THA-THWOOOM! Burning pillars of hot fire shot forth from Ember's fists as she held them up, forming fiery-hot "sabers" of her own to match against Luke's. Leia, meanwhile, was focusing, closing her eyes a little and grunting as big, enormous chunks of wall were being lifted off of injured students. Han was currently carrying several kids on his back, making for the nearby Millennium Falcon where Chewbacca was waiting, trying to administer bacta to help patch the wounded up.

FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH! Ember sliced and slashed at Luke, who deflected the strikes over and over, cringing a bit. She was, unfortunately, physically stronger than him. That much was clear. He might have been highly skilled at lightsaber combat but even that didn't mean you could outfight an opponent. It was turning into a battle not of wills, but of stamina, and she clearly had more of it. That, and the steadily-increasing temperature was really beginning to get to him.

Ember was clearly used to fighting IN such temperatures, she wasn't sweating one bit, but he could feel the beads sliding down his cheeks, threatening to get in his eyes as she kept slicing and slashing at him with her burning sword sabers. He would have to think outside the box, and fast, if he wanted to succeed. He'd used up the water from the nearby lake to splash her, she wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, but perhaps he could put out her fire ANOTHER way?

He needed to get some space between him and her. He ducked and swept himself back, slicing at the ground, trying to propel dirt in her face. Ember ducked, avoiding it, but she reeled back all the same as Luke then focused hard, and gigantic chunks of earth and dirt shot forth to try and engulf her. Ember focused, holding her hands together, her eyes glowing faintly. "KA…ME…HA…ME…"

Luke could FEEL the build up of the living force within her, and he barreled out of the way in time as a pulsating, powerful solid beam of pure fiery energy cascaded from her hands, OBLITERATING the giant chunks of earth and dirt he'd shot at her as he struggled to get to his feet, and swung his saber at her, hoping that the blast had taken a little out of her.

She got sliced hard across the stomach, and she reeled back, gasping, clinging to her stomach as he held his saber up, pointing it at her, only for her to twirl around and THA-THWAAASH! A flash fire! She had engulfed her feet in fire and swept it like a shockwave at him! Now HE was the one reeling, spiralling back as she kicked him in the hand and knocked his saber away, another kick launching him onto the ground as she pointed her burning hand at him.

"Sorry. But it's over." She told him.

Just then, she heard a CA-KLIK noise, and turned her head a bit. Han had pointed his pistol right at her head, and Chewbacca had his famous crossbow at her. "You're right, it IS over." Han said. "Make a move, even make one EMBER…" He then chuckled at the pun, Ember rolling her eyes at this as he snort-laughed. "And we'll blow you away."

"Hmm. I admit, I'm in a bit of a pickle. I could probably fry Mr. Skywalker, but you'd undoubtedly kill me at the same time. So the question is…which one of us will act first?" She mused aloud.

KRAKKA-KOWWW!

Ember went flying backwards, a dark, bloody splotch spreading across her back as they all looked up, gasping…and saw Frequency the bounty hunter standing there, hoisting aloft a large-barreled sniper rifle, shaking his head. "See…that. That's how ya do a job, dudes. Nice. Quick. Simple." He remarked. "You don't go being real public about it." He added, hopping down from the temple ruins he'd aimed from. He'd been hiding for hours, disguised as just another initiate, and he'd been caught off guard by the temple going up in flames and being knocked almost totally down, but he hadn't expected to see EMBER there, and so open about what she was up to.

He walked over to where her limp body laid, picking her up as Luke cringed, shaking his head. "You didn't have to do that, we could have handled her."

"Look, if it got back to the Dyad how she screwed up…they'd REALLY let her have it. I'm already gonna get it for recommending her and her failing to fully do the job." Frequency offered as he shook his head back at Luke. "I wouldn't let them hurt her like that. Doing this means I can say I cleaned up my mess. Got it? And consider this you owing me a favor." He added. "One day I'm gonna want a little help. You gonna come when I ask?"

Luke thought about it. He could just say no, but…he was an honorable, decent person. And despite what the bounty hunter had done, he HAD just saved his life. It was a toin coss if they could have been able to stop Ember in time. And so he sighed and nodded.

"I won't kill innocent people, if that's what you want from me."

