Brinna felt weighted down with sorrow when she rose the next morning. She was surprised by how quickly she'd come to care for the other members of her ragtag crew. It was probably only natural, considering that she'd spent much of the last few years alone, but it was still amazing to her just how important they were to her after such a short time. The deeper she got into this mission, the more she worried. Exposing herself to danger was one thing. She was used to danger and not afraid of it. She knew how to take care of herself and if someone got the best of her, well everyone had to die sometime. However, she was not used to having other people in the equation. She felt protective of her crew, as if it were her responsibility to see to their safety and well-being and so far she felt like she was doing a lousy job of it. She blamed herself for Zaalbar's predicament and Mission's distress over it. As for Carth, even though she knew that she was not to blame for his sorrow, she still felt as though she needed to fix it.

"You can't fix everything," her mother had told her once.

"I can die trying," Brinna had responded.

"I believe you would try until it killed you," her mother had said ruefully.

Of course, back then her mother hadn't known the half of it. No one could have predicted what was to come. No one could have known that no matter what Brinna did, there would be no fixing it…

Stop it, she told herself. You know this doesn't help. It's all in the past now and there's nothing you can do about it anymore. You need to just accept that and move on.

"I can't," Brinna whispered, tears rising to her eyes as they always did whenever she thought about her past. Fortunately, she was alone in the bunkroom so there was no one to notice her distress. She brushed the tears from her eyes impatiently and moved over to her footlocker, pulling her robes and boots out.

On some level, she knew that her need to "fix" Carth and Mission had a lot to do with her own failures in the past. And yet, it was more than that. She didn't want to help them simply to make up for past failures; she truly cared about both of them and she had never been able to bear watching those she cared about suffer.

Amara…Mom…she thought, pain stabbing through her once more. She involuntarily clutched at her necklace.

"Not now," she whispered, dropping her hand back down to her side. "Not now. There's too much to do. You need to focus."

She dressed quickly and practically ran from the bunkroom. She headed immediately for the common room and saw that everyone was in there except for Carth and Bastila. Jolee was sitting at the table next to Mission, speaking to her in low tones. For the first time in days, Mission's face looked tranquil and Brinna could sense the calm that now flowed through her. Brinna could sense the compassion that Jolee felt for Mission and she felt a flash of gratitude toward him. He must have sensed it because he glanced up and met her gaze.

"Thank you," she mouthed silently to him.

He nodded and gave her a slight smile before turning his attention back to Mission.

Juhani was seeing to Sasha and Canderous was fiddling with T3. Brinna didn't want to know what Canderous was doing to the poor little droid. She only hoped he didn't have any plans to drop into some hostile planet's atmosphere on the back of the poor little thing.

Bastila was absent but it took only a second for Brinna to locate her through the bond they shared. The other Jedi was in the utility bay making some alterations to her lightsaber and Brinna decided to head Bastila's way. It seemed that the more Brinna spoke with Carth, the more his paranoia was rubbing off on her. She had started wondering herself why the Council had chosen her for this mission and she had a few questions she wanted answered by Bastila.

"Good morning," Bastila said, not looking up from the workbench.

"Morning," Brinna responded.

"You have something you would like to ask me." Naturally, it wasn't a question. Chances were Brinna didn't even really need to voice her question to Bastila but communicating via the bond still unsettled Brinna, who much preferred the normal human form of communication.

"Why did the Council send me on this mission with you?" she asked Bastila.

The question provoked in Bastila a flicker of some emotion that Brinna didn't quite recognize. She tried to further probe Bastila via their bond but all she could feel now was calm flowing toward her from the other Jedi's direction. It was frankly unnerving that Bastila was so good at putting up such a cool façade.

After a moment, Bastila responded that she could not complete the mission alone and that the Council had decided that Brinna should accompany her because of the bond they shared. Bastila said that the events on Taris proved that the Force had brought them together for the mission.

This answer seemed just a bit too pat for Brinna and she told Bastila that it seemed odd to her that she'd been sent off without a master. She was rather surprised when Bastila admitted that she'd initially thought that maybe the Council's sending her with Brinna had been a test of Bastila's abilities, to determine whether she was ready to progress to the rank of Master.

