Chapter 15

Zafii stared out of her bedroom window in the Jedi Temple. She was recovered to the point she could sleep in her own room. Unfortunately, it also gave her time to think, specifically about Kyn and Kyra. She did not understand why she felt drawn to the two of them. Kyra reminded Zafii of herself. She did not know why. Zafii never looked for trouble, yet Kyra seemed to find it, even if it was all Kyn's fault. Zafii cared deeply for the girl, almost like a sister. She did not want any harm to come to the girl.

Kyn was a completely different matter. She didn't know if she simply cared for him by association or she actually liked him. He was kind, funny and exciting. He needed to learn more about the world. She knew he was trying to impress her. She wasn't stupid. Regardless of all the rules about attachments, Zafii understood the basics of romance. She had never been tempted. She would not risk the anger of the Jedi Council. They must already be assuming certain things and she wanted to assure them that they were not true.

Zafii left the Temple later that day. She wandered around Coruscant frequently, just to be with the people. She felt that she was able to relate to other beings more if she spent time around them. Zafii walked around for an hour. She ended up at the park on the top of a building by the Jedi Temple. She could hear voices from behind a thicket of trees. A grin spread across her face.

"Kyn! Cole! Catch me!" Kyra's voice called through the trees. Zafii could hear laughter from the three. She recognized Kyra's bubbly laugh, Kyn's deeper rumble and Cole's low chuckle.

Zafii appeared through the trees. Kyra, who had just jumped from low wall and onto Cole's back, whipped her head around to see Zafii. Zafii wondered how the girl knew she was there.

"Zafii!" Kyra called as she scrambled down from Cole's back. She raced over to the Jedi and threw her arms around her waist.

"Hello, Kyra," Zafii responded with a smile. "Having fun?"

"Yes, we're waiting for dad to get done at the Temple. Are you feeling better?"

"Yes," Zafii told her. Kyra continued to ask about how she was doing and if the doctors had been treating her well. Zafii glanced at Cole, who was giving her an odd look.

"Come on, Kyra," Cole said, "let's go gather your books. Dad will be here soon to get you and Kyn."

Cole left Zafii and Kyn alone. Kyn shoved his hands in his pockets and bit his lip nervously. Zafii could sense agitation rolling off Kyn in waves.

"I see Cole is back from the Academy," Zafii said.

"No. He's actually leaving for training in two days. He's been meeting us here for the past few days to spend time with Kyra," Kyn answered.

"And you."

"Yeah, that too." Kyn stared at her. She shifted uncomfortably. His eyes seemed to stare right through her. Zafii gulped, hoping he wouldn't notice.

"How are you feeling?" Kyn asked a moment later.

"Oh, I'm okay," she mumbled.

Kyn's brow furrowed. He tentatively lifted his hand to her forehead. His fingertips brushed the large lump on the side of her head. A jolt rang through her skin, as if she had been shocked.

"From the… incident?"

Zafii blinked twice before responding, "I'm fine."

"Can't you use a Jedi healing technique to make the swelling go down?" Kyn asked, face lined with concern.

Zafii shrugged, "Sometimes it's better to leave reminders."

Kyn looked embarrassed, "I see."

She stared at him. He was taller than her now. His shoulders were growing broad. He had the faintest hint of facial hair. It wasn't enough to amount to anything, but it was a start. Zafii had finally had time to do something about her old padawan braid.

"I see you changed your hair." Kyn pointed out.

Her dirty, blond hair was now shorter in the back and in the front she sported bangs. A small lasso of hair lay over her forehead and she also had two braids in the fashion of the Naboo Queens to show her heritage. It was a very exotic hairstyle, unlike what Kyn had ever seen her wear.

"Thanks for noticing. In fact that reminds me of something." Zafii began.

"Yeah, what's that?"

Zafii hesitated but finally worked up the nerve. "It was something Master Tine told said. He can't explain it and neither can I. But you are not Force sensitive… not even a little bit. Yet somehow I'm always able to tell when you are in trouble. It's like a sixth sense or something and I can't control it. I just show up."

"Are you looking for a thank you, because I certainly do appreciate you saving my skin for the… what is it? Fourth time now." Kyn laughed.

"A thank you? No, that's not what I'm looking for Kyn. I've been thinking and I know you like me."

Kyn blushed and his eyes widened in tremendous embarrassment. He did not respond.

"That being said, I'm a Jedi Knight now. I've passed the trials set forth by the Jedi Council and my life will become even more complicated as I get older. There is an uncertainty in the Force right now; all the Jedi can feel it. That's why I have to be even more conscious of my job." Zafii explained.

"Can I just stop you right there? Why do you have to be a Jedi?" Kyn asked.

Zafii looked at him incredulously. "Are you serious?"

