Many thanks to starwars.com where I pick up most of my information, and to the Star Wars books either lent or given to me by family or friends.

"Lunaris," Master Anakin tapped lightly on my doorframe. I was fixing my lightsaber, checking it for minor tweaking or adjustments.

"Yeah?" It sounded rude to me to be answering that way, but I didn't feel the need for unnecessary politeness at that moment. "Come in if you want, I'll just finish this."

Master Anakin sat on my bed and waited for me. I twiddled with the knobs for the blade and screwed the top back in place. "There." I pushed the button at the side, and the usual white light materialized into view. "No minor adjustments necessary, just frequent use."

"That won't be a problem anymore," Master Anakin said. "Uncle Luke's sent us on a mission to some place called Korriban."

"I don't recall a Korriban anywhere in our galaxy,"

"Neither did I. Uncle Luke says he'll try to find out about it."

I pressed the button again, and the droning hum stopped. I laid it down on the table beside me. "So…what are we supposed to do in this Korriban place?"

"Destroy two scrolls that'll tell you how to resurrect a ancient Sith's spirit."

"What?!" I couldn't believe this. Was this all I was good for? Not only was our mission too easy, cutting up a bunch of stupid scrolls, my fears had finally come true. "Look, I know about your concern for me and situation with my father, and maybe you think that I won't be focused and concentrated on our mission this time because my mind'll be preoccupied with memories from back then, but I tell you, your time and energy for worrying about me is a complete waste. There are other things you ought to be worrying about, like the Peace Brigade and the Yuuzhan Vong and the Republic's refusal to help us!" I was really rambling now. "He came here and now he's gone, all in a few days' time. I've forgotten all about it, really, Master, I have--"

"Lunaris, wait." Master Anakin stood up and firmly shook my shoulders. "Get a grip. First off, I don't think my worrying for you is a total waste. I'm your Master, you're my Apprentice. Whatever happens to you is my problem, and I have to help you get over it."

"Have to?"

"Yes, have to." He gave me another one of his goofy smiles, and I relaxed. "Also, I don't want to think about the Peace Brigade or the Yuuzhan Vong or the Republic or anything that doesn't have any connection whatsoever to this mission. And I don't think you're fully recovered from your hurt and all, but Uncle Luke and I believe that doing this mission will help in finally…healing you. A simple Jedi healing trance won't be enough, you know."

I sighed. "Alright. But do we really have to just burn up some pieces of paper?"

"It's not just that." Master Anakin picked up my lightsaber handle from the table and toyed with it. "There's a Yuuzhan Vong base near the location of the Sith mausoleum--"

"A Sith mausoleum? What's a Sith?"

"Korriban is a Sith mausoleum," Master Anakin explained patiently. "The whole planet is. A Sith is what you would call…Dark Jedi. A Jedi who uses the Dark Side of the Force. Before Yuuzhan Vong came into our galaxy, the Sith and the Jedi fought a war against one another. Darth Vader was the last one, I think."

Oh. Something new. "So…that's it? We fight a whole base of Yuuzhan Vong, then get inside the mausoleum, and destroy the scrolls, and that's it?"

"Not quite. Uncle Luke was vague about what else was in there. Maybe because we have to be careful, because there might be ancient Sith spirits in there, and they might try to corrupt us. Besides, these aren't just scrolls. They tell you how to free a powerful Sith spirit called Freedon Nadd. He was freed before, and Uncle Luke thinks he might be freed again if we don't act fast enough. The Yuuzhan Vong may beat us to it."

"Alright." I was itching to put my training to the test, anyway.

"Oh, and um, Lunaris." Master Anakin cleared his throat. "You wouldn't mind if we brought…Tahiri, would you?"

"What?!" This was my second what in less than ten minutes. "Again? Why?"

"Oh. For…company. And additional help, in case we need it," He was turning a deep shade of red.

Sithspawn. I found this reason hard to believe. "Whatever happened to 'Always two, there are; no more, no less, a Master and his Apprentice'?" I tried to control my voice from rising. Master Anakin was looking at his hands, so he couldn't see my struggle.

