Last time, on Sea of Flowers…

Luke blinked at the sudden sensations of pain as he finished making a snack for Ben. "Leia?"

Ben jerked visibly. "She's hurt!"

Mara reentered the kitchen just in time to see Luke dash for the comm station. "Was that...?"

Luke nodded. "It was." He waited for the comm to connect, and when it did, he was speaking a mile a minute, urgent to get the information across.

"Already being done, Master Skywalker," the operator answered him calmly after a slight pause. "As we speak."

Luke turned and shared a look with Mara after the operator disconnected. They shared the same thought: This was not good.

And now, on Sea of Flowers…

"Go," Mara told him without hesitation. Luke blinked at her for a moment, then nodded and rushed out the door. Mara turned and looked at Ben, who was looking up at her in confusion. She could hardly blame him for that. "Let's have some dinner, then round Renna up, hmm?"

Ben nodded slowly. "Okay."

Renna's eyes widened as ripples of pain trickled through her Force senses, and she pulled out of the kiss to stare at Samir for a moment. "That wasn't you, and it definitely wasn't me."

Samir frowned. "What wasn't?"

Renna took a deep breath and focused, searching the way she'd been taught... she recognized the person whose pain it was. "Oh. Come on."

Samir was still frowning as she pulled him out into the corridor. "Where?"

"To talk to Mara. Something's happened."

It wasn't the first time he'd been confused by Renna being overly cryptic. "Will there be an explanation, then?"

"Yes."

"Good."

Han was sitting in the waiting room with his head in his hands when Luke arrived. He stood there for several long moments, taking in that image. Had he himself looked that... small and exhausted? Wordlessly, Luke sat down next to him. Han glanced up and tried to crack a smile. "Hi."

"You don't have to fake it for me," Luke assured him.

"Not trying to, Kid." Han sighed and sat up all the way, then tilted his head in question. "Feel anything from her?"

"Just pain and confusion," Luke told him after pausing and feeling for Leia. "I'm not sure if she's conscious or not. Have they told you anything?"

"Not yet... I left the kids with Winter."

Luke nodded and turned to look around the waiting room, suddenly sensing someone familiar. Someone who shouldn't have been within three dimensions of him, in fact. "What are the McCains doing here?"

"Hmmm?" Han followed Luke's gaze to a woman trying to read a datapad, and his eyes went wide when he recognized her. "Oh." She looked up, met his gaze, and sighed dramatically before standing up and joining them. "Didn't you go home, Elsie?"

Elsie sighed again and pocketed her datapad. "We were permanently reassigned to here."

"You weren't going to tell us," Luke said, surprising himself with the sudden insight. He hadn't gotten to know the woman well, but he did know she liked to keep to herself when she could. "Were you?"

"No, but that's a moot point now, isn't it?" She gestured to the door that led to the emergency department beside the reception window. "I called it in. Saw it happen. She's injured, but she'll live."

Han leaned closer. "What did happen?"

"Speeder landed too close, she got caught in the repulsor field and banged up against the other speeder... presumably her own, the one she was trying to unlock."

Han mulled through that explanation as he nodded slowly. "Thank you, Elsie."

She shook her head. "Don't thank me, General Solo. If I'd been on top of things, I'd have been able to prevent it in the first place. Instead, I was across the square talking to some politician."

Luke blinked at her tone. He hadn't heard Elsie speak that way before. He knew she had an ability to see things, to know more about people than she let on... was it possible she was blaming herself? It sure sounded like it.

Elsie glanced at Luke and shook her head. "Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Try to tell me that I am not to blame."

Luke was preempted by someone coming out into the waiting room, and he turned to find Iris standing there with pursed lips. "Iris?"

"Captain Solo? You can come back now." Iris took a good look at Elsie and then looked directly at Luke. "Explain it to her, would you?" Luke nodded, and Iris led Han back to the Emergency Department.

Elsie suddenly chuckled a little. "Leave it to Iris."

"What?"

"You don't have to lecture me on guilt, Master Jedi. She just did."

"She didn't say anything."

"It was in her eyes," Elsie said as she stood up and greeted Chris with a warm hug. "What kept you?"

"Had to fill out all the forms again and Darvis wanted three copies of everything, including a signed affitdavit that specifically states we are not leaving ever again," Chris told her, then flashed a comforting smile at Luke as they sat down.

"A signed what?" Luke wondered.

"Basically a sworn statement in very legal phrasing. I think he missed us."

"I'm sure he did," Elsie told him as she watched Mara enter the waiting room with a woman and a man in tow whom she'd not seen before. There was a similarity between Mara and the woman that was uncanny...

