Disclaimer:

I do not own any part of the Star Wars franchise or any of its characters. I have not been paid for any of the stories posted on FanFiction or elsewhere. What you read here are simply the products of my own imagination based on the universe created by George Lucas .

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Author's Note:

This is the third story in my series after "Skywalker's Legacy" (posted by me as "Nadahnefu" - please skip the confusing "Prologue") and then "Prophecy's Child." As promised earlier, you will learn what happened to Brenna's mother in this story.

There is also the "prequel" to my little series, published in FFN by me under the pen name "DeniseH" (ran out of available document space under "Denisea") and entitled "The Legion Renewed." So if you want to read that backstory, look for it under author "DeniseaH". And if you simply must have more after you read this story, then read "The Justice of Clan Tahl."

If you enjoy it, please take a minute to post a review. Thanks.

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The Face in the Shadows

by Denisea

Prologue

Luke stood in the doorway to Brenna's cabin and looked at her for a moment before going to her bedside, holding his damaged mechanical right hand with his good left hand. She was alive, at least, but he couldn't sense her presence. Her life-essence was someplace else, someplace where he couldn't find her.

She was either unconscious or asleep, but her nerveless hand had somehow moved to cover her stomach, and there were lines of tension on her forehead. "It's not over yet," he had heard her say to Rupert, back on Croyus Four.

"It is over," Luke whispered reassuringly, and kissed her on the forehead. He let go of his bionic hand to gently smooth the lines on her face with his good one, and the mechanical hand immediately started twitching again. The vibration and the hum that came from the tiny power pack under the synthe-skin were beginning to set his teeth on edge, but he continued stroking her face for another moment before grabbing his hand to stop the twitching.

Suddenly, there was a strong arm around him, and Rupert was coaxing him back towards the couch in the Falcon's passenger lounge.

"She'll be fine," Rupert assured him. "You need to rest, too. I'll wake you when we're ready to land."

Luke nodded. But in the back of his mind, there was a tiny little voice saying that it wasn't really over at all...

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The Face in the Shadows

Chapter One

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Rupert took Luke and Brenna to Medea. It was the closest facility with medical services, albeit limited ones. At first, the med-techs did not want to take Brenna. They only knew her as "the Butcher of Croyus Four." But then Rupert had them make contact with their Blue, who contacted his superior, who turned out to be Devon Martuk with a few cosmetic changes made to his face. Martuk ordered that Brenna and her companions were to be given the best of everything the Afterlife had to offer, and after that, the med-techs were somewhat more cooperative.

Luke's recovery was relatively quick, but he was not carrying the emotional weights that Brenna was, nor the physical burden of Brenna's unborn child. Mostly, he just needed some rest. His prosthetic was beyond Medea's ability to repair, but Martuk made arrangements for a Too-One-Bee 'droid and replacement parts for the prosthetic to be brought to Medea as soon as it was practically possible, rather than sending Luke off-world for treatment—they had intended to get a Too-One-Bee anyway, Martuk said. To Rupert, the point seemed wasted, since the people on Medea would probably soon return to their homeworlds, but he didn't feel it was his place to argue. In the meantime, Luke's doctor deactivated the circuitry to stop the twitching, and Luke wore his useless right hand in a sling.

Brenna's recovery, on the other hand, was both easier and more difficult than Luke's—easier because she hadn't sustained the physical damage that Luke had, more difficult because the psychological damage went much deeper.

As for himself, all Rupert needed was a little time to rest and to meditate, and he was back to normal. Talking to his family helped, too. Although families of the Croyus Four survivors had already been notified about the status of their loved ones via short, impersonal, text-based messages, Rupert asked for, and was immediately granted, permission to use Medea's communications array to make personal contact with his parents and let them know he was all right. Rupert knew that there was a long queue of users, and he was grateful for his status by way of his association with Brenna and thereby Devon Martuk for not having to wait his turn.

