"You're sure this isn't overkill?" Silas adjusted the holster around his waist and accepted the blaster from Han. "I've only used one of these once before."

"Just once?" Han mimed an aiming-and-firing motion at Elle's stuffed lothcat resting on the windowsill. "What about all those months when you were on the run?"

"Got lucky, I guess. I had to make do with kitchen knives most of the time."

"Well, we can give you an upgrade from those," Leia said. She handed Silas a vibroblade to use as backup. "Just keep it somewhere you can reach it in a hurry."

"I don't think I'm going to be much help," Silas insisted. He dropped the vibroblade in his right pocket, thought better of it, then transferred it to his left.

"You'll be fine," Han assured him. "Like flying a swoop. It'll come back to you."

"Easy for you to say."

"Maybe it is." Han looked thoughtful. "You know, sometimes I miss the days of shooting first and asking questions later."

"Yeah?" Leia adjusted her holster under her shirt. "And how did those days tend to turn out?"

"Fine, for me." He caught her look. "Most of the time, anyway. And they were a hell of a lot of fun too."

"You're not making a very sound case for me joining you," Silas commented wryly.

Han looked confused. "Did you miss the part where I said they were fun?"

The three of them flew the now-familiar black speeder to the Falcon and Han warmed up the ship. Another advantage of bringing Silas, he thought; he had flown with them once years ago and thus wouldn't subject Han to the so-this-is-the-legendary-Millennium-Falcon wonderment that proved so popular with first-time passengers.

"Silas," Leia said, as they settled into the cockpit. "Were you and Louis staying here when Devon ran for the New Republic Senate?"

"Not for most of it. We were – let me think – living on Palus Five during that time. After we moved to Kanalis the race was already over."

"How did Devon take the loss?"

"Well, I think he was a little embarrassed. That's natural, I suppose. But Devon gets over these things quickly. And he was running against the incumbent, so that helped him save face."

"He must have spent a good chunk of money on the race," Leia commented.

"He must have," Silas said thoughtfully. "But I don't get the sense he and Riva were substantively worse off afterwards. And to be honest, I think Riva was secretly glad he didn't win. She doesn't want to pick up and move to Chandrila."

Leia paged through the information on Devon she had pulled up earlier. "There aren't a lot of details about his policy positions. Mostly centrist platitudes, from what I can see."

Silas chuckled. "That describes Devon pretty well. Now, I don't think those are his true opinions by any means but he knows what sells on Kanalis. It just didn't seem to translate on the galactic level."

"No, there certainly aren't a lot of moderates left in the Senate," Leia commented. Then, after a moment: "So what are his true opinions?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Silas said carefully, "so I don't want to make assumptions. But I don't think it's a coincidence that he of all Parliament members was informed about the plot against Mon Mothma."

"Because he sympathizes with the plotters?"

"Maybe. I think he does, somewhat, but felt that once he was told about the assassinations he had to do something with that information. Holding onto a tip like that would be dangerous."

"So you think he's opposed to the New Republic."

"To its existence, yes, not necessarily to those currently leading it."

Leia sighed. "Mon and others certainly aren't in it for the glory. It's hard, tedious work, but all of us who fought in the Rebellion have a duty to prevent a dictatorship from rising again."

"I don't disagree. But there's a fine line between governance and overreach."

The location of the retreat was a short distance from the Ber Sheeba city limits. Han touched down and they followed the map on his comm the rest of the way. It was late afternoon by the time they reached the pavilion. A large tent covered a paved patio with sides open to the elements. Light streamed through the mesh canopy and lent a gauzy ambiance to the assembling gatherers.

An impassive Bothan was manning the entrance. Not the same one dancing in the casino, Leia noted. During the war she had come to think of the presence of Bothans as harbingers of events to come: prepared and at the ready and all the while working to steer those future events to their liking.

"Your comms," growled the Bothan, holding out his hand. "No recordings allowed."

"Fine," said Han, and handed over his device. But you'll pry my blaster out of my cold dead hands, Leia imagined him thinking.

Silas nodded politely to their greeter and dug his comm out of his pocket. Entering the venue, they found themselves in the midst of about a hundred beings, chatting and just starting to arrange themselves on the curved stone benches that circled around a firepit. There was no podium or dais or indication of any hierarchical structure. Revolutionaries at the outset, flashed through Leia's mind, a scene perhaps reminiscent of a painting she had seen on Alderaan long ago.

