Aminta slumped into a cushion and crossed her arms over her chest as she scowled at Zhar. "What do you look so happy about?" she muttered.

Zhar grinned. "You have achieved more in months than most Jedi have in years. I think that gives me more than enough of a reason to be happy."

Aminta rolled her eyes and re-positioned herself. "Whatever, she grumbled under her breath, and Zhar laughed.

"You could show a little more enthusiasm, you know. Just because you have…personal problems doesn't mean…"

Aminta jumped up from her chair and glared at him. "It's the first time I've had it in the past seven months. Seven!" she exclaimed heatedly.

Zhar shook his head. "What you are experiencing is a normal bodily function. It is not something to be upset over," he reasoned calmly.

Aminta's glare darkened. "You try going through insane cravings for two days, followed by cramps so bad you need to be on stims to walk, and bloating to boot. I don't think you'd be too happy!" she had inched closer to his as she spoke, her fists clenched tight at her sides.

"Not to mention awful mood swings," Zhar added, and Aminta nearly screamed at him.

"I'll come back when I feel better," she declared, and went to leave the room. Zhar caught her arm and pulled her back down to her cushion.

"No, you're staying here. Plenty of women work through their cycles, and you're no different from the rest of them."

"Plenty of women don't go seven months without having one!" Aminta whined, and winced at how childish she sounded.

"You are getting your lightsaber today," Zhar tried, and Aminta glared.

"So? The lightsaber will still be here three days from now!"

Zhar crossed his arms over his chest. "You will get it today. Do you understand me?"

"I understand you, but I'm not agreeing with you," Aminta retorted as she went to stand again, but Zhar quickly pushed her back down.

"What if you face the Sith when you have these…problems?" Zhar tried to show her the folly of not working through her discomfort.

Aminta glowered. "I'd kick their sorry asses. The only reason I'm not kicking yours is because you've been relatively kind to me."

Zhar winced. "That sounds like the dark side."

Aminta rolled her eyes. "Dark side is bad, I got it. You people don't need to keep harping on it. I get it all day every day here, and when I go back to the ship, I get another lecture, compliments of Bastila."

"Don't underestimate the power of the dark side," Zhar warned, and Aminta scowled. "Revan did… and look what happened to her. Your personalities are identical. You would fall just as easily as she did."

"Why do you always compare me to her?" Aminta demanded.

Zhar sighed. "Because…" He fumbled for words, and his eyes grew misty. "I loved her as though she were my own daughter…even though the council frowns on such behavior. You remind me so much of her…it's like having her back; as though the wars never happened." His eyes cleared, and he glanced down at the young woman before him. "I'm sorry if I have let personal feelings interrupt your training."

Aminta rubbed her forehead, and finally sighed. "Come on, let's start with the lightsaber already. The sooner I get it, the sooner I can crash."

Zhar smiled at her, and gently brushed a strand of hair off of her forehead tenderly before catching himself and hastily drawing back. Aminta frowned at the exchange, but didn't comment.

"I've been observing you over the course of your training, and I've found that combat is your specialty. Although you were quick to pick up on meditation and other such aspects of the force, you undertook our sparring sessions with the ease of a seasoned Jedi."

Aminta gave him a half smile. "It's just like dancing," she replied with a small smile, recalling their conversation from over two months ago. Zhar grinned, and nodded in agreement.

"Since you are so combat oriented, I have chosen the path of the Jedi Guardian for you. The guardians are deadly in combat and highly protective of those they hold close… they will even sacrifice themselves to defend those they love." Zhar's eyes held a spark of knowledge that made Aminta slightly uncomfortable, and she resisted the urge to squirm.

He smiled slightly and indicated the workbench. "The parts are laid out for you, however, you must learn how to build it without any help from me."

Aminta glanced up at him. "Can I make myself a double bladed one?" she asked brightly, and Zhar found himself unable to refuse her request. She did wield a double sided vibroblade quite well… He shook his head ruefully, and added a second crystal to the table

"Thanks," Aminta responded, and stared hard at the pieces laid out before her. She smiled slightly as she recalled her time with Canderous working on the swoop bike, and thanked whatever gods there were for the mechanical knowledge that she had gleaned from the experience.

Zhar smiled at his pupil as he saw her entire focus was on fitting the pieces together, and he placed his fingers on his lips and then touched his forehead, giving her a slight bow before turning and walking from the room.