"You'll still be my Padawan, and I'll still be your Master, won't I? I just thought of bringing Tahiri for…reinforcement?"

"REINFORCEMENT?" I was surprised the Force didn't warn Master Anakin how…angry I was getting, and that's saying a lot. I mean, sure they're best friends and probably more than that now, and I wouldn't want to get in the way of their "budding relationship", but she'd already accompanied us in all our missions, intentional or not. I was hoping that this would be our first mission without her. "Master, I--"

"You don't mind, do you?" He peered up at me just then. I hate it when he does that. His ice-blue eyes staring up at me in that hopeful way that never fails to win my heart over, even if my brain is already screaming otherwise.

Mind? Of course I mind! But what choice did I have? Whether I wanted to or not, he'd always find a reason to bring her along—just like in our past missions. "No, I don't mind," I said, feeling somewhat defeated.

"Thanks! I knew you'd agree." He swept me up into a hug and promptly left, leaving me feeling very dejected, despite the hug. If I hadn't known better, I'd bet that Master Anakin would rather have Tahiri along than me.

Anakin found Tahiri in the chamber in the middle of the praxeum, practicing with a few training droids Anakin had built for himself. Behind her, a huge transparent steel window faced the harsh, never-ending Coruscant light.

She blew her blonde bangs off her forehead. "Begin sequence one."

The droids flew into action, their skeletal frames moving with amazing speed. They each had wicked-looking staffs—sharp on one end and spoon-shaped on the other, made to look like Yuuzhan Vong amphistaffs. The droids were designed to fight and battle using Yuuzhan Vong techniques, but also made to stop the moment they touched the skin of their opponent.

Anakin watched as Tahiri deftly ducked a blow from a droid coming from her left and swinging out her blade to meet its blow. Another droid came at her from her rear and she Force-jumped backwards, landing behind the droid and nearly slicing it in half.

Anakin had had enough. He wanted to have at least one droid to train with when she was done. "Tahiri!" he called out.

"Anakin?" she said, turning her head just as another droid raised his amphistaff above her head.

"Halt!" he commanded. The droid stopped, mid-blow, and died down. "Hi, Tahiri."

"Hi, yourself." She picked herself up from the floor and faced him." What did you do that for?"

"I wanted to make sure I wouldn't have to rebuild more training droids for myself. You were using a real lightsaber, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was. But I couldn't find a blade-shaped force field, the one that you use whenever you train. Besides, I was getting rusty. I had to polish my skills again with your droids, since I haven't been able to use them lately."

"You don't have to worry about that now." Anakin's face broke into a grin. "You're coming with me and Lunaris to another mission."

Tahiri's reaction was not what Anakin expected. "Again?"

"Why? What's wrong with it? You don't want to go with us?" Anakin's grin faded a trifle.

"No, no, it's just that I always thought that missions like these were only for Master and Apprentice, to help the Apprentice learn and the Master teach," she said, quoting a line from a Jedi book she'd read. "Besides, I've been to all your missions, and I don't think it's very fair to Lunaris if we keep doing the fighting more often than she does." It was true.

Anakin tried to stifle his disappointment. "But this time, you can help me teach Lunaris."

Tahiri shook her head. "You know that's not my place, Anakin Solo. But, I will come with you, in case you need reinforcements."

Anakin smiled. "That's the Tahiri I know."

"And love?"

"And love."

They walked on silently for a few more awkward minutes. Anakin wasn't used to feeling this way; what happened to the bubbly, talkative Tahiri he left on Yavin 4?

"Why'd you suddenly come here on Coruscant?" he asked, in an effort to break the silence.

"It was boring at the Temple, and Kyp was driving me nuts with his we-should-go-destroy-the-Yuuzhan-Vong speeches and his playing hero with his squadron again." Kyp Durron wanted to go ahead and fight against the Yuuzhan Vong, much to the disapproval of Luke. "Besides, I was sent here by Kam Solusar. He said I might be needed here. Looks like I arrived at the right time."

