Author's Notes: Thank you once again to everyone who is following this story. The reviews have been especially appreciated! I cannot thank everyone enough for their comments as it helps to inspire and encourage me.

As always, I continue to hope that I am doing justice to the spirit of Star Wars as well as the respective authors and characters from which I borrow. Again, I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills further as a writer.

Disclaimer: I make no money, and I only write about what I enjoy. I own none of Karen Traviss' characters, and I hope she is not too upset that I have borrowed them to help tell the tale. Crimson Squad, the Tochin people, Gan Pohin, Moff Harkin, and anyone else I create are mine. Everything else belongs to George Lucas. All opening chapter quotes are my own design, unless otherwise specified.

Chapter 12

I needed to be free, to be able to live and explore. Bringing you into the galaxy was the greatest accomplishment I had done to date, but you didn't deserve a mother who would never be able to provide you with the attention a child requires. It would be unfair and cruel to stay with you, and we would only be miserable in our expected duties.
Excerpt from Queen Darian Psach's farewell letter to Princess Arlesse

Tochin Moon III
786 Days ABG

Jas leaned over the water of the lake, the armor from his arms neatly stacked beside him with his gloves sitting efficiently beside the armor. His bodysuit's sleeves were rolled up past his elbows, and as he took a deep breath, he lowered his head into the cold water. While submerged, he ran his hand through his hair and allowed the refreshing liquid to help awaken him. Sleep didn't come as easily as he had hoped last night, and being stuck with the middle of the night sentry shift didn't help at all. He had spent a long time during what was supposed to be his resting periods tossing and turning, fading in and out of consciousness as he tried to piece together if what he had done earlier in the evening hadn't been part of some fantastical dream. By the time he stopped arguing with himself, he had no choice but to admit that he had, in fact, kissed Les'ika and had finally admitted his growing attraction to her. But, for as excited as he was that their shared emotions made him feel joyful, he couldn't remove from the equation the fact that she was royalty and that he was merely a clone – an age-accelerated clone – who would die long before she would grow old.

Coming up for air and wiping his face on the material of his bodysuit's upper arm, Jas looked outward to the beauty of the lake around him. Last night, things made sense and there was clarity to all his confusion. Under the Tochin stars, the galaxy had narrowed down to just Les'ika and him and…that kiss. Despite his morning haze, he could still feel her soft and sweetly flavored lips on his, and he didn't know why nothing about it felt wrong. Even though everything in the kriffing galaxy should have been against them, he had felt the most peace and the most accepted when he kissed her. Last night, Jas had realized that Les'ika had nothing but genuine compassion and kindness for him. She wasn't afraid to open herself before him in their shared moment, and he had the rare opportunity to truly see who she was beyond a sheltered princess.

The water in the lake on Jas' right side rippled as though competing with the disruption Jas had made to the water before him, and he brought his eyes to see who had joined him near the bank of the lake.

He wasn't sure if he first saw Dusty's bruise or his face, and Jas felt himself cringe as he watched Dusty topping off a bottle of water. The nasty marking that had manifested on Dusty's left cheek was a black and blue discoloration spreading out from his swollen jaw, and Jas' knuckles were clearly visible in the remnants of the strike he had given to his brother the night before.

Jas quickly turned to the water, unable to meet Dusty's eyes knowing that he had been the sole cause of that hideous mark.

Dusty took a swig of water from his freshly filled bottle and then decided to down a heavy mouthful. As though weighing judgment on the volume in the now half-empty bottle, he put it back in the water to fill it up again. Letting out a sigh, Dusty said, "Don't apologize, ner vod, or it'll be my fist in your jaw this time."

At that, Jas turned to his brother.

"I pushed you, like I always do," Dusty told him, answering his brother's unspoken questions. "None of us can afford to ignore opportunities. We simply just don't get second chances."

Jas lowered his eyes to the rippling water, watching the reflections of his face and Dusty's. With the exception of Dusty's hair that needed a trim and the bruise covering his jaw, he and Jas were identical men. However, only very few others ever realized that clones were not all the same person and that every one of the men in the Clone Army was different, unique in their own way. Only a small fraction of beings ever saw how each of the clones had taken on their own personalities, becoming individuals who shared nothing more than the same face.

"It's a foolish fantasy, isn't it?" Jas asked as he shook his head and ran his fingers through his damp, dark hair. "I'll be dead long before she's old enough to look old, and I'm not even a registered citizen. She's a princess…a kriffing princess! How could she think there's more to me than a disposable flesh droid?"