"Leia!"

Leia turned and saw Claire approach them with a wide smile. "We're so glad you came. We have seats set aside for you in the meeting circle."

"Claire, this is Silas," introduced Leia. "He's a friend of ours and worked with the Alliance during the war."

"Welcome, welcome," Claire beamed. "The more the merrier."

"I feel out of place here," Han whispered in Leia's ear as they maneuvered through the crowd. "Everyone's either much younger or much older than us."

Looking around at the other guests Leia couldn't help but agree. There seemed to be two separate generations in attendance: an older one, worn out perhaps from the events of the last decade but still hopeful in their cause; and a younger one, not constrained in their allegiance to what they saw as outdated principles and brimming with fervor and ideological passion.

There was a tap on Leia's shoulder. "Remember me?"

Leia turned and found herself face to face with the blonde man who had identified her in the taproom at the Tallis Hub. Armed with a grin he once again held out a hand. This time, she accepted it.

"I'm Rudi," he said cheerfully. "Nice to see you again."

"Hey, you owe us two bottles of wine," Han exclaimed.

"Excuse me?"

"After you left we were missing two liters. Did they taste as good as you thought they would?"

"I ain't a thief. And I don't even drink that stuff." Rudi cocked his head at Han. "You some sort of wine snob or something?"

Han rolled his eyes. "If I were, you'd be in a lot more trouble."

"I believe you," Leia said to Rudi. She shot Han a drop it look. Before she could ask Rudi if he lived here on Kanalis or had connections to Devon or the local politics or really anything that could help illuminate his purpose in this organization, they were swept up in the wave of beings making their way to the seats.

"You'll notice we have some guests with us." By now everyone was seated two or three to a bench. As the apparent emcee of the proceedings, Cruxe had risen to kick off the discussion. The low-level chatter around the circle stopped and the participants focused on the Twi'lek gazing sternly around, boring his eyes into each and every participant.

"Some of those in attendance feel we are at a crossroads regarding the purpose and future of this movement. And now we are presented with an opportunity to ask questions of a key player in the government and perhaps even arrive at some decisions." Cruxe gestured at where Leia was seated. "Ms. Organa, would you care to say a few words?"

"Uh." For the first time in as long as she could remember Leia hadn't the faintest idea of what to say. She stood and cleared her throat. "Thank you for having me. I'm happy to answer questions but I want to emphasize that I will never condone violence toward elected officials – or toward anyone, for that matter," she added.

The murmurs started up. They were ones Leia had heard before and would no doubt hear until her dying day. You killed a lot of beings in the Rebellion's time. What makes you so morally superior to the rest of us? Killing is killing. Did you forget about those thousands working on the Death Stars? Many civilians died who had no choice in the matter, no say in what happened to them or their planets.

She had heard it all before, had her answers prepared, and yet had no desire to wade back into those interminable debates.

"I've been told broadly about the aims of your group," Leia continued, ignoring the whispers. "And while I'd like to learn more, I will start by saying that the New Republic was founded as a democratic, peace-driven alliance between as many planets that choose to participate. All of us – every single one of us here – suffered during the war. We want to do everything we can to prevent a future that holds any resemblance to the past."

Cruxe raised his voice. "I think we are all in agreement that we do not want to repeat the mistakes from the Imperial era."

"And yet there will be future mistakes," Leia said. "No system of government is perfect and to strive for utopia is to end up at its opposite. The goal is to maintain the best system possible that prioritizes the well-being and rights of its citizens."

"We don't need anyone on Chandrila to prioritize our well-being," someone cut in. "We're perfectly capable of governing ourselves."

Leia sighed internally. "It would be most helpful if you all could articulate your goals. What exactly do you envision replacing a democratically elected government? Perhaps we should start with the local angle: how does Kanalis ensure the prosperity, or even the basic rights of its citizens, in the face of a more powerful rival? What protection are peaceful planets entitled to in the case of unwarranted aggression?"

"Aggression to what purpose?" a voice cried out. "Species will coexist in cooperation, not as rivals."

"That would be wonderful," Leia said. "But unfortunately nothing in recent history has indicated such a thing will happen on its own."

"Maybe it hasn't been tried," came another voice.

