Author's note: I have no idea if Korriban has lakes. And I borrowed some quotes and phrases from some Star Wars books and movies.

How could he have been so stupid not to notice? It was there already, with his protectiveness and concern and all towards her. Anakin shook his head, almost stumbling over a tree root he never noticed.

He knew he always loved her, but only as a brother would to a sister, and he never thought that his feelings towards her would evolve to something deeper and more intense. It was the same kind of feeling he had almost a year ago, before Tahiri left for Yavin 4, but he thought it gone forever after she underwent a major personality change. Now, every time he would look at her, or whenever she would talk to him, he got the familiar tickly feeling in his stomach.

Anakin mentally slapped himself. You can't fall for her, she's your apprentice, and you love her only as you would a sister, a little voice inside him insisted. He tried to concentrate on that thought, but somehow, Lunaris would pop back into his head, driving away his unsure resolution.

He was so preoccupied in his thoughts that he jumped when he felt a small hand touch his arm. "Are you alright?" Lunaris asked, peering up into his blue eyes worriedly.

Anakin stared for a moment. "Am I—what? Oh...I mean—no…uh…yes!"

Lunaris raised her eyebrow at his slowly reddening face. "Are you sure?"

Anakin could only nod.

"Whatever you say," she said, and walked on ahead of him, R2-D2 trailing behind her. They started their journey well after the sun was up, and this time, it was Lunaris who persisted to start already, since they woke up late and still had a long way to go.

Even the way she walked was nice, he thought. Her posture was straight and she exuded an air of confidence as she walked, her hair being drifted back as the wind blew around her.

He mentally slapped himself in the head again. What is wrong with you? He could only shake his head at that little voice again. He didn't know if he was even sure he loved her, or if it was just a momentary infatuation, and he didn't know if it was alright for him to be feeling that way towards her. He knew that she loved him back, but only as a sister would love a brother.

He heard a small squeal of delight ahead of him. "Master! Look!"

He ran up ahead, thinking her in mortal peril and needed to be rescued, when he came up to a fairly large body of water. "It's a lake," he said passively.

Lunaris' eyes widened. "Is that what it's called?" she asked, crouching down and trailing her fingers through the clear blue water. "It's so big! I've never seen a pool of water this big!"

"You've never seen a lake in your whole life?"

Lunaris shrugged. "My father never let me out of the house a lot often, and my mom died when I was really young, and when I entered the academy, they never let me out, either. Coruscant doesn't have a lot of these…lakes now, do they? The largest pool of water I've seen was when my father made me clean the toilet. I never thought toilets would be so big when you're the one cleaning them."

"So wait. You've never seen a lake?

"No. Not until now."

"How about the sea?"

"Never."

He shook his head in disbelief. "Not even in books?"

"Well, I've read their names, but never really saw the actual thing. There are no picture books in the Jedi Archives, see."

"Tell you what. We'll stay here for about an hour, so you can enjoy the…lake here."

He blushed when she threw her arms around his neck.

Anakin watched as his apprentice deftly folded, creased and uncreased a piece of paper into a sailboat. She set it down on the water and watched as the wind blew the tiny paper vessel away from them. She nodded her head back, sunlight falling on her face, black locks trailing behind her. Positioned that way, eyes closed, framed against the soft blue line of the lake, her simple beauty closed Anakin's throat for a moment.

She opened one eye to look at him. "What?"

"Uh…nothing." He blushed and looked away. He'd been doing a lot of blushing since that morning.

"I don't think it's 'nothing'." She dipped her bare foot in the water and playfully splashed a bit of it on the cuff of his pants. "What's wrong? Are you thinking about Tahiri again?"

No, I'm thinking about you, he thought, but didn't say it aloud. Instead he said, "Yeah, I am."

He saw her face fall out of the corner of his eye, but he pretended he didn't notice. "You're worried about her."

"Yes."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"I feel it."

"Feel what?"

"I can feel them hurting her. Ever since we met, Tahiri and I have been able to communicate to each other in a level higher than language. Master Ikrit said so." Master Ikrit was an old Jedi Master who believed Anakin and Tahiri to be strongly Force-binded together. "I can feel the pain they inflict on her. Lunaris, I want to do something. The only thing I can do now is look for the base, but even if we do, it might be too late. I…" He broke off and looked away.

Lunaris was silent. Then she dried her feet and put on her shoes. "Come on," she said unexpectedly, standing up.