"I get the feeling that there's more going on than I know," Brinna said, voicing her suspicions at last.

Once again, something flickered through Bastila's mind and was gone before Brinna could seize upon it. Brinna was growing more suspicious and more irritated by the minute. She frowned as Bastila responded to the statement with a non sequiter, talking about how she'd realized that it was foolish for her to think of her mission with Brinna as a test. She then spewed the same answer that the Jedi had given back on Dantooine: that sending a Master along with them would have attracted too much attention. The Jedi had calculated the risks and decided that sending Bastila and Brinna on the mission was the only option available.

"I guess that makes sense," Brinna said, although she wasn't entirely convinced that it did.

"You must trust in the wisdom of the Council," Bastila told her, for what must have been at least the thousandth time. She told Brinna that her destiny would come and that she shouldn't be so impatient.

"You're right," Brinna said. She knew that further questioning would get her nowhere and she was tired of the conversation. Perhaps she was spending too much time with Carth. It seemed she was becoming nearly as paranoid as him.

Still, she could not dismiss her uneasiness. There were just too many unexplained things that had happened to her. This coupled with Bastila's tight-lipped responses when it came to questions about the Council and the strange way that Jolee had been studying her led Brinna to think that maybe there might just be something to Carth's insistence that things weren't quite what they seemed.

Brinna returned to the common room and helped herself to a mug of caffa before heading for the cockpit, where she knew she'd find Carth. She seated herself in the co-pilot's chair and looked over at him. He had his own mug of caffa but it seemed to have been forgotten and he was staring out at the forests of Kashyyyk with a blank expression on his face.

"How are you doing?" Brinna asked quietly.

He slowly turned to look at her and she was pleased to note that there was less turmoil in his gaze than there had been in the past.

"Better, actually," he told her. "I feel…less burdened."
"I'm glad," she said simply.

"I wanted to thank you again… I know I've been moody and defensive and I appreciate you putting up with that. You're a good friend."

"You don't need to thank me. I'm just glad to help."

She reached over the console to give his shoulder a brief squeeze but before she could pull her hand back, he reached out and caught it. He squeezed it gently and ran his thumb over the back of it. The sensation caused a shiver to race through Brinna. She opened her mouth to say something to him, though she had no idea what she was going to say. She simply felt that she needed to say something, even though it seemed that she was incapable of logical thought at the moment.

They both heard footsteps approaching and Carth hastily dropped her hand. She felt her face grow hot. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a slight flush come over Carth's face as well.

"Are you two ready yet?" Jolee's cantankerous voice asked, breaking into the awkwardness that had settled over the cockpit. "There's a Twi'lek lass out there who's really missing her walking carpet and I don't think we should keep her waiting for the reunion any longer than necessary."

"You're right, we shouldn't," Brinna agreed, rising from her seat. She was so flustered that she stumbled and nearly fell flat on her face.

Please tell me no one noticed that. For the love of the Force, please don't let anyone have noticed that.

Her pleas were not to receive the response she would have liked, however. While it appeared that Carth hadn't noticed her stumble, she knew immediately that Jolee had. She could sense him reach out to her lightly through the Force and then he glanced slyly from her to Carth, one eyebrow raised.

Damn your perception!

It was almost as if she'd spoken the words aloud or as if Jolee had read her mind. He turned so that his back was facing Carth and smiled broadly at Brinna. She frowned at him and decided that she would just have to deal with this particular problem at another time.

Not another one! I can only deal with one Force bond at a time, thank you very much.

"Let's go," she said, draining the rest of the contents of her mug and hurrying out of the cockpit, as if cleaning her mug was an imperative task that could not be put off a moment longer.

Soon afterward, she, Carth, and Jolee left the ship and hurried to Gorwooken. The Wookie wasn't any friendlier than he'd been the previous day and though Jolee stood and chatted with him amiably in a whisper as the lift lowered, the Wookie didn't say one word in response.

