Nearly a year before, during the week after Daala and the Lost Tribe of the Sith were defeated, Tahiri had been cremated here on Hapes. It was no coincidence that where she had been burned away was in the exact spot where Jaina's brother, Anakin, had had his funeral held during the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Now Jaina was revisiting the funeral pyre, thinking back on both Anakin and Tahiri's lives, in silence and solitude.

Her solemn reverie was interrupted by the arrival of another person from her left who stopped beside her and turned to the pyre. Jaina looked and was actually surprised to see the Mandalorian known as Partner there.

"Wondering why I'm here, huh?" the Mando asked.

"A little bit, yeah," Jaina responded evenly.

Partner shrugged. "I was just curious."

"Curious?"

"About what she was like; before I met her."

"She was a wonderful person," Jaina said as she looked back on the pyre. "Before the Yuuzhan Vong took her, she was so full of life and joy. Then she became... something else. But my brother, Anakin, that is... he helped her get through it."

"I know about what happened to him," Partner said. "She didn't take it well, I assume."

"That's putting it lightly," Jaina replied with a cocked eyebrow. "We nearly lost her, too. But she came back to us, stronger than ever. Then... Caedus came. She was exposed to the dark side of the Force; he led her down a path where he made her think that she could save Anakin. Once again, she came back; but not without being permanently... tainted."

Silence permeated the space between them for several heartbeats before Partner said, "But not that tainted."

"No," Jaina agreed. "In the end... she did what she did for Jag and me. She may not have been able to save Anakin, but she saved Jag. She saved him... for me, so that I wouldn't know the loss of losing someone that dear to me. Yes, I also lost Anakin, but when she lost him, she endured a pain that I could never understand. Yet, for all the darkness that poisoned her soul, her spirit, her loyalty, remained true to us, her friends. Because we were the closest thing she had to a family."

"Whatever her sins," Partner said, "she could never be fully corrupted. She was bent, but never truly broken."

"Even you see that, huh?" Jaina asked.

"I saw that when I watched her sacrifice herself for your husband."

Jaina nodded. "So... is your curiosity satisfied?"

"Reasonably so," Partner said. "I'll leave you alone now." He turned to leave.

"Wait," Jaina said.

"What?" Partner asked after he stopped and turned back.

"She's happy now, you know," Jaina said.

"How could you know that?"

"My other brother, Jacen, the one who's still alive, he... he took me to a place called beyond shadows. There, he showed me how Tahiri's doing."

"In the afterlife?"

Jaina nodded.

Partner tilted his head. "Okay, I'll bite. How is she happy there?"

Jaina grinned as she thought back to that moment.

She remembered, not long after Tahiri had been cremated, when Jacen took her to the realm beyond shadows. There, she had looked down into a pool and saw Anakin and Tahiri, who was a teenager again, embraced eternally in each other's arms.

"In a way," Jaina said, "that I hope to understand myself one day."

Partner said nothing in response. He only turned and left.

Jaina then turned back as tears of joy began streaking down her face.

"Thank you, Tahiri," she whispered, "for always keeping true to yourself."

THE END