LordDarthYoda - You think every ship is the Millenium Falcon! Calculated Risk is a cool name though. Good news about Tiplee and Aurine as we will check in with them this chapter.

Tristin- Thanks!

SpeechBubbleMe- I'm looking forward to writing Anakin Skywalker. I always felt that this time in his life was amazingly underdeveloped, considering this is when he learns how to be a Jedi from Obi-wan. And not everything goes wrong in my stories...it just goes wrong most of the time!

A/N - So, we are going to be at the Temple for a bit, dealing with some...Padawan issues. The next little arcs will be a bit of fun and a nice change of pace before we head out for the 'final' mission of the book. And now I'm off to watch Moana on Netflix! Huzzah.

As always, Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 16: Reunion

After a nice, uneventful ride from Estimar to Coruscant aboard the Calculated Risk, Sascha and Nara went and said their goodbyes to Captain Iloma. The Togruta captain had been very...fatherly towards the two Jedi, which had been nice, considering where they had come from. What hadn't been nice, was the two sons of the captain, Harj and Kanarva, had basically treated her like she was a non-person. She had maybe tried to come on a bit too strong with the brothers early on, hoping to at least start some light, innocent flirting, but the two brothers had shot her down impolitely. It had damaged her confidence more than a little. It always reminded her that while she was considered reasonably attractive by some humans and humanoids, amongst Togruta, she would be considered to be rather plain.

The Captain was putting the final touches on unloading his supplies when the two Jedi approached. The Togruta captain handed a datapad over to an RA-7 class protocol droid, a droid that was often used by shipping companies to check inventories. The droid seemed happy with the datapad and ambled out of the cargo hold.

"Captain," said Sascha, "We'd like to thank you for a pleasant trip, but we'll be leaving you now."

The tall Togruta stepped forward and shook both of their hands in a friendly gesture, "It was nice having two Jedi on our trip, it certainly livened things up on the ship." The Captain smiled conspiratorially, "You sure I couldn't drop you guys off right at the Temple?"

Sascha laughed, "I'm afraid it off limits. We'll find our way home."

"Well, it was a pleasure, Master Jedi," said the Captain.

"Thank you for having us, Captain," said Nara.

"I want to apologize on my son's behalf," blurted the older Togruta. "They…can be rude when they aren't aware of what they are doing."

"It's fine," said Nara, even though it really wasn't. "Thank you, again."

"May the Force be with you," said Captain Iloma.

She and Sascha took that as their cue to leave. Though they were a fair distance from the Temple, the nice thing about Coruscant was that it was the kind of planet where you could get around quite quickly if you know what you were doing. Fortunately, she and Sascha did, so it was not long before they were walking up the steps of the Jedi Temple. Nara was always reminded of how austere and beautiful the building was from the outside. It remained one of the most beautiful buildings she had ever seen.

The steps of the Jedi Temple were patrolled by Temple Guards, but none of them paid any attention to the two returning Padawans as they approached, after all, they could sense that they were both Jedi. Over the years, many citizens of Coruscant had tried to sneak past the Temple Guards dressed as Jedi, but no one had managed to get past the watchful eye of the protectors of the Temple. As it turned out, it was pretty hard to fake Force-sensitivity.

She and Sascha first went to the reception area, an area that was usually manned by a Padawan, to confirm that they had arrived safely. There wasn't much bureaucracy in the Jedi Temple, generally Jedi were trusted to be able to handle their own affairs. But because the senior Jedi needed to know who was available to go on a mission,so all Jedi returning from a mission were expected to check in and file a mission report. She and Sascha had worked on the mission report on the way back, so it was mostly done, all they had to do now was check in.

When they saw which Padawan was currently seated behind the large, half-circle of a table, Sascha broke out in a wide smile. "Tyra!" he shouted.

The brown haired girl, stood, a wide smile adorning her face, "Hey Sascha!"

