Part 4.

Enclave cantina.

Juhani sat alone on a table in the corner of the vast hall that made up the Jedi enclave cantina. The building was new and quite impressive. Gone was the far smaller hall that she remembered from the original enclave. Instead, to keep up with the vast numbers of visitors, the hall was huge. Stuffed with tables, chairs and the scents of food, drink suitable for the various species of many planets, it should have been noisy. However, as Juhani looked around she sighed in relief. The cantina was very quiet this afternoon as the Jedi who occupied most of the tables, chatted quietly.

Her meal had taken her twenty or thirty minutes to eat. She'd been deliberately slow in consuming it, an attempt to resist the urge she felt to head back to the medical wing and wait with Revan.

"I try so hard, and yet my passion for things, all things, remains." Her mind ran slowly as she stared at her Caffa mug. In it's deep depths she looked for a reason, an answer as to why she cared so much for Yuthura. "Why lie to myself any longer? I care about her because I find her attractive."

She sighed and shook her head. "I know where that path leads. I left Belaya when I felt my desire, my attraction for Quatra, and I almost struck her down when she rejected me." Juhani sipped the steaming drink and stared into it once more. "Passion, attraction... love, are too dangerous for me. I have to repress my feelings, my attraction for Yuthura. I will aid her, help her, but I can't get involved, I mustn't."

It had amazed her, that Revan and Bastila had formed a love so tight, so powerful, that it had broken the darkside's hold on Bastila, had broken any attempt for it to claim Revan once more. Their love was pure, strong, governed by their minds as well a their hearts. Juhani felt certain that should the worst happen, the survivor would honour the fallen by living as they had always done, or she hoped so. The bond was as much a mystery to her as the Jedi it united, and it seemed that it had taken their love to a next level. Juhani sighed... she envied them, slightly.

"Which is a negative emotion." She thought with dry sarcasm. "An emotion I should not have because I am a Jedi. It seems I still have a way to go, my anger and rage were only part of what I need to deal with for the rest of my life. I can add envy and desire to my list as well."

She sipped the hot caffa once more, not really tasting it, more as something to do, to while away the time. Her eyes flickered across the plates that had comprised her meal and they came to a halt over one of the sweet pastries she had, with a moment's hesitation, bought herself. She didn't like desserts much, quite odd for one denied them in life. Yet, even now she found them sickly and not to her palate. So, why had she bought it?

"Because you thought it would delay you even more." She admitted reluctantly, quietly to the air. "Something to do, something to dwell over."

Picking up her fork, Juhani cut into the pastry and was about to consume the first tiny slice when she felt a presence behind her. Glancing up, she narrowed her eyes at the sight of Selyne, dressed in identical robes to her and looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"May I join you?" She asked and Juhani paused for a few seconds before inclining her head. Selyne sank down on to the opposite chair and stared at the pasty on Juhani's plate. "That's quite a bit indulgent Juhani."

"Indulgent?" Juhani slipped the pastry into her mouth and chewed slowly. "Possibly. However, when you have gone as a child without access to things such as these, they do appeal."

"I would class that as giving in to your emotions," Selyne sniffed ever so slightly and Juhani frowned. "I thought we Jedi were supposed to repress them?"

"We are and I do not think that enjoying a meal or enjoying life is wrong or something a Jedi should not do." Juhani drank her caffa as Selyne flushed slightly. "Now, was there a reason you have obviously sought me out?"

"Well, I've been talking to Quatra," Selyne muttered and she gazed at Juhani intently. "Is it true you tried to strike her down?"

"I... well, yes." Juhani felt uncomfortable, but Selyne was interested, she could tell. She sighed and clutched her caffa cup. "I fell in love... no that's not right, I became infatuated with Master Quatra. When she rejected me, I felt terrible. When she taunted me a few hours later during a sparring session I lost control and attacked her. I have a temper, Selyne, and Revan has helped me cope with it."