"That's what the New Republic is working toward," Leia insisted. "Every day we are in the process of trying. But peace just doesn't spring up out of rock. It needs care and tending and a framework for rights as well as retribution for wrongdoing."

"There isn't universal agreement on that framework." This was Cruxe again. "Values vary by species and world. It's not realistic to expect unanimity."

"Well, no." Leia directed her words to him. "There are always losers, even in a democracy. But we have to cultivate a political culture that respects differences while striving to build consensus. Electoral government is the only hope for reaching that consensus."

"The more government that is foisted upon lifeforms who don't want it, the more opportunity there is for dissension. And worse."

"And movements such as yours can operate as checks on the government," Leia responded. "But that requires participation on your part. You can't make demands from the outside and expect those working to preserve the system to automatically adopt your views."

"Why not?" Another voice rose from the circle. "We're all citizens. Why shouldn't we make demands to our elected officials?"

"The Empire also ignored the needs of its people." A new voice now, one coming from behind Leia. "Are you saying the New Republic is no different? That it will ignore its constituents if they don't participate as you think they should?"

"That's not at all what I said," Leia began, but the swell of protests started to drown her out. She stood in the glare of the sinking sun, trying and failing to knit together the threads of her argument, as the clamoring din around her rose to a fevered pitch.

"And then it devolved from there," Silas said.

They were gathered around the kitchen table at Riva's house. It was late and both Elle and Devon were asleep, or in Devon's case, upstairs engrossed in his work. Riva and Louis had greeted them when they returned with hot drinks simmering on the stove.

"They're naïve, all of them," Han said disgustedly. "I don't know how we can help if they don't listen to reason. If it were up to them, there'd be no common laws throughout the galaxy and somehow all the lifeforms who would normally be primed to take advantage of that would magically transform into good guys."

"It's not entirely their fault," Leia said. "Years of dictatorship have made everyone wary."

"Then how can we help them?" Louis asked.

"I don't know," Leia admitted. "We can't force them to see things our way. We can only present our views and hope they come around before it's too late."

There was a silence around the table. Eventually Silas yawned and announced he was giving up for the night and heading to bed.

"So now what?" Han asked Leia when they made it up to their room.

Leia removed her holster and blaster and set them on the bedside table. "I don't know," she sighed again. "Honestly, I'm starting to wonder what we're doing here."

"Yeah," Han grunted. He sat on the bed and started to take off his shoes.

An idea pricked at her, one that held the promise of lessening her guilt with their current situation. "Maybe you could –" She stopped. No. No, she would not go down that road.

"Maybe I could what?"

Nothing, she almost said. She didn't want him to know what had flashed through her mind. But then she recalled their conversation in the cockpit the previous day and how they had promised to be honest with each other. She had to talk, had to tell him. It was Han, after all, the one person she could tell anything.

Leia sat next to him on the bed and took a breath. "I thought – for a second – that maybe you could pick up your work where you left off, back on Chandrila. While I figure things out here. Just for a little while, so you don't have to wait around for me." She avoided his eyes and stared at the pattern on the carpet instead. "But as soon as I thought it, I realized I don't want that. I don't want us to be apart."

Han was quiet for a moment. "I don't want that either," he said finally. "No matter how much sense it might make."

"I know," Leia whispered. A wave of nausea came over her. What was wrong with her? Why did she think he should go off on his own without her?

"I don't want that," she said again, because she didn't know what else to say and she wanted him to believe it. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Han sighed and flopped back onto the mattress. "Nothin's wrong with you, Leia." He tugged on her elbow until she reclined next to him. "You're just stuck, that's all. Happens to everyone at some point or another."

"You sound so sure about that."

"Well, I have to be sure. One of us does." He scooted up to the head of the bed, dragging her along with him. She settled onto her side and rested her head on his chest. "We just gotta stay focused on our goal. Why are we here?"

"To find out more about the threats against Mon."

"Okay. Then we find that out. Together. Forget those numbskulls we met tonight. There's nothin' we can do for them and they're too disorganized to cause any damage to anyone."

Leia nodded against his chest.

"So we find out who's making the threats against Mon or else we go back to Chandrila, to our apartment, and you figure something out regarding a job and I start doing my work again. We've got two options, no more. We're not gonna fly around at loose ends with no plan and no careers. Not anymore. Okay?"

