LordDarthYoda - I mean your theories were good, but this story was bound to take a dramatic right turn when the invasion came. Although I dropped a few hints earlier in the story (either Aurine or Sascha made a comment about the Trade Federation disarming in a much earlier chapter), it was pretty out-of-left-field. Your criticisms of my previous worked also helped, because I made sure that everything sort of followed in a logical manner. No plot threads were being brought up and then suddenly discarded for no reason.

Dragonpwner6 - Well, I didn't want to be too explicit with it, but they died in the explosion when their ship blew up. That whole chapter was kind of just to show that people didn't forget about our heroic Jedi after they fell off the map - and to give readers false hope for their rescue...

A/N - One more chapter after this, then an epilogue/preview (Unless I think of something else I need to add to the story.) Thanks for all the views lately - this series is actually doing better than ever at this point, which is pretty crazy to think about.

Anyways, all reviews, follows, and favourites are deeply appreciated as always.

Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 63: Good Times, Good Friends

Sascha Whitestar was starting to be tired of being doted on. He had been woken up from his medically induced slumber yesterday morning with his Master right by his side. And she basically hadn't left it since. Which had been nice, for a while. If he made a comment about being hungry, she went and got him food. If he was thirsty, she fetched water. If he was in pain, she went and flagged down a doctor.

He appreciated the effort. But all he really wanted to do was rest. Eventually he started faking falling asleep, just so he could get some time to himself.

By this morning, he had hoped that Aurine would have started acting more rationally again, but nope, she brought him a huge breakfast from the cafeteria (Even though he had said he wasn't hungry!) It was getting to be too much. One of the things he liked about his Master was that she wasn't a micromanager. She gave him autonomy, generally speaking. But this was hover-mom Aurine. And he did not like this version of his Master. So he decided that he would have to broach the subject and address the root cause of why she was doing this. Around lunchtime Sascha decided he would dive right in.

He sat up in his bed and folded his hands across his stomach. Aurine was in her own bed, sitting on top of the covers as she was typing on the datapad, but once she saw him move, her focus swiveled from the screen to him. As if he couldn't be trusted to sit up in his own bed without her supervision. Annoying.

"Master, you don't have to be here every second of the day. I know the drill when it comes to recovery. Lots of rest. No straining yourself. I get it, I have lots of experience in recovery." He had certainly gotten the tar kicked out of him this time, but no worse than he had been on Kuat or on Bothawui. This was old hat for him.

"I'm just trying to make sure you have everything you need, Sascha."

It's an earnest reply and he doesn't begrudge it. But it not really the true reason she's doing this, he knows. "Master," he said calmly, "I know why you are doing this. You blame yourself for me getting hurt. You're trying to make it up to me."

Aurine's face scrunched into an expression of incredulity, "I'm doing what?"

"We drifted apart during this mission, Master. I haven't seen you in more than a month. Now you're trying to make it up to me by playing this doting...mother-like figure. It's nice...but you can leave me be. I'm not going to disintegrate into a thousand pieces just because you aren't watching me."

His little speech is too harsh, he can tell immediately by Aurine's wounded reaction. But he's still not at one hundred percent mental capacity (recovering a concussion will do that) and he doesn't have his best words right now. These will have to do.

His Master takes her time formulating a reply, and when she does, her words have a thickness, an emotional tint behind them that is rare for her, "I knew we'd have to have a talk. I just didn't want to have it."

"I've got nothing but time, now, Master. Let's talk." His Master had filled him in on the big details of what had happened. Sascha's first question had been about Nara's health. His second had been about Tiplee's. His third had been about Aurine's. It had taken him a while to even ask how badly he'd been hurt, to him that had been one of the least important things to know.

Aurine stared forward, looking at her legs as she sat in her bed, "This mission was hard for me, Padawan."

"It wasn't exactly a stroll in the park for me either," he said. Considering he had almost died on about three separate occasions, that was probably understating it slightly.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"For what?" he replied.

"For abandoning you."

Sascha frowned, "I never felt abandoned, Master."

Aurine rose from her bed, she's upset now, he saw. She doesn't show it in her face, no, his Master is too disciplined for that, but if you know how to read her body language (and he does, he's her Padawan for Force sake), you can see the tension across her body and that textbook little quiver of her lip just before she speaks. Aurine Brynar does not get upset very often, she's generally pretty stable, emotionally speaking, but when she does, emotions tend to pour out. Sascha just had to endure the deluge.

