".. and I worry about you're sanity," Amalia said sarcastically.

"I'm betting I don't have much of a choice, Bettencourt. If we had things you're way, I'm sure I'd be tied to you by the waist. Lighten up, just because I'm going through a rough time right now, doesn't mean I don't know how to handle my own. Let's not forget who has the power of the force here, and who doesn't.."

Her footsteps matched his as she followed close behind him, her right hand deliberately falling to the base of his right shoulder suddenly as they drifted into the deeper and darker parts of the castle.

"Ca.. can you see anything?"

Her brown eyes tried to look past his form, her once soft breath turning into more forceful breaths.

"... Do.. you.. h..hear that?"

The pathway the two happened to be walking down was quite narrow, though Amalia couldn't tell as much, her gaze remaining on Jensen most of the time as they walked.

It was her own breathing, Amalia too frightened by then to even take a moment to stop and look around with the illuminated light that Jensen's turquoise lightsaber provided, to even notice that they were in a narrow passage way. Any noise above soft made more sound than what was intentional, her breathing cascading off of the narrow walls, right on down into the blackness that stretched on miles on end before them.

“Jensen..”

Her right hand grasped his shoulder more firmly as she paused.

“… I.. I.. We shouldn’t be in here, Jensen..”

Amalia voice had become a bit shaky; it probably would not have taken much on Jensen's part to realize that the woman who had been all talk not more than five minutes ago was suddenly frightened to bits.

Just when Amalia thought she could not become anymore frightened than she already was, Jensen dropped his saber.

The instrument clattered to the ground, the rattle of the tool bouncing off of the walls of the narrow hall, a deafening sound nestling into their eardrums.

Foolishly, Amalia released her grip upon Jensen's right shoulder, her right hand abruptly curly into a fist as she suddenly realized what she had done.

She stopped walking then, her eyes darting in rapid successions from left to right.

Silence.

"Jensen..? Bettencourt?... Please... Jensen please don't.."

A quick strong hand grabbed Amalia by her upper right arm, a greenish blue beam coming to cast itself to her once again.

She screamed.

"It shall be returned," he said, a gleam of enjoyment coming into his gaze.

"I am always a Sith of my word, you know that, Malice."

He headed for the door, stopping abruptly as the door slid open.

"I suppose I shall leave you now to attend to your own personal matters," he said as he slowly turned his gaze toward Malice once more.

"Consider it a favor, if you'd like. This means I owe you then. I give my word that the debt will be met in full. Good day."

He left.

"I'm here..." Jensen said quietly.

He watched her for a moment.

"I'm not going to leave you..." His brow raised.

It was amazing -- the lady seemed so confident only moments before. Now she seemed petrified, and this worried Jensen in the fullest. This wasn't the state she wanted to be in at all.

He thought about telling her the sounds she was hearing was her own breathing but he had decided not to.

"Calm down Amalia, it's alright." He studied her hoping she could gather herself.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

The daunted woman shook her head softly, as if trying to ward off what had just happened.

"I.."

Slowly she moved her gaze to look at her surroundings. After trying to regain her own wits about her, she spoke more fluently.

"Sorry, something startled me... but I am fine now."

What a horrible liar.

"We should probably get moving again."

She was not sure how long they had walked or for how far. All she knew was that she was in need of some rest; much needed rest.

She could not remember the last time she had slept, peacefully, anyway.

They lacked solid conversation as they walked on, turning a bend to enter into another tunnel, though a bit wider than the last.

The further they walked, the wider the space ahead, grew.

"Jensen, wait.."

She stopped walking, grabbing onto the upper part of his arm lightly to catch his attention.

"I think we should rest here.. for the night. I don't know about you, but I'm a bit tired."

Theed, Naboo: Cole's residence.

Eight year old Lono Draclau sat at his uncle's kitchen table, eating leftovers from the previous night's meal; his uncle sitting next to him.

Try as the young boy did to eat, he could not. He hardly ate at all anymore, not since...