"Because you're a good man, Jas. Ba'vodu had done right with you."

Jas shook his head, utterly confused over a moment that had been so right yet continued to have everything around it be so wrong.

"Nothing in Les'ika's actions gave the impression that she was fantasizing," Dusty offered, noting how his brother could not accept this situation easily.

At that, Jas spun toward Dusty, and his need to protect her was clearly evident in his eyes. "You were watching us?"

Dusty smirked. "It's not like you were hiding in the bushes. Besides someone had to keep an eye on you for when Gath came around the corner."

Now, Jas paled and his eyes dropped to the shoreline, clenching his fists in frustration. He had completely forgotten about Gath patrolling while he was conversing with and then kissing Les'ika. "Fierfek."

"Be warned, he wasn't happy, but I convinced him to let it go last night."

Jas turned to Dusty again, his question not accusing but understanding and inquisitive. "Is it worth it, hiding the time you shared with Cerina?"

Dusty took another long drink of water, his mind drifting to memories and a night he had never imagined he would know in his short life. When he pulled the bottle away he forced Jas to lock eyes with him. "Yes. If the truth ever comes out, and they decide to give me that DC-17 court-martial, I can at least die knowing I made a connection with a very unique woman. I had a moment to truly live, and that's more than most of our brothers will ever get."

Jas glanced behind him and saw Les'ika emerging from the cavern. He noticed how her wild, dark hair shifted in the breeze and her skirts gently waved by her feet. The bottom hem of her dress had begun to fray, and there was a long-dried bloodstain disrupting the pattern in the skirt from where her leg had bled after the Pallid Viper had bitten her. Her light-colored sleeves were stained with dirt and sweat, and splatters of mud seemed to have taken permanent residence over the bottom half of the skirt. Her blue eyes looked around briefly as though seeking Jas, and as her eyes caught his, Jas felt that familiar heat in his chest, the glowlamp that warmed him internally. Les'ika was more than the sum of her parts, he had realized at some point last night. He doubted many other women, let alone royalty, would have held up with as much sanity in her predicament. The young princess had some kind of inner strength that brewed beneath her sheltering and her innocence, and Jas knew he was probably the only person in her minute world who had the opportunity to see it.

Offering a brief but guarded smile to him, Les'ika disappeared around the other side of the shelter, and Jas knew that Gath would have them on the move again very soon. Once she finished her morning routine and got a bit of sustenance in her, Gath would push them in their journey towards her home. And, now Jas feared that Gath would exhort them even harder, as though trying to find a way to speed up her return to her palace. Jas knew it was far too dangerous and delusional to continue any kind of romantic connection with her, but he had gone the route of denying the hunger he felt for her once before. He wasn't looking to make the same mistake twice, and Gath would just have to understand that Jas had made a choice that only seemed more right as the day continued to awaken. Even if their romantic fantasy only lasted for a couple days or hours more, then it was that much longer that he would experience as a man rather than as a clone.

Setting his bodysuit and armor back in place, Jas put his buy'ce on his belt clip before he moved away from the lake, entirely aware how Gath watched his every motion. Jas briefly noticed as he walked past the cavern how Mouse kept himself busy with running diagnostics on his Deece and tinkering with some settings in his helmet. Jas could tell by Mouse's refusal to get involved that he apparently knew the situation far too well also. It would have made sense that Gath had advised his brothers of this new predicament and that he wanted them to be aware that the mission hadn't changed but the way it would be handled had.

As Jas suspected, Gath followed him while he made his way toward a bush in the distance that contained edible, bright yellow berries. In addition to the RubyFruit, Jas wanted to take advantage of the last few remaining plants they had encountered that contained fruit that was safe to consume. Plus, it would give him a chance away from Les'ika and the others to have the confrontation that Gath obviously needed to have with him.

"You know that by getting involved with her you're breaching protocol and exposing us all to even more risks," Gath told him gently as he stayed close to Jas and threw a glance over his shoulder just to be sure they were far enough out of immediate earshot of the others. He knew it would have been unfair to confront Jas in front of their brothers, and a private conversation was a more respectable way to handle the situation.

"Why is that? Because she's royalty and I'm nothing but a disposable soldier?" Jas asked in return, "Or the fact that you think she'll distract me more than she already has been?"