Having long ago lost track of the sun-cycles of his homeworld, Rupert managed to make his call in the middle of the night. However, that proved to be no bad thing, as both of his parents were home and didn't mind being wakened for something like this. Even Lucy seemed not to mind. The only one to mind was Poul, who, since he had been told as soon as the list of survivors from Medea was released that his brother wasn't dead after all, didn't see much point in getting up in the middle of the night. He only got up because his mother had forced him to, said, "Hi, Rupert. 'Bye, Rupert." and stumbled back to bed.

Rupert explained to his parents that his "death" had been a necessary ruse to make Etan Lippa think that Brenna was on his side. Unfortunately, fooling Etan Lippa also meant fooling his family and Luke. Han was too happy to see Rupert to be very angry about having been kept in the dark. Rupert promised to relay Han's message that he might someday forgive Luke for not keeping tighter tabs on Rupert, and might someday also forgive Brenna for not immediately notifying them of Rupert's non-death—which meant, of course, that Han already had forgiven both Luke and Brenna.

Leia, for her part, after eliciting Rupert's promise to come home as soon as he was able, even if it was only for a short visit, inquired after Luke and Brenna. Rupert gave them the official version and added the few unofficial details to which he was privvy, and then signed off. Although he had already been told that Devon Martuk had ordered that he could have as much time on the system as he wanted, Rupert didn't want to hold up the people waiting behind him for too long.

Then, after dealing with his parents, there was only Brenna to worry about, and Rupert spent most of his waking hours hovering around the waiting room hoping for the chance to speak with Brenna or one of her physicians.

As soon as Luke was released, Luke also tried to see Brenna, and was surprised to be turned away. When he asked why, he was simply told, "Orders." When he asked whose orders, he was told "Number One's orders." When he tried to point out that Brenna was Number One, he was only met with disbelief. When he insisted on talking with the attendant's superior, Devon Martuk himself came to meet him.

"I want to see my daughter," Luke said to the younger man.

"I'm sure you do," Martuk replied soothingly. "And as soon as she's ready to receive you, I'll take you to her myself."

"She's my daughter," Luke insisted.

"And she is my friend," Martuk returned. "Therefore I must insist that you obey her wishes, and the advice of her physician, and stay away until she's ready to see you."

Luke was stunned as he processed what he had just heard. "Brenna doesn't want to see me?"

"No. And under the circumstances, I don't think it would be wise to upset her. Now, I can let you talk with her doctor—in fact, I'm sure he will insist upon it—but that is as much as I can do. Oh, and there's one more thing: Brenna has asked that your familial relationship with her be kept under wraps. She doesn't want it known that you're her father."

That also hit Luke from out of the blue. "Why not?"

"I've no idea. In any case, she's also asked me not to mention her role in Croyus Four to the media."

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I. As far as I'm concerned, she deserves all the credit. Maybe you can change her mind when she's feeling better. In the meantime, I'll hold the press off for as long as I can. I trust I can count on you to abide by Brenna's wishes?"

Luke nodded reluctantly. "If that's what she wants…"

Martuk held an arm out to usher Luke down the hallway. "Shall we go see Dr. Tibbik?"

Dr. Tibbik turned out to be an Andulusian with a specialty in human psychology. He wouldn't tell Luke much beyond the fact that Brenna was diagnosed as suffering from "extreme physical and mental exhaustion, complicated by pregnancy," but he did ask Luke a lot of questions about what had happened on Croyus Four. Luke answered the questions as best he could, explaining that much of what he knew about Brenna's experiences with Etan Lippa was pure inference and conjecture.

Tibbik also wanted to know about Brenna's Force-sensitivity, saying only that he thought it might be important. Luke was surprised that Tibbik seemed to comprehend most of what he was trying to explain about the Force, then realized that Rupert had probably already talked with him. A quick question confirmed that guess, and another quick question confirmed that Rupert was also not permitted to see Brenna.

When Tibbik ran out of questions and Luke ran out of answers, Luke went to the suite Martuk had provided for him and waited. By then, Rupert had given up the pointless hanging out in the waiting room, and kept him company.

