AN: Sorry this is a short chapter but to maintain its dramatic integrity, (i.e. leave a cliffie) we had to cut it short.

Chapter 20

Celia hurried into the room where Jasmine was, followed by Luke. "She should stabilize over the next few hours, Luke," her Master said, "I've put bacta patches on the burns on her arm, but until we can drain the blood that has accumulated in her lung, there is little more we can do about that injury. I want Celia to monitor her, and the rest of the family can come see her, but just one or two at a time. I want to keep her sedated for a while, so she won't be waking up any time soon."

Luke nodded. "I'm not looking forward to a conversation of 'what happened.'"

"I don't envy you that task." Stass said to him sympathetically.

"Thank you," he said, heartfelt, before she left.

"She'll be ok, Luke," Celia said.

"I know. It's just that I don't like having to watch her suffer, when it's something we should have seen coming."

"We don't always know everything, big brother."

"I know but sometimes it would help if we knew just a little more."

Liz was holding Jydan when Leia and Mara walked in to the crèche with Kitster and Sabé. "Hi, sis," Leia said, "Who's this little guy?"

"Jydan. He seems to be cutting another tooth."

"I wish I could say that was all that's wrong with the twins. Something's happened, and we are going to go hunt down Luke and find out what."

"The twins are upset because you are upset," Liz said.

Leia acknowledged her words with a nod. "Well, them being upset doesn't make it easy to calm down."

Liz laughed. "True enough, and I would be right there with you if I didn't have to be here. I'll find out soon enough what's going on once I get off. It's something really bad. I don't know if I want to know."

"I don't say that I want to know," Leia said as she set Kitster into one of the cradles, "but I need to know what's going on."

"I know." Liz said, having put Jydan down to take Sabé from Mara. "Hopefully these two will quiet down for Aunt Liz."

"I hope so," Leia said.

Leia entered the Healer's hall with Mara, and found her grandmother almost immediately. "Grandma Shmi! Do you know what's going on?"

"Yes, dear. This will take a little time to explain, and a lot of time to heal. Let's go see if Luke will talk to us," she said.

They went to the small room, which held Jasmine and Luke, as Celia left to go somewhere, probably to check with her Master.

"How is she?" Leia asked as Mara went over to Luke and put her arms around him, which he seemed to accept gratefully.

"Not good, the arm is pretty superficial, but the chest wound is deep. According to Master Allie it's going to be touch and go for a little while. We can't use bacta on her since the lungs are involved."

Leia gasped, who would do such a thing to sweet little Jasmine? she wondered.

Seemingly sensing her unspoken question, Luke said, "Jaedrea did this. Somehow she got wrapped up in the dark side. Dad and Ben are looking for her now."

"How did she get so wrapped up in that?" Leia asked, aghast.

"We don't really know. Hopefully Jae is in her right mind when they find her and she can shed some light on this mystery."

"You seem to think there was an outside force behind it," Leia asked, going with her instincts.

For the first time since she had walked in Luke smiled, small, sad, but real. "I thought you were having trouble with the Force," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Huh?" Leia said confused.

"We'll talk about it later, right now we've got a Krayt Dragon nesting in the crops and we have to get it out."

Leia knew her brother was worried; he NEVER used farming metaphors unless he was.

Padmé entered the Healer's and glanced around, searching for a familiar face, but she didn't find any, although she'd missed Julia, who came up beside her, and so she followed Cedric, who was heading towards his twin.

"Mommy, Jaz is hurt." Julia said.

"I know, baby."

"Jae did it," she informed her sadly.

"What did she do?"

"She pulled her lightsaber on Jaz."

"So she has a lightsaber burn?"

"Yeah. Come on, Celia and Luke can tell you better," she said, pulling on Padmé's hand, half-dragging her into the room that contained Jasmine, Luke and Celia.

"Hi, Mom," Luke said, standing to give her a hug, then resuming his seat near the head of the bed. Celia was doing something with some of the equipment that was beeping quietly on the far wall.

She took a moment then to look at her youngest daughter. Her arms were placed over the sheet, which was pulled up to her chest. There were bandages on her right arm, and her eyes were closed above the mask they had placed on her—to help her breathe, she assumed. "What happened? Julia told me it was a lightsaber burn?"

Luke nodded sadly, "to the chest. It punctured a lung."

"She's going to be ok?"