Anakin looked up at her. "But 'Ris, this is the first time you've been here. I want you to enjoy this place, while we have the time. I promised you that. Besides, it's barely been an hour."

Her small figure loomed above him. "No. My pleasure is not our priority right now. We didn't come here to let me have a good time. We came here to prevent the Yuuzhan Vong from getting to the scrolls first, or to keep them from discovering what's in them. Come on," she repeated, and started to walk away. R2-D2 gave a small bleep and rolled after her.

Why'd she suddenly change her mind? he thought, bewildered. He hurriedly put his shoes back on and ran to catch up with her. He sensed hurt and suppressed unhappiness through the Force.

Then it came to him in a sort of electric jolt. "Lunaris, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you that. I was just worried about Tahiri, and--" he was trying to keep up with Lunaris' pace at the same time trying to talk to her. "—I thought you might have wanted to know. You asked, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did," she said in a small voice, but continued her snatched stride. "That's why we're going now, aren't we? We have to save Tahiri, and cut up a bunch of scrolls." She abruptly stopped and looked at him, and Anakin was surprised to see tears in her eyes, despite the smile on her face.

"'Ris, I--"

"Let's go." Her words were clipped, and she resumed her quick pace.

Anakin stared at her retreating back, bewildered. He wanted to reach out to her, to find out what she really meant through the Force, but he knew she wouldn't like his invasion of privacy, no matter how subtle he was. He sighed and followed her instead.

I was the first who found it. "Master, look! The Yuuzhan Vong base." What Tahiri said was true: the entire base was enormous. And it all looked…alive. The Yuuzhan Vong abhorred technology and all sorts off machinery, and their ships and structures were said to be made of living, growing things, yet I was surprised to actually see it and find out out that it was true. I didn't think everything would look so…thriving. Even their amphistaffs were alive, as I watched two Yuuzhan Vong guards patrol around what seemed to be the entrance to the main building from behind a thick shrub.

I had kept silent all throughout the journey, because I needed to think. I was grateful Master Anakin didn't probe through my thoughts with Force; I liked my privacy, and this certainly was very private. It hurt me to know that he was still concerned about Tahiri, even if he told me he didn't know if he still loved her, and even if thinking that made me sound so inconsiderate. I knew that he had his rights to worry about her; she was his best friend, he'd known her almost all his life, and he used to love her. I didn't know why I was so hurt about Master Anakin's worry over her, though. I had to meditate on it, but not now.

I expected scurrying feet running behind me, but there was none. I turned around and saw that Master Anakin was perched atop an elevated knoll, lying on his stomach, gazing at the base. I wasted no time in running up to him, and lay down on my stomach as well beside him. "Well?" I asked impatiently.

He made a shooing motion, and I noticed his eyes were closed. He was meditating, so I joined him.

We tuned out to the Force sensations around us and focused instead on Tahiri. She was hurt, weak, and badly tortured, yet we sensed her strong spirit and relieved some of her pain by transferring some of our energy to her. I could feel the Force ebbing and flowing around us, detaching me from particulars that binded me to the material world. I filled my heart with reassurance and reached out through the Force, feeling Master Anakin and Tahiri do the same.

Master Anakin held us for a few treasured moments, filling me with love and courage and Tahiri with strength and endurance. Tahiri, in turn, embraced us, as she delivered herself to a Jedi healing trance. I let all my worries, hurts and frustrations be released and instead satiated them with hopeful thoughts and quiet emotions.

/Where are you, Tahiri? /

/They left me in the execution area. I am guarded, but not as heavy as they usually would. /

/What did they do to you? /

/They asked me if I was alone, because they would hunt you down and kill you if I told them I wasn't. I think they already know you're here. /

/Tahiri…/ Master Anakin embraced her in the Force.

/You must save me, Anakin, Lunaris…I have information you will need to disable this base and to get those scrolls…Help me, Anakin Solo…you're my only hope. /

/Tahiri! /

/She's resting now, my young Padawan. /

When we had finished, I felt refreshed and at peace in the Force. It was the most intimate Force communication I had ever experienced, because Master Anakin and Tahiri and I had relinquished ourselves without restraint to the Force.

I sat back on the ground. "What do we do now?"

"First, we wait for midnight before we start. We have to rescue Tahiri first, so we can know whatever we need to know from her."

"How do you suggest we do that?"

"I have a plan."

Oh, no.