Selyne shook her head. "How did someone like you become a Jedi?" Juhani frowned and Selyne looked piously at her. "If I had done that to my Master? I would have expected no less than being expelled from the academy."

Juhani felt her hands clasp the caffa cup so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "There is no emotion, only peace, there is no chaos, there is serenity!" her mind repeated desperately as her temper flared.

"Really," Juhani managed. "Well, considering that I fell to the darkside and proceeded to try and kill the man who saved my life? I think I paid for my infatuation."

"You were lucky Revan could save you from the darkside," Selyne's lips thinned. "The dark is so insidious, it could have tainted you forever. You really do owe him everything."

"I am well aware of what I owe him," Juhani growled and then shuddered. She forced her emotional controls into place and controlled her temper, she was better than that. "Is there some point to all this?"

Selyne leaned back in her chair. "Well, as we're going to be working together for quite some time, I feel I should know some more about you."

Juhani nodded reluctantly, despite her desire to leave. "Very well. What is it you wish to know?"

"Well, more about you I suppose." Selyne smiled. "Quatra's told me some of your past. Your parents, how you came to Dantooine, your desire to be a Jedi. But, I still have a few questions that I'd like answered."

Ask." Juhani sighed, toying with her pastry once more.

"I was thinking back to the rescue mission on that Sith controlled planet. You went undercover as a slave for Quatra, yes?"

Juhani nodded, where was she going with this? "Yes I did, what of it?"

"Well, you would have had to prove that you and Mission were Slaves, yes? I mean, they wouldn't have let you two enter the chambers alone, unescorted, if you hadn't been slaves."

"No, they would have kept an eye on us." Juhani had a terrible feeling she knew where this was going and she stamped on her growing dislike for the Jedi opposite her. "So we had to act as slaves. Is there a reason you have brought this up, Selyne?"

"Well, I hear that slaves have a tattoo placed on their bodies." Selyne tilted her head at Juhani, who slowly slid another morsel of pastry into her mouth, ignoring Selyne's eyes. "That's right, yes?"

"It is." Juhani muttered, dreading the next question. Her fingers tightened on the fork.

"So, want to tell me how you got yours? Where it is?" Selyne urged. "Did you get it a long time before Revan's troops rescued you?"

Juhani felt her fur rise slightly in distaste at Selyne, not because of the questions themselves, but the way she was asking them. Juhani had never met such an arrogant and, and snooty Jedi before and it grated against her self-control.

"My Life story is not a tale to be told lightly! Especially to merely interest people!" She snapped, instantly regretting letting her temper escape. "It is a private and personal thing that I tell only to those who are closest to me!"

"Oh," Selyne managed to make her answer seem more disappointed that ashamed and Juhani felt a greater surge of dislike for this Jedi. Her fur, already raised along the back of her neck, began to rise down her spine.

"I suggest," Juhani managed. "That if you truly wish to know me better, to learn of my past, then next time you ask me you do so with a less demanding tone! I do not appreciate the way you have conducted this 'inquisition' Padawan Hirana!"

Selyne blushed slightly and stood. "I do apologise, Knight Juhani. I merely wished to know more about you."

"Then may I once more suggest that when we next meet and you wish to ask me about such things, that you step carefully. May I also suggest that if you wish to ask Mission such things, that you do not repeat the same mistakes as you have with me! Now, if that is all Selyne, I wish to finish my dessert and caffa. I need to return to Revan, as I doubt I will be able to sleep now."

"I apologise, Juhani." Selyne walked briskly away from the table and out of the cantina door.

Juhani sighed and after a few moments to recover her emotional balance, turned her attention to her meal once more. She would finish her pastry and caffa, then return to Revan. Hopefully by that time, the memories that Selyne had pulled up would fade once more.

Medical wing: Jedi Enclave, four hours later.

Revan looked up as Juhani walked back from the cantina. He immediately saw the unhappy expression on her face and slid to his feet.

