Just as the vibrating alarm of my comm device begins to buzz into my hand, I immediately switch it off. I'm already awake, ready for it. I slide out of my cot and quietly slip into my boots. By the light of the moon streaming into the open flap of our tent, I maneuver around the other cots and snoring forms until I find Anakin. I kneel down beside his cot and gently shake his shoulder. He looks none too pleased, and stares at me with a hilarious twinge of outrage.

"Anakin, I have to go into the city with Knight Tachi today, so unfortunately if we want to get any training in, we have to do it now." I whisper.

"Okay," he groans, and begins to get his boots on.

We walk silently through the compound. I see some others are already awake, having meetings in lantern-lit tents, or readying supplies in the armory. They look up and nod at us, and continue their work.

We escape the artificial glow of the compound and are guided by the white glow of the moon sparkling in the fresh fallen snow, the only sound being the crunch of our footsteps. I head toward the sounds of rushing water and find a waterfall, frozen in time, with a crystal-clear stream gushing under a layer of ice. I take a seat on a rock, and Anakin does the same, pulling his cloak in tighter around him. His eyes look bloodshot.

"Did you know that you can create a sort of cocoon of insulation around yourself with the Force?" I ask him.

He only just seems to notice I don't have on my cloak and his eyes widen. "Really?"

"There's a lot we can do. Having an open line of communication with the Force is like gaining another sense. Trying to explain it to you at this point would be like trying to describe sight to someone who was born blind. They have a conceptual understanding, but can never truly know what it's like. It's almost…indescribable. But I know you've tapped into this before. Do you remember?"

Anakin looks down at the creek and studies the water with a frown. "I think when I've Pod Raced. Or fly in general. I can see what's going to happen a few seconds before it actually does. It's like something clicks. I just feel so…fluid. I don't know, does that make sense?"

I nod vigorously. "It does! You're exactly right. The Force has been trying to communicate with you your entire life. All I need to do is teach you how to open your ears a little more."

"I know I'm ready! I think I've been feeling something for a long time."

"Good," I smile. "I think what will help us first is to learn how to feel each other's presence in the Force. How to communicate with each other with our thoughts."

"Wow." He looks at me wide-eyed again.

"Remember the meditation we've been practicing? It helps to clear all mind chatter away to be able to listen better. I'm going to be silent and see if you can feel me reach out to you. You'll understand when I do."

He looks a little worried, but closes his eyes and draws his legs up onto the rock, resting his hands on his knees. No sound but the muffled rush of water beneath ice and the gentle caresses of frigid wind. I can feel Anakin shivering, but his mind is silent in spite of his physical discomfort. Very impressive. I take a tug at his Life Force and send him a reassuring, but wordless touch. I feel his shivering lessen, and see a smile grow on his face through my closed eyes.

Suddenly his eyes snap open. "Oh my God, was that it?"

I open my eyes as well and laugh. "Yes, that was me. I'm impressed. Your pathways are very open and receptive."

"That's incredible! Can I try it on you?"

"Sure. Don't try to think through words. I just want you to simply reach out to me. Send your Life Force my way. It's not a physical movement, so you don't need to picture a literal reaching in any way. The feeling you got when I connected with you, just try to replicate that and I'll be open to it. Give it a go."

He closes his eyes again and I do the same. I wait. My heart begins to ache with longing. I feel exposed, vulnerable. I begin to shiver and my throat feels tight. I see a face. A woman, crying, huddled in a dark corner whispering, "it's okay. It's okay." I feel the need to reach out to her, to taker her in my arms. To make her safe and to feel safe. And I see a man. He kneels down and touches my shoulder and I feel hot tears sting my eyes. I snap them open and scan the cold, unmoving fields of snow, breathing heavily in shock.

I meet Anakin's concerned gaze. "Did I do it wrong?" He asks.

I don't even know how to answer him. What the hell was that? "N-no." I stammer. "I'm just…it's just…I wasn't expecting such a strong connection, that's all."