As the days slipped by, the news media became more anxious. They had heard that the Medeans had somehow launched a successful military strike against Croyus Four, and that Brenna Brellis, the 'Butcher of Croyus Four' had been 'captured.' Off-world networks were pouring in, trying to outdo each other with exclusives on 'the Butcher of Croyus Four.' One reporter was caught trying to break through hospital security to get to Brenna. The end result, of course, was that Martuk had hospital security beefed up, and the reporter was put in a security cell for a couple of days until he could be shipped offworld.

Martuk appeased the media a little by outlining the operations at Croyus Four. He stated that there were four principals: himself, Trevis Finn, who turned out to be another Academy recruit Blue that Luke had met the first time he'd been here, an engineering student named Jaff Wissain, and "one other who preferred to remain unnamed." Martuk was the primary spokesman for the group, although the other two men gave brief statements in which they were careful to refrain from any specifics. Martuk's speeches distributed the credit equally among the four, effectively minimizing Brenna's role and inflating the others'. From Martuk's words, the unnamed leader's role seemed to be only that of a financial wizard who was able to doctor Etan Lippa's accounts enough to fund the operation. The media seemed happy with the information they received, and immediately dubbed Martuk, Finn, Wissain, and the mysterious Number One as the "Croyus Four Four."

Brenna must have been satisfied with the media accounts, because it was the day after Martuk's press conference that she finally contacted Luke.

It wasn't in person, however—just a vid-call. No, she didn't want Luke to come to the med-center, she just wanted to ask if he would mind retrieving Rupert's memory from Croyus Four. She gave him a string of nonsense syllables she had used as a key to lock and unlock the memories, a group of sounds with which Rupert was hardly likely to come into contact by accident, and which Etan Lippa could have gotten only by scanning her. By the time he had done that, of course, Rupert's memories were a moot point. The nonsense words would trigger the mental block for release.

Luke replied that he would make the offer, but suggested that Brenna might want to do it herself.

Brenna shook her head. "I'm not a telepath. I had to use drugs to help erase his memory in the first place."

"Oh," Luke said, slightly confused. He remembered a time back on Tatooine when Brenna had tried to touch him telepathically. The contact had been very strong, and Brenna had been untrained. He had trained a few dominant telepaths, and thought them remarkable for less ability than Brenna had shown on that day.

In response to Luke's questions, Brenna went on to say that she was feeling better, but with the pregnancy scheduled to be terminated in a couple of days, thought it would be better to conserve her strength, as her doctor suggested. At the moment, she found visitors—any visitors, including Luke and Rupert—to be something of a drain, and hoped Luke would be patient with her for just a bit longer.

Luke, in turn, expressed his concern for her, and hoped it wouldn't be much longer before he could see her in person and verify for himself that she was recovering. He promised he wouldn't stay long, just long enough to set his mind at rest that she was all right.

Soon, Brenna promised. Just a few more days. She was about to switch off the com-link, but Luke said, "Wait—"

She stopped and looked at him expectantly. He searched for something to say, to hold her there a little longer.

"You'll...call me if you need anything, won't you?"

"Yes, sir. Of course I will."

"Or if you want anything? Even if it's just to talk..."

"Yes, certainly. Good night, Father."

Luke nodded once, and she switched off the com-link. He wished she would stop calling him "sir" and "father."

And there was a nagging feeling that he was missing something important.

Originally meant for miners and as temporary housing only, the living quarters on Medea were more like dormatory rooms. Some of the better rooms did, however, afford a certain amount of privacy. Luke's "suite" was hardly more than an efficiency apartment, but he recognized it as a rare luxury here. It had a small living area, and even a small kitchenette. He wondered who had been ousted to make room for him here, and suspected that it might have been Devon Martuk himself. Luke cared very little about his apparent status. He would just as soon take a regular room like he'd had during his first stay. Better yet, he would have preferred no room at all, just a cot or even a chair beside Brenna's hospital bed, but that was hardly likely to happen.