"Yeah, you were. Thanks for helping me with Lunaris' father back then, Tahiri."

"No need to thank me, Skywalker."

Anakin then looked at Tahiri; she looked as if she might burst with something she'd been wanting to say in a long time. "Tahiri, I--"

"I missed you, Anakin."

"I-I missed you too," he stammered.

"Why didn't you ever come visit me at Yavin 4? I was bored out of my wits there. None of the kids there would talk to me, they were too busy with their training, and Master Ikrit didn't think I was ready to help teach them." Her intense green eyes looked up into his bright blue ones.

"I was--"

"—busy, as always, as usual."

Anakin felt himself getting annoyed. "Tahiri, you don't understand, I--"

"Yes, Anakin, I don't understand, which is all the more reason you ought to take time to explain it all to me." Tahiri stopped and folded her arms in front of her. "What I do understand is that you're too busy to keep in touch with me, your best friend, even between all those battles and wars you've been going to. Why don't you ask for my help? Why don't you bring me along with you?"

"Tahiri, it's because you're too--"

"Young, Anakin? Will I always be "young" to you? I'm nearly sixteen, Anakin, can't you see that?" Her voice was close to a shrill now.

"Tahiri, please, I--"

"Master Anakin, Master Luke is calling for you." C-3PO's well-modulated voice interrupted Anakin, mid-sentence. " He says it's quite important."

"Thanks, Threepio." Anakin followed the protocol droid into Luke's study, leaving Tahiri in the hall outside without saying goodbye. He could feel her eyes boring into the back of his head, but he ignored this. "Have you found the location of Korriban?"

Luke looked up from a holographic map of the galaxy he was studying in the middle of the room. "Threepio, could you please check if all ships on our docking bay are functioning?"

"Certainly, Master Luke." C-3PO walked out of the room, leaving Luke and Anakin alone.

Luke pointed to a location in the map. "According to my research, Korriban should be right here."

Anakin stared at the space beyond Luke's finger. "Should be is right. It isn't there."

"That's what's so strange about it. Korriban hasn't been blown up or destroyed in the past four or five thousand years. It should be here."

"Maybe the system needs to be upgraded," Anakin suggested.

"Oh. Artoo," Luke summoned the astromech droid to his side. "Will you please upgrade this?"

Artoo beeped a reply and inserted a tool-tipped appendage from his small frame into a small machine that powered the hologram. The map disappeared and reappeared again, including more planets and stars in the galaxy. "Thanks, Artoo," Luke said. R2-D2 beeped again, and rolled away.

"There it is. Korriban. It's an Outer Rim planet, very close to wild space. It's much nearer Tatooine, if you need to stop somewhere familiar." Luke pointed at the holographic dot, and it expanded to fit the whole screen. "Moderate climate, with a lot of dense woods and wide clearings but deserted, save for the Yuuzhan Vong base, a few creatures, and whatever lurks in the Sith mausoleum." Luke handed Anakin a datacard. "This is a  map of the place, in case you need it."

C-3PO came in just then. "All ships are functioning, Master Luke. Will I have a ship prepared for you?"

"That won't be necessary. Please prepare one for Anakin here."

"Of course, Master Luke." He hobbled out again.

"You might want to bring Artoo," Luke said.

"I will." Anakin replied. "Uncle Luke, do you think bringing Tahiri along with us is a bad idea?"

"What makes think so?"

"Well, I asked Lunaris if I could. She agreed, but she didn't seem to happy. I can't blame her, Tahiri's been to every one of our missions. But I don't feel right without her."

"Anakin." Luke walked over and placed a hand on Anakin's shoulder. "There comes a time when a Master feels that he and his apprentice should be alone during training. It is the time when the Master feels that he is ready, or his apprentice is ready. Before that, the Master may ask assistance from anyone he feels he needs help from. Just follow whatever your head and your heart tells you."

"I will. And right now, it's telling me to get ready to leave."

"I'll tell Threepio to have it ready by tomorrow. Artoo will go with you. And Anakin."

"Yeah?"

"May the Force be with you."

"May the Force be with you, too."