"Juhani?" He asked, reaching out to touch her on the shoulder. "Juhani what's the matter?"

She looked at him with haunted eyes and shuddered. "Nothing, Revan. Nothing that you can help heal I promise you. I... I just had something happen that made me recall memories I... I thought I had dealt with."

"What? What happened at the Cantina? And why are you back so soon? Four hours sleep is not enough for anyone, even you." Revan shook her slightly. "You're pushing yourself too hard Ju. Looking after Yuthura is exhausting you, I can see it."

"I have a debt I must pay back." She muttered, looking away. "My health has not suffered that greatly. Besides, when we leave for the mission, it will doubtless require days in hyperspace, I can catch up on my sleep then."

"Well, at least tell me what happened to bring such pain into your eyes." Revan stared gently at her and Juhani flushed. "I can see it Juhani, the same pain when you saw Xor, when he taunted you."

"It is nothing!" She muttered, unable and unwilling to place Selyne's brash nature on his already burdened shoulders. "If anything, Revan, I promise I will keep an eye on what caused this."

"Well, alright." Revan shook his head. So strong and stubborn... like someone else he knew.

The doors to the operating room slid open suddenly and an exhausted looking Fara and Jazir, his grey hair, damp with sweat, walked slowly out of the room. Fara slumped against the wall and sighed in relief, Jazir merely stood, hunched slightly. The two Jedi watched the healers quietly and eventually Fara turned to gaze at them.

"I have never seen so much mental damage," She muttered, her face pale. "If the Sith didn't want to kill her, then they had a very good try. I have to say that I will never underestimate their ability to cause destruction ever again." Fara glanced back at the slightly ajar doors and sighed. "That woman is both powerful in the Force and will, and that is all that saved her."

Revan glanced at Juhani, and felt her own expression of relief match his. "You managed to heal her mind?"

"I hope so, I really do." Fara glanced at Jazir, who remained silent and yawned with exhaustion. "The fractures ran deep, into her very core. However, Yuthura told you the truth, Revan, there was a part of her that she managed to save, to lock away. It took us a long time to unlock it, but once we did, the pieces that they managed to shatter were easier to fit together."

Jazir snorted slightly at that and Fara glanced at him.

"Oh very well! Not easy as such, but they did form a pattern. Both Jazir and myself think we have been successful in repairing Yuthura's mind. However, it will take many hours for her mind to become active once more. Part of the process is to place the patient in a sort of coma, we have to shut down almost all of her thought processes. If we didn't, it would be like trying to sort a puzzle with pieces that shift and meld together."

"So, what will happen when she awakes?" Juhani sounded as worried as Revan felt himself. "Will she need assistance? Care? Drugs?"

"Well, if all has gone as it should do, Yuthura will eventually awaken and remember everything up to the time her mind broke. After that she will probably have some fragments of what happened, but it will be hard for her to make any use of them. She'll probably be startled to find herself back here. So, I would suggest that someone remain with her until she awakes, just to reassure her that she is safe."

"I will stay with her," Juhani told Fara and as Revan opened his mouth to object, she turned to him with a faint smile. "There are two reasons Revan. Firstly, I consider this part of my honour pledge and second, I saw a Republic shuttle touching down at the military section of the Dantooine spaceport. There are no other expected arrivals, except the Endar's Spirit."

"Bastila..." Revan murmured with delight, only to find Juhani smiling at him tenderly. "I... are you sure?"

"Yes," She nodded and placed a gentle furry hand on his arm. "Go and see your lover, your bond mate.... brother."

Revan smiled at her tender expression, and with a quick bow towards Fara and Jazir, ran off to the spaceport as quickly as possible. Juhani could feel his exhilaration in the Force and smiled at his exuberance, much better than the despondency that had been choking him recently. She turned to the two healers and sighed.

"So, what needs to be done, Master healers?" Fara slid to her feet and nodded.