The doors to the rooms were of the old-fashioned type. They didn't open by voice command—didn't even, in fact, have buzzers. The only way to get the attention of someone inside was to knock.

However, Luke, didn't need the knock to tell him who was coming to see him. He opened the door—with his good hand, not the one in the sling—even as Rupert's fist was pulling back to make the first rap. "Yes, Rupert. Come in."

Rupert had learned by now not to be taken aback by Luke's 'premonitions,' although he was beginning to be able himself to sense Luke's presence. "I'm worried," Rupert confessed. He didn't need to say about whom. "She finally contacted me over the vid-com, to tell me that you would retrieve my memory if I wanted, but she still won't let me in to see her. She's not eating very much, either. One of her nurses told me."

Luke looked at him, eyebrows raised. Given the lack of information he'd been able to gain from the medical personnel, it surprised him that Rupert was able to get anything.

Rupert gave him an apologetic shrug. "My dad did teach me a few things you left out of your training, you know."

For a moment, the older Jedi wondered if the same technique would work for him. Then he dismissed the notion. He'd never been much good at flirting, certainly not the master that Han was, and Rupert was much younger and better looking. "So what else did the nurse tell you?"

The apologetic expression disappeared to be replaced again by worry. "That the only food Brenna can tolerate are guaco beans and supplement tablets."

"That's odd," Luke murmured. "She hates guaco beans...What about triest? That's something she's always liked, and it's easy on the stomach."

"They tried it. It makes her sick."

"I...see," Luke said, although he wasn't certain that he did see at all. There was a long silence, then Luke said, "So have you decided about your memory?"

Rupert dropped into one of Luke's chairs tiredly. "I told Bren it wasn't necessary. I trust her reasons for wiping it. That's all that matters."

"There may be a different sort of trust issue involved," Luke pointed out.

"How do you mean?"

"By not having it done, you might be saying that you trust her reasons for wiping your memory, but you might also be saying that you don't trust the memories themselves. There's a greater risk in retrieving the memory than leaving it blocked."

The notion was a surprise to Rupert, but not a big concern. "Then do it," he said.

"You do understand the risks involved, don't you? If Brenna isn't dealing straight, then this memory retrieval could kill you. I can't re-erase retrieved memories."

Rupert looked at him with an expression that said he thought Luke was out of his mind for even suggesting that idea. "Do it," he repeated.

"Now?"

"Yes, now."

"All right." Luke pulled a chair opposite Rupert and sat down. "Just...close your eyes. Relax. Clear your thoughts..."

Luke turned his attention to his own body, and released the tension in his muscles. He was a little apprehensive, and tried to release his uneasiness as he let out a breath. The apprehension wasn't due to mistrust, however, but to the intimacy of the contact. He hadn't been this intimate with anyone in years. The last time he had done something like this, Brenna had been a young child.

He reached out and touched Rupert mentally.

Hello. Rupert's unvoiced greeting caused him to smile.

Hello, yourself, Luke answered.

What do you want me to do?

I have to go deeper. Try not to fight it. Think about Croyus Four, about Brenna...

Luke received a kaleidoscope of images of Brenna, sitting across a table in a Tatooine bar and smiling, lying helpless at the bottom of a krail pit, looking up at him with parted lips, rising naked out of a Dagoban lake...

Sorry, Rupert apologized.

Luke tried to dismiss the fact that Brenna was his daughter, knowing that there were some images of Brenna's mother that he wouldn't want Rupert to see, and immediately the unbidden memories came to mind. He started to fight the images, then realized that he couldn't do that, and still preserve the link. Instead, he let them wash over him freely, until they were gone.

I guess we're even, Luke replied. Now would you mind focusing on Croyus Four?

There was a moment of confusion, mixed images and feelings, and then...the image of Croyus Four from a distance.

Yes... Luke replied, moving a level deeper into the link.

A forced landing. A walk through the prison bays. Being strapped into the chair. Brenna and Lippa. Brenna cold, distant. Brenna checking the straps. Brenna's eyes like ice. His fear. Brenna speaking: He's mine! Lippa leaving. Brenna speaking again: I want you to scream... The rest was fuzzy.