Mara saw Elsie and immediately glared at her, and Elsie winced. "You knew."

Luke stood up, knowing that if he didn't stop her, they were going to have a very public and messy scene right there in the waiting room. "Mara, now is not the time. Where are Ben and Riana?"

"With Winter," Mara told him. Then she caught herself, realizing that she was more upset than she otherwise would have been had she not known that Elsie had kept things from her intentionally. "I think we're overburdening her, but she commed and volunteered after Han left the kids with her and Tycho."

Elsie slowly sat down and looked at the floor as the others all took seats. "I knew? About?"

"Luke's right. We'll talk about it later." Mara tapped her on the shoulder and smiled when Elsie looked at her, gesturing at the two people she didn't recognize. "I'd like you to meet my sister Renna and her boyfriend Samir."

Elsie blinked in surprise, looked at them, and smiled when she saw the ring on Renna's finger. "Pleased to meet you both."

Renna frowned. "Mara, is this the woman you told us about? The one who told you not to be surprised about possibly having family out there?"

Mara turned and stared at her. "Yes. I didn't tell you that."

"You told mom. I, uh..."

Samir laughed. "I know you, Renna. You overheard it and thought you dreamed it."

Luke glanced at Chris, suddenly realizing why seeing Samir and Renna interact often gave him a sense of déjà vu. "As interesting as this is, I'm more concerned about Leia right now."

"She'll be fine," Renna told him after a moment, then blinked and covered her mouth. "I mean..."

"I know what you mean," Luke told her. He was filled with a sense of relief at her words, however. "And I thought you'd been practicing control?"

"That is an example of control," Elsie spoke up, then looked at Mara. "Did you tell your sister yet or are you waiting for her to guess?"

Chris suddenly burst into a chuckle. "Two? Seriously? That's just too much."

"Waiting for me to guess what?" Renna wondered. She waited a beat, scrutinized Chris. "Two of what?"

Mara sighed. "Can't I keep secrets for once around you, Elsie?"

"No."

Renna was still looking at Chris, waiting for an answer. "Really, now. Two of what?"

"Seers. You just don't see the same thing in the same way," Chris explained as he nudged Elsie's knee. "At least Dawn isn't here. Then it'd be three."

Elsie snorted. "That'd be something. We'd drive everyone batty with spoken shorthand all day long."

"Am I supposed to be guessing something?" Renna wondered again.

Mara shook her head. "There is nothing to guess." Luke chided her with his eyes, and she shook her head again. Now was not the time.

"Sure there isn't," Elsie put in with a smirk.

Luke glanced at Elsie, suddenly realizing that she was taking the attention of off herself on purpose. And of course she knew Mara was pregnant... she saw the present in people. Something to do with something called a bioshadow and being able to read it, or something... that part, he still wasn't all that clear on. "I wouldn't push it too far, Elsie. Mara's not above making people wear flowered clothing in retribution."

"Flowered what?" The sudden intrusion of a voice of a person not in their circle made them all look up and notice that Iris had returned. "How come I didn't hear about that one, Mara?"

"You missed it," Mara told her. "Be glad."

Iris shrugged at that response and motioned to the door, and looked at Luke. "He wanted me to tell you what we're doing. She's not very alert right now and will be in Bacta very shortly."

"Can I see her before you put her in," Luke asked.

Iris shook her head. "They're doing it as we speak, so no. After, definitely." She turned to go, then stopped and looked at Elsie. "You have nothing to feel guilty of."

"I don't?"

"Not one thing. Understand?" At Elsie's slow nod, Iris smiled and disappeared back into the ER.

Puzzled, Mara glanced around, noticing that the waiting room had emptied out, save for them. "Oh. So that's why she told us out here."

"We're a scary group," Elsie muttered as she allowed Chris to take her hand. "People tend to avoid abnormality more than embrace it, even here. I used to think it was a curse, but now it's kinda fun to watch as people balk at odd behavior and make excuses to be somewhere else." She paused for a long moment, then looked at Chris curiously. "I could go for some caf. How about you?"

Mara shook her head. "No. Not caf."

Elsie's eyes widened as she realized what it was she'd said to a pregnant woman. "Oh, you're right. Not caf. Tea, then?"

"All right, what's so..." Renna trailed off, suddenly remembering the plaque in the Academy cafeteria. "Oh, I get it. No caf unless it's the Academy Mess Hall." At Samir's frown, Renna smiled. "Their caf maker is dedicated to someone." Luke knew that wasn't the reason, but who was he to tell her otherwise if Mara wanted to keep it quiet for the time being?