"I hope you know what we're both doing," I muttered to Master Anakin as we both crouched down behind a rock, keeping watch on two Yuuzhan Vong guards patrolling in front of one of the main buildings.

"Of course I do. Don't you have any faith in me?" Master Anakin paused for a moment to grin at me, then turned back to watch another set of Yuuzhan Vong guards in front of the another one of the main buildings. "Now, do you remember what you're supposed to say?"

"I think so…it's do-ro'ik vong pratte, right?" I rolled the words around in my mouth. "Pardon my asking, but what in the world does it mean?"

"I dunno," Master Anakin shrugged. "I heard Tahiri yell it out as some guy was about to kill me. Some of their language remained in her brain, I guess. Don't worry about what it means, even she didn't know what it meant. Besides, you're supposed to yell it out, aren't you?"

I gulped. Any moment now, we'd be popping out of the bushes, and I'd have to shout that out to get their attention. I tried one last time, though. "Why me? I mean, this is the first time I'll be fighting against them, and who knows, I might not get it right, and they might think I'm insulting their language, and all dive for me. You know I don't have a very loud voice, Master…"

"Come off it, 'Ris. Whether or not you'll be getting it right isn't the point. We've got to provoke them to make them attack us, and not pronouncing it right is one way of irritating them. I'll be using the Force to magnify your voice to such a level that all patrolling guards outside will hear it, yet whomever's inside won't. Now get ready."

We both watched another pair of lookouts descend from the ramp of the third main building, a dome-shaped structure which I had guessed to be the barracks, or wherever the warriors were supposed to be staying.

"Lightsabers on." Two lightblades, a purple one and a white one, pierced through the dark.

"Get ready." My heart was hammering wildly in my throat.

"Now!" We jumped out of the bushes and charged towards the base. "Do-ro'ik vong pratte!" I shouted, almost dropping my lightsaber at the loudness of my voice.

Four Yuuzhan Vong guards rushed towards us, their amphistaffs raised. I rolled to the ground and swung at the nearest guard's legs. His right foot flew into the air before landing down beside his fallen body with a sickening thud.  I drove my lightsaber into the chest of the next guard, and blocked the low upward thrust of the de-footed guard. I plunged my saber into his chest as well, and raised it up when he stopped stirring. For the sake of just making sure, I beheaded the other guard's head before running off to help Master Anakin.

There were five guards on Master Anakin all at the same time, and I used the Force to toss three of them into the air. "Thanks, 'Ris," Master Anakin managed to grunt as he struggled under the consecutive blows of one seemingly angry Yuuzhan Vong. I turned around in time to riposte the blow of an amphistaff aimed for my head. The warrior, realizing he was too close, tried to move back to strike again, but it was too late. His head flew off his body. Behind me, I heard a warrior cry out from Master Anakin's lightsaber.

And now there were three. "I seem to have a flair for beheading Yuuzhan Vong guards," I panted to Master Anakin as he pushed against my back with his, fighting two warriors at the same time.

"When I grab you, kick these two guards," he ordered, switching off his lightsaber. He wheeled around, snatched me by the waist, and propelled me around to face the two fighters. My feet hit them squarely on their necks, twisting and breaking them in the process.

The last one picked himself off the ground and stormed towards us. Master Anakin heaved me into the air, making me fall straight onto the guard and allowing me to chop his head off.

"Let's go, 'Ris," he said, running past me. I caught up to him, laughing.

"Don't laugh," he said. "Help me look for Tahiri!"

"That was fun," I said, thumbing the control on my lightsaber.

"Now you know why I like going on missions," he replied.

We halted as we reached a small, dust-covered field. A small figure was lying down on the ground in the middle. "Tahiri!" I cried, running towards her.

"No!" Master Anakin lunged forward and held me back in time. "Feel, don't think. Use your instincts." He pointed to two Yuuzhan Vong guards advancing towards her, holding stun cuffs I recognized as those supplied by the Peace Brigade. "I'll go distract them while you get Tahiri, understand?"

I nodded and sprinted towards Tahiri. Behind me, I heard Master Anakin switch on his lightsaber and ran towards the guards.

"Tahiri!" I skidded on my knees and lifted her head. Her short blonde hair was mussed up, and there were bruises on her face. I could faintly make out the scars inflicted by the Yuuzhan Vong on her a year ago.

"Lunaris!" she said weakly. "Where's Anakin?"

"Fighting two Vong warriors, but he'll follow. We have to get you out now." I struggled to lift her up, and put her arm around my shoulder to support her.