... Not since his mother's absence.

His uncle tried as best as he could to keep the boy's mind off of troubling times, but to not much avail. He could not shake his mother from his mind.

Setting his eating utensil back down beside his plate, Lono looked to his uncle, his eyes full of curiosity.

"I want to go look for mommy..."

Kahn laid back in the seat of the ship, having set it on auto-pilot to the next destination on the list; for over 24 hours straight, he'd been going from planet to planet, getting just close enough to where he could reach out with the Force and search for his Master's Force signature. Thus far, he'd had no luck, other than being questioned a few times by suspicious security patrols who wanted to know why his shuttle seemed to be acting so strange.

Now, the Jedi Master was beginning to lose hope of ever finding Amalia- after all, there was no guarantee she would even remain on whatever planet she and the strange Jedi visited. His eyelids started lowering, stifling a yawn as he wondered how much of a difference a few minutes of sleep would make. . .

That was when he felt her.

Kahn sat bolt-upright in the chair, wide awake now. He reached out with the Force, almost tentatively- and located Amalia's Force signature. It was different, marred, shadowed in Darkness and pain- but it was her.

The Jedi Master looked down at the console in front of him, and quickly accessed the databank entry for the planet coming into view.

Jomark:

A world dominated by its vast oceans and seas, the islands that dot the surface are the results of volcanic activity beneath the waves. Many islands are home to several active volcanoes as a result. Jomark is sparsely populated, with few inhabitants willing to brave the unpredictable, often deadly environment of the planet.

The lack of sentient life-forms on the planet must have been why Amalia's Force Signature stuck out so much- had it not been for that, there was a chance Kahn might have passed over the planet without realizing she was there, simply because of how different her presence seemed to be, from what he could sense through the Force.

Kahn initiated the landing sequence once he was in correct position above the planet, grabbing a knapsack filled with survival gear he'd packed before. The Jedi took a deep breath, to calm his nerves. It would take time to pinpoint Amalia's exact location, and he would have to rent some kind of transportation from somewhere- but now that he was here, he wasn't quite sure if he would be ready for what he found. .

Without so much as looking towards Zeta, Malice nodded his head in understanding. His mind was on matters of his own, and right now he could care less about his spell book.

Finally understanding what it was he had to do, Malice quickly got ready. A bag was packed with his lightsaber, some rations and water, as well as a couple paris of clothing(well, white robes was more like it). Malice would begin his search for his son......and Amalia.

Where they were he did not know. Malice knew that Amalia would be keeping Lono at Cole's house, but where that was he never knew. Amalia never did tell him, probably to keep him from evber looking there should he wish to seek Lono out.


Never the less, Malice had the time to search, as well as the resources to do so.

Making his way into the hanger bay, Malice walked briskly into his shuttle. Setting his things down, Malice sat in the pilots seat. One by one he flipped switches on, one by one activating the ship. First were the engines, second was the navi-computer, and lastly were the thrusters.

Once given the signal, Malice jetted off into the sky above Xa Fel. Quickly making it into space. Without wasting time, Malice punched in a randon planet, and it ws off in into hypserpace he went. One way or the other, he would find them both, and fulfill his destiny.

Jensen turned to look at her, he then turned to look down the tunnel which slowly grew wider as they walked.

Jensen honestly didn't even know where they were at he guessed they were somewhere under the castle but who knew?

"I um...."

He let out a light sigh and looked at her.

"Alright..." He said as he nodded his head subtley.

"You look pretty tired, lets get some sleep."

Jensen noticed that he started to see his breath in front of him, there was more to be concerned about than just how heavy his eyes were getting.

The tempreture was dropping rapidly.

"It's so cold down here..." he said, his arms crossed.

"...It looks like we're gonna have to sleep pretty closely to keep warm." He said, his arms crossed.

"Oh.."

Amalia's gaze had been centered on Jensen as he spoke, the rapid temperature drop suddenly coming to cast a small shiver down her spin.

