We practically flew down the stairs, rushing away from the smoke that was billowing from the youngling training chamber, away from the Temple, and the memories. What Kasen didn't know, was that I was also running from my life as a Jedi.

Keeloh was dead, and so was my faith in the living Force.

I was done.

Out of breath by the time we reached the speeder – which was, surprisingly, untouched – Kasen climbed into the pilot's seat, and helped me into the co-pilot's.

"Where are we going, Kasen?"

"To where Liam's parents lived," he said.

My eyes widened. "…Tatooine?"

"Tatooine," Kasen nodded. He had a look of fierce determination that made me realize that arguing with him was not an option.

"We'll never make it there in this," I scowled.

"We'll find a way, Keelee. Do you trust me?"

He turned to face me, ignoring the fact that he was supposed to be piloting the speeder. His blue eyes searched mine with such intensity that it made my heart pound.

I just nodded.

"Then you know I will rely on the Force to guide us."

I turned away from him then, trying to mask the coldness I felt at his words.

But he sensed it.

"Keelee," his voice was soft and searching, "what's wrong?"

My lips formed a stiff line.

"Talk to me," he pleaded.

"What isn't wrong, Kasen?" I yelled.

He fell silent, staring through the viewshield at the hazy city atmosphere he was required to maneuver through.

Once we were on the outskirts, Kasen recognized a Nubian ship and announced this out loud. "That's a royal craft," he said softly.

This didn't mean a thing to me, but apparently it was important.

"Who was it that had a funeral last night?" he frowned, slowing the speeder at his approaching the ship.

"Senator Amidala," I explained. I didn't say anything else.

"Was she ever a queen?"

I frowned, trying to remember. "I think so."

He slowed the craft to a stop, and climbed out. He walked over to my side, helped me down, and then motioned for me to silently follow him. We crept up to where a man with an eye patch in uniform was talking to a young woman dressed in splendor, surrounded by a few hooded girls that looked much like her.

"We have just been informed that Senator Amidala's parents learned of her wishes to one day be buried on Tatooine. We were never told why, however, we just know that is where she would want to be," the eye-patch man was saying.

My heart skipped a beat. Tatooine? Isn't that where Anakin lived?

So, she had been more than a friend.

"Whatever happened to the children?" the regal young woman asked him quietly through pale lips. Her bottom lip was split with a painted-on, bright red stripe, the rest of her face paled with white, and I thought it looked peculiar, but tried not to dwell on it much. Children? I wondered.

Children… the word rang in my ears like a gong.

He was having children of his own, and yet he killed younglings?

Certainly I was mistaken. Anakin couldn't have been these children's father. It had to be my feminine way of peering too deeply into matters. It was against the Jedi way to marry.

But Anakin had done a few things against the Jedi code recently, had he not?

I shoved the thoughts down and continued to listen, even though I knew Kasen had better hearing than my own.

"…taking her body to a moisture farm in Mos Espa for burial," patch-man was saying.

"Mos Espa?" the stately woman repeated in astonishment. "…Such a horrible place! Why will she not be buried on her home planet, Naboo?"

"Her parents are emphatic about her strange wishes, m'lady. We must take her."

"I do not approve of this, but if it was what she wanted, then we will take her to that scum-hive. Bring her body aboard." At this, the woman's dark, haunting eyes filled with unexpected tears, and she rushed back aboard the ship. Once Patch-Man and his men had safely lifted Padmé's body inside and were out of view, Kasen motioned for me to follow him onto the landing platform. My eyes were round, but he nodded emphatically, taking my hand and moving quickly and quietly toward the ramp.

Just as our feet rested upon the ramp, it began to close. We rushed as silently as possible, crawling our way inside the vehicle. To our advantage, the Patch-Man and the men with him were too far away from us now to notice. With as much stealth as two teenagers could gather, we slipped out of anyone's view, opening an empty cargo hold and slipping inside.

"This is dangerous," I whispered.

"So would be staying on Coruscant," he whispered back, lifting a thick strand of my light brown hair to speak right into my ear. Our voices carried and reverberated back into our ears in the confined space. It was cramped, but cold, and I felt Kasen's strong arm slide across the small of my back, around my waist. He pulled me closer to himself, and my heart pounded. I heard the blood rushing in my ears, and inhaled deeply to slow my pulse. As afraid of his attachment as I was, I was grateful for his warmth, and did my best to focus on that rather than his actual closeness.

"Keelee," he suddenly spoke; his voice was low and husky.

"Yes?" I whispered back, my throat tight with emotion.

"Just in case we don't make it… there's something I must tell you."

So much for stilling my pulse…

I fell silent, waiting for the inevitable. I played various scenes in my mind, dramatic as always. There is another waiting for me on Tatooine, she's the mother of my children…I'm not really a Jedi…

"I…" he started, and stopped. I felt the torment inside of him, making him reluctant to say what his heart wanted him to say.

I understood how he felt.

"Keelee, I…" he sighed again. He removed his hand from my waist, hooked my brown hair behind my ear, and pressed his nose to my head just above it. I felt him breathing in my hair, and my chest burned.

But before he could say a thing, we heard heavy footsteps nearby.