"Well, lets get her back to her room first. I'll go though with you what has happened to our other patients when they awake. However, be warned, knight Juhani, Yuthura's mind was very badly damaged, and she was once a Sith. I have no idea how that will affect her waking, so I can only stress that you have any precautions you feel are necessary, just in case."

"Understood," Juhani murmured and bowed. "Shall we proceed?"

Hawk's landing bay.

Revan walked back towards the shadowy shape of the Hawk, his face dejected. He'd ran all the way to the starport and had spent precious moments arguing with the guard, in a peaceful way, that he should be let into the military section. By the time the guard had grudgingly stepped aside, it had been twenty precious minutes of wasted time.

Revan had run to the port that the diplomat he'd grabbed and flustered pointed him towards, only to find it empty. The few remaining people in the port had shrugged when he'd questioned them, what was another person in robes? He knew Bastila had begun to hide her lightsabre inside her robes, she 'd become far more discreet in her abilities since her fall to the darkside.

After a few more questions and an unbearable ten-minute wait in the main hall while he'd stretched his powers into the bond, only to find it hard to sense her at all, Revan had dejectedly left. Now he walked back to the Hawk, the exhaustion of the past few hours catching him up.

He stopped and glanced up at the dusk sky. The sun had dropped to the point where the brighter stars were almost visible and he stared at their twinkling glow, his mind aching with misery. He needed her advice, her presence... her.

"Bastila..." He whispered into the night sky, the scents of the various plants and flowers swirled around him and he inhaled. "I need you, and I need your advice more than ever..."

"What about?" A sudden quiet voice whispered inside his head and he staggered back in shock. She was here! "Of course I am, my love... I am here."

As he glanced around, a sudden movement next to the Hawk made him stare at the entrance ramp and his heart fluttered. The woman that made his life complete stood on the very tip of the ramp, half hidden by the shadows.

"Hello my love, have you missed me?" She whispered into the night sky and he felt his heart shudder.

"Bastila..." He breathed. It had only been a month, but to him it felt like an eternity that she'd been gone. Now she stood there, her right arm gently wrapped around one of the hydraulic rams of the ramp, while the other held her duffel bag limply, it's weight on the floor. He felt his spirits rise, soar and he licked his lips. "I'm sorry I missed you at the sta..."

Without any warning, her duffel bag fell to the floor with a gentle thud and before he could react, she was running as fast as her legs could carry her across the permacrete. Her clothing whirled behind her, and her dual ponytails, even longer since he had last seen them, trailing behind her like a wake.

Without a single noise, she launched herself at him and Revan grunted only a little as her entire boy weight landed onto his waist. He felt her smooth arms slide around his neck and her leg's scissor tightly around his waist. Her soft face, all smooth skin, deep eyes and fresh perfume hovered grinning in front of him until her lips slid onto his own with gentle pressure.

"My love, my Revan," Her mind's voice slid around him like a sweet intoxicating alcohol. "My all, my everything."

"Bastila..." His own mind whispered back, as he hugged her tightly, felt the warmth of her body, the fullness of her lips, the taste of her, the smell of her skin. "My all, my everything, my reason for living even now...."

Slowly, they broke the kiss and Revan looked deeply into her eyes. "Hello, my little Kinrath pup..."

"Rowf.." She whispered and her face split into very un-Jedi like giggles. "Oh, I've missed you so much!"

"Me too, don't you ever go away again! At least, not for a few years. If we go," Revan kissed her gently and she shuddered slightly. "We go together from now on!"

"Fine by me..." She whispered and her lips slid to nuzzle his neck. "Although that may be a little impractical in the future. How the Force will you stop them splitting us up again? The universe needs us Revan."

"Well, it can have the two of us at once..." Revan slid his hands along to cup her smooth flanks. "So, to change the subject my little princess, how about a cup of caffa after your long journey?"