"Dead, which is what you will be if you keep being a Jedi. The healer said that it had to do with you using the Force. They said you were having strokes or something like them at least. One day you are going to end up dead after you save someone." Kyn explained his theory.

"I disagree. You see I do not think it is the Force or my use of it that is causing the… illness."

"Then what do you think it is?" Kyn asked, hoping against hope.

"You." Zafii said flatly.

"I see." Kyn frowned.

"I think it is this bond or whatever you want to call it. There is a connection between us; I guess there is no doubting it now. Not even Master Yoda can explain what is happening to me but I think I am the only one who can decide what is best for me." Zafii continued.

"And what is best for Zafii Pel?"

"The best thing for the both of us is if we never see each other again." Zafii said, swallowing hard as she said it. "I'm sorry Kyn."

"Are you? If you don't like me, that's fine. I can take the truth; you don't have to sugarcoat it for me." Kyn responded defensively.

"Sugarcoat? Again, how can you be serious? Do you think I was saving your life for my health?"

"No! Apparently you were doing it in spite of it." Kyn remarked, looking away.

Zafii could see a single tear forming in his left eye and it was obvious he was too stubborn or too petty to show it.

"I didn't want it to be like this Kyn. I really like your family and I wish we could have all remained friends for a long time. Sometimes things just don't work out the way you want."

Kyn shook his head, "Then leave it behind, the Jedi lifestyle. If you don't use the Force then you won't get hurt. That's what I know!"

"I can't, Kyn. You know I can't. I've been a Jedi my entire life. My parents gave me to the Jedi even though all they had dreamed of was having a child for fifteen years. They knew this was my destiny and I have to fulfill that." Zafii said.

Kyn turned around and began to walk away. Zafii watched him sadly, wondering if it would truly be the last time she would ever see Kyn… and Kyra.

Suddenly Kyn had turned on his heel and was facing Zafii again.

"You say that your parents gave you up but they always wanted a child? You were their destiny and yet they gave you up. Why can't you make a choice for yourself and not someone else." Kyn argued.

"Kyn, don't make me respond to that. Your argument is flawed." Zafii pointed out.

"Stop that! Stop talking like a Jedi and talk like a girl… a woman! I get it: you are smarter than me. You are worldlier than me. I get all of that but at least I can choose and I know what I want. I want you Zafii. I have since the moment I set eyes on you." Kyn shot back.

"Fine, you want me to talk to you like a woman?" Zafii huffed, her nostrils flaring. "You say you want me to make my own choice but what you really want is for me to choose you. You want your choice. You are a very selfish boy, Kyn Fuller. You know nothing of selflessness. I have no doubt in my mind that you are capable of love, even unconditional love. That is something I do not have to offer, at least not in the same way you can."

Kyn did not know what to say, he was utterly stunned by Zafii mini outburst.

Zafii calmed herself and continued in a more soothing tone, "This is my choice, Kyn. The Jedi Council did not make it for me and I will not allow you to change it for me. This is my final decision. Our bond, however we are attached, I'm breaking it."

Kyn rubbed his eyes in front of her and then looked up at her. His eyes were red with emotion and his lips were pursed.

"I guess I have no recourse then. If you never want to see me again then I guess we never will."

"I never said I wanted this."

"You have a flaw in your argument as well. While you can choose to ignore the bond, I find it hard to believe you can just break it with simple words." Kyn retorted.

"I just did, Kyn. I just did."

Hours had passed and Kyn's dinner was still sitting on the table, growing colder by the second.

"I'm worried about Kyn," Rayna commented, as she frantically cleaned the apartment. "He's been locked in his room for hours and it's not like him to pass up dinner."

"He'll get over it in time. It was his first real crush; it hurts. I'm sure you can remember your first crush." Tyon pointed out.

Rayna nodded, "Of course, I know that. It's just he's my son and I guess it's just natural I worry about him."

"I'm sad for him to," Tyon said. "But let's face it, the girl was a Jedi and they are forbidden from pursuing those kinds of relationships. It was never going to end well."

The two of them hadn't noticed but Kyra had entered the room and overheard their conversation.

"What wasn't going to end well? What's wrong with, Kyn?" Kyra asked anxiously.

Rayna gave a weak smile to her youngest child and walked over to her and took her hand. Rayna led her daughter to the couch and sat her down.

"You're scaring me," Kyra said, looking at her mother than her father.

"No reason to be scared," Tyon said from across the living room.

"It's just that Kyn is upset about your friend Zafii." Rayna explained.

"Did something else happen to her?" Kyra asked, her eyes widening in fear.

"Nothing like that," Rayna said. "Apparently he shared his feelings with her and she didn't take it so well. I don't know everything but he said it had something to do with what Master Tine told us at the Jedi Temple the other day. About them being… connected."

"So she doesn't want to be Kyn's girlfriend? Big deal, I could have told him that." Kyra giggled.

