- - - - - The Millennium Falcon - - - - -

Luke fiddled with his scratched-up lightsaber as he waited for his Padawan to prepare for meditation.

"You know I hate meditation," Tess reminded him, tucking her legs under her. She sat against the wall on the bottom of a triple bunk on the Falcon.

Luke nodded absent-mindedly. He tucked his lightsaber back into his robe and took a knee in front of Tess.

"All the more reason why you should do it," he told the girl. "At the expense of sounding like Master Yoda, you are restless. You often act impulsively and even if those impulsive acts end up being the right thing to do, you need to learn how to make educated decisions in that same amount of time."

"And figure out where the finger lightening came from?"

"That too," Luke chuckled.

Tess was definitely a restless one, but there was a sort of modesty about her that amazed him. She was not modest in the traditional sense, but deep down she was.

Tess had no idea just how good she could be—just how much power was inside her. Luke felt something similar inside himself, but he had to work up to making use of it. With Tess, it was like the power spontaneously emerged whenever she needed it most.

It seemed all of these spontaneous Force bursts were created in defense. As glad as Luke was that she helped him get that lightsaber, and she protected herself from the admiral, and she destroyed Boba Fett, he knew that the Force was flowing through anxiety, anger, and fear in those moments.

The Jedi learn to use the Force in peaceful ways, summoning it with thought and void of emotion. The Dark Side of the Force is more centered on anger and fear. Of course, Tess still had the conscience of the good person that she was, but temptations of the Dark Side would be much harder to overcome for someone like Tess—unless she learned to use the Force properly. And that started with meditation.

"Leia's coming," Tess said softly, half-meditating. It had become an ongoing game between them to see who could sense Leia coming first. It was hardly fair on the Millennium Falcon since they were all so close. Here, Luke and Tess could sense Leia the moment she decided to come see one of them—it was just a matter of who said it first. This point definitely went to Tess.

"Keep meditating," Luke instructed, gently touching his Padawan's shoulder before leaving the room.

Luke closed the door behind him just as Leia rounded the corner from the bulkhead.

"We need to talk about this Jedi training thing," Leia sighed, as if she had been waiting all day to say that. In all honestly, Luke had been preparing for it since they got on the ship.

Having made herself at home on the Falcon in Han's absence, she had several outfits readily available on the Falcon. Within a standard hour of boarding Leia had showered away the grime of Jabba's Palace, fashioned her hair into her usual braid crown, and changed into a black jumpsuit. She used to wear colored ones, but Tess normally "borrowed" those and "misplaced" them in her own wardrobe, so Leia was left with blacks and whites. The princess did not seem to care much, though.

Leia lead Luke to the nearby lounge seats in front of the hologram board so they could talk. The princess collapsed into one of the chairs with a sigh, shaking her head slightly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked softly, truly hurt. "After all that…all that's happened these past several months, how could you hide something like this from me? Especially after you found out that she was my sister!" Luke could see the pain in her eyes.

"We didn't know she was your sister until recently," he explained, knowing the response was stupid before he even said it.

"But you knew I loved her like family," Leia shot back. "My father helped raise her. She meant a lot to him, so she meant just as much to me. And the Empire is already after her—why give them a better reason?"

"I—"

Leia suddenly reached forward and grabbed his artificial hand.

"Vader took off your hand, Luke," she reminded him sternly, shaking his own hand in front of him as if it were evidence. "Tess will probably not be that lucky in the same situation. And you saw how they treated her on Bespin—they don't even consider her human." The princess paused, letting it all sink in. "You know I'm right."

"Can I get a word in now?" Luke asked gently. When Leia's diplomatic side took over, getting through it was like trying to take apart a building from the bottom floors without the whole thing crumbling down.

Leia gave the Jedi Knight a nod, permitting him to continue.

"It started on Hoth," Luke began. "When Tess found me in the wampa cave, I couldn't reach my lightsaber. I tried using the Force, but I was too weak at the time. Tess took my hand and suddenly it came right to me. That was when I realized that she was potentially Force-sensitive, but nothing more." Luke checked on Leia to make sure she was following and not doing her stubborn, arms-crossed, 'I'm not listening to a word you are saying' stance. She was listening, so Luke continued.

"I never told you what I walked in on when I found Tess in the torture room on Bespin," he explained softly, his blue eyes meeting her darker ones, which widened with fear. "Admiral Deltrod…his entire jaw had been ripped off. And Tess was huddling in the corner, crying, telling me over and over that she didn't mean to."

Leia shook her head with disbelief. "But...she couldn't have. Can…you even…can the Force do that?"

"She did. And yes," Luke assured her. "It's the fear she felt. The anger. Those emotions lead to the Dark Side. I saw her going down a path that could destroy her. She needed to be guided, Leia."

Luke watched as the princess mulled the idea over in her head. She wasn't used to losing the argument, especially concerning Tess. Both Han and Luke knew that Leia had the final say in the decisions regarding their youngest tagalong.

Before Leia could respond, Luke sensed something dark nearby.

Tess.

As if Luke said it out loud, Leia jumped to a stand just as soon as he did. They both raced to the bunkroom and Luke quickly padded the door. The emotions in that room were nearly blinding to Luke. Pain. And Fear.

So much fear.

Tess was just as Luke left her—sitting on the bed—but she was different. Though her eyes were closed, she managed what could only be described as a sinister stare, almost threatening. If Luke didn't know any better, he would say she wasn't breathing. She was as pale as a sheet.

Then suddenly, Tess erupted into a scream. Her eyes opened in terror and she pushed herself up against the wall behind her. She whimpered in fear of some unseen figure, muttering 'no' and 'stop' and blinking her eyes hard as if it would make it all go away.

Leia looked at Luke as if he would know what to do, but his look of pure horror scared her even more than Tess' state.

Luke saw exactly what he had feared—the Dark Side. That was the only way to explain the pit of anger and fear and revenge that he saw inside Tess' mind in that very moment. It was not her, but it was inside of her. And the latter was possibly more dangerous. If it was inside of her, there was no telling when it would come out. And how strong.

"Luke, do something!" Leia demanded. "What is it?!" By then, Han had raced over from the cockpit to see what was going on.

Then, just as quickly as Tess' screaming and crying had started, it stopped.

She looked up with watery brown eyes for just a moment, then they rolled back and Tess collapsed on the bed.

Leia was the first to race to her side.

"Tess?" she called softly. Luke watched the princess try to revive his unconscious Padawan, ignoring Han's questions about what happened.

Seeing that Tess was all right on the surface of things, Leia gently positioned her sister more comfortably on the bed and tucked her under the covers. She did not even look at Luke as she spoke to him, but that did not make her words any less serious.

"This training ends now."