Anakin smiles a little with pride. But I have to ask… "Anakin. Who were those people? In your vision? I saw a woman, and a man. I felt…their presence with you."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I know you said to clear the mind chatter. I just let my mind be free, go where it wanted. I guess I was thinking of my mom. And…Master Jinn."

"Oh. I see." I don't know what to say. I just let the wind kick up a swirl of white powder between us and stare into it.

"Did you two do this?" He asks.

"Do what?"

"Talk and connect through the Force?"

"We did." I speak slowly, unable to meet his gaze. "It took a while. But eventually it helped us form a special bond. We always knew what the other was thinking and feeling. It's like we were one person."

"You must miss him. Like I miss my mom. Was he like a dad to you?"

I wonder when he'll learn to talk like the rest of us. Never saying what we mean. Never being so direct, so blunt, so innocently honest. But knowing everything anyway. It'll probably break my heart when that day comes.

"I guess he was." I venture carefully. "I never had a father, at least not one I remember. It's alright to form a bond between a Master and Apprentice. We just can't lose ourselves to it." …Like I did…"Your attachment to your mother was a beautiful thing. No doubt it kept you both alive. But you don't need to have the other physically there. All things are connected through the Force. Do you understand?"

"I do." He smiles. This seems to comfort him.

.

.

.

Siri drops a pile of clothing onto my cot. "What's this for?" I ask.

"We can't go in dressed like Jedi. Nothing that can at all be connected to the Republic. I assume these will fit. If not, then maybe you'll look like a child in their father's clothing and they'll take more pity on you." She smirks.

"More pity?" I can't help but laugh.

She takes her own bundle behind a curtain and I do the same. My tall boots are replaced with short, chunky ones. I slip the pilled, deep-maroon tunic over my head, and she was right- I'm swimming in it.

"Siri!" I call over the curtain.

"What?"

"Can I at least wear my utility belt?"

"No!" She shouts in mock outrage that I'd even ask.

I laugh, and almost in my own form of childish protest, simply remove the holster and other items from the belt until it's naked and unrecognizable. I tuck my lightsaber into the cavernous cargo pocket of my pants. She emerges from her curtain almost at the same time as me. Her slender form is completely obscured by a thick canvas jacket, not unlike what would be worn on a work site. Her hair is pulled up in a pony tail and covered by a woolen cap.

When she finishes adjusting herself, she stares at me for a long time. I can't help but squirm in her gaze. "I'm glad to be on a mission with you again." She finally says. "What's it been, ten years or so?"

My body remembers holding her close to me for warmth in a desolate cave in Cirrus. I shudder at the thought. "Yes, I believe so."

She leads me out into the yard, abuzz with people and machinery. We don our helmets, lower the visors, and mount our snowmachines, taking off into a mounting flurry. I follow Siri through an endless maze of trees, and the horizon suddenly appears over the precipice of the mountain side. I keep looking over to her, waiting for her to change course, but she doesn't. She suddenly disappears over the edge and I can't help but swerve to a halt and look over the cliff face, expecting to see her and the vehicle tumbling down the mountain together. Instead her form is disappearing down a couloir, carving a snaking pattern the whole way down. I let out a sharp sigh and flick my visor back down. The front of my snowmachine teeters over the edge and my stomach lurches as I drop down the gully. I follow her pattern in the snow, carving her S-like shapes, and feel a rush of adrenaline. I hear her "wahoo!" echo in the enormous mountain enclosed valley and I let out a whoop of delight in response. She waits for me at the bottom, grinning and panting.

"God, I can get used to this place!" I laugh.

"I can't say I've hated my time here so far! Come on, we're almost there. Sorry, but it's pretty flat from here on out, dare-devil."

She flicks her visor back down and slides her turn down valley, spraying snow back up at me. The sparkling lights of Wollongpore approach and begin to dim as the sun struggles to rise through the thick, white clouds. Her voice reaches out to me through the Force, over the thunder of our engines, "Watch out for depressions in the snow, it could be a snow bridge over a crevasse. We're technically on top of a glacier right now." Together we snake our way through the signs of crevasses, which are anything from small, insidious sumps to gaping maws or bottomless moulins. I can't help but stare in awe at the massive sinkholes, with the ice so bright and pure blue along their walls.

