Once she squinted her eyes against the wind did the noise and heavy weight go away. They were soaring over tree tops, darkened leaves moving underneath them. For a long moment, she stared down, fascinated, before the trees disappeared and they flew down the cliff side down to a valley. It broadened, as they started descending, yet the sight that lay beyond robbed her of breath momentarily. A lake, large, far larger than she would have imagined stretched out from the mouth of the valley. Boba landed them not too far away from the shore. Trees still surrounded them, the water sparkling ahead of them in the setting sun's light.

"So…" she started. "Why here?"

Boba chuckled. "We have to wait until the sun has set."

"Why?"

"You will see," he simply winked at her. "This is a salt lake that dries up in this season and is hence shallow enough to walk on."

"Wait," she held up a hand. "How deep is the lake normally?"

"Several tens of meters," Boba shrugged. "There is a river feeding into it, but in the summer seasons, so around this time, its water level sinks enough that it cannot flow up a hill to go into this lake."

"Oh," Altharya mouthed. "So… what is a salt lake?"

Boba blinked. "You never…." Then he shook his head. "I keep forgetting you grew up on Teth."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She glared at him.

"You grew up in the jungles of Teth," Boba shrugged back. "From what I have seen, you got large rivers."

"The first town I lived in on Teth, was at the coast," Altharya interceded.

"But no salt lakes," Boba corrected, one of his eyebrows shooting up.

"You still did not explain what they were."

"It is a body of water that has no access to the ocean and in dry periods the water evaporates leaving behind the salt with little water," he finally explained.

"And there is something that you want to show me once the sun sets?"

"Yes," he replied, his hand softening a bit around her wrist. "My father used to take me here sometimes. Right now, the light falling onto the lake makes it work like a mirror to the sky."

"Mirroring the sky?"

He started marching towards the shore. "After the first death I could not prevent, I came here to calm down."

"What happened?" She felt herself deflate slightly, her throat was tight again.

The man's bloodshot eyes crept back into her mind, his desperation laying sour on her tongue once more. Her breath hitched, the disgust crawled under her skin again. She shuddered and Boba's hand on her shoulder squeezed gently. A silent reassurance. It had been either her or him. Had to remember this.

Was the only the way to move on.

"Monts used to have a partner," Boba began then, pushing her towards the shore. "One who became addicted to alcohol when the Empire was founded. On a mission, he was too drunk and I called out to him about the mine," he sighed before continuing. "He stepped on it, even with my warning."

"He died?"

"Not at first, no. I had to shoot him to stop his suffering," Boba looked forlorn into the distance and she hesitantly reached out before flinching away. This was… she bit the inside of her cheek and touched his shoulder. Her sympathy had some meaning now, one that rushed loudly like blood in her ears. "Monts took it hard and I needed to be away from him for a bit."

"So you came here."

"Yes," Boba seemed pensive now. "Once you see what I mean, you will get why."

"The mirror?" She frowned.

"It is more than that," he replied quietly.

They stepped out of the trees then, onto a rough sand shore. The sky had gained an orange-pink tint, sparkling off water… yet… she could not stop her eyes widen. A mirror… her mouth opened, but she could not find the words. More than that… the sky was, hands settled on her waist guiding her forward. Water splashed around her boots stepping into the shallow lake. There was no horizon, only sky meeting… the sky. Sun light flared out, its rays seemingly enveloping everything. Silently, Boba guided her further in. Away from the shore.

"It is like walking in the sky," she finally breathed out.

One hand on her waist slid up, just underneath her ribcage. Resting there where her heart pounded against it.

"It's why I came here," Boba whispered into her ear. "You just forget where you are and can pretend you are nowhere and everywhere at once."

"I can see what you meant now," she teased.

"Good," he vibrated from quiet laughter behind her. "We are not far enough yet, at some point you will not see any shore line."

"All alone," she asked turning her head towards him.

He grinned broadly at her, eyes sparkling. "All alone."

They kept walking for a felt eternity, until he pulled her to a stop, his hands falling away from her waist.

She turned around and… just as he had said. Just them, the sky and the illusion of infinity. By then night had started to fall, dark blue hues diffusing into the vibrant colours above their heads.

"Makes one feel so small," she whispered, craning her neck. "So insignificant compared to this."

Boba remained quiet for a moment. "How are you feeling?"

She bit her lower lip, looking down and towards him. "Still heavy."

His face fell a bit. "There will be more instances of these things happening," he said slowly, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You must learn to move past them."

"You make it sound so easy," she muttered back.

"It is not," Boba admitted.

"You killed so many," Altharya huffed, slowly grasping around his elbows. "I can't imagine it being difficult to you."

His face fell then. "Not when I didn't want them to die," he admitted. "When I am on the job, I cannot afford to think about who I have killed."

"I see," she tightened her grip on his elbows.

"You will have to learn to shut them out once you…" he stopped, swallowed heavily. "Once you are with Darth Vader, any flinching on your part will be a weakness he will use against you."

Once… the sword hanging over her head. The inevitable doom awaiting her when Boba or Vader deemed it safe for her to be delivered. How the idyll of a place could make her forget? Tears pressed against her eyes then, burning through any resolve she had built.

