"I'm just saying it wouldn't hurt for her to just talk to him."

"Wouldn't hurt?!" If he can actually decide to be a part of her life as her brother, then sure, it probably wouldn't hurt. But he is in and out and its just confusing her! She needs solid people she can count on!"

Tess drove a pillow into each ear to shut out Han and Leia's voices. It didn't work very well. They had spent most of the night arguing by now.

"I think she's old enough to—"

"No! You don't get a say in this! You let her—"

"Stop."

"—get taken on Teyr—"

"STOP!"

"No! I won't stop! Not until you realize that it's my call and no one else's!"

"Of course, your highnessness. Isn't it always?"

"Shut up!"

Suddenly, Tess heard her window open and shut. She looked up just in time to see a tall, lean figure bolting away in the dark, leaving a note under the windowsill. Careful not to let Leia and Han hear—though she doubted they would hear anything over their own yelling—Tess crawled out of her bed. The dark blue curtains whipped back and forth, then slowly came to a stop as there was no longer any wind to move them.

Tess knelt to pick up the note. Her name was on the front. She unfolded it excitedly. Something told her it was from Nathen, and she suddenly reminisced around the make-believe missions they would send each other on in their youth, always leaving a note by the window with a "mission location" in quite the same fashion.

"The Temple," Tess read aloud. The abandoned Jedi Temple was about a half-hour from the cottage. She looked at her chrono. It was about two standard hours until daylight. Smiling to herself, Tess accepted whatever mission Nathen had in mind and crawled out her bedroom window.

Fed up with Leia's verbal abuse, Han had stormed out of the cottage to spend the night in the Falcon. He didn't deserve the crap she dished out at him, and if he didn't love her so damn much he could say a lot worse things about her. He could have told her that her obsession with protecting Tess was a desperate attempt to hold onto some fantasy of family. That her resentment of Luke was because she couldn't face who she truly was by birth. That she only blamed Han for everything so that she wouldn't blame herself. All of that was locked in Han's brain, sitting on the tip of his tongue as Leia lashed out at him. They weren't necessarily true, and he didn't believe them, but at least they would hurt her.

Han collapsed into the pilot seat of his ship. If he wanted to, he could get out of here. Fire up the ship, get her off the ground and take off in whatever direction he found himself facing after he emerged from Dantooine's atmosphere. It would be so easy.

He found himself wondering what his life would be like had he never met Luke and that old Jedi in Tatooine. Never found the princess or Tess, never escaped the Death Star, just kept to the old smuggling lifestyle with no one but Chewie and the Millennium Falcon.

Without the help of experts like Han and Chewie, Luke and Kenobi probably would have gotten themselves killed by stormtroopers trying to save the princess. Leia would likely be dead. Executed on the Death Star. Tess would have either suffered the same fate, or worse—they would have kept her for their sick experiments. But Han would never have known them, so it wouldn't have mattered.

The chill of night still lingered in the Fields of Benir, and the sky was still dark. Tess wrapped her black pasmin cloak around her shoulders more tightly, thankful she had been wearing it before her hasty escape from the cottage.

The Jedi Temple ruins were not far now—just through two juts of hills. She could sense something. She couldn't put a finger on it. Tess quickened her pace. Maybe this was more serious than one of their childhood missions. Catching herself mid-thought, Tess stopped in her tracks. They were sixteen years old—did she really expect to arrive at the ruins for a fake mission? Suddenly, her face turned bright red. She hoped he didn't have more…intimate intensions.

Before she could allow herself to think too much, Tess arrived at the ruins of the Jedi Temple.

"Nathen?" she called through the caved walls, stepping over the uneven ground. "Nathen?"

His chin tucked into his chest and his legs propped up on the copilot seat, Han listened absent-mindedly to the hum of the Falcon. He had fired her up just to hear her alive again. It had been way too long.

Eventually he reached for the dashboard and searched local holonet news channels. Han settled for the only one that wasn't static. He got up and left the cockpit to grab a drink. Upon his return, the words from the holonet stopped him in his tracks.

"We don't know their intentions, but we have confirmation that rogue Imperials have landed on Dantooine."

Tess approached the Temple's circular foyer, meeting its center, which used to hold some sort of plant—a tree, most likely—as was evidence by the dirt-filled platform under an open ceiling. The Jedi had strong connections to nature, so it made sense. Tess stepped up on the slightly raised platform that used to hold the tree and ignited her yellow weapon for a source of light. "Nathen?" she called out again.

Now that she was stronger in the Force, the Jedi Temple had a much stronger affect on Tess. She felt the power it once had, and could sense the spirits of Jedi who once lived there. Wise ones, arrogant ones, and those who would never know just how powerful they could have been. A sadness lingered with the souls present, as if they had come home here to find a place that once brought them peace, only to find it in ruins. Yet they stayed just the same.

Suddenly, Tess noticed a gray silhouette in one of the hallways. Before she could call out to the person whom she believed to be Nathen, an excruciating pain burned through Tess' hand. She dropped her lightsaber and as it disengaged itself, the Temple became pitch black. She pressed her hand hard against her pasmin cloak. She felt warm blood soak through. It was a blaster wound. She had been hit at the back of her hand, and the blow had gone straight through the center of her palm.

Blinded by darkness, Tess dropped to a crouch and, using her good hand, violently pushed through the dirt for her lightsaber.

It had to be the rogue Imperials.

They had found her.

"Nathen!" Tess screamed. He had to be nearby. She either screamed at him to help her or to get out. She was too panicked to process her own words. Cursing at herself for not thinking of it sooner, Tess closed her eyes and reached out with the Force, her uninjured hand outstretched.

Before she could even sense the location of the weapon, a sharp kick to the ribs knocked the wind out of her. The blow flipped Tess onto her back, the center of her spine hitting the edge of the raised platform with a painful crack.

It all happened too fast for thought. Strong hands pulled Tess off the edge of the platform onto the cold floor. She gasped desperately for air, unable to move.

It's over, Tess thought. The idea was accompanied with a surprising sense of relief. So much pain, so much bloodshed, so many times where her friends and family sacrificed far too much just to keep a kid like her alive and safe.

Maybe it was better this way.