No matter how hard I rev my engine and lean into the snowy wind, I can't seem to catch up to her. I can feel her subdued delight at being constantly in the lead. I remember an image of us running on the Sky Track as kids. Of struggling to stay just on her tail as she never gave in. Even if she collapsed to the floor at the end, she'd never let me beat her. I could never tell if it was just her competitive nature, or some personal message to me specifically. In any case it usually had us laughing. I almost felt sorry for her in the past; for her compulsive need to prove herself, to be the best athletically no matter what pains it caused her or how many late-night hours in the training center it cost.

When we reach the outskirts of the city, I feel myself growing anxious. So far, the passersby barely pay attention to us, many of them on snowmachines themselves. Siri slows her pace and leads me to a crowded courtyard fenced in by massive buildings, no doubt a center for local government. Enormous banners hanging from the columns thrash in the icy wind. We park our vehicles and stash our helmets, and I have to calm my breathing.

"Don't be nervous," Siri says. "You're one of them, remember?"

As we filter in, the sounds of jeering and yelling grow louder. To my shock, Siri reaches back and grabs my hand, pulling me through the crowd. I can feel the warmth through her glove. We push to the front until we're standing right below several people on a makeshift stage. Their breaths hang in white clouds in front of their faces, and they seem to be constantly shifting to stay warm.

"In spite of our cure, the Republic is relentless." A young woman yells. "We've received reports from one of our neighboring star systems that they're now testing blood for midi-chlorians at random in the child-care centers!"

The crowd erupts in rage, some shaking their fists in the air. An older man moves to the front of the stage and silences the crowd with his outstretched hands. "We have a solution." He speaks calmly, face serious. His deep voice carries without needing to yell. "It's a drastic measure, but our last chance if we want to save our people from government abduction. Our new program is strictly voluntary, and at this time only approved for Force-sensitive adults. We are currently testing the implant of a device that is rigged to self-destruct when it detects the user leaving their planet's atmosphere."

Gasps of shock are drowned out by cheering and applause. I feel my skin crawl. "Yes, the user will be killed. But it's a last-ditch effort of sabotage. A final exercise of free will that flies in the face of the Republic. To tell them we will not so easily allow ourselves and our families to be taken and brainwashed into their slave army any longer!" He shoves his fist high into the air and the crowd responds with deafening cheers.

Siri and I exchange looks. They consider the Jedi to be a "slave army?"

"When will this device be available?" A man next to me shouts.

The young woman speaks again. "Very soon, we hope. The internal guidance system needs more testing before we can go into mass production."

I can't keep silent any longer. "The Jedi don't take adults. Wouldn't this device be useless and unnecessarily dangerous?" I catch Siri's stunned look out of the corner of my eye but I don't dare meet her gaze.

The crowd is hushed and I get a collective glare from everyone on stage. The older man slowly walks to the front. "What is your name, young man? I haven't seen you in our rallies before."

My mouth goes dry. I instantly regret speaking. I look over at Siri and she just cocks one shoulder in uncertainty. I suppose now is as good a time as any to go with the plan. "My name is Obi-Wan. I'm a visitor, but originally a native of this planet."

The man just stares at me, his mouth slowly falling agape. I wait and shift uncomfortably, and a younger man finally steps forward and cuts the tension. "We welcome guests. We want our message spread to the galaxy. What planet do you live on now?"

I let out a sharp breath. Fuck, what have I done? "Coruscant." I yell with a little too much exasperation. Sure enough, I hear whistles and angry murmurs all around me. The young man and woman on stage smirk at each other and shake their heads.