"Okay." Leia smoothed the edge of his collar and thought some more. "Let's give it a month. If we haven't found something by then, we'll go back to Chandrila."

"You sure? Just a month?"

"I'm sure." And she was, she realized. "A month will be long enough to see if something is working out. If not, we'll know this whole thing was a mistake."

"It may not be a mistake." Han rubbed her back over her shirt. "There are lots of things people try that don't necessarily work out, but that doesn't make them mistakes."

"Kind of seems like the definition of a mistake," Leia retorted. "Doing something that doesn't work out and leads to nothing useful."

Han shook his head. "Not every moment in life has to go somewhere," he insisted. "I know you're used to that – always working toward a goal, toward an end. But there are times in life when you're just wandering in the desert. Not really accomplishing anything but still living."

"Yes, and I've discovered those times are generally lousy."

Han laughed. "A little. But you can make them less lousy."

"I can?"

"Yeah." Han propped himself on his elbow and looked down at her. "You. You're Leia fuckin' Organa. You can make it through this. Piece of cake, after everything else you've done."

Leia smiled and cupped his cheek. "I can't decide if this is the best or worst pep talk I've received."

"That's my secret: never make it obvious. Keep 'em guessing."

She pulled him down for a soft kiss. "All right, I'll try to stop moping. We'll stay here for one more month. Deal?"

"Deal. But just remember that deadline is yours, not mine."

"I will."

Han stretched out his limbs, nearly filling the mattress despite its oversized dimensions. "Have I told you I've always wanted to have sex in a bed like this?"

"Like what? Our bed at home?"

"Nah, this one is different. Ours doesn't have these types of posts. Might come in handy, you know."

"I don't want to know," Leia replied, though she was pretty sure she did know. But then Han leaned down and scraped that spot on her neck with his teeth and she felt herself start to sink into a state where distinct thoughts became fuzzy and it no longer mattered what she might or might not know.

As Han caressed her through her clothes Leia felt a distant prick in her Force-sense. Ignoring it, she tugged his shirt over his head and started to work on his belt. He deepened the kiss and pressed his thigh between her legs. She arched against him in turn and wrapped her ankles around his back.

Han's comm buzzed once, then stopped. Then buzzed again. And again. Sighing, he rolled off of Leia and grabbed it from the bedside table.

"It's for you," he said. "It's Luke."

"Luke?"

"Just like old times, huh? But not in a good way."

Leia kissed his shoulder and flipped the comm open. "Luke?"

"Hi, Leia." There was an awkward pause. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, not at all." She raised an eyebrow at Han who made a face in the direction of the comm. "What's going on?"

"Well... I'm not entirely sure. Not yet. Remember when we talked in Canto Bight and you asked me about whether I sensed if there was a new conflict emerging?"

"I remember."

"Well, I think you should come talk to someone. If you're able to get away."

Leia was starting to think she had had her fill of vague prophecies to last a lifetime. "Can you be more specific, Luke?"

"It's one of my students. He has precognitive abilities of a sort and told me today some of what he's perceiving."

"Does this have anything to do with a threat toward Mon and the government? That's what we're trying to focus on."

There was a pause. "I think it does."

"Okay." Leia rubbed her eyes. "Is it an emergency? We could leave now."

"Not an emergency. But perhaps come sooner rather than later."

She glanced at Han and mouthed tomorrow. He nodded.

"Luke, we'll start first thing in the morning. If you have other information that might be helpful in the meantime, send it over."

"I will. Thanks, sis."

"So the saga continues," Han said after she shut off the comm.

"Apparently." Leia laid back on the mattress and stretched her arms over her head. The muscles bunched around her shoulders were temporarily soothed by the motion. "I feel a bit more hopeful, though."

"Until those hopes are dashed when we get to Dantooine."

"I thought you were supposed to be an optimist now."

"A realist," Han corrected. He leaned over and caught both of her hands in one of his. "I've always been a realist."

"You like to think so."

"I sure do." He nuzzled the open collar of her shirt and brushed her bra strap with his nose. "For example, it's extremely realistic I'm gonna take your clothes off of you in the next thirty seconds."

"That many?" Leia widened her eyes innocently. "Surely you can do better than that."

"Don't tempt me, woman." Han's head disappeared further under her shirt. "Would you prefer I tear them off instead?"

