a corner and found she had walked in on a commotion. A group of younglings, a year or two younger than her, were gathered, jeering as a small boy jumped to reach something held in the hand of the leader of their little gang.

'What's the matter, Naberrie?' the leader taunted. 'Need your sister to reach for you?'

Luke stopped jumping and turned away, face set in a soft frown. In front of him, his (taller) twin sister Leia glared at the older group with her arms crossed, a scowl on her face so pronounced she seemed to have perfected the art. As Ava watched, her wandering coming to a halt as she took in the scene before her, Leia huffed and started forward, hands clenched in a fist.

'That's enough!' she snapped, raising her fists.

The older group closed ranks and the leader hid his hands behind his back. 'You want to come and get it back for him?' he sneered.

'Maybe I will,' Leia countered and strode forward, murderous intent in her eyes. Seeing what was about to happen, Ava darted forward, catching the younger girl before somebeing got hurt.

'Going after them will only prove their point,' Ava murmured in Leia's ear, glancing over her shoulder at her twin watching sadly. 'Allow me?' The younger girl glared up at her but stopped struggling. 'Okay,' Ava announced to the group turning to the group and taking on a firm stance. 'Fun's over. Give the kid back whatever you stole from him.'

'I didn't steal anything,' the lead youngling, Crim Kelrune, Ava remembered now, protested innocently. He was tall and humanoid with light brown hair and dark eyes that betrayed his lie.

Leia took in an angry breath and darted forward again. 'That's not true and you know it!' she complained. In response, Crim's hands shot up into the air again as a shadow appeared behind him, far taller than the other kids in the hall. Leia had her hands bunched up in his robes, but faltered, staggering back slightly to rejoin Luke, still standing quietly apart from the rest.

'The Jedi do not tell lies, Initiate,' the shadow admonished, plucking the silver chain from the kid's hand.

At the newcomer's words, the group scattered. Panic splashed through the Force as younglings realised who had just walked in on them.

'Stop,' the Jedi ordered and there was an undercurrent of anger in his tone. 'If any of you wish to become Jedi, do not repeat your actions here today. They are beneath you. If you do, I will see to it personally that you are punished.'

The younglings bowed their heads. 'Yes, Master Skywalker,' they murmured in chorus. With a flick of his wrist, Master Anakin Skywalker dismissed them and they fled. Once they were gone, Master Skywalker pushed back the hood of his robe.

'Luke, are you alright?' he asked, crouching so he and the twins were at eye level. Ava shrank back into the shadows between two pillars, unnoticed.

The youngling nodded. 'I wasn't hurt,' he replied quietly. He held out his hand. 'Can I have it back please?'

Skywalker opened his hand and looked down at the object lying on his palm. It was a necklace of some sort, Ava guessed; a fine but simple silver chain with what looked like a carved piece of bone hanging from it. For a moment, Skywalker's eyes closed and his fingers curled up around the piece of jewellery before he finally offered it to the boy.

'Wearing it may not be the best idea,' Skywalker said quietly as Luke slung the snippet around his neck and tucked it underneath his shirtfront. 'I suggest you keep it somewhere safe.'

'Yes, master,' Luke replied, looking up at him with bright blue eyes. Ava watched in fascination as Skywalker stood up and ruffled the boy's hair.

'You did well to defend your brother, Leia,' he praised the girl still standing as if expecting a fight. At his words, he stance softened a fraction and then she beamed, all the tension leaving her.

'Thank you, master.'

'Though if Master Kenobi were here, he would admonish you for your violent tactics.' Leia's head bowed a little and she said nothing. 'But he isn't here so you have nothing to worry about. Luke, I am curious,' Skywalker continued, attention turned back to the boy. 'Why did you let Leia fight for you?'

Luke shrugged. 'I didn't want to. I didn't want to hurt anybody.'

Skywalker blinked in astonishment for a moment and then abruptly broke into laughter.

'Master Skywalker?' Leia asked as Luke watched the Jedi Master in astonishment.

Skywalker shook his head. 'It is nothing for you to worry about, younglings,' he assured them after taking a moment to compose himself. 'You two just reminded me of some people I used to know.'

After Master Skywalker dismissed the twins, suggesting they head to their afternoon classes, and they disappeared around the corner, chatting animatedly, Ava came out of her hiding place with the intention to head back to her room, still wondering what sort of person could make Anakin Skywalker laugh like that.

'Avauras,' Master Skywalker called before she could take her leave. 'That is quite a trick you did there,' he complimented her, coming closer.

'With respect, Master,' Ava began, rather confused. 'Any Jedi would have intervened as I did.'

'I don't mean catching Leia before she did something impulsive,' Master Skywalker clarified. 'Using the Force to cloak yourself in shadow is not a common Jedi skill.'

Ava cocked her head to one side, studying him. A loose lock of crimson hair fell in front of her eyes and she blew it away absently. 'I don't understand, Master.'

Master Skywalker was a very tall man and he towered over Ava, though she suspected that he didn't mean for it to be as intimidating as it was. 'That was no see-me-not mind trick you just pulled while the Naberrie twins and I were talking. How long have you been able to blend in with the shadows?'

Ava shrugged, not one to be so easily cowed by a superior. 'I don't know. All my life?'

Master Skywalker's eyes widened a little as if struck by a sudden thought. He bent forward slightly and lowered his voice. 'I had forgotten. You were with me when I fought Darth Sidious during the Temple Massacre. I always wondered why he spared you.'

Flashes of the past, more from a half-remembered dream than an actual memory surfaced in Ava's mind.

'Hey, Red I need you to be extra good okay? I'm gonna keep you safe, but you need to do what I say.'

'Yes, Master.'

The clone troopers had converged on her and Master Skywalker. Master Skywalker had cut them all down without trying. The shadows of the Temple hall were calling to her, whispering words of safety and she had called back to them without a second thought, letting them wrap around her until even she couldn't even see herself anymore and the light of blasterfire and red and blue blades couldn't touch her with it's deadly blaze. She had waited in the shelter of darkness, listening as the clones fell silent and then another figure arrived.

'You didn't run far enough, Skywalker.'

Ava had listened and waited as they fought and talked, but she couldn't hear the words over the clash of lightsaber blades. Then something had hit her foot but she hadn't paid much attention at the time because at that moment Master Skywalker had been thrown against a pillar and then landed in a heap.

The figure, Darth Sidious, had never even spared her a second glance. Later, she had picked up the lightsaber hilt that had landed at her feet and counted herself lucky, never giving her survival a second thought, even when she had grown old enough to question such things.

'I don't know, Master,' Ava admitted finally. 'I always thought it was because I was hiding behind the pillar.'

Master Skywalker nodded in acceptance but his curiosity was still palpable through the Force. 'It is unusual for a Jedi to be able to camouflage themselves so completely. Perhaps keep this between us until we know more about it.'

Ava nodded, echoing her own words from nine years ago. 'Yes, Master.'

A/N: I know its short but hopefully the next few updates will be better. Have a great day everyone!