Again, Luke said.

Rupert took a breath, and ran through the images again.

The landing. The walk through the prison bays. The chair. Brenna and Lippa. Brenna speaking: He's mine! Lippa leaving. Brenna speaking again, whispering into his ear: I want you to scream. And...and...

Luke probed deeper, whispering the nonsense syllables Brenna had given him into Rupert's thoughts.

And...screaming. But not from pain. Screaming to fool Etan Lippa. Brenna concentrating, adding images to the sound of his cries like a painter working on a canvas, creating waves in the Force like a picture of a stormy ocean, but only a picture. Not real. Dark as midnight, but only because...those were the colors she was using to paint with. And…her words.

Really, Rupert, can't you scream any better than that? He'll never believe it. For Deities sake, try to sound like you're in pain...

Everything came in a rush, then. Everything that had been locked away, crammed into a tiny closet, but the locked door was now open, and it all came tumbling down in a jumble. It was all familiar, like toys from childhood. The pretend-torture. The bio-trance afterward to simulate death, and Brenna casting a shield over him to complete the illusion. Brenna calling to him later to wake him up once she was sure Etan Lippa was asleep. Deities, she looked so tired.

I've come to take you away from here, Rupert told her.

I can't leave yet, Brenna answered. There's another group of prisoners due in soon, and I can't abandon them. Don't worry. He can't penetrate my thoughts. Not any further than I want him to, anyway. I can't explain it, but I can keep him out.

What about me? If he can read minds, won't he know I'm still alive? He can still read my mind...

No. I can…put a block around you, too. It's harder, but I've done it. I've been doing it since I started 'torturing' you. But I can't keep it up forever. I'm not even sure I could keep it up over the night. That's why I've made arrangements for you to be well away from here before he wakes up.

I won't leave you here alone!

You don't have a choice. Etan's stronger than both of us together. You need to go back and finish your training. Once you're a Jedi Knight, maybe you and my father can—

There is no more training. Your father says he's taught me as much as he can. He says if he takes me any further, I would probably go feral, insane, whatever you want to call it.

Oh? From what I read, that's only a temporary condition.

What did you read?

A diary Etan thought was unimportant enough to let me read. He didn't know about you when he let me read it, of course.

Whose diary?

Some woman who crash-landed on a wilderness planet with a creature-empath. She wasn't a Force-sensitive, but she helped the guy get back to normal after he flipped out.

Luke didn't say anything about it being temporary. He just said it would probably happen.

Yeah, well, according to the diary, the flipping-out part was pretty scary. But whether you go all the way or not, it still won't be safe for either of us if Etan learns you're still alive. Unless...

Unless?

Unless you let me wipe your memory. A mind-wipe would maintain the secrecy I need, without my having to block you. I can make up something, an excuse for your being alive. But it won't hold up if he probes you. Unless I wipe you.

Wipe me, and then what? I'll just return here as soon as I can.

Hmmm. Good point. I think my father can help with that. But if you show up alive and well at his doorstep, Etan Lippa will find out. He has spies on Coruscant.

How, then?

We'll just have to wait until he gets here.

Your father's coming here?

If you're here, he can't be far behind, especially if he thinks I've killed you. But he, at least, will have enough sense to wait until Etan's away before trying anything.

I can't leave you here. I don't think your father will, either.

Like I said, you don't have a choice. Don't worry. I can handle Etan.

How?

By giving him what he wants.

He wants you.

I can put him off for a while longer yet.

But not indefinitely?

She hesitated before admitting, No, not indefinitely.

That's why I can't leave you here. And if you wipe my memory, I can't even promise you'll be safe from me. Not if I think you're the 'Butcher of Croyus Four.'

Look, can we just stop arguing? We don't have much time, and I don't want to spend it like this.

How do you want to spend it, then?