Tyra jumped over the table effortlessly and stood face to face with her best friend. Tyra had aged a little since the last time Nara had saw her. She hadn't grown and was still whip thin, but her cheekbones had become slightly more defined and her other features a little more mature. Compared to Sascha, who still looked a bit boyish, Tyra really seemed like she was an older sibling to Sascha. Nara wasn't on the greatest of terms with Tyra, she considered her to be more of a acquaintance then a friend.

The two longtime friends stood there for a moment, torn, oddly, by what appeared to be indecision. Sascha pulled Tyra in for a quick, friendly hug, one that was returned somewhat coldly by Tyra. The message was clear; the two of them had some issues to work out.

Tyra turned her attention towards her, "Hey, Nara."

"Tyra. How's it going?"

Tyra shrugged slightly, "Boring, just manning the front desk for a few more hours." Tyra turned her attention back to Sascha, "But maybe it just got better. Sascha, we should go catch up."

"Aren't you going to be stuck here for a few hours?" he responded.

"Well...if Nara would like to take over my duties for a few hours, we could go and catch up and get some food from the refectory," said Tyra.

Nara swallowed a biting retort, she had been looking forward to spending more time with Sascha and enjoying a return to the Temple, not sitting at a desk for several hours when she hadn't been assigned to do so. Really, it was so presumptuous of Tyra to even suggest that she take over her duties.

"That sounds great," said Sascha, oblivious to her own thoughts on the matter.

"But..." she said.

Tyra smiled sweetly at her, "I'll make it up to you. How about we spar tomorrow? I've been getting some advanced training these days, I can probably teach you some things."

Nara gritted her teeth. Give her some sparring tips? What was she suggesting? That she was so much better than her that she could act as a teacher? What the kriff? Nara didn't know if Tyra was being insulting on purpose, but she was certainly insulted.

Sascha put a hand gently on her back, "Would you please do it, Nara? You know I haven't seen Tyra in more than a year."

Nara really didn't want to do it. She didn't want to do Tyra a favour after she had acted like this. But Sascha was hard to turn down. If she considered it to be a favour to Sascha, she could swallow it.

"Okay, I'll do it," she said, regretting the words almost as soon as they were out of her mouth.

"Thanks, Nara. I owe you one," said Tyra, only half paying attention to her. Tyra's attention was clearly focused on Sascha. "Come on, Sascha. I have to tell you about the time I got attacked by a giant Crackclaw on Wrysti."

Sascha's eyes widened, "And you're still standing here with all of limbs attached? I have to hear this story!" As the two human Padawans walked towards the interior of the Temple, Sascha turned, "Thanks for this, Nara."

"It's nothing," Nara lied.

The Togruta watched the two old friends walked away from her, leaving her all alone, manning this stupid desk for the next several hours. Some friends. She sighed. That little episode had reminded her of one thing she had tried to avoid. Sascha might be her best friend...but she wasn't Sascha's best friend, was she? She was just a temporary Tyra replacement.

"I hate this," she muttered to herself as she took the seat of a Padawan that she currently despised.

Sascha Whitestar was in a very, very good mood. Being reunited with Tyra had been a moment that he had been playing in his mind for almost a year. Ever since their break up after the events of Bothawui (where they had declared their feelings for each other), they had only exchanged brief messages back and forth, and now this was the first time Sascha had seen his friend in...more than a year. Almost two. But it felt like more.

Tyra hadn't changed that much physically, she just looked her age now, which was nineteen, almost twenty. She still wore a simple beige robe and a look of intensity that would only soften for moments when she was looking at him. Tyra's brown hair was pulled into a martial looking ponytail, as it usually was. It gave her a severe look in totality, but that was by design. Tyra wasn't in the business of making anyone feel at ease.

After Tyra regaled him with the story of how she escaped a Crackclaw (a 14 foot tall monster, with 4 crablike appendages in addition to its 22 legs) that seemed to involve a lot of lightsaber based heroics which seemed almost impossible. But as Tyra wasn't exactly prone to gloating, Sascha believed that it was all true. Such a hero, was Tyra Harker.

