(I'm sorry I've been so busy lately! But seriously, I've had some serious writers' block even though I knew exactly what was supposed to happen...don't know why my brain works like that. I also work two jobs as an attendant for two girls with Downs Syndrome and I also make reborn dolls, and my doll making is really taking off so I've been super busy completing custom orders! Check out LisaMurielBrandt on YouTube if you're curious :) I know this is a shorter chapter. I was going to make it longer but I've already made you guys wait enough!)

"Tess."

Leia Organa's eyes snapped open. She looked left to right, half expecting her sister to be standing in the room because the strength of her crying out through the Force was so strong; but no one was there except for her two sleeping roommates.

Tess was scared. Alone. She was undoubtedly in some sort of trouble. Leia rummaged through the pockets of her hospital down and her small nightstand in search of a comlink or portable holocom. No such luck.

The princess sat up abruptly. She opened her mouth to call for a medic before realizing that there probably wasn't anything they could do. Even if she could contact Han, and gods forbid he and Tess were in trouble, the medical facility workers would never let her leave. Expressing her worry for her friends would just warn them enough to keep her in the hospital under lock and key. No. She had to leave now if she was to help her friends.

"Do you remember calling out to me like that?" Leia asked her sister.

Tess shook her head, visibly thinking hard. She sat with her legs crossed, much like she did when meditating.

"Still nothing," the younger of the two admitted solemnly.

The princess nodded. Maybe telling Tess her side of the story would jog her memory, maybe it wouldn't. Leia wasn't sure which she preferred, but she did know that it was too late to stop telling the story now.

Getting out of the medical facility was the easy part—Leia just changed into the clothes she arrived in and walked out of the building. The task of finding Tess proved to be considerably more difficult. The princess' connection with her sister was like a compass without a map. She had to rely on her instincts, which were a bit underdeveloped compared to Luke and Tess.

Leia remembered the moment on Bespin two years ago when she heard Luke calling out to her. Even now, she had no idea how she knew exactly where her brother was—she just did. She heard his voice in her head and felt her hands cramp as if she was suspended on a thin pole, held up only by her arm strength. She saw Luke clinging to a weather vane among the orange clouds. Did he send all of that somehow, or was it just the strength of their connection? Regardless, the message Leia received from him was remarkably clear.

Tess' cries for help were different. Leia felt much of what her sister was feeling, but she very seldom saw where Tess was. The princess found herself weaving aimlessly through the crowded streets of Turos Noth. There was a sort of pull forcing Leia into the masses, but she didn't know if the cause was the merging people or her sister.

"Citizens of Turos Noth!" came a voice projected through the city's center. "It won't be long now!" The crowd answered with a cheer.

Until what, Leia wondered. She did not have time to contemplate the anwer.

Miraculously, the princess found a break in the crowd and ducked out of it.

"Going around won't work," came a gruff voice from Leia's right. She turned to see an older human male with gray-white hair sitting on the hood of a hovercab, likely waiting for the traffic to subside. He looked her over curiously. "You aren't from around here."

Leia's eyes fell on the worn white jumpsuit she was wearing. It was old and had grown a bit loose, but it was the most comfortable one she owned. It was what she was wearing when she began to feel sick on the Falcon. Leia noted to change her clothes as soon as she got the change and to disinfect her jumpsuit.

"It ain't your clothes," the hovercab driver clarified, flashing a gross grin. "I would'a noticed something as pretty as you if you were from around here."

"Yeah…I'm not from here," Leia admitted to the stranger. She gestured towards the crowd. "Can you drive me through? It's an emergency."

The man started to laugh so hard he found himself in a coughing fit. "No one drives through Zkab's crowd. Those people are kriffing crazy. I tell you, any day now, the Imp wannabes are gonna come swooping in and slashing off everyone who had a hand in killing their buddies."

"What do you mean?" Leia inquired, growing more and more confused. She was so used to being the girl with the plan, but it seemed Han had taken over in her absence and now she was stuck out of the loop.

"They're killing off any Imps they can find over there," the man explained. "You know, Imperials. In front of everyone. Supposed to be a big show tonight. Someone high in the ranks, I bet. And rumor has it they snagged some torture druk from the last Imp and they're gonna use it today." The stranger spat off to the side, coughed, then spat again, all while eying Leia. "You know who you look like?"

Leia held her breath. She tried her best to put on a calm front.

"No. Who's that?"

This surely was not the worst planet for someone to recognize her, but Tess was in trouble and she didn't have time to listen to him apologize for slouching in her presence and the like just because she was a princess of a planet that did not even exist anymore.

"You look like that kid on the HoloNet…but older," the hovercab driver told Leia. "You know, the one they're saying is Palpatine's kid. Did you hear 'bout that?"

Leia's eyes grew wide.

"What?"

The stranger bared a set of yellow teeth in a doubtful but playful grin.

"There ain't no way you haven't heard of the spawn of the Emperor unless you've been asleep for a week, girl!"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Leia bolted in the direction of the Rift Skyrail.