She smiled a little tentatively, I'd like to pick up where we left off back on Tatooine. I mean—She stopped as a sudden thought struck her. Unless, that is, you know...

Rupert shook his head. He didn't know. Didn't have a clue what she was talking about, as a matter of fact.

She smoothed her hair nervously. I don't want to get in the way if you've, you know, found somebody else, or...whatever. But like I said, I can't put Etan off forever, and I don't want him to be the first. I'd rather…you were.

Rupert grinned, finally getting it. No. Nobody else. But promise that once it's safe, you'll give me back my memory. This is one I'd hate to lose.

I promise.

He stepped closer to her then, took her face between his hands and kissed her the way she had taught him back on Tatooine, then shifted and pulled her close in a way that nobody had taught him but that he instinctively felt was right.

Luke felt the intensity of Rupert's emotions surge as the kiss was re-lived through the mind-link. Luke tried to distance himself from it, while holding onto the contact. There was still more that needed to be uncovered before he left Rupert alone with memories that deserved to remain private.

In the re-lived memory, an idea found its way into Rupert's mind. It was part of what Luke had sensed, but now it was solidifying.

Rupert broke the memory-kiss off and looked at her. Brenna...how far do you want to take this?

Don't worry, Rupert. I'm not looking for a long-term contract. No obligations, no commitments, I won't even ask you to stay the night. Hell, you won't even remember it in the morning.

She wasn't looking for a commitment, then. She didn't know. And he…Rupert...couldn't tell her. If he did, he doubted she would go through with it. But there was one thing he could tell her, at least. And it might just help to protect her. From himself, of all people.

If you...wipe my mind, I can't guarantee that I'll know you're not on the Dark Side.

Well, that's the idea.

What I mean is, without knowing which side you're really on, I can't guarantee my future actions. When I came, I didn't know whether I'd try to rescue you or kill you. Now I know what you're doing, but…I don't know what sort of effect the mind-wipe will have on me. And I don't want to hurt you…

She smiled. You have such charming pillow-talk. That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me.

He tried to ignore her levity. I know how to—That is, if we—I don't know if it will work after tonight if you mind-wipe me. But it might—

What are you trying to say, Rupert? She was losing patience.

He blurted it out without any further preamble. A Creature-Empath can't hurt his mate. Or at least, not unless he goes insane. Or feral. Whatever you want to call it.

Oh, she said, in surprise. Then she realized what he meant, and said again. Oh!

Except if I can't remember, I can't guarantee that it will hold.

Brenna put her fingertips to his mouth. Don't worry. If there's occasion, I'll make sure it holds. And at the same time, if I can, I'll give you a memory to replace the one I take away…

Rupert broke off the mind-link abruptly. Luke didn't fight it. There was still some sorting to be done, but...Rupert could do that on his own later.

It took even Luke a minute to find his voice. "Are you all right?" Luke asked.

Rupert nodded, drawing in a shaky breath. He let it out again, then looked at Luke. "That time on Dagobah by the lake wasn't the first time for us. No wonder I was so drawn to her."

"You were already mated to her."

"Even though I didn't remember it."

Luke rubbed his forehead. "Well, that solves the mystery of how Brenna knew about Creature-Empaths being unable to hurt their mates. You told her."

"Yes, but..." he searched the jumble of new-old memories for a moment, looking for something and finding it wasn't there. "I didn't tell her the rest. She only knows that a Creature-Empath can't hurt his mate. I didn't tell her why."

"I know. And for that…I'm grateful. You did it to protect her."

"So what do I do now? Do I tell her?"

"No," Luke said firmly. "'No obligations, no commitments' is what she said. She never said she loved you. You knew what you were doing when you kept it from her then. You made your decision then not to tell her. You'll have to live with the consequences of that now."

"But if she does love me?"

"Then you'll find the right time to tell her."

It was Rupert whom Brenna finally agreed to see in person first. She suggested meeting him at the hospital arboretum, which had been built by Martuk Mining when the mines here had been productive, and which had been maintained by drone 'droids, or re-stocked with its current inhabitants by the Afterlife. Rupert wasn't sure which, but preferred to think the former. He hated to think that the creatures who had inhabited this tiny eco-system had just been left to die when Medea had been abandoned.

