At the ending bell, Luke, Kess, and Nik exited the Chancellor's chambers by going through the coliseum lobby where dozens of politicians affronted them, still trying to argue, to complain, to debate, and to lick their boots. The three tried to be polite to insist a chance to visit the blasted bathroom.

"We'll continue tomorrow!" Was the repeated phrase until they managed to hole up in someone's quiet office for a drink of water and a fast bite of a cold muffin.

Ambassador Danje appeared from the crowd and ushered the rest of the politicians to go away. "It's been a rough couple of days," he told them all. "No more politics tonight."

Without waiting for the crowd to disperse, he stood in the doorway and spoke to the three Jedi as if he were issuing a command. "What do you need?"

Kess glanced over at Luke and Nik and saw the answers instantly. Luke needed to meditate. Nik needed a med droid. All three of them needed sleep. She pushed forward on her mode of Cry Later and asked Danje for a place to stay and a ride to it.

Danje made it happen.

Within a few hours, Danje flew them to a skyscraper of floor-wide, furnished apartments overlooking a grand commercial avenue. Their eyes could follow the strings of neon lights and glowing street lamps all the way back to the Senate Building on the horizon. It was a civilian place—not occupied by the Senators and Royalty— but by the political assistants and operatives who served them. Danje tried to rent them the highest floor available, but Luke declined in a murmur and asked instead for a floor closer to the street. The Jedi were not to hold any appearance of trying to be in charge.

The first month was covered by Danje himself in appreciation for the cease fire. He promised to approach each system of the Serra Arm for donations to cover another five months, granting the Jedi plenty of time to 'get this done' without having to 'couch-surf'. Finally, he ordered up a healthy hot supper and paid for that too so that the Jedi could take this chance to fully refresh before the continuing 'bullshit' tomorrow.

Artoo rolled over and helped himself to a wall-plug that was his own personalized lunch and shut himself down. Nik stepped into the service room and activated the in-house med droid. He began to unbutton his tunic as he thumbed up the room controls, raising the heat of the room to a temperature that a Tatooiner could stand, and closed the door to be alone.

As Danje made his motion to leave, Luke bowed with deep respect and noted the title specifically. "Thank you for all you've done, Senator."

With a smug little grin, Danje lifted his chin and nodded back. "You're absolutely welcome, Master Jedi."

Danje left.

Luke and Kess were alone for the first time in a week.

But they stood far apart in the sitting area and gazed over the beautiful suite with discomfort. Colors of sand decorated the carpet and walls. The furniture was a soft-brushed black. Highlights of deep purple colored the flowing curtains and soft table lamps. Through the beautiful archway on the north end among the small foyer and entrance housed the kitchen, office, service room, and other living necessities. The south end of the oval building had another archway opening to a back hall that led into four large bedrooms, lavatories, and storage closets. Between the two arches stretched east and west walls of windows around a great living room with a sitting area and a long dining table. The apartment had a med droid, house-keeping droid, and protocol droid all built in, comm station, public library access. . . . This place was perfect for political operatives that had zero time to do anything else but research and discuss.

But Kess eyed the room as if the place was a jail cell. The windows stood like shields to separate them from the noise and weather outside, but did nothing to protect them from the still-rippling dark side of the Force on Coruscant. She stood immobile between the lush black couches, rubbing her own arms and hugging herself. Kess realize she had not prepared herself to deal with this part about being a Jedi. "I've never felt so . . . homeless."

Luke glanced over to that, but he was too distracted to respond.

Kess saw Luke staring at the floor, equally unable to move. He had been stumbling along a ragged edge since he came back from Vanech last night. She already guessed that it hadn't gone well, but Luke was far more affected than such a failure would warrant.

She did what he asked; she served as his tether, she stood as his strength. And she was glad to do it, proud to be able to serve that role for him. She hadn't asked for details so that she could serve that role for him. But now the day was over. The cease fire was holding. Kess finally opened her mind to sense his anguish, to see Luke's soul bruised beyond recognition. And she realized it fully that he knew something she didn't.