"How can you even move past from something like this? I destroyed this man's mind!"

One hand settled on her cheek, gentle, soothing where the thumb rested on the cheekbone. Night had fallen then, the galaxy strip shimmering above their heads. Black sky all around them, she could only really see the shape of his face while the light had grown otherworldly blue reflected back from the water.

"You cannot change the past," Boba said solemnly. "Take your time now, but then you must promise me" – he stared at her imploringly – "that you will move on. Anything else will get you killed."

"Is this what you learned?"

"Yes," he grimly smiled. "I was far younger than you then."

"How old?"

"Sixteen," he replied. "And you?"

"Me?" She asked.

"You said you had patients before that died in your care?"

"Doctor Struhn would not let me assist him in surgeries until I was eighteen," she recounted. "But there were patients that died while I cared for them outside. Illnesses we did everything to treat and they just faded away or died in their surgery recovery…"

"Who was your first?"

"I was twelve," she lowered her eyes, their boots were touching. "An elderly woman was experiencing jaw pains, a heart attack and she just closed her eyes and died while I was preparing her for surgery."

"You did what you could," he then said, his other hand cupping her other cheek. "Think of it this way, you tried. Sometimes that is all you get."

She carefully eased closer to him, her arms settling around his waist. "Is this what Tehra meant with 'it does not matter'?"

"It is a way to keep your sanity," he replied. "The man that held the gun to your face, if you hadn't intervened…"

"I know," she interceded. "I just…"

"Tehra said you were too powerful."

"I was I guess," she flinched away, but his hands kept her in place.

"Spell it out to me," he said. "Tell me, so I can understand."

There was an openness lingering in her cheeks, seeping down to her heart, slowing it down. Stars bloomed in his eyes and… her mouth had grown dry then.

"What I showed you the other day," she began hesitantly. "was not everything I've discovered. Do you remember when you first chased me on Teth?"

Boba's mouth twitched, before he nodded, but he did not say anything to interrupt her.

"Do you also remember when you and the other bounty hunter caught up with me on that roof top?"

He frowned, suspicion worn openly on his face.

"She caught up to me before that, ready to kill me. But I made her stop, confuse her a bit, convince her that I was not there."

His eyes widened then. "You mean… she had already caught up to you when I got up on the roof?"

"Yes," she replied.

"You manipulated her mind," he stated in slight disbelief. "Is this what you did?"

"Rion could not see me, Emmet could not see me," she listed off. "At first I thought they just did not notice me, but I realized I could influence someone's mind subconsciously to just not see me. Or later, I could become fully invisible."

"Invisible?" Boba sputtered. "That… would make sense. I remember my father teaching me how to prevent such…" he twisted his mouth briefly. "what you were doing."

She looked down. "Tehra said I was too powerful for the man's mind, it cracked. I sensed his agony … and I did not stop."

"It was either you or him," Boba reminded her then. "Whether you had pulled a trigger or done what you have done, it would have not mattered."

"It does not matter now," Altharya replied. "Still feels…"

"Takes a bit to move past it," Boba reminded her.

She smiled ruefully at to him. "I am fine."

"I can see that," he joked, slowly pushing her to move backwards. "But I still want to show you something."

"Oh?" Altharya raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought…"

"We are close to the magnetic field lines, here," he whispered with a wink. "Do you know what that means?"

She frowned. "No? Is there…."

He opened his mouth, but closed it. "I am surprised you do not know this. Still got some time before it happens, but I promise you, what you have seen so far has nothing on it."

"Making a lot of promises," she teased, gripping his wrists.

"Since when have I broken a promise?" Boba retorted, smirking broadly then.

Before she could say anything more, he looked up, above her head and the smirk turned into a smile. "Look!"

He turned her around, hands on her shoulder keeping her in place. Something she was grateful for… the night sky was… she could have never imagined the colours glimmering in it now. Vibrant green, blue and purples flashed across, moved and some moved like curtains in a light breeze. Her mouth fell open in awe. And… to her feet, the same lights were sparkling back.

They stood… her head was whirling…. Where was the boundary? Where did the sky and water meet? An aurora… she had read about them, back in another life. Where such events meant what culturally… but… never had she ever seen one. It reminded her more of… space. Of the otherworldly nebula in text books on astronomy.

"And?" Came the soft question, close to her ears, raising the hair on her neck, arms and shoulders.

"I…," she could not really form a coherent word that described it all. "I've never seen this. Feels like we are everywhere and nowhere."

A low chuckle vibrated around her back. She shivered lightly, goosebumps spread around her shoulder blades and neck. Tension fled her body, heat spread from her stomach to her face and down to her toes.

"Like we are in the middle of the universe?" He asked, too quietly and somehow it felt distant.

"Yes," she mouthed watching as the purple-green lights shimmered above her head and at her feet.

Dizzy, she staggered around to face him. His face was doused in bright light and deep shadows. Eyes darkened to black pools with turquoise sparks glimmering in them, purple sheens had placed themselves on his cheeks. In awe, she watched them move, lighting up planes and dips in his face and throwing them into darkness just as quickly. They were nowhere.

