Her silky skin is warm, flushed against his mouth as he kisses down her flat stomach. He's been imagining this since she walked into his prison, and he's going to enjoy every bit of her. When he slides a finger into her wet center, Avery's head tilts back against the pillow and a little sigh escapes from her throat.

Atton chuckles. "If you're reacting like this now, just imagine how it's gonna feel later when I…"

Avery's hips wriggle and she sighs again. "Can't you just do it now?"

"I told you," he murmurs as his thumb moves up to circle her clit, "I want to take my time."

She groans and tilts herself into his hand further. He kisses her up from her thigh to her hipbone, his hand beginning to work against her slick folds faster. For a moment, he shifts back to admire the view before he can't help himself and moves back down. "Damn, baby, you have no idea how badly I've wanted you," he whispers as he reverently kisses the tender skin under her jaw. "You're so gorgeous. This last week has been torture…"

She sits up suddenly, her brown eyes bright and flecked with silver, her expression desperate. When he looks up, she leans in, almost touching her mouth to his. "Atton," she begs, "please. I've waited long enough."

Well, shit. Who is he to keep the lady waiting? Instantly he's half-up from his position kneeling over her naked body, and he's hurriedly undoing his belt. He's clumsy, wasting movements because he's so eager, and Avery's little panting breaths of anticipation aren't helping either.

Finally, thank the stars, he gets his pants off and grabs one of her long legs, throwing it over his hip. He's never been so hard in his life, and this girl…

She arches, nestles her wetness against him, and he hisses when the slick folds slide against him. She's probably gonna give him a heart attack. He grabs her hips, raises her up and-

A loud 'thunk' shocked Atton awake. He looked around in confusion at the gray room, the bunk beds across the floor empty, and another 'thunk' as another door slammed shut. No naked, wet, panting Avery, no hope for the undoubtedly incredible release that he'd finally get inside her.

Instead, he had a throbbing hard-on and nothing to do with it.

As he used his sheets to the best of his ability to hide the evidence of his dream, a long, pale leg stretched down from the top mattress and hung there, the toes stretching for a low rung of the ladder. Atton's mouth went dry. His eyes trailed up the curve to where a superbly short piece of cloth covered the last bit of her upper legs.

No. It wasn't fair. He'd just been vividly exploring what was beneath that cloth, and if he hadn't woken up….He pulled up the pillow and groaned an agonized, muffled "fuuuuck" into the material.

"Atton?" Avery said as she climbed down. "You okay?"

"Uh," He looked up, looked down- the pillow was hiding it- and looked up again. "Yeah. Fine. Just, you know. Sore from fighting yesterday."

"Oh." She stretched up onto her tiptoes, her long hair tilting down to her bottom, and then relaxed. "I passed out last night. Looks like everybody else is already up. Wonder what time it is."

His throat cleared. "You should probably go check."

"Good call." She threw her usual suit over her underclothes and stretched again. "Don't be in here too long. We can't miss the shuttle."

When the door shut behind her, Atton groaned another curse into his pillow.

Mandalore was, as to be expected, quite impressed with Avery and Atton's combat expertise, and Bao Dur's repairs of the computer systems. As the shuttle landed in the bright city of Iziz, he warned the party. "The city's been shut down for months now. General Vaklu is close to declaring martial law. We won't be able to travel too far in the city."

Mandalore had a friend that could help them find Kavar, so Avery followed him out while everyone else relaxed in the market district of the city. She could sense that Kavar was near, like the patches of Force that were healing were still familiar with the strong Jedi presence.

A meeting was set up in the local cantina. Mandalore looked at the young woman curiously as she walked beside him. She seemed taut: tense and nervous, fidgeting with the hilt of her sword. She could take down five of his men in hand-to-hand combat, but meeting someone in a bar was scaring her?

When the doors opened, Avery took a deep, steadying breath. Her chin tilted up, and she stepped into the cantina with forced confidence. Kavar was sitting back in the shadows. Still blonde, blue-eyed, kind lines in his face. He hadn't aged a day.

"You must have gone through a lot to get to the city," he remarked as she sat down across from him. "The Palace is at full battle readiness."

"I didn't know you were still alive."

The Jedi Master smiled to himself. Kess was never one for small talk. "Why are you here? I imagine that you hold little love for any on the Jedi Council anymore. Even an old friend."

"I didn't expect that you'd turn on me, too." Her piercing gaze made him lower his eyes. "I want to know why I was cast out of the Order."

"You have to understand," he wheedled. "It was a time of great uncertainty. We just learned that Darth Revan was back with an armada. Then again…there's more to it than that. I think you deserve an expl-"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Avery frowned. She recognized that voice. It was the son of a shutta who fired on the Hawk when they tried to land in Onderon, Tobin.

"In orbit, I thought for sure the Ebon Hawk was mine. I was certain. Only to see you slip through my fingers during the battle. Imagine my delight to discover you were on Iziz. Quite careless, if you ask me."