"I wouldn't ask that of you." Frequency said. "I mean…you're Luke friggin' Skywalker." He added with a grin. "…may the force be with you." He chuckled as he walked off, the others frowning a bit at his casual whistling as he headed deep, deep into the far off depths of the jungle. So disgustingly casual!

What they didn't know…was that it wasn't a bullet he'd shot Ember with. He set her down after walking a good mile away, dusting her off. What he'd shot her with…was a hydrosion shell filled with her blood. It exploded out upon impact, making it LOOK like a fatal bullet wound. In reality, it'd only leave a bruise. Frequency used it when he wanted to fake an assassination. He didn't do it often. But…

Well, he wasn't about to ACTUALLY shoot his girlfriend.

"You scared the PANTS off me, Frequency!" Ember said as she awoke, giving him a whack over the head, a delightful, coconut-sounding THONK before she then smiled, and clutched his cheeks, kissing him good and hard. A real "smack attack" that was super effective, making his knees buckle as she softly broke the kiss. "Thanks for bailing me out. I REALLY didn't want to actually go through with it. Did I make it look good?"

"I got plenty of footage of burning temple rubble, screaming padawans, trapped initiates under walls. They'll be mad that Luke and the others aren't dead, but they'll be really happy they've got no Jedi Temple anymore." Frequency offered. "They'll think the Jedi have been crippled." He said as he showed off the little camera he'd kept hidden away, handing it to Ember as she looked at the footage, raising an eyebrow up.

"Yeah, this'll do." She remarked. "Listen. They're gonna figure out eventually what's on top of the tower. They're gonna find out about our world. What happens when they do?"

Frequency sighed and then shrugged. "Well…that's their problem. I guess it might suck, but…it's their problem."

"…I feel really bad for them." Ember confessed as she sat down with her boyfriend on a big tree stump and just let the wind waft through her fur as she quietly traced a circle on her knee. "…I can't even begin to imagine what it must feel like to know that you're not "real". Everything they've ever known being wrong. It can break people." She murmured. "…and they're good people."

"Yeah. They are." Frequency admitted as he put an arm around her shoulder. "…look, if they're really, REALLY in a bad place…I'll ask our ohana to come help." He offered warmly. "They're good with that kinda thing."

"You're a big softy underneath it all." Ember crooned, kissing him on the cheek as the blue-furred bounty hunter blushed. And the grandson of experiment 626 gave a big smile back at the grandchild of Dr. Hamsterviel in return.

"Well…I got a lot of it from you."

…Ethos. The heart of the Logosian faith. His hair was like a waterfall sliding down his back, heart glowing brilliantly like a torch in the darkness. His face is soft, as he wears his leafy Crown of Morality atop his head, soft white robes around his well-toned and sculpted body. But…looking closer…

A tall, handsome body with a familiar vanilla body bath wash scent. The kind of scent that made you want to take a big lick because it was so sweet and creamy, a divine scent dancing around your nostrils. How fortuitous that he had the same type of hair and eyes that HE'D had. Yet…he wasn't just Link, he was more. And he appeared to be at a train station. The train was already there, softly chugging, as if perpetually on the edge of leaving the station. It was impossible to see inside the windows, they were all pitch black, yet you could FEEL something lying beyond it, some kind of strange, overpowering force that was yearning to get out.

But what Zachary Archimedes Cadence Katarn…what Kendall…what ZACK wanted now…

Was right in front of him.

"Do you really want to talk to him?" He knows what the instinct inside him is saying. Is this a good idea? REALLY a good idea? This is Ethos, after all. What do you say to your God? Your prophet? The one who passed down the most sacred scriptures of all to the Logosian people?

"H…Hey." Zack said. "How's things going?"

"I'm doing well, actually. Romantically and professionally. I'm at a good place in my life. What about you, Zack?"

"I'm not doing so well. I think I'm in my head. And I miss you." Zack confessed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I know it might sound stupid, but everyone has a right to be happy. Even somebody like me who lived for other people. I'm "only human", y'know." Ethos told Zack. "And you have a right to be happy too. Part of that is going to be up to you. Not all of it. Maybe not even most of it. But enough of it. You choose how you face the world."

"What's in that backpack you've got?" Zack hadn't even really noticed it until now. How odd. A kind of ordinary-looking school kid's backpack. Overlarge, overstuffed. The kind of thing he'd carry when he was younger.

