Oh my goodness, I finally updated! I apologize for the delay, but I was doing revisions on other chapters (which I still need to finish) and I had finals in school to worry about. So many papers at this time of the year, so little time. I'm just excited to FINALLY getting into the main arc of the story - I have so much planned for Anywho, enjoy the next installment, and, as always, feedback is appreciated.

May the Force be with you lovelies,

- Captain Kenobi

"Get up, girl," a guard said, kicking Rose in the abdomen. She let out a growl of pain before following orders, slowly getting up from her spot, no more energy left to fight back. It had been three days since she last saw Obi-Wan, and the guards had given her little food. Two guards had entered her cell, one armed with a blaster and the other with a whip. Something about the second one seemed suspicious to her.

"Is it time for my big debut?" she smirked, earning a slap across the face. "Don't have to be such an ass about it," she mumbled.

"What'dya call me?" the blaster one asked, roughly hoisting her off her feet. He spat at her face, which she coolly wiped off using her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, twinkle toes. You won't have to deal with me for much longer," Rose shrugged. The guard with the whip was quiet behind them, keeping his distance. Rose turned and gave him a wink before ramming the guard with the blaster into the wall, surprising him. She jumped and threw her feet through her cuffs, allowing her hands to be in front of her. He began swinging wildly at her, but she missed each one of his lunges easily before countering them with her own, quick movements. She used her feet to deliver a final blow to his face, knocking him cold onto the ground.

"Sure took you long enough," Rose glared at the other guard. He removed his helmet, revealing the face of Obi-Wan underneath it.

"It's not as easy to get in here undetected as you might think," he defended, taking the electrolyzed cuffs off of Rose, who rubbed her sore wrists.

"Well, genius, now that my prince charming has rescued me, what do we do? Can't just leave this loaf here - someone'll find him."

"Luckily, prince charming has already thought of that. Come on, help me move him," Obi-Wan said, beginning to drag the unconscious guard back into his cell. Rose grabbed the other hand and they propped him up against the cell wall, being sure to hide him in the corner. Obi-Wan activated the rayshield, barricading them into the cell.

"Hey, genius, way to lock us out of our way out," Rose began, but Obi-Wan ignored her and walked over to the open ledge.

"Nope. This is our way out," he said, jumping down. Rose rushed to stop him, but he already fallen out of view. As she neared the edge, she saw that he had not fallen to his doom, but instead small a small hovercraft right below her cell, a smiling Qui-Gon piloting it.

"Come on, Rose. Jump!" Obi-Wan shouted up to her. Rose peered over the edge and shifted uncomfortably on her feet. She closed her eyes and took a leap of faith off the safety of the platform, the feeling of freefalling one hundred stories filling her with terror. She felt the hard metal of the craft hit her feet and Obi-Wan's hand taking hers as he guided her into the airship, plopping them into a seat as Qui-Gon began to pull away.

"Flawless rescue," Rose said, her teeth chattering at more than the nip of the air. "Only thing that would make it better would be a -" Obi-Wan read her mind and threw a pile of fabric in her hands, along with her belt and crushed sabers. "Cloak. Shit. Shaak Ti is literally going to kill me after she sees these," Rose said as she looked down at the broken sabers in her hands. There was a little bag tied around one of the hilts, and when Rose peered into it, she saw the shattered remains of what used to be her crystals, their once luminous nature gone.

"Well, turn around, you pervert," Rose shooed Obi-Wan with her hand who was in the back seat with her. His face went red as she began pulling off her torn pants, pulling her Jedi ones on in place of them. She slid her tunic on over her head, basking in the small amount of warmth it offered. She put her tunic on over everything, leaning back into the seat and picking up her sabers. Obi-Wan had his eyes slammed shut and head turned the other way, desperately trying to hide his embarrassment. "It's clear now, dork.

"So, Qui-Gon Beard, what brought you here?" Rose asked as she studied her sabers, looking for any kind of way to salvage them.

"For my apprentice, of course," he said sternly, keeping his eyes on the mountains in front of him.

"Glad you two kissed and made up. We can get off this godforsaken rock now, right?"

"Heading to our ship right now."

"Hey, where's those kids you were fighting for? Obi-Wan?" Rose snapped her fingers in front of her friend's far-off eyes, calling him back to the land of the conscious. His eyes locked onto hers for a moment before falling down to look at the hands in his lap.

