The conversation with Leia had gone about as well as Luke could have expected. She was upset, of course, as any mother would be, but he had eventually managed to convince her that both Ben and Ryn were going to be fine, and that they would be kept under close supervision until Luke and the Council could officially address the situation when he returned from the mission. He was hesitant to leave at all, but Leia didn't seem to want to postpone again, and Master Yevara had assured him that everything would be well taken care of while he was gone.

That should have eased his mind, but it didn't. Probably because his main hesitation was that he hated the thought of leaving Ryn so soon. She seemed to have responded well to the healing trance, but the emotional trauma couldn't be dealt with quite so easily, and he wished he could be there to help her through it.

Luke knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself. But he kept seeing the desperate look in her eyes when he brought her back from the fight with Ben, feeling the delicate softness of her hand in his. He wanted so much to protect her. It was all he could allow himself, no matter how much he might long for something more. She was still first and foremost his student, and he had already pushed the boundaries of that relationship farther than he should have.

He was packing the last few things for the trip when he noticed a light flashing above his desk. It was the sensor for the upper courtyard, and he immediately guessed it was Ryn—she seemed especially drawn to that place, and after the abrupt end to their conversation earlier he thought she might have gone there on purpose, knowing he would find her.

He left the unfinished packing on the floor of his room and started up toward the fourth level, growing increasingly nervous the closer he came. He told himself he had no reason to be—Ryn was merely a student breaking curfew, and he was going up to send her back to bed. Simple.

But it wasn't simple, and he knew it.

Ryn shifted her weight back and forth, the stone bench icy cold on the backs of her legs. She wished she had thought to change out of her nightdress before coming up here. Actually, she wished she had taken the time to think at all.

After her conversation with Master Yevara, she had gone back to her room and spent the rest of the evening meditating—or at least, trying to. Every time she succeeded in clearing her mind of emotion, a stray thought would slip out of her grasp and bring everything flooding back in again. Most of the time it was something to do with Luke—she kept seeing his face and the way he had looked at her, his soft blue eyes mirroring the same conflicted desire she felt in herself. She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind as soon as they appeared, but they stubbornly persisted, making it impossible to concentrate.

You can't protect anyone every single minute of the day. There's no point in even trying.

There is sometimes. There is with you.

But why me? Why am I any different than anyone else?

Because I...

Ryn opened her eyes. Because he what? She was struck by a sudden desire to talk to him, to finish the conversation they'd been having and find out what he had intended to say. But it was late, well after curfew, and it hardly seemed appropriate to knock on his door at this hour when it wasn't an emergency.

That was when she had remembered the courtyard, and how Luke had found her here before with Kaden. The problem was, now that she was here, the whole idea seemed ridiculous. What did it matter what he had been planning to say? At any rate, it was hardly worth getting him up in the middle of the night to find out. She stood up and started toward the archway. If she could just make it back to her room before he noticed she was there…

But as she passed through the archway and rounded the corner, she crashed straight into someone coming the opposite direction. She stumbled backward, thrown off balance by the sudden impact, but Luke reached out and caught her before she fell.

"Are you all right?" he asked. His hands lingered on her waist for a split second longer than necessary before he quickly pulled them away.

Ryn nodded. "Sorry," she said. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"What are you even doing out here?" he said. "You should have been asleep hours ago. You must be exhausted."

"I...wanted to talk to you," she said hesitantly. "But then I realized how late it was, and it wasn't anything so important that it couldn't wait until morning...I hope I didn't wake you."

Luke shook his head. "I was still up," he said. "And...well, I'm here now, so if you still need to talk…"

He gestured toward the bench where she had been sitting moments earlier, and they sat down. Ryn pulled her jacket tighter around her shoulders. She could feel Luke watching her, waiting for her to speak, but now that he was here she didn't know how to begin.

"I...uh….Kaden," she floundered, landing on the first safe topic that came to mind. "Is Kaden all right? I heard him say something about going home."

Luke looked at her curiously. "Yes, he's fine," he said. "His mother is ill, so he's going home for a week or two to help take care of his sisters while she recovers. I was going to take him myself, but Vala went in my place so I could stay here."

"That's good," said Ryn absently. She looked down at her hands, tightly folded in her lap. Her jacket was starting to feel too warm, in spite of the cool night.

"Luke, I'm—"

"Listen, Ryn—"

They both stopped short, each waiting for the other to continue. Finally Luke smiled. "Go ahead," he said.

"I'm sorry I left earlier," she said. "When I heard you talking to Leia, I just thought...maybe I shouldn't be there listening."

Luke sighed. "Honestly, it was probably a good thing that Leia called when she did," he said. "I came very close to saying some things that I know I would have regretted later. As it was, I...I behaved inappropriately, as your teacher, and I apologize. It won't happen again."

Ryn felt as if all the air had left her lungs. She hadn't realized until that moment exactly what she'd wanted from Luke, but now it seemed so obvious. She didn't want him to regret the things he had said or almost said—she wanted him to say all those things again and more. She didn't care that he was her teacher, or that it wasn't appropriate, or that she was doing exactly what she wasn't supposed to do by letting her emotions get the best of her. She wanted him to take her hand in his, to put his arms around her, to—

"...sure you're still feeling all right?"

Luke's voice snapped her back to reality. He must have sensed her inner turmoil—it wasn't like she was doing much to hide it—but thankfully he didn't seem to know what she was thinking. She took a deep breath, trying her best to pull her emotions back under control.