"He was always my favorite. So friendly," Jolee confided to Brinna as soon they left the lift and headed for the energy shield. Brinna couldn't help but smile.

As they walked, Carth commented on Jolee deciding to leave his hermitage behind in favor of coming to help them. Jolee responded to this with a rambling answer that Brinna could see confused Carth as much as it did her.

"Okay, old man, you lost me there," Carth said.

Jolee proceeded to clarify for him and the gist of his statement was that history repeated itself but that he had decided to help them rather than allow Malak to win and subject the galaxy to a few hundred years of Sith rule. Brinna knew right away that Carth was not pleased with this assertion and he told Jolee that the Republic had stood for something for 15,000 years and that if it fell everything would change forever. Jolee answered him rather dismissively and she could see that Carth wanted to say something more but he settled for pressing his lips into a thin line and striding down the path ahead of them.

As she watched Carth's back, Brinna couldn't help but think of what Jolee had said and, as warped as his logic may have seemed, she could see that he did have something of a point. It didn't change her feelings, however. Malak was a tyrant and she intended to do everything she could to stop him. If history repeated itself, so be it. That didn't mean she was going to stand around and do nothing while Malak ran around the galaxy killing millions. She'd leave that kind of passiveness to others.

"Always ready to jump right into the fray," Jolee commented, startling her.

"You're nosy," she told him, with a frown.

"So I am," he answered pleasantly. "I just find you and your pilot friend there fascinating. I guess neither of you has any patience to speak of."

"Keep this up and I certainly won't have anymore with you," she told him, cracking a smile.

"You wouldn't be the first," he said, smiling right back at her.

They reached the shield and, sure enough, Jolee knew how to bypass it. Within a matter of minutes, he'd disabled the shield and they stepped deeper into the Shadowlands.

If it was at all possible, it was even more forbidding than the parts of the Shadowlands that they'd already covered. It was twilight on the forest floor and it took a few moments for Brinna's eyes to adjust to the dim light. Any beauty she had found on other parts of Kashyyyk seemed to have forsaken this place entirely. The trees overhead seemed oppressive rather than majestic and they were hung with heavy vines that were as thick around as her forearm. The underbrush was even thicker here and it rustled a whole lot more than she would have liked. She could feel a shiver pass down her spine and the fine hairs on the back of her neck stood up at the sensation of hundreds of eyes watching her.

"Nice place," she mumbled.

Almost immediately, they came across an injured Wookie who begged them for assistance. Brinna gave him a medpac and waited patiently for the kolto to do its work so that the Wookie could give them further information. He told them he'd come down into the Shadowlands with a hunting party and that they'd been assaulted by warriors who concealed themselves and attacked only those they perceived to be unarmed. Brinna translated the conversation for Carth's benefit. After years of living on Kashyyyk, Jolee had obviously learned the language so he had no need of her help.

"Mandalorians," Carth said and Brinna nodded.

"Do you have any idea how I can find these warriors?" Brinna asked.

"Just look for the bodies of my fallen companions," the Wookie said, his language made even more guttural by the anger in his voice. "Put your weapons away when you find the bodies and those honorless cowards will reveal themselves."

"I'll see to it that there aren't any left to attack your other fellows," Brinna promised him. She and Jolee slid their sabers in their packs and Brinna turned to Carth. "Hide your weapons. The only way the Mandalorians will come out is if they think we're unarmed. We should be able to find them wherever we see the bodies of fallen Wookies."

Sure enough, as they made their way from one group of Wookie corpses to the next, seemingly unarmed, the Mandalorians deactivated the cloaking devices they'd used and immediately attacked. Brinna felt grim satisfaction at the thought that they'd die sorry that they'd been stupid enough to attack a couple of Jedi and a Republic soldier.

"It's a good thing Canderous isn't here to see this. I think his head would probably explode," Brinna said as they stood over the bodies of the last of the hidden Mandalorians.

"And I thought the Mandalorians on Dantooine were repugnant," Carth said. He was leaning against one of the Mandalorian's now-abandoned swoop bikes. Brinna hoped that the Wookies might be able to find some use for the machines. It was small repayment for what the Mandalorians had done to them but at least it was something.