"Mmm, almost as if you have read my mind." Bastila sighed and moved to drop from Revan to walk back to the Hawk. Revan shifted suddenly, however, and she slid around his body with a gasp. She found herself in his arms, one set holding her back and the other cupping her thighs. "Wha... I can walk!"

"Indulge me..." Revan whispered, his eyes twinkling and Bastila sighed. "I've never carried you anywhere and I want to practice a bit, before I get to carry you to bed..."

Bastila felt a blush slip onto her face and she initially clamped down on her feelings of desire. However, as her mind repeated the new code she lived by, she realised that this was nothing to be ashamed of, nothing the older Jedi would have scolded her for, and she relaxed.

He was here, safe and sound. She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned her head against his chest, hearing the slow steady beat of the heart that loved her. It had been a bad dream, nothing more. She shuddered at the memory of the dark fluid as it covered her until she couldn't breath, remembered Revan's terrified cry's, not for himself, for her. Unable to help herself she hugged the man carrying her tightly, trying to banish the memory of the dream, or vision, with his warmth.

Revan felt her shivering and glanced down in concern. He tried to use the bond to find out what was wrong, but Bastila instinctively clamped down on what was upsetting her and he stopped pushing.

"Want to talk about it?" he murmured as he carried her up the ramp. She shook her head.

"No, because I don't know what it is that has upset me... what it means." She sighed and glanced up at him, her blue eyes dark. "It's probably nothing more than a bad dream. I... I'll tell you what upsets me tomorrow, I promise. For now?" She leaned into him again. "Just hold me."

Revan hugged her tighter as they walked into the main corridor of the Hawk. Revan for his part, slowly walked towards the main holotable of the ship and placed her gently onto its surface. Bastila sighed as she felt his hands slip from her, only to gasp as he gripped her chin and pulled her close for a kiss. She felt herself melt slightly as he broke it.

"Now, how about that Caffa?" Revan asked softly, a smile playing across his face. "You still take it medium sweet?"

"Heh, almost as if you read my mind..." Bastila grinned, glad that Revan had changed the subject so tactfully. "Oh, wait... you can read my mind."

"Only if you let me... otherwise I have to push." Revan whispered with a smile. "I don't like to push, I want you to let me in."

Bastila blushed, a deep red at his tone. "Oh, behave!" She muttered, trying not to laugh.

Revan grinned at her expression and turned to the synthesiser. As he fiddled with the controls to produce two cups of caffa, Bastila glanced around the Hawk with a smile of recall.

"I never thought I'd come to miss this scruffy ship..." She glanced towards the corridor that led to the rear bunks on the right and smiled wistfully. "Or what happened inside it."

Revan's fingers gripped the two mugs of caffa, and he turned to find Bastila staring almost dreamily at the rear of the ship. He smiled as he recalled that time as well, and clearing his throat, handed her the caffa gently as her head slid round once more. She took it with a nod of thanks and sipped gently as he wandered back to the food area and began to clear away the slight mess he'd caused.

"So, where is everyone?" She asked curiously.

"Juhani is with Yuthura at the moment, Mission is somewhere around. My new Padawan... Selyne is probably about as well.

"Selyne?" Bastila sipped her caffa and crooked her head. "That's the name of the young woman who ran up to you on the Hawk?"

"Mmm," Revan turned to her and stepped forwards, sliding into the chair opposite her. "So far, I'm very impressed. She'll be a hell of a Jedi, except..."

"Except what?"

"She has the same problem as Juhani, you and me did until we muddled through." Revan sighed and sipped his own caffa slowly. "She has... a lot of passion. Unlike you, Juhani, and myself, she hasn't found a way to deal with it yet. She can be stubborn and arrogant, hell she is stubborn and arrogant!"

"What will you do?" Bastila asked him, smiling inwardly at how... thoughtful he was being. She'd never seen him as a teacher. "How will you teach her control?"

"I have no idea." He smiled ironically. "How can I? After all, I've not been a great role model for controlling emotions."

