Author's Note: The opening section of this vignette comes from "In Dreams We Dwell"; the rest is new.

What if Festus and Ferrus were never captured by the Sith?

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"Course Correction"

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"Will we be able to send messages?"

Master Bash puts a hand on his shoulder. "It might be possible, but we have to be careful." The Twi'lek Jedi Knight tries to smile, but he can sense the man's hesitance. "I know it's hard leaving your friends, Dorian."

He looks up at Master Bash. "I don't have any friends." Not even Veeran. Not really.

"Maybe this will be a fresh start for both of you."

He looks down at the deck of the starship and nods. He doesn't want to argue the point. Veeran already causes enough problems, and he doesn't want to be a problem, too. He just thought maybe, if he were to write her a message sometime, it might make her happy. And maybe she would write to him, too…

The starship jolts, sending them tumbling to the deck, and an alarm blares from the comm unit. Master Bash looks up to the ceiling, then turns to them all, eyes wide.

"Hide!"

He runs, grabbing Veeran by the arm as the other kids rush to find hiding places. He needs someplace big enough for the two of them, somewhere no one will look…

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Jedi enclave, unidentified location, 43 ABY

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The day starts like any other in the Jedi enclave. Allana Djo wakes shortly before dawn and shuffles to the small common area connecting her room with her grandma's. She climbs onto the sofa next to Grandma Leia, snuggling into her side, smelling the mint and citrus wafting from her morning tea. Davin and Dolan are still asleep, so it's just the two of them.

"Good morning, sweetheart," her grandma says gently, sweeping her long bangs from her eyes. "Did you sleep well?"

She holds her stuffed tauntaun tight and burrows deeper into Grandma Leia's side. "No," she murmurs, half-muffled by the plush of her toy. "I had a bad dream."

Grandma Leia pulls her into her lap and holds her close. "What about?" she asks.

Allana tries to remember, but it's already foggy, like most dreams. But she knows it was bad. She looks up at her grandma and bites her bottom lip. "I can't remember."

A soft, warm squeeze. "That's okay, sweetheart, you don't have to."

A muffled cry floats in from Grandma Leia's bedroom. She looks down at Allana and smiles. "There's Davin," she says. "Dolan won't be far behind."

Allana scoots off of her grandma's lap so that she can get the twins from their crib. She watches her bounce them lightly on her hips and sing Alderaani nursery rhymes and feed them breakfast. When all that is done, she gets dressed and ready for the day. Another day in hiding. Another day in the Jedi enclave.

Allana plays by herself, as usual. None of the other kids bother her, not even the boys who picked on her a couple weeks ago. Maybe they're sad that their friend got sent away. She wonders if that's her fault. She didn't mean to get anyone in trouble.

She thinks of the boy who helped her that day. She didn't know they were sending him away, too. She didn't even get to say goodbye.

It's almost lunchtime when she starts to hear the grown-ups whispering about it. She hears them mention the shuttle and those poor children, but when she finally screws up the courage to ask someone, they look down on her with sad, uncertain eyes.

It's nothing for you to worry about, Allana, they say. As if that's somehow kinder than telling her the truth.

She makes her way to Grandma Leia's office, a heaviness weighing her down, making every movement feel so slow. The door is open, and she hears voices inside.

"—traced the transmission from Bash, but there was nothing there." That's her great-aunt Mara's voice.

"Do you have any leads?" her grandma says, tired.

"None," Aunt Mara answers, also tired. "They were intercepted halfway to Denon, in the Komdar system. There's nothing out there but empty space."

Allana steps into the doorway, and Grandma Leia turns abruptly to face her. Behind her, the hologram of Aunt Mara watches in sad, static-filled silence.

"What's 'intercepted'?" Allana asks as her grandma kneels down in front of her and takes her shoulders in her hands. Grandma Leia's eyes go wide, and she glances back at Aunt Mara for a few seconds.

"Allana, sweetheart…" her grandma starts to say.

She can feel the truth rattling inside her, but she has to know. "What happened to him?" she asks. "Why won't anyone say?"

There's so much sadness in her grandma's eyes. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. They never made it to the other enclave."

She has to know. "But what happened? Where is he?"

"Come here, Allana." Grandma Leia gathers her into her arms and lifts her off the ground, cradling her. "Come here, and I'll explain."

They go into the office, and her grandma closes the door behind them.

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"What do we have here?"

"Twins, Doctor. Just arrived."

"Indeed. Remove their blindfolds, please."