Who they were, where they were… who they were to each other. Didn't matter… she didn't want it to matter right now. What mattered was them in this place, in this moment… She lifted herself on his toes, hands settling on his neck. A muscle moved as he swallowed and his hands shifted to her waist, guiding her movement up.

Far too close, she could sense the tingling, the prickling of his presence molding around her mind, her body… Her mouth opened, she breathed in… His forehead dropped to hers, their noses were touching.

One movement… all that was needed. His hands gripped the cloth of her tunic tightly. Desperation, longing… and then… fear. Sour fear drove into her chest, chasing away the heat. She squeezed her eyes shut. Forbidden, this was not what was supposed to happen. Remember? Even if she wanted it so badly, even if he did. This was wrong.

"We shouldn't," he muttered, lips moving against her forehead then, slowly but insistently pushing her down. "I am sorry…"

It was quiet, and she fell back to her heels. Water splashed and she hung her head.

She was no fool. No. It mattered who they were, regardless of where they were. This would haunt them every step, every choice they made. Cruel, this was a cruel fate. The one she had let some of her guard down to was the one who held the strings on her life. Whether she'd be delivered to certain death or the loss of her very self. Here… in an illusion of disembodiment… sweet and cruel, but it was just that. An illusion. Nothing was real, she had been stupid to even indulge in the little affection they had allowed themselves.

"Let's just go back," she turned around, to throw one last glance up. "We stayed away long enough."

Once they returned, he'd be pulled away for meetings, questions… pretending to be concerned about whatever the village elders thought necessary to discuss with him. Just so she could have some solace, be alone in their room that seemed too small in her mind now. But it was what she needed. Be alone, no Boba, no Monts, no Tehra. Just no one, but herself and her thoughts. She needed clarity to squash those feelings of affection. What would Master Renstan say if he knew? Disappointed that she could not control her emotions? That he rescued the most imperfect Jedi Youngling, whose powers were too dim and who could not resist the slightest temptation?

"As you wish," his reply was cold, tone-less, back to being impenetrable in the Force.

She had her eyes shut the whole way back. The whole village was in an uproar when they touched down on the roof. Lights burned everywhere, the frantic bustling of people in the streets screeched on her nerves and she winced when Boba's com started to beep.

"Go to our room," Boba suggested noticing her reaction. "Do not move from there. I will handle this."

She merely nodded, grateful not to make up excuses to hide in their room. Once in their room, she locked the door, pulled the curtains shut and switched off the lights. Huddling into a corner under the window, she slung her arms around her legs. What had she turned into? Weak willed, lost her focus, lost her clarity…

Yet.

She bit her lower lip, feeling the air in the room prickle as the Force jumped against her skin. That was not true any longer. Since when did she have such a grasp on her powers like now? Never before. 'There was no emotion, there was peace'. The line rang hollow to her now. However, it was not her lived truth anymore.

What was truth truly? She huffed out a bitter short bark of laughter. Who was she to question what the Force wanted? Or… did she just no longer care what the Force wanted? Who was she? In the grand scheme of things? Not even a speck, but here and now, she could fill the whole house and somehow probably fill out cracks in Boba's life.

What was she thinking? Emotions… they… She pushed her forehead against her knees. What were they? Weren't they what made her empathetic? Feel sympathy? What had Struhn told her once? But she had dismissed him so easily, keeping the Jedi's words too close to her heart and mind. Emotions were filters through which a world is experienced.

Just why… just why did it have to all awaken with him? With a bounty hunter of all people! She shouldn't, yet it was the reality. There was no way around what had brought them to the constellation they were in now.

A tiny shock raced up her spine, shaking her shoulders, spreading goosebumps down her arms and chills clung to her fingers. She clenched her hands into fists instinctively, frowning at the sudden cold. Danger? Again? One more far away, but one that was approaching fast. The electricity in the air sparked, tasting like a lightning bolt ready to strike. Who…?

It would never stop.

The danger, the hunting… the moment she had been captured by those bounty hunters on Teth, it had been over. She'd be hunted, chased… sought to be destroyed until she was nothing more than ashes on the bottom of a lake or a rotting corpse on crumbled steel and stone. Condemned… there was no other way around it. Condemned and trapped.

Just… the colours of the sky back on the lake sprang unbiddingly to life behind her eyelids. Dancing vividly, shapes moved, started to clump together. Shapes of people, mirrored all around. Her head fell to the side, hitting the hard wooden wall to the side. More colours, more swirls that threw clouds of dust around materialized… Whether behind her eyelids or whether she was seeing, she could no longer really tell.

A mirror… to mirror… calm, a surety gripped at her limbs, her heart and mind then. Illusions were mirrors of reality.

She opened up to see.

The answer to her plights stared right into her eyes.

AN: Thank you so much for the lovely reviews! Anyhow, after this chapter I will write three chapters in a row before publishing the one after this chapter. There is a twist in the story where I know you will not like being kept in suspense for a few months. Please bear with me and I truly hope you will like how I resolve the issue that has kept the two literally "so close yet so far away".