"I probably would have died on twenty two separate occasions if I tried to do that," he observed lightly.

"Aw, come on, Sascha, you still playing the 'I'm a poor, weak, Jedi' card?"

"No," he said defensively. "I just realize that there is a large gulf in talent between the two of us."

Tyra nodded solemnly, "As long as you aren't putting yourself down,"

He cracked a smile, "Tyra Harker, I've fought a war, I've fought Mandalorians, and potential dark Jedi. I've danced with pretty girls, I've befriended celebrities. I've nearly died on about seventeen different occasions. I'm pretty comfortable with who I am at this point in my life."

Tyra smiled, a smile that still stopped his heart a little, but not nearly as much as it had when he was younger. The feelings might have still been there, but they were kind of manageable now.

"You were a bit brusque back there with Nara," said Sascha observed.

"Oh, come on. She's Nara, she'll be fine. She's a tough little Togruta right?" said Tyra.

"Of course she's tough, but you kind of blew her off. She's sensitive to that sort of thing."

Tyra finally looked apologetic, "I guess in my euphoria at seeing you again, I kind of just wanted Nara to go away. I'll apologize to her tomorrow when I spar with her."

"Thanks Tyra."

The two Jedi got some small snacks from the refectory and grabbed a seat at an open table.

"So...are we...good?" asked Tyra.

His mouth twitched unintentionally, "I think so. But I don't know if we can go back to the way things were. I think we both know things have changed."

Tyra's face darkened slightly, "We are still friends, right?"

"Of course, Tyra. There's no force in the galaxy that can destroy that."

"We almost destroyed it ourselves," she observed.

"Well…that's true. I like to think that we still remained friends though."

"Did we though? We barely talked for a year or more afterwards. I haven't seen you in almost two years. That's not what friend's do."

This was a painful subject for Sascha. Tyra had been his first love and best friend for so many years, then she had disappeared, leaving him broken. It had taken him almost a month and Nara's good advice to get himself back on track. It felt at times like he had moved on from Tyra. But there was no way he could feel that way now, with Tyra sitting across from him. This was like slipping into a comfortable old pair of slippers. There was a comfort here. Just him and Tyra. Just like it always was.

"Whatever we were, we are friends now," he said.

Tyra smiled, "We are." She tossed her ponytail to one side, "So, where'd you come back from with Nara? I heard you went on a mission together."

"Estimar," he replied. "We were sent together to peacefully deal with a group of students with...anti-Jedi leanings."

"Leanings?"

"They were a bit stronger than that," he admitted. "They were not fans of the Jedi. But after Nara and I left, I think they had a bit more positive view of the Jedi Order."

"Did you bribe them with candy and sweets?" asked Tyra with a wry smile.

"We actually...sort of challenged the leaders of the anti-Jedi group to a debate," he said, feeling kind of silly. Spoken out loud the whole thing sounded ridiculous.

"I hope you won," Tyra said, still smiling.

"I don't know if anyone 'won. we did enough," said Sascha. "I'm sure there's some footage of our debate out there on the Holonet. You can watch Nara and I debate and decide for yourself if we won."

"You let Nara debate with you?" asked Tyra. "No offense...but between the two of you, you are the intellectual."

Sascha didn't really appreciate the slight against his friend, "Nara held her own, I'll have you know." He shot Tyra a stern glance, "What do you have against Nara anyway?"

"She replaced me, didn't she," Tyra said, trying and failing to keep a hurt look off of her face.

Well, that explained the past hour. Tyra was...jealous of Nara? That didn't make a lick of sense. It wasn't like there was some sort of artificial cap on how many friends you could have. "I don't know if anyone can replace you, Tyra. But she's a good friend. She's a good partner for me. I needed her and she needed me. It's not like us being friends has impacted our relationship. I'm allowed to have more than one good friend."