Leia laughed and wrestled her hands free. After a minor tussle they both ended up sans clothes with Han lowering himself on her, impatient to continue where they had left off.

"See, I always keep my promises," he whispered as he moved inside her.

"When it comes to your favorite activity, maybe."

"Our favorite activity."

Closing her eyes, Leia gave up on formulating a comeback. She breathed deeply and focused on the sensation of her body expanding to the point where no tension remained, where the sex itself was almost secondary to the tidal rhythm that claimed her movements. It was a rhythm only Han had been able to unlock and one that nearly always promised relief from any frustrations that happened to be gnawing at her.

But that night, despite their best efforts, relief did not come. Instead, the specter of failure crept into their bed and distracted Leia with its promises of future regret and disappointment. On its heels was impatience and a longing for certainty in her actions that she had never, up until now, been without. Action was how she operated, was who she was. She had never before lost her clarity of purpose. Now, however, she found herself questioning if her life was in the midst of taking an unwanted turn, one that had been self-inflicted and risked leaving her stranded in the wastelands of a once purposeful existence.

The wind hit Leia hard when they disembarked from the Falcon. As promised, her brother was waiting when they came out of hyperspace and had greeted them at the bottom of the ramp when they landed. He led them across the Dantooinian highlands in the direction of the school which, as far as Leia could make out, was reminiscent of an isolated hamlet surrounded by grass and yet more grass.

"You arrived on a particularly breezy day," Luke yelled.

"There's definitely not a lot around to block this wind," Han hollered back. The gusts threatened to knock them on their backs as they made their way to a scrum of wooden buildings.

"Believe it or not, you get used to it."

Inside the largest of the low-slung structures, Luke offered them tea and birrka bread that had been baked earlier that morning. Leia peered down the hallways extending from the light-filled atrium: from what she could tell, classrooms and training rooms as well as Luke's office lay along either side of the corridors. The facility was larger than it looked from the outside, maybe even larger than she had envisioned based on his description, and on the walk over she had noted several other buildings nearly the size of this one.

"Dormitories," Luke said, when he noticed her studying the rest of the campus through the window. "We have 84 students currently, most between the ages of ten and sixteen. I have five instructors besides me and we've started employing part-time help from the nearest town."

"It's certainly isolated," Han commented. "How do you get the supplies you need?"

"Patience, mostly," Luke admitted. "But basic foodstuff comes from the town and we've made arrangements with local shipping operations to pick up what we need from other worlds. In some ways it's an advantage: we're forced to make do with what we have and come up with workarounds. The students learn to adapt and frequently surprise me with their creativity."

As if on cue, there was darting movement and a shuffling sound just off Luke's left side. Leia studied the newcomer who had appeared out of nowhere: a small figure in hooded robes, perhaps eleven or twelve years old.

"Hello, Danil," Luke smiled. "I'd like you to meet my sister Leia and her husband Han."

"Pleased to meet you," the student said shyly. It came off a touch rehearsed and Leia watched as he said a few words to Luke in another language before switching back to Basic. "Master Skywalker has told me about you."

"It's nice to meet you too," said Leia.

"Danil is Miralukan," Luke explained.

Leia immediately recognized the cloth mask as a covering for sightless eyes. The Miralukans were a species she hadn't had much contact with either during the war or in the years since, but she was nevertheless informed about their customs and beliefs. One of the least warlike species in the galaxy, they were also standoffish, and negotiations to have Miraluka join the New Republic were still ongoing as as best Leia could recall. Their Force-sense made them valuable allies, though, and it would have been surprising if Luke's school didn't have any enrolled as students.

"You speak his language?" Han asked incredulously.

"A little." Luke laughed self-consciously. "Danil's taught me a few phrases but he's also learning to communicate through the Force. Sometimes words help him with that effort even if I can't understand all of them." He looked down at his student. "Can you tell my sister what you've seen?"

"I see lots of things," the boy said. "Sometimes I see the same event over and over but the ending is different."

"What event is that?" Leia asked.

"A woman is giving a speech. But she cannot finish what she is saying. She collapses in the middle of a sentence. That is one ending." Danil paused and looked away. "Other times she finishes the speech and falls sick later."

"The times she collapses," Leia prompted, "does she recover later or does she die?"

"She dies."

"And do you see how she dies? Is she shot?"

