Aaron wakes up and the first thought that crosses his mind is that he's back in the Empire living in one of the decadent Sa'alle estates. The bed is huge, plush and covered with kilik-sick bedding. The second thought is more of a feeling: emptiness. Without Sailens, his mind is empty, lonely. The entire room seems dull and fuzzy.
He sits up and a sob forces its out of his mouth. He leans over and presses his forehead to his covered knees. Aaron has no memory of getting from the dirty alley to this near-palatial room, but it doesn't matter. Not without Sai.
An hour later, when his eyes are raw and dry and his back aches from the position, the door opens.
"Are you done feeling sorry for yourself?" Sebastian asked, head poked through the open door.
Aaron throws out his hand to attack the man with Force lightning, but nothing happens.
"Yeah, not sure how you managed it, but you'd better get used to being Force blind." Sebastian's voice is disgustingly cheery.
"None of it matters without her!" Aaron's voice is low and rough from crying.
"...You do realize Cassie is alive, right?"
"What?" The blood leaves his head and Aaron feels faint.
"Yes, probably involved with how you lost your connection to the Force. She's not quite the same anymore, but neither are you, so-"
"Where is she?" Aaron cuts him off.
"Downstairs. Octavian is helping her learn to walk again. He had to drag her away a few hours ago. She's been just as weepy as you about your loss of the Force. She she be thankful if you ask me."
Aaron turns and sees that he's not as centered on the bed as he first thought. Not only is he skewed to the side, but the blankets are mussed and bunched where his wife must have lain. He turns back to his wife's uncle. "How long have we been here?"
"About a month." Sebastian adjusted his eyepatch. "You've been waking up and eating and such. Mostly just ghosting around though. Really creeped Dani out, which is kinda weird, I mean, she's a Darth, I'm sure she's seen worse."
Aaron looks down at his hands as if they belong to a stranger. "So I'm just going to wake up tomorrow and go through this all over again?"
"Nah, you never did the crying bit before. I came up here because we didn't want to get Cassie too excited. So when you run down and grab her, try to be gentle, she's basically in a new body."
"...What?"
"Don't ask me. I'm the least Sith person here." He gestures to his mouth. "The scars and tattoos are gone, she's got a tongue, the works."
Without another word, Aaron tears off the blankets and sprints to the door. He trips on the rug, tries to catch himself with the Force, fails and falls face-first into the floor.
"One step at a time, boy." Sebastian reaches down and pulls him up easily. "I'll help you down there. Time to get the two knobbly kneed fawns together."
"What happens now?"
"Whatever you want, I guess. As far as the Empire is concerned, you're both dead." Sebastian shrugs and then helps Aaron walk through the hall to the stairs.
"Rencarn wouldn't just give up. I obliterated Raven."
"You did, but you're Force blind now. Even if he did managed to find you, you're useless to him, but he won't, because he was tracking you by your Force."
"I guess. What about Sa'alle? She had a bounty out on Sai."
"New body, new girl."
"It can't be that easy."
"Why don't you just pretend that it is until you're well enough to do something about it. Enjoy the vacation, kid, knowing you two you won't get another."
Aaron grins, the expression feels weird, when he saw Raven attack, he thought he'd never be happy again.
"I guess you're…" He trails off when he sees his wife, whole, even if less steady on her feet than him.
"Aaron! Hurry up!"