"I treated you and Nara like you were a piece to sacrifice on the dejark board. I started thinking about the war as someone who had to win at all costs. That was the person I became." Aurine paused, "I don't like that person. I want to go back to the person I was beforehand, but to do that I need to apologize to you. I should have never treated you like I did."

"You have nothing to apologize for Master. You used me as you saw fit. I saw through your orders to the best of my ability." He pointed to himself, "Padawan." He pointed at her, "Master. That's how it always works. You give the orders, I try to follow them."

"I should have made sure you didn't have to bear so many risks, so much loss. It almost wasn't worth it." Aurine's hands were clenched into fists as she paced the length of the bed, back and forth like a prowling nexu.

Sascha's not sure that he feels the adulation he is supposed to feel at liberating a whole planet. He figured that might come later when he can celebrate with Nara and Arslan and all of his other friends. But he doesn't need to be lectured about loss. That he feels acutely. The loss of Lirri Boikana had been on his mind since he's woken up. Her planet is free, in large part thanks to her efforts, but she was not around to reap the profits of a peace that was so hard earned. But it wasn't just Lirri that was lost, it was other Ubrorans that had volunteered to fight and ultimately die in service of their planet. It's a fate that Sascha will never get, mostly because he doesn't have a planet to die for. The nobility of their sacrifices will always stick with him though. They could have chosen to do nothing. But they didn't.

"I'm not sure there was a better way, Master," he said carefully.

"Of course there was a better way!" Aurine exploded. "I could have had you and Nara moving from city to city, keeping the enemy guessing at where you'd be. I could have gone into the cities myself and become a rallying beacon. Tiplee too. Instead we let everyone know where you were and who you were associated with. It's a miracle that you and Nara survived."

He smiled faintly, trying to lighten the mood, "Our skill had something to do with it."

Aurine doesn't even acknowledge his flippant remark and she sat heavily on her hospital bed, "I should have been better. I shouldn't have lost myself like I did."

"Lost yourself?" He shouldn't inquire further, its clearly a sore subject, but he can't help himself. Ever curious was Sascha Whitestar, sometimes to his own detriment.

The Jedi Knight looked up at him and made eye contact for a moment before looking back down, "I put myself in a position where I started thinking less like a Jedi and more like a military commander. It was...an enlightening experience, but I clearly got carried away in a way that I should not have. I'm going to need to take some time to think about what I did. I need time to think if I am capable of having the responsibility of a Padawan."

This conversation has gotten a bit more serious than he had thought it would. But Sascha met Aurine's emotion with his own cool logic, "I think after having a Padawan for several years that question has basically answered itself, has it not?"

"Padawan, haven't you been listening to what I've been saying?"

"I have," he replied calmly. "This Padawan right here would very much like to keep his Master, flaws and all. The only Master that was willing to pick me to be their apprentice. I don't know if you made mistakes during this mission. I know I certainly did. But being a Jedi is not about perfection, Master."

His Master shook her head, "All I know is that I feel more and more unworthy to have a Padawan."

Sascha can see that this is something that his Master had been contemplating for a while. It's not a simple reaction to watching him get hurt. It's something deeper than that. The war may have fundamentally altered Aurine Brynar. That's bad, to say the least.

"You want time to relax and reflect upon this mission, right?"

Aurine nodded, her posture tense, "Yes. Time alone."

"Take me with you."

Aurine's face screws into a picture of incredulity, "Didn't you just hear what I said?"

"Perfectly, Master. But you are forgetting one thing." He leaned forward, it hurt him slightly even to do that small movement, but he needed to add weight to his next phrase, "We are a team. A Master and a Padawan. You teach me, that's the way it works, but only a fool would say that I don't teach you as well."

That comment raised Aurine's hackles, much as he knew it would. But its important to have her see him as an equal in this conversation, not merely someone being talked to. His Master is trying to find the words in her heart to convince him that she thinks is true, that she failed him. He doesn't believe it to be true.

"You want time to reflect on what happened, Master? Fine. But you're taking me with you."

"I want to go alone, Padawan."

"No," he said simply, as if that answered everything. "I will come with you. And if you need space and time away from me, than I will give it to you, but I will not be flung away. I am your Padawan. We are a team. We help each other."