He found her sitting at the appointed bench, well before the appointed time. She was staring at the non-native trees, or maybe at the assortment of non-native birds that were living in the trees. The expression on her face was completely unreadable, a blank wall. But when Rupert cleared his throat, there was no disguising the start of surprise that came over her, despite the fact that she'd been expecting him, even if he was a little early.

She tried to cover with an inadequate smile, which seemed to exist only on her mouth, and indicated the space on the bench next to her.

She was definitely ill, Rupert thought. It wasn't just that she was dressed in a hospital robe and slippers, there was something else wrong with her. Something that couldn't be covered up by carefully applied cosmetics or disguised by the neat bun her hair had been pulled into.

She held the smile with her facial muscles only, and looked up towards the tops of the trees, towards the protective barrier of the dome and its automated sprinkler system. "It's too bad this can't exist outside the dome."

"Yes," Rupert agreed. The arboretum had been built to provide the miners with a sense of home when they needed it, but to Rupert, whose home was basically a giant city, it was a small reminder of the jungles on Dagobah. He stretched out a thought, and a bird of pure white fluttered down from the tree and landed on the edge of his right hand. He extended the first finger of his left hand and said, "Here, do this."

Brenna followed his example, and he transferred the tiny weight of the bird to her hand.

For a moment, lines on her face seemed to soften, and she ran a finger of her other hand delicately down its throat and then over the back of its head.

The bird, however, was not used to being petted, and after a moment began trembling. Seeing that, Brenna stopped stroking it and made a small flicking motion with her hand. The bird, anxious to return to its nest, took wing immediately. Rupert raised his hand to call it back, but Brenna shook her head. "No, let it go."

He watched her follow it with her eyes for a moment, and an inexplicable feeling of sadness came over him. It wasn't for Brenna, or the bird, or himself. It was just...he didn't know. Maybe it was this arboretum filled with trees and birds that weren't supposed to be here, confined within the walls like a large, comfortable prison, yet which would be unable to survive without the carefully controlled climate inside the dome.

"Take a walk?" Brenna suggested.

"Sure," Rupert said.

He stood up and offered a hand to help her up, but she smiled up at him in that incomplete way and stood on her own, and said, "Really, Rupert, I'm not an invalid." But once she was on her feet, she sensed his hesitancy to reach for her hand, and laced her fingers through his. "On the other hand, I'm not opposed to hand-holding for the sake of hand-holding."

"That's nice to know," Rupert said, in a tone that was almost relief.

She swung their arms in a gesture that seemed to him to spring from false gaiety, and gave him a wider version of the inadequate smile she had given him earlier.

Almost immediately, however, they fell into a slow, not quite shuffling, pace. Brenna seemed to be admiring the scenery, but in truth, Rupert thought that she just didn't have the energy to go faster.

At length she let go of Rupert's hand to take his arm instead, and asked, "Did my father retrieve your memory?"

"Yes. Thanks. That was, uh, one memory I'd have been sorry to miss."

She gave him the same smile as before. "You asked me to make sure it was retrieved as soon as it was safe."

"I…remember. Thanks."

They walked on a little further before she spoke again. "I have a question to ask you. Two questions, actually. The first one is whether you'd be willing to use the Falcon to transport some of the refugees here back to their homes. It will take us a while to get to everyone, and the more ships we have, the sooner it'll get done. Devon's still working out the details of how to do it, but it'll help if we can count on you."

"Of course," Rupert said, feeling a pang of jealousy at her inclusion of Devon Martuk and not himself in the 'us' and 'we' of her statements. "Just let me know when and where."

"Thank you. I'll tell Devon. The other question is of a more personal nature." She glanced around, saw a bench, and motioned to it with her arm, indicating that they should sit down.

"I've been...doing some thinking," she began a little hesitantly, "...about you and me, and our relationship."

