Allana's steps finally slowed as she reached a part of the island she didn't recognize. She stood on the cliffside ledge, watching the water recede from a hole with moss climbing out of the sides.

She'd never seen this part of the island in all her explorations as a little girl. Then again, she wasn't one of the ones that did a lot of exploring. That was more Jacen and Jaina.

The thought of her siblings made her dig her painted fingernails into her palms.

Now that she was faced with the reality that her father survived, it was completely different. Rage, like an ocean right beneath a durocrete dome, threatened to seize her.

How could he? How could he spend all this time on Ahch-To and never realize that they weren't coming? He was supposed to be one of the strongest Force-users ever, right alongside her mother in all the history texts.

And yet he couldn't sense her or her mother or her siblings when they were scattered among the stars?

She had to keep getting away, before her anger grew too powerful. For while she was without the Force, history had seen what happened to a Skywalker who didn't keep their anger in check.

That was easier, Allana supposed, when she approached the cliff, when she was younger. She didn't have nearly as much to be angry about then.

She jumped down in the hole— and was surprised by the water. She kicked, quickly resurfacing and spotting the shore. Rocky and smooth, it was made of a more refined version of the stone that made up the mountain and the temple and huts.

She pulled off her cloak, and set out her commlink and blaster. Suddenly, she was grateful that the commlinks had been water-proofed after Vanya pushed her in the pool the previous summer on Madrassa.

As for the blaster, it would dry out eventually. As she stood up, however, she was surrounded by cracked mirrors and darkness.

Allana glanced back down at the blaster, and decided to take her chances. At the very least, she supposed she could bludgeon someone with it, if any monsters hid inside this mirror cavern.

"Allana!"

She heard a shout and turned around, holding up the blaster over her shoulder, a remnant from her training as a small child. Ben had called it uncivilized, but Rey reminded him that the children were around weaponry every moment of every day, and the least they could do was make sure the children shot them properly, if nothing else.

Perhaps it wasn't that funny of a joke, but Allana was grateful for it nonetheless.

"Who's there?" Her voice did not shake or tremble, sounding as icy as Tenel Ka's tones.

"Allana! Please!"

It was the sound of her mother's voice. She ran through the maze of mirrors, trying to track it, to find her mom— Rey was in trouble—

Then she came across them. Rey, defenseless. Her blaster broken on the rocks beside her, the saber-staff in the hand of Darth Keera, cloaked and holding her own red lightsaber.

Rey was looking behind Keera, straight at Allana.

"Allana, please, stop her— Allana—-"

Allana shook her head, clarity finally coming through. "You're not my mother. She'd tell me to run." Allana swallowed thickly. "She did. She did tell me to run."

Then Rey vanished, leaving Darth Keera there. The Empress of the Imperial Remnant threw back her hood as she turned to face Allana.

Darth Keera was dark and beautiful, Allana decided. Her heart broke, for far too many of her beloved sister's features remained in her face. She wore red and gold jewelry, accenting her black cloak with intricate black embroidery, her yellow eyes and red saber.

Immediately, she was brought back to one of those last good days.

It was right before her coronation, as the Queen of New Alderaan. Many had already begun celebrating. The Organa line was restored, as it should have been long ago.

Allana had been sent up to her sister's new room to fetch her for the ceremony. She lifted the burgundy overskirt in a fistful of material that caught some of the gray lining as she entered the room.

It was odd, to think that her sister would be living here now, and no longer on Tatooine, at the Praxeum. She supposed she knew that all her siblings wouldn't remain at home forever, but she hadn't expected it so soon. Jaina was off to Flight Academy, and after this, Jacen would begin his Jedi Trials, following directly after Thea.

"Thea? They're waiting for you," Allana called out. She stood there awkwardly, admiring in silence the tapestries and the bed and all of the pretty things that only a royal would use.

"Just give me a moment."

Out of the closet stepped Thea. She wore a stunning violet gown with a flared skirt and blue gauze sleeves, fastened to the gown through a series of emeralds. It complimented Thea's light hazel eyes, made them look more green than brown. Her hair was half up, half-down, with cascading black curls down her back. Her makeup was precise.