"Hurry. Tell him to hurry. Others will be coming out of the other buildings." I half-dragged, half-carried her away from the field.

Master Anakin ran up behind me and lifted Tahiri off her feet. "All gone," he said to me, as we ran towards the knoll. Master Anakin gently laid her on the ground. "Get a medi-aid kit, Artoo," he asked the little droid.

I watched as Master Anakin smoothed the hair out of her face. "I'm so glad you're safe, Tahiri," he murmured, bending down to kiss her.

I decided I couldn't bear to watch anymore of it, and quietly walked backward, slowly blending into the dark.

Tahiri's hand went to the back of Anakin's neck, pulling him down towards her and kissing him back. "Thanks for getting me, Anakin," she said, smiling up at him.

He grinned down at her, and Tahiri was surprised as he held back unshed tears. "I'm your best friend, aren't I? You'd do the same thing to me."

She reached up and wiped away his tears with her thumb. "Aww, don't go all mushy on me now, Solo, you know I hate tears." Her old self emerged for an instant.

"Sorry," he said. "You just don't know how happy I am to know you're safe." Artoo promptly arrived, with the medi-kit in one extended metal claw. Anakin took the kit, and Artoo rolled back and automatically shut itself in standby mode.

He pulled out a couple of bandages and tubes of cream and began doctoring Tahiri's wounds. "You're hurt. What happened?"

Tahiri didn't know. It all went by in a sort of blur, like a hologram put on fast forward, with some scenes only being paused long enough for her to remember. She told Anakin so.

He merely shook his head. "Never mind about that. We'll talk about it tomorrow, when you've had your rest. Right now, you need to sleep." He took her hand and placed them both in a healing trance, resting his head on her chest. She felt herself drifting off to sleep, with hazy visions of random scenes in her head.

"Ouch. Stop it. Ouch." Anakin muttered in his sleep, as Artoo poked at his arm. "Cut it out."

Artoo extended a pair of tweezers and tweaked his arm. "Ow!" he exclaimed, sitting up and rubbing his arm. "What, Artoo?"

Artoo whirred agitatedly and turned towards Tahiri's side. Anakin's eyes followed Artoo's direction and could barely make out Lunaris lying down on her stomach with her hand on Tahiri's, shaking copiously.

"Lunaris!" he whispered in the dark, and groped towards her. He pushed her so she was on her back, and saw that she was still awake. "What are you doing?"

"Taking…some of…Tahiri's pain and…" She seemed to be in great pain. "I'm replaying…everything that happened to her…while she was…in the base…" She gritted her teeth, and managed not to cry out.

"Let go of Tahiri's hand!" he told her, trying to pry Lunaris' fingers from Tahiri's.

"I can't!" she yelped. "It's too late…Just wait for it…to finish…it'll be done…soon…"

Anakin watched helplessly as Lunaris writhed, thrashed, and bit down her cries, in an attempt to relieve the pain she felt. Tahiri, he noticed, seemed to sleep peacefully, as Lunaris drained the pain from her memories. Finally, she slumped down, her grip on Tahiri's hand loosened. "All done," she said weakly.

Anakin took her by the shoulders and shook her. "You stupid girl!" he said, emphasizing each word with a violent shake. "What were you trying to do?"

Her eyes were glazed over, and her face was slowly losing color. "When she tells you everything that happened to her tomorrow, she won't be feeling anything. It'll just be as if she was reciting a memorized poem," she murmured. She reached inside her robes and pulled out a flask with familiar-looking red liquid inside it. She pulled out the stopper and swallowed nearly half the bottle. "There. Much better."

"What did you do?" Anakin didn't want to see her like this. He didn't want her to suffer anymore than she had to. It was really stupid of her to do it, but it was too late.

"I now know everything she went through, but the difference here is I have the pain she felt."

"How long will it stay with you?"

"I'll be dreaming of it, I think, along with the ones of my father's."

"What?!" He slapped her hard, which sent her rolling on the ground. "What were you thinking?"

"Of Tahiri," she said feebly. "I was watching her sleep, and she looked so disturbed. I don't think she deserved it, so I took it. She's looking much better now, don't you think?"

"And you deserve it? Lunaris, how could you?"

"I just did. Leave me, Master, I'm so tired. This pain-taking thing is exhausting. I just want to sleep." She lay her head on her arms and was immediately fast asleep.