Jolee used the Force to heal the three of them while Brinna collected the helmet of the fallen Mandalorian leader to present to the injured Wookie. He was grateful to them and offered Brinna a bowcaster as a symbol of his thanks before heading out of the Shadowlands.

"Looks like you're making quite an impression on the Wookies," Jolee told Brinna as they watched the injured Wookie limp off.

"Well, maybe now you'll feel sorry for accusing me of caring about nothing other than the Star Maps," she told him.

"I do think you've got me there," Jolee told her.

"I guess that's as good as I'm getting," Brinna said, with a laugh.

"Be grateful you got that much," Jolee told her, his own mouth quirking at the corners.

They pressed further into the Shadowlands and Brinna tried her best to repress a shudder of revulsion as they crossed some forest kinrath and were forced to do battle.

"I hate those things," she said, kicking unceremoniously at the body of one of them.

"Hey, what's this?" Carth asked.

They'd reached a small clearing with several low-hanging vines. Brinna moved over to where he stood and noticed a stone on the ground upon which had been carved some words.

"It's some sort of ritual marker," Brinna said, reading the stone. "It says to leave an offering and a beast will come."

"Wait just a minute," Carth said, as he caught her eyeing a nearby kinrath body. "You're not really going to do this, are you? You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"You said it yourself, Carth. I'm rash. Besides, where's your sense of adventure?" she asked him as she tied the kinrath's corpse to one of the vines.

Mere seconds later they heard a deep rumble and the forest floor began to shake. The creature that was stomping toward them looked just like the one that had chased the Czerka off the previous day and Brinna found herself thinking that maybe she was just a bit too rash.

"Sense of adventure," Carth muttered, pulling his vibroblades from their sheaths.

"Better to lack a sense of adventure than to be completely lacking in sense, as you are," Jolee told Brinna as he readied his lightsaber.

Brinna attempted to use the Force to put the beast into stasis but it resisted. Frowning, she tried again and was again unsuccessful. Suddenly, it dawned on her that maybe she should have paid a bit more attention to the tales of the Twi'lek Jedi back on Dantooine.

It was a long, hard battle and when it was over, Brinna, Carth, and Jolee were all thoroughly battered. Brinna's Force powers were almost depleted and she was unable to fully heal all of them. Fortunately, Jolee had been a bit more prudent and was able to finish up where she'd left off.

"What was that thing?" Carth asked. He was standing bent over, hands on his knees, panting as he tried to catch his breath.

"A tarentatek," Brinna said tiredly. Gingerly, she nudged the creature's body with the toe of her left boot.

"It's been a long time since I've seen one of these," Jolee said. "But not long enough."

"Hold on," Brinna said, squinting at the body. She thought she'd seen a glimmer coming off it. Moving around to the other side of it, she could see that some sort of blade was protruding from the beast's back and she pulled it out, making a face at the squishing sound that accompanied her efforts.

"What is it?" Carth asked.

"I don't know. It's some sort of blade but there's no handle," she responded.

"It might prove important," Jolee said.

"A handleless blade?" Brinna asked, looking at him skeptically.

"You never know," he said.

"I have a feeling that you do but, as usual, you're not telling us," Brinna said wryly. She wiped the blade clean and stuffed it in her pack. "Come on, let's get going."

"Your 'mad' Wookie ought to be somewhere around here," Jolee told her.

The words were no sooner out of his mouth than they spotted the Wookie a short distance off. They approached him cautiously. The Wookie rambled incoherently at them and Brinna thought that maybe, just this once, Chuundar had been truthful about something. Suddenly, the Wookie let out a low growl and attacked them. Brinna was able to muster enough energy to use the Force to put him in stasis.

"I don't want to kill him!" she said, frustrated. "I want to talk to him and find out what's going on here!

"Maybe we just need to knock a little sense into him first," Jolee suggested.