"I feel like I've been replaced," said Tyra, as she stared down at the table. "The way you banter with her, the way you seem to be just happier with her around, it reminds me of the way we used to be."

"You have not been replaced Tyra," he said. "You're Tyra Harker. I'm Sascha Whitestar. We are going to be friends until the day we die. I'm pretty sure that is written down somewhere."

Tyra smiled weakly, "I've missed you, Sascha."

"I've missed you, Tyra. But we can't be dependent on each other. That's what I learned."

"Yeah," Tyra agreed as she slowly picked at her food. "It was good that I was on my own for a while. It made me independent. But it also made me miss being a part of a group too."

Sasha took a swig of his drink and swallowed before answering, "It's about balance, Tyra. That's the number one thing I've learned."

"Balance," Tyra repeated. "Balance is a great concept, but is something that is hard to do in practice."

He shrugged, "So you keep striving for the ideal."

Tyra offered him a little grin, "You're starting to sound wise, Sascha Whitestar. I don't like that."

"I was always wise," he responded. "You just weren't wise enough to see that."

Tyra clutched at her heart, "I am wounded. You have wounded me, sir."

Sascha smiled. It was good to have Tyra Harker back.

Nara Nalto's mood was worsening by the minute. Each minute she had to be manning this stupid front desk, with its stupid, repetitive tasks she was getting more and more angry.

"Okay, Nara," she said to herself. "Just breathe. You can get through this, you've done it before."

But she was hurt at being blown off by Tyra. Sascha, she blamed less. And, honestly speaking, it was so hard to blame Sascha. He was just so innocent. She was sure that he hadn't meant to hurt her. Tyra? Not so much. She was looking forward to the promise of sparring Tyra tomorrow. She was thinking that she might 'accidentally' land a nice, hard, kick to Tyra's midsection tomorrow. Leave her on the ground, gasping for breath. Force, that sounded good. Justice.

But like most of her (rare) angry spells, her anger tended to burn itself out quite quickly, like a fire deprived of oxygen. But, if more fuel was added to this theoretical fire, it would turn back into a blaze again.

Nara knew that Sascha's friendship was something of a weak spot for her. Not because she viewed him as anything more than a friend but because he was her only really good friend. She had begun rebuilding her friendships with her clanmates, but that was a slow process. Now if Sascha was going to spend time with Tyra, that would mean less time for him to spend with her, and she was not naive to think that Tyra would want to spend time as a group of three. No, she had made that perfectly clear earlier today.

Was she just a temporary friend for Sascha? One easily discarded? She shook her head. Sascha was honest. When he said something, he meant it. If he said that they were friends, then they were. But Tyra and Sascha had history...so much history. Hadn't they both loved each other? How in the Force could she compete with that sort of history?

Fortunately, she was spared from dwelling too much on that lovely thought, as her comlink rang. "Nara here."

"Hello, apprentice," said her Master's voice.

Nara smiled, it was good to hear her Master. Maybe she'd even listen to her vent on the whole...Tyra thing. While the Rishati didn't necessarily like to hear her rant on things unrelated to her Jedi training, she did put up with it occasionally.

"Hi, Master Tiplee."

"I'm here too, Nara," said the familiar voice of Aurine Brynar.

"Hi, Master Brynar."

"Are you with Sascha?" asked Aurine.

"No," she admitted miserably. "He met up with Tyra and they're off somewhere doing...whatever."

"You don't sound thrilled about that," Tiplee observed.

"Tyra was kind of a jerk to me," she said, pulling her arms in close in a defensive gesture.

"Tyra Harker can be abrasive at times," said Aurine. "She's only really friendly with Sascha and her Master. I wouldn't think too much about it."

"I'm thinking quite a bit about it," she admitted.

"You should talk to her," said Tiplee. "I'm sure Sascha will mediate if he has to. He values your friendship, do not forget this."