Gath stopped short for a moment, but then continued to catch up with Jas so he wouldn't need to turn their conversation into a shouting match to be heard. He hadn't expected that Jas had already thought about the things that he had wanted to discuss and had his arguments lined up like targets to be obliterated. Steadying himself, he forged ahead with his case anyway. "Then, you know that it's just dangerous and careless."

Jas laughed softly, with mild sarcasm, as he took the handful of berries he had acquired and put them into one of his empty pouches along his belt. "So are young boys playing with grenades and blasters according to Ba'vodu."

Gath breathed hard. "Jas, think about this. Really think about it."

"What's to think about?" Jas questioned softly. "She's not a faceless Republic, Gath. She's a kind and gentle woman. She cares about us – really cares about us – not in the way Gan does and not in the way some of the Jedi do, but she cares, and maybe she's the reason I need to keep defending that faceless Republic."

"I don't deny her kind nature, Jas. But, she's a princess," Gath said, rubbing the back of his head as he sighed quietly. "We both know that the moment she returns home, everything will be over. We'll be deployed to who-knows-where, and she'll go back to living her secluded existence."

Jas stopped reaching toward another berry he was about to pluck. His eyes glazed over briefly and then he brought them to Gath, prepared with his arguments. "I know I wasn't supposed to connect with her, not like this. I doubt she ever intended to connect with me either. But, we did, and now I understand why I have to fight. It's for people like her. It's not for a government or a tower full of Jedi mystics. I'm fighting for her, Gath. I want to keep her safe. I need to know that doing my job will prevent her from being harmed ever again."

Gath put his hand on Jas' shoulder plate. "Those are noble arguments, ner vod, but will you be able to walk away from her once we get the endex on this mission?"

Jas never once shifted his eyes away from his identical brother's face. "I can't be with her permanently, even I know that. All I'm asking for is now, for whatever time she and I can share together."

"I don't agree with it…" Gath started.

"Then don't," Jas answered, interrupting whatever new argument Gath was about to bring to the conversation. He turned away now and moved his hands over the bush, finding the ripe berries. "But, it's the only way I'm going to be able to protect her properly. I lost her trust when I distanced myself from her, and I don't care about mission protocols, not when breaking the rules will help me follow them."

Gath brought his hand away from Jas' shoulder plate and rubbed his face instead, ignoring the stubble that bristled against the palm of his glove. "How the hell am I supposed to be in charge of this squad when all any of you do is undermine my every word?"

That put a smile on Jas' face, and he gave a quick sideways glance to his brother. "Reject Squad at its finest."

"I really hate that title," Gath grumbled as he turned and headed back towards the cavern. His voice came across with meaning, relaying orders as though his patience had finally found its limit. "We're packing it up. I want to be moving before I lose yet another day."

Jas continued with his berry picking, gathering up just a few more to top off the small pouch on his belt. Relieved that he had earned Gath's reluctant approval for his previous actions and anything else that might occur with Les'ika, Jas popped a few of the berries into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully on the slightly tart yellow fruit, surprised at himself for liking the sharp flavor that accompanied the sugary berry. After having lived his entire life on a bland diet of specialized and balanced proteins, all these new flavors and textures had awakened his taste senses, making him want to know what else there was in the galaxy that he knew so little about.

Jas knew that flash training could teach him anything in a theory sense, but to actually experience it and live it was something he had been denied on so many levels. This mission to Tochin had given him experiences and moments in his life that no Kaminoan scientist could ever predict in a preconceived lesson plan. And, Jas found that he liked being on this sidetracked mission, this chance to not have to worry about war or how to survive by ducking through blaster fire and grenades.

Footsteps shuffled closer to Jas, breaking his thoughts, and he recognized the careful and uncertain pressure of Les'ika's feet as she stepped cautiously over the leaf and branch-strewn ground. He heard her skirts ruffling together and scraping against the foliage, and he could only imagine how many more tears would be along that hem. He hoped the material wasn't too expensive for her sake, and with the little bits of her life that she had shared, he could imagine that someone in her inner circle wouldn't be pleased with her current appearance.

Before turning to greet her, Jas' eyes caught sight of a Cerulea plant that grew close to the berry bush, blooming with blue flowers the size of his palm. He remembered from his flash lessons in the mission brief that these lily-like plants were harvested for their fragrance, and their oils were used for perfume as well as for scented candles.