Avery leapt to her feet to assess the fight that was inevitable. There were five men with capable-looking blaster rifles. She didn't know if-

Mandalore turned to her with a firm nod, and the Exile instantly relaxed. If she had his help, they'd be fine.

Kavar caught her eye and muttered under his breath. "I must return to the Palace. I'll get word to you when I'm able." When she tilted her head up in confirmation, a pulse of energy lit in him that made the frayed edges of her Ache quiver, and four of the men stopped still, frozen in place.

"W-what have you done to my men?" Tobin shouted. "Blast!" He took off after the fleeing Jedi Master. "I won't let you escape!"

Mandalore only had to look at the Exile, and the two moved in synchronization; Avery stabbed through a thug's chest and Mandalore fired a round into one man just starting to move, then Avery deflected the shot a third one fired in confusion before her teammate shot him in the head. The fourth threw up his hands in surrender.

Avery's temper was in full swing now, though, and she strode up to the man with hatred in her eyes. He was choking, tears streaming down his face, begging her for mercy.

Mandalore watched dispassionately as the Exile cut the man down. As they exited the cantina, however, he cleared his throat. "I thought you were a friend of that Kavar."

"I was," she replied deadpan.

"Well, not to be judgmental here, since I would've done the same, but why did you kill that last one? He was surrendering. Aren't Light-sided people like you supposed to be all forgiving and peaceful?"

Avery let out a deep sigh. "I don't know what I am, anymore. I've always had problems with temper, and impatience, and a lack of mercy. Especially in the-"

Her mouth clamped shut. Oh, space. She'd almost told him that she'd slaughtered droves of his people. She tried to recover. "The great Jedi despaired of me. There's lots of faults I have that directly violate what a Light side Force user is supposed to be. I used to try to control them, but then I…worked with someone who told me there was no point."

Mandalore didn't question her further. She was keeping something under wraps, clearly, and he could respect that. After all, he didn't want to mention a great deal of his past either.

The two looked out to the entryway, where dozens upon dozens of men stood at the ready. They were waiting.

Mandalore turned to her and shook his head. "We're not going after Kavar, not with an entire army after us. It's going to be a while before they forget about us here. No more trips to Iziz for us until the situation changes. A lot."

Avery looked down the street with a yearning on her face, and then her shoulders sagged. "Agreed. I'll get everyone else. Meet you at the shuttle."

Once inside on their way back to Dxun, everyone was fairly quiet. Mandalore walked up to the Exile, sitting in a thoroughly bad mood, and stated, "I'm not ready to part company yet."

Avery looked up in confusion. It didn't register that she had this same habit of starting up conversation right at the purpose of it. "Okay," she replied carefully.

"It sounds like you have a lot of traveling to do, and so do I. I'm going with you."

It was hardly what one would call a volunteer effort, but Avery appreciated his decided tone. "Why?"

"The Sith have taken a particular interest in you, and you could use an extra blaster. I've been meaning to leave Dxun to look for other Mandalorian clans anyway. I have a feeling that if we travel together it would work to our mutual advantage. But anyway," he finished as the shuttle landed, "we'll have time to talk later."

Leaving the camp to head to the Hawk was a much grander journey than its reverse had been. The whole party was escorted by Cairus, Zavrak and a few others through the jungle with gruff well-wishes and a salute for their leader's departure. Surprisingly, Avery mused as she entered the Ebon Hawk behind her party, she'd enjoyed the camp. Ironically enough, she fit right in with the Mandalorians. That was probably a bad sign.

Everyone was dispersing, checking over repairs and belongings, when Avery sensed a rippling in the Force. She wandered restlessly, seeking the source, until she saw a small figure in the cargo room.

She didn't speak. There was no point; this…person already knew she'd entered the room. The figure was revealed as a woman with a red hood over her eyes who stood, and without hesitation fired up a red lightsaber.

Avery desperately brought up her shabby vibrosword and barely stopped the woman's swing. If she didn't pull out some tricks, this would be a short fight.

She managed to push the red lightsaber away and delivered a swift high kick to the woman's face. The figure's head snapped back, but then, just as calmly, she drove forward. The vibrosword made a half-circle, and, gripping it with both hands, Avery swung up fiercely against the lightsaber. The figure simply allowed it to fly up, and then spun it back down.

Avery had to think of something. Her weapon might as well have been made of paper. She sensed a great deal of Force energy in this woman. If she could just draw some out…

The hooded female staggered a bit when Avery pulled in her energy. With that second of pause, Avery found a weakness- this woman's lightsaber was frail, and very old. As the woman lashed out again, Avery blocked, pushing forward as well as she could against the figure's weight, and sent the Force in a violent electric current through her arms, into her vibrosword, and up the burning pillar of the lightsaber. It sparked, and with a last hiss of power, flickered out.

The woman fell back and kneeled immediately. Her voice was breathy, practically a whisper. "My lightsaber…you have destroyed it. I yield…master. It is as I heard through the Force."

There was absolute fury in every line of the Exile's face. Her arms were trembling with exertion, aching to swing the sword against this woman's neck. But she thought back to Mandalore's curiosity at her temper. If she attacks me again, I'll kill her. Until then, I should wait until she gives me information. "Arise," she snapped, "but do not dare attack me again."

