Author's Note:
Thanks, Falcona! :) I've gotten that a lot, that my stories get better as they go along. T/A will be put on hold awhile, but there's a part I'm planning that I think you'll like. Dan Stanley will have a good amount of influence in some more chapters.
Note what Yni tells Lando. There's one statement in particular that's normal verb use, but the context makes it sound like another meaning. Think about her previous behavior. How does she strike you?
How so many are coming back though their bodies were destroyed is explained in this chapter!
By now, I'm sure you all know you've got to review for the next chapter.
Enjoy! :)

Chapter Thirteen

"I… I don't know if I should…"
"Come on!" Jaina snapped at the hesitant Stanley.
He came closer to the XJ3-wing, obviously enticed, but something held him back. "Won't you get in trouble?"
Jedi Knight Jaina Solo threw back her head and laughed. "Please. I'm a Corporal, Stanley. You'll be formally asked to do this exercise if you refuse. You want a slot in Rogue Squadron, don't you?"
For some reason, crimson crept over Dan Stanley's cheeks, reminding her of her late brother. "Uh…"
"Of course you do. Now get in. This isn't like sims. This is real—except for the weapons. Those are duds. You got to 'shoot' me, or at least come close else you'll be left to tinkering with my dad's ship."
"That won't last much longer," he said absently as he circled 'his' XJ3-wing, critically eyeing it. "I'm almost done."
"In Lando's favor?" She grinned at him.
Face blank, he leapt up into the cockpit. Leapt up. "Mine."
Jaina felt like someone had ripped all words from her head. This guy had fixed Dad's ship? She hadn't been able to do that!
And he'd just jumped from the floor to the cockpit…
She controlled the urge to gape. She wondered if Stanley had ever considered Jedi training…

"I was beginning to wonder if I needed to start a search for you." Lando took the last few steps to Yni's side. He hadn't seen her in a week.
She laughed tightly, face grimy and tired. "You'd be the first." Yni stretched, sitting with her chin resting on one knee, the other leg straight out. "I presume you're wanting to finish our conversation."
"Too strange to drop without the details," he agreed.
An absent look came over her eyes, as if she was listening, or using the Force.
"You can start with your parents losing you," he gently suggested. Yni's week had been terrible, if her looks were any indicator.
Another tight laugh answered him. "My parents losing me. Right." She looked at him oddly. "What's to explain? My parents… lost me. Like they lost my sister." She hesitated, recalling. "Wait—I think… I think Sis…"
Abruptly her eyes snapped into focus on him, and she looked angry. "Well? What about it?"
"How your parents lost you would be a good start." Her sudden anger startled him. Why—
"How does anyone lose anyone else?" Yni uncharacteristically snapped, but she still sounded candid, somehow. "How did Sis lose—" She bit her lip, turning away, absolutely furious.
Something about her sister? he wondered. That was the only thing he could tell.
He needed to change the subject; fast, if he didn't want her to lash out. "Where's Master Thracia?"
"Trying to get access to the Senator. Master Tahl won't let her." Her face darkened again. "Master Thracia ranks her and still can't get through! But I can't even—"
Tears sparkling on her brown lashes, Yni abruptly chomped a hole in her lower lip and struggled to breathe deeply. She closed her eyes a few seconds. When she opened them, she was still struggling, but not out of control. "Ask."
He opened his mouth.
"Not that. What you've been wondering all along."
Lando's mouth snapped shut. He had to tell Luke about this kid. "Why were you smiling when you got Sanley to run out?"
Yni sighed. "It wasn't that." She hesitated. "You see, he avoids that topic like a disease. I'm trying to make him see he's not the same man who killed Si—" She stopped herself, ducking. "I got him to admit what he did aloud. Now he needs to see that he isn't the set thermal detenator anymore, but that's hard because he doesn't know who I am."
Lando frowned at her. "Yes, he—"
"He knows what I am, Calrissian; and that's enough to haunt him. The who is worse. For him, anyway, if he ever finds out." She sighed, wiping off her bleeding lip and muttering, "If. Right."
She suddenly stood and strode off.