"There is no place left for me here," he said quietly. Rose opened her mouth to say something, but closed it, and decided silence was better.

The flight home was full of small bicker fests between master and apprentice, and Rose often found herself in the crossfires, trying to not take sides.

"You both bicker more than I do with my master," Rose said, excusing herself from the cockpit. If she had to sit through one more minute of them arguing, she was going to lose her mind. Rose let herself into the back compartment, sitting down at the metal table. She laid all the pieces out in front of her, trying to figure out which smashed piece went with which. The body was still in one piece, and it seems like the only damage that was done to the sabers was mostly done to the crystals.

"Why'd it have to be the crystals? Of all the damned parts it could be," Rose asked exasperatedly. She let her head fall onto the table in front of her, the sound echoing around the room. She grabbed the ship's repairbox and took out a screwdriver and began to dismantle her sabers. After an hour of work, she had all the pieces laid out before her, separated by what they were and which saber they belonged to. Rose picked up the main bodies of her sabers and looked at what she had engraved into them six years ago. Although slightly altered by small dents, the swirling patterns of flowers filled one of the sabers, and grains of dirt now stuck in its fine indentions. Rose looked at the one that had the Jedi Temple's symbol and the words etched onto it, smiling at the memory.

"You never did tell me what they meant," Obi-Wan said behind her, making Rose jump a little.

"Damn, Kenobi. Scared the shit out of me," Rose said, putting the pieces down. He only laughed and plopped himself down in the seat opposite of her.

"With how long you've been training with Master Ti, you should be more in tune with your senses," he lectured, picking up one of the bodies. "So, what does it mean?"

"I said one day, Kenobi. Doesn't necessarily mean today," Rose said, propping her feet up on the table and leaning back into the metal chair. She twirled a strand of hair around her finger and looked up at the ceiling. Pipes and wires ran the length of the ship, and Rose wishing they were closer to Coruscant. She missed her home at the Temple. "What happened between you and Master Beard up there, anyway? The last time you talked to me with the crystal, you said things were fine between the two of you."

"Things changed," Obi-Wan said darkly, setting the piece back down.

"Don't shut me out," Rose countered.

"Why not? You weren't there - you weren't there for any of it," he raised his voice at Rose, causing her to be taken aback. She raised an eyebrow at him and as she opened her mouth to say something, the ship rocked beneath their feet as if something had rammed into them. Rose swept all of the pieces of her sabers into a pouch and tied it around her belt tightly before following Obi-Wan to the cockpit, where an exasperated Qui-Gon was navigating through an asteroid field.

"The hell are you doing up here?!" Rose hollered as she strapped herself in to her seat.

"Pirates," Qui-Gon mumbled as he jerk the ship, narrowly missing an asteroid.

"Pirates?" Rose asked as the ship shook again. They heard an explosion coming from behind them and the cockpit began to shake violently. "Hope the engine wasn't important."

"Master, are we close to any planets?" Obi-Wan said, seating himself into the co-pilot's seat.

"Varia," Qui-Gon said. Rose felt her stomach drop.

"We can't go there!" she exclaimed as the planet began coming into view through the asteroids. The blue and green planet spun gracefully, growing larger with every second.

"We don't have a choice, Rose," Obi-Wan yelled back. As they entered the atmosphere, the ship began to catch fire, vital parts being thrown behind them. The three Jedi braced for impact as the ship crashed into a lake. Rose felt her head whip against the chair and she struggled against unconsciousness as the water began filling the cabin. With frantic hands, she undid her seatbelt and went to help Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, both of which seemed to be unconscious themselves. Rose unhooked Obi-Wan's saber and sliced their seatbelts before pulling them out of their chairs. The water was rising quickly and was already up to her knees. The emergency lights of the ship were now flashing on, illuminating the cabin with a creepy, green glow. Rose pulled out her own aquata breather before rifling through the pockets of the two boys, sticking their own in their mouths. An idea popped into her head and she allowed the water to fill the cabin even more, being sure to tie the unconscious Jedi to her by looping her belt through theirs and tying it off. As the water completely filled the cabin, Rose took Obi-Wan's lightsaber and cut a hole in the glass that was large enough for the three of them to squeeze through. She had to periodically stop and check to make sure the breathers were still in their mouths, and when she was certain they weren't going to fall out, she pulled the two Jedi along with her up and out of the sinking ship. She held a boy in each arm and allowed them to float up to the surface, trying to save her energy for what would await them on the surface.