Aminta didn't notice when Zhar left; she was too busy concentrating on the bits that her fingers were flying to piece together. After over an hour of nonstop work, her back was aching, and she was in dire need of the refresher, but the saber was finished.

Aminta eyed it critically, and after a moment, she grabbed a few pieces of scrap metal, and twisted them carefully into a design to form a decorative ring around the hilt. That finished, she bit her lip and wrapped her fingers around the saber, stepping into a fighting stance. Then, ever so carefully, she tapped into the force and bent the metal beneath her fingers to conform to her grip.

She smiled slightly, and activated the saber, hoping that it would work. She extremely satisfied when twin beams of light shot out of both ends of the hilt, and her smile broadened into a wide grin. She tossed the weapon around in the air, testing the weight in her hands, and marveled at how light it was. It's perfect, and I don't care if I sound prideful.

She flicked it off, and clipped it to her belt, cursing the idiotic robes the council had forced her to wear. They were made to be light, but her frame was so small that they felt heavy on her. The many layers of the robes also served to make her stifling hot while she practiced. Not to mention the fact that it made taking care of her feminine hygiene problems extremely difficult. After many hours of coaxing, begging, and even arguing, Zhar had finally agreed to get her a smaller pair made that only had two layers and leggings instead of the many layers of cloth that were swathed about her legs.

At that moment, Zhar entered the room and glanced between Aminta and the worktable, frowning. "You are giving up so quickly? It hasn't been more than two hours."

Aminta grinned at him, and tossed him the saber that she had clipped to her belt only moments before. Zhar's jaw went slacked as he glanced over the weapon, taking in every detail. "It is very nice," he said after a long, heady moment, and he passed the saber back to her. "Most padawans take at least a week to create one far simpler than yours. Some knights don't even add as many personal touches."

Aminta shrugged as she put the weapon back in its place beneath her robes. "Can I go home now?"

Zhar cleared his throat, and nodded briefly, smiling slightly as she rushed out the door. Yes, she was just like Revan. Zhar's smile disappeared as quickly as it had come to his face. I must speak with the council.

————————————————

Aminta attacked the refresher unit with a vengece, scrubbing the shower so that she was up to her elbows in soap suds. Music blared loudly into her ears via her head phones, and she didn't notice when a hand came to grip her shoulder. Startled at the contact, she jumped, and quickly flicked the switch on her headpiece to the off position before removing them. "What do you want?" she demanded, turning to face Carth.

Carth shook his head. "What are you doing to yourself, Beautiful? Yesterday it was the galley, today it's the refresher…"

Aminta rolled her eyes. "I'm not doing anything to myself. I happen to genuinely enjoy cleaning."

Carth squatted down beside her. "That explains the state on your bunk," he said dryly, and Aminta cuffed him on the back of his head.

"I like my room messy. What does that have to do with anything?" she muttered, leaning back into the refresher and scrubbing harder.

"The droids can do that, you know." Carth put in, and Aminta glared at him.

"I like doing it. End of story."

Carth grinned, and glanced her over. "You came to the ship early today," he noted, making himself comfortable of the floor beside her. "And I know for a fact it wasn't to clean out the refresher."

"You would," Aminta grumbled, scrubbing the tiles harder.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Carth demanded indignantly.

Aminta rolled her eyes. "Don't act innocent. You've been checking the waste baskets for the past two months. You know very well why I came back early."

Carth flushed at being caught. "Can you blame me?"

Aminta sighed and shook her head. "Look, Carth. I can't get pregnant. I wasn't lying to you when I told you that. I don't lie."

Carth sighed. "I know; I wasn't accusing you of lying. But, I couldn't be sure. Half of the time that there are fertility problems in a marriage, it has to do with the male. I was just worried that maybe your husband was the problem…"

"Kael was not the problem. He was perfectly capable of having children. If it hadn't been for my deformities, we probably would have had four by the time he died," she retorted heatedly, and pressed a hand to her aching head.

Carth winced. "Deformities?" Aminta lifted her other hand to her head to try and stop the pounding. "Sorry," he attempted to apologize, and bit his lip.

Aminta sighed. "Don't be. I had a tubular pregnancy when I was seventeen, so that tube was pretty much shot. Normally, that wouldn't be much of a problem, but I was born with a defective fallopian tube."