"Are you going to talk to me?"

Luke forced himself to lift his face and say it, but his voice cracked. "Han's dead."

She blurted with tears. She covered her mouth with both palms and walked into his chest, and Luke wrapped his arms around her instantly. He let his facade of strength finally fall away and cried against her hair while her own strength shattered in grief.

After a minute of wailing, she looked up and asked about Leia, about the baby, and Luke assured both were okay.

"You should go to her," Kess told him like he was crazy for being here at all. She now realized she hadn't seen Leia anywhere during the madness today. And now she knew why.

Luke shook his head. He was calm, but tears streamed down his face. "I saw her last night. When she found out, I could— She's the only one I can sense." He complained, raising his face. "Everyone on this planet is throbbing; I can't make out anyone beyond the reach of my own hand."

"Luke, go to Leia and meditate with her."

He argued it off. "She's still in shock. I made her check into obstetrics. She is hard-pressed to focus on the next steps of this. Chewie's with her. . . ."

But there was more. She could see it in his face. "What else?"

Luke swallowed hard, then forced himself to eye her with the deepest sympathy. "A TIE fighter tried to kamikaze into Rogue Group's hangar bay . . . and Wedge tried to stop it by flying in its way."

She covered her face with her hand and peaked at him through her fingers. No. Please say no.

"I don't know," he whispered the hard truth. "Kess, I don't know!"

She hid against his chest again.

One arm wrapped around her back. The other hand held her head in his neck. He whispered into her temple. "We'll find out when the list comes out. Just like everybody else. . . . But it doesn't matter who is on it. Kess, we have to make this worth it."

Kess was already in agreement, but Luke seemed to need to say this aloud. He pulled her face up to meet his eyes. "We have to do this for everyone on that list. For everyone on the list from the Battle of the Line. And the Battle of Endor. And the Battle of Yavin. . . . For everyone that was on the Death Star. Everyone who died in the Clone Wars. Every Jedi killed by my father . . . All of them. On both sides."

He'd been thinking about this all day. He'd been brewing on this news since last night and it was now hardening into a dark resolve as if to protect himself from wanting revenge. She reached up and touched his face, and he let himself be calmed by it, to be strengthened by it.

Luke's eyes looked at nothing in the air. "We have a job to do. We need to keep our heads. We need to be ready to handle days and weeks of political frustration to make sure this cease fire holds." He was still ordering all this as much to himself as he was to her. "We're going to need to take turns being strong. Like you did for me today. It'll be tempting for one of us to take that throne just to make it all stop."

"Shh." Now she took his face in her palms and whispered. "You need to meditate."

He nodded, but his eyes were bloodshot, and his whisper was a plea. "I need sleep."

Feeling the intensity of his weakness right now, Kess nodded. She couldn't calculate how many hours they'd been awake since the morning of battle formations 'yesterday'. Much less all the lack of sleep they'd suffered for days prior just to get them to this point. Last night's attempt at rest wasn't nearly enough compared to all they'd just been through. And yet the worst was yet to come.

Kess knew it. Somehow, she already knew it. When The List came out, there would be a whole lot more tears.

They didn't bother with showers this time. They just undressed to almost nothing. They disappeared into the first bedroom they found and climbed into the bed together.

Kess helped Luke meditate until he fell asleep, but she couldn't. Eventually, she stood at the window of this foreign bedroom, wearing only his dirty shirt as a nightgown, staring at the infinite lights and restless city, and fidgeted with her grandmother's wedding locket at her neck. There would be more to mourn, but right now, she refused to worry who it would be. Tonight, she focused her memories on Han Solo.

She remembered his playful threat about the circuitry bay having a camera. She remembered his sweat and focus as they fixed the Falcon's FGG. She remembered how he covered her head when blaster fire rained on them in that plaza.

I owe you a beer, Han had said to her with a smile.

Kess smiled through her tear-stained face out the window and thought, And I owe you a lot more than that.