"We're keeping her sedated, otherwise she would probably be awake," Celia said. When Padmé nodded, she continued, "she'll be well enough tomorrow to be awake and she'll probably be home in three days."

"Her arm is bandaged up, too."

"More burns. Those should heal within that time, and probably won't even scar."

Padmé didn't know what to say. "She's strong, Mom," Luke said to her.

She nodded. "What about Jae?"

"We don't know yet. Dad and Obi-Wan are trying to find her."

"So is she hurt?"

Luke shook his head. "I don't think so. Jasmine didn't say anything about it."

Celia left Jasmine in the care of Luke and their mother so she could go talk to Cedric, but she didn't go far. "Is she going to be ok?" he asked her.

"She should be fine."

"What happened?"

"Lightsaber wound. It's pretty bad," she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

He wrapped his lanky arms around her, letting her get out the emotions she been bottling up inside herself since the whole thing started.

Surprised by his sudden caring, she let him give her a hug, the first she'd had from him in over a year. She cried for some time, holding on to her twin for dear life. Once she was able to speak, Cedric, always the calm one, asked, "Who did it?"

"Jaedrea."

"How did that happen? They aren't in the same lightsaber class."

"It wasn't in lightsaber class, and we don't have many details, but Luke is afraid that she's turned to the dark side."

"He actually said that?" he asked in shock.

"No, he's so worried about Jaz that he's not shielding very well."

"It's that bad?"

"It's bad, but she's going to pull through."

"Is that your professional medical opinion, Doctor?"

"Don't tease me like that, and yes."

Jae sat down at the edge of the deepest pool in the room, and though it held clear water, a good deal of sediment had accumulated at the bottom, leaving only about enough water to completely submerge herself, if she were standing. The pool had been at least five meters deep when it had been an active pool, she could sense that much through the Force. It's cowardly, not to face what happened, the thought hit her like a ton of bricks. If Jaz is really gone, what would losing me do to the rest of the family? I have to go back, even if they kill me, I have to go back. She tried reaching out to find Jas, but couldn't and when she reached out in desperation to Julia, she was so wrapped up in grief that she couldn't get Jul's attention.

She sighed, wrapping her hand instinctively around the cool cylinder at her side, Wait—I dropped my lightsaber in the Temple. She set it back down, trying to rub the oily feeling off her hands, but there was nothing for her to get rid of. The feeling persisted, though her eyes were telling her there was nothing. She finally picked the lightsaber again, but the slimy, oily, icky feeling didn't go away. In fact, the more she handled her lightsaber, the worse the feeling got. It started crawling up her arm, like a liquid insect. She put her arm in the pool trying to rinse it off, it seemed to work and she pulled her arm out, however as soon as she did the icky, slimy feeling returned right where it had been. She put her arm back in the pool and shook it violently. While she was doing this she lost her footing and fell into the pool head first, banging her head on a half buried ornament knocking her cold, face first in the pool.

Jasmine woke with a start. Her head hurt for some reason, and she felt wet. She screamed as she suddenly felt her lungs filling with water. Then Luke and Mommy were there, comforting her.

"What is it, Little Bit?" Luke asked. As he asked the question, Jasmine calmed down a little; what was happening wasn't happening to her, but to Jae.

"Jae hit her head, she's drowning! We have to help her!" She started to move to get up, but Luke and her mother firmly, yet gently held her in place.

"Daddy and Obi-Wan are looking for her, dear heart," her mother said.

Jasmine started crying then and said through her tears, "I think its too late…I can't feel her anymore." She didn't notice the shocked and worried look Luke and her mother gave each other.

Obi-Wan worked to keep pace with Anakin. He had caught up, and Anakin was pressing a pace that even he would find grueling, once he stopped. Not that he thought they didn't need to be going as fast as they possibly could. They entered yet another level. "She's here," Anakin said, with little emotion reaching his face or his voice, but his Force signature screamed with the turmoil he was feeling.

Obi-Wan reached out along his bond with her. Anakin was right. "This way." Anakin nodded. Something was desperately wrong with her. They both feared for her life, she was distraught enough, maybe and rash enough, to try something stupid.

They moved into the room, looking around. "Is this like the Room of a Thousand Fountains?"

"Probably."

"Obi-Wan," Anakin said, fear making his voice tremble, as they stepped close enough to a large pool of water to see to the very shallow bottom.

He knelt to one side of the pool, picking up Jaedrea by the shoulder, and felt Anakin doing the same, and they pulled her out. She wasn't breathing.