"Ryn?"

"I feel fine," she said. "Just...tired, I guess."

"I'm not surprised," he said. "Healing trances are effective, but still no substitute for a good night's sleep." He studied her carefully. "I know this hasn't been easy for you, Ryn. And I can't promise it's going to get any easier, at least not right now. There will be a lot of things we'll have to discuss, a lot of changes to your training. All I can promise is that I'll do my best to help you get through it. When I get back, we'll—"

"When you get back?" Ryn interrupted. "Where are you going?"

"Leia asked me to go with her on a diplomacy mission, to help negotiate a peace treaty between some warring tribal groups. I'll be leaving first thing in the morning."

"A peace treaty? Won't that be dangerous?"

"We've taken every precaution, but I don't foresee any problems." Ryn noticed he didn't look her in the eyes as he spoke. "I should only be gone for a few days. A week at the most."

"Just...be careful," said Ryn. "And I—" She bit her tongue. She had very nearly said "I'll miss you", but she doubted Luke would consider that appropriate, either. She tried again. "I...I'd better let you get some sleep so you'll be ready in the morning."

He nodded and got to his feet. As he stood, the moonlight fell across his face, painting his features with a pale glow save for one area around his left eye that stayed in darkness. At first Ryn thought it was a shadow, but then a memory flashed through her mind—she saw herself being dragged down a hallway, fighting to break free, jabbing her elbow into the face of the person holding her…

"Luke...your eye," she said gently, standing up next to him to look at it more closely. "You should have done something about that. It looks terrible."

"It's hardly been the first thing on my mind today," said Luke with a half-smile. "To tell you the truth, I'd almost forgotten about it."

"I could heal it for you, if...if you wanted me to," said Ryn hesitantly. "Master Yevara has been teaching me, and…"

"It's only a black eye, Ryn. It will heal in time. It's hardly worth the effort of—"

"Please," she said. "I'm the one who gave it to you in the first place. Let me at least fix this one mistake."

He sighed, but didn't protest. She reached up and carefully laid her hand on the side of his face, fingers resting on the outside edge of the discolored skin. His eyes fell shut at her touch; she hoped she wasn't hurting him. A light breeze ruffled his hair, a few strands tickling the back of her hand. She closed her eyes.

She had thought it might feel strange, healing someone other than herself. But she could see the brokenness in him the same way she had seen it in herself, the same thin lines running over the surface like cracks in stone. They were small, clustered tightly in one area, and it only took her a moment to divide her focus between the pieces and pull them together again. When the lines had disappeared completely, she opened her eyes.

Luke's eyes were still closed, and the bruise had faded to the point that it was barely visible in the soft light. His breathing was slow and even, and he looked so peaceful, almost as if he were asleep...

Ryn would try to tell herself later than she couldn't help it, that something about the look on his face and the cool glow of the moonlight made her do it, but it wasn't true. She could have stopped herself, could have lowered her hand and walked away...she just chose not to.

She trailed her fingers down the side of his face and onto his neck, weaving them into the feathery ends of his hair. Standing on her tiptoes to reach him, she leaned forward, laying her other hand on his chest to keep her balance; then slowly, gently, she brushed her lips against his. Luke tensed, the muscles in his neck suddenly taut beneath her fingers, and for a moment she was afraid he would push her away. But he didn't move. He seemed frozen, as still and silent as a statue in her hands. Finally she pulled back, and his expression was more conflicted than she had ever seen it—it was almost like he was in pain.

"Ryn, I…"

She sank back down onto her heels, watching his face darken as the moon passed behind a cloud.

"I can't," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'm sorry."

The words were kind, but the finality of them settled like a weight in her stomach.

"I know," she said. She slid her other hand down beside the one on his chest, tracing over the creases in his shirt. "But I'm not sorry. Maybe I should be...but I'm not."

Ryn let her hands linger for a moment before she stepped back, unable to meet his eyes. It took every bit of strength she had to turn her back and walk away.

The whole display was sickening. Ryn's blind, obsessive adoration, and worse yet, Skywalker's pathetically noble refusal. It was obvious Skywalker had wanted it—judging by the fact that he was now sitting slumped on the bench with his head in his hands like he'd just made the biggest mistake of his life—but that twisted Jedi morality of his won out in the end.

Ben shifted positions and rubbed at his side, wincing. It still ached, despite the healing and bacta treatments. It frustrated him that a student with so little training had been able to get the better of him like that, but in a way he was also pleased. Her anger when she'd attacked had been palpable, and completely uncontrolled. That, combined with her raw talent, made her extremely dangerous—which was exactly what he wanted her to be.

He waited until Skywalker left the courtyard, apparently still so distracted by his own thoughts that he failed to sense Ben's thinly disguised presence. Then he pulled out a portable holocom from his pocket, an untraceable model he'd stolen from home before the term started. This was the reason he had come out here in the first place—the rest had been an unexpected bonus. The scene he'd just endured may have disgusted him, but it had also given him the very thing he'd needed.

He entered a string of digits on the holocom and waited. After a few moments a man's face appeared in front of him.

"This had better be important," the man said. "I'm not here to listen to you complain about how much you hate it there."

Ben suppressed a scowl. "I have it," he said smugly, glad to finally have something worthwhile to say. "The information you ordered me to find. I know Skywalker's weakness."

The man looked impressed, but still skeptical. "Well?" he said. "What is it?"

"Her name is Ryn Starling."