A/N: Hello! I'm SO SORRY that it's been so long since I last posted. As I said last time, life is getting pretty crazy. Anyways, I really hope you enjoy this chapter, please review! (it will be less time between chapters next time, and even less if you review!)

A hasty knock on the door startled Tenel Ka out of her daze. The ending words of the woman in her dream rang in her head, "What does your heart tell you to do?" The knock sounded again, this time louder and more urgent.

"Come in." Tenel Ka snapped the book she was reading shut, and threw off the blankets covering her legs.

"Your Highness, your presence is requested in the Queen Mother's chambers." The palace messenger looked about eleven, probably the son of a guard or cook. "She has arranged transport, if you are seriously injured."

Tenel Ka thought it so very like Ta'a Chume to offer a hoverchair for her granddaughter, knowing she wouldn't take it. "I am fine. Tell her I will be there shortly." Tenel Ka rose from her couch, expecting the pain in her ankle to come shooting up her leg as it had that morning. Yet this time, when she stood, her ankle felt completely normal. The swelling and redness was gone as well. She thought to herself, "Perhaps that dream was real...a real visit from the First? I had no idea there even was a First...is this Dark magic? The Nightsisters? Impossible. They would never come to Hapes."

Her head was spinning, but she used the Force to calm herself. It was dangerous to be weak-minded when in the presence of Ta'a Chume.

"My granddaughter, your leg has healed, I see. But that is not why I have called you here." Ta'a Chume was reclining on a blood red couch, wearing cream-colored robes and veil. "Your mother's condition is improving, as you have probably noticed."

"Yes. It seems that she is almost well enough to go back to her duties." Tenel Ka remained standing, though a servant offered her a seat.

"In the meantime, it would please me if you took over the duties. It is no use for me to do them." Ta'a Chume took a fruit from a bowl on the table and bit into it.

"I have not decided whether to accept the crown, should the time come for me to do so."

"I suggest you decide soon, Tenel Ka. Ruling many worlds takes..." Ta'a Chume's voice drifted off, as it often did when she lectured her granddaughter on the responsibility and privilege of her position. Tenel Ka's eyes wandered to a chair beside her grandmother's couch. Just seconds ago it had been empty, yet now the same woman who haunted the warrior woman's dreams was sitting in it.

Tenel Ka blinked to clear her head, and found that the woman was still sitting in the chair. Her long brown hair fell over her shoulder, and her dark green eyes matched perfectly the fitted pants and tunic she now wore under black Jedi robes. She nodded at Tenel Ka and said, "We must speak about this predicament you face. Perhaps when you are done talking with your grandmother?" The First waved her hand slightly and disappeared from the chair.

"Tenel Ka!" Ta'a Chume's was sitting upright now, clearly angry that her granddaughter's attention have wavered so. "These are important matters, not that Jedi folly you busy yourself with."

"I will inform you of my decision the moment I make it." Tenel Ka spun on her heel and exited the room quickly. The guards at the door could barely pull the ancient doors open fast enough for her to exit. As she reached the doors, she stood still and turned around. "As for now, I agree to take over my mother's duties. But," she held up one finger warningly, "I will wear what I please and act as I see fit, not as you instruct me."

As she left, Ta'a Chume huffed incredulously, though almost pleased with Tenel Ka's answer.

Tenel Ka drummed her fingers impatiently on the desk in her room, which faced a vast window. The window reached from marble floor to vaulted ceiling, and she looked miniscule in comparison to the panoramic view of the sweeping palace gardens.

Her mind was swirling, spinning in circles, thinking about the visit from the self-proclaimed 'First of the Jedi,' the abrupt healing of her wounded ankle, and her agreement to take over her mother's duties. Since she was on Hapes already, it seemed the logical thing to do, though she still wasn't sure if becoming Queen was the path her life was meant to take. Jedi or Queen? Was it possible to be both?

A soft voice said, "Only if you believe it to be so, will it be possible, Tenel Ka."

Tenel Ka rose from her chair and whipped around to face the voice. It was the First of the Jedi, wearing the green and black robes. The woman sat herself in a chair near the desk, crossing one leg over the other casually and resting her arms on the armrests of the plush chair. She motioned for Tenel Ka to sit down. Tenel Ka remained standing.

"It is time that we spoke. There is no need to be frightened. Sit." She motioned to the chair again.

"I am not 'frightened'." Tenel Ka raised her chin, defiant that anyone (real or possibly imaginary) would assume her scared.

"As I've said before, I have visited many Jedi over the ages. However, I have never visited any in such a privileged but difficult position as you. Tenel Ka, though your grandmother may be often scheming, what she says this time is the truth. You must decide."

Tenel Ka sat back down at her desk, utterly bewildered. 'How can she know all of this?' Tenel Ka thought to herself.

The woman laughed, saying, "Oh, I know many things about you. Almost everything."

"I see." Tenel Ka looked into this woman's eyes and read her presence through the Force. She seemed real enough. "And what may I call you?"

"You may call me Valterra. It was my name, in life."

"You are here to aid me?" Tenel Ka sat down slowly.

"I chose to visit you because I have foreseen that you will need my help the most. I do not often meddle in the lives of mortals, and I have not done so in many ages." Valterra leaned forward in her chair, hands clasped and resting on her knees. "Tenel Ka, I have visited him as well. You know of who I speak. Jacen Solo is another who needs my help. Your lives are intertwined, and the fate of the galaxy rests on the strength within the two of you."

"It is impossible. We all felt him die." Tenel Ka's gaze lowered to her desk, the focused far away in the garden. "I felt him die."

"It was not death that you felt. I promise you, he is alive. And when the time comes, you must go find him."