"I'm not sure exactly what's wrong…it doesn't line up properly or something," she waved her hand in dismissal of the reason. "It would be almost impossible for sperm to reach the egg. Pretty much a one in a trillion chance. And if by some miracle it did, my last pregnancy completely wrecked my uterus, and it is completely, one hundred percent impossible for an egg to attach to the wall." she shrugged, and turned her attention back to scrubbing.

Carth felt as though he had just endured a biology lesson from high school, but quickly put the thought out of his mind. "Sorry," he mumbled, and Aminta smiled.

"It's okay. I've gotten used to the idea of dying childless," she replied with a light smile, but Carth saw through the facade.

"No you haven't. If you had, you wouldn't want a child as much as you do now."

Aminta's hands stilled, and the smile dropped from her face. "You always want what you can't have," she replied with a bitter laugh. Carth nodded slightly in agreement.

"Well, somewhere, there are three little girls that need a mother, and I'll be more than happy…" her voice trailed off, and she squeezed her eyes closed at the wave of pain that rolled over her at the thought of the children who had died on Taris.

Carth bit his lip, and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Before them… you honestly wanted to adopt three girls?" he asked quietly, and Aminta nodded slowly. "That's why you were certain about making it legal. You'd thought through everything before hand."

Aminta opened her eyes. "Yeah," she whispered, and Carth gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"So, you never did answer my question. What are you doing cleaning a refresher unit when you want to be sleeping?" he asked, swiftly changing the subject.

"Who says I want to be sleeping?" she ground out, attacking the tiles again. "Will you kindly get out?" she asked when he refused to move.

"I will once you tell me why you've felt you had to go on a vicious cleaning spree when you feel like bantha poodoo."

"You're a man. How do you know how I feel?"

Carth grinned. "I was married, remember? I dealt with this sort of thing on a monthly basis."

"Oh," Aminta replied lamely, changing her position to ease the aching in her back. "Will you leave now?" she asked, and Carth laughed at her.

"I go when you tell me what's bothering you." As if to emphasize his point, he placed his hands behind his head and leaned back.

Aminta groaned, and attacked the tiles again. "You'd hate me if I told you," she warned him, and Carth raised an eyebrow. Aminta bit her lip. "I prayed that I was pregnant," she blurted out, and Carth stuttered.

"What?" he roared.

Aminta bit her lip and placed all of her attention on cleaning. "I want a baby more than I can say…I hoped that a miracle would happen. I'm always so careful…you're the only guy I've met since Kael who I wouldn't mind being the father."

"You've elected me to be the father of your kid?" he demanded loudly. Aminta shushed him, and felt with her newfound force powers to see if anyone had heard. Finding that no one had, she relaxed.

"No. Not elected. I'm just saying that I wouldn't have minded if it had been you."

"Who says I would have been happy about it?" Carth demanded, and Aminta put a hand to her forehead.

"You wouldn't have even known! I would have done this stupid thing for the Jedi, and then gone to live with an old friend of mine. I wouldn't hit you up for money or anything like that; I most likely wouldn't even have told you."

"You're honestly saying that you would have given birth to my child, and neglected to tell me of its existence?" Carth rose to his feet and raked a hand through his hair. "Of all the…"

"See! This is why I didn't want to tell you. I was hoping I'd get pregnant. I didn't. End of Story. Now will you leave me alone?" She attacked the tiles again, furiously blinking back tears. Damn these mood swings. I hate them more than I hate the Jedi!

Carth noticed the change in her, and calmed himself slightly, although his blood was still boiling. He crouched down and attempted to chase the rest of the anger away. "I'm not sure what to say," he confessed after a few long moments.

"Don't say anything. It was wrong and selfish of me and I know it." Aminta said the words without conviction, and despite himself, Carth had to suppress a smile.

"If you scrub that tile any harder, you're going to make it disintegrate," he commented, noting how long she had been after that one particular spot.

Aminta flushed, and then scowled. Carth gave her a half smile, and stood. "Come on, Ami. You're done in here," he told her, offering his hand. Aminta glared at the offending appendage, and Carth shook his head.

"I don't want to get up," she retorted. "I'm not finished yet." She turned her attention back to the refresher unit.

"The stims that you filched from Canderous wore off, didn't they?"

Aminta scowled. "I didn't filch anything!" she exclaimed indignantly.

"Excuse me. The stims that you had Mission filch from Canderous for you wore off."

Aminta sighed, and rubbed a hand over her face. "I'm fine." At Carth's raised brow, she shrugged. "I just need a hot shower," she looked at her chrono and winced, "and maybe a little sleep," she admitted.