"Oh, I've got the Iron Scepter, a spare silk gown, a toothbrush, and of course, the Crown of Morality."

"Aren't you WEARING it right now?" Zack asked, confused, staring into Ethos's face, drinking him in. He was feeling something swelling up in him, a deep love intermixed with sadness. He was both immensely happy, and yet he wanted to start crying and never stop.

"Oh, this? No, no, it's just a wreath I made one day for fun. The crown itself may look leafy, but it's actually made of a kind of rarefied light, interwoven with palladium and kyber crystal. The Force was strong with me. You shan't find that in books of antiquity."

"We need to talk." Zack said. "We need to really have closure."

"I'm afraid you won't GET closure from me." Ethos told Zack. "That's life. Sometimes there just isn't any closure. Sometimes things just end and it isn't really anybody's fault. Sometimes love just goes away. It's not a guarantee."

"I can be better. I WILL be better. I'll prove it to you." Zack insisted, as he held Ethos's free hand, squeezing it, moving in, and his lips brushed against Ethos's, giving him a firm, powerful kiss, Ethos's body radiating warmth…

But then…Zack broke the kiss, stepping back. He could tell, he could feel it in his bones. He'd done something wrong. That had been a mistake. "I…" Zack wasn't sure what to say. "You didn't kiss me back"? "I don't understand"? "Why don't you love me"?

Finally, he asked the only thing he could think of. "…what did I do wrong? What did I do that wasn't good enough for you to want to stay? What could I have done differently?"

"The truth is, it's not fair for me to tell you that. You and I were both young and it's not fair to expect either of us to be perfect, or mature. We made mistakes. You didn't realize you were trying to control me. But we were both young and stupid and reckless. We have to forgive ourselves. You could have done things differently, but even if you had, you and I still might have drifted apart. That's just the truth. I won't lie and say you could have done this or that and that would have made it better. I don't know if that would have done it." Ethos told him. "This is just how it is."

"I can't believe it." Zack could now feel the floodgates breaking. The space behind his head was getting hot and heavy. A ringing was swelling in his ears. He shook his head back and forth, red hair flopping about, covering his face with one hand, the other arm resting under his arm. "I'm mourning you. I'm grieving and you're not even dead. That's how this feels. This…this sucks. IT SUCKS." He realized.

"I know. But…that's how it is. It'll get better. In maybe five years or so, you'll stop thinking about me almost every week. Maybe even every month. And that pain will just fade to at most a dull throb." Ethos said.

"Can't…can't you turn back into the person you were?" Zack begged, feeling the tears beginning to slide down his cheeks as he held Ethos's cheeks. "I can almost see him in you. Under that robe…past the hair…"

"And under my wreathy crown?" Ethos smiled sadly, shaking his head. "I can't, Zack. I'm not that person anymore. I can never think of you the way I used to. I can only think that way about new people. Once you learn to fully let me go, your heart will open, and the pain will lessen, and you'll begin to feel that way again. You'll notice someone else's scents and how good they smell. You'll want to smile when something reminds you of them. You'll find a man that will accept you for who you are and who will be just as good for you as you are for them. You'll be a family. Maybe even adopt and have a real family." The long-haired man said, gently taking Zack's hand, giving it a soft squeeze before slowly lowering it down. "I won't see you again. But you'll see me again."

"…because…this isn't the only time I've had this dream." Zack realized as he stepped back, and folded his arms over his chest, hanging his head slightly. "…of all the dreams to forget."

"Yes. You've had this dream at least twice a week. It used to be worse. Three times, even four. I'm beautiful. I'm young. And I smell like your favorite ice cream. But you know that if you keep focusing on me…I'll eat your mind up."

"…this is horrible." Zack whispered as he raised his head up, wiping his eyes on his arm. "This is just unbearably horrible."

"I know. Real darkness isn't death, or war, or rape, or child molestation. Real darkness has love for a face. And the first death is in the heart." Ethos told him with a nod, as he began to turn, and the doors to the train opened, brilliant light cascading out. Zack watched quietly, clinging to himself, suppressing his shuddering cries as he saw his beloved enter the train…and exit his life.