It appeared that he was right. As soon as the Wookie came out of stasis, he resumed his attack. Brinna took up a defensive stance and only used her lightsabers when she had to, in order to protect herself. Still, there was no way of avoiding causing harm to the Wookie. She was very relieved when the Wookie called for them to stop.

He told Brinna to take his head but she responded that she had no desire to do so. In the aftermath of their battle, the Wookie seemed weary and was a lot more coherent and responsive than he'd been. Brinna learned that his name was Freyyr and that he had been exiled by his son, Chuundar. Her eyes wide, Brinna informed him that Zaalbar was traveling with them because of the life debt he'd sworn to her and it immediately became apparent that this information was enough to sway Freyyr in their favor.

Freyyr offered them more information about the feud between the two brothers. Brinna had not exactly thought highly of Chuundar when she had met him but, after listening to Freyyr, she found him downright despicable. She asked if there was anything that could be done to challenge Chuundar's authority and Freyyr said that it was possible, if someone were to find Bacca's Blade. Bacca's Blade, he explained to her, had belonged to a great Wookie warrior and the chieftains of his village had long carried it as a symbol of their authority. Chuundar held the handle but the blade had been lost some time ago.

"Is this it?" Brinna asked, extracting from her pack the blade she'd retrieved from the tarentatek and handing it over to Freyyr.

To her satisfaction, he confirmed that it was the blade he sought. He told her he'd climb up to the village and rally what support he could amongst the other Wookies. Brinna promised to meet him in the chieftain's home as soon as she could.

"Let's hurry it up," she said to Carth and Jolee as Freyyr left them. "I have a feeling it's going to get very ugly and I want to be sure we're there to do what we can. I'll never forgive myself if something happens to Zaalbar."

"Right. Let's move," Carth agreed.

They hurried their way through the forest, Jolee guiding them now because he knew where the Star Map was located. When they reached it, Brinna was surprised to see that a terminal had been set up next to it. As soon as they stepped into the clearing, the terminal was activated and it announced that she met set protocols and that it was going to test her to see if she would be able to gain access. Jolee was surprised to hear the machine announce that she met the protocols; apparently, he'd tried to access the thing himself and had been flat out denied every time.

The computer asked Brinna a series of rather disturbing questions and it soon became apparent to her that the computer expected her to respond in a set way and that she was not selecting the appropriate responses. It tried to give her another chance but she refused to answer with anything less than honesty. It seemed to want her to pick answers that she found truly base and she was not about to play along. In the end, the computer denied her access and sicced a couple of battle droids on them.

One of the strongest Force abilities Brinna had developed was the ability to attune to the Force in such a way that she could channel it into the destruction of droids. Using this ability, it did not take long for her to defeat the droids and, to her surprise, the computer suddenly announced that she was to be granted access after all. It claimed to have noticed certain behavioral patterns in her during the battle but refused to be more specific.

She asked it as many questions as she could think of but she soon learned that someone had come along four years ago or so and had wiped choice parts of the terminal's memory. Brinna had a strong suspicion as to the identity of the person who had played around with the terminal's memory circuits. The computer did give her some pretty eye-opening information about the nature of Kashyyyk and its evolution and she found herself feeling something like horrified awe for the power of the Creator race that had built the mysterious Star Forge and Star Maps. At last, the Star Map was opened and Brinna used it to fill in some of the pieces that had been missing from the map on Dantooine.

"These are some pretty powerful instruments of evil that you're dealing with," Jolee said casually as they made for the lift.

"I'm beginning to realize that," Brinna told him grimly.

"What did the Council tell you before sending you off on this mission?"
"Precious little," she grumbled. "They were unable to find any information on the Star Forge in the archives but they knew Revan and Malak had visited the Dantooine ruins so they decided that Bastila and I had best find the other Star Maps and see where they led."

"How generous of them," Jolee said.

Brinna eyed him critically. "You don't think much of the Council, do you?"

"I try to think about them as little as possible."

"I should have known better than to ask such an open-ended question," Brinna replied, rolling her eyes. "Let's go. I'll pick your brain later," she promised Jolee.