"Do you work for the Republic?" I hear a female voice ask from the crowd. A woman of perhaps middle age begins to walk toward me, an entourage trailing behind her. The crowd parts to clear a path, and I would feel nervous but her face is the only one soft and calm. Her gray-blue eyes crinkle at the edges when she smiles. Her blond hair is pulled back into a rather severe bun, but her loose white robes, embroidered with colorful flowers, give her a relaxed aura. Suddenly I recognize her. I've seen her face at the once yearly galactic senate meetings, where representatives of the farther reaches and smaller populations are able to go. Before I collect myself enough to offer a bow, she reaches out and takes my hand, squeezing my arm in greeting.

"No ma'am," I finally say. "My colleague and I are contractors. We have a prospective job on Stewjon, so we're just visiting."

"Well I can speak for everyone here by saying that's a relief to hear." The crowd suddenly laughs, almost like letting out a bated breath. "You seem to have a lot of questions for visiting contractors."

"Well news of Stewjon has reached even us in our lofty capitol." Siri steps forward, emboldened and sarcastic as always. "We heard reports of these medical tests being done non-consensually. And that the recent assassination attempt against our Chancellor was an act of terrorism by your rebel group."

"Whoa, hold on everyone!" The older man on stage has to step forward as figures close in around us. The collective outrage vibrates the air.

The senator seems oblivious, her sweet smile frozen and almost disturbingly inappropriate. "Are you sure you're not actually journalists?" I hear laughter and angry shouts again, and feel incredibly claustrophobic.

"You can't believe everything you hear in the news." She continues, but only loud enough for Siri and I to hear. "Yes, the attacker was confirmed as being from Stewjon. But he acted alone. This activist group doesn't engage in violence, I can promise you that. Whatever allegations you may have heard in the capital are baseless slander, nothing more."

"Please, Senator, what's this all for? What is the stance of this…activist group?"

"Rowan, would you like to explain?" She turns to the older man. He steps forward and jumps down from the platform. His eyes haven't stopped boring into me since we spoke up.

"Too many families have been shattered by the Republic. They abduct our children and force them into the Jedi army. They give the people of this galaxy no say, they just take. And contrary to your claim, Force-sensitive adults are persecuted by the Jedi. They unfairly monitor them and sometimes take them too if they dare use their powers. They're usually never seen or heard from again. Just for using their gifts. They're just bitter that they escaped being found as infants."

"You mean if they use their powers for violence? I think in that case it's called an arrest, not abduction." I venture.

"These people can't be reasoned with, Papa. They're brainwashed capital drones." The younger man says with a sneer. "When you act as a passive bystander, you're implicate in the Baby Snatching!"

I can't help but gasp. I think back to my cloak, sitting in a heap on my cot back at the compound. Inside the pocket, the old pamphlet, crumpled and worn: "Stop the Baby Snatchers." Qui-Gon somehow knew about this. Yet he never said a thing to me. Stewjon never come onto our radar until the last couple of years. Why would he keep this a secret?

"I don't know who told you two about this rally, but I'd like to formally revoke your invitation." Rowan hisses. A gust of wind showers us with icy flakes and I can't help but shiver. I look over to the senator, but she just smiles back at me, saying nothing. I feel Siri grip my arm and start to guide me back. "Come on," she whispers.

As we dive deeper into the jeering crowd, I hear the Senator's voice call at my back jovially, "We'll be watching you." I try to whip around and look at her, but a mass of bodies obstructs my view, closing in on us and forcing us further away. They begin to push and shove until we're spat out the back, standing alone in the freezing air devoid of their body heat.

Siri and I shuffle through the wind out of the courtyard toward our snowmachines, the echo of the female protester's voice buffeting off the walls once more. As I grab my helmet, I hear a man call behind me, "Hey!"

Rowan stands shivering several yards away. "I don't know where you're going, but if I were you, I'd hole up somewhere. A storm is coming." With that, he turns and begins jogging back to the rally before I can say anything.

"Well that was unexpected." Siri says.

"It was," I stare after his retreating form. "Did you notice that man was staring at me?"

"I did. It worries me. Maybe he's seen your face before in the news or something. We need to be more covert about this."

Suddenly she wallops me with her mitten, "What was with using your real name? Amateur, I swear."

"Siri, do you have any idea how many trillions of life forms there are in this galaxy? You need to relax."