"She told Kyn they have to stop communicating; somehow it has to do with the Force that is making her sick… I'm not sure, no one is really. But that just means you probably won't be seeing her too much anymore, if at all."

Kyra looked at her mother as if she were crazy. Just because Zafii didn't want to see Kyn anymore didn't mean that they couldn't still be friends. But then it dawned on the young girl. Perhaps Zafii did like Kyn back and was scared of ruining her status with the Jedi if she were to have a boyfriend… or worse yet, fall in love.

With the realization that her mother was probably correct, Kyra stood up and walked to her bedroom and locked the door.

"Great," Tyon muttered.

"We had to tell her, better now than later." Rayna said.

Tyon sighed, "Oh I agree but I still hate to see my little girl all upset. Kyn is older, he can take it. It's a good growing up experience for him."

Rayna smiled and stood up and walked over to her husband and hugged him, placing her face on his chest.

"I know you love them all equally as do I but you always did have a soft spot for her." Rayna pointed out.

"She's the youngest, that's all." Tyon said, clearing his throat.

"They are all growing up so fast. I'm so glad we have all three of them, even though we don't get to see Cole all that much. It would kill me if we had given her up and didn't know where she was in the galaxy."

"It was never an option," Tyon said firmly, hugging his wife back tightly. "I would have never allowed it, not in a million moons."

Rayna nodded, tears flowing from her closed eyelids as she thought about an alternate present day.

[i]

"Kyn, you're going to be late for school again." Rayna called out. "Cole is outside waiting to take you."

"I'm not a kid," Kyn yelled from the fresher. "I can go to school by myself."

Rayna did not answer him but instead focused on clearing the table of Kyn and Cole's breakfast. She sat down a fresh plate just as Tyon walked in the door from his graveyard shift job.

"I hope you're hungry." Rayna said cheerfully.

Tyon shrugged with a low gruff in his voice as he sat down at picked at his food.

Ten years he had been like this. When they first met he was outgoing and exciting. When Cole was born he was the perfect father; even more so when Kyn came along a couple of years later. He took them to see local races on Ennth and had once even saved enough money to take them off world to an event. He did everything with his two boys.

But he had changed ten years ago and Rayna had to admit, so had she. Sometimes Cole would ask why they had done it, he was old enough to remember them coming to their home. Kyn however, he was too young and probably could not recall the visit that day at all or the emotions that ran through the family soon thereafter.

The family of four had welcomed a fifth member into the galaxy. Her name was Kyra Jaine Fuller. She was exactly what Rayna had always wanted and in many ways, what Tyon had always dreamed of as well. They loved their sons but as a young couple who were newly married they had always spoken of a daughter. That day had finally come. After several days in a medical facility Kyra was brought home to her awaiting, loving family.

It was only a few short weeks after that when two Jedi Knights arrived on the Fuller's doorstep on Ennth.

"We've been made aware that your daughter is extremely Force sensitive." One Jedi Knight said.

"Of course this is a tough decision but the Jedi would raise her, teach her the ways of the Force and eventually she would be a peacekeeper, the same as us."

"You mean child abductors?" Tyon spat.

The talk continued and the Jedi reasoned with the Fuller family and eventually they agreed to give Kyra over to the Jedi. She would spend a few more months with the family so that she could be properly nourished by Rayna but then she would be off to Coruscant.

The day she left, Tyon changed. The whole family did.

"KYN, GET OUT OF HERE AND GO TO SCHOOL." Tyon said, pounding his fist on the kitchen table.

Kyra sat in a meditation chamber in the Jedi Temple, concentrating deeply. Suddenly she felt the presence of someone soothing and trustworthy. She turned herself around, still sitting on her backside and faced her.

"Zafii! How wonderful to see you again. I hope your trials were successful?"

Zafii entered the room and sat down next to her younger friend.

"Indeed they were."

"I'm glad, you were gone quite some time." Kyra noted.

"Almost a year." Zafii nodded.

"So then, what is the verdict? Is it official?" Kyra asked.

Zafii flashed her the right side of her hair, the padawan braid which was once down past her shoulder blade was gone.

"You have to be the youngest Jedi knighted in years." Kyra said, feigning jealousy.

"Something like that." Zafii said. "I have a question for you."

"Yes, Zafii?" Kyra looked at her, anxiously.

Zafii looked for the right words as she hesitated.

"Now that I am officially a Jedi Knight, it is my choice if I want to take on a padawan leaner. I was wondering if you would like to fill the role."

Kyra stood up, her excitement swelling. The youngling quickly remembered her place though and kneeled down in front of her would be master.

"It would be an honor, Master." Kyra said, fighting back a smile.

[/i]

Rayna held Tyon even tighter in their living room on Coruscant.

"Every time I see her, I'm so glad we didn't make the other decision."

"There was never a decision to make." Tyon reassured her.