"Kill me, I beg you. I…it was not my wish to challenge you, and I must pay the price."

Luckily for this woman, Avery's battle lust was beginning to cool, and she shook her head. "I will not kill you."

"But I have nothing to offer you," the woman protested. "Your strength is superior." There was a pause, and the woman's knees buckled. "It is as I felt."

She collapsed onto the floor.

The strange woman was lying in the med bay, and she'd clearly been violently beaten previously. Atton, standing at the other side of the bed, looked up at the Exile, his dark hazel eyes piqued with wonder. "Now I've seen everything. This woman…she's a Miraluka. I didn't think there were any left in this part of the galaxy."

"And those are…what?"

"A pretty secretive race. All Force sensitive. Most of them become Jedi, so a Sith is unusual."

"Is her kind rare?"

"Mmhmm." He scratched at the stubble on his jaw. "I heard they had a colony on the Mid Rim, almost halfway between Onderon and Dantooine. Then…it wasn't there anymore. The whole planet was wiped out, nothing left alive; no one knows why."

"Maybe she knows."

"Yeah. And since they're all Force Sensitive, maybe they all saw something through the Force that we can't see, and they left before it happened." He sighed, pessimistic again. "Or maybe it killed them all. At any rate, I don't know what she went through, but she's in bad shape."

"Is she going to be alright?"

"Yeah. She'll recover. She's obviously dealt with these types of injuries before."

"Okay. Let me know when she's up."

He nodded. "Will do."

As she left the room, he called after her. "Hey, uh, what are you gonna be doing?"

She turned, looking uncharacteristically excited. "First I'm going to hit the refresher and eat, and then I'm going to go make a lightsaber with Bao Dur. He got some stock parts, so we're going to work on a standard one."

"Oh, great. Have fun."

When she was gone, he slumped. He felt envious of Bao Dur, and that made him an idiot. Plus, he couldn't think up a good bonding activity for himself and Avery. If he couldn't build lightsabers like the Zabrak or do Force-meditating lesson-thingies like the old woman, how would he ever get her into his bed? And boy, did he have to.

He took a second, but the rational voice in his head was already shredding his dignity. Of course he wanted her, but he had a sickening feeling in his gut that there was more to it than that. He'd always managed to avoid that second aspect of women. Why wasn't he doing it now?

Atton rarely felt inept in his life, but this girl was putting him in situations where he was utterly out of his depth. He had never had anything like this conversation before. As he walked up to Bao Dur, he didn't know where to put his hands or even, really, how to begin.

"Got a minute?"
Bao Dur looked up, taken aback. "I'm a little busy here. What is it?"

"Won't take more than a second." Atton paused, shuffled, and pursed his lips.

"Alright." Bao Dur was mystified as to what in space Atton would need to speak with him about, and even more so why Atton's entire demeanor was radiating discomfort. "I'll work while you talk."

"Look, she's your friend right? You know her from way back, don't you? How much do you know about her, really?"

"Her? You mean the General? Yeah, during the war, if that's what you mean by 'way back.' Can't say I know too much about her though."

"Better than anyone else on the ship," Atton replied practically to himself. "Just give me your opinion, okay? And don't laugh."

Bao Dur's level of entertainment was rising with each new sentence. "I'm trying to work here, Atton."

He burst out desperately. "I was just wondering if you thought, maybe, she and I might-"

"You're being serious," Bao Dur interrupted, astonished.

"You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"You are being serious. Atton, she was a general. I was just a tech. Your guess is about as good as mine.

"Well what's your guess then?"

"I'm getting back to work."

"HEY! I'm being serious here!"

"Serious about what?" Avery asked, walking into the room.

"Avery oh wow, hey, how are you what are you doing in here?"

"Smooth," Bao Dur said delightedly.

"Just coming here to do exactly what I told you I'd be doing ten minutes ago." She was apprehensive now. "Is…everything okay?"

"Yeah everything's...actually no, I just remembered the power couplings. I gotta go. Thanks for your advice on those, Bao Dur."

Avery's eyes traveled from Atton's fleeing back to Bao Dur, whose mouth was pinched as he struggled not to laugh. "So…anyway...I think we have all the parts…"

Bao Dur and the Exile hunched over the workbench, and Avery proudly showed off her non-yellow crystal. It was some sort of odd teal color, sure, but she really didn't care what color it was. As long as she wouldn't have to be terrified of another Sith-lightsaber-ambush because she had a measly weapon, she'd be content.

When Bao Dur made a little show of handing her the completed weapon, Avery could feel the Force singing in her veins- a chorus of joy at finally feeling like a Jedi again. Even though it was still tender, the echo in her felt like a current of power now. The lightsaber shot out. It was an odd sensation- it felt familiar, but there was a lack of flow, the streamlined connection that ran from her shoulder to the hilt of the weapon that she was used to with her old lightsabers. This didn't feel like a part of her, an extension of her will.

But for the first time since she'd been exiled, she felt whole.