A couple of tears started to stream from Aurine's eyes, "You've grown up so much, Sascha. I don't even know if you need me anymore."

"Of course I need you, Master. I need someone to teach me how to stop ending up in hospitals after missions."

Aurine laughed and turned away from him to wipe the tears off her face. Then she began to laugh again. Louder. A couple of moments later, he joined in. He couldn't help himself, the laughter was contagious. Even though the laughter hurt his ribs, he can't stop himself, he doesn't want to stop. He wants to laugh with his Master for hours.

Eventually the laughing fit eased. Aurine slid back into her bed, "I might need to find someone else to help us out when it comes to that."

He smiled slightly, "Okay, Master."

The Jedi Knight paused for a few moments before speaking again, "You know, I feel a little better already."

"Talking to someone you care about often does that," he commented.

Aurine smiled slyly, noting the implicit statement in his remark. "When I talk to the Council, I will suggest that we both be taken off the active duty list for a little while. A couple of weeks, at least."

"Sounds good, Master. Where do you want to go to relax?"

"There are a couple of sanctuary class worlds that the Jedi Order has exclusive rights to. We'll find one that suits us and we'll camp out there for a week or however long we need. It'll just be us, and nature."

Sascha made a face, "Can I bring my datapad? I'll be bored if there is only trees and little critters around."

"You will be more than free to bring whatever entertainment devices you want," Aurine remarked in the tone of a patient mother..

Sascha nodded. He wasn't the type of Jedi that loved communing with animals or nature. He was a people person by default. Spending time wandering some jungle didn't exactly thrill him, though he supposed it would be a nice change of pace. He would just be happy to relax for a while.

"I do need to bring something up though," said Aurine. "Something that became obvious over the course of this mission.

"Nara," he said, taking a fairly informed guess at where this was going.

"Yes. Your resident Togruta friend and you have become...rather close." Aurine's face grimaced slightly, "Have you..."

Sascha held his hands out, "Please, Master. We're friends. And I believe you are right in saying that we've become a big too close to each other. Attached, maybe. I can't speak for her, but I do think we need some space and time away from each other. I think it will help both of us."

"You don't have feelings for her?" Aurine inquired.

Sascha tried not to blush, but wasn't sure if he was successful, "No, Master. She's cute and a good friend. But I don't think I've ever had a romantic feeling towards her. This isn't another Tyra situation."

"Are you sure? I don't want to have to remind you what happened after you got attached to Tyra."

"I don't want to have that happen to me again," he said forcefully. He didn't regret his friendship with Tyra, he did regret burying his feelings for her. He buried them so deep that when they emerged they had overrode every part of him. It had eventually cost him her friendship. To this date, he was yet to see her since that day they had shared their first kiss. The truth was, though it felt like the self-inflicted wound he had given himself had mostly scabbed over, it hadn't left him completely.

"I actually think Nara helped me with the whole...Tyra thing."

"How so?"

He hadn't really had much time to think about it until now, but now that he can focus on things besides his survival and winning a war, he can see how much his Togruta friend has helped him deal with the fallout from Tyra's departure. "I learned that I can have a close female friend without things going too badly, I learned that I'm not destined to develop feelings for them. And they aren't destined to fall in love with me either...because I'm pretty darn sure Nara doesn't have the slightest hint of feelings for me. We're just...friends. A bit too close at the moment, I'll admit, with the whole...sharing all of our feelings all the time thing, but you know in the battle neither of us were desperate to save each other or anything. I'm...rambling a bit here, but you get my point, right?"

His Master absorbed that speech for a few moments, "I think once things calm down for good, me, Tiplee, and you two will have a talk. I am going to try to keep an open mind. But it might be hard for me. So I think I'll let Tiplee be the voice of reason."

"I'll abide by whatever you decide," he said.

"We'll work it out, won't we, Padawan?"

"We will, Master."

Nara Nalto hated being in bed. Togruta were active creatures, they were supposed to be out hunting, now laying in bed. However, she was pretty happy just to be alive.

She had been brought out of her chemically induced slumber yesterday and had spent almost the entirety of the day (outside of trips to the refresher) in this bed. And she had spent the day being getting caught up with the events that had occurred since she had lost consciousness.

In short. Bad guys gone, good guys won. Oh, and she had almost died on the operating table. That last part was a little tough to swallow, but considering she had no memory of it, it was kind of like it never happened.