Dorian Starskip winces as light and color return to him, assaulting his senses. There's too much… he can't…

An older man in a long, gray lab coat leans over him, staring down with dark, curious eyes. "Where did you find them?" the man asks.

The Devaronian Sith Lord behind him smirks. "They were on the Jedi ship."

"Really?"

The old man removes a hand from the pocket of his lab coat and strokes his chin with long, thin fingers. A cold smile stretches across his pale, gaunt face.

"How marvelous."

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En route to Denon, 43 ABY

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After being on the ship a few hours, Dorian finally decides to ask the question he's been turning over in his head since they left.

He walks to where Master Bash is standing and waits for him to finish talking to one of the other kids. "Excuse me, Master?"

The Twi'lek Jedi Knight turns and smiles down at him. "How can I help you, son?"

He hesitates, then presses forward. "I was wondering, when we get to the new enclave… will we be able to send messages?"

The Jedi's hand is warm on his shoulder. "It might be possible, but we have to be careful." Master Bash attempts to keep up his smile, but he's clearly reluctant to promise anything. "I know it's hard leaving your friends, Dorian."

"I don't have any friends," he says automatically. It's true, though. Even his own twin brother can barely stand to be around him half the time. Besides, he prefers to watch people from a distance. Or read.

Master Bash is all sympathy as he looks down at him. "Maybe this will be a fresh start for both of you."

He lowers his gaze and nods. There's little point in arguing with the Jedi. There's little point in telling him that Veeran doesn't want to be fixed, or that the problems aren't going to go away just because they move them somewhere new. And he doubts Master Bash would understand why Dorian wants to send a message to someone he barely knows, someone who will probably forget all about him before long. But if he could make her happy, even just a little, even from far away… and if she were to write him back, well, that would give him something new to read, wouldn't it? He had to ask, at least.

He returns to his seat across from Veeran. His twin avoids looking at him. He avoids looking at anyone. Dorian can feel the guilt he's trying to hide. He briefly considers telling him it's not his fault. In a way, it isn't. He couldn't have known they'd be sent away. But then Dorian remembers the tears in that little girl's eyes, and he keeps his mouth shut, because it still makes him angry, and he's not quite ready to forgive.

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They never see the outside of the new enclave. It's buried deep inside a vast, sprawling city-planet that he only catches a glimpse of on approach. When they emerge from the shuttle, they're already surrounded on all sides by duracrete walls.

"Welcome home," Veeran mutters behind him, dripping sarcasm and disdain.

They get settled and cleaned up, and they have their first meal. Afterward, Master Bash finds him.

"Here." He hands Dorian a datapad and smiles. "You can write your messages on this, and we'll send it the next time there's a supply run. No transmissions, no navigational data, nothing to intercept."

He stares down at the datapad, then back up at the Jedi. "Thank you," he says quietly, unable to summon any other words. How can he express the sudden joy he feels, or explain the weight that has lifted from him in that moment? He's never needed to talk to anyone before, but now it seems like the most vital thing in his whole world.

"Thank you," he says again, dazed.

"You're very welcome." Master Bash puts a hand on his shoulder and pats it gently. "Now why don't you run along and get started on that letter?"

He does exactly that, racing through the gray corridors, back to his room. He curls up in his bunk and switches on the pad, and he begins to write:

Hi Allana,

This is Dorian. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to you before I left. It happened kind of fast, and I tried to look for you, but we had to go. Anyway, they said I could write to you on this datapad, and I guess they'll just take it back and forth between us, if you want to write back. It's fine if you don't want to. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. I guess I don't have a lot to say right now, but I hope you stay safe. Talk to you later.

Your friend,
Dorian

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The supply run doesn't happen for another six weeks. He has to resist the urge to write every day, but by the time he hands the datapad to Master Bash to give to the courier, he's written at least a dozen letters. Maybe closer to twenty. Maybe more than twenty. He hopes she doesn't think he's weird because of it. He hopes she'll want to write back.

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"Something came for you today."

Allana looks up to see Grandma Leia standing in the doorway to her room, a strange smile on her lips. She notices the device in her grandma's hand. "Something for me? From who?"

Grandma Leia walks to the side of her bed and sets the device down in front of her. It's a datapad. "Turn it on and see."

Anticipation and curiosity race through her as she fumbles with the power switch. Finally, the pad turns on, and a message pops up on the screen. She can't help the smile on her face or the way her heart leaps as she scans the first few words.

Hi Allana,

This is Dorian…

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