"Perfect."
Luke noted Jedi Master Kyp Durron's curiosity in his eye's corner. "What makes you say that?"
The wounded Mon Calamari, nothing more than skin and bones, looked at him, her big watery eyes unreadable. "It's called sarcasm, Master Luke."
"How do you know Jedi Veila?" Kyp spoke up.
"I met her on Telos. She took me in; I helped her with her mission." The Mon Calamari, an Eerin Bant, seemed intrigued by Kyp. "Were you really indwelled by a dead Sith lord?"
Kyp winced. "Yes. Why?"
She blinked slowly. "Fascinating…" Eerin addressed Luke, somehow knowing the question he had in mind. "No, Tahiri didn't tell me who she was. I figured it out myself."
"Any idea where she went?" Tahiri hadn't called in for a week, now. Luke was starting to worry.
"If I did, would I've come here looking for her?" She eyed him calmly, openly.
Jedi Master Luke Skywalker chuckled, rubbing his temples. "You'd be surprised what some people do."
The look she gave him was undoubtedly peculiar. "I doubt that." She rubbed a welt under her left eye. "A former friend of mine did this." Her fingers went to a burn on her bare foot. "A child managed this."
Luke did a double take. That was a lightsaber burn.
Eerin shrugged. "I think you'd be surprised by what I've been through, Master Luke." Again, she eyed Kyp with open interest. "Or maybe not." She blinked, gaze returning to Luke. "The Sith lord was dead, correct?"
He nodded, but warily. Something warned him that he wouldn't like where she was headed.
"He indwelled Kyp, a living individual. Now suppose," she said thoughtfully. "Suppose someone was able to create a clone without an essence; an empty body. Entering such a vessel, the Sith lord would then be able to come back to life, would he not?"
"Whoa." Kyp stared wide-eyed at the girl. "That's some leap of logic."
"Is it?" She looked at her arms as if affirming her own existence. "Funny."
Kyp and Luke exchanged a puzzled look. "What?" he asked.
The Mon Calamari shook her head, smiling slightly. "You'll be surprised, soon. That's all I can say."
Luke wanted to ask what she meant, but his comm beeped.

A young blonde approached the Jedi Temple, shoulders hunched and bare feet slowly scuffling. She wore an oversized shift, the avocado green matching the tone in her eyes. A wide belt loosely surrounded her waist, bulges along its front indicating where she wore things beneath it. A large caramel pack hung at her side.
Outside a set of Temple gates, she shook out her head, letting her layered hair fall to her shoulders. Drawing a breath, she stood straighter, raising a hand.
The gates opened before her.

• • •

Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila stood before the pillar marking the passing of Ulaha Kore, a young Jedi who'd died on the same mission as Anakin.
"I don't even know why I'm doing this," she said aloud. "It's stupid. But Anakin's back, so maybe you are, too."
Tahiri paused, checking the Force for any tremor of the female Bith. None. Oh, well. She hadn't known Ulaha that well, anyway.
She shivered, remembering the sudden silence that had pierced her mind at Ulaha's death, for the Jedi musician had graced the group with one final composition before she died.
"He said to put this by your marker. I don't know what it is. Maybe it'll help bring you back or something." She squatted, placing the small metal object in front of the pillar.
Tahiri Veila brushed her bangs back, gazing thoughtfully at her friend's death pillar.
"Tahiri?"
She stood abruptly, ignoring the stab of pain to her belly. She'd been sore all night, and now it bothered her whenever she shifted her abs.
"Hi, Valin."
Valin Horn stopped before her, face falling. "Tahiri?" he asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"
She carelessly stepped around him, giving an indifferent shrug. "Nothing."
He fell into stride beside her. "Where've you been?"
"Somewhere." She'd decided that no one would get her recent actions from her until someone else was convinced of Anakin's being back.
"Well… where?"
"Is that any of your business?" she snapped.
She felt guilty, watching Valin fall to pieces before her. Tears formed in his eyes. "Tahiri!" he pleaded, getting in her way. "Why? What's gotten into you? What changed? Did I do something—"
"It wasn't you," the Jedi Knight said kindly. "Don't worry about that."
"Then what?" he cried. She doubted he realized he was shaking her. "What happened?"
The pain in her stomach weakened her knees. Tahiri glared with narrowed eyes over Valin's shoulder until it went away. "I'm sorry, Valin," she said tightly, working to keep the pain from getting into her voice. "It's me. That's all I can say."
When the pain suddenly got worse, Jedi Veila broke away, hurrying into the Jedi Temple.
Jedi Knight Valin Horn stared forlornly after her.