"Okay," she said uncertainly. "I think I'm sparring with her tomorrow. Maybe I'll talk to her after that."

"Sounds good," said Tiplee. "Tyra is quite a good fighter, I'm sure she could teach you a few things."

Nara's eyes widened. Did her Master think that Tyra was so much better than her? Had she forgotten that she had won the Apprentice Tournament not that long ago? Annoyed, she buried those thoughts down deep.

"Anything else exciting happen?" asked Tiplee.

"No. We flew home with a family of Togruta. They ran a shipping business. I tried to flirt with the boys...but they were not having it," she said, feeling really stupid. Both because she was admitting it to her Master, and again for the fact that the two young Togruta had treated her like she was a leper. Usually boys at least payed some attention to her.

"Well, some boys will always be immune to your charms," said Aurine. "Don't take it too personally."

Nara's mouth worked. The problem was that she did take it personally. Just like that little interaction with Tyra. She shook her head to focus herself, "I don't," she lied. "Anyways, why are you calling?"

"We just called to say that we are going to start on our way back," said Tiplee. "We should have Sascha's ship back to the Temple in about three or four days."

That was good. Having her Master back meant that she could do some more advanced training with her. Lately, all they seemingly had time to do was go on missions. "I look forward to seeing you again, Master."

"You'll have to give us a full debriefing," said her Master. "But from what we heard from Master Kenobi, you and Sascha did well. Oh, and by the way, make sure you go talk to him, he wants both you and Sascha to help him with something."

"Any idea what?"

"Oh, I know exactly what he wants," replied Tiplee. "But it ruins the whole thing if you know."

"Oh that's not fair, Master," she said, laughing.

"Life's not fair," her Master replied more seriously. "We'll see you in a few days, my Padawan."

"Tell Sascha I called," chimed in Aurine.

"I will. Goodbye, Masters."

"Was that really smart?" Aurine asked Tiplee.

The two Jedi were in the Emerald Dream, waiting out the storm outside. For the past few days, she and Tiplee had been rewarded by their hard work with permission to stay for a few days on one of the Jedi Order's sanctuary worlds, worlds that had been left entirely to nature. She and Tiplee had used their time to relax, and commune with nature. It had been a relaxing few days, for Aurine it had been one of the few times she could truly relax. Sascha not being here had helped. Nothing wrong with her Padawan, he just tended to demand her attention. Now that he was away, and out of her hair, she could just...relax.

Of course, they still had Padawan drama to manage. Sascha tended to have very little drama. Nara..not as much.

"Nara and Tyra's confrontation is inevitable," said Tiplee, who laid down on the couches in the lounge. "They both desire Sascha's friendship and see each other as rivals for that friendship. They were always going to be upset with the other one. I just stoked the fires ever so slightly."

Aurine took a seat across from Tiplee in the lounge, "Is it wise to goad Nara though?"

"No," admitted Tiplee. "But for Tyra and Nara to become friends, and I'm sure they will be, they need to resolve this conflict first."

"You realize, that Tyra and Nara are both very dangerous fighters. If they want to hurt the other...they certainly know how to."

Tiplee rolled her eyes, "You worry too much. Really, what's going to happen? A scrape or a bruise or two? Maybe a concussion at worst? I expect things will get heated between them, and when they cross the line, that's when they'll stop becoming enemies and start becoming friends."

"Unless they kill each other first."

Tiplee sighed, "You are such a pessimist, Aurine."

"I'm not a pessimist," she said defensively. "And I don't actually think anything bad will come of it. But I wonder why you are pushing for this to happen."

"Nara needs more friends. Tyra would be a good female friend for her. They are unlikely to become friends until they deal with their issues. Thus, force them to work out their issues" said Tiplee as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Even though they'll be swinging at each other with lightsabers," she pointed out.

"If I can't trust my Padawan to work out a simple grudge, how can I trust my Padawan at all?" asked Tiplee.

"Good point."