Rupert sat as still as ice, paralyzed by a dread that flash-froze him where he was like carbonite. She was going to break it off between them, to tell him that she loved Devon Martuk, and not him. It had been inevitable. Martuk was brilliant and well-educated, and Rupert was—well, he was just as much animal as human.

Disembodied, he heard his own voice croak, "And?"

"And...I was wondering...how you felt about me."

Rupert felt a tiny part of him thaw. It might be that she was doing nothing more than looking for reassurance. "I love you very much, Brenna."

She didn't look as if this answer surprised her. She merely nodded slowly, and went on in a matter-of-fact tone. "Have you ever...thought about marriage, or anything like that?"

The surprise that came over Rupert was total. "I...have," he admitted. "But I didn't want to scare you off."

"It's not scaring me off if I ask you first," she pointed out.

That realization was like a thermal bath and finished the job of thawing Rupert out. He grinned from ear to ear. "No, I guess not."

"So...do you want to?"

He laughed. "I would love to. If you're sure, that is. But maybe we'd better wait until you're out of here before deciding anything. Just in case you change your mind when you're feeling better."

"I won't change my mind."

"Well...okay, then. Consider yourself engaged. Sorry, I don't have a token right now."

"I don't have a token, either," Brenna said. "Except this." She leaned over to him and kissed him on the mouth."

The kiss stirred passions in Rupert, the same passions she had stirred on Dagobah, and on Croyus Four before that, and on Tatooine when they had first kissed. He returned the kiss, but kept the passions in check, kept the kiss gentle. Control over his own actions was one of the things Luke had given him, and what she herself had helped to teach him. There was time for more later, when she was back to her normal self. He broke off first, before his passions carried him too far, and then lest she think there was anything of reluctance in breaking off the kiss, grasped her hand and pressed the back of it to his lips.

"Thank you," she murmured. "Oh, there is one more thing."

"What's that?"

"After...we're married, I'd like to keep my name."

Rupert shrugged. "Sure, whatever you want. I'd like to keep mine, too. It helps me hold onto who I am. I've been Rupert Solo all my life. To suddenly become Rupert Skywalker might‑‑‑"

"—It's 'Brellis,' she interrupted.

"What?" He blinked, not understanding.

"My name. It's not 'Skywalker.' It's 'Brellis.' My parents never married."

"Oh," Rupert said, a little nonplussed. He had just assumed that she would use the same surname as her father. After all, Luke had raised her. But it mattered to him very little what last name she used. She was still Brenna. Still his mate. And it seemed that she had accepted him as hers, too. Nothing else was of any significance whatsoever. He grinned at the thought, and kissed her hand again, inhaling deeply of her scent.

Then he took her other hand in his free hand, so now he was holding both of her hands. Luke had said he would find the right time to tell her, and now seemed appropriate. "Brenna, there's something I have to tell you. Now that we're engaged, I mean. But maybe it should wait until you're better." He thought about it for a second, then nodded. "Yes, I think it should wait."

"Tell me now," Brenna said.

"It's not...important, really. It can wait. The only reason I need to tell you at all is because I don't want there to be any secrets between us."

"What is it? I would really like to know."

Perhaps it was the right time, then. Rupert raised her hands to his lips. "Brenna, I've always felt that marriage is a commitment for life."

"I wasn't planning on anything less."

"Well…that's good. Because I want you to know that I will always love you. There will never be anyone else for me."

"Nor for me," Brenna replied, but her voice sounded distant.

"You already know that a Creature-Empath can't hurt his mate. But I never told you the rest."

"Tell me now."

"Brenna…a Creature-Empath mates for life."

She didn't seem as surprised as he supposed she might be. But her voice echoed, "For life?"

Rupert squeezed her hands. "I'm going to make you a promise. If you ever send me away, I'll go. I won't argue, or plead, or anything. I'll just...go."

Brenna pulled a hand free and caressed his cheek, but it was more like a gesture of comfort than anything else. "I won't send you away, Rupert. That's my promise."