Sorry for the late update; my mother was at my back for the last week, so I was really busy. Plus there was a case of writer's block…anyway, hope this chapter is okay.

The murky depths hid Jacen and his sister from view, allowing them to swim undiscovered towards the Gungan palace. Jaina was right; the water was very cold. Too bad they hadn't thought of putting on an extra layer of clothing before going in.

Finally, Jacen found a perch where he could safely look down upon the Gungan population without having to worry about being spotted. Jaina went further down, settling into a small cavern with an air pocket. There, she pulled out her commlink and immediately began to check her messages. Jacen heard her and bounced a message into her head.

'Are you checking that now? He's bound to be down there somewhere; when do you want to go?'

Jaina absently thumbed through her contacts list. 'How about if we wait until dark?'

'Good idea. But that's going to take a while; what do you want to do while waiting?'

'I don't know what you want to do, but I'm pretty sure what I'll be doing.' Jaina promptly deleted all the urgent text messages from her mother and concentrated on the few that were from her friends. She had never been a girl that disclosed her secrets to her parents, and was perfectly happy to keep them guessing.

Jacen rolled his eyes and tried to keep from shivering as a slimy creature brushed past his ear. If he got Anakin out of this mess alive, he would be making sure that it didn't happen again.

After what seemed like an eternity, night finally came, and Jaina signaled for Jacen to follow her. They silently swam towards the Gungan palace, making sure that they drifted as smoothly with the current as possible.

Finally, they went into a small bubble on the west side of the massive palace. It seemed to be a storage pantry for fish. Jacen held his nose as they passed through. "Next time," he grumbled, "Why don't we just knock on the front door?"

His sister turned and shot him a pitying look. "They're uncivilized people, Jacen. They don't even have doors."

After a long time in which they mostly walked around in circles, Jacen decided that it would be better to split up. He hurried down a small passageway and decided to try several underwater canals, while his sister cloaked herself in darkness and searched the main hallways.

Jacen used the force to mesmerize the two guards into a stupor before he continued silently down the tunnel. He had to grin as he felt the familiar tug of his brother's presence, leading him down the dark tunnel like a light. And-Tahiri was there too, wasn't she? How in the world had she gotten down here? No doubt Anakin had pulled her along for the ride.

He concentrated on his sister, sending a thought to her mind. 'I'm getting closer to him, Jaina. His presence is getting stronger with every stroke that I take.'

'Great. Remind me again which passage you dove into and I'll follow up behind.'

'I'll wait for you. The way is pretty simple once you get past the sleeping guards. Down the right tunnel, then into the first hole you see. Keep going till you see me and then we'll do the rest of the way together.

Sure. Let me get back there…

It suddenly occurred to Jaina that she had forgotten which way to turn to. Maybe it was down this way…no. She almost panicked. There were so many corridors and places to turn. So where exactly…was she?

Tatooine. Being one of the driest planets on the outer rim, the people who lived there would never have told you that they didn't once get caught in a sandstorm. Even though Han Solo wasn't a native resident, he had already experienced it.

It had taken him almost an hour to find shelter, and it wasn't an easy task, particularly with the wind sweeping into your face. The small cave that they had finally crawled into was hardly big enough to cover their hides, but at least they wouldn't have to struggle to stay grounded.

Peering out of the little hovel that they had stumbled in the other night, Han realized that he was further out than he thought. Luke was in the back, still sleeping. Walking into the face of a flurry of sand had obviously worn him out.

Han crawled back in and gently shook him. "The storm's over," he said. "We'd better head out and find Lando." Luke, however, did not stir.

The smuggler suddenly had a gut feeling that something was not right. He quickly felt Luke's pulse, and then checked to hear his breath. It came out in short, raspy gasps, as though he were having difficulty breathing.

"Luke. Luke, what's happening?" he asked, shaking him harder.

Luke opened his eyes slightly. "I don't know…getting harder to breathe…" his eyes glazed over and he dropped his head back onto the ground.

Han suddenly had a bad feeling about the whole situation. Gathering his courage, he tilted Luke's head towards the light and looked inside his nostrils. There was no…stuff…blocking the way. But then what was it?

"Your lungs, kid. Do you think there's anything wrong with them?"

"Maybe…" His brother in law coughed up a slimy glob of brown phlegm. "It feels dry, dusty."

"Crud. Open your eyes, Luke," Han shook him yet again. "Have you ever gotten into a storm before, like the one we had last night?"

"Several. It happened all the time when I was younger."

"There's got to be an awful lot of dust in your lungs, then," Han said. "You stay here; I think I'll go check for help." He tumbled out of the hole, shouting for Lando. There was no answer. Sliding down the chasm, he rounded the edge and peered out into the desert. No sign of life.

Han doubled back, almost falling as he went. Maybe there was somebody on the other side. A rock tripped him, and he fell headlong into the dust, sprawling over. When he opened his eyes, he was headlong with a familiar pair of boots.

"Lando!" Han cried. It was the first time that he was overjoyed to see him. He scrambled to his feet-and wished that he had never gotten up.

The boots did not belong to Lando Calrissian. They belonged to a Tuscan raider. And no matter how short he was, he was still dangerous. Han slowly made for his blaster. It was only when his hand reached the holster that he saw it lying on the ground three feet away.

The raider grunted something and pointed at the blaster. Han inwardly cringed, hoping that it didn't sense the urgency in which he wanted to use it. To his shock, his weapon lifted into the air, and was carefully placed in the Sand person's hand. Han closed his eyes. He might as well be prepared to die now.

"What's with the melodrama?"

Leia Organa pulled her mask off, shaking the dust from her hair. "You can never be too careful," she remarked. "Even if I had found Tahiri's tribe, I wouldn't want to catch them in a bad mood."