Carth shook his head. "The second I leave, you're going to go back to scrubbing, aren't you?" Aminta stared at him with a poker face, and Carth stifled a moan. "This is what you do, isn't it? When you are upset by something, you work yourself to the bone so you won't have time to think about it."

Aminta shrugged. "Going on a cleaning spree is a whole lot better than vowing revenge on Saul Karath."

Carth's face flushed with anger and his fists clenched at his sides. "What did you just say to me?" he demanded.

Aminta bit her lip. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that. What I meant was, if I work, I do something productive. I let the anger out. But you keep it bottled inside; your hatred's eating you alive, Carth."

Carth stared straight into her eyes. "I have nothing else to live for."

Aminta's lips curled into a soft smile, and she met his gaze. "Neither do I."

Carth swallowed, and then laughed bitterly. "Some pair we make. There's nothing for either of us in this life, and yet we hang around. Pathetic, isn't it?"

Aminta smiled and held out her arm to Carth. "I think I might need some help. My legs are asleep from sitting on them for so long."

The corner of Carth's mouth curved upwards ruefully as he gently pulled her to her feet. "Want me to get you some pain meds?"

Aminta shook her head no as she stomped her feet on the floor, wincing at the painful tingles that traveled up her legs. "Just help me get to my bunk without tripping over my own two feet."

—————————————-

"Are we there yet?" Mission piped up the following morning, and Aminta gritted her teeth with impatience. Canderous smirked.

"No, we're not." she ground out, and Mission busied herself by kicking a stone through the field.

"I don't see what's taking so long," the teenager complained. "What exactly are we doing anyway?"

Aminta suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "We are removing the darkness from a tainted grove," she replied for the seventeenth time. But hey, who's counting?

Canderous snorted. "That has got to be the vaguest description of an activity that I have ever heard."

Aminta sighed. "That's exactly what I said. And then that idiotic Master Vrook," she placed a mocking emphasis on the word Master, "told me that I was impertinent, and a stain on the Jedi Order. Like he's perfect," she grumbled, and groaned as she saw yet another pack of Kath hounds attacking them.

Canderous grinned as he brandished his insanely large machine gun. "I love this planet," he barked enthusiastically as he took aim and shot the nearest canine.

"You are one sick man," Mission muttered under her breath, scowling at him when he kicked her calves in retaliation.

"That's no way to talk to your elders, young lady," Canderous muttered, grunting as his massive gun backfired.

"Well, since you're REALLY old… I guess I can't talk to you at all," Mission retorted, shooting several of the dogs down herself.

Before Canderous had the chance to retaliate, Aminta stepped in. "Can you two save the insults for later? We're kind of busy now," she reminded them. She eyed the dwindling pack of Kath cautiously. "Watch my back," she ordered before jumping into the fray.

"Does she always have to do that?" Mission asked, picking off the hounds that got too close to her friend.

"What? Bark out orders or jump into the middle of things?"

Mission laughed, the peace temporarily restored between the two. But only temporarily. Canderous wasn't likely to forget the time that she exchanged his soap for motor oil, or how she had stolen all of the bullets to his gun and forced him to buy new ones. She still hadn't told them where they were, and the bullets that he had to purchase had been expensive.

The Kath fell quickly beneath Aminta's new found force powers, and Mission wondered if she even needed them to watch her back. So far, she had proved herself to be more than capable. Aminta brushed a sweaty strand of hair out of her face, and practically pranced up to the waiting pair. "That was easy."

Mission sighed, and Canderous shook his head, her reaction confirming Mission's earlier observations. "I wonder why the dogs are acting this way…Kath hounds generally docile," Canderous noted.

"Apparently, this 'tainted grove' is turning the hounds into killing machines. Or, so the masters say," Aminta rolled her eyes to indicate exactly what she thought of the said masters.

Mission grinned, and then surveyed the terrain. "Are we almost there yet?"

Aminta gritted her teeth. "No," she ground out. Canderous grinned and crossed his arms over his chest, enjoying her discomfort.

"When will we get there?" Mission tried again.

"We'll there when we get there!" Aminta snapped, clipping her saber to her belt.

"You know, you sound like a cryptic old Jedi. I think they're rubbing off on you," Canderous smirked.

"Can it, Candy," Aminta growled, and glowered at him. Canderous scowled at the nickname, and shoved her into Mission.