Her gaze drifted somewhat away from Jensen to look at the wide-open spaced area that was before him.

"Okay then," she said softly after an instant, though her tone didn't sound all that convincing.

"You should probably choose the spot then," she said, looking from the ground back up at him rather quickly.

Jensen took no more but a minute or two to scan the area before finding a spot that looked suitable enough to him. Amalia wasn't sure how the man had come about choosing a place, nothing within the wide tunnel really stuck out. Just pure wide-open space.

She agreed with his choice instantly as he came to point out his desired spot, she could not find any reason not to disagree with him.

Amalia didn't move at first, hesitant. It took a bit of coaxing on Jensen's part to get Amalia to lie upon the smooth cold rock covered floor, Jensen having already spread his body across the floor as if he were used to such conditions.

Amalia, on the other hand, lowered herself onto the ground much more slowly, the front of her body eventually coming to face Jensen.

They lie facing one another, though for a moment at a fair distance apart. She remembered they needed to keep warm. Since Amalia had been the last to lie down, naturally it was her place to close the gab between them.

Amalia still couldn't bring herself to move closer to the man. In truth, she hoped to just avoid what she considered awkward confrontation. She did not know this man, yet she was supposed to sleep rather close to him so that she may keep herself warm. He was a stranger, and that was what made this so awkward to her.

Nonetheless, she needed him for warmth just as much as she suspected he needed hers.

He gently called out her name, reminding her of the coldness of the place. She needed no reminding, but rather, a moment to decide.

"I know," she said rather quietly, perhaps too quietly.

She counted to ten as she held her breath, releasing the small amount of air from her lips as she slowly began to crawl toward Jensen, filling the rest of the gap between each other.

Her right hand lightly came to grasp his right arm, which was sprawled slightly outwards in front of him.

"I'm here now," she said, coming to rest her head upon the upper area of his arm; the rest of his arm coming to support her neck and shoulders as she lain down beside him.

She felt her body tense up as her head rested against his arm; she raised her head briefly, a few times in fact, repositioning her head against his arm. She found that she could not relax herself no matter what she did or how she lay.

She saw him shiver, seeing him shiver only reminded her of what remained for her to do. Slowly yet cautiously the woman brought her right arm over and down to rest across his upper body.

They shivered in unison.

"S.. Sorry," she said shakily, trying to reposition her arm again, unsure if she had disturbed the man or not.

She lay there a long while. Neither saying a word to each other. She was quick to close her eyes, but sleep did not come to her, nothing did except for the fast rhythmic sensation of Jensen's own heartbeat. Her own heart seemed to be an extension of Jensen's, pumping in the same fast motion.

She was surprised to find herself coming to relax; finally, her body falling to a more lose and light state.

"Good night, Jensen.. Sweet dreams," she whispered, a soft small smile falling to her lips as she tried to drift off to sleep.

Yet she found that she could not sleep, even with her body and mind in what was supposed to be tranquility, she could not sleep.

She could not sleep because her mind would not let her.

Her thoughts drifted to home, on Naboo, where her people were. Her friends and her family.

The Jedi, the allies, and the citizens of Naboo...

She wondered how they were faring without her. Who out of the thousands of casualties that were rumored to be lost, had actually survived?

She'd left not knowing if the war had ended, and if it had ended, how had it come to its final end.

Her students...

She'd run from all of them. Who exactly was taking to look after them now without her guidance and support?

She wondered how she was to ever face her students again? How was she supposed to explain to them about something she couldn't even begin to explain herself? Would any of them come to understand? She missed them.

Her children and family....

Were they safe, in good hands?

Lono

She feared for Lono's safety the most. Perhaps it was because of who the boy's father was. Malice. She knew, without a doubt, that with her presence missing, Malice would go looking for their son. He would try and take Lono from her.

Would she ever be able to see him again?

Please.. just keep him safeShe pleaded privately, knowing that Malice could not hear her.

Alexander and Alexandria..

