The Temple was low and welcoming, each window lit by a bright light. A circle of dark wood surrounded the doorway. People stared at Ashla and Serana as they were led towards it. Some of them started whispering, and more than one fell to their knees.

A tall man in a white robe waited for them at the door. Despite appearing quite young, he leaned heavily on a staff.

"Tyin Kress," he intoned, as they approached. "Have you come to return to us?" His eyes flicked over Serana and Ashla, then froze. His jaw dropped as he focused on Ashla.

"By the Light of the Force," he whispered. "It is true. You are here."

"What's going on?" Ashla asked. "What do I have to do with you?"

"Come with me," he said. "Please leave your weapons outside." He turned and began walking into the Temple. Serana left her lightsabers by the door and they followed him.

"Here," he said, leading them to a large room. "Look familiar?"

An intricate mural was painted on one wall. Serana recognised the style instantly, it was similar to the ones the Artist had left on Lothal. A tall woman with aquamarine hair and green eyes stretched a hand out, as if trying to reach out of the mural. She wore a long yellow dress that pooled around her feet, and a bird with brown and green feathers perched on one shoulder.

Other than the bird and her height, the mural might as well have been a mirror. It matched Ashla exactly.

"What is this?" she demanded.

"This is the Daughter," the man explained. "Your people used to worship her, did you not? As the Winged Goddess? She was…" he searched for the right word, "an avatar. An avatar of the Force, a manifestation of the Light as a person of immense power." He glanced at her. "Do you not know this story?"

Serana nodded. "My sister told it to me. The Winged Goddess and the Fanged God represented the two sides of the Force, but they killed each other over two thousand years ago. That doesn't explain why you have a painting that looks exactly like Ashla!"

"We believe that, since the last avatars were killed, the Force would eventually create new avatars of itself to replace them," he explained. "A reincarnation, of sorts. It would appear that Ashla is one of these."

"One of? So, the other –"

"The Son," he said distastefully. "An avatar of the Dark Side. The less said about that one, the better."

"This… this is real?" Ashla breathed, touching the mural lightly. "This is who I am?" She turned to face them. "And you – you – you worship me?"

He dropped to his knees. "We do. Mistress." Several others who had entered the room bowed alongside him.

Serana snorted as Ashla looked at her, a pleading expression on her face. "I don't care who you are, I'm not kowtowing to you," she said. Ashla laughed.

They both felt it at the same time. An awareness of something there that hadn't been a second before. Both of them turned to face it together.

"Serana!" S17 beeped over her commlink. "We've got company! A ship's just dropped out of hyperspace and it's heading straight for you. Looks to be a Jedi battlecruiser."

"Time to go," Ashla said, a second before she could.

Her lightsabers leapt into her hands as they dashed out of the temple. People yelled as they barged past, running through the streets, and then they were out of the city and crossing the plains. Serana ran faster, drawing on the Force to help her.

A ship dropped out of the sky, pursuing them. Several shapes fell from the bottom of it. Jedi Jump Troopers. They landed in the grass a short distance away. Serana ignited one of her lightsabers as they fired on her, deflecting the shots back at them. Two of them fell to their own gunfire before she pushed at the rest of them and threw them backwards.

She felt him before she saw him and dived out of the way, barely getting her second lightsaber out in time to block his next attack. Twin beams of yellow light extended from either end of his saber. A Jedi Sentinel. Not just any Sentinel, she realised, seeing his mask. A Temple Guardian.

"So," he drawled, "you're the one who's been protecting her."

She couldn't beat a Temple Guardian, not in a straight-up fight. She needed time. She drew on as much power as she could and lashed out, blowing him backwards off his feet and sending him tumbling. She raised her arms to either side. Clouds began forming above them. Thunder muttered in the distance.

One of the troopers shot her.

She gasped as the shot hit her in the shoulder, knocking her backwards. She lost control. The clouds vanished in an instant. Snarling, she blocked his next shot and took his head off with a lightning bolt.

The Temple Guardian had gotten back up. He pulled something out of his robes and pressed a button on the side.

The Force vanished.

She screamed in shock. The Force was gone. She couldn't sense it. It was like it had never been there at all.

"Now," he drawled, "let us fight."

She charged at him. She felt wrong, clumsy, sick. He stepped aside with ease and kicked her in the back of the knee, knocking her to the ground.

"Why do you think you could still fight?" he asked. "The drinking, the neglect, you should have been incapable of it years ago. You're nothing without the Force to compensate."

"Stop!" Ashla yelled. "Leave her alone! It's me you want!"

The Temple Guardian laughed. "I have orders to kill you both," he said. "By all means, feel free to attack me if you want. It'll make this so much easier." He raised his lightsaber.

Ashla screamed in fury, raising her arms. Clouds boiled across the sky, like water poured from a jug. Darkness fell in seconds. Wind howled past them, tearing at their clothes, threatening to blow them away.

"Ashla, no!" Serana bellowed. She wasn't sure if anybody heard her over the sound of the wind.

"She's a Nightsister!" the Temple Guardian yelled. "Shoot her! SHOOT HER!" He raised his hands towards her and –

Bolts of lightning ripped from the clouds, smashing the ground apart. Serana curled up in a ball as an explosion hit her and threw her sideways. Clods of earth rained down around her. She barely noticed that she could sense the Force once more. Again and again and again the lightning fell, harder and faster, until it seemed the sound of it would break the world apart.

Everything was quiet. A bird tweeted in the distance. A bee buzzed serenely in front of her, alighted on a flower for a few seconds before flying off.

The remains of a ship smouldered a ways off, the metal reflecting the light of the setting sun.

Several craters pockmarked the field. The inside of them was smooth and glassy, as if the earth had been melted.

There were no signs of the Jedi.

She found Ashla in the same spot she'd been standing. She still had a pulse. Serana slumped down beside her, still numb from what had happened, and waited.

S17 found them as the first stars were coming out.

She carried Ashla to the medical bay and managed to make it back to her bedroom before falling unconscious.