"Hey!" Mission exclaimed when Aminta made contact, and Canderous laughed gruffly. Aminta glared at him, and reached for her lightsaber.

"Ah-uh. The dark side, remember?" He mocked, and luckily, a crowd of laigreks came up in a tidal wave before Aminta could cleave him in two.

Mission groaned. "How many of these things are there?" she muttered, picking them off. Aminta sighed as though in agreement with the teenager as she leapt into action.

Canderous grinned as he shot the animals. "Die you bastards!" he laughed. Aminta and Mission froze for a second to stare at him incredulously before going back to picking off the insect-like creatures.

"Man, has he got issues," Mission mumbled under her breath.

The laigreks soon were nothing but a pile of corpses at the trio's feet. Aminta clipped her saber back to her belt and looked around. "Hm… It looks like they were guarding that cave over there," she mused, gesturing to a large crevice in the rock approximately 60 feet away.

"No way," Mission replied quickly to the suggestion that she knew was going to come.

Aminta rolled her eyes at the teenager. "Let's check it out."

Canderous grinned. "I'm game."

"No way!" Mission exclaimed again, slightly louder this time. "If those things were protecting that, the cave'll be crawling with them! And I hate bugs!" As if to prove her point, the girl shivered.

"City girl," Aminta muttered under her breath, and Mission scowled at her. "First of all, they're not bugs; they're laigreks. Believe it or not, there is a difference. Secondly, if the cave is filled with laigreks, you'll be able to have a live target practice session."

"I'd rather hunt the sewer rats. You know what? That fracking rancor sounds better!" Mission cried out, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Aminta.

"Watch your language," Aminta replied absently, and then smacked her forehead with her hand. "I have been around Jedi too much," she groaned. Canderous stifled a chuckle, and Aminta whirled to face him. "And don't you say a word," she warned him, and Canderous held his hands up in the air. "Come on," she growled, and marched off to the entrance to the cave. Canderous followed, as did Mission after a moment's hesitation.

"Hey, Ami? Why do you want to check out a nasty old cave anyway?" Mission asked when she caught up to the older woman.

"Because its there," Aminta replied dryly.

Mission rolled her eyes, and turned her attention to the fields. "This sure is a whole lot different than Taris," she observed, the slightest hint of sorrow tinting her voice.

Aminta's foul mood quickly shifted, and she laid a hand on Mission's shoulder. "Oh, Mish…"

Mission gave Aminta a watery smile. "Nah, it's okay. There wasn't much left on Taris for me anyway. Not since my brother left me there."

Aminta's eyes went wide, and Canderous roughly tugged the women's shoulders to get them moving towards the cave. Aminta scowled at him, and then turned back to Mission. "I didn't know you had a brother."

Mission nodded. "Yeah, his name's Griff. He was a good guy, taught me everything I needed to know, like how to pick a lock, and how to lift some credits off of someone…" Canderous snorted with amusement, and Aminta glared at him.

"Important skills to have," she noted with a wry smile.

"Yeah, he did all right by me," Mission agreed with a grin. "But then came along that space tramp Lena! She poisoned him into leaving there on Taris. I woke up one morning when I was really little, and all of my stuff was gone. Lena must have taken it with her, the schutta!" she spat, and Canderous whistled.

"Sounds to me that your brother was an ass. Letting a woman control his decisions," he made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat, and Aminta gave him a pointed look just as Mission stomped her foot.

"She was a witch! I conniving, dirty, nasty, space tramp witch! She made my brother leave, I swear it. It wasn't his fault!" Mission shouted at the hulking man, and Canderous grinned at her.

"What a nice temper tantrum you're having."

"Aw, shavit!" the girl exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air and stomping off.

Aminta sighed and glanced over to a chuckling Canderous. "Candy, we have really got to teach you some people skills."

"I've got people skills, squirt. Girlie there needs to learn some anger management."

Aminta snorted. "Do you like to come up with nicknames for everyone?" She asked with a raised brow. "Squirt, Princess, Republic, Furball, and now Girlie," Aminta ticked the names off on her fingers. "I think that you have some serious issues that need to be worked on."

Canderous glowered at her. "And you have yet to beat me in our sparring sessions," Canderous retorted. "You have some serious combat issues that we need you to be worked on."

Aminta rolled her eyes. "You are impossible," she muttered, quickly catching up to Mission. "Sorry about him. He's a jerk," she attempted to apologize, but Mission brushed her off.