"Revan, I have faith in you." Bastila slid to her feet and sat next to him. "I'm sure that Selyne just needs guidance. After all, the council would not have placed her with you unless they were assured of your abilities."

"It just seems so... rushed." Revan whispered at her and he shrugged. "Would you give a Padawan to me? Seriously?"

"Well," Bastila clutched her caffa cup and sighed. "I'm too biased to say no, but I see your point. I suppose you and I have to trust in the wisdom of the council."

"You always say that," He smiled faintly at her and it was her turn to shrug.

"So, why have Jolee, Carth and myself been called back to Dantooine?" She grinned. "I presume it's to do with you, or something you're involved with?"

She sipped her caffa again, only to gasp at the sudden, intense, pain that flowed along the bond from Revan. Her fingers tightened reflexively on the cup, and she stared at him in shock. She could feel, regret, fear and even despair rolling from him, for a reason that she couldn't fathom. Slowly, she reached out to touch his shoulder and he shivered.

"What is it?" She asked in shock. Revan, at first normal and almost cheerful had changed. He was worried, deeply worried. She reached into the bond and projected as soothing a feeling as she could, as her lips trembled in sympathy. "Revan, tell me. We promised each other, no more secrets."

"I... I... It's not a secret Bastila," Revan managed finally, his voice cracked. "I've been having nightmares recently, bad ones."

"Show me..." She whispered and with a gentle, almost cautious touch, she reached into his mind.

Mission's dead eyes stared accusingly up her with a cold glassy gaze, a raw sabre burn running along her neck. Bastila felt sick at the sight of it, a livid red slash against the soft blue skin. She backed away from the lifeless corpse, a moan of horror in her throat. As she did so, her eyes flicked reluctantly to the armour that Mission wore. It was slashed and scarred in hundreds of places, some areas still smoking from the slightly glowing edges of the various rents. Bastila knew what weapon had caused that, she had done her own fair share of similar damage to Sith troopers. Leaning down, she gently closed the Twi'lek's eyes, hoping the young woman would find her way in the afterlife. With a sigh, Bastila glanced around once more.

Juhani, a gaping wound in her chest, lay crumpled in the corner. Her fur was singed black... it smoked. Bastila moved forwards in a futile attempt to try and help her, but the odour of burning fur and the sickly sweet scent of burnt flesh repelled her. She kneeled down to stare at the Cathar and, shaking her head in regret, turned to the next familiar figure.

Jolee stared unseeing at the floor. Unsurprising, as his neck had been snapped by some great force. Bastila stared at his wizened old face and winced, he hadn't died easily if the expression left there was anything to go by.

Carth's body lay slumped in the middle of the room, a pool of blood collected under him. Bastila knelt down and rolled the body of her pilot friend slowly to one side. Again, a sabre had caused the wound... the edges of the wound cauterised, leaving the blood to leak from the lurid red gash between them. She let him roll slowly back and sighed.

Revan had not been lying. This recalled nightmare was scaring her just as much as it had him. The question she needed to have answered was why he was dreaming about all his friends dying... and was she here?

A gentle sobbing echoed around the room, filling it with echoes. Bastila rose slowly, gazing around, and spying an open door. She walked towards it, the sobbing slowly growing louder as she approached. A sudden change in the texture of the metal plating under her feet made her glance down, and she felt her lips twist in disgust. Her boots were coated on the soles, by a thick dark red liquid... blood, congealing blood. She followed the sticky trail to another half-opened door, the lock burned and sparking, and peered round.

Revan lay kneeling on the floor, his trousers and boots coated in the same sticky blood as that covering the floor... tears rolling in a steady stream down his face. She stared at him and then to the body that he rocked gently in his lap. Bastila leaned forwards, as she could hear Revan murmuring words to the figure, words of encouragement. As she looked at the face of the figure held tightly in his grip, she gasped in horror. Her own face stared at her, pale and unmoving, the eyes glassy. Multiple sabre and sword wounds covered her body and from the way her head lolled, the neck was broken.