The canopy above blocked most of the sunlight as Rose carried the two other Jedi to the shore of the lake. Her body collapsed from exhaustion as they made their way onto the beach, the gentle waves lapping at their legs. She allowed herself a moment of rest before pushing herself up, the sand clinging to her wet body. She gently turned over Qui-Gon and when she found he was breathing, she allowed herself a sigh of relief. Moving over to Obi-Wan, Rose put her ear up to his mouth and moved a hand onto his chest. He wasn't moving.

"Always the overdramatic one," Rose said. She plugged his nose and tilted his head back before trying to blow air into his chest. After a couple of breaths, she moved over to his chest and began pumping. Compression after compression, Rose tried desperately to save her friend.

"Come on, dork, cut this out," she said, a little desperately. She felt her hands begin to shake as she tried once again to breathe life into Obi-Wan. She felt his body convulse under hers as he began hacking out water onto the sand beside him. Rose fell back onto the beach, her hands still shaking. "I swear, one of these days you'll be the death of me," she mumbled as she patted him on the back. "You owe me on."

"I rescued you from prison," Obi-Wan coughed out. His voice was raspy compared to its normal, soothing tone. His eyes grew large when they fell on Qui-Gon, but Rose reassured him.

"Just tired, is all," she said, helping Obi-Wan up from his spot. Their feet sunk into the wet sand, making walking difficult. "We need to get out of here."

"What? Why? We could just set up camp here for the night and look for help in the morning."

"We won't find help if we get eaten first," Rose said, already trying to pick up Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan came and helped her lift him up. "Gotta get in the trees. There's a reason the Varian people are nicknamed the 'tree dwellers.'"

"Great. So, where do we find one of these great tree dwellings?"

"No freaking idea. But, we can get up in the trees. Gonna be hard with Master Beard here, but it's not impossible," Rose led Obi-Wan into the surrounding woods. The trees, tall and strong, were larger than any tree Obi-Wan had seen before. Their roots were the size of starships, and the vines that hung off of them were thick and lush, smaller plants seemingly able to grow off of them. Rose led them carefully through the underbrush, her eyes darting everywhere at once, her ears open for any unusual sounds. Large, vibrant flowers came into view. Seemingly every color of the rainbow was on their petals, which were bigger than Rose herself.

"Don't touch them. They're poisonous," Rose warned as Obi-Wan oogled at their beauty. "Here's a good tree to start climbing." She stopped them at the base of the largest tree Obi-Wan had seen on the planet. Its size rivaled that of buildings on Coruscant. "We're going to have to use the Force to lift the old lug up," Rose began instructing. "Ready?" Obi-Wan nodded and they both focused their energy onto Qui-Gon, his body lifting into the air. The two padawans pushed him higher and higher, resting him softly onto the closest branch. Rose began scaling up the side of the tree, and Obi-Wan followed in suit, careful to place his foot in the same spot as hers. The tree's old and defined features allowed for an easy climb, and as they reached the branch where Qui-Gon was, they once again focused the Force and lifted him up to the next hanging branch, this one substantially higher.

"How high do we have to go?" Obi-Wan asked as they began climbing once more. Rose felt the bark growing more slippery the higher they climbed.

"Just below the canopy. There's some pretty nasty stuff down there that can climb pretty high. All we have to do is climb higher," Rose said. "Oi, the bark is going to start getting slippery from the kind of moss that grows up here. Try not to kill yourself." They repeated the same process up the tree: move Qui-Gon up a branch and climb up after him. Rose thought she heard movement below them, as if something was scraping against the tree. She motioned for Obi-Wan to hold and crouched down, peering into the fog below them. Although nothing was moving, she couldn't shake the feeling of eyes watching their every move, and Rose ushered Obi-Wan to climb faster, despite his fatigued state.

"We're being tracked," she said finally as they neared the next branch. "We gotta move faster."

"Tracked by what?"

"Hell if I know. Let's not stick around to find out."