Looking down to the sapphire colored lily in his hand that he had just picked off the plant, Jas studied the light purple center embedded inside the petals. The scent that came from the bloom was more sugary than flowery, and he felt a strange pang of nervousness, wondering if Les'ika even liked this kind of flower. He ran a gloved finger over one of the petals thinking of how delicate this botanical wonder was. It could hold up to rain and weather, but it would die in hours now that it had been plucked from the patch where he had found it. He thought it was a rather fitting metaphor to his own existence. While living on Kamino, he was a plant rooted with everything he could want and need, but once he was pulled off that desolate planet, he had no chance to live long.

Finally bringing his eyes up and turning to face her, Jas saw that Les'ika had settled herself on a tree that had been knocked down by some storm that had passed through in the last few weeks. There was still evidence of the lightning strike that had burned a section of the tree near the center of the trunk, the wood blackened and cracked apart like splintered shards. Jas watched as Les'ika took a few minutes to eat a small handful of RubyFruit from Dusty's stash and follow it with a drink from her bottle of water.

Jas moved to her and took a seat beside her. Cautiously, he presented the bloom before her. "There was an image a long time ago in my lessons about how a civilian man presented a flower to a woman as a gift. I saw this flower and thought of you, but I don't understand why a dying plant is so adored by a female."

Having finished the fruit, Arlesse set the bottle down next to her as she smiled and took the Cerulea Lily from Jas, breathing in the scent. Then, she embedded the stem into the curls above her ear. "Flowers are a symbol of beauty, a reminder of delicate endurance. I don't know why we treasure them either, but it's nice to be given a gift, no matter how trivial it may seem."

Jas turned away from her smile and brought his hands before him as he looked to the ground. "Gath is going to push us harder. He knows about us and will do everything in his power to get you home even more quickly now."

Arlesse breathed silently for a moment, comprehending. "There's a part of me that…doesn't want to go home. Isn't that insane? All I wanted was my life back, my comforts, and now I'm not sure I belong there."

Jas looked to her but had nothing he could say to offer her. They were both obligated in different ways to different lives, and he wasn't sure he wanted to return to his life of war either. Last night, he felt her emotions for him so clearly in the kiss they shared, and her affections for him did not wane with the new day. Every time he looked at her, he had so many questions to ask, and he wanted to know everything about her because his emotions for her did not lessen either. Something sparked between them the moment they met, and it had grown into a flame that was constant but growing in strength.

After a long pause, he finally answered, "I think I understand."

Arlesse laughed softly now. "We're a real pair, aren't we? I'm a helpless princess who's been rejected by most of her peers, and you're some age-accelerated cloned soldier who's been assigned to a rejected squad."

Jas couldn't help himself and offered a quiet snicker, too. A couple seconds later, he took his DC-15 sidearm blaster from his holster and brought it before him. He kept the safety on as he turned the barrel and handed it to the princess, offering the handle to her. "Maybe I can help with your being helpless. Here."

Arlesse flinched back and tightened her hands in her lap, refusing to bring them near the weapon, clearly avoiding it.

Jas saw the strange apprehension in her eyes at the sight of the blaster, and he couldn't understand it. He had held weapons since he was at least two years old, and they were like an extension of his arms. He wondered how someone could not be comfortable around such a device. "Haven't you ever held a blaster?"

"No," she admitted, her eyes glancing from the blaster to his face. "My guardians always protected me."

Jas lowered the weapon and wrapped his hand around it as though to use it, studying how his hand conformed to the grip of the blaster, muscle memory taking over. "The same guardians who let you get kidnapped?"

"It's not their fault," Arlesse suddenly defended, hearing the accusing tone in his voice. She feared that he blamed them for her abduction when it was her own stupid innocence and ignorance. "I wandered from them. They escorted me into town so I could peruse the flimsi novel shop. I only have the opportunity to go there once a month when I need something new to read, and it took forever to convince Papa to let me venture out there even that often, rather than having the stories always downloaded or shipped to me." Arlesse lowered her eyes and took a soft breath. "I know it's silly, but I want to read the flimsies in old-fashioned form, rather than on some datapad. I'm just appealed more to the story if I can touch the bindings and feel the craftsmanship in some of the more expensive covers…"

Realizing she had gone off topic, Arlesse shook her head and looked to her now-folded hands, forcing herself to relive that frightening day. "The shopkeeper insisted that I follow him to the back room where he had just received the latest shipment. I thought I could trust him, like I had many times in the past. He always seemed like such a kind and generous man."

Jas saw her eyes had remained lowered, and as he holstered the blaster, he finished what she was struggling to tell him. "But, the shopkeeper had made a pact with Hazar, knowing your scheduled visits to his shop. Hazar either forced him into helping, or your shopkeeper wasn't as honest as you had hoped."