Han opened one eye. In place of the dangerous Sand person stood his beloved wife. Had a miracle just happened?

"Actually," she said, answering his mental question, "I felt Luke and you struggling last night. Lando called me over as soon as he found his way back to the old moisture farm. He's still around the area, picking up your Womp rats." She wrinkled her nose.

Han wasted no more time. Dragging her towards the hovel, he scrambled back up to Luke, who he pulled out into the light. "I don't think he's going so well."

Leia examined her brother and nodded her head in agreement. "It's a good thing I found you when I did," she said, "Otherwise I don't know what you would have done." She gestured to a small speeder, which Han had overlooked in his frantic search for life. "Shall we get him to safety? I'll drop you off with Lando, but this guy's going to need some medical help."

Together, they loaded Luke onto the speeder and returned to the moisture farm, Han guiltily confessing his sins all the way. When they arrived, Lando had just dismounted from the sky hopper and was now hurrying towards them. "What took you so long?" he yelled. "There's a ton of stuff that needs to be shipped back! I calculated; it's going to take…" he trailed off when he saw the unconscious Luke.

Leia tossed him a commlink. "Call me when you're ready," she said. "I'll get Luke back to Coruscant right away. Han can stay with you. Just don't get into any trouble while I'm away!"

Once again, Anakin found himself waiting for Mansa Musa. This time, though, he was the one to be rescued. There was no assurance that the Gungan would indeed keep his promise, but there was always the possibility…

As the prisoners took their nightly portions of fish, Anakin jammed a sharp jawbone into a crack beneath the wall. Later, he would use it to begin on the sponge. If Tahiri caught his drift, and they positioned their bodies at just the right angle, then he could…

'Could what?'

Anakin bit his lip and tried to block Tahiri out of his mind. The way she lingered in his thoughts was beginning to get annoying. In any case, the way she was sitting was probably good enough to cover the grate. The feeders were just leaving. He quietly levitated the jawbone into his hand and began, slowly but surely, to pick at the sponge.

"Do you really think that's going to be any help?"

"Yes, I do. I read about it in an-urgh! Could you just stop pestering my brain for a few seconds?"

Tahiri made a face. "If you say so," she replied mildly, and turned away. Anakin was relieved to feel her go. For the next few hours, he could actually concentrate and think in peace!

Of course, that was what he had hoped would happen. In actual fact, it was the opposite because the jawbone kept sticking in the sponge, forcing him to painfully rip it out. When the tip finally broke after continued abuse, Anakin muttered a string of unidentifiable words and threw it away.

"Having problems?" his so-called friend asked sweetly. Anakin looked up from his rant to see that she had been busily undoing the pot of slime with her lightsaber. And her hands were tied! Wasn't he supposed to be more force-sensitive than she was?

"Don't be silly, Ani, of course you are," Tahiri giggled. "Your only problem was that you forgot that you even had the force."

Anakin craned his neck to glare at her. "Is it one of your hobbies to prove me wrong?"

"No. My hobby is to use my common sense against your unabashed emotions."

"Forget it." He was blushing furiously now. At least you couldn't tell in the dim light. "Is he going to be here or not?"

"Be patient. For all we know, the Boss could be having a big, crazy parade all over town. They could have been hindered."

"Right," Anakin muttered. He didn't feel much like talking to her after that. For the rest of the night they took shifts, waiting until the time that Mansa Musa and his father came.

"Wesa here. Hurry and let's start digging."

"Good. We've already disabled the slime pot-"

"I disabled the slime pot."

"Yeah, yeah, she did." Anakin finished impatiently. "Cut these ropes and then we'll use our lightsaber to help." Jar-jar quickly complied. As he carefully sawed at their binds, he squinted at Anakin, carefully examining his face. He didn't know why, but the boy looked familiar…

Finally, their hands were free. Tahiri immediately scrabbled for her lightsaber. Hurriedly, she ignited it, but almost fell over from the energy that forced the blade out. A pair of hands caught her, their grip gentle but firm, as thought chastising her for her carelessness. She carefully let it slip back into its hilt and turned. It was Anakin.

He coughed slightly and quickly took his hands away. "Um," he said distractedly, "Let's try that again."

After a while, there was a hole that was big enough for Anakin to slip through. Silently rejoicing, the two friends slipped into the water besides Mansa Musa. "I told yousan that I'd be back," he whispered. "Now letsa get tooda Bongo, and fast!"

The current was on their side, and in almost no time, they had reached the end of the tunnel. Anakin went up first, pushing himself through as fast he could-and immediately stopped.

A troop of Gungans stood there, heavily armed and ready with their spears. "Are yousan so stoopid as to be escaping again?" One of them asked him. Cautiously, Anakin nudged his foot, urgently trying to tell Tahiri to swim away as fast as she could. He wasn't fast enough, though. Two strong hands pulled him out of the water, leaving a gasping Tahiri exposed and vulnerable. "Bring them to the bosses," a tall, mustachioed one ordered. The group broke up into smaller sections, leaving the middle open.

It was then that Jacen struck.

Leaping out of his hiding place, he ignited his lightsaber, twisting around to shear off the hands that held Anakin. The solider let out a terrible yelp of pain, and Anakin found himself freed.

"Get out of here!" Jacen roared, slicing another Gungan and his spear in half. "Jaina's found the bay area, go, go, go!" He paused, using the force to throw another pursuer back. Anakin could only watch helplessly as his older brother's swiftly exterminated the Gungans. "Come on," Tahiri said, tugging at his tunic. Mansa Musa and his father were already heading back towards the Bongo Bay. With a last look at his distraught brother, Anakin forced the scene from his memory and left it behind.

Er…any comments?