WEEK 17: (10.27.06)
81. nothing

"Do you both really think you've nothing left?" Ben looked first at Allana and then at the tall, dark-haired Andur. It seemed as if an eternity had passed since the fateful day when Tenel Ka, Jaina, and Zekk had taken down the last Sith Lord, but even eternities passed quickly when the galaxy was fraught with reconstruction missions.

Neither cousin answered. Then, a second girl stepped in and broke the unwieldy silence. She was Andur's twin sister, Bayeh. "None of us knows."

"Then let's find out, shall we?" Ben forced a grin onto his pale face. They needed to recover.

82. everything

"I'll leave the Jedi Order when we finish reconstruction, but I doubt I'll ever need these again." Ben removed his twin lightsaber studs from his belt, handing placing one before each of the Solo twins before producing Jacen's original weapon and proffering it to Allana.

"But they're your weapons!" gasped Andur.

"And you're giving everything away?" finished the wide-eyed Bayeh.

"Depends," replied the eldest cousin. "If you accept these weapons, the three of you must fight each other. If not, I will bury these, with the exception of your father's weapon, Allana."

"But I can't kill my family," gasped Bayeh.

83. now

"You've made a good choice, Bayeh. Now, Andur, Allana, it's your turn. You are free to hug each other or to strike yourselves or me down. I won't stop you." Ben continued.

"That's not the Jedi way," Allana shook her head. "It's Father's way, but he was wrong, but I'm a Jedi Knight and a princess. I can't."

"Alright, I want to, but not now. However, princess, if you do anything to tick me off, I'll have you skinned, cousin!" Andur threw a sidelong glare at the redheaded princess before turning to leave.

Ben stopped the boy in his tracks.

84. forever

"For this alone, we Hapans may demand retribution," Allana almost snarled back. She knew that she should have exercised more control over her temper, both as princess and as Jedi Knight, but she just about had enough of her cousin's attitude piled atop her workload.

By the Force, you're worse than I thought. Ben almost slapped his forehead before speaking. "Andur, if you push us away, you'll have this on your conscience forever and Allana, if you follow through, you'll lose a considerable number of allies."

"I'll deal with it another time," muttered the Solo boy. "I have to go."

85. fate

"The Force, or fate, or whatever it is, sure has a strange sense of humor," commented Aranea as she used the Force to start the fire on the unknown planet.

"I know, the two of us, of all the Jedi, stranded together. I hated you because you were that…. I mean Allana's best friend and now I…"

"Do you still hate either of us?"

"Hate you? No way!" answered the recently knighted, young man as he tied his black mane into a ponytail. 'I guess I can't hate Allana, either, but her dad is still a son of a Hutt."