"You've been interviewed by media before. These people may be hicks on the edge of the galaxy, but I'm sure at least one has access to archival files."

"Fine," I mutter, zipping up my jacket and winding my scarf tight around my collar. "Do you think he's right? Should we find lodging somewhere?"

"No, I don't think that's a good idea. Didn't you hear that woman? 'We'll be watching you'? No, we need to get back to the compound. Intel is going to want a report on this, anyway. We got some good stuff."

As we pass through the suburbs of the city, I see people hurrying indoors and windows being shuttered. Pretty soon our engines are the only sounds over the wind. The once towering mountains at the far end of the valley we came from are disappearing behind the sinking deck of clouds. Our little competition seems to go out the window- Siri and I ride close, side by side, speeding across the glacier as fast as we can. In the increasing darkness, we have to swerve last minute to dodge the crevasses. Sky and ground are one hazy mass of white, and pretty soon I begin to feel as though the world is continuously flipping upside down. Despite the bitter rush of wind, I feel myself beginning to sweat from the mounting nausea. We can't get there soon enough.

We seem to ride for hours, both desperately scanning the horizon for signs of our tracks back up the couloir we descended from. But that mountain is completely swallowed in the massive wall of pelting snow. There are no more landmarks, no sign of our tracks at all.

"Siri!" I yell over the howl of wind. "We can't stay out here like this! We need to make shelter!"

If she responded, I couldn't hear it. She dismounts and attempts a run through the waist-deep powder toward a small hill nearby. I struggle to follow, but my snowmachine sinks too deeply, suffocating the engine with snow until it stalls and the headlights flicker and go out. I step off and practically have to swim after her. I completely lose sight of Siri, and have to grab hold of her Life-Force like a tether tied between us. When I catch up, she's pawing at the snow, digging a hole into the side of the hill. I drop to my knees and join her until we burrow a small cave big enough for us both to crawl into. We keep digging downward, until we've constructed a snow shelter worthy of an adequately passing mark in Arctic Skills school.

We peel off our gloves, hold our hands to our mouths, and pant warm breath onto our stiff fingers. Siri suddenly begins to laugh. "Well this is fun, eh?"

I just stare at her and shake my head. "You're insane."

"I can't believe we left our snowmachines." She buries her face into her hands. Her shoulders heave, but I can't tell if it's from crying or laughing or some sickening combination of both. "They'll be totally buried by the time this storm ends. We won't be able to find them!"

This time I can't help but laugh. In the kind of way you would at a funeral ceremony, where everyone turns and glares at you, but you can't seem to stop.

"Hey, does this remind you of Cirrus?" Siri looks up from her hands with a tired smile.

"Well, yes, now that you mention it." I very much doubt she'll let me hug her this time.

Siri strips off her liner gloves until her hands are bare, then begins to rifle around a small pouch hanging from her belt. She pulls out a string of tinder and her flint, sparking a small fire in the corner of our little cave. We sit mesmerized for a long time, holding our aching hands over the blessed flame. My eyelids sag and I feel an ache in my neck and shoulders in my hunched position.

"Can I ask you something?" Siri says.

"Of course."

"Why did you come along today? Quinlan could have easily been my partner. I would have figured you'd need to be with your Padawan."

I just stare into the fire and pray she takes my reddening face to be from the cold. "I thought it would be nice to go scouting with you again. After all these years."

"But we have the entire mission. We could literally be partners any time. What's the rush?"

"Are you critiquing me?"

She gives a half-hearted laugh. "Well maybe. It just seems weird for a new Master to kind of ditch his Padawan the first day on a new planet, that's all. But what would I know?"

The wind moans and wails in the most unsettling way across the small opening of the cave up above us. "I still feel uncomfortable around him." I blurt out. I feel myself sway a little, and feel oddly detached from the exhaustion and lingering nausea, like my confession won't matter because this is actually just a dream. Nonetheless, I feel my cheeks burn with regret.

"Oh," is all she says.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.".

"No! It's fine, trust me. I appreciate your honestly, it's a little out of character for you. I like it."