Shuddering, Bastila turned away from the image of death, her death and pulled herself from the vision. She felt the real world reassert itself, as the bond slipped back to it's usual quiet murmur. She stared at Revan. His cheerful temperament had been fragile, hiding something that gnawed at him, and now she knew why.

"Want to talk about it?" she murmured, her voice mimicking Revan's question from the Hawk's ramp. "You've been dreaming about us all dying, and you being left alone."

"Yes." Revan whispered, glancing across at her. "I've been having dreams like that since... since the message that Mission found on a dead dark Jedi. Every time I close my eyes I see them all like that!"

He sighed and sat next to her on the table. "I see... I see you, dead, staring at me. I... I can't allow that to happen to you Bastila, it would destroy me, make me turn to the darkside. It frightens me sometimes, how much I love you."

"I know what you mean," Bastila whispered into his ear. "But I have to understand if I'm going to help you. What did the message say to cause this? When I left, you were calm, composed. Now look at you."

Revan sighed and glancing at her weighed his options. She had a right to know what it was that worried him, what the message said, what it said about her. He couldn't. She deserved one night with him, one night where there was nothing painful between them.

"I... I really don't want to tell you," He muttered. "The council will explain it all in the morning."

"Oh no," Bastila shook her head and frowned. "That sounds like something I would have said, not too long ago. Spill, Revan, what did it say?"

Revan sighed and slowly, in a long and wearied voice, he told her word for word what the message had said. Bastila's face went from worry, to dismay and then to a suppressed shock at each sentence. After he had finished, she rose and began to turn the Caffa cup around in her palm as she walked.

"Now I see," She glanced back at him and smiled ever so faintly. "So, that's how the Sith view me now... a prize, the lover of Revan the betrayer. Well, at least I'm still worth something to them."

Revan slid to his feet and gripped her tightly. "Don't even joke about it. You know how much I care for you. This, business is all to do with me and only me." He sighed and hugged her tightly. "If... If I asked you to do something for me, would you do it?"

She looked at him and frowned. "That depends. What would you have me do?"

"I want you to stay here. I care far too much for you to be hurt, as you saw in that nightmare." He looked at her, saw the tightening of her lips. "Please, Bastila, stay here and be safe for me."

"No," She told him, and for the first time since her fall, her voice was hard. "I shall not abandon the man I love when he needs my help. Revan, I love you... the Force help me, I do. I cannot, and will not, abandon you now."

"Bastila..."

"Is this what you asked of the others?" She, almost, snapped at him and he nodded ever so slightly. "What were their reactions?"

"Quatra and Selyne ignored my request to stay and are coming with me, for better or worse. Juhani seems to see me as a brother she never had, and has pledged herself to me for all time. Canderous, from what I could pull from him at the Cantina, would consider my request to be frankly insulting. I began to ask him and he challenged me to a drinking contest to see if he would stay. I... I can't remember what happened, we were drinking Mandalorian Brandy, Force knows where he got it. I... well I woke up alone the next morning under the table. So I think, I presume I lost the bet and he's coming, no questions asked. Mission..." Revan's voice tailed off and Bastila felt his emotions flare slightly. "Mission, oh Sithspit Bastila, Mission swore a lifedebt to me."

"She did?" Bastila felt her eyes rise in surprise and Revan nodded. "Revan she's too young and isn't a Wookie!"

"I know," Revan snapped slightly and sat back, struggling to maintain his control. "I have no idea how she knew what to say, I suppose living with a Wookie gives her certain insights into their culture that we don't have. She was Zaalbar's surrogate family during his time on Taris, I suppose she knows that the right to pledge a lifedebt is every bit her right as Zaalbar's. If I try to stop her now, even leave her on Dantooine, she'll follow us. I... I hate myself for saying this, but I'd rather have her next to me, safe and possible, rather than running behind us and smack into any trouble we leave behind."

