Luke was beginning to doubt the wisdom of giving a room full of adolescents an assignment focused on emotions. He had only just separated the two boys and sent them both back to their quarters when a girl on the other side of the room burst loudly into tears. It wasn't surprising—things like this happened every year—but he wasn't usually the one to have to deal with them. He didn't often teach the beginning classes, leaving them instead to some of the younger instructors like Vala, but this term he had decided to take on a few of them himself. He told himself it was because they were short on instructors, which was true, but he also knew that Ben had been right—he was keeping an eye on Ryn.

He had sensed her leaving when he went to deal with the argument, and he couldn't say he blamed her. He could tell something was bothering her, and that at least part of it had to do with Ben. Vala had told him about her conversation with Ryn earlier that day, and he'd made up his mind to ask her about it, but it looked like he would have to wait until later.

Luke ended the session a few minutes early to avoid any more outbursts. When everyone had gone, he closed the doors, and with a few quick swipes on the touchpad locked the room for the night.

Back in the instructor's hallway, he hesitated as he passed Ryn's door. He could knock and ask to talk to her now. It was still early. But something told him to wait, give her space for tonight—it might be better for her to sort through things on her own first, without his potentially unwelcome advice.

He continued on down to his own quarters, sliding the door closed behind him as he went inside. As he sat down at his desk, he automatically glanced down at the place where the flower had been sitting before Vala had thrown it away. It had been foolish of him to keep it in the first place—he had picked it up that night in the courtyard thinking Ryn might have wanted it back, but as the days passed he kept finding excuses not to return it to her. As if, for some reason, he couldn't bear to part with it.

Regardless, it was gone now, so there was no point in dwelling on it. He entered a string of digits on his holoprojector, and after a moment's delay Leia's face appeared in front of him in a flickering blue light.

"Luke!" she said warmly. "How are you?" Her smile faded when she saw his expression. "What's wrong? Is it Ben?"

"No," he said quickly, forcing a smile. "Well, partly…but that's not why I contacted you." Leia started to interrupt, but Luke continued. "I just wanted to confirm the details of the mission next week."

Leia nodded, but even with the slight distortion of the hologram Luke could tell she looked suspicious. "Right," she said. "I'm going to have to push that back a day or two, actually. Some things have come up here that I can't avoid. I assumed the delay wouldn't bother you too much, since you didn't seem thrilled about going in the first place."

He shrugged. "I'm perfectly willing to go, if you want me to," he said. "I just don't know how much help I'll be. You're the politician in the family."

Leia rolled her eyes. "I told you not to call me that," she said. "And besides, you know as well as I do that this is as much about peacemaking as it is politics, and that's your area of expertise. The Khadreshi people have been at war amongst themselves for generations, and so far no attempts to bring peace have been successful. At this point I'd almost be happy to leave them to it if it weren't for the fact that one of our main trade routes runs right through that system, and our ships keep getting caught in the crossfire."

"So what's the plan?" asked Luke.

"We're meeting with the heads of two of the largest factions, trying to negotiate a treaty. They're a deeply spiritual people—when they're not trying to kill each other—and they've always had a strong respect for the Jedi. Just having you there should help give credence to what we're trying to do."

"We can certainly hope so. As I recall, the last group that tried to help negotiate a treaty had to flee for their lives when the fighting started again midway through the negotiations."

Leia grimaced. "You heard about that too, huh?" she said. "I'm hoping it won't come to that, but all the necessary precautions are in place, including a solid escape plan if things don't go as well as we'd like."

"Is Han coming?"

"No," said Leia. "Though he's not happy about letting me go without him. He only agreed to stay behind because he knew you were coming." She shook her head. "His intentions would be good, but you know Han. The situation will be volatile enough as it is without adding him into the equation."

"True," said Luke, smiling. "It would have been good to see him again, though. It's been a while."

"Don't worry, we'll find some crazy adventure for the two of you soon enough. I wouldn't mind getting him out of my hair for a few days, anyway." She paused. "Now, what exactly is going on with my son that you're not telling me about?"

Luke sighed. "It's probably nothing serious, but Ben seems to have taken a particular interest in one of the other students, and I'm not entirely sure how to handle it."

Leia's eyes narrowed. "What sort of interest?" she asked. "Romantic?"

"That's just it, I'm not sure," said Luke. "Though I suspect he's more drawn to her abilities than anything else. She only just started at the Academy this term, but she's close to thirty, and has an amazing amount of potential. It wouldn't be the first time Ben pursued a friendship with someone because of what they could do."

"And yet you're more concerned about it this time than when it's happened in the past," said Leia.

'Honestly, yes."

"Because you're worried about how Ben might try to use her abilities, or because you're worried about her?"

"Both," Luke admitted.

"Have you talked to her?"

"Not yet. I'm going to, I just...haven't found the right time."

"Don't wait too long," she said. "And Luke...be honest with me. Do you really still think there's hope for him?"

"I have to believe there is, Leia, though I'm starting to run out of ideas. He won't listen to me anymore."

"Do whatever you have to," she said. "I mean it. Talk to him, threaten him, manipulate his thoughts...anything."

"Leia," Luke said sympathetically "you know I can't—"

"I know," she interrupted. "I'm sorry, it's just...he's my son."

"I understand."

Leia smiled sadly. "I'm not sure you do, actually," she said. "But thank you for trying. I'll see you next week, okay?"

The hologram winked out of existence, and Luke could feel an almost physical weight settling on his shoulders. It wasn't that he hadn't faced situations like this before—it was simply part of his job—but even the most difficult of cases didn't usually create this kind of paralyzing indecisiveness. Maybe it was because he cared so deeply for the people involved—his sister, who was terrified for her son; his nephew, moving ever closer to the dark side no matter what Luke tried to do to bring him back…

And Ryn. He did care about her, despite having known her for so short a time. More than anything he wanted to keep her out of all this, protect her. He could sense that she had already had more than her fair share of difficulty in life, and he was anxious to spare her any more.

But that wasn't going to happen if he sat back and did nothing. He was going to talk to her tomorrow; that much he was sure of. Now if only he could work out what to say.