CHAPTER ELEVEN: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS ACCIDENTS

The monthly supply ship arrived that morning on Trianaa. Despite the early hour of its arrival, many of the colonists were there at the supply station, waiting for their share of food, fearing that if they showed up late their share would be given to someone else.

Anakin had volunteered the night before to help hand out supplies, and the New Republic soldiers were more than grateful for the extra hand. Anakin had not bothered to mention he had a hidden agenda.

As the refugees made their way to the front of the line, Anakin would cross off their names as they picked up their supplies. When a man with graying hair appeared at the front of the line, Anakin asked him his name and he said Erik Veila. He received his supplies and went to leave.

Without a word to the others, Anakin took off after him.

"Erik Veila!" Anakin called to him.

The older man turned around. "Yes?"

"I'm Anakin Solo... a friend of Tahiri's. Can I talk to you?"

The older man regarded him for several moments before finally nodding his head and Anakin fell into step beside him.

"How is Tahiri?"

"How do you think she is?" Anakin was surprised at his own tone. He usually showed a lot more respect when talking to adults.

"I know how upset she must be. I just wished she had given me a chance to explain. I never wanted her to find out like that,"

"She thinks you've used your new family to replace her,"

"I would never try to replace my own daughter. She doesn't understand that what I did was for her own good,"

"Letting her think you were dead was not for her own good. Instead of having her father raise her she grew up with a tribe of Sand People. Did she tell you that?"

"She did. But what I did, I did to protect her," he insisted. "Even if I found Tahiri, I was still one of the most sought after people by the Hutts. If they knew my daughter was alive they would have killed her,"

Tahiri had told him about her father's involvement with the Hutts, and Anakin was doing his best to be understanding and not judgmental, but he was finding it a very difficult thing to do. "Maybe you thought you were protecting her back then, but the Hutts must have moved on and left you alone years ago. They never once tried to track you down after what happened on Tatooine, did they? So why didn't you start looking for her again? You knew she had survived and there was no need to protect her anymore,"

Erik didn't seem to have an answer for that, instead he said, "she doesn't need me, anyway,"

"Maybe she doesn't right now. But that might change, and if it does, don't you think you owe it to her to try and make things right?"

Anakin left after that and headed back to the supply station. He hated seeing Tahiri in pain. He didn't know if what he had done would even make a difference, but at least he had done something.

If Tahiri had to stare at one more computer screen that day, she thought she was going to scream. She and Jacen had already gone through archive after archive of information, and despite their best efforts their search had turned up empty. There just wasn't anything that came close to what had been described by Jacen as half-human half-animal. The poorly given descriptions by the colonists that seemed to change with each person they talked to, had not helped their search either.

Not for the first time that afternoon, she felt her vision blurring. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a few minutes...

A hand on her shoulder bolted her awake.

"Didn't mean to startle you," Jacen said with an apologetic grin, "but you were falling asleep on the terminal,"

"I'm sorry I keep nodding off on you," she said, rubbing her eyes in a feeble attempt to wake herself up. "I haven't been sleeping well,"

"It shows," Jacen remarked, looking her over. "Why don't we take a break?" He turned off the terminal.

"No, I'm fine," she insisted stubbornly. "Let's keep going,"

"I don't think a five minute break is going to impede our search. Unless you think we're getting close to finding something?"

"We're about as close to finding something as when we first started," she said, feeling defeated not for the first time that day.

"A break it is then," he said and got to his feet. He started walking around the room in an attempt to stretch his legs.

"I took your advice," she said in a small voice. "I went to see him,"

Jacen stopped his stretching and sat back down. "How did it go?"

She explained to him about her father's involvement with the Hutt's all those years ago and how he had another family now. She didn't know what made her tell him all this. She would have thought it would be uncomfortable talking about this with him, but she found it was easy to open up to him. In some ways, he was even easier to talk to than Anakin.

"I don't know why I should have expected anything different. Is it wrong of me to have expected him to stay alone all those years?"

"No, it's not," he answered instantly. "You have every right to feel what you're feeling. You were the one who spent all that time thinking he was dead. He's the one who should be feeling guilty, not you,"

"Thanks," she said, giving a small smile. "I needed to hear that,"

"I guess now that you've told me all that, I have a confession of my own I should make," he said, looking at her. "You know how Cilghal said the after affects of our link would fade completely within a couple of weeks? Well, they haven't exactly for me," he admitted slowly. "I mean I can't sense exactly what you're thinking anymore, but I keep having these flashes. I could be fighting with Anakin and he says something and it triggers a memory. But it's weird. It's almost like I've gotten used to having you in my head,"

"You're not the only one," Tahiri informed him. "I keep having these flashes too," she said, blushing slightly. "They're not as frequent as they used to be, which I guess is a good sign. I'm just glad I'm not the only one this is happening to,"

There was an awkward pause and Tahiri ended it by saying, "I'm sorry about you and Tenal Ka,"

"These things happen," Jacen said, turning the terminal on again.

She felt a cascade of emotions coming from him, and scolded herself for even bringing it up. Once again, she had been thinking with her big mouth instead of her head.

"I know you told me I shouldn't feel guilty," she continued, "but I can't help but feel partially responsible. If I hadn't been losing my mind none of that would have happened,"

"And if my grandfather hadn't been seduced by the dark side there would have been no Empire,"

She was not amused. "Are you mocking me?"

He couldn't resist grinning. "No, but what I'm trying to say is everything happens for a reason, and in no way are you responsible for what happened. That fight we had was a long time in coming,"

"I s'ppose," she said, not sounding at all convinced.

He leaned forwards; his entire demeanor had turned serious. "I don't regret saving your life. I would do the same thing again even knowing what would happen with me and Tenal Ka,"

When he finished speaking she suddenly became aware of how close in proximity he was to her. She realized she had never taken the time before to notice how handsome he really was.

"I'm sorry," he breathed.

"For wha-"

It took her mind a full two seconds before she was able to comprehend the fact that Jacen Solo was kissing her. It was warm and sweet and full of passion as he moved his lips over hers – and she was letting him do this! She was letting Anakin's brother kiss her! That thought brought her crashing back to reality.

"What the hell are you doing?" She demanded, pushing him away from her.

It was the first time she had ever seen him speechless. He looked like he was trying to speak but couldn't move his tongue to form the words. She didn't plan on sticking around to find it if he would overcome the problem. She bolted from the room and didn't stop until she was outside.

How could she have let that happen? How could he have let that happen? How would Anakin react if he found out?

She didn't get passed that thought, for a sudden shrieking from behind her caught her attention – but a moment too late. She was knocked flat onto her stomach before even getting a look at her attacker. Fortunately, her years of Jedi combat training kicked in and she rolled to the side out of instinct to avoid another attack. She had her saber out in an instant and went to strike but the horror of what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks. A human being stood in front of her. Albeit he was dirty and grimy and wearing rags, but it was still human - and that hesitation was what cost her.

The creature reared back its arm and smacked her across the face. She staggered backwards at the force of the blow, and the creature wasted no time in continuing its assault on her. It slammed her into the nearest duracrete wall, and she collapsed to the ground. Barely conscious, she felt it roughly turn her over and bend down as if to rip her open. Tahiri wasted no time in taking her lighstaber, which lay on the ground beside her, and plunged it through her attacker's midsection. She didn't even have the strength to pull it back out of him. Tahiri heard it collapse to the ground, withering in agony, seconds before her world became a big, dark blur... and then nothing.