"Understandable." Bastila murmured.

"And then there's you, the woman I would give my life to protect." Revan sighed and sat down on the edge of the holotable once more. "I owe you everything I am, more even than that. Now, I find myself the target of a Sith fellowship and anyone who travels with me is a target as well. Worse, you Bastila for loving me are a target too, one that they seem eager to obtain. The whore of the betrayer, that's what they've called you." He stared at her face, yet it remained impassive, dismissive. "I know that the name has little interest for you, that you have no worries about what Sith call you. But, because you associate with me, they want you... Because you love me, they almost... desire you. You haven't seen the message yet my love heard her voice. I am frightened more than I was fighting Malak."

Bastila felt her hands tremble slightly at her former torturers name, but she didn't push her fear away, she confronted it and felt her hands steady. "Why? He could have destroyed all we hold dear."

"Yes, and that made it.... A mission for all of us to fight for." He looked at her weakly. "This time, it's all to do with me, a personal grudge. How can I ask you, Mission, Juhani or any of my friends to sacrifice themselves for this? If they catch us, defeat us, you don't have any idea what they have in store for them or yourself. I do, I've heard what they intend and it frightens me. Not for what they will do to me, but what they will do to you and the others."

"Revan, they follow you because they trust you." Bastila sighed at his miserable expression and shook her head. This was some homecoming. "I trust you and I always will. They believe that personal danger is worth it to help you, their friend. In Juhani's case its to assist the man who saved her life once, gave her the ability to fight her anger and become the Jedi she yearned to be. Mission knows you saved her life on Taris, tried to help her Brother and gave her the chance to make a difference. She sees you as the father she lost at such a young age. For myself," Bastila swallowed and getting up, walked over to Revan, slowly. "I would follow you into the heart of the Darkness itself, would fight any Sith who threatened you, would give my life to keep yours here. I love you that much, more."

"I know," Revan sighed and pulled her onto his lap. "That's why I knew you'd say no to me even before I asked. Personally, I think you're making a mistake. But then I would be too if you tried to stop me following you."

"I know," she smiled and nuzzled slowly into his neck. "I'm not making a mistake either, thank you. I know exactly what I am doing, so you'll just have to live with it."

"Yes, Bastila." Revan felt a smile play briefly across his lips but it was quickly dampened. "We'll never have any private time to ourselves will we? There's always something to ruin it."

She smiled. "I can wait, I will wait for as long as it takes."

Getting up, Bastila yanked him to his feet and began to pull him towards the Hawk's exit ramp. Revan frowned in puzzlement. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to take your mind off things." She told him. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" He asked her. "Look, Bastila, you only just got back from a tour of duty. You need some food, drink and rest. Are you listening to me."

"Oh yes," She smiled at him. "But I'm fine and would prefer to see the man I love a little happier. I can eat later."

Revan sighed and stopped resisting her pull. "Okay, but you still haven't told me where we're going."

"Well, I need to spar a little." Bastila turned to him and raised her eyebrows. "Fancy a chance to knock me down a peg or two?"

"What?" He looked at her in surprise and shook his head. "Bast..."

"Come on, what do you say?" Bastila yanked her lightsabre from her belt and gripped it tightly. "I bet I can take you in two rounds."

"Really," He felt himself rise to the bait. "We'll see my little kinraith pup, we'll see."

Laughing, she ran down the ramp and began to cross the courtyard, heading towards the training wing of the enclave. Revan watched her beautiful body slowly recede into the distance. Her laughter trickled slowly into a sense of fun, quivering into him from the bond. With a shrug, he began to run after her and slowly felt a smile return to his face.

"I'm coming to get you." He warned her and grinned. "There is no escaping Revan!"

"Oh, I am so shaking in my boots." She sent back.

Laughing, Revan ran across the courtyard and he too headed for the training wing.