Thea looked like a queen— not the cool big sister that Allana had known all her life.

"Wow."

"I know." Thea smiled, picking up the edges of the gown. She spun around once, like an excited little girl. "To think, I'll be wearing things like this every day, once I'm. . ."

She trailed off, looking to the bed, with its pristine golden sheets.

Without warning, she walked over and flopped onto the bed.

More out of intuition than anything else, Allana joined her. For a moment, the sisters lay there in silence.

"I wish this moment could be forever," Thea finally said. "When I get up— it's over. I'm Queen, and there's no going back."

Allana looked up, alarmed. "I thought you wanted to be Queen."

Thea laughed. "Oh, I do. But that doesn't mean I'm not nervous."

"I guess so. I don't want anything to change either," Allana confessed. "But it still will. And some things always stay the same."

"That's true." Thea smiled and sat up. "I suppose we should go downstairs, shouldn't we? Can't have a coronation without a queen."

The memory faded out as Allana returned to present, faced with some manifestation of the corrupted version of her sister.

In horror, Allana realized she wore her hair and makeup in the same way she did during the coronation.

Darth Keera smiled wickedly, and raised her red lightsaber. She didn't bother to run. She'd get there fast enough— just like when she'd massacred the Jedi on Tatooine.

Allana started to run through the maze— but the faster she tried to run, the closer Keera was, the more she could hear the screams that she'd tried so hard to block out that night—

Then she turned around and Keera was there, and she raised her saber—

Allana closed her eyes, expecting a terrible fire in her chest—

But instead she just fell to the ground, roughly on the rocks.

She cried. Truly mourned for her mother and Jaina and Thea, like she couldn't on Hapes. She'd been crying more lately, but it wasn't enough.

It was like a damn broke inside of her, as she finally came to terms with all that had happened.

And then, for the first time in three years, she felt a presence with her.

Standing in front of her, translucent and blue, was the very vision of Jaina Solo. She was wearing a black tank top, her flightsuit zipped down to the waist, her lightsaber clipped to her hip.

"Hey, Allie." Jaina smiled, looking so much like Han Solo when she did so. "It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been trying to get through for a long time."

"For three years." Then Allana realized what that meant. "You're dead?"

Jaina shrugs. "Happens to the best of us. Wasn't too happy when it happened— but— well, the others say I can't tell you that, not yet. Let's just say that we're in the endgame now, and it'll all be okay."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Allana asked.

"Wish I could say." Jaina sighed, sitting down properly. "Stars, you've been more stubborn than a nerf."

"I was cut off from the Force," Allana reminded her.

"You cut yourself off." Jaina let her hair out of the messy bun at the nape of her neck. "I don't blame you— even from Chandrila, that night was overwhelming— to say the least. I wish I'd been there. I could've stopped her. Me and Jacen—"

"No one knew," Allana assured her. "No one could have guessed that would happen. It's not your fault. She made her choices."

Jaina raised an eyebrow. "If only you could extend your wisdom to yourself."

"What do you mean?'

"You blame yourself and take responsibility," Jaina said. "Don't. It's alright."

"I still need to stop Thea."

"That's true."

"I just wish I knew how."

"It's going to take some time and some hard work," Jaina said. "But we know how the story goes in this family. Light triumphs over the dark, no matter what."

"That is true." But the word family reminded Allana of a fear she still held. "Is Mum with you?"

"No." Jaina shook her head. "I can't tell you where, though. Thea's done a hell of a job blocking us, too."

"Damn."

"I know." Jaina clapped a ghostly hand on Allana's shoulder. "But I'll be with you. And all we can do is the next right thing. And the next right thing is to join the other Jedi, and go save Jacen. Think you can do that?"

"I can try." Allana stood.

"And if you see Jacen— tell him I love him, okay?" There was vulnerability in Jaina's blue face.

Allana nodded. "I promise."

Jaina nodded curtly, and stood. Then she disappeared, as did the mirrors. And Allana was alone in the cavern.

But she was no longer closed off to the Force. The galaxy was more alive than before. And Allana was no longer afraid.