The boy shook his head. "There's no blood. Everything is – quiet. Almost like a dream. She's standing – and then she's not."

"But your visions are like dreams, aren't they? Do you hear things in them?"

Luke intercepted Leia's query. "Danil has told me he can detect sound in his visions."

"I can't hear what is being said," Danil clarified. "But I know when it's quiet or when it's noisy."

"Who is the woman?" Han asked.

"Not you," Danil said, focusing on Leia.

"Describe the woman to us, please," Leia requested.

"She's tall. Her shoulders are bent a little. But not when she talks. She is upright then."

"Does she look like anyone you know?"

"Sometimes she looks like Head of State Mothma," Danil said. His voice was almost a whisper. "But other times she doesn't look like anyone I know. Someone with darker hair, but her face is blurry."

"And is there anyone else in your visions that you recognize?"

"No."

"Is there anyone else who seems to play a part of any significance? Anyone else you can describe to us?"

Danil held out his hands helplessly. "Sometimes there are beings in the audience who come into focus. I can see them distinctly, like they are watching the speech for a specific reason. But I do not know why, and in other visions they are not there at all." He looked at his feet. "I am sorry I don't have anything else to tell you."

Leia straightened up and took a step back. "Thank you, Danil. You have been very helpful. Please let Master Luke know if you think of anything else that might be relevant."

After his student was dismissed, Luke led Leia and Han to his office. "I can tell you're not entirely convinced these visions have anything to do with the threats you're investigating," he said to his sister.

"They could," Leia acknowledged. "But from what I've read, Miralukans can see many possible futures or combinations of futures. They're not fortune tellers."

"And yet there are known cases when a Jedi's prediction was extraordinarily accurate," her brother countered.

"Danil's not a Jedi yet," Han said. "He's just a kid who's beginning his training."

"But his native abilities crossed with a Force-sense could give him heightened predictive powers."

"I'm not discounting that," Leia said. "I just want to be cautious about how we use this information. It's one piece of a puzzle, but we have to find other pieces to discern how much weight should be put on this particular one."

"I'll keep an eye on Danil in case he has more visions. I don't want to frighten him, though." The Jedi's voice turned somber. "There'll be plenty of time for that when he's older."

"Exactly." Leia stared out the window of his office. An outdoor exercise was underway in a wind-protected courtyard and a neat grid of trainees were practicing dueling with dummy light sabers. "I'm glad we came to hear what he said. But we shouldn't burden him with the idea that he's responsible for stopping a potential crime."

"At the very least you can tell Mon to avoid speeches in public for a while."

"Maybe it's not a public event," Leia thought aloud. "Maybe she's meeting with her advisors or conducting negotiations in the Senate."

Luke leaned back in his chair and frowned. "You think someone close to her is out to get her?"

"I don't know." Leia's frustration threatened to boil over. Yet again they were chasing ghosts with nothing solid to guide their path. "There are many ways to kill someone. You don't even have to be in the same room as them."

"It usually helps, though."

Leia rubbed her head. "I'll figure out something. We'll figure out something. But I'm glad you reached out to us. We're not exactly uncovering a lot of clues on our own," she admitted. "And it is good to visit your school."

Luke nodded and smiled again. "Let me show you around. You can eat with the students tonight before flying back." He led them out of the office and back to the atrium. "Where will you be heading back to anyway?"

"Kanalis, I suppose." Leia glanced over at her husband. "Maybe we should talk to Claire again. Try to find out more about what she knows about this supposed plot that she doesn't support."

"It's as good a plan as any," Han said. "Though I can't say I'm looking forward to more dead ends."

"Luke, are you sensing anything else on your own?" Leia asked.

"Like what? Disturbances in the Force?"

"Perhaps. Or anything else unusual," Leia said. "Something indicating larger forces are at play."

"There are always fluctuations in the Force," Luke told her. "Absent large disturbances, those fluctuations could mean any number of things. Part of the Jedi training is to learn to read insight that may be contained in them. It's not a simple process, though, so I'm reluctant to draw any conclusions right now." He shot Han a sidelong glance. "And don't say what good are the Jedi then."

"You don't know I was gonna say that," Han protested. "You can't read my mind."

"No, but I know you and it's a very Han thing to say."

