A bit of explanation before I go on…The prologue is set in the present, and all these other chapters are set in the past, thus the present tense for the prologue, and the past tense for all the other chapters, until I reach a chapter that is set during the prologue. I hope you get me…

Disclaimer: I only own Lunaris and her dad. The rest are George Lucas'. I'm only borrowing them for the time being.

Lunaris!

My master called me through the Force again. Whatever it is, I didn't do it.

I jumped up from my meditating and ran out of the room. As my feet pattered noisily on the marble floor, I though of all the things I could've done that made Master Anakin call me using the Force.

And he calls for me through the Force only if it's terribly important, or if I did something wrong again.

Maybe it was because I had sneaked out with Atenke Cama, a fellow Jedi and a Twi'lek, last week on X-wings to help him ward off the Peace Brigade headed towards Ryloth , his home planet. I didn't tell Master Anakin where I would be going; he wouldn't let me, and Atenke had told me just a few hours before we left the Academy. I couldn't help it; he loved Ryloth, and he'd convinced me so well.

Maybe it was because I had accidentally burst in on him and Tahiri while they were having another one of their…private moments. I had just stood there, gaping at them, until Master Anakin turned to see who was looking; I had left already, moments before he turned around. It was useless for me to have escaped, though; Master Anakin would've known who it was through the Force.

Maybe it was—

I stopped dead in my tracks as I arrived at the entrance to the enormous chamber, reserved only for significant meetings and Jedi training. Master Anakin was standing beside a white-armored man: a stormtrooper. As soon as they had heard footsteps echo and stop at the doorway, the stormtrooper veered around and took off his helmet. I heard a sharp intake of breath—I hadn't realized it was me.

"Hello, Lunaris." The man smiled sardonically, showing a set of yellowish teeth. I winced inwardly, forcing a stream of horrible scenes to play before me. Master Anakin's face was hard; it terrified me.

Taiar Orald.

"Father."

Anakin couldn't bring himself to look at his Padawan's face. He knew how horrible her life was with her father before she'd surrendered herself to the ways of the Jedi. Even if he turned away, he could still sense her fear and apprehension.

/ I'm sorry./ He tried to reach out to her through the Force.

It hadn't been his fault. The man had suddenly rushed in through the doors of the Academy, half-crazed, calling for Lunaris and scaring away a group of Jedi younglings. Anakin had quickly calmed the man using an old Jedi mind trick and had probed through his brain. I must find my daughter…need her…want her…

"Perhaps I should leave the two--" he began, but he was cut off, mid-sentence, by a short but desperate plea from Lunaris. /Please don't go!/ She might as well have grabbed on to the sleeve of his robe and clung to it. She whimpered audibly and advanced a step back.

The man laughed harshly. "Go do that." He took a step towards Lunaris.

Anakin abruptly perceived an inkling of the man's intentions on his apprentice, and instantly blocked his path towards her. "Get out of the way, Jedi, I just want to talk to my daughter," the man said impatiently, waving his blaster in a motion to shoo Anakin away from Lunaris.

"No," Anakin murmured under his breath. Suprisingly, although obviously under the influence of liquor, her father had heard.

"Don't stop me now, boy. You don't know what I can do to you," he threatened, his words slurred.

"No," Anakin repeated it, much louder.

"I warned you, boy. Now you asked for it!" The man started to shoot at Anakin, unexpectedly missing him only by a few inches, even after having drunk heavily. Anakin immediately drew out his lightsaber and easily deflected the man's blaster shots.

 Anakin didn't know what caused him to do it—his annoyance at being called a boy once more, or his anger at Lunaris' father's purpose on her. Using the Force, he lifted the man up in the air and threw him hard against the wall, making him hit his head and slump down, unconscious.

He felt Lunaris shaking uncontrollably beside him and suddenly realized that she was crying. Without warning, he was aware of his arms going around her, trying to soothe her.

He felt Tahiri's presence in the room. She had arrived from Yavin the day before to help out in the praxeum. /Tahiri, help me./

/Help you what, Anakin?/

/ Help me calm her down./