"She seems to be coming out of it." The voice buzzed in the back of Tahiri's mind.

Groggily, she blinked, trying to understand what was being said. Ilanen Khanrin's gray furred face leaned over her in profile, tilted to the side to allow one worried brown eye to observe her.

"Padawan, what happened? You just collapsed in the middle of the dining hall, and we couldn't bring you out of it. It was like you weren't even here. I couldn't find you in the Force. Do you remember anything?"

"I was walking to the table, and then there was a dark place." Her eyes widened. "Anakin!"

"Was it another dream? You seemed unconscious."

"It wasn't a dream, Master. I saw Anakin, and it was real. There's still a little bit of his presence here, in my head. He's in danger. I have to go back, to help him."

A long ear twitched. "We don't even know where you were, if you were somewhere else. If you really were in Anakin Solo's mind, returning there could be very dangerous. He might not be the only one to detect your presence. It would probably be impossible to locate Anakin a second time, anyway. Do you know how you did so this time?"

"No. It just happened. One moment I was here on Yavin IV, and the next I was there. Then I was back here again, as quickly as I'd left."

"Can you sense a physical location through this connection you're still feeling?"

Tahiri wrinkled her brow, concentrating. "There's nothing like that." Her shoulders slumped. "But I have to find him. He was in pain, really awful pain."

The frazzled Jedi let out a long breath. "Tahiri. I know you miss Anakin, and you're worried about what may be happening to him. So am I. I never met him personally, but you've told me so much that it feels like I have.

"This isn't an easy thing for you to cope with. You can, though, and you must. Only by allowing yourself to grow and deepen your understanding of the Force will you be able to help him, and many others."

Tahiri shook her head. "It just feels like that's time that I don't have. How can I wait and be patient when it might already be too late?"

"It would be much easier to tell you to let things take their course, to try to release your emotions and move on," Ilanen said. "That would protect you from being hurt if he's already too Dark to be saved. It's what you would have been told by those who taught me, and saying this instead seems almost against my better judgment." Her Master was quiet for a moment. Tahiri felt agitated, seeing that Ilanen was uncomfortable with what he had decided.

Finally he said, "Your friend is a brave and resourceful young man. It is possible that he will manage to resist or escape from the Sith on his own. And if not-- I have to admit that there may still be some hope. Leaving the Dark Side is difficult. Since being revived I've met quite a few who seem to have successfully turned back, though. Don't put yourself in unnecessary danger, but don't ever give up."

Ilanen laid an oddly jointed hand on her shoulder. Tahiri managed a small, lopsided smile. This wasn't the first time her Master had offered kind, if somewhat awkward advice on dealing with Anakin's capture by the new Empire.

The two had been one of many Master and Padawan pairs thrown together haphazardly after one of the earliest compromises between the old and new Jedi Orders. The combined Council had decided that all who were accepted for training at all would be allowed to become Jedi, whether chosen as a Padawan or not. However, most Masters capable of training an apprentice would either choose one or be assigned one.

If a Master and Padawan were completely unable to live with working together, they could petition the Council for a reassignment. The Jedi apprentices not assigned or chosen would continue to learn in large groups from a smaller number of fully trained Jedi who had volunteered for the task.

Many had expected Tahiri to become Ikrit's Padawan, since he had already been training her and Anakin. However, with the conflicts that had sprung up between the old and new philosophies, Ikrit had chosen to join the Council. He was effective in resolving some difficult issues because he had been trained long before most of the revived Jedi, and had also lived with the new Jedi for a few years longer than the others. Ikrit still visited Tahiri often, checking on her progress in training. Sometimes they would talk about the absent member of their small group.

She'd never really discussed her worries with Anakin's family. They all seemed to be throwing themselves into work or studies of one kind or another in an effort to forget, and Tahiri felt uncomfortable intruding.

She had been assigned to Ilanen randomly, and could still remember the look on his face. It was somewhat harder to read than a human's because his eyes were set on the sides of his head and his face was a long, deer-like snout. Still, she had been able to tell that he was about ready to keel over from shock. He might not have said, "What have I gotten myself into?" but Tahiri had sensed he felt it many times in their first few months of training.

It was not clear to her why they had been paired together. She had still been in shock over the kidnapping of her best friend and Ilanen from being brought back into a galaxy very different from the one he'd left. Luckily, the Mashuvi Jedi had overcome his uncertainty about his new Padawan, despite the anxieties of both. They had their share of misunderstandings. Ilanen was often left completely befuddled by the ways of the new Jedi and Tahiri had the same difficulty in understanding the reasoning of the more regulated old Order.

However, the two had managed to become friends. Tahiri had noticed that many of the returned Masters seemed to consider an assigned Padawan from the newer generation to be incapable of becoming a 'true' Jedi, though she'd never heard one say it aloud. Ilanen did not hold this belief. On more than one occasion, he had made it clear that he felt the same affection and pride towards Tahiri that he would have for a Padawan of his own era, chosen personally.

Her mind was wandering off on a tangent again. Though she still felt a bit disoriented, Tahiri made the effort to lurch to her feet.

"Wait, the healers should check you over before you leave the medcenter. We still don't know if what just happened to you might have been caused by some sort of illness. They only left to tend to someone who got a nasty burn from one of the training sabers. If they don't find anything, then I'll see if we can talk to someone who has experience with visions and get their opinion."

"I don't think they'll find anything wrong with me. Except for the usual." Tahiri pointed to her head and made a 'crazy' motion, grinning slightly.

"Now, why would the healers notice that? They're going to be scanning you, not me." Ilanen chuckled quietly.

"It's contagious."

"Aha, so I'm contagious now, am I?"

A pillow launched itself at her shoulder. Tahiri returned the favor with a piece of greenery from the lunch tray beside her, which missed Ilanen and instead artistically draped itself over Healer Kasi's nose. This gained her kitchen duty, and Ilanen an invitation to watch over Kasi's Padawan the next day. Tahiri knew Padawan Tarfa, and figured that she had gotten off lightly in comparison to Ilanen. In spite of everything, a sense of peace came over her as she settled back into her daily routine. She knew that someday there would be an opportunity to help Anakin, but there was nothing more she could do about it today.