"It just seems awfully convenient that when the shit starts to hit the fan, the guardians of galactic peace are holed up far away from the action trying to interpret Force ripples or whatever."

"The Jedi order – such as we are at this time – does not set out to be deliberately obtuse," Luke said. "We're just aware that there are very real limitations on our powers and want to use them judiciously."

"And is there some sort of level of disorder that spurs you all into action?"

"Like what?"

"Like how bad do things have to get before you intervene?"

"I'm always asking myself that question," Luke confessed. "And I guess the answer is that if there were to be significant disturbances in the Force combined with knowledge obtained other ways, we would prepare to take action."

"But by then it may be too late to stop anything."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Luke said. Leia recognized the firmness in her brother's tone that hadn't always been there. "But for now, let's eat."

"You shouldn't be so hard on Luke," Leia told Han after they had boarded the Falcon later that night.

"You're hard on him too sometimes," Han replied. "And I wasn't hard on him. Sometimes it's just frustrating to the rest of us when a galactic-wide peace-seeking order seems to want to do anything else except try to keep the peace. Especially in a time like this."

"A time like what? A potential crisis?"

Han glanced over at her as he ran an abbreviated pre-flight check on the console. "Who knows if it's actually a crisis. But I feel like we can use all the help we can get right now."

"Luke let us know about Danil's visions," Leia pointed out. "That may turn out to be helpful."

"May," Han emphasized. When she didn't respond, he sighed. "Look, I'll be patient. But I know you're frustrated too."

"I am," Leia admitted. She picked up a datapad and studied it idly. "But that's not exactly anything new."

The rolling grass of Dantooine faded below them. Han steered them out of the atmosphere and set the coordinates for Kanalis. "Should we fly directly to Ber Sheeba?"

"Wait." Leia was scanning the news reports from the day. "I think I have a better idea."

"That's a relief."

"Look at this." Leia stood and showed him her datapad. "A delegation of senators is coming to Kanalis's sector for a fundraising event for a few days. Tolwar's one of them. Sounds like they'll be meeting with donors and shoring up support for the security bill winding its way through the Senate."

"What does the bill propose?"

"Let me see." Leia read further. "Retroactively gives Kaarl sole control over the NRSB... Establishes funding for additional security on Chandrila... Oh, this is a big one: it removes the Head of State and the Council from oversight over any security concerns. Not just over the NRSB but internal security in other departments is also exempt from supervision."

Han rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It feels like a two-pronged approach: either take out Mon directly or remove her authority and that of the Council."

"Or both." Leia frowned at the report. "But does that mean this anarchist group is in league with the Senate conservatives? That doesn't make sense."

"Politics make strange bedfellows. Maybe they're after the same end and have agreed to work together."

"I don't think Mon's opponents want to disband the New Republic," Leia argued. "They just want to be the ones in charge."

"Then the two factions are playing off each other," Han said. "Escalating the stakes and waiting to see if the other side blinks."

Leia sighed. "I feel even more certain now that we have to get in front of Tolwar and try to get some answers."

"I'm pretty sure that an ultra-conservative Senator is not gonna come out and tell you exactly what he has planned," Han deadpanned.

"I have to try anyway. Do you think Devon can get us tickets to that event?"

"If he wants our help as badly as he says he does, then I would think he could work something out." Han tapped out an adjustment to their course on the console. "I still think he knows more than he's telling us. I don't fully trust him."

"Neither do I. But that's probably safe to say about everyone involved."

As Han busied himself with the jump calculations, Leia composed a message for Mon: an update on their progress, such as it was, and a warning about making public appearances. When she finished she thought about what she had asked Luke back on Dantooine, about whether he was detecting anything useful through his Force-sense. And then, just to try it herself, she leaned back in her seat and half-closed her eyes, willing herself into a meditative state in the hopes that a solution of sorts might be tricked into existence from the recesses of her mind.

"Hey."

Startled, Leia blinked and wondered how much time had elapsed. The rivers of light through the transparisteel had seemingly lulled her into a false dream; as expected, no solution had birthed itself. Han was studying her from his chair and when she met his eyes he seemed to comprehend her failed attempt. He jerked his chin and she went over to the captain's chair and lowered herself in his lap. To her relief he was silent, unquestioning and unjudging. Relaxing into his embrace, she closed her eyes again and resumed her meditative efforts to the background soundtrack of the hyperdrive engines.