Samir looked at Mara, still frowning. "You won't..."

"It's personal," Mara told him as she stood up, though she was somewhat puzzled by the connection that Renna had made. Not drinking caf because of the plaque at the Academy? "And yes, Elsie. Tea is fine."

"Shall we adjourn to the cafeteria, then?" Elsie asked playfully.

Mara nodded, she took Luke's arm, and they followed everyone else out of the waiting room. She leaned into him as they walked, her eyes scanning the corridors. "Who are you looking for, Mara?"

"Our daughter," she answered in a low and wary voice.

"Why?"

"Elsie's here, Neesta can't be far behind."

Luke stifled a chuckle, knowing she was right. And, inside, he was grateful for the stress relief. He could feel Leia's pain from here and he sorely wished that they'd let him go back and see her. Elsie turned and looked back at him, studying him for a moment, then nudged Chris and brushed past them, seemingly on a mission. "Where is she going?"

"To check on Leia for you," Chris told him as they entered the cafeteria. He turned back, watched as she rounded a corner, and shook his head in amusement. "I'm surprised at her restraint today. Usually, about now, she 'ports to get the answers she wants."

Mara frowned at him. "What?"

"Part of her ability... she turns invisible."

"So that's why Officer Melyan missed the two of you," Luke realized suddenly. "An ability like that is valuable."

"Yes, it is, but that's not why he missed us. Without us around, he's bored." Chris shrugged, jumping a little as Elsie suddenly appeared out of thin air, looking a little perturbed. "So much for the restraint... Well?"

"Nothing a little bacta and a healing trance won't fix," Elsie told him as she put a hand on Luke's shoulder. "You, Master Jedi, are coming with me. Iris should have let you back when you asked."

"What?"

"I can see her in your aura. Her pain, just like you can feel it. You are her twin, and Iris forgot that detail. When I reminded her of it, she told me to hightail it back here and get you... also something about flying medical instruments and wanting to avoid it."

Luke glanced at Mara, eyebrows raised. "I don't recall you making medical instruments fly around here on Coruscant."

"She meant you and in general," Elsie told him.

"Ah... why would I do that?"

"You want to wonder about traumatic situations or see to your sister?"

"Leia."

Mara watched them vanish, and then looked at Chris. "Is this a normal day for you?"

"You've yet to see normal for us," he deadpanned. "Close, though."

Renna frowned at them as they joined her and Samir at the table they'd picked. "Where..."

"Elsie took Luke to see Leia," Mara told her. "Don't ask me to explain it."

Iris knew she shouldn't have been surprised by Elsie suddenly appearing out of thin air, but that didn't stop her from feeling that way when she did it now with Luke in tow. "Did you really have to do that?"

"Was the quickest way to solve this," Elsie told her with a pained smile as she let go of the Jedi Master who was blinking in bewilderment at the sudden change in venue. "Sorry about that. The first time is always the worst."

Luke shook his head. "Is that what you see all the time? It's... so much."

She sighed. "And now you know why I had a nervous breakdown and lived in the snow for ten years. It's a lot to take in, but also kind of like your Force abilities. You sense what others do not, just like I do, but in a different way."

Luke nodded. "Talk about it later?"

"Definitely."

He turned to look at Iris. "Where is she?"

Iris looked at Elsie. "You don't have to stay, kiddo."

Elsie glanced around, smiling when she saw something she'd been expecting for half the afternoon. "Only you can get away with calling me a kid, Iris... And Luke?"

"What?"

"Mara was right. She wasn't far behind." And with another smile, Elsie vanished again.

Luke blinked, then turned to Iris, who nodded and led him to the bacta tank where Leia was floating while Han stood there watching her. He put a hand to the transparisteel and focused on her, hoping it would work from a distance like this. Leia's eyes slowly tracked to him and she seemed to focus, and Luke held her gaze, silently asking if she would let him lead her into a healing trance. She agreed and soon her eyes drooped closed. Luke sighed in relief. "Han?"

"Good work, kid."

"You're not going to ask."

"It's a Force thing, right?"

"Right."

"Then no, I'm not going to ask."

Luke turned, suddenly came face-to-face with his very translucent daughter, and had to blink. "Um..." Neesta smiled, nodded once, and vanished.

Han put a hand on his shoulder. "Luke?"

"Busy day," Luke finally told him, for lack of anything else to say. He couldn't very well tell Han that he'd just seen a ghost, now could he?

Han led him to some chairs and they sat down to watch Leia as she floated in the bacta. "I know what you mean..."