He awoke with the bed sheets soaked with sweat. He covered his face with his hands, letting out long, deep, horrifying sobs. He took in rasping, ragged breaths as a knock came at the door, and Luke Skywalker gently walked in, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I heard you calling out. Bad dreams?"

"…the worst possible." Zack muttered. "…the absolute worst." He wiped his eyes on his arms again, trying to take in deep, long breaths, though it felt like someone was sitting on his chest. How could you feel so hot and yet so cold at the same time? It was a kind of unusual agony he'd never experienced. He gripped the blanket he had on his bed, crunching them tightly into his grip, and then slowly opened his eyes again. "I don't know how to make how I feel stop. Everything hurts right now and I just want it to STOP and I don't know how." He confessed. "Have…have you ever been there?"

"Yes. I lost the people who raised me. I lost the father figure who'd begun to train me as a Jedi and make me feel like I was worth something. I found out my true father was a mass murdering Sith. And then I lost him too, before we could really start over. Just after he'd redeemed himself." Luke admitted. "I've felt that pain. It gets better when you talk to people." Luke nodded gently. "…tell me about your dream."

Zack took in a deep breath…and then began to speak.

… "I haven't heard from you in a while, Kendall." Grothk confessed as he looked at Kendall on the other end of the vid-screen. The Trandoshan put his hands in his lap, seeing Kendall had died his hair white and was currently rubbing over his neck. Something was…off…about him. For one, he was considerably more well built and muscular than before and-oh. OH! The…the neck! His noose markings around the neck were gone! He gasped in surprise, looking more closely, his eyes bulging like saucers. "I…I didn't think you could DO that!"

"Logosians have control over their bodies in ways NOBODY knows about. The average person only knows some basics like if we lost a finger, we could will it back on, they don't know how deep the power really goes." Zack confessed. "And I'm Zack, now. It's my real name…though I'm not going to be showing my real self to the people of Nar Shadaa. I'm coming back, Grothk. I'm going to put an end to the Dyad. New look. New powers. And I feel stronger and more alive than ever before. Somehow, even though I don't look like myself…I FEEL more like myself. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah…I get it." Grothk said warmly as the trandoshan nodded. "How can I help?"

"What I need to do is find a way to reach a ton of Nar Shadaa citizens. Do you know anybody who…works in the news station? I've made plenty of friends with guards and cops and students who went in to the free clinic I worked at that I operated on or patched up with the Dr. Morgan but…not really anybody in the media." Zack asked.

"Wait…are you saying…?" Grothk asked.

"Yes. It's time for the revolution." Zack said with a firm nod, as he held up a long strip of cloth, covering his eyes as he clenched his fist tight…and his lightsaber hovered up beside him, Grothk gazing in awe, mouth slowly opening. "I'm a Jedi Knight now. It's time I acted like it. The people of Nar Shadaa need some hope, and I want to give them that."

"A truth wrapped up in a lie?"

"I'm gonna end up doing some…bad things." Zack admitted. "And when it's over, if I have to, I'll give myself up to the courts. But if it means the Dyad goes down and Nar Shadaa is free…then so be it."

"You KNOW I'm with you, but a lot of people still like what they do, even if a lot of their support is from…well…a mix of fear and just not wanting things to change." Grothk admitted nervously. "There's a ton of people who would rather have security over freedom…even if it means a fascist or authoritarian Sith Lesbian couple are behind it."

"Then I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Maybe they'll just vote them back in next election year if the two come quietly." Zack admitted. "…and if that's true, then I'll never come back to Nar Shadaa. They can HAVE it. But I have to at least try." He insisted. "I have to try and see if maybe, despite their fear, people DO want a better way. I want to show them the Jedi can do it right. To show them what the Jedi did best…helping the people who need it most."

Grothk smiled. "I know two people. One's a mid level manager at the station, and the other happens to be a technician that also doubles as a night time janitor because he needs the extra dough, and between the two, they've got the keys and access to EVERYTHING there. How's that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan." Zack said with a grin. "I'll go meet them. Can you arrange a time for us to get together within the next few days?"

"Leave it to me." Grothk insisted with a salute…before he cringed. "Oh, wait…you can't see that, can you?"

"I know you, Grothk. You saluted." Zack said with a little chuckle. "It's cute. I like it."

At this…the Trandoshan blushed.