Who was seeing after the twins? She didn't believe that the nanny was looking after them any longer, so who was? Cole possible? One of the Jedi? Warren...

Warren...

Amalia's own heart seemed to cry at just the very thought of her husband. Sadness filled her. He'd been gone for so long now, she wondered if he would even return again.

Just where was he? Was he safe? Alive or dead?

He'd promised to never leave her, to always be by her side. It wasn't like Warren to break a promise.

What has happened to you?

The woman had her suspicions. There was something she was not willing to admit to herself, but still believed.

Thinking about Warren made Amalia think of that mysterious masked man that she had found within the café. Everything on the man's face had appeared hidden except for his eyes and lips.

She had recognized those eyes.. from some place. She had yet to truly figure out where.

The fact of the matter was, Warren was gone.

Her heart still ached with pain and misery.

His children needed him.

She needed him...

Anger.

In a time of need. At a time when she struggled inside herself, searching, torn between the darkness and light. Warren was not to be found.

His promise... what did it mean right now?

She fought back the tears as her mind continued to wander on to other matters of importance to her.

Leia

Strong and sturdy Leia Organa.

How much Amalia aspired to be like her Master. She was, in Amalia's opinion, the optimum of what a Jedi stood for.

A patient and wise mentor.

Brave and.... immaculate.

I can't see you..

Amalia always pushed to look past the strong and sturdy solid form that was Leia Organa, her mentor and friend.

Strong. Sturdy. Brave. Immaculate Leia Organa.

Leia was right, Amalia did not understand why Leia could not and would not fully open up to her. She wanted to know why.

I wish I knew..

... but only Leia knew why.

She had tried to explain, and she had said that Amalia didn't have to understand why. Leia was not able to explain and believed that an explanation could not be presented.

She wanted Amalia to accept things as they were.

Her mind and her inner being were the very essence of who she was.

Fear.

She feared the idea of not being able to get past the masked wall of invincibility that Leia, however intentional or not, presented to her.

The truth was, Amalia could already clearly see past that wall. She could easily find everything that was Leia.

What Leia didn't know was that Amalia had no choice but to take those things, that of which Leia thought she hid away from her by way of mask.

She didn't want to take Leia's spirit and mind just because she could. No, she wanted more than anything for Leia to set aside that wall of invincibility and be the person Amalia secretly already knew. She did not want to be made to feel like everything she knew about Leia was one big secret.

She didn't want the loopholes. Amalia just wanted Leia to be completely who she was when around her.

No more would Leia feel Amalia's negative backlash.

Amalia was still there for the Jedi, and she would always be there for as long as Leia would allow her to be.

Within the inner depths of her mind, something or someone tugged at her.

Jensen and Amalia were not alone.

Using the few credits he had on hand, along with some gentle persuasion through the Force, Kahn managed to rent a speeder bike from some locals in the town where he landed. When he questioned them to discover if they'd seen Amalia or another Jedi, the only answer he recieved was a stony silence; apparently, the inhabitants did not welcome strangers.

Already, the few fading rays of sunlight began to fade as the darkness of night blanketed the landscape. Kahn felt exhaustion weighing on him, but he refused to rest; he was so close now, he wasn't about to give up and risk losing Amalia again.

Using the Force, Kahn managed to navigate the speeder over the terrain, though he had to go slower than he would have liked. Whether it was because of his lack of sleep, or simply the fact that he was distracted, the Jedi found himself having a hard time grasping the Force.

After traveling a few kilometers, and realizing he had no idea where he was, the Jedi halted for a few minutes, taking the time to meditate. He needed to retain focus, let the Force calm him, flow through him- and, hopefully, help him find Amalia.

Sure enough, after a time, Kahn could pick up Amalia's Force signature once more. He mounted the speeder bike, and took off into the night; in the darkness, he had no idea of where his destination would be, but he didn't care; all that mattered was that his Master was located there.

I'm on my way, Master. . .


Edit: TTT