The doorchime on her apartments rang at an obscenely early hour the next morning. Leia lay in her bed, half-asleep, wondering if she ought to go see who it was or simply let 3PO handle it. She could hear his fussy voice distantly through her bedroom door, and rolled over, content to let him annoy her visitor away.

"I'm very sorry, but Mistress Leia is still asleep…oh, Master Luke! Do come in, sir. Do you require any refreshment…?"

Leia scrambled out of bed and rummaged in her closet for her robe. While she regretted not being able to take advantage of the rare opportunity to sleep in, she was relieved that her brother had finally come to see her. She ran a brush quickly through her long hair before padding softly out to the living area.

Luke grinned sheepishly when he saw her. "Did I wake you up?"

She smiled. "Yes, but it's fine." She sat next to him and rested her hand on his knee. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern.

He took a deep breath. "I think so. Mara…straightened me out."

Leia laughed in spite of herself. "I bet she did." She was rewarded with a barely surpressed smile from her brother. "Is Mara all right?"

Luke nodded. "I know I shouldn't have just left…but…"

"I think she understands, Luke. I do. It was a shock."

He sighed. "Yeah, you can say that again."

"What are you going to do now?" she asked gently.

His face hardened with determination. "I'm going to find her."

Leia nodded. "I thought you would. Is Mara going with you?"

He snorted. "Do you really think she'd let me go alone?"

His sister grinned. "No. Do you think I would?"

He grinned back. "No." He looked away and said quietly. "Will you take me to see the girl?"

"Fayrelle? Of course." She bit her lip. "Although, there's some things you should know about her…"

''''''''''''''

The ysalamiri had been delivered and arranged around Fayrelle's cell the day before, and Leia was amazed at the difference it made. The child was much more at ease, and seemed more alert. She was eating breakfast when Leia and Luke entered the cell, and she greeted them shyly. Luke barely recognized the girl as his attacker. She seemed an entirely different person. Leia had explained that the ysalamiri appeared to cancel out whatever influence that Callista had over Fayrelle's mind, and although he would be unable to probe her mind within the Force-negating bubble of the ysalamiri, she thought that it would be safer to question her initially without Callista's control. Luke had agreed, but he still felt unnerved by the effect produced by the ysalamiri. Being unable to feel the Force was like being blind, deaf and dumb.

"Hello, Miss Leia," Fayrelle said shyly. She wiped some sauce off of her chin quickly with her napkin, and held out one of her fruit biscuits. "Do you want one?"

Leia laughed, and even Luke had to smile as this childishly sweet gesture. "No, thank you, Fayrelle," she answered. "I've already eaten. I brought someone to meet you." She gestured to Luke. "This is Jedi Master Luke Skywalker."

Fayrelle's eyes went wide, and she scrambled against the wall, nearly upsetting her meal. She whimpered in fear.

Leia was startled at this reaction. "What's wrong, Fayrelle? He isn't going to hurt you. I promise." She stepped forward to comfort her, but she only pushed herself away. She was shaking violently. Leia looked back at Luke, helplessly.

He came forward and knelt by Fayrelle's bunk. "Fayrelle," he said quietly. "I'm not going to harm you in any way. What you did two days ago was not your fault. I understand that, and I'm not going to blame you for something that you were forced to do against your will. Okay?"

Fayrelle nodded. She licked her lips and asked in a voice barely above a whisper, "Did…did you really kill my mother?"

Luke shook his head. "If I did, I did it unknowingly and unwillingly. If you mother was part of one of the battles I've participated in to make the galaxy a safer place, then it's possible she was hurt."

The child seemed to consider this. "Calli never told me how she died. She just said you did it."

"It's possible she lied to you," Leia explained.

"Why would she do that? She…loves me," Fayrelle insisted, but her voice was uncertain.

"Will you tell me about her?" Luke asked. His voice sounded strained. Leia looked at him sharply, and was disturbed by the expression of longing on his face.

"Calli is the most powerful woman in the universe, and she's going to take over the galaxy," Fayrelle said imeadiately.

"Yes, you've told me that," Leia said gently. "What else can you tell us? Where does she live? What does she do? What is she like?"

The child seemed unsure of where to begin, then said, "Calli is very pretty. She's very nice to me, usually. She hugs me a lot." Her face clouded. "But sometimes she gets very angry for no reason. She makes things fly around our house. Sometimes they hit me. And if I ever talk about him -" she gestured to Luke – "she hits my face. I'm not allowed to say his name. Sometimes she talks about him, but I don't like when she does, because she always gets very angry and throws things around with the Force. I don't think she can help it."

Leia could see that this pained her brother deeply. She asked hurriedly, "Where is your house?"

"Near a forest," she answered promptly. "There's a small town with a little spaceport a few klicks away, and that's where we get most of our things."

"Do you know what planet it's on?"

Fayrelle shook her head. "I've never been away from it before this. Calli didn't tell me where we were going when we left, and she put me to sleep before we took off."

Luke took a sharp intake of breath. "You mean she came with you? She's here?"

She bit her lip. "I think so. It's hard for me to say. I…don't really remember much after I went to sleep."

"Do you remember what the ship looked like?" Leia asked.

"It's a small skiff called The Tsaelke," she answered.

Luke stood up abruptly and left the cell without a word.

Fayrelle looked frightened. "Did I say something wrong? Is he angry with me?"

"No," Leia assured her. "He's not angry." She looked after him and bit her lip. "He's…sad. He's very sad."