A/N: Corinne- thanks for reading my story. As for the name Katara, I kinda got the name from KOTOR. In KOTOR, Juhani's master's name was "Quatara". I changed the Qu to K and decided to use that instead. Feel free to use the name if you want. If you want to use the character, that's fine too- the character of Katara in my story is mostly a blank template- I haven't really done anything with her, and all that's known is that she trained Lana. So you'd be free to create her in any likeness.

As for Alan's feelings... we'll find out, now won't we?

Chapter III- Nightfall

Night had fallen upon Crevasse City. With no moon in the sky to outshine them, the stars glowed brightly in the dark night sky. Bathed in the starlight, the exotically shaped and designed buildings of Crevasse City looked even more majestic. This beautiful majestic scene of the city seemed to provide Lana with a spiritual sustenance as she meditated near the hotel room window.

Alan was seated next to her, also meditating. The owner of the hotel had generously provided the two Jedi with a room high in the building's colossal towers. Lana and Alan could see most of the city from their view.

This day had been long and tiring- Alan needed this meditation time. Despite this, he could not find himself at peace with the force. The harder he tried to push away all distractions, the harder they came back. Alan could never remember a time when clearing his mind was as difficult as it was now. Unable to meditate, Alan decided to poll Lana on her progress.

"Have you found anything yet, Lana?"

"Not much, just bits and pieces, these guys are elusive." Lana replied. "They have stockpiled quite a few explosives, but they are still priming and preparing them."

"Do you know the target?"

Lana paused for a second. "No. But it is obvious that they will not strike their target tonight. We have time to rest and organize our raid."

That said, Lana opened her eyes and ended her meditation. She took in a deep breath and calmly relaxed before the window, once again awed by the marvelous sight of the city. After a few seconds, she turned away from the window and set her focus on Alan.

"Are you alright? You had trouble meditating again."

"Do you remember the temple, the academy?" Alan asked. His voice seemed to hollow as nostalgia suddenly gripped him as he digressed into his memories. "The day we met?"

"Of course, how could I ever forget? That was... more than thirteen years ago." She scowled. "Has it really been that long?"

"It has." Alan nodded contemplatively. "Do you remember Jeb?"

Lana grinned. "How could I forget? Nobody liked him, he was such a bully."

"I keep thinking about the day we decided to get him back for being such a jerk."

Lana almost blushed remembering. She grinned guiltily as if to restrain herself from laughing while shaking her head. "That really, really was not a nice thing of us to do, even if he was a jerk."

"It's really easy for us to say that, now that we're grown up. But it didn't seem so bad back then- it was the childish thing to do. Regardless, we were both chosen by different Jedi masters to become their Padawans. Jeb wasn't. The council sent him to Bandomeer to become a farmer."

Lana frowned. "Do you feel bad about that?"

"No, but I can't help but wonder how his life turned out. How different it is from my own."

"Are you wondering how your life would have turned out if you did not become a Jedi?"

"Sometimes."

A deep feeling of concern was aroused in Lana's heart as the conversation continued. "Are you beginning to have doubts, that maybe you made a mistake becoming a Jedi?"

"No." Alan said. Lana practically breathed a sigh of relief. Alan paused for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. "The Force is strong with us. It binds us and empowers us, but with it comes the discipline that guides us, the discipline that separates us from the Sith. The Force may not be strong with Jeb, wherever he is, but he's not bound by our disciplines. He's not restricted from feeling the full spectrum of emotions as we are..."

He gazed at Lana, a haunting, pained emotion expressed through his solid brown eyes. Lana met his gaze, using her own brown eyes to gaze deep into his soul. With her sharpened senses, Lana could feel everything- Alan was opening up and revealing his secrets to her. Their thoughts seemed to touch, and Lana could feel his pain, his loneliness, and his love. It was all so... overwhelming. Alan's feelings were all so familiar, for she knew them well. Lana also carried the same sensitive feelings within herself. She hesitantly brought these feelings to light, revealing them to Alan.

Lana drew closer to Alan, and he embraced her in his arms. The two Jedi sat silently, their bodies and minds entwined as they reached a silent understanding. They indulged into what could only be described as joint meditation, and for the first time in a long time, Alan felt at peace with the force.

Lana clasped Alan's hand, which was coarse and calloused from hours of saber practice. It took thirty minutes for the bliss to slowly fade from her system as reality, which she had tried so hard to escape, came snapping back at her. A tear welled in her eye.

"I know we can't do this, Lana." Alan admitted painfully after feeling her distress. "We aren't like Jeb, we are Jedi; this... this isn't allowed."

"But what if nobody knew?"

"If we kept a secret?" Alan asked in response. "We could end up going months, years even, without seeing each other. After this assignment is done, the council could reassign us to different missions."

"It would be hard to be at peace with the force." Lana admitted. "We'll always be longing to be together, to have a more functional relationship." Lana came to a long halt in her speech. "But we can try."

"Do you really think we can maintain that?"

"I don't know. But we're Jedi; we've been trained to resist the darker emotions that seem to come packaged with love."

"We'd be testing the limits of our discipline."

"The easiest way to bear a burden is to share it."

Alan nodded contemplatively. There was so much truth in her wisdom, yet he knew this was wrong. The rules of the code were established for a reason, but he could not resist.

"Alan." Her eyes glazed with the starlight as they glinted while analyzing his face. "We might not have the future, but we have now..."

He leaned forward and kissed her, dead on the lips. He could feel her emotions, as well as his own, cry out with joy that echoed throughout the room. Passion took control as that emotional barrier- vital to the Jedi existence- shattered. As she exchanged kisses with her lover, Lana took one last look back, knowing she had crossed a line, and there would be no turning back. Acknowledging this, her focus snapped back to the present. The two Jedi were consumed by the passions of the night.

A/N: Some more reviews would be really nice... More readers! ...Please?