"Nah, he's right. I do get worked up too easily. But if you tell him that, I swear I'll tell the masters about you and Carth," the girl threatened.

Aminta laughed. "They can't do anything about it. Besides, that was a one time only deal. I'd bet every member of the council has slipped up at least once."

Mission grinned. "Don't tell Bastila that. She'd shish kabob you."

Aminta shook her head with a smile, and then quickly unclipped her lightsaber from her belt. "We've got company," she observed, noting the laigreks that threatened to overwhelm them with their multitude. "Get back, Mission. Start picking them off from that hill over there," Aminta inclined her head to the location without moving her eyes from the beasts.

Mission nodded mutely, and scrambled to do as Aminta requested. Canderous shot down one of the insect like creatures, and they attacked as one. Aminta swirled her blade about in a wide arc, instantly wounding those who had gotten to close to her. These moved sluggishly, and Mission and Canderous picked them off easily.

The amount of the creatures killed hardly made a dent in the amount of laigreks that surrounded Aminta. Pushing aside all thought, she fell in step to the most lightsaber form that Zhar had taught her, adding several modified steps that she had learned from her sparring practice with Canderous. The creatures fell quickly beneath her skill, but their numbers were overwhelming. Just when Aminta had found time to catch her breath, and new wave of laigreks would come pouring from the cave.

"Canderous, get down here with your melee," she barked as she severed the claw of the creature nearest to her when it attempted to strike her.

Canderous strapped his gun to his back, and charged down the slope with his vibroblade raised. Mission picked off several more of the bugs that got too close to Aminta, but her work didn't make much difference. There were only so many creatures that she could kill at one time. However, with both Canderous and Aminta working together, the laigreks' numbers began to dwindle, until finally the flow came to an abrupt halt.

Sucking in a deep breath, Aminta deactivated her lightsaber and slumped to the ground, yanking a stim out of her bag and shoving the needle up her thigh. With that one used, she reached for another, and injected herself with that one as well. When she reached for a third, Canderous grabbed her hand, shoved her a medpac instead. "No more stims. Those things are addictive," he warned, and Aminta nodded grudgingly, injecting herself with the kolto.

Mission scrambled down the hill, and came to a halt in front of the two adults. "Man, Ami. Are you okay?" Aminta nodded and stood, the effects of the battle washed away from the stims. "Geez, are you sure you still want to go in there?" Mission asked, pointing to the cave.

Aminta grinned. "I think we've killed nearly all of the adults. The younger ones and those in their larval stage shouldn't be that hard to deal with," she said, headed towards the mouth of the cave. "Don't be such a worry wart."

Canderous grinned and followed Aminta. She is a true warrior, whether or not she admits it to herself. Mission sighed with resignation, and caught up to the pair.

The cave was shrouded in inky blackness, and Aminta had to activate her lightsaber so that they could see their way through. What Aminta had said had been correct; there were very few adults left, and most of the laigreks in their larval stage shied away from the light rather than attacking the intruders.

"I don't like this place. It's creepy," Mission said with a shiver. Canderous snorted, and Aminta rolled her eyes.

"A little bit of darkness never hurt anybody."

The halls of the cave became narrower so that Canderous' shoulders brushed against either side, and after several more minutes of walking, Aminta noticed a light coming from the end of one. "What the…" she murmured under her breath, increasing her pace. the narrow hall opened into a large cavern, lit by glowing crystals.

"Wow. This looks like it came from a holovideo," Mission breathed, and Aminta smiled at the girl before heading in to investigate. However, the natural light had attracted more than just the trio. The room was filled with more laigreks, this time those in their adult stage. Aminta heaved out a sigh, and began her assault.

They fell quickly, far faster than their relatives outside of the cave, and Aminta turned her attention to the crystals. She could feel the force humming through the place; so strong that she felt a shiver go down the length of her spine. "They're lightsaber crystals," she said aloud.

Smiling, she harvested several, gently placing them in her bag. "These'll be useful," she murmured with a grin, and then she turned back to her companions. "Ready to go?" Without waiting for an answer, she bounded off to the exit.

Canderous and Mission looked at each other before following the woman. "I can't believe she made us go through all this trouble to do some damn shopping," Canderous growled.

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Sorry it took so long! I've had major writer's block. I've probably averaged about a paragraph a day in an attempt to keep interest, and this is still slightly too short for my taste. Don't worry though, I won't be dropping this any time soon.