Arlesse brought her eyes to Jas and nodded. "All I wanted was a story to take home that day that would give me some way to pass the time, some way to escape my mundane existence. I never asked to become a bargaining chip in a war."

"Les'ika," Jas reached out and took one of her hands in his, sliding closer to her. He reached his arm around her after his other hand had taken the DC-15 out of the holster again and brought it before her, slipping it into her hands. He watched her flinch, but he refused to relinquish his grasp on either her or his weapon. Carefully, he wrapped her small fingers around the blaster. He placed her forefinger into the trigger, realizing just how tiny her hands were as her fingertip barely made it around the trigger. He felt her inhale sharply, and then he lifted her hands with the blaster enclosed in them, aiming at a dead tree.

"You never close your eyes when you fire," he told her. "That's the first common mistake everyone makes. You need to watch your target."

Arlesse swallowed hard, taking a moment to examine Jas' hands over hers. She realized that he was taking the time to teach her and show her things, and she didn't understand why she was so frightened. His need to have her learn how to defend herself was more than she ever had anyone do for her at home. Jas' touch eased the reservations she had about holding the deadly weapon, and for a slight second she wondered how many lives he had taken with it. Then, she forced the thought aside as she came to understand that Jas was staying next to her and keeping his grasp on her. He was protecting her, carefully inviting her into this new experience. He was not going to let her shoot the weapon alone where her clumsiness could cause someone to get hurt. He was experienced and had been trained hard since his childhood to handle blasters and numerous other deadly weapons. He was going to continue to be her safety net, just as he had when he forced her to confront her fears over Hazar and her kidnapping.

"Can you see that gray rock near that small opening?" he asked softly, his voice shutting down her roaming thoughts.

Arlesse nodded quietly, and her voice was heavy. "Yes."

"I'll help you aim, but you have to pull the trigger. Can you do that?"

Arlesse took a shaky breath. "I think so."

Jas brought one of his hands away from the blaster for a moment and reached down to his helmet still on his belt. He clicked on a button inside his helmet. "DC-15 test. Disregard unless I say otherwise."

"Acknowledged," came Mouse's reply.

As Jas returned his hand to the blaster, he felt Les'ika become less tense, her trust taking over and pushing aside her fear. He continued to instruct her gently, refusing to have her lose the opportunity to understand a moment in his world. "Remember to watch your target and don't close your eyes."

Raising her arms a fraction higher, Jas lined up the shot he had planned for her. His thumb clicked off the safety, and he felt her hands tremble slightly. "Fire."

Arlesse pulled her finger on the trigger, surprised at the minimal pressure it needed and recoiled gently into Jas, aware how she curled slightly into his chest and arms. She realized that the weapon didn't draw enough power to push her against him, but she recoiled away from the tiny explosion that created a blue bolt releasing from the barrel. The azure bolt was deadly and entrancing, and she could never imagine having to fight through an endless sea of them, like Jas and so many of his soldier brothers were forced to do.

Forcing her thoughts back to the moment, Arlesse realized that the blaster bolt she had fired managed to land near the top of the large rock as a stain of black carbon scoring indicated the hit.

By now, Jas had set the safety back in place and began to loosen her fingers from the blaster. He clicked on the button inside his helmet once more and brought his arms from around her. "Test complete."

Again it was Mouse. "Confirmed."

"You've done that since you were a child?" Arlesse asked in awe, hoping for another moment to be wrapped in his arms again.

Jas nodded as he put the blaster back into the holster. "You either mastered it or you didn't return from the training exercises."

"Why were they so brutal to you, to all of you?" she asked, the thought of children being injured and killed sickening her.

"It was training," Jas explained. "We had to be the best. Someone in the Republic had paid for the best soldiers the Kaminoans could create. That's what the GAR became: cloned soldiers who survived training session after training session."

"I'll never understand it," she admitted. "It's cruel and inhumane."

"So is being kidnapped by a mercenary like Hazar," Jas countered.

Arlesse brought her eyes to Jas, her fingers brushing across the star on her collarbone as she remembered how Hazar tried to open the locket. It was sealed so that only she could open it, compliments of a miniscule chip had been embedded to read only her fingerprint.

Jas watched her small fingers as they grazed over the shiny metal adornment, the only piece of jewelry that she wore. He remembered that it was one of the first things he noticed about her after Hazar had been killed, and he thought it was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, its simplicity making it alluring. He had been curious about the pedant, aware how she touched it occasionally, and he knew he had no right to what she carried in it. However, he could see that there were times she was protective of the piece of jewelry, and it was obviously not because of monetary value.