They moved through the Shadowlands at a full-out run, eager to get back to the Wookie village before things got too bloody. When they reached Gorwooken, they were met with a higher level of hostility than ever before—apparently he did not care for what they had done for Freyyr and he and a couple of his pals were going to try their best to punish them for it.

"This is exactly what I didn't want to have happen!" Brinna exclaimed in frustration as Jolee used the Force to put Gorwooken and company in stasis.

"There's not much you could have done about it, my dear," he said calmly. "The Wookies divided themselves into factions long before you came along."

"That doesn't make me any happier that violence seems to follow me everywhere I go," Brinna said.

Jolee cast a quick glance her way before turning his attention back to the Wookie in front of him. Carth had already finished up with Gorwooken and, wordlessly, he came over to help Brinna.

She was grateful for his help and she stepped back, allowing him to take care of the third Wookie. What she hadn't told Jolee or anyone else, what she tried her best to hide even from herself, was that sometimes in the heat of battle she found herself experiencing a very disturbing thrill of satisfaction. She didn't know what name to put to it; bloodlust didn't seem strong enough.

It's the dark side, she told herself, watching as Carth dealt the Wookie a final blow and the creature dropped to the ground. It's at work on you. Jolee's right about those Star Maps. Each time you find one, you're touching a part of the dark side and it's trying its best to lure you away from your path.

She found no comfort in these thoughts. She had spent her entire life drawing distinctions between good and bad, right and wrong. In the past, it had been so easy for her to look at someone like Revan or Malak and simply say that they did what they did because they were bad people. But now that she was a Jedi, now that she found herself touched by the dark side, such explanations no longer sufficed. She could fight against the bad guys, just as she had always tried to do when she'd had the opportunity but there was no eliminating the dark side of the Force. It would always be there and would always try to prey upon every Jedi.

This, more than anything else, bothered her. For if the dark side was so powerful, how could someone like Malak or Revan be held completely responsible for their actions? Yes, they had chosen to follow the dark path but were they entirely to blame for that decision? Such thoughts frightened her because she had been so certain that she was a good person and yet there were times when she found the call of the dark side disturbingly alluring.

"We all struggle with it," Jolee said quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder and jolting her out of her reverie.

"What?" she asked.

"The dark side. You're not alone in that."

Brinna looked up and saw that Carth was studying the two of them with a grim expression on his face. She was unnerved not only by the thoughts that had just been passing through her mind but also by Jolee's having tuned into them.

"Come on. We're wasting time," she said, pulling away from Jolee and stepping onto the lift.

While Jolee operated the lift, Brinna turned to Carth and asked him, "What do you know about Revan and Malak?"

She couldn't get those two off her mind. Maybe if she was able to learn as much as possible about them, she could avoid making whatever mistakes they had made that had resulted in their fall.

"To think that I once looked up to those two as the best that humanity had to offer. Now I'd like nothing more than to put a blaster to both their heads," Carth said.

His words made her shudder slightly. It was so easy for him to say something like that, to remain secure in the knowledge that he'd keep on following the light path, as he'd done all his life. But if she were to speak such words, if she were to allow such anger a hold over her…

Brinna forced her mind away from those thoughts and focused her attention once more on what Carth was saying. She learned that he'd met Malak once and that he'd been very impressed with Malak. Carth also said that Revan and Malak's involvement in the Mandalorian wars had been pivotal; without them, the Republic would have lost. Brinna asked if he knew why they had turned to the dark side and he said no one knew.

"What do you know about the dark side?" Brinna asked curiously.

He told her he'd once thought it just a fancy name for the corruption and stupidity he saw every day but then added, "I'm starting to think that it's different for the Jedi, however. That there's this evil watching them, waiting for its chance. You have so much courage and strength in you…yet, somehow, I have no trouble picturing it different. Like the flip side of a coin. It's not just you. It's Bastila, as well. She's so…intense. I don't pretend to know much about the Force…but I know evil."

They were the last words she wanted to hear coming out of his mouth. The more she found herself struggling, the more she wanted others to reassure her that she'd be fine, that it wouldn't happen to her.

"I'm not falling to the dark side, Carth, and I won't," she said forcefully. She needed to believe the words. She needed him to believe them.

"No? I know how people change. I remember how Malak looked and acted before his return…I bet the old Malak discounted the possibility that he would ever fall as well. Neither you nor Bastila are fully trained on how to handle your power. I'm just concerned at what might come."

"I can handle myself, Carth," Brinna insisted. She was beginning to feel a bit desperate.

"I know that and Bastila says the same thing," Carth responded. Brinna allowed herself a slight sigh of relief at this small vote of confidence.

"You're both incredible women," he continued. "I'm just…I'm just not sure if this is the kind of thing you can defeat. I suppose finding the Star Maps is more important than your training…and your safety. I just hope there isn't a price for you to pay."

Brinna was too morose to continue the conversation. She didn't exactly think it was a positive sign that Carth wasn't sure that the lure of the dark side could be defeated. Brinna needed to be assured that it could and yet no one would give her the assurance she sought.

What about Juhani? she asked herself. She fell but she came back. Even though she was already in its grasp, she was able to defeat the dark side. Sure, she still struggles with it every day but if she can do it, so can you. For as much as you've helped her, she can help you too. You can learn from her experience and you can draw strength from her just as she draws strength from you.

She glanced over at Jolee and he gave her a slight nod. She was still uneasy but she felt a little reassured. When the lift stopped at the walkway and they hurried off toward the village, she felt a rush of relief. It would be good for her to think about something else for a while.

They were escorted back into the village by a Wookie who told them that Freyyr had arrived at Chuundar's home and that he was contesting Chuundar's title as Chieftain. The Wookie's words hurried them along and they reached Chuundar's dwelling at last.

Once inside, the tension was so thick Brinna could have cut it with her lightsabers. Chuundar and Freyyr were facing off against one another, each of them clutching one half of the fabled Bacca's weapon. Zaalbar stood between the two of them, looking deeply confused.

Reaching a non violent solution was Brinna's ultimate goal and she did her best to try to convince Chuundar and Freyyr that they could talk things through. Freyyr wanted to try to work with his son but Chuundar would have none of it. He had obviously been feeding Zaalbar a heavy dose of his rhetoric during Zaalbar's captivity and the Wookie turned to Brinna for guidance. Without hesitation, she recommended that he ally himself with his father.

Chuundar, naturally, was not pleased at these words and the whole encounter unraveled from there. Nothing anyone could say was getting through to Chuundar and, in the end, fighting broke out.

The sound of the fire from the Czerka blasters and the howls of the Wookies were nearly deafening. Brinna gave in and added her own shout of frustration to the din. When the battle was finally over, she was exhausted and had a blinding headache.

Her frustration eased a bit as she watched the reunion of Freyyr and his son. Freyyr apologized to Zaalbar for listening to Chuundar and told Zaalbar that he would be pleased to have his son at his side once more. Zaalbar told him that he wasn't quite ready for that yet. At any rate, he said he still had a life debt to Brinna and that he would continue his travels with her. Freyyr gave Zaalbar Bacca's reconstructed blade as a token of thanks and Zaalbar accepted it solemnly. Someday, when he was ready to return to Kashyyyk, he would claim his place as Chieftain.

Before heading back to the ship, they stopped to see the Holder of Laws so that Brinna could hand the bolt casing over to him. The Holder recognized the casing as belonging to Jaarak, the older Wookie who had been with the young one when Brinna had learned that Rorworr was missing. Jaarak would say nothing in his defense and would have accepted the Holder's death sentence, had Brinna not stepped in. There had been far too much needless death that day and she was not about to let Jaarak sacrifice himself. It was obvious that the other Wookies held Rorworr in high esteem but Brinna could not stand there and allow an innocent Wookie to be sentenced to death simply so that the other Wookies could continue their unmerited hero worship of Rorworr. She showed the slaving contract to the Holder and Jaarak was absolved of his crime.

Deep in thought as they left the Holder's dwelling, Brinna found herself lagging behind the others. After a few moments, Jolee slowed to wait for her.

"You did a good thing here," he told her.