"Please don't misunderstand me, he's a wonderful kid. It's just whenever I look at him…"

"You think of Qui-Gon."

I stare wide-eyed at her. How did she know?

"It makes sense." She says, ripping a scrap of paper from her notepad and tossing it into our little fire. "You really need to get over that, though. You can't keep thinking of him when you're around your Padawan. It's not fair to the kid."

"Well can I ask you something?"

"Alright. Shoot."

"Why, over all these years, have you almost never responded to my messages." What in God's name has gotten in to me? Why did I just say that?

She pauses and then narrows her eyes. "What exactly do you mean?"

The words continue to tumble out of me like I'm possessed. I still feel lightheaded and dreamlike. "Over the years, I would try to reach you via data-messages or send a wellness check, and you would very rarely even respond. Are you not interested in maintaining any level of our friendship?"

"Are you lashing out, or something? I don't even know what you're talking about." She jams her hands into the arms pits of her jacket and hugs herself tightly, teeth beginning to chatter.

I let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I simply care about this friendship. Any efforts to maintain it seemed a little one-sided to me, that's all. I don't mean to upset you."

"I'm sorry, but what friendship?"

I feel a knot in my throat. I'm suddenly utterly mortified. "I just thought…"

"How exactly did you expect us to go back to being friends after…after Cirrus?"

Because of the cave? There was nothing intimate about that, we were just trying to stay warm, stay alive. "I don't understand, what exactly was so abhorrent about that mission?"

"How can we just pretend like everything is fine and dandy after our talk with Master Yoda and Master Jinn back then? About confessing feelings, but then being reminded how incredibly selfish and naive that was? Jesus, I was humiliated! We were so foolish!"

"I don't believe you."

"Believe what?" she scoffs.

"You weren't embarrassed. You were sad."

She stares at me and lets out a heavy sigh. "It's hard to go back from that."

"Well I'd like to try."

"Fine. Agreed." She says, holding out her hand to me. Tentatively, I take it, and she gives my hand a hearty shake.

"I feel so tired but I'm afraid if I sleep I'll die." My words slur together so fast I sound drunk. We both explode in hysterical laughter, but have to sputter and cough from our ravaged throats. My ribs feel as though they'll break from the heaving.

"Tell you what, we take shifts." She says.

"Oh God, that sounds like a terrible idea." I keep laughing.

"Why?" She shouts with mock offense.

"Because I don't trust you. No way you'll stay awake."

She reaches out and punches my shoulder, but I feel nothing through my thick jacket and numb skin. "Fine then, we'll just keep talking to keep each other awake."

"I don't know if I would even have enough to say."

"Want to hear a joke?"

"Oh, good Lord," I roll my eyes. "Fine."

"Well this one is apropos. How does a Tauntaun build its house?"

She already begins giggling uncontrollably and I have to shout "How?" for her to even hear.

"Igloos it together…" she buries her face down into her lap and squeals with laughter.

"That's as bad as I could have possibly imagined."

"Okay, Okay, …" Siri gasps for breath and fights for her composure. "Ok, I have another one. Ready?" She immediately erupts into laughter again and I can't help but do the same.

"If you can catch your breath, sure."

"Why did the scarecrow win an award?"

"My God, why?"

"He was outstanding in his field! Wait, hold on, two fish are in a tank and one says to the other, do you know how to drive this thing?"

I shove a gloved hand over her mouth and feel her muffled laughter. "You need to stop now."

She rolls onto her side and remains in a fit of dazed laughter for several moments. I also lean back onto the wall of our cave and rest my eyelids closed.

"You can't sleep," I hear her slurred voice through the swirling darkness behind my eyelids. I try to respond, but only a mumble escapes. I feel the heat from our little fire wane, and my shivering has evolved to violent, uncontrollable convulsions.

"Siri…" I open my eyes, but she's already passed out, a faint smile on her pale face. I see a hint of blue on her lips. The last of the flame is snuffed out by a drop of condensation from the ceiling, and Siri is completely swallowed in darkness.