Still she was extremely sore from the beating she had taken at the hands of the Mandalorians. The Kuati Doctor, Jarvis, had told her that her recovery would probably take a few weeks. Tiplee had told her that she would complete her recovery at the Temple, whenever they decided it was time to leave Ubrora. Apparently the Ubrorans had some big liberation celebration coming up, and everyone felt it was important that the four Jedi stay until that was complete. A ceremony that would probably see her carted around in a hoverchair wasn't exactly on the top of her priority list, but she supposed she shouldn't complain.

There was a short knock on the door. It was probably her Master, who, for whatever reason, always knocked before entering her room. "Come in."

To her surprise (and delight) it was not her Master that entered, but Sascha, limping on a pair of crutches. Her friend still looked like he'd been in a cage fight with a nexu. There was the obvious crutches, of course, but it was also the half healed cuts that were still visible on his face that was the most visible clue of his status.

"Hey little Togruta," said Sascha.

"Hey Sascha. Now come over here so I can punch you for using that nickname."

Sascha hobbled over and leaned over her bed. She gently reached out with her arm and 'punched' (more of a love tap) him on the cheek. Both Jedi laughed and Sascha managed to slide himself into a chair near her bed, putting his crutches to the side.

"I see your injuries haven't dampened your spirit," he observed.

"Nah," she said as she closed her eyes and relaxed, "All my body parts are attached, my Montrals still work and my lekku are as pretty as ever, so I'm feeling pretty fine."

"You're good? Need anything?"

"Sascha, you aren't in that much better shape than me. I'm not going to send you on some errand. Lets just sit and talk."

"Maybe we should just bask in the fact that we are alive," said Sascha.

"I prefer to celebrate being alive by living."

"There's always time for a quiet moment of reflection."

Nara closed her eyes and faked snoring loudly.

He smiled, "How are you doing, Nara?"

"I'm...hurting...a bit still," she admitted. "I'm also feeling kind of out of it. I think its the drugs."

"I'll do my best to use small words then," joked Sascha.

"Ha ha," she said mockingly. "So what brings you to my room today?"

"I wanted to check in with my good friend," he said. "And I have a comedy series on my datapad I thought you might like to watch."

Hearing those words still seemed surreal to her. Having a real, honest to goodness friend was still hard to get used to. But she was sure that she would enjoy the experience. Being with Sascha was good for her. He calmed her, understood her, and was willing to deal with the more abrasive parts of her personality.

"What kind of comedy series is it?"

"It's apparently Shili's new top comedy series. It stars a bunch of young Togruta during the later years in school. Apparently it's both hilarious and heartfelt. Well, according to the reviews at least. I watched the first episode...and I think there was some humor that I was missing, because I wasn't laughing all that much. I was hoping that you could help me out."

"I will be your Togruta to Human translator," Nara said. She pointed to the wall, "Put it on, Sascha."

Sascha smirked, "As you command, your Togrutaness."

The two Padawans were able to watch a few episodes of the show, which turned out to be a perfect choice by Sascha. The main character was a female Togruta named Auxi that was a maybe a year younger than she was. To Nara's delight, Auxi was a purple skinned Togruta like her – though her skin was a slightly lighter shade than hers, she found it easy to see herself as Auxi, because they looked vaguely similar. At the start of the show, she had just transferred to a new school after her parents had moved back from the colony of Kiros to Shili. The comedy dealt with Auxi and her slightly unorthodox ways that she had learned from the notoriously free-spirited colony of Kiros.

As Sascha had claimed, the show was both hilarious and emotionally resonant. For seventy percent of the episode, she would find herself laughing at Auxi's hijinx as she used her Kiros inspired 'wisdom' (that often went horribly wrong, or was hilariously misunderstood.). Yet usually near the end of the episode, the show often packed an emotional punch, whether it was a beloved teacher leaving for a new job, or a student finding out that their sister had been involved in a speeder crash (she turned out to be okay). It was a well done show though. Nara laughed, she cried, she asked Sascha to pause several times to point out the specific aspects of 'Togruta' humor that he wouldn't have understood.

At the end of an episode, she felt herself drifting back to sleep. "Hey Sascha...this might be the last one, I'm kinda sleepy."

"Okay Nara, I'll turn it off after this episode is done."

Nara Nalto didn't last until the end of the episode. She fell asleep with warmth in her heart and her best friend by her side.