Unable to hold back the question any longer, his voice betrayed his nagging curiosity. "Why is that star so important to you?"

Arlesse intently studied his dark irises with hers. There were others who had asked about her pendant, but she never had the desire to talk about it with them. They usually were just looking for something to have a conversation about to pass time while they were stuck in her presence. Jas, though, was honestly concerned about her, wanting to know more, and he thought nothing of sharing his blaster with her to have her experience what it was like to use one. She could see in his eyes that he wasn't just having a conversation to pass time with her. He truly wanted to learn who she was and find ways to remember her, much as she had been trying to do for him.

"My mother gave it to me before she left," Arlesse finally admitted as she loosened the clasp in the back of her neck.

"I thought you said your mother died," Jas remembered quickly, thinking back to a conversation they had shared only a couple days ago.

"It's easier to think of her as dead than just gone," she told him sadly. "Saying she is dead usually helps to end an unwanted conversation a lot quicker."

Arlesse then opened the pendant, and a holo of a brown-haired woman emerged, seeming to stand before them in miniature. Her curls mirrored the ones around Arlesse's face, and she wore a highly detailed and embroidered gown that made Arlesse's seem like a peasant's dress in comparison. Opposite of this holographic young woman who shared a similar facial structure with Arlesse was another holo showing a number of lengthy paragraphs in a hand-written script, the wording in Basic.

Jas quickly glanced at the text and realized it was a farewell letter. He looked to Les'ika and saw the sadness in her eyes.

"Death isn't always about the end of breathing and living. It can be the end of anything, including a marriage or motherhood."

Jas knew he was confused and didn't try to hide it while he gazed between the holos and Les'ika.

Arlesse studied the holographic portrait of her mother and explained, "My parents were part of an arranged marriage. Papa was the prince at the time, and my mother was an archduchess. It was a marriage designed to bring peace between one of the mining provinces and the governmental monarchy."

Looking solely at Les'ika now, Jas merely watched her face as it remained in some long-buried sadness while she continued her accounts of her parents' lives. "Papa had told me once that he always loved her, trying to earn her affections since the time they were adolescents. I know that he still loves her, even to this day, but my mother was the kind of person who needed her freedom. Prior to her marriage, she was in the midst of leaving Tochin because a monarchy wasn't where she belonged. My father knew that, but she had no sisters for him to unite with instead. Laws and traditions required my mother to stay and handle her royal responsibilities, and she had made a pact with my father. They would unite the people through their marriage, and she would give him an heir to the throne. However, she made a condition in their marriage contract that she would be free to leave when the time for her was right.

"Before I was old enough to really connect with her, she annulled the marriage and left. For years, I always had memories of a woman's voice calling me 'Lessa,' even though I could never figure out who that person was. I had begun to think the voice was just part of some dream I had in my infancy, but when I was about ten years old my father gave me this necklace. He told me it would give me the answers I sought for who my mother was and why I could never forget the sound of her voice."

Arlesse then closed down the pendant and returned it to her neck. "My father protects me so closely because he's afraid I'll leave him, too. I'm all he has left from the woman he loved. Papa never treated me as an heir to his throne and never forced me to become a princess with political worth. He always gave me the respect I deserved as his daughter, not as a royal pawn, and he only expected me to treat him as my father, not as a king."

Smiling sadly, Arlesse touched the star one last time. "Mama chose a star shape because she wanted me to know that even though she was free amongst the stars, she wanted to be connected with me in some way."

Jas sat for a long moment, trying to decide what to say. Her childhood loss was complicated and messy, and it seemed there was nothing to tell her that would console the constant ache she experienced for being rejected at such an early age. It made sense now why Les'ika always feared being turned away and why she could build such barriers to block out those who would attempt to discard her.

Silently, Jas brought his hand to hers and allowed her fingers to wrap around his.

"Daylight is wasting!" Gath called.

Jas glanced behind him to see that his three brothers had their helmets in place and their kits set on their backs. Jas released Les'ika's hand to set his buy'ce on his head while Les'ika got to her feet as she picked up her bottle of water. Jas then took her hand again and stood up, allowing her fingers to lace into his. Moving slightly ahead of her as though to lead her through the day's journey, Jas decided that he would hold onto her in whatever way he could for as long as possible, and he could feel in her grasp that her feelings for him echoed the same.