Sometimes the best solution is the one you like the least.

- Cricket.t.D.L.

….

"Any news from the Council?" Ben asked, leaning back in his chair.

Jaina shrugged and kept on pulling her clothes from a small bag that lied on her bed. "Some."

Ben took out her mother's old vibroknife from his belt and started playing with it. "Any reports from Tahiri?"

Jaina's face fell for a moment. "No. Still no messages."

Tahiri Veila, Jaina's old friend and a Jedi Knight, was one of the Quest Knights Luke Skywalker had dispatched with an important mission – find the Mortis Monolith and the Dagger of Mortis, presumably the only thing really capable of destroying Abeloth. For whole years, the Quest Knights wandered the galaxy. By now, most of them were either lost, dead, or still searching without any luck.

Tahiri was one of the lost ones. Few months ago, she had reported that she's in the frontier, that she had struck the track. Then she disappeared. No one had heard about her since that.

"I think that maybe Valin was right when he said I should go searching for the Monolith," Ben said thoughtfully, "I don't want to crack wise, but from the Knights I am the one with one of the biggest experiences with this pattern of the Force."

Jaina folded a tan tunic over her arm. "Pattern of the Force?"

"You know what I mean," he said, eyes pinned on his hands. "There was something ancient, something arcane in the way Abeloth felt. In the way the Pool of Knowledge felt. There has to be something similar in the sensation of the Monolith."

She nodded. "And you think you can identify that sensation."

"Exactly."

Jaina laid the tunic down on a pile of clothes. "But if that skirmish with the Lost Tribe will surge to a war…"

"You will need someone who knows the Lost Tribe. That means me. I know." He sighed. "And that makes it difficult. What's the main issue – possible war with Sith or possible return of Abeloth?"

Jaina sat down on the edge of her bed. "The Sith are there now," she said after a while. "Abeloth is not."

Ben frowned. "How do we know that? Maybe she controls them again."

"Even they can't be stupid enough to let her get close to them."

"She's powerful. Maybe they don't know about it."

"Your father was sure that every loss of a body weakens her. Do you mean that surviving without a body leaves her strong?"

Ben laid his face into his hands. "I don't mean anything," he muttered.

"So what do you think?"

He sighed again. "I think she found another body. Somewhere. Somewhere out of our reach. To make sure we won't intervene until she recovers." He rose his head, but still haven't looked at Jaina. "She's recovering fast. Seven years is a pretty long time."

"So – Abeloth is more dangerous but less likely and Sith War is more likely, but less dangerous."

"Compared with Abeloth, yes."

Jaina gave him a sharp nod. "Then you have to go searching for the Monolith."

Ben finally looked at her. "Do I?"

"Sith are less dangerous, so we can handle them without you. Abeloth is more dangerous, and sending you away might prevent things from becoming really bad for us. Where do you see any catch?"

"What if she comes when I'm gone?"

Jaina smiled without any hint of humor. "We'll keep her off until you'll return. Jedi are good at delaying. It's as simple as that."

"I guess this is the case when it's easy to say, hard to do."

"Yes."

"So… you send me on a mission to find the Monolith?"

"Yes. As a Jedi Council member."

"I'll move off right after the negotiations."

"Okay. That long, I think Abeloth can wait."

"All right." Ben stood up and returned the knife to his belt. "I'll go."

Jaina stood up as well. "Wait."

"What?"

She stepped to him. "Why do you think you need to solve Abeloth now? Why not seven years ago?"

He looked away. "I don't know," he said truly. "Maybe I felt something. Maybe it's bidding of the Force…" he bit his lip. "Maybe Vestara stirred up something old. I don't know."

"Why haven't you told us that she's there?"

He turned away from her, opening the door to the corridor. "Because it doesn't matter. She's as much Sith as the other captives. And I what I feel toward her is the same I feel toward any of them."

"Ben, I know how hard it is to get over old flames."

He